Banat of Temesvar

The article analyses the system of Primary Schools in the Banat region (today Romania) between 1867-1914. The study examines the laws concerning education, the financial background of schools and also the question fo the language of education, and with the help of these it gives new resoults in the question of assimilation in Austo-Hungarian Monarchy.

The aim of this paper is to reveal the specificity of the rural one selected
village in Romanian Mountainous Banat. The central premise is that the specificity is
a central element for nowadays rural tourism in the context of globalization. The
methodology consisted in qualitative evaluation of the following elements: rural
landscape, village functionality and peasant households.The major conclusion is that
the specificity of this village is well preserved and could constitute one important
premise for rural tourism development.

Transmitting the State’s economic management in a border area:
a turning point in the mobilisation of commercial and financial networks in the Banat of Temesvar of the 1760s and 1770s

Abstract :
The Banat of Temesvár, a vast imperial domain near the border of the Ottoman Empire, stands out insofar as it was directly controlled by the Vienna government’s central bodies, in particular the aulic chamber. Hence its political and economic management was characterised by the thorough, though distant, intervention of administrators who saw this marginal area as a blank slate whose development could only be impelled from the outside—in other words, from the Western part of the Habsburg monarchy kingdom. The Viennese administration tried to develop commercial networks through the creation of trading companies in the 1760s and proved reluctant to accept the cooperation of the existing networks of local merchants and worthies. Yet, this cooperation was advocated by Count Perlas, the administration’s representative in Temesvár, who developed and partly theorised an original system to transmit the imperial economic policies in the society of the Banat. Following thorough changes imposed in 1767, the new territorial administration found itself cut off from the old commercial and financial networks, which then took their autonomy relative to the State. Analysing the turning point of 1767 and comparing these two systems throws more light on the way in which the Habsburg State managed to mobilise the local society with an overt view to achieve the economic integration of a border area.

Résumé :
Le Banat de Temesvár, vaste domaine impérial aux frontières de l’Empire ottoman, a la particularité de dépendre directement des organes centraux de gouvernement de Vienne (Chambre aulique en particulier). Sa gestion politique et économique est donc marquée par l’intervention profonde quoique lointaine d’administrateurs considérant ce territoire marginal comme une tabula rasa dont le développement ne peut venir que de l’extérieur, autrement dit de la partie occidentale de la monarchie. S’attachant à dynamiser les réseaux commerciaux à travers la fondation de compagnies de commerce dans les années 1760, l’administration viennoise peine à accepter la coopération régionale d’un tissu de marchands et de notables locaux à sa politique. Cette collaboration est pourtant promue par son représentant à Temesvár, le comte Perlas, qui développe et théorise en partie un système original de relais de la politique impériale dans le domaine économique au sein de la société banataise. Après de profonds changements imposés en 1767, la nouvelle administration territoriale se retrouve coupée des anciens réseaux commerciaux et financiers qui prennent alors leur autonomie par rapport à l’Etat. L’analyse du tournant de 1767 et la comparaison entre ces deux modes de fonctionnement permettent d’éclairer de manière plus fine la manière dont l’Etat habsbourgeois parvient à mobiliser la société locale dans un but avoué d’intégration économique d’un espace-frontière.

THE ARMY OF THE KINGDOM OF SERBIA IN THE RURAL AREAS OF
THE TIMIŞ-TORONTAL COUNTY IN THE ROMANIAN PART OF BANAT
BETWEEN 1918-1919
Data from the Historical Museum Fund „Nicolae Ilieşiu”

Summary
At the end of the World War 1914–1918 the political and the administrative situation of Banat as a region was extremely complex, considering that both Serbia and Romania manifested their claim in taking over this former Austro-Hungarian territory. On top of that, the Hungarians and Germans in the region, not insignificant by numbers, have expressed their wish to remain in the newly formed Hungarian state or have opted for the proclamation of the independent Banat Republic. In this general context, after the Military Convention that took place on November 13th, 1918 in Belgrade, the army of the Kingdom of Serbia, as a winner of the Great War and a representative of the Entente Powers occupied Banat. The situation during the provisorium in the Romanian part of Banat, especially in the rural areas, when the Serbian army was present in the territory, has not been thoroughly studied so far and is therefore not very well known in the current historiography. The National Banat Museum owns in its collections a certain documentary source which provides a relative image of those times, namely the years 1918–1919. In 1934 a certain research was undertaken, based on questionnaires. The obtained results are various, subjective and, for sure, mostly approximate, given based on memories and stories after two decades from those events. Even so, they offer a certain image on the situation between 1918–1919, as well as on those who have asked for the questionnaire and those who have written it. In the article the questionnaire is reproduced in the original and also translated in Serbian.

Scurt istoric al sârbilor din România Introducere Istoria unui popor reprezintă cartea de vizită prin care o etnie se face cunoscută și se prezintă în fața lumii. Tendințele de conceptualizare și contextualizare a istoriei unui popor, vin în spijinul demersului istoriografic de a prezenta impactul pe care o persoană, instituție sau etnie l-a avut în formarea conștiinței istorice. Cât de însemnată este istoria unui popor, nu depinde doar de faptele săvărșite în numele propriu, ci în mare măsură sunt grăitoare dacă ele au jucat un rol important în istoria comună a omenirii. În contextul unui spațiu European înzestrat cu particularități din cele mai spectaculoase de multiculturalitate, multietnicitate și multiconfesionalism, dar mai ales într-un spațiu pluringvistic, prezentarea rolului uni popor în conștiința istorică are o importanță dublă. Pe de o parte este prezentată istoria etniei și influențele care au contribuit la dezvoltarea istorică, iar pe de altă parte se poate urmării capacitatea acelui popor de a se integra și de a influența mediul înconjurător. Istoria sârbilor din România a intrigat foarte mult istoricii de marcă ai Europei, dovedind că istoria popoarelor slave trezește în continuare un real interes, ceea ce implică o acribie științifică în demersul de a prezenta o parte importantă din istoria unei părți a poporului sârb. Însăși istoria poporului sârb se diferențiază în funcție de localizarea geografică pe care se aflau sârbii în decursul istoriei. Pentru sârbii din România viețuirea comună cu poporul român, maghiar, german, ucrainean, bulgar, croat a contribuit la depășirea granițelor de autoizolare și la deschiderea către o lume a conștiinței comune, a toleranței și a spiritului pacifist. Coagularea elementului sârb în jurul ideii de ancorare în valorile etnice, istorice, lingvistice și spirituale nu a știrbit cu nimic datoria față de țară și de valorile fundamentale ale societății românești. La ceas aniversar al centenarului Marii Uniri din anul 1918, se cuvine să amintim toți acei factori care au contribuit la formarea cărții de vizită, a societății românești. Această carte de vizită este cea care ne va prezenta generațiilor viitoare și totodată este cea care mărturisește cât de bine am păstrat ceea ce am primit în dar de la strămoșii noștri.

This paper aims to shed light on the origins of the Banathian coat of arms. Thus it starts in the Middle Ages, analyzing the first known symbols of the Banate of Severin – a cross used by ban Nicholas Redwitz and the princes of the Dănești Dynasty and the lion used by princes such as Mircea the Elder and Peter the Earring, who also ruled the Banate of Severin, a lion which we will again encounter in the 19th and 20th centuries and which, as explained by the heraldic artist of Greater Romania, is of Cuman origin. Apart from an invented coat of arms that only appears once in the 19th century, Banat had one other important symbol – the Forforosa Gate –, as seen on the arms of the Banate of Timișoara used in the 18th century, when the banate was
ruled by Austria.

Per decisió de la Cambra Imperial, uns 800 exiliats de la Guerra de Successió d'Espanya van formar a partir de 1735 una nova colònia al Banat de Temesvar, que van anomenar Nova Barcelona. La meitat d'ells van morir per causa d'epidèmies en els anys següents, i la resta van ser retornats a Buda i Viena.

Ion Stoia-Udrea,  Răscoala țărănească din Banat  dela 1738-39
Unul din puținele texte care se ocupă de răscoala țărănească din Banat
din 1738-39.

Scris tezist și fără har de un istoric mediocru, cartea însă una din rarele surse despre subiect.

Pornit cu mare emoție și entuziasm în toamna lui 2016, după ce s-a anunțat orașul câștigător din cele paisprezece aflate în competiția pentru titlul de " capitală culturală europeană 2021 " , proiectul timișorean promitea să polarizeze energiile culturale ale locului și să recompenseze orașul cu infrastructura culturală insuficientă și cu evenimente de excepție. După primul an, proiectul așezat sub sloganul inspirat " Luminează orașul prin tine " , și-a pierdut strălucirea și busola, producând îngrijorare în mediile culturale.

A study of multi-cultural theatre heritage in the region of Banat from 1718 to 1918, in Austrian-Hungarian monarchy; multi-confessional, multi-lingual and multi-national theatre interactions of German, Serbian, Hungarian, Rumanian and other theatre cultures in Banat from 1718 to 1918; theatre in the towns of Banat: Temesvar, Vrsac, Pancevo, Zrenjanin (Nagy Becskerek), Bela Crkva (Banat Weisskirchen), Becej and Kikinda.

The Banat Locality of Variaş is among the most important rural settlements of the Timiş county, as far as publishing and selling postcards is concerned. This is proved by the 29 types of postcards identified until now, as well as the exiting variants. The relatively large number of illustrated postcards published in the first half of the 20th century can be explained by the massive implication of the local German community in the publishing process, but also in their commercialization.
The themes of the Variaş postcards from the first half of the 20th century are exclusively topographic, predominantly of buildings and representative panoramic images: the panorama of the main street, the building of the Communal Hall, the two churches – the Orthodox Serbian and the Catholic German, the building of the Railway Station, the Schnur Hotel, the First Savings Bank, the monument from the Catholic Cemetery, etc. As far as the local Serbian community in Variaș is concerned, we presently know only of one postcard with a Serbian thematic and with explanatory texts in Serbian. The postcard represents the Serbian Savings Bank, the Orthodox Serbian church and the Serbian Reading Society and the Serbian Inn at the beginning of the 20th century. Even though the Serbian topographic thematic in Variaş, respectively the building of the Orthodox Serbian church is shown on later postcards, at this phase of our researches we do not know of other illustrated postcards containing Serbian texts or traces of a local Serbian editor.
The oldest topographical illustrated postcard of Variaş identified during our research was mailed from Variaş in 1899. Among local editors we mention Franz Julius Elsner, Johann Gillich și E. Winkler.
The illustrated postcards of Variaş represent a valuable documentary fund for getting familiar with the local topography and for the researches on the evolution of the rural architecture of Variaş in the first half of the 20th century. The large number of the printed and sold illustrated postcards with Variaş as thematic indirectly prove the economic prosperity and the well-being of its inhabitants during the first decades of the past century.

Abstract :
After the successful work of the military survey of the Banat in 1769–72, the Habsburg monarchy took on an even more demanding task: the systematic division of land into family plots in a huge territory representing an area of almost 28,000 km2 with approximately half a million inhabitants. The cartographers found themselves in a new position vis-a-vis the rural society and had to face the institutions of the village communities. The surveying and mapping of the land was indeed tied with a new mission: imposing on the farmers the geometric and final definition of their plots. The few cadastral maps that have been preserved in Vienna and in Budapest can be studied as the result of a complex social process involving peasant-farmers, local worthies, rural communities and cartographers over a rather long period of time. The different actors usually made arrangements between themselves, although mutual misunderstandings and conflicts occurred too. The current—and almost classical—approach to the cadastral and estates maps, whether ordered by States or private landowners, provide an interesting analytical framework. They point out the influence of the rationalising tendencies of the estates’ management and the tax system in the early modern period on this type of mapping and describe maps as a form of communication. But identifying signs of peasants’ and villages’ participation in creating the maps is more difficult than understanding the logic of power. Fortunately, the possibility of combining an analysis of iconographic sources and of the detailed reports about the local activity of the cartographers-engineers in Banat, allows overcoming this difficulty.

Résumé :
Après le relevé cartographique militaire réussi du Banat en 1769-1772, la monarchie habsbourgeoise entreprend une tâche encore plus exigeante : la division systématique de la terre en lopins familiaux dans ce vaste territoire couvrant une surface d’environ 28 000 km² et abritant près d’un demi-million d’habitants. Les cartographes se retrouvent alors dans une situation inédite au sein de la société rurale et doivent interagir avec les institutions des communautés villageoises. L’arpentage et la cartographie du territoire était en effet lié à une nouvelle mission : celle d’imposer aux paysans le découpage géométrique et définitif de leurs lopins. Les quelques plans cadastraux qui ont été conservés à Vienne et à Budapest peuvent être analysés comme les résultats d’un processus social complexe impliquant paysans, notabilités locales, communautés villageoises et cartographes sur une longue période.  Les différents acteurs trouvent la plupart du temps des compromis entre eux, bien que des incompréhensions mutuelles et des conflits ont également lieu. L’approche habituelle – et presque classique – des plans cadastraux et de domaine, qu’ils soient commandités par les États ou par des propriétaires privés nous donne un cadre d’analyse intéressant. Elle met en évidence l’influence des tendances rationalisatrices de la gestion domaniale et du système fiscal de la période moderne sur ce type d’exercices cartographiques et considère les cartes comme des formes de communication. Mais cette démarche privilégie le sens donné par les commanditaires de ces documents et insiste sur un rapport de pouvoir vertical. Il est possible de pousser plus loin l’analyse et d’identifier les signes de participation des villages et des paysans dans le processus de production cartographique. C’est ce que nous cherchons à faire à travers la combinaison de l’analyse des sources iconographiques, des plaintes villageoises et des rapports détaillés de l’activité des ingénieurs cartographes du Banat. Nous proposons ainsi de nouvelles pistes de lecture des plans cadastraux comme des palimpseste servant d’outils de négociation des autorités domaniales avec les communautés rurales.

Diasporas, 28 (2017), p. 63-84.

This article emphasises the different forms taken by the presence of the Ottoman merchants in the cities of the Habsburg Monarchy, at the time of a new commercial take-off following the Treaties of Karlowitz (1699) and Passarowitz (1718). A comparative analysis of the Ottoman urban spaces in Pest, Temesvár, Trieste and Vienna, follows a global assessment. Moving the focus away from the diasporas onto the city, this contribution explores the dynamics that led to the urban integration of foreigners, and doing so it provides an original social insight into the commensurability of the early modern Mediterranean and Central European cities, breaking with the identity agendas of the mainstream history of trading diasporas in the eighteenth-century Habsburg monarchy.

The article gives an overview of the development of the Gymnasium education in Banat, in the interval 1867-1914. The Gymnasium in the abovementioned period was one of the most important institutions, which – besides the education – played a crucial role in the formation of the middle-class. The article begins with the detailed analysis of the following: legal political framework of the Gymnasiums, the system of Gymnasiums in Banat, the schools, the teachers, the students, the curriculum, political life in the schools, student movements and offschool activities, charity societies in the schools.

Nations, Privileges and Ethnicity during the Enlightenment: Integration of the Banatean Society into the Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th century

Abstract :
The Banat is a large region of the Balkans. It was conquered in 1716 by the Habsburg power over the Ottoman Empire and then governed directly from Vienna. It was mostly populated by Orthodox inhabitants but was also rapidly colonised by Catholic peasants from the Holy German Empire. Maintaining the power structures inherited from the Ottoman area permitted the cooperation of the local worthies with the Habsburg state. At the same time, the sovereign gave up his attempt to convert peoples to Catholicism and chose to grant the so-called “Illyrian” privileges to the Orthodox Church. In this context, the Habsburg civil servants made a pragmatic use of national categories. They were a means to determine an acceptable political behaviour towards groups defined by vague social boundaries, while respecting traditional middlemen and using the vernacular for political communication. However, the action of this strictly fiscal and military State was called into question by the widening of its prerogatives and the arrival of a new generation of civil servants in 1769. The influence of Kameralismus and the administrative statistic led the latter to consider the nations from a cultural point of view. The hierarchy of the productive capacities of each population justified a politics based on an ethnicity-based spatial segregation. But this imposed identity did not seem to be taken up by the population. On the contrary, people began to use the old sense of the privileged “nations” in their political claims directed to the emperor. Their demands concerned their refusal of the imposition of the feudal system in the Banat after its integration into the kingdom of Hungary in the 1780s.


Résumé :
Le Banat est une vaste région d’Europe balkanique conquise en 1716 par les Habsbourg sur l’Empire ottoman. Majoritairement peuplée d’Orthodoxes puis rapidement colonisée par des paysans catholiques venus du Saint-Empire, elle est directement administrée par Vienne. Le maintien des structures de pouvoir héritées de la période ottomane assure la coopération des notables locaux. De même, les velléités impériales de conversion au catholicisme se font discrètes au profit de la protection de l’Eglise orthodoxe par les privilèges dits « illyriens ». Jusqu’aux années 1760, les distinctions statutaires et confessionnelles structurent les relations entre notabilités locales et représentants du souverain. Seule la référence à des nations privilégiées – « bulgare », « illyrienne » –, fait partie des usages populaires. Mais la définition de celles-ci ne possèdent aucun contour linguistique ou culturel. Cependant, l’utilisation des catégories ethniques est déjà présente dans les correspondances entre administrateurs locaux et grands commis viennois. Il ne s’agit encore que d’un instrument de gouvernement à distance. Ce discours permet de justifier l’adaptation de certaines pratiques aux spécificités d’une terre considérée comme marginale voire exotique. Dans les discours des administrateurs habsbourgeois, l’usage des catégories nationales est donc pragmatique. Il permet de déterminer les pratiques de gouvernement acceptables envers des groupes aux limites floues, dans le respect des intermédiaires traditionnels et d’une communication politique effectuée en langue vernaculaire.
Mais l’action d’un État uniquement fiscal et militaire est remise en cause par l’élargissement de son périmètre d’action et l’arrivée d’une nouvelle génération de fonctionnaires en 1769. L’influence du caméralisme et de la statistique administrative amène à considérer les « nations » sous un angle exclusivement culturel. La hiérarchie des capacités productives et des mœurs de chaque peuple justifie une assignation ethnique stricte de l’espace. D’une administration superficielle, reposant sur la coopération des notables et des édiles avec le pouvoir impérial, on passe à un contrôle à la fois plus direct et plus large des sujets. Ce changement, particulièrement rapide et brutal dans le Banat, est aussi visible ailleurs en Europe. Il correspond à l’irruption de la « population » comme objet des techniques de gouvernement, propagé, entre autres, par le caméralisme et l’usage de la statistique administrative. Les descriptions ethnographiques tout comme la promotion d’un système d’enseignement en langue vernaculaire sont alors considérés comme des outils indispensables d’un programme global de réforme de la société. L’application extrême de ce projet conduit même les gestionnaires à organiser une assignation ethnique stricte de l’espace en attribuant un lopin de terre à une famille selon son appartenance nationale.
Ces distinctions identitaires, qui se veulent fondées sur une connaissance approfondie de l’ethnicité populaire, ne trouvent cependant aucun écho auprès des populations paysannes qui ne s’y reconnaissent pas. Pire, ce projet provoque des réactions de rejet, sous la forme de plaintes mais aussi de charivaris ou d’émeutes sanglantes. Ces manifestations sont souvent soutenues par des agents locaux du pouvoir impérial, partisans des anciennes habitudes de gouvernement. Les plaintes communautaires insistent, dès les années 1780, à contre-courant des pratiques imposées depuis une décennie, sur la nécessité pour le pouvoir impérial de respecter les règles qu’il avait lui-même instituées dans la première moitié du siècle : celles de la garantie de l’autonomie des nations privilégiées. La catégorie nationale finit donc bien par s’inviter dans la petite politique, à l’échelle villageoise, mais pas sous la forme que lui donne, au même moment, la vogue des descriptions savantes des peuples européens. Les populations se réapproprient ainsi l’ancien usage des « nations » privilégiées dans les revendications politiques destinées à l’empereur pour protester contre la reféodalisation du Banat après son intégration au royaume de Hongrie dans les années 1780.

Plan de la thèse :

Introduction, p. 5

Partie I : Gouverner le Banat et ses « nations », p. 35

Chapitre 1 : Récupérations et transformations de l’héritage ottoman, p. 42
Chapitre 2 : Administration et patronage des « nations » du Banat, p. 128
Chapitre 3 : Un Banat confessionnalisé : les Églises et leurs « nations », p. 218

Partie II : Les adaptations nationales d’un programme éclairé, p. 314

Chapitre 4 : La catégorie ethnique au service des réformes éclairées, p. 321
Chapitre 5 : Les enjeux de la normalisation de l’organisation communautaire, p. 403
Chapitre 6 : Façonner le territoire et sa population, p. 499

Partie III : Les usages politiques de l’ethnicité, p. 594

Chapitre 7 : Rapport aux autorités et modelage des expressions collectives, p. 600
Chapitre 8 : Notables, privilèges collectifs et usage de l’ethnicité, p. 688
Chapitre 9 : Patriotisme éclairé et « nations » privilégiées, p. 775

Conclusion, p. 858

THE END OF THE GREAT WAR AND THE DELINEATION OF THE BANAT
FRONTIERS AS VIEWED IN THE ROMANIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Summary

The author points out three layers, or aspects, of the topic: the positioning of historians towards Otto Roth’s Banat Republic, their accounts regarding the period of stationing of the Serbian Army in Banat, and the delineation of the post-war state frontier between the two countries. A further aspect concerns differences in the treatment of these problems between the general-national and the Banat historiography.
Upon presenting a brief summary of the published works, the author deplores the partisanship and the ill-foundedness of most historians, who describe the presence of Serbian army as a military occupation and as a nightmarish period for the Romanian population. These authors have mainly relied on questionnaires that were designed using a non-scientific methodology and were filled up fifteen years after the events. The paper signals out the absence of a study devoted exclusively to this topic and points out several works noteworthy for their well-documented scientific approach.

Öz: Karlofça antlaşması, Osmanlı Devleti için batı cephesinde ciddi toprak kayıpları ile imzalanmıştır. Bununla birlikte Avusturya ile yapılan antlaşma gereğince Temeşvar, bütün sancaklarıyla Osmanlı'nın elinde kalmıştır. Nitekim Temeşvar, bulunduğu stratejik konum nedeniyle bundan sonraki süreçte Avusturya kuvvetlerinin ana hedefi olacaktır. Osmanlı devlet erkânı, bu bilinçle barışın akabinde Temeşvar şehri ve Temeşvar Eyaleti genelinde birçok faaliyet yürütmüştür. Bu çalışmada Karlofça sonrasında batı cephesinde Tuna'nın kuzeyinde elde kalan tek toprak parçası olan Temeşvar Eyaleti'nde yürütülen nizam çalışmaları üzerinde durulacaktır. Bir yandan askeri sayımlar, bir yandan göçen ahalinin geri döndürülmeleri için yürütülen faaliyetler, öte yandan yeni bir savaşın çıkma olasılığının göz ardı edilmemesi nedeniyle yapılan işler değerlendirilmeye tabi tutulmuştur. Bu cümleden olarak Temeşvar Kalesi ve eyaletteki palankalarda yürütülen onarım, güçlendirme ve yeni inşa işleri ile istihkâmların güçlendirilmesi, yani askerî alanda alınan tedbirler üzerinde durulmuştur. Bütün bunların yanı sıra kamu binaları inşaatları ve ahalinin dini vecibelerinin yerine getirilmesi için yapılan imar faaliyetleri de bu çalışmanın konusunu oluşturmuştur. Abstract: Treaty of Karlowitz caused the Ottoman Empire to loss serious lands on the western front. However, Timisoara and all sanjaks affiliated to it were left to the Ottoman Empire in accordance with the treaty with Austria. Thus, Timisoara would be the main target of Austrian forces due to its strategic position in the forthcoming period. Therefore, the officials of the Ottoman Empire carried out many activities in the city of Timisoara immediately after peace. In this study, the regulation actions taken in the province of Timisoara, which was the only remaining piece of land in the north of Tuna on the west side after the Karlowitz treaty, will be emphasized. Military censuses, activities carried out * Osmanlı-Macaristan-Habsburg İlişkileri ve Kanuni Sultan Süleyman Sempozyumu'nda sunulmuş bildirinin gözden geçirilmiş ve genişletilmiş halidir.

Öz Kanuni Döneminde Osmanlı topraklarına katılan ve eyalet merkezi haline gelen Temeşvar konumu itibariyle devlet merkezi ile Orta Avrupa arasında önemli bir geçiş güzergâhıdır. Bu özelliği ile idari, iktisadi ve sosyal açıdan önemle üzerinde durulması gereken bir kenttir. Temeşvar hakkında bugüne kadar yapılan çalışmalarda kentin daha çok idari ve iktisadi yapısı üzerinde durulmuş, sosyal açıdan değerlendirmeler yapılmamıştır. Bu çalışma yaklaşık bir buçuk asır Osmanlı toprağı olarak kalmış olan Temeşvar'ın günümüze ulaşan tek şer'iye sicilindeki kayıtlardan hareketle hukuki ve sosyal bir olgu olan suç konusuna odaklanacaktır. Çalışmada bir sene zarfında Temeşvar kentinde kadı mahkemesine yansımış olan hırsızlık, gasp, cinayet, yaralama, hakaret, dolandırıcılık gibi suçların analizi ve dökümü yapılacak, suç çeşitleri, suçların işlendiği mekânlar, suç aletleri, fail(ler) ve mağdurların profilleri, suç işleme nedenleri ve benzeri konular üzerinde değerlendirmeler de bulunulacaktır. Bu şekilde ihtiva ettiği bilgiler ile tarih araştırmalarında zengin bir kaynak olarak kullanılan şer'iye sicil(ler)i vasıtasıyla XVII. yüzyılda Orta Avrupa'da bir Osmanlı eyalet merkezinde Osmanlı/İslam hukukunun nasıl uygulandığı, müslim-gayrimüslim ilişkilerinin nasıl yürüdüğü ve suç olgusunun toplumsal yansımalarının ne şekilde cereyan ettiği ortaya koyulmaya çalışılacak ve bu konularda Osmanlı coğrafyasının diğer bölgeleri ile karşılaştırma yapma olanağı sağlanacaktır. Şehrin yöneticilerinin ve ileri gelenlerinin suç işleme eğilimleri ile mahkemenin bu kişi ya da kişiler hakkında ki verdikleri kararlar da çalışmamızın önemle üzerinde duracağı konulardan birisi olacaktır.