Amasyalıdır. Gürcüzâde vezîr Mustafâ Paşa bin Hacı İbrâhim Bey'in oğludur.
1185 zilhiccesinin dördüncü günü Amasya mutasarrıfı olup yeğeni alaybeyi Hacı Ahmed Bey Amasya mütesellimi ve Hacı Servahdî Efendi Amasya nâ'ibi idi.
1186 muharremi gurresinde Amasyalı Hacı Osmân Efendi Amasya kadısı olup tarafından mahkeme başkâtibi Hacı Mehmed Emîn Efendi Amasya nâ'ibi ve Rahtuvân Paşazâde Hacı İbrâhim Bey baş a'yân ve Hacı Servahdî Efendi hacıbaşı oldu. Kaht u gâlâ da şiddetlendi.
Rebî'ulevvelde ocakda çavuşbaşı olan Paşalıoğlu Alî Ağa dâru'l-harbden avdet edenleri sevk ve irsâle me'mûren Amasya'ya geldi. Bunu müte'âkib Amasya sancağı kendi taleb ve ibrâmıyla Canik muhassılı, Trabzon mutasarrıfı, Karahisâr-ı Şarkî mütesellimi, Sivâs vâlî kâ'im-makâmı Hacı Alî Bey'e ber-vech-i mâlikâne verildi.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He was the son of the vizier Gürcüzade Mustafa Pasha son of Hacı İbrahim Bey.
On the fourth day of Zilhicce 1185 [8 March 1772] he became mutasarrıf of Amasya; his nephew the alaybeyi Hacı Ahmed Bey was mütesellim of Amasya, and Hacı Servahdî Efendi naib of Amasya.
On the first day of Muharrem 1186 [3 April 1772] Hacı Osman Efendi of Amasya became kadı of Amasya; by him the chief court clerk Hacı Mehmed Emin Efendi was appointed naib of Amasya. Rahtuvan Paşazade Hacı İbrahim Bey became chief notable, and Hacı Servahdî Efendi hacıbaşı. Famine and high prices also grew severe.
In Rebiülevvel Paşalıoğlu Ali Ağa, çavuşbaşı in the Janissary Corps, came to Amasya, charged with sending those who had returned from the front back to war. After this the sanjak of Amasya was given, at his own wish and insistence, as a malikâne to Hacı Ali Bey, Canik muhassıl, mutasarrıf of Trabzon, mütesellim of Karahisar-ı Şarkî and deputy of the governor of Sivas.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- gurre: the first day of the month
- ocak: the Janissary Corps
- çavuşbaşı: the corps officer who handled orders and messages
- dâru'l-harbden avdet edenler: those returning from the front
- sevk ve irsâl: dispatching, sending
- ibrâm: insistence
- ber-vech-i mâlikâne: by the malikâne method, that is, with the revenues left to a person for his lifetime in return for a payment made in advance
The Gürcüzades
Halil Pasha is of the Gürcüzades, one of the most deep-rooted notable families of eighteenth-century Amasya. In earlier entries it was recounted that he first governed Amasya as chief notable and mütesellim, went to the front in 1182 with five hundred men, and rose through his usefulness in the war to the mutasarrıflık of Akşehir and the guardianship of Tutrakan with the rank of beylerbeyi. His being brought to the mutasarrıflık of his own city shows how local notables who stood out at the front in the war years were rewarded by the state. The family's next generation also continued to rise: in the personalities section of his book Hüsameddin introduces the kaptan-ı derya Gürcüzade Seyyid Hafız Ali Pasha of Amasya as the "son of Seyyid Halil Pasha son of Mustafa Pasha son of Hacı İbrahim Bey". This lineage is the same as that of Halil Pasha in this entry; accordingly, Hafız Ali Pasha, who took the head of the Ottoman navy, is the son of the subject of this entry. Hafız Ali Pasha died in 1247 [1831-32], and his sons then returned to Amasya.
No information was found in other sources on Gürcüzade Halil Pasha.
The Giving of Amasya to Canikli Ali Bey as a Malikâne
The last sentence of the entry opens a new period in Amasya's history. Studies based on archival documents give the date of this appointment precisely: according to Yücel Özkaya the sanjak of Amasya was given to Canikli Ali Bey as a malikâne on 1 June 1772, and according to Özcan Mert on 30 May 1772. This date falls at the end of Safer 1186 and the beginning of Rebiülevvel; it agrees roughly with Hüsameddin's sequence and with the date of 12 Rebiülevvel 1186 [12 June 1772] he gives in the next entry. Özkaya also finds in the documents the reasons for this decision: preventing the attacks of the "kapusuz levendât" (masterless levends) roaming in the region, making the roads safe, carrying out purchasing and payment affairs for the army, watching the traffic from the Black Sea toward Russia, and Ali Bey's being able, when necessary, to procure ships and put to sea with many soldiers. That is, in the tightest years of the war the state preferred to bind Amasya to the military and financial means of a powerful notable on the Black Sea coast. According to the same documents, the revenue the sanjak left to the mutasarrıf was three thousand kuruş as "imdad-ı hazariyye" and sixteen and a half kese as "imdad-ı seferiyye".
Two details draw attention here. In the document Özkaya uses it is written that before this appointment the sanjak of Amasya was in the hands of Derviş Pasha, son of Osman Pasha, governor of Karaman and a vizier; Hüsameddin, however, shows Gürcüzade Halil Pasha as the sanjak's last mutasarrıf. Second, not all the titles Hüsameddin lists for Ali Bey belong to 1772. According to Özcan Mert, the sanjak of Trabzon was given to him only in December 1773, and the voivodeship of Karahisar-ı Şarkî (Şebinkarahisar) was given in 1776 to his son Battal Hüseyin Bey. It appears that Hüsameddin here lists together also the titles Ali Bey gained in later years.
No information was found in other sources on Paşalıoğlu Ali Ağa named in the entry. The events concerning his gathering of those who had returned from the front and sending them again are recounted in detail in the next entry.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Academic studies