Amasyalıdır. Yularkısdı Sinan Paşa ahfâdından Mîrlivâ Mehmed Bey bin İskender Bey’in mahdûmudur. Sultân Murâd-ı Sâlis devrinde Enderûn-ı Hümâyûna çırağ edilerek orada terbiye gördü.
Tedrîcen tefeyyüz ederek kilârcıbaşılığa kadar terakkî etdi. 1011’de Sultân Ahmed Hân-ı Evvelin [108] cülûsunda kapıcıbaşı olarak taşra çıktı. 1021’de Kapıcılar Kethüdâsı, 1023’de Mîrâhûr-ı evvel, 1024’de Erzurum Beylerbeyi oldu.
Ba’dehû Çıldır Beylerbeyi olup 1028’de ma’zûlen İstanbul’a geldi. 1029 senesi evâ’ilinde Cidde ve Habeş Beylerbeyi olup Hicâz’a gitdi. Çünkü Hâce-i sultânî Amasyalı Ömer Efendi, Hicâz Emâretine nüfûzunu tanıtmak için göndermişti. Bu esnâda Amasyalı Muhaşşî Sinan Efendizâde Mahmûd Paşa da Yemen Beylerbeyi olmuşdu.
1031 senesi recebinde Sultân Osmân-ı Sânî şehîd olup Ömer Efendi’nin nüfûzu zâil olduğu Hicâz ve Arabistan’da şâyî’ oldukta İskender Paşa Cidde’de ve Mehmed Paşa da San’âda şehîd edildi. Her ikisi de erbâb-ı maârifden idiler. Mahdûmları Mehmed, Mahmûd Beylerdir.
In Modern English
He is from Amasya. He was the son of the mirliva Mehmed Bey, who was the son of İskender Bey, a descendant of Yularkısdı Sinan Pasha. In the reign of Sultan Murad III he was taken into the Enderun-ı Hümâyun as an apprentice and was trained there.
Advancing step by step, he rose as far as chief of the pantry (kilerci başı). In 1011 [1602-03], at the accession of Sultan Ahmed I, he went out to the provinces as kapıcıbaşı. In 1021 [1612-13] he became Kapıcılar Kethüdası, in 1023 [1614] First Mîrâhûr, and in 1024 [1615] Beylerbeyi of Erzurum.
Afterward he became Beylerbeyi of Çıldır and came to Istanbul dismissed from office in 1028 [1619]. In early 1029 he became Beylerbeyi of Jeddah and Habesh and went to the Hijaz. For Hoca Ömer Efendi of Amasya, the tutor of the sultan, had sent him to make his influence known to the emirate of the Hijaz. At this time Mahmud Pasha, son of Efendi Muhaşşî Sinan of Amasya, had also become Beylerbeyi of Yemen.
In Rajab 1031 [1622], when Sultan Osman II was put to death and Ömer Efendi's influence came to an end, and the news spread in the Hijaz and Arabia, İskender Pasha was killed at Jeddah and Mehmed Pasha at Sana'a. Both were men of learning and culture. His sons are the beys Mehmed and Mahmud.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ahfâd: grandchildren, later generations
- mîrlivâ: sanjak bey
- Enderûn-ı Hümâyûn: the inner service and training unit of the palace
- çırağ edilmek: to be taken in as an apprentice, to be sheltered and trained
- kilârcıbaşı: the official at the head of the palace pantry
- cülûs: accession to the throne
- kapıcıbaşı: an official at the head of the palace gatekeepers
- Kapıcılar Kethüdâsı: the highest officer of the gatekeepers
- Mîrâhûr-ı evvel: the first head of the palace stables
- ma'zûlen: having been dismissed from office
- Hâce-i sultânî: the sultan's tutor
- emâret: emirate
- zâil: gone, vanished
- şâyî' olmak: to spread, to become known
- erbâb-ı maârif: men of learning and culture
From the Palace to the Provinces
İskender Pasha's career follows a well-known path in the Ottoman state: training in the Enderun and going out from palace service to the provinces. The kapıcılar kethüdası is the highest officer of the gatekeepers; he is present at meetings between the sultan and the grand vizier, acts as go-between, carries the telhis reports and brings the answer back. This official could also be appointed to the post of mîrâhur, silahdar or deputy of the grand vizier; the move Hüsameddin gives, from kapıcılar kethüdası in 1021 to mîrâhûr-ı evvel in 1023, agrees with this practice. Hüsameddin's record that he "went out to the provinces as kapıcıbaşı" is an example of this path from palace service to governorship.
Jeddah and the Habesh Province
In the Ottoman period Jeddah was first a sanjak and then the center of the Habesh province. In the seventeenth century a change is seen in how the beylerbeyis of Habesh were chosen: at the beginning of the century they were chosen from among the sanjak beys in Egypt, and then they began to be appointed from among the kapıcıbaşıs of the imperial court and other officials. Hüsameddin's describing İskender Pasha, who came from the kapıcıbaşılık, as beylerbeyi of Jeddah and Habesh agrees with this practice. The sources record that in 1623-1624 the beylerbeyi of the Habesh province resided at Suakin. Half of the taxes collected from the port of Jeddah, after the conquest of Yemen, was set aside by custom for the sanjak bey of Jeddah.
Hâce Ömer Efendi and the End of Osman II
Ömer Efendi, tutor of Osman II, is the man who, after the sultan's accession, was given authority over the appointment of the learned class while the powers of Şeyhülislam Esad Efendi were restricted; he is described as the sultan's chief adviser. According to the sources, Grand Vizier Güzelce Ali Pasha worked against Ömer Efendi at the end of 1619 and removed him from the sultan's side; this can be considered together with Hüsameddin's phrase "sent him to make his influence known to the emirate of the Hijaz," but the sources draw no link between the two events. The rebellion began on 8 Rajab 1031 (19 May 1622), and among the rebels' first demands was the execution of Ömer Efendi; Osman II was seized on 20 May and strangled at Yedikule. This is the development Hüsameddin describes as "Ömer Efendi's influence came to an end." No information was found in other sources that İskender Pasha was killed at Jeddah or Mehmed or Mahmud Pasha at Sana'a.
Uncertainties in the Text
Hüsameddin calls the beylerbeyi of Yemen first "Mahmud Pasha" and then "Mehmed Pasha"; the sons too are written as "the beys Mehmed and Mahmud." There may be a confusion in the writing in the book. Muhaşşî Sinan Efendi was a scholar born in the village of Sonusa near Amasya in 1488, who died in Istanbul in 1578 and had a mosque built in Amasya; that Mahmud Pasha, a beylerbeyi in the 1620s, was his direct son is difficult chronologically, and a grandson or descendant seems more plausible, but the sources examined do not state this relationship separately. The sources examined also do not state that Ömer Efendi was from Amasya. No other source could be found for the beylerbeyiships of Çıldır and Erzurum or for Mehmed Bey's being a grandson.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 297–298. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies