The government of the Ottoman Empire in the time of Suleiman the MagnificentLybyer, Albert Howe
History
The government of the Ottoman Empire in the time of Suleiman the Magnificent
Lybyer, Albert Howe
Süleyman I, Sultan of the Turks, 1494 or 1495-1566; Turkey -- Politics and government
19. The _Bash Mukataasi Kalemi_, or head bureau of leases, cared for the
revenues from the domains in some lower Danubian lands, from the rice
fields of Eastern Rumelia, from various salt works, from the fisheries of
the Aegean and Black seas, and from the forests.
20. The _Haremein Mukataasi Kalemi_, or bureau of leases of the Holy
Cities, was charged with regard to Anatolia, as was the seventh bureau
with regard to Rumelia.
21. The _Istambol Mukataasi Kalemi_, or bureau of leases for
Constantinople, kept account of the domanial leases of Salonika, Tirhala,
and Brusa, the market dues of Constantinople and Adrianople, the revenues
from silk and from the manufacture of articles in gold and silver.
22. The _Brusa Mukataasi Kalemi_, or bureau of the leases of Brusa, kept
account of the domanial leases in the neighborhood of that city.
23. The _Avlonia Mukataasi Kalemi_, kept similar accounts for the island
of Euboea, or Negropont.
24. The _Kaffa Mukataasi Kalemi_ kept similar accounts for Kaffa and
certain domain lands of Anatolia.
25. The _Tarishji Kalemi_, or bureau of dates, dated all public documents
that came from the other bureaus, and, at least in later times, prepared
assignments on the public revenues on behalf of creditors of the
government.
Supplementary bureaus, attached to some of the others, were the bureau
of confiscations and escheats to the crown, the bureau of the tax on
animals, and the bureau of the Christian churches and monasteries. An
additional office of great importance, called the _Oda_ of the treasury
department, attended to the correspondence of the _Defterdars_, to
their reports to the grand vizier and the sultan, and to the forwarding
of leases for sections of the crown lands. Attached to the treasury
department was a special court under a judge appointed by the _Kaziasker_
of Rumelia, which was designed to adjust disputes between the department
and private citizens.
A _Defter-emini_, or book-keeper intendant, kept the records of the
fief-holders and administered their estates during vacancies. He was
well paid, and had a staff of clerks.[576] He appears to have been
independent of the _Defterdars_. Two household treasurers were in charge
of the sultan’s personal funds: the eunuch _Khazinehdar-bashi_, already
mentioned as chief of the treasury chamber of pages, guarded the treasure
stored there, and paid the members of the inner service; a second
official, under the authority of the former and apparently called by the
same name, attended to the business of the sultan’s private purse outside
the palace.[577] The sultan had in the castle of the Seven Towers, or
_Yedi-kuleh_, another deposit of treasure which was supposed to be very
large.[578]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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