When Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa was executed and Kara İbrâhim Paşa took his place, the chancery official and poet Sükûtî Ahmed Efendi lampooned the new grand vizier and paid for it by being sent off to Damascus. Born to Recebzâde Hâfız Mehmed Efendi, the mufti of Merzifon, he was bound to Kara Mustafa Paşa both as a client and as a kinsman. Starting as treasury clerk in the pasha's household, he rose during his patron's grand vizierate to accountant of the poll tax, then to city prefect and secretary of the Janissaries, and he fell together with the pasha at the end of 1683. In Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's words he was a witty poet given to satire, and the same author records that he exchanged verses, and verse insults, with Nâbî, the great poet of the age. He died on 1 Rebiülâhir 1102 (January 1691). Of the satire and the exchanges alike, not a line is in hand.

His Entry in the Amasya Tarihi

The record in Hüsameddin's tenth volume bears the heading "Sükûtî Ahmed Efendi-Müftüzâde":

Merzifonludur. Merzifon müftüsü olan meşâhîr-i ulemâdan Recebzâde Hâfız Mehmed Efendi'nin mahdûmudur. Sadr-ı esbak Merzifonî Kara Mustafa Paşa'ya intisâb u karâbeti olduğundan dâ'iresinde hazîne kâtibi, 1087'de akîb-i sadâretinde cizye muhâsebecisi oldu. 1089'da şehremîni, 1091'de yeniçeri efendisi olup 1094 zilhiccesinde paşanın sadâretten azl ü katlinde azl edildi. 1095 senesi evâsıtında Şâm mukâbelecisi olarak oraya gönderildi. 1102 senesi rebîülâhiri gurresinde dâr-ı bekâya irtihâl etdi. Şâ'ir, fünûn-ı edebiyyede kâmil, latîfe-gû, hicv ü tezyîfe mâ'il olup şâir-i meşhûr Nâbî Efendi ile müşâ'arât u mühâcâtı vardır. Merzifonî Kara Mustafa Paşa'yı i'dâm etdirip yerine geçen Kara İbrâhim Paşa'yı hicv etdiğinden dolayı Şâm'a gönderilmişdi.

Its sense in today's English: He is from Merzifon, born to Recebzâde Hâfız Mehmed Efendi, a renowned scholar who was mufti of Merzifon. Because of his attachment and kinship to the former grand vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa, he became treasury clerk in the pasha's household, and in 1087, right after the pasha became grand vizier, accountant of the poll tax. In 1089 he became city prefect, in 1091 secretary of the Janissaries, and in Zilhicce 1094, when the pasha was dismissed from the grand vizierate and killed, he too was removed from office. In the middle of 1095 he was sent to Damascus as auditor there. He passed away on the first day of Rebiülâhir 1102. He was a poet, accomplished in the literary arts, a wit inclined to satire and mockery; with the famous poet Nâbî Efendi he exchanged poems and lampoons. He had been sent to Damascus because he satirised Kara İbrâhim Paşa, who had Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa executed and took his place.

In Kara Mustafa Paşa's Household

Sükûtî's life was tied step for step to the rise and fall of Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa. Hüsameddin's phrase "intisâb u karâbet" expresses two bonds at once: Sükûtî was a man attached to the pasha's household and also his relative. The degree of kinship is not recorded. Beginning as treasury clerk in the pasha's household, Sükûtî became accountant of the poll tax in 1087 (1676), the year his patron became grand vizier; that is, he took charge of the office that kept the accounts of the head tax paid by non-Muslims.

The next steps came quickly. In 1089 (1678-79) he became city prefect (şehremini), the official in charge of building and works in the capital, and in 1091 (1680-81) secretary of the Janissaries (yeniçeri efendisi), head of the corps' clerks. He was not the only Merzifonlu to rise through the pasha's household; Hamdî Mehmed Efendi, who served in the same household as expense clerk, was another man of Merzifon who wrote verse.

The failure before Vienna cut this rise short. According to Abdülkadir Özcan's articles in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Kara Mustafa Paşa was executed at Belgrade on 6 Muharrem 1095 (25 December 1683) at the instigation of the deputy grand vizier Kara İbrâhim Paşa and his supporters, and the seal of office passed to İbrâhim Paşa. Hüsameddin places Sükûtî's dismissal "in Zilhicce 1094", the month just before the execution; the gap of a few weeks between the two dates probably arises from the dismissal and the death warrant following one upon the other.

Satire and Damascus

Sükûtî did not keep quiet after his patron's death; he lampooned the new grand vizier. That his pen name means "the silent one" sits beside this like a small irony. The answer to the satire came in the middle of 1095 (1684), when he was removed from the capital by appointment as auditor (mukabeleci) at Damascus, a post comparing and checking accounts in the finance office there. Hüsameddin presents the posting plainly as a punishment. Kara İbrâhim Paşa himself could not hold on to power for long; he was dismissed and in Rebiülâhir 1097 (March 1686) exiled to Rhodes. Whether Sükûtî returned to Istanbul after that is not known. Hüsameddin does not say where he was when he died on 1 Rebiülâhir 1102 (2 January 1691).

His Exchanges with Nâbî

The line of the entry that most rouses curiosity concerns Nâbî. "Müşâ'arât" denotes poems written back and forth, "mühâcât" poems in which two poets satirise each other. In these years Nâbî belonged to the circle of Musâhib Mustafa Paşa; he had served for a time as the pasha's steward, and when the pasha was removed from court with the post of grand admiral in 1094 (1683), he followed him to Boğazhisar. The place where the two poets could have met was the gatherings of Istanbul before that date; that each belonged to a vizier's household must have made their acquaintance easier. The text of their exchanges has not been found, either in Hüsameddin or in the sources that could be searched.

The State of the Sources

The poetic history of Amasya also knows an earlier Sükûtî who bore the same pen name. According to Hüsameddin's third volume, the poet Şâmî Mustafa Bey, who came to Amasya as sanjak governor in 993 (1585), admitted to his gatherings the local poets Kelâmî, Turâbî and Sükûtî Çelebi, and the Merzifonlu Bezmî Çelebi joined in the banter between Kelâmî and Sükûtî. In the same place the author quotes a couplet he remembered from the anthology of Abdî Efendi: "Kelâmî söylenir ammâ Sükûtî bahş eder altun / Sakın boş sanma Bezmî tınmanın da serveti vardır." This Sükûtî Çelebi belongs to the late sixteenth century, about a hundred years before Sükûtî Ahmed Efendi of Merzifon, who died in 1691.

His Poetry

His satire was loud enough to earn him a banishment, yet Sükûtî's poems have not come down to us. Hüsameddin, who calls him "fünûn-ı edebiyyede kâmil", accomplished in the literary arts, quotes no couplet either and records no title of a work. The satire on Kara İbrâhim Paşa and the exchanges with Nâbî are the known subjects of his poetry; the text of neither was recorded.

Chronology

1087 (1676): Becomes accountant of the poll tax after Kara Mustafa Paşa's appointment as grand vizier.

1089 (1678-79): Becomes city prefect.

1091 (1680-81): Becomes secretary of the Janissaries.

Zilhicce 1094 (November-December 1683): Removed from office at the time of Kara Mustafa Paşa's dismissal and execution.

Mid-1095 (1684): Sent to Damascus as auditor for satirising Kara İbrâhim Paşa.

1 Rebiülâhir 1102 (2 January 1691): Dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

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