from the Spoil of others as well Christians as Turks whereby it came to pass that the old Inhabitants which had for the most part forsaken the Country by reason of the great troubles therein repaired now again to their ancient dwellings and not only they but many other Strangers also supplying the places of them whom the late Wars had consumed So that by his good Government that wasted Country in short time grew to be again very populous The civil Government of his Country well established he besieged the City of Isnica in ancient time called Nice a City of Bithynia famous for the general Council there holden against Arius in the time of Constantine the Great This City he brought into great distress by placing his men of War in Forts new built upon every passage and way leading unto the same so that nothing could be brought out of the Country for the relief of the poor Citizens They in this extremity by a secret Messenger certified the Emperor of Constantinople under whose obedience they were in what distress the City stood and that except he sent them present relief they must of necessity either perish with Famine or yield themselves into the hands of their Enemies the Turks The Emperor moved with the pitiful complaint of this Messenger with all expedition embarked certain companies of Souldiers from Constantinople to relieve his besieged City But Othoman understanding by his Espials where these Souldiers were appointed to land in secret manner withdrawing most of his Forces from the Siege lay in ambush near to the same place where the Emperors Souldiers casting no peril landed who before they could put themselves in order of Battel were by Othoman and his Turks in such sort charged that most part of them were there slain and the rest driven into the Sea where they miserably perished Othoman having thus politickly overthrown the Constantinopolitan Souldiers returning to the Siege continued the same in straighter manner than before The besieged Citizens driven into great penury and now despairing of all help yielded themselves with the great and rich City of Nice into the hands of Othoman with the Spoil whereof he greatly enriched his men of War. Aladin the great Sultan of Iconium glad to hear of this good success of Othoman against the Christians in token of his Favour and Love sent unto him a fair Ensign with certain Drums and Trumpets a Sword and Princely Robe with large Charters That whatsoever he took from the Christians should be all his own and also that publick Prayers should be said in all the Turks Temples in the name of Othoman for his health and prosperous estate which two things properly belonged to the dignity of the Sultan These extraordinary favours gave occasion for many to think that Sultan Aladin having no Children intended to make Othoman his adoptive Son and Successor in his Kingdom The Presents and Charters sent him Othoman humbly accepted sending unto Aladin the fifth part of the Spoil of Nice taken from the Christians but the Princely Honours due to the Sultan only he used not during the life of Aladin intending not long after to have gone himself in person to visit the Sultan and so to have grown into his further Favour But having prepared all things for so honourable a journey at what time as he was about to set forward he was certainly informed of the death of Aladin and that Sahib one of his great Counsellors had taken upon him the dignity of the Sultan as is before declared which news much discontented the aspiring mind of this Oguzian Turk in good hope to have succeeded him in the Kingdom or at leastwise to have shared the greatest part thereof unto himself whereof he was now altogether disappointed Yet immediately after the death of Aladin he thought it now fit time to take upon him the Princely Honours before granted unto him by the Sultan in his life time which he for modesty sake had forborn Aladin yet living wherefore he made one Drusu sirnamed Fakitche that is to say a man learned in the Turkish Law Bishop and Judge of Cara-Chisar commanding the publick Prayers which were wont to be made for the health and prosperous Reign of the great Sultan to be now made in his own name which was first openly done by the said Bishop in the Pulpit of Cara-Chisar At the same time also he began to coin Mony in his own name and to take upon him all other Honours belonging unto a Sultan or King which was about ten years after the death of his Father Ertogrol year 1300. and in the year of our Lord 1300. unto which time the beginning of the great Empire of the Turks is under the fortune of this Othoman to be of right referred as then by him thus begun When Othoman had thus taken upon him the Majesty of a King he made his Son Orchanes Prince and Governor of Cara-Chisar promoting his principal Followers to be Governors of other strong Castles and Forts divers of which places retain the name of those Captains at this day He himself made choice of the City Neapolis about twenty miles from Nice to seat his Regal Palace in where also divers of his Nobility built them Houses and changed the name of the City calling it Despotopolis as who should say the City of the Lord or Prince For all this Othoman ceased not to devise by all means he could to augment his Kingdom and for that cause being accompanied with his Son Orchanes made many rodes into the Countries adjoyning upon him surprizing such places as might best serve his purpose for the enlargement of his Kingdom all which in particular to rehearse were tedious The Christian Princes rulers of the Countries bordering upon this new Kingdom fearing lest the greatness of Othoman might in short time be their utter confusion agreed to joyn all their Forces together and so to commit to the Fortune of one great Battel their own Estates with his according to which resolution the Christian confederate Princes which were for the most part of Mysia and Bithynia levying the greatest Forces they were able to make with Fire and Sword invaded Othomans Kingdom Who having knowledge beforehand of this great preparation made against him had in readiness all his Captains and Men of War and hearing that his Enemies had entred his Dominion in warlike manner marched directly towards them and meeting with them in the Confines of Phrygia and Bithynia fought with them a great and mortal Battel wherein many were slain on both sides as well Turks as Christians and after a long Fight obtained of them a right bloody Victory In this Battel Casteleanus one of the greatest Christian Captains was slain another called Tekensis of the Country which he governed in Phrygia chased by Othoman unto the Castle of Ulubad not far distant from the place where the Battel was fought was for fear delivered unto him by the Captain of the same Castle
which came thither to refresh themselves the Pasha was so enraged thereat that he caused his Souldiers to put Man Woman and Child to the Sword throughout the Village And in this manner the Affairs of the Turks remained in the greatest Confusion imaginable through the whole course of this Year 1658. ANNO 1659. NOr did this Year begin with better Omens of Success for to the other Dangers was added a Report that the Persian had taken the Field with two hundred thousand Men for recovery of Bagdat year 1659. or Babylon which was the ancient Patrimony of his Forefathers so that the Grand Signior being rendred thereby more willing to agree and accommodate Affairs with the Pasha proffered to him the Government of the Province of Soria for ever paying only a yearly Homage of an hundred thousand Sultanees in lieu of three hundred thousand which that Country always yielded But the Pride of the Pasha scorned a Proffer of so mean a Consideration having nothing less in his Thoughts than the entire enjoyment of the Empire or at least to partake an equal share thereof with the Sultan For the Hopes of the Pasha encreasing with his Army which was now grown to eighty thousand Men he took up for some days his Head-quarters near the Fortress of Tocacaia within ten days march of Smyrna and thence approaching towards Constantinople the chief Ministers concluded that there was no other Safety but in their Arms and that the Pasha was not to be reduced to any terms of Gentleness or Moderation Accordingly the Great Vizier passed into Asia with a numerous Army and speedily joined Battel with the Pasha which continued for some Hours with great slaughter on one side and the other but at length the fortune of the Day turned in favour of the Pasha and the Vizier's Army being routed he lost all his Cannon and Baggage and he himself was forced to save himself in the Neighbouring Countries where not being pursued by the Pasha he had time again to collect his torn and scattered Troops The News hereof multiplied the Disorders and Confusions at Constantinople to which being added the Motion of the Persians and that they were to join with the Pasha as also some Troubles in Transylvania caused by the unquiet Spirit of Ragotski together with the ill Humour of the Male-contents in the City made all things appear with equal or greater Danger at Home than Abroad Wherefore as the ultimate Remedy of these imminent Dangers it was resolved that the Grand Signior should go in Person to the War on supposition that Reverence to his Royal Person would produce that awe on the Spirits of his Subjects which was not to be effected by Violence or force of Arms. According to this Resolution the Grand Signior passed into Asia and joining his Forces with those of the Vizier composed an Army of seventy thousand Foot and thirty thousand Horse with which marching boldly towards the Enemy the Heart of the Pasha began to fail him so that calling a Council of his Officers he proposed his Inclinations towards Terms of Agreement rather than to hazard all on the Uncertainties of a Battel the Spirits of the Souldiery being now become tractable by the appearance of so great a Force assented to the Proposition and thereupon Articles being speedily drawn up were sent to the Grand Signior for his Approbation who though he would not seem to refuse any thing therein contained yet declined a personal Treaty as being a Matter too mean for his Imperial Person to capitulate with his Vassals and therefore ordered that Mortaza Pasha should Treat in his behalf promising to confirm whatsoever Act Mortaza Pasha should conclude in this Matter Mortaza being thus made Plenipotentiary refused to treat with the Pasha until such time as he had retreated with his Army at a distance of some days March from the Grand Signior's Camp which being performed near a Town called Alexandria he foolishly suffered himself to be separated in a private Place from his Army on pretence that Peace was more aptly concluded in a free Retirement than under the consâraint and force of the Souldiery Here Mortaza meeting the Pasha forcibly strangled him with seventeen of his Complices whom he had brought with him for Witnesses to his Capitulations with the Grand Signior With the news hereof the Army of the Pasha soon disbanded every one with shame and silence shifting for himself retired to his own Country and Home And herewith easily ended this Civil War almost in a moment which but now threatned the Extirpation of the Ottoman Race The cruel Vizier retained his thoughts of Revenge which we shall shortly hear in what manner he vented on the great Spahees and rich Men in Asia who had joined themselves with the Pasha in this Rebellion This good Service promoted Mortaza and rendred him more considerable to the Grand Signior so that he was employed in the Assistance of the Tartars against Ragotski in Transylvania and afterwards preferred to the important Charge of Bagdat or Babylon of whose Success and Fate we we shall hear in the Sequal of a few Years But as yet the Commotions of Asia were not so wholly extinguished but that the Nephew of the Pasha of Aleppo in revenge of the treacherous Death of his Uncle took up Arms and was followed by the People of the Territories depending on Aleppo To his Assistance came in also the Son of Chusaein Pasha late General in Candia whom the cruel Vizier had put to death notwithstanding the merit of his late Services which might seem to atone for his former Misfortunes and make satisfaction for non-compliance with Instructions but this Vizier who never pardoned any Person would not begin with an Act of Clemency towards one who was none of his Creatures or Confidents depending on him To these joined the Bey of Torgue who casting off his Obedience to the Pasha of Cairo entred into the Cabal with ten thousand Horse so that a formidable Army being composed by this Union gave a new Subject of Fear and Apprehension at Constantinople But the Great Vizier so dextrously managed his Affair by sowing Dissention between the Chiefs and bestowing Largesses on the Souldiery that the Army unsensibly mouldred away leaving their Generals and Commanders to shift for themselves and exposing them to the Justice of a Vizier who was unacquainted with Mercy and never pardoned any who was either guilty of a Fault or supected for it Towards the end of this Year the Vizier built the lower Forts which are scituated at the entrance into the Dardanelles commonly called by the name of the Queen-Mother's Castles And dispatched a Chaous to the Pasha of Canea to put all things in a Readiness for the Siege of Candia Orders were also given to the Pashaws of the Inland Countries to prepare themselves for the Wars against Dalmatia and Transilvania ANNO 1660. THE Rendezvous of the Army being appointed at Belgrade the Vizier hastened thither in Person to quicken the
by a Vow to give such a quantity of bread a day to the Dogs of such a Street others bequeath it by Testament for they maintain their quarters from other wandring Curs and join together in a strange manner to preserve certain limits free from others that are not whelped and bred amongst them The Camel is another sort of Beast to which the Turks bear not onely a love but a religious reverence accounting it a greater sin to over burthen and tire them with too much labour than the Horse because it is the Beast most common to the holy parts of Arabia and carries the Alchoran in Pilgrimage that I have observed those who have the government of the Camels when they have given water to them in a Bason to take off the foam or froth that comes from the Mouth of the Beast and with that as if it were some rare Balsame with a singular devotion to anoint their Beards and thereat with a Religious sigh groan out Hadgi Baba Hadgi Baba which is as much as Oh Father Pilgrim O Father Pilgrim And thus having run through the most observable points of the Turkish Religion it will be now time to take a view of their Host and Militia being that by which their Empire is more supported than either by their Policy in Civil Government or Profession in Religion THE THIRD BOOK Wherein is Treated of The Turkish Militia CHAP. I. Of the present state of the Military Discipline in general amongst the Turks WHoever is acquainted with the state of the Turkish Empire and hath duly considered the premisses of this foregoing Treatise will easily judge that the main Sinews of the Ottomân Kingdom consist in the force of the Spahees Ianizaries and the other Auxiliaries and that this Government being wholly founded upon Martial Discipline and the Law of Arms is most obliged to the Constitutions and supported on the Props related in this following Discourse for this People having neither entred into the Possession of this Empire as into an uninhabited and desart Land as Colonies of other Nations have done into Countries new found or discovered nor got admittance precariously from the Graecian Princes for the benefit of their Neighbourhood and Commerce but have opened their way to Possession and Government by meer force and power of the Sword whereby their Constitutions Laws Customs and Manners of living are wholly agreeable to the warlike Discipline of a Camp and to the quickness and ready execution of Martial Law. And if it be true in Morality as it is in Nature that things are conserved by the same cause by which they are produced it will necessarily follow that this Ottoman Empire which was begot by Arms and had Mars its onely Father will never be nourished by softness and the arts and blandishments of Peace But he that takes a view of the Ottoman Armies as described in various Histories renowned for their Chivalry and Discipline in the times of Sultan Selim or Solyman the Magnificent and designs thence to extract a draught or Copy for his present speculation will find himself much at a loss in framing true conjectures of the puissance of the Turks or the Rules of their Government by comparison of former times with this present age For that ancient sublimity and comely Majesty in the Empire is much abated the Forces by Land decayed and the Maritime power by ill success and unskillfull and slothfull Seamen reduced to an inconsiderable condition the Countries are dispeopled and the Royal Revenue abated nothing remains of those plenteous stores and provisions of War nor that Regiment and Discipline continued in peace none of that ancient observation of their Laws and Religion nor that love and respect to the Militia which is now become degenerate soft and effeminate nor is the Ottoman Court so prone to remunerate the services and exalt the interest of the Cavalry or maintain the reputation of the Ianizaries In brief there are no Reliques of ancient Justice or Generosity of discreet Government or Obedience to it of Courtesie or Concord of Valour or Counsel nor yet of Confidence Friendship or generous Fidelity But though this Empire hath many of these distempers and begins to grow factious and yet slothfull and desirous to avoid the occasions of War as all Governments have been which in their youth and first beginnings were eager active and provoked through Poverty in their riper years grown Rich and Luxurious with Plenty have declined afterwards as from the Meridian of their Greatness and Power yet the Turks maintain still the extent of their Dominions and if they have lost ground in one place like the Sea they have recovered it in another if in Asia the Persians have taken from them Rivan Schirvan Tibris Lyris and Ghenge it is but a recovery of their own Dominions if they are dispossessed in Ethiopia of Eden and other parts of Arabia Felix they have recompenced themselves in Europe by their footing in Candia and in Hungary by the late Conquest of Newheusel and Novigrade and in Transilvania by the additions of Ianova and Waradin But this Empire as vast and large as it is is yet dispeopled the Villages abandoned and whole provinces as pleasant and fruitfull as Tempe or Thessaly uncultivate and turned into a Desart or Wilderness all which desolation and ruine proceeds from the Tyranny and Rapine of the Beglerbegs and Pashaws who either in their Journies to the possession of their Government or return from thence expose the poor Inhabitants to violence and injury of their Attendants as if they had entred the Confines of an Enemy or the Dominions of a Conquered People In like manner the insolence of the Horse and Foot is unsupportable for in their marches from one Countrey to another Parties of 20 or 30 are permitted to make excursions into divers parts of their own Dominions where they not onely live upon free quarter but extort Money and Cloaths from the poor Vassals âaking their Children to sell for Slaves especially the Bulgarians and Serviâns and the people of Bosna and Albania which being ignorant of the Turkish Tongue and sold for Russians Hungarians or Moscovites so that rather than be exposed to much misery and licence of the Soldiery the poor people choose to abandon their dwellings and wander into other Cities or seek for refuge in the Mountains of Wâods of the Countrey In fine though generally the Military Offices are in the same form and the Soldiery disposed according to the ancient Rule and Canon yet licentiousness and negligence have so prevailed in the Officers as to introduce that corruption which renders them wholly altered and estranged from their first Discipline For the Commanders upon every light occasion are contented to make Otoracks or Stipendiaries such as enjoy the pay and privileges of a Soldier and yet are excused from the Wars which they easily purchase with a small Sum of Money for a scratch or a flesh-wound gained in the Wars wholly against the
Enemies Country and by such Actions as these both Nations were ready to break forth into an open Rupture With these hopes and encouragements the Malecontents betook themselves again to their Arms under the Command of Erdedi Petrozzi Succhai Kende Zepeti and several other Lords and Persons of power and interest in their Country The time appear'd favourable and advantageous to their enterprise for the Walls of most of the Towns weâe then beaten down and the old Works slighted with design to Rebuild and make them stronger according to the new way and manner of Fortifications Provisions were also wanting in most of the Garrisons and the German as well as the Hungarian Troops were in Mutiny for want of pay And this was the time which the Malecontents chose to put themselves in Arms and renew the War. At the beginning whereof being 12000 strong they gain'd the Passage of Teyllas year 1673. and advanced as far as Cassovia which they blocked up and Defeated five Troops of Dragoons under the Command of Lieutenant Colonel de Soyer and by the advantage of a dark and a rainy Night cut them to pieces the Lieutenant Colonel only with some few of his Soldiers making an escape into Cassovia After this Success they proceeded to Esperies and took it without much loss by the Cowardice of the Officer which Commanded it and in divers other Skirmishes worsted the Imperialists The Emperor having received advices of this new Insurrection immediately dis-speed-General Kops with an Army of 10.000 Men into Hungary to which were 4 or 5000 Men more joyned under the Command of Count Esterhasi and Valentine Balassi composed almost all of Horse and of Men true and loyal to the Emperor's interest Such an Army as this could not remain long without Action both Parties desiring to come to an Engagement which soon afterwards happened at the Passage of Branitza where Colonel Smith and Count Palfi who led the Van-guard charged the Malecontents who defended some narrow Passes with so much valour that they killed a 1000 of them on the place besides many others who were wounded and taken Prisoners with the loss only of 15 or 16 Soldiers After this Defeat the Malecontents marched by the way of Serentz year 1673. about two Leagues distant from Tokai and invested Zatmar but a Sally being made out of the Town by Lieutenant Colonel Staremberg who Commanded there in Chief they were forced to raise their Siege with the loss of several Colours and many Prisoners Likewise General Kops and Spankau pursued them so closely at the Heels that with great loss and difficulty they were enforced to pass the Theyss Divers places at the same time surrender'd as the Castle of Meges and the Town of Nagibania the which places were dismantled and their Walls thrown down And as the Imperialists were towards the end of the year returning to their Winter quarters they met a party of 500 Horse belonging to the Malecontented party of which they killed 300 on the place and took divers Prisoners one of which was the Son of Succhai one of the Chief Leaders of the Rebel party Thus whil'st it went ill in all places with the Malecontents the Popish Clergy took courage to assert their right to divers Churches and Chapels which they pretended to belong unto them and to those of their Religion and by force of Arms took possession of them which they held until such time year 1673. as that the Protestant party became strong enough to eject them and executed this design without much opposition in all the Countries of Nitria Trenschin Turoz Stranian Lippovia and in several Towns and Villages of the Mountains where they set up and exercised the Popish Religion with all the Rites and Ceremonies to the great Scandal and Displeasure of the Hungarians Particularly in the Month of Iune at a Town called Senetz the Curate of the Parish was zealous to celebrate in a publick and solemn manner the Festival of Corpus Christi and to carry the Sacrament in Procession Which Feast happening to be on a day when a Fair was held at that Town which brought a great concourse of People thither the Priest fearing some affront from the Multitude desired the Governour of Branitz to afford him a Serjeant and 12 Soldiers to accompany the Sacrament and defend it from the violence and prophaneness of the Hereticks Which being granted as the Priest was carrying the Sacrament in Procession he was assaulted by the People and killed by them together with the 12 Soldiers which were sent for his Guard. So soon as Count Staremberg had news of this Sacrilegious Murder he marched to the Town with his own Regiment and several Troops of German Horse for punishment of the Authors of this abominable wickedness which he executed with all the Rigour and Severity imaginable for the pillaged and burned their Houses and put every one to the Sword excepting those who saved their Lives by escaping into the Woods After all these Defeats and many others given to the Malecontents and this vast effusion of Blood it might well be imagin'd that an end would have been put to this War which had neither a setled Council nor a Fund of Money nor an Interest of great Men to support it Howsoever such was the force and power which the Preachers used in their Sermons to the People inciting them to a Defence of their Religion the Exercise of which the Emperor as they said had determined to take from them that they resolved to die in the maintenance thereof being perswaded that their Friends and Companions who had already sacrificed their Lives in that Cause were real Martyrs and had obtained the Crown which was laid up in Heaven for them Nor were the Protestants only in the mind to Wage a War but even the Roman Catholicks also who being moved by another Principle of defending the Privileges and Freedom of their People thought it their Duty to rise up and assert the Cause of their native Country and Nation For tho' they owned all Duty and Obedience to the Emperor yet being but an Elective King and one to whom the People had sworn Allegiance on Condition that he should maintain them in the ancient Rights and Prileges of that Kingdom they held themselves no longer obliged thereunto after he had violated all their Laws and absolutely subverted the ancient Fabrick of their Government which he had apparently done in three instances First In quartering German Soldiers in the Country and Towns with intent to over-awe and govern them by an absolute and an arbitrary Power Secondly By imposing a Vice-King upon them constituted solely by the Imperial Commission in lieu and place of a Palatine who according to the ancient Constitutions was to be elected by a Diet composed of the several Estates of that Kingdom And Thirdly Instead of such a Diet the Emperor was pleased to erect a Sovereign Council consisting of such Members as
year new overtures were made to the Malecontents by the Bishop Sebestini And tho' some of the most considerable Persons of the Hungarian party refused to hearken to any Offers which the Emperor should make them yet Tekeli and others formerly the most averse to all Accommodation did now at least in a seeming manner favour the Methods which tended towards Peace and in order thereunto did not only dispatch Deputies as far as to Lintz to Treat thereupon with the Imperial Ministers but likewise entertain'd a personal Conference with Count Caprara and agreed with him to continue a Truce until the resultof a Diet should be known which was to convene in the Month of Febuary That which in all appearance was most probable to administer the greatest difficulty and cause of dispute when a Diet should assemble was the restitution of the Churches Schools and other Foundations which the Malecontents challenged as their own and upon the Right and Title of having Erected and Built them at their own charge and expence They were also very positive to have their ancient Government by a Palatine restor'd and all the German Garrisons withdrawn out of Hungary at least that the Officers placed over the German Forces should be Hungarians the better to keep the Souldiers within some Terms of Moderation and Good Behaviour towards the People of the Country The time appointed for the Diet to meet being come the Emperor remov'd to Newstadt to be nearer to the place of Treaty But it being the Fate of that poor Kingdom to be unhappy something or other still intervened to prevent and disappoint the Endeavours of Peace for whilst some labour'd in that good Work others made it their business to impede and divert it And so it was at present for whilst Tekeli was delighting himself at a House of Pleasure a Plot was laid to surprize and take him during the Truce of which Tekeli having notice he countermined the Plot by an Ambuscade which being opportunely disposed in the way where they were to pass the Party which came to seize him was totally defeated This and other Artifices of the like nature fomented jealousies and diffidences between the Parties that nothing was acted clearly and with a free Spirit but with such Caution and reserves as easily presaged the little hopes of an accommodation by way of Treaty Howsoever some Zealous Men such as Esterhasi and Forgatz who were passionate for the peace of their Country travel'd from County to County exhorting the People to lay aside all Animosities and return again unto that Allegiance and Duty which they ow'd unto their Prince upon assurance that the Emperor would restore the State of Hungary to the same Condition in which it was in the year 1662. and grant almost all the other Propositions which the Malecontents did demand provided that the States of that Kingdom would declare the Arch-Duke Ioseph Son to the Emperor King of Hungary To this Proposal the Malecontents were ready also to condescend on Condition that at the same time the Kingdom were declar'd Elective and some Acts repeal'd which in the year 1664 had made it Hereditary Notwithstanding this difficulty and divers others which were daily started displeasing to the Emperor the Meeting of a Diet at Oedemburg was so warmly press'd that the Emperor's Commissioners and fourteen Deputies from the Malecontents Assembled in the Month of February as was agreed tho' Tekeli refus'd to be there present alledging that the late Treacherous Design against his Person was a sufficient and a just Excuse for his Absence This and some Dispute about the place of Meeting which the Imperialists desired might be at Presburg occasion'd a Prorogation of the Diet until April next following In the mean time the Malecontents held their Consultations in Transilvania concerning the Measures and Methods they were to take in the next Campaign and made use of the cessation of Arms to fortifie their Garrisons and supply them with Provisions The Clergy of Hungary finding in the Emperor a Spirit so inclin'd unto Peace that he was ready to condescend unto all the Demands of the Malecontents and with the rest to grant and yield unto them all the Churches of which they had been depriv'd they being touch'd with a sense of the mischief which might accrue to themselves thereby sent their Deputies to Vienna before the Convention of the Diet to represent unto the Emperor the great prejudice damage and scandal he would cause to the Catholick Religion by delivering up the Churches which were already Consecrated and Hallowed to the Service of God to be prophaned by Impious and Heretical Worships This and such like Speeches serv'd to trouble and distract the Mind of the good Emperor with a thousand new Scruples Howsoever being desirous to appease the Troubles in Hungary and not disappoint that August Assembly His Imperial Majesty a full Month before the Convention remov'd to Newstadt to be near and on all Occasions to be assistant to the Diet which notwithstanding the former Disputes to the contrary was to be held at Oedemburg But whereas the Emperor was attended with three Regiments for his Guard the Appearance seem'd so extraordinary on such an Occasion that the Malecontents refus'd to send their Deputies fearing to be over-aw'd in their Debates and Votes by a Military power unless the Arch-bishop of Strigonium and other German Lords were first deliver'd into their hands for Hostages and Security of fair and faithful Dealings But to remove this difficulty the Emperor discharged his Regiments and with a Guard only of six hundred Hungarians made his Entry on the two and twentieth of May into Oedemburg where he was receiv'd between the double Files of Hungarian and German Soldiers and Conducted to the Lodgings prepar'd for him by the Commissioners and Deputies there present The Diet over which Count Swartzemburg presided in the Name of the Emperor had sat several days before his Majesty's Arrival And on the first day of the Session before they would enter upon any other Business the Election of a Palatine was propos'd and three Persons were Nominated thereunto viz. Esterhasi Palfi and Erdedi and accordingly were offer'd to the Emperor to make choice of the Person which he thought most worthy and agreeable to that high Employment and Office of Trust. But whereas this Prince was entirely in the hands and possess'd by Father Emeric lately made Arch-bishop of Vienna and Abelé the Secretary he refus'd to determine the Choice until such time as he had consulted with these two Confidents thereupon By this Retardment all other Matters mov'd slowly tho' the Diet sate eight hours every day The least point Administer'd matter of Dispute and what at the first appearance seem'd easie and of little importance was render'd difficult and intricate by reason of the Spirit of Dissention and Bitterness with which that whole Assembly was possess'd And moreover Father Emeric excepting against every Person
such Commendable and Lawful means still to extend or establish their far spreading Empire if that point once come in question they stick not in their Divelish Policy to break and infringe the Laws both of Nations and Nature Their Leagues grounded upon the Law of Nations be they with never so Strong Capitulations concluded or Solemnity of Oath confirmed have with them no longer Force than standeth with their own Profit serving indeed but as Snares to intangle other Princes in until they have singled out him whom they purpose to Devour the rest fast bound by their Leagues still looking on as if their own turn should never come yet with no more assurance of their Safety by their Leagues than had the other whom they see Perish before their faces As for the kind Law of Nature what can be thereunto more contrary than for the Father most unnaturally to embrue his Hands in the Blood of his own Children And the Brother to become the Bloody Executioner of his own Brother A common matter among the Othoman Emperors All which most Execrable and Inhumane Murthers they cover with the pretended safety of their State as thereby freed from the fear of all aspiring Competitors the greatest torment of the Mighty and by the Preservation of the Integrity of their Empire which they thereby keep whole and entire unto themselves and so deliver it as it were by Hand from one to another in no part dismembred or impaired By these and such like means in this Barbarous Empire of almost nothing grown to that height of Majesty and Power as that it hath in Contempt all the rest being it self not Inferiour in Greatâess and Strength unto the greatest Monarchies that ever yet were upon the face of the Earth the Roman Empire only excepted Which how far it shall yet further spread none knoweth but he that holdeth in his Hand all the Kingdoms of the Earth and with his Word boundeth the raging of the Sea so that it cannot further pass Moved with the Greatness and Glory of this so Mighty and Dreadful an Empire grown for the most part out of the Ruin of the Christian Commonweal with the utter Subversion of many great and Flourishing Kingdoms and Woful fall of many more Right Puissant and Mighty Princes not without Grief to be remembred I long since as many others have entred into the heavy Consideration thereof purposing so to have contented my self with a light View of that which might well be for ever of all good Christians Lamented but hardly or never Remedied until that afterwards led with a more earnest Desire to know the Strange and Fatal Mutations by this Barbarous Nation in former time brought upon a great part of the World as also so much as I might to see so great a Terrour of the present time and on what Terms it standeth with the rest I had with long Search and much Labour mixt with some Pleasure and mine own reasonable Contentment passed through the whole Melancholy Course of their Tragical History Yet without purpose ever to have commended the same or any part thereof unto the Remembrance of Posterity as deeming it an Argument of too high a reach and fitter for some more happy Wit better furnished with such helps both of Nature and Art as are of necessity requisite for the Vndertaking of so great a Charge than was my self of many Thousands the Meanest Being not unmindful also of that which the Poet keeping decorum saith in like case though far less matter of himself Cum canerem Reges praelia Cinthius aurem Vellit admonuit Pastorem Titere pingues Pascere oportet oves deductum ducere carmen When I did Sing of Mighty Kings or else of Bloody War Apollo pluckt me by the Ear and said I went too far Beseems a Shepherd Titterus his faâlings for to feed And for to fit his Rural Song unto his slender Reed Besides that so many Difficulties even at the first presented themselves unto my View as to overcome the same if I should take the Labour in hand seemed to me almost impossible For beside the Sea and World of matter I was to pass through requiring both great Labour and Time full of the most rare Example both of the better and worse Fortune in Men of all sorts and conditions yeilding more Pleasure unto the Reader than Facility to the Writer I saw not any among so many as had taken this Argument in hand whom I might as a sure Guide or Load-star long follow in the Course of this so great a History Many Right Worthy and Learned Men whose Memory my Soul honoureth contenting themselves to have with their Learned Pens enrolled in the Records of never dying Fame some one great Expedition or Action some another as in their times they fell out yea the Turkish Histories and Chronicles themselves from whom the greatest light for the continuation of the History was in reason to have been expected being in the Declaration of their own Affairs according to their Barbarous manner so sparing and short as that they may of right be accounted rather short rude Notes than just Histories rather pointing Things out than declaring the same and that with such Obscurity by changing the antient and usual Names as well of whole Kingdoms Countries and Provinces as of Cities Towns Rivers Mountains and other Places yea and oftentimes Men themselves into other Strange and Barbarous Names of their own devising in such sort as might well stay an intentive Reader and deprive him of the Pleasure together with the Profit he might otherwise expect by the Reading thereof whereunto to give Order Perspicuity and Light would require no small Travail and Pain Not to speak in the mean time of the diversity of Reports in the Course of the whole History such as is oftentimes most hard if not altogether impossible to Reconcile Notwithstanding all which Difficulties with many others more proper unto my self having with long Labour and diligent Search passed through the Course of the whole History and so in some reasonable sort satisfied my self therein I thought it not amiss as well for the Worthiness of the matter as for the Zeal I bear to the Christian Common-weal and for the satisfying also of some others my good Friends very desirous of the same to make proof if out of the dispersed Works of many Right Worthy Men I could set down one orderly and continuate History of this so Mighty an Empire with the Great and Fatal mutation or rather Subversion of many Right Strong and Flourishing Kingdoms and States the proper Work of mighty Empires still encreasing by the fall of others wherewith this proud Monarchy hath already daunted a great part of the World being so many and so strange as that more or more wonderful were not ever to be seen in any of the greatest Monarchies of antient Time or Memory and so together and as it were under one View and at one Shew to lay open unto
as being no less desirous to learn the Truth of that I know not than willing to impart to others that little which I know So Wishing thee all Happiness I bid thee farewell R. KNOLLES Sandwich Martiâ ult 1610. The General HISTORY OF THE TURKS Before the Rising of the Othoman Family With all the Noble EXPEDITIONS of the Christian Princes against them THE glorious Empire of the Turks the present Terror of the World hath amongst other things nothing in it more wonderful or strange than the poor beginning of it self so small and obscure as that it is not well known unto themselves or agreed upon even among the best Writers of their Histories from whence this barbarous Nation that now so triumpheth over the best part of the World first crept out or took their beginning Some after the manner of most Naâions derive them from the Trojans led thereunto by the affinity of the words Turci and Teucri supposing but with what probabily I know not the word Turci or Turks to have been made of the corruption of the word Teucri the common name of the Trojans as also for that the Turks have of long most inhabited the lesser ASIA wherein the ancient and most famous City of TROY sometime stood No great reason in my deeming yet give the Authors thereof leave therewith to please themselves as well as some others which dwelling much further off borrow or rather force their beginning from thence without any probability at all and that with such earnestness as if they could not elsewhere have found any so honorable Ancestors Othersome report them to have first come out of PERSIA and of I wot not what City there to have taken their name neither want there some which affirm them to have taken their beginning out of ARABIA yea and some out of SYRIA with many other far fet devices concerning the beginning and name of this people all serving to no better purpose than to shew the uncertainty thereof Among others Philip of MORNAY the noble and learned Frenchman in his worthy Work concerning the trueness of the Christian Religion seemeth and that not without good reason to derive the Turks together with the Tartars from the Jews namely from the Ten Tribes which were by Salmanaser King of ASSIRIA in the time of Oseas King of ISRAEL carried away into Captivity and by him confined into MEDIA and the other unpeopled Countries of the North whose going thither is not unaptly described by Esdras where among the great hords of the Tartars in the farthest part of the World Northward even at this day are found some that still retain the names of Dan Zabulon and Naphthali a certain argument of their descent whereunto also the word Tartar or Tatar signifying in the Syrian-Tongue remnants or leavings and the word Turk a word of disgrace signifying in Hebrew banished men seemeth right well to agree Besides that in the Northern Countries of RUSSIA SARMATIA and LYTHUANIA are found greater store of the Jewish Nation than elsewhere and so nearer unto the Tartarians still the more whereunto Io. Leunclavius the most curious Searcher out of the Turks Antiquities and Monuments addeth as a farther Conâecture of the discent of those barbarous Northern people from the Jews That in his travel through LIVONIA into LYTHUANIA in the Country near unto the Metropolitan City of RIGA he found there the barbarous people of the Lettoes quite differing in Language from the other Country-people of the Curons and Estons no less barbarous than themselves who had always in their mouths as a perpetual lamentation which they with doleful moans daily repeated abroad in the fields Ieru Ieru Masco Lon whereby they were thought to lament over JERUSALEM and DAMASCO as forgetful of all other things in their ancient Country after so many worlds of years and in a desolate place so far distant thence And Munster in his Description of LIVONIA repeating the like words reporteth That this rude people being demanded what they meant by these words so often and so lamentably by them without cause uttered answered That they knew no more than that they had been so of long taught by their Ancestors But to leave these Opinions concerning their beginning so divers and uncertain and to follow greater probabilities as concerning the place from whence they came it is upon better ground thought by divers others and those of the best Historians That this barbarous Nation which hath of late brought such fatal mutations upon so great a part not of Christendom only but even of the whole World took their first beginning out of the bare and cold Country of SCYTHIA induced thereunto both by the Authority of the greatest Cosmographers as by most apparent reasons Pomponius Mela the Describer of the World reckoning up the people near unto the great River TANAIS the bounder of EUROPE from ASIA Eastward amongst others maketh mention of the Turks in these words Geloni urbem ligneam habitant Iuxta Thyrsagetae Turcaeque vastas sylvas occupant alunturque venando Tum continuis rupibus late aspera deserta regio ad Arympheoâ usque permittitur The Geloni inhabit a City of Wood and fast by the Thyrsagets and Turks possess the vast Forests and live by hunting Then a rough and desert Country with continual Rocks is spaciously extended even as far as unto the Arympheians Pliny also in like manner reckoning up the Nations about the Fens of MAEOTIS agreeing with that Mela reporteth saith Deinde Euazae Cottae Cicimeni Messeniani Costobocci Choatrae Zigae Dandari Tussagetae Turcae usque ad solitudines saltuosis convallibus asperas ultra quos Arymphei qui ad Riphaeos pertinent montes Next unto them are the Euazae Cottae Cicimeni Messeniani Costobocci Choatrae Zigae Dandari the Thussagets and Turks unto the deserts rough with woody Valleys beyond whom are the Arympheians which border upon the Riphean mountains And Ptolomy in the Description of SARMATIA ASIATICA maketh mention of the Tusci whom many learned men suppose to have been the same Nation with the Turks Unto which ancient Testimonies of reverend Antiquity add the manners and conditions of the Turks their ancient attire their gesture their gate their weapons and manner of riding and fight their language and dialect so well agreeing with the Scythians and a man shall find matter enough sufficient to perswade him in reason that the Turks have undoubtedly taken their beginning from the Scythes whom they in so many things resemble and with whom of all other Nations they best agree Now it hath been no less doubted also among the Writers of the Turks Histories at what time and for what causes the Turks to the trouble of the World left their natural Seats in the cold Country of SCYTHIA to seek themselves others in more pleasant and temperate Countries more Southerly than it had been of their Original beginning Blondus and Platina report them enforced with a general want to have forsaken
their native Country and followed their better fortune in the year of our Lord 755. with whom also Segonius agreeth in the cause of their departure but not in the time or place when or whereby they departed for they as he saith issued out of their dwelling places in the year of Grace 844. by the Straits of the Mountain CAUCASUS whereas the other with greater probability suppose them to have come forth by the Caspian Straits which the Turks also as saith Sabellicus affirm of âhemselves their Ancestors as they say being by their Neighbors driven out of the Caspian Mountains Some others there be thaâ report them to have forsaken their native Country neither inforced thereunto by necessity or the power of others but for their valor sent for by the Sultan of PERSIA to aid him in his Wars unadvisedly supposing that to have been the cause of their first coming out which indeed hapned long time after as in the process of this History shall appear But whatsoever the aforesaid causes of want or of the enemies power might inforce them unto a greater power no doubt it was that stir'd them up even the hand of the Almighty who being the Author of all Kingdoms upon Earth as well those which he hath appointed as Scourges wherewith to punish the World as others more blessed will have his work and purpose full of Divine Majesty to appear in the stirring of them up from right small beginnings in the increasing and establishing of theiâ greatness and power to the astonishment of the World and in the ruine and destruction of them again the course of their appointed time once run As for the difference of the time of their coming forth before remembred it may reasonably be referred to the divers emotions of that people who being not under the command of any one but of their divers Governors as the manner of that people was are not to be thought to have come forth all at once either for one cause but at divers times some sooner some later and that for divers causes This people thus stirred up and by the Caspian Ports passing thorow the Georgian Country then called IBERIA near unto the Caspian Sea first seised upon a part of the greater ARMENIA and that with so strong hand that it is by their Posterity yet holden at this day and of them called TURCOMANIA of all other the most true Progeny of the ancient Turks In which great Country they of long under their divers Leaders in the manner of their living most resembling their Ancestors roamed up and down with their Families and herds of Cattel after the manner of the Scythian Nomades their Country men without any certain places of abode yet at great Unity among themselves as not having much to lose or wherefore to strive The first Kingdom of the Turks erected in Persia by Tangrolipix Chieftain of the Selzuccian Family with the success thereof THis wandring and unregarded people but now the terror of the world thus first seated in ARMENIA long time there lived in that wide Country after their rude and wonted manner from which the Turcoman Nation their Posterity in that place even at this day as we said much differeth not and not only notably defended the Country thus by them at the first possessed but still incroaching farther and farther and gaining by other mens harms became at length dreadful unto their Neighbours and of some fame also farther off whereunto the effeminate cowardise of those delicate people of ASIA with whom they had to do gave no less furtherance than their own valour being nevertheless an hardy rough people though not much skilful or trained up in the feats of War. The âame of theâe Turks together with their fortune thus daily increasing and the mighty Empire of the Sarasins as fast declining which under their Chaliphs the Successors of the false Prophet Mahomet having in less than thâ space of two hundred years overspread not only the greatest part of ASIA and AFRICK even unto GADES and the Pillars of Hercules but also passing over that strait had overwhelmed almost all SPAIN and not there staying but passing the Pirenei had pierced even into the heart of France and divers other parts of Christendom as namely ITALY SICILY the famous Island of the RHODES with many others of the MEDITERRANEAN now divided in it self and rent into many Kingdoms turned their victorious arms from the Christians upon one another to the mutual destruction of themselves and their Empire Amongst other the Sarasin Sultans which forgetting their Obedience to their great Caliph took upon them the Soveraignty of Government which admitteth no partner was one Mahomet Sultan of PERSIA a right great Prince who hardly beset on the one side with the Indians and on the other with the Caliph of BABYLON his mortal Enemy prayed Aid of the Turks his Neighbours who were now come even to the side of ARAXIS the bounds of his Empire unto which his request the Turks easily granted in hope thereby to find a way for them afterwards to enter into PERSIA and so sent him 3000 hardy men under the leading of one Togra Mucalet the Son of Mikeil a valiant Captain and chief of the Selzuccian Tribe or Family whom the Greeks commonly call Tangrolipix and some others Selduck or Sadock names as I suppose corrupted of the great Family whereof he was descended By the aid of this Tangrolipix for now we will so call him as by the name most used Mahomet the Persian Sultan overcame Pisasiris the Caliph of BABYLON his Arabians being not able to endure the force of his Turkish Archers This war thus happily ended the Turks desiring to return home requested of the Sultan leave to depart and with a safe convoy to be conducted unto the river ARAXIS and there to have the passage of that swift river opened unto them which was by the Persians strongly kept by two Castles built upon each end of the bridge whereby the River was to be passed But Mahomet loath to forgo such necessary men by whom he had obtained so great a Victory and purposing to imploy them further in his Service against the Indians would by no means hearken unto their request but seeming therewith to be discontented commanded them to speak no more thereof threatning them violence if they should more presume to talk of their departure The Turks therefore doubtful of their estate and fearing further danger secretly withdrew themselves into the desart of CARAVONITIS and for that they were in number but few and not able to come into the open field against so many millions of the Sarasins lived as they might by continual Incursions and Roads which they made out of the desart Forest into the Countries adjoyning wherewith Mahomet greatly incensed sent out an Army of twenty thousand men under the Conduct of ten of his best Captains against them who for want of water and other necessaries doubting to enter
with the like sympathie of heaviness and grief Which the Pope perceiving took thereupon occasion to enter into a large discourse concerning that matter with many effectual reasons perswading the Fathers and Princes there present of the necessity of so religious a War to be taken in hand for the deliverance of their oppressed Brethren out of the Thraldom of the Infidels and now as well with their present Decree as afterwards at their return home into their Countries by all means to further the same Which notable persuasion with the heavy complaint of the Hermit and the equity of the cause so much moved the whole Council and the rest there present that they all as men inspired with one Spirit declared their consent by their often crying out Deus vult Deus vult God willeth it God willeth it which words so then uttered by way of applause were in the great and most sacred expedition following much used of the devout Christians as the fortunate signal of their cheerful forwardness even in their most dangerous enterprises Strange it were to tell and hardly to be believed but that the ancient Histories bear witness of the like how far in one days space the report of this religious decreed war was by flying Fame dispersed The Council dissolved and the reverend Fathers returning every man home into his own Country it pleased God by their effectual persuasions so to work with the rest of the Christian Princes and people in general that in all Countries and Provinces in Christendom were shortly to be seen men of all sorts in great number with red Crosses on their breasts the cognisance of that sacred expedition readie of themselves to spend both life and goods for the defence of the Christian Religion and recovery of the Holy Land. The number of whom is of divers diversly reported but of most supposed to have been three hundred thousand fighting men Of whom the chief Commanders were Godfrey Duke of Lorrain with his two Brethren Eustace and Baldwin all of the honourable House of Buillon Hugh sirnamed the Great brother to Philip then the French King Raymund and Robert Earls of Flanders Robert Duke of Normandy William the Conquerors Son Stephen de Valois Earl of Chartiers Ademar Bishop of Podie the Popes Legate and Peter the Hermit not to be numbred amongst the least as chief Author of this most famous expedition unto whom many other honourable Princes joyned themselves as partakers of their travels though not with like charge The first that set forward in this expedition was one Gualter Sensavier a noble Gentleman with a great band of men not long after whom followed Peter the Hermit with forty thousand more who both travelling through Germany Hungary and Bulgaria were glad oftentimes especially in the further part of Hungary and Bulgaria to open themselves a way with the sword and so with much labour and no less loss came at length to Constantinople where they were not greatly welcome unto the Emperor Alexius Comnentis who guilty unto himself of the unlawful means whereby he had extorted the Empire from Nicephorus his predecessor had that expedition of the Christians into the East in distrust as purposed against himself until that fully resolved to the contrary by the Hermit and others and that a far greater power was coming after for the invasion of the Turks and recovery of the Holy Land he was content to relieve them now weary of their long travel and afterward to make room for them that were to come shipped them over the strait of Bosphorus into Asia who marching forward into Bithynia encamped their Army in the Country not far from the City of Nice In the mean time Godfrey with his Brethren an divers other Princes that had joyned themselves unto him with the Germans and Loranois and the gratest part of the Army followed the same way that the Hermit had taken before him At which time also Hugh the French Kings Brother with the Legate the two Roberts the one Duke of Normandy and the other Earl of Flanders and the rest of the French Commanders passing over the Mountains into Italy came to Rome with a wonderful great Army where taking their leave of the Pope because they would be less troublesome unto the Cities and Countries whereby they were to pass they divided their great Army into three parts whereof the one part went to Brundusium and the other to Bary and the third to Hydruntum unto whom also Bohemund one of the great Princes of Apulia joyned himself with twelve thousand good souldiers that followed him From these three Ports the Christian Army departing and crossing the Adriatick arrived in safety at Dirrachium and nigh thereabout upon the coast of Dalmatia from whence they travelled by land through Macedonia to Constantinople where they met with Duke Godfrey and the rest of the Army whom also at the first Alexius the Emperor is reported to have but coldly entertained as jealous of his own estate until that better perswaded of their designments and good meaning towards him confirmed by many rich Presents sent unto him by these strange Princes he joyned with them in league wherein it was agreed That the Emperor during the time of this expedition should furnish them with new supplies of men armour victuals and whatsoever else they should want in regard whereof the Princes on the other side promised to restore again unto the Empire what Provinces Countries or Cities they should happily gain out of the hands of the Turks and Sarasins the City of Ierusalem only excepted which agreement was afterward on the suspitious Emperor's part but slenderly performed Nevertheless this league so made he granted them passage and so transported them over the strait into Asia only Bohemund for an old grudg betwixt the Emperor Alexius and his Father would not come to Constantinople but marching with his Army through the upper Mysia and Thraâia came sooner than any man thought unto the straight of Hellespontus and so passed Now had Gualter and the Hermit Peter with their Army lien two months in the Country about Nice expecting the coming of the rest of the Christian Princes for why they thought it not good before their coming to attempt any thing against the Enemy whom they knew to lie not far off very strong But the common Souldiers weary of so long lying and nought doing and pinched with some wants and withal disliking of Guâlter their chief Commander and the Hermit Peter of whose integrity and holiness they had a greater opinion than of his prowess and direction rose up in mutiny and displacing Gualter made choice of one Raymund a valiant German Captain for their General by whose conduct they took Exorgum a Town of purpose forsaken of the Turks For they long before understanding what a tempest of war was growing upon them out of Europe sought by all means to cut off these that were already come over as the forerunners of a greater Army
Summons given promising to yield the City after they had once won the City of Ierusalem From thence they came to Cesarea in Palestine where they solemnly kept the Feast of Whitsontide and so to Rama which they found for fear forsaken of the Infidels Marching from Rama and drawing near to Ierusalem they in the Vantgard of the Army upon the first descrying of the Holy City gave for joy divers great Shouts and Outcries which with the like applause of the whole Army was so doubled and redoubled as if therewith they would have rent the very Mountains and pierced the highest Heavens There might a man have seen the devout passions of these most worthy and zealous Christians uttered in right divers manners some with theâr Eyes and Hands cast up towards Heaven called aloud upon the name and help of Christ Jesus some prostrate upon their faces kissed the ground as that whereon the Redeemer of the World sometime walked others joyfully saluted those holy places which they had heard so much of and then first beheld in brief every man in some sort expressed the joy he had conceived of the sight of the Holy City as the end of their long travel This most ancient and famous City so much renowned in holy Writ is situate in an hilly Country not watred with any River or fresh Springs as other famous Cities for most part be neither yet was it well seated for Wood or Pasture ground but what wanted in these and such other benefits of Nature was by the extraordinary blessings of the most High so supplied as that the Jews there dwelling so long as they kept the Ordinances of the Lord were of all other people in the World justly accounted the most happy and fortunate Yet in those so blessed times was this City for the sin of the people oftentimes delivered into the Enemies hand and the glory thereof defaced as well appeareth by the whole course of the History of holy Scripture as also by the ancient and approved Histories as well of the Jews themselves as others Nevertheless it still rose again though not in like glory as before in the time of King David Solomon and the other next succeeding Kings and so was still repeopled by the Jews until that at last according to the foretelling of our Saviour Christ it was with a great and of all others most lamentable destruction utterly rased and destroyed by the Romans under the leading of Vespasian the Emperor and his noble Son Titus forty years after our Saviour his precious Death and Passion Since which time it was never until this day again repaired or yet well inhabited by the Jews but lying buried in the ruines of it self all the Reign of Domitian Nerva and Trajan until the time of the great Emperor Aelius Adrianus it was again by him re-edified about the year 136 and after the name of him called Aelia who together with the name changed also in some part the ancient situation of the City For whereas before it was seated upon the steep rising of an hill in such sort that towards the East and the South it overlooked the whole ground having only the Temple and the Castle called Antonia in the highest part of the City Adrian translated the whole City unto the very top of the hill so that the place where our blessed Saviour suffered his most bitter Passion with the Sepulchre wherein he was also laid and from whence he in Glory rose again before without the City were then inclosed within the Walls thereof as they are at this day to be seen Yet for all that the Emperor being dead in process of time this new built City recovered again the ancient name of Ierusalem whereby it hath ever since and is at this day yet known This City so re-edified the Emperor first gave unto the Jews whom he afterwards thrust out again for their Rebellion and gave it to the Christians to inhabit over whom one Mark first Bishop of the Gentiles there had the charge But forasmuch as the Roman Emperors were at that time altogether Idolaters and Persecutors of the poor Christians the Church also at Ierusalem with others endured sundry and many grievous Persecutions under the Emperors Antonius Commodus Severus Maximinus Valerianus Aurelianus Dioclesianus and Maxentius until that at length Constantine the Great converted unto the Faith of Christ about the year of Grace 320 suppressing the Pagan Idolatry gave general Peace to the afflicted Church whereby the Christian Church at Ierusalem for the space of three hundred years after happily flourished under the Greek Emperors until the time of the Emperor Phocas who having most cruelly slain the good Emperor Maurice with his Children and so possessed himself of the Empire gave occasion thereby unto Chosroe the Persian King in revenge of the death of Maurice his Father in law with all his Power to invade Syria who as a tempest bearing down all before him took also by force the City of Ierusalem having that year which was about the year Six hundred and ten slain almost an hundred thousand Christians But Phocas the Usurper being by them of his Guard most cruelly slain and Heraclius succeeding in his stead Chosroe was by him again driven out of Syria and the Holy City again recovered about the year 624. In these great Wars against the Persians Heraclius had used the help of the Arabians called Scenite a warlike people of Arabia Deserta altogether given to the Spoil who the Wars now ended expecting to have received their pay were contrary to their expectation and without all reason rejected by them that should have paid them with very foul and contumelious words as that there was not mony enough to pay the Christian Souldiers of the Latines and the Greeks much less those vile dogs whom they so called for that they had but a little before received the damnable Doctrin of the false Prophet Mahomet the great Seducer of the World who even in that time flourished Upon which discontentment they at their return revolted from the Empire and joyned themselves unto their great Prophet and so afterwards unto the Caliphs his Successors extending his Doctrin together with his Soveraignty to the utmost of their power and that with so good success that in short time they had overrun all Aegypâ Syria the Land of Promise and taken the Holy City With these the Disciples of Mahomet and his Successors the Sarasins for so now they would be called the Greek Emperors ensuing had for certain years divers conflicts with diverse fortune for the possession of Syria But at length wearied out and by them overcome they left the aforesaid Countries wholly to their Devotion Hereby it came to pass that the Sarasins for the space of 370 years following held these Countries with many others in great subjection oppressing still the poor Christians in Ierusalem with most grievous Tributes and exactions unto whom they yet left a third part of the City
and therefore commonly called him in derision a King but still with this addition Sans Ville that is to say Without a Town Now was the ten years Peace before taken betwixt the Turks and the Christians in Syria at the coming over of Simon Marquess of Mont-Ferrat as is before declared almost expired which had not so much given to those poor remnants of the Christians some time of rest and breathing as had the discord of the Turks among themselves which having for the space of nine years continued betwixt Noradin and Saphadin for the Soveraignty was now by the death of Saphadin ended Noradin contenting himself with the Government of Aleppo and Corradin and Meledin the two Sons of Saphadin dividing their Fathers Kingdom betwixt them the one taking unto himself Damasco and Syria and the other the great Kingdom of Egypt but all Enemies unto the Christians About this time also or not long after Innocentius tertius yet Pope summoned a general Council at Lateran whereunto besides a multitude of great Bishops and other reverend Prelates repaired also the honourable Embassadors of most of the Princes of Christendom unto whom so assembled among other things was propounded the dangerous estate of the Christians in Syria and how the same was by the help of the Christian Princes of the West to be relieved Whereunto all the Fathers and Princes there assembled easily gave their consent and thereupon were some appointed in every Country and Province to publish this Decree of the Council for the Relief of the oppressed Christians and to stir up the devout people for the undertaking of so religious a War. The chief Furtherers of this sacred Expedition to be thus taken in hand against the Infidels were the Bishops of Germany especially the three great Bishops of Mets Cullen and Triers whose example moved also many others all which to rehearse were tedious Out of France also were sent Henry the Count of Nivers and one Gualter the Kings great Chamberlain with a great number of the gallant Youths of France and so out of divers other places so that at length such a number of men were met together at divers Ports of the Adriatick as made up a Fleet of two hundred Sail which with a prosperous Wind carried over into Syria arrived in safety at Ptolemais the chief City of the Christians now that Ierusalem was lost After whom followed also Andrew King of Hungary long before bound both by his Fathers commandment and his own promise for the undertaking of that sacred Expedition with whom came also Lewis Duke of Bavaria and Leopold Duke of Austria with their Forces all well appointed unto whom also Iohn King of Ierusalem joyned himself with his Power Great hope and expectation there was for some great matter to have been done now that so great Forces of the Christians were thus met together Who setting forward from Ptolemais and the first day marching into Galilee by the way met with certain Companies of the Turks whom they easily overthrew and put to flight The next day they came to the River of Iordan where they also distressed certain of the Turks Garrisons There the King of Hungary bathing himself in the River forthwith as one discharged of his Vow and Promise returned with all his Power unto Ptolemais and so from thence back again into his Country all the rest of the Army of the Christians crying out to him to the contrary who after the Kings departure still marching on came to the Mount Thabor But shortly after Winter now coming on and many of their Cattel dying for cold and want of meat they returned some to Ptolemais some to Tyre and there wintred King Iohn and the Duke of Austria in the mean time took a Castle betwixt Coesarea and Caipha called The Castle of Pilgrims from whence they much troubled the Barbarians thereabouts all that Winter Upon the appearance of the Spring and the Army again met together it was thought best by all the great Commanders that for so much as the Kingdom of Egypt was the chief Maintenance of the Mahometan Superstition against the Christians in those parts and that so long as it stood upright they should not be able to do any great matter in Syria to attempt the Conquest thereof as an exploit best beseeming their Valour and so great preparation for that Kingdom being once subdued the City of Ierusalem with all the Land of Palestine would of themselves without more ado straightway yield unto them And for as much as the famous City of Damiata called in ancient time Pelusium not much inferior unto Alexandria was the first and most commodious Port for that purpose as nearest unto Syria and that by the taking thereof they should have a fair entrance into the great River Nilus with the command of a most rich and pleasant Country about it They resolved there to begin the War and thereupon embarking themselves with all things necessary for so great an Enterprise at Ptolemais and carried with a fair Wind they in short time arrived at the desired Port. Now that rich and ancient City the Key of that side of the Kingdom stood about a mile from the Sea and somewhat distant also from the great River environed with a Navigable Ditch or Cut drawn out of Nile in manner of an Island as a man cometh from Syria by Land and compassed about with three strong stone Walls the work of the good Emperor Aelius Pertinax and of him as some affirm called also Aeliopolis At the mouth of this Cut as you should enter into the City stood a strong Watch-Tower for the defence thereof and round about it a number of fair Houses in manner of a pretty Town entrenched Besides that for the more safety thereof the same Cut was barred with a great strong iron Chain in such sort as that it was not possible for any Ship without breaking of the same to enter The Christians with their Fleet entring the mouth of the River and coming to this Cut by great strength brake the Chain but thinking so to have made their passage unto the City they found a greater stay at the Watch-Tower which strongly built of square Stone and well stored with War-like Engins of all sorts and a good Garrison of valiant Souldiers stayed their further passage overwhelming them as they approached with shot fire stones timber and such like before provided for that purpose The Christians after the manner of the fight of that time had upon certain flat Vessels built certain high Towers of Wood for the assailing of the Watch-Tower in the approaching whereof they were not only troubled with the Enemy but with the tumult and stir of their own people also some crying that they should yet draw nearer unto the Tower othersome crying out as fast to have the Bridges cast out thereby to enter and the Enemy likewise with much clamour encouraging one another for the repulsing of the Christians So the Souldiers hindred
in hand for the defence of the Christian Religion who for all that excused himself from so doing one while by his own particular Affairs another while by his own indisposition yet in fine pressed and overcome with the prayers and requests of the other Latine Princes he returned to Damiata at the self same time that the Duke of Bavaria arrived there with a goodly company of brave men brought thither out of his own Country after he had been now from thence ten months absent The Legate desirous of the prosecution of this War requested and urged the King with the rest of the Princes and great Commanders without delay to take the Field telling them that the Enterprise of the holy War was grown old and cold by those long delaies and protracting of the time and that they which kept Wars so far from home ought to make hast to force the Enemy to take all occasions to lose no time but ever to be doing and to prove all things for the annoying of the Enemy and that that was the way whereby the Worthies of ancient times both Kings and Emperors had gained unto themselves Empires Glory Greatness and Wealth That it was for them that were invaded and assailed upon whose lives depended the safety of their Country their Wives their Children and Goods to delay and prolong the time as they might to delude the Enemy to frustrate his designs to defeat his Attempts and with delaies to dally him off until that having thereby weakned his Forces he should together with his courage lose also his hope Caire he said to be indeed a great City but yet that the greatest Cities that ever were had by the Wars become great Desarts forced by the power of their puissant and speedy Enemies and that great Empires as were those of the Sultans ought not to be invaded or assailed by any forreign force if they were not at the first onset overthrown or at least so weakned as that they could not afterwards lift up their Heads or recover themselves for otherwise that they which had prepared a destruction for others should fall into the same themselves That it behooved either not to have attempted or assailed Egypt at all or else now after it had been once assailed not so to give it over before it were conquered The King of Ierusalem whether it were that he were pricked with the griâf that being called the King of the Holy Land he could not have the City of Damiata under the leading and conduct won by the Christians come to the sacred War given unto him by the Legate or that he had before proved that the higher Country of Egypt was not without great and manifest danger to be attempted said that he would not in any case go alleadging that honourable and sacred War to have been taken in hand only for the recovery of the Holy Land and not for the winning of Memphis Babylon or Thebes in Egypt which after they were taken would not for any long time continue in their Fidelity or Allegeance and could not possibly be kept by force whereas Syria by Godfrey Duke of Bulloin and the other great Princes his Associates entred into conquered and possessed and since his time by divers other Christian Kings and Princes holden was in right their own and that therefore he greatly commended the forwardness the diligence the courage the desire and whatsoever thing else Pelagius commended but that he ought to employ the same in Syria and not there where no need was or from whence no profit was to be drawn or expected Nevertheless the Legate wedded to his own opinion by the power of his Authority commanded the King of Ierusalem the Duke of Bavaria with the rest of the great Commanders and Captains to take up their Arms to get them into the Field upon the Expedition by him appointed against the Sultan threatning the pain of the high sentence of Excommunication against him or them that would shew themselves backward or unwilling to do what he had commanded So as it were enforced by the Legate they began with evil Will and worse Speed to set forward in August in the very hottest time of the year At which time the Sultan beholding the great Army of the Christians in number about seventy thousand retired as a man afraid into such places as he thought best farther off which the Legate seeing as one not acquainted with the feats of War rejoyced greatly as if the Victory had been already more than half gained commending to the Heavens them that he saw couragiously marching forward saying That fortune always favoured the Valiant and that unto Cowards all things fell still out to the worst By the way the Christians seized upon a Bridge which the Enemy had made over the Nile and cut in pieces such Companies as were left for the keeping thereof so marching on they drew neer unto Caire and there in the sight of that great and rich City encamped where running up and down the more to terrifie them of the City provoked them to Battel upbraiding unto them their Laziness their Cowardise and Sloth braving them if they were men to come out Yet for all that they would not so do but keeping themselves close and covert within the City let them alone to brag and boast at their own pleasure This Siege continued long of purpose protracted still from day to day by them of the City and the great opinion the Christians had of their own valour with the small regard they had of their Enemies made them so proud and careless that they remembred no more to take good care of the War of their Duty their Watch or their Sentinels their confidence was in their own Valour and good Fortune not considering or remembring that they were come into Egypt and that they had put themselves within the Trenches Sallies Channels and Cuts of a deceitful River which not only brought Victuals unto their Enemies but also fortified them who by how much they were the less valiant and less understood of the Art of War the more they used of Craft and Subtilty for the preserving of themselves so the crafty Enemies drew the Christians out at length abusing them with many delaies and deceits making semblance of great Fear to make themselves the less to be feared and more contemptible in their doings to the end that they knowing the Passages and Straights of the Country and reserving themselves unto the occasions and advantages both of the time and of their Enemies might circumvent them and entrap them at such time as they least feared any such matter The Christians at all adventure had encamped themselves in a low ground within the Banks and Causies of that Fenny Country under the covert thereof thinking themselves safe as in their Trenches against all sudden Sallies or Attempts of their Enemies but these places wherein they lay were soft and dirty for so much as the Country People used at their
been so let in for Frenchmen but they were not so well masked but that they were by them of the City discovered for Enemies and so kept out and deceived of their purpose The Christians thus overthrown and the French King taken Prisoner Melech-sala the Sultan taking compassion upon him and yet minding of his life to make his own gain cheering him up with comfortable speeches began to talk with him of his deliverance and of a good attonement to be made betwixt them The Conditions whereof propounded by the Sultan were That the King should forthwith deliver again unto him the City of Damiata and moreover pay unto him for the ransom of himself and his and for the charges of the War eight thousand pound of Gold That all Prisoners should on both sides be frankly set at liberty and so a Peace to be taken for ten years For the more assurance whereof the Sultan offered to swear That if he failed in the performance thereof to renounce his Mahomet requiring also of the King to swear If he failed in any thing that he had promised to deny his Christ to be God which prophane Oath the King detested wishing rather to die than to give the same the Sultan wondring at his constancy took his word without any Oath at all and so published the League But whilst they were coming together to Damiata Melech-sala now in the pride of this Victory fearing nothing less than the sudden change of Fortune or the mischief hanging over his head was in the presence of a number of his Noblemen suddenly slain by two desperate Mamalukes and one Turquiminus a sturdy Slave of their own order and vocation by whose procurement it was supposed to have been done by the consent of the whole Army created Sultan in his stead who revoking the League before concluded by Melech-sala made another in his one name with the King much upon the same Conditions that the other was which after he had received Damiata he caused openly to be proclaimed Nevertheless after that King Lewis had paid his ransom and was with the remnant of his Army by the Genowaies transported from Damiata to Ptolemais the false miscreant performed not the half of that he had promised of twelve thousand Christian Captives that should have been set free scarce enlarging four thousand and killing all the sick Souldiers whom by his promise he ought to have relieved neither suffering any Christian to carry any of his goods with him out of Egypt which by the League he ought to have done also The French King coming to Ptolemais and purposing to have returned home was intreated by the Master of the Templars and Hospitalers and other the Nobility of the Christians to stay which he did almost by the space of four years in which time he repaired the Cities of Cesarea and Ioppa and fortified many strong places for the Defence of the Christians against the Infidels and so commending the protection thereof unto the Knights of the sacred War and sending his Brethren away before him followed after himself greatly lamented for by all the Christians in Syria and so arrived in France the sixth year from the time of his departing thence This was the end of this long and unfortunate expedition of Lewis the French King wherein as some write were eighty thousand Christians lost Howbeit the French Chronicles extenuating their loss report of two and thirty thousand French six thousand to have returned again into France The City of Damiata in the space of a few years twice won and twice lost by the Christians was shortly after the delivering up thereof by the Sultan rased down to the ground because it should no more serve the Christians for an entrance into his Kingdom The late Egyptian Sultans thus oftentimes invaded by the Christian Princes and reposing no great assurance in the Prowess of the effeminate Egyptians a People fitter for Merchandize and other base occupations than for Chivalry and War had for the strengthning of their Kingdom bought an infinite number of Slaves especially of the poor and hardy Circassians called in antient time Getae and Zinchi near unto Colchis and the Euxine Sea brought unto Alexandria and other Ports of Egypt out of those bare cold Countries by Merchants and from thence transported to Caire and other Cities of Egypt of which poor Slaves the late Egyptian Sultans taking their choice and culling out from the rest such as were like to be of the greatest Spirit and Ability of Body delivered them unto most skiful and expert Teachers by whom they were carefully taught to run to leap to vault to shoot to ride with all other feats of activity and withal cunningly to handle all manner of Weapons as well on horseback as on foot and so instructed and become cunning were taken out of their Schools into pay and inrolled together as the Sultans choice Horsemen were commonly by the name of Mamalukes In whose good service the late Sultans finding great use spared for no cost both for their maintenance and increasing of their number dayly erecting new Nurseries stored with the young Fry which growing up and ready was still joyned to the other It is wonderful to tell unto what a Strength and Glory this order of the Mamalukes was in short time grown by the care of the Egyptian Kings by them they managed their greatest affairs especially in time of Wars and by their Valour not only defended their Country but gained many a fair Victory against their Enemies as they did now against the French but as too much power in such mens hands seldome or never wanteth danger so fell it out now betwixt the late Sultan Melech-sala and those Masterful Mamaluke Slaves who proud of their Preferment and forgetful of their Duty and seeing the greatest Strength of the Kingdom in their Hands traiterously slew Melech-sala their chief Founder setting up in his place as aforesaid one Tuâquiminus a base Slave one of their own order and servile vocation but indeed otherwise a man of a great Spirit and Valour This Melech-sala murthered by the Mamalukes was the last of the freeborn Kings of Egypt in whom the Turks Kingdom in Egypt erected by Saracon and the great Sultan Saladin as is before said and in his Stock and Family ever since continued took end as did also all the power of the Turks in that great and rich Kingdom For the proud Mamalukes having now got the Sovereignty into their Hands and exalted a Sultan out of themselves imperiously commanded as great Lords over the rest of the People not suffering them to have the use either of Horse or Armor or to bear any sway in the Common-Weal but keeping them under with most heavy impositions and still preferring their own Slaves wherewith the Country of Egâpt now swarmed made the natural Country People of all others most miserable not daring to meddle with any thing more than Merchandize their Husbandry or other their base Mechanical Occupations
the Soveraignty of so great an Empire howsoever it was got caused the young Princes Eyes to be most cruelly put out the usual practise of the Tyrants of the East upon such as they are loath or fear to kill and yet would make them unfit for Government Of which barbarous cruelty his Sister Theodora married to Constantinus Prince of Bulgaria hearing ceased not with tears and prayers and all other womanly perswasions to stir up her Husband in revenge thereof whereunto also Iathatines the Turks Sultan gave no small furtherance who weary of Exile and to be so in a corner confined as into a Prison from whence he might not start by secret Messengers intreated the Bulgarian Prince to make War upon the usurping Emperor promising him a great summ of Mony if by his help he might recover his former Liberty Wherewith he the rather moved with a great power of his own and above twenty thousand Tartars which then lay by the River Isther suddenly brake into the Emperors Territories and in shorter time than was to have been thought overran all the Country of Thracia even unto the Sea side leaving neither man nor beast in all that Country as he went in good hope also to have by the way surprised the Emperor himself even then returning from his Wars against the Despot in Thessaly who hearing of his speedy coming being got unto the Sea side and having no way left to have escaped by Land shipped himself into a Gally of the Latines which with another her consort bound for Constantinople by good hap put in there for to water and so in two days arrived safe at the Imperial City Thus disappointed of the Emperor all his care was for the delivery of the Turks Sultan Wherefore marching in hast to Aenum he so terrified the Citizens with his coming that they without farther delay delivered him into his hands so to redeem their own Peace In his return you might have seen the Souldiers especially the Tartars driving before them infinite numbers both of Men and Cattel in such sort as that in the open Country of Thracia for a space was hardly to be seen either Countryman or Beast it was so clean swept both of Inhabitants and likewise of Cattel Iathatines the Sultan by the Tartars carried over Ister and so by them set at liberty shortly after died In whose Kingdom succeeded not his Son Melicke as some write but two others as the Turks themselves report the one called Mesoot the Son of Kei-Cubades and the other Kei-Cubades the Son of Ferameine born also of the Selzucâian Family as were all the other Turks Sultans but how near of blood unto the late Sultan Iathatines they say not Betwixt which two as his Vassals Gaza the great Tartar Cham by whom they were so preferred for the payment of a yearly Tribute divided the Turks Kingdom apportioning unto Mesoot the Cities of Amida in antient time called Amisus and Aminsus in Galatia Melatia otherwise called Melesine in the lesser Armenia Sivaste in antient time Sebastia and Harbarie before Satabrea both in Cappadocia with all the Country about them And unto Kei-Cubades Iconium the antient seat of the Turkish Sultans with all Rumilia Asiatica or the Countries of the lesser Asia alongst the Sea-coast which these two Princes held as the Tartars Tributaries as had the late Sultan Iathatines before them until such time as he was by the same Tartars again expulsed So that the Turks Kingdom which had of long time flourished in the Selzuccian Family in Persia in Syria Palestine and Egypt there quite overthrown by the Mamalukes and Tartars as is before declared and now brought underfoot in the lesser Asia also where only rested all the hope of that Nation was now at a low Ebb divided betwixt two weak Princes reigning but at the devotion of the Tartar. In which confusion of the Turkish Empire so rent not only divers men of greater Power and Authority amongst them shared unto themselves some one corner of the declining Kingdom and some another but many of the obscure and basest People also bearing with them nothing but their Bows and Arrows took the straight passages of the Mountains and from thence with their dayly Incursions did much harm in the Countries of the Christians joyning upon them which was no great matter for them to do the Garrisons which were wont to defend the same being for want of pay quite disbanded and the Castles upon the Frontiers by them abandoned which at the first as a thing of small importance neglected was at length unto the Greeks a great cause of the ruin and decay of the greatest part of their estate in Asia These mischiefs unregarded grew dayly more and more the Turks still gaining upon the Greeks what they lost unto the Tartars Whose invasions the Glory of their Kingdom only excepted was not so hurtful unto them as the cause of their much greater felicity afterwards At length it fortuned that a great power of these adventurous Turks meeting together in Paphlagonia were about to have invaded the Territories of the Christians against whom Michael Paleologus the Emperor sent out a strong and puissant Army to stay their further coming on lest breaking in that way they should without resistance at their pleasure forrage the Country before them Which Army conducted by unskilful Captains encountring with the Turks was by them in a great Battel overthrown and utterly defeated few or none of all that great multitude escaping for whilst the Greeks unadvisedly pursued the Turks retiring of purpose before them they were by them drawn into the danger of a greater Power lying in ambush for them and so entraped were slain with an exceeding great Slaughter After which so great a Victory the beginning of the misery of the Christians in the lesser Asia the Turks without let or stay overran all the Country unto the River Sangarius upon the Banks whereof the Greek Emperor was glad to fortifie divers Towns and Forts to keep them out of Bithynia Nevertheless they in short time after subdued all the Countries from Poântus and Galatia unto the Lycian and Carian Sea and the River Eurymedon which they divided amongst them into divers Toparchies little or nothing acknowledging the Soveraignty either of Mesoot or Kei-Cubades Whilst the Turks in the lesser Asia thus win from the Christians on the one side and lose to the Tartars on the other many an hard conflict in the mean time passed betwixt the Egyptian Sultans with their Mamalukes and the Tartars for the Soveraignty of Syria The poor remainder of the Christians all that while there in doubt both of the one and of the other from whom and from the Armenians then also much infested with the Mamalukes divers Embassadors were sent unto the Pope and the Christian Princes of the West to crave their aid and help in that their hard Estate whose prayers little prevailing with the rest yet so moved Lewis the French King
have in hand but that all cannot be at once told and for the better understanding of the desirous Reader I thought it not good abruptly to break off the course of the aforesaid History drawing so near to an end but to make him partaker of the heaviness thereof Now had the Turks no Kingdom left in the lesser Asia and that also at the pleasure of Gazan the great Tartar C ham divided betwixt Mesoot and Cei-Cubades as his Vassals bound unto him by a yearly Tribute as is aforesaid who both kept in awe by the greatness of the Tartar did nothing worth the remembrance but as they lived so also died almost buried in obscurity Of these two Mesoot died without issue but Cei-Cubades departing left behind him his Son Aladin who by the name of Aladin the Second succeeding in the Kingdom united again the same before divided yet paying still Tribute unto the Tartar his Sovereign as had his Father with the other late Sultans of the Turks before him Much it was not that this Aladin did albeit that the power of the Tartars in his time began to decline and not to lie so heavy upon the Turks as before He was a man of a quiet Spirit and therefore much delighted in Peace a great Friend to Othoman the first founder of the glorious and mighty Othoman Empire as in his life shall appear But this Aladin the last of the Turks Sultans of the Selzuccian Family dying without issue one Sahib his Visier-Azemes or chief Counsellor and then a man of greatest Authority aspired unto the Kingdom which he had for the most part himself swayed all the Reign of the late Sultan his Master which usurped Sovereignty no way unto him due he could neither himself long hold or deliver unto his Posterity for that many others of the Nobility men of great Power and born of greater Families than he envying at his honour and disdaining to be governed by him or any other no greater than themselves laid hold some upon one Country or Province some upon another where they were able to do most erecting unto themselves greater or lesser Satrapies according to the measure of their own Strength and Power without respect of any Superiority one should have over another but every one of them absolutely commanding over so much as he was able by strong hand to hold So that as it had oftentimes before chanced that the great Monarchies destitute of their lawful Heirs had in part or all become rich Preys unto such as could first lay strong hand upon them even so fell it now out in the great Kingdom of the Turks every one of their great Princes measuring the greatness of his Territory not by the measure of his right but by the strength of his own power Wherein they shared so well for themselves that Sahib at first in possession of all was in short time thrust quite ãâã of all and so the great Kingdom of the Turks in the lesser Asia brought unto a meer Anarchie no King now left among them the whole Kingdom being divided into divers Satrapies or other lesser Toparchies The greatest of those Princes that thus shared the Turks Kingdom amongst them was one Caraman Alusirius who as strongest took unto him the City of Iconium the Regal seat of the Turkish Sultans with all the great Country of Cilicia and some part of the Frontiers of the Countries of Lycaonia Pamphilia Caria and the greater Phrygia as far as Philadelphia and the City of Antioch upon the River Meander All which large Territory was of him afterward called Caramania and by the same name is commonly at this day known and by our late Geographers described Of this Caraman also descended the Caramanian Kings who of long time after unfortunately strove with the Othoman Sultans for the Sovereignty of their Empires until that at length they with their Kingdom and all the rest of these Turkish Satrapies were in the fatal greatness of the Othoman Empire swallowed up and devoured as in the process of this History shall if God so will in due time and place be declared Next Neighbour unto him was Saruchan of the Greeks called Sarchan of whom the Country of Ionia-Maritima was and yet is called Saru-Chan-Ili and Saruchania that is to say Saruchans Country The greatest part of Lydia with some part also of the greater Misia Troas and Phrygia fell to Calamus and his Son Carasius of whom it is called Carasia or Carasi-Ili or as we might say Carasius his Country The greatest part of the antient Misia with some part of Lydia was possessed by Aidin and was of him called Aidinia or Aidin-Ili as his Country Some part of the great Country of Pontus with the Cities of Heraclea-Pontica Custamona Synope and others neer unto the Euxine and the Country of Paphlagonia fell into the hands of the Sons of Omer or as the Greeks call him Amur of whom that Country took not its name as did the others of such Princes as possessed them but is commonly called Bolli of a City in that Country by the Turks so named As was also Mendesia or as some call it Mentesia a Country in the lesser Asia so by the Turks called of Mendos or Myndus a City in Caria There were beside these divers other places and Toparchies in the lesser Asia which in the renting of this great Kingdom from the Turks received names before unto the world unknown all which to prosecute were tedious Let it suffice us for the manifesting of the Turks Anarchie and the ruin of their Kingdom in the lesser Asia as in part also for the more evidence of the heavy History following to have remembred these as the chiefest especially such as took their names of such great Princes or Captains as in that so great a confusion of the Turks Kingdom by strong hand first seized upon them and so left them to their posterity of whom much is to be said hereafter These Princes one and all that thus shared the late Aladinian Kingdom were descended of the better sort of the Turks which with the Selzuccian and Aladinian Sultans driven out of Persia by the Tartars had under them seated themselves in the lesser Asia as is before at large declared Now amongst these great men that thus divided the Turks Kingdom most of them that write of the Turks Affairs both Greeks and Latines reckon up Othoman the raiser of his House and Family for one who indeed in the later time of the late Sultan Aladin began to flourish and was of him for his Valour extraordinarily favoured as in this History shall appear but of his Kingdom held no more than one poor Lordship called Suguta in Bithynia not far from the Mountain Olympus long before given unto his Father Erthogrul for his good service with such other small holds thereabout as he had himself gained from the weak Christians his Neighbours For although he
having wounded and slain a number of their Enemies Which hard Fight was on both sides couragiously maintained until the approaching of the night with great slaughter on both sides at which time the Christians weary of the long Fight and oppressed with the multitude of their Enemies disorderly retiring toward their Trenches and hardly pursued by the Turks received there a great loss as well of their Horsemen as of their Foot but by the coming on of the night the Battle was at length ended with uncertain Victory Among others there hurt the Emperor himself was wounded in the Foot with an Arrow That night happened a woful mishap and a manifest token of God his Wrath for Orchanes having to his cost made proof of the Strength and Valour of the Christians and doubting they would the next day come on further into the Country left three hundred Horsemen as Scouts to attend the Enemies removing and himself with his Army retired before hand to take advantage of such places as the Christians were to pass by But the Emperor in the Evening leaving his Camp and going to Philochrene a little Town fast by the better to have his Wound dressed the rest of the Army understanding of his departure and supposing him to have fled for fear as if Orchanes with a great Army would that night have slain them all fled themselves also out of the Camp every Mothers Son some to their long Boats and other little Vessels they had for that purpose brought over the Strait some hasting toward the Town Gates were by the multitude of others runing headlong after them overborn and trodden to death othersome hanging at one anothers Tail like a Chain got some part of them up to the top of the Rampiers of the Town othersome drawn back by them that hung upon them falling down together by heaps and trod upon by other there perished some as is reported died there for very fear no man either chasing or hurting them so weak is mans Courage when God withdraweth from him his Strength But in the morning the Sun arising the three hundred Turks left for Scouts perceiving the Flight of the Christians entred the forsaken Camp where they found Horses Armor and empty Tents yea the Emperors own Furnituâe and his Horses ready sadled of all which two hundred of these Turks took the Spoil at their pleasure and the other hundred pursuing the dispersed Christians like heartless men wandring here and there slew a great number of them The Emperor himself seeing his Army thus as it were by the hand of God overthrown and dispersed took shipping also and so returned to Constantinople After whose departure the Turks seising upon many Sea Towns alongst the Coast of Bithynia and there seating themselves laid heavy Tributes upon the other Country Towns and Villages for the benefit whereof they spared to destroy them together with the Inhabitants which they might at their pleasure full easily have done Now lay the great City of Nice in the Suds the Enemy commanding all the Country about it living as sick men do by hope and holding out only upon hope of a thousand Horsemen which the Emperor notwithstanding his late discomfiture had promised forthwith to send there to lie in Garrison for the suppressing of the Turks Of which aid so promised Orchanes understanding furnished eight hundred of his Horsemen after the mânner of the Christians and fetching a great compass about came at length into the high way that leadeth from Constantinople to Nice and so trooped directly towards the City as if they had come from Constantinople At the same time he sent three hundred of his other Horsemen in the habit of Turks to forrage and spoil the Country as much as they could within the view of the City now for wantof Victuals brought into great extremity which whilst they were a doing the other eight hundred Horsemen in the Attire of Christians following upon them as if it had been by chance charged them and in the sight of the Citizens put them to Flight which done these Counterfeit Horsemen returned directly again towards Nice The Citizens which with great pleasure had in the mean time from the Walls seen the most part of the skirmish and how they had put the Turks to Flight supposing them to be the Constantinopolitan Horsemen whom they dayly expected with great joy opened the Gates of the City to receive them as their Friends But they being entred the Gates presently set upon the Christians fearing no such matter and being seconded with the other three hundred which in dissembling manner had fled before and were now speedily returned bringing also with them other Companies of Turks before laid in secret ambush not far off they won the great and famous City of Nice which they have ever since until this day possessed the Spoil whereof was given unto the Souldiers for a Prey and the Citizens all lead away into miserable Captivity and Thraldom Whilst Orchanes was thus busied his other Captains did with great Courage and Success inlarge his Dominions on all sides dayly incroaching upon their weak Neighbors the Christians Cunger-Alpes one of his valiant Captains subdued the Country of Mudrun or Modrin in Phrygia and Bolli in Paphlagonia appointing one Abdurachman a man of great Valour to govern the Country And at the same time another of his old Captains called Accecozza brought Candara in Paphlagonia and Ermeni a Country near unto the Mountain Horminius into the Turkish Subjection placing Garrisons in all the Castles and Forts which he had won of whom some part of those Countries was after called Cozza Ilini that is to say The old mans Country So that Orchanes his Kingdom grew dayly greater and greater as well by the industry of his Chieftains as oâ himself About this time it fortuned the Captains Son of Scamandria a Town not far from the ruines of the ancient City of Troy and about a days journy from the renowned Castle of Abydus to depart out of this World unto whose Funerals being kept in the Country whilst his woful Father the Captain with his Friends out of Scamandria resorted the old crafty Turk Accecozza lying always in wait as a Fox for his Prey suddenly set upon those heavy Christians whereof he slew the most part and took the rest Prisoners Amongst whom he also took the Captain of Scamandria with his Castle and Country whom he afterwards led Prisoner unto the Castle of Abydus which is one of the most famous Castles situate upon the Sea Coast of Asia over against Sestus in Europe where the Sea of Hellespontus by the narrow Strait falleth into the Sea of Aegeum two Castles much renowned by reason of their nigh Situation and yet placed in divers parts of the World eternized also by the ever living Wits of Poets for the adventurous passage of Leander over the fret of the Sea to his Love Hero which Castles are now called Dardanelly Accecozza having brought the
his elder Brother Solyman being dead a little before his Father This Amurath with greater zeal than any one of the Turkish Kings advanced the Mahometan Religion and had therein wonderful Success In the beginning of his Reign he gathered a great Army out of all parts of his Kingdom to Prusa purposing to pass over Hellespontus to invade the Christians in Thracia But understanding that the other Mahometan Princes in Asia had combined themselves against him he was thereby inforced to leave his former determination for Europe and to turn his Forces upon them In which Wars he mightily prevailed against them and returned with Victory to Prusa But having so subdued those Confederate Princes he the next year after prosecuted his Wars before intended against the Christians in Europe For which purpose having levied a strong Army in Asia he passed over to Callipolis accompanied with his Tutor whom the Turks call Lala Schahin whose grave advice and counsel he most followed in all his weighty Affairs being at that time one of his chief Counsellors From Callipolis he marched to the Castle of Benutum which was by composition yielded unto him From thence he went to Tzurulus where the Christians gave him a sharp encounter but in the end he won the Town and carried away the Victory And so proceeding farther took divers other small Castles and Towns in that part of Thracia which of the ancient Roman Colonies was then called Romania and now of the Turks Rumilia namely Mesine Burgos and others whereof some he utterly rased and into the rest put strong Garrisons At this time also Chasi-Ilbeg and Eurenoses two of his most valiant Captains took certain Forts standing upon the River Meritza in ancient time called Hebrus whereby they much troubled the Inhabitants of the Country thereabouts Wherewith the Captain of Didymotichum offended gathered his Souldiers together intending to have intercepted the great Captain Chasi-Ilbeg in which Attempt he lost most of his Followers and was himself there taken Prisoner For whose Ransom and certain other Conditions the Citizens of Didymotichum yielded the City unto the Turks Shortly after Amurath sent his Tutor Lala Schahin to besiege Hadrianople now called Adrianople but in ancient time Oâestias of whose coming the Christians hearing encountred him upon the way and fought with him a great battel wherein many were on both sides lost but in the end the Christians being put to the worst retired again to the City Of this Victory Schahin sent News unto Amurath with certain of the heads of the slain Christians who thereupon sending Chasis and Eurenoses before he himself with a great Army followed after to the Siege of Hadrianople of whose coming the Governor of Hadrianople understanding fled secretly out of the City by night to Aenus The Citizens seeing themselves so forsaken of their Governor yielded their City unto Amurath in the year of our Lord 1362. The taking of these strong Cities in Thracia especially of Didymotichum and Hadrianople is by some of the Turks own Histories otherwise reported which because it is neither improbable nor disagreeing from the subtil dealings of the Turks and of themselves also received I have thought good to set down as their own Historiographers report the same The Turkish King Amurath had as they say and as truth was in the beginning of his Reign concluded a Peace with the Christians of Thracia during which Peace the Governor of Didymotichum intending to fortifie his City with new and stronger Fortifications against the Assaults of the Turks entertained all the Masons Carpenters and other Workmen he could by any means get which Amurath understanding secretly caused two hundred good and lusty Workmen and Labourers to come out of Asia to offer their Service unto the Governor who gladly entertained them using their help in that his great and hasty Work. Which thing some of the wiser sort of the Citizens disliking wished the Governor to beware of those Asian Workmen as by them suspected But he presuming upon the Peace made with Amurath and considering they were but base Workmen and no Souldiers had the less care of them nevertheless using their work all day he commanded them to lodge without the Walls of the City every night Amurath understanding that these Workmen were thus by the Governor entertained sent for the valiant Captain Chasis-Ilbeg and requested him with thirty other good Souldiers disguised as poor Labourers to go to Didymotichum to seek for Work and in doing thereof to espy if any opportunity might be found for the surprising of the City Chasis with these thirty according to Amurath his direction coming as poor men lacking Work found entertainment at Didymotichum where they carried stones morter and such like things ever shewing themselves very diligent in their work Chasis with vigilant eye still awaiting what might best serve his turn for the surprising of the City When night was come the Turkish Workmen and Labourers after their accustomed manner and as they were by the Governor appointed went out of the City into the Suburbs to their Lodgings from whence Chasis secretly departing in the night came to Amurath and shewed him how one of the gates of the City might upon the sudden be taken if it would please him to place a sufficient number of Turks in ambush near unto the City to joyn with him and the other Turkish Labourers when occasion should serve Which being resolved upon Amurath sent him back again to put this his device in execution So Chasis returning to Didymotichum brake the matter to so many of the Asian Workmen as he thought convenient fully instructing them what was to be done The next day according to his appointment the Christians being then at dinner these Turkish Workmen and Labourers fell at words among themselves and from words to fained blows in which counterfeit Brawl and Tumult they suddenly ran to one of the Gates of the City fast by as was before appointed and there laying hands upon the Warders Weapons as if it had been to defend themselves against their Fellows suddenly set upon those Warders being in number but few and then at dinner also and so presently slew them which done they opened the Gate of the City and let in the other Turks which lay in wait not far off who with great celerity entring the City presently took the same and there put the chiefest of their Citizens to the Sword sparing the rest of the meaner sort The City of Rhodestum of the old Writers called Rhâdestum was by Amurath his commandment in this time of peace by sudden assault given in the night by the Lord Eurenoses taken also With this foul dealing and breach of League yet in force the Christians hardly charged Amurath who turned it over to the unruliness of his Captains and Men of War whom he threatned with great severity to punish and to give the better colour that it was done without his privity he had fained himself sick all the
