Europeans under Ottoman Law: Temporary Marriages between Ottoman Subjects and Europeans in 17th-Century Istanbul

In 1689, a local Christian woman named Garifalye came to court with her daughter Maryora against Isak who was Maryora’s European husband Hristodoli’s agent. Garifelya demanded that Isak pay Maryora a monthly stipend as he was appointed as surety by Hristodoli before leaving Istanbul. Isak confirmed the surety appointment but claimed that Hristodoli had divorced Maryora right after the appointment in question. Isak provided witnesses in support of his statement and the court warned Garifelya to not sue Isak again with baseless claims. Interestingly enough, Garifelya married her daughter to another European, a British named Vaha, right after this divorce and the court registered the marriage.

This paper provides a sociocultural and legal analysis of the cross-cultural and cross-religious interactions between local Ottoman subjects and European inhabitants in late 17th-century Galata, the main commercial and diplomatic district of the Ottoman capital, Istanbul. It takes up the phenomenon of temporary marriages between Europeans and local Ottoman subjects. The specific circumstances of Galata as a borderland and commercial hub led to a pattern in which foreigners would marry local Christian women temporarily during their term of residence in Istanbul. These intimate cross-cultural interactions proved to be beneficial to the all involved parties in one way or another: While Europeans acquired company and satisfied their sexual needs, their local wives obtained crucial economic gains though these marriages. For the Ottoman state, on the other hand, such marriages were desirable as they provided a partial relief to the sexual tension caused by the bachelor-dominant mobile population of Galata. I utilize an extensive set of archival sources composed of legal court records, inheritance records, consular reports, and personal writings. An examination of social history and family networks of Europeans under Islamic law is sorely lacking. This paper seeks to make a contribution to ameliorate this.