Amasya’nın Küpceğiz Mahallesi’nde Sipahi İbrâhim Ağa’nın oğludur. Ticâretle kesb-i yesâr edib a’yân sırasına girdi. Pederinin vefâtında Kara Senir Mâlikânesi Mutasarrıfı olarak teneffüz etdi.
Amasya’da birkaç defa şehir kethüdâsı oldu. 1044 senesi ramazânında vefât etdi. Oğulları İbrâhim, Halîl Ağalardır. Bunlara “Keklik oğulları” dendi. Bu sülâleden es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ali Ağa bin Mustafa Ağa bin el-Hâc Ali Ağa 1048’de Taşköprülüzâde Mehmed Arif Efendi’nin kasr-ı yediyle Halfet Gâzi Vakfına mütevellî oldu. Bu tevliyetden dolayı Halfet Gâzi evlâdından olduklarını bunun hafîdi Abdullah Efendi iddia etmekde idi. [499]
In Modern English
He was the son of Sipahi İbrâhim Ağa, who lived in the Küpceğiz quarter of Amasya. He grew wealthy through trade and entered the ranks of the notables (âyân) of the city. When his father died, he became holder of the Kara Senir malikâne and benefited from its revenue.
He was city kethüda in Amasya several times. He died in the month of Ramazan 1044 [February-March 1635]. His sons are İbrâhim Ağa and Halîl Ağa; these were called "the Keklikoğulları." From this line, es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ali Ağa son of Mustafa Ağa son of el-Hâc Ali Ağa became trustee of the Halfet Gazi Waqf in 1048 [1638-39] when Taşköprülüzâde Mehmed Ârif Efendi withdrew from the post. Because of this trusteeship, his grandson Abdullah Efendi used to claim that they descended from Halfet Gazi.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- kesb-i yesâr: acquiring wealth, building up assets
- a'yân: the notables of a city whose word carries weight
- mâlikâne: a form of tenure in which a state revenue source is left to one person for life; here, the place to which that revenue is attached
- mutasarrıf: one who has the right to use the revenue of a place
- teneffüz: benefiting, living off the revenue
- şehir kethüdâsı: person who represented the townspeople before the state and ran tax matters
- kasr-ı yed: withdrawing, renouncing a post
- tevliyet: trusteeship, administration of a waqf
- hafîd: grandson
From a Sipahi's Son to a City Ağa
Ahmed Ağa's life is a small example of a transformation seen in Anatolian cities in the first half of the seventeenth century. His father was a sipahi, that is, a member of the military class; the son made a fortune through trade, entered the ranks of the âyân, held a malikâne and served as city kethüda. In his study based on the Amasya sharia court registers, Turan Açık shows that in this period the sipahis of the Porte's household cavalry settled locally as holders of property, farms and tax farms in the city, and that they formed the core of a new stratum of city notables called the âyân. The story of the Keklik family fits this framework.
The city kethüda was a person chosen from among the notables of the city who handled such tasks as distributing the taxes and obligations demanded by the state among the people with justice, conveying the people's petitions to the center, and seeing to the hosting of officials and envoys who came to the city. In the appointment deeds it was required that the kethüda be someone who knew his work, was honest and was one with whom the people were content. That Ahmed Ağa was appointed to this duty "several times" suggests that he was a person trusted among the notables of Amasya.
Küpceğiz and Kara Senir
Hüsameddin describes the Küpceğiz quarter in the first volume of his book as lying at the foot of Karakaya, bounded in the east by the Uzunyol Cemetery and in the north by the Receb and Üçler quarters, and says that the name is a corrupted form of the name "Gökceğiz" in old records. The Kaşık Pınarı picnic ground above the quarter is still mentioned as a place of outings at the end of the nineteenth century. Kara Senir survives today as the Karasenir quarter in the Merkez district of Amasya.
The Halfet Gazi Waqf and the Claim of Descent
Halfet (Halîfet) Gazi was one of the Dânişmendid emirs who later entered Seljuk service; he became governor of Amasya in 1222, and when he died in 1232 during a campaign against the Georgians he was buried in his tomb in Amasya. The waqf deed of his madrasa, dated 622 [1225], has survived; the tomb stands today in the Şamice quarter. The detail Hüsameddin records is interesting: that someone from the Keklik family became trustee of this old waqf led, a few generations later, to the family tying itself to Halfet Gazi. The author does not adopt this claim, relaying it with its source attributed to the trusteeship. Another point is also noteworthy: although Ahmed Ağa died in 1044, Ali Ağa, who is counted as "of this line" and whose three-generation lineage is given, became trustee four years later; this person must be not a direct grandson of Ahmed Ağa but from another branch of the same family.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 157–158. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 1, Mukaddime, "Küpceğiz Mahallesi", p. 123–132.
Academic studies
- Turan Açık, "Medine-i Amasya Sâkinlerinden Kapıkulu Sipahileri: 17. Yüzyılın İlk Yarısında Amasya'da Sosyo-Politik Hayata Bir Bakış", Turkish Studies, 10/1, 2015. https://doi.org/10.7827/TURKISHSTUDIES.7763
- Şenol Çelik, "Şehir Kethüdâsı", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/sehir-kethudasi
- Aynur Durukan, "Hilfet Gazi Medresesi ve Türbesi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 18, 1998. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/hilfet-gazi-medresesi-ve-turbesi
Official sources
Other sources