The Gümüşlüzâdes are the Amasya family whose records reach furthest back and which branched out most widely. According to the definition Hüsameddin gives under the heading "The Gümüşlü Lineage", the name belongs to the descendants of Emîneddîn Yûnus el-Müstevfî, a Seljuk emir known as "Emîr Gümüşlü"; "a great many factions and branches" sprang from the family, and all of them became known by the name Gümüşlüzâde. The family's trail begins in the mid-thirteenth century with a financial official at the Seljuk court in Konya, settles in the heart of Amasya in the fourteenth century with an emir who governed the city under the Ilkhanids, becomes a Sufi house in the fifteenth century with Pîr İlyâs, who brought the Halvetî order to Anatolia, and continues until the end of the eighteenth century in the keepers of Pîr İlyâs's tomb and the trustees of its pious endowment (waqf).

The branches are clearly distinct from one another. The grandsons of Tâceddîn Mahmûd Bey remained in finance and among the notables, taking their place among the "hâcegân", the wealthy merchants and treasurers of the city. The sons of Pîr Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi turned to learning and Sufism, and Pîr İlyâs and his descendants came from this branch. From Nişancı Ahmed Pasha, the son of Pîr İlyâs's brother, descended a line of officials made up of treasurers and viziers. In the seventeenth century the Şemsî Pashazâdes and Çelebi İbrâhim Pasha, who were joined to one of these branches through the female line, carried the family name to the rank of beylerbey and vizier. In the History of Amasya members of the family are described in more than fifty entries, and family members are named in over a hundred further places in the sections on quarters, mosques, tombs and dervish lodges and in the chronological part of the work.

Name and Origin

The family takes its name from the town of Gümüş, today's Gümüşhacıköy. Hüsameddin, who supposes that the town owed its name to its silver mine (gümüş means silver), writes that it has appeared under this name in the records since 575 [1179-80], and he credits its growth to the patronage of Emîneddîn Yûnus el-Kûmusî, called "Emîr Gümüşlü". As a narrower place of origin he points to the village of Eslemez in the Gümüş district: he records that Emîneddîn Yûnus came from this village, called "İslimis" in old documents, and that Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi of the family built a zaviye, a public kitchen and a guesthouse there as a token that his ancestors had come from it. In Amasya's records the family is called both "Gümüşlüzâde" and "Gümüşlüoğlu". Other families from the town of Gümüş who bear the epithet "Gümüşlü", such as the muftis of Gümüş and the Hacıköylüzâdes, have nothing to do with this lineage.

The first entry of the twelfth volume introduces the earliest known member of the family. Abdullah Mu'îneddîn Ebü'l-Mekârim el-Müstevfî was the son of a Turk named Nasr bin Güvenç. In Amasya he studied learning, calligraphy and secretarial writing under the chief judge Tâceddîn Mehmed el-Keşânî, became treasurer of the province of Amasya, won the confidence of Sultan Alâeddîn Keykubâd and rose to the office of müstevfî (chief finance officer) in Konya, and died around 647 [1249-50]. Hüsameddin describes him as "the great ancestor of the Gümüşlüzâdes in Amasya".

The family tree comes from the "Silsile-nâme" of Şeyh Hamdullah, on which Hüsameddin relies in his entry on Pîr İlyâs. According to it, Pîr İlyâs was the son of Pîr Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi, son of Kutbeddîn Mehmed Çelebi, son of Hâce Nûreddîn Cibrîl Bey, son of Hâce Emînüddîn Yûnus Bey, son of Muîneddîn Abdullah el-Müstevfî. Within the book some of these links appear under different names. Abdullah's son is called "Sa'deddîn Yûnus" in some places and "Emîneddîn Yûnus" in others. In the definition of "The Gümüşlü Lineage" Ahmed Pasha, Şemseddîn Pasha and İbrâhim Pasha are counted as "descendants of Seydî Hüsâmeddîn Hasan Çelebi", whereas in their own entries Ahmed Pasha's father is given as Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi, son of Pîr Alâeddîn Ali. These discrepancies show that Hüsameddin did not fit the information he gathered from scattered endowment deeds and genealogies into a single scheme.

The Family Through the Generations

Emîneddîn Yûnus and His Sons

Emîneddîn Yûnus was the brother-in-law of the Seljuk vizier Muîneddîn Süleyman Pervâne. Hüsameddin writes that the estate known as "Mülk-i Gıyâseddîn Şâh", where the princes had lived, passed into his possession around 665 [1266-67] and long remained in the hands of his descendants; this is the area that would later be called the Gümüşlüzâde quarter. The family's fortunes were shaken by the Mongol-Mamluk war of 675 [1276-77]. Hüsameddin lists among the Amasya beys taken captive to Egypt "the sons of the müstevfî'l-memâlik Gümüşlüzâde Hâce Yûnus: Nûreddîn Cebrâil, Emîneddîn Mikâil, Sirâceddîn İsmâil", a record which shows that three brothers went to Egypt together. In the same turmoil the Karamanids seized Konya and killed Hâce Sa'deddîn Yûnus there. That the "Hâce Nûreddîn Cibrîl Bey" of the genealogy is the same person as Nûreddîn Cebrâil among the captives can be inferred from the agreement of names and generations; since the book never makes the connection explicitly, this is an inference.

There are two separate entries on Sirâceddîn İsmâil. The entry Sirâceddîn İsmâ'îl Bey-Gümüşlüzâde introduces him as the son of Pervâne's sister; it gives the year of his capture as 673 [1274-75] and of his release on ransom as 678 [1279-80], and says that the Gümüşlüzâde quarter and the lineage "descended from this man". The entry İsmâil Bey-Emîr Sirâceddîn states that he served as emir of Karahisâr-ı Şarkî and as treasurer of Anatolia, that he died in 703 [1303-04], and that his sons were Tâceddîn Mahmûd, Burhâneddîn Ahmed and Emîneddîn Yûnus.

Tâceddîn Mahmûd Bey

The real founder of the family in Amasya was Tâceddîn Mahmûd Bey. According to Hüsameddin he was an infant at the breast when his father was taken captive; when his grandfather Hâce Yûnus was also killed, he grew up with his mother under the protection of his cousin Azîzeddîn Mehmed Bey. In this passage the book names Pervâne as his maternal uncle, whereas in the entry on Sirâceddîn İsmâil Pervâne is his father's maternal uncle. Tâceddîn Mahmûd first served as secretary to Pervâne's grandson Mühezzebeddîn Mes'ûd Bey, and then, under the Ilkhanid governor İşboğa Noyin, as müstevfî of the province of Rum. Attaching himself to Emir Choban and his son Timurtash, he was appointed governor of Amasya in Safer 720 [1320], ruled the city for about two years and began building a mosque near his residence. In 722 [1322] Timurtash called him to Sivas and made him his counsellor.

When Timurtash rebelled in 727 [1326-27] and fled to Egypt, Tâceddîn Mahmûd went with him. The Mamluk sultan had Timurtash killed and threw Tâceddîn Mahmûd and Âşık Pasha of his retinue into the dungeon of Alexandria. The chronological part tells the story differently: after Yahşî Bey of Karaman entered Amasya, he seized Tâceddîn Mahmûd, his steward Musliheddîn Kutlu and his slaves Pars and Laçin Beys and sent them to Egypt. Tâceddîn Mahmûd was released in 732 [1331-32] and returned to Amasya, where his confiscated property was restored to him, and he died in Rebiülâhir 735 [1334-35]. He was buried in his own tomb northwest of the tomb of Pîr İlyâs; because the gravestones had disappeared, Hüsameddin was unable to find its inscription.

Tâceddîn Mahmûd's Brothers and Sons

His brother Burhâneddîn Ahmed Çelebi became emir of Samsun with Timurtash's backing, was dismissed in 727, returned to Samsun in 731 [1330-31] and took the title "Emîrü's-sevâhil" (emir of the coasts). Because he opposed Eretna Bey, he suffered a surprise attack by Hâbiloğlu Tûlî Han Bey, withdrew to Amasya and died around 739 [1338-39]. The book also mentions a son of Tâceddîn Mahmûd bearing the same name; the district of Gümüş Hacıköy was the estate of "Burhâneddîn Ahmed Bey, brother of Abdullah Çelebi". Whether this Burhâneddîn was an uncle or a nephew is not resolved within the book. Halîl Bey (Emîr Bedreddîn), son of the third brother Yûnus Bey, held office as an emir in his uncle's shadow, withdrew into retirement when his uncle was exiled, and later, attaching himself to Hacı Kutlu Şâh, appears among the great emirs in 756 [1355].

Tâceddîn Mahmûd's sons were Nizâmeddîn Abdullah, Şemseddîn Ahmed, Sirâceddîn Mehmed and Kıvâmeddîn Kâsım Çelebi. Abdullah Çelebi (Hâce Nizâmeddîn el-Müstevfî) became Eretna Bey's minister of finance in Sivas when his father went to Egypt; in the chronological part he appears as "Celâleddîn Abdullah Çelebi", müstevfî of Amasya, in 737 [1336-37] and 739. His son Mehmed Bey died around 758 [1356-57], and his grandson Hâce Sinâneddîn Yûsuf became treasurer to Hacı Şâdgeldi Pasha. According to Hüsameddin, Şemseddîn Ahmed's grandson Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi endowed the Helkis Garden to the Tâciye, his great-grandfather's mosque, in 804 [1401-02]. The same endowment is described in other ways elsewhere in the book: in the entry Ahmed Çelebi-Mevlânâ Şemseddîn the date is 802 [1399-1400], the founder's father is İmâdzâde Mü'eyyideddîn Mehmed Çelebi, and he is linked to the family through his mother; in the section on the quarters the date is 805.

Hâce Celâl Çelebi and the Hâcegân Branch

The descendants of Kıvâmeddîn Kâsım Çelebi formed the branch of the family engaged in trade and finance. According to most passages of the book his sons were Hâce Celâl Çelebi, Hayreddîn Halîl Çelebi and Ahmed Çelebi, and his daughter was Râziye Hâtun, the wife of Pîr İlyâs. The entry Ahmed Bey-Gümüşlüzâde, however, describes Ahmed Bey as having died around 764 [1362-63] and makes Hâce Celâl his grandson. Considering that Hâce Celâl died in 815 at over seventy years of age, this order does not fit the count of generations. That the entry on Ahmed Bey's son Safiyüddîn Mahmûd Halvetî calls Hâce Celâl his "paternal uncle" also supports the first order.

After completing his studies Hâce Celâl Çelebi went into trade and became a man of wealth. He worked in finance under Hacı Şâdgeldi Pasha, became treasurer of Amasya in 783 [1381-82], was dismissed in 788 [1386] during Bayezid I's governorship of Amasya, and returned to office at the beginning of 796 [1393-94]. In the turmoil that followed Timur he sided with Çelebi Mehmed (Mehmed I) and put his finances in order. Hüsameddin also records that Çelebi Mehmed bought the site of the Gümüşlüzâde Pavilion from Hâce Celâl and built a palace there. Hâce Celâl, trustee of the family's endowments, built a zaviye with a pavilion beside it for his kinsman Pîr İlyâs, and when the Pîr died he raised a wooden tomb over his grave. He died in 815 [1412-13].

His brother Hayreddîn Halîl Çelebi became keeper of the public treasury under Hacı Şâdgeldi Pasha and died around 796. Hâce Celâl's son Habîb Çelebi became trustee of the endowments of Tâceddîn Mahmûd and served as treasurer of Amasya during Yörgüç Pasha's governorship, being dismissed in 838 [1434-35]. Bâlî Çelebi, son of his other son İlyâs Çelebi, became judge of Merzifon in 844 [1440-41] and deputy judge of Amasya in 857 [1453], and died around 870 [1465-66]. His daughter Selâmet Hâtun married the chief judge İmâdzâde Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi, endowed her property to her husband's zaviye in İçerişehir and died after 817 [1414-15].

Pîr İlyâs

The man who carried the family's name beyond Amasya was Pîr İlyâs Halvetî (Şücâeddîn Ebü'l-Bekâ). According to Hüsameddin he was born around 740 [1339-40] in the Gümüşlüzâde quarter, studied under Amasya's leading teachers and became a madrasa teacher known as "Molla İlyâs". He won the favour of Hacı Şâdgeldi Pasha and of his son Ahmed Pasha, became mufti and şeyhülislam of Amasya, and when Çelebi Mehmed came to Amasya in 801 [1398-99] he left him in that office.

After the Battle of Ankara the scholars and notables of Amasya, led by Pîr İlyâs, refused to admit Kara Devletşâh, whom Timur had sent as governor. In Hüsameddin's account Timur, angered, sent his grandson Kara Mehmed Sultan and his tutor Abdülcebbâr el-Mu'tezilî, ordering that the scholars be examined and the city plundered if they failed to answer. Pîr İlyâs answered some ten difficult questions without hesitation, and the city was saved. Timur nevertheless exiled him to Shirvan together with his nephew Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi. In Baku Pîr İlyâs stayed for about four years with Sadreddîn Mûsâ Şirvânî and received the Halvetî authorization (hilafet); after Timur's death he was pardoned in 807 [1404-05], returned to Amasya and settled in the lodge that Hâce Celâl Çelebi had built for him. According to Hüsameddin he died on the third day of Şevval 813 [January 1411] in his garden at the head of the Kuş Bridge; the story that, as his body was being washed, one leg of the washing board broke and the Pîr held the board with his hand appears also in Ya'kûb Pasha's endowment deed of 814. The date of death differs in the sources: Kadir Özköse, in his article on the Halvetî lodges of Amasya, gives it as 833 [1429] and places the return to Amasya in 1406.

Hüsameddin lists Pîr İlyâs's sons as Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi (d. 806 [1403-04]), İzzeddîn Hasan Çelebi (d. 831 [1427-28]) and Pîr Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân Çelebi (d. 843 [1439-40]), his daughter as Râbi'a Hâtun, and his son-in-law as his nephew Şeyhülislam Abdurrahmân Çelebi. Râbi'a Hâtun spread learning among women, was known as "Molla Râbi'a Hâtun" and died in 829 [1425-26]. His wife Râziye Hâtun also received learning and the Sufi path from her husband, died around 815 and was buried at his feet. The well-known fifteenth-century woman poet Mihrî Hatun was also, according to her entry in the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, a granddaughter of Pîr İlyâs; her father was Kadı Hasan Amasyevî, who wrote under the pen name Belâyî, and she was buried in Amasya in the graveyard of her grandfather's lodge. Hüsameddin, however, mentions Mihrî Hatun only as the poetry teacher of Safiye Hâtun, who married into the family, and says nothing of this kinship.

Şeyhülislam Abdurrahmân Çelebi and Nişancı Ahmed Pasha

Pîr İlyâs's brother Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi studied under Kıvâmeddîn Kâsım Erzincânî, became a renowned madrasa teacher in Amasya, was appointed judge of Tokat in 791 [1389], and died in 795 [1392-93] during Kadı Burhâneddîn's raid on Tokat. His two sons were the most influential men of Amasya at the beginning of the fifteenth century.

The elder son, Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân Çelebi, studied under his uncle Pîr İlyâs and married his daughter Râbi'a Hâtun. He taught at the madrasa of Hacı Şâdgeldi Pasha, and when Pîr İlyâs was sent to Shirvan in 804 he succeeded him as mufti and şeyhülislam of Amasya. He headed the council of scholars that invited Çelebi Mehmed from Bolu, and it was he who conveyed the notables' conditions to the prince when he reached the gorge of Amasya; for these services he was given the titles "Şeyhülislâm" and "Müfti's-sakaleyn" (mufti of men and jinn). In 815 [1412-13] Ya'kûb Pasha built and endowed the Çilehâne Lodge for him north of the tomb of Pîr İlyâs; Özköse writes that the endowment deed is dated Zilkade 815 [February 1413]. Abdurrahmân Çelebi eventually gave up the office of mufti, became sheikh of the Gümüşlüzâde zaviye, and died in Ramazan 827 [1424]. The section on the lodges shows him as sheikh immediately after the death of Pîr İlyâs, while his own entry says he became sheikh after the death of Pîr İlyâs's deputy Şerefeddîn Hamza in 818 [1415-16]. Özköse's article attributes the pen name "Hüsâmî" to this Abdurrahmân Çelebi; in Hüsameddin the pen name belongs to Pîr Abdurrahmân Çelebi of Kuba, who died in 903.

The younger son, Ahmed Pasha (Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi), also studied under Pîr İlyâs. The book calls him Pîr İlyâs's "cousin", though he was in fact the son of his brother; Hüsameddin himself calls him Pîr İlyâs's nephew in the chronological part. He distinguished himself at the examination held by Timur's envoys, was sent to Shirvan with his uncle, and returned with him in 808 [1405-06]. He presented to the sultan the Mir'âtü'l-Mülûk, which he had written in Çelebi Mehmed's name; Hüsameddin notes that a copy of the work survives in the Es'ad Efendi Library under the name "Ahmed bin Hüsâmeddîn el-Amâsî". He became Çelebi Mehmed's chief secretary in 811 [1408-09] and nişancı (head of the chancery) in 816 [1413-14], and reached the rank of vizier in 822 [1419]. Under Murad II, during the grand vizierate of Çandarlızâde İbrâhim Pasha, he was retired on the pretext of old age, and he died at the end of 827. According to the chronological part he completed a mosque near the zaviye of Pîr İlyâs in 824 [1421], and he was also the one who built the first chamber over the Pîr's grave.

The Ahmed Pashazâdes

Ahmed Pasha's sons were Hüsâmeddîn Hasan and Bedreddîn Mahmûd Bey. Mahmûd Bey's descendants held posts in the state's finances at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century. The book gives the order of generations in two ways: the entry Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Bey introduces him as Mahmûd Bey's son who died in 881 [1476-77], and says that his sons were Abdullah and Sa'dullah, known as "Abdul and Sa'dul Beys"; the entries on Ahmed Bey and Hüsâmeddîn Pasha, on the other hand, make Abdullah (Abdul) Bey a son of Mahmûd Bey directly.

Abdullah Bey's son Treasurer Ahmed Şemseddîn Bey became council secretary and then treasurer to Prince Bayezid, governor of Amasya, and when Bayezid came to the throne in 886 [1481] he became chief treasurer. His rivals portrayed him, together with Grand Vizier İshâk Pasha and the chief secretary Pîr Ahmed Çelebi, as partisans of Cem Sultan. According to his own entry in 889 [1484], according to the chronological part in 888 [1483], he was dismissed and exiled to Dimetoka. He rebuilt and enlarged the Tâciye Mosque of his ancestors; the Persian couplet over its door shows that the building was completed in 890 [1485]. The entry on Ahmed Pasha says that he was killed in 890, while his own entry writes that he died in Dimetoka at the beginning of 891 [1486] and that there was a tradition in Amasya that he had been killed. In 1308 [1890-91] Hüsameddin went to Dimetoka to look for his grave, but at the place shown to him he found nothing but a small black stone without an inscription.

His brother Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Pasha entered the household of Prince Selim, who went to Trabzon as governor in 896 [1490-91], and in 912 [1506-07] went to Istanbul as a treasury secretary, reporting events in the capital to Trabzon. When Selim came to the throne he became treasurer of Rumelia, chief treasurer and, in 922 [1516], a dome vizier. During the Egyptian campaign at Khan Yunis he said that crossing the Sinai desert would be difficult, and for fear that his words would spread among the troops he was executed on the sixteenth day of Zilhicce 922 [January 1517]. Another brother, Sinâneddîn Yûsuf Bey, was one of Prince Ahmed's council secretaries before becoming registrar of the province of Rum; after serving as treasurer of Sivas he took part in the Rumelian campaigns as a sanjak governor and died around 945 [1538-39].

Hayreddîn Hızır Çelebi and the Upper Pîrs

Pîr İlyâs's son Pîr Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân Çelebi became sheikh of the Gümüşlüzâde zaviye after the death of Şerefeddîn Hamza, held the post for about twenty years and died in 843. Pîr İlyâs's grandson Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi (son of Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi) became sheikh of the lodge on his uncle's death and died in 858 [1454].

The family's best-known sheikh of the fifteenth century was Pîr Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân's son Hayreddîn Hızır Çelebi. Having completed his spiritual training under Pîr Sun'ullâh, he became sheikh of the Gümüşlüzâde Lodge, preacher of the Gümüşlüzâde Mosque and sheikh of the Ya'kûb Pasha Lodge, and was regarded as the sheikh of Prince Bayezid, governor of Amasya. Hüsameddin writes that when Cem Sultan's claim to the throne troubled Bayezid, Hayreddîn Hızır and Cemâlîzâde Mehmed Çelebi assured the prince that the throne would be his and asked him to build a mosque, madrasa and public kitchen in Amasya. He died in Zilhicce 889 [1484] and was buried as the third beside Pîr İlyâs and Şeyhülislam Abdurrahmân; the following year Bayezid II built a masonry tomb over these three Pîrs. His wife Râziye Hâtun was the daughter of Hüsâmeddîn Çelebi, the sheikh of Kuba, and died at the end of 898 [1492-93].

Hayreddîn Hızır's son Pîr Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi learned calligraphy from the Amasya calligrapher Abdullah Efendi and in 896 accompanied Prince Selim to Trabzon as his calligraphy teacher. He stayed with him for twenty-four years, became chief secretary of the council and his companion when Selim came to the throne, and died in Damascus in 923 [1517] on the way back from the Egyptian campaign. Müstakîmzâde's Tuhfe-i Hattâtîn calls him "Molla Şems-i Pîr". Another son, Sofu Üveys Çelebi, lived in seclusion at his grandfather's tomb for more than fifty years, became sheikh of the lodge when Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi was taken to Istanbul, and died around 968 [1560-61]; his grave was lost when the tomb was enlarged in 1312 [1894-95]. Hayreddîn Hızır's own entry counts Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi among his sons, whereas other entries place Muhyiddîn Mehmed in the other line of Pîr İlyâs's grandsons.

The Kuba Branch and the Lower Pîrs

A branch joined to the family through a daughter produced the sheikhs later known as the "Lower Pîrs". Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi (Seydî Hüsâmzâde) descended from Seydî Hüsâmeddîn Fergânî, one of the Husaynid sayyids. He studied under Pîr Abdurrahmân Çelebi of Pîr İlyâs's family and became his son-in-law; after serving as judge of Tokat and Sivas he built in the Kuba quarter a mescit, a madrasa called the Hüsâmiyye, a zaviye and a tomb on top of the rock, and he died in 867 [1463]. Hüsameddin writes that his sons were called "Gümüşlüzâdes" because they were grandchildren of Pîr İlyâs through a daughter. The Kuba sheikh's wife is given in one place as the daughter of Pîr İlyâs's son Pîr Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân, and elsewhere as Âbide Hâtun, daughter of Şeyhülislam Abdurrahmân and Râbi'a Hâtun.

The Kuba sheikh's son Pîr Abdurrahmân Çelebi (Mevlânâ Hüsâmî) was born in the Gümüşlüzâde quarter in 840 [1436-37], was formed in the company of Hayreddîn Hızır Çelebi and after his death became sheikh of the Ya'kûb Pasha zaviye. Prince Ahmed became his disciple and at times attended his sermons. Abdurrahmân Çelebi, who wrote Sufi poems and hymns under the pen name Hüsâmî, died in 903 [1497-98] and was buried in the sheikh's cell of the zaviye; over the window in front of his grave are carved Persian couplets stating that he was of the line of Pîr İlyâs. His daughter Âlime Hâtun married Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi, spread learning among women and died in 933 [1526-27] in Mecca, where she had gone with her husband.

Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi and the Judges

Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân Efendi, son of Pîr İlyâs's grandson Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi, became the deputy of his cousin Hayreddîn Hızır, succeeded him at the Gümüşlüzâde zaviye on his death and died in 908 [1502-03]. The entry on his son Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi must have stood in the lost fifth volume of the book; his life can be traced through other entries and the chronological part. On the death of his father-in-law Hüsâmî he became sheikh of the Ya'kûb Pasha zaviye and was regarded as the sheikh of Prince Ahmed. When Ahmed proclaimed himself sultan in Amasya in 918 [1512], he had him recite the prayer at the oath-taking ceremony. After Selim I seized the throne and Ahmed's partisans in Amasya were scattered, Muhyiddîn Mehmed too was sent to Istanbul and thrown into the dungeon of Yedikule; released by Selim's order in 925 [1519], he went to the Hijaz, returned to Amasya in 926, and according to the couplets on Hüsâmî's grave died in Mecca in 934 [1527-28]. Hüsameddin also writes that "Gümüşlüzâde eş-Şeyh Muhyiddîn Mehmed el-Halvetî" lies in the Gümüşlüzâde Tomb in Selağzı; how this record can be reconciled with the death in Mecca is unclear.

His son Halîl Çelebi became a madrasa teacher and trustee of his grandfather's endowment, and joined the circle of Prince Mustafa. When the prince was killed in 960 [1553], he was removed from Amasya by appointment as judge of Kayseri; pardoned in 967 [1559-60], he retired with the post of teacher at the Mehmed Pasha Madrasa and died around 978 [1570-71]. Halîl Çelebi's sons İbrâhim Çelebi (d. c. 1004 [1595-96]) and Abdullah Çelebi (d. 1008 [1599-1600]) served as judges. Abdullah Çelebi's son Sîmî Ahmed Çelebi was a calligrapher and poet; he gave up the judgeship to teach learning and calligraphy, became council secretary of the sanjak of Amasya in 1027 [1618] and died in 1032 [1622-23].

The Şemsî Pashazâdes and Çelebi İbrâhim Pasha

The branch that raised the family name again in the seventeenth century was joined to the family through the female line. Şemseddîn Ahmed Pasha was the son of the judge Mustafa Efendi bin Resûl Çelebi; Hüsameddin writes that he "must have been a Gümüşlüzâde on his mother's side", and in the section on the quarters counts him among the descendants of Treasurer Ahmed Bey. In 1012 [1603-04], while judge of Çorum, he persuaded Deli Zülfikâr Ağa, the rebellious town steward of Amasya, to submit to the state; he then rose to the treasuries of Konya and Sivas and to the beylerbeyships of Batum, Sivas and Shahrizor, and died in Shahrizor at the end of 1020 [1611-12]. He had a large mansion in the Gümüşlüzâde quarter with a fountain he built in front of it, and it was he who had the Gümüşlü Mosque rebuilt after it burned in the fire of 1011 [1602-03].

His son Ali Bey was killed in the Baghdad campaign while governor of the sanjak of Bozok. His grandson Ahmed Pasha (Şemsî Pashazâde) became governor of Bozok in 1048 [1638-39], then served as beylerbey in some ten provinces, was several times governor of Amasya in between, and in 1067 [1656-57] went to the Dardanelles with Köprülü Mehmed Pasha as deputy grand admiral and took part in the recovery of Lemnos. His sister's son Şemsî Mehmed Bey became his treasurer and council secretary, and later treasurer of Kamaniçe and Temeşvar.

Neslihan Hanım, daughter of Şemsî Pashazâde Ahmed Pasha, married İsmâil Ağa, who came from the Sufi branch of the family. İsmâil Ağa became his father-in-law's steward and deputy governor of Amasya, and died in 1086 [1675-76] while living at Küçük Ayasofya in Istanbul. His son Çelebi İbrâhim Pasha attached himself to Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha when the latter came to Amasya in 1069 [1658-59]; from steward of the gatekeepers he rose to beylerbey of Eğri, then, for his services at the conquest of Kamaniçe, to the vizierate and the commands of Kamaniçe and Temeşvar, and to the governorships of Erzurum, Baghdad and Damascus. Because he demanded campaign expenses he was removed from Damascus in 1096 [1685]; later restored to favour, he was given the sanjak of Amasya as a supplementary revenue (arpalık), served at Temeşvar, Sofia, Euboea, the Morea and Belgrade, became deputy grand vizier in Istanbul and agha of the Janissaries, and died in 1113 [1701] as governor of Van. Hüsameddin pointedly notes that Süreyyâ Bey's Sicill-i Osmânî merges this pasha with Gürcü İbrâhim Pasha.

In these generations, too, the book does not fully agree with itself. The entry on İbrâhim Çelebi names his son as Mehmed Çelebi, while the entry on İsmâil Ağa makes him the son of İbrâhim Çelebi bin Halîl Çelebi; that the son of a father who died in 1004 should have died in 1086 suggests that a generation may have dropped out. İbrâhim Pasha's descent is given in his own entry as "going back to Hazret-i Pîr İlyâs Halvetî", whereas the section on tombs calls him "of the descendants of the Pîr's brother".

The Last Sheikhs, Tomb Keepers and Trustees

The descendants of Sofu Üveys Çelebi were called the "Üveys Oğulları". His grandson Ahmed Efendi (Şeyh Üveys Oğlu) died around 983 [1575-76] as trustee of his ancestor's tomb and endowment, tomb keeper and sheikh of the Gümüşlü Zaviye. His entry names his son as İzzeddîn Hasan Efendi; Hasan Efendi (Veysîzâde), who gives his father as "Ahmed Çelebi bin Abdurrahmân Efendi bin eş-Şeyh Üveys", is very probably this son. He was twice dismissed from and three times restored to the post of sheikh of the Ya'kûb Pasha zaviye, and died in 1043 [1633-34] as preacher of the Gümüşlüzâde Mosque. According to the list in the section on lodges, the post of sheikh of the lodge and keeper of Pîr İlyâs's tomb passed during the seventeenth century among Ali Çelebi, Hacı Mehmed Çelebi, Mustafa Efendi of the Pîr's female line, and Mahmûd Efendi of the family.

Mahmûd Efendi's son Hâfız Hasan Efendi became trustee of the endowment and sheikh of the lodge in 1124 [1712] and died in 1135 [1722-23]; in the section on lodges the same person appears as "Hâfız Hüseyin Efendi". His son İsmâil Efendi (Ebeoğlu) was the last great sheikh of the family. He managed affairs as guardian alongside his brother Abdürrahîm, who was judged unfit, and became sheikh of the lodge in 1150 [1737-38]. On his advice Fâtıma Hanım of Amasya, a lady of Sultan Mahmud I's palace, built a madrasa in place of the Gümüşlüoğlu Lodge in 1153 [1740-41], and İsmâil Efendi became the first teacher of this Fâtımiye Madrasa. He died in 1179 [1765-66] and was buried in the precinct of the Pîr's tomb; with his death the offices of tomb keeper and madrasa teacher were separated. His nephew's descendants, under the name "Ebezâde", kept the trusteeship of the Pîr İlyâs endowment until 1280 [1863-64].

Buildings, Endowments and the Quarter

The Gümüşlüzâde quarter. According to Hüsameddin's description the quarter lies east of Selağzı, between Yassı Kaya and the Sofular and Sofîzâde quarters. The place once called "Gıyâseddîn Şâh Mülkü" was entered in official records as the Gümüşlüzâde quarter after Tâceddîn Mahmûd. Çelebi Mehmed built a palace on the site of the Gümüşlüzâde Pavilion in the upper part of the quarter, while the Gümüşlüzâde Garden gradually turned into a cemetery as the elders of the family were buried there. The name of the district lives on today as the Gümüşlü quarter.

The Gümüşlü Mosque (Tâciye). According to Hüsameddin, Tâceddîn Mahmûd built the mosque in 725 [1324-25]. Ahmed Pasha repaired it after it was ruined in the earthquake of 818, and after a fire Treasurer Ahmed Bey rebuilt it in masonry in 890 [1485] and added a minaret. It was repaired by Şemseddîn Pasha after the fire of 1011 and by Çelebi İbrâhim Pasha in 1099 [1687-88], and after the fire of 1133 [1720-21] the trustee Hacı Mustafa Ağa rebuilt it. The descriptive text of the Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism dates the first building to 1326, and writes that the mosque was destroyed in the earthquake of 1419, rebuilt in 1491 by "Defterdar Mahmut Bey", repaired after the fire of 1612 by Şemseddîn Pasha and in 1688 by Gümüşlüzâde İbrâhim Bey, and that it took its present name from this last repair. Since the inscription Hüsameddin read gives 890 and Ahmed Bey, the date 1491 and the name "Mahmut Bey" do not agree with it; according to Hüsameddin the mosque was already called the "Gümüşlüzâde Mosque" in the fifteenth century. The present building is of cut stone, square in plan and covered by an octagonal dome; the porch on the north was added in 1903.

The Gümüşlüoğlu Lodge. The building Hüsameddin calls "the first lodge built in Amasya specifically for the Halvetîs" stood in the area east and south of the mosque. Özköse writes that during the years of the Interregnum the lodge's public kitchen opened its doors to many refugees and poor people. In place of the lodge, which had served the family as a place of worship for more than two hundred years, Fâtıma Hanım's wooden madrasa was built in 1153. The zaviye and pavilion that Hâce Celâl built for Pîr İlyâs were called "Kasr-ı Ârifân". The "Kasr-ı Sûfiyân" zaviye at the head of the Sofular quarter is attributed by the book in one place to Hâce Celâl and in the entry on Ahmed Pasha to Ahmed Pasha.

The Tomb of Pîr İlyâs (the Upper Pîrs). It stands on a small hill at the head of the cemetery west of the Beyler Palace. The building that Bayezid II had built in 890 was arranged with the tomb in the middle and prayer rooms for men and women at the sides; villages from Merzifon were endowed to it and the trusteeship was given to the descendants of Hayreddîn Hızır; the book speaks of two villages in one place and of three in the entry on Pîr İlyâs. Inside lie the three Pîrs, and at their feet four women of the family. Çelebi İbrâhim Pasha repaired the tomb in 1100 [1688-89] and, according to the Cihât registers, endowed a teaching post to it and built a fountain in its precinct. Worn by earthquakes, the building was pulled down in 1312 and rebuilt, preserving its old arrangement, with the help of the townspeople and funds given by Abdülhamid II. Özköse writes that the graves around the tomb were removed in 1938 by the governor Talat Öncel and the area turned into a park.

Other tombs and endowments. The Tâceddîn Tomb near the tomb of Pîr İlyâs is a small hexagonal building of dark, almost black stone, its dome band decorated with flowers. Inside lie Tâceddîn Mahmûd, his wife Döndü Hâtun and his daughter Ayşe Hâtun; the endowment was arranged by Ayşe Hâtun. Of the Hüsâmiyye mescit, madrasa and zaviye on the Kuba rock, only the mescit and a fountain were standing in Hüsameddin's time. The family's endowments also extended beyond Amasya: Treasurer Ahmed Bey endowed his farms at Dimetoka in 888, and Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi founded a zaviye in the village of Eslemez.

Family Tree

The scheme below has been compiled from Hüsameddin's entries. The links on which the book contradicts itself are noted above; the scheme follows the order repeated in the largest number of entries, and connections resting on a single entry only are marked with parentheses.

  • Mu'îneddîn Abdullah el-Müstevfî (d. c. 647)
    • Emîneddîn (Sa'deddîn) Yûnus, "Emîr Gümüşlü" (d. 675-676)
      • Nûreddîn Cibrîl Bey
        • Kutbeddîn Mehmed Çelebi
          • Pîr Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi
            • Pîr İlyâs (d. 813; wife Râziye Hâtun)
              • Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi (d. 806)
                • Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi (d. 858)
                  • Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân Efendi (d. 908)
                    • Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi (d. 934; wives Âlime Hâtun and Safiye Hâtun)
                      • Halîl Çelebi (d. c. 978)
                        • İbrâhim Çelebi (d. c. 1004)
                          • (İsmâil Ağa, d. 1086; wife Neslihan Hanım)
                            • Çelebi İbrâhim Pasha (d. 1113)
                        • Abdullah Çelebi (d. 1008)
                          • Sîmî Ahmed Çelebi (d. 1032)
            • İzzeddîn Hasan Çelebi (d. 831)
              • Kemâleddîn Mehmed Çelebi (d. 860, Mecca)
            • Pîr Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân Çelebi (d. 843)
              • Hayreddîn Hızır Çelebi (d. 889; wife Râziye Hâtun)
                • Pîr Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi, Şems-i Pîr (d. 923)
                • Sofu Üveys Çelebi (d. c. 968)
                  • Abdurrahmân Çelebi
                    • Ahmed Efendi (d. c. 983)
                      • (İzzeddîn) Hasan Efendi, Veysîzâde (d. 1043)
            • Râbi'a Hâtun (d. 829), wife of Şeyhülislam Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân Çelebi
          • Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi (d. 795)
            • Şeyhülislam Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân Çelebi (d. 827)
              • (Âbide Hâtun; husband Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi, sheikh of Kuba, d. 867)
                • Pîr Abdurrahmân Çelebi, Hüsâmî (d. 903)
                  • Âlime Hâtun (d. 933)
                • Râziye Hâtun (d. 898), wife of Hayreddîn Hızır Çelebi
            • Nişancı Şemseddîn Ahmed Pasha (d. 827)
              • Hüsâmeddîn Hasan Bey
              • Bedreddîn Mahmûd Bey
                • (Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Bey, d. 881)
                • Abdullah (Abdul) Bey
                  • Treasurer Ahmed Şemseddîn Bey (d. 891)
                  • Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Pasha (d. 922)
                  • Sinâneddîn Yûsuf Bey (d. c. 945)
    • Sirâceddîn İsmâil Bey (d. 703)
      • Tâceddîn Mahmûd Bey (d. 735; wife Döndü Hâtun)
        • Nizâmeddîn (Celâleddîn) Abdullah Çelebi
          • Mehmed Bey (d. c. 758)
            • Hâce Sinâneddîn Yûsuf Çelebi
        • Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi
          • Mü'eyyideddîn Mehmed Çelebi
            • Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi (Helkis endowment)
        • Sirâceddîn Mehmed Çelebi
        • Kıvâmeddîn Kâsım Çelebi
          • Hâce Celâl Çelebi (d. 815)
            • Hâce Kâsım Çelebi
              • Hâce Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi
            • Habîb Çelebi (dismissed 838)
            • İlyâs Çelebi
              • Bâlî Çelebi (d. c. 870)
            • Selâmet Hâtun (d. after 817)
          • Hayreddîn Halîl Çelebi (d. c. 796)
          • Ahmed Bey (d. c. 764)
            • Safiyüddîn Mahmûd Çelebi (d. 827)
          • Râziye Hâtun (d. c. 815), wife of Pîr İlyâs
        • Ayşe Hâtun
      • Burhâneddîn Ahmed Çelebi (d. c. 739)
      • Yûnus Bey
        • Halîl Bey, Emîr Bedreddîn
  • Branch joined through the female line: Şemseddîn Ahmed Pasha (d. 1020)
    • Ali Bey
      • Ahmed Pasha, Şemsî Pashazâde
        • Neslihan Hanım, wife of İsmâil Ağa

    • Family Members in Hüsameddin

    Bibliography

    Primary sources

    • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 1-4, Amasya Municipality Cultural Publications, 2022 (e-book pp. 90-91, 100, 102, 117, 125, 130-132, 137-138, 145, 150, 154-155, 174, 182, 192-193, 361-362, 384-389, 396-402, 418-419, 424, 452-468, 480-483, 494-509, 603; the Gümüşlüzâde quarter, the Tâciye Mosque, the tombs of Pîr İlyâs and Tâceddîn, the Gümüşlüoğlu and Çilehâne lodges, the definition of "The Gümüşlü Lineage", the district of Gümüş and the chronological part): https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/1-4/files/basic-html/page182.html
    • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 6-8, Amasya Municipality Cultural Publications, 2022 (e-book pp. 37, 47-48, 115-120, 125-126, 147, 169-170, 181, 301, 308, 316, 376, 393, 416, 443-447, 479-480, 517-519, 564, 572-576, 596, 616): https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/6-8/files/basic-html/page443.html
    • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 9-12, Amasya Municipality Cultural Publications, 2022 (e-book pp. 125, 127, 149, 151, 195, 197, 252, 279, 318, 349, 381, 403, 407, 411, 445, 447, 483, 499, 556, 561): https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/9-12/files/basic-html/page556.html

    Academic studies

    Official sources

    Online sources