Amasyalıdır. Yukarıda tercemesi geçen Selânik vâlisi İshak Bey’in ahfâdından Mehmed Bey bin Durak Bey bin el-Hâc Ebûbekir Bey bin İshak Bey bin el-Hâc Emîr Alâeddîn Ali Bey’in mahdûmudur.
Züamâdan olup 923’de Üçler vak’asında hizmetleri sebk eylediği cihetle Bevvâbân-ı Sultânî silkine idhâl edildi. Ba’dehû terakkî ederek 927’de Kapıcılar Kethüdâsı, 942’de Niğbolu Beyi ve 951’de Beylerbeyi görüldü. Ba’dehû vefât etdi. Kibâr-ı ümerâdan idi. Mahdûmu Mehmed Bey 965’de [71] Halfet Gâzi evkâfına mütevellî idi.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. A descendant of İshak Bey, governor of Salonica, whose biography appears above, he is the son of Mehmed Bey; Mehmed Bey was the son of Durak Bey, Durak Bey the son of Hacı Ebûbekir Bey, Ebûbekir Bey the son of İshak Bey, and İshak Bey the son of Hacı Emir Alâeddin Ali Bey.
He was among the zeamet holders. Because his services came to the fore in the Üçler incident in 923 [1517-18], he was admitted to the ranks of the sultan's gatekeepers. Later, advancing, he was seen as Kapıcılar Kethüdası in 927 [1520-21], as Bey of Niğbolu in 942 [1535-36] and as Beylerbeyi in 951 [1544-45]. Then he died. He was one of the great commanders. His son Mehmed Bey was trustee of the Halfet Gazi waqfs in 965 [1557-58].
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ahfâd: grandchildren, descendants
- züamâ: zeamet holders; mounted commanders granted a zeamet, a large military land grant
- sebk eylemek: to come to the fore
- Bevvâbân-ı Sultânî: the sultan's gatekeepers
- silk: rank, body
- idhâl: admitting, including
- Kapıcılar Kethüdâsı: the chief officer of the palace gatekeepers
- Niğbolu Beyi: the governor of the sanjak of Niğbolu
- kibâr-ı ümerâ: great commanders
- evkâf: waqfs
- mütevellî: waqf administrator
The Gatekeepers and Their Kethüda
The gatekeepers were servants who served at the gates of the sultan's palace; in Ottoman documents this body also appears in its Arabic plural form, bevvâbân. Their chief officer was called the kapıcılar kethüdası. The kethüda was present at meetings between the sultan and the grand vizier, acted as intermediary, carried written summaries to the sultan and brought back the reply. He is mentioned as a palace servant in the law code of Fâtih Sultan Mehmed and ranks between the çavuşbaşı and the cebecibaşı. He received the viziers who came to the Divan meetings, admitted those who came for a case through the Bâb-ı Hümâyun, and brought them to the members of the Divan. He was generally promoted from among Enderun officials, and could later be appointed mîrâhur, silahdar or deputy to the grand vizier.
İshak Pasha's course fits this system: first a zeamet holder, then admitted among the gatekeepers, then kapıcılar kethüdası, and finally the sanjak of Niğbolu and a beylerbeyilik. What the "Üçler incident" mentioned by Hüsameddin was could not be found in the sources researched. It is written that the kapıcılar kethüdası was generally appointed from among Enderun officials; İshak Pasha, by contrast, is said to have been admitted to the gatekeepers while a zeamet holder, so his path seems to depart from this general rule. The reason is not explained in the sources.
The Halfet Gazi Waqf
The building that Hüsameddin calls "Halfet Gazi" is today known as the Hilfet Gazi or Halîfet Gazi Madrasa and Tomb. According to its inscription the madrasa was built in 606 [1209-10]; the waqf deed of its founder, dated 622 [1225], has survived. Halîfet Gazi was a Danishmendid emir; after the end of the Danishmendids he entered Seljuk service, became governor of Amasya in 619 [1222], was then appointed governor of Erzurum, and in 1232 fell as a martyr on a campaign against the Georgians and was buried in his tomb in Amasya. The octagonal tomb to the east of the building, according to some researchers, belongs to the period of the madrasa or to an earlier one. After the earthquake of 1647 the madrasa was repaired by the madrasa professor Hasan Efendi, who had the collapsed parts renewed in wood, and in 1888 the mufti of Amasya, Hacı Osman Hilmi Efendi, had the building thoroughly rebuilt. Mehmed Bey's trusteeship in 965 shows that the waqf was still operating more than three centuries after its founding.
Numbers of Gatekeepers
The number of gatekeepers grew over time. In the second half of the fifteenth century, before they were divided in two, the gatekeepers numbered around fifty until 1478; after the division at that date, the gatekeepers of the Dergâh-ı âlî, made up of forty-five companies, numbered 1925 at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and those of the Bâb-ı Hümâyun 417 in five companies. The kapıcılar kethüdası was the chief officer of this large organization and also served in the sultan's stirrup service. In the nineteenth century the post of kethüda was replaced by the chief secretaryship of the Mâbeyn.
Bibliography