The Taşanzâdes, or Taşanoğulları, were the descendants of Emîr Celâleddîn Taşan Bey, who in the middle of the fourteenth century ruled Kedağra, present-day Vezirköprü, together with the districts of Havza, Merzifon and Zeytun. The family takes its name from this bey, and so does the mountain that stretches between Köprü and Merzifon, known today as Tavşan Dağı. According to Hüsameddin, Taşan Bey was one of the two emirs who placed the last Seljuk prince, Tâceddîn Altunbaş, on the throne of Amasya in 739 [1339], and he served as his atabeg. His sons and grandsons fought their cousins for the emirate of Kedağra and one another for Merzifon; one branch held out against the Ottomans in the castle of Koca Kaya, while another entered Ottoman service early and rose to the governorship of Canik and to high command at Varna and at the conquest of Istanbul. Hüsameddin also records that Emîne Hâtun, daughter of Taşanzâde Hasan Bey, became the wife of Murad II.

The family did not disappear with the age of the principalities. In the seventeenth century Seydî Ali Bey, who became a sanjak governor during the Cretan wars, administered the ancestral endowment in Köprü and lived on Taşan Dağı; the trusteeship of that endowment passed from hand to hand among his descendants until the middle of the nineteenth century. Hüsameddin's History of Amasya gives separate entries to Taşan Bey and to eighteen persons descended from him; sixteen entries carrying the name "Taşanzâde", "Taşanoğlu" or "Tâşânzâde" in their titles make up most of them. With the entries on Taşan Bey's father, his brothers and the cousins who competed with the Taşanoğulları for the same lands, the total reaches twenty-seven. The entries are short and often give the same person's lineage in ways that do not agree. Many points in the reconstruction below are therefore uncertain, and the contradictions are noted where they arise.

Name and Origins

According to Hüsameddin, the name "Taşan" appears in some Arabic chronicles as "Taşam", "Taşnam" or "Tâşan", all of which refer to the same Celâleddîn Taşan Bey. In the first volume of the book the family is introduced as the first of three important lineages to emerge from the district of Köprü, and is said to be "well known as descended from Husrev Şâh of the house of Seljuk". The same passage states that the lineage's influence reached from the districts of Kedeğra, Merzifon, Gümüş, Havza and Zeytun as far as the sanjaks of Canik and Sinop, and that the emirate of Koca Kayası in Köprü was regarded as one of its branches. A footnote makes Husrev Şâh the father of Mahmûd Şâh, Taşan Bey's grandfather; elsewhere Mahmûd Şâh bin Husrev Şâh is said to have settled at Koca Kaya and ruled there from 670 [1271-72]. On this account the family was a collateral line of the Seljuk dynasty. Hüsameddin assumes the same kinship when he describes Cüneyd Bey of the Kubadoğulları of Lâdik quarrelling with "his cousins the Taşanoğulları"; the Kubadoğulları were indeed descendants of Sultan Altunbaş.

The biographical volumes, however, give a different descent. In these entries Taşan Bey's father is Emîr Sa'deddîn Umur Bey, his grandfather Emîr Gıyâseddîn or Şemseddîn Mahmûd Şâh, and the latter's father "Beylerbey Mübârizeddîn Tutuş" or "Tûtâş Bey"; for this reason the family is also called "Tutuşoğlu". Hüsameddin identifies this Tutaş with the father of Arslan bin Tutaş, ancestor of the Candaroğulları, and writes that Taşan Bey descended from the paternal uncle of Temir Bey of the Candar line. Husrev Şâh and Tutuş remain two different ancestors; the book does not reconcile the two accounts. What both share is that the family came from Kedağra and that Taşan Bey's grandfather bore the name Mahmûd Şâh.

The mountain's name is also tied to the family. According to Hüsameddin, this massif, which covers the north of Merzifon, runs forty-five kilometres from the Tersakan stream to the Kızılırmak at Osmancık and is the largest mountain in the sanjak after Akdağ, was Taşan Bey's private estate. Taşan Bey had grown strong here by exploiting the turmoil that followed the disappearance of Timurtaş, governor of Rum, in 727 [1327]; he then submitted to Eretna Bey, founded a small emirate and at the end made the mountain his seat. That is why it was called "Taşan Dağı"; in the years when the book was written the people called it "Tavşan Dağı". His descendants, such as Bâlî, Ahmed, Ali, Hasan and Şâhin Beys, lived on this mountain and preserved their names by endowing parts of it. Hüsameddin adds that the family mostly lived in Merzifon, accepted Ottoman protection before its peers, and that for this reason Merzifon is called "Vilâyet-i Hâs" in relation to the Taşanzâdes in some chronicles such as Bezm ü Rezm. That the largest sub-district of Gedegra in the Ottoman survey of 1485 bore the name "Simre-i Taşan" shows that the family's mark on the area had not faded by the end of the fifteenth century.

A related branch sharing the same root with the Taşanoğulları was the line of Taşan Bey's brothers. Hüsameddin records them as "Emîr Çelebizâde" or "Tutuşoğlu" and relates that the emirate of Kedağra changed hands repeatedly between them and the Taşanoğulları. This branch is treated separately below. The line of Abdâl Bey, son of İdris Bey, was called "Abdâllu" or "Abdaloğulları".

Some people mentioned alongside the family in the book are not of this line. At the end of the entry on Ahmed Bey bin Hasan Bey, "Kaya Paşazâde Ahmed Bey bin Durmuş Bey", an emir of the same century, is also mentioned; he belongs to another Amasya family. Gâzi Mehmed Bey, known as Hacı Bey, of the Şirvânîzâde family of Köprü, was in Hüsameddin's words the emir who did much to drive the Taşanzâdes out of Köprü and to take Koca Kayası from Haydar Bey; yet his daughter was the mother of the family's İne Bey. The entry on Çoban Bey of Merzifon carries the name "Taşanzâde" in its title, but the text says only that his father was Hacı Bâlî Bey. The fact that a Bâlî Bey is counted among the descendants living on Taşan Dağı, and the family's connection with Merzifon, support his belonging to this line; even so, this is an inference.

The Family Through the Generations

Emîr Çelebi Umur Bey and His Sons

The earliest known elder of the family is Taşan Bey's father, Emîr Sa'deddîn Umur Bey. Because he was called "Emîr-i Dâd", he was known among the people as "Emîr Çelebi"; in one entry his name appears as "Emîr Sâdeddîn Ömer Bey", while Taşan Bey's entry notes that the names "Umur Çelebi" and "Emîr Çelebi" were later found to belong to the same man. Since the Ortaklar sub-district of Kedağra was his estate, these parts were called the "Emîrdâd sub-district". He was atabeg to Sultan Altunbaş. At the end of his life he withdrew to a village near Havza known in the author's day as "Şeyh Sa'dî", and he died before 740 [1339-40]. Hüsameddin lists his sons in one entry as Taşan, Zekeriyyâ and Savcı, and in another as Taşan, Zekeriyyâ and İdris. He also writes that Altunbaş's estate in Havza was called "Simre-i Havza" and that after 756 [1355] the area was known by the names "Umur Bey Köyü" and "Şeyh Savcı".

When Umur Bey died, his holdings of Kedağra and Zeytun were divided among his sons. A long dispute broke out between Zekeriyyâ Bey and Taşan Bey; in the end Kedağra remained with Taşan Bey and Zeytun with Zekeriyyâ Bey. Zekeriyyâ Bey stayed loyal to the emirate of Amasya and died after 757 [1356]; his son was Mehmed Bey. According to his own entry, İdris Bey received the sub-districts of Zeytun and Göl, submitted to his elder brother when he could not withstand his power, and died around 761 [1360]. That Zeytun is given to two brothers separately is one of the book's internal contradictions. The third brother, Savcı Bey, is known by the title Şeyh Şücâeddîn; together with his brothers he served Altunbaş, later became emir of Simre-i Havza and worked for Taşan Bey's success. He submitted to Hacı Kutlu Şâh, the great emir of Amasya, kept his emirate and died after 758 [1357]; the princes of Altunbaş remained under his protection.

Celâleddîn Taşan Bey

Emîr Celâleddîn Taşan Bey was, in Hüsameddin's own words, "very brave and dündâr", that is, a prudent man. He ruled the districts of Kedağra, Havza and Merzifon and lived in the high mountains and summer pastures between Köprü and Merzifon. The north of Amasya was his, the south in the hands of Emîr Bahâeddîn Kürt Bey. His name first appears in the book in the entry on Sultan Altunbaş: in 718 [1318], when Timurtaş, governor of Rum, set about suppressing the Seljuk line, Altunbaş went into hiding, staying first with Taşan Bey on Taşan Dağı and then taking refuge on Kürt Bey's estate. The annals relate that Karamanzâde Yahşi Bey, who entered Amasya after Timurtaş fled to Egypt, sent "Emîr Çelebizâde Taşan" to Egypt along with Timurtaş's men; when Taşan Bey returned is not stated.

Eretna Bey, who was growing strong in Sivas, sought to win Kürt and Taşan Beys to his side in order to break the power of Hacı Ya'kûb Şâh, who held Amasya. Sensing this, Ya'kûb Şâh had the two emirs pursued and drove them to Sivas. When Ya'kûb Şâh left for Tabriz, Kürt and Taşan Beys returned, came to terms with the Turkmen beys around Amasya, took Sultan Altunbaş from his estate and at the end of 739 [1339] seated him on the throne in Amasya. In the new order Taşan Bey became atabeg, Kürt Bey beylerbey, Pervâne Beyzâde Alemüddîn Süleyman Bey vizier and Gümüşlüzâde Celâleddîn Abdullah Çelebi chief accountant. Hüsameddin writes that the aged sultan, who had lived on country estates for twenty-two years, left all business to Taşan and Kürt Beys, and that his reign was no more than an empty title. Jealousy soon arose among the emirs, however. Early in 741 [1340] Tâceddîn Togan Şâh, emir of Niksar, defeated Kürt and Taşan Beys at Taşova, entered Amasya and sent Altunbaş back to his Simre estate.

After this defeat Taşan Bey's influence shrank. According to his own entry, because he turned against Kürt Bey his power was confined to Kedağra and its surroundings, and since his brother İdris Bey did not acknowledge him either, he was left isolated. He died after 744 [1343-44]. Hüsameddin names his sons as Umur, Haydar and Ali Beys and adds that among his grandsons Haydar Bey and his son Kâsım Bey were well known. Two further sons, Esen and Savcı, appear in other entries.

