Poverty and Perseverance: The Jesuit Mission of Isfahan and Shamakhi in Late Safavid Iran
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/alqantara.2015.014Keywords:
Missionaries, Jesuits, Iran (Persia), Safavid Empire, ArmeniansAbstract
This essay considers the presence and activities of the Jesuits in early modern Iran, a topic that, to date, has received little attention in English-language scholarship. It examines their motives for wanting to establish a permanent mission in Safavid territory in the mid-seventeenth century—a desire to bring Iran’s Gregorian Armenians under papal jurisdiction and, in part, their search for an overland route to India and China free from Portuguese influence—and discusses these in the context of Iranian concerns and interests. The study’s particular focus is the role of French and Polish Jesuits in the establishment of a mission in Isfahan and the subsequent creation of an outpost in Shamakhi, located in the Safavid-held part of the Caucasus, on the trade route between Iran and Russia. It concludes by evaluating their (meager) accomplishments despite perseverance in the face of poverty and loneliness.
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