God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost he much admired saying O God O God I nor any of our Sect could ever imagine you had such good thoughts of God for we conceive you live in darkness of understanding but by your relation it seems you have great apprehensions of him and believe God Mahomet I said what shall we do with the toys and dreams of Mahomet for besides Baptisme and the mystery of the Trinity which were had from Christians we know the Alcoran contains naught that tends to truth Then I alledged to him the fancies and silly trifles of Mahomet's two Angels called Arot and Marot whom Mahomet says that God did send from Heaven to minister justice unto mortal men commanding them to forbid drinking of wine and unlawful mixtures with women and to shew the way to Heaven to no man These Angles transgressing Divine Comandment were defiled deceived and made drunk by a Woman and shewed to Mahomet the way to Heaven whom when God saw there he asked the Angles standing by who it was that came in that shape thither And the Angels telling him it was by the error of Arot and Marot he turned the Woman into a Star and sent those Angels chained into a Well to be punished everlastingly Divers like ridiculous stories I related As that of the Beast Baraile who could speak as a man who carried Mahomet to Heaven where himself confesseth to have seen great Angels with many heads and those speaking many languages in divers tongues which is sufficiently foolish and unworthy the name of a Prophet but said I know not whether oppressed with Wine in sleep he dreamed to have seen such miracles or monstrosities in his imaginations And therefore when he inserts such follies in his Alcoran he deserves not the Title of a Prophet from any reasonable man Having heard this somewhat abashed he arose and would argue no further but led me into the Temple and shewed me certain Images carved in wood and asked me If we did worship those similitudes of men or adore them I Answered No think not we worship the stone or timber wherein these figures are engraved they are used and respected onely as records and remembrances to mens minds of the passions and sufferings of our Saviour Jesus Chrest for the redemption of our transgressions and we worship our true God in mind and spirit remembred by that Crucifix neither are you denyed the like remembrances of your great Princes and famous men nor we of holy Saints but 't is to give God thanks for their examples of holiness and our prayers to imitate their charities and pieties In these discoursings he spies some dogs walking in the Church and doing something against an Altar an evil custom and to be condemned by all and asked Whether it was lawful for Beasts to enter our Churches and blushing with shame not knowing how to defend this negligence of Christian Pastors I told him it was neither lawful nor seemly and desired him to conceive it a meer negligence of Officers When he heard this he commended it very much and desired me to instruct him in our Saviours Prayer which I gave him afterward in the Arabian Dialect The Prophesies among the Turks THe Turks are exceeding credulous superstitious relying upon Dreams Fortunes Prophesies Divinations and Destiny and have especial regard to the Enthusiasms and Freaks of whatsoever distracted or mad persons as taking them for Prophetical raptures and as men taken up with admiration and extasie of some divine and ravishing objects and therefore no wonder if they do with veneration receive those Oracles of their Priests voiced to be dictated by their great Prophet or some other person eminent for his great Piety and Holiness Among the first rank of those Predictions is that of the return of their great Prophet for which the Moors and Persians who have long lookt for his coming keep alwayes a horse ready sadled with rich furniture as priding themselves that the Miracle of the Conversion of the World shall be propagated upon that Horse from their Country To omit many more fancies of this nature As to their temporal state and Government they have a Prophesie in which they are much disconsolate viz. That as a Mahomet won Constantinople so another Emperor of that Name shall lose it to the Christians and that they shall then be brought to the utmost extremity but their Prophet Mahomet shall appear to their deliverance They have another Prophesie relating to Christendom which is turned upon this hinge They measure the continuance of their Empire by the discord betwixt the Princes of the belief of the Name of Jesus and they confess truly that this division is the only cause of their greatness the which hath made them believe that among Christians there was a bad Angel enemy to peace which they call the strong or powerful Spirit which kindling the fire of revenge and ambition in the hearts of great men draws from their affections the good of their belief to entertain them in perpetual discord during the which they promise unto themselves a firm and an assured reign So the Mufti and the Talismans praying on Friday in their Mosques demand of their Prophet the circumstance of this bad intelligence betwixt Christian Princes to the end they may enjoy the Empire which they have unjustly usurped Yet their Prophesies do not promise them a perpetual possession and behold one translated out of their language which hath alwayes made them fear the union of the Christians That is to say Our Emperor shall come he shall possess the Realm of an infidel Prince he shall take the red Apple and make it subject to his power if at the seventh year of his command the Christians sword doth not advance he shall rule unto the twelfth year he shall build houses plant vines compass in gardens with hedges and beget children but after the twelfth year that he hath held the red apple the Christians sword shall appear and put the Turk to flight By the Infidel Prince they understand a Christian Prince for so they call them and by the Red Apple an Imperial town strong and important in the which and else where the Turks shall build houses that is to say convert holy temples to the use of the Mahometan impiety for by this word to build they that have commented upon this prophesie understand usurpation of the house s of God Plant vines by these words they signifie the extent of the Turkish Empire and the setling of their colonies as we see in Hungary and Transylvania Compassing in gardens that is to say they shall fortifie the towns which they have taken from their enemies Beget Children extend the Mahometan Religion far in the Christians Countries But after the twelfth year c. within a certain time best known to God his divine Majesty opening the eyes of his clemency upon the Christians will unite the wills of their Princes kindle their affections with
was built by Hadrian the Emperour whose name it retains it is now the usual retreat of this Grand Signior and where at present he abides for its vicinity to his affairs in Hungary Pera by others called Galata once peopled by the Genoese as the Mart and Factory of that State taken by Mahomet in 1653. but still replenished with Christian Merchants and Artificers But above all other Constantinopolis Description of the famous City of Constantinople by Heaven erected to be the head of an Empire as the onely seat which Romans Greeks and now the Turks have chosen and reputed to be most commodiously seated not for the Government onely of the Empire but as was before generally mentioned of the whole World By its first Founders Name it was called Byzantium and after many various turns of Fortune betwixt the Persians and Spartans it setled at last under the Roman Empire by the Conquest of Severus who sacked it after three years siege for their partaking with Niger his Competitor but yet such Majesty remained in the very ruines that Herodian reports not without favour and pity thereof Mirabantur homines utrum eorum qui primi Extruxerunt vel eorum qui deinceps sunt demoliti vires essent potiores it was wondred at whether the strength of the Founders or the destroyers was greatest From this Rubbish it was reared re-edified by Constantine the Great and finished May 11.331 and endowed with the Priviledges of Rome and called for that reason Nova Roma for some short times but in memory of its raiser afterwards Constantinople It continued in this state under the Eastern Empire 1100. years and upwards till an unfortunate Constantine sirnamed Palaeologus lost it to Mahomet the Great A.D. 1453. by the base covetousness of the Citizens who would not for their own defence supply the Emperor with money It is eighteen miles in compass by which computation it is one third part bigger then London and the Suburbs it is said to contain seven hundred thousand souls and would be much more populous were it not for the plague whose Triennial mischief destroyeth multitudes it is fortified toward the Land with three strong and high walls the one higher then the other but towards the Sea with one only built with many Turrets which strongly flanker it It yields a pleasant prospect afarre off by reason of the many Groves and Gardens within it but is meanly built the Houses but two stories high some of course Stone the rest of Timber rough and ungarnished there are the in it 8000. Mosques or Churches which are beauty of the City the chief of them and worthy of remarque is that of St. Sophia which in elegancy though not in bulk exceeds all the Fabricks of the World the sides and floor flagged with Marble with a stately Porch at the entrance add hereunto the Sepulchral Mosques of the Turkish Sultans which are very sumptuous together with the Seraglio built all of white Marble round in form and crowned at the top with shining golden Spires not to omit the Mosque of Solyman the magnificent one of the present wonders of the world But Canstantinople which is seated upon seven Hills and Mountains as well as Rome is better furnished with a Port and Haven so convenient and advantagious to shipping and so commodiously seated upon the Thracian Bosphorus that Ships of all burdens and with all winds may come close to the walls the water is so deep As to the Seraglio it standeth on one of the seven Hills in the North-east quarter of the City like a Delta two Angles of it aspect the Sea which affords it a most pleasant speculation the other is joyned by a wall to the City towards which it hath one gate only the other gates are never opened but for the private pleasure of the Grand Seignior or his displeasure to be executed by the death of some of his Officers and Bashaws it contains three Courts one within another the first is open to all persons in the second sits the Divan or Courts of Justice into which no man comes on Horse-back the third is the Mansion and privacy of the Grand Seignior and his women it is three miles in circuit in which are contained many delightful Groves of Cypresses intermixed with Plains delicate Gardens Artificial Fountains Banquetting Turrets and Prospect Rooms with a most magnificent Audience-Chamber for Ambassadors floored with embroidered Velvet seamed with Pearl and other Jewels I have the longer insisted on this place because as the Mistris of the World she draws all eyes upon her and therefore it is fit to dress her in those Ornaments which she usually wears and do become her greatness Callipolis is another famous portion thereof seated on the Northen promontory of Chersonese the first City of note possessed by the Turks in Europe taken in the reign of Orchanes in 1358. from whence they easily spread their conquest over the adjacent Provinces it is the most convenient passage between Europe and Asia by reason of the safe harbour and good anchorage Next followeth MACEDON bounded on the East with the Aegaean Sea Macedon described on the West with Albania on the North with Mysia superiour and on the South with Epyrus and Achaia it is now principally divided into Thessaly a sweet and delectable Country Macedon specially so called and Migdonia by the Turks called Jamboli It is a fertile Region inclosed with Hills and near the Jonian Sea plain and woody That it was once the Empress of the East it is well known but at this day it is Turkish and without any famous Cities save in a piece of Albania In it is nothing so memorable as the Mount Athos Mount Athos or holy Mount It is seventy five miles in compass three dayes journey long and a half a days journey broad resembling the shape of a man lying with his face upward whose highest cone alwayes covered with Snow is seen thirty miles off at Sea It is exceeding fertile in Grass Fruit Oyl and Wine Long ago it was dedicated in honour of St. Basil to the Greek Caloieri and endowed with priviledges which at this day it enjoyeth by the Turks good favourâ— that is to say Priviledge of Greek Priestâ— that no man neither Graecian nor Turk may inhabit in this place except he be a Priest So that their number in these days are about six thousand dispersed into twenty four Monasteries ancient and warlike built for fear of Theeves and Pyrats although there be no such great cause In these Monasteries are many reliques which cause great concourse of people and they are stately built and richly adorned This was made a Roman province in the year of the World 3798. after the Captivity of their last King Perseus and was upon the division of that Empire to East and West consigned to the Eastern to which it continued subjected till Amurath rent in from that Dominion by taking Thessalonica it is now governed by a
gross absurdities did he publish to catch the credulous inconsiderate multitude but his devices are so ridiculous that a wise man cannot chuse but smile at his conceits in pleasure this indeed hath made many of the most serious of them to mislike his inventions and sensual delights amongst the rest hear Avicena one of his own Sect Mahomet saith he hath given as a Law which sheweth the perfection of felicity to consist in those things which concern the body whereas the wise and sages of old had a greater desire to express the felicity of the soul then of the body as for the bodily felicity though it were granted them yet they regarded it not nor esteemed it in comparison of the felicity which the soul requireth Nor were his ridiculous fopperies of Hell less then the other namely that it was in the navel of the world compassed with a large high wall of attractive Adamant having seven gates of flaming brass to enter in at that it was divided into several Cells or Dungeons whereof some were more loathsom and fuller of torments then others which are prepared for those souls who have highest transgressed Some of these Caves saith he are so deep that a milstone in a thousand years cannot attain to the bottom and other places are without bottom In the descent of these deep Caves or Dungeons are placed sharp pikes and swords to wound and torment the souls that move there These Dungeons are full of flaming oyle and brimstone which striketh such a terror that the very Devils themselves do howl scrich and rage there beyond measure other Dungeons be full of serpents toads and all manner of venemous and noison creatures that can be imagined Here shall the wicked eat of the fruit of the Tree Zacon which being in their guts shall flame like sulphur they shall drink boyling water and every day have alteration of new torments Some Rivers saith he be full of Crocodiles others so cold as makes them gnash and chatter others boyl with violence of heat yet saith the Alcoran shall not these pains endure for ever for after so many thousand years when each soul hath suffered according to the demerits of the sins which he hath committed then shall they be delivered by Mahomet yea his charity is so great that he will deliver the Devils also first changing their affrighting shapes into others more tolerable and then by washing them in a River flowing out of Paradise called Alcanzar they shall become whiter then the driven snow and from thence forward sing Lala hillulaes unto Mahomet His doctrine of Angels was that they were either good or bad yet both subject to death the good as consisting of flame because Lucifer an Angel by ambition was cast out of Paradise the bad Angels are imprisoned in Dogs Swine Toads Wolves Bears Tygers c. After the Judgement day they must be tormented in Hell some millions of years and afterwards be delivered by Mahomet As absurd and ridiculous were his opinions concerning our Saviour Christ as that the Virgin Mary conceived him by smelling to a Rose presented to her by the Angel Gabriel and that he was born out of her breasts also that he was not crucified but Judas or some other wicked thief in his stead Christ being separated from them by a cloud that covered him which came from Heaven that at the last day the Righteous should enter into Heaven the Jews under the banner of Moses the Christians under the banner of Christ and the Saracens under his banner Having with these and the like odd whimzies patched up his Alcoran to give it the better credit that the people might imagine it to come from Heaven he devised this cuning way He secretly caused a wild Ass to be taken and bound his Alcoran being fairly written about his neck then as he preached unto the people he pretended a sudden rapture of some extraordinary thing that was revealed to him from above and with a loud voice spake to the people Ye have desired a Law behold God hath sent you a Law from Heaven go to such a Desart there shall ye find an Ass and a Book tyed about his neck which will direct you in the wayes which God hath commanded Thereupon the people ran in great hast and as they could do no other found it according as he had said so with great pomp they bring back the Ass with the book about his neck suitable to the bearer and now as thoroughly convinced they give great honour to this their new Prophet Thus were these silly souls deluded by this cunning Impostor who worse then Herostratus purchased to himself a lasting name by by the grandest wickedness that could be committed We shall conclude this Chapter with a brief Epitomy or Summary of their Religion such as it is wherein all those that are not wholly given over to sensuality and brutishness may see the ridiculous machine whereon the great fabrick of their faith is grounded A Summary of the Religion of the TURKS THe Turks believe one sole God in one sole Person Creator of heaven and earth the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked who hath created Paradise for the recompence of the righteous and Hell for the last punishment of crimes They believe that Mahomet was a very great Prophet whom God sent in the world to teach men the way of salvation and call themselves Musulmans that is to say recommended to God or saved They believe the Decalogue of Moses and are obliged to observe it they celebrate Friday as the Christians Sunday that day they assemble in Temples at noon to pray They are obliged to pray five times a day viz. in the morning at noon at the evening when the Sun setteth and an hour within night They fast the month or moon which they call Ramazan during this month they neither drink nor ear all the day until the Sun be set but in the night drink and eat according to their appetites flesh and fish except the flesh of swine and wine that is all times forbidden them after this fast they have the feast of great Bairan as the Christians Easter after Lent In this Bayran or Byram lasting 3 days they are very jolly and give Presents like our New years gifts especially the Grand Seignior gives and receives much They are great founders of Temples and Hospitals and are obliged to give to the poor the first day of the year the Tyth of what they have gained during the preceding year They believe that after being well washt saying some prayer appropriate to that Ceremony they have also the soul purified from all filthiness of sin which is the cause that they wash and bath often especially before they pray They have no Sacrament but Circumcision they cause their children to be circumcised at the age of seven or eight years and when they can pronounce these words La ilha ilha allha Mehemet rasoul allha that is There is
the place or Territory is first considered and the revenues thereof whereby the Turk apportioneth what number of Souldiers that can anually maintain then the Lord is injoyned always to keep in readiness that number for any his commands and in default his head is lost nothing can excuse his presence in any commanded place but known want of health sickness And whensoever it please the Turk to ease him of this benefit it 's at his liberty but if not deprived he enjoys it during life after death if his Successors will observe the same conditions they are often admited if not 't is then disposed to others And if it happen any one of these great ones have occasion to speak unto their King it is with eys fixed on the ground they dare not look him in the face Of Bassa's who may be called Counsellors Chancellors or Secretaries These for the most part are all Eunuchs castrated when youths and bred in Seraglio's for attendants on the Turkish Concubines and of later years some of them as I was informed being a slave to a great man in Constantinople are cut so close the body that they often dye by the incision and if live they ever after use small Pipes for discharging their water such is their cruel jealousie introduced as 't was said by an Emperor that perceived a Gelding leap a Mare these Bassa's are of greatest esteem with the Turk next to the Sanjacks and they are almost all that are preferred to that dignity children of Christian parents violently taken from them none of them although he hath to wife a daughter of a Turk as Hurstan Bassa had can enjoy a Parish Castle or Village by inheritance but if he be promoted to any dignity or possessions he enjoys it till his death or so long as the Turk pleaseth Each Bassa hath a Court of Justice in the province he commandeth from whence appeals are to the King or great Mufty whose sentence is concluding and immoveable The obedience of Turks to the King None of their Janizaries or great Captains have licence to wear Swords or other Arms within the Cities unless the King go forth his Palace for Devotion sake or Hunting And where there are Magistrates or Governours of Towns Porters carry with them staves or Clubs finding any quarrellings or offerings at injuries they presently punish them with those instruments No man speaks to them or dares look in their faces but falling on the earth kiss their feet with eys to the ground speak as to themselves And whensoever they send forth messengers with letters to Governours cities or provinces whose horse grows faint by journeying this messenger hath fall authority to dis-horse whom ere he meets and meeting none he turns into the next town or village repairs to the chief Officer if he presently provides him not an horse he 's hang'd before his door and for this cause many make use of Asses rather then horses And when this messenger shal come to whom he was sent he is most honourably received his Letters kissed with great humility and their contents answered with incredible celerity and quick dispatch No Princes dare contradict one sillable therein None dare as here rebel all men live in such awful fear and trembling Tortures and present death depending on his will The Turkish strength how diminished The Emperor distributes in some equality all Provinces to his Noblemen but with condition that such a Souldiery should be continually maintained by him with the Revenues of that Province both in time of Peace and War A Souldier killed is not loss to him unless the Province likewise be lost as for example the Turk hath now four hundred Souldiers whereof one hundred is maintained by Hungary now if he lose Hungary those Souldiers are lost if he lose no Province he loseth nothing for he can raise more in their rooms as Church-Officers or Benefices easily find in vacancies Successors The condition of Chazilars These are stout Souldiers and excellently versed in military affairs who in their first encounters break their Lances without other Armour then a Sword Lance and Target using it as we do with Coat of Fence and Helmet the Lance being broke they use the Sword and fight valiantly always aiming at the head or hands and think it ignominious to thrust at their adversary or an horse with point of Sword These men spend all their lives and hopes under the protection of a Goddess Fortune having a Proverb with them What is written will befall them that is What that Goddess hath printed on the head at each mans nativity cannot be possibly avoided though he were preserved in a Castle unexpugnable The actions of these men are writ in verses and sung by all men that others stirred up by like praise and honour might with like audacity advance against an enemy couragiously and valiantly and for each victory of these men their stipends are doubled and are obliged attendance on their King on horse-back with Lances Swords and Iron Clubs some have Targets some none and are paid as well in Peace as War The order of their foot Their first are Bowmen with Arrows Bows and Javelins they are distinguished from Janizaries by coverings of the head The second is of Janizaries who instead of Bows have Guns with short Hatchets all these are gathered from amongst Christians living under Tribute by force snatched from their Friends being young Circumcised and educated as aforesaid These fight most valiantly against Christians yet have but slender stipends for their maintenance some four five or six Aspers a day of which sixty make a Crown English And these are prohibited on pain of death to come on horse-back unless sick There are some few likewise Sons of Turks made Janizaries There is a third Order whom they call Azaplars whose stipends determine with the War and are all Sons of Turks These use a longer Lance with Swords and red Hats or Bonnets or other coloured cloth with crooked Angles like half Moons and so distinguished by Arms and Habit from the other orders There is a fourth of the Grecian Sect who have no other stipend then freedom from paying Tributes and Tenths They commonly attend the Turks horse of pleasure keeping them at their own charge and well managing them for War Of the Turks Pavilions When the King removes from Constantinople to any Expedition of War he carrieth with him double Tents that when one is planted this day the other is carried to the next station ready to receive him the day following the number and magnitude of these Pavilions is such that afar off they seem no less then Cities round about the King's Pavilion are the Tents of Princes and great Men encompassing his in circle Then the horse-men of Arms two or three together have their Tent the foot-men have the like for discipline sake and to keep them from cold Air. When the body of the Army
will govern as they please What the Revenue of this Prince is it is hard to say his subjects have little money and live most upon the bartery of their Cattel But besides what he hath in lands or Customs and the 5500 Ducats yearly from the Turk he hath the tenth of all the spoyls which are got in the Wars and a Checkine for every Captive for some two or three whosoever taketh them according unto their estates As them by the Turk who doth sometime espouse his quarrels by whose assistance they have brought the Moscovites to some extremities CHAP. XII The Character of Tamerlane the Great THis renowned Prince the glory of his age for warlike atchievements was born at Samarcand the chief City of the Zagalaian Tartars his Father was called Zain-Cham or Og Prince of those people who spending his time in peace contenting himself to live upon the profit of his flocks of Sheep and Herds of Cattel which then and also now are the principal Revenues of the Tartar Kings and Princes gave occasion to some ignorant of the manner and custom of those northern Nations and Countries to reckon them all for Shepherds and Herdsmen and so have reported this great Prince to be a Shepherd or Herdsmans Son measuring his Nobility by the rudeness of his people and not by the honour of his Family and heroical vertues such as hardly to be paralleled in that or former ages Scarce had he attained to 15. years of age when his Father dyed leaving unto him the Government of his Kingdom and for his counsel in the same he commended to him two of his most trusty and faithful Servants viz. Odmard Aly whom he dearly loved whilst they lived being much ruled by their directions and greatly honoured the remembrance of them being dead as persons from whom he had received his rudiments for his future Government He was a man of greater strength then stature and of far greater courage then strength to which his policy being added made him a most renowned and fortunate Warior In his eyes sate such a rare Majesty as a man could hardly endure to behold them without closing his own from whence darted such radiant beams that many in talking with him were stricken dumb which occasioned him many times with a beseeming modesty to forbear looking too earnestly on those that talked or discoursed with him He was somewhat narrow in the shoulders otherwayes well limbed his visage was amiable and of an excellent proportion but little hair on his chin the hair of his head long and curled quite contrary to the manner of the Tartars who shave and cover their heads whereas he contrariwise did wear it long in obedience to his Mother as he gave it out who commanded him so to wear it in token of his discent she pretending to come of the race of Sampson which caused him to be the more respected of his men of War they believing that in those hairs there was some rare vertue or rather fatal destiny an ancient practise of many eminent Commanders to fill the heads of their Souldiers with some strange opinion conceived of them thereby to receive the greater honour as if in them were something more then ordinary men Thus Numa Pompilius feigned to have received his Laws from the Goddess Egeria and Mahomet the Impostor bewitched the people with a Pigeon which he had taught to feed at his ear whom he perswaded to be the holy Ghost which brought him Revelations out of Heaven That he was of a valiant courage from his youth his actions do declare not dreading any danger when occasion did require it having fortune alwayes attending on him as his hand-maid His first endeavours were crowned with admirable success viz. against the Muscovites who having spoyled a City which had put it self under his protection and also entered into his Country he thereupon met them with an Army gave them battel and slew of them five and twenty thousand foot-men and between fifteen and sixteen thousand horse-men with the loss of scarce eight thousand horse-men and four thousand foot-men of his own yet was he far from exulting in this victory that beholding so many thousand dead bodies on the ground he fell on weeping at the condition of such as commanded over great Armies applauding a quiet course of life for the most happy and accounting the other most unhappy which by the destruction of their own kind sought to purchase to themselves vain glory He was by nature a great chastiser of proud and insolent persons yet withal so just that he would not be moved to undertake any thing â—ashly or unadvisedly but would first understand the truth of the same witness the time when the Mahometan Princes of Asia oppressed by Bajazet sued unto him for aid to whom he gave this answer I can hardly believe said he that so great and religious a Prince as Bajazet would without just and sufficient cause offer such violence as you may complain of especially unto you his neighbour Princes and of the same Religion with himself nevertheless I will send an Ambassador to him to understand more of him his proceedings till then I shall not resolve any thing and therefore until such time you must rest your selves content Accordingly he sent an Ambassador unto him with many rich gifts and presents courteously requesting him the rather for his sake to deal kindly with those Mahometan Princes but Bajazet being a Prince of a proud spirit rejected his message with great scorn willing the Ambassador to bid his Master to meddle with his own matters and to prescribe Laws to his own Subjects adding thereunto many other words full of great dispight and disdain calling him the Husband of a Whore if he met him not in the field So that Tamerlane could do no less in justice and honour then war against him and having overthrown him to punish his haughtiness he shackled him in fetters of gold and so shut him up in an iron Cage made like a grate in such sort as that he might be seen on every side carrying him up and down with him as he passed thorough Asia which though some may construe as an action of cruelty yet he himself said That he did not use that rigour against him as King but rather did punish him as a proud ambitious Tyrant polluted with the blood of his own Brother But as he was dreadful and terrible to his enemies so none were more kind or courteous to his friends the service of his servant he never forgot neither left the same long unreawarded being therefore so mindful that he needed not by them or others on their behalf to be put in remembrance thereof having for that purpose a Catalogue always by him both of their names and good deserts which every day he did peruse like another Titus Vespatian saying he had lost that day wherein he had not done some good yet never bestowing his preferment on such as were undeserving or
ambitiously sought after the same deeming them altogether unworthy but upon such whose modesty and desert he took special notice of that they were worthy of such favours so tempering the severity of his commands with the greatness of his bounty that it is dubious whether he were of his Nobility or men of War for the one more feared or for the other beloved both the great staies of Princes States fear keeping the obstinate in obedience and love the dutiful in devotion Although by Religion he was a Mahometan yet would he dislike no man for his Religion whatsoever so that he did worship but one onely God creator of Heaven and Earth and all that therein is he himself beleiving that God was one in essence and in himself immutable without change or diversity and yet for the manifesting of his omnipotency and power he created in the world sundry kinds of people differing both in nature manners and conditions yet all framed to the Image of himself so in like manner was he contented of his Subjects to be diversly served according to the diversity of their natures and manners so they worshipped no strange Gods which was the cause that he permitted the exercise of all Religions in those Countries subject to his obedience were they not meer Atheists or Idolaters His Army though very great was like unto a well governed City in passing thorough any Country with his Souldiers he took such order that none of the people whereby he passed were by them any thing injured insomuch that if a Souldier had but taken an Apple or other thing of like value from any man he died therefore so severe were his commands It is reported that one of