Hacı İbrâhim İlmî Bey was the son of Rahtuvan Hacı Mehmed Pasha, who died on the Baghdad campaign in 1113 (1701-02). Born in Amasya, he spent his life between the trusteeship of pious endowments, the governorship of a sanjak and the leadership of the town's notables, and died in 1143 (1730-31) as an exile in the fortress of Samsun. In Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's record the epithets "a scholar, a man of virtue, a man of letters, a poet" stand side by side; yet İlmî Bey's place in the literature of Amasya rests less on the poems he wrote than on the gathering he held in his house. One day a week he received the town's scholars and poets in his mansion, conversed with them and gave gifts to those who distinguished themselves by their words. Not a single line of his own poetry has survived. The whole of what Hüsameddin wrote, with explanatory notes, is on the page İbrâhim İlmî Bey-Rahtuvân Paşazâde.

Hüsameddin's Record

The entry in the sixth volume describes his life as a notable and his literary gathering in the same paragraph:

İbrâhim İlmî Bey-Rahtuvân Paşazâde Amasyalıdır. 1113'de Bağdâd harbinde vefât eden Rahtuvân el-Hâc Mehmed Paşa'nın mahdûmudur. Amasya'da tevellüd edib pederi Şâm mütesellimi iken birâderi Osmân Bey'le beraber Şâm ulemâsından ahz-ı ulûm ederek Amasya'ya geldi. Pederinin Cidde ve Habeş beylerbeyiliği zamanında îfâ-yı Hac edib ba'zı bilâda ve eyâletlere pederi tarafından mütesellim oldu. Pederinin vefâtında Amasya'ya gelip 1114'de Yâkutiyye, 1120'de Bâyezîd Paşa, 1121'de Hüseyin Ağa vakıflarına mütevellî oldu. 1122'de mîr-livâ olup ma'zûlen Amasya'ya geldikde mükerreren baş-a'yân olmuşdu. Ancak etbâ'ının ba'zı ahvâl-i nâ-becâya cür'eti ve rukabâsının da şikâyeti yüzünden birkaç def'a teftîşe uğradı. Mîr-i mîrân olacağı esnâda Hüseyin Ağa vakfından zimmeti çıkarılıp terakkîsine mâni'alar ihdâs eyledi. Nihâyet 1143 vak'asında rüfekâsıyla birlikde Samsun'a iclâ ve kal'abend edilip zilhiccesinde vefât etdi. Bekir Beyzâde Ömer Paşa'nın dâmâdıdır. Âlim, fâzıl, edîp, şâir, hasîb, gâyet mükerrem, beşûş, servet ü yesâre mâlik, hânesi mahfel-i üdebâ ve mecma'-ı ulemâ idi. Haftada bir def'a ulemâ ve şu'arâyı hânesinde cem' ederek onlarla ilmî ve edebî musâhebeler eder, isbât-ı meziyyet edenlere atıyyeler verirdi. Mahdûmları Ömer Lütfî, Mehmed Avnî Beylerdir. Birâderleri Osmân, Ali, Ahmed beylerdir. Ömer Beyzâdeler ahfâdı bâkidir.

In modern English: He is from Amasya; he is the son of Rahtuvan Hacı Mehmed Pasha, who died in the war at Baghdad in 1113. He was born in Amasya. While his father was deputy governor (mütesellim) of Damascus, he studied with the scholars of Damascus together with his brother Osman Bey and then came to Amasya. During his father's term as governor-general (beylerbey) of Jeddah and Abyssinia he made the pilgrimage, and his father sent him as deputy governor to certain towns and provinces. When his father died he returned to Amasya and became trustee (mütevelli) of the Yâkûtiye endowment in 1114, of the Bayezid Pasha endowment in 1120 and of the Hüseyin Ağa endowment in 1121. In 1122 he became a sanjak governor; when he was dismissed and returned to Amasya, he was chosen several times as head of the notables (ayanbaşı). Because his men ventured on improper deeds and his rivals complained, he was investigated several times. Just as he was about to become a governor-general, a debt was charged against him from the Hüseyin Ağa endowment, which blocked his advancement. Finally, in the events of 1143, he was exiled to Samsun with his companions, shut up in the fortress, and died in the month of Zilhicce of that year. He was the son-in-law of Bekir Beyzâde Ömer Pasha. He was learned, virtuous, a man of letters, a poet, skilled in accounts, very generous, cheerful and wealthy; his house was the meeting place of men of letters and the gathering place of scholars. Once a week he gathered scholars and poets in his house, held learned and literary conversations with them and gave gifts to those who proved their merit. His sons were Ömer Lütfî and Mehmed Avnî Beys, his brothers Osman, Ali and Ahmed Beys. The descendants of the Ömer Beyzâdes are still living.

Life

İlmî Bey's early youth was spent at his father's posts. In Damascus he studied together with his brother Osman Bey; while his father was governor-general of Jeddah and Abyssinia he made the pilgrimage, and in several provinces he served as deputy governor on his father's behalf. When his father died in 1113 he settled in Amasya and took over the management of the town's great endowments: first the Yâkûtiye, then those of Bayezid Pasha and Hüseyin Ağa. Dismissed from the sanjak governorship he received in 1122 (1710-11), he returned once more to Amasya and was elected head of the notables.

İlmî Bey also appears among the yearly events Hüsameddin spread across his fourth volume. There it is written that at the beginning of Muharrem 1131 he was elected head of the notables, while the post of deputy governor remained with Osman Bey, son of Ömer Pasha, former governor of Anatolia. Hüsameddin counts these two beys as the pride of Amasya and says that İlmî Bey's mansion was in no way inferior to Osman Bey's vizier-like household; he adds that the great ağas of the town envied them and arranged complaints against them. The phrase "the complaints of his rivals" in the entry points to this rivalry. Hüsameddin does not say explicitly whether Ömer Pasha and Bekir Beyzâde Ömer Pasha are the same person; if they are, Osman Bey was İlmî Bey's brother-in-law. This is a possibility.

The end of his life came with the events of 1143. This is the year of the Patrona Halil revolt, and Hüsameddin writes that İlmî Bey was exiled to Samsun together with his companions, imprisoned in the fortress and died there in the Zilhicce of the same year. He attributes the exile to the investigations of his years as a notable; whether it had anything to do with the provincial echoes of the revolt cannot be learned from the book.

The Gathering in His Mansion

İlmî Bey's tie with literature is best shown by the entries of those who were formed in his gathering. In the eleventh volume of Hüsameddin two different people are linked to it. Şinâsî Ahmed Efendi, son of the Janissary Tânişoğlu Mehmed Ağa, attended "the learned circle of Rahtuvân Mehmed Paşazâde Hacı İbrâhim Bey" while still a young Janissary clerk, and there acquired a share of poetry and prose composition. He later became divan secretary to Şâhin Ağa and to Hüseyin Ağa of Amasya, and died in 1168. Sun'î Mehmed Efendi, son of the sheikh of a Quran reciters' school (darülkurra), was a reciter known for his fine voice, eager for poetry and prose and versed in music; by attending "the gatherings of the Beys İbrâhim Rahtuvân Paşazâde and Osmân Ömer Paşazâde" he gained standing, and he died in 1147 as imam of the Hayreddin Efendi Mosque.

These two records make concrete whom the meetings Hüsameddin calls "once a week" brought together: a clerk from the Janissary corps, a mosque imam, the learned men of the town. That İlmî Bey is remembered for both learning and generosity suggests that the gathering also worked as a circle of patronage. The mention of İlmî Bey's and Osman Bey's gatherings side by side in Sun'î's entry shows that at the beginning of the eighteenth century two notable mansions in Amasya at once opened their doors to poets.

His Connection with Amasya

Leaving aside his time as sanjak governor, İlmî Bey spent his whole life after his father's death in Amasya, the town of his birth. He managed three of its great endowments and was several times head of the notables. According to Hüsameddin, his grandson Hacı İbrâhim Bey became head of the notables and deputy governor of Amasya in 1183; the family lived on in the town until the author's own day under the name of the Ömer Beyzâdes.

His Poetry

His poems have not come down to us. Behind Hüsameddin's word "poet" there is not a single couplet, and no other source turned up a poem by İlmî Bey. Nor is it known whether "İlmî" in his name was used as a pen name; Hüsameddin writes it as part of the name.

Chronology

1113 (1701-02): His father Rahtuvan Hacı Mehmed Pasha dies on the Baghdad campaign.

1114 (1702-03): He becomes trustee of the Yâkûtiye endowment.

1122 (1710-11): He becomes a sanjak governor; on his dismissal he returns to Amasya.

Muharrem 1131 (November 1718): He is elected head of the notables of Amasya.

Zilhicce 1143 (June-July 1731): He dies as an exile in the fortress of Samsun.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources