Reis ül-Küttab

The office is first attested in the early 1520s, and was in all likelihood a creation of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520–66),[1] although it may have existed for far longer than that as a junior post attached to the government.

Analogues existed however in other eastern Islamic states, as well as in Ottoman provinces, where a divan efendi presided over the council of the local governors (valis).

[1] The first occupant of the office was probably a certain Haydar Efendi, who died in 1523/4, but the first well-known incumbent was the historian Celâlzâde Mustafa Çelebi, who held the post from 1524/5 until his promotion to nişancı in 1534.

A regular line of promotion (tarik) was established, whereby one advanced from ordinary secretary (Persian: khalife, Turkish: kalfa) in one of the bureaux of the Grand Vizier's secretariat to senior clerk (ser-khalife or baş-kalfa) and eventually to bureau chief (mektubcı).

[2] His main role was as the head of the Department of the Imperial Council (divan-i hümayun kalemi), which in turn was divided into three bureaux: the beylik, under the beylikçı from the mid-17th century on, which was responsible for drafting and publishing all imperial decrees (firman) or ordinances (evamir), and for keeping an archive of the originals of all laws and regulations (kanun) and treaties with other states; the tahvil, which was responsible for issuing every year the diplomas (berat) of provincial governors, judges, and timariots; the ru'us ("provisions") office, charged with provisioning various officials, as well as paying pensions from the treasury or from charitable establishments (vakf).

[7] From then on the reis ül-küttab was formally responsible for foreign relations, a role kept until the post's abolition on 11 March 1836, along with his analogue for interior affairs, the Kahya Bey, and their replacement by two new, Western-style ministries.