Yirmisekiz Mehmed Çelebi
Yirmisekiz Mehmed Çelebi (also Yirmisekiz Çelebi Mehmed Efendi , * around 1670 in Edirne , † 1732 in Famagusta ) was an Ottoman statesman, who in 1720 was led by Sultan Ahmed III. as ambassador to France under Louis XV. was determined. He became known about his embassy through his book Sefaretname (German: legation writing ).
Yirmisekiz Mehmed Çelebi was born in Edirne. He was the son of the Janissary officer Süleyman Ağa, who died during a campaign against Pécs . Mehmed Çelebi also joined the Janissary Corps and served there in the 28th Company. This earned him the nickname Yirmisekiz (Eng .: twenty-eight ), which he kept until his death. His descendants, including his son Mehmed Said , who became Grand Vizier, also bore this name in the form Yirmisekizzade (German: son of twenty-eight ).
He rose in the military hierarchy and then made a career in the empire's financial system. First he was a supervisory officer of the Ottoman Mint ( Defterdar ), then chief imperial bookkeeper during the reign of Ahmed III. In 1720 he was sent by the Sultan to Paris as ambassador. His embassy for eleven months was the first permanent foreign representation of the Ottoman Empire. After his return to Istanbul he presented his contacts, experiences and observations to the Sultan in the form of a book.
His Sefaret name is the best known and most important of all the works of other Ottoman ambassadors about their missions, as it offers a good insight into the time and events of that time. In it he describes his trip to France, the 40-day quarantine in Toulon because of the fear of the plague , the trip via Bordeaux to Paris , his reception by Louis XV, the ceremonies and social events in which he took part, including one night What should be emphasized in the theater are the sights in Paris, the curiosity with which he explored Western culture, and the curiosity he aroused in his Western interlocutors. For example, his fast during Ramadan sparked a gathering of curious Parisian women.
Aside from influencing the trend towards westernization in the Ottoman Empire, his embassy also had a direct impact on the Empire. It becomes clear when İbrahim Müteferrika , a converted Hungarian who published books in Turkish, founded the first printing company in the same year . The printing house was under the care and management of his son Yirmisekizzade Mehmed Said Pascha. Istanbul's famous Sadabad Gardens were a symbol of the tulip era and were heavily influenced by the gardening techniques from the Palais des Tuileries , which were extensively described by the ambassador. His book was translated into French in 1757 and then into other Western languages.
After another brief mission to Egypt , Yirmisekiz Mehmed Çelebi, deeply involved in the tulip era, was exiled to Cyprus after the Patrona-Halil uprising of Ahmed III's reign. had put an end to it. He died in Famagusta in 1732 and was buried there in the cemetery of the Buğday Mosque.
His son Yirmisekizzade Mehmed Said Pascha quickly gained royal favor and was sent to Paris for an embassy in 1742, and to Sweden and Poland for a more historically important one. He wrote another Sefaret name.
literature
- Zeki Arıkan: Yirmisekiz Çelebi Mehmed Efendi , in: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi , Vol. 43 (2013), pp. 551-552 ( online, PDF, 221 KB ) (Turkish).
- Fatma Mücke Göçek: East Encounters West. France and the Ottoman Empire in the Eighteenth Century. Oxford University Press, Oxford u. a. 1987, ISBN 978-0195048261 (English).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Yirmisekiz Mehmed Çelebi |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mehmed Çelebi; Yirmisekiz Çelebi; Yirmisekiz Mehmed Çelebi; Yirmisekiz Çelebi Mehmed Efendi |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Ottoman diplomat and statesman |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1670 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Edirne |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1732 |
| Place of death | Famagusta |