Gümüşlüdür. Enderûn-ı Hümâyûnda hâs odabaşı iken tekâ’üd edilen Gümüş kazâsının Dövenci karyesinden Kürd Sefer Ağa’nın oğludur. Sipâhi olup Kara Mustafa Paşa dâ’iresine girdi. Müşârün-ileyhin itimâdını kazanıp 1072’de Merzifon’da vekîl-i umûrı ve ba’dehû Merzifon voyvodası oldu. [570]
Merzifonî Kara Mustafa Paşa’nın Merzifon’daki hayrâtını binâya ve vakfedilecek emlâk ve musakkafâtını tanzîm ve iştirâya me’mûr olup câmii şerîf ve bedestenini mükemmel bir sûretde yaptırdı. 1086’da İstanbul’a gidip 1087 şa’bânında kethüdâ-yı sadr-ı âlî oldu.
Fakat hüsn-i idâreye muvaffak olamadığından üç ay sonra azledilip Merzifon’a gönderildi. 1090’da Tokat voyvodası ve Amasya beytü’l-mâl emini olup 1095 senesi evâ’ilinde azliyle orada ikâmete me’mûr olduğu halde 1099 senesi rebîülevvelinde vefât etdi.
Tokat’da hayrât ve evkâfı vardır. Mahdûmları Mehmed, Mustafa, Abdüllatîf Ağalardır. Mehmed Efendi ulemâdan olup Merzifon’da, Mustafa Efendi hâs ahûrda kaşıkçıbaşı ve hâce-gândan olup İstanbul’da, Abdullatîf Ağa Tokat a’yânından olup orada kaldı. Bunun evlâdı Tokat evkâfına mütevellî oldu.
In Modern English
He was a native of Gümüş. He was the son of Kürd Sefer Ağa of the village of Dövenci in the district of Gümüş, who had been retired as chief of the Privy Chamber (hâs odabaşı) in the Enderûn-ı Hümâyûn (the inner service of the sultan's palace). Ahmed Ağa became a sipahi and entered the circle of Kara Mustafa Pasha. Having won the pasha's trust, he became his agent at Merzifon in 1072 [1661-62], and then voivode of Merzifon.
He was charged with building the charitable foundations of Kara Mustafa Pasha of Merzifon in that town, and with arranging and purchasing the properties and roofed buildings to be endowed; he saw the great mosque and its bedesten built to completion. In 1086 [1675-76] he went to Istanbul, and in the month of Şaban 1087 [October-November 1676] he became kethüda of the grand vizier.
But because he could not manage the administration well, he was dismissed after three months and sent back to Merzifon. In 1090 [1679-80] he became voivode of Tokat and beytülmal emini of Amasya. At the beginning of 1095 [1683-84] he was dismissed and assigned to reside there; he died in the month of Rebîülevvel 1099 [early 1688].
He left charitable works and endowments in Tokat. His sons were Mehmed, Mustafa and Abdüllatîf Ağa. Mehmed Efendi was among the scholars and remained at Merzifon; Mustafa Efendi was kaşıkçıbaşı in the imperial stables and one of the hâcegân, and lived in Istanbul; Abdüllatîf Ağa was one of the notables of Tokat and stayed there. His descendants became trustees of the Tokat endowments.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- Enderûn-ı Hümâyûn: the inner part of the sultan's palace; the palace school and service units that trained statesmen
- hâs odabaşı: head of the Privy Chamber (Hâs Oda) in the Enderun
- tekâ'üd: retirement
- dâ'ire: circle, entourage
- vekîl-i umûr: agent for affairs; a person who runs the business of a superior
- voyvoda: an administrator who collected treasury revenues and kept order
- hayrât: charitable works
- emlâk ve musakkafât: properties and roofed buildings (houses, shops, inns and the like)
- bedesten: a sturdy, domed covered market where valuable goods were sold
- kethüdâ-yı sadr-ı âlî: the grand vizier's kethüda, that is, his steward and deputy
- beytü'l-mâl emini: the official who managed the property of persons without heirs and similar revenues
- hâs ahûr: the palace stables
- kaşıkçıbaşı: head of the palace spoon-bearers
- hâcegân: senior officials of the state chancery bearing the title "hoca"
The Merzifon Complex and Ahmed Ağa's Duty
Kara Mustafa Pasha of Merzifon was born in 1044 [1634-35] in the village of Marınca near Merzifon (today Karamustafapaşa). His father was a timar-holding sipahi who fell as a martyr at the siege of Baghdad; the boy was orphaned at the age of four and was raised under the protection of Köprülü Mehmed Bey, then sanjak governor of Amasya. The Ahmed Ağa described by Hüsameddin entered this pasha's circle and ran affairs at Merzifon on his behalf.
The complex, built during the years when the pasha was third vizier, consists of a mosque, a library, a children's school, shops, a stone inn, a bedesten and two baths. According to the mosque's inscription, construction began in 1077 (1666-67); according to the inscription of the Pasha Bath, it was completed in 1090 (1679). This span overlaps with the years Hüsameddin gives for Ahmed Ağa's service at Merzifon: his voivodeship and agency began in 1072, and he went to Istanbul in 1086. The complex's endowment deed is dated 23 Safer 1089 (16 April 1678); besides Merzifon, it also records endowed buildings he had constructed in Istanbul, Kayseri, Edirne, Kamaniçe, Çorum, Tokat, Izmir, Aleppo and Jeddah. The sources at hand give no detail of Ahmed Ağa's role in these constructions.
The bedesten lies east of the mosque and south of the inn. It measures roughly 30 × 28 metres, has nine domes, and is ringed on all four sides by shops. The mosque, the stone inn and the bedesten have largely kept their original character. The bedesten was long used by the Tekel monopoly as a tobacco warehouse and its interior was worn down; a travel account describes it as later restored and run as a restaurant. Whether this is still the case today could not be verified.
The Grand Vizier's Kethüda Post and the Dismissals
The month in which Ahmed Ağa became the grand vizier's kethüda, Şaban 1087, is the month in which Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha died (26 Şaban 1087 / 3 November 1676). The appointment thus coincides with the days when the grand vizierate changed hands. The text does not say plainly whose kethüda he became; that he served Kara Mustafa Pasha is an inference. The text gives as the reason for his dismissal "failure to achieve good administration"; this detail was not found in other sources.
The change of post at the beginning of 1095 falls in the same period as Kara Mustafa Pasha's execution on 25 December 1683 (6 Muharrem 1095), after the defeat at Vienna. Hüsameddin draws no connection between the two events.
Gümüş and Dövenci
Gümüş, Ahmed Ağa's home town, is a township belonging to today's district of Gümüşhacıköy. Until 1891 the district seat was a subdistrict called Hacıköyü, attached to Gümüş; the district seat was founded in 1892 under the name Gümüşhacıköy. No information on the present state of the village of Dövenci was found in the sources. No details were found either about his charitable works in Tokat or about his descendants' trusteeship of the Tokat endowments.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 178–178. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Other sources
- Gümüşhacıköy district history, Gümüşhacıköy District Governorate.