INTRODUCTION (21) (Mukaddime)

In Modern English

5- Kara Yakub Nahiye: It lies south of the Kayı Nahiye; because it was under the influence and administration of Kara Yakub Bey, bey of the Kara Cecelü Turkmen tribe, one of the Turkish clans living in this nahiye, it was called "Kara Yakub Nahiye."

6- Kışlacık Nahiye: It encircles the southwest sides of the kaza. During the beylik of Gıyaseddin Mehmed Çelebi, one of the children of Muhlis Paşa, this nahiye was given to him as a winter quarters (kışlak); the place where he lived was called "Kışlacık Village," and this later became the nahiye's special name. Most of the people of this nahiye are thought to be children of Baba İlyas-ı Horasanî. The marshal (müşir) of the abolished Third Army, Hüseyin Fevzi Paşa of Amasya, who died in Salonica in Shawwal 1317 [February-March 1900], is from this nahiye.

7- Varay Nahiye: It encircles the east sides of the kaza. The Şerefeddin İnâcoğulları, among the Turkmen beys, lived in this nahiye. They are called "Şerefoğulları." "Şerefler Village" is their homeland; today this village is mistakenly called "Şerefder." Because Ecaytu Sultan, one of the Tatar beys, lived in the Town of Varay, he kept his name alive with the mosque and lodge he had built there and won fame as "Ece Sultan." The famous Zünnûn Baba is among his grandchildren; although he tried to awaken a Tatar hearth from the lodge's sheikhdom, he put out his own hearth.

Bânuk Şah, who held the beylik in Amasya, is of the Şerefoğulları; his children lived in the Kaza of Varay for about two hundred years. Zünnûn Baba became famous for putting out this hearth. Of these Esen Beyzade Ali Paşa is famous; he became father-in-law to the ruler of Amasya, Devatdar Ahmed Çelebi. The former şeyhülislam Kara Halil Efendi of Amasya is from this nahiye. Four important families came out of this kaza under the names the Elvan Çelebi Family, the Şeref Family, the Cebele Family and the Avkatlı Family, and held influence in the kaza. Although in recent years the "Kürd Millî Family" has also won fame, its renown did not go beyond the kaza. The famous defterdar Mehmed Recaî Efendi is of the Elvan Çelebi Family and of their nahiye.

The seventh is VII - the Kaza of Merzifon: It lies north of Amasya; it is bounded on the east and south by Amasya, on the west by Hacıköyü, and on the north by the kazas of Havza and Köprü. The kaza center is the Town of Merzifon, on a very pleasant hill on the south foothills of Taşan Dağı, sloping gently toward the plain. Its surroundings are full of delightful vineyards; its front, that is, its southeast side, is a plain famous by the name "Yedikır."

There is no sound information on by whom and when Merzifon, or the Town of Merzifon, was built; it is conjectured to have been founded in the time of the Pon (Pontic) government. For the Pon government is a branch of the old Iranian state, and in Persian "merz" means border, a place where one dwells. "Fon" is the Arabicized form of the word "Pon"; this is established by many similar examples. When made into a compound it becomes "Merzifon"; it means "Pon border, Pon encampment." Later "ya" was added to show the compound's kesra, and it was called "Merzîfon." From the meaning that comes out of the word's literal sense, it is understood that this town was founded in the time of the Pon government; accordingly it is an ancient city two thousand years old.

But as will be mentioned in the first chapter, those who first founded the Pon royal government in the continent of Pont were not the Mithridatids but the Huns (Turks). For this reason, if one examines that the Town of Merzifon was a settlement of the Huns before the Mithridatids, it is also understood that it was founded by the Huns and is older. Accordingly the meaning of this name would be "the encampment of the Pons (Huns, Turks)."

In popular speech this town is called "Marsıvan-Marsivan." Although it is understood that this name is a corrupted, widespread wrong form of the word Merzifon, it is also understood from examinations in the "Âsâru'l-İbâd" that it is a Turkish name corrupted from the word "Barsevinc." "Barsevinc" was one of the semi-independent beys of the Huns on this continent; that this town was built by Barsevinc and called by his name, and then through popular error pronounced "Barsivan-Marsıvan," is the most probable possibility.

In some salnames it is written that this town, conquered by "Mengücek," ruler of Erzurum, was called by the said person's name and later, corrupted, called "Merzifon." According to this account the town is a work of the Islamic period and was named around 480 (1087); but that the name "Merzifon" existed before this date is historically certain. Although there is no relation between the words "Mengücek" and "Merzifon," claiming a corruption is somewhat odd.

As mentioned in the "Târîh-i Âl-i Dânişmend," the Town of Merzifon was conquered by İltekin Gazi, one of the Danishmendid beys. Because the said emir's son Sihamüddevle Hüseyin Gazi held the beylik in Merzifon for a long time, the place where he lived was given the name "Sihâmü'd-devle." In old records it is written "Sihâmü'd-devle Quarter," "Sihâmü'd-devle Village," and today "Sehmü'd-devle Village," and it is so called in popular speech. When Mengücek Bey, charged with the conquest of the Erzurum regions, conquered Merzifon is not known historically.

However, if the old remains of the Village of Marınca, which lies about two kilometers northeast of the Town of Merzifon, and of the Town of Merzifon are examined, it can be conjectured that the town thought to have been founded by Barsevinc was "Marınca Village," that in the time of the Pon government the Town of Merzifon was founded as a special encampment and later took the form of a town, and that the Town of Marınca fell to the state of a village. That "Marınca" resembles the name "Barsevinc" more strengthens this supposition.

The Town of Merzifon is about thirty-two kilometers from Amasya and is also the largest of the other towns attached to Amasya. Although its state before the Seljuk period is not known historically, judging by the names and arrangement of its quarters it is understood that it grew after the dates of 670 [1271-72]. The fortress whose ruins are seen today on the southeast side of the town is small and carries no importance to be counted as an old monument.

The Town of Merzifon formerly comprises the quarters Alaca Minare, Erzincânî, Bâlî, Çavuş Abbas, Hacı Ahmed, Hacı Pîr, Hacı Receb, Hacı Ali, Hüsâm-ı Cedîd, Harmanlı, Hoca Süleyman, Südçü, Sürme Sürd, Seydî Bölük, Sofular, Tuz, Âdil, Ali Bozacı, Kadı Mahbûb and Lahana; in old records "Marınca Village" is also shown as a quarter. In sum it comprises twenty quarters, about four thousand households, four nahiyes, a total population of about thirty-eight thousand and about forty-five villages.

If one pays attention to these quarter names, no quarter is seen older than the Erzincânî Quarter. Because the famous scholar Şerefeddin Mehmed Erzincânî lived in this quarter until the date 768 [1366-67] and busied himself with spreading learning, the name of a great city to which he belonged became the special name of the place where he lived. The other Hacı quarters, together with Kadı İmadeddin Mahbub-ı Buhârî, and Hoca Süleyman and Sofular, are counted among people of the ninth hijri century; Hüsâm-ı Cedîd, Ali Bozacı and Seydî Bölük among the notables of the tenth and eleventh hijri centuries.

Because His Majesty Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Han came to this town in the times when he ruled in Amasya and had a lofty palace built, it gained an important place in Ottoman history; in 818 [1415-16] the said sultan had a lofty madrasa and a bathhouse built and arranged their waqfs. Since this madrasa was a very large, high house of learning built of stone, it increased the honor of Merzifon and multiplied its scholars. Hoca el-Hac Hasan Çelebi, one of the notables of that time, had a mosque built, and Devlet Hatun, mother of the said sultan, in 822 [1419] a mosque and beside it a lofty lodge and an imarethane.

In 830 [1426-27] His Majesty Sultan Murad Han II also had a mosque and bathhouse built, Kadı Mahbub Çelebi a mosque and school; in 878 [1473-74] His Majesty Sultan Mehmed Han II had a fine bathhouse built; in 868 [1463-64] Pîrî Baba of Khorasan a lodge, and Şeyh Ali Çelebi of Merzifon another lodge peculiar to the "Zeynîs"; each arranged his waqfs and revived the town.

In 900 [1494-95] Bozacı Ali Çelebi had a mosque and school built in his own quarter, in 962 [1554-55] Ramazanzade Mehmed Bey of Merzifon a madrasa, in 987 [1579-80] Süheyl Bey, one of the beys, another madrasa. These are famous by the name "the Ramazaniye and Süheyliye Madrasas." The Süheyliye Madrasa was later also called "Zeyneliye." The lodge famous in the Âdil Quarter as the "Sırrı Baba Lodge" was built in 1035 [1625-26] by Şeyh Sırrî Ali Efendi, one of the Naqshbandi sheikhs; in 1018 [1609-10] Osman Bey, one of the beys, had a school, fountain and mescit built, and in 1072 [1661-62] the mirahur (master of the horse) Ali Ağa of Merzifon a school, and they arranged their waqfs.

In 1087 [1676-77] the grand vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa, first by enlarging the mescit his mother Âbide Hatun had built in Marınca Village, where he was born, had a mosque and school built; in 1090 [1679] in the middle of the Town of Merzifon he had a sound stone mosque built and in front of it a muvakkithane (house for fixing prayer times), a library, a lecture hall and a şadırvan; he laid drains (water channels) from a distance of two kilometers from Taşan Dağı and brought water to the town, had about thirty stone fountains built, truly revived the town, and set up a lecture waqf for the mosque. His waqfs are abundant.

In 1145 [1732-33] the former şeyhülislam Dürrî Mehmed Efendi of Merzifon had a madrasa built, in 1178 [1764-65] el-Hac Ali Ağa another madrasa, in 1212 [1797-98] el-Hac Hasan Ağa one more madrasa, and Hacı Hasan Ağa's madrasa became famous as "Şifaiye." In the Hacı Bâlî Quarter Hasan Ağa had a mosque built, in 1178 Hâmid Efendi another mosque, in the Harmanlı Quarter the kadı Emin Mehmed Efendi another mosque and school, Kara Mütesellim Hüseyin Ağa and the other mütesellim el-Hac Süleyman Ağa a fountain and school each, and benefactors such as Musliheddin Çelebi also had mescits and schools built, and strove for the development of the town and the revival of lofty buildings and religious works.

Because the Town of Merzifon had a position and size to be a center of reference for all the kazas of the Sanjak of Amasya, in the year 1300 [1882-83] the Americans founded and opened their school famous as the "College" at a very fine, high place of the city; they applied a program at the rüştiye and idadi level, and had built inside it an industrial school peculiar to craftsmen and a hospital open to everyone, and tried to spread education and gain material benefit.

But although it was understood that the activity of this school served less to strive for spreading education than to broaden the thoughts and excite the feelings of the Armenian youths attending, since it became a great means of opening the eyes of the exalted Ottoman nation, reform of the Islamic schools was undertaken in Merzifon; two primary schools and in 1310 [1892-93] a rüştiye school were founded; in 1330 [1912] this rüştiye school, being found necessary, was converted into an idadi, and the primary schools were multiplied.

Since in the disturbance of 1311 [1893-94] the government mansion and the middle of the town burned, the people and notables of the kaza showed great effort to help; the government mansion, the municipality building and a lofty barracks were built perfectly; a fine bathhouse, a hotel, a reading room and commercial shops were built to bring income to education; the very diligent and frugal Tatar immigrants were settled in suitable places; thus the town's size, adornment, trade, wealth and consequently its importance rose extraordinarily.

The grand vizier Kara Mustafa Paşa, Hacı Ali Paşa and the grand viziers Ahmed Paşa, Hüseyin Paşa, Halil Paşa, Mehmed Paşa and Mustafa Paşa; very many beys such as the beylerbeyis İbrahim Paşa, Ahmed Paşa and Abdullah Paşa; very many mollas, scholars and statesmen such as the şeyhülislam Dürrî Mehmed Efendi, the kazasker Hafız Abdurrahman Efendi and the nişancı Mehmed Bey were raised from the Town of Merzifon. Of the scholars of the time, Cemaleddin Safer Şah, Şerefeddin Hamza and Şeyh Nizameddin Abdurrahim Zeynî are among the saints and great scholars this town raised.

The madrasa of His Majesty Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Han is famous as "Sultaniye-i Merzifon"; such learned men as Feridüddin Mehmed Devvânî, Seydî Şemseddin Ahmed Kırîmî, Rükneddin Abdülkerim Amâsî and Nizameddin Abdurrahman Âfitâbî had won fame as professors in this madrasa until the dates of 1260 [1844]. When the system of inheritance later left this madrasa idle, for a time it became a military arms depot, and in recent times effort has been shown to repair it.

Although the madrasa of Dürrî Efendi, known as the "Medrese-i Dürriyye," was called "Dürrîzâde Madrasa" because his son the şeyhülislam Mustafa Efendi arranged its waqfs, it is established by the records that his father had the madrasa built. Since this lofty madrasa, like the other madrasas, was under the administration of a learned family, it was not thought necessary to count the professors of each here; they will be mentioned in the second part, in the continuation of the life story of the head of the family.

The Kaza of Merzifon formerly consisted of three kazas under the names "Merzifon, Merzifonâbâd and Gelgiras"; in the arrangement of 1296 [1879] the "Kaza of Merzifonâbâd" was abolished and most of the villages it contained were given to the "Kaza of Hacıköyü," a part to the "Kaza of Merzifon." Its center was formerly the "Town of Bulak," which today is a village in the "Kaza of Hacıköyü." Later the "Kaza of Gelgiras" too was abolished and its villages were added to the Kaza of Merzifon, and the Kaza of Merzifon was enlarged and counted as four nahiyes:

1- Alıcak Nahiye: It encircles the southwest of the kaza. Because the whole of this nahiye was the farm of the famous Tatar commander Alıcak Noyin, who was nazır of Anatolia, it has been called by this name since the date 670 [1271-72]. In the nahiye there is no other work than this commander's name. Later his children accepted Islam, and some of his grandchildren lived here. The famous Ahmed Paşa of Çayırköy is from this nahiye.

2- Zoğu Nahiye: It encircles the northeast sides of the kaza. Because it was the farm in this nahiye of a Tatar bey named Zoğay, famous for cruelty, who was kâhya and the agent conducting the affairs of the said nazır Alıcak Noyin, it has been called by this name since the dates of 700 [1300-01] and was mistakenly called "Zoğu." His children and grandchildren had lived in this nahiye and won fame. The viziers Timur Süleyman Paşa and his brother the beylerbeyi Cevher Paşa are from the village famous as "Zoğu."

3- Gelgiras Nahiye: It entirely encircles the south sides of the kaza. It was formerly written "Gelingiras"; because Kiras Hatun was the daughter of Alıcak Noyin and wife of İzzeddin Mehmed Pervane Bey, when she became a bride she came to own this farm and it was named so on that account, and later shortened to "Gelgiras." This hatun has a bathhouse in "Gelingiras Village," the nahiye's center. Hayreddin Hızır Paşa, who came out from here and distinguished himself in the time of His Majesty Sultan Mehmed Han II, had a mosque built here, and his son Hasan Paşa a madrasa and school. This place, formerly a kaza center, later declined. Today the ruins of works of civilization are seen.

4- Gümüştekin Nahiye: It encircles the west sides of the kaza. This nahiye is attributed to Gümüştekin Gazi, son of Melik Ahmed Danişmend Gazi, head of the Danishmendid government. While attached to the kaza known by the name "Kaza of Bulak," it was later added with its villages to Merzifon.

Four important families of Ottoman statesmen were raised in the Kaza of Merzifon. One is the Yusuf Paşa Family, kâhya of Devlet Hatun, who, acting as trustees of the waqfs of the said persons for about four hundred years, raised statesmen such as Şehsüvar Paşa and Ahmed Paşa. The next is the Gelgiraslı Family, to which Hayreddin Paşa and Hasan Paşa belong. Another is the Ramazan Family, which raised men of the pen and learning such as the reisülküttab Mehmed Bey, two kaza-askers and some ten mollas. The fourth is the family of the former grand vizier Kara Mustafa Paşa; the last two families lived in Istanbul and won fame. His Excellency Sünbül Sinaneddin Yusuf Efendi, pir of the Sünbüliyye order, is among the great saints Merzifon raised.

Taşan Dağı, which encircles the north side of the Kaza of Merzifon, is the largest, after Akdağ, of the mountains within the Sanjak of Amasya. Beginning from the Tersakan Çayı it extends from east to west and continues in the Kaza of Osmancık as far as the Kızılırmak. Its length is about forty-five kilometers; its width at the start is about twenty-five kilometers, while its width at the end is only about eight kilometers. For this reason it resembles a coffin; its summit is twelve hundred meters above the ground, its general height from three hundred up to eight hundred meters; everywhere it is extremely fertile field, and its east sides are forest and highland pastures.

On the south foothills of this mountain lie Merzifon and Hacıköyü, on its north foothills the towns of Havza and Köprü; on it, beside it and on its foothills there are very many villages and farms. The whole of this mountain was once a special farm of Taşan Bey, one of the children of the Seljuk Husrev Şah who lived in Kedeğra. Taşan Bey later gained influence and power, and when Timurtaş Bey, governor of Rum, disappeared in 727 [1327], taking advantage of the disturbance continuing in the vilayet, he set about kindling a Seljuk hearth, then attached himself to Sultan Eretna Bey and succeeded in founding a small beylik. At the said person's death, recognizing no one, he made the beylik and Taşan Dağı his homeland, and this was the reason for the name "Taşan Dağı." Today it is called "Tavşan Dağı." This naming was continued by his children and grandchildren such as the Beys Bâlî, Ahmed, Ali, Hasan and Şâhin, who lived on this mountain, endowed part of it, and left their names eternal. This family lived mostly in the Town of Merzifon, accepted the exalted Ottoman protection before its peers, proved its loyalty in wars, and rendered foremost services. For this reason, for a time the Town of Merzifon took the title "Vilâyet-i Hâs" in relation to these Taşanzades; this is seen in some histories such as the "Bezm ü Rezm" and in private documents.

As understood from reading this introduction, many places bearing the name "Simre" were seen in the Sanjak of Amasya, and since it was a Seljuk work and had historical value, the word "Simre," written in old records, in many histories and in very many private documents, can be briefly explained as follows:

In the "Behcetü't-Tevârîh" "Sîmre" is recorded with the kesra of the letter sin, the sükûn of mim and the fatha of the letter re; in the "El-Aylemü'z-Zâhir" it is written with the kesra of sin and the fatha of mim and re, and the ye between sin and mim is dropped. Since in the supplement of the "Târîh-i İbni Hallikân" it is written "Sımre," it is understood that it was Arabicized. In the "Mu'cemü'l-Buldân" it is shown in the form "Saymere" on the pattern "Haydere," and it is also mentioned with the damma of mim.

If these various names are examined, it is understood that this word, which should be written in the form "Sîmûre," was written with varying spellings, and that differences arose in the record and in pronunciation. There is no doubt that when ye and vav are dropped from this "Sîmûre," "Simre" remains. Although some read this word with the fatha of sin and re and the sükûn of mim on the pattern "Temre," and others with the fathas of sin, mim and re on the pattern "Sehare," it is clear that this is contrary to the historical records.

It appears that the word "Sîmûre" derives from the infinitive "simurmak," found in the dictionaries of all the Uyghur and Seljuk Turks; in our (Ottoman Turks') dictionary it exists under the name "semürmek, semirmek." Accordingly "Sîmûre" is a place name and is lightened from the word "Sîmûrek"; it means "a place where one will grow fat, where the body will be restored." In the Uyghur language a place name is made by adding to the end of the root word a sükûn kef, when what precedes it is a vowel. As in "sürek," sometimes only the fatha is kept and the sükûn kef dropped. Like "signek-signe-sinne," meaning "grave," derived from the infinitive "signemek."

Although it is certain that this "Sîmûre" was near Amasya, since in old records there are "Simre" at six places under the names "Simre-i Amasya, Simre-i Alparslan (İlarslan), Simre-i Havza, Simre-i Koca Kayası, Simre-i Kedeğra, Simre-i Lâdik," and all of them are at a place shown by nearness, which of them is the "Simre" built by Seljuk Sultan Mes'ud is counted as disputed among historians. That only one of these six Simres was built by Sultan Mes'ud is certain, and there is no doubt that the others appeared later and were called by this name. Accordingly one is the original, the others its branches.

If the historical records are examined, no room is left for these views. For concerning the determination of the place of the original "Simre," Şükrullah Çelebi says in the "Behcetü't-Tevârîh": "Seljuk Sultan Mes'ud settled in Amasya and founded a new city under the name 'Sîmre,' and had a mosque and madrasa built here and was buried in the lofty tomb he had built there."

In the "El-Aylemü'z-Zâhir" Mustafa Cenâbî Efendi says: "The said sultan settled in Amasya and had a new city built, named it 'Simre,' had a mosque, madrasa and tomb built here and was buried there. Today it is ruined. Near it he also had another town built under the name 'Kedeğra.'"

In the "Câmiu'd-Düvel" Derviş Ahmed Efendi says: "Sultan Mes'ud had a town built near Amasya and lived there; he revived han, imaret and many more charitable works, set up great waqfs, named it 'Simre'; he died in 558 [1163] and was buried in his tomb in 'Simre.'"

As understood from these three historical accounts, it is certain that the first Seljuk Sultan Mes'ud made Amasya his capital, had a new city built and had charitable works built. But the new city the said sultan had built did not become Amasya itself, adorned with charitable works and its name changed; it was founded near Amasya. Amasya consists only of the "İç Kale" north of the Yeşilırmak; "Simre," on the other hand, is the whole of the quarters south of the Yeşilırmak, in the natural vicinity of this İç Kale. The other Simres appeared after this. This claim can be proved in six respects:

1- Formerly the surroundings of Amasya, as explained at the start of the introduction, were the whole length and width extending from the place "Zemendû" to the place "Çalan" and surrounded by rocky heights; all the south and north sides of the river lay within this circuit. From the year 491 [1098], during the attack of the Crusaders on Amasya and the effort of the emir of Amasya Melik İsmail Danişmendî to defend it bravely, the south sides of the Yeşilırmak and Zemendû were wholly destroyed and ruined, and the rest burned; this is written in the "Ikdü'l-Cümân" and "El-Aylemü'z-Zâhir" and mentioned in other sources too.

Although the part of the north sides of the Yeşilırmak corresponding to the foothills of the Harşena Fortress was spared from destruction because it was covered by the fortress wall, its south sides turned wholly to ruin, took the state of empty plots, and the name "Amasya" remained peculiar to the part called the "İç Kale," on the north side of the Yeşilırmak.

Around 538 [1143-44], when the Amasya beylik was attached to the Seljuk sultanate and Amasya became the capital, Sultan Mes'ud founded a new city on the ruined sides of the Yeşilırmak, renewed Zemendû, and, since he founded a new city also at the place east of the Town of Köprü, gave the name "Sîmûre" to the south sides of the Yeşilırmak, "Ziyâre" to Zemendû, which lies on the northeast side, and "Kedeğra" to the other new city near Amasya.

For the "İç Kale" called by the name Amasya, that is, the "Inner City," is built within a great wall on the foothills of the Harşena Fortress; although extraordinarily protected and safe from enemy attack, it is an extremely narrow, oppressive old city. The site of the newly founded city, on the other hand, is open and broad on all sides compared with the İç Kale; it is open to the cold wind of Akdağ, its air is healthy; in this respect it is a good place that serves the body's restoration, that is, bodily health. That the suitability of this place for the meaning "Sîmûre" shows is stronger than that of the other Simres has been medically confirmed and is certain as regards place too. That the appearance of the others was after the event of 641 [1243] will be told shortly.

2- When Amasya was founded and made the capital by the said sultan, Sultan Mes'ud had a lofty palace and a bathhouse built on the west side of Amasya, that is, in the part of the Inner City corresponding to the present Kurşunlu Quarter, and that he lived in Amasya is as established historically as it is certain from the works. That after the said sultan's death "Simre" was the center of the Amasya beylik, and that this centrality continued until the date 700 [1300-01], is a fact proved historically. Since in 612 [1215-16] the emir Bedreddin Ebubekir, governor of "Sîmre," renewed the Sinop Fortress, it was carved with his name on the second tower of the fortress that he was "Sahib-i Sîmre" (lord of Simre); that the said emir was governor of Amasya at this date is established by the record.

Second, that Sultan Mes'ud made "Simre-i Amasya" his capital and ruled over all the east side of the Kızılırmak is written in the histories "Heşt Behişt" and "Câmiu'd-Düvel"; in the signatures of such persons as Ziyâeddin Îsâ el-Hakkârî and Şemseddin Ahmed bin Verdî, who were kadıs of Amasya in these times, there is the record "Kâdı'l-Kudât bi-Dârü's-Saltanat-ı Sîmre" (chief judge of the capital Simre). Accordingly, from the date of the founding of Simre the name Amasya remained peculiar to the "İç Kale," and the name "Simre" predominated in the Seljuk period and became the special name of the vilayet. This official character exists in none of the other Simres.

3- In all the sharia documents and old registers dating from 565 to 900 [1169-1495], Amasya is divided into two parts; it is clear that the "Inner City" was called "Bâtın Amasya" and all the places outside the "Inner City," that is, the "İç Kale," "Zâhir Amasya." Just as the quarters "Bâğ Helkis," "Ahi Sâbıkeddin," "Ahi Kamereddin" and the "İltekin Gardens" are counted as "Zâhir Amasya," the south sides of the Yeşilırmak are written wholly as "Zâhir Amasya." It is understood from those official records that the name "Sîmre" was given to all the places called "Zâhir Amasya," and that "Sîmre" lay within the surroundings of Amasya and was later recorded as "Zâhir Amasya." That this "Sîmre," certainly founded near Amasya historically, lies at the place nearest to Amasya shows that the other Simres were brought out, founded or named later.

4- By the testimony of all histories and official records, the first Seljuk Sultan Mes'ud is buried within the "Simre" he founded, and his tomb exists within this "Simre." This tomb, such a living witness, if sought within the Liva of Amasya, is seen within the surroundings of Amasya counted as "Zâhir Amasya," at the west end of the "Üçler Quarter," on the south side of the cemetery famous by the name "Narlı Bahçe"; this is clear. This tomb is square in plan, in the Seljuk manner, its facade adorned with fine ornaments and carvings, a great, magnificent tomb as much as it is of stone.

That this tomb belongs to the first Seljuk Sultan Mes'ud and that he is buried in it is established by the testimony of all official records; his name and date of death are carved in floriated Kufic script on the column on its facade, on the west side. Of the charitable works mentioned in the histories, it is established by the record that the hankâh was within this "Sîmre," and its ruin exists today; the sites of its mosque and madrasa could not be understood.

5- That "Sîmre" existed within the surroundings of Amasya is written in the old sultanic registers written up to the date 857 [1453]; only it is seen that this name remained peculiar to the quarters "Üçler, Hacı İlyas, Receb, Şâmîce, Küpceğiz, Gök Medrese." It is understood that in the Seljuk days the name "Sîmre" was the special name of all the places called "Zâhir Amasya," and that when Seljuk influence left Amasya it narrowed to these six quarters and "Zâhir Amasya" came to be called wholly by the name Amasya.

6- It is understood from all waqf deeds that the "Town of İltekin," which existed until (857-917) [1453-1511], was the center of the "Geldiklan Nahiye." Since it is written in the waqf deeds belonging to them that the villages "Kızılca, Boğa, Gerne, İltekin" were in the "Simre Nahiye" from the surroundings of Amasya, it is clear that in the first days of the Ottomans there was a "Simre Nahiye," and its center, within the surroundings of Amasya, was the "Town of İltekin," which, ruined in the event of 917 [1511], became the "İltekin Village," the place famous today by the name "İltekin."

Accordingly I- "Sîmre-i Amasya," one of the six Simres, from the date of its founding became the special name of the south of the Yeşilırmak and the east and west sides of the "İç Kale," won fame in the Seljuk days and became the special title also of the vilayet of Amasya, the beylik of Amasya, the government of Amasya; after the Seljuks it remained peculiar to six quarters; in the early Ottoman period it took the form of being the name of a nahiye peculiar to the "Geldiklan Nahiye," and its center was the "Town of İltekin." When in the "Şahkulu Event" of 917 the "Town of İltekin," counted as the center of the "Simre Nahiye," that is, the "Town of Simre," was ruined, it remained in the state of a village until the year 1018 [1609-10], was then counted among the quarters of Amasya, and in the war of 1241 [1825-26] not even a quarter was left. The "Simre" that the "Aylem" history calls "ruined today" will be this very "Town of İltekin."

II- "Simre-i İlarslan": It is a village at the foot of the Kırklar Dağı, north of Amasya, facing Suluova. It was the farm of Alp Arslan Bey bin Keyhüsrev Bey, of the line of Sultan Şah, son of the second Sultan Mes'ud. In order to take advantage of the disturbance of 783 [1381-82] he claimed a beylik and lived here, and, following his cousins, gave the name "Simre" to the place where he lived. But that place became famous as "Alp Arslan Village," mistakenly under the name "İlarslan Village," and the name "Simre" remained peculiar to old records and registers. Of his line Hüseyin Bey and Abdüllatif Bey, who held the Canik beylik, are famous.

III- "Simre-i Havza": It is the name of a nahiye on the west side of the town. The center of this nahiye was first "Tatar Kalesi," then "Umur Village"; after the death of Sultan Mes'ud his son Sultan Tâceddin Altunbaş Gazi gave this name first to "Tatar Kalesi," then to "Umur Bey Village." After the year 756 [1355] "Umur Bey Village" became famous as "Şeyh Savcı - Şeyh Sâfî," and the name "Simre" became the special name of the nahiye. Kılıç Arslan Bey, son of Sultan Tâceddin, is famous.

IV- "Simre-i Koca Kayası": It is the name of a great fortress surrounded by a stone wall on a high rock on the southwest side of the Town of Köprü. It is about eight kilometers from the town. From the year 670 [1271-72] Mahmud Şah bin Husrev Şah-ı Selçukî, grandfather of "Taşan Bey," took refuge here, held the beylik and gave the name "Simre." A branch of his line held the beylik here; when Haydar Bey of them submitted to Yörgüç Paşa in 833 [1429-30], his cousin Taşanzade Hasan Bey had a mosque, madrasa, lodge and tomb built in this fortress and arranged their waqfs, and his son Şâhin Bey enlarged them. Melik Ahmed Çelebi and Emir Çelebi are buried in this "Simre" and have tombs. That the sites of Oruç Village and Köprü Village were among the appendages of this "Simre" is written in the waqf deeds of Yörgüç Paşa and Hasan Bey.

V- "Simre-i Lâdik": It is understood from official records to have been a small town on the east side of the town, on the shore of the lake. After the year 718 [1318-19] it won the name "Simre" because Sultan Şah, son of Sultan Mes'ud, lived here. Because his son Kubad Bey won fame with a claim to a beylik, his children became persons of influence to some degree. Of these Cüneyd Bey, who held the Canik beylik, is famous for his rivalry with Ali Bey and Ahmed Bey of the Taşanoğulları, who were among his cousins. Cüneyd Beyzade Âdil Bey has a quarter in Merzifon, a lodge in this "Simre," and a waqf in "Arslan Çayırı." His grandchildren live today in Köprü, benefiting from their waqfs.

VI- "Simre-i Kedeğra": It consists of "Bayram Village," which lies on the east side of the Town of Köprü, and it is understood that "Yeşbeyi Village" was also counted as "Simre." The famous "Taşan Bey" won fame from this "Simre," and it later became a homeland for "Sultan Kemal-i Dânişmendî"; because he stood against the "Taşanoğulları," it was abolished.

If the founding dates of these six "Simres," the time of their appearance and the families of the persons living in them are examined: first the first Sultan Mes'ud founded a new city in "Zâhir Amasya" and stamped it with the name "Sîmûre-Simre"; then his children lived in this Seljuk city; from the date 658 [1260], when the influence of the Tatars became dominant, the unfortunate children of the Seljuk Sons, who had ruled great Asia, scattered through disunity and ignorance, settled in one corner each of the Liva of Amasya and, imitating their great grandfather, gave the name "Simre" to the places where they lived. Accordingly "Simre-i Amasya" is the original; of the others, five are branches of this original. In the present state, apart from the "Türbe-i Mes'ûdiyye," which shows its grief sorrowfully to everyone in Amasya, no trace of any remains.

I declare the Living and Everlasting God free of all imperfection. Power and strength are from God alone, the Exalted, the Great.

The introduction of the Amasya Tarihi arranged in eight volumes, that is, the first volume, ended here. The other volumes too are to be printed, depending on the provision of printing costs.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• nâhiye: subdivision of a kaza, a bucak
• nâzır-ı Anadolu: high official of the Mongol (Ilkhanid) administration in Anatolia, governor
• noyin: Mongol-Tatar commander, bey
• mütesellim: a deputy administrator who takes charge of the administration of a place
• mirahur: the master of the horse of the sultan or a pasha
• kâdı'l-kudât: chief judge
• muvakkithâne: the place where the official who calculates prayer times works
• kârgîr: built of stone
• müşîr: marshal
• eşrâf: notables, local grandees
• mevâlî: scholars of the rank of great kadıs and professors
• iğtişâş: disturbance, uprising
• ism-i mekân: in grammar, the pattern that makes a place name
• kethüdâ: kâhya, a deputy who conducts affairs
• hankâh: a lodge that lodges dervishes and travelers
• vakfiye: waqf founding document
• sicil: kadı register, official record
• emâret: beylik, emirate

On the Name of Merzifon

Hüsameddin tries to explain the name Merzifon by a play on words: he combines Persian "merz" (border) with the word Pon (Pont), then ties the name to Barsevinç, a semi-independent bey of the Huns on the continent of Pont. Present encyclopedic works do not adopt these views. Discussion on the origin of the name continues; it is noted that the Barsevinç claim has no basis, and that the interpretation "border city of the Pontic state" is also doubtful. It is reported that when the Roman commander Pompey defeated Mithridates, King of Pontus, the city was a settlement called Phazemonid, that Pompey declared it a city and gave it the name Neapolis, that in time it was called Phazemon Neapolis, that in the fifth century Stephanus recorded the city as Phamidzon, and that the name later turned into the forms Famezon, Mazifon, Marsovan and Mersivan and was written "Bâzimûn" in Seljuk sources, "Merzubân" in Persian sources and "Merzifon" in Ottoman documents. The only record the Huns have concerning the city is their entering Byzantine lands from the Caucasus in 395-396 and plundering the region; there is no information that they founded the city.

Hüsameddin's inference about "Marınca Village," however, is interesting: according to him the original town is Marınca and Merzifon later took the form of a town as an encampment. This inference is not confirmed in other sources; Marınca, however, today bears the name Karamustafapaşa.

Conquest, the Danishmendids and the Quarters

The conquest information Hüsameddin gives agrees with present research. Merzifon was conquered after Manzikert (1071) by İltegin Gazi, one of the Danishmendid emirs; his son Sihâmüddevle Hüseyin Gazi lived here a long time. The place where he stayed was called Sihâmüddevle village or quarter, appears as Samadola in Ottoman records and as Sehmüddevle in an avarız register of 1642; this place is today a quarter of the city (Samadolu, recently called Buğdaylı). Hüsameddin's saying "el-yevm Sehmü'd-devle Village" fits this line. As to the claim of Mengücek Bey's conquest, Hüsameddin says that it is not known historically; no Mengücek link appears in other sources either.

The quarter names are also noteworthy. In records of 1520 there are thirty-four quarters in the town of Merzifon, twenty-eight Muslim and six non-Muslim, and its estimated population is five or six thousand persons. Of the quarters Hüsameddin lists, Câmi-i Atîk (Eskicami), Câmi-i Cedîd (Camicedit), Hacı Balı, Harmanlı, Hoca Süleyman, Kadı Mahbub (Gazimahbup) and Sofular appear in the records of that period too. According to the temettuat census of the 1840s, thirteen quarters and 929 taxpaying households are recorded in the city; a significant part of the population worked in textile trades such as weaving. At the beginning of the Republic the number of quarters was twenty-four and was reduced to twelve in 1930; Evliya Çelebi's figures of forty-four quarters and four thousand houses in 1648, on the other hand, are considered exaggerated. Hüsameddin's "twenty quarters, four thousand households, thirty-eight thousand population" must belong to the total figures of the kaza in his own period.

The Madrasa of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed

Hüsameddin writes that Çelebi Mehmed had a madrasa and bathhouse built in 818 (1415-16). According to the inscription on the entrance eyvan of the madrasa, construction began in 1414 by order of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed and was completed in 1417 by Umur Bey son of Ali; its architect is Muhammed Hamza oğlu Ebubekir Mehmed. In 1418-1419 Ali Bey son of Emin Onur had it repaired. Its first professor is Feridüddin Mehmed Çelebi; the name "Feridüddin Mehmed Devvânî" that Hüsameddin mentions may coincide with this professor's name, but I could not confirm this in the sources. The madrasa is square in plan, with four eyvans and an open courtyard, and consists of twenty rooms; with arches built of red and white stones and carved wooden door leaves with geometric and rumi ornament, it continues the Seljuk tradition. The original leaves of the door are in the Ankara Ethnography Museum; the Merzifon Municipality had faithful new ones made and put in their place. The clock tower above the entrance eyvan was added around 1865-66 by Ziya Paşa, mutasarrıf of Amasya.

The other buildings Hüsameddin mentions also appear in other sources: the mosque, lodge and imaret Devlet Hatun had built in 1419, the Medreseönü Mosque (1427), known as the Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Mosque but actually built by Murad II, and the Âbide Hatun Mosque. This last building Hüsameddin places in Marınca, while present sources place it in the village of Bahçekent; the place given by Hüsameddin and by other sources differs, and I cannot resolve this matter here.

Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa

The most prominent figure on Hüsameddin's Merzifon pages is Kara Mustafa Paşa. The pasha was born in 1044 (1634-35) in the village of Marınca (today Karamustafapaşa) of Merzifon. His father was a timar-holding sipahi named Oruç Bey; when he fell a martyr in Murad IV's siege of Baghdad, Mustafa, orphaned at four, received a good madrasa education under the protection of Köprülü Mehmed Bey, who was sanjak bey of Amasya, together with his sons. According to another account he was born in 1036 (1626-27). Kara Mustafa Paşa, son-in-law of Köprülü, rose to the grand vizierate, directed the siege of Vienna in 1683, and was executed in Belgrade after the defeat on 6 Muharram 1095 (25 December 1683).

His complex in Merzifon was built between 1666 and 1679: the mosque (Paşa Mosque), the Taşhan, the bedesten, the library, two bathhouses and the shops determined the town's physical fabric. The date 1090 (1679) that Hüsameddin gives fits this range. It is noted that the water channels among the pasha's waqfs changed the city's social and economic life, and that this effect continued in later centuries. The pasha also began a complex of madrasa, mescit, library, tomb and sebil at Çarşıkapı in Istanbul on the Divanyolu; his son Ali Paşa completed this complex. In the sources the pasha's name is given in the West with the epithet "Kara," in Turkey "Merzifonlu," and after he was killed "Maktul."

The American College

Hüsameddin evaluates negatively, with regard to exciting the feelings of Armenian youths, the "College" that he says was founded in Merzifon in 1300 (1882-83), and says that, upon this, reform of the schools of the Muslims was undertaken; this comment reflects the author's political outlook in his own period. According to present information the first founding date of the American College is 1876; with its hospital, school, library, laboratory and observatory, it stands at the highest point north of the city. The difference between the date 1300 that Hüsameddin gives and this can be explained by the difference between the founding and the starting of the program at the rüştiye and idadi level, but I could not confirm this in the sources.

Sultan Mesud and the Simre Question

The second half of the text is a long demonstration concerning the origin of the name Simre and the relation among the six Simres. What Hüsameddin wishes to prove is this: the new city that Seljuk Sultan Mesud founded near Amasya is the "Zâhir Amasya" south of the Yeşilırmak, and the name "Simre" was given to it; the other five Simres appeared later when beys of Seljuk descent gave this name to their own homelands.

Present sources confirm that the Anatolian Seljuk sultan Mesud I had a city called Simre built near Amasya. It is noted that Mesud reigned approximately between 1116 and 1155, and died in 550 (1155), according to some accounts in 551 (1156). Hüsameddin, relying on the "Câmiu'd-Düvel," gives the date of death as 558 (1163); between this date and the date of present sources there is a difference of about eight years. Present sources report that Mesud's body was buried in the tomb in the courtyard of the Alâeddin Mosque in Konya, and that the rumor that his tomb is near Amasya is not correct. Hüsameddin, on the other hand, places the tomb in Amasya, in the Üçler Quarter, and even mentions the Kufic inscription on it, although the TDV entry does not share this view.

In the Üçler Quarter, in the garden of the Amasya Museum, there is a Seljuk-period tomb of rectangular plan and eyvan type, formerly used as the Mummies Museum, and it is called the "Sultan Mesud Tomb." Its north-facing front is of cut stone, its other parts of rubble stone, covered with a barrel vault; it is known to have been built in the twelfth century. The view that this building belongs to Mesud I has been adopted by some researchers, but there is disagreement among the sources on its name: Hüsameddin ties this tomb to Mesud with certainty, while on the other hand it is clear information that Mesud's real tomb is in Konya. This contradiction leaves open the question whether the building in Amasya belongs to Mesud or to another person of the Seljuk period. Hüsameddin's sentence "apart from the Türbe-i Mes'ûdiyye, which sorrowfully shows its grief to everyone today, no trace of any remains" shows that the building was standing a hundred years ago too.

The Other Simres

On when the six Simres were founded, by whom they were built and how they came about, there is no detail I could confirm in other sources; that the name Simre-i Ladik appears as a kaza in the sixteenth-century arrangement of the Sanjak of Amasya (1576-77) and is counted together with kazas such as Gümüş, Gedegra and Zeytun shows that these names really had a place in the Ottoman administrative order. Hüsameddin's details on genealogies (the Taşanoğulları, Cüneyd Bey, Kubad Bey and his children), on the other hand, rest only on local records the author relays; I could not confirm them in other sources. The accounts concerning the lineages of persons such as Zünnûn Baba, Elvan Çelebi and Âşık Paşa also come from local tradition; the tie between Elvan Çelebi and Baba İlyas, however, is separately documented in the TDV.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 1, p. 204–212. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• Mehmet Öz, "Merzifon", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/merzifon
• Abdülkadir Özcan, "Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/merzifonlu-kara-mustafa-pasa
• "Mesud I", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mesud-i
• "Elvan Çelebi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/elvan-celebi
• "Amasya", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/amasya

Official sources

• "Sultan Mesut Türbesi", Türkiye Kültür Portalı (Amasya İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü), https://www.kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/amasya/gezilecekyer/sultan-mesud-turbes

Books

• Ahmet Edis, "Merzifon Çelebi Mehmet Medresesi ve Saat Kulesi", Online Türkiye Turizm Ansiklopedisi, 2024, https://turkiyeturizmansiklopedisi.com/merzifon-celebi-mehmet-medresesi-ve-saat-kulesi