Amasyalıdır. Evrâk-ı resmîyyeden müstefâd olduğu üzere Amasya civârında Yenice karyesinde zuhûr edib Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî Amasya’da vâlî iken iştihâr eden Yeniceli Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebizâde Mûsâ Çelebi mahdûmu ve Haleb’e sefâretle giden Yenicelioğlu Memî Çelebi’nin yeğeni, ya’nî birâderzâdesidir.
Amasya‘da doğdu. Pederi Mûsâ Çelebi Amasya Vâlisi Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed’in Dîvân Kâtibi iken 913’de Trabzon vâlisi olan Sultân Selîm Hân’a ilticâ etmiş Sultân-ı müşârün-ileyhin [99] Hazîne Kâtibi ve cülûsunda tezkire-i sadr-ı âlî olmuşdu.¹¹⁰
İskender Çelebi Amasya‘da güzel bir tahsîl gördü. Amasya fuzalâsından Emîn Mimârzâde Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi’den ulûm ve fünûn öğrendi. Meşâhir-i ağniyâdan Amasya’da câmii olan Hâce el-Hâc Pîr Mehmed Çelebi’nin kerîmesiyle evlendi. 913’de pederinden sonra Trabzon’a gidip Sultân Selîm’in maiyyetine girdi.
918’de Sultân-ı müşârün-ileyhin cülûsunda Hazîne-i Âmire Kâtibi olduğu esnâda kayın pederinin vefâtıyla zevcesinden dolayı kendisine servet-i azîme isâbet etdi. 921 senesi şevvâlinin yirmi beşinde Kara Bâlîzâde yerine muhâsebeci ve 923 şevvâlinin on beşinde Zehr-i mâr Kasım Bey’in yerine Anadolu Defterdârı oldu.¹¹¹
925’de pederinin vefâtıyla servet-i azîmesinin yarısı kendisine isâbet ederek gınâ-yı fevkalâdeye mâlik oldu. 926 senesi şevvâlinin on yedisinde cülûs eden Sultân Süleyman’ın fermânıyla Rûmeli Kethüdâsı, 928 senesi evâ’ilinde Şıkk-ı Sâlis, 930’da Şıkk-ı Sânî ve 932’de Şıkk-ı Evvel [100] Defterdârı ya’nî Mâliye Nâzırı oldu.¹¹²
İskender Çelebi, gâyet zengin olmakla beraber pek âkil, müdebbir, umûr-ı mâliyede mâhir, Sultân Süleyman’ın teveccüh ve i’timâd-ı fevkalâdesine pek mazhardı. Bundan dolayı Sadâret Müsteşârı olarak bütün vüzerâ ve erkân-ı devletin istirkâbını celbetmişdi.
Hâssaten Sadr-ı a’zam Frenk İbrâhim Paşa kendisini gölgede bırakacak derecede bu kadar nüfûz ve iktidârını bir türlü çekemiyordu. Gâyet mağrûr ve mütekebbir olmakla beraber Türkleri hor görüp Sultân Süleyman’ı her husûsda taklîd eder, saltanatı adeta benimsemişti.
940 senesi Irak seferinde Frenk İbrâhim Paşa Serasker oldukda İskender Çelebi de Ordu-yı Hümâyûn Kethüdâsı olup bütün ordunun harekât ve idâresi, tedârik-i levâzımı husûsatında Serasker’e şerîk olmuşdu.
Ordu-yı Hümâyûn, İstanbul’dan hareket edib Haleb’e vâsıl oldukta Paşa ile Çelebi arasında fevkalâde bürûdet hâsıl olmuşdu. Çünkü İbrâhim Paşa kendisini [101] Serasker-i Sultân diye ilân etdirmiş saltanata mahsûs bir takım evzâ’ ve etvâr göstermişdi. İskender Çelebi de bu unvân ile evzâ’ ve etvâr-ı mülûkânesine i’tirâz etmişdi.
941 senesi evâilinde Sultân Süleyman, İstanbul’dan hareket edib Ordu-yı Hümâyûn’a vâsıl, Irak’ın fethi hâsıl oldukda Sadr-ı a’zam İbrâhim Paşa İskender Çelebi’ye pek çok ve gayr-ı vâki şeyler isnâd ederek pâdişâhı inandırmış, me’mûrîn-i mâliyeden Nakkaş Ali Çelebi de paşaya siâyette muâvenetler etmişdi.
Nur-ı Osmâniye Kütübhânesi’nde 3135 numarada bulunan “Süleymannâme”de şöyle yazılıyor:
“941 cumâdelâhir on üçüncü Cuma günü Dîvân olup Ayas Paşa ve Kasım Paşa gelip içeriye girmezden evvel içeriden emrolunup İskender Çelebi’yi Bağdad’da At Pazarı’nda salb eylediler ve ramazânın yirmi sekizinci günü de İskender Çelebi’nin kaynı Hüseyin Çelebi’nin boynu vuruldu”.¹¹³
İskender Çelebi’nin i’dâmında hizmet ve siâyeti sebkeden Nakkaş Ali Çelebi kendisine va’d edilen Başdefterdârlık’tan [102] mahrûmen Irak Defterdârı oldu. Bunun yerine Başdefterdâr olan Mahmûd Çelebi de 942 ramazânında Frenk İbrâhim Paşa’nın i’dâmından sonra nekbet gördü.
İskender Çelebi, umûr-ı mâliyede yegâne-i rüzigâr, her husûsta sâhib-i iktidâr, son derece mâl-dâr bir zât idi. Debdebe ve dârâtı mükemmel, ihtişâm ve serveti darb-ı mesel olup dört yüz tane kölesi, bir o kadar da câriyesi vardı. Kasımpaşa civârındaki bahçesi, cennetden bir numûne olup İskender Çelebi Bahçesi diye meşhûr idi.
Bu kadar servet ü sâmânı müsâdere edilip köle ve câriyeleri Sarây-ı Hümâyûn’a alındı. Semin Ahmed Paşa, Kaptan Piyâle Paşa, Gîlânî Ali Paşa, Behram Paşa, Hasan Paşa kölelerinden idi. Ahmed Paşa sadâretinde; “hâlâ rikâb-ı hümâyûnda yedi vezîriz, Yedimizin mal ve ihtişâmı İskender Çelebi’ye varamaz” der idi.
İskender Çelebi’nin Ahmed, Mehmed Çelebiler nâmıyla iki mahdûmu ve ricâlden Ali Çelebi nâmında bir de birâderi olduğu anlaşılabildi. Fakat mahdûmlarının ne tercemesi [103] ve ne de evlâd ve ensâbı bulunamadı.
In Modern English
He is from Amasya. According to official documents, he came from the village of Yenice near Amasya. He was the son of Mûsâ Çelebi, himself the son of Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi of Yenice, who became well known while Sultan Bayezid II was governor of Amasya. He was the nephew, that is, the brother's son, of Yenicelioğlu Memî Çelebi, who went to Aleppo as an envoy.
He was born in Amasya. His father, Mûsâ Çelebi, while serving as divan secretary to Prince Sultan Ahmed, the governor of Amasya, took refuge in 913 [1507-08] with Sultan Selim Khan, then governor of Trabzon. Mûsâ became that sultan's treasury secretary, and when Selim ascended the throne he was made tezkireci of the grand vizierate (tezkire-i sadr-ı âlî).
İskender Çelebi received a good education in Amasya. He studied the sciences and the arts with Emîn Mimârzâde Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi, one of the leading scholars of Amasya. He married the daughter of the well-known wealthy man Hâce Hacı Pîr Mehmed Çelebi, who had a mosque in Amasya. In 913, after his father, he went to Trabzon and entered the service of Sultan Selim.
In 918 [1512-13], when that sultan ascended the throne, he was secretary of the state treasury. When his father-in-law died, a great fortune came to him through his wife. On the twenty-fifth of Shawwal 921 he became accountant in place of Kara Bâlîzâde, and on the fifteenth of Shawwal 923 he became Defterdar of Anatolia in place of Kasım Bey, nicknamed Zehr-i mâr (snake venom).
In 925 [1519-20], on the death of his father, half of his great fortune passed to him and he came into extraordinary wealth. By the decree of Sultan Süleyman, who ascended the throne on the seventeenth of Shawwal 926, he became Rumeli Kethüda, in early 928 Şıkk-ı Sâlis (third defterdar), in 930 Şıkk-ı Sânî (second defterdar), and in 932 Şıkk-ı Evvel (first defterdar), that is, Minister of Finance.
Although very wealthy, İskender Çelebi was intelligent, prudent and skilled in financial affairs, and he enjoyed the extraordinary favor and trust of Sultan Süleyman. For this reason, as adviser to the grand vizierate, he had drawn upon himself the resentment of all the viziers and state dignitaries.
Grand Vizier Frenk İbrahim Pasha in particular could not bear an influence and power so great that it threatened to put him in the shade. Extremely proud and arrogant, and contemptuous of the Turks, İbrahim Pasha imitated Sultan Süleyman in every respect and had all but appropriated the sultanate for himself.
In the Iraq campaign of 940, when Frenk İbrahim Pasha became serasker, İskender Çelebi became Kethüda of the Imperial Army and shared with the serasker the movement and administration of the whole army and the provision of its supplies.
When the imperial army set out from Istanbul and reached Aleppo, an extraordinary coldness arose between the Pasha and the Çelebi. İbrahim Pasha had had himself proclaimed "Serasker of the Sultan" and had displayed certain manners and conduct proper to the sultanate. İskender Çelebi objected both to this title and to his sovereign-like demeanor.
In early 941, when Sultan Süleyman set out from Istanbul and joined the army and the conquest of Iraq had been accomplished, Grand Vizier İbrahim Pasha attributed many untrue things to İskender Çelebi and convinced the sultan. Nakkaş Ali Çelebi, one of the finance officials, also helped the Pasha in this slander.
The "Süleymannâme" kept in the Nuruosmaniye Library under number 3135 says the following:
"On Friday the thirteenth of Jumada al-Thani 941 the divan was held, and before Ayas Pasha and Kasım Pasha came and went in, an order came from within and they hanged İskender Çelebi in the Horse Market at Baghdad. On the twenty-eighth day of Ramadan the head of İskender Çelebi's brother-in-law Hüseyin Çelebi was cut off."
Nakkaş Ali Çelebi, whose service and slander had counted most in the execution of İskender Çelebi, was deprived of the chief defterdarship promised to him and became Defterdar of Iraq. Mahmûd Çelebi, who became chief defterdar in his place, also met disaster in Ramadan 942, after the execution of Frenk İbrahim Pasha.
İskender Çelebi was the one man of his age in financial affairs, powerful in every matter and extremely rich. His display and splendor were perfect, his magnificence and wealth had become a proverb, and he had four hundred male slaves and as many female slaves. His garden near Kasımpaşa was like a sample of paradise and was famous as the Garden of İskender Çelebi.
All this wealth and property was confiscated, and his male and female slaves were taken into the Imperial Palace. Semiz Ahmed Pasha, Kaptan Piyale Pasha, Gîlânî Ali Pasha, Behram Pasha and Hasan Pasha were among his slaves. During his grand vizierate Ahmed Pasha used to say: "At this moment there are seven of us viziers beside the sultan. The wealth and splendor of all seven of us together would not reach İskender Çelebi's."
It could be established that İskender Çelebi had two sons named Ahmed and Mehmed Çelebi and a brother among the statesmen named Ali Çelebi. However, neither a biography of his sons nor their children and descendants could be found.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- müşârün-ileyh: the aforementioned person
- tezkire-i sadr-ı âlî: the tezkireci of the grand vizierate, that is, the official in charge of its correspondence
- fuzalâ: scholars, learned men
- meşâhir-i ağniyâ: well-known wealthy men
- Şıkk-ı Evvel, Şıkk-ı Sânî, Şıkk-ı Sâlis: the first, second and third defterdarship
- Başdefterdar: the highest finance official, at the head of the state treasury
- serasker: commander of an army on campaign
- siâyet: slander, informing against someone
- evzâ' ve etvâr: manners and conduct
- müsâdere: confiscation of a person's property by the state
- nekbet: disaster, misfortune
- darb-ı mesel: a proverb, something that has become legendary
Who Was Defterdar İskender Çelebi
İskender Çelebi was the most powerful financial official of the age of Süleyman the Magnificent. Relying on a note in the waqf deed of Hafsa Sultan dated 930, Uzunçarşılı states that he was the son of a man named Mûsâ, which agrees with the father's name Hüsameddin gives. The sources examined do not mention Amasya or Yenice, so his Amasya origin and family ties rest only on the official documents Hüsameddin consulted. Peçevî counts him among the men trained by Hain Ahmed Pasha; he entered the defterhane as an apprentice and in time rose to the chief defterdarship. When Grand Vizier İbrahim Pasha was found fit to be serasker, İskender Çelebi was thought suitable for the post of army kethüda, and all the affairs of the army were entrusted to him. In Peçevî's judgment, no one in this state, not among its defterdars or beylerbeyis, not even among its grand viziers, had won such renown.
The Iraq Campaign and His End
İbrahim Pasha regarded İskender Çelebi as a father because of his age, and the sultan too would ask his vizier to consult him on any affair or campaign. Before the campaign, some people said that the Çelebi had many men skilled in fighting; the vizier asked for one hundred and ten soldiers from them, and the Çelebi could supply only part of this request, after which relations between the two began to sour. The sources also mention that men of his who were loading the treasury near Aleppo were arrested on charges of theft, and that faults in the movement of the army were laid at his door. In another account, it was İskender Çelebi who ordered İbrahim Pasha, then moving from Aleppo toward Baghdad, to go to Azerbaijan instead, and who said in Tabriz that the army would stay where it was; when the sultan arrived in Tabriz and saw the army standing in enemy territory, he demanded an explanation and was not satisfied with the answer. The two accounts differ in detail, but both tie the Çelebi's fall to the quarrel during the campaign.
According to these sources İskender Çelebi was dismissed on 24 October 1534 and, four months and twenty days after his dismissal, was hanged in the Horse Market at Baghdad, which corresponds to March 1535. The date of the execution varies from source to source in the month: Hüsameddin and the "Süleymannâme" he quotes say Jumada al-Thani 941, the "Sicill-i Osmânî" cited in the footnote says Rabi al-Thani 941, and the "Solakzâde Tarihi" gives the eighth of Ramadan 941. Solakzâde's date is close to the March 1535 reckoning. İbrahim Pasha was himself executed within a year, in Ramadan 942. It is told that on the night İskender Çelebi was hanged, Süleyman saw him in a dream wind his turban around his neck and try to strangle him, asking why he had had him hanged without guilt, and that on waking the sultan wished that İbrahim too would go the same way before his year was out. This is a tradition, attributed to Peçevî.
Wealth and His Circle
Hüsameddin's figure of "four hundred slaves" is far below the numbers cited in the sources. According to Solakzâde, at the time he was hanged the Çelebi had six thousand slaves to be sold, entered in his own register; studies of Venetian life in Istanbul likewise say he owned six or seven thousand slaves, while the grand vizier had about seventeen hundred, well below that figure. Solakzâde records that İskender Çelebi came to the divan with some three hundred men in gold-embroidered clothes, whereas İbrahim Pasha came with nearly four hundred and Ayas Pasha with seventy or eighty. When he was hanged, more than a hundred of his iç oğlans were found, about ten of whom were sent to the sultan's harem, and the rest were distributed to the treasury and to other lords; the fact that men such as Semiz Ahmed Pasha, who later became grand vizier, were his trainees shows the weight of this household. According to what Hammer reports, the purpose of this crowd was as much to train people able to carry on the service of the state as to put on a show.
İskender Çelebi was not a poet, but he was a protector of poets. Many poets such as Hayâlî, Figânî, Latîfî, Yahyâ Bey and Basîrî were in his entourage or were introduced to the great men of state through him. It is told that Ayas Pasha was angry when İskender Çelebi had a pension arranged for a poet named Mu'îdî and asked what use this class was to the sultanate; İskender Çelebi answered, reciting a couplet from the Shahnameh, that the conquests of rulers endure through the verse of poets. His garden at Kasımpaşa is not mentioned in the sources examined, so nothing can be added to Hüsameddin's record on that point.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 294–295. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Ali Yıldırım, "16. Yüzyılda Büyük Bir Devlet Adamı ve Edebiyat Hamisi Defterdar İskender Çelebi", Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 10/1 (2000), p. 217–232 (with citations from Peçevî, Solakzâde, Hammer, Âşık Çelebi, Latîfî and Uzunçarşılı).
Other sources