Relationships between Envoys of the Vatican and Armenians of Isfahan in the years 1016 ـ1135 AH / 1608 -1722 AD

تاریخ و فرهنگ

Article 5, Volume 51, Issue 1 - Serial Number 102, May 2019, Pages 101-116   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/jhc.v51i1.79511

Authors

Azam Fuladi Panah^{* 1}; Javad Arbani²; Mojtaba Soltani Ahmadi Soltani Ahmadi³

¹University of Tehran

²azad

³Payam-e Noor University of Tehran

Abstract

The emigration of Armenians living in Jolfa to Isfahan during the reign of Shah Abbas, which was driven by economic and political considerations, gave rise to numerous consequences. The special attitude of the Safavid government to the Armenians along with Shah Abbas's tolerant religious policies towards the Christians gradually convinced the Pope that the capacity of the Christians residing in the Iranian plateau, especially the Armenians, could be exploited to strengthen the Catholic Church against the Sunni Ottoman government. Hence, the special envoys of the Pope (the Carmelite), since their arrival in Iran (1016 AH/1608 AD) constantly strived to persuade Armenians into converting to Catholic Christianity. The Carmelite priests resorted to diverse strategies to accomplish this end. For instance, in light of the commercial-economic role of the Armenians inhabiting in Jolfa, they offered trade concessions and privileges to Armenians in some periods by means of cooperation with the European governments in a bid to lure Armenian businessmen of Jolfa. Initially, the Armenians of Jolfa held a positive attitude to the Carmelite, but soon afterwards, the disclosure of the ulterior motives of the Pope's envoys led to the confrontation of these two. It even culminated in the expulsion of Carmelite priests from Jolfa. The authors of this paper aim to explore the relationship of the Pope's envoys with the Armenian of Jolfa and shaed light on its consequences

Keywords

Armenians of Jolfa; Carmelites; Catholic Christianity; Christian Evangelism and Propagation

References

اسناد پادریان کرملی (بازمانده از عصر شاه عباس صفوی). به‌کوشش منوچهر ستوده و با همکاری ایرج افشار. تهران: میراث مکتوب، 1383ش.

اعرابی هاشمی، شکوه‌السادات. ارامنۀ جلفای نو در عصر صفوی. تهران: سازمان اسناد و کتابخانۀ ملی جمهوری اسلامی، 1394ش.

بابایی، سوسن و دیگران. غلامان خاصه؛ نخبگان نوخاستۀ دوران صفوی. ترجمۀ حسن افشار. تهران: مرکز، 1390ش.

جعفریان، رسول. سیاست و فرهنگ روزگار صفوی. تهران: علم، 1388ش.

جواهرکلام، علی. جغرافیای تاریخی اصفهان و جلفا. تهران: ابن‌سینا، 1348ش.

حق نظریان، آرمن. کلیساهای ارامنۀ جلفای نو اصفهان. ترجمۀ نارسیس سهرابی ملایوسف. تهران: فرهنگستان هنر، 1385ش.

درهوهانیان، هاروتون. تاریخ جلفای اصفهان. ترجمۀ لئون گ. میناسیان و م. ع. موسوی فریدنی. اصفهان: زنده‌رود، 1379ش.

دلاواله، پیترو. سفرنامۀ پیترو دلاواله. ترجمۀ محمود بهفروزی. تهران: قطره، 1380ش.

رائین، اسماعیل. ایرانیان ارمنی. تهران: بی‌نا، 1329ش.

عادل‌فر، باقرعلی. مسیحیان در ایران دورۀ صفویه. پایان‌نامۀ کارشناسی‌ارشد، استاد راهنما: احسان اشراقی، دانشگاه تهران، 1370ش.

فلسفی، نصرالله. زندگانی شاه عباس اول. تهران: علمی، 1375ش.

فلسفی، نصرالله. «سرگذشت ساروتقی». در هشت مقالۀ تاریخی و ادبی، 129ـ155. تهران: دانشگاه تهران، 1330ش.

گلپایگانی، حسین‌میرزا. تاریخ چاپ و چاپخانه در ایران. تهران: گلشن، 1378ش.

لازاریان، ژانت. دانشنامۀ ایرانیان ارمنی. تهران: هیرمند، 1382ش.

هوویان، آندرانیک. ارمنیان ایران. تهران: هرمس، 1380ش.

A Chronicle of the Carmelites in Persia and the Papal mission of the xvii and xviii centuries. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1939.

Aslanian, Sebouh& Houri Berberian. "Sceriman Family", in Encyclopedia Iranica. july 20, 2009, http://www.iranica.com/articles/sceriman family.

Baghdiantz McCabe, Ina. The Armenian merchants of New Julfa: Some aspects of their international trade in the late seventeenth century. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University, 1993.

Baghdiantz McCabe, Ina. The shah’s silk for Europe’s silver; The Eurasian Trade of the Julfa Armenians in Safavid Iran and India (1530-1750). Atlanta: University of Pennsylvania Armenian Texts and Studies,1999.

Floor, Willem. “Ĉāp”. in Encyclopedia Iranica, 760-764. London & New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1990.

Floor, Willem. “The First Printing–Press in Iran”. Zeitschrift det Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, vol.130 (1980): 369-371.

Gemelli Careri & Giovanni Francesco. Voyage du tour du monde, traduit de l'italien de Gemelli Careri. Paris: E. Ganeau, 1719.

Lee, Rosemary Virginia. A Printing Press for Shah `Abbas: Science, Learning, and Evangelization in the Near East, 1600-1650. A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 2013.

Matthee, Rudolph (Rudi).”Christians in Safavid Iran: Hospitality and Harassment”. in Studies on Persianate Societies, vol.3, pp.3-43. Delhi: Manohar, 2008.

Matthee, Rudolph (Rudi). Persia in Crisis; Safavid Decline and the fall of Isfahan. London, New York: I. B. Tauris, 2012.

Richard, Francis. ”Carmelites in Persia”, in Encyclopedia Iranica, 832-4. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1990.

Thomas, David & John Chesworth. Christian-Muslim Relations; A bibliographical history (vol.10: Ottoman and Safavid Empire 1600-1700). Leiden: Brill, 2017.