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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2020

The Queen and the Sultana: an example of early modern female diplomacy between England and the Ottoman Empire

Résumé

In 1593, following the suggestion of her ambassador Edward Barton at the Porte, Queen Elizabeth I sent Safiye (c. 1550-1605), favorite concubine of Sultan Murad III and mother of his heir Mehmed III, a miniature portrait of herself. This first gift started a correspondence between the English Queen and the Ottoman Sultana which spanned over six years and included several expensive gifts being sent between London and Constantinople. This correspondence is unique in the field of diplomatic studies because it took place at a very specific time, when England was ruled by a Queen, which allowed her letters and gifts to be carried to the Ottoman harem, something which would have been forbidden for a male ruler. By fostering a good relationship with the Sultana, English diplomats in Constantinople were able to pass on their petitions to the Sultan through a peripheral means of communication, outside of the official channels of Ottoman advisors and out of reach of their European competitors at the Porte. A close study of Elizabeth and Safiye’s correspondence will help shed light on the role of female friendship in foreign diplomacy, a subject that is only recently coming under attention in gender studies of the early modern period.

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Dates et versions

hal-03927539 , version 1 (06-01-2023)

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  • HAL Id : hal-03927539 , version 1

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Mathilde Alazraki. The Queen and the Sultana: an example of early modern female diplomacy between England and the Ottoman Empire. The Female Experience in Early Modern England, University of Auckland, Nov 2020, Auckland (Nouvelle Zelande), New Zealand. ⟨hal-03927539⟩
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