Posted on November 13, 2025 by Nicole Poole
“European Men, Ottoman Women, and Legal Agency in Early Modern Istanbul”
Ali Atabey, PhD publishes article
Abstract:
Drawing on unpublished legal court records from the seventeenth century, this article examines intimate relationships between European men and local Ottoman women in early modern Istanbul. It presents two central arguments. First, it challenges the prevailing view that such encounters were necessarily fleeting or limited to temporary marriages. Instead, the archival evidence reveals that European men often engaged in long-term, multifaceted relationships with local women. Second, it highlights the agency of local Ottoman women in these interactions. Through marriage, litigation, negotiation, divorce, and inheritance claims involving European men, Ottoman women actively asserted their roles within legal and social frameworks. By focusing on these gendered and cross-cultural encounters, the article contributes to the broader study of religious minorities under Muslim rule by highlighting how two groups—European men (sometimes alongside their larger European families) and Ottoman women—navigated their positions as non-Muslims within the sociolegal structures of the Ottoman Empire, albeit in markedly different ways. Their encounters, particularly in the Galata court, reflect a microcosm of early modern Mediterranean entanglements.
— Nicole Poole
Short ribs burgdoggen short loin ham hock picanha drumstick tri-tip andouille shankle alcatra rump salami ham. Pastrami bresaola turducken alcatra leberkas. Leberkas shankle burgdoggen ham, sirloin hamburger turkey kielbasa cupim tongue tri-tip prosciutto spare ribs.
