The Ottoman Grand Vizierate (1560s–1760s)

Letter from Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha to Emperor Rudolf II, Constantinople, 20-29 January 1577

Sokollu Mehmed Pasha

AT-OeStA/HHStA Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv

AT-OeStA/HHStA UR TUK 189 R

Michael Vogelsberger

Jakob Sonnberger, Stephan Kurz

Yasir Yılmaz

Sokollu Mehmed Pasha reports to Emperor Rudolf on the audience granted to his envoy, David Ungnad, who, together with the Habsburg envoy Wolf Simmich, has brought the tribute and a letter from the emperor. After confirming his master’s peaceful intentions, David Ungnad complains about Lord Giafez Bey of Székesfehérvár (Stuhlweißenburg), whose encroachments had delayed the payments, and about the voivode of Transylvania, who had conquered Khust. He then describes the situation in Poland, trying to persuade the Ottomans to agree to a Habsburg as king. Finally, he mentions incidents on the Croatian border, at the castles of Bužin and Cazin. The grand vizier attributes the remarks to the ambassador’s inexperience and makes it clear that the Ottoman side is disgruntled primarily because of the late payment of taxes and therefore allowed its troops to invade. All that remained to be said about Poland was that they had made enquiries there and knew that the situation had calmed down, and that the new king Stephan Báthory, the voivode of Transylvania, had submitted to the Porte. Furthermore, the Porte was in no way willing to accept anyone other than the elected king on the Polish throne. Should he die without sons or brothers, one of the Polish lords was to be elected. Should Transylvania once again dare to wage war in violation of existing treaties, it would be punished, just as had been done with Bekeš, the traitor, who had fled to the Habsburgs after illegally taking possession of Khust. Furthermore, the treaty was to be strictly adhered to and any wrongdoing was to be punished by the respective lord. In addition, people who had come within two miles of Buda by ship had been captured and some of them killed. The survivors and all their possessions were to be handed over immediately to the vizier Mustafa Pasha in Buda.

Letter from Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha to Emperor Rudolf II, Constantinople, 20-29 January 1577, edition: Michael Vogelsberger, data modeling: Jakob Sonnberger, Stephan Kurz, in: The Ottoman Grand Vizierate 1560s to 1760s, project lead: Yasir Yılmaz (Digital Scholarly Edition of Habsburg-Ottoman Diplomatic Sources 1500–1918, project lead: Arno Strohmeyer, Project 6), Vienna 2025.
Available online : https://gams.uni-graz.at/o:graviz.smp.l.15770120.2
permalink/handle: hdl:11471/1020.70.48