İdris Paşa (Hacı Beyzâde)

In Modern English

He was from Amasya. He was the son of Hamza Bey, one of the beys; Hamza Bey was the son of Hacı İlyas Bey, who was the son of Hacı Pervîz Bey, who was the son of İdris Bey. While he was among the holders of zeamet (large military fiefs), he showed valour in the Amasya affair of 940 [1533-34] and became one of the beys. In 967 [1559-60] he was recorded as beylerbeyi. Afterwards he died.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• ümerâ: beys; here, administrators at the level of sanjak bey
• züemâ: holders of zeamet, that is, cavalrymen who held a fief of high annual income
• vak'a: event, affair
• beylerbeyi: the highest military and administrative officer of a province
• ba'dehû: afterwards
• mahdûm: son

From Zeamet to Beylik

Hüsameddin's sentence "he became one of the beys while he was among the zeamet holders" describes a rise within the Ottoman military order. Zeamet is the name given to fiefs with an annual income between 20,000 and 100,000 akçe; the person who held it is called a zaim. The law code defines a zeamet as follows: a fief given to someone by imperial charter with an income of a full twenty thousand akçe or more is a zeamet; if it falls even one akçe short of twenty thousand, it is called a timar. When going on campaign, zeamet holders had to bring one cebelü (armoured soldier) for every 5,000 akçe of income; in their region they supervised the timar holders and led them in war. According to the same source, for a zaim to become a sanjak bey he had to hold a zeamet of 80,000 akçe; those who moved on to the office of sanjak bey received an allocation of 200,000 akçe.

This information helps us understand which step the book's phrase "became one of the beys" corresponds to: İdris Pasha's path ran from the rank of zaim to the level of sanjak bey, and much later to the beylerbeyilik. For the second title Hüsameddin says "was recorded as" (görüldü); that is, he reports this information not as an appointment document but as the way he was named in the records.

The Amasya Affair

Which event the Amasya affair of 940 mentioned in the text refers to could not be determined in the sources read. In the Ottoman period Amasya was one of the princes' sanjaks, and the city, with its madrasas, was counted among the centres of learning of Anatolia; it has been established that Amasya had more than forty madrasas. Even so, the articles and encyclopedia entries we read contain no information on an Amasya event of the year 940 [1533-34]. Without knowing Hüsameddin's source and the nature of the event, it cannot be said what valour İdris Pasha showed.

The Hacı Beyzâde Family and the Hacı İlyas Quarter

According to a study on the plot on which the Bayezid II Complex in Amasya was built, when Bayezid took the throne, "the garden of Hacı Beyzâde Hamza and Hızır Beys," lying east of the Hacı İlyas Quarter, was purchased for the construction of the complex. The names Hacı İlyas Bey and Hamza Bey also appear in the genealogical chain of the text, and the epithet "Hacı Beyzâde" is the same. This overlap is noteworthy and suggests that the family was among the respected residents of Amasya in the late fifteenth century. Nevertheless, whether Hamza Bey, the owner of the garden, was the same person as İdris Pasha's father Hamza Bey is not stated in the sources read; whether the quarter's name goes back to this family could not be verified either.

The Family

The text traces İdris Pasha's lineage back four generations: Hamza Bey, Hacı İlyas Bey, Hacı Pervîz Bey, İdris Bey. The epithet "Hacı Beyzâde" reflects this family's name. No information was found in other sources on these names. The province in which the beylerbeyilik of 967 was held and İdris Pasha's date of death are not given in the text either, and could not be determined in the sources read.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 274–275. amasya.bel.tr
• Hasan Telli, "Meşihat Arşivi'ne Göre Amasya Müderrisleri", Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi, 2024. https://acikerisim.aku.edu.tr/xmlui/handle/11630/12210

Academic studies

• Murat Alandağlı, "Hurufat Kayıtlarında Amasya Zaviyeleri", Turkish Studies, 19/1, 2024. https://dx.doi.org/10.7827/TurkishStudies.72905
• İnan Demirtaş, "Şehzade Ahmed'in Amasya Sancak Beyliği", Sosyal Bilimler Araştırmaları 13, ed. Hasan Yerkazan - Önder Eryılmaz, Amasya Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2024, p. 133–159.