Amasya hükümdârı olan Sultân Şâhenşâh Hân, Sultân Mes'ûd Hân'ın ikinci şehzâdesi olup pederinin vasiyyeti üzere memleket-i Dânişmendiye hükümdârı olarak Amasya'da sandalî-i hükûmete 555'de câlis olduğu gibi büyük birâderi Sultân Kılıç Arslan dahi Konya hükümdârı olmuş idi. Sultân Şâhenşâh'ın sâhibi ya'nî vezîr-i a'zamı Celâlüddevle Mahmûd bin Fetih Hân, atabegi ammizâdesi Bedreddîn Şâhenşâh bin Arslan Togmuş, emîrü'l-meclisi diğer ammizâdesi Şemseddîn Türkânşâh bin Güdül, [334] pervânesi Şerefeddîn Muhammed bin Emîr Hasan bin İltigin ve meşâhîr-i ümerâsından ya'nî ilbeglerden Şücâ'eddîn Âmûl, Bedreddîn Aydoğdı (Aytagdı) Beyler³⁵⁵ olduğu tetebbu'ât-ı kaydiyyeden anlaşılmakdadır.
Sultân Mes'ûd Hân'ın vefâtıyla beraber memâliki iki şehzâdesi arasında taksîmi, Pont ve Kapadokya kıt'asını kurtarmağa dâ'imâ fırsat arayan Bizans imparatoru Manu'el Komennus'u büyük bir ümîde düşürüp ma'iyyetine aldığı bir kuvve-i azîme ile 556 senesi evâ'ilinde Ankara üzerinden Kapadokya kıt'asına hücûm etmiş idi.
Ankara vilâyeti memleket-i Dânişmendiye'den ve binâ'en-aleyh Amasya hükümdârı Sultân Şâhenşâh'ın idâresinde bulunan memâlikden olduğu cihetle Sultân Şâhenşâh Hân derhâl ma'iyyet-i mevcûdesiyle Ankara'ya gidip birâderi olan Konya hükümdârı Sultân Kılıç Arslan Hân ile birleşerek Rûmlar ile harbe girişdi.
İki müttefik birâderin ve ma'iyyetlerinde bulunan mücâhidlerin arslan gibi savletlerine Rûmlar dayanamayıp hamiyyetli Türkler'in okları altında karmakarışık oluyorlar, kumandânlarının hemen kâffesi hâk-i helâke serilerek bunlardan imparator Manu'il'in yeğeni Yovanis ve Atakis'in başı bir mızrağın [335] ucuna takılıyor, bunu gören mücâhid Türkler'in savletleri artmakla imparator Manu'il var kuvvetiyle çalışarak ancak cânını kurtarabiliyor, bu sûretle Sultân Şâhenşâh memâlikini ta'arruz-ı a'dâdan muhâfaza ediyor idi.³⁵⁶
Tevârîh-i umûmiyyede mezkûr olan bu gazâ-yı ekberin cereyânı esnâsında Dânişmendîler, harbe iştirâk etmemekle beraber ihtilâl-i dâhilîye kıyâm ederek Malatya emîri Zülkarneyn demekle meşhûr Alp Arslan Bey bin Aynuddevle Ahmed Gâzi, memleket-i Selçûkiyye'ye hücûm etmekle "Yağı Arslan" lakabını alıyor³⁵⁷, Niksâr emîri Yağıbasan Gâzi dahi Amasya'ya bi'l-hücûm şimdiki Sivas vilâyetini umûmen zabt etmekle hükûmet-i Dânişmendiye'nin i'âde-i nüfûzuna çalışıyordu.
Yağıbasan Gâzi, ümerâ-yı Selçûkiyye'nin Ankara harbinde bulunmasından bi'l-istifâde i'lân-ı hükûmet ederek Niksâr'da ikâmet edib mahdûmu Cemâl Gâzi Bey'e Amasya ve yeğeni olup Yıldızeli'nde ikâme olunan İbrâhim Gâzi Bey'e Kayseriyye ve bunun birâderi olup Amasya kurbunda şimdiki Elvân (Ulvân) Çelebi nâhiyesinde ikâme edilen Tanun³⁵⁸ (Zünnûn) [336] Gâzi Bey'e Sivas emâretlerini tevcîh ederek ikinci def'a Dânişmendiye hükümdârı olmuşdur.
In Modern English
Sultan Şâhenşâh Han, ruler of Amasya, is the second son of Sultan Mesud Han. On his father's bequest he took his seat as ruler of the Danishmendid realm in Amasya in the year 555; his elder brother Sultan Kılıç Arslan had become ruler of Konya. Sultan Şâhenşâh's sâhib, that is, his chief vizier, was Celâlüddevle Mahmud ibn Fetih Han; his atabeg was his cousin Bedreddin Şâhenşâh ibn Arslan Togmuş; his emirülmeclis (head of the council) was the son of his other uncle, Şemseddin Türkânşâh ibn Güdül; his pervâne (the official who conducted correspondence and business on the ruler's behalf) was Şerefeddin Muhammed ibn Emir Hasan ibn İltigin; and among his renowned emirs, that is, frontier lords, were Şücâeddin Âmûl and Bedreddin Aydoğdı (Aytagdı) Beys. These names are understood from an examination of the records.
The death of Sultan Mesud Han and the division of the lands between his two sons raised great hopes in the Byzantine emperor Manuel Komnenos, who was constantly watching for an opportunity to recover the region of Pontus and Cappadocia. At the beginning of the year 556 the emperor, taking a very large force with him, attacked the Cappadocia region by way of Ankara.
The province of Ankara belonged to the Danishmendid realm; it was therefore counted among the lands under the rule of Sultan Şâhenşâh, ruler of Amasya. For this reason Sultan Şâhenşâh Han went at once to Ankara with the force he had, joined his brother, Sultan Kılıç Arslan Han, ruler of Konya, and went to war against the Greeks.
The Greeks could not withstand the lionlike assault of the two allied brothers and the ghazis with them; under the arrows of the patriotic Turks they fell into confusion. Nearly all of their commanders were struck down; among them the heads of Yovanis, a nephew of Emperor Manuel, and of Atakis were fixed on the tip of a spear. Seeing this, the assault of the Turkish ghazis grew fiercer still. Emperor Manuel, struggling with all his strength, barely saved his life. In this way Sultan Şâhenşâh protected his lands from the enemy's attack.
While this great campaign described in the general histories was under way, the Danishmendids did not take part in the war; moreover, they rose in internal revolt. The emir of Malatya, Alp Arslan Bey ibn Aynüddevle Ahmed Gazi, known as Zülkarneyn, received the nickname "Yağı Arslan" because he attacked the Seljuk lands. Yağıbasan Gazi, the emir of Niksar, likewise attacked Amasya and, seizing the whole of what is now the province of Sivas, sought to re-establish the influence of the Danishmendid government.
Yağıbasan Gazi, taking advantage of the Seljuk emirs' presence at the battle of Ankara, proclaimed his rulership. Residing in Niksar, he granted the emirate of Amasya to his son Cemâl Gazi Bey, that of Kayseri to his nephew İbrahim Gazi Bey, who was settled in Yıldızeli, and that of Sivas to İbrahim's brother Tanun (Zünnûn) Gazi Bey, who was settled near Amasya in what is now the district of Elvân (Ulvân) Çelebi. Thus he became Danishmendid ruler for the second time.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- sandalî-i hükûmet: seat of rulership, throne
- sâhib, vezîr-i a'zam: chief vizier
- atabeg: a senior emir influential in the state, charged with the education of princes
- emîrü'l-meclis: the official who presided over council meetings
- pervâne: the official who transmitted the ruler's orders and conducted correspondence
- ilbeg: frontier lord, regional lord
- tetebbu'ât-ı kaydiyye: survey of written records
- ma'iyyet: the force accompanying one, retinue
- savlet: fierce attack
- hâk-i helâk: dust of death; being struck down
- gazâ-yı ekber: great war
- ta'arruz-ı a'dâ: the enemy's attack
- tevcîh etmek: to grant, to appoint
The Division after Mesud's Death
Hüsameddin presents Şâhenşâh as ruler of the Danishmendid realm residing in Amasya by his father's bequest. The account in today's sources is different. It is written that on the death of Sultan Mesud in 1155 he divided the realm among his three sons, proclaiming Kılıç Arslan sultan in Konya and giving his younger son Şâhinşah Ankara, Çankırı and Kastamonu, his son-in-law Yağıbasan Sivas and its surroundings, and his other son-in-law Zünnûn Kayseri and its region. Another source says that Amasya, Ankara and Cappadocia were left to Yağıbasan. That is, present-day research associates Şâhinşah with Ankara and its surroundings rather than with Amasya. Hüsameddin's calling him "ruler of Amasya" may be a reading based on Şâhinşah's having later taken Amasya, or on Amasya's being counted as dependent on the rulership of Ankara; this is not explained in the sources.
Tension among the Brothers and Byzantium
According to the entry on Kılıç Arslan, after Mesud's death a dispute arose among the brothers; the middle son Devlet was seized and eliminated, and Şâhinşah fled to the Ankara and Çankırı area. Yağıbasan, his nephew Zünnûn, Şâhinşah and the other Danishmendid emirs formed an alliance against Kılıç Arslan; the Byzantine emperor Manuel supported them as well. According to this account, Şâhinşah is not, as in the picture Hüsameddin gives, an ally fighting beside Kılıç Arslan against the Greeks, but for the most part a brother within the alliance formed against him. An alliance made in the 1160s likewise brought together Manuel, Yağıbasan and Şâhinşah. It was not possible to trace, under the same description in present-day sources, the event Hüsameddin recounts as a victory won over the Greeks at Ankara. In Hüsameddin's footnote it is written that Ahmed Refik's Târîh-i Umûmî places this event in the year 1176. 1176 is the year in which Manuel entered Anatolia with a great army and was defeated at Myriokephalon; that is, the account in the book may have been confused with a stage of that war. This is an inference, not verified in the sources.
The End of Şâhinşah
In 1175 Kılıç Arslan II took Sivas, Niksar, Komana, Tokat and the other Danishmendid lands; according to the sources, Zünnûn and Şâhinşah took refuge in Byzantium at this time. No definite information about Şâhinşah's later circumstances and death was found in the sources examined here. What Hüsameddin knows about the date of his death is taken up in the following entries.
The Sons and Nephews of Yağıbasan
Among Yağıbasan's children the name of Cemâleddin Gazi appears; some historians say that his real name was İsmail, that he ruled around Tokat and Amasya for two years, and that he was eliminated in 1166 by his cousin İbrahim. İbrahim, whom Hüsameddin places in this entry around Yıldızeli and Elvân Çelebi, and Tanun (Zünnûn) are sons of the Danishmendid Melik Muhammed. A footnote states that the name of the district of Elvân Çelebi was "Tanunözü" until the year 751 and was afterwards called "Zünnûnâbâd".
Names in the Footnotes
In a footnote Hüsameddin writes that the farm of Şücâeddin Âmûl Bey is today's village of "Miramul, Moramul", and that the farm of Bedreddin Aydoğdu Bey is today's "Aydoğdu Village". These identifications are local knowledge; they could not be verified in another source. That "Yağı" means "enemy" and is used in place of "Alp" is likewise his own interpretation.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 2, p. 334–335. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies