Looking for the doctor's son: Ottoman administration of 18th century Bosnia.

Abstract

The dynamics of Ottoman administration in eighteenth-century Bosnia, as seen through the provincial governor's office, demonstrate that the populace and the state's representatives cooperated to realize societal needs. Proof of this assertion at a general level comes from asking how Ottoman governors were appointed and what their expected role was in Bonsai affairs. Government records, contemporary narratives, and poetry in both Ottoman and Serbo-Croatian from Bosnia villages and from archives in Swaraj and Isabel provide evidence of the relationship between the governor and the populace. One aspect of this relationship is revealed in the organization of the frontier defenses during this period. The siege of Banaluka in 1737 shows the efficacy of the indigenous military forces and the governor's--Hekimoglu Ali Pasa (the doctor's son)--skills as a commander of this Bosnian militia. An examination of the documents related to this institution refutes the nationalist historians' descriptions of a Bosnian society controlled by a hereditary, land holding, military elite. The Bosnian militia's command structure, appointment schedule, and financing reveal an institution that facilitated social mobility and encouraged cooperation with the Ottoman state. Finally, the transformation of this organization can be traced to extraneous fiscal pressures, not the introduction of secessionist political agendas. The second example of the relationship between the Ottoman governor and the Bosnian people involves their joint search for corporate order and their shared understanding of justice. Three specific historical vignettes concerning peasant disturbances, Montenegrin predation, and Ottoman administrative corruption show the significance of particular governors' unique abilities and of the Bosnians' expectations of social tranquillity. Cases of murder, brigandage, and violent betrayal suggest that the people in the province and the sultan's servants anticipated similar resolutions to social disorder. These resolutions fell within a spectrum of concerns regarding "law" and "order" in Bosnian society. In these matters, the governor's role stands revealed as the force of order in the province. This study attempts to demonstrate that the organization of Bosnian society was not determined by historical antagonisms based on ethnic and confessional tensions. Instead distinctly individual administrators worked together with people in the province to secure the Bosnian frontiers and maintain social stability.