In Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's account the life of Şehîdî Kâsım Çelebi ends in a terrible scene: on 28 Şevval 927 (1521), as the princes in his charge were being killed before his eyes, he died of fright. He was descended from the Rifâî seyyids of Lâdik; having lost his father at the age of two, he grew up in Trabzon in the household of Şemsi Bey, tutor-guardian (lala) of Prince Selim, the later Selim I (Selim the Grim), and in time served as lala to a prince himself. Hüsameddin describes him as "gâyet müeddeb, şâir, kâtib" (most well-mannered, a poet, a secretary) and counts him a man of Lâdik; Kâsım enters Amasya Tarihi by way of Lâdik and Ahmedsaray. On the identity of the princes and the manner of their death this account does not agree with other sources.

Hüsameddin's Record

The record begins in the eleventh volume where the entry on Şehîdî Ali Çelebi, who bore the same pen name, ends. Hüsameddin's text also has its own page on this site, Şehîdî Kâsım Çelebi-Karaalizâde:

Lâdiklidir. Sâdât-ı kirâmdan Lâdik'de medfûn sâhibü'l-hâl es-Seyyid Ahmed Rifâî ahfâdından es-Seyyid Abdürrahîm bin es-Seyyid Ali Siyahpuş bin İbrâhim bin Muhyiddîn Mehmed bin Alâeddîn Ali Eşcâ' bin sâhibü'l-hâl es-Seyyid Ahmed Rifâî mahdûmudur. Pederi Ahmed Saray nâhiyesinde mukîm olup 893'de şehîden vefât etdikde iki yaşında yetîm kalmışdı. Sultân Selim'in lalası Şemsi Bey bunun siyâdetine hürmet ve pederinin hizmet-i harbiyyesine mükâfât olmak üzere dâiresine alıp 896'da Trabzon'a beraber götürdü. Orada dâire-i hümâyûnda tahsîl ve terbiye görüp Sultân Selim'in teveccühünü kazandı. Bu esnâda Sultân Selim'in şehzâdesi Sultân Murad'ın lalası olup Murad Bey'in kardeşleri Süleyman ve Mahmûd Beylere kendisini sevdirdi. 918'de Sultân Selim'in tahta cülûsunda mevkiini muhâfaza etdi. Bir aralık Kânûnî Süleyman'ın maiyyetinde bulunup 926'da müşârün-ileyhin cülûsunda manzûr-ı hümâyûn olmuştu. Hayfâ ki 927 senesi şevvâlinin 28. günü lalası olduğu Şehzâde Sultân Murad ile Şehzâde Sultân Mahmûd suçsuz yere gözünün önünde boğulup Sultân Selim'in türbesine defnedildikleri esnâda korkusundan zehre-çâk olarak vefât etdi. Gâyet müeddeb, şâir, kâtib idi.

In English: He was from Lâdik, the son of Seyyid Abdürrahîm, one of the descendants of the noble seyyid and "man of spiritual states" Seyyid Ahmed Rifâî, who is buried at Lâdik; Hüsameddin traces this line to Seyyid Ahmed Rifâî through Seyyid Ali Siyahpuş, İbrâhim, Muhyiddin Mehmed and Alâeddin Ali Eşcâ'. His father lived in the district of Ahmedsaray, and when he fell as a martyr in 893 Kâsım was left an orphan at the age of two. Şemsi Bey, the lala of Sultan Selim, took him into his household out of respect for his descent from the Prophet and as a reward for his father's service in war, and in 896 took him along to Trabzon. There Kâsım was educated and brought up in the prince's household and won Selim's favour. At this time he became lala to Sultan Murad, a prince of Sultan Selim, and also endeared himself to Murad Bey's brothers Süleyman and Mahmud Beys. When Selim came to the throne in 918 he kept his position. For a time he was in the retinue of Süleyman the Magnificent and in 926, at Süleyman's accession, he caught the sultan's eye. Alas, on the 28th day of Şevval in the year 927, while Prince Sultan Murad and Prince Sultan Mahmud, whose lala he was, were strangled without guilt before his eyes and buried in the tomb of Sultan Selim, he died, his gall bladder bursting from fear. He was most well-mannered, a poet and a secretary.

Life

Since he was two years old when his father died in 893 (1487-88), Kâsım must have been born around 891 (1486). His father lived at Ahmedsaray; Hüsameddin does not say in which war he died "şehîden", as a martyr, and speaks only of his "hizmet-i harbiyye", his service in war. The fact that Şemsi Bey, who took the orphan under his protection, was according to Hüsameddin the lala of Sultan Selim determined the course of Kâsım's life from then on: in 896 (1490-91) he was taken to Trabzon, studied in Selim's princely household and grew up as one close to him.

According to the entry, Kâsım was appointed lala to Murad, a son of Selim, and also formed ties with Murad's brothers Süleyman and Mahmud. Selim's accession in 918 (1512) left his position intact; he was for a while in Süleyman's retinue, and attracted the sultan's notice at Süleyman's accession in 926 (1520). In Hüsameddin's telling his life ended on 28 Şevval 927, the day on which Murad and Mahmud, the princes in his charge, were strangled "without guilt" before his eyes and buried in the tomb of Selim I; Kâsım died "zehre-çâk", his gall bladder bursting, from the horror of the scene.

Contradictions in the Sources

Hüsameddin's account is confused in itself about who the princes were. The entry first presents Murad and Mahmud as "a prince of Sultan Selim" and Süleyman as their brother; a few sentences later it names Süleyman as Süleyman the Magnificent, who came to the throne. According to the article "Süleyman I" by Feridun Emecen in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, when Süleyman came to the throne three of his sons whose names are known were alive; of these, Murad and Mahmud died in 1521, leaving only Mustafa, then six years old. Since Şevval 927 falls in the autumn of 1521, the Murad and Mahmud named by Hüsameddin must be these two princes; in that case they were the sons of Süleyman, not of Selim. This is an inference, and since Hüsameddin's source is unknown it cannot be settled.

The manner of death also differs. Hüsameddin writes that the princes were strangled; the encyclopaedia article says only that they died in 1521 and mentions no killing. Because Hüsameddin does not show where he took this information from, the details of the scene surrounding Kâsım Çelebi's death cannot be verified. That Kâsım should have been lala to one of Süleyman's sons is also hard to reconcile with the sentences telling that he attached himself to Selim before 918, while Selim was still a prince; the entry does not give the time of this transition.

Connection with Amasya and Family

The entry records no direct connection between Kâsım Çelebi and Amasya. Hüsameddin's work also takes in the Rifâî seyyids of Lâdik and Ahmedsaray, and Kâsım is one of them. The page on another seyyid, who held the sheikhship of the Rifâî lodge at the same Ahmedsaray in the fifteenth century and whom Hüsameddin calls "edîb, şâir", is under the heading Ahmedî (Zeynelâbidîn Ali Çelebi). The genealogies in the two entries pass through different branches; the entry does not make Kâsım a close relative of that family. The origin of the family name "Karaalizâde" is not explained either.

The name "Şehîdî" is likewise left unexplained. The entry speaks of his poetry, but does not touch on whether this name was a pen name (mahlas) or a nickname given because his father had fallen as a martyr; no answer to the question could be found elsewhere either.

Poetry

Hüsameddin calls him a poet and a secretary, but that word "şâir" is all we have on his poetry, since the entry quotes no couplet and names no work. No poem recorded under this name turned up in other sources either; none of Şehîdî Kâsım Çelebi's poems has been found.

Chronology

893 (1487-88): His father falls as a martyr; Kâsım is two years old.

896 (1490-91): Şemsi Bey takes him to Trabzon.

918 (1512): Selim comes to the throne; Kâsım keeps his position.

926 (1520): Süleyman comes to the throne.

28 Şevval 927 (1521): According to Hüsameddin, he dies of fright during the deaths of the princes Murad and Mahmud.

Bibliography

Online sources