INTRODUCTION (10) (Mukaddime)

In Modern English

Because in it "Gümüşlüzâde Pîr Şücâeddîn İlyâs el-Halvetî," his son-in-law "Pîr Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân Çelebi" and his grandson "Pîr Hayreddîn Hızır Çelebi" are buried, and at their feet four ladies from among their wives and daughters, it is called "Pîrler Türbesi" (Tomb of the Pîrs); these persons are also given the name "Yukarı Pîrler" (Upper Pîrs). "Gümüşlüzâde İbrâhim Paşa," the trustee of the tomb and a descendant of the brother of His Excellency the Pîr, also had the tomb repaired in 1100 [1688-89]. The tomb is a place visited by all Muslims.

Later, considering that it had suffered earthquakes again and again and weakness had appeared around it, it was wholly demolished in 1312 [1894-95]. Thanks to the effort of the kolağası (captain) "Hurşîd Bey," the monetary aid of all the people of the region, and the sufficient sum of money given from his own waqfs by the deposed Sultan "Abdülhamid Han," it was rebuilt: the top of the cemetery around it was leveled and a broad circle formed; in the middle, with its old condition preserved, the tomb, and on its two sides a mescit each, set aside for men and women; the cells and mescits were enlarged, the domes raised in the same form and size, and the building constructed in an exceedingly regular way. Although in front of the west window north of the old tomb there were the graves of several persons among the great of the community, in the new arrangement these were leveled and a room set aside for the tomb keeper was built over them, and the qibla side of the present tomb became a garden from end to end. Yet while it would have been very fitting to keep this garden well kept and preserve it as a garden, it is not right that this place be made a burial ground for notables and eşraf. While it is plain that our predecessors showed great care for the qibla side and kept it as a garden, and were cautious about praying facing a cemetery even when behind a wall, that those who came later did not heed such subtleties and abandoned every path of the ancients has led us onto a very bad road.

19- "Pîr Sinan Tomb": It is a place set aside for itself on the road above the Şehre Küstü Quarter. There the famous preacher of the great ones of the Halvetiyye, "Pîr Sinâneddîn Yûsuf Efendi," is buried. His tomb is a place of visitation.

20- "Pîr Abdurrahmân Çelebi Tomb": It is a special cell mentioned in the waqf deed within the Yakub Paşa, that is, Çilehane, building. The fatiha window on the qibla side was opened after the cell was built, and a black marble bearing an inscription was placed over it. In it is buried "Pîr Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân-ı Sânî" (Abdurrahman the Second), son of "Pîr Hüsâmeddîn Halvetî" of the saints of "Kuba" and son of the daughter of His Excellency "Pîr İlyâs Halvetî." This is also called the "Aşağı Pîr Türbesi" (Lower Pîr Tomb) and "Aşağı Pîrler."

21- "Pîr Mehmed Çelebi Tomb": It is inside a small hazire (cemetery garden) enclosed by a wall, west of the Sığır Pazarı Mosque at Selağzı. It is established by register records that the mosque's founder "Pîr Hoca el-Hâc Mehmed Çelebi" and his wife "Kamer Hâtun" are buried there. Although "Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi" writes that "Mehmed Çelebi," father of the famous defterdar "İskender Çelebi," is buried here, it has been proven by records that the father of "İskender Çelebi" was "Mûsâ Çelebi."

22- "Tâceddîn Tomb": Near the tomb of His Excellency Pîr İlyâs, it is a hexagonal, stone, magnificent and small tomb. It is made all over of stone tending to black, each face showy, the band of its dome adorned with flowers from end to end; some verses are carved on it. In it are buried the Emir of Amasya "Gümüşlüzâde Tâceddîn Mahmûd Çelebi," his wife "Döndü Hâtun" and his daughter "Ayşe Hâtun"; it is known from records that its waqf was arranged by "Ayşe Hâtun." That certain persons claiming trusteeship point to this place as the "Kadem Paşa Türbesi" shows that they have forgotten the site of the "Kadem Paşa Türbesi."

23- "Tekirdağlı Baba Tomb": It is in the gorge looking toward Suluova, on a ridge above the vineyards on the west side. The person known as "Tekirdağlı Baba," one of the great meczubs seized by divine rapture and a contemporary of "Iydîzâde Âkif Mustafa Efendi," is buried there. Very many extraordinary states are ascribed to this person.

24- "Tımarhane Evliyası Tomb": It is in a cell at the south corner of the east side, inside Pervâne Bey's Darüşşifa. There is buried His Excellency the famous "Sâlih Efendi," sheikh of the Şamlar, who by his blessed breath restored the reason and consciousness of very many insane. He is also called "Sâlih Baba."

25- "Cumûdâr Tomb": It is in front of the Burmalı Minare Mosque, level with the minaret; its door was made of stone tending to black three years after the mosque was built. The form of the tomb is hexagonal like the Tâceddîn Tomb and rather magnificent; a quarter of it remains outside the mosque. Inside it there are two small stone cells, a lower and an upper; the lower cell is used as the tomb and the upper cell as a library.

In the lower cell there are eight coffins, some placed one on top of another, covered with green cloth. In the two coffins in front are two dead whose bodies stand whole and who are thought to be Arabs. The limbs of the others are not complete; it is seen that their bones stand in their original arrangement. Who they are is not known in Amasya. Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi writes that they are the slaves and concubines of Pervâne Bey, and European researchers that they are mummified people left from the first ages. There is no doubt that both are mere conjecture.

Yet in studies made on the records it has been settled that this tomb is the tomb of the prince "Cümûdâr son of Yaşmut son of Hülâgû Hân," grandson of the Tatar ruler Hülâgû Han and minister of Anatolia, and it has been understood that beside him the emir of Amasya "Abuşkay İşboğa Noyin" is buried. There are people still living today who know that the coffins beside them and in front, and the other two coffins, were formerly in a crypt beneath the Fethiye Mosque and were moved here around 1271 [1854-55].

Since in 675 [1276-77], the year Muînüddîn Süleyman Pervâne Bey was martyred, the mosque had not yet been built, the burial of his slaves and concubines here and the making at that time of a great tomb for them cannot be accepted. To accept that idolaters of the first ages had been preserved under a mosque up to today also cannot be reconciled with Islamic feelings. It is more plausible that they are the bodies of "Fetih Gâzi," who converted the church into a mosque, and his son "Mahmûd Gâzi," and of their wives or daughters.

26- "Çelebioğlu Tomb": It is a place set aside for itself near Hoca Sultan, in front of the Taksim, at the head of the Uzun Yol Cemetery. There is buried His Excellency "Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi," sheikh of the "Hoca Sultan Lodge," son of His Excellency "Cemâlîzâde Cemâleddîn Mehmed Çelebi," known as "Çelebi Halîfe," one of the great ones of the Halvetiyye; this is a famous place of visitation.

27- "Hacı Hamza Efendi Tomb": Adjoining the east of the "Hacı Hamza Efendi Mosque" in the Bayezid Paşa Quarter, it is a broad cell with a large dome.

Between the mosque and this tomb there is an iron railing. In it are buried His Excellency "Karabağlı el-Hâc Hamza-i Nigârî Efendi," one of the great sheikhs of the Khalidi branch, beside him his son "Sirâceddîn İsmâil Efendi," and beside him one of his halifes, "Mîr Hasan Efendi."

28- "Hacı Hamza Bey Tomb": It is in the middle of the Hacı Hamza Bey Quarter, in a garden adjoining the Hacı Hamza Bey Mescit. Just as it is reported that in this garden "el-Hâc Hamza Bey," one of the Ottoman beys, and his sons the beys "Ahmed, Mahmûd, Kâsım," and "Bâlî Beyzâde Abdurrahmân Çelebi," one of the famous scholars, are buried, it is also said that they are in a garden above "Hoca Sultan." On investigation it was understood from the gravestone that "Bâlî Beyzâde Abdurrahmân Çelebi" is in the mescit garden, and no inscription concerning the others could be seen.

29- "Habîb-i Karamânî Tomb": It is a place set aside for itself in the garden of the Mehmed Paşa Tomb on the east side of the Mehmed Paşa Mosque. There are buried one of the great sheikhs of the Halvetiyye, "eş-Şeyh Habîb-i Karamânî," beside him his halife "Seydî Ahmed Halîfe," on the west side of these "eş-Şeyh Hasan Efendi," and north of him the trustee of the "Mehmed Paşa Waqf," "Kurd Beyzâde Mehmed Bey."

30- "Hüseyin Dede Tomb": It is a place set aside for itself in the Çeribaşı Quarter, west of the garden southeast of the mosque, on the road. There are buried the famous preacher of the great ones of the Halvetiyye "eş-Şeyh Hüseyin Efendi" and the professor "Mustafa Efendi," and on their east side the mother of the humble one who writes these lines, "Zâhide Hâtun," his brother "Hâfız Halîl Efendi" and his sister "Fâtıma Hâtun."

31- "Halkalı Dede Tomb": It stands alone in the Çeribaşı Quarter, in front of the Şehre Küstü Quarter; it is a conical dome resting on four square stone columns. Three sides are garden, the south side a road, and it is enclosed by a wall. That "Sârû Hâtun," daughter of "Şâdî Bey," one of the grandsons of the emir of Amasya "Şâdgeldi Paşa," is buried in it is carved on its headstone and on a stone placed on the qibla wall.

