Medieval Vatican papers reveal secrets

Three of the letters brought from Vatican archives to Azerbaijan last December were interpreted. Chief of translation and information department of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Institute of Manuscripts Farid Alekberli said.

 The letters were sent by the Roman pontiffs to Safavid Shah Abbas I. One of the letters were written by Roman Pontiff Paul V. He spoke about the bilateral political relations, as well as Safavid envoys to Vatican. In the letter dated back 20 July, 1605, Paul V apologized to Shah Abbas I for killing of his envoy Bayramgulu Bey in Rome. The pontiff said that he regretted that couldn’t prevent this murder, but looking forward for friendly relations with Safavid House. The pontiff sent three envoys to Azerbaijan – Paul Simon, Joan Tadeusz and Zimsend. These envoys were appointed before the Paul V’s papacy by Pope Clement VIII.

Alekberli said about 20 letters written in Latin are interpreted now. Most of them are related to Safavid House, but there are some letters sent to Elkhanids, Hulaki Khan and his successors. The letters were sent to Abaga Khan in 1267-1279, by Argun Khan to Pope Nicholas V in 1290, by Qazan Khan to Pope Boniface VIII in 1302, by Guyuk Khan to Pope Innocent IV in 1246. Some of the letters were sent by Pope Benedict XI to Azerbaijan’s Nestorian patriarch in 1304.

According to the researcher, there are some letters written in ancient Mongol and Uighur languages. These letters and also about 90 documents written in ancient Italian language will be translated after the Latin letters.

Totally 1000-page documents related to Azerbaijan were found in Vatican archives and brought to Azerbaijan on December 7, 2011. There are letters of rulers of houses of Elkhanids, Atabeys, Aghgoyunlu, Garagoyunlu, Safavids and Gajars to Vatican, replies to these letters, Vatican’s letters to above-mentioned rulers and their replies, secret reports of missionaries about the political streams in Azerbaijan among the documents.


/APA/