[188] Amasya a’yânından olup tercemesi yukarıda yazılan Helvacı el-Hâc İsmâil Ağazâde el-Hâc Abdüllatîf Ağa’nın mahdûmudur. Gençliğinde İstanbul’a gidip Sarây-ı Enderûn’da Bostancılar Ocağına girdi.
Orada ta’lim ve terbiye görüp tefeyyüz ederek Bostancılar Kethüdâsı, buradan Haseki olup Bostancı zâbitânı erkânından oldu. Fakat Bostancıbaşı Ömer Ağa’nın siâyesiyle 1188’de Amasya‘ya gönderildi. Ba’dehû Rus muhârebâtında celâdet ve liyâkati görülmekle kapıcıbaşı olup 1210 hudûdunda vefât etdi. Oğlu yeniçeri çavûşânından Halil Ağa’dır.
In Modern English
He was the son of Hacı Abdüllatîf Ağa, son of Helvacı Hacı İsmâil Ağa, a notable of Amasya whose biography is written above. In his youth he went to Istanbul and entered the Bostancı Corps in the Enderun Palace.
There he received training and discipline and advanced to become Kethüda of the Bostancıs and from there a Haseki, and became one of the senior bostancı officers. But because of the denunciation of the Bostancıbaşı Ömer Ağa, he was sent to Amasya in 1188 [1774-75]. Later, when his bravery and merit were seen in the Russian wars, he became kapıcıbaşı and died around 1210 [1795-96]. His son Halil Ağa is one of the janissary çavuşes.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- a'yân: the notables of a place
- mahdûm: son
- Bostancılar Ocağı: the kapıkulu corps responsible for the sultan's gardens, boats and palace security
- tefeyyüz: advancing, being trained
- Bostancılar Kethüdâsı: deputy of the bostancıbaşı
- haseki: one belonging to the select class of the bostancıs
- siâye: tale-bearing, denunciation
- celâdet ve liyâkat: bravery and competence
- kapıcıbaşı: a senior officer of the palace kapıcıs; later also conferred as a rank
- hudûd: boundary; here "around"
- yeniçeri çavuşu: janissary officer
The Bostancı Corps
The bostancıs were among the outer servants of Topkapı Palace; their main duties were to work in the palace's gardens and orchards and on the sultan's boats, but they could be used in any palace task. Although the date of the corps' founding is not known with certainty, it is traced back to the reign of Murad I. The haseki bostancıs numbered about three hundred, of whom some sixty guarded the sultan. The kethüda of the bostancıs was deputy to the bostancıbaşı; until the early seventeenth century this man was generally the candidate for the bostancıbaşı's post, and afterwards a haseki ağa came to be appointed to it. Hüsameddin's "Enderûn" may be a general expression for the corps' service in the palace; in encyclopedic sources the bostancıs are counted among the servants outside the palace.
The same source says that bostancıs were also found in places with gardens and orchards belonging to the sultans, such as Bursa, Gelibolu and Amasya. Hüsameddin's saying that İsmâil Ağa was sent to Amasya in 1188 is striking when considered together with this information; but since the text does not state his duty in Amasya, no link can be drawn. The identity of the Bostancıbaşı Ömer Ağa and the reason for the denunciation were not found in other sources.
The Rank of Kapıcıbaşı and the Russian Wars
In later centuries the kapıcıbaşı office began to be given as a rank or title and was even conferred on some notables; by the end of the eighteenth century the number of kapıcıbaşıs reached one hundred and fifty. İsmâil Ağa's title is probably in this sense. The "Russian wars" in the text do not specify which war is meant. Since 1188 [1774-75] falls after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca signed in 1774, İsmâil Ağa's service in the war most likely concerns the war that began in 1787; this is an inference. No information was found on the Helvacı family or on Halil Ağa.
Bibliography
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 321. amasya.bel.tr