Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T03:43:00.302Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Material World: Fortunes and Possessions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2020

Betül İpşirli Argit
Affiliation:
Marmara University, Istanbul
Get access

Summary

Throughout history, a person’s rank and status significantly influenced his or her material world. It is no surprise, then, that palace affiliation impacted the material world of Ottoman subjects. Chapter 5 examines the wealth and possessions of palace-affiliated women in different periods of the eighteenth century, based on estate registers, and explores how it compared to the material world of contemporary women who were not related to the imperial palace. Comparing the material world of palace women to contemporary askeri status women who represented the privileged segment of society offers an opportunity to uncover the degree to which palace affiliation affected the material wealth and consumption habits of former members of the harem. It also allows us to uncover their socio-economic positions in society. Based on this profile, the chapter demonstrates how their affiliation with the imperial court generally brought these slave-origin women a level of material wealth that placed them within a particular position in society. A small group of these manumitted female palace slaves accumulated tremendous wealth and enjoyed the possession of commodities rarely encountered, even among contemporary women of free and high status. This situation lent them status as some of the most prominent people in society and as representatives of high culture.

Type
Chapter
Information
Life after the Harem
Female Palace Slaves, Patronage and the Imperial Ottoman Court
, pp. 162 - 198
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×