In the middle of the tomb is its sarcophagus (sanduka); beneath it is a crypt that holds the body of "Sârû Hâtun." This crypt is the size of the tomb; in its middle, in an open-topped coffin, the body lies, and in a shroud that looks slightly yellowed it is seen whole, wholly uncorrupted. North of the sarcophagus there are two stones, rectangular, tending to black, standing facing each other; on their edges are two iron rings each. These ringed stones are at the mouth of the crypt; when needed, holding the rings, the stones are lifted and the mouth of the crypt opened. Since the belief is deep-rooted that if the feet of children who cannot walk are fastened to these rings on Saturdays for three weeks, by God's leave they will walk, women have given "Sârû Hâtun" the name "Halkalı Dede" (Dede of the Rings) in relation to these rings.

32- "Halifet Gâzi Tomb": It is a high tomb in the Şâmîce Quarter adjoining the madrasa of the said ghazi. It is made of stone all over; its south-facing facade is adorned with flowers in relief; the top of its door is worked exceedingly skillfully; it is extraordinarily high and its dome is conical like the Egyptian pyramids. Over its door, within a broad arch, there is an inscription in ornate Kufic writing, in which "Âyetü'l-Kürsî" (the Throne Verse) is written. The exceedingly intricate Kufic writing inside the arch appears like another flower worked among the flowers and is very hard to read. It is seen carved over its door that the governor of Amasya "Emir Mübârizeddîn Halîfe Alp" is buried in this tomb. Inside the tomb there is a rectangular stone sarcophagus laid from west to east. On the south-facing side of this sarcophagus there are, in relief, girl and sheep heads and shapes peculiar to the ancient Turks that they always used. Those who see these heads and shapes and do not know the truth of the matter claim that this tomb is left from the time of the idolaters or belonged to Christians before the hijra.

But curious persons who know the old customs of the ancient Turks easily understand what the purpose of these heads and shapes is. This emir, whose name is carved over his madrasa door as "Mübârizeddîn Halîfe bin Tüli" and written in his waqf deed of 622 [1225], according to what the shapes show is on his father's side of the "Kanık-Kınık" tribe, and according to what the girl and sheep heads show, on his mother's side of the "Koyunlu" tribe. Even if one did not know these signs and the writings over its door, someone who examines the style of this tomb and the placement of the sarcophagus has no difficulty in understanding that this is a Muslim tomb and a Seljuk work.

33- "Hoca Sultan Tomb": It is a place set aside for itself above the Darüsselam Quarter, in front of the Taksim, farther along the road going east. That "Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi," one of the merchants known as "Hoca Sultan," who had the famous lodge and imaret built, is buried there is understood from a gravestone found with great difficulty in an Armenian house.

34- "Dersi Tamam Tomb": It is a special cell at the head of the "Kuş Köprü," on the west side of the stream. While at first it consisted of four walls open on top, in 1314 [1896-97] the Amasya correspondence director "İstanbullu Mehmed Mazhar Bey" had it repaired as a roofed, regular cell. Since the person buried inside has no inscription, that he is "Müftüzâde el-Hâc Ömer Efendi," known as "Dersi Tamam," could be understood only after research lasting about seven years.

35- "Receb Çelebi Tomb": It is a square garden in the "Hacı İlyas Quarter" on the highway, in the row of the "Şehzadegân Tomb," on the west side. In the middle of the garden there is a grave with stone on four sides and earth in the middle, and on its south side two more graves. It is carved on it that the owner of the stone grave is "İbrâhim bin Alî el-Eşca'," one of the great sheikhs; it has been understood as a result of research that beside him are buried "Sadreddîn Receb Çelebi," who gave the quarter its name, and his grandson, "el-Hâc Bayrâm Efendi," one of the famous scholars.

36- "Selâmet Hâtun Tomb": It is a special cell on the qibla side of the Dersi Tamam Tomb, that is, its southwest, and about twenty meters farther along. In it is buried "Selâmet Hâtun," one of the virtuous among women, daughter of the Amasya judge "Nizâmeddîn Abdurrahmân Çelebi," known as "Molla Beylik." As submitted in the account of the "İnekler Tomb," she is not a lady left over from the time of Noah's flood. Since her lodge, which she had built in 857 [1453], was unjustly appropriated by "Şefîk Paşa" and turned into a garden, it has vanished, and only her tomb has been preserved.

37- "Sultan Mesud Tomb": On the west side of the Yukarı Pazar, on the south side of the cemetery known by the name "Narlı Bahçe," which forms the front of the Receb and Üçler quarters, it is a large tomb made of stone all over, exceedingly strong, its west-facing facade worked with astonishing skill, of a rectangular form close to square, of unequaled beauty. It extends from north to south; inside it has an arch in the middle and two domes; from outside the tops of the domes are flat.

