The Pisanis in the Ottoman and British Empires by Frank Castiglione A
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Family of Empires: The Pisanis in the Ottoman and British Empires by Frank Castiglione A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Near Eastern Studies) in the University of Michigan 2016 Doctoral Committee: Professor Gottfried J. Hagen, Co-Chair Professor Fatma Müge Göçek, Co-Chair Assistant Professor H. Erdem Çıpa Associate Professor Gerard J. Libaridian © Frank Castiglione 2016 ! For my Parents ! ii! ! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research and writing of this study would not have been possible without the aid of several institutions. At the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, I thank the Department of Near Eastern Studies and the Rackham Graduate School, for funding that facilitated my research abroad, and for numerous fellowships that granted me time to write. A Jean Monnet Graduate Fellowship from the Center for European Studies – The European Union Center, and funding from the International Institute at the University of Michigan provided me with opportunities to spend time in various archives and libraries in Turkey. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada also provided generous support through a Doctoral Fellowship. Many thanks to the staff at the Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi, The National Archives, Kew, the British Library, the Special Collections Department at the Durham University Library (UK), The Center for Diplomatic Archives, Nantes, and the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. I am also thankful to Father Ruben Gonzalez at the Santa Maria Draperis Parish in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, who allowed me to spend countless hours in his office photographing the rich collection of records held by the church. The staff in the Department of Near Eastern Studies has also been critical to the completion of this project. I especially thank Wendy Burr for her help and love for “her” graduate students. I have been fortunate to have excellent teachers and mentors on my dissertation committee. My advisor and co-chair, Gottfried Hagen, is the embodiment of “a gentleman and a scholar.” I thank him for the generosity of his time, excellent teaching, and mentorship. I have also learned much from him about what it is to be a good person and colleague. My co-chair, ! iii! ! Fatma Müge Göçek, has been a wonderful source of encouragement and guidance since I arrived in Ann Arbor. I value her insistence on treating the larger questions in research and writing. I have also benefitted immensely from Gerard Libaridian’s teaching and friendship. His suggestions have always been helpful and a constant reminder about the way that we ought to consider the scope of inter-confessional relations in the Ottoman Empire. Though a late addition to my committee, Erdem Çıpa remained enthusiastic about it throughout, never waivered in his support for it, and offered critical advice when it was needed. Other professors and colleagues from outside the University of Michigan have also made important contributions to this study. I am deeply indebted to Virginia H. Aksan at McMaster University for introducing me to the Ottomans as an undergraduate, and her guidance throughout the three graduate schools that I have attended. I have gained much from her critical eye and constant advice, but most importantly from her and Oktay’s friendship. Maurits van den Boogert at Brill Publishers in Leiden has contributed to this project in many ways. Having first met as a student in his and Jan Schmidt’s course on the Ottoman Empire and Europe at Leiden University, little did I know that I would eventually be working on a topic that he had such a great hand in developing, though for a century earlier. His suggestions and encouragement are appreciated, and are reflected in much of this study. I also thank Natalie Rothman at the University of Toronto. Another specialist on dragomans, our conversations and her suggestions made me rethink my whole approach to these actors and the framing of this study. I thank my friends at the University of Michigan who have made my time during graduate school enjoyable, particularly Ty Bilgin, Laura Culbertson, Dzovinar Derderian, Özgen Felek, Rob Haug, Harry Kashdan, Gina Konstantopoulos, Paul Love, Derek Mancini-Lander, Devi Mays, Maxim Romanov, and Jason Zurawski. I could always count on Richard ! iv! ! Antaramian’s wit, poor jokes, and willingness to banter about the Ottomans or other topics on his mind. Ethan Menchinger and I entered the Department of Near Eastern Studies as part of the same cohort to work with Gottfried Hagen. I thank him for his friendship and collegiality. I have learned much from him. Special thanks also goes to Noah Gardiner and Nancy Linthicum who were always willing to lend a space in their home during my travels to and from Ann Arbor. I also thank Noah for his guidance and support during my time in NES. During my trips abroad, I was lucky enough to meet a number of people whose assistance helped me to complete this project. Thanks to the trio of Günhan Börekçi, Emrah Safa Gürkan, and Kahraman Şakul, who were always helpful with getting me sources and lending me their wisdom on Ottoman historiography. Kahraman, along with Müge Kahya and Kıvanç Kahya, have at one time or another graciously hosted me in their homes in Istanbul for long periods of time, and were always kind enough to look over translations of Ottoman Turkish and Turkish. I thank them for their hospitality and generosity. Thanks to Müge for her help in putting together the family trees in this study. At home in Hamilton, others have lived with this project, even though without having a clear idea of what it was that I was doing. Thanks to Bobby Bautista, Joel Campbell, Vince Paladino, Brian Oliveira, Michael Perri, and Donato Stinellis. I also thank my sister and brother-in-law Beth and Michael Kita, my brother-in law and sister-in-law Kyle and Diane Fonseca, and my in-laws, Valerian and Melanie Fonseca for their support over the years. The only exception in Hamilton was Veysel Şimşek, who kindly reviewed aspects of my work, and translations of Ottoman Turkish and Turkish. I have dedicated this work to my parents, Michael and Karen Castiglione. No matter what choices I have made they have always offered their support and affection, for which I am grateful. No lesser thanks to my wife, Nisha, who has been part of this project since day one. She ! v! ! has tolerated a relationship that has largely been divided by space and time in order to see the completion of this study through. I am thankful for her kindness and patience, and the time that she has put in to both our relationship and caring for our daughter Xavia, who arrived while completing the writing of this study. ! vi! ! Note on Places and Names I have opted to use the modern Turkish form for place names. For example, I use Istanbul, instead of Constantinople. In terms of names of the Pisanis, I have streamlined their names because of the fluctuation of the way that they are written by the British, the Ottomans, and author’s in secondary sources. In the text, I provide the streamlined version first, and then the way they are written in the British or Ottoman documents, and in secondary sources, in brackets. For Ottoman-Turkish Muslims, I use the Ottoman/Turkish version of names of people. For example I use Arifi, instead of the British form, Aarifi. ! ! vii! ! Note on Rates of Exchange Rates of Exchange between the British Pound Sterling and the Ottoman Kuruş∗ Year 1 Pound Sterling to Ottoman Kuruş 1736 5-7 1768 8 1774 9-10 1788 11 1798 15 1805 15-17 1810 19 1816 19 1820 25 1822 40 1825 53.5 1828 57-62 1830 75-77.5 1832 87-94 1834 98-100 1844 108-11 1850-1914 110 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ∗Şevket Pamuk, “Money in the Ottoman Empire,” in An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300- 1914, eds. Halil İnalcık, Donald Quataert (NY: Cambridge University Press, 1994), Table A8: Exchange rates of other coins and currency expressed in Ottoman kuruş, 1720-1844, 968. I have adjusted the table to include only the rate of exchange between the British Pound Sterling and the Ottoman kuruş, which were termed by the British, the Ottoman piaster. Pamuk only provides information on rates of exchange up to 1844. For 1850-1914, see Şevket Pamuk, A Monetary History of the Ottoman Empire (NY: Cambridge University Press, 2000), Table 13.1, 209. Pamuk lists the conversion in Ottoman gold liras. I thank him for his clarification that the exchange from gold liras to piasters was 110 piasters to 1.10 Ottoman gold liras. ! viii! ! Table of Contents Dedication ii Acknowledgements iii ! Note on Places and Names vii Note on Rates of Exchange viii List of Tables x Introduction 1 Chapter 1 – The Pisanis in Istanbul 39 Chapter 2 – Professionalization and Negotiation 63 Chapter 3 – Categories of Belonging and Subjecthood 106 Chapter 4 – Enlisting Imperial Power 137 Conclusion 191 Tables 199 Bibliography 201 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ix! ! List of Tables Table 1 – Mihail Dimitri Sturdza’s Family Tree of the Pisanis 199 Table 2 – Family Tree 2 – Charles Pisani’s Family Tree 200 ! x! ! Introduction More than once throughout the nineteenth century, the Levant Company and later the Foreign Office debated whether or not to replace members of Levantine families with natural born Englishmen to serve as their dragomans. Unlike other embassies that had active and thorough programs to train their own nationals to fill dragoman positions,1 the British generally relied on the sons of existing dragomans to fill the ranks of Giovani di Lingua or student interpreters, who would eventually move up into the position of dragoman.