[407] Ricaut, 140; D’Ohsson, vii. 287. [408] Montesquieu, livre v, ch. xix. [409] Postel, i. 126: “les gents de la court, qui ont leurs chefs _Aga_ & _Bassi_ pour Iuges,” etc. [410] Spandugino, 214 ff., relates how this came about, and says (p. 218), “No _Cadi_ can have power and authority over the slaves who receive pay from the Seigneur.” [411] Zane, 407; Robertson, i. 249. [412] Hammer, _Geschichte_, i. 176, 684; ii. 674. [413] _Ibid._ i. 96. The descendants of Michael have been among the very few families who were constituted landed nobles in the Ottoman Empire. Seven “endowments of the Conquerors” still exist, one of which benefits his line: Heidborn, 314. [414] Hammer, _Geschichte_, i. 96. [415] _Ibid._ iii. 18. [416] Spandugino, 13; Ramberti, below, p. 242; Junis Bey, below, p. 273. D. Barbarigo, 19, names eight great families among whom the succession might fall (he says that some thought it should pass through the female line): in Rumelia four,—Micali, Ersecli, Eurenesli, Egiachiali; in Anatolia, four,—Cheselamath, Diercauli, Durcadurli, Ramadanli, formerly called Spendial. Ricaut, 107, says that in his time there existed an “ancient compact” by which, in default of heirs male in the Ottoman line, the empire was to descend to the Crimean Tartars. [417] Ricaut, 211. [418] _Ibid._ 129: “A Turk is never reverenced but for his Office, that is made the sole measure and rule of his greatness and honour, without other considerations of Vertue or Nobility.” [419] Below, ch. vii. [420] Above, ch. iii, under heads “Other Motives for Incorporating Christians,” “Advancement Based on Merit.” [421] Ricaut, 129. [422] About the year 1800, when the two institutions, and particularly the Ruling Institution, had reached an extreme state of decay, and before new institutions after Western models had yet been introduced, the Ottoman Empire was to come very near to such a breaking-up. It seems actually to have been saved by the lingering of the tradition against heredity in office; for, though life-tenure of purchased governorships had become regular, no Pasha except the North African corsairs of the seventeenth century, and Ibrahim in Egypt in the early nineteenth century, succeeded in founding a dynasty upon Ottoman soil. For the disorders about 1800, see Heidborn, 144. [423] Hammer, _Geschichte_, iii. 490-491, quoting Kochi Bey. [424] See above, p. 69, note 3. [425] Hammer, _Geschichte_, iii. 278. [426] Hammer, _Staatsverwaltung_, 6. [427] Postel, i. 31, says that Suleiman occasionally sent for one of his women to visit him in the principal palace. Nicolay, 62, reports that about 1551 Roxelana was residing within the palace grounds. By 1585 the principal ladies of the harem had been transferred to the new palace, leaving the old palace to the function of a training-school for recruits. These steps illustrate the rapid increase of the importance of the harem in the Ottoman scheme.