B5. DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR NETWORKS (17th-19th c.)

Programme objectives

The programme's main thematic axes are: a) the history of the European states' diplomatic and consular delegations in the wider Eastern Mediterranean where Greek-speaking Christians lived during the Ottoman period; b) the documented detailed portrayal of the staff of these delegations, and especially of the 'proteges' -the Christian and Jewish Ottoman subjects who enjoyed the protection of the European states.
The aim of this work is to systematically record the scattered archive material and put it to use through the creation of databases and the elaboration of studies shedding light on the economic interrelations and cultural osmosis which developed in the Eastern Mediterranean via these diplomatic and consular networks between the 17th and 19th century.

Current activities

1) Christian privateering and Muslim slave trade in the Cyclades during the 17th century
Along with the consular correspondence, another type of archive material is preserved in the French diplomatic archives, the consulates' 'registres des actes de chancellerie', a source which brings the everyday activities of a consulate to life and has been exploited only minimally to date. The 'registres' of the French consulate of Milos and Kimolos are among the oldest surviving documents of this kind, and they record the range of economic activities developed around priveteering in the Cyclades during the Veneto-Ottoman wars of the 17th century. This specific archive material has been indexed, and a monograph is in preparation.

2) The correspondence of the prince of Samos, Alexandros S. Karatheodoris (1885-1894)
The correspondence of Alexandros Karatheodoris, politician, diplomat and scholar, during the period in which he served as prince of Samos (1885-1894), is being prepared for publication in collaboration with the Centre for Ottoman Diplomatic History. The letters were addressed to Stefanos Chrysidis, the principality's representative in Istanbul, and comprise a source of first-hand information regarding both the manner of government of autonomous Samos and its relationship with the Sublime Porte, to which the island was a tributary.

Programme director: George Koutzakiotis, Junior Research Associate