Early Evidence on the Introduction of Timar in the Balkans and its Use as a Means of Incorporation. The pronoia of Laskaris
Early Evidence on the Introduction of Timar in the Balkans and its Use as a Means of Incorporation. The pronoia of Laskaris

Summary/Abstract: This study concerns a discussion of one of the earliest records of the timar in the Ottoman Balkans, thus it contributes in the first place to the early history of the institution and to the study of the circumstances determining timar-allocation in the newly conquered lands of the Ottoman empire. The relevant information is derived from a Greek ecclesiastical document of the year 1393 drawn by the tribunal of the diocese of Serres. The reference to a timar existing then in the vicinity of Serres is peripheral to the subject of the document, which concerns the settlement of a property dispute between a number of monasteries. The deployment of this study expands to legal issues concerning possession and disposition of monastic property within the Ottoman framework; to a re-assessment of what is known about the introduction of timar in the Balkans during the fourteenth century already. Since, in this particular case, the timar-holder was a Greek, who can be identified as a member of the pre-existing Byzantine provincial aristocracy, we proceed to investigating the social profile of Christian timar-holders, as well as the use of the timar as one of the means for the incorporation of elite groupings among the conquered peoples into the Ottoman power structures.

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