Muṣṭafa Çelebi, the Scribe of the Imperial DIV an and the Dubrovnik Registers of the Imperial Archives

Abstract

The author writes about the “Book” of Muṣṭafā Çelebi of 1649, i. e., the letter which Muṣṭafā Çelebi, the scribe of the Imperial Divan, sent to the Dubrovnik Republic to express his gratitude for the presents he had received. The letter is kept today in the Dubrovnik State Archives, together with the translation of the Dubrovnik dragoman. In this connection the author points out that Dubrovnik dragomans knew the Ottoman Turkish language excellently and that their translations into Serbo-Croatian are of lasting value.

Much information about this Muṣṭafā-Çelebi can be found in the reports of the Dubrovnik envoys who carried the tax to Ottoman sultans. He kept registers which referred to the Dubrovnik Republic, the so-called Dubrovnik defters. Ln them he recorded, in extensor or in an abbreviated form, 'ahdnames, orders, and berats which Ottoman rulers issued to the citizens of the Dubrovnik Republic at their request. The Dubrovnik people familiarly called Muṣṭafā Çelebi as Mustaj Celebī, our scribe, nostro scrivano.

The author then describes in detail the Dubrovnik defters which are kept today at the Archives of the Presidency of the Government m Istanbul, together with the Venetian defters, and concludes that many of these defters, which had been kept in the Imperial Office since 1604, are now lost.

All the documents recorded in the Dubrovnik and Venetian defters preserved until today can be found either in the original or in authentic copies at the Dubrovnik State Archives or at the Venice State Archives. The only exception to this are berats, because they were in private possession of individuals after their issue. 'Ahdnames, orders, and berats which were recorded in these defters have a great significance as sources for the legal and diplomatic history of the Ottoman Empire as well as the Dubrovnik Republic and the Venetian Republic.