222 | Leaving France, “Turning Turk,” Becoming Ottoman
His house was divided into a public area of Ottoman-style rooms and a private
suite of French-style rooms. The latter he filled with French furniture, books,
clothing, and even a wine collection, which he jokingly called his harem. Within
this sanctum he dressed each day in tailored French suits and ate meals prepared
by his French chef. Beneath these many layers of behavior and appearance, there
is the question of whether or not he was circumcised. Whatever the truth, he
claimed that he was still whole in body, and in that respect if in no other, still
French.
***Bonneval had to manage a conflict of perceptions: he thought himself a French-
man masquerading as an Ottoman, but his contemporaries believed he had
changed identities with each new political or religious conversion. He was an
unwilling exile, a soldier forced to adopt an anti-Austrian and pro-French po-
litical stance, though exiled from both countries alike. That this situation led
him to appropriate an Ottoman identity was just one more wrinkle in an already
remarkable career. News of his transformation was not enough for many of his
contemporaries, who insisted on interpreting his identity by aligning his political
allegiance and religious faith with the state of his foreskin. Circumcised, Bon-
neval had abandoned the faith and allegiance of his ancestors and turned Turk in
all senses. Uncircumcised, Bonneval retained his honor and his French nobility,
and his conversion was meaningless.
Bonneval recognized that external appearances and public conformity were
all the Ottomans required of him by way of assimilation. It was those he left
behind who scrutinized his history for clues to his mind. Whatever others chose
to believe about him, Bonneval tried to remain above the fray. In his old age he
wrote to his friend Voltaire, “I have always thought that God is utterly indiffer-
ent to whether one is Muslim, or Christian, or Jewish.” The acts of conversion,
of circumcision, and of dressing the part of an Ottoman Muslim never mattered
nearly as much to Bonneval as they did to everyone around him.
Suggestions for Further Reading
Bowen, H. Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2nd ed. Edited by P. Bearman, T. Bianquis,
C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs, 1:292, s.v. “Ahmed Pasha
Bonneval.” Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1960. Bowen presents a concise account of
Bonneval’s Ottoman career.
Göçek, Fatma Müge. East Encounters West: France and the Ottoman Empire in the Eigh-
teenth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. Göçek explains Franco-
Ottoman diplomatic relations during Bonneval’s lifetime.
Landweber, Julia. “Celebrating Identity: Charting the History of Turkish Masquerade in
Early Modern France.” Romance Studies Quarterly 23, no. 3 (2005): 175–189. This
article provides context for Bonneval’s switch to Ottoman clothing.