his Souldiers having taken a little milk from a Country woman and she complaining thereof he commanded the said Souldier to be presently killed and his stomach to be ript where the milk being found he satisfied the woman and so sent her away who doubtless else had died for her false accusation had it not so appeared This severity with some other of the like nature was very conducible to the preservation of his Army which was so great that it was thought almost impossible to have found sufficient victuals for the releif thereof but by his severe punishment of disorders both Artificers and Merchants from far Countries resorted with their Commodities and Merchandise to his Camp without fear from every place for which they received present mony and so in safety again departed Those Cities that yeilded to him he favourably received but the other that refused to submit themselves to his obedience he used with all extremity He used often to say that a small number well conducted did many times carry away the victory from the confused multitude He rather sought to maintain his Army upon the spoile of his enemy though with some hazard then upon his Friends and Allies and when he sent out any part of his vast Army for the taking of any place he would command them on pain of his displeasure so to behave themselves that at his comming he might either finde the City taken or the Gates shut against him which they seldom failed for to do for he had his men at so great command that no danger unto them was more dreadful then his displeasure nor did he punish any thing so severely as cowardise insomuch that if in his disport of Hunting the wild Beast any one did for fear give way either to a Bear or Lyon and slew him not was sure therefore to die himself and to turn his back upon the enemy was no less dangerous then to run upon his own death That he was free from covetousness and that ambition with which many Princes are infected may appear by this That after his many conâ—â—ests in the lesser Asia and the overthrow of Bajazet the Empire of Constantinople being profered to him by the Emperors Ambassadors he returned this answer That he was not come from so far Country for the enlargement of his Dominions already large enough but rather to win Honour and thereby make his name famous to all posterity That he come as his friend and Ally and that his upright meaning therein was in greatest cause that God from above had beheld his power and thereby bruised the head of the fiercest enemy of mankind that was under Heaven That unto his courage he had alwayes faith joyned such as should never suffer him to make so great a breach in his reputation as that it should be reported of him that in the colour of a friend he came to invade the Realm of his Ally That he desires no more but that the service he had done for the Greek Emperor might for ever be ingraven in the memory of his posterity to the end they might for ever wish well unto him and his successors by remembring the good he had done them That long might the noble Emperor live happily to govern his Estate and that before his return he would so well consider for the establishing of the same as that he should not lightly fall again into the like jepordy alwayes assuring himself of his good will and favour towards him Having thus purchased an everlasting renown by his many victories and restored several Princes that had fled unto him for refuge to their ancient inheritances after he had long time wasted Phrygia Caria Lydia with the most part of the lesser Asia and conquered all Syria Judea Egypt and Persia with divers other great Kingdoms and Provinces he returned home beautifying his Regal City of Samorcand with the spoyls of a great part of the world before by him wasted where he for a long space reigned in great peace and glory Afterwards hearing of the rising again of the Turkish Kingdom under the Ottoman Princes he resolved for a second expedition but in the midst of his preparations he was prevented by death dying of an Ague the 27 of January in the year of our Lord 1402. whose death was ushered by a terrible blazing Star portending as it were to the world the death of so eminent a Prince who while he lived made such a bustle therein The Character of Scanderbeg Prince of Epirus THis famous and renowned Champion was son to John Castriot who reigned in Epirus in the time of Amurath the fixth King of the Turks about the year of our Lord 1422. His father not being able to withstand the growing fortunes of that ambitious Tyrant delivered him with his three brothers as hostages to obtain peace whom the perfidious Amurath promised to entreat well and honourably but upon the death of their Father poysoned three of them only this George Castriot for so was his name whom the Tyrant entirely loved escaped death For his excellent feature and pregnant wit he was by the Turks named Scanderbeg or Lord Alexander and in his youth shewed many tokens what a rare Scholar he would prove in the School of Mars He was of a very noble generous