Rûhî Îsâ Çelebi studied with Abdî Efendi, the Amasya professor who compiled a tezkire of the city's poets, and what preserved his name was another link in that chain of teachers and pupils: a note kept by Abdî Efendi's grandson, Şeyh Alizâde Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi. A descendant of the Büyük Çeribaşı line and a son of Hacı Mehmed Çelebi, the city steward known as "Zanbak Dede", Rûhî learned calligraphy, worked for a time as clerk of the market inspectorate, later rose to secretary of the sanjak council, and died around 1112 (1700-01). Hüsameddin presents him as a secretary, a poet, a pleasant companion and a man fond of learned and literary conversation. Of the verse he wrote, nothing is in our hands today.

Life

Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's entry Rûhî Îsâ Çelebi-Zanbâk Dedezâde introduces Rûhî together with his family and teachers:

Amasyalıdır. Amasya'da câmi-i şerîfi olan Büyük Çeribaşı ahfâdından Amasya şehir kethüdâsı "Zanbâk Dede" demekle meşhûr el-Hâc Mehmed Çelebi mahdûmudur. Sâhib-i tezkire müderris Abdî Efendi'nin halka-i tedrîsinde edeb ü irfân kazandı. Hattât-ı meşhûr Fazlullâh Efendi'den de kitâbet ü hatt öğrendi. Bir müddet ihtisâb kâtibi olup belediye işlerinin tesviyesine çalışdı. Ba'dehû dîvân-ı livâ kâtibi olup 1112 hudûdunda vefât etdi. Kâtib, şâir, hoş-sohbet, ilmî ve edebî musâhabeye düşkün olduğu Şeyh Alizâde Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi'nin kaydından anlaşıldı.

Rendered into English: He came from Amasya and was the son of el-Hâc Mehmed Çelebi, city steward of Amasya, known as "Zanbak Dede", one of the descendants of the Büyük Çeribaşı whose mosque stands in Amasya. He acquired manners and learning among the pupils of the professor Abdî Efendi, author of the tezkire. From the famous calligrapher Fazlullah Efendi he also learned writing and the secretary's craft. For a while he was clerk of the market inspectorate and worked at putting municipal affairs in order. Afterwards he became secretary of the sanjak council and died around 1112. That he was a secretary, a poet, good company and devoted to learned and literary conversation is known from the note of Şeyh Alizâde Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi.

The clerk of the ihtisab kept the registers of the muhtesib, the officer who supervised markets, fixed prices and checked weights and measures. Hüsameddin uses the language of his own day and calls this "municipal affairs"; ihtisab was indeed one of the older rungs of the tradition of city government in Amasya that runs from the city stewards to the later municipal office. The secretaryship of the sanjak council meant handling the paperwork of the council held by the sanjak governor or his deputy. For a young man whose father was city steward, moving from the pen of the market to that of the sanjak meant keeping the family's place in the running of the town.

The Çeribaşı Line and the Zanbak Dedezâdes

Rûhî's ancestry reaches back to one of the oldest families of Amasya. Hüsameddin writes that the descendants of the emir Seyfeddin Sungur, who died around 700 (1300-01), later divided into three branches, and that the branch remaining in Amasya lived on in the Çeribaşı quarter until 1300 (1882-83) under the names "Zanbak Oğulları" and "Mütevellî Oğulları". Emîneddîn Mehmed Çelebi-Büyük Çeribaşı, from whom the name Çeribaşızâde derives, belonged to this line; his mosque is known today as the Çeribaşı Mosque in the Şehirüstü neighbourhood.

Two entries in Hüsameddin's seventh volume introduce Rûhî's close relatives as well. In the entry İlyâs Ağa-Zanbak Dedezâde the father appears as "Amasya şehir kethüdâsı Mütevellîzâde el-Hâc Mehmed Çelebi bin İsa Çelebi bin Ali Ağa". Rûhî's grandfather was therefore İsa Çelebi, and Rûhî bore his grandfather's name. His uncle Hacı İlyâs Ağa, trustee of the Çeribaşı endowment, fell at the siege of Candia in 1081 (1670-71), and the trusteeship passed to his nephew İlyâs Ağa; since the father's name is the same, this İlyâs Ağa must be Rûhî's brother. He was a member of the council of notables in 1102 (1690-91), and Hüsameddin mentions yet another brother, Hacı Ali Ağa.

Hüseyin Efendi-Ders-i âm, introduced in the ninth volume as "the son of İsa Ağa, son of Zanbak Mehmed Çelebi", was very probably Rûhî's son. Trained under Halil Efendi, professor of the Ya'kûb Paşa madrasa, this scholar taught for years at the Mehmed Paşa madrasa and so became known as "Ders-i âm Efendi"; he went on to be preacher of the Mehmed Paşa Mosque and professor of the Osman Çelebi Dârülhadis, and died after 1147 (1734-35). Hüsameddin notes that he too was called "Zanbak Dedezâde". Father's name, grandfather's name and family name agree; still, Rûhî is styled "Çelebi" and Hüseyin Efendi's father "Ağa", which is not enough to make certain that both records describe the same man.

Abdî Efendi's Circle

Rûhî's teacher was Abdî Efendi, professor of the Abdullah Paşa Dârülhadis, who gathered the poets of Amasya in his now lost tezkire. As Abdî Efendi died in Dhu al-Hijja 1087 (February 1677), Rûhî must have belonged to his last generation of pupils. Abdî Efendi's tezkire covered poets who emerged between 1000 and 1081 (1591-1671); whether Rûhî found a place in his teacher's book is not known. The only characterisation of him comes from the continuation that Abdî Efendi's grandson Rüşdü Ahmed Efendi wrote to his grandfather's tezkire. Hüsameddin's phrase "known from the note" shows he took the information directly from that text. Rûhî's poetry, his charm and his love of learned company thus reach us from inside a town record kept by three generations of one family.

Poetry

No poems by Rûhî Îsâ Çelebi have been found. Rüşdü Ahmed Efendi's continuation, like Abdî Efendi's tezkire, is known only through the incomplete copies Hüsameddin had in hand, and he set no specimen of verse in this entry. A secretary who had learned calligraphy from Fazlullah Efendi may well have written his poems into anthologies in his own hand. The many Ottoman poets who signed themselves Rûhî make the task harder, however: a couplet of Îsâ Çelebi's could not be recognised from the signature alone, without some further clue.

Chronology

1081 (1670-71): His uncle Hacı İlyâs Ağa is killed at Candia; the trusteeship of the Çeribaşı endowment passes to his brother İlyâs Ağa.

Dhu al-Hijja 1087 (February 1677): His teacher Abdî Efendi dies.

1102 (1690-91): His brother İlyâs Ağa sits on the council of notables.

Around 1112 (1700-01): Rûhî Îsâ Çelebi dies.

After 1147 (1734-35): Hüseyin Efendi-Ders-i âm, probably his son, dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources