Amasyalıdır. Alıc Beyzâdedir. 1056 senesi zilhiccesinde dördüncü defa Amasya sancağı mutasarrıfı oldu. Amasya eşrâfından Sefer Ağa’yı mütesellim nasb ederek Amasya’dan aldığı kuvvetle Girit’e gitdi.
Kurban Bayramı’nın dördüncü günü sulehâdan nakîb Seyyid Mansurzâde, es-Seyyid Mehmed Çelebi vefât edib yerine sâbık Niksar Kadısı Hakâlalızâde es-Seyyid Abdülkerîm Efendi nakîbü’l-eşrâf kâ’im-makâmı oldu. Bu sene Köprü meşâyihinden eş-Şeyh Ahmed Efendi vefât edib yerine mahdûmu eş-Şeyh Yûsuf Efendi geçti.
1057 senesi gurre-i muharreminde Zileli İslam Efendi Amasya kadısı olup Kudüs-i Şerîf sancağından azl edilen Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’ya tenzîlen Ma’arra kazâsı verildi.
Safer evâhirinde Amasya Mutasarrıfı Hüseyin Paşa Girit Muhârebesi’nde gösterdiği yararlıklara binâen Trabzon beylerbeyi oldukta selefi Hoca Ahmed Paşa’ya Amasya sancağı verildi. [96]
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya, of the Alıç Beyzâdes. In Zilhicce 1056 [1646-47] he became mutasarrıf of the sanjak of Amasya for the fourth time. He appointed Sefer Ağa, one of the notables of Amasya, as mütesellim (deputy) and went to Crete with the force he had gathered from Amasya.
On the fourth day of the Feast of Sacrifice, Seyyid Mansurzâde es-Seyyid Mehmed Çelebi, one of the righteous and the nakîb (official in charge of the affairs of the sayyids), died; in his place Hakâlalızâde es-Seyyid Abdülkerîm Efendi, former Kadı of Niksar, became nakîbüleşraf kaymakamı (the provincial deputy of the nakîbüleşraf). In the same year one of the sheikhs of Köprü, eş-Şeyh Ahmed Efendi, died and his son eş-Şeyh Yûsuf Efendi succeeded him.
On the first day of Muharrem 1057 [1647], İslam Efendi of Zile became kadı of Amasya. Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, who had been dismissed from the sanjak of Jerusalem the Noble, was given the district of Maarra with his rank reduced.
At the end of Safer, Hüseyin Pasha, Mutasarrıf of Amasya, became beylerbeyi of Trabzon for the services he had shown in the Cretan War; Hoca Ahmed Pasha, who had been in Trabzon before him, was given the sanjak of Amasya.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mutasarrıf: the person who holds the revenue and administration of the sanjak
- nasb: appointment to an office
- sulehâ: the righteous, pious people
- nakîbüleşrâf: the official who keeps the records of, and looks after the affairs of, those of the Prophet's lineage (sayyids and sharifs)
- kâ'im-makâm: one who acts in another's place
- meşâyih: sheikhs, great men of the orders
- mahdûm: son
- tenzîlen: with the rank lowered
- binâen: on the basis of, upon
- selef: predecessors in an office
The Career of Çolak Hüseyin Pasha
The hero of the entry is Çolak Hüseyin Pasha, who was mentioned in the previous entry as retired with the has revenue of the village of Saluzcu. Hüsameddin tells his life separately in the biography volumes of his book. According to this, Hüseyin Pasha was the son of Ulûc Bey, one of the notables of Amasya; as a zeamet-holding sipahi he had risen in the wars of Iraq and Iran, and in 1040 [1631] had become alaybeyi of Amasya, then guardian of Erzurum Fortress and several times sanjak bey of Amasya. Having won the appreciation of Sultan Murad IV he had risen to the beylerbeyiship of Kars, and after the beylerbeyiships of Tripoli of Syria and Şehrizor had taken part in the Baghdad campaign. Because his left arm was left disabled in the battle of Baghdad he came to be called "Çolak".
The record in the biography volume supplements the information in this entry: in Zilhicce 1056, when Ankebût Ahmed Pasha, Mutasarrıf of Amasya, became governor of Sivas, Hüseyin Pasha became mutasarrıf of Amasya for the fourth time and went to the Cretan War, and in Safer 1057, in return for his services in the war, he was made beylerbeyi of Trabzon with the rank of beylerbeyi of Rumelia. The expression "for the fourth time" is the same in both places; this shows that Hüsameddin kept an internally consistent record. Hüseyin Pasha's going to Crete with soldiers gathered from Amasya fits the mobilisation system of the period; in the campaign preparations of 1645, orders had been sent to the Anatolian sanjak beys from Kastamonu to Bozok to bring troops.
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha: Jerusalem, Maarra and Damascus
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, who is mentioned in a single sentence in the entry, is the statesman who would rise to the grand vizierate in 1656 and who was called by this epithet because he settled in the town of Köprü and married there. According to Hüsameddin, in Muharrem 1057 he was dismissed from the sanjak of Jerusalem and sent to the district of Maarra, a lower post. The 2024 study of Christopher Whitehead, based on the Ottoman archival registers, reconstructs this period differently. According to him, Köprülü had by this time been dismissed from the province of Eğri in Hungary, and both the chronicles and the archival records confirm that his next post was Damascus in Rebîülevvel 1057 [April 1647]. Sultan İbrâhim had assigned the revenues of Damascus as has to his favourite Şivekâr Sultan, and Köprülü had become kaymakam in her name. As can be understood from the provincial appointment register, Köprülü was at the same time also holding the sanjak of Jerusalem.
Thus a difference of ordering emerges between Hüsameddin's record of dismissal from Jerusalem and demotion to Maarra and the archival record that shows Damascus and Jerusalem together. Whitehead also notes that Köprülü's appointments between 1647 and 1650 show a gap in the registers; therefore there are not enough documents at hand to verify or refute the Maarra record. In the next entry Hüsameddin separately relates Köprülü's move to Damascus and the renewed grant of Jerusalem to him.
No information was found in other sources on Seyyid Mansurzâde Mehmed Çelebi, Hakâlalızâde Abdülkerîm Efendi, Şeyh Ahmed Efendi of Köprü and İslam Efendi of Zile, who are named in the entry.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Academic studies
- Christopher Whitehead, "The Early Career of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha: An Archival Reconstruction", Review of Middle East Studies, 57/1 (2024), Cambridge University Press.
- Mücteba İlgürel, "Köprülü Mehmed Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/koprulu-mehmed-pasa
- Hasan Ali Cengiz, "Osmanlı Kaynaklarında Girit Seferi", Trakya Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 9/17 (2019), pp. 105-133.
Other sources