The maze of love

The Labyrinth of Love is a true, thoroughly documented novel that narrates the events of Mohammad Reza Bey’s mission to France.

This novel begins where the daring novel by Marie Claude Petit ended, which ended in failure due to the failure to obtain assistance from France to resist the Omani activity in the Arabian Gulf.

The repeated failure of the Persians to obtain any naval assistance from the English or the Dutch to resist the resurgence of Omani activity on a larger scale led them to seek once again this kind of assistance from France, with the result that the Persian government decided to send an envoy to the French court.

(1) Muhammad Reza Bey, the Shah of Persia’s envoy to France
The Shah intended to send an unfavorable reply to King Louis XIV, as well as to the Pope through Abbe Jean Richard.

Since Abbé Jean Richard was at that time (May 1713) about to return to France, Shah Sultan Hussein entrusted him with the gifts he had sent to Louis XIV, and ordered him to deliver them to Mohammed Khan, the governor of Erivan, when he arrived there.

At the same time he sent orders to Muhammad Khan to choose a suitable person to be the envoy to France.

When Mohammad Khan received these orders, he chose the local cavalry commander, but he refused to go. He then asked Mohammad Reza Bey, the mayor of Yerevan and the third-most important person there, to take on the task.

Although he knew that the journey to France was long and potentially dangerous, Mohammad Reza Bey accepted it, and the newly appointed ambassador secretly left Yerevan in March 1714.

Muhammad Riza Bey had sent the gifts sent to Louis XIV before him, carefully concealing them among piles of silk. The reason for this caution was his fear that he would be prevented from entering Turkey if he set out revealing his destination, as the difficulties encountered by Jean-Baptiste Fabre and other envoys on Turkish soil were still fresh in his memory.

There is no need to mention in detail the adventures of Muhammad Riza Bey in Türkiye.

Suffice it to say that despite his extreme precautions, Muhammad Ridha Bey was repeatedly suspected by the Turks, and in the end, he was arrested and thrown into prison. He gained his freedom by protesting that he was merely a pilgrim on his way to Mecca, but the Turkish authorities, taking his word for it, put him on a pilgrim ship.

Muhammad Riza Bey managed to escape and boarded a French ship departing from the city of Iskenderun in Türkiye. It took him approximately six months to cross Türkiye.

Muhammad Reza Bey arrived in Marseille on October 23, 1714. He had spent two months in Marseille, and his extended journey to Paris, with his strange whims and sudden outbursts of anger, caused hardship to the unfortunate people who had been assigned to meet him and escort him to the French capital.

After requesting and receiving the exceptional honor of entering the major cities he passed through, Mohammad Reza Bey arrived in Paris on February 7, 1715. His entry into the city aroused much public curiosity.

(2) Mohammad Reza Bey in the Palace of Versailles
After Mohammad Reza Bey's procession arrived in Paris, the procession made its way to the Ambassadors Hotel where Mohammad Reza Bey would stay.

This stay did not last more than ten days, until the day was set for the French King Louis XIV to receive Muhammad Reza Bey, on the nineteenth of February 1715 AD.

King Louis XIV officially received the Persian ambassador, Mohammad Reza Bey, at the Palace of Versailles.

The elderly monarch, Louis XIV, showed his appreciation for the Shah's courtesy by sending Mohammad Reza Bey to appear on his throne in the Grand Salle at Versailles for the first time in forty-seven years. The ambassador, somewhat dazzled by the august sight, paid his respects to the king and handed him his letter of credence.

The chest containing the Shah's gifts was then placed before King Louis XIV and opened. The modest nature of these gifts, which were of relatively little value, produced a feeling of disappointment.

The Shah's letter to King Louis XIV, another letter from the governor of Yerevan to the Marquis de Torcy, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the testimony of Abbé Jean Richard, were enough to convince the king and his ministers of the sincerity of Mohammad Reza Bey's mission.

However, the French authorities questioned Marie Petit about the ambassador's past, and she told them that she had known Mohammad Reza Bey when she was in Yerevan, and that he was indeed the kalandar (mayor) of that town.

There was a belief at the French court that negotiations with Mohammad Reza Bey would not take long.

Immediately after the interview on February 19, 1715, Louis XIV appointed the Marquis de Torcy, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pontchartrain, Minister of the Navy, and Nicolas Desmarets, Comptroller of Finance, to negotiate on his behalf with Mohammad Reza Bey.

The selection of three such high-ranking individuals was significant for two reasons. First, it clearly indicated the importance the king attached to the upcoming negotiations, and second, all three ministers were convinced of the necessity of finding outlets for French trade overseas, preferably at the expense of hostile or rival nations.

