Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T09:11:01.811Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Becoming a baker in the Ottoman town of Rodosçuk (1546-1552): A textual analysis of the records of designation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2015

Özlem Sert
Özlem Sert*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Hacettepe University, Ankara, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the history of Ottoman institutions, their roots in a “timeless Islamic culture and mentality” have been emphasized to such an extent that Ottoman state institutions appear as perfectly defined and applied ideals and myths rather than real entities. The myth of Ottoman guilds controlling all of the empires economic activities is one of these. As court records, which show the details of the guilds' functioning, as well as other relevant records have been examined more often after the 1980s, a new image of institutional change has emerged, and the myth of continuity has been challenged. For the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, numerous sources demonstrate transformations in various local guilds; however, for the first half of the sixteenth century, from which scarcer records have survived, it is more difficult to disprove the myth of the guilds' static nature. In this study, I analyze the court records of Rodosçuk in order to explicate the type of changes that occurred in craft organizations between 1546 and 1552. The textual analysis of the designation records of bakers and other documents concerning the crafts help to bring to light modifications to the conditions of membership of the bakers' guild by 1551, challenging the assumed myth of the monopoly over membership, or the professional restrictions on crafts.

Keywords

Ottoman craft guilds (esnaf)institutionsRodosçuk (Tekirdağ)bakersixteenth centurygolden agecourt records
Type
Articles
Information
New Perspectives on Turkey , Volume 42 , Spring 2010 , pp. 159 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © New Perspectives on Turkey 2010

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.)

References

Akarlı, Engin. “Gedik: Implements, Mastership, Shop Usufruct and Monopoly among Istanbul Artisans, 1750-1850.” Wissenschaflskolleg-Jahrbuch (1985-86): 225–31.Google Scholar
Akarlı, Engin. “The Uses of Law among Istanbul Artisans and Tradesmen: The Story of Gedik as Implements, Mastership, Shop Usufruct and Monopoly, 1750-1850.” In International Symposium on Legalism and Political Legitimation in the Ottoman Empire and in the Early Turkish Republic: Ca. 1500 to 1940, 1-37. Bochum: Universität Bochum, 1988.Google Scholar
Akarlı, Engin Deniz. “Gedik: A Bundle of Rights and Obligations for Istanbul Artisans and Traders, 1750-1840.” In Law, Anthropoly, and the Constitution of the Social: Making Persons and Things, edited by Pottage, Alain and Mundy, Martha, 166–301. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baer, Gabriel. Fellah and Townsmen in the Middle East: Studies in Social History. London: Frank Cass and Company, 1982.Google Scholar
Behar, Cem. A Neighborhood in Ottoman İstanbul, Fruit Vendors and Civil Servants in the Kasap İlyas Mahalle. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Amnon. Economic Life in Ottoman Jerusalem. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Amnon. The Guilds of Ottoman Jerusalem. Leiden: Brill, 2000.Google Scholar
Cohen, Amnon. Jewish Life under Islam: Jerusalem in the Sixteenth Century. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ergenç, Özer. “Some Notes on the Administration Units of the Ottoman Cities.” In The Proceedings of International Conference on Urbanismin İslam (ICUT), 426–41. Tokyo, 1989.Google Scholar
Ergene, Boğaç. Local Court, Provincial Society and Justice in the Ottoman Empire: Legal Practice and Dispute Resolution in Çankırı and Kastamonu (1652-1744). Leiden: Brill, 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(Ergin), Nuri, Osman. “Esnaf Teşkilatı ve Ticaret Usulleri.” In Mecelle-i Umur-ı Belediye. İstanbul, 1338/1922.Google Scholar
Faroqhi, Suraiya. “Esnaf Ağları ve Osmanlı Zanaat Üretimi (16.ve 17. Yüzyıllar).” In Osmanlı Dünyasında Üretmek, Pozarlamak, Yaşamak, edited by Faroqhi, Suraiya, 9–33. İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2003.Google Scholar
Faroqhi, Suraiya. “İstanbul'un İaşesi ve Tekirdağ-Rodoscuk Limanı (16. ve 17. Yüzyıllar).” ODTÜ Çelişme Dergisi (1979–1980): 139–54.Google Scholar
Faroqhi, Suraiya. “Labour Recruitment and Control in the Ottoman Empire (Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries).” In Manufacturing in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, 1500-1950, edited by Quataert, Donald, 13–57. Albany: State University of New York, 1994.Google Scholar
Faroqhi, Suraiya. “Merchant Networks and Ottoman Craft Production (16-17th Centuries).” In The Proceedings of the International Conference on Urbanism In Islam, 85–132. Tokyo: Middle Eastern Culture Centre, 1989.Google Scholar
Faroqhi, Suraiya. “Ottoman Guilds in the Late Eighteenth Century: The Bursa Case.” In Making a Living in the Ottoman Lands: 1480-1820, edited by Faroqhi, Suraiya, 93–112. İstanbul: Isis Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Faroqhi, Suraiya. ‘Sidjill.” In Encyclopedia of Islam, 540.Google Scholar
Faroqhi, Suraiya. Towns and Townsmen of Ottoman Anatolia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.Google Scholar
Faroqhi, Suraiya. “Urban Space as Disputed Grounds: Territorial Aspects to Artisan Conflict in Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century Istanbul.” In Stories of Ottoman Men and Women, 219–34, İstanbul: Eren, 2002.Google Scholar
Gerber, Haim. Economy and Society in an Ottoman City: Bursa, 1600-1700. Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1988.Google Scholar
Ghazaleh, Pascale. “Guilds between Tradition and Modernity.” In The State and Its Servants: Administration in Egypt from Ottoman Times to the Present, edited by Hanna, Nelly. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Ghazaleh, Pascale. Masters of the Trade: Crafts and Craftspeople in Cairo, 1750-1850. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Gökbilgin, Tayyib M. XV-XVI. Asırlarda Edirne ve Poşa Libâsı, Vakıflar-Mülkler-Mukataolar. İstanbul: Üçler Basımevi, 1952.Google Scholar
Gölpınarlı, Abdülbaki. “Burgazi ve “Fütüvvetname”si.” İstanbul Üniversitesi İkthat Fakültesi Mecmuası 15, no. 1-4 (1953–1954): 76–153.Google Scholar
Gölpınarlı, Abdülbaki. “İslam ve Türk İllerinde Fütüwet Teşkilatı ve Kaynakları.” İstanbul Üniversitesi İktisat Fakültesi Mecmuası 11, no. 1-4 (1949–1950): 3–354.Google Scholar
Güçer, Lütfi. “Bir Türk-Osmanlı Buğday Ofisi Hakkında Araştırma: XVIII. Yüzyıl Ortalarında İstanbul'un İaşesi İçin Lüzumlu Hububatın Temini Meselesi.” İstanbul Üniversitesi İktisat Fakültesi Mecmuası 11 no. 1-4 (1949–1950): 397–416.Google Scholar
İnalcık, Halil. “Capital Formation in the Ottoman Empire.” The Journal of Economic History 29, no. 1 (1969): 97–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, Bernard. “The Islamic Guilds.” Economic History Review 8, no. 1 (1937): 20–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mantran, Robert. 17. Yüzyılın İkinci Yarısında İstanbul, Kurumsal, İktisadi, Toplumsal Tarih Denemesi. Translated by Kılıçbay, Mehmet Ali and Özcan, Enver. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1990.Google Scholar
Massignon, Louis. “Sınf.” In Encyclopedia of İslam.Google Scholar
Peirce, Leslie. “‘She Is Trouble …and I Will Divorce Her:’ Orality, Honor and Representation in the Ottoman Court of ‘Aintab’.” In Women ¡n the Medieval Islamic World: Power, Patronage, and Piety, edited by Hambly, Gavin R.C.. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Quataert, Donald. Ottoman Manufacturing in the Industrial Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Quataert, Donald. “Ottoman Manufacturing in the Nineteenth Century.” In Manufacturing in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, 1500-1950, edited by Quataert, Donald, 87–121. Albany: State University of New York, 1994.Google Scholar
Rafeq, Abdul Karim. “Craft Organization, Work Ethics, and the Strains of Change in Ottoman Syria.” The Journal of American Oriental Society 111, no. 3 (1991): 495–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rafeq, Abdul Karim. “The Law Court Registers of Damascus, with Special Reference to Craft Corporations During the First Half of the Eighteenth Century.” In Les Arabes Par Leurs Archives (XVIE-XXE Siècles), edited by Berque, J. and Chevallier, D., 141–59. Paris, 1976.Google Scholar
Taeschner, Franz. “Akhi.” In Encyclopedia of Islam.Google Scholar
Taeschner, Franz. “Das Zunftwesen in der Türkei.” Leibziger Vierteljahresschrift für Südeuropa, no. 5 (1941): 172–88.Google Scholar
Taeschner, Franz. “Futuwa.” In Encyclopedia of Islam.Google Scholar
Trapp, Erich, and Beyer, Hans-Veit. Prosographishes Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1996.Google Scholar
Ülgener, Sabri F. ’14üncü Asırdan Beri Esnaf Ahlakı ve Şikayeti Mucip Bazı Halleri.” İstanbul Üniversitesi İktisat Fakültesi Mecmuası, no. 11 (1949–1950): 388–96.Google Scholar
Yi, Eunjeong. Cuild Dynamics in Seventeenth-Century Istanbul, Fluidity and Leverage. Leiden: Brill, 2004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar