Ebûbekir Ağa — Silahdâr

In Modern English

He was a native of Amasya. The son of Ali, he joined the silahdar group (the silahdar company of the kapıkulu cavalry). Rising in his profession, he became kethüda of the silahdar corps. However, since he had grown weak from wounds received in wars, in 1089 [1678] he was retired with the trusteeship of the Hoca Sultan waqf and sent to Amasya. He died in 1093 [1682]. The trusteeship of Hoca Sultan was also left to Veli Bey.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• silahdârân zümresi: the silahdar company of the kapıkulu cavalry
• iltihâk etmek: to join
• kethüdâ: the administrator who ran affairs in a corps after the ağa
• za'fa dûçâr olmak: to grow weak, to lose strength
• tevliyet: the trusteeship of a waqf, its management and the right to a share of its income
• tekâ'üd: retirement

The Silahdar Company

The silahdars to which Ebûbekir Ağa belonged should not be confused with the silahdar ağa in the sultan's privy chamber. According to Şerafettin Turan's encyclopedia entry, among the Ottomans there was also, under the name "silahdar company," one of the six companies forming the kapıkulu cavalry. This corps, which appears in official documents as "cemâat-i silâhdârân," was regarded as the head of the cavalry companies until the time of Mehmed the Conqueror; when Mehmed founded a separate company from the sons of sipahis and gave them the privilege of marching on the sultan's right, the silahdars moved to the left side and were given a yellow banner. The company's strength, about 2,500 in the time of Murad IV, reached 6,244 men in 1660. All the silahdar companies were under the command of the silahdar ağa; in the company there were officials such as the silahdar kethüda, the kethüda yeri, the başçavuş and the silahdar clerk.

The Hoca Sultan Tekke and a Method of Retirement

Giving a wounded soldier the trusteeship of a waqf as a retirement income is an example showing that waqf posts in the Ottoman state were also used as a source of income. Hoca Sultan is one of the Halvetî tekkes of Amasya. According to Kadir Özköse's study of the Halvetî tekkes in Amasya, the tekke stood in the old Dârüsselâm quarter, around today's Fethiye quarter. It had been built in 880 [1475] by Şemseddin Ahmed Çelebi, the teacher of Prince Bayezid at Amasya, and its sheikhship was given to Cemâl-i Halvetî, known as Çelebi Halife. It is likely that the tekke's name "Hoca Sultan" relates to the prince's teacher; but this is a guess.

Özköse notes that after Cemâl-i Halvetî was summoned to Istanbul by Bayezid II, the sheikhship passed to his son Bedreddin Mahmud Çelebi and then to Hayreddin Hızır Çelebi, Muhyiddin Mehmed Çelebi and Alâeddin Çelebi, and that after Alâeddin Efendi the sheikhship of the tekke was given to leading scholars on a retirement basis. According to the same author, the trusteeship of the tekke remained with the Çelebizâdes descended from Cemâl-i Halvetî, and when this line came to an end with the death of Mehmed Efendi in 1686, Zanalı Mehmed Efendi became the tekke's sheikh and trustee.

Hüsameddin's record adds a detail to this picture. According to him, in 1089 the trusteeship was given to Ebûbekir Ağa, and after his death in 1093 to Veli Bey. Özköse's summary phrase "the board of trustees remaining with the Çelebizâdes" does not agree exactly with Hüsameddin's record; it is possible that the trusteeship right was divided into shares or that these appointments were made alongside the Çelebizâdes, but this matter could not be clarified from the sources read. No information about Ebûbekir Ağa himself or about Veli Bey, to whom the trusteeship passed, was found in other sources.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 89. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• Şerafettin Turan, "Silâhdar", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/silahdar).
• Kadir Özköse, "Amasya'da Bulunan Halvetiyye Tekkeleri", AKADEMİAR Akademik İslam Araştırmaları Dergisi, no. 5 (December 2018), pp. 91-118.