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43-546: The Niš Eyalet was created in 1846 from the dismemberment of the ancient Eyalet of Rumeli , once the largest and most important province of the Ottoman Empire. In 1861, Midhat Pasha was put in charge of the Niš Eyalet. He was a reformer influenced by Western ideas and the eyalet became a showpiece of the reformist movement. He tackled the problems of communications and security: he set up a system of block-houses to stop

86-531: A man's status in Ottoman society was the size of his household and the size of his retinue when he appeared in public", meaning that the members of the Council often kept hundreds, if not thousands, of slaves. Over time, the Council's membership was extended to include additional officials: In addition, a number of officials attended Council meetings but did not have seats in the chamber and did not take part in

129-676: A provincial newspaper. Sanjaks of the Eyalet in the mid-19th century: Rumelia Eyalet The Eyalet of Rumeli , or Eyalet of Rumelia ( Ottoman Turkish : ایالت روم ایلی , romanized :  Eyālet-i Rūm-ėli ), known as the Beylerbeylik of Rumeli until 1591, was a first-level province ( beylerbeylik or eyalet ) of the Ottoman Empire encompassing most of the Balkans (" Rumelia "). For most of its history, it

172-517: A specific problem. Later foreign observers reporting on Ottoman affairs also stressed that the council was "purely consultative, the final responsibility resting with the Grand Vizier" ( Bernard Lewis ). It is impossible to determine what role the Sultan played in the Council's workings. On the one hand, all decisions were made in his name and on his authority, and Ottoman law codes foresaw that

215-425: A wide area in western Macedonia , including the towns of Üskub ( Skopje ), Pirlipe ( Prilep ), Manastir ( Bitola ) and Kesriye ( Kastoria ). A similar list compiled c. 1534 gives the same sanjaks , except for the absence of Sofia, Florina and Inebahti (among the provinces transferred to the new Archipelago Eyalet in 1533), and the addition of Selanik ( Salonica ). In 1538 there are listed 29 liva (sanjaks) during

258-647: The harem , added either in the early reign of Süleyman the Magnificent or, according to another tradition, already by Mehmed II. It is clear, however, that each Sultan favoured a different style of government, and their roles changed even within the same reign: thus Ahmed I ( r.  1603–1617 ) is recorded as refusing an audience with his Grand Vizier, demanding written reports instead, while Murad III ( r.  1574–1595 ) at first once more presided over Council meetings in person, but increasingly withdrew from active participation as his reign proceeded. By

301-527: The Council of Ministers . The principal members of the Council had become fixed by the time of Mehmed II at least. They comprised: The members of the Imperial Council represented the pinnacles of their respective specialized careers: the viziers the military-political; the kadi'askers the legal; the defterdars the financial service; and the nişancı the palace scribal service. This was all

344-611: The Eski Saray (Old Palace), moving to the Topkapi Palace after its construction in the 1470s. There the Council had a dedicated building ( divanhane ) in the Second Courtyard. The present building was built in the early reign of Süleyman the Magnificent by Grand Vizier Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha , and renovated in 1792 and 1819. The council chamber proper was known as kubbealtı ("under the dome"). During campaigns,

387-472: The Haseki Sultan (Sultana consort), who had direct and intimate access to the Sultan's person, often influenced government decisions bypassing the Imperial Council and the Grand Vizier altogether. Over time, as the importance of the Grand Vizier within the Ottoman system rose at the expense of the palace, it became common to hold an afternoon meeting ( ikindi divani ) to wrap up leftover issues, after

430-466: The Topkapi Palace , initially daily, then for four days a week by the 16th century. Its remit encompassed all matters of governance of the Empire, although the exact proceedings are no longer known. It was assisted by an extensive secretarial bureaucracy under the reis ül-küttab for the drafting of appropriate documents and the keeping of records. The Imperial Council remained the main executive organ of

473-434: The afternoon prayer ( ikindi ), at the Grand Vizier's residence. Eventually, the ikindi divani came to meet five times a week and took over a large part of the Council's actual business. The Grand Vizier's pre-eminence was formalized in 1654, when a dedicated building ( bab-i ali , the " Sublime Porte ", or pasha kapısı ) was constructed to serve the Grand Vizier both as a residence and as an office. The bureaucracy serving

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516-420: The ayak divani or "foot council", as everyone remained standing, an emergency session chaired by the Sultan or the army commander when on campaign. Although many decisions were taken outside the formal context of the Imperial Council, it was the main executive body of the Empire, conducting all kinds of tasks of government such as the conduct of foreign relations, including the reception of foreign ambassadors,

559-455: The 1360s, and given military authority over the Ottoman territories in Europe, which he governed effectively as the Sultan's deputy while the Sultan returned to Anatolia . Also, Silistra Eyalet was formed in 1593. From its foundation, the province of Rumelia encompassed the entirety of the Ottoman Empire's European possessions, including the trans- Danubian conquests like Akkerman , until

602-640: The 14th century and until the mid-15th century, it seems to have been headed by the Sultan in person, "suggesting that relations between sultan and viziers were still informal, with the sultan’s advisors in the role of allies as much as subordinates" according to the Ottomanist Colin Imber . Meetings were often public or semi-public affairs in which the Sultan would appear surrounded by his senior advisors and hear grievances of his subjects, dispense justice and make appointments to public office. In

645-450: The Council in person, although by this time, these occasions were involved in elaborate ceremonial, in stark contrast to the informality of such audiences before Mehmed II. After Edirne became the Ottoman capital in the late 14th century, the Council met at the palace there or anywhere the Sultan currently resided. Following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Council met initially at

688-531: The Council met at the Grand Vizier's tent, which was always pitched near the Sultan's own. The law-code of Mehmed II stipulates that the Council had to meet daily, of which four times in the Council Chamber ( Arz Odası ) in the Topkapi Palace, where they were received by the chief usher ( çavuş başı ) and the intendant of the doorkeepers ( kapıcılar kethudası ). By the 16th century, however,

731-562: The Council, preparing the material for its sessions, keeping records of its decisions and creating the necessary documents. As their duties included drafting the state correspondence with other powers, initially they were probably drawn from various milieus, since until the early 16th century the Sultans corresponded with foreign rulers in their own language. After c.  1520 documents were only drawn up in Turkish, Arabic or Persian, and

774-430: The Imperial Council was gradually transferred to this new location, and by the 18th century, the Imperial Council itself had, according to Bernard Lewis, "dwindled into insignificance". The reformist sultans of the late 18th/early 19th century replaced the Imperial Council by a new institution, as well as forming special councils to apply their reforms. This system gradually evolved into a Western-style cabinet government,

817-454: The Ottoman state until the mid-17th century, after which it lost most of its power to the office of the Grand Vizier. With the Tanzimat reforms of the 19th century, it was eventually succeeded by a Western-style cabinet government, the Council of Ministers . Originally, the Imperial Council was probably an informal advisory body of senior statesmen, but also functioned as a court of law. In

860-574: The Sultan could make his wishes known to the Council through the Kapi Agha . In Ottoman legal theory, however, as codified in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Grand Vizier was the Sultan's "absolute deputy" and the sole intermediary between the sovereign and the administration. Therefore after each meeting, the Grand Vizier—according to some 16th-century accounts, however, this was done by the entire Council —would go to report on proceedings to

903-472: The Sultan in the Inner Palace. These interviews between the Grand Vizier and the Sultan were probably the main conduit of communication between the ruler and his government. At the same time, the Sultan could, if he wished, secretly listen in on the Council in session behind a grille-covered window ( kasr-ı adil ) overlooking the Council chamber and connected directly with the Sultan's private quarters in

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946-587: The Sultan often dined with the viziers after the Council, but Mehmed II ended this practice. In addition, there were extraordinary sessions of the Council: the ulufe divani or galebe divani , convened each quarter to distribute the quarterly salary ( ulue ) to the members of the kapıkulu ("slaves of the Porte") corps, including the Janissaries , as well as for the formal reception of foreign ambassadors, and

989-481: The case of an interregnum between the death of a Sultan and the arrival of his successor from the provinces, the Council was held by the senior councillors on their own. Later Ottoman tradition held that it was Mehmed II ( r.  1444–1446, 1451–1481 ) who abandoned the practice of presiding over the council in person, instead relegating this responsibility to the Grand Vizier , ipso facto defining

1032-456: The council of state decided that the eyalets would be replaced by larger vilayets. At each of these main levels of rule, there would be mixed Muslim-Christian councils. The first of the vilayets was run for a time by Midhat Pasha and it included the former Niš Eyalet and much of Bulgaria and was called the " Danube Vilayet ." In the next three years, he carried through a large program of school-building and other public works, as well as introducing

1075-533: The creation of further eyalets in the 16th century, beginning with the Archipelago (1533), Budin (1541) and Bosnia (1580). The first capital of Rumelia was probably Edirne (Adrianople), which was also, until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottomans' capital city. It was followed by Sofia for a while and again by Edirne until 1520, when Sofia once more became the seat of the beylerbey . At

1118-402: The discussions, such as the head of the scribes ( reis ül-küttab ), the çavuş başı , the kapıcılar kethudası , various financial secretaries and palace officials, interpreters ( tercüman , whence " dragoman ") and police chiefs, each in turn with his own retinue of clerks and assistants. An ever-expanding scribal service, under the supervision of the reis ül-küttab , assisted the members of

1161-544: The early 16th century, members of Byzantine and other Balkan aristocratic families) but over time the products of the devshirme system, which inducted humble-born youths into the Palace School , came to predominate. An appointment to the ranks of the Imperial Council was an avenue to great power, influence and enormous wealth, which was matched by equally ostentatious expenditure for, as Colin Imber writes, "the sign of

1204-461: The early reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566), lists the sanjakbeys of that period, in approximate order of importance.: The Çingene , Müselleman-i Kirk Kilise and Voynuks were not territorial circumscriptions, but rather represented merely a sanjakbey appointed to control these scattered and often nomadic groups, and who acted as the commander of the military forces recruited among them. The Pasha-sanjak in this period comprised

1247-426: The full Council met regularly on four days of the week, on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, and sessions lasted from seven to eight hours, beginning at dawn and ending at mid-day in summer and mid-afternoon in winter. The members ate three times during each council session, breakfasting after their arrival, then after the main discussion had been concluded and finally after hearing petitions. In earlier times,

1290-555: The grand vizierate. In the 18th century, Monastir emerged as an alternate residence of the governor, and in 1836, it officially became the capital of the eyalet . At about the same time, the Tanzimat reforms, aimed at modernizing the Empire, split off the new eyalets of Üsküb , Yanya and Selanik and reduced the Rumelia Eyalet to a few provinces around Monastir. The rump eyalet survived until 1867, when, as part of

1333-412: The incursion of armed bands from Serbia. According to his laudatory son's biography of him, "he organized a gendarmerie, secured the peaceful collection of taxes, and put an end to all religious persecution." He also established schools and hospitals for members of all religious groups without discrimination. Midhat's reforms were so successful that they inspired a reworking of the Ottoman system. In 1864,

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1376-421: The latter as a distinct office from the other viziers. Mehmed II's law-code states that the Sultan would observe Council sessions behind a screen, a practice which lasted until the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent ( r.  1520–1566 ), who ceased to attend Council meetings altogether. Nevertheless Mehmed II's successor, Bayezid II ( r.  1481–1512 ) is still recorded as openly chairing sessions of

1419-559: The mid-17th century, on the other hand, the former elaborate protocol at Council sessions had once more been relaxed, and it is reported by the Ottoman renegade Bobovi that the Sultan (possibly Murad IV , r.  1623–1640 ) once more presided over Council meetings in person. In addition, the courtiers and servants of the Inner Palace, or the members of the Imperial Harem such as the Valide Sultan (Sultana mother) or

1462-471: The more the case after the 16th century, when these careers became—as a general rule—mutually exclusive. While the latter groups were from the outset recruited mostly from the Muslim Turkish population (although the kadi'askers tended to come from a very limited circle of legal families), the viziers were, after 1453, mostly drawn from Christian converts. These were partly voluntary (including, until

1505-653: The other viziers , charged with military and political affairs, the two kadi'askers or military judges, the defterdars in charge of finances, the nişancı in charge of the palace scribal service, and later the Kapudan Pasha , the head of the Ottoman Navy , and occasionally the beylerbey of Rumelia and the Agha of the Janissaries . The Council met in a dedicated building in the Second Courtyard of

1548-479: The preparation of campaigns, the construction of fortifications and public buildings, the reception of reports from the provincial governors and the appointments to state office, as well as continuing to function as a court of law, particularly for members of the military class. The inner workings of the Council are obscure, since no minutes were kept during the sessions, but the wording of Council decrees indicates that most decisions were prompted by petitions addressing

1591-599: The reduced Rumelia Eyalet, centred at Manastir, encompassed also the sanjaks of Iskenderiyye (Scutari), Ohri (Ohrid) and Kesrye (Kastoria). In 1855, according to the French traveller A. Viquesnel, it comprised the sanjaks of Iskenderiyye, with 7 kazas or sub-provinces, Ohri with 8 kazas , Kesrye with 8 kazas and the pasha-sanjak of Manastir with 11 kazas . Imperial Council (Ottoman Empire) The Imperial Council or Imperial Divan ( Ottoman Turkish : ديوان همايون , romanized :  Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn ),

1634-473: The reign of Sultan Suleiman I. Further sanjaks were removed with the progressive creation of new eyalets , and an official register c. 1644 records only fifteen sanjaks for the Rumelia Eyalet: The administrative division of the beylerbeylik of Rumelia between 1700-1730 was as follows: Sanjaks in the early 19th century: According to the state yearbook ( salname ) of the year 1847,

1677-478: The time, the beylerbey of Rumelia was the commander of the most important military force in the state in the form of the timariot sipahi cavalry, and his presence in the capital during this period made him a regular member of the Imperial Council ( divan ). For the same reason, powerful Grand Viziers like Mahmud Pasha Angelovic or Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha held the beylerbeylik in tandem with

1720-676: The transition to the more uniform vilayet system, it became part of the Salonica Vilayet . Eastern Rumelia became a new ottoman province in 1878 (formally until 1908 but united to the Principality of Bulgaria since 1885). The governor of the Rumelia Eyalet was titled "Beylerbey of Rumelia" (Rumeli beylerbeyi ) or "Vali of Rumelia" (Rumeli vali ). A list dated to 1475 lists seventeen subordinate sanjakbeys , who controlled sub-provinces or sanjaks , which also functioned as military commands: Another list, dating to

1763-560: Was in Adrianople ( Edirne ), Sofia , and finally Monastir ( Bitola ). Its reported area in an 1862 almanac was 48,119 square miles (124,630 km ). Initially termed beylerbeylik or generically vilayet ("province") of Rumeli, only after 1591 was the term eyalet used. The first beylerbey of Rumelia was Lala Shahin Pasha , who was awarded the title by Sultan Murad I as a reward for his capture of Adrianople ( Edirne ) in

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1806-403: Was the de facto cabinet of the Ottoman Empire for most of its history. Initially an informal gathering of the senior ministers presided over by the Sultan in person, in the mid-15th century the Council's composition and function became firmly regulated. The Grand vizier , who became the Sultan's deputy as the head of government, assumed the role of chairing the Council, which comprised also

1849-423: Was the largest and most important province of the Empire, containing key cities such as Edirne , Yanina ( Ioannina ), Sofia , Filibe ( Plovdiv ), Manastır/Monastir ( Bitola ), Üsküp ( Skopje ), and the major seaport of Selânik/Salonica ( Thessaloniki ). It was also among the oldest Ottoman eyalets, lasting more than 500 years with several territorial restructurings over the long course of its existence. The capital

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