Köprülüdür. Köprü’de tavattun etmiş olan Arnavut Hüseyin Ağa’nın mahdûmudur. 1044 senesi muharreminin on üçüncü günü Amasya sancağı beyi oldu. Kendisi Erzurum Ordugâhı’na me’mûr olduğundan tarafından Kuloğlu Mehmed Ağa’yı Amasya mütesellîmi nasb etdi.
Saferde Serdâr İkinci Murâd Ağa’nın ref‘inden Odabaşı Taşcıoğlu Sun‘ullah Ağa Amasya yeniçerileri serdârı ve rebîülevvelde mevlevîhâne şeyhi Ahmed Dede’nin tegayyüb etmesine binâen sulehâ-yı mevleviyyeden Derviş Salih Dede Efendi Amasya Mevlevîhânesi şeyhi oldu.
Cumâdelûlâ gurresinde Amasya Kadısı Hasan Efendi ber-vech-i mevleviyyet Sivas kadısı olduğundan Kadızâde Abdülkerim Efendi Amasya kadısı ve tarafından Bayram Efendizâde el-Hâc Hızır Efendi Amasya nâibi oldu.
Cumâdelâhirede Köse Mehmed Ağa ile Sarı Süleyman Paşa’nın müsâdere ve furûhat edilen emlâk ü emvâlinde sû-i istîmâl olduğu ihbar edildiğinden Sivas Defterdârı Ebû Bekir Efendi berâ-yı tahkîkât Amasya’ya geldi. [70]
Lâkin Erzurum Kalesi Muhâfızı olan Amasyalı Hüseyin Bey’in teşebbüsâtıyla Amasya Beyi Köprülü Mehmed Bey şa’bânda azl edildiğinden Amasya sancağı mûmâ-ileyh Hüseyin Bey’e tevcîh edildi. Köprülü Mehmed Bey de mahzûnâne Köprü’ye avdet etdi. Hâlbuki Köprü Voyvodası Yûsuf Ağa’nın kerîmesiyle yeni evlenmişdi.
In Modern English
He was from Köprü. He was a son of Hüseyin Ağa the Albanian, who had settled in Köprü. On the thirteenth day of Muharrem 1044 [1634–35] he became sanjak bey of Amasya. Since he himself was assigned to the Erzurum Camp, he appointed Kuloğlu Mehmed Ağa as mütesellim (deputy) of Amasya in his place.
In Safer, with the dismissal of Serdar İkinci Murâd Ağa, Sun'ullah Ağa son of Taşcı, odabaşı (room chief), became serdar of the janissaries of Amasya. In Rebîülevvel, when Ahmed Dede, sheikh of the Mevlevi lodge, disappeared, Derviş Salih Dede Efendi, one of the pious Mevlevis, became sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge.
At the beginning of Cemâziyelevvel, since Kadı Hasan Efendi of Amasya became kadı of Sivas with the rank of mevleviyet, Abdülkerim Efendi son of Kadı became kadı of Amasya; in his name el-Hâc Hızır Efendi son of Bayram Efendi became naib (deputy judge) of Amasya.
In Cemâziyelâhire, since abuse was reported in the property and possessions of Köse Mehmed Ağa and Sarı Süleyman Pasha that had been confiscated and sold, Ebû Bekir Efendi, Defterdar of Sivas, came to Amasya for an investigation.
But through the efforts of Hüseyin Bey of Amasya, Guardian of Erzurum Fortress, Köprülü Mehmed Bey, Bey of Amasya, was dismissed in Şa'bân, so the sanjak of Amasya was given to the said Hüseyin Bey. Köprülü Mehmed Bey returned sadly to Köprü. Yet he had just married the daughter of Yûsuf Ağa, Voyvoda of Köprü.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- tavattun: settling, making a place one's homeland
- me'mûr: assigned official
- nasb: appointment
- ref': dismissal
- serdâr: head of a janissary company
- tegayyüb: disappearing, going missing
- sulehâ-yı mevleviyye: the virtuous persons of the Mevlevi order
- ber-vech-i mevleviyyet: with the rank of mevleviyet (a high judicial rank)
- sû-i istîmâl: abuse
- tahkîkât: investigation
- teşebbüsât: efforts, undertakings
- mûmâ-ileyh: the said, the aforementioned
- mahzûnâne: sadly
- voyvoda: the official responsible for the tax and administrative affairs of a town or district
Who Köprülü Mehmed Bey Was
Hüsâmeddin introduces the person as "Köprülü," but does not explicitly write that he is speaking of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, later grand vizier. According to the encyclopedia entry, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, later grand vizier, was born in the village of Rudnik in the sanjak of Berat in Albania, was recruited and trained in the Enderun, went to the town of Köprü (Vezirköprü), attached to Amasya, married Ayşe Hanım and was called Köprülü for that reason. He became Hüsrev Pasha's treasurer, briefly served as sanjak bey of Amasya after his killing, and then returned to Istanbul. Hüsâmeddin's record in the previous entry, "Köprülü Mehmed Ağa, favored from Hüsrev Pasha's treasurership," also coincides with this information. The order of events and the agreement of names suggest that the Mehmed Bey of the entry is most probably Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, later grand vizier. The Mehmed Bey, Bey of Eskişehir, in the previous entry also appears to be the same person.
The same encyclopedia entry also writes that Köprülü was later appointed to the sanjak governorship of Amasya again and, while sanjak bey of Çorum, took part in the Baghdad campaign in 1048 (1638); this second post is outside the scope of this entry.
A noteworthy difference between the book and the encyclopedia is in the marriage. The sequence in the encyclopedia entry suggests that his settling in Köprü and marrying Ayşe Hanım was before Hüsrev Pasha's grand vizierate. Hüsâmeddin, however, writes that Köprülü Mehmed Bey had "just married" in 1044 and states that the wife was the daughter of Yûsuf Ağa, Voyvoda of Köprü. The encyclopedia does not give the name of the wife's father; whether Ayşe Hanım was Yûsuf Ağa's daughter could not be determined from these sources. According to the same entry, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha had a fountain built in Vezirköprü in the name of his wife Ayşe Hanım. The name Hüsâmeddin gives for his father, "Hüseyin Ağa the Albanian," does not occur in the encyclopedia entry.
The Amasya Mevlevi Lodge
The entry also records a change of sheikh at the Amasya Mevlevi lodge: when Ahmed Dede disappeared, Derviş Salih Dede was brought in his place. According to a study written on Mevlevism in Amasya, the first Mevlevi lodge was built in 1314 by Alaeddin Ali Pervane Bey; inside the lodge, which stood east of the Saraçhane Neighborhood, there was a large room, and it is understood from the sharia court registers that Mehmed Arif Dede, Alaeddin Ali Dede, Osman Sakıb Dede, Arap Salih Dede, Ahmed Dede and Mehmed Sıdkı Dede were buried here; who else was buried besides these is not known. The names "Ahmed Dede" and "Salih Dede" in the text coincide with the names in this list; but whether the "Arap Salih Dede" in the list and the "Derviş Salih Dede" of this entry are the same person could not be determined from the sources.
The same study writes that when the lodge's structure was damaged, Sheikh Mehmed Arif Dede conveyed the situation to the former grand vizier Bayram Pasha, and that in 1637 the Pasha had water brought to Amasya and a caravanserai and a Mevlevi lodge built. This is a few years after the 1634–35 events Hüsâmeddin writes of. That Bayram Pasha set aside 70 akçe a day for the sheikh of the lodge he built is also recorded in the encyclopedia entry. Whether the Amasya Mevlevi lodge stands today is not stated in the sources at hand.
The Confiscation Investigation and the Sanjak's Changing Hands Again
The coming of the Defterdar of Sivas to Amasya for an investigation, on the claim that abuse was committed in the sale of the property of Köse Mehmed Ağa and Sarı Süleyman Pasha, is a continuation of the confiscation described in the previous entry. An academic study on Köse Mehmed Ağa's estate shows that such goods, after being counted on behalf of the state and entered in registers, were audited again by recounts. There is no information in the sources at hand on the result of the investigation in Amasya.
Köprülü Mehmed Bey's dismissal in Şa'bân is tied in the book to Hüseyin Bey's efforts. According to what Hüsâmeddin relays, Köprülü returned sadly to Köprü. Here the book's few lines of emotional detail are noteworthy: that he had married a short time before. This same Köprülü Mehmed would become grand vizier about twenty-two years later, in 1656; the encyclopedia entry gives this date as 15 September 1656.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 4, p. 560–561. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Other sources