ABSTRACT
Venice was one of the first European polities to actively engage in safeguarding Catholics in Muslim lands, especially by handling the delicate matter of transporting pilgrims to Palestine. The purpose of this chapter is, therefore, to shed more light on the historical development of Venetian ahdnames and nisans, and their role in protecting Catholics in the Ottoman Empire. It deals with diplomatic evolutions later in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, up to the last Venetian ahdname of 1733. Venetian ‘ahdnames up to the 1570s were issued both upon the enthronement of new sultans and upon the conclusion of armed conflicts. Like the French, not having religious clauses in their capitulations did not prevent Venice from actively engaging in the protection of Catholics in the Ottoman Empire, as fermans obtained through the bailos’ intercession invariably pointed to the Sharia or to the ‘old custom’ when commanding local officials to protect these non-Muslims.
