The Ottoman Empire and the World Around It - Course Information

192 ~ THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND THE WORLD AROUND IT ~
relations with the Ottomans became a matter of domestic debate ranging far
beyond the immediate content of the treaty. 42
Vasıf Efendi, however, was only marginally concerned with the motives and
political problems of his opposite numbers in Spain. Beyond his encounters with
polite society, the ambassador’s special interests were those of a literary figure.
Similarly to his contemporary Ebubekir Râtib, who described in some detail the
book collections he visited, Vasıf had something to say about the library of the
Escorial. Here he found a large selection of Arabic manuscripts, collected in the
royal library originally to facilitate censorship, but which had recently been catalogued.
43 Even though a large number of volumes had been lost in a fire, Vasıf
Efendi was still quite impressed by the richness of this collection, which he was
sorry to see in the hands of ‘unbelievers’. 44
~ In the empire of the tsars
As we have seen, the Russian Empire in the course of the eighteenth century
emerged as arguably the most dangerous among the opponents of the Ottoman
sultans. In consequence, examining the documentation produced by envoys who
had visited the court of St Petersburg should have possessed high priority in the
eyes of twentieth-century scholars. But that has not been the case, and neither has
the new century begun with a great upsurge of interest in this issue. 45 Among
Ottoman ambassadors who visited Russia, only the reports of Mehmed Emni
Beyefendi, a bureaucrat promoted to the rank of paşa for the duration of his
embassy (travelled 1739–42/1151–5) and of Abdülkerim Paşa (travelled 1775–6/
1188–90) have been made available in full to the modern reader. 46
According to the stipulations of the peace of Belgrade (1739/1151–2), which
ended a war with the Russians and Austrians from which the Ottomans had
emerged as highly successful, an exchange of ambassadors was to take place. As
the sultan’s envoy, it was Mehmed Emni’s function to ensure the exchange of
prisoners; in addition, he was to obtain the Tsarina Anna Ivanovna’s signature to
a document regulating this affair. On the other hand, the Ottoman side consented
to accord the Russian rulers the title of emperor and also to destroy the long disputed
fortress of Azak. Complications arose from the death of the tsarina before
the Ottoman embassy had even reached Moscow, and the subsequent enthronement
of a very young boy as tsar. ‘On the ground’ these tensions were expressed
by long drawn-out disputes over matters of detail. For similar reasons, Mehmed
Emni was later made to wait for a lengthy period of time before being admitted
to St Petersburg.
All these delays resulted in a good deal of bad feeling, palpable even through
the measured prose in which Mehmed Emni recounted his experiences. The
Ottoman ambassador was particularly annoyed by the martial demonstrations of
the Russian soldiers; these included a parade at which arms were presented ready