3 - Shahrukh's dīwān and its personnel

Summary

Under Shahrukh the chancellery and financial administration – the dīwān – was a significant locus for power and thus the scene of struggles for preeminence. Like other bureaucracies it had a sophisticated culture of literary and accounting skill, graft, wit and backbiting. There are several issues that deserve attention: how involved the ruler and other members of the dynasty were in administrative affairs, how power was wielded within the financial administration, and how it changed hands, and finally, how personnel were recruited and used. Another important question is how closely Chaghatay emirs worked with the fiscal bureaucrats.

From the Seljukid period on, governments in Iran usually had two separate sets of personnel; military and court offices were held by members of the Turkic military elite, while the civilian administration was staffed by Persian bureaucrats. This system did not preclude the personnel of either side from taking part in the other, and Persian viziers were sometimes important commanders. Emirs frequently attempted to influence events in the fiscal administration, which handled both their pay and their taxes. Nonetheless, offices and personnel remained officially separate. In the Timurid state, the dual system continued but we cannot assume that it operated the same way. In the “Muʿizz al-ansab,” which mirrors the formal organization of Timurid administration, the two sides of government are separately listed; first come the emirs, almost all of whom were Turco-Mongolian, then other offices, usually reserved for the Chaghatay, and near the end of the list we have sections for Persian scribes, Turkic scribes, and ṣadrs (the religious functionaries who oversaw appointments and waqf endowments).