Amasyalıdır. Amasya a’yânından el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa bin İbrâhim Bey bin Sâlih Bey bin Kaya Ali Paşa mahdûmudur. 1211’de Nizâm-ı Cedîd neferâtını kayda mahsûs Amasya mahkemesi siciline kaydedilen gençlerden olup İstanbul’a sevk edilerek Nizâm-ı Cedîd Ocağında terbiye-i askeriyye gördü.
Îrâd-ı cedîd defterdârı Amasyalızâde Hacı İbrâhim Efendi’nin sâye-i ikbâlinde sırasıyla terfi’ edilerek yüzbaşı [216] olmuşdu. 1222 rebiülevvelindeki hâ’ilede ihtifâya mecbûr olup ammizâdesi Kayalı Paşazâde Kâşif Ömer Ağa yanında kaldı. Ba’dehû Amasya’ya gelip amcası el-Hâc Sâlih Ağa’nın yardımıyla ticârete sülûk etdi.
1224’de gönüllü asker olup Rus harbine gitdi. Orada kendisini tanıtıp başbuğ olarak harb etdi. Ba’dehû Benderlizâde İbrâhim Paşa’nın dâ’iresinde bir müddet silahdâr olarak hizmet etdi.
1241’de Nizâm-ı Cedîd Ocağının ihdâsında binbaşı olarak kayd ve kabûl edildi. 1242’de mîr-alây olup Rus harbine iştirâk etdi. 1248’de Bağdâd alayı kumandanı olarak Irak’a gitdi. 1254’de orada mîr-livâ olup on yıldan ziyâde Arabistân ordusu erkânından olduğu hâlde 1264’de vefât etdi. Şeci’, sâdık idi.
In Modern English
He is from Amasya. He is the son of el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa bin İbrâhim Bey bin Sâlih Bey bin Kaya Ali Pasha, one of the leading men of Amasya. In 1211 [1796-97] he was one of the young men entered in the register of the Amasya court set aside for the enrollment of Nizâm-ı Cedîd soldiers; he was sent to Istanbul and received military training in the Nizâm-ı Cedîd Corps.
Thanks to the patronage of Amasyalızâde Hacı İbrâhim Efendi, defterdar of the İrâd-ı Cedîd, he was promoted step by step and had become a captain. In the catastrophe of Rabi al-Awwal 1222 [1807] he was forced to hide and stayed with his cousin Kayalı Paşazâde Kâşif Ömer Ağa. Later he came to Amasya and, with the help of his uncle el-Hâc Sâlih Ağa, went into trade.
In 1224 [1809-10] he went to the Russian war as a volunteer soldier. There he distinguished himself and fought as a başbuğ (unit commander). Then for a time he served as silahdar in the retinue of Benderlizâde İbrâhim Pasha.
In 1241 [1826], when the Nizâm-ı Cedîd Corps was re-established, he was enrolled and accepted as a major. In 1242 [1826-27] he took part in the Russian war as a miralay (colonel). In 1248 [1832-33] he went to Iraq as commander of the Baghdad regiment. In 1254 [1838-39] he became mirliva there, and, having been for more than ten years among the leading officers of the Army of Arabia, he died in 1264 [1847-48]. He was a brave and loyal man.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- a'yân: the leading men of a city
- mahdûm: son
- neferât: privates, soldiers
- terbiye-i askeriyye: military training
- sâye-i ikbâl: the shadow of a great man's rise, his patronage
- hâ'ile: catastrophe, terrible event
- ihtifâ: hiding
- ammizâde: son of a paternal uncle, cousin
- sülûk etmek: to enter a path, to begin an occupation
- başbuğ: head, commander of a unit
- dâ'ire: the retinue of a pasha, the staff in his service
- ihdâs: re-establishing, creating
- mîr-alây: regimental commander, colonel
- mîr-livâ: the rank of brigadier general
- erkân: the leading men
- şeci': brave, courageous
The Nizâm-ı Cedîd and the Enrollment of Soldiers from Amasya
Nizâm-ı Cedîd is the name of the period of renewal Selim III began from 1792 and of the European-style trained army established in this period. A separate treasury called the İrâd-ı Cedîd had been created to cover its expenses, and an effort was made to set up in the provinces too the new army, whose strength soon reached twelve thousand. The new soldiers were trained in Istanbul in the barracks at Levend Çiftliği and in Üsküdar (Selimiye). According to documents published by Yücel Özkaya, the İrâd-ı Cedîd defterdar Hacı İbrâhim Efendi prepared and submitted to the sultan a memorandum explaining how the soldiers would be collected from the provinces, how they would be dispatched, and what treatment they would receive in Istanbul. In the same documents Amasya is also seen to be mentioned in this organization: Amasya had been given to Çapanoğlu (Cebbarzâde) Süleyman Bey, in order to increase the number of soldiers of the Levend Çiftliği corps, with the aim of his setting up a twelve-company orta, each company made up of one hundred privates.
Hüsameddin's saying that İbrâhim Pasha was entered in 1211 [1796-97] in the register kept for this purpose at the Amasya court is a concrete example of how this recruitment system worked in the provinces. The record also suggests that a separate register may have been kept for the Nizâm-ı Cedîd in the Amasya sharia court registers; this register could not be verified in other sources.
His Patron's Death and the Catastrophe of 1807
Hacı İbrâhim Efendi, named in the text, was one of the leading men of the Nizâm-ı Cedîd. He had served as sadaret mektupçusu, kethüda of the imperial stirrup, chief accountant, palace kethüda, and grain and naval commissioner, became defterdar of the İrâd-ı Cedîd in 1212 [1798], and was removed from this post in Muharram 1220 [1805]. Hüsameddin calls him "Amasyalızâde"; in the sources we read, however, no information appears on his tie to Amasya.
The event Hüsameddin calls "the catastrophe of Rabi al-Awwal 1222" is the Kabakçı Mustafa revolt. The uprising begun by the yamaks in the Bosphorus fortresses quickly spread to Istanbul; the rebels sent the sultan a list bearing the names of eleven men from the Nizâm-ı Cedîd notables and demanded their execution. In second place on the list was "Bahriye Nazırı Hacı İbrâhim Efendi". Selim III sacrificed the men demanded, agreed to abolish the Nizâm-ı Cedîd, but was himself deposed, and on 21 Rabi al-Awwal 1222 [29 May 1807] Mustafa IV was placed on the throne. According to the letter of an eyewitness, Hacı İbrâhim Efendi tried to flee from the arsenal in a boat, was caught the next day in his waterside mansion, was taken as far as Beyazıt on foot and amid insults, and was torn to pieces and killed at the place where he said "I have no strength to go any farther".
This information explains the detail Hüsameddin relates. Kayalı İbrâhim, a young captain of the Nizâm-ı Cedîd who moreover owed his rise to this slain statesman, had no recourse but to hide. His taking refuge with his cousin and then returning to Amasya and starting trade shows that with the Nizâm-ı Cedîd the path of a military career was also closed.
"The Re-establishment of the Nizâm-ı Cedîd" and the Asâkir-i Mansûre
Hüsameddin writes that İbrâhim Pasha was enrolled as a major in 1241 [1826] "at the establishment of the Nizâm-ı Cedîd Corps". The official name of the new army established in 1826 is in fact not Nizâm-ı Cedîd. After abolishing the Janissary corps, Mahmud II set up a new army under the name Asâkir-i Mansûre-i Muhammediyye, placed at its head a commander with the title serasker, and changed the name of the old Ağakapısı to Bâb-ı Seraskerî. This army, whose initial strength was twelve thousand, was divided into battalions and companies, a regiment being formed of three battalions and a livâ of two regiments. Hüsameddin's phrasing reflects a view that sees the new army as a continuation of Selim III's unfinished Nizâm-ı Cedîd. İbrâhim Pasha's life carries this continuity in his own person: the officer trained in Selim III's army returned to service twenty years later as a major in Mahmud II's army.
Baghdad and the Army of Arabia
İbrâhim Pasha's last years were spent in Iraq. Hüsameddin says that he went in 1248 [1832-33] as commander of the Baghdad regiment, became mirliva in 1254 [1838-39], and for more than ten years was in the "Army of Arabia". The Ottoman land forces were divided into armies in the reign of Sultan Abdülmecid, and in the reign of Abdülaziz into seven armies centered on Istanbul, Shumen, Monastir, Erzurum, Damascus, Baghdad and Yemen; among these, the Baghdad-centered army was called the "Army of Arabia". The name Hüsameddin uses agrees with this later naming.
No information was found in other sources about Kaya Ali Pasha at the head of the line of descent, his cousin Kâşif Ömer Ağa, and Benderlizâde İbrâhim Pasha, in whose retinue İbrâhim Pasha served as silahdar. İbrâhim Pasha himself is likewise not mentioned in the sources we read apart from Hüsameddin.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, pp. 74–75. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies