Amasya civârında Köprü kasabası eşrâfından ve yeniçeri zâbitânından Hasan Ağa bin Mehmed Ağa’nın oğludur. Köprü’de doğdu. Küçük yaşında pederi ile İstanbul’a gidip ocağa girdi. Pederi ocak kethüdâyeri Köprülü Hasan Ağa diye meşhûr olduğundan kendisine “Köprülüoğlu” dendi.
Amasyalı Hacı Bakioğlu Hamid Halîl Ağa’nın yeniçeri ağalığında tefeyyüz ederek Ağa kapısı çorbacılarından ve erkânından olup 1235’de kethüdâyeri ba’dehû sırasıyla muhzır ağası, seksuncu-bâşı, zağarcıbaşı olup 1238 senesi şevvâlinde [725] kul kethüdâsı, 1239 senesi rebiülevvelinde yeniçeri ağası oldu.
Diğer ağalara nisbetle mu’tedil, iş-güzâr olduğundan makâmını bir yıldan ziyâde muhafaza edebildi. Vezâreti mûsâmmem iken 1240 senesi cumâdelâhiresinin on ikisinde birkaç gün mukaddem zuhûr eden bir arbede yüzünden azledilip 1241 senesi şevvâlindeki vak’a-yı hayriyede maktûlen vefât etdi. Birâderi Mehmed Ağa’nın oğulları Mustafa, Ömer Ağalar da yeniçeri zâbitânından idi. Vak’ada mün’adim oldu.
In Modern English
He was the son of Hasan Ağa bin Mehmed Ağa, one of the notables of the town of Köprü near Amasya and a Janissary officer. He was born in Köprü. At a young age he went to Istanbul with his father and entered the corps. Since his father was known as Köprülü Hasan Ağa, the corps' kethüdayeri, he was called "Köprülüoğlu" ("son of the man from Köprü").
Rising during the term of Hacı Bakioğlu Hamid Halil Ağa of Amasya as Janissary Agha, he became one of the çorbacıs and prominent men of the Agha's Gate; in 1235 [1819-20] he became kethüdayeri, then in turn muhzır ağası, seksenbaşı and zağarcıbaşı; in Şevval 1238 [1823] kul kethüdası, and in Rebiülevvel 1239 [1823-24] Janissary Agha.
Because he was more moderate and capable than the other aghas, he could hold his post for more than a year. While his vizierate was as good as settled, he was dismissed on the twelfth of Cemaziyelahir 1240 [1825] because of a brawl that had broken out a few days earlier, and he was killed in the Auspicious Incident of Şevval 1241 [1826]. The sons of his brother Mehmed Ağa, Mustafa and Ömer Ağa, were also Janissary officers. They perished in the incident.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- eşrâf: leading men, persons of rank and standing
- ocak: the Janissary corps, the Janissary organization
- ocak kethüdâyeri: a rank of officer in the corps, one of the Agha's assistants
- tefeyyüz: rising, advancing
- çorbacı: company-commander rank in the Janissary corps
- muhzır ağası, seksuncu-bâşı, zağarcıbaşı: senior ranks of the Janissary corps
- kul kethüdâsı: senior officer ranking after the Janissary Agha
- mu'tedil: moderate, free of excess
- iş-güzâr: capable, knowing his business
- mûsâmmem: settled, decided
- arbede: brawl, disturbance
- vak'a-yı hayriyye: the Auspicious Incident, the abolition of the Janissary corps
- mün'adim: vanished, perished
The Janissary Agha and the End of the Corps
Köprülüoğlu Ahmed Ağa was an officer who went from a provincial town to Istanbul and climbed the steps of the Janissary corps under his father's name. The sequence of ranks Hüsameddin gives shows the order of seniority inside the corps: from kethüdayeri to muhzır ağası, then to kul kethüdası and the aghaship. The text specially stresses that he stayed more than a year in the aghaship; it is understood that in a period when the corps' aghas were changed quickly this was put down to moderation.
The incident in which Ahmed Ağa died falls on the days of 17 June 1826, when Mahmud II abolished the Janissary corps. According to the encyclopedic account, Mahmud II prepared for this step for a long time, weeded out the corps' middle-ranking officers in advance, prevented the ulema from joining forces with the soldiers, and founded a new unit called the "eşkinci"; the Janissary uprising was put down in a clash of four or five hours. Hüsameddin refers to the event only as the "Vak'a-yı Hayriyye". Entry 745 dates the same event to the month of Zilkade; the difference of month between the "Şevval" in this entry and that entry is not explained in the text.
No source other than Hüsameddin could be found on Ahmed Ağa's aghaship of the Janissaries. No information on this person was found in other sources.
Bibliography