Amasyalıdır. Öteden beri âbâ ve ecdâdı Amasya'da alaybeyi ve za'îm olan Sarı Ali Beyzâde Osmân Ağa bin Mehmed Bey'in oğludur. Sivâslı değildir. Eşkıyâya karşı yararlığı görüldüğünden mîr-i mîrânlıkla 1175 zilhiccesinin birinci günü Amasya mutasarrıfı oldu.
Sipâhîler kethüdâsı Deli Hüseyin Ağa'yı Amasya mütesellimi nasb edip eşkıyâyı ta'kîbe koyuldu.
Amasya a'yânından Hacı Efendioğlu selâm ağası Hacı Mehmed Ağa, Yeniçeri serdârı Ak Hasanoğlu Halîl Ağa, sâbıkı Semercioğlu Hüseyin Ağa da Lâdik, Akdağ, Taşyuva (Erba'a) taraflarına gidip eşkıyâyı ta'kîb etmekde idiler.
Zilhicce ibtidâlarında Şerîf Efendizâde Hacı Mustafâ Efendi nakîb oldu. Bostancıbaşı Gümüş Süleymân Ağa⁷¹⁵ da ma'zûlen Amasya'ya gönderildi.
Sultâniyye evkâfı mütevellîsi Amasyalı Hacı Ahmed Efendi vefât edip oğlu Es'ad Mehmed Efendi mütevellî oldu. [105]
1176 muharreminde Gürcüzâde Halîl Bey baş a'yân, Hacı Kadiroğlu Hacı Hâfız Mehmed Ağa hacıbaşı oldu. Bir tarafdan sâbık mutasarrıf Süleymân Paşa, diğer tarafdan lâhık mutasarrıf Mehmed Paşa eşkıyâ sergerdesini basdırıp kanlı bir muhârebeden sonra Deli Pehlivân pek çok avenesiyle tepelendi. Arta kalanı da perîşân bir hâlde Hüseyinâbâd ve Alaca taraflarına kaçdı.
Her iki mutasarrıfın şu muvaffakiyyetleri takdîr edilerek Çorum sancağına giren eşkıyâyı ta'kîb etmek üzere Mehmed Paşa Rûmeli pâyesiyle Çorum sancağına nakledildi. Süleymân Paşa'ya da yine Amasya sancağı verildi.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He was the son of Sarı Ali Beyzade Osman Ağa son of Mehmed Bey, whose forebears had long been alaybeyis and zaim (holders of large timars) in Amasya; he was not from Sivas. Since his usefulness against the bandits had been seen, he became mutasarrıf of Amasya on the first day of Zilhicce 1175 [1762] with the rank of beylerbeyi.
He appointed the sipahi kethüda Deli Hüseyin Ağa as mütesellim of Amasya and set about pursuing the bandits.
Among the notables of Amasya, the selam ağası Hacı Mehmed Ağa son of Hacı Efendi, the janissary serdar Ak Hasanoğlu Halil Ağa and the previous serdar Semercioğlu Hüseyin Ağa also went to the Lâdik, Akdağ and Taşyuva (Erbaa) districts and pursued the bandits.
At the beginning of Zilhicce Şerif Efendizade Hacı Mustafa Efendi became nakîb. The bostancıbaşı Gümüş Süleyman Ağa was also dismissed and sent to Amasya.
The steward of the sultan's waqfs (the Sultaniye waqfs), Hacı Ahmed Efendi of Amasya, died, and his son Es'ad Mehmed Efendi became steward.
In Muharrem 1176 [1762] Gürcüzade Halil Bey became chief notable and Hacı Kadiroğlu Hacı Hafız Mehmed Ağa became hacıbaşı. On one side the former mutasarrıf Süleyman Pasha, on the other the new mutasarrıf Mehmed Pasha, pressed the bandit ringleader; after a bloody battle Deli Pehlivan was killed along with very many of his men. Those who remained fled in disarray toward Hüseyinabad and Alaca.
In appreciation of the successes of both mutasarrıfs, Mehmed Pasha was transferred to the sanjak of Çorum with the rank of beylerbeyi of Rumelia, in order to pursue the bandits who had entered the sanjak of Çorum. Süleyman Pasha was again given the sanjak of Amasya.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- âbâ ve ecdâd: fathers and ancestors
- za'îm: a sipahi holding the large fief called zeamet
- selâm ağası: title of the ağas who handled the selamlık duties at the palace
- ma'zûlen: having been removed from office
- avene: henchmen, followers
- tepelemek: to kill
- pâye: a rank recognized without actually assigning the post
- lâhık: the one who comes after, the new one
Sarızade Mehmed Pasha
Mehmed Pasha, about whom Hüsameddin specifically states "he is not from Sivas", appears in the records of the period as Sarızade Mehmed Pasha. This insistence must be connected with the Pasha being called "alaybeyi of Sivas" in the records of the time and in Hüsameddin's own previous entry. According to Ahmet Önal's study on the governors of Sivas, based on the appointment registers, Sarızade Mehmed, alaybeyi of Sivas, was appointed to the sanjak of Amasya on 10 Muharrem 1176 [1 August 1762] with the rank of beylerbeyi as a reward for his "manly" services in disciplining the masterless levends. The date given by Hüsameddin, 1 Zilhicce 1175, is five or six weeks earlier; it is possible that local records preceded the appointment record in Istanbul. The chronicler Enverî also writes that he was rewarded with the rank of beylerbeyi of Rumelia because of his courage in disciplining the masterless levends while alaybeyi of Sivas; this confirms Hüsameddin's record of the "Rumelia rank".
The Pasha's later posts reveal a much more eventful career than Hüsameddin's brief account. According to the records Önal gives, someone else was appointed in his place at Amasya on 10 Şevval 1176 [24 April 1763]; after remaining without post for more than two months, the Pasha became beylerbeyi of Sivas on 18 Zilhicce 1176 [30 June 1763], was removed from Sivas in December 1763 and in April 1764 was made mutasarrıf of Çorum. According to the lists Mehmet İnbaşı published on the governors of Trabzon and Van, Sarızade Mehmed, as former governor of Şehrizor, was appointed to Trabzon on 17 Zilkade 1179 [27 April 1766] and to Van on 13 Cemaziyelahir 1180 [16 November 1766]. According to Önal, after the beylerbeyilik of Kars he was brought to Sivas a second time in April 1768, and in the autumn of 1768 exchanged posts with Gül Ahmed Paşazade Ali Pasha, mutasarrıf of İçel. In the Ottoman-Russian War of 1768-1774 he was guardian of Bender, and according to the chronicler Enverî the news of his death reached the army on 18 Safer 1183 [23 June 1769].
Gümüş Süleyman Ağa and the Gümüşoğulları
In the footnote to the entry, Hüsameddin records that Gümüş Süleyman Ağa was the ancestor of the Gümüşoğulları family in Amasya, that the family lived in the Helkis quarter, and that his son Halil Ağa became famous. In the biography volumes of the same author's work, the entry devoted to Süleyman Ağa is more detailed. There Süleyman Ağa, introduced as the son of Ebubekir, was one of the men of Grand Vizier Zanalızade Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Pasha, was taken into the Enderun, rose in the bostancı corps, and became haseki in 1165 [1752], kethüda of the bostancıs in 1171 [1758] and bostancıbaşı in 1175 [1761-62]. However, the date of his dismissal is different there: according to the biographical entry, Süleyman Ağa, because of his closeness to Amasya-born Mustafa Ağa, kethüda of Grand Vizier Bâhir Mustafa Pasha, was removed from his post upon the grand vizier's dismissal and execution in Şevval 1178 [1765], was temporarily sent to Amasya with the rank of kapıcıbaşı, and lived about two years in the Helkis Garden. In this entry, however, the dismissal and sending to Amasya are placed in Zilhicce 1175. Which record the three-year difference stems from is not clear; there may have been two separate dismissals and sendings to Amasya, or it may be a confusion of dates. The biographical entry also reports that the family was called "Gümüşoğulları" and that his grandson, the kahvecibaşı İbrahim Ağa, was alive in 1262 [1846]; Hüsameddin also specifically notes that the word "Gümüş" has nothing to do with "kömüş", meaning buffalo, but corresponds to gümüş, the name of the metal.
The present-day equivalent of the Helkis quarter could not be fully verified. The phrase "Nergis (Helkıs) Mahallesi" appears in the title of a study on Amasya's urban fabric; accordingly, it is highly probable that the old Helkis is today's Nergis quarter.
Place Names
Hüsameddin gives the equivalent of Taşyuva in parentheses as Erbaa. Hüseyinabad, to which the remnants of the bandits fled, is the old name of today's Alaca district of Çorum; local history records of Alaca also relate that in the first half of the eighteenth century forced settlement activity intensified in "Hüseyinabad (Alaca)" and its villages in order to reduce the damage of nomads and banditry incidents.
The identity of Deli Pehlivan and the origins of the banditry movement are treated in the notes to entry 50. No information was found in other sources on the other notables and officials named in the entry.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, Supplement to Volume 4, p. 658–659. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 9-12, entry "Süleyman Ağa-Gümüş, el-Hâc" (e-book), https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/9-12/files/basic-html/page305.html
Academic studies
- Ahmet Önal, "Sivas Eyaleti Valileri ve Beylerbeyileri (1753-1792)", Tarihin Peşinde, 21, 2019, http://www.tarihinpesinde.com/dergimiz/sayi21/M21_02.pdf
- Mehmet İnbaşı, "Trabzon / Batum Eyâleti Valileri (1755-1795)", Atatürk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Enstitüsü Dergisi, 31, 2006, p. 161-191.
- Mehmet İnbaşı, "Van Valileri (1755-1835)", Atatürk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Enstitüsü Dergisi, 29, 2006.
Official sources