Deli Seyfî Bey was a man who lived in Amasya at the end of the nineteenth century, from an old cavalry family known as the Yeğen Bekiroğulları, remembered for his fondness for drink and his idle life. He died in 1309 (1891-92). Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar records a couplet that this man, who "şâ'irlenirdi", played at being a poet, never stopped repeating. No poem can be attributed to Deli Seyfî with certainty; the couplet may be his own, or it may be someone else's words that were always on his lips. All that is known of him is contained in the last sentences of the entry Hüsameddin wrote for the head of the family, Seyfullah Bey.

Hüsameddin's Account

In the tenth volume of the Amasya Tarihi, in the entry headed "Seyfullah Bey-Yeğen Bekiroğlu", Hüsameddin follows the family through four generations and ends with Deli Seyfî:

Seyfullah Bey-Yeğen Bekiroğlu Amasyalıdır. Raht-vân el-Hâc Mehmed Paşa'nın yeğeni Ebûbekir Bey'in evlâdından Amasya alaybeyisi el-Hâc Ahmed Bey'in oğludur. Pederinin irtihâlinde ze'âmetine mutasarrıf olup 1183'de Rus muhârebesine gitdi. Ba'de'l-avdet bir kaç def'a Amasya alaybeyisi olup 1203'de yine Rus harbine gitdi. 1204'de mecrûhen vefât etdi. Amasya'nın Sarây Mahallesi'nde mukîm ümerâsından olup oğulları Ahmed, Mehmed Beylerdir. Mehmed Beyzâde Seyfullâh Bey de züamadan olup 1247'de Mısırlı İbrâhim Paşa harbine gitdi. 1254 sâlinden sonra vefât etdi. Bunun torunu Deli Seyfî Bey müskirâta mübtelâ, boşda gezer tâkımından olup 1309'da fevt oldu. Şâ'irlenirdi. "Âşık-ı şûrîde-hâlem kûy-ı yâre gelmişem / Ben bu gün Ferhâd-ı aşkem dağı taşı delmişem" beyti vird-i zebânı idi.

In English: Seyfullah Bey, of the Yeğen Bekiroğulları family, is from Amasya. He is the son of Hacı Ahmed Bey, alaybey (district cavalry commander) of Amasya, a descendant of Ebubekir Bey, nephew of Hacı Mehmed Paşa the rahtvan. On his father's death he took possession of his zeamet (large military fief) and in 1183 went to the Russian war. After his return he was alaybey of Amasya several times; in 1203 he went to the Russian war again, and in 1204 he died of his wounds. He was one of the beys living in the Saray quarter of Amasya; his sons are Ahmed and Mehmed Bey. Mehmed Bey's son Seyfullah Bey also held a zeamet; in 1247 he went to the war against İbrahim Paşa of Egypt and died after 1254. His grandson Deli Seyfî Bey was given to intoxicating drink and was one of the idlers; he died in 1309. He played at being a poet. The couplet "I am a lover in a distracted state, I have come to the beloved's quarter; today I am the Ferhad of love, I have pierced mountain and rock" was always on his lips.

Family

Deli Seyfî's family is a typical example of the provincial military order of eighteenth-century Amasya. The family takes its name from Ebubekir Bey, nephew of Hacı Mehmed Paşa, a rahtvan, the official in charge of the harness in the palace stables; "Yeğen Bekiroğlu" means "sons of Bekir the nephew". The family consisted of zeamet holders, cavalrymen with large fiefs, and for generations held the post of alaybey, commander of the cavalry of the sanjak of Amasya. Seyfullah Bey, father of Deli Seyfî's great-grandfather, took part in the Russian wars of 1183 (1769) and 1203 (1788-89) and died of his wounds in 1204 (1789-90). His grandson, the second Seyfullah Bey, went on the campaign of 1247 (1831-32) against İbrahim Paşa, son of Mehmed Ali Paşa, governor of Egypt, and died after 1254 (1838-39). According to Hüsameddin, Deli Seyfî Bey was the grandson of this second Seyfullah Bey.

This chain of descent also shows, indirectly, the change undergone by cavalry families as the fief system dissolved in the nineteenth century. Of the last generation of a family whose forefathers fought in the Russian and Egyptian wars, Deli Seyfî is remembered in Hüsameddin's pages only for his drinking, his idleness and a couplet. The juxtaposition is ours; Hüsameddin passes no judgement in describing the family.

His Poetry

To describe Deli Seyfî's habit of "playing the poet" Hüsameddin gives a single couplet and says that he had made it his "vird-i zebân", words he repeated constantly like a prayer. He does not say that the couplet was Deli Seyfî's own. Forms such as "gelmişem, delmişem" are close to minstrel poetry and to eastern dialects; the couplet may have been taken from a folk song or from a saying current among the people. In the other sources we consulted the couplet did not turn up again. On the couplet's own page the question of authorship is stated plainly as well.

The name Seyfî occurs for several people in the history of Amasya. Deli Seyfî Bey has no connection with the Seyfî whom Hüsameddin counts among the folk poets of the seventeenth century; information on the namesakes is in Seyfî (Amasya folk poet). Since Hüsameddin was born in Amasya in 1869, he was living in the same city as a young man during Deli Seyfî's last years; he may have heard the couplet as a memory circulating in the town. The text does not say so.

Chronology

1183 (1769): Seyfullah Bey, father of his great-grandfather, goes to the Russian war.

1204 (1789-90): Seyfullah Bey dies of wounds received in the Russian war.

1247 (1831-32): His grandfather, the second Seyfullah Bey, goes on campaign against İbrahim Paşa.

1309 (1891-92): Deli Seyfî Bey dies.

Bibliography

Online sources