Eyyûb Ağa — Resûlzâde

In Modern English

He was from Amasya. He was the son of Mehmed Efendi, a scholar, son of Resûl Efendi. He became a sipahi, kethüdâyeri of Amasya, voyvoda of Tokat and beytülmal emini of Amasya. In 1088 [1677-78] he became voyvoda of Gümüş and maden emini, and in 1094 [1682-83] he died in the Vienna War.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• mahdûm: son
• ulemâ: scholars trained in the madrasa
• sipâhî: cavalryman
• kethüdâyeri: the officer who commanded the kapıkulu cavalry stationed in a province
• voyvoda: an official who collected tax revenues and, in some places, also carried out administrative and military duties
• beytülmâl emîni: the official who headed the body that held the estates of persons without heirs
• ma'den emîni: the official in charge of the revenue and administration of a mine

The Kethüdâyeri of Amasya

The entry is short, but the offices it lists are well-known rungs of seventeenth-century provincial administration. The kapıkulu cavalry lived in the capital or near it until the middle of the sixteenth century; in the second half of the century they settled in many parts of the empire. To keep these provincial soldiers under discipline and to be able to mobilize them when needed, officers began to be appointed over them from the 1570s. The appointment of these officers, called kethüdâyeri, became regular from the early seventeenth century. In Coşkun Ünsal's study, Amasya is among the units listed as having kethüdâyeri appointments in a register of 1670-71. The same study notes that Hüsameddin mentions many people who served as kethüdâyeri of Amasya, that these people later rose to posts such as mütesellim and voyvoda, and for examples of voyvoda service it points to page 386 of volume 7 of Amasya Tarihi, that is, the page on which this entry stands.

Hüsameddin's book has two more entries that give the same sequence. Mirzâ Beyzâde Ahmed Bey, too, was a sipahi who became kethüdâyeri of Amasya, collector of the poll tax for the province of Sivas, voyvoda of Tokat and beytülmal emini of Amasya; he was then promoted to mirliva for his bravery in the Shirvan wars, and died in 1009 [1600-01] fighting bandits while sanjak governor of Divriği. Murâd Beyzâde Ahmed Ağa, too, was a sipahi and kethüdâyeri of Amasya when he joined the circle of Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha on the latter's coming to Amasya in Muharrem 1070 [1659]; he became kapıcıbaşı and kethüda of the grand vizier, in 1083 [1672-73] "voyvoda of Tokat and beytülmal emini of Amasya", in 1086 voyvoda of Zile, and in 1089 mütesellim of Amasya. Read side by side, the three entries suggest that the road from kethüdâyeri to voyvoda and beytülmal emini was an established career line in Amasya. This is an inference.

The Voyvodalık of Tokat and the Silver Mine

According to Mehmet Beşirli's article on the voyvodalık of Tokat, financial affairs in the province of Rum were run by the Treasury Defterdarlık. This office was abolished in August 1659, and the revenues belonging to the sultan's hass lands began to be farmed out under the name of voyvodalık; the aim was to bring ready cash into the treasury. In Tokat the voyvoda was an official who, besides collecting taxes, carried out administrative and, when necessary, military duties, with the powers of a sanjak governor. Among the mukataas farmed out in 1659 to the first voyvoda, "Maden-i Gümüş" is also listed. According to Mehmet Genç, almost all gold and silver mines belonged to the state and were organized as mukataas. The date of Resûlzâde's service in Tokat is not given in the entry; it is clear only that it came before 1088 [1677-78]. That Murâd Beyzâde Ahmed Ağa took up the same two offices together in 1083 [1672-73] suggests that Resûlzâde's service too may have fallen in the 1670s; this is an inference. Whether the voyvodalık of Gümüş had anything to do with this mukataa cannot be told from the text; it can only be mentioned as a possibility and could not be verified.

The Beytülmâl Emîni

According to Mehmet Erkal's encyclopedia entry, the word beytülmâl narrowed over time among the Ottomans and came to mean the estate of a deceased person whose heirs are absent or unknown, and the body that kept it. It seems reasonable to take the beytülmâl emîni of Amasya as the official at the head of this body. The entry does not give the details of the post; this too is an inference.

1094 and Vienna

The Hijri year 1094 runs from December 1682 to December 1683, and the Vienna campaign falls in this year. The army reached Vienna on 14 July 1683 (19 Receb 1094), the decisive battle was fought on 12 September, and the Ottoman army was defeated. It is not written whether Resûlzâde died during the siege, in the battle or in the retreat. In another entry Hüsameddin writes that Ahmed Bey Şahbâz Paşazâde of Merzifon returned wounded from the Vienna war in Zilhicce 1094 [December 1683] and retired with the trusteeship of a waqf. Thus people from the Amasya area are seen to have been in this campaign as well.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 386. amasya.bel.tr
• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, same edition, vol. 6, entries "Ahmed Bey-Mirzâ Beyzâde", "Ahmed Ağa-Murâd Beyzâde" and "Ahmed Bey-Şahbâz Paşazâde".

Academic studies

• Coşkun Ünsal, "Merkezî Ordunun Taşra Zâbiti: Kethüdâyerilik ve Osmanlı Askerî Teşkilatındaki Yeri", Tarih Dergisi, 85 (2025), p. 85-124. https://doi.org/10.26650/iutd.1578836
• Mehmet Beşirli, "Tokat Voyvodalığı (1774-1842)", Belleten, 69/254 (2005). https://belleten.gov.tr/tam-metin/3505/tur
• Mehmet Genç, "Mukātaa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 31, Ankara 2020, p. 129-132. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mukataa
• Mehmet Erkal, "Beytülmâl", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 6, İstanbul 1992, p. 90-94. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/beytulmal
• Abdülkadir Özcan, "Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 29, Ankara 2004, p. 246-249. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/merzifonlu-kara-mustafa-pasa