''Sanjak-bey'', ''sanjaq-bey'' or ''-beg'' () was the title given in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

to a

bey Bey, also spelled as Baig, Bayg, Beigh, Beig, Bek, Baeg, Begh, or Beg, is a Turkic title for a chieftain, and a royal, aristocratic title traditionally applied to people with special lineages to the leaders or rulers of variously sized areas in ...

(a high-ranking officer, but usually not a

pasha Pasha (; ; ) was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitary, dignitaries, and others. ''Pasha'' was also one of the highest titles in the 20th-century Kingdom of ...

) appointed to the military and administrative command of a district (''

sanjak A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian. Banners were a common organization of nomad ...

'', in Arabic '' liwa’''), hence the equivalent Arabic title of ''amir liwa'' ( ) He was answerable to a superior ''

wāli ''Wāli'', ''Wā'lī'' or ''vali'' (from ''Wālī'') is an administrative title that was used in the Muslim world (including the Rashidun, Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates and the Ottoman Empire) to designate governors of administrative divis ...

'' or another provincial governor. In a few cases the ''sanjak-bey'' was himself directly answerable to the sultan in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. Like other early Ottoman administrative offices, the ''sanjak-bey'' had a military origin: the term ''sanjak'' (and ''liva'') means "flag" or "standard" and denoted the insigne around which, in times of war, the cavalrymen holding fiefs (''

timar A timar was a land grant by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with an annual tax revenue of less than 20,000 akçes. The revenues produced from the land acted as compensation for military service. A ...

s'' or '' ziamets'') in the specific district gathered. The ''sanjakbey'' was in turn subordinate to a ''

beylerbey ''Beylerbey'' (, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords’, sometimes rendered governor-general) was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks and the I ...

'' ("bey of beys") who governed an ''

eyalet Eyalets (, , ), also known as beylerbeyliks or pashaliks, were the primary administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire. From 1453 to the beginning of the nineteenth century the Ottoman local government was loosely structured. The empire was a ...

'' and commanded his subordinate ''sanjak-beys'' in war. In this way, the structure of command on the battlefield resembled the hierarchy of provincial government. The office of ''sanjak-bey'' resembled that of the ''beylerbey'' on a more modest scale. Like the ''beylerbey'', the ''sanjak-bey'' drew his income from a prebend, which consisted usually of revenues from the towns, quays and ports within the boundary of his ''sanjak''. Within his own sanjak, a governor was responsible above all for maintaining order and, with the cooperation of the fief holders, arresting and punishing wrongdoers. For this, he usually received half of the fines imposed on miscreants, with the fief holder on whose lands the misdeed took place, receiving the other half. ''Sanjak'' governors also had other duties, for example, the pursuit of bandits, the investigation of heretics, the provision of supplies for the army, or the dispatch of materials for shipbuilding, as the sultan commanded.

References

Gubernatorial titles Military ranks of the Ottoman Empire Ottoman titles Civil servants from the Ottoman Empire Titles in Bosnia and Herzegovina during Ottoman period {{Ottoman-stub

See also

References