Latifî (1491–1582), or Kastamonulu Latifî Çelebi, was an Ottoman poet and bibliographer. Born in

Kastamonu Kastamonu, formerly Kastamone/Castamone () and Kastamon/Castamon (), is a city in northern Turkey. It is the seat of Kastamonu Province and Kastamonu District.

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 ...

, he became famous for his '' tezkire'' ''Tezkiretü'ş-Şuara'' (Memoirs of the Poets), the second Ottoman collection of bibliographical data on poets and poetry in overall. Latifî was born Abdüllatif HatibzâdeMehmet Turkan, KASTAMONU'LU BİR TEZKİRECİ VE DİVAN ŞAİRİ (in Turkish)
/ref> into a notable family in Kastamonu and was educated there. He worked as accountant and

katib A katib (, ''kātib'') is a writer, scribe, or secretary in the Arabic-speaking world, Persian World, and other Islamic areas as far as the Indian subcontinent. In North Africa, the local pronunciation of the term also causes it to be written ke ...

(secretary) in various vakifs (pious foundation), including

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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 ...

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

, and

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 ...

.
His major work was ''Tezkiretü'ş-Şuara'' (Memoirs of the Poets), which was the second ''tezkire'' in chronological order after that of Sehi Bey. It is also the one with most extent copies, 91 in total. The ''tezkire'' was organized in three sections with an introduction. It narrated the life and work of around 300 poets of the period from the reign of

Murad II Murad II (, ; June 1404 – 3 February 1451) was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1421 to 1444 and from 1446 to 1451. Early life Murad was born in June 1404 to Mehmed I, while the identity of his mother is disputed according to v ...

(reigned between 1421 and 1451) until 1543, and was finished and presented it to Sultan

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

in 1546. The Sultan was so pleased that he appointed Latifi as secretary at the " Ayyub al-Ansari" complex endowment. According to

Aşık Çelebi Pir Mehmed ("Mehmed the Pir"; 1520–1572), better known as Aşık Çelebi ("Gentleman Bard" in Turkish), was an Ottoman biographer, poet, and translator. Born in Prizren, he served as '' kadi'' (judge) in many towns of the Rumelia. His majo ...

's work ''Senses of Poets'' (Meşairü'ş-Şuara), the poet wrote it mostly during the era of Suleiman, but presented it to

Murad III Murad III (; ; 4 July 1546 – 16 January 1595) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death in 1595. His rule saw battles with the Habsburg monarchy, Habsburgs and exhausting wars with the Safavid Iran, Safavids. The long-inde ...

in 1574 after making minor changes to the introduction.
Another important work of him was ''Evsaf-ı İstanbul'' (Qualities of Istanbul) written in 1525. It gives a historical overview on the city of Istanbul, intertwined with geographical data, and information on the city's neighborhoods, architecture, and social life. Latifi spent the last years of his life in Istanbul. He died by drowning when the ship he was traveling to

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

sank in the

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Latifi Divan poets from the Ottoman Empire People from Kastamonu Turks from the Ottoman Empire 1491 births 1582 deaths 16th-century poets from the Ottoman Empire Deaths due to shipwreck at sea 16th-century civil servants from the Ottoman Empire

See also

References