Türedizâde Hacı Hüseyin Ağa was a cavalryman (sipahi) and tax-farmer who carried weight among the notables (ayan) of Amasya at the end of the seventeenth century, and who rose again to be chief notable after being jailed and exiled to Tokat in 1688. His father was Celâlî Mehmed Ağa, the minstrel who recited epics at the Yüksek Kahve. In the entry Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar devotes to him there is no mention of a poet, a poem or a pen name; he is counted among the poets of Amasya because the first sentence of the entry calls his father a "saz poet". No record says whether he himself composed verse.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Amasyalıdır. Saz şâiri ve sipâhi Celâlî Mehmed Ağa bin Hüseyin Ağa bin Kâsım Ağa'nın oğludur. Sîpâhi iken Defterdâr Ahmed Paşa'ya kendisini sevdirib hazinedârı olarak erbâb-ı mâliye arasında hayli nüfûzu vardı. 1094'de müşârun-ileyhin vefâtını müteâkib Amasya'ya geldi. Bir müddet kethüdâ-yeri ve 1098'de Sivas vilâyeti sürsât mukâtaâsı mültezimi oldu. 1099'da sipâhilere tarafdâr olduğundan Tokat'a nefy edildi. Ba'dehû avdet edib Hicâz'a gitdi. 1103'de meclis-i a'yân âzâsı ve 1112'de baş-a'yân olup Amasya'da büyük bir nüfûz kazandı. 1113'de Irak ordusuna me'mûren Bağdad'a gidip 1115 senesi evâhirinde oralarda vefât etdi. Nâfizü'l-kelîm olup meşâhîr-i a'yândan idi. Mahdûmları Mehmed, Ahmed Ağalardır.

In English: Of Amasya; the son of the saz poet and sipahi Celâlî Mehmed Ağa, grandson of Hüseyin Ağa and great-grandson of Kâsım Ağa. While a sipahi he won the favour of Defterdar Ahmed Paşa and, as his treasurer, gained considerable influence among the men of finance. After the pasha's death in 1094 he came to Amasya. For a while he was kethüdayeri, and in 1098 he took the farm of the sürsat levy of the province of Sivas. In 1099 he was exiled to Tokat for siding with the sipahis. He later returned and went on pilgrimage to the Hejaz. In 1103 he became a member of the council of notables and in 1112 chief notable, gaining great influence in Amasya. In 1113 he was assigned to the Iraq army and went to Baghdad, and died in those parts at the end of the year 1115. He was a man whose word carried weight and one of the well-known notables. His sons are Mehmed and Ahmed Ağa.

The full text, with the old words explained, stands under the title Hüseyin Ağa-Türedizâde el-Hâc.

From a Rebel Family to the Notables

The family in which Hüseyin Ağa grew up had clashed bloodily with the state twice in the middle of the century. His grandfather Türedi Hüseyin Ağa had earned the nickname "Türedi" while serving with Abaza Mehmed Paşa and was executed in 1058 (1648) in the affair of Vardar Ali Paşa. His father Celâlî Mehmed Ağa was put to death in 1069 (1659) for joining the revolt of Abaza Hasan Paşa; in the list Hüsameddin copies from the Amasya court register in his fourth volume, "Türedioğlu Mehmed Ağa" appears among the Amasya men executed at Aleppo. Hüseyin Ağa's year of birth is unknown, but since his father died in 1659 his birth presumably falls before that date. His brother Kâsım Ağa became deputy governor (mütesellim) of Sivas in 1096.

After his father's death Hüseyin Ağa grew up a sipahi and found his way in finance. The death of Defterdar Ahmed Paşa, whom he served as treasurer, falls in 1094, the year of the Vienna campaign (1683). Back in Amasya he became the town's kethüdayeri, and then took the farm of the sürsat of the province of Sivas, the levy of grain and fodder collected for the army.

The Turmoil of 1099 and Exile to Tokat

Hüsameddin's short entry ties the exile of 1099 to support for the sipahis. The events the same author narrates in his fourth volume give a more tangled picture. In 1099 (1688) Amasya was shaken by the plunder and killing of the bullies attached to Yeğen Osman Paşa and of local strongmen who styled themselves "emir" and "seyyid", and plague and famine followed. When the new governor Mirza Mehmed Paşa jailed the ringleaders and set out to tour the sanjak, the acting alaybey Deli Hızır Beyzâde Kurd Mehmed Bey was left in the town, and Türedizâde Hüseyin Ağa of the notables was charged with assisting him. At the end of Zilkade (September 1688) seyyids and a crowd that followed them stormed the castle dungeon and freed the imprisoned emirs, and a new bloody brawl broke out. Hüsameddin blames it on the leniency shown by the mütesellim Osman Ağa, the Hüseyin Ağas and Kurd Bey. All were dismissed and jailed. By a decree that arrived in Safer 1100 (November-December 1688) the emirs were executed, Kurd Bey was sent to Istanbul, and Hüseyin Ağa was sent to Tokat, "the homeland of his ancestors", and put in the Çardak dungeon.

The difference between the two accounts is plain: the biographical entry gives support for the sipahis as the reason for the exile, the narrative of events gives softness towards the seyyids; the date also shifts between 1099 and 1100. Hüseyin Ağa's sipahi background, and the fact that the events took place where sipahi and seyyid factions were entangled, suggest that the two statements describe different sides of the same affair.

Chief Notable, and Baghdad

Back from exile, Hüseyin Ağa went on pilgrimage, entered the council of notables of Amasya in 1103 (1691-92) and became chief notable in 1112 (1700-01). This was the most powerful position to be had in the town's local government. In 1113 (1701-02) he was assigned to the Iraq army and went to Baghdad, and died in those parts at the end of 1115, before the spring of 1704. His grandsons kept the Türedizâde name alive in Amasya: Hacı Süleyman Ağa, son of his son Mehmed Ağa, and Hüseyin Paşa, son of his son Ahmed Ağa, are both noticed separately by Hüsameddin.

The State of the Sources

No record of Hüseyin Ağa as a poet has been found. Hüsameddin describes him as "nâfizü'l-kelîm", a notable whose word carried weight; the only reference to poetry belongs to his father. His place among the poets arose from that description of the father being carried over to the son. Whether the father's saz poetry passed to the son, and whether the family kept its ties with the coffeehouse and gatherings, is unknown. Unless a new source comes to light there is no basis for counting Hüseyin Ağa a poet.

His Poetry

Nothing in verse survives under his name, and there is no evidence that he wrote any.

Chronology

1069 (1659): His father Celâlî Mehmed Ağa is executed after the revolt of Abaza Hasan Paşa.

1094 (1683): Defterdar Ahmed Paşa, whose treasurer he was, dies; Hüseyin Ağa returns to Amasya.

1098 (1686-87): He takes the farm of the sürsat levy of the province of Sivas.

Zilkade 1099 (September 1688): Dungeon raid and riot in Amasya; he is dismissed and jailed.

Safer 1100 (November-December 1688): Exiled to Tokat and put in the Çardak dungeon.

1103 (1691-92): Becomes a member of the council of notables of Amasya.

1112 (1700-01): Becomes chief notable.

End of 1115 (early 1704): Dies near Baghdad while serving with the Iraq army.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources