The Imperial Heyday 139
the appointments of the district governors (sancakbeyis), etc. The same level
of detail is apparent in the chapter discussing the affairs of the army when on
campaign (T25–35); issues such as the importance of logistical planning before
the campaign starts, the spatial planning of a camp, and naval warfare (Lütfi
was in charge of the fleet operating in the Adriatic and which besieged Corfu
in 1537) show the author’s experience but are also, for the first time, judged fit
for a work of political advice, thus departing from both the morality-centered
model of Tusi and his successors and the abstract advice of Persian “mirrors
for princes”.
Similar observations can be made regarding Lütfi’s views on financial mat-
ters. He had already stressed that unclaimed inheritances must be kept guard-
ed in the treasury for seven years, waiting for an heir to appear, because:
the properties of people ought not to become the property of the sul-
tan for no reason, since this leads to the death of his power (emval-i halk
bi-vech dahil-i mal-i padişahi olmak fena-yı devlet daldır).Again for the first time, a whole chapter (T35–40) deals with the treasury, and
Lütfi stresses that (T35)
the power of the king comes with the treasury, and the treasury comes
with taking measures and not with oppression.Afterwards, he once again recounts personal experience: when he became
grand vizier, the treasury was in a desperate condition. Sometimes it had to
be supplemented from the external old treasury (taşrada mevcud olan eski
hazine; Lütfi must have meant the inner treasury);110 this, he writes, is a disor-
der (ihtilâl), because revenues must always be greater than expenditure (but,
later, Lütfi also notes that the revenue from Egypt belongs to the sultan person-
ally as “pocket-money”, bi’z-zat ceb harclığı). The grand vizier must take care of
this issue in certain ways: first, by decreasing the number of the sultan’s slaves,
the kuls, and keeping their lists tidy and reliable (here the phrase asker az gerek
öz gerek, “the army must be few in number and pure in essence”, which was
to be frequently cited in subsequent advice books); second, by appointing as
defterdars people with experience and wisdom, who know how to increase the
revenues of the state, and who will not be led by greed and egotism. Salaries
must not be increased, as far as possible, and pensions must be handled with
care; here, Lütfi gives a list of the pensions that should be given to each retired
110 On the inner and outer treasury see Uzunçarşılı 1978, 73ff.; Sariyannis 2013, 112–114.