Avedick--His Origin--His Protector, the Grand Mufti, Feizoulah
Effendi--The two Churches, schismatic and catholic, exist in perfect
concord--Fall of Mustapha II.--Death of the Mufti--Avedick is deposed
and imprisoned--The Armenians ransom him--Ferriol’s persistent
Hatred--His stubborn Animosity against Avedick--He succeeds in
getting him deposed a second Time--Avedick’s Abduction at Chio--He is
imprisoned on board a French Vessel--Incidents of the Voyage--Avedick
endeavours to give Tidings of his Fate to the World--Insuccess of his
Attempt--His Arrival at Marseilles.
Sprung from the ranks of the people, and belonging to a poor and
obscure family of Tokat,[248] Avedick[249] had been early admitted
into the number of _vertahieds_, or doctors charged with preserving
and teaching the doctrines of the Armenian Church. Quickly becoming
bishop, and then archbishop, he had distinguished himself by his
firmness, which Ferriol terms impudence, in supporting the interests
of his co-religionists. The commencement of his long struggle with the
French ambassador, in which the one showed a becoming loftiness and
the other an extreme violence, and which was to terminate for Avedick
by a terrible catastrophe, dates from a period earlier than the arrival
of Ferriol as ambassador at Constantinople. The latter being in Hungary
in the Turkish camp, and having heard of some disrespectful speeches
of Avedick with reference to Louis XIV., had used his influence with
the Grand Vizier to get the daring archbishop exiled.[250] But in
December, 1701, the excessive rigour of this punishment was made
amends for in a striking manner. The Grand Mufti, Feizoulah Effendi,
nominally charged with spiritual affairs, but who in reality governed
the entire Ottoman empire, by means of his ascendancy over the Sultan
Mustapha II.,[251] was formerly, while at Erzeroum, where he had been
Cadi, intimately acquainted with Avedick, like himself an inhabitant of
this town. Sufficiently powerful to make and overthrow Grand Viziers,
this chief dignitary of the Mussulman faith was able to create his
friend “Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople and of Jerusalem.” In vain
did Ferriol demand from the Grand Chancellor of the empire and from
the Kiaya of the Grand Vizier the confirmation of Avedick’s exile.
These two high personages answered the French ambassador[252] that
the Mufti’s power was supreme, his will in this instance irrevocable,
and that it was as useless to wish to offer opposition to his
determination, as any endeavour to shake his credit would be dangerous.
There remained to Ferriol nothing but submission. But he, as well as
his ardent inspirers, conceived against the Armenian Patriarch, from
that period, an implacable resentment, of which we find the proofs in
every one of his despatches. Time increased this animosity, the effects
of which were not slow in exhibiting themselves. Still at first nothing
in the conduct of the chief of the Armenians justified this enmity. No
doubt he showed himself less docile with regard to their pretensions
than the Jesuits would have wished. No doubt he deceived the hope which
they had conceived of buying him over to their side. But in spite of
the obstacles raised by Avedick’s co-religionists against the treaty of
union which Ferriol had proposed, Avedick exhorted them to peace,[253]
and for several years the two Churches maintained the most perfect
concord. “The liberty allowed the Catholics is so great,” writes
Ferriol, May 1, 1703, “that every one admits that they could not enjoy
more in a Christian country. The reverend Jesuit Fathers at Easter
made the procession of Sainte-Anne, in the middle of Galata, carrying
the cross, the banners, and the relics, with an infinite number of
lighted candles and a prodigious assemblage of people. Formerly this
ceremony was only performed within the walls of the church.”[254]
Instead of giving Avedick credit for this prosperous condition of
affairs, Ferriol availed himself of the first pretext to attempt his
overthrow. But it was in vain that he denounced him to the Kiaya of the
Grand Vizier as having corrupted a courier and intercepted Louis XIV.’s
despatches.[255] This offence, then very common in Turkey, and for
which, moreover, the exile demanded by Ferriol would have been a great
deal too severe a penalty, remained unpunished, and the high protection
of the Mufti continued to screen the Patriarch.
But on this stage of sudden revolutions and unforeseen overthrows,
supreme power was then nearly always followed by a profound fall,
brought about most frequently by a laconic order from the seraglio,
though at times the clamour of the irritated populace was sufficient
to precipitate the favourites of a day from the pinnacle of power, and
in these frequent catastrophes the axe of the executioner was never
inactive. At the moment when Avedick appeared likely to enjoy for a
long time the powerful support of the Mufti, a formidable revolution
broke out at Constantinople. Two hundred thousand men in arms demanded
the presence of the Grand Seignior, insisting upon the observance of
the law according to which he was not permitted in times of peace
to absent himself from the capital; all the troops uniting with the
people and the men of law, the troops to complain of not having been
paid, the people to attribute their misery to the residence of the
Sultan at Adrianople, the men of law to protest against the cupidity
of the Mufti.[256] The latter had his throat cut, the Sultan, Mustapha
II., was deposed, and his brother, Achmet III., was drawn from the
recesses of the seraglio and placed on the throne: such was the
rapid revolution which all at once deprived Avedick of his protector
and delivered him up to Ferriol’s resentment. Indeed, less than two
months afterwards, the Armenian Patriarch was deposed and imprisoned
in the fortress of the Seven Towers,[257] and then, on the repeated
entreaties of the ambassador, exiled to Abratadas in Syria. The
Armenians refused to obey the new Patriarch, Kaisac, and demanded in
vain their beloved chief.[258] Ferriol’s influence was sufficiently
great to allow him to indulge in the most minute and cruel precautions.
Cast on a barren rock, far from Constantinople, the ex-Patriarch still
seemed redoubtable. Ferriol, therefore, rendered his imprisonment as
painful as possible, and with a barbarity the proofs of which one would
hesitate to admit, if they did not emanate from him who was guilty of
it, he considered it necessary to have his victim shut up “in a dungeon
full of water, and from which one could not see the daylight.”[259]
Ferriol mentions this refinement of cruelty in his despatches, without
in the least appearing to regret it, and in his account, as well as in
the replies of the King and the Ministers to whom he addresses himself,
one seeks in vain, on the one hand, for an attempt at a justification,
and, on the other, for a disavowal, or at least for an expression of
surprise. In consequence of this silence the Government of Louis XIV.
bears its share of responsibility for the barbarous conduct of its
ambassador.
But the affection of the Armenians proved more powerful than Ferriol’s
hatred. The enormous sum of four hundred purses[260] was collected by
the schismatics, and tempted the cupidity of the Grand Vizier and his
principal officers. The promises made Ferriol were forgotten, and, a
year after having been deposed, Avedick re-ascended the patriarchal
throne.[261] “He has united himself with the Greeks,” wrote Ferriol
to Pontchartrain, “and I foresee terrible persecutions against the
Catholics.”[262] And, before assuring himself that there was any
foundation for these fears, the ambassador, whose mind is fruitful in
vigorous measures, immediately proposes a means, not of preventing
persecution, but of avenging himself for it in advance, and continuing
to set his enemies an example of violence. He requests the Pope and
the Grand Master of Malta to arrest the Greeks and Armenians who
navigate the waters of the Archipelago, or who may be found in the
islands, and to take possession of their effects and guard their
persons. As they had a very large number of vessels, and the isles
were open and without defence against a sudden attack, the ambassador
foresaw that the repression would necessarily be formidable.[263]
Which is the persecutor? This man so industrious in contriving these
rigorous measures, so prompt in taking advantage of his enemies, or the
Armenians, faithful to the religion of their fathers and withstanding
an impassioned and ardent proselytism? Which are the persecuted?
That since his exile to Abratadas, Avedick had conceived a violent
hatred against the Catholics must be admitted, and one cannot be
astonished at his having done so. But it is undeniable that, having
quitted his prison and resumed his position as head of the Armenians,
he dissimulated his resentment and lived in peace with the Catholic
population. “He makes no move,” wrote Ferriol on January 20, 1705, and
on March 11: “He behaves with great respect, and religious affairs are
very tranquil here.” “Avedick causes no annoyance to the Catholics,” we
read in a despatch of August 13. But the ambassador immediately adds,
“I hope that he will burst forth, and I shall not lose the occasion of
destroying him.”[264] “I shall not give him,” writes he to the Cardinal
de Janson, “a moment of rest; knowing him to be a very wicked man and
capable of great dissimulation.”[265]
With the view of consolidating a peace which he believed might be made
definitive, Avedick proceeded, on December 26, 1705, to the French
embassy.[266] He presented himself there neither as a suppliant nor out
of bravado. Accompanied by three hundred Armenians of good standing,
he came to propose to the representative of the Protector of the
Catholic religion in the Levant to forbid in his churches the anathemas
launched against certain heretics, and he asked that the Jesuits, who
had long since received permission to preach in the Turkish language
in the Armenian places of worship, should do so without passion and
with moderation. Far from being disarmed by this proud but by no means
provocatory proceeding, Ferriol characterized it as impudent,[267]
and avowed that if he had not previously given him a safe conduct, he
should certainly have had the Patriarch arrested. His aversion suffered
neither truce nor repose. Not feeling himself sufficiently powerful to
arrive single-handed at his ends, he stirred up among the Armenians
themselves adversaries to his enemy. He encouraged the ambitious
patriarch of Sissem, who aspired to replace Avedick as Grand Patriarch,
receiving him in the palace of the embassy,[268] supporting him with
his influence and aiding him with his counsels. At length, after a
year of constant efforts, of corruption practised among the officers
of the Divan, of threats, intrigues, and underhand manœuvres of every
kind, Ferriol had the satisfaction of being able to announce to Louis
XIV.[269] that Avedick had been deposed for the second time, and for
the third time sent into exile.
