Amasya’nın Helkis Bahçesi Mahallesi’nde mektebi olan dergâh-ı âlî çâvuşânından Mustafa Ağa’nın mahdûmudur. Pederinin irtihâlinde Çâvuşân-ı dergâh-ı âlî silkine girdi. Hidemât ile devr-i bilâd edib mütefferrika oldu.
1038’de Bayram Paşa’ya intisâb ederek koyunemîni olup İstanbul’da marûfiyyet kazandı. Ba’dehû Amasya’da evkâf-ı Sultâniyye mütevellîsi olup müşârün-ileyhin sadâretinde Çavuşbaşı ve 1048’de sâniyyen Amasya’da evkâf-ı Sultâniyye mütevellîsi olduğu halde 1050 senesi hilâlinde vefât etdi. Biraderi kudâttan Mehmed Efendi’dir.
In Modern English
He was the son of Mustafa Ağa, one of the Divan çavuşes, who had a mekteb in the Helkis Bahçesi quarter of Amasya. When his father died he entered the body of Divan çavuşes. Traveling the country on state services, he became a müteferrika.
In 1038 [1628-29], having attached himself to Bayram Pasha, he became koyun emini and came to be known and recognized in Istanbul. Then he became trustee of the sultans' waqfs in Amasya; during the said pasha's grand vizierate he became çavuşbaşı. In 1048 [1638-39], while trustee of the sultans' waqfs in Amasya for the second time, he died in the course of 1050 [1640-41]. His brother is Mehmed Efendi, one of the kadıs.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- çâvuşân-ı dergâh-ı âlî: the çavuşes of the Imperial Divan, the palace's order and announcement officers
- silk: body, professional class
- hidemât: services, duties
- devr-i bilâd: touring the lands
- müteferrika: an elite body of palace servants attached directly to the sultan
- intisâb: entering the patronage of a great man
- koyunemîni: official charged with supplying Istanbul's meat needs
- ma'rûfiyyet: being well known, renown
- evkâf-ı Sultâniyye: waqfs founded by sultans
- sâniyyen: for the second time
- hilâl: within, during
From Çavuş to Çavuşbaşı
Ahmed Ağa's career was spent within the palace's organization of orders and announcements. The Divan çavuşes, also called the "çavuşes of the dergâh-ı âlî," proclaimed the orders of the sultan and the divan in the provinces and the capital, received foreign envoys, and performed ceremonial duty before the viziers who came to the divan. According to the code of Fâtih, çavuşes ranked below the müteferrikas; for this reason Ahmed Ağa's move from çavuş to müteferrika is a promotion. The çavuşbaşı, who was the superior of all the çavuşes, in time became the highest officer in executive and ceremonial matters in the grand vizier's divan. That a native of Amasya whose father too was a çavuş rose to this post shows that the family held its place in palace circles for two generations.
Bayram Pasha and the Office of Koyun Emini
Bayram Pasha, who made Ahmed Ağa's rise possible, was a statesman originally from Lâdik, trained in the Janissary Corps, who married Hanzâde Sultan, daughter of Ahmed I. He returned to Istanbul from the governorship of Egypt in 1628 with the rank of dome vizier (kubbe vezirliği); the year 1038, in which Ahmed Ağa attached himself to him, also falls in this period. The pasha, who was deputy grand vizier during the Revan campaign, became grand vizier in February 1636 and died on 27 August 1638 near Urfa on the way to the Baghdad campaign. Hüsameddin's note "çavuşbaşı during the said pasha's grand vizierate" places Ahmed Ağa's çavuşbaşılık within this two-and-a-half-year period; it is also noteworthy that his second trusteeship coincides with 1048, the year the pasha died. When Bayram Pasha was grand vizier he had come to Amasya, had water brought to the city at his own expense of 20,000 kuruş, and had fountains and a mevlevîhâne built.
The koyun emini was, in the classical period, the official responsible for Istanbul's meat supply. Inspecting the sheep brought from Rumeli, delivering them to the butchers and distributing them evenly through the city were within his authority. This duty, directly concerned with the provisioning of the capital, is cited as the work that led to Ahmed Ağa's becoming "known" in Istanbul.
Helkis Bahçesi
In the first volume of his book Hüsameddin writes that the Helkis quarter extended from the north of Alçak Köprü to Leğen Kaya on Kuş Köprü, and that it was formerly divided into two parts called "Sâde Helkis" and "Bağ Helkis." The name Helkıs survives today; historic houses restored and turned into museums, such as the Kazanasmazlar Mansion, are cited in official records in the "Helkıs quarter," and there is also a mansion in the quarter bearing the name Helkıs Mansion. No other record was found about Mustafa Ağa's mekteb here.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 158–158. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 1, Mukaddime, "Helkis Mahallesi", p. 123–132.
Academic studies
Official sources