Amasya a'yânından ve Torumtay evlâdından Kaya Paşazâde Kaya Çelebi bin Mehmed Bey'in oğludur. 961 senesi rebî'ulâhirinde Amasya sancağı beyi olarak geldi.
Sultân Süleyman, bu sene Revân ve Nahcivân seferine azîmet edib ordu-yı hümâyûnda beraber bulunmak üzere Şeyhzâde Nûh Efendi'yi da'vet ve bin altın da ihsân etmişdi. Şeyh Efendi, da'vete beyân-ı ma'zeret ederek altınları redd etdi.
Sultân Süleyman, şehzâdenin katlinden dolayı halkın ve hâssaten Amasya ulemâ ve halkının nazarından düşmüşdü. Îrân seferinden avdetinde 961 senesi zilhiccesinin üçüncü günü büyük ordusuyla beraber büyük alaylarla Amasya'ya girdi. Beyler Sarâyı'na indi. Anadolu ordusunu Taşâbâd sahrâsında, Rûmeli ordusunu da Karaman vilâyetinde istirâhata izin verdi.
Sultân Süleyman, Amasya'da altı aydan ziyâde oturdu. Amasya'nın ulemâ ve a'yânını ihsânlarıyla, iltifâtlarıyla sevindirdi. Halka karşı büyük [314] teveccühler gösterdi. Bir senelik vergilerini afv etdi. Şehzâdeye müntesib olanları himâye ederek dîvân-ı hümâyûna aldı.
Amasya beyi Kaya Bey, göze girmek için çok çalışdı. Livâ dâhilinde ufak bir şikâyete, uygunsuzluğa meydân vermedi. Îrân elçisi Ferahzâd Hân, Amasya'da dergâh-ı Süleymanî'ye gelip sulh için yalvardı. Ricâsına müsâ'ade ve asker terhîs edildi.
962 senesi şa'bânının gurresinde Sultân Süleyman, vüzerâsıyla beraber Amasya'dan kalkıp İstanbul'a gitdi. Ulemâdan Koca Hüsâmeddîn, Abdîzâde Hasan Efendiler'i; şu'arâdan Edâyî, Çakal Kadızâde Sinan Beyler'le Tâczâde Mehmed Çelebi ve kapıcılar kethüdâsı Gülâbî Ağa gibi zevâtı beraber götürdü. Amasya beyi Kaya Bey de beraber gidip yerine Mahmûd Bey Amasya emâretine ta'yîn olundu.
In Modern English
He is the son of Kaya Çelebi son of Mehmed Bey, Kaya Paşazade, one of the notables of Amasya and of the Torumtay line. In the month of Rabi' al-Akhir of the year 961 [1554] he came as sanjak bey of Amasya.
That year Sultan Süleyman turned toward the Revan and Nakhchivan campaign, and summoned Şeyhzade Nûh Efendi to be with him in the imperial army and also gave a gift of a thousand gold pieces. The Sheikh Efendi declined the summons, giving an excuse, and returned the gold.
Sultan Süleyman had fallen out of the eyes of the people, and especially of the scholars and people of Amasya, because of the killing of the prince. On his return from the Iranian campaign, on the third day of the month of Dhu al-Hijja of the year 961, he entered Amasya with his great army in great processions. He alighted at the Palace of the Beys. He allowed the army of Anatolia to rest on the plain of Taşâbâd and the army of Rumeli in the province of Karaman.
Sultan Süleyman stayed more than six months at Amasya. He gladdened the scholars and notables of Amasya with gifts and compliments. He showed great concern for the people. He remitted a year's taxes. He protected those attached to the prince and took them into the imperial divan.
Kaya Bey, bey of Amasya, worked hard to win his favor. He allowed not even a small complaint or impropriety within the sanjak. The Iranian envoy Ferahzâd Khan came to Süleyman's court at Amasya and pleaded for peace. His plea was granted and the army was discharged.
At the beginning of the month of Sha'ban of the year 962 [1555] Sultan Süleyman left Amasya with his viziers and went to Istanbul. Among the scholars Koca Hüsâmeddin and Abdîzade Hasan Efendis, among the poets Edâyî and Çakal Kadızade Sinan Beys and Tâczade Mehmed Çelebi, and persons such as Gülâbî Ağa, the kethüda of the gatekeepers, he took along with him. Kaya Bey, bey of Amasya, also went along, and in his place Mahmud Bey was appointed to the beylik of Amasya.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- a'yân: the notables of a place
- azîmet etmek: to set out, to head for
- ordu-yı hümâyun: the sultan's army
- beyân-ı ma'zeret: stating an excuse
- nazarından düşmek: to fall out of favor
- istirâhat: rest
- ihsân: gift
- afv etmek: to forgive, to exempt from tax
- dergâh-ı Süleymânî: Süleyman's presence
- musâ'ade: permission
- gurre: the first day of the month
- kapıcılar kethüdâsı: the head of the palace gatekeepers
Süleyman's Winter at Amasya
The entry narrates the winter Süleyman spent at Amasya on his return from the Nakhchivan campaign. According to the encyclopedia entry no great battle took place during the campaign; Shah Tahmasb resisted by constantly withdrawing and burning and destroying, and the Ottoman army left Nakhchivan because it suffered from a shortage of food and because winter was approaching. While Süleyman was at Erzurum a Safavid envoy came and conveyed the shah's request for peace, and this request was accepted on 26 September 1554. The sultan's wintering at Amasya with his army caused the shah to become alarmed and ask for peace.
A thesis written on Prince Mustafa also relates that Süleyman stayed at Amasya more than six months, paid compliments and gave gifts to the scholars gathered around the prince and to the notables of the city, and distributed money to satisfy the soldiers. This agrees with the gifts and tax remission Hüsameddin reports; the conduct in the text of "taking those belonging to the prince into the divan" appears to be part of this conciliatory policy. The same thesis writes that during Süleyman's stay at Amasya a rising broke out in Rumeli in the name of Prince Mustafa.
The Iranian Envoy and the Treaty
The envoy Hüsameddin calls "Ferahzâd Khan" appears in the encyclopedia entry as Ferruhzâd Bey, the eşik ağası (head of the doorkeepers) of Shah Tahmasb. This envoy came to Amasya on 17 May 1555 with a retinue of over a hundred, was received at the divan on 22 May, and presented the shah's gifts and his letter asking for peace. Süleyman's reply setting the conditions of the treaty was given to the envoy on 1 June. The basis of the agreement was formed by the prohibition of cursing the Companions (tabarra) in Safavid lands, the border beys' not moving unless the other side attacked, and the permission for Iranian pilgrims to pass through Ottoman lands. The treaty meant the Safavids' recognition of Ottoman sovereignty over places such as Basra, Baghdad, Van, Bitlis, Erzurum and Kars, and remained in force for about twenty-five years. Hüsameddin does not name this treaty in the text; he says only that the envoy "pleaded for peace" and that the army was discharged.
Those Mentioned with the Prince
Among the persons Süleyman took from Amasya, Koca Hüsâmeddin and Abdîzade Hasan Efendi are named. The name Abdîzade bears the author's own surname of this work; whether there is a kinship between them could not be determined in this study. No information was found in other sources on Kaya Bey himself, his father Kaya Çelebi and Şeyhzade Nûh Efendi. Among the mosques of Amasya a Kaya Paşa Mosque dated 1402 is counted; its relationship to the family named could not be verified.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 3, p. 509. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- İlhan Şahin - Feridun Emecen, "Amasya Antlaşması", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 3, Istanbul 1991, pp. 4-5 (https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/amasya-antlasmasi).
- Semra Güler, Şehzade Mustafa'nın Hayatı (1515-1553) ve Türbesi, Uludağ Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, master's thesis, Bursa 2011.
- Feridun Emecen, "Kara Ahmed Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 24, Istanbul 2001, pp. 357-358 (https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kara-ahmed-pasa).
- Selim Özcan, "Amasya'da Sancak Beyliği Yapan Şehzadeler Döneminde Amasya Şehri", DergiPark (https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/19685).