VersionsChristians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire, n°I [English, New York & London, 1982]
Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire, n°II [English, New York & London, 1982]
Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire
The Functioning of a Plural Society
Benjamin Braude
Bernard Lewis
Holmes & Meier Publishers
For hundreds of years the Ottomans ruled a territory of great ethnic and religious diversity. How did this vast empire stretching from the Balkans to the Sahara endure so long? The contributors to this two-volume work examine the political and social arrangements that made possible the effective functioning of a polyethnic, multireligious society for more than four hundred years.
Written by eminent scholars from the Middle East, Europe, and North America, these papers soberly and objectively weigh the fundamental question of religion and community in the Middle East. Among the topics explored are: the nature of contact between Muslims and non- Muslims; the organizations and institutions of Christians and Jews; the relations between communal leaders and the state; and the interaction between the West and non-Muslim peoples. Using heretofore neglected sources in Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Hebrew, and Armenian, these essays provide a vital background for students of the area and its three great religions, as well as for those interested in the problems of minorities in plural societies.
Benjamin Braude is assistant professor of history at Boston College and research associate of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. Bernard Lewis is Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton and a long-term member of the Institute
for Advanced Studies.
Contents
Volume One: The Central Lands
Abbreviations and Note on Transliteration / viii
Acknowledgments / ix
Introduction Benjamin Braude and Bernard Lewis / 1
Part I. The Islamic Background
1. The Concept of Dhimma in Early Islam C. E. Bosworth / 37
Part II. The Early History of the Non-Muslim Communities under Ottoman Rule
2. Transformation of Zimmi into Askeri İ. Metin Kunt / 55
3. Foundation Myths of the Millet System Benjamin Braude / 69
4. The Rise of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople Kevork B. Bardakjian / 89
5. The Leadership of the Ottoman Jews in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries Mark A. Epstein / 101
6. Ottoman Policy toward the Jews and Jewish Attitudes toward the Ottomans during the Fifteenth Century Joseph R. Hacker / 117
7. Foreign Merchants and the Minorities in Istanbul during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries Robert Mantran / 127
Part III. The Structure of the Non-Muslim Communities in the Eighteenth Century and After
8. Millets and Nationality: The Roots of the Incongruity of Nation and State in the Post-Ottoman Era Kemal H. Karpat / 141
9. The Dual Role of the Armenian Amira Class within the Ottoman Government and the Armenian Millet (1750-1850) Hagop Barsoumian / 171
10. The Greek Millet in the Ottoman Empire Richard Clogg / 185
11. Jewish Communities in Turkey during the Last Decades of the Nineteenth Century in the Light of the Archives of the Alliance Israelite Universelle Paul Dumont / 209
12. The Millet System and its Contribution to the Blurring of Orthodox National Identity in Albania Stavro Skendi / 243
Part IV. The Role of Christians and Jews in Ottoman Life during the Nineteenth Century and After
13. The Transformation of the Economic Position of the Millets in the Nineteenth Century Charles Issawi / 261
14. Trade and Merchants in Nineteenth-Century Trabzon: Elements of Ethnic Conflict A. Uner Turgay / 287
15. The Millets as Agents of Change in the Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Empire Roderic H. Davison / 319
16. The Acid Test of Ottomanism: The Acceptance of Non-Muslims in the Late Ottoman Bureaucracy Carter V. Findley / 339
17. Minorities and Municipal Reform in Istanbul, 1850-1870 Steven Rosenthal / 369
18. Non-Muslim Representatives in the First Constitutional Assembly, 1876-1877 Enver Ziya Karal / 387
19. Unionist Relations with the Greek, Armenian, and Jewish Communities of the Ottoman Empire, 1908-1914 Feroz Ahmad / 401
Part V. Sources
20. Ottoman Archival Materials on Millets Halil Inalcik / 437
Volume two: The Arabic-Speaking lands
Abbreviations and Note on Transliteration / viii
Acknowledgments / ix
Introduction Benjamin Braude / 1
1. On the Realities of the Millet System: Jerusalem in the Sixteenth Century Amnon Cohen / 7
2. The Christian Population of the Province of Damascus in the Sixteenth Century Muhammad Adnan Bakhit / 19
3. On Melkite Passage to the Unia: The Case of Patriarch Cyril al-Za'im (1672-1720) Robert M. Haddad / 67
4. Communal Conflict in Ottoman Syria during the Reform Era: The Role of Political and Economic Factors Moshe Ma'oz / 91
5. Communal Conflict in Nineteenth-Century Lebanon Samir Khalaf / 107
6. The Two Worlds of Assaad Y. Kayat KamaI S. Salibi / 135
7. Non-Muslim Communities in Arab Cities Dominique Chevallier / 159
8. Image and Self-Image of the Syrians in Egypt:
From the Early Eighteenth Century to the Reign of Muhammad ' All Thomas Philipp / 167
9. The Political Situation of the Copts, 1798-1923 Doris Behrens-Abouseif / 185
Bibliography / 207
Index / 225
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
These essays grew out of a research seminar and conference on “The Millet System: History and Legacy," that was conducted at Princeton University during the spring and summer of 1978. The scope of the book is somewhat narrower than that of the conference. Unfortunately considerations of space and unity of topic made it necessary to omit papers which dealt wholly or mainly with post-Ottoman or non-Ottoman topics. We gratefully acknowledge our debt to all those who participated in the seminar-conference.
A grant from the Ford Foundation to the Princeton University Program in Near Eastern Studies made possible the convening of the seminar- conference. Additional grants from both the Ford Foundation and Princeton University helped defray the costs of publication. Certain other costs were borne by the office of the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of History, both of Boston College.
The faculty, staff, and students of the Princeton Program and Department of Near Eastern Studies were especially helpful in the organization of the seminar-conference. Particular thanks are due Mrs. Mary Craparotta, Mrs. Grace Edelman, and Mrs. Judy Gross.
We benefited from able graduate assistance. Alan Iser, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard, reviewed the manuscript for consistency. Alan Makovsky. Near Eastern Studies at Princeton, reviewed the bibliography. Shayndel Feuerstein, Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard, translated portions of the text from French to English. John Feeley and James Nealon of Boston College helped correct the galleys.
A special word of appreciation is due the late Morroe Berger who, as Chairman of the Program in Near Eastern Studies, first conceived this project and gained support for it. His death came before its publication. These volumes are dedicated to his memory.
IntroductionBenjamin Braude and Bernard Lewis
For nearly half a millennium the Ottomans ruled an empire as diverse as any in history. Remarkably, this polyethnic and multireligious society worked. Muslims, Christians, and Jews worshipped and studied side by side, enriching their distinct cultures. The legal traditions and practices of each community, particularly in matters of personal status—that is, death, marriage, and inheritance—were respected and enforced through the empire. Scores of languages and literatures employing a bewildering variety of scripts flourished. Opportunities for advancement and prosperity were open in varying degrees to all the empire's subjects. During their heyday the Ottomans created a society which allowed a great degree of communal autonomy while maintaining a fiscally sound and militarily strong central government.
The Ottoman Empire was a classic example of the plural society. An acute observer of similar societies in South Asia defined them with the following description which applies equally well to the Ottoman world:
... probably the first thing that strikes the visitor is the medley of peoples. ... It is in the strictest sense a medley, for they mix. but do not combine. Each group holds by its own religion, its own culture and language, its own ideas and ways. As individuals they meet, but only in the market-place, in buying and selling. There is a plural society, with different sections of the community, living side by side, but separately within the same political unit. Even in the economic sphere there is a division of labor along racial lines.1
For all their shortcomings, plural societies did allow diverse groups of people to live together with a minimum of bloodshed. In comparison with the nationstates which succeeded them, theirs is a remarkable record.
In recent years, spurred by an awareness of the ethnic strife that plagues so many nation-states, scholars have turned to the study of ethnicity and ethnically diverse states. Unfortunately, much of this work has been historically and geographically limited. The Islamic world has rarely been included in such studies despite the fact that one of the most enduring polyethnic states was the last great Islamic Empire, that of the Ottomans.
In recent studies on the Middle East, the dominant themes have been nationalism on the one hand and modernization on the other, to the neglect of religious and communal issues. The continuing importance of religion and ...
Benjamin Braude
Bernard Lewis
Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire
Holmes & Meier Publishers
Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc.
Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire
The Functioning of a Plural Society
Volume I
The Central Lands
Edited by Benjamin Braude and Bernard Lewis
Volume I
The Central Lands
First published in the United States of America 1982 by
Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc.
30 Irving Place
New York, N. Y. 10003
Jacket design by Dana Kasarsky Design
Jacket illustration courtesy of the Topkapi Palace
Museum Library.
Holmes & Meier Publishers
New York & London
Volume 1: ISBN 0-8419-0519-3
Volume 2: ISBN 0-8419-0529-7
Great Britain:
Holmes & Meier Publishers, Ltd.
131 Trafalgar Road
Greenwich, London SE10 9TX
Copyright © 1982 by Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Christians and Jews in the Ottoman empire.
Papers presented at an international symposium held
at Princeton University.
Bibliography: Vol. II, p. 207.
Includes index.
Contents: v. 1. The central lands, v. 2. The
Arabic-speaking lands.
1. Christians in the Near East—Politics and
government—Congresses. 2. Jews in the Near East—
Politics and government—Congresses. 3. Christians
in Turkey—Politics and government—Congresses.
4. Jews in Turkey—Politics and government—Congresses.
5. Minorities—Near East—Congresses. 6. Minorities
—Turkey—Congresses. I. Braude, Benjamin.
II. Lewis, Bernard.
DS58.C48 1980 956.1'01 80-11337
Manufactured in the United States of America
ISBN 0-8419-0519-3 (v. 1)
