Master Thesis Defense: Fatma PelinTığlay
INHERITORS AND AN OTTOMAN CITY’S TRIAL WITH MODERNTY: SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF BURSA FROM PROBATE REGISTERS, 1700-1840
Fatma PelinTığlay
History, M.Sc. Thesis, 2015
Thesis Jury
Hülya Canbakal (Thesis Supervisor), Alpay Filiztekin, Mustafa Erdem Kabadayı
Date &Time: June,29th , 2015 – 12:00
Place: FASS 2034
Abstract
In the light of the recent evidence from Thomas Piketty and other scholars’ works, the
importance of intergenerational money transfer for capital accumulation is better highlighted
in the last decade. Due to the lack of research, the share of the money received through
inheritance remained ambiguous in the Ottoman Empire. To shed light on this matter, this
thesis project aims at tracking the division of inheritance in Ottoman Bursa for four
consecutive periods of 20 years with 20 year gaps in between from 1700 to 1840, based on
probate registers. Although there is a predefined list of heirs according to Shari’a, the
predominant legal system of the realm, the thesis aspires to distinguish theory from practice
and observe the heir list, number and type in reality in the given time frame. In addition to
calculating the total heir number for five different wealth quintiles; based on the primary heir
list set in Islamic law which is studied under this topic, the data on the total number of heirs
with primary and greater claims on estate for each wealth quintile is also analyzed. Contrary
to Timur Kuran’s argument about the lack of capital accumulation in the Ottoman Empire,
which he attributes to egalitarian division of inheritance in Shari’a, the findings of this thesis
indicate that there exists a gradual contraction of heirs between periods and especially among
the wealthy quintiles, which hints at more capital accumulation, especially in later periods.
Although intergenerational capital accumulation in other cities should also be studied further,
the evidence of this thesis is important for interpreting the practical consequences of Shari’a
and depict capital accumulation in Bursa which is important also for debates on modernity in
the Ottoman Empire.