Amasyalıdır. Tokatlı Resul Efendi ahfâdından ve Üçler Mahallesi eşrâfından el-Hâc Mehmed Ağa bin el-Hâc Osmân Ağa’nın oğludur. Canikli Hacı Ali Paşa’nın ağalarından olup oğlu Mikdâd Ahmed Paşa’nın ve ba’dehû diğer oğlu Battal Hüseyin Paşa’nın silahdâr kethüdâları oldu.
Otuz yıl kadar bu hânedâna hizmet edib hayli servet ve yesâr edindi. Dergâh-ı âlî kapıcıbaşlığı rütbesini aldı. Fakat 1213’de efendisinin Rusya’dan avdetinde ihtiyâr-ı tekâüd edib 1216 senesi evâhirinde vefât etdi. Amasya a’yânından idi.
Mahdûmu es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ali Ağa’dır. Bu sülâleden es-Seyyid Mehmed Ağa bin es-Seyyid Osmân Ağa bin es-Seyyid Eyyüb Ağa 1305’de [190] vefât etdi. Kayın pederimdir. Bunun ammizâdesi el-Hâc Ahmed Ağa bin Mehmed Ağa bin Eyyüb Ağa 1311’de ve Muallim Eyyüb Efendi bin Osmân Ağa da 1324’de vefât etmişdir. Hacı Ahmed Ağazâde Mehmed Şükrü Efendi ber-hayât idi.
In Modern English
He is from Amasya. He is the son of Hacı Mehmed Ağa, son of Hacı Osman Ağa, a notable of the Üçler quarter and a descendant of Resul Efendi of Tokat. He was one of the ağas of Canikli Hacı Ali Pasha and became steward of the armorer (silahdar kethüdası) first to his son Mikdad Ahmed Pasha and then to his other son Battal Hüseyin Pasha.
After serving this household for some thirty years he gained considerable wealth and a comfortable life. He received the rank of kapıcıbaşı of the exalted court (dergâh-ı âlî kapıcıbaşılığı). But in 1213 [1798-99], when his master returned from Russia, he chose to retire, and he died at the end of 1216 [1801-02]. He was one of the notables of Amasya.
His son is Seyyid Hacı Ali Ağa. From this line, Seyyid Mehmed Ağa, son of Seyyid Osman Ağa, son of Seyyid Eyyub Ağa, died in 1305 [1887-88]. He was my father-in-law. His paternal cousin, Hacı Ahmed Ağa, son of Mehmed Ağa, son of Eyyub Ağa, died in 1311 [1893-94], and Muallim Eyyub Efendi, son of Osman Ağa, died in 1324 [1906-07]. Mehmed Şükrü Efendi, son of Hacı Ahmed Ağa, was still living.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ahfâd: grandchildren, descendants
- eşrâf: the notables of a place
- silahdâr kethüdâsı: steward of the silahdar; silahdâr is Persian for "bearer of arms"
- ba'dehû: after him
- yesâr: means, wealth
- ihtiyâr-ı tekâüd: choosing retirement of one's own accord
- evâhir: the last part, the closing days
- a'yân: local notables, people of influence
- mahdûm: son
- ammizâde: paternal cousin
His Masters: The Canikli Family
The Hacı Ali Pasha named in the text is the founder of the Canikli family, which rose from the Canik region on the Black Sea coast. He was born in Istanbul in 1720-21, the son of Fatsalı Ahmed Ağa, one of the palace kapıcıbaşıs. He took part in the Ottoman-Russian war that began in 1768, cleared the Samsun and Amasya region of bandits, and on 30 May 1772 was given the sanjak of Amasya as a malikâne (life-term revenue grant); at about this time he also received the title of kapıcıbaşı. His eldest son Battal Hüseyin Bey obtained the title of kapıcıbaşı in 1778, and his youngest son Mikdad Ahmed Bey was made governor of Sivas with the rank of vizier in the same year, when he was only eighteen.
The notables of Amasya, unable to bear the pressure of Mikdad Ahmed Pasha, took refuge with Çapanoğlu Mustafa Bey at the end of 1778, and in the fighting that followed Amasya passed into Çapanoğlu's hands. When the Canikli were pardoned in 1781, Mikdad Ahmed Pasha was given the governorship of Erzurum together with the sanjak of Amasya as an arpalık (a revenue grant). It is also noted that Mikdad Ahmed Pasha had endowments in and around Amasya.
What Hüsameddin Says and What Is Known
During the Ottoman-Russian and Austrian war of 1787-1792 the family suffered heavy blows. Mikdad Ahmed Pasha was exiled to Filibe (Plovdiv) and executed in 1792. Battal Hüseyin Pasha was defeated by the Russians in October 1790 and taken prisoner; he lived in captivity for about nine years, was pardoned at the end of March 1799 and appointed governor of Trabzon, and died in March 1801. What Hüsameddin calls "his master's return from Russia" must be this return from captivity, and the date 1213 [1798-99] in the text agrees with the year 1799 in which the pardon was granted. This matching is our own inference; Hüsameddin does not mention captivity. By the same inference, the shift of İsmâil Ağa's service from Mikdad Ahmed Pasha to Battal Hüseyin Pasha may be connected with Mikdad Ahmed Pasha's execution in 1792; this too is not written in the text.
The kapıcıbaşı was the officer who stood watch among the privileged gatekeepers of the Bâbüsselâm gate of the palace and supervised them. In the Canikli family the same title appears both in the father and in the eldest son; İsmâil Ağa's "rank" may therefore be a title of this kind rather than palace service, but this is an inference. No information was found in other sources on İsmâil Ağa of the Pelî family or on his line in the Üçler quarter.
Bibliography
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 321–321. amasya.bel.tr