A Venetian Secretary's Expertise. Marcantonio Donini and his Three Dialogues… on the Ottoman Empire and ‘Turkish’ Affairs

Abstract

This article presents a text on the Ottoman Empire left by Marcantonio Donini – a career secretary with the Venetian diplomatic service, sent three times to Constantinople/Istanbul. After the death of his superior during his second stay in the Ottoman Empire, Donini was entrusted with temporarily heading the mission and with presenting the final mission report (relazione) after his return to Venice (1562). Most probably, he also wrote a much less formal text, composed of three dialogues on the Ottoman reality (signed 1591). Donini's writings attest to well‐developed rhetorical skills, manifested by the clear division of topics between the dialogues and relazione and by the ways used to present alleged Ottoman otherness. Some of the original traits in his writings are also attributable to Marcantonio's individual views and his social position as a secretary. By focusing on Donini and his dialogues, this paper aims to enrich discussion on the scope and content of texts on the Ottoman Empire produced by Venetian diplomats.