Merzifonludur. Sipâhi Nuh oğlu Mustafa Ağa’nın mahdûmudur. 1110 senesi gurre-i muharreminde Amasya sancağı beyi olup, kendisi Rumeli’nde me’mûr olduğundan Amasya a‘yânından Hacı Ma‘denzâde Ahmed Ağa’yı Amasya mütesellimi nasb etdi.
Kezâlik muharremin gurresinde Hasan Efendi Amasya kadısı olup geldi. Muharremin on üçüncü günü Sivas Vâlisi Vezîr İsmâil Paşa, zulmünden dolayı i’dâm edilip Amasyalı Pervanezâde Karakulak Mustafa Paşa Sivas beylerbeyi oldu.
Safer evâilinde, Amasyalı Kadızâde Ahmed Paşa Niğbolu Beylerbeyiliği’nden ma‘zulen Amasya’ya gelip Amasya ve Ağaca (!) Kilise emvâlinden senevî 405126 akçe kendisine hâss tâyin edildi.⁶⁸³
Rebiülevvel gurresinde Avkatlı İbrâhim Ağa yine Amasya alaybeyi ve Derviş Beyzâde Derviş Mehmed Ağa kethüdâyeri olup cumâdelâhirede İbrâhim Ağa’nın da ref‘iyle Deli Emîr Paşazâde es-Seyyid Mustafa Bey alaybeyi ve bu esnada Amasyalı el-Hâc Mustafa Ağa çavuşbaşı oldu. [228]
Recebin yedisinde İmam el-Hâc Mehmed Efendi evkâf-ı Sultâniyye mütevellîsi ve şevvâlinde Amasyalı Bekir Beyzâde Ömer Paşa vezâretle Anadolu ve Sefer Ağazâde Elçi Mehmed Paşa vezâretle Şam vâlisi oldu. Zilka’de evâilinde çavuşbaşı Amasyalı Karahanzâde el-Hâc Mustafa Ağa kethüdâ-yı sadr-ı âlî ve zilhicce gurresinde mütesellim ve şehir kethüdâsı azl edilip Köprü a‘yânı Dedezâde el-Hâc Hasan Ağa Amasya mütesellimi ve Hacı Mansurzâde el-Hâc Abdülkâdir Ağa şehir kethüdâsı oldu.
Zilhiccenin ondördünde Müftü Ahmed Efendi istifa edib ulemâ-yı sâdâttan Osmân Efendizâde es-Seyyid Ali Efendi Amasya müftüsü oldu. Bu sene a‘yândan sâbık Amasya mütesellimi Sancızâde el-Hâc Hasan Ağa vefât edib mahdûmu el-Hâc Ahmed Ağa yerini tutdu.
1111 senesi gurre-i muharreminde Kadı Hasan Efendi’nin müddeti temdîd ve Köprülü el-Hâc Hasan Ağa da Amasya mütesellimliğinde ibkâ edildiyse de rebîülevvel gurresinde azl edilip a‘yândan Küçük Ali Beyzâde Yeğen Ali Bey bin Ahmed Bey Amasya mütesellimi oldu.
Receb gurresinde Şam Vâlisi Mehmed Paşa, emîrü’l-hâc olduğundan pek çok Amasyalılar gibi Şehir Kethüdâsı el-Hâc Abdulkâdir Ağa da azm-i Hicâz edib selefi İbrâhim Bey şehir kethüdâsı oldu.
Ramazânın gurresinde Mesnevîhânzâde es-Seyyid Abdülkâdir Efendi Amasya kadısı oldu. Şevvâlde Kethüdâ-yı Sadr-ı Âlî el-Hâc Mustafa Ağa ma‘zûl ve merîz bir halde Amasya’ya geldi. Zilka’de selhinde [229] Mirlivâ Ahmed Bey bâ-rütbe-i mîrimîranî Kavala mutasarrıfı olduğundan Amasya sancağı sâbık Cidde Beylerbeyi el-Hâc Mehmed Paşa’ya tevcîh edildi.
In Modern English
He was from Merzifon. He was a son of Mustafa Ağa, son of Sipahi Nuh. On the first day of Muharrem 1110 [1698] he became sanjak governor of Amasya. Since he himself was on duty in Rumeli, he appointed Hacı Madenzâde Ahmed Ağa, one of the notables of Amasya, as mütesellim (deputy of the sanjak governor) of Amasya.
Also on the first day of Muharrem Hasan Efendi came as kadı (judge) of Amasya. On the thirteenth day of Muharrem Vizier İsmâil Pasha, governor of Sivas, was executed for his oppression, and Pervanezâde Karakulak Mustafa Pasha of Amasya became beylerbeyi of Sivas.
At the beginning of Safer Kadızâde Ahmed Pasha of Amasya came to Amasya dismissed from the beylerbeyilik of Nikopol. From the revenues of Amasya and Ağaca (!) Kilise, 405,126 akçe a year were set aside for him as hâss (income for his livelihood).
On the first day of Rebiülevvel Avkatlı İbrâhim Ağa again became alaybeyi (commander of the timar-holding cavalry) of Amasya and Derviş Beyzâde Derviş Mehmed Ağa kethüdâyeri (the sipahis' steward). In Cemaziyelâhir, when İbrâhim Ağa too was removed from his post, Deli Emîr Paşazâde es-Seyyid Mustafa Bey became alaybeyi; at this time el-Hâc Mustafa Ağa of Amasya also became chief usher (çavuşbaşı).
On the seventh of Receb Imam el-Hâc Mehmed Efendi became administrator (mütevelli) of the sultans' waqfs. In Şevval Bekir Beyzâde Ömer Pasha of Amasya became governor of Anatolia with a vizierate, and Sefer Ağazâde the Envoy Mehmed Pasha became governor of Damascus with a vizierate. At the beginning of Zilkade the chief usher Karahanzâde el-Hâc Mustafa Ağa of Amasya became steward of the grand vizierate. On the first day of Zilhicce the mütesellim and the city steward (şehir kethüdası) were dismissed; Dedezâde el-Hâc Hasan Ağa, one of the notables of Köprü, became mütesellim of Amasya, and Hacı Mansurzâde el-Hâc Abdülkâdir Ağa city steward.
On the fourteenth of Zilhicce the mufti Ahmed Efendi resigned, and Osmân Efendizâde es-Seyyid Ali Efendi, one of the seyyid scholars, became mufti of Amasya. This year the former mütesellim of Amasya, of the notables, Sancızâde el-Hâc Hasan Ağa, died, and his son el-Hâc Ahmed Ağa took his place.
On the first day of Muharrem 1111 [1699] the term of the kadı Hasan Efendi was extended. Köprülü el-Hâc Hasan Ağa was also left in the deputy governorship of Amasya, but on the first day of Rebiülevvel he was dismissed, and Yeğen Ali Bey, son of Ahmed Bey, of the Küçük Ali Beyzâdes, one of the notables, became mütesellim of Amasya.
On the first day of Receb, since the governor of Damascus Mehmed Pasha had become commander of the pilgrimage (emîrülhac; head of the pilgrim caravan), the City Steward el-Hâc Abdülkâdir Ağa too, like many people of Amasya, set out for the Hejaz; his predecessor İbrâhim Bey again became city steward.
On the first day of Ramazan Mesnevîhânzâde es-Seyyid Abdülkâdir Efendi became kadı of Amasya. In Şevval the steward of the grand vizierate, el-Hâc Mustafa Ağa, was removed from his post and came to Amasya in a sick state. On the last day of Zilkade, since the mirliva (sanjak governor) Ahmed Bey became governor of Kavala with the rank of beylerbeyi, the sanjak of Amasya was given to the former Beylerbeyi of Jeddah, el-Hâc Mehmed Pasha.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- nasb etmek: to appoint to a post
- ma'zûlen: having been dismissed from office
- hâss: here, the income assigned to someone for his livelihood
- emvâl: here, tax revenues
- ref': removal from office
- çavuşbaşı: head of the divan ushers
- kethüdâ-yı sadr-ı âlî: the grand vizier's steward, steward of the grand vizierate
- ulemâ-yı sâdât: scholars descended from the Prophet
- temdîd: extension of a term
- ibkâ: being left in office
- emîrü'l-hâc: commander of the pilgrimage caravan
- azm-i Hicâz: setting out for the Hejaz
- merîz: sick
- bâ-rütbe-i mîrimîrânî: with the rank of beylerbeyi
Ahmed Bey and Kavala
About Ahmed Bey of Merzifon nothing beyond what Hüsameddin gives was found in other sources. 1 Muharrem 1110, when he took the sanjak, corresponds to 10 July 1698 in the Gregorian calendar; his transfer to Kavala falls at the end of 1111, that is, in the spring of 1700. There is no record that he came to Amasya even once in these two years. The sanjak's affairs were run first by Hacı Madenzâde Ahmed Ağa, then by mütesellims such as Dedezâde Hasan Ağa and Yeğen Ali Bey. This shows once more that in the Amasya of the period the sanjak governorship was often a source of income and a step in rank, while the real administration was in the hands of the local mütesellim and notables.
Kadızâde Ahmed Pasha's Hâss
The exclamation mark next to the spelling "Ağaca (!) Kilise" in the text shows that the editor of the book was unsure of the reading. In the entry on Kadızâde Ahmed Pasha in Hüsameddin's biographies of the emirs, in which the same event is told, the place name appears as "Ağcakilise" and the same amount of 405,126 akçe is repeated. According to this biography, Ahmed Pasha is the son of Mehmed Ağa, administrator of the Kadı Bath in the Fethiye Quarter; he was raised from among the silahdar corps, in 1105 was charged as mütesellim of Amasya with cleansing the bandits of the area, and then took posts in Raqqa, Özi and Nikopol. In 1109, while guardian of Nikopol, he was dismissed for showing no success in battle and sent to Amasya; at the beginning of 1112, with the help of Amcazâde Hüseyin Pasha, he became beylerbeyi of Maraş, in 1113 was dismissed again, and died in the middle of 1114. Hüsameddin describes him as "zealous, loyal and active, though unlucky." No information was found in another source on which village or subdistrict of the sanjak of Amasya Ağcakilise is.
Karahanzâde Mustafa Ağa, Steward of the Grand Vizierate
Karahanzâde Mustafa Ağa's rise from the chief ushership to the stewardship of the grand vizierate shows the weight of the people of Amasya in Istanbul in these years. The steward of the grand vizierate was the grand vizier's closest aide; until the end of the seventeenth century he was an assistant to the grand vizier in all matters concerning him, and from the early eighteenth century he, together with his office, had become the second power of the state after the grand vizier. The appointment and supervision of provincial administrators and the transmission of campaign orders to the provinces were among this office's duties. That Mustafa Ağa came back to his hometown a year later sick and dismissed, and, according to the following entry, died within the year 1111, shows how short-lived and shaky this high office could be.
The Governorship of the Envoy Mehmed Pasha and the Pilgrimage Caravan of 1700
In this entry Hüsameddin places Sefer Ağazâde the Envoy Mehmed Pasha's governorship of Damascus in Şevval 1110; in the biographical volume he gives the same appointment as 5 Rebiülâhir 1110. The six-month difference between the two dates is an inconsistency in the author's own records.
Receb 1111, when the pasha set out as emîrülhac, corresponds to December 1699-January 1700 in the Gregorian calendar. Ersin Kırca's research on the Bedouin attacks on the Damascus pilgrimage caravan tells the end of this caravan in detail. According to Kırca, to lead the caravan in the hajj of 1700, Elçi Mehmed Pasha, sanjak governor of Gaza, Nablus and Ajlun (Lecûn), was assigned; since in the following two years this duty was given directly to the beylerbeyis of Damascus, the military force allotted to the caravan in 1700 was comparatively small. This information does not agree with Hüsameddin's expression "governor of Damascus"; the study based on archival documents shows that the pasha was at that time not a beylerbeyi but a sanjak governor. On the return the caravan was attacked by the Aneze and Banī Sakhr tribes on 19 Muharrem 1112 (6 July 1700). The fate of the City Steward Abdülkâdir Ağa, whom Hüsameddin writes went to the Hejaz "like many people of Amasya," is told in the following entry.
Other Names
About the execution of İsmâil Pasha, governor of Sivas, for his oppression (13 Muharrem 1110, that is, 22 July 1698) and the bringing in of Karakulak Mustafa Pasha of Amasya in his place, no information was found in other sources. In Hüsameddin's biographical volume the name of Yüzbaşıoğlu Emin Mehmed Ağa, one of Karakulak Mustafa Pasha's grandsons, appears; this shows that the family continued its presence in Amasya in the mid-eighteenth century. Bekir Beyzâde Ömer Pasha's governorship of Anatolia is confirmed in the biographies of the family's later generations by the record "former governor of Anatolia, Vizier Ömer Pasha of Amasya."
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 4, p. 619–620. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 6-8, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, entry "Ahmed Paşa-Kadızâde", e-book p. 183-184; entry "Mehmed Paşa-Elçi", e-book p. 105-106; entry "Ebûbekir Paşa-Bekir Beyzâde", e-book p. 94. https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/6-8/files/basic-html/page184.html
Academic studies