The City as a Historical Actor

158 Pages·2011·2.32 MB·Turkish

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The City as a Historical Actor:
The Urbanization and Ottomanization of the Halvetiye Sufi Order by the City of Amasya in the
Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

By

Hasan Karatas

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the

requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

in

Near Eastern Studies

in the

Graduate Division

of the

University of California, Berkeley

Committee in charge:

Professor Hamid Algar, Chair
Professor Leslie Peirce
Professor Beshara Doumani
Professor Wali Ahmadi

Spring 2011
The City as a Historical Actor: The Urbanization and Ottomanization of the Halvetiye Sufi Order
by the City of Amasya in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

©2011

by Hasan Karatas
Abstract

The City as a Historical Actor:
The Urbanization and Ottomanization of the Halvetiye Sufi Order by the City of Amasya in the
Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

by

Hasan Karatas

Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Studies

University of California, Berkeley

Professor Hamid Algar, Chair

This dissertation argues for the historical agency of the North Anatolian city of Amasya through
an analysis of the social and political history of Islamic mysticism in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries Ottoman Empire. The story of the transmission of the Halvetiye Sufi order from
geographical and political margins to the imperial center in both ideological and physical sense
underlines Amasya’s contribution to the making of the socio-religious scene of the Ottoman
capital at its formative stages. The city exerted its agency as it urbanized, “Ottomanized” and
catapulted marginalized Halvetiye Sufi order to Istanbul where the Ottoman socio-religious
fabric was in the making.

This study constitutes one of the first broad-ranging histories of an Ottoman Sufi order, as a
social group shaped by regional networks of politics and patronage in the formative fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. A prosopographical approach to the earliest Ottoman biographical works on
Sufi orders brings the regionalist coloring in the rivalry between major Sufi orders to the fore.
The ancient socio-political rivalry between two Anatolian regions surfaced in the strife between
different Sufi orders in the socio-religious scene of the nascent imperial capital Istanbul. One of
the contending Sufi orders, the Halvetiye was the product of the north central Anatolian city of
Amasya. At the outset of the fifteenth century, the local landholding practices in Amasya in
combination with contemporary political developments resulted in the proliferation of a
particular type of Sufi architecture and the concurrent urbanization of Sufi activities. In the first
half of the fifteenth century, the Halvetiye Sufi order, which originated in the rural areas of
Azerbaijan, was appropriated by the city and assumed an urban identity. In Amasya, the
Halvetiye, which was challenged by more established urban orders elsewhere in the Islamic
world, found a safe haven and established its first contacts with the Ottoman elite. The final
phase in the “Ottomanization” of the Halvetiye order took place in the second half of the
fifteenth century. During the succession struggle of the late fifteenth century, the Halvetis joined
a political faction led by Prince Bayezid (d.918/1512) who eventually succeeded to the Ottoman
throne. Through association with one of the contending political parties via Halvetiye order,
1
Amasya made a bid for influence in the socio-religious domain in the Ottoman core lands,
especially in the imperial capital at its formative period.

This dissertation concludes by problematizing the modern perception of the early Ottoman
Anatolia as unified and monolithic, and a backwater to the rising Ottoman world. In so doing it
attempts to shift the formative process of the Ottoman polity from the “core lands” covering
Western Asia Minor and Southern Balkans to the Anatolian provinces.
2
To Kevser

i
TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures and Tables v
Abbreviations vi
Note on Transliteration vii
Acknowledgements viii

Introduction 1

Chapter One:
The Ottomanization of Amasya and the Urbanization of the Sufi Activities 16

Part One: Pre-Ottoman Background (468/1075-789/1387) 17
Urban Lodges 18
Rural Lodges 19
Concluding Remarks 20
Part Two: The Establishment of the Ottoman Rule (789/1387-825/1421) 21
The Arrival of the Ottomans 22
Lodge- Mosques 23
The Sufi lodges constructed in the first period 27
Concluding Remarks 38
Part Three: Autonomous Amasya (825/1421-870/1465) 39
Consolidation of Yörgüç Pasha’s Rule 39
The Sufi lodges constructed in the second period 40
Trouble in the East: Rise of Amasya as the Eastern Ottoman capital 42
Yörgüç Pasha Waqfiya: A Collective Endowment? 43
Ottoman-Amasyan Destruction of Karaman 46
After Yörgüç Pasha (845/1441-870/1465) 48
Concluding Remarks 49
Part Four: Marginalization of Amasya (870/1465-886/1481) 50
Dynastic Struggles and the Fragility of the Princes’ Treasure 52
Patronage of Sufis through Alternative Channels 53
Concluding Remarks 55

Chapter Two:
The Urbanization of the Halvetiye: Amasyan Gümüşlüoğlus (807/1405-870/1465) 59

Part One: Pir İlyas and the Foundation of the Gümüşlüoğlu Community (804/1402- 60
815/1412)
Pir İlyas in Shirvan 61
An Attempt at Reconstruction of the early History of the Halvetiye before 1400 62
Sadreddin-i Hıyavi (after 1400) 64
Back to Pir İlyas’s Story: The Foundation of a Community 67
ii
Urban Context: Urbanization of Sufi Activities via Lodge-Mosques 68
Part Two: The Çilehane: A Dervish Factory? 69
Location and Plan of the Çilehane 70
Part Three: Gümüşlüoğlu Halvetis under the leadership of Abdurrahman-ı Hüsami 73
A Historical Riddle: Who was Abdurrahman-ı Hüsami? 74
First Zeyni Challenge: The Arrival of Abdürrahim-i Merzifoni 75
Coping with the Zeynis: Invention of Dreams 79
Coping with the Zeynis: Appropriation of Zeyni Methods of Training? 79
Part Four: Gümüşlüoğlu Halvetis in the court Prince Bayezid (870/1465-887/1482) 81
Conclusion 83

