DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9697#0017
INTRODUCTION.
§ i.—Ok the Formation of the Levant Company
of Turkey Merchants.
HE two manuscript diaries which
are published in this volume
give us the experiences of men
who resided in Constantinople
during the earlier days of the
Levant Company. When Master
Thomas Dallam went with the present of a marvel-
lous orean from Oueen Elizabeth to the Sultan
Mahomed III in 1599, our Company of Turkey
Merchants had scarcely organised themselves.
When Dr. Covel went as chaplain to the embassy
in 1670, the Company was still struggling to gain
for itself those rights—or capitulations, as they are
called—which formed the basis of the prosperity of
the Company during the ensuing century and a
half. Consequently, I think, a succinct account of
the rise of this Company will form a suitable intro-
duction to the perusal of the diaries themselves.
b
§ i.—Ok the Formation of the Levant Company
of Turkey Merchants.
HE two manuscript diaries which
are published in this volume
give us the experiences of men
who resided in Constantinople
during the earlier days of the
Levant Company. When Master
Thomas Dallam went with the present of a marvel-
lous orean from Oueen Elizabeth to the Sultan
Mahomed III in 1599, our Company of Turkey
Merchants had scarcely organised themselves.
When Dr. Covel went as chaplain to the embassy
in 1670, the Company was still struggling to gain
for itself those rights—or capitulations, as they are
called—which formed the basis of the prosperity of
the Company during the ensuing century and a
half. Consequently, I think, a succinct account of
the rise of this Company will form a suitable intro-
duction to the perusal of the diaries themselves.
b