AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

İlyâs Bey-Çorumlu

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 7, p. 341 • Edited by: Prof. Dr. Safi ARPAGUŞ- Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hakkı TURABİ

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasya hükümdârı Melîk İsmâil Gâzi bin Melîk Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi ümerâsından olup Çorumlu oymağı beyi idi. Şimdiki Çorum şehrine emîr nasbedilerek Çorumlu aşîreti orada iskân edildiğinden o şehre “Çorumlu” ba’dehû tahfîfen Çorum dendi. Sultân Mes’ûd-i Selçûkî devrinin evâhirinde vefât eyledi. Mahdûmu Salih Bey olup hafîdi el-Hâc Çâruk Şâh ve bunun mahdûmu Emîr Bedreddîn Salih Bey’dir.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was one of the beys of Melik İsmâil Gâzi (son of Melik Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi), ruler of Amasya, and was the bey of the Çorumlu clan. Because he was appointed emir of the present city of Çorum and the Çorumlu tribe was settled there, the city was called "Çorumlu," and later, in shortened form, "Çorum." He died toward the end of the reign of the Seljuk Sultan Mes'ûd. His son was Salih Bey; his grandson was el-Hâc Çâruk Şâh, and his son was Emîr Bedreddîn Salih Bey.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • ümerâ: beys, emirs
  • oymak: a sub-branch of a tribe, a clan
  • nasbetmek: to appoint to a post
  • iskân: settling
  • tahfîfen: by shortening, by lightening
  • evâhir: the last part
  • hafîd: grandson

The Name Çorum and the Çorumlu Clan

It is not known with certainty when the city of Çorum was founded or where its name comes from. One of the views put forward is that after the region was taken by the Turks, a Turkmen clan called Çorumlu settled here and founded the city. The existence in the Ottoman period of a clan bearing the name Çorumlu in this region, and the fact that documents up to the late sixteenth century give the city's name as Çorumlu, support this view. After that century the form Çorum began to be used in official documents. Hüsameddin's explanation, "Çorumlu, then Çorum by shortening," agrees with this development. In 1521 Çorum was a sanjak attached to the province of Rum, and one of its districts bore the name Çorumlu.

Other explanations of the name also circulate. Evliya Çelebi relates that the Seljuk Sultan Kılıçarslan sent his sick son and hundreds of other sick people to this city for its good air and that all of them recovered, and ties the name to this. According to the Danişmendname, the Byzantine inhabitants of the city were called "Cürümlü" because they set a trap for Ahmed Gazi, and the name changed over time to Çorumlu. It is also said that the names Çorumlu and Çorum belong to a clan of the Alayuntlu branch of the Oghuz.

According to a local text on the Turkish takeover of the city, the Danishmendid Melik Ahmed Gazi took Çorum (Nikonia) in 1075 after a siege of one week and appointed as governor İlyas Çorum Bey, of the Alayunt branch and head of the Çorumlu clan. Because this account cites no source, it cannot be counted as certain knowledge. Still, it draws a link between the clan bey, the clan's name and the city similar to Hüsameddin's; the difference is that it ties the bey to an appointment by Melik Ahmed Gazi, whereas Hüsameddin names Melik İsmâil Gâzi.

Who Melik İsmâil Was

The ruler known as İsmâil in Danishmendid history was the son of İbrâhim, son of Melik Muhammed Gazi, and ruled in Sivas. Who took the throne after the death of Yağıbasan is disputed; according to one account his wife married İbrâhim's sixteen-year-old son İsmâil and proclaimed him ruler. İsmâil was killed in 1172 in Sivas by a popular revolt during a famine. The lineage "Melik İsmâil Gâzi, son of Melik Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi" that Hüsameddin gives is not the same as this record; the person Hüsameddin mentions may be someone other than the İsmâil known in Danishmendid historiography. This is an inference and could not be verified. It is also unclear which Mes'ûd is meant by Hüsameddin's phrase "the Seljuk Sultan Mes'ûd." No information was found in the sources read on the grandson Çâruk Şâh and on Salih Bey.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 341–341. amasya.bel.tr

Official sources

Volume 7 contents