Bosnian beglerbey and his sanjakbeys in diplomatic notes of the Venetian bailo to the high Porte (1632-1639)

Abstract

In the collection of oriental manuscripts of the University Library in Leipzig, there is a manuscript containing 126 Sultan firmans issued upon diplomatic notes of the Venetian bailo (ambassador) to the Porte in the period from 1625 to 1640.

Firmans that were created as a response to diplomatic notes of the Venetian bailo are only part of the manuscript while its other part includes orders on appointment of employees in mosques all over the Ottoman Empire. It is unknown how this manuscript ended in Leipzig. What is known for sure is that whoever entered the firmans into the manuscript must had been using one of the “Defters of foreign countries” (diivel-I ecnebiyye defterleri) kept at the Porte from the beginning of 17th century. Out of 126 firmans, 15 were sent to Bosnian beglerbey, i.e. his subordinate sanjakbeys in the period from 1632 to 1639. The firmans sent to the Bosnian beglerbey and his sa- njakbeys are mainly dealing with Ottoman-Venetian border area in Dalmatia and with the surroundings of Herceg-Novi.

The content of firmans shows a persistent attempt by the Porte that peace be kept in the border area with Venice which was at the time under the authority of Bosnian beglerbey, primarily in order to enable undisturbed trade and commercial relations between the two states.