Redefining Mediterranean Diplomatic Networks and the Redemption of Christian Slaves

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Dutch diplomats actively negotiated the release of Christian slaves from Muslim captivity. Because diplomacy entails the operations of a transnational network, Dutch consuls used and redefined existing trade and diplomatic networks in the Mediterranean to accomplish this task. My paper analyzes one particular aspect of redefining networks, namely how European diplomats collaborated to redeem Christian slaves.  Although historians have generally emphasized the competitive nature of European powers in the Mediterranean, archival evidence signals a previously unsuspected level of collaboration between the Dutch, French, and English. A French diplomat, for instance, assisted the Dutch in redeeming a slave from Holland. Similarly, Dutch diplomats in Smyrna petitioned the Ottoman government repeatedly for the liberation of Austrian and Russian slaves. Also, the fact that the Dutch Republic appointed English diplomats in North Africa to represent Dutch interests and the manner in which the Dutch Levant Company handled German trade interests suggest that a web of national and international interests blended in the Mediterranean world. Jewish merchants played a crucial role. As merchants or diplomats they often mediated the release of Christian and Muslim captives, and as such, transcended borders of state and religion. Thus, through the activities of Dutch diplomats we can see how Europeans operated to create a network in the Mediterranean whose purpose was to effect the release of Christian slaves of all nations. Collaboration among European Christian diplomats and Jewish merchants challenge the idea that the relationship between early modern European states in the world of trade was solely based on competition. The case of the captured Christians demonstrates that diplomats in the Mediterranean transformed existing networks, and in the process, established the idea of a common European cause, namely the liberation of its Christian citizens.