Amasya a’yânından Hacı Kudbeddîn Kutluğ Şâh bin Hâce Nâsırüddîn Süleyman Şâh bin Gıyâseddîn Hüsrev Şâh bin Tâceddîn Altunbaş Gâzi Çelebi bin Sultân Gıyâseddîn Mes’ud Şâh bin Sultân İzzeddîn Keykâvus-ı Selçukî mahdûmudur.
Ceddi Gıyâseddîn Keyhüsrev Şâh yeğeni Sivas hükümdârı Kılıçarslan Şâh bin Mes’ûd Şâh bin Gâzi Çelebi ile 782’de Kadı Burhan elinde pîr iken maktûl oldu. Hâce Nâsıreddîn Süleyman Şâh, bu hengâmede Amasya‘ya ilticâ edib vefâtına kadar kaldı.
Pederi Hacı Kutluğ Şâh Amasya a’yânından olup [95] 818 senesi zelzelesinde vefât etdi. İskender Bey Amasya’da hutût-ı mütenevviayı Sûfî Yahya Çelebi bin Mahmûd Çelebi’den ahz ve tahsîl-i maârif ederek 816’da Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân’ın cülûsunda Edirne’ye gitdi.
Orada tefeyyüz ederek Gelibolu Sancağı beyi olup hayli müddet bu emâreti devam etdi. Ba’dehû Çirmen Sancağı beyi olup 838’de Edirne’de bulundu. 841 hudûdunda vefât etdi. Âlim, hattât, asîl, necîb bir emîr-i zîşân idi.
Melhamesiyle iştihâr eden şuarâdan Salahaddîn Mehmed Çelebi bunun kâtibi, yazıcısı olduğu münâsebetle melhamesinde bu zâtı şöyle tarif ediyor:
Bir kişi bulduk muazzez mu’teber
Cümle maksûdlarımız andan biter
Ehl-i irfâna sözü telkîn eder
Hattı Yâkût’u görüp tahsîn eder
Hem adı meşhûr Sikender nâmdâr
Meclis-i mergûb mükemmel şâhvâr
Atası hem Hâce-i kutb-i cihân
Nâsıreddîn ogludur bes bî-gümân
Hâce Nâsır kim cihânda mâh idi
Hem anın atası Hüsrev Şâh idi
Emîr-i müşârün-ileyhin Ferahşâh Bey adlı bir mahdûmu [96] olup eniştesi Vezîr-i a’zam Osmâncıklı İmâmzâde Hayreddîn Halil Paşa’dır. Bunun da mahdûmu İskender Bey’dir. Ferâhzâde Mehmed Çelebi 882 senesinde Amasya a’yânından idi.
In Modern English
He is the son of Hacı Kudbeddîn Kutluğ Şâh, one of the notables of Amasya. Kutluğ Şâh was the son of Hâce Nâsırüddîn Süleyman Şâh, son of Gıyâseddîn Hüsrev Şâh, son of Tâceddîn Altunbaş Gâzi Çelebi, son of Sultan Gıyâseddîn Mes'ud Şâh, who was the son of the Seljuk Sultan İzzeddîn Keykâvus.
His ancestor Gıyâseddîn Keyhüsrev Şâh was killed, old as he was, in 782 [1380-81] at the hands of Kadı Burhan, together with his nephew Kılıçarslan Şâh, ruler of Sivas (Kılıçarslan was the son of Mes'ûd Şâh, son of Gâzi Çelebi). Hâce Nâsıreddîn Süleyman Şâh took refuge in Amasya in this turmoil and stayed there until his death.
His father Hacı Kutluğ Şâh was among the notables of Amasya and died in the earthquake of the year 818 [1415-16]. İskender Bey learned the various kinds of writing in Amasya from Sûfî Yahyâ Çelebi, son of Mahmûd Çelebi, acquired learning, and in 816 [1413-14], at the accession of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Han, went to Edirne.
There he rose and became sanjak governor of Gelibolu, and this governorship continued for a considerable time. Then he became sanjak governor of Çirmen and in 838 [1434-35] was in Edirne. He died around 841 [1437-38]. He was a scholar, a calligrapher, a noble and distinguished emir of high renown.
Salahaddîn Mehmed Çelebi, one of the poets known for his melhame, since he was this man's secretary and scribe, describes him in his melhame as follows:
Bir kişi bulduk muazzez mu'teber
Cümle maksûdlarımız andan biter
Ehl-i irfâna sözü telkîn eder
Hattı Yâkût'u görüp tahsîn eder
Hem adı meşhûr Sikender nâmdâr
Meclis-i mergûb mükemmel şâhvâr
Atası hem Hâce-i kutb-i cihân
Nâsıreddîn ogludur bes bî-gümân
Hâce Nâsır kim cihânda mâh idi
Hem anın atası Hüsrev Şâh idi
The meaning of the poem is roughly as follows: We found a man of worth and standing; all our wishes are fulfilled through him. He guides the people of knowledge with his word, and on seeing the script of Yâkût he admires it. His name is the renowned and famous Sikender; his assembly is admired, and he is entirely like a shah. His ancestor is Hâce, the pole of the world; he is, without doubt, the son of Nâsıreddîn. Hâce Nâsır was like a moon in the world, and his father was Hüsrev Şâh.
The said emir had a son named Ferahşâh Bey, whose brother-in-law is the grand vizier Hayreddîn Halil Pasha, the Osmâncıklı İmâmzâde. The son of the latter is İskender Bey. Ferâhzâde Mehmed Çelebi was among the notables of Amasya in 882 [1477-78].
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- a'yân: the notables of a place
- ceddi: his ancestor, his grandfather
- pîr: old
- maktûl: killed
- ilticâ: taking refuge
- hutût-ı mütenevvia: various kinds of writing (calligraphic scripts)
- tefeyyüz: receiving benefit, advancing, rising
- emâret: the post of bey or emir
- emîr-i zîşân: a distinguished emir
- melhame: a work narrating great events, wars and heroic deeds
- kerîmezâde: a daughter's child
- enişte: the husband of one's sister, or of one's wife's sister
An Amasya Family of Seljuk Descent
The chain Hüsameddin lists goes back to the Anatolian Seljuk dynasty. In an article on Seljuk history it is written that the four sons of Altunbaş in this chain were Mesud, Alp Arslan, Keykubad and Keyhüsrev, and that each lived on estates set aside for them around Amasya: Mesud Çelebi at Havza, Keykubad Çelebi at Ladik, Alp Arslan Çelebi at Amasya, while Keyhüsrev stayed with his father. The article bases this information on Hüsameddin's book and notes that Hüsameddin gives no source for what he relates about Kılıç Arslan.
Kadı Burhaneddin and Kılıç Arslan
The event of 782 in the text falls in the years when the Eretna principality was breaking up. After Eretna ruler Alaeddin Ali Bey died in August 1380, confusion arose in the principality. Kılıç Arslan, of Seljuk descent, took on the regency in Sivas, but about five months later he was killed by the vizier Kadı Burhaneddin. Kılıç Arslan's uncle Keyhüsrev, when he learned of his nephew's death and attacked the Kadı, lost his life that day at the hands of Kadı Burhaneddin. Hüsameddin's phrase "killed by Kadı Burhan, old as he was" agrees with this. The same article also carries an old note that among the sarcophagi in the building known in Amasya as the tomb of Kılıç Arslan there is one bearing his name; but İ. H. Uzunçarşılı, on his visit in 1926, was unable to see this sarcophagus.
İskender Bey, Halil Pasha and the Family Ties
At the end of the entry two kinship ties are given: Ferahşâh Bey's brother-in-law the grand vizier Halil Pasha, and the latter's son İskender Bey. Halil Pasha may be the same person as Osmâncıklı İmâmzâde Halil Pasha; one source writes that the person known by this name served as grand vizier from 1406 to 1413. Hüsameddin, for his part, names him as the grand vizier of Çelebi Mehmed at Amasya and Edirne. Halil Pasha's son İskender Bey is the subject of the next entry. The tie in the text between Ferahşâh Bey and Halil Pasha ("brother-in-law") is not clear; for this reason the detail of the family relations remains uncertain.
Points to Note
In the poem İskender Bey is called "Nâsıreddîn's son", whereas in the prose part Nâsıreddîn is his grandfather; in older usage the word "son" could also be used for a grandson. Detail about the sanjak governorships of Gelibolu and Çirmen could not be verified in the sources consulted. About how the earthquake of the year 818 affected Amasya, no other record was found either.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 293–293. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Other sources