[376] Boşnaktır. Bosna etrâfından devşirilen kimselerden olup Sultân Bâyezîd kölesidir. Amasya Sarayı’nda genç iken güzel bir terbiye-i İslâm görüp kavî müslim oldu. Tedrîcen terakkî ederek Kapıağası Büyük Hüseyin Ağa İstanbul’a gitdiğinde 890’da Amasya Sarayı Kapıağası oldu.
Amasya Valisi Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed’in mukarreblerinden olup 918’de Sultân Selîm Hân’ın tahtına cülûsunda Sultân Ahmed’in harben tutulup ihnâk edildiğini işittiğinde zehre-çâk olarak vefât etdi. Kerîm, sâdık, sâhib-i hayrât idi.
Amasya’da Şamlılar Mahallesi’nde gâyet lâtîf bir câmi-i şerîf ve yanında âlî bir medrese ve bunun civârında bir mekteb-i sıbyân yaptırdı. Bunların mesâlih-i idâresini te’mîn etmek üzere bütün emlâkini 900’de vakf etdi. Bunun vakfiyesini Şeyhzâde el-Hâc Alî Efendi elinde mütâla’a etdim. Kendisi de medresesi önündeki mezarlıkta medfûndur. Kitâbesi yoktur.
In Modern English
He was a Bosnian. He was one of those levied from around Bosnia and was a slave of Sultan Bayezid. While still young in the Amasya Palace he received a good Islamic upbringing and became a firm Muslim. Rising gradually, he became Gate-Keeper (Kapıağası) of the Amasya Palace in 890 [1485], when the Gate-Keeper Büyük Hüseyin Ağa went to Istanbul.
He was one of the intimates of Prince Sultan Ahmed, Governor of Amasya. In 918 [1512-13], when Sultan Selim Khan ascended the throne and he heard that Sultan Ahmed had been taken in battle and strangled, he died of a broken heart. He was generous, loyal and a founder of charitable works.
In Amasya, in the Şamlılar quarter, he had a very fine mosque built, beside it a lofty madrasa, and in its vicinity a primary school (mekteb-i sıbyân). To secure their running costs he endowed all his property in 900 [1494-95]. I examined his endowment deed in the hands of Şeyhzâde el-Hâc Alî Efendi. He himself is buried in the cemetery in front of his madrasa. It has no inscription.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- devşirilen: a non-Muslim child taken into Ottoman service through the devshirme levy
- kapıağası: the official in charge of a palace gate and its entrance order
- terbiye-i İslâm: Islamic upbringing
- mukarreb: an intimate, a confidant
- cülûs: accession to the throne
- ihnâk: strangling
- zehre-çâk: with the gall burst, dying of fear or grief
- mekteb-i sıbyân: children's school
- mesâlih-i idâre: running expenses
- vakfiye: the founding deed of a waqf
- mütâla'a: examination, study
The Man and His Post
According to Hüsameddin, Ayâs was a devshirme slave of Bayezid II. In the sources the complex bearing his name is called "Ayas Ağa"; the entry's title says "Pasha". In his main text Hüsameddin presents him not as a pasha but as a gate-keeper. Ayâs came to this post in 890 [1485], taking the place of the previous Gate-Keeper, Büyük Hüseyin Ağa, who had gone to Istanbul. Among the madrasas of Amasya two are counted under the names "Büyük Ağa (Hüseyniye)" and "Küçük Ağa (Ayas Ağa)". The sources state that the Büyük Ağa Madrasa was built in 1488, in the reign of Bayezid II, on the order of the Gate-Keeper Hüseyin Ağa. It is highly probable that he is the Büyük Hüseyin Ağa whom Hüsameddin names as Ayâs's predecessor as gate-keeper; this identification is an inference based on the overlap of names. By the same inference, the name Küçük Ağa given to Ayâs's madrasa is a distinction drawn between the madrasas of the two gate-keepers.
In this period Amasya was the seat of princely governors. The Bayezid II Complex was built by Prince Ahmed, the governor of Amasya, in the name of his father. The Prince Ahmed to whom Ayâs was attached is the Ahmed who had this complex built. No source that supports or departs from Hüsameddin's report of Ahmed's end, "taken in battle and strangled", was found among the pages read. What is known is that Selim came to the throne in 1512; the year 918 [1512-13] given for Ayâs's death coincides with this date.
The Complex Today
The Ayas Ağa Complex, in the Şamlar (Şamlılar) quarter of Amasya, consists of a mosque, a madrasa and a primary school. The complex has no inscription; as its date, the 900 [1494-95] given by Hüsameddin is accepted. According to tradition, the Şamlar Mosque, one of the charitable works of Emir (Melik) Gazi of the Danishmend dynasty, previously stood on the same site. The only inscription, not fully legible, in the arch panel of the window to the left of the minaret probably belongs to the Danishmend period.
The mosque consists of a square, single-domed prayer hall, a three-part porch and a minaret rising at the north-east corner of the hall. The walls are built of rubble stone and brick; the wall surface above the three arches of the porch is decorated with cut stone panelled with brick hexagons. The minaret's base with its half-hexagonal projection and its cut-stone footing survive from the first building; the shaft has been renewed. The madrasa, also called Medrese-i Ayasiyye, Küçük Kapı Ağası and Küçük Ağa, consists of nine cells enclosing the courtyard on the west and north and a section presumed to be the lecture room. In front of the cells is a portico with marble columns. The primary school stands at the east end of the northern row of cells and has two spaces. Between the mosque and the school there is a small cemetery. Whether this small cemetery is the "cemetery in front of his madrasa" that Hüsameddin mentions is not stated, so the connection is only a possibility. The complex's mosque was open for worship at the time of the 1991 printing of the source. In Telli's count the Küçük Ağa (Ayas Ağa) Madrasa is among the Amasya madrasas that gave instruction in the twentieth century.
Hüsameddin's Own Observation
Hüsameddin says that he read the endowment deed in the hands of Şeyhzâde el-Hâc Alî Efendi. This is a method seen in other entries of the book as well: the author gathers information by examining endowment documents with their owners. That the deed dates from 900 rests only on this record; the deed's present location is not stated in the sources read.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 378. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- M. Baha Tanman, "AYAS AĞA KÜLLİYESİ", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 4, Istanbul 1991, p. 201-202. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ayas-aga-kulliyesi
- Hasan Telli, "Meşihat Arşivi'ne Göre Amasya Müderrisleri", Kocatepe İslami İlimler Dergisi, 7/2, 2024, p. 732-758. https://doi.org/10.52637/kiid.1512049
Official sources
Other sources