Amasyalıdır. “Deli Emîr” demekle meşhûrdur. 1082 senesi şevvâlinin dördüncü günü ikinci defa Amasya mutasarrıfı olup Kara Abdî Beyzâde Mehmed Ağa Amasya mütesellimi oldu. Kendi bir müddet sonra geldi. [156]
1083 senesi muharreminde Amasya mutasarrıfı es-Seyyid Mehmed Paşa, kadı Abdulbâki Efendi, müftü Fâzıl Hızır Efendi, nakîbü’l-eşrâf kâ’im-makâmı kudât-ı meşhûreden Hakâlalızâde es-Seyyid Abdurrahman Efendi, alaybeyi Kadızâde Hüseyin Bey idi.
Rebîülevvelde esbak Amasya Mutasarrıfı Deli Murtezâ Paşa Sivas beylerbeyi olup⁶⁷⁰ Amasya’ya geldi. Birkaç gün oturup sonra Sivas’a gitdi. Müteâkiben bir vak’a-i şenâ’at, Amasya’yı alt üst etdi. Şöyle ki:
Ziyareli seyyidlerden birinin şâbb-ı emred oğlu, Ziyâre’den sabahleyin Amasya’ya gelirken Aynalı Mağara önünde uğruna bir şahs-ı meçhûl çıkıp cebren ırzına geçmiş. Bunu duyan Nakîbü’s-seyyid Abdurrahman Efendi, derhal mutasarrıf ve kadıya gitdi. Fâilin tutulup icrâ-yı siyâset edilmesini talep etdi. Sâdât arasında bir kızıl kıyâmet koptu.
Ziyarelilerden hayli adamlar tevkîf edildi. Kadı Abdülbâkî Efendi bir şahs-ı meçhûl uğruna bu kadar bî-günâh adamlar hapsedilemez diyerek cümlesini çocuğa gösterdikten ve fâilin bunlar olmadığı anlaşıldıktan sonra salıverdi.
Sâdât, mahkemeye hücûm ederek salıverilen adamları, mübâşirleri, muhzırları fena halde dövdüler. Mühin-i sâdât, düşman-ı Âl-i Resûl diyerek bîçâre kâdının kaçıp sığındığı hânesini taşladılar.
Mutasarrıf, seyyid olduğundan sâdâtın tarafını iltizâm etmekle beraber [157] kadıya revâ görülen muâmelâtı takbîh ederek azgın haşerâtı te’dîbe kıyâm etdi. Bu yüzden halk iki taraf oldu. Ulemâ ve a‘yândan bir kısmıyla sipâhiler kadı tarafını tutdu. Diğer kısmıyla yeniçeriler de sâdâta uydu.
Mutasarrıf, alaybeyi, çeribaşı, kethüdâyeri, yeniçeri serdarı, subaşılar, bir taraftan fâil-i meçhûlü arayıp bulmakta iken diğer taraftan halkın efkârını teskîn etmeye uğraşdılar.
Nikâbet, yirmi otuz yıldan beri birtakım ağaların elinde olduğundan müteseyyidler çoğalmış, zî-nüfûz olan seyyidlere çatanlar davayı siyâdet ederek yeşil sararlar, tekâlif-i örfiyyeden muaf olarak teneffüz ederlerdi. Bunlar, kendilerini Ehl-i Beyt-i Risâlet sayarlar, herkesin kendilerine hürmet etmelerini muktezâ-yı diyânet bilirlerdi.
Bunun için kendilerine iltihâk eden yeniçeriler sâyesinde tegallüb ederek bîçâre Ziyarelileri fenâ halde tazyîk etdiler. Bunlardan yüz kadar bî-günahı ya fâilini bulup teslim edeceksiniz yahut hepiniz de öleceksiniz diye haps u ta‘zîb etdiler.
Ulemâ, a‘yân ve sipâhiler ittihâd ederek feryâd u istimdâd eden Ziyarelileri kâmilen salıverdiler. Müteseyyidlerin ve yeniçerilerin nüfûz ve şiddetlerini oldukça kırdılar. Lâkin yeniçeriler, bütün köpürdüler sipâhilere karşı nümâyişlere başladılar.
Bu kadar ifrât ve tefrît arasında fâilin taharriyât ve tahkîkâtı âdetâ unutuldu. Ziyarelilerin hânmânı perişan oldu. Nihayet bunlar da [158] ayaklanıp sâdâta hücûm etdiler. Arbede birkaç kimsenin ölümüyle hitâm buldu.
Bu arbede, sipâhi yeniçeri bölüklerine sirayet ederek büyük bir fitnenin hudûsu kuvve-i garîbeye gelmiş iken mutasarrıf ve ulemâ araya girdiler. Arbedeyi çıkaran ve büyülten Koca Emîr es-Seyyid Mahmûd Ağa ve ba’zı müteneffizânın üzerlerinde icrâ-yı nüfûz ederek fitneyi bastırdılar.
Bu teskîn-i fitnede müftü Fâzıl Hızır Efendi’nin büyük bir te’sîri görüldü. Bu esnada Sultân Bâyezîd Câmii imâm-ı evveli şeyhü’l-kurrâ Hâfız Ahmed Efendi vefât edib yerine imâm-ı sânî Nasûh Efendi imâm-ı evvel ve Hocazâde Halil Efendi imâm-ı sânî oldu.
Rebîülâhirin on yedisinde mîrâhûr-ı evvel Amasyalı Bayburdluoğlu Kara İbrâhim Ağa’nın tâbi‘i Gürcü Pîrî Ağazâde İbrâhim Ağa evkâf-ı Sultâniyye mütevellîsi olup Amasya’ya geldi. Hâdisenin def‘ ve teskîninde bunun da oldukça te’sîri oldu.
Fakat seyyidler tarafından her tarafa şikâyetler yağmış, İstanbul’da Nakîbü’l-eşrâf Seyrekzâde es-Seyyid Abdurrahman Efendi bile alâkadar olmuşdu. Cumâdelûlâ gurresinde kâdının müddeti bitdiğinden Hayreddînzâde Mustafa Efendi Amasya kadısı oldu.
Cumâdelûlâ evâilinde Serdâr Ahmed Ağa’nın azliyle meşhûr Ya’kûb Ağa yeniçeri serdârı oldu. Vâlî Murtezâ Paşa da Sivas’tan gelip ba’zı sâdâtı haps ederek şikâyetlere ma’rûz kaldı.
Cumâdelâhirede Vâlî Murtezâ Paşa’nın azliyle yerine Zileli Çavuş [159] zâde Mehmed Paşa Sivas vâlisi olup geldi. Hülâsa fâil-i meçhûl bulunamadı. Asıl fiilin vukûu, seyyid çocuğunun kavl-i mücerredinden ibâret kaldı.
Ancak ifrâta mağlup olan Murtezâ Paşa’dan da şikâyetler olduğundan zilhiccede Kayseriyye sancağına tahvîl edilerek Amasya sancağı Karahisar-ı Şarkî Mutasarrıfı Ömer Paşa’ya tevcîh edildi.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He was known as "Deli Emîr." On the fourth day of Shawwal 1082 [February 1672] he became governor of Amasya for the second time; Kara Abdî Beyzâde Mehmed Ağa became mütesellim of Amasya. He himself arrived some time later.
In Muharram 1083 [May 1672] the governor of Amasya was es-Seyyid Mehmed Pasha, its kadı Abdülbâkî Efendi, its mufti Fâzıl Hızır Efendi, the deputy of the nakîbüleşraf Hakâlalızâde es-Seyyid Abdurrahman Efendi, one of the renowned kadıs, and its alaybeyi Kadızâde Hüseyin Bey.
In Rabi' al-Awwal the former Governor of Amasya Deli Murtezâ Pasha came to Amasya as beylerbeyi of Sivas; he stayed a few days and then went to Sivas. After this an ugly incident turned Amasya upside down. The incident is as follows:
The young son of one of the sayyids of Ziyare, whose beard had not yet grown, was coming from Ziyare to Amasya in the morning when, in front of the Aynalı Cave, an unknown man confronted him and raped him by force. Hearing this, the nakîbüssâdât (head of the sayyids) Abdurrahman Efendi went at once to the governor and the kadı and demanded that the perpetrator be caught and punished. An uproar broke out among the sayyids.
Quite a few of the people of Ziyare were arrested. Kadı Abdülbâkî Efendi, saying that so many innocent men could not be imprisoned on account of an unknown person, showed them all to the boy; when it became clear that the perpetrator was not among them, he released them.
The sayyids attacked the court and beat the released men, the bailiffs, and the court ushers severely. Saying "he who insults the sayyids, the enemy of the Prophet's lineage," they stoned the house to which the poor kadı had fled for refuge.
The governor, being himself a sayyid, sided with the sayyids, but condemned the treatment shown to the kadı and set about punishing the unruly crowd. Because of this the people were divided in two. Some of the scholars and notables, together with the sipahis, took the kadı's side, while the others, together with the janissaries, followed the sayyids.
