Monday, August 30, 2021

Vizier



vizier
vizier ( vazir) (vizir) (vasir) (vesir) (vezir) (wazir).  Title of ministers of state and of the highest dignitaries in several Near Eastern kingdoms, especially in the Ottoman Empire.  The Arabs took over the term from Sasanian Iran, and in later times the Persians took it back as if it were really Arabic.  The signet-ring was the visible badge of the office.  Under the Ottomans the first vizier is said to have been ‘Ala’ al-Din, brother of Sultan Orkhan ibn ‘Othman.  The so-called “dome viziers” sat with the Grand Vizier under the dome in the palace, assisted him and replaced him during his absence.  The office disappeared with the Ottoman Empire in 1923.

Vizier as an Arabic term refers to the civil administrative chief who leads the various diwans.   The vizier also controls the revenues and expenses of the state.  Beginning with the Seljuks, the vizier received ten percent of the revenues of the state as his annual salary.  A vizier is also known as as a vizir or wazir.

Vizier was a term which was used to designate the person who, and the institution which, represented the ruler towrds his subjects.  The vizier was in many respects the prime minister of his time.  The term comes from old Iranian Pahlavi vcir which was used for a judge.

The two main empires which used the institution of vizier were the Abbasids (750-1258) and the Ottomans (1300-1922).  The term vizier was also used for the head of the administration in ancient Egypt from around 2575 B.C.T.   However, the Egyptians never used the term vizier themselves, but the term is used by modern historians when translating.

Their representatives function in the Abbasid caliphate and the Ottoman Empire, was central -- many other kingdoms and empires before and after were ruled directly by the formal ruler.  The Umayyads who preceded the Abbasids are a good example of direct rule. 

At first the office among the Ottomans was called pervane, which was formed according to Seljuk patterns.  In 1380, the term vizier was introduced, and could be used for several persons at the same time.  These persons had the highest rank in the ruling institutions.

From the mid-fifteenth century under Sultan Mehmed II, the title vizier came to be used for the chier minister, just with the epithet “grand.”  To him a number of lower (called “dome”) viziers were appointed.  During war, of which there were numerous, the grand vizier served as military commander.  At such times, the lower viziers represented the grand vizier in the daily administration.

Later on, the title “vizier” was given also to provincial governors and high officials.

In 1654, the grand vizier acquired an official residence.  In this residence, called Babiali, the main administration for the empire was located.

In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the grand vizier had a council of ministers which were appointed by the sultan. 

From 1908, the grand vizier got the right to appoint the ministers himself.  With the end of the empire in 1922, the title and institution of the vizier disappeared.

The vizier was originally the chief minister or representative of the ʿAbbāsid caliphs and later a high administrative officer in various Muslim countries, among Arabs, Persians, Turks, Mongols, and other eastern peoples.

The office took shape during its tenure by the Barmakid (Barmecide) family in the 8th century. The ʿAbbāsid vizier stood between sovereign and subjects, representing the former in all matters touching the latter. This withdrawal of the head of state from direct contact with his people was unknown to the previous Umayyad caliphate and was certainly an imitation of Persian usage.

Under the early Ottoman sultans, the office was called pervane (“advice”), a usage inherited from the Seljuqs of Anatolia. The Ottoman title vizier was first conferred on a military commander about 1380. Thenceforth until the conquest of Istanbul (1453), it denoted the highest rank in the ruling institution and could be held simultaneously by several persons, including the ministers of state. In this period members of the powerful Çandarli family served periodically as ministers and held the rank of vizier.

Under the sultan Mehmed II (r. 1444–46, 1451–81), the Ottomans assumed the old Islamic practice of giving the title vizier to the office of the chief minister, but they had to use the distinguishing epithet “grand.” A number of viziers, known as the “dome viziers,” were appointed to assist the grand vizier, to replace him when he was absent on campaign, and to command armies when required. Later the title vizier was granted to provincial governors and to high officials such as the defterdar (finance officer).

The grand vizier was the absolute representative of the sultan, whose signet ring he kept as an insignia of office. His actual power, however, varied with the vigor of the sultans. In 1654 the grand vizier acquired an official residence known as the Babıâli (Sublime Porte), which replaced the palace as the effective center of Ottoman government. Beginning in the 19th century, the grand viziers presided over the council of ministers, appointed by the sultan.  After 1908 they acquired the right to appoint the cabinet ministers. The title disappeared with the collapse of the empire.

The term vizier is also customarily applied to a pair of civil officers in ancient Egypt having viceregal powers. The office dates from at least the 4th dynasty (c. 2575–c. 2465 B.C.T.) and achieved great importance from the reign of Sesostris III (1836–1818 B.C.T.), when the vizier acquired jurisdiction over the entire bureaucracy of ancient Egypt.

In Shatranj, from which modern chess developed, the piece corresponding to the modern chess "queen" (though far weaker) was often called Wazīr. Up to the present, the word for the queen piece in chess is still "vezér" in Hungarian, "vazīr" in Persian, and "vezir" in Turkish.

wazir see vizier
vizir see vizier
vazir see vizier
vasir see vizier
vesir see vizier
vezir see vizier

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