Letter from Süleyman the Magnificent to François I

This document, written on a long scroll of paper on canvas, is one of a series of letters addressed to the King of France, François I, by the Sultan Süleyman between 1525 and 1543. Süleyman engaged in correspondence with other eminent interlocutors in Europe, an indication of the role of the Ottoman Empire in the MediterraneanBasin in the sixteenth century. In diplomatic exchanges, the drogmani (interpreters) played a principal role[1]. The subjects of discussion between France and the Ottomans were varied and included, their alliance against Charles V, commercial privileges, military conquests and procedures for conducting diplomatic relations through ambassadors.

The year of this letter, 1536, corresponds to the period when the first Capitulation had been concluded between the vizier Ibrahim Pasha and the French ambassador Jean de la Forêt. The French were the first to benefit from these trading agreements which established procedures for allowing foreign citizens to reside in the Ottoman Empire[2].

The letter begins with a formula of invocation and enunciation of the title of the Sultan (four gold lines in thuluth script). Thereafter the contents are written in black diwani script. The list of conquests in the victorious Iraqi campaign against the Safavids is reported to the French King. The letter continues with a section devoted to the reception of the Ambassador Jean de la Forêt by the diwan and the installation of a permanent Ambassador in Istanbul. The imperial monogram (tughra) illuminated in blue and gold is affixed between the two parts of the text. The names of the Sultan written in large naskhi script occupy a broad space above the final two lines of the text.

The state administration, which became increasingly organised during the reign of Süleyman[3], assisted the central authorities which were embodied by the Sultan and the diwan, (the supreme council of State led by the grand vizier). The chancellery was assisted by a considerable bureaucracy and the preparation of official documents was entrusted to secretaries each with their particular speciality. The same formula applied to each letter: invocation, title, contents.

The thuluth and naskhi scripts belong to the six styles of calligraphy (Aklam-i sitta) which were developed after the reform introduced in the Abbasid period.  They were widely used in Ottoman calligraphy, notably in productions of the Koran. The diwani script, with its close lettering to prevent forgeries, was favoured for use in official documents.

The most striking element of this document is the tughra, which stands out spectacularly on the paper. It comprises the principal letters of the name of the Sultan, his title, the kunya (name of his father) and the formula ‘ever victorious’. It is executed by a specialist secretary (tugrakes), from a drawing of the nisanci (a titled member of the diwan). From the sixteenth century, important documents were illuminated. Here the blue and gold sere[4] is decorated with gilded vegetal scrolls embellished with small leaf and flower patterns with a scattering of ‘s’ shaped motifs evoking clouds (tchi). The decorative repertoire employed in the Ottoman workshops of the second quarter of the sixteenth century and which appears abundantly on Iznik ceramics is recognisable here. The ‘tughra’ style denotes moreover a series of pieces decorated with blue concentric motifs ornamented with leaves and flowers[5]. The clouds, or tchi, are originally Chinese. Widely represented in Timurid art of the fifteenth century[6], they are employed in various branches of the Ottoman decorative arts, including, ceramics from the first half of the sixteenth century[7], textiles[8], bookbinding[9], and so on.

Several Ottoman letters are conserved in collections of countries which maintained diplomatic relations with the Empire in the sixteenth century.

[2] These agreements were ratified in 1569 under the reign of Selim II (r. 1566-1574). Capitulations were granted to other European nations: in 1540 to Venice; at the end of the sixteenth century to England and in 1612 to Holland.

[3] He was called by the Turks, not ‘the Magnificent’ as in the West, but as the ‘the Lawgiver’ (Qanuni).

[4] The sere denotes a group of letters forming the name. It was completed by the beyze (large loops on the left of the name), the tug (elongated shafts), and the kol (terminals of the beyze).

[5] Tondino, Iznik, Turkey, 1530-1540, fritware, painting on slip under lead glaze, Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. D 167.

[6] Shahname of Sultan Ibrahim, Landscape with Animals on gold and silver ground, folio 3a, Shiraz, Iran, c. 1435, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ouseley, Add.176.

[7] Mosque lamp, Iznik, Turkey, c. 1512, Istanbul, Museum of the Cinili Kiosk, inv. 41/2.

[8] Decorative panel with mandorlas and Chinese clouds, silk and gold thread, Turkey, sixteenth century Paris, Musée des Arts décoratifs, inv. 13765.

[9] Binding of the Koran, Turkey, c. 1530-1540, Istanbul, Library of Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi, inv. EH 77.