Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire (13 page)

Aside from the
beylerbeys
and the
sancak beys,
who
acted as the direct representatives of the Ottoman state, in all legal matters
the sultan was represented by a
kadi
(judge), who came from the ranks of
the ulema. The governors could not carry out justice without receiving a legal
judgment from the
kadi,
but the
kadi
did not have the executive
authority to carry out any of his religious rulings. Until the second half of
the 16th century,
kadis
were appointed for life, but as the number of
prospective judges increased, term limits were imposed by the central
government. The
kadi
settled disputes, “drew up civil contracts, did all
the notarial work of the district, administered the property of orphans and
minors, acted as registrar, and officiated at important weddings.” The
kadi
applied
the
şeriat,
or the sacred law of Islam, as well as the
kanun,
or
the laws issued by the sultan. He could also take into consideration the local
customs when issuing his ruling. Applying both the
şeriat
and the
kanun
in criminal cases, the
kadi
punished murder, rape, and highway
robbery with execution or mutilation, while adultery, physical assault, wine
drinking, and theft were punished by fines or bastinado blows.

4 - CITIES, TOWNS, AND VILLAGES:
MERCHANTS, CRAFTSMEN, AND PEASANTS

The
Ottoman concept of society divided the productive classes into merchants,
craftsmen, and peasant farmers. Until the arrival of the modern industrial era,
the major urban centers of the Ottoman Empire were much larger, and far more
prosperous, than any urban center in Europe. The rich cultural and historical
heritage of these cities was evident in their palaces, mosques, churches, synagogues,
mausoleums, tombs, bathhouses, bazaars, schools, and bridges.

Aside from these cities of antiquity, new towns emerged
during the long Ottoman rule, many along the main trade and military routes. These
urban centers served the Ottoman government as military and administrative
centers and connected small towns and villages to the larger cities of the
empire. They were originally small, “stretching at most for two or three miles
from one end to the other,” but “within this compact space” was “a densely
packed network of roads, many different kinds of houses, businesses, religious
institutions, coffee houses
, hammams
[bathhouses],
waqf
complexes,
public fountains and a whole range of other kinds of spaces.”

MAHALLES

Each Ottoman urban center was divided into
mahalles,
or
city quarters. The
mahalle
constituted a social, cultural, and economic zone,
which delineated the cultural life of its residents from other city quarters
and neighborhoods. Ottoman towns and cities contained diverse ethnic and
religious communities, with each community living in its own
mahalle.
Muslims,
Christians, and Jews inhabited their own neighborhoods. They “spent most of
their lives in one neighborhood, rarely venturing beyond their local sphere of
activity because all their daily needs could be met in their immediate social
surroundings.” In most
mahalles,
“there was a small market for daily
goods, perhaps a small mosque, a butcher shop, fruit vendors, and other
institutions providing social services.” The residents of a
mahalle
“saw
one another regularly, and this fostered a distinctive sense of neighborhood
identity, which often took on the characteristics of an extended family.” Neighbors
in such tightly knit neighborhoods recognized one another and noticed the
presence of strangers immediately. Such proximity and familiarity did not
always breed good intentions and result in neighborly acts; it also encouraged
gossip and speculation.

Mahalles
“tended to segregate the urban population”
in accordance with “religion and profession.” Not surprisingly, many Christian
mahalles
were named after churches, which were located there, while many Muslim
quarters traced their names to the main mosque within their boundary. Other
mahalles
took their names from the profession or trade practiced by the majority of
residents. Regardless, central to every
mahalle
was the house of worship
that served as the religious and cultural heart of the neighborhood. In a
Muslim
mahalle,
the small neighborhood mosque, in a Christian quarter,
the church, and in a Jewish community, the synagogue, were the focal points of
the community. Members of different religious communities lived in their own
mahalles
under the leadership of their religious and administrative heads. A Muslim
mahalle
was represented by an imam, who served as the religious head of his
community, and by the
kethüda,
who acted as the representative of the
government. Similarly, a Christian or a Jewish
mahalle
was led by a
priest or a rabbi. The
mahalle
provided the Ottoman authorities with the
means to collect taxes in the urban centers of the empire. At times, the
kethüda
and/or the elder of each
mahalle
functioned as the tax collector for
the state.

Though smaller in size and population, Ottoman towns followed
the same urban plan as the large cities. Each town had a congregational mosque,
neighborhood mosques, inns and caravanserais, bathhouses, schools, lodges of
Sufi orders, a bazaar, and shops. The town center was usually reserved for
business purposes, administration, and local defense. The majority of residents
in the town center were Muslims, who wielded civil and religious authority.
They were joined by Greek, Armenian, Jewish, and foreign merchants, who
controlled most long-distance commerce. Lying “in a ring around the center were
the residential quarters (
mahalles)
, where the general urban population
lived in low dwellings that faced the meandering and narrow streets, and that
were frequently separated from each other by large gardens,” making “the towns
appear larger than their actual populations would warrant.”

Muslim neighborhoods were often “found in the oldest and
most prominent sections of the town and close to the center, while those of the
Christians,” called “
varosh
by the Muslim authorities and inhabitants,
were commonly located farther from the center.” The homes of the town’s
Christian residents “tended to be of lower quality than those of Muslims,
having few, if any, windows and structurally oriented toward inner courtyards
rather than toward the streets.” These residential areas were surrounded by a
broad circle of land that served as the town’s cemetery. In the
varosh
of
most towns in the Balkans, the population was highly heterogeneous. In the
urban centers of 17th-century Bulgaria, there were Bulgarian, Greek, Armenian,
and Albanian communities, as well as “Catholic Croatian merchants” from “the
commercial city of Dubrovnik” on the Adriatic coast. The majority of the Muslim
and Christian population worked as craftsmen and traders.

Considerable regional differences appeared among Ottoman
architectural designs, reflecting the region’s climate, geographical and
environmental setting, available building material, and distinct architectural
traditions. The mansions of the rich and powerful stood in close proximity to
the shacks of the poor. Among the wealthy classes, the general plan of a house
was an entrance through a blank wall, whose bland appearance was relieved by a
beautifully carved wooden door. The house consisted of two courts. The first
was the outer court, which served as a reception area for the male visitors and
guests. The second court or the inner court was reserved for the women of the
family and was in every Muslim household a private place, closed to all
outsiders and strangers. The large hall “reserved for the men of the family to
socialize with their guests” was called the
selamlik,
and the private
section of the house that provided a separate and designated space for female
socialization was the
haremlik,
or harem.

In the Balkans, the homes of high government officials were
adorned “with beautiful vineyards, gardens, and parks with their pavilions and
galleries.” They were often two- or three-story high structures made of stone
and crowned with red tiled roofs. Each house also had “a source of pure flowing
water, a pool and a fountain with water spurting from jets.” In most Ottoman
towns, the houses of the lower classes did not differ much from those in
villages, except that there was sometimes an upper story.

Despite their diverse population, the urban centers of the
Ottoman Empire were known for “the absence of capital crimes” and some of “the
best conducted people.” Janissaries’ patrols “ensured that crime was kept to a
minimum and the streets were almost deserted after dark, the silence was broken
only by the cries of the night watchmen.” Those “who had to go out of for any
reason were obliged by law to carry a flare.” A European observer who visited
Istanbul in 1836 noted that the Ottoman capital, “with a population of six
hundred thousand souls,” had a police force of “one hundred fifty men,” which
was mostly for show rather than use. From dusk the streets were “silent,” save
when one was “awakened by the footfalls of some individual” who passed, “accompanied
by his servant bearing a lantern, on an errand of business or pleasure.” Without
“these lanterns, no one could stir” as the streets of the Istanbul and other
large urban centers of the empire were not lighted and properly paved, making a
walk in the dark dangerous. If occasionally “some loud voice of dispute or some
ringing of laughter” scared “the silence of the night,” it was “sure to be the
voice or the laughter of a European,” for the “Turk” was “never loud, even in
his mirth, a quiet internal chuckle” was “his greatest demonstration of
enjoyment.”

A Turkish apartment in the Fanar
(Phanar). William H. Bartlett. From Julie Pardoe,
The Beauties of the
Bosphorus
(London: 1839).

OTTOMAN CONQUEST AND URBANIZATION

In Istanbul and other major urban centers of the empire,
Ottoman conquest introduced a high degree of Islamization to everyday life. Ottoman
sultans introduced their faith and decorated the newly conquered cities with
palaces, mosques, soup kitchens, schools, bathhouses, and fountains. These
buildings and their majestic designs were replicated in provincial capitals
around the empire.

Ottoman sultans were great builders, and Ottoman architects
left a wide array of monuments, which serve as a testimony to their support for
urbanization and economic prosperity. Indeed, architecture was “the most
visible manifestation of Ottoman genius,” not only in Anatolia, where the
majority of the Turkish-speaking population resided but also throughout the
Balkans and the Arab lands.

The greatest of all Ottoman architects was Sinan
(1489/1490–1578). As the chief architect of Süleyman the Magnificent, Selim II,
and Murad III, Sinan designed his first architectural masterpiece in 1543,
following the death of Prince Mehmed, one of the Süleyman’s sons. The complex,
built between 1543 and 1548, was named Şehzade (Prince). Sinan used Aya
Sofya, which was built with a central dome supported by two semi-domes, as his
model. His plan for the Şehzade complex was centered on a central dome
supported by four semi-domes. Sinan’s next giant project was the design and
construction of the Süleymaniye Mosque. The construction of the mosque began in
1550 and ended in 1557. This magnificent building, set on a hill overlooking
the Istanbul harbor, still dominates the city’s skyline. The “crowning glory of
Ottoman architecture” and Sinan’s “architectural paradise,” however, was the
Selimiye Mosque in Edirne. This mosque was built between 1568 and 1574. The “four
soaring, pencil-thin minarets of the
Selimiye
mosque” surrounds “its
lofty central dome, 105 ft wide,” and the “honey-colored sandstone” contrasts “with
the black lead of the roof and the turrets,” which surmounts “the eight
buttresses supporting the dome.”

The Ottomans also built public fountains for ablutions,
which every Muslim was required to perform before praying at a mosque, and for
keeping the town supplied with water. These fountains were often located in
front of a mosque, or at least in close proximity, so that Muslims could
fulfill their obligation of maintaining their cleanliness before they entered a
mosque to pray. Mosques and fountains were not, however, the only structures
sponsored and built by Ottoman sultans. After the Ottomans conquered an urban
center, the sultan ordered the damaged city walls repaired and instructed the
new garrison commander to rebuild the fortress. The standard policy was “to
return the city to its inhabitants and to restore it just as it had been
before.” Damaged workshops, bathhouses, caravanserais, and tanneries were
repaired. The commercially oriented people of the empire, particularly the
Jews, Greeks, and Armenians, were encouraged to populate the newly conquered
towns and cities.