ABSTRACT
This chapter presents how notables and the town's aspiring commercial elites distributed such interpersonal loans according to larger-scale social and economic patterns. It focuses on how litigation over debts before the Seri court reveals deeper truths about the social configuration of Tokat during the later Tanzimat years. The two major avenues of notable investment in Tokat were through trade in agricultural and handicraft industrial goods. This commerce could lead to ownership or indirect investment in workshops and land. The chapter considers the contributions of all social groups and networks to Tokat's overall economic well-being irrespective of status considerations, while highlighting instances where notables took the lead in strategic corners of commerce. Most debts in the Tokat court records appear as rather non-descript listings on inheritance inventories. Tokat's urban elites frequently exchanged debt with one another through interpersonal loans, but they tended to work through intermediaries to collect dues from villagers.
