May 29: The Sultan and the Jews

After conquering Constantinople (which he renamed Istanbul) and ending the centuries-long Byzantine Empire, Sultan Mohammed II granted equal rights to Byzantine Jews and other non-Muslim subjects of the Ottoman Empire on this date in 1453. A Jewish presence in the region of Turkey dated back to the 4th century, but it was the Ottomans who made Turkey into a sanctuary for Jews expelled from Christian lands (Hungary in 1376, France in 1394, Sicily in the early 1400s, Salonica in the 1420s, Bavaria in 1470, Spain in 1492, etc.) According to Bernard Lewis’ The Jews of Islam: “the Jews were not just permitted to settle in the Ottoman lands, but were encouraged, assisted and sometimes even compelled.” One significant innovation that Jews brought with them to the Ottoman Empire was the printing press, in 1493, when David and Samuel ibn Nahmias, refugees from Spain, established the first Hebrew press in Istanbul. Jews also served the Ottomans as diplomats to European lands.

“[A]scend the site of the Imperial Throne . . . dwell in the best of the land, each beneath his Dine and his fig tree, with silver and with gold, with wealth and with cattle . . .” —Mohammed II’s proclamation