İsmâil Bey (Sunkuroğlu)

In Modern English

He was from Amasya. He was the son of Emîr Seyfeddîn Sunkur Bey, warden of Amasya Castle, who died in 702 [1302-03]. He too was castle warden and defender of Amasya, and was called Emîr Kemâleddîn İsmâil. He died in the time of Şâdi Bey, governor of Amasya. His son Yunus Bey and his brother Emîr Şâhabeddîn Ahmed Bey are well known.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• dizdâr: castle commander, the chief officer of a fortress garrison
• muhâfız: protector, person charged with defence
• mahdûm: son
• vâlî: governor of a city or district
• birâder: brother
• meşhûr: famous, well known

Amasya Castle and the Dizdar

Who built Amasya's castle on its high rock is not known with certainty. The castle played an active role in Seljuk times, controlled the road between Samsun and Tokat, and kept its importance under the Ottomans. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the castle had a dizdar, a kethüda and fifty-seven garrison men; inside the castle were mud-brick houses where the castle's staff lived. Every morning and evening trumpets and drums were sounded from the castle towards the town. Evliya Çelebi relates that the town's wealthy stored their valuables here during the attacks of the Celali bandits. From the eighteenth century the castle lost its importance and began to fall into ruin. The office that Hüsameddin calls "dizdâr" is the command at the head of this garrison.

Who Is Şâdi Bey?

The text says İsmâil Bey died "in the time of Şâdi Bey, governor of Amasya", but it gives neither this person's full name nor a date. The ruler of Amasya whose name comes closest is Emîr Hacı Şadgeldi Pasha, who governed the city from 1359 to 1381. A son of Kutlu Şah, Şadgeldi grew up in Amasya and studied under the same teacher as Cemâleddin Aksarayî. In the years when the Eretna state was weakening he ruled in Amasya almost independently, had fountains, bridges, mosques and madrasas built in the city, and is also associated with a work on jurisprudence. In 1381 he was defeated and killed in a battle with Kadı Burhâneddin. If Sunkur Bey's death in 1302-03 and the record that his son died in Şadgeldi's time are taken together, İsmâil Bey could have lived in the second half of the fourteenth century; but that "Şâdi Bey" is Şadgeldi is an inference, not an established fact in the sources.

Another name that draws attention is that of Emîr Şâhabeddîn Ahmed Bey, mentioned as a brother. Şadgeldi's elder brother Şehâbeddîn Ahmed Şah also served twice as emir of Amasya. The similarity of the two names is striking, but in Hüsameddin's record Ahmed Bey is given as Sunkur Bey's son; no document was found showing that the two are the same person.

The Place of Rule in Amasya

The castle officials Hüsameddin describes gain meaning within Amasya's much-changing history of rule. After the Battle of Kösedağ in 1243 the city was governed by Mongol governors, then remained under Eretna and his successors, and then passed into the hands of Hacı Şadgeldi. The Ottomans took Amasya in 1398. In every period the castle's dizdar was in the hands of a local family that kept the city safe or of a commander appointed from the centre; Hüsameddin's record points to a wardenship passing from father to son.

What Could Not Be Verified

In searches about Emîr Seyfeddîn Sunkur Bey, his son Emîr Kemâleddîn İsmâil, his grandson Yunus Bey and his brother Şâhabeddîn Ahmed Bey, no information was found in other sources. The wardenship, the dates of death and the family relations rest only on Hüsameddin's record.

Bibliography

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 300. amasya.bel.tr
• Mehterhan Furkani, "Siyasî ve İlmî Bir Kişilik: Amasya Emiri Hacı Şadgeldi Paşa ve ed-Dürerü'l-mensûretü fi'l-furû' Adlı Eserin Kendisine Nispeti", Uluslararası Amasya Âlimleri Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı I, Amasya 2017, https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/G00226/2017/2017_FURKANIM.pdf