Şehzade Ahmed (Prince Ahmed), son of Bayezid II, became governor of Amasya in 886 (1481), when his father left for Istanbul to take the throne, and he remained in the city for more than thirty years. The circle of poetry and learning that had formed during his father's Amasya years did not break up under him. With a new generation and the arrival of newcomers from outside, above all from Iran, it took a different direction. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar's Amasya Tarihi describes this court with its poets, musicians and physicians and its two rival factions. Some of the poets' names are recorded in that work alone. The best-known members of the circle, such as Münîrî, Mihrî, Basîrî, Âfitâbî and Figânî, have separate articles in the Literature section. Gathered here are the lesser-known poets, about whom there are often only a few lines in a single source: Çeşmî, Şermî, Kâmî, Melîhî, Cenânî, Penâhî, Kutbî-i Câmî and the physician Kutb-ı Şirvânî, who belonged to the circle although he is not described as a poet.

For most of these names the information is scant. For some of them not a single couplet has survived. The identities of others are confused with namesakes in the biographical anthologies, and the sources at times disagree with one another. For each poet, therefore, what the source actually says is given first. Points where the sources conflict and our own inferences are marked separately. The poems that have survived are brought together in the final section, in the texts of the anthology or history in which they were published.

The Formation of the Circle and the Amasya Court

According to Hüsameddin, Şehzade Ahmed was born in Amasya in 870 (1465-66) and became governor of Amasya in Rebiülevvel 886. In the first years of the court Hacıbeyzâde Tâcî Bey was chancellor (nişancı) and Candarlızâde İbrahim Paşa was lala (tutor-guardian). Tâcî Bey would later become lala and deputy of the prince under the title Tâceddin Paşa. In his Mukaddime Hüsameddin writes that during the twenty-six years of Bayezid's governorship in Amasya and the nearly thirty-two years of Ahmed's that followed, "learned poets" (fuzalâ-yı şuarâ) such as Tâcî, Âfitâbî, Figânî, Kutbî, Münîrî, Câferî and Sa'dî Çelebi emerged. He adds that Tâcîzâde Câferî and Sa'dî won their real fame in Istanbul. That the name Kutbî in this list refers to the chancellor Ahmed Çelebi of the Câmî family is inferred from the information given below.

The most distinctive feature that set Ahmed's court apart from his father's was the favour shown to scholars, poets and artists who came from Iran. Hüsameddin openly presents this as a fault. He says that the prince's physician Kutb-ı Şirvânî and his chancellor Ahmed-i Câmî "made the literature, language, men and nation of Iran appear very high in the prince's eyes", and that Ahmed's inclination towards "Iranianness" coincided with the years of Shah Ismail's propaganda. In 908 (1502-03) Mîr Gıyâseddin Mehmed of Shiraz, who is said to have fled Shah Ismail's sword and taken refuge in Amasya, and the Tabrizi poet Penâhî joined the prince's companions. Iranian teachers such as Şirvânî Ebülhayr Efendi were appointed to the madrasas of Amasya. Hüsameddin's account carries the outlook of his own time and an open hostility towards the Iranians. The share of this attitude in the way events are reported should be kept in mind.

In these years the circle was divided into two factions. On one side stood the former tutor Mahmud Çelebizâde Şemseddin Ahmed Efendi, Müeyyedzâde Şemseddin Ahmed Efendi and Çakal Kadızâde Şemseddin Ahmed Efendi. Because all three bore the name Şemseddin they were called "the Şemses", and the poets praised them as "the Suns". Facing them were three Iranians, the sultan's physician Kutb-ı Şirvânî, the master musician Hâce Kutbeddin Mahmud Çelebi and the teacher Kutbeddin Îsâ Çelebi, and these were called "the Kutubs" (the Poles). In Hüsameddin's words, "the Kutubs, set against the Suns, gave rise to many conceits in the poems of the poets". Unfortunately none of the poems carrying this play on suns and poles is among those he quotes.

The high point of the circle was the circumcision feast that Ahmed, with his father's permission, held for his young sons in 911 (1505-06). At this feast, described in detail in Idris-i Bitlisî's Heşt Behişt, the city was decorated and the beys of the region were invited. Hüsameddin lists the poets of those days as follows: "At this time in Amasya, among the Turkish poets Çeşmî, Şermî, Figânî, Kâmî, Melîhî, Münîrî and Mihrî, and among the Persian poets Basîrî, Penâhî and Kutbî were well known. Of these the greatest drinker was Melîhî of Tokat, the best mannered Şermî and the most learned Münîrî Efendi. The most remarkable was Mihrî Hatun." The poets celebrated the feast with kasides and received rich rewards. The same page names the instrumentalists and singers of Amasya: the oud of Baba Mehmed Çelebi bin İlyas, the tanbur of Sofioğlu Abdî Çavuş, the saz of Beylioğlu Sünbül Ahmed Bey, the melodies of Hâce Kutbeddin Mahmud, a descendant of Merâğî, and the voice of Süleyman Dede. Idris-i Bitlisî also wrote a Persian spring kaside for the feast.

The Question of Sources

Almost all of the list of poets above and the details of the circle rest on Hüsameddin. In describing this period he often quotes from Münîrî's Mecmûa-i Târîhiyye, a compilation devoted to the age of Şehzade Ahmed. He found this compilation in the house of Şeyh Alizâde Abdullah Efendi in Amasya, but the work was later burned. He writes that he saw Münîrî's collection of letters in the Veliyyüddin Efendi Library in Istanbul. For names such as Çeşmî, Şermî and Kutb-ı Şirvânî, therefore, there is no other witness today. The source Hüsameddin used can no longer be checked either.

The sixteenth-century biographical anthologies (Sehî, Latîfî, Âşık Çelebi, Kınalızâde, Beyânî and Gelibolulu Âlî) know only a few people from this circle. They record Münîrî as "the panegyrist of Sultan Ahmed", Penâhî as a Tabrizi illuminator who came to Ahmed's court in Amasya, and Cenânî as a poet "from near Amasya". Poets named Melîhî, Kâmî and Kutbî do appear in the anthologies, but it cannot always be shown whether they are the same as Hüsameddin's figures. In the biographies below this distinction is marked for each poet.

The Turkish Poets of the Circle

Çeşmî

According to Hüsameddin's entry on poets, Çeşmî Mehmed Çelebi was from Amasya. His father was Ali Çelebi, superintendent of the fountains built by Hâce Acem Ali Ağa. Whether his pen name came from this family office or from its meaning of "eye" is unknown. He received his first education from Ebülhayr Efendi, one of the Persian scholars and teacher at the Hüseyniye madrasa, and then entered the ranks of Şehzade Ahmed's chancery scribes. He became known through literary conversation with the Amasya poets Mihrî, Figânî, Şermî, Şehrî and Münîrî and won the prince's favour. When the circle broke up with the prince's death in 918, he earned his living as a scribe and died after 927 (1520-21). Hüsameddin describes him as "poet, man of letters, scribe".

His name appears in two different forms in the source. In the entry on poets Çeşmî is "Mehmed Çelebi", while in the same author's chapter on the age of Şehzade Ahmed, under the year 903 (1497-98), we read that "of the poets of Amasya, Çeşmî Ahmed Çelebi and Mihrî Hatun were becoming famous". Whether these two records refer to the same person or to two different poets bearing the same pen name could not be determined. Where Hüsameddin surveys the second period of Amasya as a whole, he again counts Çeşmî, together with Mihrî and Kâmî, among the best-known poets of the city. No poet named Çeşmî from Amasya was found in the anthologies. Gelibolulu Âlî's first pen name is known to have been Çeşmî too, but the coincidence of names is accidental. Hüsameddin quotes two of his poems: a kıta that he supposes was written on Figânî's death and a couplet alluding to the calligrapher Pâdişâh Ahmed Çelebi.

Şermî

According to Hüsameddin, Hâfız Şermî Osman Çelebi was the son of Mehmed Çelebi of Amasya. In his youth he memorised the Qur'an and studied music. He became known for his fine and moving voice, his manners and his learning. The hymns and poems in praise of the Prophet that he recited in the dervish lodges won him the affection of the Sufis, and he became the son-in-law of the Halveti sheikh Şeyh Mahmud Efendi bin Hızır Çelebi. As a young man he had joined the muezzins of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque and in time became chief muezzin. Later he drew close to Şehzade Ahmed, joined his "assembly of pleasure" and acquired considerable wealth. After the prince's death he withdrew into seclusion and died around 941 (1534-35). Hüsameddin calls him "a man of letters, a poet, good-natured, fine of voice and delivery, a musician", and writes that when he recited the Qur'an or hymns his listeners were carried away. His description in the list of the circle as "the best mannered" agrees with this portrait.

His sons were Mehmed and Mahmud Çelebi. His descendants were known first as the "Şermîzâdes", then as the "Dânişzâdes" and the "Molla Halilzâdes". The hadith scholar Hâfız Takıyyüddin Osman Efendi and Dâniş Mehmed Efendi, one of the high judges, came from this family. According to Hüsameddin, Şermî also had a brother who was a poet: Şehîdî Ali Çelebi. Şehîdî had been one of Bayezid's boon companions when Bayezid was governor of Amasya, was taken to Istanbul in the incident of 883 (1478-79), and wrote for Mehmed the Conqueror a history of the Ottomans in four thousand couplets in the metre of the Şehnâme. Hüsameddin says he could not find this history. Of Şermî's own poems no example is known. Although Hüsameddin records that he was a poet, he quotes not a single couplet of his, and no Amasya poet of this name was found in the anthologies.

Kâmî

About the Kâmî in the list of the circle Hüsameddin gives nothing beyond the name. When he lists the poets of Amasya's second period, he again names him alongside Çeşmî and Mihrî. There are several poets named Kâmî in the anthologies, and one of them has an indirect link with Amasya. The Kâmî recorded by Kınalızâde and Beyânî was the son of a brother of Şeyh Cemâl (Cemâl-i Halvetî, Çelebi Halife), founder of the Cemâliyye branch of the Halvetiyye. He became a novice (mülazım) of Müftî Ali Çelebi and, according to Kınalızâde, died while in the service of the religious hierarchy in 952 (1545-46). He is reported to have written a verse Yûsuf u Züleyhâ, which has been lost. The poet whom Latîfî introduces as "Kâmî-i Karamânî", likewise a relative of Şeyh Cemâl and author of a translation of Câmî's Yûsuf u Züleyhâ, is very probably the same person. Cemâl-i Halvetî came from Aksaray, and Latîfî's epithet "Karamânî" fits this.

The link with Amasya can be traced as follows. Cemâl-i Halvetî had for a time guided disciples in Amasya and had met Bayezid and Koca Mustafa Paşa there. Cemâleddin Mehmed Çelebi Halife, whom Hüsameddin names as sheikh of the Hâce Sultan lodge and who, he writes, was sent to the Hejaz because of the plague, is very probably the same man, given the identical pilgrimage story. Hüsameddin, however, places this journey in 903, while the TDV encyclopedia gives the sheikh's death as 899 (1494). In the same passage Hüsameddin records the Amasya mufti Ali Çelebi as his nephew. Hüsameddin also lists among the poets of Şehzade Mustafa's circle in Amasya "Kâmî Mehmed Çelebi, son of Kadı Mehmed Efendi, the brother of Zenbilli Ali Efendi". That Kınalızâde presents his Kâmî both as Şeyh Cemâl's nephew and as a novice of "Müftî Ali Çelebi" suggests that the two records point to the same family in Amasya. This is an inference. Whether this Kâmî, who died in 952, was also present at the feast of 1505 could not be determined. His surviving couplets are therefore marked separately below. Kınalızâde also has a Kâmî Mehmed Efendi of Edirne, known as Mesnevîhânzâde, who is a different person.

Melîhî

Melîhî of Tokat, whom Hüsameddin calls "the greatest drinker", is a well-known poet in the anthologies, but the anthologies place him in another age. According to Sehî Bey, Melîhî was a learned man, without equal among the poets of his day in rhetoric, and Ahmed Paşa's master in poetry. He became a companion of Mehmed the Conqueror but, being an extreme drinker, was removed from the sultan's service and died in hardship. Latîfî introduces him under the heading "the most charming of poets" (Emlahu'ş-şuarâ). He came from the sanjak of Tokat, belonged to the class of judges, was the companion and contemporary of Ahmed Paşa and through his patronage entered the Conqueror's private circle. Sehî, Latîfî and Gelibolulu Âlî tell the same story, and Kınalızâde mentions it briefly: the Conqueror forbids him wine; to avoid breaking his oath, the poet has wine administered to himself in the manner of a physician's remedy; caught drunk, his breath shows no smell of wine, and the jest so pleases the sultan that he is pardoned. Sehî also writes that in his youth Melîhî spent day and night in the company of the Halveti sheikh Rûşenî.

These records are hard to reconcile with Hüsameddin's account. All the anthologies place Melîhî in the Conqueror's circle and among Ahmed Paşa's companions. Sehî writes that he died after falling from favour but gives no date of death. That a poet regarded as Ahmed Paşa's master in poetry should have recited a kaside at the circumcision feast in Amasya in 1505 seems unlikely, though it cannot be called impossible. The Tokat epithet and the reputation for drink suggest that the person in the two sources is the same. Hüsameddin probably added this famous poet of the Conqueror's age to Ahmed's circle by mistake, or confused another Melîhî in his source with him. This is an inference and could not be settled by documents. None of the anthologies connects Melîhî with Amasya. Of his poems, part of a ghazal, a kıta and several couplets survive in the anthologies.

Cenânî

According to Hüsameddin's entry on poets, Cenânî Hüseyin Çelebi was the son of Rıdvan Çelebi, son of Kadı Abdüsselam Çelebi of Geldiklan. His father had been a chancery scribe during Bayezid's governorship of Amasya and later joined Şehzade Ahmed's intimates. Hüseyin Çelebi learned the various scripts from Abdullah Efendi, one of the calligraphers of Amasya, and literature from Münîrî. He became known as the prince's chancery scribe and, when his father died, succeeded him as keeper of the registers. According to Hüsameddin, because he was one of the prince's intimates, he too was executed a month after the prince's death. Latîfî and Kınalızâde, who introduce the poet as "Rıdvanzâde, of the class of officials from near Amasya", write that he died in the reign of Sultan Selim. His pen name appears in the sources as Cenânî, as Cenâbî, and in the edition of Kınalızâde as Cinânî.

Cenânî's name does not appear in Hüsameddin's list for the feast of 911. What ties him to the circle is that he was the prince's chancery scribe and intimate. Latîfî's verdict on him cuts two ways. He says that in conversation he was witty and good-natured, while his poetry remained "plain of the ornaments of imagination". He reserves his real praise for his calligraphy, writing that his hand was flawless and faultless and that calligraphers could find "not even half a dot" to fault. Even so he does not hold back from saying of the ghazal he quotes that "this poem is not poor". Kınalızâde, for his part, counts his poems as "mere metrical speech".

Şehrî

The name Şehrî appears in Hüsameddin's entry on Çeşmî among Çeşmî's literary companions, together with Mihrî, Figânî, Şermî and Münîrî. Hüsameddin does not mention this name in his list for the feast of 911 and gives no separate information about Şehrî. In the Mukaddime of his book, describing the Yediler Tomb where the seven emirs known as "the Seven" in Şehzade Ahmed's time were buried, he records as doubtful that "Şehrî Emîr Mehmed Çelebi" was one of those lying there. Whether this Şehrî Emir Mehmed Çelebi was the poet who was Çeşmî's companion could not be determined. Balcızâde Şehrî İsmail Efendi in Hüsameddin's section on poets died around 1049 (1639-40) and belongs to a much later period. No poems of this Şehrî have been found.

Turkish Poets Treated in Separate Articles

The most important Turkish poet of the circle is Münîrî, whom Hüsameddin calls "the most learned". In 910 (1504-05) he became the prince's chancellor, and Latîfî and Kınalızâde refer to him as "the eulogist of Sultan Ahmed" and "his panegyrist". Mihrî Hatun is described in the list as "the most remarkable", and according to Sehî she presented kasides and ghazals to Selim and to Ahmed. Figânî İshak Çelebi, of the Torumtay lineage, was the companion of Şehzade Murad. He was slandered because of a destan ridiculing the Iranians and the Shiites and, according to Hüsameddin, was executed in Şevval 912 (early 1507). Âfitâbî Abdurrahman Çelebi had been an old companion of Bayezid and administrator of the sultan's endowments. He died in 907 (1501-02). The lives and poems of these four poets are covered in their own articles on the site.

The Iranian Poets of the Circle and the Kutubs

Kutbî-i Câmî

According to Hüsameddin, Ahmed Çelebi bin Kutbeddin Câmî, "one of the men of letters said to be the son of Molla Câmî's sister", became the prince's chancellor and was called "Kutbî-i Câmî" or "Kutbî Ahmed Çelebi". His appointment as chancellor is linked in one place to the disturbances that followed the circumcision feast of 896, while in the entry on the prince it is dated to 898 (1492-93). His father's name also differs in two places: in one simply Kutbeddin Câmî, in another Mevlânâ Kutbeddin Mahmud Câmî, a relative of Câmî. Hüsameddin writes that this was learned from the man's own signature and that he saw the signature "Ahmed bin Kutbeddin el-Câmî et-Tevkîî" on the endowment deed of Tâceddin Paşa. The degree of kinship is given in the source with the word "said", that is, as a report.

Quoting Münîrî's lost compilation, Hüsameddin introduces him thus: "The chancellor Ahmed Çelebi, though a scholar, a man of letters and a poet, was a bigoted and arrogant Persian." He could not get along with the lala Tâceddin Paşa and the judge Ebussuud Mehmed Efendi, complained of them to the prince and in 905 (1499-1500) brought about Tâceddin Paşa's transfer to Kefe. In the same year he himself was dismissed. The name of the chancellor who replaced him also differs in two records (Fettâhîzâde Şemseddin Ahmed Çelebi and Sibekzâde Ahmed Efendi). According to Hüsameddin, Basîrî, one of the poets of the circle, was his son. On this view, what Latîfî says of Basîrî, the story of his coming to Bayezid with letters of recommendation from Câmî and Nevâyî, in fact belongs to the father. This conflict with the other sources over Basîrî's origins is discussed separately in the article on Basîrî.

No example of Kutbî's poetry is known. Hüsameddin recognises him as a poet and says he will write his life separately under the letter "kâf" of his book. This entry, however, could not be found in the volumes available. The Kutbî in Kınalızâde is İsmâil Kutbî of Rumelia, known as Kılcızâde, and has nothing to do with this man. That the "Kutbî among the Persian poets" in Hüsameddin's list is this Ahmed Çelebi is an inference, based on his descent from the Câmî family and on his name appearing in the list of poets in the Mukaddime. Elsewhere Hüsameddin also mentions "Kutbî Mahmud Çelebi", a poet and sheikh of Amasya. The possibility that the Kutbî of the list is this man cannot be entirely ruled out.

Penâhî

Hüsameddin refers to Penâhî as "Penâhî-i Tebrîzî, of the poets of Iran" and says that in 908 (1502-03) he joined the prince's companions together with Mîr Gıyâseddin. This poet of the circle is one of the few names for whom Hüsameddin's word can be confirmed by an independent witness. According to Âşık Çelebi, Penâhî was the illuminator Şah Kulu. He came from Tabriz in the reign of Bayezid, entered the household of Sultan Ahmed in Amasya while Ahmed was still a prince, moved to Istanbul after Selim's accession and became chief court painter (nakkaşbaşı) in the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent. Âşık Çelebi describes his art in a long and ornate eulogy. He calls him a second Mani and praises the lifelikeness of his clouds, seas, roses and falcons with extravagant comparisons. He then quotes a couplet of his poetry.

The Penâhî in Kınalızâde is a dervish-minded poet "from Rumelia" and a different person. The agreement between Âşık Çelebi's Şah Kulu and Hüsameddin's Penâhî of Tabriz, on the other hand, is clear: both record his arrival from Tabriz and his place at Ahmed's court in Amasya. Âşık Çelebi's record places him at the head of the court painters in Süleyman's reign. That a poet of the Amasya circle later became the chief painter of the palace shows that some of the Iranian artists who came to Ahmed's court passed into the service of the Ottoman palace.

Kutb-ı Şirvânî

Kutb-ı Şirvânî does not appear as a poet in Hüsameddin. He was the prince's physician and the head of the faction of the "Kutubs". In Hüsameddin's account he is the man who, together with the chancellor Ahmed-i Câmî, turned the prince towards Persian literature and the Iranians, and he is described as "the man who brought Sultan Ahmed down in the eyes of the people". Hüsameddin uses these words of him again when describing the days in 918 (1512) when Ahmed proclaimed himself sultan in Amasya. After the investigation held in Amasya following the prince's death, he was hanged by a decree that arrived in 919 (1513), together with Koca Halil, steward of Mîr Gıyâseddin. By the same decree Mîr Gıyâseddin was thrown into the dungeon, and the man called "Kutb-ı Tebrîzî" was dismissed and expelled from the city. This appears to be Kutbeddin Îsâ Efendi of Tabriz, whom the prince had made judge.

Kutb-ı Şirvânî's connection with the circle was through conversation and patronage rather than poetry. Hüsameddin's remark that the "Kutubs" gave rise to many conceits in the poets' verse suggests that he was a subject of poems rather than an author of them. No record that he wrote poetry was found, and no poem of his has survived. The other two members of the "Kutubs" are not described as poets either. Hâce Kutbeddin Mahmud was a musician, Kutbeddin Îsâ a teacher.

Basîrî

The third "Persian" poet of the list is Basîrî. According to Hüsameddin he was the son of Kutbî-i Câmî, grew up in Amasya and became the prince's boon companion and personal poet. After Ahmed's death he stayed in Amasya, and in 920 (1514) he presented his Victory kaside to Selim I (Selim the Grim) in Amasya and went to Istanbul. The debate about his origins, his father and his poems is in his separate article in the Literature section.

The Dispersal of the Circle

In Hüsameddin's account the dissolution of the circle moves in step with the prince's political fortunes. Figânî's execution in 912 damaged Ahmed's standing in the eyes of the people. The judge of Amasya, Muslihzâde Abdurrahman Efendi, a relative by marriage of the executed poet, could not bear his death and the reproaches of the people, fell ill and died. Then came the Şahkulu revolt and clashes between Sunnis and Shiites in Amasya. Some leading members of the circle fled to Şehzade Selim in Trabzon. With Ahmed's defeat and death at his brother's hands, the poets and scribes of the court were scattered as well.

What the sources say about these last years shows the different fates of the poets. Cenânî was executed after the prince, and Kutb-ı Şirvânî was hanged. Şermî withdrew into seclusion, while Çeşmî lived by his pen as a scribe. Basîrî came under Selim's patronage, and Penâhî moved to Istanbul and rose to be chief painter. Münîrî, according to Hüsameddin's record, wrote a chronogram kıta for Gıyâseddin İbrahim Çelebi, mufti of Amasya, who died in 927 (1520-21). The next great princely circle in Amasya would form around Şehzade Mustafa, who arrived in 1541.

Selected Poems

The texts below are given in the transcriptions of the sources in which they were published. The dots and lines used in the editions of Latîfî and Âşık Çelebi have been simplified for ease of reading. No poem by Şermî, Kutbî-i Câmî or Kutb-ı Şirvânî has survived.

Çeşmî, Kıta: Hazînim durmayıp ağlar dü-çeşmim

Hazînim durmayıp ağlar dü-çeşmim
Boğup âhım gelûmu makta' etdi
Bu kalbin nâlesi ağlatdı halkı
Figânî göklere yükseldi gitdi

In English: "I am grieving; my two eyes weep without cease; my sigh has choked my throat and cut it short. The lament of this heart made the people weep; its cry rose to the heavens and was gone." In the last line "Figânî" means "his cry" and also carries the poet's name. Through this double meaning the kıta becomes an elegy on the ascent to heaven of a poet who died on the gallows. With the words "dü-çeşm" (two eyes) Çeşmî may also be pointing to his own pen name. Hüsameddin says he found the kıta in an anthology of poets that came into his hands in Amasya and that "it must surely be about Figânî". That the kıta was written on Figânî's death is therefore his conjecture (Hüsameddin, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 3, p. 253).

Çeşmî, Couplet: Rûyunda çıkdı cânân gör hatt-ı pâdişâhî

Rûyunda çıkdı cânân gör hatt-ı pâdişâhî
Bahtın açıldı oldun âşıkların penâhı

In English: "Beloved, look, a royal down has sprung upon your face. Your fortune has opened, you have become the refuge of lovers." In divan poetry "hat" denotes the fine down appearing on the beloved's face. The couplet uses the word together with its meaning of script. According to Hüsameddin, Çeşmî meant in this couplet the calligrapher Pâdişâh Ahmed Çelebi, the prince's chancery scribe and later his chief secretary. This calligrapher's hand was itself called "the Pâdişâhî script" (Hüsameddin, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 7, p. 569).

Melîhî, Ghazal: Dil düşdi yine derdine bir tâze civânuñ

Dil düşdi yine derdine bir tâze civânuñ
Kim âfetidür cânuñ ü âşûbı cihânuñ
Göñlüm düşeli derdine dir gözüme her dem
Dökdüñ yire kanumı yire döküle kanuñ
Zülfüñle ruhuñ mushaf-ı hüsnüñde nigârâ
Tefsîri durur sûre-i Nûr ile Duhânuñ

In English: "Once again the heart has fallen into longing for a fresh youth, the bane of the soul and the turmoil of the world. Since my heart fell into his longing it says to my eye every moment: you have spilled my blood on the ground, may your blood be spilled on the ground. O beauty, in the Qur'an of your loveliness the commentary on your locks and your cheek is the sura of Light and the sura of Smoke." In the second couplet the heart blames the eye for having seen the beloved, and tears of blood and a curse are joined together. In the third couplet the bright cheek is linked to the sura "Nur" (Light) and the dark locks to the sura "Duhan", meaning smoke. Kınalızâde records the last two of these couplets and gives the final line as "Tefsîri durur âyet-i nûrıyla dehânun". Latîfî gives the ghazal immediately after the sentence in which he says that Melîhî knew the science of poetry well and debated rhetoric in the gatherings (Latîfî, p. 493; Kınalızâde, pp. 800-801).

Melîhî, Kıta: Bu Melîhî iki asâ götürür

Bu Melîhî iki ʿasâ götürür
Biri cismânî biri rûhânî
Ol ki cismânîdür ağaçdandur
Ol ki rûhânî laʿl-i rümmânî

In English: "This Melîhî carries two staffs, one of the body, one of the spirit. The one of the body is made of wood, the one of the spirit is a pomegranate-red ruby." According to Latîfî, when sober Melîhî walked with a stick because of the weakness of age, but when drunk he went home without one. Asked the reason, he answered with this kıta. The pomegranate-red ruby is wine, which the poet counts as the second staff that keeps him upright. The kıta also appears in Sehî Bey with a small difference in its second line (Latîfî, p. 494; Sehî, p. 81).

Melîhî, Couplet: Mâh-rûlar leblerine diş bilerdüm dem-be-dem

Mâh-rûlar leblerine diş bilerdüm dem-be-dem
Ol kadar taş urdılar ağzumda dendân kalmadı

In English: "Every moment I whetted my teeth for the lips of the moon-faced; they threw so many stones at me that not a tooth is left in my mouth." "To whet one's teeth" is an idiom for coveting something eagerly. The couplet joins the idiom to its literal sense and turns toothlessness into a punishment of love. According to Latîfî, the Conqueror once asked the poet why his teeth had fallen out though he was not very old, and Melîhî answered with this couplet (Latîfî, p. 494).

Melîhî, Opening Couplet: Micmer görüben sûz-ı derûnum oda yandı

Micmer görüben sûz-ı derûnum oda yandı
Şemʿ ağladuğum gördi vü kanlara boyandı

In English: "The censer saw the burning within me and caught fire. The candle saw me weeping and was dyed in blood." The glowing embers of the censer and the red drops of the melting candle are cast as two witnesses who share the lover's pain. Sehî gives this opening couplet, together with another couplet, in the form "Micmer görüben sûzumı içi oda yandı / Şem' ağladuğum gördi yaşı kana boyandı". It also appears in Kınalızâde with small differences (Latîfî, p. 495; Sehî, p. 80; Kınalızâde, p. 800).

Melîhî, Couplet: Mey iç hoş geç göñül yıkma cihânda

Mey iç hoş geç göñül yıkma cihânda
Kayırma ki Kerîm işi keremdür

In English: "Drink wine, live pleasantly, break no heart in this world. Do not worry, for the work of the Generous One is generosity." In Old Turkish the verb "kayırmak" means to worry. Latîfî relates that this couplet was always on Melîhî's tongue and that the poet, who returned to his old ways after the Conqueror's pardon, recited it most of the time (Latîfî, p. 493).

Cenânî, Opening Couplet: Çü fırsat ʿıyşe el virdi geçürgil hoş bu devrânı

Çü fırsat ʿıyşe el virdi geçürgil hoş bu devrânı
Bu güni koma yarına ki getürmez bu devr ânı

In English: "Since opportunity favours pleasure, spend this age happily. Do not leave today for tomorrow, for time will not bring that moment back." The real skill of the couplet lies in the echo between "devrânı" and "devr ânı" in the rhyme. Latîfî says that the poet's nature can be seen from this opening couplet. Kınalızâde records the same couplet with small differences. Hüsameddin, for his part, quotes Latîfî's words as they stand (Latîfî, p. 181; Kınalızâde, p. 275).

Cenânî, Ghazal: Gözüm ol yâr içün pür-nem degülsüñ

Gözüm ol yâr içün pür-nem degülsüñ
Çık ortadan ki gözüm nem degülsüñ
Rakîb-i dîve niçün mahrem olduñ
Ko yâhı ey perî âdem degülsüñ
Saña itüm didi çünki o dildâr
Eyit göñlüm niçün hurrem degülsüñ

In English: "My eye, you are not brimming with tears for that beloved; out of the way, you are no eye of mine. Why have you become intimate with the demon rival? Let it be, O fairy, you are not human. Since that heart-ravisher called you 'my dog', tell me, my heart, why are you not glad?" In the first couplet "nem" (moisture, tears) and the address "my eye" are played on in two senses within the same line. The last couplet repeats the familiar attitude of divan poetry that greets even the beloved's calling the lover a dog as a compliment. Latîfî says of this ghazal that "this poem is not poor" (Latîfî, p. 181).

Penâhî, Couplet: Sînemdeki cerâhati ey eşk tâze tut

Sînemdeki cerâhati ey eşk tâze tut
Gül gibi sakla bir güzelüñ yâdgârıdur

In English: "O tear, keep the wound in my breast fresh. Keep it like a rose, for it is the keepsake of a beauty." The likeness in colour between the red wound and the rose, and the image of keeping a rose fresh with water, turn the tear into a gardener. Âşık Çelebi gives this couplet as the only example of the poetry of Penâhî, whose painting he praises at such length (Âşık Çelebi, p. 185).

Kâmî (identity uncertain), Ghazal: Güle gûş itdüremez yok yire bülbül inler

Güle gûş itdüremez yok yire bülbül inler
ʿIşk destânını şimdi kim okur kim dinler
Bende-i halka be-gûşum diyü yâd itdi meger
Beni ol verd-i letâfet ki kulagum çınlar

In English: "The nightingale cannot make the rose listen; it laments in vain. Who now reads, who listens to the tale of love? That graceful rose must have remembered me as 'my slave with a ring in his ear', for my ear is ringing." The "ringing of the ear" in the second couplet rests on the belief that it means someone is thinking of one. Through the image of the slave with a ring in his ear, this belief is tied to an image of loyalty. These couplets belong to the Kâmî whom Kınalızâde and Beyânî introduce as Şeyh Cemâl's nephew. That this Kâmî is the same person as the Kâmî of Şehzade Ahmed's circle has not been proven (Kınalızâde, p. 712; Beyânî, p. 165).

Chronology

886 (1481): Şehzade Ahmed became governor of Amasya.

896-898 (1490-1493): Ahmed Çelebi bin Kutbeddin Câmî, known as Kutbî-i Câmî, became the prince's chancellor (the date is given in two different forms in the source).

903 (1497-98): According to Hüsameddin, Çeşmî Ahmed Çelebi and Mihrî Hatun were known among the poets of Amasya.

905 (1499-1500): The chancellor Kutbî-i Câmî was dismissed.

907 (1501-02): Âfitâbî Çelebi, administrator of the sultan's endowments, died.

908 (1502-03): Mîr Gıyâseddin Şîrâzî and Penâhî of Tabriz joined the prince's companions.

910 (1504-05): Münîrî Mehmed Çelebi became chancellor.

911 (1505-06): The circumcision feast of the princes was held in Amasya, and the poets of the circle took part with kasides.

Şevval 912 (early 1507): Figânî İshak Çelebi was executed in Amasya.

919 (1513): Kutb-ı Şirvânî was hanged in Amasya by Selim's decree.

920 (1514): Basîrî presented his Victory kaside to Selim I, who had come to Amasya.

After 927 (1520-21): Çeşmî Mehmed Çelebi died.

Around 941 (1534-35): Hâfız Şermî Osman Çelebi died.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Official sources

Online sources