Sânî was a poet who became famous for his beauty in the İstanbul of Bayezid II and was killed young at the hand of one of his lovers. Because of his beauty he was called "Yûsuf-ı Sânî", the second Joseph, and he took the phrase as his pen name (mahlas). The biographical anthologies of poets (tezkire) count him as a man of Rûm or of İstanbul and tell his story in a few sentences. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, however, links him in Amasya Tarihi to the old emirs' family of Amasya, to the line of Hacı Şâdgeldi Pasha, gives his name as Yûsuf Çelebi and writes that he was a favourite of Selim I. None of these details is found in the tezkires; Sânî's connection with Amasya rests on Hüsameddin alone. Of his poems a ghazal, an opening couplet and a single couplet from a kaside (qasida) remain. The full text of Hüsameddin's entry is on the site as Sânî Yûsuf Çelebi-Alacabeyzâde.

Hüsameddin's Record

In the eighth volume, among the people of Amasya whose names begin with the letter "se", the poet is introduced as follows:

Sânî Yûsuf Çelebi-Alacabeyzâde Amasyalıdır. A'yândan Ya'kûb Çelebi bin Yahyâ Bey bin Ya'kûb Bey bin Şâdî Bey bin Devâtdâr Ahmed Paşa bin Hacı Şâdgeldi Paşa'nın mahdûmudur. Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî kayınbirâderinin hafîdidir. Birâderi Tâceddîn İbrâhim Çelebi ile İstanbul'a gelip tahsîl-i ilm u kemâle sâ'î oldu. Fakat hüsn ü cemâli bî-bedel, gâyet güzel olduğundan sarây-ı hümâyûna alındı. Sarây gulâmâtı hâcesinden ikmâl-i tahsîle çalışdı. 918'de tahtına cülûs eden Sultân Selîm'in gözdesi oldu. Bu esnâda uşşâkından biri, alâ rivâyetin tedbîr-i umûr-ı mülk ü millete mâni' oluyor diye Sultân Selîm tarafından ifnâ edildi. Gâyet zekî, sîm-ten, pâkize-edâ bir şâir-i genc idi.

In English: Sânî Yusuf Çelebi Alacabeyzâde is from Amasya. He is the son of Yakub Çelebi, one of the notables of the city; Yakub Çelebi was the son of Yahya Bey, he of Yakub Bey, he of Şâdî Bey, he of Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha, and he of Hacı Şâdgeldi Pasha. He is the grandson of the brother-in-law of Sultan Bayezid II. He came to İstanbul with his brother Tâceddin İbrahim Çelebi and strove to acquire learning and accomplishment. But because his beauty had no equal he was taken into the palace and tried to complete his studies with the teacher of the palace pages. He became the favourite of Sultan Selim, who came to the throne in 918. At this time one of his lovers was done away with by Sultan Selim, according to one account because he was hindering the conduct of the affairs of the realm and the people. He was a very intelligent, silver-skinned young poet of pure manner.

After this introduction Hüsameddin gives Latîfî's entry in a long quotation, and then adds that some men of letters claim the couplet of Selim I "Şîrler pençe-i kahrımdan olurken lerzân / Beni bir gözleri âhûya zebûn itdi felek" was said about Sânî. The meaning of the couplet is: while lions trembled before the claw of my wrath, fate made me the captive of one with gazelle eyes. This is a rumour and its source is not given.

Sânî in the Tezkires

Latîfî introduces Sânî as "Rûmî"; he settled in İstanbul, became famous for his beauty in the time of Sultan Bayezid, and the laments of his lovers filled the world. Besides his beauty he had learning as well; he was a student of the religious sciences. The writer says that his name and his beauty recalled the prophet Joseph, that he was therefore called Yûsuf-ı Sânî, and that his pen name came from this. The end is a short story: one of his lovers saw him with a rival, could not bear his jealousy and killed him, and then, unable to endure the separation, died after him. Latîfî also notes that in poetry Sânî was "henüz nev-heves ü nev-peydâ", that is, newly enthusiastic and only just emerging. Beyânî fits the same story into a single sentence: while it is usual for lovers to be killed at the hand of the beloved, this beloved was killed at the hand of a lover. Kınalızâde, on the other hand, writes that the poet was from İstanbul, that he arrived early in the reign of Sultan Bayezid, and that his name was Hasan.

The State of the Sources

There are four sources on Sânî, and they do not agree on several points. According to Hüsameddin his name is Yusuf; Latîfî's words "on account of his name and his beauty" also suggest that the name was Yusuf, but Kınalızâde plainly says Hasan. His home is Rûm or İstanbul in the tezkires and Amasya in Hüsameddin. Latîfî's word "Rûmî" can mean, in a broad sense, Anatolia and the Ottoman lands, and in a narrow sense the province of Rûm that took in Amasya and Sivas; which is meant here is not clear. The long lineage Hüsameddin gives rests on the family tree of the Amasya emirs, but this descent could not be confirmed from any other source.

There is also a difficulty of dates. The tezkires place Sânî's fame in Bayezid's reign, and Kınalızâde puts his arrival at its beginning. Hüsameddin, however, names him as a favourite of Selim, who came to the throne in 1512, and as "a young poet". A youth who came to İstanbul in Bayezid's first years can hardly still be called young in 1512; the two accounts meet only if the poet is assumed to have become famous towards the end of Bayezid's reign. As for his death, all three tezkires say that he was killed by a lover. Hüsameddin's sentence "one of his lovers ... was done away with by Sultan Selim" states, as written, that one of Sânî's lovers was killed; his quoting Latîfî's story immediately afterwards leaves open how these two pieces of information fit together.

His Poetry

Sânî is not known to have had a divan. Latîfî gives from him a ghazal of four couplets, an opening couplet (matla) that he praises for its string of attributes, and a single couplet from a kaside with the redif (refrain word) "serv". The ghazal begins with the line "Dil-rübâlar dilâ benüm nemdür"; Beyânî quotes only its matla and Kınalızâde three of its couplets, while Hüsameddin, taking it from Latîfî, leaves out the third couplet. The matla lists the beloved in a single breath as walking like the nârven tree, cypress-bodied, violet-haired, narcissus-eyed and rose-cheeked. Each of the three pieces has been given its own page in this category. The couplet "Vefâda mihr-i enver gibi mâhir" in Latîfî's entry stands among the writer's own introductory sentences; it carries no sign of belonging to Sânî.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources