Mikdâd Ahmed Pasha (Second Term)

In Modern English

He was of the Canikli family. At the beginning of Şaban 1195 [July 1781] he became mutasarrıf of Amasya for the second time; Abdullah Efendi was again left in the mütesellimlik.

Gürcüzade Halil Pasha, one of Mikdad Pasha's opponents, had just come from Maraş when, because complaints had been arranged against him by Mikdad Pasha, he was ordered to live in Kütahya. From there he fled to Erzurum and took refuge with the governor Yazıcızade Mustafa Pasha. Çomuluoğlu Hacı Ali Pasha and Avkatlıoğlu Mustafa Pasha also went to Hacı Mustafa Bey, bey of Bozok. Müjdecioğlu and the Göztaşoğulları also came there.

In the first days of Şevval, when the mütesellim of Amasya Abdullah Efendi was pardoned and went to Istanbul, Müjdecioğlu Hacı Abdülkadir Ağa became mütesellim of Amasya, and Göztaşoğlu Hacı Mustafa Ağa the deputy conducting Mikdad Pasha's affairs. In Zilhicce Ali Efendi came as steward of the sultan's waqfs.

In Muharrem 1196 [December 1781] the mutasarrıf Mikdad Ahmed Pasha came and settled in Amasya. Göztaşoğlu Hacı Mustafa Ağa became chief notable, and his brother Hacı Ebubekir Ağa hacıbaşı. At the end of this month Hacı Efendizade Hacı Ahmed Ağa, one of the leading notables, died.

At the beginning of Safer, since the sanjak of Çorum was also given to Mikdad Pasha, his area of administration expanded. Since the sanjak of Canik was already in his hands, Amasya became the center of a province made up of three sanjaks. The notable Hacı Yusuf Ağa became mütesellim of Amasya, and Cebecioğlu Hacı İbrahim Efendi nakib.

But because the city kethüda Zeyneloğlu Hafız Ali Efendi had offended Mikdad Pasha, he was dismissed in the middle of Rebiülevvel and exiled to Konya; Saatçioğlu Hacı Salih Efendi became city kethüda. On the evening of the eighteenth day of Ramazan, Emir İmamoğlu Hacı Halil Efendi, müderris of the Bekir Pasha Madrasa and first imam of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, who had been invited to iftar at the mansion of the chief notable at Köprübaşı, was, while going home after the tarawih prayer, shot dead in front of the Greek church by someone whose identity was not known.

Hacı Halil Efendi was one of those who objected to the chief notable's actions, a learned and truthful man who did not spare his words, so the chief notable was wary of him and outwardly behaved as his friend. The people regarded the murder of the deceased as the work of Mikdad Pasha and the chief notable. The murderer, who occupied for days persons such as the kadı Nuh Efendi, the mütesellim Hacı Yusuf Ağa, the nakib Hacı İbrahim Efendi and the alaybeyi Ahmed Bey, could not be found at all.

Since the nakib Hacı İbrahim Efendi insistently demanded that the murderer be found without fail, he was dismissed; Hacı Osman Ağa, one of the sayyids, became nakib. The kadı too attached great importance to the murderer being found.

The sons of the slain Hacı Halil Efendi, Sadullah, Mehmed Emin, Ahmed and İsmail Efendis, were complaining and crying out to the Imperial Council through Abdülgani Paşazade Süleyman Feyzi Bey, the son of their uncle in Istanbul and one of the senior clerks of the sadaret mektubi office.

At the beginning of Zilkade the kadı was dismissed. Although Çavuşoğlu Mehmed Emin Efendi became kadı of Amasya, he did not come himself; Şamlızade Ali Efendi came in his name as naib. At this time Dayıoğlu Süleyman Ağa of Amasya, who had been dismissed from the janissary ağalık, became guardian of Khotyn with the rank of beylerbeyi of Rumelia.

Also at this time Haseki Mehmed Ağa, voivode of Gümüş and emin of the mines, on a secret order he had received from Mikdad Pasha, found a pretext, hanged and killed the notable of Gümüş Hacı Ebubekir Ağa and burned his house. Thereupon the heirs of Ebubekir Ağa complained in Istanbul and applied to the kadı of Istanbul, Gümüşlü Müftüzade Ahmed Efendi.

At the beginning of Zilhicce Hacı Yusuf Ağa, who had become the talk of the people because the murderer could not be found, was dismissed; Müjdecioğlu Hacı Abdülkadir Ağa became mütesellim of Amasya, and the notable Köseoğlu Yakub Ağa steward of the sultan's waqfs. The notable Avkatlıoğlu Hacı İbrahim Ağa son of Mehmed Ağa died this year.

At the beginning of Muharrem 1197 [December 1782] Mikdad Pasha went to Samsun. Bekir Beyzade Hacı Abdullah Bey, one of his opponents and of the kapıcıbaşıs, became chief notable by imperial decree, and Göztaşoğlu Hacı Mustafa Ağa of the Köprübaşı quarter became hacıbaşı. A harsh decree came ordering that the murderer Haseki Mehmed Ağa be tried in custody and that the murderer of Hacı Halil Efendi be found by whatever means. The turnacıbaşı Kulçakzade Mustafa Ağa also became serdar.

At this time Ocak İmamızade Mustafa Efendi of Amasya, who had been dismissed from the sadaret kethüdalık, became governor of Erzurum with the vizierate. Çorumluoğlu Hacı Ali Efendi became city kethüda, and in Safer Fethullahoğlu Abdullah Bey alaybeyi.

In Rebiülevvel the murderer of Hacı Halil Efendi was found and the investigation began. It was understood that the murderer was a man of Göztaşoğlu Hacı Mustafa Ağa, that Mustafa Ağa had dismissed him from his service before the incident, and that the murderer had also stayed a few days at the house of his brother Ebubekir Ağa. At this time Müderriszade Abdurrahim Efendi son of Şeyh Ahmed Efendi, one of the ulema, died.

In Rebiülahir Saatçioğlu Salih Efendi again became city kethüda. In Cemaziyelahir, since it was established that Haseki Mehmed had deliberately hanged and killed Hacı Ebubekir Ağa, a ruling of kısas was given. By the decree issued in Şaban he was executed as kısas in the town of Gümüş.

On the first day of Ramazan Kara Müftü İsmail Efendi was dismissed, and Arabacıoğlu Hacı Hüseyin Efendi again became mufti of Amasya. In the appointment register of the month of Şevval it was seen recorded that "the province of Kars, with the sanjak of İçil also remaining in his hands, was added and given to İbeklizade Mustafa Pasha, of the beylerbeyis".

In the middle of Şevval, to count the janissaries in Amasya, Aydınlı Mehmed Ağa, one of the çavuşes of the imperial threshold, and Bağdatlı Ali Ağa, orta yazıcısı from the corps, came to Amasya. The examination established that there were 380 janissaries in Amasya.

On the twenty-seventh of Zilhicce the hasekibaşı Hacı İbrahim Efendi came from Istanbul as steward of the sultan's waqfs. This year the former city kethüda Zeyneloğlu Hacı Ali Efendi died in Konya.

At the beginning of Muharrem 1198 [November 1783] Hacı Yusuf Ağa became mütesellim, Yenicelioğlu Hacı Ahmed Ağa, one of the kapıcıbaşıs, chief notable, and Türedioğlu Hacı Ali Ağa hacıbaşı. Then the mufti efendi was dismissed and his predecessor Kara Müftü İsmail Efendi became mufti of Amasya. The members of the notables' council changed; the Göztaşoğulları, acquitted of the matter of the murder of Hacı Halil Efendi, became members of the council.

At the beginning of Receb Mehmed Şakir Efendi of Kastamonu became kadı of Amasya for the second time, and Şamizade Ali Efendi naib in his name. In the first days of Receb Şahinoğlu Osman Paşazade Mustafa Bey, one of the notables, became guardian of Faş and mutasarrıf of the sanjak of Gönye with the rank of beylerbeyi.

On the Night of Berat, when Kara Müftü Hacı İsmail Hatif Efendi, müderris of the Sunkurlu Madrasa, died, Fenercioğlu Hacı Halil Keşfi Efendi, one of the great scholars, became mufti of Amasya, and Kara Müftüzade Hacı Ahmed Efendi müderris of Sunkurlu. Among the people the new mufti was called "Evliya Halil Efendi".

In the first days of Şevval Bekir Beyzade Hacı Abdullah Bey, one of the leading men of Amasya, had become mütesellim of Amasya under the people's pressure.

But since he could not endure Mikdad Pasha's orders and unseemly conduct, he resigned at the end of Zilhicce and became kethüda of Mustafa Pasha of Amasya.

At the beginning of Muharrem 1199 [November 1784] the notable Hacı Yusuf Ağa became mütesellim of Amasya, Türedioğlu Hacı Ali Ağa chief notable, and Kesdekoğlu Ahmed Bey alaybeyi.

On the sixteenth day of Muharrem Cezayirli Ali Ağa, oda lalası in the Enderun, came to Amasya as steward of the sultan's waqfs and in the capacity of an exile. In Safer Menzilcioğlu Hacı Ali Efendi became city kethüda. In Rebiülahir Hafız Mehmed Efendi son of Abdülbaki, one of the ulema, was appointed the first müderris to the madrasa that Hacı Mustafa Ağa, one of the notables of Ziyare, had built at Ziyare.

In Cemaziyelevvel Ebubekir Efendi of Gümüşhane, müderris of the Yakub Pasha Madrasa and preacher of the Sultaniye, went to Kastamonu; in his place İkincizade Mehmed Efendi, one of the virtuous scholars, became müderris and preacher. In Cemaziyelahir Köse Mehmedoğlu Hacı Ömer Ağa, one of the elders of the sayyids, became deputy nakib.

In Şaban, when Canikli Hacı Ali Pasha, governor of Trabzon, died, the province of Sivas was given to his son Mikdad Ahmed Pasha. In Ramazan Gümüşlü Müftüzade Ahmed Efendi became kazasker of Anatolia. This year Müftü Çelebizade Hacı Abdullah Efendi, mufti of Köprü, and Makulzade Hacı İbrahim Efendi, mufti of Merzifon, died.

In Muharrem 1200 [November 1785] Göztaşoğlu Hacı Mustafa Ağa became chief notable, and his brother Hacı Ebubekir Ağa hacıbaşı. In Safer Köprülü Hacı Ali Paşazade Mehmed Emin Bey, who had taken refuge with Mikdad Pasha, became voivode of Köprü and alaybeyi of Amasya. At this time Genç Alizade Ahmed Ağa of Amasya had become bostancıbaşı.

In Rebiülevvel, when the people of Sivas and Amasya bitterly complained about Mikdad Pasha, the Pasha was removed from Sivas and sent to the governorship of Konya, but Amasya remained in his hands. On the thirteenth day of Rebiülahir [13 February 1786] Gümüşlü Müftüzade Ahmed Efendi became şeyhülislam. In Receb Hacı Receb Efendi came as kadı of Amasya.

In Ramazan Cebecizade Osman Pasha of Amasya became guardian of Khotyn and was then given the vizierate. In the Şevval appointments, at Mikdad Pasha's request, the governorship of Sivas was again left to him and the complaints came to nothing. In the same Şevval Lâdikli Ahmed Ağa became the sultan's silahdar.

In Zilkade Emir Hacıoğlu Hacı Hüseyin Efendi son of Hacı Mustafa Ağa became nakib. Kölüklüoğlu Hacı Ömer Efendi and Nahivci Hoca Musa Efendi, among the virtuous scholars, died. Musa Efendi had had two fountains built in the Çevikçe quarter and endowed his properties to them; his son Hafız Mehmed Efendi became steward.

At the beginning of Muharrem 1201 [October 1786] Müjdecioğlu Hacı Abdülkadir Ağa became mütesellim of Amasya, and the Göztaşoğulları took the chief notableship and the hacıbaşılık. Since Hacı Mustafa Ağa was at the same time kethüda of Mikdad Pasha, all affairs ran according to Hacı Ağa's view.

At this time a matter of a bride arose and much gossip was made. In Mikdad Pasha's conduct things began to be seen that befitted neither the vizierate nor human dignity. For this reason bloody events were experienced.

Mikdad Pasha, sensing a change in the attitude of the notables and the janissaries, left the sanjak of Amasya to the administration of his son Hasan Bey and went in pursuit of the bandits who had sprung up against him. Hasan Bey became mütesellim of Amasya; he was only twelve years old. Göztaşoğlu Hacı Mustafa Ağa was his lala and the manager of his affairs.

The Püsküllüoğulları who appeared in the direction of Mecidözü were a band of bandits born and sprung from the tyranny and pressure of Mikdad Pasha and his men. Under the leadership of a wretch named Gavur Ali they had had the roads cut on the west and south sides of Amasya.

In Cemaziyelahir Evliya Halil Efendi, mufti of Amasya and müderris of the Osman Çelebi Madrasa, left the müderrisship to his son-in-law Soruklu Hafız Ali Efendi son of Ahmed, one of the famous scholars. In Şevval Yenicelizade Hafız Ahmed Efendi of Amasya became Tophane nazırı. Müftüzade Osman Efendi, imam of the Üçler Mosque, one of the scholars, died, and his son Mehmed Halis Efendi became imam in his place.

In Rebiülevvel 1202 the mütesellim Hasan Bey, in order to acquire property that would bring him income, tried to seize by force the waqf shops around the Saraçhane Mosque and make them his property, to take their rents in advance and to evict the occupants in order to hand the shops over to new tenants.

For his father Mikdad Pasha too had seized by force the waqf blacksmith shops around the Atabek Madrasa and made them an income property for himself, silencing the objectors and the shop owners. At the head of the objectors was Ürgüplü Hacı Ahmed Efendi.

This person now showed still greater civic courage and stood against Hasan Bey and Hacı Ağa. The janissary standard-bearers, who had interests in these shops, which were the waqf of Hacı Şadgeldi Pasha and set aside for the expenses of the Saraçhane Mosque, also helped Hacı Ahmed Efendi. Although the matter grew, it was suppressed by force.

In Rebiülahir Nüzhet Ahmed Efendizade Esad Mehmed Efendi of Amasya, the palace's writing teacher, famous calligrapher and one of the sultan's çavuşes, was sent to Merzifon as steward of the Çelebi Sultan Waqf. The hasekibaşı Hacı Ali Efendi also came to Amasya as steward of the sultan's waqfs.

At the beginning of Cemaziyelevvel Abdurrahman Efendi came as kadı of Amasya. It is astonishing that Mikdad Pasha was attacked by a band of bandits and his retinue was scattered. He barely saved his own life and fled to Amasya. Against a band he had brought both the glory of the vizierate and his own honor to the ground. The Püsküllüoğulları also grew strong.

Abdülhamid I, learning from the complainants who ran to Istanbul from every side to present this situation too of Amasya's ruined state and of Mikdad Pasha's tyrannies and evils, in the first days of Şaban [May 1788] abolished Mikdad Ahmed Pasha's vizierate and exiled him to Dimetoka.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• mutasarrıf: administrator of a sanjak
• mütesellim: the deputy who conducted affairs in place of the sanjak administrator
• ibkâ edilmek: to be left in office
• a'yân, baş a'yân: the notables of the city; the head of these
• hacıbaşı: the leading figure who came after the chief notable in the notables' council
• nakîb: the representative who looked after the affairs of the sayyids and sharifs
• evkâf-ı sultâniyye mütevellîsi: administrator of the sultan's waqfs
• nefy: exile
• şahs-ı mechûl: a person whose identity is not known
• natûk: one who does not spare his words, who speaks well
• salben i'dâm: killing by hanging
• ihrâk: burning
• kısâs i'lâmı: the ruling to punish with the same penalty
• tevcîhât defteri: the register in which the annual appointments are written
• ilhâkan: in addition, by being joined
• mîr-i mîrân: the rank of beylerbeyi
• dehâlet: taking refuge
• akâr: property that yields rent
• cesâret-i medeniyye: the courage to speak out openly against injustice
• ref' ve def': removing from office and driving away

Caniklizade Mikdad Ahmed Pasha

Mikdad Ahmed Pasha, whom Hüsameddin describes in harsh terms, is the younger son of the family of Canikli Hacı Ali Pasha, which had wielded force for generations in Samsun and its surroundings. According to Özcan Mert's research, his father, taking advantage of the state's need for him during the seraskerlik of Crimea, had had major posts obtained for the family's members, and in 1778 the governorship of Sivas had been given with the vizierate to Mikdad Ahmed Bey, then only eighteen. The Pasha's relationship with Amasya began in these first governorship years and was problematic from the start: the notables of Amasya, unable to bear his pressure, took refuge in late 1778 with Çapanoğlu Mustafa Bey, mutasarrıf of Bozok, and the Sublime Porte in early 1779 removed the Pasha from Sivas, sent him to Trabzon and ordered him to return to their owners the property he had unjustly seized. Then Mikdad Ahmed, who entered an armed clash with Çapanoğlu, was defeated, Amasya passed into Çapanoğlu's hands, and while his father and elder brother Battal Hüseyin fled to Crimea he himself was taken into custody at Bursa.

Hüsameddin's opening the entry with "became mutasarrıf of Amasya for the second time" gains meaning from this background. The Canikli were pardoned in September 1781, and Mikdad Ahmed Pasha was given the sanjak of Amasya as an arpalık together with the governorship of Erzurum. When the text recounts that the opponents went to "Hacı Mustafa Bey, bey of Bozok", the person meant is Çapanoğlu Hacı Mustafa Bey, the Canikli's most powerful rival. According to the sources, Canikli Hacı Ali Pasha had this rival killed in April 1782 by the hands of some of his slaves. Thus the door on which the Amasyan opponents relied also closed quickly; the heavy administration Hüsameddin recounts in the following pages was established in this vacuum.

The sequence of appointments Mert gives largely coincides with Hüsameddin's record. The Pasha was brought to the mutasarrıflık of Çorum in August 1782, to the governorship of Konya in December of the same year, appointed to Trabzon in 1784 and to Sivas in June 1785. Hüsameddin says that Çorum was given to the Pasha in Safer 1196 [January 1782], which is a few months before Mert's date. There is also a small difference over the death of his father: Hüsameddin shows Hacı Ali Pasha as "governor of Trabzon" dying in Şaban 1199 [June 1785], whereas Mert writes that he died at his last post, Erzurum, in mid-1785. That the Pasha was removed from Sivas upon complaints and then returned there is in both accounts; Mert also counts the governorship of Diyarbekir in between.

The Pasha's Dismissal and End

Hüsameddin writes that in Şaban 1202 [May 1788] Abdülhamid I abolished the Pasha's vizierate and exiled him to Dimetoka. The other sources draw a more complicated path at this point. According to Mert, Mikdad Ahmed Pasha was brought in 1787 to the governorships of Aleppo and then Diyarbekir and to the command of Moldavia, was removed upon failing in the wars around Iași, and in 1790, when he did not show the desired success in driving soldiers either, was sent to Plovdiv. The Dış Ruznâme, the palace diary of Selim III's reign published by İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı, makes an extremely harsh note on the Pasha: during the war he was with Şahbaz Giray, had money collected from the people, asked for daughters from the leading families of Iași, fled when the Austrians raided, and was reprimanded by Grand Vizier Yusuf Pasha. His vizierate was abolished once; at Selim III's accession, at the request of Şah Sultan, his horsetails were returned and he was appointed to Salonica, where, as he tyrannized still more, his vizierate was abolished again and he was at Dimetoka.

This information suggests that Hüsameddin recounts two separate dismissals as a single event. On the other hand, on the Pasha's last stop Hüsameddin appears right: the Ruznâme records that the Pasha's severed head was brought from Dimetoka on the thirtieth of Cemaziyelevvel 1206 [January 1792] and placed before the Bâb-ı Hümâyun. Mert's phrase "in exile at Plovdiv" does not fully agree with this record. Mert also reports that the Pasha's head was buried at Karacaahmet and that his son Hasan was sent to Seddülbahir; Hüsameddin recounts the same exile in entry 73.

Gümüşlü Müftüzade Ahmed Efendi

The career of Müftüzade Ahmed Efendi, whom Hüsameddin calls "Gümüşlü", agrees with the dates given in the biography by Mehmet İpşirli: he became kadı of Istanbul in 1782, kazasker of Anatolia in 1785, and şeyhülislam on 10 February 1786. The date Hüsameddin gives as the thirteenth of Rebiülahir 1200 falls a few days later in the Gregorian calendar. İpşirli writes that in 1787 Ahmed Efendi was among those who persuaded Abdülhamid I to declare war on Russia, that when Austria entered the war he became anxious and asked for his dismissal, and that he died on 10 November 1791 and was buried at Havuzdibi in Üsküdar. At one point the two accounts diverge: İpşirli says that the nickname Müftüzade came from his father's being mufti of Gallipoli. Hüsameddin's nisba "Gümüşlü" connects him with the town of Gümüş attached to Amasya; this difference could not be resolved with the sources.

İbeklizade Mustafa Pasha and Anapa

In a footnote Hüsameddin states that İbeklizade Mustafa Pasha was the son of İbekli Ömer Ağa from the village of İbek in Amasya, that writing his name as "İpeklizade" is wrong, and adds that his son Numan Bey was known in Amasya. This warning is interesting, because the Ottoman pasha who defended the Anapa fortress, which fell to the Russians in 1791, together with the Circassian leader Imam Mansur appears in some sources as "İpeklizade Köse Mustafa Pasha". Mustafa Özsaray relays that Köse Mustafa Pasha, governor of Trabzon, was sent to Anapa in 1202 [1787] with a thousand soldiers, while the Circassian delegation saw only a few hundred soldiers with the Pasha. In Mehmet İnbaşı's list of governors too there is the vizier Mustafa Pasha, "former governor of Aleppo and commander of Soğucak", appointed to Trabzon on 23 September 1787. It is highly probable that the Mustafa Pasha in these records is Hüsameddin's İbeklizade, but the sources at hand are not enough to say so with certainty.

Other Details of the Text

No information was found in other sources on the murder of Hacı Halil Efendi, the hanging of Hacı Ebubekir Ağa, notable of Gümüş, the forcible seizure of the waqf shops around the Saraçhane Mosque and the Atabek Madrasa, and the Püsküllüoğulları bandits. We know these events today only from Hüsameddin's account based on the registers and family records. Another point that draws attention in this section is that Ürgüplü Hacı Ahmed Efendi, who objected to the laying of hands on waqf property, would in later years be chosen mufti of Amasya by the unanimity of the ulema and notables (entry 73).

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, Supplement to Volume 4, p. 670–673. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• Özcan Mert, "Canikli Hacı Ali Paşa Ailesi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/canikli-haci-ali-pasa-ailesi
• Özcan Mert, "Çapanoğulları", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/capanogullari
• İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı, "Üçüncü Sultan Selim Zamanında Yazılmış Dış Ruznâmesinden 1206/1791 ve 1207/1792 Senelerine ait Vekayi", Belleten, XXXVII/148, 1973, https://belleten.gov.tr/eng/full-text/1301/tur
• Mehmet İpşirli, "Ahmed Efendi, Müftîzâde", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 2, 1989, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ahmed-efendi-muftizade
• Mehmet İnbaşı, "Trabzon / Batum Eyâleti Valileri (1755–1795)", Atatürk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Enstitüsü Dergisi, 31, 2006, p. 161-191, https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/32993
• Mustafa Özsaray, "Şeyh Şamil'in Osmanlı Devleti İle İlişkileri", İlmî ve Akademik Araştırma Dergisi, 39-40, 2017, p. 61-90, https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/D02193/2017_39/2017_39_OZSARAY.pdf

Other sources

• "Anapa Kuşatması (1791)", https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anapa_Kuşatması_(1791)