Beylerbey

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"Beylerbeyi" redirects here.

Beylerbey (from Beylerbeyi, Ottoman Turkish for "Bey of Beys", meaning "Commander of Commanders" or "Lord of Lords"; originally Beglerbeg(i) in older Turkic, is the Ottoman and Safavid title used for the highest rank in the hierarchy of provincial administrators (all military officers, at high levels generally pashas), in western terms a Governor-general, with authority over the Governors (often styled Wali) of several vilayets, generally (if not yet made) a Pasha (circa General), second only to the Grand Vizier.

The rank was used (with many different spelling variants) initially for very large parts of the empire – all of Anatolia and Rumelia – but in later centuries the title was devaluated by extending it to the governors of various much smaller Ottoman eyalets.

[edit] Other use

Beylerbey is also the name of a neighbourhood of Istanbul, on the Asian side of the city, where the Beylerbeyi Palace is located. The neighborhood hosts a number of charming seafood restaurants along the shores of the Bosphorous. Along its shores also spreads a number of Yalıs (old Ottoman houses by the Bosphorous) giving the town a very original charm especially if seen from the sea side. In Beylerbey you also find the Bosphorous Pasha Hotel, an old Yalı that has been turned into a boutique hotel, part of the Relais et Chateaux chain. A number of famous turkish sweets shops, making Baklava and other famous delicacies, spread on the sides of its main road as part of the local market.

[edit] See also

• Bey, his jurisdiction Beylik
• Beqlare-beq, its non-equivalent cognate in Mongolian
• Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire

[edit] Sources and references

• RoyalArk- OttomanTurkey-Glossary