Financing of the Nizam-ı Cedid Army: The treasury of Irad-ı Cedid

Selim III's reign (1789-1807) is generally regarded as the beginning of the modernization period in the Ottoman Empire. Selim III coincided with a series of wars during his reign, and he faced technological obsolescence in the military area of his state towering him to prevent the disintegration of the Empire through reforms. Nizam-i Cedid (the new order) was formed as a program including new practices in administrative, financial, and military units from 1793 to 1807 and with this program, a series of reform attempts were promulgated that contained new arrangements on local taxation and established the multi-treasury system. Most remarkable, however, were military reforms. To finance a new corps of regular and trained infantry with new military techniques, a special treasury called Irad-i Cedid was established to collect revenues from various mukataas and dirlik revenues of the central treasury with new untaxed sources. In this dissertation, the monthly and yearly budgets of the Irad-i Cedid Treasury are analyzed in detail together with financial and economic developments. Moreover, the financial capacity of the Irad-i Cedid Treasury is emphasized with its critical position among other central treasuries and its importance in the context of the leading financial policies of the Selim III reign.