Amasyalıdır. Vüzerâdan Amasyalı Çûçû Mustafa Paşa bin Ahmed Ağa ahfâdından ve Eski Kethüdâ Mahallesi eşrâfından Halil Bey bin Hasan Bey bin İsmâil Bey bin Mustafa Bey bin Halil Bey bin Çûçû Mustafa Paşa’nın mahdûmudur. Çûçûoğlu demekle meşhûrdur.
1263’de Eski Kethüdâ Mahallesi’nde doğdu. Sultân Bâyezîd Mektebi’nde kıraat ve kitâbet öğrenip 1280’de meclis-i idâre ve ba’dehû muhâsebe ketebesinden oldu. 1283’de İstanbul’a gidip Şirvânîzâde Mehmed Rüşdi Paşa’nın himmetiyle Beşiktaş Sarayı matbahına yerleşti. 1286’da matbah başkâtibi oldu. [44]
1301’de hizmetinde görülen gayret ve istikâmetine binâen Yıldız Sarayı vekil-harcı olup 1314’de sânîye, 1321’de mütemâyiz, 1323 senesi şa’bânında evlâ rütbelerini aldı. Yirmi altı sene bu vazîfesini de müstakîmâne hüsn-i îfa ederek mevkiini muhâfaza etdi.
1327 senesi rebîülâhirinde Sultân Abdülhamid-i sânînin hal’i üzerine Beşiktaş Sarayı matbahına iâde ve birkaç ay sonra tekâüd edilerek Amasya‘ya geldi. 1331’de vefât etdi. Sâdık, müstakîm, dindâr, beşûş, halîm, kerem-kâr bir zât idi.
Küçük birâderi İsmâil Bey Beşiktaş Sarayı matbah kâtibi iken 1319’da ve büyük birâderi Mehmed Tâhir Bey de Varay Nâhiyesi müdürlüğünden ma’zûlen 1321’de vefât etdi. Pederleri Halil Bey 1302’de vefât etmişdi.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He was a descendant of Çûçû Mustafa Pasha son of Ahmed Ağa, a vizier from Amasya, and the son of Halil Bey, one of the notables of the Eski Kethüdâ quarter; Halil Bey was the son of Hasan Bey, Hasan Bey the son of İsmâil Bey, İsmâil Bey the son of Mustafa Bey, Mustafa Bey the son of Halil Bey, and this Halil Bey the son of Çûçû Mustafa Pasha. He is known as "Çûçûoğlu."
He was born in 1263 [1846-47] in the Eski Kethüdâ quarter. He learned reading and writing at the Sultan Bâyezid School and in 1280 [1863-64] became one of the clerks of the administrative council (meclis-i idâre) and then of the accounting clerks. In 1283 [1866-67] he went to Istanbul and, with the help of Şirvânîzâde Mehmed Rüşdi Pasha, settled in the kitchen of Beşiktaş Palace. In 1286 [1869-70] he became head clerk of the kitchen.
In 1301 [1883-84], because of the zeal and uprightness in his service, he became vekilharç of Yıldız Palace; in 1314 [1896-97] he received the rank of second class, in 1321 [1903-04] the rank of mütemâyiz, and in the month of Şaban 1323 [September 1905] the rank of evlâ. For twenty-six years he carried out this duty straightforwardly and kept his position.
In the month of Rebîülâhir 1327 [April-May 1909], when Sultan Abdülhamid II was deposed, he was returned to the kitchen of Beşiktaş Palace and, retired a few months later, came to Amasya. He died in 1331 [1912-13]. He was an upright, honest, devout, cheerful, gentle and generous man.
His younger brother İsmâil Bey, while a clerk in the kitchen of Beşiktaş Palace, died in 1319 [1901-02], and his elder brother Mehmed Tâhir Bey, dismissed from the directorship of the Varay district, died in 1321 [1903-04]. Their father Halil Bey had died in 1302 [1884-85].
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- ahfâd: grandsons, descendants
- eşrâf: notables, respected people
- meclis-i idâre: local administrative council
- muhâsebe ketebesi: clerks working in accounting
- matbah: palace kitchen
- vekil-harç: the official who looked after expenditure and provisions in the pantry of the palace kitchen
- rütbe-i sânîye, mütemâyiz, evlâ: graded ranks given to officials
- hal': the deposition of a sultan
- tekâüd: retirement
- beşûş: cheerful
- halîm: gentle
- kerem-kâr: generous
- nâhiye: an administrative unit under a district (kaza), a subdistrict
The Pasha from Amasya Who Helped Him
Şirvânîzâde Mehmed Rüşdi Pasha, named as Çûçûoğlu's support when he went to Istanbul in 1283 [1866-67], was also from Amasya. Son of İsmâil Sirâceddin Şirvânî, a sheikh of the Naqshbandi-Khalidi order, Rüşdi Pasha was born in Amasya; his family had migrated from Shirvan, which had passed under Russian rule, to Akhaltsikhe and from there to Amasya. He received his religious education from his father and elder brother, went to Istanbul in 1851 and rose to become a müderris. In 1853 he was appointed director of the Amasya foundations, but did not stay long in this post and resigned in 1855 to return to Istanbul. He stood close to Cevdet Pasha on the land commission and in preparing the Mecelle; he served as governor of Damascus and of Syria. On 10 October 1865 he became minister of imperial foundations and about a month later moved to the Ministry of Finance. In the year Çûçûoğlu went to Istanbul, Rüşdi Pasha was thus at the head of the Finance Ministry; Hüsameddin's sentence "with his assistance he settled in the kitchen of Beşiktaş Palace" gains meaning in this context. There is no written information in the source establishing this link; only the fact that both men were from the same city suggests it.
Rüşdi Pasha's tie to Amasya does not end there. In September 1871 he was removed from the Ministry of Finance and on 30 October compelled to reside in Amasya; he was pardoned on 26 July 1872 and returned to Istanbul, was appointed grand vizier on 16 April 1873, was dismissed on 13 February 1874, and died at Taif on his way to the Hijaz.
The Palace Kitchen and the Vekilharç
Food and provisions in the Ottoman palace required a large organization. In studies of the kitchens of Topkapı Palace a vekilharç office is mentioned in the pantry section; the vekilharç was among the officials counted, together with the steward, the expense clerk and the pantry chavush, in the retinue of the pantry master. No detail was found in the sources read on the kitchen arrangements of Beşiktaş and Yıldız palaces, where Çûçûoğlu served; Hüsameddin, however, gives his "zeal and uprightness" as the reason for his rise.
Yıldız Palace and 1909
Yıldız Palace is the palace where Abdülhamid II, having left Dolmabahçe, stayed throughout his reign; in his time a chamberlain's pavilion, harem buildings, the Şale Pavilion, a mosque, a theater, a carpentry shop, a pharmacy, a library and princes' pavilions were built here. Çûçûoğlu's twenty-six years as vekilharç, from 1301 [1883-84] to 1327 [1909], coincide with these years of the palace's growth. In 1909, after the 31 March Incident, when the Action Army took control of Istanbul, Abdülhamid II was deposed on 27 April 1909 by decision of the National General Assembly (Meclis-i Umûmî-yi Millî); the same night, with a few suitcases, he was taken out of Yıldız Palace and carried to Salonica by special train. Hüsameddin's record "Rebîülâhir 1327" fits this date exactly.
The Eski Kethüdâ Quarter
The present condition and name of the Eski Kethüdâ quarter, where Çûçûoğlu was born and where the family home stood, could not be determined in the sources read. No information was found in other sources on Çûçû Mustafa Pasha, whom the family traces its descent to.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 277–277. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies