After his father, the chancellor and military judge Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi, was executed on the orders of Selim I in 921 (1515), Bâlî İbrâhim Çelebi studied with his uncle Sa'dî Çelebi. He became a professor in Istanbul and, rising through the madrasas, reached one of the Sahn-ı Semân colleges around the Mosque of Mehmed the Conqueror. According to Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, it was there that he fell into opium, began to eat seven dirhems of it a day, and died of it in 941 (1534-35). Amasya Tarihi names him as a poet in two places: "âlim, fâzıl, şâir, mâ'il-i zevk" in his own entry, "gâyet güzel ve şâir bir mahdûm", a very handsome son and a poet, in his father's. None of the verse behind these words has reached us.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Kazasker Amasyalı Ca'fer Çelebi bin Taceddîn İbrâhim Paşa'nın mahdûmudur. Amcası fâzıl-ı meşhûr Sa'dî Çelebi'den ikmâl-i tahsîl ederek İstanbul'da ders-i âm ve müderris oldu. Devr-i medâris ederek Sahn-ı Semânî'ye müderrisi olduğu hâlde berş ü afyona mübtelâ olmakla yevmî yedi dirhem afyon ekline başladığından müte'essiren 941'de vefât etdi. Âlim, fâzıl, şâir, mâ'il-i zevk idi.

In English: Son of the military judge Câfer Çelebi of Amasya, himself a son of Tâceddîn İbrâhim Pasha. Completing his studies with his uncle, the renowned scholar Sa'dî Çelebi, he became ders-i âm and professor in Istanbul. Moving up through the madrasas, while professor at the Sahn-ı Semân he became addicted to berş and opium; since he began to eat seven dirhems of opium a day, he died of its effects in 941 (1534-35). Scholar, man of learning and poet, he was a man of taste and pleasure.

Family

Bâlî İbrâhim Çelebi belonged to the third generation of an Amasya family whose name recurs constantly in Ottoman officialdom and literature of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. His grandfather Tâcî Bey, that is Tâceddîn İbrâhim Pasha, governor-general of Kefe, was a statesman and poet who had served Bayezid II during his years as prince in Amasya. His father Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi was Bayezid II's chancellor, the poet of the Hevesnâme and, after the Çaldıran campaign, military judge of Anatolia; he was executed on the orders of Selim I in 921 (1515). His uncle Tâcîzâde Sa'dî Çelebi was a professor known for his letters and his Arabic poetry.

Hüsameddin's entry on Câfer Çelebi ties the family together thus: "Ca'fer Çelebi'nin Bâlî İbrâhim Çelebi nâmında gâyet güzel ve şâir bir mahdûmu ma'rûfdur. Birâderi meşâhîr-i fuzalâ vü şu'arâdan Sa'dî Çelebi ile diğer birâderi İsmâ'îl Bey meşhûr olup hemşîrezâdesi Hacı Enbiyâzâde Mehmed Çelebi de ricâldendir." The other uncle named here, İsmâil Bey, was secretary and town superintendent in Prince Ahmed's council at Amasya, later became a sanjak governor through the help of his elder brother Câfer Çelebi, and died in 932 (1525-26). İsmâil Bey's son Tâceddîn, that is Küçük Tâc Bey, the calligrapher and poet who served as chancellor in Prince Mustafa's council at Amasya, was Bâlî İbrâhim Çelebi's first cousin.

In his article on Câfer Çelebi in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, İsmail E. Erünsal, drawing on the gift registers of Bayezid II's reign, writes that Câfer Çelebi received gifts from the sultan for odes he presented, letters he wrote to the sultan of Egypt and "his son's circumcision ceremony". The son is not named. Since Bâlî İbrâhim is the only son whose name Hüsameddin gives, the record may concern him; but as it is not known whether Câfer Çelebi had other sons, this is only a possibility.

In His Uncle Sa'dî Çelebi's Footsteps

Bâlî İbrâhim Çelebi's life follows closely in the track of his teacher and uncle. According to Hüsameddin's entry on Sa'dî Çelebi, the uncle became professor at the Sahn-ı Semân in 916 (1510-11); in 917, when Câfer Çelebi was dismissed as a partisan of Prince Ahmed, he too was removed and went on the pilgrimage, returned to the Sahn when his elder brother became chancellor again, and in Receb 921, on his brother's execution, was dismissed once more and pensioned off. Bâlî İbrâhim, too, completed his studies with this uncle and in the end reached the Sahn colleges where his uncle had once taught.

The Sahn-ı Semân were the eight high-ranking madrasas set in two rows of four on either side of the mosque, within the complex Mehmed the Conqueror built between 867 and 875 (1463-1470). Until the Süleymaniye madrasas were founded, the professors of the Sahn counted as the most senior of all professors. That Bâlî İbrâhim Çelebi reached this rank shows that he advanced in the learned career despite his short life. At which Sahn college and in which years he taught is not known.

Opium and Death

The habit Hüsameddin calls "berş ü afyon" is berş, an opium paste, together with opium itself. The author records that Bâlî İbrâhim Çelebi ate seven dirhems of opium a day and died "müte'essiren", from its effects. The entry does not say where this detail comes from, and it could not be found in any other source. The year of death, 941 (1534-35), also rests on Hüsameddin alone.

Where the epithet "Bâlî" came from is not explained. Many people bore this epithet in Amasya and Istanbul at the time; in Hüsameddin's volume seven other entries for men called Bâlî stand right beside his. To keep this Bâlî of the Tâczâde family apart from namesakes such as Gümüşlüzâde Bâlî Çelebi, his father's name and the family epithet need to be given together.

Poetry

His poetry is lost. His father's divan survives and his uncle's couplets passed into the anthologies, yet the poems of this professor from the same family have vanished without trace; Hüsameddin, who calls him a poet in two separate entries, quotes nothing. For Hüsameddin's wording of the entry and notes on the family, see Bâlî İbrâhim Çelebi-Tâczâde.

Chronology

916 (1510-11): His uncle Sa'dî Çelebi becomes professor at the Sahn-ı Semân.

921 (1515): His father Câfer Çelebi is executed; his uncle Sa'dî Çelebi is pensioned off.

932 (1525-26): His uncle İsmâil Bey dies.

941 (1534-35): Dies while professor at the Sahn-ı Semân.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources