Şeyhzâde Abdî Efendi spent some ten years contending with the other branch of his family for the sheikhship of the Ya'kûb Paşa lodge near the tomb of Pîr İlyâs, and in the end left the lodge to them and took its teaching post instead. A scholar and poet of the first half of the seventeenth century, he was a son of the lodge's sheikh İzzeddîn Hasan Efendi. He died in 1055 (1645-46). Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar says that his poems were written down in a tezkire, but that the tezkire was burnt.

The Entry in Amasya Tarihi

The entry Hüsameddin wrote for him stands in volume 12 under the heading Abdî Efendi-Şeyhzâde:

Amasya'da Ya'kûb Paşa Zâviyesi şeyhi Abdurrahmân Çelebizâde Şeyh İzzeddîn Hasan Efendi'nin mahdûmudur. Fuzalâdan Müeyyedzâde Pîrî Ahmed, Harşeneli İbrâhim Efendi'den ikmâl-i tahsîl ederek ders-i âm ve Hüsâmeddîn Efendi'nin vefâtında Ya'kûb Paşa Zâviyesi şeyhi, vakfı mütevellîsi oldu. Hüsameddîn Efendi'nin evlâdıyla hayli münâza'adan sonra zâviye medrese i'tibârıyla müderrisliği uhdesine tevcîh edildi. Ba'dehû mükerreren azl ü nasb edilerek 1055'de vefât etdi. Âlim, şâir, edîb, natûk olduğu ve eş'ârı tezkirede yazılı idi. Hayfâ ki yandı.

Put into English: the father named is Sheikh İzzeddîn Hasan Efendi, sheikh of the Ya'kûb Paşa lodge in Amasya and himself the son of Abdurrahmân Çelebi. He completed his studies with the scholars Müeyyedzâde Pîrî Ahmed Efendi and İbrâhim Efendi of Harşene, became a ders-i âm, and on the death of Hüsâmeddîn Efendi became sheikh of the Ya'kûb Paşa lodge and trustee of its endowment. After a long dispute with the children of Hüsâmeddîn Efendi, the lodge was reckoned as a madrasa and its teaching post was given to him. Thereafter he was dismissed and reappointed several times, and he died in 1055. It is known that he was a scholar, a poet, a man of letters and an eloquent speaker, and that his poems were written in the tezkire. Alas, it was burnt.

The Ya'kûb Paşa Lodge and the Quarrel over the Sheikhship

In volume 1 Hüsameddin describes the lodge itself. Ya'kûb Paşa had built this structure near the tomb of Pîr İlyâs in 815 (1412) as a çilehâne, that is, a Halvetî retreat house. According to the endowment deed there was a large sheikh's room to the north of the rooms on the east side, with the retreat cell inside it. Until 1031 (1621-22) the lodge was run by a single sheikh. After that date a dispute over the sheikhship arose between Sheikh Hüsâmeddîn Efendi, preacher of the Ya'kûb Paşa Mosque, and "Sheikh Abdî Efendi of the ulema", and it went on for about ten years. To settle it, the sheikh's room was reckoned as the lodge and the retreat house as a madrasa. The sheikhship of the lodge was given to Hüsâmeddîn Efendi, and the teaching post of Ya'kûb Paşa to Abdî Efendi. This is the "dispute" the entry in volume 12 refers to.

Hüsameddin's other notes on the family fill out this picture, though they do not agree on every point. According to volume 4, Hüsâmeddîn Efendi, sheikh of the lodge, died in Şa'bân 1034 (May 1625), and the sheikhship and trusteeship passed to his nephew İzzeddîn Hasan Efendi, that is, to Abdî's father. The entry Ahmed Efendi-Şeyhzâde in volume 6, on the other hand, says that Ahmed, son of the retreat-house sheikh Hüsameddîn Hüseyin Efendi, grew up under the protection of his uncle İzzeddîn Hasan Efendi, became sheikh of the retreat house on his uncle's death in 1045, and moved to the Gülâbî Paşa lodge when the retreat house was reckoned a madrasa in 1047. On this account Hüsâmeddîn and İzzeddîn Hasan were brothers, and Abdî and Ahmed were first cousins. The word "nephew" in volume 4 does not fit this relationship. Although not every date and title can be put in order, it is clear that the two branches of the family could not share the sheikhship and trusteeship of the lodge, and that the matter was settled by separating the lodge from the madrasa.

After Abdî Efendi's death his brother took his place. According to the entry Bahâeddîn Mehmed Efendi-Şeyhzâde in volume 7, this son of İzzeddîn Hasan Efendi became trustee of the Ya'kûb Paşa endowment and preacher of the mosque "after Abdî Efendi", then sheikh of the retreat house; in 1056 (1646-47) he turned the lodge into a madrasa, became its teacher, and died around 1073.

Teachers and Circle

Both of Abdî Efendi's teachers were well-known scholars of early seventeenth-century Amasya. Müeyyedzâde Pîrî Ahmed Çelebi (d. 1017) was a judge and poet who taught in the city for many years. İbrâhim Efendi of Harşene is another of the names Hüsameddin lists in volume 4 among the famous scholars of those years.

A record showing his place in the poetic circle of the city is found in volume 8, in the entry for the calligrapher and poet Tecellî Ahmed Çelebi. Hüsameddin writes that Tecellî, who died in 1081, profited from the conversation of "the poets Şeyhzâde Abdî, Kâdızâde Abdullah and Remzî Efendi". The note shows that young clerks with a taste for poetry also benefited from Abdî Efendi's company.

His Poetry

His poems have not come down to us. The work Hüsameddin calls "the tezkire" is most probably the lost tezkire of the madrasa teacher Abdî Efendi, which gathered the poets of Amasya between 1000 and 1081. The entry does not name the author, but the entry on that tezkire's author follows immediately in volume 12, and Hüsameddin uses the same words "alas, it was burnt" there too. Şeyhzâde Abdî shared his name with Abdî the tezkire writer, and the two men lived in Amasya in the same years. Among the poems saved from Abdî Efendi's tezkire through Hüsameddin's quotations there is no piece by Şeyhzâde Abdî.

Chronology

815 (1412): Ya'kûb Paşa builds the retreat house near the tomb of Pîr İlyâs.

1031 (1621-22): The period in which the lodge was run by a single sheikh ends, and a dispute over the sheikhship that will last ten years begins.

1034 (1625): Hüsâmeddîn Efendi, sheikh of the lodge, dies; the sheikhship is given to İzzeddîn Hasan Efendi.

1045 (1635-36): His father İzzeddîn Hasan Efendi dies.

1055 (1645-46): Abdî Efendi dies.

1056 (1646-47): His brother Bahâeddîn Mehmed Efendi turns the lodge into a madrasa.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources