French Capitulations and Consular Jurisdiction in Egypt and Aleppo in the Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries

Abstract

This chapter presents a sufficient documentary base for drawing out a comprehensive picture of Western trade and merchants in the Ottoman Mediterranean in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. An essential aspect of the Western presence in the Ottoman Mediterranean was the institution of the consulates, which were part and parcel of the evolution of the capitulatory regime. In comparison with Venice and England, France had a mixed process of appointing consuls in the Levant. According to the simplistic interpretation of the diplomatic text of the capitulations, the appointment of consuls was a right reserved to the king of France, usually exercised by the ambassador in Constantinople. Imperial commands dispatched to the local authorities of Aleppo and Egypt which were copied into the Manuscrit Turc 130 bring to light three circumstances that caused the appointment of a new consul. Keywords: Aleppo; Consular Jurisdiction; Egypt; France; French Capitulations; French consul