Amasyalıdır. Hacı Feyzullah Mehmed Ağa bin el-Hâc Feyzullah Efendi bin İsmâil Efendi’nin mahdûmudur.⁷¹ Genç bir yeniçeri iken Çorlulu Ali Paşa’ya 1112’de silahdârlığında intisâb ederek müşârün-ileyhe kendisini beğendirdi. Sonra teveccüh ve itimâdını kazanıp 1118’de Paşa sadr-ı ‘azâm oldukta hazinedârı ⁷² ve ba’dehû [623] dâmâdı oldu. 1123’de paşanın vefâtında Amasyalı Kapıcızâde el-Hâc Ahmed Paşa’nın dâiresine intisâb edib 1125’de Hacı Ahmed Paşa’nın İstanbul kâim-makâmlığında silâhdar ağası ve kapıcıbaşı oldu. 1131’de Kamâme Kilisesinin tamirine mübâşir ve nâzır olup Kudüs-i şerîfe gitdi.
1132’de avdet edib gurebâ-yı yesâr bölük ağası ba’dehû gurebâ-yı yemîn ağası oldu. Bu esnâda Şehzâde Sultân Mahmûd’a gizlice intisâb ederek müşârün-ileyhin teveccühâtını kazandı. 1143 senesi rebîülevvelinde sultân-ı müşârün-ileyhin cülûsu ile ikbâli parladı. Uhdesindeki semen-i hisse-i ferâşeti sultân-ı müşârün-ileyhe teberrüken ferâgat etdi. ⁷³
1143 senesi cumâdelûlâsında Başbâkî kulu, recebinde çavuşbaşı olup, 1144 senesi rebîülevvelinde Topal Osmân Paşa’nın sadâretinde kethüdâ-i sadr-ı âlî oldu. Ancak Hâkimzâde Ali Paşa, sene-i mezbûrenin ramazânında sadr-ı a’zam oldukta zilka’desinde infisâl eylediyse de 1145 senesi şa’bânında ikinci defa kethüdâ-i sadr-ı âlî oldu.⁷⁴ [624]
1148 senesi muharreminde vezâretle şeyhü’l-harem ve Cidde vâlîsi olup Hicâz kıt’asına gitdi. 1148’de Mekke-i mükerremede mücâvir olan Amasyalı el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi’nin vazife-i yevmiyesini otuz para zam ile altmış paraya çıkardı.⁷⁵ 1149 senesi zilhiccesinde menâsik-i haccı ba’de’l-îfâ, 1150 senesi muharreminde Mekke-i mükerremede vefât etdi. Müdebbir, âl-i himmet, basiret-kâr idi.
Beyoğlu’nda Hüseyin Ağa Mahallesi’nde bir çeşmesi olup mahdûmları el-Hâc Ali Paşa ile ricâlden Feyzullah, Veliyüddîn, İsmâil Beylerdir. Kethûdası da Amasyalı Hacı Feyzullahzâde el-Hâc Hüseyin Ağa bin İsmâil Efendi bin el-Hâc Feyzullah Efendi idi. Bunun sâye-i ikbâlinde Amasya’da Hacı Feyzullahzâde sülâlesi temâyüz etdi.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya, son of Hacı Feyzullah Mehmed Ağa; Mehmed Ağa was the son of Hacı Feyzullah Efendi, who was the son of İsmâil Efendi. As a young janissary in 1112 [1700-01], during Çorlulu Ali Pasha's term as silahdar, he attached himself to him and won his favor. Then he gained the Pasha's attention and trust; when the Pasha became grand vizier in 1118 [1706-07], he became his hazinedar (treasurer) and later his son-in-law. On the Pasha's death in 1123 [1711] he entered the circle of Hacı Ahmed Pasha Kapıcızâde of Amasya. In 1125 [1713], during Hacı Ahmed Pasha's term as kaymakam of Istanbul, he became silahdar ağa and kapıcıbaşı (head of palace gatekeepers). In 1131 [1718-19] he was appointed overseer and inspector for the repair of the Church of the Resurrection (Kıyame, Kamâme) and went to Jerusalem.
Returning in 1132 [1719-20], he became ağa of the gurebâ-yı yesâr (left-hand garips) company, then ağa of the gurebâ-yı yemîn (right-hand garips). During this time he secretly attached himself to Prince Sultan Mahmûd and won his favor. His fortune rose when the said sultan came to the throne in Rebîülevvel 1143 [1730-31]. He gave up the value of the ferâşet share he held as a gift to the said sultan.
In Cumâdelûlâ 1143 he became Başbâkî kulu, and in Receb çavuşbaşı. In Rebîülevvel 1144 [1731-32], during Topal Osmân Pasha's term as grand vizier, he became the grand vizier's kethüda. But when Hâkimzâde Ali Pasha became grand vizier in Ramazan of the same year, he left office in Zilkade; even so, in Şa'bân 1145 [1732-33] he became the grand vizier's kethüda for a second time.
In Muharrem 1148 [1735-36] he became şeyhülharem and governor of Jeddah with the rank of vizier and went to the Hejaz. In 1148 he raised the daily allowance of Hacı Ahmed Efendi of Amasya, who was living in Mecca as a neighbor (mücavir), by thirty para, to sixty para. After completing the pilgrimage rites in Zilhicce 1149 [1736-37], he died in Mecca in Muharrem 1150 [1737-38]. He was prudent, zealous and farsighted.
He has a fountain in the Hüseyin Ağa quarter of Beyoğlu in Istanbul. His sons are Hacı Ali Pasha and, among the statesmen, Feyzullah, Veliyüddîn and İsmâil Beys. His kethüda was Hacı Feyzullahzâde Hacı Hüseyin Ağa of Amasya, the son of İsmâil Efendi, who was the son of Hacı Feyzullah Efendi. Through his influence the Hacı Feyzullahzâde lineage rose to prominence in Amasya.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- intisâb etmek: to attach oneself, to come under someone's patronage
- müşârün-ileyh: the said, the person mentioned
- silahdâr: official who carried arms and served in close attendance on his master
- hazinedâr: treasury official, one who looks after financial affairs
- kâim-makâm: kaymakam, deputy
- kapıcıbaşı: head of the palace gatekeepers
- mübâşir ve nâzır: official who starts and carries out a work, and the inspector
- gurebâ bölükleri: companies of the kapıkulu cavalry; "yesâr" means left, "yemîn" right
- cülûs: accession of the sultan to the throne
- ikbâl: good fortune, rise
- ferâşet: a term for a share of revenue found in the source; its exact meaning could not be verified
- kethüdâ-i sadr-ı âlî: the grand vizier's kethüda, that is, his steward and closest assistant
- infisâl: leaving office
- şeyhülharem: title of a senior official concerned with the administration of the Haram-i şerif in the Hejaz
- mücâvir: one who has settled in the holy city as a neighbor, that is, for study or worship
- vazife-i yevmiye: daily allowance
- menâsik-i hac: the duties of the pilgrimage
- müdebbir, basiret-kâr: prudent, farsighted
Rise in the Circle of Çorlulu Ali Pasha
Hüsameddin ties this man's rise to Çorlulu Ali Pasha. According to the encyclopedia entry, Çorlulu Ali Pasha was appointed silahdar on 15 October 1700; this date corresponds to the year 1112 in the text. The same entry has Ali Pasha become grand vizier on 3 May 1706, be dismissed in June 1710, and be exiled to Midilli and executed on 26 December 1711 (16 Zilkade 1123). The dates 1118 and 1123 in the text agree with this record. Çorlulu Ali Pasha married Emine Sultan, daughter of Mustafa II, in 1708; no other record was found explaining on which marriage Hüsameddin's "became his son-in-law" rests.
Hüsameddin's word "hazinedâr" is supported in a footnote by a waqf document: in the waqf deeds of Çorlulu Ali Pasha is written "the grand vizier's hazinedar Ahmed Ağa bin Mehmed". The author infers that this man was from Amasya from a note, "Hacı Feyzullahzâde Gül Ahmed Ağa", written over the entry "Ahmed Mehmed Amasya" in the janissary register in the Hagia Sophia vault; in the ferâşet register too the man appears as "Amasyavî Ahmed Ağa". These footnotes show the source of the epithet "Gül" in the entry's title.
Sultan Mahmud's Accession and the Kethüda Post
Rebîülevvel of the year 1143 in the text corresponds to the autumn of 1730, when Mahmud I came to the throne. Topal Osmân Pasha's grand vizierate, according to the encyclopedia entry, began on 10 September 1731 and lasted about six months; this agrees with the Rebîülevvel 1144 date in the text. The encyclopedia entry states that this grand vizier was of Morean origin, the son of Bekir Ağa. It therefore cannot be said that this Topal Osmân Pasha and the Köprülü Topaloğlu Osmân Pasha of entry 638 are the same person.
Footnote 74 explains why the first term as kethüda was short and why he was then reappointed. According to it, the grand vizier Hâkimzâde Ali Pasha was on bad terms with this man, called "sahibi terceme" (the subject of the biography), because of reproach he had received from the man's father-in-law Çorlulu Ali Pasha; after coming to Istanbul he had him dismissed. The sultan, however, found his kethüdaship fitting despite Ali Pasha. This explanation by the author shows the favor the sultan showed him.
The giving up of the ferâşet share is also supported by a footnote. In the entry in the ferâşet register, the person who ceded this right to Sultan Mahmud is written as "Ahmed Ağa of Amasya, kapıcıbaşı of the Dergâh-ı Âli". Read together with the "secret attachment" in the text, it is clear that Hüsameddin ties this rise to a personal closeness formed with the sultan.
The Governorship of Jeddah and a Fellow Townsman in Mecca
According to a footnote taken from the Hejaz register, Ahmed Pasha, governor of Jeddah and şeyhülharem with the rank of vizier, raised the daily allowance of Hacı Ahmed Efendi of Amasya, who was in Mecca, by thirty para to sixty, because he was his fellow townsman, in a record dated 22 Zilhicce 1148. This Hacı Ahmed Efendi is also mentioned in entry 635 of the book: a scholar who taught in Mecca and later became müderris of the Süleymaniyye and mufti of the Hanafis. Hüsameddin relies on the same Hejaz registers in both entries. A governor's granting a stipend to a scholar from his own homeland is a concrete example of people from the provinces looking after one another in distant centers.
The entry gathers Ahmed Pasha's reflection on Amasya in its last sentence: through the influence of his kethüda Hacı Feyzullahzâde Hacı Hüseyin Ağa, the Hacı Feyzullahzâde family rose to prominence in Amasya. No information on Ahmed Pasha's fountain in Beyoğlu, his sons, or the later fortunes of his family was found in other sources.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 194–194. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies