Inventory of the Lettere E Scritture Turchesche in the Venetian State Archives Islamic Manuscripts and Books
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Inventory of the Lettere e Scritture Turchesche in the Venetian State Archives Islamic Manuscripts and Books Arnoud Vrolijk Leiden University VOLUME 1 Inventory of the Lettere e Scritture Turchesche in the Venetian State Archives Edited by Maria Pia Pedani Based on the materials compiled by Alessio Bombaci † LEIDEN • BOSTON 2010 Cover Illustration: Gianfranco Munerotto, Th e ‘fondaco dei turchi’ in Venice (2005). By kind permission of Maria Pia Pedani. Th is book is printed on acid-free paper. ISSN 1877-9964 ISBN 978-90-04-17918-9 Copyright 2010 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to Th e Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands TO ALESSIO BOMBACI TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations ..................................................................... viii Preface ....................................................................................... ix List of Abbreviations ................................................................. xi Introduction ................................................................................ xiii Summaries ................................................................................. 1 Filza I (1-61) ..................................................................... 3 Filza II (62-227) ................................................................ 17 Filza III (228-362) ............................................................ 53 Filza IV (363-452) ............................................................ 85 Filza V (453-589) ............................................................. 115 Filza VI (590-730) ............................................................ 147 Filza VII (731-767) ........................................................... 175 Filza VIII (768-821) ......................................................... 183 Glossary ..................................................................................... 197 Bibliography .............................................................................. 202 Index of Names .......................................................................... 209 Index of Places ........................................................................... 225 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Hayreddin Barbarossa to the Doge (1543) ............................. 16 2. Prince Selim to the Doge [1562] ............................................ 84 3. Joseph Nasi to the Doge (1567) ............................................. 114 4. Lamp for the Sultan’s caique (1599) ..................................... 145 5. Giovanni Valle, La Dalmazia Veneta (1784) ........................ 182 PREFACE Today, historians agree that the story of the birth of Venice is more likely a myth than an historical reality. During a large part of the Middle Ages Venetians struggled to free themselves from Byzantine rule. Yet the ancient links between Venice and Byzantium/Constantinople seem to have only changed shape throughout the different ages, as an original mark that can be transformed but not disappear completely. Therefore, it is not by chance that Venice suffered whenever this relation was in crisis: for example in 1171 when Venetian merchants were sent away from Constantinople. In response, a new form of government (the Comune Veneciarum) became stronger in Venice and the aristocracy began to take a peculiar part in politics alongside the doge (the duke of the city) who could no longer defend the interests of the whole community of citizens. The Ottoman conquest of Byzantium and its transformation into Istanbul (even if it always remained Constantinople in Venetian papers) did not break this tie. It was a strange and unbalanced, symbiotic relationship. Throughout the Middle Ages and the Modern Age Venice could never neglect Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul as it relied on this city for its Oriental trade and, after all, for its whole international trade. On the contrary, the capital on the Bosphorus considered always Venice one of the states with whom it was in contact, which was more or less interesting according to the periods but never the most important one. This strong and everlasting bond is still present in archival papers, especially those kept in the Venetian State Archives. The Byzantine documents of both Greek and Latin Empires are few in Venice, because of the time that elapsed and the fires that destroyed Venetian archives. Contrarily, Ottoman papers had not the same fate. Ottomans had a predilection for written documents and they were very careful about archives. Even though during the passage from the Empire to the new Turkish Republic many papers were destroyed, the archives in Istanbul still hold a huge record of past ages. Today, the history of the sultans’ Empire, which had been willingly forgotten for political reasons, has been rediscovered and a new great historical institute is on the point of being created in Istanbul and set to become the core of Ottoman memory. The Venetian documents are also important witnesses of the commercial, political and cultural links that once existed between Venice and Byzantium/Istanbul. The Venetian State Archives contain many documents with material about the Ottoman Empire and it is impossible to know their exact number. Several Ottoman documents exist that were issued by the imperial chancellery as well as by peripheral authorities and even by private persons. In fact, it is said that outside former parts of the Ottoman Empire, x PREFACE the Venetian State Archives are the Institute, which holds the greatest quantity of these kinds of documents. Among others, they are organized in three great series: the Documenti turchi, the Lettere e scritture turchesche and the Bailo in Constantinopoli. The inventory of the Documenti turchi was edited in 1994 by Maria Pia Pedani, who then worked in the Venetian State Archives and it all started with the summaries made in the 1940s by Alessio Bombaci. This miscellaneous series was created in the second half of the 19th century according to old archival rules, which have now been luckily abandoned. The Ottoman imperial documents, once kept in the secret chancellery of the Ducal Palace, were put together with other Ottoman papers and documents written in other Oriental languages that the Venetian archivists of the time could not understand. The core of the Documenti turchi is formed by imperial documents. However, in another cupboard in the Venetian secret chancellery there were other Ottoman papers issued mostly by peripheral authorities. The latter papers were considered as important as the former ones from a political point of view and in fact they, too, were kept in the Ducal Palace. They are the Lettere e scritture turchesche already described in the 17th century inventories of the secret chancellery. Alessio Bombaci began to summarize these documents as well, but he never finished this task. The summaries have now been finished by Maria Pia Pedani, who has since left her job in the Venetian State Archives to become a professor at the University Ca’ Foscari of Venice. This inventory, so important from both an archival and historical point of view, exists by virtue of the effort of a famous European printing house. It is not by chance that Brill has paid a special attention to the papers kept in the Venetian State Archives, one of the most important archives in the world, and that these papers make reference to the relations between the capital of the Lagoon and that of the Bosphorus. At last, these documents, which give a wider perception of the links once existing between Venice and Istanbul, are available for scholars. They show that the ancient ties were based on periods of peace longer than those of war and that Ottoman and Venetian cultures and worlds were different but also similar. Thanks to these documents, these ancient relations can gain a new life and, in a period in which neither Istanbul nor Venice are any longer capital cities, they can suggest again the existence of a shared history which seems to have no end. Venice, 24th June 2009 Raffaele Santoro Director of the Venetian State Archives LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ASVe Venetian State Archives DT ASVe, Documenti turchi m.v. more veneto (it makes reference to the Venetian calendar; in the most Serene Republic the year began on 1st of March in delay according to the Gregorian calendar). INTRODUCTION 1. Venetians and Ottomans: Peace Relations Since its very emergence as city, Venice has had contacts and commercial exchanges with Muslim countries around the Mediterranean basin. By 750 AD, Venetian merchants were already trading with North Africa. In 828 the relics of St. Mark, the future patron saint of the city, were rescued from Alexandria in Egypt.1 While Ottoman emirs were consolidating their conquests in Anatolia during the first half of the 14th century, the Venetian ruler or doge was signing commercial agreements with the Tatar