Sirâceddîn Yahyâ Paşa died suddenly in Rebîülevvel 884 (May-June 1479), and his death was put down to poison. A scholar from Amasya, he had risen in the reign of Mehmed II (the Conqueror) from the judgeship of Edirne to the office of chancellor (nişancı) and to the rank of second vizier. His father was Sa'deddîn Ali Paşa, known as "Şeyh Paşa", judge of Amasya and treasurer to the princes; his brother was Zekeriyyâ-yı Halvetî, sheikh of the Şâdgeldi Paşa dervish lodge at Saraçhane. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar describes him as "a poet, a man of letters, highly skilled in Arabic and Persian literature" and relates a story of his concerning an Arabic couplet; the couplet, however, belonged to another poet, and nothing of Sirâceddîn's own verse has come down to us.

Hüsameddin's Entry

The complete entry has its own page, Sirâceddîn Yahyâ Paşa-Şeyh Paşazâde. Hüsameddin describes his family and education as follows:

Sirâceddîn Yahyâ Paşa-Şeyh Paşazâde Amasyalıdır. "Şeyh Paşa" demekle meşhûr Sa'deddîn Ali Paşa bin Ziyâeddîn Mes'ûd Çelebi bin Esed el-Hallâtî mahdûmu ve Amasya'da medfûn eş-Şeyh Necmeddîn Zekeriyyâ-yı Halvetî birâderidir. Ceddi Amasya kadısıdır. Amasya ve Bursa'da kibâr-ı fuzalâdan iktisâb-ı fezâ'il edib en ziyâde Bursa'da Sultâniyye müderrisi Mevlânâ Hızır Bey'den istifâde-i ulûm ederek iştihâr etdi. Hâcezâde ile Mevlânâ Kestelli şürekâyı dersinden idi. Bursa ve Edirne'de müderris olduktan sonra İstanbul'a medâris-i Semâniyye'nin hitâmında celb ü da'vet edilerek birine müderris oldu. Fezâ'il-i ilmiyyesi Fâtih Sultân Mehmed Hân'ın nazar-ı takdîrini celb eylediğinden takrîben 868'de Edirne kadısı olarak akrân u emsâline tefevvuk etdi.

The same lines in English: Of Amasya, he was the son of Sa'deddîn Ali Paşa, known as "Şeyh Paşa", and the brother of Şeyh Necmeddîn Zekeriyyâ-yı Halvetî, who is buried in Amasya; his grandfather Ziyâeddîn Mes'ûd Çelebi was judge of Amasya. He studied with great scholars in Amasya and Bursa, and became known above all through what he learned from Mevlânâ Hızır Bey, professor at the Sultâniyye in Bursa. Hocazâde and Mevlânâ Kestelli were his fellow students. After teaching in Bursa and Edirne, he was called to Istanbul when the Sahn-ı Seman madrasas were completed and became professor at one of them. His learning won the esteem of Mehmed II, and around 868 (1463-64) he surpassed his peers by becoming judge of Edirne.

Chancellor and Vizier

Hüsameddin also saw a document from his Edirne judgeship. In 870 (1465-66) the endowment deed (vakfiye) of Yörgüç Paşa, sent from Amasya to the imperial council, was shown to him in Edirne, and he wrote on it the confirming signature "Ve ene'l-fakîr Sirâc bin Sa'deddîn Ali el-kâdî bi-Medîneti Edirne el-Mahmiyye"; Hüsameddin says he saw this in the records kept by the endowment's administration.

According to Hüsameddin the later steps were these. In 873 (1468-69), on the recommendation of İshak Paşa of Amasya, who had become grand vizier, he was made chancellor in place of Chancellor Cezrîzâde Mehmed Bey, dismissed for his addiction to drink. In 875, when İshak Paşa was dismissed and Rum Mehmed Paşa became grand vizier, the new grand vizier, who saw him as a rival, had him removed from the chancellorship in 876, and he returned to a professorship in the Sahn; Mevlevî Mehmed Çelebi became chancellor. In 879, when Mevlevî Mehmed Çelebi was given the vizierate, he became chancellor a second time at Mehmed II's express wish. In 881 (1476-77) he became second vizier, and in 883, during the absence of the grand vizier Mevlevî Mehmed Paşa, deputy grand vizier (kaymakam) and, during the campaign, commander of Istanbul.

The man Hüsameddin calls "Mevlevî Mehmed Çelebi" must be Karamânî Mehmed Paşa, a descendant of Mevlânâ. Yusuf Küçükdağ's entry in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi states that this paşa became chancellor in 869 (1464) and vizier in 875 (1470-71), and was appointed grand vizier in the middle of 1478. The date of the grand vizierate agrees with Hüsameddin's 883, but the sequence of chancellors does not: according to the TDV, Karamânî was chancellor for a long period from 869 onward, whereas Hüsameddin places Sirâceddîn in that office between 873 and 876. This contradiction may go back to Hüsameddin's sources and could not be resolved here.

The Couplet Mehmed II Asked About

Hüsameddin relates a story from the translation of the Şakâyık by Mecdî Mehmed Efendi of Edirne. In 880 (1475-76), returning from Edirne to Istanbul, Mehmed II asked the military judge (kazasker) Manisazâde Muhyiddin Mehmed Çelebi the meaning of an Arabic couplet; unable to answer at once, the judge said, "when I reach my lodging I will think it over and give you the answer". The sultan rebuked him for hesitating over the meaning of a single couplet despite all his learning, and at once had his chancellor Mevlânâ Sirâceddin summoned. Sirâceddin explained the words and meaning of the couplet, stated which poem it came from and who had composed it, and then recited from memory the whole ode (kaside) in which it occurred, from the opening couplet to the last. Hüsameddin writes that through this incident he won the sultan's extraordinary favour and was made second vizier the following year. The couplet itself is not given in the story.

His Death and the Contradictions of the Sources

According to Hüsameddin, Sirâceddîn died suddenly in Rebîülevvel 884, as the sultan and the grand vizier were returning from campaign. Jealousy had arisen between him and Chancellor Sinan Çelebi, who was both his fellow student and his teacher's son; the death was attributed to poisoning by Sinan Paşa, who was at once dismissed and arrested. Hüsameddin records another tradition too: the grand vizier Mevlevî Mehmed Paşa, fearing that Sirâceddîn would become grand vizier, had him poisoned and laid the blame on Sinan Paşa; some regarded Mehmed Paşa's later killing as punishment for this poisoning. Hüsameddin leaves these accounts with the words "el-ilmu indallâh", God knows the truth.

Hüsameddin also objects to two statements of Mecdî. Mecdî writes that "the lamp of his life was extinguished by the wind of death in the bloom of youth"; in Hüsameddin's view a man who was judge of Edirne in 870 cannot be said to have died young in 884, since in that period the judgeship of Edirne was not given to a man of twenty. He also finds fault with Mecdî for presenting Hocazâde and Kestelli as Sirâceddîn's teachers; in his view these two were his fellow students and could not have been his teachers.

Family and Connection with Amasya

According to a separate entry by Hüsameddin, his father Sa'deddîn Ali Paşa, after teaching at Saraçhane, that is the Hacı Şâdgeldi Paşa Madrasa, became judge of Amasya in 838 (1434-35), then treasurer to Prince Mehmed, who came to Amasya as governor in 841, and afterwards vizier to Prince Alâeddin, becoming known in this period as "Şeyh Paşa". The same entry records that in 859 (1454-55) his properties and farms in Amasya were divided between his two sons Necmeddîn Zekeriyyâ and Sirâceddîn Yahyâ and his daughter Fâtıma Hundî Hatun. His brother Zekeriyyâ, as successor (halife) of Pîr Sun'ullah-ı Halvetî, became sheikh of the lodge beside the Saraçhane Mosque, died in 878 and was buried in the small garden east of the mosque; Hüsameddin introduces him as "the brother of the famous Chancellor Sirâceddîn Paşa". For the family's connection with Saraçhane, see the article Saraçhane (Şadgeldi Paşa) Mosque.

His Poetry

When Hüsameddin speaks of the chancellor as a poet, what he puts forward is the command of Arabic poetry shown in the story told before Mehmed II; of the man who could recite a whole ode from memory he gives not a single couplet of his own. Of his father Sa'deddîn Ali Paşa, too, he says that he was able to write verse "in the three languages", Turkish, Arabic and Persian, and states that he drew this from a commentary on an ode by Halîmî Çelebi. No poems by father or son were found in the sources examined for this study.

Chronology

859 (1454-55): His father's properties in Amasya are divided among the children.

About 868 (1463-64): Judge of Edirne.

870 (1465-66): As judge of Edirne, confirms the endowment deed of Yörgüç Paşa.

873 (1468-69): Becomes chancellor.

876 (1471-72): Removed from the chancellorship; returns to a professorship in the Sahn.

879 (1474-75): Chancellor a second time.

881 (1476-77): Second vizier.

883 (1478-79): Deputy grand vizier and commander of Istanbul.

Rebîülevvel 884 (May-June 1479): Dies suddenly.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources