Yahya bey Dukagjini


Yahya bey Dukagjini was an Ottoman poet and military figure. He is one of the best-known diwan poets of the 16th century. He wrote in Ottoman Turkish.
The Ottomans recruited Dukagjini through the devşirme system in his early youth. In addition to being a poet, he was an important Ottoman military figure during the expansion and apogee period of the empire, serving as a bölükbaşı and participating in the 1514 Battle of Chaldiran, the 1516–17 Ottoman–Mamluk War, the Baghdad expedition of 1535, and the Siege of Szigetvár in 1566. Because of an elegy that he wrote about Şehzade Mustafa, Suleiman the Magnificent's first-born son, he fell out of favor with the perpetrator of the murder, Grand Vizier, Rüstem Pasha, who exiled Dukagjini back to the Balkans, where he spent his last years.
As a poet, Dukagjini is noted for his originality. Despite borrowing some themes from Persian literature, he told stories in his own manner, such as in his poem Yusuf ve Züleyha. His subsequent work, a diwan of poems and of a collection of five mesnevî, parts ways with the influence of Persian tradition.

Life

Early life

Yahya was born in 1498 in Taşlıca, therefore sometimes he is named Taşlicali although according to the Turkish poet Muallim Naci he did not use the title "Taşlicali". He was related to the other Ottoman poet Dukaginzade Ahmad Bey. The exact year of birth is unknown but is believed to be 1498. An Albanian by birth, according to Elsie descendant of the Catholic Dukagjini tribe which lays in a mountainous region close to the Prokletije, or Dukagjini noble family according to Houtsma, his life took a different path when he was recruited as an Ottoman devşirme. Yahya was enlisted to become a janissary, he was put in the corps of "Acemi oglan" where officers for janissaries and spahis were trained and received the rank of yayabashi and bölükbaşı. The Shihāb al-Dīn, the Katib of the janissaries, recognized his skills and accredited him a lot of freedom, which he used to get access to an intellectual coterie composed of Kadri Efendy, Ibn Kemal, Nishandji Tadji-zade Dja'fer Çelebi, Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha, and İskender Çelebi.
Yahya stayed aware of his origin and referenced it in his verses. Nevertheless, for Yahya Bey, the cruel devşirme was his opportunity for rise to fame, considering that back then birth did not count much, whereas good luck and particularly tact with superiors mattered greatly.

Rise as a soldier and poet

Yahya Bey is known to have taken part during his youth in the Battle of Chaldiran of 23 August 1514 led by Sultan Selim I, also in the Ottoman–Mamluk War of 1516–17, and in Baghdad's expedition of 1535 under Sultan Suleiman. He earned the respect of powerful key people because of his poetry. Yahya spent most of his early years in Ottoman campaigns, which inspired him. According to E. J. W. Gibb, he was inspired to write the "Yusuf and Züleyha" while in Palestine, on the road to Mecca. Egypt was also an inspiration for him, especially Cairo, which he called "the city of Joseph".
Yahya was a bitter enemy of Khayali Mehmed Bey, another contemporary poet whom he had first met in 1536. He satirically attacked Khayali Mehmed Bey in his verses. Yahya wrote a qasida against him and presented it during the Persian campaign to the Sultan and Grand Vizier Rüstem Paşa, who was declared as "enemy of the poets". Rustem Pasha was so delighted with the level of contempt towards Khayali, that Yahya was made administrator of several foundations in Bursa and Istanbul.

Exile and last years

In 1553, near Ereğli in Konya, Suleiman the Magnificent, whilst on a military campaign to Iran, and upon false information given to him from Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha, had his first born, Prince Şehzade Mustafa executed. Yahya Bey wrote an elegy named Şehzade Mersiyesi upon the murder, which was well received by the public. But the mastermind behind the murder, Rüstem Pasha, was not happy at all about the poem. He had Yahya summoned and asked how he "dared to bewail one whom the Sultan had condemned". Yahya responded "we indeed condemned him with the Sultan, but we bewailed him with the people".
N'olaydı görmeye idi bu mâcerâyı gözüm / Yazuklar ana revâ görmedi bu râyı gözüm
... Citation needed|date=October 2017

Poetry

Yahya's poetry is described by E.J.W.Gibb to be as interesting as his life was. Gibb praised Dukagjini as the one who won a position of real eminence, out of all non-Turks, Asiatics, and well as Europeans, who have essayed to write Turkish poetry. According to Gibb, there is nothing in Dukagjini's language to spot him as a non-Constantinopolitan by birth and education. Gibb added that there is sustained simplicity, vigor, and originality in Dukagjini's writings. According to Gibb, the originality shows for instance in his poem Yusuf ve Züleyha. The subject of the poem is borrowed from Persian literature, which was so popular during that time, that it was considered a universal theme, nevertheless, he rejects being a translator or paraphraser, but tells the story on a manner of his own.
As he declares himself in the epilogue of Yusuf ve Züleyha:
And also in Kitab-ı Usuls epilogue:
Dukagjini's core work consists of a large diwan of poems and of a collection of five mesnevî poems of rhymed couplets. As mentioned above, they lack the influence of Persian traditions. They were put together in a Khamsa. The khamsa forms the most important section of Yahya's work. The most popular of the poems is Shâh u gedâ, his favorite and which he claimed to had finished in just one week, and Yusuf ve Züleyha, a romance on the pure love of two young people.
Unlike the first two poems of the khamse, which are mostly lyrical, the last three consist of aphorisms on morality and rules of life. Kitab-ı Usul is divided into 10 "stations",: each one of them attempts to inculcate moral qualities to the reader and is illustrated by anecdotes, to demonstrate the advantages of following certain right moral paths. The anecdotes are full of descriptions, historic and fictitious, and are derived from all kind of sources. The following couplets are used as a refrain at the end of introductory cantos in most of the "stations", and elsewhere throughout the work:
His Gül-i Şadberk is a poem which describes Prophet Muhammed's miracles, and was written probably at an old age and has a pure religious tone. Gülşen-i Envar is divided into 40 short sections called "discourses".
The first two poems were published in diwan collections in Istanbul in 1867-1868.
Like many other poets, Yahya's work was inspired by the work of Sufi poet Mevlevî. Mevlevi is referenced in a few places inside Yahya's diwan and khamsa as well, where he is mentioned as "Mevlana", "Molla Hünkar", or "Molla-i Rum". Mevlana is a leading character in three of the khamsas poems: Gencine-i Raz, Kitab-i Usul, and Gulşen-i Envar. The prominent work of Mevlana, Masnavi, contains a story about Prophet Suleiman, and a mosquito, which Yahya retold, without changing it.
Yahya also wrote "Şehrengiz", where he describes the cities of Edirne and Istanbul.

Works

The following is a list of Yahya bey Dukajini's works:
Two additional poems are usually attributed to Dukagjini:
A brave soldier, Dukagjini is remembered as representative of a type which admirably combined the sword with the pen. His independence intertwined with frankness and courage was his most notable trait. Yahya Bey is considered today as one of the greatest Ottoman diwan poets of the time.

In popular culture

Yahya bey Dukagjini is depicted in the Turkish TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl, performed by Serkan Altunorak.