APPENDIX I

VENETIAN PLANS AGAINST MEHMED II: THE PROPOSALS OF 'MACHOMET BEY' AND THE CASE OF YAKUB PASHA

Sometime in the summer of 1469, probably in July, the Council of Ten of the Venetian Republic received a letter from Leonardo III Tocco, of Santa Maura and , passing on to Ven• ice proposals for cooperation from a certain 'Machomet bey' , Sancakbey ('flambolaro') of Angelokastron.! The Council of Ten replied on the 5th ofAugust of the same year. Leonardo Tocco's original letter does not survive, but its contents are reproduced in the registers of the Council ofTen, following the Council's answer. This letter also con• tained fragments of the original letter, addressed from 'Machomet Bey' to Leonardo Tocco. Leonardo Tocco's communication, as reproduced in the answer ofthe Council ofTen, contains some background information on this 'Machomet bey'. From this letter we learn that he was son of a cer• tain 'Famiani' or 'Ftamiani' , ex-'dominus' of Thessaloniki.f Leonardo Tocco's letter also informs us that 'Machomet Bey' had served as Sancakbey of Lesbos. He had also served faithfully Sultan Mehmed II in the campaigns ofLesbos and Karaman." However, despite his serv• ices to the Sultan, 'Machomet Bey' was then dismissed from his of• fice in an insulting way." For this reason he swore to take revenge on Mehmed II, to do anything in his power to harm him, and to treat him as an enemy.P In order to placate 'Machomet bey', Mehmed II offered him the Sancak of the , but the bey asked for that of 'Argyrokastron' in order to be able to make contacts with Leonardo III Tocco, who also had reasons to wish to harm the Sultan."

I ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, f.123r-v. The first entry mentions 'Machomet bey' as 'flambolaro' of cArgirocastron' , something which is corrected by the Venetians in a later entry to that of 'Angelocastron' (ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, f.124v). 2 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, f.123r-v. Bozic, "Kolebanja", 162-163. 3 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, f.123v. 4 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, f.123v. 5 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, f.123v. 6 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, f.123v.

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'Machomet Bey' hoped that Tocco would be able to bring him into contact with Venice, the Pope or any other powerful Italian Signoria, in order to convey the following proposal: The Ottoman official could acquire from the Sultan the Sancak of the Morea any time that he would ask for it. From that position he could hand over to that Christian Signoria the castles of Coranto (Corinth), Mugli and Calaurita, which are 'the keys to the Morea'.7 'Machomet Bey' asked for Tocco's advice as to which Christian power or prince to contact and mentioned the Pope and Venice as possible candidates. It seems, however, that the Christian power aimed at was Venice, which at that time was conducting a war with the Ottomans in the Morea and would have been a prime candidate to accept this proposal. In return for his services, 'Machomet bey' demanded from Ven• ice one safe-conduct in Latin and one in Greek. In this document it should be promised that he would be allowed to remain in his faith and not be molested or tempted to convert, that his sons and descend• ants would be servants of the Venetian Signoria, and that after the conquest of the Morea he would receive halfof it, except for the castles and fortresses, all of which would remain in the possession of Ven• ice. Moreover, he offered that if the Signoria gave him three thou• sand soldiers, he would attack the Ottoman possessions in the Ro• mania (ie. the southern Balkans) and would receive one third of all his conquests there, while Venice would get two-thirds." Then 'Machomet Bey' went on to alleviate any possible fears on the part ofVenice that he might hesitate to kill 'Turks', being a 'Turk' himself. For this he gave the examples of Mehmed II, who did not hesitate to fight against Karaman, killing innumerable 'Turks', and ofUzun Hasan, who kills 'Turks' daily. 'Machomet Bey' declared that if he had in his power fifty thousand 'Turks', subjects of Mehmed II, he would kill them all in one day, in order to perform a service to God and satisfy his will." Finally, 'Machomet Bey' asked from the Council of Ten absolute secrecy concerning their dealings, particu• larly since the Sultan had two spies in Venice, whom he paid four thousand ducats a year, and who conveyed to him all the secrets of the city. Otherwise, the Signoria would miss this opportunity, and 'Machomet Bey' himself would lose his head. to

7 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, [123v. 8 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, [124r. 9 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, [I24r. 10 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, [l24r.

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Together with the affirmative answer of the Council of Ten and the safe-conduct requested by 'Machomet Bey', a formal Patens in the name of the Doge Cristoforo Moro was sent to Leonardo Tocco. In it the Signoria of Venice formally accepted 'Machomet Bey"s pro• posal and vowed to keep absolute secrecy about the dealings. It is also interesting that the decision to accept the proposals was taken unanimously, sixteen to zero, a fact that points to the enthusiasm with which they were received at this particular time. II The correspondence between the Council of Ten and Leonardo Tocco was continued a few months later. On the 12th of February 1470, the Council ofTen wrote to Tocco expressing their doubts about the truth ofthe proposals, since they had no other proofbut the mere word of 'Machomet Bey'. 12 This was the last mention of 'Machomet Bey' in the Venetian archives. The information in the Venetian document is not enough to help us identify 'Machomet Bey' with any of the known high-ranking of• ficials of the period of Mehmed II. What we learn about this person from the letter of Leonardo III Tocco to the Council of Ten is the following: First, we may infer that the Bey in question must have been a par• ticularly powerful and highly-placed one. The Venetians call him 'magnificent and powerful lord' ('magnifico etpotenti domino') and in the letter of Leonardo III Tocco it is mentioned that he had been Sancakbey of the newly-conquered island of Lesbos .l'' Moreover, shortly after his dismissal Mehmed II tried to placate him by offering him the Sancak of the Morea. The mere fact that the Sultan tried to keep the Bey content shows that he must have been a man whom he held in high esteem. Furthermore, the offer of the particular Sancak of the Morea is indicative of the Bey's importance. At that time, the Morea had acquired increased importance since it constituted the main bone of contention between the Ottomans and the Venetians in the Turco• Venetian war of 1463-1479. Being the main theatre of the war, the Morea could not have been entrusted to a minor bey. The fact that the Sancakbeys of the Morea in the 1460's were major Ottoman com• manders, who had already distinguished themselves elsewhere, like Turahanoglu Orner Bey, constitutes further proof of the importance of that position. From the above considerations, it follows that this

II ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, f.124v. 12 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, f.135r. 13 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, f.123v.

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'Machomet Bey' must have been a high official possessing great power and influence. In the letter to Leonardo III Tocco, the Bey in question mentions his lineage, saying that he was descended from a certain Famiani or Ftamiani, who was dominus of Thessaloniki.l! Unless this meant that he was the son of an Ottoman governor of the city, this would sug• gest that the Bey may have been a descendant of a Byzantine aristo• cratic family and that his ancestors included high Byzantine officials. The last Byzantine governor ofThessaloniki, from 1408 until the sale of the city to the Venetians in 1423, was Andronikos Palaiologos, brother ofJohn VIII and Constantine XL15 'Machomet Bey' says explicitly that he was the son of Famiani ('filio quondam famiani').16 However, we see no one with a name similar to Famiani/Ftamiani being governor in Thessaloniki for more than sixty years before 'Machomet Bey"s letter. The Bey who sent the proposals to Venice through the Despot of Santa Maura is an elusive one to identify. It is possible that he may have been using dissimulation, hiding his true identity, either in or• der to sound the Venetians and to protect himself against the Sul• tan's spies in Venice, or in order to deceive, for some reason, the recipients of his proposal. Ifwe take the information that he gives as correct, then the only things we know about him are that he was a high-standing Ottoman official, who held the office of Sancakbey of Lesbos for some time , and that of Sancakbey of Angelokastron, and that he was descended from a lord of Thessaloniki. The Registers of the Venetian Council ofTen are rife with Venetian plots to assassinate Mehmed II, or at least to do military damage to the Ottomans using Ottoman subjects. Between 1456 and 1479 the Venetians initiated at least fourteen plans to assassinate the Sultan.!?

14 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, f.123v. 15 Hopf, Chroniques greco-romones, 536. 16 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, f.123r. 17 See for example the proposals of a monk [ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 16, f.146r, 29 December 1463. Vlad. Lamansky, Secrets d'Etatde Venise. Documents, extraits, notices et etudes servant aeclairctr les rapports de la Seigneurie avec les Crees, les Slaves et La Porte Ottomane (Saint Petersburg, 1884), 17], and two Catalans, Manuel and Nardus Sarda, (ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 16, ff.164v-165r, 25 August 1464. Lamansky, Secrets d'etat, 18) to assassinate Mehmed II. See also about the offer of the Greek Constantino Calojani to hand over Negroponte to the Venetians, (ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, ff.212v-213r, 19 August 1472. ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 18, ff.75r• v, 125r, 126r, 6, 9, 12 September 1473 and 23,25 May 1474), as well as the pro• posal of the Sicilian Antonello to burn the Ottoman fleet in Gelibolu in 1472

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The most important and the best known of these came from an Ottoman personality that was considered by Mehmed II to be one of his most trustworthy men, his own personal physician, Yakub Pa• sha ('Magister Jacobus medicus Maomet imperatoris teucrorum'). In October 1471, an envoy of Yakub Pasha, the exiled Florentine nobleman Lando degli Albizzi, arrived in Venice with proposals from the Sultan's doctor. Through his envoy, the physician offered to the Venetian Council of Ten his services to assassinate the Sultan in return for an annual stipend of 10,000 ducats to him and his descendants, as well as the right of Venetian citizenship and freedom from taxation.l'' On the 7th of October 1471, the Doge Cristoforo Moro issued a patent let• ter to Yakub Pasha, in which he promised him what he had asked if he would accomplish the assassination of the Sultan by May 1472. 19 In addition, the Council of Ten promised Lando degli Albizzi an annual stipend of five hundred ducats and Venetian help in order to be able to return to Florence, from which he had fled as an oppo• nent of Lorenzo dei Medici.s" However, nothing came of Yakub Pasha's proposal and it was not mentioned again in the Registers of the Council of Ten. Yakub Pasha was born in Gaeta in Italy between 1425 and 1430 and maintained close ties with Italians and, particularly, with the Venetian Signoria.P' Fourteen years before the doctor's proposal, on 6 September 1457, following a report of the Bailo in Istanbul, the Venetian Senate wrote that 'Master Iacopo' "always showed himself favorable and close to all the affairs of our Signoria and our noble citizens and merchants, through whose mediation they obtained many convenient things from that Turkish lord, who shows himselffavorable to all our affairs. Our Signoria must preserve that doctor friendly and benevolent to us with some sign of gratitude".22 In order to reward the Pasha for his favors, the Senate decided to give him as a present crimson cloth enough to make two robes.P Malipiero, in his Anna/i,

[Malipiero, "Annali Veneti", 85ff. Franz Babinger, "[aqub Pascha , ein Leibarzt Mehmeds II", Rivista degli Studi Orientali 26 (1951): 102]. Venetian plans against the life of the Sultan are also mentioned in Lamansky, Secrets d' Etat, 818ff, Babinger, , 290-292,498-499, and Babinger, 'jaqub Pascha", 95. 18 On this proposal see Babinger, 'j aqub Pascha", 96-101. 19 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, I7, (181 r. Babinger, 'jaqub Pascha", 100-10I. 20 ASV, Consiglio dei Dieci, Misti, 17, (181r. Babinger, 'jaqub Pascha", 101. On Lando degli Albizzi's background see Babinger, 'jaqub Pascha", 98 n.1. 21 Babinger, 'j aqub Pascha", 89. 22 ASV, Senato, Mar, 6, f.36r. 23 ASV, Senato, Mar, 6, f.36r.

Theoharis Stavrides - 9789004492332 Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 02:41:55AM via free access VENETIAN PLANS AGAINST MEHMED II 407 also mentions this present saying that the Signoria sent thirty-two ells of crimson velvet to the physician in order to keep his favor. 24 The Senate's expensive present to Yakub Pasha shows the extent to which the Venetians considered themselves indebted to his services. The fidelity ofYakub Pasha to Islam and, by extension, to his mas• ter, seems to have been regarded as questionable at that time, prob• ably because of the fact that he was ofJewish origins. 25 In October 1465, the Milanese ambassador to Venice Gerardus de Collis wrote to the Duke of Milan about rumors that Yakub Pasha was secretly a Christian.w But even an Ottoman source, Asikpasazade, questions the physician's faith as a Muslim by mentioning that 'Hakim Yakub' went only once to a Friday mosque all his life.27 By virtue of his position as Mehmed II's physician, Yakub Pasha had immense power over the Sultan, who had entrusted his health and life itself to the Jewish doctor. Had he actually wanted, it would not have been too difficult for Yakub Pasha to assassinate Mehmed II, yet, despite the entries in the Venetian registers, nothing of that kind happened. On the contrary, the Sultan retained Yakub as one ofhis most trusted favorites until the end ofhis life. This would mean either that Mehmed II never learnt anything about his physician's overtures to Venice, or that they were made with his knowledge. Moreover, by the fact that he enjoyed unfailingly the Sultan's favor, we may guess that Yakub Pasha had little reason to plan his patron's demise, risking thus uncertainty about himself and his family. If we combine the proposals of Yakub Pasha with those of 'Maut Bassa'28 and of 'Machomet Bey' , we see that in the late 1460's and the early 1470's the Venetians were the recipients of a barrage of proposals from high-ranking Ottoman officials promising the demise of the Sultan or leading to grandiose military ends. If we take them at face value, as spontaneous reactions to the autocratic rule of Mehmed II, then we should wonder why there was never a serious attempt to put any of these proposals into action. It would also ap• pear strange as to why none of them were discovered by the Sultan, who would have probably been all too eager to punish such an of• fender as an example to other, not so loyal officials. On the contrary,

24 Malipiero, "Annali Veneti", 5. 25 Babinger, 'j aqub Pascha" , 89. Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror, 291. 26 Gerardus de Collisto the Duke of Milan, 19 October 1465, in Babinger, 'jaqub Pascha", 92. 27 Asikpasazade, Die altosmanische Chronik, 207. 28 See Chapter 6.

Theoharis Stavrides - 9789004492332 Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 02:41:55AM via free access 408 APPENDIX I the originators of the proposals remained in favor with the Sultan for several years later. The timing of all these ambitious proposals to Venice almost smacks of farce and may have been part ofa conscious policy of the Ottomans to disorient their enemies.

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