Amasyalıdır. Rahtuvân Paşazâde el-Hâc Ali Bey’in kölesi el-Hâc Yûsuf Ağazâde Kâsım Paşa’nın mahdûmu olup pederinin zamân-ı ikbâlinde Bâb-ı âlîde kethüdâ kalemine girdi. İbrâhim Afîf Efendi’nin kethüdâlığında bâ-rütbe-i hâcegânî kethüdâ kâtibi oldu.
Ba’dehû bir müddet Amasya hâssına mutasarrıf olan Beyhan Sultân kethüdâsı, 1239’da kethüdâlıkdan azl ile Hicâz’a gidip avdetde 1243’de Anadolu muhâsebecisi olduysa da 1244’de Amasya’ya i’zâm edildi. Birkaç ay sonra vefât [204] etdi. Buna “Köle Yûsufzâde” de denirdi.
In Modern English
He is from Amasya. He is the son of Kâsım Pasha, who was the son of Hacı Yûsuf Ağa, the slave of Rahtuvân Paşazâde Hacı Ali Bey. During his father's brilliant period he entered the kethüdâ kalemi (the writing office of the grand vizier's kethüda) at the Sublime Porte. While İbrâhim Afîf Efendi was kethüda he became kethüda scribe with the rank of hâcegân.
Later, for a time, he became kethüda to Beyhan Sultan, who held the revenues of the hasses of Amasya. When he was removed from the kethüdalık in 1239 [1823-24] he went to the Hejaz; on his return he became accountant of Anatolia in 1243 [1827-28], but in 1244 [1828-29] he was sent to Amasya. He died a few months later. He was also called "Köle Yûsufzâde".
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- zamân-ı ikbâl: the period when fortune favored one and one's rank and standing were high
- Bâb-ı âlî: the Sublime Porte, the grand vizierate and the government offices
- kethüdâ kalemi: the writing office attached to the grand vizier's kethüda
- bâ-rütbe-i hâcegânî: with the rank of hâcegân, that is, senior office clerk
- hâss: a land and tax source whose revenue was assigned to the sultan, to members of the dynasty or to great statesmen
- mutasarrıf: one who holds a revenue source and benefits from it
- azl: dismissal from office
- avdet: return
- Anadolu muhâsebecisi: the head of the treasury office that looked after the financial accounts of the Anatolian provinces
- i'zâm: sending; here in the sense of exile
A Family from Slavery to the Vizierate
The noteworthy side of the entry is that it states the family's origin openly. The epithet "slave" belongs not to İbrâhim Bey but to his grandfather Hacı Yûsuf Ağa; the nickname comes from there. In the entry on Gürcü Hacı Yûsuf Ağa under the letter "H" of the book, Hüsameddin describes this man in detail: Hacı Yûsuf Ağa was the slave of Rahtuvânzâde Hacı Ahmed Bey, one of the notables of Amasya, was raised in his master's mansion, and after being freed became his kethüda and gained great standing and wealth. In 1181 [1767-68] he went on the pilgrimage with his master; when his master died on the road he carried out his will, then became an ayan of Amasya and several times mütesellim of Amasya, and died in 1203 [1788-89] while an ayan. Among his sons is also "Vezîr Kâsım Pasha". It should be noted that in this entry the master's name is Hacı Ali Bey, while in the other entry it appears as Hacı Ahmed Bey; the book's entry on Derviş Mehmed Bey also says "Ali Bey". This discrepancy lies within Hüsameddin's own texts.
In the same entry Hüsameddin writes that later generations of the family, in order not to be counted as "slave-descended", linked themselves to the line of Kömüşoğlu Hacı Yûsuf Ağa, who lived in the same period, whereas his own research showed the opposite. That in a family in which the son of a freed slave could rise to the vizierate and the grandson to the offices of the Sublime Porte there was nonetheless an attempt to conceal this origin later suggests that the nickname still carried a burden in local society.
On the fate of his father Kâsım Pasha, the book's entry on Derviş Mehmed Bey gives brief information: Kâsım Pasha was "martyred" in early 1223 [1808], whereupon his son Derviş Mehmed Bey was given a kapıcıbaşılık. How and where Kâsım Pasha died could not be found in other sources.
The Kethüda of Beyhan Sultan
Beyhan Sultan, named in the entry, was the daughter of Sultan Mustafa III and the sister of Selim III. She was born on 15 December 1765, married in 1784 to Silahdar Mustafa Pasha, governor of Aleppo, and did not remarry after her husband's death. In the reign of her brother Selim III many high-yielding mukataas were assigned to her, and she lived as a wealthy sultana with palaces on the Bosphorus shore. That she appointed kethüdas to administer these mukataas is known from the examples of her estates in the Morea. That the hasses of Amasya were attached to Beyhan Sultan explains why her kethüda was chosen from an Amasya family. According to the book's entry on Yeğenzâde Ahmed Bey, another man of Amasya, Yeğenzâde Ahmed Bey, had also become kethüda of Beyhan Sultan in 1213 [1798-99]. That two separate men of Amasya were appointed to the same post suggests that the sultana may have preferred scribes who knew Amasya to administer these revenues; but this is an inference.
Beyhan Sultan died on 7 November 1824 and was buried in the tomb of Mihrişah Valide Sultan in Eyüp. This date falls in the Hijri year 1240. İbrâhim Bey's removal from the kethüdalık in 1239 falls shortly before the sultana's death. The reasons for his later Anatolian accountantship and his exile to Amasya in 1244 are not written in the text.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 71–71. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, entry "Hacı Yûsuf Ağa-Gürcü el-Hâc", vol. 8; entry "Derviş Mehmed Bey-Hacı Yûsuf Ağazâde", vol. 9; entry "Ahmed Bey-Yeğenzâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc", vol. 6, p. 223.
Official sources
Other sources