Reis ül-küttab

The Reis ül-Küttab (Ottoman Turkish: رئيس الكتاب‎), or Reis Efendi, was a senior post in the administration of the Ottoman Empire. Translated as "chief of the scribes", "president of bureaucrats" or "head clerk", the holder of the post was originally the head of the chancery of the Imperial Council, evolving into an analogue to a Foreign Minister. In 1836, the title of reis ül-küttab was formally changed to Foreign Minister (Hariciye Nazırı) with the establishment of the Ottoman Ministry of Foreign Affairs () during the Tanzimat reforms.

The office is first attested in the early 1520s, and was in all likelihood a creation of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520–66), although it may have existed for far longer than that as a junior post attached to the government. As its name attests—reis ül-küttab means as much as "head scribe" or "head clerk"—the post was in charge of the clerks of the Imperial Council (divan-ı hümayun), which formed the government of the Ottoman Empire. Prior to Suleyman's reign, the functions of the office were shared by the emin-i akham ("depository of the decisions") and the nişancı ("chancellor"). 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). According to J. Deny, the establishment of the reis ül-küttab was the transfer of this practice to the capital. Its establishment coincided with the gradual increase of the number of clerks attached to the various senior offices and departments of state, which began under Suleyman and continued well into the 17th century; thus for instance the seven and eleven clerks attached respectively to the defterdar ("treasurer") and the nişancı, ca. 1530, had increased to nine and 25 respectively by 1561. 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 Celalzade Mustafa Çelebi, who held the post from 1524/5 until his promotion to nişancı in 1534.

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