AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · ESER VE YAZAR HAKKINDA · 2. AMASYA TARİHİ HAKKINDA · 2.4. Eserin Kaynakları · 2.4.2. Arşiv Kaynakları

Matbah-ı Âmire Registers

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Introduction: The Work and Its Author, p. 63 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Songül KEÇECİ KURT

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Matbah-ı Âmire saray mutfağı yerine kullanmıştır. Bu birimin yöneticisine “Matbah Emini” denilmiştir. Matbah-ı Âmire'de her gün dört-beş bin kişiyi doyuracak yemek hazırlanır ve Matbah-ı Âmire ambarlarının her sene muhasebesi yapılarak erzak vesaire devredildiğinden bu kalemde ta’yinât, mübâyaa, masraf, kiler, maaş, ihracat defterleri gibi defterler tutulmaktadır.¹⁰¹ Bu defterler Osmanlı Devleti’nde bu birimde çalışan Amasyalıları tespit etmek için faydalanılan kaynak defterlerdir. Bütün bu serinin tek tek incelenmesi müellifin ne kadar titiz bir çalışma yürüttüğünün göstergesidir.

Footnotes

  • 101 Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi Rehberi, s. 89.
Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

Matbah-ı Âmire is the name used in place of the palace kitchen. The head of this unit was called the "Matbah Emini" (Superintendent of the Kitchen). Every day in the Matbah-ı Âmire, food was prepared to feed four or five thousand people, and its storehouses were audited every year as provisions and other goods were handed over; for this reason registers such as those of rations, purchases, expenditure, pantry, salaries and issues were kept under this heading. These registers are source books used to identify natives of Amasya who worked in this unit of the Ottoman state. Examining this whole series one by one is an indication of how meticulous a study the author carried out.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • Matbah-ı Âmire: the Ottoman palace kitchen
  • Matbah emini: the head of the kitchen
  • ta'yînât: the daily share of food and provisions given to persons or institutions
  • mübâyaa: purchase
  • ihracat defteri: the record of goods going out
  • muhasebe: bookkeeping, accounts

The Palace Kitchen

The word matbah, derived from the Arabic verb "to cook", means a place where cooking is done; "âmire" indicates the official character of this unit. The kitchens of Topkapı Palace were built on the right side of the second courtyard, were completely destroyed in a fire in June 1574, and were rebuilt, enlarged by the architect Sinan. The Matbah-ı Âmire Emaneti was financially attached to the Chief Accounting Office (Başmuhasebe Kalemi); that is, it was under the supervision of the defterdar. With a reorganisation on 26 April 1838 the emanet was made a directorate and attached to the mint. The clerk kept the register of purchases made from outside for the kitchen in the palace, and the kitchen pantry keeper recorded the accounts of provisions issued from the pantry. That the registers were kept in such detail makes it possible to reach the names and hometowns of the people who worked in the kitchen.

That Hüsameddin searched these registers for natives of Amasya is stated openly in the text. I could not verify in another source which natives of Amasya appear in the kitchen registers; this information should be read as the author's own account.

Bibliography

Introduction: The Work and Its Author contents