Zamânî Mahmud Çelebi was a sixteenth-century poet who belonged to the household of Şehzade Mustafa (Prince Mustafa) in Amasya, served as secretary of the prince's segbans and was present in his gatherings as a confidant (musahip). The biographical anthologies of poets (tezkire) spell his pen name (mahlas) "Zemânî" and count him a native of Edirne; they also record that his first pen name was Semâ'î. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, on the other hand, in the Amasya Tarihi mentions him under the name "Zamânî Mahmud Çelebi" among the prince's secretary-confidants and among the Amasya poets who won fame in the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent. The sources do not agree about the fate of the poet, who disappeared after the prince was killed in 1553. Âşık Çelebi's tezkire has preserved from him an opening couplet (matla) and two couplets from a ghazal (gazel); these couplets are given on separate pages of the category.

Hüsameddin's Records

In the section of the Amasya Tarihi that lists people in alphabetical order, Hüsameddin gives Zamânî no separate entry. The poet's name occurs in three places in the work, where Şehzade Mustafa's circle in Amasya is described. In the third volume, narrating the prince's governorship of Amasya, he says:

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 modern English: Edâyî Bey of the Hacıbeyzâde, one of the sons of the notables, and Zamânî Mahmud Çelebi and Emânî Mehmed Çelebi from the body of secretaries were the prince's confidants; they were among the well-known poets. In the first volume, describing the summer pavilion the prince had built in Amasya, he says that poets from among the famous men of letters, such as "Hamdî, Zamânî, Edâyî", served as his boon companions. In the same volume, listing period by period the poets Amasya produced, he also writes that Amasya poets such as "Ânî, Hızrî, Zamânî, Fikrî and Edâyî" were appreciated by the scholars of the age and won fame in the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent.

Life

The main information about the poet's life is given by Âşık Çelebi. His entry in the Meşâ'irü'ş-şu'arâ reads:

Adı Maḥmûd'dur. Maḫlaṣı evvel Semâʿî idi ṣoñra Zemânî oldı. Mevlidi Ergene ve menşe'i Edirne'dür. Ṭarîḳ-i ʿilme sülûk idüp mevâlî-i ʿiẓâm ḫıdmetinde sülûkı müntehî oldı. Baʿdehu taḥvîl-i ṭarîk itdi, Sulṭân Muṣṭafâ ḳullarından oldı. Sehl zemânda segbânları kâtibi olup maḳbûllerinden oldı. Merḥûm-ı merḳûmuñ fetretinden ṣoñra belürmedi. Bir defʿa Edirne'de gördüm baʿdehu zemânı vü mekânı maʿlûm olmadı. Niçe zemân oldı Rûmili beglerbegisi Aḥmed Paşa'ya ilticâ vü intisâb idüp sâye-i saʿâdetinde zeʿâmet ile behremend ü kâm-rân oldı. Ṭabʿı şiʿre ḫaylî mülâyim ve gûşe ṭoḳınmaduḳ kûşeler bulmaġa müdâvim idi. Hüner-redîf ḳaṣîdesi vardur Nişâncı Celâl-zâde adına.

In modern English: His name is Mahmud. His pen name was at first Semâ'î, later it became Zemânî. His birthplace is Ergene and the place where he grew up is Edirne. He took the path of learning and advanced to the end of that path in the service of the great judges and scholars (mollas). Then he changed his path and joined the servants of Sultan Mustafa. In a short time he became secretary of the prince's segbans and one of his favourites. After the "fetret" of the late prince, that is, the turmoil that followed his killing, he did not appear. I saw him once in Edirne; after that it was not known where or how he was. A long time later he took refuge with Ahmed Pasha, governor-general (beylerbey) of Rumelia, attached himself to him, and under his protection obtained a large fief (zeamet) and his heart's desire. His nature was very well suited to poetry, and he was constantly looking for meanings no ear had yet heard. He has a kaside (qasida) with the refrain word (redif) "hüner" in the name of Nişancı Celâlzâde.

The segbans, whose name means "dog-keeper" in Persian, were the attendants who looked after the hunting hounds in the prince's court; Zamânî's being their secretary shows that he held a post of the pen within the prince's household. According to Âşık Çelebi the poet first advanced along the madrasa path and served as a student (dânişmend) with the great mollas, then left that path and entered the prince's service. The sentence in which the writer says he saw him once in Edirne is, according to the edition's footnote, missing from some manuscripts. The kaside he wrote in the name of Celâlzâde Mustafa Çelebi has not survived; after his remark about the kaside Âşık Çelebi gives the line "Hak bu kim anı gören dir âferîn üstâdına" (Truly, whoever sees it says bravo to its master), but the text does not make clear whether this line is taken from the kaside or is the writer's own praise. For this reason the line has not been counted here as the poet's verse.

Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi gives Zamânî under the heading "Zemânî-i Sânî", the second Zemânî, distinguishing him from an older poet from Edirne with the same pen name. In his account the poet is from Edirne, his name is Mahmud and his first pen name Semâ'î; a desire for rank and office drew him away from student life and turned him towards the service of Şehzade Mustafa. When the prince was killed and the officers of his divan were scattered "like the locks of beauties", he too vanished from sight. Kınalızâde also adds that his nature was well suited to poetry and that he wrote verse constantly. Beyânî, for his part, introduces him as someone who became a secretary at the prince's gate while a student, and writes that when the divan officers were dispersed at the prince's execution "the time of his life came to an end" and he passed away.

Connection with Amasya

What connects Zamânî with Amasya is Şehzade Mustafa's Amasya years. According to the entry "Mustafa Çelebi" by Şerafettin Turan in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, the prince was sent from Manisa to Amasya on 21 Safer 948 (16 June 1541) and was strangled on 27 Şevval 960 (6 October 1553) at the Aktepe camp near Konya Ereğlisi. The tezkires do not say in which year or in which city Zamânî entered the prince's service; but it is clear that the poet stayed with the prince until the "fetret" and spent most of these years in Amasya. Hüsameddin's counting him among the prince's confidants and boon companions in Amasya agrees with this. Şehzade Mustafa's circle of poets in Amasya is also described, together with Zamânî's couplets, in the article Şehzade Mustafa (Muhlisî): His Poems and the Poets of His Amasya Circle.

His Poetry

There is no record that Zamânî had a divan. Three couplets of his poetry have survived, and they are in Âşık Çelebi's tezkire: two couplets from a ghazal beginning "Zencîr-i zülf ü çâh-ı zenehdâna dil düşüp" and the matla "Nigâruñ hâtırı hattı ucından pür-gubâr ancak". Kınalızâde and Beyânî quote this matla and the second couplet again, with a few words different. In the two-couplet fragment the poet plays on his own profession: those who see the lover leading the rivals behind him take him for a segban walking the hunting hounds. The nature that Âşık Çelebi describes as "fond of seeking meanings no ear had heard" is plainly visible in this witty conceit. The couplets appear as separate articles in this category.

The State of the Sources

The sources about Zamânî differ on two points. The first is his home town. Âşık Çelebi, Kınalızâde and Beyânî count the poet a native of Edirne, and Âşık Çelebi gives his birthplace as Ergene. Hüsameddin, however, mentions him among the "Amasyalı şuarâ", the Amasya poets who won fame in the reign of Süleyman. That Hüsameddin wrote no separate entry about the poet and mentions him only within the prince's circle suggests that this description arises from the poet's service in Amasya; this is an inference. There is no information in the sources showing that Zamânî was born in Amasya or came from an Amasya family.

The second divergence concerns the poet's fate. Âşık Çelebi says that he disappeared after the prince's death, was seen once in Edirne and much later obtained a zeamet under the protection of Ahmed Pasha, governor-general of Rumelia. Kınalızâde writes only that he vanished. Beyânî's phrase "the time of his life came to an end" is a play on the pen name, but it gives the impression that the poet died with the prince or soon after him, and it contradicts Âşık Çelebi's account. Since Âşık Çelebi was a contemporary who knew the poet in person, his account seems the more reliable.

There are other poets bearing the same pen name as well. The Zamânî in Latîfî's tezkire is another man from Edirne who died young at the end of the reign of Selim I, was known for his beauty and was called by the nickname "Kız Memi"; he is known for the nazire (response poem) he wrote to Ahmed Pasha's ghazal with the redif "âteş". Kınalızâde too distinguishes this poet under the heading "Zemânî" and our poet under the heading "Zemânî-i Sânî". In some manuscripts of Âşık Çelebi the Zemânî entry has become mixed with the entry immediately following it, that of Zemînî Mahmud of Istanbul; the edition's footnote records that in one manuscript the heading Zemînî is missing altogether. That both poets were named Mahmud made this confusion easier.

Chronology

21 Safer 948 (16 June 1541): Şehzade Mustafa is sent from Manisa to Amasya.

27 Şevval 960 (6 October 1553): Şehzade Mustafa is killed at the Aktepe camp near Konya Ereğlisi; Zamânî disappears.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

Online sources