Born the son of a preacher in the Gök Medrese quarter of Amasya, Hatîbzâde Reşîd Mustafa rose from the scribal offices of the Sublime Porte to the rank of vizier in the early nineteenth century. The largest share in that ascent belonged to his brother-in-law Hurşid Ahmed Paşa, later grand vizier. The paşa served in Damietta, İçel, Kocaeli, Crete, Salonica and Lesbos (Midilli), was twice stripped of the vizierate and died in Bursa around 1241 (1825-26). Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar closes his entry with the words "kâtib, ma'ârif-âşinâ, şâir bir vezîr" (a secretary, a friend of learning, a poet and a vizier); we have no other trace of this poetry. His name recalls Mustafa Reşid Paşa, whom Hüsameddin mentions in another entry as grand vizier in 1271; but that is a different person, and Hatîbzâde Reşîd Mustafa had died long before that date.

Hüsameddin's Entry

The entry is long and gives the career of a provincial vizier in detail; the full text can be read on its own page, Reşîd Mustafa Paşa-Hatîbzâde. Its opening and closing sentences run as follows:

Reşîd Mustafa Paşa-Hatîbzâde Amasyalıdır. Yukarıda tercemesi yazılan Torumtay Câmii hatîbi ve Selîm Sırrı Paşa imâmı Halîl Rüşdü Efendi'nin mahdûmudur. Amasya'nın Gök Medrese Mahallesi'nde doğdu. Berâ-yı tahsîl İstanbul'a gidip Paşa'nın himâyesiyle Bâb-ı âlî'de mektûbî kalemine girdi. Orada bi't-tefeyyüz hulefâdan ve ba'dehû hâcegândan olup 1216'da eniştesi Hurşîd Ahmed Paşa'ya kâtib-i dîvân olarak Mısır fethine gitdi. [...] Orada birkaç yıl daha yaşayıp hüzn ü keder içinde 1241 hudûdunda vefât etdi. Kâtib, ma'ârif-âşinâ, şâir bir vezîr idi. Birâderi Mehmed Sa'îd Efendi de ricâldendir. Diğer birâderi Ali Sâ'ib Efendi'dir.

Put into English: An Amasyan, son of Halil Rüşdü Efendi, preacher of the Torumtay Mosque and imam to Selim Sırrı Paşa. He was born in the Gök Medrese quarter of Amasya. He went to Istanbul to study and, under the Paşa's protection, entered the correspondence office (mektubî kalemi) of the Sublime Porte. Advancing there, he became one of the senior clerks (halife) and then one of the chief clerks of the imperial council (hâcegân), and in 1216 (1801-02) he joined the expedition to Egypt as council secretary to his brother-in-law Hurşid Ahmed Paşa. The end of the entry says that after his second dismissal he lived a few more years in Bursa and died there in grief around 1241. He was a secretary, a friend of learning and a poet among viziers. His brothers were Mehmed Saîd Efendi and Ali Sâib Efendi.

Family and Patrons

His father Halil Rüşdü Efendi was a son of Ahmed Efendi, tutor's assistant (muîd) at the Torumtay Madrasa. According to Hüsameddin he became preacher of the Torumtay Mosque in 1178 (1764-65), then went to Istanbul and became imam to Selim Sırrı Paşa, who was made vizier in 1198 (1783-84), and a professor of the devriye rank; after the paşa's death in 1208 (1793-94) he returned to Amasya and died on 15 Rebîülâhir 1221 (1806). The same entry records that Halil Rüşdü's son-in-law was the grand vizier Gürcü Hurşid Ahmed Paşa, "Selim Sırrı Paşa's freed slave". The entry on him in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi likewise introduces Hurşid Paşa as the freed slave of Selim Sırrı Paşa, governor of Rumelia.

Reşîd Mustafa's life is thus tied to two lines of patronage. The person who secured his entry into the Sublime Porte, named in the entry only as "the Paşa", is, as far as the context shows, his father's master Selim Sırrı Paşa; Hurşid Ahmed Paşa, a freedman of the same paşa who married Reşîd Mustafa's sister, steered his later career. In Hüsameddin's entry almost every promotion is mentioned together with Hurşid Paşa's name.

The Years as Vizier

The posts Hüsameddin lists are these. When his brother-in-law became governor of Egypt with the rank of vizier in Zilhicce 1218 (spring 1804) his influence grew; around the middle of 1219, at Hurşid Paşa's recommendation, he became commander of Damietta with the rank of beylerbey (mîrimîran). In Rebîülâhir 1222 (1807) he was given the sanjak of İçel with the rank of vizier and joined the suite of his brother-in-law, then commander-in-chief at Sofia and governor of Rumelia. In 1223 he became governor of the sanjak of İzmit and of the province of Kocaeli. When Hurşid Paşa became grand vizier at the end of Şaban 1227, the governorship of Crete and the command of Konya were given to him in Şevval. The TDV entry gives Hurşid Ahmed Paşa's appointment as grand vizier as 27 Şaban 1227 (5 September 1812) and his dismissal as 20 Rebîülâhir 1230 (1 April 1815); Hüsameddin's dates agree with these.

His brother-in-law's fall did not shake Reşîd Mustafa's position; Hüsameddin writes that he managed to keep his influence under the new grand vizier Mehmed Emîn Raûf Paşa. In Şevval 1231 he became governor of Salonica, and in 1233 he was given the sanjak of Lesbos with the command of Kuşadası, guarding these coasts for about three years against Greek corsairs. Because of "certain improper conduct", however, he was stripped of the vizierate in Zilhicce 1235 and ordered to reside in Bursa. In Rebîülevvel 1237, on the death of Kalender Paşa, commander of Kuşadası, and through his brother-in-law's intercession, the vizierate was restored to him and he was sent back to Lesbos and Kuşadası.

Hüsameddin tells the story of his second fall through an incident. Greek corsairs who had raided Moliva (Molyvos) were captured; four were executed and eight were brought before the paşa. Unable to refuse the plea of the metropolitan of Lesbos, Reşîd Mustafa released them, and was reprimanded by the grand vizier. He was then accused of laxity in carrying out the order to collect the weapons of the Greeks of Lesbos, and on 28 Zilkade 1238 (1823) he was stripped of the vizierate a second time and again sent to Bursa. The paşa lived a few more years in Bursa.

His Poetry

The vizier's standing as a poet rests on one of the three epithets with which Hüsameddin closes his entry. "Poet" stands there beside "secretary" and "friend of learning", and no couplet follows it. It was common for a bureaucrat trained in the correspondence office to practise prose composition and verse, but no collection of poems (divan) by Reşîd Mustafa Paşa, nor any poem of his named in the biographical anthologies (tezkire), could be identified.

Chronology

1216 (1801-02): Joins the expedition to Egypt as council secretary to Hurşid Ahmed Paşa.

1219 (1804): Commander of Damietta with the rank of beylerbey.

1222 (1807): Governor of İçel with the rank of vizier.

1223 (1808): Governor of İzmit and Kocaeli.

Şevval 1227 (1812): Governor of Crete and commander of Konya.

Şevval 1231 (1816): Governor of Salonica.

1233 (1817-18): Sanjak of Lesbos and command of Kuşadası.

Zilhicce 1235 (1820): Stripped of the vizierate and sent to Bursa.

Rebîülevvel 1237 (1821): Vizierate restored; reappointed to Lesbos and Kuşadası.

28 Zilkade 1238 (1823): Stripped of the vizierate a second time and sent to Bursa.

About 1241 (1825-26): Dies in Bursa.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources