On Sipahi Organization in the Eyalat of Bosnia During the 17th century

Abstract

Through the prism of various sources of institutional character, lists of timar estates, news of individuals who were part of the administrative system or were close to it, and sources of narrative origin, the paper traces the movement of the number of timariots throughout the 17th century, growth and changes in the Timar system until its end. Within the framework of the above, an analysis of the value of timar estates defined by legal regulations is also carried out, in which the disruption in categorization, caused by the weakening of the timar system and the loss of the value of the zeamet, is much more noticeable. In a significant number of cases, zeamets retain their name only nominally, while their value falls below the legal minimum (20,000 akchas). Based on the stated values and obligations of the Sipahi, an estimate of the number of the Sipahi army is made, including the escort. After that, the distribution of timar estates according to regional and administrative areas of the Bosnian Eyalet, the burden of certain regions and participation in the financing of the Sipahi corps, and the material status of the Sipahi that drew from the timar system are analyzed. By comparing different data, it is concluded that there were no extreme changes, at least when it comes to the number and overall capacity of the Sipahi army in the 17th century. Contrary to the numerous conclusions that there was a significant increase in the timariots and the Sipahi themselves, there is a visible tendency of decline in those regions that remained entirely part of the Bosnian Eyalet after the Peace of Karlovac (1699). This tendency is followed through the Sanjaks of Bosnia, Herzegovina, Klis and Zvornik, where the number of timariots at the beginning of the 18thcentury was 173 less than at the beginning of the 17th century.