Osmanlı hükûmetinde Amasya târîhinin ikinci devresi 918 senesinden [266] başlayıp 1011 târîhine kadar doksan üç yıl devâm eder. Bu devreyi açan, Amasya'nın eski hânedânı olan Sunkur Oğulları'ndan Yahşî Beyzâde Ahmed Paşa'dır.
Çünkü Amasya'dan bi'z-zarûre hârice çıkan Sultân Ahmed şehzâdesi Murâd Bey, Amasya ahvâlini pederine yazıp istimdâd etmişdi. Yahşî Beyzâde Ahmed Paşa, vatanını tasallut-ı eşkıyâdan kurtarmak için Amasya'dan çıkan askerin başına geçdi.
Amasya ümerâsından Burâk Beyzâde Hüseyin, Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed, Yörgüç Paşazâde Enîs, Mehmed Paşazâde Mahmûd, Îsâ Beyzâde Hasan Beyler, Ahmed Paşa'nın etrâfında birleşdiler. Fedâkârâne çalışdılar.
Samsun sancağı beyi Yörgüç Paşazâde Mehmed Bey, sancağı askeriyle Ahmed Paşa'nın ordugâhına gelip iltihâk etdi. Lâdik beylerinden Yeni Beyzâde Dâvud, Köprü beylerinden Taşanzâde Şâhin, Merzifon beylerinden Umur Beyzâde Osmân Beyler de ma'iyyet-i askeriyyeleriyle geldiler.
Ahmed Paşa, Zünnûn Şâh ile avenesinin ahvâlini ta'kîb ediyordu. Yağmâdan lezzet alan Zünnûn avenesi takım takım Amasya'dan hârice çıkıp köyleri yağmâ için dağılıyorlardı. Zünnûn Şâh denilen serserî bunların yağmâ etdikleri eşyânın taksîmâtıyla meşgûldü.
918 senesi saferinin yedinci günü İstanbul'da Yavuz Sultân Selîm Hân tahta çıkdı. Bütün erkân-ı devlet ve yeniçeri kendisine bey'at etdi. Birâderi Sultân Ahmed, gerek bunu ve gerek Amasya ahvâlini [267] duyduğu anda fevkalâde müte'essir oldu. İkinci şehzâdesi Alâ'eddîn Bey'i Bursa'ya vâlî bırakıp ordusuyla Amasya'ya döndü.
Yahşî Beyzâde Ahmed Paşa, her tarafa dağılan Zünnûnlular'ı tahkîk ederek ma'iyyetinde olan beylere takım takım asker terfîk edib ta'kîbe koyuldu. Köylüler de kendilerini müdâfa'a için bunlarla beraber oldu. Lâkin yağmâlara iştirâk etmek için Zünnûnlular'a pek çok serserîler iltihâk ederek onların her takımı kesâfet peydâ etmişdi.
Bunun için Ahmed Paşa ve ma'iyyetindeki beyler hayli uğraşdılar. Pek çok müşkilâta düşdüler. Bununla beraber Zünnûnlular'ı her tarafda tepelediler. Ahmed Paşa, Zünnûn'u Amasya'da basdırmak için bir tarafdan etrâfa dağılan Zünnûnlular'ı gönderdiği müfrezeleriyle meşgûl etdi. Diğer tarafdan toplu bir kuvvetle Amasya üzerine yürüyordu.
Zünnûn Şâh, âkıbetin fenâ olduğunu anlayıp etrâfa dağılan avenesini cem' etmeğe çalışdı. İmkânını göremedi. Sonra Şâh Kulu'dan ve Mecidözü havâlîsinde olan şî'adan istimdâda mecbûr oldu. Onlar da fevkalâde meşgûldü. Ne yapacağını şaşırmışdı.
Ahmed Paşa, Zünnûn'un bu ahvâlini anladığı anda ansızın Amasya'yı sardı. Kanlı bir muhârebeden sonra rebî'ulevvelin gurresinde gâlibâne Amasya'ya girdi. Bütün Zünnûnlular'ı kılıçdan geçirdi. Amasya'yı eşkıyâ tasallutundan yine Amasyalı kurtardı. Zünnûn Şâh pek az kalan avenesiyle kaçabildi. [268]
Bu esnâda Yavuz Sultân Selîm tarafından Amasya beylerbeyiliğine ta'yîn edilen Mustafa Paşa bir kuvve-i kâfiye ile gelip erişdi. Ahmed Paşa ve beyler derhâl mutâva'at edib Amasya ve kalesini teslîm etdiler. Şehzâde Murâd Bey, can korkusuyla pederinin yanına kaçıp gitdi.
In Modern English
Under the Ottoman government, the second period of Amasya's history begins in the year 918 [1512-13] and lasts ninety-three years, down to the year 1011 [1602-03]. The one who opened this period was Yahşî Beyzade Ahmed Pasha, of the Sunkur Oğulları, the old dynasty of Amasya.
For Prince Murad Bey, son of Sultan Ahmed, who had been forced out of Amasya, had written to his father about the state of Amasya and asked for help. Yahşî Beyzade Ahmed Pasha, in order to deliver his homeland from the rule of the brigands, took command of the troops who had left Amasya.
Among the emirs of Amasya, Burâk Beyzade Hüseyin, Hacı Beyzade Mehmed, Yörgüç Paşazade Enîs, Mehmed Paşazade Mahmud and Îsâ Beyzade Hasan Beys gathered around Ahmed Pasha. They worked selflessly.
Yörgüç Paşazade Mehmed Bey, the bey of the sanjak of Samsun, came with the troops of his sanjak and joined Ahmed Pasha's camp. Yeni Beyzade Dâvud of the beys of Lâdik, Taşanzade Şâhin of the beys of Köprü, and Umur Beyzade Osman of the beys of Merzifon also came with their military retinues.
Ahmed Pasha was watching the situation of Zünnûn Shah and his men. Zünnûn's men, who delighted in plunder, went out of Amasya in bands and scattered to plunder the villages. The vagabond called Zünnûn Shah busied himself with the division of the goods they had plundered.
On the seventh day of Safar of the year 918 [24 April 1512], Yavuz Sultan Selim Khan ascended the throne in Istanbul. All the officers of state and the Janissaries swore allegiance to him. His brother Sultan Ahmed, the moment he heard of this and of the state of Amasya, was extremely affected. Leaving his second prince Alâeddin Bey as governor at Bursa, he returned to Amasya with his army.
Yahşî Beyzade Ahmed Pasha, searching out the Zünnûn followers who had scattered in every direction, added bands of soldiers to the beys at his side and set out in pursuit. The villagers also joined with them to defend themselves. But many vagabonds had joined the Zünnûn followers in order to take part in the plunder, and each of their bands had grown crowded.
Because of this, Ahmed Pasha and the beys in his retinue struggled considerably. They fell into many difficulties. Even so, they beat the Zünnûn followers everywhere. In order to raid Zünnûn at Amasya, Ahmed Pasha on the one hand kept the Zünnûn followers scattered around the region busy with the detachments he sent out. On the other hand he was marching on Amasya with a concentrated force.
Zünnûn Shah, understanding that the end would be bad, tried to gather his men scattered around the region. He found no means. Then he was obliged to ask for help from Şah Kulu and the Shiites around Mecidözü. They too were extremely busy. He did not know what to do.
The moment Ahmed Pasha understood Zünnûn's situation, he suddenly besieged Amasya. After a bloody battle he entered Amasya as victor at the beginning of Rabi' al-Awwal. He put all the Zünnûn followers to the sword. Once again an Amasyan had delivered Amasya from the rule of brigands. Zünnûn Shah was able to flee with the very few men he had left.
At this time Mustafa Pasha, who had been appointed to the beylerbeyilik of Amasya by Yavuz Sultan Selim, arrived with a sufficient force. Ahmed Pasha and the beys obeyed at once and handed over Amasya and its fortress. Prince Murad Bey, out of fear for his life, fled to his father.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ordugâh: the place where the army encamps
- ma'iyyet: the officials and soldiers who are with a commander
- avene: helpers, men, followers
- tasallut: settling upon by force, establishing domination
- müfreze: a detachment of soldiers
- gurre: the first day of a month
- mutâva'at: obeying, submitting
- istimdâd: asking for help
- beylerbeyi: provincial governor
Yahşî Beyzade Ahmed Pasha and the Sunkur Oğulları
That Yahşî Beyzade Ahmed Pasha delivered Amasya from the rebels is also recorded in today's accounts. According to a study of the Amasya princes, when Prince Ahmed went to Istanbul in 1512 to take the throne he left Murad in his place; Murad's turning toward Iran led to the city falling into the rebels' hands, and Yahşî Beyzade Ahmed Pasha took the city out of their hands. The same study writes that when Selim became sultan he appointed Mustafa Pasha to the beylerbeyilik of Amasya and that this pasha secured calm in the sanjak; this is consistent with Hüsameddin's account in the following entry. There is, however, a difference between Hüsameddin's presentation of Murad as one who "fled to his father out of fear for his life" and the other accounts, which give Murad as the prince who went to Iran and acted together with the rebels.
Hüsameddin connects Yahşî Beyzade Ahmed Pasha to the Sunkur Oğulları, the old dynasty of Amasya. The father of the Amasyan vizier Bayezid Pasha is also given as Yahşi Bey in his waqf deed. A study on Bayezid Pasha reports Hüsameddin's presentation of Yahşi Bey as descended from Emir Seyfeddin Sungur, who died at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and notes that it is not possible to verify this chain of descent with documents. No other source was found explaining the relationship of the Ahmed Pasha of the text to this Yahşi Bey.
Dates and the Position of Amasya
The day Hüsameddin gives for Selim's accession, that is, 7 Safar 918, agrees with the date given in today's sources as 24 April 1512. That Ahmed Pasha's expulsion of Zünnûn from Amasya and Mustafa Pasha's arrival belong to the weeks following this date follows from Hüsameddin's narrative; this internal sequence could not be confirmed with the same detail in another source.
On the status of Amasya in this period, an encyclopedia entry writes that in a rising that broke out at Amasya in 1516 under Yavuz, the killing of Koçi Bey led to the sanjak's being attached to the province of Sivas. Another article reports that the seat of the Eyalet-i Rum was transferred from Amasya to Sivas in the years 1518-1519, and bases this information on Hüsameddin's book as well. The two sources differ in the date.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 3, p. 492. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Selim Özcan, "Amasya'da Sancak Beyliği Yapan Şehzadeler Döneminde Amasya Şehri", DergiPark.
- "Bayezid Paşa: Vezir, Entelektüel, Sanat Hamisi", DergiPark article.
- Merve Karakulak, "XVI. Yüzyılda Amasya'da Kızılbaşlık Hareketlerinin Toplumsal Yansımaları", Türk Kültürü ve Hacı Bektaş Velî Araştırma Dergisi, no. 109, 2024.
- Faruk Söylemez, "Yavuz Sultan Selim'in Taht Mücadelesi", Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, no. 33, 2012, pp. 63–86.
Books
- Yılmaz Karadeniz, "Amasya", Türk Maarif Ansiklopedisi, 2022.