vizier
/vɪˈzɪə
/ /ˈvɪzɪə /noun historical
A high official in some Muslim countries, especially in Turkey under Ottoman rule.Hence many Ottoman viziers were of non-Turkish ethnic origin, including Greeks, Albanians, and even Italians....
- He came to Egypt in 1168 as an assistant to his uncle, who was a general and then became the vizier of the last Fatimid caliph.
- The great calligrapher, Muhammad ibn Muqla, a vizier at the court of three Abbasid caliphs, was charged with the task of standardising and refining the myriad cursive scripts.
Derivatives
vizierate
- During his vizierate the Ottoman Empire regained some of its former prestige and vitality.
- Coordination between the different viziers and communication between the sovereign and the vizierates required a new official.
- She also points out that the absence of maxims regarding the vizierate, the highest office in the land, make it unlikely that the author was a vizier.
vizierial
- In 803 Harun al-Rashid murdered his vizier, Ja'far the Barmecide, and ordered the destruction of this powerful vizierial family.
viziership
- One family's control over the viziership came to be more stable than the transfer of kingship.
- Overthrown temporarily, and in an evil hour his prerogative endangered, his domination was re-established more indisputably now than ever in the grand viziership of his son.
- Ýbrâhîm Pasha's viziership coincided with the Ottoman Tulip Era, a time known both for its aesthetic achievements and its decadence.
Origin
Mid 16th century: via Turkish from Arabic wazīr 'caliph's chief counsellor'.