AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ebûbekir Ağa — Altıncı

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 95 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasyalı Mustafa Ağa’nın oğludur. Yeniçeri altıncı bölüğü efrâdından iken İrân ve Rus muhârebâtında yararlıklar gösterdi. Bu yüzden terakkî ederek mükerreren Amasya serdârı, Rus harbinde serdengeçtiler ağası, turnacıbaşı olup 1188 sâlinden sonra vefât etdi.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He is the son of Mustafa Ağa of Amasya. While a private of the sixth company of the Janissary Corps, he showed valor in the Iran and Russia wars. Thereby rising, he became serdar of Amasya several times, and in the Russian war serdengeçtiler ağası and turnacıbaşı. He died after 1188 [1774-75].

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • efrâd: individuals; here the privates, the rank and file of the company
  • muhârebât: wars
  • terakkî etmek: to rise, to gain rank
  • mükerreren: several times, repeatedly
  • serdar: here the head of the janissaries in a city
  • serdengeçti: a volunteer janissary who fought in the very front in battle
  • sâl: year

The Titles Ebûbekir Ağa Received

Hüsameddin's short record is a compact example of how a provincial janissary could rise in the eighteenth century. Each of the three titles Ebûbekir Ağa bore corresponds to a separate step. The word serdar was in the Ottoman Empire generally used for the viziers and beylerbeyis sent on campaign; but the leading officers of the senior or retired janissaries, mostly called "korucu" and "oturak", who were assigned by the janissary ağası to keep order in small places, were also called "janissary serdar". The serdarship of Amasya, which Ebûbekir Ağa held several times, is in this second sense; that is, he was the head of the janissaries in the city and in a way the officer in charge of public order.

The serdengeçtis, as their name shows, were soldiers who "passed over their own heads", that is, who put their lives aside. These volunteers, who climbed besieged fortresses at night by ladder and fought in the foremost line in pitched battles, were also called "men of death". When needed, a serdengeçti banner was opened and the janissaries who wished gathered under this banner. The pay of those who returned alive from the battle was raised, and they were granted the right to wear the "serdengeçti kavuk" adorned with valuable feathers; these ghazis with the kavuk were called serdengeçti ağası. According to Abdülkadir Özcan's finding, in the eighteenth century this title was also used in some rebellions for those who joined the rebels and had slid into the meaning of "cheap heroism". The research by Mehmet Yaşar Ertaş and Hacer Kılıçaslan on a family of ayan in the Menteşe region, on the other hand, shows that when serdengeçtis were collected from the provinces priority was given to experienced people who had opened a banner before, and that in the eighteenth century the kaza serdars were largely chosen from among serdengeçti ağas. That Ebûbekir Ağa was both serdar of Amasya and serdengeçti ağası matches this general picture.

The turnacıbaşılık, in turn, is one of the highest ranks of the Janissary Corps. The turnacıbaşı, the lowest in rank of the six great ağas called the ocak ağas, according to tradition took his name from the occasion when Mehmed the Conqueror, during a hunt, was pleased that the greyhound of the 68th orta caught a crane and raised the head of that orta above the others. In time crane and hunting matters were set aside, and the title continued as a high post of the corps. The turnacıbaşı was above the hasekibaşı and below the saksoncubaşı within the corps and became saksoncubaşı when promoted. It is understood that a janissary who came from the provinces and rose to the turnacıbaşılık reached this post through the valor he showed on the battlefield.

The Iran and Russia Wars

Hüsameddin says that Ebûbekir Ağa took part in the Iran and Russia wars and records that he died after 1188 [1774-75]. This date coincides with the end of the Ottoman-Russian war, which began in 1768, turned against the Ottoman state after land and sea battles, and ended in 1774. In the same war it is known that Canikli Hacı Ali Pasha, who had held the sanjak of Amasya as mâlikâne since 1772, took part in the battle of Khotyn and was afterwards appointed seraskeri of Crimea; it is clear that the region was tied to this war with men and munitions. That Ebûbekir Ağa was serdengeçti ağası "in the Russian war" most likely points to this war. Which Iran campaign he joined cannot be understood from the text. No information on Ebûbekir Ağa himself was found in other sources.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 95–95. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

Other sources

Volume 6 contents

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