GYPSIES in OTTOMAN IMPERIAL STATE POLICY, PUBLIC MORALITY and at the SHARIA COURT of ÜSKÜDAR (1530S -1585S)
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“COMMUNITY IN MOTION”: GYPSIES IN OTTOMAN IMPERIAL STATE POLICY, PUBLIC MORALITY AND AT THE SHARIA COURT OF ÜSKÜDAR (1530s -1585s) by FAİKA ÇELİK A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University Montreal August, 2013 © Faika Çelik 2013 ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the position of Gypsies in the sixteenth century Ottoman Empire in an engagement with the formidable material, historiographical and conceptual challenges that this venture entails. These challenges stem from the limitations of the sources on Gypsies, the variety of narratives produced in contemporary scholarship on the history of Gypsies and deployment of contested concepts such as “marginality,” “ethnicity” and “race” with almost no problematization, contextualization and historicization. Chapter one discusses theoretical and conceptual challenges through looking at various studies on those positioned on the margins, chapter two deals with the material challenges and introduces the historical sources and their limitations. Here I pay particular attention on the court records and how they have been used in Ottoman historiography up until now, as the court records of Üsküdar extending from 1530 – 1585 constitute the backbone of this dissertation. Following this methodological overview of the sources, Chapter three and four are a macro analysis of Ottoman social and moral landscapes. Here an attempt is made to position Gypsies within this contested landscape. Then the thesis takes a rather micro turn, though it should not be considered as a micro-history. In chapter five, Üsküdar’s local court and its records are introduced as well as some of the problems encountered in studying Gypsies through the prism of these court records. Chapter six is where my argument comes together and binds the various parts of the dissertation. Reading the court records in communication with the kanunnames, mühimme registers and published research on the tahrir registers, it is an attempt to demonstrate hybridity and diversity within the community of Gypsies. After demonstrating this diversity within the category ‘Gypsy’, chapter seven attempts to analyze how the Ottoman Imperial state appropriated what I call a “community in motion” at various levels into its administrative system. Through considering the state’s various policies especially those regarding taxation, settlement and the incorporation of many Gypsies in the Balkans within the structure of the auxiliary military forces – müsellems - yet at the same time (ideally) excluding them from joining the Janissary corps, I argue that the Ottoman state policy vis a vis Gypsies in the sixteenth century Balkan and Anatolia was neither uniform nor did the ruling authorities have a singular and monolithic view of Gypsies. One of the main conclusions of this dissertation is that the legal, social and economic status of Gypsies in the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth century is much more complicated than what can merely be characterized as marginalization or i | Page toleration. The interaction of the Gypsies, both with the state and with the Ottoman society at large, was simultaneously both hostile and symbiotic. ii | Page RÉSUMÉ Ce mémoire étudie la position des tziganes dans l’Empire ottoman du seizième siècle en engageant avec les défis matériaux, historiographiques et conceptuels formidables qu’entraine cette entreprise. Ces défis proviennent des sources limités sur les tziganes, des récits variables de la recherche contemporaine sur leur histoire, et l’emploi de concepts contestés comme la marginalité, l’ethnicité et la race sans aucun effort de problématisation, contextualisation ou historicisation. Le premier chapitre discute les défis théoriques et conceptuels à travers plusieurs études sur les marginalisés, tandis que le deuxième chapitre fait connaître les défis documentaires en introduisant les matériaux historiques et leurs limitations. Ici je concentre sur les documents judiciaires et la manière dans laquelle on les a exploités dans l’historiographie ottomane jusqu’à présent, et ca parce que les documents d’Üsküdar qui datent des années 1530-1585 représentent le noyau de ce mémoire. Enchainant avec ce survol des sources, les troisième et quatrième chapitres constituent une macroanalyse du paysage social et morale. Une tentative est faite ici à localiser les tziganes dans ce paysage. À ce point, le mémoire tourne vers le plan micro, sans pour autant devenir une micro-histoire en soi. Dans le cinquième chapitre, la cour régionale d’Üsküdar et ses documents judiciaires sont introduits ainsi que certains problèmes qui se présentent dans l’étude des tziganes à travers le prisme de ces documents. Le sixième chapitre représente le cœur de mon argumentation et c’est ici ou sont liés les différents fils du mémoire. Une lecture des documents judiciaires dans le contexte des kanunnames, registres mühimme et la recherche publiée sur les registres tahrir, montre l’hybridisme et la diversité à l’intérieur de la communauté tzigane. Après cette démonstration de la diversité au sein de cette catégorie dite «tzigane», le septième chapitre tente d’analyser comment l’état impérial ottoman a su intégrer ce que j’appelle une communauté mobile dans son système administrative. Par une considération de leurs politiques, surtout ceux de l’imposition, de l’installation et de l’incorporation de plusieurs tziganes balkaniques aux rangs des forces auxiliaires militaires – müsellems -- tout en leur refusant d’entrée dans le corps Janissaire. Je maintiens que la politique d’état ottomane vis-à-vis les tziganes dans les Balkans et l’Anatolie durant le seizième siècle n’était ni uniforme ni astucieux. Les autorités n’avait qu’une vue singulière et monolithique des tziganes. Un des principales conclusions du mémoire est que le statut légal, social, et économique des tziganes dans l’Empire ottoman à cette époque était d’une complexité qui dépasse nos caractérisations de marginalité ou tolérance. L’interaction des tziganes avec l’état, ainsi qu’avec la société ottomane, était simultanément hostile et symbiotique. iii | Page NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION I use modern Turkish spelling for all Turkish and Ottoman terms, names and book titles, as well as for the transliteration of the Ottoman documents in the Appendix, except in direct quotes. All Arabic and Persian phrases are provided here as transcribed from Ottoman Turkish into Latin characters (i.e., in their modern Turkish spellings) along with the characters hemze (’) and 'eyn (‘). Occasionally, if a name or term of Arabic origin is discussed in a pre-Ottoman context or the modern Turkish spelling differs substantially from its Arabic transliterated form, the latter form is given as well. Words commonly used in English are rendered in their most common forms (e.g. pasha, agha, waqf, sharia, imam, muezzin, mufti, fatwa, qadi). I italicize all foreign words except for people’s names and place names. Geographical names of Ottoman cities in the Balkans and Anatolia appear according to their Turkish names such as İstanbul, Edirne, Selanik and Gümülcine. For the Ottoman cities in the Arab Middle East, the established English names like Cairo, Damascus, and Makkah have been employed. Dates in the Muslim hijri calendar are given in Turkish transliteration. Many Ottoman documents are dated only to the first ten days (evayil), the middle ten days (evasıt) or the last ten days (evahir) of the month: I translate these as early, mid or late. Unless otherwise indicated all translations are mine. iv | Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study has been more than a decade in the making. It started when I was an undergraduate student at Boğaziçi University and continued and took many directions during my graduate studies at McGill University. In the course of this journey I have received many constructive criticisms and personal encouragement from various mentors and colleagues. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. A. Üner Turgay who was unwavering in supporting me academically as well as personally. He defended not only the significance of my research during a period in which the study of Gypsies, unlike that of other minority groups, was seen as somewhat unworthy of serious attention but also made sure that I stayed on track and completed what I had started. With your boundless support hocam, I have been able to complete what I started and I thank you for this and for many other things that I can’t begin to list. I would like also to thank Prof. Wael Hallaq for being such an inspiring scholar and encouraging mentor. In many of his seminars and during our coffee breaks (well, cigarette breaks too!) outside Morrice Hall, Prof. Hallaq challenged and encouraged my ideas in various ways and taught me to question so many assumptions and concepts that I had taken for granted while reading not only the history of Muslim societies but also their legal traditions. Despite his busy schedule and many responsibilities, he also accepted to be one of the committee members in my qualifying exams. During the process of preparation for the exams, he not only introduced me to new readings but also guided me through the ways in which a student of (Ottoman) history could (and should) engage in critical studies. Thanks are likewise due to Dana Sajdi, dearest mentor and friend for reading my M.A thesis with diligence and for generously offering me her ideas about improving it as a PhD project. Her influence on the shaping of so many ideas presented in this dissertation was significant and I hope I do justice to her insightful criticisms and suggestions. I would also like to offer my genuine gratitude to Prof. Bilgin Aydın who not only offered his expertise on Üsküdar court records but also shared with me many archival sources that he has collected over the years. This dissertation project would not have been possible without these sources and I would like to thank him for his generosity.