Tayyibzâde Lutfî Efendi is a name that Hüseyin Hüsameddin, in his Amasya Tarihi, lists among the companions (musahib) of Şehzade Mustafa (Prince Mustafa) in Amasya, adding that these companions were "among the famous poets". Everything known about him rests on this single record: Hüsameddin wrote no separate entry for him, and no poet of this name is found in the sixteenth-century biographical anthologies of poets (tezkire). On the other hand, Hüsameddin describes in detail the Tayyibzâdes, one of Amasya's old families of religious scholars, and writes that Tayyib Efendi of this family was one of the prince's intimates and a poet, and that one of his sons bore the name Lütfullah Efendi. The name "Tayyibzâde Lutfî Efendi" may therefore point either to this son of Tayyib Efendi or to Tayyib Efendi himself. This page sets out both possibilities together with their sources. His poems have not come down to us.

Hüsameddin's Record

Describing Şehzade Mustafa's arrival in Amasya in 1541 and his circle, Hüsameddin first names as poets the prince's chancellor (nişancı) Hamdî, his treasurer (defterdar) Lütfullah Lutfî Bey and his divan secretary Fazlî Çelebi, and then continues:

Kudâtdan Zenbîlî Alî Efendi birâderi Kadı Mehmed Efendi mahdûmu Kâmî Mehmed Çelebi, Tayyibzâde Lutfî Efendi, Seyrekzâde Ânî Ahmed Çelebi, A'yânzâdeler'den Hacı Beyzâde Edâyî Bey, zümre-i küttâbdan Zamânî Mahmûd Çelebi ve Emânî Mehmed Çelebi musâhibleriydi. Bunlar meşâhîr-i şu'arâdan idiler.

In English: Of the judges' families, Kâmî Mehmed Çelebi, son of Kadı Mehmed Efendi, brother of Zenbilli Ali Efendi; Tayyibzâde Lutfî Efendi; Seyrekzâde Ânî Ahmed Çelebi; of the sons of the notable families, Hacı Beyzâde Edâyî Bey; and of the scribal class, Zamânî Mahmud Çelebi and Emânî Mehmed Çelebi were his companions. They were among the well-known poets.

In the list Lutfî Efendi stands side by side with Kâmî and Ânî, who came from families of religious scholars; Kâmî's father was a judge, while Ânî's father Seyrek Muhyiddin Efendi was the prince's tutor and mufti of Amasya. Whether the word "kudâtdan", of the judges, qualifies only Kâmî's father or all of the first three names cannot be settled with certainty from the sentence. Since he is named separately from the treasurer Lutfî Bey, Hüsameddin clearly regarded him as a different person.

The Tayyibzâde Family

According to Hüsameddin, the Tayyibzâdes were a branch of a large family known as the "Benî İsrâil", descended from Hacı Kâtib İsrâil Çelebi, who lived in Amasya in the fourteenth century. Tayyib and Tâhir Çelebi, sons of İsrâil Çelebi's grandson Dursun Çelebi, became scholars and judges; the descendants of Tayyib Çelebi were called Tayyibzâdes and those of Tâhir Çelebi Tâhirzâdes. Kadı Tayyib Çelebi studied in Merzifon and Amasya under Şemseddin Ahmed Kırımî, taught at the Atabey and Torumtay madrasas, was tutor to the pages (gulam) of Şehzade Bayezid, governor of Amasya, became judge at the time of the incident of 883 and died around 891 (1486). The family name spread through his son Ahmed Efendi and his grandson Abdullah Efendi.

The member of the family who belongs to the period of Şehzade Mustafa is Tayyib Efendi. According to Hüsameddin he was the son of Ubeydullah Efendi, who had a mosque in Amasya. He studied under Musliheddin Musa Efendi, mufti of Amasya and keeper of books, became a professor (müderris) and judge, and was one of the "mukarreb", the intimates, of Şehzade Sultan Mustafa, governor of Amasya. After the prince was killed in Şevval 960 (1553) he fell from favour for a time; in 961 (1554), when Süleyman the Magnificent came to Amasya, he was pardoned, received favour and became judge of Sivas. He was later honoured with the judgeships of Kayseri and Trabzon and died around 975 (1567-68). Hüsameddin describes him as learned, a pleasant conversationalist, a poet, and versed in history and literary anecdote (muhazarat). His sons Ehlî Mehmed and Abdürrahîm Efendi were also scholars and poets; his "other son" was Lütfullah Efendi.

The State of the Sources and the Debate

The information Hüsameddin gives in two different places does not fully match. In the third volume, where he lists the prince's circle, "Tayyibzâde Lutfî Efendi" appears as a companion and a well-known poet; in the family entries of the eleventh volume, however, the prince's intimate and poet is Tayyib Efendi himself, while Lütfullah Efendi is a son mentioned by name without any description. This can be explained in two ways. According to the first possibility the name in the third volume is correct, and Tayyib Efendi's son Lütfullah joined the prince's gatherings together with his father. Since his father died around 1567-68 and his brother Ehlî Mehmed Efendi was still a novice (mülazım) preparing for a professorship during the term of Ebussuûd Efendi as şeyhülislam (1545-1574), it is possible, but not certain, that Lütfullah was old enough in the 1540s to be a companion.

According to the second possibility Hüsameddin confused the names in the third volume and may have recorded the prince's intimate, Tayyibzâde Tayyib Efendi, as "Lutfî Efendi". The epithet "Tayyibzâde" is also used for Tayyib Efendi himself, for he too descended from Kadı Tayyib Çelebi, and Hüsameddin gives his entry under the heading "Tayyib Efendi-Tayyibzâde". That all the details, the closeness to the prince, the fall from favour after his death and the poetry, are found in Tayyib Efendi's entry strengthens this possibility. Both explanations are our inference; Hüsameddin does not connect the two records and does not say from which source he took the information. The poets introduced in the tezkires as "Tayyibzâde" are Tayyib Efendi's sons Ehlî Mehmed Efendi and his younger brother Şeyhî; Beyânî and Kınalızâde devote entries to both, but mention no Tayyibzâde named Lutfî. Nor was an entry devoted to Tayyib Efendi found in the tezkires examined.

The same crowd of names can lead to further confusion. The treasurer Lütfullah Lutfî Bey, who appears just before in Hüsameddin's list, is a different person and is treated on his own page in this category. Later generations of the Tayyibzâdes also include judges bearing the same names; a second Tayyib Efendi mentioned by Hüsameddin, son of Abdürrahîm Efendi, was judge of Çorum in 1033 (1624) and belongs to a period after that of Prince Mustafa.

His Poetry

The poems of Tayyibzâde Lutfî Efendi have not come down to us. Hüsameddin gives no example, and the tezkires of Sehî, Latîfî, Âşık Çelebi, Kınalızâde, Beyânî and Gelibolulu Âlî record no couplet under this name. No example of poetry is given for Tayyib Efendi either, whom Hüsameddin calls a poet. For Prince Mustafa's circle in Amasya and the other poets in it, see our article Prince Mustafa (Muhlisî): His Poems and the Poets of His Amasya Circle.

Chronology

Around 891 (1486): Kadı Tayyib Çelebi, ancestor of the family, died.

948 (1541): Şehzade Mustafa came to Amasya; according to Hüsameddin, Tayyibzâde Lutfî Efendi was among his companions.

960 (1553): Şehzade Mustafa was killed; Tayyib Efendi, one of the prince's intimates, fell from favour for a time.

961 (1554): On Süleyman the Magnificent's visit to Amasya, Tayyib Efendi was pardoned and became judge of Sivas.

Around 975 (1567-68): Tayyib Efendi died.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources