The Whispers of Cities

John-Paul Ghobrial’s fascinating book is a study of how information travelled across the early modern Mediterranean, explored through the embassy of William Trumbull to the Ottoman capital from 1687 to 1692. Ghobrial’s main source is Trumbull’s personal archive, acquired by the British Library in the 1990s and never previously studied in depth. This is a large and varied collection, which includes Trumbull’s diary, correspondence, newsletters, official documents, memoranda and translations of Ottoman texts. These allow Ghobrial to reconstruct Trumbull’s engagement with the Ottoman Empire, from his initial preparatory studies in London, through his socialisation in the multi-national elite circles of Istanbul, to his dealings with various high-ranking Ottoman officials. The collection and circulation of information was one of the primary functions of Trumbull’s embassy, driven primarily by the demands of merchants. But this was not a one-way street: Trumbull and other European ambassadors were key sources of intelligence for the Ottoman governing class, who sought information on the intricacies of European politics, and carefully compared reports from different diplomats to filter truth from the mass of rumour and misinformation. The book is therefore about much more than Trumbull; Ghobrial uses his embassy to explore the networks and practices which enabled the circulation of information across cultural boundaries, and which integrated Ottoman Istanbul into the wider European world

Economic history · Geography · Regional science · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · History · Media Influence and Politics · Medicine · Gerontology