The Ottoman Empire and the World Around It - Course Information

~ RELATING TO PILGRIMS AND OFFERING MEDIATION ~ 171
this church, and so did other members of the same caravan. Wild had in all likelihood
converted to Islam and was taken along on the outing; he recorded that his
fellow visitors scoffed at the explanations, probably given by a Christian guide,
that Jesus had been mocked or crowned with thorns in this or that place now
comprised within the church. 41
When Maundrell visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, he also noted the
presence of Muslim visitors. Some of them may once again have come ‘as tourists’,
but there were others whose role it apparently was to testify that prior to the
so-called miracle of the Holy Fire, celebrated by Orthodox and Armenians at
Easter-time, all candles and lamps in the church had really been extinguished, so
that the flame could not have originated within the building. 42 This Easter fire
formed the culminating point of a ritual that already had been practised in the
eleventh century, and that western and particularly Protestant observers treated
with considerable scorn. 43 Maybe an investigation of the kadi registers of Jerusalem
will one day tell us what at least a few of the Muslim witnesses present at the
‘miracle’ thought about all this.
Official Ottoman attitudes towards Christian pilgrims were reflected in these
same record books and, at least occasionally, also in the central administration’s
main chancery registers (Mühimme Defterleri). 44 Some of the texts involved
granted permission to the administrators of various Christian pilgrimage sites to
effect repairs to the building fabric in their care, while others ordered investigations
of various Muslim dues collectors who had demanded more than they were
legally permitted to take. In other instances disputes between various Christian
denominations concerning the control of this or that Palestinian sanctuary were
decided by the highest authorities in Istanbul, with the idea in mind that all
Christians should be allowed access to the main pilgrimage sites. Certainly the
Ottoman government hoped in this fashion to increase pilgrim traffic. Recent
research has shown, however, that pilgrims’ dues were not typically a source of
direct financial gain to the treasury. Rather, it was normal practice to spend the
money thus received in order to enhance the Islamic character of Jerusalem, for
instance by making such dues into foundations serving some Islamic pious purpose.
45 Thus religious, political and financial considerations encouraged the
Ottoman administration to ensure the safety of Christian pilgrims to the Holy
City.
~ Catholic missionaries in Ottoman lands
Western pilgrims in the area, as we have seen, were housed, fed, and guided by a
mission consisting of non-Ottoman (often Italian) Franciscan friars, and it is to
these missionaries and their reception by local Christians that we will now turn.
At the Council of Trent (1542–64/948–72), the post-Reformation Roman Catholic
Church had determined its organizational structures for the next few