Dr Chris Flaherty's 'Ottoman Uniforms' site

[Hwiccee]

I think Flaherty is actually Doctor. This is his biography from Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Christopher-James-Flaherty/e/B001K880TO/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

I am afraid there are a number of writers in the gaming world who use their title when it is not relevant to whatever they are writing about. To my mind it is OK to use a title if you have some qualification that is helpful for the subject but not if the title is from something else. If say you are a medical doctor or an academic doctor in some other discipline then why mention it. The same even if you are a doctor in history but of another era.

In these circumstances being a doctor makes no difference and the use of the title is at best suspect.

[Sandinista]

Seems he has a Ph.D. in Economic Relations from the University of Melbourne

[Druzhina]

As well as no history qualification, the bio doesn't have anything about reading modern or Ottoman Turkish, which would also be useful for an expert on Ottoman uniforms.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

[holdfast]

It would rather dent Pendraken's sales if they only sold figures to people with formal history qualifications. It is just possible to be knowledgeable in a subject without a formal qualification in it.

[Leman]

Indeed, based on my qualifications I'd be stuck doing only the French Revolution, the Russian Civil War, the Spanish Civil War, inter-war German kickoffs and the Hungarian uprising 1956; pretty limited I think. As it happens I only game one of those.

[Druzhina]

It would rather dent Pendraken's sales if they only sold figures to people with formal history qualifications. It is just possible to be knowledgeable in a subject without a formal qualification in it.

But do you set yourself up as an expert and use a title gained for something else?


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Back to the Kâhya Yeri

Here are two extracts where the Kâhya Yeri is  a common position:

p218, A Historical and Economic Geography of Ottoman Greece, The Southwestern Morea in the 18th Century, by Fariba Zarinebaf, ‎John Bennet, ‎Jack L. Davis - 2005
A written account of the low-lying castle of Anavarin-I cedid
This is a fine castle built by the hand of Kiliç Ali Pasha in the year 977, during the reign of Sultan Murad Khan the third. It is administered by a voyvode as part of the Governate of Morea, and is a district of the jurisdiction of Modon. There is a chief Mufti, a Marshal (of the descendants of the Prophet), a Local Commander ([Sipâh] Kâhya Yeri), a Captain of Janissaries, and a Castle Commandant with ... personnel. There is an Inspector of Commerce, a Collector of Transit Dues, a Commissioner of Tribute Taxes, a chief Architect, a City Intendant, and twelve garrison officers with a rank of Ağa as [276a/30] well.

and

p229, History of Macedonia 1354-1833 by A. Vacalopoulos

Kavála belonged to the eyelet of the Aegean Islands and came under the control of the 'kapudan pasha' (Chief Admiral). In times of war the bey of the city was obliged to go on campaign with two galleys. Other eminent figures in the city were the seyh-ül-islam, the nakib-ül-eşraf, the chief of the district police and the military governor, the kâhya yeri of the sipahis, the commander of the Janissaries, and the commander of the artillery and of Kapı Kulları ('Slaves of the Porte', i.e. a corps of non-feudal auxiliaries). The military forces based on Kavála exceeded 2.000 men. Their presence was imperative, since Venetian ships made frequent appearances off that part of the coast [3]. Çelebi's French contemporary, Robert de Dreux, no doubt with Belon in mind, believed that Kavála (or 'Cavallos', as he writes it) stood on the site of the ancient city of 'Bucephala', which had been built by Alexander the Great in honour of his horse Bucephalus [4].

1. Moschopoulos, Ἡ Ἑλλὰς κατὰ τὸν Ἐβλιὰ Τσελεμπῆ, ΕΕΒΣ 14 (1938) 512.
2. Hadschi Chalfa, Rumeli und Bosna, p. 71. See also Moschopoulos, ibid., p. 512.
3. Moschopoulos, ibid., ΕΕΒΣ 14 (1938) 510, 512.
4. R. de Dreux, Voyage, p. 90.

I have received some information from Turkish sources from Tulun:

first of all, forgive me, military history is not my strength and i can be wrong, i hope an Ottomanist or a Turkish forumer will correct my errors.

kahya is a "corrupted" Turkish form of the word kethüda, originally a Persian word, literally meaning something like "housekeeper", "chamberlain" or butler is also a good translation. You can also find it as kiaya in some European publications. i've seen this used quite frequently in 16th century Ottoman paylists, not only in janissary units but also other military units.

Now maybe the kethüda yeri could mean deputy kethüda in general, but the "kethüda yeri" as an office i found 2 different ones under this name:
1. my understanding from Turkish sites, the sipahi kethüda yeri was an official supervising the kapikulu cavalry (the Six Divisions of Cavalry) units stationed in provinces outside the city of Istanbul. the kethüda yeri (or cay-i kethüda KETHÜDAYERI ne demek? - kethüdayeri anlami nedir? - TDK Türk Dil Kurumu Gayr? Resmi Sözlü?ü ) means "local kethüda" here, and it refers to that it was a provincial office, found in eyalet and sancak seats. A Turkish blog entry about various kethüda "offices" Mecmûa-yi Tevârih-i Osmânî: KETHÜDÂ (KÂHYÂ)
You can also find these kethüda yeris mentioned in Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname when he lists the officials in the major towns.

2. But maybe in your case, you are looking for another "kethüda yeri", a high ranking janissary official. for example mentioned in the Islam Ansiklopidesi article written by prof Abdulkadir Özcan ( .:: TDV Islâm Ansiklopedisi - OSMANLILAR ::. ), from there: the highest ranking officer of the Janissary corps was the janissary aga (yeniçeri ağası) under them the high ranking officers were the sekbanbaşı, kul kethüdâsı*, zağarcıbaşı, saksoncubaşı, turnacıbaşı, haseki ağas and the başçavuş. Under these were the devecis, yayabaşıs, muhzırbaşı, kethüdâ yeri and the bölükbaşıs.

*The kul kethüdasi was the same as the kul kahyasi in your post (also called kethüda bey, kahya bey, ocak kethüdasi etc in other places).

another Turkish language blog YENIÇERI OCAGININ ÜYELERI (KUMANDANLARI, AGALARI) - aarsay - Blogcu.com includes a little more details.

the kethüda yeri was the deputy of the kul kethüdasi and held the defters and registers of the Janissary corps in the name of the kul kethüdasi.

The kul kethüdasi was originally the 3rd highest ranking officer ("general") in the janissary corps, and from 17th century became the 2nd (when the importance of the sekbanbaşi declined). This blog entry says his deputy, the kethüda yeri was the "3rd colonel" in rank in the janissary corps (there were 9 "general" level offices according to it, so basicly our guy was the 12th most important official in the janissary corps .)

But to confuse things further, Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli in his L'Etat militaire de l'empire Ottoman also mentions this kethüda yeri, but in his description it is one of the 8 generals (!) of the janissary corps (the 6th). Maybe its importance increased by this time?

See L'Etat militaire de l'empire ottoman, ses progres et sa décadence - Luigi Ferdinando Marsili - Google Könyvek p 69. as "Chiaja-jery" also check on the same page, something he writes about "kiaja-jery" and "musur aga" but i don't speak neither French nor Italian to understand exactly. 

The Mebde-i Kanun-ı Yeniçeri Ocağı Tarihi (laws of the Janissaries) from 1606 also mentions the kethüda yeri some times but unfortunetly i don't have it at hand, next time i'm near a library i will try to look up what does it say about this office.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

[KTravlos]

While I can see your point on the use of Dr. I worked my ass off for that title  No one is taking it away

[Druzhina]

L'etat militaire de l'empire ottoman : ses progrès et sa décadence by Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, Amsterdam, 1732, has a list of Janissary officers on page 69:

JENIZER-AGASY.
SEYMEN-BASSY.
JENIZER-EFFENDI.
MUSUR-AGA
CHIAJA-JERY.
BAS-CHIAUS,
& ORTA-CHIAUS.

There follows on p70 a paragraph for each, but, in the place of the CHIAJA-JERY is instead "CHIAJA-BEGH".

The most interested bit is earlier on p69. The French text (there is also the same in Italian) [long 's' has been replaced with a standard 's']:

Les BOLUKIS sont encore privilègiés, mais non pas tant; leurs Capitaines sont indispensablement obliges de porter des bottines rouge, ce qui marque qu'ils n'ont pas droit de paroitre à cheval dans les fonctions. Le KIAJA-JERY, & le MUSUR-AGA sont privilègiés a cet égard, & peuvent aller à cheval, non pas à cause qu'ils sont Capitaines de deux Compagnies des BOLUKIS; mais à cause de leur emploi, qui a raport à tout le Corps des Janissaires, & ils ont encore la permission de porter des bottines jaunes.

A basic translation:
The BOLUKIS are still privileged, but not so much; their Captains are indispensably obliged to wear red boots, which marks they have no right to appear on horseback in functions. The KIAJA-JERY, and the MUSUR-AGA are preferred over others, and can go on horseback, not because they are captains of two companies of BOLUKIS; but because of their jobs, who report to the whole body of the Janissaries, and they still are allowed to wear yellow boots.

So it seems that as well as being a general title "Kâhya Yeri" (Kethüda Yeri, Kiaja-Jeri, Chiaja-Jeri or Chiaja-Begh) is also a specific, high ranking officer in the Janissary corps. He is also described as a colonel and as commanding a Janissary unit in the Bölük Division. What is missing is the name of the orta.

All these sources may be inaccurate, but, David Nicolle did not dream this up, it is not "complete fantasy".

If the unit commanded by the Kâhya Yeri is the 32nd in the Bölük Division, could this be an explanation for the more than usually elaborate costume in the image displayed by Dr Flaherty, as the commander may be a much more important figure than the average orta commander?


Druzhina
Illustrations of Ottoman Costume & Soldiers

[Druzhina]

The section has now been removed from Dr Flaherty's site.
The image was from:

turquie-culture.fr

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

[Druzhina]

The image above may be based on a French illustration:

Which kismata gives a date of 1680s and the Vinkhuijzen collection has in 1820-25.
Does anyone know what publication(s) these are from?

If it is then the colours used may not be reliable.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Ottoman Costume & Soldiers

[Druzhina]

The section is now back and says:

Whereas, Nicolle in his sentence - "commanded by the Kahya Yeri ... " (attempts to suggest this is some special title, which is a fantasy attribution i.e. 'creating a unit called the 'KEHYA YERI', who is commanded by this particular officer).

Dr Flaherty is now in fantasy land.

Among others, a bullet point has been added:

• Red boots: Indicating he is foot Colonel in the Janissary (See discussion on Mounted Janissary Colonels/Yellow boots - 1600 till 1800 Part 1: Ottoman Military Rank System).

Are the boots of the central figure red, like the shoes of the attendants, or are they yellow-brown?

Druzhina
Illustrations of Ottoman Costume & Soldiers