The Gürcüzâdes were a family of Amasya notables who held a voice in the town's administration, its council of notables (âyan) and its endowment life from the early seventeenth century to the late nineteenth. The name comes from Ali Bey of Kars, regarded as the family's founder and known in Amasya as "Great Gürcü Ali Bey"; his sons and grandsons were called "Gürcüzâde", that is, sons of the Georgian. The family first produced fief-holding cavalrymen, regimental commanders (alaybeyi) and sanjak governors; in the eighteenth century it gained the trusteeship of the Torumtay endowment and became one of the most powerful notable houses in the town; in the second half of the same century it also produced four viziers, a grand admiral (kaptan-ı derya) and several beylerbeys.

In the introduction to his History of Amasya, Hüsameddin counts the "Gürcü lineage" among the old families of Amasya and writes that they kept their fame as "Gürcüzâdes" until 1240 [1824/25], after which they were known as the "Hâfız Ali Paşazâde" and the "Deli Beyzâde". The biographical volumes contain twenty-four entries directly connected with the family; in addition, its members appear dozens of times in the chronicle section, in the year-by-year record of the notables' elections, of appointments of deputy governors (mütesellim) and of endowment lawsuits. The family name is often confused with other people of Georgian origin in Amasya, so not everyone called "Gürcü" in the book should be counted as a member of this family.

Name and Origins

According to Hüsameddin, the founder of the family was Ali Bey, who came from Kars. In one place the book introduces him as "Ali Bey of Kars, known as Great Ali Bey, of the Georgian house", and in another it calls him "Ali Bey, one of the emirs". It also notes that in the finance and tax-farm registers his son İbrâhim Paşa is recorded as "Gürcü hazinedâr İbrâhim Bey bin Ali Bey". Ali Bey's earliest traces in Amasya belong to 1019 [1610]: in that year "Gürcü Ali Bey, one of the great fief-holders" was briefly regimental commander of Amasya and gave up the post at the end of Ramadan. In 1022 [1613] it is recorded that "the former regimental commander Gürcü Ali Bey" became a sanjak governor (mirlivâ) and left Amasya.

The book contains a second Gürcü Ali Bey of the same name. In the chronicle covering the years around 1038 [1628/29], Hüsameddin speaks of a young Gürcü Ali Bey whom Hoca Ahmed Paşa had brought to Amasya and raised in his household, and who knew Turkish and Georgian well; this young man served as interpreter for Hüftâdî Ahmed Bey, a governor of Georgian origin sent to the sanjak of Amasya, and for his men. The same Ali Bey appears several times as regimental commander of Amasya in the 1050s [1640s]. In the entry on İbrâhim Paşa-Dâyezâde, Hüsameddin calls this second man "Little Gürcü Ali Bey" and makes Mustafa Bey his son. In the introduction, by contrast, he writes of "Great Gürcü Ali Bey, who was regimental commander of Amasya in 1057". A man whose son was a sanjak governor in 1029 [1620] could hardly still be regimental commander in 1057 [1647]; the statement in the introduction may therefore have merged the two Ali Beys. This is an inference. The book does not state the kinship between "Little" and "Great" Ali Bey in so many words, but the Dâyezâde entry links the line of the younger man to "cousins known in Amasya as the Gürcüzâdes".

The book contains no record that the family was of slave or freedman origin. At the same time, many Georgian freedmen, stewards and cavalrymen lived in Amasya in these years; some of them were raised in the household of the Gürcüzâdes and some served other masters. In the language of the book the Gürcüzâdes are counted from the beginning among the "emirs" and the "notables". In the eighteenth century one branch of the family was linked by marriage to a family of seyyids known as the Ocak İmâmı, and its descendants began to be styled "es-Seyyid"; that the title came from this marriage is an inference.

The Family Through the Generations

İbrâhim Paşa, the Georgian Treasurer

The first member of the family to receive a detailed biography in the book is İbrâhim Paşa-Gürcü Hazinedâr. He entered the corps of imperial gatekeepers, attached himself to Kuyucu Murâd Paşa and became steward of the gatekeepers during his grand vizierate; after Murâd Paşa's death [1020/1611] he became treasurer to Gürcü Mehmed Paşa and was therefore known as "Gürcü Hazinedâr", the Georgian Treasurer. According to the chronicle he became sanjak governor of Amasya on the tenth of Safar 1029 [1620], marched in the same year on the Polish campaign with the troops of Amasya, and was dismissed in Shawwal. His biography reports that in later years he became beylerbey of Kars and then governor of Sivas, Kastamonu and Maraş, and that he died in 1056 [1646]. His sons Ali, Mehmed and Mustafa Beys also became sanjak governors.

The entry contains a problem of dates. Hüsameddin writes that İbrâhim Paşa became steward of the grand vizierate during Gürcü Mehmed Paşa's term as grand vizier; yet Gürcü Mehmed Paşa's grand vizierate began in Dhu al-Qadah 1061 [1651] and ended in Rajab 1062 [1652]. A man who died in 1056 could hardly have held this post. The book itself states plainly in another entry that the steward of Gürcü Mehmed Paşa's grand vizierate was Dilâver Paşa of Amasya. It is likely that İbrâhim Paşa served as Gürcü Mehmed Paşa's steward during his earlier governorships; this is an inference.

İbrâhim Paşa's household was a place where other Georgian families of Amasya were also raised. Pîrî Ağa, called "the Pious" in the book, was the son of Çelebi Mehmed Ağa, one of the Georgians settled in Amasya, and grew up in İbrâhim Paşa's household. His son, the vizier İbrâhim Paşa, was also known as "Gürcüzâde Kör İbrâhim Paşa"; but Hüsameddin shows no blood tie between this family and the Gürcüzâdes.

Mustafa Bey and His Sons

The family's second generation in the seventeenth century is represented by Mustafa Bey. The chronicle describes Mustafa Bey, "known as Gürcüzâde", who came from Çorum to Amasya as sanjak governor in Rabi al-Awwal 1043 [1633]. In the biographies he appears as "sanjak governor Mustafa Bey", the father of several sons. The book gives two different accounts of his parentage: in the entry on İbrâhim Bey-Gürcüzâde he is called "Mustafa Bey bin İbrâhim Paşa bin Ali Bey" and so made a son of İbrâhim Paşa; in the entries on Ahmed Bey-Gürcüzâde and Hacı İbrâhim Bey he is shown as a son of Gürcü Ali Bey himself.

Of Mustafa Bey's sons, Ahmed Bey began as a fief-holder, rose after his father's death and, attaching himself to İbşir Mustafa Paşa, became sanjak governor of Eskişehir during his grand vizierate. When İbşir Paşa was killed in Rajab 1066 [1656], he was dismissed, returned to Amasya and lived there out of favour. In 1068 [1658] he joined the revolt of Abaza Hasan Paşa; when the revolt was put down at Aleppo he was executed with many of his companions, and his goods and property were confiscated. His brother Halîl Bey remained a fief-holding cavalryman, came back wounded from the Vienna campaign and died in 1096 [1685]. Another brother, İbrâhim Bey, rose from among the leading fief-holders to become a sanjak governor; he was pursued and went into hiding during the affair of Yeğen Osmân Paşa in 1099 [1688], later came out and died in 1104 [1692/93]. This entry also records that his brother Mehmed Bey was pursued when Kara İbrâhim Paşa was removed from the grand vizierate.

To the same generation belongs İbrâhim Paşa-Dâyezâde, descended from Mustafa Bey, son of Little Gürcü Ali Bey. Because his mother was wet nurse to Ahmed III, born in Ramadan 1082 [1673], he was known as "Dâyezâde", the nurse's son, and entered the palace school (Enderun) at his mother's request. He became sword-bearer to the sultan (silahdar) in 1110 [1698/99] and was retired in 1112 [1701]; twelve years later he returned to office as chancellor (nişancı) and took part in drawing the Russian frontier. Then in 1131 [1719] he went as ambassador to Austria with the rank of beylerbey of Rumelia, and after his return he died in 1133 [1721]. He was a well-known calligrapher, a pupil of Derviş Ahmed Tokâdî. His sons were known as the "Elçi Paşazâde", the sons of the Ambassador Pasha; Hüsameddin records that their "cousins" in Amasya were the Gürcüzâdes.

Entry into the Torumtay Endowment: Mehmed Bey and Hacı İsmâil Bey

The family's rise in the eighteenth century grew out of its connection with the great endowment founded in Amasya by the Seljuk emir Seyfeddin Torumtay. When Dursun Bey, trustee of the Torumtay and Kaya Paşa endowments, died without a male heir in 1069 [1659], the trusteeship passed to the descendants of his daughters. According to Hüsameddin, one of Dursun Bey's daughters was married to Gürcüzâde Mustafa Bey and the other to Mustafa Efendi, a scholar. The entry on Dursun Bey-Dursunzâde likewise states that the trusteeship passed to "his daughter's son Gürcüzâde Mehmed Bey" and to the children of his other daughter. In this way Gürcüzâde Mehmed Bey was counted, through his mother, among the descendants of Torumtay and Kaya Paşa and entered the ranks of the endowment's trustees.

On Mehmed Bey's father the book again offers two paths: the trusteeship lawsuit in the chronicle calls him "Mehmed Bey son of Mustafa Bey", while the entries on Hacı İbrâhim Bey and Hacı İsmâil Bey give him as "Mehmed Bey bin Ali Bey"; in the entry on Hacı İbrâhim Bey the chain takes the form "Mehmed Bey bin Ali Bey ibn-i Mustafa Bey bin Gürcü Ali Bey". According to the chronicle, Gürcüzâde Mehmed Bey became regimental commander of Amasya at the end of 1104 [1693], was removed from the post in 1106 [1694/95] and became regimental commander again in Rajab 1109 [1698]. His year of death is also given in two ways: 1114 [1702/03] in the entry on Hacı İbrâhim Bey, 1116 [1704/05] in the entry on Hacı İsmâil Bey.

Hacı İsmâil Bey, who became trustee of the endowment on his father's death, went to court for years over the trusteeship. His maternal cousins Hâfız Hasan and İbrâhim Efendi, descended from the same line, also wished to manage the endowment. The crux of the case was which side counted as the "first generation" (batn-ı evvel), that is, the generation closer to the founder. The chronicle relates how the suit brought in 1134 [1722] by Hacı İsmâil Bey and his maternal cousin Hasan Ağa put the judge in great difficulty; in Shaban the case was settled with much trouble, Hacı İsmâil Bey and Hasan Ağa became joint trustees, and the two brothers were removed from the trusteeship. From 1118 [1706/07] Hacı İsmâil Bey was a member of the council of notables and pilgrims; in 1134 he was elected chief notable, in 1135 [1722/23] he became sole trustee of the endowment, the following year he was removed from the post of chief notable, and in Safar 1137 [1724] he died suddenly. His sons were Hacı Mehmed, Ömer and Ahmed Ağa, and his grandson was the vizier Osmân Paşa.

Hacı İbrâhim Bey: Chief Notable of Amasya

The most powerful figure of the family was Hacı İsmâil Bey's brother Hacı İbrâhim Bey. In his youth he entered the household of Muslîzâde Mustafa Paşa of Amasya; he became the pasha's son-in-law and treasurer and travelled with him from province to province. In 1123 [1711], having caused the pasha's dismissal and imprisonment by his harsh conduct, he left him and returned to Amasya; a few years later he was called back and became the pasha's steward. When Mustafa Paşa died in 1132 [1720] he came to Amasya and, on his brother's death, became trustee of the Torumtay endowment. At this point Hâfız Hasan and İbrâhim Efendi, sons of the former trustee Şeyh Mehmed Efendi, opened a new suit; according to the chronicle, in Dhu al-Hijjah 1137 [1725] Hacı İbrâhim Bey satisfied the claimants and became sole trustee, and "the court and the mufti's office were delivered from this wearisome suit."

As son-in-law of Muslîzâde Mustafa Paşa he was related to the chief treasurer Muslîzâde Hacı İbrâhim Efendi; he also gave his daughter to Seyyid Halîl Efendi of Amasya, imam of the Janissary corps in Istanbul. Hüsameddin writes that these ties made him known in Istanbul and led to his becoming chief notable in Muharram 1138 [1725] and deputy governor of Amasya in Jumada al-Awwal of the same year. But because he tolerated certain acts of oppression, he was exiled to Samsun after an inquiry in Safar 1139 [1727]. Pardoned at the beginning of 1140 [1727/28], he returned, was elected to the council of notables in Muharram 1141 [1728] and again as chief notable in Muharram 1142 [1729]. The affair of 1142, told at length in the chronicle, was the year in which these rivalries turned into a bloody conflict. After it, in the inquiry of 1143 [1730/31], he was exiled to Samsun a second time together with his associates and held in the fortress.

He was pardoned again in Ramadan 1144 [1732]. In Muharram 1145 [1732] he was elected chief notable and went on the Persian campaign, receiving for his services the rank of chief gatekeeper of the Porte (dergâh-ı âlî kapıcıbaşı). The chronicle records him as chief notable again in most of the following Muharram elections. During the grand vizierate of Zanalızâde Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Paşa, in 1154 [1741/42], he was given the rank of first master of the horse (mîrâhûr-ı evvel). In Hüsameddin's words, "he took the whole sanjak of Amasya into his grip and shut the doors of complaint." At the beginning of 1158 [1745] he set out on the Persian campaign with all his armed force and died in battle on the second day of Rabi al-Akhir of that year.

Hüsameddin describes him as a man of great influence and wealth, harsh and brave; his door was open, his dependants many, and he was devout and generous. He imitated the viziers and kept an armed retinue of about five hundred men under the name of "kapıkulu". The whole riverside of the Hacı İlyas quarter was his mansion; its gilded rooms dazzled the eye, and the governors of Amasya had to deal carefully with him. In another entry Hüsameddin also writes that a mufti of Amasya was dismissed in 1156 [1743] on the charge of having turned a blind eye to his high-handedness. The book also records that the rival branches with a claim on the Torumtay endowment, namely the male line of Eyyûb Paşa, "were pushed aside through the influence of Gürcüzâde Hacı İbrâhim Bey".

Hacı Mustafa Paşa and His Brothers

After Hacı İbrâhim Bey's death the trusteeship of the endowment passed to his son Hacı Mustafa. Mustafa Paşa, who has no separate biography in the book, appears in the chronicle around 1156 [1743] as host and escort (mihmandar) to the Persian prince Safî Mirza with the rank of beylerbey, and in 1165 [1752] as governor of Euboea with the rank of vizier. His year of death is given as 1169 [1755/56] in the entry on Hacı İbrâhim Bey and as 1167 [1753/54] in the entry on his brother Hıfzî Mehmed Bey. From the description of his son Halîl Paşa as "the daughter's son of the Ocak imâmı Hâfız es-Seyyid Halîl Efendi", it appears that Mustafa Paşa was married to the Ocak İmâmı's daughter; the seyyid title seen in this branch of the family may be explained by this marriage.

Mustafa Paşa's brother Hıfzî Mehmed Bey was the member of the family who took the path of learning. He studied in Amasya with Taşâbâdî Hacı Ahmed Efendi and Çorumlu Seyyid Hacı Ali Efendi, completed his studies in Istanbul with the well-known teacher of inheritance law Mehmed Vehbî Efendi, and became a professor (müderris) in Istanbul by examination. He returned to Amasya and began to teach; Hüsameddin says that large crowds came to his lessons because of the beauty of his exposition. On his elder brother's death he became trustee of the Torumtay endowment, and he died in 1173 [1759/60] at the age of thirty-eight. Another brother, Hacı Halîl Bey, had entered the household of Zanalızâde Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Paşa, serving as his sword-bearer during his vizierate and as imperial armour-bearer (silahşor-ı şehriyârî) during his grand vizierate, and later became a chief gatekeeper of the Porte. When Mahmud I died in Safar 1168 [1754] he went on the pilgrimage and died on his return to Amasya. A fourth brother, Ali Bey, died in 1157 [1744/45]; yet the chronicle writes that on Mustafa Paşa's death the trusteeship was given to "his brothers Hâfız Hıfzî Mehmed Efendi and Alî Bey". These two passages of the book do not agree.

The two sons born of the marriage of Hacı İbrâhim Bey's daughter to the Ocak İmâmı Seyyid Hâfız Halîl Efendi also rose at the Ottoman centre. One of them, Hıfzı İbrâhim Paşa, was born in Amasya in 1135 [1722/23], served three times as steward of the grand vizierate and died in 1194 [1780] as governor of Erzurum with the rank of vizier; his brother Seyyid Mustafa Paşa rose as high as deputy grand vizier (sadaret kaymakamı). These two pashas were relatives of the Gürcüzâdes on the female side, and the book records them under their own family name. Gürcüzâde Hâfız Ali Paşa's first step in Istanbul was also taken thanks to this kinship with them.

Seyyid Halîl Paşa

Mustafa Paşa's son Seyyid Halîl Paşa became trustee of the Torumtay endowment and a member of the council of notables after the death of his uncle Hıfzî Mehmed Bey. He was elected chief notable in Muharram 1176 [1762]; in Safar of the same year Süleyman Paşa, who had become governor of Amasya, made him deputy governor. For his services in the pursuit of brigands he was given the rank of chief gatekeeper. In 1181 [1767] he again became chief notable and deputy governor; in Muharram 1182 [1768] he went to the Russian war with a retinue of five hundred men. In 1184 [1770], deputy governor for the third time, he returned to the front at the head of a volunteer force he had raised, and in 1185 [1771] he became governor of the sanjak of Akşehir and warden of Tutrakan with the rank of beylerbey.

The chronicle relates that while he was warden of Tutrakan, Hacı Ali Bey, the tax collector of Canik, sent him no help during a Russian attack in order to discredit him, and was himself taken prisoner. For his services in the war Halîl Paşa became governor of Amasya with the rank of Rumelia in Dhu al-Hijjah 1185 [1772] and appointed his nephew, the regimental commander Hacı Ahmed Bey, as deputy governor. In 1186 [1772] he became warden of Kars with the rank of vizier. In 1188 [1774/75] his vizierate was withdrawn on the ground that there were too many viziers. In 1193 [1779] he took the side of Cabbârzâde Mustafa Bey against Canikli Hacı Ali Paşa; the following year he became governor of Van with the rank of Rumelia, and then governor of Amasya once more.

When Mikdâd Ahmed Paşa, son of Canikli Hacı Ali Paşa, obtained Amasya as a life-term holding in 1195 [1781], Halîl Paşa fled the town by night to save his life and took refuge with Yazıcızâde Mustafa Paşa, governor of Erzurum. After posts at Gönye and Beyşehir he was defeated on the Russian front in 1203 [1789] and taken prisoner. Released from captivity in 1205 [1791], he was retired and ordered to reside in Amasya; he died there in 1211 [1796/97]. Hüsameddin describes him as intelligent, prudent and influential, but unlucky; he is buried beside the road near the shrine of Hazret-i Pîr İlyâs. His sons were Seyyid Said Mehmed, Hâfız Ali Paşa and Seyyid Hacı Mustafa Bey. The children of Hacı Mustafa Bey, called "Deli Bey" in popular speech, were known as the "Deli Beyzâdes".

The Line of Yeğen Ahmed Bey and the Vizier Osmân Paşa

Yeğen Hacı Ahmed Bey, who served as deputy governor during Halîl Paşa's governorship, was known as Halîl Paşa's "nephew" (yeğen). In his youth he became a fief-holder and from 1175 [1761] he was regimental commander of Amasya three or four times; the chronicle also records him as regimental commander in 1177 and 1183. Removed from office in 1186 [1772], he went to the war, returned after the peace and died at the beginning of 1190 [1776]. According to this entry his father was Ali Bey, son of Hacı İbrâhim Bey, and his sons were Mehmed Rıfat and Abdullah Abdî Bey.

The highest-ranking member of the family at the end of the eighteenth century was Hacı Osmân Paşa. Hüsameddin introduces him as "son of the regimental commander Yeğen Ahmed Bey bin Mehmed Bey bin el-Hâc İsmâîl Bey and grandnephew of Halîl Paşa"; this chain makes Yeğen Ahmed Bey a grandson of Hacı İsmâil Bey and does not agree with the chain in the entry on Yeğen Ahmed Bey. The family diagram appended to the entry on Hacı İsmâil Bey also places Osmân Paşa in İsmâil Bey's branch. While his father was deputy governor, Osmân Paşa went to the Russian war at the head of a thousand horsemen raised from the sanjak of Amasya and became chief gatekeeper. In 1186 [1772] he became commander of the dalkılıç troops with the rank of beylerbey, served in many sanjaks and provinces from Çankırı to Maraş, and became a vizier in 1204 [1790] while warden of Silistra. When the Russians took Silistra he was dismissed in 1206 [1791/92] and made to reside at Keşan.

After the war he was charged with suppressing the brigands of Rumelia and in 1210 [1795/96] became warden of Vidin and governor of Silistra. Because of the excesses of the Albanians in his retinue, an attempt was made in 1213 [1798/99] to remove him from Rumelia, but it failed; in 1214 [1799] he became governor of Rumelia, and in 1215 [1800/01] he returned to Silistra. The biography of Osmân Paşa, the last entry in Hüsameddin's book, breaks off here; the twelfth volume of the work was left unfinished. The chronicle completes the story: Osmân Paşa, who moved from the governorship of Anatolia to that of Erzurum in Rabi al-Akhir 1218 [1803], was condemned to death for his "rebellious" conduct, and the province of Erzurum was given to Caniklizâde Tayyâr Mahmûd Paşa. On the eighteenth of Jumada al-Awwal of the same year the forces of the two pashas met; in the fight, which Murâd Paşa, governor of Muş, also joined, Osmân Paşa was defeated and killed at Murâd Paşa's hands.

Osmân Paşa's execution affected everyone around him. His son Rahmî Mehmed Bey had received the rank of chief gatekeeper during his father's rise; in 1218 he was compelled to reside in Amasya with his brother Ahmed Kâmil Paşa, and he died in 1249 [1833/34]. Ahmed Kâmil Paşa's wife was Ayşe Hânım, daughter of the Amasya vizier Kutoğlu Hüseyin Paşa; Hüsameddin writes that her father, her father-in-law and her husband were killed one after another, and that she lived as a widow in her mansion in the Eski Kethüdâ quarter. Yeğen Ahmed Bey's son Hacı Rıfat Mehmed Efendi was a scholar trained in the madrasas of Amasya; through the patronage of his "cousin" Osmân Paşa he entered the Sublime Porte, was trained in the office of the grand vizier's steward, became Osmân Paşa's divan secretary and received the rank of hâcegân. After the pasha's execution he withdrew to Amasya, began to teach again and died in Dhu al-Hijjah 1228 [1813]. He was a poet with a collected divan; Hüsameddin included one of his ghazals in the entry, obtained through Kilisli Rifat Efendi from an anthology in the Rızâ Paşa library.

Another relative raised in Osmân Paşa's household was Hıfzı Mehmed Efendi, son of Halîl Ağa, one of Osmân Paşa's kinsmen. Hüsameddin writes that he was one of Halîl Paşa's "cousins" and was raised in Halîl Paşa's household. While chief clerk in the steward's office at the Sublime Porte, he was dismissed from his office in 1218 [1803] when his correspondence with Osmân Paşa became known. He then held various secretarial posts, became divan secretary to Hâfız Ali Paşa and died at Üsküdar in 1239 [1823/24]. Among those raised in Osmân Paşa's household was also Şevket Süleyman Efendi, son of Gürcü İbrâhim Ağa, a slave of Gürcüzâde Mustafa Paşa; the book calls him by the family name, but since according to his entry his father was a slave of the family, he cannot be counted as a member bound to it by blood.

Grand Admiral Hâfız Ali Paşa

Halîl Paşa's son Seyyid Hâfız Ali Paşa was the member of the family who rose highest in Istanbul. According to Hüsameddin's section on the quarters of the town, he was born in the Hacı İlyas quarter. Through his kinship with Hıfzı İbrâhim and Mustafa Paşa of the Ocak İmâmı family he entered the steward's office at the Sublime Porte, and then joined the hâcegân class as secretary to the steward of the sword-bearer Lâdikli Seyyid Abdullah Ağa. For a time he was divan secretary to Caniklizâde Tayyâr Mahmûd Paşa. Attaching himself to Gürcü Yûsuf Ziyâ Paşa, who became grand vizier in 1212 [1797/98], he came to Istanbul and became clerk of finance, junior daybook keeper and prefect of the city (şehremini). In 1219 [1804] he was dismissed because he was thought to have had a hand in Tayyâr Mahmûd Paşa's forcible seizure of Amasya.

In 1221 [1806] he became deputy governor of Amasya by tax farm. In 1222 [1807], after Selim III was deposed and the sanjak of Amasya was given to Tayyâr Mahmûd Paşa, he became deputy governor a second time on his behalf; when Tayyâr Paşa became deputy grand vizier, he became governor of Çorum with the rank of beylerbey, and in Dhu al-Qadah of the same year governor of Sivas with the rank of vizier. With the accession of Mahmud II and the execution of Tayyâr Paşa in 1223 [1808], his vizierate was withdrawn and he was sent to reside at Bursa. During Gürcü Yûsuf Ziyâ Paşa's second grand vizierate he went to Istanbul to plead the injustice he had suffered, and in Dhu al-Hijjah 1224 [1809] he became grand admiral with the rank of vizier. After the grand vizier's dismissal he was removed from this post in 1226 [1811] on the ground that he knew nothing of seamanship.

From then on his appointments spread across every corner of the empire. After the governorship of Crete and the governorship of Tırnova he became governor of Silistra in 1227 [1812], of Niš in 1228 [1813] and of Vidin in 1229 [1814]; in 1231 [1816] he was governor of Damascus and commander of the pilgrimage, and in 1234 [1819] governor of Erzurum and commander-in-chief of the east. Because of his "hot temper" he was removed from the command in 1235 [1820] and moved from province to province, among them Diyarbekir, Trabzon, Maraş and Rakka. In 1243 [1827/28] he resided at Kal'a-i Sultâniye as commander of the Dardanelles. The next year his execution, without an imperial order, of those who had helped soldiers desert across the strait angered Mahmud II; he was retired, sent to Gallipoli and died there in Shawwal 1244 [1829].

Hüsameddin presents him as prudent, capable, loyal and hot-tempered. His sons were Mikdâd Ahmed Paşa, İbrâhim Edhem Bey and Hasan Tahsîn Bey; the two sons of his steward Rüstem Ahmed Ağa had also become chief gatekeepers of the Porte. His son Edhem İbrâhim Bey was trained in the correspondence office of the grand vizierate under his father's protection; after his father's death in 1247 [1831/32] he became agent at the Porte for several viziers, and he died in 1268 [1851/52]. His other son Tahsîn Hasan Bey went to Istanbul in 1257 [1841], entered the imperial chamberlain's office (Mâbeyn-i Hümâyûn), became chief gatekeeper and rose as steward to Mahmûd Nedîm Paşa, son of Gürcü Mehmed Necîb Paşa. During Mahmûd Nedîm Paşa's first grand vizierate in 1288 [1871] he became his general agent and, according to Hüsameddin, had Amasya made a province. He died in 1293 [1876] and was buried at Topkapı.

The Last Generations

Halîl Paşa's other son Seyyid Said Mehmed Bey became trustee of the Torumtay endowment with his brothers on his father's death, served as treasurer to his elder brother Hâfız Ali Paşa, became chief gatekeeper and died in 1238 [1822/23]; he is buried at Üsküdar. Seyyid Halîl Bey, son of his brother Seyyid Hacı Mustafa Bey, nicknamed "Deli Bey", died in 1282 [1865/66]; Hüsameddin also writes that a governor who died in Amasya in 1274 [1858] was living in "the mansion of Gürcüzâde Deli Mustafa Bey" in the Hacı İlyas quarter.

Seyyid Hacı İbrâhim Bey, son of Mustafa Paşa's other son Seyyid Mehmed Bey, travelled from province to province as treasurer and then steward of his uncle Halîl Paşa; after 1211 [1796/97] he was chief notable several times. In 1222 [1807] his cousin Hâfız Ali Paşa made him deputy governor of Amasya; he became Hâfız Ali Paşa's steward during his admiralty and received the rank of chief gatekeeper. After the pasha's dismissal he became purchasing agent at Bursa and died there in 1227 [1812]. His brother Abdî Bey served in the retinue of his uncle Halîl Paşa; after Halîl Paşa's death he entered the council of notables, was made deputy governor of Amasya for a few months by his cousin Hâfız Ali Paşa in Shawwal 1222 [1807], then became voivode of Osmancık and died there around 1231 [1815/16]. The entry on Abdî Bey makes his father İbrâhim Bey a son of Mustafa Paşa himself and Halîl Paşa Abdî Bey's uncle; in the entry on Seyyid Hacı İbrâhim Bey, İbrâhim Bey is Mustafa Paşa's grandson.

Seyyid Hacı İbrâhim Bey's son Şerîf Mehmed Bey became a member of the council of notables after his father's death and remained a man of influence for many years. When the office of notables was abolished in 1245 [1829/30], he lived in his large mansion in the Bağ-ı Helkis quarter, managed the wealth he had inherited from his father well and for a time sat on the administrative council; he died after 1256 [1840]. Sâlih Bey, son of his son Mehmed Ali Bey, also became trustee of the Torumtay endowment.

For these last generations the book places two members in different ways. According to his own entry, Eşref Abdurrahman Bey was the son of Süleyman Ağazâde Hacı Şerîf Mehmed Efendi, a member of the hâcegân of the imperial council and steward of the harem; he was called "Gürcüzâde" because his mother was Halîl Paşa's daughter. He began in Halîl Paşa's household, was trained in the office of the imperial council, became steward to his maternal uncle Hâfız Ali Paşa and died in 1227 [1812] as a member of the council of notables. The entry on Seyyid Hacı İbrâhim Bey, however, counts him among İbrâhim Bey's sons. In the same way Eşref Mehmed Bey appears in his own entry as the son of Seyyid Süleyman Şâkir Bey, son of Hacı Şerîf Mehmed Efendi, and in the entry on Şerîf Mehmed Bey as the son of Gürcüzâde Şerîf Mehmed Bey. The names of the sons and grandson in the two entries (Abdurrahman, Süleyman, Ahmed; the grandson Osmân Münir) are the same. Eşref Mehmed Bey was raised in Hâfız Ali Paşa's household and died after 1258 [1842].

The latest trace of the family in the book belongs to an endowment administrator. Hüsameddin writes that in 1316 [1898/99] the trustee "Gürcüzâde Mehmed Necîb Bey" placed a repair inscription over the door of the Gökmedrese Mosque built by Torumtay, whose original inscription had been removed, and that the same man had the Şehzâdegân Tomb in the Hacı İlyas quarter repaired in 1314 [1896/97]. The book does not state Mehmed Necîb Bey's place in the family tree.

Contradictions in the Book and Others with the Same Nickname

Hüsameddin gives information on almost every generation of the family, but it does not always agree from entry to entry; the main discrepancies have been pointed out above where they arise. In the introduction the family is said to have produced "three beylerbeys and two viziers", and the names Halîl Paşa, Hâfız Ali Paşa, Hıfzî Mehmed Paşa and Mikdâd Ahmed Paşa are listed. Hacı Mustafa Paşa and Osmân Paşa, who appear in the biographies as viziers, are missing from this list, and no pasha named "Hıfzî Mehmed Paşa" is found in the biographies.

Many people called "Gürcü" or "Gürcüzâde" in the book do not belong to this family. Some of them were raised from among the freed Georgian slaves of Amasya masters: Gürcü İmâm Hasan Efendi, imam of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, and the "Gürcü İmâmzâdes" descended from him; İskender Ağa, slave of Ahîzâde Sa'dî Çelebi; Piyâle Bey and Sührâb Ağa, slaves of Hacı Beyzâde Ahmed Paşa; Sührâb Mehmed Ağa and his son Sührâb Paşa are of this kind. Others belong to separate families who came from Georgia, Kars and Batumi and settled in Amasya: Cân Mirza Paşa and Deli Gürcü Hüsrev Bey, relatives of Hüftâdî Ahmed Bey; Sarı Gürcü Süleyman Ağa of Ahıska; Hüseyin Efendi of Şavşat, known as "Karslı"; the Batumi-born mufti Hilmi Osmân Efendi; and the grand admiral Seydî Ali Paşa, trained in the Algerian corps. The vizier Gürcü Mehmed Paşa was also a statesman who served as master to a member of the family, but did not himself belong to it.

Buildings, Endowments and Quarter

The book does not associate the Gürcüzâdes with any mosque or madrasa of their own foundation; the family's weight in endowment life came from an old foundation that they administered. The mosque-madrasa founded by Seyfeddin Torumtay in the thirteenth century, called Gökmedrese in its endowment deed, and the tomb opposite it dated 677 [1278/79] are the centre of this endowment. From the second half of the seventeenth century the Gürcüzâdes shared in the endowment as descendants of Torumtay through the female line; after 1135 [1722/23] they managed the trusteeship alone and kept it until the end of the nineteenth century. The trustees were Hacı İsmâil Bey, Hacı İbrâhim Bey, Hacı Mustafa Paşa, Hıfzî Mehmed Bey, Halîl Paşa, Said Mehmed Bey and his brothers, Sâlih Bey and Mehmed Necîb Bey. Other studies confirm that the mosque today bears only a repair inscription dated 1316 [1898/99]; Hüsameddin reports that this inscription belongs to the repair carried out by Gürcüzâde Mehmed Necîb Bey.

The places where the family lived are clearer in the book. Hacı İbrâhim Bey's mansion covered the whole riverside of the Hacı İlyas quarter; Hüsameddin also records that the garden house with a pool belonging to the Qur'an commentator Hacı Hızır Efendi, on the riverbank at the head of the Maydanoz Bridge in this quarter, was later bought and enlarged by Hacı İbrâhim Bey. Hâfız Ali Paşa was born in this quarter, and in the mid-nineteenth century the mansion of Deli Mustafa Bey also stood here. Hâfız Ali Paşa's great mansion in Amasya, however, was in the Helkis Bağçesi quarter. According to Hüsameddin, Mehmed İzzet and Osmân Nûrî Beys, the sons of Mikdâd Ahmed Paşa, squandered the pasha's fortune in dissipation; the mansion and garden were bought in 1281 [1864/65] by the governor Ziyâ Paşa, a large government building was erected in the garden, and the harem quarters became the telegraph office and the municipal offices. Şerîf Mehmed Bey's large mansion stood in the same district, in the Bağ-ı Helkis quarter. Ayşe Hânım, Osmân Paşa's daughter-in-law, built a fountain called "Telli Pınar", decorated with gilded flowers, opposite her mansion in the Eski Kethüdâ quarter at the northern corner of the Abdüllâtif Efendi Library, and in 1232 [1816/17] endowed her property to this fountain; Hüsameddin writes that in his own day nothing remained of either the library or the fountain.

Family Tree

The tree below has been built from Hüsameddin's entries. Because the book gives some links in different ways, the most frequently repeated form has been followed and disputed links are noted in parentheses.

  • Great Gürcü Ali Bey (of Kars; regimental commander 1019, sanjak governor 1022)
    • Gürcü Hazinedâr İbrâhim Paşa (d. 1056); sons Ali, Mehmed, Mustafa Beys
    • Sanjak governor Mustafa Bey (in some entries a son of İbrâhim Paşa)
      • Ahmed Bey (executed 1068/69)
      • Halîl Bey (d. 1096)
      • İbrâhim Bey (d. 1104)
      • Ali Bey (according to the entry on Hacı İbrâhim Bey)
        • Mehmed Bey, trustee of Torumtay (d. 1114 or 1116; his mother a daughter of Dursun Bey)
          • Hacı İsmâil Bey (d. 1137)
            • Hacı Mehmed, Ömer, Ahmed Ağas; according to the entry on Osmân Paşa, Mehmed Bey's son Yeğen Ahmed Bey and his son the vizier Hacı Osmân Paşa (d. 1218)
          • Hacı İbrâhim Bey (d. 1158)
            • Vizier Hacı Mustafa Paşa (d. 1167 or 1169)
              • Seyyid Halîl Paşa (d. 1211)
                • Seyyid Said Mehmed Bey (d. 1238)
                • Grand admiral Seyyid Hâfız Ali Paşa (d. 1244); sons Mikdâd Ahmed Paşa, Edhem İbrâhim Bey (d. 1268), Tahsîn Hasan Bey (d. 1293)
                • Seyyid Hacı Mustafa Bey, "Deli Bey"; son Seyyid Halîl Bey (d. 1282)
                • a daughter; her son Eşref Abdurrahman Bey (d. 1227)
              • Seyyid Mehmed Bey
                • Seyyid Hacı İbrâhim Bey (d. 1227); sons Şerîf Mehmed Bey (d. after 1256) and Abdî Bey (d. c. 1231)
            • Hıfzî Mehmed Bey (d. 1173)
            • Hacı Halîl Bey (d. after 1168); son İbrâhim Bey
            • Ali Bey (d. 1157); according to the entry on Yeğen Ahmed Bey, his son Hacı Ahmed Bey (d. 1190), whose sons were Rıfat Mehmed Efendi (d. 1228) and Abdullah Abdî Bey
            • a daughter, wife of the Ocak İmâmı Seyyid Halîl Efendi; her sons Hıfzı İbrâhim Paşa (d. 1194) and Seyyid Mustafa Paşa
  • Little Gürcü Ali Bey (regimental commander in the 1050s)
    • Mustafa Bey
      • Dâyezâde İbrâhim Paşa (d. 1133); sons Mustafa and Abdullah Beys, the "Elçi Paşazâde"

Family Members in Hüsameddin

Bibliography

Primary sources

Books

  • Selda Kalfazade, "Gökmedrese Camii", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 14, Istanbul 1996, pp. 140–142.
  • "Mehmed Paşa, Gürcü", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 2003.

Other sources

  • Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, "Torumtay Türbesi" (Torumtay Tomb). amasya.bel.tr