Today, we conclude a journey begun over 400 years ago, from London to Constantinople with an unusual musical instrument/timepiece. We also conclude a journey begun a few months ago, when I started looking at this Lancashire organ maker and his trip to see arguably the most powerful man in the world at the time, not an argument I’m actually going to get into here by the way. Last episode, I talked about the leg of Thomas Dallam’s journey from Algiers to the Hellespont, and we left him within striking distance of Constantinople. Today, we’ll talk about the last stretch and take him into the city to look at his experiences there and his place in the grand politics of the day. We won’t quite cover all of Dallam’s travels, but this will be will the end of our travels with him. Let’s get started.
Thomas Dallam 6: From Algiers to the Hellespont
Welcome back to the journey of Thomas Dallam, carrying to Constantinople Elizabethan England’s gift for the Ottoman Sultan and with it any hopes for strong ongoing Anglo-Ottoman relations. In February, 1599, he’d left England, Elizabeth, and the merchants of the Levant Company behind. Ahead of him, waiting anxiously was Henry “the Fog” Lello, anxious for the gift that would allow him to remain in good standing and present himself before Mehmed III and to renegotiate the trade capitulations between the two sides. And Dallam, Dallam when we left him was leaving Algiers after a small taste of adventure on foreign shores. Last episode we saw him depart, saw him get a bit of experience at sea, and saw him quickly come loathe the captain of his ship, The Hector. This episode, I’ll be talking about that leg of the journey between Algiers and Constantinople and hopefully along the way getting a little at what Dallam was like, what fascinated, interested, or annoyed this organ builder from Lancashire.
Thomas Dallam 5: Dallam Departs
Today, in exciting news, Dallam has arrived. At last, he will leave London for the court of Sultan Mehmed III, and we’ll be talking about it. If this is your first time listening to the podcast, you won't know why this is so exciting for me, but you see, I initially picked out Dallam’s story as an interesting one to cover back when I was talking about Schiltberger and Timur. I thought this would make a nice one or two parter; a man sails to Constantinople with an organ, quick and easy. Further reading on the subject led to what was basically a six episode prequel, on Elizabethan engagement with the Islamic world and on how those worlds were not so distinct as we might imagine, a story within the story of 16th century globalization you could say. But now it's Dallam time; there’ll be sailing and piracy and the sight of new lands.
Thomas Dallam 4.5: Esperanza Malchi and the Ottoman Harem
Today I want to tell a short story, a story of a rise to power, wealth, and influence within the perilous context of the Topkapi Palace in 16th century Constantinople. It’s the story of a Jewish woman named Esperanza Malchi, the world which she flourished in, the heights she reached, and the violence that eventually consumed her. Unfortunately, there is no great wealth of source material on Malchi, but, as always, there are a number of interesting things to talk about along the way. We’ll begin with the time she was born into.
Thomas Dallam 4: Edward Barton in Constantinople
Last episode, we talked about England’s first ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, William Harborne. We saw the evolution of his position from “so called merchant” to official appointee, and his struggles with rival diplomatic representatives, particularly the French and Venetians who he described as “subtle, malicious, and dissembling people.” We saw some of the difficulties he faced such as palace infighting and piracy, and how the latter became a problem whether it was committed by or against the English. We saw him try to push Walsingham’s program, a united Anglo-Ottoman fleet against the Spanish naval threat. We saw him headed home at the end of his term, in August of 1588, successful enough in his work but worn out and underpaid, a pretty relatable figure really. And I told you he was replaced by his young secretary Edward Barton, a well-liked man who will show himself to be resourceful, bold, and not above a little underhandedness where necessary. Today, we’ll be tracing Edward Barton’s time in the sublime port of Constantinople, a time which saw him struggle due to his unofficial position, navigate the death of a sultan, and eventually go to war alongside the Ottomans in campaign against a Christian foe.
Thomas Dallam 3: England’s First Ambassador
Last full-length episode, we talked about England’s developing friendship with Saadian Morocco under al-Malik and al-Mansur, and I mentioned at the end that there was at the same time an association building between England and the Ottoman Empire. When we last looked in on the state of Anglo-Ottoman diplomacy in the episode about Jenkinson’s visit to Safavid Persia, we saw Ottoman Sultan Suleyman interceding against English traders. Things had to change quite significantly for that relationship to reach the exchanging of gifts stage, and it’s the later developments of that change that we’ll be talking about here, largely through a look at the efforts of a single English representative in Constantinople, a man named William Harborne.
Thomas Dallam 2.5: The Battle of the Three Kings/The Doomed King Sebastian
Thomas Dallam 2: The Anglo-Moroccan Relationship
With Jenkinson’s trip to Safavid Persia and his luke-warm meeting with Shah Tahmasp I, we saw one attempt to address this problem, but even with the Russian Tsar’s friendly cooperation, that route was long, dangerous, and unreliable. Other answers were going to be needed, and perhaps they might be found in Morocco. That’s what we’re looking at today, the development of an Anglo-Moroccan alliance as part of the ongoing adventure that was Elizabethan trade, the adventure that would soon take Thomas Dallam to see the Ottoman sultan. Let’s turn to Morocco now, and get a sense of what we’re talking about, of what we mean when we say “Morocco” in the 16th century.
Thomas Dallam 1: Jenkinson and the Safavid Shah
The ship wherein I was to make my voyage to Constantinople, Lying at Graves End, I departed from London in a pair of ores, with my chest and such provision as I had provided for that purpose, the ninth of February 1599, being Friday.
So begins the travel journal of a man on the cusp of a 15-month adventure. Its writer was no professional sailor, soldier, merchant or ambassador, but he was entrusted with the international delivery of a very special package. He seems never to have left England before, but on that February day, he was leaving for the court of the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed the 3rd.
The Travels of Johann Schiltberger 4: The Journey Home and Other Things
The younger son of Tamerlane had in Persia a kingdom, and after his father’s death came a vassal named Youssouf, who expelled Miran Shah from his kingdom. He sent to his brother Shahrukh, and asked him to help him to recover his kingdom. His brother came with eighty thousand men, and sent thirty thousand men to his brother, that he might expel the vassal, and kept to himself 42 k men. With these he marched against Youssouf, who, on learning this, went to meet him with 60 thousand men, and they fought a whole day, without either the one or the other being overcome. Then Miran Shah asked his brother, Shahrukh, to come with the rest of his people. He came. Then he fought with Youssouf and drove him away, and Miran Shah returned to his kingdom. There were also two countries that were subdued by Youssouf; the one was called Churten, the other was Lesser Armeny. Shahrukh went into these countries and conquered them, and bestowed them on his brother, and then returned into his own country, leaving, for the assistance of his brother, twenty thousand men from amongst his people, with whom I also remained.
This was Johann Schiltberger summing up the situation, and situating himself in the post-Timur Timurid Empire. As we heard last episode, Timur had died following his aborted invasion of China, and he left behind him a void which several figures rushed to occupy. His sons were there certainly, but, quite aside from competition with one another, they were not guaranteed their place in line.
The Travels of Johann Schiltberger 3: Timur the Conqueror
Last episode we had a look at Schiltberger’s time among the Ottomans, and a tumultuous time it was, as he first sought escape, then rode with his long-time captors, if we can still call them that, on a series of military expeditions that culminated in the Battle of Angora. Bayezid’s sons are going to be struggling to put the pieces back together after that disaster, and, as you might guess from the fact that the Ottoman Empire would live to see World War 1, at least one of them would find some success in doing so. However, we’re not going to be following that today. We’ll continue with Schiltberger as he tells of his new circumstances, and of Timur the Conqueror.
The Travels of Johann Schiltberger 2: The Battle of Angora/Ankara
Last episode, we left Schiltberger as he left Nicopolis and told of a long captivity to come with the Ottomans. Here that new Ottoman lord Bayezid was facing, in the figure of this Karaman, a brother-in-law, but more importantly the powerful leader of a Turcoman dynasty to rival the Ottomans, the Karamanids of southeast Anatolia. According to Schiltberger, Karaman had refused to be subject to him, being, as Karaman was, feeling slightly “Rains of Castmere-ish,” as great a lord as he. So Bayezid sets out with 150k men, and Karaman to meet him with 75k, or at least with large numbers of men.
The Travels of Johann Schiltberger 1: The Battle of Nicopolis
"I, Johanns Schiltberger, left my home near the city of Munich, situated in Bayern, at the time that King Sigismund of Hungary left for the land of the Infidels. This was, counting from Christ’s birth, in the thirteen hundred and ninety-fourth year, with a lord named Leinhart Richartingen. And I came back again from the land of the Infidels, counting from Christ’s birth, fourteen hundred and twenty seven. All that I saw in the land of the Infidels, of wars, and that was wonderful, also what chief towns and cities I have seen and visited, you will find described hereafter, perhaps not quite completely, but I was a prisoner and not independent. But so far as I was able to understand and to note, so have I [noted] the countries and cities as they are called in those countries, and I here make known and publish many interesting and strange adventures, which are worth listening to."
So begins Schiltberger’s written account of his great journeys, and so begins our story