A player of the oud and the saz and a sought-after companion at gatherings, Yeniçerizâde Hasan Çelebi was a clerk-poet of Amasya who used the pen name (mahlas) Berkî. He learned literature from Abdî Efendi, the compiler of Amasya's anthology of poets, rose from clerk of the treasury to divan efendi of the sanjak, and lost his life in the turmoil of 1099 (1688) that burned and ravaged the city. All this we know from a short entry by Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, author of Amasya Tarihi, in its seventh volume; not one example of Berkî's poetry has survived.

What Hüsameddin Tells Us

Berkî Hasan Çelebi-Yeniçerizâde Amasyalıdır. Yeniçerioğlu Osmân Bey bin Paşa Hüseyin Ağa'nın oğludur. Pederi züamâdan olup kendisi Müderris Abdî Efendi'den edebiyât öğrendi. Amasya beytülmâl kâtibi, ba'dehû Serdârzâde Halîl Paşa'nın dîvan kâtibi oldu. Bunun irtihâlinde Amasya sancağı dîvân efendisi olup 1099 kargaşalığında vefât etdi. Kâtib, şâir, mûsikîşinâs olup güzel sâz ve ûd çalar, meclis-i ârâ yaşardı.

Rendered into today's language: Born in Amasya, he was a son of Yeniçerioğlu Osmân Bey, and Osmân Bey in turn was a son of Paşa Hüseyin Ağa. His father was a holder of a ze'amet; he himself learned literature from the teacher Abdî Efendi. He became clerk of the Amasya treasury (beytülmal), then divan clerk of Serdârzâde Halîl Pasha. On the pasha's death he became divan efendi of the sanjak of Amasya, and died in the turmoil of 1099. He was a clerk, poet and musician who played the saz and the oud beautifully and lived as the ornament of gatherings.

His Life

The family took its name from a senior janissary. His grandfather is called "Paşa Hüseyin Ağa"; his father Osmân Bey belonged to the cavalry who held a ze'amet, a large military fief. Hasan Çelebi's date of birth is not given. His teacher Abdî Efendi, professor at the Abdullah Pasha Hadith School and the compiler of the tezkire of Amasya's poets, died in 1087 (1677). Berkî belongs to the generation of clerks and poets trained in his lessons.

His career was spent entirely with the pen. He first entered the clerkship of the treasury in Amasya, the office that recorded heirless estates and public revenues. He then became divan clerk of Serdârzâde Halîl Pasha. The Halîl Pasha whom Hüsameddin describes in the ninth volume was the son of Sulûkîoğlu Hacı Mehmed Ağa, owner of the Serdâr Han in Amasya; trained in the household of Bayram Pasha, he served as agha of the sipahis, beylerbey of Kars and governor of Çıldır, became governor of Kastamonu early in the grand vizierate of Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha, and died out of office late in 1079 (1669). In which of the pasha's posts Berkî served as his divan clerk is not known. After the pasha's death he became divan efendi of the sanjak of Amasya, the chief clerk who conducted the correspondence of the sanjak administration.

His death falls in one of the darkest episodes of Amasya's history. In 1099 the men of Yeğen Osmân Paşazâde Hüseyin Pasha, governor of Amasya, and the sayyids gathered around Mumcuzâde Seyyid Ahmed Pasha, commander of the sayyids, turned to plunder and slaughter in the city; mansions and hans burned in the fire that broke out, and many people died. Abdî Efendi's son Ali Efendi described the event in Sergüzeşt-i Amasya, which he wrote as a supplement to his father's tezkire. How Berkî died in this turmoil is not recorded. His position as divan efendi within the sanjak administration would have placed him in the middle of events; but this is an inference.

His Connection with Amasya

The first word of the entry makes him a man of Amasya. Most of his known posts were in Amasya too, from the treasury clerkship up to the highest clerical office in the city's divan administration; where he served as Halîl Pasha's divan secretary is not recorded.

His Poetry

Not a line can be securely tied to Berkî. A notebook of poems compiled in Merzifon does contain a semâî under the pen name "Berkî(?)", but no record connects this uncertainly read name to Yeniçerizâde Hasan Çelebi; the semâî and the uncertainty around it are discussed separately in the article Berkî in the Merzifon Cönk. Hüsameddin, for his part, is content to call him a poet and musician and quotes no couplet. His teacher's tezkire must have reached into Berkî's mature years; whether his poems went into it, we cannot say. No poem by Berkî Hasan Çelebi of Amasya is known to survive.

Chronology

Late 1079 (1669): Serdârzâde Halîl Pasha, whose divan clerk he was, dies; Berkî becomes divan efendi of the sanjak of Amasya.

1087 (1677): His teacher Abdî Efendi dies.

1099 (1688): He dies during the fire and massacre in Amasya.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources