Muslim/Turkish Presence in Constantinople

Constantinople Under Turkish Rule, The Seraglio Palace in the Foreground the Golden Horn by Giovanni Andrea Vadagnino


Mavi Boncuk |Turkish presence in Constantinople

The earliest information on the existence of a mosque dates to the early 10th century and can be collected from letters of patriarch Nikolas Mystikos to the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad. (...) This correspondence, where the mention to the mosque of Constantinople is to be found, took place on the occasion of the closure of Christian churches within the Abbasid territory, which we are informed that was due to rumours circulating in the Abbasid capital, concerning the alleged closure of the mosque in Constantinople. The patriarch denied these rumors, and at the same time he protested for the closure of the Christian churches.1 (...) But there were also political implications, rather the aspirations of Byzantine diplomacy that were manifested through the operation of the mosque, since the Byzantine authorities would be the ones to decide which leader of the Muslim forces would be commemorated in the prayer of Friday(...) For example, while the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad was commemorated up to the beginning of 11th century, from 1027 onward the name of the Fatmid caliph of Cairo was commemorated instead, and from the mid-eleventh century on that of Seljuk sultan.2


The presence of Muslim merchants in Constantinople was continuous at the city's heyday, from the 9th century (if not earlier) up to the 12th century. Whether the presence of Muslim merchants was accompanied by a permanent installation of some of them (as it happened with the Venetians and the Genoese) is uncertain, but even their transitory presence was continuous and regularly renewed. Moreover, apart from the Arab merchants, by the 11th century the Muslim presence of Constantinople also comprised the Turkish element. A poem in the vernacular by John Tzetzis (mid-12th century) is indicative regarding this element, since it mentions that a great number of languages spoken in the markets of Constantinople, including the Arabic and the Turkish.3


The serious crisis and decline of the city after the fall of 1204 and under Latin rule, characterised by demographic decrease and the serious debasement of the economic and commercial importance of city, must have had its effect on the Muslim presence; in any case, its continuance through the period of the Latin rule, perhaps even in the period of first Palaiologoi, is doubtful.4 Gradually, however, the Muslim presence must have resumed, though this time its main element would be the Turkic. The Turkish expansion from the mid-14th century onward had resulted in the expansion of the Ottoman territory at the immediate precincts of city. The proximity with Turkish populations facilitated its access for the Muslims to an almost daily basis. The Turkish presence in Constantinople in the late 14th- and during the 15th century until the Ottoman conquest, can be distinguished in two categories: the Turks that were permanently living in the city, literally forming a community, and those who went there temporarily from the nearby Ottoman territory, in order to arrange their affairs, usually within few hours. The presence of the first category is implied by the demand of Sultan Bayiazid to appoint a Turkish judge in the city, who would attend to the judicial affairs of Turkish residents (a form of immunity); the second category is implied in the description of the defensive measures taken by the Byzantines before the siege of 1453, when they sealed the gates of the walls and arrested any Turks who were caught inside the city.5

1. Jenkins, R.J.H.- Westerink, L.G. (eds.), Nicholas I. Letters (Washington DC 1973), no. 102.

2. Ζακυθηνός, Δ.Α., Βυζαντινή Ιστορία, 324-1071 (Athens 1972), pp. 386, 488.

3. Cited by Mango, C., Βυζάντιο. Η Αυτοκρατορία της Νέας Ρώμης(Athens ²1990), p. 105.

4. Matschke K.P., "The late Byzantine urban economy, Thirteenth-Fifteenth Centuries", Laiou, A. (ed.), The Economic History of Byzantium from the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century, Washington, D.C. 2002, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 39, p. 479

5. Bekker, Ι. (ed.), Michaelis Ducae Nepotis Historia Byzantina (Bonn 1834), ΧΙΙΙ p. 49, XV p. 56 and XXXIV pp. 244-245.

Source: Muslims in Byzantine Constantinople
Author: Moustakas Konstantinos
Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Constantinople