AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

İbrâhim Efendi — Halîl Ağazâde

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 76 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Mecidözülüdür. Oranın eşrâfından Hasan Ağa bin Halîl Ağa’nın oğludur. 1230’da doğdu. Biraz tahsîl-i ulûm ve ma’rifet ederek 1265’de Mecidözü kazâsı kâtibi olup teneffüz etdi. Bundan dolayı 1270’de Rumeli’ne kaldırıldı. 1273’de Toyran, Küçük Zağra, Büyük Zağra kasabalarına sırasıyla mâl müdürü olup 1280’de avdet etdi. Ba’dehû meclis-i idâre-i kazâ a’zâsından olduğu hâlde 1290’da vefât etdi. Şi’a a’yânından nâfizü’l-kelim, hânesi küşâde, müdebbir, Alevî meşreb bir kimse idi. Oğulları a’yân-ı kazâdan Hasan, Hüseyin, Mehmed Efendilerdir. 1317’de Hasan Efendi’nin hânesinde birkaç gün kaldım. Mükrim ve misâfir perverdi. [221]

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was from Mecidözü. He was the son of Hasan Ağa, son of Halîl Ağa, one of the notables of that place. He was born in 1230 [1814-15]. Having acquired a measure of learning and knowledge, he became scribe of the kaza of Mecidözü in 1265 [1848-49] and gained influence. For this reason he was sent away to Rumelia in 1270 [1853-54]. In 1273 [1856-57] he became, in turn, finance director (mal müdürü) in the towns of Toyran, Küçük Zağra and Büyük Zağra, and in 1280 [1863-64] he returned to his home district. Later, while a member of the kaza administrative council, he died in 1290 [1873-74]. He was one of the Shia notables, a man whose word carried weight, whose door was open to everyone, who was prudent and of an Alevi disposition. His sons are Hasan, Hüseyin and Mehmed Efendi, notables of the kaza. In 1317 [1899-1900] I stayed a few days in the house of Hasan Efendi. He was a hospitable man who showed generous entertainment.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • eşrâf: notables
  • teneffüz etmek: to gain influence, to come to have one's word carry weight
  • kaldırılmak: here, to be removed from where one is and sent elsewhere
  • mâl müdürü: the official in charge of the financial affairs of a kaza or town
  • avdet: return
  • meclis-i idâre-i kazâ: the kaza administrative council
  • nâfizü'l-kelim: one whose word carries weight
  • hânesi küşâde: whose house is open to all
  • müdebbir: prudent, one who thinks of the outcome of a matter
  • meşreb: disposition, temperament, path
  • mükrim: one who entertains generously, generous

Mecidözü and the Date It Became a Kaza

Mecidözü is today's district of Mecitözü, attached to Çorum. For many years it remained attached to the sanjak of Amasya in the province of Sivas, and in 1916 it was attached to the sanjak of Çorum in the province of Ankara. The development of the town began through the efforts of one family: Avukatlızâde el-Hâc Ali Ağa, settling from 1728 in this place, then a village, gained great influence and standing, had a mosque, a bath, a school and a large mansion of his own built there, and his grandson had a madrasa built in front of the mosque. Among the settlement's inhabitants were people from the Bayındır and Kayı tribes, as well as Tatars and Circassians.

The date on which Mecidözü became a kaza is given differently in the sources. The history of the district governorate and some encyclopedia entries write that the kaza was established in 1874 and that the first district governor was appointed there at that time. Hamdullah Dedeoğlu states that Mecidözü was a kaza attached to Amasya from 1868 to 1918, and that Zünnunâbâd in the same region was a kaza from 1642 to 1868 and then a nahiye. Hüsameddin, for his part, says that İbrâhim Efendi became "scribe of the kaza of Mecidözü" in 1265 [1848-49]. That the sources show the kaza seat of the region at this date as Zünnunâbâd suggests that Hüsameddin may have referred to the kaza by the name it bore in his own time; but this is a conjecture.

Kaza Administration in the Early Years of the Tanzimat

İbrâhim Efendi's gaining influence as a scribe and his being sent to Rumelia as a result should be read together with the characteristics of kaza administration in the early years of the Tanzimat. According to Musa Çadırcı's study, under the arrangement applied from March 1842 the notables in each kaza were assembled and chose one of themselves as müdür, and the chosen müdür was asked for a guarantor so that he would not pocket state revenue. The chief duty of kaza müdürs was to ensure that the tithe and similar taxes were collected on time. In practice the sanjak administrators sometimes appointed their own relatives to this post, and the people reacted to this; governors could dismiss müdürs who embezzled treasury revenue or collected excess taxes from the people. Hüsameddin does not say why the influence İbrâhim Efendi gained was regarded as objectionable, or by whose decision he was sent to Rumelia. What is noteworthy is that he was not punished in Rumelia, and that three years later he was appointed to a responsible post connected with state revenues, such as finance director; this suggests that his being sent away had the aim of removing him from his home district rather than of punishing him, but no document on this was found.

His Posts in Rumelia

Toyran is today the town of Doyran in the southeast corner of North Macedonia, on the shore of the lake of the same name. It was a kaza seat under Ottoman administration; Evliya Çelebi, who came there in 1668, described the town as a prosperous place with stone houses amid gardens and vineyards, in the territory of Salonica. In the Ottoman census of 1831 the town had 716 Muslim men, and it appears that of its total population of 3,430, forty-two percent were Muslim.

Two kaza seats bearing the name Zağra are known in Rumelia: Eski Zağra, called Stara Zagora in today's Bulgaria, and Yenice-i Zağra (New Zağra), called Nova Zagora. Eski Zağra is an old city that probably fell into Ottoman hands in 1371; its total population in 1831 was 18,368, and after the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 it remained within the borders of the province of Eastern Rumelia. It is likely that the places Hüsameddin calls "Küçük Zağra" and "Büyük Zağra" are these two towns; which corresponds to which could not be verified. The distance between Doyran and the Zağras shows that İbrâhim Efendi served in different corners of Rumelia for nearly ten years.

"Among the Shia Notables" and "Of Alevi Disposition"

Hüsameddin describes İbrâhim Efendi as "one of the Shia notables" and "of Alevi disposition." This description, made in the author's own period's terms, portrays a family of notables that came from the Alevi communities of the Mecidözü region and had a voice in kaza administration. That in the same lines he writes that his word carried weight, that his house was open to all, and that his sons were also among the notables of the kaza shows the family's standing in local society.

At the end of the entry Hüsameddin relates that in 1317 [1899-1900] he stayed a few days in the house of İbrâhim Efendi's son Hasan Efendi and describes his hospitality. This sentence is testimony that part of the author's information was gathered through journeys he himself made and through relations he formed with families. No record of the Halil Ağazâde family other than Hüsameddin's was found.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 76–76. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

Official sources

Other sources

Volume 6 contents

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