Divan-begi

Divan-begi
Style	ʿĀlī-jāh (Serene Highness)[1]
Type	Moqarrab al-Khāqān[1]
Member of	Jānqī (Council of State)[1]
Residence	Keshīk-Khāneh, Ālī Qāpū (Royal court's Guardhouse)[1]
Seat	Isfahan, Safavid Iran
Nominator	The King[2]
Appointer	The King[2]
Term length	no fixed length[3]
Formation	1501
First holder	Khadem Beg Talish
Unofficial names	[A]Mir-e Divan Divan-begi-bashi
Deputy	Nāʿeb-e Dīvān-begī[4]
Salary	500 tomāns (officially)[a][1]

The Divan-begi[b] (Persian: دیوان‌بیگی, romanized: Dīvān-beīgī) was a high-ranking official in Judicial system of Safavid Iran (1501–1736), who acted as chief justice of Safavid capital and all over the kingdom's courts.[5] It was the Persian form of Turkic Diwan-begi office, also known as the Imperial Chief Justice[6] or Lord High Justice.[1] Divan-begis presided over an appeals court for the kingdom,[7] except for cases involving military officers or religious officials.[8] Divan-begis had deputies to assist them.[5]

List of Divan-begis

Reign of Ismail I

• Khadem Beg Talish (1501)[5]
• Beiram Beg Qaramanlu (1501–1514)[9]
• Husam Beg Qaramanlu[c] (1514)[9]
• Amir Harun[d] (1514)[9]

Reign of Tahmasp I

• Kopek Sultan Ustajlu[e] (1524)[9]
• Mohammad Khan Takkalu[f] (1543/4)[9]
• Ebrahim Khan[d] (1541–1557)[9]
• Ma'sum Beg Safavi [fa][g] (1550)[9]
• Badhr Khan (1551)[9]
• Ebrahim Khan[d] (1554–1566)[10]

Reign of Ismail II

• Ebrahim Mirza[h] (1576)[10]
• Shahrokh Khan Dhu'l-Qadr (1576)[10]

Reign of Mohammad Khodabanda

• Hamzeh Khan Ustajlu (1578)[10]
• Salman Khan Ustajlu[i] (1582)[10]
• Ali-qoli Khan Ustajlu[j] (1585)[10]
• Ismail-qoli Khan(1586)[10]

Reign of Abbas I

• Baktash Khan Afshar[f] (1588)[10]
• Khan Mohammad[j] (1602/3)[10]
• Ali-qoli Khan Shamlu[j] (1605–1624)[10]
• Agha Beg[k] (1624–1627)[10]
• Kalb-Ali Beg (1627–1629)[10]

Reign of Safi

• Rostam Beg[l] (1629–1635)[10]
• Ali-qoli Beg (1635–1642)[10]

Reign of Abbas II

• Morteza-qoli Beg Shamlu (1642–1645)[10]
• Oghurlu Beg Qajar[m] (28 November 1645–1657)[10]
• Safi-qoli Beg[n] (1657–1663)[10]
• Evaz Beg (1663)[11]

Reign of Suleiman I

• Abbas-qoli Beg (1663–1666)[11]
• Mohammad-qoli Khan (1666)[11]
• ?[o] (1666)[11]
• Abu'l-Qasem Beg Shamlu[p] (1670/1)[11]
• Mohammad-Hassan (1673)[11]
• Zeinal Khan (1680)[11]
• Rostam Beg (1691)[11]
• Musa Beg (1692–1696)[11]

Reign of Sultan Husayn

• Musa Beg (1692–1696)[11]
• Ali-Mardan Khan[q] (1696)[11]
• Yar-Mohammad (1697/8)[11]
• Safi-qoli Beg (1697/8)[11]
• Levan Mirza[r] (1700)[11]
• Safi-qoli Khan (1712–February 1715)[11]
• Ismail Beg (1715–1716)[11]
• Jafar Khan[s] (1716)[11]
• Safi-qoli Khan[t] (1716)[12]
• Mohammad-qoli Khan (1718–1720)[12]
• Rajab-Ali Beg (1720–1722)[12]

Reign of Abbas III

• Mohammad-qoli Khan[u] (1732)[12]

Footnotes

Notes

1. sometimes was reached to 1000, 3000 or even 6000 tomāns.[4]
2. Also spelled Divan-Beigi, Divanbegi or Diwan-Begi.
3. son of the previous Divan-begi
4. Vali of Lar
5. the King's chief deputy (Vakil) at the same time
6. as Mīr-e Dīvān (Persian: میر دیوان)
7. then appointed as the King's chief deputy (Vakil) and Vizier of the Safavid Empire
8. the king's nephew
9. then appointed as Grand Vizier of the Safavid Empire
10. as Dīvān-begī-bāshī (Persian: دیوان‌بیگی‌باشی)
11. former Nāʿeb-e Dīvān-begī of the previous Divan-begi
12. then appointed as commanders-in-chief of Safavid Empire under name of "Rostam Khan"
13. former prefect (darugha) of daftar-Khāneh (Persian: دفترخانه)
14. then appointed as governor-general (beglarbeg) of Mashhad under name of "Safi-qoli Khan"
15. unknown office-holder who replaced by the Mīr-āb (Persian: میر آب)
16. son of Jani Beg Khan Shamlu
17. then appointed as governor of Kohgiluyeh at October 1696
18. also spelled as Leon Mirza[2]
19. former governor of Herat
20. former governor of Tabriz; then renamed to "Ali-qoli Khan" and appointed as Ṣāḥeb-nasaq (Persian: صاحب‌نسق‌); His son became prefect (darugha) of Isfahan.
21. former Tupchi-bashi

References

1. Savory 1996, p. 439.
2. Poormohammadi Amlashi & Ansari 2014–2015, p. 55.
3. Poormohammadi Amlashi & Ansari 2014–2015, p. 56.
4. Khezri 2013.
5. Floor 2000, p. 20.
6. Abisaab 2018, p. 512.
7. Bregel 2004, p. 227.
8. Floor 2009.
9. Floor 2000, p. 21.
10. Floor 2000, p. 22.
11. Floor 2000, p. 23.
12. Floor 2000, p. 24.

Sources

• Abisaab, Rula Jurdi (2018). "Delivering Justice: The Monarch's 'Urfi Courts and the Shari'a in Safavid Iran". In Emon, Anver M.; Ahmed, Rumee (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 511–537. ISBN 978-0-19-967901-0.
• Bregel, Yu. (2004). "DĪWĀN-BEGI". In Bearman, P. J.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume XII: Supplement. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 227–228. ISBN 978-90-04-13974-9.
• Floor, Willem (2000). "The Secular Judicial System in Safavid Persia". Studia Iranica. 29 (1): 9–60. doi:10.2143/SI.29.1.565532.
• Floor, Willem (2001). Safavid Government Institutions. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers. ISBN 1-568591-35-7.
• Floor, Willem (2009). "JUDICIAL AND LEGAL SYSTEMS iv. JUDICIAL SYSTEM FROM THE ADVENT OF ISLAM THROUGH THE 19TH CENTURY". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica (online ed.).
• Khezri, Ahmad-Reza (2013). دیوان‌بیگی [DIVAN-BEIGI]. In Haddad-Adel, Gholam-Ali (ed.). Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam (in Persian). Vol. 18. Tehran: Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation. ISBN 978-600-447019-3.
• Poormohammadi Amlashi, Nasrollah; Ansari, Somayyeh (Autumn 2014 – Winter 2015). شکل‌گیری و عملکرد منصب دیوان‌بیگی در دوره صفویه [Formation and Performance of Divan Beigi Post in Safavid Era]. Tahqiqāt-e Tārikh-e Ejtemā'i (Social History Studies) (in Persian). 4 (8). Tehran: IHCS: 49–71. ISSN 2383-0492.
• Nasiri, Mirza Naqi (2008). Floor, Willem (ed.). Titles & Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration. Translated by Willem Floor. Washington, D.C.: Mage Publishers. ISBN 978-1-933823-23-2.
• Savory, Roger M. (1996). "DĪVĀNBEGĪ ii. IN THE SAFAVID PERIOD". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. VII. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers. pp. 439–440. ISBN 1-568590-28-8.