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    Metin Kunt-Sultan's Servants - CH 2&3

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    Hacer Kılıçaslan

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    8 The Brergee ft Otaman Sie The sultan’ slaves sent out to serve in provincial administration Joined there men who held postions Because their fathers were ‘Oxioman official, or who had served in other household, or even those who had risen from rej, abject statu, by volunteering to serve inthe sultans campaigns, a CHAPTER 2 Provincial Administration ‘THE OTTOMAN TERM for provincial administration, ii, i ‘avery teling one. Dit iterally means livelihood lasrating the ‘esemtial pont ofthe sytem, that i, cha it provided income for ‘officers, who performed duties forthe stat. Dit denotes the state revenues in 2 parcular leality allocated to an oficial; in the process of collecting those reves from the sultans subjects the ‘ficial supervised euldvation and other economic activities and ‘ko maintained public order in his particular locality. Part of his Fevenucs consisted offines collected for various eres and tans: ‘eesons, Most dit holders were military men; their primary ‘obligation to he state wa to ake part inthe sultans campaigns, paying fr their expense rom the proceed oftheir dil. The dit “stem, then, was a system of tax clleton, provided peace and Security in the provinces, and supported the main body ofthe ‘Ottoman army. Tnasmuch asthe officers ofthe dt system, fom the lowest- srade tina holder to the ldo, the provincial governor, were military men, there aso existed what may be called a parallel tnd separate system of provincial administration This second ‘stem wa alegal-adminitrativeone, manned by graduates of the iho, colleges of religon and religious law. Various grades of these magistrates (Ja) were asigned to diferent ize con ‘unite, but notin a hierarchical arrangement. Thus there were {ads in ces which were eats of provinces and districts, in towns 8 Prins Aintraion ‘where a zai or sabys commanded, and in larger village, ll appointed by theadasts a the center andall directly responsible to Istanbul, In advon to applying the erat, Muslim ly, in iil and commercial cases, the Aads administered eriminal law as it ‘emanated frm the yltan. The dais alo received and entered in thei local court registers ll imperial ermans and administrative rules and regulations. The execution of atleast a portion af sch ‘orders was left in thee hands. They were alo charged with en- Soring that coreet procedures were followed by other aficers, The fads, as well asthe di officer, were noted of dhe arial in thei oeality of oficial rom Istanbul and were asked to facilitate the performance of ther various take, fom tax collection to special investigations. In many cases, especialy in the application feviminal law, dhe magintrates and the dil ofcers cooperated, cvencallaborated, Baclly, however, they represented two der ent raditions, he military andthe legal, and operated in dierent spheres Diss came in diferent sies, according tthe rank and postion of the officers receiving ther. ti cuntomary to classi irlits according to thet yield a tina produced revenues Up 10 20,000 aks 2 erm from 20,000 to 100,00 aes; a drtikwith revenues above 100,000 als was called Ait. While thie casa cation i used in all standard works on Ottoman bitory, iti unsatisfactory. For one thing, the nits of yield for each type of ilk seem to have crystallized only in the stcenth century, for tarlies periods the registers report cedmds yielding ls than, of ‘inars with revenues greater than, 20,000 aes" Indeed, in adi tion to meaning the smallest di grant, the term tmar was aso wed ina general sense, ata synonym for dire Consideration of the original meanings ofthe terms used for Alert levels of dis and eablshing thei Fantional ciferenti aon will presen a clearer picture, Tima means hore-grooming; by extension itcame 1o denote revenues sulfiient for any cavalry ‘man but especially one who was otherwise untied and without ‘ank: Asie was given tothe lowest grade of provincial cavalrymen, 8 tinar was the smallest in yeld and consisted of vllagelevel venues! ei, on the other hand, was granted to a em @ 8 commander; it was adit that supported a middle-level officer ‘who deserved a larger grant, made up of tonclevel revenues, but also including rural revenues from areas around the towns. The ‘at older, it flows, wasa town commander, byptin Turkish Finally hs meanest aside for, "eserved for These were the largest grouping of revenues granted tothe highest ranking off fiat, not only the Bete (province governor) and snc (atric governor) in provincial administration, but alo to vezes tt the capital. Provincial revenues reserved for the sultan hmselh ‘were terme had map, imperial reserves. Sources of highly Concentrated tax reves were included in the hi, pecially all tian revenues not devoted to say. Customs receipts af the most important ports and yields o ll mining operations were reserved fie the sles A Functionally aside fom the type of reverie source in termaof seulement sie, there was an even more basi distinction between ‘mar and cima one hand and the hon the other, Timas and {sind were selfcontained units in an administrative see; the Authority of the tina or zene! holder was coextensive with the limit ofhis ait There was no bierarchial relationship between the twothatis the ent wasraeetially larger fngr andthe i had no authority over holder ofleser dis Foea zim or a timar holder hie dit and his fice were the same. 1 Ais, however, wae not an office, but merely the revenes allocate particular office, the authority ofwhich wentbeyond the nite of the di nd included in its purview leer oie ils, At the top thesltan, fr example, hadhisown imperial i, faut he was obviously the ruler ofthe whole empire. The bre had his Air concentrated mostly in one dlateict sem) of his province, the governor's sat, bu his authority extended through: ‘ut the province, So also the small, dhe district governor, had ‘only portion of hie distece' revenues allocated to him a ish but ar the governor ofthe whole distri. In terms of admin- istration, the correspondance between dit source of revenue, and office disappeared atthe soa level. On one hand 3 sneak {iatrit) included lesser dis within its boundaries; on the other hand larger administrative divisions, provinces, wee made up of| _groups ofsacas isin tis sense that the sana was the basic unit, af provincial administration ® ‘The Saneak ‘The original meaning ofthe term sawatis “banner” or “standard” ‘and, by extension, "eommand.” Even when the term came tobe applied oa particular region, i was used the sense of eommand ‘ofthat distinc. The samatbo, district governor, was primarily the ‘commander af the provincial cavalry, the dit holders of his Aisrct. Indeed, expecially nthe care centuries, dhesame officer ‘was Sometimes mentioned sperifiealy at "atu ana,” cavalry ‘commander? Av late asthe Bficenth century sehen the primary ‘connotation of wal had become administeative dstict we Bnd the term weed to relr tothe provincial toope in various dsrict* ‘Ae administrative districts, senak boundaries reflected pre- Ouoman administrative. divisions and. geographical realities ‘The number of sancats has remained remarkably stable through the centuries, even into republican times. The numberof ilies (provines) in modem Turkey, especially in western and northern ‘Anatolia, is practically che same as the number of sawals in ‘ifieenth-centary Anatolia "An Ottoman sacak wat a district encompassing, ata rough imate, an area of several thousand square miles and a popu- lation af perhaps hundred thourand on the average. Although the figures varied considerably from one raat to another, a dis ‘wet included about a dozen ents and perhaps andred Sins ‘Thesignifieance of the sak ar an administrative unit sbext lstrated by thefact that provincial regulations (Liman) were Prepared separately for each seat, andeach sac was the subject fof provincial cadastral surveys® When a new sokak was etab= lished, a ist of regulations, mainly dealing with tax rates, market dues, and other fe, was drawn up. Often the regulations tok into sccount conditions and practices existing in that region before ‘Ottoman conquest In other eases standard Ottoman practice wat introduced to the newly established sak. Increasingly in the $$$ $$ Pri Adiitetion 6 sixteenth century, then a typically Owoman st of regulations ‘ame to be recoghized, there was a sustained efor to discourage ‘varying local customs in order to achieve a greater degree of consistency fromone region to thenext. Insome cases the knimnine stated that the ne subjects specifically asked that Ottoman rules and regulations by applied to them rather than mainain eatir ‘sages! Also inthe sixteenth century, when fairly extensive ter- ‘tories were conqueredallat onc, andl possibly als with view © climinating local variations, a single Aaniane was iaued for a {group ofsacls Thus, for example, there was ne Lixin fo all, the samals ofthe province of Erzurum, and atthe other exeme of the empire one for four exals of Hungary Aneconomic survey (aki) ofthe district was next drawn up, Iissngall he thiman and economic resource, town by town village by village On the bass ofthe rates indicated in the kaniondne and the population and production figures obtained inthe eco nomic survey, the wx liability of persons and communities were ‘Stimated and entered in the tor register. These detailed (mfir= ‘al registers, which mpecifed what the state could expet to recive ‘Gomer subjects then formed dhe bass for another type of ese, the summary (onl, or wometines mio) register, showing how the state revenues were tobe apportioned. The imal registers, in ‘other word listed all the dite ofthe sama fromthe Az allocated to the sowatte, to the gene and tina. If the senak was productive one, i could inchde imperial dit (tases humdi) And revenues forming part f the governor general's (yb) hs, jn addition to what he received in his own sana the seat of the province. Teas noted above that while the cat f tna and ats the dik and the office were coextensive, in the case of AE the authority of the office went beyond the boundaries ofthe areas lloted to the dik of the high-level officer. In the hit of the Janalbo, however, wereincuded the revenues not only afspecii ites, owns, an rral areas, but also some revenues which ori inated inal pars offs dati, Thus the corvelation between dik and ofce was preserved, although wo aleser extent than in the ‘ase oF smaller dis. A consideration af the constituent parts ofa a 16 Praca Adiisetion sncatboy’s hs, herelore, might shed some light on the nature of the authority af ditt governors ‘The Sancatbeyi and His His [At the outset we have to clear a problem concerning official revenues allotted to sonabigis. Obviowsy, diferent seabbeis ‘deserved and were given diferent levels of revenue, An ofcer jus, promoted to samatioy rank usualy received 150,000 ae in anual revenue; around the middle of the sixteenth century this ‘nimum sem to have been raised to 200,00 as, Through the years the sankey received raises as he was moved to diferent fancaks, He alo received merit raises, ustaly on the occasion of ‘extraordinary efecivenes in campaigns, while he was a the same ‘post Both seniority and meri raises came to roughly 10 percent of the oie’ venues A senior seater ey Long career at tha rank, received 500,000 o 600,00 as er year. ‘Sanat, to, varied in prosperity, productivity, and strategic Importance. Certain saarals, such as Krkkilse in Thrace and ‘Kocael in northwestern Anatolia, were usually granted with lov level At yields, about 200,000 ae, while Bosna and Silstre, for ‘example, both in the Balkan, were granted with hi revenus of ‘more than 500,000 aes. Obviously junior senabyis were apr pointed a zncls onthe order of Kirke and Kocaeli, wile dhe {oat experienced and highly regarded officers were rewarded with, appointments to the like of Bosna and Silt, Between these #0 ‘extremes, however, were most sana which dered itd from one nother. One sanatior might hold the soxal of Vidin, for ex- fmple, at 300000 als ancl he might be sited to Kayseri at 520,000 ap. The previous governor of Kayseri might have been receiving only 250,000 ej, and iit happened that he was then appointed to Vidin, he might tll receive the same amount. To ‘continue with our illustration, the new appaintee to Vein might vea merit raise ayearlaterand then old thesame seen at an increased reverie, sy 270,000 ate. In most cares nother words, ‘the hs ofthe ana dependel on what dhe person deserved and Prine Adiisvaton ” ‘eas on the snc, with che obvious exceptions ofthe leat andthe oat mnportant sonal, “The problem should by now be evident Inasmuch athe same sack was granted to dierent swith varying hs evens since the aniount of the his was determined according tothe appointee and not acording tthe post, how can we teat onal revenues st particalar pot in any systematie manner" How can e hope to establish the component parts ofa sana Ai if the figure is ‘capable of changing from one appointee to another, indeed even forthe same person fom one year tothe nex? Tn theory the problem canbe resolved once we acetai that indeedneach neal there were evenuise tide forthe governor, Uehoever he might be. IF he deserved more than this standard amount, such specific revenues might be augmented, Iemighteven be that most appointees to a dstict recived more than was reserved in that smal for the governor. Stil, there was a core orton in each snk specific to the governors appointed there ‘Thiscore portion was usually called sac hn, literally the yield ‘of the sec, obviously not meaning al revenues generated in that Aiseict but thove revenues reserved forthe ditt governor, even ‘hough his total Ad might be larger. ‘That there existed a "yield of the district” reserved for ap- pointes to a particular post needs to be documented. Mention ‘ust be made, because thas ben published and is quoted widely, ‘of Ayn Ais report on Ottoman provincial administration where {he Hr in each tac i sted (ace appendix 1). This work, how: ‘ve, dates fom the earl seventeenth century when the sytem of provincial administration was in fue; Furthermore, the author onalted registers much earlier than hse o prepare hit epor. Evidence shouldbe dra fresh, fom earlier sources. "The expresion used inthe earit surviving provincial rege inter, dating from 1431, implies that there was 4 Ale reserved fo the governor, but it may not be deemed conchsive For more specific relerences etn consider several consecutive appintinents 1o Kayseri sana, entered in the latefftenth-cencury dit grant register, MAD 1789 The frst appointee (p. 26) wasa Kasim Bey, son of Ha Paga, whose total Ais was increased to 405 81 ales ProicietAdinirton with additions to che standard yield (the expression used here i ‘ks i) of 250,575 a. Shortly thereafter a Mehmed Bey was appointed to Kayser (p. 26) but the his igure was not entered ‘Again a short ime later Mehmed Bey was dismissed because he ‘vas ifr al) and the sneak was granted o Sinan Bey, stor (ll) of prince Sltan Ahmed (p. 46). The district’ yield (here ind a) of 250,575 was angmented to 372,585 aly for Sinan Bey. For the next wo appointments (pp. 176 and 248) only the names of the appointeet and the total Ait of 400,000 ater are entered; the standard yields not specified. ‘A further example i drawn fom a governors appointment register, KK 262, dating fom the 1580s." Thesamatof Pris was granted to Hiz Bey, wo had previously held Vilctrin district, ith revenues of 340,620 als; he took out an imperial diploma of fice (ri) at his new post, which specified that the standard As of Pravin amounting to 281,542 ates had been augmented to 348,610 aljes in his case (as mechirun [Priya] 281,542 ae hela] er ech til 348,610 ae ile bert ell). These x amples establish thatthe standard ylld of Kayseri around 1485 ‘wat 250,375 als and that of Pirin around 1500 was 261,642 tes, although the fs granted a specifi saab’ might be much higher, about 25 percent in the Pravin example and as mich a= 60| percent in Kayseri, © bring the standard yield to 3 level com= Imensurate with what each appointee personally deserved ti the standard yield of sca, not the Ais granted & particular holder of that po, that soul ideally fran the aloe 8 consideration of dist governors sevens san indication of their authority: Havingsaid hs, Thave wo admititeannot be dane, fortis pracialy impossible to determine the component pats of the standard yield in a sufficient number of cases 10 allow a reaningfil statistical analysis. We ean tell, from dhe examples ted above, that the sana hih, the core portion ofthe evenics ‘ranted to all incumbents a a certain saat, did exist, but its ‘compastonisnox given. Even inion df, he summary dite, registers that enumerate all the dik grants im snc, the ‘entered forth swale snot dhe standard yield but ll revenues Allocated tothe particular governor inofie athe ine the register ‘was deawn up | j i | | This true that in some em enters the Adis recorded in to sections the fit labeled ish din (od Ai) and the second ‘isis edi new A) simply ain (at). A study ofhow ‘thir changes, however, shows that ish Ladin snot the same as the standard yield (net Ada) bat only the Ais eld by the previous appointee, che existing his, which may be changed 2c- ‘cording tothe figure the new appointee iso be alloted. The Ai {Sven in appendix 3 may serve as an example in thie context. "There we note that when Murad Bey was pointed sins: ‘of Alacahisar(Krujevag in Macedonia), he was given a raise of 30,00 age over th exiting hs, labeled hiss Kan, of 213,980 ses bringing the total to 252,180, Abou a yar later Murad Bey deserved ameritraise of another 30,00 ays, ths hisincome went ‘up t 200,000 abjer However, ia che process Murad Bey alo ‘requested and wae granted some changes in de original pordon of iss, che ass Ladin, Two llages included in the hash adn, ‘complained Murad Bey, were too fr from the othe areas he held ‘spars ofhis Aa, making thing dificult Thexe wo villages were taken out ofthe orginal portion of 18,980, bringing it down to 205,835 ate. The igure e eld before the second raise, 00, went ‘vin by the same amount he heel only 288, 833 from the ish Jai, fa other words, oth the original portion of 218,980 als and the his, before the second raise, of 252180, were later refered ‘sss hain, The concusion is that hss Kain dl not rele to ‘ny unchanging specie Figure and therefore cannot be aken as 2 tabtitue for the standard yield ofthe datece. [As the standard yield of Ottoman snafs cannot be deter rmined, we have to base our observations on the nature ofthe Tenclbey's hs on evidence more readily available, that, onthe ‘ents in summary registers (ema fers), A mentioned, such entre record actual grants to specfe governors, including any faites they may have een given. Inasmuch ar vases of ter ‘idions were usually made up of the revenues of villages in ‘aris parts ofthe nt he A ensies in district esters show a higher proportion of rural eeenses than would thestandaed yields ‘ol dsc, had we been able to ascertain them, Nevertheless, even this material shows conclusively that in an overwhelming majority ‘ot voces avery high percentage of the governors hie consisted » Princ Adiniretin of urban revenues and certain revenues the governor collected throughout his eae There were tro types of exception. In Some dstict, mostly in Albania and in central Grece, where there simply were not many cites or towns, the percentage ofl revenues was obviously higher. Even ia such dates, however, an ‘fort was made to inclidethe revenue of bigger villages in the [At the other extreme were highly urbanized sncals like Halep (Aleppo), Alaiye, and Teke with important internaonal com- ‘mercial centers In sch areas the considerable customs levies, cases 9, to supplement the urban revenues atthe ssaalde's tisposa, revenues of relatively larger vilages were allocated to ie Convenience partly accounts fr the fact that relatively bigger sources of revenue were set aside for holders of important ‘offices. Obviously it wouldhave been cumbertome or the sultan to Ihave wo receive his income from many towns and villages catered ‘throughout dhe empire; similarly the savaSgy and hismen would have to spend too much time andl fort to collect insmall ‘sims, from many diferent and farslung villages? Buc this would bea partial explanation only. Perkaps a more important consider- aon was that larger source of revenue ould remain undivided andin the contra af ahigh-evel oficial with sufcient authority to Ao this eftctively. An urban source of revenuc, the proceeds fom ‘various urban industries, for example if ivided into several nar, ‘would have no clear line of athrity veri. Buti tae source of Fevenue were placed inthe hands ofthe rncably, he cull sper ‘se the functioning a the economic activity that proced the a revenue while collecting his revenue. Sinlaly, if the various revenues of an urban center were to be divided among several ‘oficials, the political authority in cha town would be blurred ‘Urban revenues were allocated to governors because in ad- dition to convenience in revenue collection, the highest oficial should control the biggest centers. The governors authority in his strict, then, was primarily exercieed in elatvey Inge centers, ‘where he received revenue rom the marketplace, port activities bridge ols mils, and manufacturing establishments ** The head ‘ax on non-Muslims (iy), too, was sometimes left tothe sam ‘ato Perhaps itis not surprising in a preindostial society that taxes on agricultural produce in and near the ity—on vine yards; orchard, vegetable patches, grain Held, and Bsheries— onatcated & significant portion of urban revenues. Another importanccategory ofincome in urban centers consisted of various fines the governor collected inthe process of keeping order and security in his distiet Such revenue, called pb, comprised not only ines on crimes and transgressions (crm iy), but alo of Incidental levies (id hand) such a5 fines for stay cate and, revardsfor the apprehension of escaped slaves, ‘Nolet revenues in amount were by no meant the most subseanal porto of the governor's income. Ie was rather the ‘ature of mbt revenues that made dhem important. The term se Iieally means “deputyip,” refering tothe fact thatthe ‘governors, indeed al oficial ofthe di yen, wee deputies of the sultan in the realm, representing his political authority in -eepng intenalsecurity, especially through the apprehension and Punishment oferiminals. In one provine of the empire Karaman, ‘originally one ofthe frontier bos of post-Slguklu Anatolia aad the ast of ich states tobe incorporated into the Ottoman realm, having been nally conquered in the 1460s, with its relatively long independent existence as an area having regulations and offical terminology somewhat diferent than the elsewhere inthe lands ‘hen inched in the empire, mjd! revenues were termed det ‘mse, governor's des The tem enn is a much more direct ‘eference to politcal authority than nat, and the identity ofthe teal content ofthe two terms allows us to extablsh with certainty wat exacly was meant by the “deputyship" expressed in nib "The proces of the cllecton of mpd revenues or governors desis important in two other ways. The apprehension, prose: fon, and punishment of criminal was a proces in which the riltary-adminitrative authorities, ofeials of dhe dik aystem, ‘were required to cooperate closely with the fad, the magistrates ‘representing the sultans legal authority. The military authorities brought suspects vo cout, the fads ied them in accordance with 2 Prva Adinitation the sultans lw (kin), and punishment was administered by the dl ofials. The evo parallel systems thus complemented cach ‘other as wel as balancing each other's authority Furthermote, the governor collected mabe revenues not only in thse ares, urban as well a rural, directly inched in hie is but also eee: ‘wherein his istrit, receiving halfof the net revenues collected intinars throughout his district. Al, nme, and certain bigger ‘nas, thase given to holders of specific military posts such as fortes commanders (ddr) and troop leaders (lah, were termed “fee” (srbe) in this respect the holders collected and pe for themselves all nab dues in thir dit, But the lesser ‘imar holders, termed “non-fee™ (gay seb), shared equally Uheie wae! revenues withthe district governor * Te should be pointed out that even n “Tree timar the trie governor retained {he authority to investigate and punish cases involving relatively serious crimes* Such mit revenues the sats received ‘throughout the district, as opposed to those he collected within areas diredy allocated to im, were wemed nab i By inclsion of mdr within the governor's, an attempt was made to achieve some measure of correspondence between the “office of governor and his is, a correspondence which existed more fly for smaller diltsand which the underlying logic ofthe dik ‘stem. In other ways a well this correspondence was established for the sauatbo at last in the Bfeenth century the governor received a share ofthe bas tax on the landholding peasants, the yoke tax (if vai), again fom non-fie nae Fal, in areas Were there were nomads in additon tothe table population, the ‘rious taxes and dues levied onthe nomad acerued to the gover- nor ofthe district rather than being apportioned among leer

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