Christine ISOM-VERHAAREN 299 AN OTTOMAN REPORT ABOUT MARTIN LUTHER AND THE EMPEROR:1 NEW EVIDENCE OF THE OTTOMAN INTEREST IN THE PROTESTANT CHALLENGE TO THE POWER OF CHARLES V Among the correspondence in the Ottoman archives dating to the reign of Süleyman, is an intelligence report from one Mehmed, most probably a suba≥ı of Draç, which provides new evidence of Ottoman interest in the religious upheaval in western Europe2. Since this report, Topkapı Saray Müzesi Ar≥ivi E.7671, is found in the archives of the imperial palace at Topkapı in Istanbul, it was intended to be brought to the attention of the sultan himself. Its contents reflect the interest that the Ottoman court took in events in western Europe and provide insight into the quality of information received. Of particular importance is the Ottoman interest during this period in the religious and political divi- sions within western Europe, which kept its rulers from uniting against 1 I wish to thank Cornell Fleischer, Robert Dankoff and especially Halil Inalcık for the help they have given me in reading this document. I also appreciate the advice of Professor Inalcik, which has guided me while writing this article. Any mistakes remain my own. 2 The text of the document does not state who Mehmed is, he identifies himself sim- ply as a servant of the sultan. Since Mehmed’s informant, the merchant !uka, returned to Draç, it is possible that Mehmed was the suba≥ı of Draç. Suba≥ıs lived in the towns of a sancak, bore the title of bey, and were responsible under the sancak beys for keeping order. See Halil INALCıK, The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age, 1300-1600, trans. Nor- man Itzkowitz and Colin Imber, London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1973; reprint ed., New Rochelle, New York: Aristide D. CARATZAS, 1989, pp. 113, 115, 117, 225. Ch. Isom-Verhaaren is Phd, Université de Chicago. Department of History, 1126 East 59th Street, Chicago, Ill., 60637 USA. Turcica, 28, 1996, pp. 299-318 300 CHRISTINE ISOM-VERHAAREN Ottoman expansion. This document provides evidence that the Ottomans were aware of the Protestant threat to the power of their chief rival, Charles V, the Habsburg king of Spain and after 1519 Holy Roman Emperor. It also illustrates the interest they took in the diplomacy of the period, which centered upon the rivalry between Francis I, king of France, and Charles V. The report reveals that the Ottomans were aware of the religious divi- sions in western Christianity, even before the Protestants were militarily important. The Ottomans supported the Protestants against the Catholics as one means of preventing unity in western Europe and limiting the power of the Habsburgs. This complimented the other vital aspect of their western policy, their alliance with France against the Habsburgs3. Although the report mentions the Ottomans’ principal European ally, the king of France, less frequently than their principal enemy, the king of Spain, it does show the importance the Ottomans placed on the relations between the two, as they affected Ottoman interests. The king of France, while remaining Catholic, allied with the Protestant princes of Germany against Charles V, as well as with the Ottomans. In the sixteenth cen- tury, religious differences did not prevent alliances which were politi- cally expedient. Leopold von Ranke and later Fernand Braudel, in their histories of the Mediterranean world, focus on the Ottoman and Habsburg empires as the principal powers of the sixteenth century. Ranke notes that the Ottoman Empire, Spain and Italy “encountered each other directly in the Mediterranean4”, a statement which is borne out by Mehmed’s report. Braudel follows Ranke stating that “the emergence of these twin powers [the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Empire] constitutes a single chapter in history5”. This document confirms these observations, demonstrating that the Ottoman court followed events in Europe impor- tant to the Ottoman encounter with the Habsburgs. It emphasizes the degree to which the histories of all the lands that surround the Mediter- ranean are interconnected. After the Ottoman victory at Mohacs in 1526, which resulted in the death of Louis II of Hungary, the Habsburgs fought the Ottomans directly for the sovereignty of Hungary. Archduke Ferdinand, who had married Anna of Hungary, was given Austria to rule by his brother Charles V and occupied Buda in 1527 in pursuit of his claim to the Hungarian throne. In 1529 the Ottomans recaptured Buda, placed John Zapolya on the Hungarian throne as an Ottoman vassal, and besieged Vienna. 3 INALCIK, p. 37. The best source on French relations with the Ottoman Empire from 1515-1589 is E. CHARRIERE, Négociations de la France dans le Levant, 4 vols., Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1848-60. 4 Leopold RANKE, The Ottoman and the Spanish Empires in the Sixteenth and Seven- teenth Centuries, trans. Walter K. Kelly, Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1845, p. xi. 5 Fernand BRAUDEL, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, trans. Siân Reynolds, 2 vols., New York: Harper & Row, 1976, 2: 660. AN OTTOMAN REPORT ABOUT MARTIN LUTHER 301 Although the siege was unsuccessful, the Ottoman presence in Hungary was securely established in opposition to the claims of Ferdinand6. At the same time that the Habsburgs and the Ottomans were opposing each other in Hungary, Charles V was launching naval campaigns against the corsairs of North Africa7. In 1530 the emperor sent Andrea Doria against Cherchel, to the west of Algiers; in 1531 the Spanish admiral Alvaro de Bazan attacked the port of Honain, to the west of Oran; and in 1532 Charles V ordered Andrea Doria to attack Coron in the Morea8. After the successful Spanish conquest of Coron, Süleyman, realizing the necessity of improving the Ottoman navy, in 1533 sent for Hayreddin Barbarossa to come to Istanbul from Algiers and appointed him kapudan pa≥a or grand admiral of all the Ottoman navy9. These events provide the context for Mehmed’s report. Although undated10, it is clear from internal evidence that the report was written in the summer of 1530. The most conclusive evidence pointing to this date is its reference to the political situation in Milan. It reads in part: “Cursed Spain again gave the city and country named Milan to the old lord about seven or eight months ago11.” In fact, on 23 December 1529 Charles V signed a treaty with Francesco Sforza, by which Sforza regained the Duchy of Milan in exchange for a war indemnity, following the defeat of Sforza and the other members of the league of Cognac12. Thus the document was probably written in July or August of 1530. In his report, Mehmed transmits information he obtained from !uka, an Albanian merchant, recently returned to Draç on the Albanian coast, from trading in Spain, France and Italy for three years13. !uka’s mer- chandise was mohair cloth, an important trade item from Anatolia. Both shores of the Adriatic were a favorable place to recruit spies, because of the commercial links between them14. !uka, probably an Albanian and 6 INALCIK, pp. 35-36. 7 These Muslim seamen, who were called corsairs in western languages, were known to the Ottomans as guzat f’il-bahr or mücahidîn f’il-bahr, “fighters for Islam on the sea.” For example, see Gazavat-i Hayreddin Pa≥a, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Supplément Turc 1186, folios 5a and 5b. 8 Andrew C. HESS, The Forgotten Frontier, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978, pp. 68-69, 71-72. 9 INALCIK, p. 36; HESS, p. 72. 10 The catalog entry at the Topkapı Sarayı Archives dates it to 1523, although the source of this date is not given. 11 E. 7671, lines 16-17. 12 J.C.L. SIMONDE de SISMONDI, Histoire des Français, 22 vols., Brussels: Société Typographique Belge, 1836-46, 11: 367. 13 !uka, the merchant, was from Ergiri-Kasrı (today known as Gjirokaster or Argy- rokastron), Albania. This town was southeast of Avlonya (today Vlorë) in the Avlonya sancak. 14 Jean AUBIN, “Une frontière face au péril ottoman: la Terre d'Otrante (1529-1532),” in Soliman le Magnifique et son temps, ed. Gilles Veinstein, Paris: Documentation fran- çaise, 1992, p. 469. 302 CHRISTINE ISOM-VERHAAREN Christian who knew Italian, would have been carefully chosen by the Ottoman authorities15 to collect information while trading, because of his contacts and abilities. Because !uka dealt in mohair, a luxury good that was highly valued by the elite of Italy and western Europe, he would have been in a good position to obtain intelligence. His customers would have been highly placed and he could have dealt personally with those who had the most accurate and full information16. The detailed information that the report possesses, indicates that !uka was collecting information to be submitted to the authorities on his return. The repeated use in the report of the phrase “he responded” suggests we may be seeing a transcription of his oral responses to Mehmed’s questions17. At the time !uka began trading in 1527, the sultan’s interest in events in western Europe would have been increasing following his victory at Mohacs (1526) and capture of Buda, and as he entered into relations with Francis I18. When the report was written, !uka had just arrived in Draç19, having left Genoa only forty days previously. Draç, Durazzo in Italian, had been an important Venetian possession before it was captured by the Ottomans in 1501. Located across the narrow Adriatic from Italy, it was an excellent location from which to obtain intelligence about events in the peninsula. Military information predominates in this report, which contains an account of a battle said to have been fought two months earlier between the Spanish king, Charles V, and the forces of a beg (lord) named Fra Martin Luther.