Muharriri
İstanbul Evkâf Müdüriyetinde Mebâni-i Dîniyye Mümeyyizi Amasyalı Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn [2]
Amasya Târîhi
Amasya Târîhi’nin ikinci bâbı-Amasya vilâyetinin Türkler eline geçdiği günden i’tibâren Amasya vilâyeti dâhilinde tevellüd, zuhûr, ikâmet ve birer sûretle iştihâr eden mülûk, ümerâ, vüzerâ, erkân, sudûr, ulemâ, kudât, hükkâm, a’yân, şu’arâ, üdebâ, lutefâ, küttâb, hattâtân, erbâb-ı hayr u şer, ashab-ı sanâyi’ ve eser olan ricâl ve nisânın mümkün ve ma’lûm olabildiği kadar terâcim-i ahvâlini, siyer ü menâkıbını, sülâle ve ensâbını kayd ve tahrîr eder.
Lâkin terâcim-i ahvâli yazılan zevâtın çokluğuna binâen aranılan kimselerin tercemelerini kolayca bulabilmek için bunlar hurûf-ı hecâ üzerine tertîb ve terceme sahiplerinin ilk harfi ihtiyâr edildi. Bunun için ikinci bâb, hurûf-ı hecâ adedine müsâvî olarak yirmi sekiz fasıla ayrıldı. [3] Ba’zı erbâb-ı terâcimin yapdığı gibi terceme sahiplerinin âbâ ü ecdâdını hurûf-ı hecâ üzerine tertibe imkân görülemediğinden ma’lûm olduğu suretde zaman-ı vefâtları, olmadığı takdirde zaman-ı hayatları i’tibâriyle tertîb ve kayda mecburiyet hâsıl oldu. Lakâb ve künyelerle meşhûr olanlar da şöhretleriyle yazıldı.
In Modern English
Author
Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn of Amasya, Inspector of Religious Buildings (Mebâni-i Dîniyye Mümeyyizi) at the Istanbul Directorate of Waqfs
Amasya Tarihi
The second part of the Amasya Tarihi records and writes, as far as is possible and can be known, the biographies, life stories and legendary accounts, and the lines of descent and lineage, of the rulers, beys, viziers, men of state, notables, great scholars, scholars, judges, administrators, local magnates (a'yân), poets, men of letters, witty and refined people, scribes, calligraphers, those named for good or for evil, artisans, and men and women who left works behind, who were born, appeared, settled and became famous in various respects within the borders of the province of Amasya, beginning from the day the province of Amasya passed into Turkish hands.
However, because of the great number of people whose biographies are written, they were arranged in alphabetical order, with the first letter of the subject's name as the basis, so that the biographies of those sought could be found easily. For this reason the second part was divided into twenty-eight chapters, equal to the number of letters. Since it proved impossible to arrange the subjects' fathers and grandfathers alphabetically, as some biographers have done, it became necessary to order and record them by the time of their death if it is known, and if not, by the time they lived. Those known by a nickname or a kunya were written under their fame.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- muharrir: writer
- mümeyyiz: one who inspects, an inspector
- mebâni-i dîniyye: religious buildings (such as mosques, small mosques and madrasas)
- bâb, fasıl: part, a subdivision of a part (chapter)
- terâcim-i ahvâl: biographies, life stories
- siyer ü menâkıb: a person's way of life and the extraordinary stories told about him
- sülâle ve ensâb: family and chain of descent
- hurûf-ı hecâ: the order of the letters, alphabetical order
- a'yân: the leading families and people of a city
- künye: a name used besides a person's real name, such as "Ebû ..."
The Author and the Structure of the Work
Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar was born in November 1869 in the Çeribaşı quarter of Amasya. He began his scholarly life as a child by researching the lives of well-known people of Amasya. He later concentrated his work on the Turkish language and history. He died on 10 February 1939 at his home in Şişli, Istanbul, and was buried in the Feriköy Cemetery.
The Amasya Tarihi is in fact a work of twelve volumes. Only four volumes could be printed in Istanbul between 1912 and 1928. The Municipality of Amasya purchased the work in 1979; the fifth volume is lost, so it is not available; the manuscript volumes from the sixth to the twelfth are held on deposit in the Süleymaniye Library. The sixth volume opens the second part, which consists of the life stories of people who lived in Amasya.
The Order of the Book
Hüsameddin arranged the biographies not by birth or death order but by the first letter of the persons' names. For this reason twenty-eight chapters were set aside for the twenty-eight letters. Within the same letter, the order goes by the later letters of the name. In the first chapter a trace of this can be seen: after names beginning with "ab-", such as Âbâd, Âbak and Abdâl, come names beginning with "at-", "ac-", "ad-", "az-" and "ar-". As far as can be seen, the ordering was made according to the spelling of the names in Arabic letters and differs from today's Latin-alphabet ordering.
The spellings of names also call for attention. People are often called not by their real names but by their nicknames, their professions, or family names standing in the place of surnames, such as "Çekemzâde", "Hâbilzâde" and "Seydîzâde". Hüsameddin states explicitly that he wrote those known by a nickname or kunya under their fame.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Academic studies