The Crescent of the Sultan

Because I took leave before, I promised you that I would add another chapter.

But since this volume is almost over, it’s not impossible for me to read this chapter, it’s just unnecessary.

So I just want to help you sort out the national system of the Ottoman Empire, so that you can easily understand the protagonist's behavior.

Of course, there will be two main chapters today.

The first is a definitional issue, what is a national system.

In my opinion, the national system is the expression of the organizational form of national governance and management.

Let me first take the national public administration here. From the perspective of public administration, the national public administration system mainly involves issues such as the ownership, structure and operation methods of national administrative power.

First of all, national public administration is a comprehensive concept, behavior and process of politics, economy, society, culture and mentality.

Government (state executive) is the subject of this concept, behavior and process.

But please note here that different political systems have different sources of government power.

For example, the two political systems of monarchy and constitutional democracy have completely different sources of government power.

The former comes from the monarch, and the latter is given by the constitution and law.

In the sense of public management, this subject status is based on legal and reasonable power, that is, public administrative power.

Starting from this position of power, the government achieves effective management of a wide range of social life by performing specific functions.

The first goal of administration is to obtain and maintain power, and the position of administrator is based on this foundation. This goal is a prerequisite for completing other goals.

The basis of national public administration actually refers to the basis of government public administration conducted in the name of the state by national administrative agencies as part of the national public authority.

Now let us look at the state system of the Ottoman Empire.

Machiavelli's words cannot be wrong, but they are not right either.

Compared with the feudal countries of Western Europe, the Ottoman Empire was more centralized and unified.

But its centralization and unity are relative. From my personal point of view, the Ottoman Empire is far inferior to a certain country in the East.

But here, my idea is to make period-by-period judgments rather than direct comparisons.

Let’s start with the first period. This is also the main content I want to talk to you about today.

This period, I call it before Suleiman the Magnificent, because Suleiman the "Lawgiver" truly lived up to his title for his changes in the Ottoman Empire.

During this period, the decision-making body of the Ottoman Empire was the Diwan Conference I mentioned before.

The ruling institutions of the Ottoman Empire were horizontally divided into three parts: administrative institutions (viziers and clerks, etc.), religious institutions, and military institutions, and vertically divided into two levels: palace (central) and local (provincial and sangjak).

The empire's ruling system and religious system were two parallel teams.

In the administrative system, a very critical system is the vizier system.

At first, the sultans controlled the army, also controlled the power of taxation, and personally dealt with important matters. Later, they gradually did not directly participate in the daily management of the country, and entrusted civil affairs and part of the military to ministers. These ministers were called "viziers."

Around 1320, Orhan assumed some of the responsibilities of his father Osman. After Orhan succeeded to the throne, he handed over major affairs to Alauddin Pasha. Alauddin had greater power as the auxiliary minister. This is generally considered to be the beginning of the vizier system.

Later, the number of viziers increased, some were responsible for finance, some were responsible for government affairs, and some were responsible for local management. These viziers were all awarded the title of pasha.

In the administrative body, there are more than 4 viziers (up to 9).

The vizier has great responsibilities and is in charge of the empire's palace affairs, finance, diplomacy, official evaluation, agriculture, industry, trade, etc. The highest-ranking official is the Grand Vizier.

When the Grand Vizier is in charge of the war, or is away from the capital due to other matters, the Vizier temporarily acts as the Grand Vizier's responsibilities.

In the process of conquest, the Ottoman Turks implemented the "Millet" system, dividing regions by Millets among Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Albanians, etc., with an internal semi-autonomous nature.

The highest official of the religious institution is the Grand Mufti of Islam. He is eligible to participate in the Diwan Conference and enter Topkapi Palace to meet the Sultan.

The Muslim institutions of the Ottoman state consisted of educators, preachers, jurists, judges, and all trained professional religious personnel.

Their group and class represent and embody the spiritual and cultural factors of the Ottoman country such as religion, law, and learning. Judging from their origins, members of Muslim institutions almost without exception come from Muslim families (Muslim parents, individuals born and raised in Muslim families).

As for the military system, there are two main parts. The first is military slavery, which is blood tax.

The Ottoman Empire recruited boys from Christian peasant families, trained them from an early age, and converted them to Christianity. This was also the source of the Ottoman Guards.

The second is the military fief system, which is also related to the local administrative system of the Ottoman Empire.

The Sipahi cavalry and Timar are the products of this system. They are similar to the knights in Western Europe, but different because their fiefdoms are not hereditary. The reason why such a system came about was just because the Sultan wanted to maintain an army and did not want to Pay military pay.

In the management of local government, an important administrative unit is the sangjak, with the size of each sangjak being approximately several thousand square miles and a population of nearly 100,000.

New territories conquered by the Ottoman Empire formed the new Sanjak. When establishing the management of Sanjak, a detailed land survey is carried out, and the human and economic resources of each village are controlled by the government to facilitate the distribution of fiefdoms and determination of tax amounts. (This is where the Sipaxi cavalry and Timar mentioned above come from)

Initially, the rules applied to each location varied, but over time and with the rapid addition of new territories, the laws and rules tended to become more uniform.

Sanjak Bey was not recruited locally but was appointed by the central government and had to be transferred to another post after three years in office.

When entering the war, Sanjak Bey was the general who led his own Sipaxi.

Administrative districts at a higher level than Sanjak were provinces, which constituted the main administrative districts of the empire.

According to data, the early Ottoman state did not have a wide range of taxation and tax sources were limited.

Rather, they saw themselves as guardians, protecting peasants against elites in addition to lower levels of taxation.

Although the Ottoman government acted according to the rules, due to the needs of the agency system, the rulers must delegate their power to agents.

A country as vast, diverse, and complex as the Ottoman Empire had to be like this. (This is the view of some historians, but in my humble opinion, this is because the Ottoman Empire did not have a civil service system)

Agents have their own talents and expertise and will create their own circle of power. (Local power was born from this)

In fact, since Mehmed II controlled the commercial areas of the Mediterranean and Black Sea, the state could impose tariffs and the treasury became full. but

Frequent military operations and the large scope of rule made it more difficult to govern the country. Military expenditures and administrative costs have increased significantly, and the financial burden on the empire has not been reduced.

This was one of the reasons why the Ottoman Empire used the tax farming system.

This concludes the first issue of the analysis of this system. I am not a historian, and there must be loopholes in what I said. There are also many big names among you book friends. You are welcome to express your opinions.

Finally, this book will be on the shelves at 12 noon tomorrow. Please ask for the first order and monthly pass.

Especially the former, this is really important. I hope everyone can support it. I will also write a special speech to ask for it later.

bibliography.

"Six Hundred Years of the Ottoman Empire", British, Patrick Balfour

"Companions of the Empire", America, Ali-Yaichioglu

"Government of Empire: The Ottoman Imperial Political System", Wang Sanyi