SULTAN MAHMUD II (1785-1839)

Dardanelles, 1820. MS 051

According to a letter from the British Museum that accompanied the original acquisition, this is a firman, a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state, granted to the French Ambassador at Constantinople in favor of a French merchant named Captain Kazabora, giving him free access to Turkish waters. The sultan who decreed the firman was Mahmud II (1785-1839, r. 1808-1839) who was known for his Western-inspired reforms to consolidate his empire. He faced multiple military defeats that consequently reduced the size of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century. The back of this edict features his watermark and seal.

Bibliography

Esposito, John L. “Mahmud II” in The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-1388

Sultan Mahmud II. A Turkish Firman (A Special Edict of the Sultan), Dardanelles, 1820. University of Oregon Special Collections & University Archives, MS 051. https://alliance-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/3uoa1r/CP71269187520001451