Abstract
This paper examines ahi brotherhoods that were among the most significant social groups that survived the thirteenth-century Mongol invasion of Medieval Anatolia. Beside their ethical teachings and political actions, the ahis left their mark on this geography by erecting hospices (zaviyes), much like the colonizing dervish communities who operated both in urban and rural settings. The first question the paper poses is whether or not it is possible to distinguish between the broad category of hospices and ahi hospices in particular. This issue is more to do with the hospice as space and its social meaning and functions. It is also generally accepted that ahis’ influence faded out with the centralization of the Ottoman political entity. The evolution of hospices and mosques-with-hospices appeared in a parallel pattern to the centralization of the Ottoman realm. The question that follows concerns the locations and the numbers of ahi hospices/mosques in Anatolia, and their place within this evolution.
These questions can be addressed with relative certainty through comprehensive research into archival and narrative sources, epigraphic material, as well as archeological findings, since many ahi hospices remain under the soil today. As a working paper with certain limitations, this study will look at descriptions of hospices by narrative sources including fütüvvet manuals and travel accounts; ahi endowments recorded in foundation registers; cadastral records of land grants made to ahis by early Ottoman begs and sultans; and ahis’ appearance in the earliest available Ottoman archival sources.
Preliminary research shows that ahi hospices were concentrated in and around the towns of Kütahya, Kastamonu, Amasya, Tokat and Ankara. On the other hand, modest numbers of such structures were erected by ahis near Bursa, the first capital of the Ottomans. Ahis might have lost their influence earlier in the vicinity of Bursa, perhaps due to systematic efforts of building a capital, and the process of Ottoman centralization that might have been more pronounced in this area. The question on whether or not ahi hospices were distinguishable from others, on the other hand, requires further investigation.
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