Amasyalıdır.⁷⁸ Amasya’nın şarkı şimâlisinde kâin, Zana, Zânâ karyesi eşrâfından Kara Ca’feroğlu Ca’fer Ağa bin Veli Ağa bin Ca’fer Ağa’nın mahdûmu ve Mirza Ali Paşa ile Zülfikar Ağa’nın liebin birâderidir.
Ceddi Ahıska Ağası olup giderken Erzurum’a vusûlünde 1093’de vefât eden Amasyalı Veli Ağa’dır.⁷⁹ Pederi de Antalyalı Osmân Ağa’nın kethüdâlığından Foça Kazâsı voyvadası olduğu halde 1129’da vefât eden Ca’fer Ağa’dır. Kendisi Amasya’da takriben 1106’da doğdu. Foça’da büyüdü.
Pederinin Antalyalı Osmân Ağa kethüdâsı olduğu esnâda Osmân Ağazâde İsmâil Efendi ile beraber çalışıp hattât-ı meşhûr Mirahûr Câmii imâmı Emîr es-Seyyid Abdullah ve Fındıkzâde İbrâhim Efendilerden hutût-ı mütenevvi’ayı ahz ü temeşşuk etdi. [639]
1123 senesi zilka’desinde Hubyâr Mahallesi’nde ikâmet eden mezkûr Antalyalı Osmân Ağa’nın i’dâmı üzerine açıkta kalan pederi, Foça Kazası voyvodası oldukta Osmân Ağa’nın birâderi olan Gümrükçü Ebûbekir Ağa’nın hânesine nakl-i mekân ederek tahsîline devam etdi.
Ya’ni o zamanın tabiri ile Ebûbekir Ağa’nın içoğlanı oldu. Tûl-i müddet Hubyâr Mahallesi’nde ikâmet etdiği münâsebetle “Hubyârlı” ve Ebûbekir Ağa’nın hânesinde ikâmet etdiği cihetle “Antalyalı Ebûbekir Ağa’nın yeğeni” dendi.⁸⁰ Hâlbuki tevellüd itibâriyle Amasyalı ve pederinin maskat-ı re’si itibârıyla Zanalıdır.
Bu esnâda Şehzâde Sultân Mahmûd’un lalası olan Amasyalı Hâce Alizâde Osmân Ağa’nın konağına gidip gelir. Bu Osmân Ağa’dan da hayli yardımlar görür idi. Kezalik Amasyalı Yûsuf Efendizâde Abdullah Efendi’den tahsîl-i ulûm edib “Her kalemde ve bilhassa hatt-ı divânîde güzîde ve her hünerde zerr-i Ca’ferî gibi tefevvuk-ı akrân müyesser” oldu.⁸¹ [640] Müşârün-ileyhin siyâdeti ana tarafındandır. Vâlidesi sâdât-ı Hüseyniyyeden ve Amasya’nın a’yân-ı ulemâsından olup 1140 senesi zilhiccesinde Amasya’da vefât eden Atabeg müderrisi Zanalı es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi’nin kerîmesi Şerîfe Safiye Hâtun olduğu Amasya defter-i sâdâtında görüldü.⁸²
Bir müddet Bâb-ı âlîde nişân kalemine devam edib devlet umûrunu da öğrendi. 1137 senesi rebîülevvelinde efendisi olan çavuşbâşı Antalyalı el-Hâc Ebûbekir Ağa vezâretle Cidde ve Habeş vâlîsi ve şeyhü’l-harem oldukta kethüdâsı olarak Cidde’ye gidip üç defa hâc etdi.
1140 senesi muharreminde Hacı Ebûbekir Paşa Mısır vâlîsi oldukta dergâh-ı âlî kapıcıbaşılarından olup 1143 senesi rebîülevvelinde Sultân Mahmûd Hân-ı Evvel taht-ı saltanata cülûs etdikte şehzâdeliğinde lalası olan Amasyalı Osmân Ağa kapıcılar kethüdâsı olmuş ve bir yıl sonra Rumeli Beylerbeyi pâyesi ile taltîf edilmişdi.
1145’de Ebûbekir Paşa Kapudân-ı deryâ olarak İstanbul’a geldikte Lala Osmân Paşa’nın sevk ve tarifi ile malûm-ı [641] pâdişâhî olduğundan Lala Paşa’nın 1147’de vefâtı üzerine kapıcılar kethüdâsı, 1149’da çavuşbaşı oldu.
1150 senesi şa’bânında kethüdâ-yı sadr-ı âlî ve zilka’denin yirmi üçünde Sadr-ı a’zam Yeğen Mehmed Paşa serdâr-ı ekrem olup sefere me’mûr oldukta rütbe-i vezâretle sadâret kâ’im-makâmı, 1151 cumâdelâhiresinde Aydın vâlîsi ve muhassılı olduysa da zilhiccesinde rikâb-ı hümâyûn kâ’im-makâmı oldu.
1152 senesi şa’bânında nişâncı olarak teveccüh ve itimâd-ı şâhâneye mazhâr olduğuna binâ’en 1153 senesi rebiülevvelinin yirmi yedinci günü sadr-ı a’zam oldu. Yirmi üç ay kadar mevki’ini muhâfaza edebildi.
Ancak tamah, haset, irtişâ gibi hâlât ile i’timâd-ı şâhaneyi kaybetdiğinden 1155 senesi saferinin onbeşinci günü azl ve müsâdere edilerek Balık-hâne’de hapsedildi. Halefi İskeforlu es-Seyyid Hasan Paşa’nın şefa’âti ile afv buyrulup müte’âkiben Rakka vâlîsi oldu.
1156’da Rakka vilâyetinden azledildiyse de az müddet sonra [642] Sayda vâlîsi olup 1157 senesi muharreminde Şark ser-askeri ve Kars vâlîsi, zilka’desinde Halep, 1158 rebîülevvelinde Anadolu vâlîsi ve sânîyen Şark ser-askeri zilka’desinde sânîyen Halep, 1159 zilka’desinde Kandiye, zilhiccesinde sâlisen Halep vâlîsi oldu.
1160 senesi cumâdelâhiresinde Diyârbekir, zilhiccesinde Bağdâd vâlîsi, 1161 senesi rebîülevvelinde bi’l-isti’fâ İçel mutasarrıfı, ramazânın on dokuzunda Mısır vâlîsi olarak i’âdeyi itibâr etdi. 1163 senesi cumâdelûlâsında Adana, 1165 senesi şa’bânında rabi’an Halep vâlîsi olup, 1166 senesi rebîülahirinde Halep’de vefât etdi. Âlî-himmet, ma’ârif perver, müdebbir, fâzıl, muktedir bir vezîr idi. Tamah ve haseti, bir takım enderûn ağalarının sem-i şâhâneye ilkâ’atından ve irtişâsı da ma’iyyetinde bulunan kethüdâsı ve ba’zı ağalarının irtikâbâtından ibâret olduğunu hayrâtı göstermektedir.
İstanbul’da Hubyâr Mahallesi’nde Mehmed Efendi’nin mescidini yeniden yaptırıp minber vaz’ ederek câmii şerîfe tahvil ve hademesine [643] vezâ’if tahsis etdi. Şehzâde civârında Hüsambey Mescidini i’mâr ve minber vaz’ıyle câmiye tahvil edib hademesine vezâ’if verdi. Aya kapısında Ahmed Çelebi mescidini, Bandırma tekkesini müceddeden imâr etdi. Sebil ve çeşme yaptırdı. Amasya’da Pîrînçci Mahallesi’nde Dâru’l-Hadîs-i Osmân Çelebi medresesini müceddeden imâr etdi.
Mahdûmları es-Seyyid Ömer, Veli, Ca’fer Beylerdir. “Hadîkatü’l-Vüzerâ” zeylinde ve “Sicill-i Osmânî”de” 1123’de maktûl olan Osmân Ağa’nın akrabâsından Ca’fer Ağa sulbünden Foça’da tevellüd eyledi. Amcası Alâiyeli Hacı Ebûbekir Paşa’ya intisâb edib…” yazılıdır.
Hacı Ebûbekir Paşa’nın kuyûd-ı vakfiyesinde mukayyet ve müseccel vakfiyelerinde Antalyalı İbrâhim Ağa bin Hüseyin Ağa mahdûmu olduğu mûsârrahdır. Alâiyeli değildir. Birâderleri mezkûr Osmân Ağa ile tersane emini Hüseyin Ağa’dır. Bunların her ikisi de Antalyalı olup maktûldür.
Kezalik sâhib-i tercemenin pederi “Ca’fer Ağa bin Veli Ağa” olduğu da kendi vakfiyesinde ve Amasya sicillâtında mûsârrahdır. Binâ’en aleyh; es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Paşa, Hacı Ebûbekir Paşa’nın [644] ne kardeşlerinden birinin oğlu ne de hemşîrezâdesi değildir ki yeğeni olsun.
Kezalik pederi Ca’fer Ağa ne maktûl Osmân Ağa’nın akrabâsından ne de Hacı Ebûbekir Paşa’nın birâderi değildir. 1101 senesinden 1110 sâline kadar Amasya’da amcazâdesi ve kayın-pederi Zanalı es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi’nin yanında idi. Foça’da değildi. Belki maktûl Osmân Ağa’nın 1114’de çavuşbaşılığında kethüdâsı olmuşdu.
Amasya sicillâtından ve defter-i sâdâtından anlaşıldığı üzere Hubyârlı es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Paşa’nın sülâle-i nesebiyyesi şöyledir.
es-Seyyid Süleyman
Kara Ca'fer Ağa b.
bin es-Seyyîd
Mahmûd
Abdülvehhab
Şerife
İbrahim Ağa (110 Mahmûd Ağa (1111-
Veli Ağa (1093 fevtî) Fatıma[Mahmûd
fevtî) fevtî
Ağa'nın zevcesi]
Zanalı Mirzâ Bey kızı
Zanalı es-Seyyid el-Hâc
Hatice Hanım(1102
Zanalı Ca'fer Ağa Ahmed Efendi
fevtî) [Zanalı Cafer
(1129 fevtî)
Ağa'nın zevcesi] (1140 fevtî)
es-Seyyid el-Hâc
Zanalı Mirzâ Ali Paşa
Zülfikâr Ağa Ahmed Paşa ( 1166
(1152 fevtî)
fevtî)
[645] Zanalı Mirza Ali Paşa, 1151’de Selanik Beylerbeyi iken Çankırı sancağı ile cebecibaşı olarak İstanbul’a geldi ve 1152’de bu mansıbda vefât etdiği ve es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Paşa’nın birâderi olduğu, 1316’da mütâla’a ve tetkik etdiğim Selânîk Mahkemesi sicillâtında mukayyed iki kıt’a fermân-ı âlî ile müsbetdir.
Kezâlik bu Mirza Ali Paşazâde Ömer Beyle Hacı Ahmed Pâşazâde es-Seyyid Ömer Bey’in usûbet-i nesebiyye cihetinden akraba, ya’nî iki birâderin oğulları olduğu da bil-muhakeme sabît olduğuna dair olan ilâm-ı şer’i (1184) Amasya sicillâtında mevcutdur. Bu ilâm ile sadr-ı müşârün-ileyhin mu’tekası Ayşe Hânım zevci olan Ömer Bey bin Mirza Ali Paşa, o târîhte Amasya’da mübaya’acı olan es-Seyyid Ömer Bey bin es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Paşa’dan mirâsını ve vakfından hissesini almıştır.
Es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Paşa, 1150 zilka’desinde vezâretle sadâret kâ’im-makâmı oldukta Amasya kazâsını mevsıle-i Süleymaniyye derecesine is’âd etdirdiğine dâ’ir istihsâl eylediği fermân-ı padişâhî, Amasya mâhkemesi sicillâtında müsecceldir.
Kezâlik hârem kethüdâsı Amasyalı Süleyman Ağa, Kapıcılar kethüdâsı [646] Amasyalı Hacı Efendizâde el-Hâc Ebûbekir Ağa, Selâm ağası birâderi Zülfikar Ağazâde Amasyalı Mehmed Ağa’dır. Eniştesi Amasyalı Telhîsîzâde Ahmed Ağa, yeğeni de Ahmed Bey bin Zanalı Mirza Ali Paşa’dır.
Zaman-ı ikbâl ü sadâretinde pek çok Amasyalılar tefeyyüz etmişlerdi. Bunların mecmû’u sadr-ı müşârün-ileyhin Amasya’ya alâka-i tâmmesini gösteren edille-i târîhîyedendir. Amasya’da Harem Kâhyası oğulları, Selamağası oğulları, Zanalı oğulları pek meşhûrdur.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He was the son of Ca'fer Ağa, son of Kara Ca'feroğlu, who was the son of Veli Ağa, who was the son of Ca'fer Ağa, leading men of the village of Zana (Zânâ) in the northeast of Amasya; he was a full brother of Mirza Ali Pasha and Zülfikar Ağa.
His grandfather was Veli Ağa of Amasya, who, while Ağa of Akhaltsikhe, died in 1093 on reaching Erzurum on the way there. His father was Ca'fer Ağa, who died in 1129 after going from being kethüda to Osman Ağa of Antalya to being voyvoda of the district of Foça. He himself was born in Amasya around 1106. He grew up in Foça.
While his father was kethüda to Osman Ağa of Antalya, he worked together with Osman Ağazâde İsmâil Efendi and learned various kinds of script from the famous calligrapher Emîr es-Seyyid Abdullah, imam of the Mirahor Mosque, and from Fındıkzâde İbrâhim Efendi, and advanced in this field.
In Zilkade 1123, when the said Osman Ağa of Antalya, who lived in the Hubyâr quarter, was executed, his father was left without a post and became voyvoda of the district of Foça; he moved into the house of Gümrükçü Ebûbekir Ağa, Osman Ağa's brother, and continued his studies.
That is, in the idiom of the time, he became Ebûbekir Ağa's içoğlanı. Because he lived a long time in the Hubyâr quarter he was called "Hubyârlı", and because he stayed in Ebûbekir Ağa's house he was called "nephew of Ebûbekir Ağa of Antalya". Yet by birth he is of Amasya, and by the birthplace of his father he is of Zana.
During this time he used to frequent the mansion of Hâce Alizâde Osman Ağa of Amasya, who was lala (tutor) to Prince Sultan Mahmud, and received considerable help from this Osman Ağa. He also studied under Yûsuf Efendizâde Abdullah Efendi of Amasya and attained "distinction in every kalem and especially in divanî script, superiority over his peers in every art like Ca'ferî gold". The said man's sayyid status is on his mother's side. His mother is Şerife Safiye Hatun, daughter of Zanalı es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi, müderris of the Atabeg, one of the seyyids of the line of Hüseyin and one of the scholarly notables of Amasya, who died in Amasya in Zilhicce 1140; this was seen in the register of the seyyids of Amasya.
For a time he attended the nişân kalemi at the Bâb-ı âlî and learned affairs of state as well. In Rebîülevvel 1137, when his master the çavuşbaşı Antalyalı el-Hâc Ebûbekir Ağa became governor of Jeddah and Abyssinia and şeyhülharem with the rank of vizier, he went to Jeddah as his kethüda and made the pilgrimage three times.
In Muharrem 1140, when Hacı Ebûbekir Pasha became governor of Egypt, he became one of the palace kapıcıbaşıs. When Sultan Mahmud I came to the throne in Rebîülevvel 1143, Osman Ağa of Amasya, who had been his lala in his princely days, became kethüda of the kapıcıs and a year later had been rewarded with the rank of beylerbeyi of Rumelia.
In 1145, when Ebûbekir Pasha came to Istanbul as kaptan-ı derya, since through Lala Osman Pasha's guidance and introduction he was also known to the sultan, on Lala Pasha's death in 1147 he became kethüda of the kapıcıs, and in 1149 çavuşbaşı.
In Şa'ban 1150 he became kethüda of the grand vizier, and on the twenty-third of Zilkade, when the grand vizier Yeğen Mehmed Pasha became serdâr-ı ekrem and was assigned to a campaign, he became kaymakam of the grand vizierate with the rank of vizier; in Cumâdelâhire 1151 he became governor and muhassıl of Aydın, but in Zilhicce he became kaymakam of the imperial stirrup (rikâb-ı hümâyûn).
In Şa'ban 1152, as nişancı, having won the sultan's regard and trust, he became grand vizier on the twenty-seventh day of Rebîülevvel 1153. He was able to hold this office for some twenty-three months.
But having lost the sultan's trust through such things as ambition, envy and bribery, he was dismissed on the fifteenth day of Safer 1155, his property was seized, and he was imprisoned in the Balıkhane. Through the intercession of İskeforlu es-Seyyid Hasan Pasha, who took his place, he was pardoned and immediately afterward became governor of Raqqa.
Although dismissed from the province of Raqqa in 1156, he soon became governor of Sidon, and in Muharrem 1157 serdar of the East and governor of Kars, in Zilkade governor of Aleppo, in Rebîülevvel 1158 governor of Anatolia and for the second time serdar of the East, in Zilkade for the second time governor of Aleppo, in Zilkade 1159 governor of Candia, and in Zilhicce for the third time governor of Aleppo.
In Cumâdelâhire 1160 he became governor of Diyarbekir, in Zilhicce governor of Baghdad, and in Rebîülevvel 1161, resigning, mutasarrıf of İçel; on the nineteenth of Ramazan he regained his standing as governor of Egypt. In Cumâdelûlâ 1163 he became governor of Adana, and in Şa'ban 1165 governor of Aleppo for the fourth time, and he died in Aleppo in Rebîülâhir 1166. He was a vizier of high resolve, who valued learning, ran affairs well, a Fâzıl, and strong. His ambition and envy amounted to what some of the Enderûn ağas whispered into the sultan's ear, and the charge of bribery to the misdeeds of his kethüda and some ağas beside him; his pious works show this.
In Istanbul, in the Hubyâr quarter, he had the masjid of Mehmed Efendi rebuilt, put in a minbar and made it a mosque, and fixed salaries for its servants. Near Şehzâde he repaired the Hüsam Bey Masjid, put in a minbar and turned it into a mosque, and gave salaries to its servants. At the Aya gate he had the Ahmed Çelebi Masjid and the Bandırma Lodge repaired anew. He had sebils and fountains built. In Amasya he had the Dâru'l-Hadîs-i Osmân Çelebi Madrasa repaired anew in the Pîrînçci quarter.
His sons are es-Seyyid Ömer, Veli and Ca'fer Beys. In the supplement to the "Hadîkatü'l-Vüzerâ" and in the "Sicill-i Osmânî" it is written: "Born in Foça, of the line of Ca'fer Ağa, a relative of Osman Ağa who was executed in 1123. Attaching himself to his uncle Alanyalı Hacı Ebûbekir Pasha…".
In the waqf records and registered waqf deeds of Hacı Ebûbekir Pasha it is clearly written that he is the son of İbrâhim Ağa of Antalya, son of Hüseyin Ağa. He is not of Alanya. His brothers are the said Osman Ağa and the arsenal emin Hüseyin Ağa. Both of these were of Antalya and were killed.
In the same way it is clearly written in his own waqf deed and in the Amasya court records that his father was "Ca'fer Ağa son of Veli Ağa". Therefore es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Pasha is neither the son of one of Hacı Ebûbekir Pasha's brothers nor the son of his sister, so as to be his nephew.
In the same way his father Ca'fer Ağa is neither a relative of the executed Osman Ağa nor a brother of Hacı Ebûbekir Pasha. From 1101 to 1110 he was in Amasya with his paternal cousin and father-in-law Zanalı es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi. He was not in Foça. Perhaps he had been kethüda to the executed Osman Ağa in his çavuşbaşılık in 1114.
As is understood from the Amasya court records and the register of seyyids, the genealogical table of Hubyârlı es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Pasha is as follows. Because the table in the printed text is scattered, the legible names and dates are set out as they are.
- es-Seyyid Süleyman, Kara Ca'fer Ağa, es-Seyyid Mahmûd, Abdülvehhab
- Şerife Fatıma [wife of Mahmûd Ağa]
- İbrahim Ağa (died 110.), Mahmûd Ağa (died in 1111)
- Veli Ağa (died in 1093)
- Hatice Hanım, daughter of Zanalı Mirzâ Bey (died in 1102) [wife of Zanalı Ca'fer Ağa]
- Zanalı Ca'fer Ağa (died in 1129)
- Zanalı es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi (died in 1140)
- Zanalı Mirzâ Ali Pasha (died in 1152), Zülfikâr Ağa, es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Pasha (died in 1166)
Zanalı Mirza Ali Pasha, while beylerbeyi of Salonica in 1151, came to Istanbul with the sanjak of Çankırı and as cebecibaşı, and died in this post in 1152; that he was the brother of es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Pasha is also established by two fermans in the Salonica court records that the author examined and read in 1316 [1898-99].
It was also established at trial that this Mirza Ali Pasha's son Ömer Bey and Hacı Ahmed Pasha's son es-Seyyid Ömer Bey are related on the father's side, that is, are children of two brothers, and the sharʿî ruling of 1184 [1770-71] concerning this is in the Amasya court records. By this ruling, Ömer Bey bin Mirza Ali Pasha, husband of Ayşe Hanım, freedwoman of the said grand vizier, received his inheritance and his share in the waqf from es-Seyyid Ömer Bey bin es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Pasha, who was then a purchasing agent in Amasya.
The imperial ferman he received, when es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Pasha became kaymakam of the grand vizierate with the rank of vizier in Zilkade 1150, raising the kaza of Amasya to the rank of Mevsıle-i Süleymaniyye, is recorded in the Amasya court records.
Likewise, the harem kethüdası Süleyman Ağa of Amasya, the kethüda of the kapıcıs Hacı Efendizâde el-Hâc Ebûbekir Ağa of Amasya, and Mehmed Ağa of Amasya, son of Zülfikar Ağa, his brother and Selâm ağası. His brother-in-law was Telhîsîzâde Ahmed Ağa of Amasya, and his nephew Ahmed Bey, son of Zanalı Mirza Ali Pasha.
During his grand vizierate and period of fortune many people of Amasya rose. All of these are historical proofs that the said grand vizier showed Amasya complete attention. In Amasya the Harem Kâhyası sons, the Selamağası sons and the Zanalı sons are very famous.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- kethüdâ: steward; an assistant who conducts the affairs of a great official
- voyvoda: official who looks after administration and tax matters in a kaza
- içoğlanı: a young man raised in a great household
- çavuşbaşı: head of the palace çavuşes
- şeyhülharem: head of the haram in Mecca and Medina
- kapıcıbaşı, kapıcılar kethüdâsı: senior posts among the palace gatekeepers
- kaptan-ı derya: head of the Ottoman navy
- sadâret kâim-makâmı: deputy who stands in for the grand vizier
- nişancı: official who affixes the tuğra to decrees and looks after state correspondence
- serdâr-ı ekrem: the grand vizier who takes the field, commander in chief
- muhassıl: governor charged with collecting taxes
- serasker: commander in chief at the front
- irtişâ, irtikâb: bribery, corruption
- hayrât: pious works built through waqf
- nakîbü'l-eşrâf: official who looks after the records of the seyyids
- mevsıle-i Süleymaniyye: one of the grades of kadılık
- mübaya'acı: official who looks after purchasing
The Grand Vizier Ahmed Pasha
This entry describes the Ahmed Pasha who became grand vizier in 1740. The man who appears in the sources as Şehlâ Ahmed Pasha became grand vizier on 22 June 1740 in place of Hacı İvaz Pasha and stayed in this office nearly two years. He had earlier served as muhassıl of Aydın and was made nişancı on 27 September 1739. The date of the grand vizierate that Hüsameddin gives as the twenty-seventh of Rebîülevvel 1153 agrees with this information.
His fall is told differently in the two sources. Hüsameddin writes that he was dismissed in Safer 1155, his property seized and he imprisoned in the Balıkhane, then, pardoned through the intercession of İskeforlu Seyyid Hasan Pasha, appointed governor of Raqqa. The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, on the other hand, reports that he was dismissed on 28 April 1742 on charges of neglecting the border fortifications, of not attending to affairs of state, and of bribery and corruption, exiled to Rhodes, and after some time regained his standing. The details of imprisonment and exile do not match each other; which is right could not be determined in this study. For his later posts the two sources are close in general outline: the Raqqa region, Sidon, Kars, Aleppo, Anatolia, Diyarbekir, Baghdad, Egypt and Adana. The governorship of Candia that Hüsameddin lists is not in the encyclopedia entry. The Pasha died in Aleppo in February 1753; Hüsameddin's date of Rebîülâhir 1166 fits this.
The Question of Birthplace and Lineage
The notable side of the entry is Hüsameddin's correction concerning the Pasha's origin. According to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Ahmed Pasha's family is of Alanya; he is the son of Câfer Ağa, a relative of Osman Ağa, kethüda of the Pashas Kalaylıkoz Ahmed and Baltacı Mehmed, was born in Foça, was raised in the care of his uncle the Vizier Hacı Ebûbekir Pasha, and served as his kethüda during his governorship of Jeddah. Hüsameddin says that this information is in the supplement to Dilâverzâde's Hadîkatü'l-Vüzerâ and in the Sicill-i Osmânî, and he objects to it.
His reasoning is this: according to the waqf records of Hacı Ebûbekir Pasha, the Pasha is the son of İbrâhim Ağa of Antalya, not of Alanya; his brothers Osman Ağa and the arsenal emin Hüseyin Ağa are also of Antalya. Ahmed Pasha's father, on the other hand, appears in his own waqf deed and in the Amasya court records as "Ca'fer Ağa son of Veli Ağa". For this reason he is neither the son of Ebûbekir Pasha's brother nor of his sister and cannot be counted his nephew. According to Hüsameddin, the saying "nephew of Ebûbekir Ağa of Antalya" is a rumor arising from his having stayed in Ebûbekir Ağa's house as içoğlanı in his youth. The name Hubyârlı too comes from his living a long time in the Hubyâr quarter in Istanbul. That is, the sources describe the same person but differ on origin, birthplace and the uncle tie. Among the documents Hüsameddin relies on are the Amasya court records, the Pasha's waqf deed, the register of the seyyids, and two fermans in the Salonica court records; the originals of these documents were not seen here.
The author draws attention to another distinction on the Pasha's birthplace: he was raised in Foça but his birthplace is Amasya, and his paternal homeland is the village of Zana in the northeast of Amasya. The calling of him "Yeğen" or "Yelken" rests on a play on words in a couplet in a footnote. Hüsameddin says that in the waqf registers the name is written "Yelken Ahmed Pasha", that among the refined he was called "Yeğen Ahmed Pasha", and relates that a poet of the time described this wordplay with the following couplet:
Yelken Ahmed, Bekir Ağa'nın yeğeni olsa ne olur,
Yelken'in lâmını kaldırdı, ona Yeğen oldu.
The couplet rests on the wordplay that when the letter "lâm" is removed from the word "yelken", the form "yeğen" appears.
Calligraphy and Pious Works
Hüsameddin relates that the Pasha learned writing from various calligraphers and was famous especially in divanî script, and he bases this on Müstakimzâde's "Tuhfetü'l-Hattâtîn". The TDV entry too reports that the Pasha took lessons from the great masters of writing of the age and won fame especially in divanî script, and it cites this work in its bibliography. The same entry says that the Pasha had some pious works and fountains in Istanbul; Hüsameddin lists them one by one: the conversion of the Mehmed Efendi Masjid in the Hubyâr quarter into a mosque, the Hüsam Bey Masjid near Şehzâde, the Ahmed Çelebi Masjid at the Aya gate, the Bandırma Lodge, sebils and fountains. His service in Amasya is the repair of the Dâru'l-Hadîs-i Osmân Çelebi Madrasa in the Pîrînçci quarter; this repair is given in entry 645 as 1151 [1738-39].
His Tie to Amasya
The entry's last section is devoted to documenting Ahmed Pasha's interest in Amasya. Hüsameddin writes that, while kaymakam of the grand vizierate in Zilkade 1150, the Pasha raised the kaza of Amasya to the grade of Mevsıle-i Süleymaniyye, and that the ferman for this is in the Amasya court records. He also lists the men of Amasya who rose in his time: the harem kethüda Süleyman Ağa, the kethüda of the kapıcıs Hacı Efendizâde Ebûbekir Ağa, Mehmed Ağa, son of his brother Zülfikar Ağa, who was Selâm ağası, his brother-in-law Telhîsîzâde Ahmed Ağa (see 643), and his nephew Ahmed Bey. According to Hüsameddin, in Amasya "the Harem Kâhyası sons, the Selamağası sons and the Zanalı sons" are very well known. No source was found on the present state of these families.
No information on Mirza Ali Pasha or on the present state of the village of Zana that Hüsameddin mentions was found in other sources.
Bibliography
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 198–201. amasya.bel.tr
- Feridun Emecen, "Ahmed Paşa, Şehlâ", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 2, 1989. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ahmed-pasa-sehla