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‘And our Muhammad goes with the Archangel Gabriel to Choir’: Sixteenth-Century German Accounts of Life under the Turks*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
Extract
In the German lands of the sixteenth century, the threat of Turkish invasion coloured perceptions of religious diversity. As the Turkish threat became more real to Western Europeans, the experiences of Christians under the Turks, and the responses of the Turks - who were of course Muslims - to encounters with the Christian faith became topics of considerable concern. In 1539, a pamphlet purporting to offer a German translation of a letter from Constantinople was printed in Augsburg, Magdeburg and possibly Nuremberg.
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- Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 2015
Footnotes
*
Research for this paper was made possible by my status as Guest Researcher at the Herzog August Bibliothek,Wolfenbiittel. I am very grateful to Alexandra Walsham for her comments on an earlier draft. Particular thanks are due to David Thomas who elucidated references to the Qur'an and offered insights from his deep knowledge of the history of Christian-Muslim relations. Unless otherwise stated, translations are my own
References
1 Abschrifft eines brieffs von Constantinopel | auss welichem man zuouememen hat welchergestalt der Groß Türck |; seine Priester und Dotores hat lassen umbbringen | auß ursa-chen | das sie bestendiger weyß bekannt | und mit ursachen bekrefftiget haben | Das christlich Cesetz und Glaube uxnhafftig | Das Machometisch aber falsch sey | Und was für grosse zeychen erschynen sein in den selbigen Stellen des beuebten Todtschlags | Im Jar do ma! zalt MDXXXIX. Carl Göllner identifies the German version as a translation of an Italian work of the same year, probably printed in Venice: Copia di una lettera da Constantino-poli, per la quale s’ha adviso delta grande occisione die ha fatto il grand signor di Turchi delli suoi Sacerdoti & Dottori …: Carl Göllner, Turrica: Die europäischen Türkendnicke des 16. Jahrluinderts, 1: 1501-1550 (Bucharest and Berlin, 1961), 310-13 (nos 648, 649 [German], 653, 654 [Italian]).
2 Abschrifft eines brieffs, fol. Aiiv.
3 Ibid., fol. Aiiir. David Thomas observes that this sequence of letters could be a garbled recollection of some of the so-called ‘mystical letters’ that preface a number of chapters of the Qur’an. In his ‘Letter to a Muslim Friend’, the twelfth-century Melkite bishop Paul of Antioch refers to the letters before chapters 2 and 3, ALM, as referring to AL-MASIH, ‘the Messiah’. Paul of Antioch’s letter was edited in the fourteenth century by a Christian in Cyprus, who — surprisingly for his time — ‘ingeniously suggests a communion of spirit between the two faiths in their ascendancy over the Jews, and also finds a place for the Prophet and the Quran within a divine economy centered on Christianity’, whilst still concluding ‘the ascendancy of Christianity over Islam’: David Thomas,’Idealism and Intransigence: A Christian-Muslim Encounter in Early Mamluk Times’, Mamluk Studies Review 13 (2009), 85—103, esp. 86 (quotations at 89, 91), online at: <http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/MSR_XIII-2_2009-Thomas_pp85-iO3.pdf>, last accessed 8 August 2014; cf. idem, ‘Paul of Antioch’s Letter to a Muslim Friend and the Letter to Cyprus’, in idem, ed., Syrian Christians under Islam: Tlie First Thousand Years (Leiden, 2001), 203-21, esp. 209. Moreover, Thomas points out that the interpretation placed in the mouth of the youngest Turkish ‘priest’ recalls Q 4: 171, which Christians routinely cited as offering support for the divinity of Jesus, and sometimes for the Trinity: see, for example, Samir, Samir K., ‘The Prophet Muhammad as seen by Timothy I and some other Christian Authors’, in Thomas, , ed., Syrian Christians under Islam, 75—106, at 85—6.Google Scholar
4 Abschrifft eines brieffs, fol. Aiiir.
5 Ibid., fol. [Aiv]v.
6 Ibid., fols [Aiv]v—Br. Thomas notes that that the reference to Christ’s being in the seventh heaven ‘looks like a reminiscence of Q 4: 157—8, in which God saves Jesus from being crucified by causing him to ascend into heaven’. The reference to Muḥammad being buried in Mecca (his tomb is in fact in Medina) is a common mistake in medieval and early modern Christian polemics: David Thomas to Charlotte Methuen, private correspondence, 27 July 2013.
7 Abschriffi eines brieffs, fols Br-[Bii]r.
8 Göllner, Turcica, 1: 310.
9 Göllner, Turcica, 3: Die Turkenfmge in der öffentlichen Meinung Europas im 16. Jahrhundert (Bucharest and Berlin, 1978), 16–17, 21-6.Google Scholar
10 Ibid. 18—19. Adam S. Francisco, Martin Luther and Islam:A Study in Sixteenth-Century Polemics and Apologetics (Leiden, 2007), 53—65, offers a useful survey of the literature.
11 Francisco, Luther and Islam, 64.
12 See, for instance, Pippidi, Andrei, Visions of the Ottoman World in Renaissance Europe (London, 2012), 69—76 Google Scholar; cf. Göllner, Turcica, 3: 173—98.
13 Martin Luther,‘Explanations of the Ninety-Five Theses’ (1518), WA 1, 529-628, at 535; LW 31, 77-252, at 91-2. In ‘On War against the Turk’ (1529), Luther comments that since the situation had now changed, this no longer held: WA 30/2, 107-48, at 108; LW 46, 155—205, at 162.
14 Luther,‘On War against the Turk’. He reinforced his position in a sermon against the Turks of the same year: WA 30/2, 149—65; cf. Pippidi, Visions of the Ottoman World, 81. The complexities of Luther’s attitudes towards the Turks and Islam are explored by Francisco, Luther and Islam; Johannes Ehmann, Luther, Türken und Islam: eine Unter-suchung zum Türken- und Islambild Martin Lathers (1515—1546) (Giitersloh, 2008); Ian Almond, ‘Deconstructing Luther’s Islam: The Turk as Curse or Cure?’, in Nielsen, Jørgen S. et al., eds, Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, 3 (Leiden, 2011), 619—54.Google Scholar
15 Luther,‘Appeal for Prayer against the Turks’ (1541), WA 51, 585—625, at 620; LW 43, 213—41, at 238.
16 Justus Jonas, Das siebend Capitel Danielis, von des Türcken Gottes lestenmg und schrecklicher Morderey (Wittenberg, 1530), quotation at fol. Eiir. Norman Daniel, Islam and the West: The Making of an Image (Oxford, 1997), 67—99, documents the medieval background to such attacks on Islam in general, and the Qur’ān in particular, as pseudo-prophecy.
17 Johannes Brenz, Wie sich Prediger vnd Leyen halten sollen so der Turck das deutsche land vberfalle[n] wuerde Christliche vnd notturfftige vnterricht (Wittemberg, 1531), quotation at fol. Aiiiv.
18 Two examples amongst many are Warhafftige Newe zeytung von der Stat Wien[n], wie sie von der erschröckenlichen … Macht des Thürcken … belegert [et]c im M.D.xxviij. Jar.Jtem. Ein Sentbrieff so Emerich Wascha … Auch ein schdner Spruch wiegraussamlich der wtietrich mil den ellenden Christen … umbgangen ist (Regensburg, 1529); Turcken belegerung der Statt Wien. Auch wie ein Tuerkischer Hen ynn eynen guelden stuckgefangen \ was der gefragt und darauff geantwort hab (n.pl., 1529).
19 Göllner, Tunica, 3: 29; Pippidi, Visions of the Ottoman World, 80-90.
20 Meserve, Margaret, Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought (Cambridge, MA, 2008), 242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21 Jonas, Das siebend Capital Daiiielis, fol. Eiiv. Daniel notes that an ‘appreciation of practical virtue among Muslims’ was quite widespread even in the medieval period, and that’there was in the West some knowledge that Islam was a system of positive requirements, and not only a series of relaxations’: Islam and the West, 228. However, this emphasis on moral virtue was regarded critically by Protestants, who were suspicious of anything that suggested justification by works. Jonas remarked that the Qur’an ’setzet etliche viel gebot von eusserlichen wercken und Gottes diensten’: Das siebend Capitel Danielis, fol. Eiir.
22 See, for instance, Warhaffte bescltreibung | wie der Sophi auß Persia den Türcken erlegt | die Statt Babilonia eingenõmen | auch was Clauben \ Sitten \ und Kriegsrüstung er im branch habe. Item wie der Türck | nach dem der Barbarossa auß Aphrica vertriben | all sein maclit wider die Christen zusetzen willens ist \ Auch auß was ursach er seitt fürnämsten Hauptman Abraim Bassa erstochen hatt ([Augsburg]?, 1536).
23 Pippidi, Visions of the Ottoman World, 80—1.
24 Türcken puechlein. Ein Nutzlich Gesprech oder vnderrede etlicherpersonen zu besserung Cristlicher ordenung vnfdj lebens gedichtel. Jn die schwercn ieiiff dieser vnser zeyt dienstlich ([Basel]?. 1522). Göllner lists three editions, all printed in 1522: Turcica, 1: 102-5 (nos 172-4).
25 Auszug eines Briefes wie einer so in der Türckey wonhafft seinem Freund in disc land geschrieben und angezeygt was das Türckich regiment und wesen sey un wie er es mil den landen so er erobert zuhaltenn pfligt: kürtzlich in Teutsch sprach gepracht, nutzlich diser zeyt zu wissen ([Würzburg]?, 1526). Göllner lists four editions printed in 1526 with a further two printed in 1543 and 1547: Turcica, 1: 136-8, 381, 409 (nos 246-9, 813, 874).
26 Benedict Curipeschitz, Ein Disputation oder Gesprech zwayer Stalbůben, So mit Künigklicher Maya. Botschafft bey dent Türckischen Keyser zů Constantinopel gewesen ([Augsburg, 1531]?). A facsimile edition with transcript of the text, introduction and commentary by Gerhard Neweklowsky (Klagenfurt, 1998) has also been consulted. References are to the folios of the sixteenth-century edition, followed by the page numbers of the facsimile/transcript in brackets.
27 Türcken puechlein, fol. A3r-V. For the sake of clarity, I have translated ‘Maiestat’ and ‘Keyser’ as ‘sultan’ when it is referring to the Turkish leader, and ‘emperor’ when it refers to the German.
28 Ibid., fol. A3v.
29 This pamphlet thus introduces its readers first to the twist in the tale, in a manner reminiscent of much Renaissance drama. Its rhetorical structure has proved too complex for some commentators: thus in the LW introduction to Luther’s treatise ‘On War against the Turk’, Robert C. Schultz holds it to argue that ‘if Europeans did not resist, they would find that the Turks were gentle masters’: LW 46, 157. Schultz seems here to have misread the WA introduction to ‘On War against the Turk’: WA 30/2, 85-6.
30 Türcken puechlein, fol. Br.
31 Ibid., fol. Biir.
32 Ibid., fol. [Biv]r.
33 Ibid., fol. [Biv]v.
34 Ibid., fols [Biv]v-Cr.
35 Ibid., fols Cv-Diiiv.
36 Ibid., fols Diiiv-[Div]r.
37 Ibid., fol. Gv.
38 Ibid., fols Giir-v.
39 Fraser, Angus, Tlie Gypsies (Oxford, 1992), 173 Google Scholar; cf. also Crowe, David M., A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia, 2nd edn (Basingstoke, 2007), 2–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
40 Crowe, , History, xvii, 71 Google Scholar; cf. Fraser, Gypsies, 85-6. There has been little historical research on the Gypsies; what exists often ‘views Gypsies and other itinerant groups as criminal, marginal and poor’: Lucassen, Luc,Willems, Wim and Cottaar, Annemarie, Gypsies and other Itinerant Groups: A Socio-Historical Approach (London, 1998), 1—2, quotation at 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
41 Auszw; eines Briefes, fol. Aiir.
42 Ibid.
43 Ibid., fol. Aiiv.
44 Ibid., fob Aiiv-Aiii.
45 Ibid., fols Bv-Biir.
46 Fraser, Gypsies, 85—6; 90—1, citing sanctions issued by the Holy Roman Empire in 1497, 1498 and 1500, and local ordinances promulgated in the empire, the Swiss Confederation and Geneva in the early sixteenth century; cf. Kenrick, Donald, Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Romanies), 2nd edn (Lanham, MD, 2007), xxi, xxxviii— xxxix, 96, 271 Google Scholar; also Crowe, History, who documents anti-Gypsy legislation in Moravia in 1538 (34) and the ‘institution of Gypsy slavery’ in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Romania (109—10). In Royal or Imperial Hungary, although Gypsies became increasingly isolated, there was some appreciation of Gypsy talents as smiths, as musicians and as soldiers (71).
47 Crowe notes that in Bulgaria, ‘the Turks divided the Gypsies into nomadic Moslems and settled Christians’: History, 2.
48 This is historically plausible. NewekJowsky notes that Curipeschitz was matriculated in Vienna in 1508 and in 1525 appears as a public lawyer in Ljubljana: Gerhard Neweklowsky, ‘Einführung’, in Curipeschitz, Ein Disputation, 13—14. He also gives details of the embassy, including other participants and its route: ibid. 14—18.
49 Curipeschitz, Ein Disputation, fols [A]v-Aiir ([2]-[4])
50 Ibid., fols Aiiv-Aiiiv, Biiiv ([5]-[7], [14]).
51 Ibid., fol. [Aiv]vv ([8]).
52 Ibid, fols Cv-Ciir ([18]-[19]).
53 Ibid. fol. Ciir ([19]).
54 Ibid., fols [Aiiii]v-Br ([8]-[9]).
55 Ibid., fol. Cr ([17]). The boys list the kings of Constantinople and Bulgaria (Wulgaria), the Despot (’König Dispoten’) of Serbia, Duke Pavolvić of East Bosnia, and the kings of Bosnia (Wossen) and Croatia (Krabathen) as having been defeated; now Hungary is threatened: ibid., fol. O ([18]). For the identification of the rulers, see Neweklowsky,’Einführung’, 39.
56 Curipeschitz, Ein Disputation, fol. Dr ([25]).
57 Ibid., fol. Dv ([26]).
58 Ibid., fols Dv-Diir ([26]-[27]).
59 Ibid., fols Ciir-v ([19]-[2O]).
60 Ibid., fol. Ciir ([20]).
61 Ibid., fols Ciiv-Ciiir ([20]-[21]).