Cezerî Kasım Paşa was both a statesman and a poet of the reigns of Mehmed II (the Conqueror) and Bayezid II. In his poems he used the pen name Sâfî. His tie to Amasya comes from Mehmed II's appointment of him as treasurer (defterdar) to Prince (Şehzade) Bayezid, then governor (sanjak-bey) of Amasya; when the prince came to the throne he became chancellor (nişancı) and then vizier. The biographers mention him as one of the first among the poets of Rûm to bring proverbs and sayings into poetry; according to Latîfî the manner began with him and reached maturity in Necâtî Bey. His divan was long thought lost; its only known manuscript was found in the private library of İsmail E. Erünsal and published in 2016.

Kasım Paşa's poetry is also connected with the literary circle of Bayezid's princely court in Amasya. The prince himself wrote poetry under the pen name Adlî, and there were poets among his treasurers and companions. Kasım Paşa's place in this circle shows that he stood at Bayezid's side both in affairs of state and in poetry. The details of his life are told in his biography in the Historical Figures section of our site; here the emphasis is on his work and his poetry.

Life and Years in Amasya

The sources give different accounts of Kasım Paşa's origins. Some say that he was the grandson of the Qur'an-reading scholar Cezerî and the son of Cezerîzâde Şemseddin Mehmed Bey, one of Mehmed II's chancellors, and that he bore the name Cezerî for that reason. İsmail E. Erünsal, however, draws attention to the fact that in his endowment deed of 907 (1502) his name appears as "Kāsım Paşa b. Abdullah"; this record strengthens the tradition that he was a slave of Şeyh Mehmed Cezerî or of that family. Latîfî calls him Cezerî's "ġulâm-ı ḫâne-ẕâdı", a slave born in the household, "ṣûretâ bende ve maʿnîde âzâd", a servant in appearance but free in truth. Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi also writes that he was a purchased slave of Mevlânâ Cezerî and a servant raised by his hand. Sehî Bey's account is different: according to him Kasım Paşa was the slave of an old woman of Edirne, who brought him up and educated him like a son. Erünsal also records that his mother was the daughter of Fenârîzâde Ali Efendi.

The sources agree that, after serving in the Imperial Council, Kasım Paşa won the favour of Mahmud Paşa and was appointed by Mehmed II as treasurer to Prince Bayezid, who was then in the sanjak of Amasya. Sehî records this office as "Sulṭān Bāyezīd Amasiyye'de Çelebi Sulṭān iken defterdārı olup", becoming his treasurer while Sultan Bayezid was Çelebi Sultan in Amasya. For a time he also served as treasurer of the governorate-general of Rumelia. Hüseyin Hüsameddin, in his work Nişancılar Durağı, writes without citing a source that Kasım Paşa was treasurer of the army sent against Uzun Hasan, was soon after appointed treasurer of the imperial treasury, went to Amasya in 878 (1473-74) as tutor-guardian (lala) to Prince Bayezid, and in 884 (1479), when Vizier Mustafa Paşa was made Bayezid's lala, returned to Istanbul and became chancellor. Latîfî, for his part, introduces him as "Kasım Paşa, who was lala to Sultan Korkut"; this information is not confirmed in other sources.

When Bayezid II came to the throne in 886 (1481), Kasım Paşa was made chancellor, and in 887 (1482) vizier; but before a year had passed he was dismissed and replaced by Mesih Paşa. İbn Kemal states that after leaving the vizierate he was sent to Kefe (Caffa). Gelibolulu Âlî writes that he was given the sanjak of Salonica in retirement and remained there until his death; Sehî too says that he died while governor in Salonica. Whether the Kasım Paşa whom Celâlzâde mentions as tutor to Prince Süleyman under Selim I was Cezerî Kasım Paşa is uncertain; Erünsal points out that several Kasım Paşas have been confused with one another. His date of death is not known for certain either. The endowment deed of his mosque at Cağaloğlu in Istanbul is dated Ramadan 907 (March 1502); in a record of 939 (1532-33) in the Islamic court registers of Bursa he is referred to as "the late". Kasım Paşa must have died between these two dates.

