islamizing istanbul 97under former sheikhulislam Karaçelebizade. He was originally educated in the
Islamic languages and sciences, including jurisprudence, as a member of the
religious class. As evidence of his devotion to learning, Fazıl Ahmed Pasha
established a library in Istanbul where the best version of Abdi Pasha’s his-
tory would eventually be deposited. He may have been young, probably in his
mid-twenties, just a few years older than the sultan, but he was intelligent and
shrewd and, according to the astrologer Ahmed Dede, “one whose good luck is
assured.”^79 Once in offi ce, he turned his attention to the situation of Christian
churches in Istanbul.
Beginning a year after the fi re, while Hatice Turhan was the most impor-tant person at court, Armenian, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians in Galata
and Istanbul and French and Italian foreign residents in Galata purchased
the land where their burned churches stood. According to information culled
from the Shariah court records, of an estimated fi fty to sixty churches in Galata
and Istanbul that existed before the fi re in 1 660 (thirty to forty Orthodox, ten
Armenian, and ten Catholic), at least twenty-fi ve had burned to the ground.^80
Christians who purchased former church land constructed homes there, since
the authorities insisted that if they built churches they would lose their prop-
erty. They were warned not to use their new homes as houses of prayer. In late
summer and fall 1661 and winter 1 662, Christians reclaimed eighteen church
properties in this manner. By permitting Christians to initially reclaim their
properties and rebuild their buildings, the valide sultan expressed her dynasty’s
magnanimity toward them, yet at the same time articulated its sovereignty by
limiting what type of structures Christians could erect. At all times Hatice Tur-
han maintained control over the process that would preserve, or even diminish,
but not increase the Christian presence in the city. But this magnanimity would
be temporary.
The Catholics’ situation was urgent because they were allowed to main-
tain churches only in Galata, and six of seven churches in use in Galata had
burned in 1 660.^81 The properties of fi ve ruined Catholic churches were initiallypurchased at auction.^82 A year after the fi re, the Orthodox Christian dragoman
Georgi son of Lazari purchased the land of Saints Peter and Paul, located in
the Bereketzade quarter. Georgi, who owned a garden bordering the church
property, proclaimed his intent to build a home in which to reside. The Muslim
magistrate made him record this promise: “If by some means I build a church,
let the state treasury again seize the property and take it out of my possession.”^83
On that day, Constantine son of Andrea also purchased church properties in
the same quarter and made an identical pledge. The foreign Christian resident
Riboni son of Martin followed suit and at the same auction purchased the prop-
erty of the burned Saint George Church, located in the same quarter. Giving