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A- CAMBEIBOE, MASS., THE GOVERNMENT OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE IN THE TIME OF SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT BY ALBERT HOWE LYBYER, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF EUROPEAN HISTORY, OBERUN COLLEGE "Our empire is the home of Islam; from father to son the kmp of our empire is kept burning with oil from the hearts of the infideb." Mohammed II, the Conqueror. " A lord and his bondsmen." Ranke. "Les Turcs . n6es de la guerre et organis^es pour la conqu^te." Cahun. "The Ottoman government . seems to have attained during the sixteenth century the highest degree of perfection of which its constitution was capable." Robertson. CAMBRIDGE HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON': HENRY FROWDE Oxford UNivERsrrY Press 1913 507 La COPYRIGHT, 1 91 3 BY HARVAKD XJNIVERSITV PREFACE The Ottoman Turks, after the world had long despaired of them, have in these last years shown signs of renewed vigor. The time is, then, perhaps not inauspicious for an examination of the structure of their organization in the period of its greatest power and prestige. It is not easy for the present age to realize how large the empire of Suleiman bulked in the eyes of contem- poraneous Europe. Amid the vast energies and activities, the magnificent undertakings and achievements, of the marvellous sixteenth century, nothing surpassed the manifestations of power that swept forth from Constantinople. The following pages will have been worth while if their incomplete presentation shadows forth, however dimly, the secrets of Ottoman greatness and success. This book was originally prepared in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Harvard University, and was subsequently awarded the Toppan Prize. The writer desires to acknowledge his very great indebtedness for advice, suggestion, and criticism to a number of kind friends with whom he has consulted, but especially to Professor A. C. Coolidge and Professor G. F. Moore. Nor can he let the book go to press without recording his extreme obligation to his wife for unwearying assistance at every stage of its preparation. A. H. L. Qbeslin, Ohio, 191 2. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION MGB Ideas Constitute a Nation 3 The Background of Ottoman History S Character and Mission of the Ottoman Empire 7 The Racial Descent of the Ottoman Turks lo Seljuk and Ottoman Turks in Asia Minor 14 (Xhe Sources of Ottoman Culture 18 CHAPTER I THE CHARACTER OF THE OTTOMAN STATE IN GENERAL Definition 25 The Limitations on Despotism 26 The Territorial Basis 28 The Peoples 33 Institutions of Government 35 Institutions . .^^^ Contemporary Descriptions of the Two Great 38 CHAPTER II THE OTTOMAN RULING INSTITUTION: AS A SLAVE-FAMILY I. General Description 45 II. The Slave-Family 47 Methods of Recruiting 49 The Tribute Boys 51 Estimate of the System S3 The Slave Status 55 The Harem, the Eunuchs, and the Royal Family ... 56 Other Ottoman Slave-Families 58 —-* Character of Ottoman Slavery 60 CHAPTER III THE RULING INSTITUTION: AS MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE AND EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM L The Missionary Motive 62 The Ottoman Attitude 63 Other Motives for Incorporating Christians 65 vii VUl CONTENTS PAGE The Requirement of Conversion 66 Sincerity of Conversion 68 Effect of the Process 69 --ni. Tece Educational Scheme 71 The Colleges of Pages 73 The Harem 78 The Ajem-oghlans 79 Advancement Based on Merit 82 Punishments 88 CHAPTER IV THE RULING INSTITUTION: AS AN ARMY The Military Aspect 90 The Janissaries 91 The Succession to the Throne 93 The Spahis of the Porte 98 The Feudal Spahis 100 Officers of the Feudal Spahis 103 Other Bodies of Troops 105 Discipline and Ardor 108 The Supreme Command 109 Indivisibility of the Army iii CHAPTER V THE RULING INSTITUTION: AS A NOBILITY AND A COURT I. Privileges of the Kullar 114 Nobility not Hereditary 117 II. Character of the Sultan's Court 120 Organization of the Household 123 The Harem 124 The Inside Service 126 The Outside Service 128 The Ceremonies of the Court 133 Influence of the Court 141 CHAPTER VI THE RULING INSTITUTION: AS GOVERNMENT Summary 146 Functions of the Ottoman Government 147 The Sultan as Head of the State and of the Government . 150 The Sultan as Legislator 152 The Legislation of Suleiman 159 The Viziers 163 CONTENTS IX MOE The Defterdars or Treasurers 167 Taxation in the Ottoman Empire i75 Suleiman's Income i79 The Nishanji or Chancellor 182 The Divan or Council 187 The Ruling Institution as a Whole i93 CHAPTER Vn THE MOSLEM INSTITUTION OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE General Description 199 Financial Support of the Moslem Institution aop The Educational System 203 Clergy, Seids, and Dervishes ;2o6 Jurists and the Mufti 207 The Judicial System 215 The Moslem Institution as a Whole 224 CHAPTER VIII COMPARISON OF THE TWO GREAT INSTITUTIONS Likenesses 227 Differences 230 Interactions 232 The Relative Power of the Institutions 233 APPENDICES I. The Second Book of the Affairs of the Turks Written in 1534, supposedly by Benedetto Ramberti. Translated from the Italian 239 n. Pamphlet of Junis Bey and Alvise Gritti Printed in 1537. Presented in the original Italian 262 in. Incomplete Table of Contents of the Kanun-Nameh, OR Collection of Edicts, of Suleiman the Magnificent AS arranged by the Mufti Ebu Su'ud Translated from the Turkish 276 rV. The Government of the Mogul Empire in India General Comparison of Ottoman and Indian Conditions , . 278 The Personnel of the Mogul Government 279 Relation of Government to Religious Propagation 283 The Army 285 X CONTENTS PAGE The Court 287 The Goverament Proper 292 The Moslems and the Moslem Church 299 Books consulted in the Preparation of Appendix IV .... 303 V. Bibliographical Notes i. Origins of Ottoman Governmental Ideas 305 ii. The Ottoman Government in the Sixteenth Century . 307 iii. Alphabetical List of Works Cited 322 GLOSSARY OF TURKISH WORDS 331 INDEX 339 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE THE GOVERNMENT OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE INTRODUCTION Ideas Constitute a Nation A nation, when considered from its earliest to its latest days, is much more a body of ideas than a race of men. Men die, families decay, the original stock tends to disappear; new individuals are admitted from without, new family groups take the lead, whole tribes are incorporated and absorbed; after centuries the anthropological result often bears but slight resem- blance to the original type. Undoubtedly the fabric of ideas which a nation weaves as its history develops also undergoes changes of pattern; old principles pass out of sight, and new ones, born of circumstance, or brought in from without, come to controlling influence. But ideas are not, like men, mortal: they can be transmitted from man to man through ages; they can be stored in books and thus pass from the dead to the living; when built together into a solid and attractive structure, they impart to the whole something of their individual immortality. Singly they pass as readily to strangers as to kindred; when organized to rounded completeness as the culture of a great living nation, they have a power which lays hold of men of many races, alone or in masses, and in the absence of strong prejudice compels acceptance. Such an assimilative force can clearly be seen in vigorous operation in the United States of America today. A system of ideas, woven of countless threads spun by Egyptian, Babylonian, Hebrew, Greek, Roman, and Teuton, preserved and enlarged by Frank, Anglo-Saxon, Norman, and EngUshman, recombined in a new and striking pattern by the founders of the republic, is thrown over men from every nation under heaven, who under its influence all become of one type, not to be mistaken wherever it is seen. 3 4 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE The history of the Ottoman Empire reveals the constant working of a like assimilative force. It was not merely, and not even mainly, the compulsion of the sword that built up and main- tained the strongest national power of the sixteenth century.