The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire by Selcuk Aksin Somel

Author:Selcuk Aksin Somel
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2003-12-14T21:00:00+00:00

LATİFÎ (1491–1582). Author, biographer, and poet. Born in Kastamonu (northern Anatolia) into a notable family, he was educated in his hometown. Latifî acted as an accountant and secretary at pious foundations (vakιfs) in Belgrade, İstanbul, Rhodes, and Egypt. In 1546 he submitted to Süleyman I the Tezkiretü’ş-şuârâ (“Book of Poets”), containing the biographies of more than 300 poets who lived between the period of Murad II and 1543. His other works include the Evsâf-ι İstanbul (“Characteristics of Istanbul,” 1525). This book describes the founding of the city, as well as its buildings, quarters, and the daily life of its population. He was also a well-known poet during his lifetime. He died when his ship sank in the Red Sea on the way to Yemen. See also LITERATURE; POETRY; SEHI BEY; TAŞKÖPRÜLÜZDE İSAMEDDİN AHMED.

LAUSANNE, TREATY OF. See TREATY OF LAUSANNE.

LAW. In Ottoman Turkish hukuk, kavânin, şeriat. Throughout its history, the Ottoman administration applied three sets of laws: Islamic law, customary law (örf), and secular kanun. The former was applied both in the civil and in the administrative spheres, the remaining two mainly in finances, administration, and politics. From the 19th century onward the increasing secularization of the legal system confined Islamic law to such civil issues as marriage, divorce, inheritance, debt, and real property rights. Areas like commercial and criminal law, administrative and educational regulations, on the other hand, became secularized. See also COURTS; COURTS, COMMERCIAL AND CRIMINAL; HANEFİ SCHOOL OF JURISPRUDENCE; KADI; MECELLE; TANZİMAT; REFORM.

LEBANON. See MOUNT LEBANON.

LEPANTO, BATTLE OF. See BATTLE OF LEPANTO.

LESKOFÇALI GLİB (1828–1867). Poet. His real name was Mustafa. Born in Leskovik (Albania), he received an education in his hometown. Leskofçalı Gâlib then followed a bureaucratic career and worked as a secretary and accountant in İstanbul, Bosnia, the province of the Danube, Aleppo, and Crete. Leskofçalı Gâlib is regarded as one of the last great masters of Ottoman court poetry. He was one of the founders of the Encümen-i şuârâ (“Committee of Poets”), consisting of literary personalities and intellectuals who sought to preserve the tradition of Ottoman classical poetry. See also LANGUAGE; LITERATURE; TANZİMAT.

LEVEND. Irregular military forces.

(1) Armed irregular naval units. The term levend was originally used for Turkish corsairs. Beginning in the 17th century, it was applied to Turkish and Greek personnel recruited during wartime from the Anatolian coast and the Aegean islands. They were active as marines in naval assaults. Originally, levends took a share of the booty; later they received regular payment. During the 18th century levends, who were needed in shipyards, stayed in İstanbul, at barracks allocated to them. Levend units in İstanbul often became sources of insecurity for the civil population.

(2) Irregular cavalry units. The levends as irregular forces appeared in the 17th century, together with the sekbans and the sarιcas. When they served viziers and beglerbegis, these levends were called kapιlι levend (“levends attached to a household”). When their masters were dismissed, the levends roamed in the provinces and plundered villages and towns until they found new lords to serve. Such

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