Marriage in Nablus Mountain at the Beginning of the Ottoman Era: An Analytical Study of the Records of the Legal Court

Abstract

This study deals with the issue of marriage at the beginning of the Ottoman Era in the community of Nablus Mountain through investigating and examining the records of the legal court which are found as script documents. The present study also discusses some theoretical topics and earlier studies briefly. The method of analyzing the documents was employed at two levels: The first level tackled the formal analysis of pretexts, which addressed the form of the pretext, in terms of phrasing, vocabulary, titles, dowries, money, proxies and additional stipulations. The second level tackled the social and economic implications of the content of the legal pretexts through exploring the general characteristics of the studied cases, the social and class structure, gender, the political situations, and some other issues which were revealed by the examined pretexts. The study reached the conclusion that there was not a unified form for the texts of the pretexts and that marriage was conducted in terms of social classes. It was also found that women used to be considered inferior in the community and underage marriage was common among females. In addition, there were cases of slave marriage and the existence of maidservants and servants in the community of Nablus Mountain.