TNT History Archives: Papal Alum Crusades Against the Ottomans (1400s)

türkçe links to original Turkish article by Prof. Dr. Ural Akbulut

(Milliyet Newspaper, 29 March 2019)

alum wars click here for more on the Papal-Ottoman 
alum war.




                           Sumerian alum recipe

The ancient Sumerians used 'şap' (alum) 4,000 years ago for various
purposes.  Their success with clay tablets, hides and textiles can be
tied to the quality of their alum.

On one clay tablet, there is a description of a medicine made with alum:
"make alum into a powder and blow it into the ear of the patient
through a reed."  Another tablet writing explains how a mixture of soda
and alum can clean the mouth.  The Sumerian tablets recommend
mixing alum with camomile to dye one's hair and the Sumerians in
Anatolia used alum that they acquired by frying the mineral alunite at
high temperatures.  Their clay tablets frequently advised "use the alum
that comes from the Hittite nation." 

These tablet writings confirm that the export of alum in the Selçuk
and Ottoman periods stretched back 4,000 years to Sumerian times.
Venetians and Genoese traders facilitated these exports to Europe in
the Ottoman period but when the price of alum increased during the
rule of Fatih Sultan Mehmet (1444-1446 & 1451-1481), the Europeans
looked for alternative sources for alum. 


Alum production in the Middle Ages

In Italy in 1461, Giovanni da Castro found a rich source of alum at
Tolfa near Rome and he wrote the following letter to his godfather
Pope Pius II: "I am informing you of a victory against the Turks.
They are getting 300,000 ducats per year from us by selling us the
alum we use for dying wool.  I have found mountains with enough
alum for seven worlds. If you have the requisite ovens built to fry
the mineral to create alum, we can sell alum to the whole of Europe
and the Turks will lose a great income."

The alum discovered at Tolfa was on land that belonged to the Pope,
so alum production began there in 1462 and imports of alum from
the Ottomans were banned.  In 1463, the money gained from alum
was separated from other papal income and was accumulated to
start another Crusade.  When Pope Paul II was elected in 1464 he
followed the same policy.  The Medici family acquired the rights
to the alum mines for 9 years in 1466 and prices increased.  This
prompted textile producers in England to start importing alum from
the Ottomans instead.


                Location of alum mines in the Papal States.

The decrease in the selling price of alum reduced papal income
so the Pope entered into an agreement with the King of Naples
in 1470 to set up an alum monopoly, the aim of which was to
keep prices for alum high and therefore increase income.  Although
the agreement was  for 25 years, it failed after only two. Then, in
1472, Pope Sixtus IV was elected and two years later permission for
alum imports from the Ottomans was granted.

In 1476, the Pope gave authority to sell alum to the Medici's rival,
the Pazzi family.  Two years later, the Pazzis wounded the Medici
leader Lorenzo de'Medici and killed his brother.  The Pope then
canceled the Pazzi family's alum sales authority and gave it to a
Genoese family, but the Medici family reacquired the authority
in 1488. 

In 1500 the Pope gave alum sales authority to the banker Agostino
Chigi, whose radical price increases sparked complaints.  As a
result, Ottoman alum imports were again allowed in 1504 and
prices eased.  The English King Henry VII threatened the Pope
that England would only import Ottoman alum if the Italian
price increased, forcing the Pope to give the King a price guarantee
and in 1506 the import of  Ottoman alum was again banned. 
Consequently, the Pope's fortune increased markedly and Chigi
became the richest man in Europe.


King Henry VII got rich on the alum trade.

 

 

TNT History Archives: Genoese Walls Crumbling in Istanbul

turkce links to original Turkish article

(Hurriyet Newspaper, 29 March 2019)

genoese istanbul click here for more info.


                        And the walls come tumbling down...

The walls that form the continuation of the historic Galata Tower in
Karakoy, Istanbul, built by the Genoese 700 years ago, are crumbling
because of rain water.  The Sen Piyer (Saint Pierre) Church is also in
danger of collapsing. 


             Sen Piyar Church in Karakoy


The Genoese began to settle in the Galata area after the end of the
Latin occupation of Constantinople in 1204. As the result of pressure
from the Venetians, the Genoese erected the walls between 1303-
1352 but only two of the wall's towers remain today The foundation
of the wall on Sair Ziya Pasa Avenue near the Galata Tower has
been washed out by rain.


        Galata Tower was built by the Genoese in 1348.

Local shopkeepers became alarmed by this development so the
Beyoglu municipality has taken some measures to support the
wall.  Shopkeeper Fevzi Tekin explained that "the walls are not
looked after very well.  Last week it rained heavily here and the
rain washed out the foundation. The wall has to be restored.'

The Sen Piyar Church sits atop a section of the wall and its
collapse is unavoidable if no action is taken to bolster the wall.


                 The Genoese section is just below Pera.

TNT Road Rage Edition: The Selfish Parking Murder

turkce links to original Turkish article

(Sozcu Newspaper, 29 March 2019)


                                         (no comment)

In Bayrakli, Izmir, Hasan Bilen (29), who drives a delivery truck for
the municipality's Kent Ekmek Fabrikasi (city bread factory), parked
his truck diagonally across the street, such that Veysel Tuna (50),
who was taking his son Taylan Tuna (16) to school, could not pass
through on his motorcycle. 

Tuna asked Bilen to move his truck but Bilen responded by telling
Tuna to use another street.  A fight ensued between Bilen and father-
son Tuna.  Bilen grabbed a knife from his truck and stabbed Veysel
in the chest, killing him.  When police arrived they took Bilen and
Taylan Tuna into custody.

Veysel Tuna's daughter Cagla is currently getting ready for her
wedding.

  
                                               Bayrakli (B)

TNT Matchbox Diary: A Turkish POW in Russian Prison Camp (1915-1918)/Part XLII

//Ed. Note:  The routine continues in early September 1916
for Fuad Bey and his fellow inmates in Vetluga - language 
lessons and money matters.//

1 September 1916 Friday

I got up neither early nor late. The weather is nice. After morning tea 

Halis and I worked on German. Then Şerif came and we chatted. I read 

a story in a French book and he wrote the important parts. In the 

afternoon we had a French lesson. Later Halis and I went outside for

a walk. We looked around and watched the ferries that have come 

over the past couple of days and a motor boat cruising on the river. 

Although a lot of goods and sugar are coming to Vetluga these days 

the people, and especially the grocers, are selling sugar to us because

the city has put a price of 28 kopeks on sugar and the people don’t 

want to give it to us for less. They say ‘rather than the prisoners eating 

for less, we Russians will eat.’ Before dinner we had a German lesson. 

Kör Mehmet came just at this time and left because it was dinner time. 

At night Selahaddin nearly feinted while going to the toilet because he 

became ill. His unconsciousness lasted for quite a while. We put him 

in his bed right away and sprinkled water on him. We comforted him. 

Again tonight I awoke shaking in the face of news of a calamity I saw 

in a dream.

2 September 1916 Saturday

I got up a bit early. The weather is rather nice. In the afternoon we 

went to the Command to get our salary. I didn’t go because I couldn’t 

put my boot on as the result of the sore on my foot. Again, we got 

50 rubles each. I’ve gotten 240.5 rubles in total from the Russian 

Government. We don’t have any debts but since we need money for 

our daily lives, Halis and I wrote a note to Osman asking him to loan 

us some money. He lent us 25 rubles. Today I was mad at myself for 

giving that fool, scatterbrained Kazim, two rubles. Because although 

he’s up to his neck in debt he doesn’t think about giving money to 

table d’hote for food. He won’t give up extravagance and always 

wants to act like a big shot. May God set him straight. Today we 

didn’t study French but we had German at the regular time. Şerif 

came again and we chatted. This month we gave 15 rubles for table 

d’hote and one ruble each to the servants. I lent Salah a ruble. Salah 

went to the hospital but the illness he had last night has gone away. 

At night I sat for quite a while and went to bed late. Today Hikmet 

was very distraught over not having any money. I wanted to

console him myself, not because others would tell me to do so. But

 this time I wasn’t able to do it.

3 September 1916 Sunday

I got up rather early. It was dark outside. The weather is bad, fog 

everywhere, rain, storm, everything at once. There’s a coldness 

just like the coldness we feel in the dead of winter in our country. 

Today I wrote a new German notebook for myself. It’s a good was 

to keep myself busy. We had our French and German lessons at the 

appointed times. I’m making good progress in German. In late 

afternoon Şerif came and he paid me back the ten rubles he borrowed

from me two months ago. Without me knowing, Halis and Salah had 

an argument toward evening. I happened to look and see that Halis 

was down and out. I asked him why and with difficulty I was able to 

find out. I comforted him right away. Again in the evening Halis was 

lost in thought. I struggled but was able to console him and I advised

him not to feel bad with regard to silly thoughts generated because of 

the people he’s surrounded by in this environment. Ah, evil destiny! 

I wish you hadn’t bound me with iron chains.

4 September 1916 Monday

I woke up a bit late. After tea I went to the market by myself. Halis 

went to the bath. I bought a razor and cologne, along with some other 

things. When I got back I went to the bath right away and washed 

myself thoroughly. Again we weren’t able to have a French lesson. 

In mid-afternoon Şerif came. We studied the French book. We had 

our German lesson on time. We’re now getting down to basics, 

delving into the fine points. In the afternoon Halis went to the market 

and got material for a heavy shirt and some other cloth, along with a 

few other things. We gave Salah another five rubles today so he owes 

us a total of six rubles. We gave Captain Hakkı one ruble, too. We 

asked Tahir for 130 kopeks for today’s sugar. At night I wrote in the 

notebook and worked a bit. We chatted as well. This morning at the 

market Captain Hakkı stole something. I hadn’t noticed. He 

apparently took two packages of tobacco from the Tatar’s store but 

only paid for one of them. The Tatar’s son told this to Ethem and he

 to the Captain. He was found out and first denied it but then paid the 

money. What shameful things!

5 September 1916 Tuesday

The weather is bad, raining now and then. I worked until lunch time 

trying to turn Halis’s pants inside out. We decided not to have French 

lessons anymore. Hikmet objected but he was in the minority so he 

gave up. At mid-afternoon Halis went to the market and I went to the 

other side to write German. Today we got the tenses of the German 

verbs for to be. The cold is quite fierce. Even if the sun is shining 

during the day we can’t dress lightly and certainly not at night. Halis

bought some socks from the market. We gave the heavy cloth we 

bought to Captain Hakkı for him to sew it and he brought it to his 

house. Today Salah and Istanbul Hakkı fought about, probably, 

the table d’hote problem. They weren’t able to hit each other. Salah 

made some crude remarks and started to cry from nervousness. But 

he was in the wrong. Tonight for some reason I felt uncomfortable 

but it didn’t last long.

6 September 1916 Wednesday

The weather is bad but there’s no rain. I made Halis mad because 

of something I said without thinking. He wasn’t  right to get mad but 

neither was I. In any event, I was able to mollify him. The Captain 

sewed a heavy shirt from one of the printed cloths we gave him 

yesterday and the heavy cloth came, as well. The heavy shirt was 

nice but the sleeves were a little short. Today I tried to finish Halis’s 

pants. We had a German lesson today, too. Right now we’re working 

on the case endings, which are considered the soul of German. We 

haven’t got the hang of them yet. Today the old table d’hote 

committee resigned officially (probably over yesterday’s fight). Yes, 

that was it. Anyway, a new committee was elected – Burhan and 

Hikmet.

//END of PART XLII//

Forget Brexit, Purloined Greek Art Works May Exit Britain

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 28 March 2019)

lord elgin click here for a BBC History discussion about
Elgin's motives and reputation.


                                           Homesick

In the early 1800s England's ambassador in Istanbul, Lord Elgin, had
a number of statues, reliefs, columns and other ancient Greek works of
art from the Parthenon in Athens packed up in 200 crates and sent to
England, where he sold them to Parliament (!).  Since Greece gained
independence from the Ottoman Empire, it has been trying to get the
art works back from England, where the treasures are on display at
the British Museum.

In the 1980s, Greece's culture minister, the famous actress Melina
Mecouri, launched a campaign to retrieve the art works but it was
unsuccessful.  Last June, British Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn
promised to return the treasures if he came to power but England
has continued to insist that the Ottoman Sultan at the time issued a
'ferman' (imperial edict) allowing Lord Elgin to take the art works.

However (!), Turkish archival experts Prof. Dr. Zeynep Aygen and
Orhan Sakin have discounted the story of the ferman given to
Lord Elgin.  Their research has found no trace of the ferman and
they noted that the British claim to ownership is based solely on
a paragraph in a letter that was translated into Italian.  On 23 February
the scholars presented a paper at the Athens Acropol Museum and
declared that neither the ferman nor the letter could be found in the
Turkish Ottoman archives, calling the British claim of ownership
into question. 


            Lord Elgin and friends ingesting civilization.