Papers by Evgenia Kermeli
Uluslararası Molla Hüsrev Sempozyumu, 2013
Prof. Dr. Özer Ergenç'e Armağan, 2013
Festschrift in Honor of Özer Ergenç Part II, 2019
This paper seeks to explore the mechanisms of law enforcement in the Ottoman Aegean islands and c... more This paper seeks to explore the mechanisms of law enforcement in the Ottoman Aegean islands and conflict resolution
The Muslim World, 2017
The same year, the month of June, the metropolitan of Verroia Kyrillos illegally sat on the thron... more The same year, the month of June, the metropolitan of Verroia Kyrillos illegally sat on the throne, with the help of Bayram Pasha and the order of the emperor [sultan]. He had the elderly Patriarch Kyrillos [Loukaris] killed and thrown to the sea. Alas! What a great calamity, as he [Loukaris] was a teacher, more wise than all of the mathematicians. He [Kyrillos of Verroia] wronged him greatly. They abandoned the commandments of Christ and they serve the Devil. They got mixed with the Gentiles and learned their tricks. Too bad for them and too bad for their knowledge. What have these sad ones gained when the feast is over? 1 1 P. Odorico, Conseils et M emoirs de Synadinos, prêtre de Serr es en Mac edoine (XVII si ecle), v. 1 (Paris: De Boccard, 1996), p. 132. Known in historiography as the "Chronicle of Serres," this text written in colloquial Greek was penned in the 1640s by a parish priest supplementing his livelihood as a clerk in the Metropolitan See of Serres in Macedonia. 2 Contemporaries unsympathetic to the actions of Kyrillos Kontaris address him as metropolitan of Verroia and refuse to acknowledge his ascendance to the Patriarchal See. 3 Odorico, Conseils, p. 132. 4 Odorico, Conseils, p. 154.
Oriente Moderno, 2013
This paper focuses on many interesting remarks with regard to the application of Ottoman law in C... more This paper focuses on many interesting remarks with regard to the application of Ottoman law in Crete in the second half of the XVII century. At that time, the general principles of Ḥanafī law on marriage and divorce were followed and the Ottoman modifications stressing the judicial and sultanic authority were observed. The registration of marriage contracts is considered an important if not necessary requirement. The aim was to alleviate complications in case of divorce or death of one of the spouses. The petition to the judge to reissue a marriage contract was a practical necessity, an example of which is the order of the judge to produce the marriage contract, as proof. This does not mean though that practice was similar everywhere in the empire. Societies like the Cretan one with a long tradition of written documentation, inherited by the Venetians, was more apt to adopt Ottoman innovations on registration than towns in Anatolia. Christians and new Muslims in Crete seem to have ...
The Ottoman zimmi donations for the benefit of their religious institutions are a thorny issue in... more The Ottoman zimmi donations for the benefit of their religious institutions are a thorny issue in Islamic/ottoman jurisprudence. Ottoman muftis following the founders of the Hanafi madhab employed istihsan to address the problem of validity of zimmi vakfs and their inalienability. Molla Khusrev allowed Christian foundations to operate and favored the lenient opinion of Abu Hanifa vis-a-vis Christian vakfs. He however did not manage to solve the problem of inalienability until Ebussuud Efendi categorized church vakfs as family vakfs (vakf khurri). The forgeries of the confiscation firman of Selim II found in Athonite monasteries are written in Ottoman and Greek and date from the 17 th and 18 th centuries. Despite the accommodation ottoman law provided to monastic institutions, the exploitation of their properties and the need to remain unchallenged actors in their local communities lie behind the forgeries’ creation. The degree of success when presented in the ottoman judicial sys...
