Amasyalıdır. Alıc Beyzâde Çolak Hüseyin Paşa’dır. 1058 senesi evâil-i muharreminde Amasya ve Karahisar-ı Şarkî sancakları mutasarrıfı [99] oldu. Vusûlüne kadar Amasya a‘yânından Siyavuş Ağa’yı Amasya mütesellimi nasb etdi.
Siyavuş Ağa, Pirinççi Mahallesi eşrâfından Abdî Ağa’nın oğlu bir sipâhi idi. Mütesellim oldukta herkesin dedikodusuna mevzu olan Bağdatlıoğlu Osmân Ağa’yı şehir kethüdâlığından kaldırıp Kuba Mahallesi eşrâfından Kara Abdî Bey şehir kethüdâsı oldu.
Bu yüzden safer evâilinde mütesellim Siyavuş Ağa, mukaddemen bir hâtunun ırzına tasallut ve bir çocuk tevlîd eylediği davasıyla müttehem olarak mevkiinden atıldı. Zu‘amâdan Sarı Ali Bey Amasya mütesellimi oldu.
Dava bilmuhâkeme sâbit olmakla bîçâre Siyavuş Ağa i’dâm edildi. Sâbık şehir ağası Bağdatlıoğlu’nun tezvîri denildi. Bu esnada Konya Beylerbeyi Köprülü Mehmed Paşa idi. Muharrem evâilinde yeniçeri ağalığından azledilen Köprülü Hamamcı Mehmed Ağa da Erzurum beylerbeyi oldu.
Rebîülevvelde Sivas Vâlisi Vardar Ali Paşa’nın azliyle üzerine serdâr olan Halep Vâlisi Vezîr İbşir Mustafa Paşa Sivas vâlisi olup bütün kuvvetiyle Sivas üzerine hareket ve Ali Paşa da Abaza-vâri dâd-hâhâne Üsküdar’a müteveccihen Tokat’a azîmet etdi.
Konya Beylerbeyi Köprülü Mehmed Paşa, Amasya ve Karahisar-ı Şarkî Beylerbeyi Amasyalı Çolak Hüseyin Paşa, İbşir Paşa’ya yardım etmeye me’mûr olmuşlardı. Fakat Köprülü Mehmed Paşa, Hüseyin Paşa’nın hasm-ı bî-emânı idi. Her ikisi de bütün kuvvetlerini alıp İbşir Paşa’nın yanına gideceklerdi. [100]
Şâyân-ı dikkatdir ki, Vardar Ali Paşa’nın isyankâr hareketi, millete kan ağlatan, zimâm-ı idâresini kadınların eline veren Deli Sultân İbrâhim’in delileri bile güldüren evâmir ve ahkâmı aleyhine yapılmış bir ihtilâl idi.
Bu ihtilâl bayrağı altına koşanlar da, bir takım zalemenin zulüm ve kahrıyla inleyen mağdurlardı. Ali Paşa, Tokat’a gelince maiyetindeki kuvvet pek ziyade artmış, muntazam bir cemiyet-i ihtilâliyye şeklini almışdı.
Bundan dolayı Hüseyin Paşa, Girit Harbi’nden geldiği anda ihtilâlin ehemmiyetini takdîr ederek tedârikâtını gördükten sonra kethüdâsı Hacı Efendizâde Sarı Mehmed Ağa ile İbşir Paşa’nın ordusuna iltihak etmek üzere hareket etmişdi.
Vardar Ali Paşa, olanca kuvvetiyle rebîülâhirin evâilinde Amasya’ya geldi. Mütesellim Sarı Ali Bey ile ba’zı a‘yân ve halk Vardar’ı istikbâl ederek lazım gelen mümâşâtı yaptı. Samsunlular da Amasya’ya koşup mutasarrıfları Dilâver Paşa’dan ağır şikâyetler dermeyân ve Vardar’ın cemiyetine iltihâk etdiler.
Ali Paşa, Amasya’dan kalkıp Gelgiras, Gümüş, Osmâncık, Hacı Hamza’dan Çerkeş’e geldikte rebîülâhirin yirmi altıncı günü kendisine bir menzil kadar yaklaşan Hüseyin Paşa ile Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’yı davet ve muvâfakatlarını almaya bezl-i gayret etdi.