It was, then, with the view of rendering this fall final, and in order
to disembarrass himself for ever of his enemy, that Ferriol imagined,
in the middle of the eighteenth century, one of the most violent and
strangest acts that a representative of a civilized nation could ever
have dared to commit. It was he who had the sad honour of having
conceived the plan. But a despatch,[270] which tells overwhelmingly
against the Catholic missionaries, proves clearly that their incitement
induced Ferriol to regard this act as indispensable, and that, by never
ceasing to recall to the ambassador the pretended dangers which the
Patriarch, exiled and powerless, still offered, they determined him in
his resolution to have recourse to an abduction.
Avedick was deposed on February 25, 1706. Two months afterwards he
was carried into exile. On April 20, he left Constantinople, which he
was never to see again, and his beloved Armenians, from whom he was
this time being separated for ever, and for whom, during the whole of
their lives, he was about to become the object of anxious care, of
constant regret, and of incessant but fruitless researches. Ferriol
had bought over the _Chiaoux_ in charge of the ex-Patriarch, and had
forwarded instructions to the Sieur Bonnal, vice-consul at Chio, on
his passage through which Avedick had to stop for a few hours.[271]
It was here that a most audacious crime against the law of nations was
committed. Bonnal, assisted by Father Tarillon, a Jesuit,[272] had,
according to Ferriol’s injunctions, chartered a small merchant-vessel,
commanded by a Frenchman, who received orders to proceed to Marseilles.
On his arrival at Chio, the bribed _Chiaoux_ delivered up the great
personage committed to his charge, and the representative of Louis
XIV., accompanied by the Jesuit Tarillon, took possession of the
Sultan’s subject and imprisoned him on board the French ship. There
was no obstacle to the abduction, and the protestations of the old man
against this abuse of force were vain, and remained without response.
During the voyage no pirates were encountered as Ferriol feared there
might be,[273] and as, doubtless, the prisoner hoped for, since to fall
into their hands would have been a hundred times preferable to the
treatment which was reserved for him in France. Nevertheless it was
given to him to indulge in some hope. Contrary winds drove the vessel
to Genoa.[274] There Avedick, watched over as he is by his gaoler,
eludes his vigilance and confides to a Greek, named Spartaly, two
letters, one addressed to Maurocordato, first interpreter of the Porte,
the other to the Armenian Theodat, in which he names the persons
concerned in his abduction and demands vengeance. But misfortune seems
to have been inexorable to the ex-Patriarch. Spartaly sailed to Smyrna
on board an English ship, and was about to proceed to Constantinople
with the revelatory letters, when he meets and imparts his secret to
Justimany, another Greek of Chio, who forthwith sells his compatriot’s
secret to the French consul.[275] The latter, perfectly understanding
the importance of the revelation, sends for Spartaly, buys him over in
his turn, and detains him at Smyrna. Whilst he is sending to Ferriol
the intercepted letters, which, instead of saving the prisoner, are
about to draw down upon him greater rigour, Avedick, indulging in the
belief that he can count upon their happy effect, and anticipating an
early release, arrives at Marseilles, is delivered into the hands of M.
de Montmor, intendant of the galleys, and thrown into the dungeons of
the Arsenal.[276]
FOOTNOTES:
[248] Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Turkey,
_Déclaration Authentique de M. Pétis de la Croix, Secrétaire-Interprète
du Roi en Langues Turque, Arabe, et autres Orientales_, which will be
quoted hereafter.
