Table Of ContentA VIRTUOUS GRAND VIZIER:
POLITICS AND PATRONAGE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE DURING THE GRAND
VIZIERATE OF FAZIL AHMED PASHA (1661-1676)
A Dissertation
submitted to the Faculty of the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
of Georgetown University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in History
By
Muhammed Fatih Calisir, M.A.
Washington, D.C.
August 30, 2016
Copyright 2016 by Muhammed Fatih Calisir
All Rights Reserved
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A VIRTUOUS GRAND VIZIER:
POLITICS AND PATRONAGE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE DURING THE GRAND
VIZIERATE OF FAZIL AHMED PASHA (1661-1676)
Muhammed Fatih Calisir, M. A.
Thesis Advisor: Gábor Ágoston, Ph. D.
ABSTRACT
This dissertation offers a contextual examination of the political and intellectual history
of the Ottoman Empire in the 1660s and 1670s through the lens of the biography of Fazıl Ahmed
Pasha (d. 1676, 1661-1676 in office), the second grand vizier from the famous Köprülü family.
It stresses that the Ottoman Empire saw a period of revival and reform in the 1660s and 1670s
when the ruling elite found ways and means to respond to new political, social, economic, and
intellectual challenges. Fazıl Ahmed Pasha, an ex-müderris (professor), a calligrapher, a
bibliophile, and a leading patron of arts and sciences, had a dynamic vision, not just in his
political and military designs but also in his patronage of various scientific and cultural projects.
His administration, military leadership, and patronage of intellectual activities helped him to
earn the epithet of “Fazıl” (fāḍıl in Arabic) or virtuous during his lifetime. Based on extensive
primary sources, this dissertation provides a new perspective to challenge and revise traditional
views of the period, which tend to characterize it as a time of stagnation, decline, and inward-
looking conservatism in Ottoman history.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Throughout the research and writing process of this dissertation, I received support and
guidance from several professors, colleagues, and friends. I would like to express my sincere
gratitude to my advisor and mentor Prof. Gábor Ágoston. He has been a consistent source of
encouragement and motivation and helped me to overcome many difficulties along the way.
His profound insights into Ottoman history and contextualization of historical problems helped
me to understand the seventeenth-century Ottoman history in a new light. I would also like to
express my heartfelt appreciation to Prof. Rhoads Murphey who agreed to be a member of the
dissertation committee without any hesitation and supported this project, providing wisdom and
encouragement. I count it a great privilege to work with him closely and to benefit from his
expertise in the Ottoman world. Without the supervision and constant support of Prof. Ágoston
and Prof. Murphey, this dissertation would not have been possible. I am also grateful to Prof.
Judith Tucker who served as the third member of the committee and shared her insightful
comments with me both during and after the defense. I thank them all.
I had the privilege to meet and attend the lectures of several leading professors during
my doctoral study at Georgetown. It is my pleasure to acknowledge the overt contributions of
Andrzej Kaminski, John R. McNeill, David J. Collins, Amy E. Leonard, David Goldfrank,
Felicitas Opwis, and Jonathan Brown to my intellectual development. My warm thanks go to
Emrah Safa Gürkan, Onur İşçi, Selim Güngörürler, Said Salih Kaymakçı, Michal Polczynski,
Faisal Husain, Salih Sayılgan, Cafer Orman, Yasir Yılmaz, Metin Atmaca, Mustafa Öksüz, M.
Ali Kılıç, and Faruk Yaslıçimen for their valuable friendship and their timely support. I would
also like to thank Carolina Madinaveitia, the Graduate Programs Manager, for her diligence
and coordination. Finally, I would like to acknowledge with gratitude, the support and love of
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my family (my father Hayrullah and my mother Fatma, my father-in-law Gholamreza and my
mother-in-law Sakineh, my sisters Sultan and Hilal Nur, and my brother Mehmet). I am
particularly grateful to my dear wife Narges, who blessed me with a life of joy. She kept me
going with her patience and faith.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1 - The Köprülü Family .................................................................................................................................... 7
1.1 A Historiographical Survey .................................................................................................................................. 7
1.2 The Rise of the Köprülüs ................................................................................................................................... 17
1.2.1 The Origins of the Family ......................................................................................................................... 19
1.2.2 The Köprülüs as a Household .................................................................................................................. 24
1.2.3 Köprülü Mehmed Pasha in the Service of the Ottoman Empire ................................................... 27
1.2.4 Other Members of the Köprülü Family ................................................................................................. 45
Chapter 2 - Fazıl Ahmed Pasha: His Life and Career before His Grand Vizierate ................................... 56
2.1. Early Years and Scholarly Career .................................................................................................................. 59
2.2 Fazıl Ahmed Pasha in the Ottoman Provincial Administration ............................................................. 67
2.2.1 Pasha of Erzurum Province ....................................................................................................................... 72
2.2.2 Pasha of Damascus Province .................................................................................................................... 77
2.3 Fazıl Ahmed Pasha: The Deputy Grand Vizier ........................................................................................... 89
Chapter 3 - Fazıl Ahmed Pasha, the Grand Vizier ................................................................................................ 92
3.1 The Office of Grand Vizier in the Mid-Seventeenth Century ................................................................ 92
3.2 The Grand Vizierate of Fazıl Ahmed Pasha ...............................................................................................100
3.3 Fazıl Ahmed Pasha’s Encounter with Sabbatai Sevi ...............................................................................108
3.4 Fazıl Ahmed Pasha’s Contributions to Izmir .............................................................................................115
Chapter 4 - Science, Politics, and Patronage in the Ottoman Empire in the 1660s and 1670s ............119
4.1 Istanbul: A Vibrant Hub for Inter- and Intra-Communal Intellectual Exchange ............................122
4.2 Fazıl Ahmed Pasha: Patron of Sciences and Arts.....................................................................................133
4.3 Fazıl Ahmed Pasha’s Patronage of Translations ......................................................................................151
4.4 Fazıl Ahmed Pasha’s Manuscript Collection .............................................................................................160
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................................169
Appendix .........................................................................................................................................................................172
Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................................................173
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AE. Ali Emîri
AKMB Atatürk Kültür Merkezi Başkanlığı
AKMY Atatürk Kültür Merkezi Yayını
BOA Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi, İstanbul
D. Defter
DH. Dahiliye
DİA Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi
E. Evrak
EI2 Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed.
