Chapter 

In Ottoman Territory, Fifteenth

to Nineteenth Centuries

Jews and Muslims

in the Ottoman Empire
Gilles Veinstein

The great movement of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal,
taken up by several Italian states at the end of the fifteenth and the begin-
ning of the sixteenth centuries, had important consequences for Ottoman
Jewry, which would be the major recipient of these exiles. The Sephardic
component, which was layered onto older, preexisting strata of Jewish popu-
lations, and would in turn be superseded by other arrivals, was henceforth
dominant in population and cultural influence, in keeping with a brilliant,
carefully preserved heritage. The favor- Gilles Veinstein
able reception of Jews by Sultan Bayezid
Gilles Veinstein, professor at the Collège
II is not a myth, even if it shows more
de France, held the chair of Turkish and
enlightened pragmatism than a hypotheti- Ottoman History and was the director of
cal Judeophilia. In several domains—the studies at the École des hautes études
en sciences socials (EHESS) in Paris.
cloth trade, major commerce, finance, and His works include Le Sérail ébranlé:
tax farming—Jews, and specifically the Essai sur les morts, dépositions et
avènements des sultans ottomans, XIVe-
Sephardi, played a dynamic though never XIXe siècles (Fayard, 2003).
exclusive role. Some, such as palace physi-
cians and big businessmen, even exerted a certain political influence, though
one that remained semiofficial, since it was never institutionalized. All this
was made possible by the attachment of the Muslim sultans to the status of
dhimmī, with its discrimination but also its tolerance (in principle), its guar-
antees, and a measure of autonomy that did not, on the other hand, stand
in the way of integration into the Ottoman ranks. But the question remains
whether Jews with dhimmī status were on an equal footing with Christians
or whether they were treated worse, and if so, why. After the relative “golden
age” of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Jews saw their condition worsen
due to both internal and external factors. They retained remnants of their
former positions, but the abolition of the Janissaries at the beginning of the
nineteenth century would mean additional hardships for them.

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