[564] Köprülüdür. Gedizlizâde el-Hâc Şa’bân Efendi bin el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi bin el-Hâc Mehmed Efendi’nin mahdûmudur. Köprülü Mehmed Paşa sadâretinde bâb-ı âlîye girip riyâset kaleminde tefeyyüz ederek hulefâdan oldu.
Ba’dehû Köprülüzâde Ahmed Paşa sadâretinde amcası Hasan Ağa’nın kâtibi olup 1081’de Kandiye fethinde cebehâne nâzırı olarak orada kaldı. 1083’de İstanbul’a gelip darbhâne emini ve 1085’de rikâb-ı hümâyûn kâ’im-makâmı Merzifonî Kara Mustafa Paşa’ya tezkîreci oldu.
1087 şa’bânında Kara Mustafa Paşa sadr-ı a’zam oldukta tezkire-i sadr-ı âlî, 1089’da Re’isü’l-küttâb Mustafa Efendi’nin azlinde reîsü’l-küttâb oldu. Dört yıl kadar devletin umûr-ı harîcîyesini idâre edib 1092 zilka’desinde vefât etdi. “Köse Kâtib” demekle meşhûr âkil, müdebbir, ma’ârif-i aşinâ idi.
In Modern English
He was from Köprü (present-day Vezirköprü). He was the son of Gedizlizâde el-Hac Şaban Efendi son of el-Hac Ahmed Efendi son of el-Hac Mehmed Efendi. During the grand vizierate of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha he entered the Sublime Porte and, training in the office of the Reisülküttap, became one of the senior clerks (halifes).
Later, in the grand vizierate of Köprülüzâde Ahmed Pasha, he became clerk to his uncle Hasan Ağa; in 1081 [1670-71], at the conquest of Candia, he stayed there as overseer of ammunition. In 1083 [1672-73] he came to Istanbul and became mint steward, and in 1085 [1674-75] he became tezkireci to Kara Mustafa Pasha of Merzifon, who was then kaymakam of the grand vizierate beside the sultan.
When Kara Mustafa Pasha became grand vizier in Şaban 1087 [1676], he became the grand vizier's tezkireci, and in 1089 [1678-79], on the dismissal of Reisülküttap Mustafa Efendi, he became reisülküttap. After directing the foreign affairs of the state for about four years, he died in Zilkade 1092 [1681]. Known as "Köse Kâtip," he was an intelligent, prudent man of knowledge and culture.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- bâb-ı âlî: the office of the grand vizierate, the Sublime Porte
- riyâset kalemi: the office of clerks attached to the reisülküttap
- tefeyyüz: to be trained and advance
- hulefâ: the senior clerks in the offices
- cebehâne nâzırı: ammunition overseer
- darbhâne emini: director of the mint
- rikâb-ı hümâyûn kâ'im-makâmı: the vizier who stands in for the grand vizier beside the sultan while the grand vizier is on campaign
- tezkireci: the clerk who prepared the grand vizier's correspondence and reports
- reîsü'l-küttâb: head of the Divan clerks; in time an office that also ran foreign affairs
- müdebbir: prudent, capable
A Scribe of the Köprülü Circle
Ahmed Efendi's career is tied from start to finish to the patronage of the Köprülü family, who came from the town of Köprü, and of Kara Mustafa Pasha of Merzifon, who was raised beside them. His post at Candia is noteworthy in this respect. The Ottomans took Candia over by treaty on 9 Rebiülahir 1080 (6 September 1669), after a blockade and siege lasting about twenty-three years. The date 1081 that Hüsameddin gives falls after the surrender; in that case Ahmed Efendi must have been with the army during the conquest and, after the conquest, remained on the island as ammunition overseer while the reconstruction and repair works begun by Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha continued.
His Reisülküttapship
Ahmed Efendi's reisülküttapship also appears in present-day studies. Relying on Mehmed Süreyya, Merve Menteşe writes that "Köse Ahmed Efendi" was trained at the Sublime Porte, became reisülküttap in 1676, died in 1681 and was known as a learned man. The year of death agrees with the 1092 Hüsameddin gives; the date of his coming to the reisülküttapship differs by about two years, since 1676 corresponds to the year 1087 that Hüsameddin gives for the tezkireci post. It is also known that the lists of reisülküttaps rest on chronicles and contain omissions and errors when compared with archival documents.
In the divan of the poet Fâik Mahmud there is a chronogram poem written on Ahmed Efendi's coming to the reisülküttapship. In the poem he is praised as "the head of the register of the people of the pen" and "the matchless horseman of the field of secretaryship"; the last couplet, saying that the office suits him, gives the date:
Târîhini mensûr-ı felek böyle yazar kim
Hakkâ ki sezâ Ahmed Efendiye riyâset
The meaning of the couplet is this: The decree of fate writes its date thus: truly the headship befits Ahmed Efendi.
The Mustafa Efendi whom Ahmed Efendi replaced is probably the same person as Reisülküttap Mustafa Efendi, named among those who urged Kara Mustafa Pasha to turn toward Vienna in the 1683 Vienna campaign; in that case Mustafa Efendi must have returned to his office after Ahmed Efendi's death. This is an inference, not confirmed in the sources. In another entry of Hüsameddin's book it is written that Hacı Abdülbâkî Efendi of Amasya also became first tezkireci to Kara Mustafa Pasha in Şaban 1087; if the two records speak of the same office, there is an inconsistency between them.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 176–176. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, entry "Abdülbâkî Efendi-Hacı," vol. 11.
Academic studies