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An Exile Memoir by Karaçelebizâde Abdülazîz Efendi and Self-Narrative Elements in His Works

Year 2024, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 74 - 97, 30.06.2024

Abstract

Karaçelebizade Abdülaziz Efendi (1592-1658) was a seventeenth-century Ottoman scholar, historian, poet and grand mufti. Having spent most of his career in religious-judiciary posts, he is nonetheless best known to modern academics for his historical writings: a universal history titled Ravzatü’l-Ebrar (The Gardens of the Beneficent); an addendum to this work, Zeyl-i Ravzatü’l-Ebrar, about contemporary Ottoman history based on his personal involvement in political affairs; and a Zafername (Book of Victory) detailing Murad IV’s (r. 1623-40) Yerevan and Baghdad campaigns.

Zeyl-i Ravzatü’l-Ebrar served as a source for later prominent Ottoman chroniclers, such as Naima, Silahdar and Abdi Paşa; for historians working on the seventeenth century, it is also a well-known chronicle in its own right. However, so far, the use of this historical source has been limited to using it for historical reconstruction. While not an ego-document in its own right, Zeyl-i Ravzatü’l-Ebrar includes autobiographical passages and passages that convey emotional self-expression in first-person language, which have until now eluded inquiry. Notably, it also has possibly the earliest explicit mention of suicidal ideation in Ottoman history.

Karaçelebizade Abdülaziz Efendi also has other writings that have attracted less scholarly attention. One such writing is Gülşen-i Niyaz (The Pleas of the Rose Garden), narrating his exile in Cyprus between 1634-6. Written in verse in a relatively plain Ottoman Turkish and completed after his return from Cyprus, this text can be characterized both as a personal plea to the ruler and to God, and as a personal memoir. It is one of the few exile memoirs in the seventeenth-century Ottoman Empire.

This article, then, aims to contribute to the budding subfield of ego document studies in the premodern Ottoman lands. It looks at Karaçelebizade Abdülaziz Efendi’s Gülşen-i Niyaz and Zeyl-i Ravzatü’l-Ebrar not just as a repository of facts to reconstruct his career, but also as a window into the inner psychological state of a seventeenth-century Ottoman scholar in exile, and a window into Ottoman mentalities and cultural history at large.

References

  • Bibliography Akkılık, Ayşe. “Seyyid Hasan’ın Günlüğü, II. Cilt (H.1073-1075/M.1662-1664) (İnce- leme-Metin).” Master’s thesis, Marmara University, 2019.
  • Babinger, Franz. “Ḳara-Čelebi-Zāde.” in Encyclopedia of Islam, First Edition, accessed on July 31, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1163/2214-871X_ei1_SIM_3912.
  • Begeç, Abdullah. “Kara Çelebi-zade Abdülaziz Efendi’nin Gülşen-i Niyaz’ı (İnce- leme-Metin).” Master’s thesis, İnönü University, 2001.
  • Bindal Arslan, Fatma. “Kara Çelebi-zâde Abdülazîz Gülşen-i Niyâz (Tenkidli Metin-İn celeme).” Master’s thesis, Atatürk University, 1996.
  • Can, Aykut. “Seyyid Hasan Sohbetname I. Cilt (1071-1072/1660-1661).” Master’s thesis, Marmara University, 2015.
  • Çörekçi, Semra. “A Methodological Approach to Early Modern Self-Narratives: Rep- resentation of the Self in Ottoman Context (1720s-1820s).” PhD diss., Istanbul Medeniyet University, 2022.
  • —, “Report on the Symposium “Ottoman Ego-Documents”: Towards an Inventory of Ottoman Ego-Documents.” Ceride: Journal of Ego-Document Studies 1, no. 1 (Ju- ly 2023): 183-198.
  • Deniz, Fatma. “The Use of Space by Sufis in Seventeenth-Century Istanbul in Light of Seyyid Hasan’s Diary, The Sohbetnâme.” Master’s thesis, Central European University, 2018.
  • Dörtok Abacı, Zeynep. “Kendi Kendini İhlâk ya da Katl-i Nefs: Pre-Modern Osmanlı Toplumunda İntihar Vakaları (1650-1700).” Paper presented at 14th Internation- al Congress of Ottoman Social and Economic History (ICOSEH), Sofia, July 24-28, 2017.
  • Durmaz, Tunahan. “Family, Companions, and Death: Seyyid Hasan Nûrî Efendi’s Mi- crocosm.” Master’s thesis, Sabanci University, 2019.
  • Eldem, Edhem. Death in Istanbul: Death and its Rituals in Ottoman-Islamic Culture. Istanbul: Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Centre, 2005.
  • Elger, Ralf and Yavuz Köse, eds. Many Ways of Speaking about the Self: Middle East- ern Ego-documents in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish (14th-20th Century). Wiesba- den: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010.
  • Erdoğan, Sacide. “Ḳara Çelebi-Zāde ‘Abdü’l-‘azīz Dīvānçesi (İnceleme-Metin-Çeviri).” Master’s thesis, Marmara University, 2020.
  • Gökalp, Halûk. Eski Türk Edebiyatında Manzum Sergüzeşt-nâmeler. Istanbul: Ki tabevi Yayınları, 2009.
  • İpşirli, Mehmet. “Şeyhülislâm.” In TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, accessed on January 19, 2024, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/seyhulislam.
  • Kafadar, Cemal. “Self and Others: The Diary of a Dervish in Seventeenth Century Is tanbul and First-Person Narratives in Ottoman Literature.” Studia Islamica, no. 69 (1989): 121-150.
  • Kahraman, Bahattin. “Vahîd Mahtûmî: Hayatı, Eserleri, Edebî Kişiliği ve Eserlerinin Tenkidli Metni.” PhD diss., Selçuk University, 1995.
  • Karahasanoğlu, Selim. Kadı ve Günlüğü: Sadreddinzâde Telhisî Mustafa Efendi Gün lüğü (1711-1735) Üstüne Bir İnceleme. Istanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2013.
  • —, “Ottoman Ego-Documents: State of the Art.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 53, no.2 (2021): 301-308.
  • Karataş, Ali İhsan. Şeyhülislâm Karaçelebizâde Abdülaziz Efendi (Hayatı-Eserleri-Vakıfları). Bursa: Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyesi, 2015.
  • Naima Mustafa Efendi. Târih-i Na‘îmâ. Edited by Mehmet İpşirli. 4 vols. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 2007.
  • Nizri, Michael. Ottoman High Politics and the Ulema Household. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
  • Sheridan, Michael Douglas. “‘I Curse No One Without Cause’: Identity, Power, Rival- ry and Invective in the Early 17th-Century Ottoman Court.” PhD diss., Bilkent University, 2018.
  • Tekgül, Nil. Emotions in the Ottoman Empire: Politics, Society, and Family in the Ear- ly Modern Era. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023.
  • Toprak, Muhbet. “Şeyhülislam Bahayi Divanı Şerhi.” Master’s thesis, Pamukkale Uni- versity, 2006.
  • Unan, Fahri. “Pâye.” In TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, accessed on January 19, 2024, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/paye--rutbe.
  • Yakar, Gülşen. “Individual and Community, Public and Private: The Case of 17th Cen- tury Istanbulite Dervish and His Diary.” Master’s thesis, Middle East Technical University, 2019.
  • Yaşa, Fırat. “Desperation, Hopelessness, and Suicide: An Initial Consideration of Self-Murder by Slaves in Seventeenth-Century Crimean Society.” Turkish Historical Review, no. 9 (2018): 198-211.

Karaçelebizade Abdülaziz Efendi’nin Eserlerinde Ben Anlatıları

Year 2024, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 74 - 97, 30.06.2024

Abstract

Karaçelebizade Abdülaziz Efendi (1592-1658), on yedinci yüzyılda yaşamış bir Osmanlı alimi, müverrihi, şairi ve şeyhülislamıdır. Kariyerini ilmiye makamlarında geçirmiş olsa da, günümüz akademisyenleri tarafından daha ziyade tarih eserleri ile tanınır. Bunların en kayda değerleri arasında bir umumi tarih olarak yazdığı Ravzatü’l-Ebrar, bu esere zeyl olarak yazdığı, muasır Osmanlı tarihini şahsi yaşantılarını da katarak neşrettiği Zeyl-i Ravzatü’l-Ebrar; ve IV. Murad’ın (salt. 1623-40) Revan ve Bağdad seferlerini anlattığı Zafername’si bulunur.

Zeyl-i Ravzatü’l-Ebrar; Naima, Silahdar ve Abdi Paşa gibi daha sonraki Osmanlı müverrihlerinin kaynak olarak kullandığı başlıca eserlerden biridir; on yedinci yüzyıl üzerine çalışan günümüz tarihçileri için de başlı başına önemli bir kaynaktır. Ancak şimdiye kadar bu kaynağın kullanımı, olay silsilelerinin yeniden inşasıyla sınırlı kalmıştır. Büsbütün bir ben anlatısı sayılamayacak olsa da, Zeyl-i Ravzatü’l-Ebrar, otobiyografik bölümler ve birinci tekil şahıs kullanılarak yazılmış duygusal pasajlar içerir. Şimdiye kadar bu pasajların herhangi bir incelemesi yapılmamıştır. Bu eserin başka bir kayda değer özelliği de, Osmanlı tarihinde intihar düşüncesinin açıkça dile getirildiği muhtemelen en erken eser olmasıdır.

Karaçelebizade Abdülaziz Efendi’nin akademik olarak daha az ilgi çekmiş eserleri de bulunur. Bunlardan biri, 1634-6 yılları arasındaki Kıbrıs sürgününü anlattığı Gülşen-i Niyaz’dır. Görece sade bir Osmanlı Türkçesi ile yazılmış bu manzum eser, Karaçelebizade’nin Kıbrıs’tan sürgün dönüşünde tamamlanmıştır ve hem padişaha ve Allah’a bir yakarış, hem de bir anı niteliği taşır. On yedinci yüzyılda Osmanlı Devleti’nde yazılmış ender sürgün anılarından bir tanesidir.

Bu makale, yeni yeni gelişmekte olan, modernite öncesi Osmanlı topraklarında ben anlatıları alanına bir akademik katkıda bulunmayı amaçlar. Makale, Karaçelebizade Abdülaziz Efendi’nin Gülşen-i Niyaz ve Zeyl-i Ravzatü’l-Ebrar’ını, sadece hayatının olay örgülerini inşa etmek için bir bilgi deposu olarak görmez, aynı zamanda bu eserlere on yedinci yüzyılda yaşamış sürgündeki bir Osmanlı aliminin halet-i ruhiyesine, ve daha geniş açıdan Osmanlı mantalitelerine ve kültürel tarihine bir pencere olarak yaklaşır.

References

  • Bibliography Akkılık, Ayşe. “Seyyid Hasan’ın Günlüğü, II. Cilt (H.1073-1075/M.1662-1664) (İnce- leme-Metin).” Master’s thesis, Marmara University, 2019.
  • Babinger, Franz. “Ḳara-Čelebi-Zāde.” in Encyclopedia of Islam, First Edition, accessed on July 31, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1163/2214-871X_ei1_SIM_3912.
  • Begeç, Abdullah. “Kara Çelebi-zade Abdülaziz Efendi’nin Gülşen-i Niyaz’ı (İnce- leme-Metin).” Master’s thesis, İnönü University, 2001.
  • Bindal Arslan, Fatma. “Kara Çelebi-zâde Abdülazîz Gülşen-i Niyâz (Tenkidli Metin-İn celeme).” Master’s thesis, Atatürk University, 1996.
  • Can, Aykut. “Seyyid Hasan Sohbetname I. Cilt (1071-1072/1660-1661).” Master’s thesis, Marmara University, 2015.
  • Çörekçi, Semra. “A Methodological Approach to Early Modern Self-Narratives: Rep- resentation of the Self in Ottoman Context (1720s-1820s).” PhD diss., Istanbul Medeniyet University, 2022.
  • —, “Report on the Symposium “Ottoman Ego-Documents”: Towards an Inventory of Ottoman Ego-Documents.” Ceride: Journal of Ego-Document Studies 1, no. 1 (Ju- ly 2023): 183-198.
  • Deniz, Fatma. “The Use of Space by Sufis in Seventeenth-Century Istanbul in Light of Seyyid Hasan’s Diary, The Sohbetnâme.” Master’s thesis, Central European University, 2018.
  • Dörtok Abacı, Zeynep. “Kendi Kendini İhlâk ya da Katl-i Nefs: Pre-Modern Osmanlı Toplumunda İntihar Vakaları (1650-1700).” Paper presented at 14th Internation- al Congress of Ottoman Social and Economic History (ICOSEH), Sofia, July 24-28, 2017.
  • Durmaz, Tunahan. “Family, Companions, and Death: Seyyid Hasan Nûrî Efendi’s Mi- crocosm.” Master’s thesis, Sabanci University, 2019.
  • Eldem, Edhem. Death in Istanbul: Death and its Rituals in Ottoman-Islamic Culture. Istanbul: Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Centre, 2005.
  • Elger, Ralf and Yavuz Köse, eds. Many Ways of Speaking about the Self: Middle East- ern Ego-documents in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish (14th-20th Century). Wiesba- den: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010.
  • Erdoğan, Sacide. “Ḳara Çelebi-Zāde ‘Abdü’l-‘azīz Dīvānçesi (İnceleme-Metin-Çeviri).” Master’s thesis, Marmara University, 2020.
  • Gökalp, Halûk. Eski Türk Edebiyatında Manzum Sergüzeşt-nâmeler. Istanbul: Ki tabevi Yayınları, 2009.
  • İpşirli, Mehmet. “Şeyhülislâm.” In TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, accessed on January 19, 2024, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/seyhulislam.
  • Kafadar, Cemal. “Self and Others: The Diary of a Dervish in Seventeenth Century Is tanbul and First-Person Narratives in Ottoman Literature.” Studia Islamica, no. 69 (1989): 121-150.
  • Kahraman, Bahattin. “Vahîd Mahtûmî: Hayatı, Eserleri, Edebî Kişiliği ve Eserlerinin Tenkidli Metni.” PhD diss., Selçuk University, 1995.
  • Karahasanoğlu, Selim. Kadı ve Günlüğü: Sadreddinzâde Telhisî Mustafa Efendi Gün lüğü (1711-1735) Üstüne Bir İnceleme. Istanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2013.
  • —, “Ottoman Ego-Documents: State of the Art.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 53, no.2 (2021): 301-308.
  • Karataş, Ali İhsan. Şeyhülislâm Karaçelebizâde Abdülaziz Efendi (Hayatı-Eserleri-Vakıfları). Bursa: Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyesi, 2015.
  • Naima Mustafa Efendi. Târih-i Na‘îmâ. Edited by Mehmet İpşirli. 4 vols. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 2007.
  • Nizri, Michael. Ottoman High Politics and the Ulema Household. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
  • Sheridan, Michael Douglas. “‘I Curse No One Without Cause’: Identity, Power, Rival- ry and Invective in the Early 17th-Century Ottoman Court.” PhD diss., Bilkent University, 2018.
  • Tekgül, Nil. Emotions in the Ottoman Empire: Politics, Society, and Family in the Ear- ly Modern Era. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023.
  • Toprak, Muhbet. “Şeyhülislam Bahayi Divanı Şerhi.” Master’s thesis, Pamukkale Uni- versity, 2006.
  • Unan, Fahri. “Pâye.” In TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, accessed on January 19, 2024, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/paye--rutbe.
  • Yakar, Gülşen. “Individual and Community, Public and Private: The Case of 17th Cen- tury Istanbulite Dervish and His Diary.” Master’s thesis, Middle East Technical University, 2019.
  • Yaşa, Fırat. “Desperation, Hopelessness, and Suicide: An Initial Consideration of Self-Murder by Slaves in Seventeenth-Century Crimean Society.” Turkish Historical Review, no. 9 (2018): 198-211.
There are 28 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Biography, Historical Studies (Other)
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Günay Kayarlar 0009-0005-4673-5808

Publication Date June 30, 2024
Submission Date March 8, 2024
Acceptance Date June 25, 2024
Published in Issue Year 2024 Volume: 2 Issue: 1

Cite

Chicago Kayarlar, Günay. “An Exile Memoir by Karaçelebizâde Abdülazîz Efendi and Self-Narrative Elements in His Works”. Ceride 2, no. 1 (June 2024): 74-97.