Showing posts with label 17th century. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 17th century. Show all posts

Monday, February 23, 2015

Mutiny on the Kadırğa


Bitwa pod Cecorą (Battle of Cecora) - Witold Piwnicki

During the early modern period Poland-Lithuania and the Ottoman Empire shared a frontier that stretched over 1,000 kilometers through the Pontic Steppe and into the Carpathian Mountains, encompassing territories in modern Ukraine, Moldavia, Romania, and Slovakia. Within this deep frontier zone, the Crimean Khanate, vassals of the Ottoman Sultan, engaged in the Black Sea slave trade, which resulted in the disappearance of some 2,000,000 individuals between 1500-1700 from the north Caucasus, Muscovy, and Poland-Lithuania (Kołodzejczyk, 2006). Prisoners of war often supplemented this trade, which funneled an immense body of human chattel south to work on farms, in manufacturing, as house slaves, or as galley slaves. The fates of these individuals are all but unknown.

A swashbuckling tale of enslavement and escape accredited to a Polish nobleman named Marek Jakimowski was published in multiple European languages in the early 17th century. It serves as a quintessential example of the anti-Ottoman literature that circulated throughout Christendom during periods of conflict with the Padishah. In Poland-Lithuania, the continued popularity of the harrowing tale of nobleman-come-galley slave Marek Jakimowski for several centuries was emblematic of a society whose identity as the antemurale christianitatis (bulwark of Christendom) was tied closely to its shared frontier with the Ottoman Empire.

Marek Jakimowski, a szlachcic (nobleman/citizen) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, who was born near the town of Bar in the province of Podolia, in present-day Ukraine. A participant in the 1620 battle of Cecora on the side of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, he was taken prisoner by Ottoman forces, and sold into slavery in Istanbul. His account explains that he was purchased was “Kassem Beg”, the Ottoman governor of Damietta and Rosetta and admiral of a fleet of galleys. Marek Jakimowski was assigned to Kassem Beg’s lead kadırğa (galley), where he was given a position that allowed him freedom of motion on board the craft.

Lepanto - Tommaso Dolabella
While anchored off the shore of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea, Jakimowski purportedly led a successful mutiny on the lead galley of the fleet. At an opportune moment when the bulk of the ship’s soldiers as well as its commander were on land, Jakimowski freed his fellow galley slaves with the help of two other Polish prisoners, Stefan Satanowski and Jan of Tulczyn. The freed slaves then killed or expelled the remaining Ottoman soldiers and commandeered the ship. Several accompanying Ottoman galleys from the same fleet gave chase, but the fugitives managed to lose them in a storm and sail successfully to Messina on the island of Sicily. From there they went to Palermo, where they left the captured galley in the possession of the Viceroy of Naples in exchange for two smaller vessels, which they took to Naples and on to Rome, where they arrived on February, 16th, 1621. Once there, Jakimowski and his companions left the Ottoman banners taken during their mutiny as votive offerings in several churches.

As the leader of the mutiny, Marek Jakimowski was given a special audience by the new Pope, Gregory XV, during which he made a personal gift of a banner he had taken, in return for which he was decorated with high honors. The former slaves were also received in Rome by Cardinals Cosima de Torresa and Francesco Barberini. While in Rome, Jakimowski married a certain Polish woman named Katarzyna, who he had allegedly freed from slavery and returned to Poland. Jakimowski and his wife made it successfully to Kraków on the 8th of May, 1628.

There is some debate as to when these events actually occurred; an account of Jakimowski’s adventure was printed in Rome, perhaps as early as 1623, under the title “La conquista della galera di Alessandria nel porto di Metelline, coll’oepra e gran coraggio del Capitano Marco Jakimowski Polacco”. Five years later, the tale was reprinted in Rome, Florence, and Kraków in Italian, German, and Polish. As no original copy of the 1623 publication has survived, it remains unclear whether the mutiny occurred in the year 1621, 1622, or 1627.

Regardless of whether or not Marek Jakimowski’s mutiny on Kassem Beg’s kadırğa actually occurred, the popularity of the tale is evidenced by its publication in Italian, German, and Polish- three of the major languages of the Ottoman/European frontier. The event was commemorated by the Venetian painter Tommaso Dolabella, active in the court of King Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632) and his son, King Władysław IV Vasa (1595-1648), whose work depicted the marriage of Marek and Katarzyna. The dissemination of the tale and its enshrinement in Polish national consciousness continued into the 20th century.

In the course the complex evolution of Polish national consciousness, the tale of Marek Jakimowski served multiple purposes over the centuries. In more recent times, the “Turkish Threat” of the 17th century and the imagery and vocabulary of the antermurale christianitatis was redirected to the struggles of stateless Poles in the 19th century. In 1858, centuries after the events in question, and after the partition and dissolution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by its neighbors Prussia, Russia, and Austria, playwright and Polish nationalist Alexander Groza wrote a piece based the life of Marek Jakimowski. In the romantic nationalism of the 19th century, old conflicts and heroic figures were given new life through allegory. By this time, the usefulness of Jakimowski as a symbol of Poland’s role as the antemurale christianitatis vis-à-vis the Ottoman Empire had diminished. Instead, Groza portrayed him as a symbol of the defunct Polish nation’s struggle under the bondage and tyranny of the Tsar. Groza epitomized the bravery and sacrifice of Jakimowski, Satanowski, and Jan of Tulczyń, the enslaved veterans of Cecora, in the following manner:

And within the crowd [of captives] newly gathered
with whom should he meet? Jan of Tolczyń
and [a man] of Szatanów, two eagles,
his brothers – Podolians.
At Cecora, that unlucky venture,
they persevered courageously, persevered gloriously...
Oh! If only all [had been] like them,
the Turk would not have watered his horse in the Dniester,
nor would the bones of our knights rot
in the sands of so many riverbanks...

In Groza’s play, the battle of Cecora, where Jakimowski and his fellow Poles were captured, served as a stand-in for more recent Polish defeats at the hands of Russia during the Bar Confederation (1768-1772) and the November Uprising (1830-1831). Marek engages in hand-to-hand combat with “Mustafa Pasha”, though it is clear that Groza’s Turk is in fact the Russian Tsar. In this aspirational tale highlighting the historical sacrifice of Poland on the “altar of nations”, Groza’s “second David” (i.e. Marek Jakimowski), had returned to slay Goliath once again.

Here follows the account of Marek Jakimowski:

"The might of the Turkish state, as well as that of all of its members (clients) began once again to fall upon pious peoples and Christian life through the law of the Council of Trent, bringing in particular much suffering, and weakening the soldier of the sea, who is usually the foremost defense of every province. Through this, much succor was imparted to the heathen, who, in the past, ordinarily would have always taken into slavery young captured Christians.  Their galleys, which in the past [were] a terror [and] were full of Christian prisoners of every nation and ruled the entire sea, in these days are so weakened that, if not for the Tatars alone constantly invading the country[s] of Ruthenia and Muscovy, filling the Turkish armada with people, it is certain that the Turkish Monarchy, though it is so strong, would be without its arms upon the sea; Already [at present] on their galleys, prisoners are not commonly seen aside from the above mentioned nations, who [the Turks] purchase for money, rule over, beat and lacerate [at will] as their personal slaves.

In recent times, Kassymbek, a Turk from Alexandria, governor of Damiata and Rosseto, [who was] very wealthy in his properties, which are large in Egypt, and through various trade, which he undertook constantly in those countries with his brother Mehmed, having become for a period of four years the captain of four galleys, which guarded the port and navigation of Alexandria, filled his own foremost two-masted galley with two hundred Christian prisoners; among them were three Greeks, two Englishmen, an Italian and the rest were from either Ruthenian or Muscovites.

It came to be that the Lord God gave the [favorable] weather and occasion to a Christian to bring low that monstrous pagan, who everyone feared a great deal. This Kassymbek, remained for a while before [friendly] Turkish guns upon the [Black Sea] where the Dniester flows in for the building of a fortress at the orders of the [Turkish] Emperor  [to guard] against the invasion of Cossacks, a people who all Turks greatly fear. After the onset of winter, while returning home, [Kassymbek] took upon his galley in Constantinople Isuph Kadego with his wife and servants, who was a well-known judge from the Porte to Aleksandria. Traveling, then, along that route, they put in at the city of Metellino, which is located on the Aegean Sea; there they were provisioned with necessities at the beginning of the month of November. They put to sea many times, but they always had to return due to great storms and high seas. Aside from this galley there were three other galleys, which, on the last return [to port], remained apart from the lead galley; not far, about a third of a mile. At that point three galleys remained in the port known as Szeroki and in the port of Caramusciali; captain Kassymbek alone remained in the port called Stretto or Scisly. On the 12th of November he put to shore to refresh himself, having with him around seventy Turks, there being altogether one hundred and fifty soldiers, as well as officials, who he took with him, so that no more than eighty [Turkish soldiers] were left aboard.

Among the Christian prisoners on that galley was Marek Jakimowski of a family from Bar in the region of Podolia. Having trained since youth in the knightly arts, he was at the battle of Cecora, and having been captured there he fell into the hands of the enemy. Seeing at that time that the captain of the galley [had] put ashore with no small portion of the Turks, he placed himself in the care of the Lord and began to think of how he and the crew might free themselves. He therefore entrusted his plan to two others; Stefan Szatanowski and Jan Stolczyn both of whom, along with [Jakimowski], were prisoners, [but] were not fettered, and walked freely about the galley during the daytime in order to [perform] a variety of duties. These two, not trusting that they would be able to escape, doubted him greatly. He said, in brief, that in such brave counsel one must have more faith in God and in the strength of [ones] mighty hand for the protection of ones own health and honor, than in the use of reason and common ability.

Having declared that he [was] absolutely prepared and resolved to do what he could, and having neither arms nor armor, he took three rods from those which the cook used in the fire; and when the cook defended himself, Jakimowski hit him in the head so well that he immediately fell dead. And having given the other two [mutineers] rods, he leapt to the stern, where Turks normally keep numerous cannons; but a soldier, a Turkified Greek, barred his way with a raised saber. Marek, taking the rod from the fire began to struggle with him and, though he was already wounded on the left side of his head and shoulder, [Jakimowski] overcame the soldier and killed him. Entering then the stern of the galley he got weapons, of which there were many, and with great speed distributed them amongst the prisoners, his comrades, who already defended themselves and beat the enemy with whatever they could reach; rods, paddles, barrels, and cooking implements. Captain Marek made his way to the aft of the galley where [there was a certain] Mustafa, [a man] of Naples, who did not know what was happening, because the galley was covered. He only knew that there was some kind of activity amongst the prisoners, which was nothing new.

Seeing, however, that Marek was hurrying towards him with his comrade, he seized two sabers, wanting to defend himself; but the manly Marek, [already] bloody and wounded, struck Mustafa between the ribs, killed him, and dumped him into the sea. At that point the Turks gathered the ropes of the cover [stretching over the length of the vessel] in order to enshroud and entrap the prisoners; at Marek’s order, [the prisoners] rolled up the canvas covering, and already having weapons, fought gallantly with the Turks, killed one and cast the other into the sea. Next they severed the lines and anchors that held the galley near the shore and beat out to sea from the port, at which point thick gunfire erupted behind them from the defensive works of the city and from the port’s fortress, although without [incurring] any damage.

Captain Kassymbek ran to the shore and waded out up to his belt in the sea crying out and cursing, tearing as his beard until he calmed down and returned. But the victorious Christians beat out to the deep sea where they were chased by three other galleys. Beginning at eight o’clock in the evening that day up until the morning of the second day and a few hours after daylight, at which time there came, probably through the will of God, a great and awful storm with winds, rain and thunder until those [pursuing] galleys had to return to Metellina, failing to give [further] chase to the galley commandeered by the Christians."


Select Bibliography:


  1. Groza, Alexander. Marek Jakimowski, Duma Historyczna. (Wilno: Drukiem Józefa Zawadzkiego, 1858).
  2. Knoll, Paul W. 1974. “Poland as ‘Antemurale Christianitatis’ in the late middle ages,” The Catholic Historical Review 60, (1974): 381-401.
  3. Kolodziejczyk, Dariusz. 2006. "Slave hunting and slave redemption as a business enterprise: The northern Black Sea region in the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries". Oriente Moderno. 86 (1):
  4. Ślaski, Bolesław. 1927. Opanowanie w roku 1627 przez Marka Jakimowskiego okrętu tureckiego. Poznań: Czcionkami Drukarni Sw. Wojciecha
  5. Zielinski, Stanisław. Maly Slownik; Pionierow Polskich Kolonjalnych i Morskich; Podroznicy, Odkrywcy, Zdobywcy, Badacze, Eksploratorzy, Emigranci-Pamietnikarze, Dzialacze i Pisarze Migracyjni. Warszawa: Liga Morska i Kolonjalna, 1933.



Saturday, April 12, 2014

Sefer Muratowicz and the Armenian Connection: trans-imperial subjecthood and diplomacy between Poland, Persia, and the Ottoman Empire


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Armenian merchant and Ottoman subject Sefer Muratowicz emigrated to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 16th century. Soon after, he appeared before Safavid Shah ‘Abbas I as the personal envoy of King Sigismund III Vasa on a royal diplomatic mission unsanctioned by the Commonwealth’s parliament. Though the trajectory of Sefer Muratowicz’s life is not without precedence in the heterogeneous social milieu of Poland-Lithuania, his documented involvement in the private royal embassy of 1601-1602 to Safavid Persia presents an exceptional view into the critical role of the diasporic Armenian population in the diplomatic and economic relations between Europe’s largest republic and the Islamic world in the early modern period.

Throughout most of the 16th century, a period otherwise characterized by intense regional conflicts, the maintenance of peaceful relations was a critical element of both Polish-Lithuanian and Ottoman grand strategies. This situation began to change, however, after the subsequent election of Sigismund III Vasa (r. 1587-1632), as the pro-French, Ottoman-friendly faction within the greater body of Commonwealth citizenry was confronted by the staunchly Catholic king’s desire for rapprochement with the Ottomans’ most potent enemy— the Habsburgs. Sigismund III, acting in accordance with historical attempts of Christian rulers to ally themselves with distant Persia against more proximate Islamic polities, viewed the Safavids as a potential ally in any future wars with the Ottoman Empire. Significantly, Safavid Shah ‘Abbas I had embarked on a diplomatic scheme in 1599 by sending his envoys to contact eight separate Christian rulers, including the King of Poland-Lithuania, in hopes of establishing an anti-Ottoman alliance. The failure the Persian embassy to arrive in Warsaw due to the purported intervention of the Muscovite Tsar appears to have prompted Sigismund III to send Sefer Muratowicz to the Safavid court. Upon his return to Warsaw in 1602, the Armenian merchant-cum-envoy left an account of his journey.

The shifting balance of power in the Black Sea region at the turn of the 17th century offers fertile ground to expand the role of trans-imperial subjects within the unique political structures of the region. These individuals “straddled and brokered political, linguistic, and religious boundaries” (Rothman, 2009), serving as key interlocutors between the major regional powers of East/Central Europe and the Black Sea region; the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Holy Roman Empire/Hungary, Muscovy, the Ottoman Empire, and Safavid Persia. Although the populations of these polities were remarkably heterogeneous, they were dominated by Catholic, Orthodox, Sunni, and Shi’a religious systems respectively, and were further differentiated by disparate political structures drawing from diverse traditions of jurisprudence. Sefer Muratowicz, an Armenian merchant native to Anatolia who came to reside in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth royal city of Lwów, successfully navigated not only the vast geographical distances between Warsaw, Caffa, Istanbul, and Isfahan, but also the different sociopolitical spaces governed by these polities.

Muratowicz’s legal position within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was determined by his membership in the sizeable native Armenian community located in major centers of trade operating mainly along the Polish/Ottoman frontier. As a subject of both the Ottoman sultan and the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Muratowicz inhabited liminal social and legal zones offering opportunities for advancement through his collaboration with power brokers in return for his unique abilities and personal connection to the diffuse Armenian ecumene that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific in the early modern period. In the context of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth society at the turn of the 17th century, Sefer Muratowicz acted as an agent in the protracted struggle between royal and parliamentary power. By privately engaging a member of the Armenian community through Krzysztof Dzierżek, the royal translator and former resident of Istanbul, King Sigismund III Vasa effectively circumvented his parliament’s legal right to determine the Commonwealth’s foreign policy and re-opened dormant channels of communication with the Safavid Shah, ‘Abbas I.

Sefer Muratowicz came to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the north Anatolian Ottoman village of Karahisar. He first arrived in the city of Lwów in 1597 by way the Ottoman Black Sea trade port at Caffa and the via tartarica trade route stretching over the Pontic Steppe into the heart of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the late medieval and early modern periods the Armenian population of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was deeply involved in trade with the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khanate, and Persia. Early waves of Armenian immigrants had their roots in the Crimea and spoke a Kipchak Turkish language until the end of 17th century. Taking advantage of these strong linguistic, cultural, familial and economic links, the Polish kings began to regularly employ individuals like Sefer Muratowicz as court translators, information gatherers, and couriers to the Ottoman Empire, Safavid Persia, and the Crimean Khanate as early as 1414, when a certain Grzegorz the Armenian took part in the first Polish diplomatic mission to the Ottoman Sultan.

After his initial arrival in Crown Polish territory, Muratowicz worked with other local Armenians
Carpet purchased by Muratowicz,
bearing Polish coat of arms
intrade with the Ottoman Empire. As a legal subject of the Sultan, Muratowicz was able to petition the Ottoman envoys to advocate on his behalf at the royal court in Warsaw. In 1601 King Sigismund III sent Sefer Muratowicz to Safavid Persia as his personal merchant and royal envoy. Muratowicz’s destination was stipulated by his contract with the King; under the rule of Shah ‘Abbas I, the city of Kashan was a key entrepôt for the Persian silk trade throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, and served as an ideal location to commission and purchase the King’s items. Several rugs purchased by Muratowicz can still be found in the Residenz-Museum in Munich. It is evident, however, that there were ulterior political motives behind Muratowicz’s sojourn in Safavid lands; the desire to ensure open and regular contact with a potential ally against the Ottoman Empire was the main reason that the king sought to re-open friendly relations with Persia. Sefer Muratowicz’s status as a trans-imperial subject of both the Polish king and Ottoman sultan, as well as his skills as an experienced merchant, allowed him to operate effectively in the vast distances between Warsaw and Isfahan, and he proved to be an ideal agent to deliver the king’s subtle message of friendship to Shah ‘Abbas I.

By engaging the services of this agent, the king pursued his own political agenda vis-à-vis two of the Commonwealth’s main rivals, the Ottoman Empire and Muscovy, by entering into dialogue with the Safavids. The most critical event that this document is connected to is Shah ‘Abbas I’s attempt in 1599-1600 to send an official embassy to “the princes, potentates and republics of Europe” in hopes of establishing an anti-Ottoman alliance. To this end, letters and gifts were prepared for the leaders of eight Christian states, including the King of Poland-Lithuania. The mission was led by the Persian ambassador Husayn ‘Ali Beg Bayat and the English soldier of fortune Anthony Sherley, who had recently appeared in the Shah’s court along with his brother Robert. The Safavid embassy of 1599 and was immediately beset with difficulties. Traveling north to Astrakhan and on to Moscow, the delegates were forcibly detained by Tsar Boris Godunov for a period of five or six months. When the Tsar released them, they traveled north to the port of Archangelsk, rather than directly overland through the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and took ship. The mission eventually made land in Stettin after two months of difficult Arctic Sea travel.

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In the end, the only rulers to officially receive the Persian embassy were Emperor Rudolf II, Pope Clement VIII, and King Phillip III of Spain. Apropos to the story of Sefer Muratowicz’s 1601 mission is the question of why the Persian embassy never made it to the court of Sigismund III. Once in the presence of ‘Abbas I, Muratowicz explained that Tsar Boris Godunov intentionally held the Safavid embassy captive and made Anthony Sherley promise that he would not visit the court of King Sigismund III before releasing the envoys and sending them on to Archangelsk. Sherley’s captivity in Muscovy is well attested to in numerous sources written by members of his party, though none mention the Tsar’s demand that the mission avoid the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As the Shah’s embassy continued on its long, difficult journey through Europe, Sefer Muratowicz arrived in the Persian court. There ‘Abbas I learned from Muratowicz that his letters and gifts to King Sigismund III had never arrived. The Shah then questioned Robert Sherley, who knew of his brother Anthony’s confinement in Moscow. Robert Sherley stated that the Tsar let Anthony go only after receiving his promise to bypass the Polish-Lithuanian court.

The case of Sefer Muratowicz shows how widespread familial and personal contacts amongst the greater Armenian diaspora, and the knowledge of several key languages, allowed trans-imperial subjects to operate successfully in different sociopolitical milieus. We learn that the Safavid Vizier Tachmas, who initially presented Muratowicz to the Shah, was an Armenian and a Christian by birth who had never before met Sefer, but had “…heard all good things about him from his brothers, who were good friends.” It is unlikely that Muratowicz would have been chosen to lead the royal trade mission and royal embassy to Persia without a connection to notable individuals with that territory. It is therefore possible that the Vizier Tachmas was indeed a familial acquaintance of Muratowicz, whose position allowed the visiting Armenian access to the Shah’s court. The history behind this relationship can only be speculated upon, though Muratowicz’s knowledge of Turkish and Persian, both of which were in use in the court of ‘Abbas I, speaks to the young merchant’s personal connection to both Ottoman and Safavid lands. His linguistic capabilities made a positive impression on the Shah; in the Relacyja, ‘Abbas I is recorded as saying “I am not as content with any of [the Christian envoys] as I am with this one, with whom I am able to speak my own language, because through translation speech has no taste.”

The most peculiar portion of the Muratowicz’s account deals with the Shah’s relationship to Christianity. The author writes boldly of ‘Abbas I’s feelings towards the Christian faith, claiming that the Shah had been secretly baptized and desired the conversion of his entire nation. The naiveté of this notion is deep, though it reflects a larger notion present in Christendom’s vision of a Muslim ruler whose tolerance towards his Christian subjects was widely renowned. Pope Clement VIII, acting upon similar reports bearing witness to ‘Abbas I’s purported inclinations towards conversion, sent a brief to the Shah, as well as his mother, relating his joy at this news on February 24th, 1601. Additionally, a small detail contained within this passage appears in other contemporary sources; Muratowicz’ description of an ornamental crucifix worn by ‘Abbas I appears in several non-related accounts left by French and Italian observer in the Persian court. The religiosity of ‘Abbas I is further attested to in Muratowicz’s account of the leader’s departure on his famous 1601/1010 pilgrimage to Shi’a holy site in Mashhad

The immediate effects of Sefer Muratowicz’s unofficial mission to the Shah are evident in the revival of diplomatic activity between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Safavid Empire. In 1605, the Shah’s envoy, Mehdi Kuli ben Turkman, arrived in the Polish court in Warsaw with news of the Shah’s victories over the Sultan. It was hoped that this would entice the King into joining ‘Abbas I in an anti-Ottoman coalition. The parliament still desired peace with the Ottoman Empire, however, and the king became occupied with the Zebrzydowski rokosz (legal rebellion) in 1607. In 1609, another Safavid embassy arrived in Kraków, this time led by Robert Sherley, the brother of Anthony Sherley. He delivered two letters from the Shah proposing an anti-Ottoman coalition involving Spain, England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Muscovy. The plan proposed by the Shah suggested that the combined Christian forces rendezvous with the Persian army in Aleppo. Sigismund III had recently renewed peace with the Ottomans through the envoy Grzegorz Kochanowski, however, and could only offer his personal friendship to the Shah.

Bibliography:
  1. Aslanian, Sebouh David. 2011. From the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean: the global trade networks of Armenian merchants from New Julfa [Berkeley: University of California Press].
  2. Nadel-Golobič, Eleonora. 1979. "Armenians and Jews in Medieval Lvov: Their Role in Oriental Trade, 1400-1600." Persee.
  3. Niesiołowski, Kazimierz. 1743. Otia Publica Vix Domestica, [Vanities, Public and Domestic]. (Warsaw)
  4. Połcyzński, Michael. 2014. “The Relacja of Sefer Muratowicz: 1601-1602 private royal envoy of Sigismund III to Shah ‘Abbas I”. The Turkish Historical Review, 5. [Leiden: Brill]
  5. Rothman, Natalie. 2009. “Self-Fashioning in the Mediterranean Contact Zone: Giovanni Battista Salvago and his Africa Overo Barbaria (1625)” in, Renaissance Medievalisms, Eisenbichler, Konrad (ed.) [Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies]
  6. Szuppe, Maria. 1986. “Un marchand du roi de Pologne en Perse, 1601-1602”, Moyen Orient et Océan Indien 3.    
Posted by:
 Michael Połczyński, doctoral candidate at Georgetown University. For more on author see: academia.edu