218 chapter 5
and external peace that had prevailed for a number of years must have caused
the increased production of “administration manuals”, like those just exam-
ined, which describe the rules of the state in their ideal form. Indeed, Ayn Ali’s
work (or rather two works), completed c. 1610,57 is the main prototype for this
“administration manuals” genre. Müezzinzâde (as Kâtib Çelebi calls him) Ayn
Ali was a scribe in the mukabele bureau and the Imperial Council, while he
also served as intendant of the imperial registry (emin-i defter-i hakani) in 1607.
According to Bursalı Mehmed Tahir, he was also defterdar of Egypt in 1609. His
two works, which were very popular and influential,58 are Kavânîn-i âl-ı Osmân
der hulâsa-ı mezâmîn-i defter-i dîvân (“Rules of the House of Osman summing
up the contents of the registry of the Imperial Council”) and Risâle-i vazife-
horân ve merâtib-i bendegân-i âl-i Osman (“Treatise on the salaried people and
the ranks of the slaves of the House of Osman”).
At the beginning of his first treatise, Kavânîn-i âl-ı Osmân ... (AA2–81; T90–
111; A28–68), Ayn Ali states his aim: to list the administrative and financial
units of the empire, and the ranks and numbers of its officials and soldiers,
with a view to describing the details of the timar system, because “it took a
long time to search for all this information in various scattered registers”. The
work is formed of seven chapters and a conclusion. Ayn Ali lists in detail the
has and saliyane lands, as well as the provinces (beylerbeylik) of the empire,
the districts (sancak) and their rules, the fiefs of the sancak financial officials,
the structure of the timars and their military output in each province, as well
as the rules and terminology of the system: the terms and types of fiefs and the
rules on their bestowal and allotment to various ranks of soldiers and officers.
In the final chapter, which is primarily what differentiates Ayn Ali’s work from
other manuals, the author proposes some measures for redressing shortcom-
ings and failures in the timar system (zeamet ve timar hususunda olan ihtilal).
The causes for the present situation are two-fold, he says: on the one hand, the
timariots do not care for their duties and, especially, for the soldiers they have
to maintain, sending their servants and slaves (hidmetkâr ve abd-i müştera) on
57 The Kavanin is dedicated to Sultan Ahmed I and his grand vizier, Kuyucu Murad Pasha, so
it must have been completed between 1606 and 1611. Ayn Ali describes himself as the “ex-
defter-i hakani emini”, so 1607 should be a terminus post quem. As for the Risale-i vazife-
horan, it uses a register of 1609.
58 More than 40 MSS of the Kavanin survive, including two French translations made in the
1730s. One MS (Fatih 3497) seems to have been an earlier recension of the text by the au-
thor (Howard 2008, 88–89). There are numerous editions: Ayn Ali 1978; Ayn Ali – Tuncer
1962 (a very poor edition); Akgündüz 1990–1996, 9:28–126 (with facs.). On Ayn Ali’s work,
see Gökbilgin 1991, 203–206; Gökbilgin 1978; Howard 1988; Howard 2007, 152–166; Howard
2008.