Week 5_Lecture and PowerPoint.pptxWomen in Dynasties and Emp.docx

Week 5_Lecture and PowerPoint.pptx
Women in Dynasties and Empires
Abbasids 750 CE-1258 CE
Abbasid rule of the Islamic community ushered in an era of
strong centralized government, great economic prosperity, and a
remarkable civilization.
The Abbasids came to power under the banner of Islam,
legitimating their seizure of power and dynastic reign
Islamically. They became the great patrons of an emerging
religious class, the ulama (religious scholars). They supported
the development of Islamic scholarship and disciplines, built
mosques, and established schools.
The Abbasids refined Umayyad practice, borrowing heavily
from Persian culture, with its divinely ordained system of
government.
The early centuries of Abbasid rule were marked by an
unparalleled splendor and economic prosperity… (Esposito,
Islam: The Straight Path, 57-58)
Chapter 5: Leila Ahmed takes a closer look at how women fared
in the Abbasid Dynasty.
Ahmed brings up the idea that “all writers are hostage to the
society in which they live.” and thus the society of the Abbasids
was extremely androcentric, not because of the Islam they held
but because of the patriarchy they inherited in the vast lands
they conquered and the great wealth they gained in such a short
time. Ahmed argues that, Patriarchy was the rule of the day and
the Abbasids were those who established the patriarchy by
reading the texts of Islam through the lens of patriarchy.

“The men creating the texts of the Abbasid age of whatever
sort, literary or legal, grew up experiencing and internalizing
the society’s assumptions about gender and about women and
the structures of power governing the relations between the
sexes, assumptions and structures that were encoded into and
manifested in the ordinary daily transactions of life. Such
assumptions and practices in turn became inscribed in the texts
the men wrote, in the form of prescriptive utterances about the
nature and meaning of gender, or silently informed their texts
simply as assumptions about the significance of women and
gender. (Women were not, in this age, creators of texts in the
way that they were in the first Islamic age, when they were
among the authors of verbal texts, later written down by men.)
The practices and assumptions regarding women that informed
the social and psychological reality of Abbasid writers—
theologians, legists, philosophers-reappeared in their texts as
the prisms through which they viewed and understood women
and gender…” (Ahmed 82-83)
Unfortunately, for Ahmed
She views this time period as a time where patriarchy became
encoded in Islamic Law, particularly in terms of the veil,
marriage, divorce and concubinage. Although many do not
agree with her argument that Islamic Law is highly patriarchal,
no one can disagree with the fact that it was men who were
putting the law in its place and which would affect all future
generations.
The elite social class men would benefit the most, particularly
when they had concubines up to 4000 women.
She argues that it was the elite who influenced the way in which
law would translate, rendering women as objects in some cases.
The difference that Ahmed sees between the norms of Muslims,

Jews, and Christians is that for Islam the law codified certain
laws whereas for Christians it was a practice that was not
codified into law. Thus, it could easily be dropped later
through other cultural practices, even though the fluidity meant
it could be worse for women.
Ahmed again stresses that “The weight Abbasid society gave to
the androcentric teachings over the ethical teachings in Islam in
matters concerning relations between the sexes was the outcome
of collective interpretative acts reflecting the mores and
attitudes of (inherited) society.” 87
“As a result the religion’s emphasis on equality and the equal
justice to which women were entitled has left little trace on the
law as developed in the Abbasid age,” Ahmed argues. (87)
Ahmed believes that “had the ethical voice of Islam been heard,
I here suggest, it would have significantly tempered the extreme
androcentric bias of the law, and we might today have a far
more humane and egalitarian law regarding women.” 88
It is important to note that Ahmed reads the law in her own
perspective and not many would agree that the law is extremely
bias. Some would argue that there is room to improve and there
are areas where the law is benefitting men more than women;
however, it isn’t the case where women are at an extreme
disadvantage always and everywhere.
Ahmed continues that “And while the Quran might insist upon
impartial treatment of co-wives in polygynous unions, classical
Islamic law did not elevate this requirement into any legal
restriction upon the husband…92
Ahmed points to other groups that interpreted the texts
differingly:
“The Sufi and the Qaramatian movement also show that there

were ways of reading the Islamic movement and text that
differed from those of the dominant culture and that such
readings had important implications for the conceptualization of
women and the social arrangements concerning gender.” 100-
101
Chapter 6: Medieval Islam
Focus of this chapter is to shed light on the complexity of
Islamic societies with a focus on Egypt, Turkey, Syria from the
15th to the 19th Century and to also take into consideration the
multiple class levels that existed and what that meant for the
different levels of freedom that existed for women.
It was a highly complex society that ranged from free roaming
around and educational opportunities for women to living in
concubinages in the elite governing circles.
The main thing you should get out of this chapter is that Islamic
society is and was VERY COMPLEX!!!!
Four Factors Shaped the Possiblities of Women’s Lives in the
Mediterranean Middle East in this respective period!!
The customs and laws regulating marriage, in particular the
laws permitting polygamy, concubinage, unilateral divorce by
the husband.
The social ideal of women’s seclusion.
Women legal right to own property.
Women’s position in the class system. (this last one determining
how they were affected by the first three.) p. 103
Marriage
Marriage age 12-17. this marriage age was the norm for other
religious communities and less than 12 was highly uncommon.
Polygyny and concubinage occurred chiefly among ruling

classes. The norm for everyone else was monogamy. Polygyny
was highly frowned upon by the rest of the classes.
Monogamy could be said to be a characteristic of the
progressive middle class. Polygamy was considered disastrous
to this class.
Owning Property and doing trade
Women in the upper elite classes, some had vast fortunes and
controlled large sums of money and property.
Women in the middle and upper middle classes owned property
and in some cases were involved in about 40% of all trades.
Earning Income and Wealth
Women could earn income and wealth by
buying and selling property.
Trade
Employing male traders
Learning how sew and embroider
Peddling merchandise
Midwives
Bakers
Etc.
Education
Women would learn to sew and embroider.
Girls occasionally attended the Kuttab, the school attached to
the mosque and attended by boys which taught reading and
recitation of the Quran. Some became renowned scholars and
even teachers of hadith and tafsir or exegesis.

“Evidently, then, scholarly interactions between men and
women did take place, and women were taught by women and
by men. But HOW and WHERE is not clear…A traveler in
Cairo in the early 19th century wrote that women were to be
seen at the renowned and ancient religious and educational
institution of al-Azhar talking freely and conversing…” 114
An Interesting and important event that is not mentioned by
Ahmed is that the oldest continually degree granting university
built in Fes, Morocco was envisioned and built by a Muslim
woman, Fatima al-Fihri, over 1000 years ago. It is currently a
mosque, university and library. Al-Qarawiyyin University in
Fes, Morocco.
Ahmed states the intricate truth of not only Muslim women but
women everywhere:
The evidence attests that Muslim women were not the passive
creatures wholly without material resources or legal rights, that
the Western world once imagined them to be…
BUT
Although women were active, Let me emphasize within they
were active within the very limited parameters permitted by
their society. (111-112)
Women in Early 17th Century Ottoman Judicial Records.pdf
Women in Early 17th Century Ottoman Judicial Records: The
Sharia Court of Anatolian
Kayseri

Author(s): Ronald C. Jennings
Source: Journal of the Economic and Social History of the
Orient, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Jan.,
1975), pp. 53-114
Published by: Brill
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Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol.
XVIII, Part 1

WOMEN IN EARLY 17TH CENTURY
OTTOMAN JUDICIAL RECORDS -
THE SHARIA COURT OF
ANATOLIAN KAYSERI*)
BY
RONALD C. JENNINGS
(University of Illinois)
Women have generally been considered by modern western
observers
to occupy a despised and servile position in the social and
economic
order of Islamic civilization. Arabists and anthropologists have
been
in accord that Muslim women were virtually the property first
of their
*) Kayseri sicils are housed in the Etnografya Muzesi in
Ankara, the Karaman,
Isparta, and Konya sicils are in the Mevlana Muzesi in Konya,
the Amasya sicils in
the museum of Tokat, and the Trabzon sicils in the Topkapi
Saray Muzesi Arsivi in
Istanbul. I wish to thank the directors and their staffs for
generous hospitality; I am
particularly obligated to the staff of the Etnografya Muzesi,
including the
director Bayan Enise Yener and the recently retired assistant
director Bay Ziya Ceran.
This research was supported by grants from the American
Research Institute in

Turkey and from the University of California at Los Angeles
(an NDEA title IV
grant). This paper is built upon a chapter from my Ph. D.
dissertation in Islamic
Studies at UCLA, "The Judicial Registers (Ser'i Mahkeme
Sicilleri) of Kayseri (1590-
I630) as a source for Ottoman History" (1972). At that stage it
profited from readings
by Professors S. J. Shaw and S. Vryonis, Jr.
Abbreviations:
bn = son of; bint = daughter of; v. = veled = son of. In Ottoman
documents after
16oo, bn is used for Muslims and veled for zimmis (non-
Muslims).
Archival sources are cited as follows: 15 5 6-4 means Kayseri
sicil number 15, page
5 6, entry 4. When a sicil from a collection other than that of
Kayseri is cited the name
of the city is always identified. The pages in most volumes are
not numbered; in such
cases the author began counting with the first page containing
court business.
Cases cited in the text have been summarized selectively on the
basis of their
importance and relevance to the topic. It should be noted that a
verdict is not a part
of the formal registration of cases in the sicils.
2017 22:28:46 UTC

54 R. C. JENNINGS
fathers or older brothers and then of their husbands, that
Muslim
women were not able to manage or control any of their own
property
and, in fact, were usually denied the inheritance to which the
Koran
entitled them, and that they even had no say in their marriages,
into
which they were sold by their fathers or guardians. From its
beginning
to the present day Islam has supposedly heaped indignities and
scorn
upon women. They are held to have been utterly unable to
challenge or
even question the authority of their fathers, brothers, and
husbands 1).
This study of the position of women is based primarily on the
judicial
records (sing. sicil) of the Ottoman court at Kayseri, i 6oo-I65
2). Over
i8oo cases in which one or more women was a litigant were
examined.
Some materials were taken for comparison from other courts of
eastern
and central Anatolia: Trabzon, Amasya, Karaman, Isparta, and
Ankara.
The purposes of this study are i) to determine what the court
held to be

the legal position of women (and, by implication, their moral
worth),
and z) to consider the nature of their participation in certain
aspects of
the economic and social order.
Although sicils are the best source yet uncovered for the study
of the
position of women in Ottoman and Islamic society, it must be
acknow-
ledged that this study has certain limitations because of (a) the
place of
origin, (b) time, and (c) nature of the source used.
a. The judicial records on which this study is based come
almost
exclusively from Kayseri in central Anatolia. I know of no
available
evidence that would enable one to judge how typical the role of
women
there was of the Ottoman Empire, or indeed of Anatolia.
Modern
Kayseri is considered .one of the more strongly religious cities
in
I) Consider Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex. tr. H. M.
Parshley. (N. Y., 195 3),
p. 80o: "The Koran treats women with utter scorn." Also p. 84:
"When the family and
the private patrimony remain beyond question the bases of
society, then woman
remains totally submerged. This occurs in the Moslem world....
The religion
created when the Arab people were warlike and triumphant
professed for women the

utmost scorn."
2) For the 20 i/2 years between May 160o (Muharrem 1014)
and October 62z5
(Muharrem 1035) sicils survive concerning 130 of the 246
months, i.e., covering 53 %
or almost exactly i i years of the total period.
2017 22:28:46 UTC
WOMEN IN OTTOMAN RECORDS 5J
Turkey 3), but its religiosity is a "bourgeoisie religiosity," one
which its
conservative citizens combine with their even more widely
acknow-
ledged reputation as capable businessmen. In its reputation for
orthodox
religiosity Kayseri ranks with Konya, Samsun/Trabzon,
Isparta/Burdur,
and Manisa; in their reputation for business acumen Kayseri
people
rank first in modern Turkey. Islam today in Kayseri is not in
conflict
with modernity or energetic business enterprise.
One sees fewer women alone or in groups on the streets and in
the
shops and bazaars of Kayseri today than in many other Turkish
cities.
Most women over thirty wear relatively dark headscarfs
covering the

hair, ears, and neck but leave open the face. Plain
unornamented boxy
coats of a western cut reach to the lower calf, exposing opaque
flesh-
colored or dark stockings. Others still wear the bedsheet-like
faraf,
also dark, usually black and white; but they do not wear the
solid black
of Konya and the Black Sea. Kayseri women seem to go out in
public
with their husbands and families more than do women of the
Black
Sea or Konya; shops open early in the morning but generally do
not
stay open late, giving men time at home with their families.
These
observations are not easy to authenticate, although I lived two
years in
Samsun (1963-1965), and two years in Ankara (1969-1971)
when I was
making frequent visits to Kayseri.
The reputation of the people of Kayseri for business acumen
and
religiosity goes back at least to the 19th century, and one can
find in
Evliya ?elebi some evidence from the i7th century.
Unfortunately, the
general lack of knowledge of the social and economic
organization of
Ottoman Anatolia is so great that comparisons with other cities
are not
easily made.

All one finds specifically about the women comes from Sir
Paul
Lucas, who visited Kayseri prior to 1712; Lucas was a doctor
who
treated Muslim and Christian families in their homes, as well
as a
traveller noteworthy for his detailed and accurate descriptions.
He
3) Cf. F. W. Hasluck, Christianity and Islam under the Sultans.
Oxford, I929), p. 51 3:
"Adana, Aidin, Caesarea, and Pyrgi are notoriously 'black'
Sunni towns." I. e., not
Bektashi.
2017 22:28:46 UTC
56 R. C. JENNINGS
says of the women of Kayseri: "Les femmes y sont plus retirees
qu'en
aucun lieu de Turquie on j'aie ete;" as a doctor he had access to
harems,
and he judged that the women did not lack beauty. (At that
point in his
narrative he pauses to extol the delicacy with which "Orientals"
enjoy the pleasures of love, observing that the "restraint" in
which the
women live indicates that they are loved more, rather than less.
Then
he concludes that love betwf en men and women lasts longer

there 4)
The preceeding observations are made cautiously and
tentatively.
Even if it cannot be demonstrated that the society of Kayseri
was more
religious and more conservative than that of most cities in the
Ottoman
Empire, the reader will be amiss if, after reading this study of
women,
he judges I7th century Kayseri as "ultra-liberal" or
"irreligious".
b. The judicial records on which this study is based date from
the
period 16oo-162z. Was this period before, after, or during the
period in
which it has been suggested that the penetration of "Arab"
Islamic
ideas into the more liberal "Turkish" Islam transformed the
Islam of the
Ottoman Empire from a religion of openness and receptivity
and
intellectual awareness into a reactionary religion intolerant of
any
practice not grounded in Koran or hadith? Studies of "Ottoman"
Islam are so lacking that one can merely observe that the early
x7th
century was distinguished by the growing power of partisans of
rigidly
construed tradition. At present there are no answers to
questions of
whether I6th century or I8th century Islam might have been

more or
less favorable to the role of women or what specific changes
might
have occurred 5).
4) Sir Paul Lucas, Voyage du Sieur Paul Lucas fait par ordre du
roy. (Paris, 1712), v. I,
p. 173. Cf. p. 174. "11 m'a paru que les Orientaux plus de
delicatesse que nous sur les
plaisirs. Cette exacte retraite dans laquelle les femmes vivent,
ne les rend que plus
aimables; car les sentiments sont toujours plus vifs, lorsqu'ils
sont restraints a moins
d'objets; & certainement, l'un pour I'autre, un homme & une
femme en sont beau-
coup moins dissipez, & conservent, ce me semble, bien plus
longtemps l'amour qui
a forme leur union."
5) The first comparison one thinks of is with the women of i
oth and i ith century
Egypt described by S. D. Goitein in A Mediterranean Society,
but the bulk of the
evidence Goitein puts forth concerns Jewish women and so any
comparison must be
made with caution. Goitein found women active in business,
particularly spinning
2017 22:28:46 UTC
WOMEN IN OTTOMAN RECORDS 57

c. The records studied deal exclusively with the relationship of
women to the court. They have provided no information on the
important subjects of veiling, seclusion in the home, or size
and
organization of household, particularly the position of wife
before
and weaving, and they often retained their earnings; women
appeared at court with
some regularity. v.I, pp. 127 ff. (Berkeley & Los Angeles,
1967). In an article called
"The Documents of the Cairo Geniza as a source for
Mediterranean social history"
(JAOS 80 (196o)99), Goitein says: "The society of the Geniza
papers was not a man's
world. Women very frequently appear as parties to a deed and
as writers or receivers
of letters."
Anthropologist Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban delivered a paper at the
Seventh Annual
Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association at Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, November
8-io, 1973, in which she reported, on the basis both of reading
20oth century judicial
records at the sharia court of Khartoum and of personal
interviews that women
frequently attended the court of Khartoum, handling their
business themselves,
without benefit of legal agents.
A tradition of western women observers reporting that Ottoman
women had a
special position goes back at least to the early I8th century. In
1718 Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu chided European men who "lament the

miserable confinement of
the Turkish Ladys, who are (perhaps) freer than any Ladys in
the universe, and are
the only Women in the world that lead a life of uninterrupted
pleasure, exempt from
cares, their whole time being spent in visiting, bathing, or the
agreable Amusement of
spending Money and inventing new fashions.... Tis his
busyness to get Money and
hers to spend it, and this noble prerogative extends it selfe to
the very meanest of the
Sex." The Complete Letters of .... ed. R. Halsband. (Oxford,
I965), v.I, p. 406. In
1789 Lady Elizabeth Craven expressed similar observations: "I
think I never saw a
country where women may enjoy so much liberty, and free
from all reproach, as in
Turkey." "The Turks in their conduct towards our sex are an
example to all other
nations." The husband works hard, while his wife sits home
with jewels. "... and
I repeat it, Sir, I think no women have so much liberty, safe
from apprehension, as
the Turkish-and I think them, in their manner of living, capable
of being the
happiest creatures breathing." A Journey through the Crimea to
Constantinople,
(Dublin, 1789; reprint: N.Y., 1970), pp. 270, 304, 305. Lucy M.
J. Garnett, perhaps
the earliest serious student of Ottoman women, criticized the
erroneous "popular
idea that a Turkish harem is a'detestable prison' " whose
occupants were "oppressed
and rightless 'slaves'." She quotes Lady Craven on the liberty
of Ottoman women,
and, writing in 1890-189I, adds: "... every one familiar with

Constantinople must,
I think, agree with her." The Women of Turkey and their
Folklore (London, I890-I891),
v.II, pp. 453, 440.
Such opinions were a minority among western observers, yet
they demand con-
sideration. Cf. p. 444: "The seclusion of Moslem women,
instead of being, as is
generally assumed, a result of their 'degraded position,' is, on
the contrary, the out-
come of the great respect and regard entertained for them by
the men of their own
nation."
2017 22:28:46 UTC
58 R. C. JENNINGS
husband, father-in-law, and mother-in-law. They provide
virtually no
information on the nature of women's employment. in their
homes
(today many are busy making carpets), of their work in fields
and
gardens, of their shopping in public bazaars, or of their
fraternizing at
baths and cemeteries. Such information may emerge from
studies of
judicial records from other times or places; it is hard to
imagine
Pnother kind of source from which such information may be

culled.
Perhaps tereke (inheritance) defters or mehr (dowry) defters,
where they
survive, may provide some help, and so may some erkaf
defters.
Collections offetvas may prove useful, and perhaps literature
may too.
I. The Legal Position of the Women of Kayseri
Given an Islamic attitude that women belong at home, or at
least
away from public gatherings where men--particularly strangers-
may
be present, one should hardly ever expect to find them at court
6).
Emile Tyan, citing Ibn 'Abdun, Gazali, and Halil, maintains
that kadis
reserved special days for hearing the ligitation of women, or
that they
at least heard the cases of women before those of men 7).
However, all the sicils examined, whether from Kayseri,
Karaman,
Isparta, Konya, Amasya, Ankara, or Trabzon bear witness that
cases
involving women were heard and registered on the same days
as those
of men. For example, of thirteen cases heard at Kayseri court
on 16
Receb 1oz7, the 6th, 7th, 8th, and I2th involved women 8). Of
six cases
heard on 22 Receb Io27, the 5th and 6th involved women 9). Of
A recent study of the Ottoman lady by Fanny Ellsworth Davis

in part concludes:
"the Western conception of the Ottoman lady as a hemmed-in,
abject creature is in
need of a good deal of correction... she was not without
resources." "Two Centuries
of the Ottoman Lady," unpublished Ph. d. dissertation,
Columbia University, 1968,
p. 414 f. The position of "women" generally should not be
confused with that of
"ladies," of course.
6) al-Marginani, The Hedaya or Guide: a Commentary on the
Mussulman Laws, tr.
Charles Hamilton (Lahore, 1963), P. 3 5 4.
7) Emile Tyan, Histoire de l'Organisation Judiciaire en Pays
d'Islam (Leiden, i96o,
2nd. ed.) p. 282.
8) zo, pp. 71-73.
9) 20, p. 75.
2017 22:28:46 UTC
eighteen cases heard on 24 Receb 1027, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th,
9th, I4th,
and I7th involved women 10). Of five cases heard on 28 Receb,
the 3rd
and 5th involved women 11). Of four cases on 2 Saban 1027,
the 2nd
involved women 12). At no time between 16oo and 1625 in

Kayseri was
there any pattern of hearing cases of women on a special day,
or before
or after the cases of men on a given day. Like men, women
came to
court at their own convenience, or spontaneously, when the
need arose.
Tabulations from the Kayseri sicils show that year after year
one or
more women appeared as litigants in over 17% of the cases
heard by the
court. In addition, at least one woman was a litigant in 24% of
the cases
read in one Amasya sicil, in 37% of the cases in one Karaman
sicil, and
in 42 % of the cases read in one Trabzon sicil. Of 10,593
Kayseri cases,
I, 827 involved at least one woman. Of those cases, 73 %
involved
Muslim women and 27 % non-Muslim (zimmi) ones. Through
the
quarter century the proportion of women involved as litigants
more
than doubled, for no explicable reason: in Kayseri sicils no. i i
through
17, i % of the cases (724 of 6474) involved a woman litigant,
but in
sicils no. 22-27 a woman was involved in 25 % of the cases
(839 of
3292). The proportion of Muslim women increased faster than
that
of zimmi women, from 69 % to 76 %, while the proportion of

zimmi
(non-Muslim) women decreased from 31 % to 24 %. (See table
i.)
Of course one does not know whether the proportion of women
involved as litigants kept increasing after the period under
study,
nor whether the proportion of Muslims kept increasing. One
can see,
however, that at all times the women of Kayseri availed
themselves
of the court 13).
1o) 20, pp. 76-79.
Ii) 20, pp. 79-81.
I2) 20, p. 82.
I3) Some modern anthropologists report that the women of the
villages they have
studied are unaware of their legal rights and would not dare try
to exercise them even
if they were aware. Joseph Szyliowicz wrote in his book
Political Change in Rural
Turkey: Erdemli: "Owing to their low level of sophistication
and limited contacts
with the outside world, few men in Erdemli or Koyuncu had
any concept of the
provisions of the new decrees which were being issued in ever-
increasing numbers
by the government in Ankara. Nor is it surprising that few
women were aware of
2017 22:28:46 UTC

Table I
Women at Court: Kayseri and Elsewhere
These figures are not exact. The tables are based on my own
counts from sicils where, in most cases, not even the pages are
numbered. Accuracy
could have been increased by recounting all the 18oo cases
involving women, and indeed the entire 1o, 500 cases, but that
degree of accuracy
would have been inconsequential in terms of what profitably
can be under stood from these tables.
m - Muslims, z -= zimmis (non-Muslims).
a = excludes Kayseri sicil no. 20.
b = The whole sicil was not read; figures pertain only to the
part read.
c = The Trabzon figure excludes the large number of cases in
that volume which involve designation of vekils to arrange
marriage and the registra-
tion of amounts of dowries; other sicils provide that
information only rarely. Of 491 "total" cases 58% (287) involve
women. 252 (88%) of the
women are Muslims, 35 (12%) are zimmis. 73% of the women
had vekils, 72% (182 of 25z 2) of the Muslim women and 80%
(28 of 35) of the zimmis.
loans
total
cases total woman woman
with women women women with vekil gives receives
sicil total one total with
number cases woman % women m. % z. % vekil % m. % z. %

m. z. m. Z. date
II. 421 88 21% 89 63 71% 26 29% i8 20% 12 19% 6 23% 5 I 2
I 1603-4
12. 3338 222 7% 274 173 63% 101 37% 47 17% 36 21% II II%
17 7 12 8 1604-8
13. 6oi 65 11% 65 53 82% 12 18% 10 15% 8 15% 2 17% 8 0 4 I
1604-9
14. 479 50 10% 50 28 56% 22 44% 9 18% 5 18% 4 18% 2 0 0 2
16o5-8
15. 1191 204 17% 207 154 74% 53 26% 57 28% 49 32% 8 15%
8 o 3 I 16o8-io
17. 444 95 21% 90 65 72% 25 28% 22 24% 16 25% 6 24%
1613-14
20. 827 264 32% 266 188 71% 78 29% 8 I 8 I 1616-19
22. 86o 134 16% 135 104 77% 31 23% 36 27% 32 30% 4 13% 7
5 2 2 1620-21
23. 875 183 21% 183 139 76% 44 24% 41 22% 33 24% 8 18% 6
3 2 I 1622-23
24. 450 173 38% 249 191 77% 58 23% 128 51% 101 53% 27
47% 3 I o o 1622-23
25- 589 148 25% 209 155 74% 54 26% 93 44% 83 54% 10 19%
I 3 I o 1624
27.- 518 201zo 39% 261 204 78% 57 22% 145 56% 122 60% 23
40% 1 o o I 1626-27
10593 1827 17% 2078 1517 73% 561 27% 6o6a 33%a 497a
37%a Io9a 23%a 66 21 34 18
(1812a) (1329a) (483a)
Amasya-i 304 72 24% 82 79 96% 3 4% 30 37% 29 37% 1 33%
2 0 2 o 1624-26
Karaman-2-278 248 91 37% 116 116 ioo% o 61 53% 61 53% o
2 o I o 1618
Trabzon-42-I82zb, c 363 154 42% 154 136 88% 18 12% 82
53% 66 49% 16 89% 2 o I o 1618-20

915 317 35% 352 331 94% 21 6% 173 49% 156 47% 17 81% 6
o 4 o
total 11508 2144 19% 2430 1848 76% 582 24% 779a 36%a
653a 39%a 126a 25%a 72 21 38 18
(2z64a) (I660a (5o4a)
11-17 6474 724 11% 775 536 69% 239 31% 163 21% 126 24%
37 15%
22-27 3292 839 25% 1037 793 76% 244 24% 443 43% 371 47%
72 30
2017 22:28:46 UTC
Women represented themselves in court and made accusations
there.
The suits, defenses against suits, and oaths of Muslim women
were
admitted in exactly the same way as those of Muslim men and
were
equal to them in every way; likewise the suits of zimmi women
were
admitted under the same terms as those of zimmi men.
Like a man, a woman could go to court and publicly set forth
any
complaints or accusations she had to make, with confidence
that the
court would hear her fully. She was assured that the court
would, if

necessary, summon the accused before her; and she could
require him
to defend and explain himself, to produce witnesses in his
defence, and
even to take an oath of innocence. A woman was fully liable to
be sued
and when accused in court she had the same obligation as a
man to
defend herself. Her testimony received exactly the same
consideration
as that of men in similar situations. If there were no adequate
witnesses,
she might be asked to take an oath of innocence, which the
court would
accept as full proof of her innocence. If the circumstances of
the case
made it advantageous to her, she might demand from the
plaintiff an
oath supporting his suit or testimony.
It is well known that Islamic tradition charges the kadi to be
the
protector of women. This tradition has generally been
considered a
their new legal position. Of more importance was the nature of
the traditional society.
Women were naturally regarded as inferior, and not many
would dare to assert their
rights, even if they knew what they were. Furthermore, no
practical recourse was
available to a woman who wished to do so, for as noted earlier,
contacts with the
national administration were minimal, and disputes were settled
within the commu-
nity." (The Hague, 1966), p. 50. Cf. p. 95: "Although

guaranteed by law, these
rights [women's rights] had been largely ignored outside the
towns and cities. Yet
the concepts behind the laws were slowly trickling down to the
rural areas where
the status of women was defined, as always, by tradition-a
tradition of inferiority
and subservience to men. Even in 195 7 no woman in Erdemli
could imagine initiating
a lawsuit. Most were still ignorant of their legal rights and
privileges, and their more
knowledgeable sisters were cowed by the community mores. It
would take an
exceptional woman to defy these sanctions, for to exercise her
legal right to sue would
make a woman a virtual outcast." Anthropologist Paul Stirling
took a similar view:
"The women know nothing of the law, and the men have no
motive for taking any
notice of what little they may happen to know of it." "Land,
Marriage, and the Law
in Turkish Villages," UNESCO International Social Science
Bulletin 9 (1957) 30. Cf.
footnote ~5 for further observations by Stirling.
2017 22:28:46 UTC
62 R. C. JENNINGS
confirmation of woman's subservient position in Islamic
society and
a means of holding her in her position of inferiority rather than

an
affirmation of her moral being. Nevertheless, it can be shown
that the
women of i7th century Kayseri enjoyed a remarkable
participation in
the life of the community--precisely because the court upheld
certain
legal rights guaranteed them by the sharia, particularly by the
Hanefi
school.
i. Suits initiated by women were so common that it is not
possible to
cite more than a representative few:
(inar bint Bagadasar of Talas village sets forth a claim in the
presence of
Sefer veled Firoz: He struck me, pulled my hair saying, I'll
make use of you,' and
again struck me. I demand that he be punished according to the
sharia. Sinan
veled Kavan and Sunbul veled Yunus confirm that Sefer
knocked Cinar to the
ground, pulled her hair, and struck her, and they rescued her
from him. Heard
in the presence of Husam Beg, kethuda of the Kayseri mir liva.
[11 41-240;
z 3 Muharrem 10o 15]
Gul Ana bint Bali sets forth a claim in the presence of zimmi
Avdik: I gave him
several gold objects as security for a loan. Now I want them
back. [i I 49-286;
9 Sefer ioi ]

Melek, Sofya, and Sultan benat Kara Beg of Talas set forth a
claim in the
presence of dergah-i all buvab Haci Huseyn bn Mehmed: Haci
Huseyn has in his
possession two shares (hisse) of the seven shares of a field, a
garden, and two
vineyards that we inherited from our late father. Haci Huseyn
claims he bought
the fields from their brother Mihail five years earlier, but he
has no witnesses and
so is restrained. The property is ordered to the sisters. [I5 35-I
; 2 i-selh Cumadi I
1019]
Gul Ana bint Mehmed: Ali bn Sinan cut off the tail and ears of
my horse and
the tails of my two oxen. Confirmed by two witnesses. [23 1-4;
1o Saban 03z2]
Meryem bint David sets forth a claim in the presence of Agob
v. Bagadasar:
He owed my late husband Toma 8oo akfe, which I want. He
claims that he has
paid her and she acknowledges this. [z5 18-3; 18 Sefer 1034]
Fahr ul-muhadderat Cennet Ana bint Seyh Mehmed Efendi sets
forth a claim:
I am the wife of Abdul-Fettah bn Abdul-Kadir of Gulluk
mahalle, who has
been absent (gaib) for a long time. I want a maintenance
allowance (nafaka and
kisve). Cennet Ana is asked to take an oath that her husband
has allotted nothing
for her. Then she is granted I5 akfe per day and permission to
seek a loan

(istidane). [z5 48-z; 4 Rebi II lo34]
Teslime bint Mahmud sets forth a claim in the presence of
Abdus-Selam bn
Haci Abdul-Kadir: When his donkey entered my vineyard and I
seized it, he
cursed me, calling me a whore (kahbe). I cannot accept this.
Let him be asked.
Abdus-Selam denies this. Hamze bn Haci Mehmed and
Abdullah bn Veli
confirm Teslime and this is recorded. [27 54-1; 6 Sevval
o1035]
2017 22:28:46 UTC
2. Women litigants took oaths under quite the same
circumstances as
men did, when acceptable witnesses and valid written evidence
were
lacking:
Gul Ana bint Ugurlu (zimmia) of Bektas mahalle sets forth a
claim in the
presence of Isa bn Mehmed: My husband Kutluseh v. Iskender
sold one of my
vineyards without my permission. I want it. Kutluseh admits
having given
Gul Ana the vineyard as mehr (dowry) and then having sold it
unlawfully

(fuqulen) for 17 gurus. Mehmed asks that Kutluseh and Gul
Ana take oaths that
she was not consulted in the sale, and they do. Then the
vineyard is ordered
restored to Gul Ana. [15 31-3; 21 Cumadi I iox9]
Kidvet ul-umera Ebu Bekr Beg sets forth a claim in the
presence of his mother
in-law (kayin anasi) Fatma Hatun bint Seydi Gazi Cavu?: I had
8ooguruts in my
house when I went away. My wife died and Fatma took the
money. Ebu Bekr
has no witnesses, however, and says he cannot give an oath.
Fatma takes an
oath that she had no knowledge of the existence of the money,
and Ebu Bekr
accepts this oath. [i 5 38-4; 4 Cumadi II ioi9]
Ayse bint Hamze sets forth a claim in the presence of Veli bn
Minnet: When
we became married (nikah) Veli gave me various silver objects
and cloth as my
mehr-i mueccel. Now he has divorded me and I want them. Veli
denies this and Ayse
has no proof. However, she takes an oath that he did not give
them to her. [17
40-4;16 Zilhicce iozz]
Nazili bint Murad takes an oath: I did not give my permission
to be married
to Bahsi v. Kaplan. I have no witness. I will go marry Vartan.
[22 34-12; selh
Zilhicce 0o3o]
3. When suits were initiated against women, they were of

course able
to defend themselves. Any man or woman could undertake suit
against
any woman against whom he felt he had a grievance:
Kasim: Mumine bint Ilyas has taken possession of a house in
Huvand mahalle
that belonged to my late brother Mustafa. Mumine says she
bought the house
from her husband two years earlier. Two witnesses confirm her.
[i2 185-8;
17 Zilhicce 10171
Hasan bn Abdullah of Ulu Berengoz village acknowledges
before Gulli bint
(name illegible): Gulli has possession of a vineyard in our
itillage that I inherited
from my brother Halil. Gulli claims she bought the vineyard for
15 ak altun from
Coban. Hasan is given a five day delay to collect witnesses but
he fails to do so.
Gulli then produces two witnesses who confirm her claim. [1 5
155-2; 4 Cumadi
I 020o]
Omer and Seydi ebna Haci Cuma set forth a claim in the
presence of Metyem
bint Haci Cihanseh: We inherited a house at Kalender Hane
mahalle from our
late father, but Meryem prevents us from taking possession of
it. Meryem claims
that she got the house as mehr from her late husband Mustafa
bn Kasim. However,
two witnesses confirm Omer and Seydi. [zo 18-4; III Rebi I
1027]

2017 22:28:46 UTC
64 R. C. JENNINGS
Abdul-Alim sets forth a claim in the presence of Zaman Hatun:
When she
wanted to marry me, I gave her 5 gurus for nafaka. Now I want
the money.
Zaman denies this. [zo20 95-; 29 Saban Ioz7]
Ahmed bn Abdi sets forth a claim in the presence of Fatma bint
Haci Seydi
Ali, a widow and mother of orphans: Ahmed claims to have
inherited a house
in the city. Fatma claims to have inherited that house from a
relative who bought
the house from a relative of Ahmed's. Two witnesses confirm
Fatma's claim.
[20 113-4; 5 Zilkade 1027]
Emine, daughter of the late Sefer, sets forth a claim in the
presence of Meryem
bint Abdullah, wife and heiress of the deceased: I want my
share of the estate of
my father. Meryem says Emine received her share already and
renounced any
further claims. When Meryem is asked for proof, two witnesses
('udul-i muslimin)
confirm her. [24 17-5; 17 Receb 1032]

Cuneyd bn Hudabende sets forth a claim against Habibe bint
Haci Abdul-
Halim: I am the son of the late Abdur-Rahman's uncle ('amm).
Since his wife
Saliha has remarried, I want the custody of their orphan
daughter Sultan Kaya.
Habibe claims that Sultan Kaya is her granddaughter, that she
has afetva that she
should have custody of the child, and that she did not know
that Cuneyd was the
son of the child's uncle. He is asked for proof. Two witnesses
confirm that
Cuneyd is the son of Hudabende, uncle of the deceased.
However, the right of
custody belongs to the grandmother (ebe) of the orphans. [24
17-4; 17 Receb
1032]
Mustafa Celebi, who is charged with collecting the property of
the dependents
in Kayseri of the bandit (saki) Abaza, sets forth a claim in the
presence of Fatma
Hatun bint Mehmed Beg and her daughter Emine bint Abdur-
Rahim: Fatma's
husband Abdur-Rahim, and Emine's husband Hazinedar Dervis,
are with the
bandit. It is possible that the women have property belonging
to Abdur-Rahim
and Dervis. Let them be asked. The women say that, although
the aforementioned
men are their husbands in name, they never come to their
houses or write them
letters. Since he found none of the bandits' property and had no
proof acceptable
to the sharia, he proposed an oath. The women swore that they
had none of the

husband's possessions. When it seemed best that they should
give some money
as pledge to the miri, 00oo riyal gurus was taken from Fatma
and 60 gurus from
Emine for the miri, for which they were given a receipt
(tezkere), as is the custom.
Mustafa said he had no further claim. [25 3-1; 9 Muharrem
1034]
Mumine bint Haci Mahmed of Hasbeg mahalle sets forth a
claim in the
presence of Ayse bint Ali: She occupies my property in the
mahalle and I want it.
Ayse claims she made a compromise (sulh) with Mumine for 5
gurus and this is
confirmed by two witnesses. [z5 24-I; 27 Sefer 1034]
The women of Kayseri of course in no way rivalled the
enterprise of
the men of the city in the economic and social spheres. A close
reading
of the sicils does not reveal the name of a single woman of
Kayseri in the
first quarter of the seventeenth century who achieved any sort
of con-
sistent public exposure or notability. Women were exluded
from office
2017 22:28:46 UTC

at every level of government, including the court, where they
could not
even be fuhud ul-hal. They were not members of the ulema at
any
religious or teaching level. They seem not to have participated
in the
shops, crafts, and guilds of the city. Only occasionally as land-
holders
and renters, money-lenders and capitalists did they participate
in the
economic world of the men.
Problems that brought women to court most frequently included
the settlement of estates, matters of guardianship for their own
children
and those of others, the appointment of vekils, property
transfers and
the verification of claims to property, and the settlement of
disputes
arising from marriage and divorce. In fact, excepting matters of
government, administration, and guilds, women had quite the
same
legal problems as men, and the courts handled their problems
quite the
same as those of men. That so many women were capable of
under-
standing and managing their own legal problems bespeaks a
degree of
sophistication on their part.
Women came to court with a remarkable frequency through the
whole period of the study. In the earlier years 80% came to
court

in person to handle their own cases; only 20% had vekils. After
1620
the percentage of women represented by vekils rose to or
barely
exceeded 5o%, but still a very considerable number of women
were
coming to court (more, in fact, than at the earlier time, because
the
proportion of cases involving at least one woman was steadily
in-
creasing). Rich women and poor women, city women and
village
women, Muslim women and zimmi women brought their
business and
legal problems to court day after day. They came to court
regularly,
freely, and openly. Manifestly the court was accessible to them
and
relevant to their lives.
I. The Legal position of women
a. Property-The inviolability of women's property holdings was
consistently upheld by the Kayseri court. No husband, father,
nor other
relative could sell, rent, or make use of any bit of a woman's
property
without her consent. Any property a daugher might inherit was
XVIII, Part 1 5
2017 22:28:46 UTC

66 R. C. JENNINGS
exclusively hers to use, to cultivate, or to rent as she saw fit,
and all the
revenues accrued to her. A wife's property--whether acquired
before
marriage or afterwards-was exclusively hers to manage, and
any
revenues it brought were entirely hers by law. It is certain that
some
women entrusted-or left-the management of their properties to
their
husbands, and indeed that some even made gifts of their
property to
their husbands. On the other hand, many a son was surprised to
find his
mother claiming as her personal property land and buildings
that he
had thought belonged exclusively to his late father. Some
families
could distinguish the chickens or cows of the wife from those
of the
husband 14).
If a woman's property was sold without her consent, the court
rendered the sale null and void as soon as proof of her
ownership was
made. The property was ordered restored to her immediately,
and no
sympathy was wasted on the buyer, who was considered
somewhat
derelict in not having secured adequate proof of ownership
from the

seller. No penalty seems to have applied other than the
rescinding of
the transaction, however. If force was used to gain her consent,
or if the
sale was made unjustifiably by a vasi (guardian) while she was
a minor,
a woman might appeal to the court whenever she became able
to do so
(within a fifteen year statute of limitations) and have her full
property
rights restored. If a woman voluntarily gave consent (proven by
her
own admission or by the testimony of two eye witnesses) to
such a sale,
she could not later change her mind and open a claim. Indeed,
if she
failed to object as soon as she became aware of the sale, she
jeopardized
her right. A woman, for example, who made no objection to
such an
illegal sale by her husband until the time of his death a few
years later
14) This practice is in accord with Hanefi law. Schacht says "...
as regards the law
of property and obligations, the woman is the equal of the
man." Joseph Schacht,
An Introduction to Islamic Law (Oxford, 1964), p. I26 f. Lady
Montagu was aware of
this: ".... those Ladys that are rich having all their money in
their own hands...,'
v.1, p. 329. Cf. Lady Craven: "The Turks in their conduct
towards our sex are an

example to all other nations. A Turk has his head cut off-his
papers examined-
everything in his house seized-but the wife is provided for; her
jewels are left
her-." p. 304.
2017 22:28:46 UTC
might see the court reject her belated claim. (Actual control
and
occupation of disputed property counted heavily in seventeenth
century law, so the sooner anyone contested an illegal sale, the
stronger
were chances of recovery).
Cases of encroachments on the property of women by male
relatives
and husbands were by no means unusual. The court made it
possible for
valid legal claims to prevail over force. Sometimes the coercive
power
of the court also was needed to protect the claim of a male
evidently
denied his rightful claim to property by a female.
Aftab: Sefer was my husband. He took my property from my
previous husband
and threw me out. [i2 167-3; i8 Zilkade o1071]

Gulli bint Suleyman sets forth a complaint in the presence of
Piyale bn Abdul-
lah: I bought a vineyard at Kanli Yurt with i io ak altun of my
own money. My
son Mustafa sold it without my permission (fuzulen) to Piyale.
Piyale says that
he bought the vineyard for 9- guruf from Mustafa knowing
nothing about Gulli's
claim. Two witnesses confirm that Gulli bought the vineyard
with her own money.
[15 178-4; 2 Saban iozo]
Meryem (zimmia) sets forth a claim in the presence of Tatar
(zimmi): When
my mother Cevher died, I inherited a house at Kusakcilar
Harmani mahalle from
her. My brother Sirvan sold it without my permission (fuZulen)
to Tatar.
I will not accept this. So Tatar is restrained from possession of
the house.
[15 183-2; after i2 Saban iozo]
Emine bint Ramazan sets forth a claim in the presence of
Arutyun (zimmi):
My husband Hizir sold a vineyard without my permission
(fuzulen). I want it.
Arutyun claims he has had the vineyard five years, during
which time Emine
never complained. She admits this. [24 28-3; 4 Saban I032]
Gul Ana, Hatun Aga, and Sirvan evlad-i Serkis set forth a
complaint in the
presence of Canbola bint (name illegible): She sold the
vineyard we inherited
at Gederis nahiye, without our permission (fuZulen). We want
it back. However,

the sale was sixteen years ago, so no claim can be raised. [25
22-5; 26 Sefer 1034]
Musli bn Pir Ali acknowledges in the presence of Bagadasar v.
(name illegible):
I inherited a vineyard at Caldiriyan nahiye from my father.
Islim bint Ismail
sold it without my permission (fuzulen) to Bagadasar. I want it.
Bagadasar
agreed to sulh, paying me 8 guru, bedel-i sulh. [25 67-1; 9
Cumadi I Io34]
Janissary Abdi Bese bn Abdullah of Merkebci mahalle and now
a resident of
Constantinople has as vekil for the matter his son Ali Bese who
sets forth a
claim in the presence of Haci Huseyn bn Haci Ibrahim: My
mother Umm Gulsum
sold without permission (fuZulen) a house belonging to my
father in the mahalle.
My father wants it back. It is ordered returned. [25 74-3; 26
Cumadi I 1034]
Emine bint Haci Musa has for vekil Huseyn bn Huseyn: When
my muvekkile
was under age, her nazir Seydi Ahmed sold houses belonging to
her at Sultan
Hamami mahalle to Haci Hasan. Now she is of age and wants
them back. The
court orders them given to her. [23 48-8, 9; 16 Muharrem
10331
2017 22:28:46 UTC

68 R. C. JENNINGS
Ayse bint Hasan of Suleymanlu village makes a claim in the
presence of Abdul-
Kerim Beg bn Kemal (avus; A year ago my father-in-law Yakub
gave me a black
cow. Abdul-Kerim claims Yakub gave him the cow to pay a
debt, and two
witnesses confirm him. However, two witnesses confirm Ayse's
claim thal the
cow had already been given to her. [11 7-34; 14 Muharrem
10o41
Turfande bint Iskender (zimmia) of Selman mahalle makes a
complaint in the
presence of Mahmud bn Molla All: My servant Ayse stole some
gold from me.
I found it in the possession of Mahmud. Ayse says she tried to
borrow 40 gurus.
[II 14-86. 22 Muharrem I014]
It is clear that a woman might buy property from whomsoever
she
wished and sell it to whomsoever she wished,, whenever she
wished,
subject to no conditions that would not apply as well to a man.
She
might give or receive gifts of property in the same way.
Property transfers were so regularized a matter in Kayseri that
women even came to court to register the purchase of property
from,

or sale of property to, husbands, parents, and siblings. In such
instances
money and property deeds, were exchanged just as with any
other
property transfer.
Sah Zaman bint Pit Kuli of Debbaglar mahalle has proof that
she bought a
vineyard from her late husband Haci Ibrahim bn Ali. [11 31-
190; 27 Cumadi II
1014]
Haci Sinan bn Ebu Bekr Dede of Konaklu mahalle
acknowledges in the
presence of his wife Fatma bint Isfendiyar: He sells her his half
estate in the
mahalle for 240 akfe. [15 15-2; 26 Rebi II o109]
Mehmed bn Yakub sets forth a claim in the presence of his
mother Yasemin
bint Abdullah: My mother has taken possession of a guest-
house (tabbane) at
Debbaglar mahalle that I inherited from my late father.
Yasemin says Mehmed's
father, her husband Yakub, sold her the tabhane for 300ooo
akfe, which was paid in
full. Two witnesses confirm her. [15 75-I; 21 Saban o019]
(Name illegible) bint Pir Gayib makes a claim in the presence
of her son
Ibrahim bn (name illegible): I sold him an ox for 12 guruz but
he has not paid me
yet. Ibrahim denies this. Two witnesses confirm the mother. [I7
25-5; 9 Zilkade
1O22]

Sinan v. Cihanseh sells two vineyards at Billur nahiye to his
wife Asli bint
Minnet for 30 gurur to pay his debt to her. [19 44-12; 14 Rebi
II 1026]
Mustafa bn Abdullah of Molu village acknowledges in the
presence of his
wife Ummi bint (name illegible) Seyh: I took 30 guruzs that
belonged to my wife
and I spent it. In recompense, I am giving her a vineyard at the
village.
Mustafa bn Abdullah of Molu village acknowledges in the
presence of his
wife Nazili bint Kara Bid: I sold her vineyard and spent the
money. In recom-
pense, I give her a cow and a sofa. [24 41-5, 6; selh Saban
1032]
2017 22:28:46 UTC
Misr Kethuda v. Kaysar of Tatar mahalle acknowledges in the
presence of his
wife Kidem bint Sinan: A dwelling (mentil) in the mahalle is
sold to her for Ioo
esediguruz. [25 5-5; 14 Muharrem 1034]
b. Inheritance.--The Kayseri court maintained inheritance
shares due
women as scrupulously as any other property right 15). When

members
of a family inherited property, the shares of the women, like
those of the
I5) According to Hanefi law women usually inherited half of
what male heirs of
the same relationship received. Their right to use and to
dispose of what property
they inherited, however, was just the same as that of men.
Schacht, Introduction...,
p. I26 f. R. Levy says Muslim women were entitled to
inheritance but in practice
often got nothing. Social Structure of Islam (Cambridge, 1965),
p. I45 f. Stirling, whose
book Turkish Village, concerns two villages near Kayseri, has
a chapter on women's
inheritance called "Sometimes they do not take." (London,
1965), p. 121. He asserts
that in Sakaltutan and Elbasi a widow usually received no
inheritance from her
deceased husband but just lived with a son.p. I23. (Garnett
reports this custom among
Ottoman Jews, Women of Turkey..., v.II, p. io.) It was
considered that daughters
had "valid" claims to inheritance, "... but they are by no means
always accepted or
enforced." Brothers ". . . can and do frequently ignore their
sisters' rights." p. I23.
"The distribution of any given estate is largely a matter of
relative power and
influence. Rules both customary and legal are used rather as
weapons than as principles
for right conduct." "Customary morality gives men a decided
advantage in the
struggle. Daughters may be theoretically entitled, but their
rights are unimportant,

and should never be allowed to prevent a man from possessing
enough land to care
for a family." p. 130. Cf. "In many cases, sisters and their
husbands told me it would
be disgraceful of them to stake a claim, since their brothers had
barely enough land
anyway." Stirling, "Land, Marriage...," p. 27. Until after
Stirling's first stay in
Sakaltutan it was practically in another world from Kayseri. It
differed in marriage
customs, education, and degree of sophistication not only from
the city of Kayseri
but also from the villages which, in the 17th century, were in
regular contact with the
court at Kayseri. It would not be surprising to find that
women's inheritance rights
were not guarded too closely at Sakaltutan in the seventeenth
century either, and
that women's inheritance rights were observed in the more
sophisticated villages in
1950 as in 16oo. Unfortunately, long-established, sophisticated
villages have been
quite ignored by those who do village studies.
In his book Tradition, Season, and Change in a Turkish
Village, geographer John F.
Kolars observed: "Daughters upon marriage may take their
inheritances with them
to their new families. In Bahtili this rule is usually well
observed. In other settlements,
such as Geyik Bayiri, where incomes are low and land scarce,
daughters are often
expected to unofficially forfeit their rights of inheritance when
they marry. Also, the
wife and children for one year after the death of the father may
sue and reclaim any

properties disposed of by the deceased with intent to defraud
his heirs." (Chicago,
1963), P. 75. Unfortunately, this subject was not one of Kolar's
major concerns and
he gives no greater detail.
2017 22:28:46 UTC
70 R. C. JENNINGS
men, were often made a matter of public record. The court
records
show clearly that everyone's share was known and registered.
Although
the sharia entitled women to a specific fractional share of the
estate, they
sometimes had to resort to the court to force payment. Usually
muslibun
(people of good will) would mediate until some mutually
satisfactory
agreement could be reached (sulh). Rarely the court might
appoint
ehl-i vukuf (experts) to assess the estate of the deceased and to
assign the
proper legal shares to the women.
If the estate was being settled collectively, the women
participated
jointly with the men in the settlement. Every step had to be
accepted

unanimously by the mixed group of heirs. Some of the parties
to a
collective settlement might be represented by vekils, but most
attended
in person. Though they inherited in unequal shares determined
by the
degree of relationship of the surviving heirs, they participated
equally
in the settlement. There was no clear-cut formula of precedence
in
listing the names of parties to the collective settlement, for a
mother's
name was sometimes listed before that of her grown son and
sometimes
after. The names of grown sons usually (but not always)
preceded those
of grown daughters and minor males those of their minor
sisters; a
husband's name usually preceded that of his wife. Generally
names of
women were listed after those of the men, probably with a
strong
tendency toward a system of precedence that favored close
relatives
over distant and age over youth.
Where the settlement of the estate was managed by one
individual,
the agent was frequently an adult son of the deceased, but in
the absence
of an adult son, a mother or sister might handle the business of
settle-
ment. Wives handled estate settlements frequently, sometimes
even

when there was a surviving adult son. Often the wife was
designated
murise (muverrise) or zevce'-i metruka of her late husband. In
the practice
of the court this meant a position approximating executrix, for
she alone
of the heirs bore that title. She would be left to undertake an
individual
settlement of the estate. (A wife was not always executrix when
she was
designated zevce'-i metruka.)
Presumably the murise took upon herself the full responsibility
for
2017 22:28:46 UTC
having the value of the estate assessed, for paying all the valid
debts of
the deceased and for collecting all debits due him, and for
overseeing
the distribution of the property of the deceased in accordance
with the
sharia and the wishes of the deceased. Carrying out such an
office
requires a degree of responsibility and educated intelligence. If

a man
named his wife murise over the final disposition of his entire
estate, he
surely was acknowledging that his wife possessed such
abilities. The
wives of Kayseri men frequently carried out this office. (Some
murises,
of course, would appoint vekils to carry out the duties for
them.)
A woman had fully the same rights in giving away and
bequeathing
property that her husband had. She might make vakf all or part
of her
estate. She might make bequests or gifts to anyone she wanted.
Her
bequests to her minor children, whether male or female, had to
be
maintained separately from the property of the children's father
or
guardian, who was accountable both to the court and to the
minor
come of age for any excessive spending or other misuse of the
estate.
Normally a father provided the upkeep of his "orphans" from
his own
income, leaving their inheritance from their mother intact,
while a
mother usually secured the authorization of the court for a
daily
allowance (nafaka and kisve) from the legacy of her deceased
husband to
their children (i.e., from the children's own legal property).
Girl

children come of age had quite the same right as boys to
demand that
a father, mother, or guardian account in court for expenditures
from
her estate, and the court proved not unwilling to force parties
deemed
delinquent to restore money or property.
c. Legal testimony, vasis, vekils.--Women could testify in court
as
witnesses (sing. sehid), although they did so extremely
infrequently.
Legally their testimony as sehid was only half the value of that
of men, so
that two women witnesses were required to establish certitude
equal to
the testimony of one man. Hanefi law did not allow the use of
four
women witnesses (@ehid) for one case, lest women be induced
to leave
their homes too frequently. In all the cases encountered in the
sicils, at
least one 1ehid was male. In fact, women seem to have been
accepted
only grudgingly as sehid, as though their veracity or
perspicacity were
2017 22:28:46 UTC

72 R. C. JENNINGS
in doubt even beyond the legal 2:I disadvantage. In perhaps one
case
out of a thousand were women fehid registered 16).
However, it must be reiterated that this disability concerned
only
the legal function of a jehid, the testimony of two of whom is
accepted
as certain proof (beyyine) of whatever they should affirm. This
disability
in no way affected a woman's right or ability to lay charges or
to
defend herself against charges, as the cases cited at the
beginning of this
chapter make very clear. The court was always ready to hear
reports of
crimes from whomever might bring them, and even when a lone
woman
without witnesses brought important information to court, the
court
would hear her fully and investigate the matter immediately.
The door
of the court always stood open to anyone who wished to enter
and
address it, female as well as male, zimmi as well as Muslim.
Women frequently served as legal agents for other people 17).
Often a
16) In criminal cases "the testimony of women is not admitted."
"In all other

cases the evidence required is that of two men, or of one man
and two women,
whether the case relate to property, or to other rights, such as
marriage, divorce,
agency, executorship, or to the like." The Hedaya, p. 35 3 f.
"The reasoning of our doctors is that the evidence of women is
originally valid,
because evidence is founded upon three circumstances, namely,
sight, memory, and
a capability of communication; for by means of the first the
witness acquires know-
ledge; by means of the second he retains knowledge; and by
means of the third he is
enabled to impart to the Kazee; and all these three
circumstances exist in a woman
(whence it is that her communication of a tradition or of a
message is valid); and
with respect to their want of memory, it is capable of remedy
by the junction of
another; that is, by substituting two women in the room of one
man; and the defect
of memory being thus supplied, there remains only the doubt of
substitution; whence
it is that their evidence is not admitted in any matter liabel to
drop from the existence
of a doubt, namely retaliation or punishment; in opposition to
marriage, and so
forth, as those may be proved notwithstanding a doubt, whence
the evidence of
women is admitted in those instances." p. 354.
"The evidence of four women alone, however, is not accepted
(contrary to what
analogy would suggest), because if it were, there would be
frequent occasions for

their appearance in public, in order to give evidence; whereas
their privacy is the most
laudable." p. 354.
17) Galab Gabalov, Die Protokollbucher des Kadiamtes Sofia,
tr. Herbert Duda
(Miinchen, 196o). Cf. index, p. 434. "Frauen als
Bevollmachtiger", "Frauen als
Bevollmachtigte", "Frauen als Vormund." Women in Ottoman
Sofia and Vidin
could serve as vekils and vasis. Goitein mentions women
designated as wakila who
were particularly active in selling handicrafts produced at home
by other women,
2017 22:28:46 UTC
woman would serve as vekil for her mother, sisters, or
daughter-some-
times even for her husband, father, or brothers. Usually the
business was
a relatively straight-forward one involving inheritance or
property
transfers. A woman might handle more serious matters as vekil,
but
usually only for female relatives. Probably men were
considered
superior for the office, although legally anyone could be a
vekil-a

principle to which the court seems to have adhered. Trusting a
wife or a
female relative as one's vekil even in an estate settlement or
property
transfer means in effect giving her the power of attorney over
one's
property, a major responsibility.
Ali bn Mustafa, his sister Sehzade, his mother Umm Gulsum
bint Idris, and
Suleyman, who has his mother Umm Gulsum as vekil for the
matter, acknow-
ledge in the presence of Imam Ebu Bekr Halife bn Abdul-Latif
Halife: An estate
at Husayinlu mahalle is sold to Ebu Bekr for 6o0gurus. [II 74-
411; 15 Saban Ior 5]
Cemile bint Abdur-Rahim, Akila bint Mustafa, and Ibrahim bn
Abdur-Rahim,
who has his sister Cemile as his vekil, acknowledge in the
presence of Mevlana
Seyyid el-Hac Mahmud Efendi bn Seyyid el-Hac Salih Efendi:
We exchange our
house at Haci Avz mahalle with Seyyid Mahmud for his house
in the same mahalle.
We renounce claim to his debt to us. [2o 181-1; 15 Rebi II
oz28]
Merziye Hatun bint Suleyman of Gulluk mahalle acknowledges
in the presence
of Ine bint Subhan Virdi of the same mahalle: Her son Yusuf
bn Ahmed made
her vekil to divorce me (talak-i bayin). I renounce claim to
nafaka, 'iddet, and

Zevciyyet and I share of a mill in the mahalle for 20o akfe. [22
9-4; 23 Sevval 1030]
Ayse bint Ahmed has been made vekil for the sale by Suleyman
bn Halil.
[27 71-6; 19 Sevval 1035]
Ayse bint Ahmed of Hasbeg mahalle, for herself and as vekil
for the sale for
the aforementioned Suleyman, acknowledges in the presence of
Kapuci Haci
Musa bn Haci Ibrahim: She sells a site for a house in the
mahalle for 5 gurus.
[27 71-7; 19 Sevval 1035]
Sinan v. Rustem of Talas village, a zimmi, has his wife
Turfende bint Kara Koc
as vekil, who acknowledges in the presence of Mustafa Pasa bn
Ibrahim, vekil for
Guc zade Suleyman bn Abdullah: Sinan owed Suleyman I1
gurus. To settle the
debt, Suleyman is given a vineyard at Talas next to vineyards
of Huseyn Pasa,
Devlet (zimmi), Bahadur (zimmi), and Bahsi (zimmi). [ii 29-
182; Rebi II o1041
Altun bint Hoca Beg, for herself and as vekil for her children
Yusuf and Kaya,
orphans of the late Aga Can v. Kesis, sells I a vineyard at Egri
Bacak nahiye to
Sinan v. Mihail. The vineyard is next to others of Bagadasar,
Sefer, Murad, and
Kara, all zimmis. It is sold to provide nafaka for the orphans.
[12 170-I6;22
Zilkade 10o 17]

and he mentions an instance where a man had a wakila to
represent his interests.
Mediterranean Society, v. I, p. I 29.
2017 22:28:46 UTC
74 R. C. JENNINGS
Han Aga, wife of the late Haci Mustafa, for herself and as vekil
for her
children, sells a menZil at Hisarcik village to Bayram bn Musa
for 9 gurus. The
menZil is next to property of Veli, Mehmed, Subhan Virdi, and
Seyfullah. It is
sold to provide nafaka for the orphans. [12 i88-Io; 2i Zilhicce
Io0171
Dondi bint Rum Beg is vekil for her father to give her daughter
Meryem a
vineyard at Imrem mahalle. [zz 53-6; 8 Rebi II Io3i]
Earlier Islamic legal practice may have denied some women the
right
to be vasis (guardians) of their own children, custody going
instead to
the family of the deceased husband. However, at the Kayseri
court
women seem to have served as vasis for their own children
more often
than all the combined representatives of the families of the

deceased
husbands. The paternal uncle ('amm) did often serve as vasi,
but probably
more often as naZir. Sisters, aunts, and grandmothers on both
sides
were eligible for the office of vasi. However, whether for boys
or girls,
the mother was most commonly appointed vasi for her children
when
she survived her husband. In a few cases, the mother was naZir
when
someone else was made vasi. The standard which the court used
in
choosing a guardian is not clear, but it is clear that the court
regularly
preferred the mother and her family as guardians of minor
children 18).
Meryem bint Abdullah is appointed vasi for her children, the
orphans of the
late Sefer of Tutak mahalle. [24 13-5; io Receb 1o3 z]
Fatma of Constantinople, zevce'-i metruka of the late Haci
Huseyn of Kayseri
castle and vasi of his orphan, her daugther Ayse, has as vekil
for the matter
Solak Mustafa Beg bn Abdullah, who acknowledges in the
presence of Mustafa,
the full brother of the deceased: She sells her share of the
inheritance and
Ayse's for 1500 akce, which she has received in full. [27 17-4;
I1 Saban Io35]

When a vasi was necessary for (name illegible) and Mihail,
children of the
late Iskender v. Kostendil of Selman mahalle, their mother was
appointed. [zz
4-8; I5 Sevval 1030]
When Tamam, the mother of Devlet, the orphan of the late
(name illegible) of
Talas village, re-married, the right of raising the child (hakk-i
hirane) went to
his mother's mother Gul Hatun bint Timur. 24 akfe per day is
allotted for the
aforementioned orphan, and his grandmother Gul Hatun is
appointed vasi.
[23 2-12; I , Saban I 032] When a nazir was necessary over
Ahmed Beg bn Abdullah, vasi of the girl
i8) The Hedaya says the male child until age seven and the
female child until
puberty stay with the mother or her relatives, but the "natural
guardian" of children
is always the father or his executor. p. 139.
2017 22:28:46 UTC
orphan of the late Haci Mustafa Beg, her mother Safiyye Hatun
bint Bali Aga
was appointed. [z7 13-2; 5 Saban 10351]

When a vasi was needed for the orphans of the late Mehmed bn
Devlet Sah of
Gomec village, Ahmed bn Gance Sefer was appointed. Their
mother Gul Ana
bint Pir Ahmed was appointed naZir. [22 18-3; 20o Zilkade
1030]
d. Marriage, divorce, and married life.--The court records give
a few
useful insights into marriage and domestic relations in
seventeenth
century Kayseri. In view of the familiar stereotypes of Islamic
family
life, of women forced or sold into marriage against their will,
tyrannized
by heartless husbands and divorced at a whim, and in the light
of modern
studies concerning customs of "kidnapping" brides, obsession
with
virginity and chastity, and violent crimes of passion frequently
arising
out of cases of infidelity or rape and leading to interminable
feuds, it is
interesting to consider what the Kayseri sicils contain on these
subjects.
Schacht says Islamic marriage "... is a contract of civil law,
and it
shows traces of having developed out of the purchase of the
bride; the
bridegroom concludes the contract with the legal guardian
(wali) of

the bride, and he undertakes to pay the nuptial gift (mahr,
sadak) or
'dower' (in the sense in which the term is used in the Old
Testament)
not to the walli as was customary in the pre-Islamic period, but
to the
wife herself" 19). The Hedaya makes clear that the "dower"
should go to
the wife, not to her husband 20). "A woman may refuse to
admit her
husband to carnal connexion until she receive her dower of
him, so as
that her right may be maintained as to the return, in the manner
as that
of her husband to the object for which the return is given, as in
sale" 21).
Paul Stirling raises the question of "sale" in his study of
Sakaltutan
village. "It has been argued, sometimes fiercely, that the
payment of
bride price, or marriage payment as it is often called, is not
sale." He
found that the villagers used words implying buy and sell
(satmak,
vermek, almak) in discussing marriage. "Yet in fact the
villagers them-
selves insist fiercely that this is no ordinary sale. 'Are our
daughters
19) Schacht, Introduction..., p. 161.
zo) The Hedaya, p. 44 f.
z2) The Hedaya, p. 54.

2017 22:28:46 UTC
76 R. C. JENNINGS
cattle that we should sell them?' Nowadays, the bride price is
often
regarded, especially by educated observers, as a quid pro quo
for the
trousseau. The villagers themselves insisted time and again that
every
honourable father is out of pocket over his daughter's wedding,
in
spite of the bride price" 22). However, in the villages to the
north and
the northwest, and in Kayseri itself, "... in place of a bride
price paid
in cash to the father, the father of the groom supplies the girl
with gold
ornaments of an agreed value." The gold jewelry belongs to the
bride
and she takes it with her to her new husband 23). Payment of
mehr in
such a fashion is obviously closer to the principles of Islamic
inheritance,
although Stirling does not point out this similarity.
The custom of present day Kayseri and its more sophisticated
villages
was the custom of the early seventeenth century also. The

dowry was
the property of the woman. If such a marraige is to be
considered a
"sale", then the seller is the bride--a strange sale indeed !
Marriage had to be voluntary. This is an established point of
Hanefi
law, and its violation can lead to an annulment by a court, if a
com-
plaint is lodged. The Kayseri court firmly upheld this principle
on the
few occasions when confronted by it. Presumably Kayseri
parents of
the seventeenth century arranged marriages for their daughters
with
the same love, hope, and responsibility that they do now, so
that there
need have been few reluctant brides. Of course, the traditional
social
order encouraged acquiescence to the choice of husband made
by a
girl's family, so family loyalty, family pressures, and
community
pressures would overcome most hesitance or reluctance on the
part of
the girl, while those same pressures would doubtless have
worked to
prevent a father from forcing a daughter to marry an unwanted
suitor.
For such a matter to come to court would surely bring shame on
the
family, especially on the father as its head, even if he were
really acting

in the best interests of the girl.
The number of complaints brought by women claiming to have
been
forced into marriage were quite few. Perhaps some women,
especially
z22) Stirling, Turkish Village, p. I 85 f.
23) Stirling, Turkish Village, p. I86.
2017 22:28:46 UTC
village women, were not even aware that they had such a legal
right, or
could not have imagined how it could be relevant to their own
lives.
Nevertheless, the few times women unwilling to marry did seek
refuge
at the Kayseri court their right to resist was categorically
upheld,
against guardians, uncles, brothers, and fathers. There were
even a
few cases where girls who had been "wed" as children came to
court
when they came of age to indicate formal consent to (or
repudiation of)
the marriage, probably as a prelude to the actual consummation
of the
marriage.

Saliha bint Abdul-Hayy Efendi has designated as vekil
Muderris Mevlana
Mehmed Efendi, who says: When my muvekkile was young
(sagire), they made
her engaged (namzad) to Janissary Mustafa. Now she is of age
and she renounces
this engagement. [I5 79-8; 29 Saban 1019]
Meryem screamed (feryad) in court: I will not go to this Kutlu
v. Hizir Bali.
[19 7-9; 15 Receb 1025]
(The following five cases were recorded carelessly but they are
quite
interesting.)
Halil bn Yakub: I gave may daughter Cemile in marriage to
Abdul-Gaffar bn
Hasan. They did not live together (zindegane). [19 53-4; 17
Muharrem I0271
Cemile: They said they had married me to Abdul-Gaffar. When
he came, I
screamed (feryad) and when I tried to flee (kacmak), he beat
me and used force
(cebr). We stayed together two months. This is denied by
Abdul-Gaffar. My
uncle was vekil for me. Cemile says: I was married by force
(ikrah). [19 5 3-5; 17
Muharrem 1027]
Abdul-Gaffar is given fifteen days to bring witnesses. [19 53-6;
17 Muharrem
1027]

Cemile bint Haci Halil: I have been Abdul-Gaffar bn Hasan's
wife (nikahlu) for
five months. Two months ago I fled from him. [19 54-I; 19
Muharrem 10o7]
Cemile bint Haci Halil was entrusted to Yusuf for safe keeping.
When she
would not go to Abdul-Gaffar of her own free will (riza), it was
recorded that two
conditions (sart) were made: that she would not be taken away
from here and
that she would not be struck contrary to the sharia. [19 54-3; 20
Muharrem oz27]
Abdul-Gaffar bn Hasan: Cemile bint Haci Halil and I did not
live together
(zindegane). She has given up claim to 0o,ooo akfe mehr,
nafaka'-i 'iddet, and other
zevciyyet and I have received 20 guruf bedel-i hul' from her.
Hul' is announced.
[19 55-9; 29 Muharrem 1027]
Ayse bint Mustafa Basa: I have come of age (baliga ve akila). I
will not accept
the marriage (nikah) that my uncle ('amm) Mahmud has
arranged. I terminate it
(fesh). I make Emir Ali bn Hamdi my vekil for everything. Ali
accepts. [20 41-2;
12 Cumadi I 10o27]
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78 R. C. JENNINGS
Fatma bint Mustafa has as vekil for the matter Oda Basi Musa
Beg bn Abdullah,
who acknowledges (ikrar) in the presence of Ibrahim bn Ali:
The aforementioned
Fatma, who has made me her vekil, was married (nikah) to
Ibrahim when she
was two years old by her father Mustafa bn Ahmed. Now she is
more than
fifteen years old and she accepts the marriage that her father
arranged. Ibrahim
confirms this. [zo20 159-2; 13 Rebi I ioz8]
Asya sets forth a claim (takrir-i kelam) in the presence of Kilic
bn Hizir: I did
not make my uncle ('amm) Kilic my vekil to marry me to this
Ahmed bn Barak.
Kilic insists that he was so appointed. Mehmed bn Ebul-Kasim
and Hakkvirdi
say that she appointed her uncle as her vekil five months
earlier and that she is
married (nikah, menkuha) 24). [20 174-4; io Rebi II ioz8]
Nazili bint Murad: I did not give permission to be married to
Bahsi v. Kaplan.
I have no witness. I will go marry Vartan. [2z 34-12; selh
Zilhicce 1030]
?ehroz bint Haci Veled says: I will marry Ferhad's son Veli.
[22 25-3; 6
Zilhicce 1030]
Nazili bint Urail made Rumseh v. Kara Beg her vekil to marry
her to Gulbende

v. (illegible). [22 37-5; 7 Muharrem 1031]
Sakina Hadice bint Ahmed of Gulluk mahalle makes her uncle
Seyyid Mehmed
bn Mustafa her vekil (vekil-i mutlak) to marry her to Abdul-
Hayy. [22 63-1; 7
Cumadi II 1031]
The virgin (bakire) Sultan Kaya bint Yovan (zimmia) of
Rumiyan mahalle
acknowledges in the presence of her uncle Yuri v. Suh zimmi: I
made my
uncle Yuri my vekil to marry me (nikah) to Bahsi (zimmi). I
accept this marriage.
[27 46-3; 25 Ramazan 1035]
Haci Bola bint Huseyn, of age (akila ve baliga), of Salurci Dere
village of Ama-
siyya kaza sets forth a claim saying: On 28 I Cumadi 1 o34 my
father Huseyn mar-
ried me (nikah) to Spahi Mehmed Beg. When I heard this, I
refused to accept it. I
want that marriage cancelled (fesh) and I want to marry this
Ibrahim ?elebi bn
Keyvan. I did not give my consent to be married to Mehmed. A
fetva is presented
that if she is of age, her father cannot marry her against her
wishes (riTa). If
Hind is of age, can her father Bekr marry her against her will to
Amr? Can Hind
have this marriage annulled and go marry another? Yes, the
marriage is annulled
and permission is given for her to marry Ibrahim Celebi.
[Amasya sicil 1 19-2;
selh Cumadi I 1034]
Abdul-Ahd bn Nebi Seyh of Huseyinlu rnahalle sets forth a

claim in the
presence of Hizir bn Musa: While I was in another province
(vilayet), Nebi
married my daughter Fatma to Hizir without my permission. In
fact, Hizir
committed fornication with her before marrying her. Hizir
responded: Three
years ago when he went away he wished his daughter to marry
me. His wife,
Fatma's mother Emine, had us married (nikah) in the presence
of the Muslims.
We had no knowledge of where he was or what he was doing.
When the matter
was put to the people of the mahalle, no one knew where he
was. The people of
the mahalle then testified that Abdul-Ahd had expressed favor
toward the
marriage before he left. [Is 18- 5; gurre Cumadi I or19]
z4) No further development in this case occurred in the sicil.
The court of course
accepted the testimoney of the two witnesses, but it had no
means but moral dia-
approbation to force Asya to accept the marriage.
2017 22:28:46 UTC
Mutahher bn Cebrail of Haciler Kurds has as his vekil for the
matter his

brother Cafer bn Cebrail, who sets forth a claim in the presence
of Sah (illegible)
bint Huseyn of Kabak Seyh village: She is my muvekkil's wife
(menkuha), but she
will not go to him. She replies that she is not Kurd Mutahher's
wife and will not
marry him. [zo 79-3; 24 Receb 1027]
Abdur-Rahman bn Haci Abdi of Kabak Seyh village sets forth a
claim in the
presence of Sah (illegible) bint Huseyn of the same village: She
is my wife.
Now she will not come to me. She replies that she is not his
wife and will not
marry him. [20-79-4; 24 Receb 1027]
Ayse bint Yusuf has as vekil her mother Sultan bint Yusuf, who
sets forth a
claim: My daughter Ayse married her younger sister without
her consent to
Semsi Dilaver. She exceeded her authority (fu!ulen nikah). Let
Muslims investiga-
te. I have a fetva indicating that annulment (fesh) has occurred.
If Hind marries
another without knowing before marriage that his uncle and
father are black-
guards, can their marriage be annulled? Yes. Two witnesses
testify that Ayse
exceeded her authority. Then annulment was granted. [20 95-3;
I Ramazan
1027]
Elif bint Ibrahim of Zamanto: I will marry Yakub bn Suleyman
in accordance
with God's order and as Peygamber's (the Prophet's) slave.

Written at the request
of Hasan bn Ibrahim. [23 4o-6; 18 Zilhicce 1o32]
Dondi bint Himmet makes Sefer bn Ibrahim vekil to marry her
to Mustafa bn
Mehmed. [Karaman i 28-1; no. 116]
Ayse bint Mehmed Beg of Kegeci mahalle appoints Sefer bn
Suleyman as
vekil to marry her to Ramazan bn Mustafa. [Isparta 2 3-2]
Cennet bint Huseyn, a virgin (bikr) of Yahya (?) Abdallari
village, sets forth
a claim in the presence of Ali Dede of the village: Previously,
when I was a
minor (sagire) my mother made me engaged (namZed) to Ali
Dede's son Satilmus.
It was not free; some goods were taken. Now I am of age and I
do not want to
go to the aforementioned Satilmus. Ali Dede says his son was
engaged to Cennet
(namZed) but not married (nikah) to her. When Cennet's wish
was made known,
Ali Dede was restrained from interfering. [Amasya i 7-4; III
Rebi I 10341
According to the above fetva and according to the Hanefi
school of
law, a woman who is of age (who has reached puberty) cannot
be
married against her will, and in fact she can marry someone of
her
choice, even against the will of her father 25). Girls who are
not off age

25) "A woman who is an adult, and of sound mind, may be
married by virtue of her
own consent, although the contract may not have been made or
acceded to by her
guardians; and this whether she be a virgin or a Siyeeba (i.e.,
not a virgin).-This is
the opinion of Haneefa and Aboo Yoosaf..." "on the other hand,
Malik and Shafei
assert that a woman can by no means contract herself in
marriage to a man in any cir-
cumstance, whether with or without the consent of her
guardian." "It is not lawful for
a guardian to force into marriage an adult virgin against her
consent." The Hedaya, p.
34. This is Hanefi law, the law that prevailed in Kayseri and
the other Anatolian
2017 22:28:46 UTC
80 R. C. JENNINGS
can be married without their consent by their fathers or
guardians, but
minors seem to have remained with their parents until they
came of age,
and there was no consummation before that. When both parties
came of
age each had the right to decline to consummate the marriage
and so to
be left free to marry someone else 26).

The following text and fetva are also relevant to this matter:
Oruc bn Hamze sets forth a complaint in the presence of Emine
bint Himmet:
While I was in the city and had no news about it, Omer's
grandfather married
Emine to my young son Omer. I will not accept this. I have a
fetva that says the
marriage is not valid without my consent. The fetva states that
he cannot be
married without his vasi. Oruc takes an oath that he did not
give consent to the
marriage 27). [20 22-I; I Rebi I 1027]
The "kidnapping" or taking by force of brides was probably not
a
custom, at least in the kaZa of Kayseri. Virtually no complaints
of this
Turkish cities. The reasoning is explicit: "The argument of our
doctors is that the
woman, in this case, is free, and a Mokkatiba (that is, subject
to all the obligatory
observances of the law, such as fasting, prayer, and so forth),
wherefore no person
is endowed with any absolute authority or guardianship over
her; contrary to the
case of infants, over whom others are necessarily endowed with
this authority, the
understanding of such being defective, whereas that of an adult
is held complete,
in consequence of her having attained to years of discretion;
for, if it were other-
wise, she would not be subject to the observances of the law:
from all which it

follows that this woman is the same as an adult son; and that
all her acts with
respect to matrimony are good and valid; neither is her father
empowered to make
seizin[g] of her dower without her consent expressed or
virtually understood as he
is not at liberty to do so where she has forbidden this." The
Hedya, p. 34 f.
z6) Cf. Schacht, An Introduction..., pp. I66i f.: "The wali can
give his ward in
marriage against her will if she is a minor, but when she comes
of age she has the
right of recission; some, however, hold that she does not have
this right if it was her
father or grandfather who gave her in marriage." Compare The
Hedaya, p. 36: "The
marriage of a boy or girl underage, by the authority of their
paternal kindred, is
lawful, whether the girl be a virgin or not, the Prophet having
declared, 'Marriage is
committed to the paternal kindred.' " However, "... a provision
is made against any
evil consequence, by vesting in the child an option of
acquiescence in the match after
puberty, which acquiescence is necessary to constitute its
validity." p. 37: "If the
marriage of infants be contracted by the father or grandfathers,
no option after
puberty remains to them; because the determination of parents
in this matter cannot
be suspected to originate in sinister motives as their affection
for their offspring is
undoubted; wherefore the marriage is binding upon the parties,
the same as if they

had themselves entered into it after maturity." Cf. M. Ertugrul
Diizdag, ,Seyhiilislamn Ebussuud Efendi Fetvalart (Istanbul,
1972); p. 3 8, # 3 8, 39, 40.
27) The boy, of course, was a minor.
2017 22:28:46 UTC
WOMEN IN OTTOMAN RECORDS 8I
type were made before the court. True, celali and other
brigands some-
times carried off women along with the wealth of villages they
despoiled,
but this behavior does not fit into the proper scheme of
kidnapping
brides, for the brigands were from outside the local social order
and the
carrying off of women was only a part of their banditry
(sometimes
they carried off village men, too, to force them to cultivate
elsewhere).
The term kiZ kafirmak does not appear in the court records.
Indignant
fathers did not exhort kadis and police to urgency to save
virginal
daughters. If such an "institution" existed in Kayseri kaza at
the
beginning of the seventeenth century it was of such a nature
that it was

not brought to court 28). Such incidents were uncommon. The
one
cited below is important because of what it reveals about the
position
of women:
Asya bint Kalender Bese and her mother Mudam of Cirvaluk
village set forth
a claim in the presence of Ferhad Beg bn Haci Cafer of the
ebna'-i sipahiyan:
Ali bn Sefer, Gunduz, Iskender, Kara Musa, and others of our
village attacked
my house and carried off my daughter Asya and some of our
possessions. [zo 9-
3; I Rebi I 1027]
The above Asya and Mudam have as vekil the aforementioned
Haci Ferhad
Beg, who sets forth a claim in the presense of Ali bn Sefer of
the same village:
Ali, his wife, his daughter, and others stormed the house of my
muvekkile,
carrying off Asya and some possessions of theirs. Ali denies
this: I did not take
their possessions, and her daughter earlier had taken a fancy to
my son. She
came to my house (of her own volition). [zo 9-4; I Rebi I 1027]
Asya bint Kalender Bese has as vekil for the matter Haci
Ferhad Beg bn Haci
Cafer, who sets forth a claim in the presence of Ali bn Sefer:
Ali's son took
Asya's virginity (kizlik). Ali denies this, but Haci Ali Basa bn
Abdullah and Hasan
Beg Mustafa testify that Ali's son took her virginity. [zo20 11-
3; io Rebi I 1027]

The above Asya has as vekil the aforementioned Haci Ferhad,
who sets forth
claim in the presence of Ali bn Sefer: Ali took Asya to his
house with her
possessions. Ali admits kidnaping her but insists that she came
to his house of
her own free will, and then when the muhZir came she left of
her own free will.
z8) The criminal codes (kanunname) of the Boz Ok and
Zulkadir Turkmans contain
specific regulations against kidnaping brides (kit kapmak, ki,
fekmek). Omer Liitfi
Barkan, XV ve XVI asirlarda Osmanli Imparatorlujunda zirai
ekonominin hukuki ve
mali esaslari, vol. I: Kanunlar (Istanbul, 1943), p. I26, #15, 16;
p. I21, #15. The
provinces of these Turkmans bordered Kayseri province on the
north and east, so
Kayseri too must have experienced some kidnapping of brides.
Still, the sharia was
probably more firmly entrenched in Kayseri. Szyliowicz calls
"girl-kidnaping" a
"nomadic" tradition "of long standing." p. 5 I. cf. p. 89 f.
XVIII, Part 1 6
2017 22:28:46 UTC
82 R. C. JENNINGS

Ferhad denies this. When Ali's wife is asked to testify, she
confirms that the girl
came of her own free will. [zo20 i-; 16 Rebi I I027]
The above Asya bint Kalender Bese sets forth a claim in the
presence of Ali
bn Sefer: Yesterday Ali, with his wife, daughter, and others,
came to our house
and took me to his house. They kept me there one night. The
next day the
muh7ir came and took me to court. Ali again asserts that the
girl came to his
house of her own free will. [zo I2-Z; 16 Rebi I ioz7]
The above Asya has as vekil the aforementioned Haci Ferhad
Beg, who makes
a claim in the presence of Ali Beg bn Sefer: I want the property
she brought. Ali
claims he was in the garden when she came and so does not
know what posses-
sions she brought. [zo 22-3; I Rebi II I027]
Ali bn Sefer of Cirlavuk village sets forth a claim in the
presence of Musa,
Haci Mehmed, Himmet, Ramazan, Pir Ali, Veli, and others of
the village: Why
did Kalender Bese's daughter Asya come to my house? Let
them be asked. The
people of the village reply that she came of her own free will.
She was not
brought by force. [20o 22-4; I Rebi II 1027]
Divorce, like marriage, was normally performed outside the

court and
so the sicils provide no divorce statistics. However, the special
kind of
divorce called hul' is a divorce granted by a husband at the
request of his
wife. Unlike conventional divorce which is unilateral on the
part of the
husband (tatlik ettim), hul' has an element of reciprocity and
common
participation on the part of the two partners (hdu' okuztuk).
When a man
consented to this kind of divorce, the woman usually agreed to
give up
claim to her mehr-i mueccel, 'iddet, or perhaps some debt her
husband
owed her-in short she was required to make some kind of
sacrifice
(sometimes, in fact, only token, but other times very
considerable) to
deserve the favor she was being allowed. The married couple
then
mutually agreed to separate 29).
Summaries of a few cases of hul' will suffice to illustrate the
general
way that they were handled at court:
29) According to Schacht, a "variant form of repudiation" is
"... the kulh',
by which the wife redeems herself from the marriage for a
consideration." Introduc-
tion. . ., p. 164. Compare The Hedaya, p. I i i : "In law it
signifies an agreement entered
into for the purpose of dissolving a connubial connexion, in

lieu of a compensation
paid by the wife to her husband out of her property." Compare
also Linant de Belle-
fonds: "Pour tout Musulman, meme quand il est frotte de
quelque culture juridique,
le hul' est une separation definitive, convenue entre epoux,
moyennant une com-
pensation payee par la femme." Yvon Linand de Bellefonds,
"Le 'Hul' ' sans Com-
pensation en Droit Hanafite," Studia Islamica 31 (1i970) 185.
2017 22:28:46 UTC
Seydi bn Kasim of Karlik village of Urgub kaza has his brother
David Fakih
as his vekil for hul', who acknowledges in the presence of his
wife ('avret) Emine
bint (name illegible): Because they do not live together
(zindegane), Emine
renounces all claim to mehr-i mueccel, nafaka'-i 'iddet, and
other Zeviyyet. Seydi
divorces her three times. Emine accepts this. [17 18-5; 23 evval
1022]
Mehmed bn Haci Ali acknowledges in the presence of Fatma
bint Turmus:
We were not living together (Zindegane). She renounces claim
to all mehr-i mueccel
and other Zevciyyet. I divorce her (hul'). Confirmed by Fatma.
[17 34-4; 27

Zilkade ioz2]
Emine bint Mehmed appointed Veli Efendi as her vekil for the
matter of hul'
with her husband Haci Abdur-Rahman bn Haci Mustafa. She
renounces mehr
and nafaka and receives a farfsaf (sheet) and a yorgan (quilt) as
payment for
hul' (bedel-i hul'). [23 2-3; 13 Saban 1032]
Gevher bint Kara Bid appointed Hizir v. Polad as vekil for hul'
with her
husband Yagob v. Babek. She renounces mehr and nafaka. [23
4-Io; 2o Saba 1032]
Osman: Hanzade bint Hasan took io 'osmani, giving up claim to
mehr and
nafaka'-i 'iddet, and I divorced her (hul'). [23 43-13; 27
Zilhicce Io32]
Kadi Mevlana Seyyid Omer Efendi bn Ahmed's daughter Fatma
has as vekil
for the matter kadi Seyyid Mehmed Efendi bn late nakib ul-
esraf Abdul-Kadir
Efendi, who acknowledges in the presence of kadi Seyyid
Inayetullah Efendi bn
Ramazan Efendi, who is vekil for Seyyid Muharrem Efendi bn
Ebu s-Su'ud
Efendi: Fatma renounces all claims against Muharrem Efendi
for mehr-i mu'eccel,
nafaka, and other -evciyyet and states that he divorced her of
her own desire
(muhala'a), so they are divorced. Muharrem Efendi's son Ebu s-
Su'ud S(elebi is to
be paid 15 akce per day for maintenance (nafaka and kisve).

[12 7o-Io; 29 Muhar-
rem ioi6]
Sali bn Ali and Mustafa bn Ali testify that Ali bn Ummet told
his wife Kamer-
ullah that he divorced her three times if she gave up claim to
all payments in
money and goods. [22 26-Io; 12 Zilhicce 1030]
Rabia bint Ali of Gulluk mahalle acknowledges in the presence
of her husband
Abdur-Rahman bn Himmet: He gave me half a house in the
mahalle for mehr but
since we are not living together (Zindegane) I gave it back to
him, and I renounce
claim to mehr, nafaka, and other Zevciyyet. He pronounced hul'
and I accepted
some cloth and 2 gurus bedel-i hul'. Our little daughter Cemile
is to stay with
me until she is nine. [24 3-5; 28 Cumadi II 1032]
Osman Beg bn Abdullah of ebna'-i sipahlyan of Kayseri
acknowledges in the
presence of Huseyn (elebi bn Ali, who is vekil for the matter
for Emine bint
Yusuf Cavus: Besides renouncing her claim to mehr, nafaka'-i
'iddet, and other
Zevciyyet, Emine has given me my slave girl (cariye) Sakire.
We mutually renounce
all claims against one another. If either of us makes another
claim against the
other, it should not be heard at court. Emine accepts this. [z5
83-1; 13 Cumadi
II 1034]
Hedayetullah bn Sultan Hoca acknowledges in the presence of

his wife Ayna
bint Ibadullah who has Abdi Beg as vekil for the confirmation:
We were not
living together (Zindegane). When she renounced claim to
mehr, nafaka'-i 'iddet,
and other zevciyyet, I divorced her (hul'). I gave certain goods
bedel-i hul'. [27
28-5; 2 Ramazan 10o35]
2017 22:28:46 UTC
84 R. C. JENNINGS
Authorities have noted the giving up of mehr, nafaka'-i 'iddet,
and
other Zevciyyet by the woman, but the giving of a stipulated
sum of
money or property (often called bedel-i hu!') by the husband to
the wife
apparently has not been observed, even though it was very
common in
Kayseri 30). Hul' seems essentially to have been a form of
contract
negotiated by the husband and wife to meet their particular
needs; the
frequency of payment of bedel-i hul' by husbands in Kayseri
emphasizes
the reciprocity of hid'. Hul' may be considered the undoing of
the
marriage process and marriage contract, since it often results in

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