Bayburtludur. Bayburt’un Hınzeverek kâryesinden Mehmed bin Ahmed oğludur. Genç bir katırcı iken Amasyalı Hâce Ahmed Paşa’nın dâ’iresine girip Amasya’da tevattun etdi. Mu’ahharan sipâhi, ba’dehû Ahmed Paşa’nın kethüdâsı olarak birkaç defa Amasya mütesellimi ve kethüdâyeri oldu.
Ba’dehû Ahmed Paşa’dan ayrılıp “Boynu Yaralı” demekle meşhûr Canikli Mehmed Paşa’ya kapulandı. Paşanın itimâdını kazanıp sadâretinde kethüdâsı oldu. Efendisi aleyhinde Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’ya tezvirâtda bulunduğundan Köprülü Paşa’nın sadâretinde Kapıcılar kethüdâsı oldu.
1069 senesi cumadelâhiresinde Amasya Mütessellimi olarak gelip Köprülü Paşa’nın aleyhinde bulunan Abazalılara ve kendi rakiplerine sell-i seyf ederek “Kasab” unvanını aldı. Aleyhinde yağan şikâyetlere mebni sene-i mezbûre recebi [536] gâyesinde ma’zûlen İstanbul’a gidip yine sadâret kapıcılar kethüdâsı oldu.
Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’nın 1072 rebîülevvelinde vefâtına binâen tekâ’üd edib 1073 senesi zilhiccesinde vefât etdi. Zulüm ve tezvîre mâ’il bir adam idi. Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’nın 1072 saferinde tanzim etdirdiği vakfiyesi zeylinde şâhid görüldü.
Silahdâr Mehmed Efendi, târîhinde oğlu sadr-ı esbak Kara İbrâhim Paşa’nın terceme-i hali’ni yazarken bunun hakkında diyor ki: “Bayburt kazâsında Hınzeverek nâm karyeden zuhûr eden Katırcı Ahmed nâm bir bâtıl-ı kızân Türk idi.”
Oğulları Kara Veli Ağa, Kara İbrâhim Paşadır. Kara Veli Oğulları Yeğen Osmân Paşa ile Yeğen Hasan, Yeğen Hüseyin, Yeğen Mehmed Ağalardır. Kara İbrâhim Paşazâde Ahmed Paşa, Süleyman Bey’dir. Yeğen Mehmed Ağazâde Veli Paşadır. Bunlara Amasya’da “Bayburtlu oğulları” denirdi.
In Modern English
He was from Bayburt. He was Ahmed, son of Mehmed, from the village of Hınzeverek in Bayburt. While a young muleteer he entered the circle of Hâce Ahmed Pasha of Amasya and settled in Amasya. Later, as a sipahi and then as kethüda of Ahmed Pasha, he several times became mütesellim and kethüdâyeri of Amasya.
Afterward he left Ahmed Pasha and entered the service of Canikli Mehmed Pasha, famous as "Boynu Yaralı". Having gained the Pasha's trust, he became his kethüda during his grand vizierate. Because he stirred up mischief against his master with Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, he became kethüda of the Kapıcılar (gatekeepers) during Köprülü Pasha's grand vizierate.
In Cemâziyelâhir 1069 he came as mütesellim of Amasya and, drawing the sword on the Abazalıs who spoke against Köprülü Pasha and on his own rivals, took the title "Kassâb" (butcher). Because of the complaints that rained down on him, at the end of Receb of the same year he was dismissed and went to Istanbul, and again became kethüda of the grand vizierate's Kapıcılar.
When Köprülü Mehmed Pasha died in Rebîülevvel 1072, he retired, and he died in Zilhicce 1073. He was a man inclined to tyranny and mischief. He appears as a witness in the addendum (zeyl) to the waqf deed that Köprülü Mehmed Pasha had drawn up in Safer 1072.
Silahdar Mehmed Efendi, in writing in his history the biography of his son, the former grand vizier Kara İbrahim Pasha, says of him: "He was a worthless (original expression: bâtıl-ı kızân) Turk named Katırcı Ahmed, from the village called Hınzeverek in the district of Bayburt."
His sons are Kara Veli Ağa and Kara İbrahim Pasha. The sons of Kara Veli are Yeğen Osman Pasha and Yeğen Hasan, Yeğen Hüseyin and Yeğen Mehmed Ağas. The sons of Kara İbrahim Pasha are Ahmed Pasha and Süleyman Bey. The son of Yeğen Mehmed Ağa is Veli Pasha. In Amasya these were called "Bayburtlu oğulları".
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mütesellim: deputy who runs the administration in the governor's place in a city
- kethüdâyeri: assistant of the kethüda in the janissary corps; here, a military post in Amasya
- dâire: the circle, retinue of a statesman
- tevattun: to settle
- kapulanmak: to enter the door, the service, of a pasha
- tezvirât: mischief, stirring up false reports
- sell-i seyf: drawing the sword, putting to the sword
- mebni: because of, on account of
- tekâ'üd: retirement
- zeyl: addendum, supplement
- terceme-i hâl: biography
The Origin of Kara İbrahim Pasha
Kara İbrahim Pasha, son of Katırcı Ahmed, is among the Ottoman grand viziers. According to encyclopedias, he was born in 1030 (1620-21) in the village of Handevrek (Hınzeverek) in the district of Kelkit, attached to Bayburt, as the son of a villager named Katırcı Ahmed. The village Hüsameddin calls "Hınzeverek" is also called Handevrek in these sources; the two accounts coincide as to the father's name and the place of birth.
According to the same source, in his youth İbrahim had been among the levent soldiers in Abaza Hasan's retinue, then rose to kethüda in the service of Firârî Mustafa Pasha and afterward of Kara Mustafa Ağa of Merzifon. He became grand vizier in place of Kara Mustafa Pasha of Merzifon, and after being dismissed was exiled to Rhodes and died in 1098 (1687). Hüsameddin does not go into Kara İbrahim's life story; he only tells his father's trace in Amasya.
Boynuyaralı Mehmed Pasha and the Köprülü Period
The "Boynu Yaralı" Canikli Mehmed Pasha in the text is Boynueğri Mehmed Pasha. It is known that he was born in Canik, received this nickname because he was wounded in the neck by a poisoned arrow on campaign, and became grand vizier in 1656. He was dismissed on 14 September 1656 and Köprülü Mehmed Pasha came in his place. Hüsameddin's saying that Ahmed Ağa was kethüda during Boynuyaralı's grand vizierate and then went over to Köprülü fits this order.
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha himself had lived for a time in the town of Köprü (Vezirköprü) in the sanjak of Amasya and took his name from there. The mütesellimship in 1069 that Hüsameddin describes coincides with the period of the disturbances Abaza Hasan Pasha stirred up in Anatolia during Köprülü's grand vizierate. The government forces under Murtaza Pasha were defeated by Abaza at Ilgın on 15 Rebîülevvel 1069 (11 December 1658). It may be thought that by "Abazalıs" in the text the partisans of Abaza Hasan are meant; but no source directly establishing this connection was found. Köprülü Mehmed Pasha died in Edirne on 7 Rebîülevvel 1072 (31 October 1661); Hüsameddin's record "died in Rebîülevvel 1072" agrees with this.
Noteworthy Points
The nickname "Kassâb" arose, according to Hüsameddin, from the violence he used as mütesellim against opponents. That the descendants of Katırcı Ahmed were called "Bayburtlu oğulları" in Amasya shows that the family carried the name of its homeland, Bayburt, to Amasya. The reading and meaning of the phrase "bâtıl-ı kızân" in the quotation are not certain; for this reason it is given in its original form in the translation. For Hâce Ahmed Pasha and the later situation of the family in Amasya, no information was found in another source.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 168–168. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies