Mary Attempts to Convert the Sultan
In December of 1651, in the small town of Selby, Yorkshire, a man gave a talk to the Tomlinson family. Invited to listen was their indentured serving maid Mary Fisher (27). The man was George Fox who several years prior, had begun to preach his new religion, later known as Quakerism. George was a year younger than Mary, affable, magnetic and well-spoken.
Mary listened intently and by the end of the talk she had committed her life to the cause of spreading the word of Fox’s simpler, individually defined way of relating to God. Mary lost no time with her quest. Within the year she was imprisoned in York Castle for ‘speaking to a priest.’ She remained there for 16 months.
Above images: Mary addresses the Sultan; Sultan Mehmed IV (1642-1693), ruler of the Ottoman Empire
Following her release in the autumn of 1653, Mary and Ann Austin, a 50 year old mother of five, arrived at Cambridge University where they admonished the students of the seminary for choosing a life in a church filled with privilege and corruption. The incensed Mayor William Pickering demanded the Constable to “whip them at the Market Cross till the blood ran down their bodies.”
Mary was on a roll. Within two months she was again imprisoned, this time in Castle Garth, York, where she was thrown in with 60 Dutch prisoners of war. The men soon made threatening sexual advances. But the courage shown by Mary and the other Quaker prisoners so moved both the prisoners and their gaolers that they ceased to harass them.
When Mary was again released she set her sights on spreading the word of Quakerism abroad. In 1655, she and her companion Ann Austin boarded a ship in London and became the first Quakers to arrive on the shores of Barbados. Their conversion attempts were not well received by the largely Anglican residents, many of whom were too busy cavorting and drinking good Barbados rum to listen. And I’m guessing that most of them were not of a mind to free their slaves who allowed them the luxury to drink and cavort. However, Mary and Ann did manage to convert the Lieutenant-Governor.
After a brief stay, they must have decided that Barbadians were a hopeless cause and that discretion was the better part of valour, for they sailed for New England. Their ship, the Swallow, docked in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony on the 11th of July, 1656. Word had reached authorities earlier that the women were coming and they were immediately imprisoned without food, water or visitors.
In the last half of the seventeenth century witch-hunts had become common practice in both England and New England. At its peak in England (1645-1647) over a hundred people (largely women) were put to death; in New England, thirteen women and two men were executed in the witch-hunts of 1647 to 1663. In the Salem trials of 1692-1693 20 more were put to death; five died in prison.
The two women, suspected of being witches, were intimately examined for any sign. A mole or any England: Tales of a Time Traveler Part 1 1.24 unusual mark on their skin would be a death sentence. None were found. For five weeks, they were imprisoned. Mary and Ann survived only through the kindness shown by the elderly owner of a Boston inn, Nicholas Upsall, who through bribes, brought the women food and water. The captain of the Swallow was ordered to return the women to Barbados. From there, they found their way back to England.
What happened to Ann at that point, we don’t know. But for Mary, this was merely a test run. She next decided that the entire Muslim world was needful of enlightenment and that the quickest way to convert the unwashed millions of the Ottoman Empire was to convert their leader, Sultan Mehmed IV, aka ‘The Warrior.’
After a lengthy sea voyage, Mary and her five companions arrived at Leghorn (Livorno), northwest Italy. There she sought the help of the English Consul to arrange an audience with the Sultan. The consul quickly realized that such a meeting could result in political disaster for England, in no small measure because the English navy had just the previous year sunk nine of the Sultan’s ships, and too, that Quaker zeal was likely not a good match with Muslim propriety. The consul suggested that her quest was perhaps, unwise. Undaunted, Mary persisted until the harangued official relented; arrangements were made for Mary and her companions to board a ship, then in the harbour, that would take them to the Sultan.
Once underway, Mary discovered that she was the victim of a ruse; the ship was heading only for Venice. However, en route, a terrible storm drove the vessel well to the east of Greece. Mary saw an opportunity. She arranged with the captain for her group to England: Tales of a Time Traveler Part 1 1.25 disembark at Zante in the Greek islands. Mary had learned that the Sultan was not in Constantinople; he and his army were encamped at Adrianople on the modern day border with Greece. At Zante, the party of Quakers went separate ways, leaving Mary to make her way to Adrianople alone. For four or five weeks she walked through Greece, Macedonia and over the mountains of Thrace, relying on the freely given generosity of Greek peasants for food.
In the autumn of 1657, just prior to Mary’s arrival at Adrianople, the Sultan had decided to move his capital from Constantinople, a place he loathed and feared for its disloyal and mutinous elements, to Adrianople. With him came his court and his 20,000 man army, now camped on the outskirts of the city. Two thousand tents were arranged in circles along the banks of the River Moritza. It was a dazzling display of power. In the centre were the sumptuous, gold-embroidered tents of the Sultan Mehmed IV and his Grand Vizier, Köprülü Mehmed Paşa (1575-1661). These central tents together constituted a fabric castle complete with administrative offices, accommodation for pages, summer houses and of course, lavish dwellings for the Sultan and Grand Vizier. The opulence and magnificence of it all took the breath away.
The Sultan (1642-1693) was but sixteen at the time of Mary’s visit. He came to the throne at the age of 6, after his father was killed in a coup. Titles came with a risk. Young Mehmed IV had a rough start. When he was an infant, his parents had a violent argument. In a rage, his father tore him from his mother’s arms and tossed him into a cistern. The harem saved young Mehmed but he wore a scar to remind him that in his world, even family can become deadly enemies.
Mehmed IV came to power in the midst of turmoil. The empire was crippled with internecine struggles, failed foreign campaigns and a demoralized army. The Ottoman’s lost an important battle with the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I and a naval battle with the Venetians. Moral among his troops collapsed and the entire Ottoman army walked off. His mother realized that the Ottoman Empire itself was was on the edge of collapse, and that a strong and strategic Grand Vizier was required to retrieve control and reverse Ottoman fortunes. The man she chose was Köprülü Mehmed Paşa.
Köprülü Mehmed Paşa was the revered and feared chieftain of the Albanians,. Köprülü was a strong governor and a man of ruthless reputation. During his five years in office as Grand Vizier, Köprülü had 36,000 influential persons summoned to Constantinople and quietly strangled. By the end of the purge, not a man remained in the empire that could or would offer resistance to the Sultan. Beyond Köprülü’s accomplishments with a garrote, he destroyed the Venetian Fleet (1657), restoring the dominance of the Ottoman Empire in the Region. Enter Mary. Her challenge was to convince Köprülü to grant her an audience with the Sultan. There is no record of Mary’s interview with Köprülü. What we do know is that he heard her out, then advised the young sultan to see her. The following day, Mary, aged 35, was ushered into the throne room with all the pomp and ceremony of a visiting Ambassador. Ranks of servants, guards, eunuchs and pages surrounded the Sultan, all dressed in a splendour of gold-embroidered coats and feathered caps.
Amidst this riot of gold and scarlet stood Mary, dressed in a simple grey frock, her countenance quiet, her deportment confident, her face filled with intelligence, intention and the presence of God. Mary was received by the Sultan with kindness and deference — a sharp contrast to the treatment she had borne at the hands of her countrymen.
In the way of Quakers, Mary said nothing, waiting for the inward light to guide her words. There was an awkward silence. The Sultan offered to dismiss his courtiers, that Mary might feel more disposed to speak. She declined and at length, when the light came to her, Mary conveyed her message. All in the room listened carefully and with gravity until she was done. Then she asked the Sultan if he had understood her message. He replied “Yes, every word of what you have said is truth.”
The Sultan invited Mary to stay in Turkey, and when she declined, he offered her an escort to Constantinople, for the journey was treacherous. Again she declined and made her own way unimpeded. This plucky young woman, Mary Fisher, with her unwavering determination, courage and devotion inspired countless people across centuries to convert to and advance the Quaker cause.
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Relation: By probability