An Ottoman Governor's Agent at the Sublime Porte: the Letters of Kuşçu Mahmud Aǧa, 1652-7

Abstract

This article explores the critical role of the kapi kethüdasi, or Ottoman governor's agent in Istanbul, based on a collection of letters from one such figure, Kuşçu Mahmud Aǧa, to the governor whom he represented, the Georgian-born Kara Murtaza Pasha. Kuşçu performed many key political and financial functions on his employer's behalf, operating with much greater authority and autonomy than kapi kethüdasis are conventionally thought to have exercised. His letters offer a rare insider's view of Ottoman politics in the mid-seventeenth century, shedding light on elite competition and rivalry, the era's fiscal crisis, and the role of gift-giving in the process of appointment to office.