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In the 1570s, Austria sent an embassy to the Ottoman capital of Constantinople in order to maintain contact during a fragile period of peace. This article examines the writings of two theologians, Stephan Gerlach[1] and Salomon Schweigger[2], who were sent with this embassy and compares them to those of another traveler to the Ottoman Empire, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq[3], in order to better understand the motivations and biases of these writers.
For several months in 1575, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II’s ambassador in Istanbul was engaged with reporting on, and attempting to prevent, an Ottoman spy mission entrusted to the recent convert to Islam Markus Penckner. The surviving sources afford valuable insights into the practicalities of Austrian-Habsburg intelligence against those they considered the ‘hereditary enemy’ and sheds light on the cooperation of the two branches of the House of Habsburg in such matters. At the same time, the episode provided an opportunity for the diplomat in question, David Ungnad, to demonstrate his competence as an information gatherer, his extensive network across the Habsburgs’ realms, and thus his value for the dynasty. This chapter argues that such qualities were valuable resources for actors like Ungnad when pursuing their own goals.
See also: Stopping an Ottoman Spy in Late Sixteenth-Century Istanbul: David Ungnad, Markus Penckner, and Austrian-Habsburg Intelligence in the Ottoman Capital
In: Rethinking Europe
Author: Tobias P. Graf
Page Count: 173–193
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004401921_011
[1] Stephan Gerlach (latin: Stephanus Gerlachius) is a German Lutheran theologian.An extremely important figure in the second half of the 16th century.
He was tasked with a special mission in Constantinople, namely to establish an alliance between Orthodoxy and Lutheranism against Catholicism. It fails in its mission. Nevertheless, he signs the Brest Union.
From 1573 to 1578 he was in Constantinople as the first assistant and clergyman of the ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire - Baron David Ungnad von Sonnegg. Writes a diary, one of the most cited sources in the historical literature about the situation in Constantinople in recent years of the "Kingdom of the Slavs", ie. after the death of Selim II and just before the outbreak of the Long Turkish War.
Upon his return, he became professor of theology (1586) and head of the Protestant district in Tübingen and wrote against Calvinists and Jesuits. He died in Tübingen in 1612.
Stefan Gerlach's diary was published in full in German only in 1674, thanks to his grandson Samuel Gerlach, who collected, arranged and translated into German his "Turkish diary" of his grandfather, inserting a number of primary documents translated, i. letters and more.
Today, the diary is a bibliographical rarity that has not been republished in German and has never been translated into English. Parts of the diary have been published in other languages.
[2] Salomon Schweigger (also spelled Solomon Schweiger) (30 March 1551 – 21 June 1622) was a German Lutheran theologian, minister, anthropologist and orientalist of the 16th century. He provided a valuable insight during his travels in the Balkans, Constantinople and the Middle East, and published a famous travel book of his exploits. He also published the first German language translation of the Qur'an.Schweigger was born in Sulz am Neckar. His father was Henry Schweigger, notarius (court and town clerk) and praefectus pupillorum (superior of the orphanage children in Sulz). Salomon first attended the convent school in Bad Herrenalb-Alpirsbach, and from 1572, studied theology and classical philology at the University of Tübingen.
In 1576, having completed his studies and being in search of employment, he was hired as embassy chaplain by Joachim von Sintzendorff, Habsburg ambassador to Istanbul (1578–81). He traveled as a Habsburgian envoy to Constantinople[4] with an Austrian delegation from Vienna on a diplomatic mission of Emperor Rudolf II to Sultan Murad III. He spent several years attached the Habsburg embassy, in the role of Hofprediger (court preacher) successor to Stephan Gerlach. In this travel diary, he vividly describes his personal experiences and also provides an interesting insight into life in the former Ottoman Empire. He deduced that "Serbians, Bulgarians, Rascians, have their origins in the ancient German tribes of Daci",[9] and also wrote about Bulgarian jewelry, curious at the nose rings he saw worn by the women and the "exoticism" he witnessed.[ He also commented on jugglers, fires, the "clumsy" music of the Turks, their food, customs, and buildings.
He left Constantinople in 1581 and traveled to Egypt and Jerusalem, where he quoted Adam Reusner. Visiting Ramla, he commented on the Jewish populations in the city. In Egypt, he traveled with Gerlach and David Chytraeus. He also visited Damascus before returning to Germany via Crete and Venice. On returning to Germany, Schweigger served as pastor in the town of Grötzingen from 1581–1589. In 1589, Heinrich Hermann Baron Schutzbar von Milchling, appointed Schweigger to be patron of the parish of Wilhermsdorf in Middle Franconia. The City of Nuremberg called him in 1605 to serve at the Frauenkirche where he worked for 17 years.
His account of his years spent in the Balkans, Turkey and the Middle East would later gain fame in his "Ein newe Reiss Beschreibung a Deutschland Nach Constantinopel und Jerusalem", published in 1608. Several of his sketches appeared centuries later in Kiril Petkov's 1997 book Infidels, Turks, and Women: The South Slavs in the German Mind, ca. 1400-1600. In 1616, he published "The Turkish Alcoran, religion, and superstition". Solomon is also the author of the first German version of the Qur'an.[16] In the Ottoman Empire, Schweigger found an Italian translation of the Qur'an, which was known among Christians living there to a certain extent. Schweigger translated from the Italian but published it only after his return to Nuremberg (1616, 2nd edition 1623, further editions without naming 1659; 1664). He translated from a first Italian version of 1547 by Andrea Arrivabene, itself based on translation from Latin by Robert of Ketton in the 12th century. It is surprising that Schweigger did not resort to the Latin text. Schweigger's German translation of the Italian translation of the Latin translation of the Arabic Koran was in turn translated into Dutch in 1641 and printed in Hamburg.
[3] Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (1522 in Comines – 28 October 1592; Latin: Augerius Gislenius Busbequius), sometimes Augier Ghislain de Busbecq, was a 16th century Flemish writer, herbalist and diplomat in the employ of three generations of Austrian monarchs. He served as ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople and in 1581 published a book about his time there, Itinera Constantinopolitanum et Amasianum, re-published in 1595 under the title of Turcicae epistolae or Turkish Letters. His letters also contain the only surviving word list of Crimean Gothic, a Germanic dialect spoken at the time in some isolated regions of Crimea. He is credited with the introduction of tulips into western Europe and to the origin of their name. 
He was born the illegitimate son of the Seigneur de Busbecq, Georges Ghiselin, and his mistress Catherine Hespiel, although he was later legitimized. He grew up at Busbecq Castle (in present-day Bousbecque, Nord, France), studying in Wervik and Comines - at the time, all part of Spanish West Flanders, a province of the Holy Roman Empire.Busbecq's intellectual gifts led him to advanced studies at the Latin-language University of Leuven, where he registered in 1536 under the name Ogier Ghislain de Comines. From there, he went on to study at a number of well-known universities in northern Italy, including taking classes from Giovanni Battista Egnazio [it] in Venice.
Like his father and grandfather, Busbecq chose a career of public service. He started work in the court of the Austrian monarch Ferdinand I in approximately 1552. In 1554, he was sent to England for the marriage in Winchester of the English queen Mary Tudor to Philip II of Spain.
(Pictured Cover page of Turcicae epistolae, 1595 ed.
Busbecq's Turkish Letters is a treasure of early travel literature, reflecting Busbecq's rich literary talent, classical education, love for collecting antiquities, and remarkable power of observation. Delightfully entertaining reading, it also offers invaluable lessons on understanding and bridging cultural divides. )
During his stay in Constantinople, he wrote his best known work, the Turkish Letters, a compendium of personal correspondence to his friend, and fellow Hungarian diplomat, Nicholas Michault, in Flanders and some of the world's first travel literature. These letters describe his adventures in Ottoman politics and remain one of the principal primary sources for students of the 16th-century Ottoman court. He also wrote in enormous detail about the plant and animal life he encountered in Turkey. His letters also contain the only surviving word list of Crimean Gothic, a Germanic dialect spoken at the time in some isolated regions of Crimea.
At the Ottoman court
In 1554 and again in 1556, Ferdinand named him ambassador to the Ottoman Empire under the rule of Suleiman the Magnificent. His task for much of the time he was in Constantinople was the negotiation of a border treaty between his employer (the future Holy Roman Emperor) and the Sultan over the disputed territory of Transylvania. He had no success in this mission while Rustem Pasha was the Sultan's vizier, but ultimately reached an accord with his successor Semiz Ali Pasha.
Busbecq discovered an almost complete copy of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, an account of Roman emperor Augustus' life and accomplishments, at the Monumentum Ancyranum in Ancyra. He identified its origin from his reading of Suetonius and published a copy of parts of it in his Turkish Letters.
He was an avid collector, acquiring valuable manuscripts, rare coins and curios of various kinds. Among the best known of his discoveries was a 6th-century copy of Dioscorides' De Materia Medica, a compendium of medicinal herbs. The emperor purchased it after Busbecq's recommendation; the manuscript is now known as the Vienna Dioscorides. His passion for herbalism led him to send Turkish tulip bulbs to his friend Charles de l'Écluse, who acclimatized them to life in the Low Countries. He called them "tulip" mistaking the Turkish word for turban (tulipant) which was often decorated with the flower (known in Turkish as lale). Busbecq has also been credited with introducing the lilac to northern Europe (though this is debated) as well as the Angora goat.
He returned from Turkey in 1562 and became a counsellor at the court of Emperor Ferdinand in Vienna and tutor to his grandchildren, the sons of future Emperor Maximilian II. Busbecq ended his career as the guardian of Elisabeth of Austria, Maximilian's daughter and widow of French king Charles IX. He continued to serve the Austrian monarchy, observing the development of the French Wars of Religion on behalf of Rudolf II. Finally, in 1592 and nearing the end of his life, he chose to leave his residence in Mantes outside of Paris for his native West Flanders, but was assaulted and robbed by members of the Catholic League near Rouen. He died a few days later. His body is buried in the castle chapel at Saint-Germain-sous-Cailly near where he died, and his heart was embalmed and sent to the family tomb in Bousbecque.
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