[249] Avedick or Arwedik, or Aviedik. In the present work Ferriol’s
orthography has been adopted.
[250] Unpublished despatch of Ferriol to the Cardinal de Janson, April
10, 1702:--Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Turkey,
37.
[251] _Ibid._ “At this moment the Grand Mufti, so to speak, governs the
empire.”
[252] Unpublished despatch from Ferriol to Louis XIV., December 31,
1701:--Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Turkey, 37.
[253] Unpublished letters of Ferriol to Count de Pontchartrain, May 11
and June 8, 1702, and to Louis XIV., October 2, 1702:--Archives of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Turkey, 39.
[254] Unpublished letter of Ferriol to Louis XIV., May 1, 1703:--_Ibid._
[255] Unpublished letter from Ferriol to the Kiaya of the Grand Vizier,
May 14, 1703:--_Ibid._
[256] Unpublished despatch from Ferriol to Louis XIV., July 23,
1703:--_Ibid._ The revolt commenced July 17.
[257] Unpublished despatch from Ferriol to Pontchartrain, September 18,
1703. The fortress of the Seven Towers was at that time the principal
State prison of Constantinople.
[258] Unpublished despatches from Ferriol to Louis XIV., November 9,
1703, and from Ferriol to Pontchartrain, November 11, 1703:--Archives
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Turkey, 39.
[259] Despatch from Ferriol to Pontchartrain, June 12, 1704.
[260] Or in money of to-day, 880,000 francs (35,200_l._) There used to
be purses of silver and purses of gold, the latter much the less common
and worth 6,750_l._ sterling, or 148,500 livres (francs). There can be
no question that purses of gold are not referred to, since four hundred
of these would amount to an exorbitant sum, beyond the resources of the
richest Armenians. Moreover, when the word _purse_ is used alone, it is
to be understood in the sense of purse of silver:--_Encyclopédie des
Sciences, des Arts, et des Métiers_, vol. x. p. 655; Edition of 1765.
According to the _Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque
du Roi_, vol i. p. 191, note S, the purse was worth 500 piastres. This
piastre not being an imitation of the Spanish piastre, but a piece
of money peculiar to Turkey, which in 1753 was worth 4fr. 40 c.; we
thus get for the 400 purses, the sum collected by the Armenians, and
mentioned in the despatch, the figure of 880,000 francs.
[261] Unpublished despatch from Ferriol to Pontchartrain, December 16,
1704:--Archives of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Turkey, 41.
[262] _Ibid._
[263] Unpublished despatch from Ferriol to Pontchartrain, of December
16, 1704:--_Ibid._
[264] Letters from Ferriol to Louis XIV. and to Cardinal de Janson.
[265] Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Turkey, 41.
[266] Letter from Ferriol to Pontchartrain, December 17, 1705.
[267] Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Turkey, 41.
[268] Unpublished despatch from Ferriol to Cardinal de Janson,
September 16, 1705.
[269] Despatch of February 25, 1706.
[270] Unpublished letter from Ferriol to Pontchartrain, February 2,
1708. “I have examined myself attentively, and if any one has urged
me to a violent resolution against Avedick, I should say that it was
Father Hyacinthe alone, who every day exaggerated to me his wickedness
and crimes:”--Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section
Turkey, 45.
[271] Despatches from Ferriol to Louis XIV., May 6 and June 1, 1706,
already given by the Chevalier de Taulès, with six others which we
shall indicate when we have to make use of them.
[272] Memorandum of the Marquis de Bonnac, French ambassador to Turkey
in 1724:--Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
[273] Letters from Ferriol to Pontchartrain, May 6, and to Louis XIV.,
June 1, 1706.
[274] Unpublished letter from Ferriol to Ponchartrain, February 19,
1707:--Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Turkey, 45.
[275] Royer by name. All these details are taken from the unpublished
despatch already quoted. Royer placed Justimany under the protection of
France with the view of preventing him from being molested in the event
of his treason being discovered.
[276] Letter from Ferriol to Louis XIV., June 1, 1706. Letter from
Louis XIV., November 10, 1706. _Correspondance Administrative du Règne
de Louis XIV._, vol. iv. p. 255, collected by M. Depping and finished
with much care by his son, M. Guillaume Depping, of the Bibliothèque
Impériale. In this work several despatches relating to Avedick are
given, of which we shall continue to indicate the source as we make use
of them. It is by means of these despatches, and of the unpublished
ones from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that we are enabled to
relate the Patriarch’s end, even to the smallest details.