Two more Firmans on the Reorganisation of the Ottoman Postal System (1101/1690 and 1209/1794) •

Abstract

The present article publishes the texts and translations of two firmans of Süleyman II (1101/1690) and Selim III (1209/1794) that were taken from copies in the kadi registers (sicil) of Amasya and Damascus. They concerned the reform of the Ottoman courier and post-station (ulaḳ / menzilḫāne) network with regard to the Anatolian routes. In contrast to the wide-ranging reforms featured by two other firmans (1108/1696) that Colin Heywood translated in this journal in 2001, these firman texts feature small-scale, targeted reforms. Read together, these firmans shift our understanding of reform away from singular moments of intervention towards a longer-term, incremental model of maintenance.