''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 ('' sanjak'', in Arabic '' liwa’''), hence the equivalent Arabic title of ''amir liwa'' ( ) He was answerable to a superior ''

wāli ''Wāli'', ''Wā'lī'' or ''vali'' (from ar, والي ''Wālī'') is an administrative title that was used in the Muslim World (including the Caliphate and Ottoman Empire) to designate governors of administrative divisions. It is still in us ...

'' or another provincial governor. In a few cases the ''sanjak-bey'' was himself directly answerable to Istanbul. Like other early Ottoman administrative offices, the ''sanjak-bey'' had a military origin: the term ''sanjak'' (and ''liva'') means "flag" or "standard" and denoted the insigne around which, in times of war, the cavalrymen holding fiefs ('' timars'' or '' ziamets'') in the specific district gathered. The ''sanjakbey'' was in turn subordinate to a ''

beylerbey ''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 and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks ...

'' ("bey of beys") who governed an ''

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 ...

'' and commanded his subordinate ''sanjak-beys'' in war. In this way, the structure of command on the battlefield resembled the hierarchy of provincial government. The office of ''sanjak-bey'' resembled that of the ''beylerbey'' on a more modest scale. Like the ''beylerbey'', the ''sanjak-bey'' drew his income from a prebend, which consisted usually of revenues from the towns, quays and ports within the boundary of his ''sanjak''. Within his own sanjak, a governor was responsible above all for maintaining order and, with the cooperation of the fief holders, arresting and punishing wrongdoers. For this, he usually received half of the fines imposed on miscreants, with the fief holder on whose lands the misdeed took place, receiving the other half. ''Sanjak'' governors also had other duties, for example, the pursuit of bandits, the investigation of heretics, the provision of supplies for the army, or the despatch of materials for shipbuilding, as the sultan commanded.

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Gubernatorial titles Military ranks of the Ottoman Empire Ottoman titles Civil servants from the Ottoman Empire Titles in Bosnia and Herzegovina during Ottoman period {{Ottoman-stub

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