In Amasya's Topçuzâde family the judgeship passed from father to son for three generations, and the eighteenth-century representative of that house was Remzî Ali Efendi, a wealthy judge and poet. In Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's words he was "kibâr-ı kudât ü üdebâdan şâir, zî-servet", that is, a poet of means from among the senior judges and men of letters. He became known as a judge in towns and cities and died in 1171 (1757-58). His brother Recâî Mehmed Efendi was also a poet-judge and had died twelve years before him, in 1159 (1746). Not a single line by either brother has survived.

Life

The entry Remzî Ali Efendi-Topcuzâde in the tenth volume of the book is short:

Amasyalıdır. Tercemesi yukarıda geçen kudâtdan el-Hâc Hüseyin Efendi bin Mehmed Efendi bin Hüseyin Efendi'nin mahdûmudur. Ba'de't-tahsîl kasabât ü bilâda kadı olup hayli ma'rûfiyyet kazandı. 1171'de vefât etdi. Kibâr-ı kudât ü üdebâdan şâir, zî-servet idi. Birâderi Recâ'î Mehmed Efendi de 1159'da vefât etmişdi. Bu da şu'arâ-yı kudâtdan idi. Remzî Efendizâde Hasan İlmî Efendi'dir.

In plain English: An Amasya man, he was born to Hacı Hüseyin Efendi (son of Mehmed Efendi, son of Hüseyin Efendi), one of the judges whose life is given above. After completing his studies he served as judge in towns and cities and became quite well known. He died in 1171. He was a poet of means from among the senior judges and men of letters. His brother Recâî Mehmed Efendi had died in 1159; he too was one of the poet-judges. (His son) is Remzî Efendizâde Hasan İlmî Efendi.

The last sentence of the entry has no subject. "Remzî Efendizâde" means the son of Remzî Efendi; that Hasan İlmî Efendi was Remzî Ali's son can be inferred from this form of the name, but Hüsameddin gives no other information on him. The entry also does not say in which towns Remzî served as judge, when he was born or where he studied. The phrase "kibâr-ı kudât" indicates that he reached judgeships of high rank; the source of his wealth is not mentioned.

The Topçuzâdes

Through two other entries of Hüsameddin, Remzî's lineage can be traced four generations back. The family takes its name from Topçu Mehmed Ağa, steward (kethüda) of the artillerymen of Amasya at the beginning of the seventeenth century; mentioning him in the third volume, Hüsameddin adds a footnote saying that this Mehmed Ağa was "the earliest ancestor of the Topçuzâdes, who are today among the notables of Amasya".

Topçu Mehmed Ağa's son Hacı Hüseyin Efendi was Remzî's great-grandfather. He studied with the Georgian imam Hasan Efendi, became a madrasa teacher, taught at the Yörgüç Paşa madrasa with the rank of "sixty", and after serving as estate-divider (kassam) and deputy judge of Amasya held the judgeships of Erzincan in 1073 (1662-63) and then of Sivas and Çankırı. This scholar, attached to the circle of Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Paşa, was dismissed in 1081, returned to Amasya and died around 1083 (1672-73). Hüsameddin calls him "learned, a jurist, accomplished"; his son Hacı Mehmed Efendi was also a judge.

Remzî's father, Hacı Hüseyin Efendi of the same name, is described in the second Topçuzâde entry of the ninth volume:

Amasyalıdır. Kudâtdan Mehmed Efendi bin sâbıkü't-terceme Hüseyin Efendi'nin mahdûmudur. Amasya'da tahsîl-i ulûm edib İstanbul'a gitdi. Orada târik-i kudât imtihânına girib kazandığından kasabât ve bilâda kâdı oldu. 1131'de Amasya'da ihtiyâr-ı tekâüd edib 1135 hudûdunda vefât etdi. Ulemâ-yı kudâtdan idi. Mahdûmu Ali Remzi Efendi ve diğeri Recai Mehmed Efendi'dir.

Put into English: Amasya was his home town. His father Mehmed Efendi was one of the judges, and Mehmed Efendi's own father was the Hüseyin Efendi whose life is told above. He studied in Amasya and went to Istanbul. There he sat the examination for candidates to the judiciary and, having passed it, served as judge in towns and cities. He retired in Amasya in 1131 and died around 1135 (1722-23). He was one of the scholar-judges. His sons are Ali Remzî Efendi and Recâî Mehmed Efendi.

The judicial profession thus passed without a break from the great-grandfather to the father and to the two brothers. When Remzî's father retired in 1131 (1718-19), he returned to Amasya; one may suppose that the sons, like their father, went to Istanbul and passed the judiciary examination, but no record says so. The name Topçuzâde continues to appear among the leading families of Amasya in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; Hüsameddin's book mentions benefactors bearing the same name, but does not say whether they descended from Remzî's branch.

His Brother Recâî Mehmed Efendi

Mehmed Efendi, who wrote under the pen name Recâî, is described in Remzî's entry as "şu'arâ-yı kudâtdan", one of the poet-judges. Hüsameddin opened a separate heading for him in the tenth volume, Recâî Mehmed Efendi-Topçuzâde, but left the space beneath it empty; the editors of the book note in a footnote that the author gave no information about him. All that is known of Recâî is the year of death in his brother's entry and his name in his father's.

Poetry

Like his brother's, Remzî Ali Efendi's poems have not come down to us. Hüsameddin's record goes no further than stating that he was a poet; there is no couplet, and the source of the information is not given. No divan or anthology poem is attached to his name either. The pen name was not new in Amasya: before him, in the seventeenth century, Hâcezâde Abdullah Efendi, and further back Grand Vizier Pîrî Mehmed Paşa, had written as "Remzî". No record ties Ali Efendi to either of these poets.

Chronology

1073-1081 (1662-1671): His great-grandfather Hacı Hüseyin Efendi holds the judgeships of Erzincan, Sivas and Çankırı.

1131 (1718-19): His father Hacı Hüseyin Efendi retires in Amasya; he dies around 1135 (1722-23).

1159 (1746): His brother Recâî Mehmed Efendi dies.

1171 (1757-58): Remzî Ali Efendi dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources