Ceremonial has always played a great role among European and Middle Eastern societies, reflecting the value systems cherished by their elites. Embassy instructions and envoys' reports provide valuable material concerning codes of behavior in early modern diplomacy. What was considered "proper," and how was an envoy expected to behave in order to stress his sovereign's dignity and power? Oriental courts in Istanbul and Bahçesaray developed elaborate ceremonials for foreign envoys. Forced into a deep prostration before the Muslim ruler, sometimes even threatened with physical violence, Polish envoys deeply resented their humiliation. Some of them sought comfort in alcohol, others produced fabulous reports of their imaginary altercations with Ottoman and Crimean dignitaries, and others found pleasure and revenge in contemptuous descriptions of their hosts' "barbarous" habits. Until recently, such diplomatic reports have been used in Polish historiography almost uncritically. Yet such reports often tell us more about their authors' mentalities than about the world they pretend to describe....

Autor wspomina swoje kontakty z Zygmuntem Abrahamowiczem, nieżyjącym już znanym polskim turkologiem pochodzenia karaimskiego. Oprócz katalogu osmańskich dokumentów znajdujących się w polskich archiwach, Abrahamowicz wydał kilka osmańskich i krymskich tekstów historycznych, opatrując je bogatymi przypisami. Był on nie tylko znakomitym językoznawcą, lecz także historykiem. Wysunął, na przykład, nader przekonującą tezę, iż w 1683 r. Wielki Wezyr kara Mustafa nie zamierzał wziąć Wiednia szturmem, lecz miał nadzieję na poddanie miasta przez jego obrońców. Taka kapitulacja spowodowałaby, że łupy ze zdobytego miasta trafiłyby do sułtańskiego skarbca, podczas gdy w wypadku zdobycia miasta szturmem zostałyby przechwycone przez żołnierzy....
The author recalls his contacts with Zygmunt Abrahamowicz, the late,eminent Polish Turkologist of Karaite origin. In addition to the catalogue of Ottoman documents held in the Polish archives, Abrahamowicz edited several Ottoman and Crimean historical texts, providing them with rich annotations. He was not only a distinguished linguist, but also a historian. For instance, he formulated the highly persuasive hypothesis that, in 1683, Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa had not intended to take Vienna by general assault, as he was hoping instead for the capitulation of the besieged garrison there. Such a capitulation would have ensured that the spoils to be found in Vienna would have been guaranteed for the Ottoman treasury whereas in a general assault they would have been captured by the soldiers....