TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ... - Bilkent University

useless, even harmful, act and regard this practice of bureaucrats as stinginess. 324
Another point to be noticed is that they present such scholars, which were depicted Acem
or Karamânî origin, as the source of all evil innovations, which was actually nothing
more than the establishment of the early forms of the routinized state’s administrative
institutions.
...Heman kim Osman beğlerine Acem ve Karamânîler musâhib oldı, Osman
beğleri dahi dürlü dürlü günahlarla mürtekib oldılar. Kaçan kim Çandarlu Kara
Halil ve Karamânî Rüstem bu ikisi ol zamanda ulular ve âlimler idi, heman kim
bunlar Osman beğleri yanına geldiler, dürlü dürlü hîleyile âlemi toldırdılar,
andan ilerü hesab-defter bilmezlerdi, heman anlar Osman beyleri yanına geldiler,
hesab defteri anlar te’lif itdiler. Akçayı yığıp hazine idinmek anlardan kaldı. 325
The criticism, however, is not limited merely to the efforts of establishing a
bureaucratic state. The emergence of ‘palace life’, which, following the tradition,
centered on drinking gatherings (bezm), is also deemed among most evil innovations in
the Ottoman realm. So the ‘imported’ intellectuals and artists, who were chiefly
responsible for the development of this ‘alien’ style of living and administering, are
bitterly criticized by Anonymous authors, and by Aşıkpaşazāde as well. These histories
trace the practice of vine drinking in the Ottoman dynasty back to Bayezid I, who is
known with his vigorous effort to create a centralized empire. 326 It is claimed that early
324 “Ol zamanda pâdişahlar tama’kâr değüllerdi. Her ne ellerine girürse yiğide yegile virürlerdi. Hazine
nedür bilmezlerdi. Heman kim Hayreddin Paşa kapuya geldi, pâdişahlar ile tama’kâr dânişmendler
musâhib olub takvâyı koyub fetvâya yüridiler. ‘Hazine dahi pâdişah olana gerekdür’ didiler. Ol zamanda
pâdişahları kendülere döndürdiler. Eydürler: ‘Tama’ ve zulm peydâ oldı, elbette tama’ olduğı yerde zulm
dahi olsa gerekdür, şimdiki halde dahı ziyâde oldı. Bu memleketlerde ne kadar zulm ve fesâd olsa
dânişmendlerdendür, sebep anlardur. Eğer anlar ilm ile amel eyleseler ümmî halk dahi anlara tâbi’
olurlardı’ dirler.” See Anonim Tevârih-i Al-i Osman, Giese Neşri, p. 27; Anonim Osmanlı Kroniği (1299-
1512), p. 31.
325 See Anonim Tevârih-i Al-i Osman, Giese Neşri, haz. Nihat Azamat, Istanbul, 1992, p. 33. Aşıkpaşazāde
also criticizes danişmends for similar reasons. But his stress was rather on the ‘immoral’ and ‘irreligious’
acts of these men of pen surrounded the sultan rather then crucial innovations towards bureaucratic state.
326 Bayezid I is usually accepted as the first Ottoman sultan who attempted to create a centralized empire.
Đnalcık says, for example, “Bayezid was responsible for the development of the semi-feudal state of
Osman Gāzi and Orhan Gāzi with its vassals and powerful uc-beyis (chiefs in the military frontier-zone),
into a real Islamic Sultanate with traditional institutions.” See Đnalcık, “Ottoman Methods of Conquest”, p.
122