A CROSS SECTION OF TWILIGHT OF OTTOMAN EMPIRE IN THE 17th CENTURY: DECENTRALIZATION OF "THE SUBASIS" OF TRABZON

Abstract

In the 17th century, the "subat", who were appointed from the center in the "classic" period were replaced by the "subat"s appointed by "sancakbeyi" and the "beylerbeyi". This situation ended up in a relative decentralization in the context of the subat. These new officers had socio-economic ties with the cities they were appointed as subat, which was substantially aberrant from the traditional Ottoman political practice. The position of subat became more and more financial, which was manifested in the form of "salgun" (a special tax collected in extraordinary times of deficit spending) in their relationship with the city. In this paper, which describes the subat in the 17th century in Trabzon, the work pattern of this new kind of subat was tried to be exemplified, depending on the knowledge obtained from the Sharia court records. By this way, we intended to make a small contribution to the enlightenment to the "twilight" period of the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century.