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The cult of Saint George, which evolved in the Christian era over an almost 2000 years old tumulus in Edirne, historically known as Adrianople, turned with the Ottoman sovereignty into another cult, which took shape around the Khizr-Elijah belief. This hillock was named the Maqam of Khizr/Hıdırlık due to the belief that Khizr appeared and worshipped on top of it, which later witnessed various miracles with associated motifs. In course of time there emerged many and varied fantastic rumors about the origins of the cult. The rumors circulating from person to person and the historical sources indicate that the intense construction activity of the Ottomans at the Hıdırlık cult centre realized especially in the first part of the 15th century. It is clear that the cult centre, which kept growing in the 16th century, contained various dervish lodges, many mausoleums, annexes and a dense population of Bektashi dervishes. The sources of the period reveal that the Hıdırlık cult centre incurred two subsequent demolition attempts in the 17th century. First demolition occurred following a complaint about the sins committed here in 1642 in the period of Sultan Ibrahim I and the second in 1660s in the period of Sultan Mehmet IV after the decision of a new pavilion construction on top of this spacious and partially idle hillock. On the first and obviously partial demolition, most of the inhabitant dervishes left Hıdırlık and the cult centre lost its old density. On the second demolition, the standing mausoleums and graves were razed and a pavilion with a large garden was built instead, which subsisted until the 19th century. After the construction of the pavilion in Hıdırlık there were only one dervish lodge and two mausoleums left standing. As the construction of the pavilion put the cult centre under state supervision, the last standing dervish lodge in the centre was also demolished in the first half of the 18th century. At the end of the 19th century after the construction of one of the biggest bastions to defense Edirne there was no trace left of the cult centre besides the Hıdır Dede Mausoleum, which was also destroyed in Balkan Wars by the Greek inhabitants of Edirne, causing only the grave of the Hızır Dede to reach to the present day. The destruction of the cult centre was related to the Kadızâdeliler movement, which was utterly against the sufistic approaches and had from the first half of the 17th century onwards many fans in the palace and administrative circles. The Kadızâdeliler movement was a religious movement which requested the demolition of the dervish lodges and the prohibition of grave and mausoleum visits, which led to the destruction of various lodges and mausoleums indeed. One of the fundamental issues, which became a conflict between The Kadızâdeliler movement and the sufis was the nature of Khizr. Whereas the Kadızâdeliler supported the idea that Khizr was dead, sufis believed he was alive. Hıdırlık, which came into existence around the cult of Khizr, was a settlement which was totally against the ideas of the Kadızâdeliler both theorically in terms of the belief that Khizr is not dead and also practically in terms of dervish lodge rituals and mausoleum visits. The reason of the demolition attempts occurred in Hıdırlık in the 17th century and led in time to the utter destruction of the cult centre, was obviously the preaches and pressures of the Kadızâdeliler. This paper aims a historical analysis about the embodiment of Hıdırlık as one of the four holy places in Edirne, where it is believed that the prayers are answered and the gradual annihilation of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The madrasahs of the Ottoman period are continuations of their predecessors in Seljuks in terms of both the sciences and books taught and employment opportunities. Students, who have completed their madrasah education by getting ijazatnāma/id̲j̲āza, were employed as professors and judges or pursued religious careers as muftis, preachers, and imams. Therefore, madrasahs met the juridical, administrative, civilian, and educational staff needs of the state for a long time. In addition, new educational institutions opened especially after the Period of Tanzimat (18391878) met the staff need of the state in the mentioned areas and even narrowed employment areas of madrasahs in later times. However, issues such as the conditions of madrasahs, the lives of mudarrisun, the examination and employment of students were mostly studied with the samples of bilād-ı salāsa (Istanbul, Bursa, and Edirne), and there were not enough studies about the case in rural areas. Therefore, this study discusses the employment of a mudarris in the countryside through his education life and exam papers, in the sample of İlyas Efendi (18731956), the mudarris of Hatay/Dörtyol, and his registry file. In the study, a qualitative research method based on data collection and content analysis of documents was used. In this context, the Ottoman Archive of Prime Ministry, and partially, Haleb, Adana, and Ankara provincial yearbooks/annuals (sālnāma) and National Education Yearbooks were used. Ilyas Efendi, who was born in Hācın (Saimbeyli) and received his first education there, was appointed as a mudarris by a scientific committee by judging his competence and merit. Western influence in education that started with the Tanzimat Period and modernization in education with the establishment of new educational institutions caused some changes and contractions in the employment of madrasah graduates. As a matter of fact, while the need for judicial, administrative, military, etc. officials was met by newly opened educational institutions, employment areas of the madrasah was mostly comprised of officials who would perform religious services and madrasah staff such as mudarrisun. When Ilyas Efendi’s education life, ijazatnāma/id̲j̲āza texts, and exam document are examined, it is seen that he was tested in the sciences he studied, and there are no direct questions in the disciplines such as Tafsir, Hadith and the Methodology of Hadith. Although there is no clear information about the field(s) in which Ilyas Efendi thaught in the document we examined, it can be argued that he primarily gave lectures on religious disciplines such as Fiqh and Kalam, as well as Arabic Language and Rhetoric, based on the certificate and examination. Although it is difficult to talk about a standard curriculum with a certain framework, it can be concluded from the file belonging to İlyas Efendi that the courses/books taught in the rural madrasahs are similar to the texts taught in the Ottoman madrasahs in almost every period, and in this respect, they continue the Ottoman central madrasah culture to a large extent. It is also possible to see this from the series of scholars in the text of id̲j̲āza. In addition, when the Ottoman Madrasahs and their curriculum are examined, common books such as Mutavval, (Molla) Cāmî, Multeka’l-Ebhur, Dureru’l-Hukkām, Şerh-i Akāid and Îsāgûcî (to be taught in different degrees) are encountered. Considering the works taught and the practices related to employment, it can be concluded that it is not possible to distinguish the madrasahs in the rural areas from their counterparts in the urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tile, which creates an organic connection with the buildings by emphasizing the architectural features of the building in Mimar Sinan monuments, is the leading decoration element of the classical period Ottoman architecture. Tiled monuments are generally concentrated in Istanbul and Edirne. Muradiye Mosque, the only work of Mimar Sinan in the Aegean region, is the most important architectural monument of Manisa, known as the city of princes. Although it is possible to see all kind of decoration in the 16th century architecture, the most important of these are the tiles. In this paper, the tiles of the mosque, which belong to the most mature period of tile art, processed in multi-colored red underglaze technique are examined with photographs and drawings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction project of the Edirne Palace (Saray-ı Cedid-i Âmire, Tunca Saray-ı, Edirne Saray-ı Hümayunu, Hünkdr Bahçesi Sarayı) was started north of the city Edirne and west of Tunca River upon the order of Sultan Murad the II (reign 1421-1451). However, the following year Sultan Murad the II passed away and thus was not able to see the end of the project. The construction of the palace finished and it was in use during the reign of his son Sultan Mehmed the II. (reign 1451-1481). The palace was enlarged various times and it was used until the renovation realised in 1828 which coincided with the reign of Sultan Mahmud the II. (reign 1808-1839). The same year the palace was pillaged by Russians who entered Edirne. Among the Ottoman sultans who used the Edirne Palace, it was definitely Sultan Mehmed the IVth (reign 1648-1687) who was most interested in it for a long time. Sultan Mehmed the IVth who was enthroned at the age of seven and had a reign of thirty-nine years passed most of his reign at the Edirne Palace. His great interest in this palace resulted in the addition of new spaces to the palace building. Within this context, this paper aims to examine the additions made to the Edirne Palace as well as on some renovations within it during the reign of Sultan Mehmed the IVth. The study aims to make a humble contribution to the literature about the history of the Edirne Palace especially its architectural history identifying the data on the additions and renovations made during the reign of Sultan Mehmed the IVth. Furthermore, this study has to be thought as a preliminary work which will form the starting point of a prospective study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]