Fakat her ikisi de cevab-ı red verdiğinden Vardar Ali Paşa, bunların üzerine yürüdü. Paşaların kuvvetlerini perişan ve kendilerini esir etdi. [101] Hatta Ali Paşa, bunların ikisini de i’dâm edecekti. Merhamet edib bırakmışdı.
İbşir Paşa, Hüseyin ve Mehmed Paşalar’ın inhizâm ve esâretlerini duyduğu anda bütün kuvvetiyle gelip Vardar Ali Paşa’yı harben bozdu. Kendisini esir aldı. Paşaları esaretten kurtarıp Ali Paşa’nın başını kesti. İstanbul’a gönderdi.
Hayfâ ki, Köprülü Mehmed Paşa, bu inhizam ve esâreti, Hüseyin Paşa’nın kasten yardım etmediğine, Ali Paşa taraftarı olduğuna hamlederek İbşir Paşa’yı kandırdı.
Kezâlik Köprülü Mehmed Paşa, İstanbul’a karşı kendisini inhizam ve esaret töhmetinden kurtarmak için vâlide kethüdası ve hâmisi olan Mimâr Kasım Ağa’ya yazdı. İbşir Paşa’nın da vâkıayı Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’nın tasviri gibi arz etdi.
Bizzarûre çıkan irade üzerine kırk yıldan ziyade kazalarda imrâr-ı hayat ve muhârebelerde vatana hizmet eden Koca Gâzi Hüseyin Paşa, kethüdâsı Sarı Mehmed Ağa, hazinedârı Ali Ağa, silahdârı Yeniçerioğlu Hasan Ağa, Sarı Mehmed Ağa’nın kethüdâsı Türedi Hüseyin Ağa, yok yere i’dâm edildi.
Kesilen şu mağdurların başları İstanbul’da “Bâb-ı Hümâyûn” pişgâhında Vardar Ali Paşa’nın başı altında sırasıyla dizilip teşhir edilerek Deli Sultân İbrâhim’in mecnûnâne ma’rifetleri, garazkârânın zâlimâne hareketleri [102] halka gösterilmiş oldu. İşte bunlar, Deli Sultân’ın hal’ine efkâr-ı umûmiyeyi hazırladı.
İkinci bir zulüm olarak bu mağdurların bütün metrûkâtı müsâdere edilerek hanümânlarının, yetimlerinin yürekleri dağlandı. Gâzi Hüseyin Paşa ile etbâı bu mücâzâta asla müstahâk değillerdi. Köprülü Mehmed Paşa, kendi garaz ve nefsâniyeti uğruna bunları feda etdi.
Bu mağdurların metrûkâtını kabza me’mûren dergâh-ı âlî çavuşânlarından Hakâlalı Yûsuf Çelebizâde Mûsâ Ağa geldi. Mahlûl olan Amasya sancağı da Bolu Beyi Mehmed Zemân Bey’e tevcîh edildi.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He is Çolak Hüseyin Pasha of the Alıc Beyzâdes. At the beginning of Muharrem 1058 [1648] he became mutasarrıf of the sanjaks of Amasya and Karahisar-ı Şarkî. Until he himself arrived he appointed Siyavuş Ağa, one of the notables of Amasya, as mütesellim (deputy) of Amasya.
Siyavuş Ağa was a sipahi, the son of Abdî Ağa, one of the notables of the Pirinççi quarter. When he became mütesellim he removed from the post of city kethüda Bağdatlıoğlu Osman Ağa, of whom everyone gossiped; in his place Kara Abdî Bey, one of the notables of the Kuba quarter, became city kethüda.
For this reason, at the beginning of Safer, the mütesellim Siyavuş Ağa was accused of having earlier assaulted the honour of a woman and fathered a child by her, and was thrown out of his post. Sarı Ali Bey, one of the zeamet holders, became mütesellim of Amasya.
When the case was found proven at the end of the trial, poor Siyavuş Ağa was executed. It was said that this was a fabrication of Bağdatlıoğlu, the former city ağa. At this time the beylerbeyi of Konya was Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. At the beginning of Muharrem Köprülü Hamamcı Mehmed Ağa, dismissed from the agha-ship of the janissaries, also became beylerbeyi of Erzurum.
In Rebîülevvel, with the dismissal of Vardar Ali Pasha, Governor of Sivas, Vizier İbşir Mustafa Pasha, Governor of Aleppo, who had been appointed serdar (commander) over him, became governor of Sivas and marched on Sivas with all his force. Ali Pasha, like Abaza Pasha, turned towards Üsküdar to seek redress and went to Tokat.
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, Beylerbeyi of Konya, and Çolak Hüseyin Pasha of Amasya, Beylerbeyi of Amasya and Karahisar-ı Şarkî, had been assigned to help İbşir Pasha. But Köprülü Mehmed Pasha was Hüseyin Pasha's implacable enemy. Both were to take all their forces and go to İbşir Pasha.
It is noteworthy that Vardar Ali Pasha's rebellion was an uprising against the orders and decrees of Mad Sultan İbrâhim, which made even the mad laugh, which made the nation weep tears of blood and put the reins of government into the hands of women.
Those who ran beneath the banner of this uprising were also victims groaning under the oppression and pressure of a number of tyrants. By the time Ali Pasha came to Tokat the force in his retinue had grown greatly and taken the form of an orderly revolutionary body.
For this reason Hüseyin Pasha, grasping the importance of the uprising as soon as he returned from the Cretan War and making his preparations, set out with his kethüda Hacı Efendizâde Sarı Mehmed Ağa to join İbşir Pasha's army.
At the beginning of Rebîülâhir Vardar Ali Pasha came to Amasya with all his force. The mütesellim Sarı Ali Bey, some of the notables and the people met Vardar and showed the necessary gentleness. The people of Samsun, too, ran to Amasya, made heavy complaints about their mutasarrıf Dilâver Pasha, and joined Vardar's following.
When Ali Pasha set out from Amasya and came to Çerkeş by way of Gelgiras, Gümüş, Osmancık and Hacı Hamza, on the twenty-sixth day of Rebîülâhir he summoned to his side Hüseyin Pasha and Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, who had come within a day's march of him, and made great efforts to win their support.
But since both refused, Vardar Ali Pasha marched against them; he scattered the pashas' forces and took them captive. Ali Pasha was going to execute both; out of mercy he let them go.
As soon as İbşir Pasha heard that Hüseyin and Mehmed Pashas had been defeated and taken prisoner, he came with all his force, routed Vardar Ali Pasha in battle and took him captive. He freed the pashas from captivity, cut off Ali Pasha's head and sent it to Istanbul.
Alas, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha deceived İbşir Pasha by attributing this defeat and captivity to Hüseyin Pasha's knowingly failing to help and to his being on Ali Pasha's side.
In the same way Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, to clear himself before Istanbul of the charge of defeat and captivity, wrote to Mimar Kâsım Ağa, kethüda and protector of the valide sultan. İbşir Pasha also reported the event to Istanbul as Köprülü Mehmed Pasha told it.
On the imperial order that issued, willy-nilly, Koca Gazi Hüseyin Pasha, who had spent over forty years in campaigns and served the fatherland in wars, his kethüda Sarı Mehmed Ağa, his treasurer Ali Ağa, his silahdar Yeniçerioğlu Hasan Ağa, and Sarı Mehmed Ağa's kethüda Türedi Hüseyin Ağa were executed for nothing.
The heads cut off from these victims were displayed in Istanbul in front of the Bâb-ı Hümâyûn, lined up in order beneath the head of Vardar Ali Pasha; thus the mad doings of Mad Sultan İbrâhim and the cruel conduct of the spiteful were shown to the people. These are what prepared public opinion for the deposition of the Mad Sultan.
As a second cruelty, the whole inheritance of these victims was confiscated; the hearts of their households and orphans were seared. Gazi Hüseyin Pasha and his men had never deserved this punishment. Köprülü Mehmed Pasha sacrificed them for the sake of his own spite and ambition.
Mûsâ Ağa, Yûsuf Çelebizâde of Hakâlalı, one of the çavuşes of the Imperial Divan, came charged with taking over what these victims had left behind. The vacant sanjak of Amasya was given to Mehmed Zemân Bey, Bey of Bolu.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- vusûl: arrival, reaching
- ırzına tasallut: assault on a woman's honour
- tevlîd: causing to be born, becoming a parent
- müttehem: accused, under suspicion
- bilmuhâkeme: as the result of a trial
- tezvîr: fabrication, slander
- dâd-hâhâne: seeking one's right, demanding justice
- hasm-ı bî-emân: implacable enemy
- şâyân-ı dikkat: worthy of attention
- zimâm-ı idâre: the reins of government
- evâmir ve ahkâm: orders and decrees
- zaleme: tyrants
- cemiyet-i ihtilâliyye: a body of insurgents
- istikbâl: welcoming, going out to meet
- mümâşât: getting along, showing accommodation
- dermeyân: putting forward
- menzil: the distance of a day's journey, a stage
- bezl-i gayret: exerting effort
- inhizâm: rout, defeat
- hayfâ ki: alas
- hamletmek: to attribute, to ascribe to something
- imrâr-ı hayat: spending one's life
- pişgâh: front, in front of
- garazkârân: those who bear spite
- hal': deposition from the throne
- metrûkât: goods left behind by the deceased
- mücâzât: punishment
- mahlûl: an office or dirlik left without an owner, vacant
The Rebellion of Varvar Ali Pasha
The events Hüsameddin relates here belong to one of the most widely echoed rebellions of seventeenth-century Anatolia. The man Hüsameddin calls "Vardar" appears in the sources as Varvar Ali Pasha. Ahmet Önal's entry gives the course of the rebellion thus: when Ali Pasha, Beylerbeyi of Sivas, refused to send the 30,000 kuruş demanded in Ramazan 1057 [October 1647] and İpşir Mustafa Pasha's wife Perihan Hanım, he was dismissed, and kapıcıbaşıs and hasekis were sent three times to have him killed, but he did not let them into the city. When the power factions in Istanbul became involved in the matter, the tension ceased to be a single governor's resistance: according to Evliya Çelebi, Kösem Sultan, some viziers and leading janissaries wrote letters to Ali Pasha suggesting that he gather troops and come to Üsküdar and demand people such as Grand Vizier Hezarpâre Ahmed Pasha and Cinci Hüseyin Efendi.
Ali Pasha's own justification is also clear in the sources. He argued that because of the sultan's condition the affairs of state had been left in the hands of women, that beylerbeyis were dismissed after short terms, and that for this reason the people were wretched and the country ruined; he demanded that administrators not be changed before three years were up. Hüsameddin's interpretation of the revolt as an uprising against a sultan who "put the reins of government into the hands of women" is in line with Ali Pasha's own rhetoric. The government first tried to weaken his support by declaring him a "Celâlî". In Muharrem 1058 [February 1648] Köprülü Mehmed Pasha was ordered to prepare to march against him, and in Rebîülevvel 1058 [April 1648] İpşir Mustafa Pasha, together with the governorship of Sivas, was made serdar of the forces gathered against Ali Pasha. This date given by Hüsameddin agrees with present-day research. Only, Hüsameddin mentions İpşir at that time as governor of Aleppo; in M. Münir Aktepe's entry İpşir's governorship of Aleppo is placed at the end of 1650, and it is written that in 1647-1648 he was seraskeri in the capacity of governor of Sivas.
The Battle in the Çerkeş Region
According to Ahmet Önal's entry, Ali Pasha left Sivas on 10 Rebîülâhir [4 May 1648]. When he came to Tokat, the people, complaining of the tyranny of Dilâver Pasha, Mutasarrıf of Canik, asked him for help, and he sent an agha with several hundred levends against Dilâver Pasha. Hüsameddin attaches the same complaint to the people of Samsun who ran to Amasya and mentions Dilâver Pasha as their mutasarrıf; the two records appear to relate the same event at different stops. After encamping for a while on the Turhal plain with seven thousand soldiers, Ali Pasha continued on his way.
The battle itself took place in the Çankırı region, at the foot of the mountain called Kurşumlıdağı, and lasted an hour. Ali Pasha defeated and took captive Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, "Kör Hüseyin of Amasya" and Kara Sefer, Bey of Divriği, the pashas, and "Hacı Efendizâde of Amasya." This last name is most likely Hacı Efendizâde Sarı Mehmed Ağa, whom Hüsameddin mentions as Hüseyin Pasha's kethüda. Here there is a noteworthy detail: the sources Önal used call Hüseyin Pasha by the epithet "Kör" (blind), whereas Hüsameddin says "Çolak" and ties this name to his left arm disabled at Baghdad. According to Evliya Çelebi, after this victory Ali Pasha's army, with those who joined him, reached 37,000 men.
At Çerkeş, however, fortune turned. Ali Pasha was attacked by İpşir Mustafa Pasha, whom he had supposed had come to join him; his army, caught unprepared, quickly dispersed, he was caught while trying to flee and, after a short trial, executed; his head was sent to Istanbul. This event is dated 26 Rebîülâhir 1058 [20 May 1648]. Hüsameddin gives the same date as the day on which Ali Pasha summoned the Hüseyin and Köprülü pashas to his side. In present-day research this is the day the rebellion ended; therefore the battle and captivity in Hüsameddin's ordering must fall before this date. In the biography volume of Hüsameddin's book, on the other hand, the battle in the Çerkeş region is written to have been in Rebîülevvel 1058; the author has given two different dates, even within himself.
Evliya Çelebi was an eyewitness of these events. At that time his patron Defterdarzâde Mehmed Pasha, not going to Kars, had set out towards Istanbul and in Ankara had cooperated with Varvar Ali Pasha; Evliya had acted as messenger between the two pashas. His description of Varvar Ali Pasha as a hero, a brave, skilful and manly soldier should be read together with this closeness. Ali Pasha was also a poet; he told his life in a 177-couplet mesnevi called Makālât.
Hüseyin Pasha's Execution and Köprülü
Hüsameddin's harshest sentences are the places where he blames Köprülü Mehmed Pasha for Hüseyin Pasha's execution. This claim is not found in other sources with the same clarity. That Köprülü was defeated and taken prisoner in this battle and was rescued by İpşir Pasha is generally accepted. The additional information Hüsameddin gives in the biography volume also shows the source base of the event: on İpşir Pasha's report and recommendation a robe of honour came for Köprülü and an imperial firman for the execution of Hüseyin Pasha; Hüseyin Pasha was killed at the end of Cemaziyelevvel 1058 together with his kethüda, treasurer and silahdar. Hüsameddin notes that although Naîmâ writes that Köprülü and Hüseyin Pasha were placed in İpşir Pasha's retinue, he does not explicitly mention Hüseyin Pasha's execution, and that the event is recorded in Kâtib Çelebi's Fezleke and in the Amasya registers. In the same place it is also written that Hüseyin Pasha was the son-in-law of Derviş Bey, mirliva of Amasya, that because his goods were confiscated nothing but a house was left to his son Derviş Mehmed Çelebi, and that the guardian of the orphan was Hüseyin Pasha's brother-in-law Ebûbekir Bey.
Hüsameddin's stance against Köprülü should be assessed together with present-day discussions on Köprülü's political position in these years. Christopher Whitehead's study, based on archival documents, argues that in the following years Köprülü was in the faction around İpşir Mustafa Pasha. This does not confirm Hüsameddin's reading that "he deceived İbşir Pasha," but it shows that the closeness between the two pashas continued after 1648 as well. Mimar Kâsım Ağa, mentioned as Köprülü's patron, appears in the Köprülü entry too as kethüda of Vâlide Turhan Sultan and is recalled as the person who put Köprülü forward for the grand vizierate in 1656.
The Heads and the End of a Reign
Hüsameddin says that the heads lined up in front of the Bâb-ı Hümâyûn prepared public opinion for the deposition of Sultan İbrâhim. Sultan İbrâhim was deposed on 18 Receb 1058 [8 August 1648], about two and a half months after the killing of Varvar Ali Pasha. Feridun Emecen notes that in the last year of the reign the chain of events that began in the provinces with the rebellion of Varvar Ali Pasha, together with the rivalries at the centre, increased the unrest. The direct cause-and-effect link that Hüsameddin establishes is, however, the author's own interpretation.
Local details such as the trial and execution of Siyavuş Ağa, the contest over the post of city kethüda between Bağdatlıoğlu Osman Ağa and Kara Abdî Bey, and the duty of the Divan çavuş Mûsâ Ağa could not be found in other sources; these are records evidently drawn from the Amasya sharia court registers. The Pirinççi quarter, where Siyavuş Ağa's family lived, still survives in Amasya under the same name.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Academic studies
- Ahmet Önal, "Varvar Ali Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 42, 2012, pp. 530-531. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/varvar-ali-pasa
- M. Münir Aktepe, "İpşir Mustafa Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 2000. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ipsir-mustafa-pasa
- Mücteba İlgürel, "Köprülü Mehmed Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/koprulu-mehmed-pasa
- Feridun Emecen, "İbrâhim", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ibrahim--padisah
- Christopher Whitehead, "The Early Career of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha: An Archival Reconstruction", Review of Middle East Studies, 57/1 (2024).
Other sources