In seventeenth-century Amasya, the man who gathered the city's poets into a single book was Abdî Efendi, professor (müderris) of the Abdullah Paşa madrasa. The great Ottoman biographical dictionaries of poets (tezkire) were centred on Istanbul and admitted provincial poets only once they had reached the capital; Abdî Efendi's Tezkiretü'ş-Şu'arâ, by contrast, was a city tezkire that recorded only the poets raised in Amasya, with short biographical notices and samples of their verse. In the margins of the work he also wrote down the earthquakes and unusual events that befell the city. In this respect the book can be regarded as much a city register as an anthology of poetry.

The tezkire is lost today. Everything we know of it rests on the quotations of Hüseyin Hüsameddin Yasar, who found an incomplete copy in Amasya and used it for years in the poets' entries of his Amasya Tarihi (History of Amasya). At the end of many of the entries for which he drew on the tezkire, Hüsameddin adds the same brief note: "Hayfâ ki yandı" (Alas, it burned). Abdî Efendi's life, family and pupils are treated in detail in his separate biography on this site. The emphasis here is on the work itself, the poets it contained and the poems Hüsameddin was able to rescue.

Abdî Efendi's life and family are described in Abdî Efendi: Author of the Lost Tezkire of Amasya's Poets; this article deals with the tezkire itself, the poets it contained and the poems that have survived.

Life and Years in Amasya

Abdî Efendi was the son of Mustafa Ağa, one of the cavalrymen (sipahi) of Amasya, and the grandson of Halil Ağa; his brother Abdülvehhâb Efendi became city prefect (şehremini) of Istanbul. He took his first lessons from Hocazâde Abdullah Efendi, completed his education under Şeyh Ya'kûb Efendizâde Mustafa Efendi, and, after also studying with Fâzıl Hasan Efendi, imam of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, became a licensed teacher (ders-i âm). Having passed through the madrasas of Amasya, he moved from the professorship of the Kameriyye Madrasa in Tokat to judgeships in small towns; he served many times as deputy judge (naib) of Amasya and retired from the judgeship of Karahisâr-ı Şarkî. The title constantly attached to his name comes from his professorship at the Abdullah Paşa Dârülhadis (school of hadith). Hüsameddin counts "the famous professor Abdî Efendi" among the scholars who taught at this dârülhadis.

Hüsameddin introduces him as "a learned, virtuous, accomplished poet, a calligrapher writing a fine ta'lik hand, a master of prose, well versed in literary anecdote and in histories, the historian of Amasya." In Abdî Efendi's own entry he gives the date of death as Zilhicce 1087 (February 1677). In the chronicle section of Amasya Tarihi, however, the notice of the death of "the learned and famous poet, the historian of Amasya and professor of Abdullah Paşa, Abdî Efendi" appears among the records for the years 1088-1089; the date in the entry, being the more explicit, has been followed here. Abdî Efendi's father-in-law was Alevîzâde es-Seyyid Ahmed Efendi; the son born of this marriage, es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Ali Efendi, and his grandson Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi, as will be seen below, made the tezkire a work that continued within the family.

Works

Tezkiretü'ş-Şu'arâ. Listing the sources he used in the first volume of Amasya Tarihi, Hüsameddin describes the work as follows: "Tezkire-i Abdî: Meşhûr Abdullah Paşa müderrisi Amasyalı Abdî Efendi tarafından tertîb edilmiş bir eser-i edebî olup 1000-1081 târîhine kadar Amasya'da zuhûr eden şu'arânın eş'ârını ve gâyet muhtasar terâcim-i ahvâlini câmi'dir. Bunun kenârında Amasya'da hâdis olan zelâzil ve vukû'ât-ı garîbeyi dahi kayd etmişdir. Bu eser pek nâkıs bir sûretde Amasya'da bulunmuşdur." (A literary work compiled by the famous professor of Abdullah Paşa, Abdî Efendi of Amasya, containing the poems and very brief biographies of the poets who appeared in Amasya from 1000 to 1081. In its margins he also recorded the earthquakes and strange events that occurred in Amasya. This work was found in Amasya in a very defective state.) According to this, the tezkire collected the poems and very short biographies of the poets who emerged in Amasya between 1591 and 1671, and in its margins recorded earthquakes and curious events. The copy in Hüsameddin's hands, however, was very incomplete.

The dates of coverage should not be taken as a strict boundary. The tezkire contained anecdotes about poets who lived before the year 1000, and also ghazals by young poets who died in the early 1100s. Abdî Efendi's own pupil Resîm Ahmed Efendi died in 1112, and Hıfzî Abdurrahman Efendi in 1103; ghazals by both were quoted from the tezkire. From this it may be concluded that Abdî Efendi also included living contemporaries in his book and kept enlarging it until the end of his life; this is an inference, and Hüsameddin does not say so explicitly.

It is clear that the tezkire was also used as a city chronicle. In recounting how Murad IV stopped at Amasya on his return from the Revan (Yerevan) campaign, Hüsameddin discusses the discrepancy between the Sefernâme kept by the palace pages of the Enderun and the Cihâdnâme in the Lâleli Library, and prefers the Sefernâme because it is "in agreement with the record in Abdî Efendi's tezkire." When telling of the fate of the money raised from the sale of the property of Hızır Efendi, the mufti of Amasya who was tried and exiled in 1070 (1659-60), he also notes in a footnote: "Abdî Efendi writes thus." A footnote of Hüsameddin's among the events of 1065, meanwhile, links the tezkire to its author: "This Abdî Efendi is the author of the tezkire who wrote of the poets and events of Amasya."

Abdî Efendi Mecmuası. In one place Hüsameddin mentions an "Abdî Efendi Mecmuası" (Abdî Efendi's anthology) and says that "a good many poems" of Şûhî Ebûbekir Çelebi, son of the carpenter Hasan Usta, were in it, and that it too had burned. Whether this was the tezkire itself or a separate poetry anthology compiled by Abdî Efendi cannot be determined from the source.

The family's continuations. After Abdî Efendi's death the tezkire was carried on by his family. His son es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Ali Efendi, according to Hüsameddin, wrote "as a continuation of his father's tezkire" an anthology entitled Sergüzeşt-i Amasya; it was thanks to this anthology that the fire and massacre which devastated Amasya in 1099 (1688) became known among the people of the city. The same Ali Efendi, while deputy head of the descendants of the Prophet (nakîbüleşraf kaymakamı), also wrote the Defter-i Sâdât-ı Amasya (Register of the Seyyids of Amasya) in a fine hand in 1110; Hüsameddin was able to find only ten pages of this register. His grandson, Şeyh Alizâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi (d. 18 Safer 1159 / March 1746), "continued his grandfather's tezkire of poets, collecting and writing down the poets and events of his own age"; this continuation was found after his death among the books and papers he left behind. Ahmed Rüşdü also had a Defter-i Vukû'ât (Register of Events) recording the earthquakes, calamities and certain deaths of the years 1121-1153; ten leaves were missing from its middle. Hüsameddin says that he learned "from the record of Şeyh Alizâde Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi" that Abdî Efendi's pupil Zanbak Dedezâde Rûhî İsa Çelebi was a pleasant companion fond of learned conversation. No sample of Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi's own poetry has been found in the sources; his poems have not survived.

Thus the poets of Amasya came to be recorded in an unbroken chain, by the pens of grandfather, son and grandson, from the end of the sixteenth century to the middle of the eighteenth. None of these texts is known to survive in any copy today. In the entry on Abdî Efendi, Hüsameddin says: "I had obtained a copy of it. Alas, it burned." In one entry he notes that a ghazal he had seen in the tezkire "escaped the fire" because he had copied it onto a separate leaf and placed it beside the poet's biography; this shows that the loss occurred in a fire that also burned Hüsameddin's own papers. Which fire it was is not stated explicitly in the text.

Literary Character

No sample of Abdî Efendi's own poetry survives in the sources; Hüsameddin calls him a "famous poet" but quotes not a single couplet of his. His literary character can therefore be traced only through his manner as a tezkire writer. The assessments Hüsameddin passes on are short, introductory and framed in the classical language of the tezkire. Of Temennâyî Bayram Efendi he says "skilled in the rational and transmitted sciences, a jurist, observant of the law, virtuous, cultivated, a distinguished man"; of Tâlibî, known as Hâfız Bahar, "skilled in Arabic and Persian literature, graceful, a poet, cheerful, the ornament of gatherings, a man ever in spring." It was also he who wrote that Câbî Ahmed Çelebi was a poet, a wit and pleasant company, and that İlhâmî Hasan Çelebi was a secretary "most handsome in face and character, perfect in hand and manner."

The surviving fragments of the tezkire show that Abdî Efendi took a particular interest in the life of literary gatherings, in the banter among poets and in plays on pen names. The sentence he wrote in the entry on Âbî Mehmed Çelebi is the finest example of this: "Bu zamanın üdebâsından Âzerî, Türâbî, Hevâyî ile musâhabât ve mutâyebâtı vardır. Bunlara 'anâsır-ı erbaa-i edeb' denirdi." (He had conversations and exchanges of jests with Âzerî, Türâbî and Hevâyî, men of letters of this time. They were called 'the four elements of literature'.) The four poets with the pen names Âbî (of water), Âzerî (of fire), Türâbî (of earth) and Hevâyî (of air) were known as "the four elements of letters" because their pen names corresponded to the four elements of ancient natural philosophy. Hüsameddin likewise introduces Türâbî Mustafa Efendi as "one of the literary elements of Amasya." Abdî Efendi had also included in his tezkire the boasting quatrains that Âzerî and Âbî exchanged on the strength of these pen names.

Most of the poets named in the tezkire belonged to the secretarial, judicial and teaching class of Amasya: court and chancery secretaries, clerks of the treasury and of the poll tax, deputy judges, madrasa teachers and mosque imams. Abdî Efendi, himself both a professor and a deputy judge, recorded poetry as the common language of this professional milieu. Beyond Hüsameddin's quotations, nothing is known of the language and arrangement of the tezkire.

Poets Named in the Tezkire

Below are the poets for whom Hüsameddin explicitly states that he relied on Abdî Efendi's tezkire. Only the poems of those whose verse has been quoted appear in the next section; the poems of the others burned with the tezkire, and their poetry has not survived.

