Ebûbekir Ağa — Gözdaşoğlu el-Hâc

In Modern English

He was the son of el-Hâc Yakub Ağa bin Gözdaş Mehmed Ağa bin Mustafa, who had been dismissed and retired while kethüda (steward) of the Bostancılar Ocağı in Istanbul. On his father's death he took over the sipahi timar and, serving under certain viziers, became prominent. Later he went to the Hejaz; being a member of the pilgrims' council and of the ayan council in Amasya, he died toward 1154 [1741-42]. He came from a well-rooted family. The sons of his son el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa, el-Hâc Mustafa and Ebûbekir Ağas, were very famous. El-Hâc Ali Ağa, son of his brother el-Hâc Mustafa Ağa, was also among the leading figures of the ayan.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• kethüdâ: steward, a deputy administrator in a corps or institution
• azl ü tekâ'üde sevk: being dismissed and retired
• sipâhîlik tımârı mutasarrıfı: one who holds the revenue of a livelihood grant given in return for military service
• vüzerâ: viziers; teayyün etmek: to stand out, to become known
• ba'dehû: afterwards
• hâcıyân ve a'yân meclisleri: councils made up of the city's notables bearing the title hacı and of its ayan
• sâl: year; hânedân: of a well-rooted, esteemed family
• meşâhîr-i a'yân: the famous among the ayan

The Kethüdaship of the Bostancılar

The post of Ebûbekir Ağa's father Yakub Ağa in Istanbul belonged to the Bostancı Corps, which looked after the outer services of the palace. The bostancıs, who worked in the vineyards and gardens of Topkapı Palace, on the sultan's boats and in every kind of palace work, were under the command of their supreme superior, the bostancıbaşı, and were also responsible for public order in Istanbul, especially along the shores of the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn. The kethüda of the bostancıs was the deputy of the bostancıbaşı; until the beginning of the seventeenth century this office was given to the person who was the candidate for the bostancıbaşılık, and later it was filled from among the haseki ağas. Besides Istanbul and Edirne, bostancıs were also found in places that had the sultans' vineyards and gardens, such as Bursa, Gelibolu and Amasya. That the son of an Amasya family rose to the kethüdaship in this corps is notable when considered together with the example of Hacı Ahmed Pasha of Amasya, who in the same period rose from bostancıbaşı to kapudan pasha (grand admiral).

The Gözdaşoğulları

From other parts of Hüsameddin's work it is clear that this family was influential in Amasya for several generations. In the fourth volume, in the account of the events of 1060 [1650], it is recorded that in the month of Muharrem "the serdar Gözdaş Mehmed Ağa" was removed from the serdarship of Amasya; this was very probably Gözdaş Mehmed Ağa, the grandfather of Ebûbekir Ağa. Another grandson of the same grandfather, Ahmed Ağa son of Yûsuf Ağa, served repeatedly as serdar of Amasya as a janissary. Ebûbekir Ağa's brother Ahmed Efendi, in turn, was a statesman who wrote poetry under the pen name Merâmî: he was trained in the Enderun in the kilâr-ı hâssa (Privy Pantry), in 1125 [1713], during the Istanbul kaymakamship of el-Hâc Ahmed Pasha of Amasya, he became kethüda of the kilâr-ı hâssa, then moved into the class of hâcegân and worked in various bureaus, became şıkk-ı sâlis defterdar (third treasurer) in 1156 [1743], and died in 1157 [1744]. Hüsameddin mentions el-Hâc Ebûbekir and Mustafa Ağas as his brothers.

The grandsons called "very famous" in the text, el-Hâc Mustafa and Ebûbekir Ağas, are the generation that brought the family both its fame and its downfall. According to Hüsameddin's separate entries, the two brothers attached themselves to Canikli Hacı Ali Pasha and gained great influence in Amasya, Mustafa Ağa becoming head of the ayan (baş âyan) and Ebûbekir Ağa hacıbaşı. In the years when the Canikli family fell out of favor they were sent into exile, and in 1196 [1782] they returned and took their place beside Caniklizâde Mikdâd Ahmed Pasha, the governor (mutasarrıf) of Amasya. When the papers of the inquiry held in Amasya into the pasha's oppressions were submitted to the Divan-ı Hümayun, Mikdâd Ahmed Pasha was executed in Filibe (Plovdiv) and the two brothers in Amasya (1206-1207 [1792]).

There is a notable discrepancy here. In this entry the father of the two brothers is given as el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa, whereas in Ebûbekir Ağa's own entry his father's name appears as Ali Ağa. In the same entry Hüsameddin also relates that Attar el-Hâc Abdullah Efendi, from another branch of the family, said that these two brothers were in fact not of the Gözdaşoğulları but took that name because they were the stepsons of his grandfather Hâfız el-Hâc Ali Ağa; but Hüsameddin states that the şer'iyye registers and population records confirm what he himself wrote. No information on the Gözdaşoğulları or on Ebûbekir Ağa was found in other sources.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 92–93. amasya.bel.tr
• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 1-4, Amasya Belediyesi e-book, vol. 4, events of the year 1060 (p. 575).
• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 6-8 and 9-12, Amasya Belediyesi e-book: the entries "Ahmed Efendi-Merâmî", "Ahmed Ağa-Gözdaşoğlu", "Ebûbekir Ağa-Gözdaşoğlu" and the events of Mikdâd Ahmed Pasha.

Academic studies

• Abdülkadir Özcan, "Bostancı", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/bostanci).