Aşık Çelebi

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Aşık Çelebi (* 1519 or 1520 in Prizren ; † 1571 in Üsküp ) was the name of an Ottoman poet, chronicler , translator and author of biography collections. His real name was Pîr Mehmet .

Life

Pîr Mehmet's family came from Bursa and derived their family tree from ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib , the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed and his daughter, ʿAlī's wife Fatima bint Mohammed . She was therefore one of the Sayyid , the descendants of Muhammad. Pîr Mehmets father Sayyid Ali married the daughter of the famous scholar and Qādī (judge) Müeyyedzâde Çelebi from Üsküp (Skopje). Mehmet was born in Prizren, where Sayyid Ali held a high administrative post. Mehmet spent his childhood and youth in Rumelia , where he also studied at a madrasah , until he moved to Istanbul . There he began to write poetry and took the poet name Aşık , which means "lover" and describes the style and content of his early poems. In Istanbul he was in contact with the most famous poets of his time, such as Zatî, Hayâlî , Yahya Bey, Surûrî, Chalabi, Taşköprülüzâde, Arapzâde, Saçlı Emir, Hasan Çelebi, Mehmed Ebussuud Efendi and Muhîddîn Fenârî. In these literary circles he gathered the necessary knowledge about famous contemporaries for his later tezkîre (biographies).

He was then employed as a clerk in Bursa. Five years as a trustee and inspector for foundations did not satisfy him, as he later noted, so he returned to Istanbul. With the support of a former teacher, he found employment in a law firm there. Aşık became a Kadi in the Istanbul district of Silivri , from there he came to Pristina , Servia , Manavgat and Alanya in this position . He was introduced to Sultan Selim II at court by the Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pascha , but despite his literary successes remained active as a judge until his death.

Aşık Çelebi, like his contemporary Latîfî , with whom he worked, was one of the most important biographers of his century. He was described as a pleasant conversationalist, attentive and friendly, at the same time a keen and curious observer of his surroundings, which can be seen particularly in his prose work Meşâirü'ş-Şuârâ . He mastered Turkish , Arabic and Persian , was well-read in classical literature, his writing style was elegant, the verses were simply structured. Aşıks tezkiretü'ş-Suaras (Biographies of Poets), a collection of brief biographies of notable figures in Ottoman cultural life in the 16th century, is one of the most important and reliable sources from this period.

Aşık Çelebi died in Üsküp in 1571.

Works

  • Meşâirü'ş-Şuârâ: Of the many surviving works by Aşık Çelebi, this is the best known. It is one of the most beautiful examples of a tezkire and was created between 1551 and 1556. Meşâirü'ş-Şuârâ is a collection of biographies of many poets of the 16th century, with examples from their works, written on behalf of Selim II. The collection is structured alphabetically in a previously unusual way, which his co-author Latîfî did not like, so that Aşık completed the work on his own.
  • Tercume-i Revzatü'ş-Şühedâ: Turkish translation of the work of Hüseyin Va'iz-i Kaşifî. Incomplete manuscript copy in the Hagia Sophia museum .
  • Tercume-i Şakâikun-Nûmâniyye: Translation of a work by Taşköprülüzâde from Turkish into Arabic. A copy of the work mentioned is lost and has not yet been found.
  • Tercümetü't-Tibri'l-Mesbük Fî Nasîhati'l Mülük: Conversations in the presence of the Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sandschar (1084–1157), translated into Turkish, Persian and Arabic. Manuscript copy in Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi ("Library of the Topkapi Seraglio Museum"), Istanbul.
  • Şerh-i Ehâdis-i Erbaîn: Translation of a religious tradition ( Hadith ) from Ataî ( Hadisi-i Erbaîn'i , "Hadith about al-Arba'un ") with annotations , based on a report by Kemal-Paşa-zâde ( Kemalpaşazade Tarihi ) in the Millî Kütüphane (National Library).
  • Tercume-i Ravzü'l Ahyâr: Translation of the work Siyasetname by Mehmet Muhyiddin Hatipzâde for Sultan Selim II from Arabic into Turkish. Two manuscript copies in the Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi ("Library of the Süleymaniye Mosque"), Istanbul.
  • Mi'racü'l-Ayâle ve Minhâcü'l-Adale: Also a translation on behalf of Sultan Selim II. Two manuscript copies in the Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi .
  • Zeylü'ş-Şakâik: Biographies of 42 personalities for Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha. Complete manuscript in the Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi , further copies in the Berlin State Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France .
  • Sigetvarnâme: report on the siege of Szigetvár on September 5, 1566 by I. Süleyman .
  • Şehrengiz-i Bursa: The life of Hasan Çelebi and a description of the beauty of Bursa (written in 1541).
  • Divan : A diwan (collection of poems) by Serfiçe Kadılığı. Manuscripts in the Millî Kütüphane (National Library).
  • Hülâsatü'l-Ahbâr fî Fedâili'l-Medîne: On the history of morality, written by Fedâili'l-Medîne. Manuscript in the Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi , Esad Efendi 2378.

Editions

  • Fılız Kılıc (ed.): Meşa'ir üş-Şu'ara - Aşik Çelebi , 2010 ISBN 975-9123-73-8
  • GM Meredith-Owens (Ed.): Meşa'ir üş-Şu'ara or Tezkere of Aşık Çelebi , London, 1971

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Aşık Çelebi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pîr Mehmet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ottoman poet, translator and biographer
DATE OF BIRTH 1519
PLACE OF BIRTH Prizren
DATE OF DEATH 1571
Place of death Skopje