Ottoman-Venetian relations

Archaeological excavations of the Split lazaretto have covered
a large part of its earliest facilities (1582-1592) as well as part
of its third phase building to the east (1615–1616).
Excavation inside the courtyard of the original building first
revealed structures that were used until World War II. Almost
immediately upon the removal of the concrete floor, two
stone constructions for wooden piles were found that were
supporting the original lazaretto building. At this level digging
recovered numerous fragments of late graffiti ceramics
(second half of the 16th and 17th centuries), but also other
types of glazed and coarse ware.
No medieval or Roman finds were found in this trench
whatsoever, confirming the information from the historical
account that the oldest building was mostly built on the sea.
Trench 3 covered the southeastern part of the original building.
In the 18th century layer, south of the pentagonal tower,
four Baroque coats of arms of Venetian noble families were
found: the coats of arms of the Trevisan, Marcello, Farsetti,
and Emo families. The family coats of arms were removed
from the front of the lazaretto by order of the Venetian authorities
between Emmo’s administration (1714–1717) and
the Treaty of Campoformio in 1797, which brought an end
to Venetian rule in Dalmatia.
Venetian gazzetas and 18th-century Ottoman silver coins
were also found in the same stratigraphic unit. In the southeast
corner of Trench 3, a monolithic twisted door frame in
the gotico fiorito style was found, which probably decorated
the oldest lazaretto building. The remains of the lazaretto’s
third phase were preserved at the same level. Below the interface
of destruction, excavation showed floorings and foundations
of the 17th-century building. Quite a few artifacts were
recovered, mostly 16th-20th century glazed pottery.
However, this trench brought out several fragments of 4thand
5th-century cylindrical amphoras, probably pointing
to the Diocletian’s palace in the vicinity. Also, several short
excavation campaigns covered sections of the city’s Baroque
fortifications destroyed after the beginning of the 18th century.
The remains of Bernardo and Cornaro bastions are still
preserved in their foundation outline under the contemporary
buildings.

In the sixteenth century, the Ottoman court in Constantinople emerged as the axial centre of early modern diplomacy in Eurasia. Diplomatic Cultures at the Ottoman Court, c.1500-1630 takes a unique approach to diplomatic relations by focusing on how diplomacy was conducted and diplomatic cultures forged at a single court: the Sublime Porte. It unites studies from the perspectives of European and non-European diplomats with analyses from the perspective of Ottoman officials involved in diplomatic practices. It focuses on a formative period for diplomatic procedure and Ottoman imperial culture by examining the introduction of resident embassies on the one hand, and on the other, changes in Ottoman policy and protocol that resulted from the territorial expansion and cultural transformations of the empire in the sixteenth century. The chapters in this volume approach the practices and processes of diplomacy at the Ottoman court with special attention to ceremonial protocol, diplomatic sociability, gift-giving, cultural exchange, information gathering, and the role of para-diplomatic actors. PDF gives the table of contents.
https://www.routledge.com/Diplomatic-Cultures-at-the-Ottoman-Court-c15001630/Sowerby-Markiewicz/p/book/9780367429324

A collection of 13 articles and 10 book-reviews. 
1 Venetia rules the Rivers. La geo-strategia fluviale veneziana (1431-1509),
    di FEDERICO MORO
2 Razmysl, il misterioso “ingegnere” di Ivan il Terribile,
    di MARIO CORTI
3 The Military Status of the Ionian Islands in 1589 based on the Report by
    Giovanni Battista del Monte, by KOSTAS G. TSIKNAKIS
4 Letteratura di viaggio e osservazioni militari a cavallo fra Cinque e Seicento.
    Gli scritti di Filippo Pigafetta, Leonardo Donà e Silvestro Querini
  di TONI VENERI
5 La pensée militaire du duc Charles V de Lorraine et ses sources,
    par FERENC TOTH
6 Defending the Regno di Morea. Antonio Jansic and the Fortress of Modon,
    by ERIC G. L. PINZELLI
7 Fortificazione campale e ordini di battaglia. Un esempio piemontese del 1743,
    di ROBERTO SCONFIENZA
8 Metamorfosi di un condottiero. Castruccio Castracani da Machiavelli ad Algarotti,
    di DENISE ARICÒ
9 Les ressources de l'Europe contre les ressources du monde? La marine de
    Napoléon contre la Royal Navy, par NICOLA TODOROV
10 Milano città militare in età napoleonica (1800-1814),
    di EMANUELE PAGANO
11 L’esercito dissolto: la IV Divisione Val di Noto e il suo sventurato comandante nella
      rivoluzione siciliana del 1820-21, di GIACOMO PACE GRAVINA
12 “Italianissimo but not simpatico”. Hugh Forbes nella Rivoluzione
    Italiana del 1848-49, di VIVIANA CASTELLI e VIRGILIO ILARI
13 Paolo Solaroli di Briona. Un sarto novarese tra India e Risorgimento,
    di TOMASO VIALARDI DI SANDIGLIANO

Recensioni / Reviews
1 VIRGILIO ILARI, Scrittori Militari Italiani dell’età moderna.
    Dizionario bio-bibliografico 1410-1799 [di DENISE ARICÒ]
2 MICHEL PRETALLI, Penser et dire la ruse de guerre. De l’Antiquité à la
  Renaissance [di WILLIAM BONACINA]
3 IOANNA IORDANOU, Venice’s Secret Service. Organizing Intelligence in the
    Renaissance [di FRANCESCO BIASI]
4  FRÉDÉRIC CHAUVIRÉ, The New Knights: The Development of Cavalry
    in Western Europe, 1562-1700 [di LUCA DOMIZIO]
5 ILYA BERCOVICH, Motivation in War The Experience of Common Soldiers
    in Old-Regime Europe [ROBERTO SCONFIENZA]
6 LUCA GIANGOLINI,  L’esercito del papa. Istituzione militare,
    burocrazia curiale e nobiltà nello Stato della Chiesa (1692-1740)
    [di GIAMPIERO BRUNELLI]
7 ELINA GUGLIUZZO e GIUSEPPE RESTIFO, Una battaglia europea.
    Francavilla di Sicilia 20 giugno 1719 [di MARIAGRAZIA ROSSI]
8 ARON WEISS MITCHELL, The Grand Strategy of the Habsburg Empire,
  1700-1866. A    Study In Interstitial Time Management
  [di EMANUELE FARRUGGIA]
9 MARIO CORTI, Italiani d’arme in Russia. Artigiani, ingegneri, ufficiali
  in un esercito straniero (1400-1800) [di VIRGILIO ILARI]
10 CRISTIANO BETTINI, Come progettavano i velieri. Alle origini
    dell’architettura moderna di navi e yacht [di MARIO ROMEO]

This essay aims to show how information was used as a political tool in sixteenth-century Istanbul. By concentrating on the “Mediterranean faction”, i.e. Muslim corsairs incorporated into the Ottoman imperial system, it will seek to demonstrate how interest groups tried to manipulate Ottoman decision-making and strategy formulation process in accordance with their corporate interests. The economic rationale behind the cooperation between the Ottoman imperial elites and the corsairs required that Istanbul pursued a belligerent policy in the Western Mediterranean and thus invested in the navy. In order to make sure that this happened, the Mediterranean faction used every means at their disposal. Twisting information was the most efficient one. They fabricated rumors, produced false witnesses, staged mise-en-scènes, withheld relevant information and even detained incoming foreign ambassadors to keep their government in the dark, all in the name of convincing the Ottoman decision-makers of an exaggerated enemy threat in the Mediterranean which merited military investment.

Keywords: Information Gathering, Disinformation, Decision-Making Process, Strategy, Ottoman Naval Policy in the Sixteenth-Century, Factional Politics, Ottoman Corsairs, Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry, Ottoman-Venetian Relations, Ottomans in North Africa.

This paper reflects on the role of islands in the Mediterranean as transit posts in the news networks of the early 16th cent. AD. Based on research carried out within the framework of the ‘TUBITAK 1001 Scientific and Technologic Research Support Fund’ project numbered 113K655 (Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean Intelligence Net- work during the First Half of the 16th Century), this study traces the routes of letters and reports from eastern Mediterranean port cities to Venice from where news would be distributed to various cities in Europe. Our research investigates the hubs where various pieces of oral and written news within a wide range of sources, from official letters to eyewitness accounts, from familial correspondence to rumours, came together to be delivered collectively. As news travelled through the sea routes, this study focuses especially on the islands of Corfu, Crete, Rhodes, and Cyprus as main information hubs. In a period when regular postal systems were not fully developed, the role of the islands as transit points for news flow sheds light on the importance of islands in the dynamics of communication in the early 16th cent. AD.