Petercsák Tivadar - Berecz Mátyás (szerk.): Információáramlás a magyar és török végvári rendszerben - Studia Agriensia 20. (Eger, 1999)
HILLER ISTVÁN: A Habsburg informátorhálózat kiépítése és működése az Oszmán Birodalomban
STUDIA AGRIENSIA 20, 1999 Hiller István A HABSBURG INFORMÁTORHÁLÓZAT KIÉPÍTÉSE AZ OSZMÁN BIRODALOMBAN ABSTRACT: István Hiller: Development and Operation of the Habsburg Informant Network in the Ottoman Empire. The Peace of Zsitvatorok in 1606 opened a new chapter in the history of Habsburg-Ottoman diplomatic relations. The peace settlement, which was based on the idea of a balance of power, allowed the Habsburg Empire to reopen its full-time embassy in Constantinople. However, by the 1620s it became clear that it was impossible for one single diplomatic post to cover the political situation and to gain reliable, verified information within the Ottoman Empire’s European lands let alone that of the Empire as a whole. It was necessary therefore to develop an illegal network devoted to the collection of information from a variety of places. The justification for this was that this data would then verify, or otherwise, information already being handled by the embassy. The institution became the Institute of Secret Correspondents which Johann Jacob Kurz was responsible for organizing and developing. The secret correspondents, acting as informants within the Habsburg Empire, were active in Buda, Sofia, Belgrade, as well as in Constantinople and Iasi. They were generously rewarded for their work and their reports made it as far as the institution responsible for coordinating Turkish diplomatic affairs in Vienna, as well as the Council of War to the Court. Although there had been previous plans to have something similar to the Institute of Secret Correspondents this was the first Habsburg informant network to work throughout the Ottomans’ European territories. The “geheimb Correspondenz“ worked until the very end of the Ottoman occupation of Hungary and made a major contribution in allowing Habsburg diplomacy to gain a more complete view of Constantinople’s policies. The success of the wars in driving back the Turks in the second half of the seventeenth century can only be understood and evaluated once the development of the diplomatic system has been taken into consideration. The Institute of Secret Correspondents played an important role in this development. 1629. szeptember 23-án Francesco Vlatchi aláírt egy megállapodást. A ra- guzai kereskedő életében gyakran megesett, hogy kézjegyét adta egy okmányhoz, ez az irat azonban különleges és egyedülállónak tűnt. Beszervezési nyilatkozat volt, olyan okirat, amely nem a kereskedelem, hanem a politika szfé157
