the black death in early ottoman territories - Bilkent University

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.
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