Inside the tomb there is nothing belonging to a sarcophagus or grille; at its far end the two daughters of "Yörgüç Paşa" are buried. Considering that beneath it is wholly a crypt, it is understood that together with the said sultan several Seljuk princes are buried here. The condition of the tomb shows that it is buried in the earth by about a meter. On the two side columns of its facade there is an inscription that many people take for flowers, written in intricate Kufic writing. Since about two tenths of the writing from below is buried in the earth, it is very hard to read. Although it is certain that "Seljuk Sultan Mesud" is buried in this tomb, there is no sign that the other princes are buried here. That the tomb has been through fire several times is understood from the blackening of its facade; there is no doubt that the sarcophagus or grille inside was lost in such natural disasters. It is recorded that the villages endowed to the graves of the Seljuk rulers "Sultan Mesud the First," buried in the Simre of Amasya, and "Sultan Mesud the Second," buried in the Simre of Havza, on condition that Qur'an juz volumes be read, are in Amasya the villages of Aydoğdu, Efte, Kocaoğlan and Tatar, and in Havza those of Şeyh Savcı, Kapaklar and Konac; the name of "Sultan Mesud the First" is also carved on the column.

38- "Sinan Efendi Tomb": It is inside a house near the "Üçler Tomb." There is buried "eş-Şeyh Sinâneddîn Yûsuf el-Halvetî," one of the foremost of the scholars, sheikh of the Harem and author of the Qur'anic commentary "Tebyînü'l-Mehârim."

39- "Şâdgeldi Paşa Tomb": It is an old and strong dome in the "Halifet Gazi Cemetery." The west-facing facade of the tomb is wholly open; its top is made of stone in the form of a fish's back. Judging by its form and manner of construction, since it is very like the tombs of the time of the Danishmendid rulers, it recalls that one of the Danishmendid rulers or viziers is buried here. Here are buried "Emîr Seyfeddîn Sungur bin Tabuk," in the middle the ruler of Amasya "Şemseddîn Şâdgeldi Pâdişâh bin Kutlu," and north of him "Saîdeddîn Mevhûb bin ez-Ziyârî," one of the great scholars, together with "Osmân Paşazâde Hüseyin Bey" and "Assı Hâtun." From the death dates of those buried inside it is understood that this tomb is not the tomb the said ruler had built but was built two hundred years or more before him.

40- "Şirvânî Tomb": It is in a beautiful place within an enclosure set aside for itself above the "Şamlar Cemetery." The tomb is of two masonry domes; its west side is a mescit, its east side the tomb. This tomb was built by the former grand vizier "Şirvânîzâde Mehmed Rüşdî Paşa" in 1286 [1869-70], and he arranged its waqfs in 1290 [1873-74]. In it are buried his father His Excellency "eş-Şeyh İsmâil Sirâceddîn Şirvânî," his brother "es-Seyyid Ahmed Hulûsî Efendi," one of those of judicial rank and former judge of Istanbul, and his brother-in-law "el-Hâc Îsâ Rûhî Efendi."

41- "Şehzade Tomb": It is a stone dome set on four stone columns northwest of the Narlı Bahçe Cemetery. That "Sultan Ahmed," first prince of His Majesty "Sultan Murad Han II," who is written in the "Behcetü't-Tevârîh" to be buried in Amasya, is buried here is understood from its being called "Şehzade Türbesi." There is nothing about an inscription on any side of it. The person seen buried outside, south of the tomb, is the bey "Yahyâ Bey."

42- "Şehzadegân Tomb": On the north side of the highway in front of the Şâmîce Quarter, on the west side of the road going to the front of İnehan in the Hacı İlyas Quarter, at the street corner, it is a strong dome likewise set on four stone columns. Since this tomb has been repaired many times, most recently in 1314 [1896-97] by "Gürcüzâde Mehmed Necîb Bey," it is in a kept-up and renewed condition. The inscriptions prove that in it are buried "Kâsım Çelebi," prince of His Majesty "Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Han," the prince "Mehmed Çelebi bin Sultan Bâyezîd Hân," who died after him, the prince "Mehmed Şâh Çelebi bin Süleyman Çelebi," who died after him, and the prince "Mustafa Çelebi bin Süleyman Çelebi."

43- "Şehitler Tomb" (Tomb of the Martyrs): It is known as two; one is the "Cümûdâr Tomb" inside the Burmalı Minare explained above, the other a special cell inside the Torumtay Mosque. This cell is a deep stone room descended by about eight stone steps; besides its east-facing door it has no window or hole to take in light and air. Inside it there are two coffins, one placed in the south and the other in the north; between the two it is open. Inside these closed coffins there are very many human heads, arms, legs and other limbs; the flesh stands dried on the bones. By this situation it is understood that some five or six human bodies had been placed in the two coffins.

Over this stone room there are the grilles and stone sarcophagi of the persons buried inside; although the grilles that come exactly over the room are four, the grilles prove that on their east side, in another special cell, some eight persons are buried. Since there is no inscription on the grilles and sarcophagi as to who they are, no other carved sign could be found either. But it is strongly surmised that the late "Torumtay's" son "Emîr Sinâneddîn Mûsâ," his grandson "Emîr Celâleddîn Mehmed Pervâne Bey," and from his line the Emir of Amasya "Zeyneddîn Yakub Şâh-ı Rûmî" and their grandchildren are buried here.

44- "Şeyh Hüsâmeddîn Tomb": It is above the Kamereddîn Quarter, in front of the Hekim Çelebi Quarter, on the road going to Hızır Paşa. It is square and high; its top is open. It is known from the records that "Akdağîzâde eş-Şeyh Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Efendi" and his son "Muhyiddîn Efendi" are buried there. The other "Şeyh Hüsâmeddîn Tomb" is also within a garden above "Hoca Sultan," and there is buried "Sonusalı Şeyh Hüsâmeddîn Hasan Efendi."

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• derûn: inside
• halîle / kerîme / mahdûm / hafîd: wife / daughter / son / grandson
• medfûn: buried
• mütevellî / tevliyet: waqf administrator / waqf administration
• müceddeden: anew
• zelâzil: earthquakes
• vehn târî olmak: for weakness, decay to appear
• hedm: demolition
• i'ânât-ı nakdiyye: monetary aid
• sultân-ı mahlû': the deposed sultan (here Abdülhamid II)
• ricâl ve nisâ: men and women
• eslâf / ahlâf: predecessors / those who came later
• hazîre: a small cemetery enclosed by a wall beside a mosque or tomb
• sicillen mazbût: recorded in the kadı registers
• müseddes / murabba' / müstatîl: hexagonal / square / rectangular
• sengîn: of stone
• mahkûk: carved, engraved
• meczûb: a dervish seized by divine rapture, whose state of mind is regarded as extraordinary
• tahtânî / fevkânî: lower / upper
• meyyit: dead person
• taharriyât-ı kuyûdiyye: research made on the records
• mahrûtî: conical
• şebeke: the stone or iron grille over a grave, the frame of a sarcophagus
• avârız-ı kevniyye: natural disasters
• kırâ'at-ı eczâya meşrût: bound to the condition of reading Qur'an juz volumes
• kaviyyen maznûn: strongly surmised

The Place and Importance of the List of Tombs

This section is the continuation of the list of tombs begun in the previous part of the introduction and extends from the second half of the eighteenth item to the forty-fourth item. Kadir Özköse notes that in his book Hüsameddin gives the names of seventy-one tombs and records their places and occupants one by one, and that eighteen of these belong to Halvetî sheikhs; the Pîr İlyas, Pîr Sinan, Pîr Abdurrahman Çelebi and Çelebioğlu tombs are among these eighteen. The list's real value lies in the author's personally searching for inscriptions, gravestones and registers. He tells that he found the identity of the occupant of the "Dersi Tamam" tomb after seven years of research, established Hoca Sultan's gravestone with great difficulty in an Armenian house, and determined those lying in the Şâdgeldi Paşa tomb through an examination lasting several years. Thus the list has become the only record of very many graves that are lost today or whose site is forgotten.

The Pîr İlyas Tomb and Halvetîism

The building also known today as "Yukarı Pirler Türbesi" is within the Pirler Park south of the Çilehane Mosque. Present descriptive records say that the tomb was built in 1486 by Gümüşlüzâde Ahmed Bey, that besides Pîr İlyas his son-in-law Pîr Celâleddin Abdurrahman, his grandson Pîr Hayreddin Hızır Çelebi and their families lie in it, that the building was renewed in 1688 by Gümüşlüzâde İbrâhim Paşa, and that it was destroyed after the earthquake of 1895 and later rebuilt. This information agrees with the author's dates: the repair he gives as 1100 corresponds to 1688-89, and the demolition he gives as 1312 to 1894-95. That over the entrance door the building's original inscription stands together with the repair inscription of the time of Abdülhamid II also confirms the repair the author tells of, for which the sultan gave money from his own waqfs. The present building is of transverse rectangular plan; the interior is divided by two pointed arches into three sections, each covered with a dome, and the western section is used as a mescit with a mihrab. The arrangement Hüsameddin describes, "the middle a tomb, its two sides mescits," is this plan itself.

Pîr İlyas is regarded as the person who made Amasya the first center where Halvetîism entered Ottoman lands. According to Kadir Özköse, the view that says Halvetîism came to Amasya only in the princely years of Bayezid II is wrong; the order had settled in the city much earlier through Pîr İlyas (d. 833/1429), a halife of Sadreddin Hıyâvî. A famous name from the same family is also worth drawing the reader's attention to: Mihrî Hatun, the important woman poet of the fifteenth century, is a granddaughter of Pîr İlyas. Her father is Kadı Hasan Amasyevî, with the pen name "Belâyî." The "Yukarı Pîrler" family lying in the tomb came out of the midst of the city's Sufi and literary circles.

Pîr Sinan and the Name "Şehre Küstü"

Hüsameddin says the Pîr Sinan Tomb is above the Şehre Küstü Quarter; where the quarter's name comes from is explained in another study. According to what Özköse relays, when Pîr Sinan Halvetî (d. 957/1550) dared to criticize Prince Mustafa, sanjak governor of Amasya, in his sermons, he was forbidden to preach and the people were forbidden to go to his assemblies. The sheikh, taking offense at this, left all his duties and withdrew into seclusion, and his disciples had a lodge built for him. The name "Şehre Küstü" is remembered through this event; today the quarter is known by the name "Şehirüstü." The same researcher also records that Pîr Sinan, while at first a professor at the Mehmed Paşa Madrasa, attached himself to Seydi Halife, deputy of Habîb-i Karamânî, and left his professorship. Whether the Sinâneddin Yûsuf whom Hüsameddin mentions in item 38 as author of the Tebyînü'l-Mehârim and this Pîr Sinan are the same person cannot be understood from the text; two separate tombs bearing the same name suggest two separate persons.

Habîb-i Karamânî and Hoca Sultan

Habîb-i Karamânî, who lies in the tomb beside the Mehmed Paşa Mosque, is a halife of Seyyid Yahyâ-yı Şirvânî. Born in the town of Ortaköy in Niğde, he attached himself to Şirvânî while a professor at the Sultan Rükneddin Madrasa, and after serving him twelve years received a license and was sent to Anatolia. After traveling through various cities he settled in Amasya and continued guidance in the lodge Mehmed Paşa had built for him in 890 [1485]. His date of death appears in the sources as 902 or 903 [1496-97], and he was buried in the garden of his lodge. The person Hüsameddin calls "eş-Şeyh Hasan Efendi," judging by the order of the sheikhs Özköse records, must be Habîb-i Karamânî's son Hasan Efendi; the "Seydî Ahmed Halîfe" beside him is also his halife İmamzâde Seydî. This matching is an inference.

The Hoca Sultan Lodge was built in 880 [1475] by Şemseddin Ahmed Çelebi, teacher of Prince Bayezid, who gave its sheikhship to Cemâl-i Halvetî, known as "Çelebi Halife." When Bayezid II came to the throne and summoned Cemâl-i Halvetî to Istanbul, his son Bedreddin Mahmud Çelebi came to head the lodge. This is the person Hüsameddin says in item 26 lies in the Çelebioğlu Tomb; the "merchant" Şemseddin Ahmed Çelebi called Hoca Sultan in item 33 and the person Özköse calls "teacher of Prince Bayezid" bear the same name. The lodge is today around the Fethiye Quarter, in the old Darüsselam Quarter.

The Burmalı Minare Tomb and the Amasya Mummies

The part of the section that will draw most interest is the debate on the coffins standing in the kümbet beside the Burmalı Minare Mosque. Hüsameddin rejects the views that these dead are Pervâne Bey's slaves or mummies left from the first ages; relying on the records, he says that the tomb belongs to Cumudar, grandson of Hülâgû and minister of Anatolia, and that beside him lies the emir of Amasya İşboğa Noyin. The identity of the dead known today as the "Amasya mummies" largely rests on this finding of his. In the Amasya Museum's descriptions the mummies are attributed to Prince Cumudar, minister of Anatolia, to İşbuğa Noyan, emir of Amasya, and to İzzeddin Mehmed Pervâne Bey with his wife and children; there are eight in all, four of them children, and they are dated to the fourteenth-century Ilkhanid period.

The author's statement "there are still people living who know that they were moved here around 1271 from the crypt beneath the Fethiye Mosque" also agrees with present knowledge. According to the museum directorate's explanation, the mummies were found by chance in 1855 in the basement of the Fethiye Mosque, taken to the Burmalı Minare Mosque and remained there until 1928. Then they were moved to the museum depot in the Bayezid II Madrasa, in 1952, after being damaged in the Yeşilırmak flood, to the Gökmedrese Mosque, and in 1980 to the new Amasya Museum; after being displayed for a long time in the Sultan Mesud Tomb in the museum garden, they were taken into a special section with controlled heat and humidity. The museum director says that endoscopic examinations made in 2003 showed that the children died of illness and that İşbuğa and Cumudar were killed by strangulation.

A contradiction must be pointed out here. Hüsameddin, arguing that Pervâne Bey was killed in 675 [1276-77] and that at that date the mosque had not yet been built, maintains that the dead of the Pervâne family cannot have been placed in this kümbet, and thinks that the coffins that came from Fethiye may belong to Fetih Gazi, who converted the church into a mosque, and his son Mahmud Gazi. The present identification, however, counts the Pervâne family among the mummies. On the other hand, the date of the mosque is also disputed: some sources say it was built between 1237 and 1247 in the time of Seljuk Sultan Gıyâseddin Keyhüsrev II by the vizier Ferruh, adding that the exact date of construction is not known. To whom the kümbet belongs is equally unclear; according to one view the mosque's founder Ferruh Bey and his son lie in it, and the people's calling it "Cumudar Türbesi" arises from the mummy there, while in official records the kümbet is presented as a building made for Prince Cumudar. In his footnote Hüsameddin says there is a complete similarity in form and size between this kümbet and the Tâceddin Tomb, and that the two may be the work of the same architect or of two masters related to each other. The mosque was reopened for worship on 2 August 2024 after a two-year repair.

The Halifet Gazi Tomb: Where the Author Is Right and Where He Is Mistaken

One of the buildings on which Hüsameddin dwells longest is the Halifet Gazi Tomb; among the people it is called "Hilfet Gazi." The author is right in speaking of the inscription on the madrasa door and the waqf deed of 622: Aynur Durukan records that according to the madrasa's inscription it was built in 606 [1209-10] and that the founder's waqf deed of 622 [1225] is at hand. Halîfet Gazi is originally a Danishmendid emir; after the fall of the principality he entered Seljuk service, was appointed to the Black Sea coast guard in the time of İzzeddin Keykâvus I and to the governorship of Amasya in 619 [1222] in the time of Alâeddin Keykubad I, then became governor of Erzurum, and in 1232 fell a martyr in the campaign against the Georgians and was buried in his tomb in Amasya.

The point on which the author is mistaken is the decorations of the sarcophagus. Hüsameddin reads the girl and sheep heads as ancient Turkish tribal marks and from them concludes that the emir came from the Kınık tribe on his father's side and the Koyunlu tribe on his mother's. Present research, however, shows that the sarcophagus is a Roman-period marble woman's sarcophagus reused later. On its south face there are ram heads with curled horns, winged erotes and medusa heads resting on garlands attached to them; on its lid is seen a depiction of a sleeping woman in a draped garment, and acroteria at its corners. The figures the author calls "girl heads" are medusa and eros depictions, and what he calls "sheep heads" are the ram heads often seen on Roman sarcophagi. Nevertheless the idea Hüsameddin chiefly defends, that the building is not a Christian or pagan work but a Muslim tomb and Seljuk building, is the view still accepted today.

The date of the tomb is still disputed. The common opinion places it in the first quarter of the thirteenth century; but Doğan Kuban has dated the building to the middle of the twelfth century, and Albert Gabriel and Oktay Aslanapa to 540 [1145-46]. Tanju Cantay suggests that the space on the lower floor may be a monumental tomb with a crypt, or a burial chapel, attached to a church. It is also reported, according to the Dânişmendnâme, that the madrasa was converted from a church.

Another point to draw the reader's attention to is a small event the author tells in a footnote. Hüsameddin says that the municipality was about to demolish the tomb on the grounds that the building belonged to Christians and that its pointed cone threatened to fall on the quarter, and that he prevented the demolition by explaining the matter to the mutasarrıf of Amasya, Kemal Bey. The tomb, regarded today as one of the oldest and best-known Seljuk buildings in Amasya, stands perhaps thanks to this intervention.

The Sultan Mesud Tomb

Hüsameddin accepts as "certain" that Seljuk Sultan Mesud lies in the tomb south of the Narlı Bahçe Cemetery and says that the name of "Sultan Mesud the First" is carved on the column. On this present knowledge is different. Mesud I died in 550 [1155] and was buried in the tomb in the courtyard of the Alâeddin Mosque in Konya; the entry "Mesud I" of the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi plainly states that the saying that the sultan's tomb is near Amasya is not correct. The same source records that Mesud I founded a city called Simre near Amasya; Hüsameddin's expression "the Simre of Amasya" relates to this settlement. Some sources therefore speak of the building as "the tomb claimed to belong to Sultan Mesud."

The building itself is today in the garden of the Amasya Museum. It is a Seljuk tomb of the iwan type, with rectangular plan, accepted to have been built in the twelfth century. Its front facade is built of cut stone, its other parts of rubble stone; its top is covered with a barrel vault supported by a large arch in the middle. From its west side one descends to the mummy section on the lower floor. Hüsameddin's finding "beneath it is wholly a crypt" corresponds to this section. The tomb was used for many years as the place where the mummies were displayed; after the mummies were taken into the museum, marble sarcophagi of the Ottoman period began to be displayed here.

Şâdgeldi Paşa and Halkalı Dede

The Şâdgeldi Paşa Tomb is today opposite the Halifet Gazi Tomb, southwest of the Kadılar Türbesi. It is presented as a fourteenth-century building of rectangular plan, iwan type, with cut-stone walls and covered by a vault, and it is noted that it greatly resembles the Kadılar Türbesi. Hüsameddin, looking at the death dates of those lying inside, puts forward that the building was built some two hundred years before Şâdgeldi and resembles the tombs of the Danishmendid period. Present descriptions, however, accept the building as a fourteenth-century work belonging to Şâdgeldi Paşa; the author's early-date proposal has not been accepted. The author also says in his footnote that, if excavations were made here and at the Sultan Mesud Tomb, he has no doubt that more graves would be found.

The name of the Halkalı Dede Tomb appears today as "Halkalı Evliya Türbesi" and is in the Şehirüstü Quarter. It is a baldachin-type building consisting of a dome resting on four piers, open on its sides apart from the south facade. The ringed stones Hüsameddin describes and the belief about making children walk appear also in present records exactly; only it is noted that the stones were there "formerly." On the person lying in the tomb the sources differ: Hüsameddin, relying on its inscription, presents her as Sârû Hatun, daughter of Şâdî Bey, one of the grandsons of Şâdgeldi Paşa; the present official description says that it is the grave of Şahruz Hatun, daughter of Reisü'l-asker Burak Bey, one of the grandsons of Şâdgeldi Paşa. Both records tie the woman to the line of Şâdgeldi, but the name and the father's name differ.

Torumtay, Şirvânî and Hacı Hamza Nigârî

The second building Hüsameddin mentions under the name "Şehitler Tomb" is Torumtay's tomb with a crypt around the Gök Medrese. Today it is accepted that the Torumtay Tomb opposite the Gök Medrese was built in 1278 by Seyfeddin Torumtay, governor of Amasya, and that besides him the graves of his children and grandchildren are in it. This information supports the author's conjecture that Torumtay's son, grandson and the emirs of his line lie here.

Şeyh İsmâil Sirâceddin Şirvânî, who lies in the Şirvânî Tomb, is an important sheikh who spread the Khalidi branch of Naqshbandism in the Caucasus and in Ottoman lands. Born in 1782-83 in the village of Kürdemir in Shirvan, he migrated with his disciples to Amasya when the Russians advanced, after staying in Sivas for a time returned to Amasya in 1841, and died of plague in 1848 and was buried in the Şamlar cemetery. His son Şirvânîzâde Mehmed Rüşdî Paşa rose to the grand viziership in the time of Sultan Abdülaziz and had this tomb built over his father's grave in 1869-70; this date agrees with the year 1286 Hüsameddin gives. His brother Ahmed Hulûsi Efendi, who lies in the tomb, served as judge of Istanbul and kazasker of Anatolia.

The "Karabağlı Hacı Hamza Nigârî Efendi" in item 27 is Mîr Hamza Nigârî, a well-known Sufi poet of the nineteenth century. Born in Karabakh, he attached himself to İsmâil Şirvânî in Sivas, raised disciples for many years in Amasya and Merzifon, was exiled to Harput in 1885, and died there in 1886. By his will his body was brought to Amasya. According to present records his tomb is beside the mosque his disciples had built in 1894, also called the "Azeriler Camii"; inside are the coffins of Nigârî, of his son İsmâil Efendi and of Mîr Hasan Efendi. The only difference in this information, which agrees with Hüsameddin's record, is that Mîr Hasan is called Nigârî's nephew in some sources; Hüsameddin counts him among his halifes.

Records That Could Not Be Confirmed

On the Pîr Mehmed Çelebi, Tâceddin, Tekirdağlı Baba, Dersi Tamam, Receb Çelebi, Selâmet Hatun, Şehzade and Şehzadegân tombs and the two Şeyh Hüsâmeddin tombs, no information beyond what Hüsameddin gives was found in the present sources we could read. The prince names in the Şehzadegân Tomb too, though the author bases them on inscriptions, could not be confirmed in a present publication.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 1, p. 137–141. amasya.bel.tr
• Türkiye Kültür Portalı, "Pir Sücaeddin İlyas Türbesi", "Sultan Mesud Türbesi", "Şadgeldi Türbesi", "Halkalı Evliya Türbesi", "Şirvanlı İsmail Türbesi". https://www.kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/amasya

Academic studies

• Aynur Durukan, "Hilfet Gazi Medresesi ve Türbesi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 18, İstanbul 1998, p. 30-31. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/hilfet-gazi-medresesi-ve-turbesi
• "Mesud I", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mesud-i
• "Amasya", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/amasya
• Kadir Özköse, "Amasya'da Bulunan Halvetiyye Tekkeleri", Akademiar Dergisi, no. 5, Ankara 2018, p. 91-118. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/606666

Official sources

• Amasya İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü, "Halifet Gazi Kümbeti" and "Torumtay Türbesi". https://amasya.ktb.gov.tr/TR-59536/halifet-gazi-kumbeti.html; https://amasya.ktb.gov.tr/TR-59537/torumtay-turbesi.html
• T.C. Amasya Valiliği, "Türbeler". https://www.amasya.gov.tr/turbeler

Other sources

• Entries "Burmalı Minare Camii", "Amasya Arkeoloji ve Mumya Müzesi", "Torumtay Türbesi", "Pir Sücaeddin İlyas Türbesi", Turkish Wikipedia (accessed 2026).
• Entries "Ismail Sirajuddin Shirvani" and "Hamza Nigari", English Wikipedia (accessed 2026).
• "Amasya'daki mumyalar taşındı", Hürriyet (AA news item). https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/amasyadaki-mumyalar-tasindi-17694965
• "Amasya Müzesi'nin Müslüman mumyaları", Arkeolojik Haber. https://www.arkeolojikhaber.com/haber-amasya-muzesinin-musluman-mumyalari-16600/