Batiments

[FIRST ARMY of MODERNIZATION PERIOD - ASÂKIR-I MANSÛRE-I MUHAMMEDIYE] [Autograph letter sealed 'Hüsrev Mehmed' addressed to Serkâtib of Humayûn sealed 'Mustafa Nuri'].

1831 — Very Good Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928) Original manuscript autograph handwritten document sealed 'Hüsrev Mehmed' sent to (and responded by) Serkâtib Mustafa. Written in special paper with 'ahar'. 39x21 cm. In Ottoman script. Slightly tear on folded place and slightly stains. Otherwise a very good manuscript paper. The document was written in accordance with the Ottoman state correspondence tradition prior to modernization. However, it is an indication of modernization that it is written to the serkâtib of Humâyûn (head clerk of the Ottoman / Turkish court) and not to the Sultan directly. The importance of this document is that it has many hints of modernization movements of the last period of Empire, depiction of the division of the first modern Ottoman army (Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye) that's before one year of Egyptian Campaign by Koca Husrev Pasha and before eight years of proclamation of Reform (Tanzimat) and after only 22 years of Turkish Magna Carta (Sened-i Ittifak). Husrev Pasha was 'serasker' (commandant and head) of Assakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye Army in that year. Husrev's text starts as 'Devletlü, inayetlü, atufetlü, oglum.." in 'Elqab'. In the Ottoman diplomacy, first person who used 'oglum' [i.e. my son] in elqab of the documents was Koca Hüsrev Pasha. (Source: Osmanli Arsiv Belgeleri, Orhan Sakin). Koca Hüsrev Pasha (Khosrew Pasha) was an Ottoman Kapudan Pasha ("Grand Admiral") of the Ottoman Navy and statesman who reached the position of Grand Vizier rather late in his career, between 2 July 1839 and 8 June 1840 in the reign of Abdülmecid I. However, during the 1820s, he occupied key administrative roles in the fight against regional warlords, the reformation of the army, and the reformation of Turkish attire. In 1801, Hüsrev Pasha commanded the 6,000 Ottoman troops who assisted the British in removing the French from Rashid (Rosetta). For this, he was made governor of Egypt Eyalet (province), in which position he was charged with assisting Hüseyin Pasha in the killing or imprisoning the surviving leaders of the Mamluks. Many of these were freed by or fled with the British, while others held Minia between Upper and Lower Egypt. [.] He was later made governor again by Muhammad Ali for 2 days [.] After Diyarbekir and Salonica, in 1806 he was governor of Bosnia Eyalet, before being reappointed as governor of Salonica in 1808. Hüsrev Pasha held the rank of Kapudan Pasha of the Ottoman Navy from 1811 to 1818. He was then appointed governor of the Eyalet of Trabzon twice, during which time he conducted for the Black Sea region of Turkey the struggle the central Ottoman state was waging against local feudal rulers (Derebeys). During the Greek War of Independence, he was appointed Kapudan Pasha again in the end of 1822. In 1826, Husrev Pasha played vital roles both in the Auspicious Incident (the annihilation of the Janissary Corps in 1826) and in the formation of the new "Mansure Army" modeled after those of European Powers. Appointed as seraskier (commander the army) of the Mansure in May 1827, Husrev reformed and disciplined the corps. Himself ignorant of modern military methods, he assembled a staff of foreign experts and other personnel to assist him, the "Seraskeriye", which constituted the first staff in Ottoman history. Due to his early championing of military reform and virtual control over the new Ottoman army, Husrev was able to install many of his protégés in senior military positions. Husrev Pasha was also instrumental for the near-abandonment of the turban and the adoption of the fez as a universal headgear for Muslim men of the Ottoman Empire (excluding the religious classes) under Sultan Mahmud II. (Wikipedia). Möltke talks about him in famous book includes his personal letters as 'he is more powerful than sultan'. Following the suppression of the Janissaries in 1826, Sultan Mahmud II transferred the functions of the old Agha of the Janissaries to the seraskier.