Being a rashi or fulfilling the necessity of being a servant: Presenting gifts in the 16th century (1574-1595) Ottoman world

Gift presentation was one of the practices which the Ottoman ruling elite was expected to fulfill. Presentation of gift was an important act for the person who receive it as well as presenter. Because if the person was holding an important position, he had to present a gift in order to secure his position. Presentation of gift was also important, if not the only criteria, in order to be appointed to an office. It was also a symbol of obedience to the ruler to whom the gift was presented. Therefore, the gift presentation was also important in terms of recognizing the authority of the person to whom the gift was presented. However, those who offered gifts during the reign of Sultan Murad III were accused of bribery by their contemporaries and later. It is also expressed in modern studies that there is a thin border between gift and bribery and that this limit was exceeded during that era, which could be considered as bribery. However, in the current literature, the framework of this limit has not been mentioned in detail or it has been argued that gifts cannot be considered as bribes because they are registered. In addition, no independent study has been conducted on the identity of the gifts presented during the reign of Sultan Murad III. In this study, it was tried to determine the reasons for the reaction of the gift during that era. Besides, through the gift presentations that can be identified, an attempt was made to explain the criticism of the gift and the identity of the gift. At the end of the study, it is hoped that an explanation will be given to the discourse that there was a change in the identity of the gift during the reign of Sultan Murad III.