Abstract:

The hurufat records may be reached at the archives of the ‘Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü’ (the General Directorate of Foundations). These are the records kept for appointments of the clergy (imam, cüzhan, mütevelli, nazır and ferraş), and to a lesser extent also for the appointments of the members of the ruling groups (knez, head of basmacılar, süvari başı) for the Christian population in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The defters covers a period from the beginning of the 17th century to the early 20th century. There are 1833 citations in the 81-page defter. The records provide information on foundations in 122 centers and their constituent villages. Most of the records are related to Ottoman cities and villages in the Balkans. Also, records on such centers as Edirne, İstanbul, Gelibolu, Tekirdağ and Kıbrıs can be found. 968 out of a total of 1833 registrations deal with Ottoman cities in Greece. 24 out of 122 centers are currently in today’s Greece. In the records, we have identifed 519 buildings of 18 different types of structures. The majority of the registrations (77 per cent) is about the mosques and mescits. 7 percent of the records are about the tekkes and 5 per cent about the schools. We could identify only 240 foundations in Greece. The records reveal names for 47 districts (mahalle), 144 villages and 24 towns in Greece.

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