Hâfız Şermî Osman Çelebi was a poet, Qur'an reciter (hafız) and muezzin from Amasya who belonged to the circle of Şehzade Ahmed (Prince Ahmed), son of Bayezid II, in Amasya and was known for his beautiful voice and his knowledge of music. In his youth he joined the muezzins of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque in Amasya and in time became chief muezzin. With the hymns and poems in praise of the Prophet (na't) that he sang in the dervish lodges he won the affection of Sufi circles, entered Prince Ahmed's "bezm-i safâ", his circle of pleasure and conversation, and after the prince's death withdrew into seclusion and died around 941 (1534-35). Almost all that is known about him rests on Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi, and this information cannot be checked against any other source. His poems could not be reached. Şermî is also mentioned, together with the other lesser-known poets of the circle, in the article The poets of Prince Ahmed's circle in Amasya.

Hüsameddin's Entry

In the eleventh volume of his Amasya Tarihi Hüsameddin gives the poet under the heading "Şermî Osmân Çelebi-Hâfız":

Amasyalıdır. Mehmed Çelebi oğludur. Gençliğinde hıfz-ı Kur'ân ve tahsîl-i mûsikî ederek güzel ve yanık sesi, edeb ve irfânıyla iştihâr etdi. Tekkelerde okuduğu ilâhiyât ve nu'ûtiyle erbâb-ı safânın muhâbbetini kazanıp Halvetiyye meşâyihinden eş-Şeyh Mahmûd Efendi bin Hızır Çelebi'ye dâmâd oldu. Ba'dehû Amasya vâlisi Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed'e takarrüb ederek dâhil-i bezm-i safâsı olup oldukça servet ü sâmân edindi. Evâ'il-i hâlinde Sultân Bâyezîd Câmii müezzinlerine iltihâk etdiğinden ser-müezzin olmuşdu. 918'de Şehzâdenin ihnâkından sonra münzevîyâne imrâr-ı hayat ederek 941 sâline doğru vefât etdi. Edîb, şâir, halûk, savt ve edâsı güzel, mûsikîşinâs idi. Kur'ân ve ilâhiyyât okuduğu zaman dinleyenleri gaşyederdi. Sultân Bâyezîd ser-müezzinlerinin içinde halâvet-i sadâsıyla yegânelerindendi. Mahdûmları Mehmed, Mahmûd Çelebilerdir. Evlâdından Hâfız Takiyyüddîn Osmân Efendi, bunun mahdûmu kibâr-ı fuzalâdan Kutbeddîn Mustafa Efendi ve bunun mahdûmu mevâlîden Dânîş Mehmed Efendi pek meşhûrdur. Evlâdına ibtidâ "Şermîzâdeler", ba'dehû "Dânîşzâdeler", ba'dehû "Molla Halilzâdeler" dendi.

In English: He was from Amasya, the son of Mehmed Çelebi. In his youth he memorised the Qur'an and studied music, and became known for his beautiful, plaintive voice, his good manners and his learning. With the hymns and na'ts he sang in the dervish lodges he won the affection of the people of the heart, and he became the son-in-law of Şeyh Mahmud Efendi bin Hızır Çelebi, one of the sheikhs of the Halvetiyye. Later he drew close to Prince Sultan Ahmed, governor of Amasya, entered his circle of pleasure and conversation and acquired considerable wealth. Having joined the muezzins of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque at the beginning of his career, he had in time become chief muezzin. After the prince was strangled in 918 he lived in seclusion and died towards the year 941. He was a man of letters, a poet, of good character, with a fine voice and delivery, and versed in music. When he recited the Qur'an or hymns he would send his listeners into a trance. Among the chief muezzins of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque he was one of the few without equal for the sweetness of his voice. His sons were Mehmed and Mahmud Çelebi. Among his descendants Hâfız Takıyyüddin Osman Efendi, his son Kutbeddin Mustafa Efendi, one of the great scholars, and his son Dâniş Mehmed Efendi, of the senior judges (mevali), became very well known. His descendants were called first "Şermîzâdeler", then "Dânişzâdeler" and later "Molla Halilzâdeler".

Life

Şermî's date of birth is unknown. According to the entry Hüsameddin wrote for his brother Zekâî Ahmed Çelebi, the two brothers studied in Amasya in the circle of Hatîb Kâsım Efendi and entered the ranks of the scribes after learning the various scripts from the famous calligrapher Şeyh Hamdullah. As Muhittin Serin notes, Hamdullah's artistic life falls into an Amasya period and an Istanbul period. If the brothers studied with him in Amasya, Şermî's youth falls in the second half of the fifteenth century. This is an inference. The two institutions that shaped Şermî's life were the Sultan Bayezid Mosque in Amasya and Prince Ahmed's palace. In the mosque and complex built by Bayezid II he rose from muezzin to chief muezzin, and in the same years carried the fame of his voice to the dervish lodges and the prince's circle.

