‘Levantine’ Dragomans in Nineteenth Century Istanbul: The Pisanis, the British, and Issues of Subjecthood

Abstract

Frederick and Count Alexander Pisani were two members of the Pisani family of dragomans that served the British Embassy in Istanbul during the nine- teenth century. As non-Muslims of Italian descent that were born and raised in the Ottoman capital, they are commonly referred to as ‘Levantines.’ Using a case filed by Frederick Pisani against the British daily The Times in the Court of Common Pleas in England, and the process of registering the Last Will and Testament of Count Alexander Pisani in the British Consular Court in Istanbul, this article examines how two members of the same family had different views of who they were, how they were able to negotiate their subjecthood, and how their British employers classified them. It demonstrates how the Pisanis and the British struggled with the concept of subjecthood, and how difficult it was to legally define it in these cases.