“Mirrors for Princes”: The Decline Theorists^155
also has specific counsel concerning devşirme (see Y106–7), while emphasiz-
ing the need for constant military training (Y99) and campaign organization
(Y96, 101, 104, 118, 119–21) with special reference to the struggle against the
Persians (Y122–25). The author also gives suggestions regarding the sipahis,
such as that they should have armed servants and that they should not lose their
fiefs if they are ill during campaigns (Y109–10). But his longest chapters con-
cern sartorial limitations: soldiers must only wear what is ordained for them,
which the author describes at length and in great detail (Y96–100, 112–14). This
advice is not just restricted to soldiers: various remarks stress that differ-
ent classes (ekabir, edna, but also Christians and Jews) should wear different
clothes (Y 95, 117). As for Hırzü’l-mülûk, it devotes one of its four chapters to
the army (Y185–89, A46–50); given the dating of the two texts, it is interesting
that its author has little to say on the janissaries’ discipline and organization.
He is content to argue that the strict rules for their salary, defined in accor-
dance with their position, must be applied universally and without exception;
there must be an upper level to their wages that cannot be surpassed.
Furthermore, provincial governors should scrutinize timariots in order to see
whether they possess their fief lawfully (but this should not apply to those who
have held a fief for more than ten years: Y185–86, A46).
Finally, another common concern of the two texts is the ulema. According
to the author of Kitâbu mesâlih, it is this class that provides the world order
(nizam-i alem bunlarun iledir: Y91). They must be guaranteed steady posts
and short mülazemet periods (less than six months; this was a kind of waiting
period, during which a candidate was out of work until a suitable vacant post
appeared). The author complains that, while many educated ulema wait for
years for a post, some judges and scholars take bribes and dress like sipahis;
he suggests that the latter be given timars (and, he remarks, “the class of the
sipahi would benefit if scholars were among them”) so that posts open up for
those waiting (Y91–92). This rather odd proposition stands out clearly, as the
rest of the advice is more traditional: the ulema must feel powerful enough not
to fear local military officers (Y91–92), they cannot be addicted to drugs (Y95),23
preachers must go with the army on campaign (Y 125), and so on. Similarly,
the chapter on the ulema in Hırzü’l-mülûk examines various ulema posts and
ranks, complaining that people with no education or knowledge use bribery
23 While “in other professions, addiction not only is not shameful, it also increases the mas-
tery of the addict” (cf. Sariyannis 2007, 312). The author has similar concerns about pro-
vincial governors (Y96), who should be experienced in war rather than in bureaucracy
(“be them scribes of the treasury or of another office”) or poetry (“they should not belong
to the kind of wits, or to the kind of poets”).