Amasyalı Erdoğdu Çelebi oğludur. Meşâhir-i ulemâ ve hattâtînden Hüseyin bin Davud el-Lâdikî’den hutût-ı mütenevviayı ve Kemaleddîn İsmâil Sâlârî’den ulûmu ahz edib Amasya emîri Ya’kub Şâh Rûmî kâtibi olarak iştihâr etdi.
Ba’dehû bir müddet mahkeme başkâtibi ve Hacı Kutlu Şâh’a dîvân kâtibi olup 757’de a’yân-ı ulemâ ve küttâbdan görüldü. Ba’dehû Hacı Şadgeldi Paşa’nın kâtib-i dîvânî olup 767 hudûdunda vefât etdi. Âlim, kâtib, hattât idi.
754’de yazdığı “Fatihâtü’l-Ulûm” adlı kitâbın sonunda [78] imzâsı görüldü. Oğulları Halil, İbrâhim, Hasan Çelebilerdir. Halil Çelebizâde İsrâil Çelebi, İbrâhim Çelebizâde Dursun Çelebi ve Hasan Çelebizâde İbrâhim Ebrî Çelebi ma’rûfdur. Bunlara Benî İsrâil denmişdir.
Dursun Çelebizâde Tayyib, Tâhir Çelebiler kibâr-ı ulemâ ve kudâtdan olup Tayyib Çelebi evlâdına Tayyibzâdeler ve Tâhir Çelebi evlâdına da Tâhirzâdeler dendi. Ebri Çelebizâde Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi de kibâr-ı fuzalâdan olup İbrîzâde demekle meşhûrdur.
İsrail el-Kâtib
Halîl İbrahim Hasan
İsrail Dursun İbrahim İbrî
Mehmed
Nasuh Tayyib Tahir
Muhiddîn
Yahya Abdülmecîd
In Modern English
He was the son of Erdoğdu Çelebi of Amasya. Having learned the various scripts from Hüseyin, son of Davud, of Lâdik, one of the famous scholars and calligraphers, and the sciences from Kemâleddîn İsmâil Sâlârî, he became known as the clerk of the emir of Amasya, Ya'kub Şah Rûmî.
Afterwards, for a time he was chief clerk of the court, then became divan clerk to Hacı Kutlu Şah, and in 757 [1356-57] he was seen among the leading scholars and clerks. Later he became divan clerk to Hacı Şadgeldi Pasha and died around 767 [1365-66]. He was a scholar, a clerk and a calligrapher.
His signature was seen at the end of the book called "Fatihâtü'l-Ulûm", which he wrote in 754 [1353-54]. His sons were Halil, İbrâhim and Hasan Çelebis. Of these, İsrâil Çelebi, son of Halil Çelebi, Dursun Çelebi, son of İbrâhim Çelebi, and İbrâhim Ebrî Çelebi, son of Hasan Çelebi, became well known. They were called Benî İsrâil (the sons of İsrâil).
Dursun Çelebi's sons, Tayyib and Tâhir Çelebis, were among the great scholars and kadıs, and the descendants of Tayyib Çelebi were called Tayyibzâdes and those of Tâhir Çelebi Tâhirzâdes. Ebrî Çelebi's son Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi was also one of the great learned men and is known as İbrîzâde.
