THE RULING INSTITUTION: AS A NOBILITY AND A COURT
I. PRIVILEGES OF THE KULLAR
No disgrace was attached to the condition of being the sultan’s slave;
on the contrary, the title of _kul_ was felt to be an honor. Boys longed
to bear it.[401] No one who had it desired to be rid of it. It carried
marked distinction and secured deference everywhere. Those who revealed
by their costume, bearing, or assertion that they were the sultan’s
property were treated with the consideration always granted in monarchies
to property and persons closely related to the sovereign.
This honor shown to the _kullar_ rested, however, on no mere servile
attachment to the sultan and on no mere fear of an Oriental despot. The
sultan’s slaves from lowest to highest were set off from his subjects
by a distinct set of privileges which in Western minds were associated
only with nobility. Besides a general protection over them all by means
of careful registration and watchful organization, the sultan bestowed
upon all his _kullar_ the personal rights of immunity from taxation,[402]
and responsibility to none but their own officials and courts and to
him.[403] At the same time he freed them all from anxiety about the
necessities of life, and enabled most of them to enjoy its luxuries, by
regular pay from his treasury, or, in the case of some high officials,
by revenues from ample estates. In return for these privileges they
were all sternly required to render him honorable service, usually of
a military character. This service was not always of a character that
the West considered honorable. The labors of the _Ajem-oghlans_, and
the foot service of the Janissaries and auxiliary corps were not noble
in Christian feudalism, which knew no implements but sword and spear
and fought from the back of a horse. But these humble slaves of the
sultan possessed the same privileges as the highest, and any service was
honorable which would make their muscles stronger for fighting and teach
them to contribute to the sultan’s military undertakings on sea and land.
All members of the sultan’s family were supposed to use their income in
strengthening his military forces. Janissaries had pay for themselves
alone. _Ghurebas_ had only enough to keep themselves and one horse for
each man. Other _Spahis_ of the Porte brought additional horsemen in
accordance with their pay. Higher officials were expected to support
armed households large in proportion to their revenues. After the model
of the sultan’s household, every _kul_ according to his means built up a
military establishment which followed him and his master to war.
Immunity from taxation grew naturally out of the slave status. There
would be no advantage to the sultan in exacting taxes from persons
whom he supported and who were supposed to devote all their energies
to his service and use all their income for him. As long as the Ruling
Institution was kept firmly to its purpose, pressure was applied, not
so that successful _kullar_ would surrender part of their income to the
master, but so that they would bring as large a contingent as possible
to fight his battles. Suleiman’s grand vizier, Rustem, following a
long-disused precedent of the time of Bayezid I,[404]—a reign which
had in various ways foreshadowed later evils,—established a tax upon
the greater offices of the empire;[405] but, since the sultan did not
receive the whole of such charges, the custom amounted to the sale of
offices. Not only was such a practice out of harmony with the theory
of the Ruling Institution, but it proved very injurious in operation,
and was rightly accounted one of the causes of the decay of the empire.
The sultan took pay at the granting of an office, and so presently did
every official from the men under him; until in time the practice became
so systematized that a regular tariff was arranged and brought into
use on the occasion of every appointment.[406] Those who thus were put
to great expense on coming into office felt the necessity of recouping
themselves by whatever means lay in their power.[407] Hence arose not
merely oppression of the sultan’s subjects, both Christian and Moslem,
but also a partial recovery of losses at the expense of the sultan
himself. His servants were forced to devote to personal affairs a large
part of the attention that should have been all his, and to curtail by
various devices the contingent which they furnished for his military
service. When the members of the Ruling Institution began to prey upon
each other, the grand vizier, on behalf of the sultan, taking the lead,
the solidarity of the institution began to be broken. It may be true
that in the West, as Montesquieu said, the honor of a monarchy was not
inconsistent with the sale of office;[408] but in the Ottoman Empire it
opened the door to fatal corruption.
The members of the Ruling Institution had not always had their own
system of justice; they had long been under the jurisdiction of the
ordinary Moslem courts. This had led to an essential difficulty; the
ordinary courts were part of another institution and were recruited in a
wholly different way; their judges had risen through a rival system of
education, and were men of letters rather than men of war; the favored
_kullar_ of the sultan had, therefore, come to feel averse to obeying
them.[409] Accordingly, Bayezid II had ordered that the members of his
family should be judged by their own officers.[410] This was a radical
change; for it brought into prominence the distinction between the two
institutions, and had the further effect of setting off the _kullar_
from all the rest of the population of the empire, and of constituting
them almost a separate nationality. Their position became one greatly
to be desired. The Moslem-born population came to feel that somewhere
there was a great injustice. They whose ancestors had shed their blood
for the faith were, in the lands which their fathers had conquered,
denied admittance to the class which not only filled most of the offices
of army and state but enjoyed high privileges. Sons of the conquered
inhabitants, infidel-born, might alone become nobles, paid by the state
rather than contributing to its expenses, not subject to the judges
trained from boyhood in the Sacred Law; while their own Moslem sons were
rigidly excluded from the honored class, were obliged to bear a part in
the burdens of the state with small hope of sharing its glory, and were
expected to take their chances before the same courts to which Christians
and Jews were brought for civil and criminal cases. The very extent of
the privileges of the _kullar_ made toward the break-down of the system.
NOBILITY NOT HEREDITARY
The privileges of the sultan’s _kullar_ fell short of those of Western
nobility in one very important respect, namely, that they could not
normally be handed on to the descendants and heirs of those privileged.
This exception is so important that various Western writers have affirmed
that the Turks had no nobles.[411] As the word is used in this treatise,
heredity is not regarded as of the essence of nobility; the latter is
considered to lie in the possession of special personal privilege,
recognized in the structure of the state.
In the early Ottoman days, several of the high offices of state became
the appanages of particular families. The family of Kara Khalil
Chendereli held the office of grand vizier continuously for a century,
and furnished an occupant of the office at a later date.[412] The
descendants of Michael of the Pointed Beard led the _Akinjis_ until
the time of the first siege of Vienna.[413] The family of Samsamat
Chaush held the office of master of ceremonies for generations.[414] A
descendant of the thirteenth-century poet Jelal ad-din Rumi held office
under Suleiman.[415] Some writers of the early sixteenth century said
that, whereas Osman had been aided in winning his dominions by two Greek
renegades, Michael of the Pointed Beard, and Malco, and by Aurami or
Eurcasi, a Turk, he had promised that he would “never put hand in their
blood or fail to give them a magistracy.”[416] The promise had been kept,
and in 1537 one of the Michaloglou was _Sanjak_ in Bosnia and one of the
Malcosoglou was _Sanjak_ in Greece. The other family was then extinct. It
is said that these were considered to be of royal blood, and that in case
of failure in the line of Osman the succession to the throne would fall
to them.
Apart from these few exceptions, the principle of heredity in office
had been excluded from the Ottoman system by the time of Suleiman. The
Ottomans, by old Turkish rule probably derived from the Chinese, knew
no nobility apart from office and public service. An exception was
introduced by Islam in the case of _Seids_, or _Emirs_, descendants
of the Prophet; but this modification the Ottomans did not wholly
respect.[417] Accordingly, Ottoman nobility became official,[418]
personal, and without hereditary quality. It was, in fact, the reverse of
hereditary, since nobility in the father was an actual hindrance to the
son and to all his descendants. But the _kullar_ were not the only class
in the Ottoman Empire which enjoyed official, personal nobility. The
members of the Moslem Institution were also exempt from taxation, were
supported out of public revenues, and were left in enjoyment of their own
government as a part of their general jurisdiction in the empire. They
had an advantage over the _kullar_ in that their property was not subject
to confiscation. Their position will be discussed later.[419]
In the program of the Ruling Institution the policy of avoiding heredity
of nobility fitted in exactly with the slave system, the educational
scheme, and the army arrangements; for the knowledge that every man
was considered to be “his own ancestry,” and that increased honor and
privilege depended on achievement alone, made every ambitious member a
devoted slave, an indefatigable learner, and a dauntless warrior. The
reasons for this policy, the method of applying it by advancement through
merit, and the vivid impression which it made on thoughtful Western
observers have been described already;[420] but for its observance an
additional reason of great weight may be mentioned. Not only did it
prevent the accumulation of property and power in the hands of the
members of one family, but it allowed no influence to become intrenched
in the offices of central and local government. No _Beylerbey_ or _Sanjak
Bey_ could hope to rebel successfully. All were “but strangers and
foreigners in the countries they ruled,”[421] and held their positions
by the most insecure tenure. The Ottoman Empire was not destined to go
the way of that of Charlemagne or of the Seljuk Turks. Whatever decay it
might undergo, it could not break up into small independent states under
officials who had converted their governorships into sovereignties, so
long as its two great institutions were maintained consistently.[422]
Against this policy two main tendencies conspired, both based on “human
nature,” the strife of favor against merit, and the desire of the
excluded to share in privilege. The first was liable to disturb the order
of promotion, the second to open the system to the sons and descendants
of the officials and to other Moslems. No one but Selim the Grim was
fitted to maintain the policy rigidly against such pressure. Suleiman
yielded a little on the first point, in such matters as the promotion of
Ibrahim and Rustem;[423] and the second began in his time to gain ground
at the bottom, by the admission of sons of Janissaries to the ranks of
the _Ajem-oghlans_. Within a generation after his death, however, the
flood-gates were to be opened.[424] The body of Janissaries and the body
of _Spahis_ of the Porte were gradually but swiftly to be made Moslem
and so cut off from the Ruling Institution; the age at which the pages
passed out of the palace was to be postponed; and in time the divided
Ruling Institution was to cease to be the admiration of the West and was
to become its laughing-stock. But Suleiman was spared the sight of such
a decadence. Near the end of his reign, after Rustem and Roxelana had
ceased to disturb, the system brought to the top one of the greatest of
Ottoman statesmen, Mohammed Sokolli. At about the same time the Moslem
Institution also raised up a great legist, Ebu su’ud.[425] These two
upheld the institutions and the empire at the height of their glory for
nearly thirty years, of which fifteen lay after the death of Suleiman.
II. CHARACTER OF THE SULTAN’S COURT
In the early stages of all monarchies the household of the prince and
the government of the state have probably been identical.[426] After
the period of establishment has come to an end and settled institutions
have been organized, the household and the government have tended to
draw apart into separate and distinct systems under different officials.
Which of the two has become of the greater importance in the eyes of
the sovereign and in influence upon the policy and destiny of the nation
has depended on circumstances, and particularly on the character of
individual monarchs. While such a state has been in a period of increase
of power and influence, the government has regularly been the more
prominent: men of practical experience in affairs and in the field have
overshadowed the palace servants. When decay and decline have set in, the
household, partly by way of cause and partly by way of effect, has risen
to supremacy: individuals of more or less secluded life, but possessing
opportunities for personal intercourse with the monarch,—favorites,
body-servants, women, and eunuchs,—have made the men of affairs and of
war dependent upon them for place and authority. The Ottoman Empire
came clearly into the stage of differentiation between household and
government after the conquest of Constantinople in the reign of Mohammed
II. In the time of Suleiman the empire was still in the period when
government was greater than household; but clear signs were appearing
that a less active and more plastic sovereign would turn the scale.
The household of the Ottoman sultan was curiously divided and limited.
An essential difference between the courts of Christian and Moslem
monarchs was created by the seclusion of women in Mohammedan society. In
the West, women appeared with the men of the court not only on occasions
of amusement and diversion, but also in public parades and ceremonies
of less and greater importance, and the ladies of the royal family led
the fashionable society of the land. In the East, on the other hand,
the visible court and retinue of the monarch was wholly ungraced by the
presence of the fair sex; all the great ceremonies and cavalcades were
participated in by men alone. It seems to be a fact that, before the
middle of the reign of Suleiman, no woman resided in the entire vast
palace where the sultan spent most of his time.[427] The women of his
family were elsewhere, carefully guarded behind walls which with very
few exceptions no man but himself might pass.[428] The men and the women
who were associated with the sultan constituted two separate worlds,
between which the only bond was himself.
The sultan’s household was divided in another way. By the maxims of
despotic government it is forbidden that the ruler should associate on
terms of intimate friendship with those who are his high officials of
state. In order to avoid this regulation and yet provide his master
with intelligent and amusing companionship, the _Nizam-al-mulk_ advised
the Seljuk sultan Melik Shah to choose as boon companions a band of
courtiers who would be allowed to have no share whatever in the conduct
of affairs.[429] This resource was hardly open to the Ottoman sultans,
first because the dignity and independence of Moslem-born Ottoman Turks
deprived them of the pliancy which is expected from courtiers, and second
because the sultan’s Christian-born slaves, who had been led onward by
ambition ever since they had entered his service, and at the end of
their education were ready to become men of affairs, were not fitted
to be mere courtiers. The difficulty became greater after Mohammed II,
filled with the Byzantine notion of imperial sacredness, ordered that
no one should sit with him at table.[430] A sultan was thus practically
forced by a combination of principles and circumstances to spend his
leisure hours with boys, eunuchs, and women.[431] The only mature men
with whom he could converse freely were a small and select group of
religious advisers, astrologers, and physicians; all the other men of his
household met him only formally and for the transaction of business. So
great limitations on his companionship could not fail to influence his
character, and in the course of a few generations to tend greatly toward
the predominance of household over government.
To confine the consideration of Suleiman’s court to his immediate
household would be to narrow the discussion too much. The chief officers
of government formed a part of his retinue on all ceremonial occasions,
and had not ceased to be counted as his personal followers. In fact,
all the members of the Ruling Institution, except the _Ajem-oghlans_
and young pages, may be regarded as belonging to the sultan’s court in
that large sense of the term which includes all those individuals who
are attached to the person of the monarch as his daily associates, his
councillors, the officers and members of his household, his body-guard
and palace-guard, and his retinue on ceremonial occasions and in camp.
The splendid court of Suleiman the Magnificent is worthy of separate and
special treatment for which there is no room here; in describing it, as
in describing his army, only those aspects which are of a governmental
nature can be considered. The topics that will claim attention are the
subdivisions of his household and the main features of its organization,
the importance given to personal and public ceremony, the splendor of the
court, and the influence of the court on the destiny of the empire.
ORGANIZATION OF THE HOUSEHOLD[432]
The sultan’s household may be considered in three principal subdivisions,
each of them composed of a number of parts: the outside service of the
palace, the inside service of the palace, and the harem. The outside
service was composed of men and _Ajem-oghlans_, the inside service of
white eunuchs and pages, the harem of black eunuchs and women. The first
two subdivisions were, in time of peace, in attendance at the principal
palace which had been built by Mohammed II on the site of the acropolis
of ancient Byzantium. The grounds of this palace were extensive: within
the first gate was a large open space used on state occasions as a
parade ground; within the second gate were the buildings of the palace
proper, a beautiful garden, and an exercise ground for the pages. The
members of the outside service, except the gardeners, did not ordinarily
pass beyond the second gate of this palace. The harem was permanently
located some distance away in the center of the city, in the first palace
occupied after the conquest, known in the sixteenth century as the Old
Palace.[433] In time of war, practically the entire outside service, and
the principal officers and personal attendants from the inside service,
accompanied the sultan. None of the women of the harem were taken with
the army, as this was against the Ottoman custom, though permitted by the
Sacred Law.[434] In excursions during time of peace some of the ladies
might accompany their lord.[435] The three subdivisions of the household
will be considered in the reverse order.
THE HAREM
The harem was so distinct in Suleiman’s time from the rest of his
household, so little seen and known, so much his personal affair, that it
would seem scarcely to demand attention in a consideration of his court.
The importance of its officials and personages was small as compared with
later times, after the harem had been removed to the principal palace and
the sultans had begun to spend a much larger portion of their time in
its society. Yet the influence of two of its ladies upon Suleiman was so
great as to give them a place in history and a relation to the destiny
of the nation. Accordingly, the harem cannot be passed over without
mention. Its organization has already been sketched so far as regards the
recruiting, conversion, and education of the women;[436] its groupings
and principal personages remain to be described.
The guard and order of the palace of the harem was committed to forty or
more black eunuchs,[437] under an official known as the _Kizlar Aghasi_,
or, literally, the “general of the girls.” This _Agha_ was held in great
honor, and was made administrator of many religious endowments for the
benefit of various mosques, and particularly of the _vakfs_ of the Holy
Cities of Mecca and Medina. His importance in Suleiman’s time bears no
comparison with what it became later. Other black eunuchs held official
positions in the service of the principal ladies, and had the oversight
of the education of the young princes.[438]
The greatest lady of the harem, while life was spared to her, was the
sultan’s mother, the _Sultana Valideh_. Not only did she receive great
respect and deference from her son, but she had a general oversight and
authority over all his women. The next lady in importance was the mother
of the sultan’s first son; and after her came the mothers of other sons.
Mothers of daughters enjoyed much less consideration. Each of these
favored ladies had her own suite of apartments, her business staff under
a woman known as her _Kiaya_, which may here be translated as steward or
housekeeper, and her group of personal and domestic servants. The _Kiaya_
of the queen mother enjoyed great importance. The group of slave girls
who were the sultan’s personal and domestic servants when he visited
the harem were also under a _Kiaya_ with assistants. Sons of the sultan
lived with their mothers during their tender years. They were carefully
educated in letters and arms, much as were the pages, but with greater
deference.[439] At a suitable age they were sent out, with carefully
selected little courts, to the governorship of provinces. Daughters were
married at an early age to high officials of the sultan.[440] In later
generations infant sons who might be born to them were not allowed to
live, lest they might become a menace to the throne. This seems not
to have been the case in the time of Suleiman, who avoided danger by
excluding them carefully from office.[441]
Information about Suleiman’s harem and family comes guarded with
explanations of the difficulty found in obtaining trustworthy reports.
Some facts are known, and probabilities exist as to others. Suleiman’s
mother lived until far along in his reign. The mother of his eldest son,
Mustapha, held, according to custom, the next place in his harem. After
the year 1534 she divided her time between the palace at Magnesia, where
her son was _Sanjak Bey_, and the harem palace in Constantinople.[442]
Khurrem, usually called Roxelana, had supplanted her in favor at some
previous date, and, being legal wife of the Sultan, held a position
superior to hers in some respects. Suleiman seems not to have visited his
harem very often.[443] Mihrmah, his daughter by Roxelana, who became the
wife of Rustem, was very dear to him.
THE INSIDE SERVICE
The five chambers of pages, under the control of white eunuchs, and
the doorkeepers supplied the inside service of the principal palace.
The head of this service was the _Kapu Aghasi_, or “general of the
gate,” a white eunuch, who was also charged with the management of many
religious endowments. He had the right to speak to the sultan when he
wished,[444] and hence was very highly regarded. The _Kapuji-bashi_, or
head doorkeeper, was also a white eunuch, who had charge constantly of
the second gate of the principal palace, with a company of twenty or more
white eunuchs who were guards under him.[445] The pages have already
received attention from the educational point of view. Nearest the person
of the sultan were the pages of the _Khas Oda_, or Inner Chamber, of whom
there were probably thirty-nine, the sultan himself being reckoned the
fortieth.[446] A number of these pages later bore the title of _Agha_,
but they seem not to have done so in Suleiman’s time. Their chief officer
was the _Khas Oda-bashi_, or head of the Inner Chamber, one of the
pages in Suleiman’s day, but in later times a white eunuch. The pages
of highest rank were the _Silihdar_, who outside the palace carried the
sultan’s weapons, the _Chokadar_, who carried his garments, and the
_Sharabdar_, or cup-bearer.[447] The others took care of his apartments
and his wardrobe, and brought his food to him. The second group of pages
constituted the _Khazineh Odassi_, or treasury, under a well-paid white
eunuch, the inside _Khazinehdar-bashi_. These, to the number of sixty or
seventy, cared for all the treasures in the sultan’s palace, made all
payments, and kept all accounts.[448] Another _Khazinehdar-bashi_ took
care of all the financial affairs of the inside service which needed
attention outside the palace walls. The _Kiler Odassi_, or pantry, under
a white eunuch called the _Kilerji-bashi_, cared for the bread, pastry,
and game of the sultan; their chief controlled also the kitchen service
of the palace. The pages of this chamber seem not yet to have finished
their education.[449] They, together with the pages of the Inner Chamber,
rode with the sultan whenever he left the palace. The remaining two
chambers, the Large and the Small, or the Old and the New, were concerned
wholly with the education of the pages.[450] They were under the general
direction of the _Ikinji-Kapu-oghlan_, or eunuch of the second gate.[451]
The entire personnel of the inside service amounted to from six to eight
hundred persons. The eunuch officers maintained severe discipline, exact
obedience, and perfect order among them all.[452] The groups of eunuchs
who had charge of the colleges of pages in Pera and Adrianople may also
be reckoned in the inside service. It would seem that the accounts of all
these palaces were kept as one, and that therefore the chief officers of
the principal palace must have supervised the officers of the others.[453]
THE OUTSIDE SERVICE
The members of the household who were not held within the inner regions
of the palace or near the person of the sultan were far more numerous.
Many stood in close relations to the members of the inner service, either
being under their authority or having regular dealings with them. All,
of course, served the sultan, either directly or nearly so, through
the mediation of one or more officers. To describe at length their
subdivisions, duties, and officers would be to repeat an account which
has been given often by others. Only a general sketch will be attempted
here, by way of distinguishing the various groups of the service.
Beginning with those in closest relations to the sultan, they were the
learned associates of the master, the kitchen service, the body-guard,
the palace-guards, the gardeners, the stable service, the tent-pitchers,
the masters of the hunt, and the intendants.
The learned associates of the sultan belonged chiefly to the corps of
the _Ulema_. They therefore represented the Moslem Institution near the
person of the monarch. Chief among them was the sultan’s _Hoja_, or
teacher, a confessor or adviser in religious matters, who was held in
very great esteem and was often advanced to high judicial office. Next
came two _Imâms_, or preachers to the sultan, associated with whom were a
number of muezzins, or chanters. After these ranked the _Hekim-bashi_, or
chief physician, who had ten or more associates; the _Munejim-bashi_, or
chief astrologer, whose services were believed to have a very real value;
and the _Jerrah-bashi_, or chief surgeon, with ten or more helpers.
The kitchen service under the oversight of the _Kilerji-bashi_ comprised
bakers, scullions, cooks, confectioners, tasters, and musicians, each to
the number of from fifty to one hundred.[454] Allied to these were the
companies of tailors, shoemakers, furriers, goldsmiths, and the like, who
were employed exclusively in the palace service.[455] Each group had its
responsible head and was subject to a thorough oversight, since even such
remote affairs, when under the care of the Ottoman Ruling Institution,
were regulated and ordered with great precision. A number of these
servants, such as the scullions, wood-cutters, and water-carriers, were
_Ajem-oghlans_.
The body-guards were three, the _Muteferrika_, the _Solaks_, and the
_Peiks_. The _Muteferrika_, or Noble Guard, consisted of from one to two
hundred of the choicest graduates from the page schools and of sons of
high officials.[456] Among them, in 1575, were brothers of the _Voivodes_
of Wallachia and Moldavia. The _Muteferrika_ followed immediately after
the sultan on horseback, and in time of battle were ready to defend him
to the end. The _Solaks_ were veteran Janissary archers, to the number
of about one hundred and fifty, who marched on foot beside the sultan
wherever he went, with bows and arrows ready for instant use. The _Peiks_
were a picturesque company of halberdiers of about one hundred men,[457]
which had been taken over, arms, costumes, and all, from the Byzantine
emperors. They ran in front of the sultan when he rode, and were always
ready to be sent on missions.
The palace-guards were the _Kapujis_, the _Chaushes_, and the
_Bostanjis_. The _Kapujis_, or gatekeepers, were _Ajem-oghlans_ who, to
the number of three or four hundred,[458] watched the outside gates of
the principal palace and of the palace of the harem. Like all the other
guards, they accompanied the sultan to war, where they were the guards
of his tent. The _Chaushes_, who numbered about one hundred,[459] were
ushers who acted as marshals on the days of Divan and of state ceremony,
and who in time of war dressed the ranks of the troops.[460] They also
acted as messengers of state within the empire. When a distant officer
had been condemned to death, a _Chaush_ was sent to execute the sentence
and bring back the offender’s head.[461] Since among the _Chaushes_
there were many renegades who knew various European languages, they were
useful as interpreters and were sometimes sent as envoys on important
missions.[462] The _Bostanjis_, or gardeners, were _Ajem-oghlans_,
and as such have been mentioned already. To the number of about four
hundred,[463] they cared for the garden and grounds of the principal
palace, and rowed the sultan’s caiques when he wished to enjoy the
matchless scenery of the Bosphorus. Their chief, the _Bostanji-bashi_,
who had risen from their ranks, seems to have been the only adult
man besides the sultan who resided within the inner regions of the
palace.[464] His general charge over all the sultan’s gardens, wherever
they might be, included oversight of the banks and shores of the
Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmora, and the Dardanelles.[465] This gave him
great power, and his favor was much courted.
The stable service was exceedingly important in a nation which relied
so much upon cavalry, and which was still under the influence of the
tradition of the steppe lands. The sultan for his own use kept a
stable of two hundred horses tended by a hundred men, and for the use
of his retinue four thousand horses tended by two thousand men.[466]
Besides these, a thousand or more Bulgarian Christians known as Voinaks
tended herds of horses on the great domanial pastures.[467] All these
followed the army to war as grooms. They were under the control of a
very great official, the _Emir-al-Akhor_,[468] or grand equerry, who,
with the second equerry, also had oversight of the numerous saddlers,
camel-drivers, and muleteers of the imperial service, and control of all
the domanial pastures and forests of the empire.[469]
The head gardener, the head gatekeeper, the grand equerry, the second
equerry, and the _Mir-Alem_[470] or standard-bearer, constituted the
special group of officers known as the _Rekiab-Aghalari_, or “generals
of the [imperial] stirrup.” The _Mir-Alem_ had charge of the imperial
standards and the six horsetails which were borne before the sultan.
He distributed standards and horsetails to _Beylerbeys_ and _Sanjak
Beys_, who thus in a way received investiture at his hands.[471] As
a consequence he ranked first among the officers of the household
as related to the government. He also had superior control over the
gatekeepers, and he commanded the military music.
The tent-pitchers, under a _Mihter-bashi_, cared for the sultan’s tents
in peace and war. Similar groups were the _Veznedars_ (who weighed the
money received by the sultan), the guards of the outside treasury, the
purchasing agents of cloth and muslins for the palace, and the guardians
of presents.[472]
The masters of the hunt were important officials in the time of Suleiman,
who practised the ancient royal custom of going with great state and
numerous attendants to hunt over a large region.[473] Heads of the
dog-keepers, falconers, vulturers, gerfalconers, and hawkers held
honorable position. A number of the pages of the higher _odalar_ had
subsidiary duties as falconers;[474] Ibrahim was chief falconer at the
time of his promotion to the position of grand vizier. A part of the
regular army aided in the hunts. The Janissaries show by the names of
some of their chief officers that their corps grew in part out of the
hunting organization of the early sultans.[475]
The intendants, or _Umena_, had charge of various departments of supply
and administration. They were the _Shehr-emini_, or intendant of
imperial buildings; the _Zarabkhaneh-emini_, or intendant of mints and
mines; the _Mutbakh-emini_, or intendant of the kitchen and pantry; the
_Arpa-emini_, or intendant of forage for the stables of the palace; and
the _Masraf-shehriyari_, or substitute for the intendant of the kitchens.
This rapid survey, though by no means complete, shows something of
the complicated organization, the numerous personnel, and the various
functions of the groups of the imperial household. The number of
individuals connected with it may be estimated to have been between ten
and fifteen thousand, many of whom were not the sultan’s slaves, but his
servants and employees in various capacities. All, however, except the
few members of the _Ulema_, were under the complete control and command
of members of the Ruling Institution. No confusion resulted from such
great complexity, for each group of servants had its definite duties,
and knew exactly from whom to receive orders and to whom to report
accomplishment.
It is clear that the functions of many of the officials of the household,
especially those of the head gardener, the grand equerry, and the
standard-bearer, intrenched upon the province of government. The chief
black eunuch and the chief white eunuch collected and administered the
revenues of many parcels of land which were devoted to special purposes.
The _Umena_ were so clearly recognized as exercising governmental
functions that they were regarded as chancellors,—an exception, made
for the sake of convenience, to the rule of separating household and
governmental officials. It resulted, therefore, that, while order was
maintained with comparative ease within the mechanism of the household
and, as will be seen, of the government, difficulty and confusion
accumulated in the relations of the Ruling Institution to the rest of
the empire. The splendid organization worked admirably down a certain
distance from the top; but, as the energy of the single will became
mediated by many officials, and as the multiplex land-ownership and
varied population of the empire was approached, disorder to the extent
of unworkability was so constantly threatened that only more or less
convulsive readjustments, resorted to from time to time, enabled the
institutions of the empire to remain in being.
THE CEREMONIES OF THE COURT
The Sacred Law, based on the practice of Mohammed and the four early
caliphs, discouraged display of every sort;[476] nor did the Seljuk
Turks take readily to the magnificence which under Persian influence had
prevailed at the court of the Bagdad caliphate.[477] So, too, the early
Ottoman sovereigns appear to have maintained simplicity of life down to
the time of Murad II. A contemporary observer said: “The very Magnates
and Princes observe such simplicity in all things, that they cannot be
distinguished from others. I saw the King going a long distance from his
palace to Church accompanied by two youths.... I saw him also praying in
Church, not in a chair (_cathedra_) or royal throne, but seated like the
rest on a rug spread on the ground; nor was there about him any ornament,
either suspended or exhibited or displayed. He used no singularity in
regard to his garments or his horse, by which he could be distinguished
from others. I saw him at the funeral of his mother, and I could not
possibly have recognized him, had he not been pointed out to me.”[478]
In the understanding of Mohammed II, however, the capture of the
imperial city seems to have included the appropriation of imperial
forms and ceremonies; for no small number of his _Kanuns_ dealt with
matters of rank and ceremony.[479] By the time of Suleiman the _Kanuni
Teshrifat_, or Law of Ceremonies, had become a collection of considerable
magnitude.[480] It is significant that the regulations concerning such
matters as the color and shape and material of robes and turbans,
the order of precedence on small as well as great occasions, and the
observances proper to each such occasion were made a matter of law. On
the one hand, a body of practice was set up which, though not distinctly
forbidden by the Sacred Law, was contrary to its essential spirit. On
the other hand, to rules of court etiquette, which in the West are
often unwritten and certainly have not similar standing with acts of
legislation, were given the rank and authority of imperial laws. The Law
of Ceremonies stood on a par with the Law of Subjects, the Law of Fiefs,
the Law of Egypt, and the Law of Fines and Punishments. In fact, this law
was observed even more carefully than the others, since the matters which
it covered usually came under the eye of the sultan himself. It was as
much the duty of an officer to wear the proper costume, and to appear in
the right place and at the right time at public ceremonies, as to attend
to the business connected with his position.
All the classes of members of the sultan’s household, all the high
officers of government, and all the separate bodies of troops in the
standing army were clearly distinguished from each other by costume or
head-dress or by both. Each group and every officer in each group had
his exact place in every ceremonial assembly and his exact rank in every
procession. Each great official, beginning with the sultan, had his title
for use in public documents, a designation which, though not exactly
fixed, varied little from time to time.[481]
Ceremonial occasions were numerous and splendid. All were participated
in by representatives from each division of the Ruling Institution, and
on the greatest occasions practically its whole membership was present.
The ceremonies may be grouped as simple occasions, religious festivals,
and extraordinary ceremonies. Among the simpler ceremonial occasions were
the regular meetings of the Divan, which in time of peace took place four
times a week, on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. On Fridays the
sultan rode forth to mosque in magnificent state.[482] On other days some
of the officials made visits of state to their superiors. Every three
months the Janissaries were paid with much ceremony in the parade-ground
between the first and second gates of the palace. For the sake of giving
an impression of wealth and magnificence, such occasions were frequently
chosen for the reception of ambassadors.[483]
The great religious festivals of Islam, in which all the Moslems of the
empire participated, were celebrated by the court with great pomp. These
were the two feasts of Bairam, one of which comes at the close of the
fast of the month of Ramazan, and the other and greater seventy days
later.[484] On the great day of Bairam the ceremony of kissing the hand
of the sultan was performed by all the officials of the household and
government.
The principal extraordinary ceremonies were those in celebration of
the birth of sons or daughters to the sultan, of the circumcision of
princes and the marriage of princesses, the accession to the throne, and
the going forth of the sultan to war. The greatest of all Suleiman’s
celebrations was probably that of the circumcision of his sons, Mustapha,
Mohammed, and Selim, in 1530. Twenty-one successive days of display,
feasting, games, and formal presentation of gifts contributed to the
unparalleled grandeur of the occasion.[485]
It is not impossible to obtain an idea of the appearance of the sultan’s
court and retinue at this time of the empire’s greatest splendor. One
observer, often quoted already, who was gifted with superb powers of
expression, has left a clear record. Seer and seen alike vanished from
the earth more than three centuries ago; yet through the keen eyes of
Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq the world has ever since looked upon the great
Suleiman as he sat and rode in state. Busbecq, ambassador to the Ottoman
court from Emperor Charles the Fifth and his brother Ferdinand, describes
his first audience with Suleiman in camp at Amasia in 1555, also the
train that attended the sultan as he went forth from Constantinople to
war against his son Bayezid in 1559, and a Bairam ceremony in camp near
Scutari a few weeks after the latter event. Some quotations from these
descriptions will give a better idea of Suleiman’s court than any number
of statistics. The first describes the audience at Amasia:—
“The Sultan was seated on a very low ottoman, not more than a foot from
the ground, which was covered with a quantity of costly rugs and cushions
of exquisite workmanship; near him lay his bow and arrows....
“On entering we were separately conducted into the royal presence by the
chamberlains, who grasped our arms. This has been the Turkish fashion of
admitting people to the Sovereign ever since a Croat, in order to avenge
the death of his master, Marcus, Despot of Servia, asked Amurath for an
audience, and took advantage of it to slay him. After having gone through
a pretence of kissing his hand, we were conducted backwards to the wall
opposite his seat, care being taken that we should never turn our backs
on him....
“The Sultan’s hall was crowded with people, among whom were several
officers of high rank. Besides these there were all the troopers of
the Imperial guard, Spahis, Ghourebas, Ouloufedgis, and a large force
of Janissaries.... Take your stand by my side, and look at the sea of
turbaned heads, each wrapped in twisted folds of the whitest silk; look
at those marvellously handsome dresses of every kind and every colour;
time would fail me to tell how all around is glittering with gold, with
silver, with purple, with silk, and with velvet; words cannot convey
an adequate idea of that strange and wondrous sight: it was the most
beautiful spectacle I ever saw.
“With all this luxury great simplicity and economy are combined; every
man’s dress, whatever his position may be, is of the same pattern; no
fringes or useless points are sewn on, as is the case with us, appendages
which cost a great deal of money, and are worn out in three days. In
Turkey the tailor’s bill for a silk or velvet dress, even though it be
richly embroidered, as most of them are, is only a ducat. They were quite
as much surprised at our manner of dressing as we were at theirs. They
use long robes reaching down to the ankles, which have a stately effect
and add to the wearer’s height, while our dress is so short and scanty
that it leaves exposed to view more than is comely of the human shape;
besides, somehow or other, our fashion of dress seems to take from the
wearer’s height, and make him look shorter than he really is.
“I was greatly struck with the silence and order that prevailed in
this great crowd. There were no cries, no hum of voices, the usual
accompaniments of a motley gathering, neither was there any jostling;
without the slightest disturbance each man took his proper place
according to his rank. The Agas, as they call their chiefs, were seated,
to wit, generals, colonels (bimbaschi), and captains (soubaschi). Men
of a lower position stood. The most interesting sight in this assembly
was a body of several thousand Janissaries, who were drawn up in a long
line apart from the rest; their array was so steady and motionless that,
being at a little distance, it was some time before I could make up my
mind as to whether they were human beings or statues; at last I received
a hint to salute them, and saw all their heads bending at the same moment
to return my bow.[486] On leaving the assembly we had a fresh treat in
the sight of the household cavalry returning to their quarters; the men
were mounted on splendid horses, excellently groomed, and gorgeously
accoutred. And so we left the royal presence.”[487]
On the second occasion, when Suleiman was going forth to war, Busbecq
obtained a place at a window:—
“From this I had the pleasure of seeing the magnificent column which
was marching out. The Ghourebas and Ouloufedgis rode in double, and the
Silihdars and Spahis in single file. The cavalry of the Imperial guard
consists of these regiments, each of which forms a distinct body, and
has separate quarters. They are believed to amount to about 6000 men,
more or less. Besides these, I saw a large force, consisting of the
household slaves belonging to the sultan himself, the Pashas, and the
other court dignitaries. The spectacle presented by a Turkish horseman is
indeed magnificent. His high-bred steed generally comes from Cappadocia
or Syria, and its trappings and saddle sparkle with gold and jewels in
silver settings. The rider himself is resplendent in a dress of cloth of
gold or silver, or else of silk or velvet. The very lowest of them is
clothed in scarlet, violet, or blue robes of the finest cloth. Right and
left hang two handsome cases, one of which holds his bow, and the other
is full of painted arrows. Both of these cases are curiously wrought,
and come from Babylon,[488] as does also the targe, which is fitted to
the left arm, and is proof only against arrows or the blows of a mace or
sword. In the right hand, unless he prefers to keep it disengaged, is a
light spear, which is generally painted green. Round his waist is girt a
jewelled scimitar, while a mace of steel hangs from his saddle-bow....
The covering they wear on the head is made of the whitest and lightest
cotton-cloth, in the middle of which rises a fluted peak of fine purple
silk. It is a favorite fashion to ornament this head-dress with black
plumes.
“When the cavalry had ridden past, they were followed by a long
procession of Janissaries, but few of whom carried any arms except their
regular weapon, the musket. They were dressed in uniforms of almost
the same shape and colour, so that you might recognize them to be the
slaves, and as it were the household, of the same master. Among them no
extraordinary or startling dress was to be seen, and nothing slashed
or pierced. They say their clothes wear out quite fast enough without
their tearing them themselves. There is only one thing in which they
are extravagant, viz., plumes, head-dresses, etc., and the veterans
who formed the rear guard were specially distinguished by ornaments of
this kind. The plumes which they insert in their frontlets might well
be mistaken for a walking forest.[489] Then followed on horseback their
captains and colonels, distinguished by the badges of their rank. Last
of all, rode their Aga by himself. Then succeeded the chief dignitaries
of the Court, and among them the Pashas, and then the royal body-guard,
consisting of infantry, who wore a special uniform and carried bows
ready strung, all of them being archers.[490] Next came the Sultan’s
grooms leading a number of fine horses with handsome trappings for their
master’s use. He was mounted himself on a noble steed; his look was
stern, and there was a frown on his brow; it was easy to see that his
anger had been aroused. Behind him came three pages, one of whom carried
a flask of water, another a cloak, and the third a box.[491] These were
followed by some eunuchs of the bedchamber, and the procession was closed
by a squadron of horse about two hundred strong [the Muteferrika].”[492]
Busbecq spent three months in Suleiman’s camp near Scutari:—
“I should have returned to Constantinople on the day before the Bairam,
had I not been detained by my wish to see that day’s ceremonies. The
Turks were about to celebrate the rites of the festival on an open and
level plain before the tents of Solyman; and I could hardly hope that
such an occasion of seeing them would ever present itself again. I gave
my servants orders to promise a soldier some money and so get me a
place in his tent, on a mound which commanded a good view of Solyman’s
pavilions. Thither I repaired at sunrise. I saw assembled on the plain
a mighty multitude of turbaned heads, attentively following, in the
most profound silence, the words of the priest who was leading their
devotions. They kept their ranks, each in his proper position; the
lines of troops looked like so many hedges or walls parting out the
wide plain, on which they were drawn up. According to its rank in the
service each corps was posted nearer to, or farther from, the place
where the Sultan stood. The troops were dressed in brilliant uniforms,
their head-dresses rivalling snow in whiteness. The scene which met my
eyes was charming, the different colours having a most pleasing effect.
The men were so motionless that they seemed rooted to the ground on
which they stood. There was no coughing, no clearing the throat, and
no voice to be heard, and no one looked behind him or moved his head.
When the priest pronounced the name of Mahommet all alike bowed their
heads to their knees at the same moment, and when he uttered the name of
God they fell on their faces in worship and kissed the ground.... When
prayers were finished, the serried ranks broke up, and the whole plain
was gradually covered with their surging masses. Presently the Sultan’s
servants appeared bringing their master’s dinner, when, lo and behold!
the Janissaries laid their hands on the dishes, seized their contents
and devoured them, amid much merriment. This licence is allowed by
ancient custom as part of that day’s festivity, and the Sultan’s wants
are otherwise provided for. I returned to Constantinople full of the
brilliant spectacle, which I had thoroughly enjoyed.”[493]
INFLUENCE OF THE COURT
The influence of the Ottoman court may be looked at in three ways,—as
affecting the sultan, the Ruling Institution, and the destiny of the
empire; but all three ultimately reduce to the last. The sultan was
influenced by his personal relationships with the different individuals
or groups which came into closest contact with him. Reference has already
been made to Roxelana. Undoubtedly she had much influence over her
imperial husband, but to what extent she pushed him toward particular
decisions and actions cannot be known. It is improbable that she had
anything of consequence to do with the death of Ibrahim, since the
favorite’s own actions had brought matters to such a pass that he was a
menace to the throne; moreover, her influence in public affairs seems not
yet to have become great. Some writers of that date do not mention her
at all, though she had already won the supreme affection of Suleiman,
and had, so to speak, passed round the superior position of the mother
of the first-born son by being made a legal wife.[494] Seventeen years
later the situation was clear: Roxelana had triumphed completely over
the mother of Mustapha; her son-in-law Rustem, married to Suleiman’s
well-beloved daughter Mihrmah, had held the supreme office of grand
vizier for nine years; her hump-backed son Jehangir was Suleiman’s
favorite child. Nevertheless, as late as the beginning of 1553 Suleiman
seems to have intended still that Mustapha should occupy the throne.[495]
Mustapha became a victim less of Roxelana and Rustem than of the
indeterminate and dangerous condition of the rules of succession to the
throne.[496] Had primogeniture been the established order, Mustapha need
only have been on his guard against poison; he would have lacked motive
for rebellion, and his father would not have been in fear of deposition.
Had not Mohammed II established the terrible _Kanun_ which ordered the
execution of the brothers of a sultan at his accession, Roxelana need not
have feared for the lives of her own sons. Had not the Janissaries helped
Selim to the throne ahead of time and against the wishes of his father,
their favor toward Mustapha would not have forced a crisis. If Suleiman
really desired Mustapha to succeed him, he made a great mistake in
sending him far away to the governorship of Amasia. Bayezid, the ablest
living son of Roxelana, was in Karamania; and Selim, the least promising
of Roxelana’s children, but apparently her favorite, was assigned to
the governorship at Magnesia. Selim was thus removed from the capital
by a journey of only five or six days, Bayezid by a somewhat greater
distance, and Mustapha by a journey of twenty-six days.[497] Suleiman
may have meant by these appointments only to promote his sons to more
distant governorships as they grew in experience and could be entrusted
with greater responsibilities; they, on the other hand, could hardly fail
to suspect that he had different intentions. Without further discussion,
suffice it to say that, with custom and law as it was, the situation
was untenable. First Mustapha, and later Roxelana’s own son Bayezid,
became the victims of inexorable circumstances in which she undoubtedly
played some part, though exactly what it was cannot be known.[498] In
so far as she contributed to the fatal outcome, she hastened the fall
of the empire. If ever a government demanded a strong man to keep it
in operation, the Ottoman government needed one to maintain its Ruling
Institution. From the beginning there had been as yet no failure; but
after Suleiman the Magnificent, the Legislator, was to come Selim the
Sot, the Debauché!
Nor was the beloved and pious Mihrmah without her influence on the fate
of the empire, if it be true that she urged her father on to the great
expedition against Malta.[499] His reign had opened with two great
triumphs: the fortresses that had defied the great Conqueror, Belgrade
and Rhodes, had fallen before his troops. He had failed before Vienna,
it is true; but in the thirty-five succeeding years he had made large
conquests, he had strengthened his power, and his prestige had grown
steadily. Now, near the close of his life, his mailed fist was broken
upon a rocky isle in the Mediterranean. What but the confidence gained
by that successful resistance gathered and nerved the Christian fleet
that won the day at Lepanto? The influence of Roxelana and Mihrmah
foreshadowed the power exerted in later reigns by far inferior and far
worse women.
The influence of Ibrahim, for whose promotion Suleiman violated the
rules of advancement in the government service, and of Rustem, for whom
he broke the rule of giving no high place to relatives of the imperial
family, has been discussed already.[500] In his late years the Sultan
came greatly under the influence of the _Ulema_, who had readier access
to him than had any other outside force,[501] and whose power over him
has been thought by some to have been unfavorable. Just what ills it
brought about in his own time, however, are not easily to be discovered.
The Ruling Institution was affected strongly by the splendor and luxury
of the court of Suleiman. The Sultan had so enormous an establishment,
and was so fond of display and ceremony, that a similar spirit developed
in all his _kullar_. Each officer of position became inordinately
ambitious to have a large household, many horses, much portable wealth,
and superb equipment for his horses and servants on state occasions and
in time of war. Just as Suleiman’s splendor embarrassed his finances, so
that he was willing that Rustem should require payment for office from
newly-appointed great officials, so most of his _kullar_, in order to
keep up display, were led to undignified and extortionate procedures.
In the time of Suleiman’s grandfather the Ottomans of high position
had already been excessively grasping. “And to tell the truth,” writes
Spandugino, “in that country they are more eager after money than devils
after souls. And one cannot accomplish anything with the princes or
lords except by the power of money. In general, as well the emperor as
his princes and lords have mouths only for eating, for if you go to them
without giving them some present you will accomplish nothing.”[502]
That eagerness for wealth with which Spandugino reproached the Turks
became only worse under the Magnificent sultan’s example. The members of
the Ruling Institution might prey on each other to a certain extent by
the sale of offices; but the ultimate evil effect fell upon the subjects
outside. They in the end must pay for all the luxury and splendor of
the great court and the little courts. The pressure upon them tended to
become worse and worse. Lands began to grow less productive and to pass
out of cultivation. That dead blight began to descend upon agriculture
and trade which persists in Turkey to the present day.[503] Yet in the
time of Suleiman this weakness hardly appeared. Although his best two
sons had come to cruel deaths, although twenty thousand of his troops
had lately died in vain at Malta, he went forth to his last campaign
with a train which surpassed in pomp and splendor all that he had led
before.[504]