Âşıkpaşazade
Âşıkpaşazade (real name Derviş Ahmed, pen name Âşıkî) wrote Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân, considered one of the earliest standard chronicles of Ottoman history. According to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (Turkey’s standard reference encyclopedia of Islamic studies), he stated himself that he was born around 803 AH (1400) in Elvan Çelebi village, attached to the district of Mecitözü in the sanjak of Amasya — a date the academic source places around 1400, differing from the 1392 given in the official list published by the Çorum Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism.
Lineage and Name
Âşıkpaşazade takes his name from the great ancestor of his family, Âşık Paşa, the poet of the Garibnâme; but the TDV entry describes Âşık Paşa as his “büyük dede” (great/distant grandfather) — several generations lie between them, so the official list’s description of him as “Âşık Paşa’s grandson” does not accurately reflect the family tree. Through his father, he descended from Elvan Çelebi, Âşık Paşa’s son and founder of Elvançelebi village in Mecitözü.
Life
Raised from childhood in dervish-lodge circles, Âşıkpaşazade spent part of his youth in Geyve with Yahşi Fakih and witnessed events of the Ottoman Interregnum and the struggle between Murad II and the pretender Düzmece Mustafa. He spent a period as a guest at the Sadreddin Konevî lodge in Konya and received a license (icazet) from Şeyh Abdüllatîf el-Kudsî. He went on the hajj pilgrimage in 1437 and stopped in Egypt on his way back, later living for a time in Skopje. He took part in some of Murad II’s campaigns and won his favour, and attended the 1457 circumcision festivities Mehmed the Conqueror held in Edirne for his sons. In 1469-70 he married his daughter Râbia to his disciple Şeyh Seyyid Velâyet.
Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân
He began writing his history late in life and was about eighty-five when he completed it in 1484; he most likely died shortly afterward. The portion covering events up to the reign of Yıldırım Bayezid draws on Yahşi Fakih’s hagiographic account, while the periods of Murad II and Mehmed the Conqueror are based on his own observations; the work runs from the Ottoman state’s foundation to the end of the Conqueror’s reign. Written in a plain style close to spoken language for readers among the military and middle classes, Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân is regarded as one of the earliest standard Ottoman chronicles and served as a source for Neşrî’s Cihannümâ even in its own time. His grave is thought to lie in the precinct of the mosque he built in Istanbul’s Haydar neighbourhood in honour of his great ancestor Âşık Paşa.
Traces in Mecitözü
The lodge (zaviye) in Elvançelebi village, where Âşıkpaşazade was born and raised, was a Sufi centre founded in 1352 by his ancestor Elvan Çelebi (Elvan Çelebi Lodge). According to the TDV entry, Âşıkpaşazade himself lived at this lodge for a period and, from there, supported Murad II in his struggle for the throne against the pretender Düzmece Mustafa.