ZIMMIS (NON-MUSLIMS) OF RUSÇUK AND THEIR NEIGHBOURHOODS IN THE RIDDLE OF A MID-18TH-CENTURY DETAILED AVARIZ TAX REGISTER AND BEYOND
Études balkaniques (Sofia) 2022 N 3
Maria SHUSHAROVA
Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Bulgaria
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to cast more light on the spatial and demographic development of the mid-18th century town of Rusçuk (mod. Ruse) – a center of an Ottoman district (kaza) on the Lower Danube. The basic source for the study is a rare mid-18th century detailed avariz register. However, this “ready overall account” of the local population posed two general problems: 1) the acute confessional disproportions, with the extremely low numbers of the local non-Muslim communities (comprising about 10% of the town’s population); 2) the ‘flexibility’ of the Christian neighbourhoods. This predetermined the particular focus on the zimmis (non-Muslims) as the first part of the study elaborates the demographic dynamics, town neighbourhoods network formation, religious institutions, local parish and monasteries networks in a long term perspective (16th-18th centuries) examining different types of state tax-registers (tapu tahrir, avariz, detailed post-1690’ cizye registrations).
Beside the registers, the collection of the kadı court records (sicils) of the local sharia judges of Rusçuk are particularly valuable source approached here for a more thorough interpretation of the level of inclusiveness of thе mid-18th-century macro-framework and of outlining some of its major “demographic” gaps. The sicils spotlight the relevant processes and contextualize the application of the taxation policy in situ, tracing both continuity and serious transformations of the town tissue. The shifts were more tangible in the mahalles of the non-Muslim as well as in the process of the town askeri çiftliks’ proliferation. The latter in particular spotted one of the major demographic “gaps” of the mid-18th-century register as it generally surveyed the dwellers of the town neighbourhoods omitting the reaya of the town askeri çiftliks (mostly Christians). Thus, this study points at the robust functioning of the local Christian institutions within the framework of much more optimistic demographic parameters of the community than those attested in the mid-18th century avariz register proper.
Another micro-focus of the study is the family story of the only priest registered in the town in this mid-18th-century avariz defter – here corroborating the information from the marginal notes left by his ancestors, and thus presenting a more vivid image of those who guided the parishioners in the 18th-century Rusçuk.
Keywords: Ottoman Balkans, Rusçuk/ Ruse, zimmis (the non-Muslim subjects of a Muslim state), mahalle, tapu tahrir, cizye, avariz, tevzi registers, sicils, çiftliks, marginalia
REGIONAL NETWORKS AND PATRONAGE RELATIONS: THE CASE OF THE PROVINCIAL NOTABLE (AYAN) OF RAZGRAD FROM THE LATE 18TH CENTURY
Études balkaniques (Sofia) 2024, N 1
Maria SHUSHAROVA
Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Bulgaria
Abstract: The period of the 18th-century Ottoman history is commonly labelled “the age of ayans”. As a rule, the great local warlords attracted considerable research interest. However, this paper aims to shed light on a local notable of the group of so-called “minor” ayans, whose stories are relatively less frequently presented in the historiography: the case of Elhac Ömeroğlu Hacı Ömer Ağa – the ayan of Hezargrad (mod. Razgrad) for the last two decades of the 18th. century. The study focuses on the one hand, on his networks of cooperation and contention with the regional notables and power-holders, and on the other hand, on his locally based patronage network. The 1787-1792- war deeply affected the everyday life of the South-Danubian Ottoman borderland districts and gave crucial impetus of the regional notables’ partnerships and struggles for supremacy.
Locally based patronage relations are another main research issue in this paper. Тhe focus is on the role of local leadership in the system of social and administrative management of the district of Hezargrad, the ayan’s interaction with the community he represented, and his recognition in the local society as reflected in the documentation concerning some volatile points of the local notable’s story: the state decrees for his executions (at least two) and the process of the confiscation of his property (müsadere) in 1790, and another one – after Ömer Ağa’s death, in 1800.
Keywords: Hezargrad (mod. Razgrad), 18th century, ayan, confiscation (müsadere), networks, patronage relations