Sülûkî Mehmed Çelebi was a sixteenth-century poet from Amasya, known for his work as a scribe, his fine voice and his playing of the barbat (lute). Âşık Çelebi, Beyânî and Kınalızâde call him "Amasiyyadandur", from Amasya, and present him as a young man who served as secretary to beys and whose verse was admired; Âşık Çelebi met him in person in Rumelia. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, on the other hand, records him in the Amasya Tarihi as a member of the Memî Çelebizâde family who served as a secretary in the Amasya council of Prince Ahmed (Şehzade Ahmed) and died in 944 (1537-38). The two accounts carry dates too far apart to belong to the same person. Each of the seven surviving pieces of his şehrengiz, an autumn kaside and some ghazals can be read on its own page in this category.

Hüsameddin's Account

Hüsameddin's entry opens by tracing the poet's line back to Halil Paşa:

Sülûkî Mehmed Çelebi-Memî Çelebizâde Amasyalıdır. "Memî Çelebi" demekle meşhûr Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi bin İskender Bey bin sadr-ı esbak Halîl Paşa'nın ve ceddi Hâlil Paşa'nın vakıfları mütevellîsi Hamza Çelebi bin Memî Çelebi mahdûmudur. Amasya'da kitâbet ü ma'ârif tahsîl edib Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed'in dîvânı ketebesinden oldu. Şehzâde-i müşârün-ileyhin uhde-i emâretinde şu'arâsıyla edebî sohbetler ve mu'âşeretler ederek müreffeh bir hayat yaşarken 918 senesi saferinde Sultân Selîm'in cülûsuyla direngi bozuldu. Bir müddet münzeviyâne imrâr-ı evkât edib sonra İstanbul'a gitdi. Güzel sadâsı, mûsikîye âşinâlığı, berbut-nüvâzlığı sâyesinde Defterdâr İskender Çelebi'ye kendisini tanıttı. Müşârün-ileyhe intisâb edib baş muhâsebe kâtibi, ba'dehû şehremâneti kâtibi olarak ekâbirin meclislerine zînet verdi. 941'de efendisi İskender Çelebi'nin i'dâmı üzerine azl edilip Rûm (Sivas) Beylerbeyi Mehmed Paşa'nın dîvân kâtibi olduğu hâlde 944'de vefât etdi. Şi'r u kitâbeti güzel, hoş-sohbet, meclis-ârâ, ahlâk-ı hamîde sâhibi idi.

In English: Sülûkî Mehmed Çelebi, of the Memî Çelebizâde family, is from Amasya. His father was Hamza Çelebi. Hamza Çelebi was the son of Muhyiddin Mehmed Çelebi, known as "Memî Çelebi", and was administrator of the endowments both of Memî Çelebi and of Memî Çelebi's grandfather, the former grand vizier Halil Paşa; Memî Çelebi in turn was the son of İskender Bey and grandson of Halil Paşa. He acquired the scribal art and learning in Amasya and joined the secretaries of the council of Prince Sultan Ahmed. While he was living in plenty during the prince's governorship, holding literary conversations and entertainments with his poets, his support collapsed with the accession of Sultan Selim in Safar 918. He spent some time in seclusion, then went to Istanbul. Thanks to his fine voice, his knowledge of music and his playing of the barbat he made himself known to the treasurer İskender Çelebi. He entered his service and became first chief accounts secretary, then secretary of the city intendancy, and graced the gatherings of the great. When his master İskender Çelebi was executed in 941 he was dismissed; he died in 944 while secretary of the council of Mehmed Paşa, governor-general of Rum, that is, Sivas. His verse and his hand were fine; he was pleasant company, the life of every gathering, and of good character.

Hüsameddin adds to this account a short quotation from Âşık Çelebi, says that the poet had a work called "Şehr-i engiz" in which he gathered the beauties of Amasya, and a divan, and quotes two couplets. He then gives his family: his sons were İskender and Hızır Çelebi; they and their descendants were called "Sülûkîoğulları", corrupted in popular speech to "Sülükoğulları". Hızır Çelebi died in 1011 (1602-03); his son was Serdâr Mehmed Ağa, and his son Halil Paşa, one of the governors-general. Among the later generations of the family, Hacı Ahmed Ağa was known as "Sulûkîoğlu" and became administrator of the endowments of Halil Paşa, Kadı Müeyyed Çelebi and Memî Çelebi.

