Gümüşlüzâde Ahmed Pasha, who rose to be head secretary and chancellor (nişancı) to Mehmed I (Çelebi Mehmed), was a fifteenth-century scholar and statesman from the old Gümüşlüzâde family of Amasya. The sources also call him Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi. According to Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, in the days when Timur's men examined the scholars of Amasya he saved the town from disaster by his learning, presented a book called Mir'âtü'l-Mülûk to Çelebi Mehmed, rose to the rank of vizier and died at the end of the year 827 (1424). Hüsameddin describes him as "a man of letters, a poet, a master of prose"; yet no poem of his is in hand today. The only work bearing his literary name is this prose book, counted among the earliest Ottoman mirrors for princes written in Turkish. Notes on the Timurid period, the Gümüşlü Mosque and the affair of Düzme Mustafa accompany the full text of the entry on the page Ahmed Paşa-Gümüşlüzâde; the family is also described in The Gümüşlüzâdes.

Hüsameddin's Record

Only the part of the entry concerning his learning, his book and his poetry is quoted here:

Amasya a'yânından Gümüşlüzâde Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi ibn-i Pîr Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi bin Kutbeddîn Mehmed Çelebi bin Cibrîl Bey'in mahdûmu ve Şeyhülislâm Celâleddîn Abdurrahman Çelebi'nin birâderidir. Ammizâdesi Mevlânâ Şücâ'eddîn Ebu'l-Bekâ Pîr İlyâs Halvetî hazretlerinden ve Mevlânâ Hüsâmeddîn Hasan el-Hûyî'den ulûm-ı şer'iyye ve edebiyyeyi ahz u ikmâl ederek ders-i âm oldu. Ulemâ arasında zekâ ve faziletiyle iştihâr etdi. Kendisine Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi dendi. [...] Amasya hükümdârı Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân nâmına te'lîf eylediği "Mir'âtü'l-Mülûk" adlı kitabını Sultân-ı müşârün-ileyhe takdîm ederek teveccüh-i tâmma mazhar oldu. 811'de Çelebi Sultân'ın baş-kâtibi ve müsteşârı olup 816'da müstakillen Osmanlı Pâdişâhı oldukta nişancı olarak dîvân-ı hümâyûn erkânından sayıldı. 822 senesinde vezâreti hâ'iz görülüp 824'de Sultân Murâd-ı Sânî cülûsunda mevkî'i rasânet buldu. [...] 827 senesi evâhirinde vefât etdi. Fâzıl, ulûm-ı şer'iyye ve edebiyyede mâhir, muhâzarât ve târîhe vâkıf, edîb, şâir, müdebbir, münşî bir zât idi.

In translation: He is the son of Gümüşlüzâde Hüsameddin Hüseyin Çelebi, one of the notables of Amasya, and the brother of Şeyhülislam Celâleddin Abdurrahman Çelebi. He studied the religious sciences and the sciences of language and literature with his cousin Pîr İlyâs Halvetî and with Mevlânâ Hüsameddin Hasan el-Hûyî, completed them and became a public lecturer (ders-i âm); among the scholars he became known for his intelligence and virtue, and he was called Mevlânâ Şemseddin Ahmed Çelebi. He presented to the sultan the book called Mir'âtü'l-Mülûk, which he had composed in the name of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed, ruler of Amasya, and won his full confidence. In 811 he became Çelebi Sultan's head secretary and counsellor; when the sultan became sole Ottoman ruler in 816, he was counted among the members of the imperial council as chancellor. In 822 he was seen to hold the rank of vizier, and in 824, at the accession of Murad II, he kept his position. He died at the end of the year 827. He was virtuous, skilled in the religious and literary sciences, versed in conversation and history, a man of letters, a poet, prudent, and a fine writer of prose.

In the passages cut at the square brackets Hüsameddin relates that in 805 Timur's grandson Kara Mehmed Sultan and his tutor Abdülcebbâr examined the scholars of Amasya, that the town was saved through Ahmed Çelebi's success in this examination, and that he himself was sent to Shirvan together with his teacher Pîr İlyâs and returned after Timur's death. He ties his retirement to the killing of Grand Vizier Bayezid Pasha in the war against Düzme Mustafa, after which his old age was used as a pretext under the grand vizierate of Çandarlı İbrahim Pasha. The closing lines of the entry name his sons Hüsameddin Hasan and Bedreddin Mahmud Beys, together with the Gümüşlü Mosque he restored after an earthquake and the dervish lodge (zaviye) called Kasr-ı Sûfiyân he built for his brother.

Life

In which year Ahmed Pasha was born we do not know, but his early years were spent in the madrasas of Amasya and the family's dervish lodge: his teacher Pîr İlyâs was, according to Hüsameddin, his cousin, and his brother Abdurrahman Çelebi, according to some studies, succeeded Pîr İlyâs at the head of the Gümüşlüoğlu Lodge. In the troubled years after the Battle of Ankara, Çelebi Mehmed had made Amasya his base; Ahmed Çelebi's entry into his service falls in this period. Hüsameddin places the presentation of the book in the years when Çelebi Mehmed was still "ruler of Amasya", his post as head secretary in 811 (1408-09), and his chancellorship in the sole reign that began in 816 (1413).

Ahmed Pasha, who kept his position for a time under Murad II, retired under the grand vizierate of Çandarlı İbrahim Pasha after Bayezid Pasha was killed in the war against Düzme Mustafa in 824 (1421), and died at the end of 827. Hüsameddin's short entry "Şemseddîn Ahmed Paşa-Gümüşlüzâde" in the eleventh volume points to the same person and refers the reader to the detailed record here.

Mir'âtü'l-Mülûk

In a footnote Hüsameddin says that a copy of the book is in the Es'ad Efendi Library at Yerebatan in İstanbul, and that "Ahmed bin Hüsâmeddîn el-Amâsî" is written at its beginning and inside. The work is known today under this author's name. A manuscript catalogue recording the copies in the Süleymaniye Library mentions the copies Esad Efendi 1890 and Aşir Efendi 319; it notes that the book is dedicated to Çelebi Mehmed and must therefore have been written between 811 and 824 (1408-1421), and that some scholars have wrongly dated it to the seventeenth century. The same catalogue says that no other information on the author is available and that he was probably part of Çelebi Mehmed's court circle.

Mehmet Şakir Yılmaz's master's thesis of 1998, prepared under the supervision of Halil İnalcık, holds that the work was written in 1406 and later presented to Çelebi Mehmed. According to Yılmaz, unlike later Ottoman political works, the book does not seek solutions to everyday problems of administration but sets out the general principles of good government. Its first part is an ethical treatise based on Nasîrüddîn-i Tûsî's Ahlâk-ı Nâsırî, its second a book of counsel modelled on al-Ghazali's Nasîhatü'l-mülûk. Yılmaz's date of 1406 and Hüsameddin's phrase "ruler of Amasya" point to the same years; the catalogue's range of 811-824 rests on the assumption that the dedication belongs to the years of Çelebi Mehmed's rule.

It is Hüsameddin who identifies Ahmed bin Hüsameddin el-Amâsî, the author of the work, with the chancellor Gümüşlüzâde Ahmed Pasha. That his father's name was Hüsameddin, the nisba "el-Amâsî" and the presentation of the book to Çelebi Mehmed support this identification; but since the manuscript catalogue says that nothing is known about the author, no independent source joining these two identities could be found apart from Hüsameddin.

His Connection with Amasya

Ahmed Pasha belonged to one of the oldest families of Amasya. The family's mosque was the Gümüşlü Mosque and its lodge the Gümüşlüoğlu Lodge; according to Hüsameddin, Ahmed Pasha restored the mosque after it was ruined in the earthquake of 818 (1415-16), enlarged its endowments, and built for his brother a lodge called Kasr-ı Sûfiyân at the head of the Sofular quarter. The episode in which Timur's men examined the scholars of Amasya is also a story that has taken its place in the town's local tradition.

His Poetry

His poems have not come down to us. Hüsameddin's placing him among poets is backed by no example, and no tezkire entry under this name could be found either. Kadir Özköse states that his brother Şeyh Abdurrahman Çelebi wrote Turkish poems under the pen name "Hüsâmî"; Hüsameddin, however, gives this pen name to another Abdurrahman Çelebi of the same name who lived in the time of Bayezid II. This confusion is discussed on the page Hüsâmî (Pîr Abdurrahmân Çelebi). Whether Ahmed Pasha had a pen name is unknown. Whether the Mir'âtü'l-Mülûk contains any verse could not be learned from the sources read either.

Chronology

805 (1402-03): Timur's men examine the scholars of Amasya; Ahmed Çelebi is sent to Shirvan with his teacher.

811 (1408-09): He becomes head secretary and counsellor to Çelebi Mehmed.

816 (1413): With Çelebi Mehmed's sole reign he becomes chancellor.

824 (1421): He keeps his position at the accession of Murad II.

End of 827 (1424): He dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

  • Mehmet Şakir Yılmaz, Political Thought in the Beginning of the Ottoman Empire as Expressed in Ahmed bin Husameddin Amasi's Kitab-i Miratu'l-Muluk (1406), master's thesis, Bilkent University, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/11693/18058

Other sources

Online sources