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The Travelogues of Damian Hugo von Virmont and Dayezade İbrahim Paşa: Habsburg-Ottoman Exchange of Embassies in the Aftermath of Passarowitz, 1720-1721
Abstract
In the aftermath of the Passarowitz Treaty of 1718, the governments in Istanbul and Vienna exchanged embassies that delivered the ratified versions of the treaty to their respective former opponents. Two travelogues recorded the journeys of the Austrian ambassador Damian Hugo von Virmont and the Ottoman ambassador Dayezade İbrahim Paşa. The Austrian travelogue, which was significantly longer and more detailed than its Ottoman counterpart, was the work of Virmont’s secretary Cornelius von den Driesch, while the author of the Ottoman travelogue remains unknown. When comparing the reception and treatment of the two embassies in Vienna and Istanbul with earlier ambassadorial exchanges between the two empires in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a modification in Habsburg-Ottoman diplomatic modes is unmistakable. In dramatic contrast to the uneasy and irritable diplomatic encounters of -- in particular -- the pre-Carlowitz years, the new diplomatic normal between the two states was courtesy and hospitality. In Vienna, the transition must have resulted from the realization that Ottoman invasions were now unlikely. In Istanbul, a reconciliatory diplomatic posture toward Austria probably was due to the recent territorial losses and the sultan’s acquiescence to a complete parity with his erstwhile opponent. When we situate the travelogues within the broader historical evolution of early modern Habsburg-Ottoman diplomacy, the day-to-day routines of Virmont and Dayezade Ibrahim in the two imperial capitals confirm these conclusions. This presentation is part of an ongoing larger research project that meshes the micro-historical details of Habsburg and Ottoman diplomatic sources in a macro-historical narrative of exchanges and encounters between the two empires during the early modern era.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Ottoman Empire
Sub Area
13th-18th Centuries