Enderun School as a classical educational institution and its closing process in the context of innovation

Enderun School which has served the Ottoman State/Empire for four hundred and fifty years and is one of the most established institutions of the Ottoman State/Empire. This institution which was seen since the early ages of the Ottoman State/Empire, undertook the mission of training and educating the palace officers and individuals who later would become top managers. This institution which appears as a palace school illustrates the most obvious example of previous palace school traditions that existed in other earlier Muslim Turkish states. Especially in the 16th and 17th centuries, the school has provided substantial contributions in terms of educating statesmen, scientists and artists. However this situation changed in the 18th and 19th centuries with the necessity of the innovation movement required by the state. Together with the innovation movement Enderun School has delegated some of its functions to other establishments and finally was shut down in 1909. There aren't many sources about Enderun School in the Ottoman period. Individuals such as Hızır İlyas Ağa from Enderun, Tayyarzade Ata and Santuri Ali Ufkî have given detailed information regarding its organization, education, structure in their memories. After the establishment of the Republic, names such as İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı, İsmail Hakkı Baykal, Ülke Akkutay have conducted detailed studies about Enderun School's organization, protocol and education system. However in all these studies the closing date of Enderun School was not specified in detail. The stages the school went through and how it was closed, the institution in which the top manager education was provided, and the institutions which were built after the school was closed is a process of change that sets an example for the Ottoman innovation. This study will examine the changes that took place in the Enderun School during the 17th and 18th centuries together with the innovation movement and the stages that led to the closing of the school in the 18th century. Key Words: Enderun, Enderun School, Ottoman Education, Modernisation