Ottoman historiography describes the sultans who took the throne in detail, while the princes who might have reigned but never did often remain a name on a family tree. Şehzade Abdullah is one of them. The eldest of Bayezid II's eight sons, Abdullah was born in Amasya, served in the sanjaks of Manisa, Trabzon and Konya, stood on the Anatolian front of the struggle for the throne between his father and his uncle Cem Sultan, and died in Konya in the autumn of 1483, in his early twenties. What is known about him lies scattered through chronicles, survey and gratuity registers, endowment documents, the prince's own letters and an elegy written by a poet. Hamit Şafakcı's detailed 2024 article brings this material together and forms the backbone of the account below.

Abdullah's link with Amasya amounts, in the sources available, to his birthplace; the rest of his life was spent in other cities. He probably passed part of his childhood in his father's sanjak, but the details were never recorded. Because the information is thin and in places contradictory, what is known has been kept separate below from what is disputed.

Who Is This Abdullah

More than one prince named Abdullah appears in the Ottoman dynasty. The one discussed here is Şehzade Abdullah, son of Sultan Bayezid II; he was not a son of Mehmed the Conqueror but a grandson, since his father Bayezid was the Conqueror's son. His mother was Şirin Hatun, recorded in the sources as "daughter of Abdullah". His full sister was Aynişah Sultan, a name also written Ayn-i Şah and Ayni Şah.

The number and order of Bayezid's sons vary from source to source. İdris-i Bitlisi, Aşıkpaşazade and Hoca Sadeddin count eight sons; İbn Kemal speaks of seven; Müneccimbaşı names only six. Besides these, a Mehmed who was born and died in 1486 and an Alaaddin who died before reaching puberty are also mentioned. Although the orderings differ, Abdullah appears as the eldest son in all of them.

Birth and the Question of the Year

That Abdullah was born in Amasya is generally accepted in the sources. Bayezid's tenure as sanjak governor of Amasya runs from 1457 to 1481, so the child's birth in this city fits his father's post. No document has been found that gives details of the circumstances of his birth or of his childhood in Amasya.

The year of birth is disputed. Modern studies have proposed 1461 or 1465, and some have given 862/1457-58 without citing a source. Şafakcı points out that his brother Şehinşah was born in 1461 and that Abdullah is counted as the eldest son in every source, concludes that the prince must have been born in 1461 or earlier, and adopts that year. Encyclopedic entries, by contrast, write "about 1465". The difference is not small: if he was born in 1461 he died at twenty-two, if in 1465 at eighteen.

Childhood and Education

The sources give no event, building or teacher's name for Abdullah's childhood in Amasya. The general framework is clear: princes were raised with special attention and education from birth, with attendants such as a daye (nurse) and a dadı (nanny) at their side. There is a daye record for Abdullah as well; a register of 1512-1513 lists a payment of four akçe under the heading "dâye-i Sultân Abdullah". That is, thirty years after the prince's death, the person who had cared for him was still being paid.

As his teacher, Mecdî Mehmed Efendi's translation of the Şakâ'ik names Tâcüddin İbrahim (Üstadoğlu). Having studied under the scholars of his day, this man had become a professor at the Ak Medrese in Engüri (Ankara) at twenty akçe and then became tutor to Şehzade Abdullah; the time and place of this information are not stated. The prince's lalas (tutor-guardians) are given as Karagöz Pasha and Hadım Ali Pasha. Ali bin Abdulhay (Hadım) became beylerbey of Karaman after Bayezid took the throne, and this appointment was probably connected with Abdullah's dispatch to Konya as governor in July 1481. Some sources also name Hadım Sinan Pasha among his lalas.

The Sanjaks of Manisa and Trabzon

The order of Abdullah's postings is muddled in the sources. According to Şafakcı's assessment, he served successively in Manisa (Saruhan), Trabzon, Manisa again, and Konya. Uluçay writes that he was appointed to Manisa after Mustafa, the son of the Conqueror, and moved to Konya in 1481 after Cem took refuge in Egypt. Öztuna gives Trabzon, Saruhan and then the Karaman sanjak in place of his uncle Cem. Alderson mentions only Manisa (1481) and Konya (1481-1483).

The starting point for Manisa is Şehzade Mustafa's assignment to Konya in 1467. If Abdullah became sanjak governor shortly after that date, he must at first have been appointed to Manisa in name only; indeed, the chronicles of the Conqueror's reign call him "governor of Saruhan", and this general phrase has been understood as the span 1467-1481. Noting that he came from Trabzon for the circumcision ceremony of 1472, Şafakcı thinks the first Manisa posting was short.

With Abdullah as sanjak governor of Trabzon, Trabzon began to be a princely sanjak. The starting date is not certain. Şafakcı thinks that around 1470, during Bayezid's tenure at Amasya, Trabzon was given to him as an additional post and that this was later transferred to his son as an independent posting. There are four pieces of evidence. The first is the inscription in thick thuluth script on the fountain of the mosque in Ortahisar now called the İçkale (Şirin Hatun) Mosque. It records the endowment made by his mother Şirin Hatun in the year 875 (1470-71), in the time of Sultan Abdullah, son of Sultan Bayezid; Halil Edhem takes this text as proof that Abdullah was governor of Trabzon under the Conqueror, and the quarter where the mosque stands is called "Mahalle-i Mescid-i Vâlide-i Merhum Sultan Abdullah". The second is a letter in a münşeat (chancery) collection compiled during Bayezid's princely years: Bayezid's mother writes "to the mother of Şehzade Abdullah, lord of Trabzon" asking her to say whatever she wished. Because the collection mentions the death of Şehzade Mustafa, it must date from after 1474, and because Abdullah was serving in Saruhan, from before 1480. The third is the phrase in the Trabzon timar register of 1486 stating that gardens that had originally been a monastery endowment were entered as hassa "according to the berat of Sultan Abdullah"; his having issued a berat supports his having served there. The fourth is İbn Kemal's description of him as "sâhib-i livâ in the province of Trabzon".

The timing also involves a contradiction. According to İbn Kemal, after the conquest of Euboea (12 Muharrem 875 / 11 July 1470) the Conqueror summoned Cem and Abdullah to Istanbul for circumcision, and when the ceremony ended the princes, whose timars had been increased, returned to their posts. Haydar Bey, however, places Cem's circumcision at the beginning of Safer 877 (8-17 July 1472). Since the two were circumcised at the same ceremony, Abdullah can be said to have been sanjak governor of Trabzon in 1472. Among the governors of Trabzon, Abdullah is listed for 1470; after him Hasan Bey, Mehmed Bey and Rakkas Sinan Bey served between 1479?-1486. How long the prince stayed in Trabzon is unknown; Şafakcı accepts that he was there at least until 1476. He was then sent to Manisa again and appears as sanjak governor of Saruhan in the Conqueror's last years.

Marriage and Family

As İbn Kemal tells it, in 1480 Mehmed the Conqueror had Şehinşah, Ahmed, Korkud, Mahmud, Alemşah, Selim and Oğuz Han circumcised, and on the same occasion married the "şâhzâde-i a'zam" Abdullah to the daughter of his own son Şehzade Mustafa. After the wedding Abdullah went "to his old seat of rule, which was Manisa"; this shows that he held office in Manisa in 1480. Şehinşah was given Menteşe and Ahmed Çorum, and Selim was sent to his father.

The sources do not agree on the bride's name. Alderson says "Bülbül", Öztuna "Ferahşâd"; the names Nergişah and Şehzade Hatun are also mentioned. Another daughter of Şehzade Mustafa was Hani Sultan. Şafakcı considers that Ferahşad and Nergişah may be the same person. Gratuity records of 1501 and 1523 show cloth being given to the mother of Abdullah's daughters; in 1523 cloth was also sent to Şehzade Hatun, daughter of Şehzade Mustafa. These data show that the wife was alive at that date and raise the possibility that the woman he married was Şehzade Hatun, but Şafakcı notes that new data are needed to support this. For this reason the bride's name is not accepted as certain here.

His children are also disputed. According to Öztuna he had a son (the unnamed "Şehzade Fülan", Manisa 1481 - Istanbul 1489), Aynişah Sultan (Manisa 1482) and Şahnisa Sultan (Manisa 1484); the boy is not mentioned in other sources. That he had two daughters, however, is certain from the gratuity records. A record of 2 May 1505 states that Mehmed, son of Şehinşah, was married to "the younger daughter of Sultan Abdullah", and a record of 6 February 1508 that Mirza Bey was married to the "elder daughter". A record of September 1511 lists "the daughters of Sultan Abdullah" together as wives of Mirza Bey bin Ahmed Bey-i sürh and Sultan Mehmed bin Şehinşah. That both received cloth and money together on 17 December 1526 shows that they were alive then.

The younger daughter's name is written plainly in a record of 1512: Aynişah is the wife of Mehmed Çelebi, son of Şehinşah. Öztuna proposed the name Şahnisa for the second daughter and wrote that she married first Mehmed, son of Şehinşah, and then İsfendiyaroğlu Damat Mirza Mehmed Pasha. Yet the record of 1512 shows that Mehmed's wife was the younger daughter Aynişah; it is therefore unclear whether the name Şahnisa was used for the elder daughter. The elder daughter's husband Mirza Bey bin Kızıl Ahmed Bey served as sanjak governor of Bolu in 1508 and of Ankara in 1511 and died around 1530; this marriage produced Kara Mustafa Pasha and Şemsi Ahmed Pasha. Aynişah, in September 1506, bought the village of Palatinos in Gelibolu, attached to Çepni, from Gevher Melik Sultan, daughter of Cem Sultan, and endowed it to her teachers' school in Bursa; this information appears in the survey register of 1519.

A register of undetermined date, thought to belong to about 1515, lists under the heading "daughter of Sultan Abdullah" an annual salary of 18,000 akçe, 2,880 akçe for her mother, 7,200 akçe for her fifteen female servants and 1,080 akçe for two dayes and dadıs; in addition 95,352 akçe was paid for meat, food, clothing and sugar. This list, whose daughter is not specified, shows the scale of a prince's daughter's household. On 11 May 1518 the elder daughter, wife of Mirza Bey, was given 48,980 akçe for salary, clothing and food, plus barley and 500 loads of firewood.

Abdullah's daughter Aynişah should not be confused with his sister Aynişah Sultan. The sister had a mekteb built beside the Beşir Ağa Madrasa and was buried there when she died; she had her endowment deed drawn up in 912/1506. In 1490 she married Ahmed Mirza (Göde), son of Uğurlu Mehmed Bey. Şafakcı reads this as an alliance marriage that gave political support to Göde Ahmed, who wanted to take the Akkoyunlu throne. Of the daughters born of this marriage, one married Yahya Paşazade Bali Bey and the other Alaaddin (Ali), son of Sultan Ahmed.

His Mother Şirin Hatun

Besides being a consort, Şirin Hatun is notable for her charity. Bayezid gave her the village of Emakin, attached to Mihaliç, and stated that she could use its income as she wished. Şirin Hatun used this income for the two schools she had built in Bursa and Mihaliç and the two mosques in Eyne(sil) and Trabzon, endowed four mills at Şile (on the Koca Deresi), and asked that with the surplus juz be recited at her tomb and halva be distributed on holidays and at prayers. She left the income of the village of Kabacaağaç in the Yalakabad district of the Koca-ili sanjak to the teachers' schools in Bursa and Mihaliç and to the mosque in Bursa, and the income of the village of Kadı in the same district to the lodge her son had built in Akşehir.

It appears that she went with her son to every sanjak he governed. During his governorship in Konya she held certain revenues in the region; according to the survey of 1500, the income of the Reyhanlu community was held in turn by the mothers of Cem, Abdullah and Şehinşah. When her son died she settled in Bursa and lived there; the date of her death is unknown. Next to the Tomb of Gülşah Hatun, mother of the Conqueror's son Şehzade Mustafa, stood the Tomb of Gülruh Hatun, and beside it the tomb Şirin Hatun had built herself. In this tomb, on whose door the name "Aynişah" is written, lie Şirin Hatun, Abdullah's daughter Aynişah Sultan and Abdullah's wife. Koyunluoğlu writes that Abdullah's wife and daughter died in 890/1485, but the gratuity records show that both were alive after that year. That a record of 1518 shows Şirin Hatun being paid 26,800 akçe in all, made up of an annual salary of 10,800 akçe, 4,000 akçe for clothing and 12,000 akçe for food, shows that the mother was still looked after by the palace thirty-five years after her son's death.

The Cem Sultan Crisis and the Posting to Konya

When the Conqueror died in 1481, Bayezid took the throne in Istanbul on 19 May 1481 (Danişmend gives 21 May). Abdullah received a letter dated 22 May; the sultan announced that he had taken the throne and asked his son to come to Bursa with the sanjak troops and see to the protection of the region. The prince, then serving in Saruhan, had been charged with guarding the Bursa area with the soldiers under his command against a possible move by his uncle Cem. Cem had been born in Edirne in 864/1459-60 and, after the Kastamonu sanjak, had been appointed to Karaman at the end of 1474 following the death of his brother Mustafa.

According to the account of İdris-i Bitlisi and Hoca Sadeddin, Abdullah gathered the Saruhan troops and set out to defend Bursa, planning to assist the Janissaries who came with Ayas Pasha. On learning along the way that Ayas Pasha had been captured and that Cem had taken Bursa, he turned toward Gelibolu by the Balıkesir road; on reaching Istanbul he heard that his father had set out, left again, and joined the sultan's army at İzmit. On 20 June 1481 the two armies met at Yenişehir. The defection of Cem's lala Aştinoğlu Yakub Bey to Bayezid's side with elite troops influenced the course of the battle. Şafakcı notes that Abdullah was present at this battle; some studies credit him with a "major role", but the chronicle accounts show no detail of a command.

The defeated Cem left Konya with his mother and family and reached Egypt on 12 March 1482. In July 1481 Bayezid assigned Abdullah to Konya; Şehinşah, sanjak governor of Menteşe, moved to Manisa in his place. Şafakcı explains the shift of his post to Karaman by Abdullah's being the eldest of Bayezid's children and by his experience in the sanjaks. The purpose of the assignment was to protect the region from both Cem and the Karamanids. The sources diverge on the starting date as well: Öztuna gives two dates, 3 May and 28 June 1481. According to Zinkeisen, as Bayezid returned from Konya, where he had pursued Cem, he left his son, not yet of age, as sanjak governor of Karaman with only a small force. Şikârî, for his part, says that a prince named Mehmed was sent to Larende. Karadeniz writes that he could not determine with certainty whether the princes' area of duty covered the whole province of Karaman or only the sanjak of Konya; Solakzade, when describing Abdullah's death, calls the unit he governed a "liva".

The task was heavy. When it became clear that Cem had gone to Egypt, Gedik Ahmed Pasha had left four sanjak governors to protect Abdullah and gone to the sultan. Then Kasım Bey of the Karamanids marched on Konya. The beylerbey of Karaman, Hadım Ali Pasha, met him at Pervane Çayırı; with the enemy twice as numerous he could not hold out and returned to Konya. According to İbn Kemal, Ali Pasha had fought with 600 men. Kasım Bey then besieged the prince and the pasha in Konya Fortress. When word reached the capital Gedik Ahmed Pasha was sent; Kasım Bey lifted the siege and turned toward Taşeli. After conferring with the prince, Ahmed Pasha set out toward Taşeli with Ali Pasha, and while pursuing Kasım Bey he left Ali Pasha at Mut Castle. Kasım Bey's march on Ali Pasha led to fighting breaking out everywhere.

Şafakcı thinks that in these events the parties' real aim was to capture or to protect Abdullah. Holding the prince could give a card against Bayezid, while eliminating him could bring a psychological advantage; the other side had also given priority to protecting him. Indeed at Pervane Çayırı Ali Pasha had returned to Konya because he considered protecting the prince and the country more important than resisting. In this confused situation the sultan sought a way out by asking that the prince be brought to Afyonkarahisar.

When Cem reappeared, the soldiers around Konya gathered around Abdullah, but this force was ordered to withdraw without fighting. Bayezid wrote to Gedik Ahmed Pasha to come to the centre with the troops he had and to bring Abdullah to Karahisar as well. Mehmed Bey, one of Cem's men, was sent against Abdullah and Gedik Ahmed Pasha; a small clash took place on the Çukurçimen plateau above Konya. Ahmed Pasha took the prince to Afyonkarahisar, and at Seyyitgazi the pasha and the prince met the sultan. Meanwhile Mehmed Bey of Trabzon moved toward Konya. On 20 Rebiülahir 887 / 8 June 1482 Kasım Bey and Cem came against Konya; Ali Pasha, beylerbey of Karaman, and Güveyi Mustafa Bey defended the castle with about 500 men. After a siege of a few days Mehmed Bey was sent against Ankara. As the sultan's army approached, Cem first turned toward Ankara and then withdrew to Taşeli; because Hadım Ali Pasha held out and the people of Konya remained loyal to Bayezid, the fortress could not be taken. When Bayezid set out first for Konya and then toward Ankara, Abdullah was left behind charged with guarding the treasury, the servants and the imperial tent (İbn Kemal). On 29 July 1482 Cem boarded a ship with thirty men and reached Rhodes. The struggle around Karaman, which until then had been an internal matter, became an international problem when Cem arrived at Rhodes.

According to Şafakcı, the importance of the affair lay in its bearing on central politics; for this reason Abdullah was continually supported both by leading commanders and by the sultan himself. In this region, where the Ottoman order had not fully taken root, the prince's appointment aimed to establish the Ottoman system in old principality and imperial centres and to show the population that they were valued. The survey registers show that some officials from the earlier period were absorbed into the system, that others were purged, and that some practices inherited from the principalities were kept. English-language sources state that Abdullah took Gülek Castle from the Mamluks; this information was not found in Şafakcı's article and should therefore be regarded as unverified.

Government in Konya: Berats and Documents

Princes assigned to the pasha sanjak of a province issued official documents such as berats and letters to people in the settlements attached to it. A prince who might become sultan moved more freely than other sanjak governors, but the central government's oversight of him was also stricter. The documents that bear Abdullah's name show the everyday administration of Konya.

  • The Oğulbeği nomad group attached to the district of Bayburt, together with the retired sipahis living there, were entered in the survey register on the strength of berats received from Şehzade Mustafa and Abdullah.
  • In the survey of 1500, joint pasture rights were recorded for the Elginviranı Mezra and the Alayundlu and Erdoğdulu communities on the basis of Abdullah's letter.
  • According to the Yavuz Selim law codes, the horse tax on the haymana group in the province of Karaman, which had begun to be levied earlier, was abolished in Abdullah's time.
  • He issued a mukarrername to the endowment of the Anber Reis Mosque and recognised the endowments of the Şeyh İsrail Lodge in the village of Başara.
  • In the district of Turgud, he granted the Öyüklü Viran Mezra, a dangerous place, to Derviş Bahşayiş, who volunteered to bring it back to life.
  • He granted the village of Hatıp, an endowment of the ruined Konya Hospital, as a timar to the physician Lütfi Çelebi.
  • He exempted Hamza, a carpenter (neccar) in Beyşehir, and those guarding the İlbeyi Pass in the village of Zozumla from the avarız tax, and issued a nişan continuing the exemption of ploughlands in return for falconry service.
  • He issued a berat for the endowment status of the Abdal Dede Lodge in the Arap Ağılı Mezra attached to Aksaray.
  • He issued a berat to Seyyidi Ahmed of the Bozkırlıoğlu for the Akin Mezra of the village of Anduk, a notice of timar to Halil and Bahşı for two shares of Yakub's tahvil, and, together with Cem, nişans concerning the holding of the Kalburcu Mezra, also known as Eli Kesik.

According to Şafakcı, the prince also contributed to the conduct of the surveys and the purge of the old aristocratic beys, and secured the region through his struggle with Kasım Bey and with Cem on his return after Cem left Anatolia. It is also recorded that he left some villages that belonged to him (Ertaş, Üçkilise and Bekirler, attached to Hatunsaray) to the guards of the Ahmedeki of Konya.

Among the documents two letters stand out for what they show of everyday friction in the administration. In one petition Abdullah says that the allowance he had earlier asked of his father had not been given, that very little of his allowance remained, and asks that it be sent this time. In another letter, beginning "My lord father", he complains about Doğan, the new head tailor sent by his father: he was content with the former head tailor Yusuf, but had appointed Doğan so that the order would be carried out; Doğan had not behaved properly, had quarrelled with his lalas at his door, and the lalas had been hurt by him, though they said nothing because he came from his father. Abdullah asks that Doğan be removed and Yusuf reinstated. The letter shows that officials in the prince's household were appointed by the sultan and that disputes among them reached the household.

The Sultan Abdullah Lodge in Akşehir

The most tangible work associated with Abdullah's name is his lodge in Akşehir. According to the data of 1483, the "late Sultan Abdullah Lodge" lay in the Akşehir Valley at a place called Mihrablu; its sheikhdom was given to Derviş Sinan, and five akçe a day from the Akşehir haraç was assigned to it. It is also written that those not entered in the register who settled around the lodge would be exempt from tax. That the lodge is referred to as "late" shows that the register was prepared after the prince's death. According to İbrahim Hakkı Konyalı the lodge stands in today's village of Tekke; Abdullah came often to this region, which he loved, to rest, first had a pavilion built, and then had a tekke established for the lodging and rest of travellers.

By an order of Bayezid II in 1493, Mevlana Şemseddin Ahmed, former kadı of Akşehir, was sent to fix the boundaries of the lodge's lands, vineyards and gardens, and once the boundaries were written it was stated that the endowment was confirmed and that its income would be spent according to the terms of the endowment. The existence of an endowment deed for the lodge can be understood from this order. A decree of November of the same year states that those who settled near the lodge, served passers-by and were no one's subjects were exempt from ulak, suhre, cerehor, sekban, falconer, fortress building, salgun, azeb, oarsman, nüzul grain and the other avarız-ı divaniye. In 1500 five attendants are recorded at the lodge; it was the prince's mother who announced that the sheikh Hacı Ahmed should be given a daily stipend of three akçe. In 1522 the number of attendants had risen to seven, all carrying exemption documents from Bayezid Han. The lodge's income in 1522 was 84 akçe a year: 30 akçe from a vineyard nearby and 54 akçe in all from seven garden plots. In 1584 the annual income is again written as 84 akçe; the cutting of the daily five akçe from the Akşehir haraç caused the income to fall. In a letter, Abdullah's daughter writes that Hacı Ahmed, then sheikh of the lodge, had ruined the tekke and harmed its endowments, that the place had been taken from Pir Kılavuz without cause, and asks for an inspection and for the lodge to be run again according to her forefather's wishes. Although the endowment's name is not given in the letter, the persons mentioned are probably the same.

There is little information on the lodge in later centuries. In 1812 Mustafa Halife, who drew a salary from the endowments of Şirin Hatun in Bursa and the Sultan Abdullah Lodge in Akşehir, as sheikh at one akçe a day, mustahfız at one akçe, yasinhan at two akçe and cüzhan at two akçe, resigned, and a berat was requested for his successor; this record shows that the endowment was still functioning in the early nineteenth century.

His Officials and Poets

Princes sent to the sanjaks had a large staff under them. The names of Abdullah's nişancı, defterdar and kilercibaşı (chancellor, treasurer and head of the pantry) have not been identified, but the offices and timars given to the men around him after his death give an idea of his circle. Sinan Bey, agha of the sipahi oğlans, received a zeamet of 20,100 akçe from the Antalya and Alanya sanjaks on 23 February 1499, and on 5 April 1502 an income of 20,985 akçe from the village of Dadya, attached to Muğla, was registered to him; in the records he is called "ağa-yı ebnâ-yı sipâhiyân-ı merhum Sultân Abdullah". His kapıcıbaşı İskender Bey held a zeamet in the Karahisar sanjak and is written as "ser-bevvâbîn-i merhum Sultan Abdullah"; on 24 December 1499 he held an income of 24,683 akçe as subaşı of Kayacık. A timar of 9,942 akçe from the Eski-il haymana was registered in 1483 to his serçavuşan Muslihiddin, and in 1510 Ali and Hamza, who had grown up under the prince's protection, were assigned 1,000 akçe. In an order of October 1502 Bayezid frees from yaya status Seydi, who had been registered in the yaya register but "drew salary from the door of my late son Abdullah" and "had been a proper companion in Karaman in the war of my late brother Cem". Kemal and Murad Beys, who reported the prince's death to the sultan, are also among the men around him.

Abdullah also extended patronage to some men of learning. Until the printing press came into wide use, scholars and artists depended on the support of the ruler and the elite; the rivalry between dynasties showed itself not only in palaces but also in patronage of learning and art. According to the biographical dictionaries, when Bayezid sent him to the sanjak, Necati became the prince's secretary. It is said that the poet was deeply attached to the prince, that the prince noticed this and invited him to his private gatherings, and that Necati presented him with ghazals. When Abdullah died, Necati's hopes were extinguished and he returned to the capital; until he was sent in 1504 to Manisa as Şehzade Mahmud's nişancı he lived through his most brilliant period. Âli regards the statement that Necati went to Karaman with Abdullah as a mistake.

Necati's "Mersiye-i Şehzade Sultan Abdullah" is counted among the elegies of Turkish literature. Necati presented the elegy to Bayezid II; the line "dilâ cerîde-i ülfetden adun eyle terâş, kalender ol ki mücerredler ideler sâbâş", quoted by Aşık Çelebi, belongs to this poem. The text expresses less the loss of a patron by a poet than the sincere feelings of someone who has lost a close friend at a young age. The poet explains his grief through flood and violent rain; for the prince who died young he laments "neither youth nor the land of Karaman remained". The following couplet is quoted from the elegy: "Ol itdi milketi vîrân ol itdi genci nihan / Ne mülk milk-i Karaman ne genç genc-i revan". Fatih Kıran notes that the elegy develops the idea that death comes to everyone, regardless of rank, age or power. At the end the poet prays for the lasting rule of the sultan.

Probably under Necati's influence, a circle of poets formed around the prince in Konya. Figani (Figani-i Karamani, Figani-i Kadim) was the prince's divan secretary; he wrote praises of him and translated the Iskendername from the Hamse of Nizami. Of the Konya poet Niyazi-i Karamani it is said that he was "a praiser of Şehzade Abdullah". With the prince's death this circle dispersed. Cem too had gathered poets around him in Konya, who were known as the "Cem Poets"; Aynî of Karaman took his place beside him and, although Mustafa and Abdullah served in Konya, did not act together with them.

His Illness and Death

That Abdullah is described as brave, heroic and handsome belongs to the language of praise of the biographical dictionaries and elegies and should not be read as a personal observation. On the cause of death the sources say little. İdris-i Bitlisi relates that he died of illness in the province of Karaman with the words "el-marazu berîdü'l-mevt" (illness is the harbinger of death); Kepecioğlu also writes that he fell ill and died. The Anonymous of Haniwaldanus, however, says that of Bayezid's eight sons Abdullah Çelebi fell victim to a murder in his father's lifetime; no other source supports this claim. That his mother Şirin Hatun's letter recounts a will he made when he was ill may, according to Şafakcı, point to a chronic complaint.

On the date of death the sources generally agree on the Hijri year 888. Ramazan 888 (October 1483) and Zilkade 888 (December 1483) are given; İdris-i Bitlisi also writes Şevval 889 / October-November 1484. Modern studies have proposed 6 November 1483, Ramazan 888 / 1484 and 5 Şevval 890 / 15 October 1485. Şafakcı notes that in the petition submitted to the sultan, Kemal and Murad Beys reported that Abdullah died on 5 Şevval, that the archive dates this document 5 Şevval 888 / 6 November 1483, and he places the death on 6 November 1483. The beys also asked in the petition what was to be done for the region; the aim was to prevent possible disorder in the province. The prince was serving in the sanjak of Konya when he died. Konya was then given to Şehinşah and Saruhan to Korkud (İbn Kemal). That income from the Beyşehir district was registered in 1483 to Osman Çelebi, Şehinşah's defterdar, can be taken as a sign that Şehinşah had taken up his post and that Abdullah was dead. In the same year Kasım Bey also died, and when the year 888 was complete preparations were made for a gaza.

In Şirin Hatun's letter, thought to date from 29 Şevval 888 / 30 November 1483, the will her son made when ill is related in brief as follows: if God gave health, well and good; if the decree came and he died, she should be reported to the sultan, laid beside his late grandfather the Sultan in Istanbul, and her soul be a companion in his service. Although the fulfilment of this wish was requested, Abdullah was buried among the princes in Bursa.

His Tomb and Endowments

In the records listing the members of the dynasty buried in the tombs of Bursa, among the Conqueror's sons Cem and Mustafa, and among Bayezid's sons Abdullah and Alemşah, are named. According to Şafakcı, in the Tomb of Şehzade Mustafa, built in 1479, lie in order Şehzade Mustafa, Abdullah (1483), Cem (1499) and Alemşah (1503); Koyunluoğlu gives the name of Korkud in place of Abdullah. Bayezid II's endowment deed of 28 March - 6 April 1504 donated endowments in the names of Mustafa, Abdullah and Alemşah. The income was assigned to a staff made up of a mütevelli, a clerk, a tomb keeper, three collectors and eight guards, and to the salaries of 45 cüzhans and hafizes who recited portions of the Qur'an in turn. The remainder was spent each year on buying 12 large beeswax candles, on lamp oil, on carrying the harvest from village granaries to the warehouses and market in Bursa, on warehouse rents and granary keepers' salaries, and on furnishing and repairing the tomb.

The villages attached to the endowment of the three princes were Hotani, Çakaroz, Yeğen, Kabaağaç, Kayser, İlyaslar, Panbucak, Öyücek, Budam, Gürlüce, Dur Ali and Kavaklı. According to the balance sheets of 1539-1566, the endowment's annual income was 844,728 akçe, of which 282,357 akçe was in cash and 559,371 akçe in produce. A decree of Selim III of 22-31 July 1801 orders the kadı of Mihaliç to prevent interference with the village of Hotani.

Abdullah also had separate endowments. On 25 February 1551, when Mahmud bin İsmail, who recited a juz at the Tomb of Sultan Mustafa for Şehzade Sultan Abdullah at two akçe a day, resigned because of old age, Mehmed bin Hacı Mirza was appointed in his place. On 24 April 1712 the posts of Mustafa Halife, cüzhan at two akçe a day and mustahfız at one akçe from the endowments of Şehzade Abdullah in Bursa, were left to Ahmed Halife; on 13 September 1794 the post of el-Hac Hafız Ömer Halife, cüzhan at two akçe a day, was transferred to es-Seyyid Mehmed Halife. Thus the recitation of the Qur'an for Abdullah continued until at least 1794.

Abdullah and Amasya

Abdullah's link with Amasya does not go beyond his birthplace in the sources; no building, endowment or tomb in the city is known to commemorate him directly. His life is nonetheless one link in Amasya's tradition of raising princes: Bayezid served about twenty-four years as sanjak governor in this city, his son was born here, and he himself then served in the sanjaks of Manisa, Trabzon and Konya. This life, begun in Amasya, left its trace in an inscription of a mosque in Trabzon, a lodge in Akşehir, a tomb endowment in Bursa and a poet's elegy in Konya.

Chronology

1461 (or 1465): Abdullah is born in Amasya (Şafakcı adopts 1461; other studies give about 1465).

1467: Appointed to the Manisa sanjak in name only (Şafakcı's interpretation).

1470-71 (875): Date of the inscription of the Şirin Hatun Mosque in Ortahisar, Trabzon.

1470 (or 1472): Summoned to Istanbul for circumcision (İbn Kemal gives a date after 11 July 1470; Haydar Bey places Cem's circumcision in 1472).

1480: Marries the daughter of the Conqueror's son Şehzade Mustafa; serves in Manisa.

1481 (19 May): Bayezid takes the throne; by a letter dated 22 May he tells Abdullah to protect Bursa.

1481 (20 June): Battle of Yenişehir.

1481 (July): Abdullah is assigned to Konya.

1482 (12 March): Cem reaches Egypt.

1482 (8 June): Kasım Bey and Cem besiege Konya; the fortress is not taken.

1482 (29 July): Cem arrives at Rhodes.

1483 (6 November, 5 Şevval 888): Abdullah dies in Konya (Şafakcı's dating; December 1483 is also given).

1493: Bayezid's order concerning the Sultan Abdullah Lodge in Akşehir.

1504: Bayezid II's endowment deed of the Bursa tomb in the names of Mustafa, Abdullah and Alemşah.

Sources

Primary sources

  • Works cited in Şafakcı's article: İbn Kemal, Tevârih-i Âl-i Osman; İdris-i Bitlisi, Heşt Behişt; Hoca Sadeddin, Tâcü't-tevârih; Haydar Bey, Vekâyi-i Sultan Cem; Behiştî Ahmed Çelebi, Târîh-i Behiştî; Aşık Çelebi, Meşâ'irü'ş-Şu'arâ; the tezkires of Latîfî and Kınalızade; Kepecioğlu, Bursa Kütüğü; Bostan, XV-XVI. Asırlarda Trabzon Sancağı; Konyalı's histories of Konya and Akşehir; Mustafa İsen, Acıyı Bal Eylemek.

Academic studies

  • Hamit Şafakcı, "II. Bayezid'in Oğlu Şehzade Abdullah'ın Ailesi ve Sancakbeyliği", Karadeniz İncelemeleri Dergisi, no. 37, 2024, pp. 11-40 (DergiPark).

Other sources

Online sources