|
The Kizlar Agha (, (トルコ語:Kızlar Ağası), "Agha of the () Girls"), formally the Agha of the House of Felicity (Arabic: ''Aghat Dar al-Sa'ada'', Turkish: ''Darüssaade ağa''), was the head of the eunuchs who guarded the Imperial Harem of the Ottoman Sultans in Constantinople. Due to his proximity to the Sultan and the role the harem ladies played in court intrigues, the post ranked among the most important in the Ottoman Empire until the early 19th century. Soon after its creation and until its abolition at the end of the Ottoman Empire, the post came to be occupied by Black African eunuch slaves, and hence is also referred to as the Chief Black Eunuch. == History and powers == The post of the Kizlar Agha was created in the reign of Murad III (ruled 1574–1595) in 1574, with the Ethiopian Mehmed Agha as its first occupant. 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 Topkapi Palace, including among eunuchs, whose numbers rose from 40 under Selim (r. 1512–1520) to over a thousand under Murad III. While black eunuchs had served alongside white eunuchs in the palace, by 1592, for reasons that are unclear, both a separation of roles as well as the ascendancy of the black eunuchs over the white ones had become established: white eunuchs were restricted to the supervision of the male pages (''içoğlan''), while black eunuchs took over the far more prestigious supervision of the private apartments of the Sultan and the palace women (''harem''). Consequently the Chief Black Eunuch quickly eclipsed the "Chief White Eunuch" or Kapi Agha (''kapı ağası'', "Agha of the Gate"), who had hitherto been the head of the palace personnel, and rose to become, in the words of the Orientalist C. E. Bosworth, "in practice the principal officer of the whole palace". At the height of the post's power in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Kizlar Agha 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 Sheikh ul-Islam. The post's power derived not only from its proximity to the Sultan, but also from its association with the powerful queen-mothers, the ''valide sultanas'', who often dominated politics (''see Sultanate of Women''). The Kizlar Agha was also the ''de facto'' sole intermediary between the closed world of the harem and the outer, male quarters of the palace (the ''selamlik''), controlling its provisioning as well as the messages to and from. In addition, he was the only individual allowed to carry the Grand Vizier's communications to the Sultan and had a recognized role in public ceremonies. Among his duties in the palace was also the supervision of the education of imperial princes until they entered puberty, when they were enrolled in the palace school. 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". 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, or even intervening in dynastic disputes and the succession to the throne: it was the Kizlar Agha Mustafa Agha who secured the succession of Mustafa I (r. 1617–1618 and 1622–1623) on the throne in 1617, and in 1651 it was Suleyman Agha who murdered the powerful ''valide sultan'' Kösem on behalf of her rival and daughter-in-law, Turhan Hatice. The often pernicious influence of the Chief Black Eunuchs led to at least one attempt, by the Grand Vizier Silahdar Damat Ali Pasha in 1715, to curb their influence by prohibiting the recruitment and castration of black slaves, but this was never carried out due to his death soon after. In 1731, Grand Vizier Kabakulak Ibrahim Pasha tried to force the retirement of the then incumbent, Beshir Agha the Elder, to stop him from interfering in state affairs, but through the influence of the ''valide sultan'', Beshir secured Ibrahim's dismissal instead. Beshir Agha, who held the post from 1716 until 1746, is recognized as perhaps the most powerful occupant of the office, and was engaged in "intellectual and religious pursuits" that according to Jateen lad "contributed to the Ottoman brand of Hanafi Islam and Sunni orthodoxy in general". It was not until the reforms of Sultan Mahmud II (r. 1808–1839) in the 1830s that the power of the Kizlar Agha was finally curtailed, and its holders confined to their palace and ceremonial role, which continued until the end of the Ottoman Empire. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kizlar Agha」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|