The seventeenth century can accurately be described as a century in which the Ottoman Empire faced a myriad of internal structural change. These changes cover a vast portion of the Ottoman state power structure ranging from shifts in military strength from one based on the traditional slave military elite, as personified by the Janissary corps and the Sipahi cavalry, to one reliant upon mercenary troops, in the form of sarıcas and segbans, to shifts in dynastic succession and palace politics. Some historians have described the period of Ottoman history beginning in the seventeenth century as a period of decline. Others have disputed this claim, pointing to reforms and developments in this period that served to strengthen and maintain the Empire. A fact agreed upon by both positions in this argument, however, is that the seventeenth century was a period of great change. The events in the life of Melek Ahmed Pasha, as described in Evliya Çelebi's Book of Travels, abridged and translated by Robert Dankoff as The Intimate Life of an Ottoman Statesman, clearly represent a number of these changes faced by the Ottoman Empire in the seventeenth century. The character of Melek Ahmed Pasha, the mentor and patron of Evliya Çelebi, is a symbol of the old Ottoman traditional military slave elite, besieged by the changing conditions of the seventeenth century.

Melek Ahmed Pasha represents the pinnacle to which members of the military slave elite could aspire. For centuries, the Ottoman system of recruiting slaves of the Sultan to occupy high military, political, and religious positions had allowed the Ottoman Empire to expand and flourish. The "military slave elite" consisted of slaves levied from among the non-Muslim population of the Empire to be raised by the State and trained in either the military or religious disciplines. Those slaves of particular talent, rather than entering the military, were permitted to enter the palace school and become educated, perhaps being permitted to join the Sultan's retinue. Melek Ahmed Pasha is one such individual who, being among the "slaves of the gate," or kapıkuları, is permitted to become a member of the entourage of Sultan Murad IV, becoming his sword bearer and personal companion (Evliya 49). This, in turn, began Melek Ahmed Pasha's career within the Sultan's household. As a servant of the Sultan, Melek Ahmed Pasha is appointed to the position of Grand Vizier, the most powerful office in the Ottoman State, second only to the Sultan. As a result of this high honor, Melek Ahmed Pasha represents the perfect example of the old order of the empire. He attains his high status through service to the Sultan, a tradition that had ideally governed appointments to the office of Grand Vizier for centuries. However, the Grand Vizierate of Melek Ahmed Pasha is cut short due to the changing conditions within the Empire during the seventeenth century.

The events surrounding Melek Ahmed Pasha's removal from the office of Grand Vizier are clearly the consequences of the changing face of the Ottoman Empire in the seventeenth century. Evliya Çelebi describes two events that lead to Melek Ahmed Pasha's removal from office. The first concerns a controversy surrounding the position of Agha of the Turcomans. For years prior to the controversy, the office had been filled by Abaza Kara Hasan Agha, who had been granted this position in perpetuity by Sultan Mehmed IV. (Evliya 62) In 1650 at the behest of some of his advisors, Melek Ahmed Pasha grants another individual the Aghaship of the Turcomans. Abaza Kara Hasan Agha is understandably upset and confronts the Grand Vizier regarding his loss of position. After Melek Ahmed Pasha consults the Agha to give up the position for one year, Hasan Agha accuses Kudde Kethüda, one of the aforementioned advisors, of orchestrating the appointment of another to Kara Hasan's rightful office. A fight breaks out between Kudde and Hasan resulting in Hasan's fleeing the capital and joining Ipsir Mustafa Pasha in the provinces as a celali, or rebel. Two other men, Hanefı Halife and Dasnik Mirza, fearing for their lives after the catastrophe regarding Hasan Agha also flee the capital and became celalis in the eyes of the Grand Vizier and his advisors. Melek Ahmed Pasha manages to hunt down these two men, destroy their armies, and execute the two leaders as enemies of the State. The execution of these two men who had been, by Melek Ahmed Pasha's own account, two "men of honor and without greed," (Evliya 64) results in the loss of favor of Melek Ahmed Pasha and his followers in the eyes of the Janissary Aghas and the population of Istanbul. (Evliya 77) Although Melek Ahmed Pasha is initially opposed to the execution of these men, he nonetheless carries out the ill advised action. The second and most important event that leads to Melek Ahmed Pasha removal from office again results from the actions of his advisors. The Grand Vizier's deputies, in an attempt to gain monetary profit from the events surrounding a military catastrophe at Azov, mislead some local merchants on a business deal designed to help the military position at Azov. When the tradesmen complain to the Grand Vizier, the advisors manage to convince Melek Ahmed Pasha that the merchants had not been cheated, resulting in the Grand Vizier ruling against the wishes of the tradesmen. (Evliya 78) This sparks a rebellion in the streets of Istanbul because of which Melek Ahmed Pasha surrenders the seal of the Sultan, thus losing his position as Grand Vizier. These events are characteristic of the changes faced by the Empire in the seventeenth century. The rebellious celalis, as represented by Abaza Kara Hasan Agha, Hanefı Halife, and Dasnik Mirza, are a problem first experienced by the Empire during this period. Although these figures become criminals in the eyes of the State by unjust means, they nonetheless symbolize the reduction of centralized control over the slave military elite, characteristic of seventeen century conditions. The meddling of the Grand Vizier's advisors in matters of state for the purpose of personal gain is also characteristic of the period, insofar that the members of the slave elite possess households, and therefore have economic interests of their own. Additionally, the rise in importance of the esnaf, or trade classification guilds, to the degree that they can bring about the removal of a Grand Vizier to the Sultan is likewise an advent of the seventeenth century.

If Melek Ahmed Pasha is a symbol of the old Ottoman order of the military slave elite which owes its position and is loyal to the Sultan, Ipsir Mustafa Pasha is a symbol the changing realities in the Ottoman Empire in the seventeenth century. First, Ipsir Mustafa Pasha possesses his own power base, independent of the Sultan. Ipsir remains, ostensibly, a servant of the Sultan, but enjoys a power base of his own in the provinces. Ipsir, supported by his own private army, is a symbol of the shift in military power away from the Sultan in the seventeenth century. Second, Ipsir Mustafa Pasha's private army is comprised of sarıcas and segbans, or mercenaries recruited from the reaya, or subject population. In the old Ottoman tradition, only the ruling military class, or askeri, were permitted to bear arms. Ipsir Mustafa Pasha's reliance upon the armed mercenaries from the reaya class demonstrates the changing military conditions in the Empire during the Seventeenth Century. The leaders of the military slave elite such as Ipsir Mustafa Pasha, and even Melek Ahmed Pasha, could no longer rely upon the old sipahis and Janissary corps as the sole military force. The changing nature of the technology and economics of warfare had reduced the sipahis, and to a lesser extent the Janissary corps, to obsolescence. The proliferation of inexpensive firearms during the seventeenth century resulted in the arming of the subject class. These armed reaya began, by the this period, to be hired by local warlords to serve as mercenary soldiers. By the time of Evliya's text, even traditional members of the military slave elite, such as Melek Ahmed Pasha. were, by necessity, forced to rely upon these mercenaries in order to affectively wage warfare in the seventeenth century. Ipsir Mustafa Pasha's use of these mercenaries to establish a power base of his own out in the provinces is, therefore, representative of the changing conditions of the times. If Melek Ahmed Pasha, as a member of the old order, prefers the use of loyal slave troops, Ipsir Mustafa Pasha, as a symbol of the new order, is content to employ mercenaries, in order to support his position of power, independent from the Porte.

Similar to the example of Ipsir Mustafa Pasha, the two wives of Melek Ahmed Pasha, Kaya Sultan and Fatma Sultan, represent certain changes in the conditions in the Ottoman ruling class, characteristic of the seventeenth century. The marriage of Melek Ahmed Pasha and Kaya Sultan is symbolic of a condition in Ottoman ruling class society, characteristic of the seventeenth century, in which members of the military slave elite, such as Melek Ahmed Pasha, form households of their own. Previously, each of the "slaves of the gate," or kapıkuları, were considered to be members of the Sultan's household, and could, therefore, not form households of their own. Beginning in the seventeenth century members of the slave ruling class were permitted to wed and form family units. This greatly changed the structure of loyalty among the askeri. Although the military slave elite remained, ostensibly, a part of the Sultan's household, the motive of self interest in advancing one's own household led to factionalism and corruption, as evident in the examples of Ipsir Mustafa Pasha, Abaza Kara Hasan Agha, and Kudde Kethüda, as described above. Thus, Melek Ahmed Pasha's establishment of his own household is symbolic of social changes in the Ottoman ruling elite in the seventeenth century.

The marriage of Melek Ahmed Pasha to Fatma Sultan, likewise, symbolizes a social change in the ruling elite characteristic of the period. By the time of Evliya's text, a process had begun of conducting marriages between sisters of Sultans and members of the military slave elite. This very process is symbolic of the changes occurring in the Ottoman Empire by the seventeenth century, insofar that the processes of permitting both members of the military slave elite and members of the royal bloodline to wed were relatively recent events. The marriage of Melek Ahmed Pasha to Fatma Sultan, however, is significant because the motivation for the wedding is particular to the seventeenth century. The basis for the motivation for the Sultan to conduct a wedding between these two individuals is that the lifestyle to which Fatma Sultan had previously been privileged, had been quite expensive. By wedding the sister of a Sultan to a member of the military slave elite, the Sultan was able to defer the cost of maintaining the princess's extravagant lifestyle upon the husband. Thus, there is an economic motive in finding a husband for Fatma Sultan. This practice of conducting marriages between members of the royal family and members of the slave elite, in order to defer the cost of maintaining a royal lifestyle away from the Palace, is one particular to this period. Therefore, the two weddings of Melek Ahmed Pasha symbolize changing social conditions among the ruling elite in the seventeenth century.

One can accurately describe Evliya's text as a biography of a member of the askeri class, Melek Ahmed Pasha, who represents traditional values in an changing world. Similarly, many of the characters with whom Melek Ahmed Pasha interacts can be described as symbols of the changes facing the Ottoman Empire in the seventeenth century. These changes take on many forms, from the shift in rise of powerful warlords, as represented by Ipsir Mustafa Pasha, to the establishment of private households among the military slave elite. Evliya Çelebi's Book of Travels, apart from documenting the events in the life of a prominent Ottoman statesman, manages to demonstrate the conditions in the Ottoman Empire in the seventeenth century, a century during which dramatic changes occurred in Ottoman society.

Evliya Çelebi. The Intimate Life of an Ottoman Statesman: Melek Ahmed Pasha (1588-1662). Trans. Robert Dankoff. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1991.

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