Köprülüdür. Oranın eşrâfından ve Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’nın kayınpederi olan el-Hâc Yûsuf Ağa’nın ahfâdından Dedezâde el-Hâc Ahmed Ağa bin el-Hâc Kâsım Ağa’nın oğludur. Köprü a’yânından Cârullah oğlu el-Hâc Hüseyin Ağa’nın husemâsından olup Rus muhârebelerine iştirâk ederek iştihâr ve ta’ayyün etdi.
1213’de Köprü müftüsü Kıldırzâde eş-Şeyh Mustafa Efendi’nin şehâdetinde Hacı Hüseyin Ağa’nın azl ü nefyi üzerine Köprü voyvodası, ba’dehû ma’zûl ve 1220’de Hacı Paşazâde Mehmed Emîn Bey’in firârına binâen yine Köprü voyvodası oldu. Ba’de’l-azl 1228’de vefât etdi. Dede başı mezarlığında medfûndur.
In Modern English
He was from Köprü. He was the son of Dedezâde Hacı Ahmed Ağa bin Hacı Kâsım Ağa, one of the notables of that place and a descendant of Hacı Yûsuf Ağa, the father-in-law of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. He was one of the adversaries of Cârullahoğlu Hacı Hüseyin Ağa, one of the ayan of Köprü; he gained fame and standing by taking part in the Russian wars.
In 1213 [1798-99], when the mufti of Köprü, Kıldırzâde Şeyh Mustafa Efendi, was killed, Hacı Hüseyin Ağa was dismissed and exiled, and he became voyvoda of Köprü, but was later removed from the post. In 1220 [1805-06], when Hacı Paşazâde Mehmed Emîn Bey fled, he became voyvoda of Köprü again. After his dismissal he died in 1228 [1813]. He is buried in the Dedebaşı Cemetery.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- eşrâf: the noble, leading families of a place
- ahfâd: grandsons, descendants
- a'yân: the leading men of a township; local power-holders who mediated between the people and the state
- husemâ: adversaries, enemies
- iştihâr ve ta'ayyün: gaining fame and entering the ranks of the notables
- şehâdet: understood here in the sense of being killed as a martyr; the word also means "testimony", so the sentence can also be read as "by the testimony of the mufti"
- azl ü nefy: dismissal from office and exile
- voyvoda: the official who collected the tax revenues of a district and conducted its administration
- firâr: flight; ba'de'l-azl: after being dismissed from office
- medfûn: buried
The Township of Köprü and Yûsuf Ağa
The Köprü in the entry is the present-day Vezirköprü district of Samsun province. In the Ottoman period the township was a district (kaza) attached to the sanjak of Amasya and remained attached to Amasya until 1925. It is recorded that it took its present name in the grand vizierate of Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, who was called "Köprülü" because of his tie to the township, and that it was first called "Vezirköprüsü" and then, shortened, "Vezirköprü".
Hacı Yûsuf Ağa, to whom İbrâhim Ağa links his descent, holds an important place in the history of the Köprülü family. In the years when he left the palace for the provinces, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha went to the township of Köprü, attached to Amasya, married Ayşe Hanım there, and became known as "Köprülü" because of his presence in this township. Abdülkadir Özcan writes that Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha was born in Köprü in 1045 [1635-36] and that his mother was Ayşe Hanım, daughter of Yûsuf Ağa, the voyvoda of the township. In some foreign sources it is also claimed that Yûsuf Ağa was originally from the village of Kayacık in Havza, that while voyvoda of the area called Kadegra (Gedegra) he had a bridge built there, and that the township took its name from this bridge; this account could not be verified in the Turkish sources read. That Hüsameddin counts İbrâhim Ağa among Yûsuf Ağa's descendants shows that a local family related to the Köprülü family on the maternal side was still among the notables of the township at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
The Voyvodalık and Ayan Rivalries
In Ottoman provincial administration, governors, mutasarrıfs, mütesellims and voyvodas were appointed from the center; alongside them, in every city and township there was an ayan chosen from among the leading men. Özcan Mert notes that the local dynasties seen in historical documents as voyvoda, mütesellim, muhassıl and mutasarrıf were at the same time called ayan, and that the ayan grew strong and influential in the provinces through tax farming and moneylending at interest. Developments in Köprü fit this picture. The voyvodalık of the township changed hands among rival ayan families: Cârullahoğlu Hacı Hüseyin Ağa, İbrâhim Ağa of the Dedezade family and Hacı Paşazâde Mehmed Emîn Bey appear as persons contending for the same post. According to Hüsameddin's record this rivalry went as far as the death of a mufti, and Hacı Hüseyin Ağa, held responsible for the event, was dismissed and exiled.
İbrâhim Ağa's gaining fame by taking part in the "Russian wars" is an example of the provincial ayan of this period joining campaigns with their own men and gaining standing in the eyes of the state. The text does not state which wars are meant; since it was before his first voyvodalık in 1213, the Ottoman-Russian War of 1787-1792 comes to mind, but this is an inference. No information was found in other sources about the death of the mufti of Köprü Kıldırzâde Şeyh Mustafa Efendi, Cârullahoğlu Hacı Hüseyin Ağa, Hacı Paşazâde Mehmed Emîn Bey, or the Dedebaşı Cemetery.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 70. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Mücteba İlgürel, "Köprülü Mehmed Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/koprulu-mehmed-pasa).
- Abdülkadir Özcan, "Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kopruluzade-fazil-ahmed-pasa).
- Özcan Mert, "Âyan", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ayan).
Official sources
- T.C. Vezirköprü Kaymakamlığı, "Vezirköprü'nün Tarihçesi" (vezirkopru.gov.tr).
Books
- Seyfi Kenan – Selçuk Akşin Somel (ed.), Dimensions of Transformation in the Ottoman Empire from the Late Medieval Age to Modernity: In Memory of Metin Kunt, Brill, 2021, p. 73 (from the quotation in the biography of Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha).