Amasya‘nın civâr-ı şimâlisinde Zana köyünden ve züamâdan Mirza Bey’in oğludur. Zanalı Mirza Ali Paşa’nın dayısı olduğundan Dayı demekle meşhûr oldu. İstanbul’a gidip Baltacı Mehmed Paşa dâiresine girdi.
Müşârün-ileyhin ikinci sadâretinde selâm ağası olup hayli nüfûz ve teayyün kazandı. Ba’dehû Amasyalı el-Hâc Ahmed Paşa’nın kaptanlığında vekîl-i harcı olup nüfûzunu muhâfaza edebildi.
Hacı Ahmed Paşa’nın i’dâmından sonra Amasya‘ya gelip kendisinin yetişdirdiği Mirza Ali Paşa’nın kethüdâsı oldu. 1143’de Sultân Mahmûd Hân-ı Evvelin cülûsunda kapıcılar kethüdâsı olan Amasyalı Osmân Paşa’nın sâye-i ikbâlinde [162] kapıcıbaşı ve 1145’de Amasya mübâyaacısı olup geldi.
Üç yıl kadar Amasya mübâyaacılığında kalıp hayli iştihâr etdi. 1148 senesi evâhirinde vefât edib Garibler Mezarlığında medfûn idi. 1282’de bu mezârlık yeri Garibler Mescidi’yle beraber bedestân oldukda mezâr taşı diğer mezârlığa nakledilmişdir. Mahdûmu el-Hâc Mirza Ağa ve birâderi İbrâhim Bey’dir. Bunlara ve evlâdına Mirzazâdeler dendi. Diğer mahdûmu Hattât Abdullah Efendi’dir.
In Modern English
He was the son of Mirza Bey, a zeamet holder from the village of Zana, north of Amasya. Because he was the maternal uncle of Zanalı Mirza Ali Pasha, he became famous as Dayı ("Uncle"). He went to Istanbul and entered the circle of Baltacı Mehmed Pasha.
During the second grand vizierate of the said pasha he became selâm ağası and gained considerable influence and standing. Afterwards he became vekîl-i harç under the captaincy of Hacı Ahmed Pasha of Amasya and was able to keep his influence.
After the execution of Hacı Ahmed Pasha he came to Amasya and became kethüda of Mirza Ali Pasha, whom he had raised. In 1143 [1730-31], at the accession of Sultan Mahmud I, under the protection of Osman Pasha of Amasya, who had become kapıcılar kethüdası, he became kapıcıbaşı, and in 1145 [1732-33] he came to Amasya as purchasing agent (mübâyaacı).
He remained in the post of purchasing agent in Amasya for about three years and became quite well known. He died at the end of 1148 [1736] and was buried in the Garibler Cemetery. When in 1282 [1865-66] this cemetery site was turned into a bedesten together with the Garibler Mosque, his gravestone was moved to another cemetery. His son is Hacı Mirza Ağa and the latter's brother İbrahim Bey. They and their descendants were called the Mirzazades. His other son is the calligrapher Abdullah Efendi.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- züamâ: holders of zeamets; holders of large military fiefs
- müşârün-ileyh: the said, the person mentioned
- selâm ağası: an ağa serving at the sultan's ceremonies in the palace
- kaptan: kaptan-ı derya, commander of the fleet
- vekîl-i harç: official in charge of expenditure
- i'dâm: execution
- kethüdâ: steward, manager
- kapıcılar kethüdâsı: one of the senior officials of the palace gatekeepers
- kapıcıbaşı: head of the palace gatekeepers
- sâye-i ikbâl: the shadow of fortune and standing, i.e. patronage
- mübâyaacı: official in charge of purchasing
- medfûn: buried
- bedestân: bedesten, covered market
The Second Grand Vizierate of Baltacı Mehmed Pasha
Baltacı Mehmed Pasha was grand vizier for the second time in 1710-1711: he took office on 18 August 1710, was at the head of the army in the Pruth campaign, had his seal taken on 20 November 1711, was exiled to Midilli in December 1711 and died in September 1712 on the island of Limni, to which he was sent in July 1712. Hüsameddin's remark that Dayı "became selâm ağası during his second grand vizierate" points to this period of about fifteen months; that is, Dayı's rise in the palace took place in Istanbul before 1711. Baltacı himself was born in Osmancık (today in Çorum) and entered the palace as a baltacı, so two men from the surroundings of Amasya meet on the road to the palace.
The Nickname Dayı and Zana
The village of Zana, which Hüsameddin places north of Amasya, appears in the same volume in the epithets of two other persons: his nephew "Zanalı Mirza Ali Pasha" and "Zanalızâde Hacı Ahmed Pasha," called grand vizier in entry 170. The text does not establish a link between these two and Dayı's family; no information on Zanalı Mirza Ali Pasha was found in the sources read either. In the line that came to be called Mirzazades, the relationship between son and brother is not clear in the text: it is unclear to whom the "brother" in "his son Hacı Mirza Ağa and his brother İbrahim Bey" belongs; the translation takes him as the brother of Mirza Ağa.
What Could Not Be Found
Searches found no information on the captaincy and execution of Hacı Ahmed Pasha, on the office of kapıcılar kethüdası held by Osman Pasha of Amasya, on the conversion of the Garibler Cemetery and the Garibler Mosque into a bedesten, or on the calligrapher Abdullah Efendi; these could not be verified. No link could be made between the place that Hüsameddin says became a bedesten in 1282 [1865-66] and Amasya's old bedesten.
Bibliography
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 313–313. amasya.bel.tr