François de La Boullaye-Le Gouz (1623 – 1668/1669?) was a French traveller who, in the mid-17th century, travelled extensively across Europe, Ottoman Empire, Iran and India. In 1657 he published a lengthy travelogue - Les voyages et observations du sieur de La Boullaye Le Gouz,... où sont décrites les religions, gourvernemens et situations des Estats et royaumes d'Italie, Grèce, Natolie, Syrie, Palestine, Karaménie, Kaldée, Assyrie, Grand Mogol, Bijapour, Indes orientales des Portugais, Arabie, Égypte, Hollande, Grande-Bretagne, Irlande, Dannemak, Pologne, isles et autres lieux d'Europe, Asie et Afrique... 9Paris, 1657). The book contains a short chapter on the Georgians
The Gurgi or Georgians have long hair in the front but shave it on the back of the head, which is covered with a fur cap, in the manner of the Poles or Tartars; they wear long coats and are very valiant but without faith or religion, Christians in name only; they sell their children to the Turks and Persians, who carry them away and turn them into Muslims; the most beautiful içoğlan, the pages of the Sultan or the Shah, are the children from Georgia, and almost all the best males in Turkey and Persia originate from there as well because the Georgian blood is the best in all of Asia. Among the Muslims, the Georgian girls are highly prized for their perfect beauty.
These people are Schismatic and follow the rites and practices of the Greek, although they also have many superstitions that are unknown to the Greeks… Their language is different from all other peoples of Asia...
In Constantinople I had seen the ambassador of Mingrelia, who delivered his Prince’s annual tribute, consisting of textiles [toilles] or slaves [esclaves], to the Great Turk [Sultan]; he brought with himself thirty or forty slaves, whom he sold one after another, except for his secretary whom he kept like the best bite for last; but in the end, for the lack of money, he sold him as well and returned home alone.
"... the most beautiful icoglan"...
ReplyDeleteThe term içoğlan refers to the boy servants who had been recruited according to the devşirme system in the Ottoman Empire, and who worked in the Enderun, that is, Inner Palace, one of the three parts of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. In other words, they were the Inner Palace servants, or in the language of today, the staff serving in the head of state’s residence. The same term was also used for certain members of the Janissaries.