Taşan Bey's Sons

The division that opened among his sons after Taşan Bey's death turned Kedağra into a contested ground for half a century. Haydar Bey was among the emirs in the time of Hacı Kutlu Şâh; he seized Merzifon, Kedağra and Havza and ruled from Taşan Dağı. When Kutlu Şâh was killed, "Taşanzâde Haydar Bey, emir of Köprü" was among the beys who supported Halifetoğlu Alâeddîn Ali Bey's seizure of Amasya. When Şâdgeldi Paşa won the battle known as the "Kaynar Affair", Ali Bey's supporters scattered and Haydar Bey fled to Elbistan; the following year he moved on towards Maraş. His own entry tells the story somewhat differently: in 763 [1361-62] Hacı Şâdgeldi Paşa gave the emirate of Merzifon to his brother Âdil Bey, the two fell out, and after being defeated in battle Haydar Bey took refuge in 768 [1366-67] with Halîl Bey of the Dulkadır and became one of his emirs. In 781 [1379-80] he fought the Mamluks at Halîl Bey's side, was defeated and saved himself by asking for quarter. After Şâdgeldi Paşa's death in 783 [1381] he returned, now an old man, sought the protection of the new emir of Amasya, became emir of a sub-district in the district of Köprü and settled with his children at Koca Kaya. He died there; his son was Kâmil Bey.

When Haydar Bey fled, the emirate of Köprü and Merzifon passed to his brother Umur Bey. Hüsameddin relates that he quarrelled first with Araboğlu Zeynel Bey, emir of Zeytun, and then with Kılıç Arslan Bey, grandson of Sultan Altunbaş. Kılıç Arslan, who regarded the district of Havza as his own estate, barred Umur Bey from interfering in its affairs, and the two beys went so far as to disturb the peace of Havza and Köprü. Zerrin Günal Öden repeats this information from Hüsameddin in her article on Kılıç Arslan. Umur Bey also appears to have fought his brother Savcı Bey over Merzifon. Savcı Bey became emir of Merzifon several times, was finally defeated, took refuge with Hacı Kutlu Şâh and died after 760 [1359]. This date falls before Kutlu Şâh's death and before Haydar Bey's flight, which suggests that the brothers' struggle over Merzifon began soon after their father's death.

According to Hüsameddin, Esen Bey was the son of Celâleddîn Taşan Bey, emir of Kedağra; as one of the emirs of Hacı Şâdgeldi, ruler of Amasya, he held the emirate of Kedağra for years and died in 773 [1371-72]. He writes that Esen Bey's son Ali Bey was "very famous". The entry on Hasan Bey, on the other hand, makes Alâeddîn Ali Bey, emir of Kedağra, a direct son of Taşan Bey. Whether Esen Bey's son Ali and Taşan Bey's son Ali were the same person cannot be determined from the book.

The same names recur in the grandsons' generation. Haydar Bey's son Tâşân Bey seized the emirate of Kedağra on the death of his uncle Umur Bey, kept his position by attaching himself to Hacı Şâdgeldi Paşa, and died after 783 [1381]; his son was Ahmed Bey. The entry on Ahmed Bey, who withdrew to Kocakaya, however, gives his father as Haydar Bey, son of Taşan Bey: on his father's death he was emir of Kedağra for a time, then fell out with his cousin Hasan Bey bin Ali Bey, withdrew to Kocakaya and died in 804 [1402] in the war with Timur. His son was Haydar Bey. This Ahmed Bey's father is placed in two different generations in two entries; a generation may have slipped between Haydar and his son Tâşân, but which version is correct is unclear.

The Contest for Kedağra with the Cousins

The cousins profited most from the Taşanoğulları's internal divisions. İdris Bey's son İlyâs Bey waged a long struggle for the emirate with the Taşanoğulları and at intervals became emir of Kedağra; he then took refuge with Hacı Şâdgeldi Paşa, was counted among his emirs and died in 783 [1381]. His brother Abdâl Bey was one of Şâdgeldi Paşa's men; he displaced Taşanoğlu Haydar Bey, became bey of Kedağra and died after 775 [1373-74]. Zekeriyyâ Bey's son İdris Bey exploited the discord that arose among Taşan Bey's sons after his death and was emir of Kedağra for a time. Then he fought Taşanzâde Haydar Bey and withdrew to the sub-district of Göl. In 788 [1386], having declared his allegiance to Sultan Murad before Haydar Bey did, he was made emir of Kedağra again, joined the emirs of Bayezid I and died around 796 [1393-94]. His son was Evren Bey. Thus in the book the emirate of Kedağra appears in the hands of at least six different men within forty years of Taşan Bey's death.

The next generation of this branch is less well documented. Abdâl Bey's entry says that Hasan Bey of the Abdaloğulları was a well-known bey of Kedağra. Abdünnebî Bey, recorded in the book as "son of Emîr Çelebizâde Hasan Bey", distinguished himself in the wars of Mehmed I and Murad II, became an emir and died after 841 [1437-38]. His son Ca'fer Çelebi taught at the Taşanzâde Madrasa in Kedağra and became judge of Kedağra in 864 [1459-60]. That Abdünnebî Bey's father Hasan Bey was Hasan Bey of the Abdâllu is plausible, but it is an inference.

Submission to the Ottomans and the Line of Ali Bey

The branch that bound the Taşanoğulları to the Ottomans was the line of Hasan Bey, son of Alâeddîn Ali Bey. Hasan Bey was one of Hacı Şâdgeldi Paşa's well-known emirs; in 788 [1386] he declared his allegiance to Sultan Murad and was present at the battle of Kosovo. He had a madrasa in Köprü. His sons were Ahmed and Ali Beys. Hüsameddin writes that the man who brought the Taşanzâdes over to the Ottomans, at the time the emirate of Amasya submitted to Sultan Murad, was Mevlânâ Receb Çelebi, judge of Havza, Merzifon and Kedağra. In a passage of the Amasya annals quoted from Esterâbâdî's Bezm ü Rezm, "Taşanoğlu" is also said to have come in person and submitted to the Ottoman ruler. Kutlu Beyzâde Abdülazîz Bey, who had become emir of Merzifon by fighting the Taşanoğulları, retired when the Taşanoğulları submitted to Bayezid I, which was one of the consequences of that allegiance.

When Mehmed Çelebi came to Amasya after 1402, the emir of Köprü was Taşanoğlu Ali Bey; Taşanzâde Ahmed Bey is also counted among the emirs in the prince's retinue. Taşanzâde Ali, Ahmed and Kâsım Beys, emirs of Köprü, joined the alliance Amasya formed against Kara Devletşâh, Timur's man. Hüsameddin also writes that Ali Bey behaved somewhat more defiantly than the other district beys and hardly recognized Amasya. Still, Ali and Ahmed of the Taşanoğulları held Köprü, Havza and Zeytun and remained loyal to Sultan Mehmed Çelebi.

Hasan Bey's son Ahmed Bey had joined the emirs by submitting to Bayezid I and was appointed to the emirate of Kedağra on his father's death. The loyalty and courage he showed at the battle of Ankara in 804 won him Mehmed Çelebi's favour. In 812 [1409-10], when Kubadoğlu Ali Bey, sanjak governor of Canik, rebelled, he was sent against him, killed Ali Bey in battle and became sanjak governor of Canik. In the annals the same event is told as Kubadoğlu besieging Niksar, a force from Amasya scattering him, and the emirate of Samsun being given to Taşanzâde Ahmed Bey. Ali Bey's son Cüneyd Bey bided his time to avenge his father and killed Ahmed Bey in a surprise attack. Ahmed Bey's entry places this death in 814 [1411-12]; Cüneyd Bey's entry says Canik was taken in 817 [1414-15]. According to the annals Cüneyd Bey later confessed his fault, sought refuge with the sultan and was pardoned and left in place on condition that he satisfy Ahmed Bey's heirs.

Hasan Bey, Governor of Canik, and Şâhin Pasha

Ahmed Bey's son Hasan Bey became emir of Kedağra in 814 when his father was killed, and contended for a long time with the murderer, Kubadoğlu Cüneyd Bey. In 821 [1418] he joined forces with Alparslanzâde Hüseyin Bey, killed Cüneyd Bey and helped Hüseyin Bey to the emirate of Canik. The entry on Hüdâverdi Bey of Lâdik also records that Samsun passed into the hands of Taşanoğlu in 821. But when Hüseyin Bey in turn refused to recognize Murad II and declared his independence, Hasan Bey was charged, together with Yörgüç Paşazâde Hızır Bey, governor of Amasya, with putting him down. In 831 [1427-28] he marched from Kedağra, besieged Canik, forced Hüseyin Bey to surrender and sent him to Amasya. As a reward he became sanjak governor of Canik, defended it for about ten years and died around 841 [1437-38]. The article on Yörgüç Pasha in the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam likewise states that the lord of Canik, Alparslanoğlu, was captured and sent to Bursa, though it gives his name as Hüsâmeddin Hasan Bey. Hüsameddin says Hasan Bey had some charitable works in Kedağra; his son was Şâhin Pasha and his brother Ali Bey.

Şâhin Pasha entered the service of Prince Murad, then governor of Amasya, during his father's lifetime, first received a fief and became an emir when Murad came to the throne in 824 [1421]. For his devoted service at the battle of Varna and the conquest of Istanbul he rose to the rank of beylerbey and is thought to have died around 873 [1468-69]. He had charitable works and endowments in Köprü; Seydî Bey, one of his descendants, was trustee of these endowments. Ahmed Bey, evidently another son of Hasan Bey, is recorded as son of Hasan Bey bin Ahmed Bey, emir of Köprü; he was first a fief-holder, then an emir, and died after the conquest of Istanbul.

According to Hüsameddin, Emîne Hâtun Sultân of Kedağra was the daughter of "Taşan Beyzâde Hasan Bey" and the wife of Murad II. The sultan married her at his second accession, which falls in the years when Murad returned to the throne in 850 [1446]. Prince Hasan was born of this marriage. According to Hüsameddin, when Mehmed the Conqueror came to the throne in Muharrem 855 [February 1451], Prince Hasan was strangled and his mother sent back to Kedağra. Emîne Hâtun had a tomb and charitable works in the castle of Kedağra. She endowed her properties and set aside stipends for reciters of sections of the Qur'an. Hüsameddin writes that he drew this information from an endowment account examined on 7 Rebiülâhir 1251 [July 1835], in the term of Enverîzâde Mehmed Said Efendi, judge of Kedağra. The marriage could not be confirmed in other sources. Which Hasan Bey she was the daughter of is not clear either; on grounds of age it is more likely that she was the daughter of Hasan Bey, the governor of Canik who died in 841, but this is an inference.

İne Bey, of the same generation, was the son of Hâmid Bey bin Hasan Bey of Kedağra. His mother İsmet Hâtun was the daughter of Hacı Mehmed Gâzi Bey, grandson of Şeyh Alâeddîn Şirvânî. Because he engaged in farming and trade he was called "İne Bey Hâce"; later he joined the emirs and died after 870 [1465-66]. His son Ruhşâd Bey was one of the notables, and Ruhşâd's son was Ferruhşâh Bey. That his father Hâmid Bey was a son of Hasan Bey, governor of Canik, is an inference resting on the name "Tâşânzâde" in the title of the entry. The marriage also points to a rapprochement between the Taşanoğulları and the family of Hacı Bey, who had sided with Yörgüç Pasha at the fall of Koca Kaya.

The Fall of Koca Kaya: Haydar Bey and Bedr-i Melek Hâtun

The other branch of the Taşanoğulları lived in the castle of Koca Kaya, built on a high rock south-west of Köprü. The book gives the lineage of Haydar Bey, the last bey of this branch, in four different forms. According to the entry on his daughter Bedr-i Melek Hâtun, he was Haydar Bey bin Ali Bey bin Haydar Bey bin Taşan Bey. The annals call him Haydar Bey bin Kâsım Bey bin Haydar Bey. His own entry makes him the son of Kâmil Bey, emir of Zeytun, bin Haydar Bey bin Umur Bey bin Taşan Bey. The entry on Ahmed Bey bin Haydar Bey also says that the son of the Ahmed Bey who withdrew to Kocakaya was named Haydar. The point on which the four records agree is that the bey of Koca Kaya descended from Taşan Bey's son Haydar Bey and had a son named Kâsım.

According to his own entry, on the death of his father Kâmil Bey, Haydar Bey lived at Koca Kaya as emir of the district of Zeytun and remained loyal to Mehmed I and then to Prince Murad. But because he resisted certain pressures from Yörgüç Pasha, governor of Amasya, he was branded a rebel. The annals describe him as a bey who, trusting in the strength of the castle and the abundance of its stores and provisions, paid no heed to Yörgüç Pasha's repeated summonses. Yörgüç Pasha won over Haydar Bey's son Kâsım Bey and Tayfur Bey, who managed his affairs, and with their help took the castle. According to Haydar Bey's entry, the bey was sent to Rumelia and provided for with a fief. The date of the event appears in the book in three different forms: 828 [1424-25], 831 [1427-28] and 833 [1429-30]. The TDV article on Yörgüç Pasha likewise records that during his governorship of Rum the Pasha secured the submission of Haydar Bey, lord of Kocakayası. Gâzi Mehmed Bey of the Şirvânîzâde family of Köprü became emir of the district of Kedeğra in return for the help he gave the Pasha in securing Haydar Bey's surrender. Hüsameddin also relates that when Yörgüç Pasha removed Haydar Bey to Amasya, he built a mosque between the village of Köprü and the town of Kedeğra and settled Turkmen tribes around it, after which Köprü began to grow.

Haydar Bey's daughter Bedr-i Melek Hâtun was the wife of Tayfur Bey, who managed her father's affairs. After the castle was surrendered, her brother Kâsım Bey, she herself and her husband were brought to Amasya. Bedr-i Melek Hâtun was given a house as freehold in İçerişehir, adjoining the Meydan Gate, and lived there with her husband. In 838 [1434-35], when Tayfur Bey became a sanjak governor, the house was sold to Yörgüç Pasha, who endowed it in 840 [1436-37]. Hüsameddin quotes the boundaries given in the endowment deed: the city wall to the south, the road to the north, the wall to the west and the house of Hâce Mehmed Paşazâde Mahmûd Pasha to the east; the house stood right next to the castle gate, on the river side. Bedr-i Melek Hâtun died around 848 [1444-45]. Tayfur Bey fell in the battle of Varna; their sons were Haydar and Ali Beys, and Ali Bey's son Tayfur Bey died after 916 [1510-11]. Bedr-i Melek Hâtun's paternal uncle was Tuğrul Bey.

The Merzifon Branch: Mevlânâ Hasan Çelebi and Çoban Bey

The family's presence in Merzifon can be traced in two entries. Savcı Bey's son Mevlânâ İzzeddîn Hasan Çelebi studied in Amasya and became a teacher of the public lecture in Merzifon. According to Hüsameddin, tired of the Taşanzâdes falling out with one another over the emirate of Merzifon, he went to Niksar. There he won great fame as public lecturer, professor at the Yağıbasanîye Madrasa and mufti, and he died after 800 [1397-98]. Hüsameddin notes that he saw a copy of Hülâsatü'l-Fetâvâ written by his pupil Mevlânâ Sa'd bin Halîl bin Süleyman el-Merzifonî, and that the note recording its collation with the teacher in 793 [1391] was in Hasan Çelebi's own hand. He is the first member of the family to leave the beys' quarrels behind and take the path of learning.

Çoban Bey of Merzifon was the son of Hacı Bâlî Bey. As one of the well-known fief-holders he was bey of Merzifon for a long time. According to his own entry he distinguished himself in the battle of Varna in 847 [1443-44], became a sanjak governor and was present at the conquest of Istanbul. In 860 [1455-56] he came to Amasya as a guard in the retinue of Prince Bayezid, then governor of Amasya; in 867 [1462-63] he became sanjak governor of Tokat, and he died in 873 [1468-69]. His sons were Pîr Mehmed and Yûsuf Beys.

The Centuries of Fiefs and Trusteeships

After the fifteenth century the Taşanzâdes were fief-holders and trustees of endowments. In 918 [1512], when Zünnûn Şâh, a partisan of Shah İsmail, plundered Amasya, "Taşanzâde Şâhin Bey, of the beys of Köprü" was among the beys who gathered against him, arriving with his troops. This Şâhin Bey belongs to a generation later than Şâhin Pasha, who died around 873. The best-known member of the family in the seventeenth century is Seydî Ali Bey, son of Ahmed Bey. A fief-holder, Seydî Ali Bey was trustee of the mosque endowment of his ancestor Taşanzâde Hasan Bey and lived on Taşan Dağı. He distinguished himself in the Cretan wars, became a regimental commander and then a sanjak governor, and died around 1061 [1650-51]. He endowed half of the villages of Beytekin and Yavıcak in Havza. Hüsameddin writes that theirs was "a most distinguished, influential and wealthy house".

Seydî Ali Bey's sons Ahmed and Halîl Beys became trustees of both endowments. After them the trusteeship passed first to Halîl Bey's son Ahmed Bey, on his death in 1116 [1704-05] to his brother Dervîş Bey, and when Dervîş Bey died in 1122 [1710-11] to his son Halîl Bey. When Halîl Bey died in 1159 [1746] the endowments were divided: his sons Hâfız Mehmed and Molla Hasan Efendis became trustees of the Taşanzâde Hasan Bey endowment in Köprü, and his other son Hızır Ağa of the Seydî Bey endowment in Havza. When Hâfız Mehmed Efendi died in 1173 [1759-60], half of the trusteeship passed to his daughter Ayşe Hâtun, and when Molla Hasan Ağa died in 1183 [1769-70], the other half went to his son Hüseyin Ağa and his daughter Hânîfe Hâtun. In the Havza endowment Hızır Ağa was succeeded by his son Ca'fer Ağa, and on the latter's death in 1218 [1803-04] by his son Hüseyin Ağa. When Hüseyin Ağa, son of Molla Hasan Ağa, died in 1224 [1809-10], his sons Mehmed and Hasan Ağas became trustees. The record ends by stating that on the death in 1277 [1860-61] of es-Seyyid Abdülkâdir bin Hüseyin bin Mehmed bin Hüseyin Ağa, his son es-Seyyid Mehmed Ağa became sole trustee of the endowment.

It also appears that in the same centuries Taşan Dağı remained a property of the family. Arslan Bey of Köprü was the son of Ali Bey, son of Seydî Ahmed Bey of the Taşanoğulları. On his father's death the Taşan Dağı estate was granted to him "as a hereditary holding" (ocaklık); Hüsameddin writes that he was a very strict, prudent and influential man who did not let a single bandit find shelter on Taşan Dağı. He died after 1128 [1716]. That his grandfather Seydî Ahmed Bey was Ahmed Bey, son of Seydî Ali Bey, is plausible; this is an inference.

Buildings, Endowments and Quarter

The family's longest-lived work was the mosque and endowment of Taşanzâde Hasan Bey in Köprü. According to the account of the Simres in Hüsameddin's first volume, when Haydar Bey, bey of Koca Kaya, submitted to Yörgüç Pasha, his cousin Taşanzâde Hasan Bey built "in this castle" a mosque, madrasa, dervish lodge and tomb and arranged their endowments, and his son Şâhin Bey enlarged them. The biographical entries, however, place the mosque in Köprü. Hasan Bey himself was the governor of Canik who died in 841; that he should have built here after the fall of Koca Kaya is possible in point of time. The mosque's officials in the eighteenth century are recorded in the book: el-Hâc Hasan Efendi, mufti of Köprü, in 1112 [1700-01], es-Seyyid el-Hâc Hasan Efendi, known as Nakîb Efendi, after 1114 [1702-03], and Hâfız Zekeriyyâ Efendi in 1204 [1789-90] became the mosque's lecture-chair sheikhs. Müftüzâde es-Seyyid Sa'îd Mehmed Efendi had also become the mosque's preacher in 1181 [1767-68] on his father's death. Seydî Ali Bey's descendants held the trusteeship of this endowment until the middle of the nineteenth century.

The family also had a madrasa. Hasan Bey bin Ali Bey's own entry records that he had a madrasa in Köprü. The book calls it in some places the "Taşanzâde Madrasa" and in one place "the madrasa of Taşanzâde Ahmed Bey". Its professors included Ca'fer Çelebi, son of Abdünnebî Bey (judge of Kedağra in 864 [1459-60]), Bilâl Efendi of Osmancık, who became professor in 1027 [1618], and İdris Efendi, appointed here in Şevval 1031 [August 1622] and later mufti of Köprü. İdris Efendi is said to have been sent to this post after the events of Receb 1031 in Istanbul. Whether these names denote the same madrasa or two separate madrasas of the family cannot be determined from the book.

The family's other charitable works are more scattered. Hasan Bey, governor of Canik, had charitable works in Kedağra, and Şâhin Pasha had charitable works and endowments in Köprü. Emîne Hâtun Sultân had a tomb and charitable works in the castle of Kedağra. Seydî Ali Bey's endowment in Havza, made up of half of the villages of Beytekin and Yavıcak, is called the "Seydî Bey endowment" in the book. The family's only trace in the city of Amasya is Bedr-i Melek Hâtun's house beside the Meydan Gate in İçerişehir; in 840 this house passed into the endowments of Yörgüç Pasha.

The family's area of settlement corresponds to the present district of Vezirköprü. According to Mehmet Öz's study based on the survey registers of 1485-1576, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the area was organized as two separate sub-districts or judicial districts called Gedegra and Kocakayası. Gedegra covered the centre and east of the present district, Kocakayası the west. Öz believes the name Kocakayası belonged to the place now called Eğrikale, formerly known as Kocakaya, and notes that before the Ottoman conquest it was held by Haydar Bey, lord of the castle of Kocakayası. Simre-i Taşan, the largest sub-district of Gedegra in 1485, corresponds in Öz's hypothesis to the central sub-district of present-day Vezirköprü, while the Havza side had fallen to Simre-i Lâdik under the control of the Kubadoğulları. Hüsameddin's statement that the Taşanoğulları ruled the sub-districts of Göl and Zeytun also matches the registers' sub-districts "Göl tâbi-i Kocakayası" and "Zeytun tâbi-i Kocakayası".

Family Tree

The tree below is reconstructed from Hüsameddin's entries. Since the book gives the lineage of the same persons in different ways, the order supported by the most entries has been followed and the discrepancies are noted in brackets.

  • Mahmûd Şâh (his father in one account Husrev Şâh of the Seljuks, in another Beylerbey Tutuş Bey)
    • Emîr Sa'deddîn Umur Bey, "Emîr Çelebi" (d. before 740 [1339-40])
      • Emîr Celâleddîn Taşan Bey (d. after 744 [1343-44])
        • Haydar Bey, emir of Köprü
          • Tâşân Bey (d. after 783 [1381]) (in Ahmed Bey's entry Ahmed Bey is Haydar Bey's son directly)
            • Ahmed Bey (d. 804 [1402]), who withdrew to Kocakaya
              • Haydar Bey (probably the bey of Koca Kaya)
          • Kâmil Bey, emir of Zeytun (in his own entry Haydar Bey is the son of Umur Bey)
            • Haydar Bey, bey of Koca Kaya (surrender 828-833 [1424-30])
              • Kâsım Bey
              • Bedr-i Melek Hâtun (d. 848 [1444-45]), wife of Tayfur Bey
                • Haydar Bey
                • Ali Bey
                  • Tayfur Bey (d. after 916 [1510-11])
        • Umur Bey, emir of Köprü and Merzifon
        • Alâeddîn Ali Bey, emir of Kedağra
          • Hasan Bey, present at the battle of Kosovo
            • Ahmed Bey, sanjak governor of Canik (d. 814 [1411-12])
              • Hasan Bey, sanjak governor of Canik (d. 841 [1437-38])
                • Şâhin Pasha, beylerbey (d. c. 873 [1468-69])
                • Ahmed Bey (d. after 857 [1453])
                • Emîne Hâtun Sultân, wife of Murad II (which Hasan Bey was her father is uncertain)
                • Hâmid Bey (inference)
                  • İne Bey (d. after 870 [1465-66])
                    • Ruhşâd Bey
                      • Ferruhşâh Bey
              • Ali Bey
            • Ali Bey
        • Esen Bey (d. 773 [1371-72])
          • Ali Bey
        • Savcı Bey, emir of Merzifon (d. after 760 [1359])
          • Mevlânâ İzzeddîn Hasan Çelebi (d. after 800 [1397-98])
      • Zekeriyyâ Bey, emir of Zeytun (d. after 757 [1356])
        • İdris Bey, emir of Kedağra (d. c. 796 [1393-94])
          • Evren Bey
        • Mehmed Bey
      • İdris Bey, emir of Zeytun and Göl (d. c. 761 [1360])
        • İlyâs Bey (d. 783 [1381])
        • Abdâl Bey (d. after 775 [1373-74]); his line the Abdâllu
          • Hasan Bey, bey of Kedağra
            • Abdünnebî Bey (inference)
              • Ca'fer Çelebi, judge of Kedağra
      • Savcı Bey, Şeyh Şücâeddîn, emir of Simre-i Havza (d. after 758 [1357])
  • Later generations whose link cannot be established: Ahmed Bey
    • Seydî Ali Bey, sanjak governor (d. c. 1061 [1650-51])
      • Ahmed Bey (probably the Seydî Ahmed Bey who was Arslan Bey's grandfather)
        • Ali Bey
          • Arslan Bey (d. after 1128 [1716])
      • Halîl Bey
        • Ahmed Bey (d. 1116 [1704-05])
        • Dervîş Bey (d. 1122 [1710-11])
          • Halîl Bey (d. 1159 [1746])
            • Hâfız Mehmed Efendi (d. 1173 [1759-60])
              • Ayşe Hâtun
            • Molla Hasan Ağa (d. 1183 [1769-70])
              • Hüseyin Ağa (d. 1224 [1809-10])
                • Mehmed and Hasan Ağas
              • Hânîfe Hâtun
            • Hızır Ağa
              • Ca'fer Ağa (d. 1218 [1803-04])
                • Hüseyin Ağa

Family Members in Hüsameddin

  • Emîr Çelebi-Tutuşoğlu (vol. 7): short cross-reference entry explaining the title "Emîr Çelebi" of Taşan Bey's father Umur Bey.
  • Umûr Bey-Emîr Şeyh Saâdeddîn (vol. 7): Taşan Bey's father, atabeg of Sultan Altunbaş, died near Havza before 740.
  • Tâşân Bey-Emîr Celâleddîn (vol. 11): the bey who gave the family its name, lord of Kedağra, Havza and Merzifon, atabeg of Altunbaş, died after 744.
  • Zekeriyyâ Bey-Emîr Bahâeddîn (vol. 10): Taşan Bey's brother, emir of Zeytun, died after 757.
  • İdris Bey-Emîr Cemâleddîn (vol. 7): Taşan Bey's brother, emir of Zeytun and Göl, died around 761.
  • Savcı Bey-Emîr, Şeyh Şücâ'eddîn (vol. 10): Taşan Bey's brother, emir of Simre-i Havza, died after 758.
  • Esen Bey-Taşanzâde (vol. 7): Taşan Bey's son, emir of Kedağra under Şâdgeldi, died in 773.
  • Savcı Bey-Taşanoğlu (vol. 10): Taşan Bey's son, the bey who contended with his brother Umur Bey for the emirate of Merzifon, died after 760.
  • Haydar Bey-Taşanzâde (vol. 9): emir of Köprü recorded as Taşan Bey's grandson, who took refuge with the Dulkadır, returned and settled at Koca Kaya.
  • Hasan Bey-Taşanzâde (vol. 8): son of Alâeddîn Ali Bey, emir of Kedağra who submitted to the Ottomans in 788 and fought at Kosovo.
  • Tâşân Bey-Tâşânoğlu (vol. 11): Haydar Bey's son, emir of Kedağra after his uncle Umur Bey, died after 783.
  • Ahmed Bey-Taşanzâde (vol. 6): Haydar Bey's son, the bey who withdrew to Kocakaya and died in the war with Timur in 804.
  • Ahmed Bey-Taşanzâde (vol. 6): Hasan Bey's son, who killed Kubadoğlu Ali Bey, became sanjak governor of Canik and was killed in 814.
  • Hasan Bey-Taşanzâde (vol. 8): Ahmed Bey's son, sanjak governor of Canik who put down Cüneyd Bey and Alparslanoğlu, died around 841.
  • Şâhin Paşa-Taşanoğlu (vol. 11): Hasan Bey's son, beylerbey present at Varna and the conquest of Istanbul, died around 873.
  • Ahmed Bey-Taşanzâde (vol. 6): son of Hasan Bey bin Ahmed Bey, an emir who died after the conquest of Istanbul.
  • Emîne Hâtun Sultân (vol. 7): daughter of Taşanzâde Hasan Bey and, according to Hüsameddin, wife of Murad II, with a tomb in the castle of Kedağra.
  • İne Bey-Tâşânzâde (vol. 7): son of Hâmid Bey bin Hasan Bey, who engaged in trade before becoming an emir, died after 870.
  • Haydar Bey-Taşan Beyzâde (vol. 9): bey of Koca Kaya, whose castle was surrendered to Yörgüç Pasha and who was sent to Rumelia.
  • Bedr-i Melek Hâtun-Taşanzâde (vol. 7): daughter of Haydar Bey of Koca Kaya, wife of Tayfur Bey, whose house in Amasya passed to the endowment of Yörgüç Pasha.
  • Hasan Çelebi-Mevlânâ İzzeddîn (vol. 8): Savcı Bey's son, professor and mufti in Niksar, died after 800.
  • Çoban Bey-Taşanzâde (vol. 8): son of Hacı Bâlî Bey, bey of Merzifon, sanjak governor of Tokat, died in 873.
  • Seydî Ali Bey-Taşanzâde (vol. 10): trustee of the Hasan Bey endowment who became a sanjak governor in the Cretan wars, died around 1061; the trusteeship stayed with his descendants until 1277.
  • Arslan Bey-Seydîzâde (vol. 6): of the Taşanoğulları, the bey who held the Taşan Dağı estate as a hereditary grant, died after 1128.
  • İlyâs Bey-Emîr Çelebizâde (vol. 7): İdris Bey's son, who contended with the Taşanoğulları and was at intervals emir of Kedağra, died in 783.
  • Abdâl Bey-Emîr Çelebizâde (vol. 6): İdris Bey's son, who displaced Haydar Bey and became bey of Kedağra, ancestor of the Abdâllu line.
  • İdris Bey-Tutuşoğlu (vol. 7): Zekeriyyâ Bey's son, who became emir of Kedağra by submitting to the Ottomans in 788, died around 796.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources