Die Karriere des deutschen Renegaten Hans Caspar in Ofen (1627–1660) im politischen und kulturellen Kontext

Abstract

The author examines 17th-century Habsburg–Ottoman diplomacy, with a focus on the frontier. This work centres on the life and work of a so-called renegade, who was born Alexander Fischer in Vienna but later converted to Islam, serving successive viziers in Buda as Hüseyn Chiaus, while learning Hungarian. Between 1629 and 1660, he was employed as a spy by Habsburg diplomats and frontier officials, by the dignitaries of the Kingdom of Hungary (under the pseudonym Hans Caspar), and occasionally by the princes of Transylvania. He wrote dozens of reports (in both German and Hungarian), which are published in the second half of this volume. These sources are of great importance for the study of the Habsburg–Ottoman frontier as they provide pieces of information, for instance about the court dignitaries of the Vizier of Buda or about the Ottoman delegations sent by the Sublime Porte to the viziers, which cannot be retrieved from other sources. In addition, Hans Caspar’s reports are a valuable contribution to the research on renegades as the information they contain enriches the current state of research from several aspects.

“Secret Correspondence” in Habsburg–Ottoman Communication in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century

“…7 On the history of the Thurn und Taxis family and the development of the postal system of the Holy Roman Empire, see: Behringer, Thurn und Taxis; On the history of the postal system in the Habsburg Monarchy, see Winkelbauer,"Postwesen,[69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80]Im Zeichen, For the secret scripts of early modern Europe, see the following volume: Rous and Mulsow, Geheime Post. 10 For other relevant works, see: Szabados, Die Karriere,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29]The Whispers,passim.…”

“…Even the other letter forwarder in Buda, Vuichich/Vuičić (see table ), did not dare carry out his duties, and consequently a general atmosphere of fear prevailed in that period. 74 Since the sending of letters via Transylvania also seemed uncertain at the time, communication between Reniger and the Viennese court took place via Poland for a few months. 75 Finally, the imperial courier Natal de Paulo, also of Ragusan origin, managed to restore the system by filling in the missing links.…”

“…1 For a select list of recent publications, see: Ágoston, "Information," 84-92, 100-2; Ágoston, The Last Muslim Conquest,passim;Brandl et al,"Kommunikation und Nachtichtenaustausch,Brandl and Szabados,[85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102]Brandl and Szabados,"The Burden of Authority,Brunner,Cevrioğlu,"The Peace Treaties,[67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86]Cziráki,"Zur Person,Cziráki,"'Mein gueter…',Cziráki,"Ambassador or Rogue?,Huemer,"'Copy & Paste',Juhász,…”

“…For Kuefstein, see:Brandl and Szabados, "The Burden of Authority,[63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80] Kuefstein was authorized to reorganize the system by the president of the Aulic War Council, Rambaldo Collalto (1624-1630). Cf.…”