Kayabaşılı Örümcek Ahmed Paşa’dır. 1055 senesi şevvâlinin beşinci günü Amasya Mutasarrıfı Dördüncü Haseki Hümâ Şâh Sultân’ın mütesellimi hükmünde sancak beyi oldu.
“Ankebût Ahmed Paşa” şöhretiyle mümtâz olan Örümcek Ahmed Paşa, Girit Harbi’ne me’mûr ve Anadolu serdârı olduğundan kethüdâsı Amasyalı Bâkî Paşazâde Habîb Ağasıyla beraber harbe gitdi. Tarafından Şâtır Ali Ağa Amasya mütesellimi oldu. [94]
Şevvâlin on ikisinde sipâhî a‘yânından Kara Kadızâde Mehmed Ağa evkâf-ı Sultâniyye mütevellîsi oldu. İstanbul’dan gelen mübâşirle sâbık Mirlivâ Ebûbekir Bey mukayyeden Samsun’a i‘zâm ve kalebend edildi. Mütesellimi Abdülcelîlzâde el-Hâc Hüseyin Ağa da Amasya Kalesi zindanına kondu.
1056 senesi gurre-i muharreminde Amasya Kadısı Kutbeddîn Mustafa Efendi, Ankebût Ahmed Paşa’nın serdârı olduğu ordunun kadısı olduğundan ulemâdan İkincizâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ali Efendi Amasya nâibi oldu.
Rebîülevvelde Amasya Kalesi’nde mahpus olan mütesellim-i sâbık Abdülcelîlzâde el-Hâc Hüseyin Ağa’nın bî-günâh olduğu anlaşılmakla a‘yândan Sefer Ağa’nın kefâletiyle tahliye edildi.
Receb gurresinde nâib-i esbak Hakâlalızâde es-Seyyid Abdürrahîm Efendi Amasya kadısı oldu. Ramazân evâilinde Amasya ulemâsının umdesi olan Müftü Şeyh Yâkub Efendizâde Mustafa Efendi vefât eylediğinden Dursunzâde Mustafa Efendi Amasya müftüsü ve Sultâniyye müderrisi oldu.
Şevvâlde Yörgüç Paşa Evkâfı mütevellîsi Hakâlacızâde Mehmed Bey ve müteâkiben Samsun’da kalebend olan sâbık Mirlivâ Ebûbekir Bey hazîn bir sûrette vefât etdi. Hasan Beyzâde Mehmed Bey Yörgüç Paşa mütevellîsi oldu. Fakat Bekir Bey’in bütün servet ü sâmânı müsâdere edildiğinden yalnız Köprübaşı mahallesindeki bir konağı oğulları Osmân, [95] Ömer beylere ve kızları Neslihân, Râziye hanımlara kalabildi.
Zilhiccede Anadolu Serdârı Amasya Mutasarrıfı Ankebût Ahmed Paşa ikinci defa Sivas beylerbeyi olup selefi Şemsi Paşazâde Ahmed Paşa Amasya’ya geldi. Amasya sancağı Saluzcu Karyesi hâsıyla mütekâid olan Gâzi-i meşhûr Çolak Hüseyin Paşa’ya tevcîh ve hâss-ı mezbûr’da Ahmed Paşa’ya tahsis edildi.
In Modern English
He is Örümcek Ahmed Pasha of Kayabaşı. On the fifth day of Şevval 1055 [1645] he became sanjak bey of Amasya in the position of mütesellim (deputy) of Fourth Haseki Hümâ Şâh Sultan, the mutasarrıf of Amasya (the holder of the sanjak's revenue and administration).
Örümcek Ahmed Pasha, known by the name "Ankebût Ahmed Pasha", was assigned to the Cretan War and, being Anatolian serdar (commander of the Anatolian troops), went to the war together with his kethüda Habîb Ağa, Bâkî Paşazâde, of Amasya. In his name Şâtır Ali Ağa became mütesellim of Amasya.
On the twelfth of Şevval, Kara Kadızâde Mehmed Ağa, one of the sipahi notables, became mütevelli of the Sultan waqfs (the Sultan Bayezid waqfs). The former mirliva (sanjak bey) Ebûbekir Bey was sent in chains to Samsun by the mübaşir (officer charged with carrying out an order) who came from Istanbul, and was imprisoned in the fortress there. His mütesellim, Abdülcelîlzâde el-Hâc Hüseyin Ağa, was also put in the dungeon of Amasya Castle.
On the first day of Muharrem 1056 [1646], since Kutbeddîn Mustafa Efendi, Kadı of Amasya, had become kadı of the army of which Ankebût Ahmed Pasha was serdar, İkincizâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ali Efendi, one of the ulema, became naib (deputy judge) of Amasya.
In Rebîülevvel, when the former mütesellim Abdülcelîlzâde el-Hâc Hüseyin Ağa, imprisoned in Amasya Castle, was found innocent, he was released on the surety of Sefer Ağa, one of the notables.
On the first day of Recep the former naib Hakâlalızâde es-Seyyid Abdürrahîm Efendi became kadı of Amasya. In the first days of Ramazan, when Mufti Şeyh Yâkub Efendizâde Mustafa Efendi, the mainstay of the scholars of Amasya, died, Dursunzâde Mustafa Efendi became mufti of Amasya and müderris of the Sultaniye Madrasa.
In Şevval, Hakâlacızâde Mehmed Bey, mütevelli of the Yörgüç Pasha Waqf, and then the former Mirliva Ebûbekir Bey, kept prisoner in the fortress at Samsun, died pitifully. Hasan Beyzâde Mehmed Bey became mütevelli of the Yörgüç Pasha Waqf. Since all of Bekir Bey's wealth and property was confiscated (seized by the state), his sons Osman and Ömer Beys and his daughters Neslihan and Râziye Hanıms were left with only a mansion in the Köprübaşı quarter.
In Zilhicce, Ankebût Ahmed Pasha, Anatolian Serdar and Mutasarrıf of Amasya, became beylerbeyi of Sivas for the second time; Şemsi Paşazâde Ahmed Pasha, who had been in Sivas before him, came to Amasya. The sanjak of Amasya was given to the famous ghazi Çolak Hüseyin Pasha, who had been retired with the has revenue of the village of Saluzcu; the said has was assigned to Ahmed Pasha.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mutasarrıf: the person who holds the revenue and administration of a sanjak
- mütesellim: the deputy who conducts affairs in place of the holder of the sanjak
- haseki: the sultan's favoured wife, one who had borne a child or been promoted
- ankebût: spider (Arabic)
- serdâr: a commander appointed for a particular campaign or region
- kethüdâ: the assistant who manages a statesman's affairs, steward
- evkâf-ı Sultâniyye: the sultans' waqfs; in Amasya, the waqfs of Sultan Bayezid
- mübâşir: an official sent to carry out an order
- mukayyed: bound, in chains
- i'zâm: sending, dispatching
- kalebend: one serving a sentence of imprisonment in a fortress
- gurre: the first day of the Arabic (lunar) month
- nâib: the deputy who stands in for the judge
- umde: mainstay, leading figure
- müsâdere: confiscation of a person's property by the state
- servet ü sâmân: goods and property, possessions
- mütekâid: retired
- hâs: the large dirlik revenue assigned to high-ranking officials
A Haseki's Sanjak
The most striking aspect of the entry is that the sanjak of Amasya had been attached to a woman of the palace. It is known, from the chronicler Vecîhî, that in the reign of Sultan İbrahim provinces and sanjaks were distributed to hasekis as paşmaklık (pin-money revenue); it is written that the sultan made eight of his favourites hasekis and assigned them heavy hasses. In such an arrangement the sanjak bey becomes a deputy who collects the revenue and governs the region in the name of its real owner. This is why Ahmed Pasha became sanjak bey "in the position of mütesellim of the mutasarrıf."
Hüsameddin calls the owner of the sanjak "Fourth Haseki Hümâ Şâh Sultan" and puts this in the year 1055 [1645]. Present-day research, however, knows Hümâşah Sultan, under the name Telli Haseki, as Sultan İbrahim's eighth haseki and only lawfully wedded wife; her marriage is accepted to have taken place in 1647. In that case the attachment of Amasya to this haseki in 1645 does not fit the chronology. Either Hüsameddin has carried a later situation back, or in 1645 the sanjak was in the hands of another haseki; with the sources at hand this question could not be resolved. In later entries Hümâşah's connection with Amasya is treated in more detail.
Ankebût Ahmed Pasha and the Cretan Campaign
According to what Hasan Ali Cengiz, who studied the Cretan Campaign from Ottoman sources, reports, in the orders sent to the Anatolian sanjaks in the spring of 1055 [1645] for the campaign preparations, the soldiers were required to assemble opposite the island of Chios under the command of "Ahmed Pasha, Bey of Amasya." When the fleet reached Chios, "Ahmed Pasha, Anatolian Seraskeri," came with the beys of Sivas, Karaman and Anatolia and kissed the hand of the serdar. After Hanya was taken, "Ahmed Pasha, Bey of Amasya" was again given the repair of the arches that brought water to the city, and the work was finished in sixty days. These records agree with the designation "Anatolian serdar" that Hüsameddin gives to Ahmed Pasha. Only, since in the sources he is already called "Bey of Amasya" in the spring of 1645, the date 5 Şevval 1055 that Hüsameddin gives may be the date not of his taking up the post but of a later arrangement such as the attachment to the haseki. This is an inference.
Ahmed Pasha's tie with Crete lasted his whole life. After Candia was taken, Ankebût Ahmed Pasha had been made beylerbeyi of the island. According to Evliya Çelebi's observations of 1667, in Resmo there was a mosque in the marketplace bearing his name; in Candia too there was an Ankebût Ahmed Pasha Mosque in the Aya İleya quarter. Further on in Hüsameddin's own book the same man appears again, at the end of the 1060s, as mutasarrıf of Amasya and Kayseri, guardian of the Straits and sadaret kaymakamı (deputy of the grand vizier).
The Castle Dungeon and the Yörgüç Pasha Waqf
The dungeon into which the mütesellim Hüseyin Ağa was thrown was in Amasya Castle on Mount Harşena. The castle kept its military function until the eighteenth century; a considerable part of its walls still stands today. In the middle of the castle are the Cilanbolu passage, carved into the rock with a hundred and fifty steps, cisterns, and the remains of a bath of the Ottoman period.
The Yörgüç Pasha Waqf, whose mütevelli changed, belongs to the complex that, according to the inscription of Atabeg Yörgüç Pasha, he had built in 834 [1430]. The mosque, of the tabhane plan, and the tomb beside it stand today in the Gökmedrese quarter; the complex's madrasa has not survived. Köprübaşı, where the mansion left to Ebûbekir Bey's children stood, still appears as a quarter of Amasya in the population and temettuat records of the mid-nineteenth century.
No trace was found in other sources of the kadıs, muftis and mütevellis named in the entry (such as Kara Kadızâde Mehmed Ağa, Dursunzâde Mustafa Efendi and Hakâlalızâde Abdürrahîm Efendi); this information rests largely on the Amasya sharia court registers that Hüsameddin used.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 4, pp. 569–570. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 4, p. 581 (later posts of Ankebût Ahmed Pasha). https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/1-4/files/basic-html/page581.html
- "Resmo Kuşatması" (Evliya Çelebi's description of Resmo). https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resmo_Kuşatması
- Selim Özcan, "H.1256 (1840) Tarihli Amasya Nüfus Defteri ile H.1260-1261 (1844-1845) Tarihli Amasya Temettuat Defterlerinin Karşılaştırmalı Değerlendirilmesi", Studies of the Ottoman Domain, 6/11 (2016).
Academic studies
- Hasan Ali Cengiz, "Osmanlı Kaynaklarında Girit Seferi", Trakya Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 9/17 (2019), pp. 105-133.
- Feridun Emecen, "İbrâhim", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ibrahim--padisah
- Ersin Gülsoy, "Kandiye", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kandiye
- Emine Naza Dönmez, "Yörgüç Paşa Camii", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/yorguc-pasa-camii
Official sources
Other sources