Repri,nted, from:

ARABIC AND ISLAMIC STUDIESIN HONOR OF

HAMILTON A. R. GIBB

Eprrno nx

GEORGE MAKDISI

* Totffi\

%2 z" %*//,n.-/L ?l

ScHoOL oF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES

UNIVERSITY oF LoNDoN, W.C.IMUSEUM 2023.4

NAZARETH IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 477

fnames]1 ail;

NAZARETH IN THE SIXTEE,NTH CE,NTURY,

ACCORDING TO THE OTTOMAN TAPU REGISTERS

BY

BERNARD LE,\rIS

The tapu series in the Ottoman state archives in Istanbul contains

four detailed registers of the Sanjak of Safed, of the type known as

Mufa;;al taltrlr deJ'teri. 1 They are

)l>l

jt":: J:.-)o_l** C

J:t [sic] '!, r-I" *; a* 4)":-

.l5r it it .ii ir Lto

,J*\.... L& *t -2, orrLLll

A. ,-i * ,e ..rlr.:3r- ar.-;' ;Jl ,-;lA. V..

tY. \0..,iuL Jt"

t.,

no 559 teign of Selim II (974-8211566-l+7. z

These registers, representing the tesults of four separate surYeys

conducted at intervals during the first half-century ot so of Ottoman

rule in Palestine, contain extensive information on the population

and tevenues of the towns and villages, and thus ptovide r:rraterial fota detailed and documented study of change and development. As an

example of this type of matetiallhave chosen the village of Nazareth,

in the nahilte of Tiberias. The descriptions of Nazareth in the fourregisters are as follows:I Register no. 427

t f CU [sic] !-u ";[names]

t y cjti,l t .:-;ar. ;c L.a-

The village of Nazareth, dependent on the above-mentioned

fnames of inhabitants]households 43

Community of Jews 1

[names]households 6

Yield of the monthly payment (naghahere), as fixed by maqtw' 2 10,000

wheat batley cotton sesame durra beans

15 ghirara 6 ghirdra1500 420

4 qinlar 1. ghirara 7 gbirdra 2 kaila

Ktlmatxlolive trees

with press

600

money of theSultan400

II Register n' 1038

no 427n'1038no 300

ca. 93211.525-26

ca. 940-45|,533-39e63115s5-56

1 On the tapu series, see O. L. Barkan, "Les grands recensemerits de 1a popu-

lation et du tegitoire de I'Empire ottoman", Reaue de la facaltd des sciences dconomiques

de /'uniaersitd d'Istanbal, II (1940), 27-34, 768-179; iden' "Essai sut les donn6es

statistiques des tegistres de recensement dans I'Empire ottoman au XVidme et

XVIidme sid.ctes,,,"Journal of the Econornic and social Historl of tbe orient (1957),

36-39; iden, "Daftit-i Khakani", EIz' Ot the material relating to Palestine, see

B. Lewis, ..The ottoman Archives as a soufce for the histoty of the Arab lands,"

IRAS (1951), 739-755; idem, Notu and d.ocuments from the Turkith Arcbiues (Jett-"sajem,

L952)'; idem,"strdies in the Ottoman Archives -I," BSOAS' XVI (1954),

469-50I. For par^ilei r.'ateial on other areas, see L. Fekete, Die Silaqat-Schrift

in der tiirkischin Finanlaerwaltang (Budapest, 1955); S. Jikia, Gurjisnni: uilaiethis

d.idi d.authari (Tbilisi, iO+t-+l; (with the full text of a nufassal register of the

vilayet of Gurjisten). For archive material on Palestine of another type, see

U. i{eyd, Ottoman documents on Palestine /552-l 6/5 (Oxford, 1?60)i-t On tirese registers, see Lewis, "The Ottoman Atchives", 154; "Studies", 471 't An abbteviation fot ma7.bilr, above-mentioned.

goat t^x

700

jiTye on Jews, at the rate of80 per person

480

IJ* -V ""* C:Y oleV a'-.:,i

[names]( ,or"t lt ,S:V)

[names]\ 1'Ll 1o lal- ajt-

1 cgrLj d";L;

1 An etror for Christians. See below.2 See below, p. 422, n. 2.

Mexorsr, Arabic and Islamic Studies

418 BERNARD LEwrs

Jcvglll "" gi

A*J in r*r P )n; db"-

,44 fp)r L a ;ll:!i o. i t. L o.

Y.. \4.. fA.. \1.. 10"

-+. ltil \ s:Vi a'jr J3"(1. fu)A. Jtil !fA.. j#

lA.1 \..The village of Nazareth, dependent on Tiberias.

Khal; of the Sanjak Bey.

lnames]Christians in the said village

[names]Muslim households 95 Imam 1

Christian households 6

Yield: share of a qloatter

wheat barley cotton sesame kharaj on olives

50 ghirara 20 ghirara 15 qinlar 5 ghirara with press

6500 1,400

go^ttax total

3800 1800 200

100 13,800

jiqye on Christians 6 personsat the rate of 80 per pefson

III Register n" 300

480

lJ* .-L- P

v --K. r .c*l \ \,e\ ?F

o 13t je eat _si 1s

NAZARETH IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 419

; \to3

u rv

bee tax bad-i haua

500 500 15,705

IV Register n" 559t"J* -e

-1.; .')";t--

,:;-t )+)l )UJ0.. 1

f") ()tath ,:(* brtL.s ,tsLt Ft o4jB \ov.o o,r 0..

J

The village of Nazareth, dependent on the above-mentioned.Kha;; of the Sanjak Bey.

fnames]Households 200 bachelors 1.1, blind 2 crippled 2

Imam 1. maezzin 1 khafib 1,

Community of Christians in the said village

fnames]Households 17

Yield of the said village; share of a quafter

wheat barley etc. cotton kharaj on tax orl the press

g2! ghirara 24 ghirara s qinlar trees etc' and Rrfm[ni olives

1,0125 1680 1000 7200 100

goat and bride-tax and total jiqye on Christians in the said village

oU o-Lj(j

[names]l:?* Y' '\ d!j" I

Isic] !L;[names]

\V

oL:-

.r!; LV \/1\.VYO

4iB.

"LlI

d-oq

4iLi

17 households at B0 each

in the year1360

e ,rY o *U ,o:, rilc[names]

Y\o cjl-o.111r- eat.ri ,.: lLj c^sLa'

[names]\ V 4jlt

J*6Jl "r" '";)^r) aL-

",1; o,1o

Yo 1.

(-*9 r?r ;*l

,, ,Jl

rt) lr+o.ob o ^i" 'tjljls: J-t^$s \ Y. .

,t*..," rJ ,if Alj

,P o1!4 :ylolL:3 L rr\... \1A.

1 The figures are given in ilaqat numerals. On this form of wtiting, see L.Fekete, op. cit.; Mahmud Yazt, Silakatltaqrst. (Istanbul,7941); iden, Eskilarylartokuma anahlarz (Istanbul, 7942); on the numbtals, see Saliheddin F.lket, Diuanr a Aa m lar r (Ankara, 19 53).

420 BERNARD LE'W'IS

()J"J )sl*r!,

J"!. A. .

,*Jl -I'J L

\Vo"

f tu"t )5 6)\ai ar.)>

\v 90Ao (9

\ t to

rr')t-'

J>J ls'\ 11

t")

NAZARETH IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 421.

Population.

