Osman Aga of Temesvar

Osman Aga of Temeşvar (Turkish: Temeşvarlı Osman Ağa; 1670–1725) was an Ottoman army officer and one of the few Turkish-language autobiographers of the era. More important than that, he was a prisoner of war and he wrote mostly about his adventures in Habsburg Austria which makes the autobiography the sole Ottoman Turkish example of its kind.

Life

Osman was born into a family of South Slavic origin in Temeşvar (Timişoara), Temeşvar Eyalet (in modern western Romania). He spoke Serbo-Croatian. Temesvár was inhabited by Romanians, Serbs and Hungarians, and had been conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1552. Osman Aga was a low-ranking army officer in Temesvár. He excelled in learning foreign languages and equitation.

After the unsuccessful siege of Vienna in 1683, the tide turned and the Holy League of European nations began forcing the Ottomans out of Hungary in the Great Turkish War between 1683–1699.

In his works, he noted the "uprisal of the Serb rayah"; he mentioned that the Serbs of the region rose up when the Austrian general Valis took Segedin on October 20, 1686.

Military service

During the war, the Austrians were unable to capture Temesvár. But in 1688, Osman's squadron of 80 men was given a special task. They had to deliver the salaries of army officiers to Lipova, Arad, just to the north of Temesvár. While they were in Arad County, it was attacked by superior Austrian forces and the city council decided to surrender. Osman thus became a prisoner of war at the age of eighteen.

Prisoner of war

Osman Aga was awarded to a military judge in Austrian army who asked for ransom. Although he was able to pay for his freedom, he was not released. He was sold to several new masters in Kapfenberg and Vienna. He spent several months in dungeons and was frequently beaten or even whipped by his masters during the early years. But his skill in equitation and learning German helped him to live a relatively less stressful life in later years. One of his masters even offered him freedom in return for converting to Christianity, which he refused. After the Treaty of Karlowitz, he was able to return to Temesvár in 1700.

Austrian-Ottoman War and later life

Austrian forces led by Eugene of Savoy besiege Belgrade in the year 1717, during the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-18.

In Temesvár, with the help of the German he had learned during his servitude, he became the official dragoman (translator) and served in several diplomatic missions to Austria. However his comfortable days were over at the outbreak of a new war between the Ottoman Empire and Austria in 1715. This time Eugene Savoy of Austria captured Temesvár in 1716. Osman Aga fled to Belgrade (modern Serbia). But Belgrade shared the same fate in 1717. Shortly before the final assault of the Austrians on Belgrade, the Austrians were able to explode the ammunition dump of the fort on 14 August 1717 resulting in the death of some 3,000 people. Most of Osman's family members were among the 3,000. After the loss of Belgrade he served in Vidin (in modern Bulgaria) and then came to Istanbul where he continued his civil service as dragoman.

Work

Osman Aga's most important work is Prisoner of the Infidels (1724) where he summarises his adventures in Austria between 1688-1700. He also wrote about Austrian History (Turkish: Nemçe Tarihi), an unfinished work up to 1662. His other works include notes about his diplomatic missions after 1700.

• Austrian History (Turkish: Nemçe Tarihi, 1722), an unfinished work up to 1662.
• Prisoner of the Infidels (Turkish: Gâvurların Esiri, German: Der Gefangene der Giauren, 1724) where he summarises his adventures in Austria between 1688-1700. (British Museum NR. MS Or. 3213)

See also

• Ottoman-Habsburg wars