The Balance of Truth: Essays in Honour of Professor Geoffrey Lewis 9781463231576

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T h e Balance of Truth

Analecta Isisiana: Ottoman and Turkish Studies

A co-publication with The Isis Press, Istanbul, the series consists of collections of thematic essays focused on specific themes of Ottoman and Turkish studies. These scholarly volumes address important issues throughout Turkish history, offering in a single volume the accumulated insights of a single author over a career of research on the subject.

The Balance of Truth

Essays in Honour of Professor Geoffrey Lewis

Edited by

Çigdem Balim-Harding Colin Imber

The Isis Press, Istanbul

0ûr0ÎaS preSS 2010

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2010 by The Isis Press, Istanbul Originally published in 2000 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of The Isis Press, Istanbul. 2010

ISBN 978-1-61143-391-3

Reprinted from the 2000 Istanbul edition.

Printed in the United States of America

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Professor Geoffrey Lewis : Curriculum vitae

7

Bibliography of the principal works of Professor Geoffrey L. Lewis

9

Introduction

13

Geoffrey Lewis Abi Andrew MANGO

17

'The best of stories': three versions of the Joseph Roger ALLEN

narrative 23

Contemporary Turkish communities in Europe Cigdem BALIM-HARDING

35

Topic and sequence in a Turkish natural Ann BAYRAKTAROGLJ

57

conversation

Bible, translation in Turkic languages Graham CLARKE

77

Was there a Greek aljamiado literature? George DEDES

83

Turks, Italians centuries Kate FLEET

and intelligence

in the fourteenth

and

fifteenth 99

Soviet Turkic literature Emine GÜRSOY-NASKALI A buyuruldu of A. H. 1100/A. D. 1689 for the dragomans English embassy at Istanbul Colin HEYWOOD

(13 of the 125

Seljuq women Carole HILLENBRAND

145

What does ghazi actually mean? Colin IMBER '

165

The paradox of Quranic issonance Alar JONES

179

Out of the cul-de-sac: the economies of Turkic Central Asia today Michael KASER

193

6

CONTENTS

'Only' a matter of focus? Celia KERSLAKE

209

Postpositions and adverbs: a case study in syntactic categories Jaklin KORNHLT '

217

Views and uses of the past: the Turks and Ottoman history David KUSHNER

2:39

Abdiilhamid II in 1912: the r eturn front Salonica Jacob M. LANDAU

251

Arabic into medieval Latin 14): letters I -L, M. L. D. J. Derek LATHAM

255

More on the death of the Ayyubid Sultan Al-Salih Ayyiib D. S. RICHARDS Archaeology vi. archives: some recent approaches pottery of iznik J. M. ROGERS Language and message in i ontemporary literature Bengisu RONA Neologistische Archaismen in, Klaus ROHRBORN

Majm

al-Din 269

to the

Ottoman 275

Islamic writing in Turkish 293

Tiirkeitiirkischen

The travel notes of a Dutch pastor in Anatolia JanSCHMiDT

301 1717-1727 309

Men-at-arms, hauberks and hards: military obligations in the Book of the Ottoman Custom Tim STANLEY

331

Religion and democracy: the Turkish case Joseph S. SZYLIOWICZ

365

Puff and patronage: Ottoman Takriz-writing recommendation in the 17th century Christine WOODHEAD

and

literary 395

Under the influence? Preliminary reflections on Arab music during the Ottoman period 0. WRIGHT

407

Some notes on British espionage in the Ottoman Empire, F. A. K. YASAMEE '

431

1878-1908

PROFESSOR GEOFFREY LEWIS CURRICULUM VITAE

Fellow o f the British Academy ( 1 9 7 9 ) . Emeritus Professor of Turkish in the University of Oxford, Honorary Doctor of Bogazifi ( 1 9 8 6 ) and Istanbul ( 1 9 9 2 ) Universities. Born London 1920, educated University College School and St John's College Oxford. B . A . (Classics) 1942, M.A. 1945, B . A . (Arabic and Persian) 1947, DPhil 1950. Fellow of St A n t o n y ' s College, Oxford 1 9 6 1 - 8 7 , Sub-Warden

1984-85,

Senior Tutor 1 9 8 5 - 8 7 , Emeritus Fellow 1 9 8 7 - . Devised and directed Bicultural Humanities Programme at Robert College, Istanbul 1 9 5 9 - 6 0 . Visiting Professorships: Robert College 1 9 6 0 - 6 8 , Princeton 1 9 7 0 - 7 1 and 1 9 7 4 , University

o f California

Los Angeles

1975. British

Academy

Leverhulme Visiting Processor in Turkey 1984. Vice-President Anglo-Turkish Society 1 9 7 2 - ; Turkish Government Certificate o f Merit 1973; Permanent Member of the British-Turkish Mixed Commission 1 9 7 5 - 9 4 ; President o f the British Society for Middle East Studies 1 9 8 1 - 8 3 ; Turkish Ministry o f Foreign Affairs Exceptional Service Plaque 1991; Order of Merit o f the Repub ic o f Turkey 1 9 9 8 ; C M G for services to Turkish scholarship.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS OF PROFESSOR GEOFFREY LEWIS

1953 Teach Yourself Turkish, 1st edition, London: English Universities Press. 1955 Turkey, 1st edition, London: Ernest Benn. 'The secret language of the Geygelli Yiiriiks', in Zeki Armagan, Istanbul: Maarif Basimevi.

Velldi

Togan'a

1957 The Balance of Truth: Kdtip Qelebi's Mizan Unvvin.

al-Haqq, London: Allen and

1959 Plotiniana Arabica, Paris ind Brussels: Desclée de Brouwer. 1960 Turkey, 2nd revised edition, New York: Frederick A. Praeger. 1962 'The utility of Ottoman fethnämes', in B. Lewis and P. M. Holt (eds.). Historians of the Middle East, London: Oxford University Press. 1965 Turkey, 3rd revised edition, London: Ernest Benn. 'Modern Turkish attitudes to Europe', in R. Iyer (ed.), The Glass between Asia and Europe, London: Oxford University Press. 1967 Turkish Grammar, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Curtain

10

T Hh

B A LAN C E OF

TRUTH

1971 ' Y u n u s Emre'nin inam§) ne i d i ? ' , Uluslararasi Bildiriler, istanbul: Baha Matbaasi.

Yunus

Emre

Semineri:

1973 (with M. S. Spink) Albucus.s Institute.

on Surgery and Instruments,

London: Wellcome

Turkish Gram/nar, 2nd (rev ised) edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1974 The Book of Dede Korkut, Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics. Modern Turkey. 4th edition. London: Ernest Benn. 1975 Turkish Grammar,

3rd (revised) edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1977

' T h e Ottoman proclamation of Jihad in 1 9 1 4 ' , in An Arabic and Islamic Garland: Studies presented to AbduTLatif Tibawi, London: T h e Islamic Cultural Centre. 1981 The Ataturk I knew (an abridged translation of F. R. Atay's Istanbul: Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi.

£ankaya),

' O h ! No! W e never mention her: thoughts on Turkish L a n g u a g e R e f o r m ' , Journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs. 1982 'Atatiirk and his republic', Princeton Near East Paper, no. 33. 1984 'Atatiirk's language reform as an aspect of modernization in the Republic of Turkey', in J. Landau (ed.), Atatiirk and the Modernization of Turkey. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. 'Turks and Britons over four hundred years', in W. Hale and A. I. Bagi§ (eds.), Four Centuries of Turco-British Relations, Beverley: Eothen Press.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1985 'The present slate of the Turkish Language', in Proceedings Academy.

of the British

1986 'An Ottoman officer in Palestine, 1914-1918', in D. Kushner (ed.), Palestine in the Late Ottoman Perioa, Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben- Zvi Press. 1987 'The Eight Stars that never were', Erdem. 1988 Haldun Taner's Thickhead Books/UNESCO.

and Other Stories, London and Boston: Forest

The Life of Haci Omer Sabanci (translation of Sadun Tanju's Haci Saffron Waiden: World of Information.

Omer),

Turkish Grammar, 4th (revised) edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 'English writers on the Turkish language, Ara§tirmalari.

1670—1832',

Osmanli

1991 'Turkey: from romantic nationalism to social criticism', in R. Ostie (ed.), Modern Literature in 'he Near and Middle East, 1850-1970, London: Routledge. 1992 Just a Diplomat (translation of Zeki Kuneralp's Sadece Diplomat), Isis Press.

Istanbul:

1994 'Turks', in F. Fernändez-Armesto (ed.), The Times Guide to the Peoples of Europe, London: Times Books. 1996 'The Ottoman legacy in language', in L. Carl Brown (ed.), Imperial Legacy: the Ottoman Imprint on the Balkans and the Middle East, New York: Columbia University Press.

12

r H K BALANCE

OF

TRUTH

1997 'Turkish language reform: the episode of the sun-language t h e o r y ' , Languages.

Turkic

1998 'Heroines and others in the heroic age of the T u r k s ' , in Gavin R. G. Hambly (ed.), Studies of Women in the Medieval Islamic World, N e w York: St. Martin's Press 1999 The Turkish Language University Press.

Reform:

A Catastrophic

Success,

Oxford: Oxford

INTRODUCTION

For anyone in the English-speaking world who has learned Turkish in the last forty or so years, it is very difficult to imagine a 'pre-Geoffrey Lewis' era: that is, the Dark Ages before the appearance of his Teach Yourself Turkish in 195.'!. This became the book from which everyone learned and which became the indispensable course book for teachers. The clarity and apparent ease with which it presents the grammar and structure of Turkish make it difficult to conceive that i>. was a work with virtually no predecessors, and for those of us who learned Turkish in the 'post-Geoffrey' era, it is difficult to understand how anybody could have learned Turkish without it. Having worked through Teach Yourself, what we needed next was a clear and comprehensi ve reference grammar of the language and, in 1967, Geoffrey duly obliged. This was the year when the first edition of the Turkish Grammar appeared. It is a book that is typical of Geoffrey. Much as Teach Yourself had established itself as the essential work for learning the language, the Grammar immediately became the essential work of reference. Again, it is hard to imagine how we ever managed without it. However, it is far more than simply a work of reference. For those of us who are not linguists, what is perhaps most remarkable is its clarity and accessibility: a comprehensive view of the language presented with the minimum of jargon. It not only answers users' immediate questions, but tempts them to read on. It is an example of a rare phenomenon: a grammar book that can be read for pleasure. But again, the geniality of the text masks an originality of analysis and extreme precision of thought, with the result that it is much more than simply a practical reference work. It has also beccme the first port of call for students of Turkish linguistics. This apparent effortlessness in mastering and presenting complex material remains the hall-mark of Geoffrey's works. Take his translation of Dede Korkut. This is a book which admirably fulfils its primary aim of presenting a Turkish classic to the English speaking world. The first thing that strikes the reader is the elegance and smooth flow of the translation. But again, there is more to it than that. Any who find themselves wrestling with the many obscure passages in the original text, can turn to the translation in the knowledge that they will find a solution, and in those passages where no definite solution is possible, at least a plausible interpretation.

14

T H1

BALANCE

OF

TRUTH

It is easy to dwell on Geoffrey the Turcologist, and to forget that he is at the same time an accomplished Arabist. In his Plotiniana Arabica and Albucasis on Surgery and Instruments we can see the same virtues as appear in his Turkish work: a meticulous attention to linguistic detail resulting here in two definitive Arabic editions. To say that Geoffrey is primarily a linguist is perhaps true. His linguistic skills have resulted in practical grammar books and editions, and he has used his mastery of English style as much as of Turkish to produce a series of translations which make Turkish works, from both the Ottoman and modern periods, available to English speakers. But he has done more than this. It was in 1955, shortly after the appearance of Teach Yourself, that Geoffrey published his Modern Turkey. Like Teach Yourself, this too was a pioneering work since, in the days before cheap flights, Turkey as seen from Britain was a remote and virtually unknown land. In this sympathetic portrayal Geoffrey made it accessible to visitors, to armchair travellers and to anyone with a serious interest in the country. It did for them what Teach Yourself had done for learners of the language. It opened up a world which had hitherto been closed. How to sum up Geoffrey's work? One might describe it as being, in the very best sense of the word, old fashioned. It combines the virtues of the classically trained philologist with a sense of the importance of literary style, and displays a range of interests and accomplishments which few can match. We hope that the articles in this volume in some way reflect the breadth of Geoffrey's intellectual interests and achievements. The last word howe* er should belong to Geoffrey's wife, Raphaela, whose portrait of her husband is one that we can all recognise: 'Geoffrey and I,' she writes, 'were at school together in London when I was four years old and he was four and a half; it has been a very long friendship. He first won my heart when I was in the Fifth Form and he helped me with my Latin homework. He is a born scholar, particularly in the field of language; his mark for Comparative Philology in the Classical Moderations exam was the highest ever given. Nowadays, when the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary find a word, usually but not invariably of Middle Eastern origin, whose etymology has defied other experts, they send it to Geoffrey, who has never yet failed them. He said once that he regarded the existence of language as proof of the existence of God — " W e could never have done it on our own".

INTRODUCTION

15

Originally a classicist, he began to study Turkish after a half-joking suggestion f r o m his Latin tutor that he try it 'as a h o b b y ' , although he found very little in the way of textbooks to help him. When the Second World War broke out he joined the RAF, in which he spent five years, mostly in Egypt and Libya. W e were married six months before he went overseas. While he was away I scoured the bockshops in Charing Cross Road looking for Turkish translations of English classics, of which I would then f i n d the English originals and send them both off to him. I remember The Picture Grey and The Invisible

of

Dorian

Man. He would then do a laborious Rosetta Stone

comparison. H e also found that a Turkish magazine, Yedi Giin, was obtainable in Cairo, and he talked to any T u r k s he chanced to meet, like an elderly shoemaker in Misurata near Tripoli, where he spent a year and a half, and a retired Major, the Director of the Turkish C h a m b e r of C o m m e r c e , whom he visited whenever he went to Alexandria. At the end of the war he came back to Oxford, and told his Greek tutor that his real interest was r o w Turkish. The tutor advised him to have a word with the Professor of Arabic, who said, ' I ' v e always hoped f o r someone to teach Turkish. But you can't call yourself a Turkish scholar unless you know Arabic and Persian.' A year and eight months later he graduated with a First in Arabic and Persian, went to Turkey for six months to immerse himself in the language and culture and came back to teach Turkish. At last! In fact he taught both Arabic and Turkish at first, but was able to give up Arabic eventually and concentrate on Turkish. His first book was Teach Yourself Turkish, which appeared in 1953; having taught himself, he considered he was qualified to write the book he wished he had had when he was learning. When he wrote to the English Universities Press to ask if they would care to include Turkish in their Teach Yourself series, they replied that it would be too expensive to produce. He was in despair. I said, 'I bet they think it's still written in the Arabic script.' 'E.U.P. know better than that,' said G e o f f . ' G a m b l e a two-cent stamp.' I replied, in the then current idiom of an American magazine advertisement for a 'Build Y o u r B o d y ' handbook. So he wrote, reminding them gently that Turkish now used the Latin alphabet. 'In that case, we'll give it a try,' was the burden of their reply. 'It won't sell in any quantity but it'll be paid for by the sales of Teach Yourself Ballroom Dancing and Teach Yourself Polish'' (Poiish because General Anders' army had been stationed in Scotland and many had married local girls). So chey paid him £200 for the copyright, and it sold like hot cakes, here and in the USA and pretty much everywhere. And it is the book he is fondest and proudest of, because it made possible something that hadn't been done before: it opened a way for people who wanted to get to know Turkey: it formed a bridge between English speakers and Turks.

16

T HK

BALANCE

OF

TRUTH

Study and research are his work and his recreation, and he has the humility of the scholar who knows there is always the as yet unanswered, undiscovered. Yet he is approachable, accessible, innocent, loyal and kind, and he has a great sense of humour. He really is the best man I know.'

GEOFFREY LEWIS ÀBÌ Andrew MANGO

G e o f f r e y Lewis has brought to the study of Turkish the rigour of a classicist and to Anglo-Turkish relations the warmth of a discerning friend. The list of his contributions to Turkish studies is long and varied; so is the list of his friends in Turkey and among those who share his affection for that country. Now, as Professor Emeritus of Turkish in the University of Oxford, he is the doyen of Turkish studies in Britain and beyond, a writer whose name is s y n o n y m o u s with T u r k i s h scholarship. Yet he reached T u r k e y by a circuitous route. Born in London in 1920, Geoffrey Lewis was educated at University College School and at St John's College Oxford, where he read classics. He began to study Turkish by himself with almost nothing to help him. The war then changed the course of his career, as it did with so m a n y of his contemporaries. A f t e r graduating in 1940, G e o f f r e y joined the Royal Air Force. Soon afterwards he found himself in Egypt, then still h o m e to a cosmopolitan society which fired the imagination and stimulated the interests of a distinguished band of scholars, writers and thinkers a m o n g wartime British servicemen. Man}/ became fascinated by Levantine society — a society which had flowered earlier in Ottoman Istanbul, and which today has largely deserted the Levant and has migrated to the West. Egyptian residents speaking a variety of languages and coming from many different cultural backgrounds competed for the attention of wartime visitors. One might have expected a classicist to develop an interest in local Greeks and Italians, who were thick on the ground, and to see in them a link with Ptolemaic and R o m a n Egypt. Instead, Geoffrey discov ered the Turks, who represented Egypt's more recent Ottoman past. It was a discerning and an unusual choice, f o r Turkish was hardly audible in the clamour of Arabic and of immigrant languages spoken in Egypt. But G e o f f r e y heard it, and his affinity with the language and its speakers was immediately c o n f i r m e d . T h e essential aspect, the written language, was dealt with by the technique of comparison. His wife Raphaela ( R a f f ) , scoured the bookshops of Charing Cross Road looking for Turkish translations of English classics, of which she would then find the English originals and send t h e n both off to him. Before his arrival in Egypt he had only ever met one Turf a sequential analysis of turns at talk. There are indeed studies which take this alternative approach and rather than concentrating on the inherent features of topic, analyze how speakers move into a new topic, 4 move out of the existing topic, 5 or go back to a previous one. 6

's.

C. Levinson, Pragmatics

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1983).

^Levinson for instance uses an extract from Sacks and says that the same referent, ' s h a v i n g ' , does not hold the last two turns under the same topic (p. 314): A: B: C: A: B: A: C:

God any more hair on muh chest an' I'd be a f u z z boy. Y'd be a what. A fuzz boy Fuzz boy. What's that. Fuzz mop. Then you'd have t'siart shaving. (0.1)

B: Hey, I shaved this morni-1 mean last night for you. 3

S . C. Levinson, ibid, p. 315. Button and N. J. Casey, 'Generating topic: the use of topic initial elicitors', in J. M. Atkinson and J. C. Heritage (eds.), Structures of Social Action (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), pp. 167-90; 'Topic nomination and topic pursuit', Human Studies, vol. 8 (1985), pp. 3 - 5 5 ; ' T o p i c initiation: business-at-hand', Research on Language and Social Interaction, vol. 22 (1989), pp. 6 1 - 9 2 . J. R. Hobbs, 'Topic drift', in B. Dorval (ed.), Conversational Organisation and its Development (Ablex Publishing, 1990), pp. 8 9 - 1 0 6 ; G. Jefferson, ' O n stepwise transition f r o m talk about a trouble to inappropriately next-positioned matters', in J. M. Atkinson and J. Heritage, Structures of Social Action, op. cit., pp. 191-222. "P. Sirois and B. Dorval, ' T h e role of returns to a prior topic in the negotiation of topic change a developmental investigation , Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, vol. 17 (1988), pp. 185210; R. Reichman, ' C o m m u n i c a t i o n and mutual e n g a g e m e n t ' , in B. Dorval, Conversational Organisation and its Development, ibid, pp. 23^48.

60

A R I N

B A Y R A K T A R O G L U

This paper will concentrate on the characteristics of a sequence (a unit consisting of speaking turns taken by different speakers, each turn setting expectations for the occurrence of the next one, j u s t like a question sets expectations for the occurrence of an answer) in a Turkish conversation after a complaint is made, and the implication of these characteristics for the topicality of the unit. Apart from some sporadic attempts' there have not been m a n y studies concentrating on the Turkish conversational analysis in the international literature, and it is hoped that the present paper will be a contribution to the field.

SEQUENTIAL ANALYSIS O F T U R N S

Just like 'walking together', which needs the members' co-ordinated accomplishments in producing (doing walking) and observing (recognising how the other member walks, his pace, direction, spatial proximity, etc., so that one's own walking will be in accordance with all these, 2 'talking together' needs the co-operation of the speakers in producing (talking) and recognising (listening) for an orderly and continuous activity. Studies of verbal interaction, therefore, constitute only a part of the discipline which is commonly known as e t h n o m e t h o d o l o g y 3 and are concerned with observing and reporting the organisational conversation This approach, commonly referred to as conversation analysis, is as much interested in the sequential placement of speaker turns (i.e. time taken by one speaker before another starts talking) 5 and the connection between the turns as in the specific features displayed in these turns, both of which are of utmost importance in the achievement of various interactional tasks. Thus, a

' a . Bayraktaroglu, 'Politeness and interactional balance'. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, no. 92 (1991). pp. 5-'¡4: 'Disagreement in Turkish troubles-talk'. Text, vol. 1 2 - 3 (1992), pp. 3 1 7 - 4 2 . R y a v e and J. N. S c h e n k e i n . ' N o t e s on the art of w a l k i n g ' , in R. T u r n e r Ethnomethodology (London: Penguin, 1975), pp. 2 6 5 - 7 4 .

(ed.),

Garfinkel, Studies in Ethnomethodology (New York: Prentice Hall, 1967): R. Turner, ibid; J. Heritage, Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology, (Polity Press, 1984); D. Boden, ' T h e world as it happens: ethnomethodology and conversation analysis', in G. Ritzer (ed.), Frontiers of Social Theory: The New Synthesis (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990), pp. 185-213. Schenkein (ed.), Studies in the Organisation of Conversational Interaction (New Y o r k : A c a d e m i c Press, 1978); G. Psathas (ed.), Everyday Language: Studies in Ethnomethodology (New York: Irvington Publishers. 1979): J. M. Atkinson and P. Drew, Order in Court (New York: MacMillan, 1979); J. M. Atkinson and J. Heritage, Structures of Social Action, op. cit. J. Heritage, Garfinkel and Ethnomelhotiology, op. cit.- G. Button and J. R. E. Lee (eds.), Talk and Social Organisation (Multilingual Matters, 1987); D. Boden and D. H. Z i m m e r m a n , Talk ami Social Structure (Polity Press, 1991); P. Drew and J. Heritage, Talk at Work ( C a m b r i d g e : Cambridge University Press, 1992). 5

H . Sacks, E. A. Schegloff, and G. lefferson, ' A simplest systematics for the organisation of turn-taking for conversation', in J, Schenkein, Studies in the Organisation of Conversation, ibid, pp. 7 - 5 5 .

T O P I C A N D S E Q U E N C E IN A T U R K I S H N A T U R A L , C O N V E R S A T I O N

61

speaker may produce ' H e l l o ? ' at the beginning of a telephone call in which case it is a summons to the caller, 5 or in the middle of the call, in which case 'Hello?' replaces 'Are you still there?'. 2 Within this approach some pairs of turns, produced by two different speakers and placed adjacently (adjacency pairs) are found to be interdependent because of the conditional

relevance

that exists between the pair parts. An

answer, for instance is conditionally relevant in its location because of its inherent link to a preceding question. 'Thirty one this D e c e m b e r ' does not mean much on its own but it is an answer after ' H o w old are y o u ? ' , and the two turns form an adjacency

pair?

Further research has shown that some turn types, called pre-sequences, initiate a sequence and are used as a preliminary to a later turn, pair or sequence, thereby widening the scope of analysis from an adjacently placed two turns to three or more consecutively taken turns. 4 An example is: A: D'ya know when; the Triboro Bridge is? B: Yeah. A: Well make a right there ,... 5 Here Speaker A is checking B's knowledge of a location before giving directions about the place. The question about the Triboro Bridge and the response, 'Yeah', therefore are the prerequisites for the ensuing direction which would probably have been postponed until after some explanation if the place had been unknown to Speaker B.

' e . A. Schegloff, 'Identification and recognition in telephone conversation o p e n i n g s ' , in G. Psathas (ed.), Everyday Lany uage: Studies in Fjhnomethodology (New York: Irvington Publishers, 1979), pp. 2 3 - 7 8 . "H. Sacks, 'Lecture notes', M S (1964-72). Similarly, ' O h ' performs different tasks depending on whether it is produced aftei ' i n f o r m i n g s ' or 'clarifications' (J. Heritage, ' A change-of-slate token and aspects of its sequential placement', in J. M. Atkinson and J. Heritage, Structures of Social Action, op. cit., pp. 2 9 9 - 3 4 5 . ) Conversational particles like ' a n y w a y ' , ' w e l l ' , 'you know', ' h e y ' etc. which had ended up in the grammarians' waste basket until recently have thus been recognized for what they achieve in the interaction. ^ A s Schegloff and Sacks (1978) claim, ' F i n d i n g an utterance to be an " a n s w e r " , to be accomplishing " a n s w e r i n g " cannot be explained by reference to phonological, syntactic, semantic or logical features of the utterance itself, but by consulting its sequential placement, i.e. its p l a c e m e n t a f t e r a q u e s t i o n ' . ( ' O p e n i n g up c l o s i n g s ' , in R. T u r n e r (ed.), Ethnomethodology \Middlesex Penguin, 1975], pp. 233-64). A. Schlegloff, 'Identification and recognition in telephone conversation openings', op. cit., p. 2 3 - 7 8 ; A. K. Teresaki, ' P r e - a n n o u n c e m e n t sequences in conversation', M S , Socia Science Working Paper (Irvine: University of California, School of Social Sciences, 1976), no. 99; J. M Atkinson and P. Drew, op. cit. % . A. Schlegloff, 'Notes on a conversational practice: formulating place', in P. P. Giglioli (ed.), Language and Social Context (London: Penguin, 1972), p. 111.

62

AKIN

BAYRAKTAROGLU

It is also found that the parts of an adjacency pair may be forced apart with the insertion of a further pair or pairs (insertion sequences). An extract analyzed by Turner exemplifies the case: P6: T7: P7: T8:

I'm a nurse, but my husband won't let me work. How old are you? Thirty one, this December. What do you mean, he won't let you work? 1

Here Turner claims that the T7 + P7 pair (question and answer) is inserted in between P6 + T8 pair (complaint and complaint response) without breaking the conditional relevance that holds within the parts. Rather than treating the interrogative 'How old are you?' as a request for information which is inserted in the sequence by the therapist to gain time for deciding how best he can deal with the complaint, Turner suggests that the same question is an acknow ledgement of the complaint; a skilfully constructed base for a forthcoming resistance to trouble. Turner argues that as a questionnaire type of question, 'How old are you?' does not make much sense because the real age of the patient in such a context is immaterial if it does riot help the therapist in his classification of the patient either as a 'child' or as an 'adult', but there, the patient, with her status as a married woman, is already in the ranks of adulthood. 'How old are you?', followed by 'What do you mean he won't let you work?' is a way for the therapist to say, 'Surely, you are old enough to be responsible for your own decisions', and a way to indicate that she scarcely has the makings of a complaint. What we see here is significant in the sense that an approach which has taken the adjacency pair as its starting point is now dealing with a stretched unit with many pairs in it as in the next example where the doctor withholds the prescription until after the details of the case are extracted by means of four extra pairs: X: Y: X: Y: X: Y: X:

well can you can you prescribe anything for the allergy. I mean will it go away I mean it's quite nasty to look at. does it itch at all yes it itches quite a lot do you get scabs forming on it or anything no hm hum, it's just on your face and hands, is it and my arms

*R. T u r n e r , "Some formal properties of therapy talk', in D. Sudnow (ed.), Studies Interaction (New York: The Free Press. 1972), p. 234.

in

Social

TOPIC AND SEQUENCE IN A TURKISH NATURAL CONVERSATION Y: X:

and your arms, is it on any other place on the body well it's spreading yeah

Y:

well I think I can prescribe some ointment for you. 1

63

It is noteworthy that while each inserted pair contains a different referent (itchiness, scabs forming, the parts of the body where the ailment appears, etc.), the unit on the whole deals with a single topic of 'allergy'. 2

TROUBLE AS A TOPIC PROPOSAL When a trouble is introduced into the talk it disrupts whatever has been going on previously and becomes the next talkable subject. Sacks comments on the phenomenon: There is a way in which the production of a complaint can free the talk f rom what the talk has priorly been. The complaint itself now becomes a topic. So that, f o r example, there are a range of w a y s that, a complaint having been made, the course of the talk can be siphoned into dealing with the fact of a complaint. 3 Sharrock and Turner too, say that 'upon a complaint's completion, a responsive recipient ought to produce an utterance type which is hearable as complaint acknowledgement'. 4 Complaints do not go through a difficult phase of competition with other matters f o r topicality, as long as there are certain subtleties built into their organisation which secure their attractiveness as a topical bait. O n e of these is lining up the facts in such a way that the complainable is placed at the end of the turn and therefore is in an exposed position. Teresaki's c o m m e n t s 5 on the same point are supported by the following example: A:

B:

So, Elizabeth'n Willy were s'poze tuh come down las'night but there was a death'n the family so they couldn' c o m e so Guy's asked Dan luh play with the comp'ny deal, so I guess he c'n play with'im. So, Oh good.

' w . Edmundson, Spoken Discourse: A Model for Analysis (London: Longman, 1981), p. 110. A similar structure can be observed in other institutional talk. Zimmerman (D. H. Zimmerman, 'Talk and its occasion: the case, of calling the police', in D. Schiffrin (ed.), Meaning, Form, and Use in Context: Linguistic Applications [Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 19841, p. 214) for instance, provides an example from a •Police-Caller interaction. Sacks, 'Lecture Notes' (1; October, 1971), p. 5. 2

W. Sharrock and R. Turner, 'On a conversational environment for equivocality', in J Schenkein, Studies in the Organisation of Conversation, op. cit., p. 174. ^A. K. Teresaki, op. cit., p. 6.

64

A R I N

B A Y R A K T A R O G L U

The news of the death is not remarked on while the news that the golf game will take place is received as assessable news. Our suggestion is that the major factor in the recognition of announcements by speakers... resides... in the organization of their presentation in the talk. The characteristic features of the acknowledgement depend on the social context the complaint is uttered in. 1 In formal settings recipiency is to provide a remedy for the complainable as long as it is a valid one, deserving expert handling. The terms encourage the complainant to prove his case as being one which requires professional attention, and the recipient of the complaint to be a judge of the credibility of this. Given the circumstances, it will only make sense for the complaint acknowledgement to be performed in as aloof a manner as possible. While examining power relationships and how these are reflected in speech between a patient and a physician, Treichler et. al. find that in some cases of institutional talk the complaint acknowledgement may even border on opposition. 2 Coupled with the expert's j o b of sorting out real complaints from pseudo ones in service encounters, there is also the focusing on the complainable rather than the complainant. This emerges in the acknowledgement as an indifferent attitude to the troubles-teller and his fringe experiences, Jefferson and 1 .ee claim. 3 In unmarked contexts service-like behaviour creates disturbance in the interaction. Resistance to trouble, which is a common feature of official context acknowledgements, is unacceptable in casual conversation. Such sympathy-lacking behaviour may, in fact, be interpreted as the recipient's suspicion of the complainable. 4 Sharrock and Turner say that one of the things

' T h i s supports Hymes's mode! of the ethnography of speech which distinguishes social settings f r o m official ones on the groundi lhat what is acceptable in one may not be so fundamentally acceptable in the other. (D. Hymes. ' M o d e l s of the interaction of language and social life', in J. J. Gumperz and D. Hyrnes (eds.). Directions in Sociolinguistics [New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 19721, PP- 35-71.) A. Treichler, R. M. Frankel. ( . Kramarae, K. Zoppi and H. B. B e c k m a n , ' P r o b l e m s and problems: power relationships in a medical encounter', in C. Kramarae, M. Schulz, and W.M. O'Barr (eds.), Language and Power (New York: Sage Publications, 1984), pp. 6 2 - 8 8 . 3 0 . J e f f e r s o n and J. R. E. Lee. ' T h e r e j e c t i o n of a d v i c e : m a n a g i n g the p r o b l e m a t i c convergence of a "troubles-telling" and a "service encounter" ', Journal of Pragmatics, vol. 5 (1981), pp. 399-422. ^Garfinkel {op. cil., p. 4 3 ) reports the results of an experiment carried out by his students w h o studied the ways people reacted » h e n they were subjected to this type of behaviour. One of the examples is: ' O n Friday night my husband and I were watching television. M y husband remarked that he was tired. 1 asked, 'How arc you tired? Physically, mentally , or just bored?' S: I don't know. 1 guess physically, mainly. E: You mean that your muscles ache or your bones? S: I guess so, don't be so technical.

TOPIC AND SEQUENCE IN A TURKISH NATURAL CONVERSATION

65

that the complaint delivery seeks is 'sympathy' from the recipient. 1 Jefferson's analysis of informal conversations also reveals that the recipient has to be troubles-receptive, taking ihe trouble seriously but sympathetically, even when the teller himself or herself exhibits resistance to the trouble. 2

COLLECTION OF DATA The data was collected partly in Cambridge (England), partly in Ankara, but mostly in Eski§ehir in Turkey. T w e l v e different homes provided the setting, two being in Cambridge, three in Ankara and seven in Eski§ehir, so although some of the participants took part as conversationalists in more than one setting, they were not always in the same contextual role relationships (host-guest) to one another. T h e conversations of forty-six people, both male and f e m a l e , in the age range of 1 8 - 6 5 and with different professional backgrounds were recorded. A pocket model Sony tape recorder with a microphone which could inconspicuously be attached to the collar was used in the twenty-three hours of taping. The conversationalists were completely unaware of the fact that they were being recorded. 3 The collected material is, therefore, completely authentic samples of natural conversation.

The extract used in this paper is one such sample:

!

K:

Biraz hastalifman ugra§iyorum.

A: K:

A:

Neyle, ne hastaligi? Eh, gayri bu girintiye ben iyi d a y a n d i m , yani alt katlarda, rutubetli yerlerde, biraz romatizma var. M i d e agnsi var. Ülser oldu midemde. A-a::, oyle mi?

K:

Ya:. Bu seneyi §ok kotü ge^irdim.

A:

Ge9m¡§ olsun.

K:

Sag olasm, eh §ükür Allaha napalim. (0.1) A D V Í Y E ! Bak hele bak kovalarun ha. Nereye gidiyorsun oyle yine?

W . W. Sharrock. and R. Turner, op. cit., pp. 173-197.'

^ G . J e f f e r s o n , ' O n stepwise transition f r o m talk about a trouble to inappropriately nextpositioned matters', in J. M. Atkinson and J. Heritage (eds.), Structures of Social Action, op. cit., pp. 191-222. All participants were later told about the taping. None requested confidentiality.

66

ARIN

BAYRAKTAROGLU

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BUYURULDU | i i | Contemporary

FOR translation

ENGLISH

DRAGOMANS

133

| P R O S P 110/88, 173vJ:

Buiurdi per il Francheggio de dieci Dragomani per il Hane Nella presente lista dichiara li Dragomani del Signor A m b a s c i a d o r e d'Inghilterra che son assent 1 con nobil Patente. fi ]

A n t o n i o di S t e f a n o nostro p r i m o D r a g o m a n o nella V i z i n a n z a di Sururi e nella V i z i n a n z a di d u m d u m e nella V i z i n a n z a di Calafatcibasi C a s e tre. in C a s i m p a s a un f o r n o per p a n e roto, et a n c o nella V i c i n a n z a di Sururi una botega di picigarolo et boteghe di barbieri due.

[2|

D e m e t r i o di D o m i n i c o nostro S e c o n d o D r a g o m a n o nella V i c i n a n z a di Sururi e C a s e d u e et nella V i c i n a n z a di H u s e i n A g h a C a s a una et in Galata nella contrada di Berechetsade Case due et Magazzeno uno.

|3|

G i o r g i o di A s s a n a D r a g o m a n o nella V i c i n a n z a di H u s e i n a g h a Casa una.

[4]

Alessandro Marchi D r a g o m a n o non ha Casa.

[5]

O u a n e s di A s f a d u r detto C o n s o l e nella contrada di H u s e i n a g h a C a s a una.

|6]

T h e o d o r a c h i di D r a c c o con la P a t e n t e di s u o P a d r e nella C o n t r a d a di Calafatcibasi Casa una.

|7]

Luchachi di Nicoroso D r a g o m a n o nella Contrada di Sarilutfi Casa una.

|8]

F r a n c e s c o di A n t o n i o D r a g o m a n o nella C o n t r a d a di Calafatcibasi Casa una et nella Villa di San Dimitri C a s una.

|9)

Janachi di P a l e o l o g o D r a g o m a n o nella C o n t r a d a di Husein A g h a Casa una.

[101

Janachi A l e p i n o D r a g o m a n o nella Contrada di Calafatcibasi Casa una. Questi q u a t r o houmini ultimi sottonomiflati e s s e n d o c f f c l i u a m c n t c a b

antico alla seruita di nostri antecessori et hora nostra, m a per n o n hauer Nobil Patente in m a n i loro si c o m e e notato per esser nella Nostra seruita s ' i n t e r c e d e a Comandarli assenti... .

COLIN

134

HEY

WOOD

I D r a g o m a n i et huomini appartenti del detto Signor A m b a s c i a d o r e s o n o dieci s o l a m e n t e obbumbrali in questa lista accio c h e non li sia preteso il Bedel delli loro H a n e e la portione c h e tocca a loro n o n s i a n o mescolati con le loro V i z i a n z a , m a f a r e a parte lista e r a p p r e s e n t a r l a alla mia p r e s e n z a h a b b i a m o Comandato. L ' a n n o 1100. C o l i g a t a c o n f o r m o l ' o r i g i n a l e et A f f e r m a t a dal a b i e t o s e r u o di D i o Glorioso Halil Giudice della Citta di Galata c h e Iddio lo Perdoni. |iii] T r a n s l a t i o n into English

Order ('buiurdi') for the exempting ('francheggio') of ten dragomans for their properties ('hatnlne') 1 T h e list ( d e f t e r ; ' l i s t a ' ) is ihis, that it s h o w s the d r a g o m a n s of the E n g l i s h a m b a s s a d o r w h o arc e x e m p t ( m « ' a / ; ' a s s e n t i ' ) [ f r o m the p a y m e n t of hardc]

through (their possession o f | a D i p l o m a ( b e r ä t ; ' P a t e n t e ' ) high

in dignity (1 ]

O u r chief d r a g o m a n - Antonaki son of Istifan, in the Surüri q u a r t e r 3 |of Ttalaga] and in the § o m T o m quarter and in the Kalafati quarter: h o u s e s 4 3

[2]

(3 J

A n d in K ä s i m Pa§a:

a disused 5 b a k e r ' s o v e n 6

1

A g a i n , in the Surüri quarter:

a grocer's s h o p 7

1

a barber's shop8

1

O u r s e c o n d d r a g o m a n D i m e t r a § k o s o n of D o m e n i k o , in the S u r ü r i quarter and in the Hiiscyin A g a q u a r t e r

houses

And in the Bereket-zäde quarter in Galata:

houses

2

a warehouse 9

1

T h e d r a g o m a n Y o r g o son of I s f a k i , in the Hüseyin A g a quarter: house 1

1

The heading appears only in the Italian version Ba$-tercumanimiz / 'nostro primo Dragomano' 3 Mattalie / 'Vizinanza', 'Vicinanza 4 Menzil', 'case' 5 Mu'attal / 'roto'. Ekmekci firuni / 'un forno per pane'. 7 Bak[k]dl duk[k]ant / 'una botegha di picigarolo'. 8 Berber duk[k\àm / 'boteghe di barbieri'. 9 Mahzen / 'maggazeno'. 2

3

a

BUYURULDU

FOR

ENGLISH

DRAGOMANS

135

[4|

The dragoman called (nam) Aleksandro Marki, dragoman, has no house (menzili yokdur)

[51

The Consul Ovane? son of Asfadur, in the Hiiseyin Aga quarter: a house 1

|6]

Todoraki son of Dirako, with his father's Patent, in the Kalafati-ba§i quarter. a house 1 [Dragomans] without a Diploma ( b e r a t s i z ) '

[7]

[81

[9]

[10]

Lukaki son of Nikoios, dragoman, in the Sari Lutfi Pa§a quarter: a house Francesko son of Anson. dragoman, in the Kalafati-ba§i quarter a house And in the village 2 of Tatavli / San Dimitri: a house

1 1

Yanaki son of Palologo, dragoman, in the Kalafati-ba§i quarter: a house

1

Yanaki of Aleppo, dragoman, in the Kalafatt-ba§i quarter: a house

1

These four last-mentioned men being effectively since time out of mind (.kadimdan / 'ab antico" in the service of our predecessors (seleflerimiz I 'nostri antecessori') and presently [in] ours, but because they do not possess Noble Diplomas, they are listed as being in our service, on the basis of the foregoing [list] intercession is made for them to be exempted (mu 'af / 'assenti') [from harac], I Endorsed: | We have commanded that the dragomans and men appertaining to (terciiman ve mahsus adamisi) the said Lord Ambassador are solely the ten adumbrated (mastur / 'obbumbrati') in the aforesaid list in order that they shall not [be liable toj pay the bedel [akgesi] on their houses (hdne bedeliyyesi / 'il Bedelli delli loro Hane'); and the portion (hisse / 'la portione') [of the said tax] which affects them shall not be incorporated ('mescolati') as excess (.zamm) into their quarterns tax] but set apart and brought to my notice (.huziirimiza). ' This sub-heading is omitted in the Italian version. 2

1

Karye / 'villa'.

136

COLIN

HEYWO0 D

11 Rfebi' II anno hijrae 11100 (= 23 Jan./2 Feb. 1689) ICadi's authentication: | Collated as conforming to the original and authenticated by the lowly servant of God (may He be praised - He is Exalted) Halil, cadi of the Wellguarded City of Galata, whom God pardon.

Commentary I. D i p l o m a t i c . T h e document, as the Italian summary in the margin of the Turkish text properly informs us, is a buyruldu ('Buiurdi') for the freeing from harac of the properties in Istanbul owned by the ten named dragomans in the service of the English ambassador at the Porte in the year 1100 / beg. 1688. The responsibility for issuing the buyuruldu lay with the ka'imakam of Istanbul. E\ idence of this is supplied in a letter from Trumbull to the re'is efendi, published below (see Appendix I). The text of the buyuruldu, however, is not homogeneous. It may be divided into three parts, as bllows: A. Clauses ( a (1|-| I0|), (P): These clauses form the nucleus of the document and reflect in the Turkish a (more-or-1 ess) word-for-word translation of the substantive part of a list f l i s t a ' > defter) drawn up in Italian in the Chancery of the English embassy, and for which the corresponding version of the Italian 'translation' (but in this context most probably the original) preserves the original form The Turkish text of these clauses must replicate the text of a (now lost) petition ( ' a r z u h a l ) , again drawn up in the English embassy chancery for submission to the relevant Ottoman officials. The evidence for this is manifest: clause 11 ]: 'il nostro primo dragomanno' / bu.y terciimdnimiz' ; clause | 2 | similarly for the embassy's second dragoman, together with the whole of clause [f$|, which is cast in the form of the direct speech of the English ambassador and, in the Turkish version, preserves the ambassadorial signature elgi-i Ingiltere - which, together with the impression of the ambassador's seal (miihr) on the corresponding place on the verso of the document, would have authenticated the submitted 'ariuhal. B. Clause (y): this is the responsa, originally entered on the submitted 'arzuhal above the original text, granting the request and, together with a number of other endorsements, transforming the original 'arzuhal into a buyruldu. The original version here is the Turkish one, the Italian translation being made after the receipt ol the buyuruldu in the English embassy chancer)'.

BUYURULDU

FOR

ENGLISH

DRAGOMANS

137

C. Clause (5): The present text we have at third hand, in that the English chancery register text of the Turkish version in toto must have been made from an authenticated copy of the original buyuruldu. No doubt further individual authenticated copies of the buyuruldu must have been supplied to all the six berath and four beratsiz individuals named in it. Clause |6[ reproduces the copy-authentication of Halil, the cadi of Galata. In the embassy register copy, the authentication is inscribed vertically in the right margin, as, presumably, it was in the original. Again, the Arabic text is of course the original, rendered into Italian at the end of the Italian version of the text. The text (= clauses a - P) of the original ambassadorial 'arzuhal is manifestly incomplete as we have it in the present buyuruldu. Missing are the following components: (a)

the invocatio (usual1 v in the form of an abbreviated ligature representing Ar. huwa, 'He!', i.e God'.

(b)

the inscriptio,

(c)

the transitio

(d)

the seal-impression (anepigraphic) of the ambassador

generally in the form ... devletlii sultamm

The following elements of the original buyuruldu register copy: (e)

... sag

olsun

are missing in the

Ottoman chancery endorsements

II. Historical. As; might have been expected, the document confirms in precise detail, what descriptive sources, travellers' accounts and common sense suggest: that the majority of the English dragomans' properties were located in the vicinity o:' the English embassy in the section of Galata extra muros known as Beyoglu or Pera. The largest number of properties were in the mahalle of Surur ('Walls'), where the senior dragoman Antonio Perone owned one of his three house}, a chandler's shop ( b a k k a l dukkam I 'botega di picigarolo') and two barber's shops (berber dukkam / 'boteghe di barbieri'). Also in this quarter the second dragoman Dimetrasco Timone possessed one or both of his two houses (the text is ambiguous on this point). The more junior dragomans congregated in either the Hiiseyin Aga mahalle (Giorgio di Assana, Ovaries di A s f a d u n and Yanaki Paleologo, each with a house apiece, with Timone possibly owning a house in this quarter), or in the Kalafati-baiji m a h a l l e (Theodoraki Dracco, Francesco 'di Antonio' and Yanaki "the A l e p p i n e ' , again with one house each). A single dragoman, Luchachi 'di Nicoroso' lived in the (mainly Muslim?) San Liitfi Pa§a mahalle, while

138

COLIN

HEYWOOD

Perone owned (but almost certainly did not occupy) a property in the mainly Muslim quarter which grew up around the Tom Tom mosque. Also in Galata proper (i.e. intra muros) Dimetrasco Timone owned two houses and a warehouse (mahzen / 'maggazeno') in the Bereket-zade mahalle — the only properties specifically mentioned in the document as lying within Galata itself. Outside the walls of Galata, rising up from the shores of the Golden Horn, lay the district of Kasim Pa§a, the seat of the Ottoman naval arsenal (tersane-i 'amire). Of the twenty-four mahalles in Kasim Pa§a which are enumerated by Evliya (."elebi, ten were inhabited by Greeks and one by Armenians.' Somewhere in this area the entrepreneurial Perone owned a bread oven (ekmekci furum I 'un forno per pane uoto'), while over in the outlying village (karye / 'villa'; but classified as a mahalle by Evliya) of Tatavla / San Dimitri was a house owned by Francesco 'di Antonio'. Significant in this enumeration of the properties owned by individual dragomans is the wide economic gulf which it reveals between the two senior dragomans, Antonio Perone and Dimetrasco Timone, and the more junior (at least in status) members of the English dragomanate. Perone was obviously a person of moderate wealth, who drew an income not only from his salary, but also from the rents and profits which accrued from his ownership of a chandlery, two barber's shops and a bakery, and, possibly, if they were let out or were in multi-family occupancy, up to two of the three houses which he owned in different quarters of Beyoglu. Timone, likewise, was an owner of property: he possessed three houses in Pera, and two houses and a warehouse in Galata, all of which must have returned him a considerable — and tax-free — investment. None of the other dragomans, with the exception of Francesco 'di Antonio', who owned what may have been a summer-house at Tatavla / San Dimitri, possessed more than the single house in which they presumably resided. One dragoman, Alessandro Marchi, possessed no property of any sort, and presumably lived either in rented accomodation or at the embassy.

1

Evliya Qelebi,

Seyahat-name,

i, pp 4 2 2 - 3 .

BUYURVLDU

FOR

ENGLISH

DRAGOMANS

139

Appendix A letter from Sir William Trumbul to the re'is efendi regarding the properties in Istanbul belonging to the 'English' dragomanate (PRO SP 10/88, f.*90a fin the modern foliation a tergo: 165a]; Plate III) [TURKISH T E X T ]

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URULDU

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POSTPOSITIONS (18)

AND

ADVERBS

229

a. Ben bu kitab -1 [ogrenci-m i?in] a l - d i - m I this book -Acc. student-1 .sg. f o r buy -Past -1 .sg. 'I bought this book for my student' Attempt at relativization:

(18)

b. *|Ben -im bu kitab -i |ej i?in] al -dig-im] I -Gen. this book -Acc. f o r buy -Rel.P.-l.sg. ogrenci-m; student-1 .sg. Intended reading: 'My student; for whom; I bought this book tj'(or, structurally closer to the attempted structure: ' M y student; I bought this book for t;'). 1

Attempt at scrambling: (18)

c. *Ben bu kitab -i [ej i?in al -di-m]6grenci-irij I this book -Acc. f o r buy -Past -l.sg. student-l.sg. Intended reading: 'as for my student, I bought this book for (her)'

Attempt at 'discourse elision', the most relevant process for our purposes: (18)

d. . . A: Sen bu kitab -l [ogrenci -n; GIBI] mi you this book -Acc. student -2.sg. like Q oku -du -n? read -Past -2.sg. 'Did you read this book L I K E your student? (i.e. in the manner of your student)?' B: *Hayir, kitab -i [ej

I ^ i N ] oku -du -m

no, book -Acc. f o r read -Past -l.sg. Intended reading: 'No, I read the book FOR (her/him)'.

The postpositions are capitalized, to indicate that the examples are to be read with stress on the respective postpositions. It is only with such an intonation, i.e. with focus on the postpositions, that this dialogue would

It is interesting to note here that English (clearly not an ' e m p t y pronoun' language) is more permissive than Turkish in allowing for a stranded preposition in this construction, i.e. for an empty dependent of the preposition.

230

IAKLIN

KORNFILT

make sense and in which elision of the postpositional object in the second part of the dialogue would be conceivable; in other words, only then would the yes/no question particle in A have scope over just the postposition and make a focused substitution of the postposition in B possible. Otherwise, the phrasal stress would fall on the postpositional object in A and, by focusing it, would make the elision of the corresponding occurrence of the postpositional object in B impossible for this reason alone. We note, however, that despite all the care we took to focus just the postposition and thus make the elision of the unfocused postpositional object possible, such elision is prohibited. In other words, the general prohibition against stranding postpositions extends to stranding them under discourse elision, as well. Note incidentally that the same dialogue is acceptable, if we have an overt pronoun or a full lexical NP: (18) e. A: Sen bu kitab -i [ogrenci-n G I B I | mi oku you this book -Acc. student -2.sg. like Q read -du -n? -Past -2.s,i. 'Did you read this book LIKE your student (i.e. in the manner of your student)?' B: Hayir, |kitub -1 ogrenci -m ¡ C i N ] oku -du -m no book -Acc. student -l.sg. for read -Past -l.sg. 'No, I read the book FOR my student'. Lest some r e a d e r s think that this prohibition is limited to postpositions that assign the unmarked case, as gibi 'like' and igin ' f o r ' , let us note the following dialogue that includes postpositions that both assign the dative case: (19) A: |iskele -ye, K A D A R ) mi yurii -du -n? pier -DAT. as far as Q walk -Past -2.sg. 'Did you walk AS FAR AS the pier?' B: Hayir, [e t D O G R U ] yiirii -du -m no

towards walk -Past - l . s g .

Intended reading: 'No, I walked T O W A R D S (it).'

POSTPOSITIONS

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ADVERB

231

Again, the same dialogue without the elided constituent is fine: (19)' A: [iskele -ye; K A D A R ] mi yurii -dii -n? pier -Dat. as far as Q walk -Past -2.sg. Did you walk AS FAR AS the pier?' B: Hayir, (iskele -yej D O G R U ] yurii -dii -m no pier -Dat. towards yurii -Past -l.sg. 'No, I walked TOWARDS (it).' T h e ill-formedness of the ungrammatical examples is not due to emphasis, either. In discourse contexts that do not call for emphasis, these postpostions with elided objects will still be ill-formed. The same prohibition is true for all 'primary postpositions' (cf. Lewis 1967), i.e. postpositions which do not take nominal agreement suffixes. The only exceptions are our two items once and sonra. But before we return to discussing those, let us first tie up loose ends and observe the behaviour of two other postpositions that also seem to be bivalent like once and sonra.

Reconsidering

some issues of valency

We had mentioned earlier the property of bivalency for dogru 'towards'; the same is true for kadar 'as far as', both of which were illustrated in (19). Let us look at examples where both appear to be bivalent. (20)

(21)

[pp[liman -dan) [iskele -ye] kadarj yiirii -dii -m port -Abl. pier-Dat. as far as w a l k - P a s t - l . s g . 'I walked from the port as far as the pier'. [ppfliman ~dan| |iskele -ye] dogru| yiirii -dii -m port -Abl. pier -Dat. towards walk -Past - l.sg. 'I walked from the port towards the pier'.

When we try to elide either or both of the 'dependents' of these two postpositions, we find thai the ablative constituent can be elided, while the dative constituent cannot: (22) A: fpp [liman -dan,] [iskele -ye; DOGRU]] mu port -Abl. pier -Dat. towards Q yiirii -dii -n1; walk -Past -2.sg. 'Did you walk from the port towards the pier?'.

232

J AKLIN

KORNFILT

B: *Hayir, [ej K A D A R ] yiirii -dii -m no as far as walk -Past -l.sg. Intended reading: 'No, I walked AS FAR AS (it= the pier)' C: Hayir, |pp|i;jlllokanta -ya dogru|] yiirii -dii -m no restaurant -Dat. towards walk -Past -1 .sg. No, I walked (from the port) towards the restaurant'. I would like to propose that the ablative constituents are actually not part of the postpositional phrase, but are rather optional adjuncts of the verb. Thus, the constituent structures sketched in (21) and (22) are actually not quite correct, and the ablative constituents should be outside the respective PPs. This would result in the following structures for (22) A and C. (22)'

A: [liman -danjl |pp [iskele -yej dogru| mu yiirii port -Abl. port -Dat. t o w a r d s Q walk -dii -n? -Past -2.sg. 'Did you walk from the port towards the pier?' C: Hayir, |eJ|pp(lokanta -ya dogru]] yiirii -dii -m no restaurant -Dat. towards walk -Past -1 .sg. 'No, I walked (from the port) towards the restaurant'.

Correspondingly, the structures of (20) and (21) would be as follows: (20)'

|liman 4 -dan| [ pp[iskele-ye] kadar| yiirii -dii -m. port -Abl. pier -Dat. as far as walk -Past -l.sg. '1 walked from the port as far as the pier'.

(21)'

[liman

dan] [pp[iskele -ye] dogru] yiirii -dii -m.

port -Abl.

pier

-Dat. towards walk-Past -1 .sg.

T walked from the port towards the pier'. As adjuncts of the verb, the ablative constituents can undergo discourse elision freely, just as they can also freely scramble. On the other hand, the dative constituents are the genuine dependents of the respective postpositions and as such, they cannot Vie elided, nor can they scramble. We conclude, then, that the postpositions dogru and kadar are not genuinely bivalent, and that they

POSTPOSITIONS

AND

ADVERBS

233

conform to the generalizations that postpostions cannot be stranded and that they have single valency. 1 We are finally ready to turn our attention back to once and sonra. We saw that they can show up with two constituents (one ablative, one unmarked for case), and that either constituent or both can be freely elided. If we insist that these two lexical items are regular postpostions, we would need to say that they are exceptions to both of our generalizations about postpositions, namely that postpositions have single valency, and that they cannot be stranded — or, phrasing the latter property somewhat differently, that postpositions cannot govern variables that are bound by a discourse topic. Clearly, this is not an attractive solution. On the other hand, if we analyse once and sonra as adverbs in all of their occurrences (i.e. whether they show up with two 'dependents', with either one of the two, or just by themselves), their properties will be fully expected and not exceptional at all. Adverbs don't have genuine dependents, but rather adjuncts, and those can of course be freely omitted. This is true in 'non emptypronoun languages' like English, as well. To appreciate this point, please note the following English examples: (23) She arrived [[thirty minutes] [later] [than John\\. (24) She arrived \\thirty minutes[ [earlier] [than John\\.

The italicized constituents can be elided. These examples are very much parallel to the Turkish examples with once and sonra: the constituent thirty minutes corresponds to the Turkish constituent in the unmarked case, than John corresponds to the Turkish constituent in the ablative case, and the adverbs earlier and later correspond to the Turkish items once and sonra, respectively. These correspondences in themselves would, of course, not justify analysing once and sonra as adverbs. But if these items are not postpositions, what else could they be other than adverbs?

Another possibility might be that these structures are ambiguous between the two structures sketched in the text, i.e. one where the ablative constituent is outside of the PP, and one where it is within the PP. However, the elision and stranding facts would still have to be accounted for under the latter analysis. If such an analysis is viable at all, I would take these facts to argue that the ablative constituent would have to be an adjunct of the postposition and not its complement; as an adjunct, it would be optional and therefore able to be omitted. Having pointed out this possibility, I would nevertheless like to state that the analysis in the text is obviously the superior one.

234

I 4KL1N

KORNFILT

What is more remarkable about the English examples, however, is the fact that either one of the 'dependents' can be omitted as well as both at the same time. Omission of the ' u n m a r k e d ' constituent (corresponding to the unmarked constituent in Turkish): (25)

a. She arrived [[later] [than John]] b. She arrived [[earlier] [than John]]

Omission of the ' m a r k e d ' constituent which is a PP in English (corresponding to the constituent marked with the ablative case in Turkish): (26)

a. She arrived 11thirty minutes] [later]] b. She arrived [[thirty minutes] [earlier|]

Omission of both constituents simultaneously: (27)

a. She arrived [|later|| b. She arrived ||earlier]]

Clearly English is not a ' n u l l - p r o n o u n ' language. Furthermore, English is not a language that has null topic operators, either. Nevertheless, omission of both 'dependents' is allowable. This shows that neither one of the omitted constituents is a genuine 'dependent' of the respective adverb, but rather that both constituents are adjuncts and as such are optional. It is exactly this account that I am proposing as an analysis for the Turkish items once and sonra. According to this account, then, these items should not be glossed as 'before' and 'after', respectively (as is usually done), but rather as 'earlier (than)' and 'later (than)', respectively. Our initial examples (4) and (5) illustrating these items are repeated here as (28) and (29), with their new glosses and translations: (28)

1968 -den otuz yil sonra 1968 -Abl. thirty year later 'Thirty years later than 1968'

(29)

1998 -den otuz yil o n c e 1998 -Abl. thirty year earlier 'Thirty years earlier than 1998'

P O S T P O S I T I O N S

AND

A D V E R B S

235

This way of translating these lexical items and examples such as the ones above might seem to raise a problem, however, with respect to the case marking on the two constituents. Postpositions (as all adpositions) are typical case markers; on the other hand, adverbs are not usually assumed to assign case. If once and sonra are adverbs, and not postpositions, how do the adjuncts of these adverbs receive case? The answer to this question must come from the nature of adverbs, and this not only for Turkish, but in general, i.e. for all languages. Note that in the English examples, one of the constituents which I have now analysed as one of the adverbial adjuncts needs case, as well (the second NP receives case from the preposition than). This is the constituent which is a bare NP, i.e. thirty minutes, thirty years, etc. Larson proposes that, since bare NPs that are used adverbially (such as those under discussion) are headed by a particular class of common nouns (i.e. temporal, locationai, etc.), such NPs receive case through a special feature, [+F], which is borne by ttiese nouns. 'This feature is inherited by any NP having such an N as its head, and it assigns an Oblique Case to the NP it labels'. 1 I would like to suggest that in the instances under scrutiny here, this feature [+F] is licensed by a comparative operator. Furthermore, the ablative constituent in Turkish (and the corresponding PP, headed by than, in English) is also licensed by that operator. By definition, a comparative relation is bivalent, and thus two terms are licensed. In other words, I am claiming here that examples involving once and sonra are quite similar to comparative constructions in general, e.g.: (30)

[bu kamyon -dan] |iki ton] (daha) agir this truck -Abl. two ton more heavy '[Two tons] heavier |than this truck]'

(31)

[bu bina -dan] [yirmi metre] (daha) yiiksek this building -Abl. twenty metre more high '[Twenty metres! higher [than this building]'

Here, the comparative phrases are adjuncts of the respective predicative adjectives. In our examples involving once and sonra, the comparative phrases are adjuncts of adverbs. But the facts concerning case marking as well as the possibility to omit either one or both of the NPs are exactly the same. The f o l l o w i n g e x a m p l e s illustrate the latter property f o r the last set of examples: 1

Larson, op. cit., p. 606-07.

236

J AKLIN

KORNFILT

(32)

|iki ton] (daha) agir two ton more heavy '[Two tons] heavier'

(33)

lyirmi metre] (daha) yiiksek twenty metre more high '[Twenty metres| higher'

(34)

|bu kamyon-dan] (daha) agir this truck -Abl more heavy 'Heavier [than this truck]'

(35)

[bu bina -dan| (daha) yiiksek this building -Abl. more high 'Higher |than this building]'

(36)

(daha) agir more heavy 'Heavi(er)'

(37)

(daha) yiiksek more high 'High(er)'

The terms that the comparison is based on is always in the ablative; the second term is the 'bare', unmarked measure phrase. For once and sonra, the measure phrase is temporal; but otherwise, the structures are fully parallel to regular comparatives. The cases, then, are not assigned by any postposition in these constructions, but rather are licensed, within the structure of the comparative, by the comparative operator. Note also that, if we had adopted an analysis of once and sonra as postpositions, we would have missed the parallelism between the case markings on the two constituents that co-occur with these items. Under the current analysis, however — namely one that posits the status of comparative adverbs to these items — we not only explain the various possibilities of free omission of the adjuncts, but we also capture straightforwardly the case distribution. No exceptionality with respect to elision of adjuncts is required. Furthermore, we achieve the welcome bonus of capturing similarities between the Turkish facts and the corresponding facts of English, while this would not be possible if we attributed elision of adjuncts to the typological properties of Turkish, i.e. to either its property as a 'null-pronoun' language or to that as a 'null topic operator' language. Furthermore, Turkish can now remain a member of the vast majority group of languages that do not allow stranding of adpositions, without having to single out certain items as exceptions to this generalization.

POSTPOSITIONS

AND

ADVERBS

237

CONCLUDINCF REMARKS Before closing, let me point out that, even though my analysis ol'once and sonra is diametrically opposed to the one advanced in Erdal,' it is very similar to it in a number of important respects. Both analyses are motivated by an attempt to characterize once and sonra in a homogenous way, i.e. by assigning the same category to them in all of their occurrences. Secondly, both analyses are motivated by an attempt to analyse these items in a way that is 'Turco-centric', i.e. based on language-internal facts. While I did point out parallels between the properties of these two items in Turkish and the properties of the corresponding items in English, these parallels were welcome benefits that emerged after consideration of Turkish constructions. The same general attitude obviously has guided Erdal's approach, as well. Our differences then, have emerged not due to any a priori approaches, but as a result of empirical considerations, i.e. after scrutiny of additional data. Needless to say, this is a welcome result. There is one a priori matter, however, in which we have differed, and this is the general issue about syntactic categories — the issue with which we started our discussion. In contrast to Erdal, we have seen that a concern for not only categorial junction, b i t also for inherent categorial properties can indeed lead us towards interesting questions and towards consideration of important additional data. In that sense, the pragmatic and conciliatory approach towards syntactic categories stated in Lewis, as quoted in the introduction, 2 clearly remains a fruitful one. Syracuse

'Erdal, op. cit. ^Lewis, op. cit.

University

VIEWS AND USES OF THE PAST: THE TURKS AND OTTOMAN HISTORY David KUSHNER

Ottoman history has long been seen in Turkey as a proud chapter of Turkish history, fully recovered and 'rehabilitated' from the neglect which it suffered during the early years of the Republic. It was perhaps natural f o r Mustafa Kemal and the Turkish nationalists of that time to view the Ottoman Empire and all that it represented with a great deal of contempt. It had failed, in their eyes, to eradicate the various ills which had afflicted it for generations and turn into a modern civilized state. It had also failed in its battle f o r survival, becoming easy prey for its external and internal enemies. Worse still, it had sought to undermine the efforts of the nationalist forces j u s t when, in the aftermath of World War I, they were struggling to uphold the independence and territorial integrity of the Turkish provinces. In those early years it was important for the nationalists to shed all hopes of reviving the 'sick man on the B o s p h o r u s ' , and it w a s their aim, instead, to build a nation state on completely new foundations, national and secular. As appropriate substitutes for the worthless and bankrupt credos of Ottomanism and Islamism they strove to instil in the people a new identity and a new loyalty to the Turkish nation and to its homeland, Anatolia. It was not long, however, before Ottoman history was restored to its former central place. With the passing of time and the consolidation of the Republican nationalist regime, there e m e r g e d also a g r o w i n g sense of confidence among the Kemalists, and a change in outlook upon Ottoman history became inevitable. Ottoman history was, after all, part and parcel of Turkish history and the his.tory of Anatolia, and this was, in fact, the way it was seen by the early precursors of Turkish nationalism themselves in the late nineteenth century. With its glorious achievements there was indeed much in Ottoman history which could serve the very purposes of the Kemalists, and strengthen national pride among the Turkish population. Consequently, interest in O t t o m a n history a m o n g scholars revived, it took again its important place in school curricula, and active action was taken to preserve and display Ottoman relics of the past. 1 ' O n the c h a n g e s in the T u r k s ' views of history see Bernard Lewis, ' H i s t o r y - W r i t i n g and National Revival in T u r k e y ' , Middle Eastern Affairs, 4 (1953), pp. 2 1 8 - 2 7 .

240

D A V I D

K U S H N E R

This essay attempts to bring out some characteristic views on Ottoman history prevalent among educated Turks today, and it draws for this purpose on the statements of public f i g u r e s of the T u r k i s h political

mainstream.

Politicians can hardly be regarded, of course, as authorities on historical issues. They do, however, express themselves often, and publicly, and it is hardly surprising that they are prone to bring out evidence f r o m history in order to substantiate their views on one matter or another. It is possible to regard them as expressing in some way the c o m m o n views on history found with the Turkish public at large and it is likewise reasonable to see them as having an impact of their own on what the public thinks. In this respect they may be regarded as 'representative,' no less than professional historians or teachers of history. It is therefore of some interest to see what they themselves have learnt about the history of their people, how they conceive it, and what relevance they find in it for contemporary issues and problems. It is, of course, a foregone conclusion that in the view of all Turks, the Ottoman Empire was one of the greatest and most glorious empires in history. The Ottoman Empire, as one of the many states established by the T u r k s throughout their history, surpassed them all in its power, its international importance and its cultural heritage. Turks are proud to say that the Ottomans were an independent state long before other nations achieved their o w n independence, and, as Biilent Ecevit, former prime minister once said, even b e f o r e the discovery of A m e r i c a . 1 Its i m p o r t a n c e s t e m m e d f r o m its geographical position, ly ing in three continents and at the cross-roads of central trade and communication routes. 2 The Ottoman Empire displayed its power not only on the battlefield, but also in its unique ability to establish an efficient order. 3 In its international relations, it showed an inclination toward peace and stability, and at home it was just and benevolent towards the people and strove to spread tolerance and harmony among them. Yet, Turks, with all their pride in the achievements of their Ottoman forefathers, have not refrained from telling the story of the less glorious period of decline which set in the last centuries of the Ottoman period. Weakness at home led to the encroachment of ambitious and strong foreign powers who succeeded in infringing upon the Empire's sovereignty and territorial integrity. They took advantage of the Capitulations and the protection they had over non-Muslim communities, and interfered in the internal affairs of the state at every opportunity. At the same time, separatist movements engulfed many of the non- Turkish communities leading to further disintegration. T h e Empire which had once commanded the respect of the entire world turned in the

X

Hürriyet (28 March 1978). Milliyet (5 January 1976). ^Foreign Minister Hayrettin Erkmcn quoted by Pulse (Ankara, 24 January 1980).

2

VIEWS

AND

USES

OF

THE

PAST

241

nineteenth century into the 'sick man on the B o s p h o r u s ' until it finally collapsed and disappeared f r o m the face of the earth. In the eyes of the Turks, and this is perhaps the most important lesson modern Turkey must learn f r o m its past, the conspiracies which were woven by enemies against the state's sovereignty and integrity have not, in effect, ceased. They are reflected in the strong pressures foreign powers apply on Turkey, in the humiliating attitude they display t o w a r d s her, and in the active support they lend to the insurgencies still taking place in Anatolia. Modern Turkey, like the Ottoman Empire at the time, has important strategic and economic assets which arouse the appetite of its enemies, and is therefore prone to face the same dangers as its predecessor. It was General Kenan Evren, former president of Turkey, who, in his speeches around the country, perhaps more than any other Turkish leader of recent times, used to dwell on these parallels between past and present, and call attention to the need for vigilance. In his view, the source of the e n e m i e s ' success had been the weakness of the state: the weaker Turkey became the more did it turn into a target for the Great Powers' aggression. 1 One source of this weakness was to be found in such phenomena as corruption, bribery and addiction to pleasure which afflicted the state, but it seems he saw the main reason for it in the inability and unwillingness of the state to catch up with the scientific and technological progress of Europe. 2 The Ottoman Empire had sunk into its old traditions and prejudices and put its faith in its having been a large and strong state for many centuries. Yet the European states which were making gradual progress were able in the end to defeat the Empire due to their technological superiority. 3 In the view of the former president, one reason for its conservatism was its transformation into a theocracy run by religious fanatics. These fanatics deluded the population by d i f f u s i n g their prejudices and bringing about backwardness and ignorance. They also obstinately prevented any attempt to introduce reforms and innovations, exemplified by their objections to the o p e n i n g of the f i r s t O t t o m a n printing press, and the e s t a b l i s h m e n t of quarantines and medical schools. 4 Even in the battlefield, because of the bad advice they gave the sultan, they almost led to the destruction of the whole state. 5 It was Evren's intention in raising these arguments, to warn the country of the growing influence of reactionary forces in today's Turkish society and of the potential dangers they pose to the welfare of the state. Attacks on reaction

X 2

Pulse (Ankara, 4 June 1981). 1 9 May 1985. T.C. Cumhurha^kani

Kenan

Evren'in

Speeches). (Ankara, 1985), p. 113. 3 8 January 1987. Evren, Speeches, 1987, p. 59. 4

2 2 June 1987. Evren, Speeches,

5

1 2 August 1983. Evren, Speeches,

987, p. 266. 1983, p. 382.

Soylev

ve Deme I in M L presents no difficulty, it is less easy to explain the presence of this initial i in icerdatel. Be that as it may, unless it has been erroneously carried over from the termination of a preceding wd, one possibility is that the original Ar. wd was defined by the article, the latter being articulated as iq- by a translator dictating to a party taking down his spoken word. On the assimilation, in speech, of the I of the Ar. def. article to a following q or k see J D L [I] 38 para. 12, where by way of example the pronunciation of al-kitab as ik-kitab is noted. ' i t s history, whose origins can bo traced back to 1913, is recounted in DML Fasc. I, vii-ix. 2

I n the vols of the JSS indicated in n. I above. It is important to note that, for reasons beyond my control, my original intention to cover all the letters in Fascs. Ill and IV of the DML, viz. D - H had to be abandoned with the result that of the letters F - G - H in Fasc. IV, only F has been covered. I propose to fill the undesirable lacuna between Fascs. I-V and V by covering G-H.

ARABIC

INTO

MEDIEVAL

LATIN

(4)

257

I d h e (ADEL. Eleni. X 77: augmentumque dupli AG in GB supra duplum A D in DB idhe muntak erit rationale.) Also. [Ar. 'aydan.\ Here we have either a misvocalization of the consonantal ductus of the written wd (idàé). On d > dh in M L see JDL [I] 37; on loss of tanwin, esp. in SpAr., see Corriente (1977) 86 (5.4.2.); on imàla see ibid., 22-5 & nn.; cf. EI2 III, 1162f. I g i n ( T H U R K I L L Abac. 55v: prima figura est igin; lb.: igin figura significat unitatem arbas quaternarium, quimas quinarium temenias octonarium....) The Arabic numeral one (1). [Ar. 'ahad.\ The gi, transliterating Ar. affricated prepalatal j } suggests that Ar. h has been mistaken for j through the acquisition of a subscript diacritic dot either f. an accidental ink-spot or f. erroneous detachment of a dot properly belonging to some wd close to 'ahad in the line below it. The misreading of final d as n suggests that the former has been poorly formed and has, for one or other of the reasons already noted, acquired a dot, this time from the line above it. The reason for the misvocalization of initial 'a as if not the result of arbitrary pointing by the transliterator /transcriber, is not easy to determine with any certainty. 2 I n c u r t a r e (M. SCOT Mot. IV 7: credebatur quod ipsum [mare] s e q u e b a t u r ipsam [lunam| et incurtat ab ipsa; l b . VIII 1: motus [celi superioris] est velocior omnibus motibus inferiorum sub eo, et omne celum quod est sub eo incurtat aliquid ab isto suo motu; et quantitas incurtationis cujuslibet celi inferioris ab ilio motu generali est quantitas longitudinis ejus a primo celo movente aut prcpinquitatis.) To lag behind, to fall short of (freq.w. ab) (used in astronomical contexts w. ref. to slower rotation of inferior spheres, planets, elements, etc. acc. to al-Bitruji's doctrine). [Caique of intr. sense of Ar. vb qassara to fall short ('an of). | On the Ar. and Eng. versions of the two ML examples cited above see Goldstein, 64 Eng./69 Ar.; 76 Eng./129 Ar. I n c u r t a t i o (M. SCOT Mot. VIII 1 (v. incurtare); lb. XVII 1: incurtatio hujus stelle [sc. Venerisi, que nominatur motus medius, est equalis incurtationi solis postreme.) A lagging behind or (angular) distance by which a body lags behind (through slower rotation.) Caique of vbl n. of qassara viz. taqsir.] On the Ar. and Eng. versions of the two M L examples cited above see Goidstein, 76 Eng./129 Ar.; 126 Eng./323 Ar.

' S e e J D L [ I ] 3 7 , line 28. 2

T h e influence of the f e m . 'ihdd is not impossible, but it is, to my mind, unlikely. Kazimirski, Diet. I 15a does record 'ihd 'Unite, un', but I know of no authority for this.

258

DEREK

LATHAM

Isbaa (W. WORC. Itin. 240: termeni arabici in instrumento astrolabii... isbaa est scala rectanguli sive quadrati ad capiendum altitudines.) (of astrolabe) scale used in taking heights. |Ar. isbà', finger, pointer.] Cf. Kunitzsch, Gloss, 527 no. 18. J a r r a , - u m , - u s , - i s (also: jara, jarda) (CI 202:1244 xij paria costerellorum xij barillos ferreos et xij jares ferreos... appreciari... faciateteos liberet; EEC 354: al310 pro xxxj jardis olei pr. xxxj s., viz qualibet jarda xij d.) Jar, liquid measure smaller than a barrel. |Ar. jarra (earthenware) jar, pitcher. ] J o m y n (WALLINGF. Alb. 312: separemus ABD spacium cum margine, et marginem ejus dividemus per unam tabulam ad hoc factam que intitulatur tabula motus jomyn equanti.) Equation of days. [Ar. yawm (bilaylatihi), transl. uvxQ^lJ-epou = a night and a day.] Here jom represents colloq. pronunc. oi yawm. viz. vow, -yn reflects indef. n. inflection. Julab (also: julap, -ap) (GILB. I 27v 1: in calidissima regione solus syrupus julap ex aqua et succare vel julabem sufficit in augmento ... conficitur... julap ex aqua et succara vel aceto malorum granatorum; GAD.II.I: ptisana autem ordei et julep cum aceto et sirupus acetosus valet; lb. 22.2: sirupus simplex et julep de aqua et §uccaro.) Julep. [Ar. julab f. Pers. guldb, rose-water. ] Jupa (also: juppa, chupa) (D. BEC.l 198: dipplois atque capa [v.l. jupe] poterunt illam comuari; NECKAM Ut. 98: perhendinaturus jupam [gl.: jupe| habeat penulatam; ( D C C a n t ) HMC Rep. Var. Coll. I 238: cl200 sed ipse R. nullam copiam biadi habere potuit nisi j u p p a m suam in vadimonium... poneret: Chanc. Misc. 3/3:1235 Ysabelle sorori domini regis... ad duas chupas di skarl' ad surgend' de nocte...) Frock, gown, tunic. [Ar. jubba, whence also Fr. jupe. ] Cf. JDL (2) 132 s.v. chupa1. On the jubba as a woman's garment sec Dozy, Vet., 114-17. It most often denoted a long cloth coat open at the front and having wide sleeves. Kadi (Mon.Fram isc. I 527: s l 3 9 1 hi quatuor fuerunt martyrizati jerosolymis... a kadi legis Saracenorum sc. episcopo sive pontifice.) Cadi, judge. |Ar. -qàdi.] See JDL |l| s.v. alcaldus; JDL (2) s.v. cassinus.

' N o entry for this form appears in Fase. II of the DML, despite my entry in JDL (2) 132 s.v. Chupa.

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Kali [cf. alkali] [SB 15: chali [ f o r kalij, i. cinis clavellatus; utuntur autem eo tinctores.) Wood ash, potash. [Ar. qali for qaly/qily.\ For discussion see J D L [I] 4 8 s.v. Alkali. 1 Cf. EI2, V, 107. Kardaga ( W A L L I N G F . (Quad.) I 32: omnium kardagarum conjunctiin et divisim sinum rectum investigare facile est.) Interval in the columns of arguments in tables (math.), orig. of sines and equations. |Ar. kardaja f. Mid. Pers. f. Sanskrit kramajya. Hashimi,

| On the sense of the vvd cited above see Kennedy,

214f. Transliterations of this wd in pi. to be f o u n d outside Brit,

sources include kardege,

kardaget,

alcardaiet,

alcurdaget.

On the definition

' j a r d a g a . . . est portio circuli ex 15 gradibus c o n s t a n s ' (f. the Canones Azarquiel (Ibn al-Zarqallu(h), rather than the

Z a r q a l i ' ) , transl. by Gerard of C r e m o n a see M. C u r t z e , Mathematica

of

frequently encountered 'alBibliotheca

III 1 (1900), 339. 2

K a r m e s i t (Alph. 88: karmesit, i. f r u c t u s tamarisci.) Fruit of the tamarisk. [Ar. kazmazik f . Pers.] In kazmazik simple omission of the single s u p e r s c r i p t dot required by the Ar. z is e n o u g h to a c c o u n t f o r the transformation of the first z into r. The M L transliteration karmezik appearing in CanV (cf. 163a) suggests the absence of the dot in the translator's MS; it certainly appears in the printed text IS I 339. More than one explanation can be advanced for the emergence of the terminal -zik as -sit. Since M L sources indicate the existence of other transliterations of the wd (e.g. charmazech, chermezech in And. s.v. charmazech and alkarmazit, ibid, s.v.), one strong possibility is that -zik originated from a M L transliteration with terminal -gic, whence g>s and c>t. On the M L use of c (p) to transliterate z and s < f see J D L ]IJ 37 line 5 & 38 line 23, respectively. On the confusion of M L c with t see ibid., 35. M a i m o n i d e s indicates that other Ar. n a m e s f o r kazmazik included j.z.maz.k and j.z.maz.q ( M M 23 no. 200). Finally, it is worth noting that the galls of the tamarisk were taken for its fruit. K e b i c e n ( A D E L . Elk. 5: secundum hoc igitur residuum in tabulain bissectorum quos Arabes kebicen vocant, intrato, et q u o m o d o bissextus ad annum presentem se habeat apparebit.) Intercalary day in leap year. [Ar. kabis intercalated.] The final n would seem to suggest that our wd appeared in the Ar. as an indef. accus. K e b u l u s (also: k e k u bellus. c h e b u l u s ) (Quaest. Salern. N 48: et notandum quod mirabolani... coleram purgant, et citrini et kebuli...; GILB. I 41.2: purgatur cum decoctione viol' prunorum mirabol'... kebu bell' et embli; 'There is no entry for this wd s.v. chali in DML. ^For assistance with this entry I am greatly indebted to Professor Paul Kunitzsch of Munich, who apprised me of the most important bibliographical references and gave me the benefit of his own observations.

260

J.

DEREK

LATHAM

GAD. 43.2: cortices mirabolanorum, chebulorum Indorum; SB 26: kebuli species est mirabolanorum; Alph. 117:... ebulus [l.kebulus], bellericus, emblicus, Indus.) A species of myrobalan. [Ar. kabuli, of, or from, Kabul (in present-day Afghanistan.).] On the species in question see IBLc III 397, where it is noted that, acc. to al-Idrisi, it came from the mountains around Kabul. Acc. to A. Dietrich in EI2, Suppl., 349, 'the myrobalanus of Kabul (haliladj, kabuli), the ripe fruit of Terminalia chebula, is considered... the finest'. Keiri (BACON IX 68: Haly regalis ubi tractat de regimine senum dicit quod senes sunt inengendi cum oleo inquiriri |v.l. ingriri]...; SB 26: keiri i. violaria, crescit super muros cum floribus croceis in Aprili.] Wallflower. [Ar. khayri,-iri. Cf. Sp. alhelif. al-khayri. \ This is Cheiranthus cheiri L, but the Ar. vvd denotes other flowers such as stock. 1 The presence of the initial letters in in Bacon's inquiriri!ingriri may be explained by misreading and misvocalization of the Ar. article al defining our n. in the Ar. text. The error would most likely have arisen from a shortened I arising f. the need of the I to descend to unite w. the immediately following kh below it. With only the very slightest thickening and angling at the top and the accretion of a dot from somewhere above it the / would have been mistaken for n. As for -iriri, -riri, dittography (on which, in ML, see JDL [I] 36 para. 3) is the most likely explanation. Keisim ( a l s o : keysim) (SB 26: k e y s i m i. levisticum; Alph. keisim i. levisticus; lb. 98: keisim idem A. loveache.) Lovage. [Ar. kashim.\ On Ar. sh> ML s see JDL |I] 38, line 7. K e k e n g i (also: kekingi) (SB 26: kekingi species est solatri.) Species of nightshade, winter cherry (Physalis alkekengi). [Ar. kakanj f. Pers.l See also JDL | I | p 48 s.v. Alkekengi. On the use of gi in ML to transliterate the Ar. affricated prepalatal j see ibid., 37, line 28. On the plant see Renaud-Colin, Tuhfa. 98f. no. 219. K e r m o n (also: k a r m e n ) (SB 26: kermon, karmen, i. silex montanum.) Species of seseli. [? Ar. qaritiqun f. oeseXi KpTjTiKdv Cretan seseli, synon. w. rdpSuXou. On the latter see Dubler, Diosc. II 265 s.v. turdhilun 'which plant some also term sasali q.rit.qun meaning "Cretan seseli", which grows in the mountain called Amanus in the counry called Cilicia'. (On Seseli Cretico see ibid., I xlviii, no. 59 col.a.) The M L wd almost certainly derives Irom corruption of q.rit.qun or turdhilon. Of these two, the former seems to me far the more likely cause of error because one has only to postulate the loss of i t f . the Ar. to leave us with the ductus qr... qun, which, in the absence of any diacritical indicator to enable one to take the 'See J. H. Harvey, 'Garden Plants of Moorish Spain' in Garden History 20 (1992). 82.

ARABIC

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261

second q for what it shouid be, could easily have been seen, wrongly but understandably, as qrmiin, whence, from vocalization as qarmun, kermon. The loss of it could well have arisen from partial obliteration of the Ar. wd caused by a stain, fading or a hole in the Ar. MS, causing a copyist or transcriber to leave a short blank that was never filled later. Kerse (SB 26: kerse, i. cinamomum.) Cinnamon. [Ar. qirfa.] The confusion of / with long s in ML palaeography is common (see JDL [I| 35 line 28). For details on the question of cinnamon in Ar. source see below s.v. kufordarsen. Keyens (S.SIM, ¡tin. 28: ecclesias [Saraceni] nominant sive oratoria keyentes, que non sunt ecclesie sed synagoge Sathane.) Mosque. [Ult. f. Ar. kanayis (for kana'is), pi. of kanisa, church, synagogue.] Here keyentes is, it seems to me, the pi. of keyens,-entis, the nom. sing, being a Latinization of keneys by metathesis. Kicirdei (Alph. 88: kicirdei [v.l. kycirder], i. ordeum fractum.] ? Ground barley, barley meal. [? Ar. daqiq + CL ordei, flour of barley. | Here I can only speculate that we have a corruption of a hybrid formation dakikordei. The loss of da would be analogous to the loss of bi in Sp. zaragatona f. SpAr bazar qatuna 'fleawort'. If my suggestion is correct, the preference for ordeum over Ar. sha'ir 'barley' could be explained by the awkwardness of an attested ML transliteration of the Ar. as xahaer. Clearly dakikordei is less cumbersome than dakikaxahaer or similar. Also, Ar. does combine with CL in kist ordei (below s.v. kist). though the latter is not strictly analogous to the hybrid I suggest in the present case. On the medicinal use of barley flour see LK, 296 n. 185. K i n i (also: k y n i ) (BART.ANGL. XII 1: avis kyni [v.l.kini; TREVISA: byni] que Arabice dicitur cebar nutrit pullos suos casualiter ab aquila sic rejectos.) Bird of prey, prob. bearded vulture or lammergeyer. [Ar. qini misreading of fini f. é (by imála ; see above, s.v. idhe), lamün may well be a hypercorrect form of laymün (pronunc. lamün). In the case of l.mün, lamun > limün may be suspected, -ün being interpreted as stress falling on the final vowel, whence Sp. limón. Finally, in colloq. Ar. generally ay > f is common. Further investigation of the Ar. and ML forms of our wd is called for, but this cannot be carried out here. The dates of the birth and death of Abu 1-Khayr (Sp. 'Jayr') are not known. He did, however, work in the royal garden of al-Mu'tamid (reg. 1069-91) in Seville. He is often quoted by the famous Ibn al-'Awwam (12th cent.).

264

D E R E K

L A T H A M

L o c o r i s (SB 24: dagger hozoris 1. locoris), i. liqoricia.) Liquorice. [Ar. lükurizá f. y\vKvppi(a.\. In Dubl., Diosc., 240 the Gr. transliterated as gh.lük.tyzá is identified as 'Greek liquorice' (süsRümi). Cf. CanV 130b where liquiritia translates süs in IS I 384. When and where initial gh was lost I cannot say. L o h o c (SB 28: lohoc, i. confection que lambió dicitur.) Linctus, loloch. [Ar. la'üq. 1 Cf. Dozy, Glos., 298: 'LOOCH |Sp], pg. eta.fr. lohoc, fr. looch et lok...'. Luta (AMUND. II 190: sl438 imagines duorum angelorum unam cum organis alteram cum luta.) Stringed instrument, lute. [OF leut, luth, OProv. laut, Sp. laúd ult. f.Ar. (ai l-'üd (the) wood.] Addendum to JDL (3) 461, lines 8f.: after / elefuga, eleufuga (? ?) / add / In correspondence Professor Kunitzsch tells me that he has established that 'this | e l e f u g a | is but a Latin corruption of a formula which... went: elnefea id est fuga (the underlying Arabic is al-nafi, and therefore I assume that the corresponding Latin was fugans...)'; / Corrigendum, ibid., line 13: for I (-istima') term, oppos. of -istiqbál (P. Kunitzsch); /

read/ (-ijtimd')l,

astron.

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'The abbreviations used for the ML sources cited in the main text of this paper are reproduced unaltered from the DML itself.

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265

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MORE ON THE DEATH OF THE AYYUBID SULTAN AL-SÄLIH NAJM AL-DlN AYYÜB D.S. RICHARDS

With the greatest pleasure I offer this hommage to Professor Geoffrey Lewis, one of my earliest Arabic teachers and later an esteemed colleague. My intrepid straying into medical regions, where he himself has made a notable contribution, may well surprise him but will, I hope, also provide some interest and amusement. The Sultan al-Sálih Ayyüb died in Sha'bán 647/November 1249 at a very critical moment, when Damietta had fallen to the seventh Crusade led by Louis IX of France and Egypt was under threat. The medical circumstances surrounding his death have been closely studied by Felix Klein-Franke.' His conclusion was that the sultan died from advanced gangrene in a thigh, a conclusion largely based on the description of symptoms and treatment found in Barhebraeus (Abü'1-Faraj al-'Ibrl), to whom Klein-Franke gives credence on the basis of his medical expertise, although Barhebraeus' account is not widely backed up in its details, particularly not in the foreign technical vocabulary used. Al-Dhahabi perhaps refers to the occurrence of gangrene in the sultan's thigh, when he uses the word al-ikla} although that could also mean 'ulcer, abscess', one more term to be set alongside the various terms used in this case, waram, jurh, jaraha (or possibly kharája), qarha and násür. One could argue that, far from Barhebraeus' statements being given a privileged status, his medical knowledge was likely to have led him into providing a more explicit version of imprecise and possibly contradictory information to which he had access. There is other evidence that Klein-Franke did not discuss. Ibn alDawádári is an historian of the early fourteenth century, and his account of the sultan's death, apart from choosing to date it to the following month of Ramadan, resembles nothing so much as the plot of some dark and

'p. Klein-Franke, 'What was the fatal disease of al-Malik al-Salih Najm al-DIn Ayyub?', in Studies in Islamic History ami Civilization in Honour of Professor David Ayalon, M. Sharon (ed.) (Leiden: Brill, 1986), ppi 153-7. Ta'rikh al-Isläm, note 7.

Oxford Bodleian Ms. Laud or. 395, fol. 221a, and also in Ibn Iyäs, see below

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bloodthirsty Jacobean drama, full of mutual enmities and poisonings. 1 This is a version that one may safely be allowed to ignore. However, it is less easy to ignore the chronicle of lbn Wasil, which is of prime importance for the later Ayyubids and the early Mamluks. During the period leading up to al-Salih Ayyub's death lbn Wasil was in Egypt, in government service, and well connected. One might assume him to have been au courant. The relevant part of his history, the Mufarrij al-kurub fi akhbar Bani Ayyub, is as yet unpublished, but is available in two Paris manuscripts, nos. 1702 and 1703. 2 lbn Wasil presents a coherent account of al-Salih's illness, a clear feature of which is his insistence that the sultan was simultaneously suffering from two complaints. It would seem then that to the extent that later historians refer to this fact, it is not, as Klein-Franke thought, the result of the combining of two separate and contradictory reports. The main thrust of lbn Wasil's account is that the Sultan al-Salih Ayyub suffered from a swelling which developed into something more serious which he calls a nasur. At the same time he suffered from the rather vague wasting disease of sill or 'consumption'. At least some part of the record locates this sill in the sultan's lung, which identifies it as some pulmonary complaint. The nasur, which for now at least will be translated as fistula, 'dried up' and was cured, leaving the sultan optimistically planning soon to be riding and playing polo again. At this point the 'consumption', which had been somewhat disregarded by the sultan, reached a stage which made the doctors despair of a cure. In 'All ibn al' Abbas al-Majusi's 3 description of sill on the lung, when it is associated with the development of quruh and expectoration of pus and blood, which seems to have been the stale now reached by the sultan, it is stated that this condition is very serious and really beyond hope of cure. 4 This version of events rules out the infection from the fistula (or the gangrene described by Barhebraeus) as the cause of death and puts it down to the underlying 'consumption'. Within that broad presentation, Ibn Wasil's ' D i e Chronik des Ibn al-Dawdddri, ed. S. ' A b d al-Fattah ' A s h u r (Freiburg 1972), vol. vii, pp. 371-3. What makes this story of revenge so irresistible, but not more credible, is that the already poisoned and doomed emir w h o prepared the poisoned saddle to entrap the sultan was 'Izz al-Din Aybak, the grandfather of the author, Ibn al-Dawadari. 2 P a r i s Ms. no. 1702 contains 442 folios and the completion date is claimed (fol. 442a) as Thursday, 11 Muharram 821/Thursday=17 February 1418. T h e copyist is named as Shams a l Din A h m a d ibn A h m a d ibn M u h a m m a d al-Zayni, w h o is described as katib al-sirr of the Mamluk sultan, Barquq (given the unusual formula of du 'as^L^vil j 4 j-t u\visimth (Steingass), a silver cup or aquamanile in the f o r m of an ox. ^ S p a l l a n z a n i , 1978, 155, no. 14. Florence, A r c h i v i o dello Stato, P a P n. 154, c. 2 4 8 v - 2 5 9 . Spallanzani only treats here, however, the furnishings of the shop and the tools of his trade, masserizie di bottega, cc. 257v->59 4

Castiglione 1922,76-88

5

For example, a 15th centur) Syrian M a m l u k blue and white albarello bearing the arms of Florence in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (inv. no. 4288) and a now lidless early Iznik blue and white pot in the Victoria and Albert Museum, C.57.1952. ^Spallanzani, 1978,132-35

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which would later have been sold retail in (European) pots or glasses, were often in metal or wooden containers. Preserves, civet and some ointments, however, were often exported in pottery or glass vessels and, for example, commodities bought by Italian merchants in Near Eastern markets for use in their local factories could well have been in local jars. In the surviving account books of 15th and 16th century Florentine druggists such pottery is only rarely mentioned and Italian maiolica vessels of various fabrics preponderate by far. These, to judge from the assortment of maiolica vessels in the Gnalid wreck 1 , the Venetian ship, the Gagiana, which foundered off the Dalmatian coast in November, 1582, were certainly exported eastwards and may well have reached Bursa, as well as Istanbul. The third estate, that of al-Hac Muhammad b. 'Abdallah, valued at 106,002 ak9e, included a luxuriously furnished house. The pottery was diverse. T w o zeytuni |olive coloured) giniler valued at 150 ak§e must, despite the term gini, have been Chinese celadons. The only vessels specifically designated as blue and white are seven tisktire [and] hokkas, for 150 ak§e, three tabak gini sahanlar (sic, sc. blue and white dishes) for 20 ak9e, and a further two tabak valued at 80 ak§ct day — the weather seemed to have improved — Van der Horst was able to sail to Schagerbrug via Alkmaar and Zaandam. The canal thither had become almost unrecognisable and the surrounding land had changed into a sea-like expanse; some houses almost completely disappeared below the surface of the water; dead cattle floated around. The journey took nearly ten hours. The next day, Van der Horst travelled to Den Helder by cart. Part of the town was inundated. News reached the traveller that a number of ships waiting in Texel had been cut loose and drifted away, or had been severely damaged. The Porto Bello on which he was to travel had, apart from one anchor lost, fortunately remained undamaged. The next afternoon, of December 28, Van der Horst reached Texel by mail boat. He stayed overnight in the port town of Het Schild where he made the acquaintance of the captain of the Porto Bello, Huibert van Duikeren. They boarded ship on December 31. After replacement of the lost anchor, which had to be brought from Amsterdam, the captain decided to set sail with a south-easterly breeze on January 15. Following the coast of Holland and Flanders, the Porto Bello passed Dover which was covered in snow on the evening of the 16th. Following the English coast, the ship, in the company of another Dutch ship which had joined the Porto Bello on the 18th, dropped its anchor in Falmouth harbour on the 19th. The voyage thus far had been uneventful apart from a minor incident which occurred on the 18th; during an abrupt change of direction, a member of the crew, a certain Hans Wolder, fell overboard. Thanks to the slow pace of the ship, he was easily picked up from the water. The next day, the 20th, Van der Horst, the two captains, Van Duikeren and Van Beeren, and a member of the crew, a certain Cornelis, rowed to the shore and visited the town. The following days, until the departure on the 26th, were spent sight-seeing in Falmouth and the neighbouring towns of Flushing, St. Mawes and Penryn. Van der Horst remarked that the last town, where, it being Sunday, the company visited the local Anglican and Presbyterian churches, was only small and, 'after the English fashion, very dirty and disorderly built.' 1 Walking back along the dry river and the beach to

^'wy bevonden de stad klyn en nae Engelsche manier zeer morssigh en onordentlyk gebouwd,'

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Falmouth, Van der Horst thought the hilly landscape by contrast beautiful. 'Back on board, I feasted Captain van Beeren on a nice salty fresh codfish.' 1 Meanwhile the captain had taken care to refill the ship's stocks; Van der Horst mentions water and firewood. Letters were sent to Holland. On Tuesday, January 25, Van der Horst again went to Falmouth and visited Stephen Read, a Quaker, by whom he was cordially received and who gave him a copy of Robert Barclay's Apology of the Quaker Religion2. The men agreed to keep in touch. The two captains had bought a bull from Read which they had slaughtered for provision of their ships. Before setting sail on the morning of the 26th, Van der Horst loaded his flintlock musket and vainly tried to shoot a seal which was repeatedly seen swimming around the ship. The weather was fine and a soft easterly wind was blowing. In the afternoon the ship passed Lizard Point. 'We were continuously seeing a considerable number of tuna fishes dashing around our ship.' 3 Passing through the Bay of Biscay in rather heavy weather and continuing around the Iberian Peninsula, the Porto Bello, by now accompanied by two other Dutch ships, reached Cape Spartel near Tangier, which the travellers saw on the morning of February 6. At the same time an unknown ship approached them threateningly from the North and passed them closely at high speed. This uncivil conduct led them to the conclusion that 'it must have been a T u r k . ' 4 During the evening of the next day a similar incident occurred after the ship had passed Cape de Gata near Almeria in rough weather which had caused the ship to shake fearfully. A strange ship passed Van Beeren close by and only made itself known by lighting a fire at the last moment. Van Beeren fired a gun and Van Duikeren did the same as it approached the Porto Bello. Van Beeren fired another two shots as did Captain Bellyn of the third Dutch vessel. The ship which signed that it was British and friendly nevertheless followed at a close but safe distance all during the night and Bellyn was sure the next day that he had seen it waving the Turkish flag. Sailing past the Balearic islands, Corsica and Gorgona, the Porto Bello reached Leghorn on the afternoon of February 22. The next morning Van der Horst went ashore and paid a visit to the Dutch consul Slicher. 5 'In the afternoon I went for supper in the most important inn of Leghorn called La Croce d'or.' 6 ll a e n boord komende, tracteerdc ik Capt. Van Beeren op een fraeie zoude j o n g e Cabel j a u w , ' A, 9a. 2 Apologie de la veritable thâeobgie chrâetienne, ainsi qu'elle est soutenue etc. (London, 1702). 3 ' w i j . . . zagen gestadigh een considerabel getal Tonijnen rondom ons schip swieren,' A, 9b. 4 ' h e t Nauw in het fatzoen van het schip in deeze zyne conduiten deeden ons besluiten dat het een T u r k moeste wezen,' A, 14a.

^Thomas Slicher, Dutch consul al Leghorn (Livorno), 1706-1718. 6 ' d e s middaghs ging ik spyzen in het voornaemste logement van Livorno genaemd La Croce d'or,' A, 19b.

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The ship remained in Leghorn for three weeks. Van der Horst spent his days watching 'ball g a m e s ' , sight-seeing — on March 4 he went in Slicher's calash to Pisa 'in order to see the cork t r e e s ' 1 ; he visited the town again on March 14 — and gave sermons for the Dutch community on Sundays. On March 15, the Porto Bello and Van Beeren, accompanied by two other Dutch vessels which were on their way to Venice, set sail again. Passing along the west and south coast of Sicily, the ship came in sight of the island of Cephalonia (Kefallinia) on April 1. It took another four days before the Porto Bello, sailing along the south coast of the Peloponesos and crossing the Aegean Sea, reached the Gulf of Izmir. T h e next day, the Dutch ships were welcomed with gun shots. Approaching the Dutch quay, the Dutch flag was honoured with another nine shots. Van der Horst vas welcomed on board by the vestryboard members of the Dutch Protestant church of Izmir consisting of the parting reverend Theodoor van der Vecht; the elder Giovanni (Jan) Derveau; and the deacon Giacomo (Jacob) Oushoorn. The senior elder Giacomo (Jacob) Bourgeois had to be excused because he 'suffered from gout in the f e e t ' . 2 The gentlemen were conducted to the stateroom where they were feasted on 'national beer while I dressed m y s e l f . ' 3 Thereupon, they went ashore by shallop, being greeted by the loud ' H u z z a s ' of the local population and by a further nine gun shots. In town, they were received by the Dutch consul, Daniel Johan de Hochepied, and his wife; in the evening greetings were received f r o m the French and British consuls as well as the Greek bishop and all other nations through their dragomans. Van der Horst thanked God for the safe passage.

(b) Diary of a journey

in Anatolia,

¡719

In the autumn of 1719, a D u t c h m a n , Giovanni (Jan) Deyl, passed through Izmir on his way to Ankara, where he was to join the firm of Daniel van Breen. 4 Van der Horst seized the occasion to organize an excursion in order to visit ' s o m e of the Seven Asiatic C h u r c h e s . ' 5 A group w a s formed of six local gentlemen, including Van der Horst, w h o were to constitute the travelling party. They chose Oushoorn as their ' a g a ' or leader. Members were

^'om de Kork boomen eens te bezien,' A, 20. onpasselyk aen het voeteuvel,' A, 27b. 3 4

haer Eerw. ververschende met vaeder lands Bier, ik mij ondertusschen kleedede,' A, 27b.

C f . De Hochepied to Directors, 30.9.1719, in ARA, LH 132. See for Deyl's role in the Dutch community at Ankara my forthcoming 'Dutch Merchants in 18th-Century Ankara'. 5 ' e e n i g e van de Zeeven Asiatische Kerken,' B, 29a.

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Daniel Alexander Baron tie Hochepied 1 , son of the consul 2 ; Bernard Mould, chaplain of the British community; and the English merchant Smith. Pietro (Pieter) Fremaux would replace Van der Horst in performing Sunday worships during their trip. It was arranged that Deyl would join the Ankara caravan in Kassaba (Turgutlu) a few days later. At seven o'clock in the m o r n i n g of M o n d a y , S e p t e m b e r 18, the travellers, joined by a number of befriended Dutch and French merchants with their servants, travelled to Hacilar, two hours from Izmir. The company were feted in the houses of local French merchants: Gaspard de Lespaul, Guintraud, Guerin and in that of the Dutch Dragoman Antonio Gallo. After lunch, the travellers, who were joined by the French merchant Tiran and accompanied by a Janissary officer, seven grooms and Pevachi

Scuffi, a dragoman of the

Dutch consulate, took leave of their friends and mounted their horses at four o'clock in the afternoon. An hour later they arrived in Kavaklidere to spend the night in the house of the Dutch merchant (Daniel) Fremeaux. Van der Horst met his brother there and also found the pack-animals with provisions for the journey which had been sent ahead. The company 'immediately sent a Turk to Hacilar and another one to Smyrna with letters.' 3 After dinner, Oushoorn was formally appointed as 'aga' while the company cheered him by three times shouting 'Huzza'. Oushoorn immediately arranged with the village aga, a Turk and 'a great hunter, well-acquainted with the surrounding r o a d s ' 4 to serve as a guide. Another two or three villagers were hired to travel with them. The next day, September 19, an hour before dawn, the party set off. They trod slowly on horseback along the cumbersome road through the plain of the Nymphi flanked b\ high mountains towards the small town of the same name (at present called Kemalpa§a). T h e company passed along cultivated fields and brushwood; farlher from the road small villages were visible as well as, at one point, a single house on a hill. T h e aga of Kavaklidere explained that it was a guard-house of the nearby town of Karakoglan which was meant 'to guard the passing caravans that usually come from Ankara or Persia or Aleppo; therefore some armed men are bound to be sent f r o m the mentioned village to that guardhouse every d a y . ' 5 Later in the morning, they passed a lonely pinetree, full abla/.e. Van der Horst, o v e r c o m e by curiosity, left his friends and took a closer look. The tree apparently was 'of such a fatty and ' H e was to succeed his father as consul in 1724 and remained in function until 1759; h e received the title of count from the Habsburg Empress in 1742. 2 D a n i e l Jan Baron de Hochepied (1657-1723), Dutch consul at Izmir, 1688-1723; he received the title of baron from Emperor 1 eopold I in 1704. 3 ' e x p e d i e e r d e n terstond 1 Turk riae Hagilaer ende een ander nae Smijrne met brieven,' B, 32a. 4 5

' e e n groot Jaager, ende der weegen rondomme wel kundigh,' B, 32a.

' o m waght te houden op de ("aravanen die gemeenlyk, of van Angora, of Persien of A l e p p o k o m e n d e aldaer passeeren; weshalven dan ook alle daegen van het g e m e i d e Dorp e e n i g e gewaepende mannen nae dat waghthuiz moeten afgezonden worden,' B, 33a.

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inflammable substance' 1 that a spontaneous combustion had taken place. T h e local population, Van der Horst added, were used to use chips of this wood as matches. Later still, passing through excellent hunting fields, they c a m e across a fountain 'furnished with a great number of stone tanks to serve travellers and caravans as well as a square courtyard built of stone after the fashion of the T u r k s ' 2 which served as a wash basin before prayers. Van der Horst added that the T u r k s used to wash their hands, feet and head, s o m e among them even 'the front parts of their boots and slippers, commonly called p a p o u c i n e s ' 3 before praying in the surrounding fields or under a tree. T h e y particularly used to do that if they happened to spot ' F r a n k s or Europeans whom they usually call g:avurs or u n b e l i e v e r s ' 4 . 'In accordance with the excess of hypocrisy prevailing among the Turks they very much like to be seen plunging into prayer.' 5 The travellers decided to take a rest, use the water to dilute their wine and take shelter against the increasing heat. But the Turkish aga advised against drinking the water which, he alleged, was most unhealthy. 'Therefore, having taken a little vishnab or cherry-brandy and, in order to become sober again, a piece of bread, we again mounted horse.' 6 T h e y passed N y m p h i (Kemalpaga), f a m o u s f o r its waterfalls and cherries — eating cherries there was one of the favourite pastimes of the Izmir merchants — at a distance of three quarters of an hour and saw the ruined castle on the hill which dominated the town. Crossing the river several times, for the first time near a huge but completely ruined bridge, the travellers reached the small village of Derbent consisting of a han (caravansaray) and a few scattered houses, situated on a hill in the plain, at half past nine. They went to the han but finding it 'very small and repulsive' 7 , they decided to rest in the shadow of a tree on the other side of the river. A meal was consumed seated on spread 'rugs and horse blankets.' 8 Afterwards, they rode back to the han, on the top floor of which they smoked a pipe of tobacco. At ten o'clock they continued their voyage through the hilly plane to Kassaba where the Ankara caravan was due to stay overnight. After two hours, they spotted a large number of Turks resting under a group of trees. Their pack-animals were grazing in a nearby

' " v a n zoo vette ende brandvattende Stoffe,' B, 33b. 2 ' voorzien met een groot geta 1 s t e e n e w a e t e r b a c k e n ten d i e n s t e der R e i j z i g e r s e n d e Caravanen als meede met een vierkante van steenen o p g e b o u w d e plaetze nae d e wiize der Türken,' B. 34a. - " d e voorste gedeeltens hunner laerzen end pantouffels, gemeenlyk papoucines genaemd,' B, 34a. 'Poponcine' obviously is derived from the Turkish papug. 4

' f r a n k e n of Europaeers die zij gemeenlyk giouwers of ongeloovigen noemen,' B, 34b.

^ ' v o l g e n s de overmaete van hijpocrisie bij de Türken heerschende willende gaerne gazien zijn in het störten van hunne gebeeden, B, 34b. 6 'Weshalvea wij een wynigh visnab of brandewijn van morellen genomen hebbende, ende toi ontnuchteringe een stuk broods, wederom te paerd steegh,' B, 34b. ' V i s l h | n a b ' is vi$nab in modern Turkish spelling. 7

' z e e r klijn ende ook onhebbelyk.' B, 36b.

^ ' T a p y t e n ende paerdekieeden,' B 37a.

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field. A young man separated himself f r o m the group and hurried towards them. He told them that he was of French descent, had served the Venetians but had been captured and enslaved by the Turks during their conquest of the Morea (Peloponesos). H e implored them to ransom him and set him free. T h e ransom fee turned out to be unaffordably high: ' 4 0 0 pieces of e i g h t ' 1 , at least 280 to 300 pieces too high. 'Therefore, we at once and without answering any further continued our voyage.' 2 At one o'clock in the afternoon, the travellers reached Kassaba. They went straight to the han at the entrance of the bazaar. Van der Horst describes it as 'a big square building furnished with several stables as well as with a big court in the middle of which stood a small h o u s e . ' 3 A man had already been sent ahead to reserve the biggest room of the han situated above the entrance. There they met a Greek merchant called Dimitri, who had gone bankrupt in Izmir but who now acted as agent on behalf of the British cotton merchants of Izmir. He offered them his services as a guide. 'Having eaten a little in the Turkish way, to wit some meat, fried with salt and whole onions, as well as pilav, being dry-cooked rice, we went to see the han, in which we found 120 small rooms, albeit small and dilapidated, while the gallery on the whole was so old and undamaged (?) that one could not walk in it without f e a r . ' 4 Later, they visited the bazaar (bezestan) in which they entered another han in which cotton was refined, that is separated from seeds and husks. Van der Horst, referring to an illustration in the travel book of Spon 5 , describes the machine used in the process in full detail. 'Curiosity pressed some of us to try the thing out t h e m s e l v e s . ' 6 Later, they walked around the town under the guidance of Dimitri. It was not a success. The place which, according to the Greek merchant, consisted of some 6000 to 7 0 0 0 houses, appeared completely unremarkable and during their walk the travellers were pestered by 'an

' 4 0 0 stucken van Aghte,' B, 38a. Meant are Sevillian Dollars (cf. Van der Horst to Directors, 5.2.1724, in A R A , LH 134: 'Sevigiianen ofte wightige stukken van A g h t e n . . . ' ) used as piastres (kuruç), the main Ottoman monetary unit of this period, cf. Anton C, Schaendlinger, Osmotische Numismatik (Braunschweig, 19*73), 6 3 - 6 5 . On the a m o u n t s of ransom in the 18th century, varying between 100 and 800 piastres, see Karl Jahn, Türkische Freilassungserklärungen des 18, Jahrhunderts (Naples, 1963). 2

' W e s h a l v e n wij dan terstond zonder verder antwoord onze Reize vervolgde,' B, 38a.

3

' e e n groot vierkant gebouw inet verscheide stallen voorzien als meede een groote plaetze in de midden op welke een klyn huisjen staet,' B, 38b. 4 ' n a e x een weinigh op de Turksche wyze gespijzd te hebben te weeten eenige vleesch ende zout ende met heele ajuin gebraeden als meede pillau, zijnde droog gekookte Rijz gingen wij de chan bezien, in welke wij 120 kamertjens bevonden dogh klyn, vervallen, en d e gallerije in het geheel zoo oud ende ongehaevend dat men niet als met vreeze deze bewandelen konde,' B, 39a. ^Voyage d'Italie de Dalmatie, Je Grece, et du Levant, Fait aux années 1675 & 1676 par lacob Spon. Docteur medecin Aggregé à Lyon, & George Wheler Gentilhomme Anglais, 3 Vols. (Lyon, 1678). T h e illustration is in Vol.'l, p. 293. " ' D e niewsgierigheid drongh eenigen onzer om zelfs een proeve van deeze zaeke te n e e m e n , ' B, 40a.

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incredible number of boys and Turks who are not used to see Franks there.' 1 They followed them closely, swarmed around them and even 'touched our clothes out of curiosity' 2 . O n e feared ill intentions 'because the Turks are generally rather rude.' 3 Thus they fled the city and were conducted by Dimitri to a pleasant walled garden full of herbs, vines and fruit trees. Dimitri told them it had been the scene of a violent confrontation between the forces of law and order and a band of robbers. T w o bandit chiefs, Ihe notorious Tahtali Bekir and a certain f e r e m e t 4 had fled to K a s s a b a a f t e r a first c o n f r o n t a t i o n in the plain of Buca. Shamelessly, they had entered the town and grabbed a Turk whom they accused of being among their pursuers. He was hung on the central square from a stone gallery, normally serving as shelter for caravan goods. A town-crier ( t e l l a P ) was dispatched, announcing to the population that the same fate awaited those w h o would do as the victim had done. The local cadi and other officials were threatened with the burning of the town if they would not supply them before dusk with 40 okas of gunpowder and bullets as well as bread and food for their 130 men. This was done. A s the evening approached, 4000 troops arrived in pursuit of the robbers. These, accompanied by nine female hostages, retired into the garden. The women were locked into the small house and the robbers posted themselves behind the wall, poking their rifles through holes made in it. T h e siege lasted for 16 hours. The besieged were able to kill six soldiers, who were posted in a building near the garden, using bales of cotton as a parapet, and injure many more. After an equal number of the besieged had been killed, and some of them had been wounded, the outlaws decided to break out of the garden and flee to the mountains near Manisa. T h e next morning, the besiegers found the garden empty apart from the bodies of the six killed men. Their heads had been cut off in order to prevent identification or to prevent that 'the heads, stuffed with straw, being sent to C o n s t a n t i n o p l e , ' 6 according to Turkish custom. A few days later, a final showdown took place near Manisa when Bekir and 210 of his men were 'destroyed' in a garden. Our travellers sat clown in the shadow of some trees. Nearby, the Ankara caravan had set up camp and a messenger told that it would leave the following morning at two o clock. Travel plans were now discussed and all the men, except Van der Horst, agreed to return to Izmir via Manisa after Deyl had

' 'een ongelooflyk getall van jongens ende Türken, die aldaer niet gewoon zijn franken te zien ' B, 40a. onze kleedinge uit nieuwsgierigheid betasteden,' B, 4 0 a - b . ^ ' d e w i j l e de Türken in het gemeen vrij insolent zijn,' B, 40b. «The text reads ' c z e r e m e t h ' , B, 41 a. N o n e of these two brigands, nor the name of Sohta, see below, seem to be mentioned in secondary literature. 5 6 T h e text has 'Thalal', B, 41 b. ' d e koppen met strooy opgevuld nae Constantinoopelen zoude verzonden worden,' B, 43a.

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the c a r a v a n : a r g u m e n t s w e r e t h e d i s c o m f o r t of t h e h a n s ;

the

unattractiveness of the Turkish towns; the threat of robbery - the T u r k s w h o m they had met earlier on the road to K a s s a b a had i n f o r m e d them that a band leader called Sohta 1 with 30 m e n r o a m e d the c o u n t r y s i d e near Sardes (Sart). V a n der Horst protested. T h e y had not seen any of the A s i a t i c c h u r c h e s yet; they could easily avoid Sohta and his m e n by j o i n i n g the caravan past Sardes; they would b e c o m e the laughing stock of the I z m i r c o m m u n i t y . A s r e g a r d s d i s c o m f o r t : they had not yet spent o n e night in a han! M o r e o v e r they all, except himself w h o only had a night-shirt and rain-coat, had their o w n bedding with them: mattresses, cushions, sheets and blankets, and only needed a bare bed and mosquito-net to be comfortable. If not, they could, the weather being f i n e , also put u p tents. F u r t h e r m o r e , places like Sardes and others w o u l d be m u c h m o r e interesting than K a s s a b a , and to p r o v e this, V a n der Horst read them passages f r o m the travel book by Spon and Wheler. Finally, the r u m o u r a b o u t the robbers w a s probably not m o r e than a trick of the T u r k s to oblige t h e m to hire m o r e guides f r o m a m o n g them. T h e countryside w a s still b e i n g policed by pashas and their troops a f t e r the last confrontation and a small band would not dare to attack anyone. Sardes was only f i v e hours a w a y by c a r a v a n ; A k h i s a r and B e r g a m a could be reached f r o m there in o n e day each. V a n d e r Horst's arguments h o w e v e r m a d e no impression, and the c o m p a n y decided to return by way of Manisa. W h e n night fell, the men returned to K a s s a b a and s a w the small a n d impoverished Greek church near the M u s l i m cemetery. T h e priest could not be persuaded to s h o w them the interior. T h e night w a s spent in the han, V a n d e r H o r s t s h a r i n g the big r o o m w h i c h a l s o c o n t a i n e d their p r o v i s i o n s w i t h O u s h o o r n , Deyl and T i r a n . A f t e r s u p p e r , in t h e T u r k i s h f a s h i o n at n i n e o'clock, all w e n t to sleep. T h e party a w o k e at two the next m o r n i n g and drank c o f f e e . A servant w a s sent to the caravan; he c a m e back with the m e s s a g e that it would depart at three. Preparations took so long h o w e v e r that the travellers m i s s e d it, to the j o y of V a n der Horst. It took o n e and a half h o u r s to o v e r t a k e the c a r a v a n w h i c h consisted of fairly rapidly m o v i n g mules. V a n der H o r s t a r g u e d that they had already covered a third of the w a y to Sardes; w h y not press on a n d spend a day there? This proposition again fell on deaf ears and the party turned b a c k to K a s s a b a , having taken leave of Deyl and left him in the care of the c a r a v a n ' s m u l e - d r i v e r (katirci2).

N e a r K a s s a b a , they p a s s e d t h e A r m e n i a n

c e m e t e r y , picturesquely situated on a steep high hill. V a n der Horst remarks at this point that on their way they had passed a considerable n u m b e r of caravans transporting grain and f u l l e r ' s earth. Out of curiosity, they had, disregarding

'The text has 'Sochtah'. B, 44a. The text has 'Katargij', B, 48b

2

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the considerable n u m b e r of donkeys and mules, counted the camels: 6 9 7 between Kavaklidere and Derbent and another 398 between Derbent and Kassaba. From Kassaba, they took the road to Manisa, passing through cotton and sesame fields. T h e cotton bushes looked, according Van der Horst, like Dutch buck-wheat; sesame is a seed 'generally in use by the Turks to bake it on the crust of their b r e a d . ' 1 After half on hour, Dimitri took leave of the travellers in order to return to Kassaba. In the shadow of a huge wooden bridge over the Nymphi, the travellers spread a carpet and had a meal. Continuing through the wide plain, they passed a f e w villages, among these Karaoglan (Karaoglanh), attractively situated on the top of a hill. Soon afterwards, they saw a group of men approaching, three of them well-armed and on horse-back. The travellers, fearing 'bad intentions' 2 , stopped in their tracks, waiting for all to catch up. They loaded their muskets. T h e three horsemen left the road and stopped in the fields, holding their carabines ready while both groups passed each other. The road now closely skirted Mount Sipylus (Manisa Dagi), which rose to their left like a wall of rock pierced by waterfalls, whereas the other side of the road bordered on a swamp. The rocky wall soon m a d e room for hills grown with shrubbery; above it they saw a square hole in the mountain side. Van der Horst, Mould and De Hochepied went up a steep path to have a closer look. The hole appeared to give entrance to a neat square chamber cut out of the rock, behind which was another similar chamber. T h e rooms were empty apart f r o m a layer of animal faeces on the floors. From the top of the rooms, Van der Horst admired the view of the plain stretching out below. At half an hour's distance of Manisa, the travellers decided to take a rest and shelter against the increasing noon heat. The dragoman and the Janissary officer were sent to the town in order to inform the local governor, Siileyman E f e n d i , to w h o m they wished to pay their respects, of their approach. M e a n w h i l e they e n j o y e d the splendid view of the m o u n t a i n s and the surrounding vines of the plain. Mounting their horses again, they met the two messengers near the cemetery at the town entrance. T h e y told them that Siileyman Efendi invited them to stay in his house. Being a considerable number, they declined, preferring to stay in the local han. R u m o u r had spread that the Austrian consul was at the head of their group so that a great number of people met them in the streets. The han turned out to be solidly built of stone around a courtyard with a fountain in the middle. The rooms were well-built and had dome-shaped roofs. Having left their baggage and muskets in the han, the travellers walked up the steep road to Siileyman Efendi's house. It was market day and the streets were overcrowded.

' ' b y de Türken gemeen in gebruik om het op de korst van hun brood te backen,' B, 49b. ^'quaede bejeegeningen,' B, 50b.

322

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T h e y f o u n d the Efendi seated in a pavilion (kd$k])

in his garden. H e

a p p e a r e d to be 'an old and dignified m a n . ' 2 Friendly w o r d s of courtesy w e r e e x c h a n g e d and the guests were begged to sit d o w n . T h e Efendi insisted that the m e n stayed in his house and used his stables. B a g g a g e , provisions and horses w e r e f e t c h e d f r o m the han and the g u e s t s f e a s t e d on c o f f e e and t o b a c c o . ' H a v i n g had a m u s i n g f o u n t a i n s spurting u p in his pavilion he had a room and sofa pointed out to us w h e r e w e could stay o v e r n i g h t . ' 3 A f t e r w a s h i n g , the travellers ate f r o m their o w n f o o d . T h e r e u p o n , presents w e r e distributed to the Efendi and his five sons, consisting of spices: n u t m e g , c l o v e s and p e p p e r , as well as c o n f e c t i o n e r y , attar of roses and liqueur. T h e m a n , his sons, the y o u n g e s t of w h o m w a s 12 to 14 years old, as well as his elder brothers and s e r v a n t s kept f i n d i n g e x c u s e s ' t o c o m e and d r i n k b o o z e , v i s h n a b and w i n e , which although not a l l o w e d a c c o r d i n g to their laws they c o n s u m e d with the u t m o s t greed, calling the b o o z e and liquor sherbet and the w i n e w a t e r , a l s o b e c a u s e these could not be recognized f o r being drunk f r o m a p i p k i n ' 4 . T h e y also took care to hide their drinking f r o m each other. ' T h u s continuing d u r i n g the w h o l e length of o u r stay, we were able to detect, as it were, the signs of their p i o u s n e s s in a b i d i n g by M u h a m m a d ' s laws with regard to w i n e in our e m p t y bottles,' 5 Van der Horst cynically c o m m e n t e d . W h e n evening a p p r o a c h e d , the guests again went to visit the E f e n d i in his pavilion. H e invited t h e m to a meal and a f t e r prayers the E f e n d i and his guests, i n c l u d i n g the J a n i s s a r y , the T u r k i s h a g a and t h e hired f a r m e r s of Kavaklidere, had food, seated on two opposite sofas. A f t e r the meal, there w a s m u s i c and the Efendi 'ordered his favourite (or according to their c u s t o m s , his c a t a m i t e ) , w h o m we g u e s s e d to be a r e n e g a d e C h r i s t i a n , to p r o d u c e his instrument, which was m a d e of Spanish reed, open at the top as well as at the bottom and which had six holes in the m i d d l e . ' 6 T h e flute ' p r o d u c e s a pleasant s o u n d as c o m p a r e d to T u r k i s h m u s i c w h i c h usually a p p e a r s to be able rather to arouse melancholy than to cause j o y . ' 7 T h e b o y played several ' p i e c e s of

' T h e text has 'Tioske', B. 54a. 2

' e e n oud staetigh man,' B, 54a.

3

' d e vermaekelyke fonteinen in zijn Tioske hebbende doen springen liet hij onz een K a m e r ende s o f a h aenwijzen daer wij konden logeeren,' B, 54b. 4

' o m bij onz de Pouz, visnab ende wijn te koomen drinken, 't welke volgens hunne wtten ongeoorlofd zijnde eeven wel met de alleruiterste gretigheid gepleegd wierd noemende ten dien einde de pouz ende sterke drank Z e r b e t h , ende de wijn waeter n o e m e n d e , gelyk d a e r o m dezelve uit een pijpkan gedronken zijnde niet anders gekend konde worden,' B, 55a. 5 ' a l d u z continueerende den geheelen Tijd van onz verblyf konden wij welhaest in onze leedige bottels ende flesschen de merkteekenen van hunne godsvrught onderhouden van M a h o m e t h s wetten ten opzighte van de wijn bespeuren,' B, 55b. 6 ' w a e r o p hij dan zijn favoriet (of nae hun gewoote zijn schandjongen) die wij gisteren een verloochende christen te zijn bevell gaf zijn muzyk instrument voort te brengen, zynde gemaekt van spaans Ried onder ende booven open ende in de midden met 6 gaeten,' B, 56a. 7 ' e e n aangenaem geluid geefd ten opzighte van der Türken muzijke welke gemeenlyk meer tot droefgeestigheid te verwaken dan tot blydschap te maeken bekwaem sehijnd,' B, 5 6 a - b .

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IN

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323

Turkish m u s i c ' 1 , alternating the flute playing with charming singing, so that our travellers came completely under the spell of his beautiful voice and great art. Van der Horst's description of his first Anatolian journey ends here. (c) Diary of a journey

to Ephesus.

1720

In the spring of 1720, another travel plan arose within the Levantine community of Izmir: the British merchant Francisco (Francis) Townley, Baron de Hochepied j u n i o r and I'ietro Fremeaux proposed a trip to Ephesus, long since f a m o u s — and frequently visited — f o r its ruins. On April 1, a final preparatory meeting was held in the baron's house. Also present were Van der Horst; the Franciscan Vicaris Apostolicus; the French merchants Andreas Poutier, Artaud and Jean Guerin as well as the Dutch merchant Philippo (Philip) van der Sanden. Townley was chosen as their 'aga'. T h e c o m p a n y , consisting of 29 to 30 men in all, departed at seven o'clock on the next day, April 2. After three hours, they arrived in Seydikoy where they were received with breakfast in the house of the British Consul John Cooke. Three men, Oushoorn, Daniel van der Sanden, and Chancellor Philip Haan returned to Izmir. A local farmer was hired as a guide. After a few hours, the group, joined by another French merchant, Ranchier, moved again, catching up with their baggage in the early afternoon. At half past two, they passed a coffee-house (kahvehane 2 ) situated next to a ruin, probably of a han. The Turks present there called it ' D i a n d a ' 3 . Later they passed along £ o r k o y 4 , and a ruinous mosque. At half past four, they stopped in Torbali, which 'appeared to us rather small and p o o r ' 5 , and stayed overnight in the house of Dervigoglu Ismail Pa§a, ' c o m m a n d e r of a Smyrna g a l l e y . ' 6 T h e y walked through the village, but saw nothing of interest. Van der Horst copied his first inscription from a piece of stone f o u n d near the ruinous han, whose 'roof supported by a few big marble columns was for the greater part collapsed' 7 , outside the village. We 'spent the night in a poorish and small room in the Turkish f a s h i o n . ' 8

''Turksche muzijk stukken,' B, 56b. T h e text has 'Caffane,' C, 62a. - Meant is probably the Roman ruins, the so-called 'Bath of Diana', at Halkapinar. ^The text has 'Tchiorkieu,' C, 62b. 5 ' h e t onz toescheen, vrij geringh ende armelijk,' C, 63a. ^'commandeerende eene gallije van Smijraa,' C, 63a-b. 7 ' h e t Dak, het geene op eenige groote marmere colommen stae-unde, meest ingevallen,' C, 63b. 2

•2

o

°'ende vernaghteden, in een Armelyk ende geringh vertrek, volgens der Türken wijze,' C, 64b.

324

JAN

SCHMIDT

T h e next day, April 3, t h e j o u r n e y led f r o m the plain t o w a r d s the m o u n t a i n s . V a n der Horst had the o c c a s i o n to copy his s e c o n d inscription f o u n d in a fountain along the road. T h e m e n passed the r u i n o u s Ke *tiinketer,

w h i c h by f o l k - e t y m o l o g y > ten-getur

(literally

' f e t c h - b o d y ' ) and indicates s o m e sort of tent-like shelter used by m e n on watch. 1 T h e word qad.tr presents no such problems, as it is the standard Turkish w o r d f o r a c a n v a s tent - In an O t t o m a n c o n t e x t it h a s b e e n i d e n t i f i e d specifically as a bell-tent. 1 T h e principal support was a central pole extended at its apex by a kiirneq, a broad w o o d e n disc or board with a hole in t h e centre, f r o m which the roof a n d walls spread o u t w a r d s and d o w n w a r d s . In most cases the word is cited in the regulations without qualification, but in regulation no. 2, which deals with the obligations of the sancak-begi,

three such tents a r e

listed, and each was intended for a d i f f e r e n t purpose. One w a s to be used as a store f o r valuable items (hazine), another as a store f o r provisions (kiler), a n d the third for the residence of the beg himself. This last was to be supplied with a sokak,

that is, a portable textile ' w a l l ' of the type placed a r o u n d the tents of

great m e n to provide privacy and s e c u r i t y . 4 In this respect, t h e

sancak-begi's

quarters m u s t have resembled a miniature version of the s u l t a n ' s e n c a m p m e n t , which is often depicted in 16th-century miniatures surrounded by a wall of this type.5 A n o t h e r c o m p o n e n t of the sancak-begi's sayeban,

c a m p w a s the giinliik

or

referred to above. Examples of such ' a w n i n g s ' used by the court w e r e

described by the Frankish merchant Iacopo de Promontorio in the third quarter of the 15th century. A gonluc

w a s 'a s u n s h a d e m a r v e l l o u s l y d e c o r a t e d with

gold, silk and diverse resplendent c o l o u r s ' erected over the tents to k e e p t h e m cool; to this end they w e r e raised on long poles a s s e m b l e d f r o m several sections and tilted in the direction of the sun. 6 There can be little d o u b t that

' A n illustration in the copy of ihe Nusretndme of Mustafa Ali prepared under the author's direction in 1583^1 (Topkapi Library, MS. Hazine 1365, folio 93a) shows a group of traders who accompanied the Ottoman army (N. Atasoy and F. (Jagman, Turkish Miniature Painting, [Istanbul, 19741, pi. 27). They have two bell-tents (fadir; see below) and three low, open-ended tents made of two or three poles and a sheet of striped canvas. T h e latter may represent tengetiirs. 2 G . Clauson, An Eytmological Dictionary of pre-Thirteenth-Century Turkish (Oxford, 1972), p. 403. 3p.A. Andrews, 'Tent', The Dictionary of Art (London, 1996), XXX, p. 478. 4

I . H . Uzun

1 j Clauson, rp. 319. Clauson, loc. cit., for example, has 'swaddling clothes; the girth for a cradle', following the first edition of the Tarama Sozlügü, six volumes, Ankara, 1963—72,1, pp. 3 7 0 - 7 1 , Beçik bagi). J.W. Redhouse, A Turkish and English Lexicon (Constantinople, 1890), p. 330, has, ' T h e girth with which an infant is fastened in its cradle'. Doerfer, loc. cit., has Wickelband: Monatshinde. •i J F o r an e x a m p l e of textile armour, see P. Missilier, and H. Ricketts Splendeur des armes orientales (Paris, 1988), no. 23. This consists of a quilted jerkin over a long quilted jubbah and was produced in the late 19th century in Sudan, an area w h e r e the manufacture of mail and other archaic f o r m s of armour survived until the 20th century. 4

O n e is inv. no. 16,539. T h e lack of decorative elements or inscriptions on these modest pieces munition has told against their publication. ^Redhouse, p. 329.

6

Kraelitz-Greifenhorst, pp. 28, 43.

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S T A N L E Y

This may be translated, 'there are to be no defects in the iron tip of his lance or in his yelek, nor in his bow and his arrows, nor in his sword and his shield: they are to be in working order.' Friedrich Kraelitz-Greifenhorst, who published the text, translated the term yelek

as Pfeilfedern,

'flights of an

a r r o w ' , but the word means 'waistcoat' as well as 'arrow flights'. 1 In the light of the usage cited by Redhouse, we may surmise that yelek was used in the kanun to refer to a jerkin, habergeon, or similar garment worn by the e^ktinci for protection. By combining the references used by Inalcik and by Beldiceanu, we can picture an Ottoman cebelii

of the late 15th century as an armed horseman

bearing a bow and arrows, a sword and a shield, a lance, and perhaps a mace, and wearing a jerkin or a sturdier protective garment. This was the minimum requirement, as we have said; and the arms and armour of individual

cebeltis

may have been more elaborate.

Buriime Mehmed Arif thought that the biirtime, or rather buruma, was a type of turban, 2 while Beldiceanu identified it as a coat of mail superior in quality to an ordinary cebe? The association with armour is correct, but the etymology Beldiceanu gave seems unnecessarily exotic: he believed that it was related to the French word broigne and its cognates in several European languages, and he regularly translated b'irtime as broigne. In fact, the word has a perfectly acceptable Turkish etymology in the verb btirumek ( ' t o wrap, to entirely enfold or cover up'). 4 It is an adjective derived on the same basis as dtizme and kalma,5 and it means 'covering the whole b o d y ' . 6 In a military context buriime was most probably a shortened form of the expression biirtime cebe ( ' a r m o u r covering the whole b o d y ' ) , which is known f r o m the Persianized form cebe-i biirtime found in an Ottoman list of arms and armour drawn up in 1455. 7 In the context of the 'men-and-tent' obligations of Ottoman sipdhis, this term was contrasted with the armour worn by an ordinary cebelii, which covered only his torso. T he term buriime has therefore been translated as 'in full armour' in appendix 1.

h n an Iranian context it is attested with the meaning ' w a i s t c o a t ' as early as the 12th century; see Doerfer, IV, p. 313, no. NI85. This meaning is not given in the Tarama Sozlugii, h o w e v e r (VI; pp. 4 4 9 3 - 6 ) . 2 Kànùnnâme-i àl-i 'Osmdn, id. Mehmed Arif, p. 11, n. 1. Cf. H. Hadiibegici, ' K a n u n - n a m a sultana Sulejmana Z a k o n o d a v i a . Glasnik Zemaljskog muzeja, new series, IV, 1949-50, p. 312, n. 47; Akgundiiz, p. 45. n. 2. 3 N . Beldiceanu and I. Beldictanu-Steinherr, ' U n Paléologue inconnu de la région de Serres', Byzantion, XLI, 1971, p. 9. n. ! : Beldiceanu, Le tirnar, pp. 8 3 - 5 . Cf. Inalcik, ' D j e b e l i ' . ^Redhouse, p. 396. 5

G . L . Lewis, Turkish Gramma >• {Oxford, 1967), p. 172.

®Tarama Sozlugii, I, p. 743: Butiin viicudu 7

kapliyan.

Had2ibegici, H a n d e d & Kovaïevid, folios 142b-143b.

M E N - A T - A R M S ,

HAUBERKS

AND

BARDS

343

A question that remains is whether biiriime meant a specific type of protective garment, as suggested by Beldiceanu. This seems doubtful in view of the way the word is used in an epic poem, the Ballad of Umur Pa§a, which assumed its current form in 1465. In the first of its two occurrences there the word refers not to armour but to the wounds inflicted on the Christian defenders of a castle: A$agadan ok atar idi 'azeb * yukaru kdfir biiriime yidi hep 'From below the valiant warriors were shooting arrows; above the unbelievers received wounds all over their bodies, every one of them.' 1 In the second it is used to describe a type of plate armour worn only by the Frankish enemy: Subh-dem a 'da giyiib saz u seleb * Biiriime gukal u cev§endur 'aceb Ellig ii kollug u butlik hem i§ik * Hep musaykal gevre viriirdi i$ik 'At daybreak the enemy donned arms and armour. It was strange plate and armour that covered all: gauntlet, vambrace and cuisse, and helmet, too; all burnished, they reflected light about them.' 2 This description would fit 'white harness', a form of armour in which the body was covered with a relatively small number of large plates. 'White harness', developed in Europe in the early 15th century, was not adopted by the Ottomans. This was noted by the Burgundian knight Bertrandon de La Broquiere, who visited the Ottoman empire in 1433: 'I have seen them in the field in arms, and because I had heard it said that they wore white harness I took careful note of it, but I saw none such.' 3 We may conclude from this that the word biiriime described anything that covered the whole body and was not

Le destàn d'Umûr pacha, edited by I. Mélikoff-Sayar (Paris, 1954), p. 54, verses 187-8. T h e translation given here is at odds with that supplied by the editor: D'en bas les 'azeps lançaient les flèches 1 et en haut des coques les Mécréants reçurent sans cesse des coups dans le ventre. Apart f r o m the translation of huriime, which is explained above, the main d i f f e r e n c e is the treatment of the word 'azeb. In some 15th-century sources, such as the Book of the Ottoman Custom (Part III, Section 3), this refers specifically to Ottoman urban levies, which is how Mélikoff interpreted it (p. 54, n. 1 ). But its use in the Ballad of Umur Pa§a was surely more general: it w a s probably an Arabizing equivalent f o r the Turkish yigid and referred to a n y Muslim 'brave'. Ledestân

d'Umurpacha,

ed. Mélikoff, p. 115, verses 2 0 3 5 - 8 .

•^Bertrandon de L a Broquière, ed. Schéfer, p. 220: Je les ay veus aux champs en armes et pour ce que j'avoye ouy dire qu'ils s'armoient de blanc harnoys.je y prins garde, mais je n'en veys nuls.

344

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S T A N L E Y

specific to a particular type of armour. 1 According to the material evidence from the second half of the 15th century, the biiriime armour of an Ottoman sipahi was similar to the item known in England as a hauberk. It consisted of a long shirt of mail with sleeves and leggings; and, as with European hauberks of the 14th century, it incorporated some plate. Bertrandon himself classed the head-covering worn by the Ottomans in his day as 'white harness'; 2 and numerous round, pointed helmets that fit his description survive from the 15th century in the Ottoman armouries and elsewhere. 3 In addition, Ottoman hauberks of the later 15th century, like those of their Aqqoyunlu and Shirvani neighbours, were often reinforced with sets of relatively small, oblong, steel plates. These were arranged horizontally at the front, back and sides of the coat of mail to form a panel of lames. 4

Kecim On the basis of the references collected by Doerfer, Beldiceanu concluded that this term meant une armure pour homme et cheval,5 The term was in fact derived from the Persian kajin or kazhin, which, according to A.S. Melikian-Chirvani, referred to a type of armour in which silk waste (kaj or kazh) was attached to chain mail with glue and concealed from sight by silk coverings. When armour of this type was for men it was called kazhaghand, and when it was for horses it was called bargustvan-i kajin (or kazhin), which was abbreviated to kajin (or kazhin), a word also found in the form kajimfi On this basis it seems more than likely that the Ottoman term kecim meant 'horse armour, bards'.

' B e r t r a n d o n de La Broquière (ed. Schéfer, p. 219) described the O t t o m a n s ' body armour as follows: Et les ay veu porter des brigandines assés belles de plus menue escaille que celles que nous portons et des garde-bras de mesme, et sont de la façon que on voit en peintures du temps de Julie Cesar et sont de la longueur jusques auprès de la demie cuisse et au bout atachent des draps de soye tout autour qui va jusques à demie jambe. In both published English translations (by T. Johnes Early Travels in Palestine, ed. T Wright; London, 1848, pp. 3 6 4 - 5 ; by G.R. Kline, New York, 1988, p. 141) escaille is rendered ' r i n g s ' , but the brigandine was made of small metal plates which may have been the scales intended. See, for example, a brigandine of circa 1 5 0 0 - 1 5 5 0 (W. J. Karcheski. Jr. Arms and Armour in The Art Institute of Chicago [Boston, 1995], p. 24). ^Bertrandon de La Broquière, Schéfer (éd.), p. 2 1 9 - 2 0 . 3

S e e , f o r example, J.M. Rogers. Empire of the Sultans. Nasser D. Khalili (Geneva, 1995). nos 8 3 - 8 5 .

Ottoman

Art from

the Collection

of

4

S e e , for example, Rogers, nos 81, 82. For a f r a g m e n t of another type, with a large, circular, convex plate at front and back, see Rogers, no. 86. ^Beldiceanu, Le timar, pp. 86-"'. ^A.S. Melikian-Chirvani. ' B a r s o s t v â n ' . Encyclopœdia 1993), p. 796.

Iranica,

III ( L o n d o n and New Y o r k ,

M E N - A T - A R M S ,

H A U B E R K S

A N D

B A R D S

345

As with the other forms of armour discussed above, Ottoman horse armour of this period survives only when it was made of iron mail or plate; 1 but it was probably produced in a variety of materials, including quilted textile and leather. The connection with silk was not lost, for horse armour was often made more splendid by rich silk coverings, just as Ottoman hauberks were hidden by silk surcoats. 2

The four terms

together

The information given above shows that the four words under discussion refer to four categories of cavalrymen, who were classed in terms of the minimum amount of arms and armour they had to bear. For the first, the gulams, there was no minimum: they could appear on campaign with no arms or armour. Men of the second category, the cebelus, had to bring or be provided with a bow and arrows, a sword, a shield, a lance, a mace, and armour of some sort that protected their torso. Men of the third class, signalled by the term burtime, had to bring or be provided with the same arms, but they also had to wear armour that covered the whole body. Men of the fourth category, marked by the term kecim, had to bring or be provided with horse armour, in addition to the arms and personal armour borne by those in the third category. One contemporary source presents a synoptic account of the Ottoman timar levies that supports this analysis, at least in terms of the second, third and fourth categories of cavalrymen mentioned above. This is the Recollecta of Iacopo de Promontorio, which, according to the editor, was compiled circa 1475. 3 In the section in question we are told that one sancak-begi, whom Iacopo called the capitano di Constantinopoli, had under his command 1200 horsemen (huomini 1200 tutti a cavallo bene in puncto). As with the forces of other begs he mentioned, these are divided into three parts, according to the type of arms they bore. One-third of the capitano'& forces, or 400 men, had 'cuirasses, 4 mail, helmets, a bow and arrows, a shield, a sword, a mace clothed in iron, and a light lance with a banner at the tip' (coraze, panziere, celate, arco, saette, targhetta, spada maza ferrata, lanciotto cum bandiera in cima), and fifty of these rode on horses that were imbardati, 'decked in bards'. The remaining 800 had only 'a bow and arrows, a sword, a shield, a mace, and a

' F o r a particularly fine illustration of bards of this period, see A Survey of Persian Art from Pre-historic Times to the Present, A.U. Pope (ed.) 6 vols, (Oxford, 1938-9), pi. 1405. This example was attributed to Iran, while Missilier & Ricketts, no. 3, which is all but identical, was classed as Ottoman. This, at any rate, is how the;' appear in 16th-century O t t o m a n b o o k illustrations; see, for example, Atil, pp. 132, 138. ^Iacopo de Promontorio, Babinger (ed.), pp. 4 8 - 6 0 ; see also Beldiceanu, l£ timar, pp. 7 5 - 6 . This may refer to the sets of small plates guarding the area a b o v e the waist in Ottoman 'hauberks' rather than to Western-style sets of breast- and back-plates, but see above, n. 57.

346

TIM

STANLEY

lance'. 1 The last group of 800 men were evidently cebeliis, as, apart from the mace, they bear the arms listed in the Ottoman source quoted above. There can also be little doubt that the arms borne by the other 400 relate to the Ottoman biirume and kecim categories. A tantalizing feature of the passage concerning the capitano di Constantinopoli lies in the calculation of the number of bards to be supplied. Iacopo's figure of 50 men on cavalli ... imbardati would suggest that the capitano in question had an income of 2.5 million akgas, for regulation no. 2 lays down that a sancak-begi had to provide one set of bards (kecim) for ever)' 50,000 akgas of income, and this is supported by records in 15th-century timar registers. 2 Iacopo gives his income as 60,000 ducats. At a rate of 4 1 ^ 2 akgas to the ducat, 60,000 ducats would be equivalent to 2.46 to 2.52 million akgas\ and a rate somewhere in this region prevailed in the 1450s, when Iacopo was last resident at the Ottoman court. 3 But other figures do not fit this pattern. The capitano Vardarii, for example, had to provide 100 sets of bards for an income of only 12,000 ducats. In this case the problem would be solved if the capitano's income were increased tenfold, to 120,000 ducats. It may be, therefore, that some of the figures in the published text are corrupt.

BELDICEANU'S DATING OFTHE REGULATIONS As stated above, a dating of 1455 was proposed for the text of regulations 1 - 3 by NicoarS Beldiceanu on the basis of an examination of the 'men-and-tent' notes in the large number of 15th-century timar registers to which he had access. He claimed that in a period that lasted until 1455, timars were granted with widely varying 'men-and-tent' obligations. In a second period, which extended through the following decade, a direct correlation was established between the value of a fief and the holder's 'men-and-tent' obligations, and this occurred through the implementation of the regulations issued in 1455. The third period followed a tax survey that Beldiceanu believed to have taken place in AH 869 (AD 1464-5). In this period, which extended into the reign of Bayezid il (1481-1512), the inclusion of 'men-and-tent' notes became erratic; they were no longer necessary, since the timar h o l d e r ' s obligations had been standardized, and only the conservatism of older officials kept the habit of including the notes alive.

' i a c o p o de Promontorio, Babinger (ed.), pp. 4 9 - 5 0 . 2

S e e , for example, N. Todorov and B. Nedkov (eds.), Turski izvori za b'lgarskata istoriya. Seriya XV-XVI, II (= Izvori za h 'Igarskata istoriya, XIII), Sofia, 1966, no. 4, folios 3 a - 4 b . Pamuk, ' M o n e y in the Ottoman Empire. 1326-1914', An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1914. H. inalcik and D. Quataert (eds.), (Cambridge, 1994), p. 954, table A: 1. Beldiceanu, loc. cit.. gave a rate of 40 akgas f o r 1460-61.

MEN-AT-ARMS,

HAUBERKS

AND

BARDS

347

Some doubt as to the value of Beldiceanu's conclusions is provoked by the carelessness with which he quoted his published sources. For example, three of the registers he listed as dating from the reign of Murad II are drawn f r o m documents in the SS Cyril and Methodius National Library in Sofia published in 1966.' The editors either dated these documents to the middle of the 15th century or offered no dating at all; but Strashimir Dimitrov has since shown that the first two are part of a register prepared in 1479 or 1480, and that the third is part of a register prepared under Mehmed II in 1444-5. 2 For this reason none of the three belongs to either of the reigns of Murad 11(142.1 — 1444; 1446-51). What is even more alarming, however, is that Beldiceanu also included the third document among the registers he attributed to Mehmed li s first reign! 3 MMD no. 231, p. 39 This carelessness is also reflected in Beldiceanu's use of the manuscript sources. T o demonstrate that in the reign of Murad II there was no regular relationship between the value of a timar and the obligations imposed on its holder, he quoted three entries from MMD no. 231. According to Beldiceanu, the sipahi in his first example, on p. 39 of the register (see appendix 3a), was in receipt of 666 akgas and had to present himself in full armour (btirume) and bring one attendant (gulam). T h e 'men-and-tent' obligations were correctly recorded, but the timar described in the original entry, that is, as it was in 1431-2, without the subsequent annotations, was worth considerably more. 'Timar of Balaban, |formerly | a page of the Signior. He is reported to have held it since the time of the late Sultan [that is, Mehmed I]. He has in his possession a written title issued by [that] Sultan.' [i] The village of K?: 11 households, 3 unmarried men; revenues, 7 6 4 \akgai>\. |ii] The village of ?Panza: 10 households, 1 widow; revenues, 776 \akga%\. fiii] The village of Topolyani: 8 households; revenues, 666 [a&fas|. | i v | The village of Istepanay: empty.' It is clear f r o m this that the note mentioning 666 akgas refers to the revenues f r o m village [iii| only and is not the total for the timar as a whole, for which, it appears, Beldiceanu mistook it. He seems to have failed to check whether the entry continued on p. 40. There, at the top of the page, we find the actual total for the timar, the uninhabited village of which was listed as a mezra'a,

that is, an area of arable land without a permanent population:

^Beldiceanu, Le timar, p. 16, n. 16 the documents are Todorov & Nedkov, nos 4, 5 , 8 . ^S. Dimitrov, ' Z a datirovkata na nyakoi osmanski registri ot XV v.', Izvestiya na B'lgarskoto istorichesko druzhestw, XXVI, 1 % 8 , pp. 239, 241-4. ^Beldiceanu, loc. cit., citing the facsimiles of the document (Todorov & Nedkov, part 2, pp. 321-58).

348

TIM

STANLEY

'Total: 3 villages, 1 mezra'a;

29 households, 1 widow, 2 unmarried

men; revenues, 2196 lafyas).' MMD no. 231, p. 13 Beldiceanu's reading of his second example, on p. 13 (see appendix 3b), was no better. He claimed that the sipahi w a s in receipt of 1443 akgas,

for

which he had to present himself in full armour and bring one man-at-arms and one attendant (and one tent of the tengetur

type). The main body of the entry

on this page may be interpreted as follows: 'Tlmar of Abdullah, [formerly] Page of the Slipper fto the Sultan], He has in his possession a written title issued by our Sultan. | i | The village of K?: 16 households, 2 widows, 2 unmarried m e n ; revenues, 960 \akga$\. [ii] The village of Novo Selo: 6 households; revenues, 353 [akgas], [iiil The village of Z?: 2 households, 1 widow; revenues, 130 [ a % a s | . [Total:] 3 villages; 2 4 households, 3 widows, 2 unmarried men; revenues, 1443 \akgasV But the entry continues on p. 14: 'Supplement. [Abdullah| has brought an order, to be obeyed by the world, f r o m our Sultan, stating that, ' H i s tlmar is too small. You are to extract a tlmar large enough for his sustenance from unassigned revenues'. He has also identified a great number of households in the possession of Messire Paolo and Messire Eli that were hidden | f r o m the registrars], and he has brought an inventory of them, with their names. We have therefore taken one village each from them and given [those villages] to the abovementioned [Abdullah |. in accordance with the order from our Sultan. [iv] The village of ?Zolyani, |which he holds] in succession to Messire Paolo: [one] state vineyard; 35 households, 2 unmarried m e n , 2 widows; revenues, 1980 \akga&\. [v] The village of Yarakari, |which he holds] in succession to Messire Eli: 3 state vineyards; 22 households, 2 widows; revenues, 1592 [akgas\. [Total:] 2 villages; 57 households, 4 unmarried m e n ; revenue, 3572 \akga&].' And the final total is at the top of p. 15: 'The grand total of the old timar with the supplement: 5 villages, 81 households, 6 unmarried men, 5 widows; revenue, 5005 ]a£pas[.'

MEN-AT-ARMS,

HAUBERKS

AND

BARDS

349

It is clear that, as Beldiceanu again failed to turn to the next p a g e and read the rest of the entry, h e again failed to i d e n t i f y the total r e v e n u e s on which the timar-holder's

'men-and-tent' obligations were calculated.

MMD no. 231, p. 19 A c c o r d i n g to B e l d i c e a n u , in the third e x a m p l e , on p. 19 of the register, the sipahl

w a s in r e c e i p t of 5 3 1 0 akgas

a n d w a s s u b j e c t to the s a m e

obligations as in the s e c o n d e x a m p l e . In this case, he was correct. T h e m a i n body of the entry m a y be translated as follows: 'Timor

of S u n k u r , | f o r m e r l y | a p a g e of the Signior. It is reported

that K o g e k § a h i n held it in the t i m e of the late Sultan; that he died; and that t h e y g a v e it to t h e a b o v e - m e n t i o n e d | S u n k u r ] in the time of o u r p r e s e n t Sultan. H e has in his p o s s e s s i o n a written title issued by our present Sultan. | i | T h e village of ?Panarit: 1 state vineyard; 3 2 h o u s e h o l d s , 3 unmarried m e n , 1 w i d o w ; revenue, 2 4 1 0 [ a k p a s ] . |ii] A s h a r e of the village of ?Izgari: 4 2 h o u s e h o l d s , 4 u n m a r r i e d m e n ; revenue, 2 9 0 0

[akgas\.

[Total:] 2 villages; 7 8 h o u s e h o l d s , 1 w i d o w , 4 u n m a r r i e d m e n ; r e v e n u e , 5310

\akgas\.'

T h e actual values of the f i e f s of A b d u l l a h and S u n k u r were, then, very close, at 5 0 0 5 and 5 3 1 0 akgas respectively. A n e x a m i n a t i o n of other entries in the s a m e register c o n f i r m s this pattern. F o r e x a m p l e , the holders of three other timdrs

in the section that deals with the district of Permeti (the section f r o m

which B e l d i c e a n u took his three e x a m p l e s ) h a v e the s a m e ' m e n - a n d - t e n t ' obligations: ' [ H e is to present] himself [inj full a r m o u r , [with] o n e m a n - a t a r m s , o n e a t t e n d a n t and o n e tengetiir

[tent].' T h e first of t h e s e (p. 9) w a s

valued at 4 6 6 0 akgas, the second (p. 21), at 3 9 1 3 akgas, and the third (pp. 2 3 24), at 5 4 5 8 akgas.

T h u s , in all f i v e e x a m p l e s the r e l a t i o n s h i p between the

value of t h e timar and the ' m e n - a n d - t e n t ' obligations w a s evidently determined by a scale similar to that f o u n d in the Book of the Ottoman

Custom

(Part II,

Section 1, no. 1; see a p p e n d i c e s 1 and 2). I n d e e d , all f i v e e x a m p l e s are in accord w i t h clause 1(d) of this regulation, w h i c h d e a l s with timdrs 4 0 0 0 - 5 0 0 0 akgas.

worth

B e l d i c e a n u ' s h y p o t h e s i s that b e f o r e 1455 there w a s no

regularity in the relationship between the value of a timar a n d the ' m e n - a n d tent' obligations incumbent on it is therefore f a l s e , and his c o n s e q u e n t dating of r e g u l a t i o n s nos 1 - 3 to 1455 is u n f o u n d e d . W h a t is m o r e , t h e r e a r e indications that the scales applied during the reigns of M u r a d II and M e h m e d II were not t h o s e set o u t in the Book of the Ottoman

Custom.

350

TIM

STANLEY

'MEN-AND-TENT' OBLIGATIONS IN 1479-80 To demonstrate this we may turn to one of documents in the National Library in Sofia referred to above. 1 This consists of the first 60 leaves of a summary register for the sancak of Nikopol in north-central Bulgaria, and it was drawn up in 1479-80, 2 about the time when, according to Beldiceanu, the Book of the Ottoman Custom was compiled. It is clear, however, that several classes of fief recorded in this register have 'men-and-tent' notes that were calculated at rates different to those given in the Book. In each case the change relates to the number or type of tents and tengetiirs to be provided. It seems that in the period between 1480 and the compilation of the Book t h e responsibility for providing these was moved in part from the sipdhis to the suba$is. The register contains 18 entries relating to the fiefs of siiba§is (here called ze'amets), and in 14 cases the 'men-and-tent' obligations were calculated on the following basis: 3 (1) The siiba§i was to present himself for campaign in full armour. (2) He was to bring with him one man-at-arms for every 4000 akgas of income. (3) Where the suba^'s income exceeded a multiple of 4000 akgas by 1000-3000 akgas, he also had to bring with him an 'attendant' (gulam). (4) He had to prov ide one set of horse armour for every 30,000 akgas. (5) If his income was below 30,000 akgas he had to supply one tent; and if it was above 30,000 akgas he had to supply one tent and one tengetiir. A comparison with 'men-and-tent' regulation no. 3 (see appendix 2) shows the following. Obligations (1) and (3) are not mentioned in the regulation; they appear to have been taken for granted. Obligations (2) and (4) are the same in both sources. Obligation (5) differs from the rate set in regulation no. 3, according to which a suba$i had to provide one tent and one tengetiir if his income was below 30,000 akgas, and two tents and one tengetiir ' T o d o r o v & Nedkov, no. 4; set part 1. pp. 160-297; part 2, pp. 117-231. 2

D i m i t r o v (pp. 2 4 1 ^ t ) based this dating on a reference to Basarab IV of Wallachia (r. 1 4 7 7 1482) on folio 9b. In addition, a l ief on folio 5a had been constituted from villages that were the waqf of Firuz Beg in the previous register. We may presume that the formation of this fief w a s associated with Mehmed II's abolition of many waqf foundations in 1478. ^ O n e of the other four (Todorov & Nedkov, no. 4, folio 32b) was worth only 4 8 2 9 akças, and its 'men-and-tent' obligations were calculated according to the scale used for sipdhis. T w o (folios 38a, 49b) have 'men-and-tent' notes that are too high (nine men-at-arms and one attendant for 35,482 akças\ and seven men al arms and one attendant for 25,437 akças). The fourth is the fief constituted f r o m the f o r m e r waqf of Firuz Beg in 1478 (see n. 71), and its holder w a s required to supply only five men-at-arms for an estimated income of 28,000 akças.

MEN-AT-ARMS,

HAUBERKS

if his income was above 30,000 akgas. obligations of stibaps, obligations of lesser

BARDS

351

This represents an increase in the

whereas the other changes show reductions in the timar-holders.

In regulation no. 1 a tengettir timars

AND

had to be supplied by the holders of

worth 4 0 0 0 - 8 0 0 0 akgas, and a tent by those with timars

worth 9000

akgas or more. In the Nikopol register, however, a tengettir was required from those with an income of 3 0 0 0 - 5 0 0 0 akgas,

and a tent f r o m those with an

income of 5500 akgas or more. The evidence is as follows: (a) 46 out of 4 8 entries for timars

worth 2 7 6 5 - 3 7 6 7 akgas

have

'men-and-tent' notes requiring the holder to present himself for campaign in full armour, with a man-at-arms and a tengettir regulations does not require the

(clause 1(c) of the

tengettir)'}

(b) 4 3 out of 4 8 entries for timars

worth 3 8 1 4 - 5 2 7 0 akgas

have

'men-and-tent' notes that match clause 1(d) of the regulations; 2 (c) 23 out of 28 entries for timars

worth 5 2 8 2 - 6 7 4 2 akgas

have

'men-and-tent' notes requiring the holder to bring two men-at-arms and a tent (clause 1(e) requires a tengettir in place of the tent); 3 (d) 15 out of 20 entries for timars

worth 6 8 1 0 - 8 3 6 2 akgas

have

'men-and-tent' notes requiring the holder to bring two men-at-arms, an 'attendant' and a tent (again, clause 1(f) requires a tengettir in place of the tent); 4 and (e) 4 out of 6 entries for timars worth 8497-9051 akgas have 'menand-tent' notes that match clause 1(g) of the regulations. 5 Thus the 'men-and-tent' regulations in force in 1479-80 were different in several important respects from those included in the Book of the Ottoman Custom. W h a t is more, the same regime can be detected in registers dated 1 4 6 7 - 8 and earlier. 6 W e can only conclude f r o m this that the regulations included in the Book were promulgated after 1480. ' T h e exceptions are T o d o r o v & Nedkov, no. 4, folios 10a (G®h^ncibagidur, (yaraywca egkuncisi e§er).

eçmez),

53b

z

T h e exceptions are Todorov & Nedkov, no. 4, folios 26a (t^m®r of the kâdi of T ' r n o v o ) , 28b and 4 8 b (joint tlmars,), 3 4 b (timàr of the çavuj of the beglerbegi of Rumelia), 60a (a timàr worth 5239 akças with 'men-and-tent' notes in the next category up). 3

The timàr ^The limar 5 6

exceptions are Todorov & Nedkov, no. 4, folios 6 b - 7 a , 8b, 8a-b, 22b (joint tlmars), 58a (a worth 5311 akças with 'men-and-tent' notes in the next category down). five exceptions (Todorov & Nedkov, no. 4, folios 9a, 10b, 28a, 52b, 59a) are all joint s.

T h e two exceptions (Todorov & Nedkov, no. 4, folios 8b, 50a) are both joint

timars.

T w o examples are Atatiirk Library, Istanbul, MS. M.C. 0 . 9 0 , a register f o r sancak of Vidin dated AH 859 (AD 1 4 5 4 - 5 ) ; and Ba§bakanlik Argivi, Istanbul, TTD no. 4, a register f o r Macedonia dated to 1467-8. For the first, see D. Bojanii v J I ¿ i ^ ^ j i - j jA

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354

TIM

STANLEY

APPENDIX lb A tentative reconstruction of the original form of Part II, Section 1, regulations 1 - 3 of the Book of the Ottoman Custom. It is based on the text found in MS. Revan Kogkii 1935, folios 14a-b (see appendix la), but this has been reformed on the model of MS. A.F.T. 85, folios 293b-294a.

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356

TIM

STANLEY

APPENDIX 2 Translation of Part II, Section 1, regulations 1 - 3 of the Book of the Custom.

Ottoman

As the Ottoman text is so terse, especially in the case of regulation no. 1, the translation that follows was prepared in the light of the few comparable texts that approach a full sentence in form. These include the 'men-and-tent' notes in a timdr register for the sancak of Teke-eli dating from the 1460s, some of which have been published by Beldiceanu; one, for example, reads, Kendii buriime cebelii He e§e, ' | T h e holder) shall present himself for campaign in full armour, accompanied by a man-at-arms'. 1 Translation [1(a).] The holder of a timdr worth 1,000 akgas [shall present] himself [for campaign] equipped as a man-at-arms. ] 1(b).] The holder of |a nmar\ worth 2,000 akgas equipped as a man-at-arms, | with] one attendant.

|shall present] himself

[1(c).) The holder of [a timdr] worth 3,000 akgas [shall present] himself in full armour, [with] one man-at-arms. 11(d).] The holder of [a timdr] worth 4,000, 4,500 or 5,000 akgas [shall present] himself in full armour, [ withl one man-at-arms, one attendant and one tengetiir,2 [1(e). It is incumbent] upon the holder of a timar worth 5,500 or 6,000 akgas [to present] himself in full armour, [with] two men-at-arms and one tengetiir. [1(f). It is incumbent! upon the holder of [a timdr worth] 7,000, 7,500 or 8,000 akgas [to present| himself in full armour, [with] two men-at-arms, one attendant and one tengetiir. 11(g). It is incumbent] upon the holder of [a timdr] worth 9,000 akgas present] himself in full armour, [with] three men-at-arms and one tent.

[to

[1(h). It is incumbent] upon the holder of |a timdr worth] 10,000, 10,500 or 11,000 akgas [to present| himself in full armour, [with] three men-at-arms, one attendant and one tent.

'Istanbul, Ba^bakanlik Ar§ivi. MMD no.14, folio 211b; N. Beldiceanu, Le timar dans I'Etat ottoman (debut xiv'-de'but xvi" siecle), Wiesbaden, 1980, pp.83—4. On the translation of buriime as 'in full armour' and cebelii as 'man-at-arms', see above. 2 On the term tengetiir, which may have referred to a tent-like shelter for men on watch, see above.

MEN

AT- A R M S ,

HAUBERKS

AND

BARDS

357

| l ( i ) . It is incumbent] upon the holder of [a timar worth] 12,000 akga presentl himself in full armour, | with] four men-at-arms and one tent.

[to

| l ( j ) . It is incumbent] upon the holder of [a timar worth] 15,000 akga present] himself in full armour, [with] five men-at-arms and one tent.

|to

[ l(k).] One man-at-arms J is d u e | for every 3,000 akgas of revenue in excess of this, and one attendant for [an excess] that is 1,500 or 2,000 akgas. [2. ] One man-at-arms |is due] for every 5,000 akgas ¡accruing to] sancak-begis, and one set of horse armour for every 50,000 akgas. Two awnings [are due] for [revenues] above this, and one awning for [revenues] below it, 1 [as well as] a tent with a sokak for his own residence, 2 a treasury tent, a commissary tent, a kitchen and a saddlery. |3.| One man-at-arms [is due] for every 4,000 akgas [accruing to] suba§is, and one set of horse armour for every 30,000 akgas; and two tents and one tengetiir |are due] for | r e v e n u e s | above this, and one tents and one tengetiir f o r Irevenues] below it.

' o n the nature of these ' a w n i n g s ' , which were designed to protect a tent f r o m the heat of the s u n , s e e above. L

K sokak was a textile 'wall' that screened the tents of great men; see above.

358

TIM

STANLEY

APPENDIX 3a MMD no. 231, p. 39.

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MEN-AT-ARMS, HAUBERKS AND BARDS MMD no. 231, p. 40.

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360

TIM

STANLEY

APPENDIX 3b MMD no. 231, p. 13.

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. For numerous other manuscript copies of the main text, see F. Babinger, Die Geschichtsschreiber der Osmanen und Ihre Werke (Leipzig, 1927), p. 83. According to Flügel, Die arabischen, persischen und türkischen Handschriften der KaiserlichKöniglichen Hofbibliothek II (Vienna 1865), pp. 9 1 - 2 , five of the same six takriz> (lacking that by Mehmed Bahsi) preface one of the Vienna manuscripts. ^E.g. two takrii in Arabic in the miin^e'at, of 'Azmizäde Häleti (d. 1040/1631), B L Or. 1169: (i) for a treatise on medicine b> f a b i b Beyzäde (d. 1029/1620; ' O s m a n l i mii'ellifleri III, 209), 18a-b; (ii) for the mün^e'ät of Gänizäde Nädiri (see below), 18b-19a. 3 4

Tähir-iil-Mevlevi, Edebiyat

Lwjati (1936, repr. Istanbul, 1973), 143, citing Mu'allim Naci.

S i n c e two of the six takrii below refer specifically to the genealogical tables f e a t u r i n g prominently in Nuhbetü't-levärih ve 'l-ahbär, it can be assumed that the work was seen by the six writers. % o r biographical references, see notes to the relevant takriz below.

P U F F

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P A T R O N A G E

literary figures of the time, would have carried most weight and was applied for as a matter of course. His History is a basic chronicle with no rhetorical or philosophical pretensions, its chief virtue being succinctness. It was not the type of work which could be appreciated only by a highly-educated mind and would not have needed 'ulema assessment for that reason. Given the few examples available for comparison, it is impossible to determine whether six represents an average or a large number of takriz for any one work. If takriz were generally loose-leaf and not bound into a manuscript, they could easily have become separated from the text and lost. The evidence of only three takriz relating to the miin§e'at of Nergisi 1 might suggest that kdtib Mehmed, with six, was trying particularly hard to gain attention. His efforts appear to have been successful, in that by the time of his death in 1050/1640 he is described as miiderris at the E m i r i i ' l - i i m e r a medrese in B e y l e r b e y i . 2 Despite Kàtib Celebi's assessment of Nuhbetu't-tevàrih as essentially an abridged version of Cennàbi's history, the work was sufficiently appreciated for a second, extended version of it to be presented to Murad IV in the late 1630s, and for it to be used as a source by Pegevi. 3 Quite what weight such takriz carried is perhaps debatable. On the one hand, they must have had sufficient positive value to make the whole practice worthwhile for the petitioner. On the other, the favourable character references are as formulaic as other aspects of the takriz, with no clear evidence that the historian was well known personally to the six 'ulema writers. 4 There was probably a standard fee for the composition of such mini-eulogies. The purpose may have been as much to draw the author and his work to the attention of the scholarly/literary élite as it was to recommend him/it to the sultan, the erstwhile dedicatee. The more people who knew of a work, the greater likelihood that copies would be commissioned and that both work and author would become widely recognised. Literary patronage, therefore, involved not simply the largesse of the ultimate dedicatee of a work, but included also takriz-writing as a means of bringing the work to the attention of a wider circle of readers. Many a work presented to the sultan was received into the palace library rarely to be seen again. Flattering this may have been; of practical value it was not.

' w r i t t e n by § e y h M e h m e d §erili, ' A z m i z ä d e and G ä n i z ä d e ; see J.R. Walsh, ' T h e Esälibü'lmekätib (mün^e'ät) of Mehmed Nergisi E f e n d i ' , Archivum Ottomanicum I (1969) PD 213302. 2

S e e Babinger, GOW, 182, and Flügel, Handschriften, 9 1 - 2 . 'Osmanh also describes the author as Haci Mehmed Efendi. •i - Ta'rlh (Istanbul, 1281/1864), I, p. 3 given in Pegevi's list of sources.

mU'ellifleri

III, 11-12

^In contrast to N e r g i s i , a kädi w h o probably knew personally all his takrii -writers and also Zekeriyäzäde Y a h y ä to w h o m Esälibü'l-mekätib was dedicated — which raises a different question about the purpose of takrii.

398

CHRISTINE

WOODHEAD

In form, a takriz was typically between one half to a full folio side in length, with the writer's name and current post (but no date) given at the end In content, it contained two standard elements: a statement of the value of the; type of writing in question (here, of history as a guide for present statesmen) and general praise for the current work within that context; a statement of the worthiness of its author and a plea that he be advanced in his career.

TAKRlZ 1. AHlZÀDE1 [2b] El-hamdii li-veliyi-hi. ìnne fi hàli men 'aborre 'ibare 'llezi i'tabere fehvàsi iizre bu sifr-i cedici ve muhtasar-i miifìd bir kitàb-i hikmet-nisàb-i mii§kin-nikàbdur ki lakad kàne fi kisasi-htm 'ibreten li-uli' 1-elbàb2 kerimesinden ref'-i hicab ider. Mesàlik-i 'adl-ii-dàdi ve menàhic-i rii§d-u-§edàdi, tarik-i ma'delete siiluk iden miiluka desturu'l-'amel, ve ihkàm-i ahkàm-i din-u-devlet idenlere kànun-i miicmeldiir. Ve cennàt-i cvrakina saha'if-i nur ve sutur-i kelimàtine kalà'id-i miinhur diyense, sezàvardur Te'lìfine muvaffak olan bende-i sàhib-kemàl-i mahmùdu'l-hisàliifi hàline miinàsib olan manàsibdan her ne ihsàn buyurulsa giincàyi§i vardur. Ve'l-emrii li-men ileyhi'l-umur. Eyyede-hii 'llahii ta'àlà fì nazmi umuri '1-cumhur. Ketebe-hii 'l-'abdù' 1-fakir Hiiseyn ibn Mehmedel-ma'rtif bi-Ahizàde.

Translation Praise be upon him who is near God.

' § e y h u l i s l a m Ahizade Huseyin b. Mehmed (d. 1043/1634); in 1620 retired from the o f f i c e of kaz'asker of Anatolia ( N e v ' i z à d e ' A t a ' i , Zeyl-i §eka'ik-i Nu'mànlye, istanbul, 1268/1852, pp. 7 5 5 - 7 ; Turkiye Diyanet Vakfi islam Ansiklopedisi Ì (istanbul, 1988), pp. 548-9). *Koran 12/111.

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This is a book full of the musky-black marks of w i s d o m , a new compilation and a valuable epitome. It amply illustrates the verse 'in their histories are lessons for men of understanding', and the saying 'with his words he gives warning'. For kings who seek to follow the path of justice, the routes to justice and equity and the orthodox, well-directed methods shown herein are a collection of precedents for action. For those who administer the decrees of state and religion, it is a summary code. If one were to call the heavenly gardens of its pages leaves of light, or the rows of its words necklaces of eternal verses, it would be fitting. Whatever o f f i c e appropriate to his circumstances w h i c h may be bestowed upon its author — a man of excellence and praiseworthy qualities — he would be well fitted for it. Authority rests with him who has c h a r g e of a f f a i r s . M a y God strengthen him in ordering the affairs of the community. Written by the h u m b l e servant Hiiseyin ibn M e h m e d k n o w n as Ahizáde.

2. YAHYÀ1 Bu kitàb-i b e d í ' ü ' l - ü s l ü b ki pcnge-i mubàrekeyi mintemi! bir bóstàn-i mergüb ve hikem-ü-'iberi mutazammin faslü'l-hitab-i [3a] feva'id-mashübdur ki hakká §eb-ü-rüz enls-ü-celís idinüb s e m r - ü - s e m e r i n d e n m ü n t e f i ' - v ü mütemetti' olacak eser-i n e ñ s olmi§dur. Sa'àdetlii Zillü'llah-i 'adàlet-destgàh hazretlerinüfi - hullede 'lláhü miilke-hü - 'avatif-i 'alíyelerinden bir mansib-i münasib ile mü'ellif-i dà'ileri mazhar-i iltifàt-u-'inàyet buyurilmak kulüb-i miistehakkini tatyib, v e erbab-i [ ] 2 nice asàr-i cernile tertlbine terglb olmagla, in §à'a 'lláhü safàhat-i 'àlemde zikr-i cemilleriniiñ bakàsina vesile ve sebeb-i ihràz-i ucür-i cezile ola.

§eyhulislam Yahya b. Zekeriya (d. 1053/1644); in (620 retired f r o m the post of kaz'asker of Anatolia (Usaqlzade, Zeyl-i Suqd'iq, ed. H.J. Kissling [Wiesbaden, 19651, p. 90). U s a q i z a d e states that Yahya was well-known for his takriz-writing, mentioning that he too wrote a takriz for Tabib B e y z a d e ' s medical treatise (p. 92). ^ W o r d obliterated in text.

400

C H R I S T I N E

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Ve mine 'llähi 't-tevfik. Harrare-hii 'l-'abdii'd-dä'i Yahyä el-fakir.

Translation This is a book rare in style, a much desired garden containing the palm of the blessed five names. 1 and a valuable exhortation of philosophic advice. In truth, it is a fine work from which those who refer to it constantly, day and night, will both profit and take enjoyment in the wealth of its contents. Were his excellency the Shadow of God, the referent through his royal bounty of seekers after justice, to honour its author, his servant, with the noble gift of a suitable position, this would gladden the hearts of all those similarly deserving, and would encourage men of learning to compose many excellent works. God willing, it would lead to the sultan's name being permanently praised in the pages of the world, and would lead to the acquisition of many rewards. From God comes success. Written by the humble petitioner, Yahya.

3. § E Y H S l V A S l 2

Ve kiillen nakussu 'aleyke min enba'i'r-rusiili ma niisebbitii bi-hi f i i ' a d e - k e 3 ve inne fi kisast-htm 'ibreten li-uli'l-elbab 4 m e f h u m i n c a zevi'l•• elbabe ru§endiir ki riisul-ii-enbiya hiilefa-yi Hiida ve esatin-i selatin zilal-i Rabb-i a'ladur. Ve her 5 tarafun hikayat ve kisas[i?] ve gend ruz bu dar-i hay at-1 faniye vasita'-i celal-i cemal-i ilahi ile zahir olan dadugirleri katresi, ve kabz-u•• bast ve mahv-u-isbatlan zerresi hazret-i y e m h u ma yesa'ii v e yiisbitii 6 olan malikii'l-miilk ve melikii'l-mulukun, bahr-i muhit-i kahhariyet-ii-lutfindari §i'ar-u miinbi, ve afitab-i 'avalim-tab-i kudretinden ni§an-u-5a§ni olub; ve

' a reference t o p e n g e - i äl-i aba. a drawing in the shape of the palm of the hand containing the five names Muhammad, Ali, Hasan, Hiiseyin and Fatima. 2

H a l v e t i jey/i and scholar ' A h d i i ' l - m e c i d Siväsi (d. 1049/1639); in 1620 preacher at the mosque of Ahmed I (Pegevi, 7V/ 'rift I, pp. 357-8; Usaqizäde pp. 4 9 - 5 4 ; 'Osmanh Mii'ellifleri 1, p. 120). ^Koran 11/121.

4

K o r a n 12/111.

6

K o r a n 13/39.

her repeated.

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'alem gun-i fesadle miilemma' — belki kevni fesadle ma' — oldugina, [3bJ izharda mir'at-i miicella oldugigun, bu kitab-i miintehab, mazmun-i fasl-i hitab ruzgarun suret-i kevni ile surur, ve garh-i sitemkarun sad mela'ib-i meta'ibamizle [yiize gelmesine?] gurur ba'is-i fitne-vii-fiitur ve sebeb-i gamum-usebur oldugini miibeyyin va'iz-i bi-lisan ve nasih-i bi-zeban olmaga hayrii'lkelam, belki miirid-i ahiret olan mii'mine ehemm-i m u h a m ve a'zam-i meramdur. Li'llahi derrii kavli-hi, ki kulub-i nasiye-i nasiyeniin maraz-i gafletine §ifa'i-gun sifr-i tibb-i d a f i ' v e kanun-i n a f i ' v e ma'cun-i rafi' olmi§dur. Ve lasiyyema, mazmuninda olan nice fiten-i sitera-amiz-ii-safa-riiba ve'l-emr-i hirasengiz-ii-miisa'ib-numa b i ' z - z a r u r e hazret-i zillii'llah Sultan ' O s m a n — 'ammere-hii 'llahii ve-'eyyede-hu ila ahiri '1-evan — hazretleri sayesinde olan huzur-u-safaya §iikran devarn-i du'a-i devlet-i saltanatlanna sebeb-i kavi ve sena'-i kiyam-i 'izzet-u-§evketlerine ba'is bu fa'ideden gayri olmasi — bu raazmun, bu kitabun bi-baha idiigine hiiccet-i sati'diir. Ena el-fakir §eyh 'Abdii'l-mecid ibn Ebi'l-leys e§-§ehir bi-Sivasi, hadimu'l-va'z fi cami'i Sultan Ahmed — tabe sirrahu.

Translation 'Through all we have related to you of the histories of the prophets we have put strength into your heart; in their histories are lessons for men of understanding.' It is thereby clear to the learned that the prophets are the caliphs of God and the sultans are the shadows of God most high. The stories and narrations [herein?] show the drops of His justice, which through God's greatness are manifested every day and everywhere in this transitory existence, and which are a token from the ocean of overwhelming power and benevolence of God, the incomparable lord, the king of kings, ' H e who confirms and abrogates whatever he pleases'. Each particle in the rays of ebb and flow, of the constant alteration [in circumstances], is a symbol of the power of His world-illumining sun. This book is a mirror showing how the world has been corrupted by all kinds of disorder, that existence and decay go hand in hand. Its significance is to describe how pleasure in the outward forms of worldly existence together with presumptuous pride in confronting the hundred and one distractions, fraught with difficulty, of this cruel sphere, are the causes of endless suffering and strife. Indeed, this book is an excellent example of the silent preacher and advisor. It is of great import and significance to the believer who seeks eternal life.

402

C H R I S T I N E

W O O D H E A D

The achievement of His words is due to God. This is an effective book of medicine, a valuable code of rules, and an effective prescription to treat the canker of heedlessness lodged in the foreheads of the forgetful. In particular, certain instances of tyrannous and unsettling disorder, such terrifying, challenging events, are necessarily a strong reason for [our] unceasing praise and good wishes for the prosperity of the Ottoman state under the rule of his excellency Sultan Osman. and for the continuation of his dignity and power. This, above all else, is clear testimony that this is a priceless book. §eyh 'Abdii'l-mecid ibn Ebi'l-leys, known as Sivasi, preacher at the mosque of Sultan Ahmed.

4. M E H M E D [ B A H S l ] '

[4a] I§bu kitab-i merkum nakil-i tevarih-i kurum-i 'Acem-ii-Rum ve kafil-i §emarih-i 'ulum-i mantik-u-mefhum olub; niisuh-i kadimeyi nesh ve ahbar-i ihyar-i selatin-i pi§ini kema-yenbagi tebyin itmekle kiitiib-i salifeden agna, ve tasnif-i latif oldugi nur-i zeka gibi hiiveydadur. Beyda'-i sahife-i beyza iizre icra itdiigi cedavil-i ahval hadaka'-i a'yana miimasil bir hadika'-i enika riitbesine vasil olmagin, devletlii Padi§ah-i 'alempenah — evsale-hii 'llahii ta'ala fi 'd-darin ila mutemenna-hi — hazretlerine sezavardur ki cami' ve miirettibi olan 'abd-i da'ilerin meramete isal buyurmagla ciimle 'ulema -i a'yana, belki 'amme'-i ashab-i ma'rifet-ii-kemale lutf buyurmu§ olub ciimlesinun hayr du'asin alalar. Harrare-hu fakirii'd-da'i Mehmed e§-§ehir bi-[BahsI] el-kazi bi-'asaklri Anatolu sabikan. 'Afa 'an-hii.

Translation This book relates the histories of the princes of Acem and Rum, and contains the fruits of knowledge as handed down and understood. Because it transcribes from ancient and reliable texts and clarifies in a proper manner the best stories of previous sultans, it is richer than earlier books. It is as clear as a burning flame that this is an elegant composition. The charts of explanatory circumstances made to flow across the empty expanse of its clean white pages approach a degree of beauty similar to the pupil of the eye.

