British-Ottoman Relations, 1661–1807: Commerce and Diplomatic Practice in Eighteenth-Century Istanbul

272 Pages·2017·4.078 MB·English

by  Michael Talbot

The British Embassy in Istanbul was unique among other diplomatic missions
in the long eighteenth century in being financed by a private commercial
monopoly, the Levant Company. In this detailed study, Michael Talbot shows
how the intimate relation between commercial interest and diplomatic C B
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practice played out across the period, from the arrival of an ambassador from m r
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the restored British crown in 1661 to the sudden evacuation of his successor erc is
and the outbreak of the first British-Ottoman War in 1807. Using a rich e h
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variety of sources in English, Ottoman Turkish and Italian, some of them never d O

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in rituals of gift-giving and hospitality within the Ottoman court; examines t
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the at times very different meanings that they held for the British and P n
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Ottoman participants; and traces the ways in which the declining fortunes of act R
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the Levant Company directly affected the ability of the embassy to perform e e

effectively within Ottoman conventions, at a time when rising levels of British in la
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violence in and around the Ottoman realm marked the journey towards igh io
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MICHAEL TALBOT is Lecturer in History at the University of Greenwich. n 6
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Front cover image: The Audience of the Grand Signor (A Sultan of Turkey receiving a n
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British Ambassador), unknown artist, circa 1755-1765. NPG 3797. © National Portrait u
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Gallery, London
British-Ottoman Relations, 1661-1807
M
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Commerce and Diplomatic Practice
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T
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Michael Talbot
Helen Watt
with Anne Hawkins
BRITISH–OTTOMAN RELATIONS, 1661–1807
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BRITISH–OTTOMAN
RELATIONS, 1661–1807
COMMERCE AND DIPLOMATIC PRACTICE IN
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ISTANBUL
Michael Talbot
THE BOYDELL PRESS
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© Michael Talbot 2017
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
The right of Michael Talbot to be identified as
the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
First published 2017
The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
ISBN 978 1 78327 202 0
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620–2731, USA
website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN
The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy
of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
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In memory of my grandmother, Esther
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Contents
List of tables and figures viii
Acknowledgements ix
Note on languages, place names, dates, and currencies x
List of abbreviations xiii
Introduction: De/re-constructing the history of British–Ottoman
relations 1
1 The framework of relations 17
2 The office of ambassador 43
3 Trade and diplomatic finances 71
4 Gift-giving 105
5 Diplomacy as performance 141
6 Negotiating disputes 173
Conclusions: De/re-constructing British–Ottoman diplomacy 211
Bibliography 217
Index 249
vii
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Tables and figures
Table 1: British ambassadors to the Ottoman Empire, 1660–1807 55
Table 2: British imports from and exports to the Ottoman Empire,
1704–1803 (decadal figures) 73
Table 3: Expenditure, income, and profit-and-loss of the Levant
Company, 1714–1803 (decadal figures) 89
Table 4: The exchange rate of the pound sterling, guruş, and
leeuwendaalder 97
Table 5: Civil List expenditure, 1733–1802 101
Table 6: Kaftans presented on the grand vizier’s appointment,
1693–1768 125
Table 7: Price of kaftans in guruş and silver grams, 1693–1803 130
Table 8: Privateer captures, claims, and compensation, 1744–7 189
Table 9: Baron Paget’s travel and provision expenses at Carlowitz
claimed on the British treasury, 1697–8 200
Figure 1: Total volume of British trade with the Ottoman Empire,
1698–1803 74
Figure 2: The balance of the British Levant trade, 1698–1803 75
Figure 3: French and British trade with the Ottoman Empire, 1700–89
(decadal figures) 82
Figure 4: The London income and expenditure of the Levant Company,
1714–1803 (decadal figures) 90
Figure 5: Income, expenditure, and balance of the British factories in
Istanbul, Izmir, and Aleppo, 1714–1803 (decadal figures) 91
Figure 6: The nominal and real value of ambassadorial salary,
1693–1803 98
Figure 7: Levels and conditions of access in the audience with the sultan 160
viii
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Acknowledgements
I owe many debts of gratitude to teachers, colleagues, and friends. In particular,
I am very grateful for the guidance and instruction of my doctoral supervisor,
Professor Benjamin Fortna, whose MA class at the School of Oriental and
African Studies rekindled my fascination with the Ottoman Empire. His
advice, and guidance during and following the research and writing of the
PhD thesis from which this book stems has made all the difference. Numerous
friends, colleagues, and teachers have commented on earlier drafts of that
thesis and of this book, greatly shaping my thoughts and their presentation,
in particular Lauren Banko, Sotiris Dimitriades, Aparajita Mukhopadhyay,
Fabian Stremmel, Stefano Taglia, and Philipp Wirtz during my time at SOAS,
and since then William O’Reilly, Şevket Pamuk, Colin Heywood, Harriet
Rudolph, and Antonis Hadjikyriacou. I would also like to thank Mari Shullaw
at Boydell & Brewer, whose careful readings and extremely helpful comments
and critiques on a number of drafts of this manuscript have greatly improved it.
My thanks go to the patient and unfailingly friendly staff at the archives,
libraries, and museums I visited during the course of my research, in particular
those at The National Archives, Kew, the British Library, London, and the
Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivleri in Istanbul. My research in Istanbul was made
easier and more enjoyable by a number of people. I should particularly like to
thank: Hülya Tezcan; Abdülmecid Arıgüzel, Esra Müysseroğlu, and Selin İpek
at Topkapı Palace; and Fatih Tetik at Dolmabahçe Palace. I am grateful for
the friendship and company provided by Alaaddin Tok, Kazım Baycar, Celali
Yılmaz, and Ercan Uzunoğlu.
My eternal gratitude goes to my wife, Dikla Braier. She has embraced
(or at least tolerated) my love of history, and of Turkey and the Ottomans
in particular, keeping me company, and indeed sane, in person and in spirit,
during the long hours of data input, translation, note taking, and writing. None
of this would have been possible without her love and friendship.
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