HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Beylerbey'' ( ota, بكلربكی, beylerbeyi, lit= bey of beys, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords') was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks and the Ilkhanids to Safavid Empire and 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 ...
. Initially designating a commander-in-chief, it eventually came to be held by senior provincial governors. In Ottoman usage, where the rank survived the longest, it designated the governors-general of some of the largest and most important provinces, although in later centuries it became devalued into a mere honorific title. Its equivalents in
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
were '' amir al-umara'', and in Persian, ''mir-i miran''.


Early use

The title originated with the Seljuqs, and was used in the Sultanate of Rum initially as an alternative for the Arabic title of '' malik al-umara'' ("chief of the commanders"), designating the army's commander-in-chief. Among the
Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...
Ilkhanids, the title was used to designate the chief '' amir al-ulus'' ("emir of the state")—also known by the Turkic title ''ulusbegi'' and the Arabic '' amir al-umara''–while in the
Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fragmen ...
it was applied to all the holders of the rank of ''amir al-ulus''. The
Mamluks of Egypt The Mamluk Sultanate ( ar, سلطنة المماليك, translit=Salṭanat al-Mamālīk), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz (western Arabia) from the mid-13th to early 16th ...
possibly used it as an alternative title for the '' atabak al-asakir'', the commander-in-chief of the army.


Ottoman use

The Ottomans used the title ''beylerbey'' from the late 14th until the mid-19th century, with varying meanings and degrees of importance. The early Ottoman state continued to use the term ''beylerbey'' in the meaning of commander-in-chief, held by princes of the Ottoman dynasty: under the Ottoman Empire's founder, Osman I (ruled 1299–1326), his son Orhan held the post, and during Orhan's reign (1324–1362), his brother Alaeddin Pasha and Orhan's son Süleyman Pasha. The first step towards the transformation of the office into a gubernatorial title occurred when Murad I () gave the title to Lala Shahin Pasha as a reward for his capture of Adrianople (modern Edirne) in the 1360s. In addition, Lala Shahin was given military authority over the Ottoman territories in Europe (
Rumelia Rumelia ( ota, روم ايلى, Rum İli; tr, Rumeli; el, Ρωμυλία), etymologically "Land of the Romans", at the time meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians from the Byzantine rite, was the name of a hi ...
). This marked the ''beylerbey'' effectively as the
viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...
of the European territories, as the
Sultans Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, i ...
still resided in
Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, and as the straits of the
Bosporus The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...
and the Dardanelles, which connected the two parts of the Ottoman state, continued to escape full Ottoman control until the
Fall of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city fell on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun o ...
in 1453. Lala Shahin died after 1388. Sometime in 1385–87
Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin Pasha Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin Pasha ( ota, چاندارلی قرة خليل خير الدين پاشا) was the first Grand Vizier of Murad I's reign. He was also technically the first in Ottoman history who held the title "Grand Vizier" (a ...
succeeded him in the position of commander-in-chief in Rumelia. In 1393 Sultan Bayezid I () appointed Kara Timurtash as ''beylerbey'' and viceroy in Anatolia, when he himself (Bayezid) crossed over into Europe to campaign against Mircea I of Wallachia. This process marked the birth of the first two, and by far the most important, ''beylerbeyliks'': those of Rumelia and Anatolia, while the third ''beylerbeylik'', that of
Rûm Rūm ( ar, روم , collective; singulative: Rūmī ; plural: Arwām ; fa, روم Rum or Rumiyān, singular Rumi; tr, Rûm or , singular ), also romanized as ''Roum'', is a derivative of the Aramaic (''rhπmÈ'') and Parthian (''frwm'') ...
, followed soon after. The ''beylerbey'' was in charge of a province—termed a ''beylerbeylik'' or generically ''vilayet'', "province", while after 1591 the term ''
eyalet Eyalets ( Ottoman Turkish: ایالت, , English: State), also known as beylerbeyliks or pashaliks, were a primary administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. From 1453 to the beginning of the nineteenth century the Ottoman local government ...
'' was used and ''beylerbeylik'' came to mean the office of ''beylerbey''. Territorial beylerbeyliks were subdivided into ''
sanjak Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ) * Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province") * Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region") * el, Διοίκησις (''dioikēsis'', meaning "province" ...
s'' or ''"liwa"s'' under ''
sanjakbey ''Sanjak-bey'', ''sanjaq-bey'' or ''-beg'' ( ota, سنجاق بك) () was the title given in the Ottoman Empire to a bey (a high-ranking officer, but usually not a pasha) appointed to the military and administrative command of a district ('' sanja ...
s''. With the continuous
growth of the Ottoman Empire The Classical Age of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Klasik Çağ) concerns the history of the Ottoman Empire from the Conquest of Constantinople in 1453 until the second half of the sixteenth century, roughly the end of the reign of Suleiman the Magn ...
in the 15th and 16th centuries, new provinces were established, and the ranks of the ''beylerbeys'' swelled to a peak of 44 by the end of the 16th century. A list of ''eyalets'' in 1609 mentions 32 in total - 23 of them regular ''eyalets'' where revenue was distributed among the military fief-holders, while the rest (in
North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
and the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
) were under the '' salyane'' system, i.e. their revenue was sent to the imperial treasury, and the officials and soldiers were paid salaries from it. The size of these new provinces varied enormously: some containing as many as twenty ''sanjaks'', and others as few as two, including the ''beylerbey''s own residence (or ''
pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignita ...
-sanjakı''). Among themselves, the various ''beylerbeys'' had an order of precedence based on the date of conquest or formation of their provinces. The ''beylerbey'' of Rumelia, however, retained his pre-eminence, ranking first among the other provincial governors-general, and being accorded a seat in the Imperial Council ('' divan'') after 1536. In addition, the post was occasionally held by the Sultan's chief minister, the Grand Vizier himself. In his province, the ''beylerbey'' operated as a virtual viceroy of the Sultan: he had full authority over matters of war, justice and administration, except in so far as they were limited by the authority of other officials also appointed by the central government, chiefly the various fiscal secretaries under the ''mal defterdari'', and the '' kadı'', who could appeal directly to the imperial government. In addition, as a further check to their power, the Janissary contingents stationed in the province's cities were outside his authority, and ''beylerbeys'' were even forbidden from entering the fortresses garrisoned by the Janissaries. The ''beylerbey'' also had his own court and government council (''divan'') and could freely grant fiefs (''
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 ...
s'' and '' ziamets'') without prior approval by the Sultan, although this right was curtailed after 1530, when beylerbey authority was restricted to the smaller ''timars'' only. Reflecting the office's origin in the military, the primary responsibility of the ''beylerbeys'' and their ''sanjakbeys'' was the maintenance the '' sipahi'' cavalry, formed by the holders of the military fiefs, whom they led in person on campaign. From the reign of
Mehmed II Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...
() onwards, the title of ''beylerbey'' also became an honorary court rank, coming after the
vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...
s; both viziers and ''beylerbeys'' were titled
pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignita ...
s, with the viziers sporting three horse-tails and the ''beylerbeys'' two. From the 16th century on, however, viziers could be appointed as provincial ''beylerbeys'', enjoying precedence and authority over the ordinary ''beylerbeys'' of the neighbouring provinces. Towards the end of the 17th century, the title of ''beylerbey'' of Rumelia (''Rumeli beylerbeysi'') also began to be awarded as an honorific rank, alongside the actual holder of the provincial post, even to officials unrelated to the provincial administration, such as the chief treasurer ('' defterdar''). Beginning in the 18th century, the Arabic title of '' wali'' began to be increasingly used for provincial governors-general at the expense of ''beylerbey'', except for the two original ''beylerbeys'' of Rumelia and Anatolia; the Arabic title ''amir al-umara'', and the Persian ''mir-i miran'' or ''mirmiran'', which had been used as equivalents of the ''beylerbey'', now increasingly came to refer only to the honorary rank, which in turn was increasingly devalued. The process culminated with the '' vilayet'' reform of 1864, after which ''wali'' became the only official designation for the governor-general of a province, while the title of ''beylerbey'' survived only in the honorary rank of ''Rumeli beylerbeysi'', which continued in use alongside its Perso-Arabian equivalents.


Safavid use

Under the
Safavid dynasty The Safavid dynasty (; fa, دودمان صفوی, Dudmâne Safavi, ) was one of Iran's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from 1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of th ...
of
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, the title was used from ca. 1543/44 on for governors (generically styled '' hakim'') of the more important provinces. The title was thus used for the governors of
Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safē ...
,
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
,
Ganja Ganja (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for marijuana. Its usage in English dates to before 1689. Etymology ''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi/Urdu ( hi, गांजा, links=no, ur, , links=no, IPA: �aːɲd͡ ...
, Karabakh, Shirvan, Fars,
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, and Astarabad. The Safavids also used the title of ''wali'' for provinces even more important than those of ''beylerbeys''. Towards the end of the Safavid period, the title of ''beylerbey'' had been eclipsed by that of ''wali'', most notably being the wali's of the shah's their Georgian areas.


References


Sources

* * * * * {{Italic title Gubernatorial titles Commanders in chief Ottoman titles Government of the Ottoman Empire Government of Safavid Iran Turkish words and phrases Titles of national or ethnic leadership Titles in Bosnia and Herzegovina during Ottoman period