Shedet (Dec 2018)
THE INDEPENDENCY ACTIVITIES OF AHMED PAŞA AL-KRCHĪ AND THEIR REFLECTIONS ON THE OTTOMAN COINS IN EGYPT (929 A.H./1524 A.D.)
Abstract
At the beginning of the reign of Sultan Sulaymân I ibn Selîm I in Egypt and the Levant, the Ottoman Empire faced many tribulations and independence movements which aimed to restore the power of the Mamluk State and show noncompliance to the Sultan’s orders. However, these movements were toughly faced, thus could not stand in front of the Ottoman Empire. From this point, coins played an important role in studying separatism through studying revolutionaries’ coins. Thus coins have been important documents and records preserving the history of revolutions throughout the different ages. One of the most important revolutionary movements was the one by Khaīn Paşa, the Egyptian governor during the era of Sultan Sulaymân who declared the rebellion against the Sultan’s power, underestimated the Sultan by declaring himself the Sultan of Egypt, and struck coins under his name. But the Ottomans faced this movement forcefully until it was eliminated and Khaīn Ahmed Paşa was executed. Among the most important results were the successive monetary versions of gold and silver coins during the reign of Sultan Sulaymân, beside the emission of law which specified the transactions of the Egypt mint ‘ḍarbkhāne’ or ‘dār al-ḍarb’, and its minters ‘ḍarrābun’.
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