The Müeyyedzâdes were a family of scholars, judges and sheikhs whose name can be followed in Amasya without a break from the early fifteenth century to the end of the nineteenth. The family takes its name from Şemseddîn Müeyyed Çelebi, sheikh of the Yâkût Pasha dervish lodge; his grandson, the chief military judge (kazasker) Abdurrahman Efendi, a poet under the pen name Hâtemî and a close friend of Bayezid II, is its best-known member. The line reaches further back, to the Divriğilizâdes who came from Divriği and settled in Amasya; from the same root also descends the family of Şükrullah Çelebi, one of the first Ottoman historians. The family soon divided into two. One branch moved to Istanbul and produced two chief military judges, a şeyhülislâm, a chief scribe (reisülküttâb) and a chancellor (nişancı) who rose to the vizierate; the other remained in Amasya and for more than two hundred years held the Yâkûtiye lodge and the Pervâne Bey endowment to which the Burmalı Minare Mosque belonged.

Hüsameddin's History of Amasya contains close to forty entries on the family. About twenty carry the name "Müeyyedzâde" in their headings and about ten bear "Vâsi' Çelebizâde", the name of the family's last branch in Amasya; the rest are given to the family's ancestors. Most of the entries are notices of a few lines. Because Hüsameddin writes out the lineage in long chains in each of them, however, the family can be followed across twelve generations. The chronicle volumes of the work also record, year by year, the family's endowment lawsuits, deaths and changes of trusteeship. The account below brings these entries and records together; the contradictions within the book itself are noted where they occur.

Name and Origins

Hüsameddin names as the family's earliest ancestor Doğan, one of the Salur Turkmens living in Divriği. Doğan's son Sheikh Evrân Çelebi studied under Musliheddîn Mûsâ of Tabriz, lived for a time in Tokat, and then received the Sufi path in Amasya from Âşık Pasha, sheikh of the Mes'ûdî lodge. Hacı Kutluşâh is said to have built a lodge for him beside his own mosque, and Evrân died in 757 [1356]. The book is not consistent about this ancestor's honorific: in his own entry he is called Şihâbüddîn, in the entry on Siyâvuş Çelebi Nûreddîn, in that on Şükrullah Çelebi Salâhaddîn, and in that on Bâlî Çelebi's grandson İzzeddîn. In one place his grave is also placed in Tokat.

Evrân's son Zeyneddîn Siyâvuş Çelebi was born in Divriği, came with his father first to Sivas and then to Tokat, and went on to Amasya for his education, studying under Fahreddîn İlyâs Aksarâyî and Hüsâmeddîn Çelebi. He appears as a madrasa teacher in 758 [1356-57] and among the city's leading scholars in 768 [1366-67]; he was the son-in-law of his teacher Hüsâmeddîn Çelebi. His two sons, Şihâbeddîn Ahmed Bâlî Çelebi and Alâeddîn Ali Yârî Çelebi, were called "Divriğilizâde" or "Veled-i Difrigî". Bâlî Çelebi's son was Şükrullah Çelebi, author of the Behcetü't-tevârîh, and his descendants were called the Şükrullâhzâdes. The descendants of Ali Yârî Çelebi's son Şemseddîn Müeyyed Çelebi took the name Müeyyedzâde. Hüsameddin repeats this distinction three times, in the entries on Evrân, Siyâvuş and Şükrullah.

A clue to where the name "Müeyyed", the source of the family name, came from lies in Ali Yârî Çelebi's marriage. According to Hüsameddin, Ali Yârî became the deputy and son-in-law of Şemseddîn Mü'eyyed, known in Amasya as the "Küpeli Sheikh", who was sheikh of Hacı Şâdgeldi Pasha's lodge beside the Saraçhâne Mosque. The book calls this sheikh "Ebû İshâk Kâzerûnî"; it states that in 789 [1387-88] he went to Bursa with Bayezid I, became sheikh of the lodge the sultan built there, and died in 798 [1395-96]. It therefore seems likely that Ali Yârî named his son after his father-in-law; this is an inference and is not stated in the book. Some biographical writers, on the other hand, link the family's descent to Ebû İshak Kâzerûnî, founder of the Kâzerûniyye order, who died in 426 [1035]. Âşık Çelebi also says that the family came originally from Iran. In the chain Hüsameddin constructs, however, the paternal line is a Turkmen lineage from Divriği, and the Iranian connection comes only through the mother's side.

The appearance of the same name in other families is liable to cause confusion in the book. The Küpeli Sheikh's son Mecdeddîn Abdulmecîd Çelebi is also called "Mü'eyyedzâde" in the chronicle; his descendants were known in Amasya as the Küpelioğulları and are distinct from the family that is the subject of this article. Emîr Şeyh Müeyyed Çelebi, who bears the title Kadızâde, belongs to the Hallâtîzâde lineage. The judge Mü'eyyed Çelebi, who built a madrasa in Osmancık in 820 [1417-18], and the chief judge Mü'eyyededdîn Mehmed also belong to other families.

The Family Across the Generations

Ali Yârî Çelebi and the Yâkûtiye Lodge

Alâeddîn Ali Yârî Çelebi lived for a time with his brother Bâlî Çelebi in Sivas under the protection of Kadı Burhâneddin, and returned to Amasya during the emirate of Ahmed Pasha, son of Hacı Şâdgeldi Pasha. Hüsameddin names him as a student of Cüneydî Çelebi and reports that a copy of the history of Hacı Şâdgeldi Pasha written by his teacher was in his possession, something he says he heard from Hâfız Ebûbekir Efendi, one of the family's last generations. In Persian poetry he competed with Temennâyî Ali Çelebi, who gave him the nickname "Yârî-i Şîrâzî" in comparison with Hâfız of Shiraz. Hüsameddin says that Ali Yârî was as capable in verse as Hâfız, and also presents him as the first known poet in Amasya to continue the path Âşık Pasha had opened in Turkish poetry. The book also records that at the time of the Battle of Ankara he held the rank of şeyhülislâm in Bursa and returned to Amasya after the battle.

Ali Yârî's real legacy to the family was the Yâkût Pasha lodge. Sinâneddîn Yâkût Pasha, one of the Ottoman commanders of the reign of Mehmed I, built a lodge with a mosque, a sheikh's room, a guesthouse and a soup kitchen on the bank of the Yeşilırmak, southwest of the hospital, and had its endowment deed drawn up in the early part of 810 [1407-08]. The chapter on the city's quarters gives the date of the building as 814 [1411-12], and the district in which the lodge stood came to be called the Yâkûtiye quarter. According to the chronicle, the lodge's sheikhship was first given to Ali Yârî Çelebi. Yâkût Pasha, for his part, stipulated the trusteeship first for the first sheikh, Mehmed bin Abdullah Buhârî, and his descendants, and after them for "Mü'eyyed Çelebi, son of Yâr Ali Çelebi" and his descendants. Ali Yârî Çelebi died in 818 [1415-16], the year of the great earthquake that devastated Amasya in the month of Safer, and was succeeded by his son Müeyyed Çelebi.

Şemseddîn Müeyyed Çelebi and His Sons

Şemseddîn Müeyyed Çelebi remained sheikh of the Yâkût Pasha lodge for more than thirty years, and Hüsameddin counts him among Amasya's great notables. His brother Mecdeddîn Pîr Mehmed Çelebi pursued learning in Bursa, studied under Molla Fenârî and Mehmed Yegân, taught at the Murâdiye madrasa in Bursa and the Üç Şerefeli madrasa in Edirne, and then became judge of Edirne. His signature as judge of Edirne appears on a document dated 861 [1456-57], and his son Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi is named among the statesmen of the reign of Mehmed II. Müeyyed Çelebi himself died towards the end of 851 [1447-48]. In recording this death the chronicle lists his sons as Abdülvâsi', Abdullah and Ali Çelebi and writes that they too were called "Mü'eyyedzâde". In the biographical volumes, however, a fourth son, Mehmed Çelebi, appears again and again as the ancestor of the branch that remained in Amasya. That the family had a mosque in Amasya named after Müeyyed Çelebi is known from the endowment of his great-granddaughter Ayşe Hâtun.

Of the sons, Abdülvâsi' Çelebi became a madrasa teacher and one of the senior judges, and died without leaving a son. His year of death is given as 881 [1476-77] in his own entry and as 883 [1478-79] in his daughter's entry. Nothing is known of Abdullah Çelebi beyond his name. Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi became chancellor to Prince Bayezid while the prince was governor of the sanjak of Amasya, and the Istanbul branch of the family began with his sons. Mehmed Çelebi served as judge of Galata; a quarter named after him grew up in Galata, and his grandsons were divided between Amasya and Istanbul.

Abdurrahman Efendi, Chief Military Judge (Hâtemî)

Chancellor Ali Çelebi's son Abdurrahman Efendi was born at the beginning of Safer 860 [January 1456] in Amasya's Yâkûtiye quarter. He studied at the nearby Şâhbula school, attended the writing lessons of the calligrapher Sheikh Hamdullah, and sat in the classes of Hatîb Kâsım and Abdî Efendi. Through his father he entered Prince Bayezid's private circle at a young age, and his skill in poetry was held equal to that of Afitâbî and Tâcî Bey. In the inquiry opened against Bayezid's circle after the complaint Halîmî Çelebi submitted to Mehmed II, a death warrant was issued. Hüsameddin places this flight in 881 [1476-77]; the TDV entry gives the date as 884 [1479]. Before the warrant arrived, Bayezid gave him money, horses and travelling gear and had him spirited away by night. Abdurrahman went by way of Aleppo to Shiraz, studied for about seven years with Celâleddin Devvânî, received his licence, and returned to Amasya in Ramazan 888 [October 1483].

His career, which began with a teaching post at the Kalenderhâne in Istanbul, carried him to the Sahn-ı Semân, to the judgeship of Edirne, and to the chief military judgeship of Anatolia in 907 [1501] and of Rumelia in 911 [1505-06]. On 17 Rebîülevvel 891 [23 March 1486] he married the daughter of Musliheddîn Kestelî. In 917 [1511-12], taken for a partisan of Prince Ahmed, he became a target of the Janissaries, his mansion was plundered and he was dismissed. Selim I appointed him first judge of Karaferye and then, in 919 [1513-14], chief military judge of Rumelia once again, and took him on the Çaldıran campaign; on the way back, at Çoban Köprüsü, he dismissed him again. He died on the night of 15 Şâban 922 [13 September 1516] and was buried in Eyüp near the tomb of Ebû Eyyûb el-Ensârî. The details of his life, his fatwa collection, his treatises and his library are treated in the site's biography of Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi, and the poems he wrote under the pen name Hâtemî in the article devoted to his poetry.

Abdurrahman Efendi's importance for the family lies in the network of patronage he built. It was he who opened Kemalpaşazâde's teaching career and urged him to write a history of the Ottomans in Turkish. Hüsameddin ties this closeness to an old friendship between the two families going back to Amasya: when Kemalpaşazâde's father Süleyman Bey was guard of Prince Bayezid's palace, Abdurrahman's father Ali Çelebi was chancellor of the same palace. Kemalpaşazâde later gave his daughter Safiyye Hâtun to Abdurrahman's son Abdülvehhâb Efendi and made him his son-in-law and teaching assistant. In Hüsameddin's entry Abdurrahman's sons are listed as Abdülvehhâb, Abdülfettâh, Abdürrezzâk, Abdüsselâm and Mahmûd. That the phrase "Abdulvahhab bin Abdulfettâh" in the text is a typesetting error becomes clear when it is read together with TDV's report of five sons and one daughter; this is an inference. Four of the sons died between the ages of twenty and thirty. Only Abdülvehhâb Efendi rose as far as a Sahn professorship, and he died in Rebîülevvel 970 [1562]. Âşık Çelebi's reference to Müeyyedzâde as his maternal grandfather shows that this only daughter was the mother of the biographer Âşık Çelebi.

Sheikh Abdürrahîm Efendi and Şeyhülislâm Abdülkâdir Şeyhî Efendi

Abdurrahman Efendi's brother Abdürrahîm Efendi was born on 21 Ramazan 873 [4 April 1469]. He studied in Amasya under Abdî Çelebi, in Istanbul under the chancellor Sinan Pasha and Hocazâde, and, after Hocazâde's death in 893 [1487-88], under Kestelî. After teaching at several madrasas he joined the circle of İskilipli Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi, sheikh of Bayezid II, married his daughter and gave up teaching. This sheikh, called Şeyh Yavsî in TDV, was the father of Ebüssuûd Efendi; Abdürrahîm thus became Ebüssuûd's brother-in-law. Because he made the pilgrimage in 908 [1502-03], he was also called "Hacı Çelebi". On the accession of Selim I in 918 [1512] his sheikh was sent to İskilip and he himself to Amasya, where he stayed in the house of his brother Abdülkerîm. In 921 [1515] he returned to Istanbul, in 926 [1519-20] became sheikh of the lodge belonging to his father-in-law in the Sultanselim district, and for eighteen years guided disciples in the Halvetî and Bayrâmî manner. He died in 944 [1537-38] and was buried in Eyüp beside his elder brother. The grand vizier Pîrî Mehmed Pasha and the treasurer İskender Çelebi were his friends, and every Thursday night Kemalpaşazâde and the sheikhs from Amasya gathered in his company.

Of Abdürrahîm Efendi's sons, Alâeddîn Ali Efendi died shortly after his father while a Sahn professor, and Ebü'l-Hüdâ Abdülvehhâb Efendi died in 951 [1544-45]. Abdülhâdî Çelebi, in Hüsameddin's words, fell into dissipation and died young, in 930 [1523-24]. His best-known son is Abdülkâdir Şeyhî Efendi. Hüsameddin writes that he was born in Amasya at the beginning of 920 [1514] and brought to Istanbul with his father in Receb 921; TDV gives his birthplace as Istanbul. He studied under his maternal uncle Ebüssuûd Efendi and became his son-in-law. Passing through the madrasas of Gelibolu, Bursa and Çorlu, he rose to professorships at the Sahn, Ayasofya and Süleymaniye, to the judgeships of Damascus, Cairo, Bursa and Istanbul, and to the chief military judgeship of Anatolia in 978 [1570-71] and of Rumelia in 979 [1571-72]. In Cemâziyelevvel 995 [1587] he succeeded Çivizâde as şeyhülislâm, and two years later he withdrew after the Beylerbeyi Incident. In the entry on Pîrî Ahmed Çelebi the year of his appointment as şeyhülislâm appears as 994.

The date of Abdülkâdir Şeyhî's death also differs between the sources. Hüsameddin gives the end of Şevvâl 1002 [July 1594], TDV 27 Receb 1002 [18 April 1594]. Hüsameddin says he was buried in Eyüp beside his father and uncles; according to TDV his grave lies in Eyüp in the burial ground of the mosque he had built himself. Hüsameddin also mentions this mosque and writes that he stipulated its trusteeship for the judges of Eyüp. In the praise Nev'îzâde Atâyî wrote for him, he calls him "the pillar of the lofty house of the Müeyyediyye"; this is the clearest expression showing that the family name was used like the name of a dynasty in the learned hierarchy of Istanbul. His son Abdürrahîm Niyâzî Efendi died in Ramazan 1002 [1594] at the age of thirty-two while a professor at the Süleymaniye.

The Branch of Abdülkerîm Efendi: Calligraphers and Judges

Chancellor Ali Çelebi's third son, Abdülkerîm Efendi, stayed in Amasya. He studied under Mevlânâ Abdülkerîm Amâsî, learned the various scripts from Sheikh Hamdullah, did not give up teaching even though he was judge of Amasya several times, and died in 927 [1520-21] while judge of Amasya. In Mecdî's translation of the Şakâyık his command of history and old reports is praised, and his mastery of calligraphy is mentioned together with that of his son Abdülhay. When his brother Abdürrahîm was banished to Amasya in 918, it was in his house that he stayed.

His son Abdülhay Efendi became a candidate under his uncle Abdurrahman and a madrasa teacher in Amasya. In 918 [1512] he was called to Istanbul, and in 923 [1517], during the conquest of Diyarbekir and its region, he became judge of Diyarbekir and judge of the army with the title "chief military judge of Kurdistan". In 931 [1524-25] he became judge of Amasya, resigned in 937, and withdrew to his uncle Abdürrahîm's lodge in Istanbul. Süleyman the Magnificent, angered by this resignation, sent him back to Diyarbekir; the text gives this date as "840", while the order of events shows that it must be 940 [1533-34]. In the couplet Abdülhay wrote on his departure he calls Âmid "a black calamity"; after a second letter of entreaty he was pardoned in 943 [1536-37], returned to Amasya, and died in 950 [1543-44]. His son Ahmed Efendi studied under Musliheddîn Mûsâ, learned calligraphy from Ebü'l-Fazl Mehmed and became a master of ta'lik script, served several times as deputy judge of Amasya and then as its judge, and died around 975 [1567-68].

The presence of two men named Abdullah in the family has caused a confusion in the book. The poet introduced in the entry Abdullah Efendi as Abdurrahman Efendi's younger brother was the son-in-law of the grand vizier Pîrî Mehmed Pasha. He served as judge of Sofia, Skopje, Bosnia and Serres, and died in 961 [1553-54] while judge of Sofia. According to Âşık Çelebi's biographical dictionary his pen name was Abdî. In a note added to the same entry, and in the separate entry Abdî Çelebi, Hüsameddin gives the results of his own research. The man seen as judge of Sarajevo in 898 [1492-93] with the signature "Abdullah bin Alî el-Müeyyedî" is Abdurrahman's elder brother Abdullah. The poet Abdî, by contrast, is the son of Abdülkerîm Efendi, brother of Abdülhay, and therefore the nephew of the elder Abdullah. That "Mü'eyyedzâde Abdullah Abdî Efendi" is listed among Pîrî Mehmed Pasha's sons-in-law supports this correction.

Mehmed Çelebi, Judge of Galata, and the House of Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi

Müeyyed Çelebi's son Mehmed Çelebi served as judge of Galata, and a quarter bearing his name grew up in Galata. Of his sons, Abdülhamîd Çelebi was trained among the scribes of the Imperial Council, became scribe of the Janissaries in 918 [1512], then grand vizier's secretary, and chief scribe in 924 [1518]; he died after leaving office in 926 [1519-20]. Abdülhâdî Efendi died around 930 [1523-24] after serving as judge of Silivri and Gelibolu. Mehmed Çelebi's best-known son is Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi. He studied under Hatîb Kâsım, married the daughter of his uncle Abdülvâsi' Çelebi, and moved from a professorship at the Mehmed Pasha madrasa to the judgeship of Tokat and, in 912 [1506-07], to the chief judgeship of Amasya. He became the adviser and companion of Prince Ahmed. He was reckoned the first of the prince's companions known as the "Şems"es and wrote poetry under the pen name "Şems". In 918 [1512], when Selim I came to the throne and Prince Ahmed's hope of the sultanate was extinguished, he died in fear; a collection on jurisprudence and some poems by him survive.

The book has two separate entries on Şemseddîn Ahmed's wife. According to the entry Ayşe Hâtun, she was a learned woman who had studied with her father and her uncle. While her husband was judge of Amasya, in 917 [1511-12], she built a school beside the mosque of her grandfather Müeyyed Çelebi and endowed the properties she had inherited from her father to the school and the mosque. The entry Zeyneb Hâtun, on the other hand, names Abdülvâsi' Çelebi's daughter, wife of Şemseddîn Ahmed and companion of the women in Prince Ahmed's harem, as Zeyneb, and writes that she died around 923 [1517-18]. In the entry on Abdülvâsi' Çelebi too the daughter's name is Zeyneb. Since the father, husband and children are the same, the two entries may be thought to describe a single person; this is an inference.

The entries do not fully agree about the children of this household. The entries on Şemseddîn Ahmed and Ayşe Hâtun give the sons as Abdülvâsi' and "Abdülvahhâb Remzî". The Zeyneb Hâtun entry lists Abdülvâsi', Abdülhâdî and Abdülkerîm. In the entry Abdülbâkî Efendi, the brothers are given as Abdülvâsi', Abdülhâdî and Remzî. The pen name "Remzî" is given in one place to Abdülvehhâb and in two separate entries (Remzî Abdülhâdî and Abdülhâdî Remzî) to Abdülhâdî. Abdürrahîm Efendi's son-in-law is likewise named in one place as Abdülvehhâb Remzî and in the other two as Abdülhâdî Remzî. In addition, Abdülhâdî Efendi is shown in one entry as a brother of Şemseddîn Ahmed. These differences seem to arise from the repetition of the same names across generations.

The brothers' lives are known only in outline. Abdülbâkî Efendi studied under his cousin Abdurrahman, served as judge in major cities and died around 955 [1548-49]. Abdülvehhâb Efendi died as a madrasa teacher and judge towards 971 [1563-64]. Abdülhâdî Remzî went to Istanbul in 921 [1515], stayed in the lodge of his cousin Abdürrahîm Efendi and became his son-in-law. After serving as judge in Rumelia he became judge of Galata and lived in the Galata quarter that bore his grandfather's name. One entry places his death around 975 [1567-68] in Galata, the other after his dismissal from the judgeship of Belgrade. His son Mehmed İlmî Efendi was a poet; he died in 1000 [1591-92], having been dismissed from the post of chief judge of Bursa. Abdülvâsi' Çelebi, for his part, studied with his father in Amasya, learned calligraphy from Ebü'l-Fazl and died around 967 [1559-60]. Hüsameddin calls him the "kerîmezâde", that is, the daughter's son, of his grandfather Abdülvâsi' Çelebi. The Amasya branch of the family descends from this second Abdülvâsi'; in the words of the entry on Şemseddîn Ahmed, "the Abdülvâsi' Çelebizâdes remained in Amasya, and the Abdülvahhâb Remzî Efendizâdes in Istanbul."

The Branch That Stayed in Amasya and Pîrî Ahmed Efendi

Two sons of the second Abdülvâsi' Çelebi are known. From Mehmed Çelebi's line came trustees of the Pervâne Bey endowment. The sons of Yahyâ Çelebi, for their part, are the family's best-known names in the seventeenth century. Pîrî Ahmed Efendi studied in Amasya under Şeyhülharem Sinâneddîn Yûsuf and under Mü'eyyedzâde Ali Efendi, who was both his teacher and his cousin. The book does not show this Ali Efendi's place in the lineage. He taught in Amasya for years, and when his teacher Ali Efendi died the trusteeship of the Pervâne Bey endowment passed to him by inheritance. With the support of Şeyhülislâm Abdülkâdir Şeyhî he moved from the Hüseyin Ağa professorship to the judgeship of Trabzon, and served as judge in sanjaks and in Erzurum. In 1014 [1605-06] he retired with the Mehmed Pasha madrasa, and he died in Ramazan 1017 [December 1608]. He was a man of letters, a poet, a calligrapher and a scribe. Hüsameddin records that many Amasya scribes and teachers, such as Çekemzâde Âbî Mehmed Çelebi, Dördüncüzâde Emânî Ahmed Çelebi and Dilkî Bâlî Mehmed Efendi, learned scholarship, calligraphy and secretarial writing from him. In accordance with his will his books were moved to the Sultan Bayezid library in Amasya.

Pîrî Ahmed's brother Derviş Hızır Çelebi belonged to the military class. On his elder brother's death in 1017 he became trustee of the Yâkût Pasha and Pervâne Bey endowments, being judged more suitable than his brother's sons Habîb and Ali Çelebi. When he died in 1041 [1631-32], a dispute over the trusteeship broke out among his nephews and was settled in court. In the same years Ca'fer Çelebi, of Mehmed Çelebi's line, also became trustee of the Pervâne Bey endowment after the death of his cousin Pîrî Ahmed, and died in 1048 [1638-39]. The book names "Sheikh İbrâhim Efendi" as the son of Ca'fer Çelebi's grandson Mehmed Efendi. That this is the İbrâhim Efendi who has an entry in the sixth volume as son of Mehmed Çelebi, trustee of the Pervâne Bey endowment, is an inference. This İbrâhim Efendi received the trusteeship of a third share of the endowment on his father's death in 1126 [1714-15], served as a judge, and died in Zilkade 1149 [March 1737].

Chancellor Ca'fer Pasha and the Nişâncızâdes

Ca'fer Pasha, son of Pîrî Ahmed Efendi's son Ali Çelebi, is the only great name of the family to rise outside the learned hierarchy. Through the favour of the grand vizier Bayram Pasha he entered the palace school, rose to steward of the inner pantry, and in 1064 [1653-54] came to Amasya on leave. There he brought a trusteeship suit against his cousin Abdülvâsi' Çelebi and, by proving his descent, became joint trustee of the Pervâne Bey endowment. In 1066 [1655-56] he became standard-bearer (mîr-i alem) and won the confidence of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. He became chancellor in place of Chancellor Mustafa Pasha of Mostar, who died on 18 Muharrem 1072 [13 September 1661], received the rank of beylerbey the following year and that of dome vizier in 1074 [1663-64]. After eight years as chancellor he died at the beginning of Rebîülevvel 1080 [August 1669]. According to the chronicle, after the death of Abdülvâsi' Çelebi the trusteeship of the Yâkût Pasha and Pervâne Bey endowments was given to Ca'fer Pasha alone. His affairs in Amasya were managed by his cousin Habîb Efendi as his agent. The descendants of Ca'fer Pasha's sons Ali and Mustafa Bey were called the Nişâncızâdes.

The same chronicle entry names another family member who joined the suit for the Yâkût Pasha trusteeship: "Hısımzâde Abdülbâkî Efendi bin Yahyâ Efendi of the Müeyyedzâde house", one of the senior judges of Istanbul. At the end of the suit the Yâkût Pasha trusteeship was separated from that of Pervâne Bey and given to him. According to the chapter on the city's quarters, after the line of Buhârî's descendants died out, Abdülbâkî Efendi proved the condition in the endowment deed and his right of inheritance, and in 1080 [1669-70] became both sheikh and trustee of the Yâkûtiye lodge. When he died in 1085 [1674-75], his son Yahyâ Efendi succeeded him. Yahyâ Efendi held this office until 1124 [1712-13], after which his sons es-Seyyid Mehmed and Ahmed Efendi became trustees. The place in the lineage of Abdülbâkî Efendi's father Yahyâ is not shown in the book.

The Vâsi' Çelebizâdes

Abdülvâsi' Çelebi, son of Pîrî Ahmed's son Habîb Çelebi, learned calligraphy from the calligrapher İsmâil Kâtibî and became scribe of the council of the sanjak of Amasya and then court scribe. He taught writing to the public, wrote poetry under the pen name "Vâsî", and was trustee of the Pervâne Bey endowment. His death is given in his entry as 1076 [1665-66]. The chronicle, however, records his death among the events of the year 1074. His descendants were called the "Vâsi' Çelebizâdes", and under this name the family reached the nineteenth century. His brother Abdülhay Efendi died as a madrasa teacher and judge after 1083 [1672-73]. Abdülvâsi's sons Habîb Efendi and Ahmed Efendi also became judges. Habîb Efendi was twice judge of Amasya and died after 1093 [1682]; Ahmed Efendi lived and taught in the Çeribaşı quarter and died in 1099 [1687-88].

The children of Habîb Efendi's son Yahyâ Çelebi are the family's last brilliant generation. Of these brothers, who were seyyids through their mother Şerîfe Fâtma, Hamdî Ahmed Efendi became professor of the Halfet Gâzi madrasa. In 1140 [1727-28] he became trustee of the Yâkût Pasha endowment and in 1141 [1728-29] of the Pervâne Bey endowment; in this entry and in some places in the chronicle the name of the Yâkût Pasha endowment is written as "Ya'kûb Pasha". Hamdî Ahmed served in 1147 [1734-35] as drafter and keeper of fatwas. He also served as deputy judge of Amasya. He wrote poetry under the pen name "Hamdî", left a work titled Mu'înü'l-vâ'izîn, and died on 7 Rebîülâhir 1159 [29 April 1746]. A second short entry is also devoted to him in the book (Hamdi Ahmed Efendi). His brother Habîb Muhyiddîn Efendi was a calligrapher and preacher. The copy of Mugni'l-lebîb he wrote in 1154 [1741-42] shows his mastery of broken thuluth. In 1159 he succeeded his elder brother as professor of the Halfet Gâzi madrasa, twice served as deputy marshal of the descendants of the Prophet, and died in the middle of 1176 [1762-63]. Hüsameddin saw the versified genealogy he wrote in the house of Vâsi' Çelebizâde Hâfız Ebûbekir Efendi. Ebûbekir Efendi died after 1310 [1892-93], and Hüsameddin took part of his oral information on the family from him.

The entries on the last generations are shorter. Abdülhay Efendi, son of Hacı Habîb Çelebi, died as a madrasa teacher and trustee of the Pervâne Bey endowment after 1141. İbrâhim Efendi is the son of Ahmed Efendi bin Yahyâ Çelebi, sheikh of the Yâkûtiye lodge and trustee of the Pervâne Bey endowment. He became trustee on his father's death in 1142 [1729-30], later sheikh of the Yâkûtiye, and died around 1165 [1751-52]. Whether this Ahmed Efendi is the Ahmed who took over the Yâkûtiye trusteeship from Yahyâ bin Abdülbâkî or another Ahmed is not clear in the book. Hıfzı Mahmûd Efendi became trustee of the Pervâne Bey endowment in 1187 [1773-74], then for more than forty years imam of the Gümüşlüzâde Mosque, and died in 1273 [1856-57]. Because his father is called by the nickname "Gümüşlüzâde" in his entry, his link to the family is inferred from the name Vâsi' Çelebizâde in the heading and from his endowment office. That Hacı Hâfız Ebûbekir Efendi, listed among his sons, is the Vâsi' Çelebizâde Hâfız Ebûbekir Efendi in whose house Habîb Muhyiddîn's genealogy was seen is highly likely; this too is an inference.

Buildings, Endowments and Quarter

The family's first home in Amasya was the Yâkûtiye quarter. The quarter grew up on the bank of the Yeşilırmak west of the hospital, on the site formerly called the Garden of Gıyâseddîn Şâh, and took its name from Yâkût Pasha's residence there. Abdurrahman Efendi was born in this quarter. The lodge Yâkût Pasha built was a masonry complex consisting of a mosque, a sheikh's room, a guesthouse and a soup kitchen. Its sheikhship passed from Ali Yârî to Müeyyed Çelebi, while its trusteeship first remained with Buhârî's descendants. When Buhârî's line died out two hundred years later it passed in 1080 to Müeyyedzâde Abdülbâkî Efendi, and from him to his son and grandsons. As Hüsameddin writes, the lodge was later neglected. In 1281 [1864-65] it was made into a fatwa office for the mufti of Amasya, Ali Kayazâde Ahmed Sıdkî Efendi, and in 1300 [1882-83] it began to be used as a primary school. No information could be found on the building's present state.

The endowment that stayed longest in the family's hands was that of the Burmalı Minare Mosque, built by the Seljuk emir Necmeddîn Ferruh, whose endowment deed was drawn up in 699 [1299-1300] by his son-in-law İzzeddîn Mehmed Pervâne Bey. Hüsameddin writes that when the line of the Pervâne Beyzâdes died out, the trusteeship of this endowment passed by inheritance to the Müeyyedzâdes. Through which marriage this transfer took place is not stated. The mosque was damaged in an earthquake in 999 [1590-91] and burned in the fire of 1011 [1602-03]. The trustee Müeyyedzâde Pîrî Çelebi had it repaired and built a wooden minaret in front of it. When it burned again in the fire of 1143 [1730-31], the trustee Vâsi' Çelebizâde Hamdî Ahmed Efendi undertook the mosque's repair and built the spiral stone minaret that gives it its name today. Throughout the seventeenth century the chronicle records in detail the lawsuits between cousins over the trusteeship of this endowment and of the Yâkût Pasha endowment.

The family's other works are less well known. In 917 Ayşe Hâtun built a school beside the mosque of Müeyyed Çelebi and endowed the properties she had inherited from her father for the expenses of the school and the mosque. The book does not say in which quarter this mosque stood. Abdülkâdir Şeyhî Efendi built a mosque in Eyüp, endowed his properties to it, and left its trusteeship to the judges of Eyüp. The Istanbul branch gave its name to the Müeyyedzâde Mehmed Efendi quarter in Galata, where Abdülhâdî Remzî Efendi lived. Books, too, may be counted among the family's endowments. Pîrî Ahmed Efendi endowed his books to the Sultan Bayezid library in Amasya. Abdurrahman Efendi's library, scattered after his death, was counted by order of Selim I and found to contain 2,112 books.

Family Tree

The tree below is built from the lineage chains in Hüsameddin's entries. Only persons whose relationship is stated explicitly in the book are shown, and cases where the same person is named differently are indicated in parentheses.