Ebûbekir Ağa — Mîrzâzâde el-Hâc

In Modern English

He was the son of Mîrzâ Bey, one of the notables of the village of Zana, northeast of Amasya. According to the Enderun registers found among the papers in the vault of Hagia Sophia, he entered the Enderun, the inner section of the Imperial Palace, in 1112 [1700-01] and, rising in rank, became dülbend ağası in 1132 [1719-20].

In the calamity of 1143 [1730-31] he was dismissed from the palace with the rank of kapıcıbaşı (head of palace gatekeepers). After going through various services, he became başbâkîkulu in 1148 [1735-36] and then surre-i hümayun emini. On his return from the Hejaz, around 1152 [1739-40], he died. His brother was Hacı İsmâil Ağazâde Hacı Mîrzâ Ağa, and his sister's son was Mîrzâ Ali Pasha. He was one of the men of state.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• şimâl-i şarkî: northeast
• eşrâf: notables, noble families
• mahzen evrâkı: documents kept in the archive
• enderûn-ı saray-ı hümâyûn: the inner part of the sultan's palace; the section housing the young men trained for palace service
• terakkî etmek: to rise in rank
• dülbend ağası: one of the ağas of the Privy Chamber (Has Oda), the official who looked after the sultan's turbans and linen
• hâ'ile: calamity, major event
• ihrâç: being expelled from the palace, being appointed to a post outside the palace
• devr-i hidemât: serving in various posts
• başbâkî kulu: head of the treasury bureau dealing with uncollected tax arrears (bakaya)
• surre-i hümâyûn emîni: the person charged with carrying and distributing the money and gifts the sultan sent each year to Mecca and Medina
• hemşîrezâde: sister's son; ricâl-i devlet: the leading officials of the state

The Village of Zana

Zana, the village the Mîrzâzâde family came from, is today the village of Çiğdemlik in the central district of Amasya. In the table Bekir Başalan prepared on renamed settlements in Amasya, the earlier names of Çiğdemlik are given as "Akdağ/Zana". In the village cemetery stands a small Ottoman fountain registered in the cultural inventory; its three-line Arabic inscription reads the name of "Halîl ibn Muhammed, a man of charity and good works" and the date 1275 [1859]. The fountain, built of brick, rubble and cut stone, has been repaired, and its trough and back panel were later renewed in concrete.

In Hüsameddin's work Zana appears as the home of many statesmen. In the first volume, among the great statesmen Amasya produced, "Zanalı Ca'fer Ağazâde Seyyid Ahmed Pasha" is also counted; in the annals of the fourth volume there is mention of a mufti named Zanalı Seyyid Ahmed Efendi, and of "Zanalı Mîrzâ Paşazâde Ahmed Ağa", the sultan's çuhadar (attendant), who was sent into exile in 1171 [1757-58].

The Post of Dülbend Ağası in the Enderun

The Enderun, where Ebûbekir Ağa served for some twenty years, was the inner palace that attended to the sultan's personal service. The post of dülbend ağası was a high one there. According to the definition in the İstanbul Ansiklopedisi, the dülbend ağası was the title of one of the forty ağas of the Privy Chamber (Has Oda), which formed the most esteemed class of the Enderun pages. The seniors of the Has Oda were ranked, from the bottom up, as biniş peşkir ağası, köşe peşkir ağası, baş peşkir ağası, anahtar ağası, dülbend ağası, rikâbdar ağa and çuhadar ağa; when an ağa above left the palace, those below moved up one step in order.

The dülbend ağası's most important duty was to oversee the cleaning of the Chamber of the Holy Mantle (Hırka-i Saadet), which had been entrusted to the protection of the Has Oda. Every year on the fifteenth of Ramadan the sultan visited the Chamber of the Holy Mantle, and at this ceremony the dülbend ağası acted as guide. The care of the sultan's turbans and underclothes was also left to him. The dülbend ağası always stayed at Topkapı Palace and was not taken along with the retinue when the sultan moved to the summer palaces.

The Calamity of 1143 and the Departure from the Palace

Hüsameddin says that Ebûbekir Ağa was dismissed from the palace with the rank of kapıcıbaşı during a "hâile" in 1143 [1730-31], but he does not explain what the event was. The greatest event of that year was the Patrona Halil rebellion, which began in Istanbul on 28 September 1730 (Rebîülevvel 1143). By the end of the rebellion Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Damat İbrâhim Pasha had been executed, Ahmed III had been deposed, and his nephew Mahmud I had been placed on the throne. It is natural to connect the dismissal of an Enderun ağa in this year with the change of reign; but since the source does not draw this link explicitly, it remains an inference. The "incident of 1143" mentioned in the same volume in the entry on Giridlizâde Hacı Ebûbekir Efendi is, by contrast, the local conflict among the notables (ayan) of Amasya; the two events must be kept apart.

The Journey to the Hejaz as Surre Emin

Ebûbekir Ağa's last major post was that of surre emin. According to Ş. Tufan Buzpınar's encyclopedia entry, the surre was the name for the money, gold and other goods sent each year, before the pilgrimage season, to be distributed to the people of Mecca and Medina. The Ottoman sultans sent the surre regularly after the Haremeyn came under Ottoman rule in 1517. The surre ceremony in Istanbul was prepared by the Dârüssaâde ağası (chief black eunuch), who also administered the waqfs of the Haremeyn, and it began with the appointment of the surre emin, who was responsible for the security of the surre along the road and for its distribution after it reached the Haremeyn. At the ceremony, attended by the sultan, the imperial letter (nâme-i hümayun) written to the emir of Mecca, the surre purses and the surre registers were handed over to the surre emin, and the surre procession set out from the palace. Before the eighteenth century the surres were sent by sea to Egypt and from there to the Haremeyn; after that century they were sent overland by way of Damascus.

Ebûbekir Ağa died on his way back from the Hejaz, around 1152 [1739-40]. Hüsameddin specifically notes that he took the information on his palace posts from the Enderun registers in the vault of Hagia Sophia.

Mîrzâ Ali Pasha

Mîrzâ Ali Pasha, the sister's son named at the end of the entry, also appears in Hüsameddin's annals: in the month of Safer 1151 [May-June 1738] "Zanalı Mîrzâ Ali Pasha, who had become cebecibaşı with the sanjak of Çankırı," died. According to this, the nephew died about a year before his maternal uncle. The phrase in the entry, "his brother el-Hâc İsmâil Ağazâde, el-Hâc Mîrzâ Ağa," can also be read in two ways: either "Hacı Mîrzâ Ağa, the son of his brother Hacı İsmâil Ağa," or as the names of his two brothers. The punctuation in the text does not allow a firm judgment on this. No information on the other members of the family was found in other sources.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 92. amasya.bel.tr
• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 1 (men of state raised by Amasya); vol. 4 (events of the years 1151 and 1171).

Academic studies

• Bekir Başalan, "Amasya İlinde İsimleri Değiştirilen Yerleşim Yeri Adları Üzerine Bir İnceleme", Folklor Akademi Dergisi, 7/3 (2024), p. 1382-1391.
• Ş. Tufan Buzpınar, "Surre", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr).

Official sources

• T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı, Kültür Portalı, "Çeşme (Zana - Çiğdemlik Köyü Çeşmesi)" cultural inventory record (kulturportali.gov.tr).

Books

• "Dülbend Ağası", İstanbul Ansiklopedisi (istanbulansiklopedisi.org).

Other sources

• "Patrona Halil İsyanı" entry (tr.wikipedia.org).