Gazi Mehmed-Beg Isabegović’s Endowment in Sarajevo

Abstract

Prime sources for the study of the history of towns at the time of the Ottoman rule are documents about endowments – vakufs (deeds of endowment - vakufnamahs, endowment registration in public records - defters, orders – fermans, decrees – berats, muhime defters). This paper brings information about the endowments of Gazi Mehmed-beg-chelebi, Isa-beg Ishaković’s son, in Sarajevo. As his endowment deed has not been preserved, here we will present the information contained in the Bosnian Sanjak public records and the translations of the decree sent from Constantinople in the first decade of the month of Sha’ban 1192 (late August 1778), telling of the aforesaid endowment.

Gazi Mehmed-beg had a mosque with a stone minaret built at Bistrik in Sarajevo, in 1519/20, next to it a madrasa and a primary school; for their maintenance, he endowed a caravanserai and several shops in the Sarajevo craft and trade centre, and a piece of land called ”Gnojnica” in the Herzegovina Sanjak. He was a muteveli of his father’s endowment in Sarajevo, and then a sanjakbeg of Bosnia, Herzegovina, and then of Kruševac. He is also known as the founder of Rogatica, which used to be called after him – Chelebi Pazar.

The information contained in the documents presented in this paper shows that Mehmed-beg’s endowment used to yield significant revenues and that, over centuries, the major part of the endowed property fell into ruin. Only the mosque at Bistrik has survived to witness the people like himself, who with their property have contributed to the building of Sarajevo.

Gazi Mehmed–beg je u Sarajevu 1519/1520. godine podigao džamiju sa kamenom munarom na Bistriku, do nje medresu i mekteb, i za njihovo održavanje uvakufio jedan han i brojne dućane u sarajevskoj ÄarÅ¡iji, kao i zemljiÅ¡te zvano â€Gnojnica†u HercegovaÄkom sandžaku. Bio je mutevelija oÄevog vakufa u Sarajevu, zatim bosanski, hercegovaÄki, a potom i kruÅ¡evaÄki sandžak–beg. Poznat je i po tome Å¡to se smatra osnivaÄem Rogatice koja je po njemu nosila i ime ÄŒelebi–pazar.

Podaci iz dokumenata koji su prezentirani u ovom radu pokazuju da je vakuf Mehmed–bega nekada imao znaÄajne prihode, i da je tokom stoljeća većina vakufske imovine propala. Ostala je samo džamija na Bistriku da svjedoÄi o ljudima poput njega koji su svojim imetkom doprinosili izgradnji Sarajeva.

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Gazi Mehmed-beg Isabegović’s endow ment in Sarajevo

Prime sources for the study of the history of towns at the time of the Ottoman rule are documents about endowments – vakufs (deeds of endowment - vakufnamahs, endowment registration in public records - defters, orders – fermans, decrees – berats, muhime defters). This paper brings information about the endowments of Gazi Mehmed-beg-chelebi, Isa-beg Ishaković’s son, in Sarajevo. As his endowment deed has not been preserved, here we will present the information contained in the Bosnian Sanjak public records and the translations of the decree sent from Constantinople in the first decade of the month of Sha’ban 1192 (late August 1778), telling of the aforesaid endowment.

Gazi Mehmed-beg had a mosque with a stone minaret built at Bistrik in Sarajevo, in 1519/20, next to it a madrasa and a primary school; for their maintenance, he endowed a caravanserai and several shops in the Sarajevo craft and trade centre, and a piece of land called â€Gnojnica†in the Herzegovina Sanjak. He was a muteveli of his father’s endowment in Sarajevo, and then a sanjakbeg of Bosnia, Herzegovina, and then of KruÅ¡evac. He is also known as the founder of Rogatica, which used to be called after him – Chelebi Pazar.

The information contained in the documents presented in this paper shows that Mehmed-beg’s endowment used to yield significant revenues and that, over centuries, the major part of the endowed property fell into ruin. Only the mosque at Bistrik has survived to witness the people like himself, who with their property have contributed to the building of Sarajevo.