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Poverty and Perseverance: The Jesuit Mission of Isfahan and Shamakhi in Late Safavid Iran

2015; Spanish National Research Council; Volume: 36; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3989/alqantara.2015.014

1988-2955

Rudi Matthee,

American Constitutional Law and Politics

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.