INTRODUCTION (19) (Mukaddime)

In Modern English

This bathhouse is probably not among the charitable works of the said ruler but passed to him as property by purchase. It would later have been endowed by his children. But east of this great bathhouse above, that is, behind it, there is another small bathhouse that does not much resemble the great bathhouse in its manner of construction. This bathhouse was built by Yörgüç Paşazâde Mustafa Bey, who had an imaret and guesthouse built in the upper part of the town, on the ruin of the old city.

The said emir Mustafa Bey had an imaret and guesthouse built in this town in 835 and arranged its waqfs in 840. Since the stone mosque seen below these bathhouses was renewed in 925 by the beylerbeyi of Karaman, Şâdî Paşa, and its waqfs arranged, it is understood that this mosque too was built together with the great bathhouse.

In the year 900 Fîrûz Ağa, famous in Amasya as the "Kızlar Ağası," had a very sound stone madrasa built in the middle of this town, on the mountain side, arranged its waqfs, and showed very great effort for the development of the city. Later in 1048 Hacı Uğurluzâde Müstecâb Ağa, of the eşraf of Havza, built a school, and in 1178 Osman Bey, of its eşraf, renewed the Şâdî Paşa Mosque and built a lofty madrasa on its east side, and they rendered charitable services.

Since a highway was passed in front of this town, which was administered by a judge and a director until the year 1298, and constant coming and going and transport became easy, the city's value rose; with the settling of Tatar and Circassian immigrants its size, population and needs also increased extraordinarily. In the spring seasons great hans began to be built for the rest of the people coming from distant vilayets such as Ankara, Sivas and Trabzon, and a kaza was established by giving it over to the administration of a kaymakam; in this town, which took on the appearance of a fair every day, the building of hans was undertaken.

In this town, whose importance grew from year to year, economic benefit also grew, and merchants, tradesmen, workers and all the resident people gained wealth and served the growth and adornment of the city. The number of households, which was close to a hundred, has approached five hundred in the present state up to this date. Hans multiplied to the extent of a quarter of these new buildings, and commercial activity increased from year to year.

Yet when the kaza was established, as if in Havza there were no shelter, no place where a government mansion could be built, the Fîrûz Ağa Madrasa, which had continued as a house of learning for four hundred years, was made into a government mansion in the year 1300; a few offices were added to the upper floor of its facade, the madrasa's lecture hall was made a prison, the lower floor of the facade a police ward, and its other rooms were each made an office. Since Osman Bey's madrasa and Müstecâb Ağa's school had long been ruined, in the whole of the large town of Havza no place was left to teach children and spread knowledge.

In this respect, from the year 1300 the importance of this lack was understood, and a primary school, around 1304 with aid a mosque in the Aşağı Mahalle, in 1310 a madrasa were built, in 1312, the primary school being seen as necessary, it was converted into a rüştiye school, and an effort was made to remedy the lack in the spread of education; yet in the meantime a whole sound madrasa was destroyed in vain, and its endowed plot was wasted.

In 1308 Mazlûm Paşazâde Memdûh Efendi, former minister of the interior and governor of Sivas, seeing the economic benefits of this town, had a great hotel and, beneath it, a fine bathhouse built south of the great bathhouse, that is, opposite it; he forced the amount he took from the great bathhouse's water to flow to this bathhouse and exiled to Ankara Hacı Mahmûd Ağa, of the eşraf of the kaza, who objected as trustee of the waqf. But when after the constitutional regime proclaimed in 1326 he himself was removed from office and dismissed, the water he had taken by force also caused this valuable real estate to pass out of his hand to become special income for the country's education.

In 1322, in the time of the kaza kaymakam Abdurrahman Nâilî Bey, the old madrasa made into a government mansion was wholly demolished and destroyed, and a great government mansion was built in its place. A house of learning that came into being in its time with thousands in cash and effort vanished with its waqfs within twenty years, and Mustafa Bey's imaret and guesthouse also fell into ruin and came to a state like the ruin of the old Hancere Town.

This madrasa was once very flourishing, a shelter to very many learned men, was at the "forty" rank and was given to efendis who gave general lessons, and the efendis who became professors here gave lessons in this town and spread grace. But since the system of inheritance tied this teaching duty to concern for livelihood, the professors could not be found in Havza and carried out the teaching business by deputation.

The professors of this madrasa were mostly among the great scholars; while Müftüzâde Seyyid Abdurrahman Efendi was professor, at his death in 1148 Müftü Ahmed Efendi, in 1158 Hüseyin Efendizâde Mustafa Efendi, in 1162, at his death, his son Hâfız Abdullah Efendi, in 1192, at his death, Seyyid Ali Efendi, one of the scholars, in 1209 Payaslı Hacı Mehmed Efendi, one of the famous learned men, and at his death his son, the great scholar Hacı Abdülhalîm Efendi, became professors of this madrasa; at Hacı Abdülhalîm Efendi's death his sons Hacı İsmail Hakkı, Mehmed Emîn and Abdülmecîd Nâilî Efendis had taken on the teaching duty.

Since at its first conquest the Turkish tribes Gidürlü, Çarıklı and Kanıklı were settled in this kaza, these names stand today as village names. The villages the kaza contains are about fifty, its total population around thirty thousand; formerly it was divided into four nahiyes under the names Halyas, Kamlık, Gidürlü and Simre:

1- Halyas Nahiye: It encircles the southeast parts of the kaza. Today it is given the name "Hıllaz." In this nahiye there was formerly a hot spring (ılıca); since its water is lukewarm, its healing tested and its site fine, a hotel and han were built beside it, and it has won fame since the date 1300. Among the people it is called the "Hıllaz Ilıcası." Although some, counting the healing properties of this spring, prefer it to the Havza spa, there is no doubt that the benefits expected of the spa exceed the benefits the ılıca provides.

2- Kamlık Nahiye: It encircles the northeast parts of the kaza. This old nahiye is rather famous; Dereköyü is within the borders of this nahiye. In Dereköyü Emir Hacı Veliyyeddin bin Berekât Şah, one of the Seljuk emirs, had a mosque and tomb built in 647 and arranged their waqfs. The famous emir Mübârizeddin Îsâ bin İldaş is also from this nahiye. In old records it is called "Kanık Nahiye." Probably the word "Kamlık" is a corruption of the expression "Kanklıg."

3- Gidürlü Nahiye: In the records this nahiye appears with the spelling "Gedirlü"; it encircles the northwest parts of the kaza. Emir Celâleddîn Mâh Melek bin Mehmed el-Havzî, chief of the Gidürlü Tribe, came out of this nahiye, seized the kaza, around 665 declared his independence, and thus troubled the Amasya government for several years.

4- Simre Nahiye: It encircles the west parts of the kaza. Because the Kanglı Tribe once lived in this nahiye, and because those who were in Amasya in the days of the collapse of the Seljuk sultans lived in this nahiye, this Simre Nahiye won great fame in history.

Just as the last of the Seljuk rulers in Anatolia, Sultan Mes'ûd-ı Selçûkî, is buried in the village called "Tatar Kalesi" within this nahiye, his son and successor, Sultan Tâceddin Altunbaş Selçûkî, famous as "Gâzi Çelebi," is buried in the village called "Umur Bey," otherwise "Şeyh Savcı"; this is proved by official records.

In the official records it is written: "the Tomb of Sultan Mes'ûd bin Keykâvus, in Tatar Kalesi Village in the Simre of Havza attached to Amasya"; and for his son, "the Tomb of Prince Gâzi Çelebi, son of Sultan Mes'ûd, in the village of Umur Bey, otherwise Şeyh Savcı, in the Simre of Havza attached to Amasya," and "the Tomb of Sultan Tâceddin the Prince... and so on..." Since Sultan Mes'ûd is famous as "Büyük Sultan Gâzi" (Great Sultan Gâzi) and Sultan Tâceddin as "Küçük Sultan Gâzi" (Little Sultan Gâzi), it is certain that these two persons among the Seljuk sultans are in this Simre Nahiye.

The basis of this record is the waqf deed of Gâzi Çelebi, which shows it was drawn up in the date 765. It is written in the waqf deed that Sultan Tâceddin Altunbaş bin Sultan Mes'ûd bin Sultan Keykâvus-ı Selçûkî endowed the villages listed above for the reading of Qur'an juz volumes.

It is written that at Tatar Kalesi there are a tomb, a madrasa and a mosque in the name of Sultan Mes'ûd, and in the village of Umur Bey a lodge in the name of Şeyh Savcı and a tomb in the name of Sultan Tâceddin, and since their professors, preachers, sheikhs, juz readers and trustees are recorded, the villages of Şeyh Savcı, otherwise Umur Bey, and Tatar Kalesi were visited and serious researches made. But at Tatar Kalesi only a tomb ruin consisting of heaps of stone under the name "Sultan Türbesi," and in the village of Şeyh Savcı only a grave known as "Sultan Altunbaş's grave," consisting of four walls, could be found. There is no trace of the madrasa; in both villages there is a wooden mosque each and a village room in the name of a lodge.

In the village famous as "Tatar Kalesi," this name was given because the Tatar Bey, the deputy in this area of the Tatar commanders who once lived in Amasya and supervised the land of Rum, lived there. Within the borders of this kaza there are also villages famous by the names Şeyh Durasın, Şeyh Bâyezîd and Şeyh Savcı.

IV - The fourth is the Kaza of Köprü: It is bounded on the east by Havza, on the west by Osmancık and Boyabat, on the south by Merzifon and Hacıköyü, and on the north by the kazas of Bafra. Its center is the town of Köprü, founded on the northwest foothills of Taşan Dağı, between two hills, in a fine place that is rugged and slopes toward the west.

On the old name of this town, since there are two accounts concerning the names "Şın" and "Kedeğra," it is not useless to examine them. Evliya Çelebi says in his Seyahatname: "This city was formerly called by the name 'Şın'; 'Şın' in the language of the Amalekites means 'bridge.'" As understood from this account, the Town of Şın and the Town of Köprü are the same in place and in meaning, one in the language of the Amalekites, the other in Turkish.

Although it is understood from some weak accounts that the Amalekite community was in Anatolia in the first ages, there is no historical evidence to confirm this. An account to confirm that the word "Şın" means "bridge" in the Amalekite language is outside the knowledge of this humble author. For this reason, unless the source of this account is known, it would be somewhat hard to accept.

That the "Town of Kedeğra" was built by Seljuk Sultan Mes'ûd in the date 538 and named "Kedeğra" is written in general histories such as the el-Aylemü'z-Zâhir and Câmiu'd-Düvel. The old name of this town, "Kedeğra," is written in all the old records and sharia registers; but there is no official record or historical evidence that it is the very same as the Town of Köprü in site. On the contrary, it is understood from examination of the records that they were separate places. Thus:

It is written in Yörgüç Paşa's waqf deed relating to Köprü that he had a mosque built at the head of Köprü Village, around the city of Kedeğra, and fixed the staff's wages for its expenses. Likewise it is written in Tâceddin Paşa's waqf deed that he had a mosque, imaret and bathhouse built in Köprü Village around the Town of Kedeğra and arranged their waqfs. As understood from the Yörgüç Paşa waqf deed drawn up in the date 834 and the Tâceddin Paşa waqf deed drawn up in the date 900, it is certain that Köprü was a village around the Town of Kedeğra.

Since in all the sharia registers and old documents it is written "the Yörgüç Paşa Mosque, in Köprü Village around the city of Kedeğra, attached to Amasya" and "the Tâceddin Paşa Mosque and Imaret, in the Town of Köprü around the city of Kedeğra, attached to the Liva of Amasya," there is no doubt that the site of the Town of Kedeğra is one thing, the site of Köprü Village and later of the Town of Köprü another, and that they were adjoining each other. In this case the Town of Köprü is not the very same as the Town of Kedeğra in site, but perhaps its complement. Which of these two names is the older is not known.

For the old city on the site of the Town of Köprü was conquered when Amasya was conquered by the Danishmendids; it was ruined in the Crusader wars that the Rum, and then the Crusaders, waged one after another to retake it. Later, when Seljuk Sultan Mes'ûd took the Amasya government, he had this town, within its borders, built as a fine city within a fortress on a high place dominating the old city, and gave it the name "Kedeğra."

Today the Town of Kedeğra is the place that includes the İç Kale Quarter, the Molla Hasan, Ganizâde and Abdullatîf quarters around it, and part of the quarters lying between them; it is understood from the remaining ruins that all were inside a fortress. "Köprü," on the other hand, is the name of the places corresponding to the north and west sides of the Yörgüç Paşa Mosque, famous today as the "Orta Cami." Upon the fear the Celali bandits spread around in 1009 in Anatolia, the voyvoda of Köprü, the famous Durak Ağa, and the zeamet holder Sinan Çelebioğlu Mustafa Ağa, to protect against the bandits, had a fortress with earthen bastions built around the İç Kale Quarter; since this too later grew and took the form of a quarter, the "Toprak Kale Quarter" too was counted part of this Town of Kedeğra.

The place that, as understood from the old works encountered here and there in excavations, was formerly a great city and later fell into ruin, but on part of which a village under the name "Köprü" was founded, is also the Town of Köprü, which in old documents found after the date 612 is generally shown as "Köprü Village." There is no doubt that this name was born from the bridge made over the İstavlaz Çayı to ease passage from the opposite bank to the Town of Kedeğra.

Sultan Cemâl-i Dânişmendî, who lived in the Town of Kedeğra, had been sent to Kayseri by the ruler of Amasya, Şadgeldi Padişah, and had settled in this Köprü Village Şeyh Alâeddin Ali Şirvânî, adviser to the said emir; the sheikh's grandchildren became distinguished here. When the governor of Amasya Yörgüç Paşa had Haydar Bey, bey of Koca Kayası, brought to Amasya, he had a mosque built in the empty place between Köprü Village and the Town of Kedeğra and settled around it some Turkmen tribes, and so Köprü Village began to develop.

When Tâceddin Paşa (Tâcî Bey), one of the grandsons of this Alâeddin Şirvânî, became divan holder to Prince Sultan Ahmed, governor of Amasya, in 896, he had built in this village an excellent mosque, imaret, bathhouse and, on the bank of the İstavlaz Çayı, a lofty palace for Sultan Ahmed Çelebi. Thus he eased the prince's coming to this Köprü in the spring seasons; through the imaret very many poor and needy, and because of the prince's coming some emirs, lived in this Köprü and had mansions built. As Köprü Village's honor grew, those who came out of it were called "Köprülü" and those from the town "Kedeğralı."

From this date Köprü Village took on the state of a town; Köprülü Abdullatîf Efendi founded a quarter in its present quarter, and Kedeğralı Abdulganîzâde Mehmed Çelebi another beside it, each had a mosque and school built in his own quarter, and the other Köprülüs and Kedeğralıs, attached to these, vied with one another in exalting the towns they belonged to with charitable buildings.

For this reason, since the space between these two towns, which until 1068 lay side by side, filled up entirely and they became indistinguishable from each other, in the time of Köprülü Mehmed Paşa's viziership the title "Vezirköprüsü" was given to both together, and the title "Kedeğra Kaza" turned into the title "Vezirköprü Kaza," but this title remained only as an official record; among the people the names "Köprü Kazası" and "Köprü Kasabası" became widespread, and the names "Kedeğra Kazası" and "Kedeğra Kasabası" were forgotten.

In the İç Kale Quarter the Aydın Lodge was built, then a mosque by Cümûdâroğlu Hasan Gâzi and a school by the Kaya Beyoğulları, and the Buruk Estate was endowed by all of them. While the Town of Köprü was a village, Şeyh Alâeddin Şirvânî had a mescit built there and his son Lalacık Gâzi Bey a lodge and arranged its waqfs; in 900 this Gâzi Bey's grandson Tâceddin Paşa had an excellent, very sound mosque, school, imaret and bathhouse built, and a lodge for Şeyh İbrahim Baba.

At this time Prince Sultan Ahmed had an ornate fountain built around the palace; this fountain became famous as "Sultan Pınarı" and later became the name of a quarter. Abdulganîzâde Mehmed Çelebi had another lodge built for Şeyh Sâlih Efendi; since in 1011 the Town of Köprü burned through the attack of the Celali bandits, the trustees of these waqfs partly repaired the mosques and schools. Yûsuf Ağa, one of the notables of Köprü, had another bathhouse built and repaired several mescits that had burned, and Köprülü Durak Ağa had another lodge built for Şeyh Mehmed Efendi.

Köprülü Mehmed Paşa, during his grand viziership, showed effort for the development of this city of Köprü, had a great prayer ground (namazgâh) built east of the city and set up a food-distribution service; since he died at a time when he had begun great water channels to bring water to the city, his wife Ayşe Hanım completed these good works, had a mosque, two bathhouses and a great bedesten built and arranged the waqfs in 1078.

Later the son of the said grand vizier, Fâzıl Ahmed Paşa, a stone madrasa, Hüseyin Ağa, one of his aghas, a mosque, Abdülkerîm Ağa a madrasa, and Dede Yûsuf Ağazâde Mehmed Ağa a mosque and school in the Değirmenbaşı Quarter had them built and developed the Town of Köprü until the date 1100.

In 1143 the chief of the gardeners (bostancıbaşı) Köprülü Hacı Süleyman Ağa had a madrasa built in the courtyard of the Tâceddin Paşa Mosque and a mosque and school in the Sultan Pınar Quarter; in 1212 the martyred mufti Seyyid Mustafa Efendi a lodge in the Ganizâde Quarter and a great han opposite; in 1220 Seyyid Osman Efendi the "Rahmâniye Madrasa" in the Uzun Sokak Quarter, and they endowed all of these.

Köprü formerly had many madrasas, schools and scholars. Since most of these lofty buildings were of wood, they frequently suffered disasters and were repaired anew; although there were many mosques, schools and lodges, since their owners and builders could not be properly known, giving up writing them down was preferred.

Three important families came out of this kaza and gave the Town of Köprü a historical importance; two became famous, the third world-famous. The first is the "Taşan Family," said to be of the children of Hüsrev Şah of the Seljuk dynasty. While this family's influence held in the kazas of Kedeğra, Merzifon, Gümüş, Havza and Zeytun, it spread as far as the sanjaks of Canik and Sinop. The "Kocakayası Emirate" within the borders of Köprü is counted a branch of this family. The second is the "Köpek Family" formed by Sa'deddin Köpek, one of the Seljuk grand viziers; these are called "Köpekoğulları." Of these the Beys Mutuk, Kaya and Sevindik have very great fame. The third and most famous is the "Köprülü Family" founded by Sinanoğlu Mehmed Paşa; from these eight exalted viziers came out, five of them grand viziers.

The Town of Köprü formerly included the quarters Orta Cami, Uzun Sokak, Cedid, Çayırbaşı, Çanaklı, Debbağhane, Değirmenbaşı, Dikili, Sultan Pınarı, Şeyh, Taş Kale, Toprak Kale, Abdullatîf, Ganizâde, Laz, Molla Hasan, Nalbantlı and Yeni Cami, about fifteen hundred households and a population of around six thousand. The Kaza of Köprü, on the other hand, is a large kaza consisting of eight nahiyes, a population of about forty-six thousand and about two hundred villages.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• hamâm-ı latîf: a fine bathhouse
• mâlikâne: an income source from which a share is taken, held for life or by inheritance
• za'îm: the sipahi who holds the large timar income called zeamet
• voyvoda: the official responsible for the taxes and order of a place
• musallâ: a prayer ground made in an open area for festival and funeral prayers
• bedestân: a covered market building where valuable goods are sold
• Eşkıyâ-yı Celâliye: the armed bands that rose against the state in Anatolia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
• ta'biye: earthen rampart, bastion
• muhterik: burned
• sicillât-ı şer'iyye: the record registers of the kadı court
• ders-i âm: a high-ranking professor authorized to give general lessons
• vesâ'ik-i atîka: old documents

Buildings in Havza

The first paragraphs of the Havza section continue the description of the great bathhouse begun in the previous item. Hüsameddin ties the great bathhouse to Seljuk Sultan Mes'ud and its waqf to Şâdî (Sa'dî) Paşa. For the building run today under the name Vakıf Hamamı, the kaymakamlık record gives 1297 and some sources 1256 as the date of construction; Hüsameddin's date 665 (1266-67) falls between these two values. No separate source could be reached for the small bathhouse behind the bathhouse and for the mosque, imaret and madrasas; this information rests on the author's waqf records.

The conversion of the Fîrûz Ağa Madrasa into a government mansion when the kaza was established, the making of its lecture hall a prison and its lower floor a police ward, and its complete demolition in 1322 are a loss the author witnessed in his own age. The author uses plainly critical language on this; he reproaches the building of a government mansion in place of a four-hundred-year house of learning with the words "the annihilation in vain of a whole sound madrasa." The account that the governor of Sivas Memdûh Efendi forced the bathhouse water to his own hotel's bathhouse and was dismissed after the constitution could not be confirmed in another source.

Simre and the Seljuk Sultans

Hüsameddin bases on old records and on the waqf deed of Gâzi Çelebi that Seljuk Sultan Mes'ud is buried in the village of Tatar Kalesi and his son Tâceddin Altunbaş in the village of Şeyh Savcı (Umur Bey). In his own on-the-spot examination, however, he says he could find at Tatar Kalesi a tomb ruin consisting of heaps of stone and in the village of Şeyh Savcı a grave consisting of four walls. This claim could not be confirmed in other sources; it must be read as the author's field observation and interpretation of documents.

Vezirköprü: Kedeğra and Köprü

Hüsameddin's longest discussion is on the old name of Vezirköprü. The author meets Evliya Çelebi's "Şın" account with suspicion because its source is unknown; he maintains that Kedeğra and Köprü were two separate but adjoining settlements, relying on the expressions in the Yörgüç Paşa and Tâceddin Paşa waqf deeds. According to him Kedeğra is the city within the fortress, Köprü the village that took its name from the bridge over the İstavlaz Çayı; over time the two settlements became interlocked. In his footnote he puts forward that the word "kede" means a large village among the Seljuk Turks and the word "gare" or "gara" means fortress, so that Kedeğra would mean "Köyhisar." This linguistic explanation is the author's own inference and could not be confirmed in another source.

That the settlement began to be called "Vezirköprü" in the time of Köprülü Mehmed Paşa, and that Köprülü became known by this name because he was in the town of Köprü attached to Amasya, agrees with the information in the encyclopedia entry. Hüsameddin notes that the title remained only an official record, that the people continued to use the name "Köprü," and that the name Kedeğra was forgotten; this is the author's own observation.

The Yörgüç Paşa and Tâceddin Paşa Mosques

According to Hüsameddin, Yörgüç Paşa's Köprü waqf deed is dated 834 (1430-31). In the district kaymakamlık's record of the Yörgüç Paşa Mosque, known as the Orta Cami, a waqf deed dated 1431 is also mentioned; the two dates agree. The Tâceddin Paşa Mosque, on the other hand, is in the Çanaklı Quarter and is known among the people as the Kurşunlu Cami. According to the district municipality's record the building has no inscription; it is understood from the Arabic waqf deed dated 23 May 1495 (27 Shaban 900) that the building was built by İbrahim Paşa, son of Hacı Beyzâde Mevlânâ Safiyyüddin. Hüsameddin, however, writes that the mosque and imaret were built by Tâceddin Paşa (Tâcî Bey). The waqf-deed date agrees with hijri 900; on the name of the builder the two accounts differ.

Köprülü Mehmed Paşa and Köprü

It is written in the encyclopedia entry that Köprülü Mehmed Paşa was born in the village of Rudnik, attached to the sanjak of Berat in Albania, was recruited by devshirme and brought to Istanbul, at one point went to the town of Köprü attached to Amasya and married Ayşe Hanım, and became known as "Köprülü" because of his being there. Hüsameddin's account that Ayşe Hanım completed the good works in Köprü agrees to some extent with the record in the same entry that "he had a fountain built in Vezirköprü in the name of his wife Ayşe Hanım." The entry also reports that he had a water channel built in Vezirköprü; Hüsameddin, however, writes that Köprülü died at the time he had begun great water channels to bring water to the city, and that Ayşe Hanım completed the good works. There is no such detail in the entry. The entry reports that Köprülü was brought to the grand viziership on 15 September 1656 (26 Zilkade 1066) and died in Edirne on 31 October 1661 (7 Rebiülevvel 1072).

For the mosque, two bathhouses and bedesten built by Ayşe Hanım whose waqfs Hüsameddin writes were arranged in 1078, no other source could be reached.

Three Families

For the Köprülüs, the information in the text agrees with present sources: the encyclopedia entry describes Köprülü Mehmed Paşa as the founder of the Köprülü family, who with their sons, relatives and sons-in-law held the front rank in state administration from the second half of the seventeenth century. In Hüsameddin's footnote Köprülü Mehmed Paşa's father is mentioned as Sinan Çelebioğlu Mustafa Ağa; since the encyclopedia entry does not give his father's name, this information could not be confirmed. For the Taşan and Köpek families no source is cited and none could be confirmed in other sources.

Points to Note

• The hijri years 1009 and 1011 given for the Celali events correspond to around 1600 CE; that this period led to fire and the building of an earthen fortress in Köprü rests on the author's account.
• The population and quarter list of the Köprü kaza belong to the records of the author's own period.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 1, p. 194–198. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• "Köprülü Mehmed Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/koprulu-mehmed-pasa

Official sources

• Vezirköprü Kaymakamlığı, "Yörgüç Paşa Camii (Orta Camii)", https://www.vezirkopru.gov.tr/yorguc-pasa-camii-orta-camii
• Vezirköprü Belediyesi, "Taceddin Paşa (Kurşunlu) Camii", https://www.vezirkopru.bel.tr/sayfa/tacettin-pasa-camii
• Havza Kaymakamlığı, "Asslanağzı-Kızgözü Kaplıcası (Vakıf Hamamı)", https://www.havza.gov.tr/asslanagzi-kizgozu-kaplicasi-vakif-hamami