AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

İsfehân Hâtun-Kürtzâde

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 7, p. 337 • Edited by: Prof. Dr. Safi ARPAGUŞ- Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hakkı TURABİ

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasyalıdır. Ümerâdan Kayı oğlu Emîr Bahaeddîn Kürt Beyzâde Gazan Şâh’ın kerîmesi ve “Mühezzeboğlu” demekle meşhûr Pervâne Beyzâde Süleyman Bey’in zevcesidir. 762’de zevci ve pederiyle beraber Kudüs’e gidip orada ikâmet ve âlî bir medrese inşâ ve emlâkını vakfederek 782’de vefât etdiği “el-Ünsü’l-Celîl fî Târihü’l-Kudüs ve’l-Halîl”de yazılıdır. Sâliha, sâhibe-i hayır ve hasenât bir kadın idi.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

She is from Amasya. She is the daughter of Gazan Şah, son of Emir Bahâeddin Kürt Bey, son of Kayı, one of the emirs, and the wife of Süleyman Bey, son of Pervâne Bey, who was known as "Mühezzeboğlu." It is written in the work "el-Ünsü'l-Celîl fî Târihi'l-Kudüs ve'l-Halîl," which tells the history of Jerusalem and Hebron, that in 762 [1360-61] she went to Jerusalem with her husband and her father, settled there, had a noble madrasa built, endowed her properties as waqf, and died in 782 [1380-81]. She was a pious woman, a giver of charity and good works.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • ümerâ: emirs, lords
  • kerîme: daughter
  • zevce: wife
  • pederiyle: with her father
  • ikâmet: residing in a place
  • âlî: lofty, valuable
  • emlâk: properties
  • sâliha: a pious, virtuous woman
  • sâhibe-i hayır ve hasenât: a woman who does charity and good works

Two Women Named Isfahan Shah in Jerusalem

An entry on the madrasas of Jerusalem gives two examples of madrasas built by women: the Hâtûniyye, dated 1380, and the Osmâniyye, built in 1436 by Isfahan Shah Hatun. The name Isfahan Shah appears in both buildings, but the two women are not the same person. The two names are easily confused in a search.

The first endowment of the Hâtûniyye Madrasa, beside the western side of the Haram esh-Sharif, was made in 1349 by Uğul Hatun, a woman from Baghdad. She is called "el-Kâzâniyye" in the sources, and the name may indicate that she had been married to an emir named Gazan Şah. The construction was completed in 1380 by Isfahan Shah, daughter of Gazan Şah, who attached a further endowment to the building. The woman Hüsameddin calls "daughter of Gazan Şah" matches this daughter, and the year of death he gives, 782 [1380-81], lies very close to the year the madrasa was completed. The only difference is that Hüsameddin writes that she "built" the madrasa, while the sources report that someone else began the building and Isfahan Shah finished it.

The Isfahan Shah Hatun who built the Osmâniyye Madrasa is a different woman. The inscription calls her "daughter of the late Emir Mahmud." She died in 840 [1436-37], and according to the inscription the building was completed at the end of that year through the efforts of Hâce Câmi', son of Sati, from Anatolia. Some sources call her the wife of Çandarlı İbrahim Pasha, and the income of ten villages in Anatolia was assigned to the madrasa's waqf. Since her father was not Gazan Şah, she has no connection with the woman Hüsameddin describes.

Hüsameddin's Source

The book "el-Ünsü'l-Celîl" is the work on the history of Jerusalem and Hebron by Mücîrüddin el-Uleymî, a judge and historian of Jerusalem who lived between 1456 and 1522. A large part of what has been written on the madrasas of Jerusalem rests on this work. Nothing in the sources read corresponds to Hüsameddin's description of Isfahan Shah as a woman of Amasya, her descent from Bahâeddin Kürt Bey, son of Kayı, her journey to Jerusalem in 762, or her marriage to Süleyman Bey, son of Pervâne Bey; these details could not be verified. It is also not clear from the entry whether Hüsameddin took them from el-Ünsü'l-Celîl or from another record.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 337–337. amasya.bel.tr

Other sources

Volume 7 contents