Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi (c. 1546 – 1604) was an Ottoman poet and bibliographer of the 16th century. His main work is the ''Tezkiretü'ş-Şuara'' (Memoirs of the Poets), one of the best known Ottoman ''

tezkire ''Tezkire'' (), from Arabic '' tadhkirah'' meaning "something that causes one to remember" or "memorandum",Kiliç, Filiz. (2007). “The Tezkires of Poets: Indispendable [sicSources in Our Literature History” translated from Turkish to English by ...

s'' (bibliographical dictionary of poets and poetry).

Life

Hasan was born in year 993 of the Islamic calendar, which starts respectively on 4 March 1546. He was the son of Mullah, Molla Ala al-Din Ali, also known as Ali Çelebi (1510/11 – 1572), an Ottoman jurist and author from

Isparta Isparta is a city in western Turkey. It is the seat of Isparta Province and Isparta District.İl ...

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. Hasan was born in

Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

, where his father was working as a ''

Kadı A kadi (, ) was an official in the Ottoman Empire. In Arabic, the term () typically refers to judges who preside over matters in accordance with sharia Islamic law; under Ottoman rule, however, the kadi also became a crucial part of the imperi ...

'' (judge). He started his work career as a '' mulasim'' (assistant, candidate professor) of Abu Suud, in 1567–68 he became professor, in 1582–83 ''

müderris Müderris is a term that described the religious scholar, professor or faculty member in Seljuk Anatolia and the Ottoman Empire.Cambridge University Press, History of Turkey Vol. 3, The Later Ottoman Empire 1603-1839 (2006), s.216 In Arabic, the ...

'' (religious teacher) at the

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

Mehmed the Conqueror Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, ...

, and five years later professor at the

Süleymaniye Mosque The Süleymaniye Mosque (, ) is an Ottoman imperial mosque located on the Seven hills of Istanbul, Third Hill of Istanbul, Turkey. The mosque was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent () and designed by the imperial architect Mimar Sinan. An ...

. In the Islamic year of 999 (1590–91), he started his career as judge; first in

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

, followed by

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Edirne Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

, Cairo again, Bursa (1598-9),

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

, then Eyüp district of

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, and in Eski Zagra (July 1602).
He lived the rest of his life as the owner of an ''

arpalik Under the Ottoman Empire, an arpalik or arpaluk () was a large estate (i.e. sanjak) entrusted to some holder of senior position, or to some margrave, as a temporary arrangement before they were appointed to some appropriate position. Arpalik was a k ...

'' near

Rosetta Rosetta ( ) or Rashid (, ; ) is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Rosetta Stone was discovered there in 1799. Founded around the 9th century on the site of the ancient town of Bolbitine, R ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

on 15 March 1604.
Hasan's brother Fehmı (died May 1596) was also a well-known poet, although according to the historian

Mustafa Âlî Gelibolulu Mustafa Âlî bin Ahmed bin Abdülmevlâ Çelebi (lit. ''"Mustafa Ali of Gallipoli son of Ahmed son of Abdülmevla the Godly"''; 28 April 1541 – 1600) was an Ottoman historian, bureaucrat and major literary figure. Life and work M ...

neither of the brothers could reach the prestige of their father.

Poetry

His work ''Tezkiretü'ş-Şuara'' was the one that made him famous. It was the last of the great bibliographical works on poets of the 16th century. It was structured in three sections. According to

Mustafa ben Abd Allah Hadjidji Khalifa Mustafa () is one of the names of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world. Given name Moustafa * Moustafa Am ...

, it surpasses all previous works of its kind both in kindness of language and compactness of information which is embedded in it. It was finished in 1586 and dedicated to

Hoca Sadeddin Efendi Hoca Sadeddin Efendi (; 1536/1537 – October 2, 1599İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, ''Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı'', Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971, p. 118. ) was an Ottoman Islamic scholar, theologian, official, and historian, a teacher of the f ...

. The ''tezkire'' gives information on around 600 poets with specimens of their work. Many manuscripts of it exist.

Life

Poetry

References

Further reading