A survey scribe who rose to be a sanjak governor, Seyfî Bey entered the service of Bayezid II during his years as prince in Amasya and died in 892 (1487) in the war against the Mamluks, a fifteenth-century lord. His line went back to the Âbâdoğulları, the Turkmen lords of Hakala. The words Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar finds for him are "edîb, şâir, ma'ârif-âşinâ", a man of letters, a poet, at home in learning. His brother Kâsım Paşa later headed the council of Prince Ahmed in Amasya. All that is known of Seyfî Bey fits into one short entry, and nothing of his poetry has come down to us.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Amasya men named Seyfullah and Seyfî follow one another in the tenth volume of Amasya Tarihi, and the entry given to the Âbâdoğlu, Seyfî Bey-Âbâdoğlu, is among them:

Hakalalıdır. Âbâdoğullarından ve a'yân-ı ümerâdan Hacı Mehmed Beyzâde Abdullah Bey'in mahdûmudur. Amasya'da ilm ü kitâbet tahsîl ve Sultân Bâyezîd'e intisâb ederek dergâh-ı âlî mülâzımlarından ve 875'de muharrirînden görüldü. 882'de vilâyet-i Rûmiyye muharriri ve 886'da Sultân Bâyezîd'in cülûsunda mîrlivâ olup 892'de Mısırlılar muhârebesinde vefât etdi. Edîb, şâir, ma'ârif-âşinâ idi. Birâderi Kâsım Paşa Amasya'da Sultân Ahmed'in sâhib-i dîvânı olmuşdu.

Translated, the entry says: Seyfî Bey was from Hakala. His father was Abdullah Bey, son of Hacı Mehmed Bey, of the Âbâdoğulları and one of the leading lords. He studied learning and the scribal craft in Amasya, attached himself to Sultan Bayezid, joined the attendants of the court, and in 875 (1470-71) was seen among the survey scribes. In 882 (1477-78) he became survey scribe of the province of Rum, in 886 (1481), when Sultan Bayezid came to the throne, he became a sanjak governor, and in 892 (1487) he died in the war with the Egyptians. He was a man of letters, a poet, familiar with learning. His brother Kâsım Paşa had become head of Sultan Ahmed's council in Amasya.

Life

Hakala lies north of Amasya and is today the village of Yolpınar in the Suluova district. The Âbâdoğulları, a family of lords from Hakala, took their name from Âbâd Bey, great-grandfather of Hacı Mehmed Bey. Seyfî, whose year of birth is unknown, was educated in Amasya and trained as a scribe who worked with the pen. Since Prince Bayezid governed the sanjak of Amasya from 1454 to 1481, Seyfî's "attachment to Sultan Bayezid" must have taken place at the prince's court in Amasya.

Two dates in the entry place Seyfî in survey work. The phrase that he "was seen among the scribes" in 875 suggests that Hüsameddin found his name in a register of that year; the author uses the same verb elsewhere for people he came across in the archives. In 882 he served as a scribe in the survey of the province of Rum, which included Amasya, that is, in the recording of taxes and population.

Bayezid's accession in 886 (1481) lifted many of the men who had been around him in Amasya. Seyfî, too, became a mîrlivâ, a sanjak governor, at this time; which sanjak he received is not recorded. Six years later, in 892 (1487), he died in "the war with the Egyptians", the fighting against the Mamluks under Bayezid II. Hüsameddin gives neither the place of the battle nor the manner of his death.

Family

Seyfî's grandfather Hacı Mehmed Bey was the lord of Hakala who sided with Çelebi Mehmed against Kara Devletşah in the years of the Interregnum. His father Abdullah Bey was made a sanjak governor in reward for those services, served Mehmed I and Murad II, and died after 831 (1427-28). His brother Kâsım Paşa ran the affairs of Prince Ahmed as his deputy while the prince was in Amasya. According to Hüsameddin's account of Prince Ahmed, Kâsım Paşa disliked the Persian companions who surrounded the prince and said openly that indulging them was dangerous; sensing that his execution was being sought, he fled Amasya early in 909 (1503) and joined Prince Selim in Trabzon. This Kâsım Paşa should not be confused with Cezerî Kasım Paşa, one of the viziers of Bayezid II.

Hüsameddin does not give the family's lineage the same way everywhere in his book. The entry on Hacı Mehmed Bey names his sons only as Îsâ and Hamza Bey and places "Kâsım Paşa bin Abdullah Bey" among the descendants of Hamza Bey. Abdullah Bey's own entry makes him a son of Hacı Mehmed Bey and names only Kâsım Bey as his son. In the entry on Şâhî Hâtun, Kâsım Paşa's niece, Abdullah Bey, father of Kâsım Paşa and of his brother İshak Bey, appears as the son of a Kâsım Bey. The phrase "Abdullah Bey, son of Hacı Mehmed Bey" in Seyfî's entry fits only one of these versions, and the sources do not settle which is correct.

Poetry

No poem by Seyfî Bey has been found. The real difficulty lies in the name. "Seyfî" was one of the pen names Ottoman poets chose most often, and even Amasya's own records know several men who bore it:the judge Seyfî of Sinop, a friend of Bayezid II; Deli Seyfî Bey, who died in the nineteenth century; and the folk poet Seyfî named in local song collections. Hüsameddin is content to call Seyfî Bey of the Âbâdoğulları a poet and quotes no verse; in such a crowd, a poem signed "Seyfî" in a miscellany could be credited to him only with further evidence.

Chronology

805 (1402-03): His grandfather Hacı Mehmed Bey sides with Çelebi Mehmed against Kara Devletşah.

After 831 (1427-28): His father Abdullah Bey dies.

875 (1470-71): Seyfî appears among the survey scribes.

882 (1477-78): He becomes survey scribe of the province of Rum.

886 (1481): He is made a sanjak governor on the accession of Bayezid II.

892 (1487): He dies in the war against the Mamluks.

Early 909 (1503): His brother Kâsım Paşa leaves Amasya for Prince Selim.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources