Şânî Süleyman Çelebi was a scribe of the Amasya Janissaries, a musician and a folk poet who sang epics (destancı), living in the first quarter of the eighteenth century. Because he was skilled both in music and in playing instruments he became known as "Şanlı Çelebi" or "Şanlı Ağa" (the Renowned Çelebi, the Renowned Ağa), and his pen name "Şânî" came from this nickname. According to Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi (History of Amasya), he was rewarded with a robe of honour (hil'at) for the valour he showed in the Russian war of the year 1121 and died in 1135 (1722-23). Hüsameddin writes that he obtained one of his epics, but that it too was burned together with his own papers. Today none of the poet's poems can be found.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Hüsameddin introduces the poet in the eleventh volume of the Amasya Tarihi, in the section listing natives of Amasya whose names begin with the letter "shin":

Şânî Süleyman Çelebi-Şânlı. Amasyalıdır. Amasya yeniçerilerinin yazıcısı olup gerek mûsikîde ve gerekse âlât-ı mûsikî isti'mâlinde mâhir, destâncı bir şâir olduğundan "Şanlı Çelebi", "Şanlı Ağa" diye iştihâr etmekle "Şânî" kendisine mahlas oldu. Şeyh Alizâde es-Seyyid Ahmed Rüşdi Efendi'nin "Tezkere-i Şu'arâ Zeyli"nde muhtasar tercemesi yazılan bu şâir, oldukça erbâb-ı maârifden olup 1121 Rus muhârebesinde merdâne hizmetlerine mükâfâten hil'âtle taltîf edilmiş 1135'de vefât etmişdir. Gâyet şecî', cesûr, kâtib, bir halk şâiri idi. Bir destânını elde etdim oda yandı. Rindâne ve hamâsetkârâne sözlerdi.

In English the entry reads: Şânî Süleyman Çelebi is a native of Amasya. He was the scribe of the Amasya Janissaries. Being a poet who sang epics and was skilled both in music and in playing instruments, he became known as "Şanlı Çelebi" and "Şanlı Ağa", and "Şânî" became his pen name. This poet, whose short biography was written in the Tezkire-i Şu'arâ Zeyli (Supplement to the Biographical Anthology of Poets) of Şeyh Alizâde Seyyid Ahmed Rüşdî Efendi, was a fairly learned man. In return for his gallant services in the Russian war of 1121 he was honoured with a robe of honour, and he died in 1135. He was a very valiant, brave folk poet and a scribe. I had obtained one of his epics; it too was burned. They were words in a carefree and heroic vein.

The site's transcription of the entry, with notes, can be read in the Hüsameddin encyclopedia.

Life

Şânî's date of birth and family are not recorded in Hüsameddin's entry. A footnote to the entry, however, offers a conjecture: Süleyman Ağa son of Ahmed Ağa, deputy serdar (commander) of the Amasya Janissaries in 1112 (1700-01), "must be him"; his son Mehmed Ağa in turn became serdar in 1145 (1732-33). The wording "must be" shows that the identification does not rest on a document but is Hüsameddin's opinion. If the conjecture is correct, Şânî also held a post in the command ranks of the corps besides his work as a scribe, and his son followed in his footsteps.

A Janissary scribe (yazıcı) was the clerk who kept the records and correspondence of a unit of the corps. Hüsameddin's description of Şânî as a "kâtib" and as "oldukça erbâb-ı maârifden", that is, a fairly learned and well-read man, fits this post. That a Janissary who could write also played the saz and sang epics is an example of the close tie between the Janissary corps and minstrel poetry in Amasya. Hüsameddin notes separately that he was skilled both in music and in using instruments; which instrument he played, however, he does not say.

The Russian war of 1121 mentioned by Hüsameddin is the only dated event in the poet's life. The hijri year 1121 falls between March 1709 and February 1710. The Ottoman declaration of war on Russia, however, came at the end of Ramazan 1122 (November 1710), and the war ended with the Prut campaign of 1711. Hüsameddin probably means this campaign; the difference in dates may arise from rounding in his source or from confusing the year the robe was granted with the year of the campaign. This is an inference. That Şânî was rewarded with a robe of honour for his "merdâne", that is, gallant, services in the campaign shows that he was present at the front as well as in the gatherings of the saz. The poet died in 1135 (October 1722-September 1723).

Şânî was a native of Amasya and spent his life among the Amasya Janissaries. The earliest record of him also belongs to the chain of Amasya's own anthology of poets. Şeyh Alizâde Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi, whom Hüsameddin cites, was the grandson of Abdî Efendi, author of the tezkire (biographical anthology of poets) of Amasya's poets; he died on 18 Safer 1159 (March 1746) and continued his grandfather's tezkire with the poets and events of his own time. This supplement was found among his papers after his death, and Hüsameddin drew on it. Şânî's inclusion in this supplement shows that, minstrel though he was, the learned circle of Amasya recognised him as a poet. Detailed information on the tezkire and its supplements is given in the article Abdî Efendi's tezkire. His place among the Janissary epic singers of Amasya is described on the site in the articles The Minstrel Tradition in Amasya and Amasya Folk Songs and Long Songs.

Poetry

None of Şânî Süleyman Çelebi's poems has been found. Hüsameddin says that he obtained one of his epics but that it too was burned, and he characterises his poetry in two words: "rindâne ve hamâsetkârâne", that is, words with a heroic air spoken in the carefree manner of the rind (the free-spirited reveller of Ottoman poetry). This description suggests that Şânî treated war and valour in his epics; it also fits his service at the front. From Hüsameddin's other entries it is clear that Abdî Efendi's tezkire and many texts he had taken from it were lost in a fire that consumed his own papers; Şânî's epic appears to have suffered the same loss. No copy of Şeyh Alizâde Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi's supplement is known today either. Cavit Güzel's study of the minstrel epic tradition in Amasya also states that no work of these minstrels could be found in other sources.

The State of the Sources

All information on Şânî rests on Hüsameddin's entry, whose own source is the Şeyh Alizâde supplement that no longer survives. The sources disagree on the period in which the poet lived. Güzel's article, and the site's article on the minstrel tradition which follows it, give Şânî's year of death as 1820 and count him among the epic singers of the nineteenth century. According to Hüsameddin, however, the poet died in 1135, a date corresponding to 1722-23. Hüsameddin's other dates, the Russian war of 1121 and the years 1112 and 1145 in the footnote, point to the same period. The fact that Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi, author of the supplement that mentions him, died in 1746 also makes it impossible to place the poet in the nineteenth century. The date 1820 therefore appears to be an error; how it arose could not be established.

He should also not be confused with another native of Amasya bearing the same pen name. Şânî Hüseyin Çelebi, described in Hüsameddin's immediately preceding entry, was a scribe and poet of the Şeyh Hamîdzâde family and a pupil of Kemalpaşazâde; in 941 (1535) he was put to death in Baghdad after being named as an accomplice in the charge brought against the treasurer (defterdar) İskender Çelebi. Nearly two centuries separate the two poets.

Chronology

1112 (1700-01): Süleyman Ağa son of Ahmed Ağa, whom Hüsameddin thinks may be the same person as Şânî, is deputy serdar of the Amasya Janissaries.

1121 (1709-10): Şânî is rewarded with a robe of honour for his services in the Russian war mentioned by Hüsameddin.

1135 (1722-23): Şânî Süleyman Çelebi dies.

1145 (1732-33): Mehmed Ağa, son of the Süleyman Ağa of the footnote, becomes serdar of Amasya.

18 Safer 1159 (March 1746): Şeyh Alizâde Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi, who wrote Şânî's short biography in his supplement, dies.

Bibliography

Online sources