A Comparison Of Medieval European Guilds And Akhism In Anatolia In Terms Of Their Emergence And General Functions

Year 2009, Volume: 2009 Issue: 1V, 1 - 16, 01.03.2009

Fatih Durgun

Abstract

This paper argues that despite their similarities in socio-economic and religious senses, Medieval European Guilds and Akhism emerged distinctively from different reasons and functioned in different ways. While Medieval European guild system was a part of an organisational structure appearing in the social and economic conditions of Western Europe and became in time legally defined and prescribed institution, the Akhi system appeared and functioned in very limited time as a voluntary institution specifically in Anatolia as a consequence of political turmoil and increasing decentralisation. So, when the authority of the central government increased, Akhi organisation disappeared and gave way to the guilds in the Ottoman Empire.

Keywords

Medieval European Guilds, Akhism, European History, Historiography, Bibliography

A COMPARISON OF MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN GUILDS AND AKHISM IN ANATOLIA IN TERMS OF THEIR EMERGENCE AND GENERAL FUNCTIONS

Abstract

Bu çalışmada, Ortaçağ Avrupa Lonca sistemiyle, Anadolu’ya özgü bir kurum olan Ahilik arasındaki sosyo-ekonomik ve dinsel benzerlikler verili olarak kabul edilmekle birlikte, her iki kurumsal yapı arasında hem ortaya çıkış hem de işlevsellik açısından farlılıklar olduğu vurgulanmaktadır. Ortaçağ Avrupa’sındaki Loncalar hukuki olarak tanımlanmış, Avrupa’da, o dönemde ortaya çıkmış olan, toplumun bütününe yayılmış, geniş organizasyonel yapının bir parçasıdırlar. Ahilik ise, Anadolu’daki siyasi kargaşa ve merkezi hükümetin güç kaybına koşut olarak gelişen daha dar bir zaman diliminde işlev edinmiş, gönüllü bir sosyal organizasyondur. Bunun neticesinde, Avrupa’da lonca yapılanmasında bir süreklilik söz konusuyken; Anadolu’da ahilik merkezi hükümetlerin güçlenmesi sonucunda yerini Osmanlı Lonca sistemine bırakmıştır.

Keywords

Ortaçağ Avrupa Loncaları, Ahilik, Avrupa Tarihi, Tarih Yazımı, Kaynakça

References

• ARNAKIS, G. G., “Futuwwa Traditions in the Ottoman Empire: Akhis, Bekhtashi Dervishes and Craftsmen” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 12 (1953)
• BARBER, Malcolm, The Two Cities: Medieval Europe 1050-1320 (London: Routledge, 2004),
• BLACK, Anthony, Guilds and Civil Society in European Political Thought from the Twelfth Century to the Present (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984)
• BROWN, Daniel, the Central Middle Ages (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005)
• ÇAĞATAY, Neşet, Bir Türk Kurumu Olan Ahilik (Ankara: TTK, 1989)
• COOK, Michael, Studies in the Economic History of the Middle East: From the Rise of Islam to the Present Day (London:Routledge, 1970)
• EPSTEIN, S. R. and PRAK, Maarten (eds.), Guilds, Innovation and the European Economy 1400-1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2008)
• EPSTEIN, Steven A., Wage Labour and Guilds in Medieval Europe (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1991)
• EPSTEIN, Steven A. “Craft-Guilds, Apprenticeship and Technological Change in Preindustrial Europe” Journal of Economic History 3 (1998)
• ERKEN, Veysi, Bir Sivil Örgütlenme Modeli: Ahilik (Ankara: Seba Yayınları, 1998).
• GROSS, Charles, The Gild Merchant (Oxford: Oxfor University Press, 1927),
• HERSHLAG, Zvi Yehuda, Introduction to the Modern Economic History of the Middle East (Leiden:Brill,1980) HALSALL, Paul (ed.)www.fordham.edu/hallsall/source/1170.rouentanersgilds.html, Medieval Internet Sourcebook accessed 04.01.2008
• HALLSALL, Paul (ed)www.fordham.edu/hallsall/source/1127stomer.html Medieval Internet Sourcebook 04.01.2009
• KÖKSAL, Fatih, Ahi Evran ve Ahilik (Kırşehir: Arter, 2006),
• LEWIS, Bernard “ The Islamic Guilds” Economic History Review 8 (1937)
• PRAK, Maarten, “Craft Guilds in North Western Europe (England, France, Low Countries)”, paper presented in the conference “Return of the Guilds” at Utrecht University, 2006.
• PRAK, Maarten, LIS, Catharina, LUCASSEN, Jan, SOLY, Hugo, Craft-Guilds in the Early Modern Low Countries (London:Ashgate, 2006)
• RENARD, Georges, Guilds in the Middle Ages (New York: Augustus M. Kelley Publications, 1968)
• RICHARDSON, Gary “Christianity and Craft-Guilds in Late Medieval England: A Rationale Choice Analysis” Rationality and Society 17 (2005)
• RILEY, Thomas Henry (ed.)
• www. Trytel.com./.tristan/towns/florilegium/economy. Acessed 04.01.2009
• SELIGMAN, Edwin R. A., “Two Chapters on the Medieval Guilds of England” Publications of American Economic Association 5 (1887)
• TODD, Asceric, “The Noble Traders: The Islamic Tradition of “Spiritual Chivalry” (futuwwa) in Bosnian Trade Guilds (16th-19th centuries) Muslim World 97 (2007)