Venetian Report on the Ottomans - 1534, June 3rd

State of the Ottoman Court; State of the Army and Navy; Ibrahim's scheming; Barbarossa; Allies and Enemies; the Doge's illegitimate son Luigi

Background

This short background on the report was included in the compilation of Venetian Relaziones that was put together in the 1840s.

The Barbary corsairs had for some time been infesting the Mediterranean when, in 1533, the provveditore of the Venetian fleet, Canale, while escorting merchant galleys to the Levantine ports to ensure their safe passage, encountered at sunset on All Saints’ Day some vessels, which he, believing them to be corsairs, proceeded to attack and disperse. And the defeat of that squadron was already complete when the provveditore realized he had fought not the Algerians, as he believed, but rather ships of the Sultan, which the son of the Moor of Alexandria, a captain of Suleiman, was leading to stand guard over Barbary. In this emergency, “it was resolved by the Venetian Senate to send to Constantinople Daniello de’ Ludovisi, secretary of the Pregadi, a prudent man and experienced in other affairs, so that he might in person justify to that court, and to Suleiman himself, the events that had transpired, demonstrating the necessity that had led the Venetian captain—out of suspicion for the armed vessels that had come so near to him, and in the darkness of the night—to fight friendly ships, while, on the other hand, the immediate restitution of the galleys and the good treatment subsequently afforded to their captain could serve as true proof of the good and sincere will towards the affairs of that lord.” (Paruta L. VII). Ludovisi, having quelled these disturbances in Constantinople with great public dignity, upon his return home read in the Senate the following report on the matters which, by its command, he had observed during the course of his legation.

Report

I, your humble servant, being obliged, Most Serene Prince¹, most grave and most excellent Lords, in obedience to the command of Your Serenity, to observe the most laudable institution of this most excellent republic in giving an account and making a report of my proceedings on this journey to the Most Serene Lord Turk², it seems to me fitting first to supplicate Your Serenity and Your Most Excellent Lordships, that you may deign benignly to receive my words, and with your humanity, so far surpassing what is due my humble station, grant me the favor of your gracious audience, so that I may with a more confident spirit set forth those things which, gathered in the short space of time I have been in Constantinople, I have judged worthy of the understanding of Your Serenity and of Your Most Excellent Lordships; it being my intention for my part to employ every effort to set aside all that is superfluous, to so condense my speech that it may not prove odious to you. And as I have not failed in my letters, together with the most illustrious bailo³, to give notice of all that has occurred, both of the satisfaction expressed by the Lord Turk for this service performed by Your Serenity in sending me to him on the occasion of the conflict between the most illustrious provveditore of the fleet, Canale, and Captain Moro, and of the reassurance all have received of Your Serenity’s friendly disposition, I shall forbear from repeating what has been written. Rather, it having been enjoined upon me in my commission to obtain the best information that I could concerning Turkish affairs, I shall not fail to make a brief report of those matters which I was particularly able to learn and understand during the short time of my legation. In this report I shall narrate the dominion and the forces of the Lord Turk, and in what manner he avails himself of them and may dispose of them, particularly with respect to other princes; I shall speak of the diligence or negligence of the ministers, the form of the government and of the council, together with many particulars worthy of being heard by Your Most Excellent Lordships, who may then form such judgment on this matter as seems best to your supreme wisdom.

The dominion of the Lord Turk, as is known to Your Serenity, comprises a very great territory in Europe, in Asia, and in Egypt. In Europe, he holds Thrace, wherein lies Constantinople, with the Chersonese, which contains Gallipoli; he holds all of Macedonia, which crosses the Aegean Sea, where Thessaloniki is, as far as Epirus opposite the island of Corfu, and Achaea where are Athens and Thebes, most famous cities, and the Morea and Negroponte: all of which country is subject to and governed by the beylerbey⁴ of Greece, or captain-general. The Grand Seignior⁵ also holds in Europe Wallachia, Bulgaria, Transylvania, and Hungary (except for that part of it possessed by the Most Serene King of the Romans⁶), and Belgrade, and Serbia, and Bosnia, and part of Croatia and Dalmatia up to the borders of Your Serenity in those parts.

In Asia, he has a much larger country divided into six parts under six beylerbey, and another beylerbey he holds in Egypt. And first, passing the Propontis and the Hellespont, is Anatolia, which extends from the Greater Sea (Black Sea) to the Lycian Sea beyond Rhodes, and stretches for twelve or thirteen days inland, which is Asia Minor, where are Pontus, Bithynia, Lydia, Caria, and Lycia. The second part is Karamania, which is Cilicia, situated opposite Cyprus, and Pamphylia; the third is Amasya and Tokat, which is Galatia and Cappadocia, up to the Greater Sea, including within it Trebizond; the fourth is the country of Aliduli, in which (if I have been well informed by those familiar with the area) is Lesser Armenia: the fifth is Diyarbekir, which is Mesopotamia, with part of Greater Armenia (the other part belonging to the Sofi⁷ of Persia, and to the Kurds, a mountainous and warlike people who are Christians and live in the Greek manner); the sixth is Syria and Judea under the beylerbey of Damascus. Then there is Egypt, also under a beylerbey, as stated above, to whom is also subject all that the Lord Turk holds of the Arabias, where Mecca is.

