“Gürcüzâde” demekle meşhûr bir sancak beyidir. 1043 senesi rebîülevvelinin sekizinci günü Amasya sancağı beyi olup geldi. Kadı el-Hâc Mehmed Efendi esîr-i firâş olduğundan el-Hâc Hızır Efendi, Amasya nâibi oldu. Rebîülâhirde nâkîb es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Ahmed Efendi’nin yerine Seyyid Mansûrzâde es-Seyyid Mehmed Çelebi nakîbü’l-eşrâf kâ’im-makâmı oldu. Bir müddetten beri hasta yatan serdâr Üçüncü Hüseyin Ağa’nın bu esnâda vefâtıyla İkinci Murâd Ağa yeniçeri serdârlığına geldi.
Rebîülâhirin yirminci günü nişancı vezîr Koca Yûsuf Paşa azl ve Kilis sancağıyla ib‘âd edildiğinden yerine Dördüncü Sultân Murâd’ın serkâtibi Amasyalı Eyüb Ağa vezâretle nişancı oldu.⁶³⁷ [67]
Mâh-ı mezkûrun yirmi yedinci günü Kadı Çavuşzâde el-Hâc Mehmed Efendi bin Mustafa Çavuş vefât edib Cumâdelûlâ gurresinden i‘tibâren Amasya’da Atâ Bey Müderrisi olan Hasan Efendi Amasya kadısı oldu.
Şa’bânda yeniçeri ağası Köse Mehmed Ağa’nın ikbâli Sadr-ı a’zam Tabanıyassı Arnavut Mehmed Paşa’yı bî-huzûr eylediğinden bir takım müftereyât ile Sultân Murâd’ı kandırdı. Halep’te yeniçerileri tahrik ederek bîçâreyi padişaha i’dâm ve ağaya istinad eden Kanije Beylerbeyi Sarı Süleyman Paşa’yı da orduda kendisi i’dâm etdirdi.
Ramazân evâhirinde Amasya’ya gelen fermân-ı âlî, Köse Mehmed Ağa ile Süleyman Paşa’nın Amasya ve havâlisinde olan emvâl ve emlâkini zabt ve müsâdereyi emretmekle nüzûl emini Abaza Yûsuf Ağa, Süleyman Paşa’nın Fîrûz Köyü’nde ve Köse Mehmed Ağa’nın Geldiklân nâhiyesindeki çiftliklerini ve mallarını satıp esmânını İstanbul’a gönderdi.
Şevvâlin beşinde Trabzon beylerbeyi Hoca Ahmed Paşa, ma‘zûlen Amasya’ya gelip evkâf-ı Sultâniyye mütevellîsi oldu. Mâh-ı mezkûrun on beşinde Amasya Kadısı Hasan Efendi İstanbul’a gidip amcası Rumeli Kazaskerliğinden mütekâid Hasan Efendi’yi ziyaret ve kendisine el-Hâc Hızır Efendi niyâbet etdi.
Zilka’dede Amasya’da Bâyezîd Paşa Evkâfı Mütevellisi Bâyezîd Paşazâde Şerîf Abdullah Bey bin es-Seyyid Hasan Bey bilâveled vefât eylediğinden [68] Bâyezîd Paşa tevliyeti mirlivâlardan Sun‘ullah Bey’e ber-vech-i tekâüd ihsân edildi.
Bundan akdem vefât eden Seydî Beyzâde Mustafa Bey’den inhilâl eden Hızır ve Mehmed paşalar evkâfı tevliyeti mahkemeye düşüp Seydî Beyzâde Kurd Mehmed Bey’le evlâd-ı utekâdan Rüstem Beyzâde Mustafa Bey arasında münâzaa ve muhakeme uzadı.
Nihayet zilhicce evâilinde tarafeynin muvâfakatıyla mes’ele halledildi. İki tevliyet ayrılıp Mehmed Paşa evkâfının tevliyeti evlâd-ı inâsından olan Seydî Beyzâde Kurd Mehmed Bey’e ve Hızır Paşa evkâfı tevliyeti de evlâd-ı utekâsından olan Keyvanzâde Mustafa Bey’e ve bu esnada Amasya sancağı da Akşehir Beyi Üveys Bey’e tevcîh edildi.
In Modern English
He was a sanjak bey famous as "Gürcüzâde" (son of the Georgian). On the eighth day of Rebîülevvel 1043 [1633–34] he came as sanjak bey of Amasya. Since Kadı el-Hâc Mehmed Efendi took to his bed, el-Hâc Hızır Efendi became naib (deputy judge) of Amasya. In Rebîülâhir, in place of the nakîb es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Ahmed Efendi, Seyyid Mansûrzâde es-Seyyid Mehmed Çelebi became nakîbü'l-eşrâf kaymakamı. With the death at this time of the serdar Üçüncü Hüseyin Ağa, who had been ill for some time, İkinci Murâd Ağa came to the janissary serdarlık.
On the twentieth day of Rebîülâhir, since the nişancı vizier Koca Yûsuf Pasha was dismissed and removed with the sanjak of Kilis, Eyüb Ağa of Amasya, chief secretary of Murad the Fourth, became nişancı (chancellor) with the rank of vizier in his place.
On the twenty-seventh day of the same month Kadı Çavuşzâde el-Hâc Mehmed Efendi son of Mustafa Çavuş died, and from the beginning of Cemâziyelevvel Hasan Efendi, müderris of the Atâ Bey Madrasa in Amasya, became kadı of Amasya.
In Şa'bân, because the rising fortune of the janissary ağa Köse Mehmed Ağa disturbed Grand Vizier Tabanıyassı Mehmed Pasha the Albanian, the grand vizier deceived Sultan Murad with a number of slanders. By stirring up the janissaries in Aleppo he had the poor ağa put to death by the sultan; he himself had Sarı Süleyman Pasha, Beylerbeyi of Kanije, who relied on the ağa, executed within the army.
The imperial decree that came to Amasya at the end of Ramazan ordered the seizure and confiscation of the goods and property of Köse Mehmed Ağa and Süleyman Pasha in Amasya and its surroundings; so the nüzûl emini Abaza Yûsuf Ağa sold Süleyman Pasha's farms and goods in the village of Fîrûz and Köse Mehmed Ağa's in the nahiye of Geldiklân and sent the proceeds to Istanbul.
On the fifth of Şevvâl, Hoca Ahmed Pasha, Beylerbeyi of Trabzon, came to Amasya dismissed and became mütevelli of the sultanic waqfs. On the fifteenth of the same month Kadı Hasan Efendi of Amasya went to Istanbul and visited his uncle Hasan Efendi, retired from the Kazaskerlik of Rumeli; el-Hâc Hızır Efendi served as naib in his place.
In Zilkade, when Bâyezîd Paşazâde Şerîf Abdullah Bey son of es-Seyyid Hasan Bey, Mütevelli of the Bâyezîd Pasha Waqfs in Amasya, died childless, the Bâyezîd Pasha trusteeship was given to Sun'ullah Bey, one of the mirlivas, as a retirement grant.
The trusteeship of the Hızır Pasha and Mehmed Pasha waqfs, vacated by the earlier death of Mustafa Bey son of Seydî Bey, went to court. The dispute and trial between Kurd Mehmed Bey son of Seydî Bey and Mustafa Bey son of Rüstem Bey, of the descendants of the freed slaves (evlâd-ı utekâ), dragged on.
In the end, at the beginning of Zilhicce, the matter was resolved with the consent of both sides. The two trusteeships were separated: the trusteeship of the Mehmed Pasha waqfs was given to Kurd Mehmed Bey son of Seydî Bey, who was of the line of the daughters (evlâd-ı inâs), and the trusteeship of the Hızır Pasha waqfs to Mustafa Bey son of Keyvan, who was of the line of the freed slaves. At this time the sanjak of Amasya was also given to Üveys Bey, Bey of Akşehir.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- esîr-i firâş: confined to bed, ill
- nakîbü'l-eşrâf kâ'im-makâmı: deputy of the head of the seyyids and sharifs
- serkâtib: chief secretary
- nişancı: the high official who affixed the tuğra to imperial decrees and directed state correspondence
- ib'âd: removal, banishment
- müftereyât: slanders
- i'dâm: having someone executed
- müsâdere: seizure of goods and property on behalf of the state
- nüzûl emîni: the official charged with collecting the army's provisions
- esmân: prices, sale proceeds
- ma'zûlen: having been dismissed
- bilâveled: childless
- ber-vech-i tekâüd: as a retirement grant
- münâzaa: dispute, disagreement
- evlâd-ı inâs / evlâd-ı utekâ: the line of the waqf founder's daughters / the line of his freed slaves
The End of Köse Mehmed Ağa
The entry, squeezed among the records of the sanjak of Amasya, also contains a great event at the Ottoman center: the fall of the janissary ağa Köse Mehmed Ağa. According to an academic study, Köse Mehmed Ağa was trained in the janissary corps at the beginning of the seventeenth century and rose as far as the janissary ağalık. At a time when Murad IV was in danger of deposition over the janissaries' accession bonus (cülus bahşişi), he saved the sultan's life and kept him on the throne, and for this reason was for a time one of the sultan's most trusted men. He governed Istanbul very harshly, had captured prostitutes executed, had unruly men in the corps killed without trial and thrown into the sea; he is also thought to have been the principal official in the demolition of coffeehouses and the enforcement of the tobacco ban.
