Niccolò Manucci
Niccolò Manucci (born April 19, 1638 , † probably 1717 near Pondichéry , South India) was a Venetian adventurer, traveler and author. Manucci stayed in the mid to late 17th century around the Mughal emperors in India and worked in various functions for Dara Shikoh , Shah Jahan , Raja Jai Singh II and Kirat Singh. In the memoirs about his adventurous life, he paints a colorful picture of the Mughal empire.
Life
Niccolò Manucci was born into a Venetian family, the first of five children, who made a modest living from the preparation of spices and drugs from the Orient . Manucci's knowledge of the effects of drugs, which later earned him the reputation of a knowledgeable doctor, probably has its roots here.
At the age of fourteen he went to live with an uncle in Corfu , and sneaked into a ship sailing under the English flag for Smirna . Discovered as a stowaway, he was to be thrown into the sea, which was prevented by the intervention of Henry Bard , Viscount of Bellomont. Bellomont, later Charles II's ambassador to Persia and India, kept Manuzzi in his retinue. With Bellomont he crossed Anatolia, came to the Caspian Sea and in 1655 reached Isfahan in Persia. In 1656 he traveled with Bellomont in his function as the English ambassador to Surat in India, then to Agra in the Mughal Empire and on to Delhi , where Bellomont died surprisingly on June 20 and Manucci lost his patron and patron.
At the court of the Grand Mughal
Manucci, who now spoke Turkish and Persian, was able to contact Dara Shikoh, the eldest son and favorite to succeed Shah Jahan , who hired him as an artilleryman. After the death of the Grand Mogul there was bloody fighting over the succession between his sons, in which the third son of the emperor, Aurangzeb , who had Dara Shikoh and his son executed. Manucci was able to escape, albeit almost penniless.
Travel through India
He joined a caravan to Kashmir , came to Agra , where he met old friends from Europe, and decided to travel on to Bengal , which was developing into a thriving commercial center. In Agra he met the German Jesuit priest and Indologist Henrique Roa . He reached Patna via Allahabad and Benares and moved on to Dacca , the center of Bengal at that time. In Dacca he met the English boat and cannon builder Thomas Pratt . He traveled on to Hugli , where he was accepted by the Jesuits. Because of his knowledge of the language and his good contacts with high representatives of the Mughal government, who were very useful for the order, the Jesuits tried very hard for him and tried in vain to persuade him to stay.
Activity as a doctor
Since his stay in Dacca had apparently not met his expectations of economic success, he returned to Patna for several stops. Around this time Manucci, who never studied medicine, started practicing as a doctor. In Patna he and a Dutch surgeon were able to operate the governor of the city successfully on a fistula, which cemented his reputation as a skilled doctor.
In 1686 he married Helizabet Hartley, the daughter of an English administrator. He continued to work as a doctor and wrote on his memories. In 1706, after the death of his wife, he moved to Pondichéry on the Bay of Bengal, which was then under French rule. According to Venetian sources, he died in Monte Grande near Madras in 1717 .
The memoir
A three-volume manuscript of his memoirs in Portuguese reached Paris in 1700, was extensively edited by the Jesuit François Catrou and went in 1705 under the title Histoire générale de l'empire du Mogol depuis sa fondation, sur les mémoires portugais de M. Manouchi, venitien in the pressure.
However, Manucci was not satisfied with the cuts and adaptations Catrous, revised and expanded his manuscript, which now comprised five volumes and contained passages in Portuguese, French and Italian. He sent it to the Venetian Senate through the French ambassador of Venice in Paris, Lorenzo Tiepolo, and accused Catrou of plagiarism . The Senate arranged for the University of Padua to examine the manuscript and to translate the Portuguese parts into Italian. However, the intervention of the Jesuit order prevented this revision from being printed and did not materialize until 1751. A copy of this edition came in 1897 to the Royal Library in Berlin, where it was discovered by William Irvine (1840-1911), a Scottish historian and former member of the Indian Civil Service , translated into English and published between 1907 and 1908 under the title Storia do Mogor or, Mogul India .
As a historical source for the Mughal Empire, the memoirs are rated differently by historians. Hearsay stories, picaresque elements and personal observations cannot always be separated exactly. Bellomont's stay in Persia and his relations with the Grand Vizier of the Shah, which Manuzzi describes in his book, are confirmed by files kept in the British Library in London.
- expenditure
- Histoire générale de l'empire du Mogol depuis sa fondation, sur les mémoires portugais de M. Manouchi, venitien . [Paris, Jean de Nully, 1705]. First printed edition, but heavily edited by Catrou.
- History of the Mogul Dynasty in India: from its foundation by Tamerlane, in the year 1399, to the accession of Aurengzebe, in the year 1658. By Niccolò Manucci and François Catrou . Nabu-Press. ISBN 1-176-68840-5
- Istoria generale del Imperio del Mogul is the Italian version published by Domenico Occhi in Venice in 1751.
- Storia do Mogor, or Mogul India, 1653-1708, by Niccolao Manucci, Venetian. Translated and with Introduction and Notes by William Irvine, Bengal Civil Service (Retired), Member of the Royal Asiatic Society . 4 vols. London: Murry 1907-08 (Indian Text Series). - Complete text edition with annotations, bibliography and indexes with black and white images from the picture collection in the Bibliothèque Nationale Paris (BNP); the edition was often reprinted, partly abridged or in excerpts.
- A partial edition in Italian was published under the title Storia del Mogol di Nicolò Manuzzi veneziano by Piero Falchetta in Milan at FM Ricci in 1986.
- An abridged version in French translation by Robert Sctrick appeared in 2002 under the title Niccolo Manucci. Un Vénitien chez les Moghols in Paris at Phébus.
- Storia del Mogol di Niccolo Manuzzi veneziano . Introduzione: Miniature indiane con scene, in prevalenza, di corte (XVII sec.) Ed. By Piero Falchetta and a contribution by M. Bussagli. 2 vols. Milan, Rizzoli, 1986. ISBN 8821600351 . - This luxury edition contains around 160 color photos from the copy of the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris.
literature
- Sanjay Subrahmanyam: Further thoughts on an enigma . The tortuous life of Nicolò Manucci, 1638 – c. 1720. In: Indian Economic Social History Review. Vol. 45. No. 1. 2008. S 3 5-76.
- Rahim Raza: Manucci, Nicolo . In: Treccani. Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Vol. 69.2007. [2]
Individual evidence
- ↑ AZ / Manuscripta Phillippsiana Nr.1945 at the State Library Berlin ; Manucci, Niccolao in: Banglapedia. [1]
- ↑ Rudie: Mathee: The Career of Mohammad Beg, Grand Vizier of Shah Abas II. In: Iranien Studies. Vol. 14. Nos. 1-4. 1991. pp. 17-36.
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), therein: Dennis J. Kavanagh: François Catrou
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Manucci, Niccolò |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Venetian adventurer, traveler and author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 19, 1638 |
| DATE OF DEATH | around 1717 |
| Place of death | near Pondichéry , South India |