Ottoman Culture and Commerce

by Michael Johnathan McDonald

Religious Identity problems only surface in the regions of Anatolia and Rumelia. Somehow rebellions only seemed to happen, on a wide scale that is, in Anatolia. I mean this is a mystery result because no one really understands why this is so. The concept of religious mixing in social settings mostly regards ethnicity how they viewed their religions which was at the heart of the rebellions in many instances in Anatolia. To solve this, the marketplace, a major factor is state sustainability was a way in which to ease the tension. To preface this it was not until the late 17^th and early 18^th Centuries that the Jews and the Christians began to form insurrections. Many religious wars were actually Sunni against Shi’i before this time in regards to which direction the entire Muslim community would go - ending in a shi’i Iran and Sunni Ottman split. Lets began at the local level.

Intermixing was not really a function of private life. That is to say, once the work day was over or there was not a festival, the different ethnicities didn’t seem to mix. We also know this about all other cultures and this is nothing new in history. It happened between Christians and Jews with the Askanazi/German/Austrian middle age separations and also the Jews, Muslims, and Christian in the Sephardic region of Iberia. It happened in China, European, and Africa in the middle ages. Everyone seemed to live in their own little districts according to ethnicity ( (Preconceived heritage) Today we may see this in inner cities of big metropolises as the Chian town, or the Arminian district or place, or the European establishments catering only to their heritage likes, or whatever ethic class within this structure model. So, to better understand how people did mix it up we need to look at an important part of a great civilization, and in this case will look at these terms and how they are implemented as the Ottoman Empire.

Trade and commerce is how everyone meets and interacts on a daily basis in the Ottoman system of sociality. If it is not in the local shopping districts where it is in impossible to segregate once self do to logistical geography by city planning, or the many trading hubs that linked vast distances together in an ever changing smaller world, then we need to look at interwoven fabric of culture and commerce in the Ottoman make up of things.

At the local level, the Ottomans , who were racially mixed from the onset, worked side by side on a daily basis. In fact there was no choice in the matter. The workshops were laid out in occupational uniformity, thereby when one needed a certain commodity and wanted a choice one need not travel long distances to compare prices or styles. For instances, all the shield shops were lined up side by side on one block, as where the pot makers, the shoemakers, and jewelers, and all the commodity sundries. Therefore, when the different ethnicities went to work each day they could not help but interact with each other. They worked side by side. This was a urban planning of a practical sense by the Ottomans and incorporated dual purposes fit the ethical model.

First was the forced integration of peoples by theory and the second was economic functionaries of practicality built into economic expediency. This system showed choice and solved the social issue of integration, at whatever level could be achieved without outright force.

Trading began from the local levels, in towns, villages and hinterlands ( towns where people lived and worked). For example, a certain unique textile would be championed from of a certain town. Sometimes, connoisseurs from all around the known world would covet such expertise or tastes from this such towns, villages or hinterland that they would make a special offer for trading purposes and make an order. After the order was agreed upon then into action the manufacturing system started up. This involved a network at the local level.

The trade first began in the manufacturing of the commodity where these places were the first stop on a long journey. Also, commerce was part of the duel system, outside of defense and military spending that paid the majority of the states bills. The other was the agriculture tax base. Textiles were huge and coveted from the Ottoman regions. People from all over the known world wanted either frabric of clothes. Thus at the town, village, or hinterland level the process began.

1.) Making clothes employed many people which was necessary for the functionality of a society.

I.       Sheering of the sheep (men’s work).

II.      Washing the wool. (usually women work)

III.     Taking supplies to the spinners

IV.     Spinners usually were women who would also have lively conversations while they spun.

V.      Dying the wool which usually took place on the edge of town due to smell.

VI.     Weaving

VII.   Finishing the cloth and getting it ready for the market.

VIII.  Local marketing of cloth or in such as finished product of clothing.

This was the local aspects of commerce in representative of one place’s fabric industry. However, this was the local stage, and the international stage now involves other countries which means interactions with outside religions and ethinicities. This also was a mode of understanding the world for many.

IX.     The clothes or cloth now go to the marketplace or now go to a distribution center.

X.      At the distributing center there will be a salesman representing the company and a tradesman representing a merchant, caravan or any other modes of travel.

XI.     In most cases the mechanize leaves the town for a big city that is a major network of trade routing. There are three powerful trade centers and many smaller, but not less significant cities. First is Istanbul, the second is Cairo and the third is Aleppo. This city was claimed by the European for their right to trade many centuries before the Ottomans seized it. It was Selim ‘ the grim’ that conquered Aleppo ( northern Syria) and already hundreds of years before the take over the city this was huge internationale hub for rerouting of trade, even going all the way back to King David’s Empire. Therefore the Ottomans needed little enticing of the world community to use Aleppo as they made treaties right away and built hans for their production purposes. One thing about war and conquest, many well to do’s always convinced a leader never to hurt trade, was the need for ongoing business to sustain the state and its peoples. Only trade sanctions in war stopped trade and this happened usually during the siege and would quickly resume once the new leader was established.

XII.   Therefore, the Ottomans after Selim began to build warehousing districts roughly about six square miles and a new road close the citadel of Aleppo accompanied, of course, by a close mosque. Here build adjacent to the roads were hans, or large buildings where storage, offices, and everything to do with distribution for international trade was set up.

XIII.  After deals are set up for transference of the commodity, usualy the desired locations were to another distribution center in other regions or countries. Most of the time merchandise didn’t make a strait line to its destination. For example, a commodity leaving Aleppo may well be shipped out of the Mediterranean up to Venice then onto Istanbul, if by sea. In case of a caravan, the merchandise may change many traders hands form city to city. This could only be accomplished in a big empire. One will note the tariff and other complications of the Prussia trade system that had many snags in which was one concerns that led to Europe instability because of disunity or non-central policies prior to Westphalia trade, and other treaties applications in regards to freer movement of commodities.

XIV.  Other jobs were garnered from international trade also serving dual purposes, such as the employment of bedouins protecting a caravan from other bedouins. Although not often, but certainly a risk, one could not always count on some of the promises of such protection as were cases of these protectorates taking a contract for protection of a trader then robbing the caravan once in a distant and remote location.

XV.   Shipping was far more secure on the accountability side, but still pirates inhabited the Mediterranean looking for plunder both on the water and next to sea ports. So sometimes when big shipments were issued employment of other ships as guards accompanied the trade ships.

XVI.  There were also money keepers for the companies and shipyard workforces and many other jobs that saw to the economic system of commerce in the Ottoman Empire.

XVII.During the 16^th Century the Levant shipping company was a monopoly and integrated along with the Ottomans for a global network in trade. Second in scope was the English East company, and before them were the Portugese. There were Dutch, Italian, and the French who first won the first trading treaty with the Ottomans, and many others. This showed a wide network of ethnicities and exchange of ideas and customs.

XVIII.         The result was ethnic interactions and a global distribution network which usually took precedence over and outside of the scope of war. For example, Vienna would trade with the Ottomans right up until they were cut off because of the Sultans decision to try to conquer them (Twice the Vienna denied them the right in two wars). The Ottomans still needed the trade money and so was Italy commercial aspects reliant on each other however, once war was on the Ottomans, changed their ports of entry to Florence. One problem with keeping Florence existed; Florence was further away and once the war was placed on hold the Viennese and the Ottomans would take up in trade right where they left off. And we are talking real significant trade dollars, in which, although Vienna survived the off season of Ottoman dollars during war it seems that the Ottomans needed their dollars more. The Ottoman court spent on Vienna luxuries that held price tags of great amounts.

XIX.  In addition, Italy was a main luxury playground for the Ottoman’s taste in treasures because of foreign designed artisan expertise. “Ibrahim Pasha accusation of the Venetian Helmut with a group of parade accessories encouraged Luigi Caorlini and his Venetians partners to venture into other Ottoman projects (Necipoglu) .” A document of March 13, 1532 recorded at the district of Rialto speaks of a great helmut of Gold and jewels valued at 144,000 ducats. In fact the Ottomans had to pay in two instalments because there wasn’t enough money that the Defterdar ( Iskender) could pay in the court chest. From Cairo a gift to Suleyman was ordered at 200,000 ducats that included gold cups and a large quantity of jewels. Suleyman was trained ( according to Sultanate Ottoman Rules every Sultan must learn a commoner trade) was a gold smith, so he loved jewelry for most of his life, except the later years when he became hermit-like lambasting himself from his guilt because of living so lavishly above almost all other people in the world. Jewels were legendary expenses from patrons of Suleyman, which usually included grand visers and other wealthy Ottomans.

XX.   Trade with Europe was very important even though many were propagandizing the dangers of religious and ethnicities to one another through letters and then, also, after Guttenburg’s invention it became publications. But trade with different ethnicities was seen far back in history to Orhan, and his face placed on minted coins to be shown as legitimacy on the caravan trade routs in upper west Anatolia to Mehmed ‘the Conqueror’ granting the Genoese treaties right away and employing them into important administrative Ottoman trade portions. In fact, it was the Ottomans that just piggy-backed upon the Genoese trading empire.

XXI.  Aleppo when first conquered the traders that were there fled, but quickly returned. The han (Khan - Arabic) was a phenomenon. It really was an age of globalism in respects to the known world. It has been said, but not investigated thoroughly, how the influx of Mexican silver and South American gold impacted the Ottoman currency. We know that it had great affects upon Europe. But this only a little extent of the vastness of commerce and culture in globalism. In addition to sea fairing new ships with greater speed helped deploy formative defenses against pirate ( until they got their own versions) there was quicker merchandise deliveries. Many cooperates around the world from all ethinicites say ‘ time is money.’

XXII. With the diaspora of Sephardic Jews from Iberia ( 1492), and year later the marranos from Portugal, there came another ethnicity that influenced the Ottomans significantly. The Jews have always seemed to be on the move, especially when discussing their history. This, and forced and desired segregation, lead to a significant understanding of foreign lands. With the banking background and world logistical knowledge attached to required Heder education Jews were in position right when they arrived in Anatolia or Rumelia to work in tradesmen position. Many received lucrative and exclusive contracts. Usually these involved long distances and complicated accounting. The Sephardic’s held high positions in trade, because of their talent, until the formal peace treaties of Ottoman and Europe created an atmosphere undesirable for the continuation of Ottoman patronage to the Jewish trade expertise. However, for a long time , the ethnicities of Jews alongside Christians and Muslim persisted in the workplaces leading an half-day integration of cultural diverse identity.

XXIII.         Shad Abbas I (reign 1588-1629), who moved the Safavid capital from Qazwin to Isfahan and created a mercantile state, as opposed to a political state of the Ottomans as will be discoursed shortly. He manage to attract Europeans form all over and re-routed the Silk Road, much to the demise of the Ottomans, who spent much manpower protecting it prior to the Qizilbash/ Ismail solidification of boundaries east of Ottoman territory ( or the wars with Iran).

XXIV.         Ghulam units, eventually 10,000 strong, whose members were called qullar and were of a cavalry force and were founded from the Caucasian ghulams ( military slaves), along with the inherited qurchis ( terkemen chosen from the Qizilbash tribes) helped secure Abbas’ international trade for Iran for Abbas’ shi’i state. Abbas played a hands on role in daily trade functions and was very tolerant of all ethnicities.

XXV.          On the other hand Euopre during the time of Suleyman was playing the merchantist role well while the Sultan and later sultans concerned themselves with only what was needed for Istanbul in regards for trade. Therefore there was a loose oversight of people moving in and out of trade deals in the empire. It can be assessed that the Sultans put a lot of trust into their people that they should take care of such functions. I will not argue this point further because entire books could be subject to debate on this issue. The point is that Europe economically got the upper hand in trade deals. One of reasons was a European trade theme of most-favored state [nation] status. This promised both priority right of access into each other marketplaces, however, each country had so many sub-rules it overtook the time to figure out the criteria for all in regards to different countries in Europe and the Ottomans began to not realize the greed of buiness in general if it was not constantly checked. Usually in these situations the bilateral success are a non grata for one side leading to a bipolar relationship. However, it can go both ways, but usually tariffs are marginalized in these cases and mass production wins, which was the case for Europe against Ottoman production. The superior products were also imported cheaply. One can see how China today with most favored trading status ( Not official for many years but approved under the July annual U.S. Congressional vote for over seven years) kept high trade imbalances for the same reasons the Europeans employed. Non-spoken restrictions, cheap labor, mass-production and pushing for outdoing import by export, and an nonchalant oversight of foreign trade practices ( some can say trust too; also court extravagance - but I think this was not significant on the whole) all were parts of the reason the Ottomans got the short end of the stick . However, more factors play into this argument that I have no discussed here, so all of this is conjecture to the entire focus of the Suleyman era and continued sophisticated argumentation of economy in the stationary years of the Ottoman Empire ( also known prior as the fallen military era ,or the beginning of the downfall ( decline) of the Ottoman Empire that is no more used because it cannot be substantiated).

XXVI.         Shah Abbas I (reign 1588-1629), effectively re-routed the Silk Road through Isfahan so that his empire would enjoy a trading monopoly. By the seventeenth century, Isfahan attracted not only European merchants but also missionaries and mercenaries, as it became a religiously tolerant hub of mercantile and diplomatic activity.

XXVII.        Arminians were employed by Abbas because they had global talent as cited with the Sephardic Jews of whom the Ottomans made use of their global knowledge skills.

XXVIII.      The three bod cities in the Ottoman Empire were not the only big trading routers in the Empire. Other cities like Sofia, that, like the town, village and or hinterland urban commerce centers we already discussed , were places where these people could go and find world wide distributers.

XXIX.         So to some this up small shops many of which were built within the Mosque Complex were small scale industries to help off set up keeping fees for the local mosque and employed many ethnicities whom all worked next to each other during the day and formed a local urban network for the cities while out in the villages, towns and hinterland these communities contributed to mass globalization trading networks all fused culture and commerce together. It also should be noted that the small shops connected to mosque complex necessarily didn’t mean that the shop owners were not rich or made a good living, because usually they had warehouses elsewhere in which they could keep stock for future larger trading purposes. The little shops in the city were called the Bazaars where Jews, Christians and Muslims worked side by side. Also, the shops by the mosque complex helped paid the fees for the education from the medreses attached to the complex. Education was the number one theme of the Ottoman Empire.

XXX.          In regards to banking. There were no banks in the Ottoman Empire. However there were many money changers. This fits into the theme of ethnic diversity because it was necessary to exchange foreign currency all the time. The Money changer was called a Sarraf. Many Jews became Sarrafs in the Empire because of their expertise in managing and knowing currency exchange.

XXXI.         Although usury in Islam is never allowed, according to Islamic law, money lending took place all the time. Money lending goes as far back as the invention itself. People always needed to barrow money to make their payments. In the Ottoman Empire this made the creation of the tax-farmer, which was sanctioned by the court and cheated much consternation for the Sultan who saw it as a necessity and a burden ( religious topic and economic consternation). This is how the tax-farm worked. The Muhtasip office, also called the tax-farmer, regulated commerce before the ottoman times. He understood that payments could be lent if he could prove a place or region could pay-of the load by trade. He overlooked also during the deal the quality of the produt, the weights and measure, and fair prices. This was an equity impulse per say. If a town, city or segmented tax region needed quick money they could ask the tax farmer for the equivalent in funds that it would take them to earn over an extended period of time. For example, if a city needed defense funding ( not going there - this is later reasons) then the city could ask for three years of taxes that they would pay if projected from current rates. Then the tax farmer would rase the tax levies each year to make profit. However, it was frowned upon in Islamic law to gauge a contract. A contract is everything in Islamic business. It is how things are agree upon. So making a large sum of profit would not be considerate for tax farmers and this is one reason why the system was allowed to take place. However, there are cases of exploitation as there are in every culture and instant of tax or collection rates in states in history. One must keep in mind that the court trusted its citizen to look out for eachother, so that they would not have to hire a large police force to enforce both tax collection and monitoring tax collectors. If there was a problem then the city takes the tax farmer or collector to a kadis ( a juge) where things get worked out. Tax farming was not popular even though it was a neccessity due to drought, war, and economic circumstance, much of the blame was put on Rustam and Suleyman at the beginning. They got heat for these policies

XXXII.        The Turks lent the most money then came Syrians. Everyone was lending money for interest until a fetwa was passed in the 20^th century that forbade the interest to pass 20 %.

XXXIII.      Ethics in the market place were very enforced. For example, a shaikh baker could be called into a court ( kadis office) , along with his posse ( hierarchy like head baker and so on down the line) and subjected to disciple when his bread was stale, or overcooked. “ how can a man of God subject people to this lousy bread,” a kadis would say. Also, “ It is shameful in the sight of God to offer inferior products to the populations!” it was very important, let alone pride, but honor in ones state to offer the best one’s talents could provide in the Ottoman Empire.

XXXIV.      Women wore their worth on their bodies. Women usually invested in gold and wore it on different places of their body.

XXXV.        As far as guilds go, they are mentioned in the 1582 Mehmed circumcision festival ( Murad III) and festivals in the 17^th Century where they have commentary of protests, however, little is documented of them and their organization. Most possibly they were the Ahki brother hoods who were artisans and just elementary guilds as we know them to be in western civilizations.

Work cited.

Necipoglu, Gulru. ‘Suleyman the Magnificent and the Representation of Power in the Context of Ottoman-Hapsburg-Papal Rivalry’.

Provincial Landscapes

• Aintab
• Belgrade
• Solonica
• Cairo after the Conquest 17th Century


Aintab

Identification: Seydi Ahmed, local notable, a Turkish scion, shop owner, manager and owner of Aril who was an a’yan ( provincial noble) meaning he was a leading figure in economic and civil matters in the city. A businessman (Profiteer)
Tax-collector, and tradesman of textiles.

 Witness legal proceedings for correct legal procedures. ‘ pillars of the community.’

What: One sketch of a Aintab elite. c.1540s

Where: Capital city of Aintab, a minor provincial capital. Capital/Village city of Aintab, a minor provincial capital ( actually it will remain a village). Northern Syrian region. Textile and dying manufactures ( dyehouses) were common among its productions around Aintab. 10,000 to eventually 45,000 population approximately under the Ottomans.

Why: Ottomans needed recruitments of local partners in administration, the Ottomans can be said to practice a domesticated imperialism that created provincial zones of opportunity. 1481 the Ottoman conquest. Ottomans needed recruitments of local partners in administration, the Ottomans can be said to practice a domesticated imperialism that created provincial zones of opportunity.

When: Time: A generation after the Ottoman conquest in 1516. c.1540s. Time: A generation after the Ottoman conquest in 1516. ‘1481’ the Ottoman conquest. Before Ottoman conquest the regional rule continuously by Dulkadir Turkmen Dynasty ( 15th -1481 the Ottoman conquest.

When Selim conquered the arab lands, the shariah took on a more important role and the Kanuname, possibly took a stable role and didn’t grow as fast as it once did. This is because up until the conquering of the Arab lands most of the subjects were not majority of Islamic people. Once the incorporation of the Mamluke dynasty this major ideological shifty took place.

Who: Family name “ Boyaci,” meaning dyer, suggests that Seydi Ahmed’s ancestry made their mark in the textile industry that flourished in Aintab. “ Boyaci” a Turkish rather than Arabic name. This suggests a multi-ethnic and linguist province. Family name “ Boyaci”, meaning dyer, suggests that Seydi Ahmed’s ancestry made their mark in the textile industry that flourished in Aintab. Seydi was a common variant of seyyid used with proper names. “ Boyaci” a Turkish rather than Arabic name. This suggests a multi-ethnic and linguist province.

Information for the sketch: the cadastral registry of 5143, which details the revenues of the Boyaci estate in Aril, the village identified as “ the private property of Seydi Ahmen ibn ( son of) Aluddin ibn Mehmed ibn Ibrahim ibn Huseyin Boyaci”.

A’yan functioned as trusted source of local knowledge about individual persons as well as economic practices. They also testified collectively regarding claims of property ownership. In June 1540 records show the a’yan of Aintab gathered and came to court to testify on prices of lamb and goat meat.

Testifying of deed ownership created local knowledge which the Ottomans used as assessment of worth. ( A’yan tried to protect local interests [ his interests] to own advantage on wealth, status and access to opportunity).

Seydi Ahmed’s Character: entrepreneur – contracting loans, giving out deeds to lands, and collecting rural tax revenues, and owned private property called Aril.

“Pride of nobles” a list of five generations: fakhr ul-a’yan.

Boyacis were a family inscribed in local historical lore. There are no memoirs, or biographies, but there are oral legends and documentary records. His records are in the Aintab court. c.1540s.

Seydi Ahmed’s entitlements in Aril ( land [ private property Mülk): tax share of its agriculture produce and the right to tax the grant of productive access to uncultivated land. One of Seydi Ahmed’s personas was a rural magnate. ( trust deed 5121-22 dooesn;t show how long he owned it). Seydi Ahmed is part of a story of Arab displacement by Turkish elite during the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods.

Significance of the Ottoman take-over of area: A policy of circumscribing privately-held rural estates, and attempts to force local tax-farmers to pay up areas, now, owned by the state: Created a political stability and economic prosperity. Seydi Ahmed was able to profit from the recent incorporation of Aintab into the strong empire.

Social significance of Seydi was a common variant of seyyid used with proper names that in 17th century the social value of the claim to religious status increased so that there beamce o number of seyyid who appeared in the court records and in Aintab, as well as Aleppo saw an increase in fabricated genealogies. .

Family lore:
Boyaci mosque one of Aintab’s oldest. Boyacizade mosque ( official name Haci Musa). Mosque was officaly known in cadastral records as kadi Kemaleddin and its urban quarter Kadi mahallesi. Somehow the story attached Kemeleddin to the Boyaci lineage. This showed a shift in the naming habits of regions. Sometimes, Mosques, shrines, urban neighborhoods, and villages are locally known ‘ popular’ by names other than what appear in the official records.

Boyaci Yusef, saved a bandit judge ( Kadi – Kemeleddin) by cutting him down from a hanging tree. Judge later sent money to him to build the mosque. This showed courage and compassion, but also moral insight ( in one version an abducted woman inserted her hand between the bandit and the rope until Yusef arrived.)

Historical Significance: The Boyaci and Demirci stories are microcosms of a much larger dynamic, namely, how “canonical” histories are forged expeditiously from “false’ elements. As a story of a hardy provincial lineage.

Demirci genealogy is perhaps also a microcosmic instance of the flexible practices by which tribal confederations assimilated or shed member lineages.

Significance of the stories is to link Boyaci Yusuf to Osman Ghazi, alleged founder of the Ottoman Lineage.

Lineage Honor was reinforced at different points in time the acquired attributes of descent from the Prophet and fabled family origins.

There is no sign of Seydi was involved as hands-on way with textile drying. His family’s wealth consists of revenues from Aril and the rental income on five shops in the city. Aril’s agriculture produce – wheat, barley, “summer crops”, “ grapevines and fruits” – was estimated in1543 at 10,400 akçes ( the akçe was the standard Ottoman silver currency). ( A florin equaled 80 akçes; taxes were often registered in florins rather than akçes).

Credit throughout the empire in the sixteenth century Ottoman empire was extended largly to individuals, and courts acted as registries of loans contracted and debts paid; thus we learn that people were buying, selling and investing in.

The frequent bidding contest for tax-farmers issuing from state agencies demonstrated the popularity of this investment opportunity in Aintab in 1540-41. Bidding was about three times higher in estimations from 1536 annual tax yield and bidding in 1541. This shows that many tax-farmers in Aintab were delinquent in their payments.

Tax-farmer ( trustee) Mustapha Celebi. He typically received tax revenues then forwarded them to garrisons [ soldiers]. One could imagine cooking books is not part of the twentieth-century only. Thus, there were debts to pay for the shortfalls, and usually this comes from raisin prices or taxes. Thus there was a lag in enriching the state, but they had profits. Possibly they felt that their job constituted more salary then what was determined by the Ottomans. The other possibility was to supplement these debts by investing in textiles. That is if the books were not cooked or they had to pay-off local soldiers in the garrisons. This is not diminishing the fact that these would be high crimes against the state. Cretits and money passed between textiles and the nobles were great. This meant there was allot of flexibility to the financial atmosphere in Aintab.

23 yards of purple broadcloth went for 45 florins.

When a prominent merchant died claims against his estate meant the ascertaining of his wealth. Sometimes many claims were made by investors.

There were prominent Jewish tax-farmers. Yusuf required coustomers to put up collateral against sales of cotton. There is no evidence of Seydi Ahmed’s engagement in textiles, possibly to keep this out of the records books. We can emagine his five shops rented out were textiles.

Ahmend inb Demirci, a a’yan: valuable civic actors: Business expertise and ethical authority.

Large Jewish population. Over time Muslims immigrated displacing other ethnic groups.
16th Century:

Belgrade
August 1521 to early September 1688 Belgrade slowly became more Muslim in appearance. ( I’m not going to use the word Oriental here as the author did). In the Muslim period the city was built up and made rich, but not while under the minorities.

• Pashas now Turkish or Islamic. Do not support Solonica mostly Christian population.

Muslims did their best to discourage communications between themselves and the minorities in order to preserve purity of their respected faiths. ( PC). Muslim intellectual periods met at educational facitlites: mosques, medreses, tekkes, darülkurra, mektebs, as well as sarays of state offices. ( beys, kadis)at the Mahkeme ( court) at the muftis, and the bazzars and coffeehouses.

Religious fervor: Strict Orthodox Sunni Islam.

Non-Muslims, zimmis, were organized into their little communities with their religious and ethnic communities the only thing keeping them somewhat sane until the Austrians arrived with force to free their traditional country. Had to pay dhimmi tax. Christians devided into eastern Orthodox and Catholic groups. Schools were found in churches, and they read books and copied them and some original books were written.

Largest group was Serbian Orthodox( Source the taxation records).
Literary production of books not always strictly religious.

Catholic community in Belgrade began to grow in the 1530s and the nucleus was an organized colony of merchants from Dubrovnik. They didn’t have a city district to themselves. Their houses and shops were grouped in the commercial center of the city, in Ferhad Pasha mahalle. Ottoman sources refer to them as Latins. Catholics are referred too as Latiniers, but also as ‘Frenk keferesi’, with many variations.

Jesuits arrived in Belgrade and the founding of a secondary school in 1613. they provided schooling for merchant children. Roman alphabet to not let authorities know what they wanted to say in letters.

Strategic city.

Holy League to rescue 1683-99. Bombardment of walls which damaged area profusely – many decades for rebuilding.
1688 Austrian conquest.

Minorities not Islamic must pay Poll-tax, and extra tax that Muslims didn’t have to pay. Evliya Çelebi.

