Amasyalıdır. Abdullah oğlu olup tahsîl-i ulûm ederek ders-i âm oldu. İlm-i nücûma gâyet meraklı olduğundan “Müneccim” ünvânını aldı. 1049 şa’bânının onaltısında Sultân Bâyezîd Câmii muvakkiti olup Hâce Ahmed Paşa’nın yaptırdığı muvakkit-hânede oturdu.
Orada usturlab isti’mâlini ve irtifa ahzini taliplere ta’lim eder, her yıl bir takvim yazar, zenginlere hediye ile onlardan câ’izeler alırdı. Herkesin yıldızına bakar halk için bâdi’-i tesliyet olurdu. [533]
Odası ve muvakkıt-hânesi mecma’-ı yârân idi. Cum’a günlerinde ulemâ ve şu’arâ burada ictima ederek musâhabât-ı ilmiyye ve edebiyye olurdu. Bir taraftan da tedrîs-i ulûm ederek neşr-i maârife himmet ederdi. Seksenlik bir pîr olduğu halde 1070 senesi cumâdelûlâsının yirmi sekizinci günü vefât etdi.
Âlim, fünûn-ı garîbeye âşinâ, ilm-î nücumda mâhir, edebiyat-ı Arabîyye ve Fârisiyye’ye vâkıf, şâir, edîb, letâ’ife mâ’il bir zât idi. “Abdî Efendi Tezkîresi”nde tercemesi ve cihât-ı vakfiye defterinde târîhi bu sûretle mezkûrdur. Mahdûmu Mehmed Mâhir Efendi yerine muvakkit olup 1076 şa’bânında vefâtıyla Kadızâde Abdurrahman Efendi muvakkit oldu.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He was the son of Abdullah; he acquired learning and gave public lectures. Because he was very fond of the science of the stars, he took the title "Müneccim" (astronomer). On the sixteenth of Şaban 1049 he became muvakkit (timekeeper) of the Sultan Bâyezîd Mosque and lived in the muvakkithane built by Hâce Ahmed Pasha.
There he taught those who wished to learn how to use the astrolabe and to measure the altitude of the stars, wrote a calendar every year, gave gifts to the wealthy and received rewards from them. He looked at everyone's star and was a source of consolation for the people.
His room and the muvakkithane were a gathering place of friends. On Fridays scholars and poets came together here, and scholarly and literary conversations were held. Meanwhile he also gave lessons and strove to spread knowledge. As an old man of eighty he died on the twenty-eighth day of Cemâziyelevvel 1070 [1660].
He was a scholar acquainted with the unusual sciences, a master of the science of the stars, a man who knew Arabic and Persian literature, a poet, a man of letters, fond of wit and jest. His biography appears in the "Abdî Efendi Tezkiresi" and his date of death in the register of waqf records, in this form. His son Mehmed Mâhir Efendi became muvakkit in his place; when he died in Şaban 1076, Kadızâde Abdurrahman Efendi became muvakkit.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ders-i âm: title of a müderris who gave lectures open to the public
- ilm-i nücûm: the science of the stars, astronomy and astrology
- müneccim: person occupied with the science of the stars
- muvakkit: official who determines prayer times and time
- muvakkit-hâne: building or room in which the muvakkit works
- usturlab: instrument for measuring the altitude of celestial bodies and time
- irtifa ahzi: measuring altitude
- câ'ize: reward, gift
- bâdi'-i tesliyet: cause of consolation
- mecma'-ı yârân: gathering place of friends
- musâhabe: conversation
- fünûn-ı garîbe: unusual, curious sciences
- letâ'ife: wit, jest
- tercüme: biography, account of a life
- cihât-ı vakfiye defteri: register of waqf revenues and duties
The Muvakkit and the Muvakkithane
A muvakkithane is a small structure of one or two rooms in the garden of a mosque or mescid. The muvakkit's basic duty is to determine the prayer times and announce them to those concerned. In Salim Aydüz's study of Ottoman astronomical institutions, the waqf deed of 1555 of the Süleymaniye Mosque is given as an example: according to it, the muvakkit serving there must know ilm-i mîkat, the science of times, the prayer times, night and day, the rising and setting of the seven planets, the positions of the zodiac signs, the degrees of the sun's rising, noon and setting, the waxing and waning of the moon and the other subjects connected with the science of the stars; he announces the times of the call to prayer to the muezzins, and his salary is ten akçe a day. The muvakkithanes in Istanbul were attached to the müneccimbaşı (chief astronomer), and the müneccimbaşıs also examined those to be appointed. Apart from observatories, muvakkithanes were the only institutions in which astronomical work could actually be carried out. The müneccimbaşıs prepared the annual calendars; Koca Müneccim Ahmed Efendi's writing a calendar every year shows that this tradition continued in the provinces too.
The examples Aydüz describes belong to Istanbul. In provincial cities like Amasya, by whom muvakkits were appointed and how they were trained could not be verified for this entry beyond the record in Hüsameddin's "register of waqf records". This waqf record, stating that Ahmed Efendi became "muvakkit of the Sultan Bâyezîd Mosque" in 1049, shows that the post in Amasya too was a regular position tied to a waqf.
The Muvakkithane Today
A muvakkithane still stands today in the northwest of the Amasya Bayezid II Complex, north of the madrasa. According to what Füsun Aytekin reports, this structure was built, according to the inscription on its entrance door, by Kaptancızâde Hacı Hüseyin Zeki Efendi in 1256 (1840). That is, the muvakkithane in which Koca Müneccim worked is not today's building; according to what Hüsameddin writes in entry no. 535, it was among the rooms built by Hoca Ahmed Pasha that burned in 1233 (1817-18). On the walls of the present structure one sees rich pen-work decoration, landscapes, trees and a picture of the nearby Bayezid Mosque; the building is valuable for its wall paintings of the Westernization period. The Amasya Muvakkithane, as a muvakkithane outside Istanbul, is also the subject of an article by Günsel Renda.
In Other Sources
No information was found in other sources about Koca Müneccim Ahmed Necmi Efendi, the "Abdî Efendi Tezkiresi" or his son Mehmed Mâhir Efendi. The statement that he was "eighty" at his death puts his birth at about 1580; this is an inference.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 167–167. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 6, p. 166-167 (entry Ahmed Paşa-Hoca Paşa).
Books
- Salim Aydüz, "Osmanlı Astronomi Müesseseleri", TALİD, 2/4, 2004.
Other sources
- Füsun Aytekin, "Amasya II. Bayezid Külliyesi Muvakkithanesinin Duvar Resimlerinin Tarih ve Usta Sorunsalı ile Son Restorasyonu Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme".