Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 73-74. (Budapest, 1975)

TANULMÁNYOK - Schultheisz Emil—Tardy Lajos: Egy reneszánsz-korbeli orvosdiplomata (angol nyelven)

arrived in Venice from Uzun Hasan, in order to prepare an alliance. Venice began to show a serious interest in this only when it became obvious that her war with Turkey was bringing few successes. It was a difficult hour for Venice when the envoys of Uzun Hasan and Constantine of Georgia, the desperate enemies of Ottoman power, arrived in order to give the common action against Mehmed II a positive form. In 1471 Lazzaro Querini returned,

12 accompanied by another emissary of Uzun Hasan, who was known to, have been in Venice in March 1471, planning to go to Rome in order to convince the Pope of the importance of the Persian alliance. By this time the republic of San Marco was already the chief protagonist of the alliance with Persia and Georgia,

13 Hungary and Poland were also much concerned with driving the Turks back and followed the promising operations of Uzun Hasan with close attention. Their diplomatic emissaries soon arrived to his court and accompanied him in his campaigns.

14 The first European diplomatic contact with Persia was through Lazzaro Querini, who in 1471 returned to Venice, accompanied by Uzun Hasan's representative, whose intention was to visit several European sovereigns in order to find out if they would be willing to take part in a coordinated campaign to be started simultaneously from Asia and Europe. This mission still had an exploratory character, but was soon repeated with a very wide scale of tasks. The earlier delegates of Uzun Hasan went only to Venice, while the new envoy had to negotiate with a number of rulers. Considering the contemporary facilities for travelling and communication, and in view of the permanent discord of the European states, these two journeys represented a formidable task, a unique venture in the early history of diplomacy. Uzun Hasan's bold representative, who undertook an unprecedented diplomatic task, was the physician Isaac, according to the Venetian documents "Spanish by nationality, Jewish by religion."

15 Not all the details and circumstances of his mission are known, but by fitting the fragments together the main features can be reconstructed. Looking at these events from the perspective of half a millenium we fully admit the intricate and dangerous nature of the work performed by the Venetian, Polish and Hungarian diplomats in the- court of Uzun Hasan, but we have to point out that the tasks of doctor Isaac

—or as he was often referred to : Isaac Beg

—were incomparably more difficult and exacting. The representatives of the European powers had to observe if Uzun Hasan was capable of resisting the Ottomans militarily, and if his military preparations came up to the expectations of his would-be allies. Doctor Isaac, on the other hand, had 12 Cornet, E. : Le guerre dei Veneti nell'Asia. Vienna, 1856, 23, 24, 28 pp. Cf. Berchet, G. : La repubblica di Venezia e la Persia. Torino, 1865, 5 p. 13 Cornet op. cit. 30. p. Cf. Monumenta Hungáriáé Judaica, tomus XII. Budapest, 1969, 27—44 pp. 11 The reports of the Venetian envoys and other sources testify that the Hungarian emissaries were present at the court of Uzun Hasan and were witnesses of the lost battle of Terdshan (Erzinjan). 15 Cornet, op. cit., 28 p.