PEACE AGREEMENT BETWEEN VENICE AND THE OTTOMANS
25 January 1478/79
ASV
Documenti Turchi B1/2
Scroll, 24 x 48 cm.
On the back: 1478 adi 25 Zene.r i capitoli de la pace face Ser Zuam dario.
[Gold Tugra of Mehmet II]
I, the great lord and great emir, Sultan Mehmet-Bey, son of the great and blessed lord Murat- Bey, do swear by the God of heaven and earth, and by our great prophet Mohammed, and by the seven mushaf which we Moslems possess and confess, and by the 124 thousand prophets of God (more or less), and by the faith which I believe and confess, and by my soul and by the soul of my father, and by the sword I wear:
Because my Lordship formerly had peace and friendship with the most illustrious and exalted Signoria of Venice, now again we desire to make a new peace and oath for the confirmation of a true friendship and a new peace. For this purpose, the aforementioned illustrious Signoria sent the learned and wise sier Giovanni Dario, secretary, as emissary to my Lordship so we might make the said peace with the following old and new provisions. For this my Lordship swears by the above-written oaths that just as there was formerly peace and friendship between us, namely, with their lords and men and allies, I now profess good faith and an open peace by land and sea, within and outside the Straits, with the villages, fortresses, islands, and lands that are under the banner of San Marco, and to those desiring to be from this time forward (all those places are in their obedience and supervision), and to the commerce which they have as of today and are going to have in the coming years.
(1) First, no man of my lordship will dare to inflict injury or opposition to the Signoria of Venice or its men: if this happens, my Lordship is obligated to punish them according to the cause: the most illustrious Signoria is obligated similarly toward us.
(2) Further, from this day forwards, if either land or other goods of the most illustrious Signoria and its men is taken by the men of my Lordship, it will be returned again: they are similarly obligated to my Lordship.
(3) Their men and their merchandise will come by land and by sea to every land of my Lordship, and all the merchandise and the galleys and the ships will be secure and at ease: they are similarly obligated toward us in their lands.
(4) The Duke of Naxos and his brothers and their lords and men with their ships and other boats will be at peace. They will not owe my Lordship any service, but the Venetians will hold them just as all used to be.
(5) Further, all ships and galleys, that is merchantmen and the fleet of my Lordship, wherever they may encounter the Venetians, will have good relations and peace with them. Corsairs and klefts, wherever they are taken, will be punished.
(6) If any Venetian incurs a debt or[commits other wrong in the lands of my Lordship, the other Venetians will bear no responsibility: similarly, the Signoria of Venice vows the same] to our men.
(7) If any Venetian slave flees to Turkish hands and becomes a Moslem, they will give his lord 1000 aspers; if he is a Christian he will be sent back.
(8) If any Venetian boat is wrecked on the land of my Lordship, all the men will be freed and all the merchandise returned to the business manager: they are similarly obligated to our men.
(9) If any Venetian man dies in the lands of my Lordship, without a will or heir, his goods will be given to the Venetian bailo; but if no bailo is found, they will be given into Venetian hands. Venice will write what to do.
(10) Further, the most illustrious Signoria will have permission and authority specifically to send a bailo to Constantinople, with his household, according to custom, who will be able to dispense justice and should administer Venetian affairs, according to custom. The governor will be obligated to give him aid and support.
(11) The said bailo who wants to secure his position, according to custom, is obligated to give my Lordship every year a gift of 10,000 Venetian florins from the commercial transactions.
(12) Further, the most illustrious Signoria of Venice is obligated, for every debt lying between us, and for all debts whether common or private or of certain of their men, for all the past time before the war until today, to give to my Lordship 100,000 Venetian ducats within two years. My Lordship cannot look for past injuries, either from the most illustrious Signoria of Venice or from its men.
(13) Further, the most illustrious Signoria of Venice is obligated to hand over to my Lordship the fortress of Skodar in Albania, except that it will enter to remove the lord who is commander, and the council, and all the other men such as wish to depart, specifically, with their merchandise, if they have any. The Signoria will take the equipment and all other military materiel or whatever is found in the fortress at present without any opposition.
(14) Further, the most illustrious Signoria of Venice is specifically obligated to transfer to my Lordship the island of Lemnos, except that they will take the commander and the lords and the other men who want to go will take whatever they have to go wherever they want. Those who want to remain on the island will be pardoned for what they did until now.
(15) Further, the most illustrious Signoria of Venice will hand over to my Lordship the present fortresses and lands which were taken in the war from my Lordship, that is, in the parts of the Morea, except that the men in their authority will go wherever they want with whatever they have. If some want to remain in the present territories and fortresses they will have complete pardons, specifically, for every act, if they did anything up to now.
(16) Further, my Lordship is obligated to hand over to them the occupied territories, that is, to the former borders of their fortresses which neighbor with the lands of my Lordship on all sides.
The above-written provisions are confirmed and ratified and sworn.
The present writing was done in the year 6987, the 12th indiction, the 25th of the month of January, in Constantinople.* * * * * *
A diplomatic edition of the Greek text and discussion of the treaty terms is forthcoming in Studi Veneziani (2007). For a heavily-edited Greek text see Acta et Diplomata Graeca Medii Aevi Sacra et Profana, Franz Miklosich and Ioseph Müller, editors (Vienna, 1865) III.295-298. The Turkish text can be found in Hans Theunissen," Ottoman-Venetian Diplomatics: The cAhd-Names.," Electronic Journal of Oriental Studies I.2 (1998) published by the University of Utrecht at http://www.let.uu.nl/oosters/EJOS/EJOS-1.html.
© Diana Gilliland Wright
Modified 4 February 2006