The library of Emîr İmâm Abdüllatîf Efendi, opposite the Sultan Bayezid school in Amasya, had passed to its founder's descendants like a family inheritance by the end of the eighteenth century. Mehmed Efendi, who wrote under the pen name Hükmî, became its hâfız-ı kütüb, the keeper who guarded the books and handed them to readers, and spent his life reading and teaching among its shelves. He took on the post with his two brothers when his father Sa'dullâh Efendi died in 1213 (1799), and he died in 1251 (1835-36). Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, who introduces him in Amasya Tarihi, calls him a scholar, a man of letters and a poet, and adds that his brothers were poets too and that the three exchanged verse. What we know of him comes from this short entry and from the entries on his father and his nephew.

What Hüsameddin Tells Us

Amasyalıdır. Fuzalâdan olup Emîr İmâmzâde es-Seyyid Sa'dullah Efendi bin es-Seyyid el-Hâc Halîl Efendi bin Emîr İmâm Abdüllatîf Efendi'nin mahdûmudur. Esnâ-yı tahsîlinde ceddi kütübhânesi hâfız-ı kütübü pederinin 1213'de vefâtı üzerine cihet-i mezbûre birâderleri Tahir Abdullah ve Sârim Mustafa Efendilerle beraber uhdesine tevcîh edildi. Payaslı el-Hâc Mehmed Efendi'den ikmâl-i tahsîl ederek ders-i âm olup ceddi kütübhânesinde mütalaât ve tedrîsât ile iştigâl ve 1251'de irtihâl etdi. Âlim, edîb, şâir idi. Birâderleri de şâir olduklarından bunlarla müşâere ve müzakere-i ulûm ederdi.

In English: He was from Amasya. A learned man, he was the son of Emîr İmâmzâde Seyyid Sa'dullah Efendi, who was the son of Seyyid Hacı Halîl Efendi, son of Emîr İmâm Abdüllatîf Efendi. While he was still a student, his father, keeper of the books in his ancestor's library, died in 1213, and the post was given to him jointly with his brothers Tâhir Abdullah and Sârim Mustafa Efendi. He completed his studies under Payaslı Hacı Mehmed Efendi and became a ders-i âm (a teacher licensed to give public lessons); he spent his time reading and teaching in his ancestor's library and died in 1251. He was a scholar, a man of letters and a poet. Since his brothers were poets as well, he would trade verses with them and discuss learned questions.

Life

His year of birth is unknown. He was still a student when his father died, so in 1799 he was a young man; his life spans the first third of the nineteenth century. His teacher Payaslı Hacı Mehmed Efendi trained other members of the family as well: his nephew Sârim Mehmed Efendi also completed his studies with him. The title ders-i âm shows that Hükmî was licensed to teach in public. Hüsameddin does not record him as professor of any madrasa; he says that he taught in the library. That detail, showing the library in use as a place of reading and teaching, is the liveliest part of the entry.

The Library and the Family

The library was built by Emîr İmâm es-Seyyid el-Hâc Abdüllatîf Efendi, the first imam of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque. After the founder's death its trusteeship went to his son Halîl Efendi, and on Halîl's death to his grandson Sa'dullâh Efendi. Hükmî's father Sa'dullâh Efendi was born on 13 Zilhicce 1153 (February 1741) in the Çeribaşı quarter; in 1196 (1781-82) he became professor at the Ebûbekir Paşa Madrasa, imam of Sultan Bayezid and keeper of the books in his grandfather's library. After teaching for more than seventeen years he died in Zilkade 1213 (April 1799) and was buried in the library garden. Hüsameddin also notes that Âkifzâde es-Seyyid Abdurrahîm Efendi praised him highly in his Kitâbü'l-Mecmû.

Sa'dullâh Efendi's entry lists his sons as Abdullah Tâhir, Mehmed Sa'îd and Mustafa Sârim. Hükmî's entry names his brothers as Tâhir Abdullah and Sârim Mustafa and calls Hükmî simply "Mehmed". Since there is no other Mehmed among the three sons, Hükmî was very probably Mehmed Sa'îd; but this follows from setting the two entries side by side, and Hüsameddin does not say so. Tâhir and Sârim, added to the brothers' names, must be pen names like Hükmî.

The post stayed in the family for one more generation. Sârim Mustafa Efendi's son Sârim Mehmed Efendi became keeper of the books and trustee of the Sazdoğmuş Malikânesi endowment after his father's death in Şaban 1226 (1811) and the withdrawal of his uncle Hâfız Abdullah Efendi. When he died childless in Safer 1258 (March 1842), the library posts went outside the family. Hükmî's death thus falls in the last years of the library's family management. The family's wider genealogy and the story of the library, which stood until the fire of 1915, are told in The Hâcezâdes.

Poetry

No poem of his survives in any source we have. Hüsameddin reports the "müşâere" between the brothers, their exchange and contest of verse, yet records not a single couplet from it and names no divan or anthology. Metin Hakverdioğlu, reading Amasya Tarihi as a biographical dictionary of poets, counts Hükmî among the poets whose lives are given in the ninth volume. Whatever manuscripts remained in the family's hands may have burned with the library in 1915; the guess rests on the circumstances alone, not on any document. The original entry, with a glossary, is given under the title Hükmî Mehmed Efendi-Emîr İmâmzâde es-Seyyid.

Chronology

13 Zilhicce 1153 (February 1741): His father Sa'dullâh Efendi is born in the Çeribaşı quarter.

1196 (1781-82): Sa'dullâh Efendi becomes professor at Ebûbekir Paşa, imam of Sultan Bayezid and keeper of the library's books.

Zilkade 1213 (April 1799): Sa'dullâh Efendi dies; the keepership is given to Hükmî and his brothers Tâhir Abdullah and Sârim Mustafa.

Şaban 1226 (1811): His brother Sârim Mustafa Efendi dies.

1251 (1835-36): Hükmî Mehmed Efendi dies.

Safer 1258 (March 1842): His nephew Sârim Mehmed Efendi dies childless; the library posts pass outside the family.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources