The Estate Inventory of Voivoda of Tire Yegen Mehmed Agha

With more than 60 neighborhoods and several villages, Tire was an important townlet in the eighteenth-century Western Anatolia where the cizye and avar？z taxes were collected through tax-farming. As a tax-farmer of extraordinary contributions and cizye, Seyyid Yegen Mehmed Agha appeared as an influential figure in the region in the last quarter of the century although sources do not provide details of how long he was able to hold this venture. But we know certainly that after returning from pilgrimage he died in Tire, which instigated the competing process of confiscating his estates. Yet, Ottoman authorities quickly understood that his brother Hüseyin and men, especially his b？lükba？？ Mehmed Agha, saved an amount of cash and his several estates from this process by taking shelter in one of the ？iftliks. After a rigorous inspection, the bostanciba？？ imprisoned Hüseyin who was, however, set free later on the payment of 300 purses of gold and, shortly thereafter, could acquire the same tax farm. Eager to seize Seyyid Yegen Mehmed Agha’s properties, the imperial center appointed Mirahor Cayirzade ？brahim Agha to the confiscation process resulting in the detailed registration of his estates, properties, money as well as wheat, tools and animals on the ？iftliks. By utilizing several documents and registers kept at the Ottoman Prime Ministerial Archives, this study examines the confiscation process with a special emphasis on his wealth, which allows us to analyze the investment portfolio of a local notable in eighteenth-century Western Anatolia