Cân Arslan Paşazâde vezîr olup 1146 senesi rebî'ulevvelinin ondokuzuncu günü ikinci def'a Amasya mutasarrıfı olup harbe me'mûr olduğundan dergâh-ı âlî kapıcıbaşılarından "Tatar Ağası" demekle meşhûr Amasyalı Hacı Kâsımoğlu Ömer Ağa Amasya mütesellimi olup geldi. [55]
Bundan akdem kul kethüdâlığından ma'zûlen Amasya'ya gelen Hindîoğlu Hacı Mehmed Ağa harb için Revân'a gidip orada yeniçeri ağası vekîli olarak harb etdi. Serdârlardan Kırmacıoğlu Ahmed Ağa da berâberdi.
Ancak mütesellim Ömer Ağa'nın ahvâl ve harekât-ı cesûrânesi a'yân ve halkı bîzâr ediyordu. Çünkü Ömer Ağa, Kırım hânı Mengli Girây Hân'ın vezîri mesâbesinde ağası idi. Kırım'da öğrendiği siyâset-i mülkiyyeyi Amasya'da icrâya kalkışdığından hem kendisine hem de halk ve a'yâna ziyân verdi. Bu yüzden şikâyetler çoğaldı.
Recebde ulemâdan Şeyh Hızırzâde İbrâhim Efendi bin Abdullatîf Efendi nakîb kâ'im-makâmı olup şa'bânın onuncu günü a'yân ve hâciyânın takdîm etdikleri mahzar üzerine mütesellim Ömer Ağa azl ve habs edilerek Çanakkale'ye gönderildi. Yerine Avkatlıoğlu Mehmed Ağa Amasya mütesellimi ve zilka'dede harbe gidip Murâdoğlu Hacı Mehmed Ağa vekîli oldu.
1147 senesi muharreminde mütesellim vekîli Hacı Mehmed Ağa baş a'yân ve Amasya mütesellimi, Sarâcoğlu Hacı Hâfız Mehmed Ağa hacıbaşı olup züamâdan Kara Hüseyinoğlu Abdullâh Bey alaybeyi ve kethüdâ-yı sadr-ı âlî Amasyalı [56] Hacı Feyzullâhoğlu Gül Ahmed Ağa vezâretle şeyhu'l-harem ve Cidde vâlîsi oldu. Saferde Mütevellîoğlu Hacı Hâfız Hasan Ağa şehir kethüdâsı olup rebî'ulevvelin on yedinci cum'a günü öğle vakti gün tutulup ortalık karardı. Cum'a namâzının edâsında câmi'lerde mumlar ve kandîller yakmağa mecbûriyet görüldü. Sonra havâyı müdhiş bir duman kaplayıp harâret artdı. İkindi vaktine kadar hava açabildi. Cemâziyelevvelde Selîm Paşa Sayda vâlîsi oldu.
In Modern English
Can Arslan Paşazâde is of the rank of vizier. On the nineteenth day of Rabi' al-awwal 1146 [30 August 1733] he became mutasarrıf of Amasya for the second time. Since he was charged with the war, Hacı Kâsımoğlu Ömer Ağa of Amasya, known as "Tatar Ağası" and one of the kapıcıbaşıs of the Exalted Court (palace), came as mütesellim of Amasya.
Hindîoğlu Hacı Mehmed Ağa, who had come to Amasya earlier after being dismissed from the kul kethüdalık, went to Yerevan for the war and fought there as deputy of the janissary aga. Kırmacıoğlu Ahmed Ağa, one of the serdars, was with him.
But the mütesellim Ömer Ağa's attitude and audacious conduct were wearying the ayan and the people. For Ömer Ağa had become the aga of the Crimean khan Mengli Giray Khan, almost in the place of his vizier. Because he set about applying in Amasya the administrative method he had learned in Crimea, he harmed both himself and the people and the ayan. For this reason complaints multiplied.
In Rajab Şeyh Hızırzâde İbrahim Efendi son of Abdullatîf Efendi, one of the scholars, became deputy nakîb. On the tenth day of Shaban [16 January 1734], on a joint petition of complaint presented by the ayan and the pilgrims, the mütesellim Ömer Ağa was dismissed, imprisoned and sent to Çanakkale. Avkatlıoğlu Mehmed Ağa became mütesellim of Amasya in his place; when he too went to the war in Dhu al-Qa'dah, Murâdoğlu Hacı Mehmed Ağa became his deputy.
In Muharram of 1147 [June 1734] the deputy mütesellim Hacı Mehmed Ağa became chief ayan and mütesellim of Amasya, and Saraçoğlu Hacı Hâfız Mehmed Ağa hacıbaşı. Abdullah Bey, son of Kara Hüseyin, one of the zeamet holders, became alaybeyi; Gül Ahmed Ağa son of Hacı Feyzullah of Amasya, kethüda of the grand vizierate, also became şeyhülharem (administrator of the Noble Sanctuary at Mecca) and governor of Jeddah with the rank of vizier. In Safar Mütevellîoğlu Hacı Hâfız Hasan Ağa became city steward. On the seventeenth day of Rabi' al-awwal, on a Friday at noon, the sun was eclipsed and everywhere grew dark. While the Friday prayer was being performed, candles and lamps had to be lit in the mosques. Then a terrible smoke covered the air and the heat increased. But by the afternoon prayer time the air was able to clear. In Jumada al-awwal Selim Pasha became governor of Sidon.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- dergâh-ı âlî kapıcıbaşısı: chief of the palace's gatekeepers; a ranked official who carries the sultan's orders to the provinces
- bundan akdem: before this
- ma'zûlen: having been dismissed
- ahvâl ve harekât-ı cesûrâne: attitude and audacious conduct
- bîzâr etmek: to weary, to exhaust
- mesâbesinde: in the place of, at the level of
- siyâset-i mülkiyye: method of governing a country
- hâciyân: pilgrims
- mahzar: a joint petition signed by many persons
- züamâ: zeamet holders, holders of large livelihood grants
- kethüdâ-yı sadr-ı âlî: kethüda of the grand vizier, kethüda of the grand vizierate
- şeyhu'l-harem: administrator of the Noble Sanctuary at Mecca
- gün tutulmak: solar eclipse
Selim Pasha's Second Mutasarrıflık
Selim Pasha is the Can Arslan Paşazâde of Çankırı who, two entries earlier, in 1143 [1730] came to Amasya, began the investigation of the Hacı İlyas quarter fire, and left the city early to go to the Iranian front. According to Hüsameddin's record, in this second mutasarrıflık too the pasha was busy with the war, looked after Amasya once more through a mütesellim, and about a year later moved to the governorship of Sidon (today's Sidon in Lebanon). No information on Selim Pasha was found in other sources.
Tatar Ağası Ömer Ağa and the Crimean Method
The most interesting person in the entry is the mütesellim Hacı Kâsımoğlu Ömer Ağa. Hüsameddin introduces him as the aga, of vizier standing, of the Crimean khan Mengli Giray. According to the list of Crimean khans, Mengli Giray II was khan twice, from 1724 to 1730 and from 1737 until his death in 1739. Ömer Ağa's service in Crimea thus falls in the first reign, 1724-1730; when he came to Amasya in 1733, Mengli Giray had been removed from the throne. What Hüsameddin means by "the siyaset-i mülkiyye he learned in Crimea" is not written plainly; the result, however, is that Ömer Ağa was dismissed by a mahzar signed jointly by the ayan and pilgrims in Amasya and exiled to Çanakkale. No information on Ömer Ağa was found in other sources.
This event shows another face of the order seen in the earlier entries. The ayan are not only a group quarrelling among themselves; they are strong enough to unite against an administrator sent from outside who disregards local balances and to have him removed through complaint in Istanbul. As Özcan Mert notes in his entry on the ayan, conveying the wishes of the city's people to Istanbul for the dismissal of bad administrators and the appointment of good ones was one of the ayan's main functions.
Gül Ahmed Pasha
Hacı Feyzullahoğlu Gül Ahmed Ağa, who rose from the kethüdalık of the grand vizierate to şeyhülharem and governor of Jeddah with viziership, is the man of Amasya mentioned two entries earlier as silahdar ağa of Mahmud I. This rise shows that Amasyans raised in the new sultan's palace reached the upper ranks of the state within a few years. No information on Gül Ahmed Pasha's later life was found in other sources.
On the Eclipse of 1147
The solar eclipse Hüsameddin records is the most noteworthy detail of the entry, and its date needs attention. A solar eclipse can occur only at the new moon phase, that is, between the last days and first days of a Hijri month. On the seventeenth day of a Hijri month the Moon is near full, so a solar eclipse is astronomically impossible. Moreover, 17 Rabi' al-awwal 1147, by calculation, corresponds to 17 August 1734 and to a Tuesday.
In the NASA catalog of solar eclipses prepared by Fred Espenak there are two eclipses near these years. The first is the total solar eclipse of 3 May 1734; the moment of greatest eclipse occurred at 10:15 universal time, in Africa at around 18 degrees north latitude and 25 degrees east longitude. The second is the annular eclipse of 26 October 1734, which occurred at 17:53 universal time, after sunset in Anatolia, so it cannot have been seen from here. The total eclipse of 3 May 1734 must have been seen from Amasya as a partial one; the moment of greatest eclipse falls at about noon by Amasya's local time. This agrees with Hüsameddin's record "at noon." However, this date corresponds in the Hijri calendar to the end of Dhu al-Qa'dah of the year 1146, and the day is a Monday, not a Friday. The month or year name may have been confused in Hüsameddin's source; or the recorded event may not be a real eclipse but another natural phenomenon that darkened the sky, together with the thick smoke and heat separately mentioned in the text. Both possibilities are inferences, and no definite conclusion could be reached.
In Feza Günergun's study on solar eclipse observations in Turkey no record for the year 1734 is given; Hüsameddin's reported note therefore has value, in this respect, as a little known testimony to a celestial event from the Ottoman provinces.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 4, Supplement (Bakiyye), p. 643–644. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Other sources