[9] Amasyalı Mehmed’in oğludur. Genç iken yeniçeri yazılıp “civelek” oldu. Rumeli ve Girit Muhârebelerinde fedâkârâne çalışdı. İbtidâ “yasakçı” olup yeniçerilerin inzibâtına me’mûr ve sonra alemdâr ve yirmi beş yıldan ziyâde müte’addid defalarda Amasya’nın yeniçeri serdârı oldu. 1120 şevvâlinde serdâr iken vefât etdi.
Yiğit, cömert, gâzi bir kimse idi. Mahdûmu el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa meşhûr serdengeçdiler ağası idi. Bunun evlâdından el-Hâc Hasan, Hüseyin, Ali Ağalar, Yeşil Şeyh Ahmed Efendi, evkâf kâtibi Hâfız Hasan Efendi bin Hâfız Mehmed Efendi, bunun mahdûmu mahkeme a’zâsından Abdullatîf Efendi ma’rûf idiler. Bunlara Apardıoğulları denir, ba’zılarının tercemeleri aşağıda gelir.
In Modern English
He is the son of Mehmed of Amasya. Enrolled as a Janissary at a young age, he became a "civelek". He worked selflessly in the wars of Rumelia and Crete. First he became a "yasakçı" and was assigned to the discipline of the Janissaries, then he became a standard-bearer (alemdar); for more than twenty-five years he was many times the Janissary serdar of Amasya. He died in the month of Şevval 1120 [late 1708] while serdar.
He was a brave, generous man and a ghazi. His son el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa was the famous agha of the serdengeçdis. Of his line, el-Hâc Hasan, Hüseyin and Ali Ağas, Yeşil Şeyh Ahmed Efendi, the waqf clerk Hâfız Hasan Efendi son of Hâfız Mehmed Efendi, and his son Abdullatîf Efendi, a member of the court, were well known. These are called Apardıoğulları, and the biographies of some of them come below.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- civelek: the name used for a young, agile Janissary candidate
- yasakçı: a soldier in the Janissary corps who watched over order and guard duties
- inzibât: military order and discipline
- alemdâr: standard-bearer
- serdâr: the commander of the Janissaries in a place
- serdengeçdi: volunteer soldiers who went to battle risking their lives
- evkâf kâtibi: waqf clerk
- mahkeme a'zâsı: member of the court council
The Janissary Serdarship in Amasya
In the Janissary corps, "yasakçı" is a term for the sentry at fortress gates, and in the provinces for the Janissary who kept order in a district. The commander who maintained the discipline of the Janissaries and other military units serving in the districts (kazas) was the serdar. Apardı İbrâhim Ağa's rise by this path shows a typical provincial Janissary career: starting as yasakçı, he rose to standard-bearer, then to serdar.
Since the Cretan wars were the Ottoman conflict with Venice that lasted about twenty-four years (1645-1669), it may be thought that Apardı İbrâhim Ağa's youth fell in the middle of the seventeenth century. This is an inference; the text gives no date of birth. That İbrâhim Ağa's son el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa is called "agha of the serdengeçdis" shows that the family continued the military tradition.
The abolition of the Janissary corps in 1826 and the founding of the Asâkir-i Mansûre-i Muhammediyye in its place also had an effect in Amasya; this period is treated separately in studies discussing the place of the Janissaries in Amasya. What course the Apardıoğulları followed with this transformation could not be determined from a source other than Hüsameddin.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 13–13. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies