Çermiklidir. 1176 saferinin yirmi birinci günü Amasya mutasarrıfı oldu. Eşkıyâ harbinde yararlığı görülen Gürcüzâde Halîl Bey'e kapıcıbaşılık verilerek pâyesi yükseldi ve Amasya mütesellimi oldu.
Rebî'ulâhirde Çorum mutasarrıfı Mehmed Paşa Hüseyinâbâd ve Alaca tarafına kaçan eşkıyâyı toptan istîsâl ederek büyük yararlıklar gösterdiğinden vezâretle Trabzon vâlîsi ve İbeklioğlu Mustafâ Ağa da silahdâr ağası oldu. [106]
Kezâlik Amasya, Merzifon, Köprü a'yânı da eşkıyânın istîsâlinde hizmetler ederek Amasya sancağı eşkıyâdan temizlendi. Yararlıkları görülenlerden Hacı Efendizâde Hacı Mehmed Ağa'ya mîr-i mîrânlık, diğerlerine kapıcıbaşılık ve Akhasanoğlu Halîl, Semercioğlu Hüseyin, Topçuoğlu Mehmed Ağalar'a turnacıbaşılık rütbeleri verildi.
Şa'bânın ortalarında enderûnda harem-i hümâyûn mehterbaşısı olan Amasyalı Ahmed Ağa evkâf-ı sultâniyye mütevellîsi ve Mustafâ Ağa kâ'im-makâmı olup geldi. Şevvâlde Resmo mutasarrıfı vezîr Hüseyin Paşa'ya Amasya sancağı verildi.
In Modern English
He was a native of Çermik. On the twenty-first day of Safer 1176 [1762] he became mutasarrıf of Amasya. Gürcüzade Halil Bey, whose usefulness in the war against the bandits had been seen, was given the kapıcıbaşılık and had his rank raised, and became mütesellim of Amasya.
In Rebiülahir, since Mehmed Pasha, mutasarrıf of Çorum, showed great services by destroying wholesale the bandits who had fled toward Hüseyinabad and Alaca, he became governor of Trabzon with the rank of vizier; İbeklioğlu Mustafa Ağa also became his silahdar ağası.
Likewise the notables of Amasya, Merzifon and Köprü (Vezirköprü) rendered services in the destruction of the bandits, and the sanjak of Amasya was cleansed of bandits. Among those whose services were seen, Hacı Efendizade Hacı Mehmed Ağa was given the rank of beylerbeyi, the others that of kapıcıbaşı, and Akhasanoğlu Halil, Semercioğlu Hüseyin and Topçuoğlu Mehmed Ağas the rank of turnacıbaşı.
In the middle of Şaban Ahmed Ağa of Amasya, who was mehterbaşı of the imperial harem in the inner part of the palace, came to Amasya as steward of the sultan's waqfs, and Mustafa Ağa as his kaymakam (deputy). In Şevval the sanjak of Amasya was given to the vizier Hüseyin Pasha, mutasarrıf of Resmo.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- kapıcıbaşı: head of the palace gatekeepers; in this period also an honorary rank given to notables
- istîsâl: uprooting, destroying completely
- vezâret: the rank of vizier
- silahdâr ağası: the prominent ağa in a pasha's retinue who carried his weapons
- kezâlik: likewise
- turnacıbaşı: the rank of one of the senior ağas of the janissary corps
- enderûn: the inner part of the palace
- mehterbaşı: head of a unit in palace service
The End of the Banditry Movement and the Rewards
This short entry recounts that the levend bandits who had ravaged the surroundings of Amasya, Çorum, Tokat and Merzifon for several years were completely dispersed, and how those who had contributed to it were rewarded. Most of the ranks given as rewards originate from the palace and the janissary corps, but their holders are notables living in the provinces. Abdülkadir Özcan notes that in the last centuries the kapıcılar kethüdalığı and kapıcıbaşılık also began to be given as a rank or title, and even awarded to some notables. The kapıcıbaşılık given to Gürcüzade Halil Bey and the other notables is of this kind.
The turnacıbaşılık given to Akhasanoğlu Halil, Semercioğlu Hüseyin and Topçuoğlu Mehmed Ağas, on the other hand, is a rank of the janissary corps. According to Özcan's explanation, the turnacıbaşı was the lowest in rank of the six great ağas called the ocak ağas, standing within the corps above the hasekibaşı and below the saksoncubaşı; his symbolic duty was to take part in the sultan's drive hunts, and his real duty was to keep order in the orta he commanded. That two of those rewarded, Akhasanoğlu Halil Ağa and Semercioğlu Hüseyin Ağa, appear in the previous entry as Amasya's janissary serdars shows that the rank was given to the corps's provincial members. Hacı Efendizade Hacı Mehmed Ağa, on the other hand, was given the beylerbeyilik directly; Hüsameddin mentions him earlier as the selam ağası who pursued the bandits in the direction of Lâdik, Akdağ and Taşyuva.
The Question of Mehmed Pasha's Governorship of Trabzon
Hüsameddin writes that Sarızade Mehmed Pasha became governor of Trabzon with the vizierate in Rebiülahir 1176 [October-November 1762]. Two studies based on official appointment records do not confirm this record. According to Mehmet İnbaşı's list of the governors of Trabzon, the vizier Hacı Abdurrahman Pasha was in office in the province at those dates; Abdurrahman Pasha, who was governor for twenty months from 9 October 1761 to 7 May 1763, was replaced on 26 Şevval 1176 [8 May 1763] by the vizier Mehmed Pasha, former governor of Erzurum. The appointment of Sarızade Mehmed to Trabzon, on the other hand, is dated only 17 Zilkade 1179 [27 April 1766]. According to the information Ahmet Önal gives, Sarızade also appears officially as mutasarrıf of Amasya until 10 Şevval 1176 [24 April 1763] and was appointed to Sivas with the rank of beylerbeyi in June 1763; Önal counts him among the pashas who administered Sivas with the rank of mîr-i mîrân. In that case Hüsameddin's record of the vizierate and the governorship of Trabzon must have arisen either from the bringing forward of an appointment a few years later or from confusion with a namesake pasha. Hüsameddin's recounting in this entry of his transfer to Çorum and of Süleyman Pasha's second coming to Amasya has also left no trace in the appointment registers; it is possible that such short-term arrangements entered local records and never appeared in the registers at the center.
The vizier Hüseyin Pasha, mutasarrıf of Resmo, who is reported at the end of the entry as appointed to Amasya, also does not fully coincide with the official records. According to the appointment record Önal relays, on 10 Şevval 1176 "Osman Bey, brother-in-law of Çeteci Abdullah Pasha" was brought to the sanjak of Amasya in Sarızade's place. Hüseyin Pasha himself and this difference in records are treated in the notes to the next entry.
No information was found in other sources on Süleyman Pasha of Çermik, Gürcüzade Halil Bey and Ahmed Ağa of Amasya, the mehterbaşı of the harem.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, Supplement to Volume 4, p. 659–659. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Abdülkadir Özcan, "Kapıcı", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kapici
- Abdülkadir Özcan, "Turnacıbaşı", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/turnacibasi
- Mehmet İnbaşı, "Trabzon / Batum Eyâleti Valileri (1755-1795)", Atatürk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Enstitüsü Dergisi, 31, 2006, p. 161-191.
- Ahmet Önal, "Sivas Eyaleti Valileri ve Beylerbeyileri (1753-1792)", Tarihin Peşinde, 21, 2019, http://www.tarihinpesinde.com/dergimiz/sayi21/M21_02.pdf