Amasyalıdır. Devâtdâr Ahmed Paşa evlâdından olup Amasya’da mescid-i şerîfi ve mahallesi olan el-Hâc Hamza Bey bin Ahmed Bey’in mahdûmudur. Amasya’da tahsîl-i ma’ârif edib Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî’ye intisâb etdi.
882’de Tâcî Bey’in Bağdâd’a firârında sultân-ı müşârün-ileyhe nişâncı olup 886’da Bâyezîd-i Sânî taht-ı Osmânîye cülûs etdikde İstanbul’a gidip ba’zı emânetlerde istihdâm edilerek 893’de Kara Dâvud Paşa’nın azlinde nişâncı olduğu evrâk-ı resmîyede görüldü.
898’de tanzîm edilen Sultân Bâyezîd’in Edirne vakfiyesinde nişâncı olarak görülüp 899’da vezîr ve kubbe-nişîn oldukta selefi kendisine halef oldu. 903’de Candarlızâde İbrâhim Paşa sadr-ı a’zam oldukta ma’zûl ve ba’dehû merhûm oldu.
Âlim, kâtip, hattât idi. Birâderleri el-Hâc [395] Îsâ, Kâsım, Mahmûd Beylerdir. 882’de bu birâderleri ile beraber müştereken pederlerinin vakfiyesini tanzîm ve evkâfını tesbît etdirdi. 903’de pederinin mescid-i mesâlihine kendi emlâkini vakfetmişdi. Vakfiyesinde “el-vezîrü’l-kebîr Ahmed Paşa bin Hamza et-Tevki’î” yazılıdır.
Şâyân-ı dikkatdir ki 903’de dîvân-ı hümâyûnda vezîr olan Fenârîzâde Ahmed Paşa da azledilerek Bursa’ya gönderilmiş ve yerine Hersekzâde Ahmed Paşa vezîr olmuş idi. Bunlar evrâk u kuyûd-ı resmîyeden anlaşıldı. Hacı Hamza Bey’le Ahmed Paşa’nın vakfiyeleri mütevellileri elinde görüldü. Bunlar kuyûd-ı vakfiye idâresinde müseccel değildir.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He is a descendant of Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha; he was the son of el-Hâc Hamza Bey, son of Ahmed Bey, who has a mescit and a quarter in Amasya bearing his name. After completing his education in Amasya he entered the service of Sultan Bayezid II.
In 882 [1477-78], when Tâcî Bey fled to Baghdad, he became nişancı of Bayezid, who was then a prince. When Bayezid II ascended the Ottoman throne in 886 [1481], he went to Istanbul and was employed in various duties. From official documents it has been seen that in 893 [1487-88], on the dismissal of Kara Dâvud Pasha, he became nişancı.
In the Edirne waqf deed of Sultan Bayezid drawn up in 898 [1492-93], he is seen as nişancı. In 899 [1493-94], when he became vizier and vizier of the dome, the person who had been nişancı before him again became nişancı in his place. In 903 [1497-98], when Candarlızâde İbrâhim Pasha became grand vizier, he was dismissed from office, and after some time he died.
He was a scholar, scribe, and calligrapher. His brothers are el-Hâc Îsâ, Kâsım, and Mahmûd Bey. In 882, together with these brothers, he had their father's waqf deed jointly drawn up and the waqf properties registered. In 903 he had endowed his own properties for the expenses of the mescit built by his father. In his waqf deed his name is written as "el-vezîrü'l-kebîr Ahmed Paşa bin Hamza et-Tevkîî" (the great vizier, Ahmed Pasha, son of the nişancı Hamza).
A noteworthy point is this: in 903, Fenârîzâde Ahmed Pasha, who was vizier in the Imperial Council, was also dismissed and sent to Bursa, and Hersekzâde Ahmed Pasha became vizier in his place. These were understood from official documents and records. The waqf deeds of Hacı Hamza Bey and of Ahmed Pasha were seen in the hands of the waqfs' mütevellis. These waqf deeds are not registered in the records of the waqf administration.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- tahsîl-i ma'ârif: receiving an education
- intisâb etmek: to enter someone's service or retinue
- firâr: fleeing
- sultân-ı müşârün-ileyh: the aforementioned sultan
- nişâncı: the high official, a member of the Imperial Council, who draws the sultan's tuğra on documents
- tevkîî: nişancı; one who draws the tuğra
- taht-ı Osmânî'ye cülûs: accession to the Ottoman throne
- emânet: here, looking after an office as a deputy
- azl: dismissal; ma'zûl: dismissed
- kubbe-nişîn: the vizier who sits under the dome in the Imperial Council, vizier of the dome
- selef / halef: predecessor / successor in office
- sadr-ı a'zam: grand vizier, vezîriâzam
- ba'dehû: after that
- merhûm olmak: to die
- mescid-i mesâlih: the upkeep and expenses of the mescit
- evrâk u kuyûd-ı resmîye: official documents and records
- müseccel: registered
The Office of Nişancı
The nişancı was a high official, one of the principal members of the Imperial Council, who drew the sultan's tuğra on documents such as edicts, berats, and letters. In the sources he is also called tuğraî, muvakkı', and tevkîî; the epithet "et-Tevkîî" in Ahmed Pasha's waqf deed indicates this office. According to the Law Code of Mehmed the Conqueror, the nişancılık was the greatest office of the central administration after the vizierate, the kazaskerlik, and the başdefterdarlık. As Erhan Afyoncu notes, until the beginning of the sixteenth century nişancıs were chosen not from among professional scribes but from members of the learned class strong in composition (inşâ). Hüsameddin's introducing Ahmed Pasha as an educated "scholar, scribe, calligrapher" from Amasya fits this general picture. There were also cases where the nişancılık was combined with the vizierate of the dome and given to a single person; Ahmed Pasha's passing from nişancılık to the vizierate of the dome is an example of such a rise.
Comparing the Dates with Other Sources
The chronology Hüsameddin gives largely agrees with the information in other sources, but there are differences on some points. In some sources the nişancılık of Kara Nişancı Dâvud Pasha is placed in 1493. According to Hüsameddin, Ahmed became nişancı in 893 in place of Dâvud Pasha, and when he rose to the vizierate in 899 his "predecessor" returned to the nişancılık. Since the year 899 began in autumn 1493, Dâvud Pasha's second nişancılık and the date 1493 in these sources match each other. Dâvud Pasha was later appointed kaptan-ı derya and died in 1505.
The change of grand vizier that led to Ahmed Pasha's dismissal is dated somewhat differently in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. According to Şerafettin Turan, Hersekzâde Ahmed Pasha became grand vizier in place of Dâvud Pasha in Şevval 902 [June 1497]; this first grand vizierate lasted a year, and in 904 [1498] Çandarlı İbrâhim Pasha was put in his place. Hüsameddin places this change in 903; the difference is a few months. According to the same information Hersekzâde was already grand vizier in 1497. In this case Hüsameddin's record that "in 903 Hersekzâde became vizier in place of Fenârîzâde Ahmed Pasha" cannot be verified by other sources. No vizier bearing the name Fenârîzâde Ahmed Pasha who was dismissed and sent to Bursa in these years was found either. The famous vizier sent to Bursa is the poet Ahmed Pasha, who fell from favor in the time of Mehmed the Conqueror; he too was the son of Veliyyüddin Efendi, not a Fenârîzâde, and died in Bursa in 902 [1496-97].
The Tâcî Bey that Hüsameddin mentions must be Tâcî Bey, father of the poet and calligrapher Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi, who served as defterdar of Prince Bayezid in Amasya. Studies based on the tezkires give his death date as 890 [1485]. The information that Tâcî Bey fled to Baghdad in 882 could not be found in other sources.
Family and Waqfs
Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha, mentioned as Ahmed Pasha's ancestor, is the emir of Amasya whom Hüsameddin elsewhere in the work calls "Hacı Şâdgeldi Paşazâde." Hacı Şâdgeldi ruled Amasya from 1359 until his death in 1381 and was succeeded by his son Fahreddin Ahmed; it is understood that Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha is this Fahreddin Ahmed. Thus the nişancı Ahmed Pasha becomes an example of the families descended from the pre-Ottoman emirs of Amasya who rose to the vizierate in the Ottoman divan.
An important part of the information Hüsameddin gives rests on waqf deeds that were not entered in the records of the waqf administration and remained in the hands of the mütevellis. The mescit and quarter bearing the name of his father Hacı Hamza Bey appear in other volumes of the work as well. No separate biography of Ahmed Pasha was found in other sources.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 125–126. amasya.bel.tr
- "Kara Nişancı Davud Paşa", Vikipedi (based on Mehmed Süreyya, Sicill-i Osmanî, II, 324). https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_Nişancı_Davud_Paşa
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 6-8, e-book p. 107, 120. https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/6-8/files/basic-html/page120.html
Academic studies
Books
Other sources