Philanthropy in Ottoman Rumelia: Cash Waqfs from Four Provinces

Until the establishment of modern banks in the nineteenth century, cash waqfs played a massive role as financial organizations in the Ottoman Empire. These organizations emerged as an innovative design from the traditional waqf institution to organize credit-debt relations within the economy, particularly during the early modern period. Formally, a cash waqf was a trust fund created by an individual, with the income generated from the endowed capital financing specific services in perpetuity. Each cash waqf was privately funded by members of society, including high-ranking bureaucrats, commoners, and females. Case studies have focused on these cash waqfs, considering them both as providers of public goods and as creditors to individuals from various segments of society. Employing a new dataset consisting of cash waqf contracts (waqfiyya) from the Balkan provinces (Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia) of the Ottoman Empire, this study examines not only the function of cash waqfs but also the relationship between economic and non-economic variables. Individuals with honorific titles, Muslims, and males typically established cash waqfs to serve as a means of providing public goods and services, while also securing their wealth and enhancing their standing within the community. Cash waqfs established by other groups, including females and commoners, mostly provided funds for religious facilities and wealth preservation. The key determinant was the level of initial capital endowed by founders from different segments of society. Examining the relationship between initial capital and other variables—as gender, honorific titles, and functions—generates the focus of this study. It is expected that the capital levels of cash waqfs established by individuals with honorific titles would be higher than those of commoners. The same comparison should be appropriate among cash waqfs established by females and males. On the other hand, there should be much more correlation between capital levels and various variables. Thus, this study gives careful attention to such correlations instead of focusing on commonly known functions of cash waqfs. To delve further into the primary objectives, the following questions could be posed as major issues. For instance, did the capital of cash waqfs established to support religious structures differ from those of foundations that support education, infrastructure, and trade institutions? These questions highlight the central problems addressed in this study and distinguish it from previous research on cash waqfs.