Captain of the cavalry in Prince Mustafa's household at Amasya, Şâhidî Ali Bey was a poet who wrote a commentary on Sa'dî's Gulistan and traded conversation and jests with the prince's last tutor, Gelibolulu Sürûrî. In 960 (1553), after Mustafa was killed in his tent at Ereğli, he was executed together with the prince's son-in-law Ahmed Paşa. His father had served another prince, Şehzade Ahmed; Ali Bey thus lived through the ruin of two princes, sent into exile after the first and losing his life in the second. Not a line of his poems or of his commentary has survived.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Almost everything known about Ali Bey comes from the entry Şâhidî Ali Bey-Güzel Ahmedzâde, which Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar placed in his eleventh volume:

Amasyalıdır. Amasya vâlisi Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed bendegânından Güzel Ahmed Bey'in oğludur. 918'de Şehzâde-i müşârün-ileyhin ihnâkında pederiyle Amasya'dan ihrâc edilmişdi. Sultân Süleyman'ın cülûsunda İstanbul'a gidip medrese tahsîli gördü. Ba'dehû pederi gibi sipâhi olup Amasya vâlisi olan Şehzâde Sultân Mustafa'ya intisâb ederek vatanına geldi. Müşârün-ileyhin maiyyetinde sipâhiler kethüdâsı olup 960'da Sultân Süleyman'ın da'vetiyle Şehzâde Ereğli'ye vüsûlünde bâ-fermân-ı pâdişâhî i'dâm edildiğini müteâkib şehzâdenin dâmâdı Ahmed Paşa ile birlikte i'dâm edildi. Oldukça maârif ve ulûma âşinâ, güşâde-meşreb, tab'an latîf, şâir olup "Gülistân"ı şerh ve şehzâdenin hüsn-i teveccühâtını celb etmişdi. Şehzâde-i müşârün-ileyhin son muallimi olan Sürûrî Efendi ile musâhabat ve letâifi vardır. Bu da "Gülistân"ı Amasya'da şerh etdi.

Told in plain modern English, the entry runs as follows. Ali Bey was a native of Amasya whose father, Güzel Ahmed Bey, was one of the men of Prince Ahmed, governor of Amasya. In 918, when the prince was strangled, he was expelled from Amasya together with his father. On the accession of Sultan Süleyman he went to Istanbul and received a madrasa education. Then, like his father, he became a cavalryman, attached himself to Prince Mustafa, governor of Amasya, and came back to his home town. In the prince's household he became kethüdâ of the sipahis. In 960, when the prince arrived at Ereğli at Sultan Süleyman's summons and was executed by the sultan's order, Ali Bey was executed immediately afterwards together with the prince's son-in-law Ahmed Paşa. He was well acquainted with learning, open-hearted, gentle by nature and a poet; he had written a commentary on the Gulistan and won the prince's warm favour. He had conversations and exchanged witticisms with Sürûrî Efendi, the prince's last tutor. He, too, wrote a commentary on the Gulistan in Amasya.

Life

His father Güzel Ahmed Bey was one of the cavalrymen in the household of Prince Ahmed at Amasya. Ahmed lost the struggle for the throne to his brother Selim, was defeated at Yenişehir and was strangled. Hüsameddin places this in 918; the prince's death is usually dated to Safer 919 (April 1513). That Ali went to Istanbul to begin a madrasa education only after Süleyman's accession in 926 (1520) suggests that he was still a child or very young when he was driven from the town with his father; his year of birth is not recorded.

After the madrasa he did not enter the learned profession but became a cavalryman like his father. His return to Amasya came after Prince Mustafa became governor of the sanjak of Amasya in 945 (1538). Entering the prince's service, he became kethüdâ of the sipahis, the officer who managed the affairs of the cavalry in the prince's household. He also belonged to Mustafa's literary circle in Amasya: according to Hüsameddin he had won the prince's favour with his commentary on the Gulistan, and he used to converse and trade jests with the prince's last tutor, Gelibolulu Sürûrî.

Setting out on his Persian campaign, Sultan Süleyman summoned Mustafa to the army camp, and in Şevval 960 (October 1553) the prince was killed in his tent at Ereğli on the sultan's order. According to Hüsameddin, Şâhidî Ali Bey was executed immediately afterwards together with the prince's son-in-law Ahmed Paşa. No other source reporting Ali Bey's execution has been found, and the statement that the son-in-law Ahmed Paşa was killed at the same moment also rests on Hüsameddin's account.

The Gulistan Commentary

The point in the entry that raises the most questions is the Gulistan commentary. Hüsameddin first says that Ali Bey wrote a commentary on the Gulistan, then mentions his conversations with Sürûrî, and ends the entry with the sentence "He, too, wrote a commentary on the Gulistan in Amasya". If the "he, too" of this last sentence refers to Sürûrî, named just before, it means that the two friends wrote separate commentaries on the same work of Sa'dî in Amasya. Sürûrî's Gulistan commentary is among his known works. No copy of Şâhidî's commentary, by contrast, is known. The sentence could also be read as a repeated note that Ali Bey wrote his commentary in Amasya; the text allows both readings.

The pen name Şâhidî is also associated with another writer in Ottoman literature. A Gulistan commentary that may one day turn up in a library catalogue under the name "Şâhidî" therefore cannot be attributed to Ali Bey until the identity of its author and the place where it was written have been established.

A Note on His Father

The sixth volume of Hüsameddin contains another man of Amasya, Ahmed Ağa, nicknamed "Güzel Sipâhi", the handsome cavalryman. This Ahmed Ağa, son of Ali Çelebi, became a cavalryman as a handsome youth, then kethüdâyeri of Amasya and later aga of the sipahis in Prince Mustafa's household. In Şevval 960 he was dismissed and lived in Amasya, several times served as deputy governor of the town, was exiled in 966 for having attached himself to Prince Bayezid, who came to Amasya as governor in 965, and died afterwards. His name, his nickname and his place among Mustafa's cavalry bring him close to Şâhidî's father Güzel Ahmed Bey. Hüsameddin, however, draws no link between the two entries. Ahmed Ağa's entry says nothing of service to Prince Ahmed, and Güzel Ahmed Bey has no entry of his own, so whether they are the same man cannot be determined. If they are, the father escaped the events of 960 that cost his son his life, losing only his post.

Poetry

Şâhidî Ali Bey's poems are lost. The only trace of his way with words is the mention of his "conversations and witticisms" with Sürûrî; the entry introduces him as "poet" and "gentle by nature" and offers no sample couplet.

Chronology

918 (1512-13) or 919 (April 1513): Prince Ahmed is killed; Ali is expelled from Amasya with his father Güzel Ahmed Bey.

926 (1520): After Süleyman's accession he goes to Istanbul and receives a madrasa education.

After 945 (1538): He enters the service of Prince Mustafa, governor of Amasya, and becomes kethüdâ of the sipahis.

Şevval 960 (October 1553): Prince Mustafa is killed at Ereğli; Şâhidî Ali Bey is executed together with the son-in-law Ahmed Paşa.

Bibliography

Online sources