Amasyalıdır. “Kayabaşılı Örümcek”, ya’nî Ankebût Ahmed Paşa’dır. 1058 şa’bânının on birinci günü Amasya mutasarrıfı oldu. Kendisi Girit Harbi’yle meşgul olduğundan Amasyalı Sefer Ağa’yı mütesellim nasb etdi.
Şevvâl gurresinde Girit Harbi’nde yararlık gösteren sipâhi meşâhirinden Helvacı Mehmed Ağa evkâf-ı Sultâniyye mütevellîsi ve yirmi birinde mutasarrıf [104] Ahmed Paşa Anadolu beylerbeyi olduğundan Amasya sancağı, Dördüncü Haseki uhdesinden ref‘ edilip sâbık Şehr-i Zor Beylerbeyi Ahmed Paşa’ya tevcîh edildi.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He is "Örümcek of Kayabaşı", that is, Ankebût Ahmed Pasha. On the eleventh day of Şaban 1058 [1648] he became mutasarrıf of Amasya. Since he himself was occupied with the Cretan War, he appointed Sefer Ağa of Amasya as mütesellim (deputy).
On the first day of Şevval, Helvacı Mehmed Ağa, one of the famous sipahis who had shown valour in the Cretan War, became mütevelli of the Sultan waqfs. On the twenty-first of Şevval, when the mutasarrıf Ahmed Pasha became beylerbeyi of Anatolia, the sanjak of Amasya was taken out of the hands of the Fourth Haseki and given to Ahmed Pasha, former Beylerbeyi of Şehrizor.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ankebût: spider
- mutasarrıf: the person who holds the revenue and administration of a sanjak
- meşâhir: the famous
- evkâf-ı Sultâniyye: the sultans' waqfs; in Amasya, the waqfs of Sultan Bayezid
- uhde: what rests on someone, is in his charge
- ref' edilmek: to be removed, taken away
The Sanjak Is Taken from the Haseki
The real news this short entry carries is in its last sentence: the sanjak of Amasya "was taken out of the charge of the Fourth Haseki" and given to another pasha. Sultan İbrâhim had been deposed on 18 Receb 1058 [8 August 1648] and killed ten days later. That the provinces and sanjaks distributed to hasekis as paşmaklık in his time should be taken back with the new reign is an expected outcome. The Telli Haseki Hümâşah Sultan, whom Hüsameddin in earlier entries called the "real mutasarrıf" of Amasya, had settled in the Old Palace after her husband's death. Hüsameddin again calls her the "Fourth Haseki"; present-day research counts Hümâşah as Sultan İbrâhim's eighth haseki.
Ankebût Ahmed Pasha's Beylerbeyiship of Anatolia
Hüsameddin introduces Ankebût Ahmed Pasha in this entry as "of Amasya"; in the earlier entry (4-43) he had said only "of Kayabaşı". Kayabaşı appears in the records of the mid-nineteenth century as a part of the city of Amasya: in the census of 1840 it is written as a village, in the temettuat census a few years later as a quarter. This shows that the descriptions "of Kayabaşı" and "of Amasya" do not contradict each other.
Ahmed Pasha's appointment to the beylerbeyiship of Anatolia should be considered together with the Celâlî movement that was then sweeping western Anatolia. According to Halil İnalcık's entry, at the beginning of Mehmed IV's reign another pasha named Ahmed Pasha, Beylerbeyi of Anatolia, was sent against the Celâlî chief Haydaroğlu Mehmed, was defeated near Afyonkarahisar in Şaban 1058 [August-September 1648] and was killed by Katırcıoğlu Mehmed. Thereupon, by a firman dated 1 Ramazan 1058 [19 September 1648], Ketenci Ömerpaşazâde Mehmed Pasha was appointed beylerbeyi of Anatolia with broad powers. According to Hüsameddin, however, Ankebût Ahmed Pasha took this post about a month later, on 21 Şevval. No record explaining the relation between these two appointments was found in the sources. It is clear that the Ahmed Pasha who was killed and Ankebût Ahmed Pasha are not the same person, since Ankebût Ahmed Pasha is known to have served in later years too.
Indeed Ahmed Pasha's life was long. Hüsameddin writes that the next year he was given the vizierate; further on in his book he mentions him as mutasarrıf of Amasya and Kayseri, guardian of the Straits and sadaret kaymakamı. After the conquest of Candia, Ankebût Ahmed Pasha was made beylerbeyi of the province of Crete. There were mosques bearing his name in Resmo and Candia.
No separate information could be found on Helvacı Mehmed Ağa, who became mütevelli of the Sultan waqfs, or on the "Ahmed Pasha, former Beylerbeyi of Şehrizor" to whom the sanjak was given. This second Ahmed Pasha must be Şemsi Paşazâde Ahmed Pasha, whom Hüsameddin in 4-45 writes as having come to Amasya dismissed in Muharrem 1058 and living on the öşr of the village of Saluzcu; but in the next entry Hüsameddin writes that the sanjak passed to İğnecizâde Hoca Ahmed Pasha. That four Ahmed Pashas of the same name are mentioned one after another within a few months requires this section to be read carefully.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 4, p. 573. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 4, p. 581. https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/1-4/files/basic-html/page581.html
- 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
Other sources