No abstract

No abstract

Qadis, Consuls and Beratlıs in the 18th Century Author: Maurits van den Boogert Pre-modern Western sources generally claim that European mercantile communities in the Ottoman Empire enjoyed legal autonomy, and were thus e fectively immune to Ottoman justice. At the same time, they report numerous disputes with Ottoman o cials over jurisdiction ("avanias"), which seems to contradict this claim, the discrepancy being considered proof of the capriciousness of the Ottoman legal system. Modern studies of Ottoman-European relations in this period have tended uncritically to accept this interpretation, which is challenged in this book. Readership All those interested in legal history, the history of Islamic law, the history of the Ottoman Empire, the history of European-Ottoman relations, as well as historians of the Middle East in general. For more information see brill.com

In the Western sources, the Ottoman legal system is often portrayed as unreliable and incidents of Europeans or Ottoman protégés of Western embassies and consulates who claimed to have been maltreated abound. These reports strengthened the common notion in Europe that Ottoman government officials were rapacious and corrupt. The article challenges these views by analyzing two incidents from 18th-century Aleppo, which shed light not only on the dynamics of Ottoman-European relations on the ground, but also on the status of non-Muslim elites in the Ottoman Empire.

Older works on Isaac Basire are Beaglehole C.H., The life and times of Dr. Isaac Basire (typescript, not published, Dartington [appr. 1950]), which we have not been able to track down, and Darnell W.N. (ed.), The correspondence of Isaac Basire (London: 1831). Darnell does not mention Bobovius as one of Basire's correspondents, but according to an anonymous, deadly, critique, entitled Remarks upon the defects and inaccuracies in 'The Reverend W.N. Darnell's Correspondence and Memoir of Dr. Basire' (London: 1831) (passim) one of Darnell's shortcomings is his limited selection of sources.