Sabri Mehmed Çelebi served three masters with his pen and was thrown off course each time one of them fell. Born to Tokatlızâde Yûsuf Efendi, a professor in one of the city's madrasas, he was a scribe, calligrapher and poet of Amasya who grew up in the first half of the sixteenth century. He learned calligraphy from the celebrated Ebü'l-Fazl Efendi, became secretary to the treasurer İskender Çelebi in Istanbul, fell from favour when İskender Çelebi was executed in 941 (1534-35), then served as divan secretary to Mehmed Paşa, a chancellor (nişancı) from Amasya, during his governorship of Sivas, and finally entered the service of Şehzade Mustafa, governor of Amasya. After the prince was put to death in 960 (1553) he withdrew from public life and died some time later. None of his poems has come down to us.

The Entry in Amasya Tarihi

Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar gives Sabri Mehmed Çelebi two short paragraphs among the people of Amasya whose names begin with the letter sin, in the eleventh volume of Amasya Tarihi:

Sabri Mehmed Çelebi-Tokatîzâde. Amasya müderrislerinden Tokatlızâde Yûsuf Efendi'nin oğludur. Amasya ulemâsından tahsîl-i ilim edib Hattât Ebû'l-fazl Efendi'den yazı teallüm ve ahz edib İstanbul'a gitdi. Amasyalı defderdâr İskender Çelebi'ye şiir ve hattıyla çatıp kâtibi oldu. 941'de müşârün-ileyhin i'dâmında bir müddet menkûb olup sonra diğer Amasyalı nişâncı Mehmed Paşa'ya Sivas vâliliğinde divân kâtibi olmuştu. Bunun da vefâtında Amasya vâlisi Şehzâde Sultân Mustafa'ya çattı. 960'da bu şehzâde şehîd oldukdan sonra inzivâ ve ba'dehû vefât etdi. Şâir, kâtib, hattât idi.

Rendered into plain English: He was a son of Tokatlızâde Yûsuf Efendi, one of the professors of Amasya. He studied under the scholars of Amasya, learned writing from the calligrapher Ebü'l-Fazl Efendi and received his licence, and went to Istanbul. Through his poetry and his hand he attached himself to İskender Çelebi, a treasurer from Amasya, and became his secretary. When his master was executed in 941 he was out of favour for a time; afterwards he became divan secretary to another man of Amasya, the chancellor Mehmed Paşa, while the latter was governor of Sivas. When Mehmed Paşa died he joined Şehzade Sultan Mustafa, governor of Amasya. After this prince was martyred in 960 he withdrew into seclusion and later died. He was a poet, scribe and calligrapher.

His Teacher and His Masters

Sabri's writing master, Ebü'l-Fazl Mehmed Çelebi, was a pupil of Şeyh Hamdullah and had taught calligraphy to Şehzade Ahmed; he returned to Amasya in 925 and trained students in the city until his death early in 941. Sabri's lessons most probably fall within those last fifteen years. The entry's phrase "yazı teallüm ve ahz" describes more than learning to write: it also means receiving the master's permission and having one's hand approved.

His first master in Istanbul was the treasurer İskender Çelebi, himself from Amasya. When Hüsameddin says that Sabri entered his service "through his poetry and his hand", he shows how much a young scribe relied on these two skills to find a patron. İskender Çelebi's execution in 941 shook his household as well. Another man of Amasya in the same treasurer's service, Şemsi Mehmed Çelebi of the İbrîzâde family, was dismissed from his post that year and came to Amasya a few years later as Şehzade Mustafa's treasurer. The two scribes followed the same line, from İskender Çelebi's circle to the prince's divan.

Sabri's second master is the statesman Hüsameddin calls only "the chancellor Mehmed Paşa of Amasya", in whose divan he served during the pasha's governorship of Sivas; the entry does not say who this was or when he died. The third and last door was the divan of Şehzade Mustafa in Amasya. Süleyman the Magnificent's eldest son wrote poetry and gathered scribe-poets around him. His strangling in 960 (1553) in his tent near Ereğli cut short the lives of many in that circle. For Sabri the entry uses a single word: seclusion.

A Close Parallel: Zârî

The life of Zârî Mehmed Çelebi, whom Hüsameddin describes in the tenth volume, is strikingly like Sabri's. Both were named Mehmed Çelebi and both are recorded as "Tokatîzâde". Both learned calligraphy from Ebü'l-Fazl, entered Şehzade Mustafa's service and fell from favour after 960 before dying. The points where they part are just as clear: Zârî's father was Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Efendi, of the branch of the family descended from Cemâleddîn Yûsuf Çelebi, while Sabri's was a Yûsuf Efendi; Zârî joined the prince while serving as teaching assistant to Kara Sâlih Efendi in Istanbul, whereas Sabri reached the prince by way of service with two different statesmen. Their pen names differ too.

Two different conclusions can be drawn from this likeness. They may have been two relatives of much the same age from one family; there is nothing odd in members of the Tokatlıoğulları training under the same master and serving the same prince. Yet it cannot be ruled out entirely that one and the same man reached Hüsameddin through two different sources under two different pen names. Hüsameddin does not link the two entries, and no other record is available to settle the question.

A Difficulty About His Father

The heading of the entry spells the family name "Tokatîzâde", the text "Tokatlızâde". In the Tokatlıoğulları family that Hüsameddin describes in the eighth volume, the man named Yûsuf is Cemâleddîn Yûsuf Çelebi, judge of Amasya, who died in 866 (1461-62). It is hardly credible that a scribe whose career ran through the 940s and 950s was the son of a man who had died seventy years earlier. The "Yûsuf Efendi, one of the professors of Amasya" named as Sabri's father must be another Yûsuf of a later generation of the family; the entry draws no such connection.

His Poetry

Sabri's poems have not been found. Hüsameddin, who says that verse opened the scribal service to him, quotes not a single couplet of it and does not say where he saw the poems. Metin Hakverdioğlu, in his study listing the poets in Amasya Tarihi, counts him among the poets of the eleventh volume as "Sabri Mehmed Çelebi-Tokatîzâde".

Chronology

Early 941 (1534): His teacher Ebü'l-Fazl Mehmed Çelebi dies in Amasya.

941 (1534-35): His master, the treasurer İskender Çelebi, is executed; Sabri falls from favour for a time.

960 (1553): Şehzade Mustafa is put to death; Sabri withdraws into seclusion and dies some time later.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources