AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Polat Bey, of the Bâbûk Line

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 7, p. 370 • Edited by: Prof. Dr. Safi ARPAGUŞ- Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hakkı TURABİ

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasyalıdır. Esbak Amasya Emîr-i Kebîr’i Bâbûkşâh evlâdından Polat Bey bin Sûlî Bey bin Esen Bey bin Bâbûkşâh oğludur. Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân ümerâsından olup 847’de vefât etdiği zannolunur. 818’de Umur Bey bin Sarıca Paşa Vakfiyesi’nde şâhid görüldü. [351]

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was from Amasya. He was Polat Bey, of the line of Bâbûkşah, the former Great Emir of Amasya; son of Sûlî Bey, son of Esen Bey, son of Bâbûkşah. He was one of the emirs of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Han and is thought to have died in 847 [1443-44]. In 818 [1415-16] he was seen as a witness in the deed of endowment of Umur Bey, son of Sarıca Pasha.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • esbak: former, previous
  • Emîr-i Kebîr: great emir, the local ruler at the head of a city or region
  • evlâd: children, descendants
  • ümerâ: emirs
  • zannolunur: is thought, is supposed
  • vakfiye: the document that records the terms of a waqf

Polat Bey and the Local Emirs of Amasya

In this entry Hüsameddin gives only a line of descent and two dates. The period in which Bâbûkşah stood at the head of Amasya and Polat Bey's own offices are not stated in the text. No trace of Bâbûkşah, Sûlî Bey or Esen Bey was found in other sources; the accuracy of the genealogy therefore could not be tested in this study.

Research on the local government of Amasya in the fourteenth century brings forward other names. After the fall of the Ilkhanids the city lay within the Eretna principality; mention is made of Hacı Kutluşah, a powerful governor who held Sivas, Konya, Amasya and Tokat, and toward the end of the 1370s the emir of Amasya, Hacı Şadgeldi, appears as a ruler acting independently of the principality's central administration. Since Bâbûkşah's place in this sequence is unknown, linking him to this period remains no more than an inference.

According to Hüsameddin, Polat Bey was one of the emirs of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed (1413-1421). In those years Mehmed Çelebi had sent his son Prince Murad to Amasya together with his tutor Yörgüç Pasha (1414). Where Polat Bey stood within that administrative order is not documented.

The Deed of Umur Bey, Son of Sarıca Pasha

Hüsameddin writes that Polat Bey was seen as a witness in this deed in 818 [1415-16]. A vizier known as Saruca Pasha served for a time in Amasya as tutor to a prince under Murad II; but it cannot be said that the Sarıca Pasha of the deed is that man, and the identity of Umur Bey is not explained in the sources read. This connection could not be established.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 370–370. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

Volume 7 contents