The heading Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar gives Rahmî Mehmed Efendi in the Amasya Tarihi ties him to a relative: "Saçlı Yeğeni", the nephew of Saçlı. His uncle was Saçlı el-Hâc Mahmûd Efendi, the influential nineteenth-century mufti of Amasya. Rahmî rose from court clerk to deputy judge (naib), served as sharia judge in the sanjaks of Köstence (Constanța) and Maraş, and died in Istanbul at the beginning of 1296 (1878-79). That this clerk, known for his fine ta'lik script, was also a poet we learn from the nephew he himself raised, Brigadier General (mirliva) İsmâil Hakkı Pasha; when the historian asked the pasha for the poems, he was told they had been lost.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Brief as it is, the entry names his posts and gives the months in which he came and went:

Amasyalıdır. Amasya Müftüsü Saçlı el-Hâc Mahmûd Efendi'nin birâderi Ahmed Efendi bin el-Hâc Kâsım mahdûmudur. Amasya ulemâsından Caniklizâde el-Hâc Mehmed Hilmî Efendi'den tahsîl-i ulûm edib mahkeme-i şer'iyye kâtibi ve bir müddet ders-i âm oldu. Ba'dehû Şirvânîzâde es-Seyyid Ahmed Hulûsî Efendi'ye intisâb ederek İstanbul'a gidip 1291'de Köstence sancâğı nâibi oldu. 1293 zilka'desinde Rusların istilâsında İstanbul'a geldi. 1293 zilhiccesinde Mar'aş sancâğı nâibi olup gitdi. 1295 zilhiccesinde müddet-i örfiyesini ikmâl ederek avdet edib 1296 senesi evâ'ilinde İstanbul'da vefât etdi. Âlim, kâtib lâtif-meşreb olup hattât Emrullâh Efendi'nin çırağı olduğu münâsebetle güzel ta'lîk yazardı. Yeğeni Mîrlîvâ İsmâ'îl Hakkı Paşa bunun şâir olduğunu da söylerdi. Eş'ârından bir parça istedim, zâyi' olduğunu söylemişdi.

Translated: An Amasya man. His father Ahmed Efendi, son of el-Hâc Kâsım, was the brother of the Amasya mufti Saçlı el-Hâc Mahmûd Efendi. He studied under Caniklizâde el-Hâc Mehmed Hilmî Efendi, one of the scholars of Amasya; he became clerk of the sharia court and for a time also taught students as a ders-i âm. Then he attached himself to Şirvânîzâde Seyyid Ahmed Hulûsî Efendi, went to Istanbul and in 1291 became naib of the sanjak of Köstence. In the month of Zilkade 1293 he returned to Istanbul because of the Russian invasion. In Zilhicce 1293 he went as naib to the sanjak of Maraş. In Zilhicce 1295 he completed the customary term of office, came back, and died in Istanbul at the beginning of 1296. He was learned, a clerk and of a pleasant disposition; as an apprentice of the calligrapher Emrullah Efendi he wrote a fine ta'lik. His nephew, Brigadier General İsmâil Hakkı Pasha, used to say that he was also a poet. I asked for a piece of his poems; he had told me they were lost.

The Saçlı Family

Saçlı el-Hâc Mahmûd Efendi, who gave the family its name, was an influential scholar who held the office of mufti of Amasya in the first half of the nineteenth century. He had a tomb built for himself inside his house opposite the east gate of the courtyard of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, and in 1248 (1832-33) founded a library above this tomb. Rahmî's father Ahmed Efendi was this mufti's brother. Other branches of the family also appear in Hüsameddin's book: the mufti's son Abdülhalîm Efendi became teacher at his father's madrasa, and another son, İbrâhim Efendi, died in 1297 as one of the last deputies of the chief of the sayyids (nakîbüleşraf) in Amasya.

Rahmî's brother Osmân Efendi was a treasury official (sandık emini) and was popularly known as "Saçlının Osmân Efendi". With his death in 1278 (1861-62) his eight-year-old son İsmâil Hakkı was left fatherless. In the pasha's entry Hüsameddin writes that the boy grew up with his uncle Rahmî Mehmed Efendi, then chief clerk of the sharia court. After finishing the Amasya Rüştiye school, İsmâil Hakkı was sent, again through Rahmî Efendi's efforts, to the Kuleli Military Preparatory School and from there to the War College. In 1294 (1877) he joined the army as a second lieutenant, and during the armistice of the Ottoman-Greek War of 1315 (1897) he became governor and military commander of the sanjaks of Larisa and Tırhala (Trikala); the rank under which Hüsameddin names him in Rahmî's entry is that of brigadier general. Hüsameddin's only information about Rahmî's poetry comes from this pasha.

Two notes appended to the pasha's entry show how blurred the family's own memory had become. Having lost his father at an early age, İsmâil Hakkı Pasha believed himself to be a grandson of the mufti Saçlı Mahmûd Efendi. He also called Rahmî Efendi "my maternal uncle". Helvacı Hacı Mustafa Ağa, who knew the family personally, told Hüsameddin, however, that Rahmî was the brother of the pasha's father, that is, his paternal uncle. The lineage in Rahmî's own entry confirms this: Rahmî and Osmân Efendi were both sons of Ahmed Efendi.

From Clerk to Naib

Rahmî Efendi's teacher Caniklizâde el-Hâc Mehmed Hilmî Efendi was one of the scholars of Amasya. The turning point of his life was his attachment to Şirvânîzâde Ahmed Hulûsî Efendi, a native of Amasya who rose to the rank of chief military judge (kazasker). Under the patronage of this fellow townsman he went to Istanbul and in 1291 (1874-75) was appointed naib of the sanjak of Köstence on the Black Sea coast. A naib was a sharia official who exercised the authority of a judge in a sanjak as a deputy.

The date of his departure from Köstence raises a question. Hüsameddin writes that Rahmî Efendi returned to Istanbul in Zilkade 1293 "because of the Russian invasion". That month corresponds to November-December 1876. Yet the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877-78 began in April 1877, and Dobruja was occupied only in the summer of that year. Either the date has slipped by a year or Rahmî Efendi left the region as the war drew near; the one sentence we have cannot decide between the two. A month later he went to Maraş as naib, completed the two-year term in Zilhicce 1295 (November-December 1878), returned to Istanbul and died there a few weeks later, in the first months of 1296.

His Calligraphy and Poetry

He learned his ta'lik as an apprentice of the calligrapher Emrullah Efendi and, in Hüsameddin's phrase, wrote "a fine ta'lik". The master himself remains a shadow; the book says nothing more about this Emrullah Efendi.

Rahmî Mehmed Efendi's verse has not been found. Hüsameddin knew of his poetry only from what the nephew told him; when he asked for a piece, the answer was that the poems were "zâyi'", lost.

Chronology

1278 (1861-62): His brother Osmân Efendi dies; Rahmî Efendi takes in his nephew İsmâil Hakkı.

1291 (1874-75): Becomes naib of the sanjak of Köstence.

Zilkade 1293 (1876): According to Hüsameddin, returns to Istanbul because of the Russian invasion.

Zilhicce 1293 (1876-77): Becomes naib of the sanjak of Maraş.

Zilhicce 1295 (1878): Completes his term and returns to Istanbul.

Beginning of 1296 (1878-79): Dies in Istanbul.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources