Kedağralıdır. Köprü Meşâhir-i ümerâdan Ahmed Bey bin eş-Şeyh Halîl Bey bin Gâzi Mehmed Bey bin eş-Şeyh Alâeddîn Ali bin İbrâhim eş-Şirvânî mahdûmu ve Köprü’de câmii ve hamâmı olan Tâceddîn Paşa’nın ammizâdesi oğludur.
Tâceddîn Paşa’nın maiyyetinde, sonra Amasya vâlisi Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed dîvânında müstahdem olarak ümerâdan oldu. 9l8’de menkûb olduysa da akrabâsından nişâncı ve Anadolu kazaskeri Ca’fer Çelebi’nin şefâatiyle Mîrlivâ oldu. Hayli zaman Kedağra Emîri olup 933’de vefât etdi. Mahdûmu Câfer Bey’dir. 931’de tanzîm edilen Sivas Beylerbeyi Sinan Paşa’nın vakfiyesi zeylinde “fahrü’l-ümerâ Ekmel Bey bin Ahmed Bey” görüldü.
In Modern English
He is from Kedağra. He is the son of Ahmed Bey, one of the famous emirs of Köprü. Ahmed Bey is the son of Şeyh Halîl Bey, who is the son of Gâzi Mehmed Bey, who is the son of Şeyh Alâeddin Ali, who is the son of İbrâhim of Shirvan. He is the son of the cousin of Tâceddin Pasha, who has a mosque and a bath in Köprü.
He served under Tâceddin Pasha, and later in the divan of Prince Sultan Ahmed, governor of Amasya, and became one of the emirs. Although he fell from his post in 918 [1512-13], through the intercession of his kinsman Ca'fer Çelebi, the nişancı and kazasker of Anatolia, he became mîrlivâ [sanjak bey]. He was emir of Kedağra for a long time and died in 933 [1526-27]. His son is Câfer Bey. In the supplement to the waqf deed of Sinan Pasha, beylerbeyi of Sivas, drawn up in 931 [1524-25], he was seen recorded as "pride of the emirs, Ekmel Bey, son of Ahmed Bey."
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- Kedağra: a place name; it appears in the text together with Köprü
- meşâhîr-i ümerâ: famous emirs
- ammizâde: paternal uncle's son
- maiyet: those in someone's company, serving as a subordinate
- müstahdem: employee, one in service
- menkûb: struck by misfortune, fallen from position
- nişâncı: the divan official who affixed the sultan's tughra to decrees
- kazasker: army judge, chief judge
- şefâat: intercession, favor
- mîrlivâ: sanjak bey
- zeyl: a section added to a document afterward
- fahrü'l-ümerâ: pride of the emirs
The Same Line, the Same Pen
The line of descent Hüsameddin gives is also found in the biography of Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi: Câfer Çelebi is the son of Tâceddin İbrâhim Pasha, known as "Tâcî Beğ," the beylerbeyi of Kefe and Hacı Beğzâde, and in this chain Tâceddin İbrâhim Pasha appears as the son of Safiyyüddin Mustafa Çelebi, who is the son of Gâzi Mehmed Bey, who is the son of Şeyh Alâeddin Ali, who is the son of İbrâhim. Ekmel Bey's chain and Câfer Çelebi's chain meet at the same Gâzi Mehmed Bey: Ahmed Bey is the son of Halîl, son of Gâzi Mehmed Bey; Tâceddin Pasha is the son of Safiyyüddin Mustafa, son of Gâzi Mehmed Bey. Ahmed Bey and Tâceddin Pasha are therefore paternal cousins, and Ekmel Bey is the son of Tâceddin Pasha's cousin, which agrees with Hüsameddin's "ammizâdesi oğlu." Since Ca'fer Çelebi is Tâceddin Pasha's son, the two men are kinsmen; the relationship Hüsameddin states is consistent with the lines of descent. However, the encyclopedia author who wrote Câfer Çelebi's biography notes that for the people in this lineage no source other than Hüsameddin's work Nişancılar Durağı has information. In other words, the two records do not confirm each other; both come from the same author.
Ca'fer Çelebi and 918
Câfer Çelebi was born in Amasya in 856 [1452] and was the son of Tâcî Bey. His father was a poet, secretary, and calligrapher who served as the defterdar of Prince Bayezid in Amasya. Câfer Çelebi became nişancı in 903 [1497] and supported Prince Ahmed in the struggle for the throne in the last years of Bayezid II. When, in September 1511, Janissaries who favored Prince Selim looted the houses of high officials who sided with Prince Ahmed, Câfer Çelebi barely escaped with his life and was dismissed. Bayezid II abdicated in favor of his son Selim in April 1512 [Safer 918]. Câfer Çelebi held no official post between September 1511 and December 1513; he became nişancı again in December 1513 and, on the return from the Çaldıran Campaign in 1514, kazasker of Anatolia.
Hüsameddin writes that Ekmel Bey fell from his post in 918 [1512-13] and later became mîrlivâ through Câfer Çelebi's intercession. This is the year in which Bayezid II abdicated in favor of Prince Selim, and Ekmel Bey had worked in the divan of Prince Ahmed, governor of Amasya. It may be thought that Ekmel Bey's fall was connected with this; the source does not say so, and this is an inference. As for Câfer Çelebi's intercession, the earliest possible time is after December 1513, and for the kazaskerlik after 1514; Hüsameddin's writing both titles together, "nişancı and kazasker of Anatolia," may be a summarizing way of saying that Câfer Çelebi held these two offices at different times; this too is an inference.
Köprü and Kedağra
No information was found in the sources read on the mosque and bath of Tâceddin Pasha in Köprü, the present-day equivalent of the name Kedağra, the emirates of Ahmed Bey and Ekmel Bey, or the supplement to the waqf deed of Sinan Pasha.
Bibliography