DON JUAN ARCHIV WIEN

OTTOMANIA

6

Series Editors

HANS ERNST WEIDINGER · MICHAEL HÜTTLER

OTTOMAN EMPIRE

AND

EUROPEAN THEATRE

IV

SERAGLIOS IN THEATRE, MUSIC
AND LITERATURE

edited by
MICHAEL HÜTTLER · HANS ERNST WEIDINGER

Editorial assistance and copy-editing: Inge Praxl, Ana Mitić (Vienna, Austria)

English copy-editing: Nicole V. Gagné (San Francisco, California)

Turkish copy-editing: Suna Suner (Vienna, Austria)

Index: Marija Bogdanović (Belgrade, Serbia)

Layout and Cover: Nikola Stevanović (Belgrade, Serbia)

Printed and bound in the EU

Cover-image: Tughra of Abdülhamid I

The symposia were supported by the Turkish Embassy Vienna, the Austrian Foreign Ministry, the UNESCO International Theatre Institute (ITI) – Austrian Centre and the Austrian Cultural Forum Istanbul.

The publication was supported by

DON JUAN ARCHIV WIEN FORSCHUNGSVEREIN FÜR THEATER- UND KULTURGESCHICHTE

Michael Hüttler and Hans Ernst Weidinger (eds.): Ottoman Empire and European Theatre, vol. 4: Seraglios in Theatre, Music and Literature.

Wien: HOLLITZER Verlag, 2016 (= Ottomania 6)

© HOLLITZER Verlag, Wien 2016

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ISBN 978-3-99012-189-4 (hbk)

ISBN 978-3-99012-190-0 (epub)

ISBN 978-3-99012-191-7 (pdf)

ABBREVIATIONS

REMARKS

Translations, if not indicated otherwise, are by the authors of the contribution. Quotations are generally in the original language, followed by an English translation.

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OUVERTURE

EDITORIAL

MICHAEL HÜTTLER (VIENNA), HANS ERNST WEIDINGER (VIENNA/FLORENCE)

Seraglios in Theatre, Music and Literature is the sixth volume of the “Ottomania” book series and, within that series, the fourth issue of the Ottoman Empire and European Theatre collection. While “Ottomania” deals with Ottoman–European cultural transfers and questions of Orientalism–Occidentalism in general, Ottoman Empire and European Theatre focuses on theatre, music, literature, and art. The preceding volumes gave special attention to musical interconnections and the works of such composers as Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (1756–1791)¹ and Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)² as well as to influential poets such as Lord Byron (1788–1824)³ and his literary contribution to the theme of Orientalism and Occidentalism. With “Ottomania” volume five, Images of the Harem in Literature and Theatre, the series started to explore one of the most popular subjects of eighteenth-century theatre, music and literature: the seraglio and its harem. That exploration continues with the present volume, which provides a deeper understanding of the seraglio’s⁴ various manifestations in the artworks, music and theatre in the Austrian/Habsburg and central European regions, including interconnections with Italy and France, from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

MAPPING THE ASPECTS OF RESEARCH

The book begins with a PROLOGUE, giving the reader an impression of the Ottoman seraglio in Istanbul as seen by European travellers who resided in Ottoman towns and cities for varying periods of time. Gülgûn Üçel-Aybet analyzes the reports of diplomats in her opening study “Banqueting at the Seraglio, as Described by European Diplomats of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries”. In receiving European ambassadors, official banquets have been given at the Divan (‘Imperial Council’) Hall in the Ottoman seraglio, and detailed descriptions of these banquets were written down by certain observers. Üçel-Aybet introduces the reader to the accounts of selected travellers such as Jérome Maurand (fl. 16th cent.), Philippe du Fresne-Canaye (1551–1610), Pietro della Valle (1586–1652) and M. Des Hayes (fl. 17th cent.); she also takes a close look at the description of the ambassadors’ reception and lunch at the Topkapı Palace.

ACT I is dedicated to THE PAINTED SERAGLIO and follows visual traces of the seraglio in European artworks of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Nina Trauth opens this section with “Fantasies of the Harem in European Portraiture of the Baroque Period”. Her article studies the role of the harem in orientalizing portraiture and describes how, from the seventeenth century onwards, it became fashionable for Europeans to have their portraits painted in what was perceived to be oriental clothing. In analyzing different strategies and functions of male and female self-expression in foreign costume, Trauth observes, “it is in the personification of the Orient in foreign robes that racial and gender differences meet”.⁵

In the next contribution, Darja Koter follows the “Traces of the Seraglio in the Artworks in Slovenia” by commenting on “Depictions of Dance, Music and Theatre from Seventeenth-Century Turqueries to Johann Josef Karl Henrici’s Paintings in the Late Eighteenth Century”. Central to her research is the collection of turqueries at the Regional Museum Ptuj-Ormož in Slovenia, the largest preserved and so far the biggest known collection of oil-painted turqueries in Europe. Koter furthermore elaborates on two pictures by the Central European painter Johann Josef Karl Henrici (1737–1823), The Concert at the Oriental Court (1786) and The Lute Concert (c.1786), both preserved at the Akademija za glasbo (‘Academy of music’) in Ljubljana, and considers how they may reflect a performance given in Bolzano of Franz Joseph Sebastiani’s (1722–d. after 1778) Das Serail, Oder: Die unvermuthete Zusammenkunft in der Sclaverey zwischen Vater, Tochter und Sohn (‘The seraglio, or: the unexpected encounter of father, daughter and son in slavery’), with music by Joseph (Giuseppe) Friebert (1724–1799).

With “Count Stefano Carli’s La Erizia (1765): In the Harem of Sultan Mehmed II”, Polona Vidmar examines the tragedy La Erizia, the heroic story of a young and beautiful Christian girl who chooses to die rather than become the wife of the barbaric and cruel infidel Sultan Mehmed II (1432–1481, r.1444–1446 and 1451–1481); Vidmar investigates its historical-political context concerning the Venetian-Ottoman relations, along with its art-historical context as found in Venetian painting and graphics from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Also discussed are the family history of the Koper-based Counts of Carli and a portrait series depicting Carli family members in Ottoman attire.

ACT II sets the focus on THE SERAGLIO IN ITALIAN–OTTOMAN CONTEXT. Luca Scarlini, in his contribution “The Turks in Italy, or Another Mask of Don Juan: Mirrorings”, investigates Livorno and Venice as stages of exchange between Turks and Europeans. Scarlini points to the fact that Livorno had with Cheri Bey, or Antonio Bogos (1604–1674), a former Head of the Armenian community in Constantinople, the first gonfaloniere (‘Lord Mayor’) coming from abroad to an Italian town. As the author observes, for Italians, a levantino, coming from the East, with Armenian, Turkish or Syro-Lebanese origin, meant somebody with different attitudes towards life. Scarlini investigates the recurrent feature of representation of Oriental men, “who came to Italy and gave a long look to the local women and men, designing a hidden history of Italy as exotic-erotic paradise for Easterners”.

Alexandre Lhâa re-examines the politically motivated modifications of Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’s (1732–1799) successful seraglio opera Tarare in the wake of the French Revolution. In his study “The Metamorphosis of Tarare: Political Uses and Receptions of a ‘Seraglio Intrigue’ from the Ancien Régime to the Restoration (1787–1826)”, Lhâa investigates the political uses of the opera in Milan and Genoa within the changing contexts of the stormy years 1792–1815, when sovereignty in those cities changed frequently.

In ACT III, with the topic THE SERAGLIO IN AUSTRIAN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY SINGSPIELE, a hitherto unknown Singspiel by a successful Austrian Hofkapellmeister is presented for the first time to a wider public, and an Austrian author’s seraglio story is analyzed.

Michael Hüttler’s paper “Joseph Friebert’s Singspiel Das Serail (c.1778) in the Don Juan Archiv Wien: Provenance and State of Research” deals with the eighteenth-century Austrian composer, librettist, singer and Hofkapellmeister Joseph Friebert and his recently discovered Singspiel Das Serail (‘The seraglio’). Hüttler researches the only existing copy of the music manuscript, dated “1779”, follows Friebert’s life and activities and investigates the manuscript’s possible provenance. Also discussed are questions concerning various editions of the Serail’s text and traces of its earliest performances.

In a closely connected paper, “Das Serail (c.1778) by Joseph Friebert as an Embodiment of Enlightened Absolutism”, Tatjana Marković considers the concept of the harem and seraglio as embodiments of the society of enlightened absolutism, by pursuing the research on Friebert’s Singspiel, its text by Franz Joseph Sebastiani and the new wording of the musical numbers used by the troupe of Felix Berner (1738–1787). Her analysis of the music takes into consideration the musical conventions and singspiel rules of that time, and she attempts to define Friebert’s relation to Mozart’s operatic music as well as to stage works by other contemporary composers.

Another Austrian seraglio story is the subject of Strother Purdy’s essay, “Irene, Doomed Queen of the Seraglio: A Wise Austrian Looks at Moslem-Christian Violence (Vienna 1781)”. He takes a close look at the tragedy Irene by Cornelius Hermann von Ayrenhoff (1733–1819), author and field marshal lieutenant in the Austrian army, and details the historical facts behind the story of the murder of the actual Irene. Purdy leads us back in time to Constantinople in 1453, when the city, capital of both the Roman Empire and the Christian East, fell to the forces of Islam under Mehmed II, the Conqueror. He also examines the literary sources available to Ayrenhoff, including works by Matteo Bandello (c.1480–c.1561), William Shakespeare (1564–1616) and Voltaire (1694–1778).

ACT IV extends the focus on Austrian composers and authors, taking a look at HAREM FANTASIES ON THE LATE EIGHTEENTH- AND EARLY NINETEENTH-CENTURY AUSTRIAN STAGE.

The general intellectual attitude towards the Ottoman Empire changed with the spread of Enlightenment ideas. However, as John Sienicki relates in “But Not All Are Gentlemen: The Dark Side of the Harem Fantasy in the Works of Perinet, Spiess and Hensler”, the years of the French Revolution, from 1789 to 1794, saw the threat of the ‘evil Turk’ making a brief yet spectacular return to the literature and theatre of Germany and Austria. Sienicki illustrates this issue against the backdrop of Enlightenment ideas, discussing two examples of popular Viennese Singspiele of that time: Kaspar, der Fagottist by Joachim Perinet (1763–1816), set to music by Wenzel Müller (1759–1835), and Das Petermännchen, Schauspiel mit Gesang, Karl Friedrich Hensler’s (1761–1825) adaptation of Christian Heinrich Spiess’s (1755–1799) novel of the same name, set to music by Joseph Weigl (1766–1840).

Lisa Feurzeig’s contribution, “The Harem Transplanted? A Hopeful Picture of Bigamy in Franz Schubert’s Unfinished Opera Der Graf von Gleichen”, finds in Eduard von Bauernfeld’s (1802–1890) libretto and Schubert’s (1797–1828) music an openness to non-European cultures and ideas, challenging the traditions of their own society, which culminates in a three-way marriage, an obvious connection to the model of the harem. Feurzeig argues that both librettist and composer worked in a spirit of candor and sympathy, not one intended to suggest insanity or to provoke titillation and scandal. Feurzeig traces the history of the legend of the Count von Gleichen and compares the Bauernfeld version of the story with the 1786 tale Melechsala by Johann Karl August Musäus (1735–1787). Furthermore, she addresses what the opera’s tonal plan may suggest about the relationships in the three-way marriage and comments on Schubert’s references to some of his Lieder in Der Graf von Gleichen.

Caroline Herfert rounds up this chapter on Austrian composers and authors with her analysis of the notion of different harems in the works of Murad Efendi, the colourful Ottoman playwright, diplomat and mediator between East and West, who was born Franz von Werner in Vienna. In her study “Between ‘Romantic Reverie’ and Critical Account: The Different Harems of Murad Efendi (1836–1881)”, Herfert starts with the conflicting images of the harem in Western and Eastern cultural traditions and art history as seen by sociologist Fatima Mernissi (b.1940); she then considers Murad Efendi’s personal perspective on the harem in his drama Selim der Dritte (‘Selim the Third’, 1872) and an essay entitled “Der Harem und die Frauenfrage in der Türkei” (‘The harem and the question of women’s rights in Turkey’, 1876).

ACT V looks at seraglios FROM THE OTTOMAN POINT OF VIEW. Orlin Sabev’s study “European ‘Seraglios’ and ‘Strange Arts’ as Seen by Ottoman Encounters from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century” focuses on Ottoman accounts dealing with European arts such as printing, theatre, and opera. Sabev not only presents these accounts descriptively, but also tries to determine the change in perception of these arts throughout the centuries. As we learn from the author, the Ottomans defined such arts with words used to designate ‘strange, wondrous things, wonders, and marvels’. Sabev elaborates on the Islamic and Ottoman concept of ‘strange’ and gives some lively accounts from the sefâretnâme, embassy reports, of Ottoman envoys to European capitals such as Vienna and Paris.

“But if the Sultan Has a Taste for Song, We Will Revive our Fortunes Before Long” is Emre Aracı’s examination of how European music entered the Ottoman seraglio in the nineteenth century. Aracı details the interactions that took place in the harem – closely guarded and under strict rules – as professional musicians trained the ladies of the sultan to perform in a female harem orchestra. Composers such as Giuseppe Donizetti (1788–1856) and Callisto Guatelli (1818–1900) were invited to the seraglio, and Italian opera was given regularly at the palace. Aracı directs our attention to Abdülmecid II Efendi (1868–1944, r.1922–1924), the last caliph of the Ottoman Empire, who was not only a painter, but also a composer who played three instruments, all in European style.

Evren Kutlay gives a detailed account of “Musical Instruments in Ottoman Seraglios and Harems of the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries”. Kutlay examines musical instruments, both Turkish and European, which were seen at the Ottoman courts in those years, giving the general historical background of the specific instrument. Her contribution also analyzes the use of each instrument in terms of musical genre, performance group, and historical context. Kutlay’s research aims to show, through the study of musical instruments, the step-by-step progression towards westernization of the Ottoman culture, which began in the eighteenth century.

Nazende Yılmaz takes a look at the reports of “European Music Embraced in the Ottoman Seraglio”. The author gives an account of the developing use of European music at the court, from the time of Sultan Abdülmecid I (b.1823, r.1839–1861) to the last Khalif Abdülmecid II Efendi. The sultan’s patronage led to new developments like the harem orchestra playing Western-style music and a ballet group of the harem. Yılmaz also considers examples of European musicians invited to the seraglio, such as Leopold von Meyer (1816–1883), Franz Liszt (1811–1886) and Henri Vieuxtemps (1820–1881), and the newspaper reports of their visits.

Last but not least, in the EPILOGUE, Mary Hunter leads us to “The Hidden Music of the Seraglio in Late Eighteenth-Century Opera”. Here Hunter elaborates on the question of what the West knew about actual harem music in the eighteenth century, which was played by female musicians. She points to the fact that the harem has a remarkably understated musical presence in eighteenth-century operas on Turkish subjects. The composers’ knowledge, if there was any at all, was not reflected in their music. Hunter proposes three possible reasons for the lack of a seraglio topos, as ‘marked’ or as distinct as, for example that of the Janissary. She also discusses the musical elements that do in fact seem to represent the seraglio and which constitute such a seraglio topos distinct from the usual alla turca characteristics.

The publication is rounded up with an APPENDIX, containing the Indexes of names, works and places and Curricula Vitae.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The texts that appear in this book were prepared at the occasion of two academic symposia on “Seraglios and Harems”, as part of the Ottoman Empire and European Theatre conference series at the UNESCO International Theatre Institute in Vienna (April 2010) and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Istanbul (May 2010).⁶

For supporting the symposia Ottoman Empire and European Theatre in Vienna and Istanbul, we would like to thank the Turkish Embassy Vienna, the Austrian Foreign Ministry, the UNESCO International Theatre Institute (ITI) – Austrian Centre, and the Austrian Cultural Forum Istanbul. The Don Juan Archiv Wien has to be thanked not only for organizing the Ottoman Empire and European Theatre symposia series since its beginnings in 2008 but also for supporting the production of the books series of the same name, including the present volume, which is a valuable contribution to the academic research of the cultural transfers between the Ottoman Empire and European Theatre.

Suna Suner not only did a great task in organizing the events but also had an eye on the correct Turkish spelling of names in the book (remaining mistakes are at the sole responsibility of the editors), Nicole V. Gagné has to be thanked once again for the perfect English language proof-reading and last but not least – this book would never have come into being without the tireless work of our editorial assistants Ana Mitić and Inge Praxl; the editors owe special thanks to them.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

SECONDARY LITERATURE

Hüttler, Michael, and Hans Ernst Weidinger (eds.): Ottoman Empire and European Theatre, vol. 1: The Age of Mozart and Selim III (1756–1808). Vienna: Hollitzer, 2013 (= Ottomania 1).

Hüttler, Michael, and Hans Ernst Weidinger (eds.): Ottoman Empire and European Theatre, vol. 2: The Time of Joseph Haydn: From Sultan Mahmud I to Mahmud II (r.1730–1839). Vienna: Hollitzer, 2014 (= Ottomania 3).

Hüttler, Michael, Emily M. N. Kugler and Hans Ernst Weidinger (eds.): Ottoman Empire and European Theatre, vol. 3: Images of the Harem in Literature and Theatre: A Commemoration of Lord Byron’s Sojourn in the Ottoman Empire. Vienna: Hollitzer, 2015 (= Ottomania 5).

NOTES

1 Michael Hüttler and Hans Ernst Weidinger (eds.): Ottoman Empire and European Theatre, vol. 1: The Age of Mozart and Selim III (1756–1808). Vienna: Hollitzer, 2013 (= Ottomania 1).

2 Michael Hüttler and Hans Ernst Weidinger (eds.): Ottoman Empire and European Theatre, vol. 2: The Time of Joseph Haydn: From Sultan Mahmud I to Mahmud II (r.1730–1839). Vienna: Hollitzer, 2014 (= Ottomania 3).

3 Michael Hüttler, Emily M. N. Kugler and Hans Ernst Weidinger (eds.):Ottoman Empire and European Theatre, vol. 3: Images of the Harem in Literature and Theatre: A Commemoration of Lord Byron’s Sojourn in the Ottoman Empire. Vienna: Hollitzer, 2015 (= Ottomania 5).

4 For distinction and history of the terms seraglio and harem see: Michael Hüttler, Emily M. N. Kugler and Hans Ernst Weidinger: “Editorial”, in: Ottoman Empire and European Theatre, vol. 3, pp. 13–23, here pp. 14–17.

5 Cf. Nina Trauth in this volume.

6 Ottoman Empire and European Theatre. Seraglios and Harems. A Commemoration of the Bicentenary of Lord Byron’s Sojourn in the Ottoman Capital (1810). International Symposium in Two Acts Organized by Don Juan Archiv Wien Forschungsverein für Theater- und Kulturgeschichte in cooperation with the UNESCO International Theatre Institute in Vienna and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Istanbul. April 23–24, 2010 at the UNESCO – ITI, Palais Khevenhüller, Türkenstraße 19, Vienna and on May 27–28, 2010 at the Austrian Cultural Forum, Palais Yeniköy. Köybaşı Caddesi 44, Yeniköy, Istanbul.

PROLOGUE

BANQUETING AT THE SERAGLIO, AS DESCRIBED BY EUROPEAN DIPLOMATS OF THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES

GÜLGÛN ÜÇEL-AYBET (ISTANBUL)

EUROPEANS AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

For European intellectuals of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, an interest in the peoples and countries of different cultures was a fashionable attitude. Foreign eyewitnesses to the Ottoman Empire in these centuries were mostly European travellers who resided in Ottoman towns and cities for varying periods of time, up to a few years. Their reasons for these visits related to the political and economic affairs that had developed between the Ottoman State and the European nations; during this era the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire extended increasingly into Europe, the Mediterranean region, North Africa and the Middle East.

The Ottoman State’s policy in these geographical regions aimed at managing political, economic and social affairs by providing justice based on a well established administrative system and its institutions. As a consequence of this policy, political and commercial relations between the Ottoman Empire and the European states grew intensively. A key factor in the close relationships between them was the trade that gained prominence within the Mediterranean region.¹

In the beginning of the sixteenth century soon after the conquest of Syria and Egypt, the Ottomans restored security for trade in the Eastern Mediterranean, curbing the piracy that had prevailed in the region during the fifteenth century.² Having provided security in the Mediterranean Sea, the Ottoman State granted commercial privileges in this area to the French, English and Dutch. The Mediterranean trade grew rapidly, becoming by the middle of the sixteenth century an essential basis for the economies of both England and France (nations unable to compete with Portugal and Spain for the American and Far Eastern trades). Mediterranean trade also brought prosperity to Ottoman ports and port-cities and old trade centres such as Aleppo and Damascus in Syria.³

Apart from these commercial relations between the Ottoman Empire and the European states, the political struggles continued over both shores of the river Danube and Hungary – a battle for hegemony and strategic control, which led the continous wars and diplomatic relations between the Ottoman State and the Habsburgs from 1526 to 1683. From the middle of the sixteenth century onwards, the first major permanent embassies and consulates of European states were set up in Istanbul, the Aegean coasts and islands, Syria and North Africa, all seeking to secure their commercial advantages in those geographical regions and port-cities.⁴

In this era European diplomats and merchants came to Istanbul and the major Ottoman towns and cities. Along with them came missionaries, chaplains and scientists sent by their kings with personal missions to collect information about the people, antique books and special plants of the East for botanical research. Apart from those with official and special missions, some European intellectuals, hoping to satisfy their curiosity about Eastern ways and the social and cultural life of Eastern cities, travelled to these lands using their own means.

Travel accounts by these Europeans, with their observations on Eastern people, societies and cities, were published widely in Europe during this era. But some of these travel accounts remained unseen until the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, when their manuscripts were found in notable libraries throughout Europe. Most of the manuscripts in German and French were discovered and published by Franz Babinger (1891–1967) and Charles Schefer (1820–1898), director of the School of Oriental Languages in Paris.⁵

SOME EUROPEAN OBSERVERS OF THE SERAGLIO

Among the European travellers who came to the Ottoman towns and cities in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, only a few were allowed to visit the seraglio in Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace during the reception of European ambassadors. Some of these privileged diplomats from the embassies – or chaplains or intellectuals taking part in the embassy – wrote detailed descriptions of the official banquets that were given at the Divan (‘Imperial Council’) Hall in the seraglio on those occasions.

JÉROME MAURAND (1544)

Jérome Maurand (fl. 16th cent.) was the chaplain of the French embassy in Istanbul in 1544, staying there from August to September. His observations on the seraglio and Istanbul are described in a work entitled Itinéraire de Jérome Maurand d’Antibes à Constantinople (1544), which Léon Dorez (1864–1922) edited in 1901.⁶ Maurand embarked from Toulon in La Réale, the galley of Antoine Escalin des Aimars (1498–1578), known as Captain Polin, who was appointed by François I (b.1494, r.1515–1547) as an envoy to Süleyman the Magnificent (b. c.1494, r.1520–1566). Polin’s galley was accompanied from Toulon to Istanbul by the fleet of Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa (d.1546), the Ottoman admiral, and Maurand saw the Ottomans’ seizure of the castles of Talamone and Portercole.⁷ Upon arriving in Istanbul envoy Polin and his suite stayed in Pera, awaiting the return of Sultan Süleyman from his expedition in Hungary. The sultan and the imperial army returned on 23 August and a reception in the seraglio was given for the envoy the following day. During his stay in Istanbul Polin visited the Hippodrome (which was called by the Turks At Meydanı) and the Grand Bazaar (bezestan⁸). He described the Covered Grand Bazaar in Istanbul:

PHILIPPE DU FRESNE-CANAYE (1573)

French traveller Philippe du Fresne-Canaye (1551–1610) was born into a Parisian merchant family of Italian origin. He travelled to Germany and Italy, and after meeting with M. Massiot, the secretary of the French ambassador François de Noailles (1519–1585) in Venice, he was accepted to take part in the suite and come to Istanbul with this embassy. They started their journey from Ragusa on 14 January 1573, passed through Ternovitza, Novi Pazar and Sofia and arrived in Istanbul on 28 February.¹⁰ The reception was given to the French ambassador and his suite on 9 March in the seraglio.

Fresne-Canaye stayed in Istanbul until 9 June and returned to Venice. After his graduation from law school in Paris he became jurist in the Grand Council in 1579; he was appointed as a diplomat to England on 8 August 1589 and as an ambassador to Germany from 1590 to 1593. In 1594 he was charged with an official duty as Head of the Toulouse Parliament. In 1601 he was the French ambassador in Venice for six years – a great diplomatic success, as he established the French influence in Italy. He accurately recorded his observations on the ceremony in the seraglio and on Istanbul. During his stay there he wandered around some of Istanbul’s neighborhoods and wrote descriptions of monumental buildings, mosques, churches and ancient monuments in the city centre, Pera and Tophane. He also found an opportunity to contemplate Ramadan and Bairam festivities and was invited to wedding ceremonies by notable Greek merchant families and Ottoman statemen.

Writing from his own unbiased and truthful point of view, Fresne-Canaye sincerely expressed his own feelings as well. He left us almost a living scene of the Ottoman world, similar to today’s documentary films. For example, he gave every detail about the smartly dressed foreign merchants in Pera:

The travel account of Philippe du Fresne-Canaye was also considered a valuable source on Eastern languages and cultures – although only twenty-two years of age during this journey, he had a good knowledge of antiquity and the Greek language. His manuscript Le voyage du Levant de Philippe du Fresne-Canaye was published in Paris in 1897. The publisher was Ernest Leroux (1845–1917).

PIETRO DELLA VALLE (1614–1615)

Italian traveller Pietro Della Valle (1586–1652) was an adventurer, composer, and writer. He came to Istanbul in 1614 on the 15th of August, a Friday, and stayed for a year in the residence of the French ambassador, Achille-Harlay de Sancy (1581–1646), in Istanbul, Galata. In 1615 on 1 February the Venetian bailo (‘bailiff’, Venetian diplomat) came to Istanbul, and on 2 August Pietro Della Valle and the French ambassador visited the bailo in his palace. The bailo invited him to join his suite for the official reception given for him in the seraglio.

The earliest edition of Della Valle’s book dealt with Persia, Turchia and India and was published in Rome in 1650 under the title Viaggi di Pietro Della Valle Il pellegrino […] all’ erudito […] suo Amico Mario Schipano. The book consisted of a series of letters written by Della Valle to his friend Dr. Schipano at Naples.¹²

Pietro Della Valle travelled by passenger ship to Tenedos and proceeded to Istanbul by hiring local boats. After arriving there he confessed, according to Blunt, “there was not a town in the world to compare with Constantinople”¹³. But he also noted that the town:

Della Valle visited the Old and New Bazaar in the city, and he described the New Bazaar and the Turkish women who went shopping:

He saw the Hippodrome at the city centre of the ancient city, built by Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (b.146, r.193–211 AD), and the obelisks and the Serpentine Column there, and then the Castle of the Seven Towers where important prisoners were held.

Della Valle also described his observations of the garden pavilions along the shores of the Bosphorus:

Della Valle joined the Bairam festivities in the city and wrote about the swings at the evening fair:

He also experienced the Giant Wheel:

Della Valle wrote his observations accurately, giving details of the social, economic, strategic and cultural aspects of the countries he visited. For example in Istanbul he described the Dancing Dervishes of Pera, the flagellation service at the Monastery of the Franciscan Friars, Greek wedding ceremonies and an Imperial military parade in Istanbul for the Persian expedition. He also visited Rhodes and wrote about the citadel, the Church of St. John, the Palace of the Grand Master and the houses of the knights. He had the opportunity of seeing these places in Rhodes freely because a special permit was given to him by the Ottoman authorities in Rhodes. He also was allowed to see the fortifications in the citadel, an important and strategic military base of the Ottoman State in the Mediterranean.¹⁹

In the Middle East Della Valle travelled to Egypt, Jerusalem, Jordan and Baghdad, and he stayed in Damascus and Aleppo for more than three months.

MONSIEUR DES HAYES (1658)

Monsieur Des Hayes (fl. 17th cent.) was a diplomat, from Tolle d’Elseneur, in Funen island, in the Kingdom of Denmark; the only information about his life and missions is what has been found in the notes of his travels. Des Hayes’ travel accounts were published by Pierre Promé under the title Les voyages de M Qviclet a Constantinople par terre in Paris in 1664.²⁰

Des Hayes brought a letter written by Monsieur Du Plessis de Besançon (1600–1670), the Danish ambassador in Venice, to the French consul Giovanni Stay in Ragusa.²¹ He started this journey from Venice on 23 Decembre 1657. It is understood from his travel notes that he and his family went regularly to Ragusa from Venice: “Le vingt-troisiéme de Décembre 1657. un Dimanche, nous nous embarquasmes pour la cinquiéme & derniere fois de Venise pour aller à Raguse”²² (‘The twenty-third of December 1657, a Sunday, we embarked for the fifth & the last time from Venice to go to Ragusa’). During their journey to Ragusa they stayed in Rovinj on Christmas day to hear Mass, then passed through the Port of Madona de Verada, Port St. Martin, Port San Pietro, and Port Puatro Dura on the Italian coasts. At the small port of Frane, near Spalato on the coast of Dalmatia, a Venetian gentleman and two Turkish merchants, one from Belgrade and the other from Bosnia, embarked and they travelled in the good company of these passengers.

On the first day of the year of 1658 they passed near Verania–Nadin, Mortero, Sebenico and port of Cazzuola, Rabatha (near Ragusa), arriving in Ragusa on 24 January 1658. The journey continued by land passing through Sarajevo, Belgrade, Sofia, Plovdiv (Philippopolis), and Edirne (Adrianople). Des Hayes arrived in Istanbul in June.

On his way to Istanbul he wrote detailed observations of towns and villages. In Belgrade he gave information about the city’s strategic importance, being at the borders of Hungary, Timișoara, Transylvania and Wallachia. He wrote about its inhabitants, consisting of “Morlaques”, Armenians and Jews. Armenians were rich merchants here, managing the great trade to Vienna by way of the Danube. There was also an Armenian church in the city.²³

During his journey from Venice to Istanbul Des Hayes was accompanied by his entourage. On their way to Istanbul they stayed in Sarajevo for a while, and there he was invited to the palace of the Ottoman governor of Bosnia. He wrote that the ‘Pasha of Bosnia’ gave him a reception and treated him with kindness and courtesy.²⁴ From his notes, it is understood that Des Hayes spoke Turkish fluently. During his short stay in Sarajevo he wrote his observations about the palace and the inhabitants of the city.²⁵ He became very popular among the Turkish inhabitants there, explaining, “je sçavois parler leur langue & lire leur écriture”²⁶ (‘I know to speak their language and read their writing’).

During his stay in Istanbul he described the city walls, public buildings, churches, mosques and ancient monuments in the city centre, giving architectural and historical information. He also wrote about the Grand Bazaar.²⁷ Having visited the Topkapı Palace as a diplomat, he wrote a detailed eyewitness description about the ceremony in the Divan Hall.

BANQUETS AT THE DIVAN HALL IN THE TOPKAPI PALACE

THE DIVAN

The Imperial Council (divan) in Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace used to meet four times a week: on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. There the Grand Vizier, two Kadıaskers for Rumelia and Anatolia (both supreme judical authorities, the chiefs over all the cadies of the two provinces), and the Divan Viziers (ministers) carried out financial and legal business and heard administrative cases. In another hall next to the divan, claimants and clerks and other officers of this supreme court used to wait. The court in the divan was ready to accept complaints and applications by anyone, rich or poor, of any language, religion or race, from the cities, towns and villages of the empire. Claimants who did not speak Turkish could get help from translators.²⁸

Cases were heard and decisions were made immediately. On the days when the divan gathered, this was the place of justice from dawn until ten or eleven o’clock in the morning. Sunday and Tuesday were the days of presentation for the divan members in the presence of the sultan in the Imperial Audience Chamber or ‘Privy Chamber’ (Has Oda).

On divan meeting days lunch was given to the divan members, and the soldiers of the imperial army (Janissaries and Sipahis) waited in the courtyard. As it was recorded in the Kanunnâme (Constitution book of the Janissaries), lunch was rather rich in quantity and taste.

Even more Janissaries were gathered in the courtyard when ambassadors visited the seraglio. Usually on these days the Janissaries and cavalries received their salaries.²⁹

The Janissaries used to gather in the second courtyard where the Divan Hall is located and align under the arcade that surrounded the courtyard.

RECEPTION OF AMBASSADORS AT THE TOPKAPı PALACE

The residences of the ambassadors from France, England, Holland, Poland and Moscow were at Pera in Istanbul. Envoys from Muslim countries who did not have a permanent embassy stayed in the city centre in Istanbul. The ambassadors of the German Empire also stayed in the city centre: on the west side of the Hippodrome there was Constantin Column – in Turkish Çemberlitaş – and facing this column there was a caravanserail – in Turkish Elçi Hanı³⁰ – in which was the residence of the German ambassadors. Expenses of Muslim envoys were paid by the sultan’s treasury.³¹

When an ambassador residing at Pera was accepted to the palace, he and his entourage used to cross the Golden Horn by boat. The sultan would send a large number of Turkish officials (chiavushes) to meet them.³² These officials, mounted on fine horses, waited as an escort at the Jews’ Gate.³³ Here the ambassador and his suite mounted on royal horses very richly caparisoned with harnesses embroidered with jewelry.

According to the observations of Fresne-Canaye in 1573, on 9 March there was also a great number of the sultan’s servants escorting the ambassador and his suite in a magnificent procession to the seraglio.³⁴

The ambassador and his entourage entered the palace from the first gate Bab-ı Hümayun (‘Royal Gate’), passed through the first courtyard with the hospital on the right and the weapon store on the left and dismounted at the second gate called Orta-kapu (‘Gate of Salutation’ or ‘Middle Gate’), which led to the second courtyard of the palace.³⁵

Jérome Maurand described how the French envoy Captain Polin and his suite were met at the Topkapı Palace in 1544 and what the cavalries and Janissaries in the palace courtyard did:

In 1573 Fresne-Canaye recorded that the Janissaries keeping guard at the second gate of the seraglio were also known as ‘door-keepers’ (kapıcı) and at the interior side of the gate swords and scimitars were hanging on the wall. Here they left the horses to the hands of the servants and entered the second court of the seraglio.³⁷

The second court, known as the divan court (Council Court), was surrounded by a colonnade. There were also several alleys. According to the description of Pietro Della Valle,

On the morning of 10 March 1615 Della Valle was among a suite of some twenty persons who accompanied the newly appointed and retiring bailos being received in audience at the seraglio. They were in Turkish dress:

According to his notes, to the left of the Gate of Salutation stood a squad of guards; on the right, 4,000 Janissaries were standing quietly in well arranged rows.

The discipline of the Janissaries in the palace yard and their status at times of war and peace were admired by the eyewitnesses of those times. In 1573 Fresne-Canaye told of the order and discipline of the Janissaries waiting in the Topkapı Palace yard for ceremonies:

The above-mentioned Danish diplomat Des Hayes noted that during the divan meeting 7,000 to 8,000 Janissaries waited in a row along the kitchens on the right side of the yard. On the other side of the courtyard special cavalry corps (sipahi and muteferrika)⁴¹ and officers were standing in good order. According to the observations of Fresne-Canaye when they entered in the second courtyard the ambassador saluted the Janissary Aga near the second gate: