Erzerum – now in eastern Turkey – was a thriving town until the Safavid-Ottoman wars of the sixteenth century. After that, the records dwindle to almost nothing. There are virtually no accounts from travellers, for example, for more than a century, until Evliya Celebi comes through in 1645. Dickram Kouymjian, however, has found some Ottoman fiscal registers which describe the town. Even 400 years old, the taxman has a good idea of everything thats going on
From the 1540 register, it is clear that Erzerum was an enormous, double-walled fortified city, with mosques and churches, schools and shops, caravanserais and homes. The threat of the Safavids, though, meant that no-one dared to live there. Except for the garrison, the town was completely empty. There were only 21 male householders, and most of these were cavalrymen (representing, with their families, less than 100 people). The responsible tax official wrote that:
“Because Erzerum is on the frontier .. the population have been scattered and dispersed by the Kizilbas and the Gurci. The city stands empty and in ruins.”
The poor inhabitants of Erzerum weren’t even safe when they were resettled. Eskander Beg writes of how some bazaar people and officials from Erzerum were sent to the fortress town of Qars by the Ottomans. The Safavids, however, successfully attacked Qars too. Iskander Beg writes of how the Ottomans were defeated:
“some two or three thousand of the bazaar people, and people from other parts whom the Ottomans had brought to Qars to restore its prosperity, were slain by the gazis”
The survivors were “in fear of their lives” and shut themselves up in the citadel. After three days, their position was so desperate that they sued for quarter. This was given. However, as they left the fort, the Ottoman commander struck one of the Safavids “on the shoulder with his sword – an insane action”. A general massacre ensued “and not one of the Ottomans escaped with his life”.
Things improved with the 1590 treaty of Amasya, after Shah Abbas came to power; and the 1591 financial register recorded 548 males in Erzerum, representing a total population of about 2000. Of these, two thirds were Christian, nearly all of whom were Armenians. Interestingly, most of the new inhabitants lived in religiously mixed districts, suggesting that they were “at ease in a religiously integrated environment”.
Sadly, trouble for Erzerum didn’t really end definitively until the 1639 treaty of Zuhab. Shah Abbas attacked the Ottomans again in 1608-10, when Eskander Beg writes:
“The qezelbash were now in even more complete control of the Erzerum frontier region than before, and none of the Ottoman beglerbegs and pashas dared come out into the open and fight them.”
This weeks blog is about the inhabitants (and buildings) in the border zone where the Safavids and Ottomans fought towards the end of the sixteenth century. I’ve used a mix of Ottoman tax records (you really cant get away from the taxman, even in a war zone) and Safavid histories, to underline that life is this area wasnt much fun.
Life in a battle zone isn’t a new blog topic: I’ve written before that Shah Abbas’ 1601 walk was through a war zone, following on the conflicts between the Safavids and the Uzbeks; and suggested that this must have affected the population and probably also the buildings along the way. Two earlier blogs showed off the madrese and the gorgeous mihrab at Zuzan – affected by fighting in the thirteenth century . . . and also by yet more conflict only twenty years ago.
I can only hope that the fighting will not restart anytime soon.
Good blog, sadly no Armenians live in Erzurum (or Erzerum) any more. Also I would like to say that it is called the Treaty of Qasr-e- Shirin not the Treaty of Zuhab. This agreement between Safavid Persia and the Ottoman Empire was signed in 1639 and divided Kurdish land between Safavid Persia and the Ottomans. It is still relevant today between Iran and Turkey and this division of Kurdish land continues today.