With his kasides (odes) Nûreddînzâde Seyyid Edîb Mehmed Efendi, a poet from Lâdik, knocked at the doors of two grand viziers; he served as a judge in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and died in 1134 (1721-22). Lâdik, his birthplace, was then a district of the sanjak of Amasya, and he received his first schooling in Amasya. His whole life stayed bound to the fortunes of İmâm-ı Sultânî Hâfız Mehmed Efendi, a man of Lâdik like himself who was twice şeyhülislâm. What is known of him rests solely on the entry in Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi; Hüsameddin says he had a "complete" divan and gives four samples of his verse. The full text of the entry can be read, with notes on the 1703 revolt and the two grand viziers, on the page Edîb Mehmed Efendi-Nureddînzâde.

Hüsameddin's Account

Hüsameddin opens the entry with these lines and sums up the poet's character as follows:

Lâdiklidir. Sâhibü'l-hâl es-Seyyid Ahmed-i Kebîr er-Rifâî ahfâdından orada Rifâî tekkesi şeyhi ve mütevellîsi es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Ahmed Efendi bin es-Seyyid Nureddîn Hamza Çelebi bin es-Seyyid Ali mahdûmudur. Amasya'da fuzalâdan Pîrîzâde el-Hâc Hüseyin Efendi'den mukaddimât-ı ulûmu tahsîl ederek İstanbul'a gidip Bekrîzâde Şamî Mehmed Efendi'den ikmâl-i tahsîl etdi. [...] Âlim, kâmil, şâir, mahlası gibi edîb, fünûn-ı edebiyyede mâhir, münşî, halûk, halîm, bir seyyid-i kerîm idi. Mükemmel dîvân-ı şiiri vardır. Kıyâm-ı askerî vak'asında zî-medhâl olduğu ba'zı a'dâsı tarafından işâ'a edilmeseydi, ilim ve fazlına münâsip mansıplara nâil olurdu.

In English: He was from Lâdik. He was the son of Seyyid Şeyh Ahmed Efendi, sheikh and administrator of the Rifâî dervish lodge there and a descendant of the saintly Seyyid Ahmed er-Rifâî; his grandfather was Seyyid Nureddin Hamza Çelebi, whose father was Seyyid Ali. In Amasya he studied the introductory sciences with the scholar Pîrîzâde Hacı Hüseyin Efendi, then went to Istanbul and completed his education under Bekrîzâde Şamî Mehmed Efendi. He was learned, accomplished, a poet, refined as his pen name (edîb, man of letters) suggests, skilled in the literary arts, a prose stylist, good-natured, gentle and a generous seyyid. He had a complete divan of poems. Had some of his enemies not spread the rumour that he had a hand in the military uprising, he would have reached offices worthy of his learning and merit.

His Life

In Istanbul Edîb became a candidate (mülâzım) under Hâfız Mehmed Efendi of Lâdik and in 1091 (1680) rose to be a madrasa teacher. When Hâfız Mehmed Efendi became chief military judge of Rumelia in Cemâziyelevvel 1099, Edîb became his secretary (tezkireci). After his patron's dismissal in 1101 he went out to judgeships in Rumelia: first Alakilise, then Livâdiye in 1103. In 1104 he returned to Istanbul, and when Hâfız Mehmed Efendi became military judge for the second time in Zilkade of that year, Edîb was again his secretary. When his master became şeyhülislâm in Şaban 1106, Edîb became his chief correspondence secretary (mektupçu); but Hâfız Mehmed Efendi was removed two months later and Edîb went off to the judgeship of Yanbolu. Kazanlık followed in 1109 and Karaferiye in 1112.

The turning point of his life was the military uprising that broke out in Istanbul in 1115 (1703). Hâfız Mehmed Efendi, made şeyhülislâm for the second time during the revolt, appointed Edîb his mektupçu once more. When his master was dismissed in Ramazan of the same year and sent to Bursa, Edîb went with him and was left without office for years. According to Hüsameddin, the rumour that he had taken part in the uprising blocked his advancement. In 1122, under the grand vizierate of Köprülüzâde Numan Pasha, he became judge of Akkirman and was dismissed in 1124. The kaside he presented to Şehid Ali Pasha, who became grand vizier in Rebîülâhir 1125, was admired, but because the pasha's suspicions had been aroused he was fobbed off with a reward and a judgeship. The congratulatory kaside he offered to Nevşehirli Damad İbrâhim Pasha during his vizierate in 1128 opened the door at last: under the pasha's grand vizierate he became his librarian and close companion (nedim) and spent some five comfortable years in his gatherings. He died in 1134.

His Connection with Amasya

Two things link Edîb with Amasya. The first is his birthplace: Lâdik is today a district of Samsun, but in Ottoman times it belonged to the sanjak of Amasya, which is why Hüsameddin counts the men of Lâdik among the notables of Amasya. The second is his education: Edîb studied the introductory sciences in Amasya with Pîrîzâde Hacı Hüseyin Efendi. That his patron Hâfız Mehmed Efendi came from the same district points to a network of fellow townsmen reaching from the provinces to Istanbul. No other record was found of the Rifâî lodge in Lâdik where his father was sheikh.

His Poetry

Hüsameddin says that Edîb had a "complete" divan; no manuscript or edition of it has been traced. The entry contains four pieces. The first is a pair of couplets that Hüsameddin describes as "from his Nuût-ı Nebeviyye", likening the Prophet's law to a solid building and a treasure guarded by a talisman; whether "Nuût-ı Nebeviyye" was a separate work or the section of praise poems to the Prophet in his divan is unclear. Next come two opening couplets built on the same rhyme and redif: "Teshîr iden ol yâri duâ-yı sihirimdir" and "Aşkın ki gül-i bağ-ı dile şûle perimdir". The last piece is a five-couplet ghazal beginning "Aç sîneni âyîne-i billûr görünsün", with the pen name "Edîbâ". Each can be read on its own page in the poet's category.

None of the poems bears a date. The two kasides Hüsameddin mentions, those presented to Şehid Ali Pasha and to Damad İbrâhim Pasha, are not quoted in the entry and have not been found.

Others of the Same Name

Poets with the pen name Edîb are not few, and two of them could easily be confused with Edîb of Lâdik. In the same volume, in the very next entry, Hüsameddin describes Şeyh Alizâde Seyyid Edîb Mehmed Efendi of Amasya, who served as correspondence secretary of the finance office and treasurer of Belgrade and died in 1181. The Mehmed Edîb Efendi of the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, on the other hand, was born in Bor near Niğde, was a student-assistant of Feyzullah Efendi and later of Şeyhülislâm Mehmed Efendi of Lâdik, served as judge of Eğirdir and Ferecik, and was still alive in 1134. Two Edîbs attached to the same patron and living in the same years are easily confused, but their birthplaces and judgeships do not match; this page deals only with Hüsameddin's Edîb of Lâdik.

Chronology

1091 (1680): He becomes a madrasa teacher.

1099 (1688): He becomes secretary to Hâfız Mehmed Efendi, military judge of Rumelia.

1106 (1695): He becomes mektupçu to Şeyhülislâm Hâfız Mehmed Efendi.

1115 (1703-04): During the military uprising he is again made mektupçu; on his master's dismissal he goes to Bursa.

1128 (1716): He presents a congratulatory kaside to Damad İbrâhim Pasha.

1134 (1721-22): He dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

Online sources