Köprülüdür. Yeniçeri ağalığından Beylerbeyi olan [524] Köprülü Hamamcı Mehmed Paşa’nın büyük oğludur. Yeniçeri olup Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’ya pederinden mevrus adâveti var idi. 1063 senesinde Köprü voyvodası oldukta bu esnâda Köprü’de bulunan Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’ya ba’zı iz’âcâta cür’et etmişdi.
1066 zilka’desinde Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’nın sadâreti üzerine sarsıldı. 1067 senesi evâ’ilinde azledildi. 1068’de Abaza Hasan Paşa’nın arz ve inhâsıyla sânîyen Köprü Voyvodası olup Abaza’ya uydu.
1069 senesi cumâdelahiresinde gelen fermân-ı âlî üzerine tarafdârânıyla beraber i’dâm ve pederinden kalan ve kendisinin olan bütün emvâl ve emlâkı müsâdere edildi. Birâderi olan Abaza kethüdâsı ve dâmâdı Mahmûd Bey de Halep’te i’dâm edildi.
In Modern English
He was from Köprü. He was the eldest son of Köprülü Hamamcı Mehmed Pasha, who rose from agha of the janissaries to beylerbeyi. Being a janissary, he carried on toward Köprülü Mehmed Pasha an enmity inherited from his father. When in 1063 he became voivode of Köprü, he dared to cause some trouble for Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, who was then in Köprü.
When Köprülü Mehmed Pasha became grand vizier in Zilkâde 1066, he was shaken. In early 1067 he was dismissed from office. In 1068, on the petition and recommendation of Abaza Hasan Pasha, he became voivode of Köprü for the second time and followed Abaza.
Upon the exalted decree that arrived in Cemâziyelâhir 1069, he was executed together with his partisans; all his goods and property, both what remained from his father and what was his own, were seized. His brother Mahmûd Bey, Abaza's kethüda and son-in-law, was also executed in Aleppo.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mevrus adâvet: enmity inherited from the father
- voyvoda: official in charge of the administration and taxes of a place
- iz'âc: disturbing, causing trouble
- cür'et: daring to undertake
- sarsılmak: to be shaken, to have one's position worsen
- evâ'il: beginning, the first days
- arz ve inhâ: reporting a matter and recommending
- sânîyen: for the second time
- tarafdârân: partisans
- emvâl ve emlâk: goods and properties
- müsâdere: seizure of goods and property by the state
- dâmâd: son-in-law
Hamamcı Mehmed Pasha
The ağa is the son of Hamamcı Mehmed Pasha, who rose from agha of the janissaries to beylerbeyi. In the lists of janissary aghas, the name of Hamamcı Mehmed Ağa appears in the years 1646-1647; in some lists it is written that he rose from this post to the vizierate in 1647. The reason for the enmity between the father and Köprülü Mehmed Pasha is not told in the sources.
Köprü, Abaza and Köprülü
The place from which Köprülü Mehmed Pasha took his name is the town of Köprü in the sanjak of Amasya (today's Vezirköprü). Christopher Whitehead's study, based on archival records, shows that Abaza Hasan also lived in the same town as Köprülü and formed marriage ties with the notables there. Evliya Çelebi mentions the existence of a village named "Hamamcıoğlu" near Köprü; this is the name of Abaza Hasan's son-in-law and the kethüda of his household. The person Hüsameddin calls "Mahmûd Bey, Abaza's kethüda and son-in-law" is most probably this Hamamcıoğlu. After Abaza's revolt of 1658 these properties were seized; the choicest of them passed to the Köprülü family, especially to Fazıl Ahmed Pasha and Kara Mustafa Pasha.
According to the sources Birol Gündoğdu examined, Abaza's son-in-law Hamamcıoğlu, together with Mahmud and Dilaver Pashas, was sent out of Aleppo and had gone over to Murtaza Pasha; when Murtaza's spies intercepted their secret correspondence with Abaza, all were killed and their heads were sent to Istanbul. This account does not coincide with Hüsameddin's record that Mahmûd Bey was executed in Aleppo, but it is close; the sources differ in detail.
Was Köprülü in Köprü in 1063?
Hüsameddin writes that Ahmed Ağa, while voivode of Köprü in 1063, gave trouble to Köprülü, who was then in Köprü. In the accounts of contemporary historians, Köprülü is said to have been without office and living in Köprü between 1652 and 1655. The archival documents Whitehead surveyed, however, give a different picture: in 1653 Köprülü is governor of Karaman. The date of the encounter Hüsameddin records does not fit this finding; the difference is not explained in the sources.
In Other Sources
No information was found in other sources about Hamamcızâde Ahmed Ağa himself.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 165–165. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Christopher Whitehead, "The Early Career of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha: An Archival Reconstruction", Review of Middle East Studies, 57/1, 2024.
- Birol Gündoğdu, "Ottoman Approach to the Rebels in the Examples of Katırcıoğlu Mehmed and Abaza Hasan in the Middle of Seventeenth Century", Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 48/1, 2024, p. 47-65.
- Müctebâ İlgürel, "Köprülü Mehmed Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 26, Istanbul 2002. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/koprulu-mehmed-pasa
Other sources
- "Yeniçeri ağaları listesi" (Hamamcı Mehmed Ağa, 1646-1647), a compiled list.