Two 15th Century Ottoman Sufi Mysteries – An Historiographical Essay Part II: The Case of Ümmi Kemal

Abstract

The name Ümmi Kemal is prominent in the history of 15th century Anatolian literature, especially in the tekke environment. However, almost nothing is known about the poet’s life beyond names found in his Divan. His tarikat connection with the Safavids is clear if little understood. A single hagiographic anecdote based on a near contemporary source points to a violent death and informs the earliest biographical accounts. That source remains inadequately examined. In 2008 Hayati Yavuzer published a comprehensive study of Kemal’s life and an edition of his Divan, a book which will remain the “standard account” for many years. In this article, as in Part I (“What Happened to Esrefoglu?”) I attempt to get past the opaque language of the scant primary sources to understand better why Kemal remained obscure despite his popularity as a poet. I append an annotated translation of a section of the anonymous 15th (?) century Velayetname which connects Kemal to the prominent but obscure Sultan Şücaüddin.