Merzifon'da Zoğuludur. 1161 saferinin yirmi yedinci günü Amasya mutasarrıfı ve kethüdâsı Hacı Mirzâ Ağa mütesellimi olarak geldi. Rebî'ulevvel gurresinde ulemâ ve a'yânın ittifâkıyla Fazlı Oğulları azl edilip Torun Hacı Alî Ağa nakîb ve sâbık kethüdâ Hacı Hüseyin Ağa da şehir kethüdâsı oldu.
Bu ayın ortalarında Yukarı Kalede Dizdâriyye müderrisi, Bey Câmi'i vâ'izi ve mekteb mu'allimi meşâhîr-i ulemâdan Hacı Mehmed Efendi vefât etdi. Şa'bân gurresinde Tatar Ağasızâde Mehmed Emîn Efendi Amasya kadısı ve müte'âkiben Hacı Mirzâ Ağa'nın da azliyle baş a'yân Hacı Ahmed Ağa Amasya mütesellimi oldu.
Zilka'dede hitâm bulan ihtilâs tahkîkâtı netîcesinde ihtilâs edilen emvâl ve nukûd, Murtazâ Paşa'nın Samsun'da bırakdığı anbar me'mûru ile kethüdâsının zimmetinde kaldığı anlaşıldığından Fazlı Oğulları, müftü Hacı Ömer Efendi, [80] şehir kethüdâsı Hacı Hüseyin Ağa berâ'et kazandı. Müftü ıtlâk edildi.
Zilhicce evâ'ilinde mahkeme baş kâtibi Gümüşlü Hacı Mehmed Efendi vefât edip Fazlıoğlu Hacı İsmâ'il Efendi bin Hacı Mehmed Efendi başkâtib oldu. Müftü Şeyh Mustafâ Efendi isti'fâ edip Taşâbâdî Hacı Ahmed Efendi yine Amasya müftüsü oldu. Bu ayın yirmi altısında İstanbul'da sarây-ı hümâyûn hocası şârih-i Buhârî ve Müslim Amasyalı Yûsuf Efendizâde Abdullâh Hilmî Efendi vefât etdi.
1162 muharremi intihâbında Rahtuvân Paşazâde Hacı Ahmed Ağa baş a'yân, Fazlıoğlu Hacı Alî Efendi hacıbaşı oldu. Muharremin gâyesinde Hacı Ahmed Efendi'nin fetvâdan çekilmesi üzerine Ayas Ağa müderrisi Çorumlu Hacı Alî Efendi Amasya müftüsü ve rebî'ulevvelin yirmisinde kul kethüdâsı Amasyalı Hüseyin Ağa yeniçeri ağası oldu.
In Modern English
He is from the Zoğu nahiye of Merzifon. On the twenty-seventh day of Safer 1161 [1748] he became mutasarrıf of Amasya; his kethüda, Hacı Mirza Ağa, came as mütesellim. On the first day of Rebiülevvel, through the joint action of the ulema and the notables, the Fazlıoğulları were removed from their posts; Torun Hacı Ali Ağa became naqib and the former kethüda Hacı Hüseyin Ağa became city kethüda.
In the middle of this month, Hacı Mehmed Efendi, one of the famous ulema, professor at the Dizdariye Madrasa in Yukarı Kale, preacher at the Bey Mosque and teacher at the primary school, died. On the first day of Şaban, Tatar Ağasızade Mehmed Emin Efendi became kadı of Amasya; soon after, Hacı Mirza Ağa was also dismissed and the chief notable Hacı Ahmed Ağa became mütesellim of Amasya.
At the end of the embezzlement investigation, which concluded in Zilkade, it was understood that the goods and money that had been embezzled remained in the charge of the depot official whom Murtaza Pasha had left at Samsun and of his kethüda. For this reason the Fazlıoğulları, the mufti Hacı Ömer Efendi and the city kethüda Hacı Hüseyin Ağa were cleared. The mufti was also released.
At the beginning of Zilhicce the chief court clerk Gümüşlü Hacı Mehmed Efendi died, and Fazlıoğlu Hacı İsmail Efendi bin Hacı Mehmed Efendi became chief clerk. When the mufti Şeyh Mustafa Efendi resigned, Taşabadî Hacı Ahmed Efendi became mufti of Amasya again. On the twenty-sixth of this month, Yusuf Efendizade Abdullah Hilmi Efendi of Amasya, court teacher in Istanbul and commentator on Bukhari and Muslim, died.
In the election of Muharrem 1162 [1748-49], Rahtuvan Paşazade Hacı Ahmed Ağa became chief notable and Fazlıoğlu Hacı Ali Efendi hacıbaşı. At the end of Muharrem, when Hacı Ahmed Efendi withdrew from the office of fatwa, Hacı Ali Efendi of Çorum, professor at the Ayas Ağa Madrasa, became mufti of Amasya. On the twentieth of Rebiülevvel, the kul kethüdası Hüseyin Ağa of Amasya became agha of the janissaries.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ittifâk: unity, a joint decision
- dizdâr: fortress commander; Dizdariye, a madrasa attributed to the fortress commander
- vâ'iz: one who gives counsel and preaches in a mosque
- mu'allim: teacher
- meşâhîr-i ulemâ: the famous among the ulema
- müte'âkiben: soon after
- hitâm bulmak: to come to an end
- emvâl ve nukûd: goods and monies
- zimmet: property that is in a person's charge and that he is obliged to pay
- berâ'et: acquittal, being found innocent
- ıtlâk: release
- şârih: one who explains a work, who writes a commentary
- gâye: the last days of a month
- kul kethüdâsı: the high-ranking officer in the janissary corps who came after the agha
Cevher Mehmed Pasha's Third Term
Hüsameddin introduces this mutasarrıf only as "Zoğulu of Merzifon." According to the heading, this is the third mutasarrıflık of Zoğulu Cevher Mehmed Pasha, who had held Amasya twice before. That the pasha, who had been dismissed in his second term for releasing the killers of the kadı of Köprü in return for money, was brought to the same sanjak again four years later shows that in this period sanjaks were distributed to pashas as sources of revenue and that a dismissal in the past was no obstacle to a new appointment. That on this third coming too the pasha sent his own kethüda to the sanjak as mütesellim suggests that Amasya was for him more of a source of revenue.
The End of the Embezzlement Case
This entry closes the war-aid case that began two entries earlier. The course of events can be summarized as follows: it was understood that half of the aid collected by the council set up in Amasya at the beginning of 1160 never reached the depot at Samsun, the blame fell first on the mufti, and the mufti was dismissed and sent to his hometown, Ziyare. Although the responsibility of the Fazlıoğulları had come to light in the first investigation, the compensation was imposed on the mufti and the city kethüda by a verdict Hüsameddin calls "karakuşî." At the end of the investigation, which lasted nearly two years, it was understood that the missing goods had remained at Samsun in the hands of the depot official Murtaza Pasha had left and of the pasha's own kethüda.
Thus all the parties among the Amasya men who had accused one another were cleared, and the responsibility remained with the pasha's men. The attitude Hüsameddin took when he wrote two entries earlier "the poor mufti was left alone" was vindicated by the outcome of the case. That the Fazlıoğulları were removed from their posts at the beginning of the same year through the joint action of the ulema and the notables shows that the leading men of the city had developed a common stance against this family's influence. Yet the family's power had not been broken; at the end of the same year a Fazlıoğlu became chief court clerk, and at the beginning of the next year another became hacıbaşı.
Yusufefendizade Abdullah Hilmi Efendi
The best-known person named in the entry is Yusufefendizade Abdullah Hilmi Efendi, one of the leading scholars of qira'at, tafsir and hadith in the eighteenth-century Ottoman world of learning. According to Halit Özkan's biography, his father was the sheikh of reciters (şeyhülkurrâ) Mehmed Efendi and his grandfather the chief of reciters (reisülkurrâ) Yusuf Efendi of Amasya; the scholar was known by the nickname Yusufefendizade after his grandfather. His place and date of birth are disputed. Some sources write that he was born in Amasya in 1085 [1674], and studies introducing the scholars of Amasya adopt this information. Özkan, however, relying on the chronogram "sâat-i saâdet" composed for his birth and on his father's service as imam at the Nakilbent Mosque in Istanbul, states that he was born in Istanbul in 1066 [1656] and that the information about his birth in Amasya is not correct. In either case the family's root is in Amasya; this is why Hüsameddin calls him "of Amasya."
From 1711 Abdullah Hilmi Efendi had Bukhari's Sahih read in the palace, was appointed şeyhülkurrâ of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in 1722 and court teacher in 1735, and served as professor of tafsir in the library at Hagia Sophia and as keeper of the books (hâfız-ı kütüb) in the palace library. Among his students are famous names such as Müstakimzade Süleyman Sâdeddin and Râgıb Pasha. His main work is the thirty-volume commentary on Bukhari, "Necâhu'l-kârî li-Sahîhi'l-Buhârî," which he completed in forty years. The commentary called "İnâyetü'l-meliki'l-mün'im," which he had begun to write on Muslim's Sahih, was left unfinished by his death. Hüsameddin's calling him "commentator on Bukhari and Muslim" points to these two works.
On the date of death there is an important difference. Hüsameddin writes that he died on 26 Zilhicce 1161 [December 1748]. Özkan, however, gives the date of death as 26 Zilhicce 1167 (14 October 1754) and records that he died in Istanbul at the age of 101 and, after the funeral prayer performed at the Fatih Mosque, was buried near Topkapı beside his father and grandfather. The Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü also gives the year of death as 1167, only showing the day as 15 Zilkade. Hüsameddin's date is certainly wrong: according to Özkan the Bukhari commentary was completed on 21 Rebiülahir 1163 (30 March 1750) and presented to Mahmud I, and work on the Muslim commentary was begun on 14 Cemaziyelahir 1163 (21 May 1750); that is, the scholar was alive in 1750. That the day and month are the same in Hüsameddin's record and Özkan's suggests a confusion in which the year was read or written as 1161 instead of 1167; this is a guess.
The Madrasas and Yukarı Kale
The Dizdariye Madrasa, of which the deceased Hacı Mehmed Efendi was professor, is, as its name shows, a madrasa connected with the fortress commanders of Amasya Castle. It is known that in the early sixteenth century there were a dizdar, a kethüda and fifty-seven guards at Amasya Castle on Mount Harşena, and that the castle lost its importance from the eighteenth century and began to fall into ruin. No information about this madrasa and the Bey Mosque was found in other sources.
The Ayas Ağa Madrasa, of which the new mufti Hacı Ali Efendi of Çorum was professor, stands today. It is part of the complex of mosque, madrasa, primary school and cemetery that Ayas Ağa, the gate ağa of Bayezid II, had built in the Şamlar Quarter in 1495; it is also popularly called the Küçük Ağa Madrasa. With its arcaded rooms surrounding the courtyard on three sides, it is an example of the classic U-plan Ottoman madrasas, and it was repaired by the General Directorate of Foundations in 2007. No information was found in other sources about Tatar Ağasızade Mehmed Emin Efendi, Gümüşlü Hacı Mehmed Efendi, Taşabadî Hacı Ahmed Efendi and the janissary agha Hüseyin Ağa, named in the entry.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, 4. Cildin Bakiyyesi, p. 651–651. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Halit Özkan, "Yûsufefendizâde", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, c. 44, 2013, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/yusufefendizade
- Recep Dikici, "Türkiye Kütüphanelerinde Yazma ve Matbû Eserleri Olan Amasyalı Âlimler", Uluslararası Amasya Âlimleri Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı II, Amasya, 2017, https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/G00226/2017/2017_DIKICIR.pdf
- İlhan Şahin, Feridun Emecen, "Amasya", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/amasya
Official sources
Books