ABSTRACT
EMn-i devlef, I take the reference to be to those scribes described in the pay lists as katiban-i divan tabi'-i tevki'i, and late in the reign as kdtiban-t divan-1 'alt i.e., chancery clerks working under the chancellor (nisanci, icvki'i), although it is conceivable that the chancery scribes attached to the defterdars are meant (kdtibdn-i divAn tdbi'-i defierdArari)\ see "Preliminaries," pp. 138-39. On balance, the first possibility seems the more likely since, were the second the case, Kasim could be expected to use the terminology current in the financial service that dealt with the the payment of salaries rather than the more general (or perhaps colloquial) erkan-i devlet. In any case, the erkdn here in question are clearly the heads of the bureaucracy proper, rather than the ministers of state (vuzera), to whom such terminology at this date would more commonly be understood to apply. Sec also following note. ^ Erk&ni [sic] sa'adet; this reference, and the following one, to the written records of his several appointments support the supposition advanced in the preceding note on the contextual meaning of erkdn in this document.
