Amasyalıdır. Üçler Mahallesi’nde Yahyâ Ağa’nın oğludur. Altıncı bölükde mukayyed yeniçeri olduğundan “Altıncı Ağa” demekle meşhûr oldu. Amasya’da alemdâr, mükerreren yeniçeri serdârı ve İrân harbinde serdengeçtiler ağası olarak fedâkârâne çalışıp [141] 1144 senesinde vefât etdi.
Zâbıt, cesûr, zî-nüfûz, hânedân bir kimse idi. Amasya’da konağı olan sokağa “Saka Sokağı” dendi. Mahdûmları yeniçeri ağası İsmâil Ağa ile İstanbul kadısı Yahyâ Efendi ve kudâtdan Mahmûd Efendi ve yeniçeri serdârı el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa meşhûr idiler.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya, the son of Yahyâ Ağa of the Üçler quarter. Because he was a janissary registered in the sixth company, he became famous as "Altıncı Ağa" (the Sixth Agha). He worked selflessly in Amasya as alemdar, several times as janissary serdar, and in the Iranian war as serdengeçtiler ağası, and died in 1144 [1731-32].
He was a man who knew how to establish order, brave, influential and of noble standing. The street in Amasya where his mansion stood was called "Saka Sokağı" (Saka Street). Among his sons, the janissary ağa İsmâil Ağa, the Istanbul kadı Yahyâ Efendi, the kadı Mahmûd Efendi and the janissary serdar el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa were well known.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mukayyed: registered
- alemdâr: standard-bearer
- yeniçeri serdârı: commander of the janissaries in a place
- serdengeçti ağası: head of the volunteers who enlisted for war, risking their lives
- zâbıt: able to establish order and discipline
- zî-nüfûz: influential
- hânedân: noble family
- mahdûm: son
The Serdengeçtis and the Janissaries of Amasya
The serdengeçtis were volunteer soldiers who enlisted for war under a banner raised wherever there was a janissary corps; banners were the means of carrying out enrollment. An article studying the Patrona rebellion describes how these banners were also used during the days of the rebellion, and how serdengeçti ağas made announcements such as that the people were not to be touched. Which Iranian campaign Sakaoğlu took part in cannot be told from the book.
The date of death, 1144, is the year immediately after the Patrona rebellion. An article describes how in June 1731 a janissary gang leader in Amasya declared himself the "second Patrona," beat the kadı and caused great disturbances. Sakaoğlu's relation to these events is not stated in the sources. The descendants of the Apardıoğulları, another Amasya serdar family, are mentioned in record number 6-11 of this volume.
No additional information on the family or Saka Street was found other than Hüsameddin.
Bibliography