Emîr Hamzazâde Eşref Ali Çelebi was a seyyid, madrasa teacher and judge of Amasya who lived in the middle of the seventeenth century; for a time he served as deputy of the naqib al-ashraf in Amasya, and he died in 1071 (1660-61). Everything known about him rests on the four-sentence entry in Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi. Hüsameddin presents him as "meşâhîr-i kudâtdan edîb, şâir, kâtib", one of the well-known judges, a man of letters, a poet and a secretary. Not a line of his verse is extant. The entry can also be read, rendered into modern Turkish and with a glossary, on the page Eşref Ali Çelebi-Emîr Hamzazâde.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Volume seven places it immediately after the entry on Eşref Mehmed Çelebi:

Amasyalıdır. Karahisârî Emîr es-Seyyid Hamza Çelebi evlâdından es-Seyyid Mehmed Çelebi mahdûmudur. Amasya'da Kadızâde Küçük Hâce Mehmed Ali Efendi'den tahsîl-i ulûm edib müderris, kadı oldu. Bir müddet Amasya nakîbü'l-eşrâf kâim-makâmı da olup 1071'de vefât etdi. Meşâhîr-i kudâtdan edîb, şâir, kâtib idi.

English version: An Amasya man, born to Seyyid Mehmed Çelebi, a descendant of Emir Seyyid Hamza Çelebi of Karahisar. He studied in Amasya under Kadızâde Küçük Hâce Mehmed Ali Efendi and became a madrasa teacher and judge. For a time he was also deputy of the naqib al-ashraf in Amasya, and he died in 1071. He was one of the well-known judges, a man of letters, a poet and a secretary.

His Life

His year of birth, the madrasas in which he taught and the towns in which he served as judge are unknown. His teacher was Kadızâde Mehmed İlmî Efendi, nicknamed "Küçük Hâce", one of the well-known madrasa teachers of Amasya in the first half of the seventeenth century; Hüsameddin writes his name in some places as Mehmed İlmî and in others, as in this entry, as Mehmed Ali. Küçük Hâce's pupils and descendants are described in the article Hâcezâdeler, where Eşref Ali Çelebi is also counted among his pupils.

The office of deputy of the naqib al-ashraf was the provincial representation of the naqib al-ashraf in Istanbul, the office that dealt with the affairs of the descendants of the Prophet. The years in which he held it go unrecorded.

His Lineage

Hüsameddin traces the family to "Karahisârî Emîr es-Seyyid Hamza Çelebi" but gives no further information on him; nor is it stated which Karahisar is meant. The ninth volume of the book contains another entry, "Hamza Efendi-Emîr Hamzazâde es-Seyyid", on a man who died after 1218 (1803-04) and is introduced as the son of "es-Seyyid Hüseyin Ağa bin es-Seyyid Emîr Hamza Ağa". Whether this family name points to the same lineage as Eşref Ali Çelebi's, or derives from another Emir Hamza, Hüsameddin does not explain.

His Poetry

Hüsameddin mentions his poetry together with his work as secretary and man of letters and quotes not a single line; his poems are lost. Whether "Eşref" served him as a mahlas, a poet's pen name, is left open.

Bibliography

Online sources