Amasyalı Budak Beyzâde'dir. 999 senesi muharreminde Amasya mîrlivâsı olup Erzurum muhâfazasında kaldığından Zülfikâr Ağa Amasya mütesellimi olup geldi. Şevvâlinde Sivas vâlîliğine Mehmed Paşa ta'yîn olunup zilka'desinde⁶⁰² Amasya ve mülhakâtında müdhiş bir zelzele oldu. On gün kadar devâm etdi. Bütün ahâlî meydânlara çıkıp çadırlar altında iki ay kadar kaldı.
Zelzelenin devâmı halk arasında mev'ûd kıyâmetin bin târîhinde kopacağı şâyi'asının zuhûruna bâ'is oldu. Herkese umûmî bir korku çökdü. Fakat gözü açıklar bundan istifâde te'mîn etdi. Sâde-dilleri iğfâl ederek servetler edindi.
Bu şâyi'a şâirleri bile harekete getirmiş, latîf mazmûnlarla güzellerden zekât istemeğe yol vermişdir. Tezkire-i Abdî'de muharrer olan Kelâmî'nin şu beyti ne güzeldir:
Zekât-ı hüsnünü lutf et bugün bana cânâ
Yarın kıyâmet olursa sana da kalmayacak
Amasya'da darb edilen altın ve gümüş fiyâtı yükselmiş, [337] alım satım husûsâtında ihtikâr çoğalmışdı. Bunun için 999 zilhiccesinde bir fermân gelip "altın yüz yirmi ve gümüş yetmiş akçe" olduğu ve bundan fazla alıp verenlerin cezâ göreceği i'lân edildi.
Çünkü altın Amasya'da yüz yirmi dört akçeye, gümüş de yetmiş sekiz akçeye kadar tereffu' etmişdi. Halk bundan çok ziyân görüyordu. Fermânın vürûdu, ihtikârın önünü aldıkça almış, halkı ziyândan kurtarmışdı.
1000 senesi muharreminde Halvetiyye meşâyihi büyüklerinden kutbu'l-ârifîn sayılan eş-Şeyh Abdullah Efendi vefât edib Pîr İlyâs Türbesi civârında yapdırdığı zâviye bahçesine defn edildi. Bundan sonra fuzalâdan Kara Yahyâ Efendi de vefât etdi. Şa'bânında Koçi Bey Amasya emâretine ta'yîn edildi.
In Modern English
He is Budak Beyzade of Amasya. In Muharram of the year 999 [1590–91] he became sanjak bey of Amasya, but since he remained in the defense of Erzurum, Zülfikâr Ağa had come as mütesellim of Amasya (deputy of the sanjak bey). In Shawwal, Mehmed Pasha was appointed to the governorship of Sivas. In Dhu al-Qada a terrible earthquake occurred in and around Amasya. It lasted about ten days. All the people went out into the squares and stayed under tents for about two months.
The continuing of the earthquake gave rise among the people to the rumor that the promised Day of Judgment would break out in the year one thousand. A general fear fell on everyone. But those with open eyes profited from it. They deceived simple people and amassed fortunes.
This rumor even set the poets in motion, and with delicate fancies led to asking beauties for zakat. How fine is this couplet of Kelâmî, written in Abdî Efendi's Tezkire:
Zekât-ı hüsnünü lutf et bugün bana cânâ
Yarın kıyâmet olursa sana da kalmayacak
The couplet means: O beloved, grant me today the zakat of your beauty; if the Day of Judgment breaks tomorrow, that beauty will not remain for you either.
The price of gold and silver coin minted in Amasya had risen, and black-marketeering had increased in buying and selling. For this reason, in Dhu al-Hijja of 999 [1591] a decree came and it was announced that "gold is one hundred and twenty and silver seventy akçe," and that those who bought and sold at more than that would be punished.
For gold had risen in Amasya to one hundred and twenty-four akçe and silver to seventy-eight akçe. The people were greatly harmed by this. The arrival of the decree prevented black-marketeering and saved the people from the loss.
In Muharram of 1000 [1591–92], Sheikh Abdullah Efendi, one of the great Khalwati sheikhs, regarded as the qutb al-ârifîn (pole of the gnostics), died and was buried in the garden of the zawiya he had built near the Tomb of Pîr İlyas. After this the scholar Kara Yahya Efendi also died. In Shaban, Koçi Bey was appointed to the sanjak beylik of Amasya.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mütesellim: deputy who governs the city in the name of the sanjak bey in his absence
- zelzele: earthquake
- mev'ûd kıyâmet: the promised Day of Judgment
- şâyi'a: rumor
- sâde-dil: naive, credulous person
- iğfâl: deceiving
- zekât-ı hüsn: zakat of beauty; a wordplay poets used to ask the beloved for a "share of her beauty"
- ihtikâr: hoarding goods and selling them dear, black-marketeering
- darb: minting coin
- kutbu'l-ârifîn: the leading figure of the gnostics, that is, of the people of Sufism
- zâviye: small lodge where members of an order gathered
- fuzalâ: scholars, learned persons
The Earthquake and the Rumor of the Day of Judgment
Hüsameddin narrates an earthquake lasting ten days in and around Amasya in Dhu al-Qada of 999 [1591], the people's staying in tents for two months, and the rumor that the Day of Judgment would break in the Hijri year one thousand. In a footnote it is noted that some dates place the earthquake in Muharram of the same year; that is, the date of the event is not certain even according to Hüsameddin.
An earthquake that destroyed Amasya and is dated to 1598 is mentioned separately, and it is noted that it caused the death of many people. Since the earthquake Hüsameddin narrates here belongs to the year 999, whether the two are the same event could not be determined with these sources; judging by the difference in date, they are probably different events. The existence of an academic study examining the repair of the Amasya Bayezid II Complex after the 1598 earthquake also suggests that this earthquake damaged the complex.
Hüsameddin's comment that the rumor of the Day of Judgment was used for gain by some people is an observation; no other source was found on this. Kelâmî's couplet shows the rumor's reflection in poetry. Since zakat is the share set aside from property held for a year, the poet, taking advantage of the belief that the Day of Judgment is near, asks the beautiful beloved for "the zakat of her beauty." Hüsameddin says he took this couplet from Abdî Efendi's Tezkire.
The Price of Gold and Silver
The price detail in the entry shows that the market in Amasya had become disordered in those years. According to the decree, the limit was set at one hundred and twenty akçe for gold and seventy for silver; in the market, gold had gone to one hundred and twenty-four and silver to seventy-eight akçe. This difference shows that the central administration intervened directly in prices. The fate of the Amasya mint is narrated in the next entry. That this period was in general one in which the akçe's value fell and financial distress was experienced is also seen in the debased-akçe incidents that led to the dismissal of the şeyhülislam Abdülkadir Şeyhî Efendi in 1589.
Sheikh Abdullah Efendi and the Khalwati Order
It is accepted that the Khalwatiyya order came to Amasya through Pîr İlyas (d. 833/1429) and that the first Khalwati lodge in Anatolia was the Gümüşlüoğlu Lodge in Amasya. No information was found in other sources about Sheikh Abdullah Efendi, who Hüsameddin writes was buried in his zawiya near the Tomb of Pîr İlyas. No detail could be reached in other sources about Kara Yahya Efendi and Koçi Bey either.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 3, p. 517–517. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Kadir Özköse, "Amasya'da Bulunan Halvetiyye Tekkeleri", Akademiar journal, no. 5, Ankara, December 2018, pp. 91–118 (dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/606666).
- "Abdülkadir Şeyhî Efendi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 1, İstanbul 1988, p. 244 (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/abdulkadir-seyhi-efendi).
Other sources
- "1598 Amasya–Çorum depremi", Vikipedi (English) (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1598_Amasya–Çorum_earthquake).