Ottoman Palace Rİtuals and Ceremonies

Yabancı devletler n "Kapı" olarak anılan Osmanlı Sarayı'na elç ler göndermes se Devlet-Âl yye'n n azamet n n b r gösterges olarak algılanmış ve bu anlayış net ces nde elç göndermeler ne z n ver lerek Osmanlı başkent n n dost veya düşman bütün devletlerden gelecek olan elç lere açık olduğu vurgusu yapılmıştır. Yabancı elç ler n Kapı'ya gel şler n n devlet n büyüklüğünün b r gösterges olarak algılanması, bu büyüklüğün, elç ler n şahsında elç gönderen devletlere göster lmes sonucunu doğurmuştur. Elç y gönderen devlete ver lmek stenen mesajlarla çoğu kere elç ler n yüzleşmek zorunda kalması, elç lere olan davranış b ç mler ne, onların ağırlanmalarına ve huzura kabuller ne farklı mot fler katmıştır. Bu bağlamda Osmanlı Devlet 'nde elç lere yapılan muamelelerde, üç kel me le özetleneb lecek üç ana temaya vurgu yapıldığı görülmekted r: KUDRET, HEYBET VE ADALET… LÇİ göndermek ve elç kabul etmek, devletler ç n tar h boyunca kullanılan bağımsızlık E semboller nden olmuştur. Bu nedenle devletler elç göndermeye ve elç kabuller ne oldukça fazla önem verm şlerd r. Devletler n b rb rler ne vermek sted kler mesajlar ç n gönder len elç ler n yanı sıra elç kabuller de oldukça müsa t b r zem n teşk l etm ş ve ver lmek stenen bu mesajlar, elç lerde bırakılacak zlen mlerle şek llend r lmeye çalışılmıştır. Bu anlamda elç lere karşı serg lenen davranışlar b r devletten d ğer ne farklılık göstereb lm ş, bu nedenle elç ler n ağırlanması, onlara karşı olan davranış b ç mler ve yapılan muameleler, devletler b rb rler nden ayırt ed c özell kler taşımıştır.

In the sixteenth-century Ottoman world, state ideology was to a great extent reflected in historians' perceptions and writings. What affected the historian's pen was manifested in the brush of the painter/designer (na āş) as well. These miniatures sometimes depicted events as they happened but at other times they only echoed how the parties involved wanted those events to be portrayed. The sultans in particular were concerned about how they and the state would be perceived by others in written and visual form. 1 Since sultans wished to be seen as moral role models for their subjects, they did not want their flaws ever to be revealed. This motivation affected the official historiography considerably. In addition to the sovereign image promoted by statesmen and scholars , the hierarchical nature of the components of the Ottoman state was always deemed of paramount importance and, as a result, the rules needed to maintain this structure were written in the form of legal codes (sing. ānūnnāme) and protocol registers. Within such a context, the state was party to the formation and maintenance of its political ideology, as were the writer and the painter, with their distinct personal backgrounds and political orientations. The perspectives of these parties have always affected how historical events were recorded. This particular study postulates that miniatures featuring ceremonies were sometimes used as if they were historical records, documenting how these occasions actually unfolded, while at other times they were intended to be visual protocol registers, showing how these events were supposed to have taken place. TEXTUAL AND VISUAL APPROACHES TO DESCRIBING HISTORICAL EVENTS Miniatures in Ottoman historical manuscripts are mostly in harmony with the texts they accompany. Upon close examination, we see that the authors of these manuscripts exerted a great effort to narrate events as they occurred and that same effort is also highly apparent in the miniatures. However, it is impossible for a historian or a painter to be totally unbiased. In recording events, official historians made sure that they conformed to the state ideology. Consequently, while examining historical texts, the reader should always consider the possibility that the events in question were chronicled not as they actually happened but as the author believed they were supposed to have occurred in order to reflect and validate state ideology. This point is also valid with respect to the painters of miniatures. Historical manuscripts from the sixteenth century were mostly written by state officials for the sultans and statesmen. 2 Among such works, Selaniki's history (Tārī-i Selānīkī), 3 written intermittently between 1563 and 1595, is noteworthy, since it was not composed at the behest of those in power but on the inclination of the historian himself, who could then write it as he wished. In a manuscript such as this, we see how a his-torian's background might be reflected in the way he narrated events. In such instances, historians were comparatively freer than they were with works for which they had received a royal commission (or ones that they gave to a sultan or statesmen even when they had no official support), since there was no predetermined individual to whom the work at hand was to be presented.

İlk dönemlerde Rumeli’de sonraki yüzyıllarda Anadolu’da bir köyde hayata gelen
bir çocuk fiziki özellikleri ve yetenekleri ile seçilerek devşirme sistemi içine girmektedir.
Sistem içinde, kabiliyeti ve itaatkârlığı oranında yükselerek, hazırlık saraylarından/
mekteplerinden sonra Topkapı Sarayı’na gelmektedir. Enderûn’da, devşirilerek gelenler
dışında, müteferrikalar, hediye olarak gelen köleler, iltimaslılar, zâdeler ve çıraklar da
bulunmaktadır. Enderûn’da eğitim ve seçimlere tabi tutularak; Büyük Oda, Küçük Oda,
Seferli Koğuşu, Doğancı Koğuşu, Kilerli Koğuşu, Hazine Koğuşu’nda onlarca yıl eğitim
gördükten sonra Has Oda’ya terfi etmektedir. Enderûn teşkilatı içinde yer alan bu
koğuşların her birinde; kaç kişinin eğitim göreceği, hangi kurallarla koğuş içinde terfi
edileceği, hangi kıyafetleri giyecekleri, koğuş mevcutları yanında yaptıkları hizmetler de
farklılık göstermektedir. Büyük Oda ve Küçük Oda’ya mensup ağaların kıyafetleri diğer
koğuşlardan farklı olduğu gibi padişaha sundukları bir hizmette bulunmamaktadır. Bu
çalışmada koğuşlar içindeki hiyerarşik yapı sınıflandırılarak, her sınıfta bulunan görevlilerin unvanları, vazifeleri, kıyafetleri, bahşişleri, terfileri, ilmî çalışmaları tespit edilmeye çalışılacaktır. Enderûn teşkilatı çalışırken sıklıkla karşılaşılan; “acemilik”, “cülus bahşişi”, “bayram inamı” gibi terimlerin koğuştan koğuşa gösterdiği farklılık irdelenecektir. Eğitimin son basamağı olan Has Oda; sınırlı kontenjanı, özel kuralları, sınıflandırması, ağaların sıra dışı ayrıcalıkları ve padişahla kurdukları olağanüstü ilişkilerle tüm ağaların ortak hayalidir.

A child who came to life in a village of Rumelia the first periods and of Anatolia in
the following centuries, is selected with his physical characteristics and abilities, and
enters the recruitment system. Within his system, he rises in proportion to his capability and obedience and comes to Topkapı Palace after preparatory palaces/schools. In Enderûn, besides the recruited ones, there are also connoisseurs, slaves who come as gifts, benefactors, people and apprentices. By being subjected to education and elections in Enderûn, after decades of education in Büyük Oda, Küçük Oda, Seferli Ward, Doğancı Ward, Kilerli Ward, and Treasury Ward, he is promoted to the Privy Chamber. In each of these wards within the Enderûn organization; how many people will be educated, under which rules will be promoted within the ward, which clothes they will be worn, and the services they provide besides the wards are also differ from each other. While the clothes of the aghas belonging to Büyük Oda and Küçük Oda are different from the other wards, they do not serve the sultan. In this study, by classifying the hierarchical structure in the wards, the titles, duties, clothes, gratuities, promotions, scientific studies of the officers in each class will be tried to be determined. Frequently encountered cases while studying the Enderûn organization, such as the difference between terms of “inexperience”, “ enthronement tip”, “feast tip” from ward to ward, will also be examined. The Privy Chamber which is the last step of education, with its limited quota, special rules, classification, extraordinary privileges of the aghas with the extraordinary relationships they established with the sultan, is the common dream of all aghas.

Topkapı Sarayı Haremi --Osmanlı Hanedan ailesinin konutu olarak--hükümranlık yapısını kavramak için temel örneklerden biridir. Bu yazının çıkış noktası "mimarlık görsel bir iletişim aracıdır" kabulüdür. Osmanlı Hanedanı kendi konutunu Osmanlı hükümranlığının sergilenişine hizmet verecek bir iletişim aracı olarak da kullanmıştır.

Access to the Ottoman sultans was highly regulated in terms of both space and ceremonial. This was particularly true in the case of ambassadors arriving from foreign states to present their credentials at the centre of imperial life, Topkapı Palace. Using the example of British ambassadors in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, this paper will examine how the Ottoman state used these audience ceremonies to convey an imperial Weltanschauung. The Ottoman court was not simply the administrative epicentre of a trans-continental, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic, and multi-confessional polity, but served as a space in which the notion of a universal monarchy could be played out to Ottoman elites, foreign representatives, and the inhabitants of Istanbul. Ambassadors were used as spectators and as participants in a number of events designed to impress upon them the wealth and might of the Ottoman Empire, and to place the ambassadors, as representatives of their governments, in a set position within the hierarchy of the Ottoman understanding of the political world.

Saray teşkilatı denilince akla hemen Enderun geliyorsa da Enderun’dan da önce var
olan teşkilat Babüssaade teşkilatıdır. Babüssaade ağalarının tamamı beyaz tenli hadım
ağalardan oluştuğu için ak ağalar olarak da isimlendirilen bu ağaların saraydaki görev
süreleri de Enderunlular’dan çok daha uzundur. Kurumun amiri Babüssaade ağası/Kapı
ağasına tüm kaynaklarda rastlanmakla birlikte teşkilatla ilgili detaylı bilgiye ulaşmak
mümkün olamamaktadır. Belki de teşkilatı oluşturan ağaların ak hadımlardan oluşması
her dönemde sansürlenmesine sebep olmuştur. Kroniklerin sarayla ilgili konulara
değinmekten çekindiği herkesin malumudur. Kapı ağalarının Eski Saray, Edirne Sarayı,
Galata Sarayı, İbrahim Paşa Sarayı, Enderun ve Harem-i Hümayun’un amirliği yanında
devlet içindeki tartışılmaz güçleri onlarla ilgili bilgi vermeyi tehlikeli kılmış da olabilir.

Although Enderun comes to mind immediately when it comes to Palace Organization, the organization that existed before Enderun, is the Babüssaade Organization. Since all the Babüssaade agha sare white-skinned eunuchs, they are also named as ak aghas, and their term of office in the palace is much longer than the Enderunites. Although Babüssaade Agha / Kapı Aghasi, the Supervisor of this Organisation, is encountered in all sources, it is not possible to reach detailed information about the organization. Perhaps, the fact that the aghas forming the organization, being akhadims caused it to be censored in every period. As it is well known by everyone that the chronicles are reluctant to talk about the issues related to the palace, the unquestionable power of chief white eunuch in government, in addition commanding the Old Palace,

SIR – There were several significant factual errors in your review of Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities by Bettany Hughes (Saturday Review, January 28):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/disease-ridden-harems-stolen-relics-hidden-story-istanbul/

Most of these errors could have been corrected with reference to readily available general histories of the Ottoman
Empire....

Edirne Kapı is a gate in the Byzantine land walls of Constantinople. Constructed in the fifth century, Edirne Kapı would become central to the city’s Ottoman topography after Mehmet II’s conquest of the city in 1453. The Ottoman additions to Edirne Kapı and the rise in the gate’s ceremonial importance have been the focus of limited scholarship. I suggest that the transformation of Edirne Kapı adapted Byzantine imperial iconography to an Ottoman visual language while altering Constantinople’s ceremonial topography.

The visual program of Edirne Kapı emulated earlier Byzantine additions to the walls and gates of the city. Ornamental marble plaques added to the gate by Bayezid II and Murad IV commemorate renovatio and military victory. Reliefs added to the lintel in the eighteenth century depict Dhū l-Fiqār, the double-bladed sword of Ali held at the Ottoman court. Combined, the additions to Edirne Kapı create an Ottoman statement of renovatio, triumph, and legitimacy through imperial ownership of relics.

While the Edirne Kapı visual program is an expression of adapted continuity, likewise the gate’s ceremonial function in the Ottoman city represents an emulation of Byzantine practices. Sultans entered the city at Edirne Kapı after their accession ceremonies and there the court received relics such as the cover for the Kaaba in Mecca. Through the adaptation of Byzantine ceremonial iconography and topography, the transformation of Edirne Kapı legitimized the Ottoman right to rule the newly conquered city.