Palestinian peasants and Ottoman officials : rural administration around sixteenth-century Jerusalem / Amy Singer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Singer, Amy.

Series:

Cambridge studies in Islamic civilization

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Peasants--Jerusalem Region--History--16th century.

Peasants.

History.

Peasants--Taxation--Jerusalem Region--History--16th century.

Peasants--Taxation.

Military government--Jerusalem Region--History--16th century.

Military government.

Court records--Jerusalem Region--History--16th century.

Court records.

Physical Description:

xvii, 201 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Summary:

In a unique study of rural administration in the Ottoman empire, Amy Singer explores the relationship between Palestinian peasants and Ottoman provincial officials around Jerusalem in the mid-sixteenth century. With the use of court records, the author provides detailed information on local conditions of production, the mechanisms for assessing and collecting taxes, and the strategies that were evolved for evading them. The administration functioned as a process of negotiation and compromise between peasants and military-administrative officials, mediated often through the kadi who was the judicial authority for both in virtually all matters. It was framed by the Ottoman timar system, and was infused with an ideology which stressed the sultan's responsibility to protect the producing peasants as essential to the prosperity of his empire. The book emphasizes the complex, colourful and interactive nature of Ottoman provincial administration, which, while obliged to extract revenues from the peasants and impress them with the power of imperial authority, was nevertheless profoundly influenced by local conditions and traditional practices in its dealings with the populace.

Contents:

1 Peasants, Palestine, and the Ottoman Empire 1

Palestine and the Ottoman Empire 3

Peasants and peasant studies 10

2 Aspects of Authority 24

Officials 24

Peasants 30

The ra'is al-fallahin 32

3 The Rules of Local Administration 46

Taxation 47

Production 55

The weight of taxation 58

4 Real Accounts and Accounting 64

Abu Dis 64

Ayn Karim 71

Bittir 75

Nahiyat Bani Zayd 76

Bayt Lahm and Bayt Jala 80

'Inab 85

Conclusion on the paying of taxes 87

5 Between Rebellion and Oppression 89

"Tamarrud ve fesad"

"rebellious" peasants 90

"Zulm ve ta'addi"

"oppressive" officials 107

Other disruptive factors 113

6 Realities and Routines 119

Images of authority 122

Illusions of power 124

Peasants and the Empire 127

I. Survey information on individual villages 132

II. Tables of imams and olive oil 137

III. List of village leaders 154.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

0521452384

OCLC:

29224038