Le grand Seigneur; and Le Kislar Aga

The kislar aga was the chief black eunuch in the seraglio and a man of considerable power over the life and death of its women. From the time of Soliman the Magnificent until early in the eighteenth century, the royal harem played host to intense rivalries and jealousies that bred bribery, extortion and, frequently, murder. The complicity of the kislar aga was often exploited in these intrigues and whoever held the post was the most feared and bribed official in the whole of the Ottoman empire.