Köprülüdür. 1059 senesi recebinin gurresinde Anadolu beylerbeyi olduğu halde ber-vech-i hâs Amasya sancağı mutasarrıfı olduğu Amasya Mütesellimi Sefer Ağa’ya gelen ve Amasya Sicillâtı’nda mestûr olan tezkiresinden ve fermânından anlaşıldı.⁶⁴⁹
Köprülü Mehmed Paşa, üçüncü defa Amasya mutasarrıfı olup ibtidâ Sefer Ağa’yı sonra kethüdâsı Amasyalı Beyzâde Halil Ağa’yı Amasya mütesellimi nasb etdi.
Amasya Kadısı el-Hâc İslam Efendi Zile’de ikâmet ve nâibi Hayreddînzâde Abdullah Efendi ile idâre-i kazâ ve hükûmet ediyordu. Fakat zilka’dede nâib-i mûmâileyhi azle mecbur olup ulemâdan İkincizâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ali Efendi’yi Amasya nâibi tâyin etdi.
Amasya a‘yânından esbak evkâf-ı Sultâniyye mütevellisi ve Akşehir Sancağı [107] Beyi Kazâz Ahmed Bey usât-ı ma‘rûfeden Gürcü Nebi’ye uyduğundan Akşehir’de tutulup İstanbul’da asıldı. Birâderi Sipâhi Mehmed Ağa da bunun yüzünden bî-günâh olarak boğuldu. Her ikisinin emvâli de müsâdere edildi.
Zilka’dede Köprülü Mehmed Paşa, Anadolu’dan ma‘zûlen Amasya’ya gelip Alaybeyi Hasan Bey sancağı devir ve teftişe çıktı. Paşa’nın kethüdâsı Halil Ağa, Musullu Arab Hüseyin oğlu Abdurrahman Efendi bin Ömer Çelebi mukarreblerinden idi. Bu esnada Sivas beylerbeyi diğer Köprülü Hamamcı Mehmed Paşa idi.
1060 senesi gurre-i muharreminde vazifesi başına gelmeyen Kadı el-Hâc İslâm Efendi’nin azline binâen Tokatlı Müctebâzâde Mehmed Efendi Amasya kadısı oldu. Vusûlüne kadar yine Ali Efendi niyâbette kaldı.
Bu esnada Amasya Müftüsü Hızır Efendi, Yeğen Osmân Efendizâde Mehmed Efendi, Uzun Müderris Mehmed Efendi, Yağmurzâde İsmâil Efendi, İkincizâde el-Hâc Ali Efendi, meşâhir-i fuzalâdan olup Amasya’da neşr-i ulûm etmekte idiler. Vâizlerden es-Seyyid İbrâhim Efendi Niksarlı Hüsâmeddîn Efendi, Hâbilzâde Mehmed Efendi, Arab Hüseyinoğlu Abdurrahman Efendi de pek meşhûr idiler.
Muharremin yedisinde serdâr Gözdaş Mehmed Ağa’nın ref‘inden serdengeçti ağası elli ikinin Hamza Ağa Amasya serdârı ve on dördünde Müftü Fâzıl Hızır Efendi de azledilerek Dursunzâde Mustafa Efendi Amasya müftüsü oldu. [108]
Yine bu esnada Girit Muhârebelerinde fevkalâde yararlıklar gösterip sipâhiler ağası olan Amasyalı Bâkî Paşazâde Celîb Ağa İstinye’yi fethetdiği gün şehîd oldu. Merzifon’da Câmi-i Atîk hatîbi kibâr-ı ulemâ ve şuarâdan Abdî Efendi vefâtıyla Mehmed Efendi hatîb oldu.⁶⁵⁰ Saferin on dördünde nüfûz ve şöhretiyle temâyüz eden Bağdatlıoğlu Osmân Ağa’nın azliyle Zambak Dede demekle meşhûr Çeribaşıoğlu Mehmed Çelebi şehir kethüdâsı oldu. On beşinde Kadı Mehmed Efendi’nin nâibi Ali Efendi kaldırılıp es-Seyyid Ömer Efendi Amasya nâibi ve evâhirinde Rus Rıdvan Ağa’nın ref‘inden Kadızâde Mehmed Ağa kethüdâyeri oldu.
Köprü Voyvodası Müezzinzâde el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa geçenlerde vefât eylediğinden Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’nın kaynı Hacı Yûsuf Ağazâde Mehmed Ağa Köprü voyvodası olmuşdu. Köprü a‘yânından sâbık Türkmen Ağası Abaza Hasan Ağa ile sâbık Tokat voyvodası ve Amasya beytü’l-mâl emîni Müftizâde Kıbleli Mustafa Ağa da meşhûr idiler.
Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’nın Amasya’da gösterdiği şiddet ve inzibâta karşı Amasya a‘yânından ba’zıları mu‘teriz idiler. Bunların başında Hoca Ahmed Paşa, Müftü-i ma‘zûl Hızır Efendi, Serhoş Mehmed Paşazâde Ahmed Bey, meşhûr Alevî Köylü Gazanfer Ağa vardı. Bunların muîni Sivas Beylerbeyi Hamamcı Mehmed Paşa idi.
Rebîülevvelde Alaybeyi Çavuşzâde Hasan Bey’in ref‘inden Köse [109] Mehmed Ağazâde Hüseyin Bey Amasya alaybeyi oldu. Cumâdelûlâ gurresinde nâib es-Seyyid Ömer Efendi ref‘ edilip nâib-i esbak Hayreddînzâde Abdullah Efendi Amasya nâibi oldu.
Yeni nâib olan Abdullah Efendi, Köprülü Durak Ağa’nın kerîmezâdesi ve yeni Amasya Miralayı Hüseyin Bey de Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’nın efendizâdesi idi. Receb gurresinde Zambak Dede Mehmed Çelebi de azledilip Kara Abdî Bey yine şehir kethüdâsı oldu.
Fakat Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’nın muârızları çoğaldı. Hâssaten Bağdatlıoğlu Osmân Ağa, lazım gelen yerlere ve İstanbul’da reîsü’l-küttâb olan birâderi mevkûfâtı Mehmed Efendi’ye ağır şikâyetler dermeyân ederek azline çalışıyordu.
Sivas Beylerbeyi Köprülü Hamamcı Mehmed Paşa, öteden beri Köprülü Mehmed Paşa’nın aleyhdârı olduğundan şikâyetleri Bâb-ı Âlî’ye arz etmişdi. Bu yüzden Köprülü Mehmed Paşa şa’bânda azledildi. Amasya sancağı Anadolu’dan ma‘zûl olan Vezîr Ahmed Paşa’ya hâs verildi.
In Modern English
He was from Köprü. On the first day of Recep 1059 [1649] it became known, from the tezkire and firman recorded in the Amasya registers that were sent to Sefer Ağa, Mütesellim of Amasya, that although he was beylerbeyi of Anatolia he was mutasarrıf of the sanjak of Amasya as has.
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha became mutasarrıf of Amasya for the third time; he first appointed Sefer Ağa and then his kethüda Halil Ağa Beyzâde of Amasya as mütesellim (deputy) of Amasya.
Kadı el-Hâc İslam Efendi of Amasya was living in Zile and conducted the judicial and administrative affairs of the district through his naib (deputy) Hayreddînzâde Abdullah Efendi. But in Zilkade he was obliged to dismiss the said naib and appointed İkincizâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ali Efendi, one of the ulema, as naib of Amasya.
Kazâz Ahmed Bey, one of the notables of Amasya, former mütevelli of the Sultan waqfs and sanjak bey of Akşehir, because he followed Gürcü Nebi, one of the well-known rebels, was caught in Akşehir and hanged in Istanbul. His brother Sipahi Mehmed Ağa was strangled on this account, though innocent. The goods of both were confiscated.
In Zilkade Köprülü Mehmed Pasha came to Amasya, dismissed from the beylerbeyiship of Anatolia; Alaybeyi Hasan Bey set out to tour and inspect the sanjak. The pasha's kethüda Halil Ağa was one of the relatives of Abdurrahman Efendi son of Ömer Çelebi, son of Arab Hüseyin of Mosul. At this time the beylerbeyi of Sivas was Hamamcı Mehmed Pasha, the other Köprülü.
On the first day of Muharrem 1060 [1650], on the dismissal of Kadı el-Hâc İslam Efendi, who did not come to his post, Müctebâzâde Mehmed Efendi of Tokat became kadı of Amasya. Until he came, Ali Efendi again remained in the naibship.
At this time Mufti Hızır Efendi of Amasya, Yeğen Osman Efendizâde Mehmed Efendi, Uzun Müderris Mehmed Efendi, Yağmurzâde İsmâil Efendi and İkincizâde el-Hâc Ali Efendi, being among the famous scholars, were spreading learning in Amasya. Among the preachers es-Seyyid İbrâhim Efendi, Hüsâmeddîn Efendi of Niksar, Hâbilzâde Mehmed Efendi and Abdurrahman Efendi son of Arab Hüseyin were also very famous.
On the seventh of Muharrem, with the dismissal of the serdar Gözdaş Mehmed Ağa, Hamza Ağa, serdengeçti ağa from the Fifty-Second Company, became serdar of Amasya; on the fourteenth the famous scholar Mufti Hızır Efendi was also dismissed and Dursunzâde Mustafa Efendi became mufti of Amasya.
Also at this time, Celîb Ağa, Bâkî Paşazâde of Amasya, who by extraordinary services in the Cretan wars had become sipahiler ağası, fell as a martyr on the day he conquered İstinye. With the death of Abdî Efendi, preacher of the Câmi-i Atîk in Merzifon, one of the great scholars and poets, Mehmed Efendi became preacher. On the fourteenth of Safer, with the dismissal of Bağdatlıoğlu Osman Ağa, who stood out for his influence and fame, Çeribaşıoğlu Mehmed Çelebi, known as "Zambak Dede" (Lily Dede), became city kethüda. On the fifteenth the naib of Kadı Mehmed Efendi, Ali Efendi, was dismissed and es-Seyyid Ömer Efendi became naib of Amasya; at the end of the month, with the dismissal of Rus Rıdvan Ağa, Kadızâde Mehmed Ağa became kethüdâyeri.
Since Müezzinzâde el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa, Voyvoda of Köprü, had died some time before, Mehmed Ağa, son of Hacı Yûsuf Ağa, the brother-in-law of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, had become voyvoda of Köprü. Abaza Hasan Ağa, one of the notables of Köprü and former Türkmen Ağası, and Müftizâde Kıbleli Mustafa Ağa, former voyvoda of Tokat and beytülmal emini of Amasya, were also famous persons.
Some of the notables of Amasya objected to the severity and discipline that Köprülü Mehmed Pasha showed in Amasya. At their head were Hoca Ahmed Pasha, the dismissed mufti Hızır Efendi, Ahmed Bey, Serhoş Mehmed Paşazâde, and the famous Gazanfer Ağa of the village of Alevî. Their backer was Hamamcı Mehmed Pasha, Beylerbeyi of Sivas.
In Rebîülevvel, with the dismissal of Alaybeyi Çavuşzâde Hasan Bey, Hüseyin Bey, son of Köse Mehmed Ağa, became alaybeyi of Amasya. On the first day of Cemaziyelevvel the naib es-Seyyid Ömer Efendi was dismissed, and the former naib Hayreddînzâde Abdullah Efendi became naib of Amasya.
The new naib Abdullah Efendi was the daughter's son of Köprülü Durak Ağa; the new miralay of Amasya, Hüseyin Bey, was the son of the master of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. On the first day of Recep Zambak Dede Mehmed Çelebi too was dismissed and Kara Abdî Bey again became city kethüda.
But Köprülü Mehmed Pasha's opponents increased. In particular Bağdatlıoğlu Osman Ağa was working for his dismissal by sending heavy complaints to the proper quarters and to his brother Mevkûfâtî Mehmed Efendi, who was reisülküttap in Istanbul.
Since Köprülü Hamamcı Mehmed Pasha, Beylerbeyi of Sivas, had long been against Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, he had reported the complaints to the Sublime Porte. For this reason Köprülü Mehmed Pasha was dismissed in Şaban. The sanjak of Amasya was given as has to Vizier Ahmed Pasha, who had been dismissed from the beylerbeyiship of Anatolia.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ber-vech-i hâs: as has, in the form of a personal dirlik
- tezkire: official letter, notification
- mestûr: written, recorded
- mûmâileyh: the said, the aforementioned
- usât-ı ma'rûfe: well-known rebels
- bî-günâh: innocent
- devr ve teftiş: touring and inspecting
- mukarreb: close, favoured
- niyâbet: the office of naib, deputyship
- neşr-i ulûm: spreading learning, teaching
- serdengeçti: a janissary unit that volunteered for dangerous missions
- elli ikinin: registered in the fifty-second company
- voyvoda: the official who collects the taxes of a place and looks after its public order
- beytü'l-mâl emîni: the official who collects ownerless inheritances on behalf of the state
- inzibât: discipline, order
- mu'teriz: one who objects
- Alevî: in the text most probably meaning a descendant of Ali, a sayyid
- muîn: helper, backer
- kerîmezâde: a daughter's son, grandson
- efendizâde: the son of someone's master or patron
- aleyhdâr: opponent, in opposition
A Document and Its Loss
Hüsameddin learned that Köprülü Mehmed Pasha had been appointed to Amasya as has from a tezkire and a firman recorded in the Amasya registers. In the footnote he says he noted the exact copies of these two documents, but that his notes burned in the Taş Musluk fire; the signature under the tezkire was "Mîrimîrân Anadolu Köprülü Mehmed". No information was found in other sources about this fire. Turgut Akpınar's entry notes that Hüsameddin searched out and found primary sources, such as court registers, waqf deeds, inscriptions and gravestones, in many cities from Istanbul to the Hejaz, and that his works owe their value to these sources. That the changes of kadı, naib and kethüda in this entry can be given day by day is also a product of this register work.
The importance of the document comes from the scarcity of records for this period of Köprülü's life. Christopher Whitehead writes that when the Ottoman archive's provincial appointment registers and rüus registers are set side by side, Köprülü's provincial posts can be reconstructed almost completely, but a gap remains between 1647 and 1650. The 1059 record that Hüsameddin transmits from the Amasya registers falls exactly into this gap. In the same study Whitehead uses Hüsameddin carefully but does not always trust him: he rejects Hüsameddin's claim that Köprülü was sanjak bey of Amasya in 1044 [1634] by showing that there is no trace of Köprülü in the Amasya register of that period. For this reason it is all the more valuable that the 1059 record rests on a document that Hüsameddin says he saw himself in the register.
Kazâz Ahmed and Gürcü Nebi
The entry relates that Kazâz Ahmed Bey of Amasya, because he followed Gürcü Nebi, was caught in Akşehir and hanged in Istanbul. This record agrees remarkably with present-day knowledge of the Celâlî movement. According to Mücteba İlgürel's entry, beside Gürcü Abdünnebî, who rose to claim the blood of the sipahis killed in the Sultan Ahmed Incident (10 Şevval 1058 / 28 October 1648), were Katırcıoğlu and another Celâlî chief named "Kazzâz Ahmed". To suppress the rebellion gently the government had offered Gürcü Abdünnebî the Türkmen ağalığı, and Katırcıoğlu and Kazzâz Ahmed a sanjak each. After the defeat of 26 Cemâziyelâhir 1059 [7 July 1649] the Celâlî leaders dispersed; Gürcü Abdünnebî withdrew to Niğde, Katırcıoğlu to Söğüt and Kazzâz Ahmed to Akşehir. Gürcü Abdünnebî was later caught and executed at Parmakkapı in Istanbul.
Hüsameddin's record is the face of this picture as seen from Amasya. That Kazâz Ahmed is called "sanjak bey of Akşehir" suggests that the sanjak the government offered was really given to him, and that the place where he was caught was Akşehir, where he had withdrawn. That Hüsameddin presents him as one of the notables of Amasya and former mütevelli of the Sultan Bayezid waqfs is information on the origin of this Celâlî chief not found in other sources. The detail that his brother Sipahi Mehmed Ağa was strangled though innocent is likewise found only in Hüsameddin.
Köprülü's Circle in Amasya
In the entry Köprülü's network of kinship and patronage is plainly visible. It is known that Köprülü married and settled in Köprü and took his epithet from there; Whitehead also shows that in a survey of 1643 Köprülü's household is recorded in the inner fortress of the town of Köprü. That his brother-in-law Hacı Yûsuf Ağazâde Mehmed Ağa became voyvoda of Köprü, that the naib Abdullah Efendi was the grandson of a Köprülü family, and that the new alaybeyi was the son of Köprülü's former master shows that Köprülü installed his own men in the sanjak. Hüsameddin writes that opponents multiplied for this reason.
The "former Türkmen Ağası Abaza Hasan Ağa" mentioned among the notables of Köprü is Abaza Hasan Pasha, who in later years would raise a great rebellion against Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. Whitehead specifically notes that Hüsameddin knew Abaza Hasan's tie to Köprü and calls him "Köprülü Abaza Hasan" in his book; he himself has found in an archival record that Abaza Hasan is called "of Amasya". According to Halil İnalcık's entry, Abaza Hasan Ağa, while mütesellim of Hamîd-ili at the end of the Haydaroğlu rebellion, had caught this Celâlî chief near Isparta. The granting of the Türkmen ağalığı to him is related in the İpşir Mustafa Pasha entry among the events after 1650; Hüsameddin's calling him "former Türkmen ağası" in 1060 points either to an earlier post or to a later title carried back.
Hamamcı Mehmed Pasha, Beylerbeyi of Sivas, who backed Köprülü's opponents in Amasya, appears in Hüsameddin's earlier entries as Köprülü Hamamcı Mehmed Ağa: he was agha of the janissaries in 1057 and beylerbeyi of Erzurum at the beginning of 1058. No separate information on him was found in other sources. Whitehead writes that Evliya Çelebi mentions a village near Köprü belonging to "Hamamcıoğlu", and that this name belongs to the person who was Abaza Hasan's son-in-law and kethüda; whether this person had any tie to Hamamcı Mehmed Pasha could not be determined.
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha's dismissal in Şaban fits his up-and-down career in these years. According to the Köprülü Mehmed Pasha entry, after the Varvar Ali Pasha affair he was sent against Katırcıoğlu and then spent some time in the town of Köprü. These years are described in some sources as a period without office; Whitehead, however, has shown from archival records that Köprülü became governor of Karaman in 1653.
The Old Mosque in Merzifon and Other Names
Hüsameddin notes in a footnote that Abdî Efendi, preacher of the Câmi-i Atîk in Merzifon, was the great ancestor of the Âkifzâdes in Amasya. Câmi-i Atîk means "old mosque". The old Great Mosque of Merzifon stood at the head of Eskicami Street in the present-day Yokuşbaşı area; it was built by the Anatolian Seljuk statesman Muînüddin Süleyman Pervâne, and its inscription bore the date 663 [1264-65]. The mosque, which disappeared in the great fire of the early twentieth century (the date of the fire is given as 1902 in some sources and 1904 in others), was rebuilt by the General Directorate of Foundations using old photographs and opened for worship on 12 October 2018. That Hüsameddin's Câmi-i Atîk and this Great Mosque are the same building is an inference based on the similarity of name and place.
Celîb Ağa, Bâkî Paşazâde, appears to be the same as the man Hüsameddin calls "Habîb Ağa" in 4-43 and 4-45, who won fame by taking a fortress in Crete and became sipahiler ağası; it is likely that there is an error of writing or reading in one of the names. The Cretan counterpart of the "İstinye" where he fell as a martyr could not be determined. No information was found in other sources on the muftis, preachers, kadıs and naibs of Amasya, or on Bağdatlıoğlu Osman Ağa, his brother the reisülküttap Mevkûfâtî Mehmed Efendi, Zambak Dede, Kıbleli Mustafa Ağa and Gazanfer Ağa of the village.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Academic studies
- Christopher Whitehead, "The Early Career of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha: An Archival Reconstruction", Review of Middle East Studies, 57/1 (2024), Cambridge University Press.
- Mücteba İlgürel, "Köprülü Mehmed Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/koprulu-mehmed-pasa
- Mücteba İlgürel, "Katırcıoğlu Mehmed Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/katircioglu-mehmed-pasa
- M. Münir Aktepe, "İpşir Mustafa Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 2000. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ipsir-mustafa-pasa
- Halil İnalcık, "Haydaroğlu Mehmed", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/haydaroglu-mehmed
- Turgut Akpınar, "Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/huseyin-husameddin-yasar
Official sources