A Contemporary Document on Saih Hamza From Orlović (Bosnia)

Abstract

This article represents a contribution to an interesting problem in the cultural history of Bosnia in the early Turkish period. The subject of discussion is the foundation of tekye and its wakf in the village of Orlovići, not far from the old fortress of Kušlat (on the Vlasenica-Zvornik road), whose founder was Saikh Hamza. It has already been written about the tekye, built in 1519, and its role and importance in our country. Those studies have been published mostly in this periodical. However, the problem could not be explained sufficiently on the basis of the meager and considerably later sources.

The earliest now known document on the matter is published and discussed in the present article. It is a short note of the register (defter) of the sangak of Zvornik, recorded in the detailed register from 1519 and is found in several successive registers from the XVIth century. It concerns the tax-exemption of the čiftlik of Saikh Hamza, within which he erected the above mentioned tekye. The source published here in text and translation contains a number of new data on the mentioned tekye and its founder.

Analyzing the source, the attempt was made to explain each detail as much as possible. Three questions are discussed here briefly: Saikh Hamza, the tekye and Hamza's successors. It is clear from this source that Hamza previously was a sipahi with the timar of 7000 akčes, which he renounced when he built the tekye. For that reason, an attempt was made here to clarify the past and origin of Saikh Hamza, as well as of the tekye. The very fact that the tekye was erected there relatively very early (1519) - when both the process of islamisation and the development of the Muslim urban centers were in the initial phase of their formation, is sufficiently interesting. Finally, the quoted source corrects the previous opinions on Hamza's successors. Now it is evident that Saikh Hamza had no direct male heirs in the service of the tekye.