Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL
Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 7, p. 320 • Edited by: Prof. Dr. Safi ARPAGUŞ- Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hakkı TURABİ
Amasya Serdârı el-Hâc Osmân Ağa’nın oğludur. Birinci bölükde mukayyed yeniçeri olup 1175’den i’tibâren beş defa Amasya Serdârı, Rus muhâberâtında cansiperâne hizmetle Turnacıbaşı oldu.
1198’de hâciyân ve 1201’de a’yân meclislerine a’zâ olduğu halde 1204 senesi evâsıtında vefât etdi. Umûrunda mukdim, şecî’, zâbit bir kimse idi. Mahdûmu el-Hâc Osmân Ağa da yeniçeri zâbitânındandır.
He was the son of Hacı Osman Ağa, Serdar of Amasya. A registered janissary in the first company, he served as Serdar of Amasya five times from 1175 [1761-62], and in the Russian wars, serving with utter devotion, became turnacıbaşı.
He became a member of the council of pilgrims in 1198 [1783-84] and of the council of notables in 1201 [1786-87], and died around the middle of 1204 [1789-90]. He was bold, brave and orderly in his affairs. His son Hacı Osman Ağa was also one of the janissary officers.
The turnacıbaşı was the lowest in rank of the six great ağas of the Janissary Corps, known as the "ocak ağas." His symbolic duty was to join the sultan on hunting expeditions and to look after the hunting dogs; his real duty was to keep order in the company he commanded and, after the devşirme was left to the corps, to gather recruits in Rumelia and Anatolia. It is also known from documents that he could be sent to the provinces as an inspector when needed. The office of turnacıbaşı was abolished in 1826 together with the Janissary Corps. Hüsameddin's saying that İsmâil Ağa "became turnacıbaşı" does not explain whether this means the actual duty of the post within the corps or its conferral as a rank. In accounts of Canikli Ali Paşa's Crimean preparations of 1773, the name of Kalcıoğlu Ömer, a "turnacıbaşı" living in Trabzon, appears; this suggests that the title was also borne by local powerholders in the provinces, but that is an inference.
The year 1175 [1761-62], when İsmâil Ağa served as "Serdar of Amasya," belongs to the years before the sanjak of Amasya was given to the Canikli family. In 1772 it was granted to Canikli Ali Bey as a mâlikâne. According to Yücel Özkaya's study, in November 1776 the people of Amasya complained of the oppression of Canikli Ali Paşa, his sons and his supporters, and within the same month asked for the mâlikâne to be abolished. In addition, according to the encyclopedia entry on the family of Canikli Hacı Ali Paşa, the notables of Amasya, unable to bear the pressure of Mikdad Ahmed Paşa, took refuge with Çapanoğlu Mustafa Bey at the end of 1778. İsmâil Ağa's joining the councils of pilgrims (1198) and notables (1201) in this period falls, according to Hüsameddin's information, in the years when Canikli dominance continued. His position in this contest, and which side he took, could not be found in the sources.
No information was found in other sources on the full scope of the office of "Serdar of Amasya," on the Tabutcuoğlu family, or on Hacı Osman Ağa.
Primary sources
Academic studies