Ankara'da Osmânlılar'dan evvel hükûmet eden Devletşâhoğlu Melik Nâsıreddîn Bahtiyâr Bey'in oğludur. Halk arasında Bahtiyâroğlu "Kara Devletşâh" demekle meşhûr bir nâkesdir. Timur tarafından Amasya emîri nasb edilmişdi.
Kara Devletşâh, küçük yaşında Hacı Şâdgeldi Paşa'ya ilticâ ederek onun ni'metiyle perverde olmuş, Devâtdâr Ahmed Paşa'nın lütuflarını [164] görmüşdü. Bununla beraber isyân ederek eşkıyâvârî köyleri basıp gâret ve Kadı Burhân'a gidip küfrân-ı ni'met etmiş sefîh, zâlim bir nâmerd idi.
Amasya a'yânı bu zâlimin ayârını tamâmiyle bildikleri cihetle bunu Amasya'ya yanaşdırmamağa ahd ederek bir cesâret-i medeniyye göstermişlerdi. Amasyalılar'ın a'yânı ve efrâdı bu husûsda ittifâk ederek Yâkût Paşa'ya bütün kuvvetleriyle muzâheret etmişlerdi.
A'yânın başında kibâr-ı ulemâdan Amasya müftüsü Gümüşlüzâde Şücâ'eddîn İlyâs, Hânkâh-ı Mes'ûdî şeyhi olup "Saru Şeyh" demekle meşhûr Şihâbeddîn Ahmed, müderris "Şeker Çelebi" demekle meşhûr Şemseddîn Ahmed, Lâdikli Tâceddîn İsrâfil Çelebiler vardı.
Amasya kadısı İzzeddîn Hasan Çelebi hasta olmakla beraber dâhil-i ittifâk olup Kadı İmâdzâdeler'den el-Hâc Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi kadıya nâib oldu. Ümerâdan Halifetzâde Ebûbekir, Yazarlıoğlu Ya'kûb Beyler bu ittifâkı takviye ediyorlardı. Bu ittifâkı idâre eden Yâkût Paşa idi.
Çünkü Kara Devletşâh, ma'iyyetinde on iki bin kadar süvârîden mürekkeb bir kuvvet olduğu hâlde gelip Amasya'nın şimâl boğazına dayanmış, Hakala Köyü'ne inmiş, Suluova'yı tutmuşdu. Amasya havâlîsine buradan hükûmet ediyordu.
Bu zamânda Amasya'nın iki vâlîsi vardı: Biri Yâkût Paşa [165] olup Amasya şehrine ve kalesine hâkimdi. Diğeri Kara Devletşâh olup Amasya hâricine ve havâlîsine hâkimdi. Amasyalılar boğazları tutup kapamışlardı.
Amasya'nın hâricinde Amasya ittifâkına giren beylerden Lâdik emîri Mes'ûd, Mecidözü emîri Cibrîlzâde Hacı Turkad, hâssaten Köprü emîri Taşanzâde Alî, Ahmed, Kâsım Beyler Kara Devletşâh'a karşı koymuşlardı.
Kara Devletşâh, Amasya'nın bu ittifâkını haber aldıkda derhâl efendisi Timur Hân'a mürâca'at ve ilticâ ederek Amasya a'yânına hitâben bir fermân alıp gönderdi. Amasyalılar'a pek çok va'd u va'îdlerde bulundu.
Fakat Amasya a'yânı Kara Devletşâh'ın ahvâl ve mezâliminden bahs ederek Timur Hân'a bir tazarru'-nâme irsâl etdiler. "Âdî bir köle gönder itâ'at ederiz, lâkin zâlim Kara Devletşâh'a itâ'atdan bizi afv ediniz! dediler". İttifâklarında ısrâr ediyorlardı.
Bunun üzerine "Târîh-i Yezdî"de yazıldığı vechile Aksak Timur, kendi mahdûmu Kara Mehmed Sultân ile mu'allimi Nu'mâneddîn Abdülcebbâr el-Mu'tezilî adlı bir fâzılı oldukça mühim bir kuvve-i askeriyye ile Amasya'ya gönderdi. Amasya a'yân ve ulemâsını hâdde-i imtihândan geçirmek istedi.
Şu hey'et-i âliye, Amasya şehrine 805 senesi evâsıt-ı rebî'ulevvelinde muvâsalat etdiği gün kendisini büyük bir tehlikede gören Yâkût Paşa tegayyüb ederek Amasya'dan çıkdı. Doğruca Bolu'ya gidip şehzâde Sultân Mehmed'e ahvâli arz etdi. [166]
Amasya şehri ve ilmiyyesi müdhiş bir imtihâna da'vet edilmişdi. Bu imtihânda kazandığı sûretde Amasya şehri tahrîb ve yağmâdan, ahâlîsi katliâmdan yakasını kurtaracakdı. İmtihânı gayb etdiği dakîkada felâket muhakkakdı.
Gelen hey'et-i âliye, Amasya'nın a'yânını ve ulemâsını bir yere topladı. Fermân-ı hâkânîye karşı koyduklarının esbâbını sordu. Ulemâya da müşkilât-ı ulûm-ı akliyye ve nakliyyeden on su'âl îrâd etdi.
Amasya hey'et-i ilmiyyesi, o zamân pek yüksek zevâtdan mürekkebdi. Cümleden müftî-i memleket Gümüşlüzâde Pîr Şücâ'eddîn İlyâs Çelebi gâyet fâzıl, natûk, cesâret-i medeniyyesi yüksek bir zât idi. Sorulan müdhiş su'âllere bilâ-tela'süm gâyet mukni' cevâblar verdi. Gelen hey'et-i âliyeyi dûçâr-ı hayret ederek Amasya'yı ve halkını büyük bir felâketden kurtardı.
Kâtib Çelebi, "Süllemü'l-Vusûl ilâ Terâcimi'l-Fuhûl" adlı eser-i nâ-tamâmında⁵⁴⁴ Gümüşlüzâde Hazret-i Pîr İlyâs'ın terceme-i hâlinde diyor ki:
"Timur'un âdeti, gitdiği yerin ulemâsını imtihân ederek mu'allimi tarafından sorulan su'âllere cevâb verdikleri takdîrde o beldeyi tahrîb ve yağmâdan afv eder. Cevâb vermedikleri sûretde şehri tahrîb ve yağmâ, ahâlîsini katliâm eyler. ⁵⁴⁵ [167]
Amasya şehri ve ulemâsı bu imtihâna da'vet edildi. Meşâhîr-i fuzalâdan Pîr İlyâs, Abdülcebbâr'ın en müşkil gördüğü on su'âle bilâ-tela'süm cevâb vermekle Amasya'yı tahrîb ve yağmâ felâketinden kurtardı".
Fakat Saru Şeyh ile Şeker Çelebi de büyük hizmetler ve himmetler etmişlerdi. Uzûbet-i beyânından dolayı "Şeker Çelebi" denmiş olan Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi, gâyet nâtıka-perdâz, elsine-i selâse ile mütekellimdi.
Bu fuzalânın beyânâtı Kara Mehmed Sultân'ı, Amasya emâretine Devâtdâr Ahmed Paşazâde Şâdgeldi Bey'i ta'yîn etmeye ve Kara Devletşâh'dan vazgeçirmeye iknâ' edebildi. Şâdgeldi Bey, Amasya emâretine ta'yîn edildi.
In Modern English
He is the son of Devletşâhoğlu Melik Nâsıreddîn Bahtiyâr Bey, who ruled in Ankara before the Ottomans. Among the people he is a worthless man known as Bahtiyâroğlu "Kara Devletşâh." He had been appointed emir of Amasya by Timur.
Kara Devletşâh, in his youth, had taken refuge with Hacı Şâdgeldi Pasha and had been raised on his bounty, and had received the kindnesses of Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha. Nevertheless he rebelled, raided and plundered villages like a bandit, went to Kadı Burhân, and showed ingratitude; he was a foolish, cruel scoundrel.
The notables of Amasya, knowing fully the bad character of this tyrant, had shown a townsman's courage by swearing not to let him approach Amasya. The notables and people of Amasya, uniting on this, had supported Yâkût Pasha with all their strength.
At the head of the notables were, among the great scholars, the mufti of Amasya Gümüşlüzâde Şücâeddîn İlyâs; Şihâbeddîn Ahmed, sheikh of the Hânkâh-ı Mes'ûdî, known as "Saru Şeyh"; the madrasa professor Şemseddîn Ahmed, known as "Şeker Çelebi"; and Tâceddîn İsrâfil Çelebi of Ladik.
İzzeddîn Hasan Çelebi, judge of Amasya, though ill, had joined this alliance, and el-Hâc Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi of the Kadı İmâdzâdes had become deputy to the judge. Among the emirs, Halifetzâde Ebûbekir and Yazarlıoğlu Ya'kûb Beys strengthened this alliance. The one leading this alliance was Yâkût Pasha.
For Kara Devletşâh, with a force of some twelve thousand horsemen in his retinue, had come up to the northern gorge of Amasya, camped at the village of Hakala, and held Suluova. From here he was directing the surroundings of Amasya.
At this time Amasya had two governors: one was Yâkût Pasha, who held the city and fortress of Amasya. The other was Kara Devletşâh, who held the outside and surroundings of Amasya. The Amasyans had seized and closed the gorges.
Outside Amasya, among the beys who joined the Amasya alliance, Mes'ûd, emir of Ladik, Hacı Turkad, son of Cibrîl, emir of Mecidözü, and especially Taşanzâde Alî, Ahmed, and Kâsım Beys, emirs of Köprü, resisted Kara Devletşâh.
When Kara Devletşâh learned of this alliance of Amasya, he at once applied to his master Timur Han and took refuge with him, and obtained and sent a decree addressed to the notables of Amasya. He made very many promises and threats to the Amasyans.
But the notables of Amasya, speaking of Kara Devletşâh's situation and tyrannies, sent Timur Han a letter of supplication. "Send an ordinary slave and we will obey, but spare us from obeying the tyrant Kara Devletşâh!" they said. They were holding firm in their alliance.
Thereupon, as written in the "Târîh-i Yezdî," Aksak Timur sent his own son Kara Mehmed Sultan and his teacher, a scholar named Nu'mâneddîn Abdülcebbâr el-Mu'tezilî, to Amasya with a quite considerable military force. He wanted to put the notables and scholars of Amasya through an examination.
On the day this exalted delegation reached the city of Amasya in the middle of Rebîülevvel 805, Yâkût Pasha, seeing himself in great danger, disappeared and left Amasya. He went straight to Bolu and reported the situation to Prince Sultan Mehmed.
The city of Amasya and the class of scholars had been summoned to a terrible examination. If it succeeded in this examination, the city of Amasya would be saved from destruction and plunder and its people from massacre. The moment it lost the examination, the calamity was certain.
The delegation that came gathered the notables and scholars of Amasya in one place. It asked the reasons for their resisting the khan's decree. It also put to the scholars ten questions from the difficult problems of the rational sciences and the transmitted sciences.
The body of scholars of Amasya at that time consisted of very eminent persons. Among them the mufti of the country, Gümüşlüzâde Pîr Şücâeddîn İlyâs Çelebi, was extremely learned, a fine speaker, and a man of high townsman's courage. He gave extremely convincing answers without hesitation to the terrible questions asked. Astonishing the delegation that had come, he saved Amasya and its people from a great calamity.
Kâtib Çelebi, in his unfinished work "Süllemü'l-Vusûl ilâ Terâcimi'l-Fuhûl," says in the biography of Gümüşlüzâde Hazret-i Pîr İlyâs:
"Timur's custom is to put the scholars of the place he goes to through an examination and, if they answer the questions asked by his teacher, to spare that place from destruction and plunder. If they do not answer, he destroys and plunders the city and kills its people en masse.
The city of Amasya and its scholars were summoned to this examination. Pîr İlyâs, one of the famous scholars, saved Amasya from the calamity of destruction and plunder by answering without hesitation the ten questions that Abdülcebbâr found hardest."
But Saru Şeyh and Şeker Çelebi had also shown great services and efforts. Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi, who was called "Şeker Çelebi" (Sugar Çelebi) because of the sweetness of his speech, was a very fine speaker who could speak three languages.
The explanations of these scholars were able to persuade Kara Mehmed Sultan to appoint Devâtdâr Ahmed Pashazâde Şâdgeldi Bey to the emirate of Amasya and to give up Kara Devletşâh. Şâdgeldi Bey was appointed to the emirate of Amasya.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- nâkes: worthless, ill-natured
- küfrân-ı ni'met: ingratitude toward one who has given bounty
- a'yân: notables of a place
- hânkâh: dervish lodge, tekke
- müderris: madrasa professor
- nâib: deputy
- tazarru'-nâme: letter of supplication, petition
- fermân-ı hâkânî: the khan's decree
- akıl ve nakil bilimleri: sciences based on reason and sciences based on transmission (the Qur'an, hadith, and transmitted knowledge)
- bilâ-tela'süm: without hesitation
- elsine-i selâse: three languages (Arabic, Persian, Turkish)
Kara Devletşah and Hakala
The framework told in present-day sources is the same as that given by Hüsameddin. Timur appointed Kara Devletşah emir of Amasya, but the people and notables of Amasya, knowing him to be a tyrant, did not recognize his emirate and did not allow him to enter the city. Thereupon Kara Devletşah encamped at the village of Kağala (Hakala) and directed the other parts of the city from there. Hüsameddin's saying that he "camped at Hakala" and "held Suluova" agrees with this account. One study also counts Kara Devletşah among the local dynasties that accepted Timur's sovereignty and opposed Ottoman rule.
Timur's Examination
Hüsameddin narrates that this examination was carried out by Kara Mehmed Sultan, who is Timur's grandson or son, and by his teacher Abdülcebbâr. In the entry Kara Mehmed Sultan appears as Timur's "prince." In another study, when the same event is relayed from Hüsameddin, he is called "the grandson of Topal Timûr Han," that is, his grandson. This distinction is a difference of expression within the book itself; no other source was found for the exact kinship.
Pîr İlyas is today one of the best-known scholar-sheikhs of Amasya. According to one study, during Timur's time his learning was admired and he was taken to Shirvan, where, together with Seyyid Yahya Şirvânî/Bakûvî, he became versed in the subtleties of the Khalwati path, and became one of the first sheikhs who brought Khalwatism from Shirvan to Amasya and, in a sense, to Anatolia. The Khalwati tekke founded in Amasya after his return from Shirvan is counted among the first important Khalwati tekkes. The same study writes that the famous woman poet Mihrî Hatun, as his granddaughter, was presented to Amasya from the Gümüşlüoğulları family. In the quotation made from Amasya Tarihi this event is narrated "in 805" and it is noted that Pir İlyâs was sent to Shirvan; this is in Hüsameddin's sixth volume (p. 368).
The tomb of Pîr İlyas is today in the Pirler Park in Amasya and is also known as the Upper Pirler Tomb. It was built in 1486 by Gümüşlüzâde Ahmet Bey; besides Pir İlyas, it contains the graves of his son-in-law Pir Celaleddin Abdurrahman and his grandson Pir Hayreddin Hızır Çelebi and their families. The structure, renewed in 1688 by Gümüşlüzade İbrahim Pasha, was destroyed after the 1895 earthquake and rebuilt later.
Hüsameddin's Footnotes
The author says that the unfinished work Kâtib Çelebi mentions is in the Şehîd Alî Pasha Library near Şehzâde and that there is only one copy. He also notes that Ibn Shihna wrote of this examination custom of Timur in his "Ravzu'l-Menâzır," and that he himself describes in detail having been summoned to this examination and having passed it. The accounts of Kâtib Çelebi and Ibn Shihna could not be reached in this study; this information could be given only in the form Hüsameddin relays it.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 3, p. 454–455. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Official sources