Page 271 - Journal of Asian History_Neat

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Ma.niia vii.i.k The Ottoman Province of at I lata 503

wintering ["in sun nluh). (Jn the condition that fin'd form is always used. Information on the
i
lie keep tli«s ponce then* among tin* bedouins governors general however is more ample.
(’u'rd6) l>«* w:ls given a district with an annual The governor general of the province of LaljsA
salary (s'Uy&ne) of 200,000 nk<;e. Now he asks for was usually n man who had already served as a
supplies (zahlrc.) from Bagdad and at the same governor general or district officer of a region in
time, although not wintering at LahsA, has sent Iraq or more uncommonly Syria.13’ Each guber­
his son there to collect the salary. natorial term in I^ahsA seldom exceeded five '
The orders in response to this report are that years, although a few men seem to have served
the governor general of Bagdad is to command his more than one term. This meant a fairly regular
officers to refuse Ibn Humeyd these supplies. rotation of service through the Syrian, Iraqi
Furthermore, if the governor general should and Gulf provinces and in effect ensured that the
meet this man, he is to encourage him to winter governor general was fully aware of all the impli­
in Labsa, maintaining peace and security there; cations and practical regional problems of Otto­
he is to point out that the salary will be given man policy in the East and especially of the role
there only upon this condition being fulfilled.13* of LabsS. in that policy.
An appreciation of the circumstances behind This rotation of governors general continued at
the appointment of Ibn Humeyd as district least through the loSO’s; the new governor general
officer is important to the understanding of this in 15S2, for example, had just previous to his ap­
order and the policy behind it. Sa'dun of the pointment served as governor general of Karaman,
*Al Humeyd clan of the BanI Halid tribe seems to in eastern Anatolia.l2f Thereafter information on
have been recognized as the leader of this tribe. the governors general grows scanty.
The tribe itself seems to have dominated Labsfi The district officers and governors general of
before the Ottoman conquest.12* What apparently the province seem to have been relatively well
had happened was that a bargain had been paid. Until a detailed assessment of the finances
struck with the leadership of the defeated tribe. of the province has been made, a list of figures
Iq return for cooperation, these leaders were serves, I think, no useful purpose.130 But a few
guaranteed their lands and the title to and in­ references for crude comparison might be in order.
come from a district for their §eyh. It should be The position of district officer of Ra^if carried
remembered that at this time there was, as far with it an administrative fief worth in 1553,
as titles went, nothing higher than district officer a year or two after the conquest, at least 50,000
in the territory. As far as Sa'dOn’s income is
concerned, it was on paper better than that of the
,a For a fiat of the governors of Lahai and their terms
district officer of Raj.if, who was officially en­
of office see appendix, p. 513.
titled to perhaps 130,000 otfe, but considerably l,» M 53:663, 20 Safer 992/3 March 15S4.
less than the S00,000 akqe to which the governor **• I do not know, for example, to what extent the
general of Lahsa was entitled in 1566.127 True to devaluation of currency during the period affects the
figures. Also, there may have been variation in the value
the Ottoman pattern of conquest in the Arab of regional coinage. In 1550, for example, the governor
lands, a partial integration of the old structure
of LahsA complained to Istanbul that although the
look place. "usual” annual salary (adfydne) of his office was 900,000
While it is clear that the desert district officers this amounted to only 426,000 in "Ottoman 1
were recruited from local tribal leadership, little figures" ('Oimdnl his&bl). It might also be kept in mind
can be ascertained at this point about the back­ that the bcjUrbefi of LahsA and perhaps the sancak
begUri paid the usual berat retmi, a government charge
ground of the other district officers. The names on appointment papers, which since it was often simply
m the documents reveal nothing, since a short- charged against the governor’s first year income affected
significantly that year’s salary. In 1559 the government
*** M 27:276, 26 Sa'bAn 933/30 November 1575. ordered that 6,000 afce be seized from the effects of the
u< Cf. above p. 499 and footnote 94. late governor general Mu3tall Pa$a as unpaid b<rat rctmi
,,T M 5:996. 1
(M 3:1201, 14 Ramazan 967/9 June 1560).
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