The governor, the alaybeyi, the çeribaşı, the city steward, the janissary commander, and the subaşıs, on the one hand tried to search for and find the unknown perpetrator, and on the other worked to calm the people's heads.
Because the nakîblik had been in the hands of a number of ağas for twenty or thirty years, false sayyids had multiplied. Those who took refuge with influential sayyids wrapped green turbans on the claim of being sayyids, and became persons of standing, exempt from customary taxes. These counted themselves of the Ahl al-Bayt of the Prophet and regarded it as a requirement of religion that everyone show them respect.
Therefore, thanks to the janissaries who joined them, they gained the upper hand and pressed the poor people of Ziyare severely. About a hundred innocent men among them they imprisoned and tortured, saying "Either you will find the perpetrator and hand him over, or all of you will die."
The scholars, notables, and sipahis united and released all the people of Ziyare, who were crying out and asking for help. They considerably broke the influence and violence of the false sayyids and the janissaries. But the janissaries boiled over completely and began demonstrations against the sipahis.
Amid so much excess and violence, the search for and investigation of the perpetrator was almost forgotten. The homes and property of the people of Ziyare were ruined. In the end they too rose up and attacked the sayyids. The scuffle ended with the death of a few people.
This scuffle was spreading to the sipahi and janissary companies and a great sedition was about to break out when the governor and the scholars intervened. They suppressed the sedition by using their influence over Koca Emîr es-Seyyid Mahmûd Ağa, who had started and enlarged the quarrel, and over some influential persons.
In the calming of this sedition the great influence of Mufti Fâzıl Hızır Efendi was seen. At this time Hâfız Ahmed Efendi, first imam of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque and sheikh of the Qur'an reciters, died; the second imam Nasûh Efendi became first imam in his place, and Hocazâde Halil Efendi second imam.
On the seventeenth of Rabi' al-Thani, Gürcü Pîrî Ağazâde İbrâhim Ağa, a man of the chief master of the stables (mîrâhûr-ı evvel) Bayburdluoğlu Kara İbrâhim Ağa of Amasya, came to Amasya as trustee of the Sultan waqfs. He too had considerable influence in settling and calming the affair.
But the sayyids had showered complaints everywhere, and even in Istanbul the Nakîbüleşraf Seyrekzâde es-Seyyid Abdurrahman Efendi took an interest in the matter. At the beginning of Jumada al-Ula, since the kadı's term had expired, Hayreddînzâde Mustafa Efendi became kadı of Amasya.
At the beginning of Jumada al-Ula, when the commander Ahmed Ağa was dismissed, the famous Yakub Ağa became janissary commander. The governor Murtezâ Pasha also came from Sivas and imprisoned some sayyids, and because of this became the object of complaints.
In Jumada al-Thani Governor Murtezâ Pasha was dismissed, and Zileli Çavuşzâde Mehmed Pasha came as governor of Sivas in his place. In short, the unknown perpetrator was not found. That the incident really happened also had no basis other than the word of the sayyid's boy.
But since complaints also came about Murtezâ Pasha, who had been carried away by excess, in Dhu al-Hijja the governor was transferred to the sanjak of Kayseri, and the sanjak of Amasya was given to Ömer Pasha, Governor of Karahisar-ı Şarkî.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- vak'a-i şenâat: an ugly, shameful incident
- şâbb-ı emred: a youth whose beard has not yet grown
- şahs-ı meçhûl: an unknown person
- icrâ-yı siyâset: carrying out punishment, especially the death penalty
- sâdât: sayyids, those descended from the Prophet
- muhzır: the bailiff or court usher charged with bringing persons to court
- mühin-i sâdât: one who insults the sayyids
- takbîh: condemnation
- nikâbet: the nakîbship, the duty of looking after the affairs of the sayyids
- müteseyyid: one who claims to be a sayyid though not one
- tekâlîf-i örfiyye: non-shar'i taxes imposed by the sultan's order
- tegallüb: gaining the upper hand by force
- ta'zîb: torturing
- ifrât ve tefrît: excess and violence
- taharriyât: investigations
- kavl-i mücerred: a bare word, without evidence
- mîrâhûr-ı evvel: the great ağa who was head of the palace stables
Ziyare and the Aynalı Cave
Ziyare, where the incident took place, is today the town of Ziyaret in the central district of Amasya. The town's own published history, relying on Hüsameddin's description, reports that Ziyaret was founded on both banks of the Yeşilırmak in a valley of about thirteen kilometers extending from northeast to southwest. The same history also states that the name of the fortress of Zemendu, mentioned in Bedreddin Mahmud el-Aynî's İkdü'l-cümân, changed over time into "Ziyere," that the women of Amasya came here for outings on Fridays, and that the vineyards of Ziyere were famous. The town, whose population was recorded as 4,084 in 2021, was in the seventeenth century too a settlement with its own notables. According to a later entry of Hüsameddin, in 1087 el-Hâc Halil Ağazâde el-Hâc İbrâhim Ağa, "of the notables of Ziyare," built a masjid, school, and fountain here and revived his quarter.
The Aynalı Cave, in front of which the sayyid's boy was attacked, is one of the best-known ancient monuments of Amasya. This rock tomb, about three kilometers from the city center on the Ziyaret road, is considered to be dedicated to Tes, a priest of Mithras who lived in the Hellenistic period in the second century BC. The monument, carved into a flat rock, is 9.8 meters wide and 13 meters high; its polished facade took the name "Aynalı" (mirrored) because it shines when the sun strikes it. The tomb chamber was used by the Byzantines in the eleventh century as a monastery, and pictures of the twelve apostles were painted on its vault. Hüsameddin's record shows that in the seventeenth century, as today, the road from Ziyare to Amasya passed in front of the Aynalı Cave.
Sayyids, False Sayyids, and the Nakîbüleşraf
The assessment that Hüsameddin places in the middle of his narrative of the incident is the most noteworthy part of the entry. According to him, because the nakîblik in Amasya had been in the hands of a number of ağas for twenty or thirty years, those who claimed to be sayyids without being so had multiplied; they wrapped green turbans and gained influence by being kept exempt from customary taxes. Mustafa Sabri Küçükaşçı's entry on sayyids explains the institutional background of this complaint. In the Ottoman state sayyids and sharifs were exempt from taxes such as avârız-ı dîvâniyye and tekâlîf-i örfiyye; they were also given salaries and gratuities. The tradition of sayyids' wearing green had been regularized in the time of the Abbasid Caliph Hârûnürreşîd. The main duty of the institution of the nakîbüleşraf was to investigate and record the genealogies of the sayyids and to punish those who made false claims of descent. Küçükaşçı notes that false sayyids were called "müteseyyid" and that they had been seen since the early periods of Islamic history.
In this framework the Amasya incident is a local example of what can result when a status that confers tax exemption and social standing is left unsupervised. In Hüsameddin's words, the claim of being a sayyid, thanks to the alliance formed with the janissaries, became an instrument of power, and the city was split in two between sipahis and janissaries. That the governor was himself a sayyid and yet condemned the attack on the kadı shows that the incident cannot be read merely as a conflict between the sayyids and the rest of the people.
The Nakîbüleşraf Seyrekzâde es-Seyyid Abdurrahman Efendi, who is said to have taken an interest in the matter in Istanbul, belongs to one of the well-known ilmiye families of the period. In the biography of the poet Uşşâkîzâde Seyyid Abdullah Efendi (Nesîb) it is recorded that his mother was the sister of the nakîbüleşraf Seyrekzâde Seyyid Abdurrahman Efendi; this confirms his holding the nakîbüleşraf office.
The People of the Incident in Later Years
The name of Koca Emîr es-Seyyid Mahmûd Ağa, said to have enlarged the sedition, appears again in Hüsameddin's later entries: in 1087 the nakîb Koca Emîr Mahmûd Ağa, "influential among the sayyids," was dismissed, and es-Seyyid Mustafa Efendi, one of the scholars, became deputy of the nakîbüleşraf. Deli Emîr Mehmed Pasha became governor of Amasya for the fourth time in the same year. The last sentence of the entry is ambiguous as to whether the person transferred to the sanjak of Kayseri was Murtezâ Pasha or the governor es-Seyyid Mehmed Pasha; since the following entry says that the sanjak of Amasya was given in addition to "es-Seyyid Mehmed Pasha, Governor of Kayseri," the one who moved to Kayseri is Deli Emîr Mehmed Pasha. Murtezâ Pasha, for his part, was dismissed from the governorship of Sivas in Jumada al-Thani. For Murtezâ Pasha's beylerbeyilik of Sivas Hüsameddin relies on the work Rûznâme-i Târih-i Osmânî. The name of the Ziyare boy, the real victim of the incident, and of his family does not appear in the text; as Hüsameddin also stresses, the perpetrator was never found.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 4, pp. 592–594; also p. 597. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Official sources
Books
Other sources