up and so to hold himself content The next year Bajazet by Ferises-Beg took the City of Vidina with many other strong Towns and Castles in Servia and afterwards returned to Hadrianople But whilst that he thus raged in Europe the Caramanian King invaded and spoiled the Frontiers of his Countries in Asia which although he was not then at leisure he forgot not afterwards to revenge to the full At the same time Eurenoses Lord Governor of the Marches of his Kingdom in Europe towards Grecia departing from Seres where he then lay took the City of Sitros in Thessalia And Ferises-Beg not content to have taken Vidina as is aforesaid passed over the great River of Danubius and grievously spoiled Valachia from whence he returned loden with a great Prey This was the first time that I read of that the Turks ever passed over the River Danubius At this time also Iegides Bassa entred the Kingdom of Bosna from whence he carried a great number of Captives to Hadrianople where Bajazet spent that Winter â BAIAZETHES PRIMVS QVRTVS TVRCARVM REX In the time of this Siege Aidin Ogli Prince of Caria a Mahometan came to Bajazet and yielded himself into his power as his Vassal unto whom Bajazet restored certain places which he had in this expedition a little before taken from him yet upon such condition as that he should not from that time coin any Mony in his own name either be remembred in publick Prayers as a Prince in their Mahometan Temples as he had before been but that all such things should be done in the name of Bajazet as his dread Lord and Soveraign With which disgrace the poor Prince was glad to content himself and to live as his Vassal From Philadelphia he led his Army into the Country of Saruchania in ancient time called Ionia Maritima which he subdued unto himself upon like conditions After that he passed farther to Mentesia or Mentz sometime called Myndos in Caria the Prince whereof for fear fled to Cutrun Bajazet Prince of Castamona and part of Pontus leaving his Country to the pleasure of the Tyrant And forasmuch as the young King of Caramania had invaded his Countries whilst he was busied in Europe Bajazet in revenge thereof entred with his Army into Caramania and took Cesaria with divers other places there so that the young King discouraged with the loss of his Towns and fearing Bajazet his greatness was glad to hold himself contented with his loss and to make Peace with him as it pleased him to grant it As Bajazet was making this expedition into Caramania another young Mahometan Prince the Son of Prince Germian came unto him with one of his chief Counsellors and were both by him sent Prisoners over the Strait to the Castle of Ipsala where they lay in durance many years after Thus Bajazet having oppressed and wronged most of the Mahometan Princes the Successors of Sultan Aladin in the lesser Asia at last returned again himself in triumph to Prusa The Prince of Mentesia who for fear of Bajazet was fled out of his Country as is aforesaid had now incited Cutrun Bajazet Prince of Castamona with a great power to invade that side of Bajazet his Kingdom which bordered upon him Which Bajazet understanding gathered a great Army to go against this Mahometan Prince At which very time the Vayvod of Valachia hearing of Bajazet his troubles in Asia with a strong Army passed over Danubius into those parts of Servia and Bulgaria that were by the Turks as then possessed where he spoiled the Country and slew great numbers of the Turks making Mahometan Saints and Martyrs by heaps for so the Turks account all them whom the Christians kill in their War which done he retired back again into Valachia carrying with him also many of the Turks Prisoners Bajazet thus at once invaded both in Asia and Europe deferred his Wars purposed against the Prince of Pontus until a more convenient time converting his Forces against the Valachians Wherefore passing over the Strait to Hadrianople he sent his Army from thence to Nicopolis and there passing the River of Danubius entred into Valachia burning and spoiling the Country before him as he went. Where the Vayvod to repress his Fury met him in the Field and gave him Battel but was therein overthrown and many of his People slain so that at last he was glad to sue for Peace which he obtained by submitting himself to Bajazet and yielding to pay him a yearly Tribute Whilst Bajazet was thus busied in Valachia news was brought unto him That the Christians of the West with a Fleet of Gallies did great harm alongst the Coasts of his Dominions in Asia In revenge whereof he entred with his Army into Thessaly destroying all the Country unto Thessalonica in which expedition he took the City of Neapolis in Greece and Ioannina in Aetolia and after that returned into Asia where he spent that Winter In the beginning of the next Spring he with a great Power passed the Strait of Callipolis to Hadrianople intending to have invaded Hungary But as he was upon the way it chanced that a Constantinopolitan Spy was by the Turks intercepted with Letters from the Greek Emperor to the King of Hungary giving him warning both of the Turks preparation and coming By which Spy Bajazet also understood of another Messenger before sent into Hungary for like purpose Whereupon Temurtases then his great Lieutenant in Europe perswaded him to desist from his intended Wars in Hungary and to besiege the Imperial City of Constantinople as a thing of more honour and less danger the City being already as he said and as in truth it was surrounded with the Turkish Provinces bringing in Philadelphia but a few years before won for example of the like exploit Of whose Counsel Bajazet liking well returned with his Army and shortly after came and sate down therewith before Constantinople laying hard Siege thereunto first by Land and after by Sea with his Gallies sent from Callipolis Which hard Siege continued as most Histories report the space of eight years in which long time he drave the Emperor Emanuel Paleologus to that Strait that he was glad to leave his City and himself in person to crave Aid of Wenceslaus the German Emperor and Charles the Sixth the French King and other Christian Princes also At which time the Citizens were at length brought to such extremity that they were even at the point to have yielded up the City and happily had so done had not Sigismund King of Hungary assisted with a great Army of the French and other voluntary Christians almost out of every part of Christendom to the number of an hundred and thirty thousand under the leading of Iohn Count of Nivers and after Duke of Burgundy for the relief of the besieged Emperor passed over Danubius into the Turkish Dominions and there having recovered Vidina with certain other strong Holds in Bulgaria laid Siege to Nicopolis
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 jeopardy alwaies assuring himself of his good Will and Favour towards him Easie it is to judge what Joy these Greek Embassadors received to hear this so kind an answer from the mouth of Tamerlane himself who rather than he would seem to break his Faith refused an Empire offered unto him with one of the most ââately and magnificent Cities of the World. Few Princes I suppose would perform such a part but so there be likewise but few Tamerlanes in the World. These Embassadors by the commandment of Tamerlane were by Axalla Royally feasted and all the Honour done them that might be One of them being sent back to carry these unexpected news unto the Greek Emperor filled both him and all the City of Constantinople with exceeding joy and gladness which both he and his subjects in general spared not with Bonfires and all other signs of Joy and Pleasure to manifest And the more to shew his thankfulness shortly after by the advice of his grave Counsellors passed over the Strait into Asia to see Tamerlane at Prusa and in Person himself to give him thanks who hearing of his coming and very glad thereof presently upon the first days journy sent the Prince Axalla to meet him and to certifie him of the Joy that he conceived to have the good hap for to see him as also to conduct him to Prusa where those two great Princes with the greatest magnificence that might be meâ and so spent one whole day together The Greek Emperor the next day taking his leave was by Tamerlane with much Honour conducted out of the City Now had Tamerlane himself conceived a secret desire to see this so famous a City as was Constantinople from which he was not now far yet would he not go thither as a Conqueror but as a private person which by the means of Axalla was accomplished and he thereinto by the Greek Emperor privately received and with all Familiarity possible entertained the Emperor shewing unto him all the rare and excellent things that were therein to be seen and the other Greek Princes devising all the means they could to do him pleasure and them which did accompanie him who were in a manner all apparelled after the Greek Fashion At which time the Greek Emperor himself was curious to shew unto him all the fair Gardens alongst the Sea Coast a League or two from Constantinople and so privately conducting him spent five or six days with all the Mirth that might be possible Tamerlane by the way oftentimes saying That he had never seen a fairer City and that it was indeed the City considering the fair and rich Situation thereof of right worthy to command all the World. He wondred at the costly Buildings of the Temples the fair ingraven Pillars the high Piramides and the making of the fair Gardens and oftentimes afterwards said That he nothing repented him of his so long and dangerous a voiage if it had been only but to have preserved from Fire and Sword so noble a City as that was In the Greek Emperor he commended greatly his mild Nature and Courtesie who knowing him above all things to take pleasure in fair serviceable Horses gave unto him thirty of the fairest strongest and readiest that were possible to be gotten all most richly furnished and sent likewise fair Presents unto all the Princes and great Commanders of the Army and bountifully caused to be delivered unto them all things which he thought to be necessary for the Army So after many great kindnesses in short time passed and a strait bond of Friendship made and by solemn Oath confirmed betwixt the two great Princes Tamerlane with great contentment took his leave of the Emperor and returned again to his Army at Prusa Wherewith he now at his pleasure without resistance wasted and spoyled all Bajazet his Dominion in Asia no man daring to make head against him The year being now well spent and Winter drawing on Tamerlane dispersed his Army into divers of the Provinces of the lesser Asia expecting still when some of Bajazet his Sons or other Friends should make suit or means unto him for his deliverance but none came some fearing Tamerlane his heavy indignation and others no less dreading the fierce Nature of Bajazet himself who if he had been delivered was like enough as was thought to have taken sharp revenge upon all them which forsook him in the late Battel and therefore never made intercession for him Whereupon Tamerlane one day passing by him said unto him I marvel that none of thy Sons or Friends either come to see thee or to intreat for thee it must needs be that thou hast evilly deserved of them as thou hast of others yet how thinkest thou if I should set thee at liberty would they again receive thee as their Lord and Soveraign or not To whom Bajazet boldly answered Were I at liberty thou shouldst well see how that I want neither Courage nor means to revenge all my Wrongs and to make those disobedient and forgetful to know their Duties better Which his proud answer made Tamerlane to keep a straighter hand over him In this great and bloody War wherein the Othoman Empire had almost taken end the Sultan of Egypt had as is aforesaid given aid unto Bajazet which Tamerlane took in so evil part as that he resolved to be thereof revenged for as he was unto his Friends of all others most kind and courteous so was he to his Enemies no less terrible and dreadful Yet thinking it good before his departure out of the lesser Asia to take some good order with these his new Conquests and finding nothing more honourable to resolve upon he restored unto the poor Mahometan Princes Tachretin Isfendiar Germian and the rest before fled unto him for refuge all their ancient Inheritance with something more as he did also divers Cities and Countries of Natolia unto the Greek Emperoâ for the yearly Tribute of four hundred thousand Ducats of Gold and eight hundred thousand Franks of Silver which the Emperor promised to pay unto him yearly And so having enriched his Army with the Spoils of the Oââoman Empire in Asia he turned his Forces against the Egyptian Sultan and so passing through Caramania entred into Syria then part of the Sultans Kingdom where near unto Aleppo being before yielded unto him was fought betwixt them a great and mortal Battel the Sultan having in his Army an hundred thousand Foot and seventy four thousand Horse whereof there were thirty thousand Mamalukes accounted the best Horsemen in the World. In which Battel Axalla the great Captain with the Vantguard of Tamerlane his Army was hardly distressed and Axalla himself taken but forthwith again rescued by Tamerlane who had he not by his
do not so much as name the Succession of Calepinus or Orchanes after the Captivity of Bajazet but rejecteth them both as Counterfeits But in my opinion without prejudice to any that upon better reason may deem otherwise the great confusion of the Turkish Kingdom in short time wrought by the mighty Tamerlane and his Tartars with the civil Discord and War afterwards arising among the Sons of Bajazet striving all as it were at once for the restless room of Soveraignty which suffereth no Partners and every one of them according to his hap or power laying hand upon some one part or other thereof and bearing himself therein for a time as King in Countries so far distant never leaving until they had like the Earth-born Brethren wrought one anothers destruction might give just occasion of such diversity of Reports as is before spoken of concerning the Succession of that time in that troubled and rent Kingdom some reckoning one some another and some such as never were to have succeeded in the Government and so untruly augmenting the number of the Turkish Kings Wherefore leaving Calepinus and Orchanes unto them that first found them with that little which without any good ground and less probability is written of their supposed Reign I following the authority of the Turkish History reckon this Mahomet one of the youngest Sons of Bajazet of whom we are now to intreat Fifth King of the Turks who after great and dangerous Wars as well against his own Brethren as his foreign Enemies was at length solely invested in the Turkish Kingdom about ten years after the Captivity of his Father Bajazet as shall hereafter be declared Bajazet after the manner of the Turkish Kings having laid up the hope of his Posterity in the common Treasure-house of Nature rather than in the body of one lawful Wife had by divers Wives and Concubins seven Sons Erthogrul otherwise called Orthobules Emer-Solyman Mustapha-Zelebi that is to say the Noble Isa-Zelebi Musa-Zelebi Sultan Mahomet and Casan-Zelebi Of whom Erthogrul the eldest was lost in the Wars against Casi Burchaniden as is before said in the life of Bajazet Mustapha was slain in the great battel against Tamerlane and there buried in the Bed of Fame Cusan the youngest was a Child in Bajazet his Court when his Father was taken and afterwards with his Sister Fatime delivered as Hostages by their Brother Solyman unto Emanuel the Emperor of Constantinople where they both happily became Christians and so shortly after died Solyman was by Alis Bassa President of Bajazet his Council and other great Captains conveyed out of the battel against Tamerlane into Europe and so by them at Hadrianople saluted Sultan Mahomet fled out of the same battel to Amasia in Capadocia where he was in his Fathers time Governor Isa hearing of his Fathers Captivity after the departing of Tamerlane with his Tartars seised upon Prusa a City of Bithynia the ancient Seat of the Turkish Kings with the Country adjoyning and there reigned as King. Musa-Zelebi was taken Prisoner with Bajazet his Father and afterwards set at liberty by Tamerlane But of their Fortunes more shall be said in this History following Mahomât was but fifteen years old when his Father Bajazet in the unfortunate battel of Mount Stella was taken Prisoner and was at the same time by his appointment Governor of Amasia with a great part of Capadocia adjoâning which places became so troublesome after the great Victory of Tamerlane that the Turks in that Country were glad day and night for the safeguard of themsâlves their Wives and Children to keep continual Watch and Ward insomuch that many of them wearied with those Troubles and despairing of better Times went into voluntary Exile because they would not see so great Miseries which thing much griev'd young Mahomet Wherefore calling unto him his most faithful Counsellors to consult what course to take iâ the midst of so many dangers it was by general consent thought best for so much as they could not without apparent danger continue near unto Tamerlanes Forces to get themselves further off into places of more strength and from thence to expect the departure of their Enemies and in the mean time to content themselves with such advantages as occasion and chance of War might minister cutting them short by policy whom they were not able to meet in the plain Field and so by little and little to weaken or weary their mighty stragling Enemies For albeit that Tamerlane himself was not near him as then lying in Caria yet did the Captains of his great and victorious Army at their pleasure spoil and forrage the Countries far and near all over the lesser Asia Upon this Resolution he with all his Forces departed from Amasia to Derby in Papâlagonia where by the way he incountred with Cara Iahia a nigh Kinsman to the Prince Isfendiar of Castamona his Enemy whom he put to flight with great slaughter of his Men. This was the beginning of Mahomets good Fortune From thence he went to Kereden and there staying certain days sent a Spy into Tamerlanes Camp to see how all things went there and afterwards entred again into Council with his Captains concerning his further proceedings In which Consultation some were of opinion That it was best for him to withdraw himself into the Mountains of the lesser Asia as a place of good safety until the departure of Tamerlane which was shortly hoped for for that it was not to be thought that Tamerlane would with his huge Army pursue him in that Mountain-Country flying from Hill to Hill and as it were from strength to strength Others better advised thought these Mountains to be no places to trust unto and therefore that it were more honourable and as free from danger for him to return again to Amasia there to live amongst his Subjects protecting them in such sort as he might and not to leave them for a Prey to every stragling Company of the rude Tartarians which counsel he followed as most reasonable and being ready to set forward the Spy before by him sent into Tamerlanes Camp returned certifying him that he had seen his Father Bajazet in good health in the Tartars Camp but could not by any means speak with him by reason of the straight Guard set over him and that all that part of Asia was by Tamerlane possessed who then with his Army wintred in Caria and Lâsia whereupon Mahomet returned back again into Amasia where he had not long stayed but that News was brought unto him That one of the Tartarian Princes called Cara Duletschach that is to say the fortunate black King was with an Army of twenty thousand coming to spoil his Country being given him by Tamerlane With which News he was exceedingly troubled wherefore with all speed calling together his Forces for the safeguard of his Country sent before a Spy to discover the Enemies doings This diligent Spy returning in all hast told Mahomet That Cara Dulet
the other two Iosephus and Machmutes both died of the Plague being but Children after the death of their Father Three of their Sisters were married to the three Sons of the King of Caramania Ibrahim Aladin and Isa other two were bestowed upon the Sons of the Prince Isfendiar Ibrahim and Casimes the sixth was given in marriage to Cozza-âeg Vice-Roy of Anatolia and the seventh to the Son of Ibrahim Bassa who died at Mecha whither she went upon Superstitious Devotion on Pilgrimage At such time as Amurath was busied in his Wars in Europe against Mustapha the supposed Son of Bajazet the younger Son of Mahomet called also Mustapha being but thirteen years old and Amurath his Brother indeed was set up to raise new Troubles by the King of Caramania and other Princes as well Mahometans as the Christian Princes of Grecia who thought it good policy by that means to impeach the greatness of Amurath This young Prince Mustapha strengthned with the Forces of his Friends entred into his Brothers Dominions in Asia and besieged Nice which was at length yielded unto him Amurath advertised of this new Rebellion by great Gifts and large Promises corrupted Ilias Beg the young Princes Tutor to betray the Prince into his hands Whereupon Amurath with great celerity set forward with his Army from Hadrianople and in nine days came to Nice where he entred the City with small resistance as was to him before promised where Mustapha was by his false Tutor to him presented who because he would not spill one drop of the sacred Othoman blood as the Turks call it commanded the Executioner presently to strangle him with a Bow-string which was done accordingly and his body afterwards buried by his Father at Prusa Amurath having suppressed these two Rebellions and now out of all fear of any Competitor thought his five Counsellors too many by three and therefore removed the three Bassaes Omure Urutzi and Alis the Sons of Temurtases into honourable Places retaining of his Council only the two old Bassaes Ibrahim and Eivases But shortly after Eivases was secretly accused to Amurath that he sought by his Favorites the Souldiers of the Court to aspire unto the Kingdom himself and to depose the King and that intending some such matter he did usually wear a Privy-Coat This suspitious Report troubled the jealous Tyrant wherefore on a time as he rid accompanied with Eivases he cast his Arm about him as if it had been in kindness but finding him secretly armed would needs know the cause thereof whereunto Eivases answered That it was for fear of some Enemies he had in the Court but this Excuse could by no means serve his turn wherefore he was forthwith apprehended by the Commandment of Amurath and both his Eyes burnt out with a hot Steel glass Whilst Amurath was thus busied in subduing Rebellions at home Muhamethes the Caramanian King besieged Attalia a great City in Pamphilia by the space of six months which was valiantly defended by Hamza-beg Amurath his Lieutenant there at which Siege the unfortunate King himself as he was taking view of the City was slain with a great shot out of the City whereupon Ibrahim which succeeded him in the Kingdom brake up the Siege and returned home to bury his Father At this time also Dracula Prince of Valachia passing over Danubius did the Turks much harm about Silistra but was afterwards enforced to submit himself to Amurath and become his Tributary About this time also Tzunites the Prince of Smyrna which had before aided the Rebel Mustapha did by all means he could vex and molest Iaxis-beg Amurath his Lieutenant in Aidinia and having by chance taken his Brother Prisoner put him to death This Prince of Smyrna was descended of the ancient Princes of Aidinia and therefore pretended an interest in that Seigniory which his Claim the people of the Country secretly favoured so far as they durst for fear of the Turks Amurath hearing of the harms that this Prince of Smyrna did commanded Hamze-beg Vice-Roy of Anatolia with all his Power to make War upon him The Vice-Roy without delay assembled a great Army and invaded the Princes Country and the Prince being well provided for his coming meeting him upon the way gave him battel wherein Hasan the Princes Son leading a great part of his Fathers Army had put one part of the Turks Army to flight and pursuing them with too much fury left his Father at the same time so hardly beset by the Vice-Roy that he was glad to fly to his Castle of Hipsily fast by Hasan returning from the chace of the Enemy not knowing what had happened to his Father was by the Turks in his return overcome and taken Prisoner After which Victory the Vice-Roy presently laid Siege to the Castle wherein the Prince was This Siege continued a great while at length the Prince brought to extremity was content to yield himself unto the Vice-Roy upon condition he should use no violence against the Person of himself or his Son but to send them Prisoners unto Amurath which thing the Vice-Roy by solemn Oath promised whereupon the Prince came out of the Castle and yielded himself Prisoner to the Vice-Roy Iaxis-beg whose Brother the Prince had before put to death attended the going of Hamze the Vice-Roy to his Tent where finding Hasan the Princes Son sitting upon the ground as the manner of the Turks is took him by the choler with great fury and drawing him along to the Feet of the Prince his Father there most cruelly struck off his head and in the same rage laying his bloody hands upon the aged Prince struck off his head also to the great dishonour of the Vice-Roy who had before given his Faith for their safety The heads of the Prince and his Son were set upon two Launces within the sight of the Castle which the Defendants seeing and now despairing of all rescue yielded themselves with the Castle This infortunate Tzunites was the last Prince of Smyrna after whose death all his Territory was united to the Othoman Kingdom After all these Troubles Amurath with great Triumph married the Daughter of the Prince Isfendiar Amurath having laid up in the depth of his thoughts the remembrance of that the Grecian Princes had done in giving Aid to the Rebels aforesaid thought it now high time to take revenge of that wrong and for that purpose gathered a great Army wherewith he ranged at his pleasure through Macedonia until he came to Thessalonica surprising by the way divers Cities and Castles at that time belonging to the Constantinopolitan Empire This famous City of Thessalonica now called Salânichi for beauty and wealth sometime not inferior to any of the greatest and most renowned Cities of Graecia is situate upon the Borders of Macedonia close unto a Bay of the Archipelago or the Sea Aegeum which Bay was in ancient time called Thermaicus-Sinus and now the Bay of Salonichi To the Christian Congregation there dwelling St.
before indeed begun in the time of Amurath the first his great Grandfather as is before declared but by him greatly augmented and the policy of that State whereby it hath ever since in his Posterity flourished even by himself plotted For the better establishing whereof in his own House and to cut off all occasion of fear as also to leave all such as might have the heart to arise against him naked and bare of Forces to resist but especially the other ancient and noble Families of the Turks still secretly repining at the great honour of the Othoman Kings he as a man of great Wisdom and Judgment to keep them under in the beginning of his Reign by manifold favours began to bind unto himself men of strange and forreign Countries his Servants and by ordering of his most weighty Affairs by their Authority so by little and little to cast off the service of his natural Turks they in the mean time little or nothing at all looking into this his practice And whereas the Othoman Kings his Predecessors had for the most part or rather altogether raised their Ianizaries and other Souldiers of the Court of such Children of the Christians as were taken in the Wars he seeing by experience how serviceable those new kind of Souldiers were began forthwith to plot in his head how to make himself an Army altogether of such able persons his own Creatures and so to bring in a new kind of Warfare wholly depending of himself And to that end by his Officers appointed for that purpose took from the Christians throughout his Dominions every fifth Child the fairest and aptest of whom he placed in his own Seraglio at Hadrianople and the rest in other like places by him built for such purpose where they were by sufficient Teachers first instructed in the Principles of the Mahometan Religion and then in all manner of Activity and Feats of Arms. Of these when they were grown to mans state he made Horsemen gave them great Pensions and sorting them into divers orders appointed them also to guard his Person honouring the better sort of them with the name of Spahi-Oglani that is to say his Sons the Knights and of these he began to make his Bassaes his Generals of his Armies and the Governors of his Provinces and Cities with all the great Offices of the State. The rest and far the greatest part of these Tribute Children taken from their Christian Parents and not brought up in the Seraglios he caused to be dispersed into every City and Country of his Dominion in Asia there for certain years to be brought up in all hardness and painful labour never tasting of ease or pleasure out of which hard brood so enured to pains he made choice of so many of the most lusty and able bodies fittest for service as he thought good who kept in continual exercise and by skilful men taught to handle all manner of Weapons but especially the Bow the Peece and the Scimitar were by him as occasion served added to the other Ianizaries and appointed for the guarding of his Person calling them commonly by the names of his Sons The remainder of these Tribute Children as unfit for the Wars he put unto other base Occupations and Ministeries But unto those Martial Men of all sorts so by him ordained he appointed a continual pay according to their degrees and places and by great benefits and liberties bestowed upon them bound them so fast unto him as that hâ might now account himself to have of them so many Sons as he had Souldiers For they together with the Christian Religion having forgot their Parents and Country and knowing no other Lord and Master but him and acknowledging all that they had to come and proceed of his free grace only remained ever bound and faithful unto him and so kept others also as well the natural Turks themselves as the other oppressed Christians within the bounds of Obedience and Loyalty A great Policy proceeding from a deep Judgment first to weaken the Christians by taking from them their best Children and of greatest hope and then by them depending wholly of himself to keep in awe and dutiful Obedience his natural Subjects also having them always as a scourge ready to chastise the Rebellious or Disloyal Now the other Othoman Kings and Emperors the Successors of Amurath keeping this custom and also increasing it one after another have thereby not only kept the Empire still in their House and Family where it was first gotten but also so maintained the Majesty of their State as they are of their Subjects feared obeyed honoured not as Kings but as Gods. For the natural Turks their Subjects losing courage continually and daily growing more base and dastardly by reason they are not suffered to practise the knowledge of Arms and the Souldiers in whose power all things are knowing nothing of their own but holding and acknowledging all that they have to come of their Lord account them as Lords and Kings of all ruling much after the manner of the Pharaohs the ancient Kings of Egypt who were absolute Lords and Masters both of the publick and private Wealth of their Subjects whom they kept under as Slaves and Villains And hereof cometh it to pass that the better part of them whom we call Turks but are indeed the Children of Christians and seduced by their false instructors desire to be called Musulmans that is to say Right Believers holding it a reproachful and dishonourable thing to be called Turks as it were peculiarly and above other People For that they knowing right well that there is not one natural Turk among all those that bear Authority and Rule and are had in greater Honour and Reputation than the rest such as are the Men of War and Courtiers but he is born a Christian either of Father or at the least of his Grandfather avouch those only to be Turks which live in Natolia all of them either Merchants or of base and mechanical Crafts or poor Labourers with the Spade and Pickaxe and such like People unfit for the Wars the rest as I say holding it for a Title of Honour to be descended of Christian Parents Yea the Grand Seigniour himself although by the Fathers side he be come of Progenitors such as were natural Turks born yet many of them had Christian Mothers which they accounted in the greatest part of their Nobility and Honour Thus by the Wisdom of Amurath was the order of the Ianizaries and other Souldiers of the Court greatly advanced though not by him begun and the politick state of the Turks Kingdom to say the truth quite altered the natural Turks more than the Sultan himself now bearing therein no sway but only these new Souldiers all of them descended from Christian Parents and by adoption as it were become the Sons of the Turkish Sultans and under them commanding all by whom they have ever since managed their estate and by their good service
advice of his Bassaes encamped fast by the Sea-side and there presently began to build a great strong Castle close unto the Straits of Bosphorus near unto Propontis on Europe side directly over against the other Castle in Asia For the speedy accomplishment of which work he assembled thither all the workmen he could possibly get out of Europe and Asia apportioning unto his Captains and Souldiers of his Army part of the work also by whose industry and labour that great building was in shorter time brought to perfection than was by any man at the first expected This Castle which for the greatness thereof is of most Writers reputed for a City was by the Turks named Genichisar and of the Grecians Neocastron or New Castle and also Laemocastron or Castle upon the Straits and was there by the Turks built as well for the safety of their own passage too and fro as for to hinder the passage of the Christians through those narrow Straits they now possessing the strong Forts on both sides and thereby also to distress the City of Constantinople from whence this Castle was not above five miles distant When Mahomet in the second year of his Reign had finisht this great Castle with some other small Forts about the same and also repaired the other Castle in Asia over against it he placed therein strong Garrisons and furnished the same with Attillery in such sort that no Ship could pass through the Strait of Bosphorus into the great Euxine or Black Sea but she was in danger to be sunk whereby the rich trade which the Marchants of Venice Genoa and Constantinople had to Caffa and other places lying upon the Euxine were almost quite cut off to the great hinderance of those Estates Now Mahomet by Nature ambitious and withal desirous to do some such thing as the glory whereof might far pass the Fame of his Predecessors thought nothing more answerable to his high conceipts than to attempt the winning of Constantinople and the utter subversion of the Greek Empire whereupon his Father Amurath and his great Grandfather Bajazet had before in vain spent their Forces Besides that it grieved him to see that goodly City the ancient Seat of the Christian Empire to be so commodiously situated as it were in the midst of his Kingdom and not to be at his Command Hereunto the small power of the Greek Emperor himself and the other Christian Princes at the same time at mortal discord among themselves ministred unto his greedy desire no small hope of success and served as Spurs to prick him forward unto so great an enterprise Wherefore all the Winter he caused great preparation to be made of shipping and other warlike provision both for Sea and Land and gave out Commissions for the levying of a mighty Army to be in readiness against the next Spring But whither he would imploy the same no man could certainly tell some guessing one thing and some another as the manner of men is when such extraordinary preparation is at hand Constatinus the eighth of that name then Emperor of Constantinople a Prince of a mild and soft Spirit fitter for the Church than for the Field hearing of the great preparation made by the Turkish King and fearing lest that tempest then growing should upon the suddain break forth upon himself first made such preparation as his own small ability would extend unto And then sent his Embassadors unto other Christian Princes earnestly craving their Aid and Assistance in that his dangerous Estate But that labour was lost and all his suit vain for they being at variance one with another and having more care of private revenge than how to repulse the common Enemy of Christianity could not or would not afford him any help at all Nicholas the fifth of that Name then Bishop of Rome with Alphonsus King of Naples and the State of Venice promised to have sent him thirty Gallies but none for all that came There were by chance at Constantinople certain Ships and Gallies of Venice Genoa Crete and Chios of whom the Emperor made stay at which time also it chanced that Iohannes Iustinianus an Adventurer of Genoa who had been scouring those Seas came to Constantinople with two tall Ships and four hundred Souldiers where he was entertained by the Emperor And forasmuch as he was a man honourably descended and supposed to be both of great Courage and Direction was by the Emperor appointed General of all his Forces next unto himself He also entertained six thousand Greeks which with three thousand Venetians Genowaies and others whom he had made stay of joyned unto the Citizens was all the weak Strength he had to relie upon for the defence of his State and Empire Against the beginning of the Spring the Turkish King had in readiness a great and puissant Army of three hundred thousand men of whom the greatest part were taken out of Bulgaria Servia Rascia Thessalia Macedonia and Grecia which as yet were called the Christian Countries and were themselves either indeed Christians or else such Renegates as had not long before forsaken the Christian Faith unto these also were joyned divers other Christians which came out of Germany Bohemia and Hungary to serve the Turk in his Wars This hath been none of the least means whereby the Turkish Kings have grown so great and their Kingdom so mightily inlarged by inforcing and alluring Christians to fight against Christians to the utter confusion of themselves Among the great multitude of the Europeian Christians were mingled his effeminate Souldiers of Asia and his natural Turks and Ianizaries which were in number fewest and yet commanded all the rest With this great Army well appointed with all warlike provision came Mahomet the Turkish King from Hadrianople and the ninth day of April in the year 1453 encamped before Constantinople and with the multitude of his Army filled all the main Land before the City from the Sea side of Bosphorus unto the place where the same Sea compassing in the City on two parts and running far into the Land betwixt Constantinople and Pera maketh there a goodly Haven betwixt them This City of Constantinople called in ancient time Bizantium is in form of a Triangle situated in Europe in the pleasant Country of Thracia upon a point of the main Land shooting out towards Asia called of Pliny and Solinus the Promontory Chrysoceras where the Sea of Propontis joyneth unto that Strait of Sea which divideth Asia from Europe called in ancient time Bosphorus Thracius sometime the Strait of Pontus and the mouth of Pontus and of the modern Writers the Strait of Constantinople and about two hundred years past or more S. George his Arm. This point of the main whereon the City standeth lyeth about two Italian miles more Northward than doth the ancient City of Calcedon on the other side of the Strait in Asia more than thirty miles distant from the Euxine or
the side of Danubius whereof the Secretary by speedy Messengers gave Chamuzes Intelligence who secretly passing over Danubius with certain Troops of Horsemen and riding a good way into the Country lay in ambush upon the way whereby the Prince and the Secretary must needs pass according as was before appointed the Secretary accompanied with the Prince put himself upon the way and at the very prefixed time came to the place where Chamuzes lay in ambush with his Horsemen who suddenly arising and on every side assailing the Prince slew divers of his men before they were well aware of his coming But Wladus being a man of great courage and better appointed than the Bassa had supposed for he went always attended upon with a strong Guard of valiant and stout men so received Chamuzes and his Turks that he slew many of them and at length after a hard Conflict took him with the rest Prisoners whose Hands and Feet he caused to be cut off and their Bodies afterwards to be thrust upon sharp Stakes set fast in the ground to the terror of all that saw them and did the Bassa so much honour as to hang him and the Secretary upon a Gibbet a great deal higher than the other Turks And not satisfied with this Revenge presently gathered his Forces and passing over Danubius into the Turks Dominions burnt all the Country before him along the Sea side killing Man Woman and Child without mercy after which great spoil and slaughter made he returned again to Valachia The report of this News being brought to Mahomet set him in such a choler and rage that he commanded the great Bassa Mahometes which first told him thereof to be cruelly whipt which servile punishment in that Tyrannical Government hath usually been inflicted even upon the greatest Princes of the Court upon the least displesure of the Tyrants especially if they be not natural Turks born accounting the rest in their anger but as their base and contemptible Slaves as well appeareth by the woful end of many even of the greatest of them But when he understood by most sure advertisements that all was as thâ Bassa had before reported or rather worse it is not to be in words expressed into what a rage he fell the spoil of his Country grieved him much but the shameful death of the Secretary his Embassador and of Chamuzes the Bassa tormented his heart and filled him with Indignation and desire of Revenge Wherefore with all speed possible he assembled his Souldiers and Men of War out of all parts of his Dominions to Philippopolis and had in short time raised such an Army as the like he had not at any time imployed since the winning of Constantinople At the same time also he sent his Admiral with 25 Gallies and 150 Sail of other small Vessels by the Euxin to enter the River Danubius and there landing his Men to joyn his Forces with the Prince of Podolia who for a grudge he bare against Wladus had promised to Aid the Turk against him When all things were now in readiness he marched with his Army from Philippopolis and passing over Danubius entred into Valachia before which time the Admiral had landed his Men and with the help of the Podolian had burnt the City of Prailaba the greatest Town of Trade in all Valachia and was besieging Cebium called in ancient time Lycostomos where after they had lien a while and received some loss they left the Siege and departed the Podolian back again into his Country and the Admiral to his Fleet. Mahomet being got over Danubius burnt the Villages drave away the Cattel and made havock of all that came in his way As for Prisoners he took but few for the Valachies before his coming had retired their Wives and Children and all that were unfit for Wars either into their strong Cities or into the Refuge of great and thick Woods whereof there is in that Country plenty or else into the high and rough Mountains where they were in more safety than in any their strongest Holds and all such as were able to bear Arms followed the Prince who ever kept the Woods and Mountains still following the Turks Army so near as he possibly could with safety and many times cut off such as stragled any thing far abroad from the Army into the Country yet never durst shew himself in plain Field being indeed but a handful in comparison of the Turks multitude Mahomet to small purpose roaming up and down the Country at his pleasure staid never long in one place and making no reckoning of such a weak Enemy as durst never shew himself pitcht his Tents still in the open Plains and so lay with his Army in great security not entrenched at all Wladus by his Espials understanding of this the manner of Mahomets encamping came in the dead time of the night and with all his Power furiously assailed that quarter of the Turks Camp where the Asian Souldiers lay and slew many of them in their Tents the rest terrified with the suddenness of the Alarm fled out of their Tents for Refuge unto the European Souldiers the Prince following them at the heels and entring into that quarter of the Camp also did there great harm and struck such a general terror and fear into all the Turks Army that they were even upon the point to have wholly forsaken their Tents and betaken themselves to flight Yea Mahomet himself dismaid with the terror of the night and tumult of his Camp and fearing lest the Hungarians had joyned their Forces with the Prince not knowing which way to turn himself had undoubtedly fled had not Mahomet Bassa a man of great experience in Martial Affairs perswaded him otherwise and by general Proclamation made through the Camp That no man should upon pain of death forsake the place wherein he was encamped staid the flight and with much ado enforced them to make head against the Prince Wladus perceiving the Turks now to begin to stand upon their guard and to make resistance after great slaughter made returning took the spoil of the Tents forsaken by the Asian Souldiers and upon the approach of the day again retired with Victory into the Woods As soon as it was day Mahomet appointed Haly-Beg with certain Companies of select Souldiers to pursue the Valachies who overtaking part of the Princes Army took a thousand of them Prisoners and put the rest to flight all which Prisoners were by the Tyrants Command presently put to the Sword. From that time Mahomet every night entrenched his Army and caused better Watch and Ward to be kept in every quarter of his Camp than before As he marched along the Country he came to the place where the Bassa and the Secretary were hanging upon two high Gibbets and the dismembred Turks impailed upon Stakes about them with which sight he was grievously offended And passing on farther came to a Plain containing in breadth almost a mile and in
noon-time of the day The like negligence was also in that part of the Camp where the Bassa himself lay every man taking his ease and pleasure with small regard of Horse or Armor for being out of fear of Scanderbeg whom they thought to have been a great way off at Lyssum they lay as men without care wrapt up in security the common destruction of great Armies and Commonwealths Amesa with the great Captains were at the same time all together in the Bassaes Pavilion consulting what course they were best to take to do something to the contentment of Mahomet and their own commendation some said it were best with Fire and Sword to destroy all they could in Epirus and so having laid the Country wast to return Others thought it better to march directly to Croia to prove if the Citizens could be perswaded to yield themselves and receive Amesa for their King othersome to threaten them with a continual Siege and utter ruine of the Country if upon the vain expectation of help from Scanderbeg they should refuse to submit themselves As for Scanderbeg himself who then lay hovering over their heads he was in all that Consultation least feared who from the top of the Mountain beholding the security and disorder of the Turks Camp and delighted with the sight thereof encouraged his Souldiers and martialled them in such order as they were to follow him for the charging and terrifying of the Enemy But first of all he determined to oppress the Turks Scouts which lay at the foot of the Mountain for which purpose he himself with a few Horsemen first secretly descended the Mountain the rest of his Army following shortly after and so suddenly came on the Scouts that he slew them all except one who escaping by the swiftness of his Horse came running to the Camp as one half affrighted crying out that Scanderbeg was coming The Turks suspecting nothing less than the coming of him that way at the present instant hardly believed that he was so nigh when as he following him at the heels as fast as he could with his Horsemen and his Footmen after them was in a moment as if it had been a sudden Tempest broken in amongst the unarmed Turks and there making great slaughter of them filled all the Camp with sudden tumult and fear Amesa who at the first noise had speedily got him to his Charge with his Souldiers some half-armed some on Foot having no leisure to bridle their Horses was the first that made head against Scanderbeg The Bassa also did what he might in that sudden fear and shortness of time to arm his Men and to put them in order but whilst those things were in doing the Souldiers which lay in ambush in the Woods came down the Mountain with such horrible shouts and noise of Instruments of War as if Heaven and Earth should have presently gone together the Hills and Vallies with their hollow Ecchoes encreasing the terrour of the Alarm Insomuch that the Turks dismayed and fearing that all the Force of Epirus with the Countries adjoyning had come upon them began to fly on every side before that Moses and the rest that lay in ambush were come into the Plains Amesa acquainted with his Uncles Stratagems as much as he could encouraged the Turks crying aloud and telling them That such vain Tumults and Terrors were not to be feared being but the bare shifts and devices of their Enemies to cover their own weakness and by his own valour stayed many which before were about to have fled In this while the Bassa having put his Men in best order he could was coming to the Aid of Amesa hardly charged by Scanderbeg but in his setting forward he was so valiantly encountred on the one side by Moses with his Horsemen and on the other by Tanusius and Emanuel with their Footmen that he was enforced not without great loss again to retire unto his Trenches All the hope of the battel depended upon Amesa who still with great courage withstood his Uncle exhorting his Souldiers valiantly as men to endure that first Assault which should afterwards bring them most assured Victory heartning them on with hope of speedy help from their Fellows if they would but a while endure the fury of their Enemies whose hearts as he said would presently be discouraged if they prevailed not in that their first and desperate Attempt having nothing else to trust unto By which perswasion the Turks were again encouraged accounting it a great dishonour to fly and leave their Chieftain in the field But when they saw Scanderbeg still to prevail upon them and that no help came as they hoped for many were by Scanderbegs Horsemen slain as they were arming themselves many were by the way cut off as they were coming and the rest put to flight they which before fought valiantly with Amesa turned their backs and fled also Scanderbegs Horsemen pursued the chase and made great slaughter of the Turks and in the same chase took Amesa Prisoner Scanderbeg having overthrown that part of the Turks battel was coming with a thousand Footmen and some Horsemen to have aided Moses against the Bassa but before his coming Moses to blot out his former Infamy had with invincible courage put the great Bassa with all his Army to flight and Scanderbeg following the chase gave him not leave to look behind him until he was got out of Epirus Many were in this chase taken Prisoners and amongst the rest one Mesites a Sanzack a man of great account amongst the Turks In this battel beside the Prisoners were taken twenty of the Turks fairest Ensigns As for Horses Armor and other spoils taken in the Field and in the Camp all which fell to the Souldiers share it is almost incredible to be told The number of the slain Turks is of divers diversly reported they which write of the most reckon up thirty thousand and they which speak of the least account twenty thousand Of the Christians were lost but sixty Now if any account it strange that so great a Victory should be gained with so little loss not to speak of that is written in Holy Writ let him but read the ancient Histories of the Romans or the Chronicles of our own Country and he shall in them find Victories no less strange There was to be seen the sudden and strange alteration of these worldly things no more indeed whatsoever we account of them to be reckoned of than of things we have not Scanderbeg possesseth the rich Pavilion erst belonging to the great Bassa and other of his Captains enjoy Tents with much other rich Furniture never prepared for their use Amesa which the same day as a Victorious Conqueror over-ran a great part of Aemathia with his Horsemen and was carried in Triumph with the general Acclamation of many thousands of valiant Souldiers and honoured as a King and of them so called is now led through the Christian Army to his Uncle with
his Fleet in the mouth of Boliana a great River running out of the Lake whereupon the City of Scodra standeth These two great Commanders being met together were both as one man and with a wonderful consent did what they might for the furtherance of the Common good a thing not common first they put strong Garrisons with all things necessary into Colchinum Lyssa Dirrhachium and other Cities of their Seigniory upon the Sea coast After that they went up the River Boliana with certain Gallies and came within sight of Scodra and there by Fires in the night and other tokens of comfort encouraged the Defendants as with an assured promise of relief which thing it grieved the Turks to behold who therefore went about to have shut in those same Gallies with a great Chain drawn cross the River where it was narrowest betwixt them and the Sea but in doing thereof the Venetians out of their Gallies slew five hundred of the Turks and wounded divers others and so returned again to Sea. It was afterward attempted by the aforesaid Admirals if a new supply might have been put into the City but the Enemy had so beset the same that it was not possible to be done In the mean time Matthias King of Hungary receiving a great yearly portion of the Venetians for the defence of their Countries against the Turk hearing that Scodra was besieged began to make such Spoil in the Turks Dominions bordering upon him that Mahomet was glad to call home the great Bassa from the Siege of Scodra to defend his own Frontiers So the Bassa after he had lien three months with his great Army at the Siege and lost fourteen thousand of his men whereof the greatest part died of Sickness taken by long lying in the rotten moorish ground near unto the River by commandment from his Master rose with his Army and departed The Venetians also which lay all that while thereabout in their Gallies were toucht with the same contagion Triadanus Grittus died thereof and Mocenicus the other Admiral fell thereof dangerously sick but being somewhat recovered returned home and was shortly after for his good service chosen Duke of Venice Marcellus the old Duke being dead With this dishonour taken at Scodra Mahomet was so discontented that he appointed a yearly Fee unto one to put him in mind dayly of the Siege of Scodra year 1476. The same year that this great Bassa Solyman had in vain besieged Scodra he was afterward sent with a great Army into Valachia where he was so intangled in the Woods and Fens by Stephanus the Vayvod that he lost all his Army and with much ado escaped himself by the wonderful swiftness of a Mare whereon he rid The year following which was the year 1476 Mahomet sent out a great Fleet to Sea under the conduct of Geduces Achmetes his chief Counsellor and Man of War whose very name was dreadful in all places where he came in hope to have by Treason surprised the Island of Crete but that Plot was in good time by the Venetians perceived the Traitors executed and he of his purpose disappointed Whereupon he changed his former purpose for Crete and sent the same Achmetes with his Fleet into the Euxine or as the Turks call it the Black Sea to besiege the rich City of Caffa This City was in ancient time called Theodosia situate in the Country of Taurica Chersonesus fast by the Sea side and had of long time been in possession of the Genowaies and was a place of exceeding great Trade until that this great Emperor Mahomet having taken Constantinople and falling out with the Venetians had by his strong Castles built upon the Straits of Hellespontus and Bosphorus taken away both the traffique of Merchants into those Seas and all possible means for the Genowaies to send Succour to that City yet it is credibly reported that one valiant Captain undertook to carry his Company in number not above one hundred and fifty men by Land from Genoa to Caffa not much less than two thousand miles and worthily performed what he had undertaken Achmetes coming thither with his Fleet enclosed the City both by Sea and Land which divided in it self by reason of the diverse disposition of the Inhabitants being of divers Nations some Genowaies some Greeks some Armenians but most Tartars could not long hold out but was in short time given up to the Bassa upon condition That the Genoway Merchants who were there both in number many and exceeding rich might in safety depart thence with their Wealth Which promise the Bassa performed not but when he was possessed of the City sent such as he thought good to Constantinople and commanded the rest upon pain of death not to depart thence or to convey away from thence any part of their Substance In short time after the whole Country of Taurica Chersonesus yielded unto the Turkish Obeisance At which time also the Tartar Princes namely the Precopenses and Destenses terrified with the greatness of the Turk cowardly yielded themselves as Tributaries unto him ever since which time they have lived a most servile and troublesome life subject to every command of the Othoman Emperor for whom they have done great service many times in their Wars against the Persians the Polonians the Hungarians Transylvanians and Germans as in the process of this History well appeareth and as the aforesaid Nations their Neighbours with others also further off have even of late to their great loss felt Although the Venetians had in these late Wars lost the great and fertile Island of Euboea year 1477. with the strong City of Chalcis the surest harbour for their Gallies yet held they still divers strong Towns and commodious Havens by the Sea-Coast both within Peloponnesus and without as Methone Corone Tenarus Naupactum and others which standing as it were in the bosome of his Empire Mahomet sore longed after And therefore to satisfie his ambitious desire sent Solyman the great Bassa of Europe with a strong Fleet into Peloponnesus Who entring the Gulf of Corinth at his first coming laid Siege to Naupactum now called Lepanto a City standing in the Gulf of Corinth in the Country of Ozolae near unto Locris over against Peloponnesus Antonius Lauretanus for his late good service done in defending of Scodra made Admiral for the Venetians came with speed to Naupactum and in despight of the Enemy so furnished the City both with men and whatsoever else was needful that the Bassa now out of hope to win the City rose upon the suddain with his Army and in a great fury departed after he had lien there four months In this fret returning towards Constantinople he put certain Companies of his men to shore in the Island of Lemnos in hope to have upon the suddain surprised the City of Coccinum but as they were about to have entred they were contrary to their expectation manfully resisted by such Christians as by chance were next the Gate
Empire What should I speak of infinite People and Nations by you most victoriously vanquished This may suffice for all That you have gained from the Christians twenty Provinces and two hundred great Cities For it were too long to rehearse the Mahometan Kings and Princes by you also vanquished In all your expeditions all things have yet given place to your fortune The ancient Monuments may now cease to extol the praises of Caesar Scipio Pyrrhus Hannibal and other Chieftains of Rome and forraign Nations for why they are all inferiour to you both for Victories and Countries subdued The Othoman Family is undoubtedly fatal for Soveraignty all the World shall in short time come under your government and all Nations shall serve you As for this Town of Scodra let it not so much grieve you worldly things as you know do ofentimes deceive our expectation in them Fortune beareth great sway Yet for this matter quiet your self for I dare gage my Faith unto your Imperial Majesty that I will in short time find means that this City shall stand at your devotion Did not I of late bring into your subjection the impregnable City of Croia which you so long desired But whereas you would now again forthwith attempt to win it by Assault I therein crave your pardon in that I cannot be of that opinion but must needs think far otherwise for to attempt War and to be overthrown is an easie matter for every one to do but to vanquish the Enemy and to carry away the Triumph that right few men know He that consulteth of such great and weighty matters ought to be free both from fury and desire both evil Counsellors The Christians of Scodra are not in my opinion to be again assaulted for in so doing you shall but lose your labour For if you could not subdue them your Army being then fresh and strong how shall you now overcome them with much fewer and they wounded weak and feeble I have viewed the whole Camp and searched every Tent and found no place no tent yea scarcely any cabin without groaning sighing weeping or wailing in every place was heaviness sorrow mourning and death it self for in the last Assault you lost thirty thousand and more of your best Souldiers many more are grievously wounded and maimed none but he carrieth about him some sign that he was there few or none there be that dare again mount the Hill to give a fresh Assault they are all so affraid and discouraged Whom when I demanded how so great a fear was come upon them and what was the cause they had so lost their wonted Courage they answered me That it was the look even the very look of them of Scodra whose Eyes did seem unto them to burn and sparkle with fire their stern and terrible countenance said they have struck this terror into us Wherefore I think it not good to give a fresh Assault with men so dismaied but rather to use policy and delay against such resolute Enemies This City of Scodra is the Eye and Head of all this Province which the Venetians have notably fortified and planted with store of Ordnance and of all things else necessary for defence thereof but especially with most valiant Souldiers of purpose chosen out of many of their Garrisons for defence of this City You have not now to do with the weak and effeminate People of Asia but with the hard and rough People of Epirus And âou know most mighty Emperor the strength and courage of this Nation it is now thirty years that you made War against this People and have not yet altogether subdued them and how dangerous and chargeable this War hath been unto you who knoweth not It is now six months since we came first before this City we have intrenched our selves round about it we have day and night laid hard Siege unto it we have battered it of long with eleven Canons I speak not of other smaller Pieces or Engines of War with all kinds of Shot and Fire-works and whatsoever else we could devise We have many times to our cost assaulted it what could be done by force strength or multitude of valiant men is already done in the former Assaults Nothing hath been left unattempted no policy no direction hath wanted in your Leaders neither courage in your Souldiers What should I recount the innumerable great Shot or speak of our Arrows and Darts delivered into the City as showers of Hail Did all this or any thing else we could do any thing terrifie these Defendants Were they not nay are they not still ready with great assurance and Courage at all assaies to encounter us You take a wrong course by force to constrain them they have taken upon them the defence of this place and are not thence to be removed there shall you be sure still to find them either alive or dead and what account they make of their lives you see they will sell them unto us dear for their Country and prefer an honourable death before a servile life Wherefore against men so sât down policy is to be used and them whom we cannot by force subdue let us by delay and time overcome If you will win Scodra block it up build strong Forts in places convenient round about it and furnish them with good Souldiers make a bridge over Boliana with a strong Castle on either side to stop the passage which done besiege the other weaker Cities of the Venetians which are as it were the Limbs of Sâodra and subdue the Country round about which will be no hard matter for you to do being Master of the Field so must Scodra at length of necessity yield unto you as of late did Croia iâforced thereunto by Famine Thus may you in safety without slaughter of your People come to the full of your desires The wholesome Counsel of the Bassa so well pleased Mahomet himself and the rest there present that the Assault was laid aside and present order taken for the speedy execution of that which was so well by him plotted Whereupon the Bassa of Constantinople with his Forces was sent to Zabiache a City in the borders of Dalmatia standing upon the Lake of Scutary not far from Ascrivium which in few days was yielded unto him The Bassa possessed of the City thrust out all the Inhabitants and leaving therein a Garrison of Turks returned again to the Camp at Scodra At the same time the great Bassa of Asia was also sent by Mahomet against Drivasto a City also of the Venetians which when he had besieged and sore battered by the space of sixteen days the great Tyrant came thither in person himself and the next day after his coming took the City without any great resistance Such as he found upon the Walls he put to the Sword of the rest he took three hundred away with him to the Camp at Scodra and there in the face of the City caused them all to be cruelly slain of
least homage that could be devised With which answer the Messengers returned having obtained nothing of that they were sent for The resolute answer of the Great Master reported by the aforesaid Messengers unto the Bassa troubled him exceedingly for though he had small hope by force to win the City yet he was alwaies in hope until now at his pleasure to forsake the Siege with some such reasonable composition as might stand with his honour But sith nothing remained now but by plain force to constrain his Enemies he resolved for the safeguard of his honour in that extremity to use that extream remedy wherefore besides the great Pieces of Battery he had already planted against the Walls he mounted divers smaller Pieces much higher thereby the more to annoy the Defendants by beating down of their Churches and high built Houses His Ordnance thus placed he battered the City day and night for the space of four days together without intermission during which time the Christians out of the City spared not liberally to bestow their Shot among their Enemies also so that the Air seemed to grow thick and the light of the day to be darkned with the smoak of the great Ordnance and the great Shot came so thick into the City that the fearful Women and Children were glad to shroud themselves from the danger thereof in Cellars and Caves under ground So long continued this great Battery that at length the strength of the Wall gave place to the fury of the Canon and a fair breach was laid open for the Enemy to enter which was no sooner made but that with the first shew thereof the Turks gave thereunto a desperate Assault and prevailing by reason of their multitude had upon the suddain recovered the top of the Walls and there set up some of their Ensigns but the Christians speedily coming in on every side to the defence of the breach they were again quickly repulsed and beaten down into the Ditches out of which most of them never rose more At which time the Turks in another place with their scaling Ladders had gained the top of the Walls and there advanced their Ensigns also and were now five hundred of them entred the City and come into the Street called the Iew-Street where they were encountred by the Great Master and his Followers and all slain that were already entred and their Ensigns that stood upon the Walls thrown down The rest yet scaling the Walls and ignorant of the fortune of their Fellows were likewise beaten from the Walls and with wonderful slaughter rejected So that the Bassa not able any longer to indure the slaughter of his men being in both places repulsed caused a Retreat to be sounded and left the Assault wherein he had lost of his most forward men about five thousand with small loss of the Christians In this Assault the Great Master himself received five wounds whereof one under his right Pap was thought to have been deadly which yet afterward was very well cured with the rest After that the Bassa had by the space of three months to small purpose spent all his Forces and Devices upon the City he began to doubt whether it were better for him to raise his Siege and depart or to tarry and expect some better fortune which in all his former actions had seemed almost to have waited upon him to forsake the Siege was dishonourable and to continue it without hope presented no less danger Besides that in the former Assaults he had already lost nine thousand of his best Souldiers and all the rest of his Army was filled with heaviness and despair to hear the woful sighing and groaning of their Fellows of whom fifteen thousand lay dispersed in the Camp sore wounded and ready many of them to give up the Ghost and also but even a little before two great Ships sent from Ferdinand King of Naples with Men and Munition were in despight of all the Turks Gallies safely arrived at the Rhodes to the great joy and encouragment of the besieged and no less discontentment of the Turks Whilst the Bassa was thus deliberating what course to take a rumor was raised in the Camp That the Christian Princes were coming with great power to relieve the Town with which news the whole Army was exceedingly troubled whereupon he raised his Siege Some others say that Mahomet hearing of the evil success of his Army in the Island of the Rhodes with the difficulty of the Siege and now ready to go in person himself against the Sultan of Egypt sent for the Bassa and that so the Siege was raised Howsoever it was the Bassa before his departure caused all the Vines and Trees growing in that part of the Island to be cut down and spoiled and so after he had poured forth his fury upon the senseless Creatures which he could not according to his desire exercise upon the people again embarked his Army and with shame departed the seventeenth of August At the same time that the Rhodes was thus besieged Mahomet sent his old and most expert Captain Achmetes Bassa with a great Fleet and a strong Army to make an entrance into Italy for no Kingdom was so strong which the ambitious Tyrant in the pride of his heart thought not he might now command and having long before conquered Constantinople otherwise called New Rome was still dreaming I wot not what of the conquest of Old Rome also The mischievous Bassa according to his great Masters designs embarked his Army at Vallona otherwise called Aulona a Sea Town in the borders of Macedonia and from thence passing directly over that narrow Sea which is in breadth about sixty miles landed his men in that rich and fertile part of Italy called in ancient time Apulia now Puglia near unto the old and famous City Hydruntum at this day called Otranto where as soon as this warlike Bassa had landed his forces he forraged all that rich Country alongst the sea coast and took such infinite spoil as might well have satisfied the greedy desire both of himself and of his hungry Souldiers all which rich booty he caused to be conveighed into his Gallies So when he had at his pleasure ranged up and down the Country by the space of fourteen days and saw that none made head against him he laid siege to Otranto the chief City of that Country and as it were the Key of that part of Italy and having with such Ordnance as he took out of his Gallies made a breach easily entred the same and so without any great loss took the City A thing not greatly to be marvelled at forasmuch as it was but weakly manned and more weakly defended by men altogether living in security in the midst of their Wealth and Pleasure The Archbishop with Zurlo the Governor and the chief men of the City for safeguard of their lives fled into the great Cathedral Church as into a Sanctuary where they were all
Bajazet was upon the way against his Brother Achmetes the great Bassa in the confession of all men the best man of War and most expert Captain amongst the Turks and of all others most entirely beloved of the Janizaries came and unarmed presented himself upon his knees before Bajazet his Sword hanging at his Saddle-bow to the admiration of many who could not but wonder to see so worthy a Chieftain of so great Place in time of Service without any apparent cause in such humble manner to appearâbefore his Soveraign as if he had had nothing to do with Arms. It chanced many years before in the mortal Wars betwixt Mahomet the late and great Emperor of the Turks and Assymbeius Usun-Cassanes the King of Persia that Bajazet having the leading of the right Wing of his Fathers Army had not martialled it in so good order as was to Mahomet his good liking for which cause he commanded this Achmetes to go and set that part of the battel in better order Which his Soveraigns Command whiles he most skilfully performed Bajazet taking it in evil part as tending to his own disgrace in great choler threatned the Bassa to find a time when he would be revenged upon him But he being a man of great spirit and one that durst both do and say much perceiving his meaning bid him do what pleased him and laying his hand upon his Sword solemnly vowed That whensoever he came to Command as Emperor he would never ware Sword in field the remembrance whereof was the cause that he then came in manner aforesaid ready to serve if he were thereto commanded or otherwise to endure what so his Princes Pleasure was Bajazet perceiving that the unkindness so long before conceived was not yet disgested in token of Grace stretched out to him his Scepter and taking him up commanded him to girt his Sword unto his side and not to remember that which he had long before both forgiven and forgotten And knowing right well that he was a most valiant and expert Captain made him General of his Army to the great contentment of the Janizaries and the rest of the Army who so soon as they saw him gave out divers great shouts for joy as if Victory had most assuredly attended upon him Achmetes taking upon him the Charge came and incamped so near as he could to Zemes and so lay by the space of ten days during which time many sharp Skirmishes were made with divers Fortune sometime the one side prevailing and sometime the other At length the matter was brought to a general battel wherein after a long and cruel fight and great slaughter on both sides the Fortune of Bajazet conducted by the policy of Achmetes prevailed against Zemes. Who seeing his Army overthrown betook himself to flight and came to Iconium in which flight many of Zemes his Followers were taken Prisoners whom Bajazet would have pardoned and enlarged but that by the perswasion of Achmetes he changed his mind and to the terror of others suffered them all to be put to the Sword. Zemes doubting after this Overthrow to fall into his Brothers hands and finding no means to make head again when he had staid three days at Iconium caused his Treasure Plate Jewels and other things of great value and light carriage to be trussed up and taking with him his Mother and his two young Children a Son and a Daughter accompanied with a small Retinue fled into Syria then part of the Dominion of Caytbeius commonly called the great Sultan of Egypt and Syria It was not long after the departure of Zemes from Iconium but that Bajazet came thither with his Army to have surprised him but understanding of his flight he took order for the peaceable Government of that part of his Empire And so having suppressed that dangerous Rebellion and again reduced that troubled part of his Empire to his Obeysance returned with Victory to Constantinople The distressed Prince Zemes travelling through Syria came at length to Ierusalem year 1482. where he stayed a good space devoutly visiting the Monuments of that most ancient and famous City From thence he travelled into Egypt where at his first entrance into the Country he was met by divers of the greatest Nobility of that Kingdom sent from the great Sultan by whom he was honourably conducted to Caire and there presented to Caytbeius of whom he was graciously welcomed unto whom after due Reverence done he declared the cause of his coming as followeth If it were not to me certainly known most Victorious that you are not ignorant either who I am or from whence descended or with what injury enforced after long and painful travel I am here arrived it would much concern me to use another manner of beginning of my Speech and with greater protestation of words to seek your gracious Favour But forasmuch as all these things are unto your most Royal Majesty sufficiently known as I do well perceive in this that your infinite Clemency hath entertained me with far greater kindness than I in such my adverse Fortune durst wish for much less request Now nothing remaineth for me to say more than justly to complain unto your invincible Majesty of the Wrong and Injury done unto me by Bajazet whom I may more justly term my cruel Enemy than kind Brother For he not contented to have taken unto himself my Fathers Empire by great tumult and slaughter hath with all Hostility and Force of Arms persecuted me his Brother excluded out of the Imperial City and then living in Bithynia troublesome neither to him nor any of his people and never rested until he had chased me out of the bounds of my Fathers Empire Neither hath the jealous desire of Soveraignty whereof my Father whilst he lived had him always in distrust so much moved him unto this so cruel Fact as a certain unnatural cruelty towards all his Kindred in general and mortal hatred against me his Brother in particular for he which is already possessed of the Empire and doth with all Hostility persecute a private person subject and exposed to his Injury that man thirsteth not after Soveraignty but after Blood neither desireth âe to Conquer but to Kill And whereas after my Fathers death great Troubles arose in Constantinople and many bloody Skirmishes were fought betwixt the Favorites of both of us it cannot with any truth be laid to my charge at done by mine advice or counsel I being at the same time so far from thence Neither am I justly to be blamed if that after my Fathers departure I put my self upon the way towards Constantinople especially being sent for thither by many my good Friends men of great Mark and Quality but his Fortune prevailing I gave place and lest my coming to the Imperial City might have been the occasion of new Troubles I returned aside into Bithynia and so to Prusa with purpose there to have rested in quiet if my Brother would have given
by torture to wrest it out from him what might be got to make it in some sort appear that he died for his due desert Hereupon Bajazet deferred his Execution to a farther time and caused him there presently to be stript and carried away to be tortured Amongst other Gallants of the Court which attended the coming out of the great Bassaes whom they followed was one of Achmetes his Sons a Gentleman of great hope who missing his Father amongst the rest began presently to mistrust that all went not well and speedily running from one of the Bassaes to another with much ado learned the hard estate of his Father whereof he was also at the same instant advertised by a secret Friend near about Bajazet Hereupon this young Gentleman began forthwith piteously to lament his Fathers mishap and to exclaim against the cruelty of Bajazet called on the Janizaries for aid putting them in remembrance of his Fathers great and manifold Deserts towards them together with his imminent danger and so running up and down the City in the dead time of the night had in short space raised up all the Janizaries in Arms who understanding of the danger of their ancient Commander whom they generally loved and honoured as their Father came running by heaps from all parts of the City unto the Court-Gate there with terrible Exclamation doubling and redoubling their Bre Bre which barbarous word they commonly use in expressing their greatest discontentment and fury and did indeed so furiously beat at the Court Gate that Bajazet fearing lest they should break in by violence caused the outer Gate to be set open and shewing himself from above out at an Iron Window demanded of them the cause of that Tumult and Uproar To whom they insolently answered That they would by and by teach him as a Drunkard a Beast and a Rascal to use his great Place and Calling with more sobriety and discretion and among many other opprobrious words wherewith they shamefully loaded him they called him oftentimes by the name of Bengi Bengi that is to say Bachelor or Scholar which amongst those Martial Men Contemners of all Learning is accounted a word of no small reproach and disgrace And after they had in most despiteful manner thus reviled him they proudly commanded him forthwith to deliver Achmetes unto them or else to take that should ensue thereof Bajazet terrified with this Insolency of the Janizaries and fearing some sudden violence to be offered commanded Achmetes to be without delay delivered unto them which was done in such hast that he was brought forth unto them almost naked bare legged and bare headed bearing in his body the manifest marks of his hard usage The Janizaries receiving him with great rejoycing supplied his want of Apparel with such habiliments as they for that purpose upon the sudden took from Bajazets Minions and so taking him upon their shoulders with great joy carried him out of the Court still crying unto him How he did and how he felt himself And so guarded him home ready no doubt to have slain Bajazet and rifled the Court if he would have but said the word But he yet Loyal laboured with good words to appease that Tumult and to pacifie their fury excusing that which Bajazet had done against him to have been done only to correct him for that happily he had forgotten some part of Obedience and Duty Nevertheless hereupon remained no small heart-burning betwixt Bajazet and the Janizaries for a long time after yet Bajazet for fear of them reconciled himself to Achmetes and in open shew had him in greater Honour than before promoting him even unto the highest degrees of Honour howbeit he inwardly hated him to death And the more by the continual instigation of the old Bassa Isaac by whose perswasion when it was thought that all had been forgotten he was by Bajazets Commandment as he sate at Supper in the Court thrust through the body and slain This was the miserable end of Achmetes the great Champion of the Turks and one of the greatest Enemies of Christendom that ever lived in the Turkish Court for by him Mahomet subverted the Empire of Trapezond took the great City of Caffa called in ancient time Theodosia with all the Country of Taurica Chersonesus the impregnable City of Croia with all the Kingdom of Epirus the strong City of Scodra and a great part of Dalmatia and last of all Otranto to the terrour of all Italy by him also Bajazet vanquished and put to flight his Brother Zemes as is before declared In reward of which good Services he was by the Tyrant upon a meer suspition thus cruelly and shamefully murthered About this time also Caigubus Zemes his Son then but a Child was by the commandment of Bajazet his Uncle strangled in the new Tower of Constantinople Bajazet now grievously offended with the pride and late Insolency of the Janizaries caused secret inquiry to be made of them which were the Authors of those late Stirs and finding them to be the Officers of their Companies and specially those which had before slain Mahomet Bassa the great Politician immediately after the death of Mahomet the late Emperor at which time they had also raised great Tumults and done much harm in the City he under colour of Preferment sent away those Authors of Sedition into divers parts of his Empire appointing unto them as unto old Souldiers and Men of good desert certain Lands and Revenues for their Maintenance and Preferment But as soon as they were departed he by secret Letters commanded the Governors and Magistrates of those places whereunto they were sent suddenly to apprehend them and as Traytors to put them to death which was accordingly done The Janizaries of the Court and about Constantinople hearing what had hapned unto their Fellows became wonderful discontented and began to mutine in divers places of the City uttering Speeches against the Emperor full of Despight and Revenge year 1487. Which thing when Bajazet understood and had well considered the late danger he was in together with the intollerable Pride and Insolency of those his masterful Slaves he secretly purposed in himself for the curing of so dangerous a Disease to use a most desperate remedy which was suddenly to kill and destroy all the Janizaries especially those which were belonging to the Court or about Constantinople This his purpose he imparted to divers of his greatest Bassaes charging them upon pain of his heavy displeasure not to disclose it and for the execution thereof had sent for great numbers of those Souldiers which are called Acanzij who are amongst the Turks reputed for the best sort of Common Souldiers Most of all the Bassaes to whom he had imparted this his cruel device much disliked thereof as too full of peril and danger yet seeing him fully resolved for the performance thereof would not or durst not say any thing to the contrary Only Alis and Ishender Bassa both descended of
troubled Bajazet that he was glad to suffer him peacâably to enjoy all that he had by force recovered and further to content himself with a small Tribute for the rest Bajazet highly offended with Abraham whom some call Pyramet the King of Caramania year 1486. for aiding his Brother Zemes against him in revenge thereof raised a great Army both in Europe and Asia and marching alongst Asia the less through the Countries of Phrygia Mysia Caria Lydia and Pamphilia entred at length into Caramania But the King of Caramania hearing before of his coming and knowing himself too weak to meet him in the Field fortified the strong Cities and Places of his Kingdom and retired with his Army into the Straits of the Mountain Taurus where it parteth Cilicia from Syria wherein he was in more safety than in any of his strongest Holds Bajazet finding no way to come to him spent most part of the Summer in spoiling of the open Country but perceiving his Enemies could not so be drawn into the Field he laid Siege unto the famous City of Tarsus being the chief City of the Champain part of Cilicia the native place of Saint Paul the Apostle and in short time so battered the Walls of his City with his great Ordnance that he had made them assaultable The Citizens considering the danger they were in offered to deliver up their City their Liberty Lives and Goods reserved Of which their Offer Bajazet accepted and most honourably performed his promise for their safety not permitting any of his Souldiers to enter the City more than such as must needs for the guard of his Person and safe keeping of the City And for as much as Winter began now to grow fast on he dispersed his Souldiers into the Country Villages round about not suffering the Country people to till or sow their Land or to do any thing else which might turn to their profit or good whereby they were inforced to yield themselves wholly to his devotion The Caramanian King seeing his people daily fall from him and fearing to be at length forsaken of his Souldiers also in this his distress obtain'd Aid both of men and money from Caytbeius the great Sultan of Egypt and so with all the Power he could make took the field with the first of the next Spring fully resolved to try the fortune of a battel although in strength and power he knew himself much inferior to his puissant Enemy Bajazet glad to see his Enemy so forward speedily assembled his Army and without delay offered him battel which the Caramanian King refused not So betwixt them was begun a fierce and terrible fight which by the skilful Conduct of the Leaders and exceeding Courage of the Souldiers was maintained the whole day with doubtful Victory and great Slaughter on both sides new Supplies still coming on in stead of them which were slain The day declining the Caramanian King whose fatal destiny had now appointed him unto his last work seeing his wearied Souldiers rather overlaid with multitude than vanquished by force to begin to give ground unto their Enemies couragiously thrust forward with his Guard and other valiant Souldiers about him with such fury that he brake into the midst of his Enemies battail where being known he was forthwith environed by the Turks and so hardly charged on every side that having his Horse slain under him he was enforced to fight on foot where after he had with his own hand slain divers of his Enemies he fell down dead in the midst of them His Souldiers discouraged with his death turned their backs and fled and in flying were for the most part either slain or taken Prisoners After this Victory Bajazet speedily overran all that large Country and without resistance in short time brought under his Obeysance all the Country of Cilicia There was at that time in that part Cilicia which is called Trachea and lieth toward the Sea side an ancient Mahometan Prince who had under his Command most part of that Country with the famous and populous City of Scandeloro the chief place of his Resiance This Prince had of long time lived betwixt the Christian Kings and the Kings of Caramania as neuter still fearing the greater but indeed loving neither and had until then chiefly maintained his state by the Alliance he and his Ancestors continually held with the Kings of Cyprús and the grand Masters of the Rhodes Against this poor Prince the only one now left in Asia the less not subject unto the Turkish Kings began Bajazet now to turn his Forces purposing before he proceeded any further to make a full Conquest of the lesser Asia and so to make all sure behind him Of which his purpose the Prince having knowledge and wisely weighing his own small Power to withstand so puissant an Enemy offered by his Embassadors to deliver unto Bajazet his chief City of Scandeloro with all the rest of his Territory in Cilicia upon condition that Bajazet should give unto him other Possessions for it in some other part of Asia the lesser to the like value Which his Offer Bajazet accepted and so became Lord of all the Sea coast from the Straits of Bosphorus unto the Confines of Syria After he had thus conquered Cilicia with a great part of the Mountain Taurus he descended into Armenia the less and in short time brought under his Subjection so much of that Country as also of Cappadocia as was sometime belonging to the Caramanian Kings When Bajazet had thus slain the Caramanian King and subdued that most ancient Kingdom of the Turks which had long and many times mightily contended with the Glory and Power of the Othoman Kings he left Mustapha one of his great Bassaes at Iconium with his Asian Army to keep in Obedience those new won Countries and as a Triumphant Conqueror returned himself to Constantinople where he was of his Subjects joyfully received After that Bajazet had thus inlarged his Empire with the Kingdom of Caramania year 1487. and was now become an unwelcome Neighbour unto the great Sultan of Egypt and Syria he began to swell in disdain against that mighty Prince for that he had given Aid against him first unto his Brother Zemes and after that to the Caramanian King in these late Wars of which wrong purposing to be revenged he shortly after appointed one Caragosa Bassa his Lieutenant in Asia with Ishender another of his great Captains with a strong Army to invade Syria then part of the great Sultans Kingdom These two great Commanders well appointed for the purpose when they were come to the uttermost parts of Cilicia the new bounds of Bajazets Empire were then to pass by the Confines of Aladeules his Kingdom before they could pass the great Mountain Taurus to come into Syria This Aladeules commanded as King over the rude and fierce people which dwelt alongst that great and rough Mountain and was then in League with the Sultan He hearing of the
Turks the Island of Aegina and landing in divers places of the Turks Dominions left unto them the woful remembrance of his being there Afterwards meeting with Gonsalvus sirnamed the Great sent by Ferdinand King of Spain to aid him against the Turks at Zacynthus he invaded Cephalenia which Trivisanus his Predecessor had in vain attempted the year before and laid hard Siege to the City which was for a space valiantly defended by the Turks yet at length by the good conduct of Gonsalvus it was by force taken when as Gisdare the Governor thereof with his Garrison of Turks had before fought it out even to the last man. The City being taken all the whole Island yielded forthwith to the Venetians Pisaurius having taken Cephalenia repaired the City and leaving a strong Garrison for defence of the Isle departed to Corcyra where he was advertised that the Turks were rigging forth a great Fleet against the next Spring whereof some part lay in the Bay of Ambracia not far from Corcyra some at Eante and the rest within the Straits of Hellespontus Wherefore purposing to do some exploit upon those Gallies which lay in the Bay of Ambracia to avert the mind of the Enemy from perceiving of that he had secretly with himself intended he sent the greatest part of his Fleet unto the Island of Neritos who suddainly landing should put the Inhabitants in fear The Captains sent about the business chearfully put in execution what the Amiral had commanded and by their suddain landing raised such a tumult that all the Countries thereabout were filled with the expectation of that which should ensue thereof The Bay of Ambracia is so straitned on either side with the Mountains of Epirus that the entrance thereof is but half a mile over but by and by opening it self into a great wideness and running up into the Land maketh a most pleasant and safe Harbour for Ships and Gallies to ride in Pisaurius with a fair Wind coming thither with eight Gallies well appointed when the Turks thought him to have been at Neritos and entring the Strait rowing farther into the Bay burnt one of the Turks great Gallies to the terror of all them that dwelt round about the Bay and carried with him eleven more laded with Munition and Victual through the Strait the Turks in vain fretting thereat and doing what they could with their great Ordnance from Shore to have sunk him in going out of the Bay. But having done what he came for he returned with his Prey again to Corcyra Not long after he also recovered the Castle of Pylos in Morea which as it was suddainly gotten so was it as suddainly lost for Camalia a notable Pirat of the Turks who had been abroad seeking after purchase putting into that Harbor by chance took three Gallies there left by the Admiral for defence of the place and so terrified the faint-hearted Captain that he fell to composition with the Pyrat to yield him the Castle so that he and his Souldiers might in safety depart which the Pyrat granting had the Castle delivered unto him which he could not with far greater strength have possibly won So was Pylos for fear twice in one year yielded up unto the Turks and was both times the death of the cowardly Captains which gave it up being both beheaded by the commandment of the Admiral About the same time Pisaurius attempted to have burnt other of the Turks Gallies lying in the River Eante upon the coast of Macedonia but not with so good success as before for the Turks made more careful by the loss they had but a little before received at Ambracia did now more vigilantly look unto their Gallies so that when Pisaurius had in certain small Vessels made of purpose for that service embarked two hundred resolute Souldiers to have gone up the River to have fired the Gallies they were by the way after they had entred a good way into the River encountred by the Turks and enforced to return But before they could get out of the River the wind rose so contrary with such a stiff gale full in the mouth of the River that the Mariners overmastred with the violence of the Weather when they had done what they could and spent all their strength were driven ashore some on one side of the River and some on the other and so fell into the hands of their Enemies of whom it booted not to crave mercy About this time Bajazet took also the ancient and famous City of Dyrrachium now called Durazo from the Venetians before ruinous and almost quite abandoned by the Inhabitants as a place of danger and not to be kept now that the Turk had got all the Country round about it The Venetians sore pressed with these Wars so long maintained against the Turk had many times prayed Aid of other Christian Princes and were well holpen by the Spaniard in the taking of Cephalenia and now Lewis the French King upon a good devotion to that War sent the Lord Ravestin with seven tall Ships and fifteen Gallies well appointed out of Provence and Genoa to aid the Venetians his Friends This Fleet departing from Naples where they had by the way put in and passing about Italy and so through the Ionian Sea came to Melos one of the Cyclades at which Island Pisaurius with his Fleet in short time arrived also from whence they by mutual consent departed together to invade the Island of Lesbos and being there safely arrived landed their Forces and laid siege to the strong City of Mytilene where by the fury of their Artillery they in short time had made a fair breach in the Wall. In the time of this battery whilst the breach was in making Pisaurius with part of his Fleet sailed to Tenedos for it was reported that certain of the Turks Gallies were then coming for that place out of Hellespontus Which report as some write was of purpose given out by the French thereby to draw the Venetian Admiral from the Siege that so in the mean time they being in good hope to take the Town in his absence might themselves carry away the honour thereof together with the rich spoil Others favouring the French blame the Venetian Admiral as if he had of purpose departed envying at the honour of the French. Which is hardly to be believed in so honourable a Personage and in an action so much concerning the good of his Common-Weal Howsoever it was the breach being made in his absence was by the French presently assaulted although that Palus Valatesius the Venetian Vice-Admiral earnestly requested the French Admiral to defer the Assault for a while and to expect the return of Pisaurius Which his Counsel the French Admiral gave him the hearing of but yet went forward with the Assault The Frenchmen after their manner furiously assailing the breach were valiantly repulsed by the Turks so that in the breach was made a deadly and most terrible Fight many
up his things of greatest price and with his Wives and Children fled into Arabia This Moratchamus is he whom some Historiographers called Mara-Beg and is in the Turks Histories called Imirsa Beg who as they report afterwards marrying the Daughter of Bajazet and recovering part of the Persian Kingdom was suddainly murthred by some of his Nobility whom he purposed secretly to have put to death if they had not prevented the same by murthring of him first Hysmael having victoriously subdued a great part of the Persian Kingdom and filled all the East part of the World with the glory of his name returned out of Assyria into Media and took in such Cities and strong Holds as were yet holden by the Garrisons of the late Persian King. And afterwards retuâning into Armenia made Wars upon the Albanians Iberians and Scythians which dwell upon the Borders of the Caspian for that those Nations in ancient times tributaries unto the Persian ãâ¦ã gs taking the benefit of the long Civil Wars wherewith the Kingdom of Persia and all the East Countries with the ruin of the Kings House had been of late turmoiled had neither paid any Tribute by the space of four years nor sent any honourable Embassage as they were wont and as was expected especially in so great a Victory and alteration of the State. Hysmael having thus obtained the Persian Kingdom in short time became famous through the World and was justly accounted amongst the greatest Monarchs of that Age. But nothing made him more to be spoken of than the innovation he had made in the Mahometan Superstition for by his device and commandment a new form of Prayer was brought into their Mahometan Temples far differing from that which had been of long time before used By reason whereof Ebubekir Homer and Osman the successors of their great Prophet Mahomet before had in great regard and reverence began now to be contemned and their writings nothing regarded and the honour of Hali exalted as the true and only Successor of their great Prophet And because he would have his Subjects and the Followers of his Doctrine known from the Turks and other Mahometans he commanded that they should all wear some red Hatband Lace or Ribband upon their Heads which they Religiously observe in Persia until this day whereof they are of the Turks called Cuselba's or Red-heads And in short time he had so used the matter that he was wonderfully both beloved and reverenced of his Subjects insomuch that his sayings were accounted for divine Oracles and his commandments for Laws so that when they would confirm any thing by solemn Oath they would swear by the Head of Hysmael the King and when they wished well to any Man they usually said Hysmael grant thee thy desire Upon his Coyn which he made both of Silver and Gold on the one side was written these words La illahe illalahu Muhame dum resul allahe which is to say There is no Gods but one and Mahomet is his Messenger And on the other side Ismaill halife lullahe which is to say Hysmael the Vicar of God. Whilst Hysmael was thus wrestling for the Persian Kingdom year 1508. Chasan Chelife and Techellis whom we have a little before declared to have bin brought out of the Mountains and Desarts into the Country-Villages and afterwards into the Cities and to have filled the Countries of Armenia and a great part of the lesser Asia with the novelty of their new Doctrine and Opinions first phantasied by one Giunet Siech and afterward revived by Haider Erdebil Hysmael his Father having gathered a great Army of such as had received their Doctrine invaded the Turks Dominion For after that Techellis this cold Prophet had with wonderful felicity in the presence of many prognosticated of things to come and Hysmael the Sophi of late a poor exiled and banished man was thought to have grown unto the highest type of Worldly Honours not by mans help but by uprightness of life and the fortunate passage of an undoubted Religion such a desire of receiving that new Superstition possessed the minds of the People in general that the Cities and Towns thereabouts were now full of them which in token of their new profession had taken upon them the wearing of the Red Hat the known Cognisance of the Cuselba's First they met together at the City of Tascia at the Foot of the Mountain Antitaurus or as the Turkish History reports at the City of Attalia to the number of ten thousand upon a great Fair-day where they laid hands upon the chief Magistrate of the City and executed him setting his quarters upon four of the highest Towers of the City and further perswaded by these new Masters of this new Superstition to take up Arms in defence of themselves and of their sincere Religion as they termed it in case that any violence should be offered them by the irreligious Turks they all swore never to forsake their Captains for any distress or yet refuse any labour or adventure for the honour of their most holy Religion as they would have it in defence whereof they had already vowed their Souls and Bodies These Ringleaders of Rebellion seeing the minds of their frantick Followers so well prepared for their purpose and reposing a great confidence in their valor and resolution and withal considering that the mony which was bountifully brought in unto them by the Country People partly for Devotion partly for Fear was not sufficient to maintain so great a multitude gave leave by publique Proclamation to their unruly Followers to forrage the Country round about them and to live upon the Spoil of them which would not receive their new found Doctrine Whereupon they dividing themselves into divers Companies and ranging up and down the Country brought into the Camp abundance of Cattel and other such things as the Country yielded and forthwith their multitude still increasing they entred into Lycaonia a populous and fruitful Country where they refreshed themselves many days roaming up and down to the great grievance and terror of the People and brought such a fear upon the whole Country that they which dwelt in open Durps and Villages were glad to flie with their Wives Children and Goods into the strong City of Iconium for Proclamations were in many places set up in the names of Chasan Chelife and Techellis wherein many both Spiritual and Temporal Blessings were in most ample manner proposed to all such as should forthwith take part with them and follow that their new Doctrine already established in Persia but unto such as should obstinately persevere in their old Superstition after they had once drawn their Sword was threatned utter destruction without without hope of pardon of Life So that all the Inhabitants thereabouts terrified with the terror of this Proclamation some for fear of Death some upon Inconstancy some for safeguard of their Goods and Possessions dearer unto them than any Religion some other indebted infamous in danger
built with Marble in a trice consumed with fire The rich City of Cutaie the Seat of the great Commander of the Turkish Empire in Asia thus taken by Techellis and his whole Army both beautified and inriched with the spoil thereof he perswaded himself that it was now no hard matter for him to take the City of Prusa also the ancient Seat of the Turkish Kings in Bithynia and so to endanger the whole State of the Turks Empire in Asia if he should now without delay carry the terror of himself thither before the Turks could in that Country make head against him or the Citizens be able in so suddain a fear to make any sufficient provision for the defence of themselves and their City and so in the course of his good fortune to use the courage and chearfulness of his Souldiers Wherefore appointing a day when he would set forward he commanded all things necessary to be made ready for the taking of that rich City being neither strongly walled neither furnished with any good Garrison for the defence thereof But whilst he was making this preparation a new Army lately shipt over the Hellespont from Callipolis into Asia inforced him to change his forme deteâmination For Bajazet awaked at the name of Techellis and the fame of the new Superstition now generally received in Persia had long before given commandment to his Sons Nephews and the Viceroy of Asia That they should with all carefulness provide that that part of his Kingdom took no harm thereby But after he saw Techellis of a poor Hermit become a great Captain and backt also with the Persian King and all his Dominions in Asia in danger of some great alteration he sent Alis Bassa with his Europeian Army This Alis an Eunuch born in Macedonia yet for his courage comparable with the greatest Captains had for his many and worthy deserts in the time of the great Emperor Mahomet Bajazet his Father got unto himself both the honour and name of a most famous Chieftain He having made choice of the principal Horsemen of Epirus Macedonia Servia Illyria and Thracia and joyning unto them seven thousand Janizaries the most assured hope of the Turks in all their expeditions passed over from Callipolis into Phrigia and upon the way directed his Letters unto Achomates and Corcutus Bajazet his Sons and to all the other Sanzacks and Governors of the Turks Provinces in Asia That they should with as much speed as they could raise their Forces and meet him in Galatia But Techellis advertised of his coming thought it best for him to depart out of Pontus and to retire to some place of more safety lest by longer staying he should be inclosed by his Enemies repairing thitherwards on every âide or else upon some great disadvantage to join Battel for he saw that if he staid never so little he should find no safe passage or place of refuge to retire unto having left such large and spacious Countries so many Enemies Cities so many great Rivers so many discontented People behind him all which the first favour of the Vulgar Sort and speedy course of his Victory had a little before laid open unto him Wherefore calling together his Captains and most expert Men of War to consult upon the matter it was generally thought to be a point of meer madness or else of extream necessity with so small a power of unskilful Souldiers without any sufficient strength of Horsemen to joyn Battel with such an Enemy as better knew the Country than he and far exceeded him both for number and expertness of his Souldiers Wherefore Techellis trussing up his rich Prey he had before gotten began now with speed to retire back again with his Followers through Galatia But the Bassa having intelligence almost every hour by Letters and Espials both of the retiring of Techellis and the way he held passed over the River Sangarius and coasting the Country came and encamped betwixt the Cities of Cutaie and Ancyra which way it was supposed the Enemy would pass Where when he had there a while rested his wearied Souldiers and was certainly advertised that the Rebels had taken another way he set forward again and after five days march in the Plains of Galatia overtook the straglers of the Enemies who wearied or wounded were not able to hold way with the Army all whom the Bassa commanded to be cruelly put to the Sword. And Techellis to terrifie the great Bassa or at leastwise with a most horrible spectacle to stay his pursuit caused Caragoses the Viceroy whom he had carried along with him in Chains to be cruelly impailed by the highway side upon a sharp stake set fast in the ground and so left him sticking for the Turks to wonder at But Alis Bassa nothing dismaied with the horrible death of so great a personage held on his way with more hast than good speed exhorting his Souldiers patiently to endure the painfulness of the long march and to strain themselves to take revenge of those rebellious Theeves and Robbers who destroying the Country before them spared not so much as the Turks Children and the Temples of their Religion and so the day following came into the Plains of Ancyra The same day also Achomates came unto the Bassa with ten thousand Souldiers Alis Bassa perceiving that he could not possibly with his whole Army overtake his Enemies marching with greater speed before him and grieved at the heart to see them escape out of his hand resolved to prove if he could with his Horsemen overtake them whereupon leaving his Footmen with Achomates he himself with eight thousand Horse following the Enemy upon the spur overtook the Rearward of their Army at the Mountain Olyga a little from the City of Ancyra unto whom he gave an hot skirmish Techellis which a little before had taken a fit place for his Camp upon the rising of the Hill although he saw his men faint with long travel and the scorching heat of the Sun yet quickly perceiving that he should have to do only with Horsemen and that in a place of advantage turning his Army and orderly placing his Souldiers as the ground and the shortness of the time would give leave valiantly received the impression of the Turks and with their long Pikes and Arrows at the first repulsed them so that it seemed they would neither have given ground unto the bragging Horsemen neither have done any thing not beseeming their former Victories had not Alis Bassa sent a thousand Carbines who in Troops orderly following one another delivered their Shot as thick as Hail upon the Enemy with which storm many of them being slain and more wounded their ranks began to be somewhat disordered whereupon the other Horsemen breaking in with great slaughter overthrew the Vantguard of Techellis Battel in which conflict Chasan Chelife himself was slain Techellis always at hand where most need was even in the midst of the Slaughter of his men
appointed retire the one for himself and those whom he conducted the other for Vasta Ogli and the rest of his Army Hysmael as Iovius reporteth had in his Army about thirty thousand Horsemen without any Footmen amongst whom were ten thousand Men at Arms resolute Gentlemen of great experience all gallantly mounted upon couragious barbed Horses and themselves bravely Armed both for the shew and terror of the Enemy their Weapons were a good Lance a sure Scimitar and a Horsemans Mace the rest were Armed with strong Curiasses and Head-pieces and were either Archers on Horseback or else used light Horsemens Staves made of Ash after the Spanish Fashion wherewith they served at the half Staff. As for Guns they had none in which thing only and number of Men they were inferior to the Turks But such was the invincible courage and noble minds of the Persians that contemning the huge multitude of their Enemies who were in number about three hundred thousand and making no great reckoning of their great Artillery they doubted not with so few to give them Battel Hysmael having given the signal of Battel came on with his Army exhorting his Soulders then to remember the Honour they had long before gotten in many Battels and couragiously to follow him their Sovereign whom they by their worthy service and many victories had made the greatest Monarch of the East telling them that they should have now to do but with naked Men whose Weapons were but weak Staves and light Targets and their Horses little poor Jades almost dead with hunger never able to abide the first charge of his valiant Men at Arms. On the other side Selymus perceiving the coming of his Enemies by the rising of the dust caused knowledge to be given through his Army by his Captains and Officers that the time of Battel which they had so long wished for was now come wherein if they would worthily acquit themselves against those their proud Enemies they should to their immortal Fame extend the Turkish Empire from the Persian Sea to the Mountain Caucasus but if they cowardly forgetting their ancient Prowess should faint in time of Battel they were not then to think by any means to escape by flight back again through those great Plains and desolate Countries where they should by the way either shamefully perish or else to their perpetual infamy be taken Prisoners and as base Slaves during their lives be enforced to serve the Persian Women forasmuch as beside the great distance of the place both the great River Euphrates and the huge Mountain Taurus and the faithless King Aladeules who had shut up all the passages did cut off all hope from them if they should be overcome by any means possible to escape back again into Cappadocia When Hysmael was come near with his Army and the Asapi upon sign given dividing themselves made place for the great Artillery to play as was before appointed he also presently dividing his Horsemen charged the right Wing of the Turks Army whith such force that after a most terrible fight betwixt the half armed Turks and the valiant Persian Men at Arms Chasan Bassa the great Commander of the Europeian Horsemen with the formost of that Wing being slain and many more after them he inforced all that Wing to retire unto that place where Selymus himself with the Janizaries stood On the other side Vasta Ogli having received no little harm by the Turks great Ordnance because he had not so speedily cleared himself and his followers of that danger as had Hysmael charged the Asian Horsemen in the left Wing and there in bloody Battel made great slaughter of the Enemy but not with like good hap as did Hysmael for whiles he most couragiously in the formost Ranks assailed his Enemies he was struck with a small shot and slain With whose fall the Turks were greatly encouraged insomuch as that they which but now were glad to give ground and had lost the third part of that Wing began afresh to renew the Battel and valiantly to withstand the Persians and with their Harquebusiers wherewith the Persian Horsemen were wonderfully terrified drave them head-long upon the Turks common Footmen The Persians whether it were forced by necessity for that they had lost so great a Commander and not well able to govern their Horses terrified with the thundring shot or else for that the open side of the Footmen presented unto them greater place of advantage setting themselves together brake through the middle of the Battel of those Turkish Footmen and bearing them down before them with a mighty slaughter came to the great Ordnance and there shew the Canoniers who discharging their Field-Pieces at all adventures in that great medly made a foul slaughter as well of their own Men as of their Enemies And so without stop as victorious Conquerors made way through the midst of their Enemies until they came to the right Wing where Hysmael was still hardly charging the Europeian Horsemen who having before lost Chasan their General and being many of them slain or wounded were already enforced to retire but now charged afresh upon the side had much ado to endure the fury of their Enemies but as Men in extream danger were glad to cry to Selymus for help In this hard distress Selymus in two places opened his Carriages wherewith he stood as it were entrenched and presently sent out part of his Horsemen And by and by turning himself unto his Janizaries said This days Victory is reserved most worthy Souldiers unto your valour and labour wherefore now valiantly set forward and as fresh and couragious Men assail your wearied Enemies their Horses are all on a water with Sweat and the Men themselves faint under the weight of their Armor But yet for all that Selymus could say the Janizaries were not very forward but stood still as Men willing in so great a danger to keep themselves within the safegard for their Munition Wherefore whilst they at their leisure set forward the Persians in the midst of the heat of this Victory compassing in the Europâian Horsemen slew them downright Selymus looking on and wishing in vain to help them Fabritius Carrectus great Master of the Rhodes who of all these things had certain intelligence writ to Leo the Tenth then Bishop of Rome that the Janizaries refused to be commanded by Selymus and were not by any perswasion or intreaty to be induced to relievâ the distressed Europeian Horsemen but as Men distrusting the event of the Battel chose rather in their strength to expect the success thereof than with most manifest danger to expose themselves unto the violence of the Persian Horsemen which had as a Tempest overborn the vantgard of the Turkish Footmen The Persians were now ready on every side to have assailed Selymus in his greatest strength when Sinan Bassa although the Wing he led was sore rent and weakned yet following the Persians through the midst of the heaps
naked Turkish Horseman is not to be compared with the Persian Man at Arms who comes into the Field armed with a strong Cuiras a sure Head-piece and a good Target whereas the Turkish Europeian Horsemen altogether naked use only a square or crooked Buckler wherewith they do scarcely cover themselves and the Asian Horsemen Bucklers made of soft Reeds wound round and covered with some kind of Silk The Persian Horsemen also wearing their Pouldrons and Gauntlets and bearing Staves of good Ash armed at both ends fight with them as occasion serveth at the halâ Staff after the manner of the Numidians and with doubling and redoubling their often thrusts from on high do easily wound or kill the unarmed Turks with their Horses whereas the Turkish Horsemen after the manner of the Grecians couching their Staves in their Rests do at the first course most commonly break the same being made of light and brittle Fiâ and so presently come to their Scimetars or Horsemans Maces being in all other things far inferior to the Persian Men at Arms. As for the Turkish Archers on horseback they are in no respect to be compared with the Persians who well mounted and surely armed and using both greater and stronger Bows shoot more deadly Arrows and so make small account of the Turks So that all things well considered the Persian Army devoted to their King as well for the great and firm opinion conceived of his high Courage and divine Spirit as for that they were to him by Faith obliged although it was in number far inferior yet had it been of the Turks invincible if it had not been overwhelmed by the cruel cowardly and murthering Artillery and wonderful multitude of Men. The cause why Hysmael out of so many great and large Provinces then under his Obeisance able in ancient times with their multitude to cover the face of the Earth and to drink the Rivers dry brought now so small an Army against the Turkish Emperor breaking into the heart of Armenia was for that Hysmael to win the hearts of the People by Bounty had remitted a great part of his Customs and Tributes so as then stood best with his Policy having but lately aspired to the Kingdom and thrust down his near Kinsmen the Posterity of Usun-Cassanes and Iacup the rightful Inheritors thereof so that his Coffers being empty and wanting Mony the sinews of War he was not able to raise so great an Army as otherwise he might out of those populous Kingdoms and Countries yielding plentifully all things necessary for mans use Whereas with Selymus it was far otherwise whose Horsemen Footmen Captains Canoniers both at Sea and Land Officers of Peace and Wars received their dayly Wages and monthly Pays in ready Mony of his Treasurers and Paymasters for the defraying of which charge he never wanted Coin having an inestimable Mass of Mony alwaies in store in the seven Towers at Constantinople and his yearly Tributes and Revenues still exceeding all his charges by a fourth part The Strength of the Persian King consisted in three kind of Souldiers the first were they which were accounted Souldiers of the Court the second such as were by Custom and Duty bound to serve him in his Wars and the third such as were sent to him from the Princes his Neighbours and Confederates Those which were accounted Souldiers of his Court had their certain Stipends and were altogether maintained of the Kings charge of whom according to the old custom of the Persian Kings they at certain times receive Armor Horses Apparel Tents and Wages every one as he is in place and degree And being attended upon with a gallant and strong Garrison of these he maintaineth the Majesty of his Court especially when he rideth in Progress The Nobility and ancient Gentlemen of his Country who hold Lands and Possessions descended unto them from their Ancestors or holden by the gift of the King are sent for in time of Wars and are of duty bound to perform such like service as the Nobility and Gentlemen of Italy France and Spain do unto their Sovereigns these hardly amount to the number of twenty thousand whereof it is well if the third part come well armed the rest content themselves with Head-pieces and Jacks and use for their Weapons either Horsemens Staves or Bows which they can most cunningly handle discharging their Arrows very near unto that they aim at either forward or backward They which come unto him from forreign Princes confederate or tributary are commonly sent from the Kings and Princes of Iberia Albania and the Countries bordering upon Media and Armenia who being half Christians bear a mortal hatred against the Turks Hysmael the Persian King had then under his Dominion these great and famous Countries Armenia the greater Sulthania Persia Assyria Mesopotamia Media and Parthia whereof Armenia is the chiefest famous for the great City Tauris called in ancient time Ecbathana this Country yieldeth unto the Persian King his best Footmen but his choice Horsemen come from out of Persia and especially from Scyras called of old Cyripolis next unto them are from Assyria the chief City whereof is Bagdat called in ancient time Babylon The Medes and Parthians are of all others acounted the best Archers next unto the Scythians But now to return again from whence we have a little too far strayed year 1515. Selymus after his great expedition against Hysmael wintering at Amasia by his Lieutenants and Captains in Europe and Asia raised such a power that with the first of the Spring he entred again into the Confines of the Persian Kingdom with a greater Army than before and that somewhat sooner than the extream cold of that part of Armenia subject to the snowy Mountain Taurus would either well suffer or that the Enemy thought it had been possible for him to have so done There was upon the further side of Euphrates a strong Town called Clamassum situate a little above that place where the River Melas much celebrated by the Grecian Poets falleth into the River Euphrates which Town for the commodious situation thereof standing upon the first entrance of the passage into Armenia the great the Persians had furnished with a strong Garrison this Town Selymus thought good in any case to be master of by taking whereof and of some other Holds thereabout he should open a fair way for himself into his Enemies Country Hysmael at the same time was gone with all his power against the Hyrcanians Bactrians and other savage People dwelling near unto the Caspian Sea then up in Arms against him which wished opportunity Selymus taking and making a bridge over the River Euphrates passed over with his Army came before the Town and laid hard Siege to the same before his Enemies were well awar of his coming The Turks at their first approach compassing the City round with their huge multitude of Harquebusiers and Archers drave the Defendants from the Walls and still without rest
or intermission bringing on fresh men as Selymus had before taken order and others at the same time breaking open the Gates and in divers places scaling the Walls enforced the Defendants to forsake their standings and to retire themselves into the Market place where although they were before sore spent with labour and wounds yet did they there with wonderful courage a great while notably withstand the multitude of their Enemies still swarming in and in defence of their Country like resolute men fought it out unto tha last man. Selymus having taken and ransacked Clamassum with two other small Castles which the Defendants had for fear before abandoned although he was with a deadly hatred and ambitious desire prickt forward against Hysmael and thirsted after nothing more than the subversion of the Persian Kingdom yet he thought it not good further to enter into Armenia before he had out of those Forests and Mountains chased the Mountain King Aladeules who but the year before had most treacherously done him and his Army so many injuries in his return from the Persian Expedition For Aladeules not without cause fearing his own estate as soon as he understood that Selymus had again taken the Field and that he was come to the River Euphrates and so to Clamâssum speedily assembling his Forces had in short time raised a great Army for the deâence of himself and his Kingdom purposing that if Selymus should go farther into Armenia then after his wonted manner to look on as a beholder and by the event of the War to take occasion of Prey and by shutting up the passages of his Country at his pleasure to rob and spoil the Turks in their return Wherefore Selymus leaving a Garrison at Clamassum retired back again over the River Euphrates unto the Mountain Antitaurus where it was reported that his Enemies lay This Aladeules as is aforesaid ruled over the rude and savage Mountain People inhabiting the great Mountains Taurus and Antitaurus which Mountains as it were linked together one to another run from the Mountains called Scodrisci and the Borders of Cappadocia with a perpetual rising through many large Provinces and Countries unto the great Mountain Amanus and uttermost bounds of Cilicia The People of this Country were by Nature fierce and warlike more famous for nothing than for the want of all things who as men dwelling in a rough and bare Country could little or nothing profit by Husbandry yet in such places as would bear any pasture they had their breed of Horses and Camels and did with all diligence use grasing but the greatest part of their living consisted in hunting and stealing These are supposed to have had their beginning from the Galatians Cappadocians Armenians and the old Inhabitants of Asia the less which by long and continual Wars in former ages and especially by the lamentable irruption of the Scythians were inforced to forsake their Cities and Dwellings and for safeguard of their lives to fly into those rough and desolate Mountains These distressed People searching every Hill and every Dale and following the opportunity of the Rivers and Fountains but especially the mildest temperature of the Air and favourable aspect of the Sun built in many places poor Country Villages and afterwards divers fair Towns where in process of time they growing to better estate there rose up some amongst them which overruling the rest ambitiously took upon them the name of Kings desiring to be had in regard and to be feared of their Neighbours although they commanded but over rough Woods and ragged Rocks Near unto the Confines of Aladeules Kingdom is the City Orpha which many suppose to have been the famous City Edessa because that as yet there remaineth certain Monuments of Baldwin in Latine Letters who after his Brother Godfrey was possessed of Ierusalem is reported to have taken Edessa and there reigned Not far from thence is also the ancient City Amyda which at this day is called Carimida joyning upon Mesopotamia which Country lying between the two great Rivers Euphrates and Tigris is now called Diarbecha The chief City of Aladeules Kingdom was Maras so called as may be thought of the fair River Marsias running through it out of the Mountain Celene taking the name of Marsias overcome by Apollo and made famous by the Verses of many learned Poets But Aladeules after he saw that Selymus with his Army was entred into the Frontiers of his Kingdom and drawing near unto him brought down all his Horsemen in number about fifteen thousand from the Mountains into a fair large Valley commanding his Footmen whereof he had great store to keep the Mountains on the right hand and the left where having the high rocky Mountains and strait passages much for his advantage he determined in that place which he had long before chosen and fortified to expect the coming of his Enemies Selymus considering the disadvantage of the place although he perceived the Victory could not without great loss of his men be obtained and before perswaded that his Enemies would never have willingly been drawn to Battel yet made no doubt to adventure his Fortune presuming upon the multitude and strength of his Army Wherefore he commanded Sinan Bassa the Eunuch whom he had made General of the Europeian Horsemen instead of Chasan Bassa before slain with a square Battel to charge the Enemy afront forasmuch as the place would not suffer him to range his Battel in length nor to use any Wings and he himself with his Janizaries and Asian Horsemen followed after in the Rearward Neither were the Souldiers of Aladeules unmindful of themselves or of their King who valiantly fought in the head of the Battel but having spent their Arrows did couragiously receive the furious assault of the Turks and standing close to them still keeping the advantage of the ground did with such force repulse them that the old beaten Souldiers of the Turks seemed little or nothing to prevail either with their Multitude or Valor for the Turks by reason of the straightness of the place could not inclose them on either side and were beside grievously wounded by Aladeules Footmen who standing upon the sides of the Hills with their Darts and Arrows from above overwhelmed the Turks in the Valley When Selymus saw that Aladeulus contrary to his expectation made strong resistance and valiantly withstood his Forces he drew certain Companies of Harquebusiers out of his own Squadrons and sent them to relieve their Fellows and at the same instant commanded the Janizaries for all the danger to mount the Hill. Then the Mountain People terrified with the strangeness of the Shot and not able to abide the force thereof by and by turned their backs and by known ways fled into their sure haunts in the Mountains and Woods fast by yet the greatest slaughter fell amongst these Footmen who when they saw the Horsemen put to flight and the Janizaries coming up the Hills against them did with much
happily in the absence of himself and of his Armies the Christian Princes might take occasion to invade his Dominions he strengthned the Frontiers of his Empire with most strong Garrisons and left his Son Solyman who afterward proved the scourge of Christendom at Hadrianople with a strong power and Pyrrhus Bassa his Tutor a man of great Wisdom and Government at Constantinople This great Bassa was of Cilicia a native Turk born which was a thing accounted strange forasmuch as the great Bassaes were alwaies chosen of the Christian blood After that he sent Cherseogles whom of all others he most trusted with his Army into Bithynia and made Zafferus an Eunuch Admiral of his Navy which he had but a little before built and with wonderful labor and charge rigged forth Then staying a few days at Constantinople to see the young Souldiers but then chosen Janizaries year 1516. he departed thence and went to his old Army lying with Sinan Bassa at Iconium purposing to have again invaded the Persian When he was come thither he understood that Campson Gaurus Sultan of Egypt with a great Army levied in Egypt and Iudea was come into Syria giving it out that he would aid the Persian King his Confederate and with all Hostility enter into Cilicia if Selymus should farther proceed to invade Hysmael the Sophi his Friend and Ally Selymus perplexed with these News and fearing that if he should once pass over the River Euphrates Campson lying so near in readiness should forthwith break in at his back into Asia by the Mountain Amanuâ and so indanger that part of his Dominion staied at Iconium and sent his Embassadors with great Presents to Campson to pacifie him if it might be The chief Men in this Embassage were the Cadelescher a Man of great account amongst the Turks and of them exceedingly Reverenced for the opinion they had of his great knowledge in the Mahometan Superstition who afterwards wrote the Commentaries of this War and Iachis a great Captain The scope of whose Embassage was to intreat Campson that he would not hinder or disturb Selymus from making War upon the Persian King who had so oftââ and so forcibly invaded his Dominions in Asia and by bringing in a new form of Superstition had corrupted and altered the most certain grounds of the Mahometan Religion And if they found him resolutely set down and not to be by any conditions removed then with all possible diligence to learn his strength and farther designs so far as by any means they could and with all speed to make their return But Campson now far spent with age and living in the height of worldly Bliss although he knew it fitter for him at those years to give himself to ease and quietness than to thrust himself into Wars and other Princes quarrels yet thought this Expedition to be for many causes both good and necessary First he deadly hated the Man for his inhuman Cruelty and therefore could never be perswaded to renew the League with him which he had in former time made with his Father Bajâzet besides that he desired to abate and repress his audacious insolency grown already by his prosperous Success beyond the bounds of reason for Selymus having taken Tauris overthrown the Persians and slain Aladeules began now to seem terrible to all the Princes that bordered upon him and there were many which said he was another Alexander who whilst other Princes sat still as Men asleep did in the mean time Plot in his victorious mind the Monarchy of the whole World. But above all things the fear of the losing of Syria and consequently the loss of all his Kingdom the quickest motive for stirring up of the suspitious minds of the greatest Princes most inforced Campson to take in hand this War so as much as the goodly Kingdoms of Egypt Iudea and Syria oppressed with the intollerable Government of the Proud Mamalukes and therefore less faithful to the Egyptian Kings were in danger to revolt to the Turks if the Persians should by any mischance or fortune of War be of the Turks vanquished For which cause Campson in the beginning of this War solicited by the Persian Embassadors had made a firm League and confederation with Hysmael and also moved with the misery of the woful young Prince Aladin the Son of Achomates was in mind perswaded that the cruel Turkish Tyrant might by his and the Persian Kings Forces easily be thrust out of his Empire in Asia and Europe For Aladin who after the death of Achomates his Father fled to Campson the Sultan of Egypt as is before declared had lived three years as a forlorn and distressed Prince in the Egyptian Court and by all means he could devise incited the Mamalukes to revenge the injuries and cruelty of his Uncle Selymus The eldest Son also of the late King Aladeules a goodly young Prince having at once lost his Father his Kingdom and whatsoever he had else was in good time fled to the Egyptian King and had so filled the minds of all Men with the indignation and detestation of Selymus his exceeding cruelty that the Princes of the Mamalukes of their own accord came to Campson humbly beseeching him to take upon him so just a War and if by reason of his great years he should think himself unable to indure the travel thereof it would then please him yet to give them leave of themselves to take the matter in hand for the repressing of the insolency of that great and wicked Tyrant These Mamalukes far excelled the Turks not only in strength of Body skilful riding and goodly armor but also in courage and wealth Beside that they had not forgotten with what small power they had under the leading of Caitbeius their great Sultan overthrown the Turks great Armies in Cilicia first at Adena and afterward at Tarsus where they took Prisoners Mesites Palaeologus the great Bassa and Cherseogles Bajazet his Son-in-Law by which Victory they grew into such a proud and vain conceit of themselves as if they had been the only Souldiers of the World able of themselves to vanquish and overcome whatsoever they should set upon These so valiant Souldiers were for the most part of the poor People called in ancient time Getae Zinchi and Bastarnae born near unto the Euxine Sea and the Fens of Maeotis especially on that side where the River Corax falleth into the Euxine Sea which Country is of later time called Circassia of the People called Cercitae near unto Cholchis These miserable and wretched People the Valachians Podolians Polonians Roxolanes and Tartars dwelling by Taurica pulled from their Mothers Breasts or by other violent means surprised were sold to Merchants who culling out the best for strength of Body or aptness of Wit conveied them by Sea to Alexandria from whence they were continually sent to the great Sultan of Egypt and by his appointment were at Caire after the old manner of that People delivered to Masters
of fence and such other Teachers who carefully instructed them being shut up in their Schools in all manner of feats of Activity where after they were become able to bend a strong Bow and taught cunningly to Shoot Leap Run Vault Ride and skilfully to use all manner of Weapons they were then taken into pay and received into the number of the Kings Horsemen or Mamalukes and such of them as proved cowardly or unapt were made slaves unto the rest So that they seeing all honour credit and preferment laied up in martial prowess did with all diligence and courage imploy themselves to military Affairs and therein so well profited that oftentimes they which at the first were but bare and base slaves of the meanest of the Mamalukes by many degrees of service rise at length to the highest degrees of Honour All these Mamalukes were the Children of Christian Parents from the time of their Captivity instructed in the Mahometan Superstition for no Man born of a Mahometan Father or of a Jew could be admitted into the number of the Mamaluke Horsemen which was so straitly observed that the honour of a Mamaluke Horseman never descended unto the Sons of the Mamalukes yet might they by Law inherit their Fathers Lands Possessions and Goods by which reason the Sons of the Sultans themselves never succeeded their Fathers in the Kingdom Hereby also it came to pass that many Christians of loose life or condemned for their notorious offences flying thither and abjuring the Christian Religion and suffering themselves to be Circumcised being Men meet for the Wars grew by degrees to great Honour as did Tangarihardinus the Son of a Spanish Mariner who by his forwardness and industry grew into such credit and authority with Campson the great Sultan that almost all things were done by his advice and counsel and was divers times by him imployed in most honourable service being sent Embassador both to Bajazet the Turkish Emperor and to the State of Venice about matters of great importance Yet his impiety escaped not the hand of God for at length by the envy of the Court he was brought into disgrace thrust out of his place and cast into prison where he loaded with cold Iron most miserably died Neither was it to be marvelled if the Mamalukes were grown to that excess of wealth forasmuch as the Egyptians and Syrians being miserably by them oppressed were not suffered to have the use either of Horse or Armor neither admitted to any matters of counsel but being impoverished and brought low with heavy impositions and daily injuries of the Mamalukes gave themselves wholly to the Trade of Merchandise Husbandry and other mechanical Occupations over whom the Mamalukes had power and command as imperious Masters over their Servants and would with greater insolency than is to be believed abuse the poor Country People beating and spoiling them at their pleasure and not so contented Ravishing their Wives and Daughters without redress The Egyptians a People in ancient time much renowned for their valour and prowess were by their masterful slaves kept in this miserable thraldom and slavery about the space of three hundred years For after the declination of the Roman Empire that rich Country falling into the Government of the Constantinopolitan Emperors the Egyptians soon weary of the proud and avaritious Sovereignty of the Greeks called in the Sarasins by whose help they expulsed the Greeks and after chose the General of the Sarasins for their King after whose name the Egyptian Kings were of long time called Caliphs as they had of ancient time been called by the names of Pharo and Ptolomey The last of these Caliphs Reigned at such time as the Christians under the leading of Godfrey and Bohemund passing as Conquerors through Asia and Syria erected the Kingdom of Ierusalem He being invaded by Almericus sixth King of Ierusalem and finding himself too weak praied aid of the Sultan of Syria who sent him Sarraco a valiant Captain with a strong power to aid him but Sarraco no less unfaithful than couragious treacherously slew the Caliph in whose aid he came and took upon himself the Kingdom After Sarraco succeeded Saladine his his Brothers Son who utterly extinguished the name and authority of the Caliphs in Egypt whom Sarraco had yet left as high Priests This Saladine oftentimes vanquished the Christian Armies in Syria and Iudea and at length quite overthrew the Kingdom of Ierusalem as it is in the former part of this History to be seen Saladine dying left the Kingdom of Egypt to his Brother whose posterity successively reigned of long time there until the time of Melechsala This Melechsala last of the freeborn Kings and of the posterity of Saladine had great and mortal Wars with the Christians wherein having lost most of his best Souldiers and reposing no great confidence in the Egyptians thought good to strengthen himself with a new kind of Souldiers meer slaves bought for Mony. For at that time the Tartars breaking into Armenia and Cappadocia and overrunning the People called Comani joyning upon Cappadocia made general spoil of that People as of Prisoners taken by Law of Arms. Of this base People Melechsala for a little Mony bought a great multitude which he transported into Egypt and furnished them with Arms by whose prowess he not only defended the Frontiers of his Kingdom but also besieged Lewis the French King in his Trenches not far from Damiata called in ancient time Heliopolis or Pelustum and shortly after in plain Battel took him Prisoner as is long before declared But in the pride of this Victory Melechsala was by the conspiracy of these his new Souldiers slain in whose place they set up one Turqueminius a desperate Fellow of their own Company honouring him with the Title of the great Sultan of Egypt Turqueminius of â base Slave now become a great Monarch after the manner of Men forgetting his old Companions which had so highly promoted him and having them in great disdain was by one of them called Clotho suddenly slain for which Fact he was by those base Souldiers his Companions chosen Sultan in his place who for the short time of his Reign did much for the confirming of that servile Monarchy yet was he at length slain also by Bandocader sometimes one of his fellow Servants who also succeeded him in the Kingdom After him in long order succeeded many valiant Men of the same servile state and condition whom for brevity I wittingly pass over Amongst the rest Caitheius of whom we have before spoken in the life of Bajazet was for wealth and martital prowess most Famous who according to the manner of his Predecessors did with greater bounty and care maintain that servile Government than any of them who had before him Reigned in Egypt and was for his notable Government and noble Acts justly accounted amongst the greatest Princes of that Age. After whose death great troubles arose in that servile Monarchy about the Succession
and dismaied And now become exceeding careful both of his honour and himself he began to doubt whether it were better for him to give place to so great a danger and shunning Battel to retire with his Army into places of more safety or else couragiously to abide the coming of his Enemies and to hazard the Fortune of a Battel although it were upon great disadvantage forasmuch as he reputed it far more honourable after the example of his Predecessors from whom he had received that great Kingdom both gotten and kept by martial Prowess to die with honour in the Field than by shameful and unwonted Flight either to blemish their military Glory continued above the space of 300 years or for love of a small remainder of life being now 77 years old to seem willing to reserve unto an obloquy and shame his last days deprived of all honour and reputation There were amongst his Chieftains many which preferred wholesome Counsel before that which was in shew more glorious but above all others Iamburd Syrnamed Gazelles sometimes the follower of great Caitbeius a valiant Man of great Honour for his long experience in martial Affairs and at that time Governour of Apamia He as he was of opinion That to fight with the Turks Army consisting for most part of expert Souldiers with so small a power were a thing of desperate danger so was he also that it were good speedily to retire and to chuse the City of Damasco as the fittest place for those Wars forasmuch as the Turks Army could make no hast after them by reason of their Footmen and Carriages so that they might at ease and with safety retire and there calling together all the Mamalukes which were in Garrison in Iudea and Egypt and entertaining the Arabians their Neighbors to protract the War until Winter when as they might easily distress the Enemy for want of Victual And that it was not to be feared that Aleppo if it were furnished but with a reasonable Garrison could by and by be taken of the Enemy who had but small Field-Pieces not fit for battery Beside that in short time Aid would come from the Persians out of Mesopotamia yea and Hysmael himself hearing of the Turks expedition into Syria was like enough to break into Asia the less neither would the Christians refuse to furnish them with great Artillery from the Islands of the Rhodes and Cyprus against that common Enemy if they were thereto in time requested All which things being laid together he said the Sultan might afterward upon even hand go into the Field if he should think it so much to concern his honour to give his Enemies battel But forasmuch as the greatest Wars which at the first had most violent and most furious motions by the politique Enemies delay did most commonly in time grow calm he should not therefore make too much hast to adventure the fortune of Battel for that the errors of War which many times chanced through the oversight or rashness of the Chieftains might well of good men be lamented and detested but hardly or never recovered or amended Gazelles his grave and considerate Speech had much moved both the Sultan and others yet the chearfulness of the Souldiers and foolish hardiness of the Mamalukes did so fill Campsons Ears that he could not hearken to so good and wholesome Counsel for as soon as they heard certainly of the coming of the Turks they began to leap and dance and to rejoice among themselves that the time was come wherein they might make proof of their Valor and win to themselves Honour For now as they said was come that time they had long wished for wherein they would by notable slaughter of their Enemies advance the Honour and Majesty of Campson their Sultan far above the fame of Caitbeius and some even of the chief men about Campson upon flattery and vain ostentation alledging how honourably and with what small labour they had before overthrown the Turks great Army at Taurus perswading him that the victory would easily and without any great danger be gotten But especially Cayerbius Governor of Aleppo and of the Province of Comagena who after his War ended was in reward of his foul Treason by Selymus unworthily preferred to the greatest Honours of Egypt extolling with glorious words the Faithfulness Courage and Valor of the Mamalukes and extenuating the Power and Strength of the Enemy forced his Wits to the uttermost to overthrow the wholsome Counsel of Gazelles For this Cayerbius for all his fair face bore a grudg in his heart against Campson because he had some years before poisoned his Brother whom he had in jealousie being a man next to himself of greatest Power Wealth and Authority amongst the Mamalukes and withal of an aspiring mind Whereupon Cayerbeius afterwards thinking it good to look to himself and doubting the like practice to be intended against himself being as the manner of that Kingdom was summoned to a Parliament at Caire feigned himself sick and would not come wherewith Campson was not a little offended yet for a time he thought it best to dissemble the matter and to wait some fitter opportunity for the taking away of that proud man so forgetful of his duty and bearing himself against his Sovereign as if he had been an absolute King in his own Province this he thought might most covertly be brought to pass if he should upon the occasion of the present War as then it fell out or else under the color of going in person himself to the River Euphrates come to Aloppo for it was the manner of the ancient Egyptian Sultans not to account themselves worthy of the name of a Sultan or great General before they had as Cayerbeius had of late done encamped their Army upon the side of the River Euphrates at the City Byrtha which standing upon the Bank of the River retaineth at this day both the ancient Name and Fame and there with solemn Pomp had in the sight of the Army forced their Horses into the River to drink giving to understand by that ceremony the greatness of their Empire and that they were ready by force of Arms to prove that all those Countries were theirs which lay alongst the River Euphrates from the Mountain Taurus unto the Deserts of Arabia But the consideration of this War letted that he did not at his first coming oppress him because he deomed it to stand best with his present Affairs and not yet knowing the purpose of Selymus to expect the motions of the Turks and Persians and to defer the execution of his Wrath against Cayerbeius until the end of the War for fear lest the other Mamalukes dismaied with the hainousness of the suddain fact should either revolt from him or else raise some Mutiny or Rebellion in that populous City For Cayerbeius had by his Courtesy and Bounty may strong Companies in the Army fast bound unto him and beside that was of greatest Credit
the Jews the ancient Inhabitants thereof who for their inexpiable guilt as Men exiled out of the World have no Country or resting place but for most part by a few poor Christians who to the great scorn and shame of the Christian name paid yearly a great Tribute unto the Sultan of Egypt for the possession of the sacred Sepulcher when as the Christian Princes flourishing at that time with glory power and wealth could not by any motive of immortal glory or fame be incited to revenge so great an injury but deeming it as should seem better agreeing with their state to spend their time in idle Vanities or mortal War one against another than in the quarrel of the most true and Christian Religion Selymus having reverently worshipped the ancient Monuments of the old Prophets and done especial sacrifice unto his great Prophet Mahomet gave unto the Christian Priests keepers of the place as unto good and devout Men Mony to maintain them for six months and staying at Ierusalem but one night marched in four days to the rest of his Army at Gaza where by the way he had continual skirmishes both day and night with the Arabians for they according to their wonted manner were desperately at hand in every place and where the straitness of the ways inforced the Turks to extenuate their ranks there would they be ready to skirmish with them and suddainly unlooked for come to handy blows and when they came into the Vallies they tumbled down from the Mountains great stones upon them which they had for that purpose before provided At which time the Turks Harquebusiers in whom they had greatest confidence served them to little purpose for the Weather was so tempestuous and extream moist with continual Rain that the Ponder in their Flasks became wet and unserviceable and hardly could they keep Fire in their Matches Yet by the valiantness of the Janizaries the matter was so used that near unto the person of the Emperor no great harm was done by those naked Robbers for climbing up the Hills with Pikes in their Hands they drove them from their standings and enforced them to abandon the straits and high places year 1517. But Sinan Bassa who after his Victory returning to Gaza had put to death the authors of the late revolt confiscated their Goods and exacted of the People in general a great sum of Mony as the just punishment of their false Treachery hearing now of the coming of Selymus went to meet him with his victorious Souldiers furnished with the spoils of their Enemies Whom Selymus most honourably received and gave generally to the Captains and particularly to the most valiant of the common Souldiers garments of Silk with a great sum of Mony in reward of their good Service After that he staied but four days at Gaza for that he thought it not good to give any long time of breathing unto his discouraged Enemies now twice overthrown or to suffer the new Sultan not yet well setled in his Kingdom to grow stronger by new preparations and supplies raised in the most populous and plentiful Country of Egypt Which to let although it required great haste in setting forward and served as spurs unto him naturally hasting to glory and renown yet was his Army to be refreshed after so long and painful Travel and great provision to be made for the carriage of Water upon Camels all the way through the dry solitary and sandy Deserts For between Gaza and Caire lie vast unpeopled and barren sands which moved by the Wind rise up in Billows in manner of a rough Sea so troublesome that oftentimes it is not possible to see for dust and the light sands in many places gauled deep with the wind wonderfully troubleth the weary passengers But such a suddain calm ensued the great Rain which fell but three days before that Selymus unto his great good Fortune wanted nothing that he could wish for the happy conduct of his Army for the air was become so calm that there was no blast of wind to raise the Sand to trouble their sight and withal such plenty of Water was found almost in every place by reason of the abundant Rain which being not yet sunk far into the Sand afforded them water in such plenty if they digged but two foot deep that the Souldiers commonly thought it needless to carry any bottle of water for fear of thirst Yet for all that the wild Arabians failed not in all that passage on every side to hover about the Turkâ Army as Hawks over their prey and suffer none of them to straggle out of order or stay behind the Army but they were straitway snatched up and slain Against whom Selymus provided an easie remedy by placing his Field-pieces in divers parts of his Army which by the direction of the Leaders as every Man hapned to be nearest unto the danger were forthwith discharged upon the roaming Enemy And in the rereward of his Army were placed strong companies of Harquebusiers for the defence of the weak and feeble Souldiers who could but softly follow the Army and were therefore most subject to danger By this means Selymus with some small loss received from the Arabians in eight days march drew near to Caire Sinan Bassa going before him who with his Europeian Souldiers still kept one days journey before There is a Village about six Miles distant from the City of Caire called Matharea famous for the plenty of most excellent Balm with liquor of all others most fragrant and sovereign distilled out of low Trees there planted whose uttermost rind the people cut with Ivory Knives to give the Liquor passage which Balm for the notable vertues thereof being not elsewhere to be had Mens diseases and wanton desires have made of a wonderful price Into that place near unto a Village called Rhodania had Tomombeius conveied all his new and old provision of Artillery and had drawn deep Ditches overthwart all the field and cross the high-way which he had closely covered over the weak hurlds and earth as if it had been firm ground And he with his Mamalukes in number about twelve thousand and a great multitude of Arabian Horsemen lay in places convenient of purpose that when the Turks Battels should approach they should first feel the force of his great Ordnance before they came within the shot of their Arrows and forthwith upon great disadvantage with all his Forces suddainly to sât upon them disordered and intrapped All which thingâ were so cunningly and so politickly contrived and done that there was none in the Sultans Army which doubted of the good success of that day and a great mischief had undoubtedly befallen the Turks had not Fortune which favoured Selymus and frowned upon Tomombeius or more truly to say the fatal period of that Kingdom so requiring by the false Treachery of a few frustrated the great endeavors of the Mamalukes There was in the Sultans Army among the Souldiers of the
if it had been but to look to his charge when he was come as near as he could to Alis without mistrust thought good to assay if he could by policy bring that to pass which he was otherwise with great danger to attempt by force Wherefore feigning himself to be extream sick he sent Embassadors to Alis requesting him as a friend to vouchsafe to come unto him being at the point of death unto whom he had many things of importance from the great Emperor to impart and would if he should die leave with him all his charge until Solyman should otherwise dispose thereof Alis who from his youth had always honoured the Turkish Emperors and faithfully served them mistrusting no harm came to the Bassa accompanied with his four Sons whom the faithless Bassa without regard of infamy caused presently to be put to death with their Father and so reducing all that Country into the manner of a Province under Solymans obeisance came to him with twenty thousand Men about the time that the City of the Rhodes was yielded up This is the faithless dealing of the Turks not with the Christians only but with them of their own superstition also using it as no small policy utterly to extinguish the Nobility of all Countries subject to their servile Tyranny Solyman after he had thus subdued the Rhodes and disposed of the Island as he liked best returning to Constantinople brake up his Army and for the space of three years after followed his pleasure not doing any thing worthy of remembrance During which time and many years after the rich and flourishing Country of Italy sometime Mistress of the World was miserably afflicted and rent in pieces by Charles the Fifth then Emperor and Francis the French King the one envying unto the other the glory of the Empire and he not content therewith seeking with immoderate ambition to make himself Lord of all Italy most of the other Christian Princes and States being at the same time either by the one or by the other drawn into the fellowship of that War to the great trouble and sore weakning of the Christian Common-weal Whereupon Solyman waiting all occasions that might serve for the enlarging of his Empire and annoying of the Christians thought it not a fit time for him to set his foot into Hungary whereunto he had already laied open a way by the taking of Belgrade He knew right well that Lewis then King of Hungary was but young altogether unacquainted with the Wars commanding over his headstrong Subjects especially his rich Prelates and Nobility no otherwise than pleased themselves being himself rather by them altogether overruled besides that he was in good hope that the other Christian Princes near unto him either carried away with regard of their own Estate would not or else before unto himself by League fast bound could not afford unto him any great aid or succour the Germans he knew would make small hast unto such Wars as should yield them much danger and but small pay As for the Princes of the House of Austria Charles the Emperor and Ferdinand his Brother although they were joyned unto the young King with the nearest bonds of Alliance Lewis having Married Mary their youngest Sister and Ferdinand Ann King Lewis his Sister yet was there as he thought small help to be expected from them Charles having his hands full in Italy and Ferdinand altogether careful of himself and that Sigismund King of Polonia would for the young Kings sake break the ancient League he had with the Turkish Emperors he could hardly be perswaded As for other Christian Princes farther off he stood not in any great doubt year 1526. Thus having with himself singled out this young Prince the Hungarian King whom he had in his greedy mind already devoured he set forward from Constantinople and was come on his way as far as Sophiâ in Servia with a mighty Army of two hundred thousand men before that the Hungarians had any knowledge of his coming so blind and senseless was that State which now sleeping in security had long before lost those Eies which ever watcht and never spared cost or pains to keep the same in safety in stead of whom were others come in place sharp of sight and too too provident for that concerned their own advancement but blind as Beetles in foreseeing this great and common danger wherewith they were shortly after all quite overwhelmed until it was now brought home unto their own Doors The young King of himself but weak by reason of his youthful years and nothing strengthned by them for whom he had most done and should have been his greatest stay was wonderfully dismaied with the fame of the approach of so mighty an Enemy yet the better to withstand him he sent Embassadors with all speed unto the Christian Princes his Neighbours requesting their Aid against the common Enemy but all in vain In the mean time after the ancient manner of his Country he gave out general Summons for the Assembly of his Counsel for the Wars whether his great stipendary Prelates of duty bound to appear came with their Troops of evil appointed Horsemen and not half full who also delivered in less sums of Mony by far than of right they should have done towards the maintenance of the charge of that common War. And the temporal Nobility forgetting the warlike Discipline of their famous Ancestors as fresh-water Souldiers which had seen the Turkish Emperor in his strength and but little acquainted with some light skirmishes or small invasions in their vain bravery made light account of the Turks proudly vaunting That although they were in number but few yet they would easily overthrow the great numbers of them if ever they came to handy strokes But above all the rest one Paulus Tomoreus Archbishop of Colossa sometimes a Minorite who had before been in divers light skirmishes against the Turks with great insolency did so confidently brag and boast of the Victory he vainly dreamed of that in his Sermons unto the Souldiers and in open talk with the Nobility if he could have done so much as he vaunted of it should seem that he himself had been enough to have overthrown the Turks whole Army But when all the Kings Army was assembled and a general muster taken there was hardly found five and twenty thousand men in all horse and foot So that the foolish hardiness of Tomoreus and others so forwards to give the Turks battel was of most wise men disliked The old Souldiers and men of great experience said plainly That it was meer folly and madness with such a handful of men to give battel unto the Enemy who would bring eight times so many more into the Field as they were Wherefore some wished that the young King should be withdrawn from the eminent danger among whom Stephanus Verbetius a noble Captain of all the rest best acquainted with the Turkish Wars gave Counsel
was about to have declared the cause of his coming he was after the manner of the Turkish Court referred to the Bassaes for Solyman used not to admit any Christian to talk with him in his Court. Lascus requested of Solyman by the Bassaes That King Iohn wrongfully thrust out of his Kingdom by Ferdinand Duke of Austria and the Treason of certain of the Hungarians might by the Turkish power be again restored unto the Kingdom of Hungary which he would hold by homage of the Turkish Emperor as of right belonging unto him since the time that Solyman with victorious hand revenging his wrongs and subduing his Enemies had by Law of Arms Fortune so judging gained the same Promising that King Iohn who for his worthiness was by the general good liking of the Hungarians lawfully chosen to be their King and so after the ancient manner of that Kingdom crowned if he were now received into Solymans Protection and by him restored should never forget so great a benefit but always most faithfully and thankfully to honour the Majesty of Solyman paying him such yearly Tribute as it should please him to impose and to make it known to all men that he was his Vassal Which thing if it would please him to grant it should be no less honour and glory to Solyman himself than profitable and comfortable unto the distressed King. For beside that heroical Kings are compared unto Gods rather for giving than receiving it was easie to be seen how greatly it did concern the profit of the Othoman Kings to be neighboured with a weak and tributary King rather than with Ferdinand a Prince of great Power lately chosen King of Bohemia supported by the strength of his Brother Charles the Emperor commanding over the warlike Nation of the Germans which was as much difference as was betwixt the maintenance of a continual heavy War upon his Borders and the safe enjoying of a most assured Peace Beside that it concerned the Turks to beware that such things as they had got by the Sword they should also by the Sword defend and not to suffer any one to grow greater than the rest in Riches and Power For it might so fall out that Charles grown to be a Prince of mighty Power might draw the rest of the Christian Princes to join with him in the common cause of the Christian Religion and in that quarrel as the Christian Kings of Europe had in former time done with united Forces to seek to recover again what they had before lost whose Force it would be hard to withstand These things being sharply delivered and by the Bassaes again reported unto Solyman who standing at a secret Window had before heard them as they were by Lascus to the Bassaes declared it was no great labour to perswade the Turkish Emperor of himself desirous of Glory and Sovereignty again to undertake the Hungarian War and to grant King Iohn his request promising according to the success of the Victory to give him that he desired that he would faithfully perform what he had promised and not shew himself therefore unthankful In the mean time Ferdinand upon great reason thinking it necessary by all means possible to confirm himself in possession of the Kingdom of Hungary and fearing no force but the Turks determined to prove Solymans disposition and to seek for his Friendship hoping by reasonable means to compass it by shewing unto the barbarous Prince not altogether abhorring from the commendation of Justice his ancient Title and Claim and that he was by the ancient Laws of the Country right Heir thereof thinking that Solyman having obtained so many Victories and ruling over so many Kingdoms would now at length give himself to Peace as a man contented with his glory already gotten His desire was to be received into his Friendship and to joyn with him in League upon the same conditions which Ladislaus and his Son Lewis had for certain years before obtained of the Othoman Kings and Sigismund King of Polonia then also with like quietness enjoyed Wherefore having found out a fit man whom he might send upon this Embassage to Constantinople one Ioannes Oberdanscus a Hungarian he furnished him accordingly and gave him Gifts such as he thought good to beâtow upon the great Bassaes. But when Oberdanscus was come unto Constantinople he found Solyman harder to be intreated than he had before hoped and the Bassaes altogether unwilling to hear of any League for although he was courteously received of Solyman and most patiently heard whilst he both eloquently and discreetly before the great Bassaes delivered his Embassage yet in the shutting up of all he received no more but a proud and insolent answer for Solyman said it was far from the manner of his Ancestors to receive them into grace and favour which had done injury to the Othoman name wherefore that Ferdinand had done impudently to invade another mans Kingdom and to think to hold it to himself forasmuch as his old Title and Claim which he stood so much upon was altogether extinguished and lost by Law of Arms by his late Victory against King Lewis for which causes he adjudged him unworthy of his Friendship and Favour purposing sharply to revenge the wrong he had received and proclaiming War to come again into Hungary with such a power as should be sufficient to invade Ferdinand either in Austria or Germany Wherefore instead of Friendship and League he denounced unto him all the calamities of War and so commanded the Embassador with speed to depart from Constantinople But Oberdanscus when he was come back again as far as Vienna and had there told the Kings Lieutenants of the threatning words of Solyman and that he would shortly come thither with his Army he was not of any of them believed but reputed for a vain man. Wherefore to shun the hatred of them which mistook truth for falshood he made hast to come to Ferdinand who was then at Spires labouring for voices to further his suit for that at the next Assembly of the States of the Empire which was then at hand for the Coronation of his Brother Charles he himself as he well hoped was to be chosen King of the Romans The News brought by Oberdanscus did not a little trouble King Ferdinand foreseeing as it were what would happen for that the Turkish Tyrant used not lightly to break such promises but to perform them to the uttermost and that more encreased his care he knew he should come in evil time to crave help of the Germans for the defence of his Kingdom in Hungary against so mighty an Enemy especially his Brother Charles the Emperor being busied in his Wars in Italy and he himself wanting Mony the only means to raise an Army to withstand the Turk year 1529. The Spring now come and all things fresh and green Solyman altering nothing of his former determination having levied an Army of an hundred and fifteen thousand men
advantages to cut off his people spent with long travel wanting Victual and falling into divers Diseases as it commonly chanceth to populous Armies in strange Countries where the change of the Air with the inevitable necessity always attending upon a great Army most times causeth grievous and contagious Diseases Wherefore Tamas to shun the coming of Solyman retired further off into Sultania about six days journey from Tauris Whereof Solyman having knowledge departed from that rich City without doing any harm therein following after Tamas into Sultania to joyn battel with him if he could possible leaving behind him for hast a great part of his Carriages and Baggage with five hundred Janizaries and three of his Sanzacks with their Companies The City of Sultania was in ancient time one of the Royal Seats of the Persian Kings but ruinated by the Scythian Tamerlane retained no shew of the ancient Majesty but only in the Churches by him spared Near unto this City Solyman lay incamped many days expecting that the Persian King in revenge of the injuries to him done and for the safeguard of his Honour should at length come out of the Mountains and shew himself in plain Field and give him battel Which was a thing so far from Tamas his resolution upon the due comparing of his own strength with his Enemies that he retired in such sort that Solyman could by no means learn what was become of him or which way to follow him The Country near unto the City of Sultania wherein Solyman lay incamped at large is on every side invironed with huge Mountains whose tops are to be seen afar off always covered with deep Snow these Mountains were in ancient time called Nyphates Caspius Coathras and Zagrus taking their beginning no doubt from Caucasus the Father of Mountains and joyning one to another some one way some another do divide most large and wide Countries Whilst Solyman in those vast and plain Fields most fit to fight a battel in expected the coming of Tamas such a horrible and cruel Tempest as the like whereof the Persians had never before seen at that time of the year fell down from those Mountains which was so much the more strange for that it fell in the beginning of September with such abundance of rain which froze so eagerly as it fell that it seemed the depth of Winter had even then of a sudden been come in for such was the rage of the blustring Winds striving with themselves as if it had been for Victory that they swept the Snow from off the tops of those high Mountains and cast it into the Plains in such abundance that the Turks lay as men buried alive in the deep Snow most part of their Tents being overthrown and beaten down to the ground with the violence of the Tempest and weight of the Snow wherein a wonderful number of sick Souldiers and others of the baser sort which followed the Camp perished and many others were so benummed some their Hands some their Feet that they lost the use of them for ever most part of their Beasts which they used for carriage but especially their Camels were frozen to death Yea Solyman himself was in great danger to have been overwhelmed in his Tent all the Tents round about him being overthrown with the violence of the Tempest Neither was there any remedy to be found for so great mischiefs by reason of the hellish darkness of that tempestuous night most of their fires being put out by the extremity of the Storm which did not a little terrifie the superstitious Turks as a thing accounted of them ominous And that which troubled them no less than the miseries of the Tempest was the fear of the Enemy whose sudden coming they deadly feared until that after so tedious a night the Sun breaking out the next morning with his chearful beams revived many before ready to give up the ghost for cold and gave comfort unto them all in general by discovering the open Fields clear of their feared Enemies It was a dreadful thing to have seen what misery that one night had brought into the Turks Camp the ground lay almost covered with Bodies of the dead and many lived but so as that they accounted the dead more happy than themselves Many of the Turks vainly thought that horrible Tempest was brought upon them by the Charms and Inchantments of the Persian Magicians whereas it was undoubtedly by the Hand of him who bringeth the proud devices of Princes to naught Solyman troubled as well with the strangeness of the accident as the loss he had received after he had a little refreshed his discouraged Souldiers rose with his Army and took his way on the left hand into Assyria Ulemas the Persian perswading him thereunto for many causes but especially by putting him in hope of the taking of Babylon for that Mahometes a Friend of his was Governor thereof But he when the matter came to proof was not to be won either by Promise or Reward to betray the City Wherefore Solyman resolved to take it by force neither did his Fortune fail him therein for as soon as Mahometes understood that Ulemas was at hand with the Forerunners of the Turks Army and that Solyman with all his Power was coming after who as he thought would never have come so far he not provided to withstand so mighty an Enemy and not beloved of the Citizens fled out of the City Solyman coming in short time after was of the Babylonians received without resistance The City of Babylon commonly called Bagdat rose out of the ruines of the old City of Babylon so much spoken of in holy Writ from whence it is not far distant standing upon the River Tygris which not far beneath falleth into the River Euphrates In this famous City is the Seat of the great Calyph the chief Mahometan Priest whom all the Mahometan Princes have in great Reverence and hath an old Prerogative in the choice and confirmation of the Kings of Assyria and the Sultans of Egypt of which Calyph Solyman according to the old superstitious manner received at his hands the Ensigns and Ornaments of the Assyrian Kings and with great bounty won the hearts of the people and thereupon resolved to spend that Winter there billiting his Army in divers places of that fertile Country The other Cities of Assyria and Mesopotamia also namely Caraemida Meredinum Orsa and Asancesa hearing that Solyman had without resistance taken Babylon yielded themselves and received his Garrisons Yet the fame thereof was so great that Embassadors came unto him as far as Ormus a City in the mouth of Euphrates where it falleth into the Persian Gulf famous for the great Traffique out of India thither suing unto him for Peace Thus the ancient City of Babylon with the great Countries of Assyria and Mesopotamia sometimes famous Kingdoms of themselves and lately part of the Persian Kingdom fell into the hands of the Turks and
would give it Wherefore calling together the Nobility and States of his Country he brake with them in this sort If ever you were to consult and deliberate of a most important and difficult matter this verily is that time for Selymus the Turkish Emperor enflamed with ensatiable Avarice and I know not by whose perswasion not contented with his wonted Tribute exacteth of us twice so much more If you shall grant it it shall not much concern me as not to be payed by me your Sovereign but by your selves and your posterity if we deny it forthwith he denounceth unto us Fire and Sword with all the calamities of War. And in this bareness of our Kingdom almost spoiled by Civil Wars how shall we be able to pay it him Wherefore declare your minds Verily I foresee that if you shall in this yield unto Selymus and grant him so great a Tribute he will not therewith long hold himself contented but every year extort a greater until he have altogether eaten us up Wherefore it were better for us in mine opinion to lose our lives together with our Wives and Children than to suffer so great an indignity neither is it mine own Estate that troubleth me for why it is you that are to pay it and not I. Wherefore if you list not to endure this so dishonourable and base a servitude let me forthwith so understand from you and I will for my part so provide as that I will not only not pay unto the barbarous Tyrant the new and heavy Tribute he demandeth but not so much as any Tribute at all so that you be not wanting both to your selves and me I know right well beloved and Fellows in Arms what I owe both unto you and the Common-weal for whose good and welfare I am always ready to lay down my Life He had no sooner thus said but that a secret sorrow and unwonted silence had as it were oppressed the whole Assembly At length as Men awaked out of an heavy and dead Sleep they murmured among themselves that the Turkish Emperor should so without reason oppress them with doubling and redoubling of his Tribute and were generally of opinion That the Vayvod had not so plainly as truly spoken of the intollerableness thereof and that therefore they had rather die than to endure so great dishonour joyned with so foul a slavery And thereupon offered unto the Vayvod to serve upon their own charge and with him upon the Bank of Danubius to meet the proud Enemy and there in defence to their Lives and Liberty to fight it out unto the last Man. The Vayvod in few words commending their fidelity and taking of them an Oath for the faithful performance of that they had so resolutely promised sent for the Turks Embassador and gave him this short answer I for the ancient Fidelity and Allegeance which I owe unto my Lord and dread Sovereign the mighty Emperor Selymus would willingly yield unto him the Tribute he requireth were it not that I know the minds of my People to abhor the same wishing rather to endure all calamities hap whatsoever hap may than to yield unto so dishonourable and shameful slavery Wherefore sithence I cannot by any means extort the same from my Subjects tell my Lord Selymus That I most humbly request him not to take the same in evil part whose amity I wish to be unto me rather an ornament and refuge than disgarce or hinderance And that upon that good hope I both asked and for my singular Fidelity obtained of him the Vayvodship of Moldavia which my good hope I most heartily beseech him may not deceive me With this answer he dismissed the Embassador unrewarded and with a safe convoy brought him to the Bank of Danubius which his homely usage of the Embassador caused him not a little to be suspected to be in mind changed from Selymus The Embassador sent away the Vayvod not ignorant of the suddain invasions of the Turks forthwith began to raise his Army and at the same time sent Embassadors unto Henry King of Polonia his nearest Neighbor certifying him of the dangerous state of Moldavia the surest Bulwark of the Polonian Kingdom which once overthrown opened a fair and easie way for the common Enemy into Polonia and therefore requested him that as the Kings of Polânia had of ancient time even for the safety of their own State protected that Country so it would please him now in like manner in so dangerous a time to give him aid or at leastwise to give leave unto such of his Subjects as were willing to serve for entertainment to come unto him whom he would with all honour and bounty use according to their place and quality Whereunto the King answered That forasmuch as he and his predecessors the Kings of Polonia had for the space of more than an hundred years been in League with the Turkish Kings and Emperors he could not either send him aid or yet give leave unto any of his Subjects to serve against the Turk as he desired With this answer the Vayvod was much troubled as there deceived where he most hoped for relief yet hearing of certain Companies of the Polonian Cossacks which having long lien in hope of prey upon the side of the great River Borysthenes were returning empty home he by fit Messengers sent of purpose offered them great entertainment to serve him in his Wars against the Turk of which his offer they as Men living for most part by service gladly accepted and so without the knowledge of the King went unto him to the number of twelve hundred with their Captains Men of great Courage and Valour of whom Sujercevius was chief who were by the Vayvod honourably entertained and did him in these Wars right worthy service These Cossacks are light Horsemen lying most commonly upon the Borders of the Polonian Kingdom towards the Tartars an hardy and valiant kind of Men whose best living is the spoil they take from the Enemy and their best Lands their Horse and Launce For albeit that the Turks and Tartars are most commonly in League with the Polonians and seem never so desirous of Peace yet do they oftentimes in great numbers upon the suddain break into the Countries of Podolia and Russia part of the Polonian Kingdom and there do great harm if they be not in time repressed or cut off by the aforesaid light Horsemen who for that purpose lie always in wait for them as doth the Hawk for the prey Selymus understanding the answer of Iohn the Vayvod was therewith exceedingly enraged and the more by the bitter complaint of the Embassador who angry with the Vayvod that he was of him no better regarded nor rewarded spared not to the uttermost of his power to incense the angry Emperor against him as if his Honour had been in the person of himself contemned and violated Wherefore without delay he sent thirty thousand Turks and two thousand Hungarians unto
Lake of Slaves and the next day came to Triala where at this day are to be seen the Ruins of a great City and of many Churches whereof some are yet repaired and maintained by devout Christians the Reliques of those happy and religious Forces that with so great and faithful zeale passed the Seas and Mountains through those barbarous Nations into the Holy Land Men worthy of eternal Praise The next day the Turks ascended the high and craggie Mountain that standeth upon Teflis from the top whereof descending the day following they seised upon a Castle of the Georgians called by the Turks Giurgi Chala Departing thence and lodging in certain Plains the next day they came near to the River that runneth by Teflis But in these four days march from Archichelec where Mustapha took view of his Army many of the Turks who in feeking for Victuals for themselves and their Horses had straggled from the Army were cut off by the Georgian Captains who with a number of their own Country Souldiers secretly followed the Turks Army and well acquainted with all the ways of the Country lay in ambush upon such Places as the Victuallers were to pass through and so suddenly setting upon them spoyled them at once both of their Goods and Lives Mustapha comming to Teflis found that Castle empty for that Daut Chan Lord thereof hearing of the comming of the Turks forsook the same and betook himself to the Fields providing better for himself in so doing than by staying still in the Castle to have been there taken Prisoner This Castle for the convenient Scituation thereof Mustapha caused to be repaired and fortified and planted therein an hundred pieces of Artillery and appointed Mahamet Bassa General Governour of that Place with a Garrison of six thousand Souldiers which done he departed for Siruan At which very time those of Soria which had brought a thousand loads of Rent-Corn to the Camp from Aleppo being themselves in number a thousand Persons with five hundred others of Omps in ancient time called Hus the City of the patient Iob and other places of Soria men neither of Duty bound nor of themselves willing to follow the Camp returned homewards towards their own Country but upon the way they were set upon by Alessandro Giusuf and David three of the Georgian Lords and all slain except some few who by the swiftness of their Horses escaped with Nassardin their Captain Now after that Mustapha had passed the descent of the steep Mountains of Teflis the next day he incamped in certain low Plains where the Ambassadours of Alessandro surnamed the Great Son of Leuent a Georgian Prince came unto him and told him That their Lord was ready if it so pleased him to come unto him to do him Reverence and by word of mouth to promise him that Devotion he had always in mind borne to the Othoman Emperours With a glad Heart and chearful Countenance did Mustapha receive these Ambassadors and presently sent them back to will their Lord to come and to tell him That his friendship should be unto him most dear and acceptable And after their departure took order with all the Commanders of his Army to receive him with all the signes of Joy that might be which at his coming was accordingly by them performed Who after he had presented unto the General the rich Gifts he had brought with him he offered his Obedience to the Bassa with the most lively Speeches he could possibly devise calling Amurath his Lord seeming to take it in evil part that he passed not through his Territory where he should as he said have had plenty of all things for the relief of his Army yet hoping that in his return from Siruan he would take it in his way whereas he should find him most ready to bestow all that he had in the Service of his Lord telling him moreover That although he could not for many urgent respects go with him into Siruan yet he would always accompany him in Mind and continually pray unto the Creator of all things for his Prosperity and most happy Success Courteously did Mustapha receive both his Presents and Submission and in exchange thereof bestowed upon him certain Gifts after the Turkish manner and in magnifical Terms gave him answer promising him in his return to pass through his Country and so dismissed the Persian Duke with like Honour wherewith he was entertained at his coming Mustapha holding on his Journey toward Siruan through moorish and troublesom ways in twelve days after he departed from Teflis came into the Confines of Siruan near to the River Canac and there rested on this side the River one day At which time they of the City of Sechi bordering upon the Siruanians and Georgians four days Journey from Sumachia came to offer themselves to Mustapha as Subjects to the Turks Of whose Submission the General graciously accepted promising to them his assured Protection The Turks Army over-wearied with the continual travel of twelve days march but yet far more afflicted with hunger not finding in those Parts so much as one wild beast to assuage their greedy desire of Meat sought by all means every man for himself to get something especially when they understood their General would pass the River into a Country unto them all unknown where they were altogether uncertain what to find for their relief So whilst they were inquiring among themselves who were able to conduct them to some such place as where they might supply their wants behold certain Persians were taken who being straitly examined on that point after much resistance at last told them that not far off after they had passed certain Marishes where Canac dischargeth it self into Araxis they should find many Fields full of Rice and Corn in the blade and a little farther certain fat heards of Cattel sufficient to relieve the whole Army Of this News was the General certified who although he greatly doubted the subtilty of his Enemies yet to gratifie his Souldiers and to make them more willing to follow him into Siruan he licensed every man that had a desire thereunto to go and provide himself of Victuals and so suffered all that would to go freely Whereupon there went of themselves and were sent by their Captains about ten thousand servile Persons with Camels Horses and Mules to fetch away this provision of Corn and Cattel but the Event answered not to their desires For Tocomac with the other Persian Captains and the rest of the Souldiers that were escaped from the overthrow given them in the Plains of Chielder having gathered together the remainder of the Army and recovered such places as they thought safe and friendly for them carefully attended the marching and passing of the Turkish Army And being certainly informed by them of Reivan and Georgia what way they kept and that of necessity they must arrive at the Banks of Canac they began to devise how they might in some measure
and some another for divers Reasons them thereunto leading which for brevity we pass over Othersome of the Bassaes in the sixth place rejecting all the former Opinions concerning the War to be taken in hand would have had all the Forces of the Othoman Empire as well by Land as Sea to have been converted against Italy for that otherwise the Turks should never come unto the Monarchy of the whole World whereunto as at a mark they had directed all their Actions except they did first subdue Italy For that this Country as the Center of the whole World was wont to give both Counsel and Aid unto the rest of the Limbs whereby the Devices of others were crossed and that the Romans had at length commanded over all the World especially for that they held in Possession this Country Hereat did the Hunnes the Alani and Gothes the Vandales the Frenchmen Spaniards and Sarasins direct all their Thoughts and Cogitations In fine they concluded That no Expedition could be taken in hand more honourable or profitable than this for that Italy was a Queen amongst other Provinces for commodious Scituation the wholesomness of the Air the plenty of all things necessary for Mans Life for great fair and most rich Cities for the antient Glory and Majesty of the Roman Empire and many other Causes also Neither that this Expedition was to be deemed of much Difficulty for that Italy was under the Rule of divers Princes unto whose command most of their Subjects unwillingly obeyed as also for that the Inhabitants of that Country had now for many years lived in continual Peace and were therefore the more effeminate and fearful and so unfit for the Wars and that if that Expedition were in one or divers places taken in hand before the Corn were full ripe the Turks in that so fruitful a Country could never want Necessaries for them to live upon whereas the Inhabitants in great number wanting the same and shut up within the Walls and Fortifications of their Cities and strong Towns should be brought into extream wants which was the more evidently to be seen for that at this time wherein they were at Peace they had not Corn sufficient in the Country for such a multitude of People to live upon but were glad to have it brought unto them from other Places especially from Peloponesus Constantinople and the Cities upon the Coast of the great Ocean Furthermore that it was to be considered that most part of the Italians lived by no other means than by their handy Labour or the trade of Merchandise of which means if they were deprived they should in short time be brought to that point as to be glad to accept of such Conditions as the Victor should propound unto them or as Tributaries to submit themselves unto the Othoman Government Neither that the Souldiers would unwillingly be drawn unto that War for that they were not to pass through barren Regions of the Enemy frozen with Ice or desolate either by rough Woods or inaccessible Mountains but were all the way thither to travel through their own Country and as it were in the sight of their own Houses and if the Turks could oftentimes enter so far when as they had their Confines more remote and their Passages more difficult that the same might now much more easily be effected when as they had a far greater Opportunity and their Enemies so near at hand The seventh Opinion was theirs which thought it best to have the War transferred into Polonia and from thence into Hungary and Germany for which they alleged these Reasons First for that they thought it a disgrace unto the Majesty and Reputation of the Othoman Empire That the King of Polonia had sometime refused to pay his Tribute due for so the Turks account of all such Presents as are unto their Sultan usually sent by their Neighbour Princes of Courtesie and that therefore he was by force of Arms to be compelled thereunto Which they thought would the more easily be obtained for that there was much secret hatred and heart-burning amongst the Polonian Nobility Neither that it would be any difficult or dangerous War to be taken in hand forasmuch as Polonia was confined with Moldavia the Tartars and the Sanzacks of Acherman Bendera and Vosia and moreover for that the Turks could never have any assured or full Possession of Moldavia or Valachia except the Insolency of the Polonians were repressed the Vayvods of which Countries when they had enriched themselves with much Wealth used still to flie into the Kingdom of Polonia Besides that they should thereby revenge themselves for the Injuries done them by the Cossacks and have more free and safe Traffick into Muscovia and bring a Terrour upon the Duke of Muscovia by reason of the nearness of the Country which great Duke was an Impediment unto the Othoman Emperour that he conquered not the whole Kingdom of Persia. And when they had by this means by little and little drawn unto Germany happily it might so come to pass as that the Christian Emperour should thereby receive some notable loss his Empire being still more and more exposed and environed with the Turks Forces and Garrisons Polonia they said to be a plain and open Country neither to have any strong Places for to withstand them and the Inhabitants to have small skill in Martial Affairs for that they had now long lived in Peace For as for the War that they had with Maximilian the Arch-duke of Austria it continued not long and King Stephen in the late Wars he had with the Muscovite used for most part the Hungarian Souldiers and ended those Wars rather by besieging than fighting They which in the eighth and last place delivered their Opinions concerning the intended War perswaded to have it converted upon the Christian Emperour whom the Turks call the King of Vienna The Causes they alleged for the beginning of this War was For that the Vscocchi were grown so insolent as to make good prise of the Turks both by Sea and Land in such sort as that not only for the harms which they did but even for the Majesty and Honour of the Othoman Empire their Insolency was not longer to be suffered By whose Injuries it was especially brought to pass that the Merchants to their great hinderance in private and the Sultans great loss in common having left the Town of Narenta or Narona in the Turks Dominion had removed their Mart to Salona now called Spalato a Town of the Venetians and that yet for all that was not so sufficiently provided for the Security of the said Merchants although there were Peace betwixt the Emperour and the Venetians for that these unruly men for most part living upon the spoil troubled all both by Sea and Land with their Robberies driving away mens Cattel burning the Villages and taking away the young Babes out of the Mothers Arms and Laps Whereby it was easily to be seen what mind they
yet notwithstanding that he contrary to his Faith given as an hereditary Enemy of the Christians had violated this League and by sundry Incursions barbarously spoiled and wasted not Hungary only but other of his Imperial Provinces also but especially by Hassan Bassa of Bosna who first with a strong Army besieged battered and took Repitz an antient frontier Castle and after that Wihitz Dremk Crassowitz with other Places of Name and had in his Dominion and Territory built Petrinia a most strong Fort hurtful to all that Country out of which he had done incredible mischief in Croatia Windismarch and the most fruitful Island Turopolis and had out of those Places carried away above 35000 Christians into most miserable Captivity Of which shameful Injuries and breaches of Faith he had many times by his Ambassadors complained unto the Turkish Sultan at Constantinople and requested that all hostility set apart due Restitution might have been made but to have therein prevailed nothing and that the same Bassa instead of condign Punishment had been for the doing thereof honoured by the great Sultan his Lord with honourable Gifts the sure Tokens of his Favour Whereby he was so confirmed in his barbarous Proceedings that he began to make open War and having raised a full Army and strengthned also with certain Companies of Ianizaries sent from the Court had passed over the River of Kulp and besieged the Castle of Siseg but by the just Judgment of God the Revenger of Wrongs had there received the Reward of his faithless and cruel dealing being there slain and almost all his Army utterly destroyed by his small Forces raised in haste for his own lawful defence Nevertheless the faithless Turk as if he had been highly wronged himself to have made this his breach both of League and Faith forthwith known to all the World by commanding open War to be solemnly proclaimed against the Kingdom of Hungary both in Constantinople and Buda and by the Beglerbeg of Greece to have again besieged and taken the strong Fortress of Siseg Whereas on the other side because nothing should on his part be wanting which might make his desire of Peace more known he had again and oftentimes by his Ambassador put the Turk in remembrance of his League made and confirmed by his Faith. Who for all that had changed nothing of his Purpose but sent his great Visier Sinan Bassa with the Beglerbeg of Graecia and many inferiour Bassaes and Sanzacks into Hungary who with Fire and Sword inforced the Inhabitants and Country-People such as they left alive to swear to the Turk Obedience and to become his Subjects and at the same time took Vesprinium and Palotta two famous Fortresses of that Kingdom And that the same Bassa by Commandment from his Lord and Master had contrary to the Law of Nations imprisoned Frederick Kreckowitz his Ambassador first at Constantinople and caused the greater part of his Followers to be thrust into the Gallies and afterwards to have sent him with a few of his Servants to Belgrade and there to have kept him so long in Prison that he there miserably died In Revenge of which so great and open wrong and for the defence and comfort of his afflicted Subjects so near the Enemy he had raised a good strength both of Horse and Foot by whose help and the assistance of Almighty God the Bassa of Bosna had reaped the Fruit of his perfidious dealing as had also the Bassa of Buda with many thousands of their great Souldiers overthrown near unto Alba-Regalis besides many of their Castles and Towns taken or razed Yet for all that was it easie to be seen these so great Victories by the goodness of God had and obtained against so mighty and cruel an Enemy not to suffice but that there was still need of a perseverant and continual supply for the maintenance of a perpetual War and that it was daily to be expected or rather even now presently to be descried That the Turk in his quarrel which he deemed always just against the Christians and in revenge of these overthrows would draw sorth all his Forces and adventure his whole Strength For which Causes he had by the Knowledge and Consent of the Princes Electors of the Sacred Empire appointed that present Diet of the Empire and not for the aforesaid Causes only but for divers others both necessary and weighty also as the general Peace of the Empire the Pacification of the Low-countries the Reformation of Justice and amendment of the Coin but especially and above all other things to make it known unto the World how much it concerned to have the Turks Pride betime abated and some effectual defence for Hungary now in danger at length provided being the most sure defence and strongest bulwark of that part of Christendom And that whereas his own hereditary Provinces were not of themselves alone sufficient to maintain so chargeable a War he therefore requested the Electors Princes and States both present and absent not to grudge to be present with their Help their Counsel and whatsoever else sâould be needful against so puissant and dangerous an Enemy So ending his Speech he caused all his demands before conceived into Writing to be read and so delivered unto them For answer whereunto the Princes Electors and others there present required time Which granted after many sittings and long Consultations they at last with one consent answered That it was a hard matter by reason of the late dearth and other like Occasions for them to grant such Help and Aid as the Emperour had in Writing required yet having before their Eyes the great and imminent danger wherein the Christian Common-weal then stood they not regarding their own proper and near Difficulties had in regard of his Sacred and Imperial Majesty for the comfort and defence of the endangered Christians and for the repressing of the Turkish Fury of their own free Will and mere Compassion granted beside their accustomed Contribution such farther relief for the space of six years as they thought sufficient for the maintenance of a defensive War both for the present and for the time to come What was by them farther decreed concerning the Emperours other demands as not pertinent to our purpose we willingly pass over Of all these things as also whatsoever else had hapned at Strigonium Hatwan or other Places of Hungary was not Sinan Bassa ignorant who now even upon the departure of the Christians from Strigonium was come with an huge Army between Buda and Alba-Regalis unto whom forty thousand Tartars that by force had made themselves way through Podolia and the upper part of Hungary had joyned themselves so that in his Army were reckoned above 150000 fighting-men to the great Terrour not only of Hungary Austria Stiria Croatia Bohemia and the Provinces thereabout but also of the whole State of Germany With this great Army the old Bassa had purposed to have over-whelmed the Christians in their Camp at Strigonium
of this League But that for lack of Heirs Male the Country of Transilvania with all the Territories thereunto annexed should descend unto his Sacred Majesty and his Successours the King of Hungary as a true and inseparable member thereof whereunto the Prince and all the States of Transilvania should bind themselves by solemn Oath But yet that at such time as the Heirs Male should fail in the line of the present Prince and that the Country of Transilvania should according to these present Conditions be devolved to the Crown of Hungary as well his present Imperial and Royal Majesty as his Successours should keep inviolate the antient Laws Priviledges and Customs of that Country and always appoint one of the Nobility of Transilvania to be Governour or Vayvod of the same and no other Stranger Thirdly That his Majesty should acknowledge the Prince of Transilvania for an absolute Prince and by special Charter confirm unto him the Title of Most Excellent Fourthly That his Imperial Majesty should procure one of the Daughters of the late Archduke Charles his Uncle for a Wife for the Prince that as they were now to be joyned in League so they might be joyned in Affinity also Fifthly That the Emperour should procure him to be made one of the Order of the Golden Fleece Sixthly That the Prince might with more chearfulness and security make War against the common Enemy his Imperial and Royal Majesty should not at any time howsoever things fell out forsake the said Prince or any of the Countries subject unto him and even now presently to aid him according as the present occasion required and afterward if great need should be with greater help whether it was by his General of Cassovia or others and this giving of Aid to be on both sides mutual and reciprocal according as the necessity of the one or the other part should require and that where most need was thither should most help be converted Seventhly That the sacred Roman Empire should take upon it the Protection and Defence of the Prince and his Territories and that his Imperial Majesty should create the said Prince and the Prince's Successors Princes of the Empire yet so as that they should have neither Voice nor Place among the said Princes Eighthly That whatsoever Castles Towns Cities or other Places of Strength should by their common Forces be taken or recovered from the common Enemy at such time as his Imperial Majesty should send into the Field a full Army should be all his Majesties but such Places as the Prince should by his own Forces or Policy gain from the Enemy should remain unto the Prince himself Yet that what Places soever the Prince should recover which at any time before belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary before it was taken by the Turk those he should forthwith deliver to his Majesty as soon as reasonable recompence were by him therefore made unto the Prince Ninthly His Sacred Majesty should promise of his own Bounty to give unto his Excellency sufficient Aid for the fortifying and defence of such Places as should be thought necessary for the behoof of the Christians as again the said Prince should likewise promise not to spare his own Coffers or Forces that the same Places should be throughly fortified and defended for the behoof of his Majesty and the common good of the Christian Common-weal Lastly That forasmuch as the Events of War are uncertain and many things suddenly happen contrary to mens Expectation if such necessity should chance unto his Excellency or his Successors which mishap God forbid that having spent themselves they should not be able longer to defend their State and Country but that the mighty Enemy prevailing they should at last be inforced to forsake the same in this their Extremity his Imperial and Royal Majesty should promise both for himself and his Successors within the space of one Month to assign some certain Place in some other of his Dominions where the said Prince and his Successors might honourably live and the like regard to be had also of other such principal men as should together with the Prince adventure their Lives and Livings in defence of the Christian Common-weal Which Articles of Confederation agreed upon and solemnly confirmed the same Ambassadors were with all Kindness Bounty and Magnificence dismissed and sent back again unto the Prince who was not himself in the mean time idle but labouring by all means he could to draw unto him Michael the Vayvod of Valachia a man of no less worth than himself and Aaron the Palatine of Moldavia both of them then the Turks Tributaries and by them to alienate from the Turk both those Countries that so with their combined Forces they might the better defend their Liberty and withstand their common Enemy wherein he did so much and prevailed so far with them both that casting off the Turks Obeisance they shortly after to the great Benefit of the Christian Common-weal and no less hindrance of the Turks proceedings in Hungary joyned hands both together with him for the recovery of their lost Liberty Which revolt of these bordering Princes for that it so much concerned the common good as that the safegard of Austria and of the remnants of Hungary with some good part of Germany also is even by them that in those matters saw much not without cause supposed to have rested therein and that this noble Vayvod of whom much is to be said hereafter was the second Actor herein it shall not be from our purpose to see the manner of his revolt also from the Turk as we have already the Transilvanians For the more Evidence whereof as for the Honour of the man whilst he lived a most worthy member of the Christian Common-weal we will a little step back to see how he obtained of the great Turk this so honourable a Preferment as was the Vayvodship of Valachia not without his revolt long now to be holden Alexander the late Vayvod of Valachia a Moldavian born and by Amurath himself promoted to that Dignity proud above measure of this his so great a Preferment as also of his own Nobility and the deceitful Favour of Fortune still fawning upon him not only oppressed his People himself with intolerable Impositions but to be in farther favour with the Turks brought into that Country too much before exhausted such a company of them as that they seemed now almost wholly to have possessed the same oppressing the poor Christians the natural Inhabitants with new Exactions and more than Tyrannical Injuries even such as were not elsewhere by the Turks themselves used not only breaking at their Pleasure into their Houses and despoiling them of their Goods but taking Tithe also of their Children as if it had been of their Cattel a thing never before there seen and for the satisfying of their beastly Lust ravishing their Wives and Daughters even in the sight of their Husbands and Parents with divers other such outragious
from him by the Polonian Cossacks and certain of his Retinue slain was there taken for a Spy and so sent to Vienna where at his first Arrival he was well used in a common Inn but the night following being taken in his Chamber by the Martial was so clap'd fast in Prison with as many Irons upon him as he could bear and all his Followers with Gyves upon their Legs compelled as Slaves daily to work in the Town-ditch About this time also Sigismund the Transilvanian Prince whom hitherto all men admired as a man even sent from Heaven for the benefit of his Country and of the Christian Commonweal by a wonderful change gave a most manifest token of a divers and unconstant Nature to the great wonder of the World for having broken the Agreement made with the Emperour the last Year and being secretly in Post returned out of Silesia into Transilvania and again taken upon him the Government as is before declared and having withal requested himself and the Transilvanians his Country-men to be discharged of the Oath of Obedience and Loyalty by them before given unto the Emperour and the City of Veradinum with the Country thereabout to be again restored unto him and the Emperour pausing thereupon did now doubting of his own Ability for the keeping of that Country in the beginning of this year 1599 by his Ambassadors the Bishop of Alba-Iulia and Stephen Paschai his Chancellor sent of purpose unto the Emperour request him to have the first Agreements again renewed and the Principality of Trebnits in Moravia to be added unto the two Dukedoms of Oppel and Ratibor in Silesia with fifty thousand Duckats to be yearly paid unto him out of the Chamber of the Empire and a general Pardon to be given unto all the Transilvanians that following him had of late revolted from the Emperour and their antient Liberties to be again unto every one of them confirmed With all which Conditions obtained at the Emperour's hands as of him that saw how needful it was for him by any means to keep that strong Country in his power the same Ambassadors with their dispatch returned from Prague the nineteenth of April But Sigismund in the mean time at home was entred into new Conceits with certain of the Polonian Nobility far differing from the former agreement with the Emperour and having sent for one of the Turks Chiaus from Constantinople and for his Cousin Andrew Bathor the proud Cardinal out of Borusia and so meeting with them in an obscure Village in the Confines of Transilvania towards Polonia accompanied with certain of the chiefest of the States of his Country there in the Presence of the Polonians and of the Turkish Ambassador resigned all the Right and Title he had in the Country of Transilvania unto the Cardinal his Cousin commanding all the States there present to swear unto him their Obedience and Fidelity who shortly after together with the Polonian Ambassador sent one of his especial Favourites to Constantinople to desire safe conduct for his Ambassadours to be sent thither to conclude of all matters with the Turk Which Messengers so sent together with the Polonian Ambassador were both courteously received in the Turks Court and as with an especial favour rewarded with right sumptuous Garments and charge given them That the Cardinal within three Months next should send thither a solemn Ambassador with the old accustomed Tribute by the Turk demanded Thus through the Inconstancy of the Prince the Ambition of the proud Cardinal and the foul Collusion of the Polonian the Country of Transilvania one of the strongest Fortresses of that side of Christendom falling from the Obedience of the Emperour and so in sort bereft from the Christian Common-weal became again tributary unto the Turk most good men detesting the Lightness of the one the Ambition of the other and the Sliness of the third Now the Turks of Buda not able longer to endure the great Famine therein had most earnestly requested relief from the other Turks their Friends in Hungary who on all hands ran to have relieved them but coming near thereunto could not put therein such Provision as they had brought for the relief of the same being letted so to do by the Imperials who about a League off diligently attended every motion of the Enemy from whence the Lord Swartzenburg in the night secretly approaching one of the Gates with his Followers thought with a Petard to have broken it open and so to have entered Which his Device taking not effect as did that at Rab the Gate being within strongly fortified by the Enemy he was inforced to depart being also discovered by the Turks from the Wall. Now shortly after the Bassa of Buda with six hundred Horse issuing out of the City to have met with Victuals that were coming thither fell into an Ambush of the Haiduckes who after their manner fiercely encountered him and putting him to flight took him Prisoner his Horse in his Chase falling under him whom his Souldiers seeking to rescue there began a new Skirmish encreasing their former Overthrow with the loss of the greatest part of them that were left amongst whom the Bassa's Son with the Aga of the Janizaries there lost their Lives also Which Conflict thus ended the Bassa was with safe Conduct brought to the Camp and there with great Threats inforced to reveal the state of his City with other the secret designs of the Turks Whereupon the Haiducks returned again towards Buda seeking by all means to stop the coming of Victuals thither so in hope at length to have gained the distressed City But whilst they thus lay upon the Passages behold News was brought unto them how that the Bassa of Bosna with the Sanzacks of Sigeth Quinque Ecclesiae and Coppan with 10000 Turks were coming to oppress them and to open the Passages by them holden But they knowing their own Strength and nothing-fearing so small a Force staid not for their coming but went to meet them and in a place of good advantage waiting for them upon their first appearance with great Assurance and Courage charged them brake their Array and slew the greatest part of them together with the Bassa himself yet with so much ado as that had not the Lord Palfi in good time sent unto their Aid certain Companies of fresh men it was not-without cause doubted but that the Haiducks had been put to the worse about three hundred of them having there already lost their Lives The Tartars yet nevertheless in good number held on their way towards Buda with purpose to have over-run the Country and so have withdrawn the Imperials from the City but forasmuch as that base Nation was known to be good for nothing but to rob and spoil the Lord Swartzenburg's Regiment only going against them and encountering them overthrew them in such sort that part of them being there slain in fight and part for fear driven into Danuby the greater number
in us possibly is to be defended so that so many of you as please may in safety return into your own old Dwellings giving before knowledge thereof unto the Governour of this our Fortress Given in our Camp after the Conquest of Canisia Many of these poor Country People before fled for fear of the Turks and not knowing where to bestow themselves now upon this Proclamation returned again to their ancient dwelling Places there to begin the World again under the Turkish Obeisance But for that County Serinus was the Man whom of all others in that Country the great Bassa sought after as him whom he most feared after his Departure to trouble this his new Conquest and to seek to be revenged having in this so general a Calamity of Stiria his Country lost twenty Villages of his own quite burnt by the Turks and the People most slain or else taken Prisoners the Bassa having many times before sought to have persuaded him to have yielded his Obedience unto the Turkish Sultan and now in hope after so great loss to bring him in before he were come into the utter ruine of all his Fortunes now by the loss of Canisia and the entrance of the Turks into Stiria not a little endangered writ unto him as followeth WE Ibrahim Bassa chief of the Visier Bassaes and Cousin unto the most puissant Sultan Mahomet to the County Serinus sendeth greeting We have oftentimes heretofore written unto thee concerning the matter thou knowest of but what the cause is that we received no Answer we cannot tell Yet could I not but write to thee again That if yet thou caâst be content to begin the matter aright and to submit thy self unto our Protection we will be ready to receive thee Thou seest that what we foretold thee is now more than fulfilled both upon thee and thine which thou wouldst never believe Nevertheless for the staying of the farther effusion of the Blood as well of thy Subjects as ours and to come to some good Attonement it is high time for thee to lay thine Hand upon thy Heart and to consider how much more it concerneth thee than us and that the benefit thereof redoundeth more unto thine than ours What our Affection is towards thee Hierom the Vayvod can tell thee Fare thou well From our Camp after the Conquest of Canisia the seventh of November 1600. But these Letters being also as the rest answered with Silence the great Bassa having disposed of all as he thought best at Canisia and in the Country thereabout returned with his Army to Belgrade there to Winter having before fully certified the great Sultan of all his Proceedings and the Success of this War vaunting after his vain manner the next Spring to besiege Vienna also if it should please him so to command Of all which things Mahomet understanding and not a little therewith pleased caused great Triumphs to be made by the space of four days at Constantinople and in token of his Love and Favour sent a rich Robe of Cloth of Gold with a leading staff all set with Pearl and precious Stones unto the Bassa yet lying at Belgrade This loss of Canisia much troubled all that side of Christendom especially them of the Territories belonging unto the House of Austria in a sort dismay'd to see the Turks so easily possessed of a Town before thought almost impregnable and the strongest defence of all that Country against the furious Impressions of the Turks to whom it was now become a most safe and sure Receptacle all men with one Voice blaming the discord of the Captains in the Imperial Army for so retiring without any good doing but above all detesting the Cowardise of Paradiser who known to have in the Town a strong Garrison with good store of Munition and Victuals as was supposed had so basely delivered the same unto the Enemy not doing the uttermost of his Devoir as had beseemed him for the defence thereof whereas if he had so done happily in the mean time the Cold and unseasonableness of the Weather tho no other Relief had been Winter being now come might have inforced the Turks to have raised their Siege Whereupon he was for this so foul a Fact by the Emperour's Commandment apprehended and cast in Prison at Vienna where after he had long lain and his Cause oftentimes examined he was the next year following condemned of Felony and Cowardsse and so the 15 th day of October executed having first his Hand at four strokes of the Executioner struck off and after that his Head with him was also in like manner executed his Ensign-Bearer and after them his Lieutenant with the Mayor of the Town who both bound fast to a stake had first their Tongues cut out and afterwards their Heads chopt off Now the Rebellion before raised in Caramania by Cusahin Bassa as is aforesaid was not with his Death altogether appeased Also Orfa a great City of that Country which having tasted the sweetness of Liberty in the time of Cusahin yet still holding out against Mehemet the great Bassa the Sultan's Lieutenant-General there At which time also a Companion of Cusahin the late Rebel called the Scrivano and one of his greatest Favourites seeing how hardly not only Cusahin himself but the rest of his Followers had been handled by the Turks began to make Head and to call unto him all such as loved their Liberty unto the sweet Name whereof so many were in short time come about him as that out of them he formed such an Army as made him now dreadful unto the Turks his Enemies Against whom Mehemet Bassa going with all his Power to have oppressed him âound him with those his rebellious Followers so courageous for the desire they all had to break out of the Othoman Slavery and to live in such Liberty as was promised them by their Captain and General that joyning Battel with them he received of them a notable Overthrow insomuch that fearing to have lost his whole Army he was glad to retire and to send out Commissions for the raising of greater Forces Sultan Mahomet in the mean time whether it was for fear of this new Rebellion or for that he understood of the Ambassâdors sent from the Persian unto the Christian Princes began to suspect lest that King should break the League he had with him and so to his farther trouble take up Arms also against him Wherefore upon a Turkish Pride he sent an Ambassadour into Persia to give the King to understand That for the more assurance of the League betwixt them he demanded to have one of his Sons sent unto him in Hostage as a Pledge of his Fathers Faith Which so proud a Demand the Persian King took in such disdain that he commanded in his Rage the Ambassador to be forthwith slain but that his fury being by his grave Counsellors somewhat appeased he remitted the Severity of this his rigorous Command and sparing his Life was
to prosecute that they had taken in hand Neither failed the Turks in the mean time with often Sallies to trouble the Christians attempting above all things to have fired their Tents for that so lying open in that so cold a season of the year they must thereby of Necessity be inforced to raise their Siege and be gone But the Success of these their so great Designs was not answerable to their Hopes being still to their loss beaten back into the Town by the Christians whom it behoved to look well about them for that the besieged desperately set and all resolved rather to die than to yield adventured themselves to all Dangers never ceasing to do what they might to put the Christians out of hope for winning the Town But whilst the Turks with doubtful and as it were desperate hope so defend the Place and the Christians grown stronger by the coming of their Friends lay in hope to win the same lo in the latter end of November the North Wind accompanied with a deep Snow so furiously raged that it overthrew the greatest part of the Tents and Pavilions of the Christians and as it were buried their whole Army in the Snow and Ice in such wise as that in Ferdinand the Arch-duke's camp being reasonably well provided for were 1500 men with 300 Horses starved and frozen to death At which time the state of them that came with the Lord Russworm was most miserable who wearied with the siege of Alba-Regalis and as it were spent with the dirty Travel of the deep way had not brought with them their Tents or other Provision and were therefore inforced to lie abroad in so cold and unseasonable a time with whose Miseries although their good General was much grieved yet to do the Christian Common-weal Service he with them right patiently endured In which so great an Extremity the Arch-duke with the rest of the Commanders upon view taken well considering what small hope there was in good time to take the Town the unreasonableness of the Winter-weather still more and more increasing thought it better betime to rise than longer to expose their Army unto most certain Destruction either of the Enemy or the Cold. Which was done with such haste and confused Tumult as that their rising seemed rather an hasty flight than honourable departure leaving behind them for haste their great Ordnance with their Tents and Baggage a common Voice still running That they were well if they might but save themselves so that the Souldiers every man mindful but of himself and in fear to be pursued by the Enemy no man chasing them fled but still accompanied with such furious Winds Snow and extream Cold that with all the Labour they could take they could get them no heat but fell down to the Earth many of them frozen and so once falling never rose more being unable for want of heat to help themselves in which case they were not to expect for help from others every man having enough to do to look unto himself so that upon the way whereby the Army went thus dispersed with the Weather lay above five hundred dead of cold beside four hundred others left sick in the forsaken Trenches who forthwith after the departure of the Army were thought to have been all put to the Sword by them of the Garrison of Canisia But having thus passed through these Troubles of Hungary it is time now also to look back again into the frontier Countries of Transilvania and Valachia which to have kept in the Emperours Obeisance and so preserved as a lively Member of the Christian Common-weal no less concerned him than the keeping of any other his frontier Territories which are many Michael the Vayvod of Valachia the last year for his Cruelty first driven out of Transilvania by Basta and afterwards out of Valachia the great Chancellour of Polonia as is aforesaid and another placed in his stead as a man forsaken even of his own better Fortunes and not well knowing which way to turn himself thought it best now at last to submit himself unto the Emperour if so happily by his means he might in some sort repair his broken Estate and so at leastwise recover his Government in Valachia So resolved he set forward and in the beginning of this year viz. the three and twentieth of Ianuary with five and thirty of his Followers and six Coaches arrived at Prague where he was by the Emperours appointment honourably received and his cost at the Emperours charge defraied Unto whom he excused himself of the Severity by him used in Transilvania the cause of those late Troubles in that Country as inforced thereunto by the stubbornness of the Transilvanians themselves whom he found still inclined to rebellion and unwilling to be commanded by any but by themselves Which his excuse as true was well admitted and he with all Kindness used Now at this same time Basta lying also in Transilvania as Governour for the Emperour right slenderly accompanied as is before also declared the Parliament at Clausenburg being ended and all Controversies as was thought well composed now without fear one night the watch being set went to bed to take his rest where he had not long lain but that certain of the Transilvanian Lords among whom the Chiaki was chief came with their Followers and surprising the Watch and entering the Palace brake into the Chamber where he lay took him out of his Bed and so kept him Prisoner all that Night And the next morning going forth about twelve miles off met with Sigismund Bator their late Prince before secretly by them called in whom they honourably conducted to Clausenburg and there delivered unto him Basta the late Governour for the Emperour whom he commanded to be cast into Irons and so going to the Palace gave like order for the apprehending and safe keeping of the rest of the Nobility also such as had taken part with Basta in the behalf of the Emperour For now the Transilvanians were divided into three parts whereof the one stood for the Emperour the second for Istuan Bathor pretending that unto him belonged the Soveraignty of that Province but the third and far the greatest for Sigismund their antient Lord and Leader who now by means of the King of Polonia reconciled unto the great Turk and in this troublesome time by his Favourites called again into his Country was by them joyfully received at Alba-Iulia Clausenburg and the rest of the chief Cities of Transilvania Who now thereof again possessed for the better assuring of his Estate forthwith writ unto the Emperour what had happened requesting him to content himself that he was desirous of his Love and Favour promising to be always his good Friend and Neighbour and for ever to keep good Amity with him giving Basta also whom he had now at the Intercession of certain great Friends again enlarged to understand That he was forthwith to depart from all the
intended both to Cassovia and Lippa for a Souldier of the Garrison in the Cittadel there having through Negligence or Mishap cast Fire into the Powder provided for the store of the Castle the Powder taking fire blew up the Cittadel the Towers the Houses and Walls and to be brief made this poor place like unto another Rome burnt by Nero. So that had any of the Christian Forces been then near unto the place it had been an easie matter to have won the same as well for the small resistance that was therein to have been found in so great an astonishment of the Men and Destruction of the Place But such accidents have no certain hours limited to their Beginnings nor assurance of their coming so that they oftentimes chance without any man to make use of them and again fly away when men make their greatest Preparations to obtain them At the same time the Turks of Buda sent two hundred of the Souldiers of their Garrison to fetch in Forrage a little from Pesth who as they were in the doing thereof too presumptuous so were they well punished for their Pride for the Christians in Pesth having discovered them in this Action sallied out upon them and charged them against whom they for a while right valiantly defended themselves but at length oppressed with number and overthrown they were most of them slain and the rest taken Prisoners wherewith the Bassa of Buda was so much offended that in Revenge thereof he in his Rage threatned with Fire and Sword to do what harm he might unto the Christians But as the common Proverb saith Men warned are half armed and Enemies Threats bring this Comfort with them That in receiving of the threatned harms we are in hope to be revenged thereof as therefore before provided Unto these woful Troubles of Hungary proceeding as well from the Insolencies of the Christian Souldiers themselves as from the Fury of the Turks who were their antient and mortal Enemies were joyned the like or rather worse Calamities in Transilvania extream Famine and want of all things sore raging in both Countries so that hardly hath any Misery or Extremity been seen or read of even in Countries by the just and heavy Judgments of the Almighty God appointed to Destruction which were not in those two Countries to be found and of many felt For remedy whereof George Basta the Emperours Lieutenant in Transilvania had there done what he might for the appeasing of the Tumults and Troubles of that Province and now of late brought the same into some good terms as was thought and as is before declared Howbeit that in proof it fell out far otherwise and that the more he therein laboured the farther he was off from his intent and purpose for the Nobility of that Province who were generally inclined unto Rebellion and detesting the Germans together with their Government rejected the Decrees and Orders which were agreed upon in their late meeting together for the concluding of Peace insomuch that assisted by the Turks they had taken certain Castles and strong Places in that Province and the better to support their Rebellion and Insolency they had appointed a certain Place to meet at where the Turks and they might conferr together of the means which they intended for the effecting of their Designs Whereof Basta having by secret means got understanding to remedy this pretended Mischief he sent away a great number of Haiducks to lye in wait to surprise them upon the way Which men who were skilful in the Passages of the Country failed not in this Action but lay close in ambush very conveniently for the surprising of their Enemies who proceeding in their intended purpose and thinking of nothing less than of that which was intended against them were suddenly before they were aware Turks and Transilvanians altogether surprised and slain Which Exploit being performed these Haiducks and other Souldiers destitute of their Pay and inraged with Fury fell upon the Province using therein all Hostility as if they had been mortal Enemies unto it punishing the guiltless for the guilty and seising upon all mens Goods in common to pay themselves that which was by some few in private kept from them All the whole Province was subject unto the Rage and Fury of those and other such merciless men of War who without any remorse at all indifferently slew and massacred all of them that came in their way but especially the poor and weak innocent People who called upon the Almighty God for Remedy and Redress of these Evils which they sustained and cried out unto him for Revenge of their so great and cruel Wrongs The high ways were every where so full of Thieves that no man could travel from Place to Place but that he was in great danger to be set upon and spoiled For the Haiducks being men that live altogether by Prey and roaming up and down the Country made good Prise and Booty of whatsoever came in their way sparing neither Turks nor Christians insomuch that they hearing how that the Zecclers with a good Convoy were bringing a number of Waggons laden with Victuals and a great many of Oxen and other Cattel to Claudianople although they were of the same Party Belief and Nation yet they lay in wait for them to surprise them against whom the Zecclers seeking to defend themselves were by them cruelly massacred and their Waggons with their Beeves and other Cattel all carried quite away But what should we say Hunger breaketh even the stone Walls and forceth men unto all Extremities and now the Famine in that Province was such as that the People were for the most part glad to live by feeding upon the Roots of Hearbs and Weeds and such other unwholesome things whereof great Mortality afterward ensued amongst them which was the cause that Horwat Captain of these Haiducks being reproved for the Outrages by them committed and charged to take order that no more such like should afterward be done answered That it was not possible to keep Souldiers in any order amidst the extremity of Famine for that the Belly was an inexorable Usurer which took pity upon nothing but with great Rage exacting that which it thought due for the Nourishment of it self Amidst these Troubles of Transilvania and Hungary there were two of the Turks Spies of Buda discovered and taken who at Vienna had observed all the Actions and Proceedings of the Christians and to the uttermost of their Power had informed themselves of their Designs as also of their Preparations and Forces to be raised and levied for this years Wars of which two Spies the one was imployed and the other kept in close and straight Prison until that further matter might be drawn out from him The Forces of the Christians were now beginning to gather themselves together and to make an head in Hungary a rife report at that time going That they would forthwith take the field whereof the Bassa
being forbidden them and to the Insolency of the Germans who there at their pleasure commanded over them Upon which two Points be stood much labouring with many Words to persuade the King thereof and afterwards requesting him of his gracious Goodness and of the care which he together with other Christian Princes had for the common quiet of the Christian Commonweal in general and especially of those two distressed Countries lying as it were even in the Enemies Mouth to enter into Consultation how the same Evils might be remedied and those so great Troubles again appeased and to the effecting of so good a work to put to his helping hand Whereunto the King answered That the friendship wherein Botscay offered to joyn with him being but the renewing of the ancient Amity betwixt the Countries of Polonia and Hungary to be unto him pleasing howbeit he could not for all that as he said well like of Botscay's Revolt from that House and Family whereunto he was himself so near adjoyned in Affinity promising yet nevertheless that he would propound the matter unto his Nobility to be farther considered of which when he had indeed done it was by common consent agreed That no Aid should be given out of Polonia unto Botscay or the Rebels and that whosoever should from thence afford him any Aid should therefore lose his Head. With wâich answer the Ambassadours returned to Botscay much discontented being now with a great Power again returned out of Transilvania to Cassovia About this Time the Lord Russworm sometimes General of the Emperours Army against the Turks in Hungary a Man of great Note and Valour and of whom we have before much spoken at Prague falling into words and from words to blows with Francis Count Belioiosa his Brother and their Men taking their parts on both sides it fortuned the said Francis the Earls Brother being grievously wounded to be there slain Belioiosa himself being also in five places dangerously hurt who so hardly prosecuted the Death of his Brother against the Lord Russworm that within a while after he was therefore by the Emperour condemned and at Prague beheaded and divers of his Men hanged with such Weapons hanging at their heels as wherewith they had slain the said Francis the Earls Brother Now was the time of the year come when as the Turks great Armies were wont to be seen even in the heart of Hungary howbeit such were their Troubles in Asia both with the Persian and their own Rebels that they were not at liesure now to send such great Forces as they had before used into Hungary neither could the Christian Emperour on the other side now raise such a Power as he had in former times done to oppose against them and to hinder their proceedings The Hungarians themselves his greatest strength in those Wars were now generally revolted from him and for most part followed the Ensigns of the Rebel Botscay The Princes wont to send him aid both out of Italy and out of Germany now afforded him little or none at all and his mercinary Souldiers or want of pay were now almost every where up in Mutiny ready to forsake his Service and to pay themselves with the spoil of his Countries even unto the Gates of Vienna So that had not the Turks been so busied in the East but at liesure to have turned their whole Power into Hungary as oftentimes they had before done it is hardly to be imagined what should have letted them to have over-run not only that which remained of Hungary but even all Austria with some good part of Germany also the Emperours Preparations being then so small and his Forces so weak as that they were not able to hold the field against his own rebellious Subjects much less against so puissant and dreadful an Enemy But God which with his Word hath set bounds unto the raging Sea beâond which it cannot pass and by whose Power Kings do reign and Princes bear rule had by other means averted the greatest part of the Turks Forces Eastwards so that Serdar Bassa Sultan Achmat's Lieutenant General for his Wars against the Christians came this year but with a right small Army in comparison of those which the Turkish Sultans were wont to send into Hungary Howbeit with such Forces as he brought and with such Supplies of the Rebels in Hungary as came unto him he being grown fifty thousand strong and out of fear of the Emperours Forces came the nine and twentieth day of August to Strigonium and with his Army part Turks part Tartars and part disloyal Christians encamped in the self same place where the Turks Army had but the year before lodged having brought with him forty great pieces of Batter with all things else necessary for the Siege Neither were the Turks sooner encamped but that the Tartars which came with them to the Siege after their wonted manner more desirous of Prey and Booty than of Honour and Victory passing over the River of Gran into the Territory of the Christians there spoiled and burnt all before them as they went. The Turks in the mean time to deprive the besieged of all relief to be sent unto them down the River of Danubius made a great Bridge of Boats over the River well fortified at both ends thereof on each side the River with a strong Corps de guard for the defence thereof so that nothing could that way pass to or from the besieged City Which things much dismaied them in the City seeing no Preparations to be made on the other side for their Defence or Relief yea Basta himself General of such small Forces as the Emperour had then seeing the Enemy so strong and himself so weak began greatly to doubt of the Event of this Siege and yet nevertheless resolutely set down to employ both his Valour and his Wisdom for the safeguard of the Place he during the time of the Siege failed not to the uttermost of his Power to shew the Effects both of the one and of the other And now the Turks assisted with the Hungarian Rebels had performed an Exploit upon the Isle of Strigonium as well to take the same from the Imperials as for the spoil and pillage thereof The Inhabitants there had still remained faithful unto the Service of the Emperour whom the Rebels for all that had oftentimes sought both by force and by perswasion to have removed from this their Loyalty and just devoir Within this Isle were 200 Haiducks returned agaân to the Emperours Service who were joyned unto the Islanders for the better defence both of them and of the Island But the Rebels knowing well the Passages and Entrances into the Isle upon the sudden surprised the same and in it these poor Haiducks whom they cut all in pieces which loss caused Basta to resolve to send the Wallons he had in his Army into the Isle for the defence thereof Which they of the Island understanding made request unto the
it came to their turn whereof they excused themselves divers times But there was no Remedy they must do as others have done whereupon they sung the Hymn of Plange lingua c. appointed for Holy Thursday Being thus favourably entertained in Mingrelia they make their residence at Macaury with hope to labour profitably for the Health of Souls which err in that Country through the Darkness of Ignorance for want of Men to teach them the way of Truth They are Christians of the Greek Profession under the command of divers Princes always in war either against the Turk or the Persian They carry the Name of Cham which is as much to say as King or Soveraign Prince The Sophy had dispossest Threbis Cham chief King of Georgia of all his Countries in the Year 1613 who had retired himself into Mingrelia as you have heard Whilst those men labour to sow the Seeds of true Doctrine of the Apostles in the Soil of Mahometism a Turk passing out of Asia comes into Christendome to seek the light of Truth and demands favourable assistance and succors from Christian Princes to enter into the Possession of the Empire whereunto his Birth and the degrees of a lawful Succession seemed to call him by a just Title The discourse of his Birth of his Fortunes and of his Pretensions to the Turkish Empire is comprehended in this following Relation He termed himself the Son of Mahomet the Third Father to Achmat now sitting in the Imperial Throne at Constantinople he maintained That his Father by four Wives or Concubines had had four Sons that is to say Mustapha who was strangled for that he would have dispossessed his Father of his Kingdom Iacaia which was himself Achmat now reigning and Osman yet it seems by the sequel of the History that he had another Mustapha that having been sent for to come out of Magnesia to Constantinople his Mother who had been a Christian and baptized under the Name of Hellen but was afterward engaged in the Company of Mahomet the Third for the worth of her Beauty and known in Turkey by the Name of the Sultana Lalpare could not conduct him to his Father for that he was dangerously sick of the Small Pox. And this Princess desired much to find some favourable occasion whereby she might be freed from the damnable Errors of Mahomet's Law and return to the wholsome way of the Christian Faith and retire her Son Iacaia far from the power of those bloody Laws which sprinkle the Imperial Scepter of him that comes unto the Crown with the blood of his Brethren she well foresaw that Iacaia being but the second of Mahomet's Sons should one day by his Death secure the life of Mustapha his elder and that the only means to preserve him was to retire him into Christendom wherefore she laboured seriously in this Design and made use of a favourable Fiction giving it out that her Son Iacaia was dead of the Small Pox and having supposed in his place the Son of an Eunuch dead of the same Disease assisted at his Funeral and by her constrained tears subtilly disguised her design An Eunuch called Astam Mehemet was the faithful Secretary of her Enterprise with him she leaves Magnesia a Province in Asia and under Pretext to go unto certain Baths thereby she gets her down to the Sea-side passes into Europe and transports her Son into Morea sometimes called Hellespont and lodgeth him as unknown in the Bishop's Palace in the Town of Miclo Iacaia was above nine years old she held him not secure at Miclo but transported him into Macedonia under the Habit of a Greek Monk and retires him into the Town of Cassandria where she discovers unto the Arch-bishop of Thessalonica a Man learned and of a holy Life the quality of her Son and the desire she had to make him a Christian intreating him in Charity to take them both into his Protection This Arch-bishop lodgeth the Mother in the Monastery of religious Women of our Lady of Thessalonica and gives the custody of the Son unto an Abbot of St. Michael a man learned in all the Sciences under whom he profited wonderfully as well in the Greek Tongue as in many goodly Arts. I do well know this to be true for that I have conversed with him for the space of six months and have seen him often in the Company of learned men speak the Greek with as great facility as his Turkish and Mother Tongue He continued in this Monastery under the Care and Government of this learned Abbot untill the Age of seventeen Years that is to say for the space of eight whole Years during which time his Mothers Tears the holy Instructions of the Abbot but rather the Divine Favour made him to enter into the way of his Souls Health and become a Christian. The Arch-bishop of Thessalonica cleansed his Soul from the Pollutions of the Law of Mahomet and baptised him in the Church of St. Anastasius without the City of Thessalonica yet secretly for fear lest the Eunuch coming to discover this Mystery should abandon him and publish abroad the place and estate of his solitary abode and so be miserably taken Thus Iacaia calling himself Sultan being already in some assurance of the Crown of Heaven by the promises of holy Baptism whilst that he was in the beginning of his Pretensions to that of the Turkish Empire he leaves the Monastery where he had been instructed and in the Company of the Eunuch travels up and down Greece passing away in the length and variety of his Voyage the impatiency of his Age and Desires and for that he would not be known he takes upon him the Habit and the License of a Dervis or religious Turk But when he came to the City of Siopia he understood the News of the Death of the Emperour Mahomet the Third his Father and the rejoycing for the new Advancement of Sultan Achmat to the Empire learning at the same instant that Mustapha his elder Brother had been stangled by the Commandment of his Father The Displeasure which he conceived for that he had not been bred up at Constantinople with the rest to receive so rich a Crown as that of the Turkish Empire made him to waver in divers irresolutions sometimes he would go into Persia to the Sophy to have Succours from him and with him to make War against his Brother sometimes he would serve for a support and countenance to the Rebels of Asia and justifie their Party After many Discourses with the Eunuch touching his Affairs he sends him unto the Son of Peri Bassa a Rebel against the Emperour Achmat the Eunuch treats for his Master and receives for him the Rebels Oath and returning to Tarlis where the Sultan Iacaia remained he conducted him to Peri Bassa to be the Head of his Troops Iacaia arrives and sees himself obeyed by an Army ready to fight for the Deftarden or Treasurer being sent
and his rest in Paradise This Paternal Empire and Monarchical Kingdom hath almost untill this present blessed time been always hereditary from Grandfather to Father from Father to Son and so cursively on that manner but having regard unto the Age and Years of our great and noble Vncle Sultan Mustapha he was preferred and honoured to sit on the Othoman Throne and being settled for some time took care for the Affairs of the Empire and for all that might concern the People both in general and particular But he having been many years retired in Solitariness and given to Devotion and Divine Obedience being also as it were wearied with the cares of the Empire of his own accord withdrew himself from the Government for that the Diadem and Scepter of the Empire of the seven Climates was the true Right and Inheritance of our most excellent Majesty of the which with the meeting and consent of all the Visiers and other Deputies of State of the Primate of the Mussulman Law and of the other honourable Doctors of the Souldiers and of all Subjects both publick and private the Almighty God hath made an high Present and worthy Gift unto us And in the happy day in the beginning of the Moon Rebea-il-evel of this present Year 1027 in an expected time and in an acceptable hour was our blessed and happy sitting establish'd upon the most fortunate Othoman Throne the Seat and Wisdom of Solomon In the Pulpits of all the Mosques the Congregations of the faithful and Devotion of the Musselmen throughout all our Dominions is read to our Imperial Name the Hutbeh And in the Mints where innumerable Sums of money are coined as well upon the Silver as the Gold our happy Name and Stamp is signed And our most powerful Commandments are obeyed in all the Parts and Dominions of the World and the brightness of the Light of the Sun of Iustice and Equity hath caused the darkness of Injuries and Molestations to vanish away Now seeing it hath been an ancient Custom of our famous Predecessors to give notice of the same unto such Princes as are in sincere Friendship and do continue it with the House of great Majesty and our Imperial Court We also have written these our princely Letters and appointed for their Bearer the choice among his Equals Hussein Chiaus whose Power is great one of the honoured and respected Servants of our magnificent Port the refuge of the World to the end that such News might cause great joy of our most honourable Assumption And we do hope that when they shall come to your hands in conformity of the well grounded friendship upon the sure League Articles and Writings which hath been established of old with our most Royal Race and permanent Empire you will manifest infinite Ioy and Gladness and certifie as much to the Rulers and Governours of the Dominions and Countries under you that they may know that the Articles of Peace and League and the points of the Oath which are firm and to be desired on both parts from the time of our Grand-father and Predecessor of Royal Stock now in Paradise whose Souls God inlighten undoubtedly during the time of our Reign shall be observed with all respect And let there not be the least imagination of any want of due observance of the signs of Friendship on our part or by any manner of means on your part for the violating the Foundation of the Peace and League The Copy of a Letter written by Halil Baâsa chief Visier and General in the Expedition against the Persian at his Return from the Wars to the City of Senit in April 1618 unto Sir Paul Pinder Knight then Ambassador for the King's Majesty at Constantinople The Humble Visier Halil Bassa TO the courteous Lord of the Nation of the Messiah both great and honourable among the people of Jesus and the true Determiner of Christian Affairs our good Friend Paul Pinder the English Ambassador whose latter days be with all felicity To whose noble presence after our many kind Salutations tending to all good Affection and manifestation of Ioy worthy and beseeming our Friendship our loving Advice is this That if you desire to hear of our Estate and Being you shall understand that after we departed from the happy Port with the Army for the Wars of Asia we arrived and wintered in Mesopotamia and removing thence in the Spring with all the Musselman Host always victorious we went to Van from which place untill we came to Tauris the Mussulman Army went on always sacking and destroying all those Places and Towns of the Persians which we met withal by the way in those parts where were burnt pillaged and ruined some thousands of Villages and tormenting all those people that came to hand And when we were come near to Tauris the General of the Persian Forces of perverse Religion called Carelghai Han the accursed retired himself into the said Tauris where beating up his Drums in every quarter he made a shew that he had a will to fight so we sent a little before us some Tartars and others of our Army to hearken out and take notice of the Enemy who meeting with seven or eight hundred Persians of note put them to the Sword very few escaping and that with very great difficulty and hazard by which the said General finding himself unable to resist the power and fury of the Mussulman Host or to stay any longer in the said place the very same day that we arrived there the said General having spoiled all the City sled away so we took the place ransacked it and burned all the Buildings Towers Gardens and whatsoever else we found in it And thus the great City Tauris by Divine Favour and Grace became ours Then forthwith we sent after the Enemy the Tartar with some Beglerbegs who overtaking them gave them Battel and albeit some of ours did fall yet they which fell on the Enemies side were innumerable And so going forward towards Erdevil their obscure Residence about ten days Iourney of the Country we went burning and sâoiling it and killing all the Persians that we met that indeed there was so much glory and honour won as that all the ancient men of the Country do affirm there was never seen the like insomuch that from the Confines of Erdevil twenty days Iourney of the Countây was on that manner by us destroyed Thus afterward the King caused to empty the said place of Erdevil and sled into a place called Hulchal and caused his Army to go to the top of a high Mountain from whence having sent three or four times men of Quality unto us seeking and intreating for peace with promise to give yearly to our Emperour an hundred Somes of Silk and all such places as are upon the Confines gotten in the time of Sultan Solyman except Der Ne and Der Tink wherewith we were contented with the peace and his Ambassador is upon the way coming toward us And so
year when the Infant is able to make Confession of his Faith where lifting up his Finger he speaks these Words which are graven in their Temples in the Arabian Tongue There is but one God whose Prophet Mahomet is one God and equal Prophets The Circumcision being ended they feast three days together and then they carry the Circumcised to a Bath with great pomp after which the Guests conduct him to his House and present him with Gifts The Women are not circumcised but onely speak the words If any Christian abjure his Faith and indure Circumcision as they often do by reason of their Tributes and Vexations they are led through the Town with great honour and rejoycing of the People who do also give unto them and they pay no Tributes Mahomet's Law denies the Divinity of Iesus Christ to please the Arrians who were then powerful It is full of Fables to please Idolaters and it gives liberty to the flesh which is pleasing to most men They confess one God and honour Iesus Christ not as the Son of God but as a Prophet born of the Virgin Mary They neither honour nor allow Images Friday is their Sabbath as Sunday is ours They observe a Lent of thirty days which they call Ramadan during which they eat nothing in the day time but when night comes all meats are indifferent but Swines flesh yet they abstain from Wine and Women They have their Easter called Bayran which continues three days in which they enjoy all pleasures but this Feast is not always prefixed for that they account not the day according to the course of the Sun but of the Moon and therefore they do carefully observe the New-Moon and salute it They have no Bells in their Mosques neither do they suffer the Christians which live there to have any They put off their Shooes when they go into their Mosques and take them again at their coming forth Wheresoever they sit in their Churches or Houses they have Tapestry Coverlets or Mats under them they are not much given to Contemplation or Learning yet the Turkish Women being married and having Issue are careful to breed up their Children and to be instructed for the which there are many Schools where they read their Laws to the end they may serve in their Mosques and be able to govern the Common-weal The Turks by Mahomet's Law have leave to marry as many Wives as they can maintain and a Turkish Woman being once with Child her Husband never toucheth her untill she be delivered but lies with his slaves out of the House where his Wife remains They have a certain kind of marriage made at pleasure which they call Kebin the which is many times practised by Strangers who being out of their Country contract with Women whom they are to enjoy during their pleasure and when they cast them off they give them a certain sum of Money and keep the Children The Cadies or Judges allow not this kind of contract especially amongst Christians unless it be with an Oath of marriage A Turk having had the Use of a Christian Woman they are both condemned to dye unless she will abjure her Faith the like is observed betwixt a Christian and a Turkish Woman if they have been found together Divorce is allowed among them in case of Barrenness and Incontinency There are four orders of Religious Men among the Turks which differ in their Living Habit and Ceremonies These be the Terlaques Deruis Kalenders and Huquiemales and these last are very vicious and wicked Imposters deceiving of the common People The Deruis is a strict Order living in Contemplation much like unto the Capuchins among the Romish Papists The Turks forbear to blaspheme either God Christ or Mahomet or any other Saint whatsoever and they punish blasphemy severely They converse with Christians and Eat and Traffick with them freely yea sometimes they marry their Daughters and suffer them to live after their own Religion But they hate the Iews and despise them as the basest people in the world They have an assured Confidence that he that shall duely observe the Laws of Mahomet shall have eternal Life and a Paradise full of Delights and contrariwise they that shall break the Laws of their Alcaron are threatned with Hell and eternal Death yet they have an Opinion that he that believes in the Alcaron when he dyes shall be undoubtedly saved To conclude this Relation with some few lines of their Humours and Dispositions they write of them that they are gross witted idle and unfit for Labour They are exceeding covetous and corrupt above all other Nations for Justice is sold to him that offers most They are humble among themselves and obey their Superiours with great silence They are proud and insupportable to Strangers thinking none fit to be compared with them They are given to Gluttony and Drunkenness and will spend whole days together in Feasting and will drink with excess if it be in private for that it is forbidden by their Law. They are vain-glorious proud and deceitful never keeping their words but when it may be to their profit They are much inclined to Venery and are for the most part all Sodomites They are very superstitious giving credit to Dreams and Divinations and they hold that every mans Destiny is written in his Forehead which cannot be altered or avoided Thus I have continued this History for eleven Years having informed my self out of the best Authors and Intelligencers I could find that concern this subject I should have been glad that some which have resided at Constantinople most part of this time would have assisted me with their Observations which should have been for the general good of our Nation but I hope notwithstanding the Reader shall find content and satisfaction A CONTINUATION OF THE TURKISH HISTORY From the beginning of the Year of Our Lord 1620 until the ending of the Year of Our Lord 1628. Collected out of the Papers and Dispatches of Sir Thomas Roe Knight his Majesties Ambassador with the Grand Seignior during that Time. By M. B. year 1620 BEfore we come to speak of the great Preparations made by the Grand Seignior in the Year 1621 to invade the Kingdom of Poland and those by that King to resist him I hold it necessary briefly to set down the Causes and Reasons of the ensuing War. The Chrim Tartar confining upon the Dukedom of Russia and Borders of Poland made many Incursions and did great spoil upon the Cossacks within that Province of Russia and other parts belonging to the Kingdom of Poland and carrying away People of all Ages and Sexes made sale of them within the Turkish Empire Now Iean beagh-Ghiray-Han Prince of the Tartars being wholly dependent on the Ottoman Emperours his Majesty of Poland sent many several Ambassadors to complain at that Port That notwithstanding the ancient League between him and the Ottoman Family the Tartars greatly spoiled his Countries which was both unjust and
come to the Presence of him so great a Prince either from the Province he had the charge of or from any great Expedition he was sent upon neither unto so great and mighty a Prince are Trifles presented The Vayvods of Moldavia Valachia and Transilvania before their late revolt by Gifts preserved themselves in their Principalities being almost daily changed especially in Valachia and Moldavia for those Honours were by the Grand Seignior still given to them that would give most who to perform what they had offered miserably oppressed the People and brought their Provinces into great Poverty In brief an easie thing it is for the great Tyrant to find Occasion for him at his Pleasure to take away any Mans Life together with his Wealth be it never so great so that he cannot well be said to lack Money so long as any of his Subjects have it Nevertheless the late Persian War so emptied the most covetous Sultan Amurath's Coffers and exhausted his Treasures that all over his Empire the value of his Gold was beyond all credit enhanced insomuch that a Chequine was twice so much worth as before beside that the Metal whereof his Gold and Silver was made was so embased that it gave occasion unto the Janizaries to set fire upon the City of Constantinople to the great Terror not of the vulgar sort only but of the Grand Seignior himself also And in the City of Aleppo only were in the Name of the Great Sultan sixty thousand Chequines taken up in prest of the Merchants there which how well they were repayed we leave for them to report Now albeit that the Turks Revenues be not so great as the largeness of his Empire and the fruitfulness of his Countries might seem to afford all the Soil being his own yet hath he in his own Dominion a Commodity of far greater value and use than are the Revenues themselves which is the Multitude of the Timariots or Pensioners which are all Horsemen so called of Timaro that is a stipend which they have of the Great Sultan viz. the possession of certain Villages and Towns which they hold during their Life and for which they stand bound for every threescore Duckets they have of yearly Revenue to maintain one Horseman either with Bow and Arrows or else with Targuet and Launce and that as well in time of Peace as War for the Othoman Emperours take unto themselves all such Lands as they by the Sword win from their Enemies as well Mahometans as Christians all which they divide into Timars or as we call them Commendams which they give unto their Souldiers of good desert for term of Life upon Condition that they shall as is aforesaid according to the proportion thereof keep certain Men and Horses fit for service always ready whensoever they shall be caled upon wherein consisteth the greatest Policy of the Turks and the surest means for the Preservation of their Empire For if by this means the care of manuring the Ground were not committed unto the Souldiers for the profit they hope thereof but left in the hand of the plain painful Husbandman all would in that so warlike an Empire lie waste and desolate the Turks themselves commonly saying That wheresoever the Grand Seignior's Horse setteth his Foot the Grass will grow no more there meaning the Destruction that their Great Armies bring in all Places where they come The Institution of these Timariots and the taking up of the Azamoglans for so they call those Children which are taken up from their Christian Parents to be brought up for Janizaries are the two chief Pillars of the Turks Empire and the strength of their Wars both which seem to be devised unto the imitation of the Romans as are divers things more in the Turkish Government for the Roman Emperours used their own Subjects in their Wars and of them consisted the Praetorian Army which never departed from the Emperours side but were still to guard his Person as do the Janizaries the Great Turk And in the Roman Empire Lands were given unto Souldiers of good desert for them to take the profit of during their Lives in reward of their good Service and Valour which were called Beneficia and they which had them Benificiarii or as we term them Benefices and beneficed Men. Alexander Severus granted unto such Souldiers Heirs that might enjoy those Lands and Commendams upon condition also That they themselves should serve as had their Fathers otherwise not Constantine the Great also gave unto his Captains that had well deserved of him certain Lands for them to live upon during the term of their Life The like Fees in France which they called Feuda were of Temporaries made Perpetuities by these their late Kings These Timariot Horsemen in the Turkish Empire serve to two great and most notable purposes whereof the first is That by them the Grand Seignior as with a Bridle keepeth the rest of his Subjects in every part of his great Empire in awe so that they cannot so soon move but that they shall have these his Timariots as Faulcons in their Necks for to that purpose they are dispersed all over his Dominion and Empire The other use of them and no less profitable than the former is for that out of them he is always able to draw into the Field an hundred and fifty thousand Horsemen well armed ready to go whithersoever he shall command them with all whom he is not at one farthing charge Which so great a power of Horsemen cannot continually be maintained for less than fourteen Millions of Duckets yearly Wherefore it is to be marvelled that some comparing the Turks Revenues with the Christians make no mention of this so great a part of the Othoman Emperour's Wealth and Strength serving him first for the suppressing of all such Tumults as might arise in his Empire and then as a most principal strength of his continual Wars always ready to serve him in his greatest Expeditions The number of these Timariot Horse-men is now grown very great taking increase together with the Turks Empire It is reported That Amurath the Third Grandfather to Achmat that now reigneth in his late Wars against the Persian subdued so much Territory as served him to erect therein fourty thousand Timariots and appointed at Tauris a new Receit which was yearly worth unto him a million of Gold. These Timariots are in all accounted to be seven hundred and nineteen thousand fighting Men of whom two hundred and fifty seven thousand have their Aboad and dwelling in Europe and four hundred sixty two thousand in Asia and Affrick Beside these Timariots the Grand Seignior had a great number of other Horse-men also unto whom he giveth Pay which are his Spahi Ulufagi and Carapici of his Court being indeed the Nurseries and Seminaries of the great Officers and Governours of his Empire for from among them are ordinarily chosen the Sanzacks which afterwards through their good deserts or
Articles and Treaties of Peace was at length perswaded by his Barons and Counsellors that the only Means to suppress the Violence of this unruly People was to disarm them and taking away their Weapons of War to supply them in lieu thereof with the Shovel and Mattock with Ploughs and Pruning-Hooks by which industrious Diverversion from a wicked Life of Blood and Robbery to honest Husbandry and lawful Arts of living they might with time be rendred useful to their own Prince and capable of Faith and just Communication with their Neghbours It is not one Age past since these people were called Cossacks derived as is supposed from Cosai a word in their Language which signifies a Goat perhaps because of their Agility of Body or because their Garments are chiefly made of Goats Skins Pellibus laxis arcent mala frigora bracchis Oráque sunt longis horrida tecta comis The Country inhabited by them was at first on the Banks of the River Boristhenes about fifteen Leagues in length to the entrance into the Euxine Sea where it is reported that Ovid was banished and some say that from him a Village thereabouts called Ovidoua derives its denomination and hereunto we may afford the greater belief from one of his Elegies in his Book De Tristibus which seems to describe this Country and the fierceness of the Inhabitants Eleg. 8. lib. 5. Quam legis à Scythicâ tibi venit Epistola terrâ Latus ubi aequoreis jungitur Ister aquis Mista sit hac quamvìs inter Graecósque Getásque A malè placatis plus trahit or a Getis Sarmaticae major Geticaeque frequentia gentis Per medias in aquis Ãtque redÃtque vias In quibus est nemo qui non Coryton arcum Teláque vipereo lurida felle gerat Vox fera trux vultus verissima mortis imago Non coma non ullâ barba resecta manu At present the name of Cossacks and their Country also is of a far greater extent than it was formerly for they call now all such in Poland Cossacks that are light Horse armed with Bow and Arrow and Fire-arms and their Country since the late Commotions is measured from the farthest parts of the Palatinate of Chiovia for the space of an hundred and twenty Leagues on one side and the other of the Boristhenes which comprehends likewise all the Country of Vkrania This Country was always inhabited by the most Warlike People of Russia for that being subject to the frequent Incursions of the Tartars necessary Defence and constant practice in Arms endued them with a Bold and Martial Spirit Vkrania is a Country so fertile that it may compare with the most fruitful Soil in the World producing such quantities of Corn with little labour that the Husband-men being made negligent by their abundance produced with little Toil have leisure to apply themselves to Violence and Rapine They have no Wine but use themselves much to Strong-waters Their Houses are not built of Wood or Stone but of Osiers interwoven and daubed over with Earth and Lime so that they use no Nails or Iron they have no Merchants unless in Kiow nor do they serve themselves of Physicians or Apothecaries Their learned Language or the Tongue wherein they write is the Sclavonian anciently called the Illyrian so that in all things this People is rude and barbarous and though their manner of Government and Policy is not refined or methodically disposed yet nevertheless it is solid and of deep Foundation appropriated to the nature and disposition of that People This honest Design of King Vladislaus to reduce this People to a just and an industrious course of living not agreeing with their Temper and Customs they rather resolved to leave their Country and betake themselves to various Fortunes some of them passed into Moscovia to plant a Colony in those uninhabited Parts a Body of them to the number of six thousand joining together resolved to pass into Persia to offer their service unto that King and being on their Journey as far as the Tanais they encountred with a Party of Moscovite Cossacks who inhabited certain Islands of that River with whom entertaining Discourse they understood that Asac might easily be surprised by them if they could agree to unite Forces which together might compose a Body of ten thousand Men The Importance of the Place being well considered it was resolved that the March into Persia should be shortned and this City be ordained for the ultimate End of their Travels and Place of Repose According to this counsel Asac being assaulted and taken as we have already intimated the Cossacks fortified it in the best manner that they were able making an Arsenal for their Boats and Saicks whereby afterwards they did much more infest the Turks than before The other Cossacks who continued in their Country being much persecuted by the Polish Nobility chose Kilminieschi for their General the Son of a Noble Family in Lituania but banished and degraded of his Honour for his Criminal Offences and rebelled against the Government At first not being able to resist the Force of Poland they retired within the Woods but joining afterwards with other Cossacks they issued forth at the beginning of the Spring beat the Poles and carried away a considerable Booty Afterwards joining with the Tartars they made their Incursions as fas as Zamosca within twenty Leagues of Warsaw and so Matters continued with various Successes not appertaining to this History Only thus far it is pertinent to the Matter discussed for us to have shewn That the Counsels of Poland were in a great Error when they resolved to change the Life and alter the Humour of this Warlike People which being protected in their Priviledges and encouraged in their Wars would at all Times as occasion served have been ready to have ejected great numbers of good Souldiers into the Ottoman Territories and might still have been conserved to ballance the Power of the Tartars which now daily infest and ruin the Borders of Poland These People were like Ill Humors which being vomited out into the Dominions of the Turk eased and made healthy the Body Politick of Poland but being conserved within the Stomach caused Syncopes Convulsions and such Commotions as have of late Years shaken the whole Body of the Polish Kingdom and at length withdrawing themselves entirely from all Obedience together with that large Province of Vkrania as they have weakned that Government so now of late years seeking protection from the Turk have added to his Kingdom and enfeebled that of Poland When the News arrived first at Constantinople that Asac was besieged the Captain-Pasha going then to instate Bechir into his Kingdom of Tartary received Orders to relieve Asac and if possible to raise the Siege but the Succours coming too late and the Town being taken the loss thereof was not esteemed important enough to divert either Thoughts or Forces from the Persian War. For now Morat resolving to
many âo that he might have passed peaceably and honourably with all could his great spirit have bowed to and complied with his Potent Neighbours For on the one side the Puissant power of the Turk threatned him to whom the least Ombrages of displeasure administer occasion of War On the side of Hungary the Emperour over-awed him On the side of Valachia and Moldavia he lay open to the incursion of the Tartars So that a man might rationally expect That this Prince should have esteemed it honour enough to have conserved his own without rendring himself obnoxious to the jealousie and suspicion of his Neighbours But his great spirit was so enamoured of a Crown and so bewitched with the hopes of obtaining it that nothing seemed difficult or improbable to the acquisition of his longing desires which were the occasion of all those calamities and miseries in Hungary which afterwards ensued In contemplation of all which foreseen evils his Caesarean Majesty sent a Message to the Ottoman Port declaring against the temerity and audaciousness of Ragotski who in the mean time subdued the Fort of Bristia invaded with Fire and Sword the Province of Russia plundered Podolia and advanced as far as Camonitz a Fortress strong by Art and Nature and joining afterwards with the Swedes assisted them in the subjection of Cracovia About this time the Emperour Ferdinand the third began to send succours into Poland and to protest against the proceedings of Ragotski but being surprized by sickness soon after passed to a better life which for some time giving a stop to the assistance of Poland was interpreted by Ragotski as a happy Omen of his good Fortune But how vain and deceitful are humane hopes whose foundations are Ambition and Violence For Leopold succeeding in the place of his Father to Hungary and the Empire immediately prosecuted the design in favour of Poland and in the first place besieging Turone one of the chief Cities of Prussia taken by the Swedes forced it to a Surrender The King of Denmark also growing jealous of the encreasing greatness of the Swedes nourished by ancient grudges and National Emulations took up Arms in defence of Poland and being at first flush of Money gave constant pay and large donatives to mercenary Soldiers which encreased his Army drawing great numbers from the Swedish Colours so that being stoutly recruited he entered into the Enemies Countries possessed himself of the important Fort of Olme in Norway overthrew the Swedish Army at Vorgast and obtained a victory over their Fleet in the Baltick Sea. The Poles also themselves who at first revolted from their Prince and favoured the Swedish proceedings perceiving the Wind change and become contrary to that Party began to abandon the interest they professed and by degrees to return to the due obedience of their King. Zerneski also the General and Lubomiski the Great Chancellour of Poland met the Swedish Forces near Cracovia where giving them Battel discomfited the whole Army killed fourteen thousand upon the place took all the Cannon and Baggage and won that day a most signal Victory Ragotski perceiving the face of things thus changed and being by Command of the Ottoman Port abandoned by his Moldavian and Walachian Forces began to turn his face towards Transilvania where now he wished himself and Army lodged in safety But being overtaken by General Zerneski near the Mountains of Transilvania he was tho unwillingly engaged to fight and was with that fury assaulted by the Polish Horse that tho according to his usual Bravery he charged in Person at the head of his Troops yet he was not able to withstand a violence so disadvantageous in number but that his men being first put into disorder then to a Retreat and then to open flight his whole Army was defeated many of them perished by the Sword others flying through the Woods and Mountains died with famine and he himself obliged to buy a shameful Peace engaging by Word and Oath to the payment of a great summ of Money was permitted with a mean Retinue to return into his own Country Nor did these misfortunes end here but the Tartars commanded by the Turks in revenge and chastisement of Ragotski's Enterprize without their consent entered into his Principality with considerable Bodies of Horse against whose sudden Invasion an Army under the Conduct of his General Kemenius could not be so soon collected and disciplined as to be able to resist that fury of Tartars who at their pleasure burned the Towns and Villages and carried away multitudes of people of both Sexes and all Ages for Captives into their own Country amongst which some were of Quality and Condition Amidst which troubles came Letters from the Ottoman Port directed to the Nobles of Transilvania declaring Ragotski a Rebel and commanding that according to the Laws and Priviledges of that Principality they should proceed to the Election of a new Prince and in case of refusal all the ruins and calamities were threatned which they might justly expect in punishment of their disobedience from a severe and angry Emperor Ragotski being well informed what was designing against him at the Ottoman Port and knowing that his power was not able to oppose so much puissance resolved to give way to necessity and voluntarily depose himself before he should be engaged thereunto by the Imperial Decree so that he calmly receded from his Principality hoping that his humility and submission might procure his pardon at the Court. The Nobility of Transilvania being as well desirous to evidence their affection to their old Prince as their obedience to the Grand Signior did immediately appoint a day for Election but with Proviso that a general Petition should be made in behalf of Ragotski that he might be again restored unto ancient Grace and Favour with the Port who in the mean time swore to live peaceably in a quiet and private condition without making disturbance or innovation in the Government and that when this Grace should accordingly be obtained then that the new Prince should recede and suffer things to return to their former and pristine Estate For which purpose there was choice made of one Francis Redeius a Person of a peaceable and gentle temper who would easily condescend to the terms agreed and as willingly resign up his Government again as he unwillingly received it But though Ragotski had renounced promised swore and in appearance seemed to recede from his Government and surrender all at the irresistible Decree of a superior power yet his high Spirit and working Brain could not dislodg that Ambition of his Heart which at first privately countermined and enervated the Power of the new elected Prince but afterwards his towering Thoughts swelled too big to be suppressed under the cover of Dissimulation yielded just Reason to the Ottoman Port to suspect his designs who not being ignorant of what was past dispatched Orders to the Pasha of Buda to demand the strong Fort of Iancua
blood to men as well as sap and moisture unto Vegetables These Reasons being represented with all humility to the Grand Signior he seemed to rest satisfied and his heat of visiting Adrianople for the present allayed And in the mean time that the design against Germany might be the more covertly carried it was given out that the preparations were intended against the Venetian Territories in Dalmatia viz. Zara Sebenico and Cataro and Proclamation was made that all Souldiers should prepare themselves for the Wars against the next Spring In which Interim no accident intervening which might bring matters to an accommodation and better understanding the daily Skirmishes on the Frontiers made the Controversie every day more difficult to be reconciled and the breach the wider The Count Serini also proceeded in finishing the Fortification he had lately raised near Canisia and the other Commanders of the Cesarean Army seeing the great progress of the Turks in Transilvania secured Claudiopolis Somoswar Sechilhid Clewar alias Coloswar and Betlem with some other Towns and Fortresses The Turks on the other side under the Command of Ali Pasha penetrate into the very Center of Transilvania and conceiving a jealousie of War from the passages before mentioned lost no time to take their advantages so that the Pasha of Varadin not contenting himself with that Country and limits formerly prescribed for maintenance of his Fortress adjoined to his Jurisdiction what Villages and Towns he thought fit the whilst the poor Prince Michael Apafi though made by the Turks durst not lift a hand or interpose the least Obstacle or Impediment to his quiet progress or peaceable possession which so harrassed the People of the Country and wrought that misery and destruction therein that the Prince deprived of his power in Government and disabled by oppression to pay his Annual Tribute had no hopes of redress but from the assistance of Divine Providence governing the hearts of Christians and Turks to compassionate the misery of his Country Wherefore he craved the assistance of the Emperor and of the King of Poland acquainting other Christian Princes more remote of the sad estate of the Christian Cause he sent also his Ambassadors to the Port with most submissive Letters to the Vizier complaining against the Pasha of Varadin and craving his Commands for retirement of his Army within their due and ancient bounds Letters were also directed to the Publick Representatives of Christian Princes residing at Constantinople one of which was directed to the Earl of Winchelsea his Majesties Ambassador which being that which may conduce to the more full understanding of the present deplorable Condition of Transilvania I thought fit to be here mentioned Excellentissime Domine Amice observandissime AFflictiones Regni Transilvaniae quibus per complures annos justo Dei Iudicio castigatur toti Orbi Christiano manifestae sunt nec possumus non fateri inter duos Potentissimos Monarchas adeo indies hoc Regâum coangustari ut nisi extraordinaria Dei clementia aliquod subsequatur levamen vix immo ne vix quidem diu duraturum credamâs Sed ut ad rem proximius collimemus Potentissimus Imperator per Legatos Regni nostros nunc reduces Clementissimum suum patrocinium pollicetur interim autem Passa Varadinensis non contentus Villis ac Pagis ad dictam Arcem pertinentibus usque ad meditullium plane Transilvaniae metu Mortis integras ad deditionem cogit Regiones quae nunquam eidem Arci applicatae fuerant nec possible est Principatum Transilvaniae iis ademptis ulterius persistere Tributumque annuum persolvere posse Qua de re tam Potentissimum Imperatorem quam Supremum Vezirium denuo requirere cogimur vestram quocirca Excellentissimam Dominationem confidenter rogamus eo quo convenientius putaverit modo continuo nostro Oratori opitulari eaque qua pollet Authoritate Caâsam promovere ne gravetur rem non saltem Transilvaniae verum quoque Christianitati perutilem factura nosque ad vincula amicitiae arctissâme devinctura cui felicem vitam precamur manemus indubitati Datum in Castris ad Pagum Koozard positis die 26 Septembris An. Dom. 1662. Excellentissimae Dominationis vestrae Amicus Benevolus Michael Apafi In English thus Most Excâllent Lord and most worthy Friend THe Miseries of Transilvania with which for many years by the just Judgment of God we have been afflicted are manifest to all the Christian World nor can we but confess how between two most Potent Monarchs our Principality is so daily straitned that unless through the extraordinary Mercy of God we obtain some relief we believe not our selves longer able to subsist But to come nearer to our Business The Most Potent Emperor by his own Ambassadors and ours now lately returned hath promised us his most Gracious Protection yet notwithstanding the Pasha of Varadin not content with the Towns and Villages appropriated unto his Castle hath entered into the very middle of Transilvania and hath compelled for fear of death those Provinces entirely to yield themselves which never before were belonging to his Fortresses which being taken away it is impossible for the Principality of Transilvania longer to subsist and pay its annual Tribute wherefore we are constrained again to beseech the most Potent Emperor and the Supream Vizier as also we confidently desire your Excellency in that manner which your Excellency judges most convenient to be assistant to our Agent and with your Authority to countenance our Cause in which your Excelleney will not only perform a matter beneficial to Transilvania but to all Christendom and oblige us for ever with the Bonds of friendship and praying for all happiness of Life and Prosperity to your Excellency we remain your undoubted Friend Given in our Camp at the Village Koczard the five and twentieth day of September 1662. Your Excellencies Loving Friend Michael Apafi This Letter was received by His Majesties Ambassador with that humanity as was agreeable to his Noble Nature and with that sense of the Christian Cause as became a Religious Minister of the Faith's Defender and an Answer returned thereunto full of affectionate Piety and Compassion But it was feared that the time was elapsed and the Disease proceeded too far to admit a gentle Cure for it could not probably be expected that the Vizier should upon fair words or perswasions or by the force of passionate and Rhetorical expressions be induced to let slip the fair opportunity of an intire and total subjection of Transilvania And the truth is herein lay the ground of the great Quarral between these two Emperors for ever since the Defeat of Chimianus or as the Transilvanians call him Kemenius the Turk swallowing in his thoughts the intire subjection of that Country designed to reduce it to the Government of a Pasha rather than of a Christian Prince though elected at the Ottomon Port and in order thereunto advanced beyond the Limits of the ancient bounds and
out of design to slacken the warlike Preparations of the Christians and to discover the inclinations of the Emperor to Peace desired a Treaty that if possible matters might be reduced to terms of accommodation The Resident of Germany was then in the Army but he not being impowered singly for any such Treaty the Baron of Goez then with Ali Pasha at Temeswar was sent for and being arrived were both called into the Viziers Tent at Bâlgrade to whom it was proposed That in Case the Emperor desired a Peace he should resign into the hands and possession of the Sultan Zââkelhyd Zatmar Clausenburg alias Colosvar with the late built Fort of Count Serini without which no Sacrifice could appease the anger and give a stop to the progress of the Ottomon Arms. Whilst these Propositions by Post were dispatched to Vienna the Vizâer proceeded in his Journey to Strigânium now called Gran to which place after sixteen Days time the Messenger returned with an Answer from the Emperor which showed aâ inclination towards an acceptance of Peace on the terms proposed but with instructions to his Ministers to moderate by their dâscreet management what was possible the rigour of the demânds For by reason of the disaffection of the Hungarians whom the Emperor had lately disgusted by demolishing several of their Churches and discountenancing the Protestant Religion which they professed and by reason of the Phlegm of the Princes of Germany whom different interests made slow and unactive in their preparations against the common Enemy the Emperor was wholly unprovided to oppose the violence of this over-flowing Torrent and becâme an unequal match for the Ottoman Force The Tuâks perceiving that the Germans began to condescend and yield to any conditions which might purchase their quiet started a farther demand of Fâfty thousand Florins of Yearly Tribute and two Mâllions of Crowns for expence of the War to be paid by the Emperor to the Sultan These proud and unexâed Proposals startled not a little the Baron of Goez who readily made answer that he clearly perceived now that there were no intentions to a Peace since the Vizier was pleased to make the matter so difficult and imâossibâe for that it were as easy to bring Heaven and Earth to meet as his Master to meet the G Signior in the Concession of this particular These exâravagant demands awakened the Imperial Court who now observing the Turks without their Vizard to march hastily to surprize them vigorously roused themselves to make that convenient provision and defence by War which the straitness of time permitted them So that in the first place they Assembled a Diet at Ratisbonne where it was resolved to raise four Armies the first for the Guard and defence of Moravia and Silesia under the Command of Count Susa a Native of Râchel The second under the Command of Count Raimond Monteculi for safety of Raab Newhausel and Komorra and the Frontiers of Hungary The third under Command of Count Nicholas Serini for defence of Croatia The fourth composed solely of Hungarians commanded by the Palatine of that Country which they reported to consist of Thirty thousand fighting men Fifâhly It was ordered that all Garisons should be well provided of Victuals and Ammunition and that the Inhabitants of Vienna should take into every House a provision for a years maintenance and such as were not able at their own Cost were to abandon their Dwellings And in the mean time the Villages round about were demolished to the great amazement and confusion of the People The Turks now bearing in their thoughts nothing but War began to design and chalk out the best order and method for its prosecution The principal places then in eye of the Vizier were Raab and Kâmorra Fortresses of considerable strength maintained and defended by Souldiers of known prowess and conduct and provided equally with all sorts of Ammunition and Provisions agreeable to such considerable Bulwarks and Walls not only of the German Empire but I may say of all Christendom Raab called by the Italians Iavarin and by the Turks Yanick is scituated in a plain level and Champion Country the Town it self very regular and compact the Fortifications most exact according to the new Model and much improved in its strength since the recovery of it from the hands of the Turk by whom it was once taken in the year 1594. it hath its name from the River Rab on which it is seated just on the meeting of the Danube Kâmorra is a stronger Fortress erected in an Island of the River Danube called after the same name which hath often been attempted by the Turks but with ill success at both which places I have personally been and viewed them with much delight Wherefore the Vizier considering the strength and difficulty of these places resolved to take due and mature consideration before he engaged himself in any enterprize and to that end assembled together in Consultation with him the most ancient and grave men that were Natives of the Country some of these being such who had lived in Rab been Slaves âhere and had well marked and observed the strength of that Fortress both as to Nature and Art assured the Vizier That the Work was immense difficult and dangerous and not to be accomplished in the space of one Summer and that the Winters in that Countrey were very cold and rigid and ill agreeing with the temperament of the Asiatick Souldiery The Vizier though he farther considered that his Souldiers were as yet young and unexperienced and that a foyl encountred at the first Enterprize might be a discouragement from following the continued Tract and Course of this War which must be sustained with labour and patience and that to withdraw his Forces in the Winter would be a dishonour to the Ottoman Arms a blemish in the beginning to his own Reputation and an encouragement of the Enemy Howsoever having a violent Ambition and Desire to become Master of Rab he could not rest satisfied in this Counsel before he had consulted with Ali Pasha and other Pashaws of the Frontier Countries who duly considering the matter as it stood concurred in the same judgment that was formerly made of the difficulty of thâs design and herein they were the more strongly confirmed by the report of certain Hungarians whom some parties of Horse under the Command of Ali Pasha roving and sallying out near the Walls of Rab had surprized and taken who being brought bound before the Vizier related That the Town was well provided with all sorts of Ammunition and Provisions and the Garison reinforced by Count Montecuculi with supply of four Thousand men and in this manner reported the Work as difficult as the Turkâ of the Countrey had formerly signified This relation confirmed by so many hands diverted the Vizâer from this Design âor before that time imagining it a place which might easily be subdued he proposed to himself without any interruption a clear
only the thanks be returned That if the Providence of your Serenity and of this most Serene Republick will be pleased as I am assured you will to imitate the Divine Providence which co-operates with means the number and quality of your Troops and plenty of your Provisions which are the Nerves of War are those means which correspond with the ends you design And therefore I dare presage that I shall not only see the threatning horns of the changeable Ottoman Planet precipitated into the Sea by the Venetian horn of strength but those glorious Conquests renewed which rendered your Name more bright and resplendent than the Sun it self in his Oriental parts With these auspicious Presages I feel already in my breast an impatient heat to sacrifice my life in so worthy a Cause fancying that I serve the Vniverse whilst I am engaged in the service of the greatest of Republicks which communicates delicious Fruit to all People gathered from those triumphant Palms which were planted and watered with her own sweat and labours and resembles her own generous Lion which continually stands on the Guard in opposition to the common Enemy that all other People may rest quiet and repose secure And thus much Most Serene Prince and Most Excellent Sirs shall suffice to have been spoken by a Soldier not acquainted with Eloquence to whom Courage is more requisite than Words and to fight well with the hand is more laudable than to utter florid Speeches with the Tongue According to the preceding counsel and desire of Marquiss Villa the Senate sent by divers Convoys great plenty of Provision and Ammunition to Candia and fitted their Fleet with all things necessary and strengthened their Forts both with Horse and Foot drawn out of their Garisons on the Terra Firma being assisted with Men and Money from other Princes and States The Pope gave them liberty to levy Four thousand men out of his Countries the Emperour alâo furnished them with a considerable Force to which were made Additions from other parts of Gerâany In this manner the prudent Care of the Venetians provided for their own safety But at Consâântinople things were more quiet for it being Winter the Turks made Entertainments for the Germân Ambassadour who was first feasted by the âhimâcham and twice afterwards with much Magnificence by the Great Vizier at his own Garden seated on the Bosphorus all difficulties being before overcome and agreed unless the deliverance of the poor Captives from the Prison and the Oar who continued in the torment of expectation between hope and fear either of liberty or perpetual slavery Which Treaty though it properly belonged to the Vizier to whom the absolute power is derived yet in formality it was reserved for matter of the last Audience with the Grand Signior who being desirous to attend his Hunting and Pastime abroad was in pâin until he had complyed with his Office towaâds this Ambassadour whose departure though not some time after designed yet being oâten called upon to receive his Dispatch from the Grand Signior was admitted on the 30 th of October to his Audience with the same formality and feasting as is common to all other Ambassadours in the Divan or place of Judicature and received three and forty Coftans bestowed on himself and his retinue and thence being conducted to the Chamber of Audience wiâh some of the principal Noblemen of his Company they presented themselves on their Kââes with their Faces on the Ground according to the Custom of the Eastern Courts with which occasion the Heer Râningen who had for sixâeen or seventeen years been Resident for the âmperor a person grown infirm with Age and the Gout and his Knees not so active and pliable as the younger sort coming also to take his turn in this prostrate manner of Worship was so rudely handled by the Kapugibashees who assisted on each Arm at the Ceremony that he not being able to bow his head so easily as others was thrust down by them with so little consideration or respect that his Brows and Foâeâead were broken on the Flour which mischânce so disordered him as put him besides that Speech which he had premediated in Turkish to address to the Grand Signior and though he curbed what was possible his passion whilst he remained in the Royal Presence yet in vain afterwârds he venâed his Choler with words against thâse unmannerly Officers without other remedy or satisfaction The Demands of the Ambassadour were in writing read before the ârand Signior according to the custom of the Court and principally concerned the freedom of the Slaves some of which were then in the Galâies and Banniard and others of the most principal in the seven Towers Other Demands there were in relation to the State of Transylvania that for the future it might be free from Incursions in which particular the Turks had already violated the Peâce and that a more orderly Government of Affairs might be observed on the Frântiârs than uâually had passed as agreed by âhe last Capitulations To which the Grand ãâã gave no Answer referring all to the Vizier ãâã told the Ambassadour in short That he should câunsel his Master to beware of invading the Ottoman Dominions or acting any thing in pâejâdice of the Peace The Articles of Peace made between the Two Emperors were for the most part a confirmation of the ancient Agreement only it was provided as a new Addition That the Armies should depart from the Confines of Transilvania Secondly That the Castles and Forts garisoned with German Soldiers in that Countrey should be resigned into the hands of the Prince And Thirdly There were other particulars added in reference to Newhausel and the Countries adjacent lately conquered and the Limits of both Emperors as before declared But whilst these things were in agitation and Ambassadours interchangeably at either Court the Turks of Varadin and Ianoua made frequent incursions into Transilvania destroying the Villages and carrying away great numbers of Captives and so lately as about the beginning of August last those of Varadin conveyed themselves privately under the Castle Cseh and robbed the Horses belonging to that Garison killed some and carried others into slavery at which time also Two thousand Turks besieged the Castle Valko which they took and razed to the ground which Complaints of their Countries Aggrievances the Transilvanians intimated to the German Ambassadour as matters already acted contrary to the late Articles of Peace requesting farther to interpose for a moderation and abatement of their Tribute which Kuperlee had contrary to Oath and reason unjustly augmented But the Ambassadour seemed so coldly to interpose in this behalf as taught the Turks to deny his Requests acquiescing with this Answer That it was no breach of Peace then to make incursions on the Frontiers as also without Cannon to rob and spoil and skirmish not exceeding Five thousand men in number For it appeared that the Ambssadour was most desirous to secure the main poinâs of
they stile all Representatives from Foreign Princes their pawns or pledges of Peace so had not the Turks in that conjuncture thought the interest of France worth the obliging they would never have deviated from their ancient Custom and given an example for other Ministers to demand a priviledge of the like nature But to return again to the designs against Poland the Sultan about the end of Iuly marched with such Forces as were then in a readiness towards the Confines of that Country and though he had not with him above fifteen thousand men yet it was concluded that the Fame and terror of the Grand Signior's motion would either abate and bring low the spirits of the Poles and induce them to dispatch an Ambassador with terms of Peace or at least this readiness of the Turkish Camp would be an early preparation for the designs of the next year and put the whole Empire into a timely motion and that uniting with the Forces of the Frontiers they might make a Body sufficient to resist any sudden Incursion This resolution being taken the Great Vizier led the Van and encamped on the Banks of the Danube near a place called Isacgee where he with all diligence built a Bridge of Boats to pass his Forces with the greatest facility to the other side on which lies the Country of Moldavia The Sultan about a days journey short of the Vizier fixed his Court and Camp at a place called Babadog with intention after some days to cross the River and proceed as far as Kemenitz that by the influence of his powerful Presence he might encourage his Army there and provide all things necessary for security of that Garrison But in the mean time advices coming that the Polish Army consisting of about twenty thousand men was roving about the Confines of Leopolis under the Command of General Sobieski and that a reconciliation was passed between the King and him and that Zircha Commander of the Cosacks joyned to considerable forces of the Moscovite and Calmuck Tartars had made incursions into the parts about Osac caused the Sultan to desist from his designed progress to Kemenitz and to pass no farther than over the River into Moldavia for hunting or other pastimes By these matters the Turks being fully convinced that the Poles resolved not to pay their promised tribute nor to send an Ambassador with propositions which were condescending or supplicating for Peace the Sultan himself dispatched away an Aga with Letters into Poland full of threats menaces and protestations of bringing all that ruine misery and destruction on their Country which always attends the most cruel and bloudy War if they did not retrieve their error by a speedy submission and compliance with those Articles which were the last year accorded And this was the last motion the Turks made towards a Peace which they were desirous to embrace on any terms honourable that so they might have opportunity to divert their Arms to the more mild Climates of Hungary where besides the entertainment they expected to receive from friends who invited them they should not be liable to half those inconveniences of Cold Frosts and Famine as they were probable to meet in the parts of Poland But the Poles were so much in earnest and so little esteemed the menaces of the Sultan that they anticipated his threats by some acts of hostility and showed that they so much scorned his anger that they were resolved to be the first Aggressors For the great Mareschal Sobieski with his Lieutenant General Wisnowitzki marched forward and boldly passed the Niester with fifty thousand select Souldiers The General of the Turkish Army Chusaein Pasha alarmed hereat immediately issued forth such Orders for preparing and fitting his Camp as were agreeable to a speedy Battel and that he might understand the state of his Camp he called the Prince or Vayvord of Moldavia to examine him concerning the state and condition of his Forces the answer he gave proving not satisfactory to the expectation of the Turk who was enraged at the approach of the Enemy with high and proud words insulted over the Prince giving him no better terms than Dog and Infidel and at length struck him over the head with his Pole-Axe notwithstanding which and the disgrace he put upon him imprudently that night committed unto him and to the Prince of Valachia the care of the Guards which consisted of three thousand Men. The Valachians as near Neighbours and Associates with the others seemed at first more grievously to resent the affront than did the Moldavians and therefore that Night took their Prince by force and carried him to the Polish Army The Prince that he might make a Vertue of Necessity complained of no force or violence offered unto him by his Souldiers but as if he had voluntarily revolted showed outwardly a fair and serene countenance towards the Poles until such time as with forty of his Men he found an opportunity to escape but being by next morning at break of day overtaken by five Troops of Polonian Horse his whole Retinue was slain by them expecting five of his men who with himself saved themselves by the swiftness of their Horses Howsoever the Prince received a wound on his left hand with a Sword with which presenting himself before the Great Vizier and by that testimony boasting of his Faith and Loyalty to the Ottoman House was conducted by him to the presence of the Sultan who in reward of his fidelity and valour vested him with a rich Coltan and restored him again to his Principality with addition of three hundred Aspers a day pay His Wife and Children which remained as Hostages at Constantinople being upon the News of the Princes Revolt clapt into the seven Towers were again released and conducted to their house with all imaginable honour and magnificence But the Moldavian Prince was more in earnest and heartily disdained the affront offered him by Chusaein Pasha towards whom and the other Turks though he carried a serene and calm countenance yet he nourished a secret flame and storm within himself to vent which and revenge the affront he maintained a correspondence with Sobieski giving him intelligence of all matters in the Turkish Camp how he might most easily surprize the Forces of the Pasha of Sivas and the four Generals of the Spahees of Alchaholick The Christians made use of this intelligence accordingly by making their assault on the Enemy on the weakest side when the Prince having reserved his anger until an opportune Season turned his face against the Turks and with a courage agreeable to his spirit and command he entered the Tabor or Intrenchment of Chusaein Pasha and wounded him with his own hand The heat of the Fight continued fourteen hours in which none behaved himself more valiantly than did Solyman Pasha the Beglerbeg of Bosna who though he was as brave and fought as stoutly as any man could having six Horses that day killed under him
in their Sin. This sort of People become really Turks and some through Custom and their own Lusts are really perswaded of the truth of this Profession and have proved more inveterate and fatal Enemies to Christianity than the natural Turks which will appear if we consider that all the Successes they have had and Exploits they have done at Sea have been performed by such who have denied the Christian Faith as namely Chigal Ogli and others It was the custom formerly amongst the Turks every five Years to take away the Christians Children and Educate them in the Mahometan Superstition by which means they encreased their own People and diminished and enfeebled the Force of the Christians but now that custom in a great part is grown out of use through the abundance of Greeks Armenians Iews and all Nations where the Iron Rod of the Turks Tyranny extends who flock in to enjoy the imaginary Honour and Priviledge of a Turk And indeed it is no wonder to humane Reason that considers the Oppression and Contempt that poor Christians are exposed to and the Ignorance in their Churches occasioned through Poverty in the Clergy that many should be found who retreat from the Faith but it is rather a Miracle and a true verification of those words of Christ That the Gates of Hell shall not be able to prevail against his Church that there is conserved still amidst so much Opposition and in despight of all Tyranny and Arts contrived against it an open and publick Profession of the Christian Faith which next to God's Providence considering the stupid Ignorance of the Greek and Armenan Churches their conservation of their Faith is not to be attributed to any instance more than to the strict observation of the Feasts and Fasts of their Churches for having rarely the helps of Catechisms or Sermons they learn yet from these outward Ceremonies some confused Notions and Precepts of Religion and exercise with severity and rigour this sort of Devotion when through Custom Confusion and scarcity of knowing Guides all other service is become obsolete and forgotten amongst them The Turks have another extraordinary supply of People from the Black Sea sent them in by the Tartars who with their light Bodies of Horse make incursions into the Territories of the neighbouring Christians and carry with them a Booty of whole Cities and Countries of People most of which they send to Constantinople to be sold and is the chief Trade and Commodity of their Country as we have already discoursed It is sad to see what numbers of Saykes or Turkish Vessels come sailing through the Bosphorus fraighted with poor Christian Captives of both Sexes and all Ages carrying on the Main-top a Flag either as a Note of Triumph or else as a Mark of the Ware and Merchandise they carry The number of the Slaves brought yearly to Constantinople is uncertain for sometimes it is more and sometimes less according to the Wars and Successes of the Tartars but as it is apparent in the Registers of the Customs at Constantinople only one Year with another at the least 20000 are yearly imported amongst which the greatest part being Women and Children with easie Persuasions and fair Promises become Turks the Men being ignorant and generally of the Russian or Moscovite Nation who are reported not to be over-devout or of famed constancy and perseverance in Religion partly by Menaces and Fear partly by good words and allurements of Reward despairing of Liberty and return to their own Country renounce all Interest in the Christian Faith. Of this sort of Metal most of the Turks are in these days composed and by the âecundity of this Generation the Dominions of this Empire flow for the Turks of themselves though they have the liberty of Polygamy and freer use of divers Women allowed them by their Law than the severity of Christian Religion doth permit are yet observed to be less fruitful in Children than those who confine themselves to the chast embraces of one Wife It is true we have heard how in former Times there have been particular Men amongst the Turks that have severally been Fathers to an hundred Sons but now through that abominable Vice of Sodomy which the Turks pretend to have learned from the Italians and is now the common and professed shame of that People few fecundioâs Families are found amongst them especially amongst the Persons of the greater Quality who have Means and Time to act and contrive their filthiness with the most deformity And in this manner the natural use of the Women being neglected amongst them as St. Paul saith Men burning in lust one towards another so little is Mankind propagated that many think were it not for the abundant supplies of Slaves which daily come from the Black Sea as before we have declared considering the Summer-slaughters of the Plague and destructions of War the Turk would have little cause to boast of the vast Numbers of his People and that a principal Means to begin the ruine of this Empire were to prevent the taking of so many Captives or intercept those numbers of Slaves which are daily transported to nourish and feed the Body of this great Babylon by which means in time they would not only find a want of Servants but a decay and scarcity of Masters since as it is before-mentioned these Slaves becoming Turkâ are capable of all Priviledges and being commonly Manumised by their Patrons through the help of Fortune arrive equally to Preferments with those who are of the ancient Mahometan Race This is the true Reason the Turk can spend so many People in his Wars and values not the lives of Ten thousand Men to win him but a span of Ground and yet almost without any sensible diminution of his People and on the contrary the invention of an Inquisition and the distinction between Christianos vieios and Nuevos in Spain and Portugal have caused that decay and scarcity of People in those Countries as hath laid the best part of those fruitful Soils desolate and forced them both to a necessity of entetaining a mercenary Soldiery It is no small inducement to the vulgar People who is most commonly won with outward Allurements to become Turks that when they are so by a white Turbant or such a particular Note of Honour they shall be distinguished from other-like Sects all People amongst the Turks being known by their Heads of what Religion or Quality they are and so may the better be directed where they may have a priviledge to domineer and injure with the most impunity If we consider how delightful the Mode is in England and France especially to those who are of a vain and gay Humour and that nothing seems handsome or comely but what is dressed in the Fashion and Air of the Times we shall not wonder if the ignorant and vain amongst Christians born and educated in those Countries should be catched and entrapt with the fancy and enticement of the Turkish Mode
the Countrey whose Office is by turns to convey yearly the Piâgrims to Mecha and the annual Tribute of 60000 Zechiâs to the Ottoman Court whether it be judged requisite to send it either by Land or Sea these are the standing Militia of the Countrey out of which unless upon the foregoing occasions they are not obliged to other service their principal duty being to prevent the invasion of the African Montaneers who often make incursion from the barren Rocks into the fat and fruitfull Soils of Egypt Besides this Militia are computed 80000 Timariots out of which they yearly transport about 2500 or 3000 men to the Wars of Candy but to more remote Countries or the late Wars of Hungary I did not hear that this Soldiery hath usually been called These twelve Begs of Egypt are noble by bloud enjoying an hereditary Estate descendinâ from Father to Son which richness joined with the command of a powerfull Army hath rendred them so formidable and insolent that oftentimes they take upon them an authority to imprison and depose the Pashaw from his Office and spoil him of all the Riches he hath collected in his three years Government by which means are alway great jealousies and enmities between the Pashaw and these Begs Dissentions and Rebellions to that high degree that many times it hath been little different from an absolute Revolt Ibrahim Pashaw was in the year 1664. imprisoned by them and obtained his liberty for 600 Purses of Money after whose departure the Brother of the said Ibrahim upon some certain pretences on the Pashaw's score falling into their hands was imprisoned also but shortly after obtained his releasment by the Grand Signior's Master of Horse who was sent expresly to compose the disorders of Egypt which were now proceeded to that degree as without some satisfactory atonement could not be ãâã otherwise than a total defection and therefore thây resigned up one called Sulficar Bei to justice who being brought to Adrianople was immediately in presence of the Grand Signior put to death But the Turk hath alway on occasion of these disturbances and insolences dissembled and connived at the disorders perceiving the distemper of that Kingdom to be such as can with much difficulty be redressed fearing that were forcible remedies applied they would cause so violent a commotion of humours as would absolutely rent it from the body of the Empire The Auxiliary Forces to the forementioned Militia of the Turks Are the Tartars Valachians Moldavians and Transilvanians under the command of their respective Princes Who are obliged to serve in person whensoever called by the Sultan's command The Tartars I mean of Crim are to furnish one hundred thousand men the Tartar han or Prince in Person to lead them when the Grand Signior himself appears in the Field but if the Army is commanded by the Visier onely then the Son of the Tartar han is to serve or having no issue the Army to the number of Forty or fifty thousand fighting men is to be conducted under the chief Minister But the Princes of Valachia Moldavia and Transilvania are never excused from personal attendance in the Camp each of which respectively are to be attended with Six or seven thousand Men apiece And though the Prince of Transilvania called Apasi was in the last War against the Emperour not called out of the Confines of his own Countrey it was with design that he should keep that station free from the irruption of the Enemy not that he was disobliged from his personal attendance on the Visiers Camp. CHAP. VI. Of the Spahees HItherto we have treated of the Turkish Horse that are maintained by Farms and Rents of Lands now It will be necessary to discourse of those that receive their constant pay from the Grand Signior's Treasury and these are called Spahees who many not improperly be termed the Gentry of the Ottoman Empire because they are commonly better educated courteous and refined than the other sort of Turks and are in number 12000. Of these there are two Orders one called Silachtari who carry yellow Colours and the other Spahanglari or the Servants of the Spahees and have their Colours red these Servants have now obtained the precedency above their Masters for though the Silachtari are very ancient and deduce their institution from Ali their first Founder who was one of the four Companions of Mahomet yet Sultan Mahomet the Third on a day of Battel in Hungary seeing the Silahteri roââed and put to flight with violent passion and earnestness endeavoured to stop their course and perceiving the Servants of these Spahees to remain still in body incited them to revenge the shamefull cowardise of their Masters who immediately encouraged with the words of the Sultan clapping up a red Flag gave so bold an onset on the Enemy and with that success as wholly recovered the glory of the day in remembrance of which service and notable exploit the Sultan as disposer of all Honours and Orders gave ever after the preheminence to these Servants before their Masters since which time this new institution of Spahaoglary hath always been continued These Light horse-men are armed with their Scimetar and Lance called by them Mizrak and some carry in their hands a Gerit which is a Weapon about two foot long headed with Iron which I conceive to be the same with the Pila amongst the Romans which by long exercise and custome they throw with a strange dexterity and violence and sometimes darting it before them in the full career of their Horse without any stop recover it again from the ground they also wear a streight Sword named Chaddare with a broad Blade fixed to the side of their Saddle which or the Scimetar they make use of when they arrive to hand-blows with the Enemy many of them are armed with Bows and Arrows and with Pistols and Carbines but esteem not much of Fire-Arms having an opinion that in the Field they make more noise than execution some of them wear Jacks of Male and Head-pieces painted with the colour of their Squadron in fight they begin their onset with Allah Allah and make three attempts to break within the Ranks of the Enemy in which if they fail they then make their retreat The Asian Spahees are better mounted than commonly those of Europe though these being Borderers on the Confines of the Christians having learned much of Discipline by constant skirmishes and combats are trained in the Art of War and become the more valiant and experienced Soldiers But the Asiatick Spahees were formerly the more rich many particular Men of them bringing into the Field thirty or forty men apiece besides their Led-Horses Tents and other accommodations proportionable to their Retinue but these Cavaliers seemed too great and proud to the Visier Kuprinli for the condition of common Troopers and infected with the Epidemical Spirit of Faction and Mutiny which raged at that time amongst all the Grandees of the Empire
is the reason why the Turkish Camp abounds with such multitudes of Camels Mules and Horses of Burthen with so many thousand Attendants on the Baggage which are of a vast expence and if duly considered is a matter of the greatest state and magnificence in the Turkish Empire Though it is reported by those who are Soldiers and have experienced the Valour of the Turks in fight thât their Victories are obtained by multitudes of men rather than by Art or Military Discipline however the Conquests they have made on the parts of Christendom is a demonstration undeniable of some supereminent Order in their Army which recompences the defect of Knowledge in the Mystery of War and this Regulation in my opinion proceeds from nothing more than the strict prohibition of Wine upon pain of death two Men being executed during the time of my Residence there for bringing a small quantity of it in the Field for hereby men become sober diligent watchfull and obedient In the Turkish Camp no brawls quarrels nor clamours are heard no abuses are committed on the people by the march of their Army all is bought and paid with money as by Travellers that are Guests at an Inn there are no complaints by Mothers of the Rape of their Virgin-daughters no Violences or Robberies offered on the Inhabitants all which order tends to the success of their Armies and Enlargement of their Empire As on the contrary the sloth of the Germans and other Nations in their Counsels against the Turks the liberty given to the Christian Soldiery or rather the difficulty to correct proceeds from nothing more than the intemperance in Wine which moves in the Soldiery a lust and promptitude to all evils and is occasion of the horrid outrages they commit quarrels among themselves and disobedience to their Officers and betrays oftentimes a whole Army to ruine by surprisal for how can those men be watchfull whose heads are charged with the fumes of Wine and not yield opportunity of sad advantages to so awakned an Enemy as the Turk Busbequius who had been Ambassadour from the Emperour to the Grand Signior in two several Embassies and had known and seen the vigilance of the Turkish Camp attributes much of their success against the Germans to the ancient Vice of Intemperance of his Countrey Neque vero saith he graviore imperio Turcae Graecos premant quam nobis dominantur vitia luxus crapula And so sensible are the Turks of the abuses and disorders which arise in their Camp by the use of Wine that they endeavour all that is possible to debar their people from it and therefore two or three days before the Army arrives at any place Officers are dispatched before to seal all Taverns and make proclamation against the sale of Wine for though it be against their Law to drink Wine yet Drunkenness is now become so common a Vice amongst them as we have already declared in the second Book that scarce one in ten but is addicted to a brutish intemperance therein The Camp is always free from ordure and filth there being holes digged near every Tent which are encompassed about with Canvas for the more privacy and accommodation in mens necessary occasioâs and whensoever these places become noisome and full they are covered with Earth and the Canvas removed so that the whole Camp is clear of all excrements of men as also kept more free from other stench which may cause putrefaction than the most orderly Cities of the World. If the march be in the Summer-time and the weather hot the Beasts of Burthen and Baggage begin to travel about seven a clock in the evening and the Pashaws and great Visier presently after midnight who are accompanied with so many Lights as equal almost the brightness of the day Those that carry these Lights are Arabians from the parts of Aleppo and Damascus Men used to travel on foot who are in Turkish called Massalageeler over whom is a superintendent or chief called Massalagibashee whose Office it is to govern and to punish these people and is liable to answer for their disorders the Lights they carry are not Torches but a bituminous oily sort of Wood which they burn in an Iron Grate carried on a Staff made in the form of our Beacons and of the same fashion with those Lights we see drawn in ancient Hangings and Pictures which represent Night-pieces of Roman Stories And since I have discoursed something of the Turkish Camp in this return homewards it will not be much from my promise to acquaint the Reader with what chearfulness and alacrity the Army marched this way after their ill success and also to declare the occasion that put a Hook into the Nostrils of this great Oppressour and diverted him for the present from the farther spoil of Christendom After the taking of the Castle called Serinswar by the great Visier built by Count Serini the which was the first original and occasion of the War and the defeat of the Pashaw of Buda near Lâwa by Count Susa Governour of Gomorra the Visier made many and various attempts to pass the River Raab to make some Conquests in the parts of Croatia and Styria but by reason of the Forts the Christians had made along the Banks of the River in every adventure lost considerable numbers of Men at which loss of Men and time and the ill success near Lewa the Visier being greatly moved made another adventure on the 27 th of Iuly 1664. advancing with the gross of his Army as far as Kerment a place between the River Raab and Terne endeavouring there to make his passage with better success but by the valour of the Hungarians and the assistence of the General Monâecuculi were repulsed with extraordinary slaughter On the first of August following the Turk made another considerable attempt and passed over in one place 6000 Ianizaries and Albania and in another where the River was fordable and not above ten paces broad the whole body of the Turkish Horse crouded over in vast numbers which caused the Christians to join their Forces into one Army and retreat farther into the Countrey and put themselves into a posture of giving Battel to the Enemy As soon as the Turkish Army had thus waded over the water the night following fell so much Rain and such a Deluge came pouring down from the Mountains that the River which was fordable the day before did now over-swell its own Banks and not passable without Floats and Bridges As soon as the Army had thus passed the River the great Visier dispatched immediately Messengers to the Grand Signior to acquaint him of his progress and passage which news he knew would come very gratefull because in all Letters from the Grand Signior he was urged by threats and positive commands to proceed forward in his march and not to suffer the impediment of a narrow ditch to be an interruption to the whole Ottoman force which was never before restrained by the
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 home so that nothing could come more grateful to this Camp no largesses nor hopes could pacifie the minds of the Soldiery more than the promises and expectations of Peace And this was the true cause that brought on the Treaty of Peace between the Emperour and the Turk in such an instant contrary to the opinion of most in the World and gave occasion to the Visier to embrace the Propositions offered by the Rheningen then Resident for the Emperour who was carried about according to the motions of the Turkish Camp to be ready to improve any Overtures of Peace that might be offered the Visier to shew his real intentions flattered and caressed this Resident with the Present of a Horse richly furnished a Vest of Sables and a commodious Tent whilst the Propositions and Condescentions on the Turkish part were dispeeded to Vienna which were returned again with an entire assent to most of the Articles and those wherein there might be any difference were to be referred untill the arrival of the Extraordinary Ambassadour who was supposed might reach the Ottoman Court by the end of April The Asian Spahees were overjoyed at the news hereof and immediately obtained lâcense to depart and most of the Mâlitiâ was dispersed every one with joy betaking himself to his own home But this Ambassadour missing of his time allotted for his arrival above a month later than he was expected put all things into a strange combustion I was then in the Camp when it was whispered that the Treaty was at an end that the Christians had deluded them and caused them to disband their Army that so they might fall upon them with the greater advantage the misfortune of which according to the custome of the Commonalty was charged on the heads of the Governours and the too much credulity of the Visier Buâ at length on the 28 of May 1665 news coming that the Ambassadour from the Emperour was arrived at Buda the Visier the next day departed from Belgrade with his whole Army which I accompanied as far as Nissa about nine days march towards Adrianople and there having put an end to my business and wearied with the slow pace and heats and other inconveniences of an Army I took my leave of the great Visier and proceeded farther by longer journeys to attend the Court at Adrianople and that I may give my Reader an account of these Countries and the nature of the people that inhabit them I hope it will not be judged much besides my purpose if I entertain him a little with a Relation of some part of my Journey to Belgrade On the 29 th of April 1665. I departed from Adrianopole towards Belgrade and on the first of May I lodged at a Village called Semesge the first Town I came to inhabited by Bulgarians who are Christians that day being a Festival the Women upon the arrival of Guests came running from their Houses with Cakes of dough bread which they called Togaââh onely laid upon the Coals between two Tiles which they soon kneaded and prepared for the stomachs of Travellers others brought Milk Eggs and Wine to sell and what else their homely Cottages afforded which they pressed on us with much importunity the younger and handsomer challenging a priority in the sale of their Provisions before those who were ancient and more homely These Country Lasses had that day put on their holy Garments which put me in mind of those dresses I have seen in Pictures of the ancient Shepherdesses in Arcadiâ being a loose Gown of various colours with hanging Sleeves their Armes had no Sleeve but that of their Smock which though it were of Canvas of some very course Linen was yet wrought with many works of divers colours their hair was braided hanging down at length behind which some had adorned with little shells found upon the Sea shoar tied at the end with fringes of Silk bobs and tassels of Silver their heads were covered with pieces of Silver Coin of different sorts strung upon thread and their Breasts were in the same manner decked those being most honoured and esteemed most rich who were best adorned with these Strings of Coin and Bracelets on their Wrists with which every one according to her ability had dressed and made her self fine Amongst these we passed with plenty of Provision and a hearty welcome for these people called Bulgarians inhabit all that Countrey to the Confines of Hungary they Till all that ground Pasture vast numbers of Cattel and are industrious and able Husbandmen by which means and the liberty they enjoy by the small number of Turks which live amongst them they pass their time with some reasonable comfort and are more commodious in Wealth than they suffer to appear outwardly to the envious eyes of the Turks Their Language is the old Illyrian or Sclavonian Tongue which hath much similitude with the Russians because this people is said to come originally from beyond the River Volga and so by corruption are called Bulgarians or Volgarians On the third of May we arrived at Philippolis where we were civilly entertained at the House or Monastery of the Metropolite or Greek Bishop of that place By this City runs the River Hebrus having its original from the Mountains Rhodope in sight of which we travelled towards Sophia of which Ovid thus speaks Qua patet umbrosum Rhodope glacialis ad Haemum Et sacer amissas exigit Hebrus aquas The City of Philippolis is situate in a large and open Plain and level whereon are great numbers of little round Hills which the Inhabitants will have to be the Graves of the Roman Legions slain in those Fields A certain Greek had once the melancholy dream of much Treasure buried in one of these Hills and this fancy so often troubled him in his sleep that it took a strong impression in his mind whilst he was waking and so far troubled him that he could take no rest nor contentment until he had eased his mind to the Nasir-Aga who is he who oversees the Waterworks and places of Pleasure belonging to the Grand Signior in that Countrey The Turk though he had a great mind to the Treasure durst not yet open the ground until he had acquainted the Grand Signior with the mind of the Greek who upon the first intimation dispatched away Officers so apt the Turks are in matters of Profit to catch even at a shadow to open this Hill to which the Countrey Villages were summoned and whilst they digged very deep not well understanding the manner and art of Mining the Earth broke from the top and buried seventy persons in the ruins and so the work ended and the Greek awaked from his dream This Town hath one part of it built on the side of a Hill two others are also near it which appear like Bulwarks or
by the general consent of the Mamalukes chosen Sultan of Egypt 362 a. maketh great preparation against the Turks and seeketh to entrap them 365 b. his devices discovered ib. b. he fighteth a great battel with Selymus and is put to the worse 367 a. raiseth new Forces at Caire ib. b. fortifieth Caire 368 b. fighteth a great battel in the City 370 b. overcome flieth 371 a. driven out of Caire raiseth new Forces in Segesta 372 a. distresseth the Turks in passing the Bridg made over Nilus 373 a. giveth a notable attempt to have gained the Bridge ib. b. repulsed and put to âlight 374 a. taken and brought to Selymus ib. a. tortured and shamefully put to death ib. a. Totisa yielded to the Turks 865 b. Transilvania miserably distressed 840 a. the troubles secretly maintained by the Nobles ib. a. new Troubles 843 a. the Rebels surprised and slain ib. a. the miserable State of that Province 843 b. new Troubles raised 901 b. Transilvania given by Solyman to the Child King John's Son 483 b. Trapezond yielded to Mahomet the Great 245 b. Treachery of the Polonian General 936 b. Tripolis in Barbary besieged by Sinan Bassa 509 a. battered ib. a. the weakest places thereof and fittest to be battered by a fugitive Christian discovered to the Turks ib. b. upon hard Conditions yielded to the proud and faithless Bassa 511 a. Troubles in Moldavia 902 a. new Troubles 908 b. in Transilvania 910 a Tumult at Pera 933 b. Tunes besieged by Lewis the French King 83 b. yielded to Charles the Emperour 449 b. by him upon an easie Tribute again restored to Muleasses 451 a. again yielded to the Turks 620 b. Turks their original Beginning diversly reported 1 a. descended from the Scythians 2 a. the causes why they left their ancient and natural Seats in Scythia to seek for other in Countries more Southerly ib. b. where they first seated themselves in Asia after their departure out of Scythia ib. b. their first Kingdom erected in Persia by Tangrolipix their first Sultan 3 b. the Turks first called into Europe by the Catalonians 106 a. they differ not from the Persians about the Interpretation of their Law but about the true Successor of their false Prophet Mahomet only 314 b. They raise an Army 804 b. cowardly retire for fear of the Christians 805 a. carrying a Convoy of Victuals to Buda overthrown by the Christians ib