'Levantine' Dragomans in Nineteenth Century Istanbul: The Pisanis, the British, and Issues of Subjecthood

19. yüzyılda yaşayan Kont Alexander ve Frederick Pisani, Pisani dragoman ailesinin İstanbul'daki İngiliz elçiliğine hizmet eden iki üyesiydi. Kont Alexander ve Frederick Pisani Osmanlı başkentinde doğan ve büyüyen İtalyan kökenli gayrimüslimler olduklarından, tarihçiler tarafından genellikle 'Levanten' olarak adlandırılagelmişlerdir. Bu makalede, Pisani ailesinin söz konusu iki mensubunun kendi kimliklerine dair algıları, hangi tabiiyetten olduklarını yetkili mercilerle nasıl müzakere ettikleri ve İngiliz elçiliğindeki amirlerinin onların tabiiyetlerini ne şekilde tavsif ettikleri incelenmektedir. Bunlara ek olarak, Pisaniler'in ve İngilizler'in tabiiyet kavramını tanımlarken yaşadıkları çekişmeleri irdelenmekte ve tabiiyet kavramının hukukî olarak tanımlanmasının aslında ne kadar zor olduğu ortaya koyulmaktadır. Çalışmada, İngiltere'de Frederick Pisani'nin Times gazetesine karşı açtığı davanın ve Kont Alexander Pisani'nin İstanbul'daki İngiliz elçilik mahkemesine sunulan vasiyetinin muameleli evrakı kullanılmıştır.

19. Yüzyıl İstanbul'unda 'Levanten' Tercümanlar: İngiliz Sefareti ve Pisaniler'in Tabiiyet Meselesi

Frederick and Count Alexander Pisani were two members of the Pisani family of dragomans that served the British Embassy in Istanbul during the nineteenth century. As non-Muslims of Italian descent that were born and raised in the Ottoman capital, they are commonly referred to as 'Levantines.' Using a case filed by Frederick Pisani against the British daily The Times in the Court of Common Pleas in England, and the process of registering the Last Will and Testament of Count Alexander Pisani in the British Consular Court in Istanbul, this article examines how two members of the same family had different views of who they were, how they were able to negotiate their subjecthood, and how their British employers classified them. It demonstrates how the Pisanis and the British struggled with the concept of subjecthood, and how difficult it was to legally define it in these cases.

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Archival Documents

Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi

Hariciye Nezâreti Belgeleri HR.H 426/25

Durham University Library, Ponsonby Letters

GRE/E413

GRE/E270

?e National Archives, Kew

C13/1257 22

FO 352/14B

FO 366/569

FO 780/165

FO 780/217

State Papers 105/118

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Cunningham, Allan: 'The Dragomans of the British Embassy at Constantinople,' Edward Ingram (ed.), Eastern Questions in the Nineteenth Century: Collected Essays vol. 2, Lon- don: Frank Cass 1993, 1-22.

Davison, Roderic H.: 'The French Dragomanate in mid-Nineteenth Century Istanbul,' Frédéric Hitzel (ed.), Istanbul et les Langues Orientales, Montreal: L'Harmattan Inc 1997, 271-280.

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de Groot, Alexander H.: 'Dragomans' Careers: The Change of Status in Some Families Connected with the British and Dutch Embassies at Istanbul 1785-1829,' Alastair Hamilton, Alexander H. de Groot, Maurits H. van den Boogert (eds.), Friends and Rivals in the East: Studies in Anglo-Dutch Relations in the Levant from the Seventeenth to the Early Nineteenth Century, Leiden: Brill 2000, 223-246.

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'The Libel Law,' Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine vol. LI no. CCCXVI February 1842, 141-143.

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