About the Townspeople in Bosnia in the XVlth Century

Abstract

The author - on the basis of the Turkish reg1isters as the most comprehensive source - considers the origin of the Bosnian townspeople i. e. the ways of forming and inhabiting towns and the social structure in the Bosnian towns. In the towns with the Oriental and Muslim physiognomy the townspeople were partly native Christians and partly Muslims. Muslims originated mainly from the neighboring rural area .and their number increased rapidly. This is confirmed by many findings in the official Turkish registers.

Some people, especially in the early period, came from the eastern parts of the Ottoman Empire. They were administrative and military officials, people whose profession was connected with Muslim religion and handicraftsmen. Others were the ex-prisoners of war. In order to facilitate their position many of them accepted Islam. Thereafter, they were always set free and even favored to some extent. They usually stayed in towns and we can see them doing different jobs: as handicraftsmen, men of religion and state's officials.

It should be mentioned that the Muslims working as the handicraftsmen were tax-exempt, but only in the central part of the town, not in its suburbs.