Saîd Sîret Bey was the son of the Amasya-born vizier Şerîf Mehmed Paşa, a judge (kadı) trained in the learned profession (ilmiye), and a poet who wrote under the pen name "Sîret". He rose to the judgeship of Galata in 1238 (1822-23), then to that of Mecca, and died in 1246 (1830-31) after being dismissed from the judgeship of Mecca. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar mentions him briefly at the end of his father's entry with the words "Şâir idi", he was a poet; a more detailed record is found in Fatîn Dâvud's biographical anthology of poets (tezkire) Hâtimetü'l-Eş'âr, which has also preserved one of his ghazals. The Egyptian prime minister Muhammad Sharif Pasha (Muhammed Şerif Paşa) and the satirical poet Nihâd Bey were his sons.

In the master list this record was opened under the name of his father Şerîf Mehmed Paşa. The words "Şâir idi" and the death date 1246 in Hüsameddin's entry belong to the Paşa's son Saîd Sîret Bey; the page has therefore been prepared for the son, who was the poet.

Hüsameddin's Record

The life of Şerîf Mehmed Paşa receives a detailed entry in Amasya Tarihi (vol. 11). The Paşa, son of Zaîm Ali Ağa of Amasya, was born in Safer 1161 (January-February 1748), was trained in the chancery offices, became administrator (mütevelli) of the endowments of Bayezid II when he was dismissed and sent to Amasya in 1187, then served twice as steward of the grand vizier and as treasurer (defterdar) of Egypt, and died in Jeddah in Cemaziyelahir 1218 (September-October 1803) while governor of Jeddah and Habesh with the rank of vizier. The last sentences of the entry describe the family:

Vezîr-i müşârün-ileyh sâdık, müstakîm, muktedir, sahî, güler yüzlü idi. Halilesinin isrâfından dolayı hayli paraya mâlik olduğu halde güç idâre bildi. Mahdûmu mevâlîden Saîd Siret Bey 1246'da vefât etdi. Şâir idi. Bunun mahdûmları şâir-i heccâv Nihad Bey ile Küçük Şerîf Mehmed Paşa'dır. Ahfâdından biri de Avni Mehmed Bey olup yeğeni dergâh-ı âlî gediklilerinden Mustafa Ağa'dır. Küçük Şerîf Mehmed Paşa 1293 rebîülâhirinde reis-i nuzzâr iken vezâret verilmiş, 1303'de Mısır'da vefât etmişdir. Erkân-ı Mısrıyyeden idi.

In English: This vizier was honest, upright, capable, generous and good-humoured. Because of his wife's extravagance he managed his household with difficulty, although he possessed a good deal of money. His son Saîd Sîret Bey, one of the mevâlî, that is the high-ranking judges, died in 1246. He was a poet. His sons are the satirical poet Nihâd Bey and Küçük Şerîf Mehmed Paşa. One of his grandsons is Avnî Mehmed Bey, whose nephew is Mustafa Ağa, one of the palace gediklis. Küçük Şerîf Mehmed Paşa was given the rank of vizier in Rebiülahir 1293 while president of the council of ministers, and died in Egypt in 1303. He was one of the dignitaries of Egypt.

Life

Fatîn is silent on where and when Sîret was born; the two ends of his career, however, he gives with dates:

Nâzım-ı mûmâ-ileyh Şerîf Pâşâzâde Saîd Sîret Beg Cidde vâlisi esbak müteveffâ Şerîf Pâşâ'nın mahdûmu olup tarîk-i tedrîse dâhil ve bin iki yüz otuz sekiz senesi Galata mevleviyyetine nâil olduktan sonra iki yüz kırk altı târîhinde Mekke-i mükerreme mevleviyyetinden ma'zûlen dâr-ı bekâya menkûl olmuştur. Sîret mahlasiyle bir mikdâr eş'ârı vardır.

