The Rise of Oriental Travel English Visitors to the Ottoman Empire, 1580–1720 Gerald M. MacLean The Rise of Oriental Travel Also by Gerald MacLean TIME’S WITNESS: Historical Representation in English Poetry, 1603–1660 MATERIALIST FEMINISMS (with Donna Landry) THE RETURN OF THE KING: An Anthology of English Poems Commemorating the Stuart Restoration, 1660 (editor) CULTURE AND SOCIETY IN THE STUART RESTORATION: Literature, Drama, History (editor) THE SPIVAK READER (co-editor with Donna Landry) THE COUNTRY AND THE CITY REVISITED: England and the Politics of Culture, c. 1550–1850 (co-editor with Donna Landry and Joseph Ward) The Rise of Oriental Travel English Visitors to the Ottoman Empire, 1580–1720 Gerald M. MacLean © Gerald MacLean 2004 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2004 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 0–333–97364–X hardback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data MacLean, Gerald M., 1952– The rise of oriental travel : English visitors to the Ottoman Empire, 1580–1720 / Gerald M. Maclean. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0–333–97364–X 1. Turkey—Description and travel. 2. Turkey—Social life and customs. I. Title. DR429.4.M333 2004 915.604′15—dc22 2003063051 10987654321 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne In memory of Bridget and Christopher Hill This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Illustrations ix Prologue xi The Argument xiii Preface xv Note on Texts and Transcriptions xix Acknowledgements xx Part I Dallam’s Organ: By Sea to Istanbul, 1599 1 1.Thomas Dallam (c.1575–c.1630) 3 2. On First Setting Out 7 3. Mediterranean Encounters 17 4. Istanbul 33 Part II Biddulph’s Ministry: Travels around Aleppo, 1600–12 49 5. William Biddulph’s Anxiety of Authorship 51 6. Preacher among the Diplomats 56 7. Troublesome Travelling Churchmen 66 8. Journey to Aleppo 78 9. Biddulph’s Lessons from Aleppo 84 10. Journey to Jerusalem 100 Part III Blount’s Voyage: The Ottoman Levant, 1634–36 115 11. Sir Henry Blount, 15 December 1602–9 October 1682 117 12. On Becoming a Passenger 123 13. The Sinews of Empire: Venice to Istanbul 142 14. Ottoman Egypt: African Empire in Ruins 157 Part IV ‘T.S.’ in Captivity: North African Slavery, 1648–70 177 15. The Adventures of ‘Mr. T.S.’ and Restoration England 179 16. Captive Agency 183 vii viii Contents 17. For the Vainglory of Being a ‘Traveller’ 187 18. Slavery in Algiers 194 19. On Tour with the Ottoman Army 200 20. Tlemcen: Life in a Desert City 212 Epilogue: What About the Women, Then? 221 Notes 226 References 245 Index 254 List of Illustrations Colour plates 1. Samson Rowlie, aka Assan Aga. From a German traveller’s picture book, c. 1588. Courtesy of The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford (Ms. Bodl. Or. 430, f. 47). 2. & 3. Portraits of European men by the Ottoman artist known as Levni, c.1720. By courtesy of the Department of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum (BM 1960–11–12–01 and 1960–11–12–02). 4. Murad III (1574–95), from Lokman’s Kiyafet ül-insaniye fi semail il-osmaniye. By permission of the British Library (Add Ms 7880, f. 63v). 5. Mehmed III (1595–1603) added to the Kiyafet ül-insaniye fi semail il-osmaniye. By permission of the British Library (Add Ms 7880, f. 67v). 6. Ahmed I (1603–17). By permission of the British Library (OR Ms 41291, f. 5v). 7. A Women of Chios, from a rare German edition of Nicholas de Nicolay’s Navigations published in 1572 with hand-coloured plates by Georg Mack, entitled Der Erst Theil. Von der Schiffart und Raisz in die Turckey und gegen Orient beschriben durch H. N. Nicolay. By permission of the British Library (c.55.i.4). 8. A Delly Warrior; hand-coloured engraving by Georg Mack, as above. By permission of the British Library (from BL c.55.i.4). 9. & 10. A Zulphaline Christian and his wife, from a seventeenth-century costume book. By permission of the British Library (BL Add Ms 5255, ff. 5 and 8). 11. & 12. Henry and Hester Blount, artist unknown. By courtesy of John Bonnington, Tittenhanger House, Herts. 13. Henry Blount by Jacob Huysmans. By courtesy of John Bonnington, Tittenhanger House, Herts. 14. The Sinan Pasha Mosque, An’nabk, Syria. 15. Mount Scopos, Zante, Greece. ix x List of Illustrations Black and white plates 16. A ‘Curious Musical Instrument’, Illustrated London News (20 October 1860), p. 380. By permission of the British Library (7611). 17. A Woman of Malta, from the first French edition of Nicolay’s Navigations (1568). By permission of the British Library (455.e.5). 18. A Calendar, from Nicolay as above. By permission of the British Library (455.e.5). 19. Upstairs corridor, the Khan al-Gümrük, Aleppo souk, Syria. 20. The lower courtyard, Khan al-Gümrük, Aleppo. 21. The Sinan Pasha Khan, An’nabk, Syria. 22. The Murad Pasha Khan, Ma’arret en Nu’man, Syria. 23. The ‘Khan of the Bridegroom’, Qutaifah, Syria. 24. Remains of the ‘Old Castle’, Hisyah, Syria. 25. The Khan Haramain, Damascus souk, Syria. 26. Quneitrah, Syria. 27. The House of Ananias, Bab Sharqi area, Damascus. 28. A nineteenth-century engraving of Tittenhanger House, drawn by J.P. Neale and engraved by H. Hobson. By permission of the British Library (BL Add Ms 32350, f. 210). 29. Henry Blount, an engraved portrait ‘Published Nov 1st. 1801 by Wm. Richardson York House, 32 Strand’. By permission of the British Library (Add Ms 32350, f. 209). 30. Tittenhanger House from the south-west in 1832, by the topographical artist John Buckler (1770–1851). By permission of the British Library (Add Ms 36367, f. 18). 31. A map of Henry Blount’s journey, from Zee-En Land Voyagie Van den Ridder Hendrik Blunt, Na da Levant, 1737 edition. By permission of the British Library (BL 566.1.7). 32. Istanbul from the Dardanelles, from Zee-En Land as above, by permission of the British Library (BL 566.1.7). 33. A Plan of Rhodes, from Zee-En Land as above, by permission of the British Library (BL 566.1.7). 34. A Map of T.S.’s journey, from De Ongelukkiege Voyagie van Mr. T. S. Engels Koopman, Gedaan in den Jaare 1648, 1737 edition. By permission of the British Library (BL 566.1.7). 35. The slave market in Algiers, from De Ongelukkiege Voyagie as above, by permission of the British Library (BL 566.1.7). 36. Torture in Tlemcen, from De Ongelukkiege Voyagie as above, by permission of the British Library (BL 566.1.7). Photo credits, Donna Landry and the author, and with Jo Laundon at Tittenhanger. Prologue Anecdote. Now, in the age of the sublime dynasty and the period of the present exalted reign, the following tale was told by Mustapha Agha, the chief Black Eunuch of the Abode of Felicity, glory of courtiers and backbone of the trust- worthy, who has made the pilgrimage to the two holy cities and visited the illus- trious places, and of whom a full account will be given as and when appropriate. During the sultanate of Murad,1 the grandfather of the present Padishah, the ruler of the Lutheran kingdom among the Franks took of old the road of sub- mission to the Padishah of the House of Osman and at that time was, it is said, a woman, Queen of a sizeable kingdom. This person, in order to approach the Abode of Majesty and the shadow of its protection, sent as a gift a masterpiece of craftsmanship, a clock. It was three cubits in width and depth, and more than the height of a man. On it were pictures and diverse figures, some of them stringed instruments, some flutes, some layers of six-stringed lutes, some drums, some drummers. It showed various kinds of stringed instrument apart from these. At the turn of every hour, from each picture and figure came some sort of move- ment and some kind of admonitory gesture. The instruments in their hands or mouths gave out wondrous notes and marvellous sounds and voices, such that the mind wondered how to describe them, and men of intelligence were too perplexed to define them. To sum up, the aforementioned Queen expended boundless wealth and unlimited treasure, while the experts who built the clock laboured for many years, toiling and preserving, to complete and perfect it.