The revenue of the Pervâne Bey Malikânesi passed in the family of Seyyid Hamdî Mehmed Efendi of Lâdik from father to son and from sons to grandsons. Hamdî Mehmed stood in the middle of that chain: a scholar who took over the grant from his father and taught and preached while holding it. He died in 1207 (1792-93). His family name "Müftüzâde", son of the mufti, suggests that his father es-Seyyid Ali Efendi was a mufti, though where the father served is not stated. The short entry in Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi calls him a poet from among the ulema and an eloquent speaker. Most of the entry, however, tells less about his own life than about how the malikâne passed to his sons and grandsons.

The Text of the Entry

Lâdiklidir. Es-Seyyid Ali Efendi mahdûmu olup pederinin irtihâlinde Pervâne Bey Malikânesi mutasarrıfı olarak ders-i âm oldu. Sultân Mehmed Hân-ı Râbi câmi-i şerîfinde tedrîs ve tezkîre mülâzemet ederek 1207'de vefât etdi. Ulemâdan şâir, mütekellim bir zât idi.
Mahdûmları es-Seyyid Ali, Hüseyin, Mehmed, Emrullah Efendiler malikâne mutasarrıfı oldular. Bunlardan es-Seyyid Mehmed Efendi 1222'de ve es-Seyyid Hüseyin Efendi 1223'te ve bunun mahdûmu es-Seyyid Mehmed Çelebi 1224'de vefât edib es-Seyyid Ali Efendizâde es-Seyyid Süleyman Efendi ile es-Seyyid Emrullah Efendizâde es-Seyyid Hüseyin Abdülkerîm Efendiler mutasarrıf-ı mâlikâne oldular.

In English: He was from Lâdik. The son of Seyyid Ali Efendi, on his father's death he became a ders-i âm as holder of the Pervâne Bey Malikânesi. He continued teaching and preaching at the mosque of Sultan Mehmed IV and died in 1207. He was a poet from among the ulema and an eloquent man. His sons Seyyid Ali, Hüseyin, Mehmed and Emrullah Efendi became holders of the malikâne. Of these, Seyyid Mehmed Efendi died in 1222 and Seyyid Hüseyin Efendi in 1223, and Hüseyin's son Seyyid Mehmed Çelebi in 1224; thereupon Seyyid Süleyman Efendi, son of Seyyid Ali Efendi, and Seyyid Hüseyin Abdülkerîm Efendi, son of Seyyid Emrullah Efendi, became holders of the malikâne.

Life

Hamdî Mehmed Efendi's year of birth, his teachers and his posts are not recorded. The entry names two activities: teaching and preaching. "Tedrîs ve tezkîr", that is, both formal madrasa lessons and exhortation to the congregation, were carried on in the same mosque. The mosque is named as that of "Sultân Mehmed Hân-ı Râbi", Mehmed IV, but Hüsameddin does not say in which town it stood; whether it was in Lâdik, in Amasya or elsewhere cannot be made out from the entry. The epithet "mütekellim" can also be read in two ways: a scholar of kalam (theology) or a man of fine and persuasive speech. Its mention alongside preaching favours the second sense.

The Pervâne Bey Malikânesi

A malikâne was a form of tenure in which the revenue of a tax source was granted to a person for life; on the holder's death it could pass to his heirs. Hamdî Mehmed Efendi's entry follows that passage clearly: the malikâne went from his father to him, from him to his four sons, and on their deaths to his grandsons. The deaths of three members of the family one after another between 1222 and 1224 (1807-1810) ended with the revenue gathered in the hands of two grandsons. The name of the malikâne recalls the Pervâne Bey Mosque in Amasya, known today as the Burmalı Minare Mosque, and its endowment. Yet the entry does not explain what revenue the malikâne consisted of or whether it had any link with the endowment in Amasya. Vâsî Çelebizâde Hamdî Ahmed Efendi, whose entry stands just before this one in the same volume, was by contrast trustee of the Pervâne Bey endowment in Amasya. That two Hamdîs are connected with holdings of the same name may be a coincidence, or it may point to different rights in the same endowment; the evidence at hand is not enough to choose between the two.

Ties to Amasya

Hamdî Mehmed Efendi was from Lâdik. In the Ottoman period Lâdik was a district (kaza) of the sanjak of Amasya, and Hüsameddin counts the people of Lâdik among those of Amasya. Another poet from the same town who appears in the book is Edîb Mehmed Efendi, author of a divan. The entry records nothing about whether Hamdî Mehmed spent time in Amasya; what ties him to Amasya is the sanjak of the district where he was born and Hüsameddin's inclusion of him among the poets of Amasya.

Poetry

His poems have not come down to us. Hüsameddin, who calls him "a poet from among the ulema", backs the phrase with no couplet; in Metin Hakverdioğlu's listing of the ninth volume he appears as "Hamdi Mehmed Efendi-Müftüzâde". Here the likeness goes beyond the pen name: the Merzifon secretary Hamdî Mehmed Efendi shares both his pen name and his given name. Their death dates tell them apart most quickly: the secretary died around 1115, the scholar of Lâdik in 1207. Hüsameddin's text can be read under the title Hamdi Mehmed Efendi-Müftüzâde es-Seyyid.

Chronology

1207 (1792-93): Hamdî Mehmed Efendi dies; the malikâne passes to his four sons.

1222 (1807-08): His son Seyyid Mehmed Efendi dies.

1223 (1808-09): His son Seyyid Hüseyin Efendi dies.

1224 (1809-10): His grandson Seyyid Mehmed Çelebi dies; the malikâne passes to the grandsons Süleyman and Hüseyin Abdülkerîm Efendi.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources