Reciprocity and inter-state law in the Venetian ahdnames (fifteenth-eighteenth centuries)

This article examines the bilateral character of the Venetian ahdnames (capitulations) from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. Drawing on the texts of these agreements alongside supplementary Ottoman and Venetian legal and administrative documents-such as imperial decrees (nişan-ı hümayun), sultanic orders (firman), and decisions (deliberazioni) of the Venetian Senate- this article offers a comprehensive analysis of the reciprocal nature of the legal regime established in the Venetian ahdnames. It argues that the Ottomans and Venetians created a system of inter-state obligations that addressed military, political, and economic challenges shared by both states, above all the protection of navigation and the promotion of commerce between Venetian and Ottoman territories. Furthermore, this article calls for incorporating multiple sources, including non-Ottoman ones, to study the international legal regimes that Ottoman and European governments established to regulate diplomatic and commercial relations in the early modern period.