200 chapter 5
mukarrebân) up to the beginnings of Murad III’s sultanate. As long as Sokollu
Mehmed Pasha was grand vizier (praise of Sokollu is another topos shared with
Kitâb-ı müstetâb), eunuchs and other companions of the sultan did not inter-
fere in state affairs and order reigned in the world (the same assertion is made
for the grand viziers, who were undisturbed until Murad III’s enthronement:
A30; Ç41). Aziz Efendi, for his part, also puts the beginning of various detri-
mental practices (such as excessive number of viziers; M4–6) in Murad III’s
reign. In other parts of Koçi Bey’s work, the beginning of the decline is placed
later (for instance, timars were first given to strangers in 1584, at the same time
that intruders entered the janissary ranks; dismissals of şeyhülislams began in
1594); however, and in contrast to other authors (except perhaps Ali), he ad-
mits that signs of “decline” were apparent as early as the end of Süleyman’s
reign. In a couple of chapters (A61–64; Ç79–82) exactly composed to recapitu-
late his view of the Süleymanic era as the “Golden Age” of the state,25 he in fact
revises this assumption. After stating that, during Süleyman’s reign, the empire
had reached its fullest expansion and might and that the treasury was fuller
than ever before, he observes that the roots of its decline (“the corruption of
the world”) also first appeared at this time (an idea first seen in Ali’s Künhü’l-
ahbâr).26 This explains why, the title of the chapter notwithstanding (“On the
perfection of the late Sultan Süleyman’s era”), its content is a eulogy not of
Süleyman but of his father, Selim I. Among other things, Selim paid attention
to meritocracy and justice, and his respect for the Sharia was absolute: every-
body was subject to the old Ottoman laws and abstained from any innovations
(bid’at). Süleyman, in contrast, made various changes (e.g. he stopped attend-
ing imperial councils in person, he appointed his private servant İbrahim
Pasha as grand vizier, etc.) that brought about decline and corruption.
There are three main fields in which these authors all agree that departures
from the “old law” produced significant problems: the intrusion of strangers
into the janissary ranks and the ensuing increase in their numbers; the disrup-
tion of the timariot system; and the functioning of the government at the high-
est level. As a general remark, it may be said that, whereas all three of these
departures were described and criticized in earlier treatises as well, the level
of detail as regards concrete information is, here, much fuller. The issue of the
janissaries, however, is relatively new in Ottoman tracts: as has been seen, Ali
25 These final chapters, i.e. on the perfection and decline of the Süleymanic era and the
subsequent digression on the “moral requirements” of a ruler (Koçi Bey – Aksüt 61–67)
are missing in almost half the manuscripts of the treatise, showing that Koçi Bey wrote
two versions (Murphey 1981, 1097).
26 See Fleischer 1986a, 258–259.