Control of the Ottoman state treasury has by the end of the first quarter of the sixteenth century largely passed, through land grants, into the hands of local a'yan, who will gradually become the real rulers, serving local rather than imperial interests.

Discontinuance of the devsirme and the rise of hereditary succession to imperial offices have meanwhile shut off new sources of vitality.

Monarchs, confined to the palace during their youth, become weaker and participate less in military affairs and government councils.

Sultan Murad IV is as early as 1630 presented by one of his advisers with a memorandum explaining the causes of the perceived decline and urging a restoration of the system as it had existed under Süleyman.