Seventeenth-century Ottoman-British relations stand out as a field in historical literature that is still largely waiting to be explored. This was, on the one hand, a dynamic period marked by intensified diplomatic contacts, developing commercial ties, and increasing cultural exchange; yet, on the other hand, it represents a field in which systematically tracing this rich interaction through Ottoman archival documents proves to be quite difficult.

Researchers interested in early Ottoman-British relations are confronted with a critical problem arising from the state of archival sources at the initial stage of their research process. The majority of the existing studies are forced to a one-sided perspective due to the scarcity, and scattered structure of the relevant documents in the Prime Ministry Ottoman Archive. This hinders the ability to understand the early relations in depth from the Ottoman point of view. To give some details, the first systematic records on Ottoman-British relations, started at the end of the sixteenth-century, in the Ottoman Archive are included in the İngiltere Nişân Defteri dated between 1675-1841. Of course, a small number of earlier documents can be found in various archival catalogues such as Mühimme Defterleri, Ahkâm Defterleri or court records, but the scattered nature of these documents both does not provide sufficient data and makes it challenging to preserve chronological coherence. Therefore, this situation prevents the simultaneous consideration of the Ottoman and British perspectives and creates a tendency to use the British archive records as the main and only source. Inevitably, all this led to the emergence of an Anglo-Ottoman history written from a British perspective. The most explanatory sentences summarising this issue came from the pen of Prof. Daniel Goffman, who expressed his disappointment with the results of his research in the Ottoman Archive [1]:

“Unfortunately, in the current state of Ottoman studies we can do little more than sketch the Ottoman context without really fleshing out the personalities who inhabited it. Perhaps we can contextually conceive of how they must have lived and what they might have thought. Nevertheless, few historians are yet willing to resort to such slippery methods in order to fill, imaginatively, the enormous gaps in our knowledge. Until we are ready to do so, or until a new type of Ottoman source appears, or until we make more thorough and creative use of available materials, cross-cultural Anglo-Ottoman narratives, such as this one, must continue to utilise Ottoman sources for context and English ones for chronology and narrative integrity.”

In the midst of this critical gap, an Ottoman Turkish source discovered in the Leipzig University Library stands before us as a treasure trove in reshaping our understanding of the early periods [2]. This unique source, which has disappeared from the Düvel-i Ecnebiyye classification in the Ottoman Archive, awaits researchers to shed light on the complex relations of the seventeenth-century. The archive book in the Islamic Manuscripts section of the aforementioned library is dated between 1641 and 1682. This detail has enabled to move the chronology of Ottoman-British relations, which until now could only be traced systematically with documents after 1675, to an earlier period. Interestingly, there was no numbering system applied to these documents in the original ledger, and the number of pages kept by the folio method is the only information that can be used for reference in the book. Even this detail shows that the source has not been adequately examined [3]. As I have determined, a total of 827 documents in the book are recorded, four or five on each page. It started with the ahidnâme given to ambassador Sir Sackville Crowe in 1641, containing copies of five ahidnâme texts given in the following periods, which will contribute to the field of political history. The source is not only a collection of documents, but also a map of the British consular network in seventeenth-century Ottoman lands. The official documents sent from the centre to the approximately fifty different regions such as Izmir, Aleppo, Ankara, Algeria, Tunisia, Tripoli, and Morea will shed light on the activities carried out by the British merchants in various parts of the Ottoman country. It will make new contributions to our understanding of commercial, political, social and diplomatic life with its comprehensive content such as goods and mercantile partnership, names of ships and captains, British relations with European powers and Ottoman subjects like Jews and Armenians, assets and liabilities issues, articles of peace with Maghrib, piracy and captivity, the problems caused by violation of ahidnâme articles.

Another importance of this source stems from the fact that it provides original information to this field. The consular and interpreter certificates are almost complete, and the names of British representatives are also frequently mentioned in the documents [4]. Comparing the British names identified in these documents with the records in the British archives can contribute to micro-historical studies, which focus on detailed investigations at the individual level. Documents related to commercial business and daily life are very important to detail the activities of the British at the local level. When all these elements are brought together, it emerges as a rich source that is a candidate to clarify the course of Ottoman-British relations in the seventeenth-century.

One of the key points to highlight at this stage is the significance of the comparative history approach in this field. When examined alongside British archival materials, these documents not only enrich the Ottoman perspective but also offer a dual lens through which to view events. Compared to the British archival records, which were kept in great detail, the documents produced by the Ottoman bureaucracy were generally written for responding to specific issues and tend to provide summary information. Although the aforementioned documents were kept in a similar style, the valuable details they contain show that they are in a position to make sources of studies rather than a supporting material. Nevertheless, the use of these documents together with British archival records will provide original research in the field, increase the objectivity and originality of the studies, and allow the reconstruction of the seventeenth-century landscape of Ottoman-British relations. As a matter of fact, this unexplored field demands further studies with a comparative history approach that will move beyond one-sided narratives.

Figure 1 Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig (Leipzig University Library-Islamic Manuscripts), B.or.290-01, page 1 [ Reproduced with permission from the Leipzig University Library.]

Figure 2 Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig (Leipzig University Library-Islamic Manuscripts), B.or.290-01, page 59 [ Reproduced with permission from the Leipzig University Library.].

Figure 3 Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig (Leipzig University Library-Islamic Manuscripts), B.or.290-01, page 51 [ Reproduced with permission from the Leipzig University Library.]

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Rabia Demir is a PhD candidate in History at İzmir Katip Çelebi University, Turkey, and currently a visiting research student at the University of Birmingham, supported by a TUBITAK 2214-A International Doctoral Research Scholarship. Her doctoral dissertation, “Diplomacy and Community: British Embassy Institutions and the British Presence in Ottoman Istanbul (17th Century),” explores Ottoman-British diplomatic relations through the lens of embassy institutions and the British community in Istanbul. Her research is grounded in a comparative archival approach, drawing on both British and Ottoman archival sources.

Her broader research interests include 17th-century Ottoman-European relations, Mediterranean history, Anglo-Ottoman diplomatic exchanges, consular networks in Ottoman territories, cross-cultural trade relations, British-Ottoman commercial interactions, and early modern diplomatic history.

More information about her research can be found at https://ikc.academia.edu/RabiaDemir. She tweets @rabiademiir

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[1] Daniel Goffman, Britons in the Ottoman Empire 1642-1660, (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998): 12.

[2] Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig (Leipzig University Library-Islamic Manuscripts), B.or.290-01. This transcription of this archival book is currently being prepared for publication, and each document will be accompanied by summaries in both Turkish and English. With this bilingual format, it is hope that the publication will be of use at an international level.

[3] Since no previous studies have yet been identified as utilizing this archival source prior to 2021, these documents are considered to have been used for the first time in my master’s thesis, completed in 2021. In the introduction chapter of the thesis, a detailed explanation is provided regarding the numbering system applied to these documents, which had not yet been numbered. See also. Rabia Demir, Osmanlı-İngiliz Diplomatik Münâsebetleri (1580-1699), (Master Thesis, University of Izmir Kâtip Celebi, 2021), Council of Higher Education Thesis Center [online], http://tez.yok.gov.tr/, accessed May 20, 2025: 3-4.

[4] Goffman points out that among the thousands of Ottoman documents he examined, in the records relevant to this topic contain almost no mention of names, Goffman, Ibid.