  • Temennâyî el-Hâc Bayram Efendi (d. 1026/1617): from the village of Alevî; taught at the Hızır Paşa, Ayas Ağa and Hüseyin Ağa madrasas, declined judgeships and lectured on the Qur'an commentary of Beyzâvî in the Fethiye Mosque. He took his pen name from the Temennâ quarter where he lived. His poems have not survived.
  • Sîmî Ahmed Çelebi (Gümüşlüzâde, d. 1032/1623): a descendant of Pîr İlyâs, calligrapher and judge; in 1027 he became chancery secretary of the sanjak of Amasya. Hüsameddin says "he is among the men of Professor Abdî Efendi's tezkire." He cannot decide whether the couplet "Gözlerim bakdıkça sîm-endâmına / Parlayub Sîmî demişdir nâmına" was his or was written about him; his poetry is therefore not known with certainty.
  • Usûlî Mehmed Çelebi (d. 1051/1641): treasury clerk, poll-tax collector and chancery secretary of the sanjak of Amasya; in Istanbul he became accountant of the land tax during the grand vizierate of Bayram Paşa. According to Hüsameddin his "biography and poems" were in the tezkire, and "his poems burned together with the tezkire." His poems have not survived.
  • Şeyhzâde Abdî Efendi (d. 1055/1645): sheikh and professor of the Ya'kûb Paşa lodge, and a namesake of Abdî Efendi the tezkire writer. "His poems were written in the tezkire. Alas, it burned." His poems have not survived.
  • Bâkî Ahmed Çelebi (Cizyedâr, d. 1058/1648): son of the cavalryman Kâsım Ağa, secretary to the city steward and poll-tax collector. In the tezkire a ghazal of his stood as an appendix to his biography; it has burned.
  • Câbî Ahmed Çelebi (Resûlzâde, d. 1064/1654): took this pen name because he was rent collector (câbî) of the Hüseyin Ağa and Fîrûz Ağa endowments. Abdî Efendi presents him as a poet, a wit and pleasant company. His poems have not survived.
  • Siyâmî Ali Efendi (Oruçoğlu, d. 1067/1657): professor and judge, a master of the ta'lik script. "In Abdî Efendi's tezkire there were his detailed biography and poems. Alas, it burned. Only this much remained in my memory." A nazire (response poem) that Hüsameddin quotes for this poet from another anthology is not included here, since it did not come from the tezkire.
  • Ahmed Necmî Efendi (Koca Müneccim, d. 28 Cemaziyelevvel 1070/1660): timekeeper (muvakkit) of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque; his timekeeper's house was a gathering place of scholars and poets on Fridays. His biography was in the tezkire. His poems have not survived.
  • Şükrü İbrâhim Çelebi (İbâdzâde, d. Şaban 1071/1661): administrator of the İbadullah Mosque endowment and chancery secretary of the sanjak of Amasya. Abdî Efendi had recorded one of his ghazals; it has burned.
  • Bedrî İbrâhim Efendi (Kadızâde, d. 1073/1662-63): rose from deputy judge to judge and died after leaving the judgeship of Çorum. His poems were in the tezkire; they have burned.
  • Sâdık Ebûbekir Efendi (Bakırcızâde, d. 1075/1664-65): professor, judge and inspector of the Evkâf-ı Rûmiyye endowments. That he retired in 1071 and died in 1075 was written in the tezkire. His poems have not survived.
  • Şûhî Ebûbekir Çelebi (Dülgeroğlu, d. 1075/1664-65): son of the carpenter Hasan Usta, clerk of the treasury trust and a poet of the gatherings. His poems were in the "Abdî Efendi Mecmuası"; they have burned.
  • İlhâmî Hasan Çelebi (Cizyedârzâde, d. Zilkade 1078/1668): poll-tax clerk, then chancery secretary; his poetic exchanges with Hasan Kudsî Dede, sheikh of the Mevlevî lodge, were well known. His poems have not survived.
  • Habîbî Hasan Çelebi (Aydınoğlu, d. 1078/1667-68): clerk of the tax farms, city steward and keeper of the treasury chest. He is named in the tezkire. His poems have not survived.
  • Tecellî Ahmed Çelebi (Bakkalzâde, d. 1081/1670-71): clerk of the crown estates, calligrapher and poet, who profited from the company of Şeyhzâde Abdî and Kadızâde Abdullah Remzî Efendi. His poems were in the tezkire. His poems have not survived.
  • Tâlibî (Ebû Tâlib Efendi, "Hâfız Bahar", d. c. 1099/1688): imam of the Hızır Paşa Mosque; he taught the Mesnevî, Gülistân and Bostân to madrasa students, and in spring his garden became a gathering of friends. His poems have not survived.
  • Şevkî Hasan Efendi (Helvacızâde, d. c. 1100/1688-89): a calligrapher who served as judge in places such as Uyvar (Nové Zámky), Crete, Kamaniçe (Kamianets) and Hotin (Khotyn). In his tezkire Abdî Efendi had recorded his father and grandfather, that he was known as "Hâcezâde," and that he learned calligraphy from Fazlullah Efendi. His poems have not survived.

To these should be added Âzerî İbrâhim Efendi, Âbî Mehmed Çelebi, Türâbî Mustafa Efendi, Resîm Ahmed Efendi and Hıfzî Abdurrahman Efendi, whose poems are given below, together with Bezmî Çelebi of Merzifon, Kelâmî and Sükûtî, who are mentioned in connection with Bezmî's couplet. Who Hevâyî was cannot be determined from the sources; Amasya Tarihi has an entry on a woman poet named Âhû Hatun with the pen name "Hevâyî," but there is no record that she is the same person as the Hevâyî of the "four elements." Abdî Efendi's pupils Yeniçerizâde Berkî Hasan Çelebi and Zanbak Dedezâde Rûhî İsa Çelebi, Yazıcı Civânî Çelebi, who was "among the poets of his time," and Çâkerî Ahmed Çelebi, who served as his clerk during his term as deputy judge, belong to the same circle; whether they appeared in the tezkire cannot be determined from Hüsameddin's text, and the poems of none of them have survived.

Selected Poems

The poems below belong to the poets Abdî Efendi included in his tezkire. They are the texts that Hüsameddin explicitly says he quoted from the tezkire, or that he gives in entries based on it; no other poem surviving directly from the tezkire is known.

Âzerî İbrâhim Efendi: Quatrain, "Dünyâ temeli benim özümdür"

Dünyâ temeli benim özümdür
Bu kadrimi bilmeyen oguzdur
Nûrumdan olur cihân münevver
Yaklaşma ki sûretim yavuzdur

Âzerî speaks in the sense of "fire" carried by his pen name: the foundation of the world is my very essence; whoever does not know this worth of mine is a boor. The world is lit by my light; do not come near, for my face is fierce. This quatrain by Âzerî, chief clerk of the Amasya court, several times deputy judge of Amasya, who died around 1025 (1616), is, in Hüsameddin's words, one of the quatrains in Abdî Efendi's tezkire "concerning his banter and boasting with Âbî" (Amasya Tarihi, vol. 6, e-book p. 15).

Âbî Mehmed Çelebi: Quatrain, "Ne kadar keskin olursa Âzer"

Ne kadar keskin olursa Âzer
Şiddetimle söyünür yakmaz olur
Yıldırım olsa da bâk eylemezem
Suya düşerse hemân çakmaz olur

Âbî answers with his pen name "water": however sharp the fire may be, it is quenched by my force and can burn no more. Were it a thunderbolt, I would not fear it; let it fall into water and it flashes no more. Âbî Mehmed Çelebi, a treasury clerk, died in 1039 (1629-30). The two quatrains are the two halves of a jest in which two friends of the same gathering turned their pen names against each other like weapons (vol. 6, e-book p. 15; according to the editors' note, Âbî's quatrain is on page 14 of the manuscript).

Boasting Poem (Fahriye), "Nazar itdikçe o mâhpâreye cân"

Nazar itdikçe o mâhpâreye cân
Gözümün nûruna virür leme'ân
Gül cemâlinden alur şâm ü seher
Ma'rifet feyzini gönlüm her an
Bunun içün viriyor teşnelere
Sözlerim âb-ı zülâl-i 'irfân

As the soul gazes on that moon-fair beauty, it adds radiance to the light of my eyes; evening and morning, every moment, my heart draws the bounty of wisdom from that rose-like face. That is why my words offer the thirsty the clear water of knowledge. This fahriye appears in Hüsameddin's entry on Âbî Mehmed Çelebi immediately after his quotation from the tezkire. Because the sentence "Kelâmî Mustafa Efendi used to keep company with them" comes in between, it is not entirely clear whose it is; the image of "âb-ı zülâl" (clear water) in the last couplet suggests, in this circle given to play on pen names, that the poem belongs to Âbî, but this is an inference (vol. 6, e-book p. 14).

Bezmî Çelebi: Couplet, "Kelâmî söylenir ammâ Sükûtî bahş eder altun"

Kelâmî söylenir ammâ Sükûtî bahş eder altun
Sakın boş sanma Bezmî tınmanın da serveti vardır

The couplet is built on three pen names: "Kelâmî" means speech, "Sükûtî" silence. Speech is spoken, but silence bestows gold; O Bezmî, do not think making a sound is empty, it too has its wealth. The first line recalls the saying "if speech is silver, silence is golden"; in the second line there may be a play between the ringing of an empty thing and the sound of gold, though this interpretation is ours. Describing the gathering of the poet Şâmî Mustafa Bey, who became sanjak governor of Amasya in 993 (1585), Hüsameddin says that Bezmî Çelebi of Merzifon "added sugar" to the jesting between Kelâmî and Sükûtî, and quotes the couplet "because it was seen in the Tezkire of Abdî Efendi and remained in memory" (vol. 3, e-book pp. 515-516). The couplet is thus not copied from a manuscript but is a text that remained in Hüsameddin's memory.

Türâbî Mustafa Efendi: Quatrain, "Sanma boş mîr-livâ Heftâdî"

Sanma boş mîr-livâ Heftâdî
Maşrık u mağribe yetmiş adı
Ana Yüzoğlu deyüb geçme sakın
Işret ü şöhrete vermiş dâdı
Öyle bir dîv-i mânend ki ol
Bir sinekten koparır feryâdı

Do not think the sanjak governor Heftâdî empty; his name has "reached" east and west. Do not pass him by calling him "Yüzoğlu"; he has given drinking parties and fame their due. He is a giant of such a kind that a fly makes him howl. The verses are woven with plays on numbers: "Heftâdî" means seventy in Persian, "yetmiş" carries both the number seventy and the sense of "has reached," and "Yüzoğlu" (son of a hundred) was the governor's popular nickname. In a footnote Hüsameddin writes that the word "yüz" in Turkish also denotes a wild, untamed creature that attacks everyone and flees from everyone. The last couplet turns praise into mockery. Hüftâdî Ahmed Bey had arrived as governor of Amasya in Rebiülahir 1038 (1628-29); Hüsameddin says that Türâbî "won even his favour by satirizing and praising him." He quotes the lines as couplets seen in the tezkire (vol. 4, e-book pp. 556-557). Türâbî, professor and judge, died in Safer 1040 (1630); his poems and biography were in the tezkire (vol. 8, e-book p. 490).

Resîm Ahmed Efendi: Ghazal, "İdüb azm-i sefer cânâ esîr-i mihnet oldum ben"

İdüb azm-i sefer cânâ esîr-i mihnet oldum ben
Cüdâ düşdüm vatandan mübtelâ-yı firkat oldum ben
Kanâ'at eylemezken nazra-i dîdâr ile evvel
Değil mektûba şimdi bir selâma hasret oldum ben
Sen inkâr eyledin hem-bezm-i ağyâr olduğun ammâ
İşitdim mâcerâyı vâkıf-ı keyfiyyet oldum ben
Gülistân-ı visâlin güllerini eylemiş çîde
Nişân-ı bûse gördüm dâğ dâğ-ı hayret oldum ben
Dahî hâlî iken bend oldum ol zülf-i perîşâna
Sana ey bî-vefâ sermâye-i cem'iyyet oldum ben
Olub âsûde her âşûb-gâh-i bezm-i kesretde
Resîmâ sâkin-i künc-i amân-ı uzlet oldum ben

Setting out on a journey, my beloved, I became a captive of hardship; parted from my homeland, I fell prey to separation. Once not content even with a glimpse of your face, now, never mind a letter, I long for a single greeting. You denied sitting in the same gathering with my rivals, but I heard the story and learned the truth of it. The roses of the garden of union have been picked; I saw the marks of kisses and became wound upon wound with astonishment. While my heart was still free, I was bound to those dishevelled locks; O faithless one, I became the capital of your composure. O Resîm, free of every turmoil of crowded gatherings, I have settled in the safe corner of seclusion. The ghazal accords with the life of exile led by Resîm, who for years travelled from province to province as chancery secretary to Deli Emir Mehmed Paşa. Resîm, son of Mumcu Bâlî, had learned Arabic and Persian literature from Abdî Efendi; he died in 1112 (1700-01) while secretary of the Sultan Bayezid endowments. Hüsameddin quotes it with the words "This ghazal was seen in Abdî Efendi's tezkire" (vol. 10, e-book p. 211).

Hıfzî Abdurrahman Efendi: Ghazal, "Aceb ol şûh-ı mümtâzım visâle kâil olmaz mı"

Aceb ol şûh-ı mümtâzım visâle kâil olmaz mı
Sürer ol geşti-i nâzım kenâre mâil olmaz mı
Sana bir arz-ı hâl etsem şehâ lütfun hayâl etsem
Temennâyî visâl etsem adüvvler hâil olmaz mı
Geçer mi mübtelâsından o mihr ü âşinâsından
Dönüp ahde vefâsından sözüyle âmil olmaz mı
Heman olduysa senden dûr degil mi sevdigim ma'zûr
Meger bu Hıfzi-i mehcûr merâma nâil olmaz mı

Will that peerless, coquettish beloved of mine not consent to union; will she not steer her ship of disdain towards some shore. Were I to lay my plight before you, my king, to dream of your favour, to wish for union, would enemies not stand in the way. Will she give up the one smitten with her, that love and familiarity; will she not turn back to keep faith with her vow and act on her word. If he has fallen far from you, my love, is he not to be excused; will this forsaken Hıfzî not attain his desire. This ghazal, every line of which ends with the refrain "olmaz mı" (will it not), shows that provincial poets too handled the technique of the classical ghazal with ease. Hıfzî Abdurrahman Efendi, son of the calligrapher Hasan Efendi, deputy judge of Amasya, became molla of Tokat during the grand vizierate of Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Paşa and judge of Sivas in 1083; he retired in 1097 and died in 1103. Hüsameddin writes that he saw this ghazal in the tezkire, copied it onto a leaf and placed the paper on the page of the poet's biography, so that the ghazal "escaped the fire" (vol. 9, e-book pp. 59-60).

Chronology

993 (1585): Şâmî Mustafa Bey becomes sanjak governor of Amasya; the jesting of Kelâmî, Sükûtî and Bezmî at his gatherings belongs to this period.

1000-1081 (1591-1671): The years covered by the Tezkiretü'ş-Şu'arâ.

c. 1025 (1616): Death of Âzerî İbrâhim Efendi.

1038 (1628-29): Hüftâdî Ahmed Bey becomes governor of Amasya; Türâbî's quatrain concerns him.

1039 (1629-30): Death of Âbî Mehmed Çelebi.

1040 (1630): Death of Türâbî Mustafa Efendi.

1065 (1655): Abdî Efendi, then fatwa secretary (emînü'l-fetvâ), becomes deputy judge of Amasya.

1066 (1656): As professor of Abdullah Paşa, he again becomes deputy judge of Amasya.

1087 (1677): Death of Abdî Efendi in the month of Zilhicce.

1099 (1688): The fire and massacre in Amasya; recounted in his son Ali Efendi's Sergüzeşt-i Amasya.

1103 (1691-92): Death of Hıfzî Abdurrahman Efendi.

1110 (1698-99): Ali Efendi's Defter-i Sâdât-ı Amasya.

1112 (1700-01): Death of Resîm Ahmed Efendi.

1159 (1746): Death of the grandson Şeyh Alizâde Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi, who wrote a continuation of the tezkire.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 1 (e-book p. 173: Abdullah Paşa Dârülhadisi; p. 184: "Tezkire-i Abdî", "Tezkire-i Sâdât", "Defter-i Vukû'ât"); vol. 3 (e-book pp. 515-516: Bezmî's couplet); vol. 4 (e-book pp. 556-557: Türâbî's quatrain; pp. 579-580: the deputy judgeships of 1065 and 1066; p. 564: Sefernâme; p. 586: the case of Hızır Efendi; p. 598: death notice; p. 610: Sergüzeşt-i Amasya), Amasya Belediyesi Yayınları, 2022. https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/1-4/files/basic-html/page184.html
  • Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 6-8 (vol. 6, e-book pp. 14-15: Âbî and Âzerî; p. 105: Tâlibî; p. 168: Ahmed Necmî; p. 172: Alevîzâde Ahmed Efendi; vol. 7, e-book pp. 339, 341, 393, 399, 415: Usûlî, İlhâmî, Bâkî Ahmed, Temennâyî, Bedrî and Berkî; vol. 8, e-book pp. 486, 490, 501, 535, 546, 569: Tecellî, Türâbî, Câbî, Civânî, Çâkerî and Habîbî), Amasya Belediyesi Yayınları, 2022. https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/6-8/files/basic-html/page14.html
  • Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 9-12 (vol. 9, e-book pp. 59-60: Hıfzî Abdurrahman; vol. 10, e-book pp. 211-212, 233, 349: Resîm, Ahmed Rüşdü, Rûhî and Sîmî; vol. 11, e-book pp. 399, 413, 428, 452: Şükrü İbrâhim, Şûhî Ebûbekir and Şevkî Hasan, Sâdık Ebûbekir, Siyâmî; vol. 12, e-book p. 594: "Abdî Efendi-Müderris" and "Abdî Efendi-Şeyhzâde"), Amasya Belediyesi Yayınları, 2022. https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/9-12/files/basic-html/page594.html
  • Metin Hakverdioğlu, "Amasya Tarihi'nin Şairler Tezkiresi Yönü", Sosyal Bilimler Araştırmaları 11, Amasya: Amasya Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2024, pp. 5-32. https://amasya.edu.tr/media/4nvlf0bx/sosyal-bilimler-arastirmalari-11.pdf

Online sources