377

 CONTEXTUALIZING AN 18TH CENTURY OTTOMAN ELITE:

Keywords: Sumnu, Serif Halil Pasa, Tombul Mosque, Sumnu library.
The fundamental aim of this thesis is to present the career of Serif Halil Pasa of
Sumnu who has only been mentioned in scholarly research due to the socio-religious
complex that he commissioned in his hometown. Furthermore, it is aimed to portray
Serif Halil within a larger circle of elites and their common interests in the first half of
the 18th century. For the study, various chronicles, archival records and biographical
dictionaries have been used as primary sources. The vakıfnâme of the socio-religious
complex of Serif Halil proved to be a rare example which included some valuable
biographical facts about the patron.
Apart from the official posts that Serif Halil Pasa occupied in the Defterhâne and
the Divânhâne, this study attempts to render his patronage of architecture as well as his
intellectual interests such as calligraphy and literature. In other words, his legacy is put
under close scrutiny. The intended goal in researching about an unknown 18th century
elite like Serif Halil Pasa is to give substance to a ghost hidden in the stage of history
who indeed served as the sadâret kethüdâsı twice and took active part in the translation
committee organized by Damad Đbrahim Pasa.
ii
ÖZET
18. YÜZYILDA YASAYAN BĐR OSMANLI ELĐTĐNĐ ETE KEMĐĞE
BÜRÜNDÜRMEK: SUMNULU SERĐF HALĐL PASA’NIN KARĐYERĐ VE MĐRASI

Anahtar Kelimeler: Sumnu, Serif Halil Pasa, Tombul Cami, Serif Halil Pasa Külliyesi,
Sumnu Kütüphanesi
Bu çalısmanın ana amacı, ismi sadece doğduğu yer olan Sumnu’da yaptırdığı külliye
aracılığıyla bilinen ve anılan Serif Halil Pasa’nın Osmanlı sarayındaki kariyerini ortaya
koymaktır. Ayrıca Serif Halil Pasa’nın kurduğu bağlantıları daha genis bir perspektifte
ele alıp bizzat içinde yer aldığı elit sınıfın ortak özellik ve ilgilerinin sunulması
amaçlanmaktadır. Arastırma için, çesitli kronikler, arsiv belgeleri ve biyografik
sözlükler kullanılmıstır. Bunların dısında, Serif Halil Pasa Külliyesi’nin vakıfnâmesi,
patron hakkında nadir olarak görülebilecek nitelikte otobiyografik bilgiler sunmaktadır.
Bu arastırmada Serif Halil’in Defterhane ve Divânhane’deki resmi görevlerinin dısında;
mimari patronajı, hat ve siir gibi sanatsal ilgileri de sunulmaktadır. Serif Halil gibi 18.
yüzyılda yasamıs ve hakkında çok az sey bilinen bir elitin kariyerinin arastırılmasındaki
amaç iki kez sadaret kethüdası olarak görev almıs ve Damat Đbrahim Pasa’nın kurduğu
çeviri komisyonunda aktif görevler üstlenmis bir hayaleti ete kemiğe büründürmektir.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis would not have been written without the support of my supervisor
Tülay Artan who was always available when I needed help and answered my perplexed
questions with patience. I also would like to thank Hülya Adak and Bratislav Pantelic
for reading several drafts of this study and providing valuable feedbacks. Furthernore, I
wish to express my gratitude for each faculty member of the Sabancı University History
Program for providing me with an invaluable period of learning.
Special thanks go to Nazlı Đpek Hüner, Maximilian Hartmuth and Gizem
Kasoturacak Korg whose friendship and academic contributions made my time at the
graduate school enjoyable. Many thanks to the librarians in the Information Center at
Sabancı University and Sumru Satır who patiently answered my questions and made my
life much easier during the completion process of this thesis. Without the help of
Ertuğrul Ökten and Aziz Nazmi Sakir, it would be impossible to transliterate relevant
archival documents and primary sources.
My parents, Behice and Rüstü Bilaloğlu, who always put up with my negligent
and short tempered mood deserve a lot more than these humble remarks. Without their
support and endless love, I could not have taken one step further.
Last but not least, it has been a great pleasure to share each and every moment of
not only this short-lived thesis process but also my entire life with my precious Tuğçe
Kasap.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION AND THE SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF SCHOLARSHIP ABOUT
BIOGRAPHY WRITING
I.1 Contextualizing Serif Halil Pasa: Problematization of the Concept of
Individuality in the Ottoman Society …………………………….………….......1
I.2. The Portrayal of “The Self” in Ottoman Studies ……………...….…………6
I.3 (Re)constructing the Biography of Serif Halil: A Review of Sources …......17
II. SUMNU: THE SETTING OF SERĐF HALĐL’S EARLY LIFE…...……………….27
II. 1 The Specifity of the Construction Site of Serif Halil Pasa Complex……...34
III. GIVING SUBSTANCE TO A GHOST HIDDEN IN THE STAGE OF HISTORY:
THE LIFE STORY OF SERĐF HALĐL………………………………………………...42
III. 1 Family Ties & From Sumnu to Istanbul…....……………………………...42
III. 2 From the Defterhâne to the Divânhâne (1711-1731)………………………49
III. 3 Serif Halil’s Later Career…………………………………………………..52
III. 4 Serif Halil’s Associates: the Witnesses of the Vakıfnâme………………….59
IV. LEAVING A GOOD NAME BEHIND: PIOUS DEEDS………………………....65
IV. 1 Serif Halil’s Assets and the Expenditures of his vakıf……………….…....65
IV. 2 Contextualization of the Serif Halil Pasa Socio-Religious Complex……...67
IV. 3 Serif Halil’s Book Collection: The Library Building and the Adventure of
Vakıf Libraries in the Reign of Mahmud I……………………………………….69
V. CONCLUSION…………...…………………….…………………………………...85
VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................................................................88
v
VII. APPENDIX………………….……………………………………………………97
VII.1 The Original Vakıfnâme………………………………………………….97
VII.2 The Complete Transliteration of the Vakıfnâme…..……………………104
VII.3 Photos of the Mosque……………………………...……………………115
VII.4 The Plan of the Socio-Religious Complex……...………………………119
VII.5 The Official Records of the Book Collection in Serif Halil’s Library….120
vi
LIST OF ABBREVATIONS
BOA: Basbakanlık Osmanlı Arsivi
SNL: Sofia National Library
VGM: Vakıflar Generl Müdürlüğü Arsivi
1
I. INTRODUCTION AND THE SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF SCHOLARSHIP
ABOUT BIOGRAPHY WRITING
I.1 Contextualizing Serif Halil Pasa: Problematization of the Concept of
Individuality in Ottoman Society
[What] can we know about a man? For a man is never an individual; it would be more
fitting to call him a universal singular. Summed up and for this reason universalized by
his epoch, he in turn resumes it by reproducing himself in it as singularity. Universal by
the singular universality of human history, singular by the universalizing singularity of
his projects, he requires simultaneous examination from both ends.1
In the preface to the first volume of The Family Idiot: Gustave Flaubert, 1821-
1857, Jean-Paul Sartre asks a very intriguing existentialist question as to the method and
amount of information that one can attain about the life and self of a man. Sartre calls
him a “universal singular” in order to draw attention to the fact that, at an abstract level,
the genesis of a subject/man in which he develops a so-called individuality is
accomplished within a universal framework; and the outputs of this persona are
contradictingly re-shaped by the very same universal context. The give-and-take
relationship between the broader universality versus the subjective individuality turns
out to be stuck in an infinite loop. Thus, the subject is rightfully considered to be both a
part and product of the time in which he lives.
Sartre’s insightful stance on the validity of information that a researcher can
attain about the life of a subject (or in his words, “universal singular”) is specifically
applicable to the practice of writing historical biographies of Ottoman elites. Giving a
solid body to a ghost roaming the stage of history often requires imposing some
universalized norms of a given age to the character. Often, the character of the
biographical study is often subjected to being described with generic adjectives and
1 Jean-Paul Sartre, The Family Idiot: Gustave Flaubert, 1821-1857, Chicago: University
of Chicago Press (1994), pp. 9 – 10.
2
specific cultural/ideological idioms from the author’s own culture/time. By
understanding this contradcitory situation, one can easily criticize any sort of written
account for blindly adhering to the strict framework in which it is produced. I propose
to present my findings about a little-known 18th-century Ottoman elite like Yusuf Serif
Halil Pasa (hereafter: Serif Halil) with a solid awareness of the traps that are likely to
present themselves in writing the biographies of Ottoman grandees.
A native of Sumnu (presently in northern-east Bulgaria),2 Serif Halil (unknown-
1752) belonged to a prominent family who had long searched for their fortunes in the
capital. His father, Ali Ağa, and grandfather, Saban Efendi, were prominent men
locally; however, Serif Halil’s career as a bureaucrat was much brighter. He was able to
join the defterhâne (the Imperial Registry) in 1711, and then the divânhâne (the
Imperial Chancery). It was here where Serif Halil “came into being” in the intellectual
and artistic circles as a poet and a member of the translation committee during the grand
vezirate of Nevsehirli Damad Ibrahim Pasa (between 1718 and 1730). Following the fall
of Damad Đbrahim Pasa, he served in various capacities as a bureaucrat and was
eventually able to rise to the position of vezir. Serif Halil took up active roles during the
grand vezirates of Hekimoğlu Ali Pasa (1732-35 and 1742), Muhsinzâde Abdullah Pasa
(1737) and Seyyid Hasan Pasa (1742-46), respectively.
Despite his extensive involvement, he is most commonly remembered in relation
to a major socio-religious complex that he commissioned in his hometown. Serif Halil
Pasa Complex is the largest mosque in modern-day Bulgaria, and is an equal to the
monumental complex of provincial towns such as Aydın and Nevsehir, with its
preserved library, medrese, and ablution fountain, making it the subject of many
encyclopaedic entries and short articles.3 On the other hand, its patron, Serif Halil, has
so far been denied the scholarly attention he deserves. Like many other little-known
elites, he is identified as just another member of a social group whose peculiar
characteristics are blurry, which makes the attempt to discover the life-story or political
(if not cultural and economic) motivations and networks of an Ottoman bureaucrat one
of the toughest tasks of Ottoman social history. The difficulty certainly lies in the
2 Further information about the city will be included in the next chapter.
3 The mosque that Serif Halil commissioned is generally known as the Tombul Mosque
among local Bulgarians due to its domed structure.
3
absence of self-narratives which would provide the complete life/career-stories of the
protagonists on whom a biographical study is carried out. Furthermore, the focus on the
cemaats (the social groups) rather than the person makes it hard to portray the
individual members of the society in their own context. The two questions to ask at this
point are: Does the “individual” as understood in the European context exist in the
Ottoman society? And: How much of an “individual’s” life story can we truly learn?
Indeed, the answers to these questions lead to another question: Can we write the life
story of an Ottoman elite like Serif Halil in his own right — as a singular universal as
Sartre conceptualizes it?
The answer to the first question is controversial, because the meaning and
scope of “individuality” has never been clear neither in European nor in Ottoman
context.4 The generally accepted outlook toward individuality in Islamic societies,
which regarded the notion of “individual” as absent due to the collectivist human ideals
of Islam, is now challenged by recent scholarly attempts that aim to deduce evidence
about the concept of individualism from several first-person narratives, also called
“ego-documents.”5 As the name implies, these documents include an ego writing about
4 Jakob Burckhardt is the first historian to bring the concept of individuality into the
spotlight in the context of the Renaissance in 1860. The Civilization of Renaissance in
Italy, Penguin Books (1990) pp. 88-105. The two main aspects in which Jacob
Burckhardt found the fundamental character of the Renaissance as a new civilization
were the rise of individualism and the discovery of the world and of man. He regarded
Renaissance individualism as the awakening of man’s awareness of himself, as a being
apart from a group or a class, and saw that man’s consciousness of self. Burckhardt’s
thesis that depicted the Renaissance separate from the Middle Ages is largely refuted by
recent scholarship that puts forward an earlier origin and gradual evolution of certain
characteristics of Renaissance culture. For a recent criticism of Burckhardt's construct
see: Chapter 2, in William Caferro, "Individualism: Who Was the Renaissance Man?",
in Contesting the Renaissance (Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). See also :
Stephen Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-Fashioning from More to Shakespeare, (Chicago:
Chicago University Press, 1980); John Jeffries Martin, 'The Myth of Renaissance
Individualism', in Guido Ruggiero, ed., A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance
(Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2002), pp. 208-224; and idem, Myths of Renaissance
Individualism (Hampshire and New York: Palgrave/St. Martin's Press, 2004).
5 Ego documents might be regarded as a reply to Cemal Kafadar’s call for a name for
“the process of self-consciousness and observation at the levels of both the person
and the social order at large.” (Cemal Kafadar, “Self and Others: The Diary of a
Dervish in the Seventeenth Century Istanbul and First-Person Narrative in Ottoman
Literature,” Studia Islamica 69 (1989), p. 126). See Randi Deguilhem (ed.), Individual
and Society in the Mediterranean Muslim World: Issues and Sources, Aix-en-Provence,
1998 that seeks to define the relationship between the individual and society in such a
4
himself/herself and giving self-referential information to its audience, which incites us
to include all kinds of documents that possess author-references such as travelogues,
autobiographical anecdotes, as well as accounts of entire life stories within the scope of
this genre.
In light of the purview of ego-documents, “individuality” can therefore be
defined as a sense of self-awareness, the possesion of an ego, and the ability to locate
oneself among the others. Returning to the first question raised at the beginning about
the existence of an Ottoman “individual” as ascertained in European context, I shall
attempt to distinguish between being “a part of a group” or being “apart from a group.”
The former category fits into the scheme of Jakob Burckhardt’s conception of a man’s
discovery of his self-awareness, whereas the latter one conforms to my understanding of
what an Ottoman individual might be. I am fully aware that my use of “individuality”
alludes to group identity; however, I think that in the Ottoman context, the selfawareness
of being a member of a specific social group and producing narratives in
accordance with this fact is a display of ego-oriented action/will. Natalie Davis’
explanation of the important conditions in defining the “self” is applicable to my stance
on the Ottoman individual on the grounds that “the exploration of self […] was made in
conscious relation to the groups to which people belonged and that the greatest obstacle
to self-definition was not embeddedness, but powerlessness …”6 That is why the
biographical compilations that appeared in the Ottoman cultural context generally
specialized on various types of official posts or social groups rather than the individuals,
such as Davhat ül-Mesayih on the seyh ül-Đslâms, Hamîlet ül-Küberâ on the dar üsway
as to understand, for each period of Islamic history, the organisation of
interdependent relationships, the position attributed to the individual, and the creation of
a hierarchy of the values which rule society. Also see Ralf Elger and Yavuz Köse
(eds.), Many Ways of Speaking About the Self: Middle Eastern Ego-Documents in
Arabic, Persian and Turkish (14th – 20th century). Göttingen: Harrassowitz Verlag,
2010 in which Michael Nizri studies the memoirs of seyh ül-islâm Feyzullah Efendi
(1638 – 1703) and Denise Klein presents her findings about the intertextual references
to the autobiographic natures of 18th century sefaretnâmes.
6 After Cemal Kafadar, “Self and Others: The Diary of a Dervish in the Seventeenth
Century Istanbul and First-Person Narrative in Ottoman Literature”, Studia Islamica 69
(1989), p. 135; Natalie Z. Davis, “Boundaries and the Sense of Self in Sixteenth
Century France,” in T. C. Heller, M. Sosna, D. E . Wellbery, eds., Reconstructing
Individualism: Autonomy, Individiuality and the Self in Western Thought, Stanford
(1986), pp. 53 – 63.
5
saâde ağas, Hadîkat ül-Vüzerâ on the vezirs, Sefinet ül-Rüesâ on the the reîs ül-küttâbs
and Tezkîret-üs Suarâs on the divan poets.7 As an exception to these biographical
sources that were written within the framework of group identity, Sicill-i Osmâni (The
Ottoman Register) by Mehmed Süreyya (1897) can be counted, and the problems and
scope of which will extensively be elaborated in my review of sources used to identify
the career line of Serif Halil.8
This study aims to present Serif Halil’s life story as a humble contribution to the
growing bulk of biographical studies about Ottoman elites that gained momentum
especially after the 1980s. Since then, there has been a diligent scholarly attempt “to
debunk the myth of the autonomous, individualized self as a universal reality, and to
come to terms with the multiplicity of ways people have represented themselves across
boundaries of culture, gender, and social class.”9
This thesis is composed of four chapters. In the first chapter, as a background to
my method and approach, I will briefly review the origination of the biographical
method in the field with reference to the prosopographic research introduced by
Norman Itzkowitz and his former students in the 1960s. That will be followed by a
survey of existing studies on Ottoman individuals. By reviewing the secondary
literature about my protagonist as well as introducing the primary sources that I have
used in order to construct a career line for Serif Halil, I aim to answer the other two
questions that I raised at the beginning, concerning the limitations and scope of
biography writing in the Ottoman sphere.
In the second chapter, I will introduce the history of Sumnu as a setting of the
early years of Serif Halil, with a specific focus on the effects of political and military
7 For a good summary of Ottoman Biographical Chronicles see Feridun Emecen,
“Osmanlı Kronikleri ve Biyografi,” Đslâm Arastırmaları Dergisi, 3 (1999), pp. 83 – 90.
8 Mehmed Süreyya, Sicill-i Osmanî, Đstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yayınları (1996). The book is
a comprehensive biographical dictionary that aims to include all prominent Ottoman
elites of all periods. However, it leaves out a great number of significant Ottoman elites
especially from the earlier periods. The scope of the work is generally no more than a
few lines for most of the entries. Thus, in my quest for discovering biographical facts
about Serif Halil, I will refer to it only after I find corrected and supplemented
information from other sources such as chronicles and archival documents.
9 Derin Terzioğlu, “Man in the Image of God in the Image of Times: Sufi-Narratives
and the Diary of Niyâzî-i Mısrî (1618-94),” Studia Islamica 94 (2002), p.140
6
developments on provincial elites. In the third chapter, I will divide Serif Halil’s
lifespan into three major periods and and discuss under the subheadings: “From Sumnu
to Istanbul”; “From Defterhâne to Divanhâne”; and “Serif Halil’s Career Later in the
18th Century.” First, I shall attempt to identify the family ties of Serif Halil and the
possible ways that helped him to be admitted to the defterhâne. Serif Halil’s associates
in the palace will be closely evaluated in order to portray him within the appropriate
context. Furthermore, based on the information that I gathered from the archival sources
and chronicles, I will procure a complete log of the bureaucratic service of Serif Halil.
The fourth and final chapter will dwell on the legacy of Serif Halil, and is
instrumental in showing how he inscribed his persona on stone. In other words, his
legacy will be put under scrutiny in relation to his ambitions and intellectual and artistic
interests such as literature, architecture, and calligraphy.
I.2 The Portrayal of “The Self” in Ottoman Studies
The common assumption about Ottoman literature has been that it did not
produce a body of personal writings or a corpus in which authors talked about
themselves. Furthermore, it was repeatedly articulated that prior to the Tanzimat period
(1839-1876), there were no sources of autobiographic nature (for example, diaries,
memoirs, or personal letters), mainly due to the depersonalization as a result of the high
value Islam placed on the mystical ideal of self-annihilation in the divine.10 Indeed, the
only known autobiography of Ottoman literature until the 20th century was the memoir
of Osman Ağa of Temesvar, a 17th-century account that was prefaced by Richard
Kreutel as the “single, relatively extensive autobiography known from old Ottoman
literature.”11 Then in 1989 Cemal Kafadar tackled the problem of first-person narratives
10 Cemal Kafadar, ibid, p.124
11 Die abenteuerlichen Schicksale des Dolmetschers Osman Aga aus Temeschwar von
ihm selbst erzihlt (Graz, Wien, 1962). The original text was published by Richard
Kreutel, Die Autobiographie des Dolmetschers Osman Aga aus Temeschwar
(Hertford, England, 1980). For its modern Turkish version, see Harun Tolasa,
Kendi Kalemiyle Temesvarlı Osman Ağa, Bir Osmanlı Sipahisinin Hayatı ve Esirlik
Hatıraları, (Konya, 1986).
7
through a diary kept by another 17th-century Ottoman dervish named Seyyid Hasan.
However, this must not mean that there was no interest in biographical research before
Kafadar’s groundbreaking contribution to the contextualization of self-narratives in the
Ottoman world. There were indeed earlier attempts to present “the human and
intellectual flesh that gives coherence and meaning to the institutional skeleton” of
Ottoman studies.12
For the study of elite households, the prosopographic method has been used
since the 1960s. Prosopography can briefly be defined as group biography and through
the medium of fragmental biographical data, for example, can be used to study the
function, political and economic power, importance and the social role of a specific
group. Basically, it consists of collecting and juxtaposing such data for each individual
belonging to a clearly circumscribed group. This method can even be applied to the
periods on which very little evidence is available; however prosopography might
contribute to our understanding of social groups with a fairly rich documentation.
In 1962, Itzkowitz studied the personal backgrounds of the various members of
the Ottoman ruling class to construct valid arguments about various offices of Ottoman
administration. By working on various fragmental biographical data which enabled him
to portray client-patron relationships and career lines of a number of elites, Itzkowitz
refuted the then largely accepted model of Ottoman political organization which was
based on a duality of a “ruling institution” versus a “Muslim institution” in terms of
function and religious-ethnic background. He further added that Muslim-born Ottomans
were also able to take active part in administration, and converts played a significant
role in 18th-century Ottoman politics. In that sense, he rejected the view that part of the
explanation for Ottoman decline after the 17th century was to be found in the “revolt”
of the Muslims hitherto excluded from the “ruling institution.” Based on these
biographical facts about members of the Ottoman ruling class, Itzkowitz was able to
conclude that in the 18th century the Ottoman administration was organized along more
12 Cornell H. Fleischer, Bureaucrat and Intellectual in the Ottoman Empire: the
Historian Mustafa Âli (1541-1600), Princeton University Press (1986) p. 4
8
varied career lines which were primarily functional.13 This pioneering article by
Itzkowitz gave momentum to the study of group biographies in the Ottoman studies.
Ten years later, in 1972, Itzkowitz was involved in another prosopographic
enquiry, this time in collaboration with one of his former students, Joel Shinder. In an
attempt to elucidate whether the Tanzimat era meant a complete renewal of the Ottoman
elite in pursuit of reform and Westernization, they studied the personal backgrounds of
seyh ül-islâms, who were the heads of ulema hierarchy. Carrying out biograpical
research as a method to study the bureaucratic/religious office holders, they concluded
that a complete renewal of the Ottoman elite was not the case.14
Especially after Mustafa Akdağ’s reference to provincial administrators’
households as an influential force in Celâli uprisings, more and more scholars took up
interest in the study of these elites and their households.15 The prosopographic method
was adopted by two other prominent students of Itzkowitz, namely Rifaat Abou-el-Haj
and Metin Kunt, in the 1970s. Both scholars attempted to shed light on high official
households. Abou-el-Haj focused on those whom he called “an ignored element of the
Ottoman elite,” namely the vezirs and pasas who came to govern the identity of a
growing number of men who eventually became vezirs and pasas in the later 17th
century in their own rights.16 They also generated their own satellite households.
However, Abou-el-Haj was criticized by his peers for the time period that he chose.
Kunt argued that by the late 17th century, the crucial changes had already taken place
and therefore Abou-el-Haj’s scope was not valid to spot a full-fledged transformation.
Kunt furthermore asserted that Abou-el-Haj’s categorization of the military class was
13 Norman Itzkowitz, “Eighteenth Century Ottoman Realities”, Studia Islamica, No. 16
(1962), pp. 73 – 94.
14 Norman Itzkowitz and Joel Shinder, “The Office of Seyh ül-Đslâm and the Tanzimat –
A Prosopographic Enquiry,” Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.8, No. 1 (1972), pp. 93 – 101.
15 Mustafa Akdağ, Celâli Đsyanları (1550-1603), Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-
Cografya Fakultesi Yayinları 144, (Ankara, 1963), p. 44
16 Rifaat Ali Abou-el-Haj. “The Ottoman Vezir and Pasa Households 1683-1703: A
Preliminary Report,” Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol. 94, No. 4 (Oct.-
Dec., 1974), pp. 438 – 447.
9
claimed to fail in making the basic distinction between provincial and central military
groups.17
Four years after the publication of Abou-el-Haj’s prosopographic study, Kunt
wrote a monograph entitled Sancaktan Eyalete: 1550-1650 Arasında Osmanlı Ümerası
ve Đl Đdaresi (From Sanjak to Eyalet: Ottoman Governors and Provincial
Administration, 1550-1650).18 In 1983, Kunt incorporated new materials and broadened
the scope of his work, first published in Turkish. Working on the provincial
appointment registers in the prime minister’s archives, Kunt was able to organize a list
of appointments to various positions such as sancakbeyi (district governor) and
beylerbeyi (provincial governor-general). Most of the entries included details not only
about the name of the officers but also about the date of the appointments, the revenues
allocated to the officers, and their previous posts. By working backward, Kunt
constructed the career lines of the appointed officers and came up with a portrayal of the
shifts in provincial government within the period that he specified.19
Many scholarly attempts that specifically dealt wtih the bureaucratization of the
Ottoman administration in the 17th century and made use of biographical data have
been carried out. In 1980, another student of Itzkowitz, Karl Barbir, was able to collect
significant biographical data about thirty-two individuals with military-administrative
backgrounds who resided in Damascus by using published and unpublished
biographical dictionaries. These individuals were either part of the civilian
administration or the ulema class. By focusing on how they merged with the local
population, Barbir presented a study of individuals whom he called pasa-turned-efendis
17 See Metin Kunt’s criticism of the article written by Abou-el-Haj: The Sultan’s
Servants: The Transformation of Ottoman Provinical Government, 1550-1560, New
York: Columbia University Press (1983), p.154; Also see “Mütesebbis Bir Osmanlı
Veziri: Dervis Mehmed Pasa, Birikim 2 (1977), pp. 47-64 by the same author, in which
he analyzes the patterns of attracting attention at the palace via the example of Dervis
Mehmed Pasa. Dwelling on positioning and the importance of strong connections, Kunt
demostrates that Dervis Mehmed Pasa was a farsighted and alert figure when his links
that promoted him to the post of grand vezirate are taken into consideration.
18 Metin Kunt, Sancaktan Eyalete: 1550-1650 Arasında Osmanlı Ümerası ve Đl Đdaresi,
Đstanbul: Boğaziçi University Press (1978).
19 Ibid, pp. 101-156.
10
who retained an Ottoman identity while at the same time becoming a Damascene.20
Also in 1980, Carter Findley engaged himself with the career lines that developed in the
opposite direction of those explored by Barbir, and published a monograph that
analyzed the efendi-turned-pasas in the bureaucratic establishment of 19th century.
Findley’s focus was on the careers that started out in the scribal offices and ended up in
the significant positions of the Ottoman administrative hierarchy. This I find in line with
the pattern of Serif Halil’s rise. Findley’s research included various archival records that
enabled him to reach solid conclusions about vezir and pasa households of the last
quarter of the 18th and early-19th centuries.21 Suraiya Faroqhi also contributed to the
bulk of archival research in the field with a short article reviewing the existant
prosopographic studies in different subtitles such as Ottoman officials and their
households, ulema households, transformation in central and provincial governments
and reaya, the civilian society.22
Another crucial contribution to the prosopographic studies of the Ottoman ulema
families/dynasties came from Madeline Zilfi in her monograph titled The Ottoman
Ulema in the Post Classical Age (1600-1800). Through a close reading of available
biographial dictionaries, chronicles, and appointment rosters, Zilfi was able to compile a
list of representative religious dignitaries such as seyh ül-islâms, Rumelia chief justices,
Anatolia chief justices, and the vaizan (preachers) who held office between 1589 and
1839. Zilfi’s findings enabled her to present readers with a good picture of the
20 Karl Barbir, "From Pasha to Efendi: The Assimilation of Ottomans into Damascene
Society 1516-1783," International Journal of Turkish Studies, I (1980), pp. 67-82.
21 Carter V. Findley, Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press (1980) and "Patrimonial Household Organization and
Factional Activity in the Ottoman Ruling Class," in Halil Đnalcık, Osman Okyar, and T.
Nalbantoglu, eds., Türkiye'nin Sosyal ve Ekonomik Tarihi (1071-1920), (Ankara, 1980),
pp. 227-35.
22 Suraiya Faroqhi, “Civilian and Political Power in the Ottoman Empire: A Report on
Research in Collective Biography (1480-1830),” International Journal of Middle East
Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1 (1985), pp. 109-117.
11
culmination of Ottoman bureaucratization and patterns of appointments to certain posts
in the religious establishment in this period.23
In 1986, Ali Uğur attempted to prepare a standardized edition of a biographical
dictionary with a specific focus on the ulema of the 17th century. However, Uğur’s work
covered only an analysis of the first half of Mehmed Seyhi Efendi’s Vakâ’i’ül-Fuzalâ,
which includes biographical information of approximately 590 individuals.24
An article written by Baki Tezcan in 2009 reinforces the mainstream approach
that began with Zilfi’s aforementioned work. By analyzing the factual information and
family backgrounds of a group of 81 people who were seyh ül-islâms (Rumelia and
Anatolia chief justices), Tezcan portays a priviliged social group called mevâli, a
nobility of sorts, the members of whom were able to pass on their social ranking to their
sons. His findings lead Tezcan to arrive at tangible conclusions as to the legitimizing
and legal-administrative functions of the ulema, the main features of the rules that
governed the career paths of the members of the aforementioned social group, and the
exclusivity of the mevâli nobility between 1550 and 1650.25
* * *
Although the function and target of prosopographic research was not to portray
the life stories of individual Ottoman elites, the method was influential in giving
momentum to the biographical research in the field. Thanks to the discovery of hithertounknown
manuscripts such as diaries, dream-logs, and memoirs, as well as a more
intensive treatment on previously found documents, research concerning Ottoman firstperson
narratives gained momentum in the 1980s. This new research agenda paralleled
23 Madeleine Zilfi, The Politics of Piety: The Ottoman Ulema in the Postclassical Age
(1600-1800), Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica (1988). For a list of the biographical
notes about the notables mentioned in the text see in the same book, pp. 237- 56.
24 Ali Uğur, The Ottoman Ulema in the Mid-17th Century: An Analysis of the Vakâ’i’ül-
Fuzalâ of Mehmed Seyhi Efendi, Berlin (1986).
25 Baki Tezcan, “The Ottoman Mevâli as Lords of the Law,” Journal of Islamic Studies
20 (2009), pp. 383-407.
12
developments in biographical research methods in the European context. Instead of
solely portraying a life story without attempting to contextualize it, new methods
propounded that “… no social study that does not come back to the problems of
biography, of history and of their intersections within a society, has completed it
intellectual journey.”26 That might be interpreted as a call for a critical reading of the
time periods in which the people in question lived and universalized themselves.
As a reflection of such new interests in historical studies, in 1986 Cornell
Fleischer published a monograph on Mustafa Âli of Gallipoli (d.1600), an eminent
Ottoman historian and man-of-letters. Fleischer’s target was not only to present a
biography of Âli, but also to locate his protagonist within a broad survey and analysis of
Ottoman political and historiographical thought. Therefore, Fleischer’s book reflected
on Ottoman military and bureaucracy.27 The book was also significant in that it was one
of the first serious attempts to locate an Ottoman individual with a critical approach
toward the conventional post-16th-century historiography which attributed Whiggish
appellations onto the following centuries. 28 Furthermore, Fleischer spared a significant
amount of space to Âli’s remarks about the cultures of people living in different parts
the Ottoman world.
The trend of portraying men like Mustafa Âli — much cited but little-known —
continued with Robert Dankoff’s monograph on Melek Ahmed Pasa, who served as the
26 C. W. Mills, The Sociological Imagination, London: Oxford University Press (2000),
p. 6
27 Cornell H. Fleischer, Bureaucrat and Intellectual in the Ottoman Empire: the
Historian Mustafa Âli (1541-1600), Princeton University Press (1986).
28 Whig history presents the past as an inevitable progression towards ever greater
liberty and enlightenment, culminating in modern forms of liberal democracy and
constitutional monarchy. In general, Whig historians stress the rise of constitutional
government, personal freedoms and scientific progress. The term is often applied
generally (and pejoratively) to histories that present the past as the inexorable march of
progress toward enlightenment. This scheme parallels with Cornell Fleischer’s
discussion about “ the decline paradigm.” For a review and criticism of Whig history,
for example see, “The Whig Interpretation of History” by Herbert Butterfield; “Whig
History and Present-Centred History” by Adrian Wilson and T.G Ashplant; “Modern
Historiography: An Introduction” by Michael Bentley.
13
grand vezir between 1650 and 1651.29 Based on the Seyahatnâme of Evliya Çelebi,
Dankoff collected and provided explanatory notes about Melek Ahmed Pasa, who was
also a kinsman and patron to Evliya. Indeed, during his visit to Sumnu, Evliya was a
member of the entourage of the pasa. In a similar fashion, this time with a stronger
emphasis on Evliya, Dankoff published another seminal monograph about the traveller,
in which he examined Evliya’s social status as a gentleman and member of the literati,
as well as his perceptions about different cities such as Cairo and Istanbul.30 Dankoff’s
work is, in a sense, an immediate reply to the 1989 call of Kafadar, who questioned
“how one [could] talk of the personal dimensions in the intellectual life of the 17th
century and not feel obliged to come to terms with the ubiquitous Evliya Çelebi.”31
As mentioned earlier, Kafadar’s study on the diary of dervish Seyyid Hasan
(kept between August 1661 and July 1665, and curiously named Sohbetnâme) was a
milestone, because he problematized the concept of “self and others” in the Ottoman
context and was able to locate such ego-documents in their appropriate framework; he
also opened a new sub-field that attracted a lot of scholars in the following years.
Kafadar portrayed the social networks, forms of sociability and web of space that were
established by a 17th-century dervish.32 The diary of Seyyid Hasan was not the only
ego-document that Kafadar brought into the spotlight. In 1992, the scholar published the
dream-log of Asiye Hatun, who was an Ottoman female dervish from Skopje (in
29 Robert Dankoff, The Intimate Life of an Ottoman Statesman, Melek Ahmed Pasha,
(1588-1662 : As Portrayed in Evliya Çelebi's Book of Travels), New York (1991).
30 Idem, An Ottoman Mentality: the World of Evliya Çelebi, Leiden and Boston (2004).
31 Cemal Kafadar, “Self and Others: The Diary of a Dervish in the Seventeenth Century
Istanbul and First-Person Narrative in Ottoman Literature,” Studia Islamica 69 (1989),
p. 126.
32 Ibid, pp.125-50; However, this article is not the very first one which carries out a
scrutiny on the diary of an Ottoman subject. For earlier examples, see for instance Fazıl
Isıközlü, “Basbakanlık Arsivi’nde Yeni Bulunmus Olan ve Sadreddin Zâde Telhisî
Mustafa Efendi Tarafından Tutulduğu Anlasılan H. 1123 (1711) – H. 1184 (1735)
Yıllarına Ait Bir Ceride ve Eklentisi,” VII. Türk Tarih Kongresi, Ankara: Türk Tarih
Kurumu (1970). The same diary was also studied by Đsmail Erünsal, “Bir Osmanlı
Efendisi’nin Günlüğü: Sadreddinzâde Telhisî Mustafa Efendi ve Cerîdesi,” Kaynaklar 2
(1984), pp. 77-81.
14
modern-day Macedonia).33 The manuscript included details from the dream letters
written between 1641-43. Kafadar portrayed the gendered feature of Asiye Hatun’s
letters which included self-doubt as well as the subordinate position of the author as a
woman. Derin Terzioğlu, a student of Kafadar, also brought to readers’ attention an
equally unusal document: the diary of Niyâzî-i Mısrî (1618 – 94).34 At the time of
keeping his diary, Niyâzî-i Mısrî was already over 60 years old and a well-known Sufi
master, poet, and an outspoken dissident. Having run into trouble with the authorities in
the context of the Kadızâdeli controversy, he was sent into a prolonged exile on the
island of Lemnos. Terzioğlu manages to present her protagonist’s writings as an
combination of a secular diary and a visionary account. Mısrî often talks about mundane
things, such as how he spent the day, how much he slept, and what he ate.35 The dreamlogs
and diaries that Kafadar and Terzioğlu shed light on were instrumental to
categorize these previously unclassified manuscripts under the umbrella of Ottoman
self-narratives or ego-documents. Another former student of Cemal Kafadar, Aslı
33 Cemal Kafadar, "Mütereddit Bir Mutasavvıf: Üsküplü Asiye Hatun’un Rüya Defteri,
1641 – 43,” Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Yıllık 5 (1992), pp. 168 – 222. The text includes
transcription and facsimile. Also published by the same author without the facsimile and
the complete transliteration as Asiye Hatun, Rüya Mektupları, Đstanbul: Oğlak (1994).
Another interpretation about Asiye Hatun’s self-doubt or “hesitation” is also discussed
by Suraiya Faroqhi, Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman
Empire, New York: Tauris (2000), p. 116.
34 Derin Terzioğlu, "Sufi and Dissident in the Ottoman Empire Niyâzî-i Mısrî (1618 -
1694)," Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University, 1999; Also see eadem,
“Man in the Image of God in the Image of Times: Sufi Self-Narratives and the Diary of
Niyâzî-i Mısrî (1618 – 1694),” Studia Islamica 94 (2002), pp. 139 – 165 and “Sunnaminded
Sufi Preachers in Service of the Ottoman State: the Nasihâtnâme of Hasan
Addressed to Murad IV”, Archivum Ottomanicum 27, Harrasowitz Verlag (2010), pp.
241 - 313 for Terzioğlu’s other publications about self-narratives.
35 The fact that the ego documents mentioned in my research belong to sufis is not a
coincidence. As writers of self-narratives, they had a certain advantage over the rest of
the Ottoman literati in that Sufism procured them a set of sophisticated concepts and
jargon with which to write about themselves. Furthermore, sufis inherited from earlier
generations a great bulk of life stories of their masters and the great sufis of the past.
These were transmitted orally and through writing. However, neither the Ottoman sufis
nor their medieval predecessors had a specific term for what we have designated as
“first-person narratives”, “self-narratives” or “ego-documents”.
15
Niyazioğlu also contributed to the contextualization of biography writing in the field
with her dissertation on Nevizâde Atâi’s (1583 – 1635) biographical dictionary.36
In the biographical research of Ottoman grandees, another crucial source was the
sefâretnâmes (embassy accounts) in which the voice of the envoys of the sultan is
heard. These texts are usually approached as a source of factual information; however
one has to keep in mind that their authors were more than just state officials. A careful
reading between the lines of such documents provides us with certain parts that carry
the traces of authorial intervention. There is a recent study on the writings of the envoys
sent to Russia in the 18th century by Denise Klein.37 However, the most extensive
monograph on an envoy is still the biography of Ahmed Resmi Efendi, written by
Virginia Aksan in 1995.38 The reports which Ahmed Resmi wrote during his service as
a special envoy to Vienna and Berlin (in 1757 and 1763, respectively), provide a solid
base for Aksan to construct his biography, as well as portraying the power (im)balance
between the Europeans and the Ottomans. In other words, what starts out as a specific
account on Ahmed Resmi grows into a larger framework that renders the location of the
Ottomans in a broader European context.
What about the commoners and provincials in the Ottoman Empire? Would they
write any self-narratives? In the light of the research carried out by the likes of Steven
Tamari and Dana Sajdi, we learn that especially in the lands within the borders of
36 Aslı Niyazioğlu, "Ottoman Sufi Sheikhs Between This-World and Hereafter: A Study
of Nevizâde Atâi's (1583 – 1635) Biographical Dictionary," Unpublished Ph.D.
Dissertation, Harvard University, 2003. Based on the self-narratives of Nevizâde Atâi,
Niyazioğlu wrote another article entitled “Dreams of the Very Special Dead: Nevizâde
Atai’s (d.1635) Reasons for Composing His Mesnevis,” Archivum Ottomanicum 25
(2008), pp. 221 – 33 in which she portrayed the authorial intervention in Atâi’s works.
For a varying approach towards dream-logs within the framework of Halveti – Sünbüli
seyhs, see by the same author, “Dreams, Biography Writing and the Halveti – Sübüli
Sheyhs of 16th-century Đstanbul,” Many Ways of Speaking About the Self: Middle
Eastern Ego-Documents in Arabic, Persian and Turkish (14th – 20th Century),
Göttingen (2010), pp. 171–184.
37 Denise Klein, “Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Sefâretnâmes on Russia,” Many Ways of
Speaking About the Self: Middle Eastern Ego-Documents in Arabic, Persian and
Turkish (14th – 20th Century), pp. 90 – 102.
38 Virginia Aksan, An Ottoman Statesman in War and Peace Ahmed Resmi Efendi, 1700
– 1783, Leiden: Brill (1995).
16
modern-day Syria, people recorded the events of their times from their own perspectives
for reasons that are still not clear.39 Sajdi’s study of the chronicle of Shihab al-Din
Ahmad Ibn Budayr al Hallaq (fl. 1762) who was a barber in Damascus might be
regarded as an amalgam of popular oral epic and an elite chronicle. Sajdi also notes that
Ibd Budayr was not alone as a commoner in writing history in the 18th century.
Accordingly, there were other lay people such as a couple of Shi’i farmers from
Southern Lebanon, a judicial court clerk, two soldiers, three priests and a Samaritan
secretary.40 On the other hand, Tamari’s study of the chronicle of Mohammad ibn
Kannan who was a historian, teacher, and also a member of the Damascene society
prove that there is a surprising number of chronicles that survive from eighteenthcentury
Syria.41 Probably the most prolific of all these Damascene writers was Al-
Nabulusi who was a Sufi visionary. He wrote more than 200 works that dealt with a
good range of subjects from Sufism to the question of the lawfulness of the use of
tobacco.42
* * *
39 For more information on Syrian chronicles written in the 18th century see Bruce
Masters, “The View from the Province: Syrian Chronicles of the Eighteenth Century,”
Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol. 114, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1994), pp. 353-
362.
40 Dana Sajdi, “A Room of His Own: The History of the Barber of Damascus,” The MIT
Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies: Crossing Boundaries, New Perspectives on
the Middle East, 2003, pp. 19 – 35.
41 Steven Tamari, “A Damascus Diary: 1734-35 Ibn Kannan (d. 1754),” Electronic Middle
East Sourcebook (1734_ibn_kannan.pdf). Also from the same author, see Steven Tamari,
“The Barber of Damascus: Ahmad Budayri al-Hallaq’s chronicle of the year 1749,” in M.
Amin, B.C. Fortna, and E. Frierson, E (eds.), The Modern Middle East: A Sourcebook For
History, Oxford (2006): Oxford University Press, pp. 562-68 for another reflection on
Ahmed Budayr Ibn Hallaq after Sajdi’s research.
42 For more information on Al-Nabulusi’s writings see B. von Schlegell, Sufism in the
Ottoman Arab world: Shaykh ‘Abd al-Ghani al Nabulsi, unpublished PhD thesis,
University of Pennsylvania (1997), Philadelphia PA.; E. Sirriyeh, Sufi visionary of
Ottoman Damascus: 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi, 1641-1731, London (2005): Routledge
Curzon; Samer Akkach, Letters of A Sufi Scholar: the correspondence of 'Abd al-Ghani
Al-Nabulusi, Leiden (2010): E.J. Brill.
17
Beginning with the prospographic research carried out in the 1960s and the
emanation of self-narratives in the Ottoman studies especially after the 1980s, I have
given examples from various primary sources that help us construct biographies, such as
archival materials, dream-logs, diaries, travelogues, and sefâretnâmes.
As for my protagonist, Serif Halil, unfortunately, there are not any extensive
ego-documents that would facilitate the task of writing his biography. The only source
in which he speaks about himself in the first person singular is the vakıfnâme of his
pious deed foundation, which is very unusual.
I.3 (Re)constructing the Biography of Serif Halil: A Review of Sources
Receiving only rare and passing mention due to the socio-religious complex that
he commissioned in his hometown Sumnu, Serif Halil is a little-known figure of the 18th
century who has not been the subject of critical historical study thus far. The earliest
scholarly attempt to shed light on the socio-religious complex in Sumnu was carried out
by Herbert Duda, who summarized the vakıfnâme of Serif Halil’s pious foundation and
published an exact copy of it in 1949.43 Based on the article written by Duda, Von
Robert Anhegger briefly dealt with Serif Halil’s pious deeds and the content of the
records in the official archival registers.44 In 1958, Süheyl Ünver wrote a short article
about the “Turkish calligraphers and their works” in Sumnu in which he referred to
Serif Halil as “an able calligrapher with a refined taste for artistic works.”45 A year after
Ünver’s publication, Serif Halil was cited by Petar Mijatev, who wrote about Ottoman
architectural heritage in modern-day Bulgaria. Mijatev referred to Sumnu as one of the
towns with the largest number of Ottoman architectural inscriptions, which was mainly
a result of the role the town played as a military and administrative center. Furthermore,
43 Herbert W. Duda had published the summary and the facsimile of the vakıfnâme in
1949, in “Moschee und Medrese des Serif Halil Pascha in Schumen,” Balkantürkische
Studien, Vienna (1949), pp. 63 – 126.
44 Van Robert Anhegger, “Neues Zur Balkantürkischen Forschung,” Zeitschrift der
Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, Wiesbaden (1953), pp. 70 – 91.
45 Süheyl Ünver, “Sumnu’da Türk Hattatları ve Eserleri”, Belleten 185, Ankara (1958),
pp. 31 – 36.
18
he compiled an inventory of the monuments in Sumnu.46 In 1960, Boris Nedkov
questioned the birthplace of Serif Halil in his monograph on the modern-day Bulgarian
lands and beyond as narrated in the famous geography book of Al-Idrisi.47 Another
reference to the vakıfnâme of Serif Halil’s pious foundation was given in 1963 by Milan
Penkov, who, as a continuation of the research initiated by Mijatev, wrote about the
Ottoman inscriptions on stone in Sumnu. As in earlier articles, Penkov’s references to
Serif Halil were limited to his patronage of the socio-religious complex in the city.48
The monumental complex commissioned by Serif Halil was first brought to the
attention of Turkish scholarship by Osman Keskioğlu, who himself was a native of
Sumnu. In 1969, he wrote on some of the Ottoman monuments and pious foundations
established in the towns, which are within the borders of Bulgaria today.49 Although the
article was very general and did not include any details about the patron or the mosque
that he erected, it was the beginning of a series of other articles to be published by the
same author. Ekrem Hakkı Ayverdi also pointed to the Serif Halil Pasa Mosque in his
extensive account about Ottoman architectural heritage in the Balkans.50 He offered a
translation of the foundation inscription and published in Arabic alphabet. His
references to Serif Halil consisted only of a few sentences that he quoted from Mehmed
Süreyya’s Sicill-i Osmanî.
46 Petar Mijatev, “Les Monuments Osmanlis en Bulgarie," Rocznik Orientalistyczny 23
(1959), pp. 7 – 28. This article was translated into English by Yasar Yücel, Ottoman
Monuments in Bulgaria, Türk Tarih Kurumu (Ankara: 1987), pp. 1 – 24.
47 Boris Nedkov, Balgariya i Sisednite i Zemi Prez XII vek spored ‘Geografiyata’ na
Idrisi, Sofia (1960), p. 23. Nedkov used Al-Idrisi’s Nüzhetü’l-Müstâk fi Đhtirâkı’l-Âfâk
(The Book of Pleasant Journeys Into Faraway Lands) to re-create a history of the region
where modern-day Bulgarian state exists. He argued that Serif Halil was born in
Madara, a small town close to Sumnu, about which I will elaborate in the third chapter,
under the subheading “From Sumnu to Istanbul”.
48 Milan Penkov, “Turski Kamenni Nadpisi ot Kolarovgrad,” Đzvestiya na Narodnija
Muzej, Sumnu (1963) pp. 75 – 90.
49 Osman Keskioğlu, “Bulgaristan’da Bazı Türk Âbide ve Vakıf Eserleri,” Vakıflar
Dergisi 8, Ankara (1969), pp. 311 – 328.
50 Ekrem Hakkı Ayverdi, Avrupa’da Osmanlı Mimarî Eserleri IV, Đstanbul (1982), p.
112.
19
In 1983, Keskioğlu wrote another article about the Ottoman monuments in the
region together with A. Talha Özaydın in which the authors listed the remnants of
Ottoman architecture in each city of modern-day Bulgaria. They referred to the Serif
Halil Mosque as the monument that honored the town of Sumnu. For the first time in
this article, Serif Halil’s character was placed under scrutiny, and the authors presented
the information about the patron that they gathered from the chronicle of Izzi Süleyman
Efendi.51 In 1985, Keskioğlu transliterated a big portion of the vakıfnâme and briefly
repeated the above-mentioned information on the complex. This article turned out to be
a frequent reference in articles published over the next two decades.52
The post-1980s witnessed a rise in Bulgarian nationalist historiography and
many articles regarding the Ottoman architectural heritage in Bulgaria came out. In
1990, Mihaila Stajnova authored a short article on the architectural style of Serif Halil’s
mosque and repeated the claim that it had been constructed on the site of a previously
demolished church.53 In a similar manner, Margarita Harbova also dwelled on the
formal structure of the mosque and drew attention to the three columns in the vestibule
51 Osman Keskioğlu & A. Talha Özaydın, “Bulgaristan’da Türk-Đslâm Eserleri,”
Vakıflar Dergisi 17, Ankara (1983), pp. 109 – 140. Đzzi Süleyman Efendi’s official
history covers the years 1157 – 65 (1744 – 52) and was printed in Istanbul in 1785. He
records complete logs of appointments in the Divân-ı Hümayun; therefore, his work is a
very valuable source for the researchers studying the biographies of Ottoman statesmen.
Đzzi also composed several chronograms and a divân, however won very little fame as a
poet. He served as the Mektûb-i kethüdâ-i sadr-ı âli in 1739, which implies that he knew
Serif Halil in person. There is no transliterated version of Đzzi Süleyman Efendi’s
chronicle into modern Turkish or English; however, see Abdullah Kara, “Đzzi Divânı,”
Unpublished MA Thesis. Đstanbul Üniversitesi (1998). The transliteration of the
chronicle of Đzzi is to be published by Mesut Aydıner in 2011.
52 Osman Keskioğlu, “Sumnulu Serif Halil Pasa Vakfiyesi,” Vakıflar Dergisi 19,
Ankara (1985), pp. 25 – 30. However, Keskioğlu’s transliteration is incomplete. The
corrected and complete transliteration of the vakıfnâme is in the Appendix 2.
53 Mihaila Stajnova, “La Mosquée Tomboul À Choumen – Influence Du Style “Lâle”,
Seventh International Congress of Turkish Art, Polish Scientific Publishers, Warsaw
(1990), pp. 225 – 229. The claim about the construction site of Serif Halil Pasa Mosque
mentioned above was first articulated by Andrei Zehirev in 1878, “Prevod Na Statiyata
Mesto Sumnu v Bulgarsku,” Slavia 4, Prag (1878), pp. 191 – 192. Furthermore, one
year after the publication of Zehirev’s article, Feliks Kanitz, who himself did not see the
interior of the mosque propounded that there were remnants of a previously demolished
cathedral under the plaster of the walls in Donau-bulgarien und der Balkan: Historischgeographisch-
ethnographische Reisestudien aus den Jahren 1860-1878 III, Leipzig
(1879), p.62.
20
to suggest that on the site of Serif Halil’s Mosque previously was a “Byzantine style”
cathedral.54
In 1997, Svetlana Ivanova wrote an entry about Sumnu in the Encyclopedia of
Islam, in which she referred to Serif Halil as a Sumnu- or Madara-born statesman with a
brilliant career. Ivanova stated that Serif Halil was the kethüda (the administrative
intendant) of Damad Đbrahim Pasa.55 Two years later, Stoyanka Kenderova and Zorka
Ivanova published a catalogue of the collections of Ottoman libraries that were built in
the 18th and the 19th centuries in modern-day Bulgaria. The manuscript collection was
bequeathed by Serif Halil to the library of his socio-religious complex. Kenderova and
Ivanova presented an incomplete inventory of the content of the library in Sumnu. They
also included the facsimiles of a few title pages of manuscripts from the library of Serif
Halil.56
In the following decade, we find encyclopaedic entries of various lengths which
happen to repeat, quote or plagiarize the above cited works. In 1999, Havva Koç wrote
an entry for Serif Halil in the Osmanlılar Ansiklopedisi; however, it was only a
summary of the article written by Keskioğlu in 1968.57
The International Symposium of Cultural Interaction in the Balkans and
Ottoman Architecture, that was held in Sumnu in 2000, attracted more attention to the
socio-religious complex that Serif Halil commissioned. Among many papers that were
presented during the symposium, two are closely related to my research. The first article
was by Sadi Bayram who studied the vakıfs (pious foundations) established in the towns
within the borders of Bulgaria today. Although his specific emphasis was not on
54 Margarita Harbova, Gradoustoistvo i Arhitektura po Balgarskite Zemi Prez XV – XVII
vek, Sofia (1991), pp. 75 – 77; 164 – 173. A more elaborate discussion about this
controversy will be included in the next chapter.
55 Svetlana Ivanova, “Sumnu”, Encylopaedia of Islam, Leiden: Brill (1997), pp. 502 –
504.
56 Stoyanka Kenderova and Zorka Ivanova, From the Collections of Ottoman Libraries
in Bulgaria During the 18th-19th Centuries: Catalogue of the Exhibition of Manuscripts
and Old Printed Books, Sofia (1999), pp. 14 – 19.
57 Havva Koç, “Serif Halil Pasa,” Yasamları ve Yapıtlarıyla Osmanlılar Ansiklopedisi,
v.2, YKY. Đstanbul (1999) pp. 585 – 6.
21
Sumnu, he devoted a large portion to Serif Halil’s vakıf. However, the information that
he provided was not any different from Keskioğlu’s summary and transliteration of the
vakıfnâme.58 The second article presented in this symposium related to Serif Halil was
written by Orlin Sabev who analyzed the socio-religious complex. Sabev included a
review of the articles written about the monument until that time. Written in Bulgarian,
the article provided the Bulgarian scholars with an interpretation of the foundation
inscription of the mosque. Moreover, the author questioned the influence of the
“Ottoman Baroque,” a misnomer for the Ottoman architectural monuments built
especially in the second half of the 18th century.59 This was the first of a series of
articles to be published by Sabev about Sumnu and Serif Halil Pasa’s socio-religious
complex. In 2001, he wrote an article on Muslim brotherhoods in Sumnu, which
included a survey of the shifts in the socio-ethnic population structure of the city
between the 15th and the 18th centuries.60 The greatest contribution of Sabev to the bulk
of articles about Serif Halil was the publication of the book collection bestowed by the
patron in his socio-religious complex. Sabev’s transliteration and classification of the
book list brought the content of the library in Sumnu into the spotlight. (It should be
noted that these books were the ones originally bestowed by the patron, Serif Halil.61)
58 Sadi Bayram, “Bulgaristan’da Bulunan Osmanlı Vakıfları,” Balkanlar’da Kültürel
Etkilesim ve Türk Mimarisi Uluslararası Sempozyumu Bildirileri, Sumnu (Mayıs 2000),
pp. 127 – 135.
59 Orlin Sabev, “Djamiyata na Serif Halil Pasa v Sumnu: Sledi ot Dialoga Mezhdu
Zapada i Orienta,” ibid, pp. 611 – 625.
60 Idem, “Muslumanskite Mistichni Bratstva v Sumnu XVII – XIX vek,” Istoriya na
Muslumanskata Kultura po Balkarskite Zemi, ed. Rossitsa Gradeva, Sofia (2001), pp.
300 – 323. Based on this article, Sabev presented an extended version in the
International Symposium of the Culture of Islamic Mysticism in Bursa in 2005.
“Osmanlı Dönemi Sumnu Tekkeleri,” Uluslararası Bursa Tasavvuf Kültürü
Sempozyumu 4, ed. M. Temelli, Kültür Sanat ve Turizm Vakfı, Bursa (2005), pp. 179 –
191.
61 Idem, “Bir Hayrat ve Nostalji Eseri: Sumnu’daki Tombul Camii Külliyesi ve Banisi
Serif Halil Pasa’nın Vakfettiği Kitapların Listesi,” Enjeux politiques, économiques et
militaires en mer Noire (XIVe-XXIe siècles), études à la mémoire de Mihail Guboglu
sous la direction de: Faruk Bilici, Ionel Cândea, Anca Popescu. Musée de Braïla-
Editions Istros, Braïla, 2007, pp. 557 – 583.This article might be regarded in addition to
the monograph that Sabev wrote in 2006, where he mentioned the library in Sumnu
without giving further details. Đlk Osmanlı Matbaa Serüveni 1726 – 1746, Yeditepe
Publication, Đstanbul (2006).
22
In 2005, Nurcihan Kahraman wrote an MA thesis on the architectural features of
the socio-religious complex, in which she did not include a critical study of the patron’s
personal background. Her references to Serif Halil were limited to the information
provided by Keskioğlu and Ünver. She also compared the socio-religious complex with
one of its contemporaries, the Damad Đbrahim Pasa complex in Nevsehir. Her attempts
to re-present the plan and sketch of the socio-religious complex via various softwares
visually enriched the bulk of studies about the complex. Moreover, Kahraman attempted
to refute the assertions about the construction site of the complex that had been put
forward by Harbova and Stajnova.62
In 2010, it fell onto Neval Konuk to write an entry about Serif Halil Pasa
Külliyesi in Đslam Ansiklopedisi. Quoting from Sabev and Kahraman, she presented a
general picture of the architectural features and elements of the complex. The article did
not include specific references to the personage of Serif Halil, but proved to be a
summary of what had been written about the complex thus far.63
* * *
As it might be deduced from the corpus of writings about the Serif Halil Pasa
Complex, the focus has been on the monument rather than its patron. Especially since
the publication of Keskioğlu’s article in 1983, in which he quoted from Izzi Süleyman
Efendi’s chronicle to shed light on the official posts of Serif Halil, researchers have
taken the career of Serif Halil in Istanbul for granted and have not done a close reading
of the other chronicles depicting the same time period. In order to test the validity of
information provided by Đzzi, I shall include the histories of several other chroniclers
such as Mehmed Subhî Efendi (1730-43), Ussâkîzâde es-Seyyid Đbrâhim Hasîb Efendi
(1695-1712), Anonymous Chronicle (1688-1704), Kadı Ömer Efendi (1740-44),
62 Nurcihan Kahraman, “Sumnu Serif Halil Pasa Camisi (Tombul Cami),” Unpublished
MA Thesis, Marmara University, Istanbul (2005). See footnote 53 for nationalist
arguments about the construction site of the complex.
63 Neval Konuk, “Serif Halil Pasa Külliyesi,” Đslam Ansiklopedisi 38, Türkiye Diyanet
Vakfı, Đstanbul (2010), pp. 572 – 3.
23
Musâffâ Mustafa Efendi (1736-44), and Ahmed Vâsıf Efendi (1752-74).64 In order to
construct the setting of Serif Halil’s early life, I shall refer to Evliya Çelebi’s
Seyahâtnâme, in which he narrates his experience in Sumnu and puts forward claims
about the seyyids (the descendants of Hüseyin, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad).
Furthermore, so as to get statistical information about the number of seyyids in the
sancak of Niğbolu, Kanûnname-i Sultânî li’ Aziz Efendi will prove helpful.65
Addtionally, I will use some archival materials located in the prime minister’s
archives (hereafter BOA), Sofia National Library (hereafter SNL), and the Archives of
General Directorate of Foundations (hereafter VGM).66
Other primary sources that include biographical information about Serif Halil
are Tuhfe-i Hattatin by Müstakimzâde Süleyman Saadeddin, Tuhfe-i Naîlî, Sicill-i
Osmanî by Mehmed Süreyya and Fâ’iz ve Sakir Mecmuası.67 Among these biographical
64 Vak’anüvis Subhî Mehmed Efendi Tarihi, ed. Mesut Aydıner, Kitabevi. Đstanbul
(2007); Ussâkîzâde es-Seyyid Đbrâhim Hasîb Efendi Tarihi, ed. Rasit Gündoğdu,
Çamlıca. Đstanbul (2005); Anonymous Ottoman Chronicle, ed. Abdülkadir Özcan, Türk
Tarih Kurumu. Ankara (2000); Kadı Ömer Efendi, Ruznâme-i Sultan Mahmud Han, ed.
Yavuz Oral, Unpublished Graduation Thesis. Istanbul University (1966); Musâffâ
Mustafa Efendi’nin I. Mahmud Devri Vekayinâmesi, ed. Ahmed Kızılgök, Unpublished
Graduation Thesis. Istanbul University (1964); Ahmed Vâsıf Efendi, Mehâsinü’l-Âsâr
ve Hakâikü’l-Ahbâr, ed. Mücteba Đlgürel, Türk Tarih Kurumu. Ankara (1994).
65 Evliya Çelebi, Seyahâtnâme, v.3, ed. Seyit Ali Kahraman and Yücel Dağlı, YKY,
Đstanbul (1996), pp. 178-9; Rhoads Murphey, Kanûnname-i Sultânî li’ Aziz Efendi, On
Yedinci Yüzyılda Bir Osmanlı Devlet Adamının Islahat Teklifleri, Harvard University
(1985), p. 38.
66 BOA 810/34403 Cevdet – Askeriye; 541/22232 Cevdet – Maliye; 658/26925 Cevdet –
Maliye, 97/4805 Cevdet – Belediye, 12077 Evkaf Defterleri, 66/3285 Cevdet –
Belediye, 336/13767 Cevdet – Maliye. In order to detect the names of the mahalles in
Šumen in the last quarter of the 17th century, I will make use of the hurufat registers
that are the archival documents which show the appointments of various officers such as
imams, hatips, trustees and nazırs to specific areas. They are called hurufat (the plural
of harf, letter) because the records are sorted out alphabetically.
67 Müstakimzâde Süleyman Saadeddin, Tuhfe-i Hattatin, Devlet Matbaası. Đstanbul
(1928); Mehmed Nâil Tuman, Tuhfe-i Naîlî: Divân Sairlerinin Muhtasar Biyografileri,
Bizim Büro Yayınları. Ankara (2001); Mehmed Süreyya, Sicill-i Osmanî, Kültür
Bakanlığı and Tarih Vakfı. Ankara (1996); Fâ’iz ve Sakir Mecmuası in Suleymaniye
Manuscript Library, Halet Efendi Kitaplığı, 763. The mecmua was also studied by
Metin Hakverdioğlu, Edebiyatımızda Lâle Devri ve Damad Đbrahim Pasa’ya Sunulan
Kasideler, Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Selçuk University. Konya (2007).
24
reference books, Mehmed Süreyya’s Sicill-i Osmanî differs from earlier examples in
that it has an inclusive approach which does not categorize the individiuals according to
the social branches that they belonged to. It is not also limited to the biographies of a
group of people who lived in a specific time span.
The vakıfnâme is the only first-person narrative about Serif Halil.68 The original
document dated May 4, 1744 (H. 21 Rebi’ül Evvel, 1157/M.) was written in ta’lik
calligraphic style by a certain Seyyid Mustafa,69 and it is preserved in the Sumnu
Historical Museum, where a copy of it can be found in the Directorate General of
Foundations in Ankara.70 Generally, in such documents, first the pious deeds of the
patron and then the expenditures/profits are recorded; however, the vakıfnâme of Serif
Halil’s pious foundation follows the reverse order.
The trustee of the pious foundation was Serif Halil himself until he appointed
his nephew Çavuszâde Es-seyyid Mehmed Ağa to follow him after his death.
Furthermore, he clearly remarked that the future trustees of the vakıf were to be the
oldest members of his family.71
68 For the earlier studies on vakıfnâme, see Herbert W. Duda, “Moschee und Medrese
des Serif Halīl Pasha in Šumen”, Balkantürkische Studien, Wien, 1949, s. 72-73; Milen
Penkov."Turski Kamenni Nadpisi ot Kolarovgrad." Đzvectiya na Narodniya Muzej,
1963. 75-90”; Ekrem Hakkı Ayverdi, Avrupa’da Osmanlı Mimarî Eserleri, cilt IV,
Đstanbul, 1982, s. 112; Оsman Keskioğlu, “Bulgaristan’daki Bazı Türk Vakıfları ve
Âbideleri”, Vakıflar Dergisi, VII, 1968, s. 136-137; Orlin Sabev. "Džamiyata na Šerif
Halil Paša (Tombul Džamiya) v Šumen: ot Sledi Dialoga Meždu Zapada i Orienta."
Balkanlarda Kültürel Etkilesim ve Türk Mimarisi Uluslararası Sempozyumu Bildirileri.
Sumnu: Atatürk Kültür Merkezi Yayınları, 2000., Balkanlar’da Kültürel Etkilesim ve
Türk Mimarisi Uluslararası Sempozyumu Bildirileri (17-19 Mayıs 2000, Sumnu-
Bulgaristan), haz. A. A. Yasa, Z. Zafer, cilt 2, Ankara: Atatürk Yüksek Kurumu Atatürk
Kültür Merkezi Bakanlığı, 2001, pp. 615-616.
69 Vakıfnâme: “…Eseri Cemil ve hayri Cezil ketebehü'l-fakiru Es-seyyid Mustafa ufiye
anhu…” Personal communication with Irvin Cemil Shick on 31 July, 2011: “The
vakıfnâme was most probably written by passable scrible, not calligraphic, hands.”
70 VGM, Haremeyn: 4 (737); Sumnu Historical Museum, 131.
71 Vakıfnâme: “…ve ben lâbis-i libâs-ı hayat oldukça vakfı mezkure kendim mütevelli
olub ba'dehu usul ve furû'mun ekber aslahı batnen ba'de batnın ve karnen gıbbe karnin
mütevelli olalar ve benim usul furû'umdan sonra zikrî âtî kâimmakam olan yiğenimiz
Çavuszâde Es-seyyid Mehmed Ağa nam kimesnenin usûl ve füru'in sart-ı mezkur üzre
mütevelli olalar…”
25
In the document, there are some crucial autobiographical lines written in firstperson
singular, and which will be addressed in the third chapter concerning Serif
Halil’s family ties and early life. Furthermore, the assets and pious deeds of the patron
included in the vakıfnâme prove to be valuable documentation which enable us to
elucidate conclusions about his wealth, and will be addressed in my last chapter dealing
with his legacy.
* * *
An important source about the architectural patronage of the Serif Halil is the
foundation inscription (kitâbe), which is found over the entrance gate to the mosque. It
was written on a fine marble with the technique of embossment in talik calligraphic
style by Đbrahim Namık (d.1757/8). Although the marble plate seems to have been
cleaned during the restoration works in 1994, the text is not perfectly legible; therefore,
we have to depend on the transliteration of Osman Keskioglu.72 The poet to compose
the chronogram to commemorate the construction of the mosque was Nimetullah
Efendi, who was shortly mentioned as Nimet in the poem.73
72 Osman Keskioğlu, “Sumnulu Serif Halil Pasa Vakfiyesi” p. 30 :Kethüdâ-yi Sadr-ı âli,
mülteca-yı hâss-ü âm / Ol semiy’yi bâni-i Beytül-harâm, zât-ı serif / Đki defa kethüdalık
mesned-i vâlâsını / Eyledi ikbâl-ü izzetle müserref ol afif. / Ol mühimsâz-ı umur-u din-ü
devlet kim odur / Mücri-i sünnet, muin-i hâdim-i ser’ı münif / Mense-i pâk-i vücudu
olmağıyle ol kerim / Eyledi âsâr ile bu beldeyi pâk ü nazif / Yaptı ezcümle bu ziba
mâ’bed-i pürnuru kim / Tarhı hob ve resmi mahbubu binası hem rasif / Habbezâ
manzume-i nev mâ’bed-i dilkes bina / Kim sezâ Beytül Harâma olsa manendi redif/
Hak bu kim Hubbül-Vatan misdakın icra eyledi / Nail-i ecr-i cezil etsin Hüdavend-i latif
Vasfına tarhetti Nimet dahi bir tarih-i hub Hemçu nur ihya olurdu Câmi-i pâk-i Serif.
Ketebehu Đhrahim Namık – 1157
73 According to Tuhfe-i Nâilî, Nimetullah Efendi was born in Istanbul in 1700 whereas
in Sicill-i Osmanî, it is written that his birth year is 1710 (H.1122). As his father,
Abdülrahim Efendi, then the ruznamçeci of Eyüb, passed away when he was a child,
Nimetullah grew up with his grandfather Osman Efendi. In 1730, one year before Serif
Halil was appointed to the post of tezkire-i sâni, he became a müderris. Although he
was removed from this office when Dâmadzâde Ebûlhayr Efendi was the seyh ül-Đslam,
after a short time, he regained his position. He became the molla of Galata, Egypt and
Mecca in 1753/54 (H.1167) and 1764 (H.1178) respectively. With the pâye of Istanbul,
he became the kadı of the sublime army (ordu-yu hümayun kadısı) in 1769/70 (H.1183).
As to the year in which he died, there are different suggestions in Sicill-i Osmanî,
Tuhfe-i Naîlî and the chronicles of Sefket and Silahdarzâde. According to Süreyya, he
died in January 1773 (H. Sevval 1186), whereas Naîlî records his death year as 1772,
twenty years later than Serif Halil’s death. In the chronicles of Silahdarzâde and Sefket,
the year of his death is given to be H. 1180 (1766/1767), which seems unlikely.
26
The translation of the verse is as follows:
He, the administrative intendant of the grand vizier, the refuge of the needy,
This honorable man who gave his name to this House of God,
Served in the sublime post of the chief stewardness of the grand vizier twice,
With success and pride.
He, who served the state and religion in significant posts,
The deputy of Sunnah and the servant of the exalted Shari’a,
In the place of his origin, this gracious man,
Commissioned monuments and made this town clean and refined.
He built this monument of absolute purity,
This long-lasting building of beautiful patterns and beloved decorations
An appealing and smart building in the new style,
Whoever worthy of following ---
And showed his love for his hometown,
The God shall give him plenty of rewards,
Nimet wrote down the chronogram of this auspicious date,
This sacred and pure mosque, like him [the patron] bestows light to the world.
The chronogram portrayed Serif Halil’s architectural patronage as his selfmanifestation.
At this point, it must be noted that the tombstones in the backyard of Serif
Halil’s mosque is not of any help to this research because all of them belong to the
prominent members of the local society in Sumnu in the 19th century. Most of
tombstones are totally unreadable and the area needs to be cleaned.
27
II. SUMNU: THE SETTING OF SERĐF HALĐL’S EARLY LIFE74
Maarif ehline mecma’ o belde,
Kemalât nehrine menba’ o belde75
The history of Sumnu needs to be seperately analyzed, because it is the setting of
Serif Halil’s early years. It is a city in north-eastern Bulgaria at the foot of the Sumnu
plateau, a location that makes it panoramically beautiful and strategically significant.
The city is a crossroads between the Stara Planina passes, the Danube and the Black
Sea. The creek of Bokluca (Porojna), is an important landmark that played a crucial role
in the formation of the city center.76
74 For detailed information about the history of the city, among many other indetailed
articles, see the entry of “Šumen” in Encyclopeadia of Islam by Svetlana Ivanova;
Evliya Çelebi, “Seyahatname”, vIII. pp.178-9; M. Du Bocage and G. Barbie,
“Description de la ville de Chumla et de ses environs...” in Journal de voyages ou
archives geographiques du XIXe siecle, Paris 1828; Machiel Kiel, “The Heart of
Bulgaria Population and Settlement History of the Districts of Provadia, Novi Pazar and
Shoumen from the late Middle Ages till the End of the Ottoman Period” and “Urban
Development in Bulgaria in the Turkish Period and the Place of Turkish Architecture in
the Process”; Stoyanka Kenderova, “Bulgaria, in World Survey of Islamic
Manuscripts”; Osman Keskioğlu, “Bulgaristan’daki Bazı Türk Vakıfları ve Âbideleri”
and “Sumnulu Serif Halil Pasa Vakfiyesi” in Vakıflar Dergisi; Herbert Duda,
“Balkanturkische Studien” in SB Osterr. Akad. der Wiss.
75 In his unpublished divân, Eski Cumalı Ahmed Hamid from Hacegân-ı divân-ı
hümayun describes Šumen as the “gathering place for the well-educated and the spring
of the river of virtues.” (Osman Keskioğlu & A. Talha Özaydın, “Bulgaristan’da TürkĐslâm
Eserleri,” Vakıflar Dergisi 17, Ankara (1983), p. 119)
76 Bokluca(-dere) (Porojna), it is the biggest creek flowing from the plateau of Šumen
and is in the area called Köskler, which possibly suggests the presence of seasonal
lodges perhaps for hunting. It is fed by various streams such as Çillibaba, Sulumera,
Arslancık, Zindan, Çınarcık-çesme. Because most of the spring is used to cater the
water needs of the city, like the irrigation of truck gardens, the water level of the creek
is very low. As for the origin of the name of the creek, Bokluca, in vernacular Turkish,
28
In the 11th and the 12th centuries, the city was called Simeonis by the
Byzantines. Al-Idrisi referred to it as Misionis, which might be a corrupted version of
the previous name. The excavations carried out in the 1960s and 1970s revealed a 13thcentury
inscription which included a text of prayer in Slavonic language. In the text, the
city was called Sumnu, which might have been designated in reference to the Bulgarian
word “šuma” that means verdure, foliage.77 In the Ottoman period, we find several
names used for the city such as Sumi, Sumnu, Sumna, Sumnua, Sumlar, Sumla and
Sumnı.78 Between 1950-64, it was renamed Kolarovgrad.79
There are numerous remnants of fortresses, settlements, churches and
monasteries in Sumnu. The city indeed sits on a plateau (today known as Hisarlıka)
where five different fortresses had existed succesively: a Roman one (4th century), three
Byzantine ones (the 5th-6th centuries, the 9th-10th and the 12th-14th centuries) and an
Ottoman one (15th century).80 The Ottomans conquered the city in 1388-89 during the
campaigns of Çandarlı Ali Pasa, who was the grand vezir of Sultan Murad I at the time.
The fortified medieval town of Sumnu was totally destroyed by the Crusaders during
is used to refer to a coppice and shrubbery. Translated from M.Türker Acaroğlu,
“Bulgaristan’da Türkçe Yer Adları Kılavuzu” p. 145.
77 Machiel Kiel, “Sumnu,” Đslam Ansiklopedisi, Türk Diyanet Vakfı. Đstanbul (2010), p.
227 and Svetlana Ivanova, “Sumnu,” Encylopaedia of Islam, Leiden: Brill (1997), p.
502. Svetlana Ivanova refers to the very same finding as the Shishman Inscription
whereas Kiel avoids naming it.
78 Evliya Çelebi, “Ziyâretgâh-ı Sumnı,” Seyahâtnâme, p.179.
79 As an alternative to Ivanova and Kiels’s claims about the origin of the name of the
city, Evliya Çelebi states that due to the great trouble which the Ottomans suffered
under the command of Çandarlı Ali Pasa while attempting to conquer the city, it was
called “Sumlu” which might be translated as “troublesome”. (Pars Tuğlacı, Osmanlı
Sehirleri, p. 396); Evliya Çelebi, “Der-vasf-ı kal’a-i harâb Sûmî, ma’mûr, müzeyyen
sehr-i Sumnu,” Seyahâtnâme, v.3 p.178: “Sebeb-i tesmiyesi oldur kim sene (---)
târîhinde Yıldırım Hân asrında Alî nâm vezîr-i hümâm feth ederken vefret üzre
mesakkat çekilüp “Su Sumnı feth olmayup kaldı” deyü nefes etdüğü dem kalâdan vere
bayrakları zâhir olup Bulkar keferesi elinden dest-i Đslâm’a girüp memâlik-i Đslâm’a
zem olunup ismi Sumnı kaldı. Ammâ bânîsi ma’lûmum değildir…” On the other hand,
Kolarovgrad was the name given after the famous Bulgarian communist political leader
and leading functionary in the Communist International, Vasil Petrov Kolarov who was
born in Šumen.
80 Svetlana Ivanova, ibid. p.503.
29
the Varna campaign of 1444 and it was abandoned and never restored in its previous
location again. The new settlement area was down below the plateau around the
Bokluca creek.
The earliest source to give information about the socio-ethnic structure of the
city is a tahrir icmâl register dated 1479. According to this document, there were
seventy-four Christian households and eleven Muslim households living in the city. The
total population was roughly 400-450.81 In 1485, the city was the zeâmet82 of Bâli Bey
ibn Malkoç and the Christian population was formed by sixty-eight households, fifteen
mücerreds (bachelors) and one widower. On the other hand, apart from fourteen
Muslim households, eleven of which were yörüks83 and sipahis (cavalrymen), fifteen
Muslim mücerreds inhabited the city.84
In 1516, 107 Christian households resided in the city, whereas the number of
Muslim households were ninety-four.85 The tahrir register of 1526-28 shows that
Sumnu was turned into a has86 of the sultan and the total population of the city was
1100, of which 550 were Muslims.87 The earliest mahalle of the city was named
Eskipazar and it was located along the western border of Sumnu. After the construction
81 SNL: O. A. K., n.45/29
82 Zeâmet is a military fief with an annual income of 20,000 to 100,000 akçes paid by
the reâyâ in the form of tithes, taxes, fees and market dues. (Gustav Bayerle, “Zeâmet,”
Pashas, Begs and Efendis, p.163)
83 Yörük or yürük, “nomad” belongs to one of the nomadic or semi-nomadic Turkoman
and Kurdish tribes in Anatolia and the Balkans who maintained their semi-autonomous
status. They had long resisted repeated government attempts at forcible settlements;
some of these tribal groups survived to our day. (Gustav Bayerle, “Yürük,” Pashas,
Begs and Efendis, p.162)
84 Rumen Kovachev, Opis Na Niğboluskiya Sandjak ot 80te Godini na XV Vek, Sofia
(1997), p. 152.
85 Machiel Kiel, “Sumnu,” Đslam Ansiklopedisi, p. 227.
86 Has was the private property denoting land and revenue units that produced an annual
income in excess of 100,000 akçes. (Gustav Bayerle, “Hass,” Pashas, Begs and Efendis,
p. 77)
87 M. Tayyib Gökbilgin, “Kanuni Sultan Süleyman Devri Baslarında Rumeli Eyaleti,
Livaları, Sehir ve Kasabaları,” Belleten, 77-80, 1956, pp. 247-285.
30
of the mosque commissioned by the Rumelia provincial governor-general Yahyâ Pasa
in c.1500, a new mahalle appeared to the east of Eskipazar, which was named Mahalle-i
Câmi-i Serîf. In this mahalle was also the Eski Hamam.88 In thirty years’ time, Sumnu
possesed a full-fledged city centre. By 1555, three more mahalles had been formed,
named Söğütpınar, Velî Kadı and Yolcu. In 1579-80, the mahalle of Solak Sinan also
came into being.89
While in many cities in Rumelia there was a population decrease in the mid-17th
century, Sumnu’s population kept increasing. According to the Mufassal Avârız
Register dated 1642, four more Muslim mahalles were formed, the names of which
were Kara Efendi, Süleyman Efendi, Dündarzâde and Sâban Halife, which I consider to
have been named after Serif Halil’s influential grandfather, Sâban Efendi.90 At this time,
in the city, there were 413 Muslim households. Furthermore, an Armenian mahalle
hosting twenty-five households was formed by the Armenian refugees fleeing from the
Safavids. At the time, the total population was about 2500-2700, 76 percent of which
were Muslims. In addition, there were two Christian mahalles.91
According to Evliya Çelebi who visited Sumnu, together with Melek Ahmed
Pasa in 1651, there were ten mosques and mahalles, seven mektebs, a tekke, a han, a
hamam and 300 shops in the city.92 Two kadıs (with a daily salary of 300 akçes), a
nâ’ib, a nâkibü’l-esraf, a subası, a kethüda, a sipahi kethüdası, a serdar of the
Jannisaries, a muhtesib and a bacdâr were holding office in Sumnu during Evliya
88 Eski Câmi (the Old Mosque) survived until 1992, when it was demolished by the
Bulgarian authorities whereas Eski Hamam (the Old Bath) survived until the 1960s.
89 Machiel Kiel, ibid, p. 228
90 Details about my suggestion as to the origin of the name of this mahalle will be
provided in the next chapter, under the title of “From Šumen to Istanbul”.
91 SNL: O. A. K., 129/3, 8a.
92 Being the relative of Melek Ahmed Pasa, who was the grand vezir of Mehmed IV
between 1650-51, Evliya Çelebi entered the pasa’s household (kapulandı) and travelled
in most of the Rumelia region together with him.
31
Çelebi’s visit.93 The traveller also described the physical characteristics of the city to
great extent.94
Evliya claimed that there was no bezistan, medrese or dâr-ül kurra. However,
we have to approach Evliya’s account with a certain degree of doubt. Evliya often wrote
about what he witnessed with credibiliy, whereas what he regarded as missing may
potentially be an overstatement – and in our specific case of Sumnu, that rule is valid,
considering the fact that in the city there has existed a bezistân since the 16th century,
which has been used for different purposes and functions throughout modern day.95
Furthermore, eight years after Evliya’s visit, the Catholic bishop Philipp Stanislavov
informs us that there were two churches and about 1,200 Orthodox inhabitants in
Sumnu. The number of Catholics were 120, and were registered as Dubrovnik
merchants in the Avârız Register of 1642. According to Stanislavov, about 4,500
Muslims lived in the city, which also seems to be an exaggeration, because the total
population of the city had reached only 5,500 – 6,000 by the mid-18th century.96
93 Nâ’ibs are deputies of kadıs who administer them to certain legal cases. Nâkibü’lesrafs
are the chiefs of the descendants of Prophet Muhammad. Subasıs are the
commanders of a subdivision of a provincial sipahi company; they also exercised the
functions of chief of police in their subdivisions. Kethüdas were “stewards” or leader of
specified units who were deputized to act as commanders. Men of substance all had
personal kethüdâs, as in the case of Serif Halil being the kethüda of the grand vezir.
Muhtesibs would inspect the marketplace to ensure that the prices conformed with the
official price list called narh and they levied dues on merchants and artisans. Serdars
were the field marshals, the commander-in-chief.
94 Evliya Çelebi, ibid, p. 179: “…Sehri cümle on aded mahalle ve cümle iki bin aded
bağ u bâğçeli ve cânib-i erba’ası havâleli dağlar ve yigirmi yerde mesîregâhlı yerler
ortasında ma’mûr u müzeyyen sîrîn kasabadır. Tahtâni ve fevkânî kiremitli ve ekseri
sındıra tahta örtülü sâhâne ve sâhnîsinli evlerdir. Lâkin cânib-i erba’aları ekseriyyâ tahta
havlılıdır…”
95 Svetlana Ivanova, ibid, p. 503. As of May, 2011, the bezistân is in a devastated
situation. An inscription written during the restoration works that were carried out at the
beginning of the 19th century is stored in the local museum. Also in the northern-gate of
the bezistan there is a tuğra of Mahmud II, who himself went to Šumen and
commissioned some architectural works as well as the restoration of the existant ones.
(Yasar Yücel, Macaristan ve Bulgaristan’daki Türk Sanat Eserleri, pp. 46-47) The
bezistân was last restored in 1922.
96 Machiel Kiel, ibid. p. 228
32
The 18th century witnessed a boom in the number of architectural works
coupled with the increasing population in Sumnu. In 1729-30, Hacı Ahmed el-Acem
commissioned the construction of Kilek Mosque, which also gave its name to the
mahalle surrounding it. The clock tower and the Serif Halil Pasa Socio-Religious
Complex were constructed in very close quarters in 1740 and 1744, respectively.
In the second half of the 18th century, architectural constructions continued and
minor buildings such as Reis Pasa Mosque (1773-4) and Kursunlu Mosque and
Fountain (1774-5) were built. Such urbanization attempts were reflected in the total
population numbers. The Mufassal Avârız Register of 1751 shows that the city hosted
714 Muslim and 172 non-Muslim households. In this period, three non-Muslim
mahalles named Kilise, Kosta and Stanco appeared. However, contrary to the earlier
records, it is seen that in these non-Muslim mahalles lived some Muslims, too.
Likewise, in the Muslim mahalles of Kadı Mescidi and Hacı Pîri, some non-Muslims
were residing.97
In time, the population surge resulted in a great contribution to the economic
welfare of the town. There were about 50 vakıfs that owned not only agricultural estates
but also shops and workshops.98 By the final decade of the 16th century, the Ottoman
authorities had closed the waters of the empire to foreign ships in order to ensure the
steady flow of Istanbul commerce from the West, and allowed only the merchants who
were either Ottoman subjects or allies. This move became especially beneficial for the
97 Machiel Kiel, ibid, p. 229.
98 Ivanova gives the example of Hacı Recep Vakıf which was founded in 1671 and drew
most of its income from 41 shops in order to illustrate the general picture. During my
research in the General Directorate of Foundations, I have been able to detect the
following vakıfs that were founded in Šumen: Yahya Bey bin Abdullah in H. 1065;
Kolcu Mehmed bin Recep bin Abdullah (Mehmed Ağa bir Recep Ağa) in H. 1082;
Çavus Ahmed bin Veysi in H. 1092; Hüseyin bin Haydar in H. 1105; Mustafa Efendi
bin Ahmed in H.1107; Deven Hatun Bint-i Gazanfer in H.1113; Abdullah Çavus bin
Mustafa in H. 1130; Hüseyin Ağa bin Ali in H. 1131; Mustafa Ağa bin Ali in H. 1148;
Osman Efendi bin Mehmed Ağa in H.1149; Fatma Hatun Bint-i Ahmed in H. 1164;
Safiye Hatun Bint-i Mustafa in H.1175; Mehmed Pasa bin Abdullah Pasa in in H. 1186;
Mustafa Baba Efendi bin Abdulkerim in H.1206; Es-seyh Mustafa Baba in 1206;
Nasreddin Efendi bin Mustafa in H.1211; Mustafa Efendi bin Abdülkerim in H. 1216;
Havva Hatun Bint-i Abdülkerim in H. 1220; Ali Efendi bin Ömer in H. 1255; Mustafa
Bey bin Đsmail Ağa in H.1260; Mehmed Efendi bin Mehmed Fethi Efendi in H.1277
Hüseyin Ağa in an unidentified year; El-hac Muslu in an unidentified year.
33
Dubrovnik merchants who also operated from and within Sumnu. Although their
numbers were small, their impact was large, considering the fact that thousands of items
produced in this geography made their way to Italian and other European markets.99 By
the mid-18th century, the town had turned into a “distribution center” that provided the
whole region with a variety of goods. Leather production was very widespread, and the
town was also famous for its coppersmiths.100
The town had systematically been fortified during the grand vezirates of
Muhsinzâde Abdullah Pasa (1737), to whom we find Serif Halil to assist as a sadâret
kethüdâsı, and Cezayirli Hasan Pasa (1790). It became a part of the fortified quadrangle
formed by the neighbouring towns of Ruse, Varna and Silistre during the Turko-Russian
wars of 1768-74, 1806-12, 1828-9 and 1877-8. Following the Congress of Berlin in
1878, the Ottoman armies left Sumnu and the town became a part of the autonomous
Bulgarian Principality under Ottoman suzerainty, the predecessor to the independent
Bulgarian kingdom.101 At the time, the total population was 20,100, of which 53 percent
were Muslims. The number of mosques have greatle decresed: forty-seven mosques had
existed in Sumnu in 1889, which decreased to twenty-five in 1920, to fifteen in 1959, to
nine in 1972.102 As of May 2011, there are only three mosques left, which are Kilek
Mosque, Tatar Mosque and Serif Halil Pasa Mosque, the latter being architecturally
monumental and symbolic of the town.
99 P. Dennis Hupchick, The Bulgarians in the Seventeenth Century: Slavic Orthodox
Society and Culture Under Ottoman Rule, MacFarland & Company, North Carolina
(1993), p.46.
100 Ivanova, ibid, p. 503.
101 Ibid, p.504.
102 Machiel Kiel, “Sumnu”, Đslam Ansiklopedisi, p. 229.
34
II. 1 The Specifity of the Construction Site of Serif Halil Pasa Complex
The Serif Halil Pasa Complex is located on the crossroads of two main lines
divided by the creek of Bokluca, on the west of Sumnu. In more than a century, there
have been speculations as to the construction site of the complex. Elaborating on the
aspects of this controversy, which I had briefly established in my introduction, would be
helpful to deduce conclusions as to the status of the site before the construction project.
A controversial claim about the site of the mosque was first put forward by
Andrei Zehirev. Writing in one of his articles in the Czech journal Slavia in 1878, he
claimed that the mosque had originally been a church in Byzantine style with a perfect
composition and a dome.103 In parallel to Zehirev, Felix Kanitz, basing his arguments
on the information that he obtained from local Bulgarians, stated in 1879 that on the site
of Serif Halil Pasa Complex had stood a Christian cathedral and under the plaster of the
walls there were the traces of the damaged fresks.104 However, Kanitz was not able to
enter into the building at the time of writing this article and his assertions remained
largely undocumented.105 Mihaila Stajnova and Margarita Harbova defended the claim
that there had existed a Bulgarian church on the site of Serif Halil Pasa Mosque by
103 Andrei Zehirev in 1878, “Prevod Na Statiyata Mesto Sumnu v Bulgarsku,” Slavia 4,
Prag (1878), pp. 191 – 192.
104 Feliks Kanitz, Donau-bulgarien und der Balkan: Historisch-geographischethnographische
Reisestudien aus den Jahren 1860-1878, v. III, Leipzig (1879), p.62.
105 Orlin Sabev, Djamiyata Na Serif Halil Pasa (Tombul Djamiya) vı Sumnu: Sledi ot
Diyaloga Mejdu Zapada i Orienta, p. 611. Furthermore, see Maximilian Hartmuth,
“Deconstructing a Legacy in Stone”, Middle Eastern Studies, v.44, 2008, p. 703 in
which he gives the background of the formation of such allegations. Accordingly, it was
during the process of demolitions or renovations of mosques in Bulgaria that the names
of local (Christian) craftsmen were discovered under the plaster. Already by the 1960s,
when the first such discovery was made in Veliko Tarnovo, the idea of Bulgarians
having played a vital part in the making of Ottoman architecture in the country
emerged, even if only uneasily coexisting with other depreciative readings of this
heritage.
35
asserting that the plan was an example of local Bulgarian religious architecture.106
Harbova put the construction plans under a very diligent study and aimed to show that
the the three columns in the vestibule were remnants of a previously demolished church
on the site of Serif Halil’s Mosque.107 The counter-argument put forward by Nurcihan
Kahraman refers to the vakıfnâme which clearly explains that Serif Halil commissioned
the restoration and extension of the existing mosque of his grandfather, Saban Bey;
thus, the existence of a former church in the site of the mosque is very unlikely.
Furthermore, she claims that when the details of the building composition are taken into
consideration, the basement structure is not that of a typical church which generally
consists of a single building; instead, the systematic construction plan is clearly of a
socio-religious complex.108 Quoting from Kahraman, Neval Konuk also shares the same
idea that Serif Halil Pasa Complex is nothing but a restoration and enlargement of the
ruined mosque of Saban Efendi, the grandfather of the patron.109
Because it was a very common practice for the Ottomans to convert churches
into mosques or masjids, Sumnu might not have been an exception. The Ottomans’
approach toward Christians and their holy places in a newly conquered city was
theoretically conditional according to the manner of its incorporation into the Ottoman
lands. If taken by conquest, the fortress and the city were subject to a three-day plunder,
and the enslavement of the local population while all churches were bound to be
converted into mosques. In the case of voluntary capitulation, the law ruled that the
Christians could preserve their sanctuaries. The process of converting churches to
mosques was widely visible from the 15th to the 17th centuries.110 Furthermore, it was
106 Mihaila Stajnova, “La Mosquée Tomboul À Choumen – Influence Du Style “Lâle”,
Seventh International Congress of Turkish Art, Polish Scientific Publishers, Warsaw
(1990), p. 226.
107 Margarita Harbova, Gradoustoistvo i Arhitektura po Balgarskite Zemi Prez XV –
XVII vek, Sofia (1991), pp. 75 – 77.
108 Nurcihan Kahraman, “Sumnu Serif Halil Pasa Camisi (Tombul Cami),” Unpublished
MA Thesis, Marmara University, Istanbul (2005), pp. 24 – 25.
109 Neval Konuk, “Serif Halil Pasa Külliyesi,” Đslam Ansiklopedisi 38, Türkiye Diyanet
Vakfı, Đstanbul (2010), pp. 572 – 3.
110 For more detailed information about the policy towards conversion of ecclesiastical
properties, see Rossitsa Gradeva, “Ottoman Policy Towards Christian Church
36
an established fact that ecclesiastical property, including the churches, was confiscated
to a great extent and used for various purposes such as supporting the newly founded
vakıfs or military institutions.111
In the specific case of Sumnu,112 Nachev’s reference to a new church “dedicated
to Virgin Mary” and built in 1412 in the vicinity of Sumnu (probably on the
construction site of a small monastery that had been demolished during the Ottoman
conquest) might reinforce the assertions about the existence of a church on the site of
the mosque.113,
It is traceable in the archives that there existed the mosque of Saban Bey in the
area before the construction of Serif Halil’s complex; however, it has to be suggested
that either Saban Efendi, Ali Ağa or another unnamed patron might have transformed an
existant church into a mosque some decades prior.114 Machiel Kiel explains that we
must retain a certain degree of doubt as to the existence of a church in the area,
especially considering the traditional Bulgarian mindset that presents the Ottoman
conquest as an all-destroying event.115 According to this theory, the Ottomans are held
Buildings,” Rumeli Under the Ottomans, 15th-18th Centuries: Institutions and
Communities, Analecta Isisiana: Ottoman and Turkish Studies 76, pp. 343 – 371
111 Rossitsa Gradeva, ibid. p. 346
112 The problems and complication about the construction site of the Serif Halil Pasa
Complex stem from the weakness and the indemonstrability of the assertions above,
which indeed results in the formation of nationalist myths even within the Bulgarian
academic circles. The tide of verbal rumours also widely circulate among the officers in
the Šumen Historical Museum who are indeed responsible even for the registration of
the archaelogical findings in the city. Dimitar Stoykov, the officer working in the
Oriental Department of the Museum, accedes to the assertions above, adding that during
the restoration of the Serif Halil Pasa Complex in 2002, they were reported about the
discovery of various remnants allegedly belonging to a church buried under the soil;
however, he fails to show any concrete proof and the muezzin of the mosque, Mustafa
Mustafaev assured me that he never heard of that before. I conclude that what Stoykov
suggests is an extension of the argument related to the findings in Veliko Tarnovo in the
1960s.(Personal contact in May, 2011 in Šumen Historical Museum)
113 V. Nachev, Balgarski Nadpisi, Sofia (1994), pp. 89-90.
114 See the footnotes 181 and 121 for archival records.
115 Machiel Kiel, “The Heart of Bulgaria Population and Settlement History of the
Districts of Provadia, Novi Pazar and Shoumen from the late Middle Ages till the End
37
responsible for the destruction and disappearance of the medieval Bulgarian culture, as
well as for the backwardness of that country today. This might be explained with the
“catastrophe theory” that readily embraced the mentality of having been victimized by
violent intruders.116
Additionally, the location where Serif Halil Pasa Complex sits might also shed
light on the controversy related to the previous situation of the construction site.117
Situated down below the plateau, in the plain, the complex is away from the hilltop
where the medieval Bulgarian town of Sumnu had stood. Thus, if there had been a
church in this site, it might at most have been a monastic one, considering its distance to
the settlements on the hilltop.118
of the Ottoman Period,” Uluslar arası Osmanlı ve Cumhuriyet Dönemi Türk-Bulgar
Đliskileri Sempozyumu, Eskisehir (2005), p. 17.
116 An aspect of this theory was the notoriously sharp and in fact wholly superfluous
controversy about “mezraas and demographic collapse” which raged in the 1970s. For a
review of several thesis that depicted the Ottomans as the traditional enemy of the
Bulgarians and, thus, the destroyer of their cities, see Evgeni Radushev, “Bulgaristan’da
Tarih Arastırmaları ve Osmanlı Đmparatorluğu’nun Tarihi (Yeni Bir Yaklasıma
Doğru)”; Daniel Koleva and Ivan Elenkov, “Did ‘the Change’ Happen? Post-Socialist
Historiography in Bulgaria” in (Re)writing History, Historiography in Southeast Europe
after Socialism. Also see Vasiliev’s narration of the role of the local Bulgarian workers
in the flourishing of Ottoman architectural works, which exemplifies what Kiel means
by “catastrophe theory”: “[D]uring the five-century long Turkish domination (1396–
1878) . . . the uncultured Turkish invaders destroyed private and public buildings and,
being of different religion, demolished a great number of churches... Irrespective of the
pressure exercised by the illiterate Turkish rulers, the artistic culture continued to
develop . . . The Bulgarians gave a new impetus not only to the art in general but to its
different branches as well. They became irreplaceable masters even for the Turkish
enslavers.” (A. Vasiliev, Balgarski vazrozdenski majstori: zivopisci, rezbari, stroiteli,
Sofia: Izdat Nauka i Izkustvo, (1965), p.740)
117 See the drawing by Feliks Kanitz in p.42 which depicts Šumen from hilltop. Serif
Halil Pasa Complex is explicitly visible on the skirts of the hills.
118 Evliya Çelebi, also, refers to this distinction between the present settlement area,
which he calls “asağı sehir” and the castle of Šumen on the hill top. “Hâlâ kal’ası sehrin
hâ’ilinde bir türâblı püste üzre sekl-i murabba’dan tûlanice câ-be-câ rahnedâr olmus ve
derûn [u] bîrunı harâbe yüz tutmus hâne ve dizdârsız kal’a-i mu’attaladır. Ammâ asağı
sehri ma’mûrdur.” (Seyahatnâme, p. 178)
38
Table 1. The Population Figures in Sumnu
(Sources indicated in the text.)
Date Non-Muslims Muslims Total Population
1479 74 households 11 households 400 – 450
1516 107 households 94 households -
1555 152 households 252 (11% of which were mühtedis) 2000
1642 About 620 people 413 households 2500 – 2700
1751 172 households 714 households 4000 – 4500
1845
956 Bulgarian households + 118
Armenian households
1542 households 13.000 – 14.000
1878 - 8520 people -
1934 - 6500 people -
1970 -
700 households (about 3500
people)
-
39
Map 1: Sumnu and other prominent cities in the vicinity during Serif Halil’s Career
40
The panorama of Šumen depicted in Feliks Kanitz, Donau-Bulgarien und der Balkan (1882). The Serif Halil Pasa Mosque and library are visible on the
foreground. The picture represents the asağı mahalle which was established after the destruction of the medieval residential area.
41
42
III. GIVING SUBSTANCE TO A GHOST HIDDEN IN THE STAGE OF
HISTORY: THE LIFE STORY OF SERĐF HALĐL
III. 1 Family Ties & From Shumen to Istanbul
Quite frankly, there are few substantial conclusions that can be made upon
documentary data, which is by and large lacking for the childhood of Serif Halil. We do
not have any concrete evidence as to the year in which he was born. However, a few
remarks regarding his early life is in order so that we can locate Serif Halil and his
family within a larger picture of the Ottoman provincial notable families in the eyalet of
Silistre and the sancak of Niğbolu in the 17th century.119
Some crucial autobiographical parts written in first-person singular in the
vakıfnâme of Serif Halil’s pious foundations such as “…in Sumnu, where I was born
and grew up…” are the only lines in which we hear the voice of our protagonist.120 The
119 After the mid-16th century the sancak of Silistre became an eyalet. There were seven
sancaks in Silistre in the middle of the 17th century. On the other hand, Sumnu had
been the judicial center of the sancak of Niğbolu since the 15th century. Strasimir
Dimitrov, Nikolay Zhechev and Velko Tonev, Istoriya na Dobruzha, vol 3., Sofia
(1988), pp. 12 – 15.
120 Vakıfnâme: “…ve Maskat-ı re’s ve mense-i vücudum olan Sumnu kasabasında…”
This expression by Serif Halil sheds light onto the aforementioned argument by Boris
Nedkov who related his birthplace to Madara, a village close to Šumen. As far as Serif
Halil’s association to Madara is concerned, we cannot simply refute Nedkov’s claim,
because the vakıfnâme includes information about two different monuments that Serif
Halil patronized (or commissioned the restoration of) in Šumen and Madara. One of
them, a mosque, was enlarged on the former site of his grandfather Saban
Efendi/Bey/Hoca/Halife’s Mosque; and the other, also a mosque, on the site of his
father Ali Ağa’s Mescit. When the proximity of the two places are taken into
consideration, it might, at times, be impossible to mark off one another; indeed, in the
43
vakıfnâme and some records in the BOA clearly state that his father was Ali Ağa, and
Saban Efendi was his grandfather.121 Another important figure in his family was his
nephew Çavuszâde Es-seyyid Mehmed Ağa, whom he refered to as “yiğenimiz” and, as
stated earlier, to whome he appointed the trusteeship of the pious foundation upon his
death.122
Apart from these three members of Serif Halil’s family, we come across some
other interesting names that are counted in the list of witnesses for the additions made in
the vakıfnâme in 1745 (H. 1158) such as El-Hac Osman Ağa bin Ali, Es-seyyid Osman
bin Saban and El-Hac Đbrahim bin Halil. The constant repetition of the names Saban,
Ali and Halil might imply blood relation. Although the attempt to establish kinship
between these men and Serif Halil only by looking at their names might seem to be too
simplistic and ungrounded to procure a solid base of facts for Serif Halil’s family, it is
necessary to keep in mind that the witnesses of a vakıfnâme are generally chosen among
the prominent members of a given society, associates or family members. As for our
specific case of the pious foundation in Sumnu, finding such distinguished people with
the same names in a short period of only a few years sounds unrealistic. The problem
stems from the fact that Serif Halil and his nephew Çavuszâde Mehmed Ağa carried the
title of seyyid given to the descendants of the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Hüseyin.
However, among the names mentioned above, only Osman bin Saban had this title. At
this point, analyzing the scope of being a seyyid and how people were entitled to the
Prime Minister’s Archives, one record broadly refers to Ali Ağa Mosque in Madara
under the more general name of Šumen. “…Sumnu'da pederi Ali ve ceddi Saban
Beyler'in harap mescidleri…”
121 BOA, : “Sumnu'da pederi Ali ve ceddi Saban Beyler'in harap mescidleri camiye
tahvil edildiğinden bunlara karsılık olmak üzere…”; Vakıfnâme: “…ceddim Saban Bey
merhum intimâ ile sehir bu def'a müceddeden ihyâ ve ta'mir eylediğim cami-i serife…”
and “…Matara nam karyede vâki' vâlidi mâcidim Ali Ağa merhume müntemi olub
müceddeden tevsi' ve binâ…”
122 Çavuszâde Mehmed Ağa appears in the BOA as a military officer who was
responsible for registering 500 cavalry men to disturb the march of the Austrians in
Wallachia. Furthermore, Subhî also mentions him as a notable in Šumen in his
chronicle. BOA, Cevdet – Askeriye, 34403/810: “…Eflak hududundaki (Perisan)
boğazına tahassun eden nemçelilerin kahr ü tedmir eylemek üzere Sumnulu Çavuszade
Mehmed tarafından her bayrağı elli nefer olmak üzere on bayrak asker yazılması…” and
Subhî, p. 406: “…ile Sumnu a’yânından Seyyid Mehmed Ağa ve rikâb-ı Hümayun…”
44
position of seyyidlik is in order, so that we can reach a conclusion about whether Serif
Halil’s being a seyyid was his acquired or innate title.
The seyyids and serifs (the descendants of Prophet Mohammad’s other
grandson, Hasan) were given a privileged position in Islamic societies. The seyyids
were also granted various advantages, such as exemption from taxation and military
service, employment and being put on a salary. A specific amount of the booty gained
from warfare was spared for them. Similar to the example of earlier Islamic empires, the
Ottomans, too, honored the seyyids by indicating their privileges specifically in the
kanunnâmes. In order to keep a record of the lineage of the seyyids and to prevent illintentioned
leakages into this group, the organization of Nikâbet was established in the
reign of Bayezid II.
The chief of this organization was called nâkibü’l-esraf who had a very
prominent position among the elite. They would record the secere (pedigree) of the
seyyids in the Registers of Sâdât (the plural form of seyyid), and for those whose
pedigree is approved, the nâkibü’l-esraf would issue a hüccet, a document indicating the
authenticity of one’s being a seyyid. There were two conditions to receive the hüccet
from the nakibü’l esraf. The first one was the confirmation of the witnesses about the
subject’s being a seyyid, whereas the second one was the submission of the previous
hüccets given to the elder members of the family.123 In Serif Halil’s case, no record
informs us about an older relative of Serif Halil being called a seyyid except for one
witness in the vakıfnâme, Es-seyyid Osman bin Saban (whom I took for his uncle due to
the similarity between the names of Osman’s father and Serif Halil’s grandfather). If
Osman had been the uncle of Serif Halil, then his father Ali also must have been titled a
seyyid. However, in no records, not even in the vakıfnâme, is Ali Ağa referred to as a
seyyid. This fact leads us to suggest that Serif Halil most probably acquired the title of
seyyid, which was not shared by his elder relatives.
As a matter of fact, in an effort to benefit from the privileged position in society
as well as the honors granted by the state, many people were disguised under the mask
of being a seyyid. Many müteseyyids (frauds) were able to have access to hüccets. It is
reported that by the end of the 16th century, the number of the müteseyyid and their
relatives benefitting from the favours granted to them had reached 30,000-40,000
123 Rüya Kılıç. Osmanlı’da Seyyidler ve Serifler. Đstanbul (2005), pp. 63-5.
45
people in the sancaks of Niğbolu and Silistre, and the nâhiyes of Dimetoka and
Gümülcine. Throughout the empire, there were more than 300,000 müteseyyids.124
A crucial point about the müteseyyids in Sumnu was narrated by Evliya Çelebi.
While reporting about a conversation that he witnessed between a prominent local of
Sumnu and Melek Ahmed Pasa, Evliya Çelebi referred to the significant number of
müteseyyids in the city in a condemning tone.125 Accordingly, the man, who claimed to
have received his hüccet during Osman II’s campaign to Hotin, asked for the property
rights of a house that he allegedly inherited from his ancestors. Critical of the intrusion
of this man during a gathering together with Melek Ahmed Pasa and Gınâyi Efendi,
Evliya seemed pleased to announce that this man was not a real seyyid and he and his
relatives were subject to severe punishment. Evliya Çelebi referred to Sumnu as a city
that was müteseyyid-laden twice in the same page.126
Evliya’s story is certainly not evidence that Serif Halil and his family may have
been müteseyyids. But it is a good example to show how people wanted to manipulate
this title for their own favors. In official records located in the Ottoman archives and the
chronicles, Serif Halil was not referred to as a seyyid. In the vakıfnâme and Tuhfe-i
Hattatin, however, he was titled as such. The only fact about Serif Halil’s seyyid title is
that we cannot trace his lineage any further than his grandfather, and thus, we can never
124 Kanûnnâme-i Sultânî li’ Aziz Efendi, p. 38.
125 Evliya Çelebi, Seyahâtnâme, pp. 178-9. “Zirâ sâdât-ı kirâmı ve müteseyyidi
gâyetü’l-gâye çokdur kim, [hadith] Allah içerdekine ve dısardakine lânet etsin.”
Translation: “The God shall curse the ones inside and outside.”
126 Evliya Çelebi, ibid, p.179: “…Kalmuk tatarı gözlü ve Đznik çinisi gibi gözlü zehr-i
mâr sözlü nûrsuz yüzlü hâsâ emirleri var. Hattâ bir da’vâ ile bir emîr Melek Ahmed
Pasa huzûruna gelüp ifrât üzre bir feryâd u figân edüp ‘Ceddim rufuçun bu ev benim
aba ve dedelerimden kalmısdır.” deyü ceddine yemin edüp vakfullah hâneyi mülk-i
mevrûsumdur, deyü feryâd ile dîvânı kapatdı. Gınâyi Efendi eydür: ‘Adam sen yeni
emîr olmusa benzersin. Zîra tezvîr da’vaya yapısdın.’ dedikde hemân ‘Behey Efendi
Sultân Osman kisi Hotin seferine buradan geçerken Nakibü’l Esrâf Gulâmî Efendi’den
üç yüz kile arpa verüp emir kapusuna çıkup on bir kisi secere aldık. On bir kisiden yedi
kisi kaldık. Hani benim gibi eski emir’ deyince Pasa ‘Ya öbür yoldasların kandedir.
Anları kande bulalım.’ dedikde ‘Đste bunlardır.’ deyü bes kisi gösterüp baslarından
destârların alup ahâlî-i vilâyetden ahvalleri su’âl olundukda ıkrârları üzre
müteseyyidlikleri isbat olunub yediser yıllık tekâlif-i örfiyyeyi vermek üzre akrabâ-yı
taalukatlarıyla kırk yedi nefer kimesneye hükm olunup izn-i ser’iyle destârı alınub
sicill-i ser’i mübinde re’âyâ kaydolunub bu güne müteseyyidi çok sehr-i Sumnu’dur.
Hudâ ıslâh ede.”
46
be sure about its authenticity. At this point, it would be meaningful to ask why Serif
Halil should need to designate himself as a seyyid.
In the Ottoman society, vertical mobility from the reaya class to the askeri class
was possible.127 The most important condition for getting a promotion was to serve the
state and religion. Medrese education or showing success in the battlefield were
alternative ways of rising to a more respectable status. Likewise, being a seyyid was
also effective in rising in the administrative layers, and indeed it was the most effortless
way of having an honorable position, because the seyyids did not have to serve in any
capacity in return for the social and economic benefits provided to them.128
Furthermore, it was a permanent title which could be handed down to the descendants.
For Serif Halil, being a seyyid was certainly not a way for rising from the reaya to the
askeri, because his ancestors were already influential members of the society. Still, he
might have manipulated this title in order to find himself a place in Istanbul, which his
father and grandfather could not have achieved.129
Considering the honorary titles of Serif Halil’s grandfather and father, we can
detect the shift in their status and roles in Sumnu. We have access to various primary
sources that mention different titles for Saban such as bey, hoca, halife and efendi
whereas his father is always called ağa.130 As Bayerle clarifies, efendi (master) is a title
used for educated people, especially for scribes. The title particularly suggests medrese
education, whereas bey mostly indicates military ranking. When we combine bey/efendi
with Saban’s other title, hoca (tutor), we might deduce that he was probably a medrese
graduate scribe who played an active role in the bureaucratic divisions of Ottoman
127 The askerî were granted religious or administrative authority directly with the berat,
title of privilege given by the sultan. The reaya paid taxes and did not participate in
administrative tasks.
128 See Rüya Kılıç, ibid, pp. 75 – 77, for a discussion of how being a seyyid was
manipulated for getting promotions to higher posts.
129 It is very probable that Serif Halil’s father and grandfather might have spent most of
their lives in this small geography, because we do not come across their names
independently in any official record.
130 Halit Çal, “1192 Numaralı 1697-1716 Tarihli Hurufat Defterine Göre
Bulgaristan’daki Türk Mimarisi,” Balkanlar’da Kültürel Etkilesim ve Türk Mimarisi
Uluslararası Sempozyumu Bildirileri, Sumnu (Mayıs 2000), pp. 221-289
47
administration in Sumnu. It’s also important to note that the title of halife may also
denote a junior scribe (a sakird) of the imperial chancery. This title is subordinate to the
position of the hacegan-ı dîvân-ı hümayun, in which capacity Serif Halil served in the
divânhâne until 1731.131 Therefore, it would not be ludicrous to deduce that Serif Halil
might have used the earlier connections that his grandfather had established in the
scribal post.
As for Serif Halil’s father, Ali, his title ağa is given to senior officers or officials
in the military who were subordinates to beys. Although no certain conclusions can be
reached as to the professions of Serif Halil’s grandfather and father, in light of this data,
it might be guessed that while Saban Efendi is likely to have been involved with scribal
activities, Ali Ağa might probably have been a military officer.
Serif Halil’s nephew Çavuszâde Es-seyyid Mehmed Ağa might also be a key
person to help us reach conclusions as to Serif Halil’s closer kin in Sumnu. The title of
dîvan çavusu implies strong ties with the palace considering the fact that these men
would serve in myriad roles, including: as escorts in official palatial ceremonies, as
personal cortege for ambassadors, as messengers, diplomatic envoys, and – if needed –
as executioners of high officials condemned to death.132 The number of the çavus in the
divân in the mid-17th century was 693.133 Serif Halil’s desire to appoint Çavuszâde Esseyyid
Mehmed Ağa into the trusteeship of his socio-religious complex immediately
after himself might be explained with the possibilities that either his own sons (if he had
any) were too young for this duty or that he might have wanted to pay tribute to his
unnamed çavus brother who might have introduced Serif Halil to the palace and secured
a position for him in the Imperial Council Hall. The latter suggestion seems more likely
considering the fact that Serif Halil explicitly wants it to be known that Mehmed Ağa is
his nephew, by referring to him as “yiğenimiz.”
131 Subhî, p. 35: “…ve Dîvân hocalarından Serîf Efendi’yi Defterhâne umûruna vukûf-ı
tâmmı olmağla Küçük Tezkîrecilik makâmlarında istihdâm…”
132 Gustav Bayerle, “Çavus,” Pashas, Begs and Efendis, p. 29; For further information
on and evolution of the post of çavus, also see Mehmet Zeki Pakalın, Osmanlı Tarih
Deyimleri ve Sözlüğü, v.1, p. 332.
133 Hezarfen Hüseyin Efendi, Telhis-ül Beyan, p. 93.
48
On the other hand, approaching the post of çavus as a monolithic title might
deviate us from reality, because the unnamed brother might have been a sâdât çavusu,
who were subsidiaries of the nâkibü’l-esraf and were not in charge in the divân. They
were also chosen among the seyyids and serifs.134 In that case, our assumption about a
çavus brother serving in the palace would be inaccurate.
The other factor which might have enabled Serif Halil to establish a spot for
himself in Istanbul was his educational background, which shaped him into a proper
man of letters who would find a place in the translation committee of Damad Ibrahim
Pasa some decades later. I do not think it would be too far-fetched to propose two routes
for Serif Halil’s initial education: first, a mekteb in Sumnu, and second, a medrese either
in the sancak of Niğbolu or in Istanbul.135
The 17th century witnessed a rise in the number of educational institutions in the
lands within the border of modern-day Bulgaria. Dozens of medreses and hundreds of
mektebs were opened. The majority of medreses were of the general kind, whereas
thirteen specialized in training staff for mosques, and three focused on the study and
interpretation of the hadis.136 Evliya Çelebi reported the existence of 20 mektebs in
Niğbolu. The traveller also noted that thanks to various benefactors, the students
received monthly rations from the respective vakıfs. They were also granted a suit of
holiday clothes and presents every year.137
Parveva’s study of Tapu Tahrir and Avarız Registers of the sancak of Niğbolu in
17th century provides us with a solid picture of the way educational institutions
gradually increased in the region. In 1613, there was one müderris and six hocas
134 Rüya Kılıç, Osmanlı’da Seyyidler ve Serifler, pp. 91-2.
135 Evliya Çelebi wrote that there was no bezistan, medrese or dâr-ül kurra in Šumen in
the mid-17th century. (Seyahâtname, p. 179) However, we have to approach Evliya’s
account with a certain degree of doubt, because he often writes about what he witnesses.
Therefore, what Evliya said to have existed might prove to be reliable information,
whereas what he regards as missing is to have the potential of being an overstatement.
136 Orlin Sabev, Osmanski Obrazovatelni institucii po balgarskite zemi prez XV-XVIII
v., Graduation Thesis, Veliko Tarnovo: VTU “Sv. Sv. Kiril i Methodiy”, 1995.
137 After Stefka Parveva, “Urban Representatives of the Ulema in Bulgarian Lands in
the Seventeenth Century,” Islamic Studies 38, (1999), pp. 3 – 43; Dimitar Gadzhanov,
“Patuvaneto na Evliya Chelebi iz Balgarskite Zemi Prez Sredata Na XVII vek,”
Periodichesko Spisanie na Balgarskoto Knizhovno Druzhestvo, (1990), p. 70.
49
registered in the sancak, whereas the number of the müderris rose to two in 1643. By
1698, a date which would be fitting with the time Serif Halil began his studies in a
medrese, there were three müderris, a hoca, a softa and a talib-i ilm.
III. 2 From the Defterhâne to the Divânhâne (1711-1731)
Serif Halil’s long bureaucratic career in Istanbul began as a scribe, defter-i
hâkâni kâtibi in the defterhâne (the Imperial Treasury of Registers) in 1711, which was
one of the three offices from which the classical Ottoman administration was run,
together with the divân-ı hümayun (Imperial Council) and the hazine-i âmire (the
Treasury). The chief of the defterhâne was the defter emini. Here, different sorts of
registers such as the detailed (mufassal) and synoptic (icmal) records of land holdings,
conferments of fiefs, zeâmets, has, and tımars were kept locked and could only be
opened with the grand vezir’s seal.138 In archival records the defterhâne is also named
Defterhâne-i Âmire, defter-i vilâyet, defter-i hâkâni and defter-i dergâh-âli.
The personnel of the defterhâne, such as scribes (kâtibs) and their deputies
(sakirds), would be appointed or fired by the decision of the defter emini. The newly
appointed staff would start serving in the office after they were recorded to the ruûs
kalemi. The most important criteria for admission to the defterhâne was loyalty, the
ability to keep secrets and a good knowledge of mathematics.139 Kâtibs and sakirds
would work under the supervision of the kesedâr, the assistant to the defter emini. Their
jobs were to copy the required parts of the documents, to prepare imperial deeds of
grant (berat tezkîresi) and to keep the records of daily activities in the office. In return
for their services, the kâtibs would be given salary (ulûfe), tımar or zeâmet.140
138 Erhan Afyoncu, Osmanlı Devlet Teskilatında Defterhâne-i Amire (XVI-XVIII.
Yüzyıllar), Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, Marmara University (1997).
139 Erhan Afyoncu, “Defterhâne,” Đslam Ansiklopedisi IV, Türk Diyanet Vakfı. Đstanbul
(1994), pp. 101
140 Tımar was the military fief with an annual revenue of less than 20.000 akçes
bestowed upon a sipâhi for military services whereas zeâmet was a military fief with an
50
The information about the first post that Serif Halil occupied in 1711 was
provided by the chronicle of Đzzi Süleyman Efendi. While recounting the events that
took place in 1745 when Serif Halil rose to the position of vezirate, Đzzi starts a new
paragraph to introduce him to his audience. Accordingly, Serif Halil was a man of
letters with a refined taste for fine arts and science. He was well-educated and was able
to speak Arabic and Persian.141 He also sharpened his writing skills in various styles
such as divânî, rik’a and siyakat during his service in the defterhâne.
We can neither account for the other posts that he might have occupied in the
defterhâne until his admission to the divânhâne during the grand vezirate of Damad
Ibrahim Pasa (1718-30), nor point out a specific year for the beginning of his career in
the divânhâne. The only information about his initial involvement in the divânhâne is
provided by Subhi and Đzzi who refer to him as a member of the hacegân-ı divân-ı
hümayun who were the senior scribes and the bureau chiefs of the imperial chancery.142
In 1732, the divân had fifty secretaries, twenty apprentices, and thirty candidates.
Eventually the title of hâce became ceremonial with numerous officials holding it.143
Serif Halil managed to secure himself a place within the entourage of the Damad
Đbrahim Pasa thanks to his intellectual qualities. Ibrahim Pasa, who himself was a patron
of arts, enjoyed attending gatherings of poetry and entertainment. He supported
prominent literary figures such as Seyyid Vehbî, Nahifî, Ahmed Neylî, Nedîm, Rasid
the Chronicler and Osmanzâde Tâib. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, he established a
committee of translation that proved to be a prolific union and translated many
renowned Arabic, Persian, Latin and Greek works into Turkish, which included many of
those Serif Halil leisurely associated with.144 Serif Halil took active part in the group
annual income of 20.000 to 100.000 akçes paid by the reâyâ in the form of tithes, taxes,
fees and market dues. (Bayerle, p. 163)
141 Đzzi Süleyman Efendi, v. 1, pp. 31-32: “exact quotation to be inserted…”
142 See the footnote 131, for Subhî’s reference to Serif Halil; Đzzi Süleyman Efendi, ibid.
143 Halil Đnalcık, The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300 – 1500, New York
(1973), p. 101.
144 Salim Aydüz, “Lale Devri’nde Yapılan Đlmi Faaliyetler,” Divan 1997-1, pp. 143–
170. The other members of the committee were the following: 1. Mirzazâde Mehmed
Sâlim Efendi, 2. Đshak Efendi, the ex-kadı of Đstanbul, 3. Medhî Efendi, the ex-kadı of
51
formed for the translation of Aynî Tarihi from Arabic in 1725 (H.1138) and his
performance was appreciated.145 Damad Đbrahim Pasa also enjoyed the kasides written
by Serif Halil, mainly as a praise for the patron, which were collected in the Fâ’iz ve
Sakir Mecmuası.146
Furthermore, according to the chronicler Đzzi, Serif Halil composed some
chronograms for Damad Đbrahim Pasa; however, after exhaustive research, I was not
able to find any of these.147 The Revolt of Patrona Halil in 1730, in which Damad
Đbrahim Pasa was executed, gave an end to the famous gatherings of poetical
consumption, but Serif Halil managed to survive this chaotic period with an even higher
profile and reputation within the elite circles.
Damascus, 4. Mestçizâde Abdullah Efendi, the ex-kadı of Salonika, 5. Râzî Abdüllatif
Efendi, the ex-kadı of Yenisehir, 6. Ahmed Đlmî Hâlis Cinân Efendi, the ex-kadı of
Aleppo, 7. Kara Halilzâde Mehmed Said Efendi, 8. Neylî Ahmed Efendi, the ex-kadı of
Đzmir, 9. Mustafa Efendi, the ex-kadı of Galata, 10. Yanyalı Esad Efendi, the ex-kadı of
Galata, 11. Ömer Efendi, the fetva emini, 12. Arabzâde Hasan Efendi, the seyh of
Süleymaniye Mosque, 13. Ali Efendi, the seyh of Sehzâde Mosque, 14. Yekçesm Đsmâil
Efendi, müderris, 15. Ahmet b. Receb Efendi, müderris, 16. Tursucuzâde Efendi,
müderris, 17. Seyyid Vehbi Efendi, 18. Nedîm Ahmed Efendi, 19. Arabzâde Sâlih
Efendi, 20. Serif Halil Efendi, 21. Sâmî Ahmed Efendi, 22. Sâkir Hüseyin Beyefendi,
23. Darendeli Mehmed Efendi, 24. Râzî Efendizâde Abdurrahman Münib, 25. Küçük
Çelebizâde Đsmâil Âsım Efendi, 26. Hacı Çelebi, mülâzım, 27. Seyhî Mustafa Efendi,
28. Hüseyin Pasazâde Avfi Mehmed Bey, mevkûfatçı, 29. Đzzet Ali Bey (Pasa),
defterdar mektupçusu, 30. Tavukçubası Çelebi damadı Mustafa Efendi.
145 The fulfilment of the translation project was expressed by one of the other
translators, Mirzazâde Salim Efendi as “erbâb-ı devlete bir ziyâfet-i cemîle ve hizmet”
meaning “a sublime service and feast for the conneiseurs of the state.” Salim Aydüz,
ibid, p. 145.
146 Süleymaniye Library, Halet Efendi, n. 763. The mecmua begins with the following
expression: “Cennetmekân firdevs-âsiyan Sultan Ahmed Han hazretlerinin veziriâzamı
merhum Đbrahim Pasa hazretlerinin asırlarında olan suâranın arzettikleri kasâid ve
tevârihtir…” Translation: “The mecmua consists of the eulogies and histories presented
by the poets who wrote during the period of the deceased grand vezir Đbrahim Pasa of
Sultan Ahmed Han whose abode shall be heaven.” Apart from Damad Ibrahim Pasa the
mecmua of Fâ’iz ve Sakir includes kasides written for Ahmed III and some other vezirs.
One of the kasides that Serif Halil wrote for Damad Đbrahim Pasa is in the appendix.
147 Đzzi Süleyman Efendi, ibid.
52
III. 3 Serif Halil’s Later Career
Having established a strong position for himself since his entrance to the
defterhâne in 1711, Serif Halil was appointed to the post of tezkîre-i sâni or küçük
tezkîreci in 1730/1 (H. 1143) to serve as the deputy of the tezkîre-i evvel or büyük
tezkîreci Seyhzâde Nuh Efendi (d. 1738/9, H.1151).148 In about a year, he became the
tezkîre-i evvel, the senior secretary and served in the immediate retinue of the grand
vezir Hekimoğlu Ali Pasa.149
Two years later, after Hekimoğlu Ali Pasa was removed from his post in 1735/6
(H. 1148), Đsmail Pasa was appointed the new grand vezir but remained in this post for
only 87 days.150 In the same year, Serif Halil was given the post of cizye muhasebecisi
(poll tax accountant) in Edirne and was sent away.151 In 1736 (H.1149), during the
148 Subhî, ibid ; Đzzi Süleyman Efendi, ibid; Mehmed Süreyya, Sicill-i Osmanî, p. 1586;
BOA, 15/1653 ĐE. TCT.: “Tezkîre-i Sani Serif Halil Efendilere tevcih kılındığına dair
sadır olan buyuruldu…”
149 Hekimoğlu Ali Pasa was a very influential figure in the palace. Having been born in
1699 (H.1110), he established himself a very strong position during the reigns of
Ahmed III and Mahmud I and rose up to the office of grand vezirate for three times (in
1732-1735, 1742 and 1755 respectively). Until 1732, he had served in various capacities
such as kapıcıbası, Türkmen ağası, Zile voyvodası, Rumeli beylerbeyi, governor of
Adana and Aleppo, serasker of Tabriz, governor of Diyarbekir and Tabriz respectively.
These posts were followed by his first grand vezirate in 1732 (H.1144), from which he
was sacked in 1735 (H.1148). In three years’ time as a grand vezir, he managed to
commission a mosque in Davudpasa, with a library. His biblophily and patronage of
architecture proved to be a role model for Serif Halil. His service to the state went on as
the vâli of Kandiye, Bosnia and Egypt during which periods he showed many
achievements both in bureaucracy and the battlefronts. As a result, in 1742, he was
appointed as the grand vezir again and Serif Halil Pasa was his kethüda for less than a
year.(Sicill-i Osmanî, p. )
150 Subhî, p. 269. “…Vezîria’zam Đsmail Pasa seksen yedi gün mesned-i sadârette karâr
ve sene-i merkûme sabânül-muazzamın dokuzuncu sebt günü rikâb-ı hümâyûna
çağrılup…”
151 Subhî, p. 271. “…Divân-ı Hümâyun’da Tezkîre-i evvel Serif Halil Efendi’ye … cizye
muhasebesi tevcîh buyurulmağa…”; BOA, 658/26925 C. ML., : “Edirne Cizyedarı Serif
Halil'in yanında cizye evrakının altı sırım arabası ile orduya nakli…” Cizye is a headtax
levied on non-Muslims that is a concrete proof of their protection under the status of
zimmi. The Ottomans widely used the term haraç instead of cizye. It was directly
53
grand vezirate of Muhsinzâde Abdullah Pasa (1737), he was assigned to the post of
sadâret kethüdası, “the administrative steward” of the grand vezir’s office.152 Having
been newly established in 1725, this post was hierarchically superior even to the one of
the re’is ül-küttab, “the head of the chancery of the dîvân-ı hümâyûn.”153 But, he did not
seem to have survived in this post, and together with the grand vezir, he was removed.
Within the dynamic system of shifting roles in the Ottoman palace, Serif Halil
became an experienced player. In 1737/8 (H. 1150), he became the Rumeli askeri
sağkol sürücüsü, a military officer responsible for registering and allocating troops to a
specific area. In the cities such as Edirne, Yanbolu, Karinabad, Pravadı, Tırnova and
Niğbolu found in the Eastern Rumelia, active precautions were taken due to the march
of the Russians towards the Black Sea.154 Although Serif Halil was again involved in a
collected for the state treasury and listed in the defter-i cizye-i gebrân, “the cizye
account of the unbelievers”. Certain local officials and the poor were exempt from it.
(Bayerle, 28).
152 Being the son of a prominent merchant named Muhsin Çelebi, Muhsinzâde Abdullah
Pasa had entered the defterhâne one year earlier than Serif Halil in 1710 as a darbhane
defterdarı in place of his brother Mehmed Efendi. His rise in official rankings was
much faster than Serif Halil, which included promotions to very prestigious positions
such as defterdar-ı sıkk-ı evvel, darbhane emini, küçük ruznamçeci and sadaret
kethüdası in a short period of four years. Having married the daughter of Çorlulu Ali
Pasa , Abdullah Pasa established an even stronger network which might have probably
been helpful in his rise into the position of grand vezir, after a long career of service in
various posts such as nisancı, janissary ağa, muhassıl, and vâli of Vidin, Rumelia,
Bosnia, Adana, Selanik, Lepanto and Tırhala. When he died in 1749, he is written to
have been over 90 years old. Muhsinzâde’s attempts to fortify Šumen was influential in
the city’s later prominence as an ordugâh town. Serif Halil’s official cooperation with
Muhsinzâde Abdullah Pasa, as a sadâret kethüdası, lasted about one year. However, it
would not be far-fetched to deduce that the long existence of Muhsinzâde in the
Ottoman palace might have been an advantage for Serif Halil. (Sicill-i Osmanî, p. 82)
153 Muzaffer Özcan, “Sadâret Kethüdâlığı,” Unpublished PhD Thesis, Marmara
University, 1995, p. 12.
154 These cities served as the stations where the army resided and was deployed. Šumen
was in the sancak of Niğbolu, which also included other menzils such as Yerköyü,
Ivraca, Niğbolu, Lofça, Tırnova and Zistovi. It was connected with the sancak of Vize
in which were differens menzils such as Hayrabolu, Birgöz, Babaeski, Çorlu, Kırkkilise,
Ereğli, Silivri, Terkos, Đnceğüz. (C.J.Heywood, “Some Turkish Archival Sources for the
History of the Menzilhane Network in Rumeli During the Eighteenth Century (Notes
and Documents on the Ottoman Ulak, I,” Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Dergisi, vols. 4–5,
1976–1977, p. 41.)
54
post that required the fundamental qualities of a defterhâne member, his current service
was more of a military agenda. During the warfare against the Russians and the
Austrians between 1736 and 1739, the Ottomans suffered a series of disasters until
1737, due to the fact that the sultan’s army had not even been mobilized then. The
Russians’ attempts to push across the Dniester into Moldavia during the summer of
1737 met heavy Ottoman reinforcements at Bender, where Serif Halil was actively
taking part.155
After succesful campaigns against the Russians and the Austrians, Serif Halil
returned to Istanbul in the spring of 1739 (H.1152). In the same year, the
basmuhasebeci (and the former nüzül emini) Halil Efendi was accused of misusing his
authority and subsequently dismissed from his post.156 Serif Halil replaced him as the
new basmuhasebeci, the chief of the finance bureau that managed all the expenditures
of the Imperial Council, the accounts of Rumelia and poll tax accounts.157 During his
service as the basmuhasebeci, Serif Halil was sent to the Balkans for the supervision of
the construction of a wooden bridge on the Sava River in order to facilitate the march of
the army in Bosnia in 1739/40 (H.1152).158 In the end, as of 1739, sultan’s armies were
able to recapture Belgrade and push back the Habsburgs beyond the Sava. Later in the
same year, he became the defter emini, “the superintendent of cadastral registers.” With
155 Subhî, p. 521: “…Rumeli’nin orta ve sağ kollarından Bender cânibine asker tesyîr ü
irsâl idüp bir seneden berü ol taraflarda ikâmet ü karâr üzre olan sâbıkâ Kethüdâ-yı
sadrıa’zamî Serîf Halil Efendi…”
156 Subhî, p. 531: “Rü’yet-i Muhâsebe-i Emîn-i Nüzül ve Zuhûr-ı Mâl-i Mevfûr der-
Zimmetes”
157 Subhî, p. 532: “…bilâ-mansıb Ordu-yı Hümâyûn’da olan Serîf Halil Efendi
hazretlerine tevcih olundu.”
158 Subhî, p. 569: “…ve hâlâ basmuhasebeci olan Serîf Halil Efendi hazretleri dahi cisr-i
merkûmun insâsına nezâret eylemek üzre me’mûr u ta’yîn buyuruldu.” Also in Musâffâ
Mustafa, p. 69: “…icâleten ve müsâra‘aten cisir-i mezbûrun ibnâsı ve bir gün evvel
tekmîline ihtimâm olunmak üzere sâbıkā kethüdâ-yı sadr-ı ‘âlî olunup bi’l-fi‘l
muhâsebe-i evvel olan Serîf Halil Efendi me’mûr ve ta‘yîn ol dahi ‘ale’l-fevr çadırların
kaldırup kal‘a-i mezbûrun Bosna kapısı karsusunda ve kal‘aya tahmînen buçuk sâ‘at
mesâfe Ada kurbünde darb ve ordu-yı hümâyûnda…”
55
this appointment, he rose to the rank of the chief of defterhâne, where he had entered as
a scribe 28 years earlier.
On 22 April, 1743 (27 Safer, H. 1156), Serif Halil was appointed to the post of
sadaret kethüdası for the second time during the second grand vezirate of Hekimoğlu
Ali Pasa. However, Hekimoğlu, too, did not stay for long and was replaced by Seyyid
Hasan Pasa later that year. After his service as the sadaret kethüdası for the second
time, Serif Halil embarked on more peripherial missions. The time he spent in the
palace was significantly less than the previous terms.159 Serif Halil actively participated
in the campaign to Iran and his success was appreciated.160
It was also the year that Serif Halil performed several pious deeds, such as
commissioning the construction of his socio-religious complex in Sumnu, fountains in
the vicinity of the Hippodrome, sidewalks near the Defterhâne-i Âmire, which was a
tribute that was paid to the office where he began his career and served as the chief
administrator later in 1739.161
In 1745, he was promoted with the title of vezir and was sent to Aydın as a
muhassıl.162 Although Uzunçarsılı suggests that he was appointed as the vâli of Konya
159 Subhî, p. 796: “… yevm-i mezbûrda ba’de’z-zuhr Kethüdâ-yı sadrıa’zamî Serif Halil
Efendi…” The other grand vezir to whom Serif Halil assisted as a sadâret kethüdası was
Kürd Seyyid Hasan Pasa, whose career in the palace started in 1738, about 8 years later
than Serif Halil. Originally an officer in the janissary corps, he took up several roles
such as kul kethüdası, janissary Ağa, vâli in Đçel (Mersin) and Diyarbakır, vezir and
grand vezir. The duration of their cooperation was more than a year, after which Serif
Halil was given the title of vezir. Coming from a military background, Seyyid Hasan
Pasa’s path probably did not intersect with Serif Halil before the aforementioned
cooperation. However, judging from their ancestral titles, they both seem to have
enjoyed the bringings of being a seyyid.
160 Đzzi Süleyman Efendi, v. 2, p. 268
161 BOA, 97/4805, C. BLD.: “…Sadaret Kethüdası Serif Halil Efendi'nin, Đstanbul'da
Fazlı Pasa Sarayı içinde Defterhâne'ye tahsis olunan mahalle, katipler için tatlı su
akıttığı ve ayrıca çesme yaptırdığı gibi Sumnu'da pederi Ali ve ceddi Saban Beyler'in
harap mescidleri camiye tahvil edildiğinden bunlara karsılık olmak üzere bazı has
mukataalarının mezkur vakfa tahsis olunduğu...”
162 BOA, 541/22232, C. ML.: “Uhdesinde olan mukataalardan 75.348 kurusun bir an
evvel gönderilmesi… (Aydın muhassılı Vezir Serif Halil Pasa'ya).” “Muhassıl is a
revenue offical, sometimes in charge of the revenues of a specific sancak or vilayet,
56
in the same year, neither Đzzi nor Subhi or Mehmed Süreyya confirms this.163
Furthermore, I have not come across any register mentioning such an appointment in
the BOA.
After rising to the position of vezir, he is mentioned as a pasa in chronicles and
the archives. In the fall of 1746 (Ramazan, H. 1159), he became the vâli of Trabzon. In
the same year, in Sevval, he was charged with the muhafızlık of Lepanto.164 In 1748 (H.
1161), he was sent to Belgrade as a vâli, again. He served in the same capacity in
Eğriboz before his last mission to Bosnia in January/February 1752 (Rabi’ al-awwal
H.1165). On the way to Bosnia, he wanted to reside in the town of Đzdin (in Central
Greece) for some time to enjoy the fresh air and clean water; however, he had a stroke
there and passed away on February 15, 1952 (Rabi’ al-awwal H. 1165).165 Although in
Tuhfe-i Nâili, he is said to have died in 1747, this seems erroneous in the light of
information we get from Đzzi, Subhî and the BOA.166 The exact location of Serif Halil
Pasa’s tomb is not known; however, Đzzi notes that he was buried close to his death
place, Đzdin.167
sometimes of the collection of a specific tax. The muhassıl was often the chief of a
hierarchy of tax-farmers operating in a province.” (Bayerle, p. 111)
163 Đsmail Hakkı Uzunçarsılı, Osmanlı Tarihi, IV/I, p. 153
164Muhafız is a guard, warden, especially the commander of a fort, the dizdâr. (Bayerle,
p. 111)
165 Under the title of “the news of the death of Serif Halil Pasa”, Đzzi Süleyman Efendi
provides us with an elaborate account of Serif Halil’s last journey. “Ağrıboz Muhafızı
iken Bosna Vâlisi tayin edilen Pasa Ağrıboz’dan kalkıp Bosna’ya giderken, yolda Đzdin
kasabasına geldikten yâ turâbı çeker, yahut âbı müeddasınca oranın havası ve suyu
gayet hosuna gitmis ve orada birkaç gün istirahate karar vermis. Orada istirahat
ederken, damla isabet etmis ve ansızın vefat eylemistir…” (v.2, 268). Mehmed Süreyya
also quotes from Đzzi to present a brief summary of Serif Halil’s death. (Sicill-i Osmanî,
p. 1586).
166 Tuhfe-ül Nâili, v2, p.485.
167 Đzzi, ibid.
57
Table 2: Serif Halil’s Activities and Posts
DATE Post / Activity
1711 Admission to Defterhâne ; Defter-i Hakân-i Kâtibi
In an unspecified
year between
1718-30
Admission to Divânhâne; Hâcegân-ı Divân-ı Hümayun
1725 Translation committee, Aynî Tarihi
1730/1 Tezkîre-i Sâni to Seyhzâde Nuh Efendi
1732/3 Tezkîre-i Evvel to Hekimoğlu Ali Pasa
1735/6 Cizye Muhasebecisi in Edirne
1736/7 Sadaret Kethüdâsı to Muhsinzâde Abdullah Pasa
1737/8
Rumeli Askeri Sağ Kol Sürücüsü against the Russians /
Warfare in Bender
April/May 1739 Return to Istanbul and Basmuhasebeci
1739/40
Supervisor of the construction of a wooden bridge over
the Sava River in Bosnia; upon his return to Istanbul,
defter emini
22 April 1743
Sadaret Kethüdâsı to Hekimoğlu Ali Pasa and Kürd
Seyyid Hasan Pasa
1743
Commissioning of the socio-religious complex in Sumnu
as well as some other pious deeds
1744 The vakıfnâme
1745 Vezir; Aydın Muhassılı; vâli of Konya(?)
1746 Vâli of Trabzon ; Lepanto Muhafızı
1748 Vâli of Belgrade
1752 Vali of Eğriboz; appointment to Bosnia
February 1752 Death in Đzdin
58
Map 2: Serif Halil’s Official Posts and Journeys
59
III. 4 Serif Halil’s Associates: the Witnesses of the Vakıfnâme
Within the 41 years (1711-1752) that Serif Halil spent in the service of the state,
he established a strong profile and a set of networks that secured him appointments to
significant positions in Ottoman administration.
The choice of witnesses for the vakıfnâme of his pious foundation indicates with
whom he had close ties. When the backgrounds of the witnesses are taken into
consideration, it is possible to investigate their association with Serif Halil that might
have been more than offical cooperations. In my quest to shape the social and political
circle of Serif Halil, I will include the witnesses according to the order in which they
were listed in the original manuscript.
The vakıfnâme was approved by Kadı Mehmed Es’ad Efendi, the military judge
of Rumelia168; Kadı Seyyid Abdullah Hocazâde, the military judge of Anatolia169; and
168 Vakıfnâme: “…Mâ fihi mukırran kavluhu Te'âlâ ve ketebe ma kaddemû ve âsârahum
harrerehu'l-müstefidü min âlâi's-Samed Mehmed Esad el-Kâdı bi asker-i Rumeli ufiye
anhu ve an eslâfihi ve ahlâfihi…” Also in the chronicle of Subhî and Sicill-i Osmanî, he
is mentioned: “…He was the son of seyh ül-Đslâm Đsmail Efendi. He was born in 1685.
After serving in various capacities as a müderris, molla, evkaf müfettisi, fetvâ emini and
ordu kadısı, in 1744 (H.1157), he became the kadıasker of Rumelia. Four years later, he
was appointed as the seyh ül-Đslâm and died in 1753 (H. 1166). He was a skillful poet as
well as being good at music and other literary genres. He commissioned the
construction of a mosque and patronized a school in his father’s mosque, in which sense
he is very much similar to Serif Halil Pasa. Among his prominent works are Lehcetü’llügât,
Yâsin and Âyetü’l Kürsî interpretations, a parallel text to Etvâk by Zemahserî,
Bülbülnâme and Tezkîre-i Hânendegân. He also had musical compositions.
Furthermore, his daughter, Fitnat Hanım was also a poet.”
169 Vakıfnâme: “…Mâ heva haze'l-kitabu yûcibu ecra'l-müstetâbe ve ene'l-fakiru Esseyyid
Abdullah Hoca Zâde el-Kâdı bi asker Anadolu gufire lehu...” Also in Sicill-i
Osmanî, p. 70: “Hocazâde Seyyid Abdullah Efendi was the son of Osman Efendi who
had served in the post of kadıasker. Starting out as a müderris, in 1724 (H.1136), he
became the molla of Edirne, in 1730/31 (H.1144) and in 1732/33 (H.1145) respectively,
he was sent to Mecca and back to Istanbul. In 1744 (H.1157), the year when the
vakıfnâme was written, he was appointed the kadıasker of Anatolia, but later in the
same year, he was discharged. He died in 1747 (H.1160) and his tomb is in Edirnekapı.”
60
Ahmed Efendi, the son of Veliyüddin and the military judge of Konstantiniyye.170 The
document was registered in the vakıf records on June 22, 1744 (H. 11 Cemaziy’el evvel
1157).171
The witnesses of the vakıfnâme of his pious foundation were mostly chosen
among his closest circle composed of the elites sharing very similar intellectual and
political interests. When these men are investigated more closely, it is easy to see that
the first four names were enjoying relatively upscale positions and they seem to have
formed an intimate group with a lot of common characteristics and, perhaps a friendship
dating back to the past. The last four names are, on the other hand, implicative of Serif
Halil’s permanent ties with the defterhâne where he had proven himself. As expected,
the last four names engage relatively less significant posts; however, they seem to have
been following the route that Serif Halil once had taken, which proves that the witnesses
of the vakıfnâme were not randomly chosen.
The first witness is Pirizâde Sahib Mehmed Efendi, who came from a noble
family that served the Ottoman state in various capacities for decades.172 The earliest
date in which Sahib Mehmed Efendi is recorded to have been engaged with official
duties was 1701/2 (H. 1113) when he was a müderris, ten years earlier than Serif Halil’s
entrance to the defterhâne.173 It is obvious that Sahib Mehmed Efendi proved to be
succesful in this post, if we take into consideration that the müderris had a strict system
of promotion from one medrese to another, or to different kadı posts up to the position
of kadıasker or seyh ül-Đslâm. Fitting to this scenario, Sahib Mehmed Efendi served as
the kadıasker of Anatolia in 1733 (H.1146) and Rumelia in 1739 (H.1151) and 1743
(H.1156) respectively. At the time of his being listed as a witness to the vakıfnâme of
Serif Halil’s pious foundation, Sahib Mehmed Efendi was the imâm-ı evvel of the sultan
170 Vakıfnâme: “…Mâ fihi minne'l-birri'l-merğub ve'l-hayri'l-meskur muvâfıkun li'sser'i
bilâ kusûr harrerahu el-fakir ilâ Rabbihil-mu'în Ahmed bin Veliyüddîn el-Kâdı Medine-i
Kostantaniyye el-mahrûse ufiye anhuma...”
171 Vakıfnâme: “…Kayd sud ba fermân-ı âli el-vâki fi 11 Cemaziye'l-evvel 1157.”
172 Vakıfnâme: “Umdetü'l-muhakkıkîn kudvetü'l-mudakkıkîn el-mevle'l-âlimu'r-rabbani
ve'n nehrirü'l-fadü's-semadani halen Sultanî sa'adetlu Faziletlu Mehmed Pîri-zâde
Efendi Hazretleri”
173 Sicill-i Osmanî, p. 1435.
61
and only one year later, in 1745 (H.1158), he became the seyh ül-Đslâm. In other words,
he climbed up the ranks that a müderris could possibly hold, with a regular order
starting out as a kadı and ending up as a seyh ül-Đslâm.
Sahib Mehmed Efendi and Serif Halil had some common points within the
literary realm. Subhî’s chronicle and Tuhfe-i Nailî refers to Sahib Mehmed Efendi as the
translator of Ibn Khaldun’s Mukaddime, whereas Süreyya notes that he was an able man
of letters and sciences who could write poetry in three languages.174 Indeed, Sahib
Mehmed Efendi, similar to Serif Halil, was one of the poets who wrote kasides for
Damad Đbrahim Pasa and it is very probable that their acquaintance dates back to this
association.175
The second witness of the vakıfnâme is Mustafa Efendi who was the son of a
prominent family in Kastamonu.176 He came to Istanbul after his father’s death and
became the son-in-law of the tavukçubası Ali Ağa. Like Serif Halil, he went through
some layers of scribal duties and became the basmukataacı in 1730, just one year before
Serif Halil’s appointment as the tezkîre-i sâni. Mustafa Efendi, who had previously
taken up several divânhâne-related posts such as büyük kale tezkîrecisi, beylikçi and
defter emini, was the reis-ül küttab during his testimony to the vakıfnâme.177 However,
as in the example of Pîrîzâde Sahib Mehmed Efendi, the relationship between Mustafa
Efendi and Serif Halil was not limited to the relevance of their official posts. He was
also a very able man of letters who could compose poetry in three languages. He was
174 Subhî, p. 34; Tuhfe-i Naili, v.2, p.532.
175 Metin Hakverdioglu suggests that the content of two of the five kasides titled
Kaside-i Sahib Efendi is clearly implicative of an authorial intervention when it is
considered that these poems mention journeys to Salonika for an official mission.175 The
fact that Sahib Mehmed Efendi served as the molla of Salonika in H.1135 (1722/23) is
supportive of Hakverdioglu’s assumption. Metin Hakverdioğlu, Edebiyatımızda Lâle
Devri ve Nevsehirli Damad Đbrahim Pasa, p. 153.7
176 Vakıfnâme: “Umdetu erbabi'l-cahi ve'l-celali kudvetu ashabi'l-mecdi ve'l-ikbali halen
reîsü'l-küttab sa'adetlu atufetlu Mustafa Efendi Hazretleri”
177 Beylikçi is the chief of the Divân Bureau, the central bureau of the Imperial Council
maintaining records and preparing all of the edicts, decrees, and international
correspondence. He was senior to all the scribes of the divân and worked under the
direct supervision of the re’isü’l-küttâb. (Bayerle, p. 20)
62
very creative, especially in Arabic. They were working together on the translation
committee formed by Damad Đbrahim Pasa to translate the Aynî Tarihi.178
Another common point between Serif Halil and Mustafa Efendi was their
patronage of architecture and interest in book collections. Mustafa Efendi
commissioned the construction of many mescids, medreses, mektebs, libraries in
Istanbul, Belgrade and his hometown Kastamonu.179 There was a library in the medrese
that Mustafa Efendi commissioned in Kastamonu in 1741. Furthermore, he constructed
another library in the courtyard of Nasrullah Kadı Mosque in his hometown in 1746. He
also planned to patronize a third library in Istanbul; however, according to the second
vakıfnâme written on behalf of his pious deeds, it is stated that this building was not
built in his life time. In this vakıfnâme, it is shown that Mustafa Efendi consecrated a
total of 1,237 books for his library, which was quite a high number in those days.180
Mollacıkzâde Ali Ağa, then the chief çavus in the imperial council, was the
fourth witness of the vakıfnâme. 181 He came from a prominent family and his father was
Mollacık Mehmed Ağa.182 He was much younger than Serif Halil Pasa and served in
various posts such as kapıcıbası, arpa emini and basbaki kulu before being sent to
Egypt as an officer in 1738-39 (H.1151). Upon his return to the capital, he became the
arpa emini again; and then was appointed to the post of çavusbası in 1744 (H.1157).
His later appointments included significant posts such as sipahiler ağası, tersane emini,
çavusbası(for the second time), arpa emini (for the second time) and finally the vâli of
178 See the names in this committee in the 144th footnote.
179 Đsmail E. Erünsal, Osmanlı Vakıf Kütüphaneleri, Türk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara
(2008), pp. 219-222; Sicill-i Osmanî, p.1179
180 Đsmail E. Erünsal, ibid, p. 222.
181 Vakıfnâme, “Umdetü'l-emacid ve'l-ekârim zübdetü'l-e'âzımi ve'l-efahım Serçavusani
dîvânı âli sa'adetlu mekremetlu Ali Ağa Hazretleri”
182 Mollacık Mehmed Ağa started out his service as the kapıcıbası and became the
sehremini in 1727/28 (H.1140). In 1729/30 (H.1142) very soon after leaving his post, he
died.
63
Lepanto before his death in 1768 (H.1181). His architectural patronage was limited to
the construction of the Kirazlı Mescit. 183
Abdi Efendi was the fourth witness of the vakıfnâme and his relationship with
Serif Halil was, indeed, similar to that of Sahib Mehmed Efendi and Mustafa Efendi.
Abdi Efendi, too, was very active during the grand vezirate of Damad Ibrahim Pasa in
terms of literary activities.184 Being the son-in-law of Üçanbarlı Mehmed Efendi,185 he
became the divitdâr and mühürdâr of Damad Ibrahim Pasa as well as fulfilling several
scribal posts in the Sublime Porte. He served as the reis ül-küttâb by proxy of his fatherin-
law. Another common point of Serif Halil with Abdi Efendi was the similarity of the
posts that they occupied, considering that Abdi Efendi was appointed as the evkaf
muhasebecisi, tezkîre-i sânî, Tophane nâzırı, tezkîre-i evvel and reis ül-küttâb, in which
some capacities Serif Halil also had served.
As explained earlier, the remaining four witnesses were directly related with
Serif Halil’s household. The fifth witness of the vakıfnâme, Hasim Efendi186 was the
tezkîre-i sâni, which was the first post that Serif Halil had taken up, whereas the sixth
witness Hamza Efendi187 was also responsible for scribal posts in the office of the
grand vezir. Subhî, refers to him as the kapucular kethüdası vekili, a post that he later
183 Sicill-i Osmanî, p. 292; Subhî, p.822: “…Azl-i Ser-Çavusân Abdi Ağa ve Nasb-ı Ali
Ağa: …hâlâ arpa emini olan Ali Ağa kâmrevâ vü dilsâd kılındı...” and also in p. 512:
“…Arpa emâneti Mollacıkzâde Ali Ağa’ya… tevcîh ü ibkâ olunup…”
184 Vakıfnâme: “Umdetu erbabu't-tahriri ve'l-kalem zübdetu ashabi't-tastiri ve'r-rakam
halen tezkere-i evvel kapıdan-ı âli sa'adetlu Abdi Efendi Hazretleri”
185 Üçanbarlı Mehmed Efendi(1673/74-1732) established ties with Damad Đbrahim Pasa
while he was the baltacı of Beyhan Sultan. Thanks to this link, he entered the scribal
layers and served the state in various capacities such as dârüssade yazıcısı, Haremeyn
muhasebecisi, reis ül-küttâb, defter emini and defterdar-ı sıkk-ı evvel. (Sicill-i Osmanî,
p. 1024)
186 Vakıfnâme: “Umdetü erbabu't-tahriri zübdetü ashabi't-takriri halen tezkere-i sani
kapıdan sa'adetlü Hasim Efendi Hazretleri”. Also in Subhî, p.551: “… ve Tezkîre-i sânî
Hasim Efendi cenâbları dahi…”
187 Vakıfnâme: “Umdetu ashabi'l-meârifi ve'l-kemal halen mektubi-yi hazret-i sadri ili
sa' adetlu Hamza Efendi Hazretleri”
64
took up. Ali Efendi188 and Mahmud Efendi,189 the last two witnesses, were employed
in the scribal office of Serif Halil Pasa.
The lineage of Serif Halil starting in 1711 in the defterhâne and ending in 1752
in Đzdin gives us clues about the unwritten aspects of his life. His attempts to find a
place in the retinue of Damad Đbrahim Pasa between 1718 and 1730 through a display of
his literary skills, and his ability to remain evasive in extraordinary circumstances like
the Patrona Revolt in 1730, clearly implies that he was a political being just like the
other members of his circle put above scrutiny. Almost all of these men knew what was
expected from them to keep a strong profile in their respective circles, and one of these
expectations was practising pious deeds and establishing vakıfs, to which Serif Halil did
not remain indifferent. This is because that was effective in both portraying himself as a
benefactor, paying tribute to the local people of his hometown and leaving a good name
behind. If we take into consideration that today the locals of Sumnu know his name
simply due to the socio-religious complex that he patronized, he seems to have achieved
one of his initial motivations.
188 Vakıfnâme: “Fahru'l-emasili ve'l-akran halen kâtib-i kethuda hazret-i sadr-ı âli izzet
lu mekremetlu Ali Efendi Hazretleri”
189 Vakıfnâme, “Fahru'l-esbah ve'l-akran halen halife-i evvel kâtib kethüda-i sadr-i âli
rifatlu muhabetlu Mahmud Efendi Hazretleri”
65
IV. LEAVING A GOOD NAME BEHIND: PIOUS DEEDS
IV. 1 Serif Halil’s Assets and the Expenditures of his vakıf
The complex that Serif Halil commissioned in Sumnu was not purely a tribute
that he paid to the locals of his hometown. The mosque and its dependencies included a
lot of reference to the patron’s life-long pursuits, as well as reflecting the fundamental
interests of the members of the circle in which Serif Halil expressed himself. Before
analyzing how Serif Halil constructed his legacy on stone, shedding light on his other
benevolent acts and the properties that he endowed is in order. The information that we
gather about Serif Halil’s assets and the expenditures of his vakıf is from the BOA and
the vakıfnâme.
The assets that the patron endowed for his pious foundation included a field
ready for cultivation in Varna; a house and its extensions in the district of Kürkçübası,
in Cerrahpasa/Đstanbul; a farm and its extensions in the district of Yeniköy in Varna,
and 10.000 kurus in cash.
Apart from the mosque, medrese, mekteb, library and ablution fountain that Serif
Halil built on the site of his grandfather Saban Bey’s ruined mosque in Sumnu, the
vakıfnâme informs us that in 1743 he had already built a fountain in the Hippodrom and
sidewalks in the vicinity of the Defterhâne-i Âmire that provided freshwater for the
kâtibs.190 Furthermore, he realized the restoration of the mescid of his father Ali Ağa in
190 See the footnote 145 for the record in the BOA; also in the Vakıfnâme: “Đstanbul'da
At meydanı kurbunda Fazlı Pasa sarayı ittisâlinde Defterhâne-i amire kalemine mahsûs
mahal…binâ ve insâ eylediğim çesmelere…”
66
Madara,191 as well as consecrating two mills in Nefse and Külefçe, which are in
Yenipazar. In 1744 and 1745, new revenue sources were added to the vakıfnâme: a mill
around the Baykus Boğazı river in Eğridere, 20 acres of field and 2,300 kurus in cash.
The expenditures and appointment list of the pious foundation is clearly written
in the vakıfnâme. Accordingly, 15 akçes/day were to be given to the second imam where
as the second müezzin would get 10 akçes/day. The other scheduled expenditures were
as follows:
• 8 akçes/day for the third kayyum (caretaker) ;
• 5 akçes/day for each of three devirhans;
• 15 akçes/day for the honorable Friday preacher;
• 8 akçes/day for the instructor teaching at the medrese three days/week;
• 4 akçes/day for the illumination of the 10 medrese classrooms;
• 10 akçes/day for a seyh ül-kurra who could read the Kur’an in a proper
manner two days/week;
• 10 akçes/day for a calligrapher who could teach calligraphy lessons in
the library two days/week;
• 10 akçes/day for the hafız-ı kütüb (librarian) and the muvakkit (the officer
attached to a mosque whose chief duty was to determine the time for the
prayer);
191 Madara was originally a castle built on the plain of Kulefçe, a village of Šumen. It
was built in the early-medieval era. It is surrounded by steep and deep cliffs. This is
most probably the Mundaga Castle that the king Simeon defended against the
Hungarians. Later, in 1388, the Castle of Matara was conquered by the Ottoman Turks.
There have been some archeological excavations in the area. The findings are stored in
a small museum in the town. The name Madara is tracable in the Ottoman archival
documents dating back to the last quarter of the 16th century. Evliya Çelebi calls the
place “Kara-Matara”. Although a Bulgarian researcher claimed that the word
ethimologically belonged to the Bulgarian language (1943), it is most probably of
Arabic origin, meaning a sort of bottle made of leather or silence cloth, and is used as a
jug. Translated from M.Türker Acaroğlu, Bulgaristan’da Türkçe Yer Adları Kılavuzu
pp. 668-9.
67
• 6 akçes/day for the other librarian whose job was to keep the books
inside the library and prevent them from being taken out;
• 3 akçes/day for the caretaker of the water conduit;
• 5 akçes/day for each of 3 eczahans who recited the Kur’an in the
mornings;
• 5 akçes/day for the naathan with a beautiful voice;
• 3 akçes/day for the cleaner of the toilets and 60 vukkıyes of olive oil per
annum to illuminate the balconies (serefes) of the minarets in sacred
nights.
In the list above, it is especially noteworthy and implicative of Serif Halil’s
personal interests that he included a master of calligraphy and the two librarians, each
with a specified duty. During my research, I have not come across any reference to the
amount of money spent for the construction of the complex. Upon looking at the
scarcity of revenue sources indicated in the vakıfnâme, it is a valid question to ask how
Serif Halil was able to raise enough money to construct such a monumental building, to
which, at this point, I have no concrete answer.
IV. 2 Contextualization of the Serif Halil Pasa Socio-Religious Complex
“… maskat-ı ra's ve mense-i vücûdum olan Sumnu Kasabasında olan ceddim
Saban Bey merhum intimâ ile sehir bu def'a müceddeden ihyâ ve ta'mir
eylediğim cami-i serif…”
Although Serif Halil Pasa’s own expression about the mosque that he
commissioned in his hometown sounds like paying tribute to his deceased grandfather
Saban Bey, as well as bestowing a pious deed for his local Sumnu people, the result of
68
this project was much more influential.192 The complex is one of the few monumental
architectural projects of the first half of the 18th century, as well as the largest Ottoman
religious monument in modern-day Bulgarian lands. The construction was completed in
1744 (H.1157). Among locals of Sumnu, it is today known as the Tombul Mosque, due
to the domed structure of the building. It is a unique example of a well-preserved
complex with its medrese, library, mekteb and ablution fountain. Its architect is
unknown; however, the resemblance of its plan and structural composition with the
Mosque of Damad Đbrahim Pasa in Nevsehir might be implicative of a provincial
architectural school active in the first half of the 18th century.193
The first half of the 18th century witnessed a relative decrease in the number of
large-scale endowments. Even the Sultan Mahmud I, who reigned for twenty-four years
between 1730 and 1754, commissioned only a few libraries and schools with limited
follow-up costs. Much of the architectural activity during this period revolved around
restoration, repair and rebuilding.194 The decrease in the number of new selatin
(sultanic) mosques after the construction of the Blue Mosque (1616, commissioned by
Ahmed I) was clearly visible. In this period, only four mosques were patronized by the
192 Ahmed Vâsıf Efendi refers to the mosque as follows: “Bir mükellef cami binasıyle
medh-u senasını zebanzed-i baid ve karib eyledi…” Translation: “With this wonderful
mosque, he [Serif Halil] made the words of praisal frequently articulated and repeated.”
(Vâsıf Tarihi, v. 2, pp. 125-6)
193 Osman Keskioğlu & A. Talha Özaydın, “Bulgaristan’da Türk-Đslâm Eserleri,”
Vakıflar Dergisi 17, Ankara (1983), p. 119: “According to Ali Sami Ülgen, a master
architect who also worked for Directorate General of Foundations, Serif Halil Pasa
Mosque might have been built by one of the halifes or students of El-Hac Mehmed
Emin Ağa who was the chief of Royal Corps of Architects at the time”. In my opinion,
it is very probable that the architect of the mosque was appointed from Istanbul. In other
words, it was not a vakıf or sehir mimarı considering the fact that the vakıfnâme does
not give information about the amount of money given to the architect. For the
definitions and details about differents members of imâr teskilatı, see Abdülkadir
Dündar, Arsivlerdeki Plan ve Çizimler Isığı Altında Osmanlı Đmâr Sistemi, Kültür
Bakanlığı, Ankara (2000), pp. 7-95.
194 Maximilian Hartmuth, “The History of Centre-Periphery Relations as a History of
Style in Ottoman Provincial Architecture”, Proceedings of the International Conference
Centres and Peripheries in Ottoman Architecture: Rediscovering A Balkan Heritage, p.
27. Indeed, the mosque of Serif Halil Pasa can also be evaluated in this axis,
considering the fact that it was a restoration and enlargement of his grandfather Saban
Bey’s mosque. However, it was so elaborate that it would not be an overstatement to
regard it a brand-new mosque.
69
members of Ottoman dynasty in Istanbul; namely Emetullah Gülnus Valide Sultan
Mosque (1710), Ahmediye Mosque (1722), Fatma Sultan Mosque (1727) and
Nuruosmaniye Mosque (1755), whereas the number of large-scale mosques
commissioned by the Ottoman elites are ten; namely Kaptan Đbrahim Pasa Mosque
(1707), Çorlulu Ali Pasa Mosque (1708), Seyh ül-Đslâm Đsmail Efendi Mosque (1725),
Kaymak Mustafa Pasa Mosque (1725), Damad Đbrahim Pasa Mosque (1727), Mirzazâde
Mehmed Salim Efendi Mosque (1731), Hekimoğlu Ali Pasa Mosque (1735), Serif Halil
Pasa Mosque (1744), Hacı Besir Ağa Mosque (1745) and Maktûl Mustafa Pasa Mosque
(1753).195
All of these mosques, apart from the ones of Serif Halil Pasa and Damad
Đbrahim Pasa, are in Istanbul. Stylistically having a similar pattern to the 16th-century
architectural works, these two mosques were most probably built for their patrons’
desires “to equip their (relatively insignificant) native towns with some magnificence
from the capital, and to promote them as urban centers by contributing to their
prominence through their infrastructure.”196 Being one of the elites who commissioned
a large-scale mosque between 1703 and 1754, Serif Halil clearly displays the extent of
his wealth, authority and ambitions.
IV. 3 Serif Halil’s Book Collection: The Library Building and the Adventure of
Vakıf Libraries in the Reign of Mahmud I
Din ve dünyanın kıvâm ve nizâmı, ma’ârif ve ulûmun revâc ve intâcı ile olup ve
kesb-i hüner ve fezâ’il, cem’i kütüb ve resâyile mevkûf olmakdan nâsi eslâfdan
geçen erbâb-ı hayrât her beldede iktizâsına göre tullâb-ı dirâyet-nisâbın
mütâla’a ve intifâ’larıçün fünûn-ı settâdan nice kitâblar vakf ve tesbîl ve bazı
kütüphâneler binâ ve tertîb ve hâfız-ı kütübler vaz’ ve ta’yin eylediklerine
195 In the scope of my research, there are only the mosques which were built in Istanbul
and those that were commissioned in peripherial areas but show resemblance to the ones
in the center, which indeed turn out to be the largest-scaled mosques: Damad Ibrahim
Pasa Mosque in Nevsehir and Serif Halil Pasa Mosque in Šumen.
196 Maximilian Hartmuth, ibid. p. 28
70
binâen talebe-i ûlum fukarâsı hîn-i hâcetde mütâla’a ve tensîk ile kesb-i melekei
tedkîk ve tahkik ide geldikleri emr-i celî olup.197
Probably the best way to analyze the activity of collecting and bequesting books
into vakıf libraries in the first half of the 18th century is possible upon reading the words
of Mahmud I quoted above. Building and organizing libraries is clearly encouraged by
the sultan himself. Thanks to some developments like the opening of the paper mill in
Yalova and the re-opening of the printing press, the reign of Mahmud I (1730-54)
became the golden age of vakıf libraries.198 Having himself built some libraries at
Ayasofya, Fâtih and Galatasaray, the sultan instigated the commissioning of similar
buildings even in the furthest corners of the empire.199 Many elites and members of the
ulema founded library buildings of various sizes. Even from the mouths of the reâyâ
could be heard epic songs about the sultan’s emphasis on library building.200 Grandees
with whom Serif Halil established close contacts such as Hekimoğlu Ali Pasa and
197 After Đsmail E. Erünsal. Osmanlı Vakıf Kütüphaneleri, p. 136; BOA, 152 –
Mühimme: Mahmud I’s letter to the kadı of Kastamonu about the libraries in this city.
Interpretation: “…The pillar of the world and the religion stands on the value given to
culture and sciences. Thus, because earning of skills and virtues is provided with the
books and treatises; in every town, the owners of vakıfs, according to the need, must
build and organize some libraries as well as consecrate books for skillful students to
read and benefit...”
198 For a detailed list of all of the libraries founded during Mahmud I’s reign see, Đsmail
E. Erünsal, ibid, pp. 227-230.
199 For more information on the library of Ayasofya, see Âzade Akar, “Ayasofya’da
bulunan Türk Eserleri ve Süslemelerine Dair Bir Arastırma.”, Vakıflar Dergisi VIII
(1969), pp. 284-6 and Ahmet Küçükkalfa, “Ayasofya Kütüphanesi”, Đlgi 37 (1983), pp.
14-7
200 For example, on the library of Ayasofya: Muhtar Yahya Dağlı, Đstanbul Mahalle
Bekçilerinin Destan ve Mani Katarları, pp. 59-60. “Âl-i Osman’ın sevketi/ Yoktur
nazîr-i devleti/ Dört kösede medh olunur/ Kütüphanenin zîneti./ Zîyneti dehre saldı fer/
Vasfa sezâdır serteser/ Ayasofya Câmiinde/ Eyledi bir âli eser./ Muvaffak eyledi Allâh/
Hayr olur makbûl insallah/ Seyr edip kütüphâneyi/ Her gören dedi masallah.
Translation: The majesty of the House of Osman/ To which there is no equal state/
Praised in every corner/ The valuable ornamentation of the library./ Its ornamentation
shed light on the world/Worthy of explaining in detail/in the mosque of Hagia Sophia/
Commissioned a sublime work./ God helped him be succesful/ Hopefully this building
shall bring benefaction/ While looking at the library/ Everybody said May God preserve
it!
71
Mustafa Efendi of Zonguldak (one of the witnesses of the vakıfnâme) also
commissioned libraries. Hekimoğlu’s library was an extension to the mosque that he
patronized in Davutpasa, whereas Mustafa Efendi founded several libraries in
Zonguldak and Istanbul.201
Being a vigilant and ambitious figure who kept an eye open to the developments
and trends around him, Serif Halil could not remain indifferent to the fashion of
collecting and endowing books during the reign of Mahmud I. He built a library as a
dependency of his socio-religious complex and, as mentioned earlier, entrusted two
hafız-ı kütübs with specific duties like keeping the library open from the morning until
night for four days per week and providing the students with the books that they
wanted, as well keeping them within the library in accordance with the catalogue that
had been prepared.202 The library building is on the right side of the entrance gate and it
is on the second floor.203
In the original vakıfnâme that I obtained from Sumnu Historical Museum, the
catalogue mentioned above is not attached. However, discovered by Orlin Sabev,204 the
201 Erünsal writes that Mustafa Efendi established a library in the mosque that he
commissioned in Zonguldak; however, that is not true. Mustafa Efendi’s library was
founded in the Nasrullah Kadı Mosque (pp. 205-7). Furthermore, he is also mistaken to
state that Serif Halil founded a library as an extension to the mosque and medrese that
he commissioned in Cerrahpasa, because he never patronized buildings of these types
there. However, his house was in Cerrahpasa as clearly remarked in the vakıfnâme:
“…Đstanbul'da Cerrahpasa kurbunda Kürekçi Bası mahallesinde vâki' bir tarafdan
Turnacıbası veresesi ve bir tarafdan Süleyman Çelebi ve bir tarafdan el-Hac Ahmed
Ağa mülkleri ve bir tarafdan tarik-i amm ile mahdud dâhiliyesinin tabaka-i ulyâsında bir
cihân-nûmâ ve tabaka-i vustasında üç bab oda ve bir sofa ve süflâsında bir bab oda ve
kiler ve matbah ve bi'rimâ ve kenîf ve mağsel ve su mahzeni ve iki sedl-i bağçe ve
hâriciyyesinde fevkâni bir bab oda ve tahtani iki oda…”
202 The original records of the first catalogue consisting of the books bestowed by Serif
Halil are in the Appendix 5.
203 There is a small wooden door on the right side of the courtyard opening to a number
of 16 steps till one can reach the library. Most of the books consecrated at the time were
taken to the National Library in Sofia. Because the socio-religious complex is currently
undergoing a restoration, the library building is full of calligraphic inscriptions carried
from the interior of the mosque, to which only limited access can be provided, due to
supporting iron sticks besieging every corner of the building. (As of May 2011)
204 Sabev, Orlin. “Bir Hayrat ve Nostalji Eseri: Sumnu’daki Tombul Cami Külliyesi ve
Banisi Serif Halil Pasa’nın Vakfettiği Kitapların Listesi”, pp. 557-583 in Enjeux
72
list of the books are appended to the end of the copy of the vakıfnâme in General
Directorate of Foundations in Ankara.205 The list is supposed to be the first catalogue of
the library and dates back to 1744/5. Thanks to Sabev, we are now able to access the
subjects, languages and the versions of the books that Serif Halil Pasa collected and
then bequested.
According to the list, there were 198 different titles and a total of 222 volumes
of books which were classified according to the their topics typical of Ottoman medrese
curriculum.206 The classification of these topics were: tefsir, commenting on the Kur’an;
hadis, the study of Prophet Mohammad’s sayings and deeds; fıkıh, Muslim canonical
jurisprudence; fetva, rules in accordance with the Islamic religious law; kıraat, reading
the Kur’an aloud; akaid, tenets of religion; nesaih, advice; meani, eloquence, rhetoric;
nahiv, a sort of exercise on Arabic words; sarf, morphology; adab, spritual courtesy and
manners; mantık, logic; hikmet, a branch of Islamic philosophy; heyet, astronomy;
hendese, geometry; hesab, arithmetics; tıbb, medicine; and coğrafya, geography and
various dictionaries.207
Because Arabic was the language of education in the medreses, 80 percent of the
books in the library were in Arabic. Only 15 percent of the collection was in Persian,
and consisting of dictionaries and poetry books. The remaining 5 percent was in
Turkish.208 Probably one of the most valuable books of the collection was Nüzhetü’lpolitiques,
économiques et militaires en mer Noire (XIVe-XXIe siècles), études à la
mémoire de Mihail Guboglu. Musée de Braïla-Editions Istros, Braïla, 2007.
205 Vakıfnâme: “Vâkıf-ı müsârun ileyh hazretlerinin medine-i Sumnuda binâ eyledikleri
kütübhânelerine vakf ve vaz' eyledikleri kütüb-ü mevkufenin vakf-ı zirde onuncu
kağıtda Seyhu'l-Đslâm Efendi vakfiyyesi zeylinde mukayyeddir.”
206 Orlin Sabev, ibid, p. 564.
207 The total number of books in Serif Halil’s library is still entirely unknown to either
the scientific circles or the general public. In 1993, the Ministry of Culture reached a
decision to have the Šumen collection transferred for safe keeping in the National
Library in Sofia. It is estimated that the collection has about 800 manuscripts and 1500
old printed books. (Kenderova and Ivanova, p. 17)
208 For a complete transliteration of the booklist in a proper classification, see Sabev,
Orlin. “Bir Hayrat ve Nostalji Eseri: Sumnu’daki Tombul Cami Külliyesi ve Banisi
Serif Halil Pasa’nın Vakfettiği Kitapların Listesi”, pp. 557-583 in Enjeux politiques,
économiques et militaires en mer Noire (XIVe-XXIe siècles), études à la mémoire de
Mihail Guboglu. Musée de Braïla-Editions Istros, Braïla, 2007.
73
Müstak fi Đhtirâki’l-Âfak by the famous Muslim geographer Serif El-Đdrisi (1100-1166),
which was copied by Muhammed ibn-i Ali from Cairo in 1556 and contained 70
colourful maps.209 Apart from the standard medrese curriculum, Serif Halil endowed
some books that portrayed his taste of literature such as Kasîde-i Bürde, Serh-i Kasîde-i
Bürde, Serh-i Sâdi, Serhü’l Gazeliyyât-i Sâdi, Tercüme-i Kelâm-ı Cihâr Yâd, Mesnevî-i
Serif, Đntihâb-ı Mesnevi, Serh-i Mesnevî, Gülistân, Lâmi’s Serh-i Gülistân, Bôstân,
Pend-i ‘Attâr ve Tercüme, Dustûrü’l-‘Amel li-Riyâzi, Mantkü’t-Tayr, Manzume fî’l-Aruz
ve l’Avâmmî, Serh-i Divân-i Ömer al-Karzî, Divân-ı Sâib, Divân-ı Hâfız and Serh-i
Hâfız.
According to Kenderova and Ivanova, some of the books of Serif Halil’s library
were taken from a previously established medrese attached to Solak Sinan Mosque
commissioned by a certain Edhem Efendi (1671).210 On the other hand, the BOA
indicate that Kesimzâde Mehmed Efendi, a local of Sumnu and probably the keeper of
the library, brought 480 volumes of the collection to Beyazıt Library as he migrated
from Sumnu in 1922.211
Comparing the library with the ones in Istanbul, Erünsal suggests that the Serif
Halil Pasa Library in Sumnu is not worthy of attention.212 However, this library was a
medrese library and was mainly aiming to satisfy the needs of the town’s student body.
When the book catalogue is taken into account, it would not be an overstatement to
conclude that the scope of the library was quite satisfactory for the city. Within the
broader picture of the vakıf libraries constructed during the reign of Mahmud I, some of
which included over 1,000 titles, Erünsal’s evaluation is not without validity.
209 This book is stored in the Oriental Department of the Sofia Museum. Its call number
is OR 3198.
210 During my research about the history of Šumen, I have not come across any
reference that would confim Kenderova and Ivanova’s reference to an earlier medrese
and library established in the city. From the Collections of Ottoman Libraries in
Bulgaria During the 18th-19th Centuries. Catalogue of the Exhibition of Manuscripts
and Old Printed Books Sofia, May 1998, ed. S. Kenderova, Z. Ivanova, Sofia: National
Library, 1999, pp. 14-19.
211 After Đsmail E. Erünsal, ibid; BOA. MF. KTU. 9/91.
212 Đsmail E. Erünsal, ibid, p. 230.
74
Furthermore, it is clear that it was not the personal library of Serif Halil, considering
that in the book list, we do not even find the Aynî Tarihi, which was translated from
Arabic by the translation committee in which he also took active part. Furthermore, in
the light of this evidence, we can conclude that the library in Sumnu was not a display
of Serif Halil’s bibliophily, but rather his willingness to serve his hometown.
The list of books as transliterated by Orlin Sabev is as follows:213
Minü’t-Tefâsîr
Kelâmullahi’l-kadîm, hüsn-ü hatt, cild 1
Tefsîr-i Kebîr li’l-Đmâm Fahreddin er-Râzî, cild 3
Tefsîrü’l-Kâdî Beyzâvî, cild 1
Tefsîrü’l-Kessâf li’z-Zemahserî, cild 3
Tefsîrü’l-Kevâsî, cild 1
Tefsîr li-Đbn Kemâl Pâsâzâde, cild 1
Tefsîr li-Ebu’s-su‘ûd, cild 3
Tefsîr-i Medârik, cild 1
Min Havâsü’t-Tefâsîr
Seyhzâde ‘ale’l-Beyzâvî, cild 3
Hâsiye-i … ‘ale’l-Kâdî, cild 1
Hâsiye-i ‘ale’l-Kâdî el-müsemma bi-Envârü’t-Tenzîl, cild 1
Hâsiye-i Kevâkibî ‘ale’s-S‘adî, Hâsiye-i Beyzâvî, cild 1
Kesf ‘ale’l-Kessâf, cild 1
S‘adeddîn ‘ale’l-Kessâf, cild 1
‘Đsamüddîn ‘ale’l-Kâdî, cild 1
Durrü’n-Nazîm fî Kavâîdü’l-Kur’âni’l-‘azîm, cild 1
Tezhîb-i Ziyâ, cild 1
Havâs-ı Kur’ân, cild 1
213 Orlin Sabev, ibid, pp. 16-21.
75
Minü’l-Ehâdîsi’s-Serîf
Sahîhü’l-Buhârî, cild 2
Kastallânî, Serhü’l-Buhârî, cild 4
Mesâbîhü’s-Serîfiyye, cild 1
Miskâtü’l-Mesâbîh li-‘Alî el-Kârî, cild 3 (?)
Zeynül-‘arab, Serhü’l-Mesâbîh, cild 1
Câmi‘ü’s-Sagîr, cild 1
Munâvî-i Kebîr ‘ala Câmi‘ü’s-Sagîr, cild 4
Munâvî-i Sagîr ‘ala Câmi‘ü’s-Sagîr, cild 2
‘Azîzî ‘ala Câmi‘ü’s-Sagîr, cild 2
Mevâhîbü’l-Ledduniyye li’l-Đmâm Kastallânî, cild 1
Sifâ-yı Serîf li’l-Kâdî ‘Đyâz, cild 1
Sihâb ‘ala Sifâ, cild 1
Hasâisü’l-Kebrî li’l-Đmâmi’s-Suyûtî, cild 1
Ezkâr-i Nevevî, cild 1
Delâilü’l-Hayrât, cild 1,
Fasî ‘ala Delâilü’l-Hayrât, cild 1
Serh-i Hadîs-i Erba‘in li-‘Alî …. (?)
Minü’l-Fıkhi’s-Serif
Hidâye, cild 1
Hâsiye-i S‘adî ‘ale’l-Hidâye, cild 1
Bâlîzâde ‘ale’l-Hidâye, cild 1
Hâsiye-i Ekmeleddin, Hâsiye-i Hidâye
Dürer-i Gurer, cild 1
Surunbulâlî ‘ale’d-Dürer, cild 1
Hâsiye-i Vânî ‘ale’d-Dürer, cild 1
Hâsiye-i diğer ‘ale’d-Dürer, cild 1
Multeka’l-Ebhur, cild 1
76
Halebî ‘ale’l-Mülteka, cild 1
Bahrü’r-Râîk ‘ala Kenzu’d-Dekâik, cild 2
Remzü’-Hakâik ‘ala Kenzu’d-Dekâik, cild 2
Serhü’l-Mecma’ li’l-‘Aynî Tahta (?), cild 1
Sadrü’s-Seri‘a, cild 1
Hafız ‘Acem (?) ‘ala Sadrü’s-Seri‘a, cild 1
Kuhistânî, cild 1
Islâh-ı Đzâh, cild 1
Vakı‘atü’l-Müftîn, cild 1
Tahkîkü’l-Ferâiz, cild 1
Seyyid Serif ‘ale’s-Sirâciyye, cild 1
… ü’l-Ahkâm, cild 1
Zeyliyye ve Risâle-i sâire, cild 1
Minü’l-Usuli’l-Fıkıh
Menâr-ı Đbn-i Melek, cild 1
Tavzîh ‘ale’t-Tenkîh, cild 1
Telvîh ‘ale’t-Tavzîh, cild 1
Miskâtü’l-Envâr ‘ale’l-Menâr, cild 1
Minü’l-Fetavai’s-Serife
Kâdîhân, cild 1
Tâtârhâniyye, cild 2
Surettü’l-Fetâva, cild 1
Esbâh-ı Nezâir, cild 1
Nechü’l-Necât (?), cild 1
Tenvîrü’l-Ebsâr, cild 1
Halebî-i Kebir, cild 1
…. (?), cild 1
77
Fetâva-yı ‘Alî Efendî, cild 1
Cöng-i Mü’eyyedzâde, cild 1
Minü’l-Kıra’at
Müfredât-ı Nâfi‘, cild 1
Kitâbü’l-Kenz, cild 1
Minü’n-Nesaih
T‘alimü’l-Müte‘allim, cild 1
Serh-i T‘alimü’l-Müte‘allim, cild 1
Fusûs, cild 1
Minü’l-‘Akâid
Serh-i Fıkhü’l-Ekber li-‘Alî el-Kârî, cild 1
Serh-i Mevâkıf li-Seyyid Serîf, cild 1
Matâli‘, cild 1
Seyyid ‘ale’l-Matâli‘, cild 1
Kara Dâvud ‘ale’l-Seyyid ‘ale’l-Matâli‘, cild 1
Tavâli‘, cild 1
Đsfahânî ‘ale’t-Tavâli‘, cild 1
Tarikat-ı Muhammediyye, cild 1
Serhü’l-‘Akâid, cild 1
Hâsiye-i Hayâlî ‘ale’l-‘Akâid, cild 1
Kara Dâvud ‘ala Serhü’l-‘Akâid, cild 1
Serh-i ‘Adudiyye, cild 1
Telhîsü’l-Lâli (?) Serhü’l-Emâlî, cild 1
Đhyâü’l-‘Ulûm li’l-Gazâlî, cild 1
Külliyât-ı Ebu’l-Bekâ, cild 1
78
Minü’l-Me’ani
Telhîs, cild 1
Mutavvel, cild 1
Hasan Çelebî ‘ale’l-Mutavvel, cild 1
Hâsiye-i Seyyid ‘ale’l-Mutavvel, cild 1
Ayverdî ‘ale’l-Mutavvel, cild 1
Ta‘lîkat ‘ale’l-Mutavvel, cild 1
Muhtasar, cild 1
Hâsiye-i Muhtasar, cild 1
S‘adeddîn ‘ale’l-Miftâh, cild 1
Serhü’l-Miftâh li-Seyyid Serîf, cild 1
Serh-i Lâmiyetü’l-‘Acem li’l-Đmâmü’s-Sâfedî (?), cild 1
Minü’n-Nahiv
Kâfiye, cild 1
Câmî, cild 1
Kavâid-i Ziyâyiyye ‘ale’l-Câmî, cild 1
Hâsiye ‘ale’l-Câmî, cild 1
‘Đsâm ‘ale’l-Câmî, cild 1
Seyh Râzî ‘ale’l-Kâfiye, cild 1
Mükemmel Serh-i Mufassal, cild 1
Sumunnî ‘ale’l-Mugnî, cild 1
Tuhfetü’l-Garîb Serh-i Mugnî’l-Lebîb, cild 1
Menhelü’s-Safî fi Serhi’l-Vâfî, cild 1
Serh-i Lübbü’l-Đmâmi’l-Uhdî, cild 1
Sumunnî ‘ala Elfiyye-i Đbn Mâlik, cild 1
Nahiv Cümlesi, cild 1
Kavâid ma‘ Seri‘a, cild 1
Kâfiyeci ‘ala Kavâidü’l-‘Đrâb, cild 1
79
Đzhâr, cild 1
Zav‘, cild 1
Serh-i Dibâce, cild 1
Evzâh ‘ale’l-Misbâh, cild 1
Serh-i Đzhâr li-Adâlî, cild 1
Dinkôz, cild 1
Hâsiye ‘ale’l-Đmtihânü’l-Ezkiyâ, cild 1
Neveviyye, cild 1
Serh-i Lâmiyetü’l-Ef‘âl, cild 1
Edebü’l-Kâtib, cild 1
Manzume fî’l-‘Aruz ve’l-‘Avâmmî, cild 1
Muhsin-i Kaysarî, cild 1
Minü’s-Sarf
Sarf Cümlesi, cild 1
Sâfiye, cild 1
Râzî ‘ale’s-Sâfiye, cild 1
Seyyid ‘Abdullah ‘ale’s-Sâfiye, cild 1
Hâsiye-i Merâh, cild 1
Rûhü’s-Surûh ‘ale’l-Maksûd
Minü’l-Âdâb
Hüseyin Efendî Risâlesî, cild 1
Hâsiye-i Hüseyin Efendî, cild 1
… (?) ‘ale’l-Vaz‘iyye, cild 1
Ve Havâs-i ahir fî’l-Âdâb, cild 1
Minü’l-Mantık
Đsâgôcî ve Hüssâm Kâtî ve Muhyiddîn, cild 1
80
Fenârî, cild 1
Kûl Ahmed, cild 1
Burhân, Hâsiye-i Kûl Ahmed, cild 1
Hâsiye-i ‘Đmâd ve Sultânsâh ‘ala Kutbuddîn, cild 1
Tasvîrât ve Tasdîkât, cild 1
Minü’l-Hikmet
Serh-i Đsârât li-Abî Sinâ, cild 1
Kâdîmîr ve Lârî, cild 1
Fahreddîn ‘ala Kâdîmîr, cild 1
Kemâleddîn ‘ala Kâdîmîr, cild 1
Minü’l-He’yet
Kâdîzâde ‘ala Çağmûnî, cild 1
Risâle-i Mukantarat, cild 1
Minü’l-Hendese ve’l-Hisâb
Eskâl-i Te’sîs ve Bahâyî, cild 1
Minü’l-Lügati’l-‘Arabiyye
Kâmusü’l-Muhît, cild 1
Sihâh-i Cevherî, cild 1
Ahteri-i Kebîr, cild 1
Muntahât, cild 1
Vânkûlî, cild 1
… ü’l-Lügat, cild 1
Đbn-i Firiste, cild 1
Minü’l-Kasâid ve Surûh
Kasîde-i Bürde, cild 1
81
Serh-i Kasîde-i Bürde, cild 1
Serh-i … S‘adî, cild 1
Serhü’l-Gazeliyyât-i S‘adî, cild 1
Tercüme-i Kelâm-ı Cihâr Yâd, cild 1
Serh-i Dîvân-i ‘Ömer al-Karzî (?), cild 1
… ‘ala Dîvân-i Hazret-i ‘Alî Keremullah Vechiyye (?), cild 1
Minü’l-Farsiyye
Dîvân-i Sâib (?), cild 1
Mesnevî-i Serîf, cild 1
Đntihâb-i Mesnevî, cild 1
Serh-i Mesnevî, cild 1
Dîvân-i Hâfız, cild 1
Sudi, Serh-i Hâfız, cild 2
‘Ukudü’l-…., cild 1
Gülistân, cild 1
Lâmî, Serh-i Gülistân, cild 1
Bôstân, cild 1
Pend-i ‘Attâr ve Tercüme, cild 1
Dustûrü’l-‘Amel li-Riyâzî ve …, cild 1
Mantıkü’t-Tayr, cild 1
Min Lügatü’l-Fârsî
Lisânü’l-‘Acem es-sehîr be-Ferheng-i Su‘ûrî, cild 2
Desîse, cild 1
N‘imetullah, cild 1
….-i Kebîr, cild 1
Câmi‘ü’l-Furs, cild 1
Hulâsat, cild 1
82
Minü’t-Tıbb
Kâfî, cild 1
Gâyetü’l-Beyân, cild 1
Min Coğrafya
Nüzhetü’l-Mesârik, cild 1
Tuhfetü’l-Garâib min ‘Acâibü’l-Kâinât, cild 1
Minü’l-Türkiyye
Menâsık-i Manzûme, cild 1
Sîrôzî, cild 1
Sakâik-i Nu‘mâniyye, cild 1
Tercüme-i Hattat, cild 1
Tercüme-i Fıkh-ı Keydânî, cild 1
Târîh-i Hoca Cihân, cild 1
Bahrü’l-Ma‘ârif, cild 1
Dîvân-i Câmî, cild 1
Tercüme-i Tufetü’s-Salât, cild 1
IV. 4 The Establishment of Sumnu Calligraphy School
Turning out to be one of the most productive Kur’an production centers in the
19th century, the city of Sumnu owes a great deal to Serif Halil.214 The impetus for the
214 For the calligraphy school in Šumen, see Süheyl Ünver, “Sumnu’da Türk Hattatları
ve Eserleri”, Belleten, XLVII/185, 1983, s. 31-36; Tim Stanley, “Šumen as a Centre of
83
emergence of a calligraphy school in Sumnu started with his appointment of a
calligraphy master in his library. The Kur’an copies written by the calligraphers who
were educated in Sumnu were in great demand not only from neighboring areas but also
from the capital, Istanbul.215
As in the example of his book collection, Serif Halil seems to have reflected his
personal likings as far as the importance that he gave to calligraphy education while
entrusting officers to the dependencies of his socio-religious complex is concerned.
According to Müstakimzâde Süleyman Efendi’s Tuhfe-i Hattâtin, Serif Halil was a very
able calligrapher who could write in sülüs and nesih in a masterly manner. Having been
educated by the prominent and well-known Abdullah Efendi, Serif Halil was also
equally efficient in practising divânî, rik’a and siyakat, a skill that he must have
developed during his service in the defterhâne. 216
The patron’s strong interest in this art form was also noticeable upon a scrutiny
of his book collection. Among many other books and albums that included calligraphic
examples, the Kur’an copy which was the first item of the catalogue was written in talik
style.217 Perhaps due to his ambition for calligraphy, Serif Halil endowed only three of
the seventeen titles that were published in the printing press between 1727 and 1742.
These were Sihâh-ı Cevheri, Vankulu Lûgatı and Ferheng-i Suûri, which might be
classified as reference books.218
What started out as the personal interest of Serif Halil ended up as an industry in
the 19th century. The city became known for its own calligraphic school called “Sumnu
isi.” The prolific production of Kur’an copies resulted in the formation of various subbranches,
such as gilding and bookbinding. However, just like their counterparts in
Qur’an Production in the 19th Century”, M. Uğur Derman 65 Yas Armağanı, der. Đ. C.
Schick, Đstanbul: Sabancı Üniversitesi, 2000, s. 483-512.
215 Süheyl Ünver, ibid, p.32
216 Müstakimzâde Süleyman Efendi, Tuhfe-i Hattâtin, p.198. Transliteration:
”Sumnu’dandır. Hüsn-ü hat, sülüs, ve nesihi üstadper nur seyyid meshur Đmam-ı Cami-i
Mir Abdullah Efendi’den talimdad ve temessük idüb divani ve rik’a ve siyakat ve sair
envai hatt--da dahi kalem-i liyakat erbabından idi.”
217 See the Appendix.
218 Orlin Sabev, ibid.
84
Istanbul, gilders and bookbinders were working collectively, thus none of their names
are available to us.
The holders of the post of calligraphy teacher educated many valuable scribes
such as Mehmed Nuri who actively served the Sultan Mahmud II (1808-1861) and
Abdulaziz (1861-1876). The growth of the number of scribes in the town was mainly
due to two reasons. The first one was the continued demand for manuscript copies of
the Kur’an, which, as the word of God, was not considered appropriate to be reproduced
in the printing press, whereas the second reason was the keen interests sultans like
Mahmud II had in this art form.
Mahmud II, in an attempt to analyze and heal the damages of the warfare with
the Russians, went to Sumnu and was impressed with the efforts of the calligraphers
who wrote Kur’ans. By the demand of these calligraphers, Mahmud II sent a very
prominent calligrapher named Ibrahim Sevki from Istanbul to Sumnu, whose influence
gave momentum and eloquence to the newly born Sumnu school.219 Although we have
evidence about Đbrahim Sevki’s students in Silistre, unfortunately, his specific activities
in Sumnu are not recorded. However, one of his students, Süleyman Vehbi, turned into
a key figure who also educated many calligraphers from Sumnu.220
Sumnu became more industrial, and had about 60 workshops only for the
production of calligraphic texts. Ünver suggests that the calligraphers of Sumnu would
write about 900 pages a day, which would equal to the length of one and a half of the
complete Kur’an. After being bound, these texts would be transported to Istanbul with
an officer responsible for the sale of them. In return, this officer would bring back some
supplies and ingredients that were not found in Sumnu, such as papers for Qur’an
production, pens, rulers, inks of different colours and skin for the cover of the books.
Unfortunately, all of these transactions were verbally carried out, thus leaving no
official records behind.221
219 Süheyl Ünver, “Sumnu’da Türk Hattatları”, p. 32-33. The author also includes some
examples of Kuranic pages produced by the scribes in Šumen in this article.
220 Ibid, p. 33
221 Ibid, p. 36 According to the ketebes, “calligraphers” of some Kur’ans that were
produced in the 19th century, Ünver detects that they were from Šumen. For example,
85
CONCLUSION
Questioning the possiblity of the existence of an Ottoman individual as
understood in the European context, this thesis has aimed to (1) re-construct and present
Serif Halil Pasa’s life story as a contribution to the growing corpus of biographical
writings in the Ottoman studies especially after the 1980s; (2) specify the difficulties of
writing biographical accounts of little-researched Ottoman elites; (3) shed light on
expectations, ambitions and interests of an 18th-century bureaucrat; (4) locate him in an
elite circle; and (5) ask questions that would enlarge the horizons of future studies about
Serif Halil.
The general assumption about Ottoman literature was that it did not have a
corpus of self-narratives due to the collectivist ideals of Islam, which was thought to
have ignored individuality. However, especially after Cemal Kafadar’s
contextualization of ego-documents in the late-1980s, more and more studies related to
various Ottoman individuals’ life-stories were carried out. Furthermore, there has been a
scholarly attempt to debunk the myth of universalized individuals and come to terms
with the multiple ways that people have presented themselves in Islamic societies.
Mainly referring to the vakıfnâme as an autobiographical source, this thesis has
endeavored to reconstruct Serif Halil’s career line. It was also necessary to prepare a
Ahmed Refik, Ahmed Zârifi, Hafız Osman Nazifî, Hafız Osman Âsım, Mehmed Nuri,
Abdurrahman, Hafız Mustafa Sefki, Köse Đmam, Topçu Ahmed Sükrü, Hasan Âsıkî,
Hüseyin Vassaf, Hacı Hüseyin Hamdi, Osman Nuri, Ali Osman Hilmi, Đbrahim Namık,
Hafız Mehmed Hıfzı, Đbrahim Edhem, Đsmail Sevki, Salih Nâili, Hasan Rıza, Mehmed
Nureddin, Mehmed Ali Ulvî, Hafız Ali Hamdi, Hasan Askî, Hüseyin Hafız Hamid,
Đsmail Besim, Hafız Osman Resid, Ahmed Fuad, Saban, Hafız Ahmed Nâib, Hasan
Aman.
86
setting for his early life, which was done in the second chapter. Serif Halil’s life story
might be scrutinized within two very broad periods as far as documentation giving
information about his involvements are concerned. Before 1711, when he was yet in
Sumnu, examining his childhood and educational background was by no means possible
due to the absence of records; however, his family ties were helpful to speculate about
the possible ways he was admitted into the defterhâne. On the other hand, after 1711,
we have better evidence about his activities as a bureaucrat.
The attempt to portray Serif Halil’s persona in an elite circle brought as many
questions as it did answers. In the light of the witnesses of the vakıfnâme, it was clear
that he was a member of an elite circle whose ambitions, targets and interests were very
similar. However, it is important to add that a more elaborate and inclusive
prosopographic scrutiny on the holders of scribal admisintrative posts in the first half of
the 18th century might help us identify the patterns of rise in bureaucratic levels.
Furthermore, Serif Halil proves to be an intersection of various controversial
historiographical arguments due to the age in which he lived. In other words, it might be
a quest for other studies to construe a solid explanation for several loaded appellations
such as “the Tulip Age,” “Ottoman Baroque” and “Ottoman decline” in the light of the
elite circle identified in the thesis.
Another question begging to be answered is how Serif Halil was able to collect
enough money to commission the construction of such a monumental mosque in a
matter of a few years. A study concentrating on the costs of similar projects in other
provinces would help us estimate the construction cost of Serif Halil’s complex.
Although scholars like Sevket Pamuk shed light on the amount of money paid to
construction workers in Istanbul in a day, a similar study for the Balkan provinces is
missing.222 The vakıfnâme also does not give any clues as to how much the project cost.
I am sure that my research will be a contribution for further investigations into
this topic. Most of the questions, problems and limitations that I mentioned in the
introduction already anticipated the conclusions to be made here, and it is only left to
the author to hope that the arguments and information gathered have been convincing
for the reader. However, it is not a good sign to have a conclusion without questions,
222 Sevket Pamuk, A Monetary History of the Ottoman Empire, Cambridge University
Press, New York (2000), p. 152
87
thus I also hope to have raised new questions in the minds of my readers through the
text.
88
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97
APPENDIX
The Original Vakıfnâme
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
The Transliteration of the Vakıfnâme223
Đsbu vakfiyye-i sahiha-i ser'iyye mucibiyle ‘amel olunub "Femen beddelehu
ba'dema semi’ahû fe innemâ ismuhu ‘alâllezîne yubeddilûnehû innallâhe semi'un alîm"
nass-ı kerîmine mâ sadak olmakdan ihtirâz oluna.
Eseri cemil ve hayri cezil ketebehu'l-fakiru Es-seyyid Mustafa ufiye anhu. Mâ
fihi mu’arran kavluhu Te'âlâ ve "naktubu ma kaddemû ve âsârahum" harrerehu'lmüserref
min âlâ’i’s-Samed Mehmed Esad el-Kâdı bi asker-i Rumeli ufiye anhu ve an
eslâfihi ve ahlâfihi.
Mâ hava haze'l-kitabu yûcibu itmam ecra'l-müstetâbe ve harrahuhu ene'l-fakiru
Es-seyyid Abdullah Hoca Zâde el-Kâdı bi asker Anadolu gufire lehu.
Mâ fihi mine'l-birri'l-merğub ve'l-hayri'l-meskur muvâfıkun li'sser'i bilâ kusûr
harrerahu el-fakir ilâ Rabbihil-mu'în Ahmed bin Veliyüddîn el-Kâdı bi-medine-i
Kostantaniyye el-mahrûse ufiye anhuma.
Mâ hurrire fihi min asli'l-vakfi ve's-surûti ve vücûhi'l-masârifi ’alâ’n-nemati'lmebsût
vedaha küllühû ledeyye ve sahha cemi'uhu beyne yedeyye tûba li vâkıfihi
hasebe eseri hâzihi'l-ma'asiri'l-Cemile ve sebîli tilkel hisabi'l-cezile hâlisan livechillâhi'l-
Kerim ve tâliben li-Rıdvânihi ve fazlihi'l-azim da'âfallâhu ecrahu mevfûran
vece'ale sa'yehu meskûran fe hakemtu bi sıhhatihi ve lüzumihi fi hususihi ve umumihi
âlimen bi'l-hilâfi'lcâri beyne'l-immeti'l-ecilleti'l-esrâf fi emri'l-evkâf nemekahu'l-fakir ilâ
âlâ-i rabbihi'l-Kadîr el-Hac Halil el-memûr bi teftis-i evkâfi'l-Haremeyni's-Serifeyn.
gufire lehu.
Kayd sud ba fermân-ı âli el-vâki fi 11 Cemaziye'l-evvel 1157.
223 The transliteration of the vakıfnâme was realized thanks to the help of Aziz Nazmi
Sakir and Ertuğrul Ökten. Furthermore, the previous transliteration by Osman
Keskioğlu was made use of. Many thanks to the officers in the VGM who allowed me
to read some transliterated parts of the document.
105
Vâkıf-ı müsârun ileyh hazretlerinin medine-i Sumnu’da binâ eyledikleri
kütübhânelerine vakf ve vaz' eyledikleri kütüb-ü mevkufenin vakf-ı zirde onuncu
kağıtda Seyhu'l-Đslâm Efendi vakfiyyesi zeylinde mukayyeddir.
Halen Kethudâyı sadr-i âlî Serif Halil Efendi Hazretlerinin vakfiyyesidir.
Her suhen-i seher âferin ki neyyir-i ismi Azam Rabbi'l-âlemin ile münevver
olmaya revnak-ı itmâm ile zibüfer bulmaz ve ser levha-i ferhunde-i fer ki naks-u nigâr-ı
hamd-u senâ-yı mu'tı-i celil ve sükri sipas-i mün'imi cemîl ile muanven kılınmaya
misâl-i vakf-ı bi tescil mevkif-ı kabul ve itibârda cilvegel olmaz ve ruhsâre-i nev-urus-i
makâl-i hatt-ı hâl salâtu ve selâm Seyyidü'l-enâm ile arayıs ve tezyin olunmaya
minassa-i kabulde cilve numâ ve haclegâh-ı ra'bette çehre küsâ olmaz pes hamdu nâ
mahdud ve sükrü senâ nâ mahdûd ol bâni-i mebâni-i mevcûdât ve müseyyed-i maâlimi
kâinât kâsîfurumûz-i "er-Rahmanu alleme'l-Kur'âne" vâkıf-ı künûz" Halaka'l-Đnsâne
allemehu'l-beyân" mülhim-i vâridât-ı âlem-i gayb nükte-i perdâzı hikmet-i lâ rayb
zibbahsâ-yı nev'urûs-i kemâl ziynet efzâ-yı bikr-i fikri makâl Alîm ve Habîr bî-zevâl
Semî've Basîr bî misâl cellet bedâyi-u niamâihi ve ammet sanâyi-u alâihi hazretlerinin
dergah-ı azamet-i penâhı akdes ve bârigâhı inâyet destgâh mukaddesinde pis-gâh-ı
eyvân-ı kabûl ve irtizâ savbine ihtaf ve ihdâ olunur ki Gülsen-i sarayı cihânda insânı
râyihâ-î reyahîn-i sâf ile bûyâ ve andelib-i dil-ü cânı sükri nimeti lâ yuhsasıyla neğme
serâ eyledi ve ulûf-ı nukûd-ı midhât ve senâyı amimü'l-vûrûd ve sunuf-ı ukud-ı cevahiri
salat-ı selâmu nâ ma'dud ol dürri yektayı bahr-i cûd nergis-i bi hemta-i bağı suhûd
fâtiha-i nüsha-i pürnûr-ı dîn hatime-i silsile-i mürselîn kutb-ı felek-i risâlet merkez-i
dâire-i asâlet serdâr-ı kâfile-i enbiyâ sezâvâr-ı "Sübhânellezi esrâ" nâzır-ı gülzâr-ı"mâ
zâge'l-basaru ve mâ tağâ" tûtii vilkes-i nevâ-yı "vemâ yentıku ani'l-hevâ" mu'ciz numâyı
"in huve illâ vahyun yuha "akreb-i mukarrebin-i ilâh sultan-ı serîr-i lî ma'allah
Hazreti Muhammed Resûlullah Salâvatullahi aleyhi ve sellem mâ dâme ser'uhu's-serifu
106
nizâmu'l-âlem ve intizâm-ı cenâbın rûh-ı mukaddes ve münevver ve ravza-i mu'attar ve
mu'anber ve merkad-i müzehher mazharlarına îsâr ve nîsâr olunur ki nur-u münir-i bâisi
îcâdı levh u kalem ve mûcib-i tekvîn-i sahâyif-i âlem olub tafsil-i sıfat-ı kemâlının
ikmali muhal ve tavsîf-i envârı cemâlini icmâlinde akl-ı küll lâl ve ehl-i kemâl bîmecâldir
ve gurer-i senâ-yı cevâhir-i misâli cümle-i âl ve evlâd ve ashâb ve zümre-i
ecnâb-ı izzet-i iffet intisâblarına ref' olunur ki her biri tarik-i Hakka rehber ve sübül-i
hidâyete sa'yı güster oldular. Rıdvanullahi Te'âlâ aleyhim ecmâ'în.
Feli zâlik erbâb-ı basâir-i selimde ve ashâb-ı tabâyi'i müstekımenin zamirlerinde
zâhir ve rûsene ve pisgâh-ı hâtır-i hatırlarında müberhen ve müstenîr ki ibdâ-i zevât ve
hakâyıkda sırrı hikmet ve ihtirâ-i tabâyi'ı halâyıkda asl-ı maslahat ma'rifet-i hâlikü'l-îbâd
ve tefekkür ve tedebbür-ü mebde' ve mu'âd olmağla pes her âkil câzime lazım ve her
resîd-i kâmil lüzûmuna câzimdir ki ahvâl-i pür ihvâl-ı cihana ârif ve mal-i pür melâl-i
zehârif-i tesârif-i zamana vâkıf olub intihâzı fırsatı ganimet ve ruhsât-ı sıhhati devlet
bilip tahsil-i rızây-ı Rabbi'l-izzete azimet ve hâl-i kudret ve kudretinde ibâdet-i
bedeniyye ve ihrâz-ı nis-ı istitâ'at-ı teyessürründe tâ'at-ı mâliye ikâmetine mübâderet
edüb ber-fehvâyı "izamâte ibnü Adem inkata'a ameluhu illâ an selâsin sadakatun
câriyetun ve ilmun yüntefe'u bihi ve veledun sâlihun yed'û lehu" hadis-i serif-i pürtakdis-
i nebevî muktezâsınca safahât-ı âlemde zuhûr bulân âsâr-ı hayr halef
mesebesinde fi'l-etrâf ve'l-aktâr sebeb-i zikr-i müstetâb ve bâ'isi dua-i hayri müstecab
olacak semtine inân-ı azimeti masrûf ve zimâm-ı himmeti ma'tuf kılub sıfat-ı safiyye-i
kudsiyye tahsiline sarf-ı kudret ve tertib-i meberrât ve tesbil-i hayrât ve hasenâta
müsâva'at eyleye bu mukaddemât-ı vâcibetü'l-kabülden muci be-i külliye intâcına
muvaffak ve ihtiyâr-ı saâdet-i uhrâ ile mâ-sadak müddeâyı mâ sebak olan hal-i devlet-i
aliyye ebediyyü'l-istimrarda sadr-ı Azam küthûdalığı mansıb-ı serif-i ile müteserrif olan
ser-levha-i dibâce-i nüshâ-i devlet sadr-ı evvel mecmua-i mekremet matla-i tavâli-i
107
mekârim menba-i zülâl-ı merâhım ziber-i kâmgâh-ı ikbâl ziynet efzâ-yı mesned-i iclâl
refîulkadri zü'l-hasebi kerimü'l-hulki serifü'l-nesebi sa'adetlu samehatlu atufetlu Esseyyid
Serif Halil Ağa ibni'l-merhum Ali Ağa hazretleri sarâyı süreyyayı süreyya sadr-ı
AzamîdE seref bahsâ-yı ızz-ü sükun oldukları odada ma'kûd-ı meclisi ser'î serif-i
Ahmedî ve mahfel-i din-i münif-i Muhammedîde evkâf-ı atiyetü'l-evsâfi teslim ve tescil
ve tesbil sıhhat ittisâfı lâzime-i lüzum ile tetmim ve tekmile mütevelli nasb ve ta'yin
buyurdukları fahrul-müderrisînil-kirâm Nimetullah Efendi ibni Abdurrahim Efendi
mahzarında ikrârı sahih-i ser'î huceste-i nizâm ve i'tirâf-ı sarih-i mer'î ferhunde encâm
buyurub Vilâyet-i Rumilinde Silistre Sancağında Varna Nâhiyesinde vâki mezrai
Karagöz ve tevâbii mukaatasının bir buçuk hisse-i muayyenesi bundan akdem ber-vechi
mâlikâne uhdemde olub ber-vech-i âtî muvaffak olduğum envâ-i hayrât ve insâf-ı
meberrâtın cihât-ı ma'lüme ve masârıf-ı lâzımesiçün mukataai mezbûrenin mâl-ı
mirisinden kendü hisse-i mezkûre-i muayyenem içün ta'yin ve tahsis olunan senevî
ellibin kırk bir akçe mâl-i mîrisi beher sene vakfımız tarafından eda ve teslim olunmak
üzere hisse-i merkûme-i muayyene-i taraf-ı miriden ifrâz ve mâlikâne kaydı ref' ve
terkin olunub tevâbi' levâhıkı ile bâ hatt-ı humâyun-ı sevket makrun temlik-i sahih ile
temlîk ve ihsân ve mahall-i tevki'î kalemiyle vakf-ı serife tashih ve yedime mülk nâme-i
humayun inâyet ve i'tâ olunmağla mucibince dâhil-i silk-i emlâkım olan hissei
merkûme-i muayyene ile mahmiye-i Đstanbul'da Cerrahpasa kurbunda Kürekçibası
mahallesinde vâki' bir tarafdan Turnacıbası veresesi ve bir tarafdan Süleyman Çelebi ve
bir tarafdan el-Hac Ahmed Ağa mülkleri ve bir tarafdan tarik-i amm ile mahdud
dâhiliyesinin tabaka-i ulyâsında bir cihân-nûmâ ve tabaka-i vustasında üç bab oda ve bir
sofa ve süflâsında bir bab oda ve kiler ve matbah ve bi'rimâ ve kenîf ve mağsel ve su
mahzeni ve iki sedl-i bağçe ve hâriciyyesinde fevkâni bir bab oda ve tahtani iki oda ve
bir kenîf ve ahur ve samanhâne ve müstemilât-ı sâire-i ma'lümeyi hâvi menzili ve yine
108
vilâyet-i Rumilinde Varna kazâsında karye-i Cedide sınırı dahilinde vâki lede'l-ahâli
ve'l-cîrân ma'lumu'l-hudud dahiliyesinde bir bab karğir kal'a ve fevkâni üç bab oda ve
bir hamam ve kiler ve tahtâni bir bab oda ve kebir iki anbar ve bir mikdar bağçe ve bi'ri
mâ havlu ve hâriciyesinde tahtâni bir bab oda ve ahur ve samanhâne ve bir göz
değirmen ve havlu ve müstemilât-ı sâire ve edevât-ı ma'lümeyi muhtevî çiftlik ta'bir
olunur. Menzili ve atyebi mâl ve enfes-i menâlimden dahi on bin kurus ifrâz ve kemâl-i
imtiyaz ile mümtaz idüb emlâk-ı mezkûre ile meblağ-ı mezbûru hasbeten lillâhi'l-kerim
ve tâliben li-merdâti Rabbihi'l-Alîm vakf-ı sahih-i müebbed ve habs-i sahihi muhalled
ile vakf ve habs idüb söyle sart eyledim ki:
Bâlâ'da mezkûr hisse-i muayyeneden hasıla-i rüsûmat ve mahsûlatdan evvelen
taraf-ı mîriyeye edâsı sart kılınan meblağ-ı mezbûr elli bin kırk bir akçe beher sene yedi
mütevelli ile cânib-i mîriyeye eda ve teslim olundukdan sonra fazla kalan mahsûlat ve
menzil-i mezkûr ile çiftlik-i mezbûrdan hâsılı gallât ve icârâtdan müctemi'a meblağ ile
marru'z-zikr on bin kurus ile dahi münasib mahallerden akar istira ve lâzıme-i mala
gerek icare-i vâhide gerek icâreteyn ile icâr olunub bi'l-cümle hâsıl olan gallâtdan
mahmiye-i Đstanbul'da At Meydanı kurbunda Fazlı Pasa sarayı ittisâlinde Defterhâne-i
Âmire kalemine mahsûs mahal ile Hâric bâbında fî Sebilillahi Te'âlâ müceddeden binâ
ve insâ eylediğim çesmelere câri olan mâ-i lezizin Köprülü vakfına virilecek beher sehr
yüz yirmibes akçe mukataası edâ ve teslim olundukdan sonra mâ-i mezkurun
mecralarına hizmet ve devâm üzere cereyânı husûsunda sarf-ı kudret itmek içün tayin
olunan bir nefer su yolcuya yevmî üç akçe ve zikr olunan çesmelere ta'yin olunan
sebilhâneye dahî yevmî üç akçe vazife virile ve defter-hâne-i mezkûrede mevzû'a
bekciyân beher gice îkâd içün sem' bahâ yevmî üç akçe virile ve defter-hâne-i mezkure
hâricinde müceddeden ihdas ve insâ eylediğim kaldırımların ta'mir ve termimiçün ta'yin
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olunan yevmiye dört akçe yed-i mütevellide hıfz olunub lede'l-iktizâ ta'mir ve termime
sarf oluna ve zikr olunan çesmelerin ve dâhilinde olan muslukların devâm üzere ceryân
ve mezkur kaldırımın ta'mir ve termim emrine defterhâne-i mezkure kaleminde kisedâr
olanlar hasbî nezâret idüb ta'mir ve termim iktiza itdikde mütevelliye i'lam tamir ve
hususunda imtimam edüb eğer mütevelli tehâvûn ve tekâsul iderse nâzır-ı vakf devletlu
Darü's-saadetü's-serife Ağası hazretleri tarafına inhâ ve ifâde ve icrâsı hususunda sarf-u
ve himmet eyleyeler ve maskat-ı ra's ve mense-i vücûdum olan Sumnu Kasabasında
olan ceddim Saban Bey merhum intimâ ile sehir bu def'a müceddeden ihyâ ve ta'mir
eylediğim cami-i serife hademe-i sabıkasından ma'ada vaz' eylediğim Đmam-ı sâniyeye
yevmî onbes akçe ve müezzin-i sâniyeye yevmî on akçe ve kayyım-ı sâniyeye yevmî
sekiz akçe ve üç nefer devirhan her birine yevmî beser akçe ve mukid-i kandile yevmî
üç akçe vazife virile ve ulema ve sulehadan bir kimesne vâiz-i cum'a olub cami-i
mezkurde ba'de edâi salâtu'l-cum'a huzzar-ı meclise vaaz ve nasihat edüb yevmî on bes
akçe vazife virile ve zümre-i ulema ve fırka-i fudaladan bir kimesne ders-i amm olub
kasaba-i merkumede ihyâ eylediğim medresede haftada üç gün tûllabe tedris edüb
yevmî sekiz akçe vazife virile ve medrese-i mezkurede vâki on aded odanın her birine
sem'i baha yevmî dörder akçe virile ve zikr olunan odalarda tullâb bi'n-nefs sâkin olub
her mahallerde sâkin olanlara ta'yin olunan sem' i baha virildiğinden ma'ada odası tâlib-i
ahere virile ve ilm-i kırâtda mâhir bir kimesne Seyhu'l-Kurra olub haftada iki gün cami-i
mezkurde tüllâba ta'lim-i Kur'ân-ı azimü's-sân edüb yevmî on akçe vazife virile ve fenni
hatda mâhir bir kimesne haftada iki gün cami-i mezkur civârında ihyâ eylediğim
kitabhânede ta'lim-i fenn-i hatt edüb yevmî on akçe vazife virile ve kitabhâne-i
mezkurede iki nefer kimesne hâfız-ı kütüb olub haftada dört gün mine's-subh-ı ile'lmesâ
kitabhâne-i mezkureyi açub vârid ve sâdır olan tüllâba havahasker oldukları
kütübü arz ve ihzâr devlet-hahları üzere mütâlâ'a ve istinsâha ruhsat ile kâm-kar edüb
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ber-muceb-i defter-i mevzu'a olan kütübü hıfz ve hirâset ve tasra ihrâcına bir-vecihle
ruhsât virmeyüb zikr olunan iki nefer hâfız-ı kütübün biri fenni rubu' ve üstürlabda
mütefenin olub hem hâfız-ı kütüb-i evvel ve hem muvakkit-i cami-i mezkur ola yevmî
on akçe vazife virile ve ikinci hâfız-ı kütübe yevmî altı akçe vazife virile ve cami-i
mezkurun çesme ve musluklarına câri mâ-i lezizin yollarını lede'l-iktiza ta'mir ve
termim emrinde ihtimâm itmek üzere bir nefer su yolcuya yevmî üç akçe vazîfe virile
ve üç nefer eczâhan cami-i mezkurde ba'de eda-i salati'l-fecri birer cüz-i serif tilavet ve
onar günde bir hatm-i serif edüb sevabını evvelen vakfa ve sâniyen usûl ve furu'u
ervâhına ihda eyleyüb her biri yevmî beser akçe vazifeye mutasarrıf ola ve bir nefer
cüzhân yine cami-i serifde ba'de edâ-i salâti'z-zuhr bir cüz-i serif kırât ve her otuz günde
bir hatm-i serif edüb sevâbını ebeveynim ruhlarına ihdâ eyleye yevmî bes akçe vazife
virile ve bir nefer cüzhan dahi yine cami-i mezkurde ba'de edâi salâti'l-asr bir cüz-i serif
tilâvet edüb sevâbını ceddim merhum Saban Bey ruhuna ve usul füru'ı ervâhına ihda
eyleyüb yevmî bes akçe vazife virile ve cami-i mezkurun hatibi bâlâda mezkur
devirhanların edâ-i hizmetde muvâzabet ve ihtimamlarına bi'n-nefs nezâret etmek üzere
yevmî iki akçe ve kadimi hitabet vazifesine zam olunan altı akçe ki cem'an yevmî sekiz
akçe vazife virile ve bir sâhibi nefes ve hos el-hân kimesne cami-i mezkurde nathân
olub yevmî bes akçe vazife virile ve cami-i mezkurun helâlarını tathir içün ta'yin olunan
ferrasa yevmî üç akçe vazife virile ve cami-i mezkurun imam-ı atikine yevmî altı akçe
virile ve iki nefer müezzin-i atikin her birine yevmî bes akçe virile ve kayyım-ı atikine
yevmî üç akçe vazife zam olunmağla ber-minvâl-i muharrer virile ve cami-i mezkurun
minâre ve derununda gerek leyâlî-i mübareke ve gerek leyâlî-i ma'lume-i sâirede îkâd
olunacak kanâdil içün beher sene altmıs vukiyye rugan-ı zeyt ve zikr-i âtî Matra
Karyesinde vâki cami-i serifin mihrâbı tarafeyninde îkâd içün her biri üçer vukiyye
olmak üzere iki aded semi asel ile kezalik leyali-i mübâreke ve leyalî-i sâirede gerek
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minâre ve derununda îkâd olunacak kanâdil-i ma'dûde içün beher sene otuzar vukiyye
rugan-ı zeyt virilub herbirinin îkâdı hususuna ihtimam oluna(Sahha)mezburin mihrab
tarafında kadiminden îkâd olunan birer vukiyyei sem-i asele ve dörder vukiyye semi
asel dahi zam olunmağla mihrab-ı mezkurun her bir tarafında beser vukiyye olmak
üzere iki aded semi asel îkâd oluna ve Yenipazar Kazasına tabi Matra nam karyede vâki'
vâlidi mâcidım Ali Ağa merhume müntemi olub müceddeden tevsi' ve binâ ve camii
heyetine ifrağ ile ihya olunan mescid-i serifin imam-ı atikine yevmî altı akçe vazife ve
müezzin-i atikine yevmî dört akçe vazife ve muallim-i sıbyân-ı atikine yevmî iki akçe
vazife zam olunmağla vech-i mesruh üzere virile ve bir kimesne cami-i mezkurde vâiz-i
cum'a olub yevmî on bes akçe vazife virile ve gallat-ı icarat-ı cem' ve tahsil içün
hizmetinde mücid ve sâi bir kimesne câbi olub yevmî altı akçe vazife virile ve irad-ı
masârıf-ı vakf-ı ketb ve tahrir içün fenn-i kitâbetde mâhir bir kimesne kâtib olub yevmî
on bes akçe vazife virile ve ben lâbis-i libâs-ı hayat oldukça vakfı mezkure kendim
mütevelli olab ba'dehu usul ve furû'mun ekber aslahı batnen ba'de batnın ve karnen
gıbbe karnin mütevelli olalar ve benim usul furû'umdan sonra zikrî âtî kâimmakam olan
Yeğenimiz Çavus-Zâde Es-seyyid Mehmed Ağa nam kimesnenin usûl ve füru'in sart-ı
mezkur üzre mütevelli olalar neuzu billah min kahrı'l-Feyyaz usûl ve fürû'a inkirâz târi
olursa ra'yi nâzır ile bir mu'temed ve dindâr ve müstekim sadâkâtkâr kimesne mütevelli
nasb oluna ve cihet-i tevliyet yevmî yirmi akçe ola ve mezbur Çavus Zade esSeyyid
Mehmed Ağa zikr olunan Sumnu Kasabasında Matra Karyesinde olan umûrı vakf-ı
ru'yet kâimmakamı mütevelli olub iktiza iden umûr ve husûsu ve azl ve nasb-ı hademeyi
âsitanede olan asıl mütevelli-i vakfa i'lam ve inhâ ol dahi iktizasına göre mahalline arz
ve inhâ edüb tenfîz ve temsiyeti emrinde ihtimam-ı eyliye ve kaza-i mezburde vâki îrad
ve masârıfın beher sene defterin irsâl ve asıl mütevelli ile muhasebesini ru'yet ol dahi
zâbıtân-ı vakf ile nâzır hazretleri re'yi ma'rifetleriyle muhâsebesini görüb yedine mümzâ
112
ve mahtûm muhâsebe defteri ile ve mezbur Es-seyyid Mehmed Ağadan sonra usûl
fürû'u ber-vech-i muharrer kazâ-i mezburda kâimmakâm-ı mütevellî olalar ve
mukâbilinde onbes akçe vazifeye mutasarrıf olalar ba'de'l-inkirâz kâimmakâmlık dahî
re'y-i nâzır-ı vakfa müfevvaz ola vakf-ı mezburun küllîsine Harameyn-i muhateremeyn
nâzıri Darü's-saadeti's-Serife Ağası nâzır olub zîr-i himâyei kerimânelerinde mahmî
olan ve taraf-ı bâhirü's-sereflerine yevmî on akçe nezâret vazîfesi irsâl ve îsal oluna
vakfı mezbûrun tebdil ve tağyiri ve tahvil ve teksiri merraten ba'de uhrâ yedimde olub
dilediğim gibi zabt ve tasarruf eyleyem ve benden sonra zevâid-i vakf usûl ve
fürû'umdan mevcûde olub derecede müsâvî olan zükür ve inâs beynlerinde" li'zzekeri
mislü hazzi'l-ünseyeyn" tevzî' ve taksim oluna ba'dehu mezkur Es-seyyid Mehmed
Ağanın usûl-u fürû'u beynlerinde ber-vech-i muharrer tevzi' ve taksim oluna eğer
murûr-u eyyâm ve kurûr-u suhur-u a'vâm ile serâit-ı mezkure mürâat müteazzire olur ise
mutlaka ğallât-ı vakf Haremeyn-i serifeyn fukarasına irsâl ve îsâl oluna deyu tayin-i
surût-u mezkure ve tebyin-i kuyûd-u muharrere edüb cümle akarât-ı mahdûde ve
mecmû'u kurâ ve mezârî'i ma'hûde ve nukud-u ma'dûdeyi fârigân ani's-sevâgıl
mütevelli-i muma ileyhe tarih-i kitâbdan mukaddem taslim edüb ol dahi sâir
mütevelliyân-ı evkâf gibi zabt ve tasarruf-u tâm ve riâyet-i merâsim-i surût ve kuyudda
ihtimam eyledi dediklerinde mütevelli-i muma ileyh dahî vâkıfı müsarun ileyh
hazretlerini ikrar-ı mukarrar ve itiraf-ı muharrerlerinde vicâhen tasdik ve sifâhen tahkik
etdik de vakıf-ı müsarun ileyh lâ zâlet a'mâluhu mebrûreten ve zevâye'l-ardı biîmâret-i
hayrihi ve birrihi ma'mûre hazretleri dahî haramgah çemen-istan-ı vifâkdan rügardâni ve
vade-i sikaka sitâbân olub mümehhidi kavaid-î din-i Muhammedî ve müseyyid-i deâîmi
ser'î Ahmedî Đmam-ı Azam ve akdem ve hümam-ı Ekrem ve Efham Ebu Hanifetil-Kûfî
cuziye bî envâı'l-hayr ve Kûfî hazretlerinin re'yi serif ve mezheb-i münifleri üzere
eğerçi îsad-ı vakf-ı akar tarafı mecrâyı ve sıhhata câri ve lakin devhâ-i sıhhatı asâri
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evrâk lüzûmdan âri ve derâhim ve denânîr ve nukud-u serîü't-tegayyur vakf-ı te'bid içün
mesbûk ve habs-i tahlid içün meskük olmamağla eimme-i selâse-i nehârir
Rahimehumullahu'l-Melikü'l-Kadir hazerâtı vakfiyyetinin adem-i sıhhatinde mesnednisîn
erike-i ittihhâd ve tesbili ğayr-ı mu'teber ve lazım olduğuna hemzebânı istihâd
oldular rivâyât-ı mezkure bi'l-cümle benim içün rücû'a medâr ve emlâkı mezkurenin
vakfiyyetden hurûcuna delil-i âsikar olduğundan mâ'ada vâkıf küllen ve cüz'en ihbâle
menfa'at-ı vakf-ı evtâr-ı nefsine rabt itmek müstavcib-i adem-i sıhhat ve müsted'i-i
fesad-i vakfiyyet olduğu âlimi Rabbânî ve Fazıl-ı Samadâni imam Muhammed bin
Hasan es-Seybânî hazretlerinden mervî ve menkul ve resîde-i tahkik ve kabul olmağın
evkâf-ı mezkureden bi'l-külliye rucu' ve kema fi'l-evvel mülküme istirdade suru'
eyledim sual olunub akarâtı mahdûde ve nukûd-u ma'dûdeyi redd ve teslime mütevelliyi
muma ileyhe kıbel-i ser'den tenbih olunmak muradımdır dedikde ğıbbes-sual
mütevelli-yi muma ileyh dahi esbed-i suvar-i meydani cevab ve inan kes-i kumeyti'lilzam
ve hitab olub eğerçi kadiye ve hâl bast olunan minval üzeredir lakin imam-ı a'lem
ve efdal Hazret-i Ebu Yusuf-u ekmel 'indinde vâkıf menâfi'i vakfı nefsine sart ve tahsis
ve ğallât ve idraratını kendüye ta'yin ve tahsis dahi iderse mücerred vakaftu kavliyle
vakf-ı müebbed ve habs-i muhalled olub ve vakfiyet-i nukûdun cevazı dahi Hazret-i
Đmam Züfer alehi'r-rahme ve Đmam Muhammedd bin Abullah el-Ensari rivayet-i üzerine
mimma la yüredd vela yünker kısmında olmağla serâit-i muharrerenin sıhhati
müteayyin ve ale'l-itlak sıhhat lüzümdan mufarık olmadığına Đmameyni Hümameyn
bedreyni kamereynin ittifakları zahir ve metindir deyu takrir-i rivayet-i sahiha ederek
redd ve teslimden imtina' birle tenazu' ve tehasume ikdam ve her biri misalin
mesruhaleri üzere faslı hasme ibraz eylediklerinde sadrı kitab-ı müstetâb ve sah-i kalem
huceste rakam ile müvessah ve zinetyâb olan hakim-i fazilet meâb efendi hazretleri
mesail-i evkafda olan hilafiyata vukûi tammı ve beyne'l-eimme vâki' olan ihtilafâte
114
su'ûli ma la kelamı olduğu halde tarefeynin kelamına nazar ve mübtıl-i hayr olmakdan
hazer edüb temhîd-i kava'id-i hayri evla ve tesyîd-i mebâni-i vakfı ehra görmekle
akarât-ı mezkure mahdudenin kavli müftabih eimme-i mezhib-i muhtar üzere
vakfiyetlerine ve cümle surût-i maksûta ve kuyût-i mazbutalarıyle lüzum ve sihhatlerine
hükm-i sahih-i ser'i ve kaza-i sarîh-i mer'î edüb evkaf-ı mezkure resmi mersum ve tarzi
ma'lum üzere vakf-ı lazı ve habs-i mütehattim olmakla min ba'd nakz ve nakizine mecal
muhal oldu " fe men beddelehu ba'de ma semi'ahu fe inne ma ismuhu alellezine
yübeddilûnehu innel-lahe semî'un alîm" vaka'a'l-ishadu ve't-tahriru fi'lyevmi'l-hâdi ve'l-
'isrîn min sehri Rabi'il-evvel li-seneti seb'a ve hamsîne ve mietin ve elf.min hicreti men
lehü'l-izzü ve's-seref.
Suhudü’l-Hal:
Umdetü'l-muhakkıkîn kudvetü'l-mudakkıkîn el-mevle'l-âlimu'r-rabbani ve'n
nehrirü'l-fadü's-semadani halen sultanî sa'adetlu faziletlu Mehmed Pîri-zade Efendi
hazretleri; Umdetu erbabi'l-cahi ve'l-celali kudvetu ashabi'l-mecdi ve'l-ikbali halen
reîsü'l-küttab sa'adetlu atufetlu Mustafa Efendi Hazretleri; Umdetü'l-emacid ve'l-ekârim
zübdetü'l-e'âzımi ve'l-efahım Serçevusani dîvânı âli sa'adetlu mekremetlu Ali Ağa
Hazretleri; Umdetu erbabu't-tahriri ve'l-kalem zübdetu ashabi't-tastiri ve'r-rakam ha len
tezkere-i evvel kapıdan-ı âli sa'adetlu Abdi Efendi Hazretleri; Umdetü erbabu't-tahriri
zübdetü ashabi't-takriri halen tezkere-i sani kapıdan sa'adetlü Hasim Efendi Hazretleri;
Umdetu ashabi'l-meârifi ve'l-kemal halen mektubi-yi hazret-i sadri ili sa'adetlu Hamze
Efendi Hazretleri; Fahru'l-emasili ve'l-akran halen katib-i kethuda hazret-i sadr-ı âli
izzet lu mekremetlu Ali Efendi Hazretleri; Fahru'l-esbah ve'l-akran halen halife-i evvel
katib kethüda-i sadr-i âli rifatlu muhabetlu Mahmud Efendi Hazretleri.
115
Photos of the Mosque
The Exterior
Photo taken by the author
116
The Courtyard
Photo taken by the author
117
From the Minaret
Photo taken by the author
118
The City Panorama From the Minaret
Photo taken by the author
119
120
General Directorate of Foundations – Ankara Defter No 737, pp. 135-136
121
General Directorate of Foundations – Ankara Defter No 737, p. 137