Women in the Ottoman Balkans: Gender, Culture and History
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According to another record in the Defter, the vakuf founded by Havadže
Durak in Sarajevo was supported by his daughters: Hanifa, Emiršaha, and
Merdžana—mentioned in the Defter as Havadže Durak’s daughters34—endowed
three shops, probably one each, and thus founded a joint endowment. They also
joined their endowments to their father’s.35 Havadže Durak, like Havadže Kemal,
had a son named Mehmed Čelebi, who was also a benefactor. Having founded
a vakuf, this Mehmed Čelebi commissioned the construction of a school near
Firuz Beg’s baths in Sarajevo,36 where his father’s shops were located, as were the
shops endowed by Hanifa, Emiršaha, and Merdžana. Based on this record, we can
almost certainly take Mehmed Čelebi to be the brother of Hanifa, Emiršaha, and
Merdžana, and all four as the benefactor Havadže Durak’s direct descendents.
The information we have collected about the two families, those of Havadže
Kemal and Havadže Durak, shows that the two sons named Mehmed Čelebi
established independent vakuf s, though smaller than those established by their
fathers. Both endowed significantly more property than their sisters. Without
assessing the issue of the magnitude of the property of the brothers and sisters, it
is proper to notice here that they decided on the type of vakuf they were going to
establish according to their means.
Another woman whom we can assume to have joined her vakuf to her father’s
was named Fatma. The Defter records her as the daughter of a man named Sinan.
She endowed the amount of 3,600 akçe and joined it to the endowment of Keke
Sinan.37 Were the names coincidentally identical, or was Fatma in fact the daughter
of the benefactor Keke Sinan?38 If she was, then she has something in common
with the sisters Hanifa, Emiršaha, and Merdžana: these women’s vakuf s were the
only ones joined to their father’s endowments prior to 1604.
The relationships between the founders of large and small vakuf s were not
always vertical, as confirmed by the example of a woman called Hanifa, who
joined her vakuf to one founded by her husband. This can be determined from a
record in the Defter according to which Hanifa was Hajji Eynehan’s wife, and the
vakuf to which she joined hers had been founded by Hajji Eynehan.39
Hatidža Hatun, Voivoda Sinan’s daughter, is another woman who joined
her vakuf to her husband’s. Her husband Husein Beg had commissioned the
construction of a mosque and two schools in Rogatica. Hatidža Hatun decided
to participate, with a relatively large amount of property, in the maintenance
of Husein Beg’s vakuf. This information about her vakuf comes to us from her
husband’s vakufnama.40 In fact, at the time Husein Beg founded his vakuf, his wife
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Hatidža Hatun and his sister Mihri Hatun did the same. Both women set aside and
endowed part of their property, and then joined their own vakuf s to Husein Beg’s.
Thus, Husein Beg’s vakufnama contains at the same time the vakufnama s relating
to the establishment of these two women’s vakuf s.41 If Husein Beg’s vakufnama
had not been preserved, the record of the vakuf s of Hatidža Hatun and Mihri Hatun
might have been lost forever. The vakufnama’s statement that Mihri Hatun joined
her vakuf to the one founded by her brother42 makes her the only benefactress
from the early period of Ottoman Bosnia about whom we have established with
certainty that she gave support to a brother’s endowment. This, of course, does
not mean that she was the only such example, but the absence of sources like
vakufnama s deprives us of the possibility to study other similar cases.
As for other benefactors of whom we find evidence only in the 1604 Defter,
we cannot even speculate about their kinship with founders of the vakuf s to which
they joined theirs. The reason is that the names of benefactresses were registered in
the Defter inconsistently, sometimes including the name of father and sometimes
not. Some women’s names were registered with their husbands’ names, while for
others such information is not present. Thus, we have one benefactress recorded
only as Emina Hatun, and we know nothing of her except that she joined her vakuf,
established with the amount of 3,000 akçe, to Pašajigit’s mescid in Sarajevo’s
Dülger Ibrahim quarter.43 The name of another woman who endowed the same
amount to Pašajigit’s mescid will (probably) forever remain unknown. She was
not recorded even under her own name, but only as the wife of a confectioner
[ halvadžija/ helvacı].44 Likewise the name of a woman who was recorded only
as the wife of a certain “Iskender the tailor [ hayyât]” will remain unknown. She
donated her 3,000 akçe to Mevlan Arap’s endowment, and was one of two women
who had given it money prior to 1604. The Defter records that the other woman
was named Selima Hatun.45 Kadriya Hatun was another sixteenth-century woman
of whom we know only that she was a benefactress.46 The fact that some women
were unnamed may be an indicator of their modest social status.
Endowments of Women Within Endowments with Different Proceeds
The Defter does not contain any information that would give us insight into what
else, apart from family relationships, could have influenced a benefactress’s
decision to join a particular vakuf. Women joined their vakuf s both to richer
and poorer ones. Emina Hatun, whom we have just mentioned, and the woman
recorded in the Defter as the wife of a confectioner, both decided to support the
maintenance of Pašajigit’s vakuf—an endowment that had very modest proceeds,
sufficient only to meet the institution’s basic expenses. The two women, together
with four male benefactors, contributed to the maintenance of a mescid. Even
more modest were the proceeds of Yakub Pasha’s endowment. This was the
consequence of a fire which had damaged the buildings whose proceeds had
been used to maintain it.47 The pasha had founded this endowment at the time
when he was governor of Bosnia. He was appointed to that position in 1490,
and the following year he had a mescid built which was thus one of the oldest
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107
in Sarajevo.48 It is certain that after the fire, the maintenance of that mescid was
supported by the four vakuf s which had been joined to Yakub Pasha’s endowment
prior to 1604. Among the benefactors of these smaller vakuf s was a woman
named Seljuka, the wife of Hajji Kemal.49 Since Yakub Pasha’s endowment was
in financial difficulty, Seljuka’s endowment was probably very important. She
endowed 3,600 akçe and proceeds from two shops. Compared to Nesuh Voivoda’s
vakuf, which was established with the amount of 10,000 akçe and was also joined
to Yakub Pasha’s endowment, Seljuka’s vakuf was only half as large, but it is
important to note the title of voivoda added to the name of the benefactor Nesuh,
which shows his relatively high status. He also donated the amount of 3,000 akçe
to another endowment—for a mosque located in Sarajevo’s Yahya Pasha quarter.
On the other hand, the assets in Seljuka’s vakuf were about twice the size of those<
br />
contributed to Yakub Pasha’s endowment by two men: one founded a vakuf with
the amount of 1,500 akçe, and the other with the amount of 1,000 akçe.
Selime Hatun and the tailor Iskender’s wife, along with two male benefactors,
helped the maintenance of the poor vakuf in Sarajevo’s Yahya Pasha quarter.
Fatma, daughter of Sinan, and Hanifa’s daughter, Hajji Eynehan’s wife, also
supported the maintenance of two endowments with lower proceeds. We have
already shown that these two women had joined their endowments to vakuf s of
their family members. Keke Sinan’s endowment, to which Fatma joined hers, had
indeed low proceeds, and this is shown by a record in the Defter according to which
the benefactor Keke Sinan had stipulated the condition that the salaries of the
prayer leader [ imam] and endowment administrator [ mütevelli/ mutawalli] should
be proportionally reduced if the income from the endowment was insufficient to
cover the modest amounts he was in a position to provide for.
Some other women, however, joined their vakuf s to richer ones. Đulnasa,
Hasan Čelebi’s wife, did so by joining her vakuf to Ayas Pasha’s,50 one of the
richest and oldest vakuf s in Bosnia. Ayas Pasha had served two terms as Bosnia’s
governor, and, at the end of his governorship in 1477, had founded a vakuf in
Sarajevo51 within which he built a mescid, a small school, and a bridge. By 1604,
five smaller vakuf s had been joined to Ayas Pasha’s endowment, one of which was
established by Đulnasa. Aiša Hatun, Ali Voivoda’s daughter, joined her vakuf to
Hajji Muslihudin’s endowment, one of the richest in sixteenth-century Sarajevo.
It is not known whether Aiša was related to Hajji Muslihudin. From 1526, when
Muslihudin’s mosque was built, until 1604, she was the only benefactor in
Sarajevo who joined her vakuf to Muslihudin’s. The same details are recorded in
the 1565 Defter, showing that Aiša had been a benefactor at that earlier date.
At that time, as witnessed by the 1604 Defter, the vakuf founded by Hajji Idriz
in Sarajevo had the largest number of joined vakuf s—12 smaller endowments had
been joined to it. Four of these had been founded by women: Hanifa Hatun, who
endowed 4,000 akçe; Shehsuvar Hatun, who endowed the same amount; Emina
Hatun, Atmadži’s daughter, who donated 3,000 akçe; and finally Đulizar Hatun,
who donated the smaller amount of 1,300 akçe.52 These data still do not reflect the
true proportion of women and men who joined their vakuf s to Hajji Idriz’s, since,
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of the 12 endowments joined to it, four were endowed by the same person—Yusuf,
son of Abdullah. On four distinct occasions, Yusuf endowed various amounts of
money (totalling 7,500 akçe) to add to Hajji Idriz’s endowment.53 Thus, in all,
nine people endowed property as additional funds for Hajji Idriz’s vakuf; five
were men, and four were women. We can see already in the Defter that Hajji
Idriz’s endowment was relatively rich at the time when Hanife Hatun, Shehsuvar
Hatun, Emina Hatun, and Đulizar Hatun joined their vakuf s to it. It is known from
the literature that Hajji Idriz was a wealthy merchant, and that he had another
mosque built, as well as hostelry for travellers [ kervansaray] in Kiseljak, near
Sarajevo.54 According to the 1565 Defter, Hajji Idriz’s endowment in Sarajevo
only had one joined vakuf at the time—the one established by Hanifa Hatun. Her
name was also recorded in the 1604 Defter as the first among the benefactors who
had joined their vakuf s to Hajji Idriz’s. From this, we can conclude that the first
vakuf joined to Hajji Idriz’s belonged to a woman. Eleven more were joined in the
period between two censuses of 1565 and 1604.
Hajji Idriz’s endowment in Sarajevo was comprised of a mescid and a school.55
The mescid must have been built around 1540, when a Sarajevo quarter by that
name is mentioned in the sources for the first time.56 This mescid existed until
1938.57
Since Hajji Idriz’s endowment had the largest number of joined women’s vakuf s
in the sixteenth century, it would be interesting to know to what extent women
contributed to its maintenance in later periods, as the four women mentioned above
had during the first decades of its existence. However, this requires additional
research into the history of the endowment during subsequent centuries.
As regards the proportion of women’s vakuf s participating in the maintenance
of a larger endowment, in addition to Hajji Idriz’s vakuf, it is also worth mentioning
Havadže Kemal’s. According to the Defter, that endowment also had quite a large
number of joined vakuf s—as many as seven. Of that total, three belonged to
women: apart from Havadže Kemal’s daughters Nefisa and Hanifa, Aliya Čelebi’s
daughter Hanifa also joined her vakuf to it.
What Sixteenth-Century Women Endowed
According to records in the Defter, women at that time endowed money and, to
a much lesser extent, real estate. The amounts they set aside from their property
for the vakuf were generally of about equal value: most women endowed the
amount of 3,000 akçe (Aiša Hatun; Emina Hatun; Emina Hatun, daughter of
Atmadži; the wife of the confectioner; Hanifa, daughter of Aliya Čelebi; Hanifa,
daughter of Havadže Kemal; Hanifa, wife of Hajji Eynehan; Selima Hatun; the
wife of Iskender the tailor). The number who gave amounts exceeding 3,000 akçe
is smaller (Đulnasa: 3,640, Fatma: 3,600, Kadriya Hatun: 3,600, Seljuka: 3,600).
The largest amount recorded in the 1604 Defter for a women’s joined vakuf is
4,000 akçe, endowed once by Hanifa Hatun and once by Shehsuvar Hatun, and the
smallest was 1,300 akçe, endowed by Đulizar Hatun. An amount almost twice as
large as hers was endowed by Nefisa, daughter of Havadže Kemal (2,500 akçe).
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If the joined vakuf s founded by women are compared to those founded by men,
we can see that the majority of women’s and men’s monetary vakuf s were made
up of similar amounts. The most common figure was 3,000 akçe. The largest
number of men’s vakuf s, just like women’s, were founded through endowing
cash. However, the number of men who endowed the proceeds of shops or land
is higher than the corresponding number of women. Among the latter, such
proceeds were endowed by the sisters Hanifa, Emiršaha, and Merdžana. They are
the only women in the 1604 Defter who established a vakuf by endowing only real
estate—each sister donated a shop. In the same Defter, Seljuka is the only woman
whose joined vakuf was founded by both cash (3,600 akçe) and the proceeds of
two shops.
It is difficult to determine reliably how the women had originally acquired the
property of which they disposed, but it is probable that they had inherited it. This
hypothesis is strongly suggested by the example just mentioned of the sisters
Hanifa, Emiršaha, and Merdžana: there is a record in the Defter stating that the
shops they endowed for the vakuf were near Firuz Beg’s baths, and in the vicinity
of the same building there were also twenty-nine shops that Havadže Durak, their
<
br /> father, had endowed when he established his own vakuf. Thus, we can claim with
virtual certainty that the sisters had inherited the aforementioned shops from their
father. We do not know if the sisters Hanifa and Nefisa inherited the money with
which they founded their vakuf s from their father. However, we do see that at the
time the 1604 Defter was compiled, the endowment of their father Havadže Kemal
disposed of rather large funds in comparison with other endowments—amounting
to 40,995 akçe in cash and the proceeds of ten shops and three houses.
Hatidža Hatun, the daughter of Voivoda Sinan, endowed a much larger amount
than all the women mentioned above: her monetary vakuf totalled 15,016 akçe.58
We know that Hatidža was the wife of Husein Beg and the daughter of Voivoda
Sinan. Whether Hatidža Hatun had also inherited her property from her father
remains unknown, but it is certain that he had enjoyed high status. He was also a
benefactor, and had a mescid built in Rogatica, where Hatidža Hatun lived with
her husband Husein Beg. Hatidža’s brother Oruč Aga was also a benefactor.59
At the time Hatidža founded her vakuf, her parents Sinan Voivoda and Fatima
Hatun were dead.60 Therefore, it is possible that she had inherited property from
her parents—property that now legally belonged to her. At the same time, her
husband’s sister, Mihri Hatun, founded a vakuf with an amount only one-fifth
as large (3,000 akçe), the same quantity as was endowed by the majority of
benefactors in the sixteenth century.
Among vakuf s established by women by the end of the sixteenth century, the
one founded by Šemse Kaduna is noteworthy for the size of its funding. She
was the wife of Sinan Beg, who held the position of administrator [ sanjakbeg/
sancak beyi] of Herzegovina several times during the second half of the sixteenth
century. She was also the sister of Mehmed Pasha Sokolović (Sokollu Mehmed
Paşa), the grand vezir of Bosnian origin.61 She endowed an amount as large
as 80,000 akçe from her property. She intended the money to be used in trade
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according to established laws; the vakuf administrator’s and accountant’s salaries
were to be paid from the profits, and the rest of the money was to be kept and go