İsrâil el-Kâtib
Halîl, İbrâhim, Hasan
İsrâil, Dursun, İbrâhim İbrî
Mehmed
Nasûh, Tayyib, Tâhir
Muhiddîn
Yahyâ, Abdülmecîd
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- meşâhir-i ulemâ: famous scholars
- hattât: a master who writes and teaches Islamic scripts such as sülüs, nesih and nesta'lik beautifully
- hutût-ı mütenevvia: various kinds of script
- ulûm: the sciences
- ahz: taking, learning
- emîr: ruler, bey
- kâtib: clerk, an official who carries on written business, secretary
- dîvân kâtibi: a clerk who looks after the correspondence and records of the divan
- a'yân-ı ulemâ ve küttâb: the leading scholars and clerks
- ma'rûf: well known
- kibâr-ı ulemâ ve kudât: the great scholars and kadıs
- kibâr-ı fuzalâ: the great learned men, the leaders among the learned
- evlâd: children, offspring
The Emirs of Amasya and Hacı Şadgeldi
The middle of the 14th century, when İsrâil Çelebi worked as a clerk, is a period in which Amasya was administratively complicated. The city was part of the principality founded by Eretna. When Eretna died in 1352, the places in his hands included Sivas, Kayseri and Amasya. State authority could not be established during the time of Alâeddin Ali Bey, the thirteen-year-old son proclaimed sultan in place of Eretna's son Mehmed Bey; the Eretna emirs began to act on their own, and among them Hacı Şadgeldi came to be an independent ruler in Amasya. Alâeddin Ali Bey died of plague in 782 [1380] during his second expedition against Amasya. Kadı Burhâneddin, for his part, eliminated his rivals one by one; he defeated Hacı Şadgeldi, the emir of Amasya, and had him killed (autumn of 1381), and then proclaimed his sovereignty at Sivas.
According to Hüsameddin, İsrâil Çelebi became finally the divan clerk of Hacı Şadgeldi Pasha and died around 767 [1365-66]. It is very likely that the Hacı Şadgeldi in the Eretna sources and the Hacı Şadgeldi Pasha of the entry are the same person, since both are rulers of Amasya; but no source that says so directly was read. There is no contradiction in the order of dates: when İsrâil Çelebi died Hacı Şadgeldi was still in power and remained so until 1381. No information was found in the sources read about the emir of Amasya Ya'kub Şah Rûmî, whom Hüsameddin mentions, or about Hacı Kutlu Şah. Although a study of the waqfs of Amasya contains an entry called "Yakub Şah Çelebi ibni Şadi Bey Vakfı", its connection with the Ya'kub Şah of the entry is not clear.
Fatihâtü'l-Ulûm and the Calligrapher's Craft
No source was found in searches concerning the Fatihâtü'l-Ulûm that İsrâil Çelebi wrote in 754 [1353-54]; Hüsameddin says that his signature was seen at the end of the book, and where the copy is today could not be determined. The identity of Hüseyin, son of Davud, of Lâdik, named as his teacher, could likewise not be verified. A calligrapher is a master who writes and teaches scripts such as sülüs, nesih and nesta'lik beautifully; writing was generally learned by imitating sample lines given by the teacher, that is, through meşk. The phrase "hutût-ı mütenevvia" in the entry indicates that İsrâil Çelebi had learned not just one script style but several kinds of script. That clerkship and calligraphy went together shows that in that period divan correspondence was carried out by persons who knew how to write beautifully and correctly.
The Benî İsrâil Family
The entry ends with a family tree in the section the book devotes to the scholars of Amasya. Of the descendants from İsrâil Çelebi's three sons Halil, İbrâhim and Hasan, the grandsons İsrâil, Dursun and İbrâhim Ebrî Çelebis are well-known scholars. This line was called "Benî İsrâil", and later, from Dursun Çelebi's sons, the Tayyibzâdes and Tâhirzâdes under the names Tayyib and Tâhir, and from Ebrî Çelebi's son the İbrîzâdes, came into being. These designations illustrate that scholarly families in the Ottoman scholarly class were known by "-zâde" names that worked like surnames. The genealogy Hüsameddin gives shows that from the 14th century onward, for at least four generations, the work of learning and judgeship continued within the circle of the same family. İsrâilzâde, descended from this line, is mentioned in the book as a separate entry.
Another İsrâil Çelebi mentioned on the same pages is the Türkmen Sheikh of Baghdad (743 [1342-43]); no kinship between him and this entry is stated in Hüsameddin.
Bibliography
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 287–288. amasya.bel.tr
- Murat Alandağlı, "Hurufat Kayıtlarında Amasya Zaviyeleri", Turkish Studies, 19/1 (2024), p. 1–27.