A Mirror For The Prince: A Letter of Ebubekir Ratıb Efendi to Prince Selim (III

Abstract

The importance of the secret correspondences of Prince Selim (III), with Louis XVI has long been acknowledged. Most of the letters  have been studied and published by İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı. Yet little textual analysis has been made so far, and two important letters, both of which were written by Ebubekir Ratıb Efendi to the Prince, were ignored.  One of these letters (TSMA, E. 2036-16), a very detailed analyis of the reply of Louis XVI (1787) to Prince Selim, is particularly significant. Written almost like the genre of the mirror for princes, the letter comprises advice from Ebubekir Ratıb Efendi, who instructed Şehzade Selim in a scholarly manner not only on internal and foreign affairs but also on future policies after Selim’s enthrone- ment. Assuming the role of mentor, Ratıb Efendi introduces his prince to internal and foreign affairs and gives him advice on the policies he should follow after his accession to the Ottoman throne. Thanks to the same letter, it is possible to gain insight into the intellectual world of an early modern Ottoman bureaucrat generally considered to be the ideologue of modernization during the period of Selim, and follow his thoughts on modernization and general situation of the Ottoman Empire on the nineteenth century.