The greatness of the said countries of Asia and Egypt, without descending to a more minute description, can be measured in this way: from Constantinople to Trebizond, by the Greater Sea, is a thousand miles; from Constantinople passing through Anatolia and Cappadocia, and reaching as far as Erzerum in Greater Armenia, which is the last domain of the Lord Turk in that part on the border with the Sofi, is forty days’ journey by swift horse; from Trebizond, crossing through Armenia, Syria, Judea, and Egypt to Cairo, is another forty days’ journey; from Aleppo to Baghdad, which is in the farthest corner of Mesopotamia, sixteen days’ journey; from Damascus to Mecca, fifty days’ journey, and from Mecca to Cairo about the same.

All the aforementioned country belongs unreservedly to the Turkish Lord, and there is no other lord who rules in any part of it, and all those peoples are his slaves and subject to his will, and all are so destitute and broken that there is neither strength nor vigor in any of them. There are no fortresses of importance in the said country, but dominion lies in being masters of the open field.

The neighbors to all the aforementioned countries are: your Sublimity with the provinces you hold in the gulf; then the most serene King of the Romans with Croatia, Austria, and Moravia, considering Hungary and those other provinces as belonging to the Turkish Lord; then the King of Poland, after whom follow the Tartars above the Black Sea and the Maeotian Swamp, on one side and the other of the Tanais, in whose country, however, the Turkish Lord holds Caffa in the Tauric Chersonese, and Tana above the Maeotian Swamp. Then follow in Asia, upon those shores, the Circassians and the Mingrelians, who are Colchians, as far as Trebizond; then the Georgians who border Greater Armenia, and the Kurds as far as Erzerum; from which place as far as Arabia borders the Sofi, for a distance of fifty to sixty days’ journey. In Egypt, the Turkish Lord borders towards Ethiopia with the deserts, and for the rest, with peoples of Africa of little power and importance; and all the rest of the aforementioned countries are beside the Mediterranean Sea.

The Grand Turk commands in the said dominion a very great number of people, as is well known to Your Sublimity, divided partly between his Porte⁸ and partly distributed throughout the countries, which possess conditions and qualities partly good and partly bad; and these Your Most Excellent Lordships must consider, because good people win and preserve states, and when on the contrary, either through negligence or other causes, they become disordered or debased, they are apt to ruin them.

The good qualities of the Grand Turk’s people are that they are not mercenaries, that is, taken from foreign domains for a time on his payroll, as when some prince hires Swiss, or men of any other nation, nor are they given to him by other princes in aid, in which two sorts of people there are many inconveniences and dangers of disobedience, infidelity, and arrogance; but all the people in the service of the Grand Turk are his own, not taken in multitudes from any one country, but from diverse places gathered in childhood, and with continuous pay and discipline in his own way made his own: from which comes the great benefit of obedience and fidelity, and that the people and their leaders know one another. To this is added that they are all united together in one language, which helps a great deal. The bad qualities, then, become known in two ways; one by considering and comparing the military of other princes, and especially of the Christians, with the Turkish one; the other by seeing the bad government and disorder that is presently not only in the governance of said people, but in all other things of the Grand Turk.

Arms, Most Serene Prince, in all times have been better and more usefully employed by the infantry than by the cavalry; and this has been known in diverse times and places, and especially among the Romans. And if in times closer to our own, the men-at-arms⁹ have been held in high repute in Italy, this has proceeded from the ill will and wicked intent of the condottieri¹⁰, who, by suppressing the infantry and depriving the princes of good troops, drew all reputation to their men-at-arms in order to make themselves arbiters of Italy, and this was to the ruin and desolation, and in large part to the servitude, of that land. Now a remedy has been applied to this; and what has most effected it has been the great and small artillery, grown in great number, which cannot be operated by cavalrymen, and the foot soldiers are more able to defend themselves from them, and therefore the military of the Christians is now more reduced to infantry than in other times. This sort of soldiery is entirely lacking to the most serene Lord Turk; and I say entirely, because the Janissaries have neither order nor discipline, nor that cunning which is proper to the Christian infantry. So that, in comparing the soldiery of the Christians with that of the Turks, I say, that should equal armies come to a confrontation, there ought by right to be a great disadvantage for the Turks. And if now recently, when the Turk went towards Austria¹¹, his ill counsel, or rather the good fortune of the emperor, had willed that they should come to a conflict, I think that this would have been known by experience, it being the universal opinion that the Turks would have been overcome, and vanquished. Nor should their conflicts with the Safavid and the Mamluks be cited as evidence to the contrary, since they also had no infantry, and the Lord Turk moreover had artillery; nor the captures of Belgrade and Rhodes, the disproportion of forces having been too great.

Nor has the Lord Turk any way of having disciplined troops, because there are none, neither in his own country, nor in his other tributary and compliant ones. And some have been mistaken, it seems to me, in holding that the Turkish Lord could, with discipline, give good order to his subjects from Anatolia, who are of large and robust stature; because good order must be natural, and it is seen by clear and certain experience that the Spanish, although they are well-disciplined and skilled in warfare, agile of body, and of admirable dexterity, cannot for all that be compared nor equaled to the Germans, who carry this good order from their mother’s womb. Furthermore, it is the opinion of some that the Grand Turk, even if he could, would not wish to instill such ferocity and valor in his people, fearing that they might perchance escape from his obedience and aspire to their own liberty, having since the time of Osman always maintained the practice of humbling his subjects and keeping severe dominion over his own military.

Another evil then which, besides what I have said, exists in the military of the Turks, is caused by the negligence of the Grand Signor, who is not (to tell the truth) of that prowess which would befit so great a dominion, and by the proceedings of Ibrahim Pasha¹², who with those arts which he used to rise, and with those he continuously uses to maintain himself—that is, not only humbling, but arranging for the death of those whose virtue and exaltation might be suspect to him—comes to strip the Ottoman militia of good leaders and the court of good counselors. Thus he had the head of Ferat Pasha, a most valiant war captain, cut off; and was the cause of the ruin and rebellion of Agmar Pasha, who rebelled and was beheaded in Cairo; and he removed Piri, an old, wise man of good counsel, from the position of First Pasha¹³, and is also accused by some of causing his death by poison. It is also to be noted, in this regard, a thing which recently came to pass: that since the Emiraor, or master of the stable of the Grand Lord, a very virtuous young man named Rustem¹⁴, had become quite familiar with the Grand Lord himself, who willingly and often listened to him for his intelligence, Ibrahim, having been advised of this while in Aleppo, gave him a governorship very far away in Asia Minor; and when this Rustem complained of it to the Grand Lord, asking not to leave his majesty, the latter was evasive, and said: “When Ibrahim comes, I will see about having you return to my side.”

For this reason, the army remains without leaders and the court without counsel, except for that of Ibrahim alone; and if there is anyone of knowledge and worth, out of indignation and fear they hide their knowledge and valor. Now let your most excellent lordships consider how much that military is thereby becoming disordered and unnerved, and that state weakened; and although I am certain that this is known to Ibrahim (who is of good intellect, but not of such virtue as to be able to remedy so many inconveniences), yet the love he has for himself, much greater than that which he has for his lord, makes him prefer to be alone in a dominion that is not very strong, compared to what it could become through diligence, than to be one of many companions in a firmer and stronger one. From this, however, comes great benefit to your Serenity; for in order to remedy so many disorders, he applies all his efforts to maintain good relations with you, as I have been well able to judge, knowing that losing your friendship would perhaps, on some occasion, be to the detriment and ruin of that state.¹⁵

Within the Porte are the household of the Grand Signor, the deputies of the government, and the squadrons of soldiers. The household consists of six pages with their chief, who serve in the sultan’s chamber; three eunuchs, a treasurer, a porter, and a steward with fifteen other eunuchs under them; then four to five hundred boys in the seraglio, who are disciplined in various studies; then three to four hundred gardeners who tend to the seraglio garden, and to the oars of the two foists¹⁶ in which the Grand Signor goes for recreation; then those who have charge of the plate and provisions of the Grand Signor and the seraglio, and confectioners and cooks and others: and to these may be added the other seraglios for the pages, one of which is near Pera and two in Adrianople, and that of the women in Constantinople, in which are housed both the slaves of the Grand Signor and his unmarried female relatives, numbering perhaps six hundred. Then there is the stable of eight to ten thousand horses, mules, and camels, with their chiefs and the great number of men who tend to them; and two hundred and fifty capigì, that is, gatekeepers, with three chiefs called capigì-bascì; and eighty muteferica, or chosen lancers of the Grand Signor, with no other chief than him, obliged to carry the lance and ride about him; and two hundred footmen, and many deputies for fishing and hunting, who are, however, drawn from the squadrons of soldiers.

The deputies of the government are two cadileschièr, that is, superior cadi, empowered to administer justice throughout the cities and lands, four pashas as councilors (although there are at the moment only three), two tefterdar who govern the public revenues, and the nisangì who signs the letters of the Grand-Signor as grand chancellor; and these members of the government hold the timari, that is, assignments of revenue, and not only in money.¹⁷ There is then a great number of officials under the said ones: secretaries, chancellors, scribes, weighers; and there is the caznadar who governs the private treasury of the Grand Signor, and others.

The squadrons of soldiers are first twelve thousand Janissaries on foot with their chief; I say that there should ordinarily be so many, but now Ibrahim Pasha has sent them to various places to take away their excessive power, after they rose up against him¹⁸; three thousand sipahi-oglani, or young horsemen, who ride on the right hand of the Grand Lord; three thousand silictari, who ride on the left; two thousand five hundred ulufegì with two chiefs, who ride half on each side of the Grand Lord; and about two thousand capi-oglani, likewise divided in two squadrons. There are then one hundred ciaus, that is, sergeants of the army, and there is the emiralem, who carries the standard of the Grand Lord, the masters of the artillery, and many others. For the ordinary pay of all the above-mentioned, besides the vestments that are given to them each year at the expense of the seraglios, and besides the timari that some possess, and besides the charcoal and hay that is given by the territories for the stables, more than twelve thousand ducats¹⁹ are disbursed daily from the caznà of the Grand Lord, as can be known by considering the expenses of each squadron one by one, of which now, so as not to weary Your Lordships, it is not for me to give a more minute and particular explanation. These expenses the Grand Lord covers from his revenues amply, and with a surplus; inasmuch as the caraz, which is the personal tax of his subjects who are not Turks, yields a million and a half ducats or thereabouts; the duty on livestock, seven to eight hundred thousand ducats; the mines, about six hundred thousand ducats; then the other duties, salt taxes, commands, property of the deceased, and that which comes to him from Egypt sum up to so much, that he has a surplus rather than otherwise.

The other part of the troops, much greater in number, is distributed throughout the provinces and territories, and is paid by them.

In Europe, over all the provinces possessed there by the Grand Signor there is one beylerbey with a timar income of sixteen thousand ducats, who has under him thirty sanjaks with timars from four to twelve thousand ducats, four hundred soubashi with one thousand ducats on average each, and thirty thousand spahi, with two hundred ducats each on average; and each one, for every hundred ducats, is obliged to maintain a man with a lance for combat, and one is not called a spahi who does not have one hundred ducats; then also twenty thousand timariots with less than one hundred ducats each. The allotment for said troops amounts to seven million ducats and more, but each one draws more than his allotment. There are also sixty thousand arabagì, that is, carters on horseback, registered throughout the country with some exemptions, and when the Grand-Signor calls them to the army, the towns and cities provide them with their livelihood.

In Asia there are six beylerbeys; one of Anatolia with a timar of fourteen thousand ducats, twelve sanjak with four to six thousand ducats each (except for the sanjaklik of Magnesia, opposite Chios, which belongs to the first-born son of the Grand Signor, and has an income of thirty thousand ducats), and ten thousand spahi with one hundred to two hundred ducats; one of Karamania with ten thousand ducats, six sanjak, and five thousand spahi, with the timars as I have said above; one of Amasya and Tokat with eight thousand ducats, six sanjak, and four thousand spahi; one of Alidule with ten thousand ducats, five sanjak, and seven thousand spahi; one of Diyarbakır, which is on the borders of the Grand Signor’s states, with thirty thousand ducats, twelve sanjak, and ten thousand spahi; one of Syria and Judea with twenty-four thousand ducats, twelve sanjak, and twenty thousand spahi; and then the beylerbey of Cairo and the Arabias with thirty thousand ducats, sixteen sanjak, sixteen thousand spahi, and three thousand Janissaries. And then a beylerbey of the sea has been newly added, or captain of all the maritime forces, who is Khayr al-Din, called Barbarossa²⁰, whereas before, the captain of the fleets had been the sanjak of Gallipoli.

Speaking of these maritime forces, it must be said, as of the land forces, that they are in part of good quality, but for the most part of poor quality. The good is that in the great dominion held by the Turkish Lord there are ample means to supply the necessary things to build vessels, there being on the Black Sea and in other places most beautiful forests; iron also and pitch are not lacking; as for hemp, although they do not have very good quality, yet with money they can find it; besides this, the country being large, they have the means to supply many men for the oars, so that, as far as galley-slaves are concerned, they would always have the means to create any great fleet. The bad, then, is, first, with regard to the building of the vessels, that they have no masters, or very few, there being in the arsenal only twenty-four among shipwrights, caulkers, and others, among whom the persons of note are Reteppo who is a Turk, the brother of Giovan Bappa, who serves on the galleys of your highness, and messer Gioan Francesco Giustiniano, of whom I will speak later: and when they wish to have much work done, they send to fetch masters from Chios, and from various other places. But nothing else is of such benefit in an arsenal as keeping the men continuously paid, as Your Serenity does. Then, as regards the arming of the galleys, besides the galley-slaves they have, one might say, no sailors or others skilled in naval warfare; and I say this of the leaders, as well as of the inferior officers. The cause of these shortcomings and disorders is partly due to the custom and profession of that country and dominion, and partly due to the present negligence and poor governance, in the manner I have stated above regarding the land forces.

Good discipline and expertise in maritime affairs originate in trade and commerce, in which men, by practicing for gain, become skilled and able to command and even operate warships; for which reason Spain has the means to avail itself in any sudden need of a great number of seamen, as do other places more or less according to their greater or lesser engagement in maritime trade, and so especially Your Sublimity. But the Turks are not merchants, and those who are have not yet grown so bold as to commit themselves much to the risks of the sea; and if from Anatolia, or other places of the Lord Turk, foists of corsairs do sally forth, who in this way acquire some expertise in maritime affairs, they are nevertheless a disordered and confused people, upon whom, apart from their idle robbing, a prince could not build much foundation. Besides this, the military profession of the Turks has principally been in land affairs; and therefore, since less importance has always been given to maritime matters, the men have not cared to show their valor in them. To all these ills may be added, as I have predicted, the negligence of the Grand Signor; who, wishing to remedy this, would need to see with his own eyes, and cause greater care to be taken in provisioning and labor, and with greater rewards make the men more valiant and studious. But with the conduct of Ibrahim added to his negligence, there is little hope of finding the remedy that a valiant and virtuous lord could apply to the present state of affairs; for, as is wont to happen with those who fall into disorder, the men have strayed too far down the other path. And this is shown by his having placed the entire fleet in the hands of Barbarossa; who has always been a corsair, and not nurtured in obedience and loyalty to the Lord Turk, and only for the interests of his own domain of Algiers, fearing on land the lord of Tlemcen and at sea the fleet of Spain, has now accepted the offer of the Lord Turk, not having wanted it before, although he had been previously summoned; and having now placed all his own men over the fleet as captains, it will be at his sole discretion.

The Grand Lord and Ibrahim have begun to think that it was not intelligent to trust so much in Barbarossa, as no other fleet remains in Constantinople, save for the most wretched vessels from which very little can be gained; and therefore they say they wish to build two hundred galleys, but one hundred with more haste, for which they will still have to wait a good while, there being no other timber available than that cut for five galleons at the behest of Messer Gioan Francesco Giustiniano for the enterprise against the Portuguese navigation in the Indies; and as Ibrahim wished to use said timber for the galleys, the aforementioned Giustiniano had written to him so as not to let the order for the said galleons be changed. Those that are truly in the arsenal are thirty-nine hulls of large galleys, in the worst condition, and one might say in a shambles, without boats or any other rigging of any kind, and twenty between light vessels and bastard galleys, likewise in poor condition.

The said Barbarossa, who has had fourteen thousand ducats from a timar over Mytilene, Rhodes, and Negroponte, with the title of Beylerbey of the Sea, myself having met with him, seemed to me very haughty and proud. He is fifty or more years of age. He has with him a brother of the king of Tunis, whom he keeps to make use of on some occasion to overturn that kingdom, and he also has Cacciadiavoli, a Turkish corsair. His fleet will be poorly armed, without soldiers of the Porte, with few sailors—and his own also, from what is understood, are not very capable. The order given to him by the Most Serene Lord Turk cannot be known with certainty; and although it was said that he was to attack the lands of the Emperor²¹, and of every other, save for those of the Most Christian King²² and of Your Serenity, nonetheless it seemed that the will of the Grand Signor was rather to secure his own position; and I have been told for a certainty that the order given was not to enter into conflict with the fleet²³, unless his own were superior by double the number. Regarding the true designs and intentions of this Barbarossa, it is considered by many that he has his eye on the affairs of Barbary, and many think that this fleet committed to him, or a large part of it, is not to return to Constantinople; because although this Barbarossa will not commit open treason, nevertheless he will want to have the galleys always at his disposal, and thus will always give advice for his own benefit to the Grand Signor, who will be forced to accept it, finding himself naked and stripped of other galleys and fleets, for which Barbarossa would have cause to be more obedient.²⁴

The Most Serene Lord Turk, of whose dominion and forces, both on land and sea, I have spoken so far, finds himself with respect to the other princes who presently rule, in various positions to be able to offend, or be offended; and because in the greatness of the world there are many who do not now come into consideration as far as it may pertain to the interest of your highness, I will omit speaking of those—among whom, speaking of the Christians, is the Most Serene King of England.²⁵

The Most Christian King²⁶ truly can be said to have a common desire with the Lord Turk, that is, that the greatness of the [Holy Roman] Emperor not be so great, and for this reason they proceed together with some demonstrations or offices of friendship, the Most Christian King having sent men to the Lord Turk, and the Lord Turk always giving orders to his agents, as he has presently done to Barbarossa, not to offend the affairs of that majesty. What other true understanding may be between them, I have found no indication of it, and it does not seem reasonable, as there can be no faith in any important communication between them; because if the Emperor were by such a convention forced by necessity, he would make the most Christian King an offer that would be accepted by him, notwithstanding any convention with the Lord Turk, and in such a way the union of the Christians against the latter would come to pass.²⁷

The King of Portugal²⁸ is taken into consideration by the Turkish Lord either concerning matters in the Mediterranean Sea, where he is united with the Emperor, or those in the Indies, both for the aid that said king could give to the Sofi by that route, and for the enterprise the Turkish Lord could undertake to destroy Portuguese navigation in those parts. This enterprise, from what I have been able to understand and comprehend, does not seem, due to many other intervening considerations, possible to put into effect at present; but at Suez on the Arabian Gulf, a place in Egypt, there are a good number of galleys, that is, the timber prepared for them, and there is timber cut near Constantinople to build five galleons and send them by way of Gibraltar, according to what is discussed by messer Francesco Giustiniano, who shows that he greatly aspires to this enterprise, which he professes to understand well. This Giustiniano, from what I could gather in speaking with him (for I have had no other dealings with him), seems to me of good intelligence, and by his speech he demonstrates great experience in those navigations, of which I cannot offer other testimony, having no knowledge thereof. He spoke to me with a demonstration of great affection for Your Serenity, lamenting the meagerness of his fortune that causes him to wander in search of a way to raise himself from it, having too great a spirit to remain in such a low state. He has requested and urged that I tell Your Sublimity that if in any matter, should the said enterprise against the navigation of Portugal come to pass, he could be of service to Your Serenity, that you be pleased to make your intention known to him, because in accordance with it, he would not fail as a good servant to do everything possible, for the supreme desire he has to do something pleasing and of service to Your Highness.

The King of Poland²⁹ is at peace with the Turkish Lord and remains neutral, as has been promised to him by the said Lord and by Germany, it seeming to both that it would not be to their purpose to do otherwise; and it is to be considered that such neutrality is in favor of King John of Hungary, whose preservation is desired both by the Turkish Lord and by the majority of the German princes, who would not be content for that kingdom to fall into the hands of the most serene King of the Romans.

Of the Tartars on the Black Sea, this can be said: that they are dependent on the most illustrious Turkish Lord, who keeps with him a brother of the one who rules over them.

Of the other Tartars, truly, who are more inland, those who are presently named are the Gisilbasci, that is, of the green bonnets, who go by the name of Tartars, and border beyond the Caspian Sea with the country of the Sofi; and they come under consideration by the Turkish Lord for the trouble they give or can give to the Sofi, which, however, does not seem likely to be very great, but only of raids and tumults, which can easily be put down by the Sofi, provided he is not, however, troubled by the Turkish Lord, as it has been understood to have happened these past few months; for the said Tartars of the green bonnets having entered the country of Khorasan, the Sofi’s men went against them, and have repulsed and driven them out.

The forces of the Sofi are of such a kind that it seems he cannot contend with the Lord Turk unless the said Lord Turk has trouble from another quarter, or the suspicion of it. For, from what I have been able to understand, the number of men the Sofi can raise is one hundred and twenty thousand horsemen; that is, his household troops of forty thousand valiant and well-armed men, whom he keeps on his payroll in Persia and Armenia, sixty thousand who are distributed in Khorasan, and twenty thousand on the frontier of the province of Baghdad. He has no infantry, nor artillery, save for a few pieces, and a certain number of arquebuses which are said to have been supplied to him by the Portuguese, but he has no men who know how to use them. The greatest defense, and offense, that he can mount against the Lord Turk is in this manner: his country being very large, and in some places not abundant in provisions, should the Lord Turk advance with a large army (for with a small one he could not win), the Sofi can retreat and clear the country of provisions. Marching through it with many men, the Lord Turk’s army, with such a lack, would become disordered and weakened, so that the Sofi, with fresh troops, would then be better able to enter into conflict, and with the favor of fortune could even win. But should the Lord Turk, free from other suspicions or troubles, be able to attend to that enterprise alone, he, in my judgment, could overcome such difficulties.

Of the Georgians and Kurds, no further mention need be made, for they are peoples of little power and consequence, and likewise for those who border Egypt.

As truly pertains to his Imperial Majesty, to the Most Serene King Ferdinand³⁰, and other German princes and states, and other Christian states that adhere to them, or could adhere to them against the forces of the Lord Turk (leaving aside his Holiness the Pontiff, because with his own particular interests intervening, or some understanding he may have with the Most Christian King, or fear of the Emperor’s greatness, I would not be sure of being able to speak of it with any foundation), for these, I say, one can consider war by land or by sea.

The land war, I think that, given the present state of world affairs, it should not be judged that it could easily occur between his Imperial Majesty and the Grand Turk, because as for the Grand Turk, he, with troops of the quality I have foretold, would not be sufficient to force Germany, it being well furnished with the best soldiers in the world, and who would always be most united in its own defense; and if the Grand Turk has twice attempted that enterprise, and it has always been more to his detriment and shame than to his benefit and honor, I think he well knows the error and the danger in which he had placed himself. Germany, moreover, with the greater part of it not wanting the King of the Romans to be King of Hungary, just as it would be ready for defense, so it will never want to give men and other aid to go beyond its own borders; and one may think that among the other reasons for which his Imperial Majesty—the Grand Turk having, so to speak, tumultuously withdrawn—did not proceed into Hungary, was so as not to contravene the wishes of the German princes.

As for the war by sea between the Emperor and the Grand Turk, it seems to me that greater danger and greater harm for the Grand Turk is recognized; because if Prince Doria last year, with a small number of galleys, in the face of the Turkish fleet, relieved Coron³¹, his Imperial Majesty, understanding at present the poor quality, which I have foretold, of this fleet that sails with Barbarossa, should wish to make an effort to quickly assemble a good fleet (as, if some new cause did not prevent it, reason would wish that on such a great occasion he should do) it could perhaps be that the Turkish one would be vanquished; which happening, the Turk would find himself in dire straits, having no way to quickly rebuild it, and much disorder and confusion could follow in his state. Whether it would therefore be good for the Emperor to be warned of this, so that what I have foretold should come to pass, or not, I leave the judgment thereof to your most excellent lordships.

Yet it seems to me that another consideration must be had: that as the Emperor could be induced to make peace with the Lord Turk through regarding his forces as greater than they are, it would be well to declare them to him, or to take other measures so that such a pacification does not follow. And this I say, demonstrating the reason that from this would follow harm not only to His Imperial Majesty, but to all of Christendom, and to each one in particular; because if the Lord Turk could be made secure from the Christians, he would be free to undertake the enterprise against the Sofi with greater forces, and although the outcomes of wars are ambiguous, yet there would be greater reasons to believe in the victory of the Lord Turk; who, having obtained it, reordered his affairs, and built some number of galleys, would be more apt to offend the Christians. Nor can one be assured (this being in the hands of the Lord God, and of the natural course of things), that the Emperor might not come to die, and his dominion and forces thereby be divided: whence, lacking the good fortune of His Majesty, the Lord Turk would no longer have the respect that he presently has for Your Serenity, which between the said Grand Signor and His Imperial Majesty not only preserves itself, but continually grows in reputation, both for what the forces and firmness of our state is worth, and for the increase that proceeds from its friendship with the one and the peace that it has with the other.

How Your Highness truly stands with the Lord Turk, Your Most Excellent Lordships can know better than I, both from the present state of affairs and of the world’s princes, and from the qualities and conditions of his state, forces, and good government. I do say that in maritime matters Your Serenity is in great repute, it being held for certain at the court of the Lord Turk that should you join with the rest of the Christians to the detriment of the Turks, they would find themselves in a perilous situation.

At the head of the principality and government of the domain I have described above is first the Most Serene Sultan Suleiman, whose qualities, of body as well as of soul, and of fortune, having already been declared on other occasions, I think I have little cause to say more of them; yet I will not refrain from briefly saying this little.

This Emperor Suleiman is about forty-four years of age, of tall stature, thin, with an aquiline nose, of an earthy complexion, healthy, choleric, melancholic, more given to leisure than to business, orthodox in his faith, and of not wicked morals; as for his intellect, as is commonly said, it is not very sharp, nor does he possess that prudence and virtue which would be fitting for so great a principality. This is clearly known not only from experience with him, but from His Majesty having given the government of the empire into the hands of another; for the Sultan, with all the pashas and the entire court, makes no important decision without Ibrahim, and Ibrahim alone does everything without the Grand Signor or any other company; and for the reasons I have stated above, that domain is wanting for good counsel, and its armies for good leaders. For if the Grand Signor were of such prudence as to recognize these disorders, and of such virtue as to have the spirit to remedy them, his affairs would proceed on a better course, because many would demonstrate their valor and good service to His Majesty; and if it were said on his behalf that he knows everything, but wishes it so for the great love he bears Ibrahim, of this his love and affection one could not speak with praise, but only with much blame.

The said Grand Signor has a son of about sixteen years, older than his other three, named Mustafa, of whom it is said that he is of a good and generous nature.³² He holds the sanjak of Magnesia near Chios, and with him is his mother, who is Albanian.³³ The others are still in the seraglio, born of another mother from Russia³⁴, who is still with the Grand Signor, who has taken her as his wife according to their custom.

He, then, who is the principal, and as I have said is at the government of the entire domain, is the lord Ibrahim Pasha, of whom having discoursed at length above, and not having met with him myself as he had gone to Aleppo, I will leave it that Your Serenity have other information of him from others who have had more dealings with him than I. I will say this, however: that I seem to have understood that he is most disposed to the preservation of the friendship and peace that is between the Sultan and Your Highness, this aligning very aptly with his own greatness, by which he comes to give some counterweight to the many other disorders that he has caused and continues to cause.

Of the other pashas, who are Aras and Kasim, little can be said, because they are like servants of Ibrahim, and do not show much valor; and so it is with others who do not depend on Ibrahim. Of those who truly depend on him, the principal two are Sender tefterdar, of whom I have heard good things spoken, but I did not meet with him as he had gone with Ibrahim; the other is the most illustrious lord Luigi Gritti³⁵, who with the favor of this Ibrahim has become very great, and his greatness and valor have not been of any suspicion to the latter because he is a Christian. The reason for this favor is said to be that Ibrahim, having left the seraglio as first pasha and beylerbey of Greece, without experience and practice of the world and of the government of states, and wishing not only not to make use of the Turks but to remove them from his way, has made great use of the said lord Luigi; who, although he had not previously made a profession of matters of state, nevertheless had a very great understanding of things, especially of the Christians, and was, as he is, of good intellect and valor, and of a very great and elevated spirit, and most suited to great affairs, so much so that he wishes not to lose an iota of his greatness and authority, and by nature is very disposed to do service to whoever requests it of him. Concerning his will and procedure in the matters of Your Highness, he being in the condition and quality that he is, and being especially close to Ibrahim, I esteem that he should be held in great account and esteem; and I find two things especially to be kept in mind: one is the various conveniences and favors which, as is customary among friends, Your Serenity might request from the Lord Turk, or have in that country, through the means and favor of the said lord Luigi, such as shipments of grain and other similar things; and the other is the opinion he may have, and the actions he may take or be able to take, concerning the proceedings and understanding of Your Serenity with the Lord Turk. As for the first part, it seems to me very easy and suitable to the said quality of his spirit and nature, that whenever he is on behalf of Your Serenity requested, he should be disposed to your satisfaction. Concerning the other part, in the discussions that I have had several times with his lordship, he has shown an opinion and desire that Your Serenity, more than is now the case, should draw closer to the Lord Turk—claiming, however, to find in this opinion of his a benefit for you based on a foundation which does not hold; that is, that you are necessitated in your friendship and procedure to prefer one of the two, either the Emperor or the Lord Turk, and wishing to demonstrate that it is more to your advantage to prefer the Lord Turk. And having reasoned several times with his lordship about this matter, seeking to demonstrate the inconvenience of this, and how much detriment would come from it to Your Serenity, if you were to fail to proceed with the reserve and regards that you do, his lordship partly would not admit my reasons, which however were unanswerable, and partly made a show of hearing as if it were a new thing that the intention and will of Your Serenity was to proceed with so much reserve; but he told me, however, the last time I went to visit him, as I have written, that he would not fail to use his good offices with those over there, although he spoke with us in this manner. And because the said opinion, if it were to continue in his said lordship, did not seem to me appropriate for Your Serenity, and I desired to speak to him in the manner that would be most fruitful, in order to do so well I went on to consider what cause might induce his lordship to have the above-mentioned opinion: if for the benefit of Your Serenity, it did not seem to me a reasonable thing to believe, given the good wit that he has; if for the benefit of the Lord Turk, I do not see why he should go further in his discourse than Ibrahim himself and the other pashas do; if truly his own benefit and the desire for his greater reputation induced him to believe in such a way, that is, that when Your Serenity were more closely allied with the Lord Turk, and consequently more alienated from Caesar³⁶, he, Signor Luigi, having the intelligence that he has of the affairs of this republic, would repute that he ought to rise to even greater reputation; if this were the case, it would perhaps be well to make him certain and clear of the firm intention and will of Your Serenity of not wishing, nor being able, for your own benefit, to proceed otherwise than with the aforementioned reserve; because, being well certain of this, he would turn his mind to other thoughts, and holding for this reason in so much greater account the wisdom and greatness of Your Sublimity, so much more would he be disposed to please you, in order to make use, in his own favor, of this greatness of Your Highness.

These are the things which I have had occasion to say in this brief time to Your Serenity, and to your most excellent lordships, if not with that knowledge and that judgment which would be fitting, at least with a sincere soul and reverent affection, deferring always principally to the wisdom of the same, and of those who may be better informed than I.

1. Doge Andrea Gritti

2. The Ottoman Sultan, at this time Suleiman the Magnificent

3. A Venetian diplomat who resided in Constantinople

4. Meaning literally “Bey of beys”, i.e. “lord of lords”

5. Ottoman Sultan

6. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V

7. Safavid ruler

8. The Ottoman Court was known as “The Sublime Porte”, in reference to the gate leading to the Sultan’s palace.

9. Heavy cavalry

10. Originally meaning Italian mercenary commanders, but here probably meaning Italian military leaders in general

11. In 1532, part of an aborted attempt to take Vienna

12. The Grand Vizier

13. Grand Vizier

14. Who later will become Grand Vizier

15. All of Ibrahim’s plans came to naught, for within the year he was himself strangled on the order of Sultan Suleiman

16. A small, fast ship powered by oar and sail

17. Every new territory of which the Turks took possession was divided into three parts: one for the benefit of the mosques; another for the crown; and the third for the soldiers and the other faithful servants of the sultan. This third part was subdivided into ziamet and timar, names designating the large and small portions, which were assigned as life-long fiefs to the deserving, with the obligation to serve on horseback in time of war and to bring to the field another horseman for every five thousand aspers of revenue from the ziamet or timar.

18. A Janissary revolt in Constantinople that led to plundering was put down by paying off the soldiers in 1525

19. 3.5 gram gold coin

20. The famous former pirate, Hayreddin Barbarossa. Barbarossa means “Red Beard”

21. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V

22. A title given to the Kings of France, at this time Francis I

23. Of Charles V

24. Barbarossa’s plan was actually agreed upon with the Grand Signor: it was the conquest of Tunis, which indeed took place during that same year 1534, in the name but certainly not to the advantage of Alrascid, the aforementioned brother of the king of Tunis. This man, during the violent usurpation of the ancestral throne by his younger brother, having taken refuge with Barbarossa in Algiers, had aroused in the latter the idea of that conquest. Barbarossa brought Suleiman to his point of view, and to this end had the fleet discussed in this report prepared, at the sight of which the fugitive prince of Tunis flattered himself that he would enter his own kingdom in triumph. At the moment of embarking, however, the unfortunate Alrascid was arrested and locked in a seraglio and was never heard of again. Barbarossa sailed for Africa, not without first having devastated the coasts of Italy, and having landed before Tunis he announced that he came to support the rights of Alrascid, who did not appear because he was at that moment ill aboard his flagship. The Tunisians, tired of the usurper’s government, took up arms in favor of Alrascid, and instantly opened the gates to Barbarossa as the restorer of the legitimate sovereign. But not seeing Alrascid appear, and hearing the name of Suleiman uttered among the acclamations of the Turkish soldiers as they entered, and not Alrascid’s, they began to suspect treason. They changed suspicion into certainty, ran to arms again, and surrounded the citadel where Barbarossa had brought in his men. Foreseeing such a juncture, however, he had prepared for it; and turning the artillery of the bulwarks against the numerous but poorly led inhabitants, he dispersed them, and forced them to recognize Suleiman as king, and to submit to him as his vicar. Barbarossa held that possession for only a year, at the end of which he was in turn driven out by the Emperor Charles V.

25. Henry VIII

26. Francis I of France

27. In fact, France and the Ottoman Empire had been making efforts at an alliance since at least 1525, and began coordinating operations against the Holy Roman Empire in the same year this report was written

28. John III

29. Sigismund I

30. Ferdinand I, the younger brother of Charles V, who was at this time King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia, and Archduke of Austria

31. The fortress of Coron in Messenia in modern-day Greece was in 1532 taken by Andrea Doria, admiral of Charles V, but lost two years later during the maritime hostilities between the Emperor and the Sultan, despite the relief to which this passage alludes.

32. Mustafa was strangled for sedition and treason by the order of Sultan Suleiman 20 years after this report, as the result of the maneuvering and intrigue that would end up placing Selim, one of Suleiman’s sons by his Russian wife Roxelana, on the throne

33. Mahidevran Hatun. She has been described as either Albanian, Montenegrin, or Circassian

34. Roxelana, also known as Hürrem Sultan, the first woman to be given the title Haseki Sultan. She was perhaps the most powerful woman in Ottoman history.

35. This Gritti was the son of the Doge to whom this report is written (Doge Andrea Gritti) and a Greek mistress. Luigi was born in Constantinople when his father was bailo there. He was much loved and employed by Suleiman.

36. The Emperor