' M e h m e d b. Yusuf (d. 1033/1624); in 1620 retired from post of kaz'asker of Anatolia ('Ata'i, 6 8 6 - 7 ) . In this text he is given as ' M e h m e d e§-§ehir b i - Y a h y a ' , which must be a copyist's error; 'Ata'i, 686, gives 'el-molla Mehmed b. Yusuf e§-§ehir b e y n e ' l - ' u l e m a b i - B a h s i ' .

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It is fitting that the sultan — may God grant his wishes in both worlds — should show compassion towards his humble servant the compiler and arranger o f this material. B y this he would be showing favour to all learned men of distinction, even to all people who seek knowledge and perfection. He would thereby receive the blessings and prayers of all of these. Written by the humble petitioner M e h m e d , known as [ B a h s i ] , former

kaz'asker

of Anatolia. May God pardon him.

5. GÂNlZÀDE1 Zehi kitâb-i miistetab-i dil-pezir ve mecmù'a-i matbù'a-i miinselibetù 'n-nazïr, ki hem sccerc-i miïvzùnesi bahru '1-ensâb-i selàtïn-i cihân içre pençe-i mercân, belki her §àh-i zibâsi nahl-i dil-ârâdur, ki farkmda bir §àm-i fïruzun nâm-i 'âlem-efrùzi §em'-i piïr-lem'ân. Ho§à vâsitatu 'l-'ikd-i kiitùb-i tevàrih ve dâru '1-karâr-i piir-e§càr-i mesmeretii '§-§emàrih, ki her §ecere'-i piir-berg-u-bân diraht-i ser-nigun-i [4b] tuba, yâhûd her sahifesi havz-i cennetdur ki âb-i nàbinda e§câr-i murassa'a-i cinânïye 'aks-nùmâdur. Cedâvil-i §ecerà'i enhâr-i Nil-i ma'rifetdiir ki arâzï-yi evrâk iizre cereyân itmi§, ve etrâfinda olan §iirûh-i ahvâl-i sultànïyenùn sutùrindan câ-be-cà kasabu 's-seken bitmi§. Yâhûd ri§tehâ-yi bârân-i rahmetdur ki bihàr-i sahâ'if iizre nâzil olmi§ ve her biriniin feyz-i kataràt-i kesïrctii '1-berekâtindan asdâf-i 'ibârâti le'alï-yi lem'âm bulmi§. Hakkâ ki te'lifine muvaffak olan hiiner-mend-i zamân agleb-i hisâl-i kudsiye ve kemâlât-i insîyede fâ'ikii '1-akrân olub; mazhar-x mekârim-i sultâniye olmasi miinàsib, belki §e'n-i server! ve §ime-i hiiner-perveriye darbei lâzimdiir. Harrare-hii '1-fakir Mehmed b. 'Abdii'l-gàni — 'àmele-hiimâ 'llàhii ta'âlâ bi-fazli-hi 's-seni — el-kâzï sâbikan bi-'asâkiri '1-mansùn '1-ka'inin fi memâliki Rumili '1-ma'mùre.

'Mehmed b. 'Abdii'l-gâni (d. ¡036/1627); in 1620 retired from post of kaz'asker of Rumitv, 'Atâ'ï, 702-4, records that he also composed a takrii for the miinçe'ât of 'Azmizâde. See also Tiirkiye Diyanet Vakfi Islam Ansiklopedisi 13, 3 5 5 - 6 , 'Ganizade Mehmet Nadiri'. A comparison between the following takrii and that written by Gànîzâde for Nergisi shows how formulaic such compositions could be (cf. Walsh, 'Esâlïbu'l-mekâtîb').

404

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W O O D H E A D

Translation This is an excellent and attractive book, a fine collection without equal Its well-produced genealogical trees are as coral branches in the sea of genealogies of the sultans of the world. Each beautifully-arranged branch is itself a palm tree, with at its head a candle brilliant with the flame which illumines the world on the night of victory. Happily is it the principal jewel in the strong necklace of books of history; it is a permanent abode filled with trees weighed down with date clusters — every tree with its adornment of leaves and branches is like the heavily-laden tuba, the tree of paradise. Further, each page is like the pool of paradise, in the pure water of which the bejewelled trees [of paradise] are reflected. Its genealogical channels are like tributaries of the Nile of knowledge flowing across the landscape of its pages. From the lines of commentary on the circumstances of the sultans, have sprung up here and there on all sides [of the waterways] reed-beds of |habitation/settlements — ?]. Alternatively, these columns are the fine threads of the rain of G o d ' s mercy which have fallen upon the sea of pages. In each case, from the abundance of drops heavy with blessings the gems of writing have become shimmering pearls. In truth, the skilful writer who has composed this book stands above his peers in the superiority of his beliefs and his excellent character. He deserves to be the object of the sultan's favours — it is his turn to benefit from the regard of the prince and his encouragement of skill. Written by Mehmed b. 'Abdii'l-gani — may God bestow his grace upon them both — former kaz'asker of Rumili.

6. TA§KÒPRÙZÀDE> ̧bù kitàb-i miistetàb, hakka ki miyàn-i erbàb-i elbàbda makbul-upesendide, ve mutazammin oldugi havàdis-i ruzgàr ve ahbàr-i ahyàrda ziibde-i tevàrih ve guzide olub; ri^te'-i suturinda manzum olan elfaz-i àbdàr-i letàfetde guyà ki her biri bir diirr-i §àhvàrdur, ve her sahife'-i latifesi bir §ecere'-i §erifeyi mutazammindur ki her semer §àhinda olan esàmi-yi §àhàn-i nàmdàr ol §ecereye meyve'-i §Irin-ii-abdàr olmi§dur.

A b d i i ' s - s a m e d K e m a l i i ' d - d m Mehmed b. A h m e d (d. § e w a l 1030/August 1621) in 1020 retired f r o m the post of kai'asker of Rumili; author of a short historical work, Ta'rih-i s d f , presented to A h m e d I ('Atd'l. 6 4 1 - 2 ; Babinger, GOW, 148-9).

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Hususa ki fatihasi cenab-i [5a] risalet-penah ve mahrem-i esrarli ma'a 'llah [?], hatemii '1-enbiya ve '1-miirselin ve ka'idii '1-garri 'l-miiheccelln, nebi asfa, a'ni hazret-i Muhammad Mustafanun — 'aleyhi mine's-salavat ezka-ha ve mine' t-teslimat enma-ha ve ebha-ha — nam-i §erif ve neseb-i tahir-i nazifini mutazammina §ecere-i mubareketii 's-semere ile muzeyyen-ii-muhalla, ve meraya-yi saha'ifi menakib-i celileleri ile musaykal-ii-miicella olub; uhra dahi nam-i humayun-i ber-giizldegan-i §ahan-i cihan, a'ni silsile'-i 'aliye-i dudman-i selatin-i al-i 'Osman — abika'llahii ta'ala devlete-hiim ila ahiri 'z-zaman ve akarra 'uyune ehli'l-iman bi-devleti sultani-na el-a'zam ila intiha'i 'd-devran — da tamam olmak ile miskiyii' 1-hitam alub, bir kitab-i cami' ve sifr-i nafi' olmi§dur. Hakka ki cami '-vii-musannifi dahi bir ehl-i ma'rifet-ii-kalem ve fenn-i in§a-vu-kitabetde miyan-i akramnda miimtaz-u-'alem-bende-i hass-i sultan-i a'zamdur. Umur-i mu'azzamede istihdama la'ik ve her ne mansib ihsan buyunlsa sezavar-u-mustahikk bendeleridiir. Umiddiir ki re§ehat-i sehab-i neysan-san-i ihsan-i padi§ahan-i cihaniyandan bir katre merkum bendeleri iizre rizan olmak ile giilbiin-i iimidi §adab-u-reyyan ola. Ve'l-emr li-veliyi-hi. Harrare-hii '1-fakir ila 'afvi Rabbi-hi 'Abdii 's-samed Kemalii 'd-din b. Mehmed b. Ahmed el-kazi bi-'asakiri Rumili '1-ma'mure sabikan. 'Afa 'anhiima.

Translation This excellent book will be admired and esteemed among men of sound opinion. The twists of worldly fate and the exemplary narratives which it contains are the best, the esisence of history. Its fresh and elegant expressions arranged line upon line arc each a pearl fit for a king. Every pleasing page contains a noble tree of genealogy, upon the laden branches of which the names of illustrious kings are the sweet succulent fruits of that tree. Above all, its opening section is embellished with that tree of blessed produce which comprises the name and pure genealogy of the stronghold of prophecy, the repository of God's confidences, the seal of the prophets, the unique, the singular, the prophet most pure, Muhammed Mustafa — may the most sincere prayers and the best and most numerous salutations be upon him. The

mirrors

of

accomplishments.

its

pages

are

burnished

bright with his

wonderful

406

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W O O D H E A D

Furthermore, the hook concludes with the crowing glory of the imperial name of the most select kings of this world, namely the illustrious sequence of the sultans of the house of Osman — may God preserve their state for ever and maintain there the leading men of religion until the end of time. In short, it is an all-encompassing, highly valuable composition. In truth, its compiler and arranger is a knowledgeable man of the pen. distinguished among his peers in the arts of composition and secretaryship, a dedicated servant of the greatest of sultans. He is worthy of serving the great affairs of state. Whatever position may be bestowed upon him he would be an appropriate and deserving servitor. It is hoped that a single drop from the dew clouds of spring rain, from the bounty of the ruler of the world, will fall upon him and moisten and quench the thirst of the tender roses of his hopes. Praise be upon him who is near God. Written by the humble servant 'Abdii's-samed Kemalii'd-din Mehmed b. Ahmed, former kaz'asker of Rumili.

University of Durham

UNDER THE INFLUENCE? PRELIMINARY REFLECTIONS ON ARAB MUSIC DURING THE OTTOMAN PERIOD O. WRIGHT

Alongside pieces by Egyptian and Syrian musicians, the late 20thcentury Egyptian instrumental repertoire contains a n u m b e r of O t t o m a n compositions. T h e questions this juxtaposition raises about the nature, rate, extent and durability of Ottoman influence in the A r a b world, about the degree to which it was welcomed or resisted, and the areas it affected or failed to a f f e c t , w h e t h e r of repertoire, m o d a l , r h y t h m i c and f o r m a l parameters, instrumentarium, theoretical conceptualizations, and less tangible aspects of style, are of evident importance. But they have been left largely unexplored in the existing literature on the historical development of A r a b art-music, which has tended to concentrate on earlier periods. What follows, it should at once be said, does not pretend to remedy this deficiency by providing satisfactory answers to them: it attempts no more than to supply an exploratory sketch of certain aspects of a largely neglected area that is as tantalizingly vague as it is important. 1 The lack of attention paid by Turkish historical musicologists to the affairs of the A r a b periphery is understandable. Apart f r o m anything else, the ideological and directly political pressures to which O t t o m a n and postOttoman art-music has been subjected during the course of the 20th century have led to an inevitable concentration on studying (and safeguarding) the core tradition. Just as understandable is the fact that Arab musicologists, given their different perspective, should have shown a comparable lack of concern for the Turkish tradition. But they have also tended to disregard developments in the A r a b world during the Ottoman period, either intoning the 'asr mantra or, indeed, occasionally ignoring it altogether:

al-inhitat

the fact that in one

work the chapter on Iraq j u m p s quite effortlessly f r o m Safi al-Din al-UrmawI in the 13th century straight to Ahmad Zaydán in the 19th is not wholly

^Cf. the introductory paragraph of A. J. Racy, 'Music in nineteenth-century Egypt: an historical sketch', Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology, 4 (1983), pp. 157-79.

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untypical. 1 The best that can be expected is the perfunctory; more commonly the Ottoman period is dismissed with a denigratory gesture expressing a now traditional perception derived, ironically, f r o m E u r o p e a n c o n c e p t s of nationalism.

Expressed

most

bluntly,

perhaps,

by

Touma

('Die

T ü r k e n h e r r s c h a f t bedeutete f ü r das Arabertum eine Zeit des allgemeinen geistigen

und kulturellen

N i e d e r g a n g e s ; ein starkes S c h w i n d e n

des

Nationalgefühls breitet sich aus, begleitet von einem wirklichen sozialer Abstieg'), 2 it may also be found, for example, in Guettat's historical sketch of Maghribi traditions, even if there couched in a somewhat attenuated f o r m . 3 As a result, chronicles and biographical sources of the 16th to 18th centuries, through which one might hope to gain s o m e faint glimpse of musical activity, at least in the major cities, remain largely unexploited. 4 But to ignore the Ottoman age is to consign a major segment of the history of A r a b music to oblivion. T h e time f r a m e suggested initially by standard political history is, indeed, no less than 400 years: from 1517, when the Ottomans defeated the Mamluks and established control over Syria and Egypt, until 1917 and the final collapse of Turkish authority during the First World War. During the course of the 16th century the Ottoman domains were extended to include much of the M a g h r i b (that is, essentially, the Libyan, Tunisian and Algerian littoral), while to the east Iraq was repeatedly fought over by Ottoman and Safavid armies before passing definitively into Ottoman hands with the conquest of Baghdad in 1638 — an event c o m m e m o r a t e d , incidentally, in an instrumental pe^rev that remained in the Istanbul repertoire

' M u h a m m a d Mahmud S ä m i H ä f i / , Tärih al-müsiqä wa-'l-ginä' al-'arabl, Cairo: a l - M a t b a ' a a l - f a n n i y y a a l - h a d i t a , 1971. p. 158. T h e general plan of the book is f i v e chapters of chronological exposition from pre-Islamic times to Islamic Spain followed by five on the modern period. Just as drastic is Sâlih al-Mahdi, al-Müsiqä al- 'arabiyya: tärihuhä wa-adabuhà, Tunis: a l - D ä r al-tünisiyya li-l-nasr, n.d., which likewise falls into two parts, the first on early musicians and theorists (only one being later than the 13th century), the second on the m o d e m eriod. Musikkulturen H. H. T o u m a , ' D i e Musik der Araber im 19. Jahrhundert' in R. Günther (ed.), Asiens, Afrikas und Ozeaniens im 19. Jahrhunderl ( S t u d i e n zur M u s i k g e s c h i c h t e des 19. Jahrhunderts, 31), Regensburg: Gustav Bosse, 1 9 7 3 , 4 9 - 7 1 , at p. 49, with more in the same vein later. Cf. also ' A b d a l - H a m i d T a w f i q Zaki, w h o says of the time before ' A b d u h a l - H ä m ü l i ( 1 8 4 3 - 1 9 0 1 ) that 'music and song were in a state of backwardness and decadence, with nothing but supplications (ibtihälit) into which the singers slipped sycophantic Turkish expressions to please the Turkish, Albanian or Mamluk Governor and to protect themselves from harm' (A'läm al-müsiqä al-misriyya 'abr 15U sana (Tärih al-misriyyin 35), Cairo: a l - H a y ' a a l - m i s r i y y a al' ä m m a li-1-kitäb, 1990, p. 30). 3

M . Guettât, La musique classique du Maghreb (La Bibliothèque Arabe), (Paris: Sindbad, 1980), pp. 175-6. ^ M o r e promising, despite—or indeed because o f — t h e revelatory adjective in the title, would seem to be H ä s i m M u h a m m a d al-Rajab, al-Müsiqiyyün wa-'l-mugannün hiläl al-fatra a!muzlima ( M a n s ü r ä t al-marka/ al-davvli li-diräsät a l - m ü s i q ä al-taqlïdiyya), B a g h d a d : D a r alhurriyya li-1-tibä'a, 1982, but w hile certainly dealing with the Ottoman period this is essentially a bibliographical review of the theoretical literature.

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T H E

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f o r at least a century. 1 But it is about this time that the Empire began to shrink, and during the 19th century, one by one, the provinces of North Africa were lost, so that w e have, in short, a classic curve: a period during which Ottoman control of Arab territory is constantly extended as the Empire reaches out towards its maximum size, a lengthier one of relative stability, and a final period of accelerating loss and disintegration as more and more territory is surrendered in the face of European imperialist ambitions, even if a connection between Istanbul and Egypt and the Fertile Crescent, however marginal its political effects, w a s to be maintained until the end. This would suggest as an initial hypothesis within which to view musical d e v e l o p m e n t s a parallel rising-falling curve according to which Ottoman influence, weak or nonexistent initially, would grow and be at its strongest during the long period of unchallenged suzerainty—whatever the effectiveness or otherwise of its local application 2 — only to ebb away again during the course of the 19th century, a time not only of increasingly obvious Ottoman military e n f e e b l e m e n t but also, more crucially, of the nahda, a revivification of the A r a b cultural heritage accompanied by stirrings of nationalist sentiment. 3 Not, evidently, that such a reductive and simplistic formulation can adequately capture the complexities of cultural evolution: significant local variations are bound to arise; some changes might take place imperceptibly while others could be sudden; s o m e might occur independently of the centre, others be direct b o r r o w i n g s . O n e might note, for e x a m p l e , the alacrity with which the conquered Mamluks in Cairo sought to adopt Turkish manners in dress, 4 but assume that the precipitate nature of this attempted transformation of the vestimentary code would not be matched in, say, the culinary, where no such emblematic imperatives obtained; and with music, likewise, imitation of the Ottoman military band, with its very public symbolism, would be f a r less unexpected than any sudden shift in court-music practice. But if, in the absence of information to the contrary, the assumption is made that innovation in the latter was likely to occur gradually rather than with dramatic speed, it would still seem intuitively reasonable to return to the notion of a potential risingfalling curve of Ottoman influence and presume that there would be a slow seepage f r o m centre to periphery to s u p p l e m e n t or inflect w h a t e v e r autonomous developments might be taking place.

It was notated by Cantemir in c. 1700 (Demetrius Cantemir, The collection of notations , i: text (SOAS Musicology Series, 1, [London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 1992|, no. 349), and cited in an 18th-century list cf instrumental compositions attached to a song-text collection (Istanbul Üniversitesi Kütüphanesi MS T 3866, ff. 3 8 9 - 9 3 ) . See P.M. Holt, Egypt and the Fertile Crescent 1516-1922 (London: Longmans, 1966) for a detailed account of local patterns of conflict and the frequently severe limitations on central authority. 3 4

T h i s is essentially the view put forward by Reinhard (R. Günther, op. cit., p. 18).

J . Raby, Venice, Dürer and the oriental mode (London: Islamic Art Publications, 1982), p. 83, where it is also suggested that the Ottoman conquest of 1517 'heralded a homogenisation of Muslim Hoßultur.'

410

O.

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H o w e v e r , if the d i f f u s i o n i s t model is too stark in its simplicity so are its terms of reference, f o r it hardly needs e m p h a s i z i n g in the present c o n t e x t that ' O t t o m a n ' and ' A r a b ' are s h o r t h a n d : neither d e s i g n a t e s a m o n o l i t h i c cultural entity. Within the A r a b world note needs to be taken, f o r e x a m p l e , of a broad line of demarcation between the art-music traditions of the East and those of North A f r i c a and, although not hermetically sealed o f f , d e v e l o p m e n t s in o n e area might well not be m a t c h e d in the other. On t h e O t t o m a n side, too, we find a line of d e m a r c a t i o n , but this t i m e on the d i a c h r o n i c axis, a rupture b e t w e e n m i d 16th a n d early 17th-century n o r m s m a n i f e s t e d in a radical d i s c o n t i n u i t y of r e p e r t o i r e a c c o m p a n i e d

by l e s s e r b u t still

significant

d i f f e r e n c e s of i d i o m . 1 N e v e r t h e l e s s , at least until this t r a n s f o r m a t i o n w a s c o m p l e t e d a s s e n t m a y be given to t h e general p r o p o s i t i o n t h a t O t t o m a n i n f l u e n c e is likely to h a v e been insignificant. Indeed, b e f o r e the e n d of t h e 16th century we should discard the notion, despite t h e e x i s t e n c e of a p a l a c e music school, that Istanbul was the centre of a stable tradition of high prestige p r o v i d i n g a m o d e l to be e m u l a t e d e l s e w h e r e . R a t h e r , local

variations

n o t w i t h s t a n d i n g , it a p p e a r s to h a v e been the c a s e that f o r t h e f i r s t h u n d r e d years of O t t o m a n control of A r a b territory there w a s still a broadly unified c o u r t - m u s i c idiom e m p l o y e d o v e r a vast s w a t h e of territory stretching f r o m E g y p t to Central A s i a . W e k n o w of a n u m b e r of P e r s i a n m u s i c i a n s w h o , whether hired or captured, m a d e their presence felt at the O t t o m a n court; 2 and O t t o m a n s u l t a n s at least d o w n to the t i m e of S u l e y m a n t h e M a g n i f i c e n t p a t r o n i z e d this eastern c o u r t - m u s i c t r a d i t i o n , in w h i c h s o n g texts w e r e occasionally in A r a b i c but predominantly in Persian. A significant part of this r e p e r t o i r e w a s attributed to a pleiad of 13th to 15th c e n t u r y m u s i c i a n s b e g i n n i n g with the last great A b b a s i d theorist, SafI a l - D i n a l - U r m a w I (d. 1294) and including the m a j o r Timurid theorist and c o m p o s e r ' A b d a l - Q a d i r a l M a r a g i (d. 1435), and his contemporaries ' A l i S i t a ' i , R i d w a n Sah a n d M i r z a G a d a n f a r : there is no indication of the existence of a separate O t t o m a n school o r style, and c o n t r i b u t i o n s to the c o m m o n repertoire w e r e m a d e by A r a b c o m p o s e r s alongside Turks, Persians and others.

At this period, therefore, the notion of a specifically O t t o m a n influence can hardly be entertained, unless in the inverted sense that p o w e r and patronage attracted musicians f r o m elsewhere to the capital. T h e s e certainly included at least t h e o c c a s i o n a l E g y p t i a n :

o n e or t w o a r e noted as h a v i n g c o m e t o

I s t a n b u l in the late 16th c e n t u r y , and w e f i n d a pegrev

by a certain

Seyf al-Misri in the mid and late 17th-century collections of notations by,

' F o r a general account of this development see W. Feldman, Music of the Ottoman court: makam, composition and the earl\ Ottoman instrumental repertoire Intercultural Music Studies, 10 (Berlin: V W B - Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung, 1996), pp. 3 9 - 5 2 . ^ibid., pp. 6 5 - 7 .

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respectively, 'Ali Ufki 1 and Cantemir. 2 But although tantalizing, as evidence such material is inconclusive: oral transmission may well have altered it, and even if the 17th-century notations remain close to the 16th-century original it is impossible to tell whether or not this already incorporated deliberate adjustments of style to conform to metropolitan taste. By the end of the 17th century the picture is significantly different: even if, on the surface, continuities are maintained. T h e links with the Timurid past are preserved, but concentrated now on the single ancestor-figure of 'Abd al-Qàdir al-Maràgi and transmuted to the symbolic plane. Rather more substantial, despite the disruptive effect of continuing political conflict, are the remaining musical contacts with Safavid Isfahan, 3 and Cantemir includes specifically a number of pe§revs designated as acemi. But the very fact that they are assigned to a category apart is indicative, and perceptions of stylistic cleavage also extend to the recognition that acemi musicians had a different approach to instrumental improvisation. 4 Taken together, the evidence of Cantemir's notations and of the late 17th-century song-text collection of Hàfiz Post 5 is conclusive: local musicians are now clearly in the ascendant; song texts are no longer in Arabic, occasionally in Persian, and predominantly in Turkish; and the modal, rhythmic and formal underpinnings of both the vocal and instrumental repertoire show significant differences to those encountered in 15th and 16th-century treatises and song-text collections. About the possible impact of this transformation on musical practice in the Arab provinces one can, unfortunately, do little more than speculate. The lack of comparable notations for the regional repertoires means that levels of stylistic differentiation remain undetectable, but it is nevertheless likely that local innovations taking place in the Arab provinces were neither wholly congruent with the Ottoman ones nor proceeding at the same pace, so that the rapid emergence of a new set of art-music norms in 17th-century Istanbul presumably had the initial effect of adding further isoglosses to the dialect map of the eastern tradition, insufficient to interfere with mutual comprehension and acceptability but enough to underline regional particularism. However, there is nothing to indicate how such differences were perceived and what reactions they prompted. Viewed from the centre, provincial traditions no

'British Library M S Sloane 3114, ff. 140v-141r; photographic reproduction in §. El?in, Ali Ufki: hayati, eserleri ve meemüa-i sä: it söz (Istanbul: Millf Egitim Basiraevi, 1976), pp. 263-4. 2 op. cit., no. 34. 3

S e e E. N e u b a u e r , ' Z u r B e d e u t u n g d e r B e g r i f f e K o m p a n i s t und K o m p o s i t i o n in d e r Musikgeschichte der islamischen Welt,' Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften, 1997, pp. 3 0 7 - 6 3 and pp. 3 4 1 - 3 . This comprehensive anil important survey also provides the first thorough analysis of sources f o r Arab music during the later Ottoman period. Demetrius Cantemir, Kitäb-i 'iim al-mHslkl 2768, p. 67; Feldman, op. cit., pp. 285-6. 5 Topkapi Saray MS R. 1724.

'alä vech al-hurüfit,

Türkiyat Enstitüsü M S Y.

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doubt retained elements felt to be quaint or archaic: the mode name 'ukbari, for example, first attested in 14th-century Arabic texts 1 but never mentioned in Ottoman sources is still cited as part of the early 19th-century Syrian mode stock. 2 One might surmise that, like the country cousin, such features would be likely to provoke amused disdain, and while conceding the possibility that at times of stylistic transition and uncertainty they could possess the attraction of the exotic, there is no trace of the terminological imprint, analogous, f o r example, to the earlier rhythmic cycle names frenkçin and freng-i fer' ? that subsequent incorporation might be expected to leave. For those at the periphery, on the other hand, one might equally surmise that less likely than a sturdy sense of regional independence would be a feeling of inferiority, whether aesthetic and intellectual (the tradition of the centre is perceived as somehow richer) or social and financial (it provides a surer route to status and material reward). But even if, by the middle of the 17th century, we can point to the existence of a specifically Ottoman art-music repertoire that might have provided a sufficiently prestigious standard to be copied, there remain the further questions of patronage and the mechanisms of transmission. Crucial must have been the varying character and density of the web of relationships between Ottoman appointees, the local élites associated with or opposed to them, and the musicians serving one or both. But on this there appears, unfortunately, to be very little information and we are again reduced, largely, to conjecture. Reference to the other arts would point, if anything, to a rather low level of transfer, for even if w e set aside the general imperviousness of literature and turn to the v isual arts one can still find f e w parallels in the Arab provinces to, say, the production of illustrated manuscripts in the Topkapi atelier. The more public domain of architecture is, inevitably, rather different, but even if the concept of diffusion could properly be invoked here the impact of imported Ottoman models is muted by the retention o f — o r even reversal to—regional traditions of design or decoration. 4

^Badr a l - D i n Muhammad b. ' A l i al-Hatib al-Irbili, Urjitzat in at-Masriq, al-angâm

al-angam

(written 1328), published

16, 1913, 8 9 5 - 9 0 1 ; M u h a m m a d b. Isa b. Kurr (d.1358), Gäyat

wa-'l-durüb,

al-matlüb

fi

'Um

British Library M S Or. 9 2 4 7 , fol. 45v.

2

M i h ä ' i l M u s ä q a ( 1 8 0 0 - 8 8 ) , al-Risäla al-sihâbiyya fi a'l-sinä'a al-müsiqiyya, published in (al-Masriq, 2, 1899 and) P.L. R o n z e v a l l e , ' U n traité de musique arabe moderne' ( ' R i s â l e a;.Shihabiyyah'), Mélanges de la faculté orientale, Université Saint-Joseph (Beyrouth), 6, 1913, 1 120, at p. 98. His name is variously transcribed and will a l s o be found in other w o r k s in the f o r m s Masäqa, Misäqa and Massa qa. • ' k . and U. Reinhard, Die Musik der Türkei (2 vols.) (Taschenbücher zur M u s i k w i s s e n s c h a f t , 9 5 ) , Wilhelmshaven: Heinrichshofen's Verlag, 1984, vol. 1, p. 2 0 9 . But that the centre c o u l d certainly be receptive to importations from the Arab provinces is demonstrated (ibid., 1, p. 8 5 ) by the (re)introduction of the kanun during the first half of the 19th century attributed to O m e r Efendi. 4

S e e e.g. N.I.A. Hamdy, 'Cairene ornamental tradition in the Ottoman architecture of E g y p t ' , in G. Fehér (ed.), Fifth International Congress on Turkish Art, Budapest: Akadaméiai Kiadö, 1978, 4 1 7 - 2 2 ; and M. Meinecke, ' D i e O s m a n i s c h e Architektur d e s 16. Jahrhunderts in D a m a s k u s ' , ibid., 5 7 5 - 9 5 .

UNDER

THE

I N F L U E N C E

?

413

Such analogies, if not wholly irrelevant, can nevertheless only o f f e r clues. The fact remains that we do not know how regularly local musicians c a m e into contact with bearers of the Istanbul art-music tradition, and other possible f o r m s of mediation are equally difficult to evaluate. Part of the instrumental repertoire could have been transmitted by the military band, 1 although f r o m the perspective of court music this was probably tangential at best. Qur'ânic cantillation, affected by (and affecting) the modal practice of artmusic could, in theory at least, have been influential in diffusing new styles, but there is no reason to suppose that cantillation in Cairo, say, had begun to imitate that in Istanbul. 2 Rather more significant may have been the role of various Sufi orders. Generally, and correctly, regarded as social structures which in more recent times have helped preserve traditional material, 3 as transmitters they would also have been potential vehicles of dissemination and innovation. But even in the case of the best d o c u m e n t e d Sufi musical repertoire, that of the Mevlevi ayin, which as preserved in Turkey embodies an important segment of the classical repertoire, 4 it is not clear whether the same compositions were performed regularly beyond the Ottoman heartlands. 5 Even if unpredictable, potentially the most important factor must have been the patronage of urban élites and in particular, in the present context, that of provincial governors. These no doubt exhibited wide variations in personal taste: s o m e must have been simply uninterested, while others may have actively disapproved of music. Those, on the other hand, w h o were more positively disposed may well have fostered metropolitan styles. At least one striking example is recorded, that of M u h a m m a d a l - R a s i d , the mid-18th century Bey of Tunis who, in addition to having been translated into yet another manifestation of the prince who relinquishes power f o r some more enduring passion, has had attributed to him the incorporation of a significant Ottoman element into the Tunisian instrumental repertoire. 6 But it is not clear how well founded the attribution is. Despite the metamorphosis of several of the Ottoman peçrevs

that have survived from the

17th century (triggered by a process of retardation a f f e c t i n g s o m e of the principal rhythmic cycles), they have retained their 17th-century structure,

' F o r H. Sanal (Mehter musikisi, [Istanbul: Milli Egitim Bakanhgi Yayinlari, 1964J) several of the compositions notated by Cantemir were military band pieces. ^Tourna (op. cit., p. 52-3) quotes the interesting (but inconclusive) case of an Iraqi Q u r ' â n reciter, Mullâ 'Utmân, who was appointed chief muqri' of Aya Sofya by Abdiilhamit. 3 Cf. e.g. Guettât, op. cit., pp. 178-80. ^Notated in S. Heper, Mevlevi âyinleri (Konya: Konya Turizm Deraegi Yayini, 1974). Racy (op. cit., p. 169) suggests that Turkish Mevlevis may have helped disseminate the peçrev and saz semai forms in Cairo during the 19th century. It is, however, symptomatic that even for events of such a late date confirmatory documentation is lacking. ^Guettât, op. cit., pp. 214-5.

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O .

WRIGHT

from which that of the modern Tunisian basraf is, however, quite distinct. 1 Further, where the latter contains a sama'l section, although the rhythmic cycle is undeniably a direct borrowing, having the same underlying 3 + 2 + 2 + 3 structure that we find in the Ottoman (lenk) semai, it would be necessary to turn to Ottoman examples of no earlier than the late 19th century in order to find stylistic analogies: the Tunisian pieces 2 exhibit a level of melodic density quite unlike those of the late 17th-century examples notated by Cantemir which must have been akin to the sama'is in the repertoire familial' to Muhammad al-Rasid. This permits us to postulate either an independent line of evolution in Tunis parallel to that in Istanbul and producing similar results; a process of topping up whereby newer Ottoman styles continued to be injected; or a rather later introduction of the genre for which an earlier history was fabricated; and the first supposition may be thought no more convincing than the others. Equally problematic is the relationship between the art-musics of Istanbul and Baghdad. The musical history of the latter remains largely unknown until the mid 19th century, 3 when singers such as R a h m a t a l l a h Siltag (1799-1870) emerge from the surrounding obscurity, and for the development of the repertoire we can only extrapolate from our knowledge of the Iraqi maqam in the 20th century. But given that this is in many respects radically different from the Ottoman tradition it is legitimate to conclude both that the extent of borrowing from the centre was small, and that its markedly individual character is at least up to a point a function of the peripheral position of Iraq which, unlike Tunisia, was a frontier province exposed to a variety of other musical traditions, notably Persian and Kurdish. The maqam dasti, for example, is of Persian origin, while if we revert to a mode which has been central to all Middle Eastern art-music traditions since the 13th century, segahlsikah, we find that the Iraqi form is significantly closer to the Persian than to the Turkish with regard to both its pitch set and its basic melodic gestures. But of even greater significance are the structural parallels between the Iraqi maqam repertoire and the Persian dastgah or Azeri muqam4 which, just as surely as the instrumentarium of the galgi bagdadi, mark it off as quite independent of the Ottoman model. Not, of course, that Turkish elements are wholly absent. At the verbal level, for example, one may cite the various conventional words and phrases which, whether prefacing, following or ' ibid., pp. 2 2 2 - 3 . 2 3

S e e e.g. Guettât, op. cit., pp. 332-2.

B u t see f o r the 17th century the discussion of the musical links between Isfahan, Istanbul and Basra connected with the figure of ' A b d ' a l i (al-) Basri in E. Neubauer, op. cil., pp. 3 3 5 - 7 . ^ S e e J. During, La musique traditionelle de l'Azerbayjan et la science des muqams (BadenBaden and Bouxwiller: Editions Valentin Koerner, 1988).

U N D E R

THE

I N F L U E N C E

'?

415

interpolated, are independent of the poetic text. Predominantly Persian in origin, these also include Turkish items such as bana bak and oglim, the presence of which, it might be thought, is not without significance in the light of the particular textual sensitivity of this tradition, which specifies, uniquely, where classical or vernacular (zhéri) poetry may or must be used. As with the term c]algi, however, by themselves these hardly constitute evidence of musical influence (especially when the particular phrases cited are not among those used in the Ottoman tradition), and when we turn to the core areas of modal, rhythmic and formal structures there is very little to report: the rhythmic cycle yigrig may be an Ottoman loan, but otherwise the Iraqi maqam has evidently followed a quite separate line of development, with some of its modal nomenclature, for example hadidi, hléláwi, ibráhimi and mahmüdi, being found neither in the Turkish nor in other Arab traditions. More fundamentally, it runs counter to Ottoman norms in its tendency to emphasize vocal improvisation; albeit within strict structural confines at the expense of composition, If distance may be adduced as the obvious reason for the low level of Ottoman influence in North Africa and Iraq, the corollary according to the diffusionist model is that Istanbul styles should have had greater impact in Syria and Egypt. But this remains to be demonstrated, and here were are again faced with the uncomfortable fact that our knowledge of historical developments prior to the late 19th century remains sketchy and overreliant on extrapolation from sources either temporally too far apart for comfort or impossible to date with sufficient accuracy to plot a reliable line of development. For the 17th and 18th centuries it is fair to say that few musicological texts have been studied in any depth: indeed, it is not always clear, on the Arabic side, which theoretical works belong to which century. On the Ottoman side we have texts from cl700 (Cantemir), the mid 18th-century (Harutin and Hizir Aga), and the late 18th-century ('Abd ül-Bákí), but although there are a number of Arabic texts which certainly appear to represent a stage posterior to the final flowering of Systematist theory in the late 15th-century treatises of al-Ládhiqi, Banná'i and Awbahi, and prior to the (at least partially) new departure represented by Musáqa in the 19th century, they are difficult to date with any greater precision. 1 Even the assumption that they are no earlier than the 16th century is not based on any novelty of approach, for rather than a new departure they represent the continuation of a different textual tradition that had existed alongside the Systematist one. Eschewing mathematical formulations and scientific pronouncements, such works tend to concentrate on an exposition, sometimes in urjüza form, of the identity and

One particular group has been investigated by A. Shiloah (The theory of music in Arabic writings (c. 900-1900) (Repertoire international des sources musicales: B X), [Munich: Henle, 1979|, pp. 394-400), but these texts are either anonymous or by obscure authors, and in manuscripts that are either withoui colophons or are late copies.

416

0.

W R I G H T

cosmological affiliations of the melodic modes, and in particular of the two core sets, the 12 sudud and the 6 dwazat, although they sometimes list and define others, thereby covering more or less the full range of the modes in use But some also include for each mode a skeletal and often very brief melodic outline, thereby defining what were evidently perceived to be its core features: the basic pitch set, ordered so as to give some inkling of the trajectory between the initial and final notes, and, in some cases, further details of typical melodic characteristics. It is on the basis of information of this nature that it should be possible to discern something of the nature and range of variation within the mode stock, even if, given the general uncertainty about the chronology of these texts it is not always clear whether conclusions should be plotted along the synchronic axis, thus pointing to regional variation, or the diachronic, with its implications for innovation and/or diffusion. The same problem applies with regard to the concepts deployed. Ottoman Turkish and Arabic treatises may employ identical techniques of description and the same analytical framework: we find, for example, that both Cantemir and the anonymous Sajara dat al-akmam define not interval sizes but membership of two sets of pitches, principal and secondary (those intermediate between the principal notes); but the source of this distinction remains obscure. Turning to the modes themselves, it may nevertheless be possible to detect certain regional patterns of distribution by plotting the incidence of mode names. A representative selection of these is displayed in Table 1, which draws upon the following texts: for the immediately pre-Ottoman period (late 15th century) al-Ladiqi 1 and al-Safadi 2 ; an anonymous Arabic text, the Sajara dat al-akmam (possibly 17th century); 3 for the Ottoman tradition Cantemir (c. 1700), Harutin and Hizir Aga (mid 18th century) 4 and 'Abd iil-Baki (late 18th century); 5 and the treatise of Miha'il Musaqa (1800-88), which dates from before 1840 and relates to Syrian practice, and a nearly contemporary Egyptian text, the Safinat al-mulk wa-nafisat al-fulk by Muhammad b. Isma'il Sihab al-DIn al-Hijazi (1795-1857). For reasons of space the following have been omitted: all compound names (e.g. rast-'ajam)\ the ancient sudud and awazat sets (except for nawruz and its derivatives), most of which occur throughout the corpus; most others common to all sources; and most mode names

' M u h a m m a d b. 'Abd al-Hamid al-Lädiqi (d. 1495), al-Risäla al-fathiyya, Tayn al-alhänfi "ilm al-ta'lifwa- 'l-awzan, MS Nuruosmaniye 3655. 2

' A b d ai-Qädir b. Muhammad al-Safadi (d. 1509), Risälafiai-musiqi, MS 5525,5526. ^British Library MS Or. 1535: cd. Gattäs 'Abd al-Malik Hasaba and al-Hay'a al-misriyyaal-'ämma Ii l-kitäb, 1983. 4 T a m b u r i s t Arutin, Rukovod^tio po vostochnoi muzyke (tr. N.K. Izdatel'svo AN Armianskoi SSR. 1968); HiZir Aga. Tefhim al-makämät MS Topkapi H 1793. 5

' A b d ül-Bäki N ä s i r Dede (1765-1820), Kütüphanesi T 5572.

Tedkik

ve-tahklk,

MS BL Or. 6629;

Berlin Staatsbibliothek Izis Fathalläh, Cairo: T a g m i z y a n ) , (Erevan: fi tevlid al-nagamäl,

MS Istanbul

Üniversitesi

UNDER

THE

INFLUENCE

?

417

occurring only in one source. The other categories have also been severely pruned to reduce the material to manageable size. It should be stressed that if the material in Table 1 is selective in relation to the texts on which it is based, it is all the more so in relation to the total range of sources, so that it must be regarded as merely symptomatic. For example, it cannot be concluded that because the very first entry,

hwajast,

occurs only in al-Ladiqi ii must have disappeared shortly thereafter, for it is also attested in 16th-century song-text collections: some texts are simply more comprehensive than others, recording lesser known modes passed over in silence elsewhere or even making a point of noting obsolete f o r m s . 1 B u t certain trends are nevertheless apparent. W e thus have in the first group modes which failed to be incorporated into the new 17th-century Ottoman repertoire, and for the most part likewise failed to survive in the Arab regional traditions long enough to be noted by Musaqa and al-Hijazi, although the exception, ramal,

like ' u k b a r i mentioned above, does point to the possibility of such

survival. In the second group we have modes which were retained in the 17thcentury Ottoman repertoire, but which fail to be noted by the two 19th-century Arab authors; in the third modes which were retained both in the 17th-century Ottoman repertoire and in the Arab regional traditions; in the fourth Ottoman innovations, approximately half of which are noted by M u s a q a but only two by al-Hijazi; and in the fifth (presumably Syrian) innovations not noted in either Ottoman or Egyptian sources. T h e Syrian mode stock as described by Musaqa thus differs quite considerably from the early 19th-century Ottoman one, and the at the same time appears much more extensive than the Egyptian. Modes retained in the Ottoman tradition could be abandoned, and some quite c o m m o n Ottoman innovations of the 17th and 18th centuries fail to appear. Of those which do, the majority date from the 17th century, but one or two more recent creations, sucli as awjara, have also been adopted, so that there is no uniform time lag. As only one or two pre-Ottoman mode names absent f r o m the Ottoman tradition have been retained to provide evidence of an independent line of transmission, the clearest evidence that the Syrian regional tradition, despite absorbing much from the centre, was certainly not parasitic upon it, is provided by the m o d e s of the fifth group which, it must be emphasized, are only two among several.

' ' A b d iil-Baki is a case in point, recording several names to which the epithet kadlm appended.

is

418

O. L

* hwäjast nawrüz-härä nawruz al- 'arab maqlüb ramal * humäyün * 'uzzäl * zäwli/zäwil * nawrüz * nigärnik * nigär/i * sunbula * isfahänak * zamzam rü-yi 'iräq nawrüz al- 'ajam 'araban

hisär nihäwand rakb/i

S

WRIGHT s

C

H/H

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

* * *

*

*

*

* *

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

niriz/i nigrlz zirkas/i/zilkas * musta 'är * rähat al-arwäh

*

*

*

* *

*

sipihr huräsän hisärak süzinäk giil'izär süzidil 'arazbär süri bäbä tähir huzzäm sultäni 'iräq zirgüla awjärä sadd-i 'araban

*

*

*

*

*

*

bahlawän surüql Table 1

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

UNDER

THE

INFLUENCE

419

If it is possible to detect here broad patterns of divergence, overlap and diffusion, more specific conclusions are not to be drawn, for reality is considerably more complex than Table 1 suggests. It is sometimes possible to see a clear family relationship between the various definitions offered for a given mode, as with e.g. hisar} L s H

e d# e B-A f + d# e d# c e

'AB

d# d#

A M

e

d#

e e

e d#

f+ e d# c+ c B- A f+ g a g f+ d# d c Bf + g# a b- a g# f+ e d# c B- A db c B- A f+ g f + e d# c B- A f+ g f+ e d# a g# f+ e d# e (d) c B- A G# a g# f+ e d#

c B- A

segah: L s H 'AB M

and L s H 'AB G M

B A G A B- A G A BB- c A BB- d c B- A G A B- c d c B - A # BB- A G A B- i d d g f+ e d c BBG B-

mahur: g f + e d G g f + e d g e f # g f # e d g f + e d

c B A G c B A G c B A G c B- A

g f + e d e d c B A G B- g (f+ e d c B- A) G

'The symbols + and - represent, respectively, a raising and lowering by approximately a quarter-tone.

420

O.

W R I G H T

But even in this last case things are not quite as straightforward as they seem, for 'Abd al-Baki points to a confusion between mahur and

gerdaniye

and although the latter name goes back to the 13th century, being one of the awazat,

he categorizes the particular f o r m k n o w n to h i m as a recent

innovation. In effect, a common name cannot necessarily be taken as evidence of a common modal identity, and in s o m e cases there may be no close relationship between the different accounts offered, as with e.g. nuhuft: L

a g f+e

d c#

s

A a g f+ e

d c#

H

d B c# d c// d e f

e

d c#

B- A B- A c B- A

c B- A G F+ E F+ G F+ E D B- c d c 'AB

d

M

d

c B- A G F+

(c B- A G F+

G F+ E

G F+) E

d g f# e - d c B- A G

F#

E-D

where there are two versions: transposed up a fifth that of Musaqa maps onto that of al-Ladiqi and the Sajara dat al-akmdm, of which it is evidently the direct descendant (and almost exact replica), whereas the 1 2 - 3 4 tetrachord that characterizes its lower register is entirely absent from the Ottoman version. It seems clear in this particular instance that the regional tradition has preserved a more archaic version than that of the centre; but the conclusion that it was likely to have been generally more conservative is unsound: as has been noted, several of the mode names recorded by Musaqa are neither ancient nor of Ottoman derivation. In general, therefore, the picture provided fits in well with the notion of a regional tradition both preserving certain earlier features abandoned by the centre and continuing to innovate, but at the same time being increasingly affected by diffusion from the centre. Striking about M u s a q a ' s account is that in certain cases he indicates regional variants: nuhuft al- 'arab is contrasted with nuhuft

al-atrak

and sawurak

with sawurak

misri;2

and alongside such

terminological recognition of regionalism one may note that he ends his account of the modes, nearly 100 in number, with a surely indicative remark to the e f f e c t that experts in Istanbul might well k n o w even m o r e . 3 O f Egyptian singers, on the other hand, he holds a rather d i m m e r view, maintaining that they are loo concerned with striving for emotional effect to

' R e f l e c t e d at a different level in the nomenclature of the pitch s y s t e m , for corresponding to the O t t o m a n gerdaniye (g) M u s a q a has mahur, w h i l e corresponding to the O t t o m a n màhitr ( f # ) he

has nuhuft.

^ A n a l o g o u s distinctions are a l s o to be f o u n d in lists o f rhythmic c y c l e s , w h e r e Arab and nonArab f o r m s m a y be contrasted.

•3

J

R o n z e v a l l e , op. cit., p. 104.

U N D H R

T H E

I N F L U E N C E

421

care about the finer points of modal structure,' and to judge by the work of Sihab al-Din al-Hijazi it does appear to be the case that in early 19th-century Egypt fewer modal discriminations were made at the level of nomenclature. 2 But one should be wary of drawing hard-and-fast conclusions: even if there were fewer names current it does not follow that Egyptian musicians were less subtle in their modal practice: it is possible that in places the map was differently drawn with, say, mode x in Egypt consisting of elements a + (optionally) b and potentially covering the same territory as modes x (a) and y (a + b) in Syria. Behind the theoretical habitat of such early 19th-century material it might be assumed that the clouds would at last part and that we would be able to enjoy, or suffer from, a surfeit of contextualization. But for Middle Eastern traditions generally such is still far from being the case: even something as crucial as the presumably 19th (and possibly even late 19th-) century crystallization of the Persian dastgah system is woefully undocumented, and the same is certainly true for musical activity in the Arab world during the first half of the century. 3 For Egypt there may be rather more information than for, say, Iraq, but it is still the case that we need to rely on the accounts of Western scholar-observers, and first Villoteau, the musicologist member of the team that produced the monumental Description de I'Egypte.4 His frustrated efforts to explore the theoretical tradition reflect one of the less fortunate results of Ottoman power, the intellectual drainage caused by the transfer of important manuscript collections to Istanbul: a 17th or 18th century scholar remaining in Cairo may well not have had access to many of the major early treatises. 5 But if the Ottoman presence is detectable here only in an absence, it

'ibid., p. 96. 2

T h e Safinat al-mulk wu-nafisat al-fulk mentions some 4 0 mode names, less than half M u s â q a ' s total. A s S i h â b al-Din was not attempting to provide a complete inventory some may well have been omitted, but even so the total seems to have been significantly lower than in Syria. 3

T o say in relation to the essays assembled in R. Giinther, op. cit., on 19th-century developments in the Arab, Persian and Ottoman traditions by, respectively, Tourna, Massoudieh and Reinhart, reputable scholars all, that the dominant impression conveyed in relation to the first half of the century is of the salvaging of scraps is not to cast aspersions on the quality of their work but to reflect, precisely, the difficulty of the task they faced. With specific reference to Egypt the most comprehensive and judicious review of the evidence at present available is that of Racy, op. cit, ^ M . Villoteau, Description historique, technique et littéraire, des instrumens de musique des orientaux (Description de l'Egypte, vol. 13), 2nd éd., (Paris: Imprimerie de C.L.F. Panckoucke, 1823), pp. 2 2 1 - 5 6 8 ; De l'état actuel de l'art musical en Egypte, ou relation historique et descriptive des recherches et observations faites sur la musique en pays (Description de l'Egypte, vol. 14, état moderne), 2nd éd., (Paris: Imprimerie d e C.L.F. Panckoucke, 1826) pp M96. ^His own understanding of Arab theory was based primarily on the Sajara dit al-akmam (see the introduction to the edited text, pp. 10-14). Musâqa, on the other hand, claimed to have read extensively in the theoretical literature, although probably not, one may infer, the w o r k s of major Systematist or earlier writers. Possibly more material was available in Damascus. One text (al-Rajab, op. cit., p. 112) was copied there (by a mu'addin) in 1854, and information on the comparative incidence of such copying activity would probably be instructive.

422

O.

W R I G H T

appears to assume more positive form among Villoteau's detailed drawings oi' the instrumentarium, for these include, prominently, that most characteristic representative of the Ottoman classical tradition, the tanbur. But the appearance is deceptive, for it is clear from the text that the tanbur (and, one may a s s u m e , the related repertoire) had not been integrated, and its identification with T u r k i s h , Greek and other minority c o m m u n i t i e s 1 is confirmed in the work of the next great Orientalist observer of musical life iri Cairo, Lane, for whom the chordophones characteristic of what he terms the ' m o r e r e f i n e d ' music are the kamanja, 'ud and qanun. Lane's Modern Egyptians, distilled f r o m experiences in Cairo during the late 1820s and 30s, has much to say about the place of music in urban life and is, as in most other areas, uncommonly perceptive. In t w o interrelated respects, at least, the situation he describes seems to differ significantly both from that in Istanbul and from that suggested by later accounts of musical life in Egypt towards the end of the century. O n e concerns his emphasis on the very low status and reputation of professional musicians, the other the lack of any reference to music as a topic of interest or debate in the circles he frequented. In stark contrast to the frequent involvement of the Ottoman religious hierarchy iri music, the inclusion of the Mevlevi ayin within the orbit of art-music, and the patronage accorded by sultans, in particular Selim III (1789-1807), himself a distinguished composer, Lane reports that the study of music (including, by implication, musical theory as part of the intellectual heritage) was deemed unworthy, and music itself conducive to emotional excess and vice; 2 and there can be little doubt that such views, which reflect the analysis of the legists, were, even if not universal, certainly widely held. T h e r e existed, he adds, echoing Villoteau's earlier experience, few books on the subject, and they were not understood by musicians. 3

But if post 15th century, these f e w texts are unlikely to have been impenetrable, the dominant concerns of those who wrote about music during the Ottoman period, whether in Arabic or Turkish, no longer encompass what we have, perhaps, been conditioned to think of as the intellectual high ground, in particular the analysis of pitch relationships articulated in mathematical terms that is such a prominent feature of the major theoretical works of the 10th to 15th centuries. It is only at the beginning of the 19th century that we encounter references to the theoretical initiative that will lead, through M u s a q a ' s w o r k , 4 to the mathematical articulation of the quarter-tone scale and the ensuing arguments about intonation that will prove to be one of the

^See Racy, op. cit. (where Villoteau's plates of instruments are reproduced), p. 159. 2

E . W. Lane, The manners n.359.

and customs

of the modern

Egyptians,

repr., (London: Dent, 1963),

bid. Unfortunately, he does not identify these works. 4

H e may have been developing or articulating ideas expounded by his teacher M u h a m m a d al-

' A t t a r (1764-1828).

UNDER

THE

INFLUENCE

423

dominant strands of 20th-century debate. Important here is to note that this line of analysis does not appear to be indebted in any way to Ottoman theoretical writing, little of which, one assumes, would have been accessible. 1 It is also interesting to observe that the quarter-tone concept we now associate with Musaqa seems to have been misunderstood when it reached Egypt. We find, for example, a faint reflection in the Safinat al-mulk wa-nafisat al-fulk by Sihab al-Din al-Hijazi. Essentially an extensive song-text collection, this has attached to it theoretical matter in which we find not the notion that the octave can be divided into 24, but a reductio ad absurdum according to which each of the seven primary steps of the octave can be divided into four, thus yielding a total of 28. But S i h a b a l - D i n was not alone in his misunderstanding, for exactly the same notion of a theoretically possible 28 step octave division—albeit one, it becomes clear, evidently avoided in practice—may be extrapolated from a text of similar type belonging to the last quarter of the 19th century, the Rawd al-masarratfi 'ilm al-nagamat of 'Utman b. Muhammad al-Jundi. 2 Sihab al-Din's text also contains many elements that could be matched in an Ottoman one (philosophical dicta, anecdotes about origins and the effects of music). But the reason for this, quite simply, is that both draw upon an earlier body of writing largely expressed in Arabic, so that even if the opportunity existed he would have had no cause to draw upon Ottoman sources. Apart from any linguistic barrier there was the more imposing cultural barrier of an Arabic textual tradition sufficiently rich to be regarded as self-sufficient, and had Sihab al-Din shared the typically Ottoman concern with the description of the nuclear melodic outline as well as the pitch set of each maqam, he could still have found appropriate models of expression in earlier Arabic texts. Similarly with the treatise preceding the song-text collection in the Rawd al-masarrat: after a traditionally ornate introduction in rhymed prose, this covers origins (Old Testament, Greek), and gives a brief potted history of the early period of Arab music down to the legendary figures of Ishaq alMawsili and Ziryab. Specification of the accordatura of the lute is followed by mention of various instrumental and vocal forms, the only one of Ottoman provenance being the ubiquitous basraf, remarks on acoustics; and then a considerably longer section on the effects (mainly emotional) of music. Again, nearly all the material here is familiar, being culled from earlier literary compilations. But if surprises are few, one anecdote is somewhat novel in

' M u s a q a ' s method of describing modes bears a formal resemblance to that of both Cantemir and the Sajara dat al-akmam; but the way in which he groups them and the order in which he displays them confirm affinities with Cantemir. Concomitantly, his presentation resembles Cantemir's in the effacement of the earlier internal hierarchies that are maintained in the Sajara dat al-akmam. Even so, the differences in terminology suggest that this may well not be a case of direct textual borrowing. 2 L e e d s University M S 154. The M S is undated but contains references to events in 1872, 1873 and 1874.

424

O .

W R I G H T

f l a v o u r , and w o r t h s u m m a r i z i n g . In the Tuti-nama,

a 14th-century Persian

c o l l e c t i o n of prose tales, t h e r e is a story in w h i c h m u s i c is used as a diagnostic tool: 1 the legitimacy of an o r p h a n e d baby prince is established by placing him in a group of infants and testing, relative to the others, the nature and alacrity of his response to music. In a l - J u n d i ' s version the tale has become at the s a m e time less specific as narrative but m o r e interesting intellectually, and we are even o f f e r e d a hint of (social) scientific method in the quest not for the royal blood but a general human characteristic: In a debate on the origin of the musical faculty, the sage defends nature, the king nurture. To resolve the issue the sage conducts an experiment. 100 babies under 10 months old, representing a cross-section of the population, are assembled and kept away from their mothers for half a day. Ravenous, they are then all returned at the same time to their mothers to be suckled. Suddenly, music is played. Some stop suckling, look towards the source of the sound, agitate their limbs and laugh; some also stop suckling, but remain motionless and silent; some suckle and pay attention alternately: some begin to agitate their limbs but continue suckling; and some just keep on suckling and pay no attention whatsoever. F u n d a m e n t a l l y , s u c h texts are to b e v i e w e d as p r o l o n g a t i o n s of medieval Arabic literature. S o m e of the a n e c d o t a l material in the Rawd

al-

masarrat

al-

goes b a c k to the Kitab

al-agani,

w h i l e included in the Safinat

mulk is an extensive anthology of bacchic verse w h i c h , in its a r r a n g e m e n t and contents, is strongly reminiscent of the Halbat

al-kumayt

of a l - N a w a j i . B u t

the s o n g - t e x t collection w h i c h f o r m s the bulk of the Safinat d r a w s upon an A r a b i c literary tradition, that of the muwassah:2

al-mulk

also

it is w h o l l y

devoid of O t t o m a n texts and thus points to a continuing i n d e p e n d e n c e of vocal repertoire. T h e r e is, in fact, no e v i d e n c e f o r any acquisition of vocal material c o m p a r a b l e to the incorporation of O t t o m a n c o m p o s i t i o n s into the E g y p t i a n instrumental repertoire mentioned at the outset; and there is o n e very obvious and c o m p e l l i n g reason why this should be so: l a n g u a g e . T h a t an A r a b i c text m i g h t h a v e been d u b b e d onto an O t t o m a n s o n g (or vice versa) is certainly possible, but it is d i f f i c u l t to think of the creation of c o n t r a f a c t s o n g s as a regular rather than exceptional occurrence. 3

' i am grateful to Dr. A. Contadini for alerting me to the miniature (Chester Beatty Library M S Persian 21, fol. 49r) illustrating this tale and thence to the narrative itself. 2 I t is thus analogous to the North African repertoire recorded in the 18th century by a l - H a ' i k , even if not directly related to it. 3 I t is intriguing to note that one of the most eminent 19th-century Ottoman composers, Zekai Dede (1825-97), spent the greater part of the period 1 8 4 5 - 5 8 as a court musician in Egypt. He is reported to have composed hymns to Arabic texts, but next to nothing is known of whatever contacts he may have had with Egyptian musicians, and there is certainly no indication that his own compositions were at all influential.

U N D H R

T H E

I N F L U E N C E

425

Individual Ottoman songs, it appears, were not readily exportable. Nevertheless, it might be thought that, in parallel with their modal structures, which in some cases evidently were adopted, a degree of influence might have been exerted both by their internal structure and by their placement within the characteristic sequence of different compositional f o r m s constituting a total performance event. In both collections the songs are grouped into blocks of material in the same or related maqams to which is given the heading wasla, an organization clearly reminiscent of that of Ottoman song-text collections, where the equivalent heading is fasil, and the two terms further resemble each other in that they also designate large-scale cyclical forms. But parallelism does not necessarily betoken derivation—and certainly not slavish imitation — and the nature of the relationship, if any, between the North African nawba, the wasla, the Iraqi fasl and the Ottoman fasil still requires exploration. In North Africa, even if a direct link with the structurally different 13th-century nawba s e q u e n c e 1 cannot be d e m o n s t r a t e d , it is reasonable to posit an independent process of evolution unaffected by Ottoman models. The earlier eastern nawba, however, disappeared during the course of the 16th century, so that it is tempting to assume that the m o r e extensive O t t o m a n fasil, in existence no later than the 17th century 2 but a new species of organization not directly derivable from the nawba, must have provided the inspiration for the equally large-scale cyclical complexes attested in the Eastern Arab world during the 19th century. Certain basic differences between the Ottoman fasil and the Egyptian wasla are determined by the fact that the two traditions d o not share the same vocal forms, but there is, in addition to the common requirement of modal uniformity, some degree of morphological congruity in the positioning of the v a r i o u s i m p r o v i s e d vs. c o m p o s e d and instrumental vs. vocal c o m p o n e n t s . 3 For this, however, adaptation of the Ottoman model is not the only possible explanation: a shared aesthetic which would, say, tend to regard instrumental forms, whether composed or improvised, as preparatory to vocal ones, could readily have generated comparable large-scale complexes within similar performance contexts, 4 and it may be observed that although examples of the Ottoman instrumental pe^rev were to become increasingly familiar, this form was not taken up in the wasla. But at the same time it could be argued

' A s defined by Ahmad a l - T i f a s i (text in M.b.T. al-Tanji, ' a l - T a r a ' i q wa-'l-alhan al-musiqiyya f i ifriqiya w a - ' l - a n d a l u s ' , al-Abhaf. Quarterly Journal of the American University of Beirut 21/2,3,4,1968,93-116.) 2

It is first documented by Cantemir, Kitab, p. 103.

3

I n A.J. R a c y . ' T h e w a s l a h : a c o m p o u n d - f o r m principle in Egyptian m u s i c ' , Arab Studies Quarterly, 5/4 (1983), pp. 3 9 6 - 4 0 3 , the order of events is listed as taqsim, diilab or sama'i, taqsim (all instrumental), muwassah, taqsim, layall, mawwal and dawr (to which is added a final qasida in the last wasla of a normal s e q u e n c e of three). C a n t e m i r (loc. cit.) lists the components of the fasil as taksim, one or two pe^revs, vocal taksim, beste, nak$, kdr, semai, instrumental semai, vocal taksim. ^ R a c y (ibid.) also points to analogies with complex structures found in both religious and folk music.

426

O.

W R I G H T

that the likelihood of an Ottoman influence on the evolution of the wasla is strengthened by the degree of parallelism they exhibit when contrasted with the very different structure embodied in the Iraqi fasl, which shares little with the fasil beyond lexical identity. Less a framework providing conventional slots within which one from a number of potential compositions is selected than the embodiment of a repertoire, each fasl groups together in a conventional order a number of maqams within each of which there is a considerable precomposed element, the freedom of the singer to determine the course of events being largely restricted to the choice of smaller elements, qita', which can be inserted at certain points in the structure. The result may be thought of as occupying a position somewhere between the large-scale Turkish, Persian and Azeri structural models. But if the Ottoman fasil finds a much closer analogue in the wasla, it is still the case that the vocal f o r m s included are differently structured. Unfortunately, the history of the major 19th and 20th-century Arab forms such as the dulab, dawr, mawwal and muwassah cannot be traced. 1 In Systematist. texts of the 15th century we find descriptions of such forms as qawl, ghazal. sawt and 'amal, but their development (or demise) thereafter is not recorded. The 'amal re-emerges as the kar, the most extended and complex Ottoman form, but neither this nor other secular Ottoman forms such as the beste and §arki seem to have had much impact. Except for the muwassah, where the: ritornello structure is congruent with the strophic text, the Arab vocal forms, contrast with their Ottoman equivalents not so much in the placement of repeated material as in the latitude they allow for improvisation, crucial in the qasida and mawwal but also integral to the late 19th-century flowering of the most extended f o r m , the dawr, which thus appears to have developed independently of, and even in a direction contrary to, the fully composed Ottoman forms. 2 Contemporary with this development, at least in Egypt, seems to have been a significant change, if compared with the depreciation reported by Lane, in the standing of music Major singers tended to retain the respectability associated with the religious background from which they emerged to be patronised by the Khedives—it may be that it is only at this stage, after a considerable gap, that one can begin to speak again properly of a court-music tradition—and a growing interest in the arts among the better educated may also have contributed to the enhancement of its status. Links with Istanbul were also cultivated: the Khedive Isma'il took the composer 'Abduh al-Hamuli ' M u h a m m a d M a h m ù d Sâmï H â t ï z , op. cit., pp. 2 2 4 - 5 implies that as a musical f o r m the muwassah reached Egypt f r o m Aleppo. Cf. also Tourna, op. cit., pp. 5 5 - 6 . 2 A striking indication of the contrast is provided by the report (Zaki, op. cit., p. 21) that ' A b d u h al-Hamuli (see below) asked for translations to be made of certain Turkish songs which he then used in the manner of a basraf. Ihal is, as a fully-composed prelude to the wasla proper.

UNDER

THE

INFLUENCE

427

with him on more than one visit, and another emissary was Yùsuf alManyalâwï, who went to Istanbul in 1887 and sang for Sultan Abdiilhamit. This was no doubt partly cultural propaganda, to demonstrate that singers from Cairo could compete with the best, but also partly an act of artistic appropriation, to familiarize such artists with the latest trends in the capital. Egyptian attitudes were not, however, uniformly positive. Shortly after the anecdote quoted above, 'Utmân b. Muhammad al-Jundi touches on yet another stock theme, one that can be traced back through the Ihwân al-Safâ' to al-Kindi, the notion that each nation has its own musical idiom which appeals to it, but not to others. There follows a single, pointed example: Turkish music is not appreciated by the Arabs. Contrary to the ultimately relativist implications of the general principle he then vaunts the superiority of Egyptian music; and the principle is further undermined by the claim that the emotional power of Egyptian music is such that once exposed to it those who do not understand it become attached to it and respond to nothing else, even if, like Greeks and the people of Istanbul and Baghdad, they are knowledgeable in the art. No hint of cultural inferiority here, so it would seem, even if there is a rather tell-tale later identification of bayâtl 'with what is called ' u s s à q in Istanbul.' 1 Nevertheless, this was a minority view, and later Egyptian writers even hint at a symbiosis of the Arab and Turkish traditions during this period: 2 the increasingly inescapable presence of western culture meant that local traditions now required appropriate onomastic discrimination, and the first adjective chosen for music was not 'arabl but, instructively, the generic sarqï? and it is not until the middle of the 20th century that usage changes. 4 It is in this period of increasing rapprochement that a further wave of modal acquisitions takes place. As has been seen, the range of modes cited in 19th-century Egyptian sources is considerably narrower than that found in the contemporary Ottoman tradition, where the mode stock was being enlarged by the cultivation of new hybrids, and there is anecdotal evidence of borrowing. ' T h e phraseology is parallel to M u s â q a ' s qualification (Ronzevalle, op. cit., p. 92) of dûkâh a s being called 'ussàq al-atrâk, but is surely more specific in its recognition of the norms of the centre. Cf. M u h a m m a d M a h m u d S a m ï H a f i z , op. cit., p. 225, w h o speaks in relation to ' A b d u h ali i muli of an intermingling ( m a z j al-mûsiqâ al-misriyya bi-'l-turkiyya). Almost exactly the same words are used by Zaki (op cit., p. 21). A s in the title of the first significant musicological work of the 20th century, that by Kâmil alHula'i. A similar impulse may be seen behind the even wider range of reference given to the notion of la musique orientale by Rauf Yekta Bey ('La musique turque', in Encyclopédie de la musique (Lavignac), i, (Paris, 1922), pp. 2945-3064, where a basic Asian/European dichotomy is put forward). ^Possibly triggered by the prestigious 1932 Cairo Conference o n Arab M u s i c , although the altransition w a s inevitably gradual. One may note e.g. f r o m ca. 1936 the title al-mûsiqâ sarqiyya wa-'l-ginâ' al-'arabi: from 1949 M . H . Allah W i r d i , F a l s a f a t al-mûsiqâ al-sarqiyya, Damascus: I b n Z a y d û n ; and from 1950 M. Salâh al-Din, Miftâh al-alhân al-'arabiyya, Cairo: Ahmad, and although the term sarqi still crops up sporadically thereafter it is clearly in retreat.

428

O.

W R I G H T

This involved not just recent inventions such as hijazkar maqdm as basic to modern practice as nihawand

kurdv. even a

is not a direct continuation

within the A r a b tradition but appears in the f o r m of a late-19th century Ottoman loan. There ma\ well be a fairly large gap between the number of maqams

that are said to exist in theory and those that are in current use, so

that indebtedness could easily be exaggerated, but it is nevertheless clear that here, at least, a significant Ottoman contribution can be identified, and with specific reference to Egypt it also appears to be the case that most of such borrowings took place during the very last years of the Ottoman Empire Likewise with the Ottoman input into the instrumental repertoire where, indeed, one can detect a potent posthumous influence: it is intriguing to trace, for example, the line running f r o m Tanburi Cemil Bey (d. 1916), w h o s e exemplary taksim

recordings in any case cannot have been without some

influence on later Arab musicians, to the lute virtuoso § e r i f

Muhyeddin

Targan, and from him to his Iraqi pupils, among w h o m Salman S u k u r in particular must be regarded as a late 20th-century prolongation of the Ottoman tradition; and one may similarly point to the many pe$revs

which have

retained their place in the Arab instrumental repertoire. 1 But once again, a contrast needs to be drawn between the instrumental and vocal domains. S o m e 20 years after his visit to Istanbul Yusuf alM a n y a l a w i made a number of historic recordings, and it is not immediately apparent that they exhibit any Ottoman influence beyond the occasional use of a newly introduced m o d e . 2 Comparative stylistic analyses of these and equivalent pioneering recordings from Istanbul have yet to be attempted, but iri relation to crucial aspects of style such as tessitura, voice production, norms of text setting and, possibly , certain aspects of form, the tradition represented by al-Manyalawi may well have stood at some remove from that of Istanbul. Indeed, it is likely that before the new levels of exposure permitted by the gramophone age it was styles of vocal delivery and text setting that were the most resistant to change (and even today the vocal technique of Iraqi maqam singers remains markedly different to that of both Turkish and Egyptian singers). Of the various questions raised at the outset few have been touched ori m o r e than fleetingly. The theoretical literature a l l o w s us to g l i m p s e something of developments taking place at the systemic level, but not about

'For example, in an Egyptian collection published as recently as 1983 (al-Hïtamï, Majmu'at almùsîqa al-âliyya, Cairo: Qism al-nasr bi-'l-jâmi'a al-amrikiyya bi-'l-qâhira), in vols. 1, 3 and 4, chosen at random, the Ottoman contribution, mainly of pieces by 19th-century composers is, in fact, almost half (21 out of a total of 43). Some, moreover, are by tum-of-the-century composers such as Tatyos (1858-1913) and Âsim Bey (1852-1929). 2

S o m e of these recordings, dating from the years 1906-11, have been reissued on CD (Les archives de la musique arabe A A A 065, |Paris: Club du disque arabe, 19931). They include

pieces in nihàwand and hijàzkâr.

UNDER

THE

INFLUENCE

429

how structures were articulated at the level of performance, and even at the systemic level one major topic, the regional distribution of rhythmic cycles, has remained unexplored. Likewise, the regional distribution of instruments has only just been touched upon. Nevertheless, certain patterns emerge, and it is legitimate, if not particularly revelatory, to accept the argument of diffusion from the centre, although with the qualification that the process, in any case probably fitful and irregular, failed to have much impact at the further peripheries represented by Tunisia and Iraq, and may well have begun no earlier than the late 17th century. On the other hand, contrary to the initial hypothesis of a curve of waxing and waning influence, a far more plausible conclusion from the evidence to hand is that the most intense period of musical transfers from Istanbul came very late in the day, not when central authority was still relatively effective but during the last half century, and especially j u s t the last quarter of a century, of political decline and enfeeblement. This is only paradoxical at first sight. After a long period of subservience and relative isolation, the growing aspirations in the Arab provinces towards cultural autonomy may well have taken the form initially of a desire to emulate, with ihe consequent need to borrow from, the rich and complex tradition and repertoire of the centre. It is also clear that this relationship continued beyond the severance of the last imperial links, albeit for the most part in the more passive form of an inherited repertoire, even if individual musicians may have contributed to further dissemination. Active engagement with the Ottoman period, both in Turkey and the Arab countries, is henceforth translated rather to the ideological (and textual) plane. Interesting, here, would be to extend the discussion to include an examination of how perceptions of the musical heritage are subtly refracted through literature; but even analysis of the cruder ideology-driven discourse on culture, authenticity and modernisation is something that, fortunately, lies beyond the confines of the present essay.

School of Oriental and African Studies,

London

SOME NOTES ON BRITISH ESPIONAGE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, 1878-1908 F. A. K. YASAMEE

T h e following notes have two purposes. First, they attempt to survey the evidence concerning British attempts to penetrate, through espionage, the secrets of the régime o f Sultan Abdiilhamid II ( 1 8 7 6 - 1 9 0 9 ) . It must be emphasized that this evidence is fragmentary, and often opaque: the present survey lays no claim to comprehensiveness, and leaves many questions unanswered. Second, these notes seek to draw attention to the difficulties involved in evaluating the information which the British acquired through espionage, and, by implication, to warn historians against taking this information on trust. The fact that information was obtained illicitly is no guarantee that it was important or true.

I The

terms

'espionage'

and

'intelligence'

are often

treated

as

synonymous, but for present purposes, it is useful to distinguish between them. Espionage was the effort to penetrate a foreign government's secrets. Intelligence, a broader activity, was the gathering o f information which might illuminate the present and future capabilities, and also the present and future intentions, o f foreign governments. E s p i o n a g e was but one aspect o f intelligence, and not necessarily the most important or the most fruitful. Governments' need for foreign intelligence grew apace in the nineteenth century, as relations between states grew more dense and more complex, and also as improved communications reduced diplomatic and military reaction times, and increasingly shifted responsibility for the conduct o f relations between states away from ambassadors and other 'men on the spot', towards foreign offices and other home-based organs o f government. Fortunately for governments, the sources o f intelligence increased enormously. Diplomatic and consular services were expanded, enabling the British government, for example, to appoint official representatives to every major region in the Ottoman Empire. S o m e states — the Ottoman Empire is a case in point — employed foreign advisers, civilian and military, who were valuable sources of information to their own governments. In addition, governments almost

432

A.

K.

YASAMEE

everywhere gave out more information about themselves: the Ottoman government, for example, published laws and regulations, censuses, trade statistics, an official gazette, and a variety of year-books which gave detailed information on the organisation of central and provincial administration. It also sponsored semi-official newspapers, intended to enlighten and guide public opinion, from which it was possible to draw inferences about its own thinking. As important, there was a huge increase in unofficial sources of information. Newspapers appointed foreign correspondents, while merchants, bankers, salesmen, engineers, scholars, missionaries, explorers and travellers of all kinds visited foreign countries, including the Ottoman Empire, on an unprecedented scale, and spoke, wrote and published on the subject of their experiences. Lorimer's celebrated Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, and a series of accurate and up-to-date studies of the Ottoman Empire's armed forces and finances, were among the fruits. 1 In sum, the nineteenth century witnessed an explosion of information on the subject of foreign countries — information, it should be stressed, which came from 'open sources', and had nothing to do with espionage Indeed, this explosion severely limited the types and quantity of information which governments could expect to keep secret. Armies and navies, fortifications, dockyards and arsenals, were highly visible; so were railways, roads, harbours and telegraphs. Some governments sought to conceal technical information, but the Ottoman Empire could not: all its advanced technology, whether civilian or military, was imported from abroad. The growth of world trade produced a great increase in the circulation of economic information; indeed, it depended upon it. Governments' increasing reliance upon banks and money markets made it difficult to conceal the state of their finances, even when, as in the case of the Ottoman Empire, they did not always publish details of their budgets. The growth of unofficial contacts between natives and foreigners engendered a huge increase in gossip, while even in authoritarian states, public opinion was audible to those who knew how to listen. At best, a government like the Ottoman could hope to conceal sensitive information relating to current issues of policy, and some information concerning military planning, but it had no hope of controlling intelligence derived from open sources. Military intelligence, in particular, was adept at exploiting open sources. Careful, trained observation, backed by expert analysis, without recourse to espionage in any strict sense, could produce reliable estimates of

' j . G. Lorimer, Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, 'Oman and Central Arabia', 2 vols., (Calcutta, 1908-15); cf., e.g., A. du Vela) , Essai sur l'histoire financière de la Turquie depuis le règne du Sultan Mahmoud jusqu'à nos jours (Paris, 1903); Rasky, Die Wehrmacht der Türkei (Vienna, 1905); H. A. von Alberthall, Die türkische Wehrmacht und die Armeen der Balkanstaaten (Vienna, 1892).

BRITISH

ESPIONAGE

IN T H E O T T O M A N

EMPIRE

433

military capabilities; analysis of capabilities, in turn, could o f f e r pointers to intentions. L o n g b e f o r e the outbreak of the Balkan W a r of 1912, for e x a m p l e , the O t t o m a n and Bulgarian general staffs had f o r m u l a t e d reasonably a c c u r a t e pictures of each o t h e r ' s

w a r plans. E s p i o n a g e , it s e e m s , had nothing to d o

with this; rather, analysis of k n o w n capabilities, supported by intelligent ' w a r g a m i n g ' , enabled each side to assess the other's strategic options, and identify its probable choices. Of course, such intelligence w o r k had its limitations. In 1912, t h e B u l g a r i a n s were not to k n o w that the O t t o m a n military l e a d e r s h i p would choose to throw over its c a r e f u l l y prepared staff plans, and take the risk of i m p r o v i s i n g a c a m p a i g n . N o r c o u l d they h a v e f o r e s e e n t h e s u b s e q u e n t collapse of t h e O t t o m a n a r m y in the field, w h i c h w a s largely attributable to poor morale, discipline and organisation — intangibles w h i c h it w a s d i f f i c u l t f o r o u t s i d e r s to a s s e s s . ' Y e t by a n d large military i n t e l l i g e n c e k n e w its limitations. It dealt in c h e c k a b l e f a c t s and rational h y p o t h e s e s , but did not pretend to o f f e r 'revelations'.

II It w a s , p r i m a r i l y , the political secrets of the O t t o m a n

government

w h i c h the British strove to p e n e t r a t e t h r o u g h e s p i o n a g e . T h e i r e f f o r t s w e r e g u i d e d by certain a s s u m p t i o n s , w h i c h d e t e r m i n e d the q u e s t i o n s a s k e d of espionage, and also the evaluation of the a n s w e r s it provided. W i t h hindsight, t h e s e a s s u m p t i o n s a p p e a r partially m i s c o n c e i v e d , and to this d e g r e e , the p r o s p e c t s of g e n u i n e l y i n f o r m a t i v e e s p i o n a g e w e r e c o m p r o m i s e d f r o m the start. T h r e e interrelated sets of a s s u m p t i o n s w e r e involved, touching upon the issues w h i c h e s p i o n a g e w a s e x p e c t e d to c l a r i f y , the O t t o m a n g o v e r n m e n t ' s vulnerability to e s p i o n a g e , and the a p p r o p r i a t e m e t h o d s of e s p i o n a g e . T h e s e will be e x a m i n e d in turn. T h e British b e l i e v e d that t h e y had g o o d r e a s o n s f o r r e s o r t i n g to espionage.2

In t h e f i r s t p l a c e ,

the O t t o m a n

Empire,

though

weak

internationally, continued to control a h u g e s w a t h e of strategically important territory in the Near and M i d d l e East, and, via, the Caliphate, exerted s o m e

'information on military planning and the Balkan War is given in Bursali Mehmed Nihad, Balkan Harbi. Trakya Seferi, I (Istanbul, 1340); Abdullah Pa§a, 1328 Balkan harbinde §ark Ordusu Kumandani Abdullah Paça'nm Hatirati (Istanbul, n.d.); Mirliva Pertev, Balkan harbinde Biiyiik Karargah-u Umumi (Istanbul, 1928); I. Fichev, Balkanskata voina 1912-1913. Prezhivelitsi, belezhki i dokumenti (Sofia, 1940); Balkanskata voina (Sofia, 1961); Yako Malkhov, 'Deinost na shtaba na armiyata po razrabotvaneto na operativniya plan za vodene na voina steshtu Turtsiya (1903-1912 g.)\ Voenno-istoricheski sbornik, no. 5 (1986). 2 Contemporary British assessments of Abdiilhamid's régime are documented in W. N. Medlieott, The Congress of Berlin and After. A Diplomatic History of the Near Eastern Settlement 18781880 (London, 1938); Colin L. Smith, The Embassy of Sir William White at Constantinople, 18861891 (Oxford, 1957); D. E. Lee, Great Britain and the Cyprus Convention Policy of 1878 (Cambridge, 1934).

434

A.

K.

Y A S A M E E

moral influence throughout the Muslim world; it could, potentially, take decisions which would materially affect British interests. In the second place, the Ottoman government was closed, secretive, and not obviously welldisposed towards Britain. Its dominant figure, Sultan Abdiilhamid, was regarded as an irrational and unpredictable man, subject to obsessive suspicions and imaginary fears, above all in respect of his personal security, which rendered him vulnerable to manipulation by his entourage; he was also believed to harbour a stock of grudges against Britain. And in the third place, the British feared that rival powers — for most of the period, the Russians were the chief suspects — might succeed in playing on the Sultan's psychology, and lure him into courses of action harmful to Britain. It was therefore vital to penetrate the Ottoman government's thinking, and to keep the closest possible eye on the Sultan's relations with Britain's international rivals. In retrospect, however, the British seem to have exaggerated Abdiilhamid's personal weaknesses: the record suggests that he was more rational, consistent and determined, and also less manipulable, than they allowed. It is possible, too, that they exaggerated the threat from rival powers, and in particular, from the Russians. More obviously, the British exaggerated the Ottoman government's vulnerability to espionage. Ottoman officialdom was notoriously corrupt, and this encouraged a belief that any information could be obtained through bribery. Lord Salisbury was convinced that the Ottoman government could not keep secrets; Bismarck held that 'with money, everything can be achieved in Turkey'. 1 As will be seen, the record suggests that this confidence in bribery was misplaced. Further, this confidence appears to have blinded British officials to certain crucial obstacles to espionage. Abdiilhamid's government did not so much resemble an ordered bureaucracy, with fixed channels of communication and consultation, as a court, in which participation in the decision-making process, and access to sensitive information, depended upon the Sultan's favour. In order to maximise his personal control and perhaps, too, his sources of advice. Abdiilhamid consistently subverted bureaucratic rules. Not all business was laid before the Council of Ministers, whose functions could be usurped, at the Sultan's discretion, by ad hoc committees and commissions. The formal attributions of ministers and their departments did not necessarily reflect their true responsibilities', notoriously, the Foreign Ministry did not control foreign policy, though it did administer routine aspects of the Hmpire's foreign relations. Further, the Sultan maintained a form of Nebenregierung at his palace, where a well-developed secretariat corresponded directly with provincial governors, military commanders and embassies abroad, behind the backs of their ministerial superiors, and where

^J. Lepsius, A. M. Bartholdy and F. T h i m m e (eds.), Die Grosse Kabinette, 40 vols. (Berlin, 1922-"'). iv, no. 864.

Politik

der

Europäischen

BRITISH

ESPIONAGE

IN T H E

OTTOMAN

EMPIRE

435

numerous unofficial advisers were available, to be inserted into the policymaking process as and when the Sultan saw fit. The system was fluid, and as such, difficult to predict: even insiders could not be sure, at any given time, that they knew what was going on. For outsiders, seeking to penetrate the system through espionage, the difficulties were bound to be greater. 1 The British also appear to have made an unthinking assumption that the Ottoman government would remain passive and unwitting in the face of their efforts at espionage. Evidence of Ottoman counter-espionage is admittedly hard to come by, but it would be unwise to assume that no measures were taken. For one thing, the British penetrated remarkably few Ottoman secrets, and it is difficult to believe that this was entirely due to their own incompetence. For another, all Abdiilhamid's contemporaries acknowledged that he maintained a formidable internal security apparatus, and the memoirs of Ottoman officials of the period, and the surviving Ottoman archival records, offer ample evidence that a particularly close watch was kept upon contacts between Ottoman officials and foreigners. Further, as will be seen, there are grounds for at least suspecting that Abdiilhamid's government may have sought to counter foreign espionage through a policy of active deception, designed to conceal by misleading, and involving the 'planting' or selective leaking of information, and even, conceivably, the planting of bogus 'informants' on foreign embassies. As to the organisation of espionage, it must be borne in mind that the British government, during the period under review, possessed no professional intelligence organisation separate from its mainstream diplomatic service: the planning and execution of espionage was entrusted to individual embassies. 2 The British government did maintain a Secret Service Fund, but this was no more than a central account upon which individual embassies could draw to finance their espionage activities. The British Embassy in Constantinople appears to have generally entrusted espionage to its Dragomans, locallyrecruited interpreters drawn, for the most part, from the Levantine c o m m u n i t y . 3 On the one hand, Dragomans were present at many of the meetings between British ambassadors and Ottoman officials, and were thus au courant with many issues of high policy; on the other, they had numerous local connections, and could move in local society with an ease denied to regular diplomats. In addition, they did not change their postings, and enjoyed a fund of local knowledge and acquaintance built up over many years. Among

' F.A.K. Yasamee, Ottoman Diplomacy. Abdiilhamid II and the Great Powers 1878-1888, (Istanbul: Isis 1996), ch.ii, passim. Christopher Andrew, Secret Service. The Making of the British Intelligence Community (London, 1985), ch.i, passim. Keith Hamilton and Richard Langhorne, The Practice of Diplomacy: its evolution, theory and administration (London and New York, 1995), p. 107.

436

F.

A.

K.

Y A S A M E E

British officials, there was a current of unease at the extent of their reliance upon the Dragomans, for despite their official British nationality, their nonBritish origins and close local connections could cause doubt as to their ultimate loyalties. In this connection, it may be noted that Sir Alfred Sandison, a Levantine of Polish extraction who served as a British Dragoman from 1880, and as the Embassy's Chief Dragoman from 1891 to 1894, was the subject of persistent rumours alleging that he was a Russian agent. His superiors were aware of ihese rumours: in the longer term, they hoped thai: encouragement of the study of oriental languages at British universities would free the diplomatic s e n ice from its dependence upon locally-recruited personnel. 1

Ill

As far as can be judged, the espionage techniques employed by the British were limited: there is, for example, no evidence that they organised a systematic interception of diplomatic telegrams à la française2. Rather, their Embassy in Constantinople set out to apply two methods: the recruitment of Ottoman officials and subjects as informants, generally in return for money, and the purloining of copies of O t t o m a n official documents, again, presumably, through briber;» It is possible to identify some of the British Embassy's informants. A s early as 1879, these included §eyh Siileyman Efendi, a native of Bukhara with good Central Asian connections; there are also references to a Daghestani agent, to a 'secret agent' Aziz, and to a Munshi Azizuddin, presumably a British Indian subject. 3 Ihese were low-level informants, who stood on the periphery of the real centres of power and policy-making; at best, they could pass on political gossip. The British did, however, succeed in recruiting one high-level informant, Artin Efendi (later Artin Pa§a), an Armenian from the well-known Dadyan family, who served for long periods in the 1880s and 1890s as Under-secretary at the Ottoman Foreign Ministry, and who was also credited with influence at I he Sultan's palace. Certainly Abdiilhamid used Artin to convey private messages to the British Embassy, where officials found him consistently friendly, helpful, and occasionally willing to volunteer inside

l The Oriental Question. ¡840- ¡WO: files from the Royal Archives, Windsor Castle, Microfilm., (Frederick, 1984-5): Duke of Hdinburgh to the Q u e e n . 2 3 September and 7 October 1886; Iddesleigh to the Queen, 7 October 1886. 2

F o r the French system of intercepts, see C. H. A n d r e w , ' D é c h i f f r e m e n t et diplomatie: le cabinet noir du Quai d'Orsay sous la Troisième République', Relations Internationales, no. 5 (1976). 3 F O 195/1508, Marinitsch to Sandison, 22 January 1885; Willmore to Sandison, 30 March 1885; White Papers, F O 364/5, memo, f r o m Munshi Azizuddin, 12 June 1888; Salisbury Papers, Hatfield House, A17, Layard to Salisbury, 15 December 1879.

BRITISH

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information. T o add to A r t i n ' s attractions, he enjoyed a considerable reputation f o r v e n a l i t y . 1 N o t all B r i t i s h o f f i c i a l s trusted A r t i n : L o r d D u f f e r i n , f o r example, damned

h i m as ' a v e r y c l e v e r , u n s c r u p u l o u s a n d

intriguing

s c o u n d r e l ' . 2 But the D r a g o m a n s were prepared to vouch f o r h i m , and in April 1886 the British a w a r d e d him a Secret Service pension of £ 6 0 0 per a n n u m . 3 T h i s i n v e s t m e n t brought s w i f t d i v i d e n d s , f o r within w e e k s , Artin w a s able to reveal that t h e R u s s i a n E m b a s s y w a s a t t e m p t i n g to d r a w the Sultan into a secret alliance at the Straits. 4 T h e British took this w a r n i n g with the u t m o s t s e r i o u s n e s s ; e v e r s i n c e 1878, it had b e e n their n i g h t m a r e that t h e Russians m i g h t inveigle Abdiilhamid into a second ' U n k i a r - S k e l e s s i ' , w h i c h w o u l d give t h e m military control of the Straits, and political control of the Ottoman government. Further information, probably derived, again, from Artin, c o n f i r m e d their w o r s t fears; the upshot w a s a ' R u s s i a n a l l i a n c e ' scare which lasted until the end of the y e a r , and inflicted s i g n i f i c a n t s h o r t - t e r m d a m a g e o n A n g l o - O t t o m a n relations. Yet h o w m u c h s u b s t a n c e w a s there in these tales of R u s s i a n alliance o v e r t u r e s ? T h e available record s u g g e s t s that there w a s little. O t t o m a n d o c u m e n t s s h o w that A b d i i l h a m i d w a s c u r r e n t l y a p p r e h e n s i v e of a m a j o r A n g l o - R u s s i a n c o n f r o n t a t i o n in the N e a r East, and f o r e s a w that he might be f o r c e d to take sides; they also show that he w i s h e d to avoid this eventuality if at all possible. N o r is there any e v i d e n c e to c o n f i r m that the R u s s i a n s a p p r o a c h e d h i m , t h o u g h it is c o n c e i v a b l e t h a t t h e i r a m b a s s a d o r , N e l i d o v , indulged in s o m e u n o f f i c i a l kite-flying. All in all, the scare w o u l d a p p e a r to h a v e been based o n little m o r e than s p e c u l a t i o n and rumour.5 T h e Russian alliance scare of 1886 was neither the first nor the last of its kind. T h e r e had been a similar scare in the winter of 1884-5, in the m o n t h s preceding t h e P e n j d e h crisis, and there w a s to be another in 1889-90, against a background of British concern at t h e e x p a n s i o n of Russia's Black Sea fleet. Both these scares, like that of 1886, w e r e triggered by warnings f r o m O t t o m a n i n f o r m a n t s , including Artin; with hindsight, too, it s e e m s d o u b t f u l that there w a s m u c h s u b s t a n c e to t h e m . 6 Britain's i n f o r m a n t s , it s e e m s , w e r e n o n e too reliable. W h y not? If the informants acted in good faith, they must t h e m s e l v e s h a v e b e e n m i s i n f o r m e d . T h i s is plausible. A c l o s e e x a m i n a t i o n of their i n f o r m a t i o n suggests that little w a s first-hand. M o s t was hearsay, perhaps

'Yasamee, op. cit., p. 39. ^Granville Papers, PRO 30/29/191, Dufferin to Granville, 19 April 1884. 3 Thornton Papers, FO 933/117, Rosebery to Thornton, 30 April 1886. 4 F O 78/3872, Thornton to Rosebery, no. 328,25 June 1886. •'Yasamee, op. cit., p. 185 ff. 6 ibid., pp. 119-130, 189 ff; A. Marder, British Naval Policy 1880-1905 (London, 1940), pp. 152 ff. Colin L. Smith; The Embassy of Sir William White at Constantinople 1886-1891 (Oxford, 1957), p. 144 ff.

438

I-. A. K.

YASAMEE

padded out with the informants' own surmise and speculation. It must be borne in mind that Abdiilhamid's preference f o r multiple and fluid channels of consultation and communication m a d e it difficult even for highly-placed informants to be sure what was going on; they relied upon gossip and their own ability to read the runes, and doubtless made mistakes. But what if the informants did not act in good faith, but deliberately set out to mislead their British friends and paymasters, through invention, exaggeration or other distortion of the truth? One possibility to be considered is that some informants were Ottoman plants, whose real loyalty was to the Sultan. Interestingly, the three Russian alliance scares mentioned above all coincide with initiatives by Abdiilhamid to persuade the British to discuss an evacuation of Egypt, the Ottoman dependency which they had occupied in 1882. 1 In conversation with British representatives, the Sultan was not shy of hinting at a possible connection between Britain's attitude in Egypt and his own attitude at the Straits. Could it be that he deliberately exploited the Russian alliance scares as a means of pressure on Britain? And were the British Embassy's informants his witting or unwitting agents? These questions cannot be answered, but they are worth asking. Nor should the possibilities of low politics be ignored. In 1884, for example, Artin Efendi's personal position was under threat. He had quarrelled with the Grand Vizier, Kiitjiik Mehmed Said Pa§a, over the award of a railway concession in which he allegedly had a pecuniary interest; the upshot was Artin's dismissal from his post as Undersecretary at the Foreign Ministry. Can it be a coincidence that the British Embassy received information alleging that the Grand Vizier was a leading advocate of a Russian alliance, a charge utterly unsupported by any other evidence, and which even British officials found hard to credit? Can it be a coincidence that Artin's tales of Russian overtures were echoed by Aleko Pa§a, recently sacked, at Russia's request, f r o m his post as Governor-General of Eastern Rumelia?. 2 Can it be that on this occasion, and perhaps on others, attempts were made to involve the British Embassy in matters that were less political than personal? Once again, the question is worth asking.

IV Espionage through informants w a s problematical. At first sight, it might seem that the second category of espionage, the purloining of Ottoman government documents, was less so. A document, if genuine, is raw, untreated information, first-hand and not shaped by interpretation. Nor do the questions of motive which arise with informants apply so obviously to documents. ' Y a s a m e e , op. cit., chs. x, x i v . / ' u w / m . bid., pp. 120—1; background in Vahdettin Engin, Rumeli Demiryollari (Istanbul, 1993), pp. 184-6; Boris Barth, Die deutsche Hochfinanz und die Imperialismen. Banken und Aussenpolitik vor 1914 (Stuttgart, 1995), p. 7 \

BRITISH

ESPIONAGE

IN T H E O T T O M A N

EMPIRE

439

Certainly the British, and perhaps other P o w e r s , appear to have set s o m e store by this f o r m of espionage: the c o r r e s p o n d e n c e of British A m b a s s a d o r s to the Porte c o n t a i n s m a n y purported copies of official O t t o m a n telegrams, reports and m e m o r a n d a , all in French or English translation. British archives contain n o trace of the T u r k i s h originals. It is not at all clear h o w these d o c u m e n t s w e r e o b t a i n e d : A m b a s s a d o r s would t y p i c a l l y d e s c r i b e t h e m as h a v i n g ' b y c h a n c e fallen into m y h a n d s ' , but w o u l d g i v e no f u r t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n . T h e likelihood, h o w e v e r , is that is was the D r a g o m a n s w h o w e r e responsible f o r p u r l o i n i n g t h e d o c u m e n t s , and also they w h o m a d e t h e t r a n s l a t i o n s . T h e o r i g i n a l s u p p l i e r s of t h e d o c u m e n t s a r e n o w h e r e i d e n t i f i e d , t h o u g h it is probable that they included s o m e of the informants discussed above. B r i t i s h A m b a s s a d o r s w e r e c o n v i n c e d of the a u t h e n t i c i t y of this m a t e r i a l ; e v i d e n t l y t h e y k n e w , or b e l i e v e d t h e y k n e w , s o m e t h i n g of its provenance. T h e historian is under no obligation to accept their j u d g e m e n t , the m o r e s o as he k n o w s n o t h i n g of the m a t e r i a l ' s p r o v e n a n c e . 1 T h e p r e s e n t author has undertaken reasonably extensive research in the surviving Ottoman archives, but has yet to discover the original of a single o n e of the purported c o p i e s f o u n d in British correspondence. F u r t h e r m o r e , m a n y of these purported copies, w h e n set beside authentic Ottoman d o c u m e n t a t i o n , appear to m a k e no sense: they express opinions which their alleged authors d e m o n s t r a b l y did not hold, or discuss particular issues in terms utterly remote f r o m those e m p l o y e d in authentic records of Ottoman policy debate. In addition, s o m e of the alleged c o p i e s are open to objection on technical grounds: f o r e x a m p l e , the purported report of a cabinet m e e t i n g held on a day w h e n it can be established that the c a b i n e t did not m e e t . All in all, there a p p e a r to be r e a s o n a b l e g r o u n d s f o r s u s p e c t i n g that m a n y of these alleged d o c u m e n t s are forgeries. W h o f o r g e d t h e m , and w h y ? It is impossible to be sure, but three possibilities spring to m i n d . T h e f o r g e r i e s m a y h a v e been plants, d i s i n f o r m a t i o n put o u t by the O t t o m a n g o v e r n m e n t ; they m a y h a v e been the w o r k of particular O t t o m a n o f f i c i a l s , e a g e r to e n h a n c e their o w n r e p u t a t i o n s , and to blacken t h o s e of rivals, in the eyes of the British E m b a s s y ; or they m a y h a v e been the work of a private, non-political, commercial enterprise, turning out b o g u s d o c u m e n t s f o r any party gullible enough to pay f o r t h e m . In the latter c o n n e c t i o n , it m a y be noted that at least o n e French a m b a s s a d o r to the Porte was certain that such a c o m m e r c i a l enterprise was active in the O t t o m a n capital. 2

1 2

Granville

Papers, PRO 30/29/191, Dufferin to Granville, 15 January 1884.

A M A E , N S T 182, D. 5 4 8 Bompard to Pichon, 2 9 D e c e m b e r 1910: 'Il existe, en effet à C o n s t a n t i n o p l e , une o f f i c i n e de d o c u m e n t s t r u q u é s qui o f f r e ses produits à toutes les chancelleries de l'Europe, où se fournit aussi notre Ministère d e la G u e r r e et dont se sert beaucoup l'Ambassade de Russie. C'est m ê m e pour cette raison que j'ai rétabli avec l'officine en question les relations coupées par mon prédécesseur probablement é c œ u r é de la mauvaise qualité de ses produits, mais j e me garde de j a m a i s faire état de ses informations dans mes rapports au Département'. I am indebted to Dr. J a m e s Harrison for this reference.

440

F.

A.

K.

YASAMEE

In their eagerness to endorse such purported documents, British officials betrayed ignorance of Ottoman administrative procedures. With hindsight, it is possible to point to certain features of these documents which should have placed them on their guard. First, the documents in question tended to be 'setpieces', in which named Ottoman officials examined the grand themes of the Empire's foreign policy, discussing the overall trend of international affairs, the state of relations with particular powers, the desirability of particular alliances or alignments, and similar f u n d a m e n t a l questions. A survey of authentic Ottoman records (and, indeed, of the authentic records of other powers at the time) would show that 'set-piece' documents of this type were relatively rare. Most documents dealt with matters of current business, and touched upon the grand themes of policy only in passing, obliquely, or by implication. Second, most of these purported documents were obtained at random, and singly. Abdiilhamid's government generated a great deal of paperwork. The Sultan liked to debate with his senior officials and advisers, and encouraged them to debate with each other. Major decisions were typically preceded by extensive and lengthy consultations, which would throw up dozens of reports, memoranda, despatches, and telegrams. Cases would be put up. criticised and referred back; as consultations proceeded, the terms of debate might change, and individuals might revise their positions. The significance of any particular document derived from its place within the course of the debate: once removed f r o m this context, and read in isolation, its original meaning would be obscured, and it would be open to misconstruction. Some, at least, of the foregoing qualifications would also apply in cases where the purloined d o c u m e n t s w e r e authentic. An example may d e m o n s t r a t e this point. The private papers of G e o r g e A m b r o s e L l o y d , appointed Honorary Attaché to the British Embassy in Constantinople in 1905, contain sixty-two bound volumes of what purport to be 'Official copies of telegrams to and from the Turkish G o v e r n m e n t ' , dating f r o m September 1889 to November 1908. 1 Several thousand alleged documents are reproduced in these volumes, all in French, the normal language of Ottoman diplomatic correspondence at the period. The provenance of these documents remains in many respects obscure. It is not even certain that they were purloined for the British Embassy, rather than for some other client. For present purposes, however, it suffices to note that the documents appear to be genuine. T h e y refer to identifiable events, initiatives and preoccupations of the Ottoman government; the contents of some — for example, conversations with foreign d i p l o m a t s — are c o n f i r m e d by other sources; f u r t h e r , they contain no spectacular revelations, but o f f e r an entirely credible picture of routine c o m m u n i c a t i o n s b e t w e e n the O t t o m a n F o r e i g n M i n i s t r y and its representatives abroad.

'Lord Lloyd Papers, Churchill College, Cambridge, GLLD 6/1-62. I am grateful to Dr. Keith Wilson for drawing my attention to this material.

BRITISH

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F o r all that, the d o c u m e n t s , w h i l e n u m e r o u s , r e m a i n limited in scope. In the first place, they are a selection, governed by the purloiners' access, and by their sense of w h a t w a s worth passing o n to their a n o n y m o u s client. T h e y had access to t e l e g r a m s , in c y p h e r and en clair,

but not until 1903 did they

gain access to d e s p a t c h e s or to policy d o c u m e n t s generated within the central government. T h e selection was broad, but not d e e p , and with hindsight, it can be seen that they m i s s e d a great deal. In 1890, f o r e x a m p l e , a m a j o r crisis in the O t t o m a n E m p i r e ' s relations with B u l g a r i a is reflected in less than half a dozen t e l e g r a m s , none of which would have shed m u c h light o n t h e O t t o m a n government's response to the crisis. 1 In 1894, Abdiilhamid t w i c e attempted to s o u n d the F r e n c h a n d R u s s i a n E m b a s s i e s on t h e p r o s p e c t s f o r a secret defensive u n d e r s t a n d i n g — an initiative w h i c h would u n d o u b t e d l y h a v e been of the greatest possible concern to the British, but w h i c h l e f t no trace in the purloined t e l e g r a m s . 2 Nor, in 1897, did his attempts to f o r m a Balkan L e a g u e with B u l g a r i a , S e r b i a and R u m a n i a . 3 P o s s i b l y the F o r e i g n M i n i s t r y k n e w little, or even nothing of these episodes, but this merely u n d e r s c o r e s the point: given A b d i i l h a m i d ' s m e t h o d s of g o v e r n m e n t , it w a s d i f f i c u l t to k n o w w h o s e d o c u m e n t s w e r e w o r t h stealing. In s u m , t h e m a t e r i a l c o n t a i n e d in t h e s e v o l u m e s , w h i l e a l m o s t c e r t a i n l y g e n u i n e , w o u l d be of little m o r e than background interest: it would o f f e r the odd nugget of u s e f u l i n f o r m a t i o n , and perhaps pointers and c l u e s to the direction of O t t o m a n policy, but it could o f f e r no sure insight into the government's inner thoughts and intentions. O n e f u r t h e r c a v e a t m a y be e n t e r e d . T h e f a c t that s o m e p u r l o i n e d d o c u m e n t s w e r e authentic does not preclude the possibility that they had been planted. C o n n o i s s e u r s of the m e m o i r s of O t t o m a n statesmen of the period will need n o r e m i n d i n g that t h e Big Lie is o f t e n a tissue of t r u t h s , and that authentic d o c u m e n t s , carefully selected and taken out of their original context, can be used to create an entirely false impression. S o m e years ago, a Bulgarian historian, t h e late p r o f e s s o r T u s h e V l a k h o v , d i s c o v e r e d in the Central State H i s t o r i c a l A r c h i v e at S o f i a a s e r i e s of a l l e g e d c o p i e s , in F r e n c h , of c o r r e s p o n d e n c e b e t w e e n Abdiilhamid's p a l a c e and the O t t o m a n d i p l o m a t i c representatives at A t h e n s , Belgrade, B u c h a r e s t , S o f i a and V i e n n a , all dating f r o m 1906-7, a period of acute tension in O t t o m a n - B u l g a r i a n relations, arising out of the M a c e d o n i a n q u e s t i o n . 4 P r o f e s s o r V l a k h o v w a s unable to find any information w h i c h might shed light on these documents' p r o v e n a n c e ; but f o r

' F o r b a c k g r o u n d , see B o z h i d a r S a m a r d z h i e v , ' P o l i t i k a t a na O s m a n s k a T u r t s y i a kam K n y a z h e s t v o t o Bulgariya ( 1 8 8 8 - 1 8 9 6 ) ' , Studia Balcania, xvi (1982); G u n n a r Hering, ' D e r Konflikt des ökumenischen Patriarchats und des bulgarischen Exarchats mit der Pforte 1890', Süd-Ost Forschungen, xlvii (1988). 2 Werner Zürrer, pp. 9 6 - 7 .

Die Nahostpolitik

Frankreichs

Background in Ali Fuad Türkgeldi, Mesail-i passim. ^Tushe Vlakhov, Kr'cata v Bulgaro-turskite

und Russlands Mühimme-i

otnosheniya

1891-1898

Siyasiyye, 1859-1908

(Wiesbaden

1970)

Iii (Ankara, 1966), ch.v, (Sofia, 1977), p. 116 ff.

442

K

A.

K.

YASAMEE

the p u r p o s e s of the p r e s e n t a r g u m e n t , let it be a s s u m e d that the B u l g a r i a n g o v e r n m e n t of the day had good reason to believe that the d o c u m e n t s were authentic. If so, it must have f o u n d their contents disturbing, f o r they appeared to s h o w that the Sultan's g o v e r n m e n t regarded w a r with B u l g a r i a as all but inevitable, and that it w a s taking active steps to secure the neutrality, or even the support, of Greece, Serbia and R u m a n i a . Could the d o c u m e n t s have been a plant, a deliberate leak by the O t t o m a n g o v e r n m e n t , d e s i g n e d to intimidate B u l g a r i a ? It is true that the O t t o m a n g o v e r n m e n t p o s s e s s e d m a n y c h a n n e l s through which it could m a k e k n o w n its v i e w s to the Bulgarians, but m i g h t it not h a v e c a l c u l a t e d that the B u l g a r i a n s w o u l d be less likely to d i s m i s s O t t o m a n threats as bluff if they believed that they had obtained i n d e p e n d e n t c o n f i r m a t i o n of those threats through successful e s p i o n a g e ? N e e d l e s s to say, s u c h an interpretation is pure s p e c u l a t i o n , b u t it s e r v e s to r e i n f o r c e t h e c o n c l u s i o n , implicit in the w h o l e of the f o r e g o i n g analysis, that e s p i o n a g e conducted through the purloining of d o c u m e n t s w a s every bit as problematical as espionage conducted through the recruitment of informants.

V Given

the

fragmentary

nature

of

the

evidence,

it w o u l d

be

p r e s u m p t u o u s to d r a w firm conclusions about the nature and e f f e c t i v e n e s s of B r i t i s h e s p i o n a g e in t h e O t t o m a n E m p i r e of A b d i i l h a m i d . T h a t said, the available evidence does strongly suggest that British espionage w a s amateurish in conception and execution, gullible in its h a n d l i n g of i n f o r m a n t s and other sources of intelligence, and naively u n a w a r e of the difficulty of its task. A b o v e all, it a p p e a r s to have p r o d u c e d little if any w o r t h w h i l e intelligence, and a great deal of m i s i n f o r m a t i o n . T h e responsible British o f f i c i a l s s e e m to have u n c o n s c i o u s l y believed that espionage w a s a privileged branch of k n o w l e d g e , c a p a b l e of delivering 'revelations' — single pieces of i n f o r m a t i o n that would ' i l l u m i n a t e a l l ' . Perhaps, 100, they u n d e r e s t i m a t e d the S u l t a n ' s readiness to e m p l o y effective measures of counter-espionage — an interesting speculation w h i c h deserves f u r t h e r in vestigation. A s to historians, it is to be h o p e d that the f o r e g o i n g notes may dissuade them f r o m treating British, or other f o r e i g n intelligence reports as cast-iron e v i d e n c e of the t h i n k i n g a n d b e h a v i o u r of O t t o m a n governments. Spies can be m u g s . University

of

Manchester