Friends of Mortaza who wanted not in the Court to represent them with some Compassion arguing that his flight was not of Contumacy or Contempt to his Masters Protection but an effect of natural Preservation which worked so far on the Grand Signior that he immediately sent for the Vizier to enquire of him the State and Condition of Mortaza The Vizier to defend himself and make good what before he had counselled his Master aggravated his Adversary's Crimes and his Disobedience and Flight to an inconsiderable King with which and some other light Excuses and Perswasions that the removal of such a Person was agreeable to the present State of Affairs and conducing to his own Security easily pacified the Mind and Affections of the Grand Signior but no sooner was he returned to his House but advice was given him that the Emaum of Mortaza or his Priest or Chaplain was then at Constantinople whom the Vizier immediatly sent for and without any Plea or Indictment struck off his Head and threw his Body into the Sea on pretence that he was sent thither as a Spy for hisMaster and to give Intelligence anda beginning to Rebellion year 1662. These were his colours and allegations for his deserved Death for Governours though never so wicked and so absolute and that have no need to render any other cause to the World of their actions than their own will yet esteem it necessary to act under the specious guise of justice and in the good opinion of the multitude The Aga of Babylon encountred the same Fortune for Mâ—rtaza giving place he thought it fit for himself to do the like resolving for Constantinople but being intercepted in his Journey by the new Pasha his Head was struck off and his Journey shortned But that which again renewed the trouble and fears of the Vizier was a report that the late Kahya-begh degraded at Adrianople was secretly returned to the City and lived concealed giving such Orders to the Janizaries as tended to Mutiny and Insurrection and that the pretences and reports of his being gone to Damascus and thence in his holy Pilgrimage to Mecha were but all false stories to conceal his Residence at Constantinople This set the Vizier all on fire and made him tremble with the thoughts of it wherefore search was made for him day and night but not found for in reality he was gone on his designed Journey only it was the misfortune of his Kahya or Steward as before it was of Mortaza's Emaum to fall into the Viziers hands who being beaten to confess where his Master was died afterwards of the blows But notwithstanding that Mortaza was fled yet the Vizier laid not aside his fears and thoughts concerning him not knowing how soon he might be recalled home and seated in his place ofwhich various Examples are extant in Turkish History and therefore he sent orders to Mahomet Pasha his late Kahya now Pasha of Daâ—biquier as General with the knowledge and consent of the Grand Signior and to the Pashaws of Aleppo Erzirum and others near adjacent to prepare and assemble what Force was necessary to constrain the King of the Curdi to surrender Mortaza into their hands But whilst these matters were in agitation some unexpected troubles in Georgia diverted their Arms and held them for some time in suspense not knowing what the issue might be The Original and Ground thereofwas this After Sultan Solymâ—n had taken Eâ—zirum it was agreed in the Capitulations between the Turks and Persians that of the seven Provinces of Georgia anciently called Iberia but now as sâ—pposed to have received the Denomination from St. George the Cappadocian Martyr there had in great esteem and reverence three should be tributaries to the Turk and three to the Persian all govern'd by Achic-bash as head and supream Prince to whom the Seventh should also be subjected without acknowledgment to either in payment of which Tribute they continued most willingly lest for default thereof the importation of Salt of which their Provinces afford none should I be hindred either from the Turkish or Persian Dominion And now it happened that Achic-bash dying his Wife married again who to gratifie her new Lover was contented to have the eyes of her Son put out who was the lawful Heir to the Government This Fact was so hainously received by the Princes of the three Provinces under the Persian that with common consent they elected one to succeed Achic-bash and extorted the power out of the hands of the Amâ—rous Traitor The Princes of the three Provinces under the Turk alarm'd hereat made insurrection resolving rather than any Foreigner to set up one of the Kindred of Achic-bash which the Persian Provinces better understanding approved likewise and for confirmation and maintenance of their choice assembled an Army of Threescore thousand men The Pashaws tending towards Curdi were surprized in their March with the news of these disturbances in Georgia and not rightly apprehending the causes of these sudden commotions gave an arrest to the progress of their Arms inclining towards the parts of Georgia to be in a readiness to suppress all designs against the Ottoman Dominions so that the thoughts of War against the Curdi was for some time laid aside The news of these troubles did also alarm the Port with which also came a report That six hundred Tents of the Kuzilbashees which are the best sort of Persian Horsemen were pitched nigh the Confines of the Grand Signiors Territories so that Orders were dispatched to the aforesaid Pashâ—ws to watch the motion and issue of those Affairs but those storms blowing over by the establishment of Achic-bash the Turkish Forces proceeded on their first design against Mortaza marching to the pass of the Country of the Curdi which is very steep asperous and rough The whole Kingdom being as it were one Mountain of dangerous and difficult access hath hitherto preserved the Inhabitants from the Ottomon Subjection The entrance thereunto being strong by Nature is also fortified with several Castles the chief of which possessed by Mortaza is called Zizri and the People there abouts Zezidi The Turkish Army being arrived at this pass Mahomet the Pasha of Darbiquier appointed General as we have said before ordered five hundred of his select men to enter within the pass which the Curdi perceiving with little opposition put to flight being so commanded by the General the unadvised Curdi eagerly pursuing the enemy left the pass naked and undefended supposing their whole victory and success to consist in the Rout of those few Whereupon the Turkish Army wisely possessed the pass and got between the Curdi and their place of Retreat and laying the Siege to the Castle required them either to surrender themselves or else Mâ—rtaza and his Complices into their hands The Curdi perceiving themselves thus hardly beset and in a manner defrauded their Garison which possessed the pass without the Confines the Enemy gotten possession of the Gate which opened to
battel but especially by cutting him off from Water and Forâ—age for why he much presumed upon his multitude having in his Army about fourscore thousand fighting men At length Huniades for want of Water and other necessaries enforced to fight upon S. Lukes-day being then Thursday commanded his Souldiers to make themselves ready and dividing his Army into two and thirty Battalions in such order as he meant to give battel the more to encourage them spake unto them as followeth At length valiant Souldiers and fellows in Arms the day is come wherein you may revenge that Dishonour or Disgrace you received in the battel of Varna and recover your former Credit of Constancy and Praise if you will play the Men. The Enemy opposeth against you but these Reliques of his Armies by you so often broken and discomfited who although they be in number morâ— than you yet are they in hope Quarrel and Strength far inferior For what can they hope for which fight not for their own but for another mans Kingdom and in conquering procure unto themselves nothing but bondage in this life and torment in the life to come and in both perpetual and endless Misery Whereas you on the other side howsoever the matter fall out fighting for your own Kingdom your Children your Country your Houses your Altars may assuredly hope for in both eternal and undoubted Bliss You have also far greater cause to fight as they which if they do not valiantly overcome their Enemies are in danger with themselves to lose also all that theirs is The strength of both is sufficiently tried Once we unfortunately joyned battel at Varna where if we might make exchange of â—ur Fortunes there found haply the Turk would make choice of our flight rather than of the great slaughter of his own men who being not able to overtake us was there notably beaten with the loss of a great part of his Army whose great loss there received might countervail our Dishonour although the loss he suffered perforce but we our flight by choice But of that our Overthrow the angry Powers from above willing to revenge our breach of Faith were as I verily believe the cause rather than our Cowardise for even there all the Authors of that perfideous dealing even there I say every one received the just guerdon of their Treachery Whereas we against our wills drawn into that woful War by the mercy of God yet live with you preserved for the defence of the Christian Commonweal and especially of Hungary that it should not be over-run with the Turkish Power and Rage The number of your Enemies is not of you to be feared when as you with few have oftentimes learned to fight with their multitudes and carried away from them the Victory Hitherto we have rather fought by the Power of God than man and in the Name of Christ Iesus our Saviour have easily overthrown their prophane Battels Which way soever we have turned our selves in his most mighty Name we have with our victorious Arms opened our way for that we fought under the Leading and Conduct of the Highest whose help we have always felt at hand neither shall we thereof this day fail if we be mindful of his forepassed love towards us and of our wonted valour God is always present with them that in his just Quarrel fight couragiously Hereunto is joyned the safe manner of our fight by reason of our Men at Arms and barbed Horses who like a strong Castle cannot easily be overthrown Our Battalions are such as may easily be commanded and yet strong enough against our Enemies whereas their great multitude breedeth but confusion We have many notable and forcible Engines of War which they have not Besides that every hour we look for the worthy Scanderbeg his coming The danger is not so great as that we should fear it or so little as that we should contemn it Back again without Victory we may not go for that our Army is hardly by the straits of these Mountains to be led and if the way were never so easie yet without doing that we came for and glory with Victory we may not retire Unto the Valiant all difficulties are propounded Wherefore sith this your last Labour is at hand wherein the whole strength of the Turks may be for ever cut off I pray and beseech you fellow Souldiers by that God under whose Power and Protection we serve and by the love you bear unto your Country your Wives your Children and Wealth upon the signal of battel given so to shew your valour as men resolved to be fully revenged of the Injuries by that filthy and wicked Nation done both to God and man and especially of the loss received at Varna We lost there a devout King who for our safety and for the breach of his Faith sacrificed himself by which Royal Sacrifice that Divine Anger is appeased unto whose ghost I beseech you in this battel to make an honourable Sacrifice Not forgetting withall to revenge the death of other worthy Men in that battel slain This fear of the Turks is at once and even this day to be cut off and so as that it should never grow again and the Kingdom of Hungary so to be delivered from the danger of most cruel slavery as that it may by this days work gain perpetual Rest and Glory unto the enjoying of the pleasures both of this life and of the life to come Wherefore worthy Souldiers we must fight with all our force for that our Honour so requireth our profit so perswadeth and necessity enforceth As for our selves howsoever the matter fall out all shall be with us well If Victory perpetual Bliss and Happiness shall thereby be procured unto our Country and Immortal Fame unto our selves but if we shall be overcome here we shall be most honourably buried in the bed of Fame to live in Heaven with God and his Saints for ever Wherefore I beseech you so fight as men resolutely set down to overcome or if it should otherwise fall out as Men resolved honourably to die With this the Generals Speech all the minds of the Hearers were greatly enflamed and they all by his words and their own hot desires sufficiently encouraged neither did old Amurath on the other side with less care or diligence marshal his Army and incourage his Turks sparing neither chearful Speech glorious Promises or severe Command whose Army being brought into the Plain and ranged in order of battel filled the same from the one side to the other even unto the very Mountains to the great astonishment of the Christians and so about nine a clock in the morning set forward Huniades had from the Hill where he lay sent down both the wings of his Army and had afront on both sides before them stretched out certain long Troops of light Horsemen to begin the Skirmish In the midst betwixt both he had placed Zechel his Sisters Son with a strong square battel of
will in like manner cause to be done through mine And for the more manifestation of this my love towards you I would also that you should understand That of mine own meer motion and bounty I do freely give unto you all those things which you by force of Arms have taken from my Father in Albania and Epirus so that you may possess and enjoy the same as if they had always been yours and your Ancestors Wherefore I give grant and confirm unto thee and thy Heirs all the Right Title or Interest which I heretofore had therein and from henceforth will always account and repute thee as Prince of Albania and Epirus and so call thee And as I have promised thee in the Faith of a King will never hereafter with Wars molest thee or thine except thou thy Self give cause thereof Wherefore after you have with your Seal confirmed these things you may commend them to our faithful Embassador Mustapha to be by him brought unto us unto whom I would you should in all things give full Credit So fare you well and render us love for love From our Imperial Palace at Constantinople the 22. of June 1461. Upon receit of these Letters a Peace was concluded betwixt Mahomet and Scanderbeg and the same by publique Proclamations solemnly published through both their Kingdoms to the great rejoycing of many Which Peace was for a season faithfully kept on both sides until that the Turks lying in Garrison upon the Frontiers of Epirus began after their wonted manner again to fetch Preys and Booties out of the Countrey Of which Injuries Scanderbeg by Letters complained to Mahomet who answered that he was altogether ignorant thereof and seemed in shew to be much offended with the Insolency of the Doers thereof and forthwith caused many things to be again restored By which means the Peace before concluded was still as before continued A little before the conclusion of the aforesaid Peace great Wars began to arise betwixt the Turks and the Venetians who all this while being in League with the Turk peaceably followed their Traffique and Trades of Merchandize little or nothing at all regarding their Neighbours Harms and Miseries until that now the flame and fire began to take hold upon their own houses and as it were to awakeâ— them out of a dead sleep For Mahomet after he had subverted the Empire of Constantinople and driven Thomas and Demetrius the Emperors Brethren out of Peloponnesus now called Morea rested not so contented but by his Lieutenants and other great Captains began to disturb the quiet of the Venetians who then held in their possession Methone Corone Neapolis Argos with divers other strong Towns in Peloponnesus standing upon the Sea coast And now it chanced that about this time Iosue Mahomet his Lieutenant in Peloponnesus had by the Treason of a Greek Priest upon the sudden surprised the City of Argos and Omares another of his great Captains having first spoiled the Country about Naupactum now Lepanto entred farther into the Territory of the Venetians about Methone and Corone making havock of whatsoever came in his way With which Injuries plainly tending to open War the Venetian Senators being much troubled sate oftentimes in Counsel deliberating with much care what course to take in a matter of so great importance Some being of opinion that it were best to send Embassadors to Mahomet so to make proof if the matter might by fair means be redressed others on the contrary part deeming it to be to no purpose so to do forasmuch as such great and manifest Outrages nothing differing from plain Hostility could not possibly be done without the Tyrants knowledge and express Command After the Senators had oftentimes met together and with many great Reasons debated the matter too and fro and yet for all that concluded nothing as in consultations of great matters with a multitude it most commonly falleth out to be a harder matter and to require longer time to bring the multitude to some certain resolution than it is afterwards to perform the same in action In this so great a diversity of opinions concerning so weighty a cause at length one Victor Capella a noble Gentleman and grave Senator stept up in the midst of the Senate and there frankly delivered this notable Speech unto the rest concerning the matter propounded as followeth I have before this at other times by long experience often nâ—ted most noble Senators that in all our greatest Consultations of matters most concerning our Common State some are always so addicted or rather wedded unto their own conceits that they can hardly with patience endure to hear the reasonable opinion of others contrary to their own the chief cause of our slow Resolutions Wherefore I have thought it good briefly at this time to call upon you for resolution forasmuch as I see we must of necessity take up arms be we never so loath or unwilling For to my understanding you do but betray the State in delaying the time to make present War upon the barbarâ—us Enemy Yet many principal Men amongst us advâ—se us to beware that we do not rashly or unadvisedly determine of matters of so great consequence and think it requisite that we should send Embassadors unto the Tyrant to expostulate with him his unjust dealing in breaking his Faith and League and withall to request him to observe the Conditions of the Peace before agreed upon if happily he may rather by perswasion than by Arms be moved to change his purpose and if by this means nothing may be obtained then at length they think it necessary to resolve to make War upon him They alledge further That if we shall attempt War our Cities in the Continent bordering upon the Ionian in Peloponnesus with divers others of ours in the firm land will not be able to held out very long but for want of necessaries must needs perish witâ— the first of the trouble besides that if those places shall be wasted and spoiled great loss as they say shall ensue thereby unto most of us in private The greatest motive perhaps wherefore they think it most convenient to defer the Wars and fâ—r that purpose to send our Embassadors unto him Of which Embassage first by your leave a few words At such time as these our Embassadors Men of great wisdom and reach not long since came unto him he had them in no regard but dâ—llying off the time with fraudulent deceitful and glosing Speeches did indeed such things to the contrary as we least hoped wherefore I cannot well devise if we should send them or such others again what especial thing of all that we then gave them in charge they should now propound unto him having already said what is to be said except they should say That whereas we are not of sufficient strength and power to wage War against him we would be glad to decide the matter by talk and by that simple means to redress â—ur Injuries and
to Medices the Admiral to be conveied up the River to Vienna Liscanus at the time of his apprehension most covetously and uncourteously took from him his Chain and a rich Cloak lined with Sables which indignity done to so noble a Gentleman so much offended the minds of the rest of the Hungarians that above twelve thousand of them thereupon presently returned home to their own dwellings cursing the Germans to the Divel This Perenus was one of the greatest Peers of Hungary but of a most haughty and magnificent mind so that he would sometime have almost a hundred goodly spare Horses fit for service led before him without their Riders and would sometime speak too liberally against the bareness of King Ferdinands Court who polled by his Courtiers hardly maintained his State which his surpassing magnificence and princely Port was cause enough for the other great Courtiers to envy at his Estate and to seek his overthrow who as Men overcharged with the burthen of another Mans vertue whereof they never bore the least part and always gaining by the depraving of other Mens perfection conspired together his overthrow and oftentimes pointing at him with their fingers would say That he favoured of a Crown This notable Man as he had many worthy Vertues so was he not without cause noted of ambition and unconstancy for after that King Lewis was lost he disdaining the preferment of Iohn the Vayvod to the Kingdom of Hungary took part with King Ferdinand against him in hope as it was thought to be next in honour unto himself but after he saw King Iohn again restored and his State strongly supported by Solyman and that all things stood doubtful and fickle with Ferdinand he with like levity sought means by Abraham the great Bassa to be reconciled to King Iohn which was hardly obtained of him by the intercession of Solyman himself as is before declared to whom he gave his Son as a Pledge of his Fidelity After which time he lived in great Honour and Loyalty all the Reign of King Iohn but after he was dead and saw George the Bishop the Kings Tutor doing what he list to reign like a King he disdained his Government and solicited by King Ferdinand revolted again unto him and furthered him in what he could for the obtaining of the Kingdom But now falling into the envy of the Court Malice found out matter enough to work his confusion First it was given out That his Son who had many years been detained in Solymans Court as a Pledge of his Fathers Faith was even then under the colour of a fained escape come into Transylvania when as he had secretly agreed with Solyman that his Father being a Man much favoured of the People should by promising them all possible Freedom allure them to the Turkish subjection in reward of which good service he should be made Governour of the Kingdom of Hungary and put in hope also to be made the Tributary King thereof if it should fortune the young King to die Besides that it was accounted a thing very suspicious that he had the Winter before used great kindness and friendship toward the Turkish Captains by sending them great Presents and receiving the like again And last of all his Letters directed to certain Hungarian Captains were produced wherein he seemed to promise them as his Friends and Followers greater entertainment than agreed with his present Estate All which things King Ferdinand of his own disposition not easily to be perswaded to conceive evil of the Germans his Countrymen were it never so apparent or true but of Strangers any thing quickly believed and therefore caused him as is before said to be apprehended But Perenus as he was brought by Medices the Admiral to Vienna when he was come near unto the Gate of the City and heard that Philippus Torniellus with certain other brave Captains of his acquaintance were come to meet the Admiral he requested that the close Coach wherein he rid might be opened and that he might have leave to speak to those noble and valiant Gentlemen Which thing was easily granted for that the Nobility and approved valour of the Man seemed unto them which had the charge of him unworthy of such restraint of liberty or imprisonment yea or of the least suspicion thereof So he turning himself towards them spake unto them in this sort Wretched I noble Gentlemen said he whom despightful envy hath circumvented guiltless but much more miserable King Ferdinand whom domestical Thieves bereave of Substance of Friends and Honour all at once For so it cometh to pass that by this inconsiderate wrong done unto me he shall utterly lose the love and fidelity of the Hungarian Nation and may therefore for ever not without cause despair for the obtaining of the Kingdom of Hungary sithence that it is not lawful for me inferiour to nâ—â—e of my Nation in Birth and having for my good and faithful service well deserved râ—ward of a just King so much as to rejoyce for the deliverance of my Son from the Captivity of the Turks but that by my sinister fortune dreadful death in stead of incomparable joy must be presented to mine Eies For will these malicious Pick-thanks guilty of thâ—ir own Cowardise the wicked Contrivers and Witnesses of my wrongful Accusation spare me being laid fast and indurance which never spared the Kings Honour For every Man of what Nobility soever be he never so guiltless when he is once in hold must be content to endure not what he hath deserved but what his hard fortune assigneth Yet my upright mind and clear conscience which thing only God the most just Iudge leaveth as a comfort to Men in misery wrongfully accused delivered me of this care and so will the Marquess our General to whom I before upon a mistrust foretold that such a danger would shortly befal me and that I had rather be slain guiltless than to withdraw my self from Trial which thing I told him at such a time as I was so guarded with mine own strength that I feared no Mans force I beseech you do me this honourable favour as to request King Ferdinand in my behalf quickly and honourably to proceed to the Trial of my Cause and according to his own princely disposition and the will of others to discern betwixt his faithful Friends and fained Flatterers Truly we are too too unfortunate Captains if for a little evil success we shall be so adjudged as Men that had overthrown their Fortune Cazzianer peradventure received the just punishment he had deserved for the shameful forsaking and losing of the Army at Exek when as he possessed with an uncouth fear forgot the duty of a General more afraid of death than dishonour for when he had voluntarily committed himself to safe custody he was so generally condemned of Cowardise that despairing to defend his Cause he brake Prison and as wickedly as unfortunately revolted to the Turks But neither was I
of late the General neither were we vanquished although we prevailed not but honourably retiring valiantly repressed the insolency of the pursuing Enemy As for the Kingdom of Hungary I might then well have affected the same and easily have deserved it at Solymans Hands when as King Ferdinand after the death of King John was making his preparation for that War at which time my Friends and Followers at my devotion with the love of the Hungarians towards me seeming of no small importance for the obtaining of the Victory might have ministred no unreasonable or unseasonable hope to have drawn a Man into courses not altogether beseeming a Christian. Wherefore I have and will so long as I live fight against the Turks if King Ferdinand shall shew himself an indifferent Iudge in this accusation falsly surmised against me by the malice of mine Enemies When he had made an end of speaking the Admiral courteously perswaded him to have good hope in the clemency of the most just King and shortly after performed his request for he and Torniellus taking the King as he was Hunting entreated him to deal favourably with Perenus For all that Perenus could not obtain that his cause might be openly heard but was committed to safe keeping there to remain in perpetual Prison but whether it was for the misprision of new Treason or for revenge of his old unconstancy is uncertain Thus three the only great Princes left of the Hungarian Blood equally worthy of the Kingdom Valentine Maylat and Perenus snarled almost in like Snares of envy cut off all hope of raising a King to their seditious and therefore miserable Countrymen when as Perenus lay too late bewailing his unconstancy in perpetual Prison and the other two fast in Chains near unto the Euxine Sea expected death the end of their miseries This end had the Wars taken in hand against the Turks by the general consent of the Germans in the year 1542. which many thought might worthily be compared with the greatest losses of those times when as King Ferdinand having in vain spent a great mass of Treasure the fittest stay for the imminent War and lost the opinion before conceived of the strength of Germany had now as a weak Prince and subject to injury provoked him against the Turks bold enough otherwise but as then insolent for their late Victories year 1543. Polinus the French King Embassador still following the Turks Court ceased not by all means to solicite Solyman with his Gallies to aid the King his Master in the invasion of the Dominions of Charles the Emperor in Italy Sicily and Spain In which sute he was so crossed by Solyman the Eunuch Bassa then Visier that he was almost in despair of speed for the Malicious Eunuch being himself a great Sea-man and envying the Honour of Barbarussa who was to be employed in that service sought by keeping him out of all honourable Actions to diminish his former Glory and concerning the present protested openly as he sat in Council That he saw no other cause why the Turkish Emperor should to his great charge and the common danger send out such a Fleet but to serve Barbarussa his own turn But Solyman having diligently heard and deeply considered of that the Bassaes had said rejected their opinions who would not he should have given the French King any aid and honourably decreed according to his promise whatsoever should ensue thereof to send his Fleet unto the King by Barbarussa Two days after the French Embassador before in despair but now revived with that Decree was solemnly Feasted by Rustan Bassa Solymans Son in Law and by Solyman the Eunuch Bassa for so it was their great Masters pleasure both of them joying of him for the friendship confirmed betwixt the two Princes by sending this Fleet. After which divers Gifts were bestowed upon the Embassador and his chief Followers and at such time as he was to take his leave Solyman gave him great charge of his Navy that it might be safely kept and so after the service done again returned and withal delivered him Letters unto King Francis wherein after the glorious rehearsal of his proud Titles he writ unto him as followeth We have upon a brotherly Bounty granted unto Polinus your Embassador such and so great a Fleet as you have desired throughly furnished for all assaies whose direction we have commanded Hariaden our Admiral to follow and by your appointment to proceed against the Enemy But you shall do well and friendly the Wars once happily ended to send back again my Fleet to Constantinople All things shall undoubtedly fall out according to your own desire and mine if you shall carefully take heed that Charles the Spanish King your perpetual Enemy do not again deceive you with the motion of a deceitful Peace For then shall you bring him to a most indifferent Peace when you have brought upon his Countries all the calamities of War. Polinus taking his leave of Solyman then lying at Hadrianople returned to Constantinople where he found Barbarussa with an hundred and ten Gallies and forty Gallions ready to put to Sea which he had with incredible celerity rigged up and furnished And so setting forward the eight and twentieth of April in the year 1543 and passing the Straits of Helespontus he arrived first at Caristius in Euboea and from thence to Malea where he was by contrary Winds cast into the Bay of Lacedemon and there staied nine days before he could double the Cape of Metapanium called in ancient time Tenarus After that he came to Methon and from thence crossing the Ionian came to the Strait of Messana where the Turkish Pyrats being come with their Galliots within the sight of Rhegium began to land their Men. They of Rhegium seeing so great a Fleet and the Turks already landing fled out of the City for fear but the Castle was still kept by Didacus Gaietanus a Spaniard who refused to have any parly with Polinus the French Embassador and with shot out of the Castle slew certain of the Turks wherewith the rest being enraged brake into the City and finding it desolate set it on Fire sore against the will of Polinus and Barbarussa who sought to have found out the Authors thereof and to have punished them accordingly After that certain Pieces of great Ordnance were landed and planted against the Castle which with a few Shot so terrified the Captain already troubled with the crying out of his Wife that he without any more ado yielded himself and the Castle with all therein into the hands of the Enemy unto whom with his Wife and Children Barbarussa at the request of the French Embassador granted both life and liberty the rest he shut up in a Church and gave the Spoil of the Castle to his Souldiers There was in the Garrison of the Castle about seventy Spaniards but many more Citizens which were all carried away Prisoners One of the Captains Daughters a young
it self merciless yea even after death The Turks after they had taken the Castle finding certain of the Knights yet breathing and but half dead first cut their Hearts out of their Breasts and then their Heads from their Bodies after that they hanged them up by the Heels in their red Clokes with white Crosses which manner of Attire they after an ancient Custom use in time of War as they do black in time of Peace in sight of the Castles Saint Angelo and Saint Michael And yet Mastapha the Turks General not so contented commanded them afterwards to be fast bound together and so cast into the Sea whose dead Bodies were in few days after by the Surge of the Sea cast up into the Haven Major and known by their Friends were by the commandment of the sorrowful Great Master honourably buried With which the Enemies most barbarous Cruelty he was so moved that he commanded that no Turk should from that time be taken prisoner but to be presently slain And thereupon all that were before taken were forthwith put to the Sword and their Heads cast over the Walls on that side towards the Enemy From the beginning of the Siege to the taking of the Castle of the Christians were slain a thousand three hundred amongst whom were an hundred and thirty of the sacred Knights of the Order all worthy to be registred in the Book of everlasting Fame The Castle of Saint Elmo thus lost Valetta although his mind as he had good cause was inwardly attainted with exceeding grief yet made semblance otherwise because he would not daunt the minds of his Souldiers telling them that nothing was hapned unprovided for or unforeseen This was as he said the Will of God and the chance of War that sometimes one sometimes another should be overcome and that cowardise not such Valour as was in them that were gon gave occasion to living Friends to lament yet that the Enemy was not for that to be feared who had also received such a loss as he might thereby rather seem conquered than a victorious Conqueror whereas the loss of his Knights was recompenced with Honour and Immortality things of themselves sufficient to inflame all noble minds to behave themselves valiantly As for himself he said that trusting not in his own strength but in the help of Almighty God he had not yet cast off the hope of Victory over the relicks of the discomfited Enemy and that he well hoped they were all of the same mind wherein he most earnestly requested them to persist unto the end When he had thus said he being a Man armed against all Fortunes withdrew himself a little aside where casting many things in his troubled mind he determined to send Letters to Petrus Mesquita Governour of the City of Melita to certifie him and the Knights of the Order that were at Messana and the Viceroy of the loss of St. Elmo the Copy whereof because that in them evidently appeareth the Christian mind of him the Great Master I have thought good here to set down as followeth Whilst these Knights are setting forward in the mean time chanced the miserable misfortune of the Castle Saint Elmo which although it brought unto us that grief you may easily imagine we for all that as if it had happened by some secret appointment of God have taken it in that part that he as a most merciful Father purposeth thereby to warn us but not utterly to destroy us Neither do I think it lawful to doubt of his mercy and power Yet for all that I may nevertheless complain that we are of them forsaken of whom it least beseemed So that in the space of seven and thirty days wherein our most valiant Souldiers endured all the force of the Enemy which truly was done rather by the power of God than of Man we were holpen of our own which owe so much unto us not so much as with the least help which they might oftentimes have sent us But I list to ascribe it whatsoever it is to God of whom alone as we have hitherto received so many good things so rest we in hope hereafter to receive also For for any thing that I can see we must not now trust to Mans help forasmuch as we could by no Letters no Diligence no Prayers no Admonitions and to be brief by no Commands move them who of all others ought most to have obeyed it The shortness of the time suffereth us not to write to the Viceory of these things it shall be your part to certifie both him and other our Friends thereof who if they had obeyed our command or aided us with never so little a supply of Souldiers happily we had not lost the Castle St. Elmo in defence whereof we have spent the best part of our Souldiers Wherefore except the Viceroy make hast to deliver us from this Siege I fear that he cannot in time come but especially if we be here besieged before the coming of those our small helps which we as in a Dream have promised unto our selves and which we now scarce hope will be in time present For all that we do not distrust of God his love and providence by whose divine inspiration the rare courage of the Viceroy being in short time stirred up will hasten hither to relieve us For all our welfare consisteth in celerity Our Enemies having drawn all their Fleet into the Haven Marza Moxet are busied in cleansing the Castle and repairing the Breaches that they may afterward the better use them against us Wherefore upon the sight of these our Letters send unto us the Captains Catherin Belcacar Belmest and Zoricius with their Companies that we may use their faithful and valiant service God of his mercy send us aid from some place and keep you Fare you well from our Castle St. Angelo the twenty fourth of June 1565. Mesquita having received these Letters commanded a Galliot forthwith to be launched and therein embarked Masius Cedonellus one of the Knights to whom he delivered both the Letters of the Grand Master to him and others of his own almost of the same purport directed to the Knights of the Order which lay at Messana requesting him with all speed possible to pass over with them into Sicilia In the mean time Mustapha the Turks General sent a Messenger to Valetta and with him an old Spanish Captive with promise of liberty if he would go with his Messenger to the Town to talk with Valetta concerning the yielding up thereof and to try if he would by any means come to agreement who coming to the Town the Turk still waiting at the Gate the Christian was let in and brought to the Great Master to whom he declared what he had in charge from the Bassa But as soon as Valetta heard of the name of composition and yielding he was so filled with indignation that had he not been a Christian he would presently have commanded him to have
they were enjoyned so to do by Abas Marize their Lord who had not only caused himself to be called King of Heri but had given it out that he meant to claim the Succession in the whole Kingdom These complaints much prevailed with the King both in respect of the love he bare to Emir Hamze his eldest Son and also of the credit he gave to his Visier especially being accompanied with the crafty packing of the said Visier who as he was very cunning in such Practises of himself so did he make them much more effectual with the effeminate King by the means of divers great Ladies and other Devices that were to him very familiar and usual Insomuch that the King carried away with light belief did continually bethink himself how to find Opportunity to repress the boldness of his disobedient Son not forgetting for all that to make such preparation against the Turks as should be sufficient to stay their Passage to Tauris if they had any purpose so to do But leaving the Persian King to his troubled Cogitations for a while let us again return unto the Turks General the great Bassa Mustapha He now lying at Erzirum after many troubles abroad was surprised and almost overwhelmed with unexpected Quarrels at home many grievous Complaints being made of him to Amurath whereby he was induced afterwards to take from him his Generalship and to call him to the Court to give account of his Actions Which seemed not to be done without cause he having before raised a great Discontentment in the Mind of Amurath by sending such a strong power to the Succours of Teflis whereby he conjectured that the Affairs of Georgia were not in such Security as Mustapha had already informed him they were and also generally offended the Minds of the Souldiers of his Army who all in an uprore accused him of Improvidence and Prodigality for that now this second year he had with so much ado gathered together such a number of Souldiers to the trouble of the whole Empire and infinite charge of their Lord and yet performed nothing worthy the Glory of Amurath or answerable to so great a charge Which Complaints although they were of some moment yet would the Turkish Emperour for the great Favours he bare unto him his antient Tutor never have construed them so hardly against him as for the same to have been induced to have deprived him of his place if the inveterate envy of Sinan Bassa had not ministred strength and force to these hard Accusations and set as it were an edge upon Amurath to do what he afterwards did This Sinan was a most antient Enemy to Mustapha and in all things thought himself his match For if Mustapha had subdued Cyprus so had he conquered Tripolis Guletta with the Kingdom of Tunes in Affricke and if Mustapha were a man of great Courage and reverend for his years Sinan would be his equal both in the one and the other yea and did not stick to think himself his better too for that in the enterprise of Giamen in Arabia he performed such an Exploit as Mustapha neither durst nor yet knew how to put in Execution so carrying away the Glory of that famous Conquest for which ever after there was between them a continual heart-burning one of them envying at the others Glory and both in Word and Deed as Occasions fell out in all things opposing themselves one against the other At last happens this Opportunity for Sinan who taking the occasion of the Complaints of so many against Mustapha caused a great number of them to frame their Supplications to Amurath which he for his part did in most malignant manner inforce and exaggerate against his old Adversary accusing him that this second year he had most manifestly shewed himself to have gone unto the Wars not as a worthy General desirous of noble and honourable Enterprises but as a man that would make merchandise of Blood and of his Souldiers pay employing the most liberal Provision of Corn and Money not as Rewards of well-deserving men nor to the erecting of such Pabricks as were needful and might have been built therewithall but onely to his own proper gain so to inrich himself with his Peoples losses to the great shame of his Lord and consuming of the publick Treasure adding hereunto that if the things done by Mustapha were well searched it would be found that he had neglected many good Opportunities attempted many things in vain and not done any good either to the Emperour or his Souldiers but only to himself whom rather than they would follow again as their General all his People in an uprore shewed themselves ready and willing to adventure themselves in any other far greater Labour that by their Lord and Sovereign should be commanded them These and such like Complaints with the hard Opinion already conceived against him by Amurath were the occasion why he resolved to put him from his place Beside that he thought it a thing dangerous to his state to suffer one and the self same General any long time to command over so great Armies deeming it not so much for his Honour still to employ one man as to shew that he had variety and choice of Subjects worthy of so great a charge And therefore being desirous to find out the truth of that was reported to him concerning Mustapha he sent the chief of his Gentlemen Porters with fifteen others to bring him to the Court with his Chancellour and Treasurer to shew the accounts of such Monies as he had received and to give up an account of their whole Office. Unto this Messenger had Amurath delivered three divers Letters which he should warily shew as occasion served one of them was so written of purpose that Mustapha in the receiving thereof might by the same Messengers be strangled in the second was the Emperours warrant for the doing of that was to them commanded and in the third was contained that Mustapha should forthwith send his Chancellour and Treasurer to the Court by those Messengers Mustapha in the mean time by divers means but especially by the guilt of his own Conscience venting the Displeasure of the Emperour towards him and suspecting as the truth was his Life to be by those Messengers sought after at such time as the Captain Porter came to his Camp found many delays to put him off and would not in any case be spoken withal But when the Messenger would indure no longer delay he was at length admitted to his presence having a circle appointed for him out of which he and his Companions might not stir or approach nearer unto him the Bassa's Guard standing in Arms round about him The Messenger perceiving the Bassa's wariness wilily pluck'd forth the third Letters concerning the sending of his Chancellour and Treasurer to the Court. Then began the crafty old Bassa to find many excuses to have delayed the matter but being hardly pressed by the Messenger
of a few Months the wicked Chan but yet a famous Souldier miserably died in Prison Whose Death so highly offended the Turcoman Nation who had him always in great Estimation that they absolutely denied their defences for the Crown of Persia and the more when they heard that the King had bestowed the room of Emir Chan upon Aliculi who although he had in many respects deserved all Preferment yet for that he was an ancient Enemy to certain Turcoman Captains they would not in any wise indure that he should be exalted to so great an Honour And therefore they waxed more disdainful and ill affected towards the King whereby the Persian Forces became the more weakned and divided The Turks notwithstanding the League yet in Force betwixt Amurath and Rodolph the Christian Emperour that now is did many times make Incursions into the upper part of Hungary burning the Country Villages and carrâ—ing away the People into Captivity but in their return they were oftentimes cut off by the Emperours Souldiers and slain Which being reported at Constantinople much moved the Turkish Tyrant but when he understood that his men had without any cause made those inrodes into the Territory of the Christians and so received the foresaid Losses he was again appeased and in the beginning of this year 1584 renewed the League betwixt him and the Emperour for eight years more Ferat from Erzirum advertised Amurath of all that had hapned in his late Expedition desiring him to command what he would have taken in hand the next Spring But besides this information from him there wanted not many others which did the like also although in another manner declaring unto the King and that in an odious sort the whole proceedings of Ferat the escape of Aliculi Chan the shameful loss of his Women his Quarrels with the Ianizaries his falling out with Veis Bassa a man well regarded of Amurath himself the Disorders of his whole Camp for his want of Discretion and to be short the particularities of all such Actions as had not altogether so honorably been by him performed that year Causes of themselves sufficient to induce the King to remove the said Ferat from his Generalship To which occasions were also added sundry other secret respects for ever since the last departure of Ferat from Erzirum Amurath had still in his head the next year following to attempt the Enterprise of Tauris and thereby to stir up through the World a famous Report of his Conquest correspondent to his Greatness Now among the Captains whom he esteemed to be worthy men to whom he might with trust commit this so great an enterprise he bethought himself of Osman Bassa left at Sumachia in Siruan by General Mustapha in the first year of this War who having in that Province remained ever since had without any help of the Tartarians by his own Industry and Valour to the great Contentment of Amurath brought that large Country into a reasonable Obedience to the Turkish Empire and that which most of all pleased the Turkish Emperour had in a Country so far distant maintained his Army wherewith he had done all this without any Expences at all to his King having now a good while levied his Souldiers Stipends upon the Lands and Territories of that Region and still exercised a kind of Government and Soveraignty over those Places Of all which his good Proceedings he had caused Intelligence from time to time to be sent unto the Court by which means and other Favourers which he had about the King there was fostred in the mind of Amurath a wonderful good Opinion of him so that now without delay he resolved to send for him to Constantinople and for that purpose before Ferat was arrived at Erzirum he had dispatched certain Capigi and Chiaus to call this famous warriour unto him yet wanted there not some and those not of the meanest sort that went about to hinder both his coming to the Court and also these Designments of so great importance For Sciaus the chief Visier who rather for the comeliness of his person and alliance with the King than for any other his Virtues was mounted to that high room did greatly fear lest Osman whose course it was to sit next unto him in the order of the greatest Bassaes partly for his experience in matters of War and partly for the good Affection the King did bear unto him should at his coming to Constantinople perswade the King to what he listed and so peradventure take from him the chiefest Office and get into his hands the whole Government of the Empire whereby so great wealth was to be gained Wherefore to rid himself of these Fears he cast about by all means to keep him from coming to the Court but because that to attempt the same openly might prove a matter both difficult and dangerous he thought it better to make trial of a more commodious and secret means This Sciaus in consideration of many Gifts bestowed upon him by Mahamet the Cuman-Tartar King had many times excused him to Amurath of divers Accusations which Osman by his Letters had laid to his charge for not aiding him in the subduing of Siruan as he was both by promise and duty bound and for all his oversights alleadged such reasons in his behalf as if they did not altogether perswade Amurath to be kind unto him yet at the least not to carry a mind of revenge against him and had so far proceeded in countenancing this Tartarian King that there was betwixt them confirmed an interchangeable Amity and mutual Confederacy Him Sciaus imagined to find willing and ready by all means possible to hinder the coming of Osman his Enemy to the Court if he were but made acquainted with the matter And therefore Sciaus as soon as he understood the certain Resolution of Amurath to call Osman to the Court secretly wrote to the Tartarian King who lay incamped near to the Haven of Caffa upon the Fens of Meotis certifying him That Osman was to come to the Court and that therefore it were good for him to call to mind how great an Enemy he had been to him and how much he had indeavoured by Letters to Amurath to return all his Hatred and Displeasure against him and withall That if he was able to do so much by Letters as if Sciaus had not defended him with very reasonable Excuses the King had executed his wrathful Indignation upon him to his great danger he should then imagine with himself what Osman should be able to do when he should come in Person to the Presence of Amurath and without any Mediator between themselves determine of all matters what they should think convenient These and peradventure worse Letters which Sciaus wrote to the Tartar ministred matter enough unto him to resolve to do what he might not to suffer so pernitious an Enemy of his to arrive at Constantinople and especially perceiving that Sciaus in whose breast he reposed all
they did at one time lose their Country their Liberty their Honour and the Favour of all Men as well Friends as Foes The Prince after this Victory held on his way to Casbin and there staying laboured to gather the dispersed Turcomans especially those that moved with the honesty of the cause would not bear Arms in so unjust an Action intending afterwards to return to Tauris to attend the besieging and conquest of the Fort. This was the end of this dangerous Rebellion the chief cause that Tauris was not again recovered out of the hands of the Turks to the great weakning of the Persian Kingdom Now Giaffer the Eunuch Bassa Governour of the Castle of Tauris fearing lest the Persian Prince would with a greater Army again return to the siege perceiving himself to wax every day weaker and weaker by reason that many of his men secretly fled from him beside them that perished with Sickness and others slain in adventuring too boldly to go abroad to seek for Victuals sent Advertisement thereof to Cicala Bassa at Van signifying further unto him by Writing That if the Prince should again return to assault the Fort he should of Necessity be enforced to yield it and that therefore as he tendered the honour of his Sultan he would be careful to send him Succour whereby he might be able to maintain the Fort adding moreover That now it was most easily to be done because there was no Forces of the Enemies in those quarters saving only a few which remained about the King lying twelve miles off from Tauris Cicala moved with the importance of the enterprise propounded and withal desirous to gain some credit of Glory and Renown with his King entertained the Advices of Giaffer and getting him to horse with a train of three thousand Harquebuzers and good store of Munition set forward toward Tauris The Persian King advertised thereof sent out Spies to learn what way they held meaning to meet them and to set upon them but these Spies coming near to Salmas were apprehended by the fore-runners of Cicala and being put to Torture revealed at last how that their King was in Arms and on his way towards Sancazan At which News Cicala was greatly astonished as well for the danger whereinto the Forces and Munition which he had with him were likely to fall as also for that by any loss which his Troops should sustain in this Expedition the City of Van being indeed the greater and most noble frontier Town in all those Countries must needs be in hazard to be lost having left in it but his Lieutenant with a very few Souldiers Whereupon he determined to relinquish this dangerous enterprise and to withdraw himself back to the Defence and Preservation of the City committed to his Trust and Government But although these expected and desired Succours were not conveyed to Tauris as was intended yet had Giaffer as good Fortune as he could wish for the Preparations of the Prince were so long and troublesome and his return so much prolonged that there was time enough yielded unto the Turks great General now newly chosen as by and by shall be declared to go with a strong Army into those quarters and so to preserve all that which the only Expedition and Celerity of the Enemy might have put in great hazard and almost have brought to a desperate case In the mean time Amurath the Turkish Emperour was greatly troubled at Constantinople in making choice of a new General on the one side Osman Bassa having by his last Will left Sinan Cicala to be his Successour as a man of approved Valour and the many dangers he had run through in the late Service about Tauris with the great favours he had in the Court did not a little incline the King to his Election on the other side he heard of a publick Rumour spread amongst the Souldiers that they could by no means indure to be commanded by so young a Captain and that some in plain tearms should say That they would not obey him Which caused Amurath to doubt that some dangerous discord might thereof ensue in the Army if he should proceed to make choice of him Then there was also Ferat Bassa the same man which had already sustained the charge before Osman who now very ambitiously sought again for this Honour having of late performed some good Service to the good liking of the King. Of any other to make better choice he had none so that he stood in great doubt what to do In the end because he was in good time to provide for his Affairs he made choice of Ferat Bassa the same man whom he had before mad proof of a man of great Fidelity of an honourable Carriage and already experienced in the leading and commanding of such an Army to whom he granted the ordinary Authority to mannage at his pleasure such Affairs of the Empire as concerned his Journey Upon this Resolution general Precepts were sent out to all Cities within the Kingdom to the Bassaes and other Governours with special Commandment That all their Souldiers together with their Taxes Tenths Munitions Victuals Armour Artificers and to be short all their necessary Furniture and Provision should be ready and in order upon the first warning should be sent them the next Spring Great provision of Money was made and in Soria besides the ordinary sum that is bestowed upon the yearly pay of Souldiers in Reivan Erzirum Lori Tomanis Teflis and Chars which swallow up all the Revenue of that Country and of the City of Tripoli amounting to the sum of six hundred thousand Duckats there was taken up in prest of private Merchants in the City of Aleppo only the sum of threescore thousand Cecchini to be repaied unto them with the first Monies that should be received by the Officers of his Custom-houses A matter that moved an extraordinary grudging among the People for that it seemed to every man a very strange and intolerable Exaction beside so many grievances laid upon them for Corn for Carriages for Pioneers and for Workmen to endure this burden also of lending their Money without hope of Restitution thereof yea and indeed every man did greatly wonder how they were thus ill-advised to make it known to the Christian Princes what scarcity and want of Money they had The General had also with him four hundred pieces of Artillery and did beside so work the matter as that Maxut Chan who was appointed Bassa of Aleppo was granted unto him to be the guide of his Army as he had been of Osmans and that Cicala Bassa of Van scarce his good friend was removed from thence and sent farther off out of his way as Bassa to Babylon year 1586 And thus having put all things in readiness he departed from Constantinople in the Month of April in the year 1586 and passing over the Strait into Asia came to Sivas something later than he should have done being hindred partly by
so mindful of him but that he for his part desired not any greater reward for the Services by him done more than the Government which his Majesty had before promised him whereof according to which Promise which he could not think but to be agreeable to his good liking he was now possessed with a resolution to hold and keep the same for his Majesties Service Which was as much in effect as for a disloyal Subject to talk with his angry Sovereign with his hand upon his Sword but with this sly Answer such as it was Sultan Mahomet for all his Greatness must as yet content himself for fear lest if he should have sought to have by force removed him he might so have raised a more dangerous Rebellion in Europe than was already in Asia Zellaly so politick and resolute a man and not to seek what to do in such matters being possessed of so great a Government and the Christian Emperour at hand ready to have backed him if he should upon any Discontentment have revolted The Troubles of this Year 1603 thus overpast year 1604 the beginning of the next was like unto a fair blooming Tree which promising great store of Fruit but afterward blasted with the Extremity of the Weather proveth in effect as barren as it before seemed in hope fruitful for beginning with the sweet Western Winds of Peace it ended with the stern Northern Blasts of War. The Turks had oftentimes the last Year made motion of Peace but especially toward the end thereof outwardly making shew-of a great desire and forwardness in themselves thereunto Which business the last Year begun was even with the beginning of this Year also effectually continued that Commissioners were on both sides appointed to conferr and conclude upon the same Among these Commissioners Collonel Althem was one who to perform his Charge having taken with him the other Commissioners deputed with him for this purpose with certain other Captains embarqued himself with them in thirteen Ships from Strigonium and from thence sailing down the River landed with his Train in the Island betwixt Buda and Pesth Of whose Arrival there the Turks of Buda advertised and on their part ready came forthwith thither also with all the outward shews that might be of their most earnest desire for the concluding of Peace whereas our Men who by a thousand effects were assured of the unfaithfulness of the Turks and that Necessity and not the desire of any Quietness had drawn them to seek for Peace to the contrary shewed themselves very backward in this Business For why they knew â—ight well that the Turks had not taken this maâ—ter in hand but to overtake them and by this time of Peace to gain a time of War more commodious and fit for their ambitious and cruel Designs They had the year before made sufficient Proof of our Forces accompanied with good Fortune which caused them to despair by strong hand to vanquish and overcome us besides that they still every hour in one place or other received a thousand Losses and Crosses from our Garrisons who distressed and annoyed them both with their Forces and with driving of them unto the extremity of Wants Our men knew moreover also that the Troubles of Asia as well from the Rebels as from the Persian which lay so heavy upon the Great Sultan drew them to this necessity to seek for a breathing time of Peace wherein to repair that which was in their Forces and Strength by Wars impaired And even yet also the manner of the Turks demeaning of themselves in this Action their Delays their Excuses and deferring from day to day to conclude upon some Point of this Treaty gave our men good cause to suspect them of evil meaning as men respecting their Profit more than their Faith and more subtil and cruel in all their Actions than honourable and valorous The Fifth of Ianuary was the day by our men expected for the Treaty for as then the Bassa of Buda had appointed with the rest of the Commissioners to come into the Isle to hear what our Commissioners should demand and to intreat of the Peace But he was too true an Infidel to fail of his Infidelity and so came not at all but deceived our Men both of their Hope and Expectation At length instead of himself Letters were brought from him to Collonel Althem whereby he excused himself for not coming requesting him with the rest of the Commissioners to come over the River to Buda the more commodiously for them to conferr together and so the better to conclude their Negotiation Now though Almain for the Majesty of his Prince and the Honour of the State ought not at the Request of these his Enemies to have put himself into their Power but to have stood fast upon the Terms of Honour yet to the end that the Country of Hungary so miserably spoiled with Wars should not take occasion to complain of his negligence in this Negotiation of Peace he resolved to go to Buda as the Bassa had requested deeming every Action tending to the hinderance of the common Good to be but in shew honourable and in deed hurtful Upon which Resolution he sent before the Gentleman of his Stable and his Cook with a Gentleman of the Turks sent but the day before from the Bassa which men going aboard together were assailed with such a cruel Tempest upon the River that neither the Skill of the Water-men nor Goodness of the Vessel was able to resist the force thereof so that the Boat was sunk and the men drowned an evil Presage of the Peace to be made the raging Water as it were foreshewing the Troubles to come But this Tempest by the sacrifice of those poor drowned men appeased Althem and Geisberg two of the chief Commissioners embarqued themselves and so passed over the River to Buda At whose Arrival the Turks gave in shew a thousand Testimonies of their Joy for their coming Neither did the Germans refuse their kind offered Courtesies but largely fed of the good cheer and filled themselves with the good Wines whereof the Turks had given them Plenty and they again using them as kindly as if they had been their Brethren and conversing with them as with their own Countrymen Amidst this carousing and Platters full of good cheer the Proposition of Peace which the Turks meant to demand were served in also and a Truce for twelve days demanded to consider of the matter during which time it should be lawful for every man without let freely to come and go whither they would which was forthwith on both sides agreed upon And for better Testimony of the Turks true meaning in this their Negotiation of Peace the Bassa in the presence of our Commissioners dispatched a Courrier toward the great Sultan to advertise him of this business and of the proceeding therein according to the Commandment by him before given Which he did to cause our men to
Train enâ—â—ed by the Gâ—te of Adâ—â—â—nopâ—â— In the mean â—â—me Mustaâ—â—a who was moâ—â—â—orthy to bear a â—ool's Caâ— thaâ— an Impeâ—â—â—l Dâ—â—dem was conducted to Prison and more narrowly guarded than formerly howsoever no Man offered to take away his Life the Persons of Fools and Idiots being sacred in esteem of the Turks and the least Inâ—â—ry offered to them accouâ—ted Irreligious â—nd Uâ—â—â—ckâ— Morâ—â— â—â—s of a liveâ—y Câ—unteâ—aâ—c◠〈◊〉 fac'd dark Hair of a black and lively Eye ruddy and sanguine Complexion and in every degree of a prâ—mising and hopeful Aspect but his exteriour appearance did not correspond with the internal Cruelty of his violent Spirit having some similituâ—â—â—ith thâ— Sâ—â—n â—hicâ— hath white Feathers anâ— bâ—â—ck â—â—esh â—hâ— Grâ—â—t Vâ—â—ier 〈◊〉 assâ—sted aâ— thiâ— Solemnity was as we have said Chusaein Pasha a Person of Self-interest who had wasted and consumed the Treasury and converted a greaâ— pâ—rt thereof to his own Benefâ—â— he was a Tyrant hated of all Men and supported himself by no other Art than bribing of the Souldiery And to his other Crimes he added that of having unjustly persecuted Halil Pasha and deprived him of his Ofâ—â—ce his Power not â—eaching to the taking away his Life which being reserved for better Times he was again recalled from his Retirement and by special Command of the Sultan was unwillingly restored to the Office of Vizier being bâ—â—t plâ—ased witâ— a quiet and pacifick Life to whiâ—â— his melancholy Temper had naturally disposed him In the mean time Chusaein Pasha being terrified by the sensible touches of his own Conscience took his flight by way of the Black Sea and being out of the reach of Justiâ—â— a Fine was set of Five thousand Zechins anâ— of Lands to the Revenue of an hundred thoâ—â—and Aspers a Year to be given unto him who should bring his Head. Many of those who had sold him their Friendship and Favour being affrighted with this Sentence voluntarily disgorged the Rewards they had received and amongst the rest the last Aga of the Janisaries who had been his Kahya or Steward for the space of three months restored 8 hundred thousand Dollars as an Atonement for his Sin and a Ransom for purchasing his own Life and Office. At length by force of the foregoing Reward Chusaein Pasha was betrayed and taken alive and being brought to Constantinople was immediately strangled before the Gate oâ— the Divan Many were the Difficulties which this young Sultan was to encounter the greateâ—t of which was the Insolence of the Janisaries who feeling themselves empty of Mony began to repent of the prodigal and easy remission of their Donative and in a tumultuous manner to redemand it again There was no Argument or Debate to be used against Men of the Sword who hearkned to no other Reason than their own Wants and to satisfy them there was no other Remedy than Compliance wherefore all Officers and Persons not employed in Military Affairs were forced to contribute towards a large Tax and a shameful Demand was made for the Loan of Thirty thousand Zechins from the four Christian Ambassadors resident at the Port that they also as Friends might yield an assisting hand towards the present Urgency of Affairs so little consideration and shame have Turks to lay open the Nakedness and distress of their Country even to Strangers and Enemies of it year 1624. And indeed such was the Insolence and uncontroulable Power of the Souldiery that their Desires and Commands were Laws and their Determinations Rules for their Sultan and his Subjects This Humour of Usurpation and unlimited Power wearied all the Officers of the Empire and inclined them secretly to approve the Cause of Abassa Pasha of Erzirum who declared and stiled himself Enemy to the Janisaries and of Bechir Pasha of Babylon who was joined with him The Vizier also finding his Power abridged by the Arbitrary Will of the Souldiery moved slowly and coldly into Asia where all the Force he could make consisted of no more than fifty thousand new and unexperienced Men such as were uncapable to contend with a more numerous Army of veterane Souldiers to which also the Beglerbei of Anatolia joined himself as did all other the chief Timar-Spahees who conspired together to confound and destroy the Pride and Government of the Janisaries The Vizier also was of the same Party and coldly at first answered the Request of the Janisaâ—ies when they earnestly pressed him to lead them against Abassa their common and mortal Enemy At length being fortified with the Force of the Timar-Spahees he told them plainly That if they would go and fight he would be a Spectator of the Success but would not engage himself in a Quarrel wherein the Blood of Musselmen might be spilt on one side and the other by which means the Rebels in Asia took Head increased in Force and every day rendred them in a more formidable and dangerous posture But this was not all the Trouble which ensued for the Tartars having refused that King whom the Grand Signior had appointed them to receive declared for Mehmet his Brother who was seconded by the Votes of the Generality and maintained by the strongest Nerve of that Nation The Vizier was unwilling to ingage in this Quarrel alledging That a Civil War was the worst of Evils and that it was better to connive at a present Inconvenience than in this distracted Time of Affairs to pollute the Empire with the Blood of Tartars who were their Brethren and of the same Religion and Alliance with them Howsoever the Divan was of another Opinion and resolved to dispeed the Captain-Pasha with a Force sufficient to re-instate Gherey for so the Elder Brother was called in the Government of that Kingdom But yet the Instructions given rather directed him to act with Dexterity than with Force supposing that the Authority of the Turks abetted with the presence of a considerable Force would create an inclination in the Tartars to Obedience so soon as they discovered them to appear on their Coast. The Captain-Pasha being arrived at Caffâ— declared That he was sent by the Grand Signior not to exclude either one or other of the Pretenders but only to be Witness of a free and fair Election that so all Civil Discord ceasing that Party might be chosen who was most pleasing to the generality of the People To which end two Standards were erected one for Gherey the Elder Brother desired by the Turks and the other for Mâ—hmet beloved of the Tartars The People in multitudes ran to the Standard of Mehmet and but few to that of Gherey which demonstrated at how mean a rate the Tartars esteemed the Protection and Favour of the Port. The Captain-Pasha vexed hereat year 1625. denied to give his Assent to the Confirmation on pretence that he was first to demand the Grand Signior's Pleasure but at length was perswaded by Gherey to land a Force of about eight thousand Men to own and maintain his Cause on hopes
Harbour of his should be priviledged to afford entertainment or protection to any Free-booter or Pirat of that nature It happened about that time that the Malteses and Florentines crusing in the Archipelago had done great Mischief to the Turks in those Seas to revenge which and to prevent farther damage the Captain-Pasha sent Orders to these Vessels of Barbary immediately to come to his Assistance to which they were now more easily perswaded for being already laden with Booty and Spoils they contented themselves with a change of their Station But to give a farewel to those Parts they first resolved to spoil and plunder Lissa alià s Lesina an Island belonging to the Republick but being overtaken by the Venetian Fleet in their Voyage thither near to Valona a Port and Harbour belonging to the Turks they put themselves under the Defence of the Town and Castle which received them willingly to their Protection notwithstanding all Articles and Agreements to the contrary The Venetian Fleet saluted the Castle without a Shot desiring that according to the Capitulations of Peace the Pirats might be rejected and commanded to abandon their Port in answer hereunto the Turks replied with a Shot making known their Intentions to defend their Friends wherefore the Venetians retiring at some distance came to an Anchor desigâ—ing to block up the Port. Many days had not passed before the Pirats endeavoured by help of their Oars and a gentle Gale to make their escape and being with the gray of the Morning advanced without the Port they were espyed by the watchful Venetians who dividing their Fleet into two Squadrons charged them with high Courage the Fight continued for the space of two hours during all which time the Castle of Valona fired at the Venetians and shot down a Mast of one of the Galleasses a Splinter of which wounded Lorenzo Marcello the Commander at length five of the Gallies of the Pirats being disabled and many of their People killed they began to fly and retire again under the Protection of the Town as also did the Venetians to their Place of Anchorage A distinct Advice of all Particulars being dispatched to Venice the Senate wrote to Capello That since the respect which the Republick owes to the Ottoman Court was not unknown to him he should by no means make any attempt against those Pirats upon the Land but meeting them fairly at Sea he ought then to make use of all the valour and force he was able In the mean time the Duke of Medina las Torres Vice-King of Naples dispatched an Express to Capello with Letters applauding the generosity of the Design wherein he was now engaged for the Glory of his Republick and the Common Good of all Christendom proffering to supply him with Refreshments and Ammunition and what else might supply his Occasions expecting that by such Encouragement as this he might be induced to Assault the Enemies in Valona without respect to the Grand Signior or any Inconveniences which might arise thereby On the contrary the Governour of the Castle and Kadi of the Town wrote a Letter to Capello putting him in mind that he was within the Grand Signior's Dominions and that he should be careful how he offered any Violence to those Places which would certainly prove a Violation of the Peace and be the Original of an inevitable War. Capello had now lain a whole Month before the Port having all the time injoied fair Weather and a smooth Sea against the hope and desire of the Turks who expected that by means of some Storm the Enemy would be forced to remove their Quarters to some secure Harbour and thereby afford them an opportunity to escape But Capello growing weary of such tedious Attendance resolved to expect no longer nor yet to lose the present Advantage of rendring himself Master of the Vessels of the Enemy wherefore dividing his Fleâ—t into several Squadrons he advanced near the Port firing several Shot at the Tents of the Pirats of which one from a Galeass struck a Mosch and arming with store of Men the Galeots and Brigantines they entred the Port and to the astonishment and vexation of the Turks possessed all the sixteen Vessels and brought them to their Admiral which though they had disfurnished of all their chief Booty yet their Cannon and Arms remained of which there were twelve Pieces of great Brass Guns besides others of Iron with divers Falcons and lesser Arms. The Intelligence hereof being carried to Venice Orders were given that all the Vessels should be sunk in the Port of Corfu excepting only the Admiral of Algier which was to be brought to the Arsenal of Venice there to remain as a Trophy of Victory and for a perpetual Memory of this Glorious Atchievement Howsoever this Exploit was variously interpreted at Venice and approved or disproved according to the diversity of Humors The younger Men applauded it as an Action of great Gallantry excusing his Transgression of the Senats Orders by a transport of Passion and Zeal towards his Country and desire of Glory But the Senators and Men and mature Judgments highly resented this Breach of their Orders which as they are strictly Enjoined so they expected that they should be punctually Obeyed That this action was a sufficient and Just Cause alone to kindle a War and that it was a matter intolerable that a single Citizen should of his own Head and Humor presume to act such things as must necessarily involve the Publick in a War contrary to their Pleasure and in opposition to tâ—eir express Commands For which Crime and other subsequent Defaults Capello was afterwards forced to justify himself as will be signified in the sequel of this History The Particulars of this Advice were by an express Messenger dispatched to Luigi Contarini the Bailo or Ambassador for the Venetians at Constantinople a Person of great Reputation and Esteem having been conversant in the principal Courts of Christendâ—m and employed for the space of seven years at Munster where he was Assistant with the Nuntio Chigi afterwards Alexander the 7 th in the general Peace of Europe The Turks also receiving this News aggravated to them with all the foul Circumstances imaginablâ— the Chimacam immediately summoned the Bailo to Audience and with an Angry Countenance began to exclaim That taking advantage of the Grand Signor's absence in remote Parts the Venetians had in a perfididious and hostile manner assaulted and destroyed the Fleet of Barbary which were his Subjects and such as he had called to his assistance agaiâ—st the Corsarâ—s of Malta and Ligorn Thâ—t being acâ—identally compellâ—d by storm to enter into the Port of Valonia they were forcibly taken thence and violence offered to the Grand Signior's Port and Castle by way of a manifest and open Breach If this presumption were grounded on the long diâ—tance of the Grand Signior from these parts the Venetians would do well to conâ—ider how that they pâ—ovoke an angry Prince and one who esteems neither
meet a Punishment equal to its Demerits Wherefore one day having desired License of the Vizier to return to his own Country where it is believed he had by Mony purchased his Pardon he was called to the Vizier's Presence and there without any Impeachment Process or Accusation had the String applied to his Throat and strangled on the place the reason hereof some give to be the immense Riches which Sultan Morat had bestowed upon him though there wanted not many Causes to render him suspected and obnoxious to the present Government first because he was too well acquainted with the Secrets of the Seraglio and of that State to live in any other Country than the Turkish Dominions then it was feared that the Persian Ambassador might make use of this Person to act what Treason he pleased on the remainder of the Ottoman Family on promise that such an Attempt should expiate his former Villany and regain the favour of his natural Prince But such signal Actions as these are commonly wrote in such large Characters of Divine Justice which never left Treason unpunished either in this Life or the other that we need not search or enquire for a further Cause or Occasion of this Punishment year 1642. The Year 1642 being now entred and the Turks desirous to repair their last Years Disgrace resolved again with better Preparation and Conduct to attempt Asac but before they would engage according to their usual Custom they determined to conclude all Umbrages and Matters of Dispute arisen on the Confines of Hungary To which end the Emperor deputed the Baron of Questemberg with other Barons and the Turks on their side commissionated the Pashaws of the Confines with Instructions not to insist too strictly on the Conditions lest it should retard the Peace and obstruct the other Design of War Wherefore â—he Turks condescending to Matters reasonable and yielding up part of their Usurpation a Peace was concluded for twenty Years much to the Advantage and Favour of the Christians And now to give farther Courage to the Proâ—ecution of higher Attempts the whole Turkish Empire was replenished with Joy for the Birth of a young Prince Sultan Mahomet than now reigns so that the supposed Impotency of the Father whereby the Ottoman Family might have been extinguished was proved otherwise by plain Effect and the fear of those that ruled the Empire vanishing by the Rising of this new Star all places were filled with Joy and Triumphs only the Tartar Han finding himself thus disappointed was supposed not willing to concur heartily in this common Joy. In this manner vanished the appearance of Civil Dissention in that Family which now flourishes and encreases every day and insensibly creeps forward to the Design which they hope of an Universal Monarchy Pardon me O Christian Kings if I say insensibly for methinks you are sensible of the least touch you receive from one another but feel not the gripes and pinches of your Common Enemy who like a Hectick Feaver hath mingled with your Blood and stolen into the Marrow of your Strength where he will lurk until he hath dissolved the Fabrick of your Christian World unless expelled by Concord amongsâ— your selves and the Divine Assistance favouring your united Forces But now to return again to the famous Siege of Asac It being the custome to cast all Miscarriages in War on the General the Visier displaced the Captain-Pasha taking upon himself that Office and Title of which there was never any former Example In the Place likewise of the Pasha of Silistria was constituted Mustapha Pasha of Aegypt which Government though much inferiour to his former yet was received without sence of Disgrace it not being the Riches or Power of any Office that confers Honour but the Favour and good Will of the Sulan Nor did only the Miscarriage of the late War tend to the disrepute of the former Pasha of Silistria but the Report of his having poisoned the Tartar Han encreased the difficulty of reconcilement with his Superiors which being a Matter rather suspected than proved excused him from farther punishment than only a deprivation of his Office. The new Pasha of Silistria thus taking upon himself the Command of the Army and Conduct of this War assembled a Force of Turks Tartars Moldavians and Walachians far exceeding the number of the last Year At the News of which and of the Fleet of Gallies designed to besiege them by Sea they apprehended their Danger so great that without the Assistance of the Moscovite they concluded it impossible to defend their City to him therefore they made Applications for Succour representing unto him the extremity their Affairs were in by reason of that powerful Enemy which threatned them and that having always acknowledged him for their Protector there was no Refuge left them but under the defence of his Arms. But hereunto the Moscovite gave a brief reply That he had lately concluded Peace with the Turk since which having received from him no occasion of breach he could not with any Justice engage so soon against him in a War. The Cossacks being thus disappointed of their principal Hopes resolved to abandon theiâ— City but to make the best advantage of their flight they carried with them all their Moveables and demolished their Walls and ruined their Houses leaving the Place a notorious Spectacle of Despair and Ruin and no other Possession to their Enemies than the compass of so much ground pestered with Rubbish and rude heaps of Stones The Pasha howsoever abundantly contented that his veâ—y Name was sufficient to affright his Enemies entred the City with Triumph where he began to repair the Walls and inâ—ite the Inhabitants to return with all assurance of Security and Protection This gentle Treatment recalled many back to their Homes so hardly are Men weaned from their Native Country and in a short time the City beginning to fill all Matters seemed to return to their pristine State and Condition About this time the Persian by his Ambassador renewed his League with the Turk and confirmed it in the Name of the new King which was performed on condition that the Softi should demolish the Fortress of Fortrina which he had contrary to Articles built on the Frontiers not far from the Caspian Sea which that it might assuredly be performed a Capugibathee was dispatched to see it effected And in this manner Asaâ— being subdued and a Peace secured with the Persian The Turks who can neither live in quiet with their Neighbours nor observe Capitulations longer than they turn to their advantage contrived to take Giavarine alias Rab a strong Fortress on the Confines of Hungary by a Stratagem which they designed in this manner Certain Souldiers habited like Peasants were crouded into several Carts covered with Hay which being entered within the Walls were immediatly to leap forth and surprise the Centinels and Guards at the Gates which might easily be executed on Men whom twenty Years before
and would serve as a Redoubt or Out-work to the Fort in which upon all extremities they might find Sanctuary and refuge But the apprehension of the Viziers Numbers and his near approach had made that impression of fear in their minds that no safety seemed to remain unless they could see the River Mura between them and their Enemy Nor was Serini more successful in his perswasions to assault the Enemy whilst they were wearied with their March and busied in extending their Tents the other Generals being of opinion that it was too great a hazard for them alone to venture their Forces in so unequal a Combat but they ought rather to expect Montecuculi by the addition of whose Forces the lot of War would be less hazardous if not wholly certain In this manner great Enterprises have been disappointed which have wanted only resolution to make them successful Fortune being commonly favourable if not a Servant to bold and daring Spirits the disunion also of Generals hath been the overthrow of the wisest Counsels and Wars have been observed never to have thrived where the Heads of Armies have been of dissenting humors or dâ—fferent interests This timidity on the Christian part raised in that manner the spirits of the Turks that without stop or opposition passing the River Muer they arrived at Serinswar where they immediately fell to their Mattock and Spade breaking ground for their Trenches which by continued labour they so diligently attended that in Seventeen days they arrived at the very Ditch of the Fort Only whilst the Turks were transporting their Numbers over the River the generous spirit of Strozzi not enduring to see their passage so easie and open valiantly opposed himself and his small Force against the greater power of the Enemy and so resolutely performed the Action that he killed Five hundred upon the place till at length being unfortunately shot by a Musket-bullet in the Forehead he gloriously together with one Chiâ—fareas a renowned Croatian Captain ended his days in defence of his Countrey and the Christian Cause In this interim General Montecuculi arrived with his Army and was received by Count Serini with all evidences and demonstrations of respect and hearty welcome and between both passed an appearance at least of friendly correspondence But as to the present Engagement Montecuculi was of opinion That the opportunity was over slipt which should at first have been peâ—formed rather by way of surprize than open Batâ—el before the Ottoman Army had arrived to its full numbers consisting now of an hundred thousand fighting men To which reasons Serini replied That the Christian Cause and the States and Confines of the Empire were not to be maintained by men that carry their thumbs at their girdles or by Armies made resty with ease and wanton with luxury That those Armies were raised not to consume and exhaust the Revenues of their Princes and Exchequers of their States without making satisfactory amends by a valiant defence of that Interest which they owned That the Enemy had not been before that time attempted was no fault or neglect of his who under the very Walls of Kanisia resolved to give them Battel but that the other Generals supposed it more prudence and caution to protract the Engagement till his Arrival who being now happily conjoyned with them nothing ought to deter them from a glorious Attempt on the Turks who not consisting of above Thirty thousand men ill disciplined and worse armed were not able to withstand the prowess of their Veterane Army which far exceeded them in number discipline and courage These or such like expressions Serini used and to prove what he averred he dispatched a confident Person of his own who spake naturally the Turkish Language with a Letter to the German Resident then entertained under custody in the Turkish Camp to know of him the true state and number of the Turks which Messenger soon after returned with this short account Nisi memortuum velis amplius non rescribas hic vix sunt triginta millia nec illa satis electa quid vos a pugna deterret Tormenâ—a Arcis nimis in altum exploduntur Which in English is thus Unless you desire my death write not back to me again here are scarce Thirty thousand men and those ill provided what then should deter you from an Engagement The Cannon in the Castle are too high mounted or shoot over Serini gave this Letter to Montecuculi who replied That so soon as General Sporch came up with his Forces he would immediately draw up the Army into Batalia Sporch being arrived he then resolved to expect Marquess Baden and so deferred the Batâ—el from time to time until the Turks advantaging themselves by these delays had worked themselves under ground to the very Walls of the Castle At length Montecuculi entring into Serini's Fort it is not known upon what reasons of jealousie or discontent cleared Serini's Forces of the Garison and dispossessed the Governour which when Serini perceived full of anger and displeasure he quitted the Camp and retired himself to his Residence at Chiacaturno with intent to make his just Appeal and Complainâ— to the Emperor's Court. The Turks availing themselves of these delays and discontents proceeded forward in their work so that having Mined to the very Walls on the 9 th of Iune they blew up one of the half Moons at which the Defendants were so terrified that with amazement they left open one of their Sally Ports at which the Turks entring put the whole Garison into disorder consisting of 1900 fighting men so that now no safety remaining but in flight they forsook their Fort and crouding over the Bridge in confused heaps broke it down with the over-pressure of its burden by fall of which many perished in the Waters and about Three hundred and fifty which remained were cut off by the Sword this was the sate of Serini's Fort built with Art and lost by Cowardice and ill Conduct which the Year beâ—ore only with Twenty Germans and One hundred and fifty Hungarians withstood a most impetuous and fierce storm of the Enemy but now was less tenable than a Palancha tho Garisoned with 1900 Men of whom in this last Assault one alone had Courage to fire his Musket but none adventured to draw a Sword unless certain Voluntiers and French Officers whose Courage only renowned their own Deaths and served to upbraid the Cowardice of their Companions In the Fort were only found five small Field Pieces one whole Cannon a great Mortar Piece and two small ones belonging to Count Serini there were also one Mortar Piece and two small Field Pieces like to those of Serini belonging to the Emperor tho other Guns of weight or value were carried out of the Fort as being judged not long tenable and decreed to be abandoned to the Enemy Serinswar being thus taken was immediately demolished by the Vizier and razed to the Ground either because he
on his actions and to vent any thing which but favoured of his commendations The reason of which I adventure to assign unto two causes The first is that Antipathy or natural aversion the Germans have to the Hungarians and Croatians these endeavouring to maintain the Priviledges of a People who have a free liberty of the Election of their Prince whilst the others desirous to take occasion to weaken and impoverish them would necessitate them to yield their Kingdom to the Emperor by an hereditary Right The second is the fury of Serini and Soise whose zeal without consideration of irritating the Turk or fear of moving the passion of the Lyon beyond the terms of an easie pacification transported them to commit all damage and ruine which are the just concomitants of War which rage seemed over violent to the Court at Vienna and not to suit with the present Policy of the War which was designed to be carried on rather in a defensive than in an offensive posture imagining perhaps that the good nature of the Turk might be complemented into Peace and that gentleness and generosity might have the same effect upon them as it had upon Saul when David had his life at his mercy and yet spared him according to which counsels of the Court Montecuculi squaring every particular of his motion and thereunto adding success mounted on the wings of Fame and had his Glory celebrated without diminutions but the hot and zealous temper of Serini which Souldier-like understood nothing but down-right blows knew not how to use that moderation and caution which the Imperial Court judged an ingredient so requisite to the prudent management of the present War that he was esteemed uncapable of command who had not discretion enough to practice it And this was the true reason that Serini was discountenanced and that his Command was taken from him and that his Appeal to the Court was without redress Howsoever in regard that the Fame he had won carried him high in the esteem of all Christendom he was entertained with hopes and fair promises and even aâ—ter the very â—attel of Rab nothing was more commâ—â—lâ— discoursed than the giving Nicholas 〈◊〉 command independent of any other Genera◠〈◊〉 â—ut in the end it proved nothing but vaiâ— Proposals to humour the fancy of Serini himself and to satisfie the World which admired a Person so qualified and deserving as he should be made a subject of so much disgrace and neglect With this News the Turks remained greatly ashamed and dejected having but two days before demonstrated excesses of joy congratulated the happy News one to the other and after their manner sent Presents abroad deâ—ided the Christians upon the News exprobriated them with a Thousand injuries and applauded their own Virtue Valour and the righteousness of their Cause and Religion But on a sudden Intelligence coming contrary to their expectations such a dampness fell upon their spirits that for some days there was a deep silence of all News at Constantinople they that the Day before sought for Christians to communicate to them the Miracles of their Victory now avoided their Company ashamed of their too forward joy and the liberty they had taken to contemn and deride the low condition of the Christian Camp. And now the ill News not being able longer to be concealed Prayers and Humiliation were appointed publickly to be made at all the great Moschs of Constantinople and Adrianople where all Emaums with their young Scholars were commanded to resort and sing certain Prayers appointed for such occasions The minds of the Soldiery after this defeat were very much discomposed tending more to sedition than obedience Every one took licence to speak loudly and openly his opinion that the War was commenced upon unjust and unlawful grounds That the total Eclipse of the Moon which portends always misfortunes to the Turks should have caused more caution in the Commanders in ingaging the Armies this year until the malignancy of that Influence had been overpassed All generally accused the first Vizier as the Author and ill Manager of the War Iniquissima bellorum conditio est prospera omnes sibi vendicant adversa uni imputantur and calling to mind the solemn Oath with which Sultan Solyman confirmed his Capitulations with the Emperor particularly vowing never to pass the Rab or place where the Turks received their defeat without a solid and reasonable ground of War concluded that this Invasion was a violation of the Vow and an injury to the sacred Memory of that fortunate Sultan and therefore that all Enterprises and Attempts of this War would be fatal and destructive to the Mussulmen or Believers and the end dishonourable to the Empire This opinion was rooted with much superstition and strength of fancy in the minds of the Vulgar And the rumors in the Camp that the Vizier upon a false Alarm of the approach of the Enemy towards his Quarters had commanded the Army to retreat administred fury and courage to the Christians and fear and amazement to his own from which errour and timidity was occasioned that slaughter which ensued on which discourses and reports dangerous discontents daily increasing in the hearâ—s of the souldâ—ery it is thought they would have vented their passion and revenge on their General had he not at a publick Assembly of all the Heads and Commanders of the Army cleared himself freely by charging the miscarriage of all upon the Grand Signior having acted nothing but with Authority of the Imperial Command promising with as much speed as honour and safety would permit by agreement and composition of Peace to bring the War to a conclusion And this contrivance and art was that as is supposed which for the presenâ— secured his life for the Soldiery were greatly terrified and possessed with a dread of the Christians and amazement upon every Alarm For the old and experienced Commanders and Veterane Souldiers were either destroyed by the secret Proscriptions of the Vizier Kuperlee or slain in the Engagements of this Year and the Asian Spahees and other Soldiers having Wives and Children and Possessions to look after were grown poor and desired nothing more than in peace and quietness to return to their homes So that nothing could come more grateful to this Camp no largesses or donatives could pacifie the minds of the Soldiery more than the promises and expectations of a Peace The Sultan during these disturbances and misfortunes was preparing for a hunting Journey to an obscure Village called Yamâ—oli about three or four days travel from Adrianople designing to drive all those vast Woods along the Black Sea for Game where he had a small ruinous Seraglio The Queen Mother the Chimâ—cam with all the Court were to accompany him The Equipage and Pomp he went in perswaded many that the design of that Journey was grounded on other causes of Policy than what were generally penetrated Some conceived that the Vizier contrived his Journey thither
instructed Signior Patavino in what manner he ought to manage affairs and recommending his services and children to the favour and protection of the Senate he passed to the other World being honoured by a solemn Funeral at the publick Expence and Interred in the Church of St. Mark his Son Domâ—nico Ballarino succeeding into the Office and Inheritance of his Father The Senate understanding by advices from Signior Padavino That the Vizier desired another Envoy qualified with the Character of a publick Minister to reside with him in Candia dispatched the Secretary Girolamo Giavarina a Person of good abilities to that place And at the same time the Captain-General Andrea Cornaro pressing the Senate for license to return to his own Country his request was granted and Francesco Morosini was appointed to succeed him in that important Charge and was accompanied at a time of so great emergency with powerful Convoys and with Recruits of Men Provisions and Ammunition fitting to carry on so pressing a War. On the Month of October the Great Vizier in person imbarking himself and Army at Malvoisia with many Pasha's and men expert and active in the Waâ— passed over to the Isle of Candia resolving by strength and dint of Sword to force that strong City to obedience the main Bulwark of Christendom situated at the Entrance of the Archipelago of the success of which famous Siege we shall have occasion to discourse more at large and more particularly hereafter in order unto which the Great Vizier on the last day of this Year went in Person to take a view of this City and having surveyed all sides of it apprehended that the Siege would be long and tedious and therefore returned again to Canea to take those measures which were requisite for an Enterprise of that weight and consideration In the mean time the Princes of Christendom being for the most part either in that discord amongst themselves of which the Turks have always made their advantage or else living in parts remote did not consider Candia as a Bulwark to their Dominions and therefore rendred little other assistance to the Venetians than good words and vain wishes for their success and Victory The Popes Forces only under Command of Muzeo Maâ—tei which were in Dalmatia were transported to Candia and five hundred Foot belonging to the Grand Duke of Toscany came into their places for defence of that Country The most Christian King in return to the Embassy of Venice performed by the Cavalier Aâ—vise Sagredo remitted to that Republick an hundred thousand Crowns and Cardinal Barberini at his expence supplied four thousand Measures of Corn. But the present Conjuncture did not seem to smile on the Venetians for all the Gallies belonging to Spain and Italy as well as those of Malta were employed in the Transportation of the new Empress Margerita of Austria The Pope was infirm and distracted with his own Domestick Affairs The Emperor was a young Bridegroom and besides the Diversion which a Wife gave him from Cares he apprehended that he might speedily receive some disturbance from the Princes of the Rhine and from Sweden in the Dukedom of Bremen The King of Spain was a Child of five years old labouring at the same time under a War with Portugal and threatned by the more powerful Arms of France on the pretence of Flanders Besides all which the Turks were as well in quietness amongst themselves as they were at peace with all other Princes so that we may expect that the force and power of the Ottoman Empire should now be turned like a Torrent to overwhelm this spot of Land which seemed to be so situated as well to resist the Waves of the Seas as the Inundation of this mighty and Martial People year 1667. Anno 1667. Hegeira 1078. AT the Beginning of this year the Winter and Cold which chilled and benumbed the Earth encreased the heat and gave vigour and action to the Tartars who made such an unexpected incursion into Poland that they carried with them near a hundred thousand captived Souls as they were numbred before Iash in their return home The Polanders awakened hereat but ill advised resolved on a Treaty where there was more just cause for an open War and in order thereunto dispeeded an Ambassadour to the Sultan to expostulate the reason of this breach of Peace and require justice and satisfaction on those his Subjects who had contrary to the Articles of Peace committed such actions and outrages of open hostility or at least that the Turk would not take upon him to abet the cause of the Tartars whilst the Polanders took just revenge for their late injuries The Ambassadour with this Message put himself in a readiness and with a retinue of about two hundred and fifty Persons begun his Journey towards the end of April and on the second of May crossed the River Niestro which divides Poland from Moldavia where he was received by two of the Boiars or Moldavian Noblemen and thence conducted to Iash where the Prince of that Country resided The Ambassadour expected the Visit of the Prince according to Custom and Articles of Peace but the Prince being either forbidden by the Port or rather out of an ignorant stiffness and pride omitted to pass the Civilities of that Oâ—fice but yet supplied the Ambassadour with Plenty of Wine and Provisions which the Polanders enjoying freely dispensed perhaps more easily with other neglects and omissions which concerned Formalities and Ceremonies The ninth of Iune the Ambassadour arrived at Adrianople and thence was called to Demitochum a City about a days Journey distant where the Grand Signior for the sake of his hunting and divertisement remained under Tents as the most convenient Lodging in that Season of the Year the 25 th the Ambassadour had his first Audience with the Chimacam at which thirty five of his Retinue were vested with Coftans nothing passing but the usual Ceremonies and Complements The 28 th he had Audience of the Grand Signior but first made tender of his Presents as followeth A Crystal Cup in a Case of Gold adorned with Rubies and Diamonds 2 Baskets rarely woven with a very fine Rush. A Clock A Cabinet of Ebony supported with four Eagles made of Silver in which also was a Clock with a perspective Looking-Glass 2 Silver Cups of considerable bigness 2 Silver Flaggons A Gun which discharged twenty times 2 Spotted Dogs 4 Mastiffs 100 Ells of Holland These Presents preceding made way for the Ambassadours Audience at which he declared That the Commission from his Master the King of Poland was to make Complaints unto his Majesty of the grand Incursions the Tartars had made into Poland without any reason or cause of War and that therefore his Master did expect from him as from a just and vertuous Prince a permission for revenge and satisfaction of his injuries to enter Tartary without assuming it as any ground of Breach or Infringement of that Peace which he held with
the largest extent of Dominion But indeed when I have considered seriously the Contexture of the Turkish Government the absoluteness of an Emperor without Reason without Vertue whose Speeches may be Irrational and yet must be Laws whose Actions Irregular and yet Examples whose Sentence and Judgment if in Matters of the Imperial Concernment are most commonly corrupt and yet Decrees irresistible When I consider what little rewards these are for Vertue and no Punishment for profitable and thriving Vice how Men are raised at once by Adulation Chance and the sole Favour of the Prince without any Title of Noble Blood or the Motives of Previous Deserts or former Testimonies and Experience of Parts and Abilities to the weightiest the richest and most honourable Charges of the Empire when I consider how short their continuance is in them how with one Frown of their Prince they are cut off with what greediness above all people in the World they thirst and haste to be Rich and yet know their Treasure is but their Snare what they labour for is but as Slaves for their great Patron and Master and what will inevitably effect their Ruin and Destruction though they have all the Arguments of Faithfulness Vertue and moral Honesty which are rare in a Turk to be their Advocates and plead for them When I consider many other things of like Nature which may more at large hereafter be discoursed of one might admire the long continuance of this great and vast Empire and attribute the stability thereof without change within it self and the increase of Dominions and constant progress of its Arms rather to some supernatural Cause than to the ordinary Maxims of State or Wisdom of the Governors as if the Divine Will of the All-knowing Creator had chosen for the good of his Church and chastisement of the Sins and Vices of Christians to raise and support this mighty People Mihi quanto plura recentium sâ—u veterum revolvo tanto magis ludibria rerum mortalium cunctis in negotiis observantur But that which cements all Breaches and cures all those Wounds in this Body Politick is the quickness and severity of their Justice which not considering much the strict division and parts of distributive and commutative makes almost every Crime equal and punishes it with the last and extreamest chastisement which is Death I mean those which have relation to the Government and are of common and publick Interest Without this Remedy which I lay down as a principal Prevention of the greatest Disorders this mighty Body would burst with the Poison of its own ill Humors and soon divide it self into several Signories as the Ambition and Power of the Governors most remote from the Imperial Seat administred them hopes and security of becoming Absolute In this Government Severity Violence and Cruelty are natural to it and it were as great an Error to begin to loose the Reins and ease the People of that Oppression to which they and their Fore-fathers have since their first original been accustomed as it would be in a Nation free-born and used to live under the Protection of good Laws and the Clemency of a vertuous and Christian Prince to exercise a Tyrannical Power over their Estates and Lives and change their Liberty into Servitude and Slavery The Turks had the original of their Civil Government â—oundâ—d in the time of the War for when they â—irâ—t came out of Scythia and took Arms in their Hands and submitted unto one General it is to be supposed that they had no Laws but what were Arbitrary and Martial and most agreeable to the enterprise and Design they had then in hand when Tangrolipix overthrew the Persian Sultan possessed himself of his Dominions and Power and called and opened the way for his Companions out of Armenia when Cutlumuses revolted from him and made a distinct Kingdom in Arabia when other Princes of the Seleuccian Family in the infancy of the Turkish Power had by Wars among themselves or by Testament made division of their Possessions when Anno 1300. Ottoman by strange Fortunes and from small beginnings swallowed up all the other Governments into the Ogusian Tribe and united them under one Head until at last it arrived to that greatness and power it now enjoys The whole condition of this People was but a continued state of War wherefore it is not strange if their Laws are severe and in most things arbitrary that the Emperor should be Absolute and above Law and that most of their Customs should run in a certain Chanel and Course most answerable to the height and unlimited Power of the Governor and consequently to the Oppression and Subjection of the People and that they should thrive most by servitude be most happy prosperous and contented under Tyranny is as natural to them as to a Body to be nourished with that Diet which it had from its Infancy or Birth been acquainted with But not only is Tyranny requisite for this People and a stiff reign to curb them lest by an unknown Liberty they grow mutinous and unruly but likewise the large Territories and remote parts of the Empire require speedy preventions without Processes of Law or formal Indictment jealousie and suspicion of Mis-government being Licence and Authority enough for the Emperor to inflict his severest Punishments all which depends upon the Absoluteness of the Prince which because it is that whereby the Turks are principally supported in their Greatness and is the prime Maxim and Foundation of their State we shall make it the Discourse and Subject of the following Chapter CHAP. II. The Absoluteness of the Emperor is a great support of the Turkish Empire THE Turks having as is before declared laid the first foundation of their Government with the Principles most agreeable to Militay Discipline their Generals or Princes whose Will and Lusts they served became absolute Masters of their Lives and Estates so that what they gained and acquired by the Sword with Labours Perils and Sufferings was appropriated to the use and benefit of their Great Master All the delightful Fields of Asia the pleasant Plains of Tempe and Thrace all the Plenty of Egypt and Fruitfulness of the Nile the Luxury of Corinth the Substance of Peloponnesus Athens Lemnos Scio and Mitylene with other Isles of the Aegean Sea the Spices of Arabia and the Riches of a great part of Persia all Armenia the Provinces of Ponius Galatia Bythinia Phrygia Lycia Pamphylia Palestine Coelosyria and Phoenicia Colchis and great part of Georgia the Tributary Principalities of Moldavia and Walachia Romania Bulgaria and Servia and the best part of Hungary concur all together to satifie the Appetite of one single Person all the extent of this vast Territory the Lands and Houses as well as the Castles and Arms are the proper Goods of the Grand Signior in his sole Disposal and Gift they remain whose Possession and Right they are only to Lands dedicated to Religious uses
Constitutions of the People they had conquered and accordingly made Provision and used proper Arts to keep them in Obedience and next by their Generosity and Wisdom won those Nations to admire and imitate their Vertues and to be contented in their Subjection But the Turks have but one sole Means to maintain their Countries which is the same by which they were gained and that is the cruelty of the Sword in the most rigorous way of execution by Killing Consuming and laying desolate the Countries and transplanting unto parts where they are nearest under the Command and Age of a Governor being wholly destitute and ignorant of other resined Arts which more civilized Nations have in part made to serve in the place of Violence And yet the Turks made this course alone answer to all the Intents and Ends of their Government For the Subjects of this Empire being governed better by Tyranny than Gentleness it is necessary that courses should be taken whereby these People may remain more within compass and reach of Authority which they would hardly be were every part of this Empire so well inhabited to afford entertainment within the Fortifications of its vast Mountains and Woods to the many unquiet and discontented Spirits that live in it And this may be one cause that so rarely Rebellions arise amongst the Turks though in the remotest parts of Asia and when they do are easily suppressed This also is one Cause why great Men so easily resign themselves up the Will of the Grand Signior to Punishment and Death whether the Sentence be according to Law or only Arbitrary This is the reason that Fugitives and Homicides cannot escape for having no place for flight neither the inhabited Cities which are immediately under the Eye of a vigilant Commander will afford them refuge nor can the desolate Countries entertain them and Christendom is so abhorred by them that they will never take it for their Sanctuary And thus deprived of all means of Safety they wholly attend to please and serve their Great Master in whose Favour and Hands alone is the Reward and Punishment Another Advantage and that not inconsiderable that this manner of dispeopling the Country brings to this Empire is the difficulty an Enemy would find in their March should they with a Land Army attempt to penetrate far into the Country for without great quantities of Provision they could not possibly be sustained from the Country none can be expected what little it affords the Inhabitants will conceal or carry away and leave all Places as naked and barren of Food for Man as the Sea it self And though it is known often that in Asia the Troops of some discontented Bei or Aga to the number of three or four hundred Men in the Summer-time having their retirements in the Woods and Mountains assault Caravans and rob all Passengers from whom there is any hope of Booty yet in the Winter they are dispersed because they have no Quarters against the Weather nor Provisions for humane Sustenance every one shifting for himself in some place where his Condition is the least known or suspected And it may not be here from our Purpose to admonish the Reader that as the Turks account it one good part of their Policy to lay a considerable part of their Empire desolate so on the contrary they observe in their new Conquests to fortify strengthen and confirm what they have gained by numbers of People and new Colonies of their own and when they have reduced any considerable Country to their subjection they commonly are inclined to make Peace with that Prince from whom they have won it so as to have time to settle and secure their new Conquests for Countries over-run in haste are almost as speedily again recovered and are like Tempests and sudden Storms which are the sooner dispersed for being violent Augustus Caesar who was a wise and judicious Prince considering the extent of the Roman Empire wrote a Book saith Tacitus which was published after his Death wherein he described the publick Reâ—enue the number of Citizens and Confederate listed for the War the Fleets Kingdoms Provinces Tributes Customs c. Addideratque insuper Consilium coercendi intra terminos imperii incertum saith that Author Tac. Lib. 1. Annal. metu an per invidiam Which doubtless this wise Emperor meant of a moderate and not a precipitate progress of their Arms as well as of prescribing fixed limits to the ultimate Confines of the Empire beyond which a Statute should be made of Non plus ultra notwithstanding the most promising Designs and Incitements that could offer CHAP. XVI All Hereditary Succession in Government as also the preservation of an Ancient Nobility against the Maxims of the Turkish Poâ—ity HAving formerly entred into Discourse of the several great Officers of State it will be necessary to declare what care the Turks take to preserve the Body of their Empire free of Faction and Rebellion for there being many Provinces in the Sultan's Gift which are remote rich and powerful and so administer temptation to the Governors to throw off the Yoke of their Dependance and make themselves and their Posterity Absolute great care is taken to prevent this Mischief by several Arts none of which hath been more effectual amongst the Turks nor more sedulously practised than the destruction of an Ancient Nobility and admitting no succession to Offices of Riches but only in the direct Ottoman Line as my Lord Verulam says Essay 14. A Monarchy where there is no Nobility at all is ever pure and absolute Tyranny as that of the Turks for Nobility attempers Sovereignty and draws the People somewhat aside from the Line Royal. By which means it comes to pass that Pashaws Education in the Seraglio in the manner as we have said before without knowledg of their Blood or Family and without the support of powerful Relations or Dependencies being sent abroad to Foreign Governments where they continue but for a short season have no opportunity or possibility of advancing any Interest of their own above that of the Sultan And though some have out of an aspiring and ambitious Spirit assumed a blind Confidence of renting away part of the Empire as Asan Aga Pashaw of Aleppo of late Years with a strong and powerful Army marched as far as Scutary threatning the Imperial City and the Turkish History tells us of the revolt of several Pashaws yet all these Rebellions have been but of short durance the Grand Signior never designing by open Force and Dint of Sword to try his Title to the Empire with his own Slaves but only by some secret Plot and Stratagem getting the Head of the Rebel he is assured of the Victory without other hazard or dispute of War for immediately thereupon the whole Army disperses and every one shifts by flight to save himself from the Sultan's Anger Nor is it imaginable it can be otherwise for these Men are but Strangers and Foreigners in the Countries they ruled
they remaining with the hatred whilst the Prince under colour of performing Justice procures both Riches and Fame together If it be suspected that any great Man intends to make Combustion or Mutiny in his Government or that his Wealth or natural Abilities render him formidable without farther inquisition or scrutiny all discontent of the Grand Signior is dissembled and perhaps an Horse a Sword or Sables Vest is reported to be presented and all fair Treatment is counterfeited until the Executioner gets the Bow-string about his Neck and then they care not how rudely they deal with him just like the Birds in Plutarch who beat the Cuckow for fear that in time he should become a Hawk And to make more room for the multitude of Officers who crowd for Preferments and to act the cruel Edicts of the Empire with the least noise times when a great Personage is removed from his place of Trust and sent with a new Commission to the Charge perhaps of a greater Government and though he depart from the Regal Seat with all fair demonstrations of Favour before he hath advanced three days in his journey triumphing in the multitude of his Servants and his late Hopes the fatal command Overtakes him and without any Accusation or Cause other than the Will of the Sultan he is barbarously put to death and his Body thrown into the Dirt of a foreign and unknown Country without solemnity of Funeral or Monument that he is no sooner in the Grave than his Memory is forgotten And this methinks is somewhat agreeable to the crafty Policy of Tiberius who sometimes would commissionate Men for Government of Provinces to whom before-hand he had designed not to permit licence to depart the City Postremò eò provectus est ut mandaverit quibusdam provincias quos egredi urbe non erat passurus Hence are apparent the Causes of the decay of Arts amongst the Turks of the neglect want of care in manuring and cultivating their Lands why their Houses and private Buildings are made slight not durable for more than ten or twenty Years why you find no delightful Orchards and pleasant Gardens and Plantations and why in those Countries where Nature hath contributed so much on her part there are no additional labours of Art to complete all and turn it to a Paradise for Men knowing no certain Heir nor who shall succed them in their Labours contrive only for a few Years enjoyment And moreover Men are fearful of shewing too much ostentation or magnificenâ—e in their Palaces or ingenuity in the pleasures of their Gardens lest they should bring on them the same Fate that Nabal's Vineyard occasion'd to his Master and therefore Men neglect all application to the Studies of Arts and Sciences but only such as are necessary and conducing to the mere course of living for the very Fear and Crime of being known to be Rich makes them appear outwardly Poor and become naturally Stoicks and Philosophers in all the points of a reserved and cautious Life And here I am at a stand and cannot conclude this Chapter without contemplating a while and pleasing my self with the thoughts of the Blessedness the Happiness the liberty of my own Country where Men under the protection and safe influence of a gratious and the best of Princes in the World enjoy and eat of the Fruit of their own Labour and purchase to themselves with security Fields and Manors and dare acknowledg and glory in their Wealth and Pomp and yet leave the Inheritance to their Posterity CHAP. XVIII The several Arts the Turks use to encrease their People is a principal Policy without which the greatness of their Empire cannot continue nor be encreased THere was never any People that laid Foundations and Designs of a great Empire but first thought how to make it populous and by which means they might best supply them with People not only sufficient for the Sacrifice and Slaughter of the War but for the Plantation of Colonies Possession and Security of what the Sword hath conquered We never underderstood how one People alone that was Martial and by successes in War had framed a large Empire was able from the mere original of its own Stock to abound with issue of natural Subjects to bear proportion with the stronger Nations nor how a handful of People with the greatest Policy and Courage in the World was able to embrace a large extent of Dominion and Empire It is true that Alexander did with an Army for the most part composed of Macedonians as it were in a Rant make a Conquest of the best part of the Eastern World but this Empire like a Ship that had much Sail and no Ballast or a fair Tree over-charged with Boughs too heavy for its Stem became a Windfall on a sudden The Turks therefore during the continuance of their Empire have not been ignorant of this Truth for no People in the World have ever been more open to receive all sorts of Nations to them than they nor have used more Arts to encrease the number of those that are called Turks and it is strange to consider that from all parts of the World some of the most dissolute and desperate in Wickedness should flock to these Dominions to become Members and Professours of the Mahometan Superstition in that manner that at present the Blood of the Turks is so mixed with that of all sorts of Languaâ—es and Nations that none of them can derive his Lineage from the ancient Blood of the Saracens The Romans who well knew the benefit of receiving Strangers into their Bosome called this freedom they gave Ius Civitatis whereby Foreigners became as lawful Possessours of Estates and Inheritances and had as much right to the common Priviledges as any that were born in the Walls of Rome and this Ius Civitatis was given to whole Families so that as Sir F. B. says well that the Romans did not over-spread the World but the World it self The English call it Naturalization the French Enfranchisement and the Turks call it Becoming a Believer for they joining with it a point of Religion not only the Proffers of the Goods of this World but also of Delights in the World to come make the Allurements and Arguments the more prevalent and it being an Opinion amongst them as over all the World that it is a Meritorious Work to create Proselytes scarce any who hath Mony to purchase a Slave but will procure one young and fit for any Impression whom he may name his Convert and gain Reputation amongst his Neighbours of having added to the number of the Faithful Of all this Number which yearly are added to the Professors of Mahomet none can retreat on lower Terms than Death and Martyrdom for Christ which causes may whose Consciences though touched with the sense of the denial of their Saviour yet having not Grace or Courage to assert their Faith on so hard a Lesson grow desperate or careless and die
they may drink it with full Bowls and have sufficient thereof to give them their Kaif as they call it that is to transport them into a dissolute mirth or the ridiculous actions of drunkenness or to a surfeit or a vomit they esteem it not worth the drinking and a provocation to the appetite and palate to remain with a desire of demanding more But such as would appear Religious amongst them and are superstitious morose and haters of Christians abstain wholly from Wine and are of a Stoical pride melancholy temper and censorious of the whole World. These men who drink onely Water and Coffee enter into Discourses of State matters censure the Actions and pass Characters on the Grandees and great Officers Assumta Stoicorum arrogantia Sectaque quae turbidos negotiorum appetentes faciat Tac. lib. 14. And this was the reason why the great Visier Kuperli put down the Coffee-houses in Constantinople and yet privileged the Taverns because the first were melancholy places where Seditions were vented where reflexions were made on all occurrences of State and discontents published and aggravated but Wine raised the spirits of men to a gay humour and would never operate those effects to endanger his condition as the Counsels which were contrived in the Assemblies of those who addicted themselves to a more melancholy Liquor The drinking Wine in young Men is esteemed amongst the extravagancies of Youth but in old men is crime a more undecent and scandalous in a higher degree But why Mahomet should so severely forbid the use of Wine to his Disciples is recounted in a Fable on this occasion That their Prophet being once invited by a Friend to an entertainment at his house changed in his way thither to be detained a while at a Nuptial Feast where the Guests raised with the chearfull spirits of the Wine were merrey embracing and in a kind temper each towards other which pleasing humour Mahomet attributing to the effect of the Wine blessed it as a sacred thing and so departed But it happened that in the evening returning again and expecting to see the love and caresses he had before blessed to be augmented he found the house to the contrary full of Brawls and noise fightings and all confusion which he also having understood to be another effect of the Wine changed his former Blessing into a Curse and for ever after made it Haram or an abomination to his Disciples CHAP. XXVI Of their Morality Good Works and some certain of their Laws worthy of observation THough according to the preceding Discourse the Character that may thence result from the nature and temperance of the Turks doth not promise any long Treatise concerning their deep Morality Vertues and elevated Graces yet in the minds of all Mankind though never so barbarous God having wrought the Law of Nature and made that impression of doing right to our Neighbour which tends towards conservation of the World we may well expect to find the same Principles in the Turks especially their Victories and Spoils abroad having procured them conversation with other Nations and their Wars and Treaties with Christians having refined their minds in a good part of that rude temper they brought with them out of Scythia it will not be strange for us to find amongst them men whom Education hath made civil polished in all points of vertuous deportment and made Heroes of their Age though I must confess I cannot applaud the generality of this people with so high encomiums as I have read in the Books of some ingenious Travellers and do believe without partiality that they come short of the good nature and vertues are to be found in most parts of Christendom Howsoever wherein they conceive a great part of charity is placed and meritorious Works it will not be unworthy nor unpleasant to consider And in the first place they esteem it a good work to build Houses though from thence they obtain a Rent because it is a habitation for those who have no Lands or Estates to have them of their own But especially such as are Princes and great Men who build Chans or Inns which are receptacles for Travellers at night are ranked in the first Order of sacred Benefactors and are blessed and prayed for by the weary Guests who have found repose and refreshment through their Munificence and in these Buildings the Turks are extraordinary Magnificent in most parts of the Empire having united to many of them a stately Mosch Baths and Shops for Artisans and Tradesmen to supply all the necessities of the Travellers and some of them are so endowed that every night the Guests are entertained at free cost with a convenient Supper be their number more or less according as the Chan is capable to receive The form of these Buildings is for the most part according to the model of the highest and stateliest of our Halls covered with Lead though not altogether so high Roofed yet some I have observed for their breadth and length very Magnificent yet by reason they have been somewhat lower have onely in that come short of the pride of the stateliest Fabricks though in few of them are Apartments for different Companies yet every one is sufficiently retired having at a convenient distance different Chimneys for all parties of Guests to dress their Meat and in the Winter for their Fire the greatest inconvenience to Men of watchfull spirits and used to quiet retirements is the want of sleep which until I have been over-tired with labour and accustomed thereunto by divers days Journies hath been always a stranger to my eyes by reason of the molestation of various Companies some of which are always awake some mending their Carts others dressing Meat others upon their departure that in those publick places never want noise to disturb those who sleep but of one ear These stately Chans or Inns which with the Moschs are the onely durable and magnificent Buildings of the Empire are the Edifices of certain great Men who fearing to be deprived of their Riches by a hasty death should they endeavour to continue them to their Family chuse to perpetuate their Names and secure their conditions by these publick Works Those who would appear of a compassionate and tender nature hold it a pious work to buy a Bird from a Cage to give him his liberty and hold it a mercifull action to buy Bread and feed the Dogs of which there are a great number of diseased Curs in all Streets appropriate to no Master but are mangy and foul and no small causes of breeding the Plague so frequent in all the Cities of the Turks And this care of Dogs is accounted so charitable that there are certain Laws made for the protection and maintenance of them and it is a lighter offence to deny Bread to a poor Christian who is famished in his Chains than to the Dogs of their Street which are fit for nothing but to breed Infection and some bind themselves
knowledge thereof and contrived with the High Treasurer to send one of his Servants to Buy a considerable parcel of the Cloth of Gold for the use of the Seraglio And in regard different Sortments and Colours were demanded it was necessary to open and unpack divers Chests by which means they came to a full discovery of all those Goods which had privately been convey'd away by Night When these Chapmen had concluded their Bargains and agreed on the Prices which amounted unto 3500 Dollars they gave an Assignment for the Money on Usaine Aga the Chief Customer who willingly accepted the Bill but to abate it out of the Customs due for those Goods making up the Account after his own fashion But not content herewith he obtained a Warrant from the Vizier directed to the Judge of Galata to examine the manner of carrying these Goods a-shoar in the Night by Force and Violence which being made out by several Witnesses a report thereof was sent to the Vizier who immediately thereupon gave Orders to the Vaivod and Captain of Galata to make Search in the House of the Customer for those Goods which had not paid the Custom Seignior Ciurani Alarmed at this manner of Proceeding and not willing to give an occasion to the Turks to violate the respect due to the House of Venice which until that time was ever esteemed a Sanctuary and place of Refuge seasonably compounded for his unjustifyable miscarriage by the Payment of 30000 Dollars But this trouble was no sooner ended before another of worse Consequence began arising from certain Slaves to the number of about Fifty which had saved themselves aboard the Venetian Men of War which had brought the Ambassador of which Complaint being made by the Masters unto the Vizier Orders were given twice to make search aboard the Ships for them but by help of a little Money Inquisitions were made so superficially that Returns were given of none to be found But the Complaints daily increasing new Orders were given to renew the Search the execution whereof was committed to a Capugee and a Hasakee who are Officers belonging to the Seraglio together with a Naip or Kadee's Notary who was to write down and record the proceedings These persons being come aboard and rudely making search after their manner the Soldiers arose against them and beat them off wounding some and throwing the Naip and others into the Sea. Upon report whereof the Vizier was so enraged that he would have had the Ships brought to the Arsenal there to be laid up and confiscated to the Grand Seignior's Service The two Venetian Ambassadors fearing also some violence to their Persons from these disorders betook themselves to their Ships there to remain until Matters were a little pacified and to make the business more easy the Slaves about whom was all the controversie were privately convey'd ashoar And a Search of the Ships submitted unto by consent and Proposal of the Ambassadors themselves The Vizier being a little mollified with this compliance the Chiaus-bashee or Chief of the Pursuivants with 200 Men were sent aboard the Ships to make a search where being received without opposition they left no corner of the Ships unsought and unlooked into and none being found the Chiaus-bashee gave them a favourable report upon payment of 300 Chequins After which the Bailos or Ambassadors returned ashoar referring a farther Accommodation of their Matters to Usaine Aga the Customer who was a most dexterous Person both in raising Avanias or false Pretences and in the Ways and Arts of composing them And he accordingly so managed the matter that with payment of Seventy purses to the Vizier and Ten to the Kaja with other petty rewards to Usaine Aga himself and other inferiour Officers which might in all amount to about 50000 Dollars all Displeasures were reconciled the new Bailo was Friendly admitted to Audience and the old one suffered fairly to depart The Masters lost their Slaves and the Vizier got the Money But the Troubles of the Venetian Ministers did not end here For not long afterwards some Desturbances arose in Dalmatia between the Turks and the Subjects of that Republick in which above a Hundred Turks as was reported being Cut off the Vizier in a Rage sent the Bailo Prisoner to the seven Towers Threatning to put him to Death but with the Atonement of 200.000 Dollars the Vizier's gentle Heart was melted and all things salved up and reconciled again once more But the Republick of Venice to whose expences the Sum of 300.000 Dollars was charged could not so easily digest this Extortion and knowing that with the Turks there was no other remedy but patience until such time as opportunity happened to revenge it did in the interim show their resentment by their displeasure against Seignior Ciurani their Ambassador whom they recalled speedily from his Employment and constituted the Secretary in his place and afterwards levied a great part of the Money paid unto the Turks out of his Estate and out of the Estate of Morosini the old Bailo Foscari formerly Consul at Aleppo was made Inquisitor to examine the matter who upon enquiry thereinto found that the Goods which Ciurani brought were to the value of 60.000 Dollars and others which had not paid Custom at Venice were in pena di contrabanda condemned in 30.000 Ducats such success as this have such old Politians who pretend to a craft and cunning above other Men. And thus we have given a Relation of the Treatment which the Vizier used towards the Venetians in which we have been the more large to inform the World of the beginnings and grounds of the War which soon afterwards ensued and the Reasons which moved the Venetians to joyn themselves in League with the Emperor against the Turk The next Foreign Minister which must tast of the Vizier's kindness was the Genoese Resident And tho' neither the Business nor the Actions of that Nation did Administer any ground of pretence to extort Money from them yet the Vizier made an Avania of 5000 Dollars upon them for what cause no Man knows nor do the Genoese themselves declare any It is conjectured he would not suffer their Resident Seignior Spinola to depart without payment of that Sum upon pretence that during all the time of his Residence he had never seen the Grand Seignior The new Resident who succeeded to Spinola had been the Sopra-cargo of a Ship and was rather a Factor than a Publick Minister for the State of Genoua had refused to have any concernment in Turky Howsoever they lent their name to certain Merchants for 6000 Dollars a year who in Consideration of the Consolage to be confirmed to them were to maintain a Resident at Constantinople and a Consul at Smyrna After which the Camera was to know nothing of any expence but all sorts of Charges and Avanias were to be born by the Undertakers who allowed their Resident 1500 Dollars per annum which with the benefit of making
Arms and which We shall continue so to do And therefore We give notice to all Our Subjects that they peaceably submit unto Our power lest Our Clemency be turn'd into Severity and that contrary to Our Nature being provok'd by so many Injuries Treasons and Rebellions We be enforc'd to execute Our Wrath on those who have abus'd Our Indulgence and cause them to taste the direful effects of Our Rigour Given at Vienna the 21st of March 1671. The Emperor to establish and confirm this his Remonstrance by force of Arms caused his Regiments which were in Bohemia Silesia Moravia and Austria to march with speed into Hungary with Cannon and all the Train of Artillery Which when the Malecontents perceived and consider'd their ill Fortune and Successes having in every place been worsted in all the Fights and Reencounters against the Emperor's Forces and that the Grand Vizier had forbidden Apafi Prince of Transilvania and all the Pashas of Hungary to yield Assistance or Protection to them They began then to think they had taken false Courses against their Sovereign Prince and resolved for the future to submit with blind obedience to the Commands and Decrees of the Emperor serving themselves only of Prayers and Petitions to obtain his Pardon and a remission of his Rigours and Oppressions But it was now too late for his Imperial Majesty being highly provok'd by their frequent Rebellions was so far from granting their Requests That besides their usual Taxes and Impositions he laid a farther charge on them of maintaining an Army of 30.000 Men which were quarter'd in their Cities and Towns and upon their Lands and Estates of Inheritance With these Successes and the Destruction and Death of the Chief Leaders of the Malecontented Party Hungary was consider'd by the Imperialists as a Conquered Kingdom year 1672. and therefore to be subjected unto such Laws as the Emperor should please to impose upon them The great Office and Dignity of Palatine who was always a Person of the noblest Descent and highest Degree was by the ancient Privileges of that Kingdom elected at a Diet consisting of the several Orders of the Nation But now the Emperor assumed this Power unto himself pretending that the same was forfeited to him by the Revolt of the People and so in the lieu of Palatine he thought fit to Govern by such a Person as he himself should chuse and impose without the Concurrence of the States by the Name and Title of Vice King And in lieu and by way of resemblance of a Diet he erected a Sovereign Chamber oâ— Council coâ—sisting of a President Chancelâ—â—r and two Sâ—crâ—taries one a German and thâ— other a Hungarian with about six or seven Councellors or so many as his Imperial Majesty should think fit to add to whom the Administration of all the Affairs of that Kingdom was committed The Person destinated and appointed for this considerable charge was Iohn Gasper Ampringhen Prince oâ— the Empire and Grand Master of the Teutonick Order which was an Office so considerable that the late Arch-Duke Leopold Uncle to the present Emperor did not disdain to own this Prince being an Hungarian by Birth and qualified with many Vertues and having perform'd many brave Actions and Atchievements was esteemed worthy of this August honour His zeal for Religion and advancement of the Christian Cause was well known to all the World having in the year 1664 brought two Regiments one of Horse and the other of Foot to the Imperial Army commanded by the Cavaliers of his own Order and maintained at his own expence during all the time that that War lasted After which and that the Turks renew'd their War again in Candia he sent a considerable body of Foot Commandeâ— by several Cavaliers of his own Order into the Service of the Venetian Republick and afterwards went himself in Chief to Command them within the besieged City where he perform'd such noble Actions of Chivalry as obtain'd the acknowledgement of the Senate and procured likewise a Brief from the Pope with such obliging Expressions as denoted the singular esteem he had of his Person and Merits In fine such were the deserts and qualifications of this Grand Master that the Emperor remain'd entirely satisâ—ied with his Abilities as being agreeable and every ways suiting with this Honourable Promotion to which being called he appeared at Vienna attended with a great and an expensive Equipage and with many Knights of his own Order ANNO 1673. This new Vice-King having taken his Instructions and Leave from the Emperor departed from Vienna and made his Entry into Cassovia on the 22 d â—ay of March with Acclamations and universal Contentment of the People Great was the expectation which the World conceived of the wisdom and good conduct of this new Vice-King as the only person who was able to appease the Disturbances and compose the Disorders of that Kingdom And indeed he so well behaved himself together with the Sovereign Council over which he presided that Justice took its course the Poor were relieved from the Oppression of their unmerciful Lords and a stop given to the proceedings of those wickednesses which in the Licentious times of War had passed without punishment All orders of Men began now to yield due obedience to their Superiours Innocence was protected and Offences punished the Soldiers lived under the good Discipline of their Officers and the Citizens in good Correspondence with the Soldiers Many wholsome Laws were made for the benefit of the People and for their Security from the violence of the Army especially in their Marches And above all the Vice-King endeavoured to reconcile the affections of the Malecontents by his gentleness and moderation towards them But what the Civil Magistrates acted in order to a composure and setlement was disturbed and over-thrown by the Ecclesiastical Courts whose business being to extirpate Heresie as they called it thy proceeded by methods agreeable thereunto which were to take away their Churches Seize and Imprison their Pastors and Teachers and prosecute the People with the severity of their Courts The which Persecutions so exasperated the Spirits of the Protestants against the Emperor and his Government that the Fire of War which had for some time been cover'd with Embers was ready to break out into a more violent Flame than before For now the Protestants were encouraged by an Alliance they had made with the Transilvanians and by the Protection which the Turk had promised to give them within his Dominions notwithstanding the assurances formerly made to the Emperor by the Vizier to the contrary The Transilvanians pretended a quarrel for recovery of the Counties of Zatmar and Zambolich belonging to their Principality which the Prince Ragotski had without right yielded to the Emperor The Turks declared themselves offended by the daily Hostilities committed by the Imperialists who pursuing the Malecontents within their Dominions did not abstain from those Violences which are usually practised in an
encompass'd about with little Hills famous for the golden Mines and the Country well planted about it with pleasant Vineyards the Governours thereof would neither declare themselves at first either for the Emperor or for the Malecontents But when the Imperialists with their Army drew near to them they could no longer conceal their Affections and good Wishes but broke their Neutrality and declar'd for the Emperor Soon after which Tekeli making himself Master of the place put six of the Chief Inhabitants to death in punishment of their Infidelity and breach of Promise But before the end of this year the Imperialists had their changes of good Fortune as well as the Malecontents a Party of which the Garrison of Filek entirely defeated Filek is Situate in the Road-way from the Mountain Towns in Hungary leading to Transilvania and Cassovia and lies about five Leagues Northward from Agria This Success was seconded by another Rout which Count Esterhasi the Pope's General gave to a party of Five hundred Spahees and Two thousand Ianisaries near Vesprin who were design'd to make Incursions into the Emperor's Countries But least this Action should be ill represented to the Grand Seignior and become the Cause of a Rupture the Emperor dispatched away an Express to Constantinople to give a true account of the Cause and Reasons for this Engagement And now being come to that Season of the year when Armies draw into their Winter-quarters Both Parties being in cooler temper began to Treat so that a Cessation of Arms was agreed and the place appointed for the Conference was Oedembourg where all the Chief Lords of Hungary had agreed to Assemble The person who was to preside for the Emperor was the Prince of Swartzembourg and Count de Nostiz manag'd the Treaty applying himself with much Zeal and Diligence that this Negotiation might be happily concluded ANNO 1679. This Treaty with a Cessation of Arms continu'd till the end of the year with hopes that the beginning of the next would make that poor Kingdom happy with a Peace But the Emperor having as it were secur'd a Peace with France which was one of the greatest fears he had upon him in case of a War with the Turks refus'd to yield unto the same terms which he had frequently offer'd in former times to the Malecontents It was now resolv'd that the Office of Palatine should for ever hereafter be extinguish'd and made void year 1679. and that Kingdom govern'd by a Vice-Roy who was solely to be constituted by Commission from the Emperor 2 dly The Protestants were not to have Churches in Towns or Cities but to content themselves with such as should be allotted them in Villages 3 dly As a Preliminary to all the rest the Malecontents were to dismiss the Foreign Troops entertain'd in their Service before the Treaty upon any other Conditions and Articles should commence The very noise of this alteration in the Emperor's Councils put a stop to all proceedings of a Treaty and an end to the Truce and Cessation of Arms. And indeed the Malecontents were by this time so engag'd with the Turks that on their part also they had put themselves out of all possibility of Accommodation without their concurrence and concernment in the Treaty The Assembly at Oedembourg being dissolv'd the Malecontents held a Diet of their own at Coloswar alias Claudiopolis whereunto Prince Apafi and the Neighbouring Pashas resorted to treat and agree upon the measures which were to be taken for the ensuing year in order to carrying on the War. Whilst they were upon this Treaty a Messenger arriv'd from the Grand Seignior who brought a Scymitar to Prince Apafi which was a certain Signal of the Sultan's favour and acceptance of his Services which was much to the joy of all Persons there present for that it was doubtful before how far the Grand Seignior would abâ—tt the Cause of Pedipol to whom as we have mention'd he had given his Commission to be Prince of Transilvania with exclusion of Apafi Nor was the News of less concernment to them brought at the same time that the Grand Seignior was upon conclusion of peace with the Moscovites by which the whole Ottoman Empire would be at leisure to employ all their Troops against the Germans And with the same occasion the Pashas of Hungary were Commanded to joyn with Apafi and to assist the Malecontents with such Forces as they should desire of all which the Emperor having certain Intelligence from his Resident at Constantinople Order'd three Regiments to be sent into Hungary for recruit of the Forces under Count Lesley of which the Malecontents having Advice took the Field and passing the Theysse pitch'd their Camp near Debrezin to cover and relieve as occasion serv'd the Castle of Kovar This City of Debrezin or Debrechim is situated between Tokai and great Waradin and is very Rich and Populous It was a Free Town and conserv'd it self in a Neutrality during the late Revolutions but after Zolnock and Cassovia were reduc'd the Magistrates thereof desir'd his Imperial Majesty to take them under his protection with which and by payment of a Tribute to the Port the Inhabitants liv'd quiet and free until the year 1676. when it was taken by Count Strazoldo upon pretence that it was become the place of Sanctuary and common Refuge of the Malecontents tho' afterwards upon complaints from the Turks the Emperor withdrew his Forces from thence leaving them free and in their former Condition of Neutrality In the mean time Tekeli falling in love with a Daughter of the Princess Ragotski Dowager who was extreamly zealous as we have mention'd before for the Emperor's Cause refus'd to bestow her Daughter upon him unless he would first Relinquish the Interest to which he had adher'd The passion which Tekeli had for the young Lady was more powerful than his Inclinations to the discontented Party so that first seeming cold in his Old pursuits and declaring his Mind freely in open Discourse his Troops began to suspect his Fidelity and left him and put themselves under the Command of Wessellini Tekeli endeavour'd to perswade Palfi Imbre to joyn with him in his Revolt but not prevailing he singly with some few Servants went over to Vienna Coming thus alone to the Emperor without his Troops he was the less welcome and indeed he was so little regarded and his Merit so ill accounted on that when he made applications to the Emperor for Restitution of his Estate which was Confiscated to the value of two Millions those who enjoy'd the benefit of so great Riches obstructed his Request Representing unto the Emperor that the return to his Duty after a long continuance in Rebellion only in his own Person and without his Troops deserv'd nothing nor was it to be judg'd a satisfaction or an atonement for the many mischiefs and disservices that he had already done and that to recover the Emperor's favour there was something
and Battalions of the second Line as were nearest unto it The Elector of Bavaria coming at the same time to their Assistance put the Turks into a disorder and confusion and afterwards forced them to make a Retreat and draw a little off The Hungarian Troops which were accustomed to the Turkish manner of Fighting were order'd to charge them in the Rear which having done they wheel'd about and made a stand So soon as the Turks were out of reach of the German Musquets they rallied again and made another Charge as furiously as they had done the first but the Imperialists maintaining their Ground and not giving one Foot backwards many principal Officers amongst the Turks fell in this Charge at the head of their Squadrons which caused a second Disorder amongst them and to turn their Backs and being pursued slowly by some Troops which continually fired upon them they were put to the rout and fled The right Wing of the Turks observing the Disorder of the left wheel'd about towards that side not only to Succour the flying Party but to joyn with them to make a second Effort and tryal of their Fortune To this Purpose a considerable Detachment advanced to charge the Christians in the Flank but being repulsed the whole Army was put to flight and being pursued by the Hungarians Croats and some Troops of Dragoons fear so possessed many of them that they took their Way without any consideration over the Moorish or Fenny Grounds where sinking up to their Middles in the Water and their Horses plunging in the Boggy places above Two thousand Men were lost and perished in the Quag-mires In the mean time the right Wing of the Christian Army having knowledge of the Passage over the Marsh by the Turks who led them the Way pursued them beyond the soft Ground and perceiving that the Turks began to rally on the top of the Hill where they had left their Cannon with some Chambers of their Ianisaries they made a stand until the Duke of Bavaria was come up with the left Wing So soon as these two Bodies were joyned on the other side of the Moorish Ground the Turks durst not stand another shock but leaving their Camp Tents Cannon Baggage and Ammunition they all betook themselves to a shameful flight Such was the general Fear and Consternation amongst them that they fled by three several Ways and the Ianisaries to Revenge themselves on the Spahees for exposing and abandoning them upon the Hill killed many of them to get their Horses Thoô the Turks in the first Action did not lose above Four thousand Men yet double the Number perished in the Fenny Ground and in the Pursuit the Seraskier himself was wounded and Osman Pasha of Gran Cairo and two other Pashas were killed The Christians lost not above Two hundred Men and took but few Prisoners because that giving Quarter was almost out of Fashion The Pursuit continued not far by reason that the Turkish Horse were more nimble than the Christian and fled to Buda and Alba Regalis the Foot saved themselves in the Woods and in the Mountains Howsoever afterwards in more cool Bloud many were hunted out who had layn hid amongst the Reeds and Ofiers which grew in the wet and marshy Grounds so that about Four hundred Prisoners might be taken and many Christian Slaves obtained their Freedom The Turks lost Thirty eight Colours Twenty three Pieces of Cannon two Mortars and great store of all sorts of Ammunition After the Battle was ended Te Deum was sung and Thanks publickly render'd in the Camp to Almighty God for so signal a Victory and the Prince of Neuburg was dispatched with all diligence to render an account unto the Emperor of the happy Success of that fortunate Day Whilst the Turks were engaged in Battle and their Army routed and totally defeated their Garrison in Newhausel declined and the Besiegers daily advanced upon them The Galleries were again refitted and repaired and the Soldiers lodged at the Foot of the Breach so that all things were ready for a general Assault only Count Caprara thought fit to demand first the Orders of the Duke of Loraine not knowing whether he might be desirous to be present at this great Action to add the Subjection of this Place to the Glory of his late Victory But the great Mind of the Duke which was zealous for the Service of the Emperor and the Christian Cause gave orders not to defer the Assault for one Moment but first to advise the Besieged of the defeat of their Seraskier and to verify the same by some Prisoners taken in the late Battle which were sent into the Town that being informed of their desperate Condition they might be induced to accept Terms of Mercy for their Lives The 18 th was the Day appointed for this Attempt but the Rains were so violent that it was thought fit to expect more favourable Weather and to break some Palisadoes with the Cannon which were newly erected within the Breach The next Morning being the 19 th at break of Day the signal of the Assault was given by the discharge of Thirty six Pieces of Cannon upon which immediately Three thousand Men were appointed to make the Assault Count Scaffemberg at the head of his Men Commanded the Attack in face of the right Bastion and mounted thereupon without the loss of one Man and was followed by the Troops of Lunenburg and Suabia the Turks now losing their Courage did not dispute the Breach with such Resolution as was agreeable to the Resistance they had made at first and thereby gave opportunity to Scaffemberg to possess himself of the Bastion without much difficulty The Baron of Asti and Colonel Kaletz who Commanded the other Attacks with the Troops of Cologne Bavaria and Franconia were in like manner successful and planted the Imperial Standards on the Breach where a Pasha which Commanded it was killed he was a Native of Bohemia and of the Family of Garasba In the Bastion Eight hundred Men were slain excepting Two or Three hundred who cast themselves over the Wall into the Ditch where they met the Sword of the Bavarians and under that ended their Days All this time Seventy Pieces of Cannon continually plaid upon the Town and Twenty Mortar-pieces which threw Bombs and Carcasses and Three thousand Men already upon the Walls and within the Town in which Amazement the Turks spread a white Flag which was the signal of a Parly or of a Surrender But alas it was too late for the Christians being already Masters of the Town they killed all without remorse or distinction of Age or Sex either of Men Women or Children The Governour of the Place died the next Day of his Wounds which he had received on the Breach the Garrison which consisted of Three thousand Men was reduced to On thousand Seven hundred most of which also were killed on that fatal Day At length the Town being taken Orders were
Instructions That in case Yeghen would not accept of the Government of Temiswar and refuse quietly to repair thither then they were by vertue of a Royal Command under Signature of the Grand Seignior directed to the Bostangibashees at Adrianople and in all parts of Romelia to raise the Nefiran or Trained-Bands of those Countries upon him And to prevent the passage of Yeghen into Asia where by joyning with a Body of Thieves and Robbers and Male-contents of his Party he might cause great Commotions the Ways were all laid with Forces to prevent and obstruct his Passage And that his Kaiah neither might not be permitted to pass into Asia to prepare Commotions against the coming of his Master the Gates of Constantinople were shut and Guards set not to suffer any to go out of the City But the Kaiah upon the Rumour hereof surrendered himself that Evening to the Grand Vizier and had immediately been strangled had not the Mufti vigorously interposed in his behalf alledging That it would appear more just and reasonable to secure his person for the present and to stay and to see what effects the Grand Seignior's Orders would have upon Yeghen his Master These Rumours raised once again new fears and distractions at Constantinople for Reports flew about that Yeghen was on his march towards the City where he had a strong Party amongst the Giurbas and others giving out that he came to restore Sultan Mahomet or his Son to the Throne all which being Fore-runners of a New Civil War moved many rich Turks to leave the City and some of them to retire to Grand Cairo the Sanctuary of Rich and Opulent Turks The Vizier in the mean time to obstruct his March sent Ten or Twelve Chambers of Ianisaries with several Pieces of Cannon to guard an important Pass called Mustapha Pasha's Bridge upon a River in the Marshes about Six Hours Journey from Adrianople And lest he should have another design in his Head of passing over into Asia at the narrow Streight of the Hellespont Merza Pasha was sent with other Ianisaries to Gallipoli where it was probable he might attempt a passage it being reported that he had already sent Four hundred Purses with many of his People by that way All his Force was reported to consist only of Four thousand Horse and it was hoped by the Grand Vizier and other Chief Commanders that many of these would desert also and that all the Country of Romelia which had miserably been harassed by him and that the Great Men who mortally hated him would unanimously rise to suppress and reduce him to Subjection During all these intestine Embroils year 1688. no care was taken to oppose the Foreign and Common Enemy all being abandoned to their Lust until they could see an end of the Civil Wars From whence we may learn That no Faith or Trust is to be given to Robbers and Highway-men like these for thô they may by fair words and specious pretences come in to the assistance of a Prince their design is to set up for themselves and set only on Mischief on Rapine on Violence which their Education had made natural unto them Still did the Apprehensions and intestine Disturbances from Yeghen daily increase and Ismael the Vizier being found to be a Person of ill Qualities Proud Obstinate and extremely Avaritious besides his small practice in Affairs the Mufti together with the Chief Men of the Law and Sword gave privately by the hands of the Kuzlir-Aga an Arz or Memorial to the Grand Seignior representing that they thought themselves obliged in Duty humbly to make known unto him that Ismael Pasha was not a fit man to continue Vizier That such difficult times as these required one of the greatest Abilities and Experience and that none was better qualified to contend with the dangerous Troubles and Commotions than Mustapha Pasha at present an Exile at the Castles of the Dardanelli The Grand Seignior presently agreed to the Counsel and dispatched a Hatte-Sheriff or Royal Command to Mustapha Pasha to repair to his presence which he accordingly did and the next Morning after his Arrival year 1688. he visited the Grand Vizier who being informed that Mustapha was sent for to be made Vizier of the Bench and to be an Assistant to him in his Counsels for the better Composure of the disturbed Estate of the Empire he vested him with a Vest of Sables as a Vizier of the Bench and Companion with him to bear a share of the heavy burthen of the Government The Vizier also designed to move the Grand Seignior to employ him in the Command of the Army in the place of Yeghen for which Office he was very proper being well beloved in the Army and in high Reputation both of the Spahees and Ianisaries But the Vizier had but flattered himself with all these Measures for coming one Morning from the Divan and being sate down at his Table to Eat in came the Baltagee Kiasei or Lieutenant of the Guard of the Battle-axes and delivered a Hatte-Sheriff or Royal Command from the Sultan to deliver up the Seals which he immediately did and the same being carried to the Grand Seignior he sent for Mustapha and gave them to him vesting him with the Ceremonies usual at the Creation of a Grand Vizier After which the first thing which Mustapha did was to dispatch away several Couriers to Yeghen and to the Pashas in those parts to countermand the Orders formerly sent but before those Advices could arrive a Messenger came with Letters from Yeghen to Ismael and the Mufti acquainting them That since the Nefiran or Trained-Bands had by their Orders been raised upon him and encompassed him round on all sides in the Plains near Sophia where he lay Encamped but durst not attack him for if they did he resolved to sell his Life dear as he had declared to those who came to take him therefore he protested against the Vizier and Mufti for all the Musselman Blood which should be spilt in that quarrel He also desired the Pashas who came against him to have patience only until an Answer was returned to those Letters which he was then sending to the Port and to give them free passage In his Letters he seemed to wonder much what should be the cause of this Commotion he for his part having done nothing contrary to his Duty or his Allegiance to his Prince and therefore could not believe that it was the Grand Seignior's Will and Pleasure that these Arms should be raised upon him but if it were he would go and lay his Head at his Feet who might take it if he pleased but he would deliver it no other person Mustapha now Vizier having received the Letters read them and said to the Messenger who brought them Cursed be he who was the cause of this disturbance But howsoever he said that all should end well for that he had already dispatched Orders for pacifying and
Nissa where the Differences between him and Hassan Pasha grew to that Heat that their Parties falling to Blows Two hundred were killed in the Fray which Hassan being the Wiser and more temperate Commander interpreted for a bad Omen of Success in the following Campaign The Court took little Notice of all this Matter but still continued to encourage Yeghen with Promises of Additional Forces and new Supplies ordering him to oppose all the Designs and Attempts of the Christians to the utmost of his Power giving him also a Commission to enter into a Treaty of Peace with the Christian General in case any Overture should fairly offer its self But Yeghen not having with these Commands received the Prophet's Standard nor the Imperial Seal which are the Badges and proper Signals of the Office of Grand Vizier became Angry and Sullen for tho' he was made General yet that seemed not sufficient without the Title of Supreme Governor And whereas before he was on his March towards Belgrade he returned back again to Sophia declaring that without those powerful Instruments it was impossible for him to Govern the Army and Rule them with such strict Obedience as was necessary against so powerful an Enemy and so formidable as the Christians And as to the Overtures of Peace he was resolved to make none nor suffer the Ambassadors to pass until such time as he had tried the Fortune of the Ottoman Sword once more in the Field To this pitch of Insolence was this Yeghen arisen that he was ready to Sacrifice the whole concernment of the Empire to his own Pride and Vanity But Express after Express coming from Belgrade with News that the Germans were Marching towards the Save with a Resolution to pass that River so soon as the Elector of Bavaria should Arrive in the Camp Yeghen began to grow a little ashamed and fearing that all the Misfortunes impending over Belgrade would be attributed to his ill Government and Sedition he Marched away from Sophia and being come to Belgrade he made publick Declaration that the Sultan had created him General of all Hungary upon which the Forces Encamped in the Parts adjacent to the City submitted to his Command and being now invested with the sole Power he vented his Spleen against his old Competitor Hassan Pasha with whom formerly as we have said he had a Quarrel in Bosnia and having now an opportunity to shew his farther Resentments he seized on his Tents Horses and Money and would have strangled him had he not been prevented by the Aga of the Ianisaries and the Son of the Han of Tartary who was there present with a small Body of Tartars But the Turks had now something more to do than to quarrel amongst themselves for the Christians came pouring upon them on all sides and how to resist them was the present Incumbence and grand Concernment so that laying aside all Intestine differences Yeghen with Ten thousand Soldiers joyned to the Troops of Tekeli resolved to pass the Save and Encamp near Semblin on the other side of the River But that design was laid aside so soon as News was brought to Belgrade that P. Lewis of Baden was Decamped from Valkovar and that together with Caprara he had taken his march towards Illock with which year 1688. Yeghen and the Turks fainting in their Courage were inclined rather to Proposals of Peace than to a continuance of the War and to try whether any reasonable offers of that nature would be accepted Two ordinary Peasants were dispatched to Oseck with Letters to Marquess Herman of Baden and Marshal Caprara desiring them to interceed with his Imperial Majesty to put an end to this bloody War which had already cost the lives of many innocent People and laid waste and desolate vast and large Countries and Provinces But such a Message as this being brought by Peasants who are improper Instruments to be employed in so eminent an Action gave just cause to the Generals to take and esteem them for no other than Spyes Upon which suspicion they were imprisoned and Advice sent thereof to the Imperial Court which not judging fit to take notice of any Offers of Peace proposed in such Form gave new Orders and Instructions to Caprara to pursue with all vigour imaginable the Rules chalked out and designed for carrying on the Work of this Campaigne In the mean time the Troops of Bavaria arrived in the Camp under the Command of General Serini an experienced Captain and therewith the main Army being reinforced Caprara took his march towards Illock of which so soon as the Turks had received intelligence they were put into such consternation that they abandoned the place and having packed up what Moveables the shortness of time would permit they set Fire to the City and retired in a precipitate and disorderly Flight The Smoke being descryed at a distance Caprara detached a Body of Germans and Hungarians to advance towards the Town to observe the face of the Enemy year 1688. and the occasion of that Smoke and being come near to the Gates and perceiving that the Soldiers and Inhabitants had deserted the City the Germans were employed to extinguish the Fire and the Hungarians to pursue the flying Enemy which they performed so effectually that they seized a great part of the Goods which were then carrying away and brought them to the Camp. The News hereof so affrighted the Garrison of Peter-Waradin that with like Terror and Precipitation they abandoned their City and fled to Belgrade These Successes gave great encouragement to the whole Army and to the Imperial Court at Vienna where the Duke of Mantoua about this time arrived with intention to pass forward to the Camp and signalize himself and his Followers in a War against the common Enemy his Equipage was very splendid and agreeable to the Spirit of so generous a Prince In like manner the Elector of Bavaria Maximilian Emanuel the Third arrived at Vienna being called by the Emperor to command the Army in Hungary in the place of the Duke of Loraine who was become so weak by his Indisposition and want of Health that he judged himself unable to command the Army with such vigour as was required in so active a War. The Elector was so intent upon this Expedition that the very day he arrived at Vienna with his most Serene Consort he had departed and proceeded to the Camp had he not been forcibly detained by the obliging invitation of the Emperor and persuaded to stay until the Evening of the following day In the mean time a design was formed to block up Great Waradin but the Garrison being strong within the Turks made frequent Excursions with Two hundred Horse and a Thousand Ianisaries at a time and frequently brought Provisions into the Town the which was so managed by the Pasha and other Commanders that the Castle held out until the Year 1692. Howsoever the Blocade of Sigeth and
they did not submit they threatned them with the last Extremity Within the space of four Hours the same Aga's returned again declaring their necessity to submit to the hard Conditions of the Conquerors and soon after they were follow'd by the Pasha Atlagick attended with his Son and Nephew and with Cernigick the Sangiack and five Aga's with 50 other Turks of Condition who being conducted to the Tent of General Cornaro they were received by him in quality of Slaves howsoever to demonstrate the Generosity of the Conqueror an Allodgment was assigned them in a Tent provided for them where they were treated with all Conveniencies both of Victuals and Lodging The Day following in the Morning about 900 Women and Children came forth and about 400 Turks capable to bear Arms with Countenances full of Sorrow and dejected Looks which showed the inward Grief which oppressed their Spirits These were follow'd by a Troop of 150 poor Christians who having hereby regained their Liberty and Freedom from Slavery changed the Scene of Sorrow into another of Joy and Festivity 22 Pieces of Brass Cannon were found in the place 200 Horse great quantities of Provision and Ammunition both for War and Sustenance for Life Clin being in this manner surrendered the Proveditor Girolamo Cornaro General in Dalmatia designed to take Narenta an ancient Port for all sorts of Merchandize brought thither in former Times from Thrace Servia Bosnia and Macedon and several other Provinces but first it was esteemed necessary in order thereunto to become Masters of a small Tower called Narino built about three Years before by the Pasha of Bosnia who had furnished it with some Guns and encompassed it with a double Palisado In pursuance of this Resolution the General embarked at Spalatro all his Troops Provisions Cannon and other Military Appurtenances with which having loosed from that Port they were so crossed by contrary Winds that the Fleet was forced to put into divers Harbours and the Winds continuing long in that Quarter they spent some Weeks without any Action At length the General being wearied with longing Desires to act something the Season of the Year also spending apace and the time approaching both for the Fleet and Armies to draw into Winter Quarters he resolved to proceed from the Port of St. George de Lesina with the Gallies Galleots and lighter Vessels only leaving Orders with General St. Paul to follow him with the Ships and Gaâ—lâ—asses so soon as Wind and Weather should sâ—rvâ— him And being by force of the Oar come to the Mouth of the Port of Nâ—renta at the Point of which the Fortrâ—ss of Narin was situâ—ted Cornaro Landed some Troops both of Horse and Foot upon whoâ—e approach the Turks of the Garrison of Narin to the Number of 150 finding themselves battered by Cannon from the Galley callâ—d Qâ—eâ—ini they quitted the Fort and betook themselves to a hasty Flight in hopes to escape with their Liberty but being pursued by the Horse and some Morlacks who were good Footmen they were either cut to pieces or taken Prisoners amongst which was Alâ—ilâ—gh Carovaz their Commander in chief The Venetians being encouraged by this Success the General marched to a certain Village called Metrovich where he remained some Days in expectation of the Fleet under the Command of General St. Paul and of being thereby reinforced with Men Artillery Provisions Ammunition and all things necessary By this unexpected Invasion all the People of those Countries being greatly alarm'd and in much Consternation provided to save and put themselves into a posture of defence Howsoever the General Cornaro having made several Detachments of Morlacks to waste the Country round they had the Fortune to surprize divers Villages and People which they having first Plundered put all to Fire and Sword and returned with a considerable Booty both of Cattle Captives and Heads But the Winds still continuing oppositâ— to the Ships of Burden and by Rains and blustering Weather according to the Season of the Year which was now far advanced and improper for Action General Cornaro having secured the Country and Forts which he had conquered embarked the remainder of his Forces and returned to Spalatro where he disposed his harassed Troops in Winter Quarters there to refresh and take Breath against the next Campaign After which above 1500 Inhabitants of the Country about Narenta came in and put themselves under the Protection of the Republick And now after all these Actions and Martial Exploits both by Sea and Land of which the Turks have had little cause to boast in all the course of the past Year unless in their defence of Negropont it will be time for us to conclude this Years History and proceed to the Transactions of the following being the Year 1689. The Successes of the GERMANS AGAINST THE TURKS in Hungary In the Year 1689. THIS Year begins with the Surrender of the strong City of Sighet to the Clemency of His Imperial Majesty not being subdued by Arms but by Famine having almost for the space of two Years endured extream Want and Scarcity of all things necessary for the Support of Life At length common Reports flying That Sighet was upon Capitulations reduced thereunto by extream Want and a thousand other miserable Sufferings the News thereof came confirmed to Vienna by the Duke of Holstein on the 21st of Ianuary and that the Surrender was agreed on Articles not much differing from those of Alba Regalis after the Example of which one or two Commissioners were appointed in behalf of the City to carry the Particulars unto Vienna there to be Signed by His Imperial Majesty for which Affair the Person deputed was Hassan Bei Lieutenant Governour of the place who on the 28th Day of Ianuary arrived at Vienna desiring that the following Capitulations might be confirmed and corroborated by the Imperial Signature which were expressed in this manner I. THAT so soon as Hassan Bei shall be returned to Sighet the Governour and Garrison therein shall faithfully deliver up into the Possession of the Germans the Castle and City of Sighet with all the Powder therein without spoiling it or maliciously suffering it to be made wet as also all other things belonging to Military Services That upon the Surrender the Turks shall retire to such place in the Lower City as shall be assigned for their Quarters to lodge in and there protected by a Guard of Imperial Soldiers there to remain until the rigour of the Winter Season is past and the Drave become Navigable by Thawing of the Ice and in the mean time Waggons and Boats shall be provided for their faithful and secure Transportation and till such time the Arms which belong to them in quality of Soldiers shall be deposited in some safe place and be thence returned to them upon their Departure All things belonging to the Castle shall remain as upon Delivery And because it is uncertain when the River will be
50 to 80 Guns besides the increase of their Galiots and Brigantines on the Danube These and such like matters encouraging the Turks with the Expectation of a Peace with Poland which the French Ambassador fomented and forwarded so far that an Ambassador being sent from Varsovia to Adrianople to treat the same backed with the French Interest it was generally believed that the Peace was concluded but how true that was the Successes of the next Year will demonstrate unto us Anno 1694. THIS following Year of 1694. produced no greater Actions than the former year 1694. but yet continued still to be successful to the Emperor In the beginning of March the Grand Vizier was dispossessed of his High Office and succeeded by Ali Pasha of Tripoli the cause whereof was on a slight occasion which was this the Vizier being desirous to take some recreation with hunting Hares on a certain day his Enemies took the opportunity to bring the Sultan that way where he unluckily met with the Vizier's Dogs and a noise of hunting of which the Grand Seignior enquiring what it meant some Enemies to the Vizier answered that it was the Grand Vizier who might have employed his time in management of the Affairs of the Empire better than in Sports and Recreations reserved and more becoming the pleasures of his Master than his own but this as they added was no wonder it being his constant trade and practice With which the Sultan became so enraged that he immediately sent for him and taking the Seals from him he deprived him of his Office. Hereupon Ali Pasha was sent for being esteemed a Man of great Courage and Experience in all State Affairs and being Arrived at Adrianople in the beginning of May he immediately put forth the Horse-Tail which is a Signal that the Vizier designs his march for the Camp in 40 days afterwards and to shew his readiness and zeal for the Grand Seignior's Service he raised and equipped 3000 Men at his own Charge and out of his own Estate But here we may observe that before the former Vizier was depos'd Orders had been given that henceforward no Venetian Ships should be permitted to come into any of the Ottoman Ports under English or French Colours upon confiscation of Ship and Lading howsoever two Months were allowed for execution of the Penalty on those Ships which were already arrived within the Ports As the Grand Vizier was depos'd for the reasons aforesaid so also was the Chimacam called Calailicos Ahmet Pasha of Greek Extraction in danger of being strangled had not the Queen Mother and the Kuzlir Aga or Chief Eunuch procured the favour to have his Punishment altered and changed to an Exile into Egypt for the many Tyrannies and Cruelties he had committed and particularly for that he had taken away the Ancient Church called St. George at Constantinople belonging to the Patriarchate for some hundreds of Years before that time In his place Ieien Pasha a prudent Person and one very well practised in Affairs was constituted Chimacam and being the Nephew of the famous Kupriogli gave general satisfaction to all People and particularly to the Greeks and Christians to whom he always shewed much favour At this time as is usual there were two great Factions at Adrianople one in the Seraglio consisting of the Queen Regent the Kuzlir-Aga and other Principal Courtiers the other Party in opposition to these were the Mufti the Grand Vizier and Principal Officers of the Janizaries and Spahees To strengthen these after the Death of Osman Pasha the Selictar-Aga was chosen Chimacam being a Young Man a Chircassian by Nation of a very good understanding and for his years very well versed in Affairs This Person being promoted to this Office without the knowledge or consent either of the Grand Vizier or the Mufti but only by the Machination or Contrivance of the Kuzlir-Aga and Queen Mother rendred his Condition the more unsetled and uncertain And indeed not only the Court but all the Empire was in great Confusion by reason of the weakness of three or four Sultans successively of whom we have already given a Character and particularly of this Sultan Achmet of whom the best we can say is that he was a Good Natur'd Jolly Prince and feared no hurt nor wished it to any Person whatsoever But how the state of Affairs were in those days we may learn from a Letter which my Lord Paget wrote to a Person of Quality at Vienna dated April 24. N.S. 1694. Lord Paget's Letter SIR THEY so often change their Ministers here that an Ambassador can scarce come to treat twice with the same Person Since my arrival here at the Port they have had three Grand Viziers three Chimacams of Adrianople four Chimacams of Constantinople three Aga's of the Ianisaries three Tefterdars or Lord Treasurers two New Cadileschers or Iudges of Asia and Romelia and in short all the Great Officers of the Empire were changed the Mufti only excepted by which there was such a New Set of Idiots and Fools got into Places as would overturn the best settled Government in the World. For these Officers being only such as Chance offers it is a douâ—â—ful Wager whether he proves a Fool or a Wise Man and in case he should prove a Man of Parts yet he is suffered so short a time to remain in his Office that he is in no capacity to improve them Ambassadors unless it be at their first Audience and at that of Congedie have no Conversation or Access to the Grand Seigniors and then they affect such a sort of Grandeur as may best cover all their Thoughts by a Silence so that they give no place for any debate and a Man can never lay any foundation upon their Words For as their Ally of France scorns to be a Slave to his word so they hold it to be no dishonour to be open and esteem nothing for a Secret. It is true that very seldom or never a Minister shall receive a flat denial from a Turk for he shall train you on to the very last point and when you come to the last Argument and Upshot of all then a Sum of Money must make the Conclusion The disorders made by the Arabian Princes in the Countries about Aleppo did still continue which caused great fears and apprehensions at Constantinople it self but those Countries being far remote and distant made little alterations or noise at Court. The Negotiations of Poland at Adrianople had no success so that the Envoy was dispatched away re infectà Some few days afterwards the Tartar Han quitted the Court with dissatisfaction and all things seemed in much disorder however they talked high of great preparations for the following Campagne And to make some evidences thereof they dispatched away 1200 Janisaries from Adrianople to Belgrade moreover they sent away 32 Saiques for the Danube About this time the Grand Vizier arrived from Tripoli de Soria where he had been Pasha and
and Prayers interceded for his Life And indeed this Joy and Triumph was so much more ridiculous and shameful by how much more fatal and destructive was the ensuing Event For the Turks being now got over the River had not at first time enough given them to cast up Earth but were forced by the Christians to an Engagement for the Christian Army was drawn into Batalia to receive them The right Wing consisted of the Austrian Forces commanded by Montecuculi himself the Left was formed of the Confederates of the Rhine commanded by Count Olac to which was adjoined Forty Troops of the French Cavalry conducted by Monsieur Coligni and the main Body was commanded by the Marshal General Marquis Bada which composed a very formidably Body and assailed the Turks with extraordinary Valour the Fight was very furious and began about Nine a Clock in the morning on the third of August and continued till Four in the Afternoon with variable fortune during which time the Waters being abated the Spahees passed over in several places and charged the left Wing of the Christians and in other places they made attempts only to divert the Army whilst the Janisaries threw up Earth to secure a passage for the rest which when the Christians espied they at first resolved to sound a Retreat but afterwards perceiving that the Trench was but newly begâ—n Montecuculi drawing up the Body of the Army into a half Moon attacked the Janisaries on all sides with that fury ordering the Bodies of Horse to contend with the Spahees that the Turks now faintly fighting began to give ground to their Enemies at which instant turn of Fortune an outcry was heard That Serini on the other side had set on the Viziers Camp which so animated the Christians and terrified the Turks that the latter began to give back and put themselves to shameful flight leaving dead upon the Place Eight thousand of their Companions and the Glory of the Day to the Christians The Turks who always fly disorderly not knowing the Art of a handsome Retreat crouded in heaps to pass the River the Horse trampling over the Foot and the Foot throwing themselves headlong into the Water without consideration of the depth or choice of Places fordable those sinking catching hold on others who could swim sunk down and perished together others were carried away by the rapidness of the Stream and both Men and Horse were carried down the River and swallowed up in deeper places The Water was died with Blood and the whole face of the River was covered with Men Horse Garments all swimming promâ—cuously together no difference was here beâ—ween the valiant and the Cowardly the Foolish and the Wise Counsel and Chance all being involved in the same violence of Calamity Non vox mutui hortatus juvabant adversante unda nihil strenuus ab ignavo sapiens a prudenti consilia a casu differre cuncta pari violentia involvebantur so that the Waters devoured a far greater number than the Sword whilst the Vizier standing on the other side of the River was able to afford no kind of help or relief but as one void of Counsel and Reason knew not how nor where to apply a remedy This defeat though in Christendom not greatly boasted by reason that the destruction of the Turks which was most considerâ—ble by the Water was partly concealed to them yet the Turks acknowledg that Ruine and Slaughter to have been of a far greater number than what the Christian Diaries relate confessing that since the time that the Ottoman Empire arriv'd to this greatness no Stories make mention of any Slaughter or Disgrace it hath suffered to be equâ—l unto the calamity and dishonour of this On the Turks side were slain that day Ishmael the late Pasha of Buda and Kimacham of Constantinople by a shot from the Enemy passing the Water the Spaheelar Agasee or General of the Spahees the Janisar Aga the younger Son of the Tartar Han and several othes Pashaws Alâ—begh General of Bosna Thirty Capugibashees Five and thirty Pages of the Vizier's and Three hundred of his Guard Five thousand Janisaries Three thousand Spahees Fifteen hundred â—osnacks Eight hundred Albanians Six hundred Croats and Hungarians of the Turks Subjects Two hundred and fifty Valachians and Moldavians Six hundred Tartars of Anatolia fifteen hundred and about Four thousand other Asiaticks from the farthest parts of the Turks Dominions Eastward so that in all we may account Seventeen thousand slain on the Turks side besides which were taken Sixteen pieces of Cannon a Hundred and twenty six Colours with the Standard of the Viziers Guard Five thousand Cemiters most of which were embossed with Silver and some beset with Jewels with many Horâ—es of which six were sent as a Present to the Vizier Of the Christians were slain near Three thousand Men those of note were The Count Nassau Count Charles of Bracondâ—rf Captain of the Guards to Count Montecuculi Count Fuchier General of the Artillery of the Empire Collonel Pleâ—ter with his Lieutenant Collonel and Serjeant Major and with many other Gentlemen of the French Nation who deserve for ever to be chronicled for their Virtue and Valour For herein the French Nation ought not to lose their just praise having made proofs of their Valour as well in this as in other Battels it being reported That Monsieur â—â—ligni their General killed Thirty Turkâ— with his own hand The News of this Victory bâ—ing posted to Vienna it is wonderful to consâ—der with what Apâ—plauses with what Honours with what Eâ—coâ—â—um the Fame of Monâ—â—cuculi was celebrated for besides the Triumphs with Fires sounding of Bells Banquets and otheâ— demonstrations of solemn joy the Glory of Mâ—â—tecuculi was the Theme of every Ballad sung in the corners of streets which Honours of the Commonalty were seconded by greater and more substantial of the Imperial Court who conferred upon him the Title of Lieutenant General of the whole Army a Dignity so eminent as is inferiour to none except the Emperor in order of the Militia and was not without some scruple granted to the Archduke Leopold by his Brother Ferdinand the Third and withheld from Piccolomini Duke of Amalfi until he had highly merited it and made his way to it through bloody fields where Providence first crowned him with Laurels of Success and Victory And here is just occasion for us to doubt why Montecuculi should be thus admired and loaded with Honours whilst the services of Serini and Soise were so far from being taken notice of that they seemed to effect the disgrace and ruine of these Worthies rather than to produce the favour of their Prince and the applause of their Country the natural Rewards of Valour and Virtue And indeed I cannot but confess I my self have wondred when in the Court of Vienna I have heard the Actions and Zeal of Serini so slightly spoken of or contemned when a Stranger took the liberty but to descant