The Fazlızâdes were an Amasya family descended from the calligrapher Fazlullah Efendi, preacher (hatib and vaiz) of the Hâtuniye Mosque in the middle of the seventeenth century. Hüsameddin names them in the first volume of his book among the leading lineages of Amasya as the "Fazlî Sülâlesi" and defines them as the descendants of the celebrated preacher Fazlullah Efendi, who died around the year 1080. The family carried its founder's identity as calligraphers for two generations, and thereafter, through the clerkship of the court, the office of deputy judge (naib), madrasa professorships and the posts of the notables (a'yân) in the town's government, it remained one of the influential houses of Amasya until the beginning of the twentieth century.

The History of Amasya contains twenty-seven entries whose headings carry the nisba "Fazlızâde"; twenty-four of them can be linked to Fazlullah Efendi through the genealogies given in the text. In addition there are three entries for members of the same lineage recorded under other names: the hacıbaşı Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Efendi, the palace official Sa'îd Ahmed Ağa, and Servahdî Ahmed Efendi, a grandson through the female line. The annals of the fourth volume, for their part, make it possible to follow year by year the place in Amasya's politics of a family known for most of the eighteenth century as "Fazlıoğlu" or the "Fazlı Oğulları". Hüsameddin does not behave as a neutral recorder towards the family: he writes with equal frankness about the scholars who suffered, in his own words, "the malice of the Fazlızâdes", about the family's abuses in tax collection and about its use of influence in the courts.

The Name and Its Origins

According to the genealogy Hüsameddin gives, the family's ancestor Hâfız Fazlullah Efendi was the son of Mustafa and the grandson of Hasan. The annals place his death among the events of the year 1081 [1670-71]; the phrase "around the year 1080" in the list of families in the first volume is an approximation of that date. According to the book's entry "Ahmed Efendi-Hattât", the calligrapher Ahmed Efendi (d. c. 1090 [1679]), professor of the Kâsım Bey Madrasa and master of calligraphy in the calligraphers' room beside the Sultan Bayezid soup kitchen (imaret), was Fazlullah Efendi's paternal cousin. The entries for Fazlullah Efendi's sons say that they practised writing under "their uncle Hâfız Ahmed Efendi"; it is an inference that the close relative meant here is this calligrapher. The family's calligraphic tradition thus reaches back one generation before Fazlullah, to a partnership between the sons of Hasan.

The family's name took several forms within three generations. In the biographical volumes the members are recorded as "Fazlızâde"; in the annals the same people mostly appear as "Fazlıoğlu" and, collectively, as the "Fazlı Oğulları". According to Hüsameddin, the family "in recent times" began to be called by the names of two separate branches, the "Hacı Başı Oğulları" and the "Selâm Oğulları". It is an inference that the first name was given to the descendants of Hacıbaşı es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi, who became hacıbaşı in 1253 [1837] and was known by that title for many years, and the second to the sons of Abdüsselâm Efendi, who gained influence as a divan secretary at the end of the eighteenth century. Hüsameddin writes that the person who truly "awakened" the hearth was the beylerbey Fazlı Paşa, that the pasha remained in Istanbul and that the rest of the family lived in Amasya as notables. From the middle of the eighteenth century many members of the family bear the title "es-Seyyid"; Hüsameddin does not explain by what route the title came to them.

The names "Fazlızâde" and "Fazlı Paşazâde" were also given to other families in Amasya, and in the book they are easily confused. Abdüsselâm Bey-Fazlı Paşazâde in the eleventh volume was the son of Fazlullah Paşa, former beylerbey of Yemen and defterdar, who died in 1030 [1621]; he died in 1061 [1651], and his descendants were called "Selâm Beyzâde". His son Sun'ullah Bey and his brother Sadullah Bey belong to this family. These Selâm Beyzâdes are a family distinct from the "Selâm Oğulları", who descended from the calligrapher Fazlullah Efendi and took their name from Abdüsselâm Efendi at the end of the eighteenth century. In the same way, the mîr-i mîrân Fazlı Paşa, son of Mumcu Velizâde Bâlî Ağa (d. c. 1076 [1665-66]), belonged to the "Bâlî Oğulları" and should not be confused with Fazlızâde Fazlı Paşa.

A branch whose connection is less certain appears among the Janissaries. The Amasya serdar Derviş Mehmed Ağa (d. c. 1196 [1782]) was known as "Fazlı oğlu"; his father was Abdurrahim Efendi bin Mehmed Efendi, and his mother Ayşe Hâtun, daughter of Koca Vâiz Hacı Derviş Mehmed Efendi. In Koca Vâiz's entry this son-in-law is called "Fazlızâde Abdurrahim Efendi", and Koca Vâiz himself was the son-in-law of Hasan Efendi, son of Fazlullah Efendi. These marriages show a close tie between the two families, but the place of Abdurrahim Efendi's father Mehmed Efendi in the lineage of Fazlullah is not stated in the book. Derviş Mehmed Ağa's son Abdurrahman Ağa (d. c. 1206 [1791-92]), who rose to be a kapıcıbaşı, and the judge Sâ'ib Mehmed Efendi (d. c. 1246 [1830-31]), recorded as the son of "Fazlı oğlu Abdurrahman Ağa of the Janissaries", also belong to this branch. This article does not include that branch in the main family tree.

The Family across the Generations

The Calligrapher Fazlullah Efendi (d. 1081 [1670-71])

Since Fazlullah Efendi has no entry of his own, what is known of his life is gathered from the biographies of his pupils and sons. He was preacher of the Hâtuniye Mosque, built by Bülbül Hatun on the north bank of the Yeşilırmak; he knew the Qur'an by heart and is most often described in the book as a "famous calligrapher". In the section of the fourth volume describing calligraphy in seventeenth-century Amasya, the name "Hatîb Fazlullah" is counted among the calligraphers who were the pride of the town, and his "dîvânî and reyhânî" scripts receive particular praise. When Hüsameddin speaks of the two great lines of calligraphy taught in Amasya, he places Fazlullah, Hâfız Ahmed and Mehmed Emîn Efendi among the most famous representatives of the line descended from Celâleddîn Amâsî, which survived in Amasya until the year 1150.

A record showing Fazlullah Efendi's standing in the town occurs among the charitable works of Hoca Ahmed Paşa of the İğnecizâde family. The pasha, who served as beylerbey of Trabzon and governor of the sanjak of Amasya, built two upper-storey rooms beside the Sultan Bayezid imaret, one "for the famous calligrapher Fazlullah Efendi" and the other as a time-keeper's room for Koca Müneccim Ahmed Efendi, and endowed for their upkeep his shops on the qibla side of the Saraçhane Mosque, in the İbadullah Market and in the covered bazaar. Fazlullah Efendi's lessons in writing were probably given in this room; this last point is an inference.

The biographical volumes name more than ten people who learned calligraphy from Fazlullah Efendi. Among them are Selîmzâde Emnî Süleyman Çelebi, who rose to be a secretary of the Imperial Council, the divan secretary Câmî Hasan Çelebi, Celâlî Mehmed Çelebi, Resîm Ahmed Efendi, Ehlullah, Şükrullah and Sun'ullah Efendi of the Hâbilzâde family, and Hâcezâde Şevkî Mehmed Efendi. Many of his pupils became divan secretaries to viziers from Amasya such as Deli Emîr Mehmed Paşa. Koca Vâiz Hacı Derviş Mehmed Efendi, orphaned at the age of eight and brought up under Fazlullah Efendi's guardianship, later became the son-in-law of Fazlullah's son Hasan Efendi, preached at the Hâtuniye Mosque for some sixty years, and died in 1145 [1732-33] at the age of eighty-seven.

The Sons of Fazlullah Efendi

Four sons of Fazlullah Efendi are named in the book: Hasan, Ahmed, Emîn Mehmed and Mustafa. All four practised calligraphy under their father, and the first three have entries of their own. Hâfız Hasan Efendi, after serving as secretary of the Sultan Bayezid endowments, travelled from province to province as divan secretary of Deli Emîr Mehmed Paşa, and after the pasha's death returned to Amasya, where he became master of the town's school of calligraphy (darülhattatin). He died towards the end of 1105 [1694]. Hüsameddin describes him as "a man of learning and good manners, a secretary and a famous calligrapher" and closes his entry with the name of his son, "Beylerbey Fazlı Paşa".

Ahmed Efendi learned writing from his father and his uncle and the sciences from Uzun Müderris Mehmed Efendi, and became a lecturer (dersiâm) and chief clerk of the court. He was appointed professor of the Kâsım Bey Madrasa at Hakala, left vacant by the death of his uncle the calligrapher Ahmed Efendi, became deputy judge of Amasya at the beginning of 1093 [1682], gaining considerable influence and fame, and died the following year, around 1094 [1683]. Ahmed Efendi, a master of the ta'lik script, was the father of Sarı Ali Efendi, of whom more below. According to his entry, his professorship passed to his brother Mustafa Efendi.

The first member of the family to rise in Istanbul was Emîn Mehmed Efendi. After his father and his uncle Hâfız Ahmed Efendi, he also learned writing in Istanbul from Nefiszâde Seyyid İsmâil Efendi of Amasya, and entered the secretaries of the Imperial Council. He became secretary to Hüseyin Paşa of Amasya and in 1095 [1684] his divan secretary; after the pasha's death he served as finance memorandum clerk, deputy reisülküttap and, in 1106 [1694-95], accountant of the treasury, and in 1108 [1696-97] became acting steward of the grand vizier (sadaret kethüdası). He was dismissed because of illness and died in 1110 [1698-99]. Hüsameddin counts his teacher Nefiszâde as a native of Amasya; Uğur Derman, however, writes that Nefiszâde was born in Istanbul and died in 1090 [1679]. Emîn Mehmed Efendi's son, the Janissary secretary Hacı Veliyyüddîn Efendi, died in 1132 [1720], and the descendants of his calligrapher sons were called "Veli Efendizâde" in Istanbul; this branch can be traced in the Janissary bureau until the end of the eighteenth century.

The fourth son, Mustafa Efendi, has no entry, and his identity is the most confused point in the family's history. Ahmed Efendi's entry makes him Ahmed Efendi's brother, whereas the entry of his son Hacı Ahmed Efendi and three entries that give genealogies record him as "Mustafa Efendi bin Hattat Ahmed Efendi bin Fazlullah Efendi", that is, as Fazlullah's grandson. A sentence in the calligrapher Ahmed Efendi's entry, "his son-in-law is his brother's son Mustafa Efendi", partly explains the confusion: Mustafa Efendi may have married the daughter of the calligrapher Ahmed Efendi, his father's cousin, and the two Ahmeds may later have been run together. This is an inference. According to the list of the Kâsım Bey Madrasa's professors, Fazlızâde Mustafa Efendi came to the madrasa in 1099 [1687-88], was dismissed in 1102 [1690-91] for not going to Hakala, was reappointed in 1107 [1695-96] and died in 1115 [1703-04]. The entry on Çeşmî Hüseyin Efendi in the eighth volume, on the other hand, mentions a "Fazlızâde Mustafa Ağa" as Fazlullah Efendi's son: he married Fâtıma Hanım, daughter of Çeşmî Hüseyin Efendi, builder of the Sormagir Mosque in Istanbul, and his son Hacı Mehmed Tâhir Efendi and grandsons became trustees of that endowment. Whether he is the same person as the professor Mustafa Efendi is not clear.

Fazlı Paşa and His Brother Hamdullah Efendi

The member of the family who rose highest in the service of the state was Hasan Efendi's son Fazlı Paşa. He has no entry of his own, but the outline of his life can be drawn from several entries. According to the entry on Câmî Hasan Çelebi, this calligrapher-secretary first attached himself to "Fazlızâde Fazlı Paşa when he was an ağa", became his secretary while he was steward of the grand vizier, and his divan secretary once he was a pasha. According to the annals, after the execution of İvaz Paşa, beylerbey of Sivas, "Fazlızâde Fazlı Paşa of Amasya" became governor of Sivas in Rebiülevvel 1125 [1713] and took Keskin İsmâil Ağa of Amasya with him as his deputy (mütesellim). In Zilhicce of the same year, thanks to the governor's petition, his cousin Sarı Ali Efendi, held prisoner in the fortress of Samsun, was set free. The annals record that the pasha was transferred to Ankara in Cemaziyelahir 1126 [1714]. The entry on Keskin İsmâil Ağa, however, says that İsmâil Ağa was killed in the same month "together with Fazlı Paşa". The book does not resolve the difference between the two records.

Fazlı Paşa's brother Hamdullah Efendi learned writing from his father and from the calligrapher Hâfız Ahmed Efendi, went to Istanbul, became a secretary of the Imperial Council, and died after 1125 [1713]. Hüsameddin placed this short entry on the page where he discusses the statement in Müstakimzâde's Tuhfetü'l-hattâtîn that Mustafa Dede, father of the famous Şeyh Hamdullah, had migrated from Bukhara to Amasya; he draws no family connection between the two Hamdullahs.

Sarı Ali Efendi and His Sons

Ahmed Efendi's son Sarı Hacı Ali Efendi was the man who established the family's political weight in Amasya at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The annals state plainly that he was Fazlı Paşa's cousin. He became steward of the town (şehir kethüdası) in Muharrem 1120 [1708] and chief notable (başa'yân) in 1122 [1710]. As a rival of the Amasya deputy governor Yeğen Hacı Ali Bey and of the deputy marshal of the descendants of the Prophet, Emîr Hacı Abdullatîf Çelebi, he was exiled to Samsun and confined in the fortress in Rebiülevvel 1124 [1712], together with Avkatlı İbrâhim Ağa, on the grounds that he was "interfering in the affairs of government". A year and a half later he was pardoned through Fazlı Paşa's intercession, became chief notable again in 1126 [1714] and 1129 [1717], and as steward of the town from Şevval 1129 brought "his influence and fortune to their height". Shortly afterwards he was removed from the stewardship for opposing the chief notable, and he died in Şevval 1131 [1719].

Three of Sarı Ali Efendi's sons have entries. Sa'îd Ahmed Efendi appears in the annals as steward of the town of Amasya in 1135 [1722-23]; according to his entry he went to Istanbul, became treasury secretary to Zanalızâde Seyyid Ahmed Paşa, settled in the bureau of the grand vizier's steward, was secretary to the steward with the rank of hâcegân in 1166 [1752-53], and died in Şaban 1172 [1759], being buried at Üsküdar. Hüsameddin calls him "Fazlı Paşa's nephew"; in fact he was the son of the pasha's cousin. Abdülazîz Efendi managed well the fortune he inherited, served several times as deputy marshal of the descendants of the Prophet, and died around 1171 [1757-58] as a member of the councils of the hacıs and the notables. Abdülkâdir Efendi grew rich on tax farms and died around 1181 [1767-68] as steward of the covered bazaar and a member of the council of notables. The annals name Hacı Sa'îd Ahmed Ağa and Hâfız Mehmed Efendi as the sons who took their father's place at his death; the second of these does not appear in the entries.

Sa'îd Ahmed Efendi's line continued both in Amasya and in Istanbul. His son Âgâh Mehmed Efendi, after serving as poll-tax clerk, became divan secretary to Ak Hasanzâde Hacı Halîl Paşa; after the pasha's death in 1200 [1786] he returned to Amasya, lived in the Recep quarter and died at the beginning of 1208 [1793]. Hüsameddin says that he saw the petition Âgâh wrote to the Sublime Porte on Halîl Paşa's behalf but could not find his poems. Sa'îd Ahmed Ağa, great-grandson of Sa'îd Ahmed Efendi through his other son Seyyid Hacı Ali Efendi, was known in the palace school as "İnce Belli" (Slim-Waist), rose in the Privy Chamber and became keeper of the sultan's turban (dülbend ağası) in 1243 [1828]. When Mahmud II put on the fez the post became superfluous, and when the post of nikâbdâr that followed was also abolished he retired; he died in 1246 [1830-31].

The Court Clerks: The Line of Hacı Mehmed Efendi

The branch that held the clerkship of the Amasya court through the eighteenth century almost as if it were a hereditary office descends from the chief court clerk Hacı Hâfız Mehmed Efendi. Hüsameddin gives his father in two different ways: in the entry of his son Hacı İsmâil Efendi he writes "Mehmed Efendi bin Hâfız Ahmed Efendi bin Fazlullah Efendi", while in the entries of his grandsons the genealogy runs "Mehmed Efendi bin Hacı Ali Efendi bin Hasan Efendi bin Fazlullah Efendi". According to the annals, Fazlıoğlu Hacı Mehmed Efendi was dismissed in 1150 [1737] after public complaints that he had connived at the "improper" doings of a young and inexperienced deputy judge; a few years later, "through the influence of the Fazlıoğulları", he again became chief clerk in place of his rival Gümüşlü Hacı Mehmed Efendi, and he died in Şevval 1154 [1741-42].

His son Hacı İsmâil Efendi acquired wealth through tax farms in his father's lifetime and, after serving as deputy judge in rural districts, became court clerk in 1156 [1743]. He and Gümüşlü Kâtip Mehmed Efendi succeeded one another several times; he became deputy judge of Amasya in Muharrem 1173 [1759], left that office the following year and remained in the clerkship. His entry says he died in Zilhicce 1176 [1763], whereas the annals place his death in Muharrem 1177. İsmâil Efendi was trustee of the Dursun Bey endowment, and the trusteeship passed to his sons. His brother Hacı İbrâhim Efendi was trained in Istanbul in the correspondence office of the grand vizier, received the rank of hâcegân as divan secretary to Sarızâde Mehmed Paşa of Amasya, returned to Amasya when the pasha died at Bender in 1183 [1769], and after the pilgrimage died in 1191 [1777] as divan secretary to Canikli Hacı Ali Paşa. His son Mehmed Sa'îd Efendi was among the notables of Amasya.

Hacı İsmâil Efendi's four sons were Feyzullah, Ahmed, Abdülfettâh and Zekeriyyâ Efendi. Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Efendi became registrar of the court after his father's death, and then its clerk. The annals record the frequent changes of hand that show how the family kept hold of the clerkship: in 1195 [1781] Ahmed Efendi was dismissed "because certain improper conduct was seen" and replaced by his brother Feyzullah Efendi; he became clerk again in 1207 [1792-93], was exiled to Samsun the following year for his part in a disturbance, and on his return was once more made clerk. In 1214 [1799], while deputy judge of Amasya, he was taken from his house at night together with the scholars who had objected to the tax collection of Canikli Tayyâr Bey and sent to Samsun; in 1215 [1800] he returned through the good offices of Hüseyin Battal Paşa, became clerk for the third time, and died in 1219 [1804-05]. His brother Feyzullah Efendi's son Seyyid Hacı İsmâil Efendi also served as chief clerk and member of the council of notables, but was dismissed "because his partisanship was seen in the Janissary affairs", and died at the beginning of 1244 [1828].

The sons of Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Efendi carried this branch into the nineteenth century. Abdülfettâh Efendi held many endowment posts inherited from his father, sat on the council of notables and was a secretary "with a fine hand"; Hüsameddin gives his death, by conjecture, as 1245 [1829-30]. According to the entry of his brother Emîn Sıdkı Mehmed Efendi, the latter was trained in the finance bureaus of Istanbul, became purse-keeper of the tax farms in 1244 [1828-29], then correspondence secretary of the defterdar, junior and then senior daybook keeper and accountant of the tax farms, and died in 1257 [1841] while accountant of the Eshâm (life-term revenue shares). Abdülfettâh Efendi's son Seyyid Emîn Mehmed Efendi was born in 1219 [1804] in the Pervâne Bey quarter, studied with İbikli Hacı Ömer Efendi, became court clerk and in 1260 [1844] a member of the administrative council. In the "Doctor affair" of 1263 [1847] he was exiled to Samsun; on his return he served as district governor (müdür) of Zünnûnâbâd, İskilip, Sâz and Köprü, and died in 1280 [1863-64]. He was a calligrapher who wrote poetry under the pen name "Kâmil". The court clerkship from which he too was removed was given in 1263 to Kâtibzâde Rıfat Mustafa Efendi. His sons, the bathhouse keeper İsmâil Hakkı Efendi and Seyyid Osman Remzi Efendi, enforcement officer of Amasya, died in 1305 [1887-88] and 1335 [1916-17] respectively.

The Professors of Kâsım Bey: Hacı Ahmed Efendi and His Sons

The family's third great branch descends from Mustafa Efendi's son Hacı Ahmed Efendi. Having studied with Merzifonî Hacı Mustafa Efendi, Ahmed Efendi became professor of the Kâsım Bey Madrasa when his father resigned the post in his favour, but was removed from it when his father died in 1115. According to the madrasa's list he returned to the professorship in 1127 [1715]; the entry on Torun Ahmed Efendi in the eleventh volume says that this return came about when Fazlızâde Hacı Ahmed Efendi had the sitting professor dismissed by claiming "the right of precedence". In 1135 [1722-23] he became draftsman and keeper of fatwas to his teacher, the Çorum-born mufti Hâfız Seyyid Mehmed Efendi; after his teacher's death he was court clerk and deputy judge of the sanjak of Amasya, and after that office again court clerk and council member, dying in 1154 [1741-42]. The madrasa's professorship passed in 1162 [1749] to his son Seyyid Hacı Mustafa Efendi.

Hacı Ahmed Efendi's two sons, Seyyid Hacı Mustafa Efendi and Hacı Ali Efendi, were the generation that made the name "Fazlı Oğulları" one to be feared in Amasya in the middle of the eighteenth century. According to the annals, Hacı Ali Efendi became steward of the town in 1157 [1744], marshal of the descendants of the Prophet (nakîb) in 1160 [1747] and hacıbaşı in 1162, and in later years served several times as deputy marshal. Hacı Mustafa Efendi became hacıbaşı and steward of the town in 1160, and later steward of the sipahis; the annals note that he was also called "Mustafa Ağa". In the same year it emerged that half of the money and grain collected from the people for the Persian campaign had disappeared before reaching Samsun; the two brothers claimed they had received short measure and laid the blame on the mufti Hacı Ömer Efendi, and with the support of the deputy governor the mufti was dismissed and sent to Ziyare. Hacı Mustafa Efendi died in 1176 [1762-63] and Hacı Ali Efendi in 1177 [1763-64].

The Zaralıoğlu Levy and the Exile to Famagusta

The episode that most stained the family's name was the tax affair that lasted from 1166 to 1174 [1752-1761]. Zaralızâde Mehmed Paşa, governor of Sivas, had spent on his own affairs a large sum of tax collected in Amasya and delivered to the defterdar of Sivas, and, having obtained the sanjak of Amasya, set about collecting the money from the people a second time. On becoming governor of Amasya in 1166 [1752] he made Fazlıoğlu Hacı Mustafa Ağa his deputy and gave the collection to the Fazlı Oğulları. The people, who had paid their taxes in full, blocked the roads; an armed clash took place before Helvacı Pınarı, and the Sublime Porte dismissed the pasha. When the pasha returned a few years later as governor of Sivas and again gave the work to the Fazlı Oğulları, the family's mansions were stoned in 1170 [1757], the collectors were beaten, and one of them died under the blows.

After the pasha was executed, the people demanded the return of the money wrongly taken, and the scholars and notables supported the demand. The inspector Mehmed Paşa, who came in 1171 [1758] to investigate the events, was, according to Hüsameddin, deceived by "the Fazlı Oğulları, who were under the governor's tax-farming and protection"; the blame was laid on the scholars, and the former mufti Köprülü Hacı Mehmed Efendi, Pederek Şeyh Mehmed Efendi, shaykh of the Sultan Bayezid imaret, and the chief Qur'an reciter Hacı İbrâhim Efendi were taken from their houses at night and exiled to the fortress of Famagusta (Magosa) in Cyprus. Pederek's entry explicitly attributes this exile to "the malice of the Fazlızâdes".

The scholars of Amasya, gathered under Iydîzâde Hacı Âkif Mustafa Efendi, wrote a petition declaring the exiles innocent and the Fazlı Oğulları guilty, and the exiles were pardoned and returned. In 1173 [1759-60], in a trial held under the supervision of the silahşor Behzat Ağa, sent from Istanbul, it was proved that the family had collected the taxes a second time and pocketed them; the Fazlı Oğulları were condemned to repay the treasury and the people and were imprisoned in the citadel of Amasya. After they had paid their debts they themselves were sent, in Rebiülahir 1174 [1760], to the fortress of Famagusta. The annals do not give the names of those exiled; the deaths of Hacı Mustafa and Hacı Ali Efendi in Amasya a few years later suggest that the exile was not long.

From Mikdâd Paşa to Tayyâr Paşa

Hacı Mustafa Efendi's sons were Seyyid Feyzullah, Abdüsselâm and Ahmed Efendi. Abdüsselâm Efendi grew wealthy through tax farming, gained influence by attaching himself to Canikli Hacı Ali Paşa, and became divan secretary to Gürcüzâde Mikdâd Ahmed Paşa. The annals count him among the partisans who "fell into alarm" at the pasha's fall; his entry says that because he had been an instrument of Mikdâd Paşa's oppressions he came within a hair of being killed, and was saved by the intercession of certain patrons. The entry places this event in 1206 [1791-92], while the annals tell of the dispersal of Mikdâd Paşa's circle among the events of 1202 [1788]. Hüsameddin left the date of Abdüsselâm Efendi's death blank. His sons were Hâfız Mustafa Efendi and Abdullah Bey; it is an inference that the name "Selâm Oğulları" mentioned by Hüsameddin was given to the descendants of these two sons.

