Médecin du prince et primus inter pares. Médecins et agents d’influence à la Cour du Bardo dans la Tunis husseinite (1757-1881)

Based on a process imitating the Ottoman Imperial Court, the beys of Tunis began recruiting European doctors in their service from the 17th century. Prized both for their science and for considerations of prestige, they initially coexisted with traditional doctors among whom Amine al Atibba, the Regency’s chief physician, before gradually supplanting them at the court and then in the city. Their mixed status of foreign officials, non-Muslims (Christian or Jewish), subjects of European powers and their closeness to the princes and the ruling family led them to occupy an unprecedented position: that of consuls of a European nation. This position, along with their medical practice, conferred to them power, distinction, and influence, leading them to intervene in local and bilateral affairs by mobilizing resources that remained inaccessible to other diplomats. Medicine, diplomacy, cults, and family networks combined to generate new areas of influence and conquest.