The biographers also remember Kasım Paşa for his generosity and charitable foundations. Sehî says that no other Ottoman bey is known to have been so charitable. He built a madrasa, a bath and a soup kitchen in Bursa, a small mosque at Cağaloğlu in Istanbul, a mosque, madrasa and school at Eyüp, and in Salonica a mosque known as the Kâsımiye Mosque together with a soup kitchen. According to Bursalı Belîğ, his grave lies on the west side of the madrasa he built opposite the tomb of Emir Sultan in Bursa.

Works

Kasım Paşa's only known work is his Turkish divan. Sehî says that his divan was famous among the people. For a long time no copy of it was known; its only known manuscript today is in the private library of İsmail E. Erünsal. According to Erünsal, this manuscript, thought to have been compiled in the poet's lifetime, does not contain all his poems. The absence of sections in praise of God's unity and of the Prophet, and the presence of only three kasides, are notable. The first kaside is addressed to Hüseyin, the others to Mehmed II and Bayezid II. On the basis of these features Erünsal thinks the manuscript may have been compiled at an early stage of the poet's life. The divan was published by Ahmet Sevgi and Hakan Sevindik in 2016 under the title Cezerî Kasım Paşa Sâfî Dîvânı.

Sâfî's poems also appear in nazire anthologies. In the Pervâne Bey Mecmuası described by Ömer Zülfe, one of the headings given to the poets' poems reads "Nazîre-i Cezerî Kasım Paşa ki merhum Necâtî'nin üstadıdır derler", that is, the compiler of the anthology recorded that Kasım Paşa was regarded as Necâtî's master. On our site, a kaside and two ghazals quoted from the edition of the divan in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü (Dictionary of Names in Turkish Literature), together with the ghazal, opening couplets, couplets and kıt‘as preserved by the biographical anthologies, have been published in separate articles with their original texts, modern renderings and commentaries. The rest of the poems of the divan could not be included in this collection, since no online text of the edition is available.

Literary Persona

The biographers' judgements of Sâfî converge on his pioneering use of proverbs and sayings. Sehî counts him "among the esteemed poets of the land of Rûm"; he says "ṭarz-ı ḫāṣ ḳullanur", he uses a manner of his own, and describes his poetry as "ḫoş-ṭab‘ mes̱el-gūy ḫayāl-engīz ve ems̱āl-āmīz", good-natured, proverb-telling, imaginative and mixed with proverbs. Latîfî speaks more plainly: among the poets of Rûm the art of the proverb first appeared with him and found its perfection in the late Necâtî Bey. Latîfî adds that Sâfî's couplets were "kemâl-i metânetde muḥkem ü metîn", firmly and solidly built. A couplet by İshak Çelebi, a poet of the period, also touches on this side: "Şi‘rin dilersen okuna makbûl-ı halk ola / Sâfî, Necâtî şi‘ri gibi pürmesel gerek", if you wish your poetry to be read and loved by the people, it must be full of proverbs like the poetry of Sâfî and Necâtî.

Âşık Çelebi and Kınalızâde, for their part, stress that Sâfî took Ahmed Paşa as his model. Âşık Çelebi writes that he tested his talent by writing nazires (response poems) to Ahmed Paşa's ghazals, and Kınalızâde that in his poetry he mostly followed Ahmed Paşa, that his poems were graceful and burning, and that the manner of his couplets was clear and pure. Kınalızâde also records that Molla İdrîs mentioned him with praise among the viziers of Bayezid II in his Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân.

The poems available today confirm both these judgements. In Sâfî's couplets sayings and proverbs such as "the ground has ears", "are you a dog or a man", "blackness of face" and "one head and a thousand tongues" merge with the established images of divan poetry. In one couplet he asks that the sun and moon in the sky not be likened to the beloved, for "the ground has ears"; in another he counts the moon's marks a "blackening of face" earned by imitating the beloved with her beauty spot. He expresses the joint rule of the beloved's cruelty and sorrow over the realm of the heart with the question "what need has a ruined place of two kings". He is also fond of wordplay: in the ghazal "Ṣubḥ-ı vaṣl" he uses the word "dil" in the senses of both heart and tongue, and in the closing couplet of the ghazal "Sünbülüñ her dem" he links writing, the down on the cheek and dust through the words "ḫaṭ" and "ġubār". The kıt‘a he wrote to ask for a horse is an exercise in double entendre woven from beginning to end with chess terms.

Religious sensibility is also notable in Sâfî's poetry. His divan opens with a kaside of thirty-one couplets addressed to Hüseyin. In this kaside all of nature mourns for the events of Karbala: the dawn weeps blood, the clouds put on mourning garments, the bud tears its collar. The poet presents himself as a dervish rubbing his face on Hüseyin's threshold and asks for his intercession at the resurrection. In the closing couplet of one ghazal, too, he hopes to be united with the beloved for the sake of the Prophet.

Examples of His Poetry

Kaside: Ey nûr-ı çeşm-i Ahmed-i Muhtâr yâ Hüseyn

Ey nûr-ı çeşm-i Ahmed-i Muhtâr yâ Hüseyn
Ey yâdigâr-ı Hayder-i Kerrâr yâ Hüseyn
Kan agladı şafak da şehâ şefkatünden âh
Ol dem ki itdiler seni kurbân yâ Hüseyn
Kandur şarâb-ı Kevsere Sâfî kulunı sen
Geydür libâs-ı hulle-i rıdvân yâ Hüseyn

O light of the eye of the Chosen Prophet, O keepsake of Ali, Hüseyin; at the moment they sacrificed you even the dawn wept blood out of compassion; quench your servant Sâfî with the wine of Kawthar and clothe him in the robe of paradise. The kaside stands at the head of the divan and runs to thirty-one couplets with the refrain "yâ Hüseyn" (Sevgi - Sevindik 2016, pp. 110-113; as quoted in TEİS).

Ghazal: Nice bir feryâda vara nâle vü âhum sana

Nice bir feryâda vara nâle vü âhum sana
Gün gibi rûşen degül mi hâlüm ey mâhum sana
Serverâ hüsn-i cihân-efrûzunı bir kez gören
Pâdişâh-ı dehr olursa kul ola şâhum sana

How long must the lover's moans try to reach the beloved; his state is as plain as the sun. Whoever sees once the beloved's world-illumining beauty becomes her slave, even if he be the sultan of the age. Coming from the pen of a vizier, this couplet is an example of the common language of divan poetry that portrays the beloved as ruler and the lover as slave (Sevgi - Sevindik 2016, pp. 117-118).

Ghazal: Subh-ı vasl irdi kanı câm-ı sabûh

Subh-ı vasl irdi kanı câm-ı sabûh
Sun berü sâkî ki oldur kût-ı rûh
Mısr-ı hüsnün Yûsuf’ısın lîkin âh
Sabr-ı Eyyûb andurursın ömr-i Nûh

The morning of union has come; the poet asks the cupbearer for morning wine, the food of the soul. The beloved is the Joseph of the land of beauty, but waiting for her requires the patience of Job and the lifespan of Noah (Sevgi - Sevindik 2016, p. 129).

Ghazal: Sünbülüñ her dem gül üzre tārmār olmaḳ neden

Geh cefāsı ḥükm ider mülk-i dile gāhī ġamı
Bir ḫarāb-ābāda iki şehryār olmaḳ neden
Ḫaṭṭ-ı dil-ber gibi āḫir çün gelürmiş yazılan
Ṣāfiyā āyīne-i dilde ġubār olmaḳ neden

Now the beloved's cruelty, now her sorrow rules over the realm of the heart; what need has a ruined place of two kings. What is written on the brow will surely come in the end, like the down on the beloved's face; so what need is there for the dust of grief on the mirror of the heart. The ghazal has five couplets in Âşık Çelebi and three in Kınalızâde and Beyânî (Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ'ir, p. 553).

Ghazal: Boyuñ bir serv-i ra‘nādur güli var

İnanma zülfinüñ ‘ahdine Ṣāfī
Kim anuñ bir başı vü biñ dili var

Sâfî says one should not trust the promise of the beloved's locks, for they have one head and a thousand tongues. In the couplet "dil" means both a strand of hair and the speaking tongue; a popular saying is applied to the look of the hair (Sehî, Heşt-Bihişt, pp. 31-32).

Opening Couplet: Gül germ oluben yoluña ṣaçılmasun ey dost

Gül germ oluben yoluña ṣaçılmasun ey dost
Ṣovuḳ geçer iken daḫî açılmasun ey dost

The rose should not grow eager and strew itself on the beloved's path, nor open while the cold is passing. The couplet rests on a contrast drawn between warm and cold, strewing and opening; Latîfî, Kınalızâde and Beyânî quote it (Latîfî, Tezkire, p. 322).

Single Couplet: Beñzetme mihr ü mâhı felekde cemâline

Beñzetme mihr ü mâhı felekde cemâline
Tâ ki kimesne işide yirüñ ḳulaġı var

One should not liken the sun and moon in the sky to the beloved's beauty, for the ground has ears, and if the comparison were overheard it would be a disgrace. The contrast between sky and earth gives the proverb a new meaning (Latîfî, Tezkire, p. 322).

Kıt‘a: Ey şehsuvâr-ı server-i iḳbâl ü fażl u cûd

Ferzâne iken itdi piyâde felek beni
Rûḥum ʿinâyet eyle baña fil-veş bir at
Bir ḫâne yoḳ ki varam kiş diseñ baña
Şâhum recâmı red ḳılup itme ḳuluñı mât

Fate has turned the poet, once a ferzâne, into a pawn; he asks his patron for a horse like an elephant and says that he has no square left to take refuge in and will be checkmated if his plea is rejected. According to Latîfî, Sâfî wrote this kıt‘a when his horse died on campaign, and the commander gave him one of his own horses (Latîfî, Tezkire, pp. 322-323).

Chronology

878 (1473-74): According to Hüsameddin, he went to Amasya as lala to Prince Bayezid. His appointment by Mehmed II as treasurer to the prince in Amasya also belongs to these years; the sources give no exact date.

884 (1479): According to Hüsameddin, he returned to Istanbul and became chancellor.

886 (1481): With the accession of Bayezid II he was appointed chancellor.

887 (1482): He became vizier; he was dismissed before a year had passed.

907 (March 1502): The endowment deed of his mosque at Cağaloğlu in Istanbul was drawn up; he was alive at this date.

939 (1532-33): He is referred to as "the late" in a record of the Islamic court registers of Bursa.

2016: His divan was published by Ahmet Sevgi and Hakan Sevindik.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Ahmet Sevgi - Hakan Sevindik (eds.), Cezerî Kasım Paşa Sâfî Dîvânı, Konya: Palet Yay., 2016.
  • Latîfî, Tezkiretü'ş-şu'arâ ve Tabsıratü'n-nuzamâ, ed. Rıdvan Canım, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), pp. 321-323, entry on Sâfî.
  • Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ'irü'ş-şu'arâ, ed. Filiz Kılıç, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), p. 553, entry on Sâfî.
  • Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi, Tezkiretü'ş-şu'arâ, ed. Aysun Sungurhan, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2017 (e-book), pp. 494-495, entry on Sâfî.
  • Beyânî, Tezkiretü'ş-şu'arâ, ed. Aysun Sungurhan, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2017 (e-book), p. 107, entry on Sâfî.

Academic studies

Official sources

  • Sehî Beg, Heşt-Bihişt, ed. Günay Kut, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay. (e-book), pp. 31-32, entry on Kâsım Paşa.

Books

Online sources