The Dedezâdes were the descendants of Hacı Yûsuf Ağa, a leading notable (ayan) of Köprü, a town in the sanjak of Amasya that is today the district of Vezirköprü in Samsun, in the early seventeenth century. Hüsameddin usually calls him "Dede Yûsuf Ağa" and traces every branch of the family back to his four sons and two daughters. The event that shaped the family's fortunes was the marriage of Yûsuf Ağa's daughter Ayşe Hanım to Mehmed Ağa, a cavalryman who had settled in Köprü and who would later become the grand vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. The maternal uncles and cousins of Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha and Fâzıl Mustafa Pasha, the sons of that marriage, and their children served for half a century in the households of the Köprülü grand viziers as stewards (kethüdâ), chief gatekeepers and treasury officials, then returned to Köprü to become the town's voivodes, notables and endowment trustees. Hüsameddin's Amasya Tarihi (History of Amasya) contains fifteen entries that carry the family name in their titles, seven entries recorded under other epithets and dozens of brief notices in its chronicle sections. Together these records allow a chain of roughly three hundred years to be followed, from the beginning of the seventeenth century to the beginning of the twentieth.

The family lived mainly in Köprü, and its connection with Amasya ran through posts held at the sanjak seat. Two of its members came to Amasya as governor (mutasarrıf) and deputy governor (mütesellim), one administered the endowments of Sultan Bayezid, and in the nineteenth century a second branch claiming descent from the family appeared in Merzifon. The book's entries on the family are often short, and its lineages, death dates and fathers' names do not always agree with one another.

Name and Origins

Hüsameddin ties the family name explicitly to Yûsuf Ağa. In the entry on Ayşe Hanım, after listing her brothers Mehmed, Ali and Mustafa Ağa, he writes that "these and their descendants were called the Dedezâdes." He does not explain why Yûsuf Ağa was called "Dede." In several places the book introduces him as the "li-ümmin dede," the maternal grandfather, of Fâzıl Ahmed and Mustafa Pasha; that the epithet arose from his being the grand viziers' grandfather is plausible, but this is an inference, and "Dede" may equally have been Yûsuf Ağa's own nickname. Family members appear in the records as "Dedezâde," "Dede Yûsuf Ağazâde," "Hacı Yûsuf Ağazâde" and once as "Dedeoğlu." Two entries give the name of Yûsuf Ağa's father as Ahmed Bey; nothing is known of the generations before him.

In the early seventeenth century Yûsuf Ağa was an influential notable of Köprü. Hüsameddin writes that after the town burned in the Celâlî bandits' attack of 1011 [1602-03], the endowment trustees partly repaired its mosques and schools, while Yûsuf Ağa, one of Köprü's notables, built a bathhouse and restored several burned prayer halls. Evliya Çelebi, who passed through the town in 1057 [1647], says that Yûsuf Ağa had seventy charitable buildings there and names the Hacı Yûsuf Ağa Mosque in Taşkale together with his inn, school, bathhouse and covered market (bedesten). Sultan Murat Topcu notes that Ayşe Hanım's endowment deed also assigned a reciter to read the Qur'an for her father's soul.

The book also contains other groups that carry the same epithet or a similar name but whose kinship with this family is never shown, and they must be kept apart. In Amasya the Halveti sheikhs of the Hızır Pasha dervish lodge are called "Memi Dedezâde"; their line goes back to Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi, nicknamed Memi Dede, who lived in the Şamice quarter. The sheikhly families of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge likewise bear names such as "Ârif Dedezâde," "Hacı Dedezâde" or "İsmail Dedezâde"; here "dede" is the title of Mevlevi sheikhs. The town steward Hacı Mehmed Çelebi, a descendant of the Great Çeribaşı, was nicknamed "Zanbak Dede," so his sons appear as "Zanbak Dedezâde," and the sheikhs of the Pamuk Dede zaviye in the Geldiklan district are recorded as "Pamuk Dedezâde." The book establishes no kinship between any of these families and the Dedezâdes of Köprü. The "Hacı Yûsuf Ağazâdes" of Amasya are likewise a separate family: Hüsameddin traces them to Hacı Yûsuf Ağa, a freed slave of Rahtuvan Paşazâde Hacı Ahmed Bey, while the family's own tradition links them to Kömüşoğlu Hacı Yûsuf Ağa. Mehmed Ağa "Deli Yûsuf Ağazâde," one of the Amasya notables, is not connected with this line either.

The Family Through the Generations

Ayşe Hanım and the Köprülü Marriage

The best-known member of the family is Yûsuf Ağa's daughter Ayşe Hanım. According to Mücteba İlgürel, Mehmed Ağa, a devşirme recruit from the sanjak of Berat in Albania, was sent out from the palace school to the cavalry regiments, went to Köprü, married Ayşe Hanım there and became known as "Köprülü" because he lived in the town. Hüsameddin records Ayşe Hanım as the pasha's second wife and writes that Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha was born of this marriage in Köprü in 1045 [1635-36]. Her entry relates that during her husband's years of dismissal and hardship she stood by him, "sacrificing all she owned," and that she was therefore held in great esteem during his grand vizierate. Topcu reports that Ayşe Hanım had three sons, Ahmed, Mustafa and Ali, and four daughters, Saliha, Hatice, Fatma and Emine, and that Saliha Hanım married Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha. The description of Kara Mustafa Pasha as Abdülbâkî Pasha's "kinsman" in the latter's entry can be explained by this marriage.

During the grand vizierate of her son Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha, Ayşe Hanım built in Köprü a small stone mosque with a school and a bathhouse beside it in the Toprak Kale quarter, and a large covered market with an inn and a fountain in the Orta Cami quarter, and endowed them together with other properties. The sources differ on her death. Hüsameddin writes that she died in 1088 [1677-78] and was buried in her husband's tomb, while Topcu states that her epitaph in the tomb of the Köprülü complex at Çemberlitaş in Istanbul bears the date 1085 [1674-75]. The book also gives different dates for her endowment deed: the section describing Köprü says she drew up her endowments in 1078 [1667-68], whereas the entry on Cânibî Ahmed Efendi refers to a deed of hers dated 1086 [1675-76]. The copies of the deed examined by Topcu are dated 1102 [1690-91] and 1107 [1695-96] and were drawn up after Ayşe Hanım's death. Hüsameddin notes that he saw the deed and that the endowment's first trustee was her brother Büyük (Elder) Ali Ağa.

Zeyneb Hanım and the Kıblelizâdes

Yûsuf Ağa's other daughter, Zeyneb Hanım, married Kıbleli Mustafa Pasha, one of the notables of Köprü. In the chronicle section Hüsameddin lists this man among the leading figures of Köprü in 1060 [1650] as "Müftîzâde Kıbleli Mustafa Ağa, former voivode of Tokat and trustee of the Amasya treasury of escheats"; it is very likely that he is the Kıbleli Mustafa Pasha who became governor of Sivas in 1069 [1658-59]. During her husband's years of favour Zeyneb Hanım built a small stone inn and a school (darütta'lim) in the Taş Kale quarter of Köprü, endowed a reading of a section of the Qur'an at her sister Ayşe Hanım's mosque, and had her endowment deed drawn up in 1088 [1677-78]. Her sons were Ali and Ahmed Bey and her daughter Âbide Hanım. Ali Bey's son was Mehmed Bey, whose son was Mahmud Bey; Ahmed Bey's son was Mahmud Bey, whose sons were Ali and Ahmed Bey. Hüsameddin says this branch was called the "Kıblelizâdes." The entry on Amcazâde Hüseyin Pasha counts the sudden killing, through the influence of Şeyhülislam Feyzullah Efendi, of the pasha's old friend Kıblelizâde Ali Bey among the reasons that drove him to resign in 1114 [1702], which suggests that this branch too remained within the Köprülü circle; Aktepe also writes that the dismissal and killing of some of his associates deepened the pasha's distress before his resignation. This Ali Bey was probably Zeyneb Hanım's son, but the book does not say so explicitly.

The Sons of Yûsuf Ağa

Hüsameddin names Mehmed, Ali and Mustafa Ağa as Ayşe Hanım's brothers, while the entry on Hasan Ağa makes him a son of Yûsuf Ağa as well. Mehmed Ağa appears in the chronicle as "Kayın Mehmed Ağa," that is, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha's brother-in-law. According to Ayşe Hanım's entry he was the pasha's steward during the grand vizierate but did not rise much further. The chronicle records that he came to Amasya in 1057 [1647] as trustee of the endowments of Sultan Bayezid, became voivode of Köprü around 1060 [1650] and a few years later was again appointed trustee of the imperial endowments. In the account of the events of 1069 [1658-59] it is written that Köprülü Yûsuf Ağazâde Kayın Mehmed Ağa, steward of the grand vizier, was dismissed and retired because he was suspected of being a partisan of Abaza Hasan Pasha. In describing the building of Köprü, Hüsameddin also says that "Dede Yûsuf Ağazâde Mehmed Ağa" built a mosque and a school in the Değirmenbaşı quarter. Mustafa Ağa's arrival from Köprü as trustee of the Sultan Bayezid endowments is placed in 1068 [1657-58], and the chronicle notes separately that he was Kayın Mehmed Ağa's brother.

Hasan Ağa served as a cavalryman in the retinue of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha and became voivode of Köprü during his grand vizierate. When he was dismissed for his conduct, he was made trustee of the imperial endowments in Amasya through the favour of Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha, his "sister's son" in Hüsameddin's words. He then went to Istanbul and became steward of the harem and chief of the gatekeepers in the grand vizier's household. Because his harsh temper offended some statesmen he was retired in 1082 [1671-72], and he died in 1085 [1674-75]. His entry names his sons as Hacı Hüseyin Pasha and Mehmed and Mustafa Ağa. Who this Hüseyin Pasha was cannot be determined from the book. The father of Amcazâde Hüseyin Pasha, the family's patron in the early eighteenth century, was also called Hasan Ağa, but in the pasha's own entry Hüsameddin identifies this Hasan Ağa as Kozlıcalı Ali Ağazâde Amca Hasan Ağa, a half-brother of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha through his mother; M. Münir Aktepe, too, makes Amcazâde the son of Hasan Ağa, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha's younger brother. It is possible that the two Hasan Ağas have been confused.

Büyük Ali Ağa has no entry of his own, but he is known to have been the first trustee of Ayşe Hanım's endowment and is called Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha's "maternal uncle." His son Ahmed Efendi, while treasury clerk to Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha, became clerk of the imperial arsenal through the patronage of Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha, who was appointed grand vizier in 1087 [1676-77], and because he held the post for a long time he came to be known as "Cânibî." He became superintendent of barley in 1098, chief treasurer in 1103, was dismissed in 1104, became chief treasurer for a second time in 1112 under the grand vizierate of Amcazâde Hüseyin Pasha, and died in 1114 [1702-03]. His brother Abdülkerîm Ağa served in the Cretan war as Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha's sword-bearer; having later offended the pasha he returned to Köprü, became voivode of Köprü under Kara Mustafa Pasha's grand vizierate, and then trustee of Ayşe Hanım's endowment and a notable of Köprü. He built a madrasa in Köprü, endowed his property to it, and died around 1106 [1694-95]. In describing the building of the town Hüsameddin mentions "a madrasa by Abdülkerîm Ağa" and adds that eminent scholars taught at the Köprü madrasa.

The Sons of Mustafa Ağa and the Köprülü Grand Viziers

The family's most active branch at the end of the seventeenth century was formed by the sons of Mustafa Ağa. Hacı Hüseyin Ağa gained influence and wealth as voivode of Köprü for many years, and in 1106 [1694-95] he became treasurer of the sanjaks of Sivas, Amasya, Divriği and Arapkir. The following year, when a debt of 342,512 akçe beyond his remittances came to light and the authorities sought to collect it from his guarantor Uzun Yenli Ahmed Ağa, Hüseyin Ağa went to Istanbul, paid the debt and saved his guarantor. In 1109 [1697-98] he became chief of the gatekeepers under the grand vizierate of Amcazâde Hüseyin Pasha. When the pasha's followers were imprisoned and their goods seized after his resignation and death in 1114, he too was imprisoned, his great fortune confiscated, and he was sent back to Köprü. He died in 1118 [1706-07]. His sons were Mehmed and Mustafa Ağa, and his son-in-law was his nephew Ahmed Ağa bin Küçük (Younger) Ali Ağa.

His brother Hacı Hasan Ağa gained influence among the aides of his cousin Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha during his grand vizierate and, in the time of Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha, was given several commissions and became one of the chief gatekeepers of the imperial court. Kara İbrahim Pasha, who became grand vizier after the execution of Kara Mustafa Pasha, was known for his hostility to the Köprülü family; Hasan Ağa was sent back to Köprü by him in 1095 [1683-84]. He became a notable of Köprü under the grand vizierate of Fâzıl Mustafa Pasha and died around 1113 [1701-02]. Hüsameddin says of him that "he was of a famous house."

Abdülbâkî Pasha is the only member of the family to reach the rank of vizier. He was brought up in Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha's household; after the pasha's death he withdrew to his mansion in Köprü and kept away from his kinsman Kara Mustafa Pasha. When Kara Mustafa Pasha was executed in 1095, he went to Istanbul, joined the aides of Tekfurdağlı Mustafa Pasha and became his steward. When his master died in Muharram 1101 [1689], he became customs superintendent of Erzurum, where he attached himself to Seyyid Feyzullah Efendi, tutor to the sultan; in 1104 he became superintendent of Gümüşhane. After the accession of Mustafa II in 1106 [1695] he came to Istanbul as commander of the sipahis through the patronage of Feyzullah Efendi, by then Şeyhülislam, became governor of Erzurum with the rank of vizier in 1107, and moved to the governorship of Trabzon in 1110 [1698-99]. He died in Trabzon in 1111 [1699-1700] and was buried in the graveyard of the Hatuniye Mosque. As he had no children, his mansion in Köprü passed to his brothers Pîrî and Hasan Ağa. The family's relationship with Feyzullah Efendi thus appears double-edged: Abdülbâkî Pasha rose under his protection, while his cousin Cânibî Ahmed Efendi was dismissed from the treasury in 1112 at his behest.

The descendants of Mustafa Ağa's fourth son, Küçük Ali Ağa, formed the family's line of notables in Köprü. For his son Ahmed Ağa the book has two separate entries and a brief notice. According to the first entry, Ahmed Ağa held a large fief, was brought up in the household of Fâzıl Numan Pasha and became steward of his harem during his grand vizierate; but in league with his kinsman Kitapçı Ali Efendi, the grand vizier's steward, he brought about Numan Pasha's dismissal, was sent back to Köprü in 1122 [1710], became voivode of Köprü and died around 1134 [1721-22]. The second entry bears the name Derviş Ahmed Ağa: he served in the household of Köprülüzâde Abdullah Pasha, was made deputy governor of Sivas by the pasha when the latter became governor of Sivas in 1119 [1707-08], returned to Köprü in 1121, became voivode and notable of Köprü in 1122 and died around 1130 [1717-18]. The entry on Hacı Hüseyin Efendi, meanwhile, states that "Ahmed Ağa bin Ali Ağa" died in 1141 [1728-29]. The same father's name, a voivodeship beginning in the same year and close death dates suggest that these records belong to a single person; this is an inference, and the year of death cannot be settled from the book. Ahmed Ağa's son Mahmud Ağa died in Istanbul in 1149 [1736-37]; the descendants of his son Kâsım Ağa were called the "Hacı Kâsımzâdes" in Köprü.

The Hüseyin Efendis of the Büyük Ali Ağa Line

The descendants of Büyük Ali Ağa's son Mahmud Ağa rose in the scribal and palace services. Hacı Hüseyin Efendi bin Mahmud Ağa came to Istanbul as a child and entered the household of Amcazâde Hüseyin Pasha. In 1102 [1690-91] he became steward of the pasha's household during his deputy grand vizierate, chief gatekeeper in 1105 and city superintendent in 1107, and in 1108 he was made governor of the sanjak of Bozok with the rank of beylerbey. In 1109, under his master's grand vizierate, he became acting superintendent of the registers, in 1110 secretary to the grand vizier, and was regarded as the pasha's "intimate and counsellor." With the pasha's resignation and death in 1114 he fell on hard times, and some time later he was employed as an accountant. When Fâzıl Numan Pasha became the sultan's son-in-law he attached himself to him, and in 1121 [1709-10] he became steward to Hatice Sultan; after managing the princess's household for about six years he died in 1127 [1715] and was buried at Eyüp. He endowed several shops in Köprü and stipulated a reading of a section of the Qur'an for his wife Emine Hanım.

His nephew Hacı Hüseyin Efendi bin Mustafa Efendi entered the palace school with the help of his uncle Hüseyin Ağa, was trained in the secretariat of the chief black eunuch and rose to the rank of hâcegân. He was dismissed and sent to Köprü in 1134 [1721-22], in 1135 [1722-23] endowed his shops and properties in Köprü with himself as trustee, and died in Ramadan 1146 [1733-34]. The administration of the endowment passed to his son Mehmed Efendi, on the latter's death in 1165 [1752] to his grandson through a daughter, also named Mehmed Efendi, and on this Mehmed Efendi's death in 1213 [1798-99] to his sons Hüseyin and Yahya Ağa. This entry is the clearest record showing the family running a family endowment without interruption into the early nineteenth century. The book, however, gives a second date for the same person: at the end of the entry on Alaybeyizâde Hüseyin Bey it is said that "Dedezâde Hacı Hüseyin Efendi bin Hacı Mustafa Efendi, a famous notable of Köprü" died around 1201-1203 [1786-89]. This may refer to a later generation bearing the same name.

İbrâhim Pasha and Torun Ya'kûb Ağa

In the mid-eighteenth century the family appears directly in the government of Amasya. İbrâhim Pasha, son of Dedezâde Hacı Mustafa Ağa, a notable of Köprü, held a large fief before entering the household of Köprülüzâde Abdullah Pasha, whose steward and chief gatekeeper he became. In 1145 [1732-33] he became governor of Malatya with the rank of beylerbey, and then beylerbey of Şehrizor. The chronicle introduces him as "known for being a Dedezâde." In Dhu al-Hijja 1149 [1737] he became governor of Amasya; being occupied with the wars against Nadir Shah, he appointed the Köprü notable Dedezâde Torun Ya'kûb Ağa as deputy governor of Amasya. In 1150 he became governor of Çorum, in Jumada al-Ula 1151 [1738] governor of Amasya for a second time and was assigned to the Vidin army; on this occasion too Torun Ya'kûb Ağa ran the city as deputy governor. İbrâhim Pasha died in Sha'ban of the same year; his entry records his death as "a martyr's." His son was Mustafa Bey. In view of the dates, it is more likely that his father Hacı Mustafa Ağa was a different Mustafa Ağa who lived a generation after Yûsuf Ağa's son Mustafa Ağa; the book does not give this Mustafa Ağa's lineage. Hacı Ahmed Ağa bin Hacı Mustafa Ağa, another notable of Köprü, also served for a long time as a notable of the town, prevailed in a contest for influence with Haseki Hacı Mehmed Efendi and died in 1171 [1757-58]; he may have been İbrâhim Pasha's brother, but this too is an inference.

