Roma çasarıyla şevketlü padişahımuzun sulh [u] salahı olub – The two Ali Pashas of Temeşvar ont he Habsburg, Hungarian and Ottoman Frontier at the Time of the Rákóczi War of Independence

The war in the last third of the seventeenth century that resulted in the Ottoman Empire’s loss of dominance in East Central Europe came to an end in January 1699 with the signing of the Treaty of Karlowitz between the members of the Holy League (the Habsburg Monarchy, Venice, Poland) and the Ottoman Empire. And a separate armistice was also declared between the Russians and the Ottomans.1 The twenty articles of the Habsburg–Ottoman peace treaty of Karlowitz specified what territories were to be assigned between the two empires. One of the biggest territorial changes was the transfer of Transylvania to the control of Austria. In addition to drawing new borders, the treaty provided rules governing castles, fortresses, towns and villages close to the frontiers, the prohibition of looting, the handling of rebellious or dissatisfied subjects, the exchange of prisoners of war and the protection of merchants. Following renewed military conflict between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire, lasting from 1716 to 1718, another peace treaty was concluded in Passarowitz (Požarevac) in 1718.2 These treaties, at least theoretically, assured settled living conditions and properly-organized administration for subjects on the two sides of the border for the next decade and a half. Although there was peace between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire, there was an insurrection in the Kingdom of Hungary, whose territories, except for the Banat region in the south, which remained under Ottoman control, had been acquired by the Habsburg Monarchy. The Rákóczi War of Independence, which lasted from 1703 until 1711, was a reaction to the authority, laws and policies of the Habsburg government in Vienna. Hungarian historians have made extensive studies of the war, but for a long time, they paid little attention to the Ottoman issue: the diplomacy or the background, aims, opportunities and results of Rákóczi’s attempts to establish relations with the Porte. As soon as the rebellion in Hungary started, Ferenc Rákóczi directed his diplomatic efforts towards obtaining Ottoman assistance. Until 1705 (according to Benda) or 1704 (Vatai), Rákóczi had been planning to ask for Ottoman support in freeing Transylvania and nominating Imre Thököly as prince of Transylvania.7 Although memories of the century and a half of Ottoman rule over his country must have been on Rákóczi’s mind as he sought sources of support, he wanted to rule as prince of Transylvania and – after 1706 – he had no chance of attaining this ambition without gaining some kind of support from the Ottoman Empire. Kuruc8–Ottoman relations were affected by the foreign political environment, the position and the intentions of Western and Eastern European countries, and the Porte’s assertion of its interests within the confines of the prevailing legal framework. So what was the Porte motivated by? What served the interests of the Ottoman decision-makers? And what change did this bring to the Habsburg–Kuruc–Ottoman frontier in the first years of Rákóczi’s War of Independence? Here, I offer some information that throws light on these questions, gained from documents dated from 1705 to 1707 in the collection(s)9 Kitab-i İnşa of Osman Ağa of Temeşvar (Temesvár/Timişoara)