Amasyalıdır. Amasya‘da Tâceddîn Paşa ve İstanbul’da Tâcî Bey demekle meşhûr olan Kefe Beylerbeyi Tâceddîn İbrâhim Paşa bin Safiyüddîn Mustafa Çelebi bin Gâzi Mehmed Bey mahdûmudur.
Amasya‘da vâlî olan Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed bin Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî devrinde Kâtib-i Dîvânî, ba’dehû Şehremîni olup 918’de menkûbâne ikâmet etdi. Sonra büyük birâderi Nişâncı Ca’fer Çelebi sâyesinde Mîrlivâ olup 932’de vefât etdi. Hattât, maârif-âşinâ, pederinin vakfına mütevellî idi. Mahdûmları Tâceddîn, Mehmed, Ali Çelebilerdir. [125]
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He was the son of the Beylerbeyi of Kefe Tâceddîn İbrâhim Pasha son of Safiyüddîn Mustafa Çelebi son of Gâzi Mehmed Bey, known in Amasya as Tâceddîn Pasha and in Istanbul as Tâcî Bey.
In the time of Prince Sultan Ahmed son of Sultan Bâyezîd II, who was governor in Amasya, he became Divan Scribe and then Şehremini; in 918 [1512-13] he lived in a state of exile. Then, thanks to his elder brother the nişancı Ca'fer Çelebi, he became mîrlivâ (sanjak bey) and died in 932 [1525-26]. A calligrapher and a man fond of learning, he was administrator of his father's waqf. His sons are Tâceddîn, Mehmed and Ali Çelebi.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- Kefe Beylerbeyisi: the governor at the head of the province of Kefe in Crimea
- mahdûm: son
- Kâtib-i Dîvânî: divan scribe, an officer who carried out official correspondence
- şehremîni: an officer in charge of a city's building and tradesmen's affairs
- menkûbâne: fallen from favour, in a state of exile
- nişâncı: the divan officer who affixed the sultan's tughra to documents
- mîrlivâ: sanjak bey
- hattât: calligrapher
- maârif-âşinâ: fond of knowledge and culture
- mütevellî: waqf administrator
Tâcî Bey and His Sons
The "Tâcî Bey" of the text is a man known in Amasya as a poet, münşî and calligrapher. According to the sources he served as defterdar of Prince Bayezid in Amasya and held the office of commander (seraskerlik) of Amasya. Of his poems only a few couplets and one ghazal remain. His date of death is given as 890 [1485] in four separate chronogram lines in his son Sâdî Çelebi's Münşeât; Kâtib Çelebi, for his part, writes that he died in Muharram of that year, above the age of fifty-four, from which a birth year of 836 [1432-33] results. The person whose name in Hüsameddin's entry is İsmâil Bey is Tâcî Bey's son; among his brothers we can count the nişancı Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi and the müderris and poet Tâcîzâde Sâdî Çelebi.
The Elder Brother: Nişancı Câfer Çelebi
According to Hüsameddin's work Nişancılar Durağı, Câfer Çelebi was born in Amasya in Şa'bân 856 [August 1452]; another source gives around 1459, and this difference could not be verified. He studied at Bursa, served as kadı at Simav, administered the waqf of the Bayezid II Imaret at Edirne and in 1497 became nişancı of the Imperial Divan. He took part in the Modon and Koron campaign of 1500. In the events of 1511, when those who wished to put Prince Ahmed on the throne were plundered by the Janissaries, he is said to have barely saved his life; after Bayezid II stepped down from the throne in 1512 it is thought that he held no official post for some time, he was appointed nişancı again in 1514, and in 921 [1515] he was put to death by Sultan Selim the Grim. His body was buried by his brother Sâdî Çelebi in the graveyard of his mosque at Fener.
The entry "lived in a state of exile in 918" that Hüsameddin gives for İsmâil Bey falls precisely in these turbulent years, 1512-13. Since Hüsameddin also writes that İsmâil Bey was Prince Ahmed's scribe and şehremini, it is plausible that this state of exile was connected with Prince Ahmed's defeat in the struggle for the throne; but the text does not make this link, and it is only an inference.
The Question of the Genealogy
About names in the genealogy Hüsameddin gives, such as Safiyyüddin Mustafa Çelebi and Gâzi Mehmed Bey, there is no information in other sources; Hüsameddin's work is shown as the only source that gives information about Câfer Çelebi's family. The only name known on solid historical ground is Tâcî Bey. The title "Beylerbeyi of Kefe" too is mentioned within this genealogy, resting only on Hüsameddin's record.
Sâdî Çelebi
Tâcîzâde Sâdî Çelebi became a müderris at the Gazi Murad Madrasa in Bursa and then went to Istanbul. Most of his poems are in Arabic; it is recorded in the sources that these poems were considered superior to the Arabic poems of his elder brother Câfer Çelebi. Shortly after Câfer Çelebi was killed he was summoned to the palace for a letter to be written to the Mamluk Sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri, and because the letter he wrote was much admired Sultan Selim the Grim granted him 30,000 akçe. He is buried in the garden of the boys' school he had built at Balat.
What Could Not Be Verified
About İsmâil Bey himself, his offices (Divan Scribeship, şehreminiship, mîrlivâship), his death date of 932 and his children, no information was found in other sources. The record that his father was "Beylerbeyi of Kefe" also rests only on Hüsameddin.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 302. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Other sources