Belgrade was bound to become the largest military and food manufacturing center of the European part of the Empire. After the conquering of the Arab lands, food was imported from the regions of Egypt, Syria and Iraq.

Early Years

Divided into two groups in Balkans:

1. Dubrovnik merchants
2. The community of Catholics from Bosnia.

At first the City was very mixed diversely: Christians, Greek Orthodox, Latins, Jewish, and other smaller denominations. Croats, Dalmatians, Italians as well as Hungarians. Even Gypsies.

A Conference in the Middle Eastern Societies made a distinction between contingent and structural poverty. Many said it was a market crash ( 16th century – much seems to link to the Sultan stopping campaigning that was the real economy of the Empire).

Belgrade later on the population rises from 10,000 to 45,000.

People had incentive to get assistance by conversion. Not discussed in class – but see Abbasid Empire and how after a large non-Arab conversion they laws suddenly changed contrary to the shari’ah and this didn’t help one social or economic ability because of racial tensions.

Population estimation 50,000

Solonica

City Solonica:

Muslims didn’t regard Solonia, or its 50,000 inhabitants, as a primary target for their generosity and philanthropy. (pc)

Why? No Sultan support? The Sultan is withdrawn, no more Pasha’s from this region ( See Ottoman Laws for significance in revision), the endowments now went to Arab lands, like Mecca, medina, and places in Syria and Iraq. This was more a closed system: more Turkish and Islamic. ( i.e. racist). No Charity Neighborhood endowments meaning pesants fended for themselves, but had to pay up money of get the Ottoman army on them.

• No More Christian Pashas
• Pashas now Turkish or Islamic. Do not support Solonica Christian population.

1. Primary targets: How did Salonica society understand and cope with the problem of the poor.

2. Imperial significance: NO generosity and philanthropy by the center ( Ottoman Sultan), according to author.

3. Self reliant: the Ottomans left this city to govern much of its self, but under threat of subjugation if economic conditions were not met.

Subject: Poor: ID of Poor in context: characterized as unable to survive by their own means.
1694-1768 shows the registered public beneficiaries of new endowments ( in some endowments more than one public beneficiary was designated) as follows:

1. Neighborhood Mosques 30
2. Sufi Lodges 28
3. The poor of Salonica 19
4. Guilds 8
5. The poor of the Holy Cities 4

The types of beneficiaries mentioned in the reports submitted by the administrators of the different endowments are as follows:

1. Vakifs Officials 97
2. Religious Functionaries 76
3. Founder’ Descendents 10
4. Water supply 10
5. The poor 7
6. Guilds 5
7. Neighborhoods


Charity by religious decree, shari’ah.
Endowments of poor come mainly by family Vakifs, and not Pious Vakifs (i.e. building of public institutions, such as mosques etc..).
Most endowments were results of local initiatives.

Foundation of an endowment ( Vakif) is regarded the favorite mode for attainting nearness to God, and consequently, enhancing one’s award.

Constructing a pious endowment became the legal foundation of philanthropy in Islam [ actually it is outlined in the Islamic religion as a necessity of offerings in one’s life].

Neighborhood endowments distributed relief in the private domain by supplying neighborhood poor with food, clothing, or shrouds when the time came. Orphan, widows and bankrupted were singled out for neighborhood endowments.

Ishak Pasa ( Pasha – grand vizer from 1468-1471), resided in Salonica as a pensioned statesmen, and established a poor kitchen adjacent to a mosque.
No poor kitchen appears in the cicil files (court records).

Group of traveling beggars that were all blacks (kara arap), possibly manumitted of fugitive slaves. Describing their plight, ( Abraham Marcus on Aleppo a cicil), they were in look out for constant charity.

Beggars, vagrants,
Paupers had to rely on street charity.
Terms of ‘ structural poor’ implies that groups, most possibly slaves, apparently lack any supportive connections with their former masters. They were outsiders with no kingship, social, or professional ties to the local communities. To compensate they tried to organize themselves into cohesive groups- much like their counterparts in early-modern Europe, who were insightfully described by Bronislaw Germek. Scribal terminology called them taifa or cemaat ( tribe, group).

The authorities’ attitude toward these “idle” poor was rather different form the of early-modern Western Europe, where loitering and vagrancy were regarded as a threat to public morality, health and security.

The Ottoman authorities were content, in this case, to admonish the abusive officials, but they order no action against the itinerate ( to travel from place to place) beggars. [This may imply that the scope of the problem was larger and more threatening if wide spread suppression occurred]. However in the Ottoman empire and Salonica there was recorde abuse by authorities of the ‘ idel’ poor. Why? Constant immigration from rural areas could consequently threaten its revenues. Furthermore, there is case to show tolerance against the ‘ idel’ poor.


Poor used to follow the harvesters and pick ( gleaning- luka) up scraps ( grain-sünbüle; or corn etc…) that fell on the wayside.

18th century Salonica:

Work For Impoverished, the poor
• 18th Century Child Labor.
• Kadis (Judges of Ottoman Courts) didn’t feel obliged to interfere of behalf of these servants ( child labor/slaves).
• Employment of child servants, overwhelmingly girls, in Ottoman Salonica reveals the blurred line between charity and abuse.
• Rape (term is forced sexual relations) of servants are allowed under Islamic Law (I will leave it you to fill in the blanks – also see cases)


Migrations of mainly men, did come to city looking for day labor, sometimes paid in food. However, there was limited work. Usually this is a sign of a dence population where the jobs under represent the numerical value of the persons looking for steady jobs.

Religious conversion could be seen as another strategy adopted by a few individuals [ reason why later].

Giving away daughters- to serve in non-kingsmen’s houses, virtually to become slaves. Domestic service was one of the few genuine labor opportunities. Giving away children is seen allot in the registers. This must have been common. In return, the children had to serve their benefactors for an unspecified period of time. In the Old Testament we see examples of this practice, but on an agreement of specified time. The ascertainers of the children viewed themselves as having done a great deed in buying the child and making them work, work and work while telling others, in public, they cannot pay them because they raised them.

When employers were confronted with the demand to pay their servants a fair wage, they reacted with what seems to be sheer astonishment. Owner of slave said: “Look I raised you.” Child: “No you didn’t you worked me to the bone for years and years.” In court she lost.

If there was payment, it was looked upon as generosity or goodwill not any commitment. Therefore, the slave owner didn’t need to pay the slave after years of working and working them hard. Some will argue against me that the children after they grew up and were pushed out of the house for knowledge were grateful of being a servant ( laborer/slave) and that not being paid was ‘great and fantastic’. In fact, the same rhetoric came out of the Democratic South American slaveholder’s opinions in history.

Some claim some children were given household objects, according to Fatima bint Abdulla, for their years of hard house labor. Today we cannot determine whether these declarations were freely given. I some cases, real generosity probably motivated the fostering of pauper children. This is done today with international foster adoption. In cases of clear understanding, the problems of the past with the poor were much as the same as today. Mostly the lower middle class to poor took care of the poor and the middle class, if one could have such a meaning in Salonica ( the people with means above daily survival) took advantage of the poor in labor exploitations. Is surely went on in England during the beginning of the industrial revolution, as well as supporting this notion.

However, this expose gives us a good picture of the Ottoman Empire, even at a superficial level. There really is not enough written describing the common people in history.

Rape: of Female Slave ALLOWED IN OTTOMAN ISLAM

Surely a common concern for the poor. Why? They have no defenses against the established families.

The servant’s claim to receive a certain type of compensation (ukr) clearly signals the socially inferior position of servant in general: She requested--- presumably following some advice that she had received- --compensation that was due only in cases in which the rapist could reasonably assume that his sexual intercourse with his victim was legally acceptable. Islamic law sanctions sexual intercourse only in cases of marriage or ownership of a female slave.

Finally, servants’ vulnerable position is clear from their failure to receive favorabl verdicts in courts.

Conclusions:

Charity in the Ottoman state was a private deed performed by the individual. One doesn’t find an attempt at constructing a centralized, secular, and ridged policy toward the poor such as developed gradually in most parts of Europe starting from the sixteenth century. After the French saw the child labor in factories having devastating moral convictions of the general public they chose not to choose these procedures as common procedures in their industrial revolution. However, child labor performed its ugly head in almost all periods and places on the globe.


Cairo after the Conquest 17th Century


ID: Isma’il Abu Taqiyya was an Ottoman empire merchant-entrepreneur, Egyptian, tajir saffar, then a regional merchant then a shahbandar al-tujjar ( head of Cairo’s merchant guild) during the end sixteenth century. He was from a third generational merchant family, that became connected to a family of merchants and became wealthy. He learned trade from his father with his brother Yasin, who he later separated from after his father died. Disputes with his brothers, his sons distractions with the up and coming military life, and his sisters who took him to court, led to an end of a his family merchant dynasty. Taqiyya hired many Syrians, in which he spent much of his childhood around the Syrian trade spots, recorded most of his partnerships in the courts, and saw a trend of indigenous merchants becoming involved in commercial agriculturalism in Egypt. His family was involved in the Red sea trade and his activities at court showed what a vital role the courts played in trade. Taqiyya’s family migration to Cairo, an historic trade nexus, also , showed the great fluidity of movement between diverse regions of the Ottoman Empire and his mobility in trade showed a continuity of commercial and economic ties between Egypt and Syria. His life represented three phases of social mobility during the 16th century where Ottomans in law, investment, social mobility all played positive roles in the maintaining strength of the now vast empire.

1580-1625

The reason his business didn’t survive is he had one son who was not adept at the business as his father.

He was a mediator when he was chief guild tradesman of Cairo.

He extended his trade beginning from the early 1590s to include Mukha in the Yemen, and India. This included partners and agents. Some of his workers had residence in India. He also established a network along the Mediterranean cities of Istanbul, Solonica, and Venice. Alos was interested in the local Delta trade.

1613: shahbandar al-tujjar.

“The period saw the reemergence of merchants to the fore, in terms of wealth they accumulated, the social power they gained, and the influence they had on the political scene” says Nelly Hanna in her book ‘ Making Big Money in 1600’. Taqiyya’s life and period showed the important trend of indigenous merchants becoming involved in commercial agriculturalism.

His phases:
1. Phase one, train and work with his merchant family.
2. Phase two, work with a family of merchants.
3. Phase three, independent partners outside of the family circle. He bgan after the death of his father Ahmed who died on a trade trip to Mecca.

The activities of merchants show what a vital role the courts played in trade.

Syrian community in Cairo.

Chabrol in 1798 estimated that between a third and a quarter of the male population was literate.

• Education: Cairo: Elementary children: Home schooled or institutions set up for this purpose.

• Radi: feeding infant
• Qasir: minor
• Shabb, or baligh: young man in the legal sense. ( that means his testimony could be taken and handle money).
• Beard appeared: rajul, man, or al-rajul al-kamil.
• Isma’il Abu Taqiyya 1580s a (shabby baligh)

• Families of Merchant offered a greater protection than just one merchant family traveling alone.
• His earlier years was a tajir saffar ( traveling merchant)
• Red sea came to major entrepots ( ports) for goods coming in from India. Mecca and Jedda.

Providing legal guarantees to the merchants’ deals and ventures, providing them with legal documents they could use in other reagions, and sactioning the various transactions and partnerships they undertook.
Taqiyya registerd in court his partnerships

Merchants were social climbers. ( like at the end of the western middle ages)

Isla’il Abu Taqiyya, late 16th century, a prominent merchant active in Cairo between 1580 and 1625, and through his analysis it examines the social and economical background of the period.

Cairo grew in importance between the beginning and the end of the sixteenth century.

Social, legal and cultural context interlinked

• Wikalas ( commercial wharehouses) Taqiyya built in the heart of the city; in loans he granted, often to people who were close to power. Owners of large houses with slaves, servants and employees. Like Pashas.
• Also an analysis of the group in which he belonged.
• Commercial and social skills and his ability to make and maintain good contacts.
• Merchants were social climbers. Often marring.
• Taqiyya’s life and period showed the importance of indigenous merchants becoming involved in commercial agriculturalism ( just like Romans after third Punic war)
• He left three wives who took 1/4 of his fortune.
• Eleven children the rest.
• Zakariyya, one of his sons, was not a good tradesmen so the business ended.
• Military life began to emerge at the time of Taqiyya’s death. Many of his children went that way.

Work Cited:

Fotić, Alexsandar. Belgrade and Non-Muslim Center ( Sixteenth-Seventeenth Centuries).

Ginio, Eyal Living on the Margins of Charity. Coping with Poverty in an Ottoman Provincial City. Ch. Eight

Hanna , Nelly Making big Money in 1600. The Life and times of Isma’il Abu Taqiyya Egyptian Merchant. Syracuse University Press. Introduction Sources and Methods

Peirce , Leslie Entrepreneurial Success in 16th Century Aintab, The case of Seydi Ahmed Boyaci, local notable.
 

Islamic Mystical tradition

Sufi: Islamic Mystical tradition.

Sufis are not traditional Muslims, but are traditional mystical Muslims.
Goal: Assimilation with God; ecstatic spirituality; Longing for god because of a separation and to get back into wholeness with God.
Story: Separation and longing to return to God. One will note that Jews create their own creation myth in the middle ages and this same ‘God longing to come back to humans is a reversal of the Christian myth dilemma where man is supposed to return to God.

In esoteric mindset, God created man so he could long to beg back together with mankind. See: The Mysticism comes to the Forefront of Jewish Life
Radical functionary in Jewish History

In reality this is just a distinction from traditional Islamic ways, because gnosis is a universal path followed by Christians, Buddhists, Chinese mystics, and all other mystics including ones with no ethnic identity.

All objectives are to reach the same place - the ones with the higher power, some call God, Allah or whomever.

Mari’fet: gnosis; Esoteric describes the Sufi path. This is what Sufi ( Mystics) try to obtain.

Tarikats: Not a club, just beyond the rules of traditional Islam. The path to God. A thought movement.
Three large orders in Ottoman but many other ones too.
Mevlevi: Dancing
Bektashi: Chanting
Naksbendi: Silent focusing.

All three meet the same esoteric objective. Some will not call this responsible, but many of the necessary programs of communal communication are like learning programs, such as get together to talk and search for inner truths. Intellectual with spiritual talk to understand the Universe. These things go outside the realm of the Pious Muslim, and contain concepts forbidden by the Shari’ah. However, the lure to Sufis are their sacred searches that encompass concepts out side of strict Islam. Contenting to definition comes because everyone groups unorthodox Islamic under the Sufi title, making it hard to define because many levels, which is the trade mark rout of the Sufi appear to complicate a unified definition.

14-16th Century: India 14th - 17th.
Sheikh-pīr ( Pir is old man) Anatolian, Syrian, lower central Asia, Iran, Iraq, and India.
Dede grandfather
Baba (papa)

Significance is that these tarikat systems are models of having a spiritual guide either alive or dead, venerating them as teacher/pupil and reverence at their tombs if they are deceased, invoking their names, their spiritual presence in everyday life. The concentration on their goal of the Sufi’s consciousness.

Keramet: Miraculous deeds, miracles ( K*R*M generosity, nobility)
Dhikr zikr: Focus and the mentioning of God ( Allah ) repeatedly, phrasing. ‘Praise Allah.’

Many levels of attainment.

Famous Sufi leaders:
Shah Ismaīl, who created the Safavīds. The Charismatic personality is one of the distinctions of an Islamic mystic. Also, some call it superiority complex; but the Sufis help out the poor more often, as they have renounced worldly possessions – that is most of them. There are sufi orders that remain in materialistic ways.

Prophecies and Messianic events In the Ottoman Empire

& Autobiographies. First-person narratives.

Shabbatay Sebi and a Muslim mystic who lived at the same time, Muhammad an- Niyāzī.

Effendi, alias, Shabbatay Sebi.
• Court of Adrianople was Sultan Muhammad IV’s favorite residence.

Significance of the Dönmeh oral tradition.
• Niyāzī tekke ( Dervish monastery) in Solonika. Relationship between its devotees and members of the Dönmeh sect.

1. Niyāzī: born 1617 in Aspuzi in central turkey (Anatolia) where his father was a Naqshabandi Sūfi.
2. Niyāzī hung around Bektāshis when he was young. They adhere to a syncretistic system of religious beliefs (actually intellectualism) composed of Jewish, Christian, Gnostic and Shi’ite elements. Among the beliefs are reincarnation and divine manifestation in human form.
3. Niyāzī came to Constantinople ( Istanbul) about the same time as Sebi.
4. Both Niyāzī and Sebi were expelled from other cities. This is harmonistic in how they met.
5. Niyāzī fell out of favor with the Ulema, was banished twice before the Sultan recalled him to reassure a worried Sultan about the Ottomans plans to attack the Polish.
6. Effendi, alias, Shabbatay Sebi resided in Adrianople subsequent to his conversion.
7. From a letter to Samuel Primo , one of the most important members of Shabbatay’s inner circle and subsequently his secretary, who hailed from Bursa where Niyāzī had resided, it is known that Shabbatay Sebi enjoyed privileged relations with the ruling classes of Anrainople. He would banquet at the residence of ‘Ali Pahsa, a high official with whom he seems to have had friendly connection and would stay at the Seray throughout the three days of the Muslim festival ( Īd al-kabīr) in the company of Mullah Mustaphā.
8. Vizer Ahmed Koprülü imprisoned Shabbatay Sebi.
9. Niyāzī also reserves a satanic role in this eschatological vision for Vāni Effendi, whose downfall he predicts. The Sultan’s foremost preacher, Muhammad Vāni Effendi was a very prominent personality at court who, as a fervent Sunnite, and his influence over thee extremely religious Sultan Muhammad IV, to wage an unrelenting war against the Dervish brotherhoods, especially the Bektāshis. Of even more particular significance is the eschatological dimension Niyāzī lends to the military campaigns against Poland in the year 1672 which leads to taking of Komeniec in Podolia on the 28th of August of that year. ( Need cite )

Autobiographies.

First-person narratives.
Post-Süleymanic age
Giving us a personal demention to Ottoman social and cultural history.

Şeyhülislām Feyżullah Efendi composed a remarkable tranquil autobiography in 1702, one year before he was deposed and brutally murdered at the end of a spectacular revolt known as the Erdine Incident.

The Şeyhülislām was one of the targets of the rebellious soldiers joined by a large group of ulema, basically because the Şeyhülislām had seriously disrupted the hierarchical promotion system in the higher ‘ ilmiye ranks through excessive nepotism.

Networks of Companionship. Seyyid Hasan b. 1620

Topic: Sohbetnāme. August 27,1661 ( 1072 A.H.) to end of 1075 A.H. ( July 13, 1665.).
418 folios-long diary, he refers to himself as a fakār/ this poor one.

Seyyid Hasan (b. 1620) A seventeenth century, full time dervish, writer of social occasions, Sufi leader and Preacher who stayed in the central Kocamustafapaşa convnet of the Halvetī-Sünbülī order (Sünbülī tekmīl-i tarīkat order) and tried to arise to the esteemed position of şeyhlik of Kocamustafapaşa. This is one of the first accounts of first hand information of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century.

It sits within the classical arts and letters genre.

He emphasized a sense of intimacy, brotherhood affection.

From the Sohbetnāme we learn of the intricate web of relationships established, on the basis of family ties as well as the order of affiliation and mahalle solidarity.

Also, from the Sohbetnāme, we learn of the intimate account of the social activities and functions of Vakif or tarikat affiliated salary-drawing functionaries.

These dervishes were an agent of social and ideological cohesion in the pre-modern Ottoman urban fabric ( From Ms. Molly Greene, graduate student at Princton University, has analysed the data in the 1545 vakif tahrīr register in Istanbul […]45)
( I do not believe this)

Reason I do not agree. The Definitional control of the Safavīds, the creak down of Sufis in the Ottoman Empire overshadows many other authors in this same period.

Seyyid Hasan also lists food items indicating diet was an important discourse. Also sleep and dreams.

• Intimate friendships and gossip at barbershops acted like alternate information avenues other than the coffee shops. Köprülü was cracking down on coffee shops at this time.

• There is not a single non-Muslim reference in the whole diary.
  Sufi leader and Preacher (vā’iz) in the neighboring mosque.

• Diary starts of as news of the plague that hit the empire at this time.
  
  Work Cited:

Kafadar, Cemel, Questions of Ottoman Decline, Harvard Middle Eastern Review 4 (1997-1998). 1-2:30-75.

The Significance of the Arab Lands

Cemel Kafadar

Word trickery of the Political Correct.
Networks of Companionship. Seyyid Hasan b. 1620

Topic: Sohbetnāme. August 27,1661 ( 1072 A.H.) to end of 1075 A.H. ( July 13, 1665.)

Historians: Comfortable taxonomies of “emergence,” golden age,” decline”.
Ottoman Authors like Gelibolulu Mustaphā ‘Āli and Kātib Çelebi lamented “the closing of the Ottoman mind.”

Cemel Kafadar is not an unintelligent writer or uniformed Ottomanist but the understanding of what was and what was not looked at in this piece needs valuable attention, not only because of its current of evasion seen in academia, but its overall correlessence to the world wide phenomenon of skirting real issues explodes very clearly in this piece. It is a good suggestion that due to non-archival mass-record keeping as in western civilization, one cannot appear to have definitive answers for the Ottomans.

Michael’s Significance. Post-Süleyman age with its acute decline-consciousness, its sense of eroding stability, lose of control, and social dislocation. The inward turn into the self is a mirror result of the Sultan(s) turning into a Palace recluse(s), emphasis, and not socializing or campaigning for more territory which made most of the discourse in Ottoman history up until this time. There was a change to the discourse and knowledges. Like all civilizations, once a success is had after imperialism, the psychological aspects of human rights significantly enters the common citizens psyche -- and cannot be dismissed as irrelevant.

The benefit of the Ottoman Empire before the conquering of the Arab lands was surveillance, toleration and partitioning with minimal ethnic intoloration interference. After a new demographic move in, this changes. The good things that the Turkish system understood about governing and non-loyalty, the continuation of assimilation, all lasted until the about the mid-16th century. Even the strong core of its system made this Ottoman system last well into the 19th century; but by the 16th century a changed had occurred so significant that loyalty and non-assimilation were no more the priority and in fact came a liability to new ideology of the caste system seen so many times in Europe and elsewhere with so many different names.

Sum: “there is a wide spectrum of unknown or ignored first-person narratives urging us to reconsider the earlier dismal or personal writings as a lacuna among Ottoman historical sources”.

Did the Ottomans foster talent after Süleyman? After the conquering of the Arab lands a huge demographic switch occurred. No more Christian Pashas. Is this not significant?

“The declinist discourse saw nothing but optimism and immoral behavior behind the rising fortuned of upstarts, just as it found moral laity and degeneracy behind administrative measures taken to cope with new realities.” This is old hat; the fact that the Ottoman empire was built upon assimilation of others for their economy and excitement, and when this stopped the aggression went naturally inwards. This is par the course for all civilizations and nothing new.

“Rule unrest was accompanied by urban riots, usually led by Janissaries or other kul forces ( Servants of the Sublime court).”

“ […] profound changes in the size and composition [recruitment of non-Christians] of the Janissaries ultimately created social, political and economic problems, not because the Janissaries were from a particular ethnic stock [Christians who were now out and Islam and Turks in] , not even because they married or engaged in trade [ Christians wanted no more indoctrination, manipulation and control of their lives as slaves – they wanted a real life], but because the state was unable to satisfy their expatiations, such as regular payment of salaries [ Not the whole story here]”. One needs to look at the human aspects of all this and not erudite political correctness talk. How would you like to lived enslaved, not told where your mother or father came from, forced to learn a religion and serve a master and sometimes forced to go kill other of your ethnic stock, all because you were brain washed – but then to see a different light because you are not busy conquering something that was innate and ingrained for two centuries – which made you forget and not care about this things? Now you care. You are idle. You notice, you are aware, you are not sinless anymore. People do not seem to understand when they write that people are people and that they are not just killing machines.

When the 16th century came around the Janissaries were exposed to the outside world and all the joys and offerings, like they never seen before. So much wealth poured in from Syria, Cairo and Baghdad and the Arab lands they saw the Turks and new Muslims come in a have a ball of a time living it up while they lived like caged animals. They were idle. They didn’t want to live like this any longer and so “they constituted a part of the new elites competing with other nobles.” Camel’s declaration without saying it is right there in that sentence. If the Janissaries were happy they would not revolt against the Sultan, nor compete with nobles for power. This was a cause of force to reform them and start recruiting from Muslim stock, Ad-hoc Lebanese lords, Kurdish lords and other places to fill in the gaps. The Christians slowly filtered out meaning they had enough and didn’t like the system any longer. To think that they were not paid for a few times and or that the Ottomans were broke is a revisionist theory. The Ottomans were at the height of their wealth during the 16th Century. There is no Orientalsim here at all. Read my European history where the many, but not all, powerful lords and administrators dominated the little people and they revolted and it was all out war between themselves. European saw huge wars.

“Also contributing to the dissolution of the empire was the hardening of ethnic boundaries.” Well duh? Do you think that the Janissaries had any illusion to being kept as warrior killers that went out on campaign to beat up upon their brethren who saw them as captured mindless indoctrinated machines? There needs to be a really serious question with correlating facts about this period. After Selim, it took a while for the Muslims to come on up and into influence of the Ottoman empire. Now, after this is done we see Janissary revolts, of whom are mainly Christian, and we have a hardening of ethnic boundaries. Does anyone but me see something significant here? Were the Turks/Christians a fabulous team and then hardnosed influence from the old Mamluk, Arabian, and Baghdad Muslims areas change opinions here in the capital of Istanbul? We just do not have enough writings for the early periods to confirm yea or nay. However the timing is sure odd?

Many writers take for granted because there are no biographies of Janissaries that they loved their life, especially going out on campaign not knowing who they were and killing their relative so to speak. This is political correctness of the west which is also looking at it from a revision angle not understanding they are contributing to assumptions as well.

Ethnic Divisions of Labor and Live in One's Own Quarters at night with One's own peoples. 

1. Could this have been the Ottoman response that most people do not engage in inclusionist preconceptions?

2. Most People of different races and ethnicities remained in their private camps at night ( districts) but during the day, at least in Istanbul, all types of races and ethnicities intermingled together-- a part of the labor processes of intermixing. Yet, on the periphery, different models and currents took shape. In Southern Anatolia, certain trade citizens had diverse races and ethnicities working together, wile in the more traditional Palestine and Egyptian areas under the Ottomans, certain tensions raised. 

“ The ethnic divisions of labor depicted by Europeans observers of the nineteenth century , for instance, appear to be much more rigid than the world of the supraethnic [Syncretic] guilds seen in the records of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries”. Umm, Could it be that you are talking about 100-200 years or more? Lots happen in that span of time, sorry to break the news to you. “ Yet the Ottoman elite never came close to caste.” What do you call the shari’ah where one has to pay a special tax because one is not a Muslim or wants to be, and even if they do one make it harder to become one and even harder if they all want to because then they can social climb the caste ladder and get a better standard of living? Sorry to break it to ya but a caste is a concept even though it is a word with a definable timetable and expression. It still means superiority over another – fascism - period. Did you ever hear of the three estates of France – fascism - superiority? Those were castes, just in another language and word. It was the same concept. That is why a revolution was fought over for this political concept of superiority. The lack of mobility of people even restrictions to Europe kept people where they were and not a peep of this comes into discourse about why many non-Muslim remained in the Empire throughout the 16-19th centuries. “ yet it is important once again not to exaggerate the disenchantment of the Ottoman subjects with their state.” Here Cemel clearly sees that these are a caste of ‘ subjects’ and not rulers like the concept of ‘democracy of goods’ where everyone is king un-to-themselves, but are in fact lower ranked than the Muslim-Turko leadership in the 16-19th centuries, on the whole. One must also partake of conscious that Cemel, not like many other apologists use the Greeks and the form to bash ‘ rise and fall’ scenarios, cannot see the significance. “ The insight of ancient Greek Authors who ‘ try to explain both rise and fall ( of states) as one and the same process, due to evolution of one and the same situation,” seems profoundly applicable to our cause.” Obviously she has not read the vast amount of Islamic literature on the rise and fall of the Abbasid empire and how it was viewed exactly as the Greeks viewed histories of empires. But then again Greeks were not Muslims. Cemel seems to be lost as why “ In the end, Ottoman reforms never went so far as to accommodate long-term structural changes that would enlarged the political sphere and included parts of the subject population”. Although Cemel recognizes this aspect and in other sections of the tract that at the same time ethnic tensions surmounted overwhelmingly separating and dividing the unity of pre-Arab land Ottoman days, Cemel cannot piece it together fluidly. What we have here is a growing divide of a caste system that is not the word but a non-unifying of the ideal of citizenship which was in fact displaced by Muslim superiority which shut out much of the population which instead of working hard on a future for the Ottomans decided to turn their backs upon a dream of a dominant ideological state that could have ruled the world. In the Abbasid empire there was a significant timeframe where everyone non-Muslim decided by informative knowledges to convert to Islam and become one. The strict Muslims rallied and campaigned that this shouldn’t happen and the rest is history – the place weakened. If they were allowed to become one then I know that they could have stopped the Mongols dead in their tracks before they even got close to Baghdad. But no-one will fight for you when you do not accept them as equals. Even Prophet Muhammad realized this among his men. Even the Muslim chroniclers realized this when writing the rise and fall of the Abbasid. The question must be asked, if this was a tolerant Muslim-Turko system then why didn’t the Christians, the Jews fight for its survival? So when writers like Cemel speak, “ Starting in the eighteenth century, the Ottomans began to recognize European economic superiority,” one sees the cause now and it has noting to do with European economic advancements. It has to do with unity and people working together to make a state a great civilization. The crossroads of the Greeks and the Muslims who both saw the real causes of the rise and fall of empires noted different circumstances then Cemel apologetic revisionism also called political correct writing. The Period of decline is the intoleration after the Arab lands were conquered needs to be addressed promptly. Previously the Turkish allowed the Christian great fluidity and acceptance that reversed after new political discourse hit Istanbul in the 16th Century. Yes the Ottomans won battles during the so-called decline period but so did the Romans, the Persians, the Mughāls, the Tang, the Mongols, the British, the Americans and every other long-term state on the way to the fall. They were seen as a decline form an apex they once owned, and so why not the Ottomans? And yes, some form of intolerances are/was happening in those states mentioned. It is just political correctness. The question now remains how do we investigate racism so we can figure out how to write history and solve problems or at least state what really went on and not some insignificant discourse for a subjugated-erudite knowledge?

We see a rise in Solidarity.

We learn of an intricate web of relationships established, on the basis of family ties as well as order of affiliation and mahalle solidarity, between that social world and other sectors of Ottoman society: most notably the shop-owners and mid level members of the askerī ( military administrative)

Ottoman Dervish diaries. 17th Century Dervish in Istanbul.
418 folios-long.
No-name: refers to himself as fakir ‘ this poor one.’ ( by the same token, his house is often his gamhāne/place of suffering. Following several hints n the diary, however, we can safely identify its author as Seyyid Hasan ibn eş-Şeyh.

Possibly a middle class family in the western sense, but not meaning he benefited from his family in any monetary of emotional way.


Born Seyyid Hasan 1620 to the şeyh of the Kocamustafapaşa. Father died when he was nine years old.He had proper education.Forty-five years old when diary stops – he enters a convent in Balat. He served as Sufi-leader in the convent and a preacher ( vā’iz) in the neighborhood mosque for the next twenty five years – an increasingly common combination of functions whereby the state brought the order under tight administration control, even while it led to resentment among the more orthodox who did not care to see Sufis in the pulpit.

Described Characteristics: Fiery preacher that had knowledges of past and future. ( type of prophetic understandings of perpetual history).

Sohbetnāme: only social life he recorded. No mystical personal feelings or sermons recorded or his passions.

Dinner parties constituted the goods things about life. Never specifies at whose house these dinners took place.
He imparts the knowledges of the close-knit character of this community of brethren ( ihvān). These may have been poor peoples dinner parties where conversation and affection of brotherly companionship took place. Also, recorded are post-dinner get togethers.

Diligent dietary menus: This is important. He seemed to enjoy and care for food. When seasonal fruits became available he seems to records these things.

Gratitude seems to be the fastidious recordings of food.

Sleep was of interest:

New of the plague, the early part of the book. Author loses his wife, two sones and a daughter to the plague.

People who did not know of the Sohbetnāme used his pseudonym Nūrī, of some poetry he written.

Various other “ full-time dervishes” and minor religious functionaries ( such as mütevellī, imān, şeyhzāde, dede) make up the most integral part of Seyyid Hasan’s social world.


Two poles of Ottoman traditional framework of telling of history.

Sunni and conformism vs. popular counterpart, characterized as unorthodox or even hetrodox and potentially rebellious.

The Opening of the Turkish archives to the scholarly community.

Old fashion Chronological- ordered narrative modes and the emphasis of political-military studies of history.

New: Long term statistical information and hard data on economics and social life, by opening of the Turkish archives, leads to a fuller understanding.

“Kemalist positivism” used selective rigidity.

Joseph von Hammar ‘discovered’ Evliya Celebi’s gargantuan work. (near-myth like work)

Menakibname. Collection of books of Sun’ulla Gaybi. Containing sayings and conversations of Oglanlar Seyhi Ibrahim Efendi, the controversial ‘seyh of the Melami order. Written around the same time as the Seyyid Hasan’s diary, is also titled Sohbetname, but here sohbet is clearly used in the Turkish sense.

Dream Logs: Sancajbeyi notebook “Dream Book/Düşnāme.

Sultan Murad III recorded his own dream book. This meant there was a highened form of esoteric knowledges, including dream interpretation.


Things to be read and divulged to give us ideas of the totality of perspective of Ottoman thoughts, and feelings.

Barber shops worked as a knowledge distrubuter as like the coffee houses.

He writes very little about the outside world. More insular social envoiroment. Good.
There are enslavements of Ottomans captured in war. Kadis ( captive in Rhoads). Citizens, courtiers.
Some captured at Lapanto.

An Egyptian Janissary ( Suleyman) record of his experience in French captivity in the seventeenth century. A theatrical comparison of morals and politics. Careful when most are attemps ar literary stratagems more than actual recordings of what life really was like.

Mahalle, craft association.

Significance: The proliferation of autobiographical writings represent a formal expression of the emergence of individuality in post-renaissance European culture.

None of the Sultans left biographical works, like Timer, Babur, Janhagir or Shah Tamasb, ( Indian rulers, some Mughals)

Spinach common soldier food ( Mustapha II ( r. 1695-1703).

Michael’s Significance. Post-Süleyman age with its acute decline-consciousness, its sense of eroding stability, lose of control, and social dislocation. The inward turn into the self is a mirror result of the Sultan(s) turning into a Palace recluse(s), emphasis, and not socializing or campaigning for more territory which made most of the discourse in Ottoman history up until this time. There was a change of discourse and knowledges.

Sum: there is a wide spectrum of unknown or ignored first-person narratives urging us to reconsider the earlier dismal or personal writings as a lacuna among Ottoman historical sources.

In 1737-39, the Sultan’s army recaptured Belgrade and pushed back the Hapsburgs beyond Sava. So European newsprint said ‘ do not discount the Ottomans.”

“The declinist discourse saw nothing but optimism and immoral behavior behind the rising fortuned of upstarts, just as it found moral laity and degeneracy behind administrative measures taken to cope with new realities.” This is old hat, the fact that the Ottoman empire was built upon assimilation of others for their economy and excitement, and this stopped the aggression went naturally inwards. This is par the course for all civilizations and nothing new.

             Work Cited:

 

Multiculturalism or Intolerance ?

Religious Tension: After Capturing the Lands of the Traditional Arab-Islamic traditions after 1500, the reaction of the newly incorporated people drew the Sultan to seek seclusion and allow the multiculturalism to takes its own coerce.

Partying as an entertainment was the replacement respectively because of non-excitement of conquests long culled, as in the olden glory days quelled the mind and led not to an idle life. So some longed, like the Sufi for inner search for truth, for the good ol’ days. Michael Johnathan McDonald.

One of the themes of Ottoman ( or general Islamic 9th century onward) Islamic mysticism is that people ventured into the regions called the ‘ other’ meaning central Asia or other places outside of the porous boarders of the Ottoman empire ( Asian steeps, Austria, Ethiopia, Sudan) to get these different views of the world, which were ancient in fact.

Knowledge of the ‘others’, includes limited sources of travels to India, and China. However, ancestral worship is/was wide especially in the far east, and the rise of the Islamic spiritual guide with the Tarikat Sufi orders is one example of adoption of the non-orthodox Islamic religion, but also many other religions. The veneration of another human be it live or passed on is part of human memory and longing, two desires integrated into the human psyche. Longing is always caused by linear time.

‘Ali Ekber traveled to China and after his retuned produced a detailed account of Chinese administration and customs known as Khitay-name” (223). One will note that China long, even before many adopted Buddhism ancestral worship is their main religion. They do not believe or have a concept of God, or how the three monotheistic religions have the concept. This, of course, is part of their history and not everyone or all groups are categorized as ancestral practices.

Theological tradition was based upon te concept of causality through devine ordination, while the philosophical tradition posited innumerable individuality phenomena and laws of nature which could be expressed in mathematical terms. They appear mutually exclusive in their pure form, but what is found in text is usually some mixture of the two. This was already the case in the Arabic texts that were translated into Turkish as early as the 14th century, and it continued with Ottoman original texts.

1. Cosmology is the science of contemplating the created world in orders to recognize the Creator behind it. In terms of the world view two distinct traditions emerged [not merged as noted in the text and is wrong] in the cosmographical writing.

a) Islamic cosmology. From early al’ hadiths writings ( known as kutub al-‘azama)
b) Mathematical-geographical lore of Greek antiquity, yet they were also accepted into reality. Ptolemy influenced. Katib Çelebi a 17th Century polymath


Islamic cosmology:
1.Predestination: ‘ the tablet and the pen’
2.The seven layered flat earth-planes.
3. note this is an old pre-Islamic theory and supernatural beings are widespread within and without the Islamic world.
4. ‘Aziz Mahmud (d. 1628) whom Evilya Çelebi in his youth,” was the founder of the Celvetiyye Dervish order and author, and influential spiritual and political advisor to the sultans.
5. Excerpt: ‘Those destined to be felicitous became felicitous, those destined to be disobedient became disobedient.’
6. “ The essential purpose of the cosmography- to impress the reader with the miraculous , exotic, or simply entertaining – results in an implicit tripartite divisions of the world, which cuts across the divisions of climes ( boundaries described in Katib Çelebi, Channüma 51.) or historical regions. [ One will note the word ‘exotic’ is not conducive to perspectives, and also not the terms divisions indicating one is better in a region then the other. This implies the ‘ other’ or as Edward Said would say – a Orientalistic approach]

In 1554 an Ottoman navel contingent was shipwrecked in India. It commander Sidi Ali Reis, an educated man, gave some poems to local princes on Inner Asia whom ‘ greatly appreciated his poems’. (223).

In some myths, Gog and Magog were locked up by Alexander the Great, and will be let loose on Judgment day.

Katib Çelebi or Hacci Halife ( 1609-1657). He was only two years older then Evilya Çelebi. Hacci Halife interest in geography originated after the war with Crete which the Ottomans had started in 1645. Hacci Halife began to write geography along the lines of Mehmed Aşik, but from the outset intended to include up-to-date information of Europe and the new world (227).

Pilgrimage books were geographical landmarks ( travelogue) , but apart from some high officials usages, geography books were not rare.

Seyahatname: is closely related to Cosmographies ( Gottfried ) He links - Seyahatname (a book of travel), by Evilya to cosmographies because of all the Sufi non-orthodox references to spiritual intellectualism, in which is not an Islamic tradition. One sees Melek having a hard time with grasping the Dervish Bektashi returns and gives Melek Tarikat-I Muhammediya. A treaties by Birgili Mehmed, complete in 980/1572.

Gottfried keeps placing words like strange, exotic, marvelous which taken latterly meaning something ‘ other’ than what is the normal. ( 227). This places Katib Çelebi or Hacci Halife as an Occidentalist, or opposite of an Orientalist. “ From the political situation in which this scheme was thought out it is clear that the primary object of interest was western Europe”. This mirrors exactly how Said describes the west outlook toward the east in methods of ‘ knowing the world’ so that a domination can occur. Therefore, linked with terms like exotic, strange etc.. all are parts of the perspectives of one side is better then the other. “Clearly, the unit in which this geography is conceived is the territorial state.” ( 228).
Katib Çelebi dismissed ‘Ali Ekber’s reports from China, which today are largely considered accurate. This tells one that Katib perspective was imbued with his own self-importance which clouded his eyes to the perspectives of others. “Katib wanted to change the social functions of geographical knowledge. As we have seen, knowledge about other countries served the edification of the pious and the entertainment of the elite.” (230) When we apply Michael Foucault’s power/knowledge everything becomes clear in this statement.
“ Thus science is the most useful in the conduction of politics, and whoever indulges in it will be most respected and praised.” ( i.e. they will control the ‘ other.’). In sum cosmograpghy and geograpghy [ and all the strange and exotic] are required for the oder of human civilization and society. If someone knows the rules an maps and can recall them, he [ or she] will have learned more than someone else with thousand pains and hardships in several thousand years of travel.” - Katib Çelebi Cihannüma, 16 f.
“ this idea was novel for the Ottomans intellectual, and in fact it is translated from Mercator.” (231). 1656 Several attempt by the Venetian navy attacking by way of the Dardanelles was threatening Istanbul.

Trick and Conversion for Ignorant Fun and Games

Ottoman’s pressures to Christians to converts sometimes led to torture according to accounts in court records. Sometimes, the Muslims would get a Christian drunk, circumcised him (this is one way to convert) or make him say something silly and the Muslim witnesses would run to the courts claiming he now converted he had to leave his wife. It was illegal to be a converted Muslim man who just converted and have a Christian wife and children. The law of apostasy means that the tricked Christian could not convert back to Christianity – this meant speedy death and possible torture before the execution. This is probable how some bad Muslim got their kicks (sick entertainment). The problem was is that Muslims shair’ah courts were the highest in the land, meaning this was not an equal country of equality from the beginning to the end – there was no equal representation. The writings on these tricks then tortures were under the rubric neo-martyr.

Nikolai, travels for Christ and is a shoemaker who owns a shop. He goes across the Danube , the northern boundaries of the Ottoman Empire, and he sets up shop. He becomes so successful that he garners the attention of the Sultan and high officials. He moves back to Sofia and makes friends with Muslims, where one night they get him drunk and circumcise him and thus he is converted. Back in court the Muslim say he converted he must divorce his wife for it is illegal. This was an example of the Ottoman pressure to convert (not all Muslims are bad – remember that – these came from court records). Nikolai says to the judge “they tricked me I’m not a muslim.” But the judge put him in prison where he is beaten and tortured. At one point one of his eyes are pulled out. Many judges call him and say convert to Islam and all this will go away, but he would have to leave his beloved wife, so he doesn’t. Finally a sympathetic judge tells him to convert, but just ack, then pack up and move away – “ hey I do not want disorder” ( the kadi said) this meant that the community felt the heat of how powerful a trick could make suck a subjugated knowledge impact in the community. He said no he didn’t want to devorce his wife and a Muslim take her so he went back to prison. Then a little while passes and he is dragged from prison and like the passion of the Christ is paraded around Sofia and, in an area called the three wells, he is killed. When ignorant people get riled up and the judge is in on this, these tricks place a bad light on how and what the Ototmans were and what they were doing in society. The circumcision was the crucial part, but often Muslims would trick someone into saying something that they had no idea was part of many ways of verbal conversion.

Kadizade

Sufi, and Shi’i influence on some leaders and officials caused tension between Sunni adherents to official laws of state. This came to ahead at the start of the 17th century.

• Birgivism or Kadizadeli movements became the most influential part of the first half of the 17th century.
• Katib Çelebi had an affinity for the kadizadeli thought – even thought it was proto-modernity, even secularization.
• Goals to purify Islam and influence the highest of officials including the sultan and to begin to conquer territories as the days of old.
• Therefore conversion of non-Muslim became important for the Sultan to show his piety.
• 1660 fires, mostly wooden houses, became a excuse to expel Jews from the city and islamize those quarters now vacant.
• Mass conversion in the Balkans also begun.
• Political emphasis on orthodoxy was not compatible with secularization at the same time. The process of renegotiating the role of religion in the public sphere.
• The writers wrote in a style of priority over elegance.
• Summarized: The fact that sufi poetry with its themes of parting was human nature and not part of Islam’s strict lifestyle and people had no excitement after the conquests stopped and the party was the alternative, and this focused on secularism, and this is why many had trouble with the coffee houses, tobacco, and taverns.

Students participated in anti-governmental activities in many cities with Istanbul becoming the main city of unrest. Here a theologian named Mehmed of Birgi and his students, Kadizade Mehmed, condemned various Ottoman ‘innovations’ practices such as the attribution of healing and other powers to the tombs of the dead, the establishment of endowments, the drinking of wine and coffee and the smoking of tobacco, and especially the many Sufi orders that weaved through the fabric of Ottoman Society. Mehmed of Birgi even criticized the fetwas of Süleyman influential şeyhülislam Ebu’s – Su’ud, and his disciple took on the entire religious establishment. ( Goffman 117).

Cells for the dervishes, kitchens and other buildings were added to the convent complex by Murad III and Mehmet III during the same time of the Sheyh Ferruh Celebi. Murat IV visited the tomb of Mevlana on his way to Iran in 1635 to pray for the success of his Iranian campaign, when he granted endowments to the convent and favours to the Celebi himself, including three sable mantles. Two years later, however, when Murad IV made a second pilgrimage to Konya, the kadizade displayed such animosity towards the Mevlevi that they were not afforded the royal respect given them on previous visits, and Ebubekir Celebi was exiled to Istanbul. 1.

Kadizadelis received support from the sultan Murad IV to go after the coffee and tobacco establishments that recently had sprung up. ( see coffee houses, it is more than one thinks).
1630s

1. Moral deviation is a plausible answer to why the kadizadeli emerged.
2. Protests against Sufi orders and institutions while still appreciating the mystical experiences.
3. Attacked sufi practices of venerating, visiting graves that the Sufi’s considered saints. And this formed the Pīr worship practices begun in 9-10th century (the reemergence after the ban by Muhammad – it is a ancient practice of ancestral worship known throughout the world in from the onset of historical records).
4. Kadizade Mehmed rapidly rose thought he most important postings, until in 1631 he achieved ( even the sultan appointed rivals at mosques in Istanbul), he achieved imanship of Hagia Sofia, the sultan’s own mosque. His surmons emphasized the evils of innovation ( Sufi acceptance, vices etc… see page), often quoting such prophet traditions as “ every innovations is heresy, every heresy is error, and every error leads to hell.” The fiery activist called urged his followers to cast off the accretions of time and myriad civilizations, and restore the Proghet Muhammad’s community of believers ( 117 Goffman). ( see Madeline C. Zilfi, the Politics of piety).

Return of the Prophet’s Maghazi ways and strict shari’ah living.
Kadizade gained a following. Why? The Ottomans were different from what they stated they were all about from the beginning and that was Maghazi of the world. Now people enjoyed certain types of comfort and wealth. Corruption ensued because the Sultan’s ministers were in reality controlling the country and not him. Kadizade are looked down in history as the a conservative group that caused allot of tension, and problems. However, some view them as trying to put the Ottomans back on tract. That is to say, the Ottomans began to try to Maghazi because of their pressure. The Ottomans even had victories which makes them seem still a powerhouse, and Europe also thought so.
Kadizade preached against tobacco and coffee houses. They disrupted sermons, attacked dervishes, and even attainted permission to tear down dervish lodges.

Melek and sheykhulislam Behai Efendi both were not hostile to the Kadizadeli to crack down on Sufi orders, but soon retracted. ( 244 Hagen).

1635
Death of Kadizade Mehmed Efendi [Kadizade Mehmet Efendi], a conservative member of the Ottoman ulama who led a fundamentalist movement calling for the enforcement of a strict interpretation of Islam and the ending of illegitimate religious innovations, including the Sufi mystical orders. His followers, known as the Kadizadelis, gained political influence and sought by violence and bribery to enforce their vision until the grand vezir Mehmed Koprulu confiscated their properties and banished their leaders in 1656. 2.

During its formation as an order, the Mevlevi also became firmly established in Anatolia, and later throughout the Ottoman empire, through the patronage of leading members of society, including important statesmen and even sultans. At one point, a line of Mevlevi descendence was even established through the Ottoman dynasty, when Devlet Hatun, the daughter of Yakup Han, a Germiyan descendent of Sultan Veled's daughter, Mutahhara Hatun, married Bayezid the Thunderbolt, providing a matrimonial link between the two lines.
During the 17 and 18th centuries, under the administration of Huseyin, Abdülhalim, Karabostan, Sedreddin and Arif Celebis, the Mevlevi maintained a generally close relationship with the court, received successive endowments from the Ottoman sultans, and founded many new dergahs -convents -throughout.

 

Ottomans Key Concepts and Insurrections
& Imperial circumcision festival of 1582

Key concept. Anatolia was the key breeding ground of insurrection. Ask why were other places in the Islamic realms more or less immune to these rebellions compared to the rash and intensity that played out in history in Anatolia. The answer was that Anatolia was the trafficking headquarter (regional interchange area) of the world. In essence, Anatolia, before the discovery of oil, was the place where riches and wealth flowed through on there way to exotic destinations of the world, and thus power and glory loved to situate itself around this region during the Ottoman time period; and this is when and where we see the rebellions and uprising occur for the Islamic regions. In a simpler tone – Anatolia was the big place on Earth at this moment in time. If one wanted to get a name for him or herself, then one would rebel against the big place.

Insurrection: An outright rebellion; in the Ottoman context the term heresy is used in a religious context to mean insurrection.
Resistance is not Insurrection, but still a form of rebellion. For example, not paying one’s taxes is rebelling against the authority of the state; however, it is not deemed and outright rebellion where one, or a group, physically tries to change things or the system through force. Resistance is closer to the form of the French term ‘Quotidian’. For example, it was a “quotidian resistance!” meaning it was a small act, on the scale of day-to-day activities. Thus boycotting a patron of the state on a day-to-day basis was such a ‘small act of subversion.’

Insurrection Groupings:
1. Populations that form resistant groups, such as the commoners.
2. The ruling body, such as, not just the royals, but the commoners who rose to high office, also termed as a Pasha. A pasha can be many things, but he has to come fro humble beginnings to acquire the title. This Insurrection articulation, specifically, lead in part to placing the princes in the Harrem.
3. Nomadic tribes.
a. Turkman ( Spoke Turkish) N. Syria, N. Balkins, N. Iraq; they were pushed up and out by the Ottomans, the different denominations of Mongols, and even some of the Seljuk, and Rum Seljuk principalities.
b. Beduin ( Spoke Arabic) Syria, Jordan, Iran Libya, all the interior regions.
c. Kurds ( Spoke Kurdish) east and south-east Iran, N. Iraq, and Syria.

In the Orientalist version, these groups sold their skills to whomever. For example, Nomadic tribes made a living on raiding caravans, and extorting farmers, and villages. One reason, that explains these Orientaist version, was for example, when the Ottoman upstarts wanted to brake the link between their roots from the Ogûs tribe, or otherwise larger turkman tribe, they pushed the Turkmen, or the ones that didn’t change identity to the side, so to speak. The Turkman asked the upstart Saffid (Safavid) officials to come over to Iran and incorporate, but the Saffids said no and pushed them out to be stranded between to rising powerhouses. Thus, there only living was by raiding and extorting. This explains some of the orientalism of such a label placed upon them in history. In basic reasoning, they were locked out of job opportunities and needed to make money.

Key points. When did they settle down from raiding, and what is deemed as a tribe. (For in depth, Please see Islamic Law Essay). Usually a tribe doesn’t want to give up its identity. Therefore, when one says that they are Ottoman, Christian andor Islamic, they are instantiating that they belong to a larger structure that has advanced institutions and advanced collective ways of doing things. Therefore, it is usually referenced to a part of a larger civilization and not a tribe. This is exactly why the Ottomans broke off the tribal names that they use to associate with and incorporated Christians and Jews into their early army ranks in a formula that created a new need for a new title. Thus, the upstart Ottomans, the new civilization name (See Osman) wanted nothing more than a civilization and to be referred too as one on the international scene. The Turkmen came from Central Asia, and were the Aguz ghazi tribes that wanted to remain in a simpler type lifestyle. It was the urban settlements and their fighting males who fought the wars, that wanted distant themselves from the nomadic tribes that identified themselves as Turkman. Thus, the tribe and the civilization are key contrasting identities that need to be established if one needs to understand how the Ottoman really started and who they were.

Insurrection cont…
If the peasant uprising were a reality, they do not seem to have made the history books. There was a point in the 17th century that the Sultans began to appease the many uprisings out of sheer fear. They knew that sending the Seven Regimented Palace Calvary they would loose in this period and the old days of superiority were gone. Thus, the appeasement cycle remained as what is called the “ buy-off[s]” periods. The point is that once one rebel group was placated then other sprouted up to another until a whirlwind of appeasement policies were the only way for the Sultanate to survive. However, in the Sultans and his courts defense, Europe was the only place left in which legally the Ottomans could gain more territory, and thus booty-to-pay the huge civilization bills (By Islamic Law they could not invade Iran). During Suleyman’s reign and even a little before, the Ottomans had expanded so far that the only place left was to directly invade Austria, France, and Germany. Therefore, by this time, the Europeans had nearly two centuries to fortify, that is they were already dealing with the Mongols a century earlier, and the Ottomans needed new technology, new emphasis (they had grown wealthy and many wondered what was the point of gaining more when I have everything I need - they didn’t understand the Ottoman economic system) wage a nearly super civilization heroic battle of all battles to break into then, main Europe.

The key, is that although the Sultan and the Military were in agreement for gaining more land to pay the Military and pay the civilization bills ( this was for a time their main economic source) the peasants, commoners who didn’t understand or wanted to live for militarism, didn’t want the Ottomans to expand and take more lands. They already knew that war was about death, pain, disbanding families, and hurting humanity in general. In otherwise, anti-war movements sprung up that put extra pressure on the Ottoman royals and military officials, that in a sense, but not less significant influenced the Janissaries to want a better like – like family, having more fun, and enjoying more of life’s pleasantry. Some people, may disagree with this point of view, but the Ottomans under Suleyman and after were a very wealthy country and a good thesis is imperialism is justified in the psyche for material gain, and is accomplished at first by religious of faith based motives. Once that psyche is filled to the brim, the desire seems to collapse and thus the religious and faith based motives have little emphasis as compared to the earlier times. Think about it more in the way how hunger and then non-hunger – satisfaction- works. When one is hungry there is an urgent need to get food, and sometimes at the point of starvation, one will think or do anything to get that food, but once someone get accustom to have excess food around themselves all the time, the desire to think of do anything for that food takes on a moralist, ethicalist approach and thus hesitation is thus a new found reality. That was the key to the Ottomans falter (and all other civilizations). They were so wealthy that continued campaigning for booty was not desired by the common people, who in the time of Suleiman [fr.] were gaining a legitimate civil voice.

Suleyman so smart that he knew he couldn’t take Vienna stayed home from the campaign. Some of the militant commoners said – “Hey why is our leader not out making us the money?” Europe had control of the situation, for it was Europe’s hungry desire coupled with the Christian faith and religious desire to fight for their lives – and thus they did. The Ottomans were defeated twice at Vienna and slowly gave up. It was the Ottomans that after being full of success and eating of its spoils had lost its desire.

The significance is that the very major source of Ottoman Income that had fueled the economic engines from the beginning of the Ghazi raids, up until campaigning stopped all together was the source of the Ottoman currency. For it was illegal for the Ottomans to subsidize by state funds mosques, or other important infrastructures in theory. The Ottoman’s to stay legal, in theory, had to campaign for booty outside their claimed boarders.

Note there are no peasant revolts in the Ottoman Empire and up until 18th Century there was neither a Jewish or Christian revolt. More on this later.

Ottoman History Insurrection cont…
Revolts of Princes.

Princess who revolted:
1. Savji ( insurrecter) ; Murād I (insurrecteed) .
2. Jem Sultan ( insurrecter); Bāyezīd II 1389-1402 (insurrecteed).
a. He goes to Europe who takes him as a friend and eventually uses him as a pawn and later one locks him up with false promises of going to war with the Ottomans. Jem’s adventures are dearly chronicled and he even stayed with the Pope. His companion will be one of the foremost writers on the favoritism of the nomadic outcasts and how they were ill treated by the Saffids, and the Ottomans. Jem fought for human rights and one of the reasons that Bāyezīd II stated in the palace and bearly went out on campaign was that he was in fear because of Jem’s alliance with Europe, in that Bāyezīd was a marked man on the battlefield. Jem is a patron of the frontier fighter people. Jen eventually became prisoner. Jem’s significance is that he and his friends recorded much of the wrongdoings and or bad things, he and his friends thought of the early Ottoman Empire. Jem wanted to understand what would happen to the lesser fighters, the peacekeepers, the underprivileged and the frontier heritage. “What happened to this patronage”, he would say.
3. Selim I ( insurrecter); Bāyezīd II 1389-1402 (insurrecteed).
a. Forced abdication of Bayezid. Followed by a prolonged power struggle in which his son Selim intrigued against him and eventually triumphed over his brothers, with the support of the Janissaries. This can be viewed as the normative way in which the Ottoman Sultanate worked in the stage I of legitimacy of Ottoman Rule. Remember all have a right to legitimacy.
4. Bāyezīd, son of Süleyman ( insurrecter); Süleyman (insurrecteed).

1529 Ibrahim Pasha siege of Vienna, and the Ottomans had already began to lose battles. ( note the tulips and sez designs are first employed at the Rüstam Pasha mosque ( Istanbul) , including the foremost increase in complex decorative employments, indicating a change to the humanism period, or the ‘ lets stop our constant thirst for conquest ways and settle down to art, and fine luxuries.”

Ottoman History Insurrection cont…
Revolts of Princes and religious figures.

Princess who revolted:
5. Savji ( insurreter) ; Murād I (insurrecteed) .
6. Jem Sultan ( insurreter); Bāyezīd II 1389-1402 (insurrecteed).
7. Selim I ( insurreter); Bāyezīd II 1389-1402 (insurrecteed).
8. Bayazid, son of Süleyman ( insurreter); Süleyman (insurrecteed).
Religious figures who revolted.
Babaî ( Baba Ishak) the ‘î’ on the noun Baba makes the word an adjective which means ‘the revolt of Baba.’
a. Between 1241-43 the Mongols make the Seljuks vassals.
b. B. This insurrection weakened the Seljuk state.

Sheik Bedrettin 1416; a ghazi; he is a full fledge member of the ulema ( ‘ulama). He is also a Kadis and a Kadis-asker ( military judge).
a. One family of Ghazi clans that became famous is Mihah. He is from this clan.
b. Musa ( Moses) has power in the balkins
c. The frontier fighters are trying to deal with Bāyezīd’s new complex administration. The significance is that the administration is highly complex and the general ghazi warriors were normally intent to live as such. Bāyezīd I, 1389-1402, wanted to create a political arm for this Ottoman movement, to legitimize it to the world ( as any normal upstart powerful civilization would).
d. Bedrettin was sent away from land deals and thus he wanted to get back at the Ottomans. He started preaching against the rought treatment of Bāyezīd. This means that he didn’t like the incorporation of the Ottomans and the Christians, and Jews as non-infidels ( See Insurrection discussion page one).
e. Bedrettin to get people on his side begins a powerful religious movement to oust the Ottomans, claiming he was the mufti, or savior – a very dangerous powerful claim in the Islamic world. Also, See peasant movements in Southern China in its history and how religious peasant revolts started by people claiming they were Christ’s anointed). However, this was not a peasant movement.
f. During this time people were suffering from a civil war brought on by instability of Timur’s ( tamerlane or ‘tamer the lame’) actions.
g. So a huge group was formed out of complex but differing reasons to fight in a rebellion, mostly our of fear of the future and anger.
h. The fetwa apprehended by Bāyezīd was from a Persian, and he gives the orders to kill the heretic Bedrettin but not take his property, thus give it to his family.

Ottomans in general, in the early years, are a radical visionist society. For example, how religious uprising against the Ottomans could have begotten wrath. For an Islamic person to accuse a Christian or a Jew of being a infidel than that Islamic person was brought up on charges of being an infidel himself. This was so strictly enforced and not liked by the rebelers, that its very civilic nature ( remember the Ottoman vision of future greatness’) of Ottoman regulations during the formative years of the Empire enrage purist or fundamentalist wrath. However, working in the Ottoman vision category, it was pure genius, and derived the desired results – a future powerful multi-cultured state.

Questions for the later period? Why are not people following the religious fanatics’ anymore in the Ottoman Empire? Was it because of spies? Was it because the sultan formed ways of pleasing everyone and thus everyone was happy? We will investigate this later.

Learn the Kizilbash
Shah Kulu 1511
The Turkmen are pushed around and are not supported with work and are not allowed in the Saffid state, but become subordinates to the Saffids, for promises of do this and do that and we will eventually let you in to our state ( political double talk) . The rebels take central and southeastern Anatolia but Ottoman troops are quickly sent to suppress it.
a. Kalender, could mean a beginning of a wandering Sufi.

1527 was the beginning of the testing years for Süleyman. He didn’t get to the thrown by killing anyone, and thus many revelers first thought he was a wimp, which was not the case.

When thinking of threats, the insurrections in the capital city of Istanbul was a dangerous proposal, for one to even think about – yet, this idea begotten in some to say “Let’s try to get some money out of this capital,” both threats and rebellions succeeded in the long run and were disastrous in the short run.

The Janissaries Whipping Boys

Final Notes: After the religious figure revolts die out in Anatolia, for the Ottoman period this is it – there were not more.

The janissaries are the scapegoats of Orientalism and Occidentalism history – both. Usually in a history survey course if the professor was not exposed to the causes behind the Ototman scenes, to what happened and what caused a decline ( actually a leveling off) in the empire, he or she will cite the janissary revolts as the main cause. This is not the case.

What is fair to say is that the Janissaries had a huge responsibility in keeping up the economic engines of the Ottoman Empire. Therefore the blame was put on them when the Sultans decided to call off normative campaigning, and decided to stay and play at the palace. Even this is a simplistic view, because it was the outreach and prohibition of the European resolve that squelched the very source of the Ottoman financial institution, indirectly as well subsequently. The Ottoman system was set up that the Janissaries carried out the financial functions of the society but campaigning and acquiring new lands and taking booty to pay off the state’s debts. When they ran out of new lands to conquer, because of varying factors, they were the blame of the leveling off of the state, per say ( some say the beginning of the downfall, but is not today viewed this way). This was a very vexed view of the Janissaries. When Sultan Süleyman ‘ Kanuni’ decided that he could not take Vienna, he could only hope for small insignificant gains of booty and land elsewhere. The Sultan was responsible to pay the Janissary corps and when he found out there were no options he freaked out. The Janissaries tried to help by saying “Look we can take Vienna, and other significant European cities – hey- Sultan lets go.” But Süleyman, was embarrassed because he was already dealing with foreign dignitaries of Europe, like Francis I, telling them how invincible he was. Other aspects forced the Janissaries to revolt. One was the influx of gold and silver to the European and Arabian regions that was brought over by Portugal and Spain. This influx, devalued everyone’s money. In fact, Ottomans began to put less silver in their coins. Yet, less silver was not the only result of the devaluation that brought on the cause. It was inflation brought on by non-campaigning that eventually made prices skyrocketed in the Ottoman territories. In addition, there was an anti-war movement building up in the wealthy capital city and the state itself. The mothers and women in general began to have more wide influence in the daily politics of the Empire. Not only the Harem shift, but the political-femmes raised their voices to celebrate the males that had little of a life but to fight just for the sake of the state.

The Women wanted their good looking Janissaries to come and be with them instead of being out on the campaign trail for months and sometimes years at a time. They wanted them home. The problem stemmed in that the Janissaries were the bread winners for the Empire – thus the dilemma.

In effect, the Janissaries were the Political Constitution of the Ottoman Empire; they were the check on the Sultan’s power. If one sees a statement that says, “Janissaries got corrupted and the state began to decline,” then one will know that this is Orientalism and Occidentalism. The eventual downfall, and it cannot even be said it was a downfall, it was more of a leveling out, cannot be denounced by this one group alone - the Janissaries, but in reality by a complex association of events all, but, not dissimilar to other great empires’ problems eventually causing them to fall, as well ( see generalized downfalls) .

Imperial circumcision festival of 1582
Largest and Longest of Ottoman History (cinquante jours plus)

At Meydani

Sultan Murad III (r. 1574-95) celebrated the circumcision of his sixteen year-old son Prince Mehmed with a festival that lasted over fifty days. Usually a boy is circumcised much sooner, like when he reaches manhood at twelve years old. However, the other reason this festival was thrown was that this was a time of crisis. There was the debasement of silver in the currency. Also, the Sultan, who usually went out on campaigns an established heritage with an economic reason, stayed home. The people were asking what the Sultan was doing to help us out of this economic rut. There was high unemployment, disturbance in the eastern Anatolia, and the shifting of social needs for the Janissaries in which was facilitated by the women needing their men around instead of off on campaign. In addition to the rise in women’s voices in politics, at least their public views - the Janissaries themselves were being neglected by the Sultan and the Sultan’s elite ‘Sapahi (sixth regiments) Imperial cavalry’, of whom were well paid and led to the final fight shutting down the festival.

It was not all the Sultan’s fault either that Europe now forged armies’ great enough to stop the Ottoman surges into European territory. This used to be a great source of economic balance for them. Then, the South America colonization by Portuguese and Spanish created an influx of silver and gold onto the European continent which reeked havoc on the monetary systems everywhere. Many people were caught during this time with counterfeit coins which had less silver than the standard real coins. Also a war with Persia had begun in 1578 and dragged on despite an intermittent truce, a treaty signed right before the festival. The Safavīd state had been rising ever since Shah Ismā’īl (d.1524 ) adopted the Shī’ī religion and proclaimed the Safavīds a legitimate state.

Sources: More than a dozen European accounts and several imperially commissioned festival books. Two sources approached the festival differently: Sūrnāme-ί Humayūn (Imperial festival Book, 437 miniatures illustrations) and the
Cāmiۧ ül-Buhūr der Mecālis-ί Sūr (Gatherer of the Seas in the Gathering of the festival).

The Theory of the festival was so that people could convey messages and interact. In conveying messages the Sultan could gauge what was going on in his cities, communities, and social networks ( including the guilds, a the later festivals catered too) around him. The interacting was so that the people could get away from the droll of day-to-day life, and its hardships. Thus this form of entertainment is no much different then today’s escapist activities. However, this was a very expensive and elaborate show of power, and prestige and this is what was meant of the theme of festival for the world ( power).

Keywords of 1582 festival: “ Product of the world without boundaries” this was a time before the insular description of the society in the tulip period. Although I argue that at the Rustan Pasha palace where the sez was first displayed in a mosque and the Tulips, this indicated that the insular period was already in transition, at the highest levels and the commoners, who always follow the leaders, catch up later when most people think that 1718 began the insular period.

Big difference. Murad didn’t show up to three key events that he was obliged by written law. And, the Ulema (Ulama) who usually were able to hold an audience with the Sultan and recite passages from the Qu’ran- a long time Ottoman festival tradition, was omitted. Mustapha Selinki (d. 1600) chronicled the festival implied that it was the Ulama’s jostling and infighting of who was going to sit closest to the Sultan was the reason why he didn’t show up – three times. This seems iffy at most, because the Sultan was under allot of stress with what was transpiring ( See above the reasons). Remember that the Sultan lives so richly and the people see the Sultan living so well off and they are now feeling the economic crunch that psychologically speaking this can affect the most powerful.

Süleyman held for his sons circumcision festivals. One was in 1530 and the other was in 1539.

Diplomates from 14th Centiry to 19th century Venetian to Ottoman

http://venus.unive.it/mpedani/materiale/sum016.htm
Kubad Çavus

Hüccet

Kubad excites and lets us inside a character living in these frothy periods wrote with excitement and innovation.

What I learned

Kubad Çavuş & çavuş Kubad

“’ Hüccet’ declaration of the Cyprus war during his second mission???”
real ambassadors (elçi) who could speak in the name of their sovereign.

Relations between Venice and the Ottomans, never imagined before, came to light.

Fictional story telling.

Kubad Daniel Goffman


Where can I learn something I didn’t already know?
• Kubad”s negations with the Venetians on his stay in Venice are all conjecture.
• I learned the Ottoman held Venations while Venations held Ottomans during wars.
• We learn that a grand viser ( Sokollu Mehmed Pasha) is rumored to attend relatives and pray at Church in Istanbul, (To aim for power led Selim against his brother Bayesid and won).
• Christian churches with Islamic Vakifs ( Endowments).
• We learn the Janissaries spoke to each other about their Christian origins, meaning they have little recollection of their former lives.
• Jewish family in Istanbul but traded in Mediterranean shits raw materials that could make gunpowder to Venice, and some how it is lost and the Venetians could go to war if they do not pay up to the Sultan; Capitulations and kadi promises for deliverance of ‘alum’ for ‘ entrusted for sale to leather tanners on Venetian soil . Alum also - making gunpowder. (57).
• Kubad spent time possibly conversing with , William Harborne or Thomas Dallam or other trade representatives of Queen Elizabeth I ( British that traded in the empire for decades previously) on the shores of the Golden Horn.
• Sweet Waters of Europe" a mosque in One generally crosses the Golden Horn, into which the sweet water runs Istanbul.

As before stated, the European part of Istanbul is split in two by the Golden Horn. Two rivers flow into this estuary, the "Sweet Waters of Europe". Here, on the shores of the Golden Horn, we see Turkish men passing their time with playing "tavla" (a kind of Backgammon) and smoking their water pipes. Musicians play everywhere and the water vendors sell their goods. Horses are shaking their heads decorated with feathers, and a gypsy - in offence of every rule and regulation - is passing along with his dancing bear and makes him perform his stunts.

• Goffmans’s carefully couched transitive verb ‘entrusted’ I learned that we find two enemies trading chemicals that could be used to make gunpowder. Furthermore, I found that Saraq a Jewish Venation merchant with the prominent family stationed in Istanbul, di Seguras connected to the Imperial administration took refuge in the shari’ah courts partly on and registering the transfer of the raw material alum and his financial difficulties, believing he would receive a more discernible (palpable) judgment if he could not pay the sum by six months. He was recently bankrupt.
•
• “The sultan is corresponding with Queen Elizabeth of England in the late 16th century, a woman ruler, in itself extraordinary.”( Bernard Lewis . All Things Considered: May 06, 2004)

"Sweet Waters of Europe" a mosque in Istanbul, but also is a identifier for rivers the world just change the state ID.

We learn the Sultan imbibes even though he is fully astute to the law.
I learn that comfort of divans was a necessity of life compared to practical discomfort of wood furniture. Even thought that this may be a trivial matter to some, but the underlying theme places more emphasis on Ottoman priorities.
With Cyprus wine, the Sultan wants to invade ( or at least one of the reasons) this ties into why man began to settle down an farm, in Mesopotatmia – to harvest beer. The plausibility is endless, and no one can discount an ulterior motive, or a personal quest of an individual, be it a ruler or commoner. History’s genealogies are subjugated knowledges in ever rotating erudite discourses.

Goffman surely would receive heat from the “Kemalist positivism” crowed or for that matter Mustapha ‘Ali reservations for more traditional times.

Mustapha ‘Ali’s Orientalist inflections of stereotypes of Cairo and Istanbul. (grammatical categories)

Who’s who?
• Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, keeping contact with his Bosnian-Christian relatives. We learn that a grand viser ( Sokollu Mehmed Pasha) is rumored to attend relatives and pray at Church in Istanbul, (To aim for power led Selim against his brother Bayesid and won).
Kubad delivers imperial rescripts ( A formal decree or edict) and admonitions form the Ottoman Government to Venetian, Genoese, Hapsburg, and French envoys resident in Galata. [Benjamin Arbel, Brill. Trading Nations, Jews and Venetians in the Early Modern Eastern Mediterranean].

Yavuz Sultan Selim conquered Egypt in 1517, which event caused the Ottoman State to directly interact with Cyprus. It was essential by conjuncture to take Cyprus and Crete after the conquest of Egypt.

The second door that opened to the conquest of Cyprus was the conquest of Rhodes. The conquest of Rhodes also weakened the defense line of Venice.

Another important reason that forced the conquest of Cyprus was the Catholization policy that Venice implemented. Venice coerced the Orthodox islanders to convert to Catholicism, as a result of which they demanded help from the Ottoman State. This was one of the most significant factors which served as a basis for the Ottomans to conquer the island...

In addition, Venetian pirates plundered the ships cruising the Mediterranean. This affected commerce on the Mediterranean adversely and prevented the Ottomans from trading with the regions they dominated.

Therefore, the Ottoman Empire issued a diplomatic note to Venice on 11 February 1570. This ultimatum stated that "The Cyprus Island was 2.000 miles away from Venice, that Venetians attacked the Ottomans in the Dalmatian Region, that the pirates who attacked trade and pilgrimage ships took refuge in Cyprus and that Venice's capturing the island which it did not need was contrary to friendship", requested that "the island be left to Turks to make an end of such incidents for the sake of a medium of peace" and fiercely expressed that "war would be inevitable otherwise". The Senate rejected this. Kubad Çavus conveyed this negative respond to Istanbul on 5 May 1570.

So, all reasons to conquer the island were ready and the process of conquest began...

Dispite the recognition that there are bountiful Ottoman biograpghies continuing the Ilsiamic tradition, the general assumption is that there are no souces of autobiograpghic nature, no diaries, memoirs, or personal letters proior to the Tanzimat period. ( Kafadar 124).

“Providing much needed critical editions without equally needed contextualization, and mostly avoiding social-cultural history” ( Kafadar 122).

Kafada, Cemel. Self and Others. The Diary of a Dervish In Seventeenth Century Istanbul And First- Person Narratives in Ottoman Literature.
Kubad excites and lets us inside a character living in these frothy periods wrote with excitement and innovation.

For example the “Kemalist positivism” ( Kafadar 123).
Mustafa `Ali’s Orientalism.

time periods feels like.

Kubad is a story form the bottom up compared to most history of the Ottoman Empire that are from the top down. We get feeling of how young Kubad is abducted then onto his indoctrination.
Kubad, a fictional character and the protagonist of a fictional story by Daniel Goffman in which Goffman builds his narrative from historical details. The purpose of this discipline is to inform as well as entertain. Often as historians reading 15th Century prose lurking with murky subjugated knowledges decreases our chances to know all the facts of what really happen.

Court recodes often limit one

deepen our understanding as students to history of possibilities of characters,plots,

The narrative is written in the perspective of how an orphaned boy tries to comes

the protagons....

Topic: How does the story of Kubad (a character fabricated by Goffman) deepen your understanding of the Ottomans? How do you react as a student of history to this part of Goffman's book? is this a good use of the narrative possibilities of historical writing?

This narrative gives me feelings, is written in the perspective of

We learn the how Europe and The Ottoman Empire differ is

High risk environment compared to the safety environments of the Ottoman state.

History is often murky, gapped, skewed and hidden. Often reading 15th Century prose Subjugated knowledges abound with

Fictional narrative possibilities of historical writing? Do they help us or hurt us in learning about foreign cultures? Currently any anti-American literature  books in schools across the earth are not frowned upon by the local establishments. Since the claim that the Ottomans were the premiere superpower, are we led to believe hedonists proclivities did not exist? Somehow only white Europeans have ever been hedonists, many claim out of fear for cultural reprisals within their existing fields. It is actually a detriment to Islamic functions to hide from the truth -- or even the speculations of it.

Kubad is fast, gripping, entertaining, and informative. But is it true? Most Ottoman historians would argue that it is not. It has negative connotations. Yet, like the Anti-U.S. literature of the U.S.A. ages, it appears no less or more speculative and alarming. Did a Sultan conquer a large island for its alcohol? It is true that alcohol, although banned in strict Islam, was imbibed by the officials in government? Some current Ottoman historians are weary of upsetting mythic notions of Islam so they rather suppress their findings or curiosity -- a curiosity because of the lack of source material on the Ottomans.

The purists will oppose such slight as not remaining fastidious to texts while offering you in return subjugated knowledges, unbeknownst, as correct assessments. Goffman’s treatment by building his narrative from historical details lacks no ore credibility then the skeptical scholars forcing down their dreary , dry subjugated knowledges onto us of with thier grey opinions. Court records seemed to be the most sober of sources, but they leave out many questions and answers that these fictional narratives do cover.Another important reason that forced the conquest of Cyprus was the Catholization policy that Venice implemented. Venice coerced the Orthodox islanders to convert to Catholicism, as a result of which they demanded help from the Ottoman State. This was one of the most significant factors which served as a basis for the Ottomans to conquer the island...

Captious

Rivet: to hold our attention.
What Happened to the Sources so Historians can Read what happened?

 Most sources before the seventeenth century are from foreigners.

Cited:
Kafada, Cemel. Self and Others. The Diary of a Dervish In Seventeenth Century Istanbul And First- Person Narratives in Ottoman Literature.

English, Peter. A gift for the Sultan
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198306/a.gift.for.the.sultan.htm Nov. 2005.

1. Englsih is a British engineer and engineering writer, is the author of "Islamic Influence in European Classical Music."
Note: Careful about content.
"Whoever commands the sea, commands the trade of the world, and whoever commands the trade, commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself." —Henry VIII.
In the mid-16th century, Queen Elizabeth's tenacious grip on her homogenous subjects promised stability and ambition. With French and Spanish belligerence crushed, England was free to pursue scientific thought and mercantile success - and did. By a combination of naval power and maritime excellence and the formation of great monopoly trading companies, England edged ahead of her rivals. In 1556, the Muscovy Company penetrated Archangel waters; in 1581 Mediterranean commerce expanded with the formation of the Levant Company; in 1599 the East India Company also received Royal approval.
Queen Elizabeth devise plan for access to trade on land routs and eventually seas by constructing an organ to give to Sultan Murat III. Thomas Dallam is sent.

“Thus Elizabeth, needing access to Ottoman overland caravan routes, prudently decided on a conciliatory course, and to this end chose a man named Thomas Dallam to construct and deliver to the Ottoman sultan a unique gift: an organ” ( English).

Turco-British relations in all dimensions (21 July 2001 Turkish Daily News)
< http://www.levantine.plus.com/note4.htm> 2005.

1. The relationship between Turkey and the United Kingdom began with the establishment of diplomatic relations in the 16th century. The first steps towards free trade between England and the Ottoman Empire in Ottoman territory were made by Anthony Jenkinson in 1553. The first person accredited to the Ottoman Court as the representative of Queen Elizabeth I was William Harborne, who set out from London and arrived in Istanbul on Oct. 28, 1578. Harborne carried out his duties successfully and was able to establish trade on the bases of national identity between the two countries, thus doing away with Venice as the middleman.

2. Meanwhile, in 1580 Sultan Murad III granted English merchants the right to trade on Ottoman soil. On Sept. 11, 1581, a “Turkey Company” was set up in London by English merchants there.


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