Abdüsselâm Efendi's brother Seyyid Feyzullah Efendi held and administered the estate of the village of İlarslan, an endowment of Şâdmân Çelebi bin Kaya Paşa; when he died in 1215 [1800-01] the trusteeship was given to his sons Mehmed Emîn and Ahmed Efendi. In one place the book writes his name as "Fazlullah". His son Seyyid Ahmed Efendi studied with Oluslu Seyyid Hacı Osman Efendi, professor of the Sultâniye, and with Şeyhzâde Hacı Abdullah Vecîh Efendi and received his licence, married the daughter of his teacher Osman Efendi, and on his father-in-law's resignation became professor of the Sultan Bayezid Madrasa in Muharrem 1220 [1805]. Two years later, in Muharrem 1222 [1807], he died before reaching the age of thirty. Hüsameddin describes him as "learned, extremely intelligent and highly skilled in Arabic". The madrasa's list of professors places the start of his tenure in 1221.

Hacı Abdülkâdir Efendi, recorded as a fourth son of Hacı Mustafa Efendi, does not appear in the list of sons in Hacı Ahmed Efendi's entry; yet his own entry and those of his son and grandson all give him as the son of "Hacı Mustafa Efendi bin Hacı Ahmed Efendi". In his youth he was a sipahi and distinguished himself in the Russian wars; later he attached himself to Canikli Hacı Ali Paşa and acquired influence and wealth. In 1206, when Mikdâd Ahmed Paşa and his men were executed, he escaped through foresight; under Tayyâr Mahmûd Paşa he kept his position by taking no side, and he died in Şevval 1233 [1818] as a member of the councils of the hacıs and notables. His son Seyyid Sa'îd Mehmed Efendi, after serving as secretary to the steward of the town and holding certain tax farms, became in 1226 [1811] superintendent (emin) of the silver mine of Gümüş and voyvoda of the district of Gümüş. A study based on Ottoman archival documents separately records the order the Imperial Mint sent in Şaban 1226 to the mine superintendent "Fazlızâde Seyyid Mehmed Said" and the dispute over debts taken over from his predecessor. Dismissed in 1229 [1814], Sa'îd Mehmed Efendi went to Istanbul in 1232 [1817] to enjoy his wealth, fell ill in his waterside mansion at Anadolu Kavağı, and died in Zilkade 1233, a month after his father.

The Family in the Nineteenth Century

In the first half of the nineteenth century the family's most powerful representative in Amasya was Seyyid Hacı Mehmed Emîn Efendi. After serving as tax-farm clerk he became steward of the town in 1217 [1802] and deputy marshal of the descendants of the Prophet in 1222 [1807], and in 1223 [1808] entered the service of the Çapanoğulları as divan secretary to Cebbarzâde Celâleddîn Mehmed Paşa, governor of Sivas. When the pasha fell from favour in 1227 [1812] he returned to Amasya, becoming hacıbaşı in 1230 [1815] and chief notable in 1233 [1818]. Three months later, his hand being seen in the "Janissary-Student affair", he was exiled to Samsun; pardoned two months later, he became Celâleddîn Paşa's steward. While chief notable again in 1239 [1824] he was summoned to Sivas over a similar incident; found innocent, he went on the pilgrimage and died on the way back in 1240 [1825]. His entry names his brother as Seyyid Hacı Mustafa Efendi; this is probably the Fazlızâde Seyyid Hacı Mustafa Efendi who, as deputy governor in 1243 [1827-28], bought a house in the Yakutiye quarter to settle a scholar from Shirvan in Amasya.

Mehmed Emîn Efendi's father appears in the book in three forms. His own entry introduces him only as "the son of es-Seyyid Hâfız Mehmed Efendi". Hacı Ahmed Efendi's entry counts a Seyyid Mehmed among the sons of Hacı Ali Efendi and adds: "Mehmed Ağazâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc Mehmed Emîn Efendi is famous". The entry on the palace official Sa'îd Ahmed Ağa, on the other hand, makes him Sa'îd Ahmed Ağa's brother, that is, a member of the Sarı Ali branch. In both genealogies the father is "Mehmed son of Ali"; the difference lies in which branch this Ali belonged to.

Mehmed Emîn Efendi's son-in-law was Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Efendi of the Abdüsselâm branch. His father, the Amasya serdar Fazlıoğlu Seyyid Abdullah Ağa, was the son of Abdüsselâm Efendi. Ahmed Efendi rose to prominence through this marriage and became a member of the council of notables and of the first administrative council. He kept his position in the "Physician affair" of 1261 [1845] and died in 1265 [1848-49]. Hüsameddin presents him as a man of an old house among the leading people of the Eski Kethüdâ quarter; his sons Seyyid Abdullah Efendi, Seyyid Mehmed Emîn Efendi and Seyyid Mustafa Efendi died in 1275 [1858-59], 1318 [1900-01] and 1332 [1913-14]. The entry on Seyyid Emîn Mehmed Efendi places the same incident in 1263 under the name "Doctor affair".

The line of Abdüsselâm Efendi's other son, Hâfız Mustafa Efendi, remained in the learned profession. Abdüsselâm Efendi, recorded as his son, became professor of the Tayyâr Mahmûd Paşa Madrasa at Meydan Köprübaşı and imam and preacher of the Kutluşah Mosque, and died after 1261 [1845]; the madrasa's list records that in 1242 [1826-27] he took on the post jointly with two other professors. That this Hâfız Mustafa Efendi was the son of the divan secretary Abdüsselâm Efendi is inferred from the order of the entries and the repetition of names. His grandson Hâfız Abdüsselâm Efendi was the son of Hâfız Mustafa Efendi, imam of the Hâce Süleyman Çelebi Mosque at Samanpazarı, and in 1314 [1896-97] became first imam of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque. Recalling his sweet-voiced predecessor, Hüsameddin writes that "a crow perched in the nightingale's place", adding that Abdüsselâm Efendi was learned and pious but that his voice was not pleasant. After seventeen years as imam he died in 1331 [1912-13].

The hacıbaşı branch took its name from Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Efendi, son of Sa'îd Mehmed Efendi. One of the leading men of the Kocacık quarter, Ahmed Efendi, after serving as clerk of the market inspectorate and keeper of the strongbox, became deputy marshal of the descendants of the Prophet in 1251 [1835] and hacıbaşı in 1253 [1837]. From 1263 [1847] onwards, as agent (kapı kethüdası) of the governors of Amasya, he effectively ran the sanjak for some seventeen years, and he died in 1279 [1862-63]. Hüsameddin writes that his sons did not take after him and squandered the fortune. His grandson Ahmed Nehrî Bey was director of the timber customs in Istanbul in the years when Hüsameddin was writing.

A branch through the female line is also called "Fazlızâde" in the book. Seyyid Hacı Servahdî Ahmed Efendi, one of the leading men of the Eski Kethüdâ quarter, was known as "Fazlızâde" because his mother was the daughter of Fazlızâde Seyyid Hacı Abdülkâdir Efendi. Which Abdülkâdir Efendi is meant is not stated; given that Servahdî Ahmed Efendi died in 1271 [1854-55], Hacı Abdülkâdir Efendi, who died in 1233, seems the more likely. When his father turned the quarter's small mosque into a Friday mosque by adding a pulpit, he became its preacher in 1229 [1814], and he sat on the councils of the hacıs and notables and on the administrative and judicial councils.

Posts, Endowments and Quarters

The book records no mosque or madrasa belonging to the family; the Fazlızâdes' relationship with buildings rested on offices and trusteeships rather than on a founding endowment. The starting point is the Hâtuniye Mosque, where Fazlullah Efendi was preacher, built by Bülbül Hatun, wife of Bayezid II, on the north bank of the Yeşilırmak together with a primary school and a soup kitchen; the mosque still stands today in the Hâtuniye quarter. The room that Hoca Ahmed Paşa had built for Fazlullah Efendi beside the Sultan Bayezid imaret is another trace in the town of the family's calligraphic tradition.

The Kâsım Bey Madrasa, whose professorship the family held for two generations, stands in the village of Hakala, centre of the Hakala district north of Amasya. Hüsameddin writes that the madrasa stood on a high site east of the village, solidly built of masonry, and that with its great lecture hall it ranked among the madrasas of Amasya at the "erba'în" grade, but that it fell into ruin once the professors began living and teaching in Amasya and hereditary succession took hold. The dismissal of Fazlızâde Mustafa Efendi in 1102 for not going to Hakala is an early example of this change. According to the cultural inventory record, the madrasa in the village now called Yolpınar, in the district of Suluova, stands beside a stream, with three rooms on either side of the stream and a large domed lecture hall to the south, and is registered as a monument.

The other buildings where members of the family served as professors or imams were the Sultan Bayezid Madrasa and Mosque, the Tayyâr Paşa Madrasa built by Canikli Tayyâr Mahmûd Paşa near the Meydan Bridge in 1218 [1803], the Kutluşah Mosque, and the Hâce Süleyman Çelebi Mosque at Samanpazarı. The trusteeship of the Dursun Bey endowment, which passed to the sons of Hacı İsmâil Efendi, and the estate of İlarslan village, which Seyyid Feyzullah Efendi left to his sons, show the family's hold over endowment revenues. The office of shaykh of the Yâ Vedûd dervish lodge in the Pirinççi quarter also passed by inheritance after 1223 [1808] to Seyyid Mehmed Sa'îd and Mustafa Efendi, sons of Hacı Abdülkâdir Efendi; Hüsameddin writes that they let the lodge fall into ruin.

The quarters named in the book show how the family was spread across the town: the Recep quarter (Âgâh Mehmed Efendi), the Pervâne Bey quarter (the house where Seyyid Emîn Mehmed Efendi was born), the Kocacık quarter (Hacıbaşı Ahmed Efendi) and the Eski Kethüdâ quarter (Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Efendi of the Abdüsselâm branch and Servahdî Ahmed Efendi). Sa'îd Mehmed Efendi's waterside mansion at Anadolu Kavağı and Sa'îd Ahmed Efendi's grave at Üsküdar are reminders that part of the family settled in Istanbul.

Family Tree

The tree below is built from Hüsameddin's genealogies. Points where the book contradicts itself are given in square brackets, and uncertain links are marked "inference".

  • Hâfız Fazlullah Efendi bin Mustafa bin Hasan, preacher of the Hâtuniye, calligrapher (d. 1081)
    • Hâfız Hasan Efendi, master of the school of calligraphy (d. 1105)
      • Fazlı Paşa, beylerbey (d. 1126)
      • Hamdullah Efendi, secretary of the Imperial Council (d. after 1125)
      • A daughter, wife of Koca Vâiz Derviş Mehmed Efendi
      • Hacı Ali Efendi [according to his grandsons' entries]
        • Hacı Hâfız Mehmed Efendi, chief court clerk (d. 1154) [according to his son's entry, son of Hâfız Ahmed Efendi]
          • Hacı İsmâil Efendi, chief clerk and deputy judge (d. 1176/1177)
            • Seyyid Feyzullah Efendi
              • Seyyid Hacı İsmâil Efendi (d. 1244)
            • Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Efendi, deputy judge (d. 1219)
              • Abdülfettâh Efendi (d. c. 1245)
                • Seyyid Emîn Mehmed Efendi "Kâmil" (d. 1280): İsmâil Hakkı, Osman Remzi
              • Ali Efendi
              • Emîn Sıdkı Mehmed Efendi, accountant of the Eshâm (d. 1257)
            • Abdülfettâh Efendi
            • Zekeriyyâ Efendi (d. 1210)
          • Hacı İbrâhim Efendi, divan secretary (d. 1191): Mehmed Sa'îd
    • Ahmed Efendi, professor of Kâsım Bey and deputy judge (d. 1094)
      • Sarı Hacı Ali Efendi, steward of the town (d. 1131)
        • Sa'îd Ahmed Efendi (d. 1172)
          • Âgâh Mehmed Efendi (d. 1208)
          • Seyyid Hacı Ali Efendi
            • Seyyid Mehmed Efendi
              • Sa'îd Ahmed Ağa, keeper of the sultan's turban (d. 1246)
              • Seyyid Hacı Mehmed Emîn Efendi, chief notable (d. 1240) [Hacı Ahmed Efendi's entry places him in the Hacı Ali Efendi branch below]
        • Abdülazîz Efendi (d. c. 1171): Seyyid Hacı Ali
        • Abdülkâdir Efendi (d. c. 1181)
    • Mustafa Efendi, professor of Kâsım Bey (d. 1115) [in some entries Ahmed Efendi's brother, in others his son]
      • Hacı Ahmed Efendi, professor of Kâsım Bey and deputy judge (d. 1154)
        • Seyyid Hacı Mustafa Efendi, hacıbaşı and deputy governor (d. 1176)
          • Seyyid Feyzullah Efendi (d. 1215)
            • Seyyid Ahmed Efendi, professor of Sultan Bayezid (d. 1222): Ahmed Necib
            • Mehmed Emîn Efendi
          • Abdüsselâm Efendi, divan secretary
            • Hâfız Mustafa Efendi
              • Abdüsselâm Efendi, professor of Tayyâr Paşa (d. after 1261) [inference]
                • Hâfız Mustafa Efendi, imam of Hâce Süleyman Çelebi
                  • Hâfız Abdüsselâm Efendi, imam of Sultan Bayezid (d. 1331)
            • Seyyid Abdullah Ağa, serdar
              • Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Efendi (d. 1265): Abdullah, Mehmed Emîn, Mustafa
          • Ahmed Efendi
          • Seyyid Hacı Abdülkâdir Efendi (d. 1233)
            • Seyyid Sa'îd Mehmed Efendi, superintendent of the Gümüş mine (d. 1233)
              • Hacıbaşı Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Efendi (d. 1279): Mehmed Sa'îd, Ali → Ahmed Nehrî Bey
              • Seyyid Abdülkâdir Efendi (d. 1278)
            • Hacı Mustafa Efendi
            • A daughter, mother of Servahdî Ahmed Efendi [inference]
        • Hacı Ali Efendi, marshal and hacıbaşı (d. 1177)
          • Seyyid Mehmed: Seyyid Hacı Mehmed Emîn Efendi [according to this entry]
          • Abdurrahman Ağa
    • Emîn Mehmed Efendi, acting steward of the grand vizier (d. 1110)
      • Hacı Veliyyüddîn Efendi, Janissary secretary (d. 1132): Emîn Mehmed (d. 1160), Mehmed, Ali, the Veli Efendizâdes of Istanbul
    • Mustafa Ağa, son-in-law of Çeşmî Hüseyin Efendi: Hacı Mehmed Tâhir

Family Members in Hüsameddin

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Official sources

Online sources