(3) Mohammad Reza Bey between politics and love
In the Ambassadors' Hotel, where Mohammad Reza Bey was staying, in May 1715, Madame de Roussy and her daughter Mademoiselle d'Epinay were having lunch with the interpreters of the Palace of Versailles, Messrs. Padry, Gudru, and Richard.

At that time, Mohammad Reza Bey arrived at their table, and they seated him next to the translator, Badri, and opposite Miss Dibine.

Since his eyes fell on Miss Debene, his eyes never left her beautiful face and her graceful figure.

Mohammad Reza Bey began to speak as if he were speaking to her, and while Badri translated, Mohammad Reza Bey remained silent, his eyes fixed on Miss Dibine.

Mohammad Reza Bey asked everyone's permission because his food was brought to his room from outside the hotel, from a restaurant that served halal food, he claimed.

Mohammad Reza Bey asked Badri to go with him to another table, and there he asked him about that beautiful girl, and he said:

She is Debene, the daughter of a madam, Madame de Rossi. Debene is seventeen years old and very beautiful. She was raised in a rather high society, accustomed to the pleasures of Paris. She is a Christian, modest, and known for being neither flirtatious nor dissolute.

Badri said: The King asks the French ministers to complete the negotiations and expedite the signing of the agreement by Mohammad Reza Bey.

Mohammad Reza Bey said: How can I sign an agreement written in French? The agreement must be translated into Persian so that I can understand its contents.

Padri went to translate the agreement, and Mohammad Reza Bey went to arrange a meeting with Miss Dibine.

Mohammad Reza Bey learned a few French words, and invited Madame de Rossi and her daughter Mademoiselle d'Epinette to his room in the evening.

Mohammad Reza Bey got his meals in his own room, and gradually he tamed the beauty, and succeeded in keeping her with him all evening until midnight or two in the morning.

During the day, this little girl and her mother, Mrs. de Rossi, placed their shoes on the edge of his carpet of happiness, and sat on cushions at the back of Mohammed Reza Bey's room, as is done by the harem of Persia.

Unashamed by this situation, they put on a show for all the men and women who came to visit the Persian guest, Mohammad Reza Bey. At eight o'clock in the evening, the apartment was locked, and the mother and daughter remained alone inside with Mohammad Reza Bey.

The negotiations continued for two months, and Mohammad Reza Bey continued to object to every clause of the agreement, so that the love affair between Miss Dibine and Mohammad Reza Bey would last longer.

While the true purpose of Mohammad Reza Bey's mission, namely an alliance against Muscat, was never mentioned, according to Badri (who had always been a strong supporter of the Muscat project), it was verbally arranged that a French naval commander named Geraldin would go to Isfahan as ambassador not only to secure the Shah's ratification of the new treaty but also to carefully study the country and the arrangements that needed to be made for the implementation of the Muscat project. Thus, if the project was to be undertaken, it would be duly carried out.

It was also agreed that Padri should go to Persia first, accompanied by Mohammad Reza Bey, to make the necessary arrangements for the arrival of Geraldine's expedition.

On August 13, 1715, the treaty was signed at the Palace of Versailles.

After signing the treaty at the Palace of Versailles, Mohammad Reza Bey bid farewell to King Louis XIV.

On August 22, 1715, King Louis XIV issued orders permitting the travel of Ambassador Mohammad Reza Bey, and directed governors, deputies, and other officials to honor Mohammad Reza Bey in accordance with official customs, and to provide and pay for all vehicles that would transport him from Paris to the port of Le Havre in northern Persia.

(4) Religious books box
On August 30, 1715, Mohammad Reza Bey left Paris, heading for the port of Le Havre by boat. Three boats were prepared: one for Ambassador Mohammad Reza Bey, the second for his companions, and the third for luggage, including a box containing religious books.

On the morning of August 31, 1715, Madame de Rossi arrived at the home of Monsieur Padre, the interpreter of King Louis XIV, and told him what had happened to her daughter, d'Epinette, the previous night. Monsieur Padre wrote a letter to King Louis XIV, which read:

Paris, August 31, 1715

“Sir, Madame de Rossi came to me this morning in a very sorry state, and informed me (after writing to me yesterday) that the Persian ambassador had kidnapped her daughter, and that she had left the house under cover of darkness without taking any of her clothes with her.

Then the lady tried to convince me that her daughter was too pious and moral to give herself to a Muslim, but the ambassador had made himself a Christian in order to marry her, and was baptized secretly with the help of an Armenian priest whom she had brought.

However, the mother assured me that she would be careful not to follow them, and that she believed her daughter would prefer to retire to a convent, rather than submit to the behavior of this stranger, whose violence and bad temper she knew. Therefore, I think that, on the basis of the report which I have the honor to give you of these inconsistencies and falsehoods, you will find it appropriate to write to Monsieur Roujault, Inspector General of Rouen, so that he may detain the daughter and mother there, if they can be reached. With the greatest respect.