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 Prizren ( sq-definite, Prizreni, ; sr-cyr, Призрен) is the second List of cities and towns in Kosovo, most populous city and Municipalities of Kosovo, municipality of Kosovo and seat of the eponymous municipality and District of Prizren, ...

, he served as '' kadi'' (judge) in many towns of the

Rumelia Rumelia (; ; ) was a historical region in Southeastern Europe that was administered by the Ottoman Empire, roughly corresponding to the Balkans. In its wider sense, it was used to refer to all Ottoman possessions and Vassal state, vassals in E ...

. His major work ''Senses of Poets'' (Meşairü'ş-Şuara) of 1568 is of major importance.

Life and work

Çelebi was born in Prizren,Ottoman Empire. His birth name was Pir Mehmed, and descended from a Turkish seyyid family. After his father's death in 1535 (941 in Ottoman calendar) he departed for Filibe and later to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. He studied in a

medrese Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

in Istanbul under best tutors of his time and received an excellent education. His first civil servant position was that of a court secretary 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 ...

. There he was also a trustee of a vakif. He returned to Istanbul in 1546. There he obtained a clerical position of justice with the help of his tutor Emir Gisu. He applied for the position of the head cleric of the Imperial Council left vacant after the death of Receb Çelebi, but did not succeed, following with accepting a position as a cleric at the Fatwa Office.
After that he would work in many cities of Rum as a judge, such as

Pristina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...

, Servia, Arta, Kratovo, Nikopol,

Rousse Ruse (also transliterated as Rousse, Russe; ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fifth-largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, ...

, etc. In overall, he failed to get the position of his dreams which his father and grandfather had, the Nakibü'l-eşraf ( MP, representative Sayyid and

Sharif Sharīf or Sherif (, 'noble', 'highborn'), also spelled shareef, feminine sharīfa (), plural ashrāf (), shurafāʾ (), or (in the Maghreb) shurfāʾ, is a title used to designate a person descended, or claiming to be descended, from the fami ...

of the Empire). He translated into Turkish many poetry of prose works from Ottoman writers, originally in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

.
His main work is ''Meşairü'ş-şuara'' (Senses of Poets), a '' tezkire'' (bibliographical dictionary of poets and poetry). It was published in 1568 and is an excellent source not only on the life and work of Ottoman poets, but also on social life and customs of the scholar-bureaucrat cast (to which he belonged) of Istanbul of those times. He completed it while working as a kadi in Kratovo, and presented it to the Sultan Selim II in 1568. 30 copies have been encountered which makes it the second most read ''tezkire'' of all times after that of Latifî (1491-1582) with 91 copies. It covers 427 poets, in poetry or prose.
Among many example of his poems, the majority are placed strategically rather than for decoration purpose. Once a selected few exhibit his poetic skills. He used the rest (majority) to convey feelings of hardship, joy, and desire.
Aşık was part of the shared culture of the Ottomans of the 16th century. His work in Arabic translations shows high proficiency and intrinsic gasp of the language. He shows himself in various situation as a master in Persian. To this is added his vast knowledge on the Ottoman literature. Aşık lived for many years as a ''kadi'' in

Üsküb Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultural center of ...

where he died in 1571 or 1572. He is buried there, which coincides in today's

Gazi Baba Municipality Gazi Baba (, ) is one of the ten municipalities that make up the City of Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. The municipality administration consists of a council and mayor. "Skopje encompasses ten municipalities (Aerodrom, Butel, Čair, C ...

. His türbe is known as Aşık Çelebi Türbe. It was severally damaged during the 1963

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

and was not repaired or reconstructed by the Yugoslav authorities. Today, only a few ruins remain.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Celebi, Ashik Divan poets from the Ottoman Empire People from Prizren 1520 births 1572 deaths 16th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire Turkish Alevis Ottoman Sufis Turks from the Ottoman Empire Jurists from the Ottoman Empire 16th-century civil servants from the Ottoman Empire Kosovan Turks Ashiks

Life and work

See also

Notes

References