AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ebûbekir Pasha — Hacı Bekirzâde es-Seyyid

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 101 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasya a’yânından Hacı Efendizâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ebûbekir Ağazâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Ağa’nın mahdûmu olduğu Sicill-i Nüfûsda mukayyeddir. Züamâdan iken 1238’de küşâd edilen Sipâhî Ocağının kethüdâyeri ve sipâhîler ağası oldu. [308]

1242’de Nizâmiyye süvârî yüzbaşısı olduğu hâlde Rus harbine gitdi. 1244’de Erzurum’da gösterdiği yararlık üzerine binbaşı, 1248’de kâ’im-makâm, 1253’de Amasya mîralayı ve zâbıta müdürü olup 1254’de Nizib harbine gitdi.

Orada gösterdiği liyâkat üzerine Irak ordusu erkânından olup Bağdâd merkez kumandanı ve 1262’de mîr-livâ olarak Trablusgarb kumandanı oldu. Altı yıl orada kalıp 1268’de vefât etdi.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

It is recorded in the Population Register that he was the son of Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Ağa, son of Seyyid Hacı Ebûbekir Ağa, son of Hacı Efendi, one of the notables of Amasya. While a zeamet holder, in 1238 [1822–23] he became kethüdayeri (steward of the corps) and ağa of the sipahis in the Sipahi Corps that was opened.

In 1242 [1826–27] he went to the war with Russia as captain of the Nizamiye cavalry. For the gallantry he showed at Erzurum in 1244 [1828–29] he became binbaşı (major), in 1248 [1832–33] kaymakam (lieutenant colonel), and in 1253 [1837–38] miralay (colonel) of Amasya and director of police; in 1254 [1838–39] he went to the battle of Nizip.

Because of the ability he showed there, he became one of the leading officers of the army of Iraq and commander of the center at Baghdad; in 1262 [1845–46] he became commander of Tripoli in Libya (Trablusgarp) as mirliva (brigadier general). He stayed there six years and died in 1268 [1851–52].

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • a'yân: the notables of the town
  • Sicill-i Nüfûs: the population register
  • mukayyed: recorded
  • züamâ: holders of the large timars called zeamet
  • küşâd: opening
  • kethüdâyeri: steward of a corps or company
  • kâ'im-makâm: here, lieutenant colonel as a military rank
  • mîralay: colonel
  • mîr-livâ: brigadier general
  • liyâkat: competence, ability

A Provincial Officer Raised in the New Army

Ebûbekir Pasha's life shows how the new army order that began with the abolition of the Janissary Corps in 1826 opened a door to a provincial family. His career, which began as a zeamet holder, that is, a member of the old timar order, continued within a short time in the Nizamiye cavalry. According to the study of Sadık Çetin and Ayhan Doğan based on the Amasya registers, the order to enroll soldiers for the army of Asâkir-i Mansûre-i Muhammediyye, established after the abolition of the janissaries, reached Amasya on 3 October 1826, and in 1827 about 5,200 timar-holding sipahis from fifty-three sanjaks in Anatolia and Rumelia joined this army together with their timars. The Ottoman-Russian war of 1828–1829 that followed immediately made the new army's work difficult, and new soldiers were also requested from Amasya to make up for the losses. The "Russian war" in which Ebûbekir Pasha took part as captain is this war; his gallantry at Erzurum must also belong to the eastern front of the same war.

Hüsameddin's record of the "Sipahi Corps opened in 1238" must be read with care. The founding of the new army falls in 1241–1242; no information was found in another source on a sipahi corps opened in Amasya in 1238 [1822–23].

The Battle of Nizip and Tripoli

The battle of Nizip in which Ebûbekir Pasha took part was fought on 24 June 1839 between the Ottoman army and the Egyptian forces under İbrâhim Pasha, son of Kavalalı Mehmed Ali Pasha, and ended in a heavy defeat for the Ottoman army. The Prussian Helmuth von Moltke, who took part in the battle as a young captain, relates that the Ottoman commander Hâfız Pasha did not heed the advice to attack the Egyptian vanguard. The date of the battle falls in the year 1255 of the Hijra; Hüsameddin's "he went to the battle of Nizip in 1254" may indicate Ebûbekir Pasha's joining the army.

Ebûbekir Pasha, who crossed to Baghdad after the defeat, had as his last place of service Tripoli in Libya (the city of Tripoli and its surroundings in today's Libya). From 1711 to 1835 the region remained in fact in the hands of the Karamanlı family, and in 1835 it was again placed directly under the center. The year 1262 [1845–46], when Ebûbekir Pasha was sent here as mirliva, falls in the first decade in which central administration was re-established in the region. No information was found in other sources on the pasha's posts in Baghdad and Tripoli.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 101–101. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

Volume 6 contents