Konfliktlösung in der Frühen Neuzeit, 2021
Die Diskussion über die Konfliktlösung im frühneuzeitlichen Osmanischen Reich ist ein facettenrei... more Die Diskussion über die Konfliktlösung im frühneuzeitlichen Osmanischen Reich ist ein facettenreiches Thema, das mit umfassenderen Fragen nach dem Wesen des osmanischen Rechts zusammenhängt. Angesichts der ideologischen Implikationen der vorgeschlagenen Analyserahmen ist vielleicht Ruth Millers (2008, S. 286) Ansatz vernünftig, das osmanische Recht als das zu definieren, was es nicht ist, anstatt als das, was es hätte sein mögen. In Anknüpfung an Ignatius Mouradgea d'Ohsson (1788-1824) vergleicht die Forschung die osmanische Rechtslehre und-praxis mit zwei maßgeblichen Rechtstraditionen-dem islamischen Recht und dem europäischen Recht. Das osmanische Recht wurde als Karikatur beider Systeme dargestellt und als unislamisch eingestuft, da ihm die Lebendigkeit der islamischen Rechtslehre der klassischen Zeit fehlte, oder als bloße Praxis, nach dem Grundsatz aus Joseph Schachts Zweiteilung zwischen Theorie und Praxis (Schacht 1964). Die Sicht der Scharia als unverändertes heiliges Recht (die berühmte Theorie der geschlossenen Tore des Idschtihad), das unempfänglich für gesellschaftliche Bedürfnisse oder Veränderungen im leeren Raum steht, machte jedwede osmanische Rechtslehre wirkungslos und der verklärten Vergangenheit geistig unterlegen. Eine Ausnahme bildet Imber (1997) mit seiner Arbeit über Ebussuud, den Rechtsgelehrten des 16. Jahrhunderts, obwohl auch er den praktischen Aspekt osmanischen Rechts betont. Darüber hinaus interpretierte die Forschung die von osmanischen Sultanen verkündeten kodifizierten Verwaltungsverordnungen, die Kanun (Yunus Koç 2005), als Ergebnis osmanischer Unkenntnis des islamischen Rechts und einer Vorliebe für Übersetzung aus dem Englischen
The tobacco controversy in the Early Modern Ottoman society has attracted the attention of many s... more The tobacco controversy in the Early Modern Ottoman society has attracted the attention of many scholars. Social and legal aspects of the consumption of coffee and subsequently of tobacco depicted new forms of sociability that would become the hallmark of the Early Modern Period. Despite rulers' ban and oppression from above, the new habit is to spread rapidly and transcend social, religious and confessional barriers. Albeit these important developments, the effort of ottoman elites Muslim and non-Muslim alike to restrain and manipulate social behaviour has received little attention. A comparison of Akhisari's treatise against smoking and Nikolaos Mavrokordatos' admonition against tobacco depicted that Muslim and non-Muslim ottoman elites shared the same ideas on the ban of tobacco consumption and uncontrollable sociability. It is thus to no surprise that in their quest for social control the ottoman elites employed even the same argumentation.
This paper focuses on many interesting remarks with regard to the application of Ottoman law in C... more This paper focuses on many interesting remarks with regard to the application of Ottoman law in Crete in the second half of the XVII century. At that time, the general principles of Ḥanafī law on marriage and divorce were followed and the Otto-man modifications stressing the judicial and sultanic authority were observed. The registration of marriage contracts is considered an important if not necessary requirement. The aim was to alleviate complications in case of divorce or death of one of the spouses. The petition to the judge to reissue a marriage contract was a practical necessity, an example of which is the order of the judge to produce the marriage contract, as proof. This does not mean though that practice was similar everywhere in the empire. Societies like the Cretan one with a long tradition of written documentation, inherited by the Venetians, was more apt to adopt Otto-man innovations on registration than towns in Anatolia. Christians and new Muslims in Crete seem to have adapted rather rapidly to the introduction of the new judicial system. They can defend themselves successfully in court and they are aware of procedure. It is remarkable to see a Christian woman achieving the rehearing of her case through a sultanic order few years after the conquest. I cannot however but wonder about the type of legal advice and aid she had received local customs like the traditional dowry given by the wife to the husband, is thus disguised, as gift to adhere to new legal concepts. Social problems like poverty, forced conversion or second marriages, illustrate the problems the judge was faced with. Thus the ottoman judge uncertain as to whether the rapidly changing Cretan society, with the numerous converts and non-Muslims is capable of understanding fine points of Islamic law, operates as an educator reminding the litigants of their obligations.
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Papers by Evgenia Kermeli