AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ünsî Ahmed Dede, Mevlevi Sheikh

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 7, p. 368 • Edited by: Prof. Dr. Safi ARPAGUŞ- Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hakkı TURABİ

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasya Mevlevîhânesi meşâyihinden olup 1000 hudûdunda Mevlevîhâne şeyhi olduğu halde 1011’de kâin sadme-i eşkiyâda vefât etdi. Urefâ ve şuarâdan bir zât idi. Yerine Zâkirbaşı Mehmed Garibî Dede Efendi Mevlevîhâne şeyhi oldu.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was one of the sheikhs of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge. While sheikh of the lodge around the year 1000 [1591-92], he died in 1011 [1602-03] in an attack by brigands. He was one of the men of gnosis and a poet. Zâkirbaşı Mehmed Garibî Dede Efendi succeeded him as sheikh of the lodge.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • meşâyih: sheikhs
  • hudûd: vicinity, around
  • sadme: attack, blow
  • eşkıyâ: brigands, highwaymen
  • urefâ: men of gnosis, people of the heart
  • şuarâ: poets
  • zâkirbaşı: head of the chanters at the ceremony in a Mevlevi lodge

The Amasya Mevlevi Lodge

The Mevlevi order came early to Amasya. Sultan Veled sent his deputies to Amasya, Kırşehir and Erzincan, had lodges founded there, and spread the order. According to an account based on Hüsameddin, the first Mevlevi lodge was built in 1314 by Alâeddin Ali Pervane Bey. The building stood east of the Saraçhane quarter, on the bank of the Yeşilırmak near the Hükümet Bridge. The same account expects that the building was demolished in 1925 after the abolition of the orders; it is not standing today.

The same account writes that the brigand incident occurred while Ömer Çelebi (in 1567) and then İbrahim Çelebi were sheikhs, and that in 1602 the lodge burned and the sheikh died. This should be the same event as the death of Ünsî Ahmed Dede, whom Hüsameddin says died in a brigand attack in 1011 [1602-03] (inference). The name of the sheikh who died differs in the two records: one says İbrahim Çelebi, the other Ünsî Ahmed Dede. One of the records may be incomplete, or the line of sheikhs may be reported differently; which is correct could not be determined. Likewise Garibî Dede, whom Hüsameddin names as his successor, does not appear in the other account, where İbrahim Çelebi's son Mehmed Arif Dede becomes sheikh later.

The Brigand Incident

At the end of the 16th century Amasya fell into disorder, and at times Celali brigands controlled the city. The first phase of the Celali revolts is dated to 1596-1603. Deli Hasan, brother of Karayazıcı, defeated and killed Hasan Pasha at Tokat in 1602 and then besieged Ankara. It can be thought that the "attack by brigands" Hüsameddin mentions was one of the Celali movements in this area; the text does not say who the brigands were or give details of the event, so this connection too is an inference.

The Rebuilding

According to the same account, the former grand vizier Bayram Pasha in 1637 brought water to Amasya, which was short of it, at his own expense, and had a caravanserai and a Mevlevi lodge built; the waqfs were also expanded at this time. The lodge Bayram Pasha had built is counted as the second Mevlevi lodge of Amasya. The whirling ceremony (semâ) was banned in 1666, some Mevlevi lodges in Anatolia closed in this period, and the ban was lifted in 1684; how the Amasya lodge was affected by the ban is not told in the sources read. No information was found in other sources on the poetry and works of Ünsî Ahmed Dede.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 368–368. amasya.bel.tr
  • Abdulhalim Durma, "Amasya'da Mevlevilik", Semazen (article based on Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin, Amasya Tarihi, vol. I). https://semazen.net

Academic studies

Other sources

Volume 7 contents