Amasyalı Ankebût Ahmed Paşa’dır. 1066 senesi saferinin üçüncü günü ilhâken Amasya mutasarrıfı oldu. Kethüdâsı Bâkî Paşazâde Rıdvan Ağa’yı Amasya mütesellimi gönderdi. Kendisi de sonradan geldi.
Ahmed Paşa’nın kapısı halkı muntazam idi. İbtidâ serdâr Ebûbekir Ağa’yı azledip Beşinci Mehmed Ağa yeniçeri serdârı oldu. Saferin on sekizinde serdâr-ı esbak Ya’kûb Ağa’yı derdest etdirip Amasya Kalesi zindanında haps ve a‘vânını tahkîk ve taharrî etdi.
Müftü Vâiz Mehmed Efendi yerine selefi Fâzıl Hızır Efendi Amasya müftüsü ve nakîb es-Seyyid Halil Ağa’nın ref‘iyle ulemâdan es-Seyyid Ahmed Efendi nakîbü’l-eşrâf kâ’im-makâmı oldu. Taşçızâde el-Hâc İsmâil Ağa da azledilip sipâhi ocağı mütekâidlerinden Deli Yûsuf Ağa şehir kethüdâlığına geldi.
Bu esnada Şehsüvâroğlu Gazî Paşa Sivas vâlisi oldu. Rebîülevvel gurresinde Kadı Mahmûd Efendi’nin birâderi Abdülfettâh Efendi Amasya kadısı oldu. Emvâl-i menhûbenin kısm-ı a‘zâmı meydana çıktı.
Ahmed Paşa, fitneye bâis olanları salben i’dâm ve a‘yân ve halkın aralarını te’lîf ve ıslah etdikten sonra cumâdelûlâ gurresinde a‘yândan Bekir Beyzâde Osmân Ağa’yı Amasya mütesellimi nasb edib gitdi. [120] Cumâdelâhirede Deli Yûsuf Ağa da azledilip yine Kara Abdî Bey şehir kethüdâsı oldu.
Recebin gurresinde Şam Vâlisi Boynuyaralı demekle meşhûr Canikli Mehmed Paşa sadrâzam oldu. Bunu duyan Köprülü Mehmed Paşa, derhal Köprü’den hareketle sadr-ı müşârün-ileyhi istikbâle koşdu.
Recebin beşinde Amasya Mütesellimi Osmân Ağa da azledilip sâbık kethüdâyeri Rus Rıdvan Ağa Amasya mütesellimi oldu. Şa’bân gurresinde Abdullah Paşa müderrisi olan nâib-i sâbık Abdî Efendi yine Amasya nâibi olup Kadı Abdülfettâh Efendi, cedd-i a‘lâsı Ganî Dede’yi ziyaret için Merzifon’a gitdi.
Bu esnada şehir kethüdâsı Kara Abdî Bey de ma‘zûl olup Kadızâde el-Hâc Muslî Ağa şehir kethüdâsı ve şa’bânın ortalarında Köprülü Abaza Hasan Ağa vezâretle Diyarbakır vâlisi oldu.
Kezâlik Hasan Bey’in ref‘inden Kesdekzâde Mehmed Bey alaybeyi ve Şamlı Ali Ağa’nın azliyle on yedinci bölükte sipâhi Mehmed Ağa kethüdâyeri olduysa da ramazânın yirmisinde azledilip Bekir Beyzâde Osmân Ağa kethüdâyeri oldu.
Köprülü Mehmed Paşa mukaddemen hayatını kurtardığı Sadr-ı a’zam Canikli Mehmed Paşa ile Kütahya’da buluşup İstanbul’a beraber gitmiş, İstanbul’a vusûlünde tekrar Trablusşam beylerbeyi olmuşdu.
Zilka’denin yirmibeşinci cuma günü Mimârbaşı Kasım Ağa, Enderun Baltacılar Kethüdâsı Karakaş Ali Ağa, Saray Hocası [121] Mehmed Efendi, tersâne emîni Hasım Mehmed Ağa, gayretleriyle sadrâzam oldu. Kayın birâderi Mehmed Ağa’yı sadâret kethüdâsı nasb etdi. Buna “Kayın Mahmûd Ağa” dendi.⁶⁵⁴
Zilhiccede Sivas Beylerbeyi Gazî Paşa’ya Mısır Eyâleti verilip Çerkes Osmân Paşa Sivas beylerbeyi oldu. Zilhicce gurresinde el-Hâc Ali Efendi Amasya kadısı ve Osmân Ağa’nın ref‘inden Şâtır Ali Ağa kethüdâyeri oldu.
Bu sene meşâhir-i ulemâdan imâret şeyhi Hocazâde Abdüllatîf Efendi, kudâttan İğnecizâde Mehmed Efendi, a‘yândan Zambak Mehmed Dede vefât etdi. İmâret Şeyhliği büyük mahdûmu Hâfız Halil Efendi’ye verildi. Küçük mahdûmu es-Seyyid Abdüllatif Çelebi’ye muahharan “Emîr Hacı” dendi.
Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’ya zamân-ı azlinde îcâb ve mürâcaat etdikçe muâvenet-i mâliyede bulunan Amasyalı tüccârdan Keresteci Ali Ağa Paşa’nın müsteşâr ve mahrem-i hâssı ve Köprülü Halil Efendi de imâmı oldu.
1068 senesi gurre-i muharreminde Amasya Mütesellimi Rıdvan Ağa, Köprülü Paşa’nın mebgûzlarından olduğu münâsebetle azlolunup Merzifonî İbrâhim Ağa Amasya mütesellimi oldu. Buna “Kara Deniz” denirdi.
Muharrem evâhirinde Amasya Alaybeyi Kesdekoğlu Mehmed Bey’in ref‘inden Çavuşzâde Hasan Bey alaybeyi oldu. Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’nın Amasya’da sevdiklerinden Arab Hüseyinoğlu Abdurrahman Efendi İstanbul’a gitmişdi. Bu esnada Mahmûd Paşa Câmii kürsü şeyhi oldu. [122]
Köprülü Mehmed Paşa, Boğazı muhâsara eden düşman ile harbe gitmek üzere Sivas Vâlisi Osmân Paşa’yı eyâlet askeri ile davet etmişdi. Recebde Osmân Paşa, vilâyet askeriyle hareket etdi.
Şa’bânda Amasya ve Kayseriyye mutasarrıfı ve Boğaz muhâfızı Vezîr Ankebût Ahmed Paşa kâ’im-makâm-ı sadr-ı âlî olduğundan Amasya sancağı Anadolu’dan ma‘zûl Ahmed Paşa’ya tevcîh etdi.
In Modern English
He is Ankebût Ahmed Pasha of Amasya. On the third day of the month of Safer 1066 [1655], in addition to the offices he held, he became mutasarrıf of Amasya. He sent his kethüda Rıdvan Ağa, Bâkî Paşazâde, as mütesellim of Amasya. He himself came later.
Ahmed Pasha's retinue (kapı halkı) was well disciplined. As his first act he dismissed Serdar Ebûbekir Ağa; Beşinci Mehmed Ağa became janissary serdar. On the eighteenth of Safer he had the former serdar Ya'kûb Ağa seized and imprisoned in the dungeon of Amasya Castle, and investigated and examined his accomplices.
In place of Mufti Vâiz Mehmed Efendi, Fâzıl Hızır Efendi, the mufti before him, again became mufti of Amasya. With the dismissal of the nakîb es-Seyyid Halil Ağa, es-Seyyid Ahmed Efendi, one of the scholars, became nakîbü'l-eşrâf kaymakamı. Taşçızâde el-Hâc İsmâil Ağa too was dismissed, and Deli Yûsuf Ağa, one of the retired of the sipahi corps, came to the city kethüdalık.
