İzmitlidir. “Çingâne” demekle meşhûrdur. 1113 senesi rebîülahirinin on üçüncü günü Amasya beyi olup Kethüdâyeri Köse Mehmed Ağa bin serdâr Yâkup Ağa Amasya mütesellimi ve yirmisinde Avkatlı İbrâhim Ağa Amasya alaybeyi oldu.
Ancak Köse Mehmed Ağa ile Kal’a-i Bâlâ Dizdârı Receboğlu Mehmed Ağa geçen sene Bağdat Harbi’ne me’mûr olup azîmetleri ta‘cîl ve te’kîd edilmişdi. [232] Bunlar, Bağdat’a gitmedikleri halde halka karşı şiddet gösteriyorlardı.
Bundan münfail olan halk, Köse Mehmed Ağa’nın Ahi Sâdeddin Mahallesindeki hânesini taşlayıp eşyasını yağma etdikleri esnada hânede çıkan yangın, Yukarı Hamam’a kadar iki mahalleyi yakıp küle döndürdü. Bu hâdise hayli yolsuzluklara meydan verdi.
Hâdise, Bâb-ı Âlî’ye aks etdikde Mirlivâ Ali Bey gelip her iki Mehmed Ağa’yı ve yağmacılardan bir kısmını habs ederek tahkîkâta başladı. A‘yândan ba’zılarının ve hâssaten baş a‘yân Yeğen Ali Ağa’nın nüfûzu görülüyordu.
Cumâdelâhirede Şehr-i Zor Beylerbeyi Ergenetli Süleyman Paşa Sivas vâlisi oldu. Tahkîkât uzadı. Receb gurresinde baş a‘yân ile Şehir Kethüdâsı Yeğen es-Seyyid el-Hâc Hasan Ağa azl ü nefy edilip Sarı Ahmedzâde el-Hâc Abdülbâkî Efendi baş a‘yân ve Abdi Beyzâde el-Hâc İbrâhim Bey şehir kethüdâsı oldu.
Şa’bân evâilinde Köse Mehmed ile Dîzdâr Mehmed Ağalar, mukayyeden İstanbul’a i‘zâm edilerek Yedikule Zindanı’nda habs edildi.
Mu’ahharan Müftü Ahmed Efendi ile nakîb es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Ali Efendi de cerâim-i vâkı’ada müşârik sayılıp her ikisi de azl ve İstanbul’a i‘zâm edildi. Atabey Müderrisi Zanalı es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi Amasya müftüsü, Emîr Hacı Abdüllatîf Çelebi nakîb kâ’im-makâmı, Doğan Beyzâde ceddim Kara Hüseyin Ağa bin Abdullah Bey Kal’a-i Bâlâ dizdârı oldu. [233]
Şevvâl gurresinde Kadı-i sâbık es-Seyyid Abdülkâdir Efendi yine Amasya kadısı olup ulemâdan Mehmed Efendi Amasya nâibi oldu. Zilka’denin on yedisinde Gümüşlüzâde Çelebi Mehmed Ağa evkâf-ı Sultâniyye mütevellîsi olup İstanbul’dan geldi.
Zilhicce evâilinde Kethüdâ-yı Sadr-ı Âlî Amasyalı es-Seyyid Hasan Ağa bin Abdullah Ağa vezâretle Şehr-i Zor vâlisi olup Yedikule’de mahbus olan Köse Mehmed Ağa, Dizdâr Mehmed Ağa ile Müftü Ahmed ve nakîb es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Ali efendiler afv u ıtlâk edildi.
Ancak Müftü Ahmed Efendi Samsun’dan Amasya’ya gelirken refîk ve hâdimi olan bir Ermeni tarafından Kavakhân’da feci‘ bir sûretde şehîd edildi. Muahharan Ermeni de tutulup asıldı.⁶⁸⁶
1114 senesi gurre-i muharreminde Sarı Ahmedzâde el-Hâc Abdülbâkî Efendi baş a‘yân oldu. Muharrem evâhirinde müftü-i esbak Osmân Efendizâde Hâfız es-Seyyid Ali Efendi vefât etdi.
Safer gurresinde Hazret-i Pîr İlyâs türbedârı ve mütevellîsi Mustafa Efendi’nin kasr-ı yediyle ulemâdan Yûsuf Efendi mütevellî, Abdî Efendizâde es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Ali Efendi nakîb kâ’im-makâmı, müteâkiben Amasya Nüzûl Emîni Zanalı Mirza Ali Ağa Tokat voyvodası ve Amasya beytü’l-mâl emîni oldu.
Rebiülâhirin on birinci günü Ammizâde Hüseyin Paşa’nın sadâretten istifâsına binâen Bağdat serdarı Daltaban Mustafa Paşa sadârete davet [234] edilip mâh-ı mezkûrun on dokuzunda Amasya’ya geldi. Dârüsselâm Mahallesinde kâin Sefer Ağazâde el-Hâc Mehmed Paşa’nın konağına indi. Burada mühr-i hümâyun kendisine vâsıl olarak sadrâzam oldu.
Ertesi günü İstanbul’a müteveccihen hareket edib Hacı Mehmed Paşa da sadr-ı müşârün-ileyhin emriyle İstanbul’a ve buradan Edirne’ye gitdi. Ancak bilâ emr-i âlî Edirne civârına vusûlünde ibkâ-yı vezâretle Erzurum vâlisi olup iâde edildi.
Lâkin Amasya a‘yânının yekdiğeri aleyhine düşmesinden Mirlivâ Çingâne Ali Bey fevkalâde istifâde ederek ağır şikâyetlere ma‘ruz kaldığından cumâdelâhirede azl edilip Amasya sancağı sâbık çavuşbaşı Mustafa Ağa’ya bâ-rütbe-i mîrimîranî tevcîh edildi.
In Modern English
He was from Izmit. He is known by the epithet "Çingâne." On the thirteenth day of Rebîülâhir 1113 [1701] he became bey of Amasya. His kethüdâyeri (sipahis' steward), Köse Mehmed Ağa, son of the commander (serdar) Yâkup Ağa, became mütesellim (deputy governor) of Amasya, and on the twentieth of the month Avkatlı İbrâhim Ağa became alaybeyi (commander of the timar-holding cavalry) of Amasya.
However, Köse Mehmed Ağa and the commander of the Upper Fortress (Kal'a-i Bâlâ), Receboğlu Mehmed Ağa, had been assigned to the Baghdad War the previous year, and they had been ordered repeatedly and firmly to hurry in setting out. Although they did not go to Baghdad, they were behaving tyrannically toward the people.
The people, angered by this, stoned Köse Mehmed Ağa's house in the Ahi Sâdeddin Quarter and plundered its belongings, and a fire broke out in the house; the fire burned two quarters to ashes as far as the Upper Bath (Yukarı Hamam). This event gave rise to considerable irregularities.
When the matter was reflected to the Sublime Porte, the Mirliva (sanjak governor) Ali Bey came, imprisoned both Mehmed Ağas and some of the plunderers, and began an investigation. It was seen that some of the notables, especially the head notable (baş âyan) Yeğen Ali Ağa, had a hand in the event.
In the month of Cemâziyelâhir the Beylerbeyi of Şehrizor, Süleyman Pasha of Ergenet, became governor of Sivas. The investigation dragged on. On the first day of Receb the head notable and the City Steward Yeğen es-Seyyid el-Hâc Hasan Ağa were dismissed and exiled; Sarı Ahmedzâde el-Hâc Abdülbâkî Efendi became head notable, and Abdi Beyzâde el-Hâc İbrâhim Bey city steward.
At the beginning of Şaban Köse Mehmed Ağa and Commander Mehmed Ağa were put in chains and sent to Istanbul and shut in the Yedikule Dungeon.
Later the mufti Ahmed Efendi and the Naqib es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Ali Efendi were also counted as accomplices in the crimes committed; both were dismissed and sent to Istanbul. Zanalı es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi, professor of the Atabey Madrasa, became mufti of Amasya, Emîr Hacı Abdüllatîf Çelebi deputy naqib, and my grandfather Doğan Beyzâde Kara Hüseyin Ağa, son of Abdullah Bey, commander of the Upper Fortress.
On the first day of Şevval the former kadı (judge) es-Seyyid Abdülkâdir Efendi again became kadı of Amasya, and Mehmed Efendi of the ulema became naib (deputy of the kadı) of Amasya. On the seventeenth of Zilkade Gümüşlüzâde Çelebi Mehmed Ağa came from Istanbul as administrator (mütevelli) of the Evkâf-ı Sultâniyye (the sultans' waqfs).
At the beginning of Zilhicce the steward of the grand vizierate, es-Seyyid Hasan Ağa of Amasya, son of Abdullah Ağa, became governor of Şehrizor with the rank of vizier. Köse Mehmed Ağa and Commander Mehmed Ağa, who were imprisoned in Yedikule, and the mufti Ahmed Efendi and the Naqib es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Ali Efendi were pardoned and released.
But the mufti Ahmed Efendi, while coming from Samsun to Amasya, was horribly killed at Kavakhan by an Armenian who was his traveling companion and servant. Later the Armenian too was caught and hanged.
On the first day of Muharrem 1114 [1702] Sarı Ahmedzâde el-Hâc Abdülbâkî Efendi became head notable. At the end of Muharrem the former mufti Osman Efendizâde Hâfız es-Seyyid Ali Efendi died.
On the first day of Safer, upon the removal from office of Mustafa Efendi, keeper of the tomb and administrator of the shrine of Hazret-i Pîr İlyâs, Yûsuf Efendi of the ulema became administrator, and Abdî Efendizâde es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Ali Efendi became deputy naqib. Then the Superintendent of Provisions (Nüzul Emini) of Amasya, Zanalı Mirza Ali Ağa, became voivode of Tokat and superintendent of the public estate (beytülmal emini) of Amasya.
On the eleventh day of Rebîülâhir, upon the resignation of Amcazâde Hüseyin Pasha from the grand vizierate, the commander at Baghdad, Daltaban Mustafa Pasha, was summoned to the grand vizierate and came to Amasya on the nineteenth of the same month. He alighted at the mansion of Sefer Ağazâde el-Hâc Mehmed Pasha in the Dârüsselâm Quarter. The grand vizier's seal reached him here, and he became grand vizier.
The next day he set out toward Istanbul. Hacı Mehmed Pasha too, by the grand vizier's order, went first to Istanbul and from there to Edirne. But because he reached the vicinity of Edirne without the sultan's order, he was left with his vizierate and brought to the governorship of Erzurum and sent back.
But Mirliva Çingâne Ali Bey, since he had profited extremely from the Amasya notables falling out with one another, was subjected to heavy complaints and was dismissed in Cemâziyelâhir. The sanjak of Amasya was given, with the rank of beylerbeyi, to the former chief usher Mustafa Ağa.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- kethüdâyeri: the official who looks after the affairs of the timar-holding sipahis in a sanjak, next in rank after the alaybeyi
- Kal'a-i Bâlâ, dizdâr: the Upper Fortress; fortress commander
- azîmetleri ta'cîl ve te'kîd edilmek: to be ordered over and over to hurry in setting out
- münfail: angry, offended
- Bâb-ı Âlî'ye aks etmek: to be reflected to the center of the state, to become known
- mîrlivâ: sanjak governor
- tahkîkât: investigation
- hâssaten: especially
- azl ü nefy: dismissal and exile
- mukayyeden i'zâm: sending in chains
- mu'ahharan: later
- cerâim-i vâkı'a: crimes committed
- ceddim: my grandfather, my forefather
- afv u ıtlâk: pardoning and releasing
- refîk ve hâdim: traveling companion and servant
- tilmîz: student
- kasr-ı yed: removal from office, having one's hand cut off from a post
- nüzûl emîni: the official who collects the army's provisions (nüzul) needs
- beytü'l-mâl emîni: the official who collects ownerless inheritances on behalf of the state
- mühr-i hümâyun: the sultan's seal given to the grand vizier, the grand vizier's seal
- ibkâ-yı vezâretle: being left with the vizierate
- bâ-rütbe-i mîrimîrânî: with the rank of beylerbeyi
Çingâne Ali Bey
About Çingâne Ali Bey of Izmit no information was found in other sources. The previous entry writes that, with the dismissal of Kaya Ali Pasha in Rebîülâhir 1113, the sanjak of Amasya was given to "Serçeşme Ali Bey, one of the commander's aghas." The Ali Bey of this entry, who became bey of Amasya on the thirteenth of the same month, is he; that is, Çingâne Ali Bey is an agha who was at the head of the sekban and levend companies in the household of the commander at Baghdad, Daltaban Mustafa Pasha. The language Hüsameddin uses in describing him is harsh by the book's general style: he plainly writes that he "profited extraordinarily" from the notables falling out with one another and was subjected to heavy complaints. Ali Bey's one-year governorship in Amasya is an example showing how the contest among a city's local notables could turn into a source of gain for a sanjak governor coming from outside.
