Amasya ricâlinden Yularkısdıoğlu Ahmed Paşa’nın kölesidir. Efendisinin himmetiyle Çavûşân-ı Dergâh-ı Âlî silkine dâhil olup devr-i hidemât ederek müteferrika ve Başçavuş oldu.
1021’de Amasya‘da Havâss-ı Hümâyun Emîni olup hizmeti şâyân-ı takdîr görüldüğünden 1028’de Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn [132] Çavûşlar Kethüdâsı oldu. 1031 recebi hâilesinde ihtifâya mecbûr olup şevvâlinde Çavûşbaşı Amasyalı Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed Bey ile azil ve tekâüde sevk edilerek Amasya’ya gönderildi. 1037’de Amasya’da vefât etdi. Hânesini Kocacık Mescidi imâmına vakfetmişdi.
In Modern English
He was the slave of Yularkısdıoğlu Ahmed Pasha, one of the notables of Amasya. Through his master's efforts he entered the ranks of the çavuşes of the Sublime Porte, completed his rounds of service, and became a müteferrika and Başçavuş.
In 1021 [1612-13] he became Steward of the Imperial Domains (Havâss-ı Hümâyun) in Amasya. Since his service was considered praiseworthy, in 1028 [1618-19] he became Kethüda of the Çavuşes of the Imperial Council. In the upheaval of the month of Rajab 1031 [1622] he was forced to hide; in Shawwal, together with the Çavuşbaşı, Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed Bey of Amasya, he was removed from office, retired, and sent to Amasya. He died in Amasya in 1037 [1627-28]. He had endowed his house to the imam of the Kocacık Mosque.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ricâl: men of state and society, notables
- Çavûşân-ı Dergâh-ı Âlî: the çavuşes in the service of the palace and the Council
- silk: class, rank
- devr-i hidemât: completing one's rounds of duty and service in order
- müteferrika: distinguished official in the sultan's retinue
- Havâss-ı Hümâyun Emîni: steward concerned with the imperial domains (havâss-ı hümâyun)
- Çavuşlar Kethüdâsı: kethüda of the çavuşes (steward, manager)
- hâile: terrible event, upheaval
- ihtifâ: going into hiding
- tekâüd: retirement
- vakfetmek: to give property to a waqf for charitable purposes
The Yularkısdı Family and Ahmed Pasha
İsmâil Ağa's master, Yularkısdıoğlu Ahmed Pasha, belongs to a well-known family of Amasya. The oldest known name of the family is Yularkısdı Sinan Pasha. A study on Prince Ahmed's circle in Amasya relates that Sinan Pasha was the son of Hasan Ağa, sekbanbaşı of Amasya; that he was at first the slave of Hızır Pasha, was freed and rose in the bureaucracy; that in 1501-1502, after the flight of Prince Ahmed's divan scribe Kasım Pasha, he came to Amasya as trustee of the sultan's waqfs; that he then served as the prince's tutor for a long time; that after Ahmed rebelled and proclaimed his sultanate he rose to the vizierate; and that he was killed at Koyulhisar in 1513. Hüsameddin, for his part, mentions Sinan Pasha as the owner of a bathhouse and traces the family's line in Amasya.
According to the entry Ahmed Paşa-Yularkısdızâde in the sixth volume of the book, Ahmed Pasha was the son of Mirlivâ İskender Bey, son of Mustafa Pasha, son of Sinan Pasha; as a young man he became a holder of a zeamet and took part in campaigns; after serving as bey of the Sanjak of Amasya he held beylerbeyilik posts; in Dhu al-Hijja 1009 he became governor of Sivas for the third time; in Muharram 1010, when the Karayazıcı band attacked Sivas, he was defeated and taken prisoner and stayed with him for a time. While outwardly going along with the rebels, he corresponded in secret with the Sublime Porte; when Karayazıcı learned of this and was about to have him executed, he raided Karayazıcı's army by night, took advantage of the confusion and escaped, won back the Porte's trust, became governor of Van in Shawwal 1011, and died there in Rajab 1012. According to Hüsameddin he was known among the people as "Yularkısdı's son"; his kethüda was the Amasya-born Çavuşoğlu Mehmed Ağa, nicknamed "Kozkıran", and his steward and treasurer was the Amasya-born Yahyâ Ağa.
Since Ahmed Pasha died in 1012, İsmâil Ağa's steps in the çavuş ranks most probably began in his master's lifetime; his post in Amasya in 1021 falls after Ahmed Pasha's death.
The Çavuşes of the Council
The title and organization of the çavuş passed to the Ottomans from the Seljuks. According to the records in Fâtih's Kanunnâme, the çavuşbaşı, the commander of the çavuşes, did not sit in the Imperial Council; when viziers, kazaskers and defterdars came to the council, he received them together with the kapıcılar kethüdası, and the çavuşes' daily pay was 60 akçe. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the number of çavuşes of the Imperial Council rose to 630. From time to time the posts of kapıcılar kethüdası and çavuşbaşı were exchanged. No record explaining the title "Çavuşlar Kethüdâsı" used in the text could be found in the sources read. In Hüsameddin's book another man of Amasya bearing the same title is mentioned: in the seventh volume, Ümmet Ağa-Hacı Enbiyâzâde is a man who died at the battle of Çaldıran in 920 and is recorded as çavuşlar kethüdası. These two names show that Amasya had long been supplying men to the palace çavuş cadre.
The Imperial Domains (Havâss-ı Hümâyun)
"Has" or "havâss", in Ottoman administrative language, describes the revenue grants (dirlik) assigned together with their incomes to particular persons and offices. The sultan's domains (havâss-ı hümâyun) consist of certain duties collected in cities, muqata'a revenues, the yield of many villages and farms, and bâc, sheep tax, customs, poll tax and community revenues. In the sixteenth century these domains were run by trusteeship (emanet) and later began to be let out by tax-farming. The details of the duties of the Steward of the Imperial Domains in Amasya are not explained in the sources read; from the title it is understood that he was charged with managing the revenues of the sultan's domains in the Sanjak of Amasya.
The Fall in 1031
İsmâil Ağa's going into hiding in Rajab 1031 and his removal together with the same çavuşbaşı can be joined with events told elsewhere in the book. In the fourth volume, in the entry describing the time of the mutasarrıf of Amasya, Es-Seyyid Ali Pasha, the posts that men of Amasya had won in the center of the state are listed: Hocazâde Abdullah Efendi, Kadı of Istanbul; the reisülküttâb Lâ'lî Ali Efendi; the çavuşbaşı Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed Bey; the sipahiler ağası Haydar Ağa; and Hoca biraderi Ahmed Pasha, governor of Batum. It is written that these "rose to these posts thanks to the high endeavor of Hâce-i Sultânî Ömer Efendi". The same entry reports that on the ninth day of Rajab 1031, during the sorrowful deposition and killing of Osman II and the accession of Deli Sultan Mustafa ("Mustafa the Mad"), Hâce-i Sultânî Ömer Efendi and his son Abdullah Efendi went into hiding. That is, the çavuşbaşı Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed Bey named in İsmâil Ağa's dismissal is a man shown as one of the Amasya circle of Hoca Ömer Efendi; the date of the dismissal also coincides with the same events. The book does not count İsmâil Ağa within this circle; the connection is a possibility inferred from his dismissal at the same moment as the same çavuşbaşı.
The Kocacık Mosque
The Kocacık Mosque, to whose imam İsmâil Ağa endowed his house, is, in the first volume's account of the neighborhoods, the structure that gave its name to the Kocacık Neighborhood. It is written there that the neighborhood took this name because Hoca el-Hâc Ahmed Çelebi, known as "Kocacık", lived in it and in 871 [1466-67] had a mosque, a school and a fountain built. The mosque was renewed several times; Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed Bey repaired it in 1071 and endowed income-producing property, and when it burned again, in 1230 the merchant Benderli el-Hâc Feyzullah Ağa rebuilt it and added a madrasa on the qibla side and a school beside it. The neighborhood also has the tomb of the famous Halveti sheikh İğnecizâde Safiyyeddîn Mahmûd. Whether the Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed Bey who repaired the mosque in 1071 is the same as the man of the same name who was çavuşbaşı in 1031 is not stated; since forty years separate them, it is a weak possibility that they are the same man. No written source other than Hüsameddin was found on İsmâil Ağa; the present condition of the Kocacık Mosque could also not be determined in the sources searched.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 304. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 1, pp. 123–132 (Mukaddime, Kocacık Neighborhood); vol. 4, p. 548 (Es-Seyyid Ali Paşa); vol. 6, pp. 149–150 (Ahmed Paşa-Yularkısdızâde); vol. 7, p. 348 (Ümmet Ağa-Hacı Enbiyâzâde).
Academic studies
- "Çavuş", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/cavus
- Chapter on Prince Ahmed's circle in Amasya, Sosyal Bilimler Araştırmaları 13 (eds. Hasan Yerkazan, Önder Eryılmaz), section on Yularkısdı Sinan Pasha.