The Dey of Tunis (Arabic: داي تونس) was the military commander of the janissaries in the regency of Tunis. In the seventeenth century the holders of the position exercised varying degrees of power, often near-absolute. Until 1591 the Dey was appointed by the Ottoman governor (“Pasha”). In 1673 the Dey and the janissaries revolted against Murad II Bey and were defeated.[1] After this the hereditary position of Bey was pre-eminent in Tunis. The position of Dey continued to exist until it was abolished by Sadok Bey in 1860.[2]
The regime of the Deys emerged in 1591 after the rebellion of the janissaries against their senior officers and the Ottoman Pasha. Political authority, vested since 1574 in a Pasha sent from Istanbul, was exercised after 1591 by an officer of the Turkish militia who was given the honorific title of Dey (maternal uncle) and chosen by the dîwân al-'askar (military council).[3] This group became a self-perpetuating body over time, drawing in soldiers of fortune from Turkey as well as European converts to Islam.[4] After 1591 the Pasha retained nominal preeminence in recognition of the sovereignty of the Ottoman Sultan. Nevertheless the Deys lived and occupied offices in the kasbah. Like the deys of Algiers, they had almost absolute power over the regency from 1593 to 1647, until the death of Ahmed Khodja Dey.[5][1]
The Deys preserved the supremacy of the Hanafi over the local Maliki school of jurisprudence, thereby affirming the Ottoman caliph's sovereignty. The Hanafi qadi sent from Istanbul was recognised as the supreme judge, whose endorsement was required in the verdicts reached by Maliki qadis. The first call for prayer in Tunis was also made from the Hanafi Kasbah mosque, taken over from the Maliki authorities. From the reign of Yûsuf Dey, the Deys promoted religious and legal learning amongst the Turks, but most of the Hanafi scholars in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had Maliki teachers, and the Hanafi muftîs needed the help of their Maliki colleagues in dealing with complex legal questions.[4]
The Deys also established the new office of Bey in Tunis. This official’s task was originally to assert the authority of the Deys in the interior, commanding a column of troops that toured the country levying the taxes and putting down rebellion. The position acquired greater authority after it became hereditary under the Muradid dynasty. By recruiting local troops and controlling tax revenue, the beys gradually became a new centre of political authority. While the Deys remained the official rulers, by the later seventeenth century they had little authority beyond the capital. The Beys were eventually able to determine the dîwân al-'askar’s choice of new Deys. After Murad I the Beys were born in Tunisia and came to be looked upon by the local population as an indigenous authority. The Deys made various attempts to bring them back under their control; the last of which, in 1702, saw Ibrâhîm ash-Sharîf, kill the last Muradid Bey and proclaim himself both Dey and Bey. However rather than restoring authority to the Deyship, this paved the way for the Husaynid dynasty to take power, leading to its final eclipse.[4]
A complete list of the Deys of Tunis is as follows:[6][7]: 557
With a reduced role, the deys of the Husseinite period became senior officials appointed by the bey; they played a judicial role and served as head of the Tunis police.[17] They also periodically presided over the court of the Driba which held its sessions in the entrance hall of the palace of the dey, the Dar Daouletli in the rue Sidi Ben Arous and hence were referred to as “daoulatli”. They were all recruited from the senior officers of the Turkish militia in Tunis.
Under the reign of Sadok Bey, the institution was abolished in September 1860, on the death of old Kshuk Mohamed, and replaced by the council of Zaptié or Dhabtiyé, headed by a president (raïs), to perform police functions in Tunis. This post remained until the French protectorate.[2]
