a letter from cerrah mustafa pasha, vali of

a letter from cerrah mustafa pasha, vali of

A LETTER FROM CERRAH MUSTAFA PASHA,
VALIOF TUNIS, TO SIR WILLIAM TRUMBULL
(A.H. 1099/A.D. 1688)
COLIN HEYWOOD
T H I R T Y years ago, when I first studied the papers of Sir William Trumbull in the
Berkshire County Record Office, it was a particular pleasure to discover that amongst the
Downshire Manuscripts which derived from his years as English ambassador at the Porte
were a number of Turkish documents.^ Through the kindness of the County Record
Office staff at the time, I was able to obtain photocopies of the documents, and the
suggestion was also made that a handlist might be compiled. Unfortunately, the
Trumbull manuscripts, both *old' series and Additional, were only on deposit at
Reading, and it was at about this time (the exact date I now disremember) that their then
owner placed severely restrictive conditions on their use by historians. Any further
photography of the Turkish documents, together with plans for their future publication,
was out of the question. The draft handlist and the photocopies already in my possession,
together with the other results of my study of Trumbull's embassy to the Porte, were
obliged perforce to remain unpublished.^ More than a quarter of a century elapsed before
the sale of the Downshire Manuscripts and their purchase on behalf of the nation at last
rendered them fully accessible to disinterested scholarship.^
^
To mark the acquisition by the British Library of the Downshire MSS, and in default
of the handlist of the Turkish documents in Trumbull Add. MS. 96, which for reasons
of space cannot be published on this occasion, I offer here a preliminary study of the sole
Ottoman document in Trumbull Add. MS. 96 which possesses a North African
provenance. Trumbull Add. MS. 96,4 (flg. i) is a letter (mektub), sent from Tunis and dated
I Receb 1099 (22 April 1688 O.S.). The author is Cerrah Mustafa Pasha, a former Aga
of the Janissaries newly appointed muhafiz (governor) of the de jure Ottoman province
of Tunis. The document is published below, together with its contemporary translation
into Italian (Trumbull Add. MS. 96, 23) and a new English translation of the original.
THE DOCUMENTS
(i) Letter (mektub) of Cerrah^ Mustafa Pasha, muhafiz of Tunis, to [Sir William
Trumbull], English ambassador at thie Porte. Tunis, ist (gurref of Receb 1099 ( = 22
April 1688, Old Style). Ottoman Turkish. Ftg. i.
218
^^^^c>443;
•
/. Trumbull Add. MS. 96, 4 recto
219
^
.
British Library (formerly Reading, Berkshire County Record Office), Downshire
Manuscripts, Trumbull Additional MS. 96, no. 4.
Greyish horizontally laid paper of European manufacture. Watermark: tre lune.^
Dimensions: 435 cm x 295 cm (external); 19*5 cm x 28 cm (written area of recto). No
invocatio; 8 lines text+ 8 lines, inverted, in the right margin {der kenar). Signature of
Mustafa Pasha in lower left corner. Small rectangular seal-impression (14x10 mm;
fig. 2) of same on verso, behind signature. The document has been folded forward
laterally from the bottom eight times, making sections of 3-2, 45, 47, 4*9, 5-0, 5-1, 5*2,
5-3, and 5-2 cm.
A letter of compliments from Cerrah Mustafa Pasha to an unnamed English ambassador
(scil. Trumbull), thanking him for arranging his voyage from Istanbul to Tunis via Malta,
and promising good treatment for the English merchants in Tunis. Trumbull is also requested
to send news of any future political developments at the Porte which might affect the sender.
[recto:]
"> *-^ * [II]
/
[V]
220
iSJ-i u>^ j '
J>-
i (V)
[VIII] J
J I "• • • J '
^.^^ <
(A)
[X]
* L .^ «
Li;i
^ .
[in the right margin, inverted:]
j-ljl
Ji * j ^
^1 J [ X I I ]
V
J.M* 6XJI
/ ^
jLu«iji
J-* J
[XIII]
221
(^^)
l
[XIV]
[verso:]
[seal impression, in
lower right corner]
JI
'^'
v-^
jJ
[^•]^v
(2) Contemporary translation. Italian. Single sheet, folded vertically to make a double
folio, 20 cm X 295 cm, and refolded (after writing) once laterally and four times
vertically to make a flattened tube 6-5x15 cm, which formerly enclosed the previous
document.'' 1-5 pp. text (f. ia-b); f. 2a blank; f. 2b endorsed (in TrumbuU's hand): /
Transla[ti]on o[f] the L[ette]re / o[f] the Pasha of/Tunis, th[a]t went/in Capt.
Leth[er]Iand[*s ship]. / [slashes]/r[eceive]d the 4. June. [i6]88./[slashes]/.
Watermarks: (i) Cross keys over 'ROMA'; (2) Trifolium with elongated stem
separating the letters CM over Z.
Trumbull Additional MS. 96, 23.
[I]
[II] Doppo li Salutj et Riuerenze fatte verso di \ostra Y^ccellenza IllM5/m.sima [III] La
diamo parte se domanda Amicheuolm^wte per noj, che per Gratia d'Iddio, dopo d'esserci
imbarcati nel Vascello in quelle parti et Inviaticj per costa; In qualonque luogo che siamo
Capitati, per mezzo della Sua Lettera Concessarj, sempre ci portono grand' honore e
Respetto; [IV] Si il Console di Malta, come de Tunis, et cj hanno trattato et honorato
Amicheuolm^Kte[.] [V] Amicitia tale, si troua Solam^wte zpx^resso di lej, et li Suoi: siate
prosperj. [VI] La preghiamo di Continouarla, et per Tauuenire speriamo simile Amista
da lej, desiderando di soccorrerij in tuttj lj nostrv) negotij ch' accadano. [VII] Et tanto per
lj suoi negotij, ch' accaderanwo, quanto di quellj che son appartenenti all Natione Inglese,
et si ritrouano appr^^^o di Noj cj affaticaremwo quanto siamo degnj; [VIII] solam^wte
desideriamo d'esser fermi et Constanti nella di lej Amista.
222
[XI] Et mio Amoreuolissmo Amico desideriamo di far notare et Inuiarcj costi tutte le
Nouita et Cangiam^wti che nascon et succedon' in quelle partj [XII] et Inviarci
[mandarcj] quanti prima tutte le Lett^re de nostr'] Amicj [XIII] et se potra hauer qualche
auuiso dalla parte del Dominio, / toccante il nostro Dimorare o Leuarcj di quj ci far a la
Cortesia di notificarlo Incontinente se sara vero. [XIV] Et sopra questi Negotij
preghiamo la Sua Cortesia, [XV] Et desideriamo di non far Procrastinatione in questo.
[IX] S'e notato allj Vltimj^ della Luna di Regeb L'Anno 1099. [X]
[XVI]
Translation
[recto:]
[I]
[He!]
[II] Having enquired, with abundant amity-bearing friendship, of the sweet muskscented mind of His Excellency the Lord Ambassador, my affectionate sincere friend,
and having duly performed the offering of friendship based on inmost affection, may
[this letter find] you in [possession of] enjoyment and pleasure joined with health and
prosperity and in cheerfulness of heart.
[III] Should you be enquiring as to how we are in these parts (taraftmtzdan); [well], praise
be to God - He is exalted - we embarked (kalyona bin-) at those parts {ol tarafdan [scil.
Istanbul]), [and] while [we were] on the way here, by reason of the letter [of introduction]
{kagtd) which you gave [us], in every place at which we arrived, they showed us the
utmost consideration {re'ayet). [IV] Both the [English] consul {baylos) at Malta and the
consul here at Tunis showed us friendship and consideration. [V] Such friendships
however, is found only from you and those [contacts of yours]: may you be blessed [for
it]. [VI] And moreover we hope and request that henceforth [we may continue to enjoy]
friendship from you and from those [contacts of yours].
[VII] In our present affairs, to this end both you and your [contacts] and other[s] of the
English nation should also let us know [and] whatever their concerns and affairs may
be, as far as we are able we shall extend our best efforts. [VIII] Only with you [too] let
firm and constant friendship be maintained.
[IX] Written on the first (gurre) of the month of Rajab the Venerated, anno [hijrce] 1099.
[X] The sincere friend / Mustafa / governor o f / T u n i s / a t present
In the right-hand margin^ inverted:
[XI] And, my affectionate friend, whatever may be the state of affairs in those parts {ol
taraf {scil at the Porte]), and what the news may be, who may be in or out of office {tebdtl
ve tagayyur), write and tell me everything about it {cumle kimaht yazub irsal edesiz). [XII]
And whoever from amongst our friends may write a letter to us, by whatever means there
223
may be [for you] of sending it, take [it] and send it to us as soon as possible. [XII] And
if there shall be any news at the Porte of our coming or going or staying on [here] and of
[any political] good luck or misfortune, if it should be verified, whatever news comes to
hand, write and immediately make [it] known [to us]. [XIV] [Assistance in] this
particular point is greatly desired. [XV] May you not refuse or be negligent [in this].
[XVI] 'Attested' {sahh).
[verso:]
The seal of Thy love, O Lord / of Mankind, [alone] /
is [engraved] in Mustafa's heart / like an inscription in stone
[A.H. io]97
COMMENTARY
(i) Diplomatics
In Ottoman diplomatic usage this document may be classified as a mektub, or letter, being
in this case essentially a private (or at the most a semi-official) document.^ As such, it
differs in certain details from the official communications between a provincial official
and a representative of a Christian state. The invocatio [I]^** appears to be missing. The
forms of address [II] (11. 1-2) are cordial; the tone is friendly. There is no expressed or
implied wish for the recipient's conversion to Islam, neither the customary du^aformula (i.e. khutimat ''awakibihi biU-khayr).^^ which follows the elkab (the name and
honorific appellations of the addressee),^^ nor the so-called ' Schliissformel' (i.e. maUsalam 'alaman ittaba'a U-huda)^'^ being employed.^* The actual name of the addressee is,
as commonly, omitted.^^ The words el^i beg ('Lord Ambassador') in 1. i are elevated
above the other words in the line, the space which they would have occupied being left
blank. This usage, known as honorific elevation {elevatio)^ was designed to show respect
to the recipient and was frequently employed in Ottoman chancery practice,^® most
commonly for the term sultamm., *my Lord', in ^arzuhals and similar documents. In this
context it is mentioned, but without explanation by Fekete {Einfiihrung, p. lix), but the
origins and ramifications of the usage lie at a much deeper level of symbolic
significance.^^
The document displays certain elements with regard to Cerrah Mustafa Pasha's rank.
Although described by Trumbull as the 'pasha' of Tunis, he employs in his signature
the term muhafiz}^ He employs no penge in his document, but only the signature {imza)
in the lower left corner. The seal-impression {muhr\ fig. 2) is placed on the verso of the
document, directly backing the signature, if the document is signed personally by the
sender: these are all attributes of lesser provincial officials not of vizirial rank.^^
Nonetheless, the document bears the sahh {vidimus), which is said by Fekete to be placed
on letters which will bear a penge, or cypher/signature of the issuer. In such cases it is
set in the 'bow' of the penge. This is not the case in the present document, where the
224
sahh is apparently employed solely to authenticate the 'postscript' ( =11. 9-16) der kenar,
i.e. in the right margin.^**
Fig. 2. Trumbull Add. MS. 96, 4 verso (detail of lower right-hand corner)
(ii) Historical Note
The short notice on our Mustafa Pasha in Mehmed Sureyya's biographical dictionary of
Ottoman statesmen may be to a certain extent supplemented.^^ According to the Sicilli ^Osmani, Cerrah Mustafa was a product of the Outside Service of the Palace, achieving
the rank of Imperial Swordbearer {silihdar-i ^ahriyar). In Muharrem 1099 (beg. 28
Oct./7 Nov. 1687) he was given the appointment of Aga of the Janissaries, but on
account of his incapacity in not punishing the mutinous soldiery in the violent emeutes
in Istanbul which had accompanied the deposition of the Sultan Mehemmed IV, he was
in the same year dismissed and appointed pasha of Tunis. Later, in A.H. I 106 (beg. 12/22
Aug. 1694) he was appointed muhaftz of Kars, but died in the following year, A.H. 1107
(beg. 2/12 Aug. 1695).
The background to Cerrah Mustafa Pasha's fall from grace after the accession of
Suleyman II may be taken a little further. The war with Austria and her allies in the Holy
League in which the Ottomans had found themselves after the failure of Kara Mustafa's
ill-considered attempt in 1683 to seize Vienna had been a catalogue of disasters. Buda,
the seat of a beglerbegi, and the administrative centre of Ottoman Hungary, had fallen to
a siege by Austrian and allied forces late in the campaigning season of 1686; less than
a year later the Ottomans were to sustain a bloody defeat in the field at the hands of
Austria in the second battle of Mohacs (12 August 1687), the news of which reaching the
Porte had coincided with the arrival there of Trumbull. ^^ The defeat had led to a
widespread mutiny in the army and the flight of the Grand Vizier Suleyman Pasha from
225
the front to refuge at the court. Serious social and political unrest broke out in Istanbul.
On 25 August a large fire devastated a great part of the city; a week later, on i September,
part of the Topkapi palace was burned down. The Grand Vizier Suleyman Pasha, to
whom Trumbull had written on 29 August to accompany his formal letters of
accreditation,^^ was sacrificed by the Sultan Mehemmed IV to the mob and the army,
and was replaced by Siyavush Pasha, the army's nominee. The political situation,
however, rapidly worsened, leading on 2 Muharrem 1099 (29 October 1687, O.S.), to the
deposition of the Sultan and the placing of his brother on the throne as Suleyman 11.^^
The accession of the new Sultan was followed by far-reaching changes of personnel both
in the immediate entourage of the Sultan, and in the Ottoman 'ruling institution'
generally. These developments took place against a background of continuous unrest in
Istanbul, particularly amongst the janissary and sipaht troops stationed there. Insofar as
they concern Cerrah Mustafa Pasha, they may be recapitulated as follows.
On 6 Muharram/2 November, Morali Hasan aga, the then Swordbearer to the Sultan
{silihdar-i ^ahriyar; silihdar-i padi§ahT), who had been Swordbearer to Mehemmed IV
since 1095/1684, was dismissed and appointed z^a/r of Egypt.^^ The vacant position was
filled by Cerrah Mustafa, but he held office for only nine days, for on 15 Muharram/ii
November the mutineers, enraged at the non-payment of the customary donative on the
accession of a new Sultan, rioted, and demanded the deposition of the Aga of the
Janissaries, Cado Yusuf a^^z, who was quickly sent into exile at Jiddah.^^ Cerrah Mustafa
was now appointed Aga of the Janissaries, while his former post was given to Elmas
Mehmed aga, a future Grand Vizier under Suleyman IPs successor, Mustafa I I . "
Cerrah Mustafa remained Aga of the Janissaries until i Rabl' II, 1099 (25 January 1688),
when he was appointed commandant {muhafiz) of the Dardanelles fortress of Seddulbahr.
This appointment he never took up, for on the seventh of the same month (31 January)
the post was given to the Grand Vizier's locum tenens at the Porte {ka^im-makam-i rekabi humayun), Kopriilli-zade Mustafa Pasha, and Cerrah Mustafa was made valt of the
distant and largely autonomous province of Tunis.^^
This effective exile from the centres of power and influence to a remote and largely
nominal provincial posting was the development which brought Cerrah Mustafa Pasha
into contact with Trumbull. In his diary for i February 1687/8 (O.S.), that is to say, on
the day following Mustafa Kopriilti's appointment as commandant of Seddulbahr,
Trumbull noted that '[the Imperial Dragoman Alessandro] Mauro Cordato came in
[the] morning ab[ou]t a ship to carrie [a] Bascha to Tunis'.^^ The Porte, as always, had
moved fast to rid itself of politically disgraced functionaries: within hours of his
dismissal, steps were taken to find a convenient means of conveying Cerrah Mustafa into
gilded exile.
Mavrocordato's enquiry of i February eventually bore fruit. Evidence for this is to be
found in a letter dated i March 1687/8 from Trumbull to Goodwyn, the English consul
in Tunis, which was sent by the hand of the 'Hasnardar'^*^ of the new Pasha of Tunis
and on an English ship commanded by one Capt.
^^
226
The bearer hereof being Hasnardar to Gerah Mustapha (late Janisar Aga but now made Pacha
of Tunis) desired me to give him this L[ette]re to addresse him to you; w[hi]ch by reason of many
civilities shewed by his Master to my self & o[u]r Nation, I could not refuse, perswading my self,
that It can be no disadvantadge to you but rather of use to keepe a freindly Correspondence with
him, I hope you will accordingly let him know that my recommendations have had some weight
with you; And w[hat]t kindness you shall shew him, shall upon the like occasion be returned to
any friend of yours in these parts...^^
The further course at Tunis of Cerrah Mustafa Pasha's rather unsuccessful career, and
his relations there with Consul Goodwyn and the English merchant community, lie
outside the scope of this short note. The ongoing correspondence which he sought with
Trumbull appears not to have been continued, if the negative evidence of TrumbuU's
own Turkish Letter-Book may be taken at face value ;^^ however, it may not be without
significance that Cerrah Mustafa's own letter to Trumbull, published above, also fails to
find a place in it, and further research, for which at present both time and space are
lacking, may yet allow reconstruction in greater detail of this seventeenth-century
Anglo-Ottoman encounter.
1 The twenty-five Turkish documents in the
uncalendared Trumbull Additional Manuscripts, together with a number of contemporary
translations and some other material, have been
gathered together in an unbound bundle under
the rubric 'Turkish Letters and Documents'
and classified as Trumbull Additional Manuscript (henceforth TAMS) 96.
2 Cf. my 'English Diplomacy between Austria and
the Ottoman Empire in the War of the Sacra
Liga,... 1689-1699', unpublished London Ph.D.
dissertation, 1970.
3 My grateful thanks are due to Miss Sonia
Anderson, of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (H.M.C.), for kindly drawing my attention to the acquisition of the
Downshire MSS by the British Library.
4 Cerrak ( < Arabic jarrah), in Ottoman usage =
*surgeon', 'dresser of wounds'. The cerrah-bap
was the chief surgeon at the Ottoman court.
5 Gurre (Ar. gurra), the first day of a lunar month.
On the non-numerical denominators {gurre.,
muntasaf {'middle')y and selh Mast day') in the
dating of Ottoman documents see Ludwig [ =
Lajos] Fekete, Einfuhrung in die OsmanischTurkische Diplomatik der Turkischen Botmdssigkeit in Ungarn^ iste. Lieferung (Budapest:
Universitatsdruckerei, 1926), p. xl.
227
6 This well-known watermark of three sequentially
disposed crescent moons, found particularly in
paper of European, especially Venetian, manufacture destined for the Ottoman market, is
characteristic of Ottoman documents of the
period (cf. Franz Babinger, Das Archiv des
Bosniaken Osman Pascha (Berlin: Reichsdruckerei, 1931), pp. 30-2, and V. Nikolaev,
Watermarks of the Mediaeval Ottoman Documents
in Bulgarian Libraries, vol. i (all published)
(Sofia, 1954). I have not attempted to identify
here either the particular tre lune watermark on
TAMS 96, 4, or the watermarks in the succeeding document below (TAMS 96, 23). I remit
these identifications to a fuller study and edition
of the Turkish documents in the Trumbull
Papers, long ago begun, on which I am now in a
position to resume work.
7 Although the letter of Cerrah Mustafa and its
translation were found separately when TAMS
96 was examined c. 1963, the ingrained discoloration affecting all of what had obviously been at
least for many decades previously the upper
external surface of the translation, and all except
the corresponding (and unaffected) mid-section
of Cerrah Mustafa Pasha's letter, shows this to
have been the case.
8 Sic, for 'primi' {gurre).
9 On the mektub type of document see Fekete,
Einfuhrung, pp. xlviii-liv; for a short discussion
of the diplomatics of private letters, op. cit, pp.
lx-lxi.
10 The Roman numerals supplied (in square
brackets: ' [ I ] ' , etc.) refer to the relevant sections
of the document and its translations. On the
invocatio {= da^vet; Ar. da'wa, 'a calling upon
[God]') in its simplest form, the initial letter 'A'
of hiive (Ar. huwa, ' H e ! ' - 5 « 7 . Allah), see
Fekete, Einf, pp. xxx,ff.The Muslim invocatio
was also employed in documents emanating
from, e.g., the Turkish chanceries of Christian
embassies at the Porte (cf., for English usage in this case, 'A'-cf. TAMS 96, 6a, [Trumbull]
to [Siyavu§ Pa§a, Grand Vizier], 'duplicat[e]',
n.p., n.d. The Italian version-or original(.^)(TAMS 96, 6b), which impHes an issue date
of 11 Oct. 1687, O.S., does not bear an
invocatio.
11 Arabic:' May his ends (Ar. ''awakib, pi. of 'akiba)
be terminated in good' - i.e., may he become a
Muslim in his lifetime (on the du'a formulae cf.
Fekete, Einf, pp. xxxvii, xlix).
12 On the elkab formulae in general, see Fekete,
Einf, pp. xxxiii, ff. (for Christian rulers, pp.
xxxv-vi, xlviii-ix).
13 Arabic:' And peace be upon him who follows the
right path' (i.e. Islam). Cf., for the 'Schlussbegrussungsformeln' in general, Fekete, Einf.,, p.
liii.
14 Cf., for the use of these formulae in letters
referring or addressed to Trumbull, TAMS 96
nos. (a) 8a (a firman of Suleyman II, III.
Muharrem 1099 to Mustafa, janissary aga (i.e.,
*our' Cerrah Mustafa), and —, bostanct-ba^i,
regarding the import of wine by the English
embassy ('khutimat' formula only); (b) 3 (a
mektub of Siyavu§ Pa§a, Grand Vizier, Edirne,
n.d.); (c) II (a mektub of Tekirdagli Mustafa
Pa§a, Grand Vizier, Edirne, n.d.).
15 This common Ottoman usage in secular documents seems not to have been observed in
legal-religious documents: cf. TAMS 96, 8b,
the hiiccet ('legal attestation', 'legally authenticated act') issued on 5 Rebl* I, 1099, by ^eyh
Mehmed, cadi of the Istanbul port quarter of
Tophane, in certification of the provisions of
TAMS 96, 8a ( = doc, (a) in n. 13 supra), which
refers by name to the 'English ambassador'
{Ingiliz [< Fr. 'anglais'?] Wfm; but cf., in
Ottoman secular documents, the almost uni-
versal usage of Ingiltere {< Ital. Inghilterra)
elgisi), 'Sir WilliamTnimbuir (S[e]R VlL[yi/
ye?]MTUR[u]MBAL).
16 And also, of course, by non-Muslim chanceries
which imitated Ottoman usage in their own
communications in Turkish to the Porte (cf., for
English usage TAMS 96, 6a (see n. 13, supra):
elevatio in 1. i of sultamm, 'My Lord').
17 For the Far Eastern, specifically Chinese, origins
of 'honorific elevation', see Joseph E. Fletcher,
'China and Central Asia, 1368-1884*, in John
K. Fairbank (ed.). The Chinese World Order:
Traditional China's Foreign Relations (Cambridge, Mass., 1968), pp. 206-24, 337-68, at pp.
212, 352-3 (a discussion of the diplomatic
subtleties inherent in the Chinese practice, in the
context of the surviving Persian version of a
letter sent in 1418 from the Ming Emperor Chu
Ti to the Timurid ruler Shah Rukh). The
adoption and practice of elevatio in the Ottoman
context has been exhaustively examined by
Professor Menage in his important study 'On
the Constituent Elements of Certain SixteenthCentury Ottoman Documents', Bulletin of the
School of Oriental and African Studies, xlviii/2
18
19
20
21
22
228
(1985). PP- 283-304.
Cf., for parallel contemporary usage, the titulature and signatures employed in letters from
pashas of Belgrade to Trumbull's successor. Sir
William Hussey, and to his successor Lord Paget
(London, SOAS, Paget Papers, unpublished
Turkish Documents). I am currently working on
a study and text-edition of these documents.
Cf. Fekete, Einfuhrung, pp. iff.
Fekete, loc. cit.
Mehmed Sureyya, Sicill-i 'OsmanT, 4 vols.
(Istanbul, 1308/1890-1315/1897; rpt. Famborough, 1971), vol. iv, p. 409.
Trumbull had arrived in Istanbul in August
1687 (Heywood, 'English Diplomacy', p. 71; cf
the firmans regulating his arrival and the
departure of his predecessor Chandos: (a) a
firman dated III. Ramadan 1098 [ = 21-30 July
1687], issued in response to a petition {'arzuhaf)
sent by Trumbull to the Porte on his arrival at
Izmir, and addressed to the vezTr Mustafa Pasha,
commandant {muhafiz) of Bogaz Hisan and
the cadis and castellans {dizdars) of Kilidiilbahr
and Sultaniyye, ordering them on receipt of the
firman to permit the ship bringing the new
English ambassador to the Porte to pass the
Dardanelles, and to see that the envoy be
furnished with provisions at the authorized rate 27 Fmdiklih Mehmed aga, known as Silihdar,
TarJh, 2 vols. (Istanbul, 1928), vol. ii, p. 306.
and sent speedily and swiftly formard to the
Porte ('Turkish Letter-Book', P.R.O., SP n o / 28 Ra§id, op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 24-5.
88, f. I* [ = 254r]); and (b) a further firman, 29 Trumbull, 'Diary', BL, Add. MS. 52279, f. 97b.
dated II. Zi'I-ka'da 1098 [ = 8-18 Sept. 1687], 30 I.e. Cerrah Mustafa's household treasurer
(Arabo-Pers. hazTnedar, vulg. Turk, 'haznadar',
addressed to the cadis of Gelibolu (Gallipoli)
* Keeper of the Treasury').
'and at the Straits' castles and in the Aegean'
{Bogaz Hisarlari ve Ak Denizde vaki' kadtlar), 31 Trumbull Letter Books, vol. i (TAMS 94/1), p.
154: 'Consul Goodwyn by the Hasnardar to
the dizdars of the Dardanelles fortresses, and
Pacha of Tunis p[er] Cap[tain] Letherland'.
subordinate functionaries, ordering them to
Captain John Letherland (or Leatherland) was
permit the ship taking Chandos (' Konte
an experienced ship's master in the Levant trade
Sandu9'), * latterly recalled by his King from his
during this period. Circa 1694 he was master of
post as English ambassador at the Porte and
the 'Eagle' {Calendar of Treasury Books, vol. x,
gTanted permission by the Sultan to depart'
p. 411); the following year he is recorded as
(ibid., f. 2* [=253r]).
commander of the 'Richard', one of the ships
23 Trumbull to Suleyman Pasha, 29 Aug. 1687
returning in the Turkey fleet convoy in Septem(P.R.O., SP 110/88, 'Turkish Letter-Book' (see
ber 1695 (ibid., p. 1216).
below, n. 33), ff. 5*-6* [ = 25or, 249r]: the
letters from the King to the Sultan and to 32 Trumbull was already acquainted with GoodSuleyman Pasha (copy of the latter, ibid., ff.
wyn. He had conducted negotiations at Tunis en
3*~4* [ = 252r, 25ir]) have been handed to the
route for the Porte (he was there between 20 and
latter's kaymakam for transmission (cf. also
25 June 1687, H.M.C., Downshire MSS., vol. i,
Trumbull to the re'is efendi, [n.d. but? 29 Aug.
p. 251) and also at Malta (27-29 June, ibid.).
1687 (ibid., ff. 7*-8*)], communicating the
Goodwyn (Goodwin) was a partner in the
rather stale news of the death of Charles II and
Marseilles-based firm of Goodwin and Martin
the accession of James, and also announcing his
(cf. his letters to Trumbull, op. cit., pp. 251, 253,
own selection by the latter as English ambassador
255-7)at the Porte).
33 TrumbuU's Turkish Letter-Book, covering the
Memories of the fiscal exactions and indigentire period, almost four years, of his embassy
nities suffered by the English community up to
at the Porte (P.R.O., SP 110/88: ' Registro delle
more than a decade earlier under Kara Mustafa
Lettere Turchesche scritte da Sua Eccellenza il
Pasha (Grand Vizier 1676-83) were still fresh in
Cavagliero Gughelmo Trumbull Ambasciatore
London: James IPs letter to Suleyman Pasha
della Sua Maesta della Gran Bretagna &c al
referred pointedly to his hopes that Trumbull
Supremo Vesir et altri della Porta Ottomana, e
might receive honourable treatment and that the
dei Commandi Imperiali nel tempo della sua
King's merchants and subjects in the Ottoman
Ambasciata cominciando dal Giorno 17 Agosto
dominions {memalik-i mahrusede olan tiiccar ve
1687 sin al Giorno 29 di Giugno 1691') contains
re'ayalarimtz) might trade freely and in security,
register copies (made in the cancellaria of the
'unlike the situation which obtained in the grand
English embassy), in Ottoman Turkish together
vizierate of Kara Mustafa Pasha'.
with the corresponding Italian translations/
24 The military and political crisis in the Ottoman
originals, of 151 documents, including the
Empire in the latter part of 1687 needs a
majority of the Turkish documents (and of the
satisfactory study. For a conspectus of the events,
surviving Italian translations of the lost Turkish
based largely on Ottoman chronicle sources, see
originals) which are preserved in TAMS 96. An
J. von Hammer, Geschichte des Osmanischen
edition of the Turkish texts in SP 110/88 is
Reiches, 10 vols. (Pest, 1827-35 i ^P^- Graz,
currently in progress; the relationship between
1961), vol. vi, pp. 49off.
the original documents and the register copies
25 Mehmed Ra§id, Tar'ih'^, 5 vols. (Istanbul,
will be explored in a forthcoming publication
1282/1865), vol. ii, p. 16.
(see above n. 6).
26 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 20.
229