Add MS 8655

AYN-I ALI MAKALESI: Two tracts relating to the administrative and military structure of the Ottoman Empire; circa 1609. Italian, translated from Turkish. Copy, 18th cent. According to his own words, Ayn-i Ali Makalesi was a public notary, curator of the Provincial Appointment Registers (ff. 2v, 32) and director of the Registers for the Imperial Cavalry (ff. 35-35v). In 1609 he was commissioned by grand vizier Murad Pasha Kuyudju (1606-1611) to report to Sultan Ahmed I (1603-1617) on the state of the provinces of the Empire. The resulting report known as Kitāb-I Müstetāb, survives in an 18th-cent. copy, now Istanbul, Topkapi Palace Library, MS. EH.1515, ff. 350b-383b, and in a MS. in Vienna published by Hadiye Tuncer in 1964 (see art. 1); see I. M. Kunt, The Sultan's Servants. The Transformation of Ottoman Provincial Government 1550-1650 (New York, 1983), pp. xv, 17, 101-102, 166 no. 1. On a second instance the vizier asked Ayn-i Ali to produce a second report concerning the personnel employed in the Ottoman Court. The present MS. contains both these reports in Italian translation, and is entitled (f. 1) 'Institutioni Ottomane di Guerra in due parti divise'. The title is followed by a brief summary of the contents of the two tracts and the name of the author, 'Conscritte in Turco d'Ein Ali'. A later hand added the date 'l'anno dell'Egira 1018, di Cristo…'. Owned by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, but lacking his armorial bookplate. '174' in pencil in top left corner of front pastedown. Purchased, together with Add. 8644, 8647, 8648, and 8650, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 174 (part).

Contents as follows:

1. ff. 2-33. 'Institutioni Ottomane di Guerra / Tradotte dal Turco', account of the administrative and military structure of the provinces or vilāyets of the empire under the comand of the Beylerbeyis (Governor Generals), with lists of sancakbeyis (district governors), Zeāmets and Timars (other lesser officer) and their salaries.; [1609]. Inc. 'Sia lodato, e glorificato Iddio, Sommo Governatore … / Dell'Occasione e causa che fu scritto il presente Trattato / Come fin hora on si trovarono in verrun trattato congionti assieme', expl. 'Il felice però successo s'attende da Dio'. The main text is divided into seven parts and it is preceded by a short introduction and followed by a brief epilogue. A copy of the original text in Turkish has been published from the MS. copy in Vienna by H. Tuncer, ed. Osmanli Imparatorluğunda Eyalet Taksimati, Toprak Dağitimi ve Bunlarin Mali Güçleri (Ankara, 1964).

2. ff. 34-46v. 'Delli Gradi dei Officiali mercenarij della Corte Ottomana', a detailed account of the number and salaries of mercenary guards and other employees of the Ottoman Court.; [circa 1609]. Inc. 'Si rendino iterati lodi a quel Cancelliere del Regno Celeste', expl. 'e da per tutto si diffunderebbe. / Fine'. The text is divided into four articles and it also has short introduction and epilogue.

Paper; ff. 114+ii, plus 1 unfoliated blank after f. 1. Old pagination in ink 1-88 (ff. 2-46v), leaving out ff. 19 recto and 30 recto. 221 x 169mm. 18th-cent. binding of vellum with title in gothic script on upper cover in faded ink: '… Guerra'.