Under the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, an arpalik or arpaluk ( tr, Arpalık) was a large estate (i.e.

sanjak Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ) * Armenian language, Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province") * Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region") * el, Διοίκησι� ...

) entrusted to some holder of senior position, or to some

margrave Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Emp ...

, as a temporary arrangement before they were appointed to some appropriate position. Arpalik was a kind of

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much o ...

given to members of the Ottoman elite for

tax farming Farming or tax-farming is a technique of financial management in which the management of a variable revenue stream is assigned by legal contract to a third party and the holder of the revenue stream receives fixed periodic rents from the contract ...

Etymology

The

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

corn was known as ''arpa'' in

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

, and the feudal system in

employed the term ''arpalik'', or "barley-money", to refer to a second allowance made to officials to offset the costs of fodder for their horses (for covering the expenses of keeping a small unit of

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

History

The number of viziers was steadily increasing in the Ottoman Empire since 16th century. Many of them were not satisfied with the income they received so the institution of arpalik was introduced. The rank of the people who were given arpalik was often higher than rank of the regular governor of the whole district. The institution of arpalik was introduced to make burden of government officials easier by compensating losses of its high officials. Instead of resolving problems, the arpalik created created new, bigger ones. The exact duties of arpalik holders were never precisely defined by the Ottoman government which caused frequent tensions between the Porte and the province. This tensions probably additionally contributed to the decay of the traditional

timar A timar was a land grant by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with an annual tax revenue of less than 20,000 akçes. The revenues produced from the land acted as compensation for military service. A ...

(fiefdom) system because it left

sipahi ''Sipahi'' ( ota, سپاهی, translit=sipâhi, label=Persian, ) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuk dynasty, Seljuks, and later the Ottoman Empire, including the land grant-holding (''timar'') provincial ''Timariots, timarli s ...

out of the clear chain of command. Initially, in the sixteenth century, the number of sanjaks given as arpalik was very small. After the decline of the timar (fief) system many sanjaks in Anatolia were given as arpaliks to high Ottoman officials.

References

{{Reflist Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire Types of administrative division