A Social History of Ottoman Istanbul
Ebru Boyar
Language: English
Pages: 378
ISBN: 0521136237
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Using a wealth of contemporary Ottoman sources, this book recreates the social history of Istanbul, a huge, cosmopolitan metropolis and imperial capital of the Ottoman Empire. Seat of the Sultan and an opulent international emporium, Istanbul was also a city of violence shaken regularly by natural disasters and by the turmoil of sultanic politics and violent revolt. Its inhabitants, entertained by imperial festivities and cared for by the great pious foundations which touched every aspect of their lives, also amused themselves in the numerous pleasure gardens and the many public baths of the city. While the book is focused on Istanbul, it presents a broad picture of Ottoman society, how it was structured and how it developed and transformed across four centuries. As such, the book offers an exciting alternative to the more traditional histories of the Ottoman Empire.
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Destârî Sâlih Tarihi. Patrona Halil Ayaklanması Hakkında Bir Kaynak, ed. Bekir Sıtkı Baykal (Ankara, 1962), p. 32; Selaniki, Tarih, II, p. 714; Gerlach, Günlüg˘ ü, I, pp. 116, 159; Ahmed Cavid, Hadîka-ı Veka¯yi‘, ed. Adnan Baycar (Ankara, 1998), p. 69. Selaniki, Tarih, I, p. 42. 13 Selaniki, Tarih, II, pp. 444–5. 32 A Social History of Ottoman Istanbul of caliph at various times from the mid sixteenth century until the abolition of the caliphate in 1924; to demonstrate military might and.
Istanbul was hit by great waves of immigration, which threatened the stability and internal order of the city. The coming to the throne of Selim III (1789–1807) marked the beginning of a major movement of reform, as the sultans grappled with military defeat and loss of central control over the provinces. Selim’s 4 A Social History of Ottoman Istanbul attempts to restructure the army eventually led to his overthrow in 1807 and his subsequent murder in 1808. He was very briefly followed by.
Akçe to a former janissary who had lost his sight and appealed to the sultan for help.5 Some vakıfs were extremely large, consisting of enormous mosque complexes, such as those established by the sultans and the vezirs. Such complexes, centred round a mosque, provided schools (according to Evliya Çelebi, all imperial and vezir mosques had primary schools),6 hospitals, soup kitchens, hamams and caravansarays. The imperial complexes fed many people from their soup kitchens, that of Bayezid II, for.
That the foundation of a vakıf was seen as a protective measure against the rapacious hands of the sultan, it is also conceivable that what protected such vakıfs from a sultan, whose powers could no doubt stretch to seizure of inherited wealth, whether inside a vakıf or not, was the fact that they provided essential welfare to the population of the city. Under these circumstances, it was not necessarily in the interests of any sultan to seize what was performing a most useful social function and.
Epicure can desire, at very reasonable rates’.31 Regulating supplies of foodstuffs to the city was only one aspect of the economic policy of the sultans within the city as they strove to keep a contented population, for they had also to control the city markets. The often volatile economic climate, buffeted by rampant inflation or crippled by financial crises related to costly campaigns undertaken to defend or advance the empire’s frontiers, made ensuring a stable market very difficult indeed.