Minting of Rûmî gold during the reign at Sultan Mahmud II (1816-1822)

ABSTRACT This dissertation is the study of golden coin which was called "Rûmî" and minted by Darphâne from 1816 to 1822 during the reign of Mahmud II. This coin was used as a financial instrument to the growing military expenditure. Darphâne created two types of Rûmî coin and minimized the amount of gold in them in 1821. In the six-year period, the total number of the minted rûmî coins was 8.154.589, 5 and Darphâne turned 36 tons of gold into Ottoman sikke for this process. These coins were equated with 203.864.737, 5 kuruş whereas the income obtained from this financial operation was 31.145.823, 5 kuruş and 25 akçe. The revenue acquired from rûmî coins contributed to the finance of military expenses of the period. The literature about this issue emphasized the efforts of Mahmud II who devaluated silver coins in order to get finance. Nevertheless, the financial contribution of imperial intervention on golden coins was still obscure. Therefore, in this thesis the role of golden coins on covering the military costs was underlined and the information given about this issue was supported by some tables and graphics. Keywords: Ottoman finance, Ottoman monetary history, Sultan Mahmud II, Rûmî gold coin, Adlî gold coin, debasement, mint