Amasyalıdır. Mühürdâr-ı sadr-ı âlî Amasyalı el-Hâc Nüzhet Ahmed Efendi bin Ali Ağa bin Abdurrahman’ın mahdûmudur. 1155’de doğdu. Pederinin ikbâli sâyesinde Bâb-ı âlî aklâmından birine girip tefeyyüz ederek hulefâdan oldu.
1175 senesi şa’bânında pederi Amasya‘da Sultân Bâyezîd evkâfı mütevellîsi oldukda pederiyle beraber Amasya’ya geldi. 1176 senesi şa’bânında pederinin vefâtı üzerine evkâf-ı Sultâniyye mütevellîsi olup Amasya’da bir müddet kaldı.
1178’de İstanbul’a gidip sadâret mektûbî kaleminde istihdâm edilerek 1182 cumadelâhirinde Sadr-ı a’zam olan Yağlıkcızâde Mehmed Emîn Paşa’ya mühürdâr olarak Hâcegân-ı Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn zümresine iltihâk etdi. 1183 senesi rebîülevvelinde sadr-ı müşârün-ileyhin azl ve katli üzerine açıkta kaldı.
1188’de Harameyn muhâsebecisi olarak menâsıb-ı dîvâniyyeyi devredip mükerreren baş-muhâsebe, tezkire-i sânî, yeniçeri kâtibi oldu. 1218 senesi ramazânının on [87] dokuzunda vefât etdi. Haydarpaşa’da medfûndur.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He was the son of Hacı Nüzhet Ahmed Efendi of Amasya, seal-keeper of the grand vizier; Ahmed Efendi was the son of Ali Ağa, who was the son of Abdurrahman. He was born in 1155 [1742-43]. Thanks to his father's rise he entered one of the offices of the Sublime Porte, trained there and became one of the office assistants (halifes).
In Sha'ban 1175 [1761-62], when his father became custodian of the Sultan Bayezid endowments in Amasya, he came to Amasya with his father. In Sha'ban 1176 [1762-63], upon his father's death, he became custodian of the sultanic endowments and stayed in Amasya for a time.
In 1178 [1764-65] he went to Istanbul and was employed in the grand vizier's correspondence office (mektûbî); in Jumada al-Akhira 1182 [1768-69] he joined the ranks of the hâcegân of the Imperial Council as seal-keeper to Yağlıkçızâde Mehmed Emin Paşa, who had become grand vizier. In Rabi' al-Awwal 1183 [1769-70], when the grand vizier was dismissed and killed, he was left without a post.
In 1188 [1774-75], as accountant of the Two Holy Cities (Haremeyn), he passed in turn through the offices of the council and repeatedly became chief accountant, second tezkireci and janissary scribe. He died on the nineteenth of Ramadan 1218 [1803-04]. He is buried in Haydarpaşa.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mühürdâr-ı sadr-ı âlî: the official who carried the grand vizier's seal and handled matters connected with it
- mahdûm: son
- ikbâl: rise, good fortune
- Bâb-ı âlî aklâmı: the writing offices, the bureaus attached to the grand vizier's gate
- tefeyyüz, hulefâ: training; assistants who trained beside expert scribes in the offices
- mütevellî: the person who administers an endowment
- evkâf-ı Sultâniyye: endowments founded by sultans
- sadâret mektûbî kalemi: the office that handled the grand vizier's correspondence
- Hâcegân-ı Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn: the senior scribes of the Imperial Council
- azl ve katl: dismissal and killing
- Harameyn muhasebecisi: the official who kept the accounts of the endowments and revenues of Mecca and Medina
- menâsıb-ı dîvâniyye: the offices of the council
- tezkire-i sânî: the second tezkire office
- yeniçeri kâtibi: the senior scribe who handled the written business of the janissary corps
The Grand Vizier He Served as Seal-Keeper
The turning point in Nüzhet Efendizâde's career was becoming seal-keeper to Grand Vizier Yağlıkçızâde Mehmed Emin Paşa. This pasha was born in Istanbul in 1724 as the son of the oil merchant Hacı Yûsuf Ağa, rose quickly from the grand vizier's correspondence office to reîsülküttâb and nişancı, and became grand vizier on 20 October 1768. The date Hüsameddin gives, "Jumada al-Akhira 1182," agrees with this.
Mehmed Emin Paşa's grand vizierate coincided with the start of the Ottoman-Russian War. He had no knowledge of military matters; the army was sent off without a defined objective or route, and it is told in the sources that on reaching Isaccea he began to ask what was to be done. He attempted to resign several times. In the end, on 12 August 1769, his seal was taken from him, he was sent to Edirne on the pretext of an appointment in Egypt, and on 11 September 1769 he was strangled there. His fortune was confiscated.
Hüsameddin describes this event as "the dismissal and killing of the grand vizier in Rabi' al-Awwal 1183." According to the encyclopedia entry the dismissal took place in Rabi' al-Akhir (August 1769) and the execution in Jumada al-Awwal (September 1769); that is, Hüsameddin gives the two events in a single phrase and places the dismissal a month earlier. The difference is one month. Nüzhet Efendizâde's being "left without a post" means that his duty ended with the fall of the grand vizier whose seal-keeper he was.
Hâcegân and the Offices of the Council
The hâcegân are the upper stratum of the scribes of the Imperial Council in Ottoman bureaucracy. In the mid-eighteenth century the defterdars, nişancı, reîsülküttâb, chief accountant, accountant of Anatolia, accountant of the Two Holy Cities, the great and small tezkirecis and the janissary scribe were counted in this rank. In the classical period, among the hâcegân who sat under the second dome of the Imperial Council were the accountant of the Two Holy Cities and the chief accountant. Appointments to the hâcegân were made every year in mid-Shawwal. This information suggests that Nüzhet Efendizâde's moves after 1188 from the Haremeyn accounts to chief accountant, tezkireci and janissary scribe were a circulation within the same stratum.
The Amasya Connection
According to Hüsameddin, Nüzhet Efendizâde's father and he himself were custodians of the Sultan Bayezid endowments in Amasya; this endowment is that of the Sultan Bayezid II Complex in Amasya. The endowment deed of the complex was written in 901 (January 1496), and it lists a mosque, imaret, madrasa and primary school. The custodian was also responsible for the maintenance of the complex: after the earthquake of 1079 (1668-69), the custodian İbrâhim Ağa of Merzifon repaired the damage within a year. No information was found in other sources on Ahmed Nüzhet Efendi or his son Es'ad Mehmed Efendi; the years of custodianship and the dates of birth and death rest only on Hüsameddin.
Bibliography