Political Judgemertt betweenEmpirical Experience and Scfiolarty

Tradition: EngeCbert Kaempfer'sReport on Persia (1684-8$)

Stefan Brakensiek*

The article attempts a reconstruction of the ways in which the pro-duction of knowledge abou't Persia was organised by EngelbertKaempfer in his writings. This late seuenteenth Century Germantraveller to Asia has bcen unfailingly commended for his crilicalcmpiricism. While this has been takanforgranted in thefield oj naturalsciences—Kaempfer was afamousphysician and botanist—it is moredifßcult, when scarchingfor Ihefoundations ofhisjudgemcnt aboutthe political system of Persia, to distinguish between experience andscholarly tradition. Tlie articleprovides a survey ofthc InformationKaempfer had to rcly upon. A comparison betivecn thcse sources andthe report itselfgives us some insight into theprocesses through whichtheproduction ofsodo-political knowledge about an alien world tookplace and how the encounter with the alien exercised an inßuenceon the political judgement ofa seventcenth Century explorcr.

To the true Safavid prince, everything is allowed unrestrictedly: if hewants to conclude alliances, to declare war and peace, to alter theconstitution of the realm, to think up new taxes; even if he wants to

'Fakultät für Gesch ich tswis.sen.se ha ft und Philosophie, University of Bielefeld,Universitätssfr. 25. D-33Ö15 Bielefeld. Germany. Email: sbrakens@geschichte.uni-hielefeld.de

M^di£val History Journal, S, 'Z (2002)Säße PubCications * New Delhi, Thousand Oflfes, London

224 * Siefan Brafeenstefc

extend his power over the life and property of an individual and hiswife and children. No subject, even the most distinguished, isprotected against a degenerate power which is capable of modifyingthe law whether out of arbitrariness or cruel passion.1

And yet the Shah is just a puppet in the hands of the grandee.s,with the grand vizier in control. 'So to speak, through his eyes theking sees the theatre of the empire; according to his advice everythingis settled.'2

1 Engelbert Kaempfer, Amoenitatum Exoticarum politico-physico-medicarumfasciculi V, Quibus continentur uariae Relationes, Qbservationes & DescriptionesRerum Persicarum & Ultcrioris Asiae, multä attentione, in peregrinatibus per uni-versum Orientem, collectae, ab Auctore Engelberte Kaempfero, D. Lemgoviae, Typis& Impensis Henrici Wilhelmi Meyeri, Aulae Lippiacae Typographi, 1712.- 4: 'Sopb-omm vero Principi . . . ornriia permissa atque integra sunt: si velit foedera, bella,pacem cudere, si Leges Regni mutare, si novas fingere tributorum species; quin adprivatorum vitas, uxores, liberos & bona quse vis magnum exiendere: nullo civibus,etiani primoribus, relicto juris prsesidio, quo degenerantis Potential vel libidinem äfbrtunis, vel impetum ä cervicibus declinare queant.' The translation into Germanneeds to be taken with a pinch of sall. Walther Hinz (ed.), Engelbert Kaempfer, AmHofe des persischen Großkönigs !684-J68_5, Stuttgart, 1984: 21. Kaempfer's judge-ment on Persia was very cornmon, see Jean Baptiste Tavernier, The Six travels ofJohn Baptista Tavernier, Baron of Aubonne, through Turkey and Persia to the Indies.During the space of I-orty years. Giving an Account of the presenl State of thoseCountries, viz. of their Religion, Government, Customs and Commerce . . . MadeEnglish byj. Phillips, London, 1678, vol. 5- 239: The Government of Persia is purelyDespotick or Tyrannical. For the King has the sole power of life and death over allhis Subjects, independent from his Council, and without any Trials or Law-proceedings.He can put to what death he pleases the chief Lords of the Kingdorn, no man daringto dispute the reason: nor is there any Sovereign in the world more absolute thenthe King of Persia.' Or Jean Chardin, Voyage du Chevalier Chardin, en Perse, et autreslieux de /'Orient, Nouvelle Edition, Paris, 1811 (forthefirsttime publishedin 1685),vol. 5: 229: 'Pour le present donc, le gouvernement de Perse est monarohique, de-spotique et absolu, etant tout entier dans la main d'un seul homrne, qui est le chefsouverain, tant pour le spirituel que pour le temporei, le maitre a pur et a plein de lavie et des biens de ses sujets. II n'y assurement ancun souverain au monde si absoluque le roi de Perse; car on execute toujours exactement ce qu'il prononce, sans avoiregard ni au fond, ni aux circonstances des choses, quoiqu'on voie clair comme lejour, qu'il n'y a la plupart du temps nulle justice dans ses ordres, et souvent pas memede sens commun . . . . Rien ne met ä couvert des extravagances de leur caprice; niprobate, ni merite, ni zele, ni Services rendus: un mouvement de leur fantaisie, marquepar un mot de la bouche, ou par un signe des yeux, renverse ä l'instant les gens lesmieux etablis, et les plus dignes de I'etre, les prives des biens et de la vie; et pour celasans aucune forme de proces, et sans prendre aucun soin de verifier le crime impute.'

1 Kaempfer, Amoenitates exoticae: 22: 'Hujus inquam oculis Rex, tanquamconsplcillo Imperii scenam conspicit, ingenio dirigit, consilio tuetur. '

Engelbert Kaempfer's Report on Persia » 225

This harsh judgement on the political System of Persia was passedby the learned doctor and natural scientist Engelbert Kaempfer. Itstems frorn his main work published in 1712, Amoenitates exoticae,which could be translated äs 'foreign pleasures' or 'exotic delights'.A journey of ten years through extensive parts of Asia which, fromNovember 1083 until June 1088, took him to Persia äs well, servedäs a basis for this book. If one follows the preface of this publication,Kaempfer had come to his opinions on the strength of his own obser-vations exclusively during his stay of four-and-a-half years in Persia.'l have taken in nothing only imagined, nothing srnacking of writingroom and smelling of study lamp.'3 And he continues: 'I confme myselfto writing on subjects which are either new or not thoroughly andcompletely handed down by others only. As a traveller I aimed fornothing eise than collecting observations of facts which have beenunknown or not well-known enough. '4 Kaempfer characterises him-self äs an ernpirical scientist who strives for innovative findings, äs aprotagonist of that new type of learned man, conceptualised in sharpcontrast to the traditional scholar who explains knowledge äs com-piled from authority.

I am willing to follow this seif interpretation of Kaempfer withregard to the other subjects he has dealt with. His studies on medicaland botanical subjects are generally recognised äs innovative: hisreport on Japan shaped the eighteenth Century European Imaginationabout this remote country which had shut itself off from the westernworld.5 But if you, led by Kaempfer, undertook a journey to Persia inthose days you would be furnished with interesting detail about the

5 Kaempfer, Amoenitates exoticae: preface: 'Nihil ex ingenio meo ficti in illumretuli; nihil quod ungues sapiat & lucernam oleat.'

4 Ibid.: 'Nee crambem recogno ab alüs coctam, . . . sed illis omissis, quae ab aiiisrelata sunt, ea saltem describere satago, quae vei nova, vel haud intime & plene abalüs tradita sunt: Peregrinanti quippe non alius fuit scopus, quäm ut rerum vel usquamnobjs, vel non satis cognitarum notitias conquirerem.'

' Peter Kapitza, 'Engelbert Kaempfer und die europäische Aufklärung: ZurWirkungsgeschichte seines Japanwerkes im 18. Jahrhundert', in Hans Hüls et. a l .Ceds), Engelbert Kaempfer: Geschichte und Beschreibung von Japan—Beiträge undKommentar, Berlin/Heidelberg/New York, 1980: 41-ö3;Josef Kreiner, 'Deutschland-Japan: Die frühen Jahrhunderte', in Josef Kreiner (ed.), Deutschland-Japan.Historische Kontakte, Bonn, 1984: 1-53; Peter Kapitza, Japan in Europa: Texte undBilddokumente zur europäischen Japankenntnis von Marco Polo bis Wilhelm vonHumboldt, 3 vols, München, 1990; Derek Massarella, 'The History of Thc Histor):The Purchase and Publication of Kaempfer's History of Japan', in Beatrice Bodart-

226 * Stefan Rrakensiek

prince, his court, the army, the authorities, the judiciary, the nationalbudget, and Shiite Islarn. However, some of his judgement was notsufficiently sustained by his own observations. His general Statementson the political System of Persia were based mainly on Europeantraditions of political thought and Communications with the commu-nity of European experts.

It is often emphasised that European thinking about the east fol-lowed a narrow path. Since the adoption of the Aristotelian work inthe thirteenth Century, certain topoi prevail describing the System ofrule of the Oriental empires, and what is more, the collecn've characterof the eastern people.6The Greek terrn despotmeans 'head ofa house-hold', at the same time 'master of slaves'. As a political concept, des-potism characterises a certain type of monarchy which, thoughresembling the domination of slaves, is a legitirnate form of rulebecause it appears to be sanctified by custom. In the third book ofhis Politeia Aristotle writes that, apart from tyranny 'there is anotherform of autocratic rule among barbarian people. Those all have powersirnilar to tyrants, but are legitimately founded and inherited. For thebarbarians own a character more slavish than the Greek, and theAsians more than the Europeans, they endure despotism withoutrebellion.'7

Aristotle makes a sharp distinction between despotism and tyranny:while tyrannical power depends on violence and fear, the rule ofadespot is based on the approval of the subjugated. And despotismdoes not know the problem of succession which characterisestyranny. Therefore, despotic rule is more stable and longer-lastingthan tyranny. Nevertheless, Aristotle states that despotism is intimately

Baifey and Derek Massarella (eds), The Funkest Coai. Engelbert Kaempfer'sEncounterwith TokugawaJapan, London, 1990: 96-131; Detlef Habedand, EngelbertKaempfer 1651-1716: A Biography, London, 1996: 65-82, 94-98. The recently pub-lished critical edition of the report on Japan gives valuable insight into the conditionsof its production. Wolfgang Michel and BarendJ. Terwiel (eds), EngelbertKaempfter:Heutiges Japan, München, 2001, vol. 1.2: 73-179.

6 Richard Koebner, 'pespot and Despotism: Vicissitudes ofa political term\Journalof the Warbug and Courtauld Institutes, vol. 14, 1951: 275-302; Melvin Richter,'Despotism1, in Philip P. Wiener (ed.), Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies ofSelected Pivotal Ideas, vol. 2, New York, 1973: 1-18; Günther Bien and Ulrich Dierse,'Despotie, Despotismus l', in Joachim Ritter (ed.), Historisches Wörterbuch derPhilosophie, vol. 2, Basel/Stuttgart, 1972: 132-44.

1 Third book of Aristotie's Politeia: Olof Gogon (ed. and tr), Aristoteles Politik,2nded., Zürich/Stuttgart, 1971: 166-67.

Engeföert Koempfcr's Report on Persia + 227

related to tyranny, since it is true that the despot rules according tothe law of the land, but merely on the basis of his own decisionswhich nobody can alter. Therefore, despotism is no rule in the inter-ests of the common weal, because the law itself serves one sidedlythe interests of the rufen The positive Opponent to despotism is theGreek polis, held together by the bonds of friendship and justice.

While the concept of despotism in the Middle Ages, was usedabove all, äs a polemical weapon against the clairn for supremacy ofthe popes, the emerging political science of the early modern periodfeil back on Aristotelian origins. Lucette Valensi has pointed to thechange in the attitude of Venetian ambassadors against the OttomanSystem of rule in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth Centimes:until about 1,600 positive judgement prevailed, regarding the Turksäs frightening enemies and their empire äs a perfect system of domin-ation. After the beginning of the seventeenth Century, critical voicesarose following the arguments outlined in Giovanni Botero's Relationiuniversalim 159l.8 The Systems of rule in Turkey, Persia, India, Russiaand China were increasingly identified with the paradigm of despot-ism, conceding that despotic rule guarantees strength äs long äs therulers are sober and capable, but maintaining that such a politicalSystem necessarily carries within it the seeds of degeneration.9

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the authors of politicaltreatises interpreted despotism äs an analytical tool to understand

8 Lucette Valensi, 'The Making of a Political Paradigm: The Ottoman State andOriental Despotism', in Anthony Grafton and Ann Blair (eds), The Transmission ofCulture in Early Modern Europe, Philadelphia, 1990: 173-203- Foradetailed analysisof the Venetian reports on the Ottoman empire see Lucette Valensi, Venise et la.Sublime Porte: La naissance du despote, Paris, 1987.

9 The locus classicus is Sir Paul Rycaut, The Present State ofthe Ottoman Empire,London, 1668. French translation Histoire de l'etat present de l'Empire Ottoman.Amsterdam, 1670: 2-3: 'Quand j'examine de pres la constitution du gouvernementdes Turcs, et que je vois une puissance tout ä fait absolue dans un Empereur sansraison, sans vertu et sans merite, dont les commandements, quelque injustes qu'ilssoient, sont des Loix; les actions, quoique irre'guliere, des exempJes; et les jugements,surtout dans les affairs de l'Eat, des resolucions auxquelles on ne se peut opposerQuand je considere encore qu'il se trouve parmi eux si peu de recompense pour lavertu, et tant d'impunite pour les vices, dont il revient du profit au Prince; de quellemaniere les hommes y sont eleves tout d'un coup par la flatterie, par le hasard etpar !a seule faveur du Sultan, aux plus grandes, aux plus importantes et aux plushonorables charges de l'Empire, sans avoir ni naissance, ni merite, ni aucune experi-ence des affaires du monde.' Quotation from Alain Grosrichard, Stnicture du serail.Lafiction du despotisme asiatique dans l'Occident classiquc, Paris, 1979: 28-29-

228 * Stefan Brafcensiefc

oriental monarchies. But since Edward Said's Orientalism, we are alltoo prepared for suspicion: certainly despotism was a description ofthe political Systems of the eastern empires; a closer examinationwould reveal connotations seeking to conceptualise eastern despot-ism rnainly äs a negative counterpart to European monarchies. Inthe long run, the occidental monarchies were thought of äs beingsuperior to their oriental counterparts, because they harboured nobil-ities committed to their princes by the bonds of rights of propertyand political participation, of honour and responsibility. It is wellknown that those ideas were most skilfully formulated and propa-gated by Montesqu ieu in the first half of the eighteenth Century. Whatis less well known is the history of this argument.10 So it would beinteresting to reconstruct the forms of knowledge that informed thejudgement of the poÜtical systern of Persia, formulated by one of themost respected explorers of the seventeenth Century. To begin with,I shall throw light upon the genera! educational background ofEngelbert Kaempfer, his experiences in Persia, the written sourceshe was provided with about the System of rule there, and the formalmodels he relied upon when he wrote his report.11

Engelbert Kaempfer was born in 1651 in the small town Lemgo ässon of a Lutheran parish priest. He enjoyed a classical education thatled him to several schools in northern Germany. At the age of 21 hewent to Danzig, where he frequented the Athenaeum, a famous gym-nasium illustre. He finished his studies there with a disputation whichwas published and which informs us about his intellectual back-ground. The small thesis deals with the question of whether it makessense to discriminate between majestas personalis, the personalpower of a prince, and majestas realis, his factual, non-personalpower, which depends on the leges fundamentales, the constitutionof a monarchy. This was a very common topic for a disputation inpoliticis. Kaempfer referred to all relevant literature coming from the

10 A brilliant analysis could be found in the chapter 'Wirkliche und unwirklicheDespoten1 (real and unreal despots) by Jürgen Osterhammel, Die EntzauberungAsiens.- Europa und die asiatischen Reiche im 18. Jahrhundert, München, 1998:271-309. The ways Montesquieu used travel accounts for the Leltres Persanes areexemplified by Horst Walter Blanke, Politische Herrschaft und soziale Ungleichheitim Spiegel des Anderen: Untersuchungen zu den deutschsprachigen Reisebeschrei-bungen vornehmlich im Zeitalter der Aufklärung, 2 vols, Waltrop, 1997, vol. 1:441-66.

11 For biographical information see Haberland, Kaempfer. A Biography.

Engelbert Ktumpfer's Report on Persia * 229

different camps of contemporary political thinking, to end up withJean Bodin's sentence 'Majestas est Legibus soluta Potesta'. With hisplea for an undivided majesty, he followed prevalent opinion in themiddle of seventeenth Century. What is more, we can be sure that hehad a thorough knowledge of the political science of his tirne.'2

From 1075 onwards, Kaempfer frequented the universities ofCrakow, Königsberg and Uppsala, where he acquired a varied know-ledge in the natural sciences äs well äs the humanities, and wherehe became familiär with Descartes' Discours de la methode. WhenKaempfer embarked upon his travels through Asia he was an excel-lently educated man of 32, with a mastery of several languages andsubscribing to an empirical comprehension of the sciences. In 1683Kaempfer was appointed secretary of a Swedish embassy to thePersian court in Isfahan. The legation took the usual way via Nov-gorod and Moscow, following the rivers Oka and Volga to the CaspeanSea, sailing to its southern shores and finally, arriving by caravan tothe Persian capital. This route was well known äs the latest, after thepublication of the report of Adam Olearius in 1647. NeverthelessKaempfer wrote down plenry of observations, which are well recom-mended äs important sources for the geography and the culture ofthe Volga region. It was Kaempfer who was the first western visitorto the petroleum wells of Baku.13

Kaempfer lived in Isfahan from March 1684 to November 1685. Asa member of a diplomatic mission, he participated in audiences ofthe Shah several times.14 He maintained contacts with the colony offoreigners in the capital of Persia. The stay at Isfahan was used by

11 Engelbert Kaempfer, Exercitatio politica de Majestatis Divisione in realem etpersonalem, quam Prceside Excellentissimojuxta ac Ctarissimo Viro, Dn.M. GeorgioNeufeld, Philos. Pract. Mateph. Logicceq; Prof. Ord. &Bibliothec. Promotore, Fautoreac Pra?ceptore suo omni tetate Observando, In Celeberr. Gedanensium AthenaiAudüorio Maximo Valedictiones loco Publice ventüandam prponit EngelbertusKämpffer, Lemgovia Westphalus, A.C.M.DC.LXXIII. d.8. Junii h.mat. Dantisci, [Im-primebat David-Fridericus Rhetius]. Translation into German, 'Engelbert Kaempfer,"Valedictio über die zwiefache Majestät. Gottesgnaden t um und Teilung der Majestät:Aus dem Lateinischen übertragen von Rohtraut Müller König"', in Hans Hüis andHans Hoppe (eds), Engelbert Kaempfer zum 330. Geburtstag. Gesammelte Beiträgezur Engelbert-Kaempfer-Forschung und zur Frühzeit der Asienforschung in Europa,Lemgo, 1982: 15-29.

'•' Adam Olearius, Vermehrte Newe Beschreibung Der Muscowitischen undPersischen Reyse . . . . Welche zum ändern mahl heraus gibt Adam Olearius . . .,Schleswig, 1656 (Reprint Tübingen, 1971).

H Kaempfer, Amoenitates exoticae: 216-50.

230 » Stefan Braüensiefc

Kaempfer to Supplement his book knowledge about the land and itspeople with his own observations, and by Information from reliabtesources.

In autumn 1085 Kaempfer tendered his resignation to the Swedishmission and signed up äs physician of the Dutch Hast India Company.D u ring the winter of1Ö8S-86 he travelled to Bandar Abbas, the mostimportant port in the Persian Gulf. He used this journey to make anexcursion to Persepolis.15 Against his intentions, Kaempfer was forcedto wait two-and-a-half years in blazing Bandar Abbas. During thistime he wrote down the first draft of his report on Persia. In June1688 he was allowed to leave for southern India. His stay in Indiaproved to be disappointing, äs his professional duties prevented himfrom undertaking scientific excursions. Therefore he was glad when,in autumn 1089, he got the opportunity to sail further on to Java.However, contrary to his expectations, Kaempfer did not succeed ingaining the position äs the first physician of the Dutch East IndiaCompany in Batavia. In 1690 he wiilingly accepted the offer to get toDeshima, an artificial island in the bay of Nagasaki, which served ästhe only European trade post in Japan.

The Portuguese had monopoHsed trade with Japan in the sixteenthCentury. They had brought in the Jesuits who began to proselytisesuccessfully. The Societasjesu gained considerable political influenceon the ruling classes. This developrnent, however, turned againstthem and all Europeans in the eariy seventeenth Century: the Japaneseempirecut itself off from foreign nations. Only the Dutch, who wereknown to be abstinent in religious affairs, were allowed to run thetrade post at Deshima. Before Kaempfer arrived, several reportsexisted on Japan. But they were based on outdated Jesuit experi-ence or on shallow impressions some Europeans had collected duringshort stays.

During his two years residence, Engelbert Kaempfer succeeded ingathering varied Information on Japanese culture and geography.His records include notes on language, religion, history, philosophy,

15 Kaempfer, Amoenitates exoticae: Relatio 4 'Monumenta campi Persepolitani,rupi insculta, que vocant Naksji Rustaam, i.e. simuiacra Rustamica', Relatio 5 'PalaliiIstachr sive Persepolitani rudera, vuigö Tsjihif minaar dicta', Relatio 6 'Antiquitatismonumenta in campo Sjubasär novae Persepolis'. See also Jan Willem Drijvers,'Persepolis äs Perceived by Engelbert Kaempfer and Cornelis de Bruijn', in DetlefHaberland (ed.), Engelbert Kaempfer: Werk und Wirkung, Stuttgart, 1993: 85-104.

Engeföert Koemßfer's Report on Persia + 231

medicine, topography and Vegetation.'l6.He benefitted greatly fromintellectual exchanges with his Japanese translator who could beidentified only recently.17 His name is Imamura Gen'emon Eisei(1671-1736) and he is regarded äs one of the founders of Japanese-European science of the eighteenth Century. By a fortunate occur-rence, two congenial minds had come to meet. Kaempfer wiilinglyreported on European conditions and gained information about Japanwhich were otherwise top secret. They both ran considerable risksin order to Start on their scientific work. In the course of two journeysto the imperial court at Tokyo, where the Dutch merchants wereobliged to make a show of Submission, Kaempfer openly gatheredbotanical information—which was accepted äs being harmless—andalso surreptitiously sketched the travel route. The Japanese maps hehad bought (which were strictly forbidden) and these rough outlinestogether served äs a model for the first fairly reliable map of theinterior of the Japanese islands to be made available in Europe.!W

During the years 1692-93 Kaempfer sailed home. At first he triedto settle in the Netherlands. He did his doctorate at the university ofLeiden with a dissertation on tropical diseases and their treatmentmethodsin the Far East, namely acupuncture and moxibustion.19 All

'6 Re-translation from the English version into German, Engelbert Kaempffer,Beschreibung des Japanischen Reiches, Rostock, 1750. The first original Germanediüon is Engelbert Kaempfer, Geschichte und Beschreibung von Japan: Aus denOriginalhandschriftcn des Verfassers herausgegeben von Christian Wilhelm Dohm,2 vois, Lemgo [Meyerschc Buchhandlung], 1777-79 (Reprint Stuttgart, 1964).

17 Paul van de Velde, 'Die Achse, um die sich alles dreht: Imamura Gen'emonEisei (1671-1736)—Dolmetscher und ebenbürtiger 'Diener' Kaempfers', in Haber-land, Kaempfer: Werk und Wirkung: 174-93; Yu-Ying Brown, 'Engelbert Kaempfer'slegacy in the British Library1, ibid.: 344-69; Paul van der Veide, The InterpreterInterpreted: Kaempfers's Japanese Collaborator Imamura Genemon Eisei', in Bodart-Bailey/Massarella, Furthest Goal. 44-58. A synopsis of all relevant contacts ofKaempfer to Japanese and European experts could be found in Michel and Terwiel,Engeiben Kaempfer: Heutiges Japan, vol. 1.2: 73-142.

18 British Library, ms. Sloane 3060, fol. 450r-451r, 466r, 499r/500r, 503v/504r, 506r,510r/511r, 5l6v, 553v. For reproductions and descriptions see Michel and Terwiel,Engeiben Kaempfer: Heutiges Japan, vol. 1.1:542-744, The Japanese rnaps Kaempferowned are described in ibid., vol. 1.2: 103-69. See also Kenneth Burslarn Gardner,Descriptiue Catalogue ofjapanese Books in the British Library Printed before 1700,London, 1993: 564-70,608-17; Lutz Walter, 'Engelbert Kaempfer und die europäischeKartographie Japans', in Lutz Walter (ed.), Japan mit den Augen des Westens gesehen.Gedruckte europäische Landkarten vom frühen 16. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert,München/New York, 1994: 60-67.

19 Engelbert Kaempfer, Disputatio Medica Inauguralis Exhibens DecademObservalionum Exoticarum, quam . . . pro gradu doctoratus . . . publico examini

232 « StefanEmittiert Kaempfer's Report on Persia * 233

attempts to attain an appropriate position in Holland failed. In 1964,after 27 years of absence, Kaempfer returned to bis home-townLemgo. He was 43 years old. He began bis medical practice and wasappointed private physician to Count Friedrich Adolf zu Lippe in1698. During the remaining 20 years until his death in 1716 he wrotedown the findings of his research.

The scientific Community took note of his works only gradually.After his demise his nephew sold the scientific collections and theunpublished works to Sir Hans Sloane, the founder of the BritishMuseum. Sloane ensured that the fair copy of the treatise on Japanwas translated into English. It appeared in London in 1727.20 Thetreatise became an immediate success: by 1729 it was translated intoFrench and Dutch and published.21 If Europeans in the eighteenthCentury had anything to say about Japan, it was normally based onKaempfer's book. Voltaire used his work extensively22 and Diderot's

subjicil Engelbert Kaempfer, L.L. Westph. ad diern 22. Aprilis . . . Lugduni Batavorumlapud Ahraliamum Elzevier, Academiae Typographum], MDCXCIV. German trans-lation, Engelbert Kaempfer, 'Medizinische Dissertation über zehn fremdländischeBeobachtungen'. Aus dem Lateinischen übersetzt von Hans Hüls und RohtraudMüller-König, in Hüls and Hoppe, Engelbert Kaempfer zum 330. Geburtstag: 31-61.Kaempfer, Amoenitales exoticac, Third book 'continens Observationes Physico-Medicas curiositas'. See also Wolfgang Michel, 'Engelbert Kaempfer und die Medizinin Japan', in Haberland, Kaempfer: Werk und Wirkung: 174-93.

