Merzifon kazâsı dâhilinde Çayır Köyünde Câmii olan Hakalalı Mirzâ Beyzâde Mustafa Bey evlâdından ve sipahi meşâhîrinden Mehmed Ağa bin Mustafa Bey’in mahdûmudur. Bu da sipahî olup “Çayır Köylü Ahmed Ağa” demekle iştihâr etdi. Amasya Kethüdâyeri ve Merzifon Voyvodası oldu.
Celâlî eşkıyâsının harbinde can-siperâne hizmet ederek [496] Sadr-ı a’zam Kuyucu Murâd Paşa’nın takdirini celbetmekle 1017’de mîr-livâ oldu. Ba’dehû Irak muhârebâtına iştirâk edib şecâ’atıyla kazandığı şöhret sayesinde 1031’de Musul Beylerbeyi oldu.
1033 senesi zilhiccesinde Amasya Mutasarrıfı, 1034 senesi cumâdelâhiresinde Şehr-i Zor beylerbeyi olarak Bağdâd seferine me’mûr oldu. 1038’de Kayseriye mutasarrıfı, 1040 senesi evâilinde Kastamonu Beylerbeyi oldu. Burada mezâlimden şikâyet olunmakla sene-i mezbûre zilka’desinde ma’zûlen Amasya’da me’mûr-ı ikâmet olup hakkında tahkîkâta başlandı.
Kastamonu Defterdârı Gedüklü Kara Mehmed Ağa ile müştereken icrâ-yı mezâlim etdikleri anlaşılmakla her ikisi de 1042 senesi zilka’desinde Amasya’da i’dâm edildi. Şecî’, cesûr bir pehlivân-ı meşhûr idi. Gençliğinde Çayır Köylü pehlivan demekle fevkalâde iştihâr etmiş idi. Mahdûmları Mehmed, Ebû Bekir Beylere müsâdere edilen emvâl ve emlâkinden nesne kalmadı. Bunlara da ze’âmet verildi. [497]
In Modern English
He was the son of Mehmed Ağa, son of Mustafa Bey, a leading sipahi who descended from Hakalalı Mirza Beyzâde Mustafa Bey, who had a mosque in Çayır Village within the borders of the Merzifon district. He too was a sipahi and became known as "Çayır Köylü Ahmed Ağa." He became Kethüdâyeri of Amasya and Voivode of Merzifon.
Because he served without sparing his life in the war against the Celâlî brigands and won the appreciation of Grand Vizier Kuyucu Murad Pasha, he became mirliva in 1017 [1608-09]. Then he took part in the Iraq wars, and thanks to the renown he won by his valor he became Beylerbeyi of Mosul in 1031 [1621-22].
In Zilhicce of the year 1033 he was Mutasarrıf of Amasya, and in Cemâziyelâhire of 1034 he was assigned to the Baghdad campaign as beylerbeyi of Shahrizor. In 1038 he became mutasarrıf of Kayseri, and early in 1040 Beylerbeyi of Kastamonu. When he was complained of there for committing oppression, he was dismissed in Zilkade of the same year and ordered to reside in Amasya, and an investigation was opened against him.
When it was established that he and Gedüklü Kara Mehmed Ağa, the Defterdar of Kastamonu, had committed oppression, both were executed in Amasya in Zilkade of 1042. He was brave, courageous, and a renowned wrestler. In his youth he had become very famous as "Çayır Köylü the wrestler." Nothing remained for his sons Mehmed Bey and Ebû Bekir Bey from his confiscated goods and property. They too were granted a zeamet.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- Celâlî: armed groups that rebelled against the state in Anatolia in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries
- voyvoda: official who collects the revenues of a place and keeps order
- cân-sipârâne: staking one's life, without sparing oneself
- mutasarrıf, beylerbeyi: governor of a sanjak or of a province
- ma'zûlen: having been dismissed from office
- me'mûr-ı ikâmet: one required to reside in a place, that is, forced to settle there
- mezâlim: injustices, oppression of the people
- müsâdere: confiscation of property by the state
- ze'âmet: large timar, share of revenue
- pehlivân-ı meşhûr: a wrestler whose name has spread
The Celâlî Wars and Kuyucu Murad Pasha
Kuyucu Murad Pasha is described in the TDV entry as an Ottoman grand vizier who died in 1020 [1611]. He defeated Kalenderoğlu in Rebîülâhir 1017 (August 1608) in the battle at the place called Alaçayır. The year 1017, in which Çayır Köylü Ahmed rose to mirliva, coincides with the year of Kalenderoğlu's defeat; Hüsameddin's phrase "served wholeheartedly in the war against the Celâlî brigands" agrees with this date.
The Iraq Front
The beylerbeyi post of Mosul and the Baghdad campaign assignment that followed relate to the Iran wars of the first quarter of the seventeenth century. In 1625 Hâfız Ahmed Pasha, as commander of the Baghdad campaign, marched the army by way of Mosul and Kirkuk and besieged the city on 13 November 1625. The information Hüsameddin gives, "in Cemâziyelâhire of 1034 he was assigned to the Baghdad campaign as beylerbeyi of Shahrizor," falls in the preparation period of this campaign. That Ahmed served in this siege is not stated explicitly in the text; it is a conclusion that emerges when the dates are put side by side.
His End
Turan Açık, who has worked on the Amasya sharia court registers, relating the event on the basis of Hüsameddin's account, tells it as follows: Kara Mehmed Ağa, the defterdar of Kastamonu, had come to Amasya dismissed in Şevval 1040 (May 1631), and Çayırköylü (Merzifon) Ahmed Pasha, the beylerbeyi of Kastamonu, had come dismissed in Zilkade of the same year (June 1631). In Zilkade 1042 (May-June 1633) Çerkes Dilaver Pasha, the beylerbeyi of Sivas, came to Amasya unexpectedly and had the former beylerbeyi of Kastamonu and his defterdar executed in exile, after which Ebubekir Efendi, the defterdar of Sivas, came and confiscated the property of both. The registers too show that it was Dilaver Pasha, the beylerbeyi of Rum, and Ebubekir Efendi, the defterdar of Rum, who seized Kara Mehmed Ağa's goods. Hüsameddin's dates coincide with this study.
The author notes that, because there is no sharia court register from before 1042, the reason for the execution cannot be established from documents. Hüsameddin says "mezâlim"; Açık, for his part, writes that Kara Mehmed Ağa is seen to have been involved in many irregularities, but that these records do not directly show the grounds of the execution. It is also noteworthy that in some sources Ahmed Pasha is called Merzifonlu or Çayırköylü. The phrase "a zeamet was granted" in the last sentence of the text means that a source of income was again granted to the sons whose property had been taken.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 157–157. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies