Celâlî Mehmed Çelebi was one of the secretaries trained by Fazlullah Efendi, the famous calligrapher of Amasya, who went on to serve in the divan of Deli Emîr Mehmed Paşa. He lived in the second half of the seventeenth century and was known among the people as "Celâloğlu". The son of Hacı Hüseyin Ağa of the Sofular quarter, he learned the various scripts from his master, became secretary of the treasury of escheats (beytülmal), and then, as the pasha's divan secretary, travelled with him from one province to another. After the pasha's death he came back, and he died around 1108 (1696-97) while secretary of the crown revenues (has). The only word that tells of his poetry is the description "poet, secretary, calligrapher" in the last sentence of Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's entry; no verse of his is in our hands.

Life

Unlike most of Hüsameddin's entries, the one in the eighth volume of Amasya Tarihi does not begin with "He is from Amasya"; it introduces the man directly by his quarter:

Sofular Mahallesi’nden Hacı Hüseyin Ağa bin Abdü’l-celâl Ağa’nın mahdûmudur. “Celâloğlu” demekle meşhûr olup üdebâdan tahsîl-i ma’ârif ve hattât-ı meşhûr Fazlullâh Efendi’den hutût-ı mütenevvi’ayı ahz u temeşşuk ederek beytü’l-mâl kâtibi oldu. Ba’dehû Deli Emîr Mehmed Paşa’nın kâtib-i dîvânı olup onunla beraber devr-i bilâd u eyâlât etdi. Müşârün-ileyhin vefâtında avdet edib hâslar kâtibi olduğu hâlde 1108 sâline doğru vefât etdi. Bu da erbâb-ı ma’ârifden şâir, kâtib, hattât bir zât idi.

In plain English: He is the son of Hacı Hüseyin Ağa, son of Abdülcelâl Ağa, of the Sofular quarter. He was known as "Celâloğlu". He studied with men of letters, learned the various scripts by copying them under the famous calligrapher Fazlullah Efendi, and became secretary of the beytülmal. Then he became divan secretary of Deli Emîr Mehmed Paşa and travelled with him from town to town and province to province. When the pasha died he came back, and he died towards the year 1108 while secretary of the has revenues. He too was one of the men of learning, a poet, a secretary and a calligrapher.

The byname "Celâloğlu" comes from the name of his grandfather Abdülcelâl Ağa; the pen name "Celâlî" very probably comes from the same name, though Hüsameddin does not draw the connection himself. The beytülmal secretary kept the records of heirless estates that passed to the state; the "has" were the large revenue items of a sanjak reserved for the sultan or the sanjak governor. The entry does not state whether either post was held in Amasya. The word "avdet", his "coming back" after the pasha's death, suggests that the secretary's point of departure was Amasya.

His Connection with Amasya

In this entry the name of the quarter takes the place of "He is from Amasya". Sofular is one of the historic quarters of Amasya; its past is described in the article Sofular Quarter. That his teacher Fazlullah Efendi was preacher and orator of the Hâtuniye Mosque in Amasya, and that his master Deli Emîr Mehmed Paşa was himself a man of Amasya, strengthens the link. Taken together, the quarter and the circle around him make it plain that he was from Amasya.

Fazlullah Efendi's Pupils and Deli Emîr Paşa's Household

Celâlzâde's career matches almost word for word those of two other men in Hüsameddin's book. Fazlullah Efendi's son Hâfız Hasan Efendi learned calligraphy from his father, became secretary of the imperial endowments (evkâf-ı Sultâniyye), then travelled with Deli Emîr Mehmed Paşa as his divan secretary, returned to Amasya on the pasha's death to teach at the school of calligraphers, and died at the end of 1105 (1694). Resîm Ahmed Efendi, a pupil of Abdî Efendi, likewise learned calligraphy from Fazlullah Efendi, became beytülmal secretary of Amasya, served as divan secretary of Deli Emîr Mehmed Paşa, returned to Amasya after the pasha's death and died in 1112 (1700-01) while secretary of the endowments of Sultan Bayezid. The three secretaries were trained by the same master, entered the chancery of the same pasha and came back to the same city at his death. It appears that Deli Emîr Paşa's divan was run by secretaries of Amasya trained by Fazlullah Efendi. The life of Resîm Ahmed Efendi and Fazlullah Efendi's family, The Fazlızâdes, are the subjects of separate articles.

Deli Emîr Mehmed Paşa was the son of Hacı Kâsımzâde Seyyid Mustafa Ağa, one of the Rifâ'î sayyids. According to the chronicle section of Hüsameddin's book, he became governor of the sanjak of Amasya in Safer 1078 (1667), rose to the beylerbeylik of Şehrizor in 1079, came back to Amasya several more times, and at the beginning of 1087 (1676) was appointed to the sanjak for the fourth time. The pasha's date of death does not appear in the sections read. That Hasan Efendi died in Amasya in 1105 and Celâlzâde around 1108, both having returned after the pasha's death, shows that the pasha died before those years.

His Poetry

For Resîm Ahmed Efendi, who passed through the same household, Hüsameddin quotes a gazel from Abdî Efendi's anthology; for Celâlzâde he spares not a single couplet, and his poems have not been found. The words "he too" that close the entry set him beside his namesake two entries earlier, Kethüdâzâde Celâlî Mehmed Çelebi, as another secretary-poet. Some hundred and sixty years lie between these two secretaries who bore the same pen name. His name also appears in Metin Hakverdioğlu's list compiling the poets in Hüsameddin.

Chronology

Safer 1078 (July-August 1667): Deli Emîr Mehmed Paşa becomes governor of the sanjak of Amasya.

Muharrem 1079 (June 1668): The pasha becomes beylerbey of Şehrizor.

Muharrem 1087 (March 1676): The pasha becomes governor of Amasya for the fourth time.

1105 (1693-94): Fazlızâde Hâfız Hasan Efendi, one of the pasha's divan secretaries, dies in Amasya.

Around 1108 (1696-97): Celâlî Mehmed Çelebi dies while secretary of the has revenues.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources