All that is known of Emrî Ahmed Çelebi fits into thirty-three words: the entry in Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi is the only record of him. He belonged to the Hacı Beyzâde, one of the old families of beys of Amasya. He served as divan secretary to the beylerbey Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed Paşa, settled in Amasya after the pasha's death to manage his grandfather's endowments, and died in 1029 (1619-20). No specimen of his verse has come down to us.

Hüsameddin's Record

In the seventh volume, the entry that follows directly on the men of Amasya named Emrullah reads:

Amasyalıdır. Züamâdan İbrâhim Bey'in mahdûmudur. Tahsîl-i maârif ederek Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed Paşa'nın kâtib-i dîvânı oldu. Müşârün-ileyhin vefâtında Amasya'da ikâmet ederek ceddînin evkâfına mütevellî olduğu halde 1029'da vefât etdi. Kâtib, şâir, maârif-âşina idi.

In English the text says: He is from Amasya, the son of İbrâhim Bey, one of the holders of a zeamet. After his studies he became divan secretary of Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed Paşa. When the pasha died he settled in Amasya, and he died in 1029 while trustee of his grandfather's endowments. He was a secretary, a poet and a lover of learning. A zeamet is a type of military land grant with a large revenue. Notes on the madrasas, mosque and bathhouse of the Hacı Beyzâdes at Hakala are on the page Emrî Ahmed Çelebi-Hacı Beyzâde.

Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed Paşa

The pasha whose secretary Emrî was appears in several places in Hüsameddin's book. In the entry on his son Ahmed Bey his line is given as "Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed Paşa bin Velî Paşa bin İlyas Bey". His father Velî Paşa was the son of Hacı Nevruz Beyzâde İlyâs Bey, one of the beys of Amasya; Hüsameddin writes that he was called "Hacı Beyzâde". Velî Paşa became governor of Amasya in Muharrem 941 (July-August 1534). Mehmed Paşa himself, according to the chronicle, became beylerbey of Sivas in place of Murad Paşa in Cemâziyelevvel 995 (April-May 1587). Among those raised in the household of the pasha, whom Hüsameddin calls "one of the beylerbeys", were Taşçızâde Ebûbekir Ağa, his steward (kethüda), who died fighting brigands in 1017 (1608-09), and Çakır Ağa, who rose from being his slave to the rank of agha and to the post of kethüdayeri of Amasya.

The pasha's date of death was not found in the entries read. For this reason it is also uncertain when Emrî left his service and returned to Amasya; the entry says only that the return came with the pasha's death, and that Emrî died in Amasya in 1029 as a trustee.

Family and Endowment

The place of Emrî's father İbrâhim Bey within the Hacı Beyzâde family is not clear. Hüsameddin does not say whose son he was, and no record showing his kinship with Mehmed Paşa was found in the entries read. Nor does the phrase "his grandfather's endowments" in the entry show which ancestor's endowment is meant. That Emrî bore the family name "Hacı Beyzâde" in the heading and that the trusteeship of the endowment passed to him suggest that he belonged to one of the branches of the family that founded endowments; this is an inference. The entries on Velî Paşa and Ahmed Bey can be read on the site under the headings Velî Paşa and Ahmed Bey-Hacıbeyzâde.

His Poetry

Here the question of the pen name goes no further than the heading: "Emrî" appears only there, and the text does not say that it is a pen name. His being a poet likewise rests on a single description, "kâtib, şâir", secretary and poet; Hüsameddin quotes no couplet, nor does he say where the information came from. No verse by Emrî Ahmed Çelebi is known today. Metin Hakverdioğlu, who listed the poets in Hüsameddin's book volume by volume, records him too under this heading.

Two entries earlier, Hacı Emrullah Efendi of the Yüzbaşızâde, whom Hüsameddin likewise calls "kâtib, şâir", also bears the name Emrî. Close as they stand in the volume, Emrullah Efendi lived about a century and a half after Emrî Ahmed Çelebi.

Chronology

Muharrem 941 (July-August 1534): The pasha's father Velî Paşa becomes governor of Amasya.

Cemâziyelevvel 995 (April-May 1587): Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed Paşa becomes beylerbey of Sivas.

1029 (1619-20): Emrî Ahmed Çelebi dies in Amasya while trustee of his grandfather's endowments.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources