Amasyalıdır. Esbak Amasya mütesellimi Tatarağası es-Seyyid Ömer Ağazâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa’nın mahdûmu ve Bekir Beyzâde İbrâhim Paşa’nın kerîme-zâdesidir. Teşrifâtî Bekir Beyzâde Mehmed Akif Bey’in himmetiyle Bâb-ı âlîde teşrifâtî kalemine girdi.
Orada tahsîl-i maârif ve rüsûm ederek tefeyyüz edib kalem-i mezkûr ser-halîfesi, ba’dehû bâ-rütbe-i hâcegânî tezkire-i sânî oldu. 1188’de Amasyalı Yeğen Ali Paşa’nın kethüdâsı ve bunun vefâtında ba’zı vüzerâya dîvân kâtibi olup devr-i bilâd etdi.
1208’de sâniyen tezkire-i sânî, ba’dehû yeniçeri efendisi olup 1212’de ma’zûl ve 1214’de senevî onaltı bin akçe tımâr ile mütekâid olduğu halde 1217 senesi hilâlinde vefât etdi. Mahdûmları es-Seyyid Mehmed Rahmi, Hasan Rıza Efendilerdir.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He was the son of Seyyid Hacı Mehmed Ağa, son of Tatarağası Seyyid Ömer Ağa, former mütesellim of Amasya, and the son of a daughter of Bekir Beyzâde İbrâhim Pasha. Through the efforts of the teşrifatî Bekir Beyzâde Mehmed Akif Bey he entered the protocol office (teşrifat kalemi) at the Sublime Porte.
There he studied, learned the procedures and ceremonies and rose to become head khalifa of the said office, then second tezkireci with the rank of hâcegân. In 1188 [1774-75] he became steward (kethüdâ) to Yeğen Ali Pasha of Amasya, and on the latter's death secretary of the divan to certain viziers, serving in a round of provincial posts.
In 1208 [1793-94] he became second tezkireci for the second time, then Janissary efendi, and was dismissed in 1212 [1797-98]. In 1214 [1799-1800] he was retired with a timar of sixteen thousand akçe a year, and died at the beginning of 1217 [1802-03]. His sons are Seyyid Mehmed Rahmi and Hasan Rıza Efendi.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- esbak: former, earlier
- mütesellim: an official who collected taxes and stood in for a governor or sanjak bey
- kerîme-zâde: a daughter's son, grandson
- himmet: effort, support
- teşrifatî: the Porte official in charge of protocol
- Bâb-ı âlî: the grand vizier's office, the seat of government
- kalem: a clerical bureau in a government department
- ser-halîfe: head khalifa of a bureau, the most senior of its scribes
- rüsûm: procedures, ceremonies and rules of office
- bâ-rütbe-i hâcegân: with the rank of hâcegân
- tezkire-i sânî: the second tezkireci
- devr-i bilâd: going around the country, round of provincial posts
- mütekâid: retired
- tımar: a source of annual income granted in return for state service
A Family of Mütesellims
The phrase "former mütesellim of Amasya," used in the text for Edhem İbrâhim Efendi's father, is a familiar picture of eighteenth-century provincial administration. The mütesellim stood in for the governor or sanjak bey and collected the sanjak's taxes and delivered them to the state treasury. His term of office was one year by rule, but this rule was almost never observed, and those who held the mütesellimship of the same sanjak for years were common. In the eighteenth century local dynasties had taken over most of the mütesellimships in the sanjaks. It may be thought that the Tatarağası family gained power in Amasya within this framework; however, no record of this family could be found in the sources read, so this is an inference.
A Scribe's Rise at the Porte
The center of gravity of the text is the Porte's bureaus. The teşrifatî was at first a treasury scribe attached to the chief defterdar; at the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century this changed, and he became a Porte official attached directly to the grand vizier and responsible for protocol, and the word "teşrifat" in the sense of protocol arose only after this transformation. Edhem İbrâhim Efendi's career falls in the second half of the eighteenth century, a period when this transformation was complete. In the middle of that century officials such as the great and small tezkirecis, the teşrifatçı and the Janissary scribe were counted at the rank of hâcegân; hâcegân status gradually came to be given as a rank, and even the divan scribes of viziers were called by this title. It is likely that "second tezkireci" corresponds to the small tezkireci in the distinction between great and small tezkireci. The clerkship of the Janissary corps was also one of the posts that men of the bureaus took up in turn; the post Hüsameddin calls "Janissary efendi" is expected to be this office, but no direct equation was found in the source.
Stewardship and Divan Clerkship
Kethüdâ is the name given in the Ottoman state to an assistant who ran affairs alongside senior officials; viziers and beylerbeys had kethüdâs in their retinue, and those who followed their affairs in Istanbul were called "kapı kethüdâsı." That Edhem İbrâhim Efendi became steward to Yeğen Ali Pasha of Amasya in 1188 means he entered the service of a vizier from his own city. Divan clerkship meant serving in the provinces as secretary to certain viziers; the expression "devr-i bilâd" describes this round of postings. No information was found in the sources read on Yeğen Ali Pasha or on Bekir Beyzâde İbrâhim Pasha, who is named as his grandfather.
What Could Not Be Read
No information was found in other sources on Seyyid Ömer Ağa, Seyyid Hacı Mehmed Ağa, Bekir Beyzâde İbrâhim Pasha, the teşrifatî Bekir Beyzâde Mehmed Akif Bey, Yeğen Ali Pasha or his sons Mehmed Rahmi and Hasan Rıza Efendi.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 276–276. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies