the black death in early ottoman territories - Bilkent University

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those who fled." 252 . But probably people needed no encouragement from plague treatises to leave the horrors of a plague-stricken environment. The breakdown of daily life and the general atmosphere of suffering and despair should have been sufficient to make people wish for other surroundings.Yet the flight of the prominent members of society left the poor and ill especially vulnerable and ill- equipped to handle the situation. Therefore, since the earliest outbreaks, certain cities forbade to leave the territory. According to Biraben 253 , the first to do so was Udine in 1382, followed by Florence the next year. In order to impose such an unpopular measure, taxes were taken from those who did not return immediately. Unsurprisingly, more than half of those who fled preferred to pay. The response of the early Ottoman Turks is less easily deducible from the sources consulted. In theory, Islamic theology frowned upon leaving a place once it had become infected. This rule, although disavantageous for the individual, was to the advantage of the larger community, for it protected against the spread of the disease to other areas. It would also prevent that the richer part of a society would leave the more vulnerable elements to cope with the consequences of the disease. As we discussed above, the European cities were enforcing similar measures and combining a sentiment of Christian solidarity 254 with practical concerns. The Ottoman sources indicate that some Ottoman Turks indeed did not leave. For the 1428/29 outbreak in Bursa, it is recorded that many notables died during the outbreak. The Tarihi Takvimler as edited by Osman Turan (1984: 25) 252 Nockels Fabbri, Christiane. "Continuity and Change in Late Medieval Plague Medicine: A Survey of 152 Plague Tracts from 1348 to 1599." Unpublished PhD thesis. Yale University, (2006), 60. 253 Biraben, Les hommes et la peste en France et dans les pays européens et méditerranéens, Vol II, 164-165. 254 According to Biraben, (Les hommes et la peste en France et dans les pays européens et méditerranéens Vol II, 84), one of the most highly esteemed charitable deeds was the care for plague-sufferers. 65
mention that "... Bursa şehrinde begayet ölüt ve vebâ düşelden ve çok halk-ı 'âlem helâk olub." Assuming that the notables of a society dispose of the financial means to leave a city, this means that they either did not wish to go or that they were prevented to leave. In the case of the brothers and cousin of Murad, who succombed to plague, their freedom of movement might well have been restricted. Prominent urban Turks would belong either to the 'ilmiyye or the 'askeriyye class. The first would in principle adhere to the standard Islamic rule of remaining in an area once it had become infected. The latter probably had some military assignment, such as protecting the city, or they were involved in its management. Leaving the duty assigned to them would have been a serious crime: doubtlessly most preferred being exposed to plague than to the anger of the Ottoman ruler. An indication that its inhabitants left Istanbul in times of outbreaks after the city became the capital of the Ottoman empire is given by the chronicler Kritovoulos. The great plague outbreak of 1466 was not the first one after the city had been conquered by Mehmed, but it was the first of which a detailed description is available. Kritovoulos, who was an eyewitness of the epidemic, reports that "Some, fearing the plague, fled and never came back, not even to care for their nearest relatives, but even turned away from them, although they often appealed to them with pitiful lamentation, yet they abandoned the sick uncared-for and the dead unburied". 255 Obviously, Kritovoulos did not specify who fled. Was this flight a general phenomenon, or was it something only the Christian population resorted to ? For the city of Trabzon, it is clear that at least in the sixteenth century, large-scale flight of the population took place, creating great financial loss of income for the 255 Kritovoulos, History of Mehmed the Conqueror, 220-221. 66
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THE BLACK DEATH IN EARLY OTTOMAN TE
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ÖZET KARA ÖLÜM VE ERKEN OSMANLIL
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........
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subject is evident, plague has been
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also consulted. In view of this cla
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CHAPTER II A BIOLOGICAL AND HISTORI
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continents. 15 However, because of
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not. 22 Wendy Orent postulates that
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the disease. 31 During this outbrea
Page 19 and 20: common during winter, whereas the b
Page 21 and 22: CHAPTER III HISTORICAL SOURCES AND
Page 23 and 24: which will be critically examined i
Page 25 and 26: contested by Zeynep Korkmaz on the
Page 27 and 28: Ahmedi's Gazavâtname. 64 He lived
Page 29 and 30: The tarih was written as a way to p
Page 31 and 32: 'Hakk-teâlâ gayûr bir pâdişâh
Page 33 and 34: Ottoman ruler and his conquests, bu
Page 35 and 36: and 1460. 106 However, of these, al
Page 37 and 38: He was captured after Constantinopl
Page 39 and 40: Latin sources The first category of
Page 41 and 42: elatives and friends ensured him of
Page 43 and 44: period of one or more seasons, name
Page 45 and 46: Bir hastalık ki halk arasında sar
Page 47 and 48: CHAPTER IV THE OUTBREAK AND THE DIF
Page 49 and 50: that had happened in these lands, s
Page 51 and 52: "What can we not all say about flie
Page 53 and 54: of Pera in 1453, was to become of g
Page 55 and 56: as Karesi, Saruhan, Aydın, Menteş
Page 57 and 58: A possible explanation is that no w
Page 59 and 60: Crete. 209 That the Brachea Chronik
Page 61 and 62: Yusuf's insistence to become a Chri
Page 63 and 64: earthquake that destroyed much of I
Page 65 and 66: of two carboni and a jandusa al sca
Page 67 and 68: CHAPTER V THE RESPONSE TO PLAGUE 5.
Page 69: Cydones obviously did not appreciat
Page 73 and 74: Ve dahi ol yılda Bursa'da tâ'un-
Page 75 and 76: travels also allowed him to become
Page 77 and 78: plague on several other occasions,
Page 79 and 80: epidemics, or was at the very least
Page 81 and 82: 5.2. Religious response In times of
Page 83 and 84: in Europe as a response to the epid
Page 85 and 86: the Orthodox believers and many of
Page 87 and 88: Hak te'âlâ'nun fazlı yitişüp k
Page 89 and 90: were implemented at one time or ano
Page 91 and 92: Islamic religious terms, a more pro
Page 93 and 94: in heaven's name not to touch the c
Page 95 and 96: "Ve dahi ol yılda Bursa'da tâ'un-
Page 97 and 98: quite a few of its regular visitors
Page 99 and 100: notables of Cairo transferred. Whil
Page 101 and 102: his people and the Genoese for thei
Page 103 and 104: death toll to 160 000 or about 1300
Page 105 and 106: suffered great losses through famin
Page 107 and 108: In the above example, the Venetians
Page 109 and 110: while later his brother. They were
Page 111 and 112: prices did occur four years before
Page 113 and 114: asis or had indeed any policy at al
Page 115 and 116: Bertrandon de la Brocquière fulfil
Page 117 and 118: as to whether the Ottomans systemat
Page 119 and 120: present as well in the period under
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surprising as both European and Ott
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Primary Sources unpublished Ottoman
Page 125 and 126:
-----.Les Regestes des Actes du Pat
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Tafur, Pero. 1926. Pero Tafur: Trav
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Research Centre for Islamic History
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Columbia University Press, 2004. Sc
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APPENDIX I ENTRIES FROM THE DIARY O
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Da Sybinicho, fo leto una lettera,
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morto do fioli da peste, pur Idio l
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61. vol. 28, col. 232 Da Constantin
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incolorò, dove la saltò la peste,
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E venuto nova il magnifico Perì Ba
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Idem, by two slaves who escaped fro
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MDX, APRILE (April 1510) 27. vol. 1
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There is an enormous plague outbrea
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... that there, in Constantinople,
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Paragraph over the statement (made)
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a carbuncle, which is a sort of gia
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From Constantinople, from sir Piero
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