The Conquering Pashas Reward Themselves
Temlik/Mülk Villages in Ottoman Crete
abstract
Since the beginning of the Ottoman state, Ottoman sultans used to award state (miri) lands to certain individuals in full property (mülk). Full property landowners had the right to exploit their lands as they liked. Immediately after the conquest of Crete, in 1645, some of the villages on the island were awarded as full properties to the Ottoman generals leading the expedition on the island. The Ottoman surveys register a total of 19 villages held in full property across Ottoman Crete: Two villages in the district of Chania were granted in full property to Murad Paşa and one in the district of Rethymno to the Grand Vizier Fazıl Ahmed Paşa. The latter had also secured for himself a total of 16 villages held in full property in the district of Candia. This article has followed in detail the registration of these villages in the Ottoman surveys of 1650, 1670 and 1704, comparing their demographic and economic structures to the data concerning other villages in the same sources, belonging to the state or to pious foundations.
Keywords: Crete • Property • Tapu registers • Mülk villages • Ottoman