Izzî is the fourth name among the folk poets of seventeenth-century Amasya listed in Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi (History of Amasya). Hüsameddin names him together with Cihâdî, Hüznî and Seyfî among the poets whose mani and melodies were "deeply plaintive". He gives no further information; Izzî's real name, life and poems are unknown. Izzî's case is somewhat more tangled than that of the other two names on the list: in a recent study that reproduces the list, the name "Garibî" appears in his place, while Hüsameddin's biographical volumes contain a sixteenth-century sheikh-poet who first used the pen name "Izzî". This page has been opened to set out what is known and to state both of these complications plainly.

Hüsameddin's Entry

In his fourth volume, describing the third period of Amasya's history between 1017 (1608) and 1099 (1688), Hüsameddin divides the city's poets into poets of the pen and folk poets:

Kalem şuarâsından Kelâmî, Türâbî, Abdî, Remzî, Câmî, Zühdî, Şevkî, Hıfzî, Dâniş gibi fuzalâ ve halk şâirlerinden Cihâdî, Hüznî, Seyfî, Izzî gibi zevât Amasya'nın edebiyatına revnak veren erlerdi. Amasya'nın halk şâirleri pek âşık, yaptıkları mânilerle ezgiler pek yanıktı.

In English: "Learned men among the poets of the pen such as Kelâmî, Türâbî, Abdî, Remzî, Câmî, Zühdî, Şevkî, Hıfzî and Dâniş, and among the folk poets such figures as Cihâdî, Hüznî, Seyfî and Izzî, were the worthies who lent lustre to the literature of Amasya. The folk poets of Amasya were full of passion, and the mani and melodies they made were deeply plaintive." Hüsameddin also adds that these mani had been preserved by word of mouth down to his own day and that the man who knew them best was the bağlama poet Abdal Ağasızâde İsmâil Hakkı Efendi.

In Hüsameddin's text the name is written "Izzî", with an undotted I. The pen name reflects the older spelling of "İzzî", derived from the Arabic word "izz" (exaltedness, honour); Hüsameddin uses the same spelling in another entry as well.

Life and Period

No record of Izzî's life has been found beyond this list. Since Hüsameddin counts him among the poets of the third period, he must have lived in the seventeenth century. The first name on the list, Cihâdî, is very probably Cihâdî Ahmed Ağa, who heartened the janissaries with his destans at the siege of Candia and died around 1093 (1682); this suggests that the folk poets on the list were known in the second half of the century. The dating is an estimate drawn from the position of the list. Izzî's occupation, his neighbourhood and the circle in which he played the saz are unknown.

State of the Sources

Izzî or Garibî

In his 2020 study of the destan tradition of the âşık (minstrel) style in Amasya, Cavit Güzel reproduces the same list from the 2004 edition of the Amasya Tarihi and counts the folk poets as "Cihâdî, Hüznî, Seyfî and Garibî"; he also places the list at the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century. In the e-book text published by the Municipality of Amasya, however, the fourth name is clearly "Izzî"; for this page the relevant e-book page was opened again and the reading confirmed. Since the relevant page of the edition Güzel used could not be seen, it has not been possible to determine whether the difference stems from that edition or from an error made in transcription. The name "Garibî" does not occur in this list of Hüsameddin's in the e-book text. We have followed the e-book reading; both readings are recorded here openly.

Possible Confusion with Dâî Hasan Çelebi

The ninth volume of Hüsameddin contains an entry on Habîbzâde Dâî Hasan Çelebi. A native of Amasya and the son of Sheikh Habîb Karamanî, Hasan Çelebi became sheikh of the Mehmed Pasha Zâviye (dervish lodge), according to Hüsameddin enjoyed the great favour of Şehzade Mustafa (Prince Mustafa), governor of Amasya, and died in 947 (1540-41) (in the Hüsameddin encyclopedia). Hüsameddin writes of him:

İlâhiyât'ı zamanında pek meşhûr olup tekkelerde okunurdu. Mahlâsı ibtidâ "Izzî" idi sonra "Dâî" diye iştihâr etdi.

In English: "His hymns (ilahi) were very famous in his time and were recited in the dervish lodges. His pen name was at first Izzî; later he became known as Dâî." This record shows that there was a poet in Amasya who used the pen name Izzî; yet it hardly seems possible that he is the same person as the folk poet on the list. Dâî Hasan Çelebi died more than sixty years before the beginning of the 1608-1688 period in which Hüsameddin gives the list. He was, moreover, a Sufi sheikh and a poet of hymns, and later became known under the pen name Dâî. Hüsameddin's entry likewise presents him as a lodge sheikh known for his learning and asceticism; it says nothing of mani or of the saz. Even Güzel's earlier dating begins only at the end of the sixteenth century. Treating the two as separate people accords better with what the sources say.

Connection with Amasya

Hüsameddin counts Izzî among the folk poets "raised by Amasya"; this shows that the poet was a native of Amasya or grew up there. The connection rests on a single source. The appearance of the name as Garibî in Güzel's transcription raises the question of how the list reads in different editions; in the e-book text, however, the name is clearly Izzî.

Poetry

None of Izzî's poems has come down to us. Hüsameddin quotes no mani or quatrain by him; Güzel too states that the Amasya Tarihi contains no examples of the works of the minstrels it names and that his searches in other sources found no work by any of them. The hymns of Dâî Hasan Çelebi that were recited in the lodges are not quoted in Hüsameddin's text either, and they cannot be attributed to the folk poet of the list. The plaintive mani of Amasya lived on by word of mouth until the early twentieth century and were then largely lost. The general setting of this tradition is described in the site's articles on Amasya folk songs and long songs and the minstrel tradition in Amasya.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources