Osman Ağa (chronicler)

Osman Ağa (* around 1671; † after 1725) was an interpreter for the Ottoman governor's office (diwandalmetscher) in Temeschburg (also Timișoara, today Timișoara). He wrote a book on diplomacy ( Kitâb-i insâ ), an incomplete “German history” ( Nemçe tarıhi ) and two autobiographies .

life and work

Osman was born around 1671 in Timisoara, the second of three sons of Captain Ahmed Ağa. Very soon he became ağa in the fortress cavalry. During the conquest of Lipova by the imperial family on June 11, 1688, he was taken prisoner. Badly treated by his first master, he had things a little better with General Graf Stubenberg , who took him to his castle near Kapfenberg ( Styria ). Passed on to the court war council General von Schallenberg in Vienna , he did not manage to escape to Ottoman territory until 1699, disguised as an Austrian officer. Immediately after his escape, Osman Ağa became a diwand interpreter for the governor's office in Timisoara. His language skills and familiarity with everything German were the reason for this appointment.

“I also took with me bedding and blankets and a complete set of firearms, namely a couple of excellent pistols, an excellent shotgun and a carbine. I had long, black hair and wore a shirt made of Genoese linen with white thread embroidery, tight-fitting trousers [...] I looked like a lower-ranking officer, and no one who saw me would have thought I was a Muslim. "

The first part of his autobiography, written on 24 Şa'ban 1136 according to the Islamic calendar (May 18, 1724 AD) in Istanbul , describes the Austrian captivity of war and his adventurous escape. In 1725 he also wrote the second part in Istanbul about his work as a screen interpreter in the service of Ali Pasha des Bostancıbaşı (Colonel of a Sultan's Life Guard). The authorship of the unsigned manuscripts was determined by literary historians on the basis of the typical peculiarities of the writing, the spelling and language errors, as well as the method of representation compared to his work Kitâb-i insâ (German: "The Book of Diplomatics").

Osman Ağa describes his tasks in clearing up border incidents in the area of ​​tension between Austria , the Ottoman Empire and the Kuruzzenführer Franz II. Rákóczi in the years 1703 to 1709. The two states, the Habsburg Empire in the War of Spanish Succession with France, the Sultan's Empire due to the lost war Around Vienna in 1683 , the ensuing defeats and a dangerous Janissary revolt weakened, placed great value on peaceful neighborhood. The Kuruzzen were often bothered by this and Osman Ağa was therefore on the road as an interpreter and diplomat between the parties. Ali Pasha der Bostancıbaşi , first Pasha of Timisoara, then successor to Ibrahim Pasha as governor in Belgrade, entrusted the well-known Osman with these delicate tasks, which he duly noted in the second part of his autobiography.

“The interpreter Osman Ağa is needed here for about fifteen to twenty days for an important matter; It may therefore be asked, for the sake of us, to grant the named vacation and to want to send him to us. "

The manuscripts that he wrote about twenty years later are quite inaccurate a few times, especially when it comes to dating the events, which is explained by the time lag.

literature

• Stefan Schreiner (editor): The Ottomans in Europe. Memories and reports by Turkish historians. Verlag Styria, Graz / Vienna / Cologne 1985, ISBN 3-222-11589-3 .
• Osman Ağa: The prisoner of the giaurs. The adventurous fate of the interpreter Osman Ağa from Timisoara, told by himself. Translated, introduced and explained by Richard Franz Kreutel / Otto Spies, in the series Richard Franz Kreutel (editor): Ottoman historians. , Volume 4, Verlag Styria, Graz / Vienna / Cologne 1962, 1st edition ( digitized from MENAdoc ).
• Osman Ağa: Between Pashas and Generals. Report by Osman Ağa from Timisoara on the highlights of his work as a diwand interpreter and diplomat. Translated, introduced and explained by Richard Franz Kreutel / Friedrich Kornauth, in the series Richard Franz Kreutel (editor): Ottoman historians. Volume 5, Styria Verlag, Graz / Vienna / Cologne 1966.

See also

• Alî from Timisoara
• List of Ottoman chroniclers
• List of Ottoman titles

Web links

• Literature by and about Osman Ağa in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Stefan Schreiner (editor): The Ottomans in Europe. Memories and reports by Turkish historians. Verlag Styria, Graz / Vienna / Cologne 1985, ISBN 3-222-11589-3 , pp. 233-235.
2. ^ Stefan Schreiner (editor): The Ottomans in Europe. Memories and reports by Turkish historians. Verlag Styria, Graz / Vienna / Cologne 1985, ISBN 3-222-11589-3 , p. 239.
3. ↑ Osman Ağa: The prisoner of the Giaurs. The adventurous fate of the interpreter Osman Ağa from Timisoara, told by himself. Translated, introduced and explained by Richard Franz Kreutel / Otto Spies, in the series Richard Franz Kreutel (editor): Ottoman historians. , Volume 4, Verlag Styria, Graz / Vienna / Cologne 1962, 1st edition.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Osman Ağa: Between Pashas and Generals. Report by Osman Ağa from Timisoara on the highlights of his work as a diwand interpreter and diplomat. Translated, introduced and explained by Richard Franz Kreutel / Friedrich Kornauth, in the series Richard Franz Kreutel (editor): Ottoman historians. Volume 5, Styria Verlag, Graz / Vienna / Cologne 1966.
5. ↑ Osman Ağa: Between Pashas and Generals. Report by Osman Ağa from Timisoara on the highlights of his work as a diwand interpreter and diplomat. Translated, introduced and explained by Richard Franz Kreutel / Friedrich Kornauth, in the series Richard Franz Kreutel (editor): Ottoman historians. Volume 5, Verlag Styria, Graz / Vienna / Cologne 1966, p. 6.7.