'" Engelbert Kaempfer, The History of Japan- Giving an Account of i he Anden tand Present Slate and Government of that Empire; ofils Temples, Palaces, Castles,andothcrBitildingS; of itsMetals, Minerals, Trees, Plants, Animals, Birds, andFishcs;of the Chronology and Succession of the Emperors, Ecclesiastical and Sccttlar, ofihe Original Descen t, Religions, Customs, and Mamtfactures of the Natives, and ofthcir Trade and Commerce with the Dutch aud Chinese: together with a Descriptionof the Kingdom of Siam. Written in High Dutch by Engelbertus Kaimpfer, M.D.Physician to the Dutch Embassy to the Emperor's Court; and translated from hisOriginal Mannscript, never before printed, byJ.G. Scheuchzer, F.R.S. andaMemberof the College of Physicians. London. With the Life of the Author and an hitroduction,Illuslratcd with many Copper Plates, 2 vols, London, 1727.

" Engelbert Kaempfer, Histoire naturelle, cwile et ecclesiastiaue de l'Empirc duJapan, 2 vols, La Haye, 1729; Engelbert Kaempfer, De Beschryving van Japan,behclsende ecn verhalt uan den ouden en legenwoord'igen Staat en Regeering vandal Ryk, . . . In 't Hoogduytsch beschreven door Engelbert Kaempfer, M.D. Geneeshervan het Holtandsche Gezantschap na't Hof van den Keyzer, . . . s'Gravenhage/Amsterdam, 1729.

11 Chapter 142 'Du Japon' in Essai snr les mcenrs et l'csprit des nations, CEuvrescompletes de Voltaire, Nouvelles Edition, Paris, 1878, vol. 12: 362-66.

article on Japan in the French Encyclopaedia gives a brief summaryof his findings onjapanese history and philosophy.23

During Kaempfer's lifetime only one substantial publicationappeared, the Amoenitates exoticae, more than 900 pages strong,written in Latin and illustrated with numerous engravings. It containsfive chapters: The first book gives the report on the conditions ofPersia. The second part embraces H articles on historical and scientifictopics based on Kaempfer's observations in different parts of Asia.For example you can find a description of Persepolis with copies ofthe cuneiform script. The third book presents physical and medicalcuriosities of the Far East. The fourth chapter is a treatise on the datepalm which informs the reader of interesting botanical, sociologicaland ethnological details about its origin and cultivation, of theeconomic implications for the people in arid regions and the custom.son the occasion of harvest. The fifth book supplies us with a pion-eering description of Japanese plant life.

In the following I shall deal only with the first part of theAmoenitales exoticae. To begin with, the work gives a brief overviewof the actual Situation of the Persian ernpire and the political Systemin general. Subsequently there is an account of the history of ShahSuleiman's accession and his coronation in 1666. Then Kaempferdescribes the state apparatus, the grand vizier, the army and its com-manders äs well äs the exclusive officials who occupied a seat in thecourt assembly. A special passage deals with the fiscal authoritiesand outlines the national budget. The following chapter relates toreligious circumstances, the influence of the Mullahs and Shiitedogma. Kaempfer then returns to the secular governrnent, describingthe economy of the court and the administration of the provincesand cities. Finally he gives an account of the magnificent royalresidence, deals with some important characteristics of the Persiancourt and the royal harem and ends with courtly ceremonies.

This work has generally been accorded less esteem than Kaempfer'sreport on Japan. On the one band the Jatter study was unrivalled,whereas Persia was the subject of several brilliant books in theseventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. On the other hand, the

" Denis Diderot, 'Japonois, Philosophie des', in Denis Diderot et .ai. (eds), Eucyclo-pedie OH üiaionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers, Neiifdiastd1765, vol. 8: 455-58: 'Le celebre Kempfer, qui a parcoiiru le Japon en naturali.ste,geographe, politique & theologien, & dont le voyage tient un rang dlstingue parminos meilleurs livre.s . . .'.

234 « Stefan Brafecnsiefc Entfettert Kaempfer's Report on Persia # 235

account on Japan was more authentic than that on Persia, because itrelied upon a vivid communication with a native authorily. The reporton Persia was based on more conventional sources. Apart from bisown observations, Kaempfer exploited a large number of travelaccounts and relied on Information gathered from Europeans whohad lived in Isfahan for a long time. His own experience was restrictedto external details—climate, the location and arrangement of buildingsand gardens, etc. Only the diplomatic dealings of the Swedish legationwith the Shah and his court constjtuted an empirical basis for anindependent judgernent on Persian politics.

Some passages give an impression of how Kaempfer arrives at hisopinion. Under the headline Potestas absolutissima he writes:

The head of the Persian Empire is the king who is elevated to his dignityby heredirary right. His rnagnitude is based on the one band on his enor-mous estates, on the olher band on liis immense Instruments of powerwhich distinguish him frorn ali otherrulers of Asia. The most importantis the completely independent and absolutely unlimited administrationof justice. All over the world die authoriües of the state are restricted byrecognised agreement, called leges fundamentales, or by various notadmitted, nevertheless insuperable Hmits and necessities. In executingtheir power the Russian autocrats are laced in by the high nobtlity, whatis more, the respect for the religious customs of their country keepsthem from arbitrariness. For the power of the Turkish sultan the lack ofrestraint of the guards of the empire constitut.es narrow limits. The InciianGreat Mogul is restrained by his own descendants who always find thesupport of the peopie. To the true Safavid prince, elevated over all suchhindrances, everything is allowed unrestrictedly.2'1

2" Kaempfer, Amoenitates cxoticae: 4: 'Caput Imperii Persici Rex. est, qui adDignilatis fastigium jure haereditatis provehiuir. Magnitudinem Ejus, cum vasta mole.sterritorii, tum vero immensse testantur felicitates, quibus Ille pras ceteris AsisePrincipibus beatur. Harum ex cumulo, ut pnefari insigniores liceat, primain nominoliherrimam atque absolutissimam Jurisdict ionern. Video Potentias universi Orbis,alias explicitis circumscribi condicionibus, quas Leges fundamentales vocant; aliasintra definitos limites retineri tacilis quibusdam & insurperabilibus obstaculis atquenecessitatibus. Russorum Autocratorem hactenus auctoritas Optimatum strinxerat,ab arbitrariis ausibus revocatum religiosa patrii moris observantiä. TurcorumSulthano \iceniia prxsidiarü militis sudem figit, nulloconsiliosuberabilem, Indorummagnum Mogoletn propria compescit soboles, gravi armata subsidio faventis populi;ut plura taceam. Sophorum verö Priucipi, sublatis impedimentis, abdicative omnia

permissa atque intergra sunt.'

One could see how Kaempfer compares the eastern states by con-centrating on some fundamental structures. But this cornparison isnot restricted to Asia, it is extended to Europe äs well, without assum-ing an incomparability between Asiatic despotism and Europeanmonarchy. For example Kaempfer teils us: The prevailing customsat the Persian court are similar to those at ours, they only let shinethrough the nature of their nation. By and large their character ismodest and calrn, much sedater than that of the Turks, who revealtraces of the ferocious blood of their Tartar ancestors. '25 He composespopulär stereotypes about collective temperament through his ownobservations about courtly customs, creating a conventional mixturewhich could be found elsewhere in state descriptions, for example inSamuel Pufendorfs Introduction to thehistory ofthe main Europeanempires and slates, published in 1682,-6 of which Kaempfer ownedthe French edition.27 This was one of the most successful historical-political publications which saw several different editions in theseventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The conception of the workdiffered from historiography in a real sense; rather it could be char-acterised äs a polüical handbook. Although every chapter gives ahistory of the respective dynasty and its fates, it is systernatically

.followed by passages on national character, social structure, economy,slate administration and the position ofthe state in ofthe groupingof powers. Persia is not dealt with by Pufendorf, but Kaempferadapted his comparative mode and way of structuring.

Apart from PufendorPs handbook serving äs a model in a formalsense, Kaempfer feil back on well-known instructions on the art oftravelling.2" Frorn the late sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth

^ Kaempfer, Antoenitates cxoticae: 146: "Mores aulicorum ut compendio per-stringam, nostrarium eas persimiles ajo, ita tarnen, ut indofein sua? nationi.s retineant.HsEcsane (indoles) modesta e.sf & mansueta, longeque Turcorum genio sedatior. inquo prim;tvus Tartarorum sanguis feritaüis snae servat vestigia.'

20 Samuel Pufendorf, Einleitung zu der tiistorie der vornehmsten Reiche undStaaten, so itziger Zcil in Europa sich befinden, Frankfurt, 1682. On tlie genre ofstate descriptions .see Mohammed Ra.ssem and Justin Stagl (eds), Statistik undStaatsbeschreibung in der Neuzeit vornehmlich im 16-—18. Jahrhundert, Paderborn,I960; Mohammed Rassem and Justin Stagl (eds), Geschichte der Staatsbeschreibung;Ausgewählte Quellentexte (1456-1813), Berlin, 1994.

p Samuel Freiherr von Pufendoif, Introduction ä t'histoire desprincipaux Etatslelsqu 'ilssoni aujourd'hui dam l'Europe, traäuite de l'originalällemandde SamuelPufendorf, par Claude Kouxcl. Utrecht, 1087.

-^ Peter J. Brenner (ed.), Der Reisebericht: Die Entwicklung einer Gattung in derdeutschen Literatur, Frankfurt ;im Main, 1989; Justin Sragl, 'Die Apodemiken oder

236 * Stefan Braftensicfe Engelbert Kaempfer's Report on Pcrsia » 237

centuries, aprudentiaperegrinandio? arsapodemicahnddevelopedäs an autonomous genre. Such works were seen äs a methodologyof social science, äs an Jnstruction for travellers on how to gain newdata. They always contained a systematic catalogue of questions andother aids, a supply of all necessary tools to promote knowledgeabout the world. These instructions were very ambitious: the observerwas expected to acquire an overview of the history of the country ofhis travels, its geography, climate, agriculture, industry and commerce,its political system including administration and jurisdiction, its eru-dition, religion and forms of public worship. He was advised to Startwith general observations and then proceed to regional and localdetail. Such an elaborate journey airaed for encydopaedic know-iedge, carrying with it the evident risk of getting lost in sheer empiri-cisrn without any systematic insight. Nevertheless these instructionswere very important because they propagated an innovative attitudetowards the travelled countries. The thoroughly informed scholarwas regarded äs being the ideal traveller. He had to obtain his know-ledge not oniy by reading but also by direct observation or, if thatwas not possible, through credible testimony. The instructions forthe art of traveüing normally recornmended keeping a diary that couldserve äs a mnemonic for the writing of a travel account or a state de-scription at a later stage. Kaempfer acted exactly in this manner: hisdiaries consisted of chronological and unsystematic notes, written ina wild mixture of languages, provided with sketches of cities, land-scapes, characters, musical instruments, plants and animals.29

But these findings do not provide any answerto the question howKaempfer came to form his political judgement. Fortunately it ispossible to reconstruct the other sources he used for his account onPersia, because most of his unpublished works, including his diaries

"Reisekunst" als Methodik der SoziaIforschung vorn Humanismus bis zur Aufklärung1,in Rassem and Stagl, Statistik und Staatsbeschreibung: 131-204; Justin Stagl, KlausOrda and Christel Kämpfer, Apodemiken, Eine räsonnierte Bibliographie derreisetheoretischen Literatur des 16., 77- und 18. Jahrhunderts, Paderborn, 1983;

Justin Stagl, A History of Curiosity: The Theory of Travel 1550-1800, Chur, 1995;Osterhamme!, Entzauberung Asiens: 157-64.

''; The diaries of Engelbert Kaempfer are published in an abridged and insuffidentversion only. Karl Meier-Lemgo (ed.), Die Reisetagebücher Engeiben Kaempfers,Wiesbaden, 1968. Sources for this publication: British Library, mss. Sloane 2910,

2912. 2920, 2923.

and excerpts, have been handed down.30 Apart from this, we canrely upon a printed catalogue containing the titles of 2,111 volumeswhtch made up the library of the Kaempfer farnily in the late eäght-eenth Century. This catalogue allows us an insight into a library oflearned men, built by Kaempfer's father, himself, his brothers andnephew in the course of about one Century. Different fields of interestand phases of acquisition could be identified, äs well äs those titleswhich in all likelihood belonged to Engelbert Kaempfer.31

One would have expected Kaempfer to have used some of thefamous relationi of the Venetian ambassadors, but no evidence ofthis can be found. To prepare himself Kaempfer bought the briefGrammatica Linguae Persicae written by the Carmelite Ignatius aJesu32 and the Vermehrte Newe Beschreibung der Muscowüischenund Persischen Reyse by Adam Olearius, who had taken the sameroute to Isfahan 50 years earlier. This work is famous among historiansof Russia for its colourful details. Kaempfer's diary shows that hehad a volume of Olearius' work with him, possibly to compare theolder account with his own observations.33

w For descriptions of Kaempfer's manuscripts with cornmentary see Gerhard Bonn,'Der wissenschaftliche Nachlass des lippischen Forschungsreisenden EngeibenKaempfer im Britischen Museum', Lippische Mitteilungen aus Geschichte undLandeskunde, vol. 48, 1979: 69-116; Beatrice Bodart-Bailey, Preliminary report onthe manuscripts of Engelbert Kaempfer in the British Library', in Yu-Ying Brown(ed.), Japanese Studies, London, 1990: 22-39-

-11 Stadtarchiv Lemgo, A 989: Catalogus verschiedener rarer und auserlesenerTheologisch-Juristisch-Medicinisch-Philosophisch-Philologisch- und HistorischerBücher welche den 25ten October 1773 und folgende Tage des Morgens um 9 Uhrund des Nachmittags um 2 Uhr in Lemgo in der seel. Jungfer Kämpfern Behausungan den Meistbietenden verkauft, jedoch ohne baare Bezahlung in Conventionsmünzenicht verabfolget werden sollen. Lemgo (mit Meyerschen Schriften], 1773 (printedcatalogue with handwritten Supplements supplying information about buyers andrealised prices).

32 Ignatii Grammatica Linguae Persicae, Romae 166l (Stadtarchiv Lemgo, A 989:Catalogus, Quart 171), that is Grammatica linguae persicae, auctore Patre FratreIgnatio a Jesu, Romae [Typis S- Congregationis de Propaganda fide), 166l. Afterreturning to Europe Kaempfer bought Josephi Gazophylacium Linguae Persarum,Amst. 1684 (Stadtarchiv Lemgo, A 989-' Catalogus, Folio 66), that is GazophylaciumUngute Persarum, triplici linguarutn ctavi Italicae, Latinae, Gallicac, nee norrspecialibuspraeceptis ejusdem linguae reseratum, authoreReverendoadm. P. Angeloa S.Joseph Carmelüa, Amstelodami, 1084.

•w The first edition of this travel account was published in 1647, Kaempfer usedIhe second edition: Adam Olearius, Vermehrte Newe Beschreibung Der Muscow-üischen und Persischen Reyse . . . Welche zum ändern mäh! heraus gibt AdamOlearius . . ., Schleswig, 1656 (Reprint: Tübingen, 1971). This volume could noi be

238 * Stefan Brafcensicft Engelbert Kaempfer's Report on Persia * 239

Befbre he left Stockholm, Kaempfer may have owned a copy ofthe travel accounts of Pietro della Valle, a noble adventurer fromRome who travelled to the Hast between 1015 and 1626. This publi-cation describes the character of Shah Abbas the Great and his sur-roundings and provides information about trade and commerce ofthe greater Persian towns. In the first place, della Valle's accountportrays the customs and morals of Persia. Kaempfer owned its Dutchtranslation of 1666-M and his excerpts show that he used it to recon-struct the genealogy of the Persian dynasty. But for formation of hispolitical judgement this publication is irrelevant.35

More far-reaching in this respectfwas the influence of Raphael duMans. Since 1644 this Capuchin father had led the Catholic missionin Isfahan. He died in 1696 after a stay of more than 50 years in thePersian capital. His integrity and his knowledge of languages wonhim a position of trust at the Persian court. In this way he gainedmore substantiai information than any other European, informationwhich he obligingly placed at the disposal of travellers.36 Because ofsuch pursuits, the Capuchin mission resembled an embassy of the

proved äs being part of the estate of Engelbert Kaempfer, but his father, the parishpriest Johannes Kemper, bought a copy for the municipal library of Lemgo (Meier-Lemgo, Reisetagebüchcr. 11, note 10). The diaries show that Kaempfer had lakena copy of Olearius' accounr with him on his journey through Russia and Persia.Concerning the city of Qom he wrote: 'Olearius hat die Stadt nach dem Grundrißabgestochen, ist aber so ähnlich, wie die Kuh der Windmühle.' (Olearius hasengraved The ground plan of The city, but it is similar like a cow to a windmill: 76.)Most of Kaempfer's references to Olearius concern the Russian Situation, while heprefers other sources in case of Persia. See also Frank Kämpfer, 'Engelbert Kaempfer's"Diarium Itineris ad Aulam Muscoviticam indique Astracanum" und sein VerhältnisZur Moskowitischen und Persianischen Reise von Adam Olearius', in Haberland,Kaempfer. Werk und Wirkung: 72-84.

