Amasya'nın halâskârı olan Yahşî Beyzâde'dir. 921 senesi şa'bânında Şâdî Paşa'nın azl ve habsine binâ'en Amasya beylerbeyi oldu. Amasya ve havâlîsinde olan şî'anın ahvâlini tahkîke me'mûren geldi.
Ahmed Paşa, vekâyi'-i sâbıkayı pek a'lâ bildiği cihetle Zünnûn'un ef'âl-i mekrûhasına iştirâk edenleri tahkîk ve te'dîbde şiddetler gösterdi. Erbâb-ı iştirâk da başlarına gelecek felâketleri anlamalarıyla şikâyetleri yağdırdılar.
Bu şikâyetlerin sebebi, Ahmed Paşa'nın acûlâne gösterdiği şiddet zann edildi. Bunun için Ahmed Paşa Tırhala vâlîliğine gönderildi. Bolu mutasarrıfı olan Mehmed Paşa da Amasya beylerbeyiliğine ta'yîn edildi.
In Modern English
He is Yahşî Beyzade, the savior of Amasya. When Şâdî Pasha was dismissed and imprisoned in Sha'ban of the year 921, he became beylerbeyi of Amasya. He came to investigate the situation of the Shiites at Amasya and its surroundings.
Since Ahmed Pasha knew the past events very well, he was severe in investigating and punishing those who had been partners in Zünnûn's evil deeds. Those involved in the affair, understanding the calamity that would befall them, showered complaints.
The cause of these complaints was supposed to be the severity Ahmed Pasha showed in his haste. For this reason Ahmed Pasha was sent to the governorship of Tırhala. Mehmed Pasha, who was the mutasarrıf of Bolu, was appointed to the beylerbeyilik of Amasya.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- halâskâr: savior
- tahkîk, te'dîb: inquiry, punishment
- vekâyi'-i sâbıka: past events
- ef'âl-i mekrûhe: bad, ugly deeds
- erbâb-ı iştirâk: those who took part in the affair
- acûlâne: hastily, without thought
- mutasarrıf: the administrator of a sanjak
Yahşî Beyzade Ahmed Pasha
Hüsameddin wrote the life of this pasha separately in the later volumes of his work. According to the record there, Ahmed Pasha is an Amasyan; he descends from Yahşi Bey son of Hamza Bey son of Ahmed Bey son of Mustafa Bey son of Yahşi Bey, and is among the grandsons of Hamza Bey, brother of the former grand vizier Bayezid Pasha. His father was among the beys in the retinue of Prince Ahmed, governor of Amasya; while still young Ahmed Pasha married the daughter of Prince Abdullah and thus became a son-in-law of the sultan, and later became beylerbeyi and guardian of Amasya.
The same record states that in 918 Ahmed Pasha delivered Amasya from the pressure of the Celâlî brigands and as a reward became sanjak bey of Bursa. An article studying the period of the princes who served as sanjak beys of Amasya also writes that the crisis that arose when Prince Murad joined the Safavid caliph Nur Ali, while Prince Ahmed went to Istanbul to be a candidate for the throne, ended with Yahşi Beyzade Ahmed Pasha's driving the rebels out of Amasya. The phrase "savior of Amasya" in the text must rest on this event.
According to Hüsameddin's record, Ahmed Pasha became beylerbeyi of Amasya in Sha'ban 921 and bey of Sivas in Dhu al-Hijja of the same year; in 923, for his service in the battle of Marj Dabiq (Mercidabık), he was appointed beylerbeyi of Damascus, and in Dhu al-Hijja of the same year beylerbeyi of Tırhala. This record places the Tırhala post, told briefly in today's text, within a broader career. The same record reports that in 926, after Sultan Süleyman's accession, Ahmed Pasha was dismissed and retired when it was denounced that he had corresponded with Prince Murad, son of Sultan Ahmed; that he lived a quiet life in Istanbul with his wife; that he later served in the beylerbeyiliks of Trabzon, Erzurum and Sivas; and that he died in Istanbul in 973.
Severity and Complaint
According to the text, Ahmed Pasha's dismissal arose from the complaints showered on him because of his severity in the inquiry. Hüsameddin does not discuss whether this was the real cause; he says only that the cause was "supposed." No other information on the reason for this dismissal was found in the sources I read. One detail is noteworthy: in this entry the Tırhala post is narrated as if it came immediately after Amasya; in the pasha's own biography, after Amasya the beylerbeyiliks of Sivas and Damascus are listed and Tırhala is placed at the end of the year 923. This difference in order between the two accounts could not be resolved with the sources.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Academic studies