For two generations the Kırmacızâde family had supplied Amasya with judges and professors; Seyyid Hacı Mustafa Sâlim Efendi was the one among them who also wrote poetry. His grandfather and his father had both taught at the Osman Çelebi Hadith College in Amasya; Sâlim held the same chair until he was dismissed in 1201 (1786-87), gave up teaching for the bench in 1207 (1792-93) and died in 1225 (1810). Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar sums him up in a single phrase, "ulemâ-yı kudâtdan şâir, mütekellim": a poet and theologian from among the scholars who served as judges. No sample of his poetry is known.

His Life According to Hüsameddin

The entry in the tenth volume is headed Sâlim Mustafa Efendi-Kırmacızâde, es-Seyyid, el-Hâc:

Amasyalıdır. Kudâtdan ve eşrâf-ı memleketten Hâfız el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi bin el-Hâc Hüseyin Efendi'nin mahdûmudur. Amasya'da Çelebizâde Hâfız el-Hâc Hüseyin, Seküköylüzâde el-Hâc Mehmed Kâşif Efendilerden tahsîl-i ulûm edib ders-i âm ve bir müddet Hüseyin Ağa medresesi müderrisi oldu. 1191'de Şeyhzâde es-Seyyid Abdullah Vecîh Efendi'nin nüfûzuyla bu müderrislikten azl edilip sonra Dârü'l-hadîs-i Osmân Çelebi müderrisi oldu. 1201'de buradan azl edilip Ali Çelebi dersiyyesiyle Yavaş nâhiyesinde Oğlanlar Obası karyesinin nısf-ı mâlikânesi mutasarrıfı oldu. 1207'de tedrîsten ferâgat edib kadı oldu. Devr-i bilâd ederek 1225'de vefât etdi. Ulemâ-yı kudâtdan şâir, mütekellim idi.

The same passage in English: A man of Amasya. His father, Hâfız Hacı Ahmed Efendi, was a judge and one of the notables of the town, and his grandfather was Hacı Hüseyin Efendi. He studied in Amasya with Çelebizâde Hâfız Hacı Hüseyin Efendi and Seküköylüzâde Hacı Mehmed Kâşif Efendi, became a licensed lecturer and for a time professor of the Hüseyin Ağa Madrasa. In 1191 he was removed from this post through the influence of Şeyhzâde Seyyid Abdullah Vecîh Efendi, after which he became professor of the Osman Çelebi Hadith College. Dismissed from there in 1201, he received, together with the Ali Çelebi lectureship, the right to half the revenue farm (mâlikâne) of the village of Oğlanlar Obası in the district of Yavaş. In 1207 he gave up teaching and became a judge. He served in one town after another and died in 1225. He was a poet and theologian from among the scholar-judges.

Two dismissals stand out in the entry. Hüsameddin openly attributes the first, from the Hüseyin Ağa Madrasa in 1191 (1777), to the influence of a rival, Şeyhzâde Abdullah Vecîh Efendi. He gives no reason for the second, in 1201. A mâlikâne was the revenue of a tax source granted to one person for life; giving Sâlim, after he lost his professorship, a lectureship endowment together with half a village's revenue shows that his loss was compensated to some degree.

The Kırmacızâdes

The family took its name from Kırmacı Mehmed Ağa, steward (kethüdâyeri) of the sipahis of Amasya in the first half of the seventeenth century. According to the chronicle section of Hüsameddin's work, this Mehmed Ağa joined Murad IV's Revan campaign late with the Amasya cavalry and was beheaded on the sultan's order at Ilıca near Erzurum in 1044 (1635). The later generations moved from the sword to the pen. Sâlim's grandfather, Hacı Hüseyin Efendi, began as professor at the Osman Çelebi Hadith College, became a professor in Istanbul in 1115 (1703-04), judge of Amasya in 1133 (1721), molla of Tabriz in 1141 (1728-29), and died early in 1151 (1738). Hüsameddin writes that the Kırmacızâde line became famous "through this man's efforts" and that its fame lasted into his own day.

His father, Hâfız Hacı Ahmed Efendi, served as judge in provincial towns, sat for years on the councils of the pilgrims and of the notables of Amasya, was head of the pilgrims (hacıbaşı), and died in 1189 (1775). In 1178 (1764-65) he had been succeeded at the Osman Çelebi Hadith College by Fenercizâde Hacı Evliyâ Halîl Efendi. Grandfather, father and son thus all taught at the same college. Ahmed Efendi's entry contains another notable detail: he was the son-in-law of Noktacızâde Seyyid Sâdık Mehmed Efendi, "meşâhîr-i şuarâdan", one of the famous poets. If Sâlim's mother was this poet's daughter, one source of his interest in poetry would have been his mother's family; Hüsameddin says nothing about the mother.

The same entry records that his brother Seyyid Hacı Abdullah Efendi died in 1222 (1807) and was "a'yân-ı ulemâdan", among the leading scholars, and names "his other son, es-Seyyid Mustafa Sâlim Efendi". In the heading of his own entry the pen name comes first, while here the given name leads: his name must have been Mustafa and his pen name Sâlim. The later generations of the family can be followed into the early twentieth century through the sons of Abdullah Efendi, who held the post of imam of the Helkis quarter.

His Namesake Sâlim Mustafa Efendi

In Kırmacızâde Sâlim's life, 1207 is the year he left teaching for the bench. The same year turns up in the entry for another Sâlim Mustafa Efendi, a few entries later in the same volume, but there it is a date of death: that Sâlim died at the end of 1207 (summer 1793). The coincidence does not stop there. The other Sâlim's father is also "Ahmed Efendi of Amasya", he too was a professor and judge, and his name too is tied to half the revenue farm of the village of Oğlanlar Obası in the district of Yavaş. So much in common raises the possibility that the two entries were written separately from documents concerning one person. Their life stories, however, run in different directions. The namesake was a Nakshbandi who returned from Istanbul to Amasya after the death of Mustafa III (1774), having been trained in Istanbul and served as judge in the provinces, whereas Kırmacızâde spent his years in the madrasas of Amasya. Their ties to the village differ in kind as well: Kırmacızâde was granted the revenue farm itself, the other its trusteeship (tevliyet). By opening two separate entries Hüsameddin counted them as two men; with what we have, that decision can be neither confirmed nor refuted.

Poetry

The poems of Kırmacızâde Sâlim Mustafa Efendi could not be located. In the entry both his poetry and his theology remain epithets: no couplet is quoted, and no work is named to back the word "mütekellim". Since it is not known in which cities he spent his last eighteen years as a judge, traces of his poems might be sought in anthologies outside Amasya as well, but no such record exists for now.

Chronology

1044 (1635): His ancestor Kırmacı Mehmed Ağa is executed during the Revan campaign.

1151 (1738): His grandfather Hacı Hüseyin Efendi dies.

1178 (1764-65): His father leaves his post at the Osman Çelebi Hadith College.

1189 (1775): His father Hâfız Hacı Ahmed Efendi dies.

1191 (1777): He is dismissed from the Hüseyin Ağa Madrasa; later he becomes professor of the Osman Çelebi Hadith College.

1201 (1786-87): Dismissed from the college, he receives half the revenue farm of Oğlanlar Obası.

1207 (1792-93): He gives up teaching and becomes a judge.

1225 (1810): He dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources