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, a family of Ottoman viziers who rose to prominence in the latter half of the 11th/17th century and dominated Ottoman life for much of that period, bringing a halt for some time to the decline of the empire, instituting internal reforms and gaining new conquests. The name derives from the close association of the founder of the family, Köprülü Meḥmed Pas̲h̲a, with the town of Köprü [ q.v.] (then in the sand̲j̲aḳ of Amasya), which, in turn, was later called Vezīr-Köprü through its association ¶ with the family (and to distinguish it from the near-by Tas̲h̲ Köprü). That Meḥmed Pa…

(?1493-942/1536), Grand Vizier of Süleymān I, known to the chroniclers as ‘Maḳbūl’ (“the favourite”) and ‘Maḳtūl’ (“the executed”), was probably born near Parga, on the coast of Epirus. Enslaved as a child, he was brought up in the “Palace School”, and then attached to the service of Prince Süleymān while he was governor of Maʿnīsa (according to other accounts he was taken in a raid by Iskender Pas̲h̲a and presented to Prince Süleymān at Kefe; or was taken by pirates and sold to a widow near Maʿ…

, (beglik), a term formed by joining the adjectival and relative suffix lik to bey ( beg , beg) which was an old Turkish title [see beg ]. The word bey is said to correspond to the Arabic amīr , and beylik to imāra . The term beylik thus denotes both the title and post (or function) of a Bey , and the territory (domain) under the rule of a Bey. Later, by extension, it came tomean also “state, government”, and, at the same time, a political and administrative entity sometimes possessing a certain autonomy. When the Ottoman Empire was established, ʿOt̲h̲mān Bey, the…

( Ḥakīm-bas̲h̲i̊ ), “Chief of the Physicians”, in the Ottoman Empire the title of the chief Palace physician, who was at the same ¶ time head of the health services of the state: besides being in charge of all the Palace physicians, surgeons, oculists, pharmacists, etc., he exercised supervision over all the physicians of the Empire, Muslim or non-Muslim; it was he who appointed and dismissed all physicians, surgeons and pharmacists, who kept a check on them, who examined aspirants to these professions, and who appointed and promoted worthy candidates. Physicians were employed in the…

, Ḳod̲j̲a, Darwīs̲h̲, d. 904/1498, Ottoman Grand Vizier. Of Albanian origin, he came through the dews̲h̲irme to the Palace School. In 876/1472, as beylerbeyi of Anadolu, he fought under Prince Muṣṭafā, wālī of Konya, against the Aḳḳoyunlu Yūsufča Mīrzā. In the battle against Uzun Ḥasan at Otluk-beli in 878/1473, he was in command of the vanguard. He served in the Bog̲h̲dan campaign of 881/1476 and, as beylerbeyi of Rumeli, in the operations in Albania and the siege of Is̲h̲kodra (883/1478). After the acc…

(t.), an official of the central administration of the Ottoman Empire; before the tanẓīmāt , he was directly subordinate to the Reʾīs ül-Küttāb ; he made copies of reports written by the latter, and also drafted reports on minor matters; in short, he performed all the clerical duties connected with the office of Reʾīs ül-Küttāb. Moreover, he was present at meetings between the Reʾīs Efendi and ambassadors, and kept official minutes of the proceedings. He, like the Beylikd̲j̲i , held the title of Ḵh̲ w ād̲j̲agānli̊ḳ . The name and origin of this office derives from the Persian word āmad …

(Persian plural of d̲j̲ānbāz, see previous article)—the name of a military corps in the Ottoman Empire. It is not known when exactly the corps was founded, although it may have been in the reign of Ork̲h̲ān G̲h̲āzī [ q.v.]. The d̲j̲ānbāzān served only in time of war, like the ʿazab [ q.v.], g̲h̲arībān and čerek̲h̲ōr (“territorial” miners and sappers). Grzegorzewski ( Z sidzyllatów Rumelijskich epoki wyprawy wiedeńskiej , Lwôw 1912, 53 ff.) believes, however, that they were organized in 844/1440 by Murād II [ q.v.] to meet the first Balkan expedition of John Hunyady and that the…

, Adrianople —a city lying at the confluence of the Tund̲j̲a and Arda with the Merič (Maritsa); the capital of the Ottomans after Bursa (Brusa), and now the administrative centre of the vilâyet (province) of the same name and, traditionally, the centre of Turkis̲h̲ (now Eastern) Thrace (Trakya or Pas̲h̲a-eli). Its historical importance derives from the fact that it lies on the main road from Asia Minor to the Balkans, where it is the first important staging point after Istanbul. It guards the eastern entr…

, Abu ’l-K̲h̲ayr Muḥammad (874-919/1470-1513), Ottoman prince and eldest of the eight sons of Sultan Bāyazīd II [ q.v.]. He was born in Amasya where his father was governor (Laṭīfī, Tad̲h̲kira , 66; Nis̲h̲ānd̲j̲ī Meḥmed Pas̲h̲a, Taʾrīk̲h̲, 181; Cf. Kemāl-pas̲h̲a-zāde, Tawārīk̲h̲-i āl-i ʿOt̲h̲mān , Millet ms. 32, f. 23 etc., and Hüseyin Hüsameddin, Amasya tarihi, iii, 226). He spent his childhood and had his early education in the Old Palace at Istanbul in the care of his grandfather Meḥemmed II, after whose death in 886/1481 he was briefly placed o…

, eighteenth Ottoman Sultan, was born on 12 S̲h̲awwāl 1024/4 November 1615, the youngest son of Aḥmad I [ q.v.]. He spent all his early life in close confinement, in constant fear of being put to death (as four of his elder brothers were); so that when Murād IV [ q.v.] died and Ibrāhīm, the sole surviving prince of the dynasty, was called to ascend the throne, only the combined persuasions of his mother Kösem and the Grand Vizier Ḳara Muṣṭafā Pas̲h̲a [ qq.v.] induced him to emerge (16 S̲h̲awwāl 1049/8 February 1640). The capable Ḳara Muṣṭafā remained in power for the first four years of…

, now Alexandropolis, town on the Aegean coast of Thrace, founded in 1871, after the construction of the branch railway from the main Rumeli line. Being an outlet for the products of the hinterland it prospered rapidly, so that in 1300/1883 it supplanted Dimetoka as the centre of a sand̲j̲aḳ , ( mutaṣarri̊fli̊ḳ ) of the wilāyet of Edirne. In 1894 the sand̲j̲aḳ, of Dede Ag̲h̲ač comprised the kaḍās of Dede Ag̲h̲ač, Enez (Inos) and Sofrulu; the ḳaḍā of Dede Ag̲h̲ač comprised three nāḥiyes , Fered̲j̲ik, Meg̲h̲ri and Semadrek, and 41 villages. This was the posi…