Asafi
Asafi, also Asafi Pasha, is the penname of Dal Mehmed Çelebi, author of the Book of Valor or Book of Bravery, an illustrated record of the exploits of the Ottoman statesman and general Özdemiroǧlu Osman Pasha during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590).
Asafi was born in Serres in Macedonia. He was a blood-relative of Osman Pasha, who was himself of Circassian origin. He was at the same time a bureaucrat, a man of letters and a military man. Asafi grew up and was educated at the court of Lala Mustafa Paşa. He had a brother who was a high-ranking soldier and also participated to the eastern campaigns and died against the Russians.
Asafi was a secretary for Lala Mustafa Paşa, and then joined the conflict in 1578 and became secretary and administrative assistant for Özdemiroǧlu Osman Pasha, after the Ottoman victory of the Battle of Çıldır. He was also in charge of the tax census for the nearly conquered area of Shirvan.
From 1579, Asafi attempted to protect Shirvan against the counter-attacks of the Safavids, together with Kayki Mustafa Bey on his side.
In 1581, Asafi was captured by the Safavid Kizilbas as he was holding the garrison of Qabala castle. He was kept in captivity in Qazvin and Isfahan, but was released in 1585, finaling rejoining Osman Pasha. He participated to the Capture of [Tabriz (1585)]. After Tabriz, Osman Pasha made him governor-general of Kefe in Crimea but he was suspended by Ferhat Pasha when Osman Pasha died that same year.
Asafi then returned to Istanbul. His Book of Valor, completed in 1586, deals with the event of the Ottoman-Safavid wars between 1578 and 1585. It belongs to the genre of the Gazaname. There are two copies: one, unillustrated, is in the Topkapı Palace Museum Library, and the other, illustrated, at the Istanbul University Rare Books and Manuscripts Library. Both manuscripts were copied by ʿAli b. Yūsuf. The Book of Valor is written in Turkish, in the naskh script and uses rather plain language. It represents a developing trend in Ottoman literature, away from the Persianate aesthetic in terms of both visual idiom and language, where court histories were written by bureaucrats rather than poets, using plain Turkish rather than Persian, and employing the naskh and dîvânî scripts rather than the poetic ta'liq. Still, Asafi displayed a taste for Persian literature, and his illustrations have Persian characteristics.
Due to his skills and accomplishments, in 1588 Asafi was appointed to the position of sanjak governor in charge of safeguarding Shirvan and Dagestan. Asafi had a remarkable career progression, from scribe to financial official and member of a Pasha's household, to Sancak Begi, and then to Pasha.