THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES IN THE 17th CENTURY AS REFLECTED IN THE ŞİKAYET DEFTERİS

Year 2014, Issue: 25, 1 - 24, 12.12.2014

Nandor Erik Kovacs

Abstract

The present study is devoted to the political relationship between the Moldo-Wallachian Principalities and the Ottoman Empire within the framework of the imperial grievance administration in the second half of the 17th century. Examinations are based on the so-called şikayet defteris, imperial registers archiving decrees issued in response to petitions of subjects by the Ottoman lmperial Council. Since this corpus gives insight into the social and institutional links between the Ottoman administration and its exponents, it proved to be a significant source for a more nuanced understanding of the nature of relations between the Porte and the Danubian vassal states and of the specific status of voievods involved in the Ottoman administration. 

Keywords

imperial council, registers of grievances, Moldovia, Wallachia, vassal states, petitioning

References

• MAJER, Hans Georg (Hrsg.) Das Osmanische ,,Registerbuch der Beschwerden" (Şikayet Defteri) vom Jahre 1675, Wien: ÖAW, 1983. PANAİTE, Viorel, "Custom in the 16th-18th Centuries Ottoman-Roumanian Relationship: Starting Points for a Historiographical Debate", Revue des Etudes Sud-est Europeennes, 31 (1993), pp. 171-185. KOLODZİEJCZYK, Dariusz, Ottoman-Turkish Diplomatic Relations (15th- 18th century): An Annotated Edition of Ahdnames and other documents. Leiden: Brill, 2000.