Merzifonludur. Hacı Paşazâde Yahya Bey’in oğludur. Kara Mustafa Paşa dairesinde tefeyyüz etmişdir. 1092 senesi muharreminin yirmi üçüncü günü Amasya beyi olup geldi.
Saferde nakîb es-Seyyid Mahmûd Ağa’nın ref‘inden es-Seyyid Mustafa Efendi yine nakibü’l-eşrâf kâ’im-makâmı oldu. Rebîülevvelin gurresinde Kadı Abdülbâkî Efendi’nin yerine Niğde Kadısı Hamza Efendi Amasya kadısı ve Yûsuf Efendi Amasya nâibi oldu.
Rebîülâhirde Müftü Pîrî Mehmed Efendi’nin azliyle sâdât-ı ulemâdan Şeyhzâde Hâfız es-Seyyid Ali Efendi Amasya müftüsü ve Alaybeyi Mahmûd Bey’in mirlivâlığa terfîinden birâderi Veliyyüddîn Bey Amasya alaybeyi oldu.
Fakat müftü-i sâbık Pîrî Mehmed Efendi, kibâr-ı ulemâ ve sulehâdan bir zât olup sebepsiz azliyle meziyet-i ilmiyyesi kendisinden dûn olan es-Seyyid Ali Efendi’nin müftülüğü Mumcuoğlu’nun nüfûzuna hamledildiğinden ulemâ tarafından gönderilen mahzûr-ı umûmî meşîhata takdîm edilmişdi.
Şa’bânda Müftü es-Seyyid Ali Efendi’nin fetvâdan hacriyle selefi Pîrî Mehmed Efendi tekrar Amasya müftüsü oldu. Mumcuoğlu Seyyid Ahmed Ağa’nın nüfûzu yine alıp yürüdüğünden hânesi erbâb-ı tezvîrin mercii tanındı. Şevvâlde Amasya sancağı Çankırı Beyi Mustafa Bey’e verildi.
In Modern English
He was from Merzifon. He was the son of Hacı Paşazâde Yahya Bey. He was raised and advanced in the retinue of Kara Mustafa Pasha. On the twenty-third day of Muharram 1092 [1681] he came as bey of Amasya.
In Safar, when the nakîb Seyyid Mahmûd Ağa was dismissed, Seyyid Mustafa Efendi again became deputy of the nakîbüleşraf, that is, the deputy at the head of the sayyids in Amasya. On the first day of Rabi' al-Awwal, in place of Kadı Abdülbâkî Efendi, Hamza Efendi, Kadı of Niğde, became kadı of Amasya, and Yûsuf Efendi became naib of Amasya.
In Rabi' al-Thani Mufti Pîrî Mehmed Efendi was dismissed, and Şeyhzâde Hâfız Seyyid Ali Efendi, one of the scholars of sayyid descent, became mufti of Amasya. When the alaybeyi Mahmûd Bey was raised to the mirlivâlık, that is, the sanjak governorship, his brother Veliyyüddîn Bey became alaybeyi of Amasya.
But the former mufti Pîrî Mehmed Efendi, though a person of the great scholars and righteous men, had been dismissed without reason. Since Seyyid Ali Efendi's becoming mufti, whose scholarly worth was lower than his, was attributed to Mumcuoğlu's influence, a collective petition of complaint sent by the scholars had been presented to the office of the şeyhülislam.
In Sha'ban Mufti Seyyid Ali Efendi was forbidden to issue fatwas, and his predecessor Pîrî Mehmed Efendi again became mufti of Amasya. Since Mumcuoğlu Seyyid Ahmed Ağa's influence again spread everywhere, his house became known as the place to which those who worked through lies and trickery applied. In Shawwal the sanjak of Amasya was given to Mustafa Bey, Bey of Çankırı.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- tefeyyüz etmek: to be raised and advance at the side of a great person, to find fortune
- daire: the mansion and retinue of a statesman, his household
- ref': removal from office
- nakîb, nakîbüleşraf kâim-makâmı: the provincial deputy of the official who looked after the affairs of the sayyids and sharifs
- gurre: the first day of the lunar month
- nâib: the kadı's assistant and deputy
- azl: dismissal from office
- sâdât-ı ulemâ: scholars of sayyid descent
- mirlivâ: sanjak governor
- kibâr-ı ulemâ ve sulehâ: great scholars and righteous persons
- meziyet-i ilmiyye: scholarly worth; dûn: lower, inferior
- hamledilmek: to be attributed to a cause, to be tied to it
- mahzar-ı umûmî: a collective petition bearing the signatures of many persons
- meşîhat: the office of the şeyhülislam
- fetvâdan hacr: being barred from issuing fatwas
- alıp yürümek: to spread, to cover everywhere
- erbâb-ı tezvîr: those who contrive lies, tricks, and sedition
- merci: the place applied to
Mahmûd Bey and the Hacı Paşazâdes
This short entry introduces the ruler of Amasya in 1681 in a few sentences, then turns to the city's internal affairs. No information was found in other sources about Mahmûd Bey himself. A clue to his family is found in Hüsameddin's own biographical volumes. There a man of Merzifon known as Eyyûb Pasha-Hacı Paşazâde is described: he is the son of Osmân Bey bin Abdülbâkî Bey bin Hacı Yahyâ Pasha, of the notables of Merzifon, one of the relatives of Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha; in 1075 as mirlivâ he served in various sanjaks, in 1087 became beylerbeyi of Kars and then governor of Şehrizor, and was killed in 1113. At the end of this entry Hüsameddin also records that Eyyûb Pasha had a brother named Yahyâ Bey. Since the father of Mahmûd Bey in our entry is "Hacı Paşazâde Yahya Bey," it is highly probable that Mahmûd Bey was the son of this Yahyâ Bey and thus the nephew of Eyyûb Pasha. This connection is a conclusion drawn from comparing Hüsameddin's records in two separate places; no definite document has been seen.
There is also a confusion of names that the reader should watch for. The "Alaybeyi Mahmûd Bey" in the third paragraph of the text is not the same person as the Mahmûd Bey of Merzifon in the entry's title. In the previous entry Hüsameddin writes that in 1090 Boyacızâde Mahmûd Bey bin İbrâhim Bey became alaybeyi of Amasya. It is he who is raised to the mirlivâlık here; Veliyyüddîn Bey, who becomes alaybeyi in his place, is also his brother. A few years later, in 1096, Boyacızâde Mahmûd Bey will himself become sanjak governor of Amasya.
The Merzifon Men in the Shadow of Kara Mustafa Pasha
The statement that Mahmûd Bey was raised "in the household of Kara Mustafa Pasha" is important for understanding the history of Amasya in these years. Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha was born in 1044 [1634-35] in the village of Marınca in Merzifon, today's Karamustafapaşa. His father was a timar-holding sipahi named Oruç Bey, who had fallen as a martyr at Murad IV's siege of Baghdad. Orphaned at the age of four, the child was raised together with his sons under the patronage of Köprülü Mehmed Bey, the later Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, who was then sanjak governor of Amasya and a friend of his father. He became Köprülü's son-in-law and rose to the grand vizierate on 28 Sha'ban 1087 [5 November 1676].
In 1681, when Mahmûd Bey was appointed to Amasya, the grand vizier is still Kara Mustafa Pasha. For this reason in the coming entries Merzifon beys are seen being appointed to the sanjak of Amasya one after another. The grand vizier's having a mosque, library, primary school, han, bath, and bedesten built in his own home town of Merzifon is another face of his tie to the sanjak of Amasya. How this tie reversed after the defeat at Vienna in 1683 is told in detail in the following entries of volume 4.
The Muftiship Quarrel and Mumcuoğlu
The main weight of the entry lies in the dispute over the muftiship. Pîrî Mehmed Efendi had become mufti a year earlier, in 1091, in place of Îydî Bayram Efendi, who had been dismissed on the ground that he meddled in everything. Now he himself had been dismissed without reason, and behind Seyyid Ali Efendi, who was put in his place, the influence of Mumcuoğlu Seyyid Ahmed Ağa was seen. The petition signed jointly by the scholars produced a result: within a few months Seyyid Ali Efendi's authority to issue fatwas was withdrawn and Pîrî Mehmed Efendi returned to his office. According to Hüsameddin's record this is a temporary success of the scholars of Amasya against Mumcuoğlu; for in the same paragraph it is also said that Mumcuoğlu's house continued to be a haunt of those who contrived sedition.
Mumcuoğlu Seyyid Ahmed Ağa is one of the most frequently named persons in this part of volume 4, and a few entries later he will himself become sanjak governor of Amasya. As we learn from the previous entry, he had been dismissed from the city kethüdalık, driven out of the city and imprisoned in a fortress, and had returned to Amasya pardoned in Muharram 1091. According to a local study, the same person, as one of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha's close circle, became city kethüda of Amasya in 1067 [1656] with a decree he brought from Istanbul and within a few months began sending complaints to Istanbul and Sivas against the mufti of the time, Hızır b. Muhammed el-Amâsî. The mufti was tried in Sivas and acquitted, but when Mumcuzâde returned to office he was this time exiled to Cyprus. What happened to Pîrî Mehmed Efendi twenty-five years later shows that the same man's weight over the muftiship went back a long way.
Why the Deputy Nakîbüleşrafship Mattered
The deputy nakîbüleşrafship, mentioned twice in the entry, is an office at the center of the disputes in Amasya. In the Ottoman state the nakîbüleşraf, who looked after the affairs of sayyids and sharifs, resided in Istanbul; in other cities there were deputy nakîbüleşrafs chosen from among the sayyids for a fixed term. This duty was an important source of influence and income and so was generally chosen from powerful families. The deputies kept the sayyids' genealogical records and took part in the granting of sayyid diplomas (berats), in the military and customary-tax exemptions granted to sayyids, in suits concerning them, and in the punishment of offenders. That in Amasya this office changed hands every few months and finally passed into the hands of the Mumcuzâde family shows what a strong political party the sayyid group had become in the city.
Bibliography
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