İkinci Sultân Murâd'ın büyük şehzâdesidir. 838 senesi evâ'ilinde Amasya vâlîsi olarak birâderleri Alâ'eddîn, Mehmed Çelebiler'le beraber geldi. Vüzerâdan Şeyhî Mahmûd Paşa bin Şihâbeddîn Kırşehrî⁵⁶² şehzâdenin lalası, müdebbir-i umûru ve Amasya muhâfızı oldu.
Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed, 823 senesinde Amasya'da tevellüd etmiş, on beş yaşına girmiş, genç, gâyet gürbüz bir zât idi. Amasya [207] a'yânından Dursun Çelebi bin Bahşâyiş Bey şehzâdeye defterdâr ve muharrir-i vilâyet oldu.
Fakat 838 senesinde dîvân-ı hümâyûn vüzerâsında ba'zı tebeddülât olup vak'a-i sâbıkanın bâ'isi olan meşhûr İshâk Paşa dîvân-ı hümâyûnda vezîr-i sâlis, öz Türkler'den Yörgüç Paşa vezîr-i sânî olmuş, yine ricâl-i devlet ve halk arasında dedikodular, teheyyücler belirmişdi.
Fakat 839 senesinde Amasya muhâfızı Şeyhî Paşa vefât etdikde yerine vezîr-i sânî Yörgüç Paşa ta'yîn olunup Amasya'ya geldi. İshâk Paşa vezîr-i sânî, kazasker Candârlızâde Halîl Çelebi de vezîr-i sâlis oldu.
840 senesi rebî'ulevvelinde Yörgüç Paşa Amasya'da yapdırdığı hayrâtı mesâlihine bir cemm-i gafîr huzûrunda bütün emlâk ve akârâtını vakf etdi. Vakfiyesini tescîl eden Amasya kadısı Muslihzâde Abdurrahmân Çelebi idi.
841 senesi evâ'ilinde vezîr-i a'zam Koca Mehmed Paşa vezerât-ı uzmâdan azl edilip Osmâncık’a gönderildi. Yerine vezîr-i sânî İshâk Paşa vezîr-i a'zam, Halîl Paşa da vezîr-i sânî, bunun yerine Rûmeli beylerbeyi Türkler'den Bergoslu Halîl Paşa vezîr-i sâlis olarak geldi.
Ancak halk arasında tekevvün eden asabiyetler artmış, Sultân Murâd'ın mevki'i oldukça tezelzüle yüz tutmuşdu. Pek şâyân-ı dikkatdir ki vezerât-i uzmâdan ma'zûlen gelen Koca Mehmed Paşa 841 senesi zilhiccesinde Osmâncık'da vefât etdiği esnâda Amasya vâlîsi şehzâde Sultân Ahmed de [208] Amasya'da vefât etmişdir.
Koca Mehmed Paşa, Osmâncık'da binâ eylediği câmi-i şerîfinin şark tarafında bahçesi derûnunda medfûn olup târîh-i vefâtı seng-i mezârında mahkûkdur. Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed de Amasya'da Narlı Bahçe'de Şehzâdegân Türbesi hizâsında kubbe-i mahsûsa derûnunda medfûndur.⁵⁶³
Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed'in vefâtından sonra münhal olan Amasya vâlîliğine şehzâde Sultân Mehmed ta'yîn edildi. Bundan büyük olan şehzâde Sultân Alâ'eddîn de Manîsâ vâlîliğine gönderildi. [209]
In Modern English
He is the eldest prince of Murad II. At the beginning of 838 [1434-35] he came as governor of Amasya together with his brothers Alâeddin and Mehmed Çelebis. Among the viziers, Şeyhî Mahmûd Pasha bin Şihâbeddîn Kırşehrî became the prince's lala, administrator of his affairs, and guardian of Amasya.
Prince Sultan Ahmed had been born in Amasya in 823 [1420-21] and had entered his fifteenth year. He was a young and very robust person. Dursun Çelebi, son of Bahşâyiş Bey, one of the notables of Amasya, became the prince's defterdar and provincial registrar (official who kept the province's records).
But in 838 some changes occurred among the viziers of the imperial divan. The famous İshak Pasha, the cause of the earlier event, became third vizier in the imperial divan and Yörgüç Pasha, of the pure Turks, second vizier, and gossip and anger again appeared among the statesmen and the people.
But in 839 [1435-36], when Şeyhî Pasha, guardian of Amasya, died, the second vizier Yörgüç Pasha was appointed in his place and came to Amasya. İshak Pasha became second vizier and the chief military judge Çandarlızâde Halîl Çelebi third vizier.
In Rebîülevvel 840 [1436-37] Yörgüç Pasha, in the presence of a large assembly, endowed all his properties and lands for the expenses of the charitable works he had had built in Amasya. The judge of Amasya who registered his endowment deed was Muslihzâde Abdurrahmân Çelebi.
At the beginning of 841 [1437-38] the grand vizier Koca Mehmed Pasha was removed from the grand vizierate and sent to Osmancık. In his place the second vizier İshak Pasha became grand vizier, Halîl Pasha second vizier, and in his place the beylerbeyi of Rumelia, Bergoslu Halîl Pasha of the Turks, third vizier.
But the nervousness that had arisen among the people had increased, and Sultan Murad's position had begun to be considerably shaken. A very noteworthy point is this: when Koca Mehmed Pasha, removed from the grand vizierate, died in Osmancık in Zilhicce 841, the governor of Amasya, Prince Sultan Ahmed, also died in Amasya.
Koca Mehmed Pasha lies in the garden east of the mosque he had built in Osmancık; the date of death is carved on the gravestone. Prince Sultan Ahmed lies in Amasya in Narlı Bahçe, opposite the Tomb of the Princes, inside the dome set aside for him.
To the governorship of Amasya, vacated after Prince Sultan Ahmed's death, Prince Sultan Mehmed was appointed. Prince Sultan Alâeddin, who was older than he, was sent to the governorship of Manisa.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- lala: statesman who acted as a prince's tutor and administrative adviser
- müdebbir-i umûr: one who runs affairs and takes measures
- muhâfız: military and administrative authority of a city or region
- defterdâr: official at the head of financial affairs
- muharrir-i vilâyet: clerk who kept the population and revenue records of the province
- hayrât: charitable works such as mosques, madrasas, and fountains
- vakfiye: official text documenting that a property was donated for charitable purposes
- vezîr-i sâlis: third vizier
Prince Ahmed's Governorship of Amasya
According to a study listing the princes who served in the sanjak of Amasya, Ahmed Çelebi, eldest son of Murad II, was born in Amasya in 1420, was assigned as sanjak bey in 1435, and after remaining in this post about three years died in Amasya in 1438. The dates Hüsameddin gives agree with this: birth 823 [1420-21], appointment 838 [1434-35], death 841 [1437-38]. The same study writes that after Ahmed's death the sanjak bey post of Amasya was given in 1438 to Fatih Sultan Mehmed. Hüsameddin's narrative follows the same order.
Who Ahmed's mother was and the cause of his death do not appear in the sources we read. Hüsameddin also says nothing on this.
The Question of the Tomb and the Local Narrative
In footnote number 563 Hüsameddin enters an important debate. According to him, the historians of Turkey later recorded that Sultan Ahmed was buried in Bursa and that his death in the year 845 was written on the grave tablet. Hüsameddin, however, notes that Şükrullâh Çelebi, an Amasyan historian alive in 841, states in his work Behcetü't-Tevârîh that the prince was buried in Amasya and gives the date of death. No other source that would settle a comparison of these two views was found. Here a trace of a local narrative is also met.
According to the account Hüsameddin relays, three princes on the Ramadan festival of 841 visit Gümüşlüzâde Pîr Celâleddîn Abdurrahmân Çelebi, sheikh of the Pîr İlyâs-ı Halvetî Zawiya. The sheikh pays attention to Mehmed Çelebi, the youngest of the three princes, places his mantle on his shoulders, and shows the way to the other princes. From this sign the people understand that Mehmed Çelebi will become sultan and that the others are travelers to the hereafter. Two and a half months later they are astonished at the death of Prince Ahmed. Hüsameddin notes that this account was recorded by Âlî Bey, while he was mutasarrıf of Amasya, in the biography of the sheikh, in his work Künhü'l-Ahbâr.
A different form of the same account is relayed in another study, relying on Hammer. There it is said that the sheikh, Pir İlyas's son-in-law Şeyh Abdurrahman, let two of the princes kiss his hand, knelt before Prince Mehmed, and asked him to use all his strength for the glory of the state that divine providence would leave to him. The details of the two accounts differ: in Hüsameddin the mantle and Ahmed's death stand out, in what Hammer relays the kneeling and the duty to the state. The basis of the account is not a definite document but a story told among the people and later committed to writing.
Changes Among the Viziers
The vizier changes in the middle of the text are part of the contention within the state staff in the time of Murad II. Hüsameddin ties İshak Pasha's grand vizierate to the beginning of 841 [1437-38] and his dismissal, in the next entry, to the beginning of 843 [1439-40]. In other sources it is written that Murad II made changes among the viziers in 1439 and that Çandarlı Halil Pasha remained grand vizier until the end of Murad II's reign. The order Hüsameddin narrates does not contradict this information. On Koca Mehmed Pasha's mosque and grave in Osmancık no information was found in the sources we read.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 3, p. 470–470. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies