Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi, known as "Molla Bezen" because of his ornate dress, was a scholar and poet, the son of Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi, one of the tutors of Şehzade Ahmed (Prince Ahmed) in Amasya. He himself joined the prince's tutors and companions (musahib), was removed from Amasya when Selim I came to the throne in 918 (1512), became judge (kadı) of Manisa after the judgeships of İskilip and Mihaliç, and died around 939 (1532-33). He appears to be the judge of Mihaliç who is called "Kâdî Bozan" in Âşık Çelebi's tezkire, his collection of poets' lives; that anthology has also preserved a couplet of his.

Hüsameddin's Record

Hüsameddin's entry for him, in volume eleven of Amasya Tarihi, includes an anecdote taken in shortened form from Âşık Çelebi:

Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi-Molla Bezen. Amasyalıdır. Amasya vâlisi Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed muallimi olan Pîr Mezîdzâde Mevlânâ Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi bin Ya'kûb Çelebi bin imâm-ı sultânî Mevlânâ Pîr Mezîd Çelebi mahdûmudur. Amasya fuzalâsından ikmâl-i tahsîl ederek ders-i âm ve müderris-i be-nâm oldu. Ba'dehû şehzâde-i müşârün-ileyhin hizmet-i tâ'limiyyesine me'mûr olarak musâhipleri cümlesinden oldu. "Şems"lerin ikincisi olup nüfûz ve ikbâli artdı. 918'de Sultân Selim-i Evvel'in cülûsuyla Sultân Ahmed'in ikbâl güneşi üfûl etdiğinden İskilip kazâsıyla Amasya'dan çıkarıldı. Orada bir müddet kadı olarak oturdu. Ba'dehû Mihaliç kazâsına nakledilip tedrîs ve kazâ ile meşgûl olduğu esnâda avlanmak için kazâsına gelen Sultân Selim'e mülâkî oldu. Hilaf-ı kanûn ba'zı evzâından dolayı pâdişâhı gücendirdi. Aşık Çelebi "Tezkîre"sinde diyor ki; "Molla Bezen, Mihaliç kadısı iken Mısır seferinden avdetinde Sultân Selim şikâra çıkıp üç ehl-i kemâli çağırmış; İshak Üskübî, Bursalı Ca'fer Nihalî, Molla Şemseddîn Bezen huzuruna kılıç bellerinde girmişler. Bu heyetle hilâf-ı kânûn el öptüklerinden Sultân Selim bunları katletmeye azmetmiş iken hürmet-i ilme binâen afv ve sohbet buyurmuşlardır" Mülahhasan. Sultân müşârün-ileyh bunların ilim ve fâzlını takdir etmekle beraber kanûna riâyetsizliklerinden dolayı gücenmişti. 926'da Sultân Süleyman'ın cülûsundan az sonra Manisa kadısı oldu. Burada hayli müddet kaldı. 939 hudûdunda vefât etdi. Âlim, fâzıl, edîb, kâmil, vakûr, şâir, usûl ve kelâmda mâhir, hâkim-i fakîh, mütekellim, nebîh bir zât idi. Libâs ve meşrebinde tezyînât gâlib olduğundan "Molla Bezen" diye iştihâr etmişdi. Mahdûmu fuzalâdan Mahmûd Efendi'dir.

The entry, in English: He is from Amasya. He is the son of Pîr Mezîdzâde Mevlânâ Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi, tutor of Şehzade Sultan Ahmed, governor of Amasya; his grandfather was Ya'kûb Çelebi, whose father was the sultan's imam Mevlânâ Pîr Mezîd Çelebi. He completed his education with the scholars of Amasya and became a dersiâm and a renowned professor (müderris). Then he was assigned to the prince's education and became one of his companions. As the second of the "Şems"es, his influence and favour grew. In 918, when the sun of Sultan Ahmed's fortune set with the accession of Selim I, he was sent away from Amasya with the judgeship of İskilip. He sat there as judge for a while. Then he was transferred to the district of Mihaliç, and while he was occupied with teaching and judging he met Sultan Selim, who had come to his district to hunt. Because of some conduct contrary to custom and law he offended the sultan. Âşık Çelebi says in his tezkire: "While Molla Bezen was judge of Mihaliç, Sultan Selim, on his return from the Egyptian campaign, went hunting and summoned three accomplished men; İshak of Üsküp, Ca'fer Nihâlî of Bursa and Molla Şemseddîn Bezen came into his presence with their swords at their belts. Because in this guise they kissed his hand against the rules, Sultan Selim resolved to have them killed, but out of respect for learning he pardoned them and conversed with them." This is a summary. The sultan, while appreciating their learning and merit, was offended by their disregard of the rules. In 926, shortly after the accession of Sultan Süleyman, he became judge of Manisa. He stayed there a long time. He died around 939. He was learned, virtuous, a man of letters, mature, dignified, a poet, skilled in the principles of jurisprudence and in theology, a judge versed in law, eloquent and alert. Because ornament prevailed in his dress and manner, he became known as "Molla Bezen". His son is Mahmud Efendi, one of the scholars.

Life

Şemseddîn Ahmed followed in his father's footsteps. Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi was one of the tutors in Amasya of Şehzade Ahmed, son of Bayezid II; the son, too, first became a professor and then joined the same prince's tutors and his gathering (meclis). His date of birth is not on record. Hüsameddin's phrase "the second of the Şems'es" is not explained. One may suppose that there were several men named Şemseddîn around the prince and that he was counted the second of them; the source is silent on the matter. The other poets in Şehzade Ahmed's circle are described in the article The Poets of Prince Ahmed's Circle on this site.

Hüsameddin describes the change that came with Selim's accession in 918 (1512) as "the setting of the sun of Sultan Ahmed's fortune". Şemseddîn Ahmed was then sent to the judgeship of İskilip, and later transferred to Mihaliç. The incident with Sultan Selim falls in these Mihaliç years. Shortly after Süleyman's accession in 926 (1520) he was appointed judge of Manisa, stayed there a long time and died around 939 (1532-33). His son Mahmud Efendi is also counted by Hüsameddin among the scholars.

The Meeting with Sultan Selim

The incident Hüsameddin reports "mülahhasan", that is in shortened form, is told in two separate places in Âşık Çelebi's Meşâ'irü'ş-şu'arâ, in the entries on İshak Çelebi of Üsküp and on Nihâlî Ca'fer Çelebi of Bursa. According to the İshak Çelebi entry, Sultan Selim, during his Arab campaign, wanted a few learned and witty companions to entertain him when he grew weary of state affairs; the dignitaries chose for this service Nihâlî Ca'fer Çelebi of Bursa, judge of Galata, "Kâdî Bozan, judge of Mihalıç", and İshak Çelebi, professor at Üsküp. The three reached the Şâhî station joking with one another on the way, met Selim on horseback as he was out hunting, and kissed his hand with their swords still at their belts. According to Âşık Çelebi the sultan, angered by this impropriety, at first thought of punishing them with their own swords, but pardoned them out of respect for learning. The story does not end there, however: when, in the conversation to which they were later summoned, they addressed one another with ribaldry and abuse, Selim said "we wanted companions, these are luckless fellows", gave them small gifts and sent them back to their towns.

The Nihâlî entry places the incident at Aleppo and relates that on the way back Kâdî Bozan laid the blame for the whole misfortune on İshak Çelebi and relieved his feelings by reciting a couplet about him. Afterwards İshak Çelebi returned to his madrasa at Üsküp, "the professor Bozan" to Mihalıç as judge, and Ca'fer Çelebi to Galata as judge. Hüsameddin's summary differs from Âşık Çelebi on two points: he ties the incident to the return from the Egyptian campaign and to a hunting trip of the sultan to Mihaliç, and he ends it with pardon and conversation; the dismissal and the exchange of couplets in the tezkire do not appear in his summary.

His Name and Identity

The man Hüsameddin calls "Molla Bezen" and the "Kâdî Bozan" of Âşık Çelebi's edition are tied to the same incident, the same district and the same two companions; Hüsameddin also says that he took the incident from Âşık Çelebi. The difference between the two names may be thought to arise from the fact that the word can be read in two ways in Arabic script. This is our inference: Filiz Kılıç's edition reads the name "Bozan", while Hüsameddin reads "Bezen" and links the nickname to Şemseddîn Ahmed's love of ornament, that is, to the verb "bezenmek", to adorn oneself.

Another difficulty lies in Hüsameddin's own work. In the third volume, narrating Şehzade Ahmed's governorship of Amasya, he writes among the events of the year 902 (1496-97) that the prince's tutor Pîr İmâmoğlu Şerefeddîn Ya'kûb Çelebi died and that "Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi, known as Molla Bezen" became the prince's tutor in his place. Here the bearer of the nickname is the father. It is possible that the nickname was shared by father and son, and equally possible that Hüsameddin confused them in one of the two places; the sources at hand are not enough to decide between the two.

His Connection with Amasya

Şemseddîn Ahmed was from Amasya, completed his education in Amasya and spent the first part of his career at Şehzade Ahmed's court in Amasya. His father and forefathers also belonged to a scholarly family of Amasya attached to the prince's court and to the office of the sultan's imam. There is no record that he returned to Amasya after 918.

His Poetry

Hüsameddin counts him as a poet but quotes no poem of his. In Âşık Çelebi's Nihâlî entry there is a couplet that Kâdî Bozan recited about İshak Çelebi: "Bizüm nekbetlerin çekdügümüz bu deñlü âfâḳuñ". The couplet turns the pain of being sent away from the sultan's gathering into an accusation half in jest; the couplet has its own page in this category. Its attribution to Şemseddîn Ahmed depends on Kâdî Bozan and Molla Bezen being the same person.

Chronology

902 (1496-97): According to Hüsameddin's third volume, his father Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi becomes Şehzade Ahmed's tutor.

918 (1512): With the accession of Selim I he is sent to the judgeship of İskilip.

926 (1520): Shortly after the accession of Süleyman the Magnificent he becomes judge of Manisa.

Around 939 (1532-33): Dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources