Beylerbey

In Ottoman usage, where the rank survived the longest, it designated the governors-general of some of the largest and most important provinces, although in later centuries it became devalued into a mere honorific title.

The title is originally Turkic and its equivalents in Arabic were amir al-umara, and in Persian, mir-i miran.

[7] The size of these new provinces varied enormously: some containing as many as twenty sanjaks, and others as few as two, including the beylerbey's own residence (or pasha-sanjakı).

The beylerbey of Rumelia, however, retained his pre-eminence, ranking first among the other provincial governors-general, and being accorded a seat in the Imperial Council (divan) after 1536.

[1][4] In his province, the beylerbey operated as a virtual viceroy of the Sultan: he had full authority over matters of war, justice and administration, except in so far as they were limited by the authority of other officials also appointed by the central government, chiefly the various fiscal secretaries under the mal defterdari, and the kadı, who could appeal directly to the imperial government.

The process culminated with the vilayet reform of 1864, after which wali became the only official designation for the governor-general of a province, while the title of beylerbey survived only in the honorary rank of Rumeli beylerbeysi, which continued in use alongside its Perso-Arabic equivalents.

The title was thus used for the governors of Herat, Azerbaijan, Ganja, Karabakh, Shirvan, Fars, Iraq, and Astarabad.

[2][11] Beglerbegi (Persian: بیگلربیگی) was a title generally held by governors of provinces of higher importance in Safavid Iran.

[13] The title first appears in 1543/44, when the Safavid ruler Tahmasp I (r. 1524–1576) issued a decree that referred the governor of Herat as beglerbegi.

[14] As a result, starting in the 1540s, governor-general (beglerbegi), senior-governor (hakem-khan), and junior-governor (hakem-soltan) were one of the titles that would be given to a emir governing a province or smaller administration.

There were eleven beglerbegis towards the end of the reign of Shah Abbas II (r. 1588–1629); five gholams (Fars, Karabakh, Baghdad, Astarabad, Shirvan), two valis of some sort (Lorestan and Kurdistan) and four Qizilbash emirs (Khorasan, Chokhur-e Sa'd (Erivan), Azerbaijan, Qandahar).