The social structure of the Ottoman Empire rested on a basic division between rulers and ruled. The rulers were called “askerî,” and the tax-paying population “reaya.” In addition, society was divided into millets on the basis of religion and sect. Townspeople, villagers and nomads, with their different ways of life and tax obligations, formed the main components of this structure.
Quick Summary
- Society was basically divided into two: the askerî class and the reaya.
- The askerî class was exempt from taxes; administrators, soldiers and the ulema belonged to this class.
- Non-Muslims were organized within the millet system, which was based on religion.
- In the cities, artisans were organized with representatives such as the şeyh, kethüda and yiğitbaşı.
- The social structure of the Ottoman Empire was not a closed caste order; movement between classes was possible.
Contents
- The general structure
- The askerî class
- The reaya
- The millet system
- Townspeople, villagers and nomads
- Artisans and guilds
- The ayan and eşraf
- Social mobility
- Frequently asked questions
What Was the Social Structure of the Ottoman Empire Like?
The social structure of the Ottoman Empire rested on a division inherited from Islamic political thought. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, the tax-paying population outside the ruling askerî stratum and the ulema was called “reaya.” According to the encyclopedia, the roots of this concept probably go back to Sasanian Iran. The concept passed to the Ottomans through the Seljuks.
Besides these two main strata, there were other distinctions based on religion, occupation and way of life. Muslims and non-Muslims had different legal statuses. The taxes and obligations of townspeople, villagers and nomads also differed from one another.
Behind this order lay an understanding called the “circle of justice.” According to the encyclopedia, this understanding saw sovereignty, the army, the treasury, the reaya and justice as interconnected elements. The reaya were regarded as a trust from God to the ruler. It was therefore the sultan’s essential duty to make sure that the reaya were not oppressed. Writers of ethical works and books of advice described society in four classes: the men of learning, the warriors, the merchants and artisans, and the farmers.
The Askerî Class: The Rulers
The word “askerî” did not refer only to soldiers, as it does in today’s sense. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, this class consisted of the administrators, soldiers and ulema who represented the ruler’s authority. The askerî were in turn divided into two groups: the ehl-i örf (men of executive authority) and the ehl-i şer‘ (men of religious law). The encyclopedia also refers to the askerî class in three branches: the seyfiye (men of the sword), the kalemiye (men of the pen) and the ilmiye (men of religious learning).
Because the boundaries of the class were vague, they were clarified from time to time by imperial decrees. According to the encyclopedia, these decrees listed the Janissaries, the sipahis and their families first. The yayas and müsellems, the yörüks and the tatars were also askerî because of their auxiliary services. Scribes, tax farmers, kadıs, müderrises, imams, preachers and seyyids were likewise included in this class. Service groups such as bridge-keepers, pass guards, miners and falconers were also counted as askerî.
The most important privilege of the askerî class was its exemption from taxes. When members of this class died, their estates were divided by the military estate officers (kassam) attached to the kazasker. In a lawsuit, an askerî party could ask to be tried before the kazasker instead of the ordinary kadı. There were also differences in punishment: the ehl-i örf could receive any punishment, including death, while the heaviest punishment given to the ulema was usually dismissal and exile. We discussed the structure of the army in our article on military organization in the Ottoman Empire.
The Reaya: The Ruled
According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, reaya is the plural of the word ra‘iyya, which literally means “a herd of cattle or sheep.” Over time the concept came to denote the tax-paying artisans and farmers outside the men of the pen and the sword. According to the encyclopedia, in the nineteenth century the word was also used for the non-Muslim subjects who paid harac to the state. The reaya were themselves divided into Muslim reaya and zimmi (dhimmi) reaya.
The great majority of the reaya were farmers living in villages. Villagers worked the land belonging to the state and paid taxes such as the tithe (öşür) on their produce. Part of these taxes was left to the timar-holding sipahi as his income. In this respect, the social structure of the Ottoman Empire was closely tied to agricultural production and the timar order.
According to the encyclopedia, a “çift” was the land that could be plowed in a year with a pair of oxen, varying between 60 and 150 dönüms depending on the sancak. However, most villagers held half a çift or less. Non-Muslims, in addition to the jizya, eventually became liable to pay the ispence instead of the çift tax. We described the tax system in our article on Ottoman tax units.
The legal position of the reaya also had an advantage. According to the encyclopedia, compared with the askerî class, the reaya were in a safer position with regard to confiscation (müsadere) and execution by sultanic decree (siyaseten katl). The difference between the strata did not always mean a difference in wealth either. A timar holder with a land grant of a thousand akçe and a vizier with a has income of millions of akçe belonged to the same class. A rich non-Muslim who lent money to high officials for tax-farming deals, on the other hand, had reaya status.
The Millet System
The social structure of the Ottoman Empire also included a communal order based on religion. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, the millet organization was based not on ethnic origin and language but on religion and sect. According to the encyclopedia, expressions such as “millet-i Ermeniyân” and “milel-i selâse” (the three millets) appear in documents from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. The large non-Muslim communities of the classical period were the Greek Orthodox, the Armenians and the Jews.
According to the encyclopedia, the Greek Orthodox church and its patriarch were the most typical example of this system. The Bulgarians, Serbs, Orthodox Albanians and Orthodox Arabs were also subject to the spiritual, financial and legal supervision of the patriarchate in the Phanar. The Armenians were organized as two separate millets, Gregorian and Catholic. After the mid-nineteenth century, Protestant Armenians also appeared. When Protestantism was recognized, the Armenians came to belong to three separate millets.
According to the encyclopedia, the millet organization was not a social classification. Within each millet there could be privileged groups counted as askerî and exempted from taxes. The Christian soldiers called martolos and the Bulgarian fighters called voynuks were examples of this. A Greek metropolitan or a chief rabbi was likewise regarded in this respect like a Muslim müderris. We discussed the rights granted to non-Muslims in detail in our article on the millet system.
Townspeople, Villagers and Nomads
The social structure of the Ottoman Empire can also be divided into three groups by way of life: townspeople, villagers and nomads. Artisans, merchants, ulema and state officials lived in the cities. The villages were home to the farmers who made up the great majority of the population. According to the encyclopedia, townspeople were sometimes shown separately from the reaya in the law codes (kanunname). For example, townspeople did not pay the çift tax unless they held land with çift status within the city limits.
According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, nomadism (konar-göçerlik) is a way of life based on animal husbandry that complements settled life. According to the encyclopedia, these groups appear in archival records under names such as “yörük,” “Türkmen taifesi” and “haymâne.” Sixteenth-century tax surveys show that some of them quickly settled down and founded new villages. Their main taxes were the summer and winter pasture dues (yaylak and kışlak resmi) and the sheep tax (ağnam). In the sixteenth century the sheep tax was one akçe for every two sheep.
How Were Artisans and Guilds Organized?
The backbone of urban life was the artisans. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, the artisan organization included the şeyh, kethüda, yiğitbaşı, master, journeyman and apprentice. Their duties and rights were regulated according to custom and regulations (nizamname). After learning the finer points of the craft, a journeyman was promoted to master in a ceremony. In this ceremony the yiğitbaşı girded the new master with a peştamal (apron) while prayers were said.
According to the encyclopedia, the word “lonca” comes from the Italian “loggia.” The word first referred to the place where artisans met and raw materials were distributed. From the seventeenth century onward, it began to be used directly as the name of the artisan organization. The oldest archival document concerning Istanbul’s artisans in which the term lonca appears is dated 1697. According to the encyclopedia, the terms lonca and gedik were never used interchangeably in the documents.
According to the encyclopedia, in the Ottoman Empire there was a relationship between the Ahi brotherhood and the artisan organization from the very beginning. Officials such as the ahi baba remained at the head of some artisan associations until the first half of the nineteenth century. The prices of goods and services were also set by official tariffs called narh. We described the commercial buildings of the cities in our article on places of trade.
The Ayan and Eşraf
According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, ayan refers to people who stood out in the eyes of the public for their lineage and prestige. Kadıs, muftis, leading artisans, rich merchants and tax farmers were counted among the ayan. According to the encyclopedia, all of them together were called “a‘yân-ı vilâyet” (notables of the province). In the affairs of a region, the counterpart of governors and kadıs was the chief ayan (baş âyan).
According to the encyclopedia, the ayan began to gain importance from the second half of the sixteenth century onward. The farming out of vacant timars increased the power over the peasantry of the ayan who acted as tax farmers. In October 1808, the Sened-i İttifak (Deed of Alliance) was signed at a meeting attended by a small number of ayan. However, because most of the ayan did not sign the document, the expected result was not achieved.
Social Mobility
The social structure of the Ottoman Empire was not a closed caste order. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, passage from the reaya to the ruling askerî stratum was possible through a sultanic berat. Christian children collected through the devshirme could rise to the highest offices of the state. Madrasa education also gave children of ordinary families the chance to enter the ulema class.
The passage could also work in reverse. According to the encyclopedia, retired members of the askerî class and the sons of sipahis lost this status if they cut their ties with military service and were registered as reaya. Even so, some writers did not look favorably on movement between classes. Koçi Bey wrote that it was not permissible for reaya and townspeople to become Janissaries.
Women were also an important part of this social order. Court records show that women acquired property, received inheritances and could file lawsuits. We discussed the subject in our article on the place of women in the Ottoman period.
Frequently Asked Questions
What classes made up the social structure of the Ottoman Empire?
It was basically divided into two: the rulers (askerî) and the ruled (reaya). The askerî class was exempt from taxes, while the reaya paid taxes.
What does millet mean in the social structure of the Ottoman Empire?
A millet is a community organized on the basis of religion and sect. The Greek Orthodox, the Armenians and the Jews were organized as separate millets.
Who were the reaya?
They were the tax-paying farmers, artisans and merchants outside the askerî class. In the nineteenth century the word was also used for the non-Muslim subjects who paid harac.
What is a lonca?
It is the name of the place where organized artisans met and, over time, of the artisan associations themselves. The word comes from the Italian “loggia.”
Conclusion
The social structure of the Ottoman Empire rested on the basic division between the askerî class and the reaya. The millet system held communities of different religions together with their own institutions. The artisan organization regulated the urban economy, and the timar order regulated rural life. Thanks to paths such as the devshirme and the madrasa, movement between classes was also possible. This flexibility made it easier for different groups to live together for centuries within the social structure of the Ottoman Empire.
1 thought on “Social Structure of the Ottoman Empire”