Torun Ya'kûb Ağa's lineage is given in full in the entry on Hacı Torunzâde Ahmed Bey: Torun Ya'kûb Ağa son of Hacı Ahmed Ağa son of Hacı Ali Ağa son of Hacı Mustafa Ağa son of Hacı Dede Yûsuf Ağa. Ya'kûb Ağa was therefore the son of Ahmed Ağa, son of Küçük Ali Ağa. The chronicle shows him in Amasya a third time in 1157 [1744-45] as deputy to Alacalı Osman Pasha and adds that he was also called "Ulu (Great) Ya'kûb Ağa"; because he knew the affairs of Köprü, he had those who had raided the court and killed the former mufti Hacı Mustafa and the former notable Hacı Hüseyin Ağa brought to Amasya and began an inquiry. Hacı Ahmed Bey, son of his son the fief-holder Hacı Mehmed Bey, succeeded to his father's fief, went to the Russian war as colonel of Amasya, and then, attaching himself to Canikli Hacı Ali Pasha, became voivode of Köprü. When Hacı Ali Pasha and his sons fled in 1193 [1779] he withdrew for a time, became voivode again in 1196 [1781-82], drove Çumuluzâde Hacı Ali Pasha out of Köprü and died in 1203 [1788-89]. His sons were Mehmed and Ömer Bey; among Ömer Bey's descendants, Ömer Bey bin Hasan Bey bin Mehmed Bey died in 1321 [1903-04] while a member of the Köprü municipal council.

The Hacı Kâsımzâdes and Uzun Hüseyin Ağa

The Hacı Kâsımzâdes, the other branch of the Küçük Ali Ağa line, remained among the gentry of Köprü in the nineteenth century. Hacı İbrâhim Ağa, son of Dedezâde Hacı Ahmed Ağa bin Hacı Kâsım Ağa, was among the opponents of Cârullahoğlu Hacı Hüseyin Ağa, a notable of Köprü. He made his name in the Russian wars; when Hacı Hüseyin Ağa was dismissed and exiled after the killing of the Köprü mufti Kıldırzâde Şeyh Mustafa Efendi in 1213 [1798-99], he became voivode of Köprü, was later dismissed, and in 1220 [1805-06] was reappointed voivode after the flight of Hacı Paşazâde Mehmed Emin Bey. He died in 1228 [1813] and was buried in the Dedebaşı cemetery. From the same line, Hâlis Mehmed Ağa was the son of Hacı Ahmed Ağa bin Mehmed Ağa bin Hacı Kâsım Ağa, who died in 1264 [1847-48]. He learned some reading and writing, served as a member and examining magistrate of the court of first instance, entered the administrative council and died in 1319 [1901-02]. His sons were Mehmed Âkif, Abdülhamid and Hâfız Abdullah Efendi. Hacı Kâsımzâde Mustafa Efendi, in whose hands Hüsameddin examined genealogical documents in Köprü, probably belonged to this family.

Hacı Hüseyin Ağa, nicknamed Uzun (the Tall), was the son of Dedezâde Hacı Abdullah Ağa bin Ahmed Ağa. He was for a time a notable of Köprü, then deputy governor of Merzifon, and died in 1186 [1772-73]. His sons were Seyyid Hacı Mehmed Ağa and Seyyid Hacı Ebûbekir Ağa, and his brother was Hacı Yûsuf Ağa. At the end of the same entry it is recorded that Dedezâde Hacı Hüseyin Ağa bin Hacı Yahya Ağa, another notable of Köprü, also died childless in 1186 as trustee of Ayşe Hanım's endowment and notable of Köprü, and that his brother was Hacı Mehmed Ağa. This note shows that Ayşe Hanım's endowment was still in the family's hands in 1186 [1772-73].

İbrâhim Pasha the Tezkireci

The line of Kayın Mehmed Ağa also produced a statesman. Hüsameddin writes that İbrâhim Pasha, son of Yûsuf Ağa, son of Hacı Mehmed Ağa, brother-in-law and steward of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, was called "Dedezâde." He entered the steward's office at the Sublime Porte, became secretary to the steward under the grand vizierate of Amcazâde Hüseyin Pasha and, having become memorandum officer (tezkireci) to the grand vizier in 1110 [1698-99], was known by the nickname "Tezkireci." He was dismissed on the pasha's resignation in 1114, again became memorandum officer at the accession of Ahmed III, and in 1122 became the grand vizier's steward under Baltacı Mehmed Pasha. In the following years he served as clerk of the sipahis, registrar of the Morea, first daybook clerk, steward of the grand vizier for a second time and chief of the gatekeepers; in 1129 [1716-17] he became acting deputy of the imperial stirrup with the rank of vizier, and then commander of Sofia and of Chania. He escaped the hostility of Kayseriyeli Mehmed Pasha by requesting retirement, became commander of Yenikale and Bender through the patronage of Nevşehirli Damad İbrâhim Pasha, became governor of Euboea in 1133, and died there in 1134 [1722].

The Merzifon Branch

In the nineteenth century a family bearing the name "Dedezâde" is found in Merzifon. Hüsameddin bases the family's origin on the account of the poet Seyyid Mehmed Hilmî Efendi, whom he met in Merzifon: Hilmî Efendi's uncle Hacı Ebûbekir Efendi was the son of Seyyid Hacı Mehmed Ağa, "of the descendants of Dede Yûsuf Ağa, father-in-law of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha," and the lineage runs upwards through Seyyid Ebûbekir Ağa, Hacı Mehmed Ağa and Hacı Hüseyin Efendi. In Ebûbekir Efendi's endowment deed dated 1249 [1833-34] his father is named "es-Seyyid el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa bin es-Seyyid Ebûbekir Ağa bin Mehmed Ağa." The link connecting this chain to the Köprü branch is not shown in the book. It is striking that Uzun Hacı Hüseyin Ağa was deputy governor of Merzifon and that his sons bore the names Seyyid Hacı Mehmed Ağa and Seyyid Hacı Ebûbekir Ağa; but the number of generations does not match the chain given by Hilmî Efendi, and the connection remains an inference. It should also be noted that this branch carries the title "seyyid," which appears in no member of the Köprü branch.

Hacı Ebûbekir Efendi was the son of the sister of Seyyid Abdullah Ağa, the sultan's sword-bearer, and through his uncle he entered the palace school at a young age. He became head of the privy chamber attendants in 1224 [1809-10] and chief valet in 1233; in 1244 he became coffee-master to Mahmud II, in 1245 [1830] steward of the imperial treasury, and in 1247 [1831-32], when the office of sword-bearer was abolished, superintendent of the inner palace, winning the sultan's exceptional favour. He died in Ramadan 1251 [1835-36] and was buried near the tomb of Eyüp Sultan. He had a mosque and a school each in Merzifon and Hasankale, and his father had a madrasa in the town of Hacıhamza. His brother Hüseyin Ağa's son Hilmî Mehmed Efendi studied in Merzifon and Amasya, received a rotating professorship and a stipend through the favour of the governors of Sivas, served as deputy marshal of the descendants of the Prophet (nakîbüleşraf) and died in 1330 [1911-12]. Hüsameddin relates that he met him several times, that the poems he requested were never sent, and that he wrote down some couplets from his own lips. Hilmî Efendi's verse exchanges and satires with the poet Hacı Bayramzâde Sıdkı Efendi were repeated from mouth to mouth in Merzifon.

Besim Mehmed Pasha was also from Merzifon, and his entry introduces him as the son of Hüseyin Efendi, a relative of Ebûbekir Efendi. He was trained in the palace and became chief clerk in the steward's office at the Sublime Porte. In 1245, through Ebûbekir Efendi's patronage, he was made a captain and transferred to the Imperial Arsenal of Ordnance; he became major in 1247, colonel in 1255 and brigadier in 1263. In 1267 he became governor of Sofia with the rank of beylerbey, then governor of Niş and commander of Belgrade; in 1270 [1854] he was appointed governor of Yanya (Ioannina) with the rank of vizier. He was dismissed after complaints from the notables of Yanya, went to Diyarbekir in 1272 as governor of Kurdistan, and in 1274 [1858], dismissed from there too, came to Amasya. He fell ill in the mansion of Gürcüzâde Deli Mustafa Bey in the Hacı İlyas quarter, where he was living, died childless on the Night of Power of the same year and was buried in the garden of the Abdüllatif Efendi Library. Hüsameddin notes that his gravestone also records that he died without issue. He is the only member of the Merzifon branch whose grave in Amasya is known.

Buildings, Endowments and Neighbourhood

The Dedezâdes' charitable works are concentrated in Köprü rather than in Amasya. Evliya Çelebi attributes to Yûsuf Ağa a mosque, an inn, a school, a bathhouse and a covered market in Taşkale, while Hüsameddin mentions a bathhouse he built after 1011 and his repair of burned prayer halls. Topcu identifies the single bathhouse adjoining the Kale Mosque in the Taşkale quarter with the Hacı Yûsuf Ağa Bathhouse mentioned by Evliya Çelebi; Ayşe Hanım's deed refers to it as a property she had repaired. The sources differ on the founder of the covered market in the Orta Cami quarter: Evliya Çelebi attributes it to Yûsuf Ağa, Hüsameddin to Ayşe Hanım, and some art historians to Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha; Topcu notes that Ayşe Hanım's deeds of 1102 and 1107 concern the arcade shops (arasta) added around the market.

Ayşe Hanım's buildings in Köprü still stand today. According to Topcu, the deed sets aside an endowment for a reading of a section of the Qur'an at a mosque built in Taşkale; the author identifies this building with the Kale Mosque in the Taşkale quarter, and the building described in the deed as "the mosque they newly built inside Toprak Kale" with the Toprakkale Mosque in the Kale quarter. The building Hüsameddin calls "a small, charming stone mosque in the Toprak Kale quarter" must be the latter. Evliya Çelebi attributes the double bathhouse in the Ganioğlu quarter to Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha, while the deed and Hüsameddin attribute it to Ayşe Hanım. The bathhouse was restored by the General Directorate of Foundations in 1964-65, 1976 and 2006. The only surviving inscription belonging to Ayşe Hanım is a two-line fountain inscription set into the western garden wall of the Kale Mosque, dated 1077 [1666-67]. Ayşe Hanım completed the Köprü water conduits begun by her husband and left unfinished at his death, and built fountains in the town and in five villages, a school and a laundry in Taşkale. Her deed stipulates that thirty akçe be distributed to the poor at the door of the Taşkale Mosque every Friday and that the endowment's surplus income also be set aside for the poor. The entry on Köprülü Mehmed Pasha in the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam also records that the pasha built a fountain in Vezirköprü in the name of his wife Ayşe Hanım.

The family's other buildings appear in the book in single-sentence notices. Zeyneb Hanım built a stone inn and a school in the Taş Kale quarter. Kayın Mehmed Ağa built a mosque and a school in the Değirmenbaşı quarter, and Abdülkerîm Ağa a madrasa to which he endowed his property. Hacı Hüseyin Efendi bin Mahmud Ağa and his nephew Hacı Hüseyin Efendi endowed their shops in Köprü, and the latter's endowment was administered within the family for four generations. The trusteeship of Ayşe Hanım's endowment passed first to her brother Büyük Ali Ağa and then to her nephew Abdülkerîm Ağa, and Dedezâde Hacı Hüseyin Ağa bin Hacı Yahya Ağa, who died in 1186, is also named as its trustee. In the Merzifon branch, Hacı Ebûbekir Efendi had mosques and schools in Merzifon and Hasankale, and his father a madrasa in Hacıhamza. No information on the present condition of these buildings was found in the sources consulted.

Family Tree

The tree is built solely from the lineages given by Hüsameddin; the three different death dates recorded for Ahmed Ağa bin Küçük Ali Ağa are given side by side, and members whose connection is not shown in the book are listed separately at the end.

  • Ahmed Bey
    • Hacı (Dede) Yûsuf Ağa, notable of Köprü
      • Ayşe Hanım (d. 1085 or 1088), wife of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha; sons Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha and Fâzıl Mustafa Pasha
      • Zeyneb Hanım, wife of Kıbleli Mustafa Pasha; sons Ali and Ahmed Bey, daughter Âbide Hanım (the Kıblelizâdes)
      • Kayın Hacı Mehmed Ağa, steward of the grand vizier
        • Yûsuf Ağa
          • İbrâhim Pasha the Tezkireci (d. 1134)
      • Büyük Ali Ağa, trustee of Ayşe Hanım's endowment
        • Cânibî Ahmed Efendi (d. 1114); son Mehmed Feyzi Efendi (d. 1142)
        • Abdülkerîm Ağa-Dedeoğlu (d. c. 1106)
        • Hacı Mahmud Ağa
          • Hacı Hüseyin Efendi (d. 1127)
          • Hacı Mustafa Efendi
            • Hacı Hüseyin Efendi (d. 1146); son Mehmed Efendi (d. 1165)
      • Hacı Mustafa Ağa, trustee of the Sultan Bayezid endowments
        • Hacı Hüseyin Ağa (d. 1118)
        • Hacı Hasan Ağa (d. c. 1113)
        • Abdülbâkî Pasha (d. 1111)
        • Pîrî Ağa
        • Küçük Ali Ağa
          • (Derviş) Ahmed Ağa (d. 1130, 1134 or 1141)
            • Mahmud Ağa (d. 1149)
              • Hacı Kâsım Ağa, ancestor of the Hacı Kâsımzâdes; among his descendants Hacı İbrâhim Ağa (d. 1228) and Hâlis Mehmed Ağa (d. 1319)
            • Torun Ya'kûb Ağa, deputy governor of Amasya
              • Fief-holder Hacı Mehmed Bey
                • Hacı Ahmed Bey-Hacı Torunzâde (d. 1203); sons Mehmed and Ömer Bey
      • Hasan Ağa (d. 1085); sons Hacı Hüseyin Pasha, Mehmed and Mustafa Ağa
  • Connection not shown in the book: İbrâhim Pasha bin Hacı Mustafa Ağa (d. 1151), Hacı Ahmed Ağa bin Hacı Mustafa Ağa (d. 1171), Uzun Hacı Hüseyin Ağa bin Hacı Abdullah Ağa (d. 1186), the Merzifon branch (Hacı Ebûbekir Efendi, Hilmî Mehmed Efendi, Besim Mehmed Pasha)

Family Members in Hüsameddin

  • Ayşe Hânım-Dedezâde (vol. 11): Daughter of Dede Yûsuf Ağa and wife of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, who built a mosque, bathhouse, covered market and inn in Köprü.
  • Zeyneb Hânım-Dedezâde (vol. 10): Ayşe Hanım's sister and wife of Kıbleli Mustafa Pasha, who built a stone inn and a school in Köprü.
  • Hasan Ağa-Dedezâde (vol. 8): Son of Yûsuf Ağa, voivode of Köprü and Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha's chief of gatekeepers, who died in 1085.
  • Abdülkerîm Ağa-Dedeoğlu (vol. 11): Son of Büyük Ali Ağa, Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha's sword-bearer and an endowment trustee who built a madrasa in Köprü.
  • Ahmed Efendi-Cânibî (vol. 6): Son of Büyük Ali Ağa, arsenal clerk and twice chief treasurer, who died in 1114.
  • İbrâhim Paşa-Tezkireci (vol. 6): Grandson of Kayın Mehmed Ağa, memorandum officer and steward of the grand vizier, who died in 1134 as governor of Euboea.
  • Hüseyin Ağa-Dedezâde el-Hâc (vol. 9): Son of Mustafa Ağa, voivode of Köprü and chief of gatekeepers, whose fortune was confiscated; died in 1118.
  • Hasan Ağa-Dedezâde el-Hâc (vol. 8): Son of Mustafa Ağa, chief gatekeeper of the imperial court and notable of Köprü, who died around 1113.
  • Abdülbâkî Paşa-Dedezâde (vol. 11): Son of Mustafa Ağa, commander of the sipahis and governor of Erzurum and Trabzon, a vizier who died in 1111.
  • Ahmed Ağa-Dedezâde (vol. 6): Son of Küçük Ali Ağa, steward of Numan Pasha's harem, voivode of Köprü and ancestor of the Hacı Kâsımzâdes.
  • Derviş Ahmed Ağa-Dedezâde (vol. 9): Son of Küçük Ali Ağa, deputy governor of Sivas and voivode of Köprü; very probably the same person as in the previous entry.
  • Hüseyin Efendi-Dedezâde el-Hâc (vol. 9): Son of Mahmud Ağa, secretary to Amcazâde Hüseyin Pasha and steward to Hatice Sultan, who died in 1127.
  • Hüseyin Efendi-Dedezâde el-Hâc (vol. 9): Son of Mustafa Efendi, of hâcegân rank, who founded a family endowment in Köprü in 1135 and died in 1146.
  • İbrâhim Paşa-Dedezâde (vol. 6): Steward of Köprülüzâde Abdullah Pasha and twice governor of Amasya, a beylerbey who died in 1151.
  • Ahmed Ağa-Dedezâde el-Hâc (vol. 6): Son of Hacı Mustafa Ağa, long a notable of Köprü, who died in 1171.
  • Ahmed Bey-Hacı Torunzâde el-Hâc (vol. 6): Grandson of Torun Ya'kûb Ağa, colonel of Amasya and voivode of Köprü, who died in 1203.
  • İbrâhim Ağa-Hacı Kâsımzâde el-Hâc (vol. 6): Of the Hacı Kâsımzâde branch, twice voivode of Köprü, who died in 1228.
  • Hâlis Mehmed Ağa-Hacı Kâsımzâde (vol. 9): Of the Hacı Kâsımzâde branch, member of the court and the administrative council, who died in 1319.
  • Hüseyin Ağa-el-Hâc Uzun (vol. 9): Son of Dedezâde Hacı Abdullah Ağa, notable of Köprü and deputy governor of Merzifon, who died in 1186.
  • Ebûbekir Efendi-Dedezâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc (vol. 6): Of the Merzifon branch, steward of the imperial treasury and superintendent of the inner palace under Mahmud II, who died in 1251.
  • Besim Mehmed Paşa-Dedezâde (vol. 7): Of the Merzifon branch, governor of Yanya and Kurdistan, a vizier who died childless in Amasya in 1274.
  • Hilmi Mehmed Efendi-Dedezâde es-Seyyid (vol. 9): Poet of the Merzifon branch and deputy marshal of the descendants of the Prophet, who died in 1330; the source of the family's lineage tradition.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

Online sources