DAS PELZHANDWERK IM VALİDE HÂNI: ANMERKUNGEN ZUM VERHÂLTNIS ESNÂF UND VAQF IM 18. JAHRHUNDERT
FUR DRESSING AT VALİDE HAN: SOME OBSERVATIONS OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN GUILDS AND WAQFS IN THE 18th CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with some of the basic features of the social history of craftsmen in Istanbul in the second half of the 18th century. The emphasis is on the social and economic conditions related to hans (hostelries). In this context, the han does not signify a place for the accommodation of travelers or lodging of single craftsmen and their ciraks, but civil facilities of various sizes where a large number of workshops of the same craft were clustered. The documents at the author's disposal refer to such a han in Istanbul manufacturing and selling various kinds of fur. These are a document from the Cevdet-Iktisat Catalogue from 1168 AH (1754 AD) unpublished so far and kept in the Başbakanlik Archives, and the documents published in "İstanbul Esnaf Tarihi" 1,2 (= İstanbul Külliyatı I, VIII). In part one, general economic conditions in which the guilds operated are presented. Concentration of craftsmen of the same guild in one place had always been one of the most important characteristics of the Ottoman economic system. In the second half of the 18th century, this status in İstanbul changed considerably. The increased immigration into the city and the ownership of numerous shops by the waqf prompted dispersion of trades. One of the reasons why the craftsmen frequently abandoned their shops and looked for another location or way to provide for themselves were frequent rent rises by the waqf.

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