What ties Bahrî Halîl Efendi to the history of Amasya is the division of an inheritance: in 1139 (1727) he came to the town and shared out the fortune of one of its richest notables among the heirs. This judge and poet from Merzifon rose during the early decades of the eighteenth century in the shadow of his fellow townsman Dürrî Mehmed Efendi. He was Dürrî Efendi's estate divider (kassâm) while the latter was military judge of Anatolia and his secretary (tezkireci) while he was şeyhülislam; he ended his life among the senior judges known as mevâlî-i devriyye and died in 1168 (1754-55). In Amasya Tarihi Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar calls him "âlim, kâmil, şâir, edîb". The inheritance scene comes from the chronicle of events in the same book, a rare record that shows at work the office his own entry names only as a title. Not one of his poems is known.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Merzifonludur. Ebûbekir'in mahdûmudur. Tahsîl-i ulûm etdikten sonra ders-i âm, ba'dehû kadı olup İstanbul'a gitdi. Orada hemşehrîsi Dürrî Mehmed Efendi'ye intisâb edib Anadolu sadâretinde kassâmı ve meşîhatında tezkirecisi oldu. Ba'dehû mevâlî-i devriyyeden olduğu hâlde 1168'de vefât etdi. Âlim, kâmil, şâir, edîb bir zât idi.

In English: A native of Merzifon and son of Ebûbekir. After completing his studies he became ders-i âm, then a judge, and went to Istanbul. There he attached himself to his fellow townsman Dürrî Mehmed Efendi and became his kassâm when Dürrî was military judge of Anatolia and his tezkireci when he was şeyhülislam. Later, while one of the rotating senior judges, he died in 1168 (1754-55). Learned and accomplished, he wrote verse and was a man of letters.

His Fellow Townsman Dürrî Mehmed Efendi

Bahrî Halîl Efendi's career was bound up with that of his patron. Dürrî Mehmed Efendi was the ancestor of the Dürrîzâdes, a family that produced six şeyhülislams. According to his article in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, after serving as judge of Egypt, Mecca and Istanbul he became military judge of Anatolia in 1726, was made military judge of Rumelia in 1730 after the Patrona Halil revolt, became şeyhülislam on 3 Cemâziyelâhir 1147 (31 October 1734), was dismissed on 1 Zilhicce 1148 (13 April 1736) after a stroke, and died soon afterwards. Hüsameddin's entry Dürrî Mehmed Efendi-Müftüzâde in volume nine gives the same dates in the hijri calendar: he became military judge of Anatolia in Şevval 1138 and left the post when his term ended in Şevval 1139.

The encyclopedia article does not state Dürrî Efendi's home town. Hüsameddin, however, argues at length that the "Ankaralı" of the Sicill-i Osmânî is wrong: Dürrî Mehmed Efendi descended from the Merzifon mufti Hacı Mehmed Efendi, his father being İlyas Efendi, secretary of the Merzifon court; he was taken for a man of Ankara because he had been a candidate (mülâzım) under a şeyhülislam from Ankara. As evidence he cites Dürrî's attachment to Kara Mustafa Pasha of Merzifon, a decree of 1148 by which, as şeyhülislam, he had a professorship granted to his Merzifon cousin Nurullah Efendi, and the madrasa he built in Merzifon, later known as the Dürrîzâde Madrasa. That Bahrî Halîl Efendi attached himself to Dürrî as "his fellow townsman" agrees with Hüsameddin's view.

The Military Judge's Estate Divider

The kassâm was the official who divided estates among heirs. The Ottoman system distinguished the "askerî kassâm", who divided the estates of members of the ruling, military class on behalf of the military judge, from the "şehrî kassâm", who divided the estates of ordinary subjects on behalf of the local judges; the military estate dividers in Anatolia answered to the military judge of Anatolia and collected a fee called "resm-i kısmet" for each division. Hüsameddin's phrase "Anadolu sadâretinde kassâmı" shows that Bahrî Halîl Efendi served in this body as Dürrî Efendi's own man.

The fourth volume of the book records an instance of this work in Amasya. In mid-Şaban 1138 (April 1726) Hocazâde Emîr Hacı Abdüllatîf Çelebi, deputy head of the descendants of the Prophet and one of Amasya's famous notables, had died, and his great fortune had been seized and sealed as a precaution. In Receb of the following year a decree arrived for the fortune to be divided among his heirs, and in Hüsameddin's words: "Şa'bânda bu emvâli taksîme me'mûren Anadolu kazaskeri Merzifônî Dürrî Mehmed Efendi tarafından kassâm-ı askerî Halîl Bahrî Efendi Amasya'ya geldi." Bahrî Efendi divided what Emîr Hacı had left among Ali Ağa and Mustafa Ağa, sons of his son Hüseyin Ağa who had died before him, his two wives and his two daughters, and "külliyetli resm-i kısmet alıp gitdi", left with a considerable division fee. These lines tie the dry title of his own entry to a date, a town and an inheritance. Şaban 1139 falls in March-April 1727, within the term of office Hüsameddin gives for Dürrî Efendi.

The Şeyhülislam's Secretary

During the şeyhülislamate Bahrî Halîl Efendi became Dürrî Efendi's tezkireci, that is, the secretary who handled the correspondence of the office. An episode in the TDV article shows how much say such secretaries could have: according to the article, Dürrî Efendi's term as military judge of Anatolia in 1726 ended after the judges told the grand vizier that he "followed the word of his tezkirecis and made appointments contrary to rule and seniority". The complaint belongs to the period of the military judgeship, and Bahrî Efendi was then not a tezkireci but a kassâm. The explanations Hüsameddin and the encyclopedia give for the end of that term also do not agree: one speaks of the term expiring, the other of dismissal after a complaint.

Bahrî Halîl Efendi's career went on after Dürrî Efendi's dismissal in 1148. Hüsameddin says he was among the "mevâlî-i devriyye", an expression for judges of molla rank who rotated among the judgeships of the great cities. The places where he served are not named.

His Namesake

Bahrî Halîl Efendi-Fenârcizâde, whose entry follows this one directly in Hüsameddin's volume seven, is a different man: son of the Amasya Qur'an commentator Hâfız Mehmed Zühdü Efendi, a hadith scholar who studied in Damascus and the Hijaz, taught in Amasya's Kübceğiz quarter and died in 1245 (1829-30). Three quarters of a century separate these two scholars of the same name and pen name.

Poetry

His poems have not come down to us. The pen name, at least, left a mark: "Bahrî" stands in the heading of the entry, and the chronicle of events calls him "Halîl Bahrî Efendi", so his contemporaries knew him by name and pen name together. Beside "şâir, edîb" Hüsameddin sets no example.

Chronology

Şevval 1138 (1726): Dürrî Mehmed Efendi becomes military judge of Anatolia; Bahrî Halîl Efendi is his kassâm.

Şaban 1139 (1727): Comes to Amasya as military estate divider and divides the estate of Emîr Hacı Abdüllatîf Çelebi.

3 Cemâziyelâhir 1147 (31 October 1734): Dürrî Mehmed Efendi becomes şeyhülislam; Bahrî Halîl Efendi is his tezkireci.

1 Zilhicce 1148 (13 April 1736): Dürrî Mehmed Efendi is dismissed.

1168 (1754-55): Bahrî Halîl Efendi dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources