1594 -1600
SANDERSON, John [1584-1602] The Travels of John Sanderson in the Levant 1584-1602, with his Autobiography and Selections from his Correspondence. Edited by Sir William Foster (1931). London: Hakluyt Society. (Series II, volume LXVII)
[John Sanderson (1560-1627), "an English merchant of Shakespeare's day" (p. x) reached Constantinople in March 1585 and returned to London three years later (pp. 38, 54); his second visit lasted from March 1992 to September 1597 (pp. 57, 62), and during this period he wrote a "Description of Constantinople" in some detail (pp. 65-83), ending with a list of categories of people in Constantinople, of whom there were about 81,000 attached to the court, and roughly 1,150,000 other people in the city (pp. 82-83). Three adjacent categories are shown:]
            "In Constantinople ar resident:
...
Solacks {solaq}, his footemen                                               300
Falconers, dwarfs, and dome {i.e. dumb} men                       300
Whores of all sorts, at least                                                  1000
...
{Total}  1,231,207 "

 

SANDERSON. [In a letter to John Eldred, dated 25 January 1595.]
            "...to send you the newes; which is that Sultan Murad deceased the 7th of this moneth and was buryed the same day his sonne Sultan Mahemett arived, which was the 17th. That day his 19 sonns weare strangoled in thier brothers presence, and should have also bine caried to buryall with thier father, but time would not permitt to finish thier serimonies of washinge etc. ... The 4 muti (thoughe by commandement) which murtherd them weare also strangoled;"  (p. 141)
[The four deaf mute servants had been ordered to kill the young princes, and had carried out their orders. Yet it seems that the uneasiness of Mehmed III, about this slaughter of his brothers, required that the mutes in turn should be sacrificed.]

SANDERSON. [Describing the Grand Signior, the Bustanji bashi, and transport on State barges (qayiq, kayik, or caike)]   "This Bustangiebassi is a man of accompt about the Turke, and the great (but not the common) executioner; for the Turke imploy{s} him in stranglinge viceroyes, throwinge by night rebelliouse soldiers into the sea, and sutchlike. Chefe gardner is his office, havinge thowsands {of} jamoglaines and thier governers at his commaund. He kepethe the caikes, and alwayes steereth when the Great Turke goeth uppon the water; ... To rowe him he hath 80 chosen men, two and two at an ower [oar], 20 owers one a side, all in white shirts and redd capps, who often in thier rowinge barke like doggs. The reason I knowe not, except it be when they heare him talke (to the Bustangiebassi, who sitts at the rudder) that they dare not harken to his talke. His court of dwarfs and dum men alwayes folowe (except the very principall, who ar with him) in another caike; and many times also his women."  (p. 89)

 

1599
DALLAM, Thomas (1599-1600) Diary for 1599: Account of an Organ Carryed to the Grand Seignor and Other Curious Matter. In: J. Theodore Bent (ed.) (1893) Early Voyages and Travels in the Levant. I.- The Diary of Master Thomas Dallam, 1599-1600, etc. London: Hakluyt Society.
[The organ with chiming clock and mobile figures, designed and assembled by Thomas Dallam and his team on the orders of Queen Elizabeth, and shipped out to Constantinople, was shown to the Sultan and his courtiers for the first time, on 25 September 1599. Just before the Sultan's arrival, Dallam and his team had been told to leave the hall. On doing so, they had heard a different door open, which:]
"did sett at libertie four hundrethe persons which weare locked up all the time of the Grand Sinyore's absence, and juste at his cominge in theye weare sett at libertie, and at the firste sighte of the presente, with greate admyration did make a wonderinge noyes." (p. 67)
[Dallam was outside, but he had set the organ to start chiming and playing automatically after 15 minutes. The mobile figures also went through their programmed movements, including a bushful of birds that sang and opened their wings. (pp. 67-68)  The Sultan was pleased. He asked the Capigi (gatekeeper or senior guard) why the organ keys moved though nobody was playing them. He was told that the organ could be played by means of these keys, and Dallam was then brought in to demonstrate. Dallam spent some minutes being dazzled by the array of courtiers, pages and servants, whom he had heard pouring into the hall just before the Sultan had arrived:]
"The Grand Sinyor satt still, behouldinge the presente which was befor him, and I stood daslinge my eyes with loukinge upon his people that stood behinde him, the which was four hundrethe persons in number."
"Tow hundrethe of them weare his princepall padgis, the yongest of them 16 yeares of age, som 20, and som 30. They weare apparled in ritche clothe of goulde made in gowns to the mydlegge; ... Those 200 weare all verrie proper men, and Christians borne."   [They were boys taken from Christian families of the empire, during a periodic levy or official press-gang, called devsirme to be trained for service at the Ottoman court. Some had become Muslims.]
            "The thirde hundrethe weare Dum men, that could nether heare nor speake, and theye weare likwyse in gouns of riche Clothe of gould and Cordivan buskins; bute theire Caps weare of violett velvett, the croune of them made like a lether bottell, the brims devided into five picked (peaked) corneres. Som of them had haukes in theire fistes."
"The fourthe hundrethe weare all dwarffs, bige-bodied men, but verrie low of stature. Everie Dwarfe did weare a simmeterrie (scimitar) by his side, and they weare also apareled in gowns of Clothe of gould.
I did moste of all wonder at those dumb men, for they lett me understande by theire perfitt sins (signs) all thinges that they had sene the presente dow by its motions." (pp. 69-70)
[Here, Dallam gave perhaps the earliest description, by a well-attested European eyewitness at the Ottoman court, of signed communication in a group of deaf servants. He could follow the more iconic or gestural parts, because the subject was the machine he had designed and assembled, and the deaf men were indicating (to him, or to one another, or both) the movements it had been making. Presumably they had been unable to hear the music, so the programmed sequence of movements by the different figures was, for them, the sole purpose of the organ presented to their Master.]

 

4.3    1600 - 1699

 

c. 1600
BIDDULPH, William [c. 1600]  Part of a letter of Master William Biddulph from Aleppo. In: S. Purchas (ed.) (reprinted 1905) Hakluytus Posthumus, vol. VIII, pp. 248-304. Glasgow: MacLehose.
[The traveller and chaplain William Biddulph remarked that the Turks had various ways of naming one another, sometimes by impairment, or personal appearance.]
"They call one another diversly, and not alwayes by their names, but sometimes by their fathers Calling, Trade, or Degree: as Eben Sultan, that is, The sonne of a King: Eben Terzi, The sonne of a Taylor. And sometimes by their fathers qualities, as Eben Sacran, that is, The sonne of a Drunkard. And sometimes by their Marks, as Colac cis [= Kulaksiz], that is, A man without eares..." (p. 268)
            "...And there is no man amongst them of any degree, will refuse to answere to any of these names. But if Nature have marked them either with goggle eyes, bunch backs, lame legs, or any other infirmitie or deformitie, as they are knowne by it, so they are content to bee called by it." (p. 269)
[Biddulph had earlier commented that the Turks "also account fooles, dumbe men, and mad men, Santones, that is, Saints", though the examples he then gave were not of 'dumbe and deaf' men but of 'mad men': "...for they hold that mad mens soules are in Heaven talking with God, and that hee revealeth secrets unto them." (pp. 263-64).]

 

 

1603
HAMMER, Joseph von (1837) Histoire de l'Empire Ottoman, translated by J.-J. Hellert.  Paris: Bellizard et al.         
            "Le sceau de l'empire fut envoyé par le muet Killi au nouveau grand-vizir en Egypte: Yaouz Ali laissa dans cette province Piribeg pour son remplaçant, traversa la Syrie et l'Asie-Mineure à la tête d'une armée égyptienne, justifiant pendant toute sa marche, par des éxecutions et d'autres mesures vigoureuses, son surnom de Sévère." (Book 8, p. 33).
[Mehmed III died on 22 Dec. 1603. Hammer suggested that his reign was a critical period initiating the decline of the Ottoman empire, citing the views of the historian Kotschibeg (Koçi Bey). The country's ability to fight wars depended on a local militia system. Land and benefits were granted to capable men who, in return, undertook the responsibility of collecting a fighting force and having it ready to march in ten days. Under Mehmed III, the government had lost its grip on this system, which was now being used to hand out rewards to people who had no ability, experience or intention to raise troops in time of need.]
            "..les petits et les grands fiefs (timar et siamet) n'étaient accordé qu'aux fils de sipahis, et seulement lorsqu'ils avaient prouvé leur descendance légitime par le témoignage de deux grands et de dix petits feudataires; les nains, les muets et autre serviteurs de la cour et du harem ne recevaient jamais de fiefs;" (Bk 8: 45).
[Yet from Mehmed III's time, some dwarfs and some mutes did obtain this benefit. Similar complaint is made of government posts being sold, which previously had been awarded on merit and educational achievement. See note below, under '[1600-1800?]', Traian Stoianovitch.]

[1603]
NAIMA, transl. Fraser (1832) (see above, under 1596)
[The version by Naima, of the presentation of the seal of office to Yavuz (see previous item) has some useful points:]
            "Yávuz Ali Páchá having been recalled from the government of Egypt, he appointed the oldest of the emirs of that province to act as his deputy, and immediately commenced his journey toward Constantinople. His near approach to that city was no sooner ascertained, than the seals of the grand vezirship were sent him by the hands of Kuli Dilsiz, a relation of his own. This took place in Jemadi II., about the time the late vezir was assassinated." (vol. I, p. 240)
[ Naima clarifies the order of events, in which Yavuz Ali Pasha was recalled to Constantinople (presumably knowing very well the reason) but received the seal of office only as he was approaching the capital. That Kili was related to this most powerful man is interesting. It is reasonable to suppose that some of the mutes joined the Ottoman court on a 'fast track' to promotion, by the influence of relatives in high positions. Those relatives, while managing their own risky ascent of more orthodox career ladders, would have benefitted from having an inside source, who had ready access to the Sultan and carried private messages between the most powerful men.]

 

 

[1600-1800 ?]
[Traian Stoianovitch (1953), discussing changes in land tenure in the Ottoman Empire, noted that at some not very specific period between 1600 and 1800,  "Timars or benefices are thus extended to chamberlains, imperial secretaries, viziers, sultanas, women of the seraglio, imperial dwarfs and mutes, townspeople and farmers, hardly any of whom engage in military pursuits", (citing as authorities, Gibb & Bowen; Braudel; Hammer-Purgstall - for the latter, see 1603, above). Thus, some of the Sultan's mute servants seem to have retired from his service with significant wealth and land, which presumably conferred on them a continuing social status.]  T. Stoianovitch, 1953, Land tenure and related sectors of the Balkan economy, 1600-1800. J. Economic History 13 (4) 398-411.
            [A.E. Dikici (2006, pp. 103-104) quotes several passages from editions of Koçi Bey Risâlesi in which Koçi Bey (in a treatise written for Murad IV in 1631-32), "mentions dwarfs and mutes specifically as he complains about allocation of timar lands to them", and also to others; and would later reiterate his criticism of inappropriate levels of reward to mutes, dwarfs and others of weak status (in advice to Sultan Ibrahim, c. 1640-41).]

 

 

1603-1617
DIKICI, Ayse Ezgi (2006) Imperfect Bodies, Perfect Companions? ...  MA thesis, Sabanci University.
[From the reign of Ahmed I (1603-1617), Dikici recounts from an Ottoman source:]
            "An interesting anecdote that confirms the use of sign language among the sultan and his companions".   [Ahmed I had set his companions to chasing and catching one another, and took some part himself. Addressing one of the companions:]   "Ahmed ... reminding of his previous behaviour, told him in sign language, 'Perhaps he saw your refusal on that day in Çatalca, and learnt from you!' ... The story attests both to the use of sign language in such gatherings and to its possibilities of expression." (pp. 54-55)
[Citing Mustafa Sâfî, Zübdetü't-Tevârîh, in an edition by Dr I.H. Çuhadar (2003) vol. 1, pp. 68-69, Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu; this Safi was the Sultan's imam, and seems to have insider information.]

 

1604
HAMMER (1837, transl. Hellert, see above)  [The new Sultan Ahmed I (reigned 1603-1617) sent Grand Vizir Yaouz Ali out on a military expedition, and then cancelled a shuffle of senior posts made by Yaouz just before he left. One of the appointees, Hafiz-Pascha, while pleased to retain his post as Kaïmakam, anticipated the wrath of Yaouz on learning that the young Sultan had switched the posts back. He therefore delayed visiting the Grand Vizir.]
            "...mais peu après un muet du nom de Kili vint lui faire savoir qu'il se rendait au camp ottoman avec une lettre dans la- {p. 65} quelle le Sultan disait au grand-vizir que sa tête lui répondait de tout ce qui pourrait arriver au kaïmakam. Hafiz ne craignit plus alors de partir; il trouva le grand-vizir à Tschataldjé, et revint le jour suivant à Constantinople." (Book 8, pp. 64-65).

1604
NAIMA. Annals... transl. Frazer.
[See previous item, 1604, Hammer. An account by Naima of the same story has slight variation, which suggests the more active intervention by Killi or 'Kullili' Dilsiz in the affairs of state:]
            "...one Kullili Dilsiz soon afterward called on Háfiz, and told him that he was carrying letters to the grand vezir from the emperor, which had some reference to him, and advised him to take an opportunity of following him. He did so; had an interview with the grand vezir at Chatálijeh; and returned in time sufficient to attend the diván the following morning." (transl. Fraser, vol. I, p. 269)
{The different transliterations of Kili, Killi, Kuli or Kullili Dilsiz are not surprising}.

 

1608
BON, Ottaviano [1604-1608 ?]  [1] Il serraglio del gran signore descritto a Costantinopoli nel 1608, con notizie sul Bon di Gugl. Berchet (Venezia, 1865). [2]  Descrizione del serraglio del Gransignore.-Massime essenziali dell'Impero Ottomano. {From: Relazioni degli stati europei ... degli ambasciatori veneti. ser. 5. vol.1. pt. 1.} In: Contarini (F.) Doge of Venice. Legazioni a Costantinopoli dei Bacli F. Contarini ed O. Bon, etc. 1866.  [3]  Descrizione del Serraglio del Gransignore fatta del Bailo Ottaviano Bon [1608]. In: N. Barozzi & G. Berchet (eds) (1871) Le Relazioni degli Stati Europei lette al senato degli ambasciatori Veneziani nel secolo decimosettimo, Turchia, Venice, pp. 59-115.
BON, Ottaviano. (Translations to English, 1625, 1650)   [4]  [The Grand Signiors Serraglio: written by Master Robert Withers.] In: S. Purchas (ed.) (1625) Purchas his Pilgrimes, volume II, ix, [pp. 1580 to 1611?] London: Printed by William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone.  [5]  A description of the Grand Signor's seraglio, or Turkish emperours court, edited by John Greaves. London printed for Jo. Martin, and Jo. Ridley, 1650. [In the dedication, the work is attributed to the translator Robert Withers.]

 

[Ottaviano Bon's reports on several years at the Ottoman court (c. 1604-1607), as titled above [1, 2, 3] were not seen by the present compiler. According to N.M. Penzer's evidence (1936/1965, pp. 34-37), Bon's manuscripts were said to be preserved in the Biblioteca Marciana, Venice, reference: "Cl. vii, cod. 578, 923". Presumably the above titles [1, 2, 3] are editions of those manuscripts. The first is quoted from the British Library catalogue via COPAC; the second from Penzer; the third from Necipoglu (1991, pp. 309-310). Penzer noted that a manuscript of Bon's work was translated and published in London in 1650 as "the work of Robert Withers", [see 5], and had some reprinting. Withers' translation had been discovered by John Greaves, who edited and published it, apparently unaware that it had already been published in the collection of travel accounts by Purchas: Pilgrims (1625) volume II, lib. ix, [pp.] 1580-1611. [see 4]. Items below are quoted from the reprinted translation: Samuel Purchas (ed.) (1905) Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes, volume IX, pp. 322-406, Glasgow: MacLehose & Sons.]
            [Some fresh complications have arisen through a recent publication:  Ottaviano Bon (1996) The Sultan's Seraglio. An intimate portrait of life at the Ottoman court. (From the Seventeenth-Century edition of John {sic} Withers), introduced and annotated by Godfrey Goodwin, London: Saqi Books. The subtitle appearance of a new player, 'John Withers', seems to be an unintended conflation of 'Robert Withers' (translator) with 'John Greaves' (editor). Goodwin (1921-2005) was a schoolmaster with a considerable knowledge and taste for art and architecture, who lived in Istanbul for several years and wrote on various aspects of Ottoman culture and history. He introduced Bon's work (pp. 6, 9, 11-19), noting some apparent deceptions by young Robert Withers, who had lived for some time with Sir Paul Pindar, English ambassador at Istanbul (1611-1620). Little is known about Withers (other than that his first name was Robert). Apparently he obtained Bon's ambassadorial report(s) to Venice and made an English translation, adding material from his own experience (increasing the length by 10%, according to Goodwin, p. 17), and had the result published as his own work, first in Purchas (1625), then again by John Greaves (1650). Goodwin states that (in his own 1996 version)  "Withers' additions to Bon's text are set in square brackets, while curly brackets indicate parts of Bon's account omitted by Withers but restored in the present edition" (p. 9). Curiously, neither in his introductory remarks, nor in his annotations (pp. 145-154), did Goodwin show which manuscripts or editions of Bon he used to identify the additions or restore the omissions by Withers. Thus, while usefully increasing the modern accessibility of the material, Goodwin's 'Bon' is somewhat deficient as a contribution to scholarship; but one short passage from it is shown below (in double {{  }} curly brackets), adding a little information on the mutes that does not appear in the Purchas edition (MacLehose 1905 reprint). (The Goodwin 1996 page numbers of a few other passages are shown, for the convenience of readers who may not have access to earlier editions. Spellings have often been modernised - despite Goodwin's contrary assertion on p. 9).]

 

[By cultivating a senior court official, Bon was able to tour some interior parts of the seraglio, when the Sultan was absent.]
            "And in the Lake there was a little Boat, the which (as I was enformed) the Grand Signior did oftentimes goe into with his Mutes and Buffones, to make them row up and downe, and to sport with them, making them leape into the water; and many times as he walked with them above the sides of the Lake, he would throw them downe into it, and plunge them over head and eares." (IX: p. 328)  [cf. Goodwin, pp. 30-31.]

[In a passage describing the first stage of the education of the chosen Agiamoglans:]  "Now, for the most part, they all stay at the least six yeeres in this Schoole, and such as are dull and hard of apprehension stay longer." (p. 355)
            "Moreover, every one of them (according to his inclination and disposition) shall learne a Trade, necessary for the Service of the Kings person, viz. to make up a Terbent, to shave, to paire nayles, to fold up Apparell handsomely, to keepe Land-spaniels, to keepe Hawkes, to be Sewers, to be Quiries of the Stable, to be Target-bearers, and to waite at the Grand Signiors Table, and the like Services, as it is also used in the Courts of other Kings and Emperours." (p. 356)

 

            "Besides the Women, and Ajamoglans of this Seraglio, and the aforesaid Youths last spoken of; there are many and divers Ministers for all manner of necessarie services, and particular functions: there are also Buffons of all sorts, and such as shew trickes, Musicians, Wrestlers, many dumbe men both old and young, who have libertie to goe in and out with leave of the Capee Agha; And this is worthie the observation, that in the Serraglio, both the King and others can reason and discourse of any thing as well and as distinctly, alla mutesca, by nods and signes, as they can with words: a thing well befitting the gravitie of the better sort of Turkes, who care not for much babling. The same is also used amongst the Sultanaes, and other the Kings Women: for with them likewise there are divers dumbe women, both old and young. And this hath beene an ancient custome in the Serraglio: wherefore they get as many Mutes as they can possibly find: and chiefly for this one reason; that they hold it [#]  not a thing befitting the Grand Signior. Neither stands it with his greatnesse, to speake to any about him familiarly: but he may in that manner more tractably and domestically jest and sport with the Mutes, then with other that are about him." (pp. 362-363).  [cf. Goodwin, pp. 79-80.]
[ # 'it' = the use of ordinary speech]

[Goodwin, p. 80, shows an additional comment by Withers:]  {{"But that which, in my opinion, is admirable in these Mutes (who being born deaf, and so of necessity must remain dumb) is, that many of them can write, and that very sensibly and well: now how they should learn without the sense of hearing, I leave to others judgements; but I am sure I have seen it, and have myself made answer to them in writing."}}

 

            "All the while that he  [the Sultan] is at Table, he very seldome or never speakes to any man, albeit there stand afore him divers Mutes and Jesters, to make him merrie, playing trickes and sporting one with another Alla Mutescha, which the King understands very well, for by signes their meaning is easily conceived.  ...  Now whilst the Agha's are eating, the King passeth away the time with his Mutes and Buffones, not speaking (as I said) at all with his Tongue, but only by signes: and now and then he kicks and buffeteth them in sport, but forth-with makes them amends by giving them Money; for which purpose his pockets are alwayes furnished."  (pp. 374-375) [cf. Goodwin, pp. 95, 96.]

 

[Bon remarks on the sale of fruit from the Royal gardens. The gardeners:]
            "bring the money weekely to the Bustangee Bashee who afterwards gives it to his Majestie, and it is called the Kings Pocket-money; for he gives it away by handfuls, as he sees occasion, to his Mutes and Buffons." (p. 380)  [cf. Goodwin, p. 103.]

 

[While being conveyed by boat:]
            "Now the Bustangee Bashee, by reason the King talkes much with him in the Barge, (at which time, least any one should heare what they say, the Mutes fall a howling like little Dogs) may benefit or prejudice whom he pleaseth;" (p. 385).  [cf. Goodwin, p. 110.]

 

1608
BEAUVAU, Henri (Baron de) (1608) Relation iournaliere du voyage du Leuant faict et descrit par messire Henry De Beauuau. Toul: François Du Bois.
[In a description of various orders of servants.]
            "...avec le Roy à la fin du repas ne demeurent, que les Enfans de la chambre favorite avec quelques muetz & nains, qu'ils ayment plus que les aultres, lesquels parlent & gaussent par signe, mais non avec {p. 64} ceux de la chambre;" (pp. 63-64)

 

[Beauvau's description continues. After the 10th order, the sweet-makers, come the deaf servants.]
            "Des Muetz.  Les Muetz, qui s'appellent Dilzsiz, c'est à dire sans langues, c'est cho- {p. 68} ses merveilleuses de veoir discourir ces muetz, d'aultant qu'il ny à chose au monde si naturelle, que celle icy artificielle, de telle sorte qu'ilz se font entendre par signe du corps des mains gauches & droictes, du crachat, & avec d'aultres signes l'un à l'aultre, ce qu'ils veulent, & mesme à ceux de la Cour, qui pour praticquer ordinairement avec eux, ont ce muet langage, ce qui est plus à admirer en cecy, c'est qu'ils ne se font pas seulement entendre de iour, mais encor de nuict, sans bruit aulcun de voix, mais simplement par le toucher des mains, & aultres parties du corps, ave qu'oy ils ont faict un nouveau langage entre eux, chose presque impossible à l'esprit de l'homme, & se monstre mesme aux grandz Seigneurs, & plusieurs aultres, qui l'apprennent, comme on fait les aultres langues, ce langage s'appelle Ixarette."   [= Arabic isharet, sign] (pp. 67-68)
[Beauvau here gives an early mention of details such as the use of both right and left hand, of spitting as part of signing, and also the night-time use of Sign Language by touch. His apparent delight in the human achievement of these deaf servants, creating a new, many-faceted language of their own, and teaching it to others, contrasts sharply with some other European witnesses who, failing to see beyond their prejudices, reported the mutes as if they were merely murderous zombies.]

 

1610
SANDYS, George (1621)  A relation of a journey begun An: Dom: 1610.  London.
            "Fifty Mutes he  [the Sultan]  hath borne deafe and dumbe, whereof some few be his daily companions; the rest are his Pages. It is a wonderfull thing to see how readily they can apprehend, and relate by signes, even matters of great difficultie." (p. 74)

 

 

[1612-1639]
DEUSINGEN, Anthony (1660) Dissertatio de surdis, in: Fasciculus Dissertationum Selectarum, pp. 147-230, translated [with some additions] by G. SIBSCOTA (1670) The Deaf and Dumb Man's Discourse, reprinted 1967 (Menston: Scolar Press).
            "48. The Emperour of the Turk maintains many such Mutes in his Court ; who do express the {p. 42} Conceptions of their minds one to another, and as it were exchange mutual discourse, by gesticulations, and variety of external significations, no otherways than we that have the faculty of signifying our own thoughts, and conceiving of those of other Persons by outward Speech. Nay the Turkish Emperour himself, and his Courtiers, take great delight with this kind of Speech shadowed out by gestures, and use to employ themselves very much in the exercise hereof, to make them perfect in it.
49. Cornelius Haga Embassadour to the Emperour of the Turks sent thither by the States of the United Provinces  [i.e. the Netherlands] did once invite all those Mutes to a Banquet (as I observed from the relation given me by the most Noble and Worthy Dr. Brinkins Senator of Hardervick) where though there was not a syllable heard yet they did exchange several discourses, as is usual at other Treats, which the Embassadour understood by an Interpreter on both sides {p. 43} by whose assistance he himself did discourse with the Mutes upon all subjects.
50. But those very significations of things, which Mutes make use of, proceed not from nature, but from their own institution no more, than our speech ; Therefore they attain unto them by Study and exercise." (pp. 41-43)
[The first paragraph above was probably constructed from reports by actual visitors to the Ottoman court. The second was heard not from Haga himself but from a third party, Dr. Brinkins, Senator (later described as Burgomaster, p. 67) of Hardervick, probably some years later. Neither paragraph is a strong historical source, though it is possible that they were accurately transmitted. Cornelis Haga (1578-1654) had represented the Netherlands at Stockholm, and was then sent as the first ambassador to the Ottoman court. He reached Constantinople in 1612, and remained ambassador there until 1639, facilitating lucrative trade between his country and the major cities of the Ottoman empire. It is not clear when the banquet for the mutes took place. There is nothing inherently implausible in the idea of Haga giving a banquet to a group of mutes. Ambassadors were expected to spend liberally on gift giving, and certainly there were periods when petitions to the Sultan might conveniently be conveyed by the most favoured of the deaf servants. Thus, it would have been a good policy to maintain friendly relations with them.
At least one biographical work in Dutch exists on Ambassador Haga; and it appears that some or all of his despatches to the Netherlands are archived at the "ARA-General Record Office, The Hague", being quoted as such (for dates in 1626, 1628, and 1633) by A.H. de Groot (1993) writing on Murad IV. This signals the possibility that more details of the history of the Ottoman mutes may emerge from Dutch sources. (ARA = Algemeen Rijksarchief).]

 

 

1617-1623
BAUDIER, Michel (1624) Histoire généralle du serrail, et de la cour de grand seigneur, empereur des Turcs. Paris.  Translated [without apparent acknowledgement] as: Edward Grimeston (1635) The History of the Imperiall Estate of the Grand Seigneurs etc. London. [Baudier's work drew heavily on other writers.]
"Other men which are of his  [the Sultan's]  Family, speake not unto him but by signes, and this dumbe language is practised, and understood as readily in the Serrail, as a distinct and articulate voice among us. For which cause they use the service of as many dumbe men as they can find; who having accustomed others to their signes and gestures make them to learne their Language.  The Sultana's doe the like. The gravitie of his person, and the custome of the Empire forbids him to speake to any. The Sultana's his women practise it, they have many dumbe slaves in their serrail."
"Sultan Mustapha Uncle to Osman, who in the end of the yeare 1617 held the scepter of the Turkish Empire, for that he could not accustome himselfe to this silent gravitie, gave occasion to the Councell of State to complaine of him, and to say that to speake freely unto his people as Mustapha did, was more fit for a Ianizarie or a Turkish Merchant, then for their Emperour. They contemned him, and held his freedome and familiaritie  {p. 40}  unworthy of the Empire. To play the Sultan in state, he must not speake, but by an extraordinary gravitie make men tremble with the twinkling of his eye:"  (pp. 39-40)
[Mustafa I (born 1592, died 1639), son of Mehmed III, was made Sultan on 22 November 1617, and was deposed and confined after three months (26 Feb 1618) to make way for his nephew Osman II (b. 1604, d. 1622), who occupied the post as a teenager (Alderson 1956, p. 171). Osman lost his life in an uprising of soldiers and citizens in May 1622, which saw Mustafa restored for a further period of 16 months, before being again deposed and confined, this time in favour of another teenager, Murad IV (b. 1609, d. 1640), in September 1623. (Alderson 1956, p. 171, and Table XXXVI; Finkel 2005, 196-205).]

 

 

1619
TANISIK, Ibrahim H. (1943) Istanbul Çesmeleri. Istanbul: Maarif Matbaasi.
[The inventory of fountains (see also under 1586) includes Number 62 (p. 66) titled "Dilsiz Ali Aga Çesmesi", dated 1619, and inscription. (See also fountains on  pp. 36, 48, listed above under '1592').]

 

 

1621
DESHAYES DE COURMENIN, Louis (1624) Voiage de Levant fait par le commandement du Roy en l'année 1621. Paris: Taupinart.
            "Outre tous ceux-là qui sont destinez pour le service du Prince, il y en a plusieurs autres qui servent à luy faire passer le temps, dont les uns s'appellent Dilzis, c'est à dire sans langues; car ils son muets. Il n'y a rien qu'ils ne facent entendre par signes beaucoup plus facilement & plus promptement que s'ils parloient: Et ce qui est encores davantage à admirer est, que non seulement ils se font entendre de iour, mais encore de nuit par le simple attouchement des mains & des autres parties du corps. Le feu Sultan Osman prenoit si grand plaisir à ce langage muet, qu'il l'avoit appris, & l'avoit fait apprendre à la pluspart de ses Ichoglans & de ses Eunuques. Il y a encores plusieurs nains qui font mille boufonneries avec les muets, pour donner du contentement à ce Prince." (p. 143)
[De Courmenin seems to quote Beauvau, for the night time signing. Such a practice is rare, but not unknown elsewhere. A form of alphabet signed by touching parts of the head and body is reported from South Asian antiquity, with some detail: Wijesekera, N.D. (1945) Sign language in ancient Ceylon. Man 45: (No. 33) 46-47.]

[Describing the audience room]
            "Il n'y a personne avec luy en ceste chambre que le Capiaga, l'Hasnadarbaschi, & les trois muets qui sont derriere la porte, pour faire mourir ceux qu'il plaist à ce Prince."  [Each Aga makes his report to the Sultan...]  "Que si le grand Seigneur trouve qu'il ayt fait quelque chose contre son service, en frappant du pied contre terre, les trois muets se iettent sur le pauvre Aga, & l'estranglent, sans autre forme de procés: ce qui arrive si souvent, que ie m'estonne qu'il s'en rencontre qui vueillent accepter ces charges." (pp. 133-134)

"Pendant que ce Prince mange, l'on lit ordinairement les Histoires de ses predecesseurs, ou bien celles d'Alexandre le Grand, qui sont en leur langue." (p. 155)

[When the Sultan goes outside Constantinople.]
            "Mes lors que les Sultannes y sont, il les renvoye: & afin que personne ne se rencontre sur le chemin, il y a vint-cinq ou trente muets qui courrent devant à toute bride avec l'arc à la main, pour faire retirer tout le monde. Que s'il y a quelqu'un qui par mesgarde ne s'oste pas du chemin avant que les muets soient à luy, il court fortune de sa vie." (p. 161)

 

 

[1623-1640]
TUGLACI, Pars (1989) Tarih Boyunca Istanbul Adalari. Istanbul: Cem Yayinevi.
[(Reconstruction from email communication with Neslihan Halici, Caroline Finkel and others in 2004). The monastery of Aya Jorgi, or Ayios Yorgios Coudonas (St George Koudounas, St George of the Bells) at the southern end of Büyük Ada, the largest of the Princes' Islands, in the Marmara Sea, 12-15 miles south east of Istanbul, is believed to have been founded in 963 CE, and was rebuilt in the reign of Sultan Murad IV (1623-1640). The reputation of St George as a healer continues to attract pilgrims of many nationalities and religions, from a wide area. One legend of the shrine tells the story that a janissery had a deaf daughter. One day this deaf girl lay down and believed she could hear something, under the earth. Men dug into the earth at that spot, and found an icon of St George. The monastery is supposed to have been reconstructed, at that place. A different legend tells that a shepherd, who believed he could hear the sound of bells underground, dug up the icon (Freely 1987, p. 333); or found it in some bushes. Some of the information was available in the monastery's published brochure (reported by Neslihan Halici). Dr Finkel reported that dates and two versions of the legend (one being of the deaf girl) appear in the book by Tuglaci listed above, p. 168.  Apparently the legend of the deaf girl 'hearing' the icon, leading to its discovery, is known to some deaf Turkish people, who visit the shrine as a group, on the saint's feast day in April. This was a matter of some debate, between modernisers who wish to discard 'superstitious' views of deafness, and to concentrate on improving deaf people's education and securing national recognition of deaf people's language and culture, and others who consider that stories of deaf people in the past, together with those (such as healers) who were believed to bless them, are a valuable feature of deaf history and culture, which should not lightly be cast aside.
Whether a person does, or does not, believe in the reality of some kind of 'healing experience' in connection with a journey to a shrine, it is an historical fact that many people with various ailments or impairments used to make, and continue to make, such journeys, often accompanied by family members. In earlier centuries, when most people lived in villages or small towns, a family having a baby who was deaf, or had an impairment that produced strange behaviour or an odd appearance, might not know anyone else with such a condition. If they journeyed to a shrine and spent a few days there, they were more likely to meet some other families who had such a child. (It might also be one of the few occasions when an isolated deaf person could meet other deaf people, especially at a shrine reputed to 'do something' for those who were deaf or mute). The shrine custodian, priest or holy man usually had accumulated experience of seeing a wide variety of people with impairments, disabilities, peculiar conditions or odd behaviour. Some of the custodians simply recited prayers or performed a religious ceremony, and collected the fees or donations; others probably gave useful advice to some of the pilgrims; other practitioners at shrines reportedly gave therapeutic treatments for some forms of muteness and deafness, of a kind recognisable by modern otology and laryngology (Lascaratos 1996; Lascaratos et al, 1998, 1999). In modern times, many families still report a feeling of relief when they realise that they are not alone, there are other families who have a child with some physical or mental 'difference', it is a common human experience, it can be shared and understood and accepted, and life can go on.
A further legend of the monastery describes in some detail the  icon of "St. George of the Bells", and tells how it was dug up by a devout monk in the 15th century who (under instruction from a vision of the saint) had been led to it, across land and sea, by the sound of a ringing bell. The author, Demetra Vaka (1877-1946) devoted a chapter ("How I was sold to St. George", pp. 119-133), from her childhood on Büyükada, to the healing ministry of the shrine, particularly among people with mental illness. Demetra Vaka (1914) A Child of the Orient. London: John Lane.]

 

 

1634
HAMMER, Joseph de (1837)  Histoire de l'Empire Ottoman depuis son origine jusqu'a nos jours. Tome Neuvième. Depuis l'avènement de Mourad IV jusqu'à sa mort. 1623-1640. Translated from German by J.-J. Hellert.  Paris: Bellizard et al.
[Murad IV, in a state of murderous fury, arrived at Constantinople with his bostanjibashi Doudjé. He sent Doudjé into the palace in disguise, to pass an order secretly to the grand vizier to kill certain people.]
            "Doudjé s'éloigna, changea de vêtemens avec un soldat de Roumilie qu'il rencontra et qu'il plaça sous bonne garde, se fit écrire à la hâte une supplique, et entra dans le diwan sous les habits du soldat, sa pétition à la main. {#} Beiram-Pascha, qui avait parfaitement reconnu le bostandji-baschi, prit la supplique d'un air indifférent, et la remit au maître-des-requêtes; tandis que celui-ci en faisait la lecture, il demanda au messager, dans le langage des muets du seraï, avec un regard rapide du coin de l'oeil: 'Qu'y a-t-il de nouveau?'  Doudjé lui répondit de la même manière, en serrant les dents, ce qui signifiait: 'Grand courroux du maître.' Alors le grand-vizir ordonna au prétendu soldat de s'avancer vers lui, et Doudjé lui rendit compte à voix basse de son sanglant message."  (Vol. 9, p. 251). [Immediately following was the execution of Abaza Mehmed Pasha, 24 August 1634, p. 252.]
            [German original: {#} "Beirampascha, der den verkappten Bostandschibaschi sogleich erkannte, that nicht dessgleichen, nahm die Bittschrift, gab sie dem Bittschriftmeister, und während dieser sie las, fragte er in der Sprache der Stummen des Serai, mit einem Blicke aus dem Winkel des Auges: 'Was gibt's?' Dudsche biss die Zähne übereinander, zu sagen: 'Zorngericht.'"  Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall. Geschichte des Osmanlichen Reiches. Bande 5. (edition 1963). Graz, Austria. Akademische Druck- U. Verlaganstalt, (p. 191).]

HAMMER.  "De même qu'à l'approche de l'orage les oiseaux se taisent et se cachent sous le feuillage, de même tout faisait silence et prenait la fuite à sa terrible approche. La nécessité de ne s'exprimer que par signes en présence de Mourad porta la langue des muets à son plus haut point de développement; les clignemens d'yeux, le mouvement des lèvres, le craquement des dents avaient remplacé la parole." (9, p. 385).

German original: "Wie bey nahendem Sturme die Vögel verstummen und flüchten, so verstummte und flüchtete Alles vor seiner Gegenwart. Durch die Nothwendigkeit, sich in des Tyrannen Gegenwart nur durch Zeichen verständlich zu machen, erreichte unter ihm die Sprache der Stummen durch Winke des Auges, Bewegen der Lippen, und Blöcken oder Grinzen der Zähne irh höchste Ausbildung;" (p. 287).

 

1630s
EVLIYA EFENDI  [sometimes Evliya Çelebi] (original Turkish text compiled in the 1670s-80s ?) Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century. [Abbreviated from Evliya's Seyahatnâme.] Translated by Joseph von Hammer (vol. 1 {i} and vol. 2, 1834; vol. 1 {ii} 1846). Reprinted 1968, New York & London: Johnson Reprint.
[Hardly any editorial information is offered on the text(s) available to von Hammer. In Vol. 1 {ii} pp. 255-256, he mentions getting a sight of Evliya's Egyptian travels in 1799, in Sultan Abdulhamid's library, "which is wanting in the copy from which this translation is made", and which he was unable to find thereafter, despite many enquiries. Apparently there has been considerable difficulty, up to the early 21st century, in establishing authentic and reliable editions of Evliya's very substantial literary output. Some material translated by Hammer, as shown below, does not necessarily appear in scholarly editions of Evliya's writing, transliterated in modern Turkish. Von Hammer seems to have published his Vol. 1 {i}, comprising sections I to XXX in 1834, along with his Volume 2, journeys to Bursa, Nicomedia, Batum, Trebizonde, the Crimea, etc; then after a dozen years produced Vol. 1 {ii} with sections XXXI to LXXX of Constantinople and its environs. This may be further evidence of the unsatisfactory sources he had to wrestle with. (See also Lybyer 1917, for a review of Evliya's travels in von Hammer's version; and Dankoff 2004, on Evliya as seen in modern scholarship).]

 

[A long section will follow, mainly about bath-houses, which Evliya visited when he was living at Istanbul, and about a suburb of Istanbul called Kasim (or Kassim) Pasa on the north side of the Golden Horn. It is given in detail, because it leads up to the 'bath of Kulaksiz' with 'deaf attendants'. If there was a bath-house known to have deaf attendants, in an area known as Kulaksiz ('without ears'), it is quite likely that it would have become a meeting-place for deaf people of the city, and also for deaf people who had retired from service in Topkapi Palace. Anyone who studies the 'Deaf World' will understand the importance of the 'deaf club' or 'social centre', for Deaf culture and the strengthening of Sign Language. Did the Kulaksiz bath-house become a deaf social centre? That remains unclear, but some evidence will be examined.]

 

[After lengthy lists of particular kinds of buildings in Constantinople (I {i} 164-179), Evliya states in Section XXX that he has:]
            "preferred assigning each of the principal baths to a certain class of men in the following amusing way" (von Hammer's translation, vol. I (i) 179-180).
[So each of the bath names has some verbal connection (simple, witty, or perhaps obscure) with the group of people supposedly using it; thus...]  "for the Bostanjis, the garden-bath (bostan); ...for the women, the khatun (lady); ... for the surgeons, the Jerrah Ali Pasha; ...for cruel tyrants, that of Zinjirli-kapu (chained-gate); ...for astronomers, the Yeldiz-hamman (star bath);"   [Towards the end of a long list, there appear:]  ..."for the infirm (Maatúh), that of Koja Mohammed Páshá; for buffoons, that of Shengel [a famous mimic]; ... for dwarfs, that of Little Aghá;" (I (i) p. 180). [Ma`tuh is a term historically used in Islamic Civil Law in Turkey to mean "a person of unsound mind", sometimes "feebleminded".]
[In that list, no bath-house was allotted for 'deaf-mutes', whether jokingly or not. The Palace dilsizler would presumably have used a palace servants' bath-house -- and it is not known whether deaf people in Istanbul at this time were sufficiently visible or numerous to appear as an 'identity group'. Evliya continues:]  "In the same manner we allotted the baths in the suburbs, which, with those within, amount to one hundred and fifty-one, all of which I have visited."   [Yet in what follows, at least in von Hammer's version, there is no more 'humorous allocation' of identified groups to particular hamams. Evliya closed Section XXX with some further notes on baths, especially the imperial bath; then continued with descriptions of mausoleums (Section XXXI onward, vol. 1 {ii} pp. 1-20), and some fine tales of Saints, and of "Saint-Fools, Idiots and Ecstatic, or Inspired Men", (pp. 20-29). Then he described some major suburbs of Constantinople, Sections XLV - LXXVII (pp. 30-89), including a few passing mentions of baths, and few more detailed notes on public bath houses of Galata (p. 53), Top-khanah (p. 61), and Scutari (p. 81), as baths were a feature in which Evliya was always interested, and ready to be critical or complimentary. There is no attempt in these to joke about particular groups of hamam users. There are, however, some interesting comments below on deaf attendants at the bath-house of Kulaksis ('without ears'), after other remarks on Kassim Pasha and Kulaksis.]

 

[EVLIYA, Narrative of Travels, Section LV (55).  In a list of mosques in the suburb of Constantinople called "Kassim Pasha":]
            "The mosque of Kúláksis (without ears) built by Sinán." {volume I (ii) p. 44.}  [Sinan's career as an architect and builder at Istanbul lasted from c. 1539 to 1588. But see annotation under 1580s Ayvansarayi, above.]
[Within Section LV, the district of Kúláksis is mentioned five times, for its mosque (p. 44); its convent of Khalvetí Dervishes, and its bath house (p. 45); in a list of quarters or districts (p. 47);  and in a list of monuments and tombs (p. 48); see also Sect. LVIII, p. 65. Evliya stated that his father, two grandparents, a great-grandparent and "innumerable relations" were buried at Kassim Pasha, supporting the idea that he knew the area well. The Introduction to Evliya's great work tells of a dream or religious vision, at the end of which he learns that he will become a great traveller. On waking, he says his prayers, then: "I crossed over from Constantinople to the suburb of Kásim-páshá, and consulted the interpreter of dreams, Ibráhím Efendi, about my vision". For further guidance, he went "to Abdu-llah Dedeh, Sheikh of the convent of Mevleví Dervíshes in the same suburb (Kásim-páshá)". {volume 1 (i) p. 5.}]

 
[In a list of baths in Kassim Pasha:]
            "The bath of Kassim Páshá is well built and provided with pure water. The bath of Hekím-báshi is small, but with very good water. The bath of Kúláksis with good servants, nice waiters, who however are deaf as is implied by the name (Kúláksis, no ears)."  (volume I (ii) 45).

 

[That 'bath of Kúláksis', with deaf attendants, remains in need of further corroborative evidence, and discussion by textual specialists. It seems that there are some variations in the available texts of Evliya's description, and there may be several possible translations or interpretations. He used the word 'sagir', not 'dilsiz', for the attendants. Text from different locations in Evliya's work is shown by Yüksel Y. Demircanli (1989) Istanbul mimarisi için kaynak olarak Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnamesi, Vakiflar Genel Müdürlügü, p. 402, in romanised Ottoman Turkish, based on a modern scholarly edition:]

 

            [A] "Kulaksiz Hamami sagirlara  [1]  çift taraflidir [2]."

 

            [B] "Kasimpasa Hamamlari: Kulaksiz Hamami: Aletleri, Örtüleri,
temiz dellâklari hareketli bir hamamdir. Fakat Kulaksiz hamami oldugundan çogu hademeleri sagirdir [3]."

 

Footnote [1] Z.D. "Ev. Çel." C.2.s.35.  [2] Z.D. "Ev. Çel." C.2.s.37.  [3] "Ev. Çel." C.2.s.120. [Z.D. = edition of Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname by Zuhuri Danisman, 1970-1971.]
[Excerpt [B] seems fairly close to what Von Hammer translated - it is complimentary about the Kulaksiz bath attendants, who were deaf. The precise details are perhaps not so clear, and seem to require both a good grasp of the meanings of Ottoman Turkish words in the mid-17th century, and of what features one might expect, or wish for, in a good bath attendant. Certainly, they should be clean and hard-working. There was perhaps some variation in how far the attendants' own bodies were 'clothed', and how far it was considered decent and proper for them to be clothed, partly clothed, or practically naked. How active or lively they should be, e.g. in shampooing and pummelling the client's body, might also be a matter of personal taste. In the Kulaksiz hamam, excerpt [B] seems to have 'most of' the attendants being deaf, a useful modification for the credibility of the comment.]

 

[Bath-houses were great social centres in Ottoman Turkey, and often they would attract clientele with particular interests or profession. The Kulaksiz bath-house may have been a meeting-point of deaf people, even if Evliya, in this report, might also have been having a little joke about the name (which he did, about the users of some other bath-houses as noticed earlier). If there were in fact deaf attendants (which is quite possible) it is all the more likely that there would have been deaf clientele, and then the bath-house would probably have served as a hub of information among deaf people, and a place where sign language would be in daily use. But the presence of 'deaf attendants', over a significant period of time, is perhaps not firmly established by a single source with variant readings.]

 

[It is interesting to note that, in the Topkapi palace, the bath attendants and the mutes belonged to the same servants' hall, the Seferli Oda, Campaign or Expeditionary Chamber, which had been instituted by Ahmed I (1603-1617):   "This dormitory housed miscellaneous servants; falconers, bath attendants, teachers, clowns, mutes, musicians, singers, and the like." (Bayerle 1997, 133, see also pp. 37, 69, 113, 132; and Inalcik 1965, p. 1088b; 1973, pp. 80-83). Among various skills learnt by different mutes, it is quite possible that some were trained in the vigorous 'rubbing down' that was part of the Turkish bath experience. In his vast description of the parade of the guilds, Evliya gave a description of  "The Men of the Bath"  in Constantinople, with (roughly) two thousand  "Rubbers of the Bath (Dellák)",  and one thousand  "Bath-servants (Nátirán)" (vol. I (ii), pp. 216-271). The 'tellak' worked in the male baths, the 'natir' in the female baths.]

 

[In Section LXXIX, Evliya writes of the:]  "Description of Constantinople, made in the Year 1048 (1638), by order of Sultán Murád IV., containing the summary of Buildings of every kind." (volume I (ii) pp. 100-104).  [He copied the summary, from which the number of "Baths public and private (Hamám)" appears as 14,536 (p. 103). However, Evilya had earlier given an account, in Section XXX, "Of the Principal Baths" (volume I (i) pp. 179-181), in Constantinople and the suburbs, and claimed to have visited all the main ones, being 151 in total (p. 181). He further stated that:]
            "If to the great public baths we add the smaller ones, the number would exceed three hundred; and if the private ones are reckoned, they will amount to the number of four thousand five hundred and thirty-six." (p. 181).
[As the earlier and later figures, 14,536 and 4,536, differ by exactly 10,000, some error of manuscript, transcription or translation is very likely.  For the 15th century, Müller-Wiener  (1977, pp, 324-325)  mapped 78 (major) baths of Istanbul. In 1589, a Fugger correspondent reported "895 public baths" (And, 1994, p. 32).]

[The suburban location known as "Kulaksiz" (or Kulaksis), on the edge of Kassim Pasha, roughly between Pera (now Beyoglu) and Hasköy, may have acquired that name some time in the 16th century. A guidebook in modern Greek entitled "Ancient and Modern Constantinople", by Constantius, patriarch of Constantinople, dated 1824, of which an English version appeared in 1868, stated that:]
            "Next comes the arsenal of the imperial fleet. All of this locality was formerly cemetery; and it was only in 1515 that, by order of Selim I., it was cleared, and the bones collected and thrown into deep ditches. ... After the arsenal comes the suburb of Kassim Pacha. The spot was formerly a waste, and it was only in 1525, under Soliman the Great, that the Vizier Kassim Pacha peopled it and gave it his own name." (pp. 118-119).
[Kulaksiz is still shown in several current [2009] road names. "Kulaksiz Hamami Sokak" can be found on Google Maps, at the junction of Kulaksiz Caddesi and Kasimpasa Kabristani Sokak, at the top right-hand corner (looking from the Golden Horn inland) of the large Kulaksiz Graveyard or Cemetery. Kulaksiz is also found on the large map by Kauffer & Lechevalier (1776, 1786) with further information (on Mahallas) by Barbié de Bocage (1831), folded at the back of Volume 10 of J. von Hammer-Purgstall's Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches. Kulaksiz is listed under "III. Mahalle von Kassim Pascha" and is designated on the map by the letter 'd', which can be found (by looking closely) under the 'ch' in "Kapudan dschamisi", to the west of Kassim Pasha. The only well-known historical figure bearing the name Kulaksiz (or Qulaqsiz) was an Ottoman military leader, best known for his lack of success, as in May 1468:]
            "...the Egyptian army under Commander-in-Chief Janibak Kulaksiz left Cairo and joined forces with the Syrian army, but again suffered a terrible defeat. Kulaksiz was taken captive, a great number of amirs were slain, and the remnants of the army returned to Aleppo on 7 Zu-l-Ka`da/30 May 'without camels, clothing and Mamluks'." (Har-El, 1995, p. 89)

 

[From Evliya's description of the procession of the guilds or fraternities of Constantinople:]
            "(48) The Sheikhs of the beggars (Dilenjí), number seven thousand. ... some blind, some lame, some paralytic, some epileptic, some having lost a hand or foot, some naked and bare-foot, and some mounted on asses." (volume I (ii) 115)  [No deaf or mute beggars are listed as such.]
            "(254) The Sword-cutlers ... The most celebrated sword cutler is deaf David. Sultán Murád IV., who so well understood the worth and use of the sword, never used any but blades of Isfahán, or of deaf David. He made him by an Imperial rescript Chief of the sword-cutlers."  (volume I (ii) 178).
[A biographical sketch of Evliya, at the start of Von Hammer's translation of the Seyahatnâme, pp. iii - xiv, notes that "His uncle Melek Ahmed was at that time (i.e. 1635) sword-bearer to the Sultán." This would account for Evliya's 'inside knowledge' about Murad IV's sword preference, and about 'deaf David'.]

1635-1644
[During Evliya's brief period of service in the Seraglio, under the Sultan Murad IV (reigned 1623-1640).]
            "On the day I was dressed as above related, with the splendid turban, two mutes came, and with many curious motions led me into the Khás oda (inner chamber), to Melek Ahmed Aghá and his predecessor Mustafá." (Volume I (i) 133).

 

[Other textual versions and interpretations of the key phrase also appear, e.g. in Alexander Pallis (1951) In the Days of the Janissaries, London: Hutchinson, pp. 109-110:]  "two mutes came and, with many quaint signs, led me to the Privy Chamber..."  [Pallis dated this in 1636. The passage has further detail and a different spin in Dankoff's fresh translation:]
            "Two mutes, named Cuvan-i Dil-sera ('Heart-beguiling Youth') and Tavsan ('Rabbit') arrived and conducted me, dancing and jostling, to the apartments of the imperial sword-bearer Melek Aga and of the royal companion and former sword-bearer Mustafa Aga." Robert Dankoff (2004) An Ottoman Mentality. The world of Evliya Çelebi, Leiden: Brill, p. 35.
[It seems that Evliya was not familiar with the sign language of the court, as he had entered service by a special arrangement, without spending years in the Palace school; but presumably he was aware that signing was used by the deaf mute servants, the sultan, and some of the courtiers.]

"Kara Mustafá Páshá, the brave and sagacious vezír, being put to death [in 1644], the Sultan  [Deli Ibrahim, reigned 1640-1648]  fell into the hands of all the favourites and associates of the harem, the dwarfs, the mutes, the eunuchs, the women, particularly Jinjí Khoájeh," (volume I (i) 149).

 

 

[1639? or 1665?]
TAVERNIER, Jean-Baptiste (1675) Nouvelle relation de l'interieur du serrail du Grand Seigneur contenant plusieurs singularitez qui jusqu'icy n'ont point esté mises en lumiere. Paris: Olivier de Varennes.
[Tavernier (1605-1689) tells a story about Amurat (Murad IV, 1623-1640) to illustrate the strictness with which the female quarters were guarded against male intrusion, at the sultan's residence at Andrinople / Edirne (pp. 246-250).]
            "...une chose qui arriva à Andrinople en 1639."
[(Other sources date a very similar story to 1665, in the reign of Mehmed IV, 1648-87, see below*). A page of the Treasury, named Tocateli (or Tokatli), who was the Chief Wrestler, heard that a champion Muscovite wrestler had come to Adrinople / Edirne, and this man had beaten other wrestlers across the empire. Tocateli was very keen to have a bout with this man, in the Sultan's presence; but he thought that, before mentioning this to the Sultan, it would be wise to have a private wrestling match and see how it would turn out. When the Sultan was out hunting, Tocateli arranged for the other wrestler to be smuggled in, dressed as a palace gardener. They wrestled, and Tocateli got the better of the Muscovite (or perhaps the latter allowed Tocateli to win, for his own reasons) with some mutes and many pages watching. When the Sultan returned, the Treasury Chief suggested to him that the Muscovite champion be invited to the serail for a wrestling match, and so it was arranged. Next day the match took place before the Sultan, and continued for a long time without a clear winner. Then (pp. 248-249):]
            "...un Muet fit entendre par signe à un de ses compagnons, qu'il s'étonnoit de ce que le Page à qui la presence du Grand Seigneur devoit donner de nouvelles forces, avoit tant de peine à venir à bout du Moscovite qu'il avoit si aisément vaincu le jour de devant. Le langage par signe des Muets est aussi intelligible dans le Serrail que s'ils avoient la parole libre, & le Grand Seigneur qui l'entend mieux qu'aucun autre pour s'y estre accoûtumé dés son enfance, & s'entretenant le plus souvent avec eux, fut étrangement surpris d'apprendre que le Moscovite avoit esté le jour précedent dans la mesme place."
[Realising, from the deaf servant's signed remark, that the foreign wrestler had been admitted to the Serail in his absence, the Sultan erupted in rage, halted the match and questioned the page. Both wrestlers promptly received a crippling bastinado and were then hanged. Two senior officials were dismissed with penalties. It appears to be a striking demonstration that, if spoken secrets risked being overheard, signed secrets also risked being 'overseen' by anyone knowing the language well.
            * A short account of what seems to be the same story is given from Turkish sources, by Atif Kahraman (1995) Osmanli Devleti'nde Spor, pp. 131-132. T.C. Kültür Bakanligi. There, the event is dated precisely, on 18th June 1665 (4 Dhu'l Hijja 1075).]

 

 

1638
[MARANA, Giovanni Paolo.]  Letters Writ By A Turkish Spy: Who Lived Five and Forty Years Undiscovered at Paris: giving an impartial account to the Divan at Constantinople, of the most remarkable Transactions of Europe: And discovering several Intrigues and Secrets of the Christian Courts (especially of that of France). Continued from the Year 1637, to the Year 1682.  Written originally in Arabick, translated into Italian, from thence into English, and now published with a large Historical Preface and Index to illustrate the Whole, by the Translator of the First Volume.  Volume I. The Twenty-Sixth Edition.  London: Printed for A. Wilde (et al.), 1770.
[By its nature, purporting to be the work of an 'undiscovered' spy, and thus not easily subject to verification and authentication, this work should be approached with caution. It might be wholly or partly genuine, or it might be a cleverly constructed fiction, taking reported observations by other authors and weaving them into imaginatively created 'letters'. The original, supposedly written "in Arabick", might in fact have been Ottoman Turkish (which used the Arabic script, and would have looked like 'Arabic' to most Englishmen). A web reprint (2007) has the note:  "By Giovanni Paolo Marana, William Bradshaw, & Robert Midgley.  Authorities agree that the first part of the work, published in Paris in 1648, was written by Marana. The remainder has been ascribed to several Englishmen, among them Dr. Robert Midgley and William Bradshaw. It is probable however that Midgley simply edited the English translation, made by Bradshaw, of the original Italian manuscript.  cf. Gentleman's Magazine, 1840-41; Dictionary of National Biography. volume 6, p. 185; volume 37, p. 366."]

 

(p. 99)  Letter VIII, to Melech Amet.
"I have heard here a confused discourse of the disgrace of Stridya Bey; but thy letters have satisfied me. ..."
(p. 100)  [Writing about a mutual friend, Zagabarasci, who died on the wedding day of his son, Caragurli:]
            "But thou does not inform me, whether the excessive joy he had to see his son married to a Greek, rich with the goods of fortune, endowed with great virtue, and a mute, has not caused his death. ..."  {p. 101}  "Didst thou think it a matter of small satisfaction to a father, that is a wise and sober man, to obtain for his son a woman that is a mute? For what greater pleasure can a husband have, than to have a wife that is not talkative? The Christians understand not the wisdom of the Turks, when they laugh at our Sultans, who find the greatest part of their pleasure in the conversation of mutes. Is there any thing more delightful than to hear a man that does not speak; and to see one, that has no tongue, reason on all things?  Thou knowest how many things these mutes of the Seraglio do give one to understand; and what eloquence there is in their signs and gestures.  Thou rememberest, that when  [the Sultan]  Amurath would give thanks to the sovereign Moderator of all the world, in that he had escaped death, when the lightning fell on his bed, and burnt to his very shirt; he seemed to offer him a great sacrifice, in putting a mute out of the Seraglio, which he dearly loved by reason of her tricks and gestures. ..."  [p. 102.]  "Paris, 25th of the last Moon, of the Year 1638."

 

[In a French version, "L'espion dans les cours des princes chrétiens ou mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de ce siècle depuis 1637 jusqu'en 1697. Nouvelle édition...", published 1756, at Amsterdam, volume 1, the same letter of 1638 (but numbered 36 in this edition) appears on pp. 150-155. The final sentence about Murad's much loved mute ends:]
            "...crut lui faire un grand sacrifice de faire sortir du Serrail un Muet qu'il aimoit tendrement, à cause des jeux & des postures qu'il sçavoit faire." [It may be merely a quirk of translation, but the female mute of the English version above seems to have changed gender. A much loved mute is mentioned in another letter, no. 82, to a physician of Constantinople, translated to French, with margin date of 1645, and published in London in 1742. Between two other stories, one about a remarkable blind man, the other about a talented deaf and mute African, Murad's mute appears:]
            "Je me souviens que du tems d'Amurath il y avoit un Muet auquel le Sultan prenoit un plaisir infini. Outre plusieurs gestes & tours agréables qu'il faisoit pour divertir le Prince, le Sultan s'en servoit souvent  [p. 259]  de Secretaire, & l'employoit à écrire des letters aux Bachas & autres, à mesure qu'il les lui dictoit par signes. Quoiqu'il ne pût recevoir le son des paroles, ni rien dire d'articulé, je lui ai vû copier tout un Chapitre de l'Alcoran, composé de cent-soixante versets, & en aussi beau caractère que le plus célébre Ecrivain de l'Empire eût pû faire; & quand il avoit achevé, il expliquoit ce qu'il avoit écrit, & le faisoit par des signes qui montroient évidemment, qu'il entendoit l'Alcoran en perfection.
Ce sont véritablement des dons rares, mon cher Ami: cependant si tous les Muets étoient élevez avec autant de diligence & de soin, que le fut Saqueda (car c'est ainsi que se nommoit celui dont je viens de parler) il n'est pas impossible qu'ils parvinssent à une plus grande perfection. J'ai entendu dire que son Gouverneur, l'un des plus sçavans hommes d'Arabie, employa vingt ans à lui apprendre à lire, à entendre, & à écrire de cette manière." ("L'Espion Turc dans les Cours de Prince Chrétiens..." 15th edition, volume II, pp. 258-259. London, 1742.)
[Here the mute acquires a name, and an educational history. A version of the same letter in English, is addressed to "Cara Hali, a physician at Constantinople", is dated 1645, and is published as letter VIII in volume III of the edition. The passage given above in French appears in English with slight changes (e.g. 170, not 160, verses in the Koran chapter copied by Saqueda). Yet she is clearly female throughout; e.g. the last few lines are:]
            "..yet were all the Mutes educated with as much Diligence and Care, as was Saqueda, (so she was called) 'tis possible they would attain to greater Perfection. I have been told, that her Tutor, one of the learned'st Men in Arabia, bestow'd many Years in teaching her this Method of Reading, Understanding and Writing."  ("The Eight Volumes of Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy, who liv'd five and forty years a spy at Paris..."  by Giovanni Paolo Marana, Lucius Lee Hubbard, translated by William Bradshaw, Published by G. Strahan, S. Ballard, 1741, vol. 3, p. 30).
[Even if the letters could be shown to be bogus, the portrayal of deaf and mute persons is refreshingly different and includes considerable education and talent in the deaf people. Someone must have had these thoughts, and considered it worth getting them published.]

 

1640s
DU LOIR, Sieur (1654) Les voyages du sieur Du Loir: contenus en plusieurs lettres écrites du Levant. Paris: Clouzier.
            "Il ne reste plus rien que les Muets, & les femmes auec leurs Enuques dans l'appartement du Grand Seigneur, mais ie ne sçaurois vous en entretenir, parce que les vnes ne se voyant iamais, on ne peut en parler auec certitude, & qu'il faudroit ne rien dire pour bien representer les autres; mais les descrire par les signes qu'ils font pour se faire entendre & que ie ne sçay pas. Vous admirerez seulement auec moy la secrette intelligence de ces hommes qui a esté inuentée pour ne pas troubler le respect qu'on doit à la maison du Prince, & qui est si admirable que la nuict mesme ils se font entendre en se tatonnant."
[The Sieur du Loir was honest, pertinent and witty: if the Sultan's women were never seen, and therefore nothing accurate could be known about them, and if the mutes would best be described using their own sign language, which he did not know, there really wasn't much that he could write! But unlike some others, Du Loir disdained either to invent stories, or to copy other travellers' tales.]

 

 

1642
RADUSHEV, E., IVANOVA, S. & KOVACHEV, R. (2003) Inventory of Ottoman Turkish Documents about Waqf Preserved in the Oriental Department at the St St Cyril and Methodius National Library.  Part 1 - Registers. Sofia.
[See above, 1586, 1592-93 or 1594-95, on Bizeban {or Dilsiz} Süleyman Aga.]
            "140. 1-30 Muharrem 1052 / 1.04. - 30.04.1642  Applications (54) to the Grand Vezier's office concerning the appointment of officers to vacant positions at the waqfs of: ..... Bizeban Süleyman Aga in Yakova; ..." (p. 93)
            "200. ... 4.07.1666 - 12.06.1668.  Register of revenues and expenditures of the mosque and school at the waqf of Bizeban Süleyman aga in the town of Yakova. Income from rent on dükkâns and waqf land, from mills, from the bac-i bazar, cizye, ispenc taxes and from levies on the agricultural produce. Expenditures for salaries of the waqf employees, for the maintenance and repairs of the property." (p. 108)
[A further entry, concerned with appointments at this Waqf, appears on p. 117, dated March 1673. The index of persons shows "Süleyman Aga (Bizeban), founder of a waqf in Yakova"  (p. 242).  The Preface (by V. Mutafchieva, pp. 7-10) to this 'Inventory' suggests that Waqf charitable foundations were probably a much greater economic feature of the Ottoman empire than has generally been recognised. Study of them had been neglected, compared with studies of 'timar'. The Bulgarian scholars involved in the present studies had published the detailed Inventory and indexing in English, for broader dissemination.]
[The latest chapter in the history of Dilsiz/Bizeban Süleyman Aga's mosque and waqf is found below, under '2001', Zulficar.]

 

1645-1646
DIKICI, Ayse Ezgi (2006) Imperfect Bodies, Perfect Companions? ... MA thesis, Sabanci University.
            "Three documents from 1644-1645 noted by Çagatay Uluçay record the purchase of jewellery and perfume for the harem by 'Buzagi Dilsiz', 'musahib Halil Aga', and 'Zeyrek Cüce'." (pp. 65-66).  Citing  Uluçay, Harem II, pp. 8-9, footnote 17. Documents in the Topkapi Palace Archive, no. 4155.

 

 

1655-1656
THEVENOT, Jean (1664) Relation d'un voyage fait au Levant: dans laquelle il est curieusement traité des estats sujets au Grand Seigneur... Paris: Bilaine; reprinted (1665) Rouen: Billaien.
[Thévenot reached Constantinople in December 1655, and reported in some detail on the more visible aspects of the Ottoman court. He noted (like the Sieur du Loir, see above '1540s') that very little could be known about the daily life of the Sultan, so he could report very little; but a few things he had learnt from a page who had recently emerged from serving inside the Seraglio. Writing of Mehmed IV:]
            "Pendant ses repas il ne parle à personne, mais il se fait entendre par signe, à des muets bouffons, qui sont fort stilez [*] à cela, en ayans une méthode toute particuliere, & il n'y a rien qu'ils ne puissent exprimer par signes. Ces bouffons sont tousiours occupez à faire entr'eux quelque folie pour le faire rire." (p. 116)
[* In modern French, "fort stylés" = well trained, well schooled.]

 

1659
d'ARVIEUX, Laurent (1735) Mémoire du Chevalier d'Arvieux, Envoye Extraordinnaire du Roi à la Porte, consul d'Alep, d'Alger, de Tripoli, & d'autres echelles du Levant: contenant ses voyages à Constantinople, dans l'Asie, la Palestine, l'Egypte etc.  Paris.
[The following scene was located in Palestine, where d'Arvieux and other French dignitaries met the Ottoman ruler. They found him chatting with his mute (presumably in sign language). Over the next two days, the party journeyed with the Pacha, from Rama to Gaza. (This serves as a reminder that some deaf-mute men were spread across the Ottoman empire, serving provincial governors. It was not a feature only of Istanbul and Edirne).]
            "Nous allâmes au Sérail sur les sept heures du soir. Cette maison ne paroît pas grande chose en dehors; mais les dedans sont propres & bien distribuez. Nous trouvâmes d'abord une cour assez grande où il y avoit des Orangers, des Citroniers & des Arbustes, avex quelques bassins & des jets d'eau. Les appartemens étoient disposez à peu près comme ceux du Pacha de Seïde, tant pour les meubles que pour le service.
Les Officiers du Pacha nous reçûrent à la porte avec beaucoup de civilité; & après nous avoir fait passer par plusieurs pièces de l'appartement, ils nous introduisirent dans une petite chambre où nous trouvâmes le Pacha qui venoit de souper, & qui s'entretenoit avec son muet.
Il nous reçut avec un visage riant. Le Sieur Souribe qui en étoit le plus connu, & qui parle parfaitement la Langue Arabe, entra le premier & lui baisa la main; nous en fîmes de même: il nous fit donner des sieges  {p. 36}, & quand nous fûmes assis, le Sieur Souribe lui fit son compliment au nom de la Nation, & l'assura que nous n'oublirions jamais les bontez qu'il avoit euës pour nous, & la maniere généreuse  dont il en avoit agi.
...  Après ces complimens reciproques, il commanda à ses gens de se retirer & ne garda auprès de lui que son Muet & quelques Pages, pour servir la collation qu'il nous vouloit donner." (Vol. II: 35-36).

 

** 1660s - BOBOVIUS   [Text of some similarity is given below by Bobovius in Italian, and also in French; and then RICAUT in English covers much the same ground, because Bobovius was one of his main informants. Readers following the 'Quick Tour' may chose whichever language suits them best...]

 

1660s
BOBOVIUS, Albertus (or Ali Bey).  Serrai enderum. In: Cornelius Magnus (1679) Quanto di più curioso... Turchia, pp. 502-604.  Parma.
"Oltre i Paggi vi sono ancora Dilsisì, ouero Bizebani, cioè muti di natura in numero di quaranta in circa, li quali la notte dormono nella grande, e picciola camera, mà di giorno stanno sedendo auuanti la Moschea de' Paggi della Gran camera: da questi escono fuori muti stipendiati, e liberati dal Serraglio, che per saper bene communicare il loro sentimento in mutesco, insegnano a giouani esprimersi con infinità di cenni strauaganti; perfezionando loro in quest'arte col raccontarli fauole, e istorie, predicandoli le scritture, imparandoli i nomi de' Profeti, & altri vocaboli muteschi con grand' arte. I più vecchi in numero di diece in circa abitano in Hasodà, & si chiamano Musaip, cioè fauoriti, perche giuocano col Gran Signore, il quale li dà calci, pugni, li fà gettare nell' acqua della fontane, poi li dispensa Aspri, & Zecchini, & hà gusto vederli raccogliere, a questi giuochi si fanno venire ancora gli altri muti nouizi, e nani, il numero de' primi è di cinquanta in circa.  Li Nani chiamansi Giugè ancora essi abitano frà Paggi delle due camere, grande, e picciola, finche siano capaci per stare auuanti il Gran Signore con riuerenza, & creanza; poi sono promossi, e quanto più piccoli sono, riescono tanto piùcari; Eunuchi, e Nani tutti insieme, e il più gran presente, che si possi fare: al mio tempo ne fù presentato uno di queste qualità da Dervisch Muhamet Pascià; fù subito vestito con drappi prezioso d'oro, & diuentò fauorito del Gran Signore, & della Regina madre: caminaua per tutto il Penetrale liberamente."  (pp. 508-510)

 

 

1660s
BOBOVIUS, Albertus.  Topkapi. Relation du sérail du Grand Seigneur.  Edition présentée et annotée par Annie Berthier et Stéphane Yerasimos (1999) Sindbad, Actes Sud. isbn 2-7427-2172-X
[Introductory notes on Bobovius precede the text, pp. 9-12. Born in 1610 at Lvov, he was captured by Tatars, and entered the seraglio in the 1630s, and spent 19 years there, working as a musician and interpreter.]
{p. 33} "Muets du sérail.  Il y aussi dans le sérail environ cinquante ou soixante dil sise ou by zebany, c'est-à-dire muets de nature, qui couchent dans les grandes et petites chambres, mais sont pendant le jour assis devant la mosquée des pages de la grande chambre où les viennent visiter les autres muets déjà sortis du sérail avec paye et récompense du Grand Seigneur, qui pour être plus experts en la langue muette et sachant dénoter toutes choses par signes, viennent converser avec les jeunes qu'ils perfectionnent par leurs discours en leur contant diverses fables et histoires, leur prêchant les Ecritures, et leur enseignant les noms des prophètes, et toutes sortes d'autres paroles curieuses de leur langage muet.
Muets favoris.  Les huit ou neuf plus anciens d'entre ces muets sont logés dans le hhazodah et sont appelés mousahib ou favoris parce qu'ils jouent et folâtrent ordinairement avec le Grand Seigneur..."  [and further on pp. 34 and 111.]

"Plan du sérail neuf." [begins on p. 34, and the map itself is p. 35, with rooms lettered or numbered for reference, used throughout the document. In what follows, reference is made to rooms 'C' and 'D'.]  "C est la chapelle nommée mesdgid dans laquelle les pages de la grande chambre vont quatre fois le jour faire l'oraison.  D  est le réduit des muets où ils demeurent pendant le jour avec leurs anciens qui les viennent visiter pour leur enseigner les beautés de leur langue." (p. 128)

 

[In the School of the Sultan's Pages, where they were divided into 'houses', and strict discipline was observed.]   "..mais ceux d'une chambre n'osent se mêler avec ceux d'une autre, et tout ce qu'ils peuvent faire lorsqu'ils ont des amis ou des camarades dans quelque autre chambre est de leur parler par signe à la muette, sachant tous peu ou prou quelque chose de cette manière de s'expliquer, qui est si commune dans le sérail et si fort en usage que ceux du hhasodah sont obligés de la savoir en perfection pour s'en servir lorsqu'ils se veulent parler en présence du Grand Seigneur qui leur commande fort souvent la plupart des choses seulement par gestes et par signes." (p. 136)
[See also a translation to English, from a French translation of 1686 (manuscript in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris), based on an Italian manuscript by Bobovius:  Fisher, C.G. & Fisher, A.W. (1987)  Topkapi Sarayi in the mid-Seventeenth century: Bobovi's description. Archivum Ottomanicum X (1985 {1987}) 5-81.]

 

1660s
RICAUT  [sometimes RYCAUT], Sir Paul (1686) The history of the present state of the Ottoman Empire, 6th edition, corrected.  London: Clavell, Robinson & Churchill.  [First published in August 1666, but dated 1667. Entitled The present state of the Ottoman Empire, up to the fourth edition in 1675. See appendix on Ricaut / Rycaut 's publications, in Sonia P. Anderson, 1989, An English Consul in Turkey. Paul Rycaut at Smyrna, 1667-1678. Oxford: Clarendon.  Ricaut stated that Bobovius was one of his major sources, as may be seen in the following.]
[Under Sultan Mehmet IV, reigned 1648-1687.]
            "Chap. VIII of the Mutes and Dwarfs."   "Besides the Pages, there is a sort of Attendants to make up the Ottoman Court, called Bizebani, or Mutes, men naturally born deaf, and so consequently for want of receiving the sound of words are dumb: These are in number about 40, who by night are lodged amongst the Pages in the two Chambers, but in the day time have their stations before the Mosque belonging to the Pages, where they learn and perfect themselves in the language of the Mutes, which is made up of several signs, in which by custome they can discourse and fully express themselves; not onely to signifie their sense in familiar questions, but to recount Stories, understand the Fables of their own Religion, the Laws and Precepts of the Alchoran, the name of Mahomet, and what else may be capable of being expressed by the Tongue.  The most ancient amongst them, to the number of about eight or nine, are called the Favourite Mutes, and are admitted to attendance in the Haz Oda; who onely serve in the place of Buffons for the Grand Signior to sport with, whom he sometimes kicks, sometimes throws in the Cisterns of Water, sometimes makes fight together like the combat of Clineas and Dametas. But this language of..."
[p. 63 Engraving showing  A mute and A dwarf. Full figure, standing, adult males, dressed in full length gowns, slippers and hats, the dwarf being depicted as perhaps half height. The dwarf is not directly comparable with the mute, because he is shown standing behind and to one side of the mute. (This illustration does not appear in all editions).]
            "...the Mutes is so much in fashion in the Ottoman Court, that none almost but can deliver his sense in it, and is of much use to those who attend the Presence of the Grand Signior, before whom it is not reverent or seemly so much as to whisper.  (pp. 62, 63, 64).

 

1660s
TAVERNIER, Jean-Baptiste (1675) Nouvelle relation de l'interieur du serrail du Grand Seigneur contenant plusieurs singularitez qui jusqu'icy n'ont point esté mises en lumiere. Paris.
            "..une petite Mosquée qui touche l'appartement du Seraiket-houdasi, où tous les Ichoglans vont faire leurs prieres deux fois le jour"... (p. 118)
"De cette Mosquée on passe dans une galerie qui touche les bains, & c'est où les Dislis & les Geuges, qui sont les Muets & les Nains, vont s'occuper au travail le long du jour. Les uns apprennent à lier un Turban, à quoy il y a plus de façon que l'on ne croit, principalement au Turban du Grand Seigneur quand il va au Divan: car alors il en prend un extraordinairement gros, ce que font tous les Officiers du mesme Divan quand ils entrent au Conseil: ... les autres apprennent à raser, à couper les ongles, & d'autres choses de cette nature. Ils ne se servent point de ciseaux pour les ongles, ny mesme dans toute l'Asie; ... Ils se servent d'un petit outil d'acier de la forme d'un canif, mais il n'y a que le bout qui coupe, & ils se prennent fort adroitement à cét office." (p. 119)

 

 

1660s ?
IBN SALLUM (Salih ibn Nasr Allah al-Halabi, d. 1669 or 1670) Ghayat al-itqan fi tadbir badan al-insan. MS A1044, Dar al-Kutub, Cairo. [Source: S. Scalenghe (2005) The Deaf in Ottoman Syria, 16th - 18th centuries. Arab Studies Journal 12 (2) - 13 (1) pp. 10-25. Scalenghe notes that this prominent physician of Aleppo  "later moved to Istanbul and became court physician to Sultan Mehmet IV (reigned 1648-1687)". A section of Ibn Sallum's medical treatise concerned problems of the ear, and he provided a brief description of two types of deafness, and their aetiologies (see Scalenghe, pp. 13, 23).]

 

 

1669
URFALIOGLU, Nur (2000) The sebils in the Ottoman architecture. In: K. Çiçek et al (eds) The Great Ottoman-Turkish Civilisation, 4: 404-409. Ankara: Yeni Türkiye.
[Charitably supplied drinking fountains (sebils) have historically been one solution to Istanbul's chronic water supply problems.]  Among lists of "16th and 17th century Istanbul Sebils which managed to stand up until now" (p. 407) is listed the "Tavsan Dilsiz Aga Sebili -1669".  [See earlier mentions of Tavsan Dilsiz, under 1635.]

 

1674
COVEL, John (c. 1674) Extracts from the Diaries of Dr. John Covel, 1670-1679. In:  J.T. Bent (ed.) (1893) Early Voyages and Travels in the Levant, pp. 99-305. London: Hakluyt.
[While at Adrianople (Edirne), John Covel (1638-1722) was both chaplain and a sharp observer among the company of the English Ambassador (Sir John Finch) for an audience with Sultan Mehmed IV, and a meal afterward with the Grand Vizir, on 27 July 1675. Two months earlier, Covel had been impressed by the quietness and orderliness of great crowds of Turkish men on public festivals (p. 205). In his description of lascivious dancing by a 10-year old boy and a young man (p. 214), Covel referred briefly to "wriggling the body (a confounded wanton posture, and speakes as much of Eastern treachery as dumb signs can)". After the dinner with the Vizir, described in much detail, Covel reflected again on both silence and signing:]
"The meat which went from our tables was caryed out amongst inferior officers, where was such scrambling as I never saw. I saw much, much better order once at a feast of the Kaimacham's of Stambol. The like was where our servants dined; yet all passed in silence, as the whole business above said was likewise acted even to a miracle, all being done with a nod or a private sign (at which they are the best in the world) to the attendants and waiters, who stand like images with their hands acrosse before them." (p. 264)

 

 

1691-1695
CANTEMIR, Demetrius. The History of the Growth and Decay of the Othman Empire. Translated from Latin by N. Tindal, 1734. London.
[A scene in which the mind of Sultan Ahmed II (reigned 1691-1695) was being turned against his Vizir, Kioprili Ogli (= Köprülü Fazil Mustafa, son of Köprülü Mehmed).]
            "While Kyslar agasi is speciously suggesting these things to the Sultan, Dilsiz Mahomet aga a mute (6), holds the curtain of the door, and discovering by the motions of their lips and hands, that they are concerting to depose the Vizir, hastens immediately from the Sultan's chamber to the Vizir, and gives him by signs an exact account of the whole affair. Before he had concluded his story, Baltajilar Kichaiasi comes to the Vizir in haste, and tells him the Sultan would have him come instantly to the palace.
The Vizir finding the mute's account true, immediately orders a horse to be ready for him,"  [and successfully avoids the plot.]
            {Footnote} "(6)  a mute]  There are many dumb and deaf persons kept in the Sultan's palace, whose only business is to hold up the curtain before the door of the room, where the Sultan is talking in private with the Vizir, Kyslar aga, or any of his other great men, and to take care that no body comes nigh. I find, that most of the Europeans, who give an account of the Othman court, affirm, that these persons are often employed to put those privately to death, whom the Sultan has a mind to dispatch; but I cannot so much as guess what has occasioned this mistake. For it never was heard in Constantinople, that Mutes, Dwarfs, and Buffoons, who are all upon the same foot in the palace, were ever employed about any serious business, or sent any where, but out of a jest. Nature having denied these persons the use of speech and of hearing, has, to supply that defect, endowed them with so quick an apprehension, that they can, by the motion of the lips and gestures of persons speaking, understand what they are saying. Besides, they have invented a way of talking by signs, which agreeing with that more than Pythagorean silence in the Sultan's court, there is, for that reason, hardly any courtier but what understands it: The Sultan himself must know it too, because he can use no other when he has any orders to give to his mutes, or has a mind to talk with them for diversion." (p. 379)
[The account of the discovery by Dilsiz Mahomet Aga of a plot against the Grand Vizir has been extensively quoted (with variations) in popular literature across the world ever since. Cantemir's caution, about the status of the mutes, dwarfs and buffoons, has seldom been quoted, though it is a useful counterweight to some widespread assumptions. Yet perhaps he may be exaggerating in the opposite direction. The weight of evidence suggests that there were some mutes, in some periods, who very likely did take part in impromptu executions, and who were employed to convey important messages, and were the trusted companions of very powerful men. There were probably some mutes who never took part in 'serious affairs', yet exercised their skill in teaching sign language to younger deaf people and to the many courtiers who wished to learn it.  The evidence suggests that they ran a 'Palace Sign Language Class' on a regular basis, at a known location. That seems to have been a unique activity by a group of deaf people, in the history of the world. Similarly, there were a few dwarfs who acquired power and influence much beyond their normal role of playful companions and jokers; but the majority probably remained 'ordinary dwarfs'.]

 

1699
MOTRAYE (or MOTTRAYE), Aubry de la (1723) Travels through Europe, Asia, and into Parts of Africa... London: for the Author.
MOTRAYE (1727) Voyages du Sr. de la Motraye en Europe, en Asia et en Afrique. 2 volumes. La Haye: T. Johnson & J. van Duren.
[Motraye arrived at Smyrna early in 1699, and stayed more than four years in Turkey. He moved to Constantinople in June 1699, and soon gained entrance to the Seraglio disguised as an assistant to a French watch and clock technician. Those two were conducted through many rooms by a silent Black Eunuch, to service the clocks (I: 170). Motraye, like many before him, was impressed by the absence of noise in and out of the Palace:]
            "they observe so respectful a Silence, not only in the Palace when the Grand Seignior is in it, but the Court Yards, (notwithstanding the great Number of People who come there, especially the first, where generally a Number of Servants wait for their Masters, who are either at the Divan, or in some other Part of the Seraglio,) that if a Blind Man shou'd come in there, and did not know that the most courtly way of speaking among the Turks is in a low Voice, and by Signs, like Mutes, which are generally understood by them, he wou'd believe it uninhabited;..."  (pp. 170-171)
[On the distant western frontiers of the Ottoman Empire, there was rather more noise, and less respect. Sultan Mustafa II (1695-1703) had been in the field for three seasons of poorly-directed campaigns with over-stretched forces, and during the summer of 1699 his negotiators had been obliged to agree to the Treaty of Karlowitz, relinquishing most of Hungary and fixing clearer territorial boundaries with several European powers (Finkel 2005, 315-323). Naturally, 'back home', each government portrayed the outcome as another great victory. Motraye described in detail the magnificent procession of the Sultan's arrival from Adrianople and entry into Constantinople, in September 1699 enumerating the various categories of officers and staff, and their ceremonial dress, Chapter XIII, pp. 177ff. They included:]
            "...68. The Doghangibachi, or Chief Falconer, holding a Hawk on his Left Hand, followed by fifty others, who had each of them one.  69. The Zagargibachi, or Chief Huntsman, follow'd by a great many Huntsmen, with Dogs in Leashes.  70. Sixty Disler Birzebans, or Mutes, both Deaf and Dumb, these were all mounted on fine Arabian or Circassian Horses, with magnificent Furniture.  71. Several Turbant Bearers.  72. Fifty Giugeler, or Dwarfs, upon Camels cover'd with long Housings..." (p. 182)
[Mottraye's French version is a little more precise on the terminology of the deaf men, in Ch. XIII (pp. 243-256):]
            "LXX. Soixante Dilsizler ou Birzibanes, Muets qui sont aussi sourds, sur de beaux Circassiens." (p. 252)