Menoborludur. Neslen Arnavut olup Menobor şehri dükasının ya’nî beyinin oğludur. Birâderi ile beraber kaçıp İstanbul’a geldikleri esnâda şeref-i İslâm ile müşerref olup adları “Ahmed”, “Mahmûd” kondu. Her ikisi de Enderûn-ı hümâyûna alındı. Gâyet güzellerdi.
Birâderi Mahmûd Bey’in irtihâlinde terakkî ederek Mîrâhûr-ı şehriyârî ve buradan 916’da Yeniçeri ağası oldu. 917’de Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed’in cülûsuna mâni olarak Sultân Selîm’e hizmet etdiğinden 918’de Sultân-ı müşârün-ileyhin cülûsunda vezîr-i sânî oldu. 920’de sadâret kâim-makâmı olarak İran harbine gitdi. Erzurum sahrasında yeniçerilerin uygunsuz hareketleri kendisinden bilindi. Muhârebeden sonra Sultân Selîm Hân’ın maiyyetinde Amasya’ya geldi.
921 senesi muharreminin yirmi sekizinci günü yeniçerilerin Kazasker Ca’fer ve Muallim-i Sultânî Hilmî Çelebilerle Pîrî Paşa’nın hânelerini yağmaya cesâret etmeleri Sultân Selîme pek girân geldi.
Esbâbını tahkîk ederek Ahmed Paşa’nın Pîrî Paşa’yı istirkâbından neş’et etdiği anlaşılmakla 921 senesi saferinin gurresinde yeniçeri kul kethüdâsı Hasan Ağa ile beraber salben i’dâm edildi.
Ahmed Paşa’nın cesedi, sabahdan akşama kadar sehpada kalıp teaffün edecek bir hâle geldi. Akşamdan sonra indirilip Aşağı Pirler civârında Kemal Paşa türbesine defnedildi. Âlim, müdebbir bir vezîr ise de vezâret hırsına mağlup olduğundan başını belâya soktu. Mahdûmu Mehmed Paşa’dır. Diğeri de Osmân Bey’dir.
In Modern English
He was from Menobor. By descent he was an Albanian, the son of the duka, that is, the bey, of the city of Menobor. When he and his brother fled and came to Istanbul, they were honored with becoming Muslims and were given the names "Ahmed" and "Mahmûd." Both were taken into the Enderûn-ı Hümâyun, the inner school of the sultan's palace. Both were extremely handsome youths.
When his brother Mahmûd Bey died, he rose to become the sultan's mirahur (head of the palace stables), and from there in 916 [1510-11] became Janissary agha. In 917 [1511-12], because he served Sultan Selim by preventing Prince Sultan Ahmed from taking the throne, on the said sultan's accession in 918 [1512] he became second vizier. In 920 [1514] he went to the Iranian war as sadaret kaymakamı (deputy of the grand vizier). The improper conduct of the Janissaries on the plain of Erzurum was attributed to him. After the war he came to Amasya in the retinue of Sultan Selim Khan.
On the twenty-eighth day of Muharrem 921 the Janissaries' daring to plunder the houses of the Kazasker Ca'fer Çelebi, of the sultan's teacher Hilmî Çelebi, and of Pîrî Pasha weighed very heavily on Sultan Selim.
When the sultan had the causes of the affair investigated, it was understood that the incident arose from Ahmed Pasha's envy of Pîrî Pasha. Thereupon Ahmed Pasha, on the first day of Safer 921 [March 1515], was executed by hanging together with the Janissary kul kethüdası Hasan Ağa.
Ahmed Pasha's body remained on the gallows from morning to evening and began to stink. After evening it was taken down and buried in the tomb of Kemal Pasha near Aşağı Pirler. He was a knowledgeable and prudent vizier; but because he was overcome by ambition for the vizierate, he brought trouble on his own head. His son is Mehmed Pasha. Another is Osman Bey.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- neslen: by descent, in terms of lineage
- şeref-i İslâm ile müşerref olmak: to become a Muslim
- Enderûn-ı hümâyun: the inner part of the palace; the palace school that trained statesmen
- irtihâl: death, passing from this world
- terakkî: rising, advancement
- mîrâhûr-ı şehriyârî: the sultan's master of the stables
- cülûs: accession to the throne
- vezîr-i sânî: the second vizier
- sadâret kâim-makâmı: deputy of the grand vizier
- girân gelmek: to weigh heavily, to vex
- istirkâb: regarding as a rival, envy
- gurre: the first day of the month
- salben i'dâm: execution by hanging
- teaffün: putrefaction
- müdebbir: prudent, capable in affairs
- mahdûm: son
The Rise of an Albanian Prince's Son in the Palace
Dukakinzâde Ahmed Pasha belongs to one of the influential families of Albania. When his grandfather founded a principality in the region of Shkodër he took the title "duka"; in the Ottoman sources this name appears in the form "Duka-Gin" and later became the common name of the family; the name "Dukakinzâde" or "Dukakinoğlu" comes from this. The person Hüsameddin calls "the duka of the city of Menobor" must be a bey of this family; what place the name Menobor corresponds to today is not explained in other sources. The information that Ahmed became a Muslim together with his brother and was taken into the palace agrees with present-day research. Only the brother's name is given as Mahmûd in Hüsameddin, but as Mehmed in the encyclopedia entry by Abdülkadir Özcan. Their becoming Muslims is placed in the time of Bayezid II, or, according to one account, in the time of Mehmed the Conqueror. Some sources record Ahmed's birth name as Progon.
Hüsameddin makes him Janissary agha in 916. Present-day sources, however, narrate his rise through other steps: trained in the Enderun, he became a timar-holding sipahi, took part in the Ottoman-Mamluk war of Bayezid II's time as sanjak bey of Ankara, and in 1511 became beylerbeyi of Anatolia. His taking Selim's side in the struggle for the throne among the princes is common to both accounts. It is related that he commanded the vanguard forces sent against Prince Ahmed, that according to one account he personally captured the prince, and according to another that he rejected the prince's offer of the vizierate.
The Çaldıran Campaign and the Winter in Amasya
At the Battle of Çaldıran (23 August 1514) he was at the sultan's side in the center as second vizier, and after the victory he was sent to Tabriz with about five hundred kapıkulu soldiers together with the Defterdar Pîrî Mehmed Çelebi and the historian İdrîs-i Bitlisî. His duty was to guard Shah İsmâil's treasury and to pacify the people. On the way back, when the Janissaries rebelled once more, he and Grand Vizier Hersekzâde Ahmed Pasha were dismissed, according to an old Turkish custom, by having their tents brought down over their heads. Not long after, on 18 December 1514, Selim the Grim made Dukakinzâde grand vizier. Hüsameddin's expression "sadaret kaymakamı" reflects this confused period; present-day sources count him as directly grand vizier for a short time.
The sultan wanted to spend the winter in Amasya and continue the Iranian campaign in the spring. In the mutiny that began with the Janissaries' wish to return to Istanbul, the houses of Vizier Pîrî Mehmed Pasha, of the sultan's teacher Halîmî Çelebi, and of Kazasker Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi were stormed and plundered. The person Hüsameddin calls "Hilmî Çelebi" is this teacher who appears in the sources under the name Halîmî Çelebi. In the investigation that was carried out it was understood that Dukakinzâde was behind the mutiny. As another reason for his death, his correspondence with Dulkadiroğlu Alâüddevle is also cited. The historian Peçuylu İbrâhim also accuses him of incompetence and of envying Pîrî Mehmed Pasha's vizierate; Hüsameddin's words "envy of Pîrî Pasha" agree with this judgment.
Differences over the Date and Manner of Execution
Hüsameddin places the plundering on 28 Muharrem 921 and the execution on 1 Safer 921. Present-day records based on Haydar Çelebi's Rûznâme, however, give the date of death as 18 Muharrem 921 (4 March 1515); research on Câfer Çelebi also notes that the houses were stormed on 8 Muharrem 921 (22 February 1515) and that the grand vizier was killed ten days later. Thus Hüsameddin's dates fall about two weeks later. The manner of the execution is also told differently: Hüsameddin writes that he was hanged and that the body remained on the gallows until evening; the encyclopedia entry says that the sultan first beat him, wounded him with a sword, and then had him killed; some sources also relate that after wounding him with his dagger Selim had the eunuchs beside him cut off his head. Which account is correct is not known with certainty today.
On the place of burial, the sources confirm Hüsameddin: Dukakinzâde's body was buried in the tomb in Amasya of Kemal Pasha, grandfather of İbn Kemal. In the same volume, in the entry on Kemalpaşazâde, Hüsameddin describes the location of this tomb as the west side of the Yakub Pasha Mosque north of the sultan's palace. His grand vizierate lasted about two and a half months.
His Family and Descendants
Ahmed Pasha married first Ayşe Hanım Sultan, a granddaughter of Bayezid II, and then a daughter of Selim the Grim. Although his property was confiscated, he had charitable works and waqfs. His son Mehmed Pasha, whom Hüsameddin mentions, served in the time of Süleyman the Magnificent as beylerbeyi of Semendire, Egypt, and Aleppo. Osman Bey, however, appears in present-day sources not as Ahmed Pasha's son but as Mehmed Pasha's son, that is, his grandson; he was a scholar who served as müderris and as kadı of Egypt and Istanbul. Hüsameddin's words "another is Osmân Bey" need correcting in this respect. The famous divan poet Taşlıcalı Yahyâ Bey and the poet Dukakinzâde Ahmed Bey are also grandsons of this family.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 129–129. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Other sources