206 chapter 5
suggestion of restraining the power of the army; Kınalızade’s similar theorizing
was not used by Koçi Bey or the anonymous author of Kitâb-ı müstetâb. Yet we
can clearly see this concept behind the early seventeenth-century emphasis on
social compartmentalization; the aversion to social mobility, exhibited so elo-
quently in Koçi Bey’s lament about ex-peasant intruders in the janissary army
or of the sipahis having to take up agriculture, is founded on the concept of
borderlines (hadd) defining every person’s position and socio-political status.
In the same way, just as did Kitâbu mesâlih earlier, the first of the Veliyuddin
memoranda urges the sultan to impose clothing restrictions with a view to
prohibiting ostentation (M131: ve ziyneti ref ’ edüb herkese mikdarına ve merati-
bine göre bir hadd ta ’yyin olunub).
Coming now to the third field of the distortions of the “old law”, the high
echelons of government, at first glance it is difficult to see what differentiates
these early seventeenth-century authors from their adab predecessors. The
emphasis on wise and experienced viziers, however, here has certain features
that are typical of the era. First of all, following a trend seen earlier, the main
responsibility lies with the vizier, not the sultan. This is stated more explicitly
in Kitâb-ı müstetâb, where we read that the only person responsible for the
affairs of the state (saltanata müte’allik umuru) must be the grand vizier, and
no-one else. Grand viziers used to be feared by everyone; now they themselves
fear everyone who has access to or influence over the sultan (Y17–23, A616–22).
The sultan is like “a glorious bird of the spirit of the world”, whose body is the
wise ulema; its right wing is the grand vizier, its left one the kapu ağası (chief
eunuch) of the sultan’s harem. Now, after the glorious years that saw members
of the ulema such as Ebussu’ud, viziers such as Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, and
kapu ağaları such as Mahmud Ağa, the situation is lamentable. The kapu ağası
should be the left-hand vizier to the sultan and second only to the grand vizier;
sultans are to consult with kapu ağaları on various serious matters. After the
aforementioned Mahmud Ağa, however, things changed; instead of being a
product of the deşirme system, educated and trained in the palace, kapu ağaları
are now urban dwellers who, one way or another, find their way into the kul
ranks. Now, if it was appropriate to employ such people in the palace, the glori-
ous rulers of the past would not have ordained the devşirme system (Y25–27,
A625–26). This multi-faceted view of power fits well with the names of peo-
ple cited: from Sokollu to Ebussu’ud, they were all independent personalities
who wrought actual power, counterbalancing the sultan’s personal will.32 The
32 The same applies for Mahmud Ağa: it appears that his successor, Gazanfer Ağa, was the
first in a line of kapı ağaları who were the personal choices of the sultan to curb the extra-
courtier power of the viziers: Tezcan 2010a, 101.