What would you be seeing if you had arrived to Istanbul in the seventeenth century? Imagine you are a seventeenth century author writing a travelogue or a chronicle about your city? How will you begin your work? What is your first sentence?
Today’s Lecture Review Hippodrome, Aya Sofya, Ahi Çelebi Mosque Life in the Seventeenth Century Istanbul Population Vakfs and urban centers Life and Death
Review Evliya Çelebi and the Legends of Constantinople -Monuments at the Hippodrome -Hagia Sophia Evliya Çelebi’s Dream and Ahi Çelebi Mosque Sculpture of Justinianus, Hippodrome and Hagia Sophia from Tercüme-i Miftâh-ı Cifrü’l Câmi. (Translation of the Cifr Book of Cami), 15th century
Sultan Süleyman watching the festivities, from the Hünernâme (Book of Skills), sixteenth century.
Mehmed II aiming at the serpent column from Hünernâme, sixteenth century
The talismanic sculptures in Istanbul, from an illustrated manuscript of a book called “Wonders of Art and Nature”
Avratpazarı (today in Cerrahpaşa) and the column of Arcadius, c Avratpazarı (today in Cerrahpaşa) and the column of Arcadius, c.1610, woodcut.
Weekly market at Avratpazarı, painting from a mid-seventeenth-century album
Prophet Süleyman at his throne with the queen, from the Falname, (Book of Fortune) early seventeenth century
Three horses on columns from an illustrated manuscript of a book called “Wonders of Art and Nature”
Prophet Süleyman at this throne, from Bursalı Firdevsi, Süleymanname, late fifteenth-early sıxteenthe century
Canaletto (1697-1768) Capriccio: The Horses of San Marco in the Piazzetta
The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, built between 1806 and 1808 to commemorate Napoleon’s military victories of the previous year.
Sculpture of Justinianus, Hippodrome and Hagia Sophia from Tercüme-i Miftâh-ı Cifrü’l Câmi. (Translation of the Cifr Book of Cami), 15th century
Sultan Süleyman watching the festivities, from the Hünernâme (Book of Skills), sixteenth century.
Population of Istanbul? 1520-1535 according to Barkan About 400 000 people (80 000 households) 46, 635 Muslim households 25, 292 Christian households 8, 070 Jewish households 58.7% Muslim, 41.7% Christian and Jewish
Population of Istanbul Earliest Report from 1477
If you wish to stand in high honor on the sultan’s threshold You must be a Jew or a Persian or a Frank You must choose the name Habil, Kabil, Hamidi And behave like Zorzo: show no knowledge By a certain Çatladı, a courtier of Mehmed II Complexes built by the ruling elite Rum Mehmed Paşa complex (left) Mahmud Paşa Complex (right)
Süleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul. What is included in this complex?
Review: plan of Süleyman’s complex (külliye) Mosque and mausoleums of Süleyman and Hürreö 4 general medreses 2 specialized medreses- one for the study of medicine, the other for the study of hadis a Koran school for the children a hospital a hospice (tabhane) a public kitchen (imarethane) a hammam rows of small shops
Vakf (waqf) : pious endowment Vakfiye : the deed of endowment, drawn up before a kadi, entered in his registers and confirmed by the sultan. Continued existence, because profits from a source, does not impair the capital Legal fiction, only God has propriety rights, even if government and states change in theory the continuation guaranteed. İmaret (complex): supported by a vakf may consist of mosque, fountain, tomb, schools (primary, hadith, medicine, law), hospital, sufi lodge, soup kitchen, carvanserai, hamam, shops
LONDON Population estimates In 1563, 93 000 1593-5, 152 000 1632, 317 000 1700, 700 000 end of 18th cent, 860, 000 ISTANBUL population estimates In 1520-1535, 400 000 In 1600s, 600 000 to 700 000
A panorama of London by Claes Van Visscher, 1616. Old St A panorama of London by Claes Van Visscher, 1616. Old St. Paul’s had lost its spire by this time. The two theatres on the foreground (Southwark) side of the Thames are the Bear Garden and The Globe. The large church in the foreground is St Mary Overie
Great Fire of Istanbul in 1660 begins in Ayazma kapı (near Unkapanı) spreads to Bayezıd ve Fatih, Kapalıçarşı, Mahmud Paşa, Tahtakale, Kumkapı 40 000 dead 280 000 houses 300 palaces 100 hans and kervansarays Other major fires in the seventeenth century: 1633, 1645, 1652, 1653, 1656, 1665, 1678, 1680, 1681, 1685, 1687, 1690, 1691, 1691, 1693, 1695, 1698, 1701
“No bells tolled and nobody wept no matter what his loss because almost everyone expected death” “Father abounded child, wife husband, one brother another… for this plague seemed to strike through the breath and sight. And so they die. And no one could be found to bury the dead for money or friendship… And I, Angola di Tura, called the Fat, buried my five children with my own hands, and so did many others likewise.”
Today’s Lecture Review Hippodrome, Aya Sofya, Ahi Çelebi Mosque Life in the Seventeenth Century Istanbul Population Vakfs and urban centers Life and Death