When the Celâlî rebels broke into Amasya in 1011 (1602-03), those who died included Ünsî Ahmed Dede, who had held the post of sheikh of the city's Mevlevî lodge since the end of the sixteenth century. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar counts him "urefâ ve şuarâdan", that is, among the men of spiritual insight and the poets. What is known of him is limited to a three-sentence entry in the seventh volume of Amasya Tarihi; other volumes of the same work, however, place a different sheikh at the head of the lodge in those years. None of the poems he wrote under the pen name Ünsî has come down to us.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Amasya Mevlevîhânesi meşâyihinden olup 1000 hudûdunda Mevlevîhâne şeyhi olduğu halde 1011'de kâin sadme-i eşkiyâda vefât etdi. Urefâ ve şuarâdan bir zât idi. Yerine Zâkirbaşı Mehmed Garibî Dede Efendi Mevlevîhâne şeyhi oldu.

In English translation: He belonged to the line of sheikhs of the Amasya Mevlevî lodge. He became sheikh of the lodge around 1000 (1591-92) and died in office in the attack of the rebels in 1011. He was a man of spiritual insight and a poet. In his place the leader of the chanting (zâkirbaşı) Mehmed Garîbî Dede Efendi became sheikh of the lodge. The old words of the entry and the general history of the lodge are explained in the notes to the entry Ünsî Ahmed Dede-Şeyh-i Mevlevî.

The entry does not say where the sheikh came from, who his father was, from whom he received his initiation or how long he lived. The phrase "1000 hudûdunda" (around 1000) is an approximate time, not an exact date of appointment. Ünsî in the heading is a pen name derived from the root of "ünsiyet", intimacy, and suggests that the sheikh used this name in his poems.

The Rebel Raid of 1011

The "sadme-i eşkıyâ" of the entry is the moment when the Celâlî revolt begun by Karayazıcı Abdülhalîm reached Amasya. According to Hüsameddin's account in the third volume, Deli Zülfikâr Ağa, one of the cavalrymen (sipahi) of Amasya, came with more than eight thousand horsemen and foot soldiers to the Kaynar area near the city, pitched his tent, and for some three months exchanged messages with the city's defenders, trying to win them over. On 1 Receb 1011 he broke camp and surrounded the city on all sides. The people of Amasya had taken their women and children up to the upper citadel and had buried their goods in the ground and hidden them in caves. On 5 Receb 1011 (December 1602) the rebels entered the city from the Ziyâre side, burned the Aşağıpazar quarter from end to end and killed whoever stood in their way. The history of the Mevlevî lodge in the first volume records that the building burned in this event and that its sheikh also perished. Among those who died in the same days were madrasa teachers, endowment trustees and a former judge of Amasya whom Hüsameddin mentions in other entries.

The Contradiction Between the Sources

Ünsî's entry cannot be reconciled with two other places in Hüsameddin's own work. In the first volume, where the sheikhs of the lodge are listed, it is said that Şeyh Ömer Çelebi became sheikh in 975 (1567-68), followed by Şeyh İbrâhim Çelebi, that the lodge burned in the rebel incident of 1011 and that "its sheikh too perished"; the name Ünsî does not appear. The entry "İbrâhim Dede Çelebi" in the sixth volume repeats the same information: İbrâhim Dede, son of Şeyh Mehmed Dede, became sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevî lodge in 995 (1586-87), served for some sixteen years and died in the rebel incident of 1011; his son Mehmed Ârif Dede later had the lodge rebuilt with the help of Bayram Paşa.

Thus two sheikhs appear for the same years, and two dead sheikhs for the same raid. The two records could be reconciled in several ways: Ünsî may have served beside İbrâhim Dede as a second sheikh or deputy; Hüsameddin may have written the same person as two entries under two names; or one of the records is mistaken. The source confirms none of these possibilities. The name of Garîbî Mehmed Dede, given as Ünsî's successor, is confirmed elsewhere, however: when Hüsameddin lists the notables of Amasya in the year 1017 (1608-09), he names "Mevlevîhâne şeyhi Garîbî Mehmed Dede Efendi" among the sheikhs whom the people held in respect. Garîbî is also missing from the list in the first volume; there İbrâhim Çelebi is followed directly by his son Mehmed Ârif Dede.

Ünsî is not among the names of poets that Metin Hakverdioğlu drew from the seventh volume, and the other sources yield no Amasya sheikh known as Ünsî.

His Poetry

Nothing of Ünsî Ahmed Dede's poetry survives. The only witness to his poetry is the word "şuarâdan" (among the poets) in the entry; no example is given and the fate of his works goes unmentioned. Since the lodge burned in the raid, the sheikh's papers may have gone with the building, but the source records nothing of the kind.

Chronology

975 (1567-68): According to the first volume, Şeyh Ömer Çelebi is sheikh of the Mevlevî lodge.

995 (1586-87): According to the sixth volume, İbrâhim Dede Çelebi becomes sheikh of the lodge.

Around 1000 (1591-92): Ünsî Ahmed Dede is sheikh of the lodge.

5 Receb 1011 (December 1602): The forces of Deli Zülfikâr enter Amasya; the lodge burns and Ünsî Ahmed Dede dies.

1017 (1608-09): Garîbî Mehmed Dede is mentioned as sheikh of the lodge.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources