Persian embassy to Europe (1599–1602)
Encyclopedia
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
Abbas I
Abbas I of Persia
Shāh ‘Abbās the Great was Shah of Iran, and generally considered the greatest ruler of the Safavid dynasty. He was the third son of Shah Mohammad....
in 1599 to obtain an alliance against the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. The Persians had then been at war with the Ottoman Empire for more than a century, and so decided to try to obtain European help against the Ottomans. Besides the territorial antagonism of the Ottoman and Persian realms, there was also strong religious antagonism, as the Persians proclaimed Shiism against the Ottoman Empire's Sunnism. The objective of the mission was clearly to establish a Christian–Persian alliance against the Turks. These Persian efforts at rapprochement with Europe followed the Persian defeat against the Ottoman Empire in the Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590)
Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590)
The Ottoman–Safavid War was a war between Safavid Persia under Mohammed Khodabanda and later Abbas I, and the Ottoman Empire under Murad III. It began in 1577-1578 and ended in 1590....
.
Plan
The embassy was composed of one ambassador, Husain Ali Beg, and four secretaries (First Secretary Uruch Beg, son of Sultan Ali BegAli Beg
Ali Beg or Ali Bey Evrenos-ogly was Ottoman military commander in 15th century. He was one of the sons of Evrenos, an Ottoman general....
; the nephew of the ambassador 'Ali Quli Beg; and two others) and led by the English adventurer Sir Anthony Sherley. Sherley had sailed in from Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in May 1599 with 25 other Englishmen, and had found favour with King Abbas I. Various contacts had already taken place between the Persians and Europe, as with the embassy of Anthony Jenkinson
Anthony Jenkinson
Anthony Jenkinson was born at Market Harborough, Leicestershire. He was one of the first Britons to explore Muscovy and present day Russia. Jenkinson was a traveller and explorer on behalf of the Muscovy Company and the English crown. He also met Ivan the Terrible several times during his trips...
from Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
in 1562.
The plan was to visit eight European courts, with one additional Special Envoy who would stay as the Persian ambassador at the court of Russian Emperor Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov
Boris Fyodorovich Godunov was de facto regent of Russia from c. 1585 to 1598 and then the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. The end of his reign saw Russia descend into the Time of Troubles.-Early years:...
. The embassy effectively met with three German potentates, and the Italian and Spanish courts, but initial plans to meet with the courts of France, England, Scotland and Poland were abandoned on the way.
Itinerary
The embassy left in July 1599 for AstrakhanAstrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
. They reached Moscow in November 1599. After a long voyage, they reached Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
in the autumn of 1600, where they met with emperor Rudolf II and were sumptuously received over the winter. In Spring 1601 they set for Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, where they met with William II, the former Duke of Bavaria. They then went to Italy, where they were received by Vincenzo Gonzaga in Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
. The embassy failed to meet the Doge
Doge
Doge is a dialectal Italian word that descends from the Latin dux , meaning "leader", especially in a military context. The wife of a Doge is styled a Dogaressa....
of Venice, as he declined an interview on the ground that he was meeting an ambassador from the Ottoman Empire. The final portion of their mission took them to Spain, where they met with king Philip III
Philip III of Spain
Philip III , also known as Philip the Pious, was the King of Spain and King of Portugal and the Algarves, where he ruled as Philip II , from 1598 until his death...
, and obtained seaborne transportation from Portugal to the Strait of Hormuz
Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow, strategically important waterway between the Gulf of Oman in the southeast and the Persian Gulf. On the north coast is Iran and on the south coast is the United Arab Emirates and Musandam, an exclave of Oman....
and Persia. In a final incident however, one of the members of the embassy, a religious mullah
Mullah
Mullah is generally used to refer to a Muslim man, educated in Islamic theology and sacred law. The title, given to some Islamic clergy, is derived from the Arabic word مَوْلَى mawlā , meaning "vicar", "master" and "guardian"...
, was stabbed to death by a Spaniard in Mérida
Mérida, Spain
Mérida is the capital of the autonomous community of Extremadura, western central Spain. It has a population of 57,127 . The Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1993.- Climate :...
. After discussions to obtain redress, the embassy set sail for Persia from Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
in early 1602.
Conversions
In a twist, numerous members of the embassy abjured the Muslim faith and adopted Catholicism instead. Already three members of the Persian retinue had done so in Rome. Then three of the ambassador's Secretaries did so while in Spain, including the ambassador's nephew 'Ali Quli Beg, who received Philip III as Godfather, and adopted his name to become Don Philip of Persia. The Secretary Uruch Beg was also sponsored by the Queen of Spain Margaret of Austria, and became known as Don Juan of PersiaDon Juan of Persia
Don Juan of Persia was a late 16th and early 17th century figure in Iran and Spain. He is also known as Faisal Nazary. He was a native of Iran, who later moved westward...
. He settled in Spain, became a Catholic, and wrote a book entitled Relaciones, but was eventually stabbed and killed in a dispute in Valladolid
Valladolid
Valladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales...
in 1605. The Third Secretary, Buniyad Beg, also converted and took the name of Don Diego of Persia.
The embassy apparently brought only meager results.
Aftermath
Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–1618)
The Ottoman–Safavid War was a war between Safavid Persia under Abbas I of Persia and the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Ahmed I. It began in 1603 and ended with Safavid victory in 1618.-Course:...
, in which the Persians succeeded partly through the major military reforms and modernizations organized by the Englishman Robert Shirley
Robert Shirley
Sir Robert Shirley was an English traveler and adventurer, younger brother of Sir Anthony Shirley and of the adventurer Sir Thomas.-Diplomatic Activities:Robert went with his brother Anthony to Persia in 1598...
, brother of Anthony Sherley.
A second Persian embassy to Europe (1609–1615)
Persian embassy to Europe (1609–1615)
The Persian embassy to Europe was dispatched by the Persian Shah Abbas I in 1609 to obtain an alliance with Europe against the Ottoman Empire. The embassy was led by the Englishman Robert Shirley.-Background:...
would be set up, this time led by Robert Sherley himself, which went to Cracow, Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Rome, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, London, and returned to Persia through the Great Mogul's India.
In 1616, a trade agreement was reached between Shah Abbas and the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
and in 1622 "a joint Anglo-Persian force expelled the Portuguese and Spanish traders from the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
".
In 1624, Robert Sherley led another embassy to England in order to obtain trade agreements.
A Persian embassy to Louis XIV
Persian embassy to Louis XIV
The Persian embassy to Louis XIV caused a dramatic flurry at the court of Louis XIV in 1715, the year of the Sun King's death. Mohammed Reza Beg, or in French sources Méhémet Riza Beg, was a high-ranking official to the Persian governor of the Yerevan province...
occurred in 1715.