Köprülüdür. Orta Câmii demekle meşhûr Yörgüç Paşa [480] Câmii Mü’ezzini Mehmed Çelebi mahdûmudur. Evâ’il-i hâlinde biraderleri Ali Bâlî, Hasan Ağalarla sipahî olup 1008’de erbâb-ı ihtilâle iltihâk ederek iştihar etdi. Fakat ulemânın ve hâssaten Köprü’nün kutbu sayılan eş-Şeyh Mehmed Çelebi’nin nasâyihi, hükûmetin mevâ’idi ile şekâvetden vazgeçip kardeşleri ve rüfekâsıyla beraber eşkıyâ aleyhine döndü.
Çünkü ma’iyyetinde hayli kuvvet vardı. Köprü, Zeytun ve Havza Kazâları istilâ altında idi. İnkıyâd etdikte Köprü voyvodası oldu. 1014’de Serdâr Nasûh Paşa’nın celb ve istimâletiyle Amasya Sancağı Beyi olup Mirlivâ İbrâhim Beyi Amasya’dan ihrâc ve tenkîle me’mûr oldu.
1014 senesi şa’bânında ma’iyyet-i mevcûdesiyle Köprü’den kalkıp Amasya civarına geldi. Eline verilen fermân-ı pâdişâhîyi ibrâz ve tehdît ederek Amasya erkânını kendisine çekip vukû’atsız Amasya’ya girdi. İbrâhim Bey de çekilip gitdi.
Fakat İbrâhim Bey, eşkıyâdan kuvvet alarak 1015 senesi saferinin evâhirinde Amasya’yı basıp Amasya Beyi olduğunu [481] i’lan ve bir kıt’a fermân ibrâz eyledi. Bunun üzerine Amasya’dan çekilip Köprü’ye döndü.
Sonra fermânın sahte olduğu anlaşılınca Amasya Beyi tayin edilen Seydî Beyzâde Ali Bey’e yardım ederek İbrâhim Bey’in Amasya’dan ihrâc ve i’dâmında hizmeti sebk eylediğinden 1015 senesi cumâdelâhiresinde bâ-rütbe-i mîr-i mîrânî Karahisâr-ı Şarkî mutasarrıfı oldu.
1017 senesi evâilinde Sadr-ı a’zam Kuyucu Murâd Paşa’nın ordusuna iltihak ederek tenkîl-i eşkıyâda yararlıklar gösterdiğinden Kars Beylerbeyi oldu. 1019 senesi evâ’ilinde ma’zûlen gelip Köprü’de bir yıl kadar ikâmet etdi.
Vezîr Nasûh Paşa’nın sadâretinde İstanbul’a gidip 1020 senesi şa’bânında Kefe Beylerbeyi olarak gitdi. 1021 senesi zilhiccesinde azledilip yine Köprü’ye avdet edib 1022 senesi şa’bânının on dördünde sâniyen Amasya mutasarrıfı ve 1023 senesi rebîulâhirinde Batum Beylerbeyi oldu. Sene-i mezbûre ramazânında Nasûh Paşa’nın i’dâmını müte’âkib azledilip yine Köprü’ye geldi. [482]
Senesi evâ’ilinde Şehr-i Zor Beylerbeyi olup Irak’a gitdi. 1027’de ma’zûlen Köprü’de mukîm olduğu Amasya sicillâtında görüldü. Ba’dehû vefât etdi. Devlete sâdık, ümûra vâkıf, cesûr, şecî’ idi. Kethüdâ-yı Köprü’de mütevattın Arnavut Hüseyin Ağa ve dâmâdı da bu kethüdâsının mahdûmu olan Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’dır.
In Modern English
He was a native of Köprü. He was the son of Mehmed Çelebi, muezzin of the Yörgüç Pasha Mosque known as the "Middle Mosque" (Orta Camii). In his early days he was a sipahi together with his brothers Ali Bâlî and Hasan Ağas, and in 1008 [1599-1600] he won fame by joining the rebels. But through the counsel of the scholars, and especially of Şeyh Mehmed Çelebi, regarded as the pole (kutub) of Köprü, and through the promises of the government, he gave up banditry and, together with his brothers and friends, turned against the bandits.
For he had considerable force with him. The kazas of Köprü, Zeytun, and Havza were under occupation. When he submitted he became voivode of Köprü. In 1014 [1605-06] Serdar Nasuh Pasha summoned him and drew him to his side; he became sanjak governor of Amasya and was charged with removing the mirliva İbrâhim Bey from Amasya and punishing him.
In Sha'ban 1014, with the force he had, he set out from Köprü and came to the vicinity of Amasya. By showing the imperial decree placed in his hands and by threatening, he drew the notables of Amasya to his side and entered Amasya without incident. İbrâhim Bey also withdrew and left.
But İbrâhim Bey, drawing strength from the bandits, raided Amasya at the end of Safar 1015 [1606], proclaimed himself bey of Amasya, and showed a decree. Thereupon he withdrew from Amasya and returned to Köprü.
Later, when the decree was found to be forged, he helped Seydî Beyzâde Ali Bey, who had been appointed bey of Amasya, and, since he served in the removal of İbrâhim Bey from Amasya and in his execution, in Jumada al-thani 1015 [1606] he became governor (mutasarrıf) of Karahisâr-ı Şarkî (Şebinkarahisar) with the rank of beylerbeyi (mîr-i mîrân).
In early 1017 [1608-09] he joined the army of Grand Vizier Kuyucu Murad Pasha and, since he rendered services in punishing the bandits, became beylerbeyi of Kars. In early 1019 [1610-11] he came back dismissed from office and lived in Köprü for about a year.
During the grand vizierate of the vizier Nasuh Pasha he went to Istanbul and in Sha'ban 1020 [1611] went off as beylerbeyi of Kefe. In Dhu al-Hijjah 1021 [1613] he was dismissed and returned again to Köprü; on the fourteenth of Sha'ban 1022 [1613] he became governor of Amasya for the second time, and in Rabi' al-thani 1023 [1614] beylerbeyi of Batum. In Ramadan of the same year, after the execution of Nasuh Pasha, he was dismissed and came again to Köprü.
At the beginning of the following year he became beylerbeyi of Shahrizor and went to Iraq. In 1027 [1617-18] he was seen in the registers of Amasya as living in Köprü, dismissed from office. After this he died. He was a man loyal to the state, who understood affairs, brave and valiant. His kethüda was Arnavut Hüseyin Ağa, settled in Köprü; his son-in-law was Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, the son of this kethüda.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- sipahî: a cavalryman who lived on timar revenue
- erbâb-ı ihtilâl: rebels, those who cause disorder
- kutub: a spiritual leader, a person respected in his surroundings
- nasâyih: counsels
- mevâ'id: promises
- şekâvet: banditry, highway robbery
- inkıyâd: submission, obedience
- mîr-i mîrân, beylerbeyi: provincial governor
- mutasarrıf: the official who governs a sanjak
- ma'zûl: dismissed
- tenkîl: punishing, bringing to order
- mukîm, mütevattın: settled, residing in a place
- kethüdâ: a statesman's deputy, his steward
- dâmâd: son-in-law
Köprü, the Middle Mosque, and the Celali Years
Köprü is today's Vezirköprü. The building Hüsameddin calls the "Middle Mosque" is the mosque built in 1431 by Yörgüç Pasha, one of the viziers of Murad II. The present building is not the original; the mosque was completely destroyed in the earthquake of 1943, and a new mosque with rubble-stone walls and a timber roof was built on the same site in 1944. Ahmed Pasha's father was the muezzin of this mosque; the family stands out as an example of a rise from the muezzinship of a quarter mosque to a beylerbeyiship.
The period in which Ahmed Pasha lived is the years in which the Celali revolts continued. According to what the sources relate, these movements fed on vagrant levends, aggrieved timar-holding sipahis, unemployed madrasa students, and an unprotected populace; an Ahmed who joined the rebels while a sipahi fits this picture. According to Hüsameddin's account in the third volume, the government tried to bring the rebels to order, in order to disperse them, by giving the ringleaders beylerbeyiships and sanjaks; the text too says that Ahmed Pasha turned from banditry through the government's promises and the scholars' counsel. The Nasuh Pasha of the text, according to the encyclopedia entry, in 1014 [1605], during his Anatolian serdarship, marched on the Celali Tavil Halil, was defeated, and was executed in 1023 [1614]. Hüsameddin's placing Nasuh Pasha's execution in 1023 agrees with this. Kuyucu Murad Pasha is the grand vizier who carried out the operation of punishing the Celalis in Anatolia.
The Connection with Köprülü Mehmed Pasha
The last sentence of the entry makes a link to the later famous family of Köprü. According to the encyclopedia entry narrating the life of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, he was born in a village attached to the sanjak of Berat in Albania, was taken by the devshirme to Istanbul, then went to Köprü and married Ayşe Hanım, and for this reason was known as Köprülü; after the killing of Hüsrev Pasha he also briefly served as sanjak governor of Amasya. A master's thesis written on Köprülü Ayşe Hanım states that Ayşe Hanım's father was Yusuf Ağa, one of the notables of Köprü. Hüsameddin, however, presents Mehmed Pasha as the son of Ahmed Pasha's kethüda and as Ahmed Pasha's son-in-law. In the sources read, this second information was not confirmed; since Yusuf Ağa is given as Ayşe Hanım's father, the two accounts do not agree with each other.
No source written under this name on Ahmed Pasha himself, apart from Hüsameddin's book, was found.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 152–153. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Official sources
- Vezirköprü Kaymakamlığı, "Orta Cami (Yörgüç Paşa Camii)" (Vezirköprü District Governorship, introductory page).
Other sources
- "Nasuh Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi.
- "Celâlî İsyanları", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi.