Abstract
<jats:p>Kastamonu Madrasas Throughout History This study, entitled Kastamonu Madrasas Throughout History examines Kastamonus nearly seven-century-long religious and scholarly memory through the lenses of madrasas and libraries. Written following an academic approach, the work aims to make visible the historical position of the educational institutions established in this ancient Anatolian city, guided by documentary evidence and empirical data. The study encompasses a broad time span, beginning with Kastamonus emergence as a Turkish-Islamic homeland under the rule of the Çobanoğulları in the early thirteenth century and extending to the final periods of the Ottoman Empire. Throughout this long historical journey, the city is portrayed as a vibrant center where knowledge, wisdom, and culture were cultivated. Madrasas are treated as both the spatial and intellectual carriers of this transformation; moving beyond architectural analysis, the study evaluates institutions, individuals, and scholarly production together. The work first takes as its framework the institutionalization of Islamic education from the Suffa to the Nizāmiyya madrasas and examines the earliest educational establishments in Kastamonu within this context. Beginning with the Atabey Gazi Madrasa, the process is followed step by step by examining, in chronological continuity, the madrasas constructed during the periods of the Çobanoğulları, the Candaroğulları, and the Ottoman Empire, thereby tracing the citys scholarly trajectory. Subsequently, a comprehensive inventory is presented by identifying a total of 69 madrasas that operated in the city center of Kastamonu and in 13 of its districts. The endowment (waqf) records, physical conditions, teaching staff (mudarris), and student profiles of these madrasas are evaluated in the light of archival documents and official yearbooks (salnâmes). Another major component of the study is devoted to libraries. By analyzing 21 libraries in Kastamonu and its districts, along with the book collections they housed, the citys intellectual accumulation is revealed through concrete data. The study also examines, from both biographical and scholarly perspectives, the late-period mudarris who served in Kastamonus madrasas, as well as three Shaykh al-Islams born in Kastamonu—Sâdî Çelebi, Bâlîzâde Mustafa Efendi, and Mustafa Âşir Efendi— who rose to the highest office within the Ottoman scholarly hierarchy. Through these figures, an intellectual map of the scholars nurtured by the city is drawn. In conclusion, Kastamonu Madrasas Throughout History stands as an academic work that documents Kastamonus central position in Anatolia from the perspective of the history of education, supported by waqf documents, plans, and rich supplementary materials. Keywords: Kastamonu; Madrasa; Waqf; Mudarris; Library; İsmail Bey; Yakub Ağa; Ahmed Siyahi; Şeyhülislam; Sheikh al-Islam</jats:p>