Reis (military rank)

{{Short description|Ottoman Turkish title and naval rank}}

File:Arolsen Klebeband 01 465 4.jpg]]

Reis ({{Langx|ota|رئيس}} raʾīs; sometimes spelled rais) was a military rank in the Ottoman Empire, akin to that of a naval captain or (in the Levant) a commodore, that was commonly added to the officer's name as an epithet during the Ottoman Empire.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4-ptAAAAMAAJ&q=Reis+ottoman+rais|title=Studies in Eighteenth Century Islamic History|date=July 12, 1977|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|isbn=9780809308194 |via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KfwMAQAAQBAJ&q=Reis+ottoman+rais&pg=PA158|title=Piri Reis Map of 1513|isbn=9780820343594|last1=McIntosh|first1=Gregory C.|date=15 March 2012|publisher=University of Georgia Press }} Examples include:

• Piri "Reis"
• Turgut "Reis"
• Uluç Ali "Reis"
• Hizir "Reis"
• Seydi Ali "Reis"
• Oruç "Reis"

The rank Reis Pasha referred to an Admiral,{{fact|date=September 2011}} while the Kapudan Pasha (akin to Grand Admiral; literally "Captain Pasha") title referred to the commander-in-chief of the Ottoman Navy fleet.

The title is also a low ranking aristocratic title in Lebanon and Syria's coastlines denoting a landed or formerly landed family that swore fealty to Fakhr al-Din II during their alliance with the Medici in the 17th century. It is roughly equivalent to a Baron, however titles of the Ottoman and subordinate nobility seldom translates to Western peerages. The only extant "Ru'assa" in Lebanon are the "House of El Azzi" in Tabarja whom escaped persecution in the 19th century and abandoned their ancestral homes in the Chouf.