(p.) In the Ottoman empire, the mīr-āk̲h̲ūr or Master of the Stables was the official given charge of all aspects relating to the supply and maintenance of the Ottoman sultan’s stables, the iṣṭabl-i ʿāmire . The wide-ranging services connected with the imperial stables were divided between two chief officials, the küčük mīr-āk̲h̲ūr or Master of the Lesser Stable, and the büyük mīr-āk̲h̲ūr or Master of the Great Stable, both of whom were high officers in the Palace Outer Service with the rank of Ag̲h̲as of the Stirrup ( rikāb ag̲h̲alari̊ ) (Gibb and Bowen, i, 82-…

(t.), a term of Ottoman military and administrative usage which denoted a particular category of troops amongst other Balkan Christian landholding or tax-exempt groups employed by the sultans to perform specific combat and other militarily-related tasks (for other groups, see eflāḳ and martolos). The term stems from the Slavonic root meaning “war”, “warrior”, which appears also in the office of Voywoda [ q.v.], likewise found in Ottoman usage. The woynuḳ s were especially useful to the sultans before the Ottoman state developed a fully-centra…

(t.), lit. “new troop”, a body of professional infantrymen of the Ottoman empire in its heyday. 1. Origins. The “new troop”, so-called not so much because of the novelty of the idea as because at the time of its introduction by the vizier K̲h̲ayr al-Dīn Pas̲h̲a [see d̲j̲andarli̊ ] in the 760s/1360s it opposed then-prevailing military traditions cherished by the frontier warriors. The predecessors of Murād I [ q.v.], rather than maintaining a standing army funded by the central fisc, had relied almost exclusively on the military services provided, on a voluntary …

(a.), "mine, ore, mineral, metal". In modern Arabic, the word mand̲j̲am denotes "mine", while muʿaddin means "miner" and d̲j̲amād is a mineral. In the vast Islamic empire, minerals played an important part. There was a great need for gold, silver and copper for the minting of coins and other uses. Iron ore was indispensable for the manufacture ¶ of iron and steel for arms and implements. Other minerals such as mercury, salt and alum, as well as pearls and precious stones, were necessary for everyday life. The empire was richly endowed with the various…