Jennings-1973-Loan and Credit-Waqfs in Kayseri

Loans and Credit 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. 16, No. 2/3 (Dec.,
1973), pp. 168-216
Published by: BRILL
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oftheEconomic
Journal andSocialHistoryoftheOrient,Vol. XVI, PartsII-III
LOANS AND CREDIT IN EARLY

17th CENTURY
OTTOMAN JUDICIAL RECORDS
THE SHARIA COURT OF ANATOLIAN KAYSERI
BY
RONALD C. JENNINGS
(Urbana)
Because of the absence or inaccessibility of judicial and business

archives, loans and credit in the history of Muslim peoples have been
studied through religious law and commentary (sharia and fikh).
Although such tomes may be good sources for legal and religious
theory, or even for intellectual history, they often are far removed
from the real business and commercialpracticesof the socio-economic
order. This study of loans and credit is based entirelyupon 1400 entries
registeredbetween 16oo and 1625 in the judicialrecord books (Turkish
sing. sicil) of Ottoman kadis at courts in central and easternAnatolia,
primarilyin Kayseri, but also in Karaman,Amasya, and Trabzon *).
*) 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 in Tokat, and the Trabzon sicils in the Topkapi SarayMuzesi Arsivi
in Istanbul. I wish to thank the directors and their staffs for generous hospitality;
I am particularlyobligated to the director of the Etnografya Muzesi, Bayan Enise
Yener, to the assistantdirector Bay Ziya Ceran,and to the whole staff,for I made a
prolonged stay there. The researchfor this paper was done with grants from the
American Research Institute in Turkey and from the University of California at
Los Angeles (an NDEA title IV grant). The writing was supported by a summer
faculty fellowship from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.I wish to
thank Prof. Andreas Tietze, C. C. Stewart, E. K. Stewart, A. Bunnett, and J. A.
Jennings for reading the text and making helpful suggestions.
Abbreviations:
bn = son of; bint - daughter of; v. = veled= son of. In Ottoman documents
after I6oo, bn is used for Muslims and veledfor zimmis.
Archival sources are cited as follows: i5 56-4 means Kayseri sicil number 15,
page 56, entry 4. When a sicil from a collection other than that of Kayseri is cited
the name of the city is always identified.

LOANS AND CREDIT IN OTTOMAN RECORDS 169
It is my aim in this paper to use the sicils to illuminatethe nature

of money lending and credit, particularlyas practicedin the city and
province of Kayseri: i. The use of credit was widespread among all
elements of the urban and ruralsociety. 2. The supply of capitalavail-
able for credit was fairly abundantand hence not the monopoly of any
small clique of big money lenders. 3. Loans and creditwere very much
the domain of the Muslim Turkish inhabitants of Kayseri, not the
preserve of the local Greek and Armenian Christians. 4. Interest was
regularlycharged on credit, in accordancewith the shariaand kanun,
with the consent and approval of the kadi's court, the ulema, and the
sultan. 5. A "commercial"or "mercantile"mentalityand profit motive
permeatedall the elements of Kayserisociety, not just the people of the
bazaarsbut the rural agas, the Ottoman military class, and the ulema
as well.
I. THE SOURCES
In order to provide a permanentand authoritativerecord that could
be consulted when necessary, judicial record books were compiled at
law courts throughout the Ottoman Empire. Besides containing sum-
mariesof judicialproceedings,the sicils which were used for this study
also fulfilled a notarial function, providing an official book in which
people could have important business registered. Appended to these
Forms of suits:
t.k. - takrir-i kelam; ik. = ikrar; d. = dava;t.m. -- takrir-i meram.Ikrar, an
acknowledgment or confession, appears exclusively in non-contested cases. The
others, and iddia,describe contested cases.
Coinageused in Kayseri:
akce (usually called akfe elsewhere; occasionally called osmaniin sicils)-silver
coin of small value.
gurus (modern kurus)-silver coin
esedior arslanigurus, apparently of Dutch or Flemish origin.
riyalgurus or karagurusor kamilgurus-I /8 greater in weight than esedigurus(see

Gibb & Bowen, v. I, pt. 2, pp. 49-5i)
altun (modern altin) (rarely called flori)-gold coin
In 16o8, ioo (kamil) gurus equalled 8,oo000 akce. [12 83-4] According to a firmanof
1609, I altun i i8 akce, i kamil gurus = 78 akce. [13 98-2] A firmanof i618 shows
the same ratio: ii8 akce - i altun, 78 akce kamil gurus [zo 190-I]
-i

170 R. C. JENNINGS
sicils are verbatim copies of correspondencefrom the sultan and other

officials addressedto the local kadi, and sometimes that addressedto
other local officialsas well.
The Ottoman kadi stood in the streamof a thousandyear old Islamic
moral-legaltradition, which was the source of the greater part of the
law which he implemented.The Ottoman court was first of all a sharia
court, even though the kanun of the sultans was enforced there along
with the shariaof Islam.
Historiansof the Ottoman Empire, like Fuad K6priilii, Halil Inalcik,
and StanfordShaw, have long recognized that the fer'i mahkeme sicilleri
-the official record books of Ottoman kadis-provide the materials
from which the social and economic history of the empire eventually
will be written 1). Earlier studies of loans, credit, and interest in the
Ottoman Empire, and indeed in other Islamicperiods, have been based
on materials whose qualitative and quantitative limitations can be
expanded greatly by utilizing sicils. Law texts and legal commentaries
give impersonal stereotypes; even when supplemented by the view-
points of certainsocial commentators,the picture remainsone-dimen-
sional and stagnant. The surviving Ottoman sicils contain thousands,
even hundreds of thousands, of judicial cases which give vivid
pictures of how loans, credit, and interest really worked. They provide
authentic examples which help open the human dimensions of legal
and business practices.
Seventeen volumes of sicils from Ottoman Anatolia form the basis
for this study. Fourteen of those comprise all the sicils surviving for
i) See: M. Fuad K6priili, "Islamimme hukukundanayri bir Tiirk imme hukuku

yok mudur?", Ikinci T1rk Tarih Kongresi(Istanbul, 1937), (Istanbul, 1943), PP. 402ozf.
Halil Inalcik, "Capital Formation in the Ottoman Empire", Journal of Economic
History 29 (1969) 97-140. Inalcik says, "There is no doubt that the most important
group of sources upon which studies on capital and the capitalist in the Ottoman
Empire may be based is the records kept by the cadis."p. io8. S. J. Shaw, "Archival
Sources for Ottoman History: the archives of Turkey", Journalof the American
OrientalSociety8o (i960) 9. See also J. Kabrda"Les anciens registres turcs des cadis
de Sofia et de Vidin et leur importancepour l'histoire de le Bulgarie",AchivOrientalni
19 (I9 51i) 329, 337; J. Deny, Sommaire des Archives turques du Caire (Cairo, 193o),
p. 2z15.

LOANS AND CREDIT IN OTTOMAN RECORDS I71
the period 16oo to 1625 from Kayseri, a city astridemajor north-south

and east-west trade routes, the prosperity of whose merchants,shop-
keepers, and craftsmenis attested to by such visitors as Evliya (elebi
and Simeon of Poland 1). The other three volumes, selected to give
perspective, come from Karaman,Amasya,and Trabzon.
It is necessary to note here some problems involved in the use of
these sicils:
a) For the 20o1 years between May I605 (Muharrem o1014) and
October 1625 (Muharrem1035) sicils survive concerning 130 of the
246 months, i.e., covering 53% or almost exactly ii years of the total
period. While some years are covered fully, others are covered only
partiallyand several not at all. This means that a number of cases must
have been lost which were interconnected with some of those that
survive and consequentlythat it is difficultto trace the business affairs
of particularindividuals.
b) Though the quality of most sicils was consistent and good, a few
(particularlyKayseri sicils no. i i, no. 19, and no. 23) are inferior in
quality, marredby omissions or cursory and abbreviatedforms. They
certainlywould not have proved very useful to a later kadi who needed
to reconstructthe circumstancesof a case. Haci Mehmedbn Suleyman
Beg might be referredto just as Haci Mehmed or even Mehmed,so that
it is impossible to determine whether the Mehmed of one case is the
same as the Mehmed of another. An entry which states only "Mehmed
owes Ahmed 3 gurus" is almost useless for any judicial,commercial,or
historical purpose. One cannot even determine whether the credit
involved a loan or some other business matter: indeed Ahmed may
have inherited 3 gurus from an estate of which Mehmed was the
executor, so there may have been no credit involved at all. Because a
few sicils contained careless records, generalizationsoften cannot be
made on the basis of 1400 cases.
i) Evliya Celebi, Seyahatname,v. 3, p. 184 f., I 80 f. Istanbul, 13 14-1318. Polonyali

Simeon Polonyali Simeon'un Seyahatnamesi(1608-1619). tr. H. Andreasyan, p. 158 f.
(Istanbul, 1964).

172 R. C. JENNINGS
c) The entriesin the sicils were recordedfor legal or businesspurposes,

not for historians. The origin, terms, and history of the credit rarely
were more than partiallyrecorded. The litigants were really concerned
with what was still due and what was yet to be fulfilled; therefore,only
the facts relevantto the future settlementwere recorded.When money
changed hands more than once, especially because of the death or
prolonged absence of one party, one loses track of whether Abdullah
bn Arslan lent money or just inheritedthe debt along with his father's
estate and whether the money Mehmed owed Suleymanrepresenteda
loan, credit, or money due for a service. Such ambiguity,although not
necessarilyharmful to the litigants, increases the difficulty of making
quantitativeand qualitativeanalysesof the judicialcases.
d) Creditors and debtors were usually not identified by mahalle
(quarterof city) or village nor by social or economic class. Consequently
it has not been possible to investigate such importantquestions as rural-
urban flow of credit or intra-city capital flow from one quarter to
another; quantitative conclusions concerning social and economic
classes also have proved impossible.
The sicils are succinct and usually include just the information
essential for the impending settlement of the case. For example, full
texts of contracts and rates of interest were not necessary when the
amount of the debt was entered. It is interestingthat this phenomenon
of cursory, even cryptic records of loans and credit was encountered
by S. D. Goitein in his studies of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
from Cairo Geniza: "... loans and promises of payment of debts are
mostly disappointingbecause as a rule the reasons and other circum-
stancesof the indebtedness are not stated"1). It has been suggested
that this vaguenees in the Geniza records, and in Muslim business
records as well, purposely concealedillegal interest charges. However,
since even the cases involving the ulema of Kayseriwere often couched
in vagueness, and since cases of loans at 200% interest were recordedin
I) S. D. Goitein, A MediterraneanSociety, v. I, p. ii. Berkeley, 1967-

LOANS AND CREDIT IN OTTOMANRECORDS 173
courts of Ottoman Anatolia in the early i7th century, the vagueness

may have had some cause other than deceit.
During the period 1590-1630 the value of the currencysufferedsome
important declines, the result of inflation and debasement of the
currency. The firmans which the Porte sent out every year for the
collection of tax revenues such as avari) or cize always concluded with
an officialset of value equivalents at which the various currenciesin
circulationwere to be acceptedfor that year. Legal disputes arose over
whether debts were to be paid in current(debased)coinage or whether
they must be paid off in money equal in value to the money that was
lent. Even fetvas were issued to settle questions of how such debts
should be paid. As a trading and manufacturingcenter, Kayseri was
vulnerableto all the monetaryproblems that were plaguing the empire
and the whole Mediterraneanworld.
The period 16oo00 to 16z5 marksthe height of the celalidevastations,
when lawless hordes of brigands and bandits roved over central
Anatolia leaving destruction and desolation in their wake. While the
city walls of Kayseri withstood two celali sieges, the villages of the
province suffereda serious depopulation. The apparentinsignificance
of international and other long distance transit trade, which is suggested
by the paucity of materialsconcerning such trade in the Kayseri sicils,
is perhaps a consequence of the terror and devastation created by the
celali.
II. THE FREQUENCYAND ATOMISTICNATURE OF LOANS
AND CREDIT IN I7TH CENTURYKAYSERI
The loans and credit matters recorded in the Kayseri sicils do not
representall such transactionsthat occurred in the city and province.
Possiblyin some earliershariacourts all debts were registeredin sicils 1);
that might have been a wise business practice. However, there are a
i) Subhi Labib, "Capitalism in Medieval Islam", Journal of Economic History 29

(1969) 89. "The deposit and loan business conducted under state supervision was
also not unheard of, although our knowledge of this is very limited." Inalcik says
it was customary for the kadis of Bursa to register debts in their sicils. "Bursa",
Belleten 24 (1960) 54.

174 R. C. JENNINGS
number of indications that this was not so in Kayseri.First, although

vakfiyyesmakeit clear that some evkaf were dependentfor their income
on the interestthey chargedfor loans, and so had to issue loans regularly,
no evkaf were mentioned frequently enough in credit mattersto have
maintained their capital in the face of necessary expenses such as
required charitable donations, payments for obligatory prayers and
readings, and the fees of mfitevellis. Obviously many evkaf loans did
not get registered. Second, a large number of credit transactions(o20%
of those registered in no. 24, 37% in no. 25, and 33% in no. 27) were
registeredin sicils becauseof the death of one party to the transaction.
The newly deceased cannot have comprised so large a proportion of
all the lenders and debtors in the province ); clearlycredit transactions
of which one partnerhad died were brought to court more frequently
than credit transactionsas a whole. Third, many credit transactions
were referredto only incidentally,because they were germaneto some
businessbefore the court, such as an inheritancesettlementor an assault.
For these three reasons, I doubt if even half the instances of credit
issued in Kayseri were ever mentioned in sicils. Therefore, since the
sicils surviving from 16o05to 1625 reallycover little more than half the
elapsed time of the twenty year period, I would suggest that the total
number of instancesof credit in the period must have been at least four
times the number actually counted in my research.
From 16o05to 1625, 1255 entries involving credit were counted in
the Kayserisicils. The total numberof creditorsand debtors mentioned
was thus over 2500oo.Since sicils have survived from only half the
months of the twenty year period, presumablyanother 2500 persons
were involved in credit matters registered in those sicils now wholly
or partiallylost; that means that 5000 people were involved in credit
matters recorded in the sicils within a twenty year period.
i) In Kayseri sicil no. 24, zo20%(8 of 41) of the credit entries involve a party re-
cently deceased. In sicil no. z25the proportion is 36% (z i of 57) and in no. 27 it was
33%(%17 of 5z). Although I did not tracethis problem preciselyin the earliervolumes
I read, no. 25 and no. 27 seem disproportionatelyhigh considering what evidence I
do have; I think zo20% is approximatelythe proportion of credit entries in the earlier
volumes which involve the death of one party to the credit.

If my conjecture is correct that no more than half the instances of

credit were ever brought to court or entered in a sicil, then well over
people must have been involved in loans or credit within that
o10,000ooo
twenty year period. That is an appreciablenumber for a city with a
population of about 33,oo000,especially since most credit originated in
the city rather than outside it 1).
Many of these credit transactionswere mattersof small debts which
cannot have hung too heavily over the debtors. A sizeable number
involved debts of less than the cost of an ox, and many were even less
than the cost of a donkey. For example, Gulaga borrowed two gurus
from Avdik v. Yusuf. [12 9-14] Hizir owed Bunyadtwo gurus. [12
zo-i i] Yaz Gul owed Sefer21 gurus.[i2 84-6]One is remindedof the
large number of modern Turkish villagers who annually endure the
last period before the harveston creditsfrom the state agriculturalbank
(Ziraat Bankasi) but never really have any problem with repayment.
Creditwaswidespread becausedebtdoesnot oftenseem
andrespectable;
to have cost people their land or houses, debt may not have been too
onerous2).
Anothercharacteristic
of creditin early17thcenturyKayseriwas its
atomistic nature. 97% of all debts (1364 of 1400) were incurred in-
i) Cf. S. D. Goitein, v. I, p. 250. "An unusuallylarge amount of Genizadocuments

deals with credit." Credit was probably very common in Cairo during the Fatimid
and Ayyubid periods. According to the Kayseri sancak mufassal defter of 1584
(992) the population of Kayseriwas 8251 adult males (nefer), or 6oi5 hanes. Barkan's
system of 5.5 persons per hane makes the population of the city about 33,000.
2) In 1607 the cost of an ox was 7 to 72 gurus. [12 i-II, 6-II, 55-6, 93-I]. A
donkey might sell for 5 gurus. [I 2 78-12]. Cf. Paul Stirling, anthropologistwho made
a study of the village of Sakaltutanin Kayseri province (TurkishVillage, London,
1965): "Debts carry no stigma. Most people have been in debt, and it is nothing
to be ashamedof." (p. 92); "Most villagers accept a certain degree of indebtedness,
to neighbours and to the AgriculturalBank, as an ordinary and permanentpart of
their lives." (p. 93); ". . . the chronic indebtedness of the villagers is not a social
evil.. ." becausethose heavily in debt usuallyhave "... .assetsin land and animals..."
sufficientto bear the debt (p. 93). It must be pointed out, however, that sicils do not
give any indication of punishments meted out by the court. The mild problem of
credit found by Stirling contrasts sharply with Ann Lambton's account of Iran,
but this differenceshould not surprise anyone; Ann Lambton, LandlordandPeasant
in Persia (London, 1953, pp. 379 f.)

176 R. C. JENNINGS
dividually rather than in any kind of partnership;that is, 97% of all

debts registered in the sicils were recorded as the responsibility of
single individual debtors and only 3% representeddebts mutually the
responsibilityof two or more debtors. In 888%of all entries concerning
credit (1228 of 1400) a single individual was the creditor. Partnerships,
even informalpartnershipsand familypartnershipssuch as two brothers
or a father and a son, were rare.
I1% out of the i % of cases in which credit was not extended by a
single individual (158 out of 172) involve evkaf. Although the evkaf
were, of course, "institutions"ratherthan "individuals",most of those
in Kayseri were one-man institutions run by a lone administratorwho
acted as sole agent for the vakf and who was responsiblefor the pre-
servationandaugmentationof vakf funds; they do not seem inconsistent
with the individualisticnature of credit in 17th centuryKayseri. If one
sets aside the credit cases involving evkaf, 99% of the remainingcases
(1242 of 1400) involve credit extended by a single individual.
In the Geniza period in Cairo Goitein has noted a "profusion of
partnerships"and concludedthat "this legal institutionwas enormously
well developed" 1). The frequency with which credit relations were
mentioned in sicils of early i 7th century Kayseri and other Anatolian
cities studied demonstrates that credit was a common business or
personal relationshipin the economic life there, as in Izth and 13th
century Cairo.In sharpcontrastwith Cairo,however, credit in Kayseri
was restrictedalmost entirely to a one to one personal basis. There is
no evidence of any banking institutions, family partnerships,or other
partnershipsdevoted to giving credit, and yet Kayseriwas a city where
trade, commerce, and credit were highly developed institutions.
The degree of differencefrom Cairorequiresan explanation.Perhaps
the Kayseri economy and Kayseri society were more "individualistic",
the Egyptian and Mediterraneanwere more "collective", whatever
implicationsthat might have. It must be rememberedhow emphatically
Goitein stresses what he considers to be the individualisticnature of
I) S. D. Goitein, v. I, p. 170o.

"the Mediterraneansociety". Possibly mercantileinstitutions in Cairo

and Syriawere more highly developed than those in Anatolia, although
Kayseribusinessseemed sophisticatedand the frequencyof credit seems
to indicate its broad scale use.
Since manypeople of Kayseriwere good enough creditrisksto secure
loans and then repay them easily, borrowing was not a despised last
resort of the nearly bankrupt,but a routine business practicein an at
least mildly prosperoustime.
III. ABSENCE OF BIG MONEY LENDERS
Over a period of twenty years, with 1400 cases recorded, one would
expect the names of any big money lenders to be conspicuous. How-
ever, a study of the sicils suggests that Kayserihad no classof big money
lenders. I compiled a list of the names of all the creditorsmentionedin
each of the seventeen volumes of sicils surveyed.Very few creditorsin
any single volume were involved in more than one issuance of credit,
even though one volume covered I91 months, two volumes each
covered 14 months, and two others I2 months. In fact, the names of
only 36 men could be identified as creditors twice or more in any
single sicil. It is remarkablethat in the 14 volumes of judicial cases in
question, apparentlythe name of only one of these 36 men, Mustafa
Beg bn Abdullah, occurred twice as a creditor in two sicils. No one
was mentioned twice as a creditorin each of three sicils.
Even the case of MustafaBeg is suspect. On i i October 161o Mustafa
Beg bn Abdullah made a claim that Ali ?elebi bn Yusuf ?elebi
owed him 42 gurus cash and 50 gurus for the price of a horse 1).
On 20 October 161o (2 Saban ioi9) Haci Mustafa Bese bn Abdullah
made a claim before Abdus-Selam bn Bayram of Hisarcik village
that the latter was kefil bil-mal for 500 gurus owed Mustafa by
Ahmed, ?irak, and the aforementioned Abdus-Selam, 300 gurus
from a loan and 200 gurus for soap 2). On ii January 1625
(i Rebi II 1034) janissary Mustafa Bese bn Abdullah claimed that
I) 15 62-6.
2) 15 65-4; 15 144-4 refers to the same debt.

178 R. C. JENNINGS
Ebu Talib (avu? bn Abdul-Vehhab ?avus still owed him half

of 4250 akce from the sale of a horse1). On 19 February 1625
(i i CumadiI 0o34)Haci MustafaBeg bn Abdullah claimedthat Suley-
man ?avus bn Abdur-Rahman?avus owed him 75 gurus, 25 gurus of
which was from the sale of goods 2). On 17 March 1625 (7 Cumadi II
o1034)
Abdi bn Ahmed of Kayseri castle acknowledged before Haci
Mustafa ?eh bn Abdullah that he owed him 88 riyal gurus3). Con-
sidering the variationin the appearanceof the name of MustafaBeg in
the text, and considering as well that Mustafa bn Abdullah was a
common name and that fifteen years had passed between the two
registers, it is quite possible that these loans were made by different
men, and consequentlythere may be no one at all who can be identified
as having been a creditortwice in more than one sicil.
Creditand loans in Kayseri were given out by a broad spectrum of
people, many of whom probably had very limited resourcesto spare.
Although the clericalvagariesof scribesand kadisprevent an authentic-
able count, it seems a modest assertion that the 1400 instances of credit
must have involved at least i 100oocreditors.The sicils certainlydo not
reveal anyone who could have supported himself for any length of
time by giving credit, even at a rate of interest as lucrative as zo%
per annum.
Not even the evkaf of the district were prolific lenders. The names
of only twelve occurredas creditorstwice or more in a single sicil. Of
them the evkaf of Haci Ibrahim and of Abdul-Hayy Efendi were
mentioned twice in two different sicils in regard to the issuance of
credit, but such lending still is clearly small scale lending ratherthan
any kind of "banking". That is, although the lending may have been
of the utmost importance to individual evkaf, no single vakf made
loans of sufficient size or quantity to make a major impact on the
economic life of the community.
The vakf of Haci Ibrahim had credits of 3000 akce and 36 gurus
i) 25 46-4.
2) 25 63-4.
3) 2Z5 8z-i.

outstanding in the ten month period of one sicil. In the nineteen and
a half month period of another sicil, the same vakf had three outstanding
creditsnoted, amounting to 141 gurus, 25 ak altun, and z 5 ak altun. In
1611, good vineyards sold for about 30 gurus, and mediocre ones for
about half that 1). None of the loans from Haci Ibrahim vakf could
have financed anything more substantialthan the purchaseof a single
good vineyard.
In a sicil covering ten months, the vakf of Abdul-Hayy Efendi was
owed 240 gurus, 6o gurus, an uncertain amount, and 90 gurus. In a
sicil covering 19j months, three debts were owed the vakf, one of
70 gurus, one of 6 gurus and some wheat, and a third of uncertain
amount2). Some of these loans were fairly large and the vakf was
perhapsfairly wealthy, but if this was the greatest period of lending
the vakf knew in twenty years it certainly was no large scale credit
institution.
The vakf of Huseyn Beg was owed two small debts, 12 altun and
6oo akce, in a ten month period. In a second sicil, covering fourteen
and a half months, the vakf was owed 30 ak altun and 85 akce. In a third
sicil, covering nineteen and a half months, the vakf was owed 6o ak
altun and 20o ak altun. None of these debts is substantial3).
Even if many additionalinstances of credit were never registeredin
the sicils, the capital these evkaf had for lending would only have
been moderate-enough to finance most local needs in Kayseri, but
hardlyever great enough to financepurchasesmore extensive than two
or three vineyards.Either no evkaf had enough capitalto serve a large
scale banking function or there was no need in the society, or both.
Although Kayseri was not a trade route terminus or center of
government, it was an important business, commercial, and agri-
x) Ibrahim Beg vakf, 2 z211ii-13, 170-11i, x71-15, 152-11; 15 86-6, 87-4, 87-9.
(Sellingpricesof vineyardsin 16ii: I5 135-4,16gurus;15 138-8,30gurus;15 148-4,
3Zaltun; 15 148-6, two for z5 gurus; x15I49-z, two for z6 gurus; 15 i6o-z, 9 gurus;
I5 164-5, two for z8 gurus; 15 170-4, 33 gurus; 172-4, 30 gurus.)
z) Abdul-Hayy Efendi vakf, Ii 9-55, 2z5-i67, z5-i68, 26-171; 15 II-2, 35-2,
8z-5, 144-1.
3) Huseyn Beg vakf, I I z-76,215-94; I z 165-9; 15 8-4,v45-1.

I8o R. C. JENNINGS
cultural center. The city had at least a few very rich men, like spahi
Haci FerhadBeg bn Haci Cafer,Huseyn Efendi bn Hasan Efendi, and
the kethuda of the zimmi community Bagvand v. Kucuk, yet most
lending and borrowing were on a small scale,probablyon a neighborly,
even friendly basis. The distinctive characteristicof the widespread
credit operationsof earlyseventeenthcenturyKayseriwas the readiness
of a large number of people to give out money in credit, ratherthan a
concentrationof enormous wealth in the hands of a few individuals
or organizations. That a few rich people did not dominate money
lending may perhaps indicate that there was a fairly large supply of
well-distributedcapitalat hand, always availablefor those who needed
it (and who were good credit risks).
The case of Kayseri makes a strong contrast with Fatimid-Ayyubid
Egypt and MamlukSyria.Lapidusfound that there was "a fair amount
of banking activity" in Mamluk Syria and that money lending was
controlled collectively by rich spice merchants:"The most important
of banking functions, money lending, was largely in the hands of the
karimispice merchants.Their unusualwealth and organizationenabled
them to make large loans, not as individuals, but most probably as
consortia representedby a few of their leading members"1). Goitein
found the "legal institution" of "formal partnerships""enormously
developed": "It encompassed practicallyevery economic activity"2).
Moreover, the trade of the Geniza world was "dominatedby 'the great
houses' ", that is by family partnerships 3). In i17thcentury Kayseri the
evidence shows family and other partnerships as negligible in in-
fluenceand credit divided up almost atomistically,even though Kayseri
may have been the leading mercantilecity on the Anatolian plateau.
IV. MUSLIMS AND ZIMMIS
The stereotype view of Muslim-zimmi relations in the Ottoman

Empire,and indeedin Islamichistorygenerally,sees Greeks,Armenians,
i) p. 120, 12i. Ira Lapidus, MuslimCities in the Later MiddleAges (Cambridge,
1967).
2) S. D. Goitein, v. I, p. i69 f.
3) S. D. Goitein, v. I, p. 1i8off.

LOANS AND CREDIT IN OTTOMAN RECORDS 181I
and Jews dominating commerce and money lending, whether because

Muslimsdeclinedto condescendto such activitiesor becausethey were
just not astute enough to compete. However, Goitein has convincingly
shown that Muslims were much involved in the Mediterraneantrade
and credit of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, even giving credit
to Jews just as they received credit from them; and Lapidus has de-
monstratedthe involvement of Muslimsin the trade of Mamluk Syria.
Inalcik's studies of late fifteenth century Bursa, primarilyon the basis
of judicial records, have shown that the commerce of that trading
emporiumwas largely in the hands of Muslims1).
In the first quarterof the seventeenth century Muslims (i.e., Turks)
were prominent in the local money lending and credit business of
Kayseri even though they had to compete with both Greek Orthodox
Christians(Rum) and Armenians,who made up 22% of the population
of the city.
Although the stereotype of the Ottoman millet system presumes
separatespecial courts for non-Muslims,and so one should not expect
to find much about them in sharia court records, non-Muslims did
participatein the Kayseri shariacourt. In fact, non-Muslims used the
court at about the same per capita frequency as Muslims; they com-
prised 22% of the population of Kayseriand were involved in 25% of
all judicialcases at court.
Court cases involving zimmi creditors and debtors were handled at
the court in exactly the same way as cases involving Muslims only.
Any zimmi could have summonedto court any Muslim or other zimmi
from whom he wanted to claim a debt. At the court, the zimmi lodged
his complaint against the Muslim or other zimmi just as Muslim
litigants made claims against other Muslim or zimmi defendants.Both
zimmi and Muslim litigants had to produce two Muslim witnesses to
substantiateclaims against Muslim debtors, but against zimmi debtors
they were allowed to call on zimmi witnesses as well; in the absence
I) S. D. Goitein, v. I, pp. 256 ff, 26z. Lapidus, p. io8 f. Halil Inalcik, "Bursa
and the Commerce of the Levant,"Journalof the Economicand SocialHistory of the
Orient3 (1960) 133 ff., 141, 145. Halil Inalcik, "Bursa,"Belleten24 (1960) 46-56.

I82 R. C. JENNINGS
of appropriatewitnesses,documentsor other writtenevidencecould

be submittedby eitherparty.Despitethe zimmidisability,in accordance
withthe sharia,of beingunableto bearformalwitnessagainsta Muslim,
zimmiswere obviouslyintegratedinto the shariacourtsystemof x7th
centuryAnatolia1).
It is importantto rememberthat x15% of creditmentionedin the
sicilsinvolvedzimmisonly. Ostensiblysuchcaseswerehandledby the
courtwith no moreado thanthe 68%of the caseswhereboth parties
were Muslims.Becausethe court handledthe cases of Muslimsand
zimmis indifferently,the sicils provide an accurateindicatorof the
relativeparticipationof the milletsin the credit and lending of the
community.
The stereotypeof the Ottomansocialand economicorderrequires
thatmoneylendingandcreditandtradein Kayserishouldbe controlled
by Rumor Armenians,or both. In fact, 82% of credit(1145cases)set
out in Kayseriand the other Anatoliancities was given by Muslims
and only I8% (z25 cases) by Rum and Armenians.68% of outstanding
credit (946 cases) was between Muslims only, versus only 15% x (207
cases) between zimmis. I8% of all credit (z247cases) involved both
Muslimsand zimmis, but Muslimsextendedcredit to zimmis four times
as often as zimmis extended credit to them (199 cases to 48). In every
single sicil, including those of Amasya and Trabzon, credit was ex-
tended by Muslims to zimmis more frequently than the reverse.
Early 17th century Anatolian Muslims did not scorn commerce in
money. The activity of the Kayseri Turks in credit and lending is
consistent with their wide role in the economy as a whole, as seen from
the vantage point of the judicial records. Not only did the Muslims
give 82% of all credit, they also received 78% of all credit (o1094 cases
of 1400oo).No portents of the later Zimmihegemony over the trade and
commerce of Anatolia can be perceived at this time. The questions
of how and why Muslims predominated over 7immis in the credit
industry of seventeenth century Kayseri cannot be answered until a
i) See cases summarizedbelow.

number of studies similar to this one have been undertaken on the

basis of sicils from other places in the Ottoman Empire and from other
periods of time as well. The results of such studies will be very signific-
ant for the historical understanding of Ottoman, and particularly
Anatolian, society.
The researchI have done suggests a great deal of interconnection
and interdependencebetween the millets. In the sphere of credit inter-
dependence surely best describes the relationship of Muslims and
zimmis. Although the Muslims were more numerous in the city and
somewhat more active in the field of credit, they clearlydid not mono-
polize credit nor even constrain the zimmis, whose share of lending
was not much out of proportion to their numbers. The society of
Kayseri was an open one, like that which Goitein has documentedfor
the eastern Mediterraneanin the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, in
which the borrowing of Jews from Muslims and Muslims from Jews
(and presumably Christiansfit in here as well) was commonplace1).
V. LOANS, CREDIT, AND INTEREST
Modern scholarsof Islam have been virtuallyunanimousin declaring
that interest is explicitly forbidden by the Koran and by the sharia.In
refusing to concede any possible legitimacy to the giving of money
for interest, European and Muslim scholars alike have found a rare
unanimity. Whenever an instance has occurred where Muslims have
charged interest, these scholars have considered it an opportunistic
and legalistic distortion of the clear tenor of the law (hile) or a gross
violation of the moral law and an affrontto God. It is somewhat sur-
prising, then, to discover that the giving of money and creditfor interest
not only was customary in Anatolia in the seventeenth century, but
also was condoned, sanctioned, and certified by the ulema, the ayans
and esraf, and the ImperialPorte. In Kayseri, in Karaman,in Konya,
in Burdur,in Amasya, and in Trabzon giving out money or credit to
earn interest was acceptedby the local Ottoman shariacourts.
i) S. D. Goitein, v. I, p. 262.

184 R. C. JENNINGS
FazlurRahman,while acknowledgingthe difficultyof definingriba,

maintainsthat all interestwas banned absolutelyby the Koran1).
Joseph Schachtconsideredhiyal"legal devices" or "legal fictions"
which"... enabledpersonswho would otherwise,underthe pressure
of circumstances, have had to act againstthe provisionsof the sacred
Law, to arriveat the desiredresultwhile actuallyconformingto the
letter of the law. For instance,the Koranprohibitsinterest,and this
religiousprohibitionwas strongenoughto makepopularopinionun-
willing to transgressit openly and directly,while at the same time
therewas an imperativedemandfor the giving and takingof interest
in commerciallife"2). N. ?agatay,in his recentimportantarticleon
interestin the OttomanEmpire,assertsthat Islamicrigidityin this
matteropenedthe way for Christiansand Jews to monopolizefinance
in the OttomanEmpire3). O. L. Barkanand E. H. Ayverdi,in the
introductionto their publicationof summariesof over 2500 vakf
documentsform i6th centuryIstanbul,maintainthat some Ottoman
thinkersconsideredthe hiyalan attemptto deceiveGod and a crime
againstreligion4).
However correctthese scholarsmay be in their interpretationof
religiousand legal texts, their conclusionsdo not go far enough to
describethe positionof interestin OttomanKayseriat the beginning
of the I 7th century(andprobablyin the severalothercitiesmentioned
above). As will be shown below, whateverits origins,whateverits
subsequentdevelopment,legal and moralpracticehad evolved to a
pointwherean interestrateof 200o peryearwas acceptedby the entire
religiouscommunityas in accordancewith the sharia.
The lendersandcreditorsof KayseriwereconsideredpiousMuslims
by everyelementof the Ottomanreligiouscommunity.The kadiswho
i) Fazlur Rahman, "Riba and Interest," IslamicStudies3(I1964)3 f.

(Oxford, 1964), p. 78 f.
2) Joseph Schacht, Originsof IslamicJurisprudence
3) N. (agatay, "Riba and Interest Concept in the Ottoman Empire," Studia
Islamica32 (1972) 58.
4) O. L. Barkanand E. H. Ayverdi,IstanbulVakiflariTahrirDefteri913 (If46)
Tarihli(Istanbul, 1967-1970), p. xxxiv: Allahi aldatmagakalkismak;dine karsibiiyik
bir sug.

LOANS AND CREDIT IN OTTOMAN RECORDS
18J
heard and enforced decisions involving interest on credit were

appointed by sultans and seyh ul-Islams. Muftis concurred in their
decisions. Imams, muderrises,and seyyids too assentedto the practice
of the courtby servingas fuhudul-haland by engagingpubliclyin the
businessof credit.Interest,then, was strictlyin accordwith the aims
and practicesof Islam in the eyes of at least this segment of the Muslim
community in Anatolia. There is no alternativebut to conclude that
the consensusof the Muslimcommunityjudgedsuch practiceaccept-
ablebeforeandapprovedby God1).
In the Kayserisicilsthe terminologyregardingcreditis simpleand
directandusuallyavoidsjargonandformalterms.The technicalterms
involvedcan be groupedin seven categories:i. debts;2. the termof
the loan or credit; 3. the loan; 4. capital; 5. interest; 6. securityfor
credit;7. formalcommercialcontracts.
i. Threetermsare used to describedebts: deyn,hakk,and Zimmet.

Only deyn was common. Deyn and zimmet are synonymous, denoting
the amount owed by the debtor; hakk refersto the right of the creditor
to the moneyowed him. For example:
a) isbu Mustafanunisbu Kara Bidde seksan bir gurus hakki olub, Mustafawas
owed 81 gurus by KaraBid. [i 2 77-9]
b) karzdanotuz gurus hakkum olub taleb itdugumde, When I claimed the 30
gurus which I was owed from a loan... [i 2 I I 2-6; also I19-9]
c) zimmetin ibra ve iskat etdum, I dischargedthe debt. [i 2 45-9]
d) isbu Sefer veled-i Agobufi hala Nigdede sakin Ugurlu veled-i (illegible) ufi
zimmetinde ?adir bahasindan altmis yedi kirmizi ile altmis akce hakki
vardur, Sefer is owed (has a right to) 67 kirmizi and 6o akce by Ugurlu,
who lives in Nigde now and who is indebted to him for the cost of a tent.
[12 207-1]
e) cem'en altmis gurus lazim ul-eda deynumdur, I owe a payable debt of
altogether 6o gurus which I must pay. [14 28-6]
i) Halil Inalcik, "Capitalism,"p. ioi: "As shown below, among the Ottomans,
not merely non-Muslims but Muslims, men of religion included, indulged freely
in putting out money at interest." Cf. Gibb & Bowen. IslamicSocietyand the West,
v. I, pt. I, p. 301. They note interest of 7 to 1200: "There is enough evidence in the
Arabic sources to confirm that the placing out of money at interest was by no means
uncommon amongst Moslems."

186 R. C. JENNINGS
f) Abdur-Rahmanisbu Kesise dort altun deynum olub yuz otuzin virdum baki
deynumi viremem didugi, Abdur-Rahmansaid I gave this priest 13o akce of
the 4 altun I owed him. I cannot pay the rest of my debt. [12 59-11]
However, since the recording was informal, most often instead of a

technicalterm there occurs something like "I gave him 3 gurus".
2. Va'demeans the term of the loan or credit.
a) Gul Cihan bint-i Sultan *eh merhum Mahmud Beg hatunina on alti
altun alti ay va'de ile deynumdur,Gul Cihan[says]I owe I6 altun to the wife
of the late MahmudBeg, to be paid in six months. [12z183-17]
3. The term for loan is karZ,with variants kar?-i hasenand karZ-i

fer'iyye.Sicil entries often describe a loan without using the technical
term karz, just as without the term deyn. Karz-i hasen means a good
or fair loan. In Islamiclegal nomenclatureit refers to a valid or
loan.Karz-iser'iyyemeansa loanunder-
legitimate,i.e., aninterest-free
takenin accordancewith the sharia,presumablyalso an interest-free
loan. However, in the Kayserisicils karz, karz-ihasen, and karz-i
ser'iyyeareall appliedto interest-bearing
loans.
a) muvekkilum babam musarun ileyh Mehmed Efendi isbu Ahmed Beseden

iki yuz yetmis gurus karz-i hasen tarih-i kitabdan uc ay va'de ile aldi lazim
ul-eda deyndur, [i2 45-3], My muvekkil, my father the aforementioned
Mehmed Efendi, took a loan of 270 gurus for three months from Ahmed
Bese. It is a payabledebt.
b) Kidem bint-i Sultan Bali isbu oglum Sinan veled-i Hacikde karzdan kirk
esedi gurusum olub yigrimi esedisin aldum. [23 69-4], Kidem bint Sultan
Bali [said] My son Sinan v. Hacik had 40 esedi gurus of mine from a loan; I
have received zo esedi gurus in repayment.
c) muvekkilumunmezbur Anasdasdakarzdankirk alti gurus olub taleb iderum
[zo 86-6], I claim the 46 gurus that Anasdas owes my muvekkil from a loan.
4. The term used for the principalof a loan and sometimesfor credit
is asl-i mal. Rarely the abridged form asl was used.
a) akcesinden asl-i maldan altmis ak altun ve iki yillik ribh yigrmi dort altun
cema'en seksan dort altun zimmetinde vardur taleb iderum [xI 52-291].
He owes me 6o ak altun in principal and two years' worth of interest, which
is 24 ak altun, a total debt of 84 ak altun. I claim it.

b) vakf-i mezbura on bin akce asl-i mal ve uc bin akce mu'amele. . . deynumdur
[Isbarta, no. z, p. z6], I owe the aforementioned vakf o10,000ooo
akce in principal
and 3,oo000akce interest.
5. Severalterms are used for interest. The most common are ribhand
mu'amele(which also occurs in the form mu'amele'-ifer'iyye).Faide,
istirbah,and devr-iser'iyyealso occur as terms for interest.All referto an
interest which may have been illegal under classical Islamic law but
which was legitimate in 17th century Ottoman sharia courts of
Anatolia.
a) yetmis ak altun asl-i malda ve on dort altun dahi ribhda lazim ul-eda deynum-
dur cema'en seksan dort altun olur va'desi tamam olmusdur [iz
Izs-Iz],
I owed a payable debt of 70 ak altun in principal and 14 altun more in inter-
est, a total of 84 altun. The term has expired.
b) ma'rifet-i ser' ile bey' olunub akcesi murabahaya virilub ribhinden hasil olan
meblag mezkur gesmenun yolinun meremmatina sarf ve harc oluna [zo
104-5], Let it be sold with the consent of the court and let the money be
given for interest. Let the money which is received from interest be expended
for the repair of the channel of the fountain.
c) vakf akceden... hala mutevelli'-i mezbur yedinden ahz ve kabz idub...
her on akce' iki akce mu'ameleye kabul eyledum [Konya no. 4, P. 431, I
received vakf money from the aforementioned mutevelli. I agreed [to pay]
z akce interest for every 10oakce.
d) tarih-i kitabdan sene tamamina varinca on on iki uzere mu'amelesin vireler
[zo 120z-4], From the date of this writing until the end of the year they should
pay i2 [akce] for every 10o[borrowed] as interest.
e) Zeyd mutevelli vakf akceden mu'amele'-i ser'iyye idub [from a fetva, 14 70-2],
Mutevelli Zeyd lent money from the vakf for interest.
6. Threemaintermsare used in regardto securityfor credit.Rehn

is the term used for propertyplaced in securityto securea loan, though
emanet is also used this way occasionally. Kefilbil-malis the term for
the guarantorof a loan, someonewho pledgedto pay the creditorif
the debtor defaulted in payment; sometimes the terms of credit were
arranged so that the kefil bil-mal repaid the debt and was himself
reimbursedeitherbeforeor afterthe payment.Underunusualcircum-
stancesa guarantorfor the personalavailabilityof a debtor(kefilbin-
nefs)might be requiredeither in addition to or in lieu of a kefil bil-mal.

I88 R. C. JENNINGS
a) meblag-i mezbur mukabelesinde Gulluk mahallesindehududi ma'lum olan

tasra evler [?] ve ahur ve igeri evierun cumlesi rehndur ve ben kefil bil-mal
ve isbu Halil bn-i Emre dabi kefil bil-maldur[iz 45-3], In exchange for the
aforementionedamount, a house and stable of known boundariesin Gulluk
mahalle and everything in the house are surety. I am kefil bil-mal and so is
Halil bn Emre.
b) yigrmi esedisin aldum yigrmi gurusina isbu Sultan Bali kefil bil-mal oldi
[23 69-4], I received zo esedi gurus from him. SultanBali became kefil bil-mal
for his 20
gurus.
7. Mudarabais the term for the only common credit relationship.In

mudarabaone partnerput up the capital and the other spent it, with
the profits to be shared by the two partners according to a pre-
arrangedplan.
Hereafterare cited a number of cases involving credit and interest.

A few have been presented almost in their entirety, while the others
are summarized,eitherbrieflyor at length, as seemsfittingandnecessary.
Hatun Aga bint Haci Bali, guardian (vasi) and mother of the orphans of the late
Tatar of Kara Kegili mahalle, as guardian tk Agacan v. (illegible): Agacan
admits that he owes the orphans 50 gurus asl-i mal and io gurus mu'amele, a
total of 60 gurus due at the end of the year. [27 33-1]
Ebu Bekr Beg bn Haci Sefer of [illegible) mahalle tk Guzel bint Panis, who is the
widow of the late Zimmi Asya and the guardian (vasi) of his orphans, and
Sinan v. Develili: The deceased owed me 5o esedi gurus which beame 60 gurus
with mu'amele. Sinan was kefil bil-mal. Guzel denied the claim but two
witnesses confirm Ebu Bekr. [25 47-4]
Suksuk Sinan v. Yuseb of Kayseriik Haci Mehmed Beg bn Haci Huseyn: I owe him
5,000 akce asl-i mal and 3,000 akce interest (ribh) a total of 8,oo000
akce. [24 zz22-I]
ShoemakerSeyyid Ebu Bekr bn Osman td Ummihani bint Haci Suleyman: She sold
her vineyardat KaracaViran nahiyefor 25 esedi gurus. With one year'smu'ame-
le it became 30 gurus. I owe her that. Confirmedby two witnesses. [24 52-6]
Sinan bn Receb of Kayseri castle ik Cafer bn Abdullah of Ulu Berengoz village:
I gave him 4 silver knives worth i16esedi gurus and I gave him 180 gurus cash,
a total of 196 gurus asl-i mal. After four years it has become 360 gurus with
interest (devr-i ser'). I claim it. With the mediation of the muslihun (reconcilia-
tors), sulh (compromise) was made for 220 esedi gurus. [24 71-3]
Sinan bn Receb of Kayseri castle td Cafer bn Abdullah of Ulu Berengoz village:
Four years ago I gave him 450 esedi gurus mudaraba.Now I want it. Cafer
says: Sinan gave 4 silver knives worth 16 gurus and 18o gurus cash, a total of
I96 gurus asl-i mal, to which is added four year's devir, for a grand total of
360 gurus. He agreed to make reconciliation (sulh) for 220 esedi gurus and we

have mutually renounced all further claims. I have a huccet signed by former
naib Mustafa Efendi dated II Zil-Kade 1032. He agreed he would pay within
32 days. Cafer must pay. [24 91-4]
Huseyn bn Sah Huseyn, uncle and guardianof the girl orphan of the late Haci Musa
td Haci Seydi Ahmed bn Seyh Mehmed: The orphan is owed i io esedi gurus
for a house and iio gurus cash by Haci Seydi Ahmed. The interest is zo%
(i2 for i o) per annum.
The total asl and ribh is 264 esedi gurus, I ask him for it
in the presence of Muslims. Two witnesses confirm the existence of the debt.
(24 81-2]
Mustafa:I gave Hasan 140 esedi gurus. I want it with 20% mu'amele. Hasan says he
will pay only 140 esedi gurus. [23 3-5]
Kidem: I gave Maksud 40 esedi gurus for two years for faide. The time is up. [23
42-11
Huseyn: I demand the six year's ribh of 8,ooo akce belonging to Emine from Haci
Seydi Ahmed. [23 51-4]
Saban bn Salavat of (?): Abdi bn Abdul-Kerim's heir Ismail has 8 ak altun asl and
o100 akce ribh. Ismail claims the debt is paid. [22 29-I]
Haci Ahmed bn Haci Mehmed ik Haci Osman bn Haci Mehmed's wife Seadet bint
Mustafa,who has as vekil for the matter Abdul-(?) bn Haci Yusuf: I gave Haci
Osman 100oogurus with interest (mu'amele), which has now become i 2zo gurus.
Seadet's vekil has given me ioo gurus and I renounce all further claims. [20 17-I]
Haci Abdul-Cebbarbn Resul, muezzin of the mosque of the late Deli Ali tk Haci
Pir Kulu bn Ali: He was kefil bil-mal for Kara Kose Abdul-Vehhab,who owed
I5 gurus asl-i mal and 9 gurus ribh. Kulu says
he was kefil bin-nefs but never
kefil bil-mal; but two witnesses confirm Abdul-Cebbar.[zo2083-41
Ahmed bn Saban from the castle tk Yovan zimmi from Agirnas village: My father
gave him 150ogurus. Now I have inherited the claim. Yovan repaid only 90
gurus and 60 gurus faide. However, he claims to have repaid it all. Two wit-
nesses confirm Yovan's claim. [zo20141-I]
Spahi Haci Abdi Beg bn Haci Hamze ik Hudavirdi Aga bn Haci Mehmed: Eight
yearsago I gave Hudavirdi 5o guruS.Since then I have figuredinterest (mu'ame-
le) at the rate of i2 for i o (20o% per annum).Writtenat the request of Hudavirdi.
[1774-11
Hudavirdi Aga bn Haci Mehmed, known as Tebban Ogli tm Spahi Haci Abdi
Beg bn Haci Hamze: Previously I took 50 gurus which became 60 gurus with
mu'amele (io gurus faide) from Abdi. I placed lots of things as rehn. I want
them. [17 74-3]
Bali and Sefer ebna Beg Geldi iddia Kokce v. Sultan: We gave him 50 gurus for
20 gurus faide. After three years, he paid 25 gurus. I want justice. The zimmi
testifies that they gave him 50 gurus for 70 gurus, including 20 gurus faide. I
received it. But I repaid Sefer in full. [17 82-2]
Kapuci Haci Yusuf bn Fethullah tk Sinan Bali bn Dede Bali, guardian of the
orphans of the late Ebu Bekr: The deceased father of the orphans left a debt of
300 asl-i mal which, with 6o gurus mu'amele'-i makes 360
gurus ser'iyye,
gurus. [i5 54-2]

190 R. C. JENNINGS
Ali Beg bn Abdullah tk Kara Ali: I gave Kara Ali 16 kirmizi with interest. Now I
want threeyear'sinterest. KaraAli claimshe paid back the 16 kirmiziand that no
interest was to be applied. Since Ali has no proof, KaraAli is allowed to take an
oath that there was no interest. [ 15 z25-4]
Mehmed bn Mazlum tk Gunduz v. Serkis of Germur village: He has owed my late
brother Hasan Beg 84 gurus since two year's ago. Gunduz claims to have taken
40 gurus originally, with one gurus faide (interest) per month for every ten
gurus. This amount reached 8o gurus, but I repaid it in full before Hasan died.
I have a huccet showing this. Mehmed disputes the huccet, but Seyyid Abdur-
Rahim (elebi bn Abdul-Hayy Efendi and Ramazanconfirm it. The huccet is
accepted. [15 199-3]
Mehmed Seh bn Abdullah ik Sisli Avdik v. ?ahin: Five years ago I gave Avdik
oo1000gurus asl-i mal as mudaraba. He owed me oo1000gurus plus faide, which he
has paid in full. [14 13-3]
Miyasa bint Kenan, orphan, has Kasim Beg bn Uveys as guardianand vekil ik Sati
Beg bn Osman: Sati Beg had 86 gurus belonging to the orphan, 72 gurus
asl-i mal and 14 gurus ribh. Now he has repaid i2 gurus asl-i mal and 14
gurus mu'amelebut still owes 60 gurus. Haci Kucuk bn Abdul-Kerim is named
vekil to collect the money. [13i 33-4]
Mehmed (elebi bn Huseyn dava Ali bn Muharrem: He owes me 6o gurus asl-i
mal and i i gurus mu'amele'-i ser'iyye, a total of 71 gurus. Confirmedby two
witnesses. [13 43-8]
Mehmed bn Omer: Muharremowes me 5 gurus asl-i mal and I gurus mu'amele, a
total of 6 gurus. Contested by Muharrem.[13 47-6]
Suleyman Beg: Omer bn Turak owes me 30 gurus. Omer says I took 15 gurus
asl-i mal; I have repaid 13 gurus but with interest (mu'amele)I still owe 5gurus.
['3 55-']
Isa Bali bn Ahmed: I was guardianof the 86oo00 akce of Musa bn Sinan. With interest
(mu'amele)it became 1io,8oo akce. When Musacomes of age, I will give it to him.
Written at the request of nazir Abdi bn Haci Kasim. [8 32-258]
Mehmed Celebi bn Omer Efendi, formerly of Haci (?) mahalle and now of Brusa,
has as vekil for the matter Huseyn Pasa bn Mustafatk & tabir-i meram zimmi
Barak v. (illegible) of Isbarta: The zimmi owes my muvekkkil oo1000akce from
karz. Barak says, Yes, I took ioo1000akce karz-i ser'iyye and held it for a few
years. Then I paid iooo akce asl-i mal and 500 akce mu'amele, a total ot 1500
akce. At that time Mehmed acknowledged this in the presenceof the Muslims.
Two witnesses confirm this. [Isbarta, no. 2, 41-2]
In the light of these cases and many more like them, it is apparent
that Kayseripeople felt no need to conceal interestor resort to dubious
hiyal or other "fraud". That it was possible to charge zo% interest a
year without any kind of deceptionis indisputable,even if the historical
process by which this came about is not clear.
The cases cited above all refer specifically to the charging of interest

on loans and credit. However, in the greatest number of cases of this

type no specificinterest is referredto. Sometimeskarz-ihasen or karz-i
ser'iyyerefersto a loan with interest accruing;it is not certainwhether
interest was charged on those loans where no specific interest rate is
mentioned. Although there was apparentlyno need to conceal interest
when it really was being taken, most business before the court did not
require a full history of the credit involved. It would be surprisingif
there were not at least some interest-freeloans, since Islamic legists
regardthem as ethicallypraiseworthy;however, it would be even more
surprisingif most creditwas not interest-bearing,becausecommercially
minded people cannot be expected to have passed up legitimateprofits.
VI. MERCANTILEMENTALITY
The pervasive mercantilementality that Goitein found in medieval
Cairoand Inalcikfound in 15th centuryBursaprevailedin earlymodern
Kayseri as well, even though Kayseri in no way compareswith Cairo
or Bursa as a trading emporium. The general existence of such a state
of mind on a broad scale helps account specificallyfor the widespread
use of credit in Kayseri and for the large number of people involved
in credit transactionsthere.
Inalcik, who has studied this problem more than any other Ottoman
historian, draws conclusions that are much like those of Goitein and
argues that the prevailing Ottoman "mentality", at least of the I 5th
and 16th centuries, was a mercantileone: "In all classes of Ottoman
society there was apparenta great desireto put cash into makingprofit;
and the most profitable field for investment of cash wealth was
commerce." "It was a general tendency with the Ottomans not to
leave idle any capital in their possession, however small"1).
The loan and credit situation in i 7th century Kayseri gives support
to Inalcik's observation. The cases cited below, concerning families,
women, the militaryclass, the ulema, and evkaf, reveal how intimately
these social groups and institutions were involved in the business
of credit.
i) H. Inalcik, "Capitalism,"p. 90, p. 130.

192 R. C. JENNINGS
a) Families
Within families, credit was sometimes extended from father to son,
brother to brother, and even wife to husband. Such transactionswere
not particularlyfrequent, of course, but that they existed at all is the
mark of a highly developed mercantilementality.Personalpossessions
and property over which each family member had full control are a
prerequisitefor such credit; by implication,then, the individual rather
than the family was the unit of economic ownership.
In the creditmattersenteredin the sicils, only membersof the nuclear
family-not uncles, nephews, or cousins- were identified as relatives.
Creditsand loans involving relativesoutside the nuclearfamily, which
must have been more frequentthan those restrictedto nuclearfamilies,
were thus not identifiableas familyloans. It is unfortunatelynot possible
to determine from this evidence whether the apparentprevalence of
privateindividual propertyownership over "collective" family owner-
ship was a phenomenon of the middle and upper classes of the city or
whether it extended to urban lower classes and even to the nearby
villages.
When contestedintra-familydisputeswere broughtto court, problems
of credit were considered by exactly the same procedure as that used
in cases involving unrelated litigants. Wives made claims against
husbands, mothers against grown sons, and children of either sex
against either parent. Kinship never createdlegal barriersto any kind
of property suit.
Mihribanbint Ali, wife and heiress (zevce'-i metruka) of the late Mustafa bn Mirza
and guardian (vasi) of his orphans, for herself and the orphans tk Mehmed,
brother of the deceased: My late husband gave his brother Mehmed zoo esedi
gurus at zo% (io for Iz). It is due (va'de) on i Zil-Hicce 1035. I want it. Mehmed
admitsthe debt. (2z710o-i]
Dugunci v. Ivanseh of Tavansun village ik his sons Osman and Kaysar: I have sold
them a vineyard at (illegible) nabiye in order to pay my 40 gurus debt to them.
[27 38-1]
Fatma bint Abdul-Kerim of Cami'-i Kebir mahalle ik her son Abdul-Kerim bn
Mahmud: My son Abdul-Kerim owes 60 gurus to the vakf for the avariz of the
people of the mahalle.I am kefil bil-mal.At zo%0/interest(i.e., io for iz mu'amele)
my debt at the end of the year is 72 gurus. A house at the mahalle and a garden
at Gederis nahiye are rehn. [27 40-5]

Ferruh v. ?olmek (?): My son Yuseb owes me 5o gurus from valuablesI gave him.
I want it. [23 24-6]
Arutyun: I sold a black horse to my brother Yuseb four years ago for i i arslanli
gurus. I want the money. Yuseb says he paid it. [23 24-13]
Yaseb (oath): I owed 6o gurus to my brother Arutyun but I have paid it all.[23
25-6]
Arutyun (oath): He still owes me 52 gurus. Yaseb (oath): I do not. [23 25-7]
Yahya Beg: My brother Bese Beg owes me 30 gurus. [23 52-5]
Hizir Bese bn Seydi Ahmed: I owe my brother Ibrahim Sufi 30 gurus [20 132-4]
Sefer bn Abdullah: My son Haydar owes me 14 sahi. Haydar takes an oath that he
owes no more than 2 gurus. [17 41-5]
Sefer v. Toros: My brother Arutyun owes me 5 gurus. [17 69-5]
From MermerliMescid mahalle Arslan, Hizir (?), and Murad, sons of the late zimmi
Dede ik their mother Kiymet bint (illegible): We owed our late father 200oo
gurus (karz-ser'). We transfera house in our mahalleto our mother to settlethe
200 gurus debt. [13
4-4]
Kidvet ul-kuzat Mevlana Mehmed Efendi bn Abdur-RahmanHalife has his son
Abdur-Rahman(elebi as vekil: My muvekkil, my father Mehmed Efendi, took
a 270 gurus loan (karz-i hasen) from this Ahmed Bese for a period of three
months, pledging as rehn property in Gulluk mahalle. I am kefil bil-mal and
Halil bn Emre is kefil bil-mal.[i2 45-3]
Veli bn Ismail dava his brother Abdul-kerim: dispute over whether zo gurus debt
is paid. [i1 8-48]
SafiyyeHatun bint Abdullah, wife of the late Haci Ali ik Sefer, son of the deceased:
The deceased owed me 36oo00 akce mehr, a total of
akce plus an additional zooo2000
56oo akce. Received in full from his estate now. [Karaman24-3]
Kamer Hatun of (illegible) mahalle td Ali bn Ramazan: While married, he took
120 gurus karz-ihasen from me, but he refusesto give it back to me now that we
are divorced. Denied by Ali. Kamer Hatun has no proof and so an oath is asked
of Ali, who takes an oath denying he ever took any loan from Kamer. [Amasya
43-I]
Musli of Uzun Oba village tk his father-in-lawHaci Receb: He owes me 4 gurus for
wheat. Denied by Receb. Musli's claim then is confirmed by two witnesses.
[Amasya 61-3]
Sultana bint Yur (?), zimmia and wife and heiress (zevce'-i metruka) of the late
Mustafa Bese of (?) village has vekil for the claim Ibrahim bn Kalender ik
Abdul-Baki bn Mehmed: Her husband owed her iooo akce mehr-i mueccel.
[Trabzon9-6]
Seyyid Inayetullah (elebi bn Seyyid Ahmed Efendi of Larende ihzar Ayse bint
Abdul-Kerim, wife of the late Ahmed Efendi, and his son Abdur-Rahman,who
have as vekil Osman
_elebi bn Mustafa: The deceased owed my mother (illeg-
ible) bint Seydi Ahmed 24,000 akce mehr-i mueccel. I am vekil to collect this.
Two witnesses confirm this. [Karaman31-4]

194 R. C. JENNINGS
(Illegible) bint Mehmed of Ahi Seadeddinmahalle of Icri Sehir has vekil Allielebi
tk Mustafa Beg: She has a huccet that her deceased husband owed her 12,ooo
akce, so that should be taken from his estate (muhallefat). She also wants the
share of inheritance the sharia permits her. Mustafa claims the debt was paid
but he has no proof. So Mehmed ?elebi is sent from court to get the woman's
oath, which she gives. [Amasya x5-z]
Rich (orum kadi Tayyib Efendi owed his wife I5,ooo akce for two gold objects of
hers that he sold... [Amasya 25-2]
Aforementioned Haci Bayramik his wife Kaya bint Hudavirdi: Land at Egri Bucak
given to wife to repay 6o gurus debt to her. [i 14-zo]
Kidem bint SultanBali of Kara Kegili mahalletk her son Sinan: My son Sinan owed
me 40 gurus, of which he has repaid only zo. Sinan says he repaid it all and two
witnesses confirm his testimony; then he makes sulh with his mother, giving
her 4 esedi gurus. [25 66-i]
Ibrahim bn (illegible) of Gulluk mahalle tk his son Ali: My son All has unlawfully
occupied a house I bought nine years ago for 70 gurus from Mahmud Halife at
the mahalle. All says he occupied it because his father used part of his money
while he was away to pay for the house. Ibrahim acknowledges a 15 gurus
debt to his son All. [25 ioz-i]
Emine bint Abdullahgives her mother Ayse her half shareof a house at Dukkancikler
Onu to repay her 15 gurus debt. [23 4-13]
Hatun Bola bint Eymir Bali has vekil for the matter her brother Hakkikat v.
Eymir Bali tk Yusuf Be?e bn Abdullah, who was appointed guardian of the
late Yuvan's orphan: My muvekkile's late husband owed her ioo gurus. In
exchange for that, while alive he gave her houses near Mermerli mescid to
settle a debt. Comfirmedby Seyyid Abdur-Rahim?elebi bn Abdul-Hayy Efendi
and Ramazan bn Mahmud. [zo o103-5]
Emine bint Hasan has vekil for the matterher brother Pervanebn Hasan ik Kurd bn
Cuma: My muvekkile's late husband Turabi owed her 18,ooo akce. With the
intervention of the muslihun, sulh was made for 6 gurus and 20 akce. [20 147-4]
b) Women
Women occasionally appearedas debtors and creditors, the latter a
little more often than the former. Some women got their money
through inheritance, others as a dowry, and some actually seem to
have participatedin trade, perhapson the model of the Prophet's wife
Khadija; but unfortunatelythe source of the capital of most Kayseri
women involved in credit is not revealed.The sicils, of course, do not
revealhow men felt about debtor-creditoror other commercialrelation-
ships with women; they merely show that such relationshipsoccasion-
ally developed. The position of the court, as reflected in the case
summariesin the sicils, was neutral.

LOANS AND CREDIT IN OTTOMAN RECORDS
195J
A number of instances of women giving and receiving loans and

credit occurred; perhaps a larger body of cases involved women who
inherited a debt or credit from a relative and undertook to secure
collection through the court. When contested disputesaroseconcerning
problems of credit, those involving women were considered at court
by exactly the same procedure as similarcases involving men. Women
could make formal claims against any man, including their fathers,
grown sons, and husbands.Although sometimes they named vekils to
handle their cases, most often they managedtheir own affairsat court.
Woman'splace may have been in the home in i7th centuryKayseri,
but there was a fair chance that she had a little nest egg tucked away,
owned some animals, a field, or even her own home. Such a situation
is very much in accord with the stricturesof Islamiclaw, even though
it differs considerably from the stereotype of Muslim or Ottoman
women. The successfulparticipationof women in the businessof credit
in the city probably depended upon the existence of well-organized
credit and business proceduresand of a vigorous court.
Haci Mustafa Basa bn Haci Kemal tk Guher bint (omitted) of Gulluk mahalle:
I sold her a camel for 32 esedi gurus. Now, in payment, I want the house in the
mahalle that she made rehn. Two witnesses confirm Mustafa'sclaim. [25 40-5]
Zamana bint Murad, for herself and as guardian (vasi) of the orphans of the late
Osman bn Mehmed of HusayinluMahalle,and her nazirAbdullah bn Ahmed ik
Mehmed bn Haci All: He has paid 15o gurus he owed for the price of store
goods. [25 66-2]
Ummi, grown daughter of the late Haci Ali bn Veli of Haci Ivaz mahalle, Hayr
un-Nisa, daughterof the deceasedwho has her husbandHamdullahbn Mehmed
as vekil for the matter, the orphans Seyh Hamid and Fahr un-Nisa have their
guardian (vasi) Abdul-Hadi bn Veli Halife, and the wife and heiress of the
deceased, Umm Gulsum bint Veli Halife has her brother Abdul-Hadi as vekil
ik former Kayseri kadi Mevlana Seyyid Haci Mahmud Efendi bn Seyyid
Haci Salih Efendi: At Haci Ivaz mahalle a house was sold for 70 gurus to
Seyyid Mahmud, to pay 35 gurus debt and to get money for maintenance.
[2z587-2]
Raziyye bint Hasan of Tus mahalle has vekil for the matter Hamze (elebi bn Halil
td Meryem bint Abdullah, wife of the deceased Sefer and guardian of his
orphans: Sefer had 15 esedi gurus karz-ihasen from her. A house at the mahalle
was rehn. I want it. Two witnesses confirm Raziyye. [24 14-I]
Shoemaker Seyyid Ebu Bekr bn Osman td Ummihani bint Haci Suleyman: She sold
her vineyard at Karaca Viran nahiye for 25 esedi With one year's interest
gurus.

196 R. C. JENNINGS
(mu'amele) it became 30 gurus. I owe her that. Confirmedby two witnesses.

[24 52-6]
Koger bint Oruc: I gave Kaplan v. Asya Bali 512 gurus. He has repaid only 400
gurus. Two witnesses confirm the debt as 95 gurus. [22 37-11]
Kaplan: I gave Koger iooo1000 gurus worth of goods. I took back 400 gurus worth, so
she still has 6oo gurus worth of my goods. [zz2237-13]
Yaz Gul bint Firenk (?) ik Isa Bali v. Kiragos: I sell him 24 scatteredvineyards at
Balagesi village for zo kirmizi altun, to pay him the debt of my late brother
Arzuman.[i 15150-3]
Above Yaz Gul ik Sirin v. Anderik: I sell him half a house at Balagesi village for
20 sikke altun, to pay him the debt owed by my late brother Arzuman. [15
150-4]
Altun bint (illegible): (illegible) bint (illegible) Seh owes me 30 ak altun. [12 11-6]
Fatma bint Ahmed of Sekiz (esme mahalle td Ahmed bn Haci Kara: I gave him
oo1000akce with usury (murabaha).I want it. Two witnesses confirmher [Karaman
22-2]
Mahabint Ramazanof Amasyatk Helvaci Suleymanof Kuca... mahalle: The house
he lives in at the mahalle is the property of Kadi Ibrahim Efendi of (orum
kasaba.Fifteen years ago IbrahimEfendi took my 40 gurus, placing the house as
rehn with me. Now Suleyman has bought the house from Ibrahim without
anyone consulting me. Helvaci Suleyman says he bought the house eight years
ago in her presence for 62 1/2 gurus and she had not complained until now.
I have a fetva that if she has not complained before this and if she was present,
her complaint is not acceptable. When proof is asked, the Muslims confirm
Suleyman'sstory. So, accordingto the fetva, she is restrained.[Amasya3-1]
Yusuf Pasa bn Abdullah of the city ik & ihtiraf MustafaBeg's vekil Abdul Baki bn
Mehmed (elebi: My late wife Meryem Hatun owed MustafaBeg 22 gurus. To
pay this, from her estate I give a house worth 22 gurus at Cami'-i Enderun
mahalle.[Amasya35-4]
Hobyar v. Bali: Sarebint SultanBali owes me 17 gurus from a loan (karz).[i 3 14-11]
Mihri bint Veled of Yenice mahalle ik Mahmud bn Ibrahim: I took 420 batman
bulgur and 18 batmanhoney from Mahmud. I owed him 4 yuk i0, but not one
dirhem of debt remains. [II 5-x]
Ebu Bekr bn Haci Osman is vekil for his father ik Huseyn bn Mehmed is vekil for
Fatma bint Hayranzade:My father owed i oo gurus to Fatma Hatun. Now it
is paid. [ii 39-230]
Fatma Hatun tk Ali Beg: Ali owes me for 2zoo yuk 6o batman cotton. Fatma has
proof. [iI 67-377]
Habil bn Kabil: I owe Dondi bint Cafer 26 altun, said before her vekil Halil Aga.
Habil must pay within twenty days. [8 14-111]
Abraham v. Ugur: Sah Bola bint (illegible) owes me 7 altun from the price of a
donkey and 17 altun te'addi, a total of 24 altun. She acknowledges this. [8 41-345]
Kaya Bali v. Serkis: I owe Sultan bint Asya esedi gurus. [23 61-12]
Two witnesses confirm that Ismail owes Ayse5 42 mu'amele gurus. [23 63-6]

Hatunlibint Haci Mustafaof Cami'-iKebir mahalletk Ebu Bekr bn Haci Bayram:I

owe his uncle janissarySabanBese 16o esedi gurus. Ebu Bekr has occupied my
garden at Egri Bucak nahiye. Two witnesses confirm Ebu Bekr's claim that
Hatunli placed the garden as rehn for her debt. [27 32-3]
Ayse bint Hamze has vekil Omer bn Ahmed: Veli bn Sinan owes her 6 gurus. [22
28-1z]
Fatmatd Mehmed: He owes me 9 i/2 mu'amele gurus. [z222-2]
Sah Hatun bint Gulabi: I gave Yusuf bn Haci Muharremioo gurus cash and 50 gurus
worth of nutgalls. I want this from his effects. Confirmed by two witnesses.
[19 57-11]
Ayse bint Cafer: I received one kile millet from Suleyman bn Ilyas, for i gurus. I
placed several objects as rehn, which I want back now that I have paid him.
However, Suleyman claims she owed 2 gurus. [17 70-4]
For other cases involving wives and husbands, see 27 10io-i,40-5; Karaman 24-3;
and Amasya 15-2, 25-2, 43-1, cited after part a, "families". See e, "vakf" 14 4-2.
c) Militaryclass
Membersof the "military"class-spahis and janissaries,mostly-
were very frequent borrowers and lenders, although such activity was
doubtlessinconsistentwith propermilitarydemeanor.Manyjanissaries
and spahis, including some of their highest officers,participatedin the
businessand tradeof Kayseri,no doubt to the disadvantageof their
militarypreparedness.
Someloanswere actuallymadein the courseof militarycampaigns.
Murad Beg bn Mehmed, spahi ik Yusuf Halife bn Abdul-Baki,imam of Ivaz mescid,
and Sayh Mehmed Efendi's son Mehmed (elebi: The late spahi Mehmed Beg
bn Abdullah made vakf 5o esedi gurus from one-third of his property for
Koran readings (cuz-i serif) twice a day for his soul (ruh). I was the designated
guardian (vasi'-i muhtar). I received the 5o gurus from hasbi mutevelli Seyyid
Mehmed Efendi, so I was 50 gurus in debt. When I loaned it out for 20zo%
interest (io for i2 mu'amele) a year, it became 6o esedi gurus. [25 52-2]
Mehmed Basa bn Hizir, janissarytk Dervis Aga, zabit for beyt ul-mal of the spahis
in Kayseri, has vekil Mehmed Beg bn Hasan: Silihdar Ali Beg deceased
at Hisar mahalle. I had sold him a horse for 2000ooo
akce. i6oo akce remains un-
paid.I want it from his estate.MehmedBasaconfirmedbytwo witnesses.[25 54-2]
Fahr ul-akran (illegible) Aga has vekil Seyyid Cafer (elebi ik Huseyn ?avus bn
Haci Yusuf: Huseyn took 3oo000akce from my muvekkil in Istanbul. Now it
is paid in full. [25 54-3]
Fahr ul-akran Kara KaS Mehmed Aga has vekil for the matter janissary commander
(serdar) Mehmed Beg bn Cafer tk Haci Bayram bn Kasim, brother of deceased
janissary Ibrahim Basa bn Kasim of Argincik village and guardian of his girl

198 R. C. JENNINGS
orphans: The deceased owed my muvekkil 300 gurus, cash and the price of a
horse. I want it from his effects. Bayram replies that no money remains in my
brother's estate. He was killed by infidels while coming from Kaffa. [z5 81-4]
Janissary Haci Mustafa Basa bn Abdullah ik Andreyas v. Hagik, zimmi: Twenty years
ago coming from Erzurum he incurred a debt of 260 gurus of which 60 gurus
remains outstanding. With the mediation of the upright (muslihun) a settlement
(sulh) is negotiated. Andreyas gives Mustafa a horse and both sides drop all
further claims. [24 9-1]
Toros v. Bali: I gave Suleyman Aga 500 riyal gurus for my debt from mudaraba.
[23 29-2]
Ahmed Aga, kethuda of Karaman beylerbey Ibrahim Pasa ik Saban ?elebi of Boya
hane: 42,800 akce in debts has been paid from Boya hane. [20 i i8-i]
Abdur-Rahman tm Mahmud Cavus bn Haci Ahmed of Kizil Viran village: On
campaign I gave Mahmud 50 gurus for 17 gurus interest (faide). He gave me a
camel and an ox worth 54 gurus. 13 gurus remains. Mahmud claims the rate
of interest was not mu'amele'-i ser'iyye and that he should not even have paid
the extra 4 gurus. Abdur-Rahman confesses that he collected unlawful interest.
He is ordered to restore the 4 gurus to Mahmud. [17 48-1]
Spahi Haci Abdi Beg bn Haci Hamze ik Hudavirdi Aga bn Haci Mehmed: Eight
years ago I gave Hudavirdi 50 gurus. Since then I have figured interest (mu'-
amele) at the rate of i2 for io. Written at the request of Hudavirdi. [17 74-11]
Janissary Kurd Bese bn Abdullah tk Mustafa Aga, kethuda of former Kayseri
sancak bey Muneccim Mehmed Beg: Mehmed Beg owed me 44 gurus. Mustafa
is his vekil and should pay me. Two witnesses confirm the claim. [15 i o8-4]
Omer Beg bn Abdullah tk Muneccim Mehmed Pasa, emir ul-umera: I gave him
zo200gurus, of which he still owes me 150. Confirmed by two witnesses. [15
139-I]
Spahi Haci Mustafa Beg of Kayseri tk Erzade Beg of (?) village of Suleymanlu kaza:
On the Bagdad campaign I gave Erzade Beg 8o sikke which with interest
(mu'amele) came to 140 sikke. However, I have received it all, in numerous
installments, from Ali Baba and Erzade. [iI 79-426]
Tezkere for janissary Mahmud Bese from Ali, mir miran of Ic Il: I received xoo00
gurus karz-i hasen, that is 8ooo akce, from him. I still owe him 4000 akce.
[Karaman 55-4]
Mustafa Beg bn Mehmed, spahi tk former janissary Huseyn Bese bn Abdullah: He
lived in my house at (omitted) Hisar. I want him to give it to me. I owe 31
sikke karz-i ser'iyye and i/2 gurus. [Trabzon 6-i]
Mustafa Basa bn Haci Himmet and Abdul-Kadir Cavus ik Hasan Cavus bn Tanrivirdi
Cavus: Tanrivirdi owed Himmet io8 sikke'-i altun. I want it now. However,
Mustafa and Abdul-Kadir accept 5o kirmizi altun worth of wheat and renounce
any further claims. [27 69-3]
For other cases involving the military class, see d, "ulema" Karaman
3o0-3,39-1, 40-.
Also e, "vakf" Karaman 13-I.

d) Ulema
Members of the ulema-imams, muderrises, even kadis-were
frequentlycreditors,and not infrequentlythey were engagedprofession-
ally in business or commerce. Their positions as ulema depended on
their reputationsfor integrity, so presumablythey were good credit
risks. Some of the largest outstandingloans and creditsinvolved ulema.
The most prestigious among them were quite well-to-do at least, and
many must have been wealthy.
It has generally been said of Ottoman ulema that they scorned
business and trade (not to mention profits), but the ulema of I7th
century Kayseri had no distaste for trade. Lapidus has conclusively
demonstratedthat the ulema of Mamluk Syria were intimatelytied to
business, concluding that: "The ulema also controlled the business as
well as the cultic aspectsof the communities'institutions,"and "Instead
of two distinctclasses,one broadulama-merchantbody was formed" 1).
The merchantclass of Kayseri was composed of other elements of the
socio-economic order as well as the ulema, but the similaritieswith
Mamluk Syria are far greaterthan the differences.
Haci SuleymanBeg bn Abdullah of Mancusunvillage ik presentKayserikadi Mevla-

na Ahmed Efendi: I gave Ahmed Efendi 5o gurus in Istanbul, taking jewels as
rehn. Now I have received the money and surrenderedthe rehn. [27 13-1]
Mehmed Beg bn Ali Beg of Gesi village tk Yagob v. Asl Beg of Mancusunvillage:
Previously in Istanbul when Cuvayni Efendi was Kayseri Kadi, Yagob came
to me and said give CuvayniEfendi 25 sikke'-i hasene. I said I could not unless
Yagob were kefil bil-mal. I gave Yagob z5 sikke. I want it. Two witnesses
confirm Mehmed Beg. The debt must be paid. [25 51-6]
Seyyid Fazlullah ?elebi bn Musli elebi ik Haci Receb bn Haci Isa Dede: I took
akce karz from him, placing rehn. [27 69-2]
7200zoo
Fahr ul-kuzat Mevlana Seyyid Huseyn Efendi bn Hasan Efendi, and his father
Hasan Efendi bn Musa Seyh has as vekil for the matter Seyyid Musa ?elebi
bn Hasan Efendi tk Bali bn Hizir: He owed my father and me 150
gurus, 50
esedi gurus for a camel and o100 gurus karz. I repaid the 50ogurus to the father
but still owe the son Ioo gurus. [25
90-3]
i) Lapidus, p. 0io8, p. o09. Cf. Gibb & Bowen, v. I, pt. z: "Very often, too,
professional 'Ulema engaged in trade and industry, sometimes out of religious
scruples, since they regardedit as unlawful to accept stipends out of revenues which
were not sanctioned by the ,eri'a, p. Ioz.

200 R. C. JENNINGS
Fahr ul-kuzat Mevlana Seyyid Huseyn Efendi bn Hasan Efendi of Kayseri has vekil
for the matter Yusuf bn Abdullah tk Ayse bint Hasan, wife and heiress (zevce'-i
metruka) of the late Haci Ibrahim: The deceased owed my muvekkil 20 esedi
gurus asl-i mal and 4 gurus mu'amele, a total of 24 gurus. I want it. Ayse con-
firms the debt, says she is kefil bil-mal and will pay within two hundred fifty
days. [27 Ii z-2]
Imam Kuli bn Cilak Huseyn ik Nasuh bn Musa: I owe him 455 akce. [z22 38-13]
Mevlana Abdullah ?elebi bn Abdur-Rahman of Amasya, now kadi of Kucuk
Suleymanlu ik Mustafa bn Mehmed of Arabkir: Vineyard at village of Amasya
sold to Mustafa for i i,100ooakce to settle debt. [2zo49-2]
Receb bn Haci Ali of the city ik Kadi Mevlana Mustafa Efendi bn Hoca Nazir, who
has vekil for the matter Kadi Mevlana Inayetullah Efendi bn Ramazan Efendi:
My brother Mustafa borrowed 144 sikke from Gumusli zade Haci Sefer. I am
kefil bil-mal. Haci Sefer gave the debt to his damad Seyyid Mustafa Efendi as
a gift. He wants the money from me as kefil. Since I cannot pay that much,
I have sold Inayetullah half of a shop to settle the debt to Mustafa. Seyyid
Mustafa and Seyyid Inayetullah renounce claim to any remaining debt. [zo20
53-6]
Mevlana Abdullah Efendi, present kadi of Suleymanlu ik Mustafa: I owe him
11,o100 akce, of which I have only repaid 4100ooakce. [20 70-5]
Molla Seydi Ali: I gave Veli 8 gurus with interest (mu'amele), so I should be paid
io gurus now that the year is up. Veli says he repaid the 8 gurus and there was
not supposed to be any interest. Veli has no witnesses, but he swears those were
the terms. [20o i 12-i]
Seyyid Ali elebi bn Musli Efendi tk Abdul-Mutallib bn Haci Veli: He owed me
ioo kirmizi altun. The Muslims investigated this and a settlement (sulh) was
made for 75 gurus. I was paid 15 gurus and a three day respite was given, but he
still has not paid the rest. Confirmed by two witnesses. [15 4-5]
Mevlana Seyyid Mahmud Celebi bn Salih Efendi ik Mehmed Beg bn Abdullah and
Mustafa Aga bn Abdullah: I sold them 4 camels for 6oo00gurus, 15o gurus down
with the rest due in sixty days. [15 30-3]
Kurd Beg bn Abdullah: I owe 31 gurus and 24 sikke'-i hasene to Mevlana Seyyid
Mehmed Efendi for a loan (karz-i hasen). [15 38-1]
Mehmed (elebi bn Veli Efendi ik Muderris Saban Celebi bn Haci Mehmed: He owed
my father Veli 5000 akce. Now paid in full. [15 68-4]
Muderris Saban Efendi bn Haci Mehmed dava Haci Yusuf, brother of the late
Haci Kenan: Kenan owed me 40,000 osmani for the price of five camels.
Yusuf denies his brother took any camels. Written at the request of Saban. [15
72-3]
Muderris Saban Efendi bn Haci Mehmed ik: I received i8,ooo akce for the opium,
which was owed me by the estate of the late Ebu Bekr. I have no further claim.
[1 5 74-3]
Haci Abdul-Vehhab bn Haci Mehmed accepts i8,ooo akce for the opium debt
(elebi
owed by the estate of the late Ebu Bekr: I have no further claim. [i5 74-5]

The guardian of the orphans of the late Ebu Bekr accepts payment of i8,ooo akce
from the estate of the deceased to MuftizadeAli elebi and Ibrahim ?elebi for
opium. [15 76-2]
Haci Turmus bn Barak and Yunus bn Gumri ik: We owe Kayseri Efendi Sinan
Efendi ii gurus karz-i hasen. We have gotten a seventeen day extension.
[I595-31
Seyyid Huseyn (elebi tk Hasan bn Haci Mehmed: He and his brother Ibrahim owe
me i8o gurus, for which Hasan is kefil bil-mal. [1 100-2]
MuderrisMeviana Saban Efendi bn Nasrullahik Haci Ferhadbn Haci Cafer, spahi:
At Islamlu I took 300oogurus karz-i hasen from Ferhad. [1
5107-1]
Seyyid Abdul-Alim bn Seyyid Mehmed ik & i'triraf Seyyid Aliu elebi bn Ishak
gelebi: I took 25 gurus karz-i hasen from Seyyid Ali. I make him my vekil to
collect some revenues due me from my timar at Gomec Hisar village, but
anything he collects in excess of 25 gurus goes to me. [15 i 15-1]
Haci Ferhad Beg bn Haci Caferik Mevlana Saban Efendi bn Haci Mehmed: I gave
Saban 300 esedi gurus karz-i hasen in Istanbul. Now I have been repaidin full.
[15 I18-2]
Fahr ul-kuzat Mevlana Ayni Ali Efendi has for vekil MuderrisMevlanaMusliheddin
Efendi tk the late KaraMustafa'sson Osman ?elebi: My muvekkil gave Mustafa
a loan (karz-ihasen) of i2 sikke'-i altunthree yearsago in Istanbul.I want it from
his effects. Two witnesses confirm Musliheddin. [I5 142-5]
Haci Receb ?elebi bn Seyh Ali tk Fahr ul-muhadderatZuhre Hatun, wife of the late
Seyydi Abdul-Baki Efendi: Her husband owed me 83 gurus interest (ribh)and
asl-i mal. Two witnesses confirm Receb. [i 5 145-6]
Seyyid Ali (elebi bn Sefer Sah Efendi tk Zuhre Hatun, wife of the late Seyyid
Abdul-Baki Efendi, had vekil for the matter Kadi Mevlana Seyyid Omer
Efendi bn Ahmed Efendi (who also was her vekil in 145-6): Her husband owed
me so gurus. Confirmedby two witnesses. [i 5 146-1]
Imam Ebu Bekr Halife tk Ahmed Beg bn Abdullah, guardianof the orphans of the
late Haci Ahmed: The deceased owed me 6o
gurus karz. [14 36-51
Seyyid Abdi Beg bn Haci Abdul-Vehhab: Veli bn Ali of Sarimsakluvillage: He
owed me 13 kile for rent of the mill for three years. Now all is paid. I have
returned the ox he left as emanet. [13 35-3]
Seyyid Abdul-Aziz (elebi bn Emir Ahmed: I owe Veli bn Abdul-Gani i2 gurus
for a ninety day loan. [13 65-7]
Seyyid Ali Efendi, Maraskadi ik: FormerlyI gave Seyh Abdul-Cebbar120,oo000akce.
[12 ia-uI]
SuleymanBeg bn Abdullah ik: Borli Ahmed Beg borrowed 131 gurus (o10,480 akce)
for i oo days from Rebi' ul-evvel 1o15. Now the term is up. The temessuk has
been brought to Kadi Hakimi Efendi, who held emanet. Ahmed Beg has not
paid me, but Hakimi Efendi has paid the debt in full. [i2 53-4]
Mufti Veli Efendi makes Saban gelebi vekil to collect money that is owed him.
[12 164-7]

202 R. C. JENNINGS
Haci Barakbn Hamze ik Meviana Seyyid Hakimi Efendi: I gave Mehmed Efendi a
300 gurus loan (karz) in Istanbul. [i i 41-239]
Haci Omer Beg bn Davud Beg ik: In Istanbul I lent Mevlana Hakimi Efendi 75
gurus. He has repaid it all. [i i 44-258]
Seyyid Ali Efendi, Maras kadi ik Kidvet ul-kuzat Mevlana Seyyid Abdul-Baki
Efendi bn Zeyn ul-Abidin Efendi, vekil for Seyh Abdul-Cebbar bn Omer
Seyh: Formerly I gave the aforementioned Abdul-Cebbar ?eyh i20,000ooo akce.
Paid in full now, after many installments. [i x 50-284]
Abdi Beye bn Mehmed ik Kidvet ul-muvami Hakimi Efendi: I collected the whole
100oogurus from Hakimi Efendi. [11i 53-297]
Kidvet ul-kuzat Mevlana Seyyid Ebul-Kasim Efendi bn Haci Sefer (elebi tk
Kapuci Haci Huseyn bn Mehmed: When I needed money in Istanbul, Haci
Huseyn sent someone to me. [ Ii 75-415]
Mustafa (elebi, muderris now living at Edirne, owes Haci Ali bn Yakub 1500
altun from morocco leather (sahtiyan). [8 35-292]
Solak Mustafa bn Abdullah tk Seyyid InayetullahCelebi bn Seyyid Ahmed Efendi:
The late Ahmed Efendi owed Hasan Beg 3oo00akce for (illegible). Two witnesses
confirm Mustafa. [Karaman 30-2]
Kadri Cavus bn Ahmed of Larende tk Seyyid Inayetullah Celebi: I gave the late
Ahmed 1700 akce, of which 400 akce is still due. Confirmed by two witnesses.
[Karaman 30-3]
Janissary Hasan Bese bn Ibrahim of (?) village of (?) kaza td Seyyid Inayetullah,
son of the late kadi Emir Ahmed Efendi: The deceased owed me 18,6oo akce
from Istanbul, where I gave him 14, 6oo00 akce cash, 4 dulbends, and something
else. 4200ooakce of this remains to be paid. Two witnesses confirm Hasan. On
request, Hasan takes an oath. [Karaman 39-1]
Haci Ali bn Haci Halife of Ahi Osman mahalle td Inayetullah,son of the late kadi
Ahmed, and his wife Ayse Hatun bint Abdul-Kerim, as guardianfor her young
son, have as vekil Osman bn Mustafa: The deceased owed me 58o akce. Con-
firmedby two witnesses. [Karaman39-3]
Haci Ahmed ?avus bn Devlet Han of Larendebut now resident in Istanbul has as
vekil Mustafa Bese bn Devlet Han td Seyyid Inayetullah, son of the late kadi
Ahmed: My muvekkil gave the deceased 15,100ooakce for dulbend as a loan
(karz)in Istanbulwhile he was kadi. 90oo00akce of the debt remains.Two witnes-
ses confirm Ahmed. [Karaman 40-1]
Ahmed Efendi bn Mahmnudof ?elebiler mahalle tk IspartaKadi Ahmed bn Abdul-
Vehhab of the same mahalle: He took 12,oo000akce unlawfully from me. His son
Abdur-Rahimalso took money from me. With the mediation of the muslihun,
sulh was arrangedfor property. [Isparta2, p. 16]
Fahr ul-kuzat Hizir Efendi tm Halil Bese of (illegible) village: Formerly I gave
Halil 9 gurus of my 40oo00akce debt to Esref ul-kuzat Seyyid Mehmed Efendi.
Halil denies receiving this and takes an oath. [Amasya 34-1]
Bese
For other cases involving ulema, see e, "vakf", 25 45-i.

e) Evkaf
The sicils indicate that a large number of seventeenth century evkaf
were engaged in money lending. In fact, many evkaf were endowed
partly or entirely with capital rather than land or buildings and so
maintainedthemselves entirelyby money lending. Barkanand Ayverdi,
in their importantstudy of a 1546 tahrirdefterof Istanbul evkaf, found
that over I 5o such evkaf existed in Istanbulalone in the middle of the
i6th century (46% of the total 2517 evkaf in the city); the normal rate
of interest was io% or I I.25%%,although a few required 12.z5%,a very
few 15%, and one possibly 20zo%.Inalcik mentions this in his study of
capital formation in the Ottoman Empire, citing 10io%as the normal
rate but some instances going as high as zo% 1).
Since I 1% of all instances mentioned of credit in the Kayseri sicils
surveyed involved evkaf, it can be confidently maintainedthat evkaf
provided an important source of credit for the community. No list of
all the existing evkaf has been found as yet, but, ratherthan credit in
Kayseri being dominated by a small number of rich evkaf, a large
number of evkaf, particularlyat the level of mahalle and villages,
engaged in money lending.
Ulema, who often served as mutevellis of these institutions, were tied
closer to the business and financialworld because of their relationship
to the evkaf.
Serdar Ali Beg, mutevelli of Haci Pasa evkaf ik Mevlana Seyyid Mahmud Efendi,
present Kayseri kadi: Previously I sold him 400 kile of barley for 1I3,oo000akce.
Now he has paid in full. [25
45-I]
Mahmud Beg, mutevelli of the evkaf for the fountain of the late CaferBeg tk Tatar,
zimmi: Tatar has 20 gurus from the vakf. I want it. Tatar says his debt is only
Io gurus. Mahmud had no proof, so Tatar is asked to take an oath, which he
does. [27 49-4]
Halil Dede bn Ahmed of Lala mahalle, mutevelli of money made vakf by the late
Haci Halil ik Ali Dede bn Isa Dede of the mahalle: His late father Isa Dede
owed the vakf 30 esedi gurus. Now paid by his son. [27 67-2]
I) H. Inalcik, "Capitalism,"p. 134: "In many cases cash money made up a part
of the whole of the funds, the interest from which was the annual income of the
wakf."

204 R. C. JENNINGS
Fahr ul-akran Mehmed Beg, mutevelli and descendent (evlad) of the late Haci
Ahmed Pasa evkaf in Kayseri has vekil for the matter Fahr ul-akran Omer
Beg bn Mustafa Beg ik Husrev Aga's son Osman (elebi, (?) of the donor: I
have received 250o esedi gurus of his debt to the vakf in 10o35. No furtherclaims
[2772-4]
Vakf established by Haci Mustafa bn Beginduk for the muezzin of the mescid of
Tac Kizil mahalle... money to be lent out at 2zo% interest (i2 for io), rehn
i
should be placed and kefil bil-malis necessary.. . [25 16-2]
Haci Ali bn Hamze, hasbi mutevelli of the evkaf of the mescid of Haci Mansur
mahalle td Meryem bint Abdullah, wife of the late Sefer and guardian of his
orphans: The late Sefer owed the vakf 60o akce. Denied by Meryem. However,
the mutevelli is confirmed by two witnesses. [24 14-3]
Bedros v. Tavid of Harbid mahalle ik Dirador v. Ohan: He and Ahmed Beg had
5o esedi gurus from my vakf, which became 100oo gurus with four year's interest.
Now it has been paid in full. [24 62-2]
Bedros v. Tavid of Harbid mahalleik Aslan v. (?): He had 5o gurus asl-i mal from
my vakf. It became i o gurus, which I have received in full. [24 62-3]
Mutevelli Haci Receb (elebi: Haci Abdi Beg has 16,ooo akce asl-i mal from Sultan
Hamam vakf and at i2 for 10 (20%) interest he owes 3200oo akce, for a total of
19,2o00akce. His revenues at Talas are rehn. [23 34-7]
Imam Hizir Halife bn Ibrahim: Bahadur has io mu'amele gurus asl-i mal and 4
gurus interest (ribh) from the vakf. [23 54-3]
The late Tatar bn Mustafaowed 12 mu'amele gurus to the vakf for the avariz of the
people of Hasbeg mahalle, so he sold a vineyard at Hasan Dagi. [22 28-Io]
Bekr Celebi has given 2200 akce and MusaCelebi 56oo akce, a total of 7800 akce, for
the vakf of the avariz of the people of Husayinlu mahalle. In exchange for this,
no nuzl, avariz, or other tekalif should be taken from them. Let i akce/day be
given to the mutevelli from the interest (ribh). Let the ribh be 2o% mu'amele.
[22 52-8]
Veli bn Akinci Ali ik Ramazanbn Dede Bali, hasbi mutevelli of the money made
vakf for the avariz of the people of Kurdler mahalle: I owe the vakf for the
avariz of the people of Kurdlermahalle 24 ak altun. At the request of the mute-
velli. [2zo28-2]
Haci Ebu Bekr bn Haci Mustafa, appointed mutevelli with the consent of the
people of the mahalle for 13,000 akce that Haci Hizir made vakf for Seydi Yar
Kadi mescid, for the muellim hane built by Haci Hizir, and for the mekteb ik
JanissaryHaci Mustafa Basa bn Abdullah: Mustafa wanted Arslancizadegiven
the vakf money as mutevelli, but he would not accept. Haci Mustafa gave
Murad v. Satilmus, a zimmi of Yalman mahalle, 5000 of the 13,000 akce from
Rebi I to the end of the year for io % interest (mu'amele).He is kefil bil-mal for
this. The other 8ooo akce I have received from Haci Mustafa. Mustafa agrees.
[20o36-1]
Ribh of money made vakf for Buyuk (esme... [20 104-5]
Abdur-Rezak bn Mustafa: (?) v. Ivan and Arzuman made vakf 5 gurus for the
boyaci haraki. I was hasbi mutevelli. I was not able to do it, so I gave the money

to (?) v. (?) and Bali v. Arzuman. Let it be given out for 20% mu'amele from
now to the end of the year. [o20 1zo-4]
Vakf established by Seyyid Esad Efendi bn Sadi Efendi - rent from property and
ribh from the money are to be expended to pay certain people for the perfor-
mance of designated prayers and readings. [zo 2o10-i]
Omer bn Haci Nebi makes vakf I2oo akce for Haci Isa mescid, to be lent out at io0%
interest (io for i2 mu'amele). [19 31-9]
Dervis Beg made vakf 50 gurus and 4000 akce, for Alaeddin, the preacher of Ulu
cami, while he is alive, to give out the money for 2o% interest (ribh). Abdul-
Kadir bn Ahmed is hasbi mutevelli and Abdus-Selam (elebi bn Haci Kasim is
nazir. [1i9 21I-4]
Haci Ahmed bn Sefer: The late Haci Ahmed made vakf 5o gurus for certain prayers
to be recited, the interest (ribh) of 2zo%to be used to. . . [19 34-5]
Usta Halil bn Musa, mutevelli of money made vakf for the hane avarizi of Eski
Bezaristan mahalle dava Haci Mustafa bn Seydi Ali: Mustafa is in debt 300
asl-i mal akce to the vakf. Hudavirdi's vineyard has been placed as security
(rehn). [17 8-7]
Written at the request of nazir of evkaf Haci Mehmed bn Veli. Usta Halil bn Musa,
mutevelli of the vakf for the avariz of Eski Bezaristan ik: I have borrowed
8oo akce from the vakf. [17 8-8]
Ibrahim bn Ali ik: I owe the above mentioned vakf 6oo akce. Written at the request
of Usta Halil and Musa. [17 8-9]
Usta Halil, mutevelli of the evkaf dava Sefer bn Mirza: He owes iz200ooakce to the
avariz vakf and 900ooakce to the mescid vakf. Now I want it. Sefer gives five
houses in the mahalle, worth 40 gurus each, to pay the debt, which is settled for
2100I akce. [17 8-11]
Haci Abdi Halife, Sadi (elebi, and Mahmud (elebi, sons of former castle
imam Mehmed Efendi ik Yusuf, mutevelli of Ahmed Pasa evkaf, who has
Osman (elebi bn Husrev as vekil: While (emsid Aga was mutevelli, our
father gave 38,ooo akce to the vakf for rice, wheat, and other expenses. He and
?emsid Aga have died. The vakf owes his estate that much.... .Sulh for
14,oo000akce. [17 15- ]
Seyyid Ahmed (elebi bn Omer Efendi, vekil for Seyyid Ali Celebi, mutevelli of the
late Huseyn Beg vakf ik Abdullah ?elebi, mutevelli of the vakf of his late father
Abdul-Hayy Efendi: Huseyn Beg vakf owes Abdul-Hayy Efendi vakf 70
gurus asl-i mal. To pay the debt, the revenues for this year from Gesi village
belonging to Huseyn Beg vakf are assigned to Abdullah. [1i5 11-2]
Abdi Beg bn Teberruk ik Haci Hasan bn Haci Mehmed and muezzin Ebu Bekr: .. .I
made vakf 900ooakce for the avariz of the people of Lala mahalle and gave it to the
mutevelli. It is to be lent out at 12 for o10interest and the interest (mu'amele)
is to be spent on avariz. [15 36-4)
Abdur-Rahman bn Himmet: I owe the late Sefer mal and
(avus vakf 30 altun asl-i
6 altun ribh, with a promise to pay by the end of the year. Usta Maruf is kefil
bil-mal. Written at the request of mutevelli Huseyn. [i5 8 i-2]
Yusuf bn Ali of Kurtler mahalle tk Mehmed bn Ak Kas of the same mahalle: His

zo6 R. C. JENNINGS
father Ak Ka? owed Kapuci Haci Huseyn zo altun, Haci Abdul-Celil 8 altun,
Kuquk mescid evakf i2 altun, Buyuk mescid vakf i z altun, and 18 altun to
someone else, a total of 52 altun. [15 107-2]
The late Acem Nizameddin made vakf 75 gurus for the evlad of the late Salih Efendi
to perform certain reading from the Koran. He made a condition that the inter-
est (ribh) should go to the descendant who performs the reading. Mevlana
Ahmed Halife, who read these, has died. Ahmed's son Abdur-Rahimis suitable
in every way for the position. [15 143-3]
Vakfiyye of deceased janissaryHasan Beg bn Abdullah of Moli village: Established
with iooo akce and some vineyards. The money is to be loaned out for interest
(mu'amele) of zo% for pious purposes and with rehn placed. The income
(ribh) should go to the imam of the mescid of the village for readings from the
Koran for the soul... [15 266-1]
Mutevelli Hizir bn Hudavirdi of Taykincik mahalle ik: One-third of the property
(0oo gurus) of the late Haci Huseyn was made vakf. Several people in the ma-
halle are kefil bil-mal for the money. Canbola,the wife of the deceased, is nazir.
The money should be lent out for zo% interest (i2 for io mu'amele'-i ser'iyye)
by Canbola, taking rehn. [14 4-2]
Anasdas v. Bedri, zimmi of Bezirci mahalle: I made vakf 8ooo akce of my property.
Lend it out for 12 for io interest (mu'amele'-i ser'iyye) using the ribh for the
people of the mahalle... [14 49-I]
Evladiyye vakf at Ulu Berengoz village - zo,ooo akce plus shares of mills -
money
lent out (mu'amele)for interest (ribh) to pay for the salariesof mosque officials,
etc. [14 53-1]
Vakf at Develi... propose to lend out money at interest (mu'amele)... [14 63-1]
Emr brought by Receb Celebi to Kayseri kadi, Receb made a petition: I made a loan
(mu'amele'-iser'iyye) to some people with money from the vakf of which I am
mutevelli. Houses were placed as rehn. Then with the celali attacks,they burned
the propertythat was rehn and so it was not possible to collect the vakf's money.
I was not at fault. I have a fetva affirmingthat... [14 70-1]
Fetva. Zeyd made mu'amele'-i ser'iyye with vakf money. He gave Amr money,
taking a house as rehn. The celali attacked,pillaged Amr's property,and burned
the house, so that it was not possible to collect the vakf money. Is the mutevelli
responsible? No. [14 70-2]
Abdul-Alim bn Hamze, mutevelli of the evkaf of Kose Danismendlu mahalle tk
Haci Musa Beg bn Haci Ibrahim: Musa owes us 8o5o asl-i mal for flour plus
16io akce ribh, a total of 9660 akce. Confirmed by ?eyh ul-Islam Mustafa
Efendi, Akza ul-kuzat Mevlana Seyyid InayetullahEfendi bn RamanzanEfendi,
and Fahr us-Sadat Seyyid Mahmud (elebi bn Salih Efendi. [13 38-5]
made vakf for Hurrem (avus mescid to be let out for interest (ribh)...
...money
[13 80-3]
Haci Murad bn Sadullah established a vakf with 5400 akce to be given out for
interest (12 for mu'amele), to provide daily allowance of i akce/day for
the imam of the io
mescid at Husayinlu mahalle built by Haci Ali, and i akce/day
for the muezzin, for reciting the Koran (cuz-i 2
serif). [i i i-i]

Hizir v. Anderik borrowed 6o ak altun from the vakf of the father of

..zimmi
Haci Mehmed bn Haci Abdullah. [12 20-7]
Anasdas v. Bedri of Bezirci mahalle made vakf Ioo gurus (8oo akce) for the avariz
of the people of the mahalle. Habes v. Kaysar is appointed mutevelli. He is to
lend out money at zo% interest. [iz 83-6]
Ali bn Huseyn, mutevelli of ?eyh Taced-din mahalle vakf: The late Abdul-Gani,
husband of this Fatma bint Mustafa, owed me 36 ak altun, which I want from
his effects. Haci Abdul-Kadir bn Haci Isa and Haci Mahmud bn Mirza confirm
Ali's testimony. [ 12 84-4]
Mevlana Mustafa, mutevelli of Mehmed Efendi evkaf: Hizir has 84 altun from the
vakf-promised in six months. [I z 125-11]
Hizir ik Musliheddin Halife, mutevelli of Mehmed Efendi evkaf: I owe 70 ak altun
asl-i mal and 14 altun ribh, a total of 84 altun, and the term has expired. When
he said I need a ten day extension (mehl), it was confirmedby the mutevelli. [ 12
I25-I2]
Haci Receb, mutevelli of Haci Ibrahim evkaf: This Ayse's father Nimeti ?elebi had
5oo000
akce asl-i mal from the vakf plus iooo akce ribh. Certain houses and a
vineyard are rehn. Two witnesses confirm this. [12 171-15]
Fahr ul-kuzat Kadi Mevlana CaferEfendi bn Ahmed ik IbrahimCelebi bn Mehmed,
vekil for Seyh Abdul-Hayy Efendi bn Ali: Abdul-Hayy had made vakf to be
loaned out 240 gurus of stuff, i.e., 200oogurus plus a Georgian slave (Gurci ul-asl
gulam) Dilaver worth 40 gurus. I am taking this as a loan, leaving rehn with
Ibrahim.[ i 1 9-55]
Subhan v. (illegible) of Yazir village ik Pervane, mutevelli of Huseyn Beg evkaf:
Subhan owes the vakf 20 altun. [i i I2-76]
Alaeddin Halife bn Isa Halife, mutevelli of Bozatlu mescid dava Mehmed bn Subhan
virdi and Dervis bn Ali, who were kefil for Hamze bn Sevinduk, who borrowed
6o altun. . . [ii 13-x]
Mehmed bn Subhanvirdi of Bozatlu mahalle ik Alaeddin Efendi, mutevelli of the
mescid: Previously Hamze bn Sevinduk took 6o altun from the money of the
vakf.[ii 13-xx]
Haci Mehmed bn Haci Abdullah of the Danismendlutribe (taife) tk Hizir v. Anderik:
He owes the vakf of my late father Haci Abdullah 84 altun, 6o ak altun asl-i
mal and two year's ribh of 24 altun. I want it. After the denial and a request
for witnesses, Haci Ahmed bn Haci Mehmed and Mehmed bn Ahmed Fakih
confirmed Mehmed's claim and their testimony was accepted. It was ordered
accordingly. [1 52-291]
Pervane bn Hasan, mutevelli of Huseyn Beg evkaf ik Arslan Beg bn Abdullah: For
the dome and boiler and other things of Salaheddinhamam I spent 6o gurus
from the vakf of the late Abdul-Hayy Efendi and 60 gurus from Arslan Beg. It
is my debt. Confirmed by Aslan Beg. [ii 54-303]
Vakf establishedby Aftab bint Abdullah, who had vekil (?) Hatun bint Subhanvirdi.
6ooo akce made vakf for the avariz of Yalman mahalle. Let it be lent out for
20% interest (mu'amele). Mutevelli is Monla Hasan bn Huseyn. [8 38-322]
Hamze Beg bn Huseyn made vakf I30 altun for Yenice mahalle. The income from

zo208 R. C. JENNINGS
the interest of io% (i i for o10mu'amele)goes in part for the cuz-i serif by imams
of three different mescids, Haci Pir Gazi, Hatmir ogli, and Seyh Taceddin.
[8 40-322]
Solak Yusuf Beg bn Karli, mutevelli of money made vakf for the Cami'-i Serif
in (illegible) village by HasanCavus of that village tk RamazanCavus, guardian
of the orphansof the late Seydi cavus bn Hamze of Alaca Suluk mahalle: The
vakf was owed Io,ooo akce by the deceased. Two witnesses confirm this.
[Karaman I13-i]
Kidvet ul-kuzat Seyyid Ahmed Efendi bn Seyyid Mehmed, mutevelli of the evkaf
of Haci Mustafamescid inside Hisar mahalletk Gizaz (?) Hizir has vekil for the
matter Sinan bn Gizaz (?) Ahmed: Hizir owed 4000ooakce to the vakf of Sems
Hatun bint Seyyid Mehmed Celebi's mescid. Received in two installmentsfrom
Sinan.No furtherclaim. [Karaman15-z]
Present kadi of Larende,Kidvet ul-kuzat Mevlana Seyyid Ahmed Efendi ik ve tabir
Dervis Mehmed Efendi bn Saban, hasbi mutevelli at the tomb of the mother
(valide'-i hakime) of Mevlana Rumi in Ali Sahne mahalle of Larende: I have
given 1350o akce asl-i mal of the mescid of the tomb to the mutevelli. It is to be
given out for mu'ameleor to be placed as rehn. Ribh should be paid every year.
In return, let suret-i sit be recited at morning namaz. [Karaman19-3]
Seyyid Mehmed Celebi bn Seyyid Hasan Efendi, mutevelli as one of evlad of the
evkaf of Seyyid Mehmed Efendi ik Dervis bn Muharrem, Musa gelebi bn
Musliheddin Halife, and others in the service of the vakf: My late father owed
the vakf 20,000 akce. Now paid. [Karaman 41-2]
Abdul-Gani bn Danyal, mutevelli of (?) ogli mescid of Kohne Galle mahalle tk
Abdi Bese bn Danyal, vasi muhtar of the late Kor Cavus of the mahalle: The
deceased owed the vakf 6ooo akce asl-i mal and 900ooakce ribh. I want it as mute-
velli. Two witnesses confirm Abdul-Gani. After tadil and tezkiye their testi-
mony was accepted. [Karaman 52-2]
Usta Hamze bn Halil, mutevelli of hane' -i avarizakce of Gaz Albi mahalleof Larende
tk the above Abdi Bese, vasi muhtar of the late Kor Cavus of Kohne Galle
mahalle: The deceased owed 8oo akce asl-i mal and i20 akce ribh. Confirmedby
two witnesses. [Karaman 52-3]
Haci Yusuf bn Haci Mehmed, mutevelli of Celebi mescid of Kadi Dukkan mahalle
tk above Abdi Bese, vasi muhtar of the late Kor ?avus: Debt of vakf of iooo
akce asl-i mal plus 400 akce ribh equals 1400 akce. Confirmed by two witnesses.
[Karaman53-4]
Karz from vakf... [Konya no. 4, P. 29]
Sefer bn Servis ik mutevelli Dervis Suleyman: I owed iooo1000akce to Mehmed Beg
bn Osman, but now I have received that from the mutevelli, agreeing to pay 2
akce on every io akce as mu'amele, from the first of Muharrem.Abdi bn Haci
Hasan is kefil bil-mal. [Konya no. 4, P. 43]
The mutevelli for the avariz of Iskender mahalle bast-i kelam Safi bint Hoca Sinan
of the mahalle: Her mother Saliha made vakf 700 akce for the avariz of the
people of the mahalle. Safi owes the vakf 233 akce. There is mu'amele on this.
The court-kadi Mevlana Abdi Efendi-has previously ordered her to pay.
Saliha denies this, but two witnesses confirm the mutevelli. [Isparta n. 2, p. 19]

son of the late MehmedCelebi of mahallesaid in the presence of Bekr ?elebi,

(?),mutevelli of the vakf of Firdos (?) Cami: akce asl-i mal and akce
Beg o10,000ooo 3oo000
mu'amele makes 18,ooo akce due the vakf [i0o,ooo is an error for 15,000, which
then makes zo% interest.] [Isparta no. z, p. 26]
Haci Osman bn Ahmed, mutevelli of the vakf for the avariz of Yaylazademahalle
before Rahimebint Ahi, who is appointed vasiy-i ser' of the orphans of the late
Haci Yunus bn Yusuf: The deceased owed 900ooakce asl-i mal and 100ooakce
mu'amele'-i ser'iyye, ioo000akce debt. Confirmedby two witnesses. [Ispartano.
2 p. 5z].
akce mu'amele (after eight years) makes 36o akce,
15o akce original loan plus z210io
of which 340 akce was still due. [Isparta no. 2, p. 46]
MehmedBese bn (illegible) Mehmed,mutevelli of the money made vakf for (illegible)
mahalle tk Mustafa bn Mehmed: Five or six years ago when a gurus was 8o
akce, I gave him 6oo akce from the vakf. It will cause loss to the vakf if he
repays with the present debased money (zuyuf osmani). The mutevelli concedes
this and is restrained. [Amasya 14-31]
Vakf establishedwith 6ooo akce for prayerfor soul (ruh) of women... to be lent out
for mu'amele'-i ser'iyye. [Amasya 42-I]
Kassab Esar (?) v. Iskender of Amasya ik Abdullah Halife, mu'allim of Mehmed
Pasa mu'allimhane and mutevelli of the vakf: I owe the vakf 2000ooo
akce, and my
late brother Mehmed Bese also owed zooo2000akce, for which I am kefil. Mu'amele
is wanted for three years, which has been paid. Now I pay the 4000 akce. [Ama-
sya 68-4]
(?) v. (?), zimmi of (?) village ik Ridvan bn Abdullah, mutevelli for the vakf of
Haci Nurullah: I owe the vakf 1500 akce, for which Toros v. (illegible) is kefil.
Now I take another 5o00 akce from the mutevelli. My debt is akce.
zooo2000 [Trabzon
3a-4]
MustafaBese bn Baliik EsadCelebi,nazirof Cami'-iSerifof Ay Togdi: I received
akcefrom the nazirof the vakf. [Trabzon9b-8]
zooo2000
MolnJa Muradof Tekfur(ayir mahalleik EsadCelebibn HasanEfendi,katiband
nazirof the late Ay Togdi vakf: I owe the vakf 6ooo akce.I makemy house
in the mahallesurety.[Trabzon9b-6]
Ali (elebi bn RecebAga, mutevelliof AgacikvakfiddiaDervis elebi:He owesthe
vakf 3000akceasl-imalandtwo anda halfyearsmu'amele(i o00akce),a totalof
akce.I wantit. Dervisacknowledges
4100oo the debtandagreesto payit. [Trabzon
12b-5]
MevlanaDervis (elebi bn Monla Receb, imam of Hoca Ali mescid ik Mevlana
IbrahimCelebibn HaciMehmed,muezzinof MeydanSarkimahalle:He owed
the vakf 2000ooo
akce. Now receivedin full from Ibrahim.[Trabzoni9b-i]
The widespreadparticipationof membersof the ulemaand of the

militaryclassin the lending and borrowingin the community is perhaps
the best evidence of how respectablecommercein money was. If there
was no shamefor a kadi, a muderris,or an imam to lend-or borrow-

