Early Anglo-Ottoman diplomacy relied on Italian as an intermediary language

Evidence

An important question is that of mistranslation, not just mistranslation by simple error or ignorance, but systematic, intentional mistranslation, of which there are interesting examples. I had occasion some time ago to look at the correspondence between London and Istanbul in the late sixteenth century, after the establishment of the first English embassy to the Ottoman government: letters from the Ottoman Sultans to the Queen of England and replies from the Queen to the Sultans; also correspondence with the Grand Vizier and other functionaries. The Sultan’s missives were of course in Turkish; a contemporary translation was provided in Italian which the English could understand; the reply was drafted in English, sent in Italian and presumably translated into Turkish. We do not have the letters from the Queen of England which reached the Sultan in their Turkish form; we have originals in English and translations in Italian but not the final form. We do have the successive versions the other way round, and they show systematic mistranslation right through. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 189

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors the Law Merchant readings on how translations and intermediaries shaped long-distance exchange; also parallels any history of diplomacy as acts of translation between empires.