In English: The poet in question, Şerif Paşazâde Saîd Sîret Bey, is the son of the late Şerif Paşa, former governor of Jeddah; he entered the teaching career and, after attaining the judgeship (mevleviyet) of Galata in the year one thousand two hundred and thirty-eight, died in the year two hundred and forty-six, dismissed from the judgeship of Mecca. He has a number of poems under the pen name Sîret.

The gap Fatîn leaves between the two dates is partly filled by his son's life. According to Hilal Görgün's article "Şerif Paşa, Muhammed" in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, when Muhammed Şerif was born in İstanbul on 26 November 1826 his father Said Sîret Bey was serving as judge of Galata; when he was appointed judge of Mecca in 1829 he took his family with him, and on the way he stopped in Cairo and was the guest of Mehmed Ali Paşa (Muhammad Ali), governor of Egypt. Between the date 1238 (1822-23) that Fatîn gives for Galata and this information there is a gap of a few years; Fatîn may have taken the date of attaining the mevleviyet, the article the post held at the time of the son's birth. This is an attempt at explanation; the sources do not reconcile the two. Whether Sîret's death in 1246 took place in Mecca, on the way back or in İstanbul is not stated.

His Connection with Amasya

What links Sîret to Amasya is his family line. His grandfather Zaîm Ali Ağa and his father Şerîf Mehmed Paşa were from Amasya; his father lived in Amasya between 1187 and 1191 (1773-1778) as administrator of the endowments of Bayezid II. There is no record that Sîret himself was born, lived or held office in Amasya. Hüsameddin gives him no separate entry and mentions him within his father's.

Family

The son whom Hüsameddin calls "Küçük Şerîf Mehmed Paşa" is, according to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi article, Muhammed Şerif Paşa, who served in Egypt as minister of foreign affairs, the interior, education and justice, was appointed prime minister on 8 April 1879 and formed several governments. The same article gives his great-grandfather as Zaîm Ali Ağa, his grandfather as Şerif Muhammed Paşa, governor of Jeddah, and his father as Said Sîret Bey; this genealogy agrees completely with Hüsameddin's. On his death, however, the two sources differ: Hüsameddin says that he died in Egypt in 1303, while the encyclopedia article writes that he died in Graz in Austria on 20 April 1887 and that his body was brought to Cairo and buried there. The family's other poet was Nihâd Bey, whom Fatîn presents as born in 1214 (1799-1800) and as a man who lampooned almost everyone he knew.

His Poetry

Fatîn says that Sîret has "a number of" poems but quotes only one: a five-couplet ghazal on the longing for spring, opening with the line "İdince gönlümü dîvâne ârzûy-ı bahâr". Its text and commentary are on its own page in the poet's category. Unusually, the pen name falls in the fourth couplet rather than the last. Beyond this, not a line of Sîret's is in our hands.

Two more poets with the same pen name follow him directly in the tezkire, which makes it easy to confuse whose poems are whose. The ghazal "Âşık-ı şûrîde-hâliz zârdır eglencemiz", which comes immediately after Sîret's entry, belongs to Şehbâz Girây Sultân, son of Halîm Girây Sultân, who died in 1252 (1836-37); the müseddes that follows it belongs to Osmân Sîret Efendi, born in 1232 (1816-17). Since in Fatîn's arrangement the poem is given before the poet's life, the only poem belonging to Saîd Sîret Bey is the ghazal that precedes his own biographical record.

Chronology

Safer 1161 (January-February 1748): His father Şerîf Mehmed Paşa is born.

1214 (1799-1800): His son Nihâd Bey is born.

Cemaziyelahir 1218 (September-October 1803): His father dies while governor of Jeddah.

1238 (1822-23): According to Fatîn, attains the judgeship of Galata.

26 November 1826: His son Muhammed Şerif is born in İstanbul; Sîret is then judge of Galata.

1829: Is appointed judge of Mecca.

1246 (1830-31): Dies, dismissed from the judgeship of Mecca.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources