Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire

by Mehrdad Kia

  Ottoman sultans organized royal circumcision festivals. Lasting from 10 to 55 days, these imperial feasts marked an “occasion during which royal princes, along with hundreds of the sultan’s subjects’ boys, were blessed by the ceremony of circumcision.” The festivities on such occasions included ceremonial receptions, communal feasts, games and competitions, mock battles, firework displays, and brightly lit ships and watercraft sailing down the Golden Horn. The participation of performers from Iran and Egypt “and various displays of exotic animals like elephants and giraffes gave the ceremonies a more cosmopolitan flavour.” Circuses and “musical performances, along with displays of tableaux vivants in the shape of dragons” were also “exhibited on the Bosphorus.” Aside from illuminating Istanbul “with torches and lamps,” the “circumcision feasts included the decoration of public buildings”; “banquets for various foreign and state dignitaries; and public displays of animal sacrifices in the course of rich and spectacular pageantries.”

  During the first days of the festivities, the princes accompanied their royal father to ceremonies that were held outside the capital where decorations such as nahils, or large pyramid-shaped wooden poles “copiously decorated with real or artificial flowers and fruits, often gilded or silver-plated,” were displayed. In “its physical form, built with wax and wire, a nahil was covered with fresh flowers and sprouting foliage,” and it was often “decorated with symbols of birds, plants and animals of various kinds,” representing “fertility and the renewal of natural virility embodied in a symbol of erect vitality.”

  The nahil (derived from the Arabic word for date palm) was transported from the imperial palace to the ceremonial ground by a procession that paraded the large wooden pyramid through the streets of Istanbul and included musicians, performers, and “a number of Janissaries who would eventually place it beside the yet to be circumcised prince.” After the prince had been circumcised, the nahil, which symbolized “birth, the blossoming of life, fertility and regeneration,” was returned to the palace. The so-called “nahil-processions were usually performed alongside various consumption-related activities like the distribution of sweet pastries, sweet drinks and sherbet, and at times a sacrificial animal would be brought along to be slaughtered on behalf of the circumcised prince and royal family.” Sheep were slaughtered to win God’s blessing and favor, rice dishes and saffron-colored sweets were prepared, and banquets were arranged by various government officials and court dignitaries, at which musicians played, dancers performed, and numerous guilds paraded in all their splendor.

  During the circumcision festivities, weddings, and victory parades, several hundred performers converged and entertained the sultan and the public. Highly talented and famous performers usually received a large sum of money for a night of entertainment. These “lords of misrule,” who were, for the most part, Gypsies, Jews, Armenians, and Greeks, and who included dancers, singers, musicians, mimics, comics, tumblers, jugglers, and fire-eaters, competed with each other to produce the most voluptuous dances, the funniest scenes, and the most astounding tricks.

  The appointment of a new grand vizier provided another occasion for festive celebration. Astrologers determined the auspicious hour for his arrival in the capital. People rented shops to view the parade that the new minister led. Once the parade had ended, the new grand vizier arrived at the palace. There, sheep were slaughtered, and the meat distributed among the poor. Money and gifts were handed to the troops to secure their support. After arriving in the palace, the sultan dressed his newly appointed chief minister in a sable robe of honor, stuck several royal jeweled aigrettes into his turban with his own hand, and uttered the benediction: “Go, may God the exalted be your Helper.”

  3 – GOVERNING AN EMPIRE

  The grand vizier administered the daily affairs of the empire from divan-i hümayun, or the imperial council, which served as the highest deliberative organ of the Ottoman government. According “to Mehmed II’s law code, the grand vizier” (vezir-i azam or sadr-i azam) was “the head of the viziers and commanders,” who in all matters acted as “the Sultan’s absolute deputy.” He appointed all officials in both the central and provincial administration. Starting in the 17th century, the grand vizier’s official residence or Bab-i Ali (High Gate), called the Sublime Porte by Europeans, was synonymous with Ottoman government.

  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 reis�
�lkütab 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.

  Beginning with the reign of Murad I (1362–1389), Ottoman recruiters travelled the newly conquered regions of the
Balkans and selected a certain percentage of boys from Christian villages. The Muslim jurists justified the practice by evoking the right of every Muslim conqueror to one-fifth of all movable booty after the end of a military campaign. In this context, “the Christian boys constituted the sultan’s fifth.” Even when the territorial expansion of the empire slowed down, the idea of recruiting young Christian boys as soldiers and administrators did not stop. As late as the 16th century, the sultan issued a royal decree ordering his local officials to summon all Christian boys between the ages of 8 and 20 in their rural districts. The government officials selected and registered the most suitable young boys. The recruiters sought unspoiled and unsophisticated non-Muslim lads who did not know any Turkish but possessed strong health, attractive physique, and formidable moral character. The new recruits were sent in groups of a hundred to a hundred and fifty to Istanbul, where they were received by the commander of the janissary corps. The number of boys recruited through this system in the 16th century has been estimated at from one to three thousand a year.

  As the future members of the ruling elite, the recruits had to learn Turkish and acquire the customs and etiquette of an Ottoman official. The best and most talented were retained as pages within the palace system, where they received further education and training in royal palaces in Istanbul and Edirne under the strict supervision of eunuchs and tutors.

  Once the pages had completed their education, they were either appointed to positions within the palace or served as the kapikullari (the slaves of the sultan) military units. Palace pages were trained by the eunuchs, who organized their daily activities and responsibilities. First, the eunuchs taught them silence, followed by proper behavior and posturing. While in the presence of the sultan, they were to have their heads bowed and gaze downward, holding their hands together before them. They then learned how to read and write. They also learned how to speak Turkish and pray in Arabic. Once they had completed this elementary stage, tutors began to teach them Persian and Arabic and encouraged them to read a variety of works in both languages so that they could speak the elegant Turkish of the Ottoman ruling elite, which was very different from the “vulgar” language spoken by the peasant farmers in the villages and small towns of Anatolia. At this stage, they also learned to ride, wrestle, shoot with a bow, throw the mace, toss the pike, and handle a variety of other weapons. Thus, the young boys grew up in the isolation of the palace and with little contact with the outside world. As servants who owed their status and special privileges to the sultan, they remained single until they had reached the age of 30. The system demanded that they devote their loyalty and service to the sultan rather than to a wife and children, who could otherwise occupy their time and energy.