At this time Şehsüvâroğlu Gazi Pasha became governor of Sivas. On the first day of the month of Rebîülevvel, Abdülfettâh Efendi, brother of Kadı Mahmûd Efendi, became kadı of Amasya. Most of the plundered goods were brought to light.
After Ahmed Pasha had hanged and executed those who had caused the sedition and had reconciled and set right the notables and the people, on the first day of Cemâziyelevvel he appointed Bekir Beyzâde Osmân Ağa, one of the notables, as mütesellim of Amasya and left. In the month of Cemâziyelâhir Deli Yûsuf Ağa too was dismissed and Kara Abdî Bey again became city kethüda.
On the first day of Receb, Canikli Mehmed Pasha, Governor of Damascus, known as "Boynuyaralı", became grand vizier. Hearing this, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha at once set out from Köprü and ran to meet the new grand vizier.
On the fifth of Receb Mütesellim Osmân Ağa of Amasya too was dismissed and the former kethüdâyeri Rus Rıdvan Ağa became mütesellim of Amasya. On the first day of Şaban, the former nâib Abdî Efendi, müderris of the Abdullah Pasha Madrasa, again became nâib of Amasya; Kadı Abdülfettâh Efendi went to Merzifon to visit Ganî Dede, the great ancestor of his lineage.
At this time the city kethüda Kara Abdî Bey too was dismissed and Kadızâde el-Hâc Muslî Ağa became city kethüda. In the middle of Şaban Köprülü Abaza Hasan Ağa became governor of Diyarbakır with the rank of vizier.
In the same way, with the dismissal of Hasan Bey, Kesdekzâde Mehmed Bey became alaybeyi. With the dismissal of Şamlı Ali Ağa the sipahi Mehmed Ağa of the seventeenth company became kethüdâyeri, but he was dismissed on the twentieth of Ramazan and Bekir Beyzâde Osmân Ağa became kethüdâyeri.
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha had met in Kütahya Grand Vizier Canikli Mehmed Pasha, whose life he had saved earlier, and gone with him to Istanbul, and on reaching Istanbul had again become beylerbeyi of Tripoli of Syria.
On Friday, the twenty-fifth day of Zilkade, through the efforts of Mimarbaşı Kâsım Ağa, Karakaş Ali Ağa, Kethüda of the Enderun Baltacıs, Saray Hocası Mehmed Efendi and Hasım Mehmed Ağa, Tersane Emini (superintendent of the arsenal), he became grand vizier. He appointed his brother-in-law Mehmed Ağa as sadâret kethüdâsı. He was called "Kayın Mahmûd Ağa".
In the month of Zilhicce the province of Egypt was given to Gazi Pasha, Beylerbeyi of Sivas, and Çerkes Osmân Pasha became beylerbeyi of Sivas. On the first day of Zilhicce el-Hâc Ali Efendi became kadı of Amasya, and with the dismissal of Osmân Ağa Şâtır Ali Ağa became kethüdâyeri.
This year, among the well-known scholars the imaret sheikh Hocazâde Abdüllatîf Efendi, among the kadıs İğnecizâde Mehmed Efendi, and among the notables Zambak Mehmed Dede died. The imaret sheikhship was given to his elder son Hâfız Halil Efendi. His younger son es-Seyyid Abdüllatif Çelebi was later called "Emîr Hacı".
Keresteci Ali Ağa, one of the merchants of Amasya who gave Köprülü Mehmed Pasha material help whenever he asked and as needed during the times he was kept away from office, became the pasha's adviser and closest confidant, and Köprülü Halil Efendi his imam.
On the first day of the month of Muharrem 1068, Mütesellim Rıdvan Ağa of Amasya, being one of those Köprülü Pasha disliked, was dismissed and İbrâhim Ağa of Merzifon became mütesellim of Amasya. He was called "Kara Deniz" (Black Sea).
At the end of Muharrem, with the dismissal of Kesdekoğlu Mehmed Bey, Alaybeyi of Amasya, Çavuşzâde Hasan Bey became alaybeyi. Abdurrahman Efendi son of Arab Hüseyin, one of the people Köprülü Mehmed Pasha liked in Amasya, had gone to Istanbul; at this time he became kürsü şeyhi (preacher) of the Mahmud Pasha Mosque.
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha had summoned Osmân Pasha, Governor of Sivas, with the provincial army to go to war against the enemy besieging the Straits. In the month of Receb Osmân Pasha set out with the army of the province.
In the month of Şaban, since Vizier Ankebût Ahmed Pasha, Mutasarrıf of Amasya and Kayseri and Guardian of the Straits, became sadâret kaymakamı (deputy of the grand vizier), the sanjak of Amasya was given to Ahmed Pasha, who had been dismissed from the governorship of Anatolia.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ilhâken: in addition, added to the offices he held
- kapı halkı: the men, servants and soldiers in a pasha's retinue
- derdest: seizure
- a'vân: accomplices
- tahkîk ve taharrî: investigation and inquiry
- salben i'dâm: execution by hanging
- te'lîf ve ıslah: reconciling and setting right
- cedd-i a'lâ: great ancestor, the founding forefather of a lineage
- mukaddemen: earlier
- vusûl: arrival
- Ferâşet Defteri: a record book concerning palace and state officials
- müsteşâr ve mahrem-i hâss: adviser and closest confidant
- mebgûz: disliked, hated
- kürsü şeyhi: the preacher who preaches from the pulpit in a mosque
- kâ'im-makâm-ı sadr-ı âlî: the vizier who stands in for the grand vizier when there is none, sadâret kaymakamı
The Settling of the Events of 1065
Ankebût Ahmed Pasha's second governorship was spent in ending the bloody disturbance of the previous year. According to Hüsâmeddin's account the pasha had the janissary serdar Ya'kûb Ağa thrown into the dungeon of Amasya Castle, had those who caused the sedition hanged, brought most of the plundered goods to light, and then left after reconciling the notables of the city and the people. The return to the muftiship of Fâzıl Hızır Efendi, who had been dismissed because of his fatwa, is a clear sign of whom the events finally went against and whom they favoured.
From Boynuyaralı Mehmed Pasha to Köprülü
The grand vizierate of Canikli Mehmed Pasha, called "Boynuyaralı", is described in detail in Abdülkadir Özcan's Boynueğri Mehmed Pasha entry. The pasha, born in Canik, who acquired the epithet "Boynueğri" or "Boynuyaralı" because he was wounded in the neck by a poisoned arrow in Murad IV's eastern campaigns, became grand vizier in 1656 on the recommendation of Şeyhülislam Hocazâde Mesud Efendi. The day his grand vizierate began, 26 April 1656, coincides with Hüsâmeddin's "first day of Receb" (1 Receb 1066). In these days when the Venetian fleet had closed the Dardanelles and occupied Bozcaada, Lemnos and Samothrace, the grand vizier, who was about eighty years old, was not successful, and because he could not prepare the army and fleet for the campaign in time he was dismissed on 14 September 1656.
Hüsâmeddin's words "Köprülü met in Kütahya the grand vizier whose life he had earlier saved" find a counterpart in the same entry: during his beylerbeyiship of Anatolia Mehmed Pasha's name had been involved in some incidents of oppression, but on Köprülü Mehmed Pasha's advice he had taken refuge with Vâlide Turhan Sultan and been pardoned.
Mücteba İlgürel's entry gives Köprülü Mehmed Pasha's coming to the grand vizierate as 26 Zilkade 1066 (15 September 1656); there is a difference of one day from Hüsâmeddin's "Friday, the twenty-fifth of Zilkade". The same entry relates that Mimar Kâsım Ağa, kethüda of Vâlide Turhan Sultan, put Köprülü forward for the grand vizierate, and that Köprülü accepted the seal only on the conditions that his telhises be implemented as they were, that there be no interference in appointments, that his powers not be restricted, and that no credit be given to what was said against him. On the role of Karakaş Ali Ağa, Saray Hocası Mehmed Efendi and Tersane Emini Hasım Mehmed Ağa, whom Hüsâmeddin counts together with Kâsım Ağa, no separate information was found in the sources examined.
There is an inconsistency in Hüsâmeddin's own text over the name of the sadâret kethüdâsı: he first calls the pasha's brother-in-law "Mehmed Ağa", then says he was called "Kayın Mahmûd Ağa", and notes in a footnote that he saw it so in the Ferâşet Defteri. In later entries the same person is called "Köprülü Yûsuf Ağazâde Kayın Mehmed Ağa". That Köprülü's wife Ayşe Hanım was the daughter of Yûsuf Ağa, voyvoda of Köprü, is also written in Abdülkadir Özcan's Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha entry; accordingly the nisba "Yûsuf Ağazâde" is consistent with the kethüda's being Köprülü's brother-in-law.
Gazi Pasha's Governorship of Egypt
The governor of Sivas whom Hüsâmeddin calls "Şehsüvâroğlu Gazi Pasha" must be the same as "Şehsuvarzâde Gazi Mehmed Pasha", who in the lists of governors of Egypt governed Egypt between 1657 and 1660. In some sources it is also recorded that he was called "Gazi" locally for suppressing a rebellion and was later imprisoned. Hüsâmeddin's saying that the province of Egypt was given to him in Zilhicce 1066 agrees with these dates.
A Shift in Dates
Near the end of the entry the events continue under the heading "the year 1068, Muharrem". Yet the events narrated, that is, the summoning of Osmân Pasha, Governor of Sivas, to the Straits battle and Ankebût Ahmed Pasha's becoming sadâret kaymakamı, took place, according to present-day research, in the summer of 1657, that is, in the Hijri year 1067. According to Samet Tınas's study, when the march against the Venetian fleet was made, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha had been appointed serdâr-ı ekrem and the deputy grand vizierate was left to Ankebût Ahmed Pasha; Köprülü pitched camp near the Sultaniye Fortress on 30 June 1657 (18 Ramazan 1067). According to this, in Hüsâmeddin's text, or in the transcription of the text into the new letters, the year 1067 must have appeared as 1068. The same shift is seen at the beginning of the next entry.
Keresteci Ali Ağa and Köprülü's Friends from Amasya
A small detail recorded by Hüsâmeddin shows the provincial supports of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha's rise: the merchant Keresteci Ali Ağa of Amasya, who gave him financial help in the years he was kept away from office, became his adviser and confidant when the pasha became grand vizier. The removal of Rıdvan Ağa, whom Köprülü disliked, from the mütesellimship and the going to Istanbul of Abdurrahman Efendi, whom he liked, should be read in the same context. No information on these people was found in other sources.
Kadı Records
In the list of kadıs in Neşe İnak's study of the Amasya sharia court registers, Abdülfettâh Efendi is seen as kadı of Amasya in 1066, 1068 and 1077, and el-Hâc Ali Efendi in 1066. This information agrees with Hüsâmeddin's showing Abdülfettâh Efendi as kadı in Rebîülevvel 1066 and el-Hâc Ali Efendi in Zilhicce of the same year.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 4, pp. 579–580. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Abdülkadir Özcan, "Boynueğri Mehmed Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 6, 1992. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/boynuegri-mehmed-pasa
- Mücteba İlgürel, "Köprülü Mehmed Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 26, 2002. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/koprulu-mehmed-pasa
- Abdülkadir Özcan, "Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kopruluzade-fazil-ahmed-pasa
- Samet Tınas, "Köprülü Mehmed Paşa'nın Sadrazamlığında Osmanlı-Venedik Mücadelesi", Anadolu ve Balkan Araştırmaları Dergisi, 7/14 (2024), pp. 427-450. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4123829
- Neşe İnak, "Amasya Tarihinin Kaynaklarından Şeriye Sicilleri (17. Yüzyıl)", Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi İnsan Bilimleri Dergisi, 4/2 (2023), pp. 183-202. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/3496542
Other sources