Mustafa Pasha (Bodur Mustafa Pasha)

In Modern English

He was a native of Amasya, a son of the former mütesellim (deputy governor) Kadızâde Muslî Ağa. He is known as "Bodur Mustafa Pasha" (Mustafa Pasha the Short). On the fourteenth day of Cemâziyelâhir 1114 [1702], while in exile in Amasya, he became mutasarrıf (governor).

At the beginning of Receb, upon the death of es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Mustafa Efendi, son of es-Seyyid Halil, mufti of Köprü and sheikh of the Lâlâcık zaviye, his son es-Seyyid Hasan Efendi became sheikh of the zaviye, and Osmancıklı Çelebi es-Seyyid Mustafa Efendi, professor of the Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha Madrasa, became mufti of Köprü.

On the first day of Ramazan Kethüdâyeri (the sipahis' steward) Hatîbzâde el-Hâc Halil Ağa became mütesellim of Amasya, and the governor of Amasya went to Istanbul. On the first day of Şevval Hasan Efendi became kadı (judge) of Amasya.

In Zilkade Deli Emîr Paşazâde es-Seyyid Mustafa Bey became alaybeyi (commander of the timar-holding cavalry). On the first day of Zilhicce, upon the dismissal of el-Hâc Halil Ağa, Deli Yûsufzâde el-Hâc Mahmûd Ağa became mütesellim of Amasya and Dervişzâde Derviş Mehmed Ağa kethüdâyeri. This year Mahmûd Ağa of Amasya, one of the ushers (çavuş), also became beylerbeyi of Algiers.

On the first day of Muharrem 1115 [1703] Çelebi Mehmed Ağa was left in the administratorship (mütevelli) of the Evkâf-ı Sultâniyye (the sultans' waqfs). On the eleventh day of Safer the janissary agha Hacı Efendizâde Ali Ağa of Amasya, son of Emrullah Ağa, son of Sarı Mehmed Ağa, became guardian (muhafız) of Belgrade with a vizierate.

On the fifth day of Rebîülevvel, at the hands of the rebels who rose in Istanbul, Şeyhülislâm Erzurumlu es-Seyyid Feyzullah Efendi was killed and his children and men met disaster; since his protector Sultan Mustafa II was also deposed, his brother Sultan Ahmed Khan III ascended the Ottoman throne on the third day of Rebîülâhir.

At this time Nişancı Ahmed Pasha, son of Rus Rıdvan Ağa of Amasya, became grand vizier; Hâfız Mehmed Efendi of Lâdik, the sultan's imam (imâm-ı sultânî), became şeyhülislam; Firârî (the Fugitive) es-Seyyid Hasan Pasha of Amasya became deputy of Istanbul (kaymakam); Sekbanbaşı Çalık Ahmed Ağa of Lâdik became janissary agha with a vizierate; and Deli Emîr es-Seyyid Mustafa Efendi of Lâdik became the sultan's imam.

On the fifth day of Cemâziyelâhir Çalık Ahmed Pasha, who had set his eye on the grand vizierate, was sent as governor to Cyprus and was executed on arriving there. After this, since the governor of Amasya, Mustafa Pasha, became beylerbeyi of Maraş, the sanjak of Amasya was given, with the rank of beylerbeyi, to Serçeşme Hüseyin Bey.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• mütesellim-i esbak: the former mütesellim
• menfî: exiled
• evâil: the first days of the month, its beginning
• zâviye: a small lodge where an order's sheikh sits and which also serves travelers
• Köprü: today's Vezirköprü; at that time a district (kaza) attached to the sanjak of Amasya
• ibkâ: leaving in a post
• muhâfız: commander and administrator of a frontier fortress
• erbâb-ı ihtilâl: rebels
• kıyâm etmek: to rise up
• maktûl: killed
• evlâd u etbâ': his children and men
• menkûb: struck by disaster
• hâmî: protector
• mahlû': deposed from the throne
• imâm-ı sultânî: the sultan's imam
• kâ'im-makâm: the vizier who looks after affairs in place of the grand vizier while he is away from the capital
• vusûl: arrival, reaching
• telhîs: the summary document that the grand vizier presents to the sultan; the telhîsat register is the record of these

Bodur Mustafa Pasha

About Bodur Mustafa Pasha no information was found in other sources. Hüsameddin's records in the previous two entries complete this section of his life: Kadızâde Bodur Mustafa Ağa was dismissed from the chief ushership in Safer 1113 and sent in exile to his hometown Amasya, and in Cemâziyelâhir 1114, with the dismissal of Çingâne Ali Bey, the sanjak was given to him with the rank of beylerbeyi, so that he became the administrator of the city in which he was in exile. His father Kadızâde Muslî Ağa is of the Kadızâdes, one of the old families of Amasya; in the book's biographical volume this lineage is traced up to Kadızâde Seydî Ahmed Pasha and is also called "Muslîzâde." In the same volume, on the occasion of the biography of his son-in-law and treasurer Gürcüzâde İbrâhim Bey, a vizier named "Muslîzâde Mustafa Pasha of Amasya" is mentioned, who was dismissed and imprisoned in 1123, then had his vizierate restored, and died in 1132. The match of name and father's name suggests that this vizier may be Bodur Mustafa Pasha; but Hüsameddin does not expressly join the two records.

Mustafa Pasha's governorship of Amasya appears to have effectively ended when he left the sanjak to the mütesellim and went to Istanbul in Ramazan 1114; the administration of the sanjak thereafter remained in the hands of local mütesellims such as, in turn, Hatîbzâde Halil Ağa and Deli Yûsufzâde Mahmûd Ağa. Hüsameddin bases the pasha's move to the beylerbeyilik of Maraş on a document with the note "so it was seen in the Telhîsat register."

Changes of Post in Köprü

About Mustafa Efendi, mufti of Köprü (today's Vezirköprü) and sheikh of the Lâlâcık zaviye, and the Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha Madrasa in Köprü, no information was found in other sources. That Köprü was in these years attached to the sanjak of Amasya and was the homeland of the Köprülü family is also understood from the Köprülü records in the book's biographical volume.

The Hacı Efendizâdes

The genealogical record of the janissary agha Hacı Efendizâde Ali Ağa, who moved in Safer 1115 to the guardianship of Belgrade with a vizierate, shows how strong a network of fellow townsmen Amasya had at the center of the state in these years. Ali Ağa is a grandson of Sarı Mehmed Ağa. According to the information given in Abdülkadir Özcan's entry on Kavanoz Ahmed Pasha, relying on Hüsameddin, Ahmed Pasha, who is written in the same entry to have become grand vizier, is also the son of Rıdvan Ağa, of Russian origin, "son-in-law of Hacı Efendizâde Sarı Mehmed Ağa, of the notables of this city." Hacı Efendizâde Ömer Efendi, who in entry 110 of the book will become mufti of Amasya, is also a grandson of Sarı Mehmed Ağa. Accordingly, Ahmed Pasha, who rose to the grand vizierate in the summer of 1703, and Ali Pasha, guardian of Belgrade, must be related to one another through the family of Sarı Mehmed Ağa; the degree of this kinship is not expressly stated in the sources. About Ali Ağa's janissary aghaship no information was found in other sources. The lists of janissary aghas for this period are also inconsistent in dates and names.

The Edirne Incident of 1703

The second half of the entry summarizes in a few sentences the great revolt known in Ottoman history as the Edirne Incident or the Feyzullah Efendi Incident. According to Abdülkadir Özcan's entry, the apparent cause of the revolt was the interference in state affairs of Şeyhülislâm Seyyid Feyzullah Efendi, who had great influence over Mustafa II, his placing of his sons and men in high offices, and the consequent inability of state officials and ulema awaiting promotion to rise. The sultan's long stay in Edirne and the economic crisis had also pushed the tradesmen of Istanbul and the Porte's corps into the ranks of the discontented. The resistance begun on 17 July 1703 by the armorers (cebeci) demanding their delayed salaries spread in a short time to all Istanbul with the participation of the janissaries, seyyids, madrasa students and tradesmen.

The date Hüsameddin gives as "the fifth day of Rebîülevvel" coincides with the days the revolt began; but the events listed in the sentence were in fact spread over several weeks. According to Mehmet Serhan Tayşi's entry, Feyzullah Efendi and his son Fethullah Efendi were removed from their posts on 13 Rebîülevvel 1115 (27 July 1703); Feyzullah Efendi, who tried to flee, was caught at Pravadi and brought to Edirne, and after heavy torture was killed together with his son, his body being thrown into the Tunca river on 21 Rebîülâhir (3 September). The other members of his family were first shut in Yedikule and then exiled to Cyprus. As for the deposition of Mustafa II, when the rebel forces, said to number some 60,000, came to Silivri they decided to place Prince Ahmed on the throne. According to the TDV entry on Ahmed III, this decision was taken on 17 August 1703, the next day the sermon (hutbe) was read in the new sultan's name at Çorlu, on 22 August Ahmed was taken from the Edirne Palace and the next day homage was paid to him. The date of 3 Rebîülâhir that Hüsameddin gives is close to these days when the accession decision was taken. After this event the Ottoman sultans did not leave Istanbul for a long time to reside in Edirne.

Amasya and Lâdik Men in the New Government

It is deliberate that in listing the appointments made after the revolt Hüsameddin particularly stresses the men of Amasya and of Lâdik: the grand vizier, şeyhülislam, deputy of Istanbul, janissary agha and sultan's imam were, by his record, either from Amasya or from Lâdik, which was then attached to the sanjak of Amasya.

Kavanoz Ahmed Pasha. The grand vizier called in the text "Nişancı Ahmed Pasha, son of Rus Rıdvan Ağa" appears in histories as Kavanoz, Söhraplı or Nişancı Ahmed Pasha. According to Özcan's entry, while some sources regard him as one of the freedmen of Vizier Silahdar Hüseyin Pasha and of Russian origin, Hüsameddin writes that he was the son of the slain Rıdvan Ağa, of Russian origin, slave of Hacı Ahmed Pasha of Amasya and son-in-law of Hacı Efendizâde Sarı Mehmed Ağa. He was called by the epithet Kavanoz (Jar) for being somewhat stout and short, and when his father was killed in the Abaza Hasan revolt of 1069, he came under the protection of Söhrab Mehmed Pasha, Governor of Sivas. He married a daughter of Amcazâde Hüseyin Pasha and was brought to the chancellorship (nişancılık) during his father-in-law's grand vizierate. In the Edirne Incident the rebels first made him deputy grand vizier (sadaret kaymakamı), then about a month later grand vizier, and after the accession of Ahmed III the seal was sent to him and his grand vizierate was made official on 9 Rebîülâhir 1115 (22 August 1703). Ahmed Pasha, accused of bribery and love of display, had the seal taken from his hands on 8 Receb 1115 (17 November 1703) and was exiled the next day to Chios; he died in 1117 (1705) while guardian of Lepanto. Hüsameddin's biographical volume also writes that the husband of Ayşe Hanım, daughter of Amcazâde Hüseyin Pasha, was "Ahmed Pasha, son of Rus Rıdvan Ağa of Amasya."

Şeyhülislâm İmam Mehmed Efendi. According to the entry in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Mehmed Efendi was born in the district of Lâdik, which was then attached to the sanjak of Amasya. Known for his mastery of the science of recitation and his beautiful voice, he began to be called "imâm-ı sultânî" when in 1081 (1670) he became the imam of Mehmed IV. He became şeyhülislam once in 1106 (1695), but two months later was dismissed because Mustafa II wanted to bring his teacher Feyzullah Efendi to this post. During the Edirne Incident he was made şeyhülislam a second time by the janissaries on 11 Rebîülevvel 1115 (25 July 1703), and it is related that he prepared the fatwa on the deposition of Mustafa II. Mehmed Efendi, presented as a gentle and pious person, was dismissed on 18 Ramazan 1115 (25 January 1704) and sent to Bursa, where he taught and died in Safer 1141 (September 1728). Hüsameddin's record in the next entry, "in Ramazan the Şeyhülislâm Hâfız Mehmed Efendi was dismissed and sent to Bursa," coincides completely with this information.

Firârî Hasan Pasha. Firârî es-Seyyid Hasan Pasha of Amasya, written in the text to have become deputy of Istanbul, must be the same person as Görgülüoğlu Hasan Ağa, seen in earlier entries of the book as steward of the grand vizierate of Amcazâde Hüseyin Pasha and then governor of Şehrizor; his fleeing the death decree against him in Şaban 1114 explains the epithet "fugitive." In Özcan's entry too, Firârî Hasan Pasha is counted among those at the head of the opposition formed against Feyzullah Efendi.

Çalık Ahmed Pasha. Hüsameddin counts Çalık Ahmed Ağa, who was brought to the janissary aghaship, as from Lâdik; the encyclopedic study on Kocaeli, by contrast, presents him as a devshirme from Serbia and notes that he was called "Ahmed Ağa of Izmit" among his comrades. According to the same study, Ahmed Ağa was made sekbanbaşı by the rebels on 20 July 1703 and shortly after janissary agha, and won the people's trust because he kept order in Istanbul and prevented plunder. At the meeting held in his tent at Silivri it was decided to place Ahmed III on the throne in place of Mustafa II, and on 22 August 1703 he was left with a vizierate in the janissary aghaship. His constant pressing of the sultan to become grand vizier and his weight over the janissaries made statesmen uneasy; on 10 November 1703 he was appointed, apparently, to the beylerbeyilik of Cyprus, but was taken to Rhodes on a ship prepared for him and killed by strangling on 26 January 1704. Hüsameddin's record "he was executed when he reached Cyprus," while giving the person's end correctly, shows the place of death differently from this study. It is also told in the same study that he began the construction of the mosque known today in Izmit as the Çalık Ahmed Ağa (Yalı) Mosque and that it was completed after his death by his comrades.

Deli Emîr Mustafa Efendi. About Deli Emîr es-Seyyid Mustafa Efendi of Lâdik, brought to the sultan's imamship, no information was found in other sources. In the next entry Hüsameddin writes that he too was sent to Cyprus and strangled there.

Serçeşme Hüseyin Bey

"Serçeşme Hüseyin Bey," to whom Amasya was given after Mustafa Pasha, is Küçük Alizâde Hüseyin Pasha, the subject of the next entry of the book. According to his translation (biography) in Hüsameddin's biographical volume, Hüseyin Bey became serçeşme in Rebîülevvel 1114 when Daltaban Mustafa Pasha became grand vizier, and on 11 Cemâziyelâhir 1115 became governor of Amasya with the rank of beylerbeyi.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 4, p. 622–622. amasya.bel.tr
• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 6-8, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, entries "İbrâhim Efendi-Muslîzâde" and "İbrâhim Bey-Gürcüzâde el-Hâc", e-book p. 54, 57.
• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 9-12, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, entry "Hüseyin Paşa-Küçük Alizâde" and the record on Amcazâde Hüseyin Paşa, e-book p. 36-37.

Academic studies

• Abdülkadir Özcan, "Edirne Vak'ası", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 10. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/edirne-vakasi
• Abdülkadir Özcan, "Ahmed Paşa, Kavanoz", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ahmed-pasa-kavanoz
• Mehmet Serhan Tayşi, "Feyzullah Efendi, Seyyid", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/feyzullah-efendi-seyyid
• "Ahmed III", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ahmed-iii
• "Mehmed Efendi, İmâm-ı Sultânî", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mehmed-efendi-imam-i-sultani
• Dilek Seniha Cenez, 18. Yüzyılda Bir Devlet Adamı: Çorlulu Ali Paşa (1706-1710), master's thesis, İstanbul Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, 2017. https://nek.istanbul.edu.tr/ekos/TEZ/56732.pdf

Books

• "Çalık Ahmed Paşa", Kocaeli Ansiklopedisi. https://kocaeliansiklopedisi.com/Default/MaddeDetay/269

Other sources

• "Yeniçeri ağaları listesi", Wikipedia (Turkish). https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeniçeri_ağaları_listesi