Amasyalıdır. Dârüssaâde ağası hasekîlerinden Mütevellîzâde el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa bin el-Hâc Hasan Ağa bin el-Hâc Ali Ağa mahdûmudur. Sultân Abdülhamid Hân-ı Evvel devrinde Enderûn-ı Hümâyûn’a çırağ edildi. [274]
Orada tahsîl ve terbiye görüp Dârüssaâde ağası Hâfız İsa Ağa’ya intisâb-ı tâmmı olduğundan l230’da Kaftânî-i şehriyârî ve l233 senesi saferinde mabeyncilik inzimâmiyle hazîne-i hümâyun kethüdâsı ve zilka’desinin on altısında silâhdâr-ı şehriyârî oldu.
l238 senesi saferinin yirmi beşinde meşhûr Mehmed Said Hâlet Efendi’nin Bursa’ya ve oradan Konya’ya i’zâm ve i’dâmında adamlarından olduğu Sultân Mahmûd-ı Sânî’nin gözdesi ve Hâlet Efendi’nin casûsu olan Giritli Berber Ali Ağa tarafından ihbâr ve siâye edilerek rebîülevvelinin on birinci günü azil ve Ali Ağa’nın def’aten silâhdâr nasbedildiğine fevkalâde merâk etdiğinden birkaç gün mürûrunda vefât etdi.
Âkil, maârif-âşinâ, müdebbir olup beş yıl kadar mevki’ini muhâfaza etdiği halde Berber Ali Ağa’nın siâyesi yüzünden ikbâl ve hayâta vedâ etdi. Üsküdar’da Seyyid Ahmed deresinde medfûndur.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He was the son of Mütevellîzâde el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa, one of the hasekîs of the chief of the Dârüssaâde ağas; Mehmed Ağa was the son of el-Hâc Hasan Ağa, who was in turn the son of el-Hâc Ali Ağa. In the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid I he was taken into the Enderûn-ı Hümâyun as an apprentice.
There he received education and training. Because he was completely devoted to the chief of the Dârüssaâde ağas, Hâfız İsa Ağa, in 1230 [1814-15] he received the rank of the sultan's kaftan (kaftânî-i şehriyârî); in the month of Safer 1233 [1817-18], with the duty of mabeyinci added, he became steward of the imperial treasury, and on the sixteenth of Zilkade the sultan's silahdar.
On the twenty-fifth of Safer 1238 [1822], he was denounced and slandered by Berber Ali Ağa of Crete, the favourite of Mahmud II and the spy of Hâlet Efendi, on the grounds that he had been among the men of the famous Mehmed Said Hâlet Efendi in the latter's banishment to Bursa and then Konya and his execution, and he was dismissed on the eleventh day of Rebîülevvel. When he heard that Ali Ağa had been suddenly appointed silahdar, he was so distressed that he died a few days later.
He was sensible, valued learning and education, and was prudent. Although he had kept his post for about five years, he took leave of fortune and of life because of Berber Ali Ağa's slander. He is buried at the Seyyid Ahmed stream in Üsküdar.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- Dârüssaâde ağası: the chief of the harem aghas
- hasekî: in this context, a person from an ağa's close retinue (a meaning inferred from context)
- Enderûn-ı Hümâyun: the inner service and training organization of the sultan's palace
- çırağ edilmek: to be taken into the palace as an apprentice
- intisâb-ı tâm: attachment with complete devotion
- kaftânî-i şehriyârî: the rank of the sultan's kaftan (the exact meaning could not be verified)
- mabeyncilik: the service between the sultan and the outside
- hazine-i hümâyun kethüdâsı: the steward of the imperial treasury
- silâhdâr: the palace aga who carries the sultan's arms
- i'zâm ve i'dâm: being sent away (banishment) and being executed
- siâye: slander, denunciation
- def'aten: suddenly
- maârif-âşinâ: one who knows and values learning
- müdebbir: prudent, one who knows his business
Hâlet Efendi and the Background of the Event
The Hâlet Efendi of the text is an influential statesman of the reign of Mahmud II. The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi shows him as living between 1760 and 1822. Remaining in office for a long time, Hâlet Efendi increased his influence over the sultan and played a large part in appointments and dismissals. Through the influence of his rival Mehmed Said Galib Pasha he was banished first to Bursa and then to Konya; shortly afterwards he was killed on the sultan's order by Ârif Ağa, the chief of the imperial guards. The encyclopedia gives this event as Safer 1238 / November 1822. His body was buried in Konya, his severed head was brought to Istanbul, and all his property was confiscated by the state.
The date "the twenty-fifth of Safer 1238" given by Hüsameddin agrees with the month of death shown in the encyclopedia (Safer 1238). The date of dismissal in the text, "the eleventh day of Rebîülevvel," falls in the month after Hâlet's death; that is, in Hüsameddin's account the silahdar's dismissal follows Hâlet's killing. In some sources Hâlet's death is also given as 1823; the TDV's 1822 agrees with Hüsameddin's 1238.
On Silâhdâr İlyâs Ağa, Hâfız İsa Ağa, Berber Ali Ağa of Crete and any link with Hâlet Efendi, no information was found in the sources consulted. The account in the text, including the claim that Berber Ali Ağa was Hâlet Efendi's spy and denounced him, rests only on Hüsameddin; it could not be verified. That Hâlet held influence with the sultan and played a part in appointments and dismissals shows that such a palace rivalry was possible; but these sources do not mention the men named.
The Family Link
İlyâs Ağa's father was Mütevellîzâde el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa. The father of Mütevellîzâde İlyâs Ağa mentioned in the previous entry (293), el-Hâc Ali Ağa, is tied to the same grandfather, el-Hâc Hasan Ağa. Reading the two lineages together, the two İlyâs Ağas were cousins; this is a conclusion drawn from comparing names and is not written in the text. One of them remained in Amasya as steward of a mosque waqf; the other rose in the palace.
The order and duration of the palace titles in the text rest on Hüsameddin's account: entry into the Enderûn in the time of Abdülhamid Han [1774-89], the kaftan in 1230, the treasury stewardship and the silahdar post in 1233. His remaining about five years as silahdar is consistent with the time between 1233 and 1238.
Bibliography