Sanjak-bey,sanjaq-bey or-beg (Ottoman Turkish:سنجاق بك,lit. 'lord of the standard') was the title given in theOttoman Empire to abey (a high-ranking officer, but usually not apasha) appointed to the military and administrative command of a district (sanjak, in Arabicliwa’),[1] hence the equivalent Arabic title ofamir liwa (أمير لواء’amīr liwā’)[2] He was answerable to a superiorwāli or another provincial governor. In a few cases thesanjak-bey was himself directly answerable to the sultan inConstantinople.
Like other early Ottoman administrative offices, thesanjak-bey had a military origin: the termsanjak (andliva) means "flag" or "standard" and denoted the insigne around which, in times of war, the cavalrymen holding fiefs (timars orziamets) in the specific district gathered. Thesanjakbey was in turn subordinate to abeylerbey ("bey of beys") who governed aneyalet and commanded his subordinatesanjak-beys in war. In this way, the structure of command on the battlefield resembled the hierarchy of provincial government.[3]
The office ofsanjak-bey resembled that of thebeylerbey on a more modest scale. Like thebeylerbey, thesanjak-bey drew his income from a prebend, which consisted usually of revenues from the towns, quays and ports within the boundary of hissanjak.[3] Within his own sanjak, a governor was responsible above all for maintaining order and, with the cooperation of the fief holders, arresting and punishing wrongdoers. For this, he usually received half of the fines imposed on miscreants, with the fief holder on whose lands the misdeed took place, receiving the other half.Sanjak governors also had other duties, for example, the pursuit of bandits, the investigation of heretics, the provision of supplies for the army, or the dispatch of materials for shipbuilding, as the sultan commanded.[3]
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the Arabic equivalent of Ottoman terms (for example theamir liwa forsanjak beyi).
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