Vizier

Vizier, or VEZIR (Arabic wazir, 'bearer of a burden'), a title bestowed on the chief-minister of the first Abbaside calif, in the 8th century, for centuries denoted the president of the council of ministers and principal adviser of the calif, and consequently the second person in authority of the Moslem empire. The various princes who founded dynasties under the califate also had their viziers, and the dignity and authority of the office varied considerably, till sometimes it came to represent little more than a clerkship. A famous family of viziers was that of the Barmecides under the early Abbaside califs, and another was that of the Kinprils under the Ottoman sultans. The dignity of vizier was introduced among the Turks during the reign of their second sultan, Orkhan, and the title was at first confined to the sultan's prime-minister; but the prime-minister's title was afterwards changed into vezir-azam, 'grand vizier,' and the title of vizier was given to all the Turkish ministers of state, as well as to provincial governors. In 1878 the title of grand vizier was abolished, that of President of the Council of Ministers being substituted. This dignitary, whether under the old name or the new, is, after the sultan, the most important personage of the empire, and is the head of the administration; but he is subject as formerly to more serious control from the intrigues of the palace than from the new 'constitution.'