From Nasihatname to Talimatname: Damad/Şehid Ali Pasha and the Instructions He Took Out About the Statesmen

Abstract

The Ottoman Empire, which lost important lands by The Treaty of Karlowitz, did not delay to counter. In 1711, the Pruth Campaign was made with the Russians. In 1715, the war took place with the Venetians and the Morea was taken back. The commander in chief of this second campaign and victory was the Grand Vizier Damat Ali Pasha. Ali Pasha, who started a campaign in 1716 to take back the lands given rein to the Australians, was defeated in Varadin and became martyr. Besides the wars against the Venetians and Australians, Ali Pasha, who tried to reorganize the state domestically, ordered to be prepared a Talimatnâme concerning how the statesmen would behave in their works, which is a typical example of its type. As it is known, from the middle of the sixteenth century “Nasihatnâme” or “Siyasetnâme” types of works generated as a result of the defect in the state administration.. In the seventeenth century, their number increased and their latest examples were given in the eighteenth century. In this article, Talimatnâme, which was prepared by the head of the provincial treasury Defterdar Sarı Mehmed Pasha at the behest of Şehid Ali Pasha, is evaluated in terms of its characteristics, its available transcripts, the works made on it, its content, how the advices given to the statesman have become an order and at the end the handwritten manuscripts are attached.