Amasyalıdır. Eski Kethüdâ Mahallesi eşrâfından Hacı Efendizâde el-Hâc Şeyhi Mehmed Ağa bin Sarı Mehmed Ağa’nın mahdûmu⁶⁴ olup akrabâsından Hacı Efendizâde Ömer Paşa dâ’iresinde terbiye gördü.
1092’de Ömer Paşa’nın kethüdâsı olan amcası el-Hâc Mustafa Ağa’nın vefâtında kapı kethüdâsı olup⁶⁵ 1095’de Paşa’nın Bağdâd’dan azlinde Bağdâd nüzul emini, sonra Basra mütesellimi oldu.
1098’de Ömer Paşa tekrar Vali-i Bağdâd oldukta yine kapu kethüdâsı, 1101’de Halep muhassılı⁶⁶ oldu. 1103’de [582] Bağdâd vâlîsi Diyârbekirli Bazargân Ahmed Paşa’nın vefâtında hutta-i Irakiyye’nin umûr-ı ahvâline vâkıf olduğu cihetle sene-i mezbûre şevvâlinde rütbe-i vezâretle Bağdâd vâlîsi oldu.
1104’de Müntefik Sancağı Şeyhi Emîr Mani’ hükümete karşı serkeşâne harekâtından dolayı te’dîbine me’mûren gidip harbde muvaffak olamadı. Avdetde buna fevkalâde merak eylediğinden hastalanıp 1105 senesi cumâdelûlâsının beşinci günü vefât etdi. İmâm-ı azâm kurbunda medfûndur. Müdebbir, şedidü’ş-şekîme, kerîm bir zât idi. Mahdûmları Abdulbaki, Ömer Beylerdir.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He was the son of Hacı Efendizâde el-Hâc Şeyhi Mehmed Ağa, son of Sarı Mehmed Ağa, one of the notables of the old Kethüdâ quarter. He was raised in the mansion of his kinsman Hacı Efendizâde Ömer Pasha.
In 1092 [1681-82], on the death of his uncle el-Hâc Mustafa Ağa, who had been Ömer Pasha's kethüda, he became kapı kethüdası. In 1095 [1683-84], when the pasha was dismissed from Baghdad, he became nüzul emini of Baghdad, then mütesellim of Basra.
In 1098 [1686-87], when Ömer Pasha became governor of Baghdad again, he again became kapı kethüdası, and in 1101 [1689-90] muhassıl of Aleppo. In 1103 [1691-92], on the death of the governor of Baghdad, Diyarbekirli Bazargân Ahmed Pasha, because he knew the affairs of the Iraq region, he became governor of Baghdad with the rank of vizier in the month of Şevval of the same year.
In 1104 [1692-93] he was charged and went to punish Emîr Mani', sheikh of the Müntefik Sanjak, for his rebellious conduct against the government, but he did not succeed in the battle. On the return he was so deeply grieved by this that he fell ill and died on the fifth day of Cemâziyelevvel 1105. He is buried near the Imam-ı Âzam. He was a prudent, hard-tempered, generous man. His sons were Abdülbâki and Ömer Bey.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- eşrâf: the notables, the persons of standing of a place
- kapı kethüdâsı: the official who ran a pasha's affairs in Istanbul and represented him at the Divan
- nüzul emini: the official responsible for procuring the provisions and supplies needed by the army and by troops encamped
- mütesellim: a deputy who administered a sanjak or a city on behalf of the governor
- muhassıl: the administrator charged with collecting a region's taxes
- vâlî: provincial governor
- sene-i mezbûre: the year mentioned
- serkeşâne harekât: defiant, rebellious conduct
- te'dîb: punishment, teaching a lesson
- müdebbir: prudent, one who knows his business
- şedîdü'ş-şekîme: hard-tempered, one whose word and hand are heavy
The Baghdad Service of an Amasya Family
The rise of the person in the entry is told from beginning to end as a career tied to the door of his kinsman Ömer Pasha. First he is raised in the pasha's mansion; he takes over the post of kethüda when his uncle, Ömer Pasha's kethüda, dies; when the pasha is dismissed from Baghdad he works in Baghdad and Basra as deputy; when the pasha becomes governor again, he is once more at his side. In Ottoman administration it was the normal order for a pasha's relatives, slaves and clerks to move with him. The entry shows how this order worked through an Amasya family. His knowledge of Iraqi affairs is cited as the reason that made him governor directly in 1103.
Ahmed Pasha's governorship was short. According to Hüsameddin, his campaign against Emîr Mani', sheikh of the Müntefik Sanjak, was fruitless, and on the return the pasha fell ill from grief and died. Cemâziyelevvel 1105 is given as the date of death. The exact sequence of the governorship of Baghdad in these years, the details of the campaign, and the name of Bazargân Ahmed Pasha could not be verified in other sources; this information appears above only as Hüsameddin relates it.
The Same Family Circle
In the records Hüsameddin gives, the name of the Hacı Efendizâde family appears elsewhere as well. According to the encyclopedia entry written on Kavanoz Ahmed Pasha, Hüsameddin recorded this grand vizier's Russian-born father as the son-in-law of Hacı Efendizâde Sarı Mehmed Ağa of Amasya. The father of Şeyhi Mehmed Ağa in this entry is also named Sarı Mehmed Ağa. That they are the same person cannot be concluded with certainty from the text, but the name and surname suggest that these two records point to the same notable circle of Amasya.
From the Footnotes
Hüsameddin states that the information that Ahmed Pasha was the "son of Şeyhi Mehmed Ağa" is written thus in the court register, and regards his being called "Ahıshalı" in the Silâhdar Târihi as the scribe's mistake. A record concerning a treasury debt during his time as kapı kethüdası is also given in a footnote: it is written in the financial borrowing register in the Mahzen-i Evrak that in Ramazan 1094 [August-September 1683] Ahmed Ağa, kapı kethüdası of Ömer Pasha, borrowed from the treasury, the total being 300,000 + 258,540 = 558,540. In the footnote on the Aleppo muhassıllık, it is reported that the entry "Ahmed Mehmed Amasya, muhassıl of Aleppo" was seen in a mukataat register of 1101.
Bibliography
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 181–182. amasya.bel.tr