The Laws of Timar and Zeamet Dated 1732 and 1777

Abstract

Although the establishment of the timar system which affected the agricultural, economic, military and administrative structure of Ottoman Empire, dates back to the founding years of the state, the perfect functioning of the system continued until the end of the 16^th century. With this system applied to most of lands it owned, the state collected taxes, formed military units, conquered with these units and expanded its borders. However, this system began to break down for many reasons, such as the use of firearms in wars, the long duration of wars, and the loss of value of the money. Some books and pamphlets were written in the 17^th century about the reasons for this deterioration and how the system could be corrected. When the state saw that it could not properly benefit from the revenue of timar lands, it included the dirliks in to treasury and started to give them as mukataa and collect their revenues. The publications of timar roll records and some laws and regulations regarding the timar system in the 18^th century shows the timar system has not completely disappeared in Anatolia and Rumelia. There are two laws enacted in 1971 and 1792 to correct the disorders seen in the system, and these have been published in full text. In this study, the content of the laws regarding timar and zeamet published in 1732 and 1777 is mentioned and full text of these laws are given. In addition, similar and different aspects of the laws regarding the timar system in 1732, 1777, 1791 and 1792 were emphasized. Although there are some differences in the four enacted laws, they are largely similar to each other. The selection of alaybeyi from among competent, accurate, astute people who know and carry out the military’s work is among the issues emphasized in the law. In addition, the alaybeys are expected to make offerings to deserving people in accordance with the old laws. The timarlı sipahis were required to be under the flag of alaybeyi during the campaign and to be in their timars during the peacetime.