Abstract:

The chief administrative unit of the Ottoman Empire in the Classical Age was ‘sanjak(sub-province)’. Governed by a sanjak-beg, who was appointed by the central government, the sanjak had its military and administrative officials selected from the groups of army (seyfiye), scholars (ilmiye) and administration (kalemiye). A Sanjak-beg, who was initially the chief of the timariots in the rural region and later also the local administrator, delegated the Sultan’s executive authority in the sanjak, while a “quadi (judge of Islamic law)”, as the administrator of the kaza (sub-division of a sanjak), represented the judicial power of the Sultan. The sanjakbeg shared his authority and duties with both his superior(beylerbeyi) in the hierarchy of provincial administration, and the quadi. Thus, the Ottoman Empire was able to protect the division of responsibilites in the provincial administration and to follow the policy of a balance of power. This study gives information about the provincial-military administrators, such as sanjak-beg, regiment commander (alaybeyi, mir-alay), head of troops (çeribaşı), commander of a town (subaşı), fortress commander (dizdar), fortress captain (kale kethüdası), and also the judicial administrators who served in the kazas, such as quadi (judge/administrator), deputy judge (naip), and their term of office and official duties in the XVIth century

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