Sublime Porte

<h2 id="history">History</h2>

The name has its origins in the old practice in which the ruler announced his official decisions and judgements at the gate of his palace.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a> This was the practice in the <a href="/facts/Byzantine_Empire/njEELXWF">Byzantine Empire</a> and it was also adopted by <a href="/facts/Ottoman_Turks/q4wBrzH9">Ottoman</a> Turk sultans since <a href="/facts/Orhan_I/zWx1N6c7">Orhan I</a>. The palace of the sultan, or the gate leading to it, therefore became known as the "High Gate". This name referred first to a palace in <a href="/facts/Bursa/oXpCUeNy">Bursa</a>, Turkey. After the Ottomans had conquered <a href="/facts/Constantinople/fLcY371n">Constantinople</a>, now <a href="/facts/Istanbul/Xo1hzGWH">Istanbul</a>, the gate now known as the Imperial Gate (<a href="/facts/Turkish_language/C5X56Ijp">Turkish</a>: Bâb-ı Hümâyûn), leading to the outermost courtyard of the <a href="/facts/Topkap%C4%B1_Palace/7ymqUwJj">Topkapı Palace</a>, first became known as the "High Gate", or the "Sublime Porte".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a>

When Sultan <a href="/facts/Suleiman_the_Magnificent/AQKbFdJu">Suleiman the Magnificent</a> sealed <a href="/facts/Franco-Ottoman_alliance/aNTCwIKP">an alliance</a> with King <a href="/facts/Francis_I_of_France/US9aL69h">Francis I of France</a> in 1536, the French diplomats walked through the monumental gate then known as Bâb-ı Âlî (now Bâb-ı Hümâyûn) in order to reach the Vizierate of Constantinople, seat of the Sultan's government. French being the language of diplomacy, the French translation Sublime Porte was soon adopted in most other European languages, including English, to refer not only to the actual gate but as a metonymy for the Ottoman Empire.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a>[additional citation(s) needed]
In the 18th century, a new great Italian-styled office building was built just west of <a href="/facts/Topkap%C4%B1_Palace/7ymqUwJj">Topkapı Palace</a> area, on the other side of Alemdar Caddesi (Alemdar street). This became the location of the <a href="/facts/Grand_Vizier_of_the_Ottoman_Empire/gaRwpe1q">Grand Vizier</a> and many ministries. Thereafter, this building, and the monumental gate leading to its courtyards, became known as the Sublime Porte (Bâb-ı Âlî);<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a> colloquially it was also known as the Gate of the <a href="/facts/Pasha/Qqx1dt2J">Pasha</a> (paşa kapusu).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a> The building was rebuilt following a fire in 1839,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a> and badly damaged by another fire in 1911.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a> Today, the buildings house the <a href="/facts/Istanbul_Governor%27s_Office/N8odJxK7">Istanbul Governor's Office</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a>

<h2 id="diplomacy">Diplomacy</h2>
"Sublime Porte" was used in the context of <a href="/facts/Diplomacy/s5dRkAhk">diplomacy</a> by <a href="/facts/Western_world/UQl4e7du">Western</a> states, as their diplomats were received at the porte (meaning "gate"). During the <a href="/facts/Second_Constitutional_Era_(Ottoman_Empire)/fkh4qV0S">Second Constitutional Era</a> of the Empire after 1908 (see <a href="/facts/Young_Turk_Revolution/pTDXuQch">Young Turk Revolution</a>), the functions of the classical <a href="/facts/Divan-%C4%B1_H%C3%BCmayun/8ohj0BEV">Divan-ı Hümayun</a> were replaced by the reformed <a href="/facts/Imperial_Government_of_the_Ottoman_Empire/YPeh9LnD">Imperial Government</a>, and "porte" came to refer to the <a href="/facts/Ministry_of_Foreign_Affairs_(Ottoman_Empire)/I8RcMkwQ">Foreign Ministry</a>. During this period, the office of the <a href="/facts/Grand_Vizier_of_the_Ottoman_Empire/gaRwpe1q">Grand Vizier</a> came to refer to the equivalent to that of a <a href="/facts/Prime_minister/RKQSQbMy">prime minister</a>, and viziers became members of the Grand Vizier's <a href="/facts/Cabinet_(government)/TCxgeLSj">cabinet</a> as <a href="/facts/Minister_(government)/URxFu4Pk">government ministers</a>.

<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Bab_(disambiguation)/lmdQITYW">Bab (disambiguation)</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Raid_on_the_Sublime_Porte/vfIxR1Yb">Raid on the Sublime Porte</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Court_of_St_James%27s/cw3Ioof1">Court of St James's</a>, another synecdochic term, for the United Kingdom in diplomatic relations</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Kremlin/yvbofbcu">Kremlin</a>, synecdochic term for the Russian government</li></ul>

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sublime Porte.

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Davison, Roderic (1963). Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 1856–1876. Princeton University Press. p. 35. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">"Porten". Nordisk familjebok (in Swedish). Vol. 21 (Papua–Posselt) (Uggleupplagan ed.). Stockholm: Nordisk Familjeboks förslag aktiebolag. 1915. pp. 1418–1419. <a href="https://runeberg.org/nfca/0769.html" target="_blank">https://runeberg.org/nfca/0769.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">"Porten". Nordisk familjebok (in Swedish). Vol. 21 (Papua–Posselt) (Uggleupplagan ed.). Stockholm: Nordisk Familjeboks förslag aktiebolag. 1915. pp. 1418–1419. <a href="https://runeberg.org/nfca/0769.html" target="_blank">https://runeberg.org/nfca/0769.html</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Albayrak, Ayla (2009). Istanbul. Mondo matkaopas (in Finnish). Image. p. 81. ISBN 978-952-5678-15-4. <a href="978-952-5678-15-4" target="_blank">978-952-5678-15-4</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">"Sublime Porte - [Sublime Porte, Istanbul]". Musselman Library Special Collection and College Archives. Gettysburg College. Retrieved 2023-07-31. <a href="https://gettysburg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15059coll1/id/13/" target="_blank">https://gettysburg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15059coll1/id/13/</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Aysliffe, Rosie (2014). Istanbul. DK Eyewitness Travel. Lontoo: Dorling Kindersley. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-4093-2925-1. <a href="978-1-4093-2925-1" target="_blank">978-1-4093-2925-1</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">"Porten". Nordisk familjebok (in Swedish). Vol. 21 (Papua–Posselt) (Uggleupplagan ed.). Stockholm: Nordisk Familjeboks förslag aktiebolag. 1915. pp. 1418–1419. <a href="https://runeberg.org/nfca/0769.html" target="_blank">https://runeberg.org/nfca/0769.html</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">"Konstantinopoli". Tietosanakirja (in Finnish). Vol. 4 (Kaivo–Kulttuurikieli). Helsinki: Otava. 1912. p. 1295. <a href="https://runeberg.org/tieto/4/0684.html" target="_blank">https://runeberg.org/tieto/4/0684.html</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">Davison, Roderic (1963). Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 1856–1876. Princeton University Press. p. 35. <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">"Konstantinopoli". Tietosanakirja (in Finnish). Vol. 4 (Kaivo–Kulttuurikieli). Helsinki: Otava. 1912. p. 1295. <a href="https://runeberg.org/tieto/4/0684.html" target="_blank">https://runeberg.org/tieto/4/0684.html</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Aysliffe, Rosie (2014). Istanbul. DK Eyewitness Travel. Lontoo: Dorling Kindersley. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-4093-2925-1. <a href="978-1-4093-2925-1" target="_blank">978-1-4093-2925-1</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Sublime Porte open-in-new

Sublime Porte