Edward Barton

Sir Edward Barton (c. 1562 – 28 February 1598) was an English diplomat who was Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, appointed by Queen Elizabeth I of England. Barton went to Constantinople in 1578, in the pay of the Levant Company, as secretary to the founder of the English embassy in the city, William Harborne and in 1588 was left by Harborne as English agent. By this time he was fluent in Turkish and well respected in the court. This was a time of war between England and Spain, and Barton was charged with trying to obtain the support of the Ottomans in this struggle, while of course working to defend English commercial interests by for example trying to persuade the Porte to prevent Florence from trading in cloth in Ottoman territory. Barton requested a portrait of Elizabeth I from England which he could show the Sultan and hang in his lodgings to comfort English visitors. In 1596 Barton accompanied Sultan Mehmet III in his campaign against Hungary and was present at the siege of Eger.