Sülûkî in the Anthologies

Âşık Çelebi's entry is a personal testimony. In his account Sülûkî's name is Mehmed; he is a young man who stands out among the secretaries like an alif, eager for knowledge and refinement, pure of breath and good of character. His voice is fine, he plays the barbat and composes songs; he has served beys as a companion and officials as a secretary. Âşık Çelebi relates that he left his homeland for love and the wish to travel and came to Rumelia, that he came to him and threw in his lot with him, and that he wrote response poems to his verse. The anthologist adds that Sülûkî "still", at the time he was writing his book, made do with secretarial work that barely fed him, went on wandering the towns of Rumelia, and declared his love to every beauty he saw. The name "Ḥamza Bâlîsi" in the text appears to be that of a beloved to whom the poet was then attached; the text does not explain it, and this is only a suggested reading. The autumn kaside, according to Âşık Çelebi, is the poem the poet recited when he came to him.

Beyânî and Kınalızâde are briefer. Both say that Sülûkî's name was Mehmed, that he was a companion of emirs and served as a secretary in their households, according to Kınalızâde with beys in Rumelia, and that his poetry reached maturity; both record that he had an elegant şehrengiz. The entry in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü notes that the Sicill-i Osmânî and the Tuhfe-i Nâilî record that the poet died towards the end of the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent.

The State of the Sources

Hüsameddin's account and Âşık Çelebi's testimony carry dates too far apart to belong to the same person. According to Hüsameddin, Sülûkî was a secretary in Prince Ahmed's council before 918 (1512); he must therefore have been born in the 1490s at the latest. He lost his post with the execution of the treasurer İskender Çelebi in 941 (1535) and died in 944 (1537-38). Âşık Çelebi, however, completed his anthology at the end of the 1560s, and he both speaks of Sülûkî as a "young man" and writes that he was "still" wandering in Rumelia. The time of death given by the Sicill-i Osmânî and the Tuhfe-i Nâilî also fits Âşık Çelebi's testimony.

Hüsameddin's text does not resolve this contradiction; when quoting Âşık Çelebi he does not mention the discrepancy between that information and his own dates. There are therefore two possibilities. Hüsameddin may have merged the life of a Mehmed Çelebi, ancestor of the Sülûkîoğulları family who had been with Prince Ahmed, with the poet Sülûkî of the anthologies. Or Hüsameddin's dates are wrong, and the poet is none other than the young secretary Âşık Çelebi knew. The sources at hand are not enough to settle the question. All the poems, except the single couplet transmitted by Hüsameddin, belong to the poet Âşık Çelebi knew and Beyânî and Kınalızâde mention. The statement that the şehrengiz was written for the beauties of Amasya is found only in Hüsameddin.

Connection with Amasya

On Sülûkî's Amasya origin the sources agree. Âşık Çelebi, Beyânî and Kınalızâde call him "Amasiyyadandur"; Âşık Çelebi also says that he left his homeland and came to Rumelia. Hüsameddin ties Sülûkî to one of Amasya's long-established endowment families and records that the Sülûkîoğulları descended from him administered endowments in the city until the eighteenth century. The connection with Prince Ahmed's council in Amasya is found only in Hüsameddin's account; for the prince's circle in Amasya see Şehzade Ahmed Çelebi.

His Poetry

According to Hüsameddin, Sülûkî had a divan and a work called "Şehr-i engiz"; no copy of either is known. What survives, each piece on a page of its own, is as follows: four couplets of a ghazal with the refrain "beni", scattered across three anthologies; the kıt'a "Zülfi yüzin ki örte", which describes the first down on a face in the language of calligraphy; the couplets "Fânûsa girdi" and "Gamzen hadengi"; the opening couplet "Kılalı câm-ı lebin", transmitted only by Hüsameddin; the eleven-couplet autumn kaside recorded by Âşık Çelebi; and five couplets of the şehrengiz describing the student Ömer and the sheikh's son Mehmed.

Chronology

918 (1512): According to Hüsameddin, loses his post in Prince Ahmed's council on the accession of Selim I.

941 (1535): According to Hüsameddin, dismissed on the execution of his master, the treasurer İskender Çelebi.

944 (1537-38): According to Hüsameddin, dies while secretary of the council of the governor-general of Sivas.

1560s: According to Âşık Çelebi, living in Rumelia as a secretary.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Books

Online sources