Roma Women’s Quest for Justice at the Law Courts of Early Modern Istanbul

As an impressive body of scholarly research has demonstrated, women of diverse religious and social backgrounds approached the Ottoman sharia courts for various reasons – to resolve inheritance issues, administer their property, engage in financial transactions, negotiate the terms of their marriage contracts and divorce settlements, and seek justice against domestic and sexual violence. This presentation contributes to the valuable scholarship on women and Ottoman courts by focusing on Gypsy/Roma women, one of the least – if not the least – explored segments of the multi-ethnic and multi-religious Ottoman world. Through reading the court registers of Üsküdar and other parts of the greater Istanbul area from the 1540s to the 1640s, the presentation seeks to locate Roma women’s presence within these records, both quantitatively and qualitatively.