According to the same study, when news was received that Van was besieged by Persian forces, the sultan assigned Grand Vizier Tabanıyassı Mehmed Pasha to the campaign; the army, which left Üsküdar on 15 October 1633, reached Aleppo in December to winter there. Here a janissary mutiny broke out on 21 February 1634: some five hundred men, on the pretext that their pay was being given in kuruş, went to Köse Mehmed Ağa and said they did not want the janissary ağa, his kethüdâ and his scribe. The ağa had sent off all his property a week earlier, and on learning that the ağalık robe of honor had been put on another, set out toward Istanbul. The sultan sent an official with the order to kill him wherever he saw him; the official, meeting him on the road, brought him to Istanbul without killing him. Brought before the sultan on the night of 21 Ramazan 1043 (21 March 1634), Köse was executed despite his pleading. According to the conclusion the study reaches, the most important reason for Murad's having him killed was that the ağa acted willfully and left Tabanıyassı Mehmed Pasha in difficulty at Aleppo.
Hüsâmeddin's account largely coincides with this framework; there are two points where it differs in detail. Hüsâmeddin presents the event as the grand vizier's deceiving the sultan with slanders; the academic study sees the main cause as Köse's own willful conduct. Hüsâmeddin also writes that Sarı Süleyman Pasha, Beylerbeyi of Kanije, who relied on Köse, was executed within the army by the grand vizier; the study we used does not mention this pasha, and this information could not be confirmed by another source. An encyclopedia entry also confirms the janissary mutiny that broke out in Aleppo, and further writes that at this time the sultan had his close man called "Abaza Pasha" killed and afterward the poet Nef'î. The dates of Hüsâmeddin's book (Rebîülevvel 1043 and Ramazan 1043) fit this sequence.
Confiscation in Amasya
Köse Mehmed Ağa's property was confiscated not only in Konya but also around Amasya. According to the study, the goods seized in Konya were first counted and sealed, then recounted and taken over before the kapıcıbaşı (head of palace gatekeepers) who came with an imperial decree, the Beylerbeyi of Karaman, the ayan and the kadı of Konya. The farms in the nahiye of Geldiklân in Amasya that Hüsâmeddin writes of, Sarı Süleyman Pasha's properties in the village of Fîrûz, and their sale by the nüzûl emini could not be found in another source. This is the book's detail belonging to Amasya.
Eyüb Ağa of Amasya, the Nişancı
Hüsâmeddin writes that in Rebîülâhir 1043 Koca Yûsuf Pasha was dismissed and Eyüb Ağa of Amasya became nişancı in his place, and in a footnote he identifies Eyüb with the sultanic kapıcı Eyüb Ağa son of Abdurrahman Ağa, who had once been mütevelli of the Sultan Bâyezid waqfs in Amasya. In searches made for this person no other source was found; the information rests only on Hüsâmeddin.
The Lawsuit over the Waqf Trusteeship
The entry tells how the lawsuit that arose over the trusteeship of the Hızır Pasha and Mehmed Pasha waqfs in Amasya was concluded. When Mustafa Bey son of Seydî Bey, who had earlier administered the two together, died, two candidates emerged for the vacant post; when the suit dragged on, the parties reached a compromise and the waqfs were divided in two and their administration given to two separate persons. Hüsâmeddin relays this dispute as a court record whose trace has not been found in another source; the details are the book's own account.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 4, p. 559–560. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Other sources