Son-in-law to his own teacher, Şeyhzâde Mehmed Efendi held two offices at once in seventeenth-century Amasya: sheikh of the Mehmed Pasha dervish lodge and preacher of the mosque of the same name. His father was the Halveti sheikh Abdullah Efendi; he died in 1087 (1676-77). He is known to have composed poems and hymns (ilahi), signing them with the pen name (mahlas) Bezmî, but none of them survives. What we know of him amounts to a few lines in the seventh volume of Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi; an annotated reading of those lines goes under the name Bezmî Mehmed Efendi-Şeyhzâde.

The Entry in the Source

Bezmî Mehmed Efendi-Şeyhzâde Amasyalıdır. Amasya meşâyih-i kirâmından eş-Şeyh Abdullah Halvetî mahdûmudur. Şeyh Ya'kûbzâde Mustafa Efendi'nin halka-i tedrîsinde ikmâl-i tahsîl ederek dâmâdı ve ba'dehû Mehmed Paşa Tekkesi şeyhi ve câmii vâ'izi olduğu hâlde 1087'de vefât etdi. Âlim, vâ'iz, sâlih, şâir, bir zât idi. İlâhiyâtı var idi.

Paraphrased: An Amasya man, son of Sheikh Abdullah Halvetî, one of the great sheikhs of Amasya. He completed his education in the teaching circle of Sheikh Ya'kûbzâde Mustafa Efendi and became his son-in-law; afterwards, while sheikh of the Mehmed Pasha lodge and preacher of the mosque of the same name, he died in 1087. He was a scholar, preacher, a virtuous man and a poet. He had hymns.

In the e-book a footnote beginning "Zâhid lakâbıyle eş'âr ve ilâhiyâtı vardır" falls between the lines of this entry. The footnote belongs to the entry on Memi Dedezâde Burhâneddîn İbrâhim Efendi on the same page; the page layout has placed it in the middle of Bezmî's text. It has nothing to do with Bezmî.

His Life

His father is called "eş-Şeyh Abdullah Halvetî"; Hüsameddin does not say which lodge he headed. The by-name "Şeyhzâde" shows that Mehmed Efendi was known as a sheikh's son. His date of birth is unknown.

His teacher Sheikh Ya'kûbzâde Mustafa Efendi was, according to Hüsameddin, one of the two most famous members of the family known as the "Sheikh Ya'kûbzâdes", descendants of the Halveti sheikh Şerefeddîn Ya'kûb Efendi. While teaching at the Sultan Bayezid Madrasa he became mufti of Amasya in Muharram 1039 (August 1629) and was removed from the office in 1045 (1636). Abdî Efendi, the compiler of the anthology of Amasya's poets, had also completed his education with the same teacher; Bezmî and Abdî Efendi thus passed through the same teaching circle. Bezmî married his teacher's daughter and became his son-in-law. In Hüsameddin's sentence the sheikhdom follows immediately upon the marriage: this order suggests that the sheikhdom of the Mehmed Pasha lodge may have been an office passed on through family and marriage, but the source does not explain it.

The Mehmed Pasha lodge stood on the road on the south side of the Mehmed Pasha Mosque; Mehmed Pasha had built it in 890 (1485) for the Halveti master Habîb-i Karamânî and arranged its endowments. Among other sheikhs of the Mehmed Pasha lodge mentioned by Hüsameddin, the sheikhdom of the lodge and the preachership of the mosque also appear together; Bezmî's holding of both posts fits this pattern. When he became sheikh is not recorded. He remained in the office until his death.

His Connection with Amasya

His father, his teacher and the lodge he headed were all in Amasya. Hüsameddin, too, records him as a man of the city, and no record places him anywhere else.

Poets of the Same Pen Name

Immediately before Bezmî Mehmed Efendi, Hüsameddin describes another Bezmî, from Merzifon: Bezmî Abdullah Efendi, known as Topal Kadı (the Lame Judge), a pupil of Ramazânzâde Ahmed Efendi, who served as judge in many districts and died around 1015 (1606-07). The couplet Hüsameddin quotes, "Kelâmî söylenir ammâ Sükûtî bahş eder altun / Sakın boş sanma Bezmî tınmanın da serveti vardır", is given in the context of Şâmî Mustafa Bey's gathering in 993 (1585) and under the name "Merzifônî Bezmî Çelebi"; by date and hometown the couplet fits Topal Kadı, not Şeyhzâde Mehmed Efendi. Two poems signed "Bezmî" in a notebook compiled in Merzifon, on the other hand, belong closer to the nineteenth-century circle of minstrels; this question is discussed in the article Bezmî in the Merzifon Cönk.

His Poetry

All we are told of his hymns is the entry's last sentence: "İlâhiyâtı var idi", he had hymns. Hüsameddin calls him a poet as well, yet gives not a single line, and Bezmî Mehmed Efendi's poems are lost. A Halveti sheikh's hymns were written to be sung in remembrance gatherings and often lived on in the lodge's own anthologies; no such anthology belonging to the Mehmed Pasha lodge is known to exist.

Chronology

890 (1485): The Mehmed Pasha lodge is built for Habîb-i Karamânî.

Muharram 1039 (August 1629): His teacher Sheikh Ya'kûbzâde Mustafa Efendi becomes mufti of Amasya.

1045 (1636): Mustafa Efendi is removed from the office of mufti.

1087 (1676-77): Bezmî Mehmed Efendi dies as sheikh of the Mehmed Pasha lodge.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources