Amasya ve Sivas hükümdârı Hacı Kutlu Şâh evlâdından ve Amasya ümerâsından İsa Bey bin Mustafa Bey bin Beylerbeyi Hacı Şadgeldi Paşa bin Hacı Kutlu Şâh mahdûmudur.¹⁰³ [64] Amasya’da vâlî iken Sultân Murâd-ı Sânî lalası olup 824’de cülûsunda Mîrlivâ oldu.
Şehzâde Sultân Mustafa vak’asında büyük sadâkati ve yararlıkları görüldüğünden 829’da Silistre beyi oldu. Oralarda bulunan Şehzâde Sultân Mustafa taraftârlarını iskât edib 838’de ilk Bosna vâlisi oldu. 847’de vefât eylediği vakfiyesinden anlaşıldı.
Merhûm gâyet şecî’, müdebbir, maârif-âşinâ, Sultân Murâd’a sâdık idi. Üsküp ve Bosna’da câmileri ve hayrât-ı sâiresi vardır. Üsküp ve Bosna ve havâlisinin fethinde hidemât-ı meşkûresi meşhûr idi. Mahdûmları İsa, Mustafa Beylerdir. Birâderleri de İbrâhim, Hamza Beylerdir.
In Modern English
He was the son of İsa Bey bin Mustafa Bey bin Beylerbeyi Hacı Şadgeldi Paşa bin Hacı Kutlu Şah, a descendant of Hacı Kutlu Şah, ruler of Amasya and Sivas, and one of the emirs of Amasya. While he was governor in Amasya he became lala of Sultan Murad II and, at his accession in 824 [1421], became mîrlivâ (sanjak governor).
Because his great loyalty and services were seen in the affair of Prince Sultan Mustafa, he became bey of Silistra in 829 [1425-26]. Suppressing the supporters of Prince Sultan Mustafa who were in those parts, he became the first governor of Bosnia in 838 [1434-35]. That he died in 847 [1443-44] was understood from his waqf deed.
The late man was extremely brave, prudent, fond of learning and culture, and loyal to Sultan Murad. He has mosques and other charitable works in Skopje and in Bosnia. His praiseworthy services in the conquest of Skopje, Bosnia and their surroundings were famous. His sons are İsa and Mustafa Beys. His brothers are İbrahim and Hamza Beys.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ümerâ: emirs, beys
- mahdûm: son
- lala: a high-ranking statesman in charge of a prince's upbringing and education
- cülûs: accession to the throne
- mîrlivâ: sanjak governor, the administrator of a sanjak
- vak'a: event, affair
- iskât: silencing, suppressing, neutralising
- şecî': brave, courageous
- müdebbir: prudent, one who manages affairs wisely
- maârif-âşinâ: one who values and is close to learning and culture
- hayrât-ı sâire: other charitable works
- hidemât-ı meşkûre: services worthy of praise and thanks
- vakfiye: the document that records the founding and conditions of a waqf
The Kutlu Beyzâdes
The documents on which Hüsameddin relies to show İshak Bey's ancestry are waqf deeds. The footnote says that İshak Bey's being the son of İsa Bey was understood from the supplement to the waqf deed of Şâdi Beyzâde Mahmud Çelebi drawn up in 817 [1414-15], and that İsa Bey's descent from Mustafa Bey and the beylerbeyi Hacı Şadgeldi Paşa was understood from the waqf deed of Bâyezid Paşa drawn up in 821 [1418-19]; later the family tree was also found, and the members of the family were called Kutlu Beyzâde and Hacı Kutlu Şahzâdes. Hacı Kutlu Şah and his son Hacı Şadgeldi Paşa were emirs who ruled Amasya in the middle of the fourteenth century. Kutlu Şah appointed Şadgeldi emir of Amasya in 1359, and Şadgeldi ruled the city until he was killed in his war with Kadı Burhâneddin in 1381. This family's emirate of Amasya came to an end in 1403. According to the line of descent Hüsameddin worked out from documents, İshak Bey is the son of Şadgeldi's grandson (İshak, İsa, Mustafa, Şadgeldi in that order).
His Family and Circle
Elsewhere in his book Hüsameddin gives information on İshak Bey's family. In the sixth volume there is a separate entry for his brother İbrâhim Bey, who is mentioned as the brother of "İshak Bey, conqueror and governor of Bosnia". According to this entry İbrâhim Bey was removed from Amasya with his family in 831 [1427-28] and settled in İnegöl because of the "Affair of the Princes" in the time of Murad II, became lala and counsellor of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in 841 [1437-38], and, as governor of Silistra in 855 [1451], fell as a martyr in the conquest of Istanbul in 857 [1453]. His sons were Ya'kûb Bey and İshak Paşa, who later became grand vizier. This entry thus shows the Kutlu Beyzâde İshak Bey as the uncle of the famous İshak Paşa of İnegöl.
In the eleventh volume there is a separate entry for Şâdân Hatun, who appears to have been his mother. Şâdân Hatun was the daughter of Devâtdâr Ahmed Paşa, son of Hacı Şadgeldi Paşa, and the wife of Mustafa Beyzâde İsa Bey; it is written that she lived for a time in Edirne with her son İshak Bey, then returned to Amasya and died after 831. In the same volume there is also the entry "Şücâeddîn İlyas Çelebi-Müfred": İlyas Çelebi, a scholar of Amasya, became the teacher of İsa Beyzâde İshak Bey, served as judge and mufti in his retinue, and advised him in his governorships of Bosnia and Skopje. It is written that İlyas Çelebi, who taught for forty years as müderris in the madrasa he had built in Skopje and became famous as the "Sheikh of Skopje", died around 873 [1468-69], and that he was also the teacher of İshak Bey's sons İsa and Mustafa Beys.
These records show that the Bosnian governorship and the Skopje connection of the entry are repeated in the same form in Hüsameddin's other entries.
The Skopje and Bosnia Connection
In Ottoman history of Skopje and Bosnia there is a sanjak governor named İshak of the same age; in Balkan historiography his name appears as Ishak-beg Hranić. He was sanjak governor of Skopje between 1415 and 1439 and was buried beside the mosque bearing his name in Skopje. Some sources present him as a member of the noble Bosnian Hranušić family and an adopted son of Paşa Yiğit Bey; he is said to have died in 1457. His son İsa Bey (Isa-beg Ishaković) governed first the sanjak of Skopje and then, for a long time, the sanjak of Bosnia. In Turkish sources, İshak Bey is mentioned as the first governor of Bosnia in 1463-64.
The İshak Bey described by Hüsameddin is also a first governor of Bosnia, a sanjak governor who had mosques built in Skopje and Bosnia and one of whose sons was İsa. But the two accounts differ in origin (one rests on the dynasty of Amasya, the other on the Bosnian nobility), in the choice of years (Hüsameddin writes that he became first governor in 838 and died in 847 [1443-44]; the other account gives a death in 1457) and in the place of the governorship. The sources we read do not explain whether these two people are the same person; no identification is therefore made here. In the entry "Mehmed Paşa" in the third volume, Hüsameddin also counts "İsa Beyzâde İshak, conqueror of Bosnia, of the descendants of Hacı Şadgeldi" among the men of Amasya who fell as martyrs at the Battle of Varna, and places the battle in 848. Since Varna was fought on 10 November 1444, this record points to a year later than the 847 [1443-44] death year of the entry.
There is also another İshak Bey in Hüsameddin's book: "Ebû İshâk Bey-Kutluşâhzâde" in the sixth volume. He is the son of the beylerbeyi Kutlu Paşa and the son of Hacı Şadgeldi Paşa's nephew; he became mirliva of large sanjaks such as Salonica and Silistra, returned to Amasya in 841, then became bey of Sivas, was dismissed in 846 when Prince Alâeddin was strangled, and died at the beginning of 847; he endowed his property to his tomb in the Ahi Sa'deddîn Quarter of Amasya. Shared details such as the year of death, the sanjak of Silistra and descent from Kutlu Şah bring the two records close; but they differ in their chains of descent, in the Bosnian governorship and in the information on the tomb. Whether Hüsameddin thought of them as two separate persons or whether there is a confusion is not clear.
Hüsameddin's information that İshak Bey was lala of Murad II also could not be verified in the outside sources we read. Another source names Biçeroğlu Hamza Bey as the lala of Prince Murad (Murad II), who was sanjak governor in Amasya; Hüsameddin gives the name Hamza Bey among İshak Bey's brothers. Whether these two Hamzas are the same person is not stated.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 283–283. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, 2022, vol. 6, entries "İbrâhim Bey-Hacı Şâdgeldi Paşazâde", p. 30, and "Ebû İshâk Bey-Kutluşâhzâde", p. 80–81; vol. 11, entries "Şâdân Hâtun Paşa", p. 361, and "Şücâeddîn İlyas Çelebi-Müfred", p. 380.
Academic studies
Other sources