Guilds, Bazaars and Houses in Ottoman Çorum (16th-17th Century)

Çorum’s present-day shopping districts are covered on Shopping and Bazaars in Çorum, the “world’s narrowest bazaar” on the Dikiciler Arastası page, and the architecture of traditional Çorum houses in the Çorum Houses article — all of these describe structures and urban fabric from the 19th-20th centuries. This page, based on a section of Çorum Tarihi (Turkish, “History of Çorum”) written by Suraiya Faroqhi (p. 115-127), describes a much older layer: the bazaars, guilds and house market of 16th-17th-century Ottoman Çorum, as recorded in the era’s court registers (şeriyye sicili).

Nearly twenty bazaars, roughly two hundred shops

Per the book, at least 17 bazaars operating in late-16th-century Çorum can be identified from pious-foundation records and the court register; since some, such as the butchers’ and cotton-dealers’ bazaars, are not fully reflected in the surviving records, the real number is estimated at close to 20. Shops belonging to pious foundations alone totalled 148, suggesting a town-wide total of at least around two hundred shops — a picture at odds with the impression of the German traveller Hans Dernschwam, who described 16th-century Çorum as “a village-type settlement” (Çorum Tarihi, p. 115-116). Fifteen recorded shop sales in the court register show prices ranging from 600 to 5,000 akçe, with an average around 2,400-2,531 akçe. Wealthy individuals such as Kadı Mevlana Hasan Efendi could buy up to five shops at once, while among the sellers ordinary families forced to sell to pay debts or divide an inheritance were more common (Çorum Tarihi, p. 116-117).

A major earthquake in 987 AH/1579-80, followed by a fire, destroyed many shops in the bazaar; during reconstruction, some Çorum residents built unauthorized shops on foundation land and charged high rents, alarming the foundations’ trustees — some shops paid the foundation as little as 60-70 akçe a year in rent while their builders collected seven or eight gold coins (roughly 420-480 akçe) from tenants (Çorum Tarihi, p. 117).

The covered market and the hans

The same document reveals that Çorum had a bedestan (covered market), repaired before 1596, which even non-merchant townspeople used as a kind of rentable strongbox for their valuables; its location is unknown today (Çorum Tarihi, p. 118). Besides the bedestan, Çorum had four or five caravanserais (hans): alongside the caravanserai founded by Gülabi Bey, who served as sancakbeyi under Süleyman the Magnificent, the Helvacıoğlu Mahmut Çavuş, Kapan, Kadıasker and Taceddin Pasha hans were operating in 1595-96. These hans served both commercial purposes and as storage for the wheat, barley, oil and honey collected by state officials (Çorum Tarihi, p. 118).

Guilds: from wool-weaving to coffee trading

The census register from Mehmed the Conqueror’s reign lists 37 different trades in Çorum; the largest group, with 23 members, were the sofçular (weavers of “sof,” a fine woollen cloth), followed by 12 dyers, 9 cloth and silk merchants, 7 weavers (cüllah), 6 tailors, and tanning (17 people) and leather-goods manufacture (15 people) (Çorum Tarihi, p. 118-119). Sof-weaving, however, declined sharply between 1450 and 1595-97; the late-16th-century court register makes no mention of it at all. The book attributes this decline to competition from Ankara, noting that the “sof press” mentioned in Mehmed the Conqueror’s census, which brought the treasury 1,500 akçe a year, no longer appears in the tax lists from the start of Süleyman the Magnificent’s reign (Çorum Tarihi, p. 118-119). Tanning, by contrast, remained vigorous; records such as tanner Abdullah’s 1596 struggle to pay off a debt for 75 pieces of hide bought five years earlier show the leather trade continuing among the guilds (Çorum Tarihi, p. 119).

Though the court register says little about guild organizations, one record shows the halva-makers agreeing among themselves not to sell halva wholesale to non-members of their trade (Çorum Tarihi, p. 119). One notably profitable business of the era was the coffee trade: in 1595-97, coffee in Çorum sold for 75-85 akçe per vukiye (1.28 kg), and merchants such as coffee-seller Ali Balı bought in bulk, around 100 vukiye at a time. One man who sold his tax-collection rights in the Zile and Alaca area for 5,000 akçe then put the bulk of the proceeds — 30,000 akçe — into 300 vukiye (384 kg) of coffee, illustrating the trade’s appeal (Çorum Tarihi, p. 119-120).

Buying and selling houses: prices, inheritance and debt

The court register covering 1595-97 contains 48 documents related to house ownership, including 34 sales. For the 18 houses sold outright with prices recorded in akçe, the median sale price was 2,550 akçe and the average just over 3,100 akçe — modest given that a vukiye of mutton sold for 6 akçe at the time, suggesting houses were relatively cheap (Çorum Tarihi, p. 124-126). Some 39 percent of house sellers were women, but only 8 percent of buyers were; the book attributes this to the custom of women generally receiving their inheritance share in cash or movable goods rather than keeping a house (Çorum Tarihi, p. 123). The “askeri” class — those in state military or civil service — made up only three sellers but seven buyers (6 percent), a more prominent share; newly appointed kadıs Mehmet Efendi and Hayrünnas Efendi, who quickly acquired property, are examples (Çorum Tarihi, p. 123-124). Roughly a quarter of sales were made “out of debt necessity” or “out of need for subsistence,” pointing to a significant cash shortage in the Çorum of the period (Çorum Tarihi, p. 125-126).

The town’s ties to its rural hinterland

The reach of Çorum’s court extended well beyond its own sanjak: alongside a heavy volume of cases from the villages of Demirli Karahisar, the court also heard disputes originating in Sorgun, Mecitözü and Hüseyinabad (Alaca), kazas belonging to the Tokat-Sivas sanjak, and in Gümüş, Zeytun and Merzifonabad, kazas of the Amasya sanjak. The book takes this as evidence that, while not a major player in inter-regional trade, Çorum’s influence over its rural surroundings was considerable (Çorum Tarihi, p. 127-128).

Sources

• Çorum Tarihi (History of Çorum), 5th Hittite Festival Committee; ed. Çorum Municipality City Archive, 3rd ed., Çorum Municipality Cultural Publications, Çorum 2020, ISBN 978-605-84272-4-2 (Part 2: “Çorum from the Reign of Mehmed the Conqueror to Evliya Çelebi’s Travels,” by Suraiya Faroqhi), p. 115-127. https://www.corum.bel.tr/public/uploads/2026/01/corumtarihi.pdf

Frequently asked questions

How many bazaars and shops did 16th-century Çorum have?

Per Çorum Tarihi, at least 17 — likely close to 20 — bazaars operated in Çorum in the last quarter of the 16th century; pious-foundation records alone list 148 shops, suggesting a total of at least around two hundred shops in the town (Çorum Tarihi, p. 115-116).

Did Ottoman-era Çorum have a covered market (bedestan)?

Yes; per Çorum Tarihi, a document dated 1579-80 mentions a bedestan in Çorum. Tied to the Şeyh Abdürrahman pious foundation in Amasya, it served even non-merchant townspeople as a kind of rentable strongbox for valuables; its location is unknown today (Çorum Tarihi, p. 118).