Kizlar agha
The kizlar agha (
Established in 1574, the post ranked among the most important in the Ottoman Empire until the early 19th century, especially after the stewardship of the two holy cities of
History
The post of the kızlar ağası was created in the reign of Murad III (r. 1574–1595) in 1574, with the Habeshi Mehmed Agha as its first occupant.[2][3] Until then, the Ottoman palace had been dominated by the white eunuchs, chiefly drawn from the Christian populations of the Balkans or the Caucasus.
The 16th century, however, saw a rapid rise of the population of the
At the height of the post's power in the 17th and 18th centuries, the kızlar ağası was a vizier of the first rank ("with three horsetails") and came third in the state hierarchy, next only to the Empire's chief minister, the grand vizier, and the chief religious authority, the Shaykh al-Islām.[1][7]
Court responsibilities
The post's power derived not only from its proximity to the sultan, but also from its association with the mothers of the sultans, the powerful
Relation to the harem
Within the imperial harem, it is unclear why East Africans were predominantly recruited as opposed to eunuchs of Caucasian lineage. It is argued that since the male harem already consisted of white eunuchs prior to the establishment of the female harem, combined with the heavy ingress of Habeşi slaves upon said harem's establishment in Topkapi Palace, the black eunuchs assigned to the court would naturally fill this newly established role.[10] These elite black slaves were selected for the sultan by Egyptian pasha and Mamluk beys.[11]
Another reason for the use of black eunuchs is believed to be the cultural and geographical differences between the Kizlar agha and the harem he guarded. The rationale being that it would help to mitigate sexual contact between guardians and the harem.[10] Jane Hathaway, a researcher specializing in Ottoman history, also posits that these displaced elite slaves were preferred over free subjects due to concerns about free subject's loyalty - the East African slave's dependence on their new rulers and lack of familial ties would ensure that no regional bias was present.[12]
Most Kizlar Agha did not remain in service of the harem up to their deaths. They would be dismissed and exiled to Cairo, removed from central political influence.[10] Although removed from the harem of the Ottoman capitol, an exiled Kizlar Agha would still maintain influence as they joined a network of other previously exiled Kizlar agha whom the new acting Kizlar agha would be aware of.[13]
Political influence
In Ottoman legal theory, the sultan was supposed to conduct affairs of state exclusively via the grand vizier, but in reality this arrangement was often circumvented. As the Ottomanist Colin Imber writes, the sultan "had closer contact with the pages of the privy chamber, the agha of the gate, the agha of the girls or with other courtiers than he did with the grand vizier, and these too could petition the sultan on their own or somebody else’s behalf. He might, too, be more inclined to take the advice of his mother, a concubine or the head gardener at the helm of the royal barge than of the grand vizier".[14] Thus the kizlar agha's political power, although exercised behind the scenes, was very considerable, influencing imperial policy and at times controlling the appointments to the grand vizierate,[8] or even intervening in dynastic disputes and the succession to the throne. The Kizlar Agha Hacı Mustafa Agha secured the succession of Mustafa I (r. 1617–1618, 1622–1623) on the throne in 1617,[15] and backed Osman II's (r. 1618–1622) attempts at military reform;[16] while in 1651 the Kizlar Agha Uzun Süleyman Agha murdered the powerful Valide Sultan Kösem on behalf of her rival and daughter-in-law, Turhan.[15][16]
The often pernicious involvement of the chief black eunuchs in politics led to at least one attempt, by Grand Vizier
After that, the grand viziers curtailed the kizlar aghas' power.[16] The 1830s reforms of Sultan Mahmud II (r. 1808–1839) finally ended the political power of the kizlar aghas, and those who held the role were confined to their palace and ceremonial role, which continued until the abolition of the office following the Young Turk Revolution in 1908.[16][17]
Administration of the vakifs
The kizlar agha also held a special role as the nazir "administrator" of the waqfs designated for the upkeep of the two holy cities (al-Haramayn) of Islam, Mecca and Medina, being responsible for their supply as well as for the annual ritual sending of gifts (sürre) to them.[1][8][20] Vakifs designated for the upkeep of the Muslim holy places had been established by members of the Ottoman court since early times, and their administration entrusted to special departments already since the late 15th century. Initially under the overall supervision of the Kapi Agha, in 1586 Murad III transferred the responsibility to the kizlar agha.[20]
Control of the waqfs was, in the words of Bernard Lewis, a major "source of power and profit" for the kizlar agha,[20] and the foundation of the office's political influence: its conferment by Murad III marked the start of the office's ascendancy, and its eventual removal by Mahmud II marked its end.[16] As part of the grand viziers' attempts to lessen the power of the kizlar aghas, unsuccessful attempts were made in the reigns of Mustafa III (r. 1757–1774) and Abdul Hamid I (r. 1774–1789) to remove the waqfs from his jurisdiction.[20] Finally, in 1834, Mahmud II deprived the post of the supervision of the waqfs and granted it to a new Ministry of Waqfs.[17][20]
This began a long process whereby the kizlar agha gradually acquired a sweeping jurisdiction over the various waqfs of the Empire: already in May 1598, he acquired control of the foundations allocated to the upkeep of the imperial mosques in the capital, followed soon after by vakifs in both Constantinople and other parts of the Empire, often entrusted to his care by the ladies of the palace.[20] Among the possessions that fell to the kizlar agha in this way was the city of Athens. According to a—possibly semi-fictional—17th-century account, the administration of the city was originally granted to Basilica, one of Sultan Ahmed I's (r. 1603–1617) favourite concubines, who hailed from the city and who, having received many complaints of its maladministration, obtained its possession as a gift from the sultan. After her death, Athens came under the purview of the kizlar agha.[21]
The administration of the waqfs was exercised through two subordinates, the chief secretary (yazici) and the inspector of waqfs (müfettiş), and was divided into two fiscal departments: the Bureau of Accounts of the Holy Cities (muhasebe-i haremeyn kalemi), which by the late 18th century supervised the imperial mosques and the waqfs of Istanbul and European provinces, and the Bureau of the Leases of the Holy Cities (mukataa-i haremeyn kalemi), which supervised the vakifs of the Asian and African provinces. A special treasury, the haremeyn dolabi, contained the revenue from the vakifs, and the kizlar agha held a weekly divan or council to examine the accounts.[20]
Recruitment and advancement
Most of the office's holders, like most black eunuchs in general, were of Habeşi, slaves were traditionally drawn from the
From these senior posts a eunuch could be selected and appointed to the post of kizlar agha by imperial decree (
The careers of a great number of kizlar aghas are known from the Hamiletü’l-kübera of the late 18th-century Ottoman statesman and historian Ahmed Resmî Efendi, listing the occupants of the office from Mehmed Agha (1574–90) until Moralı Beshir Agha (1746–52). The work is complemented by select biographies in the Sicill-i Osmani by the late 19th-century scholar Mehmed Süreyya Bey, while information on the history and evolution of the office in the institutional framework of the Ottoman palace is contained in Tayyarzade Ahmed Ata's Tarih-i Ata (1876).[28]
References
- ^ a b c d Bosworth 1986, p. 243.
- ^ Hathaway 2018, pp. 276–279.
- ^ Lad 2010, p. 142.
- ^ Lad 2010, pp. 142–144.
- ^ Freely 2000, pp. 40–42, 75.
- ^ a b Imber 2002, p. 153.
- ^ a b c d e Davis 1986, p. 21.
- ^ a b c d e Davis 1986, pp. 21–22.
- ^ a b c d Freely 2000, p. 75.
- ^ a b c Hathaway 2005, pp. 14–16.
- ^ Al-Abdin 2009.
- ^ Hathaway 2005, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Hathaway 1992.
- ^ Imber 2002, p. 175.
- ^ a b Lad 2010, p. 166.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Hathaway 2019.
- ^ a b c Davis 1986, p. 22.
- ^ Lad 2010, p. 139.
- ^ Scholz 2001, p. 229.
- ^ a b c d e f g Lewis 1971, pp. 175–176.
- ^ Augustinos 2007, pp. 23–24.
- ^ Rowoldt Shell 2018.
- ^ Davis 1986, pp. 20–21.
- ^ a b Lad 2010, p. 143.
- ^ Lad 2010, pp. 168–169.
- ^ Hathaway 1998, p. 53.
- ^ Hathaway 1998, pp. 53–55.
- ^ Lad 2010, p. 172 (note 9).
Sources
- Al-Abdin, Bashir (2009). "The Political and Administrative Role of the Kizlar a ghas in Egypt During the first Half of the twelfth Century A.H (A.D 1687-1737), in Contemporary Arabic Manuscript Sources". An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities). 23 (4): 1223–1240. S2CID 154713768.
- Augustinos, Olga (2007). "Eastern Concubines, Western Mistresses: Prévost's Histoire d'une Grecque moderne". In Buturović, Amila; Schick, İrvin Cemil (eds.). Women in the Ottoman Balkans: Gender, Culture and History. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. pp. 11–44. ISBN 978-1-84511-505-0.
- ISBN 978-90-04-07819-2.
- Davis, Fanny (1986). The Ottoman Lady: A Social History from 1718 to 1918. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-24811-7.
- ISBN 0-14-027056-6.
- Hathaway, Jane (1992). "The Role of the Kizlar Aǧasi in 17th-18th Century Ottoman Egypt". JSTOR 1595624.
- Hathaway, Jane (1998). "Egypt in the seventeenth century". In Daly, M. W. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume 2: From 1517 to the End of the Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press. pp. 34–58. ISBN 978-0-521-47211-1.
- Hathaway, Jane (2005). Beshir Agha: Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Imperial Harem. Oxford: Oneworld. ISBN 1-85168-390-9.
- Hathaway, Jane (2018). "Chapter 12". The Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Harem From African Slave to Power-Broker. Cambridge University Press. pp. 276–279. S2CID 165833400.
- Hathaway, Jane (2019). "Kızlar Ağası". In Fleet, Kate; ISSN 1873-9830.
- ISBN 978-0-3336-1386-3.
- Junne, George H. (2016). The Black Eunuchs of the Ottoman Empire: Networks of Power in the Court of the Sultan. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8577-2808-1.
- Lad, Jateen (2010). "Panoptic Bodies: Black Eunuchs as Guardians of the Topkapi Harem". In Booth, Marilyn (ed.). Harem Histories: Envisioning Places and Living Spaces. Duke University Press. pp. 136–176. JSTOR j.ctv11g9658.
- OCLC 495469525.
- Rowoldt Shell, Sandra (2018). Children of Hope: The Odyssey of the Oromo Slaves from Ethiopia to South Africa. Ohio University Press. ISBN 978-0-8214-2318-9.
- Scholz, Piotr O. (2001). Eunuchs and Castrati: A Cultural History. Markus Wiener Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55876-200-8.