Cevher Mehmed Pasha

In Modern English

He is from the Zoğu region of Merzifon. On the first day of Safer 1166 [December 1752] he became mutasarrıf of Amasya for the fourth time and appointed Hacı Efendizâde Hacı Ahmed Ağa as mütesellim. But since the people, who had been stirred up by the matter of the collection, could not feel secure about Cevher Pasha's harsh conduct, which they already knew, the complaints went on. For this reason the sanjak of Amasya was given in Şevval [August 1753] to Ebubekir Pasha, mutasarrıf of Çankırı.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• gurre: the first day of the month
• def'a: time, occasion
• galeyân: seething with anger, ferment
• ef'âl-i şedîde: harsh, severe conduct
• cihetle: because of, on account of

The Pasha of Zoğu

Cevher Mehmed Pasha, whom Hüsameddin introduces as "Zoğulu of Merzifon," is the vizier who had also held Amasya earlier, in 1154, 1157 and 1161; this entry is his fourth and shortest mutasarrıflık. His brother is Teymur Süleyman Pasha, who became mutasarrıf of Amasya in 1153. Hüsameddin writes that these two brothers were the sons of the sipahi Osman bin Mehmed of the Zoğu nahiye and were therefore called "Zoğulu." In the first volume of the book it is related where the name of the Zoğu nahiye comes from: a tyrannical bey named Zoğay, kethüda of Alıcak Noyan, who governed the province of Rum in the Mongol period, had a farm in this region, and from around 700 [1300-01] this place was called by his name, and the name in time turned into "Zoğu." In the same place it is also stated that the vizier Timur Süleyman Pasha and his brother the beylerbeyi Cevher Pasha were from the village famous by the name "Zoğu."

Zoğu remained one of the official nahiyes of the district of Merzifon until the late nineteenth century. In the administrative table of 1892 published by Sabit Genç, the four nahiyes attached to the district of Merzifon are listed as Zoğu, Alıcık, Geli and Küşadiye, with 165 villages attached to these nahiyes in total. In Genç's second study, covering 1880-1915, the same name appears in the nahiye lists in the spellings "Zoği" and "Zoğu." Thus the "Zoğulu" attribution Hüsameddin uses for the eighteenth century rests on the name of a region still living in official records a hundred and fifty years later.

Cevher Pasha's Harshness

Hüsameddin's saying that the people feared Cevher Pasha's "harsh conduct they already knew" rests on his own records of the pasha's earlier terms. In his second mutasarrıflık in 1157 he had written that the pasha released, in return for large sums of money and without trial, the mufti and the notable arrested in the incident of the killing of the kadı of Köprü in court. For a city that had just come out of the tax incident related in the previous entry, the arrival of a vizier whose name was not well remembered in financial matters meant a fresh fear of collection. The pasha's place of duty, according to Hüsameddin's record, is the sanjak of İçel. No counterpart of this information, or of the pasha's duties outside Amasya, was found in other sources.

Hacı Efendizâde Hacı Ahmed Ağa, who was made mütesellim, is one of the most influential local figures in the Amasya of these years, frequently seen as chief notable and hacıbaşı in later entries. No information about him was found in other sources.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, 4. Cildin Bakiyyesi, p. 653–653. amasya.bel.tr
• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, 1. Cilt, p. 204–212 (the nahiyes of Merzifon).

Academic studies

• Sabit Genç, "Amasya İli ve Yakın Çevresinin Tarihi Coğrafyası", Journal of Social, Humanities and Administrative Sciences (JOSHAS), 7/42, 2021, p. 1313-1333.
• Sabit Genç, "Amasya Sancağının İdari Durumu ve Nüfus Yapısı (1880-1915)", Kırıkkale Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 11/1, 2021, p. 57-80. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1002916