In 1048 (1638), fighting before Baghdad in the column of the grand vizier Tayyar Mehmed Pasha, the Amasya cavalry commander Şîrî Ahmed Bey fell. His father, Çerkes Arslan Bey, was a freed slave who had risen by the sword to the rank of sanjak governor; the son followed the same road, distinguished himself in the Persian campaigns, became an alaybeyi and served two grand viziers. In Hüsameddin's pages he is handsome and brave; a poet as well, though not a single line of his has survived.

Life

Hüsameddin's entry is the short life of a soldier:

Amasyalıdır. Tercemesi yukarıda yazılan Çerkes Arslan Bey'in oğludur. Pederinin vefâtında zeâmetle kayrıldı. Çerkes Mehmed Paşa'ya intisâb edib dâiresinde tefeyyüz ederek İran muhârebelerinde isbât-ı liyâkat edib alaybeyi oldu. Paşa'nın vefâtında Bayrâm Paşa'ya intisâb etdi. Ancak Bağdat muhârebesinde Sadr-ı a'zam Tayyar Paşa kolunda 1048'de şehîd oldu. Endâm ve tabiatı güzel, yiğit, şâir idi.

Plainly put: A native of Amasya, he was a son of Çerkes Arslan Bey, whose life has been told above. On his father's death he was granted a zeamet. He attached himself to Çerkes Mehmed Pasha, was trained in his household, proved his worth in the Persian wars and became an alaybeyi. When the pasha died he attached himself to Bayram Pasha. But in the battle for Baghdad he fell as a martyr in 1048 in the column of the grand vizier Tayyar Pasha. He was handsome in figure and character, brave, and a poet.

His Father Çerkes Arslan Bey

The entry opens by referring to his father. Arslan Bey, according to his own entry in the sixth volume, had been a slave of Hacı Beyzâde Ahmed Pasha of Amasya. Through his master's patronage he obtained a zeamet, and his exploits in the Balkan wars raised him first to alaybeyi and then to sanjak governor. In 1009 (1600-01) he had retired in Amasya with the administration of the Sultan Bayezid endowments; in 1011 (1602-03) he was wounded when the Karayazıcı rebels attacked Amasya, spent the years of disorder in the city, and in 1017 (1608-09) became a sanjak governor again. He died in the Persian wars. Hüsameddin calls him "a ghazi famous as Çerkes Bey". His sons were Ahmed, Mehmed and Mustafa Bey; Mustafa Bey became one of the notables of Amasya, and his descendants were still living in the city in the nineteenth century under the name "Çerkesoğulları".

That Şîrî received a zeamet on his father's death shows Arslan Bey's services returning to his son as a living. The year of Arslan Bey's death is not certain; he is known to have died in the Persian wars after 1017.

In the Service of Two Grand Viziers

Ahmed Bey first entered the household of Çerkes Mehmed Pasha. Hüsameddin does not introduce this pasha separately; he only says that in his retinue Şîrî proved himself in the Persian wars and became an alaybeyi. After the pasha's death he joined Bayram Pasha. Bayram Pasha, according to Hüsameddin, was the son of Kurd Ağa of Lâdik, born in Istanbul and raised in Amasya, and in 1039 (1630) he had become governor of the sanjak of Amasya. Raised to the grand vizierate in 1046 (1637), the pasha toured Amasya too while gathering the army for Murad IV's Baghdad campaign, had water brought to the city at his own expense, built fountains and founded a Mevlevî lodge. He died suddenly near Urfa on the road to Baghdad in the summer of 1048 (August 1638).

After his death the grand vizierate passed to Tayyar Mehmed Pasha, also from Lâdik. Tayyar Pasha directed the siege of Baghdad and, during the assaults made on the Akkapı side, was shot dead on 16 Şaban 1048 (23 December 1638) while advancing sword in hand; the city fell to the Ottomans the next day. That Şîrî Ahmed Bey died "in Tayyar Pasha's column" suggests that he too fell in this siege, most probably in the weeks of November and December 1638. Hüsameddin does not give the day of his death.

A thread runs back to Amasya through this chain: Arslan Bey's master was from Amasya, Bayram Pasha grew up in Amasya, and Tayyar Pasha came from Lâdik in the sanjak of Amasya. Şîrî was a provincial bey who rose by passing from one of the military households of this circle to another.

Poetry

In an entry that tells the life of a soldier, Ahmed Bey's poetry rests on a single word in the last sentence; none of his poems has been traced. His pen name comes from the Persian "şîr", meaning lion; since his father's name was Arslan, also meaning lion, it is a strong possibility that the pen name was chosen as an allusion to his father's name. The entry offers no such explanation.

Chronology

1009 (1600-01): His father Arslan Bey retires with the administration of the Sultan Bayezid endowments.

1011 (1602-03): His father is wounded when the Karayazıcı rebels attack Amasya.

1017 (1608-09): His father becomes a sanjak governor again; he later dies in the Persian wars.

1046 (1637): Bayram Pasha, whose service Ahmed Bey entered, becomes grand vizier.

1048 (1638): Bayram Pasha dies in August; Ahmed Bey falls at the siege of Baghdad in the column of Tayyar Mehmed Pasha.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources