Murad III was the Ottoman sultan who occupied the throne from 1574 to 1595, and he wrote poems in Turkish, Arabic and Persian under the pen name (mahlas) "Murâdî". His link with Amasya rests on a single record and is disputed. Hüseyin Hüsameddin Yasar writes in his Amasya Tarihi (History of Amasya) that after his father Selim II came to the throne in 974 (1566), Prince Murad was sent to the governorship of Amasya, stayed there for about a year and a half, and was transferred to Manisa in 976 (1568). The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, by contrast, gives the prince's sanjaks as Akşehir and Saruhan and states that he remained in Manisa without a break for twelve years, from 1562 until his accession in 1574; Amasya does not appear in this account. On this page Hüsameddin's record is given in its original wording, and the points at which it conflicts with other sources are shown in a separate section. Bearing in mind that the record cannot be verified, Murad III is treated here not as a poet who grew up in Amasya but as a poet whose link with Amasya has been claimed and is disputed. For the literary milieu of Amasya in the age of the princes, see the article Amasya Divan Poets and Literary Environment.

Hüsameddin's Record

In the third volume of the Amasya Tarihi, where he lists the sanjak governors and governors of Amasya year by year, Hüsameddin writes the following after narrating the death of Süleyman the Magnificent:

Şehzâdesi Sultân Murâd'ı ilk def'a Amasya vâlîliğine gönderdi. Sultân Murâd Hân-ı Sâlis İkinci Sultân Selîm'in şehzâdesidir. 974 senesi evâ'ilinde pederinin cülûsundan sonra Amasya vâlîsi olup geldi. Ümerâdan Ferruh Bey lalası, Amasyalı Yularkısdızâde Ahmed Paşa makâm-ı vezâretinde kâ'im oldu. Kayseriyyeli Zeynü'l-İbâd Efendi de müftü olup geldi. Sultân Murâd, 953 senesi cumadelûlâsının beşinde doğdu. Yirmi bir yaşında Amasya vâlîsi oldu. Ancak Sivas ve Amasya havâlîsinde şekâvet hâdiseleri şehzâdeyi bî-huzûr ediyor, âdetâ bunaltıyordu. Bu sebebden Amasya'da ancak bir buçuk yıl kadar oturabildi. 976 senesi rebî'ulâhirinde Manîsâ'ya nakl edildi.

In modern English: Selim II sent his son Prince Murad to the governorship of Amasya for the first time. Sultan Murad III is the son of Sultan Selim II. Early in the year 974, after his father's accession, he came to Amasya as governor. Of the commanders, Ferruh Bey became his lala (tutor-guardian), and Yularkısdızâde Ahmed Paşa of Amasya held the post of vizier. Zeynü'l-İbâd Efendi of Kayseri came as mufti. Sultan Murad was born on the fifth of Cemaziyelevvel in the year 953 and became governor of Amasya at the age of twenty-one. But outbreaks of brigandage around Sivas and Amasya troubled the prince and all but overwhelmed him. For this reason he could stay in Amasya for only about a year and a half, and in Rebiülahir of the year 976 he was transferred to Manisa.

Hüsameddin also gives a source for this information in a footnote: he says that the prince's governorship of Amasya is recorded in Müneccimbaşı's Câmi‘u'd-düvel, in the life of the beylerbey (governor-general) Mehmed Paşa, and is written in a register of imperial orders (ahkâm defteri). He does not say which register it is or give the date of the order.

His Life

According to the TDV entry, Murad was born on 5 Cemaziyelevvel 953 (4 July 1546) at the Bozdağ summer pasture, while his father Prince Selim was in Manisa as sanjak governor of Saruhan. His mother was Nurbânû Sultan, of Venetian origin. He received his first education in the palace at Manisa and was appointed sanjak governor of Aydın at a young age. When his father moved to the province of Karaman in 966 (1558), he was given the sanjak of Akşehir; during the struggle for the throne between his father and his uncle Prince Bayezid he took part in the defence of Konya Castle. In Receb 969 (March 1562) he was sent as sanjak governor to Saruhan and remained there until he became sultan. His lalas were first Ferruh Bey and then Câfer Bey. His son Mehmed (Mehmed III) was born in Manisa in 973 (1566); his other children Mahmud, Ayşe and Fatma were also born there. He grew up under the influence of his tutor Hoca Sâdeddin Efendi.

Setting out from Manisa on the death of Selim II, Murad came to the throne in Istanbul on 8 Ramazan 982 (22 December 1574). His reign passed in long eastern campaigns against the Safavids and, in its last years, in the war opened against Austria. The sources write that he loved reading books, especially history, enjoyed the company of scholars and practised calligraphy as well; he became attached to the Halveti sheikh Şücâ‘ and had his dreams interpreted by him. Because he rarely left the palace in the last years of his reign, he was criticised by the writers of his age. He died on 6 Cemaziyelevvel 1003 (17 January 1595) and was buried in the graveyard of Hagia Sophia. The Muradiye Complex in Manisa is his most important building.

The only source saying that Murad III was in Amasya is Hüsameddin, and this record conflicts at several points with the sources available today. The most important conflict concerns the sequence of dates. The TDV entry states clearly that Murad was sent to Saruhan in Receb 969 (March 1562) and stayed there during "this duty, which lasted twelve years"; Hüsameddin, however, places him in Amasya between 974 and 976 (1566-1568) and writes that he was transferred to Manisa only in 976. These two accounts cannot both be true at once.

Another detail in Hüsameddin's text deepens the conflict. The historian describes Selim II as "coming from Manisa"; yet according to the TDV, Selim had become governor of Kütahya after the struggle with his brother Bayezid, and the one who had been in Manisa since 1562 was his son Murad. It is possible that in this part of the record the sanjaks of father and son have been confused. That Ferruh Bey, whom Hüsameddin names as Murad's lala, also appears in the TDV as Murad's lala in Saruhan suggests that the historian had genuine information about the prince's household but may have attached it to the wrong sanjak. This last assessment is ours.

Of the two sources Hüsameddin relies on, the Câmi‘u'd-düvel passage and the register of imperial orders could not be consulted in this study; since the footnote gives neither the number of the register nor the date of the order, the record cannot be checked against its own document. It is also notable that in the same volume the historian mentions a "Murad Bey" who was sanjak governor of Amasya in 979 and whose identity he could not establish; there is a possibility that a record naming "Murad" in the registers was taken to refer to the prince, but this too is a possibility that cannot be confirmed from the sources. It should also be noted that the birth date Hüsameddin gives (5 Cemaziyelevvel 953) agrees exactly with the TDV, and the calculation of twenty-one years is internally consistent; the historian clearly had accurate information about the prince.

When all this is taken into account, the statement that Murad III served as governor of Amasya as a prince cannot be confirmed by present sources and is largely doubtful. The uninterrupted governorship of Saruhan given by the TDV also agrees with the general account of Ottoman dynastic history. On the other hand, it cannot be said with certainty that Hüsameddin's record is entirely baseless, since the historian cites an archival record. The solution of the question depends on finding the register entry Hüsameddin mentions and the relevant passage in the Câmi‘u'd-düvel.

His Poetry

Murad III wrote poetry under the pen name "Murâdî". According to the TDV entry his poems are mostly on religious and mystical themes and appear in some miscellanies (mecmua) and biographical anthologies of poets (tezkire), for example in Ahdî's Gülşen-i Şu‘arâ. His Arabic and Persian ghazals, at times couched in obscure expression, were furnished with commentaries by the poets and scholars of his age, to fulfil the sultan's wish and to receive his favours. A miscellany bringing together these commentaries, written by figures such as Hâşimî, Bâkî, Subhî, Hoca Sâdeddin and Zekeriyyâ Efendi, is in the Library of the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts (no. 1901); it is noted that the Fütûhât-ı Siyâm, which Atâî mentions as an independent mystical work by Murad III, is probably the same work. Independent copies of his divan are found in various libraries.

Selections from his divan were first published by Ahmet Kırkkılıç in his book Sultan Üçüncü Murad: Hayatı, Edebî Kişiliği, Eserleri ve Divanı'ndan Seçmeler (Istanbul 1988), and the same scholar later prepared a critical text of the divan under the title Murâdî Divanı (İnceleme-Tenkitli Metin) (Istanbul: Türkiye Yazma Eserler Kurumu Başkanlığı, 2012). The most often cited of his poems is a ghazal recorded by the historian Selânikî: in it the sultan complains that he cannot find a trustworthy and capable statesman as he would wish; the ghazal begins with the line "Gönlümün istediği bana bir âdem olsa" and repeats the same wish in its pen-name couplet. The TDV mentions this poem as a document reflecting the sultan's attitude towards affairs of state. Besides poetry Murad III also took an interest in calligraphy and was well trained in the sülüs, nesih and ta‘lik scripts; a celî ta‘lik panel signed "Murâdî" is in the Turkish Foundation Museum of Calligraphic Arts.

No poem by Murâdî concerning Amasya or known to have been written in Amasya has been identified. For this reason no separate poem pages have been opened in this category; since the sultan's link with Amasya is not confirmed, his divan as a whole has not been published here either. Readers who wish to read his poems may consult the Kırkkılıç editions mentioned above.

Chronology

953 (1546): Born on 5 Cemaziyelevvel (4 July) at the Bozdağ summer pasture near Manisa.

966 (1558): According to the TDV, becomes sanjak governor of Akşehir.

969 (1562): Sent in Receb (March) as sanjak governor to Saruhan; according to the TDV he stays there until his accession.

974 (1566): According to Hüsameddin, becomes governor of Amasya after his father's accession. This information is not in the TDV.

976 (1568): According to Hüsameddin, transferred from Amasya to Manisa in Rebiülahir.

982 (1574): Ascends the throne in Istanbul on 8 Ramazan (22 December).

1003 (1595): Dies on 6 Cemaziyelevvel (17 January); buried in the graveyard of Hagia Sophia.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 3, Amasya: Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, pp. 512-513 (e-book pp. 513-514; original pagination 323-325, note 598). https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/1-4/files/basic-html/page513.html
  • Ahmet Kırkkılıç, Sultan Üçüncü Murad: Hayatı, Edebî Kişiliği, Eserleri ve Divanı'ndan Seçmeler, Istanbul 1988 (as cited in the TDV entry).
  • Sultan Üçüncü Murad, Murâdî Divanı (İnceleme-Tenkitli Metin), ed. H. Ahmet Kırkkılıç, Istanbul: Türkiye Yazma Eserler Kurumu Başkanlığı Yayınları 56, 2012 (according to the library catalogue record).

Academic studies

Books

  • Selânikî Mustafa Efendi, Târih-i Selânikî, ed. Mehmet İpşirli, p. 428 (as cited in the TDV entry).

Online sources