[130] Amasyalıdır. Amasya vâlisi Şehzâde Sultân Mustafa Hân’ın nişâncısı olan hattât-ı meşhûr Tâceddîn Bey bin İsmâil Bey bin Tâceddîn İbrâhim Paşazâde hattât Ali Çelebi mahdûmudur. Esbak Nişâncı Tâczâde Mehmed Çelebi birâderidir.
Şehzâde Sultân Mustafa’nın şehâdetinden sonra peder ve birâderiyle beraber İstanbul’a gitdi. Orada Kıbletü’l-hattâtîn Amasyalı Şeyh Hamdullah Efendi hafîdi Derviş Mehmed Dede bin Mustafa Dede tilmîzi Abdullah Kırımî’den hutût-ı mütenevviayı ahz ve temeşşuk etdi. İlim ve marifet öğrendi.
Ba’dehû büyük birâderinin himmetiyle Dîvân-ı Hümâyun kâtiblerinden olup erbâb-ı kalem arasında hayli iştihâr ederek Amasyalı Goncazâde Hızır Paşa 1009 senesi şevvâlinde vezâretle Mısır vâlisi oldukta kâtib-i dîvâni olup Mısır’a gitdi.
Ba’dehû Paşası Fatma Sultân binti Sultân Murâd-ı Sâlisi tezevvüc edib Kubbenişîn oldukta Tezkireci, 1016’da Nişâncı olduğu 1017 senesi evâilinde İsmâil bin Ali et-Tevkî’î eş-şehîr bi-Tâczâde diye görülen imzâsından anlaşıldı. [131]
Kuyucu Murâd Paşa sadâretinde mevkiini muhâfaza edib 1020 senesi cumâdelulâsında müşârün-ileyhin irtihâli ve Nasûh Paşa’nın sadâreti hengâmesinde ma’zûlen İstanbul’a gelip ikâmet etdi. 1022 senesi ramazânında sâniyen nişâncı olup 1023 senesi ramazânında reisülküttâb olduğu “Teşrifât Defteri”nde görüldü.
1024’de Gürcü Mehmed Paşa’nın Sadâret Kâim-makâmlığında Edirneli Mehmed Mecid Efendi’nin yerine sâlisen nişâncı olup iki yıl kadar mevkiini muhâfaza ederek 1026 senesi evâhirinde dâr-ı bekâya rihlet etdi. Erbâb-ı dânişden halûk, müstakîm bir hattât-ı meşhûr idi.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He was the son of Tâceddîn Bey, the famous calligrapher who was nişancı to Prince Sultan Mustafa Khan, governor of Amasya; Tâceddîn Bey was the son of İsmâil Bey, who was the son of the calligrapher Ali Çelebi, of the house of Tâceddîn İbrâhim Pasha. He was the brother of the former nişancı Tâczâde Mehmed Çelebi.
After Prince Sultan Mustafa was put to death as a martyr, he went to Istanbul with his father and brother. There he learned the various scripts, and practiced them, from Abdullah Kırımî, pupil of Derviş Mehmed Dede, son of Mustafa Dede and grandson of Sheikh Hamdullah Efendi of Amasya, the "qibla of the calligraphers". He acquired learning and knowledge.
Later, through the efforts of his elder brother, he became one of the scribes of the Imperial Council and gained considerable fame among the men of the pen. When Goncazâde Hızır Pasha of Amasya became governor of Egypt with the rank of vizier in Shawwal 1009 [1601], he went to Egypt as divan scribe.
Later, when his Pasha married Fatma Sultan, daughter of Murad III, and entered the dome viziers, he became Tezkireci. In 1016 [1607-08] he became nişancı; this was understood from his signature, seen at the beginning of 1017 [1608-09], in the form "İsmâil bin Ali et-Tevkî'î, famous as Tâczâde".
He kept his position under the grand vizierate of Kuyucu Murad Pasha and, in Jumada I 1020 [1611], during the Pasha's death and Nasûh Pasha's grand vizierate, he was dismissed, came to Istanbul and settled there. It was seen in the "Teşrifât Defteri" that in Ramadan 1022 [1613-14] he became nişancı for the second time and in Ramadan 1023 [1614-15] reisülküttâb.
In 1024 [1615-16], during Gürcü Mehmed Pasha's tenure as Deputy of the Grand Vizierate, he became nişancı for the third time in place of Mehmed Mecid Efendi of Edirne, kept his position for about two years, and died at the end of 1026 [1617]. He was a famous calligrapher, good-natured and upright among men of learning.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- nişâncı: high official who affixed the sultan's tughra to documents and oversaw state correspondence
- hattât: calligrapher, artist of fine writing
- Kıbletü'l-hattâtîn: the one the calligraphers turn toward, leader of the calligraphers
- hutût-ı mütenevvia: various scripts
- temeşşuk: practicing writing, meşk
- tilmîz: pupil
- Dîvân-ı Hümâyun: the empire's highest council of administration and justice
- kâtib-i dîvânî: divan scribe
- Kubbenişîn: one of the dome viziers, the viziers who gathered under the dome in the Imperial Council
- Tezkireci: scribe who prepared tezkeres (written notices)
- reisülküttâb: head of the scribes, chief of the divan scribes
- Teşrifât Defteri: register in which ceremonial order and rank were recorded
- Sadâret Kâim-makâmı: official who deputized for the grand vizier in his absence
- ma'zûlen: having been dismissed
- halûk: good-natured
The Tâcîzâde Family
İsmâil Efendi's surname "Tâcîzâde" means "of the line of Tâcî Bey" and recalls in Hüsameddin's work a well-known family of an earlier age. In the first volume's introduction, in the account of the Şirvânî dynasty, it is written that two branches, "Gâzi Beyzâde" and "Tâcî Beyzâde", came out of this line, the first becoming known in Köprü, the second in Amasya and Istanbul; a sub-branch called "Tezkirecizâde" split off from the Tâcî Beyzâde branch. The famous men of this branch are counted as Tâceddîn Pasha, Mahmûd Pasha, the kazasker Ca'fer Çelebi, and the reisülküttâb Mehmed Bey. The same introduction says that Tâcîzâde Ca'fer Çelebi invented the siyâkat script and that the people of Amasya were "master of all" in the art of calligraphy.
Some of these claims coincide with the encyclopedic records. Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi (d. 1515) was born in Amasya, served as nişancı and kazasker under Bayezid II, broke new ground in divan scribal practice, reformed the tughra and divanî scripts, and the siyâkat script developed under his pen; he supported Prince Ahmed in the struggle for the throne in Bayezid II's last years, was held responsible for the incitement of the Janissaries under Yavuz Sultan Selim, was executed on 18 August 1515, and was buried by his brother Sâdî Çelebi. His father Tâcî Bey is known to have been a poet, secretary and calligrapher, to have served in Amasya as defterdar and serasker to Prince Bayezid, and to have died in 890 [1485]. The same entry especially notes that for Câfer Çelebi's genealogy another work of Hüsameddin (Nişancılar Durağı) is the only source, and that no other sources give information on the persons named in that genealogy. For this reason, verifying names such as "Tâceddîn İbrâhim Pasha-zâde" in İsmâil Efendi's chain with another document does not at present appear possible. Whether Câfer Çelebi and İsmâil Efendi are branches of the same family from different ages is not stated plainly in the sources read.
Calligraphy and Hamdullah Efendi
Abdullah Kırımî, from whom İsmâil Efendi took his calligraphy training, is a pupil of the grandson of Sheikh Hamdullah Efendi of Amasya. Sheikh Hamdullah is known as the founder of the Ottoman school of calligraphy. The name of Hamdullah Efendi also appears in the biography of the Amasya-born Sinan Efendi: Sinan Efendi went to Istanbul at a young age together with Sheikh Hamdullah Efendi, master of fine writing. No information was found in the sources read on Abdullah Kırımî and Derviş Mehmed Dede.
The Offices of Nişancı and Reisülküttâb
The nişancı's main duty was to draw the sultan's tughra on documents such as decrees, letters, treaties and berats; he was one of the principal members of the Imperial Council and, according to the sources, was the highest post in the central administration after the vizierate, the kazaskerate and the chief defterdarship. Until the early sixteenth century nişancıs were chosen from among members of the ulema, and later they began to be appointed from among professional bureaucrats. The scribes of the Imperial Council and the reisülküttâb worked under the nişancı. İsmâil Efendi's sequence of posts in the text is in this respect interesting: nişancı in 1016, reisülküttâb in 1023, nişancı again in 1024. The sources read do not describe a move from nişancı to reisülküttâb.
A list of reisülküttâbs based on archival documents (Recep Ahıshalı, 2023) gives the office holders of 1022-1023 as follows: Hüseyin Efendi (from 5 Jumada II 1022 to 1 Safar 1023), Hasan Hükmî Efendi for the second time (from 1 Safar 1023 to 1 Shaban 1023), Mustafa Sem'î Efendi (from 1 Shaban 1023 to 18 Dhu al-Hijja 1023), and Mecd Mehmed Efendi (from 22 Dhu al-Hijja 1023). İsmâil Efendi's name is not in this list. Hüsameddin's statement "it was seen in the Teşrifât Defteri that he became reisülküttâb in Ramadan 1023" does not fit this record, in which Ramadan falls within Mustafa Sem'î Efendi's term; whether İsmâil Efendi was mentioned at that time as deputy, or whether Hüsameddin's dates have slipped, is not known. The same list shows Mecd Mehmed Efendi as reisülküttâb between 1016 and 1022, then as nişancı, and again as reisülküttâb after 22 Dhu al-Hijja 1023; how Hüsameddin's record "became nişancı in place of Mehmed Mecid Efendi" fits this sequence could not be determined. In the list a reisülküttâb under the name Tâcîzâde Mehmed Çelebi appears twice (28 Rabi' II 990 [1582] and 2 Safar 995 [1587]), his previous post is written as tezkirecilik, and it is noted that he died in Dhu al-Hijja 996 [1588]. Whether this person is the same as the brother Hüsameddin calls "the former nişancı Tâczâde Mehmed Çelebi" could not be verified; the fact that a branch of the family was called "Tezkirecizâde" strengthens this possibility but does not prove it.
Gürcü Mehmed Pasha's Deputyship
One of the last dates in the text is Gürcü Mehmed Pasha's deputyship of the grand vizierate. According to the biography of Gürcü Mehmed Pasha, on 23 Rabi' I 1024 [22 April 1615], when Damad Mehmed Pasha crossed to Üsküdar for the eastern campaign, the Pasha took on the deputyship of the grand vizierate for the second time. Hüsameddin's date of 1024 agrees with this record; İsmâil Efendi's third term as nişancı is thus placed after April 1615.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, pp. 303–304. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 1, pp. 142–147 (Mukaddime, calligraphers) and pp. 179–186 (Mukaddime, Şirvânî dynasty).
Academic studies
- "Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/tacizade-cafer-celebi
- Eyyüp Said Kaya, "Sinan Efendi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/sinan-efendi
- "Mehmed Paşa, Gürcü", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mehmed-pasa-gurcu--hadim
- Recep Ahıshalı, "Arşiv Belgelerinden Oluşturulmuş Reisülküttablar Listesi", Türk Kültürü İncelemeleri Dergisi 50 (2023), pp. 1–88.