The population figures for the village, at the dates of the four sur-veys, are given as follows:

The village of Nazateth, dependent on the above-mentioned.Kha;; of the Saniak Bey

[names]Households 215

Community of Christians in the said village

[names]Households 17

Yield: share of a quarter

cotton kltarajon tfees etc.

qintar6 500

value1380

bride-taxand bad-i haua

800

Totalwith taxes

17500

iiqye on Christians in thesaid village

17 personsat 851,445

Muslims

Chdstians

The basic unit is the kbane or household, consisting of the tax-payer and his dependent family-ptobably arL avet^ge of 5-7 persons.

In general, bachelors (rtiljerred), who paid a lower rate of tax, are

indicated in the registers. 1 In Nazareth they ate shown only in thethird register.

Two categories of persofls were exempt from taxation and are

usually noted as such. They ate 1) Muslim retgious functionaries,such as the Imam, khatib,andmuezzin 2) disabled persons. In Nazateththese are shown only in the thitd register; a single Imam appears

in the second register.Besides the Muslims, there was also a small Christian minority

in Nazareth. The mention of Jews in the first register is certainly an

error, as can be seen from the list of names, several of which are

followed by the designation Nasrani-Christian.

De$ination of reuenues.

In the last three registers, the revenues accruing from Nazarethare shown as belonging to the app^nage (kha;;) of the govetnor ofthe province (rnir-i liua or, in Turkish, Sanjak Bey). In the first register,there is no indication of the recipient of the tax revenues, which are

collected in the form of a mushdltere. The jiqye, belonging by law tothe Bafi a/-Mal, or public treasury, is not included in the reverruesassigned to the governor, and is listed separately. s

Assessment and co/lection of taxes.

Details on the methods and rates of assessment of taxes are givenin the qdniinndnet, containing the fiscal tegulations of the provinces.

7 See EIz, s.v, "eift Resmi," (H, Inalcrk).2 Compare Lewis, "Studies," 473 ff.3 lbid., 480 tr.

I43

6

IIIIIIV95 +1 200 +11 +7 27s

61777

wheat barley etc.

ghirara ghirara90 25

value value72,600 2000

Tax on the goat andpress bee tax

24 796

422

Only one of the four registers of Safed, n" 300 of 96311555-56, con-tains the text of a qanunnatne. I

In the first tegister, the taxes are stated as a lump sum. This repre-sents a fixed amount, agreed between the parties, and usually collectedby a salaried goverflment commissioner (en/n).In Nazareth, the sum

was fixed on the basis of a monthly rate (nushabere).2

This system was of brief duration. It appears only in the firstregister, and was soon abolished by imperial otdet, on the groundsthat it was a blameworthy and harmful innovation. 3 fn the three

later registers, it has disappeared, and is replaced by a qasn ot qirm,

an Ottoman form of the classical Islamic auqasana. In this system,

the tax is assessed as a proportion of the crop, varying from place toplace. In Nazateth, the rate is one quarter. a Besides the taxes on themain crops, assessed in this way, there are cettattr other taxes assessed

in money.The quantity collected from each of the qasm cr.ops is indicated,

with a statement of its monetary valae in aspers, probably at con-ventional prices fixed for purposes of accountancy. s The quantitiesare stated in ghiraras of wheat, batley, sesame and durra, in qintars ofcotton, and in kai/at of beans. Other revenues are stated in money.The ghirara of Damascus, which was used in the Sanjak of Safed, was

of about 250 litres. The Syrian qinlar was equal to aboat 4 Egyptian

1 The Turkish text of this qdnannarue was published by O. L. Barkan in hisXV ae XVI inci astrlarda osman/t inzparator lulunda 4irai ekonominin httkakl w malietaslari, I, Kanunlar (Istanbul, 1,943), 229-230; French ttanslation in R. N'Iantranand J. Sauvaget, Riglenents fscaux zttznxdns (Patis, 1951), 47-52, with additionsfrom an unpublished Paris manusctipt. A Getman translation ftom a manusctiptversion was given by J. von Hammer in his Dzs osmanischen Reich.r Staatsuerfas:ungund Staatsaerualtung, I (Vienna, 7815), 225-226.

2 Maqlu'is a technicai tetm for the payment of taxes in the fotm of a fixedlump sum, without separate assessmerits. Thus, the jiqye was at times paid collect-ively, ber uejh-i maqta',by the dhinni communities, at ^ tot^\ figure agteed withthe tax authorities (compare Heyd, 727-122. Lewis, Notes, 71); in the same way,cettain temote or privileged provinces, liable only to a fixed annual tribute, wetesaid to be maqtu'a merbul. I-Iere, the term relates to a fixed annual tax, stated inmoney, and based, no doubt, on the atea cultivated, as opposed to the morevariable nxaqdrana systems, based on a shzte of the ctops. The term mus/tahere

indicates monthly payments. On maqla< arrangcments, see Fekete, 741 tr.,757;B. Dtrtder- et al., Kanuni i Kanun-name (Sarajevo, 1957), 153-754; R. Anhegger,Beitage 4ur Geschichte des Bergbaus im osmanischen Reich (Istanbul,7943-44),1,84,309,31,7-318.

3 Mantfan-Sauvaget, 52, follo.x'ing the Patis manusctipt. This passage doesnot occur in the qanzTnname of 96317555, published by Batkan.

4 Cf. EI, s.v. "Danba" (H. Inalcrk); Lewis, "Studies", 483-484.5 "Srudies", 492.

NAZARETH IN TI-IE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 423

qintdrs, that is, about 180 kg. The value of the kaila is less certain.

The kaila of Istanbul v/as about 1125 of a Damascene ghirara, or 10

litres; that of Egypt, about 7.5 litres. Possibly the Damascene kaila(1,112 of a ghirara) is meant. 1

The revenues of the four main qlrsm crops are shown in the fourregisters as follows:

IIIIIIIVwheat

BERNARD LEWIS

15 501500 6500100 130

620420 140070 70

25 g,htrara

2000 value in aspers80 price per ghirara

6 qinlar1380 value in aspers230 ptice per qinTar

82rlz 90 gbirara1,0,725 1.2,600 value in aspers

130 140 price per ghirarain aspers.

badey

sesame

241680

70

41.553800 [sic] 1000

[100] 'z 2003 200

151800

[300] 4 360

ghirdravalue in aspersprice per ghirara

In addition to these, dura (at this date, probably sorghum) andbeans are mentioned in the first, but not in subsequent registers. Thefirst register also records the receipt of 400 aspers as mal-i saltAn,

^term the meaning of which is not known to me. In the qdnwnname, itis mentioned only as something that has akeady been abolished. 5

The taxes on trees, olives and presses appe r in several differentforms. The first three registers record the revenues from "R[meni"olive trees, together vzith the tax on presses. The fourth register liststhe press separately, and makes no mention of olives. The thirdand fourth registers include a sep^r^te item, the "kbaraj on trees",which is absent from the first two.

1 Notes, 76-77, 40; V. Hinz, Islanitche Masse und Getvichte (Leiden, 7955),37-38.2 The monetary equivalent ofthe tax on cotton is not stated hete in the register.

The price pet qintdr is taken from othet parts of the same tegister.3 This is the ptice given elsewhere in the same tegister. The figure 3,800 is

probably ^fl

etror for 3000.a The monetaty equivalent is not stated. The price is taken from other parts

of the same register.5 Batkan, Kananlar, 23O ; Mantran-Sauvaget, 49-50.

424 BERNARD LEWIS

These discrepancies can be explained by reference to the qdnunndna

and to parallel matertaL on other places. In all the qanilnnanes ofSyria and Palestine (though not, as far. as I am awate, of anywhereelse), a distinction is made between Islamic olives on the one hand,and Roman, or infidel, olives (qaiun-i Rrlmani or qaitiln-i kafrl), onthe other. According to the qdnunnarue of Safed, Roman olives pay aqasn of half the crop; Islamic olives pay ^ mofley tax of 1.f2 asperper tree. I The rates on other t(ees are also given in the qdnanndme

-fruit trees, 2 aspers on 5 trees; dates, mulberries, and full-grownnuts,2 aspers per tree; young nut-trees, 1 asper per tree. The presses

paid a fixed money tax of 12 aspers per press. 2

The taxes on goats and bees are mentioned in all fout registers,and were levied, according to the qanfinndme, at the rate of 1.12 aspetper goat or per hive. The combined yields of the two taxes showsome fluctuation:

Pr-ern XXVII

*.jl :l$l..,l,l.l:.l: ., ';}{$.,

":fi,''d}

'r,- sil :r,,:rr':i,r;; *. : :':::.::,:

.'-:

:.11:.9,

I700

II100

III500

IV196

The third and fourth registers list a figure, of 500 and 800 aspers

respectively, as the combined yield of the bride tax and the bad-i haua.

The bride tax (resn-i 'Arilr, 'ar!}s resmi, gerdek resmi) was a tax oflmaffiages.It is not mentioned in the qanilnname of Safed, but is wellknown from other parts of the Ottoman Empire. It was usuallylevied at the rate of 60 aspers on girls, and 30 or 40 on widows anddivorced vromerr. Sometimes a lower rate was accepted from poorfamilies. The term bad-i haua, literally "wind of the ait" (compareEnglish "windfall"), is a general term, in Ottoman fiscal usage, forirceguIar, occasional revenues from fees, fines, confiscations, registra-tion charges, lost property, and other casual and unpredictablesources of income. Unlike the other taxes mentioned, which probablyrepresent a continuance of pre-Ottoman fiscal practice, the bride-taxand bad-i haud are characteristically Ottoman. fn the eady days of theconquest, it would seem, they were not collected; then, while certaifi

L Bar.kan, Kananlar, 230; Mantran-Sauvaget, 48. The I^ttet tt^r\sl^te ry1lan-iIilami as "oliviers appafienant i un musulman." Hammer takes the distinctionto be one between olives grown on Islamic or infidel feddans of land. Thesetwo are defined in the qdniinndme of Damascus (Batkan, 220; Hammet, I, 220;Mantran- Sauv aget, 4-5).

2 The qdnunndme says six p^ra, at that date equal to 12 aspers. Mantrafl-Sauvagettranslate 6 aspers.

;ri;

Ftom teoisf et 427 shnrrrin o the entrrr nn Nazetefh

Pr,.trl XXIX

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From register 1038, showing the entty on Nazar:eth Ftom tegistet 300, shorving thc latter part of the entry on Nazareth (part of the

Pr,-rrs XXX

-t/J -.* -* -.*,gi -:6

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Pr-arn XXXT NAZARETH IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 425

pre-Ottoman taxes were abolished, others, belonging to the Ottomansystem, were introduced and imposed. 1

The jiqtte-the poll-tax on Christians and Jews-was levied inOttoman Palestine at the lowest only of the three rates allowed bythe Shari'a-that is, at one gold piece. In the registers, the yield ofthe jiqye is shown in aspers, at the cutrent tate of silver to gold coin.This is B0 aspers to the gold piece in the first thtee registers, 85 in thefourth. 2 The fixity of the figures given for the Christian populationsuggests that the ji71e may have been paid at an agreed collectiverate, which, presumably, was changed between the second and thirdsufveys.

7 See EIz, s.v. ".Ards Resmi", "Bad,-i Hawa,' (8, Lewis).2 On the Ottoman.jiqye, see B. C. Nedkoff, Die Giqya (Kopftteuer) im osrnaniscben

Reich (Leipzig, 7942); EIz, s.v. "Djizya ii" (H. Inalcrk).

BsnNano Lnwrs

Uniuersitl of London

,1€31

From regisrer 559, showing the latter patt of the entry on Nazateth lpart of the ;b