Sultân Bâyezîd Hân-ı Sânî

In Modern English

He is the second prince of Fâtih Sultan Mehmed Han. That his mother was Gülbahar Hatun has been established with certainty by her endowment deed. He was born in the month of Zilkade 851 [1447-48]. At the age of seven he became governor of Amasya. Ali Pasha, beylerbeyi of Amasya, also took part in the protection of Amasya as his lala.

The Amasyan Kemal Paşazâde Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi, in the 7th volume of the History of the Osman Dynasty (Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân), among the events of the year 858 [1454], says:

"The conquering sultan, the khan whose commands are valid, with his happy fortune and increasing state, entered that new palace. Making Edirne his capital reaching the lofty heavens, he honored that region with his imperial shadow. He judged Manisa, the old throne city, fitting for his valuable son Sultan Mustafa.

The beloved of his heart, his valuable son, the prince on the right path and the fortunate crowned Sultan Bayezid, he sent to Amasya, the old capital of the great sultans of the Osman dynasty, and made him ruler of Anatolia (the land of Rûm).

That place is blessed and auspicious; since it has always been a refuge protecting people from the calamities of the age, he chose it to reside in.

Amasya, which is called Harcene in old histories, is a place that one enters with grief and leaves with joy, and one's soul is freed from the bond of sorrow. It is a rare city of the age, a famous place of the time, a renowned city. The river that flows before it makes Egypt envious and makes the Nile covet."

Persian poem:

I do not call it equal to Egypt and the Nile;
Its entrance is like paradise, within it is Salsabil.
The bank of its river is cropland on every side,
Its waterwheels turn ceaselessly like the sky.
Its villages and fields are boundless everywhere,
A border guard watches the limit of its crops.

Turkish poem:

The water of its river is the water of Kawthar,
Its pure soil is like abir and amber (fragrant).
Come, look at its Sevâdiyye,
See what a sight it is among the palaces of the age.
It is like the pupil of the world's eye, or
Like the beauty mark on the cheek of the seven climes.

At Sultan Bayezid's arrival in Amasya, his first lala was Ali Pasha, his first nişancı Hacı İbrâhimzâde Kemâleddîn Ahmed Çelebi, one of the scholars of Amasya, his first defterdar Hacı Mahmûd Çelebizâde Sa'deddîn Çelebi, and his first divan clerk Sa'dî Çelebi, of the line of Ahi Sâbıkeddîn.

The judge Nizâmeddîn Abdurrahmân Çelebi and the mufti Mevlânâ Zeyneddîn Halîl Çelebi continued in their posts. Hamza Bey, son of Ahmed Bey, one of the emirs in his retinue, was charged with the protection of Amasya.

In 858 [1454] Selâmet Hatun, daughter of the judge Abdurrahmân Çelebi, one of the women scholars, completed the zawiya and tomb near Kuşköprü and endowed her properties and income-yielding places to cover their expenses.

In 859 [1454-55], when quite a number of people moved from Amasya to Istanbul, Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Efendi, one of the great scholars, the former mufti of Amasya known as İbni Meddâs, also went to Istanbul and settled near Unkapanı in the quarter still called by the name İbni Meddâs.

In the month of Muharram 860 [1455-56] the judge of Amasya, Muslihzâde Nizâmeddîn Abdurrahmân Çelebi, died; his son Şemseddîn Mehmed Çelebi became judge of Amasya. His other brothers are Bedreddîn Mahmûd and Seyyideddîn Ahmed Çelebis.

In 861 [1456-57] Prince Sultan Bayezid was summoned to Edirne and a great circumcision wedding was held. Since his lala Ali Pasha went with him, Hızır Pasha, Yörgüç Pasha's brother, became deputy governor of Amasya. Three months later the prince returned and appointed Hızır Pasha as atabey and guardian of Amasya.

At the beginning of 862 [1457-58] es-Seyyid Sadreddîn Mehmed bin Hüseyin bin Alî el-Horasânî, one of the great Sufi sheikhs, who lived in the village of Yenice, died and was buried in the graveyard of his zawiya there. His sons Hüseyin, Abdullah, and İbrâhim Efendis were professors in Amasya.

At the beginning of the month of Muharram 863 [1458-59] eş-Şeyh Nizâmeddîn Abdurrahîm el-Merzifônî, one of the caliphs of the Zeyniyye, who was engaged in guiding seekers of the path in Merzifon, died. He was buried in his tomb set aside for him in Merzifon.

In 864 [1459-60] the famous scholar the Amasyan Şükrullâh Çelebi bin Şihâbeddîn Ahmed Bâlî Çelebi, the pîr and the oldest of the historians of Turkey, died in Istanbul. Of the Amasyans, İshâk Pasha bin İbrâhim Bey, son of Îsâ Bey, went to Ankara as beylerbeyi of Anatolia.

In 865 [1460-61] the mufti of Amasya Zeyneddîn Halîl Çelebi died; in his place Musliheddîn Mustafa Efendi bin Menteşe Çelebi, known as "Gerçekoğlu," one of the famous madrasa professors, became mufti of Amasya. When the nişancı Kemâl Çelebi stayed in Istanbul, Mü'eyyedzâde Alî Çelebi was appointed nişancı in his place.

The same year the striking of the lion-pictured mankırs, which had been struck for ten years at the Amasya mint, was abolished and it was ordered that they be struck in the sultan's name. Hâce Hayreddîn Hızır Efendi, the sultan's teacher, of the Amasyans, became chief military judge.

In 866 [1461-62] Tâceddîn İbrâhim Çelebi bin Safî Çelebi, famous as Tâcî Bey, nephew of Kedağralı Hacı Beyzâde Halîl Bey bin Gâzi Mehmed Bey, one of the notables of Amasya, an emir in the retinue, attached himself to the prince.

In 867 [1462-63] complaints about Muslihzâde Şemseddîn Mehmed Çelebi, judge of Amasya, followed one after another. Tâceddîn İbrâhim Çelebi, son of the vizier Candârlızâde Halîl Pasha, the former judge of Edirne, came from Istanbul as judge of Amasya. Prince Sultan Abdullah was born.

In 868 [1463-64], since some things were said about Şarabdâr Hamza Bey, guardian of Amasya, el-Hâc Hamza Bey bin Ahmed Bey, sanjak bey of Tokat and one of the emirs of Amasya, was appointed guardian of Amasya. Of the Amasyans, Kemâleddîn Ahmed Pasha became third vizier in the imperial divan and Muslihzâde Bedreddîn Mahmûd Efendi chief military judge.

In 869 [1464-65] the former judge of Amasya, Muslihzâde Şemseddîn Mehmed Efendi, was again brought to the judgeship of Amasya. In 870 [1465-66] Prince Sultan Ahmed was born. Hızır Pasha, Yörgüç Pasha's brother, on finishing the mosque, madrasa, imaret, and bath he had built in his own quarter, endowed his properties and income-yielding places for the expenses of these charitable works.

At this time, since some events arose, Hızır Pasha was retired. Kemal Pasha came to Amasya as the prince's lala and administrator of the country's affairs. In 871 [1466-67] Prince Sultan Şehinşâh was born. Of the Amasyans, İshâk Pasha became third vizier.

In 872 [1467-68] Konya was taken. A part of its people was transferred to Amasya and settled. Among them, Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi bin Ahmed Çelebi, one of the grandsons of Cemâleddîn Mehmed Aksarâyî, who had been chief military judge of Hacı Şâdgeldi in Amasya, came to Amasya.

In 873 [1468-69] the former judge İbrâhim Çelebi, son of Halîl Pasha, drew near to the prince as nişancı. Mü'eyyedzâde Alî Çelebi became the prince's boon companion. Hacı Beyzâde Kâsım Bey, one of the great emirs, completed this year the masonry madrasa he had begun in his homeland, the village of Hakala, and endowed his properties for its expenses.

In 874 [1469-70] Prince Sultan Abdullah, son of Sultan Bayezid, was appointed to the governorship of the province of Trabzon, which had been conquered earlier. Hayreddîn Hızır Pasha bin Hasan Çelebi of Gelgiras, as his lala and guardian of the province, went from Amasya with him. Prince Sultan Korkud was born this year. The Amasyan İshâk Pasha became grand vizier.

In 875 [1470-71] Uzun Hasan Shah, ruler of Iran, deceived Şarabdâr Hamza Bey, sanjak bey of Tokat, and attacked Tokat. He had the Sivas and Tokat surroundings plundered. The prince's vizier Kemal Pasha, greatly grieved by this, died in Amasya.

When these events were reported to Sultan Fâtih he was extremely enraged. İbrâhim Pasha, son of Halîl Pasha, who was the prince's nişancı, became lala. Süleyman Pasha, son of Yörgüç Pasha, came to Amasya as guardian of the province. Tâcî Bey, one of the poets of Amasya, became nişancı. Yavuz Sultan Selim was born this year.

In 876 [1471-72] preparations for war against Uzun Hasan Shah began. The judge of Konya, Musliheddîn Çelebi, was assigned to inspect the situation of the judges of Tokat and Sivas. At this time Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi, son of Yûsuf Çelebi of Tokat, was acting as deputy for the judgeship of Amasya.

In 877 [1472-73] the defterdar of Amasya, Sa'deddîn Çelebi, died; in his place Hacı Nevrûz Bey, famous as Hacı Bey, one of the notables of Amasya, became defterdar. The grand vizier, the Amasyan İshâk Pasha bin İbrâhim Bey, was removed from office; in his place Sarı İshâk Pasha bin Abdullah became grand vizier.

In 878 [1473-74] Sultan Fâtih Mehmed crossed into Anatolia with the imperial army. Prince Sultan Mustafa, governor of Kastamonu, and Prince Sultan Bayezid, governor of Amasya, set out with their troops and joined their father at Kazova.

The same year Sultan Fâtih defeated Uzun Hasan Shah, scattered his army, took many of his notables captive, and came to Amasya in the middle of the month of Cemâziyelâhir 878. Of the captives he brought with him, Mîrzâ Mehmed Bâkır, Mîrzâ Zeynel, and Mîrzâ Muzaffer Hans, of the line of Timur Han, were put in the dungeon of Kal'a-i Bâlâ.

Among the captives was also Seyyid Abdullah Han, famous as Seyyid Han, of the line of Rufâ'î, who had gone from Amasya, drawn close to Uzun Hasan, and risen to the vizierate. He was pardoned because of his being a seyyid and the special respect shown to his father Seyyid Nûreddîn Hamza Çelebi.

On Sultan Fâtih's arrival in Amasya, Lala İbrâhim Pasha was removed from office. Fenârîzâde Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi, defterdar of the imperial army, became lala, and Hızır Paşazâde Mahmûd Pasha vizier and the prince's boon companion.

El-Hâc Hamza Bey, one of the emirs of Amasya who died in this war, had endowed, when going, his properties for the expenses of the mosque and school he had built in his quarter. His sons Ahmed, Kâsım, and Mahmûd Çelebis had the endowment deed drawn up this year.

Sultan Fâtih stayed in Amasya a month. The same year in the month of Cemâziyelâhir he left Amasya and went to Istanbul. At the end of this year the Khalwati sheikh Pîr Zekeriyyâ-yı Halvetî, regarded as the kutb of Amasya, died and was buried beside his sheikh. In his place Kadızâde Pîr Abdurrahmân Hüsâmî Çelebi took over.

In 879 [1474-75] Mevlânâ Halîmî Lütfullâh Çelebi, judge of Sivas, was removed from office through the backbiting of those around the prince, governor of Amasya, was brought to Tokat and imprisoned there about three months and tormented; later, on investigation, when his innocence came to light, he was released.

Halîmî Çelebi, extremely affected by this, composed an Arabic qasida full of rhetorical art. He explained and examined one by one the couplets that conveyed his situation to Sultan Fâtih in veiled expression. He openly named those who surrounded Prince Sultan Bayezid and bore him a grudge. He narrated that it was these who had accustomed the prince to eating, drinking, and amusement.

In 880 [1475-76] the Amasyan Halîmî Lütfullâh Çelebi went to Istanbul. In Amasya Prince Sultan Mahmûd was born. In 881 [1476-77] Halîmî Çelebi presented his well-known qasida to Sultan Fâtih and narrated his grief. This year eş-Şeyh Muhyiddîn Mehmed bin Mahmûd el-Akdâğî, regarded as the kutb of Amasya, died. His sons Bedreddîn Mahmûd, Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin, and Kemâleddîn Ahmed Efendis remained.

At this time the notables of Amasya were these: the vizier and boon companion Hızır Paşazâde Mahmûd Pasha, his brother Mehmed Pasha, the lala Fenârîzâde Ahmed Bey, the sheikh of sheikhs Gümüşlüzâde Pîr Hayreddîn Hızır Çelebi, the sultan's teacher Salâheddîn Mûsâ, the physician Hâce Nefîseddîn Mehmed Şirvânî.

The guardian of Amasya Kemâl Paşazâde Süleyman Bey, the poet and nişancı Tâcî Bey, the defterdar Hacı Nevrûz Bey, the close official and poet Âfitâbî Abdurrahmân Çelebi, Kerîmî Mehmed Çelebi, the judge Muslihzâde Mehmed Çelebi, the mufti Gerçekzâde Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi, Mü'eyyedzâde Abdurrahmân Efendi.

In 882 [1477-78] an investigation committee sent by Sultan Fâtih came to Amasya. Yet Sultan Bayezid, Mahmûd Pasha, Fenârîzâde Ahmed Bey, Mü'eyyedzâde Abdurrahmân Efendi, and Tâcî Bey had gone to Ladik and were having a sincere conversation.

The head of the committee, Mustafa Pasha, son of Hamza Bey, among the viziers, left and went from Amasya after a long investigation. But quite a few events occurred during the investigation. The people's complaints spoiled one another and set the notables against each other.

In the exalted decree that came in 883 [1478-79] it was ordered that Mahmûd Pasha, Tâcî Bey, and Abdurrahmân Efendi be executed and that the others be removed from office and sent elsewhere. Tâcî Bey, learning the content of the decree beforehand, fled to Baghdad, and Abdurrahmân Efendi to Iran. The poor Mahmûd Pasha was executed.

Fenârîzâde Ahmed Bey remained in the lalaship. In place of Hoca Salâheddîn Efendi, Horasânîzâde es-Seyyid Abdullah Efendi, in place of Süleyman Bey, Yörgüç Paşazâde Süleyman Pasha, and in place of Tâcî Bey, el-Hâc Hamza Beyzâde Ahmed Bey became, respectively, teacher, guardian, and nişancı.

The judge Mehmed Çelebi was removed from office and in his place İzzeddînzâde Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi, one of the great judges, and in place of the mufti the professor of the Halifet Madrasa, Şeyhzâde Abdülkerîm Çelebi, famous as "Mevlânâ Abdî," came. Âfitâbî Abdurrahmân Çelebi was sent to Merzifon. Kemâl Paşazâde Süleyman Bey became sanjak bey of Tokat.

Mü'eyyedzâde Alâ'eddîn Alî Çelebi, who had very much influence on the prince, continued to sit in his house. In place of the defterdar Hacı Nevrûz Bey, the Amasyan İshâk Paşazâde Pîrî Bey came. Zeyneb Hatun, one of the women poets, went to Istanbul. Hızır Paşazâde Mehmed Pasha became bey of Semendire in Rumelia.

Yet the cause of so much confusion was Sultan Bayezid himself. Although the investigation of Mustafa Pasha may also have been carried out with grudge, it was Bayezid's teaching. In any case Bayezid II, in his princely days and in the first years of his sultanate, was already a man fond of eating, drinking, and amusement, defeated by his desires and whims. He was also somewhat simple-hearted, falling for every word and listening to every speaker.

Since Fenârîzâde Ahmed Bey was also involved in this investigation, on the complaints against him he too was finally removed from office; in his place Mustafa Pasha, son of Hamza Bey, came again to Amasya in 883 as lala and administrator of the country's affairs.

In 884 [1479-80] es-Seyyid Abdullah Efendi, who had been appointed teacher, was transferred to the professorship of the Sultâniye in Bursa; in his place the Amasyan Hatîb Kâsım Efendi became the sultan's teacher. Mu'arrifzâde Sinâneddîn Yûsuf Efendi also came from Istanbul as teacher.

Likewise Çorumluoğlu Alâ'eddîn Alî Efendi, the prince's imam, also became involved in the affair. He was removed from the imamate and sent to Gümüş as professor of the Hacı Halîl Pasha Madrasa. Akdağlı Şeyhzâde Bedreddîn Mahmûd Efendi became imam.

In the month of Muharram 885 [1480-81] the Amasyan Molla Beylikzâde, Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi, famous as "Vildân Efendi," professor of the Murâdiye in Bursa, came to Istanbul as chief military judge of Anatolia. Likewise the Amasyan İshâk Pasha, governor of Salonica, was summoned to Istanbul.

On the death of Fâtih Sultan Mehmed Han on the fourth day of the month of Rebîulevvel 886 [1481-82], Keklik Mustafa Ağa came to Amasya on the twelfth day of Rebîulevvel to summon his son, the governor of Amasya Sultan Bayezid, to the throne. İshâk Pasha's great help had been involved in this summons.

At the same time the grand vizier Karamânî Mehmed Pasha had also sent a summoning letter and men to the other prince, Sultan Cem, who was governor of Konya. Until Sultan Bayezid arrived, his son Sultan Korkud had been put on the throne as regent sultan.

Sultan Bayezid set out from Amasya on the twelfth day of Rebîulevvel 886. Appointing his eldest son Sultan Ahmed to the governorship of Amasya in his place, he reached Istanbul on the twentieth of the month and ascended the throne.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• lala: experienced statesman in charge of a prince's education and administration, teacher and administrator
• vâlî / beylerbeyi: governor; administrator of a province or sanjak
• muhâfız: official responsible for the security of a city and its surroundings
• nişancı: official who marked decrees with the tuğra and headed the correspondence
• defterdâr: head of financial affairs
• kâtib-i dîvân: divan scribe
• mankır: small-value copper coin
• darbhâne: mint, place where money is struck
• kazasker: army judge; high judicial and ilmiye official
• musâhib: a prince's close boon companion
• nakl-i hâne: moving house, migration
• hıtân / sünnet düğünü: circumcision festivity of princes
• hayrât: charitable works built by way of waqf
• akârât ve emlâk: rent-yielding properties and real estate
• tazallüm-i hâl: presenting the injustice one has suffered, complaint
• kasîde-i tâiyye: Arabic qasida whose lines end with the letter "te"
• ayş u nûş: eating, drinking, and amusement
• hey'et-i tahkîkiyye: investigation committee
• i'dâm / azl / tahvîl: being killed, being dismissed from office, being transferred to another post

Prince Bayezid's Years in Amasya

The birth and appointment information Hüsameddin gives largely coincides with present-day sources. That Bayezid was born in Didymoteicho in 1448, was Fâtih's eldest son by Gülbahar Hatun, and was sent at the age of seven to the sanjak bey post of Amasya appears in Ottoman history encyclopedias. Hüsameddin gives Zilkade of 851; this falls in the first months of 1448. The date of appointment varies in the sources as 1454, 1455, or 1456. Hüsameddin's record of 858 [1454] agrees with the first of these.

It is known that his mother Gülbahar Hatun went to Amasya with her son and lived in this city until Bayezid came to the throne in 1481. In general little information on Gülbahar Hatun is found in the sources. It is related that she entered the palace in 1446. It is written that during Fâtih's Trabzon campaign of 1461 a village in Amasya was given to her as property and that she had some endowments in Tokat and Amasya. Hüsameddin's saying "it is established by her endowment deed" is compatible with the existence of endowment records. In a court deed of 1468, however, for the sale and purchase of a property in the Veled-i Kuzgun quarter in Amasya her name appears as "Gülbahar bint Abdullah"; this expression suggests that she had been brought to the palace as a captive or concubine. From a decree dated November 1479 it is understood that Fâtih, stating that most of the properties in the region were unlawfully in her hands, wanted them to be distributed as timars. Researchers interpret this as Fâtih's attitude toward his son in Amasya and his mother.

It is noted in the sources that Bayezid gathered artists and scholars around him in Amasya, was under the lalaship of experienced statesmen such as Çandarlı İbrâhim and Yahyâ Pasha, studied with Muarrifzâde, and took writing lessons from the calligrapher Şeyh Hamdullah and obtained his license. Mu'arrifzâde Sinâneddîn Yûsuf Efendi, whom Hüsameddin mentions as having come from Istanbul as teacher in 884 [1479-80], is counted among Kemalpaşazâde's teachers as well. On taking the throne Bayezid summoned Şeyh Hamdullah to Istanbul with his family.

Otlukbeli and the War with Uzun Hasan

The campaign Hüsameddin narrates as the year 878 [1473-74] is the Battle of Otlukbeli, as it is known. Bayezid joined his father's army at Kazova and took his place on the right wing in the battle. When Fâtih, having defeated Uzun Hasan, returned to Amasya, he stayed in the city about a month and was with his son. Turan, however, gives the destruction of Tokat by Akkoyunlu forces as having taken place in 1472 under the command of Yûsufca Mirza; Hüsameddin places it in 875 [1470-71] and ties the event to Uzun Hasan himself. No other source was found for the detail of Şarabdâr Hamza Bey's being deceived.

The Halîmî Lütfullâh Affair and the Investigation of 1478

The most detailed event in the text is what befell Halîmî, judge of Sivas. Present-day sources confirm it as follows: Halîmî, whose family was from Sivas and who was probably born and raised in Amasya, wanted, while judge of Sivas, to stop those who led Prince Bayezid astray, was slandered, was removed from office in 1474, and imprisoned in Tokat. When his innocence was understood after three months he was released and wrote an Arabic qasida to Fâtih. In 1475-76 he went to Istanbul, explained the qasida couplet by couplet, and pointed out those who had accustomed the prince to drink, gambling, and narcotics. Fâtih's sending an investigation committee to Amasya under Hamza Beyzâde Mustafa Pasha and his demanding the execution of Mahmûd Pasha, Tâcî Bey, and Abdurrahmân Efendi also appear in the same sources. Tâcî Bey's fleeing to Baghdad and Abdurrahmân Efendi's to Iran, and Mahmûd Pasha's execution, coincide with what Hüsameddin narrates. The single copy of the qasida in the Fâtih Library supports Hüsameddin's interpretation in footnote number 574. Today in the Süleymaniye Library there is the commentary (Ayasofya, 4088) on the fifty-one-couplet qasida, written in Halîmî's own hand.

This event concerning Prince Bayezid's way of life is also confirmed in another source, Turan's entry on Bayezid II. It is written that Bayezid at one time fell out with his father because he used opium, that Fâtih ordered the killing of Hızır Paşazâde Mahmud and Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman, who had led his son onto this path, and that Bayezid, protecting his companions, asked for pardon by informing his father that he gave up certain "müferrihât" (pleasure-giving things). Hüsameddin also ties the same event to the prince's character, saying "the cause of so much confusion was Sultan Bayezid himself." It must be kept in mind that this interpretation is Hüsameddin's own assessment and that other studies interpreting the same event differently may exist.

Hüsameddin's footnote number 575 points to a debate on the date of the decree. In Ferîdûn Bey's Münşe'ât this decree is shown as 881, sometimes 883. Hüsameddin, however, says that in Rebîulevvel 882 Bayezid was in Ladik with Mü'eyyedzâde Abdurrahmân Efendi, which he learned from a note written on the first page of a book that came into Abdurrahmân Efendi's hands, and places the decree in 883. The Halîmî entry ties Halîmî's going to Istanbul to 880 [1475-76]; Hüsameddin gives the presentation of the qasida as 881. The difference is about one year.

Kemalpaşazâde's Praise of Amasya

The long quotation in the text belongs to the Ottoman historian and şeyhülislam Kemalpaşazâde (Şemseddin Ahmed). Kemalpaşazâde was born on 3 Zilkade 873 [15 May 1469]. His birthplace is given in the sources as Tokat, Edirne, or Amasya; it is also put forward that he was an Amasyan. In his footnote number 573 Hüsameddin says that he was born in the Sevâdiyye quarter of Amasya. This information is relayed in Turan's entry, citing Hüsameddin, as "it is put forward that he was an Amasyan"; that is, the question of his birthplace is still not definite. Kemalpaşazâde's grandfather Kemal Pasha was lala to Prince Bayezid. His father Süleyman Çelebi was appointed guardian of Amasya in 879 [1474-75] and sanjak bey of Tokat in 883 [1478]; the records of Kemâl Paşazâde Süleyman Bey in Hüsameddin's text agree with this. After memorizing the Qur'an, Kemalpaşazâde learned Arabic, logic, and Persian from the scholars of Amasya, served first as a soldier, then passed to the path of the ilmiye. From 1526 he served as şeyhülislam and died in 1534.

The name "Harcene" in the quotation is the name by which Amasya was mentioned in old histories. In the quotation Amasya's river is praised as a river that makes Egypt envious and makes the Nile covet; the Turkish poem praises the Sevâdiyye. Since the text of the Persian poem is read corruptly in the printed book, its Turkish equivalent, especially in the last couplet, is approximate.

Charitable Works Built in Amasya and the Present Situation

The yearly records Hüsameddin lists draw a social picture of the Amasya of that time with its scholars, judges, emirs, and endowments. Structures in the text such as Selâmet Hatun's zawiya, Hızır Pasha's mosque, madrasa, imaret, and bath, Hacı Beyzâde Kâsım Bey's Hakala madrasa, and el-Hâc Hamza Bey's mosque fit the general picture showing that many mosques and masjids were built in Amasya in the era of the princes. In this period, one study calculates that of the forty-eight existing Muslim quarters in Amasya, mosques were built in thirteen, and twenty-five masjids were built in the twenty-four quarters without a mosque.

The record of the "lion-pictured mankır" at the Amasya mint is also interesting. Hüsameddin gives it under 865 [1460-61] and reports that it was ordered that this coin, struck for ten years, be abolished and struck in the sultan's name. No other source was found for this information; it should be read as Hüsameddin's own relaying.

The Call to the Throne and the Departure from Amasya

The last section of the text concerns Fâtih's death on 3 May 1481. Hüsameddin writes that the courier who went to Bayezid was Keklik Mustafa Ağa and that İshâk Pasha had a large share in the summons. Turan also mentions the same persons: he notes that the grand vizier Karamânî Mehmed Pasha was for Cem, that İshak Pasha, guardian of Istanbul, and Bayezid's sons-in-law wanted Bayezid, that the road of the courier going to Cem was cut, and that Korkut was seated on the throne as regent for his father. Bayezid learned of his father's death on 7 May, set out with 4,000 horsemen, and reached Üsküdar on 21 May. Hüsameddin, however, writes that Bayezid left Amasya on the twelfth day of Rebîulevvel and reached Istanbul on the twentieth of the month; the differences in days between the two accounts are in detail. Turan finds the records that Fâtih preferred one of his sons "far from reflecting the truth."

The Bayezid complex in Amasya, consisting of a mosque, madrasa, imaret, and tabhane, was built between 1481 and 1486; according to its inscription the mosque was completed in 1486. Ahmed, his son whom Bayezid left as governor in his place, was in charge of this construction.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 3, p. 475–480. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• Şerafettin Turan, "Bayezid II", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 5, İstanbul 1992 (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/bayezid-ii).
• Feridun Emecen, "Gülbahar Hatun", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 14, İstanbul 1996 (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/gulbahar-hatun).
• "Halîmî, Lutfullah", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/halimi-lutfullah).
• Şerafettin Turan and Şükrü Özen, "Kemalpaşazâde", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kemalpasazade).
• "Amasya'da Sancak Beyliği Yapan Şehzadeler Döneminde Amasya Şehri", DergiPark article (dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/19685).