Society
The state was governed by the khan. His actions were based on decisions and consultations of a cabinet council, or Diwan. The nobility comprised the ranks of bäk (beg), ämir (emir), and morza. Military estates consisted of the uğlan (ulan), bahadir, içki (ichki). Muslim clergy also played a major role. They were divided into säyet (seid), şäyex (sheikh), qazí (qazi), and imams. The ulema or clergy played a judicial role, and maintained the madrassas and maktabs (schools).
The majority of the population were qara xalıq (black people): a free Muslim population, who lived on state land. The feudal lands were mostly settled by çura (serfs). Prisoners of war were usually sold to Turkey or Central Asia. Occasionally they were sold within the Khanate as slaves (qol) and sometimes were settled on feudal lands to become çura later. The non-Muslim population of the Khanate were required to pay the yasaq.
Read more about this topic: Khanate Of Kazan
Famous quotes containing the word society:
“Society never advances. It recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other.... Society acquires new arts, and loses old instincts.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The society of the energetic class, in their friendly and festive meetings, is full of courage, and of attempts, which intimidate the pale scholar.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The people I respect most behave as if they were immortal and as if society was eternal.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)