Senâyî Mehmed Çelebi was a sixteenth-century poet from the Hacı Enbiyâzâde, one of the long-established families of Amasya, who first served as a secretary of the endowments of Sultan Bayezid and later became secretary, boon companion (nedim) and confidant (musahip) in the Amasya divan of Şehzade Mustafa (Prince Mustafa). The only source that introduces him is the Amasya Tarihi of Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar. According to Hüsameddin he won the prince's affection with his poetry and his prose, lived in disgrace in Amasya after the prince was killed in 1553, and died in 967 (1559-60). No example of his poetry has come down to us. Because another Senâyî, described in the biographical anthologies of poets (tezkire) as a native of Manisa who served as judge of Amasya, was in the prince's circle in the same years, the identities of the two poets can become confused in the sources; this distinction is discussed separately below.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Hüsameddin introduces the poet in the eighth volume of the Amasya Tarihi, in the section on natives of Amasya whose names begin with the letter "sin":

Senâyî Mehmed Çelebi-Hacı Enbiyâzâde Amasyalıdır. Sultân Bâyezîd evkâfı kâtibi Mahmûd Çelebi bin Pîr Ahmed Çelebi bin Hacı Enbiyâ Çelebi mahdûmudur. Gençliğinde tahsîl-i ma'ârif edib pederinin yerine evkâf kâtibi olmuştu. Ba'dehû Amasya vâlîsi Şehzâde Mustafa'nın dîvân kâtibi ve şi'r u inşâsıyla letâfet-i tab'ıyla kendisini sevdirip nedîm ü musâhibi oldu. 960 senesi şevvâlinde şehzâde-i müşârün-ileyhin i'dâmı üzerine Amasya'da menkûbâne bir müddet oturdu. Ba'dehû bir ze'âmet verilip onunla te'mîn-i mâ'îşet ederek 967'de vefât etdi. Şâ'ir, kâtib, latîf idi.

In modern English the entry reads: Senâyî Mehmed Çelebi, of the Hacı Enbiyâzâde family, is a native of Amasya. He is the son of Mahmud Çelebi, secretary of the endowments of Sultan Bayezid; Mahmud Çelebi was the son of Pîr Ahmed Çelebi, and he in turn the son of Hacı Enbiyâ Çelebi. In his youth he studied and became secretary of the endowments in his father's place. Later he became divan secretary to Şehzade Mustafa, governor of Amasya; he made himself loved through his poetry, his skill in prose and his pleasant temper, and became the prince's boon companion and confidant. When the prince was executed in the month of Şevval of the year 960, he lived for some time in Amasya in a state of misfortune. Afterwards he was given a large fief (zeamet), made his living from it, and died in 967. He was a poet, a secretary and an agreeable man.

The entry is written in a short, dry style; it gives no information about his date of birth, his teachers, his works or his grave, and it quotes not a single couplet from the poet. Hüsameddin's judgement "Şâ'ir, kâtib, latîf idi" is the only sentence that records his being a poet. The site's rendering of the entry can be read in the Hüsameddin encyclopedia (in Turkish).

Life and Family

Senâyî's family was a family of secretaries and scholars known in Amasya since the fifteenth century. According to the information Hüsameddin gives, the family's ancestor Hacı Enbiyâ Çelebi was descended from Cemâleddin İbrahim Aksarâyî, was one of the notables of the Temenna quarter and a man of the state's trusted officials; he died after 883 (1478-79), leaving in the quarter a mosque and vineyards known as the "Hacı Enbiyâ mescidi" and the "Hacı Enbiyâ bağları". He is counted among the favourites of Bayezid II, who was in Amasya as a prince; his sons Pîr Ahmed and Mehmed Çelebi took the path of learning, and his descendants were called "the sons of Hacı Enbiyâ". The poet's grandfather Pîr Ahmed Çelebi was a scholar and calligrapher who served as a secretary in the Amasya court, became deputy judge (nâib) of the province of Amasya in 901 (1495-96) and died around 913 (1507-08). Ümmet Ağa, who became steward of the çavuşes (kethüda of the imperial pursuivants) under Selim I and died at the Battle of Çaldıran, and his son Nişancı Mehmed Pasha also came from the same family.

It is not surprising that Senâyî, brought up in such surroundings, entered the profession of the pen. His father Mahmud Çelebi was a secretary of the endowments of the mosque complex built by Bayezid II in Amasya; Senâyî too, once he had finished his studies in his youth, succeeded him. With Şehzade Mustafa's arrival in Amasya in 1541 a lively court and literary circle formed in the city. Senâyî entered this circle first as divan secretary, then rose through his skill in verse and prose to be among the prince's boon companions and confidants. Being a nedim was a closeness that included attending the prince's gatherings and entertaining him with pleasant words and wit; Hüsameddin's description of him as "latîf" points to this side of him.

When Şehzade Mustafa was strangled on 27 Şevval 960 (6 October 1553) at the Aktepe camp near Konya Ereğlisi, his large entourage in Amasya scattered. The tezkires call this period the "fetret", the interregnum, and write that many of the prince's poets disappeared in these days. According to Hüsameddin, Senâyî too lived for some time in Amasya "menkûbâne", that is, in a fallen and unfortunate state, and was later given a zeamet on which he made his living. When, by whom and where the zeamet was granted is not recorded. The poet died in 967 (1559-60).

Connection with Amasya

Senâyî Mehmed Çelebi's connection with Amasya rests on Hüsameddin's entry, and within that entry it is strong: the poet was the child of a family born and raised in Amasya, held his first post in the endowments of Sultan Bayezid in Amasya, served as secretary in the prince's Amasya divan and lived in Amasya until his death. Şehzade Mustafa's literary circle in Amasya, together with poets such as Edâyî, Zamânî and Emânî whom Hüsameddin lists elsewhere, is described collectively in the article Şehzade Mustafa (Muhlisî): His Poems and the Poets of His Amasya Circle. For the prince's life, see the article Şehzade Mustafa.

His Poetry

The poems of Senâyî Mehmed Çelebi have not come down to us. Hüsameddin says that he was a poet and that he endeared himself to the prince through his poetry, but quotes not a single couplet. In the tezkires examined, namely the works of Latîfî, Âşık Çelebi, Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi and Beyânî, no entry was found for a Senâyî that mentions the Hacı Enbiyâzâde family or a secretaryship of endowments. There is also no record that he had a divan or any other work.

The State of the Sources

The pen name (mahlas) Senâyî was used by more than one poet in the sixteenth century, and the sources that speak of Şehzade Mustafa's circle do not always say clearly which Senâyî they mean. Hüsameddin himself mentions two separate people. One is the subject of this page, Senâyî Mehmed Çelebi of the Hacı Enbiyâzâde of Amasya. The other is "şuarâdan Manisalı Senâyî Mehmed Efendi", the poet Senâyî Mehmed Efendi of Manisa, whom Hüsameddin records in his third volume, where he narrates the prince's Amasya years, as having become judge of Amasya in 955 (1548). The Senâyî of the tezkires is this second man: Âşık Çelebi, Kınalızâde and Beyânî call him a native of Manisa and write that he attended the prince's household in Manisa and so became a candidate for office (mülâzım), and that after entering the judiciary he did not leave the prince but came with him to Amasya. The couplets of this poet preserved in the tezkires are given on separate pages in the category Senâyî Mehmed Efendi (of Manisa).

The two men bear the same pen name and, according to Hüsameddin, the same personal name, and they were in the service of the same prince in the same years. Their professions and home towns, however, are different: one is a secretary of endowments and of the divan from Amasya, the other a judge from Manisa. Hüsameddin mentions them in different places and as different people, and no Senâyî from Amasya is found in the tezkires. There is therefore no evidence that the two records belong to the same person. On the other hand, it is also unknown on which document Hüsameddin based his information about the Senâyî of Amasya. The Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü (Dictionary of Names in Turkish Literature), in its entry on Şehzade Mustafa and relying on the work of Haluk İpekten, gives only the name "Senâyî" among the poets who were with the prince; which Senâyî is meant is not stated. The same dictionary's separate entry "Senâyî", on the other hand, concerns a different poet from Kastamonu who lived in the reign of Mehmed II.

There is a small discrepancy in the family records as well. Hüsameddin gives Senâyî's father as Mahmud Çelebi, son of Pîr Ahmed Çelebi; yet in the same work's entry on Pîr Ahmed Çelebi only Mehmed and Yakub Çelebi are named as his sons. The difference may arise from an omission or from the confusion of two different men named Pîr Ahmed; the sources do not allow a decision. Senâyî İbrahim Efendi of the Dedezâde, who follows Senâyî Mehmed Çelebi immediately in Hüsameddin's eighth volume, was a Mevlevî preacher who died in 1113 (1701-02) and has no connection with this poet.

Chronology

21 Safer 948 (16 June 1541): Şehzade Mustafa is sent from Manisa to Amasya.

955 (1548): Senâyî Mehmed Efendi of Manisa becomes judge of Amasya.

27 Şevval 960 (6 October 1553): Şehzade Mustafa is killed at the Aktepe camp near Konya Ereğlisi.

967 (1559-60): Senâyî Mehmed Çelebi dies in Amasya.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

Online sources