Chapter Three:
The Ottomanization of the Halvetiye: Halvetis as members of Political Factions (870/1465- 85
886/1481)

Part One: Istanbul: The Sultan Mehmed II and the Zeynis 86
The second Zeyni Challenge: Abdüllatif-i Kudsi and the aggressive turn 87
The Zeynis of Istanbul and Shaykh Vefa 89
Part Two: Amasya: Prince Bayezid and the Tale of Two Halveti Shaykhs 92
The Coming of Age of Prince Bayezid and the Sufis of Amasya 92
Çelebi Halife: The Initiator of the Rumi Branch of the Halvetiye 95
Konya and the Shaykh in Black 95
Tokat and the Illiterate Turcoman Shaykh 97
Erzincan and the Shaykh of the Mantle 98
Habib-i Karamani: The Initiator of the Karamani Branch of the Halvetiye 100
Part Three: The Dynastic Struggle of 886/1481 as the final phase in the Ottomanization of 103
the Halvetiye
Amasya in the winter of 1481 104
Habib-i Karamani’s tough decision 105
Habib-i Karamani’s Dreams 106
Habib-i Karamani’s Mystical Experiences 108
Çelebi Halife, Shaykh Vefa and the Third Challenge of the Zeyniye 109
Taşköprüzade’s Twist 110
Conclusion 111

Chapter Four:
The Ottoman Halvetiye: A Sibling Rivalry between Two Dynastic Struggles (886/1481- 114
969/1561)

Introduction: Who are the Rumi and Karamani Shaykhs? 114
Bayezid II (886/1481-918/1512) and the Friendly Years 117
Selim I (918/1512-926/1520) and the Grim Years 118
Lami‘i’s Criticisms: Echoes of the Zeyniye? 119
iii
The Arrival of the Old Foe: Karamani Halvetiye in Istanbul 122
Süleyman I (926/1520-974/1566) and the Magnificient Years 125
Conclusion 128

Conclusion:
The Role of the Rival Anatolian Geographies in the Formation of the Ottoman Empire 130

Bibliography 133

Appendix: Halvet, Halvetiye, Practice and Doctrines 143

iv
FIGURES AND TABLES

The plan of the Yakub Pasha Lodge-Mosque (Çilehane) 32
The plan of the Bayezid Pasha Lodge-Mosque 36
The plan of the Yörgüç Pasha Lodge-Mosque 44
The plan of the Hızır Pasha Lodge-Mosque 49
Çilehane positions and distribution of the endowment income 69
Approaching Amasya from Samsun or a view from southeast in 1915 71
Approaching Amasya from Tokat or a view from Northwest in the nineteenth century 72
Seventeenth century depictions of Abdürrahim-i Merzifoni and Abdurrahman-ı Hüsami 78
Topographic map of the major buildings before 886/1481 84
Map of the Sufi orders in Anatolia before 886/1481 92

v
ABBREVIATIONS

Balābil Mustafa Vazih Efendi (d.1247/1831), “al-Balābil al- Rāsiyya fi Riyad al-
Masā'il al Amāsiyya” (Istanbul Suleymaniyye Library, n.d.), 34b-35a,
Yazma Bagislar 3267. )
BOA Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi (Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives),
Istanbul
Lemezāt Mahmud Hulvī (d.1654), Lemezāt-ı Hulviyye ez Leme‘āt-ı ‘Ulviyye,
trans. Mehmed Serhan Tayşi (Istanbul: Marmara Üniversitesi, 1993)
Menākıb Yusuf b. Yakub (d. ca.1577). Menākıb-ı şerīf ve tarīkatnāme-i pīrān ve
meşāyih-i tarīkat-ı ‘aliyye-i Halvetiye. Istanbul, 1874
Shaqā’iq Taşköprüzade Ahmed İsamüddin (d.1561). al-Shaqā'iq al-nu'mānīya fī
'ulamā al-dawla al-'Uthmānīya. Istanbul: Jāmi'at Istānbūl, Kullīyat al-
Ādāb, Markaz al-Dirāsāt al-Sharqīyah, 1985.
TDİA Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi. İstanbul: Türkiye Diyanet
Vakfı, 1999
Terceme-i Nefehāt Lami'i Çelebi (d.1532). Futūh al-Mucāhidīn li Tarwih al-Mushāhidīn.
Edited by Süleyman Uludağ. Istanbul: Marifet Yayınları, 1980.
Tevārih Aşıkpaşazade (d. ca. 1502), “Tevārih-i Āl-i ‘Osmān,” in Osmanlı
Tarihleri: Osmanlı Tarihinin Anakaynakları Olan Eserlerin,
Mütehassıslar Tarafından Hazırlanan Metin, Tercüme veya
Sadeleştirilmiş Şekilleri Külliyatı, ed. Nihal Atsız, vol. 1 ([Istanbul]:
Türkiye Yayınevi, 1949)
TSA Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Arşivi (Topkapı Palace Museum Archives),
Istanbul
VGMA Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü Arşivi (The Archives of the General
Directorate of Endowments), Ankara

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