Honored by the Glory of Islam. Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman Europe

50 honored by the glory of islam

destruction.”^54 Kösem Sultan said that the room where they were meeting was

claustrophobic, and she went outside to the great pool, where she decided to

give the seal of offi ce to another.^55

The square fi lled with soldiers and the smell of gunpowder, and the city

was put under curfew. Armed Janissaries, set up at entrances to roads, seized

and killed those who dared venture outside. Accordingly, commoners gave up

explaining their problems to the sultan, for they saw that the Janissaries were

intent not to let them gather and approach the palace again.^56 Karaçelebizade

did not remain long in offi ce, either. He claimed that Kösem Sultan, the harem

eunuchs, and Janissaries were against him, especially after he was seen at the

head of a rebellion.^57

Mehmed IV asked another grand vizier why it was that “during my father’s

reign, the treasury was suffi cient for Janissary salaries and other expenditures.

Why is this not the case now?” He ordered him to calculate the state’s revenues

and expenses. The latter mainly consisted of the military payroll and outstripped

income.^58 This defi cit angered the sultan and he dismissed and executed the

grand vizier. Katip Çelebi attended the meeting at the palace of the treasurer

to discuss the reasons the treasury was empty.^59 He recorded pessimistically

that even if they said they had recited his treatise The Guide for the Rectifi cation

of Defects “to the eye of the sultan,” which argued that only a decisive, power-

ful leader who did not wilt in the face of opposition could resolve the fi nancial

and military problems, he knew “that the necessary action would not be taken”

because too many people had vested interests in continuing corrupt practices

that benefi ted individuals to the detriment of the empire.^60 Karaçelebizade con-

curred. The problem was simple: because “income was decreasing day after

day, and expenses were increasing moment by moment,” the treasury was not

able to pay salaries.^61 And no one was willing to give up their stipends. Naima

confi rms that no one listened to Katip Çelebi’s rescript for change, as the easi-

est thing to do was not do anything.^62

When describing the events of 1 654–56, Karaçelebizade rants against what

he sees as corrupt new fi nancial practices that led inevitably to problems of

sultanic legitimacy, abuse of commoners, loss of prosperity in the countryside,

and weakening of the borders of the empire. He begins by summarizing the

main economic problem, namely, the excess of expenses and paucity of in-

come. Corruption and bribery led to oppression, “the likes of which has not

been seen in a century.” The men of state invented what he terms “seditious

innovations,” the worst being the literal buying and selling of Ottoman state

offi ces “like commercial goods.” Like the farming of revenue, offi cial positions

were sold at auction every six months at the offi ce of the treasurer. New sal-

ary holders, “while taking a loan from the treasury upon receiving a position,