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Millet System of Autonomy
An Ottoman governance system granting non-Muslim subjects internal autonomy by religious-ethnic community (millet), with religious leaders presiding …
Timeline
- 1453–1520Istanbul · ThraceAfter the conquest of Constantinople, the sultan recognized the Greek Orthodox patriarch's religious jurisdiction over the Orthodox, establishing the basic model of autonomy by religious community.
- 1531–1540Ottoman Empire · Ottoman EmpireUnder Suleiman, the organizational structures and judicial authority of the Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Jewish, and other millet communities became further clarified; community leaders were accountable to the sultan and collected the poll tax on his behalf.
- 1839–1923Ottoman Empire · Ottoman EmpireThe 19th-century Tanzimat and subsequent reforms promoted equality before the law, and millet judicial privileges gradually gave way to secular courts and nation-state construction.
Sources
- Masters, Bruce. Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire — Bruce Masters (2004)
- Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, s.v. Millet