31 Pietro della Valle, Beschryving der Reizsen, T'Arnterdam 1066 (StadtarchivLemgo, A 989: Catalogus, Quart 48), that is: Pietro della Vaile, De Volkome beschryvingder voortreffelijcke reizen van . . . Pietro della Valle, . . . in veel voorname gewestendes werrelts sedert hei jaer 1615 tot in'l jaar 1626gedaan, uit zijn Schriften, aanMario Schipiano geschreven, door J.H. Glazemaker uertaalt, en in zes deelenonderschciden, met 25 • • • kapere platen en een register verciert, Amsterdam, 1666.

35 Kaempfer's excerpts in British Library, ms. Sloane 2920, Collectanes de RebusPersicis (Excerpta ad Historiam Persicam), fol. 208-24.

fü Frands Richard, Raphael du Mans missionaire en Ferse au XVlf s., (MoyenOrient & Ocean Indien XVF-XIX1' s., vol. 9), Paris, 1995, vol. I: Biographie. Corres-pondance: 7-134. All prominent European travellers of the !ate 17th Century werefurnished with information by Raphael du Mans, namely Jean-Baptiste Tavernier(1664-65, 1667), Jean Thevenot (1664-65), Jean Chardin (1666-67, 1669, 1073),John Fryer (1677) and Engelbert Kaempfer (1684-85).

French crown and its inquiry office. In l^öO Raphael du Mans wrotea secret report L'estat de la Perse and sent it to Colbert.37 Althoughthis report was confidential, in 1684 Kaempfer received an abridgedversion specially written for him.3S

Tosome extent Kaempfer's political judgement of the Persian stateand society was moulded by Raphael du Mans. Some passages ofthe AmoenitatQs exoticae paraphrase the latter's draft; for example,his Statements on Islam, the meaning of courtly ceremonies, the edu-cational System, the sciences, the Persian army, and the personnel ofthe court. Still, during his stay at Bandar Abbas, Kaempfer had askedRaphael du Mans for details to Supplement his report.19 This depend-ence brought with it the danger of being one-sided. Frustrated bythe futility of all attempts at proselytisation, the Capuchin father hadforrned a negative attitude towards the morality of the Persian courfand the Persian people ingeneral. Itseemsas if Kaempfer was awareof this since he did not follow du Mans in condemning Persia for thelack of all public virtues.

The first handwritten draft of Kaempfer's report on Persia is lost.Therefore we do not know how radical the reworking was, whichhe carried out after his return to Germany. But it was evident that hehad used different reports written mainly by French travellers. Men-tion should be made here of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, who travelledto the Orient between 1631 and 1668. Tavernier too had gained enor-mously frorn the connections Raphael du Mans maintained with ehePersian court, and had rnanaged to get a private audience with ShahAbbas II in 1665.40 Engelbert Kaempfer owned the Dutch translationof Tavernier's travel accounts published in 1082.4l Whife these greatly

57 Richard, Raphael du Mans, Vol. II: 1-199 (Latin with French translation). Firstpublished: Charles Schefer (ed.), Estale de la Perse en 1660 par le P. Raphael duMans, superieur de la mission des capuctns d'Isphahan, publie avec notes etappendicepar Charles Schefer, Paris, 1890.

•w Richard, Raphael du Mans, vol. II: 280-381. British Library, ms. Stoane 2908(Raphaelis du Mans descriptio Persiae, communicata Dno. Engelberto Kasmpfero.Ispahana 1684. Cum Grammatica Lingua? TurcicasJ.

•w Detlef Haberland (ed.), Engelbert Kaempfer: Briefe 1683-1715, München, 2001:No. 71 (245^6), No. 73 (250-52), No. 75 (260-62), No. 76 (263-64), No. 83 (299-300); Richard, Raphael du Mans, vol. I: 287-307; British Library, ms. Sloane 3064,fol. 4-11 v.

•'" Richard, Raphael du Mans, vol. 1: 62-66.11 Tavernier zes Reizen, Tweede Deel, t'Amslerdam 1682 (Stadtarchiv Lemgo, A

989: Catalogus, Quart 170), that is Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, De zes reizen, die hy . .

240 * Stefan Bmkensiek.

influencedhisgeographical Statements, they wereoflittlesignificancefor bis political judgement.42

Perhaps the most influential author for Kaempfer was Jean Chardin,a Protestant jeweller frorn Paris, who travelled through Persia andIndia between 1664 and 1077. He too had the information providedby Raphael du Mans at bis disposal, but in many respects did notfollow the Capuchin. Kaempfer owned Chardin's report on the coron-ation of Shah Suleiman published in 1671 äs well äs the Germantranslation of his travel Journal of 1687,̂ and he used both publi-cations extensively.M These reports were very important in shapingthe Image of Persia and the Hast äs a whole in the niinds of eighteenthCentury French philosophers. Although Jean Chardin depicts a rnoreor less positive Impression of the Safavid monarchy, his writings wereused by Montesquieu to describe Asiatic despotism in the blackestterms.45 Corresponding to the chronology of their publications,Kaempfer held an intermediate position between Chardin andMontesquieu.

An example of this can be seen in the observation on the Shah'sharem. European observers were fascinated by it with the result that

gedaan heeft. Daar in van Turkijen, Persien, en 't Serrail gehandelt ward. Nieuween naaukenrige beschryving van't serrail of hof van de turksche kaizer, Amsterdam,1682.

"2 Kaempfer's excerpts in British Library, ms. Sioane 2920, fol. 118-33, fol. 41-45(Errores Tavernierani).

11 Le Couronnenient de Soleimaan, Paris 1071 (Stadtarchiv Lemgo, A 989: Cata-logus, Oktav 54), that isjean Chardin, Le Couronnement de Soleimaan troisieme,Paris [par Calude Martin au palais, sur le Perron de la St. Chapelle], 1671. Chardin,Persian- und Ostindische Reisebeschreibung. Leipzig 1687 (Stadtarchiv Lemgo, A989: Catalogus, Quart 54), that is Jean Chardin, Des vortrefflichen Ritters Chardin. . . Curieuse Persian- und Ost-indische Reise-Beschreibung. Bestehend in einemordentlichen Journal Oder Täglichen Verzeichnüß seiner in Persien und Ost-Indienüber das schwänze Meer und den Chotchidßm abgelegter Reisen/Erstlich vom Aufhöreselbst in Frantzösischcr Sprach beschrieben, nachgehends in die Englische- anitzoaber . . . m die Hochdeutsche übersetzet, Leipzig [Gleditsch], 1687.

** Kaempfer's excerpts in British Library, ms. Sioane 2920, fol. 172-207; fol. 225-26."* Osterhammel, Entzauberung Asiens: 275-84 ('Montesquieu reading Sir John

Chardin'); David Young, 'Montesquieu's View of Despotisrn and His Use of TravelLiterature', The Review of Politics, vol. 40, 1978: 392-405; Claudia Opitz, 'Deraufgeklärte Harem: Kultuvergleich und Geschlechterbeziehungen in MontesquieusPerserbriefen', Feministische Studien, vol. 9, 1991; 41-56, Claudia Opitz, 'Politikund Geselligkeit der Geschlechter in Montesquieus Vom Geist der Gesetze (1748)',in Ulrike Weckel et. al. (eds), Ordnung, Politik und Geselligkeit der Geschlechter iml S. Jahrhundert, Götlingen, 1998: 25-40.

Etikettiert Kaempfer's Report on Persia » 241

nearly all reports gave detailed accounts of this Institution.46 Whatwas told about the life of its occupants was surely not based on thepersonal observations of the writers, but on unverifiabie reports andfantasies. Kaempfer followed Chardin in his shrewd and witty argu-mentation. Both authors did not simply continue the Christian trad-ition's condemnation of polygamy; rather they established a linkbetween the royal harem and the political System: 'Very often theShah, with approval of his mother, seeks advice from eider eunuchs,even in public affairs, and deliberates with this effeminate council.Sornetimes it occurs that public resolutions of the council are over-ruled by the ideas and persuasions of the mother and the negroes."57

Chardin and Kaempfer, identifying similarities of such practiceswith the customs at European courts, criticise this usage only gently.But the harem, in their opinion, is really detrimental for the develop-ment of the future ruler: 'His lot is neither enhanced by an active

46 In this context again the Ottoman example provides the blueprint for Europeandiscourse on Oriental customs. Firstly the seraglio of the Sublime Porte was ehesubject of fantasies, particularly important. See Jean Baptiste Tavernier, NouuelleRelation de rinterieur du Serrail du Grand Seigneur. Contenarti plusieurs singular-itez qui jusqu'icy n'ont fioint estes mises en lumiere. ParJ.B. Tavernier, Escuyer,Baron d'Aubonne, Cologne [Corneille Egmon, & ces Associez], 1075. For a broacleranalysis compare the chapter Trauen' in Osterhammel, Entzauberung Asiens: 349-74, and 'Gegenwelten' in Michael Harbsmeier, Wilde Völkerkunde: Andere Wellenin deutschen Reiseberichten der Frühen Neuzeit, Frankfurt/New York, 1994: 123-69.

"7 Kaempfer, Amocnitates exoticcte: 206: 'Eunuchorum senili consilio, ac Matrisprsecipue assenssu, Rex in rebus agendis, etiam publicis, frequenter utitur, & quxin regno molienda veniunt, cum häc effceminatä curiä deliberat. Aliquando Joris inSenaculo conclusa, ad Matris & nigritarum ingenium & suasum, mutari accidit.'Tavernier, The six traveis, vol. V: 221, 'When the King is young, the Prime Ministerhas a hard game to play, for then the Favourite Eunuchs and Ehe Sultanesses disannuland cancel in the night whatever orders he makes in the day time.' Chardin, Voyage,vol. 5: 240: 'Ce qui fait le plus de peine aux ministers de Perse, c'est le serail, qui estle palais des femmes, oü il se tient une maniere de conseil prive, qui !'empörted'ordinaire par-dessus tout, et qui donne la loi ä tout. 11 se tient entre la mere du roi,les grands eunuques er les maitresses les plus habiles et les plus en faveur. Si l esministres ne savent bien accorder leurs conseüs avec les passions et les interets desces personnes cheries, et qui, par maniere de parier, possedent le roi plus cTheuresqu'eux ne le voient de momens; ils courent risque de voir leurs conseils rejetes, etsouvent tournes ä leur propre ruine.' And 340: 'Les grands-visirs de Perse ont uneexcellente prerogative, c'est qu'on les fait mourir rarement, Lorsqu'ils tombent dans!a disgräce du souverain, on les relegues en quelque ville, oü US achevent leurs jours;mais cette charge est ä l'opposite fort difficile ä exercer, ä cause des secretes cabaleset des rraverses des courtisans, et particulierement des eunuques et des femmes duserail, qui fort souvent detruisent en une nuit les plus fines trames du mini.stre."

242 + Stefan Bra&ensiek

education nor by instructed study nor by customary contact to cele-brated men. All education is confined to the obscure women's cham-bers, to which apart frorn the son's no other glance is allowed to."*8

The permanent contact with women and eunuchs is saäd to makethe future Shah soft: 'Even his teacher, chosen out of the ranks of thecastrated slaves corresponding to the recommendation of the females,is not only completely unable to instruct the future heir to the thronein a manner that prepares him for his office, but introduces him tothe faith and sorne superstitious custorns, only/'19 Chardin andKaernpfer suspected that the future Shah would become intellectuallyand physically stunted, intentionally deprived of all skills necessaryto reign?0 EarJy sexual experience and the consumption of opium

48 Kaempfer, Amoenitates exoticae: \~>: 'Hanc sortem nee industria educationis,nee informationis S t u d i u m , nee cum viris i l lustr ibus consuetodo & convictuscorrigunt. Palaestra omnis, gymecei latebra est, extra quam I l l i solem intueri nonpermittitur.' Chardin, Vbyage, vol. 5: 246: 'Pensezmaintenant quelle capaciie et quelleexperience ces rois de Perse apportent au gouvernement de leur empire, n'ayantjamaiseu occasion deformer leur jugement, ni d'apprendre le monde, elevtjs commeil,1; le sont dans la sensualite, sans correction, et parmi une douzaine de femmes etd'eunuques qui n'ont jamais vu que le serail oü ils sont enfermes.'

w Kaempfer, Amoenitates exoticae: 15: 'Ipse ephorus ex castrata mancipiorumclds.se fceminarum suffragio deligitur, non qui manum & Ingenium Candidati adtractanda gubernacula, sed qui in religione & superstitionum notitiis solummodoinstruat.' Chardin, Voyage, vol. 5: 246: 'On peut juger de Ja si l'education qu'on luidonne est digne de sä destinee. On apprend ä ces jeunes princes ä lire et ä ecrire lesprieres et !e catechisme. On leur apprend ä lirer de l 'arc, et ä faire quelque cho,se dela main: mais pour les sciences et les arts liberaux, i!s n'en apprennent que ce quiregarde la religion, c'est-ä-dire, ce qui seit ä l'explication de l'Alcoran.'

w Kaempfer, Amoenitates exoticae: 18-19: 'Silent intereae de vitis & rebus gestisÜlustrium virorum historias; exulat Juris Publici & Maximarum regiminis scientia;omittuntur exercitia corporis, quibu.s agilitas membris & ingenio aiacritas inducendaerat; negligunturnidimenta militaria.ceterasque rerum gravissirnarum notitias, quibusimbui oportebat sacrum Imperii pignus, & ad pnesidium Reipublicas prscparari: quasiStudio caveatur, ne Rex factus noverit, in ministronim invidiam, propria.s admoveremanus gubernaculo. vel etiam accenso rerum cognitione animo novos mediteturausus, & peregrina molimina occipiat, in perniciem Keipublicar.1 Chardin, Vbyage,vol. 5: 247 'Ces nouveaux monarque.s entrent dans Je monde comme tombes desmies; et comme ils se trouvent malheureusement environnes aussitöf d'esclavesfiatteurs qui les idolätrent, pour ainsi dire, en applaudissant ä toutes leurs actions.quelqu'injusteset quelqu'extravagantesqu'elles puissent erre, il ne faul pass'etonners'ils vivent dereglement, et s'ils ,">e conduisent avec tant d'inegaliie, comme je l 'airapporte, Le plus grand mal est que ne connois.sam point le prix de la vertu et dumerite, ni le merite meme, ils n'y ont nul egard en donnant les emplois.' This judge-nient ha« been taken forgranted by modern historiography, förexample Hans Roben

EmjeCöert Kaempfer's Report on Persiu * 243

would do the rest to keep him away form government business.'1This odious socialisation must have been stage-managed by the court-iers to prevent the heir to the throne frorn seizing the reins: thesepractices served äs the basis for the power of the grand vizier and hisfollöwing.52

Even if Chardin and Kaempfer by no means intended to imply thatthe Persians were of slavish character, they contributed to the conceptof Asiatic despotism by this neat connection established in theirthinking between the harem and political system. Anyway, their per-spective of Fersian society was characterised by inconsistencies. They

Roemer, Persieii auf dem Weg in die Neuzeit: Iranische Geschichte von 1350-1750,Stuttgart, 1989: 325-27; iäem, The Safavid Period', in Peter Jackson and LaurenceLockhan (eds), Ttie Cambridge l-Iistoiy of Iran, vol. 6, Cambridge, 1986: 189-350,esp. 305-7.

51 Kaempfer, Amoenitates exoticae: 19-20: 'Quid? Quod nondum pube.scentiassocientur uxores, quarum convictu ingenii scintiilas facile extinguuntur, & Überamens novitii amoris lenocinio, a virtute & magnarum rerum desideriis abrepta,obsequio mancipatur corporis. Vix enim Venereum hoc delibavit poculum. cumsangninis sui, & ad quanram spanam genitus sit, oblitus, omne Studium vitamqueperniciosas Veneri devovet. In hujus ille campis virilem aucupari gloriam allaborat,&, ne inconatudefic'iat, in dies suppetias virium, quas tyroni natura non suppeditabat,a medicis repetit. Has i l l i efficacissimas conficiunt ex capitibus Papaveris: cujussuccum inspissatum (Opium vocantj cuin mosco, ambrä & aromatis subactum, informä minut i s s imarum p i l u l a r u m exhibent. quarum subinde unicam Prim,ipideglutiendam suadent; . . . In foro Medicorum hoc pharmaci genus appel laturremedium magnanimitatis. Remedium vero exitiosum & execrabiie! quippe cujusvirtus post paucas horas dissipata, pedissequam relinquit timiditatem & tri.stitiam;longior vero usus enervato corpori Hippocraticam inducit maciem, debilitatemsensuum, & torpeniis ad pra^clara omnia ingenii stupid i tatem.'

