THE OFFICE OF “THE COMMANDER OF GARDENERS” OF EDİRNE AS AN EARLY-MODERN SPHERE OF AUTHORITY: “KIRKAYAK” (CENTIPEDE) THE COMMANDER OF GARDENERS OF EDİRNE

Abstract

The Ottoman State is known to have administered the provinces according to the classical province-kadiship (sancak-kaza) organization under the authority of bey and kadi. Looking into major studies on Edirne in the context of late Medieval Ottoman provincial administration and spatial organization, one notices a confusion as per related concepts. According to established knowledge; Edirne became the capital and the center of the province of Rumelia, maintained its political and administrative significance even after the conquest of Istanbul, and was under the administrative rule of the Çirmen sancak. Nevertheless, the fact that Edirne was administered by the commander of gardeners (Edirne Bostancıbaşısı) instead of the provincial governor of Çirmen (sancakbeyi/mutasarrıf) or his deputy governor (mütesellim) was never questioned from the perspective of Ottoman administrative history and spatial organization. For this reason, this article focuses on the nature of the sphere of authority of Edirne Gardeners Corps (Bostancı Ocağı) between the 1580’s until the abolishing of the office in 1826. In this context, the article portrays the profile of the Edirne Commander of Gardeners as an administrator, based on Evliya Çelebi’s travel narrative cross-read with relevant archival documents.