The Byzantine Legacy's Influence on Ottoman Institutions

The Byzantine Legacy and Ottoman Forms
Author(s): Speros Vryonis, Jr.

Source: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 23/24 (1969/1970), pp. 251-308
Published by: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University
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THE BYZANTINE LEGACY

AND OTTOMAN FORMS
SPEROS VRYONIS, JR.
This paper was read at a Symposiumentitled"Afterthe

Fall ofConstantinople,"
held at DumbartonOaks in May 1968.
Note: In translatingTurkish, Arabic, and Persian words I have followed a

modifiedversion of the system used in the new edition of the Encyclopaedia
of Islam.
S.V., Jr.
PART
ONE
whenthe
ROM the earlyChristianera untilthe eighteenth
century,
Ottoman Empire began to disintegrateas a result of externalblows

and internalseparatism,the inhabitantsof extensiveregionsin the
Balkans and Asia Minorexperiencedthe political dominationof two "world
empires."The polyglotmultinationalByzantineand Ottomanempires,which
forthegreaterpartofthis long timespan exercisedtheircontroland influence,
directlyor indirectly,fromthe imperial city of Constantineand Mehmed,
added to the rich historicalexperienceand cultural strata of these areas.
There wereepochswhenthe local peoples lived in independenceor vassalage,
but the Volksgeschichteof even these independentperiods shows a definite
whereinthe sociorelationshipand oftensubservienceto the Reichsgeschichte,
culturalformsof the empireoftenassertedthemselveswithinthe independent
or vassal states. The goal of this paper is to examine the impact which the
institutionsof Byzantium and the Turks had on one anotherand to assess
elementsof continuityand change. When Nicolae lorga wrotehis suggestive
monograph,Byzance afprs Byzance, he conceived of the problemas limited
largelyto theBalkans and to thesphereofHochkultur.I shouldliketo broaden
the presentconsiderationto include Anatolia and to encompass,at least en
passant, the lower social classes which afterall constitutedthe majorityin
Byzantineand Ottomansocieties.
The struggleof the Byzantinesand the Ottomanswas the last phase in a
whichfirstreduced and then
long series of Byzantino-Islamicconfrontations
the
Christian
of
the
This
threefoldprocessof politiEast.
extinguished
empire
cal retreat,stabilization,and collapse correspondson the Islamic side to three
epochs: the Umayyad,Abbasid, and Turkish.There is a furthercoincidence
between these politico-military-dynastic
phases of the Christian-Muslim
and
the
influence
which
relationship
Byzantium exercised on her Muslim
sister.During the Umayyad period the Arab caliphate and its institutional
life were markedlyaffectedby the Byzantine traditionsof Syria, Palestine,
Egypt, and North Africain the administrative,fiscal,legal, military,architectural,artisan, artistic,agricultural,and maritimespheres.1By the time
the Abbasids removedthe Islamic capital to Iraq not only had the forcesof
Arabismand religiousIslam begun to integratedisparateelementsinto a new
1 C. Becker, Islamstudien.Vom Werdenund Wesender islamischenWelt
(Leipzig, 1924) (hereafter
Islamstudien),I, 1-39; idem, "Egypt," Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1; H. A. R. Gibb, "Arab-Byzantine
Relations under the Umayyad Caliphate," DumbartonOaks Papers, 12 (1958), 223-233; H. I. Bell,
"The Administrationof Egypt under the Umayyad Khalifs," ByzantinischeZeitschrift,
28 (1928),
278-286; A. Grohmann,"Griechischeund lateinische Verwaltungstermini
im arabischenAegypten,"
im klassiChroniqued'Egypte,Nos. 13-14 (1932), 275-284; S. Fraenkel, Die aramaischenFremdwdrier
schenArabisch (G6ttingen,1919); I. Goldziher - J. Schacht, "Fikh," EI,; R. Ettinghausen,Arab
Painting (London, 1962); G. von Grunebaum,"Die islamische Stadt," Saeculum, 6 (1955), 138-139;
K. Creswell,"Architecture,"EI,.
SPEROS
254
VRYONIS,
JR.
civilization,but the new Persian milieu of Iraq and Iran had replaced the
Byzantine atmosphereof Syria. HenceforthIranian influenceplayed a very
art,court practices,
importantrolein the evolutionof Islamic administration,
statecraft,and literature.2It is all the more remarkablethat at this time of
vanishingByzantineinfluencein the domainof statecraftthe GreekBildungsgut made a powerfulimpact on and helped to create Islamic philosophy,
Conversetheology,science,and medicine,as well as manuscriptillumination.3
an
Islam
had
effect
on
the
of
the
former
ly,
populations
Byzantineprovinces
as
result
of
Islamization
a
and
while
withinByzantium
Arabicization,
largely
Islamic
influence
of
in courtceremothe
Abbasid
era
has
been
traced
proper
nial, architecture,and miniaturepainting, and in the realm of literature
throughthe translationof orientaltexts into Greek.4It is the thirdphase of
this Byzantine-Muslim
relationthat we mustinvestigatehere. In the broader
Mediterraneancontext this third period, the period of the Seljuk-Ottoman
advance fromManzikertto CentralEurope, is balanced in the West by the
Muslim retreatbeforethe Christianreconquistain Spain. These almost conwar at the two extreme
temporaryreversalsoffortunein the Muslim-Christian
ends of the Mediterraneanworld resulted in parallel sociological,cultural,
and religiousphenomenawhichprovideideal cases forcomparativehistorical
studies.
The comparisonof Byzantine and Ottoman institutionsis a game which
many Byzantinistsand not a fewOttomanistshave played, yet it is one still
fraughtwith snares and obstacles.5The most obvious of these impediments
a G. Wiet, "L'Empire n6o-byzantindes Omeyyades et 1'Empire n6o-sassanide des Abbassides,"
Cahiersd'histoiremondiale,I (1953-54), 63-71; M. Watt, Islam and theIntegrationof Society(London,
1961).
3 G. von Grunebaum, "Parallelism, Convergence,and Influence in the Relations of Arab and
Oaks Papers, 18 (1964), 89-111; idem,

ByzantinePhilosophy,Literature,and Piety,"Dumbarton
"Islam and Hellenism," in Islam. Essays in theNature and Growthof a CulturalTradition(Menasha,

VonAlexandriennach Baghdad. Sitzungsberichte
der preussischenAKa1955), 159-167; M. Meyerhoff,
demieder Wissenscha/ten,
Philos.-hist.Klasse (1930); M. Steinschneider,Die arabischenUbersetzungen
aus demGriechischen
(Graz, 1960); G. Bergstrasser,IHunainibn Ishaq und seine Schule (Leiden, 1913);
F. Rosenthal, Das Fortlebender Antike im Islam (Zurich, 1965); M. Watt, Islamic Philosophyand
Theology(Edinburgh,1962), 44-89, 93-142.
4 C. Becker, "Egypt," EI1; R. Brunschwig,"Tunis," EI,; H. Leclercq, L'Afriquechrdtianne
(Paris,
1904), II; C. J. Speel, "The Disappearance of ChristianityfromNorth Africa in the Wake of the
Rise of Islam," ChurchHistory,XXIX (1960), 379-397; W. Margais, "Commentl'Afriquedu Nord a
6t6 arabis6e," Annales de l'Institutd'dtudesorientales(Facult6 des lettresde l'Universit6d'Alger), IV
(1938), 1-21; A. N. Poliak, "L'arabisation de l'Orient s6mitique," Revue des dtudesislamiques (1938),
35-63; M. Canard, "Byzantium and the Muslim World to the Middle of the Eleventh Century," The
CambridgeMedieval History,IV, 1 (1966), 734-735; idem, "Le c6r6monialfatimiteet le c6r6monial
byzantin. 'Essai de comparaison," Byzantion,XXI (1951), 355-420; A. Grabar, "Le succ6s des arts
orientaux la cour byzantinesous les Mac6doniens," MiinchenerJahrbuchder bildendenKunst, III,
2 (1951), 32-50; F. D61ger,"Byzantine Literature,"CMH, IV, 2 (1967), 242-243.
5 The most detailed and comprehensivestudy of Byzantine and Ottoman institutionsis that of
M. K6priilii,"Bizans miiesseseleriniosmanli miiesseselerinitesiri hakkinda bazi miilahazalar," Tiirk
hukukve iktisattarihimecmuass,1 (1931) (hereafter"Bizans,"), 165-313; idem,Alcune osservazioni
intornoall'influenzadelle istituzionibizantinesulle istituzioniottomane(Rome, 1953); idem, "Les
institutionsbyzantinesont-ellesjou6 un r61edans la formationdes institutionsottomanes?" Bulletin
of theInternationalCommittee
of HistoricalSciences,VI (1933), fasc. 23, 297-302. K6priiliieffectively
demonstratedthe Islamic originof many Ottoman institutions,but not of all. For differentviews,
see the following:E. Taeschner,"Eine neue tiirkischePublikation zur Wirtschaftsgeschichte,"
OrienXXXVI (1933), 482-490; Ph. Koukoules, BvLavTvrCvv
talischeLiteraturzeitung,
PfiosKc WrrolTlaap6S
(Athens, 1948-52), I-VI;
idem, Bvlatv&Tvd
Kclio0Xi TrovpKtK& 1tpa, BZ, 30 (1929-30), 192-196; B. Cvet-
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
255
is the insufficiently
investigatednature of the Palaeologan era, of the entire
Anatolianexperienceof the Turks (both Seljuk and beylik),and of the Ottoman rise down to the invasionof Syria and Egypt. Though the similaritiesof
both states are immediatelyobvious,any attemptto explain themmust take
into account three possible, but different,
originsof these likenesses.First,
the Byzantine and Ottomanwere polyglot,multisectarianstates whose core
lay in Anatolia and the Balkans. Accordingly,their emperorsand sultans
faced many of the same political,social, and economicproblemsand cultural
phenomena.These problems,commonto both empires,would have been reflectedin their institutionaland administrativeapparatus; hence, some of
these institutionsmight,theoretically,have been inspiredindependentlyof
any direct institutionalinfluenceor inheritance.Second, the Balkans, Asia
Minor,the Levant, and Egypt had, since the conquestsof Alexander,formed
a common cultural area which, though it possessed strong local cultural
variety,had neverthelessmany commoncharacteristics.The political,social,
and religiousstructurewhichthe Arabs erectedin the formerByzantineand
Sassanid provincesresembledthose of the Byzantinesand Sassanids in many
respects.Thus, whenthe Turks passed into the Muslimlands and were Islamicized, they too were influencedby many of the institutionsand practices
which Islam had absorbed fromByzantium.When the Turks conqueredthe
Byzantine Empire they broughtwith them many of these institutions,and
theywere frequentlysimilarto those theythenencountered.The thirdpossibilityis that the Turksborrowedoutrightcertaincustomsfromthe Orthodox
and Armenian Christiansin Anatolia and the Balkans. Theoretically,the
process by which the Turks mighthave adopted, or unconsciouslyimitated,
Byzantine practicesand institutionsis a threefoldone. It could have come
about by directadoptionfromthe subject populationsof the various Turkish
states; or indirectlyby incorporationof older Islamic practiceswhich were
themselvesappropriatedfromByzantium when the Arabs conquered Syria
and Egypt; or because the Turksfoundsimilarproblemsin rulingthe Balkans
and Anatolia and therefore
had to use solutionssimilarto thoseof the Byzantines.
A brief survey of the geographicaldiffusionand strengthof Byzantine
civilizationin the Balkans and Anatolia, as well as of the featuresof Turkish
society on the eve of the invasions of these areas is necessaryfor a better
understandingof this general problem.A similarlyimportanttask is to ascertainthe quality of the Turkishconquestsand the quantityof the Turkish
settlersas determinants
in the new Balkan-Anatoliansynthesis.One may convenientlydescribe the geographicalconfigurationof Byzantine civilization
and influenceas composedof threegeographicalareas, the intensityof whose
Byzantine quality usually decreased as one moved fromthe center to the
kova, "Influenceexerc6epar certainsinstitutionsde Byzance et des pays balkaniques du Moyen Age
sur le systhmef6odal ottoman," Byzantino-Bulgarica(hereafter"Influence"), I (1962), 237-257;
G. Arnakis, 1O rrpc~prot
'O0copavof(Athens, 1947), 101-107; A. S. Tveritinova, "Falsifikatsiiaistorii
srednevekovoiTurtsii v kemalistskoiistoriografii,"Vizantiiskii Vremennik,
VII (1953), 9-31.
256
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
peripheries.The core consistedof Asia Minorwest of a line runningthrough

Trebizond-Caesareia-westernTaurus, the isles, portions of Thrace, Macedonia, and the remainderof the Greek peninsula.Though the area included
importanthereticalgroupsand variousethnicblocs,it was herethat the Greek
speaking and Orthodoxelementwas most numerous.The second region or
area of partial Byzantinization(the semi-Byzantinizedzone) included that
portionof Byzantine eastern Asia Minor which the Georgians,Armenians,
Syrians,and a minorityof Greeksinhabited,and the Balkan regionsof Serbia,
Bulgaria, and southernAlbania. Finally,therewas the culturalborderregion
whereByzantineinfluencelargelydisappeared; in the East this includedthe
regionsof easternmostArmenia,the domainsof the Kurds, of the Daylamites
in Azerbaidjan,of the Arabs in Syria-in the West it was the Slavic regions
of Croatia and Bosnia, northernAlbania, and the Magyar trans-Danubian
regions.Here otherinfluenceswere dominantand those of Byzantiumlargely
absent.
Thus, as one moves fromthe geographicalcore throughthe semi-Byzantinized zone to theborder,or as one leaves the plains,rivervalleys,and communication arteriesforthe mountainsand marshyregionsof isolation,the force
and elementsof Byzantinecivilizationdiminish.Obviously,if Byzantiumdid
actually exercize an influenceon Turkish forms,one would expect to find
evidenceof it in the areas of the Byzantinecore and semi-Byzantinized
zone,
and of these two the cultural-socialstructureof the latterwas the morecomplex inasmuchas it representeda series of local synthesesof Byzantine and
indigenousformsin varyingproportions.These proportionsvaried in relation
to the political and religiouspolicies pursued by the political authoritiesas
well as in relationto otherfactors(i.e., the folkcultureof the various ethnic
groups,the proximityand powerof otherculturalspheressuch as that of the
Latin church,Germaninfluencein CentralEurope, or the cultureof the calizone of easternAsia Minorthe Syriansand
phate). In the semi-Byzantinized
to
their
Armenians,prior
politicalabsorptionintothe Empireduringthe tenth
and eleventhcenturies,had lived under non-Byzantinepolitical authorities
(Muslim,Armenian).Obviously,under such circumstancesthe state was not
an instrumentof Byzantine culture. Beyond this, ecclesiastical alienation
which followedthe bifurcationwithineastern Christianityafterthe Council
of Chalcedonremovedthe Armenianand Syrianchurchesas possiblevehicles
of furtherand renewedByzantineinfluence.It is significantforthe vitality
of the indigenouscharacterof Armenianculture that it possessed a highly
developed aristocraticclass (heavilyinfluencedin antiquityby Persia) which
survivedwithoutsuffering
any caesura brutaleformany centuries.Nevertheless, there were factorswhich contributedto a local synthesisin the semiByzantinizedzone occupiedby Syriansand Armenians.Both wereparticipants
in the culturalkoineofthe easternMediterranean
worldpriorto the disengagement and mutual estrangementof its constituentparts which followedthe
Monophysitecrisesand Arab invasions.Withineach communitytherewas a
small but important segment which neverthelessembraced ecclesiastical
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
257
Byzantium...the Tzats and Melkites.At the time of the Byzantine reconquista of the Macedonian dynastyArmeniansand Syrians were recolonized
in Byzantinecore lands, with what unhappyresultswe all know. In spite of
the Monophysitetruculencebeforeecclesiasticalunion, Byzantine influence
once morebecame a strongcurrentin the lifeof these communities,and it is
interestingthat the Greek classics, too, were not completelyunknown.The
Armenian GregoryMagistros turned to translatingPlato in the eleventh
century,whereasthe study and translationof Greek texts had never ceased
among the Syriac Christians.Though alienated fromByzantinereligiouslife
in the fifthcentury,the Syrian Monophysites,and the Nestoriansas well,
continuedtheirstudy of the classical Greek texts and became the principal
purveyorsof the Byzantine versionof Greek cultureto the Arabs and the
Islamic world. Elements of Byzantine law, art, and literatureplayed a role
in the local synthesisof Armeniansand Syrians in this semi-Byzantinized
zone. By comparison,the Georgians,however,weremore directlyexposed to
Byzantineinfluencein the realm of formalculture,inasmuchas they fellin
the Byzantineecclesiasticalcamp and because theirformalculturallife had
not undergonethe same vigorousdevelopmentbeforeits contact with Byzantium.6
In the Balkans it was the Serbs and Bulgarswho formedthe semi-Byzantinized zone by their creation of the South Slav-Byzantine culture. Though
philologistsassure us that theirinvasionsand settlementsdid not constitute
a completeand absolutebreachwiththe pre-Slavictraditionsof the Balkans,
it was only aftersufficient
passage of timeand frequentrelationswithByzantiumthatfirstthe Bulgarsand thenthe SerbsembracedtheByzantinepoliticoreligiousinstitutionwhich placed the Byzantinestamp on theirculturein a
sharperand moredefinitemannerthan had been the case witheitherSyrians
or Armenians.The reasonslay in the less developedcharacterofmuchof early
Serbian and Bulgarian societiesand particularlyin the absence of any local
obstacle to the adoptionof ByzantineChristianity.
Consequentlythe decisiveness of the Byzantineinfluenceforthe Hochkulturof Bulgaria and Serbia is
everywheremanifest;in the state and administration,
religion,literature,art
and architecture,law, urban and economic life.' However, many of these
Vryonis, "Problems in the History of Byzantine Anatolia," Ankara Universitesidil tarih ve
cogralyafakiatesitariharatilrmalaridergisi,1 (1963) (hereafter"Problems,"), 113-132; idem,"Byzantium: The Social Basis of Decline in the Eleventh Century,"Greek,Roman and ByzantineStudies,2,
no. 2 (1959), 157-175; E. Honigmann,Die Ostgrenzedes byzantinischen
Reiches von 363 bis 1071 nach
arabischen,syrischenund armenischenQuellen (Brussels, 1935); R. W. Thomson, "The
griechischen,
Influenceof theirEnvironmenton the Armeniansin Exile in the Eleventh Century,"Supplementary
Papers of the ThirteenthInternationalCongressof Byzantine Studies (Oxford,1966), 138-140. The
chroniclesof Michael the Syrian and Bar Hebraeus illustrate the continuingknowledge and study
of Greek and the Greek texts, and the Syrian Law Book, E. Sachau, SyrischeRechtsbiacher
(Berlin,
1907), I, vii-xix, reflectsthe earlierinfluenceof Byzantinelaw. The most receptiveof the Armenians
to Byzantine culture were the Tzats, or Chalcedonian Armenians,N. Marr, "Arkaun, mongolskoe
nazvanie Khristian,v sviazi s voprosomob Armianakh-Khalkedonitakh,'"
VizVrem,XII (1906), 1-68.
7 V. Begevliev, "Zur
Kontinuitit der antiken Stidte in Bulgarien," Neue Beitrcigezur Geschichte
deraltenWelt,II (1965), 211-221; M. Gavazzi, "Die KulturgeographischeGliederung
Siidosteuropas,"
XV (1956), 5-21; J. Cviji6, La pdninsulebalkanique.Gdographiehumaine (Paris,
Siddost-Forschungen,
13-111.
For
the
1918),
Byzantine elementin Balkan culture,the best synthesisis that of F. D1lger,
I
258
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
Byzantine influences(especiallypolitical and literary)affectedonly a small

proportionof the inhabitants (the upper classes, court circles, urbanites,
inhabitantsof the major routesof communication)and large masses remained
untouchedby Byzantine high culture,especiallyin the mountainsand the
westernBalkans where the old patriarchalhumanitasheroicaprevailed.The
vigorofcustomarylaw, the zadrugapolity,and folkpoetryare all indicesofthis
vibrance.8On the otherhand, the Byzantineculturalsubstancewas not exclusively aristocratic,for the monastic,hagiolatric,iconodulic,and canonic
aspects of its Christianitypenetratedthe societythoroughly.Because of this
a real Byzantino-Slav synthesisdevelopedon both the formaland folklevels.
One mightmisconstruethe precedingremarksto concludethat in the formationof thisbroad Byzantineculturalspherein Asia Minorand the Balkans
the only commondenominatorwas that whichissued fromthe centralcore of
the Empire to the semi-Byzantinized
zones. This would be a manifestly
false
in
The
Armenians
their
wholesale
entrance
assumption many particulars.
by
into theEmpire'smilitaryaristocracymade a greatcontribution
to theEmpire
and probably lent a certain colorationto this class. Armenianand Syrian
merchantsand craftsmen
weresimilarlyimportant,and Syrianphysiciansand
translatorsaffectedthe practice of medicine as well as the cultural life of
Byzantinesand Slavs by theirtranslationsof orientalliteratureinto Greek.
The Slavs contributedto the ethnicconfiguration
of Greece,in lesser degree
to the Empire's militaryforces,and to customarylaw.9 These same peoples
"Die mittelalterlicheKultur auf dem Balkan als byzantinischesErbe," Byzanz und die europdische
Staatenwelt(Ettal, 1953), 261-81, idem,"Byzanz und Siidosteuropa," 57-67, and "Der byzantinische
Anteil an der Kultur des Balkans," 138-152, in Vdlkerund Kulturen Siidosteuropa,Schriftender
1 (Munich,1959). The Byzantino-Slavic synthesisis treated by I. Dujcev,
Siidosteuropa-Gesellschaft,
"L'h6ritage byzantin chez les Slaves," Etudes historiques,II (1965), 131-148; idem, "Les Slaves
et Byzance," ibid., I (1960), 31-77. Useful orientationsto the vast literatureon the beginningsof
the synthesisare G. Soulis, "The Legacy of Cyriland Methodiusto the SouthernSlavs," Dumbarton
Oaks Papers, 19 (1965), 19-43, and R. Jakobson, "The Byzantine Mission to the Slavs. Report
on the Dumbarton Oaks Symposium of 1964, and Concluding Remarks about Crucial Problems
of Cyrillo-MethodianStudies," ibid., 257-265. The Bulgars were Byzantinizedearlier and more extensively,whereas the Serbian version of Byzantine culture was characterizedby a greateradmixtureof Serbian and othernon-Byzantineelements: A. Schmaus, "Zur Frage der KulturorientieXV (1956), 179-201; J. Matl, Siidslawische
rung der Serben im Mittelalter," Siidost-Forschungen,
Studien (Munich, 1965), 1-57; C. Jire'ek, Staat und Gesellschaft
im mittelalterlichen
Serbien. Studien
des 13.-15. Jahrhunderts.
zur Kulturgeschichte
Denkschriftender kaiserlichenAkademie der Wissenschaftenin Wien. Philos.-Hist. Klasse, Band LVI, Abh. II-III (1913); Band LVII, Abh. II (1914);
G. Ostrogorsky,"Problbmesdes relationsbyzantino-serbesau XIVe si6cle," Main Papers, II, ThirteenthInternationalCongressof ByzantineStudies (Oxford,1966), and the commentsof Soulis, SupplementaryPapers (Oxford, 1966), 11-15. Of special significancein the diffusionof Byzantine culture
among the Balkan Slavs was Mt. Athos; Dujcev, "Le Mont Athos et les Slaves au Moyen age," Medioevo bizantino-slavo(Rome, 1965), I, 487-510; Soulis, "Tsar Stephan Du'an and Mount Athos,"
Harvard Slavic Studies, II (1954), 125-39; D. Dimitrijevi6,"L'importance du monachismeserbe et
ses originesau monastbreathonitede Chilandar," in Le
milldnairedu Mont Athos963-1963, dtudeset
mdlanges,1 (Chevetogne,1963), 265-77.
8 This
aspect of Balkan societyis forcefullydescribed by Matl, Die Kultur der Siidslawen(Frankfurt,1966). G. Gesemann,HeroischeLebensform
(Berlin,1943); W. Lettenbauer,"Die Volkskulturder
Balkanslaven in ihrenBeziehungen zu iusserslavischenKulturkreisen,"Zeitschrift
fiirBalkanologie,
II (1964),113-25.
1 P. Charanis, The Armeniansin the
ByzantineEmpire (Lisbon, 1963); N. Adontz, Etudes armdnobyzantines(Lisbon, 1965); P. Peeters,Orientet Byzance. Le trdfonds
orientalde l'hagiographiebyzantine
(Brussels, 1950); M. Vasmer, Die Slaven in Griechenland.Abhandlungender preussischenAkademie
der Wissenschaften,Philos.-hist.Klasse, No. 12 (1941).
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
259
of the semi-Byzantinizedzones served as importantvehicles of diffusionof

Byzantine cultureto nations beyond. The Syrians introducedthe Arabs to
as well as to intellectuallife,and the South
Byzantineurban-administrative
an
in
role
Slavs played
important
bringingaspects of the Byzantineheritage
to the Rumanians and Russians.1oConsequently,the cultural vitality and
creativityof these peoples withinByzantine civilizationwere real and substantial. Simultaneouslyone should say that the Byzantine formsemanating
fromthe central core were the dominantand characteristicfeaturesof this
civilization.It is importantto note that this Byzantine influenceproved
itselfto be powerfuleven in periodsof politicalweakness.This is particularly
evidentin the intensifiedByzantinizationof Serbian formallife in the reign
of Stephan Dushan just at that time when the political mightof Byzantium
was collapsingin the central and southernBalkans. When the Turks first
invaded Asia Minorand the Balkans theyfoundsocietieswhichwerein process
of political and militarydisintegration,but which neverthelessconstituted
compactsocial and culturalentities.
The social formsand culturalaffiliations
of the Turks priorto theirAnatolian incursionswere quite differentfromthose just described. The Seljuk
Turks encounteredthe religionof Islam in the tenthcenturyand its civilization and political life in the eleventh.From this encounterthere arose the
Turkishsultanate,a transformation
of the tribal Asiatic khanate by Islamic
politicaltheoryin whichthe politicalauthorityusurpedby the Turkishrulers
was rationalized.Henceforththe Turkishrulers,as sultans,assumed the role
of Muslimpotentates,forwhichrole theirPersian viziersand administrators
preparedand schooledthem.
At this highestlevel of formalTurkishsociety,the newcomersenteredand
participatedin traditionalIslamic sedentarysociety,and the same pattern
was characteristicof all the tribalchieftainswho abandoned the errantlifeto
becomerulersof non-nomadicstates.They and theirimmediatefollowersthus
abandoned their formerpolity, were gradually sedentarized,and wherever
Anatolia, the sultans created an Islamic
they went, as in thirteenth-century
court and cultureabout them by encouragingthe immigrationof the representativesof this cultureto the new domains. In the eleventhcentury,howfromnomad to sedentaryseemsto have been a relaever,thismetamorphosis
tivelylimitedphenomenonamongthe Seljuks,and the majorityofthe followers of the Seljuks remainedin theirtribal state.1 Their nomadic status was
10
See notes nos. 1 and 3, supra. P. Olteanu, "Originesde la cultureslave dans la Transylvaniedu
Nord et le Maramures," Romanoslavica,1 (1958), 169-97; E. Turdeanu, Les principautdsroumaines
et les Slaves du sud: Rapports littdraires
et religieux(Munich, 1959); idem,La littdrature
bulgare du
XI Ve sidcle et sa difusion dans les pays roumains (Paris, 1947); G.
Nandris, "The Beginningsof
Slavonic Culturein the Rumanian Countries," The Slavonic and East European Review,XXIV (1946),
der iilterensiidslawischenLiteraturen(Leipzig, 1908), 108, 162, 194-95.
160-71; M. Murko,Geschichte
11 The best account of this
societyunderthe Great Seljuks is O. Turan, Sel4uklulartarihive TiirkIslami medeniyeti(Ankara, 1965) (hereafterSel4uklular).The nature of Oghuz society in the tenth
and eleventh centuries emerges from two contemporaryaccounts: C. Brockelmann,"Mahmud alKashgari iiberdie Spracheund die Stamme der Turkenim 11. Jahrhundert,"KdrdsiCsoma Archivium,
I (1921-25), 26-40, and A. Z. V. To'an, Ibn Fadlan's Reisebericht,
Abhandlungenfiirdie Kunde des
Morgenlandes,XXIV, 3 (Leipzig, 1939) (hereafterIbn Fadlan-To'an), 19ff.F. Siimer,"Anadolu'ya
260
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
above all characterizedby its mobilenature.Therewas no tribalinstitutiondomicile,cuisine,economy,or militaryweaponryand tactics-which did not
conformto the demandsof maximummobility.The steppe environment
with
its harshlaw of survivalhad forgeda societywhichwas sharplydifferentiated
fromthe societiesit was to conquer. Tiirkmennomadismbroughtwith it in
particularan economiclifewhichwas to become the bane of agriculture,an
economyrelyinglargely,thoughnot exclusively,upon pastoralismand warfare. For the formerthe Tiirkmenssoughtpasturagewhichthey usually expropriatedby warfareat the expense of the farmingpopulation. Warfare,
especiallyraidingand banditry,was a highlycustomarysourceof enrichment
and it made great slave tradersof the Tiirkmens.Their social, military,and
economiclifewas fusedin theirinstitutions.FormallyIslamized in the tenth
century,the effectof the new religionresultedin nothingmore than a thin
coating over the old tribal shamanismof the Tiirkmens,the tribal shamans
simply becomingMuslim baba's while retainingtheir older characteristics.
Among the most spectacularsurvivalsof these previousshaman practicesis
human sacrifice,a customwhichpersistedforcenturiesafterthe Turks first
enteredByzantinelands and whichwas relatedto theirwarriorculture.12
yalniz g69ebetiirklermi geldi ?" Belleten,TiirkTarih Kurumu,XXIV, 96 (1960), 567-596, attempted
to give greateremphasis to the sedentaryquality among the Turks. D. Theodorides,"Turkeiturkisch
nadas," Zeitschrift
fir Balkanologie,IV (1966), 146-48, has introduceda significantmodificationto
one of Stimer'spoints. There is no satisfactorystudy of Turkish nomadism in Anatolia duringthe
centuries.The remarksof V. Gordlevsky,Izbrannyesocheperiod betweenthe eleventhand fifteenth
nenila (Moscow, 1960), I, 70-95, are usefulbut are based on only a partial samplingof the available
source material. For the Ottomanperiod, Siimer,Oguzlar(Tiirkmenler)
tarihleri-boy
teqkildti-destanlart
(Ankara, 1967).
12 M. K6priilii, "Anadoluda
Islamiyet," Edebiyat fakiiltesimecmuasz,II (1928), 385; idem, Tyrk
(Ankara, 1966), 207, 215., forthe fusionof Turkishshamanistreligion
edebiyatv'ndailk mutasavvtflar
and Islam; also his brief,Influencede chamanismeturco-mongol
(Istanbul, 1929).
Contemporaryobserverstestifyto the survival of human sacrificeamong the Turks in the fourteenthand fifteenth
centuries.JohnCantacuzene,who knew the Turks as well as did any otherByzantine author and who had used Turkish soldiers in extensive numbers,remarksthat the Turkish
soldiers performedhuman sacrificeover the graves of their slain comrades: ContraMahometemApologia, PG, 154, col. 545; Ti y&p rfis-rotairrscbp6TlroSKat
C~
XE1pov
implravpcowrras
ykvoitr'&v, 2ate
qovEOstv
TI
1~lStKK6TraS; KCaly&p6w6rTaV a&rD0coCtIMOuOValAp(VOti
wp65w6AEsov,Kai v
rroXpcpTrrq -ris5
'-r
-r8-v o*
6 vpEKPbV
bs tal-riovu woA?ouv,
-rTo TETTrwC)K6TOS
aTcrrov,
d&iovus
ppp?Ecos,
&aX'
~TwI
aGpC
Aoyiovrat avrrois
rod
Kal i6ovTAov5
8vvaOi
&v
6v
KaaTos,
Ltv-ras 6aovus
i-rf
v
KTEIVEt,-roaoiTrovd)kASEIav
aq&r-rovauqrvXfs.El 8' racos
e
Aoyif-rat
T1
e~O
a
oOK
airroi
ovaotv
roT 6 povA6psvoSoi~BOfitai
TETOVE"cTOS "TO,
-rEves-ros
TOy'
JXi
&kovels-rat
Xpicrrtavoi~,efrrspEspoi,KOal'h' tr~V o -roVleKpoi acbpaT-roS
aro'?, ?i klrri T 6cq aroi.
aqC&-r-rs
&
Kai 6 TavTrravooeyorov rw drr6
r"-rOcP
soo;
Murad II purchased six hundredslaves in the Peloponnese which he then sacrificedto his dead
father; Chalcocondyles, 348. p-r&S vriadpEvoSd&vSpdrro8aS

&eK6ta
i~toipEvoS -r"t96vc tov
To-rororv.
&Sv8pwov
a
viiys -rT gavrroOwcarpi,
Ouciav
These two referencesare very clear and there can be no doubt that human sacrificesurvived
among a portion of the Tiirkmentribes in Anatolia and the Balkans as late as the fourteenthand
fifteenth
centuries.Cantacuzene understoodthe purpose of these sacrifices,but was in errorwhen he
consideredthe practice to be of Islamic origin.Islam, of course,never toleratedhuman sacrifice,and
what he describes is clearly a central Asiatic shamanistic practice. Among the shamanistic UraAltaic peoples it was commonlybelieved that those whom a warriorslew in this world would serve
him in the next. Thus human sacrificeat the grave of the dead warriorwas a well-knowncustom in
the religionsof the Turco-Mongolpeoples and was observed as early as Herodotus and as late as the
nineteenthcentury.Theophanes, ed. de Boor, I, 379, recordsit among the Khazars, -ro
8'S TovSoivov
T
ol X&CapsSE1 SoXhv
ov -ros
-1v
656v -er)YK6A0os,
aVT'roi
TrptlaKooiot0
KaTn&
D.
The
aTKTEav-r6V
the
roV
ovUpppPXqv
Historyof
JewishKhazars (Princeton,1954), 175. For the cult of the
o-rparicb-rcai. Dunlop,
dead among the shamanistpeoples, see the following,wheremoredetailed referenceis made to human
sacrifice:Ibn Fadlan-To'an (as in note ii supra), 24-25, 236-37; J.-P. Roux, La mortchezles
peuples
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
261
The Turksbroughta hybridsocietywiththemwhentheymoved acrossthe

Islamic worldand enteredAsia Minor: Islamic and nomadic.Duringthe centuriesthat followedtheirinitial appearance in Anatolia and the Balkans the
natureofTurkishsocietychangedradically.In the earlystagesoftheinvasions
the Turkswere predominantly
nomads,but theybegan,gradually,to become
settled-a trendwhichcontinueduntil the nineteenthcentury.In sixteenthcenturywesternAnatolia the proportionof nomad to sedentaryMuslimwas
16.6 per cent to 83.4 per cent. By the late seventeenthcenturythe sedentarizationof nomads seemsto have intensified
sharply.13
In termsof the Byzantinelegacy and Ottomanformsthe significant
factor
that should be noted here is that the Tiirkmensor Yiiriikswho abandoned
the tribalforthe settledlifein Anatolia and the Balkans weresedentarizedin
the homelandof Byzantineculture(Slavic-Greek-Armenian).
This is parallel
to the sedentarizationof the Arabs, duringthe firstIslamic centuries,in the
formerByzantine provincesof Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and
North Africa.The importanceof the sedentarizationof the Arabs in these
formerly
Byzantineprovinceswas, of course,momentousin the formationof
Islamic
early
society.One should,however,make this reservation:When the
Arabs conqueredthese Byzantineprovincesin the seventhcenturyIslam was
not yet a fullydeveloped civilizationand culture,it still consistedprimarily
of the utterancesof Muhammadand the simplersocietyof the inhabitantsof
the Arabian peninsula. In contrast,the Turkish sultans, by conversionto
Islam and officialaffiliation
with the caliphate,inheritedat this top level of
altaiques anciens et mddidvauxd'aprysles documentsdcrits(Paris, 1963); A. Inan, Tarihteve bugiin
ve araqttrmalar
gamanizmmateryaller
(Ankara, 1954), 176-200; M. Eliade, Le chamanismeet les techniques archaiquesde l'extase (Paris, 1951), 175-88, 189-90.
aus Miinchenim Europa, Asia, und Afrikavon 1394
Schiltberger,Reisen des JohannesSchiltberger
bis 1427, ed. K. F. Neumann,with commentariesof J. Fallmereyerand Hammer-Purgstall(Munich,
1859), 130, remarkson a curious practice which may or may not be connected with this sacrifice:
"Es ist och ze mercken,das Machmet deu ziten als er offertrichgewesenist, viertzigdiener gehept
hat. Die selben haben ein besundere geselschafftund einen punt gemacht wider die christenheit.
Und das ist ir gesatz: Wer in ir geselschafft
will sin, der muss schwerenwa er einen cristenankam,
das er in nit leben lassen w6ll nach gefangenniem,wedervon gunstsnoch von guts wegen. Und war
das daz er by einem vechten,das die heiden mit den cristentatten nit gesin m6cht,so sol er einen
cristenkoffenund sol in t6tten.Und welich in der gesellschafft
sint die heissentthey und der sint vil
in der tiirckayund ziehentall weg offdie cristen,wann es ir gesatz ist."
Barthelomaeus Georgieuiz, The Ofspring of theHouse of Ottomannoand Officers
pertainingto the
grateTurke,etc., tr. H. Goughe (London, 1570) (hereafterBartholomaeus Georgieuiz-Goughe),in the
chapter entitled,"What is assigned to be done by the Testamentesof the Turkes, as welle of menne
as women" reportsthe followingpractice "But the women geve monye unto soultyers,for to kill a
certainenumberof Christians.They make account that by so doynge,it will greatlyprofitethe health
of theirsoules."
All such practices may have given rise to the rumorthat the Turks were cannibals; Pachymeres,
I, 134:
woXXoiST ' AkyOVTO KVVoK~QpaOt, KXfi yE
K1 al dv&rEtprlivav t15
XpcwIEVOI,
'Tacxp&
8t1f*17i-'15
1KO/OVT'O
CO"TE
OpwcrrogcyEiv rto-rsC0ovro.
For another funeralcustom, i.e., mummification,

broughtby the Turks fromcentral Asia, see
O. Turan, "?emseddin Altun-Abavakfiyesive hayati," Belleten,Tiirk Tarih Kurumu, XI, 42 (1947),
208-210.
18 0. Barkan, "Essai surles donn6es
statistiquesdes registresde recensementdans l'empireottoman
aux XVe et XVIe siecles," Journal of theEconomicand Social HistoryoftheOrient,I (1958) (hereafter
"Essai,"), 30. In the early sixteenth centuryAnadolu (westernAnatolia) had 388, 397 sedentary
Muslim hearthsand 77,268 nomad hearths (this does not include the asker class). See notes 157-160
infra.
262
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
Turkishsocietyan entirecivilizationwithhighlydevelopedsystemsofreligion,
law, literature,art, and economicand urbanlife.Nevertheless,this was offset
by the factthat all the variouselementsof Islamic civilizationhad not at this
early time (eleventhcentury)affectedthe mass of the invading Tiirkmens,
who still lived in the impervioussocial cocoon oftribalism.Consequently,the
majorityof the Tiirkmenscontinuedto live in a conditionstronglyrecalling
that of the Arab bedouinswhen theyenteredthe Levant, Iraq, Egypt, etc.
A second factto be consideredat thispointfollows:The Turksfirstentered
Asia Minorin the eleventhcenturyand the Balkans (as settlers)only in the
second half of the fourteenth.Consequently,three centuriesseparate the
appearance of this conqueringpeople in the two peninsulas.One must,therefore,take into accountthe dynamicsofsocial-culturalchangewithinboth the
Turkish and Byzantine spheres during this interval. The Turkish-Muslim
society,which effectedthe initial conquest in Anatolia, underwenta great
transformation
residencein Anatolia so that whenit
duringits three-century
next implanted itselfin the Balkans-during the fourteenthand fifteenth
centuries-it had experienceda substantialevolution.These changes,to which
one can only allude here, included widespread sedentarizationof nomads,
large-scaleconversionsof Christiansand absorptionof their style of life in
Anatolia,and the influxof a considerableMuslimsedentaryelementfromthe
traditionalIslamic lands. The nomadic elementwhich crossedthe straitsto
Europe remainedmostfreeofthis change,but it was, in its turn,sedentarized
in a Byzantino-Balkanmilieu.Concomitantto this evolutionwithinTurkishMuslimsocietywas the developmentin Byzantinesociety.As the Turks conquered Asia Minor,the developmentof Byzantinesocietytherewas arrested
in the sense that it was cut offfromthe heartbeatof the culture,and so took
on a more archaisticor fossilizedaspect with the passage of time. The Christians of Seljuk Anatolia did not sharein manyof the laterByzantinedevelopments (pronoiaforinstance). Consequently,the Byzantinesocietywhich the
Turks foundin eleventh-century
Anatolia differed
in some respectsfromthat
whichtheyfoundin fourteenth-century
and
the Balkans.
Bithynia
In past discussionsof Byzantineinfluenceon Turkishsocietyand culture
therehas been a tendencyto concentrateon the spectacularconquestof Constantinopleand the replacementof the basileus with a sultan. More recently
scholars have called attentionto the absorptionof local Christianelements
and forcesin the Balkans. However, there is good reason to believe that
muchof this Byzantinizationof the conquerorstook place in late eleventhand twelfth-century
Anatolia and in thirteenth-and fourteenth-century
Bithynia.
Not less importantthan the nature of Byzantine and Turkishsociety,in
this discussionof interplaybetweenthe institutionsof the two societies,is the
characterof the Turkishconquests and settlementsas a conditioningfactor
whichhelped to determinethe new synthesisin the Balkans and Anatolia. In
examiningthis fundamentalproblemwe must ask and attemptto answertwo
difficultquestions. Were the Turkish invasions of a destructiveor pacific
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
263
character?How great was the numberof Turks who enteredAsia Minorand

the Balkans? The question of the destructiveor relativelypacificcharacter
of the Turkishconquestsand migrationsis one whichhas rousedconsiderable
disagreement.One group of scholars.stronglyassertsthat the Turkishoccupation of the two peninsulaswas effectedby fireand the swordand accompanied by massacre, enslavement,destruction,and barbarizationof society.14
A second school counters,withequal vigor,that the Turkisharrivalwas relativelypeaceful,uneventful,and broughtthe economicand culturalfruitsof
politicalstabilityand unificationto the politicallysplinteredand underdeveloped Anatolian and Balkan populations.15Paradoxically,both propositions
containelementsof truthas well as, incidentally,the answerto our question.
But the paradox disappears upon closer consideration,for, as the heir of
Turkishsociety
steppe nomadismand the Islamic sultanate,eleventh-century
containedwithinit both potentials,i.e., destructionand construction.Nomadismbroughtwithit, as we saw, an economybased on pastoralismand raiding.
Thus, nomadizationmeant the violentdisruptionof sedentarylifeand therefore not only its economic decline but its partial destruction.The Islamic
state, in the conquestof Byzantinelands, harnessedthe naturalbellicosityof
the nomad to its own needs by attachingit to thejihad againstthe Christians.
But withinits own domainsthe sultanate toiled to establishall the elements
of a viable sedentary culture--agriculture,
crafts,commerce,religion,and
above all the peace and securitywhichwereabsolutelyessentialto thisculture.
There was latent,in thisrelationbetweenthe sultan and the nomads,a highly
destructivetendencywhichwas restrainedonlywhenthe state was centralized
and strong.When it weakenedor disappearedthe politicaland militarymight
of the nomads was no longerconstrained.Consequently,the periodsfromthe
late eleventhto the mid-twelfth
century,and fromthe later thirteenthand
fourteenth
in
which
therewas no effectivecontrolof a cencenturies,periods
tralized state in large areas, were characterizedby rampant nomadismand
destruction.The list of destroyedtownsand villagesin theseperiodsis a long
one. Conversely,with the stabilizationof a centralizedauthorityin the late
twelfthand early thirteenthcenturiesand again with the effectiveestablishment of unifiedand centralizedrule of the Ottomansultans orderonce more
prevailed,societyrecovered,and lifeprospered.
How destructive,then,was the Turkishconquest? If it had been as destructive as some maintain,we could terminateour discussionof the Byzantine
legacy at this point,forobviouslytherewould have been nothingleftof it in
the Balkans and Anatolia to discuss.Thoughit may have been so destructive
in certainlocalities,the overall conquestwas characterizedby a conservation
14The most detailed study of this destructive

aspect of the Turkishconquests is D. Angelov's "La
conquate des peuples balkaniques par les Turcs," Byzantinoslavica,XVII (1956), 220-275; "Turskoto
zavoevanie i borbata na balkanskite narodi protiv nashestventsite,"Istoricheskipregled,IX (1953),
374-398. A. Vakalopoulos, 'lo-ropia-roevovu'EAAiviatiocI(Thessaloniki, 1964), II, 40-60, 62-98;
I. Snegarov, Turshotovladichestvo
razvitiena bulgarskiianarodi drugitebalkanski
prechkaza kulturnoto
narodi (Sofia, 1958), takes a completelynegative view of the Ottoman conquest and administration.
15 Most recently,F. Siimer,"The Turks in Eastern Asia Minorin the Eleventh Century,"SupplementaryPapers, Thirteenth
InternationalCongressof ByzantineStudies (Oxford,1966), 141-143.
SPEROS
264
VRYONIS,
JR.
ofa significant
We may further
refinethe answer
portionofthelocal societies.16
in
the
the
Balkans
and
Anatolia.
The
Turkish
by comparing process
conquestsettlementin Anatolia was prolonged,repeatedin certainareas, and resulted
in a phenomenalpoliticalsplinteringfromthe eleventhcenturyuntilthe final
Ottomanreunification
in the late fifteenth
and earlysixteenthcenturies.The
stabilization
attained
and
Nicaea in the thirteenth
political
by Konya
century
is a brilliantbut solitarylightin this long period. By contrastthe Ottomans
conqueredthe major portionofthe Balkans in littlemorethan a centuryafter
the seizure of Gallipoli, and, had it not been for the nearly fatal Timurid
interlude,they would have effectedthe conquest much sooner. Also, if one
takes into account the fact that duringthe conquest the Balkan kingdoms
were firstattached to the Ottomansin a vassal status,thenthe actual period
of conquestis even shorter.Thoughit is true that the conquestitself,during
its briefextent,was brutal and destructive,the Ottomans early asserted a
strict centralizedcontrol and conditionswere quickly normalized.Finally,
we returnto the apparentparadox,that the Turksultimatelybroughtpolitical
unificationand stabilityon the one hand and definitedisruption,even destruction,on the other.The sultans,once they had establishedpolitical and
militarycontrol,labored indefatigablyto restoreeconomicporsperity,tranquility,and securitywithintheirdomains.But until this was finallyaccomof war, especiallyin
plished Byzantine society sufferedthe cruel afflictions
Anatolia. The destructionof towns and villages has alreadybeen mentioned.
A briefsamplingwill sufficeto convey the nature of this aspect of Turkish
conquest. Anna Comnenaremarksthat by the end of the eleventhcenturya
large proportionof the towns along the Aegean coastlinefromthe northto
Attalia had been completelyor partiallydestroyed."When the Second Crusaderspassed throughwesternAsia Minor,Odo ofDeuil remarkedthat,though
the Greekshad rebuiltand recolonizedsome ofthe urban centers,manyofthe
townswerestillnothingmorethanuninhabitedruins.s8
Adramyttium,
formerly
verypopulous and prosperous,was so destroyed,a contemporary
relates,that
one could not tell whetherit had ever been inhabitedby man.19Dorylaeum,
one of the largestand most prosperousof Greektownsin Asia Minor,lay a
desertedruinforover one hundredyears,no one stonestandingupon another
in the ruins.20Caesareia remainedan uninhabitedshambles for over half a
16On thisconservative
aspect, see H. Inalclk, "Ottoman Methodsof Conquest," Studia Islamica, II
(1954) (hereafter"Conquest"), 103-129.
17 Anna Comnena,Alexiade, ed. B. Leib (Paris, 1937) (hereafterAnna Comnena), III, 23; ...
-rov KTrr& 0aearTTav
1taxKEtp~vov Wr6Xecbv
rEKal Xcopcv AErlacria Kai wTrav-rEe?9pEfiwrctS"
11, 142,
asri-rrapafav -ri~ Ipvopvls Kai p'Xpti

'Ar-rcaAiaSof pd3pp3apot
fpifTwcoaav.
?riv18
-rEEio
Ludovici VII in
ed. and
tr. V. G.
Ode of Deuil, De
...
r6 Kra
profectione
orientem,
Berry (New York, 1948),
86-89: Quam cum totaessetiuris,Graecorumhanc ex magna parte Turci possident,illis expulsis, aliam
106-107: Ibi multasurbesdestructasinvenimus.
destruxerunt;
19 Anna Comnena (as in note 17 supra), III, 143: T66AtS
68&
1rpcqv
'v viv
6TrrlvlK
6 TlcXas r& KaTi

woAvavepcoiwo-r&d-r"
v plEX 1
S6
TipXVlpipVn
KaclaOrTVivTrCA5
(piVoiE. TV617yo0v TOrav-rTAij
X ca~11LET'o
ptT'acS
rTOTEV
vpblv riS -rotlacrrMs DOsaocpevo Tr6AscoS, cb oKETV LplU&&tOpcOTOV
.rivani.
KTaroiK1aI
20 Cinnamus, 294-295: -rb
7
r
68 Aop0Aaiov -rooro fjv p~v 6r
-resTITp -ris r v v 'AoigqKai
TV6AS
iv
pydrArl
A6yov &x(fa roAAo. .....
d AAf lTpopat,6TrrWviKa Ka-r&
EIS i(t9os
iKxpaLsvK6popfl,1rV7E
'PpaoiovT
VTa pXpl Kid "r6uktV
ppov
-rir'BE
PEPxriPvnrlv
mtrof10VTroKal
~Wrl
A~ETrrTv
Ti7s
rTAat
't
Epvl6vnros&vOpepb6TAov
TXvoS. "rrav-rdrrtaotv
pdrqviacrav
BYZANTINE
LEGACY AND OTTOMAN FORMS
265
These are merely

century.21
century,not being rebuiltuntil the mid-twelfth
three cases froma long list of sacked or destroyedByzantine towns in the
firstcenturyof the Seljuk-Byzantineconflict.In this earlyperiodthe sources
reveal that over seventy-fivetowns and villages were subjected, to severe
devastation,some of them being sacked on more than one occasion,22and
twenty-sevenof these towns were destroyedand became uninhabitedfor
varyingperiods. In the late thirteenthand fourteenthcenturiesafter the
collapse of Konya and Nicaea thefurornomadicusonce more devastated extensiveareas of Anatolia.23The sourcesare far fromadequate, yet the list of
21 Baldricus, in Recueil des historiensdes croisades, Historiensorientaux,IV (1898), 39: venerunt
quanti
quoque ad CaesareamCappadociae quae ad solumdirutaerat: ruinae tamenutcumquesubsistentes
Bar Hebraeus, The Chronography
fueritilla Caezarea testabantur.
of GregoryAbu'l Faraj the Son of
Aaron, theHebrewPhysician commonlyknownas Bar Hebraeus, beingtheFirst Part of his Poltical
History of the World,tr. E. A. W. Budge (London, 1932) (hereafterBar Hebraeus), I, 258: "Then
this Malik Mahammad restoredCaesarea of Cappadocia, which had been destroyedfor a long time
and therehe dwelt." Michael the Syrian, Chronique,ed. and tr. J. B. Chabot (Paris, 1905) (hereafter
Michael the Syrian),III, 237: "I1 se mit a restaurerla ville de Cesar6e,en Cappadoce, qui etait ruin6e
depuis longtemps."
2s The list which followsis taken froma longer study, in progress,on the Islamization of Asia
Minor.
WesternAnatolia
Cyzicus
Cius
Apollonias
Poimamenum
Lopadium
Adramyttium
Calamus
Meleum
Smyrna
Clazomenae
Phocaea
Sardis
Nymphaeum
Ephesus
Philadelpheia
Tralles
Louma
Pentacheir
Melanoudium
Latrus
Strobilus
Attaleia
Nicomedeia
Nicaea
Eastern A natolia
Caesareia
Arabissus
Albistan
Kaisum
Edessa
Nisibis
Gargar
Melitene
Bar Mar Sauma
Sebasteia
Arzen
Ani
Prusa
Claudioupolis
Pithecas
Malagina
Dorylaeumn
Cotyaeumn
Amorium
Cedrea
Polybotus
Philomelium
Sozopolis
Chonae
Laodiceia
Hierapolis
Tripolis
Tantalus
Caria
Antiochad Maeandrum
Choma
NorthernAnatolia
Sinope
Trebizond
Amisus
Paipert
Coloneia
Neocaesareia
Amaseia
Castamon
Doceia
Comana
Euchaita
Pimolissa
Gangra
Dadybra
SouthernAnatolia
Seleuceia
Mopsuestia
Pracana
Corycus
Adana
CentralAnatolia
Ankara
Iconium
23
Archelais
Laodiceia Combusta
The principalsourcesforthis upheaval are Pachymeresand Kerim ed-Din Mahmud of Aksaray.
266
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
destroyedtowns and villages in westernAnatolia which they yield is awesome.24When the famousArab travellerIbn Battuta visitedAnatolia in 1333
he commentedupon the ravaged state of such towns as Erzerum,Izmir,
Ephesus, Pergamum,and Iznik.25
The Turkishinvasionswere thus highlydestructivein Anatolia, less so in
the Balkans, and in generalwere the most disruptiveethnicintrusionwhich
the easternhalfof the old Roman Empire experienced.26
The seventh-century
Arab invasions had been far less disruptiveand destructiveand the Slavic
invasion,thoughdestructive,did not ultimatelydisruptthe culturalsway of
new Rome in the Balkans. As we shall see, the Turkishinvasionsdid not completelyeradicate the Byzantinesubstratumin eitherpeninsula,but reduced
most of Byzantine civilizationin this area to a Volkskulturby destroying,
24 The economicchaos
emergesfromthe accounts of Hamd-allah MustawfiQazwini, a fiscalofficial
of the Ilhanids ca. 1335, who relates that the revenuesof Rum, Armenia,and Georgia were less than
25 per cent of what they had been in the time of the Seljuks, The GeographicalPart of theNuzhatal-Qulub composedby Hamd-allah Mustawfiof Qazwin in 740 (1340), tr. G. Le Strange (London,
aus dem mittelalterlichen
vorderenOrient,"
1919), 94-95, 100. See also W. Hinz, "Steuerinschriften
Belleten,Tiirk Tarih Kurumu, XIII, 52 (1949), 745-769; M. Akda', "Osmanli imparatorlugunun
kurulusve inkisafidevrindeTiirkiye'niniktisadi vaziyeti," (resum6in French) ibid., 570.
townsand villages:
Destroyedor partiallydestroyed
WesternAnatolia
Tralles
Croulla
Nicaea
Priene
Catoicia
Smyrna
Miletus
Cenchrae
Uluburlu
Caria
Belocome
Egridir
Antioch
Angelocome
Pergamum
Melanoudium
Anagourda
Ayneg1l
Platanea
Akhisar
Nyssa
Bi a
Tripolis
Melangeia
Assus
Kevele
Thyraium
Prusa
Ephesus
Magnesia
EasternAnatolia
Edessa
Aksaray
Erzerum
Sebasteia
Alashkert
Kayseri
Ani
Erzinjian
Albistan
Malatya
SouthernAnatolia
Sis
Mopsuestia
Tarsus
Ayas
Adana
Corycus
NorthernA natolia
Pompeiopoulis
Tokat
Camah
25 Ibn Battuta, The Travels of Ibn Battuta, tr. H. A. R. Gibb (Cambridge, 1962) (hereafterIbn
Battuta-Gibb), II, 437, 445, 448, 453.
26 See the commentsof the followingcontemporaries:Eustathius of Thessaloniki,PG, 135, col.
944; Theodore Scutariotes, MacraicOVIKyh
Bl~?oeY0Kr)ed. K. Sathas (Venice-Paris, 1894) (hereafter
Theodore Scutariotes-Sathas),VII, 169; Fulcher of Chartres,R. H. C., H. O., III (1884), 336; Manuel
Palaeologus, Lettresde l'empereurManuel Paldologue,ed. E. Legrande (Amsterdam,1962), 22.
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
267
absorbing,or otherwiseremovingmany of the receptaclesand carriersof its

Hochkultur.
Turningto thesecondquestion-the numbersofTurkswho enteredAnatolia
and theBalkans-we mustrelyupon indirectevidence,inasmuchas theearliest
comprehensivedemographicinformationcomes fromthe Ottoman tax registersof the sixteenthcentury.It would appear that up to the thirteenthcentury the ChristianpopulationofAnatolia was stillquite numerousand probably
outnumberedthe Muslims,but that after that time the migrationof new
Turkishand Tatar tribes,largewaves of conversion,and the enslavementand
massacre of Christiansbegan to swingthe balance in the otherdirection.In
the Balkans the Turks remained a minority.Since matters of conversion,
ethnography,and demographywill receive furtherattentionat a later point
these remarkswill sufficeforthe present.27
PART Two
Having discussed the complex backgroundof the subject, we must now
proceedto the subject itselfand firstto the natureof the influencewhichthe
Byzantinelegacy may have had on Turkishforms.The factwhichfirststrikes
the observer,that the institutionsof the Seljuks and Ottomanson the level
of Hochkultur(theirtribalinstitutionsapart) are Islamic ratherthan Byzantine,is a naturalconsequenceoftheTurkishhistoricalexperience.The eleventhcenturyTurks,in contrastto theseventh-century
Arabs,inheriteda completely
formedIslamic civilization,whereasthe Arabs had to create and develop a
new civilizationfromthe substantialculturesof Iran and Byzantium.Thus,
the style of Seljuk and Ottomaninstitutionallife-the state, religiousstructure,literature,and muchofthe art-was Muslim.Thereis nothingspecifically
Byzantine about any of these forms,at least in termsof directborrowing.
Those elementswhichmay relateto Byzantiumdo so in termsof the remoter
past when Arabs took themfromseventh-century
Byzantium.But these elementshad, long ago, been thoroughlyintegratedso that theywere no longer
recognizableas somethingspecificallyByzantine.Indeed, the Persianelement,
whichreplaced the Byzantineduringthe Abbasid period,is still pre-eminent
amongthe Seljuk Turks. There is no doubt that in generalthe Turkishforms
are similarto those of Byzantiumin the verybroadestsense,inasmuchas we
are dealing with centralizedbureaucratictheocracies.But again, this is the
resultof a broad affiliation
to the imperialtraditionsof the Near East, from
whichgrewthe Byzantine,Sassanid, and Islamic Empires.
There were two basic phenomena,however,which permittedByzantine
influenceto filterthroughthe Islamic trappingsof Seljuk-Ottomaninstitutional life. First, the Turks had to apply and adjust the complex Islamic
politico-culturalapparatus to a Byzantino-Armenianand Byzantino-Slav
milieu. In addition,therewas a theoreticaldevice withinthis Islamic appa27
See infra,notes 141-150.
268
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
ratus by whichspecificnon-Muslimpracticescould be accommodated.Such a

principlehad been elaborated early in Islamic historybecause of pragmatic
necessity.In the Turkishperiod the sultans could legislate (the principleof
urft)by way of supplementingIslamic law. This loophole enabled them to
move above and beyondthe specificprovisionsof the holy law.28Partly as a
consequenceof the applicationof Islamic institutionsto thisByzantinemilieu
and of the sultan's legislativepowersthe Seljuk and Ottomanempiresdiffered
markedlyfromsuch otherIslamic states as the Mamelukeand Safavi.
It will be convenienthere to glance, briefly,at the class structureof the
Balkan and Anatolian regions during this long period of conflictbetween
Byzantiumand the Turks. At the apex of the social structuresthe Turkish
conquest removedthe rulingdynastiesof the Armenians,Greeks,Serbs,and
Bulgars; only the Rumanian princes survived the initial conquest. At the
next gradationof societythe aristocraciessuffered
a partialdisplacementand
diminution.The Armeniannobles fledto the Taurus, Cilicia, Egypt, and to
Byzantiumin theeleventhcentury.The Byzantinearistocratsoftenabandoned
theirestates in centraland easternAnatolia. Indeed Alexius Comnenushimselfwitnessedwithhis own eyes the Turkishraids on the old familyholdings
(now abandoned) at Castamon, whereas Bourtzes was ordered to raid his
formerestates now withinTurkishterritoryand to evacuate the villagersso
that theywould be spared Turkishrule. There is a steady westwardflightof
Byzantine magnates in the eleventh,twelfth,and fourteenthcenturiesfrom
Anatolia to the Balkans. Later, many of the membersof this class continued
the flightbeforethe Turks, seekingrefugein Venetian possessionsor in the
West. Anna Notaras,daughterof the megaduxwho had in the heat of theoloforthe Turks,chose to live in Italy rather
gical passion expresseda preference
than in Turkishpossessions.There is a corresponding
withdrawalnorthward
beforethe Turkishadvance on the part of the Serbian and Bulgarian aristocrats.29
Simultaneouswith this dispersionof some of the higheraristocracybefore
the advancingTurks,however,one sees that a substantialnumberremained
in the Seljuk and Ottomandomainsand participatedactivelyin the economic,
political,and militarylife of these Turkishlands. The activityof Armenian
nobles in the early Turkishconquests and militaryadministrationis clearly
evidentin the chronicleof Matthewof Edessa. The Turkishepic, the Danishmendname,composed in the thirteenthcenturyto commemoratethe initial
conquests in northeasternAnatolia, recalls vividly and in great detail the
participationof these Armenianlords. The Syrianmerchantsand landowners
remainedin eastern Asia Minor,being as fearfulof the Greeks and Arme28 F.
Taeschner, "Eine neue turkischePublikation ...," OLZ, XXXVI (1933), 485-488. Inalcik,
"The Problem of the Relationship between Byzantine and Ottoman Taxation,"
Aktendes XI. InternationalenByzantinistin-Kongresses
Miinchen 1958 (Munich,1960) (hereafter"Taxation"), 237-242.
29 Matthew of Edessa,
Chroniquede 952 & 136, tr. E. Dulaurier (Paris, 1858) (hereafterMatthew
of Edessa), 182; Bryennius,93; Anna Comnena (as in note 17 supra), III, 27, 29, 199-203. A detailed
account is to be found for GregoryPacurianus in L. Petit, "Typikon de Gr6goirePacourianes pour
le monastbrede Petritzos (Ba'kovo) en Bulgarie," supplement to VizVrem,XI (1904), 54-56; Vakalopoulos, op. cit. (supra, note 14), IIJ, 62ff.
BYZANTINE
269
nians as of the Turks,and thereis also referenceto the presenceof a limited

numberof Georgiannobles amongthe Turks.30Representativesof the Byzantine militaryand land-owningaristocracyare in evidence throughoutSeljuk
and early Ottomansociety.The Gabras familyfurnishedthreegenerationsof
emirs to the twelfth-century
Seljuks.31Members of the Maurozomes clan
maintained officialconnections,both administrativeand marital, with the
Turkishcourtsfromthe twelfththroughthe fourteenthcentury.32
Scions of
the Comnenusand Taronites clans appear in the service of the Anatolian
Turks,33and representativesof the Palaeologus, Angelus, Cantacuzenus,
Comnenus,and Chalcocondylesdynastiesin the service of the Ottomansin
the Balkans.34Greek landed magnates preservingtheirold Byzantine titles,
continuedto existin thirteenth-century
Seljuk domains,and one such appears
with a Seljuk title and an officialcostumein a cave mural of the thirteenth
These Armenian,Greek, Slav, and Albanian feudal lords figured
century.35
prominentlyin the early Ottoman magnate class. Such were the Mihaloglu,
the various tekfur's
of Bithynia,the Glavas of Thessaly,Laskarids of Avlona,
Kurtiksand ArianitesofAlbania,etc.36Consequently,as previouslymentioned,
this Christianaristocracypartlysurvivedthe conquests.It is interesting
that
S0Matthew of Edessa (as in note 29 supra), 195, 199, 205-206, 209-210; I. Melikoff,La gestede
Malik Daniqmend (Paris, 1960) (hereafterDanigmend),I, 126, 128-129; Bar Hebraeus (as in note 21
supra), I, 265; Michael the Syrian (as in note 21 supra), III, 247; M. Brosset, Histoirede la Gdorgie
depuis l'antiquitdjusqu'au XIXe sihcle(St. Petersburg,1849), I, 331.
81 Nicetas Choniates, 245-246; Cinnamus, 56; Bar Hebraeus (as in note 21 supra), I, 330. It is
interestingthat one memberof the familywas martyredforthe faith by the Turks, PapadopoulosKerameus, XvlaPhoAal
VizIVtem,XII (1906), 132-137; Zonaras, III, 739;
EIsTlV
-vto-ropiav TpaowELoGvros,
C. Cahen, "Une famillebyzantineau service des Seldjuqides d'Asie Mineure,"in Polychronion.FestFtanz D6lgerzum 75. Geburtstag,
ed. P. Wirth (Heidelberg, 1966), 145-149.
schrift
des Ibn Bibi (Copenhagen,1959) (hereafterIbn Bibi-Duda),
32 H. Duda, Die Seltschukengeschichte
38, 41, 117-120, 140, 330-331; Vryonis,"Seljuk Gulams and Ottoman Devshirmes," Der Islam, 41
(1965) (hereafter"Gulams,"), 232-235; P. Wittek, "L'6pitaphe d'un Comn6nea Konia," Byzantion,
X (1935), 505-515; idem, "Encore l'6pitaphe d'un Comn~ne ' Konia," ibid., XII (1937), 207-211;
S. Lampros-K.
Dyovountiotes, "fprpyopiovfaAacxa
wrp6s
eeaoYaovtKeiS," NooS 'EAAvouvic1ov,
hTT-rokhl
XVI (1922),11.
38NicetasChoniates,48-49, 72; Lampros-Dyovouniotes,

op.cit. (supra,note 32), 13. Otherexamplesof Greeknoblesas Turkishofficials
duringthe Seljukperiodappearin thevaqf documents.
A. Temir, Kirgehiremiri Caca Oglu Nur el-Din'in 1272 tarihli Arabca-Mogolcavakfiyesi(Ankara,

1959), 123, mentions the Emir Constantineof Iskilib and Esed ud-devle Constantinein Kayseri;
Turan, Selcuklular (as in note 11 supra), 227, 233, mentions the patricius Michael son of Maurus,
and the son ofthe patriciusIoanes. S. Lampros, 'H 'EAArIVtKhI fdTrOs
xrv oh'VA-r&vcov,
NiOS
&cSS a
Seljuk sultan to the kingdom
'EhlvoviiAcov,V (1908), 48, a Kyr Alexius was the ambassador of the yAwaaCra
of Cyprus.
S4M. Gbkbilgin,X V-XVI astrlarda Edirne ve Paqa
(Istanbul,
livdst vaktflar-miilkler-mukataalar
1952) (hereafterEdirne), 89, 93, 106-107, 151-152; R. Anheggerand Inalclk,
sultanr
bermiiceb-i'drf-i
ait yasakndmeve kan7innameler
(Ankara,
osmanz.II MehmedveII Bayezid devirlerine
Ki.anfnndme-i
1956), 73-74; F. Babinger, "Beitrage zur Geschichtedes Geschlechtesder Malqo6-Oglus," 355-369,
"Beitrage zur Geschichte von Qarly-Eli vornehmlichaus osmanischen Quellen," 370-377, "Eine
Verfiigungdes PalaiologenChass Murad-Paga," 344-354; all of these essays are reprintedin Aufsdtze
und Abhandlungenzur Geschichte
Siidosteuropasund derLevante(hereafterAufsdtze)(Munich,1962), I.
de Cappadoce,
93 Turan, op. cit. (supra, note 33), 227. N. and M. Thierry,Nouvellesdglisesrupestres
rdgiondu Hasan Dagi (Paris, 1963), 105, 202. The title, emir ariz, indicates an importantofficial
Osmanlidevletiteqkildtina
position; see I. Uzungarsllh,
medhal(Istanbul, 1944) (hereafterMedhal), 105.
1 Arnakis,
op. cit. (supra, note 5), 89; E. Frances, "La f6odalit6byzantineet le conqu6te turque,"
Studia et acta orientalia,IV (1962), 69-90; Inalcik, "Stefan Dusan'dan Osmanli Imparatorluguna.
XV asirda Rumeli'de hiristiyansipahiler ve mengeleri,"in Fatih devriiizerindetetkikler
ve vesikalar
(Ankara, 1954) (hereafter"Dusan'dan,"), 142-143, 146-147, 158-162.
270
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
a numberof their titles were absorbedinto Turkish: egendi,despina,patrik,

kyra,arhon,knez,voyvod,etc.
The peasant class ofAsia Minorand the Balkans remained,thoughtherewas
extensivedisplacement,particularlyin Anatolia. I shall returnto the problem
of the Christianpeasantryin discussingdemographyand ethnography.The
Christianurban class survivedin many cities,thoughit largelydisappeared
in others.The Christianartisans,merchants,and physicianscontinued,though
the intellectualswere adverselyaffectedand many of themfled.
Despite the fact that varioussocial classes of Christiansocietyexperienced
adversity,the Turks of the eleventh,twelfth,and thirteenthcenturiesin Asia
Minorand of the fifteenth
and sixteenthcenturiesin the Balkans ruled comof
urban
Christian
and rural population. It was basically these
pact groups
social classes that gave theTurkishstates a styleand colorationwhichdiffered
sharplyfromthose of the Islamic states rulingEgypt, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.
It was due to theseChristianpopulationsthat Turkishsocietywas to a certain
degree Byzantinizedso that at the momentof genesis of this new TurkoMuslimcivilizationin Asia Minorand the Balkans the Islamic superstructure
rested on Byzantine foundations.These different
Christianclasses retained
the age-old traditionsof Byzantino-Armenian
and Byzantino-Slavicculture,
which they now contributedto the cruciblein which Turkish culture was
forged.
The topic of Byzantineinfluenceon the Turkishpolitical,military,administrative,fiscal,and numismaticinstitutions(all ofwhichwereformallyIslamic)
is as yet insufficiently
and unevenlyinvestigated.The Seljuk and Ottoman
courts were, theoretically,subject to outside influencesvia four channels.
There were occasionallysultans and princeswho spent time in the company
of Byzantine rulersin Constantinopleand Nicaea. Such, for instance,were
Kilidj Arslan II, his son Giyathed-Din Kaihusrau I, Izz ed-Din Kaikaus II,
of whomthe two latterwerehalf-Greeks,
or mixovarvaroi.37
A second channel
throughwhichsuch influencesmighthave penetratedinto Turkishcourtlife
was marriagealliance. Numerouswere the Seljuk, Danishmendid,emirate,
and Ottomanrulerswho took Christianwives: Kilidj ArslanII, Giyathed-Din
Kaihusrau I, Ala ed-Din Kaikubad I, and Giyath ed-Din Kaihusrau II, the
last of whomhad one Greek,one Georgian,and one Tiirkmenwife.The subsequentintrigueindicatesthat Kaihusrau's domestictranquilitywas inversely
related to the ethnicvarietyof his harem.38
The Tiirkmenprincesofnorthern
Anatolia took Trapezuntineprincessesto wife,as did the Ak Koyunlu and
Karaman princes."9
The Ottomansin particularsatisfiedtheirdiplomaticand
3"Nicetas Choniates,156-157; Ibn Bibi-Duda (as in note 32 supra), 38, 274, 282-283. Alexius III
acted as baptismal sponsor of and adopted Giyath ed-Din Kaihusrau I; Acropolites,Chronicesyngraphe,ed. E. Heisenberg (Leipzig, 1903), I, 14.
38 Nicetas Choniates, 689-690; Ibn Bibi-Duda (as in note 32 supra), 37-38, 204, 210, 278, 313;
William of Rubrick, Itinerarium,ed. P. A. van den Wyngaert,in Sinica Franciscana, I (Florence,
1929) (hereafterWilliam of Rubrick-Wyngaert),330.
XXII (1958)
39O. Lampsides, MiXach-Tooi
TTavapTrovwrept
pEy&kcovKopvrqvcv,
'ApXeiov 6vwrov,
(hereafterPanaretus-Lampsides),70, 72, 74; E."-rov
Rossi, II "Kitab-i Dede Qorqut"raccontiepico-cavallereschidei TurchiOguz tradottie annotaticon "facsimile"del ms. vat. turco120 (Vatican City, 1952),
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
271
Could womenof the

personalneeds with Byzantine and Serbian princesses.40
haremexerciseinfluenceon courtlifeand, if so, did they? They certainlydid
in termsof its everydayactivity,butin regardto customand ritual,it is harder
to answerthe question. Izz ed-Din II, whose motherwas the daughterof a
Greekpriest,held a courtwhichwas runby his two maternalunclesand their
influenceand Christianorientationwere such that there was a sharp and
dangeroussplit between Muslims and Christiansin the dynastic politics of
Konya. The Byzantine influencewas quite strongat his court. He was not
only secretlybaptized (Ramazan and Karaman princeswere also baptized),
but reveredthe holy icons, and seems to have had close relationswith the
Greek hierarchy.41
When Orhan married the daughter of Cantacuzene the
Byzantineimperialceremonyof prokypsiswas lavishlyperformedbeforethe
mixed Greek and Turkishparties attendingthe nuptials. She herselfrefused
to convertto Islam and activelyaided the Christiancommunityof Bithynia
whichwas undergoingstrongproselytizing
pressures.42
The presenceof Christianaristocratsat the court(some of whomconverted)
certainlyconstitutednatural links betweenByzantine practicesand Turkish
courts.The threeGabras who servedas Seljuk emirs,the nephewof JohnII
Comnenuswho marriedthe daughterof Kilidj II Arslan and turnedMuslim,
the great Emir Maurozomesin the thirteenthcentury,the two uncles of Izz
ed-Din,MichaelPalaeologus,who waxed so powerfulin his briefbut important
stay at Konya, and otherstoo numerousto mentioncould have been instrumental in Seljuk contact with Byzantine influences.Finally, there were the
gulam's or royal slaves, usually of Christianorigin,who staffedthe court,administration,and select militarybodies. The question arises whetherthese
gulam's,usuallytaken at a young age and convertedwithina rigidlyIslamic
institution,reallyhad enoughof a Christiancharacterto exerciseany Byzantine influenceon the empire'slife.Undoubtedlymost did not. Yet, a fewexamples springto mind which indicate that many of them (especiallythose
taken at a somewhatmoreadvanced age) had personalitytraitswhichin part
were explicable only by their Christianbackground.By way of example:
MehmedS6k6lli,the renownedgrandvizirof the sixteenthcenturywho was a
resurrectedthe Serbian patriarchand appointed a
productof the devshirme,
relativeof his as its firstpatriarch.Ibrahim Pasha, the most powerfulof all
the sixteenth-century
Greekfamilyand it
vizirs,was of a Constantinopolitan
is interestingthat he collected ancient pagan statuary. Bartholomaeus Geur-
32; A. Bombaci, Storia della litteraturaturca dell'antico imperio di Mongolia all' odierna Turchia
(Milan, 1956), 222; I. Melikoff,"G6orgiens Turcomans et Tr6bizonde: Notes sur le 'Livre de Dede
Qorqut," Bedi Karthlisa,XVII-XVIII (1964), 21-22; idem,Daniqmend (as in note 30 supra), I, 99100; Bertrandonde la Broqui^re, Le voyaged'outremer
de Bertrandonde la BroquiBre,ed. C. Schefer
(Paris, 1892) (hereafterBertrandonde la Broquibre-Schefer),
90.
40 Nicephorus Gregoras,III, 504; F. Babinger, "Witwensitz und
Sterbplatz der Sultanin Mara,"
Au/sdtze,I, 340-344.
4t Ibn Bibi-Duda (as in note 32 supra), 265; William of Rubrick-Wyngaert(as in note 38
supra),
330; Pachymeres,I, 131, 263-268; Nicephorus Gregoras,I, 95.
42 John Cantacuzene,
II, 588-589; M. Andreeva, "0 tseremonil'prokipsi'," SeminariumKondakovianum,I (1927), 157-173.
272
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
geuiz remarksthat many of the Janissariescarriedthe gospel of St. Johnin

Greek and Arabic under the armpit as an apotropaic device against evil!
in thisrespectis the historyofthe Greekand especially
Particularlyinteresting
the Trapezuntinegulam's with whichMehmedII filledthe saray. They were
extremelypowerfulin imperialaffairsand throughthemtheirChristianrelatives were able to controlpatriarchalelectionsand politics. Their influence
was so great and so disruptivethat later Ottoman legislationtemporarily
barred the Trapezuntineyouths fromthe devshirme.Finally, the repeated
mentionof newlycollecteddevshirme's
who attemptedto fleethe systemindicates that many had firmattachmentsto theirChristiancommunities.4A
The visits of Turkish sultans to the Byzantine court, intermarriage
with
Christianprincesses,Christiansor convertsin high offices,and the gulam
institutionbroughta verydefiniteChristianatmosphereand elementinto the
mostintimateaspects of court life,but if this demonstratesclearlythat there
were avenues throughwhichChristianinfluencemighthave affectedthe form
of court institutions,it tells us nothingspecific.Here and thereone detects
concreteexamples of a definiteTurkishtaste forthe Byzantine court style.
The sultan Izz ed-Din,we are told,wore as symbolicof the sultanicauthority
the ,pu0popaqi 'rrti61Xov,
the scarlet boot.44Turkish emirs of the realm had
a special likingfor Byzantine ceremonialrobes in the eleventhand twelfth
centuriesand the emir of Ankara, in a treatywith Alexius III Angelus,demanded as part of the termsfortysilk garmentsof the typemanufactured
in
Theban workshopsforthe Emperorhimself.The gold and silk tissue of the
Sultan Kaikobad I in the museumat Lyon is, accordingto some art historians,
fashionedin a modifiedByzantine style. A rare Seljuk coin of the twelfth
century depicts the sultan in Byzantine imperial garb. Linguisticallythe
Turkish term killer,used to designate the sultan's pantry,is of Byzantine
origin.The ceremoniallifeofthe Seljuks and Ottomansawaitsfurther
research;
so withthese fewand briefobservations,I relinquishthe problem.45
The evidence for Turkish militarylife is more considerable.The Seljuk
armieswere,fromearlytimesin theirAnatolianexperience,ofa highlydiverse
ethniccharacter.TheyincludedTurks,Arabs,Persians,Georgians,Armenians,
Russians,Franks,and Greeks.In short,theyweresimilarto the multinational
4SBartholomaeus Georgieuiz-Goughe(as in note 12 supra), chapter entitled, "Of the Unmerciful
Tribute Exacted at the Christian Handes"; Vakalopoulos, op. cit. (supra, note 14), II, 163-164;
Vryonis,op. cit. (supra,note 32), 246-247; Uzungarlllh,Osmanhdevletiteqkildtindan
kapukuluocaklars
(Ankara,1943) (hereafterKap. ocak.), I, 19; L. Hadrovics, Le peuple serbeet son dglisesous la dominationturque(Paris, 1947), 48-50.
"4 Pachymeres,I, 131-132.
SAttaliates,
277; Nicetas Choniates, 608-609,

...arplKpoiS TSr apxKOV-ra
v1laoitv, &1TEp
OTl91
Von Falke, Kunstgeschichte
der Seidenweberei,I, fig.162, and Inalcik,V
Av PaatiEi
anrami~
KTXopIlyrrrat.
"Harir," EI,, reproducethe Seljuk silk of Lyon. Victoria and AlbertMuseum,BriefGuide to Turkish
WovenFabrics (London, 1950), 1-3; Gordlevsky,op. cit. (supra, note 11), I, 187ff.,on
Seljuk court
practices, see K6priilii, "Bizans" (as in note 5 supra), 268ff.; G. Meyer, TiirkischeStudien, I. Die
und romanischenBestandtheileim Wortschatze
des Osmanisch-Tiirkischen.
griechischen
Sitzungsberichte
der kaiserlichenAkademieder Wissenschaften,
Philos.-Hist. Classe, CXXVIII (Vienna, 1893) (hereafter Tiurk.Studien),37, 44. K. Dilger, Untersuchungen
zur Geschichte
des osmanischenHo/zeremoniells
im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert
(Munich, 1967), stresses the Islamic origin of Turkish court ceremonial,
but he does not exclude the possibilityof Byzantine influence.
BYZANTINE
273
armies of the caliphate and Byzantium.Armenianmilitarycontingents,led

by Armenianpatricians,served the Seljuks in the late eleventh and early
twelfthcenturiesin easternAnatolia.46NicephorusGregorasrelates that the
sultans recruitedmilitarycorps of Greek Christiansfromamong the Greeks
inhabitingthe Seljuk domainsand that theseservedundertheirown generals
with theirown uniforms.It was these troopsover whichMichael Palaeologus
was appointed kondistablwhen he fledto Konya.47 The survivalof Christian
militarygroups and theirincorporationinto the Ottoman war machine are
phenomenawhich have received considerableand detailed study and have
been rightlystressedas elementswhichhelped make possible the rapid military conquests of the Ottomans,who, without auxiliary manpower,would
not have been numerousenoughto take and hold theirvast empire.Early in
the Bithynianconquestsof Osman Byzantinefeudallordsjoined the Ottoman
armies, the most famous of them-Mihal Beg-forming one of the longest
lived Muslim aristocraticdynasties. The fully developed Ottoman military
institutionsof the fifteenth
and sixteenthcenturiescontainedverysignificant
Christiancontingentsin the martolos,voynuks,Eflaks, and derbentdjis(of
the 832,730 Christianhearthsrecordedfortax purposesin the Balkans during
the sixteenthcentury,7,851 were voynuk,82,692 were martolosand Eflak).
These groups,as a formallyrecognizedpart of the Ottoman askerclass and
enjoyingcertaintax exemptions,apparentlyretaineda numberof theirpreOttoman militaryofficers.Halil Inalcik, the foremostauthorityon the institutionalhistoryofthe earlyOttomanperiod,has concludedthat thesevarious
Christianmilitarygroups, along with the Christianspahis, constitutedthe
majorityof Ottomanmilitaryforcesin the Balkans towardthe late fifteenth
and early sixteenthcenturies."4
This raises the problem,much discussed reof
the
relation
between
the Byzantino-Slavicand Ottoman
cently,
possible
militaryfief,to wit, the pronoia and timar. In the fourteenthand fifteenth
centuriesthe Turks establishedthe timaras a basic military,fiscal,and administrativeinstitutionin the Balkans. In its essentialsthe Ottoman timar
was identicalwith the Byzantinepronoia. It was a revenueproducinggrant,
usually but not exclusivelyof land, the recipientof which, the spahi, was
entitledto hold it in usufructin returnformilitaryservice.The basic difference
betweentimarand pronoiawas a functionofthe reversefortunesof centralized
authorityin the Byzantine and Ottoman states. The sultan exercized strict
control of these fiefs,whereas in Byzantium decentralizationof imperial
authoritywas reflectedin the increasingpassage ofpronoia fromthe category
46
Matthewof Edessa (as in note 29 supra), 199, 205-206, 209-210; Ibn Bibi-Duda (as in note 32
supra), 97, 216, 219-220, 223, 227-230, 233, 334, 336.
7 Nicephorus Gregoras,I, 58.
48 Inalclk,
"Dusan'dan," (as in note 36 supra), passim; idem,Hicri 835 tarihlis4ret-idefter-isancak-i Arnavid (Ankara, 1954); idem, "Timariotes chr6tiensen Albanie au XVe sidcle," Mitteilungen
des 6sterreichischen
Staatsarchivs,4 (1952), 118-138. B. Cvetkova, "Novye o khristianakh-spakhiiakh
na balkanskom poluostrovev period turetskogogospodstva," VizVrem,XIII (1958), 184-197,
gives
additional Balkan literatureon the subject of the Christianspahis. Barkan, "Essai" (as in note 13
supra), 34; R. Anhegger, "Martoloslar hakkinda," TilrkiyatMecmuasz, VII-VIII (1940-42), 282320; M. Vasi6, "Die Martolosenim osmanischenReich," Zeitschrift
fiurBalkanologie,II (1964), 172189. On the derbentdjis,see C. Orhonlu,Osmanisimparatorlugunda
derbendtefkilatz(Istanbul, 1967).
274
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
of usufructto that of dominium.It is of furtherinterestthat the Ottomans

incorporateda numberof the old Serbian and Greekpronoiarioias Christian
centurythe
spahis,convertingtheirpronoiasintotimars.Duringthe fifteenth
proportionof Christianto Muslimtimarholdingspahis in the Balkans varied
fromabout 50 per cent in the districtof Branichevato 3.5 per cent in that of
Vidin. The liva of Arnavud ili had 60 Christiantimarsout of a total of 335,
Tirhala 86 of 182 (in the year 859), etc. The Byzantine magnate-soldiersof
Bithyniawho joined the Ottomanswerealso allowed to retaintheirlands and
castles, and this occurredelsewherein Asia Minor (Paipert, Kutahya, etc.).
A numberof tax practices associated with the old pronoia systemseem to
have been incorporatedwhen the Ottomans absorbed the Christianspahis
into the timarestablishment.49
But do these constitutecoincidencesof the incidentallysimilar,or was the
timarmoreintimatelyrelatedto thepronoia? I do not proposeto give a definitive answer to the question for this is not yet possible. However, a brief
glance at the Islamic nomenclaturefor such militarygrantsis not without
some significance.Timar, of Persian origin,and pronoia have very similar
meaningsand underwentparallel semantologicaldevelopments.They signify
"care, providence,and finallya revenuegrantedby the rulerto the military
and administrativeofficialsforservicesrenderedto the state." It seems that
the Ottomanswere the firstof the Islamic peoples to employthe termtimar
withthis last meaning.The Persianshad previouslyused the Arab termiqta,
as did the Seljuks of Anatolia.50With the appearance of the Mongolsand rise
of the Tiirkmentribal confederationsin eastern Anatolia new terms,tiyul
and siyurgal,appeared,but not timar.51
Now, thisfactis ofinterestifwe keep
in mind a point which I mentionedearlier: that the Seljuks encountered
Byzantine society at one stage of its developmentin the eleventhcentury,
whereasthe Ottomansof the fourteenthand fifteenth
centuriesencountered
Pour la fdodalitdbyzantine
49 Inalcik, "Dusan'dan" (as in note 36 supra), passim; G. Ostrogorsky,
(Brussels, 1954), 257.
50 J. Deny, "Timar," EIl, derived the timar from the pronoia, as does Arnakis, op. cit. (supra,
note 5), 103-104. Gordlevsky,op. cit. (supra,note 11), I, 101-103,and K6priilli,"Bizans" (as in note 5
supra), 219-240, in derivingthe Ottoman timarfrom the Seljuk iqta, rely on the fifteenth-century
Turkishtext of Yazidzioglu Ali ratherthan on the thirteenth-century
Persian text of Ibn Bibi. Hence
their conclusion is not completelysatisfactory,for where Ibn Bibi uses the term iqta, Yazidzioglu
had used timar,which was currentin the fifteenth
century.In addition,the Persian texts of Chahar
Maqala, Nerchaky,and Ibn Bibi, to which K6prfiliirefersin the note on page 239, do not use timar
as a terminustechnicusto designateiqta. My colleague Prof.Amin Banani, who very kindlyexamined
the Persian texts,informsme that contraryto K6priilii'sassertion,the word timarin these texts has
the genericmeaningof surveillanceor care.
For the iqta, see A. K. Lambton, "The Evolution of the 'Iqta' in Medieval Iran," Iran, V (1967),
41-50; C. Cahen, "L'6volution de l'iqta' du IXe au XIIIe sidcle," Annales: Economies,Socidtds,Civilisations,8, No. 1 (1953), 25-52. The Rum Seljuks apparentlyutilized the termiqta ratherthan timar.
Uzungarsili,Medhal (as in note 32 supra), 123-124, asserts that the Rum Seljuks officiallyused iqta.
He refersto Ibn Bibi-Duda (as in note 32 supra), 174, to show that the commonpeople of the Seljuk
kingdomused timar,but the textreads iqta ratherthan timar.See also the remarksof V. P. Mutaf6ieva,
"Sur le caractbredu timar ottoman," Acta Orientalia,IX (1959) (hereafter"Timar"), 55-61, and
Cvetkova, "Influenceexerc6epar certaininstitutionsde Byzance et des pays balkaniques du Moyen
Age sur le systdmefeodal ottoman," Byzantino-Bulgarica,I (1962) (hereafter"Influence"), 243.
Jahrhundert(Berlin-Leipzig, 1936),
"1 W. Hinz, Irans Aufstiegzum Nationalstaatim fiinfzehnten
107.
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
275
the same societyat a later stage of development.The pronoiasystemwas still

in its infancyin the eleventhcenturyand the Seljuks did not encounterit
withintheirAnatoliandomains.The Ottomansexpanded into Bithyniain the
early fourteenthcentury,and then into the Balkans, by which time the
pronoiasystemhad spread throughoutboth the Byzantinedomainsand those
of the South Slavs. This coincidencebetweenthe geographicaldiffusion
of the
institution
and
of
the
term
is
indeed
and
would
reintimar
pronoia
striking
forcethe evidence fora hypothesisof the timar'sByzantine origin.But the
Seljuk iqta must still be considereda possible source of the Ottoman timar
untilthe problemis settledby moredetailedresearch.
The role of the Byzantinesin the Turkishfleetswould be one whichby the
nature of thingswe would be moreinclinedto suspect. The Turks developed
in centralAsia, Iran, and the centralAnatolianplateau, all landlockedareas,
whereas the Byzantines carried on a maritimetraditiondating back many
centuries.It was the Greeks and Italians fromwhom the Turks learned of
maritimelife.The evidenceis scant forthe Seljuk period,but it supportssuch
an assumption as does the rich maritimelexicographywhich passed into
Turkishvery oftenvia Greek.52When the Turkishrulerof Smyrna,Tzacha,
set out to conquer the Ionian coast and isles he relied upon Smyrniotesto
build his fleet,and other emirs utilized the Byzantine shipyardsof Cius.53
Morespecificinformation
has been discoveredin a TurkishtahrirforGallipoli
dated 1474. It recordsthat therewerethreedjemaat'sof Greeksat this important Ottomannaval base: one of rowers,one of arbaletiers,and one of ninetyfive Greeks for the repair and buildingof ships.54Christiansand renegades
remainedimportantto Ottomannaval enterprisethroughoutits long history.
The old Byzantine and Balkan scribal classes, both on the local level and
in the capital, continuedto functionin an officialcapacity as part of the Muslim state apparatus, a phenomenonwhich recalls the Persian, Greek, and
Copt scribesin the Umayyadadministration.Underthe Seljuks these scribes
constitutedthe notaranand a limitednumberof theirdocumentssurvive.As
a resultof the numbersof Christiansubjects over whomthe beyliksand Ottoman Empire ruled and because of the importanceof Byzantine and Slavic
tax practicesthe Christianscribalclass remainedan importantelementin the
Ottoman administration.55
The contemporaryobserverBartholomaeusGeurgeuiz describesthe Ottomanscribalclass as follows:
51 H. and R. Kahane and A. Tietze, The Lingua Franca in the Levant (Urbana, 1958). For the
Byzantinebackground,see Koukoules, op. cit. (supra, note 5), V, 331-386, and H. Ahrweiler,Byzance
et la mer(Paris, 1966).
r3Anna Comnena
(as in note 17 supra), II, 68-69, 110-114. The Seljuk chronicler,Ibn Bibi-Duda
(as in note note 32 supra), 283, uses the Byzantine termkatirgato denote a ship.
54Inalclk, "Gelibolu," EI2.
65 Ibn Bibi-Duda (as in note 32 supra), 67. The thirteenth-century
tetrevangelionin the Gennadius
Library,MS. Gr. 1.5, is signed by a protonotariusof Caesareia. Lampros, op. cit. (supra, note 33),
passim. Turan, Tiirkiye Selcuklularzhakkhndaresmi vesikalar (Ankara, 1958), 109-114. Bombaci,
"Nuovi firmanigreci di Maometi II," BZ, 47 (1954), 298-313; idem,
"I1 liber graecus, un cartolario
veneziane comprendenteinediti documentiottomani in grece (1481-1504)," West6stliche
Abhandlungen (Wiesbaden, 1954), 301-302; Chalcocondyles, 501; E. Zachariadou, Mia
Alv6yAooaonOvvefIK
BZ, 55 (1962), 245-265.
X,
Tro X1Sip 'AiSivoyAov,
SPEROS
276
VRYONIS,
JR.
"IAZITI. Iaziti are diversscribesin thecourtsof turkischeprinces,howbeit

theyuse sondryelanguagesand letters.For in Turkiyetheyspeake and write
withe their proprespech and letters.In Grece and Italye with the tounge
and lettersof the Grecians.But in Pannonia and Moldavia are accustomedin
writingand language and lettersof the Rascians."56
These Christiansecretariescontinuedin the palace service of the sultans
and in the provincesplayed a prominentrolein dressingthe cadastralsurveys
forthe fisc.57
During the early Turkishperiodin Anatolia the Turks adopted
the Byzantine practice of sealing their documentswith lead seals, some of
which continuedto employ Christianiconongraphy.58
The Islamic style of
financial
was
not
introduced
into Seljuk Anatocomposing
registers(siyaqat)
and there are indicationsthat
lian domains until the thirteenthcentury,59
have
been
Byzantine practices may
employedin the precedinginterval (a
point to whichI shall returnin discussingTurkishtaxation).6o
The fiscalpolicies of the Seljuk and Ottoman sultans in newly conquered
lands were largelymotivatedby the desireto restoreorderto these lands so
that the conquerorscould enjoy their economic exploitation.Inasmuch as
both Anatolia and the Balkans had possessedsocio-economicstructureswhich
were convenientforsuch exploitation,the conservativesultansadapted these
to theirown needs. The tax formswhichevolved in Anatolia and the Balkans
were extremelyvaried and complex,includingas they did elementsfromthe
The Seljuks
Islamic, Mongol,Byzantine,Armenian,and Slavic tax systems.61
and Ottomans oftenpreservedand continuedthe tax practicesof the lands
which they conquered; so the Ottoman empirehad no detailed uniformtax
structure.This conservativefiscal policy is revealed in an incident which
Nicetas Choniatesrelatesin the late twelfthcentury.At that time the sultan
56 Bartholomaeus
Georgieuiz-Goughe(as in note 12 supra), s.v.

"Conquest" (as in note 16 supra), 111.
XIV (1896), 309-310.
58 P. Casanova, "Numismatique des Danichmendites,"Revue numismatique,
59Ibn Bibi-Duda (as in note 32 supra), 345.
60 Nicetas
Choniates,656-657; Cahen, "Le r6gimede la terreet l'occupation turque en Anatolie,"
Cahiersd'histoiremondiale,II (1955), 95.
61 The best and most
detailed treatmentof this bewilderingsubject is Inalcik, "Osmanhlar'da
raiyyetriisfimu,"Belleten,Tiirk Tarih Kurumu XXIII, 92 (1959) (hereafter"Riisfimu"), 575-610.
See also Barkan, XV ve XVI aszrlarda osmanhtimparatorlugunda
zirai ekonomininhukukive mali
esaslarzI, Kanunlar (Istanbul, 1945) (hereafterKanunlar); Cvetkova, "L'evolution du r6gimef6odal
turcde la findu XVIe jusqu'au milieudu XVIIIe sibcle," Etudes historiques,
I (1960), 171-206; Mutaf'ieva, Agrarniteotnosheniiav osmanskataimperila prezXV-XVI v. (Sofia, 1962); idem,"Kategoriite
feodalno zavisimo naselenie v nashte zemi pod turska vlast prez XV-XVI v.," Izvestiia na instituta
za istoriia,VIII (1960), 57-93; Djurdjev, "Die Kanunname der Osmanen und ihre Bedeutung
fiirdie
der Balkanlander," Godishnjak istoriskogdrustva Bosne i Hercegovina,VII
Wirtschaftsgeschichte
(1965), 5-15; H. Hadjibegi6, "D izja ili harac," Prilozi za orientalnufilologijui istorijujugoslovenskhih
naroda pod turksomvladavinom,V (1954-55), 46-102; Barkan, "894 (1488-1489) yili cizyesinintahsilatina Aitmuhasebe bilingolari," Belgeler,I (1964), 1-120.
For Ottoman taxes in Greek lands, see J. Kabrda, 'O
(kanunname) -Hij Aap~its,
"roUpKK6S
XVII (1962), 202-218, and Vakalopoulos, op. cit. (supra, KicilKca
note 14), III, 21-39. In Bulgaria:
'ET1rvtiKd,
Mutaffieva,"De l'exploitationf6odaledans les terresde populationbulgaresous la dominationturque
au XVe et XVIe s.," Etudes historiques,I (1960), 145-170; Cvetkova, "Contribution' 1'6tude des
imp6ts extraordinaires(avariz-i divaniye ve tekalif-i6rfiye)en Bulgarie sous la dominationturque.
XXIII (1959), 57-65; idem, "Recherches sur le systdme
L'imp6t nuzul," Rocznik orientalistyczny,
d'affermage(iltizam) dans 1'Empire Ottoman au cours du XVIe-XVIIIe siecles par rapport aux
contr6esbulgares," ibid., XXVII (1964), 111-132.
57 Inalclk,
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
277
raided the two Greekcomopoleisof Tantalus and Caria located on tributaries

oftheMaeander,kidnappedtheirpopulation(ca. 5,000 souls) and resettledthem
in the depopulatedregionsof Philomelium.He had themcarefullyguardeden
route so that none mightescape, then had a detailed registerdrawn up recordingtheirnumber,possessions,livestock,and finallygave them land and
seed to plant. He grantedthem a five-yeartax immunitywith the provision
that afterwardthey should pay exactly those taxes which they had been
accustomedto pay to the Byzantine emperorsin theirByzantine habitat.62
We find the same policy, centurieslater, in an incidentwhich Critobulus
describes.When MehmedII firstappeared beforethe importantSerbian city
of Novobrdo he offeredtermsto the inhabitantswhichincludedthe provision
that "...they should pay those same taxes which they (had paid) to their
own king.'"63
Studies of the early Ottomantahrirdefters
demonstratethe generallyconservative Ottoman stance vis-a-vis the older tax structureand practices
(adet-i kadimiyye)and illustratea Turkishsystemriddledwithtaxes of nonTurkishorigin.When, afterthe conquestof a given area an economicsurvey
or tahrirwas drawn up, the Turkish emir who supervised this important
survey had the scribes (frequentlyChristiansor renegades) note local tax
in tax rates. Then, afterapproval and adjustment
practicesand differences
the
these
were
included
on the frontpage of the defter
as the kanunsultan,
by
nameor fiscallaw of the province.64
The Ottoman absorptionof Christianspahis and askers,as well as of the
peasant communitiessubjectto theirexploitation,resultedin the simultaneous
absorptionof many of theirtax practices.Inalcik,in a daringstudy,has suggested that the basic agrarian structureof the Ottomans in westernAsia
Minorand much of the Balkans was directlymodeledon that of Byzantium.
The basic land tax in speciescenteredabout the chiftor yoke (variouslydefined
as the yoke of oxen whichpulled the plow, a farmof the size whicha yoke of
oxen could service,or a plot of land which could be sown by four mud of
seed). This basic tax was the chiftresmi(ispendje).The nim chiftwas a half
yoke or the equivalentland, a chiftliibennakwas less than half; the category
includedwidowsand agriculturalworkers.These Ottomancategories
miicerred
conformto the Byzantinezeugarion,boidaton,aktemon,
and, Inalcik continues,
the cash paymentof each category(Byzantineand Ottoman)was the same.
The feudal rent also included paymentsin
kind and
corv"es
which are freidentical
with
their
and
quently
less frequentlybear
Byzantineequivalents
non-Turkishnames. Particularlystrongwas the Byzantine influencein the
domainof theOttomantaxes knownunderthe collectivetitleavariz-idivaniye
taxes which the subjects paid to the state ratherthan to
ve tekalif-ioirfiye,
62Nicetas Choniates, 655-657. Inasmuch as the
siyaqat system of Muslim fiscal administration
was not introducedat the Seljuk court until the thirteenthcentury,it may be that the Rum
Seljuks
adopted some formof the Byzantine cadastral system.
" CritobuliImbriotaede rebus
per annos 1451-1467 a MechemeteII gestis,ed. B. Grecu (Bucharest,
1963), 185.
64
Inalclk, "Conquest" (as in note 16 supra), 110-111.
278
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
the feudal spahis. A fleetingglance at the terminitechniciwhich passed into

Ottomanfiscalparlancefromthevarioussubjectpeoples reinforces
theseother
sources: Angarya,irgadiyya,sinir, parik (Greek); bashtina,gornina,pogaca
(Slavic); bennak,trngir(Armenian).65
The iconographyand metrologyof Turkish coinage, alternately,reflect
numismaticinfluenceof Byzantiumor the Latin Levant. This calls to mind
the Arabs who took as models forthe dinar,fols,and dirhemthe Byzantine
aureus denarius,folles,and the Sassanid dirhem.66
The earliestTurkishdynasties to strike coins in Anatolia, the Danishmendids,imitated the broad
flannedbronze anonymouscoinage of the Byzantines,employingGreek as
well as Arab inscriptionsand such Byzantine iconographicfeaturesas St.
George, the Virgin,and Christ.The coinage of the Ortokids,Zengids, and
Saltukids went even furtherin imitatingthe iconographyof Hellenisticand
Roman coins. When Seljuk coins beginto appear theyconformedmuch more
to the Islamic calligraphicstyle,thoughtherewere rare exceptions.The gold
and silver coinage of the fullydeveloped Ottoman empire,like that of the
caliphate,has obscuredits Christianoriginsbehindthe calligraphicstyle,for
metrologicallythe akche seems to derivefromthe Byzantineaspron and the
altun fromthe Venetian ducat. Like the Arabs, the Turks went througha
periodof iconographicimitationof Christiancoinage beforeIslamicizingtheir
coins. The emirsof westernAnatolia struckimitationsof Italian gigliatiwith
Latin inscriptions,
and the OttomansstruckimitationsofVenetiangold ducats
beforeMehmedII firstmintedthe epigraphicaltun.67
Inextricablyrelated to the political and commercialorderis the question
of law. Legal relationswere extremelyvaried and complex because of the
existenceofByzantine,Armenian,Syrian,and Slavic legal codes and customs,
all of whichhad interactedupon one anotherpriorto the Turkishinvasions.
The Turkishlegal structurewas not subject to such fundamentalinfluence
fromoutside as had been early Islamic law underthe Umayyads. For by the
Turkishperiod Islamic law had undergonelong developmentwith the result
that the sharia provideda comprehensivesystemof law throughwhich the
lifeof the Muslimcould be regulated.Mattersof contracts,marriage,inheri65 Inalcik, "Taxation" (as in note 28 supra), 237-242; idem, "Riisfimu," 589; idem, "9iftlik,"
EI,; idem, "Djizya," ibid.; Hinz, "Das Steuerwesen Ostanatoliens im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert,"
derdeutschen
C (1950), 199-201; Barkan, Kanunlar, pp. LXIIIZeitschrift
morgenldndische
Gesellschaft,
LXXII; Cvetkova, "Influence" (as in note 50 supra), 243-257; idem,Izvunrednidanutsi i durzhavin
zemi pod turskavlast(Sofia, 1958).
povinnostiv bulgarskite
66 J. Walker, A
Catalogueof theArab-Byzantineand Post-ReformUmaiyad Coins (London, 1956);
P. Grierson,"The MonetaryReformsof 'Abd al-Malik. TheirMethodologicalBasis and theirFinancial
Repercussions,"Journalof theEconomicand Social Historyof theOrient,III (1960), 241-264.
67 Casanova, op. cit. (supra, note 58), XII (1894), 307-312, 433-460; XIII
(1895), 389-402; XIV
(1896), 210-230; I. Ghalib Edhem, Cataloguedes monnaiesturcomanes,Beni Ortok,Beni Zengui,Frou'
Atabeqyehet Meliks ayoubitesde Maiyafarikin (Constantinople,1894), 7, 30, 31, pls. I, no. 6, II,
no. 32; A. Tevhid, Meskukat-ikadime islamiye katalogu (Islambol, 1321), IV,
pls. I, no. 92, III, no.
120, VII, no. 90; J. Karabacek, "Gigliate des jonischen Turkomanenfiirsten
Omar-beg,"Numismatische Zeitschrift,
2 (1870), 525-538; idem, "Gigliate des karischen Turkomanenfiirsten
Urchin-bej,"
ibid., 9 (1877), 200-215; W. Hinz, "Hyperper und Asper. Zur vorosmanischenWahrungskunde,"Der
Islam, 39 (1964), 79-89; F. Babinger, Reliquienschacher
am Osmanenhof
imn
XV. Jahrhundert.
Zugleich
derosmanischenGoldprdgung
unterMehmedII demEroberer.Sitzungsberichte,
ein Beitragzur Geschichte
Jahrgang1964, BayerischeAkademieder Wissenschaften,
Philos.-hist.Klasse. Heft 2 (Munich,1956).
BYZANTINE
279
tance, presentationof evidence in court,etc. were intricatelyworked out.

Though we know little of Byzantineinfluenceon Turkishlaw, thereis some
evidenceof the existenceof such influenceson a limitedscale, particularlyin
Ottoman penal law, where double penalties and certaintypes of mutilation,
so commonin Armenian,Byzantine,and Slavic law, seem to have been adopted.68 Payment of blood money in case of murderis also in evidence,but
whetherthis is a survival of the Slavic vrazda-ByzantinecovmKov
or simplya
legal practicewhichthe Turksbroughtwiththemis not clear.69In the realm
of what one might describe as commerciallaw the Ottomans adopted the
mininglaw which they foundregulatingthe Serbian miningindustry.This
code was primarilySaxon in origin,the so-called kanun-i-sas,with a small
admixtureofByzantino-Serbianelements.70
Continuedresearchon commercial,
and
craft
will
agricultural,
undoubtedlyreveal furtherinfluences
regulations
of pre-Turkishlegal codes, forthe economicdomainwas moresubject to local
influencethan was the domain of private lifewhichwas so closelygoverned
by religious codes. Communitylife was almost hermeticallysealed offin
religiouszones, whereaseconomiclifecut across sectarianlines.
The economic life of the Seljuks and Ottomans,except for the nomadic
sector,was very heavily indebted to the economic forcesand formsof the
Christianpopulations.The influenceof these Christiansis everywhereobvious
in agriculture,crafts,commerce,and maritimelife. The importanceof these
Christiansin the agriculturaldomain arises fromthe very obvious fact that
the bulk of the Turks who came to Anatolia in the early years were nomads
and as such theypracticedmarginalagricultureor in some cases no agriculture
whatsoever.The basic farmingstock of Seljuk Anatolia up to the mid-thirteenthcenturyconsistedof Greek,Armenian,Georgian,and Syrianpeasants.
Afterthe thirteenthcenturythe majorityof these farmerswere convertedto
Islam and these converts,along with the sedentarizednomads, came to constitute the Turkishfarmingpopulation of most of Anatolia. The policies of
colonizationwhichthe sultanspursuedin the twelfthcenturyclearlyindicate
the almost exclusive predominanceof Christiansin the categoryof peasant
farmers.Without going into all the details of this colonizationone sees the
various Seljuk and Danishmendidrulerskidnappinglarge masses of Christian
farmersnot only fromthe Byzantineand Armenianheld Anatoliandomains,
but even fromeach other'skingdoms.Therewerenumerousmilitarycampaigns
betweenthe Seljuks and Danishmendidsin whichthe one attemptedto coerce
68 M. Begovi6, "Tragovi nasheg srednievekovnogkrivichnog
prava u turskimzakonskim spomenitsima," Istoriskicasopis, VI (1956), 1-21. Bertrandonde la Broquibre-Schefer
(as in note 39 supra),
115, the fifteenth-century
prince of Karaman (born of a Christian mother and baptized) applied
mutilationof hands, feet,and,nose as penalties.
69 G. Rouillard and A. Soloviev, "T'6 poVlK6v:
Une influenceslave sur le droit p6nal byzantin," in
MvlY6oavva
fTa,-rro'Aa(Athens,1934), 221-232; A. Mirambel,"Blood Vengeance (Maina) in Southern
Greece and among the Slavs," Byzantion, XVI (1944), 381-392; M. Tourtoglou, T6bqOVKbVKa i h
ro -rraO6vwroS
(Athens,1960); P. Charanis, "The Phonikon and other Byzantine taxes,"
db1rorlClkioat
Speculum,XX (1945), 331-333.
70N. Beldiceanu, Les actesdes premierssultansconservds
dans les manuscritsturcsde la Bibliotheque
Nationale d Paris II., Reglements
miniers1390-1512 (Paris, 1964); N. Radoji6i6, lus metallicumdespotae StephaniLazarevi6 (Belgrade, 1962).
280
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
the otherto relinquishthese kidnappedChristianfarmingpopulations.I have

already referredto one specificinstancein whichthe sultan took away 5,000
Greekfarmersand broughtthemto Philomelium.But frequently
the numbers
involved were much larger.71The importanceof the more highlydeveloped
Byzantine agricultureis obvious in the occasional relianceof the thirteenthcenturySeljuks upon grainimportsfromthe kingdomof Nicaea.72In a series
of remarkablephilologicalstudiesAndreasTietze uncovereda veryimportant
lexicographicalstratumof Greek loan wordsin the Turkishkaba dil of Anatolia which deals with agriculturaland rural life. This philologicalevidence,
whichindicatesa strongByzantineinfluenceon Turkishrural life and which
consequentlycorrectsthe earlierassumptionof the philologistGustave Meyer
that Byzantineinfluenceon the Turks was restrictedto the urban and commerciallife,reinforces
the evidenceofthe historicaltexts.73
We may,therefore,
conclude that Byzantine agrarian practices and techniques stronglydetermined Turkishagriculturallifein Anatolia. The case in the Balkans is much
moreobvious. Here the majorityof the agrarianpopulationwas always Christian, and the Muslimfarmerswho settledin the Balkans were alreadythemselves the productsof a Byzantineagriculturalenvironmentin Anatolia.
Movingfromagricultureto craftsand industry,two distinctquestionsare
raised: Did local craft traditionsand techniques continue alongside those
broughtby Islamic craftsmenwho emigratedfromthe Near East to Anatolia
and the Balkans? Did local elementsin the organizationof the guildssurvive
in the guildsof the Seljuks and Ottomans?
Pre-TurkishAnatolia possessedan urban populace whichwas highlyskilled
in the exerciseof the crafts,a traditionwhichexistedin the Roman periodas
well. These Anatolian craftsmenwere proficientparchmentmakers,painters,
masons, shipbuilders,potters,makers of glass and incense makers,makers
of bows, arrows,swords,shields,naval supplies,renownedjewellers,metalworkers,miners,plasterers,woodworkers,textile and carpet weavers.74The
11 Michael the Syrian (as in note 21 supra), III, 206, 245, 246, 346, 388; Bar Hebraeus (as in note
21 supra), I, 264, 296; Nicetas Choniates, 163, 481, 523, 655-657; Cinnamus,198.
72 Nicephoras Gregoras,I, 42-43; Theodore Scutariotes-Sathas
(as in note 26 supra), 507.
73 A.
Tietze, "Griechischen Lehnw6rterim anatolischen Tiirkisch," Oriens, 8 (1955) (hereafter
"Lehnw6rter"),204-257; ibid., Actes du X Congrysinternationald'dtudesbyzantins,1955 (Istanbul,
1957), 295ff.; idem, "Einige weitere griechischeLehnw6rterim anatolischen Tiirkish," NemethArmagani (Ankara, 1962), 373-388; see also Theodoridis, op. cit. (supra, note 11), passim. The strong
elementof continuityin Byzantine agriculturaltechnologyis to be seen in the present-dayAnatolian
The digen consists of long wooden boards with teeth of flint
threshingsledge, the diigen-8ovKd(vxl.
or ironon the underside,and the farmerusually rides on the topside as the animal drags it over the
harvested grain. It is attested in antiquityas the Trpf3ohos;
see K. D. White, AgriculturalImplements
of theRoman World(Cambridge,1967), 152-156, 191; T. Mommsenand H. Blumner,Der Maximaltarifdes Diocletian (Berlin, 1958), 33, 141. For a detailed descriptionof this threshingsledge in sixAnatolia, see Hans Dernschwam'sTagebucheinerReise nach Konstantinopelund Kleinteenth-century
asien (1553/55),ed. F. Babinger (Munich-Leipzig,1923) (hereafterHans Dernschwam),27, 182-183,
184, 198, 253. For a photographof the diigen employedin present-dayAnatolia, see X. de Planhol,
De la plaine pamphylienneaux lacs pisidiens. Nomadismeet vie paysanne (Paris, 1958), pl.
xxiII;
H. Kogay, "Tiirkiye halkinin maddi kiiltiiriinedair arastirmalar," Tiirketnografya
dergisi,I (1956),
25-26, and pls. Iv-v.
74 T. R. S. Broughton,Roman Asia Minor, in An EconomicSurveyof AncientRome,ed. T. Frank
(Baltimore, 1938), 419-918, is a rich source of factual informationon Anatolian economiclife during
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
281
technicalskills of these Rum were highlypraised by Arab geographers,and

the tenth-century
travellerIbn Fadlan foundthe court of one of the central
AsiaticTurkicrulersfurnished
withArmeniancarpetsand Byzantinetextiles.75
If one examinesthe sparse sourcesforSeljuk and earlyOttomanAnatolia,it
becomes obvious that the Christianscontinuedto cultivate their economic
specializations.Let us begin with the Anatolian textile industry.I have already had occasion to mentionthe taste whichthe AnatolianTurks displayed
for Byzantine textiles. Marco Polo, who travelledthroughAnatolia, noted,
withthe keen perceptivenessof the merchant:
"In Turcomaniathereare threeclasses of people. Firstthereare the Turcomans; these are the worshippersof Mahomet, a people with an uncouth
language of theirown. They dwell among mountainsand downs wherethey
find good pastures, for their occupation is cattlekeeping.Excellent horses,
knownas Turquans,are rearedin theircountry,and also veryvaluable mules.
The othertwo classes are the Armeniansand Greeks,who live mixedwiththe
formerin the townsand villages,occupyingthemselveswithtrade and handicrafts.They weave the finestand handsomestcarpetsin the world,and also
greatquantitiesof fineand richsilksof cramoisyand othercolors,and plenty
of otherstuffs."76
Othertravellersin Anatolia also testifyto the continuedpresenceof Christian weaversin the Anatoliantextileindustry.Ibn Battuta observedthe Greek
weavers of Laodiceia, in whose shops "...are manufacturedcotton fabrics
edged with gold embroidery,unequalled in this kind, and long-livedon account of the excellenceof theircotton and the strengthof theirspun thread
.... Most of the artisansthereare Greekwomenwho are subject to the Muslims and who pay dues to the sultan,includingthejizya, and othertaxes.""77
This Arab travelleralso mentionsthe makingof fabricsin Erzinjian, a city
inhabitedprimarilyby Armenians.Christianweaverswereactivein thirteenthcenturyMelitene,and, duringthe ceremoniescelebratingthe marriagealliance
of the Germiyanidsand Ottomans,linenswere sent fromLaodiceia and cloth
fromthe still Byzantine city of Philadelphia.78The famousOttomansilk inthe Roman and early Byzantine periods. See also Vryonis,"Problems" (as in note 6 supra), 130-131.
V. Minorsky,"Marvazi and the Byzantines," Annuaire de l'institutde philologieet d'histoireorientales
et slaves,X (1950), 458, writesthat the Byzantines are "...gifted in craftsand skillfulin the fabrication of (various) articles, textiles,carpets." They are second only to the Chinese in these skills
(a
theme which reappearsin the Mathnawi of Djelal ed-Din Rumi).
15Ibn Fadlan-To'an (as in note 11 supra), 64; R. Ettinghausen,"Kali," EI, Supplement, 106111; I. Manandian, O torgovlei gorodakhv sviazi s mirovoitorgovleidrevnikhvremen(Erevan, 1954),
228-229; Minorsky,Hudiid al-'A lam. The 'Regions of theWorld'; a Persian Geography,372 A.H.-982
A.D. (London, 1937), 156.
7s The Book of Ser Marco Polo the VenetianconcerningtheKingdomsand Marvels of theEast, tr.
and ed. H. Yule, 3rd ed. (New York, 1903), I, 43; A. C. Moule and P. Pelliot, Marco Polo, theDescriptionof the World (London, 1938), I, 95; F. Sarre and H. Trenkwald,AltorientalischeTeppiche
(Vienna-Leipzig,1928), II, 17, no. 17.
77 Ibn Battuta-Gibb (as in note 25 supra), II, 425. The textilesof the city werealready well known
in antiquity,Broughton,op. cit. (supra, note 74), 819-820.
78 Ibn Battuta-Gibb (as in note 25 supra), II, 437; Bar Hebraeus
(as in note 21 supra), I, 408.
Tevarih-iAl-i OsmandanAshikpashazadetarihi,ed. 'Ali Bey (Istanbul, 1332) (hereafter
Ashzkpashazade-'Ali Bey), 56.
282
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
dustryof Bursa was located in a regionwhichhad possessed a lively textile

industrysince the days of JohnVatatzes.79In the sixteenthcenturythe commercialagent of the powerfulhouse of Fugger,Dernschwam,noted that the
workingof the famousAngora wool into camlet was largelyin the hands of
the Greeksof Konya, Kayseri,and Siwas.so
There is considerableevidence that side by side with Muslim architects,
painters,and masons,theirChristianand convertedcounterpartswere active
in Anatolia and the Balkans. Perhaps the best known of these Christian
architectswas the Greek fromKonya, Kaloyan al-Qunewi,who workedon
the Ilgin Han in 1267-8 and threeyearslaterbuiltthe G6k medresse
of Sivas.s8
In 1zzz the Greek architectThyriannusbuilt the mosque in the village of
Nidir K6y near Akshehir,and a certainSebastus took part in rebuildingthe
walls of Sinope in 1215 afterits capturefromthe Greeks.82
The dervishliteratureof the Mevlevis,Bektashis,and Shabaniyyefrequently
refersto Christian
masons and architectswho were employedby these orders.83
Fascinating,but
studied, are the scores of stone masons' markingson Seljuk
insufficiently
buildings,many of which are, unmistakably,lettersof the Greek alphabet.84
und byzantini79 Inalclk, "Harir," EI,; Nicephorus Gregoras,I, 43; M. Schneider,Die rdmischen
schenDenkmdlervon Iznik-Nicaea (Berlin, 1943), 5.
80 Hans Dernschwam (as in note 73 supra), 186, "Die zamlet, wie obstat, seindt von obstandeten
gaisheren gespunnen. Haben nur krichn (Greeks) gesehen, die sie wyrkhen,waschen, syeden und
wasser (?) drikhenunderainer pres."
81 Rdpertoirechronologique
d'dpigraphiearabe, eds. E. Combe, J. Sauvaget and G. Wiet (Cairo,
1943) (hereafterRCEA), XII, 164-165; A. Gabriel,Monumentsturcsd'Anatolie(Paris, 1934) (hereafter
Monuments),II, 155-161; K. Erdmann, Das anatolischeKaravansaray des 13. Jahrhunderts
(Berlin,
1961) (hereafterKaravansaray), I, 199; M. F. Grenard, "Note sur les monumentsseldjoukides de
Siwas," Journalasiatique,9th Ser., XVI (1900), 456-458.
and theirWorks (Geneva, 1956), 119; RCEA (as in note 81
82 L. A. Mayer, Islamic Architects
des Kodex Sinaiticus Graecus508 (976) und die
supra), X, 116; N. Bees, Die Inschriftenau/zeichnung
Maria Spildotissa Klosterkirche
bei Sille (Lykaonien).Mit Exkursenzur Geschichte
der SeldschukidenTiirken(Berlin, 1922) (hereafterSpildotissa),53-54; I. H. Konyall, NasreddinHocanin ehriAkqehir
(Istanbul, 1945), 549.
83 Eflaki,Les saintsdes derviches
tr. C. Huart (Paris, 1918-1922) (hereafterEflaki-Huart),
tourneurs,
II, 2, 275-276; E. Gross, Das Vilayet-namedes Haggi Bektash. Ein tirkischesDerwischevangelium
(Leipzig, 1927) (hereafterVilayetname-Gross),151-152; H. J. Kissling, "Sa'ban Velt und die Ga'banijje," Serta Monacensia (Leiden, 1952), 91.
" Erdmann.
Karavansaray (as in note 81 supra), I, passim. Many of these markingsare identical
withlettersin the Greekalphabet and mightpossiblysuggestthat Greekstonemasons wereemployed
in constructionwork along with Muslim masons. Such seem to be the following:M TT
A E A N KX
I BY Z A . Gabriel, Monuments(as in note 81 supra), passim; R. Nour, "Tamga ou tag, marque
au ferchaud sur les chevaux a Sinope," Journalasiatique,CCXII, No. 2 (Jan.-June 1928), 148-151,
compares some of the markingsto horse brands, and suggeststhat the masons' markingsare partly
Turkish,partly Greek in origin.On the Christianmasons in the nineteenthcentury,see W. Ramsay,
The Cities and Bishopricsof Phrygia (Oxford,1895), I, 302. On the famous architectKeluk ibn Abdulla, a convertto Islam and possibly of Armenianorigin,see RCEA (as in note 81 supra), XII, 2224; Mayer, op. cit. (supra, note 82), 77. The question of Christianinfluenceon Turkish architecture
is a vast topic which awaits investigation.Gabriel generallytook a negative view on this question:
"Bursa'da Murad I camii ve osmanli mimarisininmengeimeselesi," VakzflarDergisi, II (1942), 3743; idem,Monuments,I-II. Erdmann, "Zur tiirkischenBaukunst seldschukischerund osmanischer
Zeit," IstanbulerMitteilungen,8 (1958), 6-7, takes the view that the Rum Seljuks abandoned many
of the traditionalarchitecturalformsand created new types. This was due, he says, to the Byzantine
milieu. See also Taeschner,"Beitrige zur friihosmanischen
Epigraphik und Archeologie,"Der Islam,
20 (1932), 117. On specificexamples of Byzantine architecturalinfluence,see: J. M. Rogers, "The
CifteMinare Medrese at Erzerum and the G6k Medrese at Sivas. A Contributionto the History of
Style in the Seljuk Architectureof Thirteenth-Century
Turkey," Anatolian Studies,British Institute
of Archaeologyat Ankara, XV (1965), 76; "Annual Report," ibid., XV (1965), 12, on the Byzantine
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
283
Greek painters are also in evidence in thirteenth-century

Anatolia. Their
workscan be seen in the rupestrianchurchesof the thirteenth
century,and in
but
more
is
their
in
the
miniatures,
interesting
presence
Seljuk court and in
Muslimdervishcircles.85
Christianpottersand tile workersparticipatedin the famousceramicindustry of Kutahya and Bithynia;86 Greeks and Armenianswere especially
prominentin mining,metalwork,and jewelry.The Armeniansof Erzinjian
made metal vesselsof the copperwhichtheymined,and the Greeksof Pontus
were active in the Ottomanminingindustryforcenturies.87
The Greekgoldsmithsof Trebizondwere especiallyfamous and Selim I learned theircraft
froma Greekmastercraftsmanof Trebizondwhilehe was servinghis political
Timurtransplantedmanyof these
apprenticeshipas governorof the district.88
Greek and Armeniangold- and silversmithsand craftsmento Samarkand
afterthe battle of Angorain 1402.89The most sensationalobject of this Christian metalworkin MuslimAnatolia is, of course,the famousOrtokidenamel
bowl.90
round arch, masonry,and constructionto be found in Ottoman architectureof Iznik and Bursa.
Diez, "Kubba," EI, Supplement. See the interestinganecdote in Eflaki-Huart(as in note 83 supra),
II, 208, on the preferabilityof Greek to Turkish masons.
85 Eflaki-Huart(as in note 83 supra), I, 333-334; II, 69. The two Greek painters Kaloyani and
Ain ed-Daula Rumi were intimates of the Seljuk court and of the dervish circles. See R. Ettinghausen, TurkishMiniatures (New York, 1965), 8-9, on the Byzantine affiliationsof miniatures,in
Bibliotheque Nationale MS. 174, executed in Aksaray in 1271 and dedicated to the Seljuk sultan;
also, E. Blochet, Les enluminuresdes manuscritsorientauxde la BibliothdqueNationale (Paris, 1926),
pls. 18, 19; idem, Musulman Painting XIIth-XVIIth Century(London, 1929), pl. xxxiv. Plates
LV and LVI,fromthe mansucriptof Rashid ed-Din's history,depict angels in the Byzantine manner.
See also F. Babinger, "Mehmed's II. Heirat mit Sitt-Chatun(1449)", Der Islam, 29, 2 (1949), 230231, and plate 7 which reproducesa portraitof Sitt Hatun done by a Greek painter.
86
Ashzkpashazade-AliBey (as in note 78 supra), 12, wherewe learn that the Christiansof Bilecik
specialized in the manufactureof cups which they sold at the weekly fairsof Eskishehir.There is a
referenceto a lively commercein potteryin this area already duringByzantine times; see Nicholas
Mesarites' travel reportaddressed to the monks of the Evergetis Monasteryin Constantinople(A.
des lateinischenKaisertumsund der Kirchenunion,SitzungsHeisenberg,Neue Quellenzur Geschichte
berichte der bayerischenAkademie der Wissenschaften,Philos.-hist. und philol. Klasse [Munich,
1923], II, 44). Evliya Chelebi mentionsthat therewas a special quarter of Christiantile workersin
the city of Kutahya duringthe seventeenthcentury,Seyahatnamesi,IX, (Istanbul, 1935), 19,
"Cinici
keferlermahallesi...." For examples of specificallyChristiantiles, see C. Nomikos,
XptartaVlK&KEpapovpyipacra(Alexandria, 1922); idem,'H AEyopvr1'Po8iaKil (yyEOTrrXaOT-iK1y
(Alexandria, 1919). There
are examples in the ArmenianPatriarchate
of Jerusalem,the Benaki Museum in Athens, and the
Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Though the style of Ottoman tiles does not
betray any
Christianstylisticinfluence,thereseems to have been some continuityoftechniquein
Seljuk Anatolia;
see H. H. van Osten, The AlzharHiiyiikSeason of 1930-32, Part III (Chicago, 1937), 205. On Turkish
Keramik(Ankara,1961). For Islamic influenceon Byzantine potpottery,see K. Otto-Dorn,Tiarkische
tery,see D. Talbot Rice, "Late Byzantine Pottery at Dumbarton Oaks," DumbartonOaks Papers,
20 (1966),207-219.
87 Vryonis,"The Questionofthe ByzantineMines," Speculum,XXXVII

(1962) (hereafter"Mines,")
10; R. M. Dawkins, Modern Greekin Asia Minor (Cambridge, 1916), 6-8; Ibn Battuta-Gibb (as in
note 25 supra), II, 437.
88 L. A. Mayer, Islamic Metalworkersand their Works (Geneva, 1959), 16. On the fame of the
Trapezuntinejewelers,see Evliya op. cit. (supra, note 86), II (1896-97), 91.
89 Gonzales de Clavijo, tr. Le Strange, Embassy to Tamerlane 1403-1406
(London, 1928) (hereafterClavijo-Le Strange),288.
90 R. Ettinghausen,E. Akurgal,and C. Mango, Treasuresof Turkey(1966), 167-168; M. von Berchem and J. Stryzgowski,Amida (Heidelberg, 1910), 120-128, 348-354; H. Buchthal, "A Note on
Islamic Enameled Metalworkand its Influenceon the Latin West," Ars Islamica,
XI-XIII (1946),
198; O. von Valke, "Kupferzellenschmelzim Orient und in Byzanz," MonatsheftefiirKunstwissenschaft.II (1909), 32ff.;L. A. Mayer,Saracenic Heraldry(Oxford,1933), 102.
284
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
In the Balkans the pre-Ottomantraditionsof the craftsand industryhad

undergoneextensivedevelopment,especiallyin Byzantium proper,but also
in Serbia and Bulgaria. Constantinople,Thessaloniki,Thebes, and Corinth
were renownedfor the products of their craftsmenand the admixtureof
Italian skills must have added to this richness.As a consequence of the
Ottoman conquest Muslim craftsmensettled in the Balkan towns where
they joined the Christiancraftsmen,with the consequence that there was
the same ethno-religious
varietyin the artisan classes here that we saw in
Anatolia.
Throughtheircraftsand occupationsconcernedwiththe sea the Christians
made a major contributionto the formationof Ottoman maritimelife. The
and artisansin the naval arsenals were freshipbuilders,oarsmen,fishermen,
or
Greeks,
Italians,
quently
renegades.The associationof Greekspongefishermen fromthe Dodecanese, whichEvliya Chelebidescribesin the processionof
Istanbul guilds, was of a traditionalready grown old
seventeenth-century
when Pliny describedthese sponge fishermenin the years of the Roman
Empire.91
The minesof Serbia and Byzantiumcontinuedto operatein Ottomantimes,
accordingto the old pre-Ottomanregulations,and the minerswere largely
Christians.92The Greekjewelersand goldsmithsof Istanbul enjoyeda considerable reputation,while Christianarchitectsand masons also remainedactive
and, because of this, Ottomanmosques, hammams,and especiallydomestic
architecture(of the solarium type) betray Byzantine influences.Christian
textile workers,furriers,and physicians were similarlyprominent.93
The
stronginfluenceof the Byzantinecraft-industrial
legacy on the Seljuks and
Ottomancrafttechniquesseemsundeniable,thoughone is facedwitha further
and yet unansweredquestion: To what extent did the Christiancraftsman
preservein theircreationsthe Byzantinestyleand, conversely,to what degree
did they employtheirskillsand techniquesto create objects in Islamic style.
In addition,one must ask, were elementsof the Byzantinestyletherebyincorporatedinto what emergedas an Ottomanstyle?
We have not yet consideredthe relationof the Byzantineto the Turkish
Anatolia and of the later
guilds. The guild system of fourteenth-century
in
the
Balkans
included
those
which
were
period
exclusivelyMuslim,those
91Natural History,ed. XXXI, 131; Kahane and Tietze, op. cit. (supra, note 52), passim; R. Mantran, Istanbuldans la secondemoitiddu XVIIe sikcle(Paris, 1962), 386, 416-417. Inalclk, "Gelibolu,"
EI2. S. Papageorgiou, "'"8ooTroptKV
I'IXKCOUv
Mlot-rl," TTapvaca6s(1882), 636, quotes the following
travellerJacob Meloiteson the sponge industryof Simi
interestingcommentby the sixteenth-century
in the Dodecannese, ... .E0pifKxoEpia
v'ijcoS
lt KciEXEtiva K-rTpO Kci KaTOlKOlOI TrrWES"EXAA1vES
6v6pa1rt
KYCii -riXv1i
caOrrvOrrd6pXovo
rr&dIrEs
pov-roZt EiS -r&P6011 -S
rs OCaails
coS 25
watrrrE 6pytcTS,KCl
cda BEve~iav. EfKOCI
1T
a-riv
apydvovuot
r& oaoyypcpia, Kc d(rrKEiViS
EPXov-ract
&goyydptCa
92 Beldiceanu, op. cit. (supra,note
-rc
des Bergbausim osmani70); R. Anhegger,BeitrdgezurGeschichte
schen Reich, I: Europdische Tiirkei (Istanbul, 1943); V. Gordlevsky,"Eksploatatsiia nedr zemli v
Turtsii," SovetskoeVostokovedenie,
III (1945), 109-145; A. Refik,Osmanli devrineTi&rkiyemadenleri
967-1200 (Istanbul, 1931); Vryonis,"Mines" (as in note 87 supra), 11-17; C. Jire6ek,Die Handelsstrassenund Bergwerke
vonSerbienund Bosnien wdhrend
des Mittelalters
(Prague, 1879); D. Kovacevi6,
"Dans la Serbie et la Bosnie m6di6vales: Les mines d'or et d'argent," Annales: Economies,Socie'tds,
Civilisations,15, No. 2 (1960), 248-258.
9SMantran,op. cit. (supra, note 91), 419, 449, 497-498; J. Sourdel-Thomine,";Iammam," EI2.
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
285
whichwereexclusivelyChristian,and guildswhichwereinterdenominational.94
To what degreeChristianguild regulationswere preservedand passed on to
the Turkishsystemit is difficult
to say, but the existenceof purelyChristian
and mixed guilds,as well as of guilds the chiefsof whichwere Christiansor
converts,was stronglyfavorabletoward continuityin guild regulationand
organization.The problemhas a somewhatsimplersolutionif one can accept
the recentconclusionof one scholar,who declaresthat the Islamic worldhad
no guildspriorto the establishmentofthe Turksin Anatolia and the Balkans.
This would implya ByzantineoriginforOttomanand Seljuk guilds.95Howto believe that the highlydevelopedurban life and crafts
ever,it is difficult
of the Islamic towns were devoid of such formalorganizationaccordingto
associations. In the Anatolian towns, duringthe thirteenthand fourteenth
centuries,the craftsmenhad associationswhichwere,in addition,penetrated
by the Islamic ideologyoffutuwwa.These futuwwagroupswere probablyan
Islamic elaborationand versionofthe olderByzantinefaction--neaniai,which
had dominatedurbanlifein the sixth-century
Levantinetowns.Consequently,
the Anatolian guild-futuwwa
complexpossibly reflectsboth a directand indirect Byzantine influence.96
All this points to strongsimilaritiesbetween
and
Byzantine
Seljuk-Ottomanurban life and towns. Many Byzantine and
some Balkan townsretainedtheirold forms,othersweredestroyed,and some
were heavily recolonizedby Turks and converts.But the Byzantineand the
Turkishtown (the so-called orientaltown) were virtuallyidentical,each possessing a central agora, or charshiya,with the guildsmen'sshops and warehouses, groupsof administrativebuildingsand palaces, separate quartersfor
religiousand ethnicgroups,and, of course,religiousbuildings.The organization of public order and economiclife under the controlof the eparch and
muhtesibwere strikinglyparallel and possiblyof commonorigin,as was also
the systemof nocturnalpolice patrols.97
" Mantran,ibid., 349-394. On election of a convertas
guild kethudain Sofia, see G. Galabov and
H. Duda, Die Protokollbiicher
des Kadiamtes Sofia (Munich, 1960), 134, for converts in guilds, 158,
and esp. 215; Ibn Battuta-Gibb (as in note 25 supra), II, 425, 427, 437-438; Eflalki-Huart(as in note
83 supra), II, 14, 317-320.
95 For a specificexample of Ottoman adoption of Byzantine regulations,see Taeschner, "Das
bosnische Zunftwesenzur Tiirkenzeit(1463 bis 1878)," BZ, 44 (1951), 557-559. Taeschner points
to two basic differences
between Ottoman and Byzantine guilds: The Byzantine guilds, in contrast
to the Ottoman, were under the strongcentral control of the government.Though this
may have
been the case in the tenth centuryfor Byzantium, one could hardly say that in the eleventh and
twelfthcenturiesthe Byzantineguildswereresponsiveto centralizedcontrol;see Vryonis,
"Byzantine
and the Guilds in the Eleventh Century,"DumbartonOaks Papers, 17 (1963), 287-314.
ArlploKpoCrla
With the decline of the empire it may be that the control of the central governmentcontinued to
relax. For the second point of difference-thefutuwwainfluenceon Anatolian Turkish
guilds-see
note 96 infra; S. Goitein, A MediterranianSociety. The JewishCommunitiesof theArab World as
in
the
Documents
the
Cairo Geniza (Berkeley-LosAngeles, 1967), 82-83.
Portrayed
of
98 Taeschner, "Akhi," EI,; "Futuwwa, eine gemeinschaftsbildendeIdee im mittelalterlichen
Orient und ihre verschiedenen Erscheinungformen,"SchweizerischesArchiv
fir Volkskunde,LII
(1956), 144-151; Cahen, "Sur les traces des premiersachis," Fuad Kdpridi Armagani (Istanbul,
1953), 81-91; Vryonis, "Byzantine Circus Factions and Islamic Futuwwa Organizations (neaniai,
fityan,ahdath)," BZ, 58 (1965), 46-59.
97 See Cviji6, op. cit. (supra, note 7), 191-206, for a descriptionof the
"Turco-byzantine" town,
as in contrastto otherBalkan types.H. Gr6goire,"Les veilleursde nuit&Tr6bizonde,"BZ, 18
(1909),
G.
490ff.; Margais,"Consid6rationssur les villes musulmaneset notammentsur le r81edu Mohtasib,"
286
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
Toynbee,in one ofhis manyperceptiveinsights,has attributedthe commercial pre-eminenceof the Phanariot class to the "stimulus of penalization."
There is no doubt an elementof truthin his propositionthat the Greeks,excluded fromthe politicalhegemony,channelledtheirenergiesinto endeavors
whichwere still open to Christians,namelycommerce.However,the importance of Armenians,Syrians,Greeks,Slavs, and Vlachs in the commerciallife
of the Seljuk and Ottoman states representsless the consequence of this
"stimulusof penalization"than a continuityoftheiractive commercialrolein
Byzantinetimes. The commerciallife of these Christianssufferedtemporary
of order,they
disruptionsin periodsof turmoil,but withthe re-establishment
returnedto theirenterprises.With the gradual stabilizationof conditionsin
Anatolia, the Greek merchantsof Konya and Pousgousae
twelfth-century
in
the
caravan
trade between Konya and Constantinople-western
reappear
Anatolia. In the east Armeniansand Syriansreacted similarlyto stabilized
to theiractivconditions,and we have an archaeologicalmonumenttestifying
ity,a caravansarybuilt by a Christianwithinscriptionsin Syriac,Armenian,
and Arabic.98In the Balkans this Christianmerchantclass not onlysurvived,
but became increasinglypowerful.One need only mentionMichael Cantacuzene in the sixteenthcenturyand the later ManolakisCastorianos,head of the
powerfulcorporationof furmerchants.This latter organizationdonated, annually,one-tenthof its incometo supportthe OrthodoxPatriarchateof Jerusalem against the growinginfluenceand intriguesof the Catholic Churchin
the Holy Places.99But what of Byzantinecommercialinstitutionsper se? One
of the mostlivelysurvivalswas the Byzantinecommercial-religious
panegyris,
whichMartinNilssonhas convincinglyderivedfromthe ancientGreekpagan
panegyris.At the timeof the Seljuk and Ottomaninvasionsthe panegyriswas
a widespread and deeply rooted institutionthroughoutAnatolia and the
Balkans.100These panegyreiswere discontinuedin many areas because of the
destructiveness
of the firstTurkishinvasions,101
but theyeventuallyrecovered
and we see that Turkishmerchantsare participantsin the great commercial
panegyrisof the ArchangelMichael at Chonae in the later halfof the twelfth
century.From this time, and especiallyin the Ottoman Empire somewhat
later,the panegyrisremaineda veryimportantcommercialinstutition.
The very
wordpanair passed intoTurkishwitha host of othercommercialloan words.102
La ville,pt. 1, Institutionsadministratives
etjudicaires, Recueils de la soci6t6 Jean Bodin, VI (1954),
"Un magistrat: le mohtesib," Journaldes savants (1947), 36-40.
260-261; Gaudefroy-Demombynes,
98 Nicetas Choniates,50, 653-654; Bar Hebraeus (as in note 21
supra), I, 454; Erdmann,Karavansaray (as in note 81 supra), I, 63-67.
0 T. Stoianovich, "The
Conquering Balkan Orthodox Merchant,"Journal of Economic History,
XX (1960), 234-313; N. Iorga, Byzance aprksByzance (Bucarest, 1935), 114, 121, 223.
100M. Nilsson,GreekPopular Religion(New York, 1947), 97-101; Koukoules, op. cit. (supra,note 5),
III, 270-283.
101The Turkishconquests disruptedthe panegyrisof St. Eugenius in Trebizond and of St. Phocas
in Sinope for extensive periods of time; see Papadopoulos-Kerameus, Sbornikistochnikov
po istorii
trapezundskoiimperii (St. Petersburg,1897). I, 59; C. Van de Vorst, "Saint Phocas," Analecta Bollandiana, XXX (1911), 289.
102 On restorationof the
Trapezuntine panegyris, see Papadopoulos-Kerameus, op. cit. (supra,
note 101), I, 65; also S. Lampros,
MtXa;f 'AKoplIVTOVr
To0 Xcov-rtrrov
-r& oL6pEva (Athens, 1879), I,
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
287
It is clear that Byzantine (Armeno-Syro-Byzantine

and Slavo-Byzantine)
and
commercial
life
were
fundamental
in the formaindustrial,
agricultural,
and
the
of
tion, techniques,
very personnel Seljuk and Ottomaninstitutions.
The economicimpact of Byzantiumin the Ottoman period furtheremerges
fromthe fact that the influxof Persian and Arab craftsmenevidentin the
Seljuk period was renewedonly afterthe conquest of the Mamelukeand a
portionof the Safavi domains in the sixteenthcenturyand, therefore,considerably afterthe initial consolidationof Ottoman institutionallife under
MehmedII. It is true,however,that the laterinfluxofthe Muslimcraftsmen,
as well as of the Sephardic Jews,broughtnew traditionsinto this economic
life.
All of the Byzantine influencesdescribedabove were transmittednot as
abstractideas or by unmannedinstitutions,but by people, and at this point
we must considerthe demographicand ethnographicaspect of this impact.
Anatolia on the eve of the Seljuk invasions was a comparativelycompact
demographicregioninhabitedprimarily,
thoughnot exclusively,by Greekand
Armenianspeakingpopulations. Some scholars,arguing,ex post facto,from
the predominantly
Islamic characterof sixteenth-century
Anatolia,have sugthat
in
Anatolia
the
eleventh
was
gested
Byzantine
century
demographically
semidesolate,and that the Arab razias had largely destroyedthe peasant
stock. But this Islamic characterof sixteenth-century
Anatolia has obscured
the fact that eleventh-century
Anatolia had for some time developed free
fromand unhinderedby massive Arab raids. The expansion of the notitia
episcopatum,the land hungerof the magnates,the earlierseparationof the
caput fromthe iugum in the tax structureall reflectdemographicgrowth.
Finally, the sources speak of substantialand numeroustowns with compact
village clusters.The demographyof the Balkans on the eve of the conquest
is more difficultto assess, and certainlylarge areas of the Balkans in such
regionsas Bosnia werestillunderdeveloped.However,Bulgaria,and especially
Serbia, began to experiencea livelyurban development.Whateverthe demographicsituationpriorto the conquest,in Ottomantimes the Christiansfar
outnumberedthe conquerersin the Balkans.103
In Anatolia the Greekand Armenianspeakerswereto constitutea substantial and importantelementin the rise and formationof the AnatolianTurkish
population.Intermarriageat all levels of societywas very frequentfromthe
eleventh to the fifteenthcentury,a fact reflectedin both the Greek and
Turkishcontemporarysources.Anna Comnena,writingtwo generationsafter
the invasions,refersto the numerousoffspring
ofthesemixed marriagesas the
56, on the revival of the panegyrisof the ArchangelMichael at Chonae in the twelfthcentury."EAKEt
&
&'
ydp, OOplya EITrETv,rS rrEplO1KiSac&Tr
Tr6vi6AstX
7t1yE 8 Kai TroCI
OvTrEpopicov
AvUoOrTE Kai
oarSS
"IcvaS Kai Kpas Kat lalpj)OovU KacAVuKovS,
EVEK&
Trp6 6 Kai pap&cpovs iKOVIETS
YErTOv
d&w0OOVaI KCaTrpiaTati.
R. Brunschvig,"Coup d'oeil sur l'histoiredes foiresa traversl'Islam," La loire,Recueils de la

soci6t6
B' 'ApXEiov
Jean Bodin, V (1953), 65-72. See I. K. Vasdravelles, Ilo-roplKa
BEpofaS'ApXEIaMaKEBoviaS.
NaooiolS 1598-1886 (Thessaloniki,1954) (hereafter,'APXeTaB), 86, on the annual fairsin the towns of
Macedonia.
seventeenth-century
103 See notes 157-160
infra.
SPEROS
288
VRYONIS,
JR.
in the armiesof both the Byzantines

mixovarvaroi.They figureprominently
and Seljuks in the twelfthcentury,and Balsamon notestheircuriousreligious
NicephorusGregorasnoted that the inhabitantsof fourteenthpractices.104
centuryBithynia consistedof threecategories: Greeks,Turks, and mixovarThe Seljuk sourcesreferto the mixovarvaroi
as igdish,and once more
varoi.105
mentionedin the Seljuk armies.106
Mass conversions,to be
theyare frequently
discussedat a later point,led to the same result.Whenin the last centurythe
anthropologistvon Luschan studied the cranial index and skeletal measurementofthepeopleofsouthwestAnatolia,he foundthatMuslimsand Christians
in the townshad identicalphysicalmeasurements,
whereasthe anthropometry
of the Turkishtribal groupsdifferedconsiderably.Though one must be cautious about physical anthrolopogybecause of the many inconstantfactors,
thisis a piece of evidencewhichseemsto corroboratethe sources; to wit,that
the Christiansby conversionand intermarriage
affectedthe physicalcharacter
of significant
portionsof the Anatolianpopulace, particularlyin the towns.107
The Turksin theBalkans wereaffectedby thesame conditions,i.e., conversions
and intermarriage.
In thisrespectit is interesting
to note a practicewhichwas
observed in both peninsulas.The Turks were accustomedto take Christian
women they desiredin a relationshiplater authorstermedkabin. According
to different
versionsof thispracticethe male offspring
became Muslim,whereas the daughterscould exercise a choice of religion.In one versionof this
practice,the childrenborn of this union were retainedby the fatherand the
motherwas returnedto the Christiancommunitywhereshe remarried.The
Greekpatriarchsmade strongefforts
to halt this widespreadpracticeof kabin
in the seventeenthcentury.108
contributedfurther
Slavery and the devshirme
to the growthof the Muslimsat the expense of the Christians.An Ottoman
historianwritingtwo and one-halfcenturiesaftertheinceptionofthedevshirme
estimatedthat over 200,000 ChristiansweretherebyIslamized. As the youths
constitutedthe flowerof Christianyoung manhood their incorporationinto
the Turkishnation may have had somewhatthe effectof selectivebreeding
The overalleffectof Byzantine
(to the degreethat theyproducedoffspring).109
and
was
to
make
of
the
Turks a people withorigins
demography
ethnography
Anna Comnena
in note 17
205:
(as
supra), III,
icravy&pKacirVES 'v aOrroiS
piropo&pIapot X7aTiviLovG. Rhalles and M. Potles, Xlwraypa TrCvOEicv Ka
O
KIEpcov
Kav6vcov(Athens, 1852), II, 498.
"rES.
105 NicephorusGregoras,I, 379; III, 509.
10oV. M6nage, "Some Notes on the Devshirme," Bulletin of the School of Orientaland African
10'
Studies, UniversityofLondon, XXIX (1966), 64-78.

107 E. Petersen and F. von Luschan, Reisen in
Lykien Milyas und Kibyratis (Vienna, 1889), II,
198-266. Von Luschan had reprintedthe study,withoutthe fascinatingplates, in "Die Tachtadschy
und andere Ueberresteder alten BevolkerungLykiens," ArchivfurAnthropologie,
XIX (1891), 31-53.
108 For details, see N. J. Pantazopoulos, Churchand Law in theBalkan Peninsula duringtheOttoman
Rule (Thessaloniki,1967), 94-102. The Catalan chroniclerRamon Muntaner,Chroniquedu
trvsmagnifiqueseigneurRamon Muntaner,tr. J. A. C. Buchon, in Chroniquesdtrang#res
aux expdditions
relatils
franpaises,pendantle Xlle sizcle (Paris, 1841), 418, remarksthat if a Turk wishes to take forwifea
Christian,even if she be of a noble family,her relatives must give her to the Turk. If a son is born
of this union he must be circumcizedand raised as a Muslim,whereas a girl may choose her
religion.
Vasradvelles, 'ApXETa
B', 2-3. Ludolphus de Sudheim, De itinereterresancte,ed. G. A. Neumann, in
Archivesde l'Orientlatin, II (1884), Documents(hereafterLudolph of
Sudheim-Neumann),375-376.
o10M6nage, "Sidelights on the devshirme fromIdris and Sa'duddin," op. cit. (supra, note 106),
XVIII(1956),
183.
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
289
as mixed as those of the otherBalkan peoples. (They werenonethelessTurks,

forit is not "pureblood" whichdeterminesethnicconsciousnessand affiliation.)
One of the most fascinatingphenomenais the influenceof Anatolian and
Balkan Christianityon TurkishIslam. One would look in vain forany widespread Byzantine influenceon the formalreligiouslife of the Seljuks and
Ottomans because Islam had long since evolved into a highlystructured,
articulate,and unbendingreligioussystem.It is ratherin the more vibrant
aspect of Islam, popular Islam or Volksreligionthat one must seek out this
Christianinfluence.Hasluck opened the door to this intriguingsubject in a
memorablework which,unfortunately,
has seen no systematiccontinuation.
The persistenceof popular religiositywithinall formalreligiousstructuresis
of course a well-knownphenomenon;yet, when one pauses to examine the
details one is invariablyamazed by theirfreshnessand vitalityas well as by
theirgrotesqueness.Such is the power of Volksreligionthat the formalreligious institutioneitheracknowledgesit openly or pretendsto ignoreit and
thus absorbsit because it cannot eliminateit. This was characteristicof both
the ChristianChurchand Islam. Christianpractices,beliefs,and forms,which
are at the basis of a rather substantial portionof popular Turkish Islam,
enteredIslam as a resultof conversions,intermarriage,
everydaycontact of
Muslimand Christianin a cycleofliferegulatedby ancientcustom,and through
the religioussyncretismof the popular dervishorders.The most vital element
in Byzantinepopular Christianity
was hagiolatry,a phenomenonwhichmarkaffected
the
Muslims
Islam,
edly
popular
tendingto absorb the cultsof certain
saints by equating the saints with particularMuslimholy men: St. George
and St. Theodorewith ChidrElias, St. Nicholas with San Saltik, St. Charalampos with Hadji Bektash. Other saints were approached in times of need
and peril even if they had no rationalizedrelationshipwith a Muslimsaint
St. Eugenius,St. Phocas, St. Michael,
(as forinstanceSt. Amphilochius-Plato,
St. Photeine,St. Mamas, St. JohnRoussos,etc.).11oOne of the mostfrequently
mentioned Christian practices which the Muslims adopted was baptism
(vaftiz).Balsamon remarksthat the AnatolianMuslimsbaptizedtheirchildren
in the twelfthcentury:" . . .It is the customthat all theinfantsoftheMuslims
be baptized by Orthodox priests.... For the Agarenes suppose that their
childrenwill be possessed of demons and will smell like dogs if they do not
receiveChristianbaptism."111
Izz ed-Din the Seljuk sultan had receivedinfantbaptism,and Bertrandon
de la Brocquibreobserved that the Turkmenprinces of the Karaman and
Ramazan dynastiesin southernAnatolia had also been baptized in orderto
"remove the bad odor."112De Busbecq a centurylater indicates that the
F. Hasluck, Christianityand Islam undertheSultans (Oxford,1929), I, 17, 48-53; II, 363-367,
110
432-433, 568-586; Gordlevsky,op. cit. (supra, note 11), I, 321-361; John Cantacuzene, PG, 154,
col. 512. Hans Dernschwam (as in note 73 supra), 205.
"I Rhalles and Potles
(as in note 104 supra), II, 498. This is repeated by Armenopoulos,PG, 50,
col. 512.
112Pachymeres,I, 131, 263-268;
Nicephorus Gregoras,I, 95; Bertrandonde la Broquibre-Schefer
(as in note 39 supra), 90; "Ramadan..... avoit est6 filzd'une femmecrestiennelaquelle l'avoit fait
290
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
Muslimscontinuedto baptize theirchildren,113and the practicewas so common that in the seventeenthcenturythe Greekchurchforbadepriests,under
A curiousadaptation
pain of being defrocked,to baptize Turkish children.114
and with an inversionof its originalsignificancesurvivedamong the inhabitants of Ladik (Laodiceia Combusta) in the early twentiethcentury.These
Muslims,who, accordingto their own traditions,were descendantsof the
originalChristianpopulation,immersedtheirchildrenin an ayasma just outside the town. They did this to preventtheiroffspring
frombecomingChristians.115
No less strikingis the survivalof animal sacrificewhichthe Christianshad
practicedin an unbrokenfashionsince pagan antiquityand the remnantsof
which are still visible today. The descriptions(forboth the Byzantine and
Turkish periods) of this evala, or kurban (in Turkish), are very numerous
indeed, and indicateyet one morepopular elementwhichthe Turks adopted
fromByzantium. The most detailed descriptionis given by the sixteenthcenturyTurkishslave BartholomaeusGourgieuiz.
"The Mannerof their(the Turks') sacrifice.
In the timeof anye disease or peril,theypromisein certaineplaces to sacrificeeithera Shepe or Oxe; afterthat the vowed offering
is not burned,like
unto a beast killedand layed on the aulter,as the customewas among the
Jewes,but afterthat the beast is slaine,the skinne,head, feete,and fourthe
parte of the fleshare gene unto the prest,an otherpart to poore people,
and the thirdeunto theirneighbours.The killersof the sacrificedoo make
forthe sleves and theircompaynionsto feede
readye the otherfragmentes
on. Neytherare they bound to performethe vow, if they have not bene
deliveredfromthe possessed disease or peril. For all thingswith them are
done condytionallye
I willgeve ifthouwilltegraunt.The lykeworshyppinge
of God is observed among the Gretians,Armenians,and otherrealmesin
Asia imitatingyet y Christianreligio."'116
Strikingis the apportioningof the parts of the sacrificedbeast, a division
which is similarto the practiceof pagan Greek sacrifice.The priest'sshare,
as describedby Bartholomaeus,adheres very closely to the so-called sepof the fourthand third
as it is describedin Greeksacrificialinscriptions
la'T'K6v
baptisera la loy gregiesquepour luy enleverle flairet le senteurqu'ont ceulx qui ne sont point baptisiez."; p. 115, of the Karamanid, "C'estoit un tresbeau prince de trentedeux ans, et estoit bien
obey en son pays. Il avoit est6 baptisi6 en la loy grequesque pour oster le flair,aussy duquel la mere
avoit est6 crestienne,comme on me dist."
11 Bartholomaeus Georgieuiz (sixteenthcentury)recountsthat among the blandishmentswhich
his Turkishmasterproferred
to induce him to convertwas the similarityofreligiouspracticesbetween
Islam and Christianity.This included baptism among the Turks; see F. Kidri6, BartholomaeusGjorgevic: Biographischeund bibliographische
Zusammenfassung(Vienna-Prague-Leipzig,1920), 15, Turn
ille, nos saepius baptizamur,haec verbarecitanates,bisem allah alrah man elrahim: id est, in nomine
Dei et misericordiaeet misericordiarum.
My colleague, Andreas Tietze, has suggested that this may
actually referto the practiceof Muslimablutionsratherthan to actual baptism.
114Koukoules, op. cit. (supra, note 5), IV, 55. The Turks baptized theirchildren:
St&va&Ipnv YEtpt~Lovv KcxIv& prln6v
KKKo-rcrXoJV
Et
-rEprplTOpV
Kcai St prIv
V&
pcOP l
KoplpiarrV.
c
"-riv
Tr6
115 W. M. Calder, "A Journeyround the Proseilemmene,"Klio, 10 (1910), 233ff.
116Bartholomaeus
Georgieuiz-Goughe(as in note 12 supra), under"The Mannerof theirSacrifice."
BYZANTINE
291
centuriesof the pre-Christian

era."7 I brieflycall attentionhere to a variety
of Byzantineelementsin popular Islam which are relatedto marriage,infant
care, the beliefin the efficacyof icons and healingearth,and all ceremonies
closely connectedwith the agriculturalcalendar and the changesin seasons.
By way of example, De Busbecq writesthat no Turks put to sea until after
the ChristianEpiphany and the blessingof the waters.The list of such practices is long, but the few examples which I have given will perhaps produce
some idea as to theirvarietyand deeplyrootedcharacter.
and possiblythe folk epic exerChristianfolklore,cuisine,entertainment,
cized varyingdegreesof influenceon Turkishpopular society.This is an even
vastertopic than that of religionsince it deals withthe most detailedaspects
of daily life.Tiirkmencuisine,as describedby Brocquiere,was a verysimple
affairconsistinglargelyof the produceof theirflocks,i.e., meat, milk,yogurt,
butter,cheese,supplementedby milletor othergrains,fruit,honey,and eggs,
and a typeofunleavenedwafer(preparedon a portablehot ironin the manner
of our own pancakes) in place of bread. The preparationof the unleavened
cake was quite different
fromthe bakingofbread,and indeedthe oven (furnus)
of the Armeniansand Greeks was conspicuouslyabsent.'18It is significant
that the AnatolianTurkishterminology
forbread and its preparationincludes
Muchoftheso-calledand elaborateTurkish
manywordsofByzantineorigin.'19
cuisine was foreignto the Tiirkmennomads and belonged to a sedentary
cuisinecommonto the easternMediterraneanworldsince Roman timesif not
earlier.A briefperusalof the pages of Athenaeus'Deipnosophistae
will confirm
this assertion,forhere the gastronomerwill findnot only stuffedleaves, but
also various oriental sweets.'2?Christianmusicians and entertainerscontributed to Turkishmusic and recreationboth in Konya and Istanbul.21 We
should not abandon the fieldof folklorewithoutat least mentioning
the probable Byzantine origin of the Turkish Kizil Elma so intimatelyassociated
with the great equestrianstatue of Justinianand the propheciesand legends
attachingto the goldenglobe whichthe statue held in its hand.122
"~ See the fourth-century
inscription(pre-Christianera) fromChios in E. Schwyzer,Dialectorum
graecorumexemplaepigraphicapotiora(Leipzig, 1923), no. 695, also nos. 168, 366, 721, 729, 808, and
the articles"Dermatikon," and "Opfer,"in Pauly-Wissowa. For an example of animal sacrificein the
Byzantine era sanctionedby the church,see F. Cumont,"L'archevech6 de Pedachthoe et le sacrifice
du faon," Byzantion,VI (1931), 521-533; S. Kyriakides, "evuaatipoi
9v vEoo~rlvtKoiKOT
ovvagapfot0,"
VI (1917), 189-215. P. Ricaut, The PresentStateoftheGreekand ArmenianChurches,Anno
Aaoypagpia,
1678
observed
this
Christi,
evola among the Greeks living in the Ottoman
(London, 1679), 371-372,
empire. D. Loucopoulos and D. Petropoulos, 'H Aahkdi
ha-rpEfa
t-r v Oapdacaov(Athens, 1949), 21, 4449, furnishdetailed descriptionsof animal sacrificeby the Greek Christiansof Cappadocia in the
early twentiethcentury,completewith the 8EppaOraTIKv,
or portionof the priest.
118 Bertrandonde la BroquiBre-Schefer in note 39
(as
supra), 91-92; Ibn Battuta-Gibb (as in note
25 supra), II, 474; Z. Oral, "Selcuk devriyemeklerive ekmekleri,"Tiirketnografya
dergisi,I (1956), 74.
119Tietze, "Lehnwarter"
(as in note 123 infra),passim.
120 Koukoules, op. cit. (supra, note 5), V, passim.
121
Pachymeres,I, 129; Mantran,op. cit. (supra, note 91), p. 500.
122 W.
des BartholomaeusGeorgievits
Heffening,Die turkischenTranskriptionstexte
aus den Jahren
1544-1548. Ein Beitrag zur historischen
in Abhandlungenfiir
Grammatikdes Osmanisch-tiirkischen,
die Kunde des Morgenlandes,XXVII, 2 (Leipzig, 1942), 27-37; Dawkins, "The Red Apple," 'ApXeTov
TOv 0paKCKO0XaoypaCtpKOKai
0r)I1Jpoj,
IT' T6Apov(1941), 401-406;
J. Deny, "Les
y7OCOartlKOaj
hTrEiTpoV
les Turcs au XVIe sidcle,"
Revue des dtudesislamiques(1936), 201-220;
pseudo-proph6tiesconcernant
E. Rossi, "La leggendaturco-bizantinadel Pomo Rosso," Studi bizantinie neoellenici,
V (1937), 542-553.
292
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
The incorporationof so many ethnicgroups,the conversionof many, the

economicimportanceand specializationof these peoples, all were conditions
whichfavoredthe absorptionof extensivelexicographicalmaterialfromArmenian, Greek,Slavic, Italian, Magyar,and Rumanian.23The numberof these
loan-wordsmay have been greaterduringthe time of initial contact forwith
the passage of time many no doubt fellout of use. However,the Persian administrativeand Arab religious influences,plus the Islamic character of
Turkishliteraturepredetermined
that the loan-wordsin Turkishwould come
from
those
two
primarily
tongues.There was little or no directChristianinfluenceon Turkishliterature.Though therewere a fewtranslationsof Greek
texts on the archaeologicalmemorabiliaof Constantinople,on the Christian
faith,Ptolemy,and some chroniclermaterial,most of the Greektexts which
were available to the Turks were those already absorbedinto the mainstream
of Muslimintellectuallifeby the Arabs and Persiansat an earlierperiod.The
case historyof MehmedII is illustrativein thisrespect.Because ofhis interest
in the geographyof Ptolemyhe orderedAmiroutzesto unifyand simplifyit
and then to translateit. But in studyingthe Greekphilosophers,Critobulus
relates: "He studied,exceedingly,all the wisdomof the Arabs and Persians
and all that of the Greekswhichhad been translatedinto Arabic and Persian;
I mean the writingsof the Peripatusand Stoa, utilizing(forthis purpose)the
best and wise teachersof the Arabs and Persiansin thesematters."'24
Thus, the foreignloan-wordswhichpassed into Turkishfromthe languages
of the Christiansubjects dealt largelywith agrarian,maritime,artisan,commercial,and otheritemsof everydaylife.They did not extendinto the realms
of formalMuslimreligiousand intellectuallife.
PART THREE
We must now turnto the thirdand finalpart of the discussionin orderto

examine the Byzantinelegacy under the Turks,more specificallyto see how
the Turks affectedit.
The firstand most obvious effect,but also the most important,was the
destructionof the theocraticstate structureof the Byzantines,Armenians,
Bulgars, and Serbs. The local Christiandynastiesdisappeared in the wars;
converted,fled,or sank into the lowerranksof the Christianpopulation.The
destructionof the state in a theocraticsocietyis an unqualifieddisasterfora
civilizationin which formalculturalnormsare determinedby the state apparatus. Ibn Khaldun had ponderedthis law of historyand foundit to be
universallyapplicablewithinthe broad geographicalIslamic realmthroughout
its long historicalexperience.With the disappearanceof this capstonein the
social edifice,the firmmusculartone and sharpnessof its formalculturewas
128 Meyer,Tiirk.Studien(supra, note 45), passim. In addition to A. Tietze's articleson Greekloanwords in Turkish,see his "Slavische Lehnw6rterin der turkischenVolkssprache," Oriens,10
(1957),
1-47; he has writtenalso a study,as yet unpublished,on Armenianloan-words.
124
Critobulus-Grecu, 43.
BYZANTINE
293
not only lost to Byzantine society,but this cultureatrophied.Ibn Khaldun

remarked: "A nation that has been defeated and comes under the rule of
anothernation will quicklyperish."
"The reason forthis may possiblylie in the apathy that comes over people
whentheylose controlof theirown affairsand, throughenslavement,become
the instrumentof othersand dependentupon them."125
The originalgoal of the Turks,as we saw, was to amass the manpowerand
resourcesnecessaryto conquerand hold theirvast empire.Thus, in destroying
the Christiandynastiesand politicalstructurestheyneverthelessutilizedthe
lower portion of the Christianpolitical and social structureto help secure
their enormousholdings.Consequently,a portionof the Byzantineadministrative-military
apparatus survivedon the lowerlevel,but, and this is important forthe nature of the later Byzantinelegacy, it served a political force
whichbelongedto an alien civilization,Islam. The Christianspahis,who constitutedthe survivorsof the decimated Christianmilitaryaristocracy(pronoiarioi), were eventuallyalienated fromByzantine society by the Turkish
systemthroughreligiousconversion.Thus, the partialsurvivalofthe Christian
militaryaristocracyimmediatelyfollowingthe conquestswas only temporary
and by the sixteenthcenturythe Christianspahis had disappeared and the
Turks did not permitthemto be replenishedby new Christianrecruits.Consequently,both the rulingdynastiesand the high aristocracies(militaryand
bureaucratic)were extinguishedby the Turks, and only the more modest of
the secularrepresentatives
of Byzantineculturesurvived.
On the militarylevel these includedthe chieftainsand leaders of the local
Christianmilitarybodies; the martolos,
voynuks,Eflaks,and derbentdjis.
Many
of these groups survived until the wars of independencein the nineteenth
was with the Christianfolk
century,but theirsocial and culturalaffiliation
cultureratherthan withthe old and morerefinedByzantineformalculture.
As the Turks utilized the local institutionsin the towns, especially the
of the twelve,or the Italian versionof it in the isles, and the
demogeronteia
systemof the kodjabashas tax instruments,
Byzantinetraditionssurvivedin
the middle and rural classes.126The Turks thus reducedthe Byzantinlegacy
to one whichresidedprimarilyin the peasant lowerand urban middleclasses.
There were, of course,two great exceptions: the Phanariot aristocracyand
the Church.These were the receptaclesof whateverformalByzantineculture
survivedwithinthe OttomanEmpire. Zygomalaswroteto MartinCrusiusin
the sixteenthcenturythat membersof the old aristocracywere still around
Istanbul, but that they no longerenjoyed the economicand political power
of the good old days.27"'They were involved in the systemof Ottoman tax
economic success. This is borne out by
farmingwith seeminglyindifferent
Ottomandocumentsand othersourcesof the fifteenth
and sixteenthcenturies
which mention,as recipientsof mukataas or as merchants,Comnenusbin
125 Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah. An Introductionto History, tr. F. Rosenthal (New York,
1958) (hereafterIbn Khaldun-Rosenthal),I, 130.
126 Vakalopoulos, op. cit. (supra, note 14), III, 279-307.
127
Ibid., 356.
294
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
Palaeologus, Yorgi bin Palaeologus, Manuel Palaeologus, Ducas, Chalcocondyles, Cantacuzene,Mouzalon, Vatatzes, and Rhalles.128But the wealth and
powerof the Phanariotsbecame importantlater,and thoughthe leadingPhanariot familiesmay not have been genealogicallydescended fromthe old
Byzantinefamiliesthey did continuethis older aristocratictradition.129
The fate of the Byzantinelegal legacyis a particularlycomplexand confusing one about which we are only now beginningto learn the main outlines.
The opposition and accommodationof Reichsrechtand Volksrechtare coeval with the establishmentof the firstmultisectarianand multinational
empires,and their relationshipconstitutesone of the most intriguingand
importantchapters in the historyof the Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic
empires.The complexityof legal relationsin the OttomanBalkans and Anatolia becomes immediatelyapparent in a mere listingof the various extant
living sources of law: Islamic sharia, Sultanic legislation,the old law of the
Byzantium Empire, of Serbia, Bulgaria, Armenia,of Uzun Hasan, the law
of the OrthodoxChurch,the SyriacChurch,the ArmenianChurch,and of the
Jews, the special position of the Italian Levantines, and finallythe great
numberof customarylaws.
The Islamic theocraticconceptof societyestablisheda certainlegal pattern
which determinedthe overall relationsof these different
elements.The basic
line
was
the
well-known
which
dhimmis,as possessors
guide
arrangementby
of their own revealed scriptures,were to be judged in all mattersinvolving
onlythe membersof theirown communityby theirown judges and according
to theirown law. Muslimswere to have recourseto the cadis and the sharia.
In orderto grasp somewhatbetterwhat this meant in termsof the fate of
Byzantinelegal traditions,we mustpose two questions: What was the law of
the dhimmis?What happened to Christianlegal practiceswhen Christians
wereinvolvedwithMuslims?
The most importantelementin the law of the Christianshad been Church
law and the Byzantineversionof Roman law, whichhad a greatinfluenceon
the Greeks,Slavs, Armenians,and Syrians.130
This law had spread as a result
1s8 G6kbilgin,Edirne (as in note 34 supra), 89, 93, 106-107, 151-152; Stoianovich, op. cit. (supra,
note 99), 240.
129 Iorga, op. cit., (supra, note 99), 220-241; I. Gottwald, PhanariotischeStudien,Leipziger Vierteljahrsch-rift
flr Si dosteuropa,V (1941), 1-58; M. P. Zallony, Traitdsur les princesde la Valachie et de
la Moldavie,sortisde Constantinople
sous le nom: Fanariotes (Paris, 1830).
On the marriagealliance betweenthe familyof Dionysius Rhalis Palaeologus (sixteenthto seventeenth century)and that of the famous Michael Cantacuzene, see lorga, "Un conseillerbyzantinde
Michelle-le-Brave:Le m6tropoliteDenis Rhalis Palbogogue,"Acaddmieroumaine.Bulletinde la section
historique,I (1920), 102-103. Iorga dates the appearance of strictByzantine hierachic and synodal
formsin Roumania to this time. See also idem,"Les grandes famillesbyzantineset
l'id6e byzantine
en Roumaine," ibid., XVIII (1931), 3-5, on membersof the Vatatzes, Chrysolorus,
Azanaius, and
Chalcocondylesfamiliestradingin Russia.
130For the law and legal codes prior to the Turkish
conquest, see: G. Michalides-Nouarosand
,
G. Simonetos, T6po' 'AppevorwoAov
w
rrI
(1345-1945), (ThessaaooaiE-ro
pfSiti-r 'EaIiphfXov
acroT Rechts auf die
loniki, 1952) (hereafterT6poS); A. V. Soloviev, "Der Einflussdes byzantinischen
V61ker Osteuropas," Zeitschrift
der Savigny-Stiftung
LXXVI (RomanistischeAbteifiirRechtsgeschichte,
lung) (1959), 432-479; Jiredek,"Das Gesetzbuch des serbischenCaren Stephan Dugan," Archivfiir
slavische Philologie, 22 (1900), 144-214; N. Radoj'i6, "Dushanov zakonik i vizantisko
pravo,"
Zborniku chastshestestogodishniltse
zakonika Tsara Dushana, I (Belgrade, 1951), 45-77; A. Christo-
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
295
of the fact that the State and Churchhad applied it. So long as a centralized
ChristianState and Church directedsociety they supported this Byzantine
law, or a law stronglyaffectedby it, whichin turnsupportedthe established
authorityof the State. But customarylaw of the various peoples and even of
various localitieshad existedside by side withByzantinelaw, and was often
in conflictwithit. With the Turkishconquestsand the collapse oftheseChristian states,the Byzantineand Byzantino-Slaviccodes no longerenjoyed the
officialsupportof a ChristianState (the RoumanianPrincipalitieswere an exception),and conditionswerecreatedwhichwould allow a vigorousreassertion
of various customarylaws. This customarylaw, however,would alreadyhave
interactedwithByzantinelaw fora considerabletimeso that one can assume
that it was not completelyforeignto it. And the Church,whichdid survive
these Christianstates,possesseda legal systemwhichwas stronglyByzantine.
Consequentlythe law or laws of the dhimmisprobablyrepresenteda mixed
systemof customarylaw, partiallyByzantinizedin the pre-Turkishperiod,
and of ecclesiasticallaw whichwas Byzantine.The re-unification
of the Orthodox churchesafter1454underthepatriarchofConstantinople
wouldstrengthen
this Byzantine ecclesiasticallaw in the life of the Balkan Christians.It is
significantthat the text of Armenopoulosenjoyed a considerablehistoryin
the Balkans untilmoderntimes.131
What happened to Christianlegal practiceswhen they confrontedor were
in conflictwith Ottomanlegal institutions?Obviouslywheretherewas open
conflictthe Turkishlaw prevailed,especiallywhenChristianswereinvolvedin
litigationwith Muslims.The basis of this was the inacceptabilityof Christian
testimonyin the cadi's court. The invalidityof dhimmitestimonywas consideredsuch a self-evident
truththat Turkishjuristsfeltno need to justifyit
in theirlegal treatises.The greatestof the Ottomanmuftis,Ebu Su'ud, formulated this as follows:"The testimonyof an infidelagainst a Muslimis not
acceptable unless it occursin one of the followingcases: in mattersof wills,
degreeofrelationship,or ifan heirreclaimsfroman opponenta rightaccuring
to him froma deceased."'32
philopoulou, "'H StKatoSoafiaT-CV aKKArTalcQtTKG0V
owi 18tK
co-KiV itaqopc~
v
KocqrT Ti=
ltKaoTorpiCoV
v-lrav-rTVlV
repioSov,"'ErtpiS 'EraspefasBuLav-rtvv IrrovuCv,XVIII (1948), 192-201.
131 Pantazopoulos, op. cit. (supra,note 108), passim; S. Bob6ev, "Coup d'oeil sur le r6gimejuridique
des Balkans sous le r6gimeottoman," Revue internationale
des dtudesbalkaniques,I (1935), 185-194
(523-532); idem,"Quelques remarquessur le droit coutumierbulgarependant 1'6poque de la domination ottomane," ibid., I (1934), 34-35; H. Kaleshi, "TiirkischeAngaben iiber den Kanun des Leka
Dukadjini," in SiidosteuropaSchriften,6 (1964), 103-112; I. Vizvizes, "T76
ToJo
rp63pAa r-s to-ropias
pETraPavlrtvoSlIKafov," 'EweTrqpIs
&(pXEfov
to-ropiastAAqVlKOV
81KIfOvTl-r'AKa85rpiaS'A"Ajv5v,VI (1955),
131ff.;Pantazopoulos, "CommunityLaws and Customsof WesternMacedonia underOttoman Rule,"
Balkan Studies, 2 (1961), 1-22; I. Lykoures, 'H 6toiKToIS Kal
-rTOvrovpKoKparophevvorov.
pTa(1958), 258ff.; idem, "1-Ept-r1v
itKaItoarvTa
Aiytva,n6pos, Iwrcaat, "YSpa K-r. (Thessaloniki, 1954); D. Gines, "TTEpiypappa
t-ropiasC
T0
pvLavrtvoO8t1Kaov," 'Evre-rapis'E-ratpEfaSBuavXriv'vv IXov8(5v, XXVIII
~Irravoo,"T6pos,173ff.
'EoapiphovO 0rov
perd&qpcatv
'uAAegfov
182M. "rijs
"La
valeur du
des
Grignaschi,
t6moinage
sujets non-musulmans(dhimmi) dans l'empire
ottoman,)' La preuve,pt. 3, Civilisationsarchaiques,asiatiques et islamiques, Recueils de la soci6t6
Jean Bodin, XVIII (1963), 242-243, 223, 231-233, 236. Ebu Su'ud remarkedthat Christiantestimony
was neverto be trusted,for,inasmuchas the Christianssufferedoppressiontheywould be ill disposed
toward Muslims.
SPEROS
296
VRYONIS,
JR.
Christiantestimonyin all othermatters,in a courtofthe cadi, is completely

valueless. A second fetva states this principlemuch more dramatically:"A
village is inhabited exclusivelyby infidelsand no Muslimlives there. If in
[such a village] the MuslimZeyid killsthe dhimmiAmer,is the depositionof
the population of that village against Zeyid receivable?" Answer: "No, if
Zeyid is a Muslim." (Ebu Su'ud)133
A furtherinsightinto this complex but weightyissue is affordedby the
fetvaof Yahya Dhakaryazade who declaresthe following.If a dhimmi,in the
presence of other dhimmis,buys an item, refusesto pay, and then turns
Muslim,he cannot be convictedin the cadi's court on the basis of dhimmi
testimony.'34
Turkishlaw not onlyreducedthe jurisdictionof the Christianlaw courtsin
certainareas of Christianlife,but markedlyaffectedcertainChristianinstituThe Turkishlaw gave
tions,especiallymarriage,divorce,and inheritance.135
to
form
of
a
legal recognition
marriageknownas kabin; this was a marriage
betweenan Ottomanmale and Christianfemalein whichthe formermade a
matrimonialgiftto the womanforthe periodof cohabitationin returnforthe
lease ofthe "fieldof the woman." Both the childrenbornofthe unionand the
womanherselfreceivedtheprotectionofTurkishlaw and thechildrenwerethus
legitimate.Afterthe contractedperiod had elapsed the woman was legally
freeto leave. This formof marriagebetween Muslim and Christianbecame
extremelywidespread,much to the discomfortof the Church. Numerous
Christianwomen,whose parents could not secure the moneyforher dowry
and trachoma,
foundthisa solutionto the maritalproblem.On the otherhand,
thereis evidence that Turkishmen used the kabin forviolentseizureof and
marriagewithChristianwomen.
This type of temporarymarriagesoon came to be employedby large numbers of Christianswho appeared beforethe cadis for the ceremony,thereby
enjoyingthe protectionof Turkishlaw againsttheirown Churchlaw and also
obtaininglegal recognitionof the legitimacyof their children.Thus, these
Turkishlaws on marriagehad considerableeffecton the marriagecustomsof
the Christians,
to thesubstantialincreasein concubinage
probablycontributing
whichwas also legallyrecognizedby Turkishlaw. Christiansfrequently
secured
divorces fromthe cadis and the Churchwas forcedto acknowledgethese
formally.
The single most importantsurvival of Byzantine formalinstitutionallife
was the Church.The verytraditionsofIslamic doctrineand statecraftprovided
the legal basis forits survival,and thiswas further
enhancedby the anti-Latin
1'
Ibid., 258-259.
3a4Ibid., 230-231, 256-259. For
additional details, see G6kbilgin,"La preuve et le t6moinagedans

la jurisprudencedes 'fetva' d'Ebuss'ud et quelques exemples d'application dans les tribunauxottomans du XVIe siecle," ibid., 205-209.
135 Pantazopoulos, op. cit. (supra, note 108), passim; Gines, "'Av4KSOTov y)(E'lpiStovTrrpiTTi
? 68tiac0-ovKAilpOVOpIKS8ia8o0Xij'Kc(T& r6 'O0cpcvuz6v
8f1Kaicov,"
XXVII (1957), 272-291; P. Zepos,
'ETET?piS
SErTapic
BvLcavlvCv
V (1962),
XIrrov8Gv,
"TTahA1KaplcdT6Kov
ii dyplXfKiov,"
322-347.
'leXorTovvarltcKa&,
BYZANTINE
297
predispositionof many of the Orthodoxand the administrativerequirements

of an empirewhichhad a veryhighproportionof Christiansubjects.136
Whether the reportof the ChroniconMajus on thepronomiaaccordedby MehmedII
to the patriarchis authenticor not, thereis a similartraditionrelatingto the
Sultan Melik Shah by whichhe gave such privilegesto the
eleventh-century
heads of the Greek, Georgian,and Armenianchurches.137
Accordingto the
theoryof many scholars,the Church,its possessions,and its privilegeswere
all honoredby the Turks,and the Christianspreferred
the Turksto the Latins,
perhapseven to theirown rulers.There can be no doubt that the survivalof
OrthodoxChristiansis in large part due to the officialpolicies of MehmedII
in 1454, for,withoutthe survival of the patriarchateand its ecclesiastical
hierarchyOrthodoxChristiancivilizationwouldhave disappearedthroughconversionand throughthe dilutionofpopularByzantinereligiouscultureand its
gradual sublimationinto popularIslam. This is evidentin thefateof Christianity under the Turks priorto 1454 and also in its manyvicissitudesafterward.
The survivalof the patriarchatedemonstrateshow importantinstitutionsare
in culturalcontinuity,not only because of theirpreservationof culturalconbecause theyprovidevisiblesymbolswithwhich
tent,but, moreimportantly,
the membersof the societycan easily identifyand thus maintainthe forms
themselveseven withoutunderstanding
theircontent.
It is extremelysignificantforthe Churchthat the Turks incorporatedthe
formalecclesiasticaladministrationonly afterthe capture of the capital of
the Empire and the destructionof the latter. Consequently,prior to 1454
ecclesiasticalconditionswere (withrareexceptions)neveruniformly
regulated.
Patriarchand Churchwere inseparableadjuncts of the ChristianEmpire,the
foe par-excellenceof theTurkishIslamic State. In estimatingthe effectof the
Seljuks and Ottomanson the Church,we must once more recall the nature
and periods of the conquest. In Asia Minor the Church experiencedthree
distincteras of Turkishrule betweenthe eleventhand fifteenth
centuries.In
the first(late eleventhto mid-twelfth
and
third
thirteenth
to
century)
(late
fifteenth
the
Turkish
and
invasionsresultedin the destruccentury)
conquests
tion of the Churchas a social and religiousinstitution.The Turks took the
Churchpropertiesand revenues,destroyedor confiscatedthe Churchbuildings,
and drove out the bishops or hinderedthem fromenteringtheirdioceses for
extensiveperiodsof time.The churches,impoverishedand deprivedofleadership, collapsed and the Christianswere absorbedby religiousconversion.Pre13s Vakalopoulos, op. cit. (supra, note 14), II1, 134-219; T. H. Papadopoullos, Studies and DocumentsRelating to the History of the GreekChurchand People under TurkishDomination (Brussels,
1952); G. Hering "Das islamischeRecht und die Investiturdes Genadius Scholarios (1454)," Balkan
Studies,2 (1961), 231-256; F. Giese, "Die geschichtlichenGrundlagen die Stellungder christlichen
Untertanenim osmanischenRecht," Der Islam, 19 (1931), 264-277; ftir
J. H. Mordtmann,"Die Kapitulationvon Konstantinopelim Jahre1453," BZ, 21 (1912), 129-144; M. Gedeon,
'ErriarTIc
yp&pca-ra
roupKKIK&&vaGEp6pEvaEISTr&iKK latYIOKcX j'i$V 8fKata (Constantinople, 1910).
A1aspet des relations
18 Antoniades-Bibicou,"Un
byzantino-turquesen 1073-1074," Actes du XIIe
d'dtudesbyzantines(Belgrade, 1964), II, 15-25; Matthewof Edessa (as in note 29
congrdsinternational
supra), 201; Brosset,Gdorgie,I, 348-349.
298
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
cisely this pattern is discernible in Thrace between 1354 and 1464.13s Conse-
quently,by the time MehmedII unifiedthe Balkans and Anatolia and stabilized conditions,the Churchhad sufferedan unparalleleddisasterfromthe
Turkish invasions,particularlyin Asia Minorbut to a lesser degree in the
Balkans. In spite of the morefavorablepositionof the Churchafter1454 the
churchcontinuedto sufferfromits own defects(primarilysimony),Turkish
fiscalpolicy, and occasional outbreaksof Muslimfanaticism.These resulted
in generalconfiscation
ofproperty(onlyone ofthe originalByzantinechurches
remainsin the hands of the Greeksof Constaninople)and conversions.Though
the stabilizationof 1454 saved the Churchand regulatedits life, the very
natureof Islamic societymade it impossibleforthe patriarchateto regainthe
hosts of lost Christiansand properties:The principle"once Muslim always
Muslim" was rigidlyobserved,and reversionto ChristianityfromIslam was
punishableby death.
Thus, the effectof the Turkishformson thisthe mostimportantByzantine
legacywas fatalin Anatoliabut less seriousin the Balkans. Thereit continued
to radiate a type of Byzantineculturethroughits religiouspreaching,the old
law whichit applied in the episcopal courts,its patronageof Byzantineartespeciallypainting-and religiousliterature.139
But of courseall thisproceeded
on a modestscale, as the economicresourcesformerly
available werenowgone.
It manifestedconsiderablevigoron the folklevel wherethe itinerantmonks
went about the countrysidepreachingto the Christiansand foundingmonasteriesand religiousschools.140These manifestations
ofpopularChristianity
were
to
the
activities
of
the
Muslimdervisheswho also had a powerfulinparallel
fluenceon the Muslimmasess.
The most seriouseffectof the Turkishconquest on the Churchwas in the
realmof religiousconversion.This questionhas usually been discussedwithin
the theoreticalframework
of Islamic law, accordingto whichdhimmisare not
to be forciblyconverted.This has been coupledwithan argumentfromhistorical example,that in the early Arab conquests the Arabs did not desirethe
conversionofChristiansas it wouldhave meantthe loss ofrevenues.Similarly,
138The synodal decisions, edited by F. Miklosich and I. Miiller,in Acta et diplomatagraeca medii
aevi sacra et profana (Vienna, 1860-62), I-II, are emphatic and decisive on these points. Balsamon's
commentariesreveal the same conditionsin eleventh-and twelfth-century
Anatolia. See also A. H.
in Kleinasien in XI V Jahrhundert
Wichter,Der VerfalldesGriechentums
(Leipzig, 1903); K. I. Amantos,
"Zu den Bischofslistenals historischenQuellen," Aktendes XI. internationalen
Byzantinistenkongresses,Miinchen1958 (Munich,1960), 21-23; Ostrogorsky,"La prise de Serrbspar les Turcs," Byzantion,XXXV (1965), 309-310.
139K. Kourkoulas, 'H ecopia Tro

(Athens, 1957);
KrpiqpylcTroSKrT& Tro*5Xp6vouv
Trs TroupKoKpaTiaS
A. Tachiaos, 'O litatoso
K
=1
BEXITcrx6poKIKG
oXoA rov(Thessaloniki, 1964); A. Xynd(1T1KTtIKOlOAOytKi
gopoulos, XESfaava to-ropfaS
OpTi
rTi
oKErtIK'S
VET&rT-rv
"AhcoaQ(Athens, 1957); M. Chatzi&LcypaqntK'5
dakis, "Contribution l'6tude de la peinture
anniversairede la
post Byzantine," in Le
&
cinq-centidme
prise de Constantinople(Athens,1953), 193-216; Papadopoulos-Kerameus,Denys de Phourna,manuel
d'iconographiechrdtienne
accompagndde ses sourcesprincipalesindditeset publidesavec prdface,pour la
premierefois en entier d'aprds son texteoriginal (St. Petersburg,1909); V. Grecu, "Byzantinische
Handbiicherder Kirchenmalerei,"Byzantion,IX (1934), 675-701.
140Ph. Michalopoulos, Koo~is 6 Atrco&6s (Athens, 1940); Deliales, '"H 6t1aO KT)
TO6 boiov N1Kdvopos
TOO
caa;kOVtKiCOS,"
XIII
cpa," 'EArlTVK6d,
McKE8OViK&, IV (1960), 416-425;
(1954), 122-128.
K. Mertzios, '"H 'Oafa Othoefio.'Av4KSoTa lyypa-
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
299
the Turkswerenot interested

accordingto legal and historicalconsiderations,
in the conversionof theirChristiansubjects to Islam and did not urge their
conversion,or so the theoryruns. However, the historicalcircumstancesof
the Turkishconquestsdiffered
considerablyfromthose ofthe Arab expansion.
The traditionof jihad, or religiouswar, had enjoyed a long and ferocious
therehad arisen
historyby the timethe Turkssettledin Anatolia,and further
new religiousorders:the dervishes,who werestronglyimbuedwithproselytizing zeal. Consequently,though the Turkish sultans officiallyrecognizedthe
positionof Christianity,
manyoftheirfollowersdid not; in addition,numerous
Byzantineregionswereconqueredby the sword,ratherthan by treaty,which
made the immediatepositionof the Christiansin thoseregionsquite different.
Conversionwas most widespreadin those areas whichwere subject most frequentlyto warfare,upheaval, and social disruption;that is to say,in muchof
Asia Minor(save the regionsofnortheastAnatolia). The conversionary
process
was constantlyoperative in Anatolia, as we see in the pages of Balsamon,
Eflaki,Ashiqpashazade,and Zygomalas.141
The Balkans, subdued morequickly,integratedimmediatelyinto a centralized state and reunitedwith the patriarchatein Constantinoplewhich was
now officiallyrecognized,remained predominantlyChristian,though there
were extensivegroup and individualconversionsduringthe long centuriesof
Ottomanrule. Withineach social group,whetherof Christianspahis, guildsmen, sailors,farmers,or slaves, we see the relentlessprocessof Islamization.
By the sixteenthcenturythe Christianspahis largelydisappeared; withinthe
intersectarianguilds therewas a strugglebetweenMuslimsand Christiansfor
controland we findconvertselectedto the headshipofguilds; the Greeknaval
contingentsat Gallipoli had convertedby the sixteenthcentury,etc.142Conversionswere numerousduringand immediatelyafterthe Balkan conquests,
a phenomenonwhichespeciallydisturbedGennadius Scholarius.Particularly
revealingis the Menaqib of Bedr ed-Din fromSimavna, the dervishwhose
soldier-father
marriedthe daughter of the Greek governor of a Thracian
fort.All the ChristianrelativesofBedr ed-Din's motherthen apostasized and
servedtheirconquerorand new relative.143
Conversionscontinuedslowlyand
considerable
momentumduringperiodsof
systematicallythereafter,
gaining
Turkishmilitarydefeatsand duringcampaignsagainst Christianpowers. In
Rhalles and Potles (as in note 104 supra), III, 27-28: Kai
C&ko01 TroAoiKcTr& f3av irmptpTg0neVTrS
F KaC rra06vT-S
K
?Xa nrvy&
d&mapj...,
247,&,?& Kac al'IEpov roXXoi-raTfs
-rErottK6lTF
-rcvdOcov
poav&Abjllot ylv6vapot, Kai
Xp
r7i piV,TrV 6p6805oov
'Ayaptv6v
WrI-rtv6p1vuvTal,
*rri5, T-rv60 ov OpnomEiav
TOO
aaav[t.L6Evot,
Mco&apEO
t616~VuVTrwa
&XAot8b Kai KOVri &acUTOUSETrrlpiTTOUt1VSEts -r
TO
Sp6pov; Eflaki-Huart (as in note 83 supra), I, 111-112, 190, 206, 244-247, 325, 333, 365,
drritoria
II,
2-3, 13-14, 69-70, 96-97, 410; F. Giese, Die altosmanischen
anonymenChroniken(Breslau, 1922), II,
18-19, 23; Miklosichand Miiller (as in note 138 supra), I, 69, 103, 143, 183-184; II, 491; G6kbilgin,
"XVI. yiizyil baglarinda Trabzon livasi ve do'u Karadeniz b6lgesi," Belleten,Tiirk Tarih Kurumu,
XXVI, 102 (1962), 321-324, 331-332; Vakalopoulos, op. cit. (supra, note 14), III, 44-49.
142 Inalclk, "Gelibolu," El,; idem, "Dusan'dan," passim; Mantran, op. cit., 374; Galabov-Duda,
op. cit. (supra, note 94), 40.
143Vakalopoulos, op. cit. (supra, note 14), II,, 44-45; Kissling, "Das MenaqybnAmeScheich Bedr
ed-Din's des Sohnes des Richtersvon SamAvna,"Zeitschrift
derdeutschen
Gesellschaft,
morgendiindischen
C (1950), 114-116, 140-164.
141
-rrap&'AyapilvwSv,Kai
300
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
Bulgaria substantialnumbersof Christianswere convertedin the Rhodope

regionsduringthe sixteenthand seventeenthcenturies.'" Perhaps the most
and Albania,146
significantconversionsoccurred in Bosnia, Herzegovina,145
as well. This conalthoughtheywereconsequentialin Creteand Macedonia147
versionarypressureand the insecurityof Christianlife producedwidespread
in the regions of Trebizond, Nicaea, central Anatolia,
crypto-Christianity
and
ofthe domme's.1'4ConCrete,Cyprus,
resulted,too,in the crypto-Judaism
versionproceededfroma varietyof causes: the desire to escape the serious
disabilitiesof dhimmisand to enjoy the status of the favored class,149the
religiouspersuasion and syncretismof the missionarydervishes;150finally,
therewere forcedconversionsand neo-martyrs,
and these seem to have been
somewhatmorewidespreadthan has hithertobeen thought.'51Islam enjoyed
14 P. Petrov,
Asimilatorskatapolitikana turskitezavoevateli.Sbornikot dokumentiza pomokhamedanchvaniiai poturchvaniia(XV-XIX v) (Sofia, 1964), 48-106, and passim. S. N. Siikov, Bulgaromoi narodouchenu
khamedanite(Pomatsi). Istoriko-zemepisenu
pregledus obrazi (Plovdiv, 1936); C. Vakarelski, "AltertiimlicheElemente in Lebensweise und Kultur der bulgarischen Mohammedaner,"
diskriminatsii
Zeitschrift
fiirBalkanologie,IV (1966), 149-172; Cvetkova, "O religiozno-natsionalnoi
v Bulgariivo vremiaturetskovovladychestva," Sovetskoevostokovedenie
(1957), No. 2. Galabov-Duda,
op. cit. (supra, note 94), passim, whereconvertsare reportedinvolved in 284 cases appearing before
the cadi court of Sofia.
145 B. Djurdjev, "Bosna," EI2; M. Hand'i6, Izlamizacija Bosni i Hercegovinii posijetlobosanshoMuslimana (1940).
hercegovaekih
146 S. Skendi, "Religion in Albania
XV (1956),
during the Ottoman Rule," Siidost-Forschungen,
311-327; Hasluck, op. cit. (supra, note 110), I, 155, II, 474.
147 P. Hidiroglu,Das religioseLeben auf Kreta nach Ewlija Celebi (Bonn, 1967), 31-92; Vakalopoulos, op. cit. (supra,note 14), II, 44-49; Vasdravelles, 'ApXEa (as in note 102 supra), A', 182-184, 237238, 260-262, 302-303, 323, 341-345, 349-351, 355-356, 381-385, 389-390, 414-415, 421-423, 430431, 436, 447, 453, 465, 473, 479-480, 497, 500, 505, 507, 509, 524-529, 541-559, 567; also, ibid., B',
passim; Hasluck, op. cit. (supra, note 110), I, 8, II, 526-528, 474; I. Martinianos, 'H Moox6TroAs
1330-1930 (Thessaloniki, 1957), 19; Vakalopoulos, op. cit. (supra, note 14), III, 531, on Cretan converts, the so-called Burmades (burmak-twist); I. Kondylakis, "Of EKEovKovAcoTrot,"
IV
'EpSo&s,
(1887), no. 36, 12; T. Papadopoullos, "VTp6apa-rottEtAaptapotdypOTrlKO irhBleOvapoo
Iv KirrpcO,"
KvTrpiaXXIX (1965), 27-48; I. Voyiatzides,
Ka
"'EKtroVpKIs165
Kca t~?IAptha6I6TV 'Eif'ivcov,"in
ITrovuai
MEAiEat
(Thessaloniki, 1933), 3-60.
'lo-roplKac
S148Dawkins, "The Crypto-Christiansof Turkey," Byzantion, VIII (1933), 247-275; R. Janin,
"Musulmans malgr6eux: les Stavriotes," Echos d'Orient,XV (1912), 495-504. Miklosich and Miiller
(as in note 138 supra), I, 183-184, 197-198; Hasluck, "The Crypto-Christians
of Trebizond," Journal
ofHellenicStudies,XLI (1921), 199-202; Gordlevsky,op. cit. (supra,note 11), III, 37-44; A. D. Mordtmann, Skizzenund Reisebriefeaus Kleinasien (1850-1859), ed. F. Babinger (Hannover, 1925), passim.
M. Defner, "TTIvrE
v O(pt," 'Eoarfa,no. 87 (1877), 547ff.; S. AntoA?Pop&US rap" -rols&pfloitpiKoxoI~
d (Athens,
nopoulos, MIKp& 'AQai
1907), 57-72; M. Perlmann,"D6nme," EI,.
149 Manuel
Palaeologus in Lampros, ITaatoXbyEta
(Athens,1926), III, 46-49.
Kac
See also the interestingremarksof Ricoldo-Cydones,PG, 'ITEoTrovvrjata<&d
154, col. 1105, and JohnCantacuzene,PG,
154, col. 552.
150 The role of the dervishes was decisive, for which one must consult the numerousstudies of
Kissling; also Gordlevsky,op. cit. (supra, note 11), I, 197-214, 219-225; A. G6rpinarh,Mevlana'dan
sonra Mevlevilik(Istanbul, 1953); J. Birge, The BektashiOrderof Dervishes(London, 1937); Barkan,
"Osmanli imparatorlu'unda bir iskan ve kolonizasyonmetodu olarak vakflar ve temlikler.I
Istila
devirlerininkolonizat6rtiirkderviglerive zAviyeleri,"
VakzflarDergisi, II (1942), 279-386.
151 Nicodemus Agiorites,
NWov
Mapr-poA6ytov,
ifrot
Trv PrET&riv
paprptla -r$vvEopavcv Ipaprnpcov
a riS Kcovo-ravrvouvr67Ec
KTar& itaqC6poVu
&AcOv
Kaltpo6sKcXT-r6wTOuS
ap-rUpfqdVTcov,3rd ed. (Athens,
1961); L. Arnaud, "N6o-martyresorthodoxes: Michel d'Athenes et Angelus d'Argos," EchOr, XVI
(1913), 396-408, 517-525; idem,"Les quatres n6o-martyresd'Agrinion,"ibid., XIV (1911), 288-292;
H. Delehaye, "Le martyrede Saint Nicetas le Jeune," Mdlanges oflertsd M. Gustave
Schlumberger
(Paris, 1924), I, 205-211; idem, "Greek Neo-Martyrs," The ConstructiveQuarterly,IX (1921),
701-712; Papadopoulos-Kerameus,
Erihv ia-ropiavTpacELoivros. I. Oe68coposrappa-s,"
ElS
"uvppoXal "La politique religieusedes conquerantsottomans
VizVrem,XII (1906), 132-137; P. Karlin-Hayter,
dans un texte hagiographique(c. 1437)," Byzantion,XXXV (1965), 353-358.
BYZANTINE
301
many advantages in this unequal strugglewith Christianity;the prestigeof

association with a militarilyvictoriousand politicallydominantclass, great
economic affluence,152and the law which punished apostasy fromIslam by
death. Ibn Khaldun had made this keen observation: "The widely accepted
reason forchangesin institutionsand customsis the fact that the customsof
each race depend on the customsof its ruler.As the proverbsays: 'The com153
mon people followthe religionof the ruler."'
This
summarizes
Cuius regio eius religio.
succinctlywhat transpiredin
Persia, Syria,Egypt,NorthAfrica,Spain, Sicily,and Cretewhenthe political
fortunesof eitherChristianity
or Islam waned and werereplacedby the good
fortunesof its opponent.
The Turkishconquest caused a profoundalterationin the Byzantinedemographicand ethnographicconfigurations
by virtue,first,of the settlementof
substantialnumbersof Turks. But the alterationwas not due to those settlements alone, for these invasions resulted in widespread displacement,conversions,and transplantingof populations.In Anatolia thereis a verymarked
movementofChristianpopulationsfromthe centralplateau, fromthe eleventh
to the twelfthcentury,toward the Christianheld coastal regionsand to the
In the late thirteenthand fourprotectionof the mountainsand forests.154
teenthcenturiesthereis a furtherflightof Christianpopulationsfromwestern
Anatolia to the Aegean isles and Thrace, fromCilicia to the fortified
isles off
the coast, and fromthe rural areas into the towns.155
this
Throughout
long
period the continualenslavements,massacres,the famineand plague attendant upon the sieges of townsand disruptionof agricuture,as well as conversions,led to a profounddiminutionofthe Christianpopulation.In the Balkans
therewas a similarflightto the mountainsof the settledpopulationsbefore
the Turkishadvance, particularlyin Thrace, and along the principalroutes
of Macedonia and Bulgaria. But the displacementsand death toll werenot as
extensiveas in Anatolia.
In the wake of the conquest groupsof Turks,Tatars, and Mongolssettled
along the whole length and breadth of the two peninsulas.In Anatolia the
nomads were most compactlysettled on the borderregionsof westernAsia
MinorfromEskishehirto the districtofAntalya (the famousUdj), in the north
drasticconfiscations;being given to Islamic religious
152 The lands of the Christianchurchsuffered
and administrativeinstitutions.On the Christianside this profoundimpoverishmentis reflectedin
the ecclesiastical institutionof grants Krr& A6yov
irt86aEoS, Miklosich and Miiller (as in note 138
supra), I-II, passim. On the Islamic side the affluenceof Turkish religiousinstitutionscan be seen
in the developmentof the evqaf.For examples of Christianpropertieswhich were convertedto
evqaf
and timar,see the two works of G6kbilgin,Edirne (as in note 34 supra), and "Trabzon" (as in note
141 supra). The historyof these two institutions,KaTrrA6yov
and evqaf,is the best and surest
lTr86aEcaS
index of the economicmisfortunesof Christianityand of the prosperityof Islam.
165 Ibn Khaldun-Rosenthal (as in note 125 supra), I, 58.
164Attaliates,211, 267-268; Miklosichand Miuller(as in note 138 supra),
IV, 62, 84, 87, 88; Anna
Comnena (as in note 17 supra), III, 29, 142, 201, 203; Zonaras, III, 757; Michael the Syrian (as in
note 21 supra), III, 72; Melikoff,Danifmend(as in note 30 supra), II, 178; Matthew of Edessa (as in
note 29 supra), 182.
1556Pachymeres,I, 310-311, II, 232, 314, 318-319, 335, 402, 438; E. Zachariadou,
"XIvpoAl oarv
T
io-ropiatrovvortoavarrolXKo0
ptpp&vta
AtyaCov(A d&qoph-r&rra-rtcaK&K
-rv
trcov1454-1522),"~IppErKTa,
BaaAhKb6V
18puvpaEpPsvc'v, I (1966), 192-193; Canard, "Cilicia," EI,.
SPEROS
302
VRYONIS,
JR.
on the Trapezuntineborders,on the Taurus bordersof CilicianArmenia,and

also in easternAnatolia. In the thirteenthcenturythe entranceof new tribal
groupsswelledthis mass. Thus, whensubstantialareas became settledby the
nomads, the Turkishlanguage spread fartherafield (as is indicated by the
Turkificationof Anatolianruraltoponymy).156Smallernumbersof the immigrants representedsedentary Turks, Arabs, and Persians. But the urban
populace of Anatolia, as well as a substantial sedentaryvillage element,
representedthe old ChristianByzantine populace. Throughoutthe twelfth
centuryand the beginningsof the thirteenththe Christiansprobably outnumberedthe Turks. But by the late fifteenth
and early sixteenthcenturies
the Muslimpopulationof Asia Minorrepresentedapproximately92 per cent
and the Christiansonly about 8 per cent of the total.5'
In the Balkans the demographicmovementsare a littleclearer,since they
occurredlater. The Turks began to bringin settlers,both nomad and sedentary,soon aftertheyestablisheda footholdin Gallipoli.MuradI and Bayazid I
broughtin Turkishcolonists,especiallynomads, and establishedthem along
the key routesand in the major centersof Thrace,Madeconia,Thessaly,and
HenceforthAdrianople,Philopopolis,Sofia,Thessaloniki,Tirhala,
Bulgaria.158
Larissa, and Skopia became major centersof Turkishcontroland administration,and the Christiansgradually,but not completely,withdrewto the mountains. The sixteenth-century
tax registersrecord the followingnumber of
taxable hearths in the Balkans. 194,958 Muslim, 832,707 Christian,4,134
Jewish.The Muslimpopulationrepresentsless than 20 per cent of the total
and the Christiansmore than 80 per cent. Of the 194,958 Muslimhearths,
37,435 are those of Yiiriiks,or nomads, slightlyless than 20 per cent of the
Muslim Balkan population.s59
What were the originsof the Balkan Muslim
population at this point? Though the Turks transplantedsedentaryMuslim
elementswhentheyconqueredtheBalkans,it is highlyprobablethat the most
substantialnumberof Turks consistedof tribalgroupswhom the sultans resettledas such and organizedinto militaryodjaks. The threelargestof these
werethe Nald6ken,Tanridagi,and Selaniki,followedby the lesserOfchabolu,
Vize, and Kodjadjik.160There were also smaller groups of Tatars. These
Turan, Selpuklular(as in note 11 supra), 215.
(as in note 13 supra), 20. There were 1,067,355Muslim and 78,783 Christian
taxable hearths. Read the lament of the fifteenth-century
ecclesiastic in Gelzer, Ungedruckte
und
Texte der Notitiae Episcopatum. Ein Beitrag zur byzantinischen
ungenugendveriifentliche
Kirchenund Verwaltungsgeschichte.
Abhandlungender philos.-philolog.Classe der k6nig.bayerischenAkademie
der Wissenschaften,XXI (1901), Abt. III, 630-631.
18sChaclocondyles,60, 99-101, 177, 218; M. Aktepe, "XIV ve XV asirlarda Rumeli'nin tiirkler
tarafindanisknina dair," TiirkiyatMecmuasi, X (1953), 299-312; Vakalopoulos, "La retraitedes
populations grecques vers des r6gionsbloign6eset montagneusespendant la domination turque,"
Balkan Studies,4 (1963), 265-276; N. Todorov, "Za demografskotosustoianie na balkanskiia poluostrov prez XV-XVI v," Godishnikna Sof. Univ. Fil.-Ist. Fakul., LIII, 2 (1960), 193-226.
169 Barkan, "Essai" (as in note 13 supra), 31-36.
160 G6kbilgin,Rumeli'de Yiiriikler,Tatarlar ve Evlad -t
Fdtihidn(Istanbul, 1957). They included
the followingodjaks:
Nald6ken
243
The numberof an odjakvaried from24 to 25 to
(1603)
428
30 (G6kbilgin,30). This numbermustthen be
(1591)
Tanrida"
Selanik
500
(1543)
multipliedby 4 or 5 to get the total approxiOfchabolu
97
mate population in each Yiirik group.
(1566)
166
157 Barkan, "Essai,"
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
303
Yiiriiksand Tatars steadilyretainedtheirtribalorganizationand odjak numbers throughoutthe sixteenthcenturyand it was not until the seventeenth
centurythat these dissolvedas the nomads began to undergosedentarization.
Inasmuch as the large scale sedentarizationof these Balkan nomads occurred
onlyin theseventeenthcentury,we mustassumethat ofthe remaining157,523
sedentaryMuslimhearthsin the earlysixteenthcenturya substantialportion
representsconvertedChristianpopulations.
By the late sixteenthcenturythe Ottoman tax registersindicate a dramaticrisein populationand eventuallythe Christiansbegin to leave the overpopulated mountainvillages and to descend once more into the plains and
towns.The Turkishinvasionshad neverthelessradicallyalteredthe Byzantine
demographicand ethniclegacy by the impositionof substantialnew Turkish
and by the privations
elements,conversions,displacementand transplanting,
suffered
the
native
by
populations.
The destructionof the Christianstates disengagedthe developmentof the
Christianfolkculturesfromthe evolutionand leadershipof the old Byzantine
formalculture,thoughit is truethattheChurchservedas a partialreplacement
of the old ChristianState in this respect.The removalof the Christianstate
gave a newimpetusto a morevigorousdevelopmentoffolkculture,as we have
already seen in the reassertionof customarylaw at the expense of Byzantine
Churchlaw. The expansionof the zadrugaor kuc'a,the flourishing
of the local
crafts,folkepic and music,and theirmilitarycounterparts,the martolosand
of a livelydevelopmentoffolkculture.Turkish
voynuks,are all manifestations
rule, in providingconditionsforthis particulardevelopmentof folkculture,
lent it a double character.On the one hand the conditionsof Turkishrule
produced the raya mentality.As second class citizenswho were powerless
beforetheirTurkishrulers,the Christianpeasantsand towndwellersdeveloped
those qualities of mind and spirit which were demanded by the situation:
From fear arose slyness,flattery,accommodation,and a certainsublimation
of energiesinto economic endeavor. But simultaneouslythe flightto the
mountains,a reversionto the zadrugapolity,the existenceof the martolosand
voynukbands and their intimate association with banditry,produced the
second characteristic
of the ChristiansocietyunderTurkishrule: the humanitas heroicawhichis so vividlydocumentedby the popular songs and poetry
ofthe Balkan peoples.This was not theromanticcreationofBalkan nationalist
scholarswritingafterthe Balkan revolutions;rather,it was this epic society
Vize
Kodjadjik
(1557)
(1584)
106
179
TA TA RS
(1543)
Aktav
21
12
Tirhala
Yanbolu
34
21
Bozapa
For theirdispersal in the Balkans, see the map in Barkan, "Les deportationscomme m'thode de
peuplementet de colonisationdans l'Empire Ottoman," Revue de la facultddes sciencesdconomiques
de l'Universitdd'Istanbul,XI (1949-50), 67-131.
304
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
which played such a prominentrole in the national revolutionsagainst the

Ottomans.
This folk culturenot only reacted to these stimuliof Turkishrule in its
development,but borrowed,directly,elementsfromthe cultureof the conquerors.The mostreadilyidentifiableof such popularelementsare, of course,
the so-calledChineseshadow plays of Karag6z and the figureand exploits of
the Turkish Till Eulenspiegel,Nasr ed-Din Hodja. The popularityenjoyed
by these two figuresamongthe Balkan peoplesgrewto the point wherethey
became an integralpart of the popular culture of each ethnic group with
attributeswhich were independentof their Turkish origin.Thus, at some
point of developmentof the Greek versionof Karag6z, Alexanderthe Great
became a standard character in the repertoire.161
Furthermore,Turkish
influencewas undoubtedlyreflectedin music,dance, and cuisine,but herethe
the Byzantinefromthe Turkishis complicated.
problemof differentiating
A particularlyobvious influenceon popular cultureis foundin the effect
that Turkishhad on the various spoken (not literary)languagesof the Christians. In Asia Minor, where Turkish settlerswere most numerous,conditions most disturbed,and Turkishrule most enduring,the numbersof Armenian and Greekspeakersweremostdrasticallyreduced.The retreatof Greek,
Armenian,and Persian beforeTurkishrecalls the older linguisticstrugglein
which the Anatolian languages (Phrygian,Luwian, Isaurian, Gothic, and
Celtic) disappeared beforethe advance of Greek.162Even that minorityof
Anatolian Greeksand Armenianswho did not convertto Islam largelysuccumbed to linguisticTurkification.The region of Trebizond constituteda
major exceptionto this phenomenonand the continuityof the Greektongue
thereis to be soughtin the historyof Trebizond,whichremaineda compact
political and culturalentityfromthe eleventhto the fifteenth
centuries,at
the verytimewhenthe remainderof Anatolia was conquered,settled,Islamized, and Turkified.Whenthe Turkishconquestcame to Trebizondit was quick
and the area was soon regularized.The Greekspeakersof westernAsia Minor
represent,basically,Greekswho immigratedrelativelylate fromthe isles and
elsewhere.The TurkophoneGreek Christiansof Anatolia with a Christian
literature,which,thoughin Turkish,utilized the Greek alphabet, constitute
only one of a host of examples whicharose fromthe culturalchangesin the
historyof the Mediterraneanbasin. The Arab speaking Syriac Christiansand
Copts who wrotetheirChristianliteraturein Arabicbut withtheirown alphabets, the Mozarabs and Moriscosof Spain, and finallythe Greekpopulations
of southernItaly, are all reminiscentof these Karamanlides in Asia Minor.
The process of Turkificationof these Anatolian Greek Christianswas still
181Gh.
Constantin,"'Nasr-ed-Din Khodja' chez les Turcs, les peuples balkaniques et les Roumains," Der Islam, 43 (1967), 90-133; H. Ritter, "Karag6z," EI,; W. Barthold, "Karag6z," Islam
Ansiklopedisi,6 (Istanbul, 1955), pp. 246-51.
I1a K. Holl, "Das Fortleben der Volksprachen in Kleinasien in nachchristlicherZeit," Hermes,
XLIII (1908), 240-254; Vryonis,"Problems" (as in note 6 supra), 115-116; Strabo,
XII. 8. 3; XIII.
4. 17; XIV. 2. 28, commentson this earlierprocess by which Greek began to replace the earlierlanguages spoken in Anatolia.
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
305
visiblein the nineteenthand twentiethcenturies:and scholarshave observed

its various stages: The penetration,first,of the Turkishvocabulary,then of
its syntacticalforms,stages of bilingualism,the recessionand finaleclipse of
Greek.163
163The earliest referenceto these
TurkophoneChristiansin Asia Minor seems to be the fifteenthKal KKAT)OiC"VKaT& -r6v
century text which Lampros edited, '"Y6Tvrl6pvawepit-rv 'EQ)VIlK"V
Xop"V in
VII (1910),366: notandumest,
alc$va,"NWos'EMvopvipcov,
8KcGtov
quod multispartibusTurcie
W-rrrTpov
etlocunturlinguamipsorum
et
vestimenta
clerici,
infidelium
reperiunter
episcopi arciepiscopi,qui portant
etnihilaliud sciuntin grecoproferre
nisi missamcantareetevangeliumetepistolas.Alias autemorationes
multidicuntin lingua Turcorum.Hans Dernschwam (as in note 73 supra), 52, is the firstto mention
theirpresencein Istanbul (1553-55): "Nich weit von abstander burg,so Giedicula genant,en einen
oeden orth der stadt, wont ein cristenvolkh, nent man Caramanos, aus dem landt Caramania, an
Persia gelegen,seind cristen,haben den krichischenglauben. Und ire mes haltten sy auffkrikisch
und vorstehendoch nicht krikisch.Ir sprach ist turkisch.Nit weiss ich, ab sy anfenglischturkisch
sprach gehapt haben. Das jeczigen turkischenkaysersvatter Selinus sol dis volkh her gen Constantinapol gefurthaben, als er die selbigenlenderbekriegt.Scheintein gros starkvolkh sein. Die weyber
haben lange, spiczige,weyse und auch von farbenhuthe auff,also ungerarlichgestalttwie ein baptskron. Und wan sy ausgehen,so decken sy ein dunn durchsichtigzthuch daruberbis uber die bruste."
For their literatureand dialect, see J. Eckmann, "Die karamanische Literatur," in Philologiae
Turcicae Fundamente,II (Wiesbaden, 1964), 819-834; idem, "Anadolu Karamanli aglzlarina ait
fakiiltesidergisi,VIII (1950), 165-200; idem,"Yunan
arastirmalarlI. Phonetica," Dil ve tarih-cografya
eds. H. Eren and T.
harflhKaramanli imlAsihakkinda," Tiurkdili ve tarihihakkindaaraqthrmalari,
Halasi Kun (Ankara, 1950), I, 27-31; S. Salaville and E. Dalleggio, Karamanlidika: Bibliographie
analytique d'ouvragesen langue turqueimprimdsen caracitres grecs (Athens, 1958); J. Deny, "Le
g6rondifen - (y)ilin, d'apres les 6crits du moine Ioanni Hieroth6os,en turc des Grecs-orthodoxes
turcophonesd'Anatolie," Kdrdsi Csoma Archivium,III (1941), 119-128.
The originsof the Karamanlides have long been disputed, there being two basic theories on the
subject. Accordingto one, theyare the remnantsof the Greekspeaking Byzantine populationwhich,
though it remained Orthodox,was linguisticallyTurkified.The second theoryholds that they were
originallyTurkish soldiers which the Byzantine emperorshad settled in Anatolia in large numbers
and who retainedtheirlanguage and Christianreligionafterthe Turkish conquests; see J. Eckmann,
"Einige gerundiale Konstruktionenim Karamanischen," Jean Deny Armagani (Ankara, 1958), 77.
For bibliographyon these theories,see G. Jaschke,"Die Tiirkische-OrthodoxeKirche," Der Islam,
39 (1964), 95-129. Cami Baykurt, secretaryof the Turkish League forthe Defence of Izmir against
GreekClaims (afterWorld War I), firstproposed the second theoryin his
OsmanihidkesindeHsristiyan
Tiirkler,2nd ed. (Istanbul, 1932). Hamdullah Subhi asserted this theoryon the basis of the allegedly
"purer" characterof the Turkish spoken by the Karamanlides, and claims to have discoveredmany
old Turkishwords fromthe TurkophoneOrthodoxof Antalya in 1923.
Evliya Chelebi came across the Karamanlides in the seventeenthcenturyand made the following
interestingcomments:
In Antalya the Greek Christiansspoke only Turkish. "...and there are four quarters of Greek
infidels.But the infidelsknow essentiallyno Greek. They speak erroneousTurkish." ("...ve d6rdii
Urum keferesimahallesidir Amma keferesiasla urumca bilmezler Batll Tiirk
lisanl tizre kelimat
iderler.",Seyahatnamesi,IX, 288.)
In Alaiyya the Greek Christianssimilarlyspoke only Turkish. "There was, fromolden times, an
infidelGreekquarter.There are altogether300 (who pay) the haradj. They know essentiallyno Greek
but know an erroneousTurkish." ("Amma kadim eyyamdan beru Urum keferesibir mahalledir.
CiAmleiiU yiiz haradcir Amma asla Urum lisani bilmiyiibbatil Tiirk lisani biliirler.",Seyahatnamesi,
IX, 297.)
To Evliya these TurkophoneChristiansappeared as Greeks who spoke no Greek but a corrupt

Turkish. The sixteenth-centuryJacob Miloites also considered the Turkophone Orthodox to be
Greeks, Papageorgiou, op. cit. (supra, note 91), 635, 636: Kai Eis -rv XcbpaA-lv'A-r&Aia-o-rt
worroi
y\oa
p6vov-roOpKIKr
Xpiartiavol"EMavEs, dAde&oOi
AA
E I-r&
ywvcboKouval
QVTlK1'V"
wooot Xptoariavol
o0i
yhcaOca t1VIKI ......
"EMTlvEs; yWlv6cOKOval
o0
ylvCivKOVV
"EAATsiw"
yA)k'caaRMT)V1KAl.
yO'aaaC.....Ka.K
'AT6 0(pao
sels KoOAa. iHoot
Trap-r&
Xpto-rtavol
More importantis the historical considerationthat the sources do not indicate any substantial
settlementof Turkishtroopsin ByzantineAsia Minorpriorto the Turkishinvasions. The morelikely
explanation of their originswould seem to be that the Karamanlides representTurkifiedByzantine
populations, the process of linguistic Turkificationstill being in evidence in the nineteenthand
twentiethcenturies;see Dawkins, op. cit. (supra, note 87), 197-204, and passim. The same phenomenon is to be observed among the Armenianpopulations of Ottoman Anatolia; see Die Pilgerfahrt
des
RittersArnold von Harf von C6ln durchItalien, Syrien,Aegypten,Arabien,Aethiopien,Nubien, Pa-
306
SPEROS
VRYONIS,
JR.
In the Balkans the conquests were shorter,the Turks fewerin number,

conversionsnot as extensive,and linguisticTurkificationdid not, therefore,
proceedon so granda scale as in Anatolia. Indicativeof thisfailureof massive
linguisticTurkificationis the fact that many of the convertedgroups,i.e.,
Greeksof Crete,Bulgars of the Rhodope, Albanians,and Bosnians, retained
theirnative tonguesand were providedwith an aljamiah literature(written
in theirnative tonguesbut with the Arab script).64The centersof Turkish
were Thrace, easternBulgaria, Macedonia,the townsand areas all along the
main routesof communicationand transportation.165
Nevertheless,the length
of Turkishrule,the presenceof Turkishadministrative,
feudal,and commercial classes, and the use of Turkishas the officiallanguage by Christiansand
Turks resultedin the impositionof a new lexicographicalOberschichtover all
the Balkan languages.Turkishloan-wordsand expressionsenteredthe Balkan
tonguesby the thousandsand remaintodayas one of thesecondarycharacteristics of the Balkan languages. Oftenthese wordsrepresentculturalborrowings, but in many cases they simplyreflectthe political dominanceof the
Turks and the use of theirlanguage as the officialone foradministrationand
commerce.
CONCLUSIONS
This rapid surveyof the categoriesof humansocietypromptsthe following

observations.Turkishformalsocietybore essentiallyIslamic characteristics.
Frankreichund Spanien, wie er sie in denJahren1496bis 1499 vollendet,
ed. E. von
ldstina,die Tiirhkei,
Groote (Cologne, 1860), 201: "Item deser Armenianispraichengemeynlichsarrascheynischespraich.
dan in yerengotlichenampten bruychesy eyne eygen spraiche." The phenomenonis to be observed
among the Syriac and Coptic Christiansof mediaeval Syria and Egypt, among the Mozarabs and
Moriscosof Spain, and among the Greeksof southernItaly.
164 D. Theodoridis,"Ein unbekanntesgriechisch-aljamiadisches
Werk aus dem 18. Jh.," ler ConHistoire
grksinternationaldes dtudesbalkaniqueset sud-esteuropdenes.Resumdsdes communications.
(XVe-XlXe s.) (Sofia, 1966), 88-91; idem,"Ein griechischeraljamiadischer Zweizeilerim Diwan von
Ahmed Paga," ZeitschritfriiBalkanologie,III (1965), 180-183.
165 J. Nemeth, Zur Einteilungder
MundartenBulgariens (Sofia, 1956); idem, "Traces
tiirkischen
of the Turkish Language in Albania," Acta Orientalia,XIII (1961), 9-29; G. Hazai, "Beitrage zur
Kenntnis der tiirkischenMundartenMazedoniens," Rocznikorientalistyczny,
XXIII, (1960), 83-100;
idem, "Les dialects turcs du Rhodope," ActaO, IX (1959), 205-229; O. Blau, Bosnisch-tiirkische
Sprachdenkmdler
(Leipzig, 1868); P. Skok, "Restes de la langue turque dans les Balkans," Revue
internationale
des dtudesbalkaniques,I (1935), 247-260 (585-598).
For the influenceofTurkishon the languagesofsoutheasternEurope,see F. Miklosich,Die tiirkischen
Elementein den siidost-und osteuropdiischen
Albanisch,Rumdnisch,Bulgarisch,
Sprachen(Griechisch,
Serbisch,Kleinrussisch,Grossrussisch,
Polnisch),Denkschriftender kaiserlichenAkademie der Wissenschaften,Philos.-Hist. Klasse (Vienna, 1884), XXXIV, 239-338; 1885, XXXV, 105-192; Nachtrag
in 1889,XXXVII, 1-88, and in 1890,XXXVIII, 1-194; K. Sandfeld,Linguistiquebalkanique.Probljmes
et rdsultats(Paris, 1930), 89-92, 159-162; I. Popovi6, Geschichteder Serbo-kroatischen
Sprache (Wiesbaden, 1960), 582-584, 608-612; Kissling, "Zu den Turzismenin den siidslavischen Sprachen," ZeitfiirBalkanologie,II (1964), 77-87; A. Knelevi6, Die Turzismenin den Spracheder Kroate und
schri/t
Serben(Meisenheimam Glan, 1962); A. Skalji6, Turcizmiu narodnomgovorui narodnojknjilevnosti
Bosne i Hercegovina(Sarajevo, 1957), I-II; H. F. Wendt, Die tiirkischen
Elementeim Rumdinischen
(Berlin, 1960); A. Krajni, "Brief apergu des empruntsa 1'Albanais," Studia Albanica, II (1966),
85-96; S. Kakuk, "Les mots d'empruntsturcs-osmanlisdans le hongroiset les recherchesd'histoire
phon6tique de la langue turque-osmanli,"ActaO, V (1955), 181-194; Dawkins, op. cit. (supra, note
87), passim; A. Meidhoff,
"Riickwandereraus den islamitischenSprachenim Neugriechischen,"Glotta,
10 (1920); B. Tsonev, Istoriia na bulgarskiieziku, I-III (Sofia, 1919-1937), II, 177-191.
BYZANTINE
LEGACY
AND OTTOMAN
FORMS
307
The inseparableunion of Churchand State, and their determinationof all

formalaspects of society,resultedin a State structureand culturallifewhich
were Muslim.The sultanate,bureaucracy,Church,literature,and much of art
were Islamic. Byzantine formalsociety,on the other hand, was intimately
connectedwith the basileia and Orthodoxy,and the large-scaleadoption of
Byzantineformalinstitutionscould onlyfollowthe adoptionof the Byzantine
styleof theocracy,as was the case in Bulgaria and Serbia; or it mightoccur
whenthe neighboring
withanother
societywas stillunformedand not affiliated
Church-State
Whatever
of
elements
this
developed
apparatus.
Byzantine
formalcultureappear in Ottoman society enteredindirectlyvia the culture
of Islamic civilization.
Nevertheless,this Turkishsociety,thoughMuslimin its formalexpression,
or Hochkultur,was stronglyByzantinein its folkculture,or Tiefkultur.This
was the resultof the fact that in the beginningthe conqueredsubjects of the
Turks were Christiansof the Byzantine and semi-Byzantinizedareas. The
economiclife of the Seljuks and Ottomanswas greatlydeterminedby these
Christianpeasants and city dwellers.Byzantine influencewas particularly
strongin agriculturaland villagelife,but also in the citieswiththeircraftand
commercialtraditions.In theselatter,however,therewas a significant
admixture of Islamic urban elements.The economiccontinuityof Byzantiumhad
importantrepercussionsas well in the Turkish tax structureand administration. Finally, this widespreadabsorptionand survival of Christianpopulations had a marked effectin the spheres of Turkishfamilylife,popular
beliefs,and practices. The period of Turkish flexibilityvis-a-vis Byzantine
institutionssubsided and finallyended in the late fifteenthand early sixteenthcenturies.With the conquests complete,many Byzantineinstitutions
ceased to exist. More importantly,MehmedII and Sulayman I consolidated
Ottoman institutionallife in what came to be its classic form,and the conquests ofArab and Persianlands in the sixteenthcenturyfurther
strengthened
the Islamic characterof the empire.
What was the effectof the Turkishconquestand institutions
on thisByzantine societyand culture?The demandsof Turkishpolitical,fiscal,feudal,and
religiousinstitutionsdestroyedthe economicas well as the politicaland social
bases of ByzantineHochkulturin the Balkans and Anatolia, and in so doing
reduced this cultureto an almost exclusivelyVolkskultur.Thus, in contrast
to the OttomanTurkswho developeda richformalliterature,a classicalmusic,
and an impressivearchitecture,the formalliteraryproductionof theirChristian subjects was penuriousby comparison,and theirsecular music largely
folkin character,as was muchoftheirart. The survivalofthegreatlyweakened
Churchand rise of the Phanariot class provideda diluted versionof the old
Byzantine Hochkulturon a limitedscale, but more importantlythe Church
was a strongcrutchupon whichthe Christianfolkculturespartlydepended.
These folk cultures,however,now severed fromthe directionof a Christian
theocraticState and preventedby stringentreligiousand social lines from
participationin the formalculturallifeof the MuslimOttomans,developed a
SPEROS
308
VRYONIS,
JR.
vigorouslife of theirown in consonancewith that part of the Byzantinecultural heritagewhich they had already absorbed and with their own purely
folktraditions.This isolationof the Balkan folkculturesfromthe formalByzantine and Ottoman cultureswas compoundedby the politicalisolation of
Christiansfromthe West. Though the isolation was never complete,it was
neverthelessa realitywhich a comparisonof the Turkishheld Balkans with
the Venetian-Hapsburgheld lands nicelyillumines.The Balkan and Anatolian
ChristiansubjectsoftheTurksgenerallydid notparticipatein the Renaissance,
On the otherhand, Greeksand Slavs
Reformation,and Counter-Reformation.
of the Aegean, Ionian, and Adriaticcoasts, as well as Slavs of the northwest
Balkans did participatein these dynamicperiodsof westerncultureand were
greatlyinfluencedby them.The literature,painting,and architectureof Crete,
Corfu,Dalmatia, as well as of parts of the northwestern
Balkans, reflectthis
influence.Wheneverand whereverChristianpolitical rule was replaced by
that of the Ottomansin these regions,the social classes and artistsusually
fled,or, in any case, lost the economicaffluencewhich had made it possible
forthemto functionand produce.166
The Ottomansthus reinforcedthe isolation of the Balkan peoples fromthe West at a time when contactshad been
increasingbecause of westernexpansionand Byzantinedecline,
Hence, the effectof Turkishformson the Byzantine legacy was decapitation on the formallevel and isolationon the folklevel.
188
cit.
note
and
J. Matl, op.
(supra,
8), 85ff.,
passim; M. Chatzidakis, '"H KplrK' LCOypaptlKwKCdf
I (1947), 27-46; idem, Icdnes de Saint-Georgesdes Grecs et de
XpovtK&,
i-raXtKhl
XahKoypagcia,"
Kpyl-rtKd
la collectionde l'institut(Venice, 1962); A. Embiricos, L'dcole crdtoise,dernibrephase de la peinture
byzantine(Paris, 1967); idem,La renaissancecrdtoiseXVIe et XVIIe siecles (Paris, 1960).

The Byzantine Legacy's Influence on Ottoman Institutions

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The Byzantine Legacy and Ottoman Forms

Author(s): Speros Vryonis, Jr.

THE BYZANTINE LEGACY

This paper was read at a Symposiumentitled"Afterthe

Note: In translatingTurkish, Arabic, and Persian words I have followed a

Ottoman Empire began to disintegrateas a result of externalblows

3 G. von Grunebaum, "Parallelism, Convergence,and Influence in the Relations of Arab and

Oaks Papers, 18 (1964), 89-111; idem,

"Islam and Hellenism," in Islam. Essays in theNature and Growthof a CulturalTradition(Menasha,

peripheries.The core consistedof Asia Minorwest of a line runningthrough

Byzantine influences(especiallypolitical and literary)affectedonly a small

of the semi-Byzantinizedzones served as importantvehicles of diffusionof

father; Chalcocondyles, 348. p-r&S vriadpEvoSd&vSpdrro8aS

The Turksbroughta hybridsocietywiththemwhentheymoved acrossthe

For another funeralcustom, i.e., mummification,

character?How great was the numberof Turks who enteredAsia Minorand

14The most detailed study of this destructive

-rov KTrr& 0aearTTav

asri-rrapafav -ri~ Ipvopvls Kai p'Xpti

6 TlcXas r& KaTi

LEGACY AND OTTOMAN FORMS

These are merely

The principalsourcesforthis upheaval are Pachymeresand Kerim ed-Din Mahmud of Aksaray.

absorbing,or otherwiseremovingmany of the receptaclesand carriersof its

ratus by whichspecificnon-Muslimpracticescould be accommodated.Such a

LEGACY AND OTTOMAN FORMS

nians as of the Turks,and thereis also referenceto the presenceof a limited

38NicetasChoniates,48-49, 72; Lampros-Dyovouniotes,

A. Temir, Kirgehiremiri Caca Oglu Nur el-Din'in 1272 tarihli Arabca-Mogolcavakfiyesi(Ankara,

a numberof their titles were absorbedinto Turkish: egendi,despina,patrik,

Could womenof the

geuiz remarksthat many of the Janissariescarriedthe gospel of St. Johnin

277; Nicetas Choniates, 608-609,

LEGACY AND OTTOMAN FORMS

armies of the caliphate and Byzantium.Armenianmilitarycontingents,led

of usufructto that of dominium.It is of furtherinterestthat the Ottomans

the same societyat a later stage of development.The pronoiasystemwas still

"IAZITI. Iaziti are diversscribesin thecourtsof turkischeprinces,howbeit

Georgieuiz-Goughe(as in note 12 supra), s.v.

raided the two Greekcomopoleisof Tantalus and Caria located on tributaries

the feudal spahis. A fleetingglance at the terminitechniciwhich passed into

LEGACY AND OTTOMAN FORMS

tance, presentationof evidence in court,etc. were intricatelyworked out.

the otherto relinquishthese kidnappedChristianfarmingpopulations.I have

technicalskills of these Rum were highlypraised by Arab geographers,and

dustryof Bursa was located in a regionwhichhad possessed a lively textile

Greek painters are also in evidence in thirteenth-century

87 Vryonis,"The Questionofthe ByzantineMines," Speculum,XXXVII

In the Balkans the pre-Ottomantraditionsof the craftsand industryhad

It is clear that Byzantine (Armeno-Syro-Byzantine

R. Brunschvig,"Coup d'oeil sur l'histoiredes foiresa traversl'Islam," La loire,Recueils de la

in the armiesof both the Byzantines

Studies, UniversityofLondon, XXIX (1966), 64-78.

as mixed as those of the otherBalkan peoples. (They werenonethelessTurks,

LEGACY AND OTTOMAN FORMS

centuriesof the pre-Christian

IT' T6Apov(1941), 401-406;

The incorporationof so many ethnicgroups,the conversionof many, the

We must now turnto the thirdand finalpart of the discussionin orderto

LEGACY AND OTTOMAN FORMS

not only lost to Byzantine society,but this cultureatrophied.Ibn Khaldun

Balkan Studies, 2 (1961), 1-22; I. Lykoures, 'H 6toiKToIS Kal

Christiantestimonyin all othermatters,in a courtofthe cadi, is completely