Amasyalıdır. Vüzerâdan Amasyalı Kadızâde Sıdkı Mustafa Paşa bin Ahmed Efendi’nin mahdûmudur. Fethiyye Mahallesi’nde doğdu. Pederiyle İstanbul’a gidip tahsîl-i ilim ve marifet ederek Bâb-ı âlîye girdi.
Riyâset kaleminden tefeyyüz ederek hulefâdan oldu. Pederinin Köprülü Mehmed Paşa ile hukûk-ı sâbıkası olduğundan müşârün-ileyhin sadâretinde mektûbî-i sadr-ı âlî oldu. Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Paşa’nın zaman-ı sadâretinde re’isül-küttâb olup 1079 cumâdelahiresinin altıncı günü vefât etdi. [542]
Umûr-ı âşinâ, halîm, ilm ü ma’rifetten behredâr idi. Mahdûmları Ali, Mehmed Beylerdir. Kerîmesi de Ayşe Hanım olup konağı Ayasofya civârında Üskûbî Mahallesi’nde olduğu tedâvül defterinde görüldü.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He was the son of Ahmed Efendi, son of the vizier Kadızâde Sıdkı Mustafa Pasha of Amasya. He was born in the Fethiye Neighborhood. Going to Istanbul with his father and acquiring learning and skill, he entered the Bâb-ı âli (the gate of the state).
Trained in the riyaset kalemi, he became one of the hulefâ (the caliphs of the office). Since his father had an old relationship with Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, during that pasha's grand vizierate he became the grand vizier's secretary (mektûbî-i sadr-ı âlî). In the time of the grand vizierate of Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha he became reisülküttâb and died on the sixth day of Cemâziyelâhir 1079.
He was a man who knew affairs, gentle in temper, and had received his share of learning and skill. His sons are Ali and Mehmed Beys. His daughter is Ayşe Hanım; it was seen in the tedâvül register that her residence was in the Üskûbî Neighborhood near Hagia Sophia.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- Bâb-ı âlî: the gate of the grand vizier, the center of the Ottoman government
- riyaset kalemi: the secretarial bureau headed by the reisülküttâb
- hulefâ: caliphs; here, clerks who had reached a certain grade in the riyaset kalemi (the exact meaning could not be verified)
- hukûk-ı sâbıka: earlier rights, an old relationship
- mektûbî-i sadr-ı âlî: the grand vizier's secretary who carries out his correspondence
- re'isü'l-küttâb: head of the clerks, a post close to today's foreign minister
- umûr-ı âşinâ: one who knows affairs, experienced
- halîm: gentle in temper
- behredâr: one who has a share, fortunate
- tedâvül defteri: register of properties changing hands
A Clerk of the Divan under the Köprülü Grand Vizierate
Hüsameddin ties Ahmed Efendi's rise to his father's old relationship with Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. Köprülü Mehmed Pasha became grand vizier on 15 September 1656, died in 1661, and was succeeded by his son Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha. In Hüsameddin's account Ahmed Efendi took office under both grand viziers: as secretary in the time of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha and as reisülküttâb in the time of Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha. This order is consistent with the dates at which the grand vizierates followed one another. Since Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha's grand vizierate began in 1661, it is also consistent that a reisülküttâb who died in 1079 (around 1668-69) had served in that period.
No information was found in other sources about his father Kadızâde Sıdkı Mustafa Pasha and Ahmed Efendi. The details of the Fethiye Neighborhood and the Üskûbî Neighborhood are known only from Hüsameddin's record.
Bibliography