Abstract
Craftsmen and tradesmen (esnaf) in Ottoman cities had formed guilds until the nineteenth century. Previous research has focused on the relationships between Ottoman guilds and their government, with an emphasis on their autonomous status in society. This study, however, aims to create a more concrete picture of Ottoman guilds by considering various factors such as differences among crafts and trades, contemporary socioeconomic conditions, and their relationships with other social groups. Here, the actual state of Ottoman guilds is brought further into light through a look at the guilds of butchers and tanners in eighteenth-century Istanbul, with a focus on their structures and the processes of their trade and production. The relationship between guilds and the government is also reconsidered in this study. The principle resources used in this paper are Ahkam Defterleri, which was published as Esnaf Tarihi by Istanbul Arastirmalari Merkezi, and A. Refik's Istanbul Hayati series. The butchers' guilds consisted of four factions including the sheep-butchers, cow-butchers, Jewish butchers, and ceyrekci-butchers selling in front of mosques and catering to the population. Each guild, except for the Jewish guild, had two leaders (kethuda and yigitbasi). Masters of the trade (usta) rented and ran shops in partnership, based on the gedik system. They employed workers called kinadar to manage the actual sale of the meat. Butchers were supervised strictly by government officials called kassabbasi because the government felt it was part of their own responsiblity to provide well to the inhabitants of Istanbul. The butchers were allowed to purchase sheep, cows and goats from drovers only at predetermined spots called Tokat and Kara Ahmetli ciftligi, which were looked over by the kassabbasi. The tanners organized guilds according to the districts where their workshops were situated, such as Kazlicesme, Kasimpasa and Tophane. Their guilds had as leaders not only kethudas and yigitbasis, but ahibabas as well. Ahibabas, originating from ahi organizations in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, are said to have held authority over traditional and technical matters. It was rare for tanners' guilds to interfere with or cooperate with each other with regards to the purchase of raw materials and the sale of leather. In addition, they were not controlled by government officials like kassabbasi. For this reason, when a problem arose either between tanners and butchers or among the tanners' guilds, the tanners called on the kadis or the government to arbitrate. This paper concludes that not all guilds were autonomous organizations, and that the relationships between guilds and the government varied according to crafts and trades.
