Diplomatic encounters between the Venetians and the Ottomans in case of captivity (1560-1590)

Abstract

This dissertation is about the transformation of the legal, economic and social status of captives taken during the wars between the Ottomans and Venetians. It also covers how the events between 1560-1590 affected both countries' and the Mediterranean's history. This study argues that the political, military, and economic interaction between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire profoundly affected the history of slavery in the Mediterranean. This dissertation focuses mainly on these two states. The changes in the status of war captives and slaves through the years were studied, along with the changes caused by the establishment of Ottoman domination in the region. After the emergence of the Ottomans, a regional power, it took a long time for the Venetian Republic, a European state with active commercial operations both in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, to develop a reflex for liberating her subjects from captivity. While other states usually outsourced their liberation operations to religious institutions, Venice used her government agencies for such purposes. But as the number of Venetians increased steadily, they introduced some regulations. By tracking the transformation of such practices, this study contributes to the historiography of the Early Modern Mediterranean. This dissertation argues that the War in Cyprus in 1570 was a major turning point during the aforementioned transformation. The events that occurred during and after the war significantly affected the law of war captives and slaves through social, economic, and military means.