The Fire of 1113 and Its Place Today
The most vivid scene of the entry is the people's rising against the mütesellim Köse Mehmed Ağa, who stayed in the city and tyrannized the people although ordered to go on the Baghdad campaign, their stoning and plundering of his house, and the fire that broke out then and burned two quarters. The Ahi Sâdeddin Quarter, where the fire began, also appears in Kadir Özköse's study on the Halveti lodges in Amasya: the Sâdeddin Lodge was in the Ahi Sadeddin Quarter "in the inner city, in today's Hatuniye Quarter, near the Meydan Gate," and had been built in 871 (1467) by Sadi Efendi. The lodge was demolished in 1260 (1844). The "Upper Bath" that the fire reached is also in the same district today: local records place the Yukarı Hamam, also called the Altuntaş Bath, in the Hatuniye Quarter, on Şifre Street, near the Madenüs Bridge. It is noted that the bath, which has no inscription, is probably a seventeenth-century building. Accordingly, the fire of 1113 must have affected the part of the old "inner city" that today lies within the Hatuniye Quarter.
Hüsameddin says that the event "gave rise to considerable irregularities" and that during the investigation the "influence of the head notable Yeğen Ali Ağa was seen." The investigation extended over a year; the head notable and the city steward were exiled, the two Mehmed Ağas were taken to Istanbul and shut in Yedikule, and in the end the mufti and the deputy naqib were also counted as accomplices. That a city event removed the kadı, mufti, naqib, notables and fortress commander from their posts at the same time shows how much the administration in Amasya in these years rested on a network of notables that was both interlinked and fragile.
The Yedikule Dungeon
Yedikule, where Köse Mehmed Ağa and Commander Mehmed Ağa were shut, is the fortress at the southern end of Istanbul's land walls that also encloses the Byzantine Golden Gate. Mehmed the Conqueror, after the conquest, in 1458 had three more towers added and completed the structure to seven towers, and the fortress was used as a state prison for long centuries. That the two ağas of Amasya were sent here shows that the event was regarded not as a simple city quarrel but as a case of defiance of the state's order and harm to the lives and property of the people. Their pardon coincides with the rise of the Amasya-born steward of the grand vizierate Hasan Ağa to the governorship of Şehrizor with a vizierate in Zilhicce 1113; by giving the two events in the same sentence Hüsameddin seems to imply that his fellow townsman the steward's influence secured the pardon.
The Murder of the Mufti Ahmed Efendi and Eşref Abdürrahman Efendi
The pardoned mufti Ahmed Efendi is the Çorumlu Ahmed Efendi who in the previous entry was professor of the Sultâniyye and mufti of Amasya. That he was killed by his servant at Kavakhan, on the Samsun-Amasya road, while returning to his homeland, according to Hüsameddin's footnote, is recorded in the work of his student Eşref Abdürrahman Efendi of Merzifon. Kavak, today a district of Samsun, is an old settlement on the trade route between the coast and the inland regions; it is known that, a village attached to the sanjak of Samsun, it became a district center in 1530. The name "Kavakhan," as its name suggests, points to a stopping place on this road.
According to the entry in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Abdürrahman Eşref Efendi is the son of Şerefeddin Ali of Merzifon; after completing his madrasa education he entered the profession of kadı and died in 1151 (1738-39). Little is known about the author's life; his importance comes from his works. His Tezkiretü'l-hikem fî tabakāti'l-ümem, written in Turkish in 1728, is an encyclopedic work consisting of a preface, thirty-six tezkires and a conclusion; it was printed in one volume in Egypt in 1252 and in Istanbul in 1291 in the margin of Şemseddin Sivâsî's versified Menâkıb-ı İmâm-ı A'zam. Hüsameddin's drawing on the supplement of this printed copy shows that in writing his book he consulted not only archival and court-register records but also works of authors raised in the region.
Hüsameddin's Ancestor Doğan Beyzâde Kara Hüseyin Ağa
The entry has a small but valuable record about the author's own family: Doğan Beyzâde Kara Hüseyin Ağa, son of Abdullah Bey, brought to the commandership of the Upper Fortress, is called by Hüsameddin "ceddim," that is, my forefather. This ancestor's commandership, coming in place of the dismissed Receboğlu Mehmed Ağa, is one of the rare places in Hüsameddin's book where he touches on his own lineage. No information about this person was found in other sources.
The Keepership of the Tomb of Pîr İlyâs
The record that in Safer 1114 Mustafa Efendi, keeper of the tomb and administrator of Hazret-i Pîr İlyâs, was removed from office and Yûsuf Efendi of the ulema was brought in his place concerns the tomb of Pîr Şücâaddin İlyâs, the founder of the Halveti order in Amasya. According to local records, the tomb, also known as the Upper Pirs Tomb (Yukarı Pirler Türbesi), is today within the Pirler Park, was built in 1486 by Gümüşlüzâde Ahmed Bey, and Pîr İlyâs, his son-in-law Pîr Celâleddin Abdurrahman, his grandson Pîr Hayreddin Hızır Çelebi and members of the family lie in it. In the list of the sheikhs of the Gümüşlüoğlu Lodge that Özköse gives, for the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century the names "Mustafa Efendi (d. 1114/1702)" and "Mahmut Efendi (1702)" appear. While this list shows that Mustafa Efendi died in 1114 and Mahmud Efendi came in his place, Hüsameddin writes that in the same year Mustafa Efendi was removed from office and the administratorship was given to Yûsuf Efendi. This difference between the sources also suggests that the duties of sheikhship and of tomb-keepership and administratorship may have been given to different persons; it cannot be settled with the information at hand.
In the same entry the name of Gümüşlüzâde Çelebi Mehmed Ağa, who came from Istanbul as administrator of the Evkâf-ı Sultâniyye, is also noteworthy. The descendants of Pîr İlyâs were called "Gümüşlüoğlu" and "Gümüşlüzâde" in Amasya; Özköse notes that the family took this name because it was originally from the Gümüş district of Amasya. Whether Çelebi Mehmed Ağa belonged to this family is not said outright in the text.
Daltaban Mustafa Pasha Becoming Grand Vizier in Amasya
The entry's most important record for general Ottoman history is Daltaban Mustafa Pasha's receiving the grand vizier's seal in Amasya. According to local records, Amcazâde Hüseyin Pasha resigned from the grand vizierate on 4 September 1702; the date 11 Rebîülâhir 1114 that Hüsameddin gives corresponds to this. Among the reasons for the resignation are counted Şeyhülislâm Feyzullah Efendi's interference in state affairs and appointments, and the palace incident in which his cousin Kıblelizâde Ali Bey was involved. After resigning, Amcazâde withdrew to his farm and, dying soon after, was buried in the tomb next to his madrasa at Saraçhanebaşı in Istanbul.
According to Abdülkadir Özcan's entry, Daltaban Mustafa Pasha, after the governorship of Baghdad, was brought for the second time to the beylerbeyilik of Anatolia and before long became grand vizier in place of Amcazâde; Özcan gives this appointment as 27 September 1702. According to Hüsameddin's record, the pasha came to Amasya on 19 Rebîülâhir while returning from Baghdad, and the seal reached him here. The few days' difference between the dates may stem from the distance between the day the appointment was decided and the day the seal reached the commander. His grand vizierate lasted some four months; he was dismissed and killed on 10 Ramazan 1114 (28 January 1703).
The mansion where the pasha stayed in Amasya is the mansion of "Sefer Ağazâde el-Hâc Mehmed Pasha" in the Dârüsselâm Quarter. According to Hüsameddin's biographical volume, this person is Elçi Mehmed Pasha, known in Amasya as "Sefer Ağazâde": the son of Sefer Ağazâde Hasan Ağa, former mütesellim of Amasya, who had a fountain in the Fethiye Quarter, and the son of the sister of Grand Vizier Kara İbrâhim Pasha of Bayburt; he served as reisülküttab and, because of his large and showy turban, was known by the sobriquet "Ebû Kâvuk." According to the previous entry, in 1112, upon the plundering of the Damascus pilgrimage caravan by Bedouins, his vizierate had been abolished and he had been exiled to Amasya. His hosting Daltaban in his mansion and going to Istanbul by the new grand vizier's order enabled him to return shortly afterward to a vizierate with the governorship of Erzurum. On the location of the Dârüsselâm Quarter, Özköse writes that the Hoca Sultan Lodge was "in the old Darüsselam Quarter, today around the Fethiye Quarter."
The Sanjak Passing to Bodur Mustafa
The "former chief usher Mustafa Ağa," to whom Amasya is given with the rank of beylerbeyi in the entry's last sentence, is Kadızâde Bodur Mustafa Ağa, who in the previous entry was dismissed from the chief ushership in Safer 1113 and came to Amasya in exile. The book's next entry writes that he became governor on the fourteenth of Cemâziyelâhir 1114, while still in exile in Amasya.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 4, p. 621–622. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 6-8, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, entry "Mehmed Paşa-Elçi el-Hâc", e-book p. 105.
Academic studies
Official sources
Other sources