DRAGOMANS OF THE DUBROVNIK REPUBLIC: THEIR TRAINING AND CAREER

An important role in the Turco-Ragusan relations was played by the Dubrovnik consuls and diplomats, together with the dragomans, interpreters for the Turkish language. Ragusan dragomans were professionals, often self-educated merchants who learned Turkish during long business stays in the Empire. Mainly, they operated in Istanbul, in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in the Turkish chancellery, situated in the Rector’s palace in the City of Dubrovnik. Vesna MioviÊ-PeriÊ, member of the Institute for Historical Sciences of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Dubrovnik. Address: Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU, Lapadska obala 6, 20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia. 1 See Lujo VojnoviÊ, Dubrovnik i Osmansko Carstvo. Beograd: SKA, 1908; Grga Novak, ≈Borba Dubrovnika za slobodu 1683-1699.« Rad JAZU 253 (1935): pp. 1-165; Ivan BoæiÊ, Dubrovnik i Turska u XIV i XV veku. Beograd: SAN, 1952; Radovan SamardæiÊ, Borba Dubrovnika za opstanak posle velikog zemljotresa 1667. godine. Arhivska graa (1667-1670). Beograd: SAN, 1960; Grga Novak, ≈Borba Dubrovnika za slobodu 1683-1699.« Rad JAZU 253 (1935): pp. 1165; Nikolaas Hendrik Biegman, The Turco-Ragusan Relationship According to the Firmans of Murad III (1575-1595) Extant in the State Archives of Dubrovnik. The Hague (etc.): Mouton, 1967; Toma PopoviÊ, Dubrovnik i Turska u XVI veku. Beograd: Srpska knjiæevna zadruga, 1973; Radovan SamardæiÊ, Veliki vek Dubrovnika. Beograd: Prosveta, 1983; Vesna MioviÊ-PeriÊ, Na razmeu. Dubrovnik: Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU, 1997. Dubrovnik Annals 5 (2001) 82 golden ducats, Dubrovnik’s unique obligation to the Ottomans.2 Yet, due to the mounting decentralization and anarchy in the Ottoman Empire, the terms of the Turco-Ragusan capitulations did not have the expected effect in all the Ottoman provinces, the province of Bosnia, in the immediate Dubrovnik vicinity, being one of them. Thus, the Ragusans were forced to maintain relations with all the levels of the Ottoman administration, ensure their commercial privileges, seek the sultan’s protection and secure the welfare for the state and people. Governed by the circumstances, they invested great effort in building a special survival strategy based on bribe, gifts, and services, ranging from medical care to providing the Turks with information from the West. An important role in Turco-Ragusan relations was played by Dubrovnik’s consuls and diplomats, along with the dragomans, interpreters of the Turkish language.3 Almost all European states that had relations with the Ottoman Empire (France, Austria, Holland, Sweden, Russia, Venice, England) had interpreters of Turkish in their service within the established diplomatic outposts in Istanbul and a number of other Turkish cities. All of them adopted the term dragoman (Turk. terjuman). The earliest European diplomatic and consular representatives recruited dragomans from the Ottoman Jews, Greeks, and Armenians. But, the interpreter’s commission was far too sophisticated and confidential to be entrusted to an alien. The importance of dragomans and their service was, perhaps, best epitomized in the candid statement of Carlo Ruzzini, Venetian consul to Istanbul in the eighteenth century: “It is enough to say that through a dragoman we speak. His abilities determine the success of every mission. All the money we spend on the Ottomans passes through his hands. They are the ones who carry out all diplomatic assignments. A consul can make a supreme ef2 The tribute increased from the 1000 golden ducats in silverware in 1442 to 1500 golden ducats in cash in 1458, up to the annual 12,500 golden ducats in 1481. As from 1703, the Ragusans were to pay the tribute every third year, and from 1804 the Ottomans agreed to the term of every five years. 3 Fehim EfendiÊ, ≈Dragomani i turska kancelarija u Dubrovniku.« Kalendar Gajret (1940): p. 4; Bogdan Krizman: O dubrovaËkoj diplomaciji, Zagreb: Naklada ©kolske knjige,1951: pp. 120121; Bogdan Krizman, ≈DubrovËani dipomati u stranoj sluæbi: Miho BoæoviÊ i Damjan BraËeviÊ.« Narodni list, 18.12.1955; Vesna MioviÊ-PeriÊ, ≈Pravila kojih se morao pridræavati dubrovaËki dragoman prilikom poslanstva u Bosnu.« Hrvatski narodni godiπnjak ”Napredak” god. 1995 (1994): pp. 354-359; Vesna MioviÊ-PeriÊ, ≈Dnevnik dubrovaËkog dragomana Miha Zarinija.« Anali Zavoda za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku 3 (1995): pp. 93-135. 83 V. MioviÊ PeriÊ, Dragomans of the Dubrovnik Republic: Their Training and Career fort to present impeccable arguments in the negotiations with the Ottomans. But his labor is futile unless a dragoman interprets it convincingly and skilfully. In fact, he performs his interpreter’s duties on rare occasions only, such as when he accompanies a consul in an audience with the viziers. As a rule, he acts independently, settles conflicts on his own, has the right to argue as an envoy. In sum, it is difficult to say which of the two is more essential in dealing with the matters of the state—the consul or the dragoman.”4 Thus in the sixteenth century, Venice saw the establishment of a school for “student dragomans”, or students of languages, as we would refer to it today.5 The earliest evidence of student dragomans in Dubrovnik dates from the same century.6 However, besides the professionals, Ragusans were to employ non-experts, such as merchants who had mastered the language during their extended stays in the Ottoman Empire. Training was regulated as rule in the eighteenth century. Young men in pursuit of a dragoman’s career acquired their basic knowledge of Turkish in Dubrovnik, under the tutorship of a khoja.7 The khoja was a Turkish master, selected for the job and brought to Dubrovnik from Bosnia, Istanbul, or elsewhere by the Ragusan tribute envoys. If a young man proved gifted at the elementary stage, the Senate would proclaim him “student of languages”, grant him a scholarship, and send him to the Ottoman Empire for further schooling. These students would leave Dubrovnik between the ages of 15 and 20. They were to spend their first years of study in Thessaloniki, Edirne, Smyrna, or Plovdiv, and finish up in Istanbul. In the course of their stay abroad, they usually lived alone, boarded with Ragusan consuls and envoys, or enjoyed 4 Carla Coco and Flora Manzonetto: Baili veneziani alla Sublime Porta, Venezia: Comune di Venezia and Università degli Studi di Venezia, 1985: p. 107. 5 Robert Mantran, ≈L’École des Jeunes de Langues: l’exemple vénitien.« In: Istanbul et les langues orientales, ed. Frédéric Hitzel. Paris: L’Hartmann, 1997 (hereafter cited as: ILO): pp.105107; Isabella Palumbo Fossati Casa, ≈L’École vénitienne des ”giovani di lingua”.« In ILO: pp. 110-111; Tommaso Bertelè, Il Pallazo degli Ambasciatori di Venezia a Costantinopoli e le sue antiche memorie, Bologna: Apollo 1932: p.123. 6 Lettere di Levante (hereafter cited as: Lett. Lev.), ser. 27.1, vol. 27, f. 12 (year 1558), State Archives of Dubrovnik (hereafter cited as: SAD). 7 Lett. Lev., vol. 43, f. 156 (year 1619); vol. 64, ff. 91v-92 (1682); vol. 108, ff. 17v-18 (1796). Dubrovnik Annals 5 (2001) 84 the hospitality of monasteries, such as the Capuchin monastery in Istanbul.8 They were still taught by carefully chosen khojas. Apart from Turkish, the students also learned Arabic and Persian.9 In addition to languages, they were taught Ottoman diplomatics, law, history, and literature. These accomplished students could indulge in conversation with the most learned Turks, a moment particularly important in their training. Mastering the ways of sophisticated conversation was most certainly part of the Ragusan diplomatic strategy. Their study final years were organized in Istanbul, where they practised the language and other skills. The Ragusan dragoman was instructed to take the students with him whenever he went to the Porte. Thus they could see how the Ottoman Court functioned, get acquainted with the ceremonial, make initial contacts, and establish relations with Ottoman officials.10 The length of training varied from 5 or 6 to as many as 11 or 12 years, depending primarily on the student’s intellectual abilities, but just as equally, or even more, on his adjustability, courage, determination, and strength. Unfortunatelly, no written evidence concerning the methods of teaching has been preserved. The only data available refer to the Senate’s regular financial support for the 8 Lett. Lev., vol. 92, f. 107 (year 1771); vol. 93, f. 248v (1772); vol. 97, f. 92rv (1778); vol. 110, ff. 17v-18 (1800). 9 Lett. Lev., vol. 58, ff. 74v-75 (year 1661), f. 135rv (1662); vol. 90, f. 51 (1769); vol. 92, ff. 68-70 (1771); vol. 94, ff. 18-24v (1773); vol. 96, ff. 194v-195 (1777); vol. 101, ff. 39-41v (1783); vol. 103, f. 58v (1786); vol. 107, f. 51rv (1794). 10 Lett. Lev., vol. 79, ff. 224-240v; vol. 84, ff. 209-229v; vol. 101, f. 29rv. 11 Lett. Lev., vol. 42, f. 73v (year 1617), ff. 156, 157 (1619); vol. 66, ff. 244v-245 (1702); vol. 71, f. 88 (1722); vol. 72, f. 25v (1726); vol. 78, f. 222 (1753); vol. 80, f. 51 (1769); vol. 92, f. 156 (1771); vol. 94, f. 62 (1773). 12 I. Palumbo Fossati Casa: ≈L’École vénitienne des ”giovani di lingua”«: p. 111. 85 V. MioviÊ PeriÊ, Dragomans of the Dubrovnik Republic: Their Training and Career acquisition of dictionaries, grammar books, manuals, and textbooks of Turkish, Arabic, and Persian.11 Some other aspects of their life abroad have been noted, as the temptation of the omnipresent vices, the danger of the plague and other diseases, great fires, and finally, Turkish animosity. The metropolis of the Empire was said to charm and chill to the bone at the same time. It was described as a golden bowl of poison where the angels themselves could fall.12 According to a statement of –uro CuriÊ, Ragusan dragoman and consul to Istanbul in the first half of the eighteenth century, the most notorious vices were three: wine, cards, and debauchery, or fornication, to be more precise. The following step of a young man’s debauched