Kaleciklidir. Şehsüvârzâde demekle meşhûr bir mîr-i mîrândır. 1137 senesi şevvâlinin dördüncü günü Amasya mutasarrıfı olup kendisi Özi muhâfızı olduğundan kethüdâsı Mehmed Ağa'yı mütesellim gönderdi. Şevvâlin onunda müftü Hocazâde Mehmed Efendi isti'fâ edip yerine Mehmed Paşa müderrisi fuzalâdan [38] Çorumlu Hâfız Mehmed Efendi Amasya müftüsü oldu.
Torumtay vakfının tevliyet da'vâsı nâ'ib İsmâ'il Efendi'yi yorduğundan isti'fâya mecbûr olmuşdu. Zilka'de gurresinde sâbık Kastamonu kadısı Çetenzâde Hacı Ahmed Efendi Amasya kadısı olup geldi. Zilhiccede Gürcüzâde Hacı İbrâhim Bey müdde'îleri irzâ ederek müstakilen mütevellî olup mahkeme ve fetvâ-hâne bu müz'ic da‘vâdan kurtuldu.
1138 muharrem gurresinde Gürcüzâde Hacı İbrâhim Bey baş a'yân, Dânişoğlu Hacı Hâfız Mustafâ Efendi hacıbaşı oldu. Rebî'ulevvelin ondokuzuncu günü Trabzon vâlîsi Ârifî Ahmed Paşa Sivâs vâlîsi olmuşdu.
Cemâziyelevvel gurresinde birinci Osmân Ağa'nın ref'iyle Kallâş Mehmed Ağa yeniçeri serdârı ve sonra sipâhî kethüdâsı Ahmed Ağa yerine sipâhîlerden Niğdeli İbrâhim Ağa kethüdâyeri oldu.
Bu esnâda Amasya mutasarrıfı ve Özi muhâfızı Osmân Paşa'nın gerek Özi ve gerek Amasya'da irtikâb etdiği seyyi'ât ve mezâlimi ve Amasya mütesellimi Mehmed Ağa'nın harekât-ı zâlimânesi yüzünden acıklı şikâyetler tevâlî etdiğinden her ikisi de i'dâm edilerek Amasya sancağı Özi muhâfızı olan Mehmed Paşa'ya verildi. [39]
In Modern English
He was a man of Kalecik. He was a mîrimîran (pasha with the rank of beylerbeyi) known as Şehsuvarzâde. On the fourth day of Shawwal 1137 [1724-25] he became mutasarrıf of Amasya. Since he was guardian of Özi, he sent his steward Mehmed Ağa as mütesellim. On the tenth of Shawwal the mufti Hocazâde Mehmed Efendi resigned; in his place Çorumlu Hâfız Mehmed Efendi, one of the virtuous scholars and müderris of the Mehmed Pasha Madrasa, became mufti of Amasya.
The suit over the trusteeship of the Torumtay Waqf had so wearied the naib İsmail Efendi that he had been forced to resign. On the first day of Dhu al-Qa'dah the former kadı of Kastamonu, Çetenzâde Hacı Ahmed Efendi, came as kadı of Amasya. In Dhu al-Hijjah Gürcüzâde Hacı İbrahim Bey satisfied the claimants and became sole trustee of the waqf; the court and the fatwa office were also freed from this tiresome suit.
On the first day of Muharram 1138 [1725-26] Gürcüzâde Hacı İbrahim Bey became chief ayan and Dânişoğlu Hacı Hâfız Mustafa Efendi hacıbaşı. On the nineteenth day of Rabi' al-awwal Ârifî Ahmed Pasha, governor of Trabzon, had become governor of Sivas.
On the first day of Jumada al-awwal, with the dismissal of Birinci Osman Ağa, Kallâş Mehmed Ağa became janissary serdar. Then, in place of the sipahi kethüdası Ahmed Ağa, Niğdeli İbrahim Ağa, of the sipahis, became kethüdayeri.
At this time, because of the evil deeds and oppression committed both at Özi and at Amasya by Osman Pasha, mutasarrıf of Amasya and guardian of Özi, and because of the tyrannical conduct of the mütesellim of Amasya Mehmed Ağa, pitiful complaints came one after another. Thereupon both were executed, and the sanjak of Amasya was given to Mehmed Pasha, guardian of Özi.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mîr-i mîrân: beylerbeyi, a pasha of beylerbeyi rank
- fuzalâ: virtuous, learned persons
- müdde'î: claimant, plaintiff
- irzâ: satisfying, winning over
- müstakilen: alone, on his own
- fetvâ-hâne: the office in which the mufti gives fatwas
- müz'ic: tiresome, disturbing
- ref': dismissal from office
- kethüdâyeri: representative of the sipahis in a city
- seyyi'ât ve mezâlim: evil deeds and acts of oppression
- tevâlî: coming one after another
The Şehsuvarzâdes of Kalecik
In the entry immediately before this one, Hüsâmeddin also introduces Mehmed Pasha, who became mutasarrıf of Amasya in 1134, as "of Kalecik, of the descendants of the vizier Gâzî Pasha, of the Şehsüvarzâde line." Thus within two years two pashas of the same Kalecik family became mutasarrıf of Amasya. That the family was from Kalecik is also confirmed by other sources: the biography of Şehsuvarzâde Mustafa Pasha records that he was born at Kalecik, attached to Kengırı (Çankırı), was brought to the post of kaptan-ı derya with viziership in 1746, and died in 1762-63. On Osman Pasha himself no information was found in other sources. The fate Hüsâmeddin describes, that is, his being executed together with his mütesellim on account of oppression at his post, is an example of the harsh measures taken against provincial administrators in the eighteenth century. The entry on the mütesellim in the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam likewise notes that in this century complaints about mütesellims' corruption and oppression multiplied, and that some of them embezzled the taxes they collected.
Ârifî Ahmed Pasha
Ârifî Ahmed Pasha, written in the entry to have been brought to the governorship of Sivas, is one of the remarkable statesmen of the age. According to Abdullah Zararsız's study, based on archival documents, Ahmed Pasha was trained in the scribal service, rose to the reîsülküttâblık, the highest office of the state bureaucracy, and then passed to the military (seyfiye) class with the rank of vizier. In 1724, as commander (seraskeri) of Yerevan, he besieged and took the city, but a few days after the conquest he was wounded and taken prisoner in a disturbance raised by a group of janissaries left without pay. After this event, on 14 June 1725 he was removed from the governorships of Diyarbekir and Yerevan and sent to the governorship of Trabzon; his post at Trabzon was short, and at the end of 1725 he was appointed governor of Sivas. The date Hüsâmeddin gives, 19 Rabi' al-awwal 1138, corresponds to November 1725 and agrees with this information. Zararsız also notes that the Sicill-i Osmânî gives 1728 for the appointment to Sivas; Hüsâmeddin's date is closer to the archival record.
The governorship of Sivas too did not last long; Ahmed Pasha moved to the governorship of Aleppo on 12 January 1726. The end of his life came with a charge of treason. According to the Subhî Tarihi and the mühimme records, it came out that in the Ganja and Yerevan campaigns he stirred up discord among the soldiers to prevent his predecessor from gaining fame, and that after his dismissal he corresponded with the Shah of Iran; his seizing, while guardian of Van, the money and provisions sent for Yerevan was also counted among his crimes. After a long flight and a sham pardon he was killed in the sanjak of Teke in the autumn of 1732, and his property was confiscated.
The Muftiship and the Madrasa
The Mehmed Pasha Madrasa, of which Çorumlu Hâfız Mehmed Efendi, brought to the muftiship of Amasya, was müderris, was part of the Mehmed Pasha Complex on the bank of the Yeşilırmak. The complex was built by Hızır Paşazâde Mehmed Pasha (d. 900/1495), vizier of Bayezid II and lala of Prince Ahmed; according to the mosque's inscription the construction was completed in Muharram 891 (January 1486). Of the complex, consisting of a mosque, madrasa, imaret, tomb, guesthouse (tabhane), zawiya, fountain and graveyard, only the mosque, the side rooms probably serving as the tabhane, and the tomb have reached today. Since the madrasa and imaret were destroyed by fire, their architecture is not known.
These lines, in which the mufti, naib and kadı change one after another, also show how much the Torumtay Waqf suit occupied the city's judicial order. Hüsâmeddin ties the naib's resignation directly to this suit; the suit came to an end only with Gürcüzâde Hacı İbrahim Bey's "satisfying" the other claimants, that is, most probably in return for a settlement or payment. That the same İbrahim Bey was chosen chief ayan a few weeks later plainly shows how waqf trusteeship and influence in the city's administration fed one another. That the new kadı Çetenzâde Hacı Ahmed Efendi made himself liked by the people and the ayan is told in the next entry; Hüsâmeddin also records him as kadı of Amasya for a second time in 1145.
The number in "Birinci Osman Ağa" ("Osman Ağa the First"), dismissed from the janissary commandership, when considered together with names found in later entries such as "Altıncı Hüseyin Ağa" and "Onuncu Mehmed Ağa," probably shows the number of the janissary ortas to which the person belonged; this is an interpretation drawn from the text.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 4, Supplement (Bakiyye), p. 638–638. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Abdullah Zararsız, "18. Yüzyılda Vezaretten İhanete Bir Osmanlı Devlet Adamı: Arifî Ahmed Paşa'nın Hayatı ve Muhallefatı", Belleten, 89/316 (December 2025). https://belleten.gov.tr/tam-metin/3807/tur
- Yücel Özkaya, "Mütesellim", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 32, 2006, p. 203-204. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mutesellim
- Ebru Karakaya, "Mehmed Paşa Külliyesi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 28, 2003, p. 511-512. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mehmed-pasa-kulliyesi
Other sources