English: Fake letter of an unspecified Ottoman sultan to king John II Casimir Vasa of Poland (1648–1668), published on 24 December 1652 in Ordinaris Dingsdaeghse Courante (ODC), a Dutch newspaper published in Amsterdam. This Dutch 'copy' of this supposed letter claims that the original text was sent to John Casimir in August 1652, but no such letter is known to have ever existed.

Text and translation

Transcript of the Dutch text provided by Delpher.nl:
Copia eens Briefs van den Sultan, des Turckschen Keysers Soon, gesonden aen Iohannem Casimirum Konink van Polen, inde Maent Augusty 1652. ICk bevele den Koninck van Polen, dat hy onser genade is begeerende , ende gene oorsake geve onser hooghste macht tegens hem te gebruycken. Naer dien wy verstaen hebben dat ghy eenen heymelijcken Raet houd met ander Koningen , Vorsten ende Christen Princen, om tegens my den oorlog te voeren, en soecken het Ierusalemsche Landt onder u gewelt te brengen. Ghy moet een onbedachtsaem en onverstandigh mensche zijn , dat ghy niet en vreest de doot, om tegens my met soo een kleyne handt vol volcx aen te komen. Ick sal u haest komen besoecken, op dat ghy mijne groote macht moget gewaer worden; dewelcke ick van dato aen in mijner hooghster heerschappye wil behouden, tot aen het eynde der werelt: oock soo zult ghy mijner hoogh-aensienlijcke Maj. voor uwen oogen klaer sien, daer mede te verstaen geven onser Koninckrijcken ende heerschappyen. Vwe Steden ende Sloten wil ick alzoo toerichten, dat ghy mijner macht sult vresen, en uwe macht tot den gront toe verdelgen, dat ghy een hertseer daer van sult krijgen. Ghy en behoeft gheene hoopeninghe meer op onser vrientschap te setten; op de vaste Mueren, als mede op alle uwe Hooft-steden ende Onderdanen, wil ick met ghewelt wegh nemen ende vernielen, en alsoo uwen Koninckrijcke en Landen eenen sulcken gedachtenisse naelaten, welcke alle tijt sal schijnen grouwsaem, en een eeuwigh gedenck-teecken te zijn, om dat mijne groote macht ende gheweldt kendbaer mach worden; en wil uwen gekruycighden Godt in eeuwigheyt uytroeyen. Laet uwe heylighen op my niet toornigh worden: uwer Vorsten wil ick inden Ploegh spannen. Zijt hier nae moet ghy u weten te reguleren.

Modern English translation (by User:Nederlandse Leeuw):
"Copy of a Letter of the Sultan, the Turkish Emperor's Son, sent to John Casimir King of Poland, in the Month of August, 1652. I order the King of Poland, that he beseech our mercy, and that he may not give us a cause to use our highest power against him. After that we have understood that you are in secret counsel with other Kings, Rulers and Christian Princes, to wage war against me, and seek to bring the Land of Jerusalem under your force. You must be a foolish and unwise human being, if you do not fear death, to come against me with such a small handful of people. I will come and visit you soon, so that you may experience my great power [or: army]; which I want to keep from this day on in my highest domination, until the end of the world: likewise you shall see my high-ranking majesty clear before your eyes, and thereby acknowledge our kingdoms and dominions. I will so assault your Cities and Castles that you may fear my power, and destroy your forces [or: power] down to the ground, that you may get a heartache from it. You need not put any hope on our friendship anymore; on the solid Walls, as also on all your Capital cities and Subjects, I wish to violently take away and destroy, and leave such a memory of your Kingdom and Lands, which will forever appear to be mournful, and an eternal reminder, so that my great power [or: army] and force [or: violence] be known; and I wish to eradicate your crucified God for eternity. Let not your saints be angry with me: I want to put your Princes before the Plough. After this, you will have to control [or: submit] yourself."

Scholary assessment

Scholars are confident that this letter is a complete fabrication that was made up for the purpose of anti-Ottoman propaganda, of which there are many examples from the 16th to 18th century in Europe in many languages. This genre consisted of forged letters, often in pamphlet form, which were a response to the Ottoman wars in Europe, and they frequently consisted of a threatening letter from an Ottoman (or 'Turkish') sultan to a European Christian monarch (e.g. the Habsburg emperors, the kings of Poland–Lithuania, the tsars of Muscovy/Rus'/Russia, or the various hetmans of the Cossacks). Sometimes, these Christian monarchs allegedly responded dismissively and derisively with a reply (in this case, there is no reply, only a threatening letter from the sultan). Such fake correspondence between an Ottoman sultan and Christian monarchs usually appeared at the start of a new war, using the same design (and often parts of the same text) as previously published letters adjusted to the new situation (names, dates, geography), with some details changed, and then spread and translated across Europe in many different versions. For example, Daniel Clarke Waugh (2019, p. 170, footnote 12) pointed out that the Kurtzer Bericht 1653 is a closely related German-language text purporting to be a threatening letter of the 'Turkish' sultan to the king of Poland dated to 10 December 1652. (For this text, see Becker-Cantarino, Barbara (2013) Daphnis, Band 41 – 2012, Heft 1: Zeitschrift für Mittlere Deutsche Literatur und Kultur der Frühen Neuzeit (1400-1750), Rodopi, pp. 160 (footnote 97) ISBN: 9789401209779. ).

For some literature on this and other such fake correspondence between the Ottoman sultan and European Christian monarchs for anti-Ottoman propaganda purposes, see the following:

• Friedman, Victor A. (1978). "The Zaporozhian Letter to the Turkish Sultan: Historical Commentary and Linguistic Analysis". Slavica Hierosolymitana 2: 25–38. Magnes Press. Retrieved on 21 April 2022.
• Poliakov, Ivan Anatol'evich (2018). ""Азбука фряская" князя С.В. Ромодановского и новые списки грамот из цикла "Легендарной переписки турецкого султана"". Древняя Русь. Вопросы медиевистики 71 (1): 89–99. Institute for Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved on 21 April 2022.
• Pylypenko, Volodymyr (2019). "Provoking a War: Polish Fake Documents in Warsaw’s 17th century Eastern Policy". Propaganda in the World and Local Conflicts 6 (1): 3–7. Academic Publishing House Researcher. DOI:10.13187/pwlc.2019.1.3. Archived from the original on 2019-11-14. Retrieved on 20 April 2022.
• Waugh, Daniel Clarke (1971). "On the Origin of the “Correspondence” between the Sultan and the Cossacks". Recenzija: A Review of Soviet Ukrainian Scholarly Publications 1 (2): 3–46. Harvard University. Retrieved on 21 April 2022.
• Waugh, Daniel Clarke (1978) The Great Turkes Defiance: On the History of the Apocryphal Correspondence of Ottoman Sultan in its Muscovite and Russian Variants, Kolumbus: Slavica Publishers ISBN: 9780089357561.
• Waugh, Daniel Clarke (2019). "The Great Turkes Defiance Revisited". Slověne. International Journal of Slavic Studies 8 (1): 162–187. Open Journal Systems. DOI:10.31168/2305-6754.2019.8.1.6. Retrieved on 21 April 2022.