In the entry on Sultan Ahmed, where he describes the prince's palace, Hüsameddin counts Şermî among the Turkish poets of the circle. At the circumcision feast the prince held for his sons in 911 (1505-06), the well-known poets in Amasya were, among the Turks, Çeşmî, Şermî, Figânî, Kâmî, Melîhî, Münîrî and Mihrî, and among the Persians Basîrî, Penâhî and Kutbî. According to Hüsameddin, "the greatest drinker among them was Melîhî of Tokat, the best-mannered Şermî and the most learned Münîrî"; the poets celebrated the feast with odes (kaside) and received generous rewards. In Hüsameddin's entry on Çeşmî Mehmed Çelebi it is also recorded that Çeşmî took part in literary conversations with Mihrî, Figânî, Şermî, Şehrî and Münîrî. In the entry on Şehîdî, Şermî is named as one of the "meddâhs of Sultan Ahmed, governor of Amasya", that is, one of the poets who praised the prince.

After his father's death Prince Ahmed entered into a struggle for the throne with his brother Selim and was defeated and killed; Hüsameddin places this event in the year 918. The prince's death meant the end of his circle. Şermî then withdrew into seclusion, lived about twenty years more and died around 941. On the prince's last years see the site's article Şehzade Ahmed.

Connection with Amasya

Şermî was born in Amasya, studied in Amasya, spent his life in the Sultan Bayezid Mosque of Amasya and in the palace of Prince Ahmed, governor of Amasya, and his descendants continued as a family of scholars and imams in Amasya until the late nineteenth century. According to Hüsameddin's records, his great-great-grandson Takıyyüddin Osman Efendi taught in Amasya for more than thirty years as a teacher of hadith (muhaddis) and madrasa professor, and died in 1051 (1641-42). His grandson Dâniş Mehmed Efendi was born in the Küpceğiz quarter, rose to be judge of Amasya and of Sivas, and died around 1103 (1691-92); Hüsameddin describes him too as "a calligrapher, poet and man of refinement". The line, which took the name Dânişzâdeler, held the post of imam of the Küpceğiz Mosque from generation to generation until 1296 (1879).

Poetry

Şermî's poems could not be reached. Hüsameddin calls him "edîb, şâir", a man of letters and poet, and writes that he presented an ode together with the other poets at the feast of 911, but quotes not a single couplet of his. In the sixteenth-century biographical anthologies of poets (tezkire) we examined, namely those of Sehî Bey, Latîfî, Âşık Çelebi, Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi and Beyânî, and in Gelibolulu Âlî's Künhü'l-ahbâr, no poet with the pen name (mahlas) Şermî was found. Hüsameddin's records lay more weight on his voice and recitation than on his poetry; it is also unclear whether the hymns and na'ts with which he moved his listeners were his own compositions or other poets' words that he sang. That the pen name comes from the word "şerm", meaning modesty or bashfulness, is consistent with Hüsameddin's description of him as "the best-mannered" of the circle; this connection is our own observation.

Family and Circle

Hüsameddin also gives records showing that Şermî came from a family of poets. His brother Şehîdî Ali Çelebi became one of the boon companions of Bayezid II while the latter was governor of Amasya, was taken to Istanbul in the incident of 883 (1478-79), and at the command of Mehmed II (the Conqueror) began to write a history of the Ottomans in the metre of the Şehnâme, completing it in four thousand couplets in the reign of Bayezid II; Hüsameddin says he could not find this work. His other brother Zekâî Ahmed Çelebi went to Saruhan in 896 (1490-91) as council secretary of Prince Âlemşah, served as secretary to the prince's son Osman Bey after the prince's death, returned to Amasya in 918 and withdrew into seclusion, and died around 925 (1519). Şermî's son Mehmed Çelebi was a poet with the pen name Belîğî. According to Hüsameddin, Belîğî, while a clerk of the mint in Amasya, became council secretary to Prince Mustafa with an ode he presented to him, remained the prince's secretary and boon companion for about fifteen years, and died in 969 (1561-62).

Hüsameddin's records disagree on Şermî's father-in-law. In the entry on Şermî he appears as the son-in-law of the Halveti sheikh Şeyh Mahmud Efendi bin Hızır Çelebi. In the entry Hüsameddin wrote for the Halveti sheikh Sûfî Mehmed Efendi, however, it is said that "his son-in-law is Şermî Osman Çelebi, one of the famous poets". Sûfî Mehmed Efendi was the deputy of Pir Safiyyüddin Halvetî and died in 918. Whether the two records describe the same person under different names, whether Şermî married twice, or whether one of the records is wrong could not be determined. Both records link Şermî to the Halveti circle of Amasya.

Chronology

911 (1505-06): At the circumcision feast held for Prince Ahmed's sons, Şermî is among the Turkish poets of the circle (Hüsameddin).

918 (1512-13): According to Hüsameddin, Prince Ahmed is strangled; Şermî withdraws into seclusion.

c. 941 (1534-35): Şermî dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources