Edirnelidir. Osmanlı Hükümdârı olan I. Sultân Süleyman Hân bin Yıldırım Bâyezîd Hân’ın şehzâdesidir. Edirne’de doğdu. 816’da Edirne Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân tarafından zabt ve istîlâ edildiğinde Amasya’ya i’zâm edilerek Kal’a-yı Bâlâ Sarâyı’nda iskân edildi.
Fevkalâde bir tekayyüd altında on altı yıl yaşadı. [349] 832’de firâra tesaddî eylediğinden dolayı Sultân Murâd Hân-ı Sânî’nin emriyle ihnâk edilerek cenâzesi Bursa’ya nakl edildi ammizâdeleri Şehzâde Mahmûd ve Yûsuf Çelebiler ile bir türbe derûnunda medfûndur.
Bunun şehzâdeleri Süleyman Bey ile Hundî Hâtun mezkûr Kal’a Sarâyı’ında mukîm iken 838’de bir yolunu bulup Mısır’a firâr etdiklerinden Amasya Vâlîsi Yörgüç Paşa’nın azline ve Şehzâde Ahmed’in Amasya Vâlîliğine bâ’is olmuşlardı.
Müverrih-i meşhûr Ahmed bin Hacer “İnbâü’l-ğumr bi-ebnâi’l-umr”¹⁷³ adlı târîhinde sâhib-i tercemeyi Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân’ın Şehzâdesi gösteriyor. Muhammed bin İyâs Mısrî de “Havâdisü’d-dühûr”unda bu sûretle kaydediyor. “Ikdü’l-cümân” müellifi Allâme Mahmûd el-Aynî, bu târîhinde Sultân Süleyman bin Yıldırım Sultân Bâyezîd’in şehzâdesi olduğunu Osmanlı müverrihleri gibi yazıyor.
In Modern English
He is from Edirne. He is the son of Sultan Süleyman Han I, the Ottoman ruler, who was a son of Yıldırım Bayezid Han. He was born in Edirne. When Edirne was taken and occupied by Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Han in 816 [1413-14], he was sent to Amasya and settled in the Kal'a-yı Bâlâ (Upper Castle) Palace.
He lived sixteen years under very close watch. In 832 [1428-29], because he attempted to escape, he was strangled by order of Sultan Murad Han II and his body was moved to Bursa; he lies in one tomb together with his cousins Prince Mahmud and Yusuf Çelebi.
His children Süleyman Bey and Hundî Hatun, while living in the said Castle Palace, found a way and fled to Egypt in 838 [1434-35]. This event caused the dismissal of Yörgüç Pasha, governor of Amasya, and the appointment of Prince Ahmed as governor of Amasya.
The famous historian İbn Hacer, in his history called İnbâü'l-ğumr bi-ebnâi'l-umr, shows this person as a son of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Han. Muhammed bin İyâs el-Mısrî also records him so in his Havâdisü'd-dühûr. The great scholar Mahmûd el-Aynî, the author of Ikdü'l-cümân, writes in his history that he was a son of Sultan Süleyman, son of Yıldırım Sultan Bayezid, as the Ottoman historians do.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- şehzâde: son of a sultan
- zabt ve istîlâ: seizing, occupying
- i'zâm: sending
- Kal'a-yı Bâlâ Sarâyı: the Upper Castle Palace; the princes' palace in the inner castle of Amasya
- iskân: settling, lodging
- tekayyüd: close watch, being kept under record
- firâra tesaddî: attempting to escape
- ihnâk: strangling
- ammizâde: father's brother's son, cousin
- medfûn: buried
- bâ'is: the cause of
- sâhib-i terceme: the person whose biography is written
Orhan, Son of Süleyman Çelebi
A son of Süleyman Çelebi named Orhan, who lived between 1395 and 1429, is known. When his father was killed by his uncle Mûsâ, Orhan took refuge with Byzantium and entered the struggle for the throne; he was captured by Sultan Mehmed at Yenişehr-i Fenâr (Larissa), had his eyes put out with a hot iron and was sent to Bursa. According to the same source he died in the great plague of 1429 and was buried in the Hüdavendigâr Tomb in Bursa. Six sons of Çelebi Mehmed are recorded: Murad, Mustafa, Kasım, Ahmed, Yûsuf and Mahmud. The name Orhan is not among them. This is a clue supporting the side of Hüsameddin, who counts Orhan as Süleyman's son; no record was found explaining why İbn Hacer and İbn İyâs show him as a son of Çelebi Mehmed. Hüsameddin's calling Mahmud and Yusuf "cousins" also fits this line of descent: the two are sons of Çelebi Mehmed, and Mehmed is the brother of Orhan's father.
Points Where It Differs from Hüsameddin
As to the year of death, the accounts are very close: Hüsameddin's 832 [1428-29] and the 1429 of the encyclopedia record coincide. The difference lies in the cause and place of death. Hüsameddin writes that the prince was kept under watch in Amasya for sixteen years and was strangled on Murad's order because of an escape attempt; according to the other account Orhan was sent to Bursa with his eyes put out and died in the plague. A man whose eyes have been put out is not expected to attempt an escape; this is an inference, and no record was found that would bring the two accounts together. No other source was found describing the prince being brought to Amasya.
Another prince named Orhan Çelebi is also mentioned, who in 1444 left Istanbul and claimed the throne in Rumelia. Since Hüsameddin's Orhan died around 1429, these two cannot be the same person; this too is an inference.
Süleyman Bey and Hundî Hatun
Among Orhan's children the names Orhan, Mehmed, Melek, Süleyman and Hund appear. It is written that Süleyman and Hund took refuge in Cairo in 1433, that the Mamluk sultan Barsbay rejected the request to hand them over to Murad II, that Hund married Barsbay in 1437 and then Sultan Çakmak, and that she died in Cairo in 1455. This account confirms Hüsameddin's sentence "Süleyman Bey and Hundî Hatun fled to Egypt"; the difference in year is small (Hüsameddin 838 [1434-35], the other source 1433). Among Yörgüç Pasha's children, too, a daughter named Hundi Hatun is counted; whether this shared name is for two different persons is not known.
The Dismissal of Yörgüç Pasha
Hüsameddin says that the flight of the prince's children led to the dismissal of Yörgüç Pasha. One source writes that Yörgüç Pasha was sent to the guardianship of Edirne in 1435 and that Murad's eldest son Ahmed Çelebi became sanjak bey of Amasya in his place; this agrees with Hüsameddin's account. Another record, however, reports that in December 1436 the Karaman forces pressed Yörgüç Pasha, beylerbey of Amasya. The two records do not agree. Yörgüç Pasha died in 1442.
The Disagreement on the Prince's Father
The last paragraph of the entry reports the historians' disagreement on the prince's father. In the footnote it is noted that the title of İbn Hacer's work is written in the text as "İnbâü'l-ğumr fî ebnâi'l-‘umr". Hüsameddin reports that İbn Hacer and İbn İyâs count the prince as a son of Çelebi Mehmed, while Aynî, like the Ottoman historians, writes him as a son of Süleyman. That Orhan is not among Çelebi Mehmed's sons strengthens the view that he was Süleyman's son.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 369–370. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- "Süleyman Çelebi, Emîr", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/suleyman-celebi-emir
- "Mehmed I", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mehmed-i
- "Murad II", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/murad-ii
- Fahameddin Başar, "Yörgüç Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/yorguc-pasa
- Selim Özcan, "Amasya'da Sancak Beyliği Yapan Şehzadeler Döneminde Amasya Şehri", Amasya Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, no. 5, https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/19685
Other sources