The Enderun Mektebi (Enderūn Mektebi, Palace School) was established to educate and train capable state governors, clerks, and officers-in other words, the Ottoman ruling elite. In Ottoman Turkish, enderūn means "inside" (from the Persian andarūn ), and Enderun Mektebi literally denotes "Internal School." There are various views about the exact time of its establishment. Some authors assert that it was founded during the reign of Sultan Murad (Murād) II (r. 824-48/1421-44 and 850-5/1446-51), in Edirne. Others claim that it was launched by Murad's