Gül Baba Shrine
OTTOMAN
ARCHITECTURAL WORKS OUTSIDE TÜRKİYE
Hungaria
- Gülbaba
He
is a poet dervish of the Bektashi order, lived between the end of the XVth century
and the beginnig of the XVlth century. According what his father had said, he
is from Merzifon and had joined many wars from the period of Fatih till 1541
when he was martyred at the conquest of Budin (Buda) during the period ol Kanunî.
The information should be taken form Evliya Çelebi again, that Sheikhulislam
Ebussud Elendi conducted his funeral prayer on 2 September 1541 and Kanunî Sultan
Süleyman attended this prayer, too. Evliya Çelebi expounded that the reason
why this nickname was given to Gül Baba, who joined the wars with a big sword
in his hand, was that he always used to carry a rose attached to his hat.
In
his book of travels, Evliya Çetebi, who had visited Budin in 1663, says that:
"Gül Baba is buried in a garden full of flowers, under a dome covered with
lead. His sarcophagus is covered with green broadcloth and there are two crowns
of the Bektashi order at his both blessed heads. It is ornamented with various
verses of Koran in Arabic letters all around. "
Evliya Çelebi was
mistaken since he confused Gül Baba with Gül Mehmet Dede proposing that he had
lived form the period of Fatih ıintil 1541, in the period of Kanunî, over 120
years. A genealogical belonging to the Veli Baba's dervish convent in the village
of İlegüp of Isparta's Uluborlu county, has cleared up the actual identification
of Gül baba. According to this genealogical tree, Gül Baba's real name is Cafer
who is also known as Gül Dede. His father named Kutb’ül Arifin Veli’üddin İbn
Yalınkılıç was from the village of İlegüp. Gül Baba went to the Budin War on
Kanunî Sultan Süleyman's invitation. In the Ottoman period, when the army went
to the war, dervishes and minstrels also accvmpanied them to boost their morale;
when the army was resting, it was time for prayers and epics. Dervishes and
minstrels used to arm themselves and join the war when necessary Gül Baba was
one of the dervishes who joined the wars. Janissaries were fond of the dervishes
of fhe Bektashi order since they regarded Hacı Bektaş Ueras their convent's
chief.
Gül Baba was martyred
on 1 September 1541, during the conquest of Budin (Buda), his luneral prayer
was on 2 September 1541, at the Gathedral of Mâtyâs (Meryem Ana) that had been
converCed into Fethiye Mosque and today he was laid to rest in the hill named
Gültepe-Rózsadomp. There are some sources that indicates his date of martyrdom
as 2 September 1541.
According to the
registrations of the city of Isparta, the nickname of Gül Baba's brother, Seyyid
Hüseyin, was Sümbül Dede. There are hand-written works named Miftah ül Gayb
and Güldeste containing the poems and proses of Gül Baba written by him in Hurûfi
style using his second name.
There
are articles of Hungarian researchers regarding Gül Baba, about whom, Kanunî
Sultan Süleyman had said Gül Baba should be ready to serve as the watchman of
Budin". According to famous Turkologist Dr. Ignacz Kúnos, since there had
been no hair on his head, the name of Gül Baba (Rose Father) should be read
as "Kel Baba" (Bald Father). Another Hungarian Turkologist Gyula Nemeth
has claimed that the word “gül” is the command form of the verb “gülmek” (to
laugh; to, be pleased) and tried to expound the nickname Gül Baba by means ol
this vreb. As for the German Thedor Menzel, he was given the Gül Baba nickname
since he used to carry a rose, which is a sign of being a sheik of o Bektashi
lodge, attached to his crown.
The lifestory of
Gül Baba, who is beloved by both the Turks in Hungary and the Hungarians, was
written out by Danish Andersen in 1841. Hungarian composer J.Huszka composed
a symphonic work named "Gül Baba". Gül Baba has taken part in Nungarian
literature, cinema and operetta art, as well.