Abstract:

The grand viziers, who constituted the elite ruling class of the Ottoman Empire, were also the elite class of Ottoman cultural life. Focusing on the knowledge and qualifications of Ottoman statesmen, this study examines the book collection of the 18th century grand vizier Kabakulak İbrahim Pasha. For this purpose, the Muhallefat book numbered 12547 in the D.BŞM.MHF classification and the Harc-ı Hassa book numbered 4109 in the TS.MA.d classification in the Ottoman Presidential Archives have been used as the main sources. The research focuses on the diversity of works in Pasha's personal library and how they influenced his thinking. The books are divided into two main categories: religious works and natural sciences. Religious works include Mushaf-i Sharif, tafsir, hadith, Sufism, and prayer books, while the category of exact sciences includes works from the fields of history, biography, politics, law, medicine, astronomy, and literature. This categorization reflects the Pasha's efforts to be knowledgeable not only in the fields of law and administration, but also in a wide range of fields such as Sufism, history, and geography. The study emphasizes that Pasha's choice of books plays a crucial role in understanding the strategies of the Ottoman bureaucracy and administrators to cope with the challenges of the period. In this context, Kabakulak Ibrahim Pasha's personal library is analyzed not only as a collection, but also as a collection of the intellectual atmosphere and bureaucratic skills of the period.

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