As Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar tells it, what saved Amasya from punishment in 1263 (1847) was the tongue of Topal Sâlim Mehmed Efendi and an old acquaintance dating from his years in Egypt. Born in Amasya as the son of a Janissary, Sâlim had gone to Egypt in his youth and studied in the circle of Kavalalı Mehmed Ali Paşa; on his return he became professor at the Saraçhane Madrasa and a man with a voice in the city's councils. His life ran between two bloody episodes: the purge of the Janissaries in Amasya in 1241 (1826), and the events that began with the killing of a physician in 1263. He spent the rest of his life at Kal'a-i Sultâniyye, at Çanakkale, and died there in 1267 (1850-51). "Poet" is among the epithets Hüsameddin gives him, but not a line of that poetry remains.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Hüsameddin wrote this entry from what he heard from two old men who had known him well; he cites no written source. The text, published separately on this site as Sâlim Mehmed Efendi-Topal, reads as follows:

Sâlim Mehmed Efendi-Topal Amasyalıdır. Yeniçerilerden Çaloğlu Hasan Ağa'nın mahdûmudur. Soruklu el-Hâc Hâfız Ali Efendi'nin halka-i tedrîsinde tahsîl-i ulûm ederken 1219 vak'asında üstâdının Üsküdâr'a i'zâmı ve amcası Hüseyin Ağa'nın i'dâmı üzerine Mısır'a gitdi. Orada Mehmed Ali Paşa'ya intisâb ederek tahsîlini ikmâl edib on beş yıl sonra avdet etdi. Tedrîs-i ulûma başlayıp Mısır usûl-i tedrîsini tatbîk ederek Amasya'nın usûl-i tedrîsini ıslâha çalışdı. Sarâchâne Medresesi müderrisi oldu. 1241 senesi zilhiccesinde Amasya'da yeniçeriliğin ilgâsına tarafdâr olduğu hâlde birçok yeniçeri rü'esâsının i'dâmına muhâlif olduğundan hitâm-ı maslahata kadar hânesinde tevkîf edildi. Rü'esânın i'dâmından dolayı hâsıl olan feryâd ü figân esnâsında serbest oldu. O zamânda bulunmuş olan ihtiyârlardan Molla Ali Ağa diyor ki: "Sâlim Efendi'nin re'yi kabûl edilseydi, ancak üç kişi i'dâm ve diğerleri nefy edilecekti. Bu üç kişi Talebe vak'ası'nda kateleden idi. O zamânın ricâli sonradan Sâlim Efendi'ye hak vermişlerdi." 1248 târîhinden i'tibâren meclis-i a'yân ve ba'dehû meclis-i idâre ve de'âvâ a'zâsı olarak nüfûz u i'tibârı arttı. 1263'de katl-i Tabîb vak'asında Mîrlivâ Hüsrev Paşa üç tabur askerle gelip Amasya'da idâre-i örfiyye i'lân etdiği esnâda talâkat-i lisânı ilm ü fazîleti Amasya'nın emânına yetişdi. Şöyle ki: Hüsrev Paşa Amasya'yı vurmağa bâ-irâde-i seniyye me'mûr idi. Kendisi Mısır vâlîsi Mehmed Ali Paşa'nın bendegânından olduğu münâsebetle Mısır'da sâhib-i terceme ile mu'ârefesi ve hukûk-ı kadîmesi olduğu anlaşıldı. Bu mu'ârefe ve Sâlim Efendi'nin talâkat-ı lisânı Amasya'yı belâdan kurtardı. Bunun üzerine Amasya'dan üç nefer rüfekâsıyla beraber İstanbul'a kaldırıldı. İstanbul'dan da Kal'a-i Sultâniyye'ye gönderilip orada ikâmete me'mûr edildi. Üç mâh sonra rüfekâsıyla beraber afv ü ıtlâk edildiği hâlde Kal'a-i Sultâniyye'de ihtiyâr-ı ikâmet edib 1267'de vefât etdi. Âlim, fâzıl, natûk, şâir, kâtib, halûk, tevârih ü muhâzarâta âşinâ idi. Sol ayağında biraz a'rec olduğundan "Topal Sâlim Efendi" demekle meşhûr idi. Bu zâtı pek iyi tanıyan Hacı Abdulkâdir Efendi'yle Molla Ali Ağa'dan aldığım ma'lûmâtın hülâsası budur.

In English: Sâlim's father was the Janissary Çaloğlu Hasan Ağa. While he was attending the lessons of Soruklu Hacı Hâfız Ali Efendi, in the incident of 1219 (1804-05) his teacher was exiled to Üsküdar and his uncle Hüseyin Ağa was executed; he then went to Egypt, attached himself to Mehmed Ali Paşa, completed his education there and returned fifteen years later. When he began to teach he applied the Egyptian method of instruction and tried to reform the method of the Amasya madrasas, and he became professor at the Saraçhane Madrasa. In Zilhicce 1241 he supported the abolition of the Janissaries, but because he opposed the wholesale execution of the Janissary leaders he was held in his house until the business was over, and he was released amid the lamentation that followed the executions. According to Molla Ali Ağa, had his view been accepted, only the three men who had committed murder in the Students' Incident (Talebe Vak'ası) would have been executed and the rest exiled; the statesmen later admitted he had been right. From 1248 (1832-33) his influence grew as a member of the council of notables and then of the administrative and judicial councils. In the incident of the physician's killing in 1263, when Mirliva Hüsrev Paşa arrived with three battalions and declared martial law, it turned out that the paşa, who had been ordered to punish Amasya, came from Mehmed Ali Paşa's household and knew Sâlim from Egypt; this acquaintance and Sâlim's eloquence saved the town from disaster. Afterwards he was taken to Istanbul with three companions and from there sent to Kal'a-i Sultâniyye; although pardoned three months later, he chose to stay there, and he died in 1267. He was learned, accomplished, a forceful speaker, a poet, a secretary, good-natured, and widely read in history and conversation; because his left foot limped slightly he was called "Topal (Lame) Sâlim Efendi".

The Egyptian Years

Hüsameddin does not explain in this entry the "incident of 1219" that sent Sâlim to Egypt; he gives only two of its consequences: the exile of his teacher and the execution of his uncle. That a young man from a Janissary family left Amasya at this date suggests that the incident struck his family directly. His attachment to Mehmed Ali Paşa shaped the whole course of his later life. Hüsameddin does not say what the method he calls "the Egyptian method of instruction" was, but the record shows that a teaching innovation brought from outside was tried in the madrasas of Amasya.

Two Episodes

Zilhicce 1241 (July 1826) was the time when the abolition of the Janissary corps in Istanbul was felt in the provinces. Sâlim's stance in these events is the most detailed part of the entry, and Hüsameddin relates it in the words of Molla Ali Ağa, who witnessed them. The "Students' Incident" mentioned here is not explained further.

Hüsameddin says in a footnote that he wrote about the killing of the physician in 1263 in detail in the first part of his history. The same episode appears in other entries of the tenth volume. The preacher Reşîd Hâce Ahmed Efendi, son of the imam of the Üçler quarter, was found by investigation to have been among the ringleaders of the association "in the physician incident of 1262"; in 1263 he was exiled first to Istanbul and then to Lemnos, and pardoned six months later. The two entries give the year of the episode one year apart. Who Sâlim's "three companions" sent to Kal'a-i Sultâniyye were is not stated.

His Poetry

No poem by Sâlim is known today. Hüsameddin's "a poet, a secretary" belongs to what he gathered from the mouths of two old men, and the entry backs it with no example; since his information was oral, he evidently had no written text either. Other men of Amasya were known by the name Sâlim: Alaybeyizâde Sâlim Ali Bey (d. 1221), known as Tavlacı, whose small collection of poems (divançe) was lost in a fire, and the judge Kırmacızâde Sâlim Mustafa Efendi (d. 1225) are among them. Topal Sâlim Mehmed Efendi is a different person from both.

Chronology

1219 (1804-05): After his teacher's exile and his uncle's execution, goes to Egypt.

Zilhicce 1241 (July 1826): Purge of the Janissaries in Amasya; held in his house for opposing the executions.

1248 (1832-33): Member of the council of notables; then of the administrative and judicial councils.

1263 (1847): The physician incident; his intercession with Hüsrev Paşa, followed by exile to Kal'a-i Sultâniyye.

1267 (1850-51): Dies at Kal'a-i Sultâniyye.

Bibliography

Online sources