Temesvári Oszmán Aga levélgyűjteménye
Osman Aga of Temesvár’s Collection of Letters

Habsburg–ottoman–kuruc Border Conflicts in the Early 18th Century

Summary/Abstract: Osman aga of Timişoara (Temesvár) is known to Hungarian as well as to international historiography for his autobiographic work A gyaurok rabságában. Pasák és generálisok között [Prisoner of the Infidels. Among Pashas and Generals]. The only known interpreter for the Divan so far, he was also the compiler of the collection of letters known to scholars as the Kitāb-i İnšā. This collection contains documents and their copies in Ottoman Turkish which passed through Osman’s hands: his job as interpreter was to translate documents (letters and reports) from Turkish to German or German to Turkish. The present paper will first introduce the author, his life-work as far as it is known today, and his collection of letters. Then three reports will be discussed from the early 18th century section of the collection, prepared by Osman aga, which clearly demonstrates what kind of conflicts occurred in the region of the two (three) sides of the newly created Habsburg–(Hungarian)–Ottoman border following the Treaty of Karlóca (1699) and Rákóczi’s War of Independence (1703–1711), and how the parties in question collaborated (or not) with each other in attempts to solve them.

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