Interfaith marriage in the early modern Ottoman Empire: Legal and social aspects | Erken Modern Dönem Osmanlı İmparatorluğunda İnançlararası Evlilik: Hukuki ve Toplumsal Yönleri

Öz

İnançlar arası evlilik, erken modern Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun farklı dinlerden toplulukların yaşadıkları şehir ve bölgelerinde gündelik hayatın bir gerçekliği idi. En yaygın inançlar arası evlilik türleri, Müslüman erkeklerin Müslüman olmayan kadınlarla ve Avrupalı yabancıların yerel Hristiyanlarla evliliğiydi. Bu tür evlilikleri çeşitli kaynaklar aracılığyla biliyoruz ve konunun bazı yönleri şimdiden tarihçilerin dikkatini çekmiştir. Bu makale, erken modern döneme odaklanır ve inançlar arası evliliklere imkân veren yasal dayanaklara, bunlarla ilgili mahkeme uygulamalarına ve Ortodoks Kilisesi’nin inanç dışında evli kadınlara karşı tutumu ile ilgilenir. Makale, Osmanlı, Yunan ve Avrupa kaynaklarına dayanarak, Ortodoks Kilisesi’nin kilise hukuku ve Ortodoks olmayan biriyle evlenme kısıtlamalarını da içeren yasaklarını uygulama gücünü araştırarak, sürmekte olan bir araştırmanın ön sonuçlarını sunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Osmanlı
• evlilik
• aile
• Rum Ortodoks Kilisesi
• şeriat mahkemesi
• kadı sicilleri
• kilise hukuku
• İslam hukuku
• kebin
• nikâh

Interfaith Marriage in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire: Legal and Social Aspects

Öz

Marriage in the Ottoman Empire was regulated by religious law, sultanic decrees, and local custom. In the multiethnic and multireligious realm of the sultans, men and women were expected to marry within their own religious community, according to the latter’s rites and in conformance with its rules, observances, and traditions. This social expectation, however, did not preclude interfaith marriages as long as the latter were sanctioned by the religious authorities concerned or were concluded in a way permissible under Ottoman law, namely with an Islamic marriage contract registered at a kadi court. The most common kinds of interfaith marriage were unions of Muslim men with non-Muslim women and of European foreigners with local Christians. We know about such unions from a variety of sources and some aspects of the issue have already drawn the attention of historians. This article focuses on the early modern period and is concerned with the legal underpinnings that allowed interfaith marriages, the judicial practice concerning them and the stance of the Orthodox Church towards women married outside the faith. The article presents the preliminary results of an ongoing research based on Ottoman, Greek and European sources that investigates the power of the Orthodox Church to implement canon law and its prohibitions, which also includes the prohibition to marry a non-Orthodox person.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Ottoman
• marriage
• family
• Greek Orthodox Church
• Sharia court
• kadı sicilleri
• canon law
• Islamic law
• kebin
• nikâh

Kaynakça

1. Adıyeke, A. N. & Adıyeke, N. (2006). Fethinden Kaybına Girit. Babıali Kültür Yayıncılık.
2. Alexander, J. C. (1985). Law of the Conqueror (the Ottoman State) and Law of the Conquered (the Orthodox Church): The Case of Marriage and Divorce. In XVI Congrès International des Sciences Historiques: Rapports (1, 369-370). Comité International des Sciences Historiques.
3. Ali Efendi (1995). Şeyhülislâm Fetvâları, ed. İ. Ural. Fey Vakfı.
4. Anastasopoulos, A. (2013). Non-Muslims and Ottoman Justice(s?). In J. Duindam, J. Harries, C. Humfress & H. Nimrod (Eds.). Law and Empire: Ideas, Practices, Actors (275-292) Brill.
5. Başaran, B. (2021). 17. ve 18. Yüzyıllarda Kebin Evlilikleri Üzerine Bazı Değerlendirmeler. Tarih ve Toplum, 18, 57-58.
6. Blanchet, M.-H. (2020). Les recommandations du patriarche de Constantinople aux chrétiens orthodoxes de l’Empire ottoman en 1477: Encyclique de Maxime III, Laurentianus Plut. 59, 13, 308r°-314r°. In N. Vatin & E. Borromeo (Eds.). Les Ottomans par eux-mêmes (53-63). Les Belles Lettres.
7. Chelaru, R.-D. (2012). Between Coexistence and Assimilation: Catholic İdentity and Islam in the Western Balkans (Seventeenth-Eighteenth Centuries). Revista İstorică, 23 (291-324).
8. Delikanēs, K. (1905). Patriarchikōn engraphōn tomos tritos … Patriarchikon Typographeion.

9. Düzdağ, M. E. (1998) Şeyhülislâm Ebussu’ûd Efendi’nin Fetvalarına Göre Kanunî Devrinde Osmanlı Hayatı: Fetâvâ-yı Ebussu’ûd Efendi. Şûle Yayınları.
10. Freidenreich, D. M. (2009). Muslims in Canon Law, 650-1000. In D. Thomas & B. Roggema (Eds.), Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History. Volume 1 (600-900) (83-98). Brill.
11. Gallotta, A. (1981). Il “Ġazavât-ı Hayreddîn Paša” di Seyyid Murâd, Studi Magrebini, 13.
12. Gara, E. (2007). Marrying in Seventeenth-Century Mostar. In E. Kolovos, Ph. Kotzageorgis, S. Laiou & M. Sariyannis (Eds.), The Ottoman Empire, the Balkans, the Greek lands: Toward a Social and Economic History. Studies in Honor of John C. Alexander (115-134). The Isis Press.
13. Historia Politica (1849). Historia Politica et Patriarchica Constantinopoleos – Epirotica. Weber.
14. Imber, C. (1996). Women, Marriage and Property: Mahr in the Behçetü’l-Fetāvā of Yenişehirli ‘Abdullāh. In idem, Studies in Ottoman History and Law (263-288). The Isis Press.
15. Imber, C. (1997). Ebu’s-Su‘ud: The Islamic Legal Tradition. Edinburgh University Press.
16. Imber, C. (2002). Guillaume Postel on Temporary Marriage. In S. Prätor & C. K. Neumann (Eds.) Frauen, Bilder und Gelehrte: Studien zu Gesellschaft und Künsten im Osmanischen Reich. Festschrift Hans Georg Majer (179-183). Simurg Kitabevi.
17. Jennings, R. C. (1978). Zimmis (Non-Muslims) in Early 17th Century Ottoman Judicial Records: The Sharia Court of Anatolian Kayseri. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 21, 225–293.
18. Jennings, R. C. (1993). Divorce in the Ottoman Sharia Court of Cyprus, 1580-1640. Studia Islamica, 78, 155-167.
19. Karantzikou, E. & Photeinou, P. (2003). Hierodikeio Hērakleiou: Tritos Kōdikas (1669/73-1750/67). Vikelaia Dēmotike Vivliothēkē.
20. Kermeli, E. (2007). The Right to Choice: Ottoman Justice Vis-À-Vis Ecclesiastical and Communal Justice in the Balkans, Seventeenth–Nineteenth Centuries. In A. Christmann & R. Gleave (Eds.), Studies in Islamic Law: A Festschrift for Colin Imber (165–210). Oxford University Press.
21. Kermeli, E. (2013). Marriage and Divorce of Christians and New Muslims in Early Modern Ottoman Empire: Crete 1645-1670. Oriente Moderno, 93, 495-514.
22. Kolovos, E. (2006). Hē nesiōtikē koinōnia tēs Androu sto othōmaniko plaisio: Prōtē prosengisē me vasē ta othōmanika engrapha tēs Kaireiou Vivliothēkēs (1579-1821). Kaireios Vivliothēkē.
23. Kolovos, E. (2008). A Town for the Besiegers: Social Life and Marriage in Ottoman Candia Outside Candia (1650-1669). In A. Anastasopoulos (Ed.), The Eastern Mediterranean under Ottoman rule: Crete, 1645-1840 (103-175). Crete University Press.
24. Laiou, S. (2007). Christian Women in an Ottoman World: Interpersonal and Family Cases Brought before the Shari‘a Courts during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Cases Involving the Greek Community). In A. Buturovich and I. Schick (Eds.), Women in the Ottoman Balkans: Gender, Culture and History (243- 271). I. B. Tauris.
25. Mamaş, G. (2019). Şer’iyye Sicillerine Göre XII. Yüzyılın Son Çeyreğinde Trabzon’da Boşanma. [Masters Thesis, Karadeniz Technical University].
26. Mujić M. (1987). Sidžil Mostarskog Kadije 1632-34. Prva književna komuna.
27. Odorico, P. (1996). Anamnēseis kai symvoules tou Synadinou, hierea Serrōn stē Makedonia (17os aiōnas). Association Pierre Belon.
28. Özder, M. A. (1981). Türk Halkbiliminde Düğün-Evlilik-Akrabalık Terimleri Sözlüğü. Aslımlar Matbaası.
29. Païzi-Apostolopoulou M. & Apostolopoulos D. G. (2006). Meta tēn kataktēsē: Stochastikes prosarmoges tou Patriarcheiou Kōnstantinoupoleōs se anecdotē enkyklio tou 1477. Ethniko Hidryma Ereunōn.
30. Pantazopoulos, N. Ι. (1967). Church and Law in the Balkan Peninsula During the Ottoman Rule. Institute for Balkan Studies.
31. Pitsakis, C. G. (2003). Les mariages mixtes dans la tradition juridique de l’Église grecque: de l’intransigeance canonique aux pratiques modernes. Études Balkaniques [online], 10. http://journals.openedition.org/etudesbalkaniques/341.
32. Rycaut, P. (1679). The Present State of the Greek and Armenian Churches, Anno Christi 1678 Written at the Command of His Majesty by Paul Ricaut. John Starkey.
33. Rycaut, P. (1686). The History of the Present State of the Ottoman Empire … 6th Edition. Charles Brome.
34. Siddiqui, M. (1995). Mahr: Legal Obligation or Rightful Demand? Journal of Islamic Studies, 6, 14-24.
35. Skendi, S. (1967). Crypto-Christianity in the Balkan Area under the Ottomans. Slavic Review, 26, 227-246.
36. Stavrides, T. (2016). Ottoman Documents from the Archives of the Venetian Consulate of Cyprus, 1671-1765. Cyprus Research Centre.
37. Thévenot, J. (1665). Relation d’un voyage fait au Levant … Thomas Jolly.
38. Tucker, J. (1998). In the House of the Law: Gender and Islamic Law in Ottoman Syria and Palestine. University of California Press.
39. Tucker, J. (2008). Women, Family, and Gender in Islamic Law. Cambridge University Press.
40. Vryonis, S. (1969/1970). The Byzantine Legacy and Ottoman Forms. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 23/24, 251-308.
41. Yavuzer, G. (2022). Legal Plurality in Family Law: Muslim and Christian Families in Seventeenth-Century Istanbul. [Doctoral Thesis, Maryland University].
42. Yıldız, M. (2006). Dünden Bugüne Kafkasya. Yitik Hazine Yayınları.
43. Zelepos, I. (2013). Multi-denominational Interactions in the Ottoman Balkans from a Legal Point of View: The Institution of Kiambin-Marriages. In E. Papo & N. Makuljević (Eds.), Common Culture and Particular Identities: Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Ottoman Balkans (43–53). Moshe David Gaon Center For Ladino Culture & Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.