İhsân Paşa Hâtun — Gâzi Beyzâde

In Modern English

She is the daughter of Melik İsmail Gâzi Bey, son of Hacı Bayram Bey, who, while governor of Amasya, was lala and manager of the affairs of Sultan Murad II and died in Jumada al-awwal 822 [May-June 1419]; and she is the esteemed wife of Burak Bey, son of Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha, beylerbeyi of Amasya.

Together with her sisters Hüsnî Paşa and Şahrûz Hatun and their mother, Paşa Hatun, daughter of el-Hâc Osman Pasha, she endowed their properties in Sha'ban 826 [July-August 1423] for the upkeep and needs of three fountains that they had built: in the Savakça district of Süveydâ (Savâdiye), at the Emîrtaş locality of the village of Heniske, and in the town of Lâdik, near the zawiya of Sheikh Ahmed-i Kebîr, a man of spiritual states. They left the administration (tevliyet) of the waqf to their mother, Paşa Hatun, for as long as she lived, after her death to their sister İhsân Paşa Hatun, and after her to her children.

Their waqf deed containing these conditions was found among the documents in the archive of the Sublime Porte and copied. Because this waqf deed is an extremely historical and noteworthy document, it is reproduced here verbatim. The waqf deed is as follows:

The content of this document took place in my presence. Muhammed bin Abdurrahman el-Muslihî, kadı of the city of Amasya, wrote it; may God Almighty forgive them both. It is established.

The content of the document was established in my presence through the testimony of those whose names I have marked at its end among the witness records. Hasan bin Emîr, kadı of the lands of Tokat and Rum, who is in need of God Almighty, wrote this on the nineteenth of the blessed month of Safar, in the year eight hundred and thirty-two [November 1428]. This copy conforms to the original from which it was copied. Muhammed bin Seyyidî Ahmed, kadı of the victorious army, wrote it; may God forgive them both.

This is the record of what was declared, in his lifetime, by the esteemed Hâcî Ali bin el-Hâc Osman Pasha bin Basalmış, in a valid and sound acknowledgment and confession according to the sharia. Hâcî Ali made it as proxy in the name of his sister, Paşa Hatun, daughter of el-Hâc Osman Pasha, and of this sister's daughters, Hüsnî Paşa and Şâhruz, daughters of Melik İsmail. That he was proxy in the name of these women was established through the testimony of the esteemed Abdülkerîm bin Sâlih el-Muharrir el-Lâdikî and of Kaya, son of the said el-Hâc Osman Pasha. According to his statement, three shares out of the whole of the village of Akpınar, which lies near the town of Lâdik and is so well known in its locality that there is no need to list its boundaries,

were endowed for the upkeep and needs of three fountains. One of them is in the said Lâdik, near the zawiya there; the second is in Amasya, near Süveydâ; and the third is in the place known as Emîrtaş, near the village of Hanıska in the district of the city of Amasya. The said Hâcî Ali, as proxy of the said Hüsnî Şah and Şâhruz (after his proxy status was

established by the testimony of the two said witnesses), also declared the following: the administration of the waqf belongs to their mother, the said Paşa Hatun; after her to their sister İhsan Paşa bint Melik İsmail (in the text this phrase is written twice); after her to her children; then to their other sister Şehrûz Paşa,

then to her children, and then to their relatives, beginning with the nearest. Hâcî Ali further declared that one sixth of the income obtained from the waqf would belong to the administrator and that the rest would be spent on the upkeep of the fountains as repairs and similar needs arose,

and that when there was no need, it would remain with the administrator. This matter took place and was written on the eleventh of the exalted month of Sha'ban, in the Hijri year eight hundred and twenty-six [July 1423].

Those who witnessed the said proxy's declaration: Muhammed bin Bayram el-Kâdî, Hasan Bek bin Ali ed-Dûlî, Sa'dullah bin Ahmed, Abdurrahman

bin Muhammed el-Muslihî, Hâcî Murâd bin Abdülkādir el-Hatîb, Kethüdâ Mahmûd bin el-Hâc Yahyâ el-Bennâî, İbrâhim bin Halîl el-Hâfız, Emîr Hüseyin bin Nebî, Hasan bin Mûsâ el-Ankarî, Tura Hâcî bin Halîl, Mustafa bin Süleyman, Abdurrahîm el-Muslihî es-Sivâsî,

Seyyidî Ali bin Hâce Ömer, and Hâcî Ahmed bin Süleyman el-Kadavî.

The life stories of all the persons, kadıs, and witnesses named within, above, and below this waqf deed are written in this part of our history. They will be seen as their turn comes. There is no need for further explanation here.

İhsân Paşa, in accordance with the waqf deed, became administrator of this waqf after the death of Paşa Hatun, and died around 841 [1437-38]. Her sons are Ahmed Bey and Mehmed Bey. They were also called "Çelebiler." In Amasya the Upper Bath (Yukarı Hamam) is called the "Çelebiler Hamamı."

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• lala: the statesman responsible for a prince's education and affairs
• müdebbir-i umûr: one who manages affairs and takes measures
• kerîme: daughter
• zevce-i mükerreme: esteemed wife
• devâtdâr: inkwell-bearer; the official in charge of writing affairs at the palace
• hemşîre: sister
• vâlide: mother
• mesâlih: upkeep and needs
• sâhibü'l-hâl: a person of spiritual states, regarded as a saint
• tevliyet: the right and duty of administering a waqf
• mütevelli: waqf administrator
• irtihâl: death, passing away
• vakfiye: the official document stating the terms of a waqf
• istinsâh: copying a document
• Bâb-ı âlî mahzeni: the Sublime Porte archive
• ikrâr: accepting and declaring a matter before a court
• terâcim-i ahvâl: life stories, biographies

What the Waqf Deed Says

The value of the entry lies in the Arabic waqf deed that Hüsameddin says he copied from the archive of the Sublime Porte. The language of the document shows, in all its stages, how a small charitable waqf founded by a family of women was registered. The women who founded the waqf did not appear in court themselves; Paşa Hatun's brother, Hâcî Ali, made the declaration as their proxy, and the proxy was proved by two witnesses, one a scribe of Lâdik and the other another brother of Paşa Hatun. The waqf was founded on 11 Sha'ban 826 [July 1423] before the Amasya kadı Muhammed bin Abdurrahman el-Muslihî and was confirmed again about five years later, in Safar 832 [November 1428], by the Tokat kadı Hasan bin Emîr. The text we have entered the archive as a copy whose conformity to the original was certified by a kazasker.

The document and Hüsameddin's summary largely coincide, but they differ on two points. Hüsameddin refers to the subject of the waqf in general terms as "properties"; the waqf deed shows the source of income explicitly: three shares of the village of Akpınar near Lâdik. Second, Hüsameddin only says that the administration would pass to İhsân Paşa's children; the deed states that after them the other sister, Şehrûz Paşa, and her children, and finally close relatives, would in turn be administrators. The allocation of one sixth of the income to the administrator and the spending of the remainder on repairing the fountains is also a detail showing the waqf system of the period. The waqf deed gives the name of Paşa Hatun's father in full as "el-Hâc Osman Pasha bin Basalmış" and calls the daughters "daughters of Melik İsmail"; thus the family tie that Hüsameddin gives is supported by the document. Nevertheless, the information that Melik İsmail Gâzi Bey was lala of Murad II and died in 822 was not found in any source other than Hüsameddin.

Where the Fountains Stand Today

One of the three fountains mentioned in the waqf deed is in Lâdik, near the zawiya of Sheikh Ahmed-i Kebîr. This zawiya grew up around the Seyyid Ahmed-i Kebîr Tomb in the Zaviye district of Lâdik. According to Sadi Bayram's research, the figure who lies here was a descendant or one of the deputies of Seyyid Ahmed er-Rifâî, founder of the Rifâî order, and in some sources he is called "Little Seyyid Ahmed Rifâî" to distinguish him from the founder. Records in the foundations archive show that the zawiya and its mosque were still functioning as a waqf in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and that the waqf was taken under state administration when tekkes and zawiyas were closed in 1925.

The village of Heniske (Hanıska in the waqf deed), where the third fountain stood, is today the village of Yolyanı in the central district of Amasya; the village's name was changed later. The position of the Emîrtaş locality within the village boundaries could not be determined. No current record could be reached either for Süveydâ and the Savakça district, where the fountain in Amasya stood.

The Upper Bath

Hüsameddin says that the name of İhsân Paşa's sons, the "Çelebiler," was given to the Upper Bath (Yukarı Hamam) in Amasya. The name Yukarı Hamam is today used for the Altuntaş Hamam in the Hatuniye district, on Şifre Street, near the Mâdenus Bridge. The building, which has the classical Ottoman bath plan with cold, warm, and hot sections, has no construction inscription; local records present it as an Ottoman bath probably of the seventeenth century. If this dating is correct, the present building cannot be directly connected with the Çelebiler who lived in the early fifteenth century; however, it is not impossible that an older bath stood on the same site and the name was inherited from it. No document was found on this matter.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 106–107. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• Sadi Bayram, "Samsun-Ladik ve Seyyid Ahmed-i Kebir Hazretleri". https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/188202
• "Amasya İlinde İsimleri Değiştirilen Yerleşim Yeri Adları Üzerine Bir İnceleme". https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4249891

Official sources

• T.C. Amasya Valiliği, "Hamamlar". http://www.amasya.gov.tr/hamamlar

Other sources

• "Altuntaş Hamamı", Kültür Envanteri. https://kulturenvanteri.com/en/yer/altuntas-hamami-amasya/