The corvée of operating the mines in Siderokapisi and its effects on the Jewish community of Thessaloniki in the 16th century

Abstract

The pluralistic nature of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki in the
early Ottoman era is very well known. The community of Thessaloniki comprised
several congregations, each contered on its own synagogue and named
after a district or town in the Iberian Peninsula or southern Italy. The raison
d’être of each congregation was to conduct Jewish life according to the
customs and traditions the immigrants had brought with them from the “old
country”. The congregations vied with one another energetically to win better
conditions for the payment of taxes by their members, to induce wealthy
individuals to become members, and to prevent wealthy mehibers from
leaving. In addition, within each congregation, the social classes fought one
another bitterly to achieve optimal arrangements, with powerful individuals
struggling to impose their will on the congregation or even the entire community.
Nevertheless, the need to ensure the survival of the Jewish presence
in the town forced the vmious elements of the community to cooperate to a 

their preferences.
The tension between these opposing forces is mirrored in three important
Jewish texts dealing with the efforts of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki
to reach an internal agreement governing relations with the Ottoman authorities
in regard to the taxes imposed on the community and their collections. The
three texts refer to a bill of rights obtained by the Thessaloniki community
from the Ottoman authorities in 1568 in regard to the assessment and collection
of taxes from the former.
The paper presents a new source which sheds light on the events which
took place in Thessaloniki prior to the tax arrangement with the Ottomans.
The document is an unpublished letter written in 1567 by Jews from Siderokapisi
to Thessaloniki in regard to one of the corvées imposed on the Thessaloniki
community, that of operating the mines.