How was the Ottoman Empire born and how did it die? Laws and traditions followed in the Ottoman Empire

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Having become the ruler of the mountainous region, Osman in 1289 received the title of bey from the Seljuk Sultan. Having come to power, Osman immediately set out to conquer Byzantine lands and made the first Byzantine town of Melangia his residence.

Osman was born in a small mountain town of the Seljuk Sultanate. Osman's father, Ertogrul, received lands adjacent to the Byzantine ones from Sultan Ala ad-Din. The Turkic tribe to which Osman belonged considered the seizure of neighboring territories a sacred matter.

After the escape of the deposed Seljuk Sultan in 1299, Osman created an independent state based on his own beylik. In the first years of the 14th century. the founder of the Ottoman Empire managed to significantly expand the territory of the new state and moved his headquarters to the fortified city of Episehir. Immediately after this, the Ottoman army began to raid Byzantine cities located on the Black Sea coast and the Byzantine regions in the Dardanelles area.

The Ottoman dynasty was continued by Osman's son Orhan, who began his military career with the successful capture of Bursa, a powerful fortress in Asia Minor. Orhan declared the prosperous fortified city the capital of the state and ordered the minting of the first coin of the Ottoman Empire, the silver akçe, to begin. In 1337, the Turks won several brilliant victories and occupied territories up to the Bosphorus, making the conquered Ismit the main shipyard of the state. At the same time, Orhan annexed the neighboring Turkish lands, and by 1354, under his rule were the northwestern part of Asia Minor to the eastern shores of the Dardanelles, part of its European coast, including the city of Galliopolis, and Ankara, recaptured from the Mongols.

Orhan's son Murad I became the third ruler of the Ottoman Empire, adding territories near Ankara to its possessions and setting off on a military campaign to Europe.

Murad was the first Sultan of the Ottoman dynasty and a true champion of Islam. The first schools in Turkish history began to be built in the cities of the country.

After the first victories in Europe (the conquest of Thrace and Plovdiv), a stream of Turkic settlers poured onto the European coast.

The sultans sealed their firman decrees with their own imperial monogram - tughra. The complex oriental design included the sultan's name, his father's name, title, motto and the epithet "always victorious".

New conquests

Murad paid great attention to improving and strengthening the army. For the first time in history, a professional army was created. In 1336, the ruler formed a corps of Janissaries, which later turned into the Sultan’s personal guard. In addition to the Janissaries, a mounted army of the Sipahis was created, and as a result of these fundamental changes, the Turkish army became not only numerous, but also unusually disciplined and powerful.

In 1371, on the Maritsa River, the Turks defeated the united army of the southern European states and captured Bulgaria and part of Serbia.

The next brilliant victory was won by the Turks in 1389, when the Janissaries first took up firearms. That year, the historical battle of Kossovo took place, when, having defeated the crusaders, the Ottoman Turks annexed a significant part of the Balkans to their lands.

Murad's son Bayazid continued his father's policies in everything, but unlike him, he was distinguished by cruelty and indulged in debauchery. Bayazid completed the defeat of Serbia and turned it into a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, becoming the absolute master of the Balkans.

For the rapid movements of the army and energetic actions, Sultan Bayazid received the nickname Ilderim (Lightning). During the lightning campaign in 1389–1390. he subjugated Anatolia, after which the Turks captured almost the entire territory of Asia Minor.

Bayazid had to fight simultaneously on two fronts - with the Byzantines and the crusaders. On September 25, 1396, the Turkish army defeated a huge army of crusaders, taking all Bulgarian lands into submission. According to contemporaries, more than 100,000 people fought on the side of the Turks. Many noble European crusaders were captured and later ransomed for huge sums of money. Caravans of pack animals with gifts from Emperor Charles VI of France reached the capital of the Ottoman Sultan: gold and silver coins, silk fabrics, carpets from Arras with paintings from the life of Alexander the Great woven on them, hunting falcons from Norway and much more. True, Bayazid did not make further trips to Europe, distracted by the eastern danger from the Mongols.

After the unsuccessful siege of Constantinople in 1400, the Turks had to fight Timur's Tatar army. On July 25, 1402, one of the greatest battles of the Middle Ages took place, during which the army of the Turks (about 150,000 people) and the army of the Tatars (about 200,000 people) met near Ankara. Timur's army, in addition to well-trained warriors, was armed with more than 30 war elephants - quite a powerful weapon during the offensive. The Janissaries, showing extraordinary courage and strength, were nevertheless defeated, and Bayazid was captured. Timur's army plundered the entire Ottoman Empire, exterminated or captured thousands of people, and burned the most beautiful cities and towns.

Muhammad I ruled the empire from 1413 to 1421. Throughout his reign, Muhammad was on good terms with Byzantium, turning his main attention to the situation in Asia Minor and making the first trip to Venice in the history of the Turks, which ended in failure.

Murad II, the son of Muhammad I, ascended the throne in 1421. He was a fair and energetic ruler who devoted much time to the development of the arts and urban planning. Murad, coping with internal strife, made a successful campaign, capturing the Byzantine city of Thessalonica. The battles of the Turks against the Serbian, Hungarian and Albanian armies were no less successful. In 1448, after Murad's victory over the united army of the crusaders, the fate of all the peoples of the Balkans was sealed - Turkish rule hung over them for several centuries.

Before the start of the historical battle in 1448 between the united European army and the Turks, a letter with a truce agreement was carried through the ranks of the Ottoman army on the tip of a spear, which was violated once again. Thus, the Ottomans showed that they were not interested in peace treaties - only battles and only an offensive.

From 1444 to 1446 the empire was ruled by Turkish Sultan Muhammad II, son of Murad II.

The reign of this sultan for 30 years turned the power into world empire. Having started his reign with the already traditional execution of relatives who potentially claimed the throne, the ambitious young man showed his strength. Muhammad, nicknamed the Conqueror, became a tough and even cruel ruler, but at the same time had an excellent education and spoke four languages. The Sultan invited scientists and poets from Greece and Italy to his court, and allocated a lot of funds for the construction of new buildings and the development of art. The Sultan set his main task to the conquest of Constantinople, and at the same time treated its implementation very carefully. Opposite the Byzantine capital, in March 1452, the Rumelihisar fortress was founded, in which the latest cannons were installed and a strong garrison was stationed.

As a result, Constantinople found itself cut off from the Black Sea region, with which it was connected by trade. In the spring of 1453, a huge ground army Turks and a powerful fleet. The first assault on the city was unsuccessful, but the Sultan ordered not to retreat and organize preparations for a new assault. After dragging some of the ships into the bay of Constantinople along a specially constructed deck over iron barrier chains, the city found itself surrounded by Turkish troops. Battles raged daily, but the Greek defenders of the city showed examples of courage and perseverance.

The siege was not a strong point for the Ottoman army, and the Turks won only due to the careful encirclement of the city, a numerical superiority of forces by approximately 3.5 times and due to the presence of siege weapons, cannons and a powerful mortar with cannonballs weighing 30 kg. Before the main assault on Constantinople, Muhammad invited the residents to surrender, promising to spare them, but they, to his great amazement, refused.

The general assault was launched on May 29, 1453, and selected Janissaries, supported by artillery, burst into the gates of Constantinople. For 3 days the Turks plundered the city and killed Christians, and the Church of Hagia Sophia was subsequently turned into a mosque. Türkiye became a real world power, proclaiming the ancient city as its capital.

In subsequent years, Muhammad made conquered Serbia his province, conquered Moldova, Bosnia, and a little later Albania and captured all of Greece. At the same time, the Turkish Sultan conquered vast territories in Asia Minor and became the ruler of the entire Asia Minor Peninsula. But he did not stop there either: in 1475 the Turks captured many Crimean cities and the city of Tana at the mouth of the Don on the Sea of ​​Azov. The Crimean Khan officially recognized the power of the Ottoman Empire. Following this, the territories of Safavid Iran were conquered, and in 1516 Syria, Egypt and the Hijaz with Medina and Mecca came under the rule of the Sultan.

At the beginning of the 16th century. The empire's conquests were directed to the east, south and west. In the east, Selim I the Terrible defeated the Safavids and annexed them to his state eastern part Anatolia and Azerbaijan. In the south, the Ottomans suppressed the warlike Mamluks and took control of trade routes along the Red Sea coast to the Indian Ocean, and in North Africa they reached Morocco. In the west, Suleiman the Magnificent in the 1520s. captured Belgrade, Rhodes, and Hungarian lands.

At the peak of power

Ottoman Empire entered the stage of its greatest prosperity at the very end of the 15th century. under Sultan Selim I and his successor Suleiman the Magnificent, who achieved a significant expansion of territories and established reliable centralized governance of the country. The reign of Suleiman went down in history as the “golden age” of the Ottoman Empire.

Starting from the first years of the 16th century, the Turkish empire became the most powerful power in the Old World. Contemporaries who visited the lands of the empire enthusiastically described the wealth and luxury of this country in their notes and memoirs.

Suleiman the Magnificent
Sultan Suleiman is the legendary ruler of the Ottoman Empire. During his reign (1520–1566), the huge power became even larger, the cities more beautiful, the palaces more luxurious. Suleiman (Fig. 9) also went down in history under the nickname Lawgiver.

Having become a sultan at the age of 25, Suleiman significantly expanded the borders of the state, capturing Rhodes in 1522, Mesopotamia in 1534, and Hungary in 1541.

The ruler of the Ottoman Empire was traditionally called Sultan, a title of Arabic origin. It is considered correct to use such terms as “shah”, “padishah”, “khan”, “Caesar”, which came from different nations under Turkish rule.

Suleiman contributed to the cultural prosperity of the country; under him, beautiful mosques and luxurious palaces were built in many cities of the empire. The famous emperor was a good poet, leaving his works under the pseudonym Muhibbi (In Love with God). During the reign of Suleiman, the wonderful Turkish poet Fuzuli lived and worked in Baghdad, who wrote the poem “Leila and Mejun”. The nickname Sultan Among Poets was given to Mahmud Abd al-Baki, who served at the court of Suleiman, who reflected in his poems the life of the high society of the state.

The Sultan entered into a legal marriage with the legendary Roksolana, nicknamed Laughing, one of the slaves of Slavic origin in the harem. Such an act was, at that time and according to Sharia, an exceptional phenomenon. Roksolana gave birth to an heir to the Sultan, the future Emperor Suleiman II, and devoted a lot of time to philanthropy. The Sultan's wife also had great influence over him in diplomatic affairs, especially in relations with Western countries.

In order to leave his memory in stone, Suleiman invited the famous architect Sinan to create mosques in Istanbul. Those close to the emperor also erected large religious buildings with the help of the famous architect, as a result of which the capital was noticeably transformed.

Harems
Harems with several wives and concubines, permitted by Islam, could only be afforded by wealthy people. The Sultan's harems became an integral part of the empire, its calling card.

In addition to sultans, viziers, beys, and emirs had harems. The vast majority of the empire's population had one wife, as was customary throughout the Christian world. Islam officially allowed a Muslim to have four wives and several slaves.

The Sultan's harem, which gave rise to many legends and traditions, was in fact a complex organization with strict internal orders. This system was controlled by the Sultan’s mother, “Valide Sultan”. Her main assistants were eunuchs and slaves. It is clear that the life and power of the Sultan’s ruler directly depended on the fate of her high-ranking son.

The harem housed girls captured during wars or purchased at slave markets. Regardless of their nationality and religion, before entering the harem, all girls became Muslims and studied traditional Islamic arts - embroidery, singing, conversation skills, music, dancing, and literature.

While in a harem long time, its inhabitants passed through several levels and titles. At first they were called jariye (newcomers), then quite soon they were renamed shagirt (students), over time they became gedikli (companions) and usta (masters).

There have been isolated cases in history when the Sultan recognized a concubine as his legal wife. This happened more often when the concubine gave birth to the ruler’s long-awaited son-heir. A striking example is Suleiman the Magnificent, who married Roksolana.

Only girls who had reached the level of craftswomen could gain the attention of the Sultan. From among them, the ruler chose his permanent mistresses, favorites and concubines. Many representatives of the harem, who became the Sultan's mistresses, were awarded their own housing, jewelry and even slaves.

Legal marriage was not provided for by Sharia, but the Sultan chose four wives who were in a privileged position from all the inhabitants of the harem. Of these, the main one became the one who gave birth to the Sultan’s son.

After the death of the Sultan, all his wives and concubines were sent to the Old Palace, located outside the city. The new ruler of the state could allow retired beauties to marry or join him in his harem.

Why did the power of the Sublime Porte begin to decline? It is impossible to name a single reason. They usually point to the consequences of the opening of America, when the directions of major trade communications changed, and the influx of Spanish-American gold led to the devaluation of the Turkish currency and a high level of inflation.

Ivan Aivazovsky Battle of Sinop (day version, 1853)

Perhaps the reasons for the decline accumulated gradually in the multidimensional communication space of the empire. In the space of succession to the throne, this is the transition of the throne from Suleiman the Magnificent to Selim II, known as the “bitter drunkard” (Suleiman’s Ukrainian concubine Roksolana contributed to her son’s rise to power). In geopolitical space, this is the last great naval battle of the rowing fleets in 1571 off the coast of Greece, which ended with the defeat of the Ottomans and the liberation of the Christian world from the delusion of belief in the invincibility of the Turks. The Ottoman Empire was also destroyed by corruption, which especially intensified when the Sultan began to receive his share from the sale of his own benefits (preferences). This idea was suggested to the Sultan by a favorite who came from the Seljuk rulers, who viewed the Ottomans as blood enemies. When numerous causes and consequences of decline in each of the geostrata (geopolitical, geoeconomic, confessional, sociocultural and sociopsychological) were stratified (overlaid on each other) in a multidimensional communication space, a boundary energy with a destructive charge was formed.

Ivan Aivazovsky Battle of Sinop November 18, 1853 (night after the battle, 1853)

Ivan Aivazovsky Review of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in 1849

Literature

Braudel F. Time of Peace. Material civilization, economics and capitalism (XV-XVIII centuries), volume 3. - M.: Progress, 1992.
Dergachev V.A. - In the book. Civilizational geopolitics (Geophilosophy). – Kyiv: VIRA-R, 2004.
Kinross Lord The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire / Translation from English by M. Palnikov. - M.: KRON-PRESS, 1999.
Lawrence T.E. Changes in the East. - Foreign literature, 1999, No. 3.

"Geopolitics of Superpowers"

The Turks are a relatively young people. Its age is only a little over 600 years. The first Turks were a bunch of Turkmens, fugitives from Central Asia who fled to the west from the Mongols. They reached the Konya Sultanate and asked for land to settle. They were given a place on the border with the Nicaean Empire near Bursa. The fugitives began to settle there in the middle of the 13th century.

The main one among the fugitive Turkmens was Ertogrul Bey. He called the territory allocated to him the Ottoman beylik. And taking into account the fact that the Konya Sultan lost all power, he became an independent ruler. Ertogrul died in 1281 and power passed to his son Osman I Ghazi. It is he who is considered the founder of the dynasty of Ottoman sultans and the first ruler of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire existed from 1299 to 1922 and played a significant role in world history.

Ottoman Sultan with his soldiers

An important factor contributing to the formation of a powerful Turkish state was the fact that the Mongols, having reached Antioch, did not go further, since they considered Byzantium their ally. Therefore, they did not touch the lands on which the Ottoman beylik was located, believing that it would soon become part of the Byzantine Empire.

And Osman Ghazi, like the crusaders, declared a holy war, but only for the Muslim faith. He began to invite everyone who wanted to take part in it. And from all over the Muslim east, seekers of fortune began to flock to Osman. They were ready to fight for the faith of Islam until their sabers became dull and until they received enough wealth and wives. And in the east this was considered a very great achievement.

Thus, the Ottoman army began to be replenished with Circassians, Kurds, Arabs, Seljuks, and Turkmens. That is, anyone could come, recite the formula of Islam and become a Turk. And on the occupied lands, such people began to be allocated small plots of land for farming. This area was called “timar”. It was a house with a garden.

The owner of the timar became a horseman (spagi). His duty was to appear at the first call to the Sultan in full armor and on his own horse in order to serve in the cavalry army. It was noteworthy that the spahi did not pay taxes in the form of money, since they paid the tax with their blood.

With such internal organization The territory of the Ottoman state began to expand rapidly. In 1324, Osman's son Orhan I captured the city of Bursa and made it his capital. Bursa was just a stone's throw from Constantinople, and the Byzantines lost control of the northern and western regions of Anatolia. And in 1352, the Ottoman Turks crossed the Dardanelles and ended up in Europe. After this, the gradual and steady capture of Thrace began.

In Europe it was impossible to get along with cavalry alone, so there was an urgent need for infantry. And then the Turks created a completely new army, consisting of infantry, which they called Janissaries(yang - new, charik - army: it turns out to be Janissaries).

The conquerors forcibly took boys between the ages of 7 and 14 from Christian peoples and converted them to Islam. These children were fed well, taught the laws of Allah, military affairs, and became infantrymen (janissaries). These warriors turned out to be the best infantrymen in all of Europe. Neither the knightly cavalry nor the Persian Qizilbash could break through the Janissaries' line.

Janissaries - infantry of the Ottoman army

And the secret of the invincibility of the Turkish infantry lay in the spirit of military camaraderie. From the first days, the Janissaries lived together, ate delicious porridge from the same cauldron, and, despite the fact that they belonged to different nations, they were people of the same destiny. When they became adults, they got married and started families, but continued to live in the barracks. Only during vacations did they visit their wives and children. That is why they did not know defeat and represented the faithful and reliable force of the Sultan.

However, having reached the Mediterranean Sea, the Ottoman Empire could not limit itself to just the Janissaries. Since there is water, ships are needed, and the need arose for a navy. The Turks began to recruit pirates, adventurers and vagabonds from all over the Mediterranean Sea for the fleet. Italians, Greeks, Berbers, Danes, and Norwegians went to serve them. This public had no faith, no honor, no law, no conscience. Therefore, they willingly converted to the Muslim faith, since they had no faith at all, and they did not care at all whether they were Christians or Muslims.

From this motley crowd they formed a fleet that was more reminiscent of a pirate fleet than a military one. He began to rage in the Mediterranean Sea, so much so that he terrified the Spanish, French and Italian ships. The very voyage in the Mediterranean Sea began to be considered dangerous business. Turkish corsair squadrons were based in Tunisia, Algeria and other Muslim lands that had access to the sea.

Ottoman navy

Thus, such a people as the Turks were formed from completely different peoples and tribes. And the connecting link was Islam and the unified military fate. During successful campaigns, Turkish warriors captured captives, made them their wives and concubines, and children from women different nationalities became full-fledged Turks born on the territory of the Ottoman Empire.

The small principality, which appeared on the territory of Asia Minor in the middle of the 13th century, very quickly turned into a powerful Mediterranean power, called the Ottoman Empire after the first ruler Osman I Ghazi. The Ottoman Turks also called their state the Sublime Porte, and called themselves not Turks, but Muslims. As for the real Turks, they were considered the Turkmen population living in the interior regions of Asia Minor. The Ottomans conquered these people in the 15th century after the capture of Constantinople on May 29, 1453.

European states could not resist the Ottoman Turks. Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople and made it his capital - Istanbul. In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire significantly expanded its territories, and with the capture of Egypt, the Turkish fleet began to dominate the Red Sea. By the second half of the 16th century, the population of the state reached 15 million people, and the Turkish Empire itself began to be compared with the Roman Empire.

But by the end of the 17th century, the Ottoman Turks suffered a number of major defeats in Europe. The Russian Empire played an important role in weakening the Turks. She always beat the warlike descendants of Osman I. She took the Crimea and the Black Sea coast from them, and all these victories became a harbinger of the decline of the state, which in the 16th century shone in the rays of its power.

But the Ottoman Empire was weakened not only by endless wars, but also by disgraceful agricultural practices. Officials squeezed all the juice out of the peasants, and therefore they farmed in a predatory way. This led to the emergence of a large amount of waste land. And this is in the “fertile crescent”, which in ancient times fed almost the entire Mediterranean.

Ottoman Empire on the map, XIV-XVII centuries

It all ended in disaster in the 19th century, when the state treasury was empty. The Turks began to borrow loans from French capitalists. But it soon became clear that they could not pay their debts, since after the victories of Rumyantsev, Suvorov, Kutuzov, and Dibich, the Turkish economy was completely undermined. The French then brought a navy into the Aegean Sea and demanded customs in all ports, mining concessions and the right to collect taxes until the debt was repaid.

After this, the Ottoman Empire was called the “sick man of Europe.” It began to quickly lose its conquered lands and turn into a semi-colony of European powers. The last autocratic sultan of the empire, Abdul Hamid II, tried to save the situation. However, under him the political crisis worsened even more. In 1908, the Sultan was overthrown and imprisoned by the Young Turks (a pro-Western republican political movement).

On April 27, 1909, the Young Turks enthroned the constitutional monarch Mehmed V, who was the brother of the deposed Sultan. After this, the Young Turks entered the First World War on the side of Germany and were defeated and destroyed. There was nothing good about their rule. They promised freedom, but ended with a terrible massacre of Armenians, declaring that they were against the new regime. But they were really against it, since nothing had changed in the country. Everything remained the same as before for 500 years under the rule of the sultans.

After defeat in the First World War Turkish Empire began to agonize. Anglo-French troops occupied Constantinople, the Greeks captured Smyrna and moved deeper into the country. Mehmed V died on July 3, 1918 from a heart attack. And on October 30 of the same year, the Mudros Truce, shameful for Turkey, was signed. The Young Turks fled abroad, leaving the last Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed VI, in power. He became a puppet in the hands of the Entente.

But then the unexpected happened. In 1919, a national liberation movement arose in the distant mountainous provinces. It was headed by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. He led the common people with him. He very quickly expelled the Anglo-French and Greek invaders from his lands and restored Turkey within the borders that exist today. On November 1, 1922, the sultanate was abolished. Thus, the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist. On November 17, the last Turkish Sultan, Mehmed VI, left the country and went to Malta. He died in 1926 in Italy.

And in the country, on October 29, 1923, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey announced the creation of the Turkish Republic. It exists to this day, and its capital is the city of Ankara. As for the Turks themselves, they have been living quite happily in recent decades. They sing in the morning, dance in the evening, and pray during breaks. May Allah protect them!

§ 1. Education and main stages of development of the Ottoman Empire

IN XI century The Seljuk Rum Sultanate was defeated by the Turks and moved closer to the borders of Byzantium, the process of Turkization of the local population began: Greeks, Slavs, Georgians, Persians. True, these peoples retained their own religions, including Christianity. In the 13th century. The Rum Sultanate completely collapsed. At the turn of the XIII - XIV centuries. Bey Osman created the Ottoman Sultanate. The Ottomans gradually ousted Byzantium in the southeast of Asia Minor, then captured the Balkans. In 1389 they defeated the Serbian army on Kosovo, and in 1396 they defeated the united militia of the crusaders from almost all of Europe. In 1453, Constantinople was taken by storm. In 1475, the Crimean Khanate became a vassal of the Turkish Sultanate, as a fragment of the Golden Horde. At the beginning of the 16th century. The Ottomans conquered Iran, Kurdistan, Syria, Arabia, then Egypt and almost all North Africa. The power of the descendants of the Arab caliphs in Cairo was abolished, while the Sultan seemed to become the successor of the caliph as a religious leader, although in fact the Ottoman sultans, not being descendants of Muhammad, had no right to be considered the heads of the Muslim church, but in fact they found themselves at the head of the Muslim world. Almost the entire Mediterranean, Middle East and Transcaucasia became part of the Ottoman Empire.

The state system of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th - 17th centuries.

Ottoman Empire - typical eastern state. The ancient Eastern despotism states were characterized by the absolute all-encompassing power of the monarch. K. Marx believed that supreme property gave rise to the supreme absolute power of the monarch. Hegel derived the form of property from the form of power. So what is primary, what is secondary in ancient Eastern states - power or property?

In our opinion, there is no absolute primacy here. In the East, there is primary property and secondary power, and vice versa - primary power and secondary property, but most often they form a unity: power - property or property - power, in other words, power over property and at the same time property over power. This is an alternative to the European model of the relationship between property and power. In general, the European model is only suitable for Europe. Most of humanity did not live according to the European model. The European model is an offshoot from the universal main line of world development of the state. The Crusaders' attempt to seize the East failed in the 16th - 17th centuries. Europeans, relying on a powerful shipbuilding industry, began a new expansion of firearms in the world. In the XVIII - XIX centuries. Having conquered almost the entire non-Christian world, the Europeans imposed public consciousness and scientific developments that the optimal and most progressive model for the development of civilizations is the European model, based primarily on private property, where state power is secondary to production relations.

Thus, it is believed that despotism appears where there is no private property. Primitive communal forms of government (potestas) gradually develop into tribal government bodies. In the East, all power passes to the leader; communal democracy, with its people's assemblies and councils of elders remain in the lower tier of government bodies, and the upper tier is occupied by monarchs and their administration. Thus, military-communal democracy developed into a tribal state, which also gradually developed into an absolutely totalitarian monarchical state. Over the course of many years, a powerful centralized administrative system has been developing. Power-property is primary in it. The market, private property, social strata are subordinate to power-property.

In the Ottoman Empire, on the basis of a tribal state, a “theocratic military-administrative monarchy” was formed, based on the eastern model of ownership of land, water, mines and other real estate. Initially, a tribal system of power develops according to this model, gradually it is superimposed on the territory, the economy, and covers politics, management, administration, the armed forces, and law enforcement. Gradually, clan and tribal bodies merged with military-territorial, military-administrative bodies; they also merged with forms of ownership, rent, and allotments for service. According to European terminology and ideas, it seems that a military-feudal system of government is taking shape here, but the Ottoman system of ownership and use of land, water, and other property, territorial, military, and administrative management represent a completely different system.

It is organized according to the tribal, military-territorial principle. The territorial unit of the country became sanjak(“banner”) - the battle banner of a clan, a clan unit of warriors led by the head of the clan, the sanjak bey. Warriors on the territory of the sanjak sipahi(“cavalrymen”) received timar- conditional hereditary ownership of a territory with the right to levy a strictly defined amount of taxes from the population. Timar - the fee in favor of the timariot should not exceed the amount necessary to maintain the warrior’s family, horse and military equipment. The state strictly monitored this. Timar was neither an estate nor a possession; timariot should not exceed his rights and powers and infringe on state interests.

In connection with large land conquests, large land grants appear - zeamety. The Timariots and Zeamets formed the basis of the Ottoman army. Subsequently arose Khassi And arpalyki- territories with tax immunity. The tax on them went entirely to the owner, was strictly recorded by the financial authorities of the country, but was never inherited, remaining strictly in state ownership, and infringement of state interests was also not allowed. This is how a military-administrative monarchy developed, which was based on the power-property formula. All land belonged to the state, represented by the Sultan, and was administered by the state apparatus.

The top of the state pyramid was crowned by the Sultan. However, in the empire there was no law on succession to the throne; all members of the next generation potentially had the right to power, the throne, brutal dynastic battles were inevitable and often ended in bloody massacres. Considering polygamy and a harem, there could be dozens of brothers and in this case all of them were destroyed, in a word, blood flowed like a river.

The Sultan was the personification of omnipotent power over his subjects, the system of indiscriminate slavery. Each subject could end his life on a stake at any time. The Sultan's personality was not deified, but his power was sacred, sacrificial. However, he was not the representative of Allah on Earth; he was considered his shadow. At the same time, the Sultan was not required to have any outstanding abilities or charisma. He and his personality had to meet a number of requirements:

1. Belonging to the Sunni sense in Islam.

2. Only male, since according to Sharia, a woman is not equal to a man.

1. 
   Good appearance without external defects.
2. 
   Be an adult, at least 15 years old.
3. 
   Mental and mental integrity.
4. 
   Free status in the past and present.
5. 
   Moral qualities go back to traditional norms: prudence, wisdom, justice, greatness, dexterity. But it was not required that the ruler of the faithful surpass his subjects in knowledge and deeds.
6. 
   Endowed the highest authority the person of the Sultan is sacred and inviolable.
7. 
   All temporal and spiritual power was concentrated in the hands of the Sultan, the ruler of the Sunni Muslims.

1. Opening of common prayer on holidays and daily.

2. Minting of coins.

3. Maintaining general order in the country.

4. Control over the implementation of sacred laws.

5. Supreme Command.

6. He owns the highest judicial branch.

7. He is obliged to suppress rebellions.

8. Issues laws that must be consistent with Sharia.

As the Ottoman Empire grew, a powerful centralized system management.

The Sultan entrusted his power to the Vezir, who ruled on his behalf. He headed the Great Council - the government of the country (Diwan-i-Khumayun), consisting of ministers - viziers. The government in its activities was guided by Sharia and the Code of Laws of Kanun-name.

The central administrative apparatus consisted of three main departments (systems) of management: military-administrative, financial and judicial-religious.

Military administrative department, which was headed by the Grand Vizier himself, was the backbone of the entire governing structure of the empire. The country was divided into 16 regions - eyalets headed by beylarbeys(governors), subordinate to the Grand Vizier and possessing all types of power in the territory of the eyalets. Subordinate to them were sanjakbeys - military leaders - managers of sanjaks - counties, of which there were 250. The power of the sanjakbey was quite strong, it was controlled from above by the beylarbey and regulated by county laws and Kanun-name. The lowest level of military-administrative power in the empire were the timariots - land holders who were responsible for the safety and equipment of the warriors (sipahi), who had to be represented by their timars. The Timariots also observed order in the Timara territory.

Finance department headed by the vizier-defterdar had special officials in the eyalets and sanjaks. The functions of the central department and its local officials included: accounting of treasury resources and revenues; determining the amount of taxes, duties and other duties; control over the income of the Timars, Khasses and Arpalyks. Types of taxes: legal taxes - tithe from Muslims, “haraj” and poll tax “jizya” from non-Muslims; Zakat is a tax in favor of the poor from all those who have. There were additional duties, emergency and local.

Forensic-religious department in the very in a general sense controlled the lifestyle and behavior of the population and every Muslim. The department was headed by Sheikh-ul-Islam. In the eyalets (provinces), this department was headed by two Qadis - judges. The qadis had very broad judicial, religious, financial and administrative functions. They resolved matters concerning Muslims, in addition, they were notaries, intermediaries in transactions, resolved trade, financial and other disputes, monitored the collection of taxes, prices, and order; were confessors and officials. In non-Muslim areas, the same functions were performed by community leaders.

The heyday of this state system occurred in the 16th century. during the reign of Suleiman I Kanuni (the Lawgiver) or Suleiman the Magnificent (1520 -1566).

§ 2. Development of statehood of the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 16th - early 20th centuries. Major government reforms

By the middle of the 16th century. The political system and management system of the Ottoman Empire were experiencing a certain crisis. First of all, the causes of the crisis were seen in the shortcomings of the timariot system. Timariots were an integral part of the military, administrative, tax and police system. Important factors that determined the weakening of the empire were the distribution of state lands, a decrease in military production, and a cessation of territorial expansion.

The first reforms in the Ottoman Empire were practically military reforms. In the 16th century instead of warriors - sipahis, a corps was created and increased many times janissary(“yeni cheri” - new army), who were in the public service and received state salaries, which sharply increased government spending on the army. In addition, the Janissaries, being the Sultan's guard, often interfered in the political and palace life of the country. After this failed reform in the middle of the 17th century. a new reform was carried out by the Grand Vizier Mehmed Keprelu. He again strengthened the Timariot system by seizing the lands of the Khass and waqf lands.

The end of the 18th, 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The Ottoman Empire witnessed centuries of major government reforms.

The first two rounds of reforms are associated with the activities of Sultan Selim III (1789 - 1807) and Mahmud II (1808 - 1839). The first round concerned mainly the reform of the allotment timar system, military and partly religious spheres:

1. 
   The formation of a new army according to the European model, the creation of modern artillery, navy and engineering troops.
2. 
   Liquidation of the Janissary Corps (1826).
3. 
   Elimination of the Bektashi Sufi order from the political life of the empire (1826 onwards).
4. 
   Complete abolition of the timar system.

1. Reform of central government according to the European model, creation of new ministries and departments.

2. Tax reform.

3. Reform of the post office, hospitals, education system.

The reforms of the second round quickly faded away. The wars of Muhammad Ali of Egypt weakened the empire. Among the great powers of Europe, the question arose about the division of the “sick man” of Europe - the Ottoman Empire. In 1839, the West took the Ottoman Empire under “collective trusteeship.” Sultan Abdul Mejadid received him.

The next stage of reforms is 40 - 70. received the name “tanzimat” (transformation, reform). The more complete name of the reforms is “Tanzimat-i-hairie” - “beneficent reform”.

On November 3, 1839, the “Gulhaney Khatt-i-Sherif” (rescript), sometimes simply called the Gulhaney Act, was signed. Khatt-i-Sherif ordered:

1. 
   Provide all subjects, representatives of all religions with guarantees of the inviolability of life, honor and property.
2. 
   Abolish tax farming systems and streamline taxation.
3. 
   Change the procedure for conscription into military service.

In 1865, a movement of “new Ottomans” arose in the Ottoman Empire, who advocated the creation of a constitutional monarchy. After nine to ten years, their activities bore some fruit. In 1876, Sultan Abdul Hamid adopted the constitution of the Ottoman Empire. She proclaimed the rights and freedoms of citizens of the empire, and a bicameral parliament was created. However, already in February 1878, Abdul-Hamid carried out a coup d'etat, dissolved the already elected parliament and established tyranny - “Zulum”. Under this regime, newspapers were closed, censorship was tightened, and many new educational institutions were closed. For the first time, the doctrine of “pan-Islamism” was proclaimed, the purpose of which was to adapt the world of Islam to existence in new conditions; to oppose Muslim unity to the onslaught of European colonialism. At the same time, Abdul-Hamid saw pan-Islamism as a tool for strengthening his power. However, his ambitious plans soon failed. The country had long been mired in foreign debt and was declared bankrupt in 1879. The Western powers began to prepare the tools to establish their control over the empire. First of all, financial control became an instrument of Western management of the country. In 1881, the Ottoman Debt Office was created, and then the Ottoman (Ottoman) Bank, the main purpose of which was the control of the Western powers over the Ottoman government, the country's budget, through control or even participation of foreign representatives in tax collection and spending budget funds. Of course, as in other cases in Europe and Asia, Western governments, bankers and entrepreneurs sought to destroy the remaining empires on earth in order to, having destroyed them, establish control and even seize the parts that had broken away from the empires.

The failure of reforms and the establishment of foreign control over the country caused protests both in ruling circles, and among the bureaucrats, military and intelligentsia of the country. Secret anti-government circles and organizations began to emerge. The “New Ottomans” movement was replaced by the “Young Turks” movement. In 1889, in Istanbul, an underground cell was created among cadets of the military medical school, whose members set the goal of ridding the country of despotism and restoring the constitution. In Paris, Riza Bey created the society “Ittihad ve Terraki” (“Unity and Progress”). His program included: the struggle for freedom, justice and equality of all subjects; maintaining the empire on the path of reform; establishment of a constitutional order; non-interference of foreigners in the affairs of the empire.

In 1902, the first, apparently founding, congress of the Young Turks took place. In 1907, the Second Congress of the Young Turks adopted a Declaration calling for an uprising against Adul Hamid. In 1908, there was an uprising of Turkish troops in Macedonia. The Sultan accepted their demands. The Chamber of Deputies was created, a third of the seats in which went to the Young Turks. In 1909, Abdul Hamid tried to carry out a counter-coup, but the Young Turks occupied the capital with their troops and, possessing real power, enthroned the new Sultan Mehmed V. This is how the Young Turk revolution took place.

The Young Turks carried out a number of reforms, the essence of which was the preservation of the empire; the doctrine of Ottomanism was proclaimed - the retention of non-Turkish lands and peoples within the empire. Since 1910, under the slogans of pan-Islamism and pan-Turkism, they began persecuting non-Islamic peoples.

In 1912, the Young Turks were overthrown by Islamic liberals “Ittilafists” - members of the Hürriyet ve Ittilaf (Freedom and Harmony) association, who stood for granting autonomy to other peoples. Taking advantage of Turkey's failures in the Balkan War of 1912, the Young Turks overthrew them. In 1914, the Young Turk triumvirate came to power: Enver Pasha, Talaat Pasha and Cemal Nami. They pushed the Ottoman Empire into the world war on the side of Germany and the Triple Alliance. As a result of Germany's defeat, the dictatorship of the Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire also fell, and the Young Turks fled the country. The empire was in its death throes, the outskirts sought to secede, and the nationalist idea increasingly matured - to preserve the Turkish lands in Asia Minor in a single strong state. The Allies decided that they could dictate their peace terms to the Ottoman Empire. On October 30, 1918, they signed the “Truce of Mudros,” which provided for the opening of watering routes to foreign, including military, shipping, the demobilization of the army, the surrender of warships to the Allies, and the establishment of Entente control over the country's railways, telegraph and radio, the occupation of the Armenian eyalets. The Ottoman Empire was ending its centuries-long existence.

The history of legislation in the Ottoman Empire in all its details has not yet been researched or written, although it is of great interest to researchers of Islamic law. Muslim law arose and developed within the framework of the Arab Caliphate. Since the Ottoman Empire can rightfully be considered the successor to the Arab Caliphate and one of the largest Muslim powers of all times, for a more complete understanding of the development of Islamic law, it is necessary to consider its development in the Ottoman Empire.

In historiography, it is believed that, to one degree or another, legislative activity took place under all Ottoman sultans. It is recorded in many decrees, resolutions, etc., which were in an unsystematized state until the second half of the 15th century. The first codification dates back to the reign of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih. The code of laws compiled by him contains three parts: 1) a table of ranks; 2) the basics of court ceremonial and the rules for appointing dignitaries and their children to government positions; 3) several articles on punishments for criminal offenses, determination of content for dignitaries and their title. There was another set of laws compiled under the same Sultan. It differed significantly from the first in content, structure and style, and consisted of the following sections: 1) on punishments for adultery; 2) about punishments for fight and murder; 3) about taxes and trade duties; 4) about nomads (Yuryuk); 5) about taxes and duties from non-Muslims (kafirs). The further development of legal concepts in the Ottoman Empire is connected precisely with these, still quite primitive provisions, set out in the second code of Mehmed II.

Turkish historians associate the main stages in the development of Ottoman legislation after Mehmed II with the names of Sultans Selim I (1512-1520), Suleiman Kanuni (1520-1566), Ahmed I (1603-1617), and the activities of lawyers in the 16th century. XVII centuries and legal reforms of the Tanzimat period.

In the Ottoman Empire, for centuries, there were two systems of law - religious laws - Sharia and secular ones, emanating from the name of the Sultan - qanun.

Muslim legal doctrine allowed for the introduction of legal changes. Muslim jurists believed that since the rules of conduct on those issues that are not regulated by the Koran and Sunnah are formulated by people and are not guaranteed against erroneous judgments, they can be replaced by other judgments. The works of medieval Muslim jurists cited the opinions of all jurists belonging to the same madhhab. Even if these opinions were contradictory, they were all recognized as valid. Kadiy could choose the norm at his own discretion when making a decision. Direct abolition of outdated standards that did not meet the needs was also not practiced. 1

Thus, traditionally it was uncharacteristic of Turkish lawmaking to create unified legislative structures.

The religious system of law in the Ottoman Empire was associated with general principles Islamic law and corresponded to the officially accepted interpretation of the Hanafi legal school in this country. The difference between this madhhab is that it is more flexibly applied to local circumstances, trying to adapt the rigid framework of Sharia to the practical needs of life. When solving specific issues, the Hanifites operated with three methods of interpretation: paradise, qiyas and istikhsan (see page of the manual). At the same time, this teaching was fraught with the danger of arbitrary actions of the Qadis. On controversial issues, fatwas were issued by sheikh-ul-Islams, which became the legal basis for subsequent court decisions. Since both the fatwas and the actions of the qadis had to correspond to the Hanafi sense, the Hanafi law had primacy in the empire and invaded those areas where other schools of Sunni Islam had previously dominated. Qadis and muftis could join any of the Sunni madhhabs, but judge and make conclusions only according to the Hanafi interpretation. 1

Another system of law in the Ottoman Empire is secular laws - qanuns, issued in the name of the Sultan. The coexistence of kanuns and Sharia is a specific feature of the Ottoman state. Kanuns, originally conceived as unofficial - only for the information of the Sultan, later became mandatory in solving state problems and in the practice of the Cadian courts. Moreover, in many cases, the Sultan’s decrees differed significantly from Sharia dogmas.

The reasons for the emergence of such a system of law as the eves in the Ottoman Empire are as follows. Firstly, by the XV-XVI centuries. The Ottoman state, as a result of its aggressive campaigns, achieved the maximum expansion of its borders. A tendency began to emerge for the Ottoman sultans to become absolute monarchs, whose power was not limited by any corrective institutions. In their desire to expand the scope of power, the sultans began to rely on the Turkic-Mongol and Byzantine models of political organization, based on the primacy of the secular principle. An expression of this was the publication of the first eve-names under Sultan Mehmed II. The Sultan in his actions relied on divine destiny, reflected in the norms of Sharia and on his statesmanship. The first determined the order of the material and spiritual world, and the second made it possible to maintain this order. The Sultan, through his absolute power, had to determine the place of each person in society, ensure social order, and the safety of people. This was achieved with the help of qanuns, which, unlike the norms of Sharia, were temporary and were valid only during the reign of one sultan. In addition, Sharia and Qanun, according to Muslim views, have never been on the same level. The purpose of Sharia is to lead believers to perfection during life and happiness after death. Kanun had a lower status and was aimed only at establishing order in the state and protecting citizens from violence. The eves were never abolished, but only supplemented religious laws.

