- Source: Pavlo-Kurtik
- Source: Pavlo Kurtik
Pavlo-Kurtik (Turkish: vilayet-i Pavlo Kurtik) was an administrative unit within the sanjak of Albania, Ottoman Empire, which had jurisdiction to the south of Tirana, between the Erzen and Shkumbin rivers. It was one of 9 vilayets of the Arvanit-ili province until 1466. Pavlo-Kurtik was first mentioned in the first defter of the Sanjak of Albania (1431–1432).
Geography
Pavlo-Kurtik had jurisdiction to the south of Tirana, between the Erzen and Shkumbin rivers.
History
Pavlo Kurtik or Pal Kurti, stylized as Slavo-Albanian, entered Ottoman service shortly after 1400, and was one of few pre-Ottoman Christian feudal lords. The Kurtik family was originally Christian, but it was Islamized in the second generation.
Demographics and administration
1431–1432 defter, researched by İnalcık, Halil
The vilayet of Pavlo-Kurtik had a majority of Christian spahi; it had 20 timars, of which 9 belonged to Christians. Of the Muslim timars, one is assigned to the kadı of Jenidže-kale (Bratušeš), and one to the dizdar. Five of them are assigned to the bey-kulu's (slaves of the emir), one to the spahi-oglan, one to the brother Ajas-Hamza beg, and one to Alija Karli-oglu. The timar of Isa, Pavlo Kurtik's son, is special. All the nine timars had no Islamic population for one or two decades. Two of the timariots were sons to great lords: Isa, son of Pavle Kurtik, and Ali, son of Karlo, who converted into Islam.
The timar of Isa Beg includes 107 villages with 1,225 households (families), with an income of 81,306 akçe. Thirty-six of these were of the vilayet of Balša, 2 of the vilayet of Kondo Miho, 18 of the land of Gonomajmo (Gonoma), and 26 were tahvil (assigned) to his father, Pavlo Kurtik; that is, Pavlo Kurtik personally held these 26 villages. The expression tahvil indicated an assignment of a current timar, but the term "vilayet-i Pavlo Kurtik" shows that Pavlo Kurtik was the holder of this region even earlier. The position of Isa Beg, Kurtik's son, who converted to Islam and was appointed subaşi of this province, was much greater. Another son, Mustafa, held a timar of 9,142 akçe in the Berat Vilayet.
Isa Beg's timars were not inspected or collected personally by the local emin, but managed and issued by Isa Beg himself. This shows that Isa Beg had some privileges. Alija, Karlo's son, also has the same privileges in his timar.
Alija's great timar had 30 villages, with an income of about 30,000 akçe. The timar was later given to Karlo's sons who remained Christian. Another son of Karlo, Muzak, held a little timar in Pavlo-Kurtik during the reign of Mehmed I. Hamza veled-i Karli, who was later a lord of a timar in Altun-ili (Ibalea), was most likely a son of Muzak.
One of the Christian spahi who held larger timars in Pavlo-Kurtik was Dimitri from Prespa, with 9,031 akçe. Dimitri took personal consent and gave his timar to his brother-in-law/son-in-law Ozgur (Sguras). In the defter of the sanjak of Avlona, Murad-beg, the son of Ozgur, holds a great timar in the same region, with 64,729 akçe.
References
= Sources
=Further reading
Halil İnalcik: Hicrî 835 tarihli Sûret-i defter-i sancak-i Arvanid. (Copy of the register for A.H. 835 for the Sanjak of Albania)
Pavlo Kurtik (fl. 1431–1432, Albanian: Pal Kurti) was an Albanian or styled Slavo-Albanian feudal lord who held an Ottoman vilayet, an administrative unit in the Ottoman Empire similar to a county or shire, located between the Erzen and Shkumbin rivers in present-day Albania. While he was Christian, one of a few Christian lords in the Ottoman Empire, his sons converted in Islam and held various official titles throughout the Empire.
History
In the 14th century, after the defeat of the Serbian Empire by the Ottomans, the Western Balkans became a collection of independent feudal states. After the Battle of Savra (1385) the Ottoman Empire absorbed the area of what is now the State of Albania. As an official in the Ottoman Empire Pavlo Kurtik is first mentioned in the first Ottoman defter (the official record of the Empire) of the Sanjak of Albania, dated 1431–1432. He entered Ottoman service shortly after 1400, and was one of few pre-Ottoman, Christian feudal lords along with his brother Karl Kurti(k). He governed over the vilayet of the same name (the Pavlo Kurtik vilayet) one of 9 vilayets of the Arvanit-ili province until 1466. In the 1431–1432 defter, Pavlo Kurtik held a timar of 26 villages subordinate to his son, Isa. The terms tahvil and vilayet-i Pavlo Kurtik shows that Pavlo Kurtik held the region before the Ottoman administration. His sons converted into Islam and became subaşi, a royal or administrative title in the Ottoman Empire similar to lord or sheriff, of various Ottoman subdivisions throughout Ottoman Albania.
Family
The Kurti family was originally Christian, but it was Islamized in the second generation. Albanian historian Dhimitër Shuteriqi argued that the family originated from Krraba, and further theorised a connection to an 11th century nobleman named Vasil Kurtikios who had supported Alexios I Komnenos against the dux of Dyrrhachium.
Kurtik had the following descendants:
Annotations
Bibliography
Notes
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