İstanbulludur. 1105 senesi şa’bânının on sekizinci günü Amasya mutasarrıfı olup, Budin muhafazasına me’mûr olmakla dergâh-ı âlî kapıcıbaşılarından sâbık silahdâr ağası Amasyalı Kadızâde Ahmed Ağa bi’l-iltizam Amasya mütesellimi olup İstanbul’dan geldi.
Çünkü meşâhir-i eşkıyâdan Gâvur Murâd Ağa, başına topladığı levent eşkıyâsıyla Amasya, Canik ve Karahisâr-ı Şarkî sancaklarını tehdid ve halkı fevkalâde iz‘âc etmekte idi. Ahmed Ağa’nın vusûlünde vaziyeti etrafıyla Bâb-ı Âlî’ye bildirdiğinden [219] şevvâl evâilinde Çakırcıbaşı Yûsuf Ağa eşkıyâyı tenkîle me’mûren İstanbul’dan kuvve-i kâfiye ile geldi. Mütesellim Ahmed Ağa da kapısı halkıyla Yûsuf Ağa’ya yardım etmeye me’mûr oldu.
Şevvâl evâhirinde Sultân Bâyezîd Câmii kürsü şeyhi Müfessir Hızır Efendizâde İbrâhim Efendi vefât edib Uzun Müderriszâde eş-Şeyh Mahmûd Efendi kürsü şeyhi oldu.
Zilhiccede nakîb es-Seyyid Abdüllâtif Ağa’nın azline binâen selefi es-Seyyid Osmân Ağa nakîbü’l-eşrâf kâ’im-makâmı oldu. Kurban Bayramı’ndan sonra meşâhir-i ulemâdan Hızır Paşa Müderrisi Ma‘kûlzâde İbrâhim Efendi vefât edib yerine Sultân Bâyezîd kürsü şeyhi olan Mahmûd Efendi Hızır Paşa müderrisi oldu. Zilhiccenin selhinde Amasya sancağı sâbık Habeş Beylerbeyi Mehmed Paşa’ya tevcîh edildi.
In Modern English
He was from Istanbul. On the eighteenth day of the month of Şaban 1105 [1694] he became mutasarrıf (governor) of Amasya. Since he was assigned to the guardianship of Buda, Kadızâde Ahmed Ağa of Amasya, one of the kapıcıbaşıs (heads of gatekeepers) of the Sublime Porte and former chief of the silahdars, became mütesellim (deputy governor) of Amasya by tax-farm (iltizam; undertaking the sanjak's revenue for a set sum) and came from Istanbul.
At that time Gâvur Murâd Ağa, one of the well-known bandit leaders, with the levend bandits he had gathered around himself, was threatening the sanjaks of Amasya, Canik and Karahisar-ı Şarkî and oppressing the people to the extreme. As soon as he arrived, Ahmed Ağa reported the situation in full detail to the Sublime Porte. Thereupon, at the beginning of Şevval, the chief falconer (çakırcıbaşı) Yûsuf Ağa came from Istanbul with a sufficient force, charged with removing the bandits. The mütesellim Ahmed Ağa was also assigned to help Yûsuf Ağa with his household men (kapı halkı, the soldiers in his retinue).
At the end of Şevval the chair-holding sheikh (kürsü şeyhi) of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, Müfessir Hızır Efendizâde İbrâhim Efendi, died; Uzun Müderriszâde eş-Şeyh Mahmûd Efendi became chair-holding sheikh.
In the month of Zilhicce, with the dismissal of the Naqib es-Seyyid Abdüllâtif Ağa, the naqib before him, es-Seyyid Osmân Ağa, became deputy of the naqib al-ashraf. After the Feast of the Sacrifice, Ma'kûlzâde İbrâhim Efendi, one of the well-known scholars and professor of the Hızır Pasha Madrasa, died; in his place Mahmûd Efendi, who was chair-holding sheikh of Sultan Bayezid, became professor of Hızır Pasha. On the last day of Zilhicce the sanjak of Amasya was given to the former beylerbeyi of Abyssinia (Habeş), Mehmed Pasha.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- muhâfaza: the duty of guarding a fortress or a frontier city
- bi'l-iltizâm: by tax-farm, undertaking the revenue for a set sum
- meşâhir-i eşkıyâ: the well-known among the bandits
- levent: an armed band left masterless, doing paid soldiering or banditry
- iz'âc: disturbing, oppressing
- vusûl: arrival, coming
- tenkîl: removing, severe punishment
- kuvve-i kâfiye: a sufficient force
- kapı halkı: the men and soldiers in the retinue of a pasha or agha
- kürsü şeyhi: the sheikh who gives sermons and lessons from the pulpit chair in a mosque
- selh: the last day of the month
Gâvur Murâd and the Levend Bandits
At the center of the entry are Gâvur Murâd Ağa, who was oppressing the sanjaks of Amasya, Canik and Karahisar-ı Şarkî, and the levend band under him. Mücteba İlgürel's entry on the levend explains where such bodies came from: forces such as the sekban, sarıca and volunteers that viziers and beylerbeyis kept beside them were also called levend. Since these were tied to one person, with the pasha's death or dismissal they were left masterless, took the name "kapısız levent" (levend without a door), and roamed in groups of ten to fifteen, twenty to thirty persons, committing banditry. According to the entry, the levend pressure on the people in Anatolia reached its highest point in 1099 (1688); on the fatwa of the mufti of Konya a general mobilization was declared and it was announced that no account would be asked of one who killed a levend; levend inspections were carried out in Anatolia in 1688, 1689 and 1695. The immediate execution of captured levends was ordered, and galley service was given as the lightest penalty. Hüsâmeddin's account of the force coming from Istanbul in Şevval 1105 falls just before these inspections.
About Gâvur Murâd no information was found in other sources. However, a person bearing the same name appears earlier in Hüsâmeddin's own book: in a list of the notables of Amasya from earlier years the name "Gâvur Murâd Ağa, son of Murâd" appears, and among those thrown into the dungeon by the mütesellim for protesting the executions carried out in Amasya in the years of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha's grand vizierate there is also a Gâvur Murâd Ağa. Whether this person is the same as the bandit of 1694 or one of his family cannot be understood. The bandit's end is told in later entries of this volume: Yûsuf Pasha will have him caught together with three of his fierce men and executed, and will send their heads to Istanbul.
Who Çakırcıbaşı Yûsuf Ağa Is
The chief falconer Yûsuf Ağa, sent against the bandits, is Topal Yûsuf Pasha, who would hold the governorships of Raqqa, Şehrizor and Damascus in later years. According to Bekir Gökpınar's study of the pasha's estate, Yûsuf was the younger brother of Câfer Pasha, governor of Aleppo, called Büyük or Koca (the Great or the Elder) in the sources; he rose in the Enderun as far as the Privy Chamber (Has Oda) and became chief falconer on 15 May 1694. The beginning of Şevval that Hüsâmeddin gives falls only a few weeks after this date, at the end of May 1694; that is, Yûsuf Ağa was sent to Anatolia as soon as he received his new rank.
The chief falconer's post was the highest rank of the palace hunting organization. According to Abdülkadir Özcan's entry on the hunting aghas (şikâr ağaları), the chief falconer was the superior of the hunting aghas who raised the sultan's hunting birds and looked after hunt-related matters, and went out to outside service generally with the title of beylerbeyi. Yûsuf Ağa's rise within a few years, with the Rumeli rank (pâye), to the governorship of Amasya and the inspectorship of Anatolia accords with this rule.
The Question of the Guardianship of Buda
At the beginning of the entry it is said that Mehmed Pasha was assigned to the "guardianship of Buda." Yet Buda, as Orhan Kılıç's study on the pashas of Buda and Temesvár also notes, had fallen into the hands of the Holy League forces on 2 September 1686 and was not under Ottoman administration in 1694. In this respect it is clear that there is an error in the record. It comes to mind that the names Buda and Vidin, which look very alike in Ottoman script, may have been confused; but this is mere conjecture and could not be verified with a document.
Kadızâde Ahmed Ağa
Kadızâde Ahmed Ağa, who became mütesellim by tax-farm, is from the Kadızâde family that governed Amasya. According to Hüsâmeddin's records, he will become commander of the sipahis in Şaban 1106 and, in 1107, when the news of the death of Kadızâde Hüseyin Pasha, governor of Raqqa, arrives, will be made beylerbeyi of Raqqa in his place. His coming from Istanbul as a former chief of the silahdars and kapıcıbaşı shows that the family's ties with palace circles were strong. The degree of kinship between Ahmed Ağa and Hüseyin Pasha is not stated in the text.
The Hızır Pasha Madrasa
The Hızır Pasha Madrasa, whose professorship changed hands, is part of the complex that Hayreddin Hızır Pasha, brother of Yörgüç Pasha, the tutor (lala) of Murad II, had built in Amasya in 1466. The complex consisted of a mosque, a bath, a madrasa and an ablution fountain (şadırvan). Today only the mosque and the bath stand; the madrasa has not survived. The Hızır Pasha Mosque is open for worship as an example of the early Ottoman mosques with an inverted-T plan (with zaviye rooms) in Amasya.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 4, p. 616–616. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Mücteba İlgürel, "Levent", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/levent
- Abdülkadir Özcan, "Şikâr Ağaları", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/sikar-agalari
- Bekir Gökpınar, "Şam Valisi Vezir Topal Yusuf Paşa'nın Muhallefatı (1716)", SDÜ Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 56 (2022), p. 130-150. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/2364310
- Orhan Kılıç, "Budin ve Tımışvar Eyaletlerinin Paşaları: Karşılaştırmalı Bir Analiz", OTAM, 46 (2019), p. 191-229. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2160463
Official sources