Tahranlıdır. İran beylerinden ve kumandanlarından olup Revân muhâfızı ve başkumandanı Emîr Gûne oğlu Tahmasp Kulu Han ile araları açıldığından Sultân Murâd’a kaçıp sığınmışdı. 1045 senesi muharreminin yirmi sekizinci günü Amasya beyi ve Bevvâb-ı Sultânî Ömer Bey de Amasya mütesellimi oldu.
Ömer Bey, Derviş Bey’in birâderi Osmân Bey’in oğludur. Eben an ced servet ü sâmân ile ma‘rûf, asâlet ve şecâat ile mevsûf bir merd-i necîb idi. Ordu’dan Amasya’ya geldi.
Safer evâsıtında nakîb es-Seyyid Ca’fer Efendi’nin yerine Mansurzâde es-Seyyid Mehmed Çelebi nakîbü’l-eşrâf kâ’im-makâmı olup yirmi üçüncü günü Revân muhâfızı Tahmasp Kulu Hân fena halde sıkışdığından eman ile gelip arz-ı dehâlet ve Revân Kalesi’ni Sultân Murâd’a teslim ve itâat eylediğinden Sultân Murâd, Tebriz üzerine gitdi. Tebriz’e girip rebîülevvelde İstanbul’a müteveccihen avdet etdi. [74]
Cumâdelâhire gurresinde Kadı Abdülkerim Efendi’nin yerine Kadı-i sâbık Hasan Efendi Amasya kadısı oldu. Cumâdelâhire evâsıtında Sultân Murâd’ın Tokat’a geldiği anlaşıldıkta Amasya’da şenlikler ve debdebeli alaylar tertîbâtıyla iştigâl edildi. Amasya Mütesellimi Ömer Bey, şehir kethüdâsı Bâlî Bey, Kadı Hasan Efendi, Müftü Mustafa Efendi, ufak bir hatanın zuhûruna meydan vermemeğe candan çalışıyorlardı.
Cumâdelâhirenin yirmi ikinci Pazar günü Sultân Murâd’ın İnepazar’a geldiği tebşir edildikte ertesi günü Amasya’ya duhûlü zan olunurken Sultân Murâd İnepazar’da durmadı. Akşamüzeri ezânî saat on birde oradan hareket ve yatsı ezanı okunurken Çalan Köprübaşı’na muvâsalat etdi.⁶³⁹
Sultân Murâd, Hoca Ahmed Paşa’nın Çalan Köprübaşı’ndaki muazzam bahçe ve köşkünde gece saat sekize kadar istirahat edib Enderun Ağaları ve dülbend gulâmı geldi. Otağ-ı Hümâyûn ile Erkân-ı Devlet’in çadırları gece Hacılar Meydanı’na kuruldu.
Fakat Sultân Murâd, Amasya’ya gece saat sekizde girip İçerişehir’de Sultân Bâyezîd Câmii karşısında ırmak üzerinde kâin yine Hoca Ahmed Paşa’nın mükellef konağına indi. İstikbâl alayı tertîbâtı suya düşdü.
Pazartesi günü Amasyalılar, Mütesellim Ömer Bey’in delâleti ve Hoca [75] Ahmed Paşa’nın vesâteti ile Sultân Murâd’a mükemmel donanmış bir at, otuz top a‘lâ dokunmuş Amasya kumaşı, otuz pâre Amasya sahtiyanı, dört kese kuruş, hediye-i şükrâniyye takdîm etdiler. Hoca Ahmed Paşa da mükemmel donanmış bir at verdi.
Bu hediyelerin takdîminden sonra Sultân Murâd, tebdil atıyla Amasya’yı gezip ziyâretgâh olan makâmâtı, türbeleri ziyaret ve Sultân Bâyezîd Câmi-i Şerîfi’nde ikindi namazını edâ ederek ulemâ, sulehâ ve fukarâya pek çok atiyyeler, sadakalar ihsan etdi.
Akşam salı gecesi Amasya’nın içinden ve kaleden yer yer toplar atılarak her taraf donanıp süslendi. Muazzam şenlikler ve alaylar yapıldı. Sultân Murâd, Hoca Ahmed Paşa’yı Salı gecesi huzuruna kabûl edib sorduğu şeylere güzel cevaplar aldı. Hoca Ahmed Paşa’ya beş yüz kese sikke-i hasene ve Sultân Bâyezîd evkâfı tevliyetini verdi.
Hoca Ahmed Paşa, birâderzâdesi olup hânesinde misafir bulunan Rumeli Kazaskeri Hocazâde Abdullah Efendi’nin istifasıyla Mısır kazâsını talep ve kabulüne tavassut ederek yeğenini bir badireden kurtardı.
Çünkü Sadr-ı a’zam Tabanıyassı Mehmed Paşa’nın tahrîkâtıyla Abdullah Efendi’nin aleyhinde ba’zı tertîbâta Abdullah Efendi muttali‘ olduğu anda hayatından ümidini kesmişdi. Çünkü Sultân Murâd’ın sağı solu yoktu. Ufak bir hatasıyla yahut birinin si‘âyesiyle büyük başları kestiriyordu. [76]
Amasya’nın ulemâ ve şuarâsından Hocazâde Abdullah Remzi Efendi tanzim eylediği bir kasîde ile te’lîf etdiği Kasîde-i Bürde Şerhi’ni, Şeyhzâde Abdî Efendi de medhiyesini Sultân Murâd’a takdîm ederek iltifat ve ihsanlara mazhar oldular.
Cumâdelâhirenin yirmi dördüncü Salı günü Sultân Murâd sabahleyin Amasya’dan hareketle Gelgiras’a gitdi. Buradan kalkıp Hacı Hamza kasabasına vardığı anda Amasya Mütesellimi Ömer Bey’in celbini irade edib recebin ikinci günü Çerkes menzilinde yetişen bîçârenin boynunu vurdurdu fakat sebebi bir türlü anlaşılamadı.⁶⁴⁰[77]
Sultân Murâd’ın Amasya Mütesellimi Ömer Bey’in celb ve idâmından sonra Yörgüç Paşazâde Mustafa Bey Amasya mütesellimi oldu. Ömer Bey’in emlâk ü emvâli bâ-fermân-ı âli Sivas’tan gelen Defterdâr Ebû Bekir Efendi tarafından müsâdere ve fürûht edilerek esmânı İstanbul’a gönderildi. Yetim ve muhtaç bir halde kalan bir kerimesiyle oğlu Osmân Çelebi’ye bir hânesi kaldı. Bunlara yevmiye verildi.
Ramazânın gurresinde Müftü Şeyh Ya’kûbzâde Mustafa Efendi’nin azline binâen kibâr-ı müderrisînden Dursunzâde diğer Mustafa Efendi Amasya müftüsü ve Sultâniye müderrisi ve zilka’dede Şeyhî Bey’in ref‘iyle Şâtır Ali Ağa kethüdâyeri oldu.
1046 senesi muharreminde hey’et-i sâbıka ber-karar olup saferde Amasya Beyi Elkâs Bey hasmı olup Sultân Murâd’a fevkalâde hulûl eden Emîr Gûne oğlu Yûsuf Paşa, Tahmasp Kulu Hân si‘âyesiyle ma‘zûl olduğundan Amasya sancağı Trablusşam Beylerbeyi Mustafa Paşa’ya tevcîh edildi.
In Modern English
He was from Tehran. He was one of the Persian beys and commanders; because he had fallen out with Emîrgûne oğlu Tahmasp Kulu Khan, guardian and commander in chief of Revan, he had fled and taken refuge with Sultan Murad. On the twenty-eighth day of Muharrem 1045 [1635] he became Bey of Amasya; Ömer Bey, one of the sultan's gatekeepers (bevvâb-ı sultânî), became mütesellim (deputy) of Amasya.
Ömer Bey was a son of Osmân Bey, brother of Derviş Bey. He was a noble man known since his forefathers for wealth and goods, remembered for nobility and bravery. He came to Amasya from the camp.
In the middle of the month of Safer, in place of the nakîb Seyyid Cafer Efendi, Mansurzâde Seyyid Mehmed Çelebi became nakîbü'l-eşrâf deputy. On the twenty-third day of the month, when Tahmasp Kulu Khan, guardian of Revan, was hard pressed, he came asking for quarter and declared his allegiance, handed Revan Fortress over to Sultan Murad and submitted. Thereupon Sultan Murad marched on Tabriz. Entering Tabriz, he turned back toward Istanbul in the month of Rebîülevvel.
At the beginning of Cemâziyelâhir the former kadı Hasan Efendi became kadı of Amasya in place of Kadı Abdülkerim Efendi. In the middle of Cemâziyelâhir, when it was learned that Sultan Murad was coming to Tokat, Amasya was busy preparing festivities and splendid processions. The Mütesellim of Amasya Ömer Bey, the city kethüdâ Bâlî Bey, Kadı Hasan Efendi and Mufti Mustafa Efendi were working with heart and soul to leave room for not the slightest fault.
When on Sunday, the twenty-second of Cemâziyelâhir, the good news was given that Sultan Murad had come to İnepazar, he was expected to enter Amasya the next day. But Sultan Murad did not stop at İnepazar. In the late afternoon, at eleven o'clock by the ezanî hour, he set out from there and reached Çalan Köprübaşı as the night prayer was being called.
Sultan Murad rested until eight o'clock at night in the large garden and pavilion of Hoca Ahmed Pasha at Çalan Köprübaşı; the Enderun ağas and the dülbend gulâmı (turban-bearing page) arrived. The imperial tent and the tents of the dignitaries of the state were pitched that night at the Hacılar Square.
But Sultan Murad entered Amasya at eight o'clock at night and lodged in the splendid mansion, also belonging to Hoca Ahmed Pasha, which stood over the river in the Inner City (İçerişehir) opposite the Sultan Bayezid Mosque. The preparations made for the welcoming procession went to waste.
On Monday the people of Amasya, through the mediation of Mütesellim Ömer Bey and at Hoca Ahmed Pasha's request, presented Sultan Murad as a thank-offering a fully equipped horse, thirty bolts of well-woven Amasya cloth, thirty pieces of Amasya morocco leather and four purses of kuruş. Hoca Ahmed Pasha also gave a fully equipped horse.
After these gifts were presented, Sultan Murad, in disguise, toured Amasya on horseback; he visited the shrines and tombs that are places of visitation and performed the afternoon prayer in the Sultan Bayezid Mosque. He gave very many donations and alms to scholars, virtuous people and the poor.
On Tuesday evening, with cannon fired here and there from within Amasya and from the fortress, everywhere was decked and adorned. Great festivities and processions were held. Sultan Murad received Hoca Ahmed Pasha in his presence on Tuesday night and received good answers to the questions he asked. He gave Hoca Ahmed Pasha five hundred purses of good coin (sikke-i hasene) and the trusteeship of the Sultan Bayezid waqfs.
Hoca Ahmed Pasha, upon the resignation of Abdullah Efendi son of Hoca, Kazasker of Rumeli, his brother's son who was a guest in his house, asked for the kadılık of Egypt and, by mediating to have it accepted, saved his nephew from a danger.
For the moment Abdullah Efendi learned that some intrigues were being set up against him at the instigation of Grand Vizier Tabanıyassı Mehmed Pasha, he had given up hope for his life. For Sultan Murad's right and left could not be known. Over a small fault or someone's slander he had great heads cut off.
Hocazâde Abdullah Remzi Efendi, one of the scholars and poets of Amasya, by presenting to Sultan Murad a qasida he had composed and his Kasîde-i Bürde Şerhi (Commentary on the Qasida of the Mantle), and Şeyhzâde Abdî Efendi a poem of praise, gained favors and donations.
On Tuesday, the twenty-fourth of Cemâziyelâhir, Sultan Murad set out from Amasya in the morning and went to Gelgiras. Setting out from there, the moment he reached the town of Hacı Hamza he ordered Mütesellim Ömer Bey of Amasya to be brought, and on the second day of Recep, at the Circassian mansion, he had the neck of the poor man, who had caught up with him, struck; but the reason could never be understood.
After Sultan Murad had Mütesellim Ömer Bey of Amasya brought and killed, Mustafa Bey son of Yörgüç Pasha became mütesellim of Amasya. Ömer Bey's property and goods were confiscated and sold by Defterdar Ebû Bekir Efendi, who came from Sivas by imperial decree; the proceeds were sent to Istanbul. A house was left to a daughter and a son, Osmân Çelebi, who remained orphaned and needy. A daily salary was fixed for them.
At the beginning of Ramazan, upon the dismissal of Mufti Şeyh Yâkûbzâde Mustafa Efendi, Dursunzâde, also called Mustafa Efendi, one of the great müderrises, became mufti of Amasya and müderris of the Sultaniye. In the month of Zilkade, with the dismissal of Şeyhî Bey, Şâtır Ali Ağa became kethüdâyeri.
In Muharrem 1046 [1636–37] the former order returned. In the month of Safer, since Elkâs Bey, Bey of Amasya, was dismissed through the slander of Emîrgûne oğlu Yûsuf Pasha (Tahmasp Kulu Khan), who was his enemy and had become very close to Sultan Murad, the sanjak of Amasya was given to Mustafa Pasha, Beylerbeyi of Tripoli of Syria.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- bevvâb-ı sultânî: the sultan's gatekeepers
- mütesellim: the deputy who looks after the sanjak in the sanjak bey's absence
- nakîbü'l-eşrâf: the official who looked after the affairs of the descendants of the Prophet
- kethüdâyeri: the administrator who acts as kethüda in the sanjak
- ezanî saat: the old system of hours counted from sunset
- Otağ-ı Hümâyûn: the sultan's great tent
- İçerişehir: the inner part of Amasya around the old bazaar and fortress
- mütevelli, tevliyet: waqf administrator and this office
- sahtiyan: finely worked goat leather
- tebdil: disguising oneself
- mürtezika: officials who receive a share of waqf revenue
- müsâdere: seizure of goods and property by the state
- şuarâ: poets; ulemâ: scholars
- si'âye: slander, denigration
- ma'zûl: dismissed
The Revan Campaign and the Sultan's Stop in Amasya
The background of the events in the text is Murad IV's Revan campaign. The sultan set out from Üsküdar on 28 March 1635, the army reached Kars on 17 July, and arrived before Revan between 26 and 28 July. The fortress surrendered on 8 August 1635 (23 Safer 1045) after a siege of about ten days. The day Hüsameddin gives for the surrender of Tahmasp Kulu Khan, the twenty-third of the month of Safer, agrees with this date. The sultan then turned to Tabriz, entered the evacuated city on 11 September, and, because of the approaching winter and illness, did not go further and turned back. It is recorded that he reached Üsküdar on 17 December 1635. The stop at Amasya that Hüsameddin describes is a station on this return road.
As understood from Hüsameddin's footnote, this stop does not appear in the historians of the period. The author bases the event on a sefername (campaign diary) kept by the Enderun ağas and a cihadname. The days of the two texts differ; Hüsameddin says he preferred the arrangement in the sefername written by the observers of the campaign, that is, entry into Amasya on 22–23 Cemâziyelâhir and departure on the 24th. The chronology of the Revan campaign published by Süheyl Ünver supports this preference: in the chronology the sultan comes from Tokat to Amasya via İnepazar and Turhal, the day of arrival in Amasya is Monday (the 23rd of the month), and the next day is recorded as Gülkiraz. The same text writes that in Amasya the sultan lodged in the Ahmed Pasha Palace opposite the Sultan Bayezid Mosque. This also coincides with Hüsameddin's record of "Hoca Ahmed Pasha's mansion." Hüsameddin also notes that in a financial register of 1046 he found the entry "farm price of the former mütesellim of Amasya Ömer Bey, 10,000 akçe," and counts this as proof of the sefername's accuracy.
The first record of the footnote is also noteworthy. It is noted that although the distance from İnepazar to Amasya is a six-hour road, the sultan covered this road in two and a half hours. That Sultan Murad applied harsh discipline on this campaign and punished kadıs and viziers who neglected their duty is also written in the encyclopedias. The picture Hüsameddin relays, a circle around a sultan in which no one is trusted and even a small fault carries a heavy price, fits this.
Tahmasp Kulu Khan and the Surrender of Revan
Hüsameddin writes that Tahmasp Kulu Khan, guardian of Revan, hard pressed, came asking for quarter and handed over the fortress. In another account, while negotiations continued, the sultan made it a condition that Tahmasb Kulı Khan come in person; the khan first sent envoys, and in the end the fortress was transferred by a surrender document signed by Murad Ağa, a fully authorized representative. The two accounts agree on the main line of the surrender; they differ in detail. According to the encyclopedia entry, the sultan received the khan with a great ceremony, released the Mazandarani musketeers who were in the fortress, and ordered the fortress repaired. The khan passed into Ottoman service together with his mother, entered the Sunni sect, and his name was changed to Yûsuf Pasha but he continued to be called by his old name. He was given the beylerbeyilik of Aleppo, was dismissed two months later upon complaints and was taken into the sultan's close circle. The "Emîrgûne oğlu Yûsuf Pasha" and "Tahmasp Kulu Khan" in the last sentence of the text are therefore the same person and the enemy of Elkâs Bey. Hüsameddin links Elkâs Bey's dismissal to this person's influence with the sultan. No information was found in other sources on Elkâs Bey.
Revan passed into Safavid hands again on 1 April 1636 (24 Şevval 1045) after the Ottoman army left. The events Hüsameddin relates after Muharrem 1046 fall in the wake of this loss. After this loss Sultan Murad turned to Baghdad.
The Execution of Ömer Bey
Ömer Bey's death is told as the sultan, a guest of Amasya, completely unexpectedly removing the mütesellim who held the city's administration in his hands. Hüsameddin writes plainly that he could not find the reason. No information was found in other sources on Ömer Bey. The selling of his property and the placing on salary of the orphaned children left behind show the grave consequences of the event.
At the end of the text the giving of the sanjak of Amasya to Mustafa Pasha, Beylerbeyi of Tripoli of Syria, is the coming into office of the Mustafa Pasha of Amasya described in the next entry; since the date of Safer 1046 is the same in the two entries, they may be thought to be the same person, but the text does not say this explicitly.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 4, p. 562–563. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Other sources