SHEEP AND SHEEPFOLD TAX REGISTER OF THE MEDVEĐA KAZA FROM THE YEAR 1597/98.

Abstract

The Balkans has been a region of prosperous animal husbandry since the earliest times due to its geographical features, the abundance of water, winter lowland meadows and summer upland pastures. In medieval Serbia transhumant pastoralism was regulated by customary law and codified later by the Tsar Dušan’s Code. Taxation on breeding sheep and goats was implemented through taxes paid in kind or services. Upon the fall under Ottoman rule, these taxes were incorporated into the Sultanic laws and paid in kind and cash. These were the sheep tax (adet-i ağnam), the sheepfold tax (resm-i agil), the grass tax (resm-i otlak), the tax on summer/winter pasture (resm-i yaylak/kışlak), and the prize for the tax collectors. The overall amount of the sheep breeding tax income fell most frequently to the sultan i.e. to the State Treasury. However, sometimes it was transferred to the military commanders of various ranks or a pious foundation (vakıf). The sheep taxes were collected based on data from the surveys produced by the Ottoman chancellery named Ganem kitabeti in which the number of sheep was listed per village. The register of the kaza of Medveđa, compiled in 1597/98, included 62 villages with taxable small livestock, the number of which is determined as a lump sum. Besides being a valuable source for local economic history, the register offers new material for historical geography and toponomastics