AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ahmed Çelebi — Müneccim Şemseddîn

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 122 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Bağdâdlıdır. Abdullah oğlu olup orada edebiyât, nücûm, târîh gibi ilimleri ve ulûm-ı sâ’ireyi tahsîl ederek Yörgüç Paşa vâliliğinde Amasya’ya geldi. İzzet ü ikrâm gördü. Yörgüç Paşazâdelere mu’allim olup tedrîs-i ulûm ederek “Müneccim Çelebi” diye iştihâr etdi.

Amasya vâlileri olan Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed ve Alâeddîn Beylere fevkalâde tekarrub edib onlara musâhib oldu. 851 târîhine kadar Amasya’da görüldü. Ba’dehû Edirne’ye gidip sarây-ı hümâyûn ağalarına çatdı. Bunlardan Bosnalı Mahmûd Paşa’nın vezâret-i sadâretinde nedîm-i hâsı oldu.

858’de Mahmûd Paşa vezîr-i a’zam oldukta târîh, takvîm, zâyiçe gibi ahvâl-i âlemden bâhis “Kitâbü’l-‘Acâ’ib” adlı eserini sadr-ı müşârün-ileyhin nâmına te’lîf etdi. Bu kitabın bir nüshası Nur-ı Osmâniyye Kütübhanesinde bulundu. Kendi hattıyla yazılmış [382] olması pek muhtemeldir.

Mevlânâ Müneccim Çelebi, Mahmûd Paşa vâsıtasıyla Sultân Fâtih’in ma’lûmu olup her ikisine de fevkalâde hulûl ederek pek çok servet ü sâmân edindi. Ba’zı ahvâlinden dolayı Şeyhülislâm Fahreddîn Acemî demekle meşhûr olan Fahreddîn Mehmed er-Râzî husûmetini kazandı. 867 hudûdunda vefât etdi.

Yazdığı esere, selâtîn-i vüzerâya hulûl etdiğine bakılırsa fâzıl, edîb, nücûm ve tevârihe fevkalâde âşinâ, elsîne-i selâse ile mütekellim, natûk, azbu’l-lisân, mizâc-gîr olduğu anlaşılır. Şakâyık’ın Fahreddîn Acemî tercemesinde kaydetdiği hikâyenin masdarı, bu Müneccim Çelebi olsa gerek. Allahu’âlem bi-hakikâti’l-hâl.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was from Baghdad. He was the son of Abdullah. After learning there literature, astronomy, history and other sciences, he came to Amasya during the governorship of Yörgüç Pasha. Here he received respect and hospitality. He tutored and taught the sons of Yörgüç Pasha and became known as "Müneccim Çelebi" (Astrologer Çelebi).

He formed an exceedingly close tie with Prince Sultan Ahmed and Alâeddin Bey, who were governors of Amasya, and became their companion in conversation. He was seen in Amasya until 851 [1447-48]. Then he went to Edirne and drew close to the palace ağas. Of these, during the viziership and grand vizierate of Mahmud Pasha of Bosnia, he became his private boon companion.

In 858 [1454], when Mahmud Pasha became grand vizier, he wrote for the said grand vizier his work called "Kitâbü'l-Acâib" (The Book of Wonders), which speaks of the conditions of the world, history, the calendar, horoscopes and the like. A copy of this book was found in the Nuruosmaniye Library. It is very probable that it was written in his own hand.

Mevlânâ Müneccim Çelebi became someone known to Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror through Mahmud Pasha; entering exceedingly into the hearts of both, he acquired a great deal of wealth and property. Through some of his conduct he earned the enmity of Şeyhülislam Fahreddîn Mehmed er-Râzî, known as Fahreddîn Acemî. He died around 867 [1462-63].

Judging by the work he wrote and by his entering the hearts of sultans and viziers, he appears to have been virtuous, versed in literature, exceedingly familiar with astronomy and history, a speaker of three languages, fair and sweet of tongue, and one who knew how to behave according to the temper of the person before him. The story that the Şakâik records in the biography of Fahreddîn Acemî must have this Müneccim Çelebi as its source. God knows the truth of the matter.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • nücûm: the science of the stars; in that period it covers astronomy and astrology together
  • ulûm-ı sâ'ire: other sciences
  • izzet ü ikrâm: respect and hospitality
  • mu'allim: teacher, tutor
  • tekarrub: drawing close, approaching
  • musâhib: companion in conversation, intimate
  • nedîm-i hâs: private boon companion
  • zâyiçe: an astrological chart showing the positions of the stars at the moment of birth, horoscope
  • ahvâl-i âlem: the conditions of the world, events
  • hulûl etmek: to enter into someone's heart
  • servet ü sâmân: wealth and property
  • husûmet: enmity
  • elsine-i selâse: the three languages; Arabic, Persian and Turkish
  • natûk, azbü'l-lisân: fair-spoken, sweet of tongue
  • mizâc-gîr: one who knows the temper of the person before him and acts accordingly
  • masdar: source, point of origin
  • Allahu a'lem bi-hakikati'l-hâl: God knows the truth of the matter

From the Palace of Yörgüç Pasha to the Mansion of Mahmud Pasha

Müneccim Çelebi's life shows what a centre of attraction Amasya was in the mid-fifteenth century as a princely sanjak. Yörgüç Pasha, Murad II's lala, was in Amasya as beylerbeyi of Rum from 1423 until his death in 1442 and built mosques, madrasas, imarets and baths in the city. In Hüsameddin's work there are also stories of other scholars who fled the troubles in the East, came to Amasya during Yörgüç Pasha's governorship, and were shown hospitality by the princes Ahmed and Alâeddin; that of a sayyid from Samarkand who, weary of the civil wars of the Timurids and then of the Akkoyunlu-Karakoyunlu strife in Iraq, settled in Amasya is one of these. Müneccim Çelebi of Baghdad seems to have followed the same path.

His passage from Amasya to Edirne and then his entering the circle of Mahmud Pasha is also an understandable rise. In the sources Mahmud Pasha is remembered as the greatest patron of men of learning and art; Enverî's Düstûrnâme, Abdürrahim Karahisârî's Vahdetnâme, Şükrullah's Behcetü't-tevârîh and Musannifek's Persian Tuhfe-i Mahmûdiyye were dedicated to him; a copy of the last is also in the Nuruosmaniye Library. Müneccim Çelebi's Kitâbü'l-Acâib too belongs to this tradition of dedication.

Hüsameddin says that this work was written in 858, with Mahmud Pasha's becoming grand vizier. According to Şehabeddin Tekindağ, however, Mahmud Pasha probably became vizier in 858 (1454) and rose to the grand vizierate in 860 (1456); the work's date therefore falls either somewhat later or belongs to the year of his viziership. No information on the Nuruosmaniye copy of the work was found in the sources surveyed. Ramazan Şeşen, who lists the works of fifteenth-century Ottoman authors, shows that other works called "acâib" were written in the same period, and in particular that many free translations of Kazvînî's Acâibü'l-mahlûkât were made; the true author and title of the copy Hüsameddin saw can therefore be settled only by examining the manuscript itself.

Astrologers in the Conqueror's Time

What Müneccim Çelebi did belongs to a field then just becoming institutionalised at the Ottoman palace. According to Salim Aydüz's research, calendars prepared by astrologers are first encountered in the Ottoman state in the time of Murad II, but the names of those who prepared them are not known. It is recorded that the Conqueror consulted astrologers before the final assault at the siege of Istanbul, and that the foundation of the Rumeli Fortress was laid at the auspicious hour the astrologers determined. The astrologer Hatayî Geylânî prepared the Conqueror's birth horoscope. In Atâî's history the name "Fatih Acem Mehmed Efendi" appears as the Conqueror's chief astrologer (müneccimbaşı), but there is no other information about this person; Abdurrahman, who is shown in an old list as the first müneccimbaşı, took office in the time of Bayezid II. Müneccim Çelebi's drawing close both to the grand vizier and to the sultan gains meaning in this setting, where the choice of auspicious hours and astrological judgments were taken seriously in affairs of state.

Fahreddîn Acemî and the Story in the Şakâik

Fahreddîn Acemî was a scholar trained under Seyyid Şerîf Cürcânî, appointed mufti of Edirne by Murad II in 834 (1430-31), who continued in this office in the time of the Conqueror. The story Hüsameddin means must be the affair of the Hurufis, known from Taşköprizâde's Şakâik and Mecdî's translation. According to Cahit Baltacı, Grand Vizier Mahmud Pasha, worried that followers of Fazlullah-ı Hurûfî had entered the palace and were influencing the sultan, invited them to his mansion and hid Fahreddîn Acemî in a corner of the hall. When the Hurufis openly set out their ideas at the meal, the mufti came out of his hiding place and answered them, and later, after a public debate held in the Üç Şerefeli Mosque in Edirne, gave a fatwa for their execution by burning.

Given that the event took place in Mahmud Pasha's mansion, it is plausible that Müneccim Çelebi, the pasha's private boon companion, witnessed this scene or was one of those who spread the story. But this is Hüsameddin's own guess, and he states this explicitly by ending his sentence with "God knows the truth of the matter". Why Müneccim Çelebi was an enemy of Fahreddîn Acemî is also not said in the article. The date of Fahreddîn Acemî's death is not certain: Mecdî's report that Molla Abdülkerim was appointed mufti in his place in 870 (1465-66) suggests that his death was near 870, while some sources give 865 (1460-61).

No information about Müneccim Çelebi himself was found in sources other than Hüsameddin.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Volume 6 contents

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