Amasyalıdır. Tercemesi yukarıda geçen Kapıcızâde Ahmed [607]Efendi’nin birâderi Mehmed Ağa bin Receb Ağa’nın mahdûmudur. Gençliğinde Enderûn-ı Hümâyûn’a kabûl ve bostancı ocağına kaydedildi. Orada ilm ü kitâbet öğrendi Tedrîcen tefeyyüz ederek Kozbekçiler halifesi oldu.
1111’de Amasyalı Sefer Ağazâde el-Hâc Mehmed Paşa emîrü’l-Hac oldukta me’zûnen beraber Hicâz’a gidip avdetde eski vazifesini aldı. Hayli müddet halifelikde kaldığından “Eski Ahmed Ağa” lakâbını aldı. Dârüssa’âde ağası Uzun Süleyman Ağaya çatdı.
1116 senesi cumadelûlâsının yirmi sekizinci günü sadr-ı a’zam olan Kalaylı Koz Ahmed Paşa’nın sadâretinde hizmet-i mühimmesi sebk eylediğinden cumâdelâhirenin yedinci günü Haseki Mustafa Ağa bostancıbaşı oldukta hamelecibaşıya takaddüm ederek haseki oldu.
1118 senesi şevvâlinin on yedinci günü bostancıbaşı Mustafa Ağa tekâ’üde sevk edildikte yoluyla bostancıbaşı oldu. Tedbîr ü sadâkati Sultân Ahmed-i Sâlisin itimâd ve emniyetini kazanıb 1123 senesi zilka’desinin [608]on dördüncü günü vezâretle kapudân-ı deryâ oldu.
1124 senesi zilhiccesinin on sekizinci günü İstanbul kâ’im-i makâmı olup teveccüh-i şâhâneye fevkalâde mazhar olarak erkân-ı devletin hased ü istirkâbını celb edecek bir nüfûz ve mevki kazandı.
1125 rebîülahirinde sadr-ı a’zam olan Pazârköylü Dâmâd Ali Paşa’nın istirkâbına binâ’en Ruslara zahîre satmak iftirası ile sene-i mezbûre zilhiccesi evâ’ilinde Musûl valiliğiyle İstanbul’dan atıldı. Yolda iken azli ile vatanı olan Amasya’ya gönderildi. 1126 senesi rebîülâhirinde vezâreti de ref edildi.
1126 senesi ramazânında ba’zı kuranâ şefâ’atiyle nâ’il-i afv-ı pâdişâhî olarak vezâreti ibkâ ve Rodos eyâleti tevcih edilmesi sadr-ı a’zamı kuşkulandırdığından Ruslara zahîre satmak bühtânına bir tezvîrât ilâvesiyle pâdişâhı fevkalâde kızdırdı.
Bî-çâre Ahmed Paşa Rodos’a vüsûlünde 1127 senesi saferinde sadr-ı esbak Süleyman Paşa ve aşçı vezîr [609] Abdurrahman Paşalarla beraber yok yere i’dâm edildi. Dâmâd Ali Paşa da sadâreti uğrunda irtikâb etdiği cinâyetlerinin cezasını 1128’de gördü.
Vezîr-i müşârün-ileyh el-Hâc Ahmed Paşa müdebbir, sâdık, harb ü darbe kâdir, natûk, mizâc-gir, âlî-himmet, ehl-i hizmet idi. Bu yüzden Dâmâd Ali Paşa’nın rekâbet-i hırsından hayatını kurtaramadı. Birâderi Receb Paşa’dır.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He is the son of Mehmed Ağa, son of Receb Ağa, the brother of Kapıcızade Ahmed Efendi, whose life was given earlier. In his youth he was admitted to the Enderûn-ı Hümâyun (the inner school of the sultan's palace) and enrolled in the bostancı corps. There he learned learning and writing. Rising step by step, he became halife of the Kozbekçis.
In 1111 [1699-1700], when Seferağazade Hacı Mehmed Pasha of Amasya became leader of the pilgrimage caravan (emîrü'l-hac), he went with him to the Hijaz with permission and on his return took up his former post. Because he remained in the post of halife for quite some time, he took the nickname "Eski Ahmed Ağa" (Old Ahmed Ağa). He clashed with the chief of the harem eunuchs, Uzun Süleyman Ağa.
Because he rendered an important service during the grand vizierate of Kalaylı Koz Ahmed Pasha, who became grand vizier on the twenty-eighth day of Cemaziyelevvel 1116, when Haseki Mustafa Ağa became bostancıbaşı on the seventh day of Cemaziyelahir, he came ahead of the hamelecibaşı and became haseki.
When bostancıbaşı Mustafa Ağa retired on the seventeenth day of Şevval 1118, his turn came and he became bostancıbaşı. His prudence and loyalty won the trust and confidence of Ahmed III; on the fourteenth day of Zilkade 1123 he became kapudan pasha (fleet commander) with the rank of vizier.
On the eighteenth day of Zilhicce 1124 he became kaymakam of Istanbul, attained the sultan's extraordinary favor, and gained such influence and standing as to draw the envy and apprehension of the leading men of the state.
Because of the apprehension of Pazarköylü Damad Ali Pasha, who became grand vizier in Rebiülahir 1125, on the slander that he had sold grain to the Russians, he was removed from Istanbul at the beginning of Zilhicce of the same year with the governorship of Mosul. On the road he was notified that he had been dismissed and was sent to Amasya, his homeland. In Rebiülahir 1126 his vizier's rank was also withdrawn.
In Ramadan 1126, through the mediation of some relatives, he obtained the sultan's pardon, kept his vizierate, and was given the province of Rhodes. As this made the grand vizier suspicious, he added a false report to the slander that he had sold grain to the Russians and greatly angered the sultan.
When poor Ahmed Pasha reached Rhodes, in Safer 1127 he was unjustly executed together with the former grand vizier Süleyman Pasha and the cook vizier Abdurrahman Pasha. Damad Ali Pasha too paid in 1128 the penalty for the murders he committed for the sake of the grand vizierate.
The said vizier Hacı Ahmed Pasha was prudent, loyal, capable of war and combat, a fine speaker, knew the temper of the person facing him, of high zeal, a man fit for service. For this reason he could not save his life from Damad Ali Pasha's rivalry. His brother is Receb Pasha.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- Enderûn-ı Hümâyun: the school inside the sultan's palace that trained statesmen
- bostancı ocağı: the corps of soldiers who looked after the palace gardens and the Bosporus shores and also served in palace security
- Kozbekçiler halifesi: a post name within the bostancı corps
- emîrü'l-hac: the leader of the pilgrimage caravan
- dârüssa'âde ağası: the chief of the harem eunuchs
- sadr-ı a'zam: the grand vizier, the chief vizier
- bostancıbaşı: the head of the bostancı corps
- haseki: an official in the sultan's close service
- kapudân-ı deryâ: the fleet commander
- kâ'im-makâm: kaymakam, deputy
- istirkâb: apprehension, suspicion
- zahîre: grain and provisions
- ibkâ: leaving in place
- sadr-ı esbak: the former grand vizier
- irtikâb: committing a crime
- bühtân, tezvîrât: slander, false reports
Eski Ahmed and Kalaylı Ahmed Pasha
Hüsâmeddin says that Ahmed Pasha "rendered an important service" during the grand vizierate of Kalaylı Koz Ahmed Pasha but does not write what this service was. The incident that Reşad Ekrem Koçu relays in his İstanbul Ansiklopedisi on the basis of the chronicler Raşid may fill this gap. According to it, the sultan's decree summoning Kalaylı Ahmed Pasha to the grand vizierate was given to a man called "Eski Ahmed, of bostancı-corps training, halife of the Kozbekçis," who sent it on its way through a friend. Kalaylı Pasha came to Istanbul on 28 Cemaziyelevvel 1116 (27 September 1704), was secretly hosted by Eski Ahmed in the kozbekçis' room in the palace, and on the same day the seal was given to him and he became grand vizier.
This date fits exactly the day Hüsâmeddin writes as the day of the grand vizierate. That the Eski Ahmed whom Raşid describes and the person in the entry's title are the same is highly probable in terms of the nickname, the bostancı corps and the halifeship of the Kozbekçis; however, the two sources do not state this identity explicitly, and it is a conclusion drawn from comparing the two accounts.
Kalaylı Ahmed Pasha's grand vizierate did not last long. According to the same source, he was dismissed on 27 Cemaziyelahir 1116 (27 October 1704) and exiled to the island of İstanköy. Kalaylı Pasha was originally from the villages of Kayseri. Eski Ahmed's ranks, according to Hüsâmeddin, continued with the haseki post and bostancıbaşılık that followed the grand vizierate.
Fall and Execution
Hüsâmeddin's account shows the destruction, in rivalry with the new grand vizier, of a statesman who had risen to the kaymakamlık of Istanbul in 1124. The charge is selling grain to the Russians; Hüsâmeddin explicitly calls this "slander" and considers the execution "unjust." That is, in his view Ahmed Pasha is innocent and fell victim to Damad Ali Pasha's ambition. He also notes that he was killed together with Süleyman Pasha and Abdurrahman Pasha. This assessment is Hüsâmeddin's own interpretation; no other source on the execution has been found in this study.
No information was found in other sources on Ahmed Pasha's nickname "Kirli" or on his family in Amasya. The life of his uncle Kapıcızade Ahmed Efendi appears in an earlier entry of the book.
Bibliography