The Hâbilzâdes are among the oldest and longest-lived families of Amasya. According to Hüsameddin, the line goes back to Güdül Bey, one of the emirs of Amasya in the Seljuk period. It takes its name from Şücâeddîn Hâbil Bey, emîrü's-sevâhil (commander of the coasts) in the middle of the thirteenth century, and its Ottoman-era surname from his descendant Celâleddîn Hâbil Bey, who appears among the notables of Amasya at the end of the fourteenth century. From this line came Emîr Şeyh İzzeddîn Hasan Bey, who governed Sivas in the age of the Eretnids; Tuli Han, who took Amasya in 742 [1341-42] and held it as an independent emirate for six years; and İbrâhim Bey "Ahî Dayı", remembered for his dervish lodge in Tokat. Under the Ottomans the family passed from the men of the sword to the men of the pen. The sons of Seydî Ali Çelebi, who rose to be chief judge of Rumelia under Bayezid II, served as judges, treasurers and city stewards under the name "Seydî Alizâde", and the hadith school in the Pirinççi quarter was the work of this branch.

Not everyone in the book who bears the name "Hâbilzâde" belongs to this line. The calligrapher and Qur'an-reciter sons of the preacher Hâbilzâde Mehmed Efendi, mufti of Amasya in the mid-seventeenth century, and the house of Âdem Bey, known in the late sixteenth century as the "Âdemoğulları", are recorded under the same name; there is no evidence that either was connected to the line of Güdül Bey. Hüsameddin's Amasya Tarihi contains thirty entries on these three houses, to which dozens of references in the chronicle sections and in the entries of other people can be added. The records run from the middle of the thirteenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth and allow a family bearing the same name to be traced in Amasya across six centuries. Most of the entries are short and some contradict one another; yet because fathers' names are given in chains, the main line can be reconstructed over seventeen generations.

Name and Origins

Hüsameddin traces the family to Türkânşâh, counted as a grandson through the female line of the Seljuk Sultan Mes'ûd I, and to Türkânşâh's father, Emîr Şehâbeddevle Güdül Bey. Türkânşâh's son Tuli Bey was atabeg to Prince Celâleddîn Sencer Şah, who governed Amasya, and he died in 613 [1216-17]. Of Tuli Bey's two sons, the descendants of Mübârizeddîn Halîfe Alp were called the "Halfet Gâzioğulları", and the descendants of Hâbil Bey, son of Bedreddîn İbrâhim Bey, the "Hâbiloğulları". Hüsameddin writes that these two great lineages produced "a good many men of learning and of the sword". İbrâhim Bey became melikü'l-ümerâ together with his brother in the reign of Alâeddîn Keykubâd and was killed in 637 [1239-40] in the war against Baba İshak.

There are two different Hâbils in the family name, and they must not be confused. The first is İbrâhim Bey's son, emîrü's-sevâhil Şücâeddîn Hâbil Bey; the chronicle section relates that in the Seljuk state under Mongol domination he was made commander of the coasts in 653 [1255-56] and that in 655 [1257-58] he was in the party that accompanied the young Sultan Alâeddîn Keykubâd to Mughan. In the time of this Hâbil's son İzzeddîn Hasan Bey and his grandson Tuli Han the family was called "Hâbiloğlu". The second is Tuli Han's grandson Celâleddîn Hâbil Bey, who appears among the notables of Amasya in 798 [1395-96]. The surname "Hâbilzâde" that appears in the Ottoman-era entries was used from the time of this second Hâbil's sons, Hasan, Sa'îd and Abdülhalîm Beys. In the entry on Tuli Han Hüsameddin says that "the Hâbilzâde lineage is well known in Amasya" and adds that the line had survived to his own day.

The branches descended from the grandsons of Celâleddîn Hâbil Bey are, by Hüsameddin's count, the "Hâbilzâde, Seydî Alizâde, İskenderzâde and Şa'bânzâde" branches. The name Seydî Alizâde comes from Seydî Ali Çelebi, chief judge of Rumelia; İskenderzâde from his grandson, the treasurer İskender Çelebi; and Şa'bânzâde from Şa'bân Ağa, deputy to the district governor at the beginning of the seventeenth century. In the book the members of these branches are written sometimes as "Seydîzâde" and sometimes as "Seydî Alîzâde". Hüsameddin also says that "the Kadızâdes too must be a branch of them"; this is a guess, and the book gives no evidence for it.

Because the same names occur in other families, some distinctions need to be made. Seydî Alizâde Abdurrahman Efendi (d. 983 [1575-76]), twice military judge of Rumelia under Süleyman the Magnificent and known as "Kızıl Molla", was the son of the Amasya mufti Beyzâde Seydî Ali Efendi bin Ahmed Çelebi and did not belong to this line. Şeyh Seydî Ali Çelebi, deputy of Habîb-i Karamânî, and his son Habîb Efendi; Seydîzâde Arslan Bey of the Taşanoğulları; the Seydîzâde Eyyûb Ağas of Merzifon; and the Şa'bânzâde Hüseyin and Sa'deddîn Efendis of Köprü are likewise separate families. Şa'bânzâde Abdürrezzâk Efendi (d. 1212 [1797-98]), one of the notables of Amasya, has been left out because the book does not connect him with these Şa'bânzâdes.

The family of the mufti Hâbilzâde Mehmed Efendi must be kept apart as well. Hüsameddin does not name his father or grandfather. In Mehmed Efendi's lifetime there were other "Hâbil"s in Amasya: Hâbil Çelebi, son of Seydî Alizâde Ahmed Çelebi; Hâbilzâde Hâbil Efendi, judge of Buda in 1030 [1620-21]; and Hâbil Bey, son of Âdem Bey. The mufti may have been the son of one of them, but this is an inference with no document behind it. The same holds for the house of Âdem Bey: Hüsameddin calls this family the "Âdemoğulları" and refers to Hâbil Bey's son Mûsâ Bey as "Hâbilbeyzâde", but he draws no connection with the line of Güdül Bey.

The Family Through the Generations

Emîr Şeyh İzzeddîn Hasan Bey and Süli Paşa Hatun

İzzeddîn Hasan Bey, son of Şücâeddîn Hâbil Bey, became a holder of a zeamet after his father's death and entered the service of the Seljuk Sultan Mes'ûd II. In the years when the sultan was deposed he was subaşı (military governor) of Amasya; the chronicle section mentions him around 685 [1286-87] as "Hâbiloğlu İzzeddîn Hasan Bey, subaşı in Amasya". When Mes'ûd returned to the throne he became candar (guard commander) of Amasya. On the sultan's death in 708 [1308-09] he joined the opponents of Alakuşoğlu Şemseddîn Ahmed Bey, the emir of Amasya who had declared his independence. In the month of Zilkade of 712 [1312-13] the emirs surrounded Ahmed Bey's mansion and killed him, then placed Mes'ûd's son Tâceddîn Altunbaş on the throne in the Simre of Amasya.

After these events Hasan Bey became governor of Sivas and was known by the title "Emîr Şeyh". Hüsameddin writes that he remained emir of Sivas until 716 [1316-17] and was among the beys appointed by İşboğa Noyin, overseer of Anatolia. When the province of Sivas was given to Timurtaş, son of Çoban, in 717 [1317-18], he handed the province over to him and joined his emirs. Under Timurtaş he gained the influence of a vizier and counsellor, and he died after 727 [1326-27]. Hüsameddin describes him as "a learned, just and prudent emir whose word carried weight".

The most important step Hasan Bey took to secure his position was to marry his daughter to Eretna Bey, Timurtaş's trusted man. The marriage of this daughter, known as Süli Paşa Hatun, was contracted in Sivas. Eretna later became a sultan ruling Sivas, Kayseri, Amasya and Tokat, and died in Kayseri in Muharrem 753 [1352]. Hüsameddin considers Eretna's son Nâsıreddîn Mehmed Bey to be the son of Tuli Han's sister, that is, of Süli Paşa. Modern research on the Eretnids, however, gives Mehmed Bey's mother as İsfahan Şah Hatun; on this point Hüsameddin's information is not confirmed.

Tuli Han and the Emirate of Amasya

Zeyneddîn Tuli Bey, son of İzzeddîn Hasan Bey, was born while his father was subaşı of Amasya and was known as "Hâbiloğlu". He rose in standing during Timurtaş's governorship of Sivas and, under the Sivas emirate of his brother-in-law Eretna, became emîrü's-sevâhil, that is, commander of Canik and the Black Sea coast. In that capacity he defeated in a surprise attack, around 739 [1338-39], the emir of Samsun who had opposed Eretna, and forced him to withdraw to Amasya. He is also counted among the beys who, together with Toganşah Bey, emir of Niksar, resisted the raids of the Mongol commander Iranc Noyin on the Amasya region.

Angered by the seizure of Amasya by Sirâceddîn Doğan Şah, emir of Niksar, in 741 [1340-41], Tuli Bey marched with his whole force, took the city at the beginning of 742 and drove Doğan Şah to flight. Hüsameddin quotes the note "Feth-i Amasya der-dest-i Veled-i Hâbil sene 742" (the conquest of Amasya at the hands of the son of Hâbil, in the year 742) from a treatise he had seen in the hands of Ali Emîrî Efendi. That the conqueror was Tuli Bey he deduces from the genealogy in the endowment deed of 791 [1388-89] of his grandson Kemâleddîn Kâmil Bey. In this way an independent emirate was formed out of the sanjaks of Canik, Amasya and Çorum. Tuli Bey had himself called "Sultan Tuli Han" and at first recognized neither Şeyh Hasan the Chobanid nor his own brother-in-law Eretna.

When it became clear that Küçük Şeyh Hasan the Chobanid would attack Eretna, Tuli Han took his brother-in-law's side. In Cemaziyelahir 744 [October 1343], in the battle between Sivas and Erzincan that Hüsameddin calls "Egribük" and modern research calls Karanbük, Eretna won a decisive victory. Hüsameddin writes that Tuli Bey, governor of Amasya, worked harder in this battle than Kutlu Şah, emir of Kayseri, and was one of the causes of the victory. After it Eretna removed Mühezzebeddîn Ulu Bey, emir of Tokat, and gave Tokat to Tuli Han as well. Tuli Han stayed in Amasya and sent his son Tâceddîn İbrâhim Bey to Tokat as emir.

To bind this powerful bey more closely to himself, Eretna took Tuli Han's daughter as a wife for his son Nâsıreddîn Mehmed Bey. Another of Tuli Han's daughters married Şihâbeddîn Ahmed Şah, son of Kutlu Şah. Şücâeddîn Tuli Bey, born of that marriage, tried to seize the emirate of Amasya after the death of Hacı Şâdgeldi Paşa and, failing, fled to Egypt and joined the Mamluk emirs. Tuli Han himself, after some six years as independent emir of Amasya, died around 747 [1346-47]. Hüsameddin remembers him as "a very brave, prudent, moderate and glorious emir".

İbrâhim Bey "Ahî Dayı" and His Sons

Tâceddîn İbrâhim Bey, son of Tuli Han, became emir of Tokat during his father's emirate and was appointed to that post several times. Because he was brother-in-law of Mehmed Bey the Eretnid and maternal uncle of Mehmed Bey's son Alâeddîn Ali Bey, he was called "Ahî Dayı" or "Ahî Tayı" (dayı meaning maternal uncle). He lived in Tokat for many years and built there a dervish lodge known by his name. He died during the emirate of Ali Bey the Eretnid, that is, between 767 and 782 [1365-1380].

İbrâhim Bey's sons Kemâleddîn Kâmil Bey and Celâleddîn Hâbil Bey had the endowment deed of the lodge drawn up. This is the deed of 791 that Hüsameddin uses to prove that Tuli Han was the conqueror of Amasya. Here the brothers' paths parted: the sons of Kâmil Bey stayed in Tokat, while Hâbil Bey's sons Hasan and Abdülhalîm Beys settled in Amasya. All the Hâbilzâdes of Amasya descend from these sons of Celâleddîn Hâbil Bey.

Hasan Bey, Sa'îd Bey and Abdülhalîm Bey

Hasan Bey, the elder son of Celâleddîn Hâbil Bey, was called "Emîr İzzeddîn Hasan Bey" after his great-grandfather. He served Bayezid I (Yıldırım) and Mehmed I (Çelebi Mehmed) and died around 811 [1408-09]. Hüsameddin counts him among the most famous of the emirs. He names el-Hâc Receb and Şa'bân Çelebi as his sons and Abdülhalîm Bey as his brother.

Sa'îd Bey lived on the farm in the village of Keçilü that had fallen to him from his father. His name appears as a witness at the foot of the endowment deed of Şeyh Şâdî drawn up in 812 [1409-10]. He took part in many campaigns in the time of Çelebi Mehmed and was counted among the emirs. His son was Tosun Bey. The entries on Hasan and Sa'îd Beys both name Abdülhalîm Bey as their brother; but the entry on İbrâhim Bey lists only Hasan and Abdülhalîm as the sons of Celâleddîn Hâbil and does not mention Sa'îd. There is no further information on Abdülhalîm Bey in the book.

Receb Çelebi and the Two İlyâs Çelebis

By the middle of the fifteenth century Hasan Bey's sons appear in offices of trust and among the notables rather than as men of the sword. Hâbilzâde el-Hâc Receb Çelebi was among the best known of the commissioners and died after 847 [1443-44]; his brother Resûl Çelebi is recorded among the notables of Amasya in the same year. Receb Çelebi's son el-Hâc İlyâs Çelebi was also one of the notables of Amasya and died around 870 [1465-66]. In the same entry Hüsameddin mentions as his paternal uncle another el-Hâc İlyâs Çelebi, a son of Hasan Çelebi, and writes that he died around 858 [1454]. The existence of an uncle and a nephew of the same name does not always make clear which İlyâs is meant in the later entries.

Şa'bân Çelebi's place is also inconsistent in the book. The entry on Hasan Bey gives him as Hasan Bey's son, that is, as Receb Çelebi's brother. In his own entry, however, he appears as the son of Receb Çelebi and thus as İlyâs Çelebi's brother. Şa'bân Çelebi was one of the commissioners and of the clerks of the council in the years when Bayezid II, as a prince, was governor of Amasya, and he died after 890 [1485-86]. Since Prince Bayezid's governorship of Amasya lasted until 1481, the second account fits the chronology better; this is an inference.

Sinâneddîn Yûsuf Çelebi and Pîr Velî Bey

Of the sons of el-Hâc İlyâs Çelebi, Sinâneddîn Yûsuf Çelebi took the path of learning. After his studies he taught for a while, then served as deputy judge and in 881 [1476-77] was kassâm (estate divider) of Amasya. He then passed into the judiciary, served in various towns and died after 906 [1500-01]. Hüsameddin counts him among the great judges. His entry names his father only as "el-Hâc İlyâs Çelebi" and does not specify which İlyâs.

His brother Pîr Velî Bey, on the other hand, was a cavalryman holding a zeamet and took part in many campaigns. In 917 [1511] he was killed in the retinue of Grand Vizier Hadım Ali Paşa in the battle against the Celâlî rebels, that is, the Şahkulu rebellion. In the clash at Gökçay between Sivas and Kayseri Şahkulu was killed, and Ali Paşa, surrounded by his troops, died of an arrow wound on 2 July 1511. Pîr Velî Bey's son was Şa'bân Bey and his grandson Receb Çelebi.

The "Hâbilzâde Receb Efendi bin Şa'bân Çelebi" whom Hüsameddin mentions elsewhere may be this grandson. This Receb Efendi, who was in the judicial profession, died around 990 [1582-83]; of his sons Hâbil Efendi rose to the rank of the senior judges and Şa'bân Paşa to that of beylerbey. The "Hâbilzâde Hâbil Efendi of Amasya" who was judge of Buda in 1030 [1620-21] is very probably this Hâbil Efendi. Both identifications are inferences.

Seydî Ali Çelebi

The most distinguished scholar of the family was Alâeddîn Seydî Ali Çelebi, son of el-Hâc İlyâs Çelebi. In Amasya he studied with Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed Cündî and with Mevlânâ Salâhaddîn Mûsâ Çelebi, the tutor of Prince Bayezid. He became a madrasa teacher in 878 [1473-74] and a judge in 893 [1487-88]. In 896 [1490-91] he went to Istanbul and won the favour of Bayezid II; after the judgeship of Sofia he became chief judge of Rumelia, and he died in that office around 910 [1504-05]. Hüsameddin introduces him as "a learned and accomplished man among the famous judges, a friend of the Sufis".

Seydî Ali Çelebi's sons Ya'kûb, Osman and Hızır Çelebi were known as "Seydî Alizâde". Ya'kûb Çelebi became molla of Edirne and was known for his commentary on Şir'atü'l-İslâm, the manual of religious duties and ethics by İmamzâde. This commentary was printed several times in Istanbul under the title Mefâtîhu'l-cinân ve mesâbîhu'l-cenân and has been translated into Turkish. Modern sources give its author as "Ya'kûb b. Seyyid Ali er-Rûmî el-Bursevî, also known as Seyyid Alizâde"; the nisba of Bursa seems to conflict with Hüsameddin's making him the son of an Amasya father, but it may derive from his having lived in Bursa. Hüsameddin writes that Ya'kûb Çelebi's descendants remained in Istanbul, while the lines of the other brothers multiplied in Amasya.

Osman Çelebi and the Hadith School Branch

El-Hâc Osman Çelebi studied with the scholars of Amasya and Istanbul, above all with Kemalpaşazâde Ahmed Şemseddîn Efendi, and became a candidate for office (mülâzım). After serving as madrasa teacher and judge, he became judge of Amasya in 944 [1537-38], when he had left the judgeship of Kastamonu. When Prince Mustafa came to Amasya as governor, he was retired in 947 [1540-41]. He built a hadith school in the Pirinççi quarter, endowed his property and lands to it, and died around 952 [1545-46]. Hüsameddin remembers him as a generous man known for his learning and character.

Of Osman Çelebi's sons, Hasan Çelebi taught for a time, then with the support of Muhaşşî Sinan Efendi, military judge of Anatolia, joined the ranks of the senior judges, and died after 965 [1557-58]. His other son, el-Hâc Ahmed Çelebi, became teacher at his father's hadith school and trustee of its endowment, and then served as a judge. In 981 [1573-74] he enlarged the endowments of the hadith school. His daughter Ayşe Hatun also became trustee of the endowment, and when the hadith school burned in the fire of 1011 [1602-03] she had it rebuilt in 1018 [1609-10]. She left the trusteeship to her son Şa'bân Ağa and his descendants. Thus Osman Çelebi's endowment passed to a new generation through his granddaughter's son.

Hızır Çelebi and İskender Çelebi

El-Hâc Hızır Çelebi, Seydî Ali Çelebi's third son, studied in Amasya, taught and became teacher at the Yörgüç Paşa Madrasa. He then entered the judiciary, served in important cities and died in 938 [1531-32]. His sons were Ali and İskender Çelebi.

İskender Çelebi turned the family from learning to finance. He attached himself to Prince Mustafa, governor of Amasya, and became his treasurer. After the prince's execution in Şevval 960 [1552-53] he was appointed treasurer of Sivas and then superintendent of the Amasya mint, a post he held for a long time. He was skilled in accounts and died in 986 [1578-79]. His sons were Ahmed, Şa'bân, Pîr Velî, İsfendiyâr and Ya'kûb Çelebi. The branch known as "İskenderzâde" descends from these sons.

The Sons and Grandsons of İskender Çelebi

The eldest son, el-Hâc Ahmed Çelebi, was among the best known of the notables of Amasya and served several times as city steward (şehir kethüdası); he died around 1004 [1595-96]. His sons were Yahyâ, Şa'bân and Hâbil Çelebi. İsfendiyâr Çelebi was rewarded with a large zeamet on his father's death and became superintendent of the mint and of tax farms. As keeper of the Kızlar Sarayı in Amasya, repaired in 1016 [1607-08], he lived there for many years. Pîr Velî Çelebi was also one of the notables of Amasya and died after 1031 [1621-22].

İsfendiyâr Çelebi's son Şâpur Çelebi became famous for the beauty of his youth as "Şâh-ı Hûbân Çelebi" (the shah of the fair) and entered the verse of the poets under that name. Hüsameddin records that the poet Şeyhzâde Abdî Efendi was foremost among those enamoured of him and that the following couplet was written about him:

Derd-i aşkıyla perîşân hâlim / Merhamet etse n'ola Şâpûrum (my state is wretched with the pain of his love; what if my Şâpur showed mercy)

After his father's death Şâpur Çelebi took over as keeper of the Kızlar Sarayı and lived in the palace; he died after 1053 [1643-44]. The fact that the palace was kept by father and son for more than sixty years also explains Hüsameddin's view on the origin of the popular name "İsfendiyâr Palace" given to the palace in the inner citadel.

Şa'bân Ağa and the Şa'bânzâdes

Seydî Alizâde Şa'bân Ağa was a cavalryman and fought in many campaigns. He was several times kethüdâyeri and deputy governor (mütesellim) of the sanjak of Amasya, collector of the poll tax in the province of Sivas, for a time voyvoda of Tokat, and superintendent of the treasury of escheats in Amasya. He died around 1054 [1644-45], and Hüsameddin counts him among the most famous notables. His own entry makes him İskender Çelebi's son. In the chronicle section, however, the note on Şa'bân Ağa, steward of the cavalry, who became acting deputy governor in 1035 [1625-26], introduces him as "Şa'bân Ağa bin el-Hâc Ahmed Çelebi bin İskender Çelebi", that is, as İskender Çelebi's grandson, and says that he is entered in the Islamic court registers as "Şa'bân Ahmed Amasiyye". That Ahmed Çelebi had a son named Şa'bân supports the second account. Hüsameddin regards this Şa'bân Ağa as the remote ancestor of the Şa'bânzâdes.

From Şa'bân Ağa's descendants, Şa'bân Ağa, son of Mehmed Ağa, who was known as "Seydî Alizâde Şa'bân Ağazâde" and had served as deputy governor of Amasya, entered the palace school (Enderun) in the years of Köprülü Mehmed Paşa's grand vizierate. He rose among the aghas of the Privy Chamber. He made no progress under Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa; with the support of Kara İbrâhim Paşa, who became grand vizier in Muharrem 1095 [1683-84], he became tax collector of the Morea and then, with the rank of Rumelia, guardian of the Morea. Because of the harshness he showed in collecting arrears he was dismissed in Zilkade of the same year. In 1096 [1684-85] he became customs superintendent of Istanbul; at the end of 1098 he was dismissed and imprisoned, released a month later and made superintendent of sheep, and after being removed from office in 1100 [1688-89] he died. That a member of a family which had lived in Amasya for so long by the pen and by offices of trust should come close to the rank of vizier in palace service in Istanbul shows the connections of the family in the seventeenth century.

Other Hâbilzâdes in Hüsameddin

In the chronicle sections there are two more people called "Hâbilzâde" without their branch being specified. Hâbilzâde Veli Bey, one of the notables of Amasya, became city steward in Rebiülevvel 1052 [1642-43] on the dismissal of Bağdatlıoğlu Osman Ağa. Hâbil Beyzâde Veli Paşa of Amasya, on the other hand, was executed with the army at the beginning of 1074 [1663-64] together with Vizier Kara Kadızâde İbrâhim Paşa, guardian of Nicopolis, and his father-in-law Şâmîzâde Mehmed Paşa; his property was confiscated and sold. The book phrases Veli Paşa's relationship as "cousin" differently in two places, and it is not clear which Hâbil he descended from. Hüsameddin's guess that the Kadızâdes may also have been a branch of the Hâbiloğulları may be connected with this association; this is an inference.

The Mufti Hâbilzâde Mehmed Efendi

In the middle of the seventeenth century one of the well-known preachers of Amasya was Hâbilzâde Mehmed Efendi. At the beginning of 1060 [1650] his name appears among the famous preachers mentioned alongside the scholars who were spreading learning in the city. While he was pulpit preacher of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque he became mufti of Amasya in Safer 1073 [1662-63], in place of Mufti el-Hâc Ömer Efendi, but he died on the twenty-third of Cemaziyelevvel of the same year. The preaching chair passed to Müfessir Hızır Efendi, who had come from Cyprus, and the office of mufti to İsmâil Efendi, teacher at the Sultaniye. Among his students were Kara Müderriszâde Ahmed Efendi, mufti of Köprü, and the poet Rummânzâde Âdil Mehmed Efendi. One of his daughters married Nasuhzâde Hamza Ağa, one of the notables of Amasya, who served several times as city steward.

All three of Mehmed Efendi's sons were calligraphers, and all of them practised writing under Fazlullah Efendi, the famous calligrapher of Amasya. Ehlullah Efendi, who appears to have been the eldest, learned the various scripts from the calligrapher Derviş Ali and from Fazlullah Efendi, and the science of recitation from the public teacher Hâfız Mehmed Efendi. He learned the variant readings from Sun'ullah Efendi, head of the Şeyh Mehmed Ağa Qur'an school, and according to his own entry became head of this school in 1087 [1676-77] on his master's death. Teaching writing on the one hand and recitation on the other, he died in 1113 [1701-02]. The book's other entries tell this succession differently: the entry on the head reciter Sun'ullah Efendi says that he died in 1081 [1670-71], while the entry on Şeyhzâde Hâfız Selîm Efendi writes that in Şevval 1087 Selîm Efendi handed the headship of the Qur'an school over to "his sister's son Hâfız Ehlullah Efendi". According to this last note, Ehlullah Efendi's mother was the daughter of Sun'ullah Efendi, sheikh of the Selâmet Hatun lodge known as the "Yâ Vedûd Lodge". Ehlullah Efendi was also sheikh of the lodge in the Hızır Paşa quarter until 1110 [1698-99]. His sister's son Ebûbekir Ağa grew up under the guardianship of his uncle Ehlullah Efendi after his father died in 1096 [1684-85].

Şükrüllah Efendi was, according to Hüsameddin, the mufti's second son. He practised calligraphy, studied the sciences and became a public teacher. For a time he was clerk of the endowments of Sultan Bayezid. He then became teacher at the school of calligraphers (Darülhattâtîn) of Hâce Ahmed Paşa, later deputy judge and judge in small towns, and died around 1103 [1691-92]. Hüsameddin quotes Şeyh Alizâde Seyyid Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi to the effect that his hand and his prose were fine and that he was a man of pleasant disposition.

Sun'ullah Sun'î Efendi is the best-known calligrapher of the family. In his youth he wore the Mevlevi cap for a time. After some study he went to Istanbul; when the sword-bearer Hacı Efendizâde Ömer Ağa of Amasya became governor of Egypt with the rank of vizier, that is, between 1074 and 1077 [1663-1667], he went with him to Egypt as secretary of the council. After Ömer Paşa's dismissal, in 1078 [1667-68], he became a follower of the Celvetî sheikh Atpazârî Seyyid Osman Fazlı Efendi in Edirne; Hüsameddin notes that he was then about fifty. After receiving his licence as deputy he became sheikh of the Nalbandoğlu lodge in Bursa, and he died in Bursa in 1095 [1683-84] and was buried in the Pınarbaşı cemetery. Müstakimzâde writes in Tuhfetü'l-hattâtîn that he learned the ta'lik script from Derviş Abdî and that he was a sheikh "whose works of calligraphy are many". His son Şeyh Mehmed Efendi became sheikh of the Selâmî Ali Efendi lodge in Üsküdar in Muharrem 1130 [1717-18] and died on the twenty-fifth of Cemaziyelahir 1133 [1721]; his son was Muhyiddîn Efendi.

The Grandsons of Ehlullah Efendi

Ehlullah Efendi's son Yahyâ Efendi became sheikh of the Bayezid Paşa soup kitchen (imaret) in Amasya and died in Rebiülevvel 1159 [1746]. The sheikhship of the imaret passed first to his son Ehlullah Efendi and, on the latter's death in Safer 1171 [1757], to his son Feyzullah Efendi. Another son of Yahyâ Efendi, Fethullah Ağa, became alaybeyi (commander of the provincial cavalry) of Amasya. Fethullah Ağa's son Abdülhâdî Efendi completed his studies in the circle of İydîzâde Hacı Âkif Mustafa Efendi, went to Istanbul, became a madrasa teacher by examination and joined the senior judges; he died after 1200 [1785-86]. Ehlullah Efendi's other son, Mehmed Hüdâyî Efendi, was one of the madrasa teachers of Tokat, and his son Ehlullah Efendi had many endowments and charitable works in Tokat.

The member of the family who rose to the highest rank was Abdülkerîm Efendi. He studied in Amasya and Istanbul, became a madrasa teacher in 1172 [1758-59] and taught for many years. Through the mollaship of Salonica he passed into the senior judgeships; in 1212 [1797-98] he became molla of Egypt and in 1214 [1799-1800] judge of Mecca. On his way back at the end of his term he died on reaching Damascus. He endowed his property, built a tomb for his father and assigned stipends to Qur'an reciters. His son was Mahmûd Nidâî Efendi. The entry on Abdülhâdî Efendi mentions him as a relative of Abdülkerîm Efendi.

On Abdülkerîm Efendi's father the book says two different things. According to his own entry, his father was Veliyyüddîn Efendi bin Mehmed Efendi bin Ehlullah Efendi, who died in Üsküdar while teacher at the Hızır Paşa madrasa; Veliyyüddîn would thus be Mehmed Hüdâyî Efendi's son and Ehlullah's grandson. In the entry on Ehlullah Efendi, however, Veliyyüddîn Efendi appears as Ehlullah's son-in-law and is said to have died in Istanbul. The more detailed genealogy in his own entry has been preferred.

Âdem Bey and the Âdemoğulları

Very little is known of the third house. Âdem Bey was the son of Ali Bey, one of the best-known holders of zeamets, and was killed in the Shirvan wars in 988 [1580-81]. His sons were Hâbil and Kâbil Beys. Kâbil Paşa had been a beylerbey during the Karayazıcı revolt that began in 1008 [1599-1600]. Hâbil Bey's son was Mûsâ Bey. Hüsameddin says that this family was called the "Âdemoğulları". The surname "Hâbilzâde" in the heading of the entry belongs to the descendants of Âdem Bey's son Hâbil Bey rather than to Âdem Bey himself. The entry does not say whether Kâbil Paşa was beylerbey on the rebels' side or the state's.

Buildings, Endowments and the Quarter

The family's first great charitable foundation was the Ahî Dayı dervish lodge in Tokat. The endowment deed of this lodge, built by Tâceddîn İbrâhim Bey, was drawn up by his sons Kâmil and Hâbil Beys in 791 [1388-89], and in Hüsameddin's time it was still known as the "endowment of the Ahî Tayı Lodge". The sources at hand give no information on the present state of the lodge. Of the properties of Celâleddîn Hâbil Bey's sons in Amasya only the farm in the village of Keçilü, where Sa'îd Bey lived, is known.

The most important work in Amasya is the Darülhadis (hadith school) madrasa in the Pirinççi quarter, on the bank of the stream, opposite the mosque of Hacı Hamza Efendi. According to Hüsameddin's list of madrasas, Seydî Alizâde el-Hâc Osman Çelebi built it as a hadith school in 933 [1526-27]. The building was at first of timber; when it burned in the fire of 1011 [1602-03], Osman Çelebi's granddaughter Ayşe Hatun bint Ahmed Çelebi had it rebuilt in 1018 [1609-10], enlarged its endowment deed and attached the trusteeship to the line of her son Şa'bân Ağa. Osman Çelebi's own entry suggests that the building was put up after 947, the year he retired from the judiciary; there is a discrepancy between this and the date 933 in the list. The hadith school was still functioning in the eighteenth century; scholars such as Moramullu İbrâhim Efendi (d. 1147), Müftüzâde Seyyid İbrâhim Efendi and Şeyhzâde İbrâhim Efendi, who became its teacher in 1183, are mentioned as teachers of the "Osman Çelebi Darülhadis". Hüsameddin counts this hadith school among the institutions of learning of sixteenth-century Amasya, together with the mosque and school of Kaya Paşa.

The name of the Seydî Alizâdes is also linked with the palace in the inner citadel of Amasya. This palace, popularly called the "İsfendiyâr Palace", was where Ottoman princes and their households resided. Hüsameddin thinks it unlikely that the name refers to İsfendiyar Bey of the Candarids; according to the court registers, the palace stood empty from around 990 [1582-83], and Seydî Alizâde İsfendiyâr Çelebi lived there for a long time as an appointed official, so the name most probably comes from him. That İsfendiyâr Çelebi was keeper of the Kızlar Sarayı repaired in 1016, and that his son Şâpur Çelebi lived there in the same post, is also stated in their own entries.

The sons of the mufti Hâbilzâde Mehmed Efendi, for their part, left their mark on the city's life of Qur'an recitation and dervish lodges. The Şeyh Mehmed Ağa Qur'an school, in the lane behind the Mustafa Bey Bath to the south of the Mehmed Paşa Mosque, had been built in 1073 [1662-63] by Hacı Efendizâde Şeyh Mehmed Ağa, one of the notables. Hüsameddin writes that after the head reciter Hasan Efendi, Ehlullah Efendi became head of this school. The Halveti lodge in the Hızır Paşa quarter, above the Ok Meydanı, built in 1064 [1653-54] by el-Hâc Hızır Ağa, the former deputy governor known as the "Meydan Ağası", was also called the "Ehlullah Lodge" because Ehlullah Efendi served as its sheikh until 1110. The "eş-Şeyh Yahyâ Efendi" named among the later sheikhs of the lodge was probably Ehlullah's son Yahyâ; this is an inference. In the eighteenth century the same line held the sheikhship of the Bayezid Paşa imaret for three generations.

Family Tree

The tree is built from the fathers' names in Hüsameddin's entries. Where the book contradicts itself, the information in the person's own entry has been followed.