by Mehrdad Kia
An important figure in the Ottoman power structure was the chief black eunuch, who served as the kızlar ağası (chief of women) or harem ağası (chief of harem). In charge of the harem and a large group of eunuchs who worked under his direct supervision, the chief black eunuch enjoyed close proximity to the sultan and his family.
Another important figure was the chief of the white eunuchs, who acted as kapi ağası (chief of the Gate of Felicity). Starting with the reigns of Murad III (1574–1595) and Mehmed III (1595–1603), the white eunuchs lost ground, and black eunuchs gained greater control and access to the sultan. Regardless of their race, ethnic origin, or the degree and intensity of castration, the palace eunuchs received privileges—such as lavish clothing, accoutrements, and accommodations—in keeping with their high status. Included among these privileges was access to the best education available. It is not surprising, therefore, that many chief eunuchs were avid readers and book collectors who established impressive libraries.
The ağa, or the chief, of the black eunuchs of the harem was not only responsible for the training and supervision of the newly arrived eunuchs but also supervised the daily education and training of the crown prince and “oversaw a massive network of pious endowments that benefited the populations of and Muslim pilgrims to Mecca and Medina.” He used his position and access to the throne to gain power and influence over the sultan and government officials. His daily access to the sultan, and close relationship with the mother and favorite concubines of his royal master, made him an influential player in court intrigues. By the beginning of the 17th century, the chief eunuch had emerged as one of the most powerful individuals in the empire, at times second only to the sultan and the grand vizier and, in several instances, second to none.
PALACE PAGES AND ROYAL CHAMBERS
Four principal chambers within the palace served the sultan and his most immediate needs. The privy chamber served his most basic needs such as bathing, clothing, and personal security. The sultan’s sword keeper (silahdar ağa), the royal valet (çohadar ağa), and his personal secretary (sir katibi), were the principal officials in charge of the privy chamber. The treasury chamber held the sultan’s personal jewelry and other valuable items. The third chamber, the larder, was where the sultan’s meals were prepared, and the fourth, or campaign chamber, was staffed by bathhouse attendants, barbers, drumbeaters, and entertainers. Pages with exceptional ability and talent would join the privy chamber after they had served in one of the other three chambers. 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.
Surrounded and served as he was by an elaborate hierarchy of pages, eunuchs, and attendants, access to the sultan became increasingly difficult, and the number of individuals who could communicate directly with him decreased significantly. One result was a rapid and significant increase in the power of the royal harem. Starting in the second half of the 16th century, the sultan’s mother and wives began to exercise increasing influence on the political life of the palace and the decision making process. 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.
The majority of Ottoman sultans, however, were far from simpleminded puppets of their mothers, wives, and chief eunuchs. In the mornings, they attended to the affairs of their subjects, and in the evenings, they busied themselves with a variety of hobbies and activities. According to the Ottoman traveler and writer Evliya Çelebi, who served for a short time as a page in the palace, Murad IV (1623–1640) had a highly structured routine in his daily life, particularly during winter, when it was difficult to enjoy hunting and horseback riding. In the mornings, he attended to the affairs of his subjects. On Friday evenings, he met with scholars of religion and the readers of the holy Quran and discussed various issues relating to religious sciences. On Saturday evenings, he devoted his time to the singers who sang spiritual tunes. On Sunday evenings, he assembled poets and storytellers. On Monday evenings, he invited dancing boys and Egyptian musicians who performed till daybreak. On Tuesday evenings, he invited to the palace old and experienced men, upwards of seventy years, whose opinions he valued. On Wednesday evenings, he gave audience to pious saints and on Thursday evenings, to dervişes (members of Sufi or mystical orders).
As the Ottoman Empire entered the modern era, the everyday life of the sultan also underwent a significant change. The slow and easygoing lifestyle that prevailed at the harem of Topkapi and the large ceremonial gatherings, which marked the visit by a foreign ambassador to the imperial palace, gave way to a simple and highly disciplined routine characterized by the informality of interaction between the sultan and his guests. Abdülhamid II, who ruled from 1876 to 1909, awoke at six in the morning and dressed like an ordinary European gentleman, wearing a frock coat, “the breast of which, on great occasions,” was “richly embroidered and blazing with decorations.” He worked with his secretaries until noon, when he sat for a light lunch. After finishing his meal, the sultan took a short drive in the palace park or a sail on the lake. Back at work, he gave audience to his grand vizier; various court dignitaries; the şeyhülislam, or the head of the ulema; and foreign ambassadors. Having abandoned the ceremonial traditions of his predecessors who ruled from Topkapi’s inner section, the sultan placed his visitor beside him on a sofa and lighted a cigarette, which he offered to the guest. Since he could speak only Turkish and Arabic, the sultan communicated with foreign ambassadors and dignitaries through interpreters. At eight in the evening, Abdülhamid II dined, sometimes alone and, at times, with a foreign ambassador. According to one source, the dinner was “usually a very silent one” with dishes “served in gorgeous style, à la française, on the finest of plate and the most exquisite porcelain.” After dinner, the sultan sometimes played duets on the piano with his younger children before he retired to the royal harem. He was fond of light music.
Palace of the Sweet Waters. William H. Bartlett. From Pardoe, Julie, The Beauties of the Bosphorus (London 1839).
SULTAN IN PUBLIC
The people of the capital could watch their sultan each Friday, leaving his palace for Aya Sofya, the grand mosque, where he prayed. During the classical age of the empire, state dignitaries rode in front of sultan with their proximity to their royal master determined by the position they held at the court and in the government. Behind them rode the sultan’s clean-shaven pages, “beardless and clothed in red livery.” The sultan was surrounded by foot soldiers armed with bows and arrows, and “among these, certain others again, with the office of courier and letter bearer, and therefore running along most swiftly” and “dressed in scanty clothes, with the hems of their coats in front shortened to the waist, and with their legs half bare: and all of them, wearing livery according to their office, richly attired, and looking charming with feathers decorating their hats.” Immediately behind the sultan rode his sword keeper and the royal valet, whose offices were highly esteemed among the Ottomans.
One of the principal functions of the state was waging war, and military parades held before and after a campaign provided a popular spectacle, which was attended by the sultan, his ministers, and thousands of ordinary people. After war had been declared, all army units were assembled and brought to order in an enclosure, where the grand vizier held a divan, or council, that included all the dignitaries and high officials of the government who were to accompany him on the campaign. Once the divan had completed its deliberations, the grand vizier and company met with the sultan, who issued his dispatch and final command. Upon leaving his audience with the sultan, the grand vizier mounted his horse and, accompanied by the entire court and the army units, which had awaited him in various courtyards, set off towards his first encampment. I
f the campaign was in the east, the army crossed the Bosphorus with galleys and rowboats that transported them to the Asian shore, where the grand vizier waited, allowing his troops to arrive, equip themselves, and prepare for the long journey ahead. Before the troops crossed the straits, however, the people of Istanbul flocked to the windows of their homes or the streets to cheer them on and bid them farewell. The sultan, surrounded by his attendants and the members of the royal family, watched the event from a tower attached to the outside walls of the palace.
The Italian traveler, Pietro della Valle (1586–1652), who was in Istanbul from June 1614 to September 1615, described the military parade organized on the occasion of a new Ottoman campaign against Iran. The parade began with a display of large red and yellow flags held aloft by men on horseback. Behind them, riding two by two came the palace officials and couriers whose duty it was to deliver messages and execute orders (çavuşes). Gunners and bombardiers on foot followed, also two by two and armed with scimitars and arquebuses. Behind them came armor-clad soldiers and men carrying a variety of weapons, including “iron clad maces, axes, and swords with double points or blades to each hilt.” Next came the sipahis (the cavalrymen), armed with bows and arrows and dressed in their special garb, which was tucked up and adorned with diverse skins of wild animals slung across them. The acemi oğlans (young recruits to be trained as janissaries or the sultan’s elite infantry corps) were led by their ağa, or commander, who was a white eunuch. They were followed by the banners of the janissaries and the captains of the janissary corps in pairs and armed with bows and arrows. Behind their flags and captains marched thousands of janissaries packed closely together. They led, by hand, water-bearing horses, adorned with grass and flowers, and festooned with rags, tinsel, little flags, and ribbons. The janissaries were followed by men carrying axes, hatchets, and wooden swords. Then arrived pieces of artillery and galley boats, as well as regular foot soldiers. Finally came their ağa, or commander, and the dervişes of the Bektaşi Sufi order, singing and shouting prayers for the glorious army.
At the end of the parade came the horses of the grand vizier led by his pages armed with bows and arrows with coats of mail under their trappings or clothes. They were accompanied by the kadis (religious judges) of Istanbul and Galata; the two kadiaskers, or the army judges of Anatolia and Rumelia (the European provinces of the empire); the müfti (the chief Muslim theologian) of Istanbul; and the viziers (ministers) of the imperial council. Finally, the grand vizier himself rode in pomp and ceremony, surrounded by a large number of foot soldiers, with the heron’s plume emblem of his office adorning his turban. Behind the grand vizier appeared additional sipahi units with their own weapons, which were lances without hilts, bows, arrows, and coats of mail. Behind them rode cavalrymen attached to the chief minister who served as his bodyguards. These men wore antique helmets, buckles, and golden stirrups, and their horses were caparisoned with cloth of gold nearly to the ground.
At times before embarking on a military campaign, the Ottoman government instructed trade and craft guilds in the capital to parade in front of an imperial pavilion where the sultan could review their march. The Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi wrote that before invading Iran in 1636, Murad IV ordered all guilds in Istanbul to march in a parade as he and his ministers and pages watched from the procession pavilion at the Topkapi Palace. Members of each guild paraded in their unique attire atop floats or on foot. They displayed their various crafts and trades, trying to outdo one another as they entertained the sultan and the large crowds, which consisted of the entire populace of the city except for those actually marching in the procession. Every guild had its own unique rallying cry, spiritual and religious leader, and patron saint. The parade began with the palace staff, followed by prestigious craftsmen, who were then followed by less prestigious groups such as the manure collectors and the gravediggers. Even “pickpockets, pimps and male prostitutes formed themselves into guilds, although they had to be accompanied by guards.” All trade and daily work was interrupted in the city for the three days during which the excitement of the procession filled the capital. These parades reasserted the power and control of the sultan over his subjects and reminded the populace of the existing social hierarchy, providing an outlet for tensions that periodically arose between the ruling elite and the subject classes.
Sultan Mahmud II in procession. Anonymous, 19th century.
Street barbers at work in Istanbul.
The tradition of military parades, which included craftsmen and artisans, continued into the 18th century. As late as 1718, the Ottoman troops heading to war against the Habsburgs assembled in Edirne and participated in a parade that lasted eight hours, starting at eight in the morning and ending at four in the afternoon. As the sultan watched from the window of his palace, the procession began with a man of the cloth, mounted on a richly decorated camel, reciting verses from a Quran, which was finely bound and laid on a cushion. He was surrounded by a group of boys dressed in white, reading verses from Islam’s holy book. They were followed by a man dressed in green boughs, representing a peasant farmer sowing seed, and several reapers with ears of corn and scythes in their hands pretending to mow. After they had passed, a “machine drawn by oxen” appeared with a windmill and several boys grinding the corn; these were followed by another machine drawn by buffaloes carrying an oven, and two more boys, one kneading the bread and the other drawing it out of the oven. These young lads threw little cakes to the cheering crowd and were accompanied by a team of bakers marching on foot, two by two, in their best clothes, with cakes, loaves, pastries, and pies on their heads. Once these had passed, “two buffoons” with “their faces and clothes smeared” with food began to entertain the people. Meanwhile, craftsmen from various trades continued the procession with the more respected artisans such as the jewelers and mercers riding horses. An English lady who watched the entire procession selected the furriers, with their large machine “set round with skins of ermines, foxes” and stuffed animals, which “seemed to be alive,” followed by music and dancers as one of the best displays. At the end of the procession, the volunteer martyrs who pleaded for permission to die on the battlefield appeared naked down to the waist. In an expression of their zeal for glory and martyrdom, some had their arms and heads pierced through with arrows left sticking in them, with the blood trickling down their faces. Others had slashed their arms with sharp knives, causing blood to spurt out on to the spectators.
When the army returned from a victorious campaign, military parades were organized to display the bound and chained enemy captives, as well as the decapitated heads of their troops. These were flayed and salted, and then stuffed with hay to be carried on poles, pikes, and lances. In his Book of Travels, Evliya Çelebi recounted the return of Murad IV (1623–1640) from a successful campaign against Iran:
On the 19th of Rajab 1045 [29 December 1635] the illustrious emperor made his entry into Istanbul with a splendour and magnificence which no tongue can describe nor pen illustrate. The populace who poured out of the city to meet the emperor had been dissatisfied with the Kaymakam Bayram Paşa [the governor of Istanbul], but, gratified by the sight of their emperor, they became animated by a new spirit. The windows and roofs of the houses in every direction were crowded with people, who exclaimed, “The blessing of God be upon thee, O conqueror! Welcome, Murat! May thy victories be fortunate!” In short, they recovered their spirits, and joy was manifest in every countenance. The sultan was dressed in steel armour, and had a threefold aigrette in his turban, stuck obliquely on one side in the Persian manner: he was mounted on a Noghai steed, followed by seven led horses of the Arab breed, decked out in embroidered trappings set with jewels. . . . The conqueror looked with dignity on both sides of him, like a lion who seized his prey, and saluted the people as he went on, followed by three thousand pages clad in armour. The people shouted “God be praised!” as he passed, and threw themselves on their faces to the ground . . . During this triumphant procession to the
saray all the ships . . . fired salutes, so that the sea seemed in a blaze. The public criers announced that seven days and seven nights were to be devoted to festivity and rejoicing.
Though “the presence of women in public spaces was regarded with considerable misgivings,” if the sultan ordered, a large terrace was built to allow women to participate in the festivities organized by the palace. On his return from a campaign against the Habsburgs in 1596, Mehmed III demanded the presence of the women from the royal harem. The sultan’s women were also present at a royal circumcision held with pomp and ceremony in 1720.
The conqueror of Constantinople, Mehmed II, began the custom of holding state festivals to mark dynastic events, such as the circumcisions of princes and the weddings of the sultan’s daughters and sisters. These celebrations provided an opportunity for the palace to demonstrate its power and for craftsmen to display their goods and encourage increased consumption, while allowing the urban population a few days of rest and distraction before they had to return to the repetition and tension of everyday life. At times of political and economic crisis, particularly after military defeat at the hands of foreign foes, these dynastic festivities were celebrated with special pomp and ceremony. To describe and mark these festivities, poets and writers composed literary works for surnames (imperial festival books).