Die Gesandtschaft des Johann Jakob Kurtz von Senftenau 1623/24

Abschlussrelation von Johann Jakob Kurtz von Senftenau, o.O. [Wien], o.D. [nach 23. November 1624]

Johann Jakob Kurtz von Senftenau

ÖStA, HHStA Wien

Staatenabteilungen, Türkei I

Kt. 109, Kv. 3, fol. 14r-47v

Aneliya Stoyanova, Zsuzsanna Cziráki, Manuela Mayer

Stephan Kurz, Jakob Sonnberger, Dimitra Grigoriou

Aneliya Stoyanova, Zsuzsanna Cziráki, Manuela Mayer, Stephan Kurz, Jakob Sonnberger

Kurtz gives a concise summary of the most important information about his mission to the court of Murad IV, which he regularly reported by courier or through the Republic of Venice. He left Vienna on the 13th of July 1623, stayed in Komárom until the 4th of September, and after crossing the border, stayed with the pasha of Esztergom until the 7th of September. On the same day he arrived in Buda, where he greeted the Ottoman governor-general in accordance with his instructions and called on him to keep the peace and revert Ottoman and Tartar troops assisting the prince of Transylvania. They discussed establishing a commission to resolve military conflicts in the borderland and the release of prisoners. Kurtz arrived in Belgrade on the 22nd of September, and on his way, he saw the worrying march of the Ottoman army, for which he complained to the pasha of Buda, who had a great deal of influence over the affairs of the borderland. The pasha gave the excuse that the troops had arrived when he was out of favor and Ibrahim Pasha was the governor-general of Buda. The envoy sent a courier from Belgrade to Vienna to have his credentials for Mustafa I transferred to the name of the newly appointed Murad IV. He arrived in Constantinople on the 9th of November, but as the courier was delayed, he had to postpone the sultan’s audience. The Ottomans demanded gifts for the new ruler in addition to those he had brought. As it was the custom of the sultan to distribute gifts among the dignitaries, Kurtz bought additional items and presented them to the Ottoman grandees at a banquet in the emperor’s honor. The demands of the Sublime Porte and the rapidly changing offices meant that he needed more gifts than expected previously, for which he had to borrow heavily. At the time of his arrival, Ali Pasha was still the grand vizier, who was not willing to support the Ottoman envoy Müteferrika Agha’s mission to Vienna until Kurtz paid him properly. At this time, Ali Agha, the agent of the pasha of Buda at the Sublime Porte, was the most respected Ottoman dignitary in affairs of the borderland. Deliberately obstructing Kurtz’s affairs and favoring the Transylvanian, the Habsburg envoy was forced to pay him as well. The envoy submitted an account of his loan transactions and expenses in Constantinople to the emperor. The need to win over Ali Agha was also due to the fact that the emperor’s previous supporters at the Ottoman court had already died or fallen from grace. He got the mufti and the other viziers to condemn the recent raids on the Hungarian border and to commission the pasha of Buda to set up a committee to restore peace. At the same time, the Ottomans demanded that the emperor should again pay the sultan a certain sum annually, as he had done in the time of Süleyman I. The Ottoman occupation of Lipova and Vác was deeply silenced by the viziers, who left it to the future border commission to resolve the issue, as was the case with the demolition of the newly erected castles. Kurtz reports to have fulfilled the points of his instructions: the delivery of the gifts, complains about the attacks on the borderland, securing full power for the governor-general of Buda to renew the peace, and set up the long-planned commission. On the Ottoman side no other negotiations were entered into, everything being left to the pasha of Buda. Finally, Kurtz entrusted the pending affairs to the resident envoy, and after a farewell audience, a banquet and the customary distribution of caftans, he departed. He paid off most of his debits in Constantinople shortly before his departure. He used part of it – 750 thalers – to pay the debt-ridden interpreter Giovanni Paolo Damiani, who was doing excellent work and was a loyal servant of the emperor. Kurtz gave another 500 thalers to the new resident envoy Sebastian Lustrier out of his annual salary of 3,300 thalers, and 140 thalers to interpreter Josephus Barbatus Arabus. He maintained mostly good relations with the representatives of the Christian states at the Porte. The French ambassador De Cesy offered his services. Kurtz’s good relations with the English ambassador Thomas Roe deteriorated somewhat after the closing of the English parliament. The well-meaning bailo Giorgio Giustiniani promised to help forward correspondence through Venice. He, however, had several quarrels with the Dutch ambassador Cornelius Haga. Kurtz was also informed about how to trade under the imperial banner with the Levantine region, in accordance with the Peace of Vienna: the Ottomans were not against it in general, but it was necessary to involve merchants, who, with the necessary imperial patents, would take imperial goods to Constantinople via the Danube and the Black Sea, bringing the Ottoman articles back overland with the usual trade taxes. To this end, the resident should obtain the necessary permits, and arrange for the establishment of depots and the appointment of consuls. The gift sent by the grand duchess of Tuscany by Antonio Barillo was lost in Aleppo for unknown reasons. Kurtz suggested an equal Ottoman legation to the emperor, but this was made conditional on the success of the planned commission on the borderland, leaving further negotiations to the resident. On the 17th of June 1624, he set out from Constantinople, meeting on the way Müteferika Agha and the Habsburg courier Peter Crabat, both coming from Vienna. On the 6th of August he arrived in Buda, where he witnessed a concentration of Ottoman troops. Kurtz was given audience by the pasha, where he was told of the latest attacks from the Christian side. Although Kurtz urged his departure, the pasha detained him in Buda for a further three months under various pretexts and he arrived in Komárom only on the 9th of November. Both in Buda and in Constantinople, the envoy stressed that the emperor was interested in maintaining peace, he was not willing to accept any innovations and he would neither pay tribute nor cede castles to the sultan. The pasha then promised that Kurtz and Michael Adolf von Althan could count on him as a friend in the forthcoming negotiations. Because of the favorable circumstances for Habsburg, the commission could not be postponed until the spring, as the prince of Transylvania had suggested to the pasha. For that reason, the commissaries had already sent in the interpreter Damiani to arrange the date. During his stay in Buda, Kurtz sought to avert hostile actions by the Transylvanians, who sent three envoys to the pasha and the sultan during this period. He finally arrived in Vienna on the 23rd of November. Kurtz summarizes the most important experiences and achievements of his 16 months in Constantinople: (1) The Ottoman Empire and its government are in a poor state, the ruler is a boy of fifteen, many of the experienced Ottoman dignitaries are dead, the newcomers lack adequate knowledge, the military – especially the janissaries – are barely contained and are constantly rivaling the sipahis. Many of them have escaped from the Asian campaign. The Ottoman navy is also not powerful enough, the war with the Persians is draining all resources, the conflict with the Tartars and the Cossacks on the Black Sea is deepening, while the rebels of Abaza Pasha have not been overcome. Central power is weakened, money has been debased, there is great inflation, and the sultan’s treasury is empty. All this leads to the conclusion that Christianity has never had such a chance to make progress against the Ottoman Empire, although it is still powerful enough to overcome its difficulties. In contrast, war is still raging in the realms of the emperor, and the Christian powers are divided by serious differences. Accordingly, there is a need to make peace with the Ottomans, but as they are unreliable, war must be prepared for and an attempt made to create a Christian league against them, especially the Poles could be counted on. (2) If the aim is to keep the peace, it is necessary to win the favor of the governor-general of Buda by all means who is at present in charge of all the affairs of the borderland. His agent at the Porte, Ali Agha, has already been paid off properly. While the grand vizier is on the eastern front, the kaymakam Gürci Mehmed is ruling the Porte who should be piled with gifts as well. The formerly well-meaning Halil Pasha and the kislar agha have just returned from exile, and it would be worthwhile to bestow gifts on them too. Alongside them, Deák Mehmed Pasha and the former envoy, Ahmed Pasha, must be given gifts too, both will participate in the border commission. (3) As the Ottoman dignitaries must be paid for any agreement, it would be better to send to the Porte every three years someone with money and gifts, however, without authorization for negotiations. Instead, the resident envoy should deal with the matters that arise, thus saving the great expense of sending a special envoy. This would require a resident of outstanding performance. Although Lustrier is highly skilled in the Ottoman Turkish language and governmental practice, he is terribly unpaid. (4) The pashas do not appreciate clocks and crystal artefacts any more, gold and silk should be given as gifts at the Porte instead. (5) The lack of regular correspondence hinders diplomatic affairs and decisions, so Kurtz employed persons paid directly by the emperor to forward letters between the resident in Constantinople and the Aulic War Council in Vienna: in Sofia, Hieronymo Grassi, in Belgrade, Matteo Sturani, in Buda, Giovanni Pellegrini perform the same task. To be effective, however, it would be necessary to have a person in charge of correspondence at the chancellery of the Aulic War Council.

Abschlussrelation von Johann Jakob Kurtz von Senftenau, o.O. [Wien], o.D. [nach 23. November 1624], Edition: Aneliya Stoyanova, Zsuzsanna Cziráki, Manuela Mayer, Datenmodellierung: Stephan Kurz, Jakob Sonnberger, Dimitra Grigoriou, in: Die Gesandtschaft des Johann Jakob Kurtz von Senftenau (1623–1624), hg. von: Aneliya Stoyanova, Zsuzsanna Cziráki, Manuela Mayer, Stephan Kurz, Jakob Sonnberger (Digitale Edition von Quellen zur habsburgisch-osmanischen Diplomatie 1500–1918, hg. von Arno Strohmeyer, Projekt 4), Wien 2024.
Online unter: https://gams.uni-graz.at/o:kuse.rp.hbg.16241123
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