Ottoman Balkans

The paper analyzes the credit activities of the Voskopoja (Moschopolis) guild of tailors on the basis of a new dataset constructed from its credit lending transactions recorded in a guild register. The dataset was used to understand lending patterns and risk management in the local economy of Voskopoja and compare them with similar practices in other parts of the Ottoman empire. I found that interest rates were not stable in 1716–27 and that the Voskopoja economy experienced an economic growth in this period. This case study contributes to our understanding of Ottoman financial institutions, guilds as lending institutions, their business organization, as well as the operations of local credit markets.

SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ACCEPTANCE OF ISLAM IN BOSNIAN SANJAK AT THE BEGINNING OF 16TH CENTURY Summary The acceptance of Islam presents a phenomenon that distinguishes Bosnia in relation to the other regions of the Balkans under the Ottoman rule. In that respect, Bosnia could be compared only to Albania. Still, although there are many studies that treat this phenomenon, many other questions remain that need to be actualized. This paper presents an attempt to point out some specific phenomena in a phase of that process. The paper was created on the basis of Ottoman sources from the beginning of the 16th century and through them the paper tries to trace the achieved degree of acceptance of Islam. The observation includes the whole Bosnian sanjak, from Mitrovica (Kosovo) in the southeast to Udbina (Croatia) in the northwest. The main questions that impose themselves are the similarities and (or) differences in certain regions of sanjak, specificities in these regions and the reflec...

The Crnojević family was an important political entity among the lords of
the Principality of Zeta. Their connection with the Ottomans is a typical example of patronage and hegemony processes. There are numerous studies related to this family, many of which include information derived from Ottoman sources and archives. However, newly discovered ahkam and teftiş registers dating back to the reign of Beyazid II provide until now unnoticed information about the family. This article publishes and evaluates a part of the Teftiş Register in which the land possessions
of Đurađ Crnojević were recorded. He took refugee in Venice during the OttomanVenetian conflict in the period of Beyazid II and later appealed to the Ottomans in order to reclaim his former lands. However, the Ottoman administration granted him a timar estate in Anatolia. He left his country in 1496. These registers are also significant because they involve new-found information about the Crnojević family which played a prominent role in the history of Montenegro.

Moğol baskısı sebebiyle Celâleddin Harezmşah ile birlikte Kirman Selçukluları ülkesinden ayrılıp Doğu Anadolu’ya geldikleri düşünülen Harezm Türklerinin bir kısmını oluşturan Kirmanlılar/Germiyanlılar arasında bulundukları anlaşılan Dedebalı cemaati ve muhtemelen bu cemaate adını veren Dedebalı, araştırma konumuzu teşkil etmiştir. Germiyanoğlu Yakup Bey’in 1321 tarihli Hacım Sultan Zaviyesi vakfiyesinde zaviye şeyhi olarak adı geçen Kirman/German/Germiyan Şeyhi Şeyh Mustafa oğlu Şeyh Dedebalı’nın bu cemaatle ilişkili olması kuvvetle muhtemeldir. Anadolu’da Kars-ı Maraş1, Sivas, Niğde, Uşak, Manisa, KütahyaBursa, Balkanlarda ise Selanik, Ahyolu, Hrazgrad (Hezargrad/Razgrad?), Pravişte ve Tırnova taraflarında izlerine rastlanılan Dedebalıların, Germiyan beyliğinin Osmanlı hâkimiyetine girmesinden itibaren Osmanlı sürgün ve iskân politikaları gereğince Balkanlara doğru yayıldıkları söylenebilir. Dedebalı cemaati ile ilgili çalışmalarımız üç bölüm halinde tasarlanmıştır. Bunlardan ilk ikisini yani “Uşak kazası Dedebalılar karyesi” ile “Harmancık kazası Dedebalı karyesi ve zaviyesi” ile ilgili makalelerimizi yayınlamış idik.2 Çalışma serisinin sonuncusunda Dedebalıların Balkanlardaki izleri ve Tırnova kazası Dedebalı cemaati/karyesi konusunda bazı değerlendirmeler yapılmaya çalışılacaktır.

Despite spending more than four decades in the service of Ottoman sultans at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century, during which he held some of the highest offices and performed some of the most important tasks in the Empire, the historiographic interpretations of Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha’s life and career are still riddled with numerous errors, imprecisions and omissions. This is primarily down to the fact that the rich sources for the study of this remarkable individual have been written in different scripts and languages, and preserved in many different locations, making it difficult to create a unified and consolidated historical narrative that would be free from inaccuracies. In an attempt to correct some of the most obvious misconceptions that can be found in historiographic literature this paper will offer a broad overview of Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha’s life and career, with a particular emphasis on some of the still unresolved issues regarding his early life, conversion to Islam, and especially regarding his service at the court of Sultan Selim until his death in 1517. The work will also try to shed some light on Ahmed Pasha’s personal relations with Sultan Selim, who was his brother in law, and will present some lesser known documents that offer conflicting reports on the cause of his death which occurred shortly after the successful Ottoman conquest of Egypt.

We present the first, well-dated, high-resolution record of vegetation and landscape change from Serbia, which spans the past 500 years. Biological proxies (pollen, spores, and charcoal), geochemical analysis through X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), and a detailed chronology based on AMS 14C dating from a western Serbian sinkhole core suggest complex woodland-grassland dynamics and strong erosional signals throughout the Little Ice Age (LIA). An open landscape with prominent steppe vegetation (e.g. Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae) and minor woodland exists during 1540-1720 CE (early LIA), while the late LIA (1720-1850 CE) in this record shows higher tree percentages possibly due to increased moisture availability. The post LIA Era (1850-2012 CE) brings a disturbed type of vegetation with the presence of weedy genera and an increase in regional woodland. Anthropogenic indicators for agricultural, pastoral and fire practices in the region together attest to the dominant role of humans in shaping this Balkan landscape throughout the interval. The changing nature of human interference, potentially as a response to underlying climatic transitions, is evident through large-scale soil depletion resulting from grazing and land clearance during the early LIA and stabilization of arable lands during the late and post-LIA eras.

DIMITRIE, Dumitrache sau Tache (n. 1797 în București) este fiul lui Foti, negustor de vite venit, cel mai probabil, de la sudul Dunării și împămîntenit cu numele Merișescu – sub care va cumpăra rangul de cupar, apoi de paharnic, precum și moșii. Dumitrache își petrece copilăria și adolescența în mahalaua Biserica cu Sfinți. Pe la 1815 intră ca fecior de casă la marele vornic Grigore Băleanu, apoi la Dimitrie Caragea, probabil un nepot al domnului Ioan Gheorghe Caragea. Călătorește la Constantinopol, unde petrece cîteva luni, apoi, împreună cu un unchi negustor, poposește prin porturile Levantului. Revine în Valahia la 1817, după care îl găsim în Moldova, sub protecția beizadelelor Alecu şi Iorgu Sturdza. Ajunge becer la curtea domnească, apoi paharnic. Vodă Ioniță Sturdza îl căsătorește cu Smaranda Manoliu, orfană şi aflată în grija doamnei. La 1824 cumpără o casă la Piatra Neamț. La 1829 îl găsim paharnic, iar la 1848 stăpîn al moșiei Valea Viei, din Neamț. Aici îl pri meşte pe Gheorghe Asachi, cu care este prieten apropiat, şi pe nepotul său, cunoscutul istoric şi memorialist V.A. Urechia. Din această perioadă datează, probabil, redactarea finală a manuscrisului în care­și așterne amintirile din tinerețe. Scrierea sa, pînă acum inedită, este o mărturie rară și prețioasă cu privire la societatea valahă a sfîrșitului de veac fanariot.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which deeply impacted the whole world, resulted in consequences beyond being a health question. The pandemic period, which affected many social, economic, and political areas, had a significant impact on the power balances and political systems in the world. The most impact of the pandemic in the European Union countries put into question the weight and future of the union. Despite that, the process includes some opportunities for the hereafter and expansion of the European Union. The developments in Russia, China plus the USA, and the impact of these developments on the European Union enlargement constituted the main backbone of the study. In this framework, the importance of the acceptance of North Macedonia to the European Union and the developments in Macedonia in this process were discussed.

ABSTRACT Frontiers of the Ottoman Imagination is a compilation of articles celebrating the work of Rhoads Murphey, the eminent scholar of Ottoman studies who has worked at the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Birmingham for more than two decades. This volume offers two things: the versatility and influence of Rhoads Murphey is seen here through the work of his colleagues, friends and students, in a collection of high quality and cutting edge scholarship. Secondly, it is a testament of the legacy of Rhoads and the CBOMGS in the world of Ottoman Studies. The collection includes articles covering topics as diverse as cartography, urban studies and material culture, spanning the Ottoman centuries from the late Byzantine/early Ottoman to the twentieth century. Contributors include: Ourania Bessi, Hasan Çolak, Marios Hadjianastasis, Sophia Laiou, Heath W. Lowry, Konstantinos Moustakas, Claire Norton, Amanda Phillips, Katerina Stathi, Johann Strauss, Michael Ursinus, Naci Yorulmaz.

The authors present two archaeological researches carried out in the north-western area of the Medieval and premodern town of Alba Iulia. The dwellings were probably destroyed on the occasion of the Turkish-Tatar invasions in the years 1658 and 1661, or by another causes. The archaeological excavations confirm the tragic events in the history of the Medieval and premodern city, as attested by literary sources. We note, from an archaeological point of view, the black stage in the evolution of the town of Alba Iulia. The two Turkish-Tatar invasions did not allow this city to recover economically and architecturally. The last princes preferred to live in the city of Făgăraş, because the fortification from Alba Iulia was outdated in terms of military technology of the time. The plan signed by the Italian architect Giovanni Morando Visconti from 1711 revealed the extent of the medieval and premodern city around the castle, before fortifications were built by the Habsburgs. We tried to lo...

Άρδην, τεύχος 91, Ιανουάριος - Φεβρουάριος 2013

Τα φαντάσματα του οθωμανισμού
Γ. Ταχόπουλος, Αποκόπτοντας την ιστορική συνέχεια
Γ. Μέγας, Διαστροφή διά των αποσιωπήσεων
Γ. Καραμπελιάς, Γιατί η συνηγορία υπέρ του;
Ν. Μέρτζος, …αποκαλύπτουν το μυστικό τους
Εναλλακτικές Εκδόσεις, Τα φαντάσματα ξαναχτυπούν