Bizans İmparatorluğu’ndan Günümüze İstanbul Latin Cemaati ve Kilisesi
[The Istanbul Latin Community and its Church since the age of the Byzantine Empire to the Present]
- Rinaldo Marmara - Istanbul: Kitap Publishers, November 2006
Review by Onur İnal, May 2007
Studies on the histories of the Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic, as its major successor, have progressed in recent years. Besides the increase in quantity, a continuous improvement in quality and a variation of methodology has been under way. In this respect, Turkish historiography continues to bring rather neglected facts to light, which have been overshadowed by the official history, so far.
Among the many branches of cultural and social history, micro-history aims to write history from ‘below’ and broadens it to sub-cultural and ethno-confessional groups, which have received little attention thus far. In other words, with recent micro-historical studies, much has been revealed about diverse sub-groups. The ethnic, cultural, and religious communities that made up the cultural mosaic of Turkey have now been the subject of various historical and cultural investigations that they have long deserved.
Istanbul is the most significant part of all of these researches. Particular stress has been laid on the Jewish and the Greek communities in Istanbul. Looking closer, we see that most of the comparative studies in the field have been done by either foreign researchers or by members of communities in the city, who have a good command of the language(s) of that community. Lack of proficiency in foreign languages, which are necessary for primary archival sources, has been an obstacle to scholarly contribution of Turkish researchers to micro-history. Thus, such studies have primarily been published outside Turkey and histories of ethno-confessional communities in the Ottoman Empire has remained an untouched subject of history by Turkish scholars. Furthermore, secluded structures of communities has been an obstacle to the advanced studies by outsiders. The Latin community in Istanbul had remained amongst one of the ‘untouched’ subjects of micro-history, until the comprehensive study of Rinaldo Marmara, not only a member of the community, but also the official historian of the Vatican Embassy in Turkey.
Marmara’s long-lasting interest in the Latin community of Istanbul started in the 1990s. His interest turned out to a thorough dissertation, with the title Précis Historique de la communauté Latine de Constantinople et son eglise [Precise History of the Latin Community of Istanbul and its Church], which he presented to the Montpellier III-Paul Valéey University in 2003. His dissertation of 690 pages was abridged and recently published by Kitap Publisher, entitled Bizans İmparatorluğu’ndan Günümüze İstanbul Latin Cemaati ve Kilisesi [Istanbul Latin Community and its Church since the Byzantine Empire to the Present]. The study deals with the Latin community of Istanbul, which is made up of the Italian, French, and Spanish Latin-Catholics and has existed for nearly a millennium. Marmara focuses all his attention on bringing the history of this all but vanished community into light.
At the beginning of study, Marmara attempts to give a legal definition of the Latin community in the Ottoman Empire. He describes the Latins as an established community in the Empire (mainly in the capital) that has existed even before the Capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, thus, distinguishes them from the Levantines, which arrived to the ports of the Empire in later centuries to benefit from the capitulations granted them. His distinction of the Latins and the Levantines is different altogether from many other scholars1.
In the first division of a book, with the title “The Latin Community from the Beginning until the Conquest of Istanbul”, he dwells upon the emergence of the community between tenth and fifteenth centuries. The first Latin emigration to Istanbul, as stated by Marmara, starts with the settlement of the people from the Amalfi Coast to the shores of the Golden Horn in the tenth century. People of repubbliche marinare, such as the Venetians, Genoese, and Pisano, followed the Amalfi people in later centuries.
The Venetians, who had settled in the Pera district (today’s Beyoğlu and Galata) and became the majority by the thirteenth century, showed their disloyalty to the Byzantine Emperor during the Latin Conquest in 1204. They abetted the Latin Crusaders in pillaging the city and founding the short-lived Latin Republic (1204-1261). With the re-capture of Constantinople by the Byzantines in 1261, the Venetians were dismissed from the city. After the departure of the Venetians from Constantinople, the Genoese came to the city, and resettled the district their predecessors had vacated. Marmara gives precise information, based on the archival data, and explains the emergence of various sub-communities, congregations, orders and parishes within the Latin community, such as the Franciscans, Lazarists, Jesuits etc.
The Capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman forces led by Mehmed II in 1453 was a turning point in the history of Europe. It could be suggested that Mehmed II, following the years of the conquest, would not look with favor on the stay of the Latin-Catholics in the city, due to his personal support to the Greek-Orthodox Church against the Roman-Catholic Church. Nevertheless, Mehmed II asked for the Latins to stay in the city, with the thoughts in mind that they would foster the city life and commerce with their connections overseas. Therefore, the famous ferman of the Mehmed II, which granted privileges to the Latin community, and podesta’s2 presentation of the keys to the district of the Latin community to the Sultan, as an expression of gratitude and loyalty, is remarkable. In the second chapter of the book, with the title “From the Conquest to the Tanzimat: Re-structuring of the Latin Community”, Marmara examines the organization and functionaries of the Latin community under the Ottoman rule, from the fifteenth century until the Tanzimat Era. He particularly focuses on the functioning of the capitulations and the protection of foreign governments over their merchants with berat.
Owing to the capitulations and bilateral agreements between the Ottoman Empire and European governments, the Latins existed in the capital of the Empire for centuries. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, they became one of the most prosperous communities in the Empire because of sea trade. During this period, an increasing new wave of European migrants, designated as the Levantines, thronged the Ottoman ports. With the arrival of these newcomers, composed of engineers, architects, artisans, merchants, artists, and cooks, the Latin community became much more cosmopolitan. Marmara, in the third chapter of the book, with the title “The Golden Era of the Latin Community of Istanbul” examines this new cosmopolitan structure. He names the “Golden Era” of the Latins, in order to lay stress on the impact of the Tanzimat and Islahat Edicts in the late period of the Ottoman Empire.
In the fourth chapter, with the title “Symptoms of the Rise in the Community”, the architectural heritage, such as the churches, hospitals, schools, orphanages, cemeteries, of the Latin community in Istanbul is documented. Detailed information and statistical data on the architecture, based on the primary source, is presented in this chapter, too.
Economic privileges granted to the Latins, as well as other communities, had been extended by the end of the nineteenth century; and included political, legal, and cultural concessions, which quickened the process of decline in the last decades of the Ottoman Empire. As Marmara remarks, interventions by foreign governments were influential in the process of disintegration, in an indirect manner. Especially, at the end of the Empire, the attitudes of the Muslim-Turks towards the foreigners were designated in accordance with the policies of foreign governments. Starting at that time, the Latin community, similar to Greek and Armenian communities, were regarded as being very disloyal to political unity. In the process of nation-state formation, the Latins in Istanbul witnessed with horror the rise of Turkish nationalism and started to melt away. In the last chapter of his study, with the title “The End of the Latin Community of Istanbul”, Marmara examines the impacts of the historical process, starting with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. He particularly stresses the policies of Turkification during the Republican Era, which were a disfavor to the Latins, such as republican laws that closed the Catholic schools, confiscated the properties of non-Muslims, and several incidents and pogroms towards the Latins.
In consequence, Rinaldo Marmara’s comprehensive study, Bizans İmparatorluğu’ndan Günümüze İstanbul Latin Cemaati ve Kilisesi, presents the overall history of the Latin community of Istanbul. His study is worth taking into consideration, in terms of its methodology, scope, and accurateness based on a thorough archival research. His observation of the rise of nationalism in Turkey with reference to the tolerance shown in the same territories in the past is praiseworthy. By bringing in the fragments of the whole, he makes his own contribution to the development of consciousness of micro-history. He paves the way for a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward the practices, ethnicity, and religion of a minority, which differ from the majority.
1- Among the many scholars, who define the Latins and the Levantines in a different way, Oliver Jens Schmitt is the most recent one. In his habilitation (post-doctoral study) at the University of Vienna, with the title Levantiner (the Levantines), he puts an emphasis on the identicalness of the Latins and the Levantines. According to him, both concepts could be used interchangeably, in order to define the Latin-Catholic community settled in Asia Minor since the times of the Genoese. For further information, see: Schmitt, Oliver J. Levantiner. Munich: Oldenburg, 2006.
2- The highest representative authority of the Genoese (Latins) in Constantinople.
Review by Onur İnal, May 2007
Studies on the histories of the Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic, as its major successor, have progressed in recent years. Besides the increase in quantity, a continuous improvement in quality and a variation of methodology has been under way. In this respect, Turkish historiography continues to bring rather neglected facts to light, which have been overshadowed by the official history, so far.
Among the many branches of cultural and social history, micro-history aims to write history from ‘below’ and broadens it to sub-cultural and ethno-confessional groups, which have received little attention thus far. In other words, with recent micro-historical studies, much has been revealed about diverse sub-groups. The ethnic, cultural, and religious communities that made up the cultural mosaic of Turkey have now been the subject of various historical and cultural investigations that they have long deserved.
Istanbul is the most significant part of all of these researches. Particular stress has been laid on the Jewish and the Greek communities in Istanbul. Looking closer, we see that most of the comparative studies in the field have been done by either foreign researchers or by members of communities in the city, who have a good command of the language(s) of that community. Lack of proficiency in foreign languages, which are necessary for primary archival sources, has been an obstacle to scholarly contribution of Turkish researchers to micro-history. Thus, such studies have primarily been published outside Turkey and histories of ethno-confessional communities in the Ottoman Empire has remained an untouched subject of history by Turkish scholars. Furthermore, secluded structures of communities has been an obstacle to the advanced studies by outsiders. The Latin community in Istanbul had remained amongst one of the ‘untouched’ subjects of micro-history, until the comprehensive study of Rinaldo Marmara, not only a member of the community, but also the official historian of the Vatican Embassy in Turkey.
Marmara’s long-lasting interest in the Latin community of Istanbul started in the 1990s. His interest turned out to a thorough dissertation, with the title Précis Historique de la communauté Latine de Constantinople et son eglise [Precise History of the Latin Community of Istanbul and its Church], which he presented to the Montpellier III-Paul Valéey University in 2003. His dissertation of 690 pages was abridged and recently published by Kitap Publisher, entitled Bizans İmparatorluğu’ndan Günümüze İstanbul Latin Cemaati ve Kilisesi [Istanbul Latin Community and its Church since the Byzantine Empire to the Present]. The study deals with the Latin community of Istanbul, which is made up of the Italian, French, and Spanish Latin-Catholics and has existed for nearly a millennium. Marmara focuses all his attention on bringing the history of this all but vanished community into light.
At the beginning of study, Marmara attempts to give a legal definition of the Latin community in the Ottoman Empire. He describes the Latins as an established community in the Empire (mainly in the capital) that has existed even before the Capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, thus, distinguishes them from the Levantines, which arrived to the ports of the Empire in later centuries to benefit from the capitulations granted them. His distinction of the Latins and the Levantines is different altogether from many other scholars1.
In the first division of a book, with the title “The Latin Community from the Beginning until the Conquest of Istanbul”, he dwells upon the emergence of the community between tenth and fifteenth centuries. The first Latin emigration to Istanbul, as stated by Marmara, starts with the settlement of the people from the Amalfi Coast to the shores of the Golden Horn in the tenth century. People of repubbliche marinare, such as the Venetians, Genoese, and Pisano, followed the Amalfi people in later centuries.
The Venetians, who had settled in the Pera district (today’s Beyoğlu and Galata) and became the majority by the thirteenth century, showed their disloyalty to the Byzantine Emperor during the Latin Conquest in 1204. They abetted the Latin Crusaders in pillaging the city and founding the short-lived Latin Republic (1204-1261). With the re-capture of Constantinople by the Byzantines in 1261, the Venetians were dismissed from the city. After the departure of the Venetians from Constantinople, the Genoese came to the city, and resettled the district their predecessors had vacated. Marmara gives precise information, based on the archival data, and explains the emergence of various sub-communities, congregations, orders and parishes within the Latin community, such as the Franciscans, Lazarists, Jesuits etc.
The Capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman forces led by Mehmed II in 1453 was a turning point in the history of Europe. It could be suggested that Mehmed II, following the years of the conquest, would not look with favor on the stay of the Latin-Catholics in the city, due to his personal support to the Greek-Orthodox Church against the Roman-Catholic Church. Nevertheless, Mehmed II asked for the Latins to stay in the city, with the thoughts in mind that they would foster the city life and commerce with their connections overseas. Therefore, the famous ferman of the Mehmed II, which granted privileges to the Latin community, and podesta’s2 presentation of the keys to the district of the Latin community to the Sultan, as an expression of gratitude and loyalty, is remarkable. In the second chapter of the book, with the title “From the Conquest to the Tanzimat: Re-structuring of the Latin Community”, Marmara examines the organization and functionaries of the Latin community under the Ottoman rule, from the fifteenth century until the Tanzimat Era. He particularly focuses on the functioning of the capitulations and the protection of foreign governments over their merchants with berat.
Owing to the capitulations and bilateral agreements between the Ottoman Empire and European governments, the Latins existed in the capital of the Empire for centuries. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, they became one of the most prosperous communities in the Empire because of sea trade. During this period, an increasing new wave of European migrants, designated as the Levantines, thronged the Ottoman ports. With the arrival of these newcomers, composed of engineers, architects, artisans, merchants, artists, and cooks, the Latin community became much more cosmopolitan. Marmara, in the third chapter of the book, with the title “The Golden Era of the Latin Community of Istanbul” examines this new cosmopolitan structure. He names the “Golden Era” of the Latins, in order to lay stress on the impact of the Tanzimat and Islahat Edicts in the late period of the Ottoman Empire.
In the fourth chapter, with the title “Symptoms of the Rise in the Community”, the architectural heritage, such as the churches, hospitals, schools, orphanages, cemeteries, of the Latin community in Istanbul is documented. Detailed information and statistical data on the architecture, based on the primary source, is presented in this chapter, too.
Economic privileges granted to the Latins, as well as other communities, had been extended by the end of the nineteenth century; and included political, legal, and cultural concessions, which quickened the process of decline in the last decades of the Ottoman Empire. As Marmara remarks, interventions by foreign governments were influential in the process of disintegration, in an indirect manner. Especially, at the end of the Empire, the attitudes of the Muslim-Turks towards the foreigners were designated in accordance with the policies of foreign governments. Starting at that time, the Latin community, similar to Greek and Armenian communities, were regarded as being very disloyal to political unity. In the process of nation-state formation, the Latins in Istanbul witnessed with horror the rise of Turkish nationalism and started to melt away. In the last chapter of his study, with the title “The End of the Latin Community of Istanbul”, Marmara examines the impacts of the historical process, starting with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. He particularly stresses the policies of Turkification during the Republican Era, which were a disfavor to the Latins, such as republican laws that closed the Catholic schools, confiscated the properties of non-Muslims, and several incidents and pogroms towards the Latins.
In consequence, Rinaldo Marmara’s comprehensive study, Bizans İmparatorluğu’ndan Günümüze İstanbul Latin Cemaati ve Kilisesi, presents the overall history of the Latin community of Istanbul. His study is worth taking into consideration, in terms of its methodology, scope, and accurateness based on a thorough archival research. His observation of the rise of nationalism in Turkey with reference to the tolerance shown in the same territories in the past is praiseworthy. By bringing in the fragments of the whole, he makes his own contribution to the development of consciousness of micro-history. He paves the way for a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward the practices, ethnicity, and religion of a minority, which differ from the majority.
1- Among the many scholars, who define the Latins and the Levantines in a different way, Oliver Jens Schmitt is the most recent one. In his habilitation (post-doctoral study) at the University of Vienna, with the title Levantiner (the Levantines), he puts an emphasis on the identicalness of the Latins and the Levantines. According to him, both concepts could be used interchangeably, in order to define the Latin-Catholic community settled in Asia Minor since the times of the Genoese. For further information, see: Schmitt, Oliver J. Levantiner. Munich: Oldenburg, 2006.
2- The highest representative authority of the Genoese (Latins) in Constantinople.