We will give, from these capitulations, as much as particularly concerns the subject of our history, or which may throw a light upon the Ottoman policy.
“The Emperor Sultan Mahmoud, son of Sultan Moustapha, ever victorious.[179]
“Here is that which ordains this glorious and imperial signature, conqueror of the world, this noble and sublime mark, whose efficacy proceeds from divine aid.
“I, who by the excellence of the favours of the Most High, and by the eminence of the miracles filled with blessings from the chief of the prophets (to whom be the most ample salutations, as well as to his family and his companions), am the Sultan of glorious sultans, the emperor of puissant emperors, the distributor of crowns to the Cosroes, who are seated on thrones, the shadow of God upon earth, the servant of the two illustrious cities of Mecca and Medina, august and holy places, to which Mussulmans address their vows; the protector and master of the holy Jerusalem; the sovereign of the three great cities of Constantinople, Adrianople, and Broussa, as well as of Damascus, the odour of Paradise; of Tripoli, of Syria, of Egypt, the wonder of ages, and renowned for its delights; of all Arabia; of Africa, of Cairovan, of Aleppo, of Irak, Arab, and Adgen; of Bassora, of Lahra, of Dilem, and particularly of Bagdad, capital of the caliphs; of Rakka, of Mossoul, of Chehregour, of Diarbeker, of Zulkadric, of Ergerum the Delightful; of Sebarta, of Adana, of Caramenia, of Kars, of Ichidder, of Van, of the isles of the Morea, of Candia, of Cyprus, Chio, and Rhodes; of Barbary, of Ethiopia; of the places of war, Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis; of the isles and the coasts of the White Sea and of the Black Sea; of the countries of Natolia, and the kingdom of Romelia; of all Kurdestan, of Greece, of Turkomania, of Tartary, of Circassia, of Cabarta, and of Georgia; of the noble tribes of the Tartars, and of all the hordes which depend upon them; of Caffa, and other surrounding places; of all Bosnia and its dependencies; of the fortress of Belgrade, a place of war; of Servia, as well as of the fortresses and castles existing in it; of the countries of Albania, of all Wallachia, of Moldavia, and of the forts and holds which are in these cantons; possessor besides of a number of cities and fortresses, of which it is superfluous to repeat or boast the names. I, who am emperor, asylum of justice and king of kings, the centre of victory, Sultan, son of the Sultan, Emperor Mahmoud the conqueror, son of Sultan Mustafa, son of Sultan Muhammed: I, who by my power, the origin of facility, am adorned with the title of emperor of the two lands, and as a crowning grandeur to my caliphate, am illustrated by the title of emperor of the two seas.
“The glory of the great princes of the faith of Jesus, the elect of the great and the magnificent of the religion of the Messiah, the arbitrator and mediator in the affairs of Christian nations, clothed with true marks of dignity and honour, filled with grandeur, with glory and majesty, the emperor of France, and of other vast kingdoms which depend upon it, our very magnificent, very honoured, sincere, and ancient friend, Louis XV., to whom God grant all success and felicity, having sent to our august court, which is the seat of the caliphate, a letter containing evidences of the most perfect sincerity, and of the most particular affection, candour, and uprightness, and the same letter being destined for our Sublime Port of felicity, which, by the infinite goodness of the incontestably majestic Supreme Being, is the abode of sultans the most magnificent, of emperors the most respectable; the model of Christian nobles, skilful, prudent, esteemed, and honoured minister, Louis Sauveur, marquis de Villeneuve, your present counsellor of state, and your ambassador to our Port of felicity (may the end of which be crowned with good fortune), having demanded permission to present and remit the said letter, which has been granted to him by our imperial consent, conformably with the ancient usages of our court; and consequently the said ambassador having been admitted to the foot of our imperial throne, surrounded with the light of glory, he has there delivered the said letter, and has been the representative of your majesty, in participating our imperial grace and favour; the translation of its friendly tenor was afterwards presented and reported, according to the ancient customs of the Ottomans, at the foot of our sublime throne, by the channel of the very honoured Elhadjy Mehemed Pacha, our first minister, the absolute interpreter of our ordinances, the ornament of the world, the support of the good order of nations, the orderer of the grades of our empire, the instrument of the glory of our crown, the channel for the favours of royal majesty, the very virtuous Grand Vizier, my venerable and fortunate minister and lieutenant-general, of whose power and prosperity may God perpetuate the triumph!
“And as the expressions of this friendly letter make known the desire and eagerness of your majesty to preserve, as heretofore, all the honours and ancient friendship, hitherto maintained from time immemorial between our glorious ancestors (may the light of God be upon them), and the very magnificent emperors of France; and as in the said letter there is question, in consideration of the sincere friendship and the particular attachment that France has always evinced towards our imperial house, again to renew, during the happy period of our glorious reign, and to strengthen and enlighten, by the addition of some articles, the imperial capitulations, already renewed in the year of the Hegyra 1084, under the reign of the late Sultan Mehemed, our august grandfather, noble and generous during his life, and happy in his death; which capitulations had for object, that the ambassadors, consuls, interpreters, merchants, and other subjects of France, should be protected and maintained in all peace and tranquillity,[180] and it has at length arrived at our imperial knowledge that these points have been conferred upon by the said ambassador and the minister of the Sublime Port: the foundations of the friendship which, from time immemorial, has subsisted with firmness between the court of France and our Sublime Port, and the convincing proofs which your majesty has given of it, particularly during our glorious reign, giving reason to hope that the ties of such a friendship can only be drawn closer, and become stronger from day to day; these motives have inspired us with sentiments conformable with your desires; and wishing to procure activity in commerce, and security to goers and comers, which are the fruits such a friendship ought to produce; we not only confirm by these presents in their full extent, the ancient and renewed capitulations, as well as the articles concerted at the above date, but to procure more ease for our merchants and greater vigour in commerce, we have granted them exemption from the right of Mezeterie, which they have paid at all times, as well as several other points concerning commerce, and the safety of comers and goers, which have been discussed, treated of, and regulated, in good and due form, in the divers conferences which have been held upon the subject, between the said ambassador, furnished with sufficient power, and the persons deputed on the part of our Sublime Port. After the entire conclusion of all, my supreme and absolute Grand Vizier, having rendered an account of it to our imperial Stirrup, and it being our will to show specially on this occasion the value and esteem that we entertain for the ancient and constant friendship of the emperor of France, who has just given us fresh and particular marks of the sincerity of his heart, we have granted our sign imperial for the execution of the articles newly concluded, and consequently of the ancient and renewed capitulations; having been transcribed and reported exactly, word for word from the commencement, and followed by the articles newly regulated and granted; these present imperial capitulations have been placed and consigned, in the above-said order, in the hands of the aforesaid ambassador.”
Articles 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36 of the capitulations contain what follows:—“As inimical nations, who have no positive ambassadors at my Port of felicity, formerly went and came in our states, under the banner of the emperor of France, whether for commerce, whether for pilgrimage, according to the imperial permission they had had for it under the reigns of our ancestors of glorious memory, as likewise it was granted by the ancient capitulations accorded to the French: and as afterwards, for certain reasons, the entrance to our states was positively prohibited to these same nations, and they were even withdrawn from the said capitulations; nevertheless, the emperor of France having evinced by the letter he has sent to our Port of felicity, that he should wish that the inimical nations, to whom trading in our states has been forbidden, might have liberty to come and go to Jerusalem, in the same manner as they were accustomed to go and come, without being in any way interrupted; and that if consequently it were permitted them to come and traffic in our states, it should be under the banner of France, as formerly, the demand of the emperor of France has been complied with, in consideration of the ancient friendship, which from the times of my glorious ancestors has subsisted, from father to son, between your majesty and the Sublime Port, and we have issued an imperial edict, of which the following is the tenor:—That the Christian and inimical nations which are at peace with the emperor of France, and who shall desire to visit Jerusalem, may go thither and return, within the boundaries of their state, in the customary manner, and in full liberty and security, without any person causing them trouble or impediment; and if it should afterwards prove convenient to grant to the said nations the liberty of trading in our states, they will then go and come under the banner of the emperor of France as formerly, without being allowed to go and come under any other banner.
“The ancient imperial capitulations, which have been in the hands of the French since the reigns of my magnificent ancestors to the present day, and which have just been reported in detail above, having been now renewed with an addition of some new articles, conformably with the imperial order, issued in virtue of my khatt-cherif; the first of these articles declares, that the bishops dependent upon France, and the other ecclesiastics who profess the French religion, of whatever nation or race they may be, as long as they shall keep within the limits of their state, shall not be troubled in the exercise of their functions in those parts of our empire where they have been long settled.
“The French ecclesiastics who, according to ancient custom, are established within and without the city of Jerusalem, in the church of the Holy Sepulchre called Kamama, shall not be disturbed in the places of visitation which they inhabit, and which are in their hands, which shall remain still in their hands as formerly, without being disturbed in that respect, or by the imposition of tributes; and should any dispute arise, which cannot be decided on the spot, it shall be sent to my Sublime Port.
“The French, or those who depend upon them, of whatever nation or quality they may be, who desire to go to Jerusalem, shall not be molested either in going or returning.
“The two religious orders which are at Galata, that is to say, the Jesuits and the Capuchins, having two churches there, which have been in their hands ab antiquo, they shall remain in their hands, and they shall retain the possession and the advantages of them: and as one of these churches has been burnt, it shall be rebuilt as justice requires, and it shall remain, as formerly, in the hands of the Capuchins, without molestation or disturbance. There shall be no uneasiness entertained with regard to the churches the French have at Smyrna, Seyda, Alexandria, and other Echelles; and no money shall be required of them under any pretence.
“The French shall not be disturbed, when, within the bounds of their own quarter, they read the Gospel in their hospital of Galata.”
Several of these dispositions not having been strictly executed, the Port renewed them in 1740; this is the renewal, as it is expressed in article 82.
“When the places, of which the ecclesiastics dependent upon France have possession at Jerusalem, as has been mentioned in the articles solemnly granted and now renewed, shall be in want of repair, to prevent the ruin to which they would be exposed by the course of time, it shall be permitted to grant, at the request of the ambassador of France, residing at my Port of felicity, orders for their being repaired in a way conformable to justice; and the cadis, commandants, and other officers, shall not be allowed to throw any impediment in the way of the things granted by order; and as it has happened that our officers, under pretext of having made secret repairs in the said places, made many visits in the course of the year, and extorted money from the ecclesiastics, we command that, on the part of the cadis, commandants, and other officers who may be there, there shall be only one visit made in the year to the church of the place that is called the Sepulchre of Jesus; and the same in the other churches and places of visitation. The bishop and ecclesiastics dependent upon the emperor of France, who are in my empire, shall be protected as long as they confine themselves to the limits of their own state, and nobody shall prevent them from performing their rites according to their own customs, in the churches which are in their hands, as well as in the other places in which they dwell: and when our tributary subjects and the French shall go and come among one another, for the purpose of buying, selling, or other affairs, they shall not be molested, against the same laws, on account of this intercourse; and as it is decreed in the preceding stipulated articles that they shall be allowed to read the Scriptures in the hospital of Galata, and this has, nevertheless, not been done, we order, that in whatever place that hospital may for the future be, in a juridical form, they may be allowed to read the Scripture there, as is their duty, without any inquietude upon the subject.”
The capitulations or treaties with the Port are too extensive to allow us to give them entirely here. The articles, which amount to eighty-five, regulate the rights of persons and the commercial privileges of which the Port has granted the enjoyment to all the French established or travelling in the countries of its domination; they regulate also the diplomatic relations between the two powers, and the prerogatives of the ambassadors of the king of France.
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No. 40.
Note by M. Raynouard upon the Work by M. Hammer, entitled Mysterium Baphometi Revelatum, &c.
Since the proscription of the knights of the Temple and the abolition of the order, five hundred years had passed away, when accusations, evidences, and judgments, were again submitted to the revision of history;—the renown of the order and the memory of the knights are again reëstablished in the opinion of impartial persons.
A new adversary of the Templars presented himself, and setting aside the accusations which contemporary persecutors had imagined, invented other crimes. In spite of the interval of time, he boasted of being able to produce material proofs: “There is no need of words,” says M. Hammer, “when stones serve as witnesses.”
What are these monuments with which the persons who prepared and achieved the ruin of the Templars were unacquainted, or which they neglected? How did they escape the industrious perquisitions of the envy, hatred, and sagacity of the inquisitors? Why did not the divers apostates, who, from ambition or fear, gave evidence against the order, point out monuments which then would have been more numerous and more striking, and whose existence might have justified their shameful desertion? And when the churches and houses of the Templars were occupied by successors who had so much interest in procuring pardon for the rigour of the spoliation, how was it that none of these successors discovered these material proofs, which, according to M. Hammer, proclaim to the present day the apostasy of the Templars?
The work of this scholar is entitled, Le Mystère du Baphomet révélé; or, the Brothers of the Military Order of the Temple convicted, by their own Memorials, of sharing the Apostasy, Idolatry, and Impiety of the Gnostics, and even of the Ophianites.
The following contains the exposition, the analysis, and the recapitulation of M. Hammer.
“We read, in the procedure undertaken against the order of the Temple, that the knights worshipped an idol of Bafomet form—in figuram Bafometi.[181] The decomposition of this word furnishes bafo and meti. Bafo, in Greek, signifies dyeing, or dipping, and, by extension, baptism; meti, signifies spirit. The Bafomet of the Templars was then the baptism of the spirit—the Gnostic baptism, which was not performed by the waters of redemption, but which was a spiritual lustration by fire. Bafomet signifies, then, the illumination of the spirit.
“As the Gnostics had furnished the Templars with Bafometic ideas and images, the word meti (metis) became venerated among the Templars: “I shall, therefore,” adds M. Hammer, “furnish proofs of this decisive circumstance.
“The Gnostics were accused of infamous vices. The metis was represented under symbolical forms, principally under that of serpents, and of a truncated cross in the shape of Tau—T.
“The Gnostics,” continues M. Hammer, “did not always employ the word meti in their monuments; they likewise made use of the word gnosis, which is synonymous, and is found among the Templars.”
Developing his system of accusation, M. Hammer constantly maintains that it is proved by the proceedings instituted against the Templars, that they adored Bafometic figures; he produces medals which bear these pretended Bafometic figures, and particularly some medals upon which may be read, meti, with a truncated cross,[182] and others which represent a temple, with the legend, Sanctissima Quinosis, that is to say, Gnosis. He indicates likewise Gnostic vases and chalices; and attributing them to the Templars, advances, that the romance of the Saint Graal, or holy cup, is a symbolic romance, which at the same time conceals and proves the apostasy of the knights; and believes that he recognises in churches which formerly belonged to the Templars, or which he pretends to have belonged to them, Bafometic figures, and Gnostic and ophitic symbols.
M. Hammer expends much erudition in describing the various and numerous systems which preceded and produced the sect of the Gnostics; at length he comes to the Bafometic figures; he produces twenty-four of them, which appear to him to bear the characters of the Bafomet; they are covered with astrological signs; many are encircled by a serpent, and hold this cross by a handle, which was called key of the Nile by the Egyptians, and which has been considered the symbol of fecundity; they bear inscriptions, some in Latin, some in Greek, which denote nothing but proper names; and others in Arabic would be unintelligible, if we had not the means of comparing them with those upon the vases. The principal vase bears an Arabic inscription, which refers to the worship of a divinity named Mété; it has the title of Teala—all-powerful, and of Nasch—producer. M. Hammer pretends that the Mété was the same as the Sophia and Achamet of the various sects of Gnostics.
But no relation presents itself, either near or remote, with the Templars.
It was M. Nicolaï who, in a German work, entitled, An Essay upon the Secret of the Templars, first employed this word Bafomet, and who attached to it the idea of the image of the supreme God, in the state of quietude attributed to him by the Manichean Gnostics; it was this learned man who first supposed that the Templars had a secret doctrine and initiations of several grades; and he pretends that the Saracens had communicated this doctrine to them.
In order to destroy all these systems, it is sufficient to prove that it is impossible to prove that the word Bafometi, which is reported in the proceedings against the Templars, signified anything but Mahomet.
M. le Baron Sylvestre de Sacy had already condemned this explanation of M. Hammer; and if the latter persisted in not recognising in Bafomet the name of Mahomet, it would be easy to prove to him that authors of the middle ages often wrote Bafomet for Mahomet;—authorities are not wanting.
If the word even of the Bafometic or Gnostic sect does not exist, if it never has existed, the entire system is without a basis.
But even if it could be proved that a Bafometic sect had existed, if we were in possession of certain details upon its opinions and mysteries, how could M. Hammer prove that the Templars belonged to this sect?
M. Hammer has collected and caused to be engraved as many as a hundred medals and other monuments which he attributes to the Templars, because he fancies he finds upon them the Mete and the Tau of the Gnostics.
The medals he produces are not even proofs of the existence of a sect of Gnostics; and even if this existence could be demonstrated, these medals and these monuments being entirely foreign to the Templars, why should they be applied to them?[183]
To give an idea of the manner in which M. Hammer tries to prove, by the medals, that the Templars were Gnostics, I will cite only these upon which this savant fancies he reads the word Quinosis or Gnosis.
In the coin 80, we see, according to M. Hammer, the temple of Jerusalem with four towers; the inscription is: + S. S. SIMOONJU[prostrate d]A; but reading it the reverse way, and beginning, not by the final A, but by the prostrate d, which M. Hammer has taken for a Q, whilst other savants, who have quoted this medal, have thought it a D, he reads SSTA QUINOMIS, although there is no T in the inscription; and considering the M as a sigma reversed, M. Hammer has found Quinosis; then Qui into G, and only making a single O of the two, he obtains Gnosis; which, according to his account, reveals and proves the secret of the Gnostic Templars.
M. Hammer not only reads it backwards, but he begins by the penultimate letter, and leaves the A, after which is a + which separates the beginning of the inscription from its end. He adds a T, and supposes a Greek letter mixed with the Latin inscription; and yet, after all these changes, he cannot produce the word Gnosis.
And what prevented him from seeing in this inscription what it really is, SS. SIMON JUDA?
In the medal 99 we read in the same manner, S. Simon Vel Juda; in the 93rd, S. Simon Juda, &c. Nothing was more common in the middle ages than coins which, on one side bear the name of a saint, and on the other side the name of a city or prince.
Two of the coins upon which, instead of St. Simon and St. Jude, M. Hammer records Saint Gnostic, bear also the name of Otto, or Otto Marchio. This circumstance is embarrassing for M. Hammer; he explains it by saying that this Marquis Otho was a Gnostic, a protector of the Templars, and initiated into their secret doctrines.
Seelander only reads St. Simon and St. Jude upon these coins; he believes that this Otho might be Otho II., marquis of Brandenburg, who lived about the year 1200. If the opinion of Seelander will not induce M. Hammer to adopt this simple, natural, and evident explanation, he may find in Otto Sperlingius the explanation of a similar coin, with the inscription of St. Simon and St. Jude. The heads of the two saints are close together, under the same crown. A. Mellen thought that this coin was struck at Goslar, and Sperlengius adopts his opinion.
But even if it were allowed that these coins belonged to a sect of Gnostics, I should continue to assert that M. Hammer does not at all prove that the Templars made use of them. The reasoning of this savant is reduced almost to this:—“These monuments are Gnostic, therefore they relate to the Templars;” and to this:—“These monuments relate to the Templars, therefore they are Gnostic.”
But let me be permitted to say once more, if the Templars had had amongst them such Gnostic signs, how was it that these signs were not made known and denounced when the question was to destroy the order? How is it that they are never found anywhere but in Germany?
I should obtain the same result if I were to examine in this manner in detail all that relates to the cups and chalices in which M. Hammer believes he sees Gnostic emblems; not only is there nothing upon them concerning the Templars, but M. Hammer has only collected them in places and upon monuments quite foreign to the order of the Templars.
As to the Gnostic sculptures which M. Hammer persists in seeing in some churches, is it not well known that we find in the churches of the middle ages sculptures and monuments which it is very difficult to explain, either on account of the moral and religious ideas which the artists of the time expressed under very unsuitable images; or on account of the pious allegories, the tradition of which is not come down to us?
The relievos of the capitals of the church of St. Germaine des Prés have embarrassed antiquaries, and if M. Hammer had found such in a church of the Templars, he would not have failed to magnify by them his act of accusation.
He cites seven churches in Germany, in which he pretends to recognise Gnostic emblems: but he offers no proof that these churches belonged to the Templars; and, even if the Order had built them, is it to be conceived, that if there existed a secret doctrine among them, the leaders would have exposed the symbols of it in public in their churches? And how is it that they selected seven German churches to receive these irreligious signs, whilst they did nothing of the same kind in the three thousand churches they possessed in Christendom?
M. Hammer is not more fortunate when he seeks in romances, which speak of the Saint Graal, the emblematic history, or the symbol of the order of the Temple.
These romances present nothing contrary to religion; the knights, who are the personages, promise fidelity to God and the ladies; they arm and fight for religion and beauty. Can we then be astounded that at the period when these romances were composed, the search for the St. Graal, or holy cup, was considered an exploit worthy of chivalry?
M. Hammer fancies he finds something very favourable to him in the following passage:—“As the St. Graal came to Tramelet on the day of Pentecost,”—he remarks that the festival of St. Graal was not celebrated on Christmas-day, but at Pentecost; “if by this cup,” says he, “had been meant, as some people suppose, the Lord’s cup, the festival would have been celebrated either on Christmas-day or Holy Thursday, and not on the day of Pentecost, which the Gnostics regarded as very holy, as the day of the Holy Ghost, which was for the Gnostics Sophia, and for the Templars Mete.”
The reply to this is very easy:—1st. King Artus held his plenary court on the great festivals of the year; it is not, then, surprising that the St. Graal should arrive at Pentecost. 2nd. The author of the romance could not choose the day of Christmas-day, which festival was not appointed in the time of King Artus. 3rd. It is even probable that the romance in question was composed before the institution of that festival by Urban IV., in 1264.
M. Hammer has been sensible that it was strange to form, after a lapse of five centuries, an accusation against the Templars quite different from that which served as a pretext for the contemporary oppressors. Therefore he advances that the pope, by the sentence which was pronounced against the Templars, was willing to conceal the knowledge of their true crimes; but he maintains, that when the archives of Rome shall come to light, as everything does sooner or later, we shall there find the proof of the crimes he now denounces.
How is it possible to be believed, that if the knights had been guilty of the crimes M. Hammer attributes to them, the pope and kings would have preferred the absurd system of accusation which they employed, to a system such as that which M. Hammer puts forth?
But, besides, it is very certain that ALL the pieces which the archives of Rome contained are now known: they are ALL marked with their numbers in the notice of the unpublished pieces which have assisted in the composition of Les Monuments Historiques relatifs à la Condemnation des Chavaliers du Temple, etc. M. Hammer has nothing, therefore, to hope from the archives of the Vatican.
This distinguished savant will some day acknowledge that he ought not to have yielded to the desire of putting forth a new system of denunciation against the order and the knights of the Temple. Their terrible and celebrated catastrophe imposes the obligation of being very circumspect and very severe in the choice of the means by which we may allow ourselves to endeavour to deprive them of the just pity which posterity has not refused to their fate.