Such a system is called smear and is accepted today in all Muslim states. The Ottoman peculiarity consisted only in the more complete inclusion of qadi in the management system and the more frequent use of qanuns in public administration. 1

In order to have a more complete understanding of the eves of the 15th-16th centuries, let us consider the Book of Laws of Sultan Selim I - one of the authoritative collections of laws of this period.

The book of laws of Sultan Selim I is not divided into any structural units, but there is a certain system. The first provisions of the law contain criminal law provisions. There are few of them; they talk about punishments for libertines and libertines, about blood feud, murder and theft. Much of the law is devoted to taxation. It is noteworthy that the criminal law speaks about the death penalty only in cases of malicious theft, and very little about self-harm punishment. Most crimes are subject to a fine, even if this does not comply with Sharia law. For example, in the case of committing adultery, the Koran speaks of only one punishment - “striking with a hundred stripes” in public. In accordance with the regulations of adat in Muslim states, adulterers were traditionally stoned. The book of laws of Sultan Selim I provided for a fine, the amount of which varied depending on the social status of the offender. The rich and married paid more than the poor and single; a slave paid less than a free Muslim for committing any crime, a non-Muslim paid more. The punishment for murder was legalized blood feud, but if there was no one to take revenge or for some other reason the revenge was not accomplished, a fine was also paid. The death penalty is mentioned in this law only once, it is provided for committing theft by breaking into a house or repeatedly: “Whoever stole a prisoner, stole a slave, a slave or a boy, who broke into a shop, climbed into a house and was repeatedly convicted of theft, “Let them hang.”

A fine was also provided for minor thefts, despite the fact that the Koran is very strict towards thieves and prescribes cutting off hands for any theft.

A distinctive feature of this law is that it was unusual for Muslim society at the beginning of the 16th century. humanity. However, one should not think that during this period there were fewer executions in the Ottoman Empire than in any other. Firstly, the kanuns were in force only during the reign of the Sultan, who accepted them, which means this law existed as valid for only 8 years (the reign of Selim I: 1512-1520), and, secondly, Sharia law in relation to the kanun always had dominance and decisions were made largely on its basis. And the eves only complemented it. The qadis could make decisions both on the basis of Sharia and on the basis of qanuns. For example, the more secular provisions of the qanuns were more often applied to non-believers than the Sharia. 1

In general, the criminal laws of the Ottoman Empire were one of the branches of law that were most free from Sharia law. Most of the vital criminal law norms were not mentioned in the Koran and Sunnah, so the missing ones were developed by jurists through interpretation, mainly in the Sultan's eves.

As W. Heid notes, a lot of work has been done in in this direction was done in the 16th century. under Sultan Suleiman I. The code of criminal laws was improved, systematized, and supplemented with new articles containing elements of the legal culture of the conquered peoples. 1

During the reign of this sultan, the peak of activity in the publication of kanuns occurred, for this reason Suleiman I was nicknamed Kanuni - the Lawgiver. Under him, the General Code of Laws of the Ottoman Empire was compiled. In general terms, this legislative code is as follows. It consists of three chapters, each of which includes a number of sections.

Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

National University of Internal Affairs

Test

in the course “History of State and Law of Foreign Countries”

on the topic

“Law of the Ottoman Empire”

Completed:
Shevtsov I.P.

Checked by: Assoc. Etc.

Plan

1. Government structure of the Ottoman Empire.

2. Sharia.

3. Sultan's eve-name.

4. “Majallat al-Ahkam al-Adliyya” (Code of Legal Rules, 1869–1876).

5. Conclusions.

This paper examines the basic principles and evolution of the legal system of one of the largest states of the Middle Ages - the Ottoman Empire. The objective of the study is to use the preserved or reconstructed legal monuments of this state, as well as sources reflecting modern research in this area. It is necessary to note both the general importance of the role of the Ottoman Empire among the rest of the countries of the Medieval East, and its influence on the Ukrainian lands located in close proximity. It is worth emphasizing some factors that give additional relevance to the problem under study in our time. Perhaps one of the most important features The geopolitical situation in the world is the so-called “East-West” conflict: the conflict of Western and Eastern cultures, Western and Eastern values. In the fall of 2005 in France (pogroms against people from Muslim countries), one type of conflict emerged, and the events around the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in early 2006 are a new confirmation of tense relations, a round of long-term confrontation between civilizations. One of central problems of the modern world community is terrorism. Moreover, very often it is associated with radical Islamist movements. In this regard, it is important to note the relationship between the Islamist manifestations of terrorism and jihad, which includes “holy war against infidels” (jihad of the sword or small jihad (ghazawat) - armed resistance to the enemies of Islam). It was this theory, perhaps formally, that formed the basis of modern radical Islamist organizations, for example Al-Qaeda, the result of which was one of the most notorious terrorist attacks in world history - September 11 in New York. Some of the legal rules of jihad come from the Koran or from hadith - information about the actions, approvals or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. And hadiths, in turn, are the source of Sharia - Islamic law. Particular attention should be paid to the evolution that occurred in the legal system of the legal heir to the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish Republic is practically the only state in which the influence of the previously dominant Muslim law has not been preserved. The new legal system was built on the European model, for example, the Turkish civil code, based on the Swedish one, granted civil rights to women and prohibited polygamy. The Turkish Constitution of 1982 declared the republic to be a democratic, secular and social-legal state.

Special mention should be made about the sources used in this work. To obtain general information on the history of the Ottoman Empire and Islamic law, textbooks for law and history faculties were mainly used. Their names are included in the bibliography at the end of the work. In particular, this is the textbook Skakun O.F. “Theory of State and Law” and the book by Vasilyev L.S. "History of the East". Translations into Russian, directly, of individual legal monuments were also used, such as, for example, “The Book of Laws of Sultan Selim I” (translated by A.S. Tveritinova, 1969). It is necessary to say about a characteristic feature of the medieval legal monuments of the Ottoman Empire. The most serious works containing data analysis on this topic belong to a prominent Turkish specialist, professor at Istanbul University Omer Lutfi Barkan. O.L. Barkan noted that great difficulties for a comprehensive study of Turkish legislation in the Middle Ages are created by the absence of official texts in the archives of Turkey, even those legislative codes that are known to historians from various publications. Obviously, the consequence of this is that there is insufficiently extensive information in the literature on the general history of state and law. And in conclusion, the author of this work analyzed a number of contemporary articles in the media devoted to Muslim law and culture, including foreign (English-language) ones.

The High Ottoman State (Ottoman Empire) emerged as a result of the conquests of Anatolia (Asia Minor) in the 11th century. Seljuk Turks, who took possession of the lands that previously belonged to Byzantium and assimilated its predominantly Greek population. The heirs of the first Turkic conquerors were the Ottoman Empire, which completed the conquest of Byzantium with the capture of Constantinople in 1453. At the height of its power, during the reign of Suleiman "the Magnificent" (1520-1555), the empire stretched from Vienna to the Persian Gulf, from Crimea to Morocco. The period of the Ottoman Empire ended after the end of the First World War, when it broke up into many independent states, and Turkish lands became part of the modern Turkish Republic.

Over the course of 6 centuries, the Ottoman Empire developed a rather complex government system. During the reign of Osman (1288 - 1326), a powerful military state was formed, essentially absolutist, although the commanders to whom the Sultan gave different areas in management, often found themselves independent and reluctant to recognize the supreme power of the Sultan. This period is marked by the creation of the Ottoman system government controlled, which remained virtually unchanged for four centuries. Mainly for practical reasons (trade, taxes), Ottoman state was relatively tolerant of non-Muslims; in particular, forced conversion to Islam was not practiced. The concept of “millet” was introduced, according to which religious and ethnic minorities were given the opportunity to be independent from the central government in resolving their issues. The millet was an interpretation of Muslim rules for the treatment of non-Muslim minorities (dhimmi). The leader of each millet was an ethnarch, most often a religious hierarch, such as the Patriarch of Constantinople, who reported directly to the Ottoman Sultan. The Millets had real power - they established their own laws, and also collected and distributed taxes. When a member of one millet committed a crime against a member of another, the law of the victim was applied, but if the case involved a member of the Muslim community, then the overriding Muslim law, Sharia, was used. Neighboring states that found themselves in vassalage to the Ottoman Empire were forced to pay taxes to the Sultan, as well as provide their forces in the event of Ottoman military campaigns. Many vassal states were eventually transformed into provinces of the empire itself. However, there were also those that did not become provinces, such as the Crimean Khanate, which later went to Russian Empire.

In the Ottoman Empire, there was no strict rule for the transfer of sultanal power by primogeniture (from father to eldest son) or by seniority (eldest brother). Although the crown often passed to the sultan's son, the system of succession changed frequently and was unstable. The state apparatus, like the entire administration system, the entire internal structure of the empire, was very close to the classical standard, which corresponds to the general scheme of the command and administrative structure of the traditional East, including the institutions of power - property and centralized redistribution (redistribution). All lands of the empire were considered state-owned, and they were administered on behalf of the Sultan by the government apparatus. In the conquered territories, forms of land tenure were partially changed in accordance with Ottoman standards, and partially remained the same, but at the same time they were brought into line with the orders that were accepted in the empire. Although the Sultan was the supreme monarch, he had many advisers and ministers. The most powerful among them were the viziers and the Divan (essentially the government), subordinate to the Grand Vizier. The Divan was a council at which the viziers discussed the policies of the empire. It was the duty of the Grand Vizier to inform the Sultan of the Divan's opinion. The Divan consisted of 3 viziers in the 14th century to 11 in the 17th century. The activities of the government were regulated by the code of laws of Kanun-name adopted under Mehmed II (1444–1481), as well as by Islamic law, Sharia. Organizationally, the central apparatus of power consisted of three main systems - military-administrative, financial and judicial-religious. Each of them was represented both in the center and locally. Headed by the Grand Vizier himself, the military-administrative system was the backbone of the entire structure of the empire. Country by the 16th century was divided into 16 large eyalet regions, headed by beylerbey governors, subordinate to the Grand Vizier and responsible for the state of affairs in their regions - primarily for the combat capability of those units that a particular region should always be ready to deploy. The beylerbeys, in turn, were subordinate to the district military commanders-administrators of the sanjakbeys (there were about 250 sanjak districts in the country), who were administratively responsible for their districts. In the districts, the power of the sanjakbey was very strong, although formally it was regulated by the district Kanun-name, which over time was created for each sanjak. And finally, at the lowest level of power, the entire military-administrative system relied on the timariots, subordinate to the sanjakbeys and responsible to them both for the combat effectiveness and equipment of the sipahi warriors fielded from their timar-landholding, and for maintaining administrative order among the local population.

The functions of the financial department, headed by the vizier-defterdar and represented at the regional and district levels by special officials with scribes subordinate to them, were to keep strict records of treasury resources and revenues, determine the amount of taxes and duties, and various types of duties. Apparently, it was the officials of this department who had to strictly control the amount of taxes from each timar, including the share that went to the timar, and which he had no right to exceed. The tax system in the empire was quite complex, especially considering that some remote provinces, which were in a semi-autonomous position, had their own traditional types taxes. However, in general the system was coherent and strictly mandatory. It was divided into two main parts - legal taxes (i.e., those corresponding to Sharia - tithe-ushr from Muslims, kharaj and jizya poll tax from non-Muslims, zakat from the propertied and the corresponding heavier duties from non-Muslims, especially from wealthy citizens, etc. etc.) and additional levies, which included various local and emergency taxes, duties, taxes. In addition to those serving, the Muslim clergy, both serving (judges-qadi, etc.) and non-serving (ulema), were exempt from taxes.

The judicial-religious system, within the framework of the general administrative-political structure of the empire, had the function of controlling the lifestyle and behavior of the population. Headed at the central government level by Sheikh-ul-Islam and represented at the governorate level by several (initially only two) qadi-askers, this system at the district level was closed by Muslim qadi judges and their assistants. Judges-qadis were, first of all, judges who decided in the name of Islam and on behalf of the authorities all legal cases concerning Muslims. But this was only part of their functions, although the main and most important one. In addition, kadis acted as notaries who recorded documents and transactions, as well as intermediaries who resolved trade, financial and other disputes, controllers who monitored the regulation of income and the procedure for collecting taxes, setting prices, the order and nature of public works, etc. . In a word, in the conditions of fusion of politics and religion typical for Islamic structures, the qadis who were in the administrative service were both confessors and officials. As far as other, non-Muslim segments of the population were concerned, similar functions were assigned to the leaders of the corresponding religious millet communities - Greek Orthodox, Armenian Gregorian, Jewish, who received broad powers for this.

As a result, it should be noted the basic principles on which the concept of the Ottoman state was based. It is important to highlight the religious component, which is an integral basis, the foundation of statehood. From here follows the root of the entire legal system of the Ottoman Empire - Sharia. The next feature is the weak centralization of state power. Indicative in this case is the presence of millets - ethnic-religious autonomies that exercised self-government quite independent from the Sultan's authority.

The next topic to be covered will be the basic principles and scope of Sharia law. Shariah (- the proper (correct) path, course of action) is a set of, - and, covering all aspects of life, proclaimed “eternal and unchanging”. This legal system, which over time acquired global significance, arose and took shape within the framework of the Arab Caliphate. The process of its development was closely connected with the evolution of Arab statehood from a small patriarchal-religious community at the beginning of the 7th century. (under the Prophet Muhammad) to one of the largest empires of the 8th-10th centuries. during the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. After the fall of the Arab Caliphate, Muslim law became valid in a number of medieval countries in Asia and Africa that adopted Islam to one degree or another (including the Ottoman Empire).

According to Islamic traditions, the main sources of Sharia are the Koran and Sunnah, and all other sources should not contradict them. Below is a list of basic sources of Sharia:

As an additional source of law, Sharia also allowed local customs that were not directly included in Muslim law itself during the period of its formation, but did not directly contradict its principles and norms. At the same time, the legal customs that had developed in the Arab society itself (urf), as well as among numerous peoples conquered as a result of the Arab conquests or later subjected to the influence of Muslim law (adat), were recognized.

Thus, it can be summarized that Sharia is the core of the Islamic religious and legal system of most Muslim countries. This system spread to the territories of all countries under the influence of the Arab Caliphate, in particular the Ottoman Empire. And now, although it is not actually valid legislation, it still has an impact on social life heiress of the Ottoman Empire - Turkey.

The source of law derived from Sharia was the decrees and orders of the caliphs - firmans. Subsequently, with the development of legislative activity, laws - eves - began to be considered and play an increasing role as a source of law. Firmans and kanuns should not have contradicted the principles of Sharia and supplemented it, first of all, with norms regulating the activities of state bodies and regulating administrative and legal relations of state power with the population. The legal system, built on qanun laws, resolved issues not directly reflected in Sharia laws, and, in fact, was the secular legislation of the Sultan. By the first half of the 15th century. These include the first attempts to codify Ottoman feudal law in the form of sets of legislative provisions (kanun-name) for individual provinces of the state. They summarized the provisions on administrative, financial and criminal matters, established the principles of taxation of various groups of the tax-paying population, and regulated issues of land relations, taking into account the practice that had developed in these areas at the time of their inclusion in the Ottoman state. From the point of view of Islamic law, such codes represented an innovation that diminished the role of Sharia. The legal provisions that constituted them were based mainly on customary law and regulations that were in force before the Ottoman conquest, and therefore sometimes significantly diverged from Sharia dogmas, which were usually guided by Muslim judges - qadis. Later, during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih (1451-1481), on their basis, general kanun-names (Fatih Kanunnamesi) were compiled, which became mandatory guidelines in solving public affairs and in the practice of Sharia courts. The texts of the decrees of the first Ottoman rulers have not reached us. Only from the writings of chroniclers and later records of lawyers is it known that Osman established the rules for collecting market duties and declared a law on the procedure for distributing timar possessions, and under Orhan, in 1328, it was decided to mint his own coins (akche), to introduce a special clothes (in particular, white caps) for military captives (sipahi; persons in vassal dependence), “so that one can see the differences between them and the commoners (rayats)”, on the creation of an irregular infantry army of yayas and musellems, kept on pay in wartime and dispersed to the villages to engage in farming at the end of the war. Sultan Murad I, on the advice of Beylerbey Rumelia Timurtash Pasha, clarified the order of inheritance of timars and the performance of military fief duties by their owners, and also established a law on the deduction to the treasury of 1/5 of the value of military booty delivered by the Turkish conquerors from campaigns, including prisoners , determining the price of each captive slave at 25 akche. Under Sultan Bayezid I, a fee was established for qadis for writing certificates, petitions and similar documents, as well as for performing various judicial duties. The listed and many other decrees of the first Ottoman sultans, apparently, remained in a scattered, unsystematized state, according to at least, until the second half of the 15th century. Their first codification dates back to the period of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih, as we can judge from the texts of two legislative codes (kanun-name) that have come down to us from this time. One of them contains three parts: 1) a table of ranks, 2) the basics of court ceremonial and the rules for appointing dignitaries and their children to public positions, 3) several articles on punishments for criminal offenses, determining the content of dignitaries and their titles.

After Mehmed II Fatih, Sultan Bayezid II (1418-1512) became the publisher of the kanun-name. This collection of laws expanded the rules of religious fees and taxes on the Timars. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1494-1556), also called Kanuni (Lawgiver), established an even more complex system of kanun-name rules: starting from the rights and responsibilities of timar-sipahi warriors, ending with the rules of appearance. New laws were also issued for conquered countries and regions. For example, in 1520, the Kanun-Name of Amfissa (Kanun-Name-i Salna) was published, which regulated mainly the procedure for collecting taxes and customs duties in the regions of Central Greece under Ottoman rule. For example, the eve-nama of Amfissa says: “25 akche is collected from infidels who have reached adulthood as ispenje (land tax); from [infidels] who are married, 6 akche is charged as a tax on hay, from the widows of kafirs (i.e. non-Muslims) an ispenje of 6 akche is collected.” Or about customs duties (badge) on food, clothing, etc.: “For the sale of a slave or slave, 4 akche are charged from both the seller and the buyer, which in total is 8 akche.”

Turkish historians associate the main stages in the development of Ottoman legislation after Mehmed II with the names of Sultans Suleiman Kanuni (1520-1666), Ahmed I (1603-1617) and with the activities, mainly in the 16th-17th centuries, of many lawyers (Sheikh ul-Islam and etc.).

From the above we can conclude that the Sultan's kanun-names were one of the most important sources of law in the Ottoman Empire. It is also very significant that the further development of Ottoman legal concepts is connected precisely with those, albeit still insufficiently systematized, provisions that are set out in these sets of Sultan laws.

In 1869-1877 “Majallat al-Ahkam al-Adliyya” (“Code of Legal Norms”), which is also called the Civil Code of the Ottoman Empire, was adopted. After the appearance of the code, judges (qadis) were obliged first of all to apply its norms, and not to base their decisions on doctrinal sentiments. The Code prohibited the interpretation of issues regulated by its norms. Primary attention in this code (another name is Majalla) is paid to issues of civil and judicial law. Majalla was the first serious attempt to codify the norms of Islamic law, the importance of which cannot be overestimated; some civil codes of Arab countries still include certain provisions of this source, for example, to this day, the legislation of Kuwait and other countries retains certain norms borrowed from the Majalla. . Its effect extended to most Arab countries that were part of the Ottoman Empire (with the exception of Egypt). The Code regulated issues of legal capacity, but did not address family relations, which, in accordance with the principle of freedom of belief and personal rights of followers of numerous sects and denominations, continued to be regulated by various traditional schools of Islamic law. Majallah operated in Turkey until 1926, in Lebanon - until 1931, in Syria - until 1949, in Iran - until 1953, in Jordan - until 1976. Currently, its effect is partially preserved in Israel, Kuwait and Cyprus. In Majalla, the principles of legal regulation are widely presented, formulated as a result of the interpretation of casual regulations of Islamic law and considered as the starting point for the application of specific legal norms. A significant number of these articles are devoted to liability for harm caused. This included rules such as “damage is not eliminated by damage” (Article 25), “damage is not long-standing” (Article 7), “greater harm is eliminated by lesser” (Article 27), “harm is avoided as far as possible” ( Art. 31), “collection of what was acquired” (Article 87), etc. The grounds for civil liability are violation of the terms of the contract, illegal taking of someone else’s property and causing damage to someone else’s property (“itlaf”). In “itlaf”, Muslim jurists also included unintentional crimes against the person (murder; bodily injury), liability for which was also compensatory in nature. At the same time, liability for crimes also occurred under criminal law. The concept of “itlaf” distinguishes between direct and indirect damage to someone else’s property. In the second case, there must be a gap in the form of another action or event between the qualifying action and the occurrence of damage. According to the rule of Art. 92 and 93 of Majalli, the burden of liability for damage is placed on the person whose actions directly led to the damage: the one who caused it indirectly bears responsibility only if his actions were intentional.

Thus, the "Code of Legal Norms" is the first legislative act, which consolidated the norms of Islamic law as an integral system in the form of state law. Subsequently, these provisions were adopted by legislation in a number of countries in Asia and Africa at the level of industries or even individual norms.

Some conclusions should be drawn from this work. Firstly, it is necessary to state the fact that a feature of legal systems in states in which Islam has become the dominant religion is the strict connection of law and the state system of power with religion. This type of legal system is fundamentally different from the Western (European) type. Researchers usually call the class of such systems traditional religious. The main sources of law in this case are the holy books, the sayings of the prophets (in particular, in Islam - the Koran and Sunnah), as well as legal traditions and customs inherent in a given ethnic group or region. Another characteristic feature of Islamic law can be called the widespread principle of authority: individual decisions of prophets, historical figures, and religious leaders, starting from the Prophet Muhammad, and ending with individual muftis (fatwas), became the norms of law. Secondly, in addition to analyzing the very essence of the law of the Ottoman Empire, it is necessary to draw conclusions based on the temporal perspective, that is, the transformation of the legal system over time. Significant changes occurred over 7 centuries in Asia Minor, starting from the strict application of Sharia law during the period of the Seljuk Turks who conquered Anatolia. The Arab Caliphate played an important role, which laid the foundations of the Muslim religious and legal system. Further, the relationship between religious norms and the Sultan's law developed in the direction of increasing the role of the latter, although it never abolished Sharia law. Indicative in this regard are the codes of laws published by Suleiman the Magnificent (Kanuni). And finally, the most important event in the history of law of the Ottoman Empire was the publication of the “Code of Legal Norms” (Majally) at the end of the 19th century, which further limited the application of religious law. A principle has emerged indicating, first of all, to use the norms prescribed in Majalla. As a conclusion, it must be said that even after the disappearance of the Ottoman Empire with political map peace in 1923, the downward trend in the role of religious law remained unchanged, which ultimately led to the declaration of Turkey as a democratic and secular state.

Add at least some literature on Majalla

Available in “Anthology of world legal thought. Volume 1. The ancient world and Eastern civilizations / Hand. scientific project G.Yu. Semigin. – M.: Mysl, 1999. – 750 p.»

List of sources and literature used

1. Vasiliev L.S. History of the East: In 2 volumes. T. 1. – M., 1998.

2. Legislation on Amfissa. (translated by J. Kabrdy) // Eastern sources on the history of the peoples of south-eastern and central Europe. T. 1. - M., Institute of Oriental Studies, 1964.

3. History of the East. In 6 volumes. T.2. / Ch. ed. R.B. Rybakov. - M.: Eastern literature, RAS, 1997.

4. History of state and law of foreign countries: Textbook for universities: In 2 parts. Part 1 / Under the general. ed. prof. Krasheninnikova I.A. and prof. Zhidkova O. A. - M.: Publishing house NORMA, 2003.

5. Book of laws of Sultan Selim I. (translated by A. S. Tveritinova) - M., Chief editor oriental literature, 1969

6. Nersesyants V.S. General theory of law and state. Textbook for law schools and faculties. – M.: Publishing group NORM-INFRA, 2002.

7. Skakun O.F. Theory of state and law: Textbook. – Kharkov: Consum; University internal affairs, 2000.

8. Syukiyainen L.R. West and East – a smoldering conflict // Nezavisimaya Gazeta. –<#"#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title="">Sykiyainen L.R. West and East – a smoldering conflict // Nezavisimaya Gazeta. –<#"#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title="">Fiona Symon. Analysis: The roots of jihad // BBC News. – #"#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""> Nersesyants V. S. General theory of law and state. Textbook for law schools and faculties. – M.: Publishing group NORMA–INFRA - M., 2002. – p. 471 – 473

Skakun O.F. Theory of state and law: Textbook. – Kharkov: Consum; University internal affairs, 2000. – p. 650.

Vasiliev L.S. History of the East: In 2 volumes. T. 1. – M., 1998. Chapter 4, - p. 225-227.

History of state and law of foreign countries: Textbook for universities: In 2 parts. Part 1 / Ed. ed. prof. Krasheninnikova I.A. and prof. Zhidkova O. A. - M.: Publishing house NORMA, 2003. - p. 551.

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