AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ahmed Pasha — Yahşi Beyzâde

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 145 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasyalıdır. Sadr-ı esbak Bâyezîd Paşa’nın biraderi Hamza Bey’in evlâdından Yahşi Bey bin Mustafa Bey bin Ahmed Bey bin Hamza Bey bin Yahşî Bey’in mahdûmudur. Pederi Amasya Valisi Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed Han’ın ma’iyyet-i ümerâsından iken doğdu. Genc iken Şehzâde Sultân Abdullah bin Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî kerîmesiyle izdivâc ederek dâmâd-ı şehriyârî ve ba’dehû beylerbeyi ve Amasya muhâfızı oldu. 918’de eşkıyâ-yı celâliyye’nin tasallutundan Amasya’yı kurtarıp Bursa Sancağı Beyi oldu.

921 şa’bânında Amasya Beylerbeyi ve zilhiccesinde Sivas Beyi olup 923’de Merc-i Dabık harbinde yararlığı görüldüğünden Şam Beylerbeyi oldu. Sene-i mezbûre zilhiccesinde Tırhala Beylerbeyi olup devr-i Sultân Selîm Han-ı Evvelde ikbâli parladı.

Ancak 926’da Sultân Süleyman Han’ın cülûsunu müte’âkib [455] Sultân Ahmed Han bin Sultân Bâyezîd Han-ı Sânî şehzâdesi Murâd Beyle muhâbere etdiği gamz edildiğinden derhal azl ve tekâ’üde sevk edilip İstanbul’da zevcesi Sultânla beraber münzeviyâne bir hayât geçirdi.

945’de Sultânı vefât eylediğinden Sadr-ı a’zam Lütfî Paşa’nın ricâsıyla Trabzon, buradan Erzurum ve 956’da Sivas Beylerbeyi oldu. Fakat Amasya Valisi şehzâde Sultân Mustafa ile muhâberâtı duyulup 960 senesi şevvâlinde Şehzâde’nin i’dâmı üzerine ikinci defa tekâ’üde sevk edildi. İstanbul’da 973’de vefât etdi.

927 târihli Enderûn defterinde Şehzâde Sultân Abdullah’ın kerîmesi zevcesi olduğu mûsârrahdır. Rumeli Kazaskerliği sicillâtında 972’de Rum eyâletinden munfasıl ve mütekâ’id olduğunu ve bir yıl sonra da vefâtı görüldü. Mahdûmları Hasan, Mahmûd Beylerdir. Hasan Beyzâde Hamza, İsa Beyler ve Mahmûd Beyzâde Ahmed Bey de hafîdleridir. Kerîmesi Gevher Hân ve dâmâdı Hasan Bey’dir.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was a native of Amasya. He was the son of Yahşi Bey, of the line of Hamza Bey, brother of the former grand vizier Bayezid Pasha; this Yahşi Bey was the son of Mustafa Bey, son of Ahmed Bey, son of Hamza Bey, son of Yahşi Bey. He was born while his father was among the beys in the retinue of Prince Sultan Ahmed Han, governor of Amasya. As a youth he married the daughter of Prince Sultan Abdullah, son of Sultan Bayezid II, thus becoming the sultan's son-in-law, and later became beylerbeyi and garrison commander of Amasya. In 918 [1512-13] he saved Amasya from the attack of the Celali brigands and became sanjak bey of Bursa.

In Shaban 921 [September-October 1515] he became beylerbeyi of Amasya, and in Dhu al-Hijja of the same year bey of Sivas. In 923 [1517], since his merit was seen in the battle of Marj Dabiq, he became beylerbeyi of Damascus. In Dhu al-Hijja of the same year he became beylerbeyi of Trikala; in the time of Sultan Selim Han the First his fortune shone.

But in 926 [1520], after Sultan Süleyman Han's accession, since it was reported that he was corresponding with Murad Bey, son of Prince Sultan Ahmed Han, the son of Bayezid II, he was at once dismissed and retired, and lived a life withdrawn into seclusion in Istanbul with his wife, the sultana.

In 945 [1538-39], when his sultana wife died, through the mediation of Grand Vizier Lütfi Pasha he became beylerbeyi of Trabzon, from there of Erzurum, and in 956 [1549] of Sivas. But when his correspondence with Prince Sultan Mustafa, governor of Amasya, was heard of, upon the prince's execution in Shawwal 960 [September-October 1553] he retired for the second time. He died in Istanbul in 973 [1565-66].

It is clearly written in the Enderun register dated 927 [1520-21] that he was the husband of the daughter of Prince Sultan Abdullah. In the registers of the Rumeli kazaskership it was seen that in 972 [1564-65] he left the province of Rum and retired, and died a year later. His sons were Hasan and Mahmud Beys. Hamza and İsa Beys, sons of Hasan Bey, and Ahmed Bey, son of Mahmud Bey, are also his grandsons. His daughter was Gevher Han, and his son-in-law Hasan Bey.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • sadr-ı esbak: former grand vizier
  • ma'iyyet-i ümerâ: the beys in a superior's retinue
  • kerîme: daughter
  • izdivâc: marriage
  • dâmâd-ı şehriyârî: son-in-law of the sultan
  • tasallut: attack, harassment
  • ikbâl: good fortune, rising
  • muhâbere: correspondence
  • gamz: secret denunciation, informing
  • tekâ'üd: retirement
  • münzevî: withdrawn into seclusion, retiring to one's corner
  • mûsarrah: clearly written
  • munfasıl ve mütekâ'id: separated from office and retired
  • hafîd: grandson

The Line of Yahşi Bey

The family to which Ahmed Pasha belongs is one of the most powerful families of Amasya in the early Ottoman period. The name of the father of Grand Vizier Bayezid Pasha is Yahşi; because he was born in Amasya he is called in the sources a man of Amasya, and it has also been suggested that he may have been of Albanian origin. He was in the close retinue of Çelebi Mehmed during the latter's governorship of the sanjak of Amasya, became grand vizier in 1413, and was killed in 1421 when sent against Düzmece Mustafa. His brother Hamza Bey was also among the sea beys and in 1417 had resisted the Venetian forces entering the Dardanelles. Vedat Turgut's research based on waqf records finds it highly probable that Bayezid Pasha's father Yahşi Bey was the elder son of Timurtaş Pasha, Yahşi Bey, and also identifies from documents Hamza Bey's son Mehmed Bey and grandson Hamza Bâli. The same research also reminds that there were many Hamza Beys in the fifteenth century and that they were often confused with each other. The link "Hamza Bey, son of Yahşi Bey" given by Hüsameddin agrees with these findings; the Ahmed Bey and Mustafa Bey in between, however, were not seen in other sources.

The Daughters of Prince Abdullah

The most striking information in Ahmed Pasha's biography is his being married to the daughter of Prince Abdullah, eldest son of Bayezid II. Prince Abdullah was born in 1461 and died in 1483. Hamit Şafakcı's research based on archival records shows that the prince had two daughters: the younger, Aynişah, was married to Mehmed Çelebi, son of Prince Şehinşah, and the elder, whose name does not appear in the records, to Mirza Bey, son of Kızıl Ahmed Bey. A record dated 917 [1511] mentions both daughters with these husbands; in a record dated 933 [1526] too, cloth and money are seen given to both daughters together. Mirza Bey had from this marriage sons named Kara Mustafa Pasha and Şemsi Ahmed Pasha, and died around 1530.

This information is not easily reconciled with the marriage Hüsameddin bases on the Enderun register of 927. That both of Prince Abdullah's daughters appear in the same years as registered with other husbands suggests either that one of the daughters had earlier married Ahmed Pasha and then separated, or that the phrase "daughter of Sultan Abdullah" in the record points to another lady sultana. Considering also that Şemsi Ahmed Pasha, named in the records, was a grandson of Prince Abdullah, the possibility also comes to mind that the information on two different Ahmed Pashas has been mixed up. The register entry Hüsameddin saw has not been published today; the matter can be clarified only by re-examining this record.

Notes on Dates

The Battle of Marj Dabiq was fought on 25 Rajab 922 (24 August 1516); the date 923 in the text should be read not as the year of the battle but as the year of Ahmed Pasha's appointment to Damascus. The person known to have been brought as beylerbeyi to this province after the passage of Damascus to the Ottomans is the former Mamluk emir Canbirdi Gazâlî, and his appointment is dated 15 February 1518. Ahmed Pasha's post in 923 may belong to a short transitional period before this date; no record concerning this post was found in other sources.

Prince Murad, given as the cause of Ahmed Pasha's dismissal in 926, is the son of Prince Ahmed and was born in Amasya in 1495. When his father lost the struggle for the throne he waged against Yavuz Sultan Selim and was killed, Murad was put forward as a candidate for the throne with the support of the Safavid ruler Shah İsmail, and when this support did not materialise, he settled in Iran. Some sources report that he died on 16 October 1519 in Kashan or Isfahan; this date is about a year before Süleyman's accession. In that case the denunciation must either have been made at a time when news of Murad's death had not yet reached Ottoman lands, or must have rested on earlier correspondence.

Ahmed Pasha's second dismissal is also tied to Amasya. Prince Mustafa had been strangled on 27 Shawwal 960 (6 October 1553) at the camp near Konya Ereğlisi. Hüsameddin's record "Shawwal 960" agrees exactly with this event and shows that the statesmen corresponding with the prince were purged immediately after the event.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 145–145. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

Other sources

Volume 6 contents

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