Amasya Alaybeyi es-Seyyid Mehmed Bey bin es-Seyyid Ahmed Bey’in oğludur. Züamâdan olup, bidâyet-i nizâmda yüzbaşı olarak askerliğe girdi. 1247’de binbaşı, 1256’da mîr-âlây ve Amasya zabıta müdürü oldu. 1261 vak’asında Amasya kumândânı oldu. Ba’dehû tekâ’üd edilip 1274’de [747]vefât etdi. Birâderi es-Seyyid Mustafa Bey Köprü müdürü olup orada kaldı.
Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL
Ahmed Bey (Kesdikzâde)
Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 231 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU
Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)
Our Research Article
Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk
In Modern English
He was the son of Seyyid Mehmed Bey, the commander of the regiment (alaybeyi) of Amasya; Mehmed Bey was the son of Seyyid Ahmed Bey. He came from a family of zeamet holders. At the beginning of the new order he entered the army as a captain. In 1247 [1831-32] he became a major, and in 1256 [1840-41] a colonel and the security director of Amasya. At the incident of 1261 [1845-46] he became the commander of Amasya. He was later retired and died in 1274 [1857-58]. His brother Seyyid Mustafa Bey became the director of Köprü and stayed there.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- alaybeyi: commander of a regiment; here it appears as the military post of the father, Mehmed Bey, in Amasya
- züamâ: holders of zeamet; members of the sipahi class holding large fiefs
- bidâyet-i nizâm: the beginning of the new military order
- mîr-âlây: miralay, colonel
- zabıta müdürü: the official in charge of public order
- tekâ'üd: retirement
The Changing World of a Military Family
The Kesdikzâde family offers a typical example of people who came out of the old order's zeamet-holding sipahi class and passed into the regular army of the new order. Hüsameddin says that the family held zeamets and that the father was a regimental commander in Amasya, while the son rose from captain to colonel. It is known that the matter of soldiers was addressed in the Tanzimat Edict of 1839, and that the military regulation (tensikat) of 1843 divided the empire into five armies named Hassa, Dersaadet, Rumeli, Anadolu and Arabistan; fitting the redif units into this structure was one of the main problems of the period. The post of security director that Ahmed Bey took up in 1256 (1840-41) and his command in 1261 can be read as the reflection of this reorganisation in Amasya; this reading rests on the order of events given in the text and has not been confirmed by an archival document about the man.
The Incident of 1261
Hüsameddin gives no detail on the "incident" of 1261 [1845-46]. What this event was could not be determined in the searches made. The same event is called the "Doctor incident" in the entry on Kapancızâde Ahmed Efendi; reading the two entries together suggests that it was an event in Amasya that year concerning the administration, but its nature could not be verified.
His Brother and Family
The text says that his brother Seyyid Mustafa Bey was the director of Köprü. Which settlement is meant by "Köprü" (Vezirköprü is likely) could not be verified in the sources. No information on the Kesdikzâde family was found in other sources.
Bibliography
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 231–231. amasya.bel.tr
- "1843 Askerî Tensikatıyla 'Çoklu Ordu Sistemi'ne Geçişte Rediflerin İntibakı ve Nefer Tedarikinde Yaşanan Sorunlar", Türk Kültürü İncelemeleri Dergisi, https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/tkidergi/article/1305715