The Ottoman Empire: a Historical Encyclopedia [2 Volumes] Page 2

  The Ottomans also divided the population of their empire into distinct religious communities or millets. Each religious community was granted the right to practice its traditional rites and ceremonies under the supervision of its own ecclesiastical hierarchy. Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived side by side under the authority of the Ottoman sultan, a Sunni Muslim Turk, who acted as the protector of all religious communities of the empire. Each community enjoyed religious, cultural, and legal autonomy and managed its own internal affairs under its own religious leadership (Aksan: x–xi). The head of each religious community was appointed by the sultan (Imber: 216–217). This system allowed the religious communities of the empire to coexist in relative peace and harmony. It also enabled the Ottoman sultan to claim that he treated all his subjects with justice and benevolence. The tolerance displayed by the Ottoman sultans did not mean that the Jews and Christians of the empire were treated as equal to Muslims, however. In accordance with Islamic law, Jews and Christians were people of the book (Arabic: ahl al-kitab) and considered protected religious communities (Arabic: dhimmi; Turkish: zimmi), which lived under the authority of a Muslim sovereign. The sultan was required to protect the lives and property of his Jewish and Christian subjects. In return, his Jewish and Christian subjects were obligated to remain loyal to him and pay the Ottoman state a poll tax (Arabic: jizye; Turkish: cizye) in return for not serving in the military. In all legal matters, Islamic law held precedence, and Islamic courts were open to all subjects of the sultan (Imber: 217).

  The Christian population of the Ottoman Empire was heterogeneous. The Ottoman government recognized two principal Christian millets, namely, the Greek Orthodox and the Armenian Gregorian. Other Christian communities, such as the Maronites, Nestorians, and Syrian Orthodox, were not recognized as full-fledged millets, although for all practical purposes they functioned as autonomous religious communities under their own leaders. The Muslim population of the empire was equally heterogeneous, but since Islam was the official religion of the Ottoman Empire, the Muslims were not considered a separate millet. However, the Muslim community was organized in the same manner as the Christian communities (McCarthy: 128). The sultan appointed the şeyhulislam (Arabic: sheikh al-Islam) as the head of the ulema, the experts and interpreters of Islamic law. The muftis, who were the official interpreters of Islamic law and issued legal opinions (fatwas), also came from the ranks of the ulema. They were assigned by the şeyhulislam to the provinces of the empire. The kādis or judges, who enforced the Islamic law and the kānun (the laws issued by the sultan) and administered the courts throughout the empire, were also appointed by the şeyhulislam (McCarthy: 121–122).

  As the Ottoman state transformed from a small principality in western Anatolia into a full-fledged imperial power, the institutions that had given rise to the early Ottoman fiefdom similarly underwent a profound transformation. The early Ottoman principality was based on the active participation of charismatic Ottoman rulers, who carried the title of hān or khān and acted as a gāzi, or a person who carried out military raids in the name of Islam. Ottoman power and authority derived from military units organized and led by the gāzis who fought with the Ottoman ruler. The Ottoman army was not only the backbone of the state, but was the state itself. The seat of power was literally the saddle of the Ottoman ruler, who organized and led the raids during time of war. His leadership required him to inspect the territory under his rule. As for the religious orientation of the early Ottoman state, the Islam of the gāzis lacked the theological sophistication of the ulema, who dominated the mosques and seminaries of Anatolia’s urban centers such as Konya. The Islam of the early Ottoman rulers was unorthodox, eclectic, and mystical (Inalcik: 17). Not surprisingly, the tekkes (lodges) of Sufi orders dominated the religious and spiritual life of the frontier gāzis who were fighting with Osman I (r. 1290–1326), the founder of the Ottoman dynasty, and his son, Orhan (r. 1326–1362). One of the earliest accounts of Osman’s rise to power describes how he received a blessing from a prominent mystical leader, Şeyh Edebali (Sheikh Edebali), who handed him the sword of a gāzi and prophesized that his descendants would rule the world (Inalcik: 55). When Osman died in 1326, the ceremony that decided the succession of his son to the throne took place at a zāviye, a hospice run and managed by dervishes for travelers (Inalcik: 55). Orhan was the first Ottoman ruler to assume the title of sultan, and his son Murad (r. 1362–1389) was the first to use the title of Hüdavendigār (lord or emperor) (Inalcik: 56). In 1395 Sultan Bayezid I (r. 1389–1402) added the title of Sultan al-Rum or Sultan of Byzantine lands. As the power and the territorial possessions of the empire expanded, the Ottoman sultans added new titles, such as pādișāh (pādishāh), a Persian word meaning “sovereign,” but never abandoned the title of gāzi. With the creation of the empire and the establishment of Ottoman power in the urban centers where Sunni Islam dominated the Muslim community, the state became increasingly identified with the official Islam of the ulema, although the mystical traditions and practices were never abandoned.

  The succession to the Ottoman throne did not follow an established procedure (Inalcik: 59). In theory the rise of a prince to the throne could only be determined by the will of God (Inalcik: 59). When a prince managed to defeat the other contenders for the throne and gained the support of the ulema, the army, and palace officials, he could ascend the throne and seize the central treasury (Inalcik: 59). The result of this power struggle was justified as a manifestation of divine support. The reigning sultan appointed his sons to the governorships of provinces. Each son was accompanied by a tutor, who advised him on the art of statecraft (Inalcik: 59). As provincial governors, the sons established their own courts, replicating the imperial court in the capital. The tutors and administrators who joined each prince were carefully selected from among the loyal servants of the sultan and were expected to provide their royal master with information on the development and activities of the princes to whom they were assigned (Inalcik: 60). After a new sultan ascended the throne (Alderson: 5), he was expected to execute his brothers and other male contenders to the throne. It was believed that when there was only one member of the royal family alive, the members of the government and commanders of the army would remain loyal to him.

  As the early Ottoman state expanded, acquired towns and cities, and established a court, Turkish nomadic practices were modified by incorporating long-established traditions borrowed from pre-Islamic Iran, the Islamic caliphates of the Umayyads and the Abbasids, as well as the Greek Byzantine empire. This did not mean that the Ottomans abandoned their nomadic origins and practices. The sultans continued to carry the title of khān, which they had brought with them from their original home in Central Asia (Inalcik: 56). As the state expanded its territory, the Ottomans recognized the need to establish an administration that could collect taxes and send them to the central treasury, which used the revenue generated from agricultural production and trade to pay the expenditures of the sultan and the central government.

  Under the Ottoman governmental system, the sultan stood at the top of the power pyramid. He was both the temporal and spiritual leader, who drew his authority from the șeriat (Islamic law) and kānun (the imperial law), and was obligated to rule with justice, to defend his domains against external enemies and internal rebellions, to protect the life and security of his subjects, and to preserve the peace and stability of the kingdom he ruled (Aksan: xi). The government itself was an extension of the sultan’s private household; government officials were the personal servants of their royal master and were appointed and dismissed at the sultan’s pleasure. The ancient Iranian theory of statehood provided the theoretical and political foundations of the empire. According to this theory, to rule his kingdom and to protect his subjects from foreign enemies and internal chaos and lawlessness, a monarch needed an army and a strong government. The maintenance of a strong army and administration demanded the creation of wealth and collection of taxes generated by the members of the laborin
g classes. For laboring classes to produce wealth there had to be peace, stability, and security. Peace and security required the presence of a ruler with a strong army and a stable government. This circular theory had been elaborated during the reign of the Persian Sasanian dynasty (r. 224–651 CE) and later modified to Islamic traditions by the Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad. It was further modified after the arrival of Turkic nomadic groups from Central Asia in the 11th century and the establishment of Mongol rule in the 13th century (Inalcik: 65).

  The administration of justice constituted the most important duty of an Ottoman sultan. Failure to protect his subjects from injustice could justify the overthrow of a ruler. The palace was the center of power and served as the residence of the sultan and his family. The Ottoman palace comprised two principal sections, the enderun, or the inner section, and the birun, or the outer section. The two sections encircled two large courtyards, which were joined by the Gate of Felicity, where the sultan sat on his throne, received his guests, and attended ceremonies. The sultan lived in the inner section of the palace, which was attached to the royal harem. The harem comprised women’s apartments and was reserved for the female members of the royal family, including the mother of the sultan (vālide sultan) and the sultan’s wives. Since proximity to the sultan determined the power and status of an individual, the sultan’s attendants and servants, particularly the eunuchs, who were responsible for the protection of the royal harem, exercised enormous influence in the government. Until the 16th century the eunuchs were for the most part white males recruited from the Caucasus region. Sometime in the 17th century the white eunuchs were replaced by black eunuchs from the Sudan (Shaw: 1:115). The palace eunuchs were managed and supervised by the āğā (āghā) or the chief of “the Abode of Felicity” (Shaw: 1:115). Aside from the eunuchs, women of the royal harem also played a prominent role in the political life of the palace. In the second half of the 16th century, as the sultans began to rule from the harem, the power of those who surrounded them, particularly their mothers and wives, increased. They enjoyed direct access to the sultan and were in daily contact with him. With the sultan spending less time on the battlefield and delegating his responsibilities to the grand vizier, the mothers and wives began to emerge as the principal source of information and communication between the harem and the outside world. They often interfered in factional fighting and rivalries within the ruling elite.

  The palace constituted the brain center of the empire. The divān-i hümāyun, or the imperial council, which constituted the highest deliberative organ of the Ottoman government, met at the palace at fixed times to listen to complaints from the subjects of the sultan. The council comprised the grand vizier and his cabinet, which included the chief of chancellery, called the nişānci (nishānji), who controlled the tuğrā (the official seal of the Ottoman state) and drew up and certified all official letters and decrees; the chief of the Islamic judicial system (kādiasker); and the treasurers (defterdārs) of Anatolia and Rumeli (Ottoman provinces in the Balkans) (Lot: 344; Somel: 72–73). Until the reign of Mehmed II (r. 1444–1446, 1451–1481), the conqueror of Constantinople, the sultan participated in the deliberations of the imperial council. As his empire and authority expanded, the sultan became increasingly detached and stopped participating in the meetings of the divān. Instead, a square window “overlooking the council chamber” was added so that the sultan could listen to the deliberations of his ministers (Inalcik, Ottoman Empire: 90).

  Many who managed the empire as governors, provincial administrators, and army commanders received their education and training in the palace. They had been recruited as young slaves and brought to the palace, where they were trained as the obedient servants of the sultan. The sultan did not recruit his officials, army commanders, and soldiers from the native Muslim population. Rather, young Christian boys from the sultan’s European provinces formed a vast pool from which new slaves could be recruited, converted to Islam, and trained to assume the highest posts in the empire. Known as the devșirme (devshirme), this recruitment system also resulted in the creation of the yeni çeri (yeni cheri) or the janissary corps, who constituted the sultan’s elite infantry and were paid directly from the central government’s treasury.

  Even when the territorial expansion of the empire slowed down, the practice of recruiting young Christian boys as soldiers and administrators did not stop. As late as the 16th century the sultan issued a royal decree (fermān) ordering his local officials to summon all Christian boys between the ages of eight and twenty in their rural districts (Inalcik: 78). The government officials selected and registered the best qualified boys and sent them in groups of 100–150 to Istanbul, where they were received by the āğā (commander) of the janissary corps (Inalcik: 78). The number of boys recruited through this system in the 16th century has been estimated as being from 1,000 to 3,000 a year (Inalcik: 78). As the future members of the ruling elite, they had to learn Turkish and acquire the customs and etiquette of an Ottoman official. The best and most talented were retained as palace pages or iç oğlāns (ich oghlāns) and received further education and training in various palaces in Istanbul and Edirne under the strict supervision of eunuchs and tutors (Inalcik: 78–79). Once they had completed their education, the pages were either appointed to positions within the palace or served as the kāpi kullāri (the slaves of the sultan) military units. Those who served as pages in the palace were trained by the eunuchs, who organized their daily activities and responsibilities. The young boys grew up with little contact with the outside world. As young men who owed their life, status, and special privileges to the sultan, they remained single until they had reached the age of 30 (Inalcik: 79).

  Four principal chambers within the palace served the sultan and his needs. The privy chamber served the sultan’s most basic needs such as cleaning, dressing, and personal security (Inalcik: 80). The sultan’s sword keeper, silahdār ağa; the royal valet, çohādār ağa (chohādār āghā); and his personal secretary, sir kātibi, were the principal officials in charge of the privy chamber (Shaw: 1:115). The treasury chamber was responsible for the sultan’s personal jewelry and other valuable items. The third chamber, or the larder, was responsible for the preparation of the sultan’s meals, and the fourth or the campaign chamber comprised bath house attendants, barbers, drum beaters, and entertainers (Shaw: 1:117; Inalcik: 80). Pages with exceptional ability and talent would join the privy chamber after they had served in one of the other three chambers (Inalcik: 80; Shaw: 1: 117). From the time the sultan woke up to the time he went to bed, the pages of the privy chamber accompanied him and organized the many services that their royal master required.

  Until the reign of Mehmed II in the middle of the 15th century, the Ottomans, like many previous Muslim dynasties, recruited and trained slaves as soldiers. The majority of nonmilitary functions were reserved for government officials who were recruited from the Muslim Turkish elite. The members of this elite class were for the most part educated in traditional bureaucratic and religious institutions, where knowledge of Islamic sciences as well as Arabic grammar and Persian literature and poetry was mandatory. Many who served as the civil administrators within the Ottoman government were recruited from the ranks of the ulema, or the learned men of religion and doctors of Islamic law. With the reign of Mehmed II, however, the sultan began to appoint slaves to the top administrative positions of the empire (McCarthy: 55). The policy of replacing the traditional Muslim educated elite with slaves ignited a conflict between the old Turkish elite and the newly converted slaves, forcing the sultan to perform a balancing act to avoid an all-out war among his officials.

  Like the central government, the provincial administration also played an important role in preserving the unity and territorial integrity of the empire. To maintain an efficient provincial administration and a strong army, the Ottomans created a financial organization that collected taxes. Under Ottoman rule, land constituted the most important source of wealth and government revenue. There
were several distinct categories of land ownership in the Ottoman Empire. By far the largest category was miri (crown land), or land owned and controlled by the state (Inalcik: 109). Theoretically, all lands used for agricultural production in the empire belonged to the sultan. The central government also recognized vakif (Arabic: vaqf), or land controlled and supervised as a religious endowment, with its revenue providing support for charitable objectives (McCarthy: 116–118). The state also recognized mülk (Arabic: mulk), or privately owned land (McCarthy: 118–119). The vakif and mülk could be converted to crown lands by order of the sultan. Ottoman sultans always tried to increase their revenue base by confiscating vakif and mülk lands, converting them to miri so that the revenue they earned would finance their military campaigns. An increase in crown lands allowed the sultan to raise the number of cavalrymen recruited for the army.