Reckoned the first of the three companions known as the "Şems" at Şehzade Ahmed's court in Amasya, Müeyyedzâde Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi was chief judge of Amasya and adviser to the prince from 912 (1506-07) until his death. He is known to have written poetry under the pen name "Şems" and to have compiled a collection on Islamic law. In 918 (1512), as Selim the Grim ascended the throne and Şehzade Ahmed's hopes of the sultanate faded, he died, in the words of Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, "amid the fear and dread that overwhelmed him". He came from the Müeyyedzâdes, Amasya's celebrated family of scholars. His pen name invokes the sun; of his verse, not one couplet is in our hands.

Hüsameddin's Record

Hüsameddin introduces him in the eleventh volume of Amasya Tarihi as follows:

Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi-Müeyyedzâde Amasyalıdır. Yâkut Paşa Zâviyesi şeyhi Mevlânâ Müeyyed Çelebi bin eş-Şeyh Ali Yârî Çelebizâde Mevlânâ Mehmed Çelebi mahdûmudur. Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi'nin amcazâdesi olup Mevlânâ Hatîb Kâsım Amâsî ve emsâli fuzalâdan tahsîl-i ilm ederek ders-i âm ve müderris-i be-nâm oldu. Amcası Abdülvâsi' Çelebi bin Mü'eyyed Çelebi kerîmesi Ayşe Hâtun Molla ile teehhül edib fezâil-i ilmiyyesi anlaşıldığından Mehmed Paşa müderrisi, ba'dehû Tokat kadısı ve 912'de Amasya kâdı'l-kudâtı olarak Amasya vâlisi Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed'in müsteşâr ve musâhibi oldu. Sultân-ı müşârün-ileyh musâhibleri olan "Şems"lerin birincisi olup altı yıl kadar büyük bir nüfûz ve ikbâle erdi. 918'de Sultân Selim Hân'ın cülûsunu müteâkib Sultân Ahmed'in saltanatı zâil olduğu esnâda kendisini istîlâ eden havf ve haşyet içinde dâr-ı ukbâya rihlet etdi. Fâzıl, müdebbir, kâmil, edîb, şâir olup "Şems" diye tahallüs ederdi. Fıkıhdan bir mecmu'a-i latîfesi ve âsâr-ı şi'rîyyesi vardır. Mahdûmları Abdülvâsi, Abdülvahhab Remzi Efendilerdir. Abdülvâsi Çelebizâdeler Amasya'da ve Abdülvahhab Remzi Efendizâdeler İstanbul'da kalmışlardır.

In translation: He came from Amasya, the son of Mevlânâ Mehmed Çelebi, whose own father Mevlânâ Müeyyed Çelebi, sheikh of the Yâkut Paşa lodge, was in turn the son of Sheikh Ali Yârî Çelebi. He was a first cousin of Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi. He studied under Mevlânâ Hatîb Kâsım Amâsî and similar scholars, received his licence and became a renowned professor. He married Ayşe Hatun, daughter of his uncle Abdülvâsi' Çelebi; once his learning was recognised he became professor at the Mehmed Paşa madrasa, then judge of Tokat, and in 912 chief judge of Amasya, serving as counsellor and companion to Şehzade Sultan Ahmed, governor of Amasya. He was the first of the prince's companions called the "Şems" and for some six years enjoyed great influence and favour. In 918, when Sultan Ahmed's hopes of the throne collapsed after the accession of Sultan Selim, he passed to the next world amid the fear and dread that overwhelmed him. He was learned, prudent, accomplished, cultivated and a poet, writing under the pen name "Şems". He left a fine collection on jurisprudence and poems. His sons were Abdülvâsi' and Abdülvahhâb Remzî Efendi; the descendants of Abdülvâsi' remained in Amasya and those of Abdülvahhâb Remzî in Istanbul.

Family

The Müeyyedzâdes, Şemseddîn Ahmed's family, produced more scholars, judges and sheikhs than almost any other in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Amasya. His grandfather Müeyyed Çelebi was sheikh of the city's Yâkut Paşa lodge; his first cousin was Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi, an intimate of Bayezid II who rose to be chief military judge of Anatolia and Rumelia.

