Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire (11 page)

Several times a week, at fixed times, the ministers met to
listen to complaints from the subjects of the sultan. The council comprised of
the grand vizier, who acted as the personal representative of the sultan, and
his cabinet, known as the viziers of the dome, because they met in the domed
chamber of the Topkapi Palace. Those attending included the chief of
chancellery, or lord privy seal (
nişanci)
, who controlled the
tuğra
(the official seal of the Ottoman state) and drew up and certified all
official letters and decrees; the chiefs of the Islamic judicial system (
kadiaskers)
who represented the religious establishment or the ulema and assisted the
sultan and the grand vizier in legal matters; and the treasurers (
defterdars
)
of Anatolia and Rumelia (Ottoman provinces in the Balkans), who oversaw the
royal revenues originating from Rumelia, Anatolia, Istanbul, and the
northwestern coast of the Black Sea. The
defterdars
communicated to the
grand vizier the daily transactions of the central treasury and had to ensure
that the troops stationed in the capital received their pay in a timely
fashion.

Prominent military commanders also attended the council.
Beginning in the 16th century the
ağa,
or commander of the sultan’s
elite infantry, the janissaries, took part in the council’s meetings. The
commander of the
sipahis
also attended. The members of this cavalry
corps received revenue from
timars
or fiefs held by them in return for
military service. Süleyman I, who recognized the increasing importance of the
imperial navy, appointed Grand Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa to the council. Although
the chief admiral of the Ottoman fleet (
kapudan paşa)
attended the
meetings of the imperial council, he reported directly to the sultan on the
readiness of the imperial arsenal and the Ottoman naval forces. The grand
vizier and his cabinet were accompanied by the
çavuş başi
(the
head
çavuş
), the chief of the palace officers who maintained order
and protocol at imperial council meetings and palace ceremonies, and who were
dispatched as couriers to convey messages and execute orders. Clerks and
scribes, numbering some 110 in the 1530s, worked under the supervision of the
reisülkütab
or chief of scribes, who acted as the head of the offices attached to the
grand vizier. Each Ottoman high official maintained a large household, a kind
of imperial palace in miniature, as a manifestation of his prestige and power. His
retinue “consisted of several hundred officers, ranging from menial domestics
and bodyguards to companions and agents.”

At the time of Mehmed II, the imperial divan “met every day
of the week, but in ensuing years this changed and the council met four times a
week” on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays. The viziers who served in
the divan arrived on horseback with pomp and ceremony. They were surrounded by
their retinues, including their sword bearer, valet, and seal bearer, and dressed
“in solemn dress, according to the offices they held.” The grand vizier arrived
last riding alone at the end of an imposing cavalcade. Until the reign of
Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, the sultan participated in the
deliberations of his ministers. As the power and the territory of the empire
grew, the sultan became increasingly detached and stopped participating in the
meetings of the divan. Instead, a square window especially cut to overlook the
council chamber allowed the sultan to listen in on the deliberations of his
ministers whenever he chose.

As the viziers entered the divan, they sat in accordance
with their position and status on a low sofa, which was attached to the wall
and faced the main door to the audience hall. The
kadiaskers
of Rumelia
and Anatolia sat to the left of the grand vizier, while the
defterdars
of
Anatolia and Rumelia sat to his right. The scribes sat behind the treasurers on
mats, which were spread on the floor. Next to the treasurers sat the
nişanci
with a pen in his hand, accompanied by his assistants. The
reisülkütab
stood
close to the grand vizier who frequently requested his opinion and services.

As an executive body, the imperial council conducted all
manner of government business. It addressed foreign affairs, granted audiences
to ambassadors, and corresponded with foreign monarchs. It oversaw the empire’s
war efforts by issuing detailed commands regarding the use of manpower,
munitions, and provisions. It also supervised the building of public works, notably
fortresses and aqueducts in Istanbul and the provinces. In addition, the
council dealt with any number of problems brought to its attention through the
reports and petitions of governors and judges. Finally, the council both
appointed and promoted government officials.

The council also acted as a court of law, hearing cases
that involved the members of the ruling class as well as complaints from
ordinary folks. As one European observer wrote: “The Pashas” heard first the
most important cases, “and then all the others, of the poor as well as of the
rich,” so that no one departed “without being heard or having” his case
settled. Once all the viziers had been seated, the petitioners were allowed to
enter the divan and present their case or complaint. There were no attorneys or
representatives present, and the authority to make the final judgment on each
and every case rested solely with the grand vizier. He was the only government
official who spoke during the proceedings unless he sought the opinion of one of
his viziers.

The deliberations at the divan continued for seven to eight
hours. The members of the imperial council ate three times. First, “at dawn,
immediately after their arrival, then ‘at the sixth hour,’ after the main
business, and then after hearing petitions.” At noon, the grand vizier asked
attendants to serve lunch. Ordinary people who were present at the time were
asked to leave so that the cabinet could enjoy their meal free of crowds and
noise. Large round copper trays set on four short-leg stools were placed in
front of the grand vizier and other members of the divan. The grand vizier
shared his food tray with two other officials. Other viziers followed the same
pattern. They sat with a colleague or two around the large copper tray, and
they shared the meal served by the palace kitchen.

Before they started their meal, all government officials
spread a napkin on their knees to keep their garments clean. Then the servers
placed freshly baked bread on the trays, followed by dishes of meat. As the
viziers tasted from one plate, the servers brought a new dish and removed the
plate that had already been tried. The grand vizier and his cabinet dined on
mutton, “hens, pigeons, geese, lamb, chickens, broth of rice, and pulse” cooked
and covered with a variety of sauces. The leftovers were sent to the retinues
of the ministers and dignitaries although they also had their food brought from
their own palace kitchen. Unlike the sumptuous meal served to high government
officials, however, their lunch was bread and pottage, which was called
çurba.
For drink, sherbets of all kind, as well as water, were served in porcelain
dishes.

Meetings “ended in midday in the summer, when daybreak was
early, and mid-afternoon in winter.” On Sundays and Tuesdays, the grand vizier
met with the sultan after the meeting at the divan had ended. At times, other
ministers were called to the sultan’s audience chamber to provide reports.
Aside from the grand vizier, the chief treasurer was the only minister who
could speak directly to the sultan, while the other members of the divan merely
stood silently with their hands crossed on their chests and their heads bowed
as a show of their reverence and obedience. Having listened to these reports
and deliberations, the sultan dismissed the members of the divan and the grand
vizier, who departed the palace accompanied by a large escort of palace
officials. The last to leave the palace was the commander of the janissary
corps. On days when they did not meet with the sultan, the imperial council
left as soon as their meeting at the divan had concluded.

According to a European diplomat who visited the Ottoman
court in the 17th century, the sultan gave audience to foreign dignitaries on
Sundays and Tuesdays. There were several specific occasions when the sultan or
the grand vizier received foreign envoys. The most common of these was when an
envoy arrived at the palace to present his credentials upon first assuming his
post or after he had been promoted. Another occasion was the arrival of a foreign
envoy who was sent by his government to congratulate the enthronement of a new
sultan. The decision about whether the envoy was received by the grand vizier
or the sultan depended on the status of the envoy, the ruler and the state he
represented, and “the nature and quantity of the gifts” he intended to present.
If the foreign envoy “was received by both the sultan and the grand vizier, the
audiences took place on different days.”

When the sultan agreed to meet with a foreign envoy, the
grand vizier dispatched government officials and a group of elite horsemen
attached to the palace, comprised of the sons of vassal princes and high
government officials, to accompany the ambassador and his men to the royal
residence. Once he had arrived at the palace, the ambassador was seated across
from the grand vizier on “a stool covered with cloth of gold.” After the
exchange of customary niceties and formalities, lunch was served with the grand
vizier, the ambassador, and one or two court dignitaries, sharing a large,
round copper tray covered with a variety of delicately cooked dishes. Coffee
and sweetmeats followed the sumptuous meal.

After lunch, the ambassador and his attendants were
escorted to a place close to the imperial gate where they waited for the
arrival of the chief eunuch, who acted as the master of ceremony. Once he had
arrived in the sultan’s audience hall, two designated high officials took the
ambassador by either arm and led him to kiss his majesty’s hand, which in
reality was a sash hanging from his sleeve. The same two court officials led
the ambassador back to his place at the end of the room, where he stood and
watched as the members of his delegation went through the same exact ceremony
of being led to the sultan to kiss the royal sleeve. Early Ottoman sultans rose
from their seats to recognize envoys who entered the imperial presence. As the
Ottoman military power reached its zenith in the 16th century, however, Ottoman
sultans, such as Süleyman the Magnificent, neither rose to their feet nor
allowed envoys sit in their presence. As late as the 18th century, the sultan
continued to be seated, but starting with the reign of Mahmud II (1808–1839),
Ottoman monarchs adopted “a more courteous attitude” toward foreign envoys,
standing up to greet them. Once the ceremony had finished, the dragoman, or the
interpreter, announced the ambassador’s diplomatic commission, to which the
sultan did not reply because such matters were left to the discretion of the
grand vizier.

Until “the 19th-century reforms, the Ottoman government,
unlike the governments of modern nation states, was small,” and “its tasks were
limited to a few key areas: defense of the empire, maintenance of law and
order, resource mobilization, and management and supply of the capital and the
army.” Other important concerns familiar to the governments of modern states
such as education, health care, and common welfare were the purview of the
empire’s religious communities and professional organizations such as pious
foundations and guilds.

Dignitari della corte Ottomana
(Dignitaries of the Ottoman Court).

62           Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire

DEVŞIRME

Those who managed the empire as governors, provincial
administrators, and army commanders, received their education and training in
the royal 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
Ottomans did not recruit these slaves from the native Muslim population.
Rather, young Christian boys from the sultan’s European provinces provided him
with 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
devşirme
(collection), this system also resulted in the creation of the
yeni çeri
(new soldier) or janissary corps, who constituted the sultan’s elite
infantry and were paid directly from the central government’s treasury.