2IO R. C. JENNINGS
money, then participationwas respectablefor everyone; so many of

the most respectedmen of the city were involved in credit transactions
at one time or anotherthat there can be no doubt that to do so was not
consideredunworthy even of a man of God.
The samples read from Amasya, Karaman,and Trabzon sicils fully
corroborate the Kayseri experience that members of the religious
class were quite active in commerce and credit. A few membersof the
ulema may have been able to support themselves with salaries from
being mutevellis of evkaf or teachers, but not many such positions
were availablein seventeenth century Kayseri and even those that did
exist would in manycasesnot have paid enough to supportthe relatively
high style of living to which ulemawere accustomed. Trade and com-
merce, including money-lending as a respectable adjunct, were the
means by which such a level of life could be attained.
CONCLUSION
In many ways this paper is only a first step towards understanding
loans and credit in the Ottoman Empire. Documentation has been set
out concerning a single city during a twenty-five year period, but
naturallyone must ask how typical Kayseriwas and how representative
the first quarterof the 17th century. Although comparativestudies of
Karaman,Amasya, and Trabzon yielded substantialevidence of simil-
arities with Kayseri, this evidence has no proven applicabilityoutside
of Anatolia; moreover, these latter studies were too brief to answer
questions about recurrentlenders and borrowers, amounts of credit
put out, or existence of classes of money lenders and debtors. There is
need of furtherresearch,for which I hope this paper may provide both
a stimulus and a model.
Before it will be possible to make any broad interpretationsof the
practice of loans and credit in the empire there should be studies of
sicils from selected cities in the Balkans and the Arab provinces, not
to mention studiesfrom elsewherein Anatolia. It would be most useful
to have data from big cities like Istanbul, Bursa,Aleppo, Salonika,and
Cairo, which were pace-setters in trade and commerce. Similarly, studies

LOANS AND CREDIT IN OTTOMAN RECORDS 2II
of small towns or even village groups would be important;if such sicils

are lacking, as they may be, even studies of small cities like Karaman
and Edremit would reveal the practice of more rural, and probably
more conservative, areas.
Furthermore, an understanding of the practice of lending and
credit in the Ottoman Empire is helpful for understandingthe practice
under earlierIslamic legal systems. Since no pre-Ottomansicils appear
to survive, it will be necessaryfor Islamiciststo compareearlyOttoman
practicewith the theories of the legal treatises and commentariesthat
survive from earlierperiods.
The discovery of sicils from courts of a mezheb other than the official
Ottoman Hanefi, like Shafii, or from a Shia court, recorded in lands
under Ottoman jurisdiction,would provide important evidence of the
relationship of the "disestablished" mezhebs and the Shia to the
"established"Hanefi courts. Similarly,the discovery of judicialrecords
from the non-Muslim millets, e.g., the Orthodox or the Armenian
Gregorianmillets,mightprovidefurtherevidenceaboutthe participa-
tion of zimmisin the businessof lendingand credit.
The organizationanduse of creditin Ottomancities(and"Muslim"
citiesas well) areusefulindicatorsof how theireconomiesworkedand
even of theirsocialorganization.Whensicilsarefoundwhichidentify
partiesto loansand creditwith mahallesand villages,studiesof intra-
urbanand urban-rural flows of capitalwill be possible;the question
of the relationof urbanareasto agriculturalareas(whetheror not
"parasitic") will be especiallyinteresting.Shouldtherebe sicils which
faithfullyindicate the uses to whichborrowedcapitaland creditwere
put, it will be possibleto analyzethe extentto whichsuchcapitalwas
usedfor consumptionandthe extentto whichit was usedfor produc-
tion. Whenit is possibleto identifycreditorsanddebtorswitheconomic
and socialclasses(by occupation,for example),the role of urbaneco-
nomicandsocialclasseswill becomebetterknown.
Overthecourseof fourOttomancenturiestherearelikelyto havebeen
changes in legal-judicialpractice concerning credit and interest which
will surprisethose who hold that Islam and the sharia were stagnant.

212 R. C. JENNINGS
It will be most rewardingto be able to comparefuture studies with

this one of Kayseri. For now, however, the study of Kayseri is not
without its conclusions.
The frequency of credit use in Kayseri is remarkable.While there
may be some legitimate doubt about preciselyhow many loans were in
circulationand about precisely what kinds of loans were registeredin
sicils, there can be no doubt that credit was commonplace. The
largenumberof "petty"debts makesit clearthat borrowing and lending
were practiced by the not-so-well-to-do as well as the well-to-do.
Evidence from Karaman,Amasya, and Trabzon suggests that in the
I 7th century the use of credit may have been frequent throughout
Anatolia. Why so many people were busy lending and borrowing is
not easy to answer,but I think that the availabilityof credit was a boon
ratherthan a burden. With loans so frequent, and so readilyavailable,
the economy of Anatolia, or perhaps even the Ottoman Empire, may
have been more dynamic and vigorous at that time than is usually
assumed; on the other hand, that credit situation may have been
confined to central Anatolia, and frequency of borrowing and credit
is not necessarilyrelatedto prosperity.
Amidst the flurryof lending and credit, the apparentabsence of big
creditinstitutionsin Kayseriis particularlynoteworthy. The association
of "smallscale"and "high frequency"is not in accordwith the notions
of those who consider Ottoman society "feudal", "exploitative", and
"fossilized", but it is accuratenevertheless. Evidence for the frequent
use of partnershipsand banking enterprisesis lacking not only in the
Kayseri sicils but also in the other sicils studied. How could a moder-
ately important commercial and manufacturing center like Kayseri
have flourished without sophisticated instruments of credit? But
commerce and business did indeed flourish under such conditions. So
many cases were examinedthat it cannot be denied that loans and credit
were individual mattersin 17th centuryKayseri. Was there a delicately
balanced mechanismin the economy which allowed credit to change
hands at a high frequency rate even though there were no large or
even medium-scale banking enterprises? Or did the absence of such

institutions hold back the Kayseri economy in any way, and did any
special peculiaritiesresult therefrom, either for better or for worse?
One wishes to know what made Kayseri so differentfrom Fatimid/
Ayyubid Egypt and Mamluk Syria in respect to partnerships and
banking instutions. Kayseri was of course not nearly so populous as
Cairo, Aleppo, or Damascus; the Kayseri study concerns a period
centurieslater than those studied by Goitein and Lapidus; and Kayseri
was a Turkish city in a geographicaland cultural milieu considerably
differentfrom that of Cairo,Aleppo, and Damascus.Do the conditions
in Kayseri have anything to do with "individualism" of the kind
Goitein has described?Would a greaterdegree of "individualism"have
brought beneficialor harmful results, or mixed ones?
A further association of the absence of a class of big money lenders
with the aforementionedcombinationof high frequencycredit use and
absence of formal credit institutions seems to reflect a healthy socio-
economic order. Although the Anatolian sicils used for comparative
purposes were not studied over a sufficientlylong period to discover
whether the absence of big money lenders was just a Kayseri phenom-
enon, the absence of such a class from Kayseri has been carefully
demonstrated.Surely some other cities must have been plagued by an
exploitative class of money lenders, and even Kayseri may have been
troubled by such a class at another time. If there were enough people
with money to lend to prevent the emergence of such a class in I7th
century Kayseri, it was remarkablygood fortune. Here the contrast
with Fatimid/Ayyubid Egypt and Mamluk Syria could not be more
striking. However, the absence of an obvious money lending class
seems consistent with the other findings, that loans were often very
small and that there was little in the way of formal credit and banking
institutions.
The involvement of the Muslims of Kayseri in credit and money
lending is so much in accord with some of the findings of Goitein,
Lapidus, and Inalcik that it should not be consideredsurprisingat all.
The zimmis did, of course, participatein commerceand money lending,
and they used the courts regularly. Since the limited evidence from

214 R. C. JENNINGS
Amasya and Trabzon concerning zimmis seems in accord with that

from Kayseri,it is possible-but by no meanscertain-that the situation
of Muslim predominancein credit was widespreadin Anatolia.
It should come as a surpriseto no one that Kayseri Muslims dealt
most with other Muslims and Kayseri zimmis dealt most with other
zimmis, but the numberof cases of loans and creditinvolving exchange
of credit between Muslims and zimmis is convincing evidence that
Muslims and zimmis had enough confidencein one another,and in the
court, to engage in business dealings with one another. Muslim "pre-
ponderance"was not much out of proportion to their numbers,which
suggests that there is no question of any Muslim "monopoly" on
capital or "exploitation"of zimmis as a class. Over how wide an area
of the Ottoman Empire such conditions prevailed and during what
periods of time are, of course, questions which need to be explored
further.
It should be indisputablethat the Ottoman government,the hierarchy
of kadisin Anatolia,and the local ulema of Kayseri,as well as Karaman,
Isparta,Konya, Amasya, and Trabzon, regardedloans and credit at a
rate of 20% interest per year as legal, in accordancewith both sharia
and kanun. Of course, some parties exceeded the 2o%, for there are
firmans against usury. How common such abuses were is hard to
estimate, but very few such complaints were brought to the attention
of the Kayseri court. The extent to which interest-free loans were
granted is another importantunansweredquestion. Perhapsthey were
common, but perhaps,since loans of 2o% interestwere alreadyrespect-
able, they were not.
The general respectabilityof giving and taking loans and credit for
interest-as indicatedby the frequencyof creditand by the participation
of ulema and of women-is certainlyone of the most important con-
clusions of this study.

Cases of loans and othercreditcountedin certainsicils
"
1?3
A o
Kayseri
8 46 31I 7 I 7 uncertain 1591
II
102 66 17 7 1Z
10 10.2 1603-1604
12 332 zo201 45 20 66 141 22.9 1604-1608
13 803o 55 14 2 9 22.9 1604-1609
14 21 13 5 0 3 12 1.8 1605-1608
15 105 29 4 22 19 8.z 1608-1610io
160
17 50 36 7 2 5 61 77 1613-1614
19 51 41 4 0 6 4 12.8 1616-1618
20 75 51 12 2 10 12 6.3 1616-1619
22 128 98 12 2 16 9 14.2 1620-1621
23 o106
68 8 4 26 141 7.3 1622-1623
24 41 17 17 0 7 7 5.9 1622-1623
25 57 41 5 10 6 9.5 1624
I
27 52 39 9 0 4 6 8.7 1626-1627
Karaman 34 34 0 0 0 7 4.9 1618
2/278
Amasya i 29 23 4 0 2 25 1.1 1624-1626
(special)
Trabzon 36 27 4 3 2 9 3.8 1618-1620
42/1821
Totals 1400 946 199 48 207
percentage 67.57 % 14.2z% 3.42 % 14.78 %

17.6 %
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bilmen, Omer Nasuhi: HukukiIslamyyeveIstilahattFzkhiye Kamusu,8 vols, Istanbul,
1967-1970.
D'Ohsson, M. C.: TableauGeneralde l'Empire Othoman,vol. VI, Paris, 1824.
Fischel, Walter J.: Jews in the Economicand PoliticalLife of MedievalIslam, London,
1937.
: "The Origin of Banking in Medieval Islam,"JRAS, (1933) 339-352.
Goitein, S. D.: "The Rise of the Near-EasternBourgeoisie in Early Islamic Times,"
Cahiers d'Histoire Mondiale, 3 (I 956-1957), 583-604.
Inalcik, Halil: "Bursa."EI2
: "The Ottoman Economic Mind and Aspects of the Ottoman Economy,"

216 JENNINGS, LOANS AND CREDIT IN OTTOMAN RECORDS
Studiesin theEconomicHistoryof theMiddleEast, Ed. M. A. Cook, London, 1970,

pp. 2z07-I218.
Issawi, Charles, ed.: The Economic History of the Middle East, scoo-zsI4. Chicago,
1966.
Labib, Subhi: Handelsgeschichte im Spitmittelalter,Wiesbaden, 1965.
Atgyptens
al-Marginani:TheHedaya or Guide:a Commentaryon the Mussulman Laws, Tr. Charles
Hamilton, Lahore, 1963.
to IslamicLaw, Oxford, 1964.
Schacht, Joseph: Introduction
Stoianovich, Traian: "The Conquering Balkan Orthodox Merchant,"JEH, zo
(1960),
234-313" "Creditas a Means of Investment in Medieval Islamic Trade,"
Udovitch, Abraham:
JAOS, 87 (1967), 260-264.
: PartnershipandProfit in MedievalIslam. Princeton, 1970.


Jennings-1973-Loan and Credit-Waqfs in Kayseri

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Loans and Credit in Early 17th Century Ottoman Judicial Records: The Sharia Court of

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LOANS AND CREDIT IN EARLY

Because of the absence or inaccessibility of judicial and business

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It is my aim in this paper to use the sicils to illuminatethe nature

riyalgurus or karagurusor kamilgurus-I /8 greater in weight than esedigurus(see

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sicils are verbatim copies of correspondencefrom the sultan and other

i) See: M. Fuad K6priili, "Islamimme hukukundanayri bir Tiirk imme hukuku

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the period 16oo to 1625 from Kayseri, a city astridemajor north-south

i) Evliya Celebi, Seyahatname,v. 3, p. 184 f., I 80 f. Istanbul, 13 14-1318. Polonyali

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c) The entriesin the sicils were recordedfor legal or businesspurposes,

I) S. D. Goitein, A MediterraneanSociety, v. I, p. ii. Berkeley, 1967-

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courts of Ottoman Anatolia in the early i7th century, the vagueness

i) Subhi Labib, "Capitalism in Medieval Islam", Journal of Economic History 29

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number of indications that this was not so in Kayseri.First, although

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.109 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:15:28 PM

If my conjecture is correct that no more than half the instances of

i) Cf. S. D. Goitein, v. I, p. 250. "An unusuallylarge amount of Genizadocuments

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dividually rather than in any kind of partnership;that is, 97% of all

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.109 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:15:28 PM

"the Mediterraneansociety". Possibly mercantileinstitutions in Cairo

III. ABSENCE OF BIG MONEY LENDERS

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Ebu Talib (avu? bn Abdul-Vehhab ?avus still owed him half

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This content downloaded from 194.29.185.109 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:15:28 PM

The stereotype view of Muslim-zimmi relations in the Ottoman

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.109 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:15:28 PM

and Jews dominating commerce and money lending, whether because

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.109 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:15:28 PM

of appropriatewitnesses,documentsor other writtenevidencecould

i) See cases summarizedbelow.

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number of studies similar to this one have been undertaken on the

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FazlurRahman,while acknowledgingthe difficultyof definingriba,

i) Fazlur Rahman, "Riba and Interest," IslamicStudies3(I1964)3 f.

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heard and enforced decisions involving interest on credit were

i. Threetermsare used to describedebts: deyn,hakk,and Zimmet.

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However, since the recording was informal, most often instead of a

2. Va'demeans the term of the loan or credit.

3. The term for loan is karZ,with variants kar?-i hasenand karZ-i

a) muvekkilum babam musarun ileyh Mehmed Efendi isbu Ahmed Beseden

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6. Threemaintermsare used in regardto securityfor credit.Rehn

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a) meblag-i mezbur mukabelesinde Gulluk mahallesindehududi ma'lum olan

7. Mudarabais the term for the only common credit relationship.In

Hereafterare cited a number of cases involving credit and interest.

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This content downloaded from 194.29.185.109 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:15:28 PM

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.109 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:15:28 PM

on loans and credit. However, in the greatest number of cases of this