Freeing “The Enslaved People of Islam”: The Changing Meaning of Ottoman Subjecthood for Captives in the Russian Empire

This article draws on Ottoman, Russian, and British archival sources and embassy accounts to understand the changing legal and diplomatic status of Ottoman captives in Russia between roughly 1739 and 1815. It is argued that during this period the Ottoman state gained a right it had not actively sought—that of demanding the release of its subjects, without ransom—and then became increasingly assertive about vindicating this right. In doing so, Ottoman elites exhibited ever-greater concern for redeeming non-elite captives, even as those captives became aware of the opportunities treaty law presented. The article suggests that these developments offer a different perspective on changes in the concept of subjecthood, and perhaps the emergence of a sense of common citizenship, in the early modern and nineteenth-century Ottoman context. Such changes can be traced in part to inter-imperial treaty law.