Usûlî Mehmed Çelebi's poems burned with a book: according to Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, his life and verse were written down in Abdî Efendi's tezkire of the poets of Amasya, and they perished together with it. A seventeenth-century secretary descended from Uzun Mustafa Çelebi, an envoy of the reign of Mehmed II (the Conqueror), he began as a clerk of the treasury and of the poll tax (cizye) in Amasya, rose in İstanbul to be a secretary of the Imperial Council (Divan-ı Hümâyun) and accountant of the haraç tax, and died in Amasya in 1051 (1641-42). What is known of him today comes down to the short entry in Amasya Tarihi's seventh volume and to scattered information in other volumes about his family and his patron.

Hüsameddin's Record

Amasya'da mahallesi olan Uzun Mustafa Çelebi evlâdından Pîr Mustafa Çelebi bin el-Hâc Hasan Çelebi el-Hâc Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi bin Uzun Mustafa Çelebi mahdûmudur. Amasya'da tahsîl-i maârif ederek beytü'l-mâl emânet kâtibi oldu. Ba'dehû cizye muhassılı, Amasya sancağı dîvan kâtibi olup 1038 vak'asında İstanbul'a gönderildi. Orada Bayram Paşa'ya intisâb edib Dîvân-ı Hümayûn kâtiblerinden olup müşârün-ileyhin sadâretinde harâç muhâsebecisi oldu. 1049'da ma'zûlen Amasya'ya gönderildi. 1051'de vefât etdi. Kâtib, şâir, maârif-âşinâ, hat ve tab'ı latîf idi. "Tezkîre-i Abdî Efendi"de terceme ve eşârı vardı. Eş'ârı tezkire ile beraber yandı. Mahdûmları Mustafa, Ahmed Beylerdir. Bunlara "Usûlîzâde" ve avâm dilinde "Usûl Oğulları" dendi.

In English the entry reads: He is the son of Pîr Mustafa Çelebi, one of the descendants of Uzun Mustafa Çelebi, after whom a quarter of Amasya is named; the line runs through Hacı Hasan Çelebi and Hacı Muhyiddin Mehmed Çelebi up to Uzun Mustafa Çelebi. He studied in Amasya and became a clerk for the trust deposits of the treasury (beytülmal). He then became collector of the poll tax and divan secretary of the sanjak of Amasya, and was sent to İstanbul in the incident of 1038. There he attached himself to Bayram Paşa, became one of the secretaries of the Imperial Council, and during the pasha's grand vizierate became accountant of the haraç tax. In 1049 he was dismissed and sent back to Amasya; he died in 1051. He was a secretary and a poet, at home in learning; his handwriting and his temper were both fine. His life and poems were in the Tezkire of Abdî Efendi; his poems burned with the tezkire. His sons are Mustafa and Ahmed Bey; they were called "Usûlîzâde", and in popular speech "Usûl Oğulları". Notes on the vocabulary and on Bayram Paşa are given on the site's page for the entry, Usûlî Mehmed Çelebi-Uzun Mustafazâde.

The Line of Uzun Mustafa Çelebi

The family name "Uzun Mustafazâde" in the heading comes from the family's fifteenth-century ancestor. Hüsameddin introduces this ancestor in the tenth volume, in the entry on Hâce Rüstem Çelebi: Rüstem Çelebi's grandson Hâce Musliheddin Mustafa Çelebi was one of the Ottoman envoys and was known as "Uzun Mustafa Çelebi"; he had a mosque, a quarter and a fountain in Amasya, and his son Muhyiddin Mehmed Çelebi was one of the ulema. Another entry in the sixth volume speaks of a scholar of Amasya who went to Damascus in the suite of Uzun Mustafa Çelebi when the latter was sent as envoy to Egypt by Mehmed II. The line given in Usûlî's entry passes through this Muhyiddin Mehmed Çelebi. Between Hacı Hasan Çelebi and Hacı Muhyiddin Mehmed Çelebi the chain lacks the word "bin" (son of); that the two were father and son can be inferred only from the order of the names.

After Usûlî the family was known by his pen name. His sons Mustafa and Ahmed Bey took the name "Usûlîzâde", which the people turned into "Usûl Oğulları". In the ninth volume Hüsameddin says of Hacı Hüseyin Ağa bin Hacı Ömer Ağa, one of the notables of Amasya who died around 1203 (1788-89), that he "must be of the Usûlî sons"; he establishes no certain link.

His Years as a Secretary and the Incident of 1038

The event Hüsameddin calls "the incident of 1038" is told in detail in the fourth volume's chronicle. When the men of Hüftâdî Ahmed Bey, the sanjak governor of Amasya and a man of Georgian origin, began to carry off young men in the city, the people rose on 13 Ramazan 1038 (6 May 1629); Hüftâdî Bey, his uncle Keyhüsrev Bey and many Georgians were killed and the bey's mansion was plundered. When the affair was reported to İstanbul, an order that came in Şevval required the notables of Amasya to be sent to İstanbul for trial before the Imperial Council, and the party that went was put in the Yedikule dungeon at the end of Şevval. The grand vizier Hüsrev Paşa, persuaded by Hoca Ahmed Paşa's account that they were innocent, obtained their pardon, and the notables returned to Amasya in the middle of Zilhicce. Usûlî is not among the names Hüsameddin lists in his chronicle. Whether he was sent with this party as secretary of the sanjak divan, or separately for the correspondence of the affair, cannot be learned from the entry; what is clear is that, unlike the others, he did not return to Amasya but stayed in İstanbul.

Bayram Paşa, to whom he attached himself in İstanbul, was according to Hüsameddin born in İstanbul and raised in Amasya, the son of Kurd Ağa of Lâdik, and on 1 Ramazan 1039 (14 April 1630) the sanjak of Amasya was given to him as a personal holding (has). Yusuf Halaçoğlu's article in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi writes that the pasha was raised to the grand vizierate in the reign of Murad IV and died suddenly on 16 Rebîülâhir 1048 (27 August 1638) at Cüllâb near Urfa while marching on the Baghdad campaign. Usûlî's post as accountant of the haraç falls in these years of the vizierate. His dismissal in 1049 came about a year after the pasha's death; the source does not say whether it had anything to do with the loss of his patron.

His Poetry

Hüsameddin writes plainly that Usûlî's "terceme ve eş'âr", that is, his life story and his poems, were in the tezkire of the müderris Abdî Efendi, and that the poems burned together with the tezkire; for this reason Usûlî Mehmed Çelebi's poems have not reached us. This lost work, in which Abdî Efendi gathered the poets of Amasya who flourished between 1591 and 1671, and the fragments that survive from it are described in Abdî Efendi: The Lost Tezkire of Amasya's Poets and Its Poems; for the compiler himself see the page Abdî Efendi. No other record was found of Usûlî's pen name, or of whether he left a divan or any other work.

The pen name Usûlî was also used by a Sufi poet. According to Bayram Ali Kaya's article in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, this other Usûlî was born in Yenice-i Vardar, became a follower of İbrâhim Gülşenî and died in 945 (1538-39). He lived a century before the secretary of Amasya, and the two should not be confused.

Chronology

13 Ramazan 1038 (6 May 1629): A rising breaks out in Amasya against Hüftâdî Ahmed Bey; the notables of the city are then sent to İstanbul. Usûlî too goes to İstanbul because of this incident.

1 Ramazan 1039 (14 April 1630): The sanjak of Amasya is given to Bayram Paşa as a personal holding.

16 Rebîülâhir 1048 (27 August 1638): Grand Vizier Bayram Paşa dies on the road of the Baghdad campaign.

1049 (1639-40): Usûlî is dismissed and sent back to Amasya.

1051 (1641-42): Usûlî Mehmed Çelebi dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources