In the early Ottoman days, several of the high offices of state became the appanages of particular families. The family of Kara Khalil Chendereli held the office of grand vizier continuously for a century, and furnished an occupant of the office at a later date.[412] The descendants of Michael of the Pointed Beard led the _Akinjis_ until the time of the first siege of Vienna.[413] The family of Samsamat Chaush held the office of master of ceremonies for generations.[414] A descendant of the thirteenth-century poet Jelal ad-din Rumi held office under Suleiman.[415] Some writers of the early sixteenth century said that, whereas Osman had been aided in winning his dominions by two Greek renegades, Michael of the Pointed Beard, and Malco, and by Aurami or Eurcasi, a Turk, he had promised that he would “never put hand in their blood or fail to give them a magistracy.”[416] The promise had been kept, and in 1537 one of the Michaloglou was _Sanjak_ in Bosnia and one of the Malcosoglou was _Sanjak_ in Greece. The other family was then extinct. It is said that these were considered to be of royal blood, and that in case of failure in the line of Osman the succession to the throne would fall to them. Apart from these few exceptions, the principle of heredity in office had been excluded from the Ottoman system by the time of Suleiman. The Ottomans, by old Turkish rule probably derived from the Chinese, knew no nobility apart from office and public service. An exception was introduced by Islam in the case of _Seids_, or _Emirs_, descendants of the Prophet; but this modification the Ottomans did not wholly respect.[417] Accordingly, Ottoman nobility became official,[418] personal, and without hereditary quality. It was, in fact, the reverse of hereditary, since nobility in the father was an actual hindrance to the son and to all his descendants. But the _kullar_ were not the only class in the Ottoman Empire which enjoyed official, personal nobility. The members of the Moslem Institution were also exempt from taxation, were supported out of public revenues, and were left in enjoyment of their own government as a part of their general jurisdiction in the empire. They had an advantage over the _kullar_ in that their property was not subject to confiscation. Their position will be discussed later.[419]