His marriage, too, stayed within the family: his wife was the daughter of his uncle Abdülvâsi' Çelebi. Hüsameddin devotes two separate entries to this woman, and her name differs between them. In the eleventh volume, under the name "Ayşe Hâtun", she built a school beside the mosque of her grandfather Müeyyed Çelebi in 917 (1511-12), while her husband was judge of Amasya, and endowed it, together with the mosque, with the property she had inherited from her father. In the tenth volume, as "Zeyneb Hâtun", she appears as a learned woman who studied under her husband, became a companion to the ladies of Şehzade Ahmed's palace and died around 923 (1517). Her father's death is dated 881 in one entry and 883 in another.

There are also two lists of sons. Şemseddîn Ahmed's own entry and the Ayşe Hatun entry name Abdülvâsi' and Abdülvahhâb Remzî; the Zeyneb Hatun entry gives Abdülvâsi', Abdülhâdî and Abdülkerîm. The poet son who rose to be judge of Galata, Remzî Abdülhâdî Efendi, is treated in the twelfth volume under the heading "Abdülhâdî Remzî", and his identity is itself disputed. In a family where the same names recur generation after generation, such confusion is hardly surprising. The descendants of Abdülvâsi' Çelebi were still living in Amasya in Hüsameddin's day.

At Şehzade Ahmed's Court

Şemseddîn Ahmed's term as chief judge coincides with the last years of Şehzade Ahmed's long governorship of the sanjak of Amasya. Describing these years in his third volume, Hüsameddin writes that after the death of the prince's tutor Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi in 910 (1504-05) two factions emerged at court. On one side stood Mahmûd Çelebizâde Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi, whom Hüsameddin calls "the former tutor", Müeyyedzâde Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi and Çakal Kadızâde Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi; since all three bore the name Şemseddîn they were called the "Şems", and poets praised them as the "Suns". Facing them were the "Kutbs", the court physician Kutb-ı Şirvânî, the master musician Hâce Kutbeddîn Mahmûd Çelebi and the professor Kutbeddîn Îsâ Çelebi. According to Hüsameddin, "the Kutbs set against the Suns gave rise to a good many conceits in the poets' verses."

The pairing of the sun with the pole star is just the kind of wordplay divan poetry loved, and so the two factions gave the poets of the prince's circle plenty of material. In Hüsameddin's account the Persian origin of the "Kutbs" is emphasised and the author takes an openly hostile stance towards that circle; this attitude should be borne in mind when reading of the tension between the two groups.

As chief judge of Amasya, Şemseddîn Ahmed headed the judiciary of the prince's sanjak and was also his adviser. This position bound him to Ahmed's fate in the succession struggle that intensified in the last years of Bayezid II. When Selim the Grim deposed his father and took the throne in 918 (1512), Ahmed's circle broke up; the prince was defeated and killed near Yenişehir the following year. Hüsameddin says Şemseddîn Ahmed died in fear in the days when the throne was lost, before seeing this final ruin. The Zeyneb Hatun entry, by contrast, writes that husband and wife fell into "nekbet", misfortune, after the events of 918, and does not mention Şemseddîn Ahmed's death. The six years of influence fit the period between 912 and 918.

His Poetry

None of Şems's poems has been found. The pen name is shortened from the "Şemseddîn" in his name, and his being praised as one of the "Suns" together with two namesakes shows how much meaning this short name carried at court. Hüsameddin, who writes that he left "âsâr-ı şi'riyye", poetic works, does not say where they were and offers no sample. The "fine collection" on jurisprudence has likewise not been matched with any known manuscript. Anyone searching faces a further difficulty: "Şems" is a common pen name in Ottoman poetry, so even if a ghazal with this signature turned up in an anthology or a biographical collection, attributing it to the judge of Amasya would require further proof.

Chronology

910 (1504-05): After the death of the tutor Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi, the "Şems" and "Kutb" factions emerge at Şehzade Ahmed's court.

912 (1506-07): He becomes chief judge of Amasya and adviser to Şehzade Ahmed.

917 (1511-12): His wife builds and endows a school beside the Müeyyed Çelebi mosque.

918 (1512): Selim the Grim ascends the throne; Şemseddîn Ahmed dies in fear.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources