Bosnalıdır. Devşirmelerden olup Sultân Süleyman-ı Kanunî bendegânındandır. Enderun’da terbiyye gördü. Ba’dehû terakki ederek mîr-i alem olup 954’de Şehzâde Sultân Mustafa ma’iyyetine me’mûran Amasya’ya gönderildi.
Şehzâde kendisini beğenip kerîmesi Fatıma Sultân’ı tezvîc ederek Beylerbeyi ve Amasya Muhâfızı yaptırdı. 960’ta Şehzâde pederinin ma’iyyetine me’mûran Amasya’dan ordusuyla infikak etdikte vâlî kâ’im-makâmı olarak Amasya’da kaldı. [451]
Hayfâ ki şehzâde 960 senesi şevvalinde şehîd edildiğinden bu da Amasya’da i’dâm edildi.
Rumeli Kazaskerliği sicillinden anlaşıldığı üzere Ahmed Paşa bin Abduşşekur’un i’dâmından sonra Fâtıma Sultân ile hemşîresi Râziye Kadın demekle meşhûr Râziye Sultân İstanbul’a gönderildi. Ahmed Paşa’nın biraderleri Bostancıbaşı Ali Ağa ile Kapıcıbaşı Hasan Ağa İstanbul’da kaldı.
In Modern English
He was a Bosnian. He was one of the devşirme and among the slaves (kuls) of Süleyman the Magnificent. He was raised in the Enderun. Then, rising, he became mîr-i alem (ağa of the standard) and in 954 [1547] was sent to Amasya on assignment to the retinue of Prince Sultan Mustafa.
The prince liked him and married his daughter Fâtıma Sultan to him; he had him made beylerbeyi and garrison commander of Amasya. In 960 [1553], when the prince was charged with joining his father and left Amasya with his army, Ahmed Pasha remained in Amasya as the governor's kaymakam (deputy).
Alas, because the prince was martyred in Shawwal 960, this man too was executed in Amasya.
As is understood from the registers of the Rumeli Kazaskership, after the execution of Ahmed Pasha, son of Abdüşşekûr, Fâtıma Sultan and her sister Râziye Sultan, known as "Râziye Kadın," were sent to Istanbul. Ahmed Pasha's brothers, Bostancıbaşı Ali Ağa and Kapıcıbaşı Hasan Ağa, remained in Istanbul.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- devşirme: those collected from among the children of Christian subjects and raised for state service
- bendegân: slaves, those in the sultan's service
- Enderun: the school in the inner part of the palace that trained statesmen
- mîr-i alem: ağa in charge of the sultan's banner, horsetail standard and military band
- tezvîc: marrying off
- infikâk: separation
- kâ'im-makâm: one who acts in someone's place
- hayfâ: alas, what a pity
- hemşîre: sister
From Rüstem Pasha's Watcher to the Prince's Son-in-Law
Ahmed Pasha's story shows an interesting side of the palace struggle in Prince Mustafa's last years. According to present-day research, when Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha was disturbed by the prince's appeals to Istanbul, he recalled the prince's lala Cafer Pasha to Istanbul and sent Ahmed Pasha of Bosnia in his place. The purpose of this appointment was to keep the prince under close watch. But Ahmed Pasha soon won the prince's trust and married his daughter Fatma Sultan; some sources place this marriage in 1552. In Semra Güler's thesis on Prince Mustafa, relying on another volume of Hüsameddin's book, it is noted that the prince's marrying his eldest daughter Fatma Sultan to Ahmed Pasha turned the situation against Rüstem Pasha. The 954 [1547] that Hüsameddin gives as the date of Ahmed Pasha's arrival in Amasya is a few years before the date of the marriage; the two records do not exclude each other.
Among Prince Mustafa's daughters, besides Fatma Sultan, the names of Nergisşah Sultan, born in Manisa in 1536 and married after her father's death to Cenâbî Ahmed Pasha, and of Şah Sultan, born in Amasya, also appear. The name "Râziye Kadın" that Hüsameddin quotes from the register is not seen among the prince's daughters in today's sources; this information is known thanks to the Rumeli Kazaskership register that Hüsameddin used.
Where and How He Was Killed
On Ahmed Pasha's death there is a discrepancy between different places in Hüsameddin's own book. This entry writes that Ahmed Pasha remained in Amasya as governor's deputy when the prince set out on campaign and was executed in Amasya after the prince's death. In Güler's thesis, however, relying on the section of the Amasya Tarihi that tells of Prince Mustafa, it is related that the prince's mirahur Mahmud Ağa and his son-in-law Ahmed Pasha were killed "right there," that is, in the camp, because of Rüstem Pasha's grudge. The same thesis also notes that this source contains inconsistencies, such as presenting Kara Ahmed Pasha as Rüstem's brother, and therefore must be used with caution. The reader must be careful at this point: the prince's son-in-law Ahmed Pasha of Bosnia and Kara Ahmed Pasha, who became grand vizier after the prince's death and was suddenly executed on 13 Dhu al-Qa'da 962 [29 September 1555], are different persons. Kara Ahmed Pasha was married to Fatma Sultan, sister of Süleyman the Magnificent; that both pashas' wives were named Fatma has led to the two men often being confused.
Prince Mustafa himself was killed on 27 Shawwal 960 [6 October 1553] at the Aktepe camp near Konya Ereğlisi, and his mirahur and some of his men were slain after him.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 144–144. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Semra Güler, Şehzade Mustafa'nın Hayatı (1515-1553) ve Türbesi, master's thesis, Uludağ University Institute of Social Sciences, Bursa 2011.
- Şerafettin Turan, "Mustafa Çelebi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 31, Ankara 2020, p. 290-292. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mustafa-celebi
- Feridun Emecen, "Kara Ahmed Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 24, Istanbul 2001, p. 357-358. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kara-ahmed-pasa
Other sources