Chronicle of the Carmelites in Persia, A (PDF)

In 1604 Pope Clement VIII despatched a delegation of Discalced Carmelites to Persia to exhort Shah Abbas to join an alliance with him, thus initiating a period of almost two hundred years of Carmelite activity in the region. During their time in Persia, the Order not only bore witness to one of the great ruling dynasties - the Safavid dynasty - and its demise: they also amassed a huge written record. A Chronicle of the Carmelites in Persia presents an important collection of these Carmelite writings from Safavid Persia. The two volumes are compiled from thousands of archival documents, many of which had to be translated from the handwritten originals. The records provide an unparalleled source of detailed information on the politics, diplomatic rituals, foreign policy concerns and matters of court ceremony of the time. Correspondence between the Popes and the Safavid Shahs is included, and no other source provides such a personal portrayal of Shah Abbas as the eyewitness accounts of Father Tadeo when describing his sessions with the monarch and his courtiers. First published more than seventy years ago and now extremely rare, the work remains an invaluable resource for scholars. This new edition contains an introduction by Rudi Matthee, an acknowledged authority on Safavid Persia, who has also unearthed a wealth of new information on the editor Herbert Chick.