EV. Evkaf
IJMES International Journal of Middle East Studies
İA Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı İslam Ansiklopedisi
İE. İbnü’l-Emin
İÜNEK İstanbul Üniversitesi Nadir Eserler Kütüphanesi
KK. Kamil Kepeci
MD. Mühimme Defteri
MAD. Maliyeden Müdevver Defterler
SLUB Sächsische Landesbibliothek/Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden
SYEK Süleymaniye Yazma Eser Kütüphanesi, İstanbul
TKGM Tapu Kadastro Genel Müdürlüğü Kuyud-ı Kadim Arşivi, Ankara
TSMA Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Arşivi
TSMK Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi
TTD. Tapu Tahrir Defterleri
TTK Türk Tarih Kurumu
VGMA Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü, Ankara
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Metin Kunt’s List for the Endowments of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha .............................. 35
Table 2. Sultan Murat Topçu’s List for the Endowments of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha .............. 35
Table 3. Fazıl Ahmed Pasha’s Appointments to the Ottoman Madrasas ....................................... 61
Table 4. A List of Ottoman Scholars Presented Their Works to Fazıl Ahmed Pasha .............. 150
Table 5. A List of Endowments of Fazıl Ahmed Pasha .................................................................... 150
Table 6. A List of Titles in the Manuscript Collection of Fazıl Ahmed Pasha ......................... 162
Table 7. A List of Important Medical Manuscripts in the Collection .......................................... 162
Table 8. A List of Autographs in the Collection ................................................................................ 164
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NOTES ON TRANSLITERATION AND USAGE
The transliteration system used in this dissertation follows the IJMES guidelines with a few
modifications: For the Ottoman Turkish names, titles, and institutions, the commonly used
orthography in modern Turkish is adopted without diacritical marks. Some words such as
sultan, pasha, and agha remain in their Anglicized forms. For the place names, their modern
Turkish form was adopted if these locations are situated in modern-day Turkey.
Here is a list of orthographic features of the Turkish language which differ from the
English usage:
C, c: “j” as in joke
Ç, ç: “ch” as in chicken
Ğ, ğ: soft g, used for lengthening the preceding vowel
I, ı: “e” as in open
İ, i: “i” as in machine
Ö, ö: “u” as in turn
Ş, ş: “sh” as in shine
Ü, ü: “u” as in cube
Hijri Months and their Abbreviations:
M Muharrem
S Safer
Ra Rabiülevvel
R Rabiülahir
Ca Cemaziyelevvel
C Cemaziyelahir
B Receb
Ş Şaban
N Ramazan
L Şevval
Za Zilkade
Z Zilhicce
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INTRODUCTION
This dissertation takes a fresh look at Ottoman political and intellectual life in the 1660s
and 1670s. It was a period in which the Ottomans, after many upheavals during the previous
decades, experienced stability and continuous leadership in government, military achievements
in battlefields, and flourishing of cultural and intellectual life. Although more recent
historiography has commented on these decades as a period of change, revival, and reform in
Ottoman history (as opposed to the older literature suggesting decline), no one, except Marc
David Baer, has yet written a contextual study on the life and careers of the leading political
actors of the era.
This dissertation provides the first comprehensive study of the life and career of Fazıl
Ahmed Pasha (c. 1635-76, grand vizier 1661-76), the second grand vizier of the famous
Köprülü family. Several members of the Köprülü family had high administrative positions
during the reign of Mehmed IV (1642-93, reigned 1648-87). Fazıl Ahmed Pasha was born in
Köprü in Anatolia circa 1635 as the eldest son of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha (c. 1575-1661, grand
vizier 1656-61). Although his name was Ahmed, his administration, military leadership, and
patronage of cultural and intellectual activities helped him to earn the epithet of “Fazıl” (fāḍıl
in Arabic) or virtuous during his lifetime. Before his grand vizierate, Fazıl Ahmed Pasha, then
Ahmed Efendi, held the title of müderris (professor) and taught at several Istanbul-based
madrasas. In addition to his formal studies, he took private courses in calligraphy and perfected
himself in Arabic philology and poetry. He copied two risâles (treatises) of Birgivî Mehmed
Efendi (d. 1573) on Arabic grammar and syntax. In the summer of 1659, almost two years after
he abandoned his scholarly career, Ahmed Efendi was appointed beyler-beyi (governor-
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