52 Kaempfer, Amoenitates exoticae: 23: 'His igitur Rex consiliis & occasionibus aReipubücae studio distractus, ad incuriam & ventris obsequium disponitur, segniusimposterum publica, intentius ea curaturus, quas ad delicias & vana serviunt explendacorporis desideria. Durn interea aciministratio Regni in Senatorum versatur manibus,dirigenda ex arbitrio summi Prassulis, quem vocant AthemaadDaulßth, id est, fuicrum& refugium Aula?, Hujus inquam oculis Rex, tanquam conspicillo Imperii scenamconspicit, ingenio dirigit, consilio tuetur.' Chardin, Voyage, vol. ~>\0 '. . . le.ssouverains mahometans etant eleves dans des serail avec des femmes et deseunuques, ils sont si peu capables de regner, qu ' i i faul, pour !e bien des peuples etpour la sürete de l'etat, qu'on mette quelqu'un sous eux pour gouverner en leurplace. Ainsi l'on peut dire que les rois en Perse, et dans le reste d'Orient. sont desrois pour la montre. ei que leurs grands-visirs sont comme de vrais roi.s. pour avoirsoin desaffairs; et, comme ces rois de l'Orienr ne songent d'ordinairequ'aux plai.sir.sdes sens, il est d'autant plus necessaire qu'il y ait quelqu'un qui pense ä la con-servation et ä la gloire de l'empire. Ce sont lä les principaies raisons du pouvoirextreme des grand-visirs.'

244 # Stefan Bmfeensiefe Etujetfert Kaempfer's Report on Pcrsia * 245

truly admired its religious tolerance and they were completely awareof the greater personal freedom and better economic condition ofordinary people in Persia äs compared to those in Europe. But theywere repelled by sorne aspects of the political System which cameinto conflict wich their 'proper' concepts of honourand masculinity.This may explain why such open-minded travellers äs Kaempfer andChardin reverted to Aristotelian concepts and, by doing so, uninten-tionally paved the way to orientalism.

Alain Grosrichard has dealt with this very subject in Freudianterms—and his way of thinking is an interesting conceptualisation.53

He provides Solutions to the general problem of how to understandwhat happens when you step frorn the observation to the explanationof a phenomenon: you can approach this magic rnoment in terms ofimagination, like Lorraine Daston54 has done, you can use the Freudiantools or you can speak about tradition like most historians wouldprefer to do. However all these explanations remain unsatisfactory.The crucial point where empirical cognition turns into knowledgeremains an empty place, that is necessarily filled with our ownimagination.

In recapitulating the findings about the sources, the structuring ofthe material, the formal model for the account, and the conceptual-isation pre-forming the political judgement, Kaempfer's Report onPersia seems to be epigonic. But this does not get to the heart of thematter. A comparison of the first book of the Amoenitates exoticaewith other contemporary publications shows that Kaempfer is familiärwith them and uses them. His report atternpts greater precision ratherthan originality. Even if there have been errors in his reporting, mostof it has stood up to the critical counter-checks of actual research.55

But his political judgement, especially the correlation establishedbetween socialisation of the future Shah in the harem and the politicalSystem, rests upon weak plausibility. Even if he supplies a chapter

" Grosrichard, Stmcture du serail.s" Lorraine Daston, Wunder, Beweise und Talsa-.i.-e: Zur Geschichte der

Rationatität, Frankfurt am Main, 2001." Bertold Spuler, 'Fremde Augen: Überlegungen zu Engelbert Kämpfers

Reisebeschreibung', Materialia Turcica, vols 7-6, 1981-82: 325-35; K. Röhrborn,'Regierung und Verwaltung [rans unter den Safawiden', in Regierung und Verwaltungdes Vorderen, Orients in Islamischer Zeit (Handbuch der Orientalistik, vol. 1.6).Leiden/Köln, 1979: 17-50; Roger M. Savory, 'The Safavid Administrative System', inThe Cambridge Histoty oflran, vol. 6: 351-72.

on the architecture of the harem based upon his own observation.s,the praised judge by appeärances does not play any role in the formu-lation of a broader judgement. Therefore I suggest that Kaempferobtained evidence through communication with European experts—-communication that provided him mernbership of the scientificcornmunity.56

While examining the preconditions of political judgement, adistinction must be made between ontological constants and specificcircumstances. As historians we are mainly interested in the specificconditions of the investigated period—-but fundamental problemsshould be mentioned. It is well known that there are epistemologicaldifficulties in ascertaining the interrelation between observation andjudgement. Each perception is at least tnfluenced if not guided byconceptualisations. These can follow unconscious patterns, and inthe best case a person names his concepts explicitly. Poürical judge-ment normally does not work this way. Even if the criteria of scientificproduction have been rnet, there can be an all too justified suspicionthat formal structuring or unconscious rnotivation have been ofdecisive significance.

Alterity belongs to the ontological determinations of judgement;the experience of the 'other' shapes and sharpens the perception ofthe 'own'. The seventeenth Century reports on Persia show that alloccidental travellers evaluated the poiitical, economic, cultural andreligious situations abroad with those at home, and by doing so theybecame convinced that there was a common definition of Europe.The similarities of their daily life and the communication among Euro-peans in Isfahan surely reinforced this phenomenon: The differencesbetween French, German, Swedish and Dutch appeared marginalcompared to the cultural gap which opened up berween the Europeanand the Persian. This refers to a general problem of that time: occidential thinking at the end of the seventeenth Century required amoral and political concept to dissociate the 'own' from the 'other'.This need was all the more urgently feit äs Christendom's con-ceptualisation of seif had come to lose its unquestioned centralityduring the process of secularisation.

50 K. Elke Werger-Klein, 'Engelbert Kaempfer, Botanist at the VOC, in Haberland,Kaempfer: Werk und Wirkung: 39-60; Detlef Haberland, 'Engelbert Katrmpfer unddie Respublica Litteraria', in Haberland, Engelbert Kaempfer: Briefe-. 59-96; Laurenct-Lockhart. 'European Contacts with Fer.sia', in Cambridge Histoiy of Iran, vol. 6:373-ill, esp. 397-404.

246 » Stefan Brakensiek

But modes of communication among people of different origincould not be understood by confining interaction only with one side.Here, Kaempfer's work opens the rare opportunity of comparison:the differences between his reports on Japan and on Persia couldonly be explained by the pecularities in the respective attitudes ofthe indigenous persons he met. Presumably these specifities refer tocultural differences that shaped the encounter of Japanese and Euro-peans in contrast to that of Persians and Europeans in general. Where-as in Japan well educated translators waited for Dutch merchants,specialised persons eager to understand their European counterparts,the Situation in Persia was different. One gets the Impression that thePersian sources of Kaempfer, rnainly courtiers, were very polite andprovided information about their country willingly, but without get-ting involved in close contact with a stranger.57 Surely, the Safavidcourt was open for Europeans: ambassadors were welcome, newtechnology, such äs clocks produced by European horologists, waswillingly adopted, Italian and Dutch painters were engaged todecorate the palaces.58 But it does not look like the courtiers weredeepiy interested in the European experience. Their points of culturalreference were mainly in the neighbourhood, at first the Indian andthe Ottoman empires, both belonging to the Islamic world eventhough they followed a different denomination. What is more, for aneducated Persian, encounters with people from neighbouring coun-tries were facilitated by the circumstance that Turkish was rhe courtlanguage in Persia whereas Persian was spoken at the Mogul courtin India. If Europeans wanted to establish contact, they had to learrione of these languages, and by doing this demonstrate their depend-ency. The restricted interest on the side of the Persian contemporaries,together with the need of Europeans to experience alterity in orderto define their identity, may explain the limitations of mutualunderstanding.

57 Kaempfer's Persian sources could be reconstructed by examining theAmoenitates exoticae, his travei diaries, correspondence and album: Karl Meier-Lemgo, 'Das Stammbuch Engelbert Kämpfers', Lippische Mitteilungen aus Geschichteund Landeskunde, vol. 21, 1952: 142-200, esp. 174-84.

58 Sybilla Schuster-Walser, Das Safawidische Persien im Spiegel EuropäischerReiseberichte (1502-1722): Untersuchungen zur Wirtschafts- und Handelspolitik,Baden-Baden/Hamburg, 1970: 49-55; Robert Hillenbrand, 'Safavid Architecture', inThe Cambridge History oflran, vol. 6: 759-842, esp. 840-42; HJ.J. Winter, 'PersianScience in Safavid Times', in ibid.: 581-609; Basii Gray, 'The Arts in the SafavidPeriod', in ibid.: 877-912. esp. 907-9.

Reprinted from

Medieval History Journal

Copyright © The Medieval History Society, New Delhi

All rights reserved

Published bySage Publications India Pvt LtdPost Box 4215New Delhi 110 048, India