AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

İbrâhim Ağa — Kaya Alemdâr

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 63 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasya ahâlisinden Mûsâ bin İbrâhim oğludur. Yeniçeri [178] ve hayli zamân alemdâr olarak muhârebelere gitdi. Ba’dehû mükerreren Amasya serdârı ve Rus Muharebelerinde serdengeçtiler ağası ve Turnacıbaşı olup 1198 senesi evâhirinde vefât eyledi. Şeci’, gâzi bir kimse idi.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was from the common people of Amasya, İbrahim, son of Musa. He became a janissary and went to war for a long time as a standard-bearer (alemdar). Afterward he was several times the commander (serdar) of Amasya; in the Russian wars he served as aga of the serdengeçtis and as turnacıbaşı. He died in late 1198 [1784]. He was a brave man and a veteran of holy war (gazi).

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • alemdâr: a janissary who carried the standard
  • serdâr: the commander of the janissaries in a given place
  • serdengeçdiler ağası: the head of soldiers who volunteered for battle, risking their lives
  • turnacıbaşı: in the janissary corps, the commander of the company that tended the sultan's cranes
  • şeci': brave, courageous

Ranks and War

In the janissary corps, a serdengeçti was a soldier who enrolled as a volunteer for battle and, if he returned alive, received a raise of five to ten akçe in his daily pay. The turnacıbaşı was the commander of the 68th company, which fed the sultan's cranes. He was counted among the senior officers of the corps. Ranks in the corps were governed by a system of promotion in sequence; titles such as kul kethüdası (deputy of the janissary aga) and zağarcıbaşı are also links in this chain.

The war that Hüsameddin calls the "Russian wars" must be the war of 1768-1774, since İbrahim Ağa died in 1198 [1784]; the later war of 1787 came after his death. This is an inference; the text gives no year. Other serdengeçti agas also went from Amasya in the same war: in the entries that follow, İbrahim Ağa — Sucuoğlu held this post in 1193 [1779]. No detailed document or study could be found on the Amasya janissaries who took part in this war.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 63–63. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

Books

Volume 6 contents