Ahmed Necmî Efendi, known as "Koca Müneccim" (the Old Astronomer), was from 1049 (1639) until his death the muvakkit of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque in Amasya, the official who calculated prayer times and the calendar. The timekeeper's room that Hoca Ahmed Paşa built for him became a meeting place where the scholars and poets of Amasya gathered on Fridays. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar describes him as "şâir, edîb, letâ'ife mâ'il", a man who wrote poetry, cultivated letters and loved a witty remark, and notes that his biography stood in Abdî Efendi's tezkire of the poets of Amasya. That tezkire is lost today, and since Hüsameddin quoted no couplet of Necmî's from it, not a single example of the astronomer's verse survives. The page Ahmed Necmi Efendi-Koca Müneccim, which explains the terms of the timekeeper's craft, also contains the full text of the entry.

Hüsameddin's Record

Ahmed Necmi Efendi-Koca Müneccim 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. 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 English: he was from Amasya; his father's name was Abdullah. He studied the sciences and became a ders-i âm, a teacher entitled to give public lectures. Because he was greatly drawn to astronomy he received the title "Müneccim". On 16 Şaban 1049 he became muvakkit of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque and took his seat in the timekeeper's room built by Hoca Ahmed Paşa. There he taught anyone who wished how to use the astrolabe and measure altitudes, wrote a calendar every year, presented it to wealthy men and received gifts from them in return. He read everyone's star and was a source of comfort to ordinary people. His room and timekeeper's house were a meeting place for friends; on Fridays scholars and poets gathered there for learned and literary conversation. At the same time he taught the sciences and worked to spread learning. He died on 28 Cemaziyelevvel 1070, an old man of eighty. He was learned, acquainted with uncommon sciences, skilled in astronomy, versed in Arabic and Persian literature, a poet, a man of letters and fond of wit. His biography is recorded in this form in Abdî Efendi's tezkire and his date of death in the register of endowment posts. His son Mehmed Mâhir Efendi became muvakkit in his place; when he died in Şaban 1076, the post passed to Kadızâde Abdurrahman Efendi.

Life

Hüsameddin gives his father's name only as "Abdullah" and does not connect him with any known Amasya family. Since he was "eighty" at his death, his birth falls around 990 (1582); this is a calculation, not a record. He must have been nearly sixty when he was appointed muvakkit.

Hoca Ahmed Paşa, who built his room, was an Amasya statesman, and Hüsameddin describes the building separately in his entry: next to the Sultan Bayezid soup kitchen the Paşa had two upper-floor rooms built, one for the famous calligrapher Fazlullah Efendi and the other as a timekeeper's room for Koca Müneccim Ahmed Efendi, and endowed shop rents for them. Hüsameddin writes that these rooms burned in the fire of 1233 (1817-18). The timekeeper's house standing at the Bayezid Mosque today is a different building of the nineteenth century; the history of the time-keeping buildings of Amasya is told in The History of Time in Amasya.

His death is also recorded in the chronicle part of Amasya Tarihi. In the account of Muslî Paşa's governorship of the sanjak in 1070 it is written that in the middle of Cemaziyelevvel the preacher of the Bayezid Mosque, Kadızâde Hâfız Abdurrahman Efendi, died, and at the end of the month the mosque's muvakkit, "Fâzıl Ahmed Efendi, known as Koca Müneccim", and that his son Mehmed Efendi became muvakkit in his place. This record confirms the date in the entry; here the epithet "Fâzıl" (the learned) stands before his name instead of "Necmî".

The Gathering in the Timekeeper's Room

According to the entry the astronomer taught the astrolabe, offered his yearly calendar to the wealthy and read the stars of ordinary people, while on Fridays his room filled with scholars and poets. Who attended these gatherings and which poems were recited there is not recorded. His inclusion in Abdî Efendi's tezkire suggests that Necmî was known in this circle for his verse as well, since the tezkire collected both the biographies and the poems of the poets of Amasya. What is known about the tezkire and its contents is discussed in Abdî Efendi: the Lost Tezkire of Amasya Poets and Its Poems.

His Poetry

Whether "Necmî" was a pen name is not clear. Hüsameddin uses it in the heading of the entry as part of his name but never uses the word "mahlas"; that his grandson was called "Necmîzâde" shows that the name settled in the family as a kind of surname. The entry contains no couplet, and the whereabouts of the incomplete copy of Abdî Efendi's tezkire that Hüsameddin used is unknown today. None of the timekeeper's own poems could be found for this study.

Family

His son Mehmed Mâhir Efendi succeeded him as muvakkit and died in Şaban 1076 (February 1666). Hüsameddin introduces Mâhir Efendi's son Sâlim Ahmed Efendi in a separate entry as "the son of Mehmed Mâhir Efendi, son of Ahmed Necmî Efendi, known as Koca Müneccim"; he was also called "Muvakkitzâde". A pupil of the Amasya mufti Hızır Efendi, Sâlim Ahmed served as müderris of the Hâtuniyye in Tokat, mufti of Trabzon and kadı of Kefe and Karahisâr-ı Şarkî, and is named as a "şâir", a poet.

Chronology

c. 990 (1582): Birth, calculated from his age at death.

1049 (1639): On 16 Şaban he becomes muvakkit of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque.

1070 (1660): He dies on 28 Cemaziyelevvel at the age of eighty.

1076 (1666): His son and successor Mehmed Mâhir Efendi dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources