Şehzade Mustafa (Prince Mustafa, 1515-1553), the eldest son of Süleyman the Magnificent, gathered a large company of poets and scholars around him during his nearly twelve years as sanjak governor of Amasya, and he wrote poetry himself. In some of his gazels he used his own name, in others the pen name Muhlisî. The sixteenth-century tezkire writers (compilers of biographical dictionaries of poets) counted him among the poet sultans and princes of the Ottoman house; Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi and Beyânî placed him in the section on rulers at the head of their works and each recorded one of his gazels. No arranged divan of his is known, yet the handful of couplets preserved in the tezkires and verse anthologies is enough to show how this ill-fated patron of the Amasya court approached poetry.

Mustafa's literary importance lies less in his own verse than in the circle he built. His teacher Gelibolulu Sürûrî completed his commentary on the Gulistan in Amasya in the prince's name, his divan secretary Kara Fazlî presented Gül ü Bülbül to him, and poets such as Zârî, Senâyî, Zamânî, Şikârî, Edâyî and Emânî served at his court as secretaries, boon companions or confidants. The strangling of the prince in 1553 in the army camp near Ereğli scattered this circle overnight; the tezkire writers recorded with regret that most of his poets vanished in the days of the "interregnum" (fetret). The prince's life is told in the Princes section of our site, and the poetry of Kara Fazlî and Sürûrî in their separate articles in the Literature section; here the subject is the prince's own verse and the other poets of his Amasya circle.

Life and the Amasya Years

Mustafa was born to Mâhidevran Sultan in Manisa in 921 (1515), while his father Süleyman was sanjak governor of Saruhan. Some later sources give his birth year as 941 (1534), but Şerife Ördek, author of the entry in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü (Dictionary of Names in Turkish Literature), states that this date is wrong. After his father's accession in 1520 he grew up in the palace, and in 940 (1534) he was sent to Manisa as sanjak governor of Saruhan. According to Şerafettin Turan's entry in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, he was transferred to Amasya on 21 Safar 948 (16 June 1541). In his Amasya Tarihi (History of Amasya), Hüsameddin places this appointment in the year 945 and bases it on Celâlzâde Mustafa's Tabakâtü'l-memâlik; the discrepancy between the two dates remains unresolved in the sources.

The Amasya years were the period in which the prince fell from favour politically and was at his most productive in literary terms. Hüsameddin relates that the prince "inclined greatly towards literature", that he was generous, brave and pleasure-loving, and that he gathered men of learning and letters about him and conversed with them. This generosity had its price: Bahşîzâde Kemâleddin İbrahim Efendi, one of the leading scholars of Amasya, wrote his Masârif-i Beytü'l-mâl, a work criticising the prince's extravagance, and presented it in 951 (1544) in the prince's own name, receiving his favour for it. In 953 (1546) Gelibolulu Sürûrî came to the prince as his tutor. The letter of lament (feryatnâme) dated 19 Muharram 958 (27 January 1551) was, according to Hüsameddin, written by Sürûrî.

In 960 (1553) the prince was summoned to the Persian campaign announced that year; at the beginning of Ramadan he left Amasya with his army, and he was strangled as he entered his father's tent at the Aktepe camp near Konya Ereğlisi. The sources differ on the day of his death: the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü records 27 Shawwal 960 (6 October 1553), while Hüsameddin gives Friday the twentieth of Shawwal. The chronogram the poets composed for his death was the phrase "Mekr-i Rüstem" (Rüstem's cunning, 960); Kınalızâde adds that people, condemning the deed, also composed a chronogram with the words "Sultân-ı ferzend-kuş" (the son-slaying sultan). His body was taken to Bursa and buried beside the tomb of Murad II.

Works

There is no record that Muhlisî compiled a divan. His known poems consist of one gazel and a few couplets selected by the tezkires and by later biographies of poets. Kınalızâde recorded a five-couplet gazel in his Tezkiretü'ş-şu'arâ, and Beyânî three couplets from the same gazel. The Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü quotes this gazel from Mehmed Tevfik's Kâfile-i Şuarâ and a further two-couplet fragment from Ahdî's Gülşen-i Şuarâ. Âşık Çelebi's Meşâ'irü'ş-şu'arâ has no separate entry on the prince, but it gives the most detailed information on the lives of the secretaries and poets around him.

A prose text accepted as coming from the prince's pen is also known. The letter sent to Ayas Pasha, beylerbey (governor-general) of Erzurum, published by Tayyib Gökbilgin in 1956 and reproduced as a specimen in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, is written in a heavy chancery style; in it the prince asks Ayas Pasha for support in ascending the throne after his father. The letters of lament, on the other hand, were composed by Sürûrî according to Hüsameddin. Hüsameddin notes that he had seen the prince's letters in an anthology in the Bayezid Library and copied them, but that his copies burned and he could no longer remember the anthology's number.

Literary Character

The tezkire writers' judgements on Muhlisî tie his poetic ability to the company he kept. Kınalızâde writes that the prince was drawn to poets and men of learning and that, because he conversed constantly with his teacher Sürûrî Efendi, he had "real power and skill" in this art. Beyânî, in similar language, says that he was always in conversation with men of knowledge and in the company of the clever, and that he therefore acquired "perfect power in composing verse". Halûk İpekten, as quoted in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, records that the sources state the prince's poems were not very good. It may be assumed that the tezkire writers' praise owes something to the courtesy expected towards a member of the ruling house. What can be drawn from the few surviving couplets is that the prince commanded the gazel idiom of his age but did not seek a style of his own; this view does not appear in the tezkires and is an assessment based on the surviving texts.

The language of his gazels may be called plain. He uses images that were the common property of the age: a mystical counsel of humility (the sun rubbing its face on the earth each day), the familiar legend of Jesus' ascension, and love that makes one weep blood. The choice of pen name is also notable: "muhlis" means sincere, devoted from the heart. In the couplet from Ahdî the name Muhlisî appears, while in the closing couplet of the gazel in Kâfile-i Şuarâ the name "Mustafâ" is used; as the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü notes, the prince used his name in some gazels and his pen name in others. Kınalızâde and Beyânî record the same closing couplet with "Muhlisî".

The prince's literary character is seen above all in his Amasya circle. According to Hüsameddin, the prince's chancellor (nişancı), treasurer (defterdar) and divan secretary were all poets. Among his confidants were Hacı Beyzâde Edâyî Bey, of one of the notable families of Amasya, and the secretaries Zamânî Mahmud Çelebi and Emânî Mehmed Çelebi. In his chancery served young gentlemen known by flower names such as Gonca Keyvân, Gül Mehmed, Çiğdem Ali, Lâle-i zâr Hasan, Sünbül Ahmed and Zanbak Bâlî. Hüsameddin writes that the prince granted a vineyard in Amasya each to the beys Gonca and Çiğdem, to the çelebis Gül and Lâle and to his lala (tutor-guardian) Hamza Bey, and that the present-day names "Hamza Düzü" and "Goncalık" derive from these. The poets who joined this circle through their verse are treated separately below.

Selected Poems

Gazel: "Rif'at istersen eger mihr-i cihân-ârâ gibi"

Rif'at istersen eger mihr-i cihân-ârâ gibi
Sür yüzün her gün yire eyle tenezzül mâ gibi
Hûş kabâ'ilden degül bâkî bu nakş-ı rûzgâr
Fi'l-mesel dünyâ misâl-i 'âlem-i rûyâ gibi
Sûzen-i müjgânlarundan geçmedi dil-riştesi
Yolda kaldum ey Mesîhâ Hazret-i 'Îsâ gibi
Pehlüvân-ı 'âlem olmış kalb-i istignâ ile
Tôb-ı çarhı dehr elinde oynadur elma gibi
Katreden kemdür vücûdun Muhlisî ammâ 'aceb
Nazm idüp dürler döker tab'un senün deryâ gibi

This gazel is the only specimen Kınalızâde gives for the prince. The first couplet is a counsel of humility: if you want loftiness like the world-adorning sun, rub your face on the ground every day and descend like water. The sun touching the earth with its light each morning and water always flowing downward are tied to the idea that greatness comes from humility. The second couplet says that the pattern of the times does not endure and that the world is, as it were, like a realm of dreams; the first line of this couplet is read differently in the editions (in Kınalızâde's edition "Hûş kabâ'ilden degül", in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü "Hoş kabâ'ildür degül"), so its details are not discussed here. The third couplet rests on the legend that Jesus, as he ascended to heaven, remained in the fourth sphere because a needle was found on him: the thread of the lover's heart could not pass through the needle of the beloved's eyelashes, and so he was left on the road like Jesus, on the way of the beloved he addresses as "Mesîhâ" (Messiah). The fourth couplet says that one who has become the champion of the world through a heart free of need plays the ball of the heavens in his hand like an apple. In the closing couplet the poet turns to himself: your being is less than a drop, yet, wondrously, when your nature composes verse it pours out pearls like the sea. Beyânî took the first, third and fifth couplets of this gazel (Kınalızâde, p. 158; Beyânî, p. 17). In the text the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü quotes from Kâfile-i Şuarâ, the closing couplet reads "Katreden kemdür vücûdun Mustafâ ammâ aceb".

Couplets from a Gazel: "Mû-be-mû gîsûlarun kılmış ihâta gerdenün"

Mû-be-mû gîsûlarun kılmış ihâtâ gerdenün
Mâhtâbı sanasun kim kaplamışdur hâleler
Bagrumı pergâle pergâle kılupdur tîg-ı gam
Muhlisî çeşmümden akan kandur ol pergâleler

These two couplets are the fragment the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü quotes from Ahdî's Gülşen-i Şuarâ (Solmaz edition, p. 33). In the first couplet the beloved's locks have encircled the neck hair by hair; onlookers would think haloes had enveloped the moonlight. The white neck is likened to the moon and the black hair around it to the moon's halo. In the second couplet the sword of grief has cut the lover's breast to pieces; here the pen name is used openly: Muhlisî, those pieces are the blood flowing from my eye. Built from the familiar images of the sorrowful love gazel, the fragment gains a tidy sound through the repetition of the word "pergâle" (piece) in both lines.

Poets of the Amasya Circle

The Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, drawing on İpekten's Divan Edebiyatında Edebî Muhitler (Literary Circles in Divan Literature), counts Şikârî, Senâyî, Sürûrî Efendi, Kara Fazlî, Zârî and Zamânî among the poets in the prince's service. Hüsameddin, for his part, names the chancellor Hamdî Hamdullah Çelebi, the treasurer Lutfî Bey, the divan secretary Fazlî Çelebi, Kâmî Mehmed Çelebi, Tayyibzâde Lutfî Efendi, Seyrekzâde Ânî Ahmed Çelebi, Edâyî Bey, Zamânî Mahmud Çelebi and Emânî Mehmed Çelebi. Some of these names live on in detailed tezkire entries, while others survive only in Hüsameddin's list. Because more than one poet bore the same pen name, questions of identity are at times unresolved. Below, what the sources say about each is given, together with specimens for those whose poems could be found.

Zârî (Mehmed Çelebi of Tokat)

Âşık Çelebi writes that he knew three Zârîs in his own time and mentions the prince's secretary second: he was a madrasa student (dânişmend) from Tokat and a fine calligrapher, skilled with the calligrapher Riyâzî in writing the various scripts; he became the dânişmend of Samsunîzâde Efendi when the latter was kadi of Istanbul, then divan secretary in Sultan Mustafa's time, enjoyed favour as long as that fortune lasted, and in the time of the interregnum his fate became unknown. Âşık Çelebi's verdict is harsh: on the strength of his poetry he has not rank enough to be named among the poets. Kınalızâde repeats the same information and says that in the days of the interregnum he became "hidden and vanished from sight like the soul". Latîfî too, under the heading "Zârî-i Tokâdî", speaks of a dânişmend, a contemporary of Hayâlî, with a fine hand and well-liked verse, but adds that he abandoned his studies for wine parties. Hüsameddin, however, counts Zârî as a native of Amasya: he was the son of Hüsameddin Hüseyin Tokatî Efendi, one of the müderrises of Amasya, entered the prince's service while assistant (muîd) to Kara Sâlih Efendi, came to Amasya, became divan secretary, and after the prince's death died in Amasya in disgrace. It appears that Hüsameddin read the tezkires' nisba "Tokadî" as a family name ("Tokatîzâde"); whether Zârî was from Tokat or the Amasya-born son of a family from Tokat cannot be settled from the sources.

Bugün hûrşîdveş giymiş o mâh-ı sîm-ber üsküf
Cemâlî şem'i tâbından yine par par yanar üsküf

Kınalızâde (p. 403) and Latîfî (p. 254) attribute this opening couplet to Zârî; Hüsameddin quotes the same couplet. According to Latîfî, it was composed for a young Kuloğlu wearing a gold-embroidered üsküf (a ceremonial cap). The silver-bodied, moon-faced beloved has today put on his gold-threaded cap like the sun; from the candle-glow of his beauty the cap once again shines brightly. Another opening couplet recorded by Latîfî agrees with what was said of the poet's love of wine:

Tutmaz ayagı elüm bâde-i nâb olmayıcak
Gelmez 'aklum başuma mest ü harâb olmayıcak

It is the inverted logic of a lover whose hands and feet will not obey him without pure wine, and whose wits will not return until he is drunk and ruined; Latîfî gives this couplet as the words that show the poet's "state of being" (pp. 253-254). A confusion should be noted here: the gazel "Göz karasın eşk ile boyayın agarınca", which appears under the name Zârî in some tezkires, belongs according to Âşık Çelebi and Kınalızâde to Zârî-i Sûzenî, the tavern poet of Istanbul (of Mudurnu according to Latîfî), and not to the prince's secretary.

Senâyî

The name Senâyî occurs in the prince's circle for two different people, and the sources do not merge them. The Senâyî of the tezkires was from Manisa. According to Âşık Çelebi he entered the path of learning, attended Sultan Mustafa's court while the prince was in Manisa and thereby became a candidate for office (mülâzım), and even after taking up a kadi's post he did not leave the prince, going with him to Amasya. Kınalızâde repeats this and adds that he wrote a commentary on the morphology textbook Maksûd; Beyânî writes that he came from Manisa, entered the prince's service and became a town kadi. Hüsameddin also records that in 955 (1548) "Senâyî Mehmed Efendi of Manisa, one of the poets" became kadi of Amasya. Âşık Çelebi thinks little of this poet: he says that his fellow townsmen inflated his name like an empty drum resounding through that country by ascribing to him many kasides and a book called Neyistân-ı Zülâl in the manner of Şebistân-ı Hayâl, but that of all this noise only a dry sound remained in the ears, like a mountain echo.

Hüsameddin, however, also mentions a Senâyî Mehmed Çelebi from Amasya: of the Hacı Enbiyâzâde family, he was the son of Mahmud Çelebi, secretary of the endowments of Sultan Bayezid; he succeeded his father as endowments secretary, then became the prince's divan secretary and, through his poetry and prose, his boon companion and confidant. After the prince's death he lived for a time in Amasya in disgrace, supported himself on a zeamet (military fief) granted to him, and died in 967 (1559-60). Hüsameddin quotes no poetry by him, and no tezkire entry corresponding to him has been found; the poems of Senâyî Mehmed Çelebi of Amasya could not be found. The couplets below belong to the Senâyî of Manisa known from the tezkires.

Görüp nâz-ı ruhun zünnâr-ı zülfün bir gün âh itdüm
Yirüm od oldı san küfre berâber bir günâh itdüm
Na'lçen nakşîdür ey mâh-rû yiryir degül ebrû
Gubâr-ı çehre-i zerdüm yolunda hâk-i râh itdüm

In these two couplets recorded by Beyânî (pp. 45-46) and Kınalızâde (p. 256), the lover, seeing the fire of the beloved's cheek and the zunnar (the girdle of unbelievers) of his locks, sighed one day, and his place became fire; it is as if he had committed a sin equal to unbelief. Fire and zunnar together evoke the images of fire-worshippers and non-Muslims; the penalty for the sigh is the fire of hell. In the second couplet the poet says that the eyebrows on the beloved's face are in fact the horseshoe marks left on his own pale face: he made his yellow face the dust of the beloved's road, and the hooves of the beloved's horse left their marks there. A closing couplet quoted by Kınalızâde also shows the poet's opinion of his own verse:

'Ayârın cevher-i nazmun bilen sarrâf-ı mâhirdür
Senâyî ma'nî-i hâssı ne bilsün degme bir 'âmmî

Only a skilled assayer knows the true standard of the jewel of verse; Senâyî, how should any common ignoramus know the refined meaning. Read against Âşık Çelebi's harsh words about him, the self-assured tone of this couplet is all the more striking.

Zamânî (Mahmud Çelebi)

According to Âşık Çelebi his real name was Mahmud; he first used the pen name Semâ'î and later became Zemânî. He was born in Ergene and raised in Edirne, entered the path of learning and served in the households of the great mollas, then changed course and joined the men of Sultan Mustafa, quickly becoming a favourite as secretary of the segbans (houndsmen). After the prince's "interregnum" he disappeared; Âşık Çelebi writes that he saw him once in Edirne and afterwards could not learn where he was, and that a good while later he took refuge with Ahmed Pasha, beylerbey of Rumelia, and obtained a zeamet under his patronage. He wrote a kaside with the refrain "hüner" (skill) in honour of the chancellor Celâlzâde Mustafa. Kınalızâde too counts him as from Edirne and repeats that his first pen name was Semâ'î. Beyânî, however, describes him as one who became a secretary at the prince's court while a dânişmend and whose "span of life came to an end" in the time of the interregnum; this phrase gives the impression that the poet died with the prince and contradicts Âşık Çelebi's account. Hüsameddin counts Zamânî Mahmud Çelebi among the prince's secretary-confidants and elsewhere names him among the Amasya poets who won fame in the reign of Süleyman; that a poet from Edirne should be counted as from Amasya is a second contradiction among the sources. The Zamânî in Latîfî is another man of Edirne, who died young towards the end of the reign of Selim I and was known as "Kız Memi"; he should not be confused with this poet.

Zencîr-i zülf ü çâh-ı zenehdâna dil düşüp
Bir gözi yaşlu sâ'il-i zindân olup gezer
Bilmez ki niçe azıda agyârı gezdirüp
Gören sanur Zemânîyi segbân olup gezer

In these two couplets recorded by Âşık Çelebi (p. 251), the heart has fallen into the chain of the locks and the well of the dimpled chin, and wanders like a tearful beggar, as chained prisoners did. In the second couplet the poet plays on his own profession: those who see Zemânî leading the rivals about in his train take him for a segban leading hounds. The rivals are likened to dogs and the lover to the houndsman who drives them; recalling that the poet was secretary of the segbans, the couplet takes on the character of an in-joke. The word in the first line of the second couplet is read differently in the manuscripts (Kınalızâde "âzîde agyâr", Beyânî "âzide agyârı"), and Kınalızâde and Beyânî give the refrain as "gider".

Nigârun hâtırı hattı ucından pür-gubâr ancak
Yine âyîne-i 'âlem-nümâda jeng var ancak

In this opening couplet, recorded by all three tezkires, the beloved's heart is dusty and vexed only because of the first down appearing on his face; if there is rust on the world-showing mirror, that is, on his face, it too comes from this down. The pairing of face with mirror and of down with rust is a conceit often met in the gazel of the age.

Şikârî (Hazînedârzâde Mustafa Çelebi)

Which of the poets with the pen name Şikârî belonged to the prince's circle becomes clear only when the sources are read together. The Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, following İpekten, counts Şikârî among the prince's poets but does not identify him. Âşık Çelebi names three Şikârîs. The first is a poet who served as kadi of Ferecik. The second, called "Şikârî-i Sânî", is Hazînedârzâde Mustafa Çelebi: he worked for a time as a treasury secretary, went with Sultan Mustafa when the prince first went out to a sanjak, became his chief houndsman (segbanbaşı), chief herald (çavuşbaşı) and confidant, and after the prince's death held a zeamet. The third is Ahmed, grandson of Acem Kâsım Pasha, the only Şikârî Kınalızâde mentions; Kınalızâde writes that he died in 992 (1584) and says nothing of any link with the prince. On this basis the Şikârî of the prince's circle must be Hazînedârzâde Mustafa Çelebi. Âşık Çelebi does not state explicitly that he moved with the prince from Manisa to Amasya; that he was with him in the Amasya years as well is an inference, based on his having been at the prince's side from the first sanjak and being counted his confidant. The name does not appear in Hüsameddin.

Gönül nâ-dânı almaz dâneye dânâya mâ'ildür
Şeh olmaz câhile fazl ehline kullıga kâ'ildür
Elinde tolu ebyâtıyla dil-berden diler bûse
Şikârî keşkül ile cerr ider gûyâ ki sâ'ildür

In these couplets quoted by Âşık Çelebi (p. 600) the heart does not accept the ignorant and inclines not to the grain (dâne) but to the wise (dânâ); it does not bow to the ignorant and is content to serve men of merit. In the second couplet the poet compares himself, begging a kiss from the beloved with his hands full of couplets, to a beggar out collecting alms with his keşkül (dervish's begging bowl); the alms-gathering tours of madrasa students and dervishes are here carried over into the language of love. Another couplet recorded in the same place runs:

Bana cennet serâyından ser-i kûy-ı vefâ yegdür
Yarınki hûr u gılmândan bugünki dil-rubâ yegdür

The head of the street of fidelity is better to him than the palace of paradise; today's heart-stealer is better than tomorrow's houris and youths of paradise. With a libertine's choice, present love is set above the promise of paradise.

Edâyî (Hacı Beyzâde Receb Bey)

Edâyî stands first among the poets of the prince's circle who were certainly natives of Amasya. Kınalızâde introduces him as "from Amasya"; he writes that he entered the prince's service and his private circle, that he was unrivalled in his day in the theory of music (ilm-i edvâr), with a fine voice and delivery, and that he won favour by composing a murabba for Gonca Keyvân, one of the prince's favourites. According to Hüsameddin he belonged to the Hacı Beyzâde family, his father being Mirliva Hamza Bey; in Amasya he learned calligraphy and letters from Topal Hattatzâde Fazlullah Fazlı Çelebi and music from Tanbûrî Mehmed Çelebi, known as Baba Çelebi, and entered the prince's service through his teacher Fazlı Çelebi (this Fazlı Çelebi was an Amasya man distinct from the divan secretary Kara Fazlî). He wrote gazels for Gonca Keyvân and kasides for the prince, and the prince, pleased with his kaside, made him divan secretary. In the elegies he wrote after the prince's death he used words offensive to Rüstem Pasha; in 961 he went to Istanbul and, under the patronage of the chief treasurer Şerîfezâde Mehmed Çelebi, joined the treasury secretaries, later entered the service of the Grand Admiral Piyâle Pasha, and died in 982 (1574-75) while timar treasurer of the arsenal. Âşık Çelebi too counts him among the prince's poets. Hüsameddin, quoting Gelibolulu Mustafa Âlî's disparaging words about his poetry in the Künhü'l-ahbâr, openly rejects Âlî's verdict and regards Edâyî as a true poet.

Hâl kim ol goncenin la'l-i mey-âşâmındadır
Dâğ-ı hasretdir ki gönlüm lâlesi câmındadır

This is the opening couplet of the kaside which, according to Hüsameddin, was presented to the prince and led to Edâyî's appointment as divan secretary. The mole on the wine-drinking ruby lip of that rosebud is the brand of longing in the cup of the tulip of the poet's heart. The word "gonca" (rosebud) also calls up the name of the prince's favourite Gonca Keyvân; the pairing of the dark spot at the heart of the tulip with the mole on the lip turns the kaside into a compliment addressed to the prince's circle.

Âsmân-ı hüsnün ey ebrû hilâli sen misin
Yohsa gözler görmedük bir tâk-ı 'âlî sen misin
Tîgden n'içün geçürdiler bugün ey hat seni
Rûmda baş kaldıran yohsa Celâlî sen misin

In these couplets, attributed to Edâyî by Kınalızâde (p. 183), the word in the first line appears as "ebr ü" in Sungurhan's edition and as "ebru" in Hüsameddin; for the sense, the reading "eyebrow" (ebrû) has been preferred. The poet addresses the eyebrow: are you the crescent of the sky of beauty, or a lofty arch such as eyes have never seen. In the second couplet he turns to the down on the face: O down, why did they put you to the sword today, or are you the Celâlî who raised his head in the land of Rûm. The shaved down is likened to the Celâlî rebels who rose up and were put to the sword; it is an interesting example of how the Anatolian revolts seeped into poetry.

Emânî (Mehmed Çelebi the Secretary)

Emânî survives only in Hüsameddin's records. He was a native of Amasya and the son of Culgazâde Hâce Resul Çelebi. After his studies, while among the commanders, he entered the service of Şehzade Mustafa when the prince came to Amasya as governor, and the prince, admiring his hand and his secretarial skill, made him divan secretary. After serving about ten years as secretary in the prince's chancery, he died around 958 (1551). Hüsameddin describes him as "a man of letters, poet, secretary, master of the divanî script"; his brother was Mustafa Çelebi, one of the kadis. No entry on this secretary of the prince has been found in the tezkires examined (the Emânîs in Kınalızâde are other poets from Istanbul and Rusçuk). Emânî's poems could not be found.

Other Poets Named by Hüsameddin

Information on the other names in Hüsameddin's list is very limited. Hamdî Hamdullah Çelebi was the son of Tâceddin Efendi, known as Nefîsoğlu, of the line of Elvan Çelebi, and is named as the prince's chancellor. Lutfî Bey (Lütfullah) was the prince's treasurer; in his entry on the poet Kudsî Mehmed Çelebi, Âşık Çelebi writes that Kudsî's father Lutfî Bey was raised in the palace and, after serving as city superintendent (şehremini) and as Sultan Mustafa's treasurer, became a sanjak governor. Kâmî Mehmed Çelebi was the son of Kadi Mehmed Efendi, brother of Zenbilli Ali Efendi; Tayyibzâde Lutfî Efendi appears only by name. The poems of these four could not be found.

Ânî Ahmed Çelebi was the son of Seyrek Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi, the prince's first tutor in Amasya. According to Hüsameddin he was born in Amasya in 932 (1525-26), went to Istanbul in 951 (1544) to complete his studies, taught at the Bursa and Kaplıca madrasas, and died in Mecca in 975; he first used the pen name Ânî and later, because he lived near the Zeyrek Mosque, Zeyrekî. Given that he left Amasya in 1544, he can have taken part in the prince's circle only in his youth; this is an inference. Hüsameddin quotes the following couplet of his from the tezkire of Kâfzâde Fâizî:

Gözlerim ey lâle-ruh hicründe kanlar dökdiler
Meclis-i derd ü belâya erguvanlar dökdüler

O tulip-cheeked one, in your absence my eyes shed blood; they scattered Judas-tree blossoms over the gathering of grief and woe. Bloody tears and the crimson of the Judas tree are joined, and the gathering of sorrow is turned into a spring feast.

To these may be added Derûnî-i Sânî, mentioned by Beyânî. He was from Manisa, a dervish-like man and a master tanbur player versed in the theory of music; he first entered the service of Şehzade Mustafa, then went to the court of Sultan Selim and, not finding the favour he had hoped for, composed a reproachful muhammes (Beyânî, pp. 70-71). Beyânî does not say whether he attached himself to the prince in Manisa or in Amasya, so it is not certain that he belonged to the Amasya circle.

Ol dem ki fenâ buldı şehr-i dil-âbâdum
Hîç nesneye meyl itmez bu hâtır-ı nâ-şâdum
Şimdi garazum bu kim anlamıya hîç âdem
Ey bü'l-heves-i devlet magrûr-ı mey-i gaflet
Şimdengirü dünyâyı al sana bagışladum

Since the moment the city of my heart was ruined, this sorrowful mind inclines to nothing; its aim now is that no one should understand. O you who crave fortune, proud with the wine of heedlessness, from now on take the world, I have given it to you. The resentment of a court poet forced to pass from one master to another is voiced through the gesture of bestowing the world.

Chronology

921 (1515): Şehzade Mustafa was born in Manisa.

936 (1529-30): Süleyman had Mustafa circumcised; according to Âşık Çelebi the poets of the day presented kasides for the celebration.

940 (1533-34): He was sent to Manisa as sanjak governor of Saruhan.

21 Safar 948 (16 June 1541): According to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi he was transferred to Amasya (Hüsameddin places this appointment in 945).

951 (1544): Bahşîzâde Kemâleddin İbrahim Efendi wrote the Masârif-i Beytü'l-mâl and presented it in the prince's name.

953 (1546): Gelibolulu Sürûrî came to Amasya as the prince's tutor.

955 (1548): Senâyî Mehmed Efendi of Manisa became kadi of Amasya.

19 Muharram 958 (27 January 1551): Date of the letter of lament the prince sent to his father.

958 (1551): Sürûrî completed his Gulistan commentary in Amasya and presented it to the prince; the secretary Emânî Mehmed Çelebi died around this year.

960 (1553): Şehzade Mustafa was strangled at the Aktepe camp near Ereğli; the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü gives the date of death as 27 Shawwal 960 (6 October 1553).

967 (1559-60): Senâyî Mehmed Çelebi of Amasya (Hacı Enbiyâzâde) died.

982 (1574-75): Edâyî Receb Bey died while timar treasurer of the arsenal.

992 (1584): Death of Şikârî Ahmed, mentioned by Kınalızâde (a different person from the Şikârî of the prince's circle).

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

  • Şerafettin Turan, "Mustafa Çelebi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 31, İstanbul 2006, pp. 290-292. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mustafa-celebi
  • Tayyib Gökbilgin, "Rüstem Paşa ve Hakkındaki İthamlar", Tarih Dergisi, 11-12, 1956, pp. 11-50 (letter text as quoted in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü).

Official sources

  • Halûk İpekten et al., Divan Edebiyatında Edebî Muhitler, İstanbul: MEB Yay., 1996, pp. 191-192 (as quoted in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü).

Books

  • Şerife Ördek, "Muhlisî, Şehzâde Mustafâ b. Kânûnî Sultân Süleymân", Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, 2014 (updated 2020). https://teis.yesevi.edu.tr/madde-detay/muhlisi-sehzade-mustafa-kanuni
  • Süleyman Solmaz, Ahdî ve Gülşen-i Şuarâsı, Ankara: AKM Yay., 2005, p. 33 (as quoted in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü).

Online sources