Social and Economic Life in The Szigetvar Nahiyesi According to Cadastral Record Book Dated 1579
Sigetvar is a fortress in Hungary and it was added to the Ottoman lands in 1566 as a result of the last expedition made by I. Süleyman. After being conquered, Sigetvar, a sanjak of Budin Province, later became a detached state. The purpose of this article is to provide information about the legal status and population of Muslim and non-Muslim reaya in Sigetvar in the light of the detailed book of 1579. Thus, with the transition of Sigetvar to Ottoman domination, here is to give information about the Ottoman domination organization. The main source of our work is the registered grand registry book with the number 138 in 1579 in the "Munich Collections" in the German Archive. On the first page of the book belonging to the III. Murad period, the phrase “Defter-i Mufasall-ı Liva-i Sigetvâr bi- Dergâh-ıÂlî”islocated. This book contains detailed information about the administrative structure of Sigetvar, which was under Ottoman rule in 1579, population, settlement, products grown and taxes levied. As it is known, local history studies are very important in revealing the administrative organization, social and economic situation of a region.
1579 Tarihli Mufassal Tahrir Defterine Göre Sigetvar Nahiyesi’nde Sosyal ve İktisadi Hayat
Sigetvar, I. Süleyman’ın yaptığı son sefer sonucunda 1566 yılında Osmanlı topraklarına katılmış Macaristan’da bir kaledir. Fethedildikten sonra Budin Eyaleti’nin bir sancağı olan Sigetvar daha sonra müstakil bir eyalet durumuna gelmiştir. Bu makalenin amacı, arşivde bulunan 1579 yılına ait ilk mufassal tahrir defteri ışığında, reayanın hukuki durumu ve nüfusu hakkında bilgiler sunmaktır. Böylece, Sigetvar’ın Osmanlı hâkimiyetine geçmesi ile birlikte burada Osmanlı hâkimiyeti teşekkülü hakkında bilgi sahibi olunması amaçlanmaktadır. Çalışmanın ana kaynağını Almanya Arşivi’nde “Munich Collections” da bulunan 1579 tarihli 138 Numara ile kayıtlı mufassal tahrir defteri oluşturmaktadır. III. Murad dönemine ait olan defterin ilk sayfasında “Defter-i Mufasall-ı Liva-i Sigetvâr bi- Dergâh-ı Âlî” ibaresi yer almaktadır. Bu defterde, 1579 yılında Osmanlı hâkimiyeti altında bulunan Sigetvar’ın idarî yapısı, nüfus, iskân, yetiştirilen ürünler ve alınan vergiler hakkında ayrıntılı bilgiler mevcuttur.
The focus of this study is Szigetvar that was added to the Ottoman lands as a result of Suleiman I’s last military expedition. Szigetvar is a fortress in Hungary and was conquered in 1566. In this study, the order that was set up by the Ottoman State in Szigetvar after its conquest is addressed. The aim of this study is to present information regarding the judicial state of the rayah in Szigetvar its population in the light of the review of the first discovered cadastral record book dated 1579. Therefore, it is aimed to have knowledge of the organization of the Ottoman dominance in Szigetvar with its fall under Ottoman rule.
Administrative structure of Szigetvar: Szigetvar district was established after 1566 when it fell under the Ottoman administration. In 1579, the district was composed of Szigetvar, Gorezgal, Siklos, and Hagan boroughs. With the conquest of Kanije in 1600, Kanije state was established and Szigetvar became a district of this state. Szigetvar remained as a district of Kanije state until 1688 when the Ottoman rule came to an end. 63 villages, 1 ranch, and 13 estates were recorded in Sizgetvar district in 1579. There were 762 households in total in the district. There are different views regarding the calculation of the number of households in the studies on population during the Classical era of the Ottoman State. The most accepted of these views is the method determined by Omer Lutfi Barkan as multiplying the tax section with 5. Therefore, we used the method of household x 5= estimated population to obtain the estimated population of a settlement. Accordingly, the estimated population of Szigetvar district was 3.810 people. Among the mentioned population, there are even a few Muslims. The fathers’ names of 3 Muslims in the Kostanci Village were Abdullah; thus, it seems that they accepted Islam and became Muslims later.
Economic structure of Szigetvar: The basic economic element in the agricultural area in the Ottoman State was agricultural products. Most of the income in Szigetvar district was earned from agricultural products. The primary agricultural products were wheat, meslin, linen, cabbage, sir, haricot bean, giyah, and cannabis. It is also seen that other agricultural activities were done such as vegetable gardens, fruits, and vine cultivation. The total income earned from agricultural production was 147.674 silver coins. It is seen that animal breeding in Szigetvar district included apiculture and henazır. The total income earned from this tax type was 19.143 silver coins. Commercial and Industrial Activities: what distinguishes between the structure of a city and a village is the commercial and industrial activities. As known, city is a large settlement where most of its population deals with commercial, industrial, and administrative businesses. Mill, the first type of commercial and industrial taxes that we will review, is recorded as “resm-i âsiyab”. The amount of the tax taken from the mill was 175 silver coins in total. The other significant type of tax in the district was “resm-i hime”. It was the tax taken on wood. The total amount taken from this type of tax in Szigetvar district was 9.307 silver coins.
Resm-i Fucu: non-Muslims who produced must had to give one tenth of the must to the timar holder. The timar holder would seal the must barrels to sell and announce manapolye by prohibiting must sales. According to this, the process called manapolye would take two months and ten days and it was stated that it could not be longer than that. The income earned from the Fucu was 1.342 silver coins. Citizenship and Accidental Taxes: Citizenship tax is a tax that is not based on production but taken from the individuals depending on their judicial status (married or single, Muslim or non-Muslim) and the land they saved. These taxes in Szigetvar district were resm-i kapu and resm-i cift. The total amount obtained from the Citizenship tax was 38.166 silver coins. Accidental taxes were land title, deştbani, arus and regency. The total amount of income from these taxes was 23.287 silver coins.
In conclusion, it is known that the basic source for the local studies of XV. and XVI. centuries are cadastral record books. These books are the primary sources referred to reveal the administrative, economic, social structures and settlement process of a district that forms the basis of the Ottoman rural structure. In this context, the book we studied on is the first cadastral record book of Szigetvar and; thus, it is possible to reveal the order that the Ottomans set in Szigetvar. It is seen that the Ottoman rule was settled in Szigetvar district in 1579. Almost all of the villages of the district were inhabited. Most of the population was settled in the rural areas as a characteristic of the agricultural society. Non-Muslims consisted of almost all of the population in the district. It is seen that the Ottoman State did not inhabit Turkish population as a part of its settlement policy in the Balkans. The fathers’ names of 3 Muslims in the Szigetvar district were Abdullah; thus, it seems that they accepted Islam and became Muslims later and they were not subject to any settlement policy.
Moreover, there is a record titled “Varoş-ı Szigetvar, maa çiftlikha ve ispençe-i kıbtıyan” on Szigetvar district. It is seen that the Muslim population was formed as a result of conversions as the fathers’ names of 45 registered citizens’ was Abdullah. In addition, it is significant that the fathers’ names of 14 people in Mehmed bin Bayezid neighborhood and 12 people in Veli bin Ali neighborhood. After the Ottoman conquest, foundations were established in Szigetvar. It can be stated that the existence of these foundations had a significant effect on Szigetvar’s gaining the characteristics of an Ottoman city. The economic structure of Szigetvar district consisted of agriculture. The income earned from agriculture was 83% of the total income of the district. Citizenship and accidental taxes were the second income source after the agriculture tax and constituted 11,5% of the income. The income earned from commercial and industrial products was the third with 5,3% percentage.
