What is the History of Cookery in the World?

 

It turns out that world culinary history was first written in the Middle East.  The first Arabic cookbooks were compiled in Baghdad from the 8th century, and the practices spread to the great cities of the medieval Islamic world such as Aleppo, Cairo and Andalusia.  In other words, the 'codes of recipes' in the Muslim world were written in Baghdad, which was unfortunately destroyed by bombs today and where a great human tragedy is taking place.  In the 10th century, Baghdad was a cosmopolitan city, the intersection of Arab, Persian, Greek, Indian, Turkish and even Chinese and African cultures and culinary arts.

 

Islamic Cuisine in the Middle Ages Book Description

 

Vinegar and sugar, dried fruits, spices from India and China, rose water, sweet sherbet made from dates and raisins...

 

All these are the flavors of the golden age of Arabian cuisine. Offering an enjoyable culinary adventure as a half-history, half-cookbook, this work traces the gastronomic art that was developed in the flamboyant caliph palaces in Baghdad in the 9th and 10th centuries, inspired by Persian, Greco-Roman and Turkish cooks, and quickly spread throughout the Mediterranean. Lilia Zaouali brings to life the vibrant culinary heritage of Islam with a delightful narrative.

 

The book also deals with topics such as cooking utensils, aromatic condiments, and the presentation of dishes, offering an enjoyable reading and information resource for anyone interested in the finer points of culinary arts.

 

In the second part, a comprehensive selection of original recipes taken from medieval Islamic cuisine sources comes together with 31 contemporary recipes that bring these tastes to the present day. Dishes such as Chicken with Walnut and Pomegranate, Veal with Pistachio, Bazergan Couscous, Lamb Casserole with Fresh Apricots, Tuna Fish with Vinegar and Cherry Cumin, Stuffed Dates with Egg Puree are waiting for the reader to take their place on the tables.

 

Where Did the History of Popular Occupation Cooking First Begin?

Hayriye MENGÜÇ

 

Ingredients, hygiene, written recipe… The three most important criteria of medieval Islamic cuisine. The first codes of world culinary history were written in the lands of the Middle East. It has spread all over the world from here. Tracing the medieval tradition with today's culinary culture and recipe knowledge is actually an adventure of re-creation. Worth to try…

 

Thomas Mann's novel The Enchanted Mountain has an exquisite East-West analysis. When you put East on one side of the scale and Western Civilization on the other, East outweighs. The western pan of the scale rises because it remains light. That's why people see the Western Civilization above as superior, whereas it is the weight of the Eastern Civilization that lifts it up. I was very impressed when I read this description, just like when I read Lilia Zaouali's book Islamic Cuisine in the Middle Ages.

 

It turns out that world culinary history was first written in the Middle East. The first Arabic cookbooks were compiled in Baghdad from the 8th century, and the practices spread to the great cities of the medieval Islamic world such as Aleppo, Cairo and Andalusia. In other words, the 'codes of recipes' in the Muslim world were written in Baghdad, which was unfortunately destroyed by bombs today and where a great human tragedy is taking place. In the 10th century, Baghdad was a cosmopolitan city, the intersection point of Arab, Persian, Greek, Indian, Turkish and even Chinese and African cultures, and a meeting place for culinary arts. Many surviving recipes, including pasta and rice, are of Arabic or Persian origin.

 

The book of Zaouali, who teaches Anthropology of the Muslim World at Paris Jeussieu University and has short stories as well as scientific publications, gives 174 recipes accompanied by a brief history. Published by Ruhun Gıda Kitaplar in January 2016 and translated from English to Turkish by Barış Baysal, the book was first published in Italian in 2004, and later published in English, Russian and French. The book consists of three parts. After giving an overview of Islamic cuisine in terms of ingredients, techniques and terminology, the book presents a wide range of recipes in the second part, from cold appetizers to soups, from mandra products to couscous, rice, omelettes and cakes. In the last part, 31 contemporary recipes of North African Cuisine are explained. From Baghdad to Cordoba, As we see this gastronomic route of Islamic cuisine advancing from Tunisia to Palermo; I wish I had read this book before I went to Tunisia last summer…

 

Charles Perry, who wrote the foreword of the book, states that the Islamic world has the richest Medieval food culture and that the number of Arabic cookbooks before 1400 is more than the total number of cookbooks in all other languages ​​in the world:

 

“Cooking in many cultures throughout history has been learned, either by apprenticing at the mother's side for home cooking or in a professional kitchen for chefs. Medieval Arabs were used to writing recipes, compiling them in cookbooks, and cooking from them.”

 

The basis of these habits is based on the Persian civilization. Persian aristocrats wrote down their favorite recipes in their personal cookbooks. Baghdad also followed this tradition. 'Kitab al-tabikh', the oldest known Arabic cookbook; Compiled from the recipe collections of the 10th century, 8th and 9th century caliphs and courtiers.

 

They wouldn't come out of the kitchen

 

In the 9th century, in the royal palace of Rusafa near Baghdad, the prince and his concubines came together with a passion for culinary arts and spent most of their time in front of the bakeries. The concubine, who was a good cook, was precious. Many Baghdad caliphs from the Abbasid dynasty, who came to power by overthrowing the Umayyads in Damascus in 747, were also very interested in cooking and personally participated in the preparation of some dishes. The caliphs hired Christian physicians who were trained in Greek medical schools, and these physicians prepared food prescriptions for people, like medicine prescriptions. This is why the meticulously prepared recipes of the Arab world contain very reliable medical information.

 

In the 12th century, Europeans began learning Arabic in order to be able to read non-Latin books, especially philosophical and medical works. These recipes were compiled in a short time. From the 14th century onwards, the recipes were translated into Latin and then into German. Only one book remains from the 10th century, none from the 11th and 12th centuries, and 5 books from the 13th century. All these books were compiled in Arabic, and no cookbooks were written in Persian, Greek, or Latin between the 10th and 13th centuries. By the way, the books were mostly written by men. With very few exceptions, those who cooked, commented and wrote were mostly men. The stories told in the books consisted entirely of encounters between consumer and cook men.

 

Vinegar even existed in the Babylonian Tablets.

 

The book is remarkable in that it conveys the nutritional obsessions and phobias of ancient times, as well as culinary traditions. The information is explained by arousing curiosity without tiring the reader. The inventor of sweet and sour dishes, which are the culinary heritage of the ancient period, is investigated, and traces of the use of vinegar in cooking are traced. The first belief on this subject was BC. It is said to be based on a recipe found on a cuneiform tablet from the Old Babylonian period around 1700-1600. More than 2,000 years later, the use of contrasting seasonings such as spices, vinegar and honey in Roman dishes became a distinctive feature of medieval Islamic cuisine. The Prophet's tradition in Arab cuisine, Arabic dishes in the first days of Islam, new food norms brought by Islam and the prohibitions of the Qur'an are also explained in the book.

 

The meal started with fruit.

The success of a meal depends, first of all, on the proper cleaning of utensils and food. With this fact, hygiene was the foremost concern of medieval writers. In addition, flavored ingredients were the essence of medieval Islamic cuisine. Preservation by salting and brine was common. In addition to spice mixes, leavened condiments-sauces were important. Meals were served on a low, wooden table or with a cloth laid on the floor; cold, hot, main course, appetizer, sauce and vinegar were all brought to the table at once and served in small bowls. 

 

The Abbasids started the meal with fruit, especially dates, switched to cold salty dishes, and hot dishes were served with vegetables preserved in vinegar or salt water. The bottom of the bowl was covered with bread, and desserts and wines were served at the end of the meal. Andalusian writer Ibn Razin, to dinner; Tharid recommended starting with heavy meals such as pasta, fatty meats such as beef and sheep, dried meats, fish, baked seeds, and then moving on to vegetables. All very salty food should come “in the middle of the stomach” and sweets, raw fruit and sweet drinks should be consumed last.

 

Etiquette in the Abbasid period was very strict regarding the cleanliness of the hands, which had to be carefully washed with special soaps and powders before and after meals. The bones were not sucked in by making noise, the chewed meat was not returned to the plate. Instead of biting the fruit directly, it was essential to cut the desired amount with a knife and not to contaminate the hands with the fruit. At the end of the meal, the teeth are cleaned with a toothpick and sucked to prevent bad breath odors such as musk, sandalwood, heribar, clove, cinnamon etc.

 

The book gives the reader the opportunity to understand that some culinary rituals are truly ancient knowledge and have been practiced since the Middle Ages. The recipes given are very valuable as they create enthusiasm to recreate 'the original tastes of a past era'. Recreating this ancient culinary heritage with today's ingredients must be exciting for foodies in search of a new taste.

 

From Akdeniz University, Mediterranean Civilizations Research Institute, Mr. "Durmuş YILDIZ" wrote the following work for the work called Islamic Cuisine in the Middle Ages.

 

Originally L'Islam a Tavola. Written in Italian as Al Medioevo a Oggi, the book was translated into English as Medivial Cuisine of the Islamic World: A Concise History with 174 Recipes in 2007 and was translated into Turkish by Barış Baysal. Beginning with Charles Perry's Foreword (7-14), the book consists of 3 main parts, based on the sources of Medieval Arabian cooking, also taking the work of modern scholars who translated and edited Medieval Arabian cookery and other miscellaneous manuscripts.

 

The first chapter named Cultural History and Culinary Context (15-60) is analyzed under two sub-titles in itself. The first one is in the Intersections of World Cuisine (17-51) from the XIII century Abbasid Baghdad. He draws directly on original Arabic prints dating back to the 17th century Aleppo, Baghdad, and Cordoba. All of them were written by courtiers and aristocrats, reflecting the richness of their environment, which, apart from recipes and culinary procedures, contained literary anecdotes, poems, descriptions of important feasts, and discourses on health-hygiene. 

 

In this engaging and informative book, Zaouali organizes historical narratives to provide a link to culinary writings, providing supplemental material such as medical texts. There is extensive information on the historical and cultural background of the recipes, sources of culinary history, the authors of the main books of recipes and their circles, and the rules and influences drawn from religious sources. Then, by learning about the culinary influences from various historical backgrounds, the interactions of cultural characters in various conquered lands including Antiquity, Arabian deserts and oases, Iranian palace cuisine, Turkish occupations and Spain are listed.

 

The crucial point about the episode is the continuity or absence of words and terms. The two types of dishes in the book, sikbaj and tharid, come to the fore in medieval cuisine. Sikbaj, a Persian word, was arranged in different versions of meat cooked in vinegar and sugar or honey. Tharid, said to be the Prophet's favorite, is essentially an Arabian dish consisting of a broth poured over ground bread. Again, these dishes had very sophisticated variations on court cooking, with quality meats, spices, oils, nuts, cheeses, and the like. The term sikbaj has long existed in Arabic and Persian, and perhaps indicates abandonment of the harsh tastes of the past. 

 

In Italy and Spain, as in the New World, escabache and its derivatives are thought to have derived from sicbaj and typically denote varieties of pickled or marinated fish that are eaten cold (as well as olives and rarely partridge). Simple and general, the tharid continues in many forms and under different names. Tirit, which is lamb meat boiled in water on lavash in Anatolia, has different names in the Arab World: Common in Egypt and the Levant Region, it is made with breadcrumbs and included in broth, often made from sheep's and lamb's feet or tripe. . Often yoghurt, rice and sometimes vinegar are added to bread. The one made from rice and yoghurt in Iraq is called tashrib; It is a kind of bread soaking. Words and materials follow each other in various ways, even if the names change.

 

In the second and last sub-title Materials, Techniques and Terminology (51-60), gold and silver materials are included; but since it is forbidden in Islam, clay vessels (1 time) and glazed vessels (5 times) were used, materials such as metal/willow wood/wicker skewers, copper bowls/funnels, sharpeners, colanders and axes were also available. In addition, leavened condiments and spice mixtures are frequently mentioned and it is underlined that the meals are eaten on a wooden table or on a cloth laid on the floor. As a cooking method, terms and measures were expressed by using the expressions 'one boil', 'two boils' or 'necessary amount'.

 

The main and second parts of the book are Medieval Tradition (61-128), cold appetizers (9 pieces), bread and broth (5 pieces), sweet and sour dishes (14 pieces), roasts, meatballs and sausages (11 pieces), red meat -poultry (9 pieces), fish (23 pieces), cheese and other dairy products (10 pieces), soups (7 pieces), pasta (9 pieces), couscous (5 pieces), rice-omelette (11 pieces), It consists of recipes classified by type of sauces (6 pieces), pastries (14 pieces) and fermented condiments and wine (10 pieces).

 

The final section contains recipes from Contemporary North African Cuisine (131-160), which the author believes has some continuity with medieval traditions. The ingredients, the methods, the prevalence of New World products in modern cooking, the forgetting and abandonment of many of the ingredients of medieval cuisine (especially murri, a condiment made from rotten grains, apparently reminiscent of soy sauce), and the decline of the strong flavors of spices, vinegar, and sugar, and the fact that they are not sustained. shows. The chapter proposes that medieval recipes are presented to the reader with short prefaces, and that it is possible to prepare them in a modern kitchen and will be pleasing for a modern restaurant. In addition, it is seen that they are limited types of their ancestors in terms of the number and variety of spices and the amount of vinegar recommended.

 

In this study, it is understood that although various names are used, the foods made from antiquity to the present day are actually used by influencing each culture with minor changes, and that it was created based on various sources, including ancient sources and Arabic works. Historical narratives, anecdotes, recreations of past beliefs and mentalities, and annotated recipes are presented in a clear and understandable style in the cuisine of the Medieval Islamic World. The work, which makes a valuable contribution to the literature on medieval Arabic cuisine, ends with the Terms Mentioned in the Book (161-166), the Recipe Index (167-172) and the General Index (173-192).

 

A Sketch on Consumer Groups, Fashion and Trends in the Medieval Islamic World...

Ahmet Nurullah ÖZDAL*

 

Summary

In the Middle Ages, as today, society was by no means homogeneous. Income level, socio-economic factors, culture

People can be divided into various market segments according to their level, lifestyle and behavior. These people can be considered among themselves as nomads-peasants-urban dwellers, women-men-children, official institutions and civilian consumers, or sub-groups as upper-middle-lower classes and slaves. 

 

In this way, smart traders were able to keep the pulse of the society they were in. They were able to evaluate the demands coming from these sub-groups with certain requests and they increased their wealth by developing 123 supplier solutions for this.

 

There may be extraordinary situations such as migration and crisis that affect spending habits. In addition, fashion trends that manifest themselves in different forms are also phenomena that are not alien to medieval people.

 

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It will not be possible to divide the peoples of a vast geography with varying dynamics, which are centuries old and different from each other, into customer segmentation in detail, and undertaking such an effort will bring many inconveniences. However, when the sources are examined, it is possible to describe some consumer groups in general terms. Of these, the villagers and nomads mostly supplied their needs for kitchen utensils, utensils, clothes, plows and shovels, etc., through market places and related bazaars. In the Middle Ages, women could only go to the bazaar without a man to buy household goods, ornaments, fabrics, personal care products, or go to the Turkish bath, etc. they were going to go. 

 

For example, perfume shops were shops where women spent a long time indoors.1 Sometimes it was not welcome for women to go out, for example, in high-heeled shoes that made a loud noise. He could go out and go to the mosque to listen to a sermon with a fan in hand.3 Even Meccan women, whom we might expect to be more conservative, spent their money generously on fine fragrances.4 

 

Ibnu'l-Faqih says that the women of the Yamama region also understand perfume, that they wear good scents and that it is a trademark for them.5 Turkish women were also quite free in this sense. Visiting the Golden Horde Khanate in 1334, Ibn Battuta says the following about the Hungarian city corresponding to Burgo-Madzhary in the present-day Caucasus:

 

“... As for the wives of the market tradesmen, their situation is like the others. I saw one of these women in a wonderful chariot pulled by horses. Around her were several concubines holding their skirts. On her head was a jeweled cockatoo with a peacock feather crest on the front. The windows of the car were open. Turkish women are already walking around with their faces open. I saw another woman in the same way. He was bringing and selling milk and yogurt to the market with his slaves, and buying perfumes in return... 

 

It happens that sometimes you come across women with their men and you may think that the man is the servant of the woman. Because, in return for this attractive, well-groomed and decorated state of the woman, her husband has a sheepskin fur and a cone on his head.”6

 

Young people could also buy clothing, personal care and ornaments through bazaars and covered bazaars. It is known that Yemeni youth are fond of janbiyes7. Meccan youths wear elegant, very clean and generally white clothes, apply fragrance, apply rue to their eyes, and brush their teeth with a miswak. they do not see any harm.9 

 

There are also shops selling toys for children in the bazaars. In fact, some fiqh and moral books remind that toys in the form of humans or animals, produced for children, should not be kept in places where prayers are performed. There are shops in Cairo that cater exclusively to children, offering many types of confectionery in different colors and shaped versions.10

 

The palaces of the rulers and the mansions, pavilions and mansions belonging to high-level officials had heavy kitchen expenses as well as purchasing all kinds of luxury goods and jewellery. Ibn Khaldun says that dynasties and official institutions are the largest markets in the world, and as a group they constitute the largest consumer mass. 

 

At the same time, he states that this large-scale expenditure brings vitality and movement to the economy.12 Among the products that appeal to this consumer group are kitchen requirements and provisions, arsenal products, building materials, etc. existed. Official offices constituted the most important customer base for paper and similar stationery.13 Architects and engineers assigned by official authorities or foundation-like institutions can also be considered in this group. They, too, handled construction/building materials or hired workers directly through contract purchases.

 

The warriors were getting the weapons, food and daily use goods they needed through the army markets. Hospitals needed medical supplies such as pharmacological herbs and spices, drugs, alcohol. These needs were sometimes met by purchasing from herbalists' shops and sometimes through supplier merchants. In the work called Mir'âtü'z-Zamân, a list of materials purchased for Bimaristânu'l-Adûdî (Adûdî Hospital) during the reign of the Great Seljuk Sultan Tuğrul Bey is given. 

 

These materials include bedding, duvets, duvet covers, granulated sugar, sugar cubes, almonds, apricots, storage cubes (in separate forms for food and medicine), Chinese pots (to store medicinal plant roots), black helile from Kabul and India, tamarind, ginger, oud, musk, amber, ravend-i tile, tiryâk-ı faruki, sick clothes, handkerchiefs, cooking pots of different sizes, pots and pans, medical tools, shroud and coffins.14

 

Madrasa students, scholars, those who are interested in reading and philosophy, in short, scholars, could obtain the objects they needed such as books, pens, paper, inkwell kits, ink from the second-hand booksellers and leaflet sellers/stationery shops of the bazaars. They were places where intellectuals who were interested in science and literature met and held various intellectual conversations or events like poetry recitals. 

 

In fact, since we are talking about an era in which culture was expensive16, we may be inclined to see this segment, which engaged in books and science in the Middle Ages, as a luxury-spending sub-group. However, Damascus says that most of this group—philosophers and scholars—are “loyal customers” who, despite being in a poor position, spend most of their money on books.17 This is an interesting piece of information, and the business of buying books is from an “expensive hobby for the rich” to more of the product in question. elevates it to the position exercised by addicts of an undefined type of dependency that needs a lot. Still, the rich book collectors of the period are not absent.

 

Al-Hakam II (961-976), one of the Andalusian Umayyad caliphs, sent specially commissioned merchants to distant countries to buy books, and gave them large sums of money for this work.18 The passion for books of Beni Ammar (Ammaroğulları Family) was also known in the Syrian region. They had innumerable men who were in charge of buying books in all countries. 

 

They sacrificed enormous fortunes for this cause, and as a result, they largely ensured the collection of 3,000,000 books in the library of Dar al-Ilm in Tripoli.19 These book-supplier agents-merchants were called cawwal. 127 There was a kind of book-mania (book mania) especially in the 10th and 11th century Islamic world. In these times, when the book trade was in its golden age, there was a crowd of book lovers chasing rare and beautiful copies and following the auctions.20 One of the cities where this trade was concentrated was Cordoba, and the following opinion was formed in Andalusia:

 

“If a scholar dies in Işbiliyye and his books are wanted to be sold, those books will be moved to Cordoba.

The Sûku'l-Kütub (Book Bazaar) in Baghdad had about a hundred shops.22 In the 12th century, in Marrakech, Morocco, a cultural street where second-hand booksellers, bookbinders and clerks gathered, with a total of one hundred second-hand booksellers and libraries on both sides of it. had.23 

 

Just as Makrîzî mentions the Sûku'l-Kutûbiyyîn (Booksellers' Bazaar) in Cairo, Ibn Battuta also mentions the gildings and bookstores bazaar in Damascus, where paper, books, stationery materials are sold and frequented by book enthusiasts. Another writer, Ibnu'l-Mubarrad, mentions this bookshops bazaar while describing the one hundred and fifty bazaars of Damascus, each of which is devoted to a particular occupation.24 

 

Ibn al-Nedim was one of the famous book merchants in this way, and his work al-Fihrist was actually a kind of catalog containing the names and introductions of over 60,000 books on very different subjects. Ibn Surah (d. 1211), on the other hand, was Cairo's most important bookstore, selling rare books to collectors, and accepting customers only two days a week—Mondays and Wednesdays.25 When it came to philosophy, sometimes book sales were restricted. 

 

At the end of the 9th century, the Caliph Mu'temid prohibited peddlers and street fortune-tellers from occupying the sidewalks, and made booksellers swear that they would not sell works on philosophy and religious debates. it was done by the method in which the candidates tried to lower it little by little – or the auction method – that is, the method in which the first price given by the seller was gradually increased by the buyers.27

 

In fact, in every sense, collectors were making their purchases by auction. The auction could sometimes be held in an antiques shop, and guests seated in a ring would bid for the object that the shopper was loudly promoting. It could be a book, an antique, a rare gem that has not yet been cut. Even these objects could have been the daily belongings of a deceased great person.28 Owners of pleasure and hobbies are also customers that should be evaluated in this group. 

 

There were such collectors in Egypt who delightfully displayed ancient objects, mummies, and even exotic animals of Africa29 stuffed with cotton wool. A wealthy hunting enthusiast could create a mini-zoo of his own, and it was obvious he would pay hefty sums for each animal there. 

 

Usama Ibn Münkız's father was such a pleasure lover, and his breed of horses, hunting falcons and hawks (bring from the north of the Black Sea and Eastern Anatolia), hounds of the hound breed instinctively predisposed to bird hunting (brought from Anatolia), gazelle hunting There were yellow-colored hamaviyya dogs (originating in the city of Hama, Syria), suluki dogs, ferrets trained to catch birds in the bushes, and cheetahs and leopards bred for hunting. Born for this cause, cheetah, greyhound trainers and barn attendants were employed.

 

Dervishes, Sufis and the dervish lodges and dervish lodges to which they were affiliated were another consumer group that had a potential worth mentioning here and that we know that this potential has gained a rising momentum since the 13th century. Normally a tekke's kitchen etc. Its expenses were covered by the purchases of the foundation to which it was affiliated or by the in-kind donations of philanthropists. 

 

There were also some products consumed by dervishes and disciples, even poets or ordinary people, at the level of addiction. The first information about tea, one of these products, was given by Muslim travelers returning from Southern China from the 9th century. Mazaherî says in a book called Ahbaru Atâr that tea was brought from China to Iran in sealed packages in the 13th century. would become. 

 

A saying attributed to Sheikh Mohammed Bahauddin, the founder of the Naqshîbandiyya Sect, was “– Tea is the soup of the Naqshites.” The equivalent of tea in the dervish lodges of the Arab world was coffee. Although one of the origin myths mentions the Ethiopian goat herder, coffee took the form of a beverage served hot in Yemen. Its stimulating effects were noticed in a short time and it became a product consumed by dervishes in order to stay awake at night and pray more.32 It became widespread in Egypt and Arabia from the end of the 14th century. Marijuana and opium were among other substances widely used in some lodges in Anatolia and Syria, and even among the people.33

 

Eastern Christians were the biggest aspirants of some products due to their religious rituals. For example, their tradition of lighting candles in the church naturally made them consumers of this product. Sûku'l-Kammahîn in Cairo was a bazaar that especially became crowded during the Baptism festivals of Christians, where large quantities of candles were sold. 34 Likewise, monasteries and churches became one of the most important buyers of the diary sent from Oman to the whole world due to the custom of blessing with the diary. Beyond the monasteries, one source says that in the middle of the 13th century, Armenians exorcised evil in their homes by smoking diary every evening, and such a tradition was common among them.35

 

Generations, fashion and trends also play an important role in determining customer groups. The Middle Ages is not a stagnant period in which time does not progress as it is thought. Changes in the style of clothing were sometimes reflected in the people around the palace36 or in the form of a fashion trend adopted by new immigrants to a region. For example, with the intensive migration of people of North African origin – the Berbers – to Spain in the 10th century, woolen clothing became widespread among Andalusian Muslims.37 

 

Political developments or the state of the economy could also be reflected in fashion. Sources mentioning the Iraqi Seljuk sultan Arslan Shah (late 1160 - 1176) indicate that expensive and valuable clothes (libâsâ-yı fahir), colorful clothing (kisvehâ-yı mulevven), northern Chinese work (hitâyi) fabrics and heavy gold were used in the Iraqi region during his reign. They say that embroidered clothing has gained value and popularity.38 Considering that 1161 was prosperous around Khorasan and Iraq and that for more than ten years after that date, there was no significant cost in the region39, this case is a good example in terms of showing the reflection of a good economy in fashion. 

 

In fact, the sources who mentioned the case had deftly masked Arslan Shah's negative features – his excessive curiosity for luxury, extravagance, too mild-manneredness, laxity in keeping financial records, etc. The opposite is the case, that is, about the reverse changes brought about by the bad economy in the style of clothing, in the 15th century. There is an example from the head of Egypt. Eliyahu Ashtor, referring to a passage from Makrîzî's work al-Mevâizu ve'l-İ?tibâr, states that people from the upper classes began to wear European woolen fabrics (al-kûhî) in this period, and he bent this data in his own way and wrote an article on it. builds.40 

 

In these articles, Ashtor comes to a compelling conclusion when comparing the textile industry of Egypt—the Islamic world in general—to that of Western Europe, making us doubt why it behaved that way. While the textile industry in Western Europe is in a growing trend, Islam claims that the textile industry is in decline. However, the real definition should be that when the Islamic textile industry was in its maturity stage – not in decline – this industry in Western Europe was in its infancy, not growth. 

 

The fashion for wearing Frankish dress in Egypt, mentioned in the case, is by no means a sign of the increasing quality of European dress. On the contrary, increased labor costs due to the terrible plague epidemic in Egypt increased the prices of textiles, and the ensuing economic crisis negatively affected the purchasing power of the people. For this reason, people reluctantly – for a temporary period – to buy ostentatious textile products produced in the Islamic world, which are very high quality and expensive, instead of this Italy, which is unworked, rough woven, the most ordinary fabric dyes are used in its production, and which used to be preferred only by very poor people. They turned to cheap clothes imported from Turkey.

 

Among the different layers of the society, the clothing habits that differed according to the periods were always encountered. For example, the taylesan (hooded vest made of fine fabric) fashion, which has been seen all over the Near East and the Middle East since the 10th century, influenced almost the entire scholar class. In Sicistan and Merv, only the high-ranking personalities wore the taylesan41. In the 10th century, the fashion of wearing durra (a kind of robe) emerged among the respected people and bureaucrats of Western Iran.43 Different factors played a role in the choice of color. 

 

The black color obsession among the Abbasids was a matter of religious-political preference.44 The textile dye produced more in a region could also determine the color preference of the people in that region. For example, in Kirman and Khorasan, where indigo is abundant, the color blue; let it be yellow in its homeland, Yemen; Red clothes were popular in Andalusia, which has a habitat of the cochineal beetle. Saffron production and tafl (yellow mud) were also abundant in Andalusia, so yellow dresses were also in demand in this country.

 

Conclusion

The medieval Islamic world has a unique social movement. The equivalent of societal diversity in business jargon is customer segments, each with different incomes. The traders should be able to read the needs of different groups well and decide on a trade method accordingly. In the case of peasants, nomads, lower- and middle-class urbanites, for example, it is wiser to sell useful products at reasonable prices and earn from the herd. 

 

Participation in mobile army markets is required in order to sell to members of the mobile army. The way to trade with official institutions and the palace is through contracts, recognition and having a commercially reliable image. In order to be able to sell to the very wealthy, besides the elements of reliability and recognition, the ability to find rare objects of desire that will make them feel special and present them to these customers gains importance.

 

 

1 Mustafa Hizmetli, Hisbe Organization in Andalusia, Ankara, 2011, p. 186.

2 Servants, Hisbe Organization in Andalusia, p. 113.

3 Ibn Battuta, Tuhfetü'n-Nuzzar, trans. A. Sait Aykut, Seyahatname I-II, Istanbul, 2004, I, p. 284.

4 Ibn Battuta, Tuhfetü'n-Nuzzar, I, p. 214.

5 İbnü'l-Fakih, Kitâbü'l-Büldan, thk. Yusuf Hadi, Beirut (?lemü'l-Kütüb), 1996, p. 39.

6 Ibn Battuta, Tuhfetü'n-Nuzzar, I, p. 472-473.

7 Traditional, ornamented dagger, unique to Yemen, with a broad, curved shape that is much more distinctive than other daggers. The handles of some were made from rhino horn.

8 Ibn Battuta, Tuhfetü'n-Nuzzar, I, p. 214.

9 Tenuhi, Neşvâru'l-Muhâdara, thk. Abbud al-Shaleci, Beirut (Dâru's-Sadr), 1971-73, I, p. 294; III, p. 36.

10 Abdulhalık Bakır, The Medieval Islamic World, Food, Drug Production and Adulteration, Ankara, 2000, p. 240.

11 For example, caftans produced by city craftsmen in Transoxiana using rare black fox skin were shipped from here to all the Muslim rulers of the 10th century. In fact, it was unthinkable for a ruler who did not have the aforementioned caftan, in which this fur, which was sold for 100 Dinars or more, was added as a stripe to the collar part, Mesudî, Murûcu'z-Zeheb, trans. Ahsen

Batur, Istanbul, 2005, p. 73; Bakır, Abdulhalık, “Leather, Wood and Paper Industry in the Medieval Islamic World”, Belleten, C: LXV. P. 75-160, Ankara, April – 2001, p. 88. 12 Ibn Khaldun, Mukaddime I-II, ed. Süleyman Uludag, Istanbul, 2009, I, p. 548.

13 Eliyahu Ashtor, “An Example of the Decline of Near Eastern Sugar Industry Technology in the Late Middle Ages”, trans. Abdulhalık Bakır - Pınar Koçoğlu (Ülgen), (Translations of Medieval Historical Texts – in 1), Ankara, 2008, p. 818.

14 Sıbt İbnü'l-Cevzî, Mir'âtü'z-Zaman fî Târihi'l-Ayân, trans. Ali Sevim, in Articles - 2, Ankara, 2005, p. 48.

15 H. İbrahim Hasan, Tarihü'd-Devleti'l-Fâtımiyye, Cairo (Mektebetu'n-Nehdati'l- Mısriyye), 1981, p. 590.

16 Carlo M. Cipolla, Money, Prices and Civilization in the Mediterranean World, trans. Ali İhsan Karacan, Istanbul, 1993, p. 69.

17 Ebu'l-Fazl ed-Dımaşkî, el-İşâre ila Mehâsini't-Ticâre, trans. Abdulhalık Bakır, “Indicating the Beauties of Trade”, (Translations of Medieval Historical Texts in 1), Ankara, 2008, p. 525.

18 Abdulaziz Salim, “Cordoba in the Age of Islam”, trans. Abdulhalık Bakır, (in Translations of Medieval Historical Texts - 2), Ankara, 2008, p. 315.

19 Claude Cahen, East and West in the Time of the Crusades, trans. Mustafa Das, Istanbul, 2010, p. 327.

20 Ali Mazaheri, The Life of Muslims in the Middle Ages, trans. Bahriye Üçok, Istanbul, 1972, p. 191.

21 This information is probably from the 12th century or later and is quoted by Ebu'l-Fazl et-Tifaşî, Sâlim, “Cordoba in the Age of Islam”, p. 312.

22 G. Le Strange, Baghdad, During the Abbasid Caliphate, London (Oxford University Press), 1924, p. 92.

23 1001 Inventions: Islamic Heritage in Our World, ed. Salim TS al-Hassani, trans. Salih Tahir, Istanbul, 2010, p. 219.

24 Mazaheri, The Life of Muslims in the Middle Ages, p. 118.

25 Mazaheri, The Life of Muslims in the Middle Ages, p. 190.

26 Bar Hebraeus Abu'l-Farac, History of Abu'l-Farac, trans. Ömer Rıza Doğrul, Ankara, 1999, I, p. 243.

27 Johannes Pedersen, History of the Book in the Islamic World, trans. Macit Karagözoğlu, Istanbul, 2012, p. 58-59.

28 After the death of Sheikh Abu Omar, a famous Syrian scholar, on September 20, 1210, his clothes were sold at very expensive prices, Ibn Kathir, al-Bidâye ve'n-Nihâye, ed. Mehmet Keskin, Istanbul, 1994, XIII, p. 156. A sari turban, which Nureddin Zengi had previously given as a gift to a Sufi master in Mosul, was sold for 600-700 Dinars at an auction in Baghdad, probably finding a buyer for 1000 Dinars in another auction in Iran this time. l-Vefa, Îkazu'l-Gâfîl, ed. Mustafa Eğilmez, (Unpublished PhD Thesis), Niğde University, Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Medieval History, Niğde, 1998.

29 For the account of the display of a stuffed zebra, see p. Ebu Hamîd Gırnati, Tuhfetu'l-Elbab, ed. Fatih Sabuncu, Gırnati Travel Book, Istanbul, 2011, p. 149. 30 Usama Ibn Münkız, Kitâbü'l-İ'tibâr, trans. Yusuf Ziya Cömert, Book of Signs, Istanbul, 1992, p. 257, 269-270.

31 Mazaherî, The Life of Muslims in the Middle Ages, p. 111.

32 Tom Standage, A History of the World in Six Glasses, trans. Ahmet Fethi, Istanbul, 2009, p. 120.

33 Ibn Battuta says that drug use is quite common in Anatolia. One of the two famous poets who died in Syria at the same time – Shams Muhammed b. Afif – condemned the use of cannabis, while the other – Ibn Sahib – praised cannabis. On the Yeren poet, cf. Ibn Kathir, al-Bidâye ve'n-Nihâye, XIII, p. 524. For a potpourri of the poet praising cannabis and his poems, see. Ibn Kathir, al-Bidâye ve'n- Nihâye, XIII, p. 522-523. He said in one of his poems: “There are meanings I seek in the slumber of cannabis.”

34 Makrîzî, el-Mevâizu ve'l-İ?tibâr bi Zikri'l-Hitati ve'l-?sâr, Cairo, 1270, II, p. 96. 35 Willem of Ruysbroeckli, Journey to the Palace of Mengu Khan (1253 - 1255), trans. Zülal Kılıç, Istanbul, 2010, p. 278. In the explanation of the relevant footnote on the same page, there is information about those who say that Armenians smoke their homes every Saturday, if not every day.

36 For example, Ulayya, the daughter of the Abbasid caliph Mahdi, had a special jeweled jewelry designed and used it with the intention of hiding a scar on the forehead. However, this movement of his started a new trend among the people, Tenûhî, Neşvâru'l-Muhâdara, I, p. 195.

37 Mehmet Özdemir, Andalusian Muslims: Culture and Civilization, Ankara, 2013, p. 60.

38 Râvendî, Râhâtü's-Sudur, trans. Ahmet Ateş, Ankara, 1960, II, p. 269, 286; Trans. Erkan Göksu - H. Hüseyin Güneş, Istanbul, 2010, p. 245.

39 See. Ahmet N. Özdal, Medieval Economy and Muslim Traders (X-XIV Centuries), Istanbul, 2016, p. 123.

40 See. Ashtor, “The Economic Decline of the Middle East in the Late Middle Ages (A Sketch)”, trans. Abdulhalık Bakır - Pınar Koçoğlu (Ülgen) - Alparslan Kılınç, (in Translations of Medieval Historical Texts - 2), Ankara, 2008, p. 535. See also same author, “An Example of the Decline of Near Eastern Sugar Industry Technology in the Late Middle Ages”, p. 812 et al.

41 Makdîsî, Ahsenü't-Tekâsîm, trans. Ahsen Batur, Islamic Geography, Istanbul, 2015, p. 338.

42 al-Shabushti, Kitâbu'd-Deyârât, thk. Kûrkîs Avvâd, Beirut (Dâru'r-Raidi'l-Arabî), 1986, p. 297; Makdîsi, Ahsenü't-Tekâsîm, p. 338.

43 M. Manazir Ahsan, Social Life Under The Abbasids, London, 1979, p. 39-40. Also, on the clothing preferences of various ethnic and social groups and the fashion and clothing styles that differ according to the regions, see the same work, p. 55-68.

44 On the obligation to wear black turbans for officials in the Abbasid period, see. es- Sâbî, Rusûmu Dâri'l-Hilâfe, thk. Mikail Avvâd, Beirut (Dâru'r-Raidi'l-Arabî), 1986, p. 77; Ahsan, Social Life Under The Abbasids, p. 51-52.

 

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