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An Ottoman Governor’s Agent at the Sublime Porte: the Letters of Kuşçu Mahmud Ağa, 1652–7

Christopher Whitehead

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient2025https://doi.org/10.1163/15685209-12341639article
ABDC B
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

Abstract This article explores the critical role of the kapı kethüdası , or Ottoman governor’s agent in Istanbul, based on a collection of letters from one such figure, Kuşçu Mahmud Ağa, 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 kapı kethüdası s 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.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1163/15685209-12341639

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@article{christopher2025,
  title        = {{An Ottoman Governor’s Agent at the Sublime Porte: the Letters of Kuşçu Mahmud Ağa, 1652–7}},
  author       = {Christopher Whitehead},
  journal      = {Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1163/15685209-12341639},
}

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An Ottoman Governor’s Agent at the Sublime Porte: the Letters of Kuşçu Mahmud Ağa, 1652–7

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.