Cihâdî Ahmed Ağa, known by the nickname "Altıncı", was a janissary and saz poet (minstrel) of Amasya who lived in the second half of the seventeenth century. According to the Amasya Tarihi of Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, he became the best-known saz poet of the city after Celâlî Mehmed Ağa, spurred the janissaries into battle with the destans (narrative songs) he sang at the siege of Candia (Kandiye), won the favour of Grand Vizier Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha and died around 1093 (1682). Hüsameddin writes that his destans, manis (quatrains) and airs were many; yet not a single line of them has been recorded. The poet's name also appears on this site in the articles Folk Songs and Long Airs of Amasya and The Minstrel Tradition in Amasya; this page brings together the records about him.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Hüsameddin introduces the poet in the eighth volume of the Amasya Tarihi, in the section on natives of Amasya whose names begin with the letter "cim":

Cihâdî Ahmed Ağa-Altıncı Amasyalıdır. Yeniçeri Hasan'ın oğludur. Bu da yeniçeri olup oda-başılığa kadar terakkî gördü. Güzel bir sâz şâiri olup Celâlî Mehmed Ağa'dan sonra iştihâr etdi. Kandiye fethinde yeniçerileri destânlarıyla harbe teşvîk eylediğinden terakkî gördü. Sadr-ı a'zam ve serdâr-ı ekrem Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Paşa'nın nâ'il-i iltifât ve ihsânı oldu. 1086'da tekâ'üd ulûfesiyle mütekâ'id olup 1093 hudûdunda vefât etdi. Muhârib, hoş-sohbet bir halk şâiri idi. Destânları, mânîleri, ezgileri çokdur.

In modern English the entry reads: Cihâdî Ahmed Ağa, known as "Altıncı", is a native of Amasya. He is the son of the janissary Hasan. He too became a janissary and rose to the rank of odabaşı. He was a fine saz poet and became famous after Celâlî Mehmed Ağa. Because he urged the janissaries into battle with his destans at the conquest of Candia, he was promoted. He received the favour and bounty of the grand vizier and commander-in-chief Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha. In 1086 he retired on a pension and died around 1093. He was a warlike folk poet and pleasant company. His destans, manis and airs are many.

The site's rendering of the entry can be read in the Hüsameddin encyclopedia (in Turkish).

Life

Cihâdî's date of birth is unknown. His father Hasan was also a janissary and the son grew up in the same corps; Hüsameddin does not say when or how he was enrolled. The highest rank the entry records is that of odabaşı. The dictionary of the Turkish Language Association defines the odabaşı as the officer in the janissary organization who arranged and conducted the salute ceremonies of the regiments. The source does not explain why the poet was nicknamed "Altıncı" ("the Sixth"); whether it refers to the number of a janissary company (orta) or to some other detail is unknown.

The decisive event of his life was the siege of Candia. According to Ersin Gülsoy's article "Kandiye" in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, this chief city of Crete was surrendered to the Ottomans by agreement on 9 Rebîülâhir 1080 (6 September 1669), after a blockade and siege lasting some twenty-three years, and its final campaign was led by Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha. According to Hüsameddin, Cihâdî encouraged the janissaries to fight with his destans during this siege, was promoted for this service and drew the attention of the grand vizier, who was with the army as commander-in-chief. In his study of the minstrel destan tradition in Amasya, Cavit Güzel stresses that the janissary corps valued and supported the minstrels for the functions they served and was one of the settings in which the tradition lived most strongly; he mentions Cihâdî within this framework, as a destan-singing minstrel who successfully fulfilled the task of raising the army's morale.

In 1086 (1675-76) Cihâdî left the corps with a "tekâ'üd ulûfesi", that is, a retirement pension, and he died around 1093 (1682). Hüsameddin does not give the place of his death; the fact that the entry stands among the natives of Amasya and mentions no other city suggests that the poet spent his years of retirement in Amasya. This is an inference.

Connection with Amasya

The source linking Cihâdî with Amasya is Hüsameddin: he counts him plainly as a native of Amasya and places him in the line of the city's saz poets as the one who came after Celâlî Mehmed Ağa. Celâlî Mehmed Ağa of the Türedioğlu (in Turkish) was a sipahi saz poet who played the saz and recited destans in the "Yüksek Kahve" (High Coffeehouse) in the Meydan Köprü quarter and was executed in 1069 (1659). Cihâdî's fame appears to have risen after this date.

In the fourth volume, where he describes the Köprülü era, Hüsameddin also names "Cihâdî, Hüznî, Seyfî, Izzî" when listing the folk poets of Amasya, and says that the city's folk poets were "pek âşık" (deeply passionate) and the manis and airs they made "pek yanık" (deeply plaintive). Since this section describes the period beginning with the grand vizierate of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, the Cihâdî named here is very probably Cihâdî Ahmed Ağa. Güzel's study, however, places the same list at the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century and mentions the name Cihâdî separately, both in this early list and among the destan singers of the seventeenth century. Hüsameddin's text does not show that there were two different poets called Cihâdî.

Poetry

No poems of Cihâdî Ahmed Ağa have come down to us. Hüsameddin writes that his destans, manis and airs were many but gives no example. Güzel, too, states that there is no specimen of the works of the minstrels named in the Amasya Tarihi, and that his searches in other sources likewise turned up no work by them. In the same fourth volume Hüsameddin adds that the plaintive manis of Amasya were preserved by word of mouth down to his own time, and that the man who knew them best was the bağlama poet Abdal Ağasızâde İsmâil Hakkı Efendi; some of Cihâdî's manis may have lived on within this oral store, but there is no record showing which piece was his. No record of a divan or of a poem copied into a cönk (folk-poetry notebook) has been found either.

Chronology

1069 (1659): The saz poet Celâlî Mehmed Ağa is executed; according to Hüsameddin, Cihâdî wins fame after him.

9 Rebîülâhir 1080 (6 September 1669): Candia is surrendered by agreement; Cihâdî is said to have heartened the janissaries with his destans during the siege.

1086 (1675-76): Cihâdî leaves the corps on a retirement pension.

Around 1093 (1682): Cihâdî Ahmed Ağa dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Official sources

Online sources