bey

 

(bā) , general title of respect used by Turkish peoples since ancient times. Originally given to tribal leaders, it was later used by the Ottomans to denote a provincial ruler. At first the Ottoman beys were appointed, but by the 18th cent. the title had become hereditary. In Ottoman Egypt, the beys were descendants of the former Mamluk rulers.

Bey is originally a Turkish^[1][2] word for "chieftain," traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg or Beigh. They are all the same word with the simple meaning of "lord." The regions or provinces where Beys (the equivalent of Duke in Europe) ruled or which they administered were called Beylik, roughly meaning "Emirate" or "Principality" in the first case, "Province" or "Governorate" in the second (the equivalent of Duchy in Europe). Today, the word is used as a social title for men (like the English word "mister").

Turkish beys

The first three rulers of the Ottoman realm were titled Bey. The chief sovereign of the Ottoman Empire only came to be called Sultan starting in 1383 when Murad I was granted this title by the shadow Caliph in Cairo.

The Ottoman state had started out as one of a dozen Turkish Ghazi Beyliks, roughly comparable to western European duchies, into which Anatolia (i.e., Asian Turkey, or Asia Minor) had been divided after the break-up of the Seljuk Sultanate of Ikonion (Konya) and the military demise of the Byzantine Empire. Its capital was Bursa. By 1336 it had only annexed the Beylik of Karasy, its western neighbour on the coast of the Sea of Marmara, but it began to expand quite rapidly thereafter.

As the Ottoman realm grew from a Beylik into an imperial Sultanate, the title "Bey" came to be applied to subordinate military and administrative officers, such as a district administrator and lower-level minor military governors. The latter were usually titled Sanjakbey (after the term "Sanjak", denoting a military horsetail banner). Beys were lower in rank than Pashas and provincial governors (Walis, usually holding the title of Pasha), who governed most of the Ottoman vilayets (provinces).

Eventually the chiefs of the former Ottoman capitals Bursa and Edirne (formerly the Byzantine Adrianople) in Turkish Thrace both were designated "Bey."

Over time the title became somewhat was devalued, as Bey was even used a courtesy title (alongside Pashazade) for a Pasha's son. It also came to be attached to officers and dignitaries below those entitled to be Pashas, notably the following military officer ranks (still lower ranks were styled Efendi):

• Miralai (army Colonel or navy Captain)
• Kaimakam (army Lieutenant-colonel or navy Commander)

Oddly, the compound Beyefendi was part of the title of the husband (full style Damad-i-Shahyari (given name) Beyefendi) and sons (full style Sultanzade (given name) Beyefendi) of an Imperial Princess, and their sons in turn were entitled to the courtesy title Beyzade (literally "Son of a Bey". For the grandsons of an imperial princess, the official style was simply Bey after the name.).

By the late 19th century, "Bey" had been reduced in Ottoman Turkey to an honorary equivalent of the English-speaking address (not the British courtesy title) "Sir", somewhat akin to the contemporary Cockney usage of "guv'nor." While in Qazaq and other Central Asian Turkic languages, бай [baj] remains a rather honorific title, in modern Turkish, and in Azerbaijan, the word "bey" (or "bay") simply means "mister" (compare Efendi) or "sir" and is used in the meaning of "chieftain" only in historical context. Bay is also used in Turkish in combined form for certain military ranks, e.g. albay, meaning colonel, from alay "regiment" and -bay, and yarbay, meaning lieutenant colonel, from yardim "assistance" and -bay (thus an "assistant albay").

As with most Turkish titles, it follows the name rather than precedes it as in western languages, e.g. "Ahmet Bey" for "Mr. Ahmet". Its uses are as follows — when you speak of Mr. Ahmet, the title has to be written with a capital (Ahmet Bey), but when you address him directly it is simply written without capital: Ahmet bey. Bey may combine with efendi to give a common form of address, to which the possessive suffix -(i)m is usually added: beyefendim, efendim.

Beyefendi has its feminine counterpart: hanımefendi [haˈnɯmefendi], used alone, to address a woman without her first name. And with the first name: Ayşe Hanım or Ayşe hanım, for example, according to the rule given above about the use of the capital letter.

Under Ottoman rule the title was used also in Albania (Albanian language: bej, be, or beu), in two forms:

• in the Gheg north, as a title given specifically to the officials of the Ottoman Empire.
• in the Tosk south, it was not only used in a similar fashion, but the main use of the name came to be Bey of the Village. The mayoral "beys" in Tosk villages formed a wealthy but largely illiterate elite, exploiting the peasants who were bound to the land in a status comparable to serfdom, a state of affairs continued in the Tosk districts even after Albanian independence 1912, as King Zog took power and forbade the "Beys" to mistreat the peasants.

The term is not used anymore in Albania except when referring to historical figures and events or for humorous purposes (meaning to joke about someone who does not possess a clear thinking ability). Nevertheless, a select number of families still use the bey-ending in their last names. It is often cited as tribute to past blood lines. However, the name is generally associated with the Çabej line of Albania.

Beys elsewhere

The title Bey could be maintained as a similar office within Arab states that broke away from the High Porte, such as Khedive Mehmet Ali's Egypt, where it was a rank below Pasha (maintained in two rank classes after 1922), and a title of courtesy for a Pasha's son.

Even much earlier, the virtual sovereign's title in Barbaresque North African 'regency' states was "Bey"; compare Dey. Notably in Tunis, the Husainid Dynasty used a whole series of title and styles including Bey:

• Just Bey itself was part of the territorial title of the ruler, and also as a title used by all male members of the family (rather like Sultan in the Ottoman dynasty).
• Bey al-Kursi 'Bey of the Throne', a term equivalent to reigning prince.
• Bey al-Mahalla 'Bey of the Camp', title used for the next most senior member of the Beylical family after the reigning Bey, the Heir Apparent to the throne.
• Bey al-Taula 'Bey of the Table', the title of the Heir Presumptive, the eldest prince of the Beylical family, who enjoyed precedence immediately after the Bey al-Mahalla.
• Beylerbeyi (or Beglerbegi) 'Lord of Lords', was the administrative rank formally enjoyed by the ruler of Tunis and by rulers of parts of the Balkans in their official capacity of Ottoman Governor-General within the Turkish empire.

Other Beys saw their own Beylik promoted to statehood, e.g.:

• in Qusantina (Constantine in French), an Ottoman district subject to the Algiers regency since 1525 (had its own Beys since 1567), the last incumbent, Ahmed Bey ben Mohamed Chérif (b. c.1784, in office 1826 - 1848, d. 1850), was maintained when in 1826 the Local Kabyle population declared independence, and when in was on 13 October 1837 conquered by France, until it was incorporated into Algeria in 1848.

Bey or a variation has also been used as an aristocratic title in various Turkic states, such as Bäk in the Tatar Khanate of Kazan, in charge of a Beylik called Bäklek.

Sometimes a Bey was a territorial vassal within a khanate, as in each of the three zuzes under the Khan of the Kazakhs.

In some Cajun cultures, "Bey" is just a common household name that parents will call their child, a nickname. Example, Sean "Bey" Elliot (the BMW driver).

The variation Beg, Baig or Bai (pronounced as "buy"), is still used as a family name or a part of a name in South and Central Asia as well as the Balkans. In Slavic-influenced names, it can be seen in conjunction with the Slavic -ov/-ović/ev suffixes meaning "son of", such as in Izetbegović, Abai Kunanbaev (Abai Kunanbaiuli).

The title is also used within the Moorish American Community / members of the Moorish Science Temple of America as tribal titles which denotes an Islamic Governor along with the title El.

See also

• Anatolian beyliks
• Atabeg
• Baig
• Begum
• Beylerbey
• Chughtai
• Dey
• Effendi
• Kailar beys
• Moorish Science Temple of America
• Ottoman titles

Sources and references

• Encyclopaedia of the Orient
• RoyalArk on (khedival) Egypt & Tunisia & on Ottoman Turkey
• Westermann Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in German)
• WorldStatesmen- click on each present country

1. ^ Merriam-Webster Online - Bey
2. ^ American Heritage Dictionary - Bey

State organisation of the Ottoman Empire
House of Osman	Ottoman Dynasty - Imperial Harem - Palace Schools see also: Ottoman Caliphate
Porte (Divan)	Grand Vizier - Vizier - Sheikh ul-Islam see also: Ottoman Senate (2nd Constitutional Era)
Imperial Government	Prime Minister - Minister of War - Education Minister see also: List of parties
Administrative Subdivisions	Bey, Elder (religious), Millet (Ottoman Empire)

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