Köprülüdür. Kedağra kazâsında Sâmûk Alanı demekle meşhûr çiftliğinde ikâmet eden Eyâlet-i Rûmiyye Nâzırı Tûkân Noyîn bin Sâmûk Noyîn bin Tağâçar bin Temûke Ötçigin bin Bensûka Bahâdır’ın mahdûmudur. Temûke Ötçigin meşhûr Cengiz Hân’ın birâderidir.
Kedağra’da doğdu. Bir müddet Amasya’da ikâmet edib İbik Baba’nın irşâdı sâyesinde birâderi Uladur Noyîn ile beraber kabûl-i İslâm ederek 696’da Camûdâr Hân’ın vefâtında Sîmre Hükûmeti Nâzırı oldu.
Yirmi yıl kadar Sîmre Eyâleti ve Hükûmeti Nâzırı sıfatıyla İç Anadolu’da icrâ-yı hükûmet edib [389] 716 senesi şevvâlinde Moğol hükümdârı Sultân Mehmed Hüdâbende Hân’ın vefâtı üzerine Sultân Altunbaş’ı hal’ ederek müstakillen Eyâlet-i Rûmiyye hâkimi oldu.
717’de Sivas eyâleti vâliliğine ta’yîn edilen Sadr-ı a’zam Emîr Çobanzâde Timurtaş Bey’e inkıyâd etmediğinden aralarında muhârebe oldu. Bu harbi kazandığı hâlde 718’de ulemâ ve ümerânın tavassutuyla Emîr Çoban’a dolayısıyla Sultân Ebû Sa’îd Bahâdır Hân’a inkıyâd ederek makâmında kaldı.
Bu defasında da üç yıldan ziyâde hükûmet edib 720 senesi saferinde vefât etdi. Camûdâr Noyîn Türbesi’nde medfûn olduğu anlaşılır. Munsıf, kerîm, dindâr olduğu hâlde bazan da zâlim, bahîl, cebbâr olurdu. Her hâlde müdebbir, muktedir bir Moğol idi.
Bunun tevârîh-i muhtelifede adı, pek muhtelif bir sûrette yazılmışdır. Şemseddîn Sa’d Yezdî târîhinde “Abışka, birâder-i evlâdır ki mukîm-i diyâr-ı Rûm mî-bâşed”¹⁷⁹ yazılıdır. [390] Arap târihlerinde Abışka, Yeşbekâ, Yeşbekî yazılıdır. Sahîhi Îşboğadır. Îş, hemzenin kesre-i meftûhasıyla refîk, müşârik ma’nâsınadır. Boğaya hem-ayâr demek olur. Halbuki Abışka, Abuşka, bir kadının zevci ma’nâsınadır. Buna Nevâyî ve Süleyman Efendi Lûgatnâmeleri’nde Âbûşka denmektedir. Köprü kazâsının şark tarafında Yeşbekî Köyü vaktiyle bunun çiftliği olduğu münâsebetle Yeşbekî diye meşhûr olmuşdur.
İşboğa Noyîn’in evlâdından Toğaçar, yâhut Toğa Timur meşhûr olup dâmâdları Timur, Oğûr Bâylar da meşhûrdur. Toğaçar oğlu Ali Şâh Hacı Kutlu Şâh’ın ümerâsından idi.
In Modern English
He was a native of Köprü. He was the son of Tûkân Noyîn, governor (nazır) of the Rum province, who lived on his farm known as Sâmûk Alanı in the district of Kedağra. Tûkân Noyîn was the son of Sâmûk Noyîn; he was the son of Tağâçar; he was the son of Temûke Ötçigin; and he was the son of Bensûka Bahadır. Temûke Ötçigin was the brother of the famous Genghis Khan.
He was born in Kedağra. He lived for a time in Amasya, and through the guidance of İbik Baba he accepted Islam together with his brother Uladur Noyîn. In 696 [1296-97], at the death of Camûdâr Han, he became governor of the Sîmre government.
For some twenty years, as governor of the Sîmre province and government, he held the administration of central Anatolia in his hands. In the month of Şevval of the year 716 [1316-17], when the Mongol ruler Sultan Mehmed Hüdâbende Han died, he deposed Sultan Altunbaş and became the sole master of the Rum province.
In 717 [1317-18], because he would not submit to Emîr Çobanzâde Timurtaş Bey, the grand vizier who had been appointed to the governorship of the province of Sivas, war broke out between them. Although he had won this war, in 718 [1318-19], through the intervention of scholars and emirs, he submitted to Emîr Çoban, and thereby to Sultan Ebû Sa'îd Bahadır Han, and remained in his post.
This time too he held power for more than three years and died in the month of Safer of the year 720 [1320]. It is understood that he is buried in the Tomb of Camûdâr Noyîn. Though he was just, generous and devout, he could at times also be cruel, miserly and merciless. At all events he was a prudent and powerful Mongol.
His name is written in very different forms in various histories. In the history of Şemseddîn Sa'd Yezdî there is a sentence meaning "Abışka is the first male brother, who is living in the land of Rum." In Arabic histories it is written Abışka, Yeşbekâ, Yeşbekî. The correct form is İşboğa. The word İş, with the vowel i on the hamza, means companion and partner; İşboğa would mean a match, an equal, to the bull. But Abışka or Abuşka means the husband of a woman. The lexicons of Nevâyî and Süleyman Efendi call it Âbûşka. The village of Yeşbekî to the east of the district of Köprü became known as Yeşbekî because it was once his farm.
Among the children of İşboğa Noyîn, Toğaçar, that is Toğa Timur, became famous, and his sons-in-law Timur and Oğur Bays are also famous. Toğaçar's son Ali Şâh was one of the emirs of Hacı Kutlu Şâh.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- nazır: an official responsible for the administration of a region, governor-general
- noyîn: a title given to Mongol commanders and lords
- mahdûm: son
- hal' etmek: to depose
- müstakillen: independently, alone
- inkıyâd: submission
- tavassut: intervention, mediation
- munsıf: just
- bahîl: miserly
- cebbâr: tyrannical, merciless
- müdebbir: prudent, one who manages affairs well
- mukîm: residing
Abışka Noyan
The form Abışka of the name İşboğa points to a Mongol commander known in Anatolian Seljuk history. Hüsameddin's own statement too says that these names belong to a single person. According to the article on Keykubad III, Abışka was the commander-in-chief of the Mongol army in Anatolia. The vizier Sâveli Alâeddin took refuge with him to escape the oppression inflicted on the people, and Abışka reported the situation to Tabriz. Thereupon Gâzân Han sent a yarlıg and ordered that Sultan Alâeddin should always be with Abışka Noyan and should do nothing without his approval. In obedience to this order, Abışka had Keykubad brought to the Yabanlu summer pasture east of Kayseri and settled him in a tent that he had pitched one league away from his own (Şevval 700 / June 1301). This date falls within the years 696-720 [1296-1320] that Hüsameddin gives.
This record does not fully coincide with the sequence of events Hüsameddin narrates. In the same work, in the entry on Şeyh İzzeddîn Hasan Bey of the Hâbil Oğulları, Hüsameddin writes that the Seljuk prince Altunbaş was enthroned in Amasya (712) by the order and approval of İşboğa, the governor of Anatolia, and deposed in 716; and in the entry on Gümüşlüzâde Tâceddîn Mahmûd he states that on İşboğa's death in the month of Safer 720 the governorship of Amasya passed to him. So the account is consistent within itself. But the supposition that Abışka was both the commander of Anatolia in 1301 and lived on until 1320 rests on the assumption that the two names belong to the same person; we found no other record documenting this span of twenty years.
Timurtaş and Çoban
Emîr Çoban and his son Timurtaş (Demirtaş), mentioned in the text, are commanders subject to the Ilkhanid ruler Ebû Said Bahadır Han. According to the summary of a study on Demirtaş Noyan, Demirtaş, as the son of Emir Çoban, served as governor-general of Anatolia between 1314 and 1328, rebelled against the center, this rebellion was put down by his father, and he was pardoned and appointed to the governorship again. Hüsameddin's account that Timurtaş was appointed to the governorship of Sivas in 717 and that İşboğa would not submit to him is not at a level of detail that can be compared with the limited information we read in this study; we could not verify the event in an independent source.
The Grave and the Village of Yeşbekî
According to Hüsameddin, İşboğa is buried in the Tomb of Camûdâr Noyîn. The tomb adjoining the Burmalı Minare Mosque in Amasya is known by this name. A researcher writing on the mosque notes that Hüsameddin says Abuşkay İşboğa Noyan lies in this tomb, but that since he does not give his source, it cannot be known how correct the information is. That a village named Yeşbekî in the district of Köprü is called by the name of the old farm likewise appears only in Hüsameddin. The discussion of spelling (Abışka, Yeşbekâ, İşboğa) and the explanation of the word as "equal to the bull" are Hüsameddin's own interpretation; we could not find a second source confirming this.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, pp. 381–382. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies