Slaves in the Social and Economic Life of Bursa in the late 15th and early 16th Centuries

Makale İngilizce

Künye:

Yazarlar:

Halil SAHİLLİOĞLU

Ekle

Emeği Geçenler:

Ekle

Yayın Yılı:

1985

Yayınlandığı Eser:

Turcica

Cilt:

Sayı:

Sayfa Aralığı:

43-112

İçerik Dosyası:

Web adresi:

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Operatör:

Ahmet Köç

Güncelleyen:

Zeynep Karakaş

Özet:

[Bursa, provincial capital in northwestern Anatolia, at the foot of the Ulu Dağ, was the seat of the Ottoman sultains from 1326 to 1365, in the 15th century it was a major centre of textile production and trade.] While slaves in agriculture were rare, they were to be found in all sectors of urban life. This important study is based on the registers and accounts of the Muslim court of Bursa between 1455 and 1512 (of these, the register no. 3A found particular attention since it relates to the time after the peace with Venice). Sahillioglu describes the legal forms of slavery-related transactions, such as:
- sales (usually, the document does not record the first sale of an individual slave; the traders were called “nakhkhas”; the sales could be contested by those enslaved illegally, and in this context, their passage from hand to hand was reconstructed);
- manumission (or rather, self-redemption; the court issued confirmations of manumission or of freedom bought; the slaves often had to borrow the necessary sums);
- “mükâtebe” contracts (between slaves and their owners, concerning redemption, usually by payment of a certain sum, service for a certain time, or production of a certain quantity of produce: “Instead of employing a worker in return for pay, the employer bought the worker, i.e. the slave, andentered into a mükâtebe agreement” (p. 57);
- “tedbir” (“conditional slavery”) concerning manumission on the death of the owner and the regulation of his inheritance;
- “müstevlide” (“motherhood”), concerning female slaves who became pregnant of their owners and who had to be released upon the latter’s death (she was thereupon considered as a freeborn woman, p. 59);
- “incompetence” (a slave could legally declare that he was unable to fulfil the conditions laid down in a “mükâtebe” contract; he then had to be sold);
- pawning slaves and ascribing them to a foundation (“waqf”);
- “usubet-i sebebiyye” (the right of a former owner to the inheritance of a freedperson, similar to the ius patronatus);
- names and naming (“Ibn Abdullah” as a name for converts to Islam).

The sums raised for farming out the right to tax slave sales suggest that some 6,000 slaves were sold on the bazaar in 1485 alone. Most slaves were captives of war, judging from the varying percentages of the different groups of origin. The slave trade also furnished slaves from the Black Sea (Circassian) as well as from Africa (eunuchs) and India (a small number of women). Bursa also served as a trading hub for buyers from other Ottoman towns. Circassian slaves were also bought for military service, mostly to Egypt (limitations obtained for this trade between 1485 and 1489). After the peace of 1482, Venetian captives had to be released, for which there is evidence in the registers. Non-Muslim slave owners had the same rights as Muslims (among the buyers two “Franks” are mentioned; another “Frank” manumitted his Greek slave). However, they had to pay a special levy (“mukata’a”) when selling to Muslims.

Slaves and freedpersons constituted a sizeable proportion of the urban population (documented in census rolls and inheritance lists used in court): Almost one-third of the free urban population were freedpersons (they also made up one-third of the house buyers), and there were between 6,000 and 8,000 slaves in the city (of a population of altogether c. 35,000 people).

Typical prices for adult, non-fugitive slaves ranged between 1,500 and 6,000 akçe, with peak prices between 6,000 and 10,000 for slavegirls who were trained singers or dancers. Houses cost between 1,000 and 5,000 akçe. Hence it is understandable that only 11 to 13 percent of Bursa’s households had slaves.

The sums raised for farming out the right to tax slave sales suggest that some 6,000 slaves were sold on the bazaar in 1485 alone. Most slaves were captives of war, judging from the varying percentages of the different groups of origin. The slave trade also furnished slaves from the Black Sea (Circassian) as well as from Africa (eunuchs) and India (a small number of women). Bursa also served as a trading hub for buyers from other Ottoman towns. Circassian slaves were also bought for military service, mostly to Egypt (limitations obtained for this trade between 1485 and 1489). After the peace of 1482, Venetian captives had to be released, for which there is evidence in the registers. Non-Muslim slave owners had the same rights as Muslims (among the buyers two “Franks” are mentioned; another “Frank” manumitted his Greek slave). However, they had to pay a special levy (“mukata’a”) when selling to Muslims.

Slaves and freedpersons constituted a sizeable proportion of the urban population (documented in census rolls and inheritance lists used in court): Almost one-third of the free urban population were freedpersons (they also made up one-third of the house buyers), and there were between 6,000 and 8,000 slaves in the city (of a population of altogether c. 35,000 people).

Typical prices for adult, non-fugitive slaves ranged between 1,500 and 6,000 akçe, with peak prices between 6,000 and 10,000 for slavegirls who were trained singers or dancers. Houses cost between 1,000 and 5,000 akçe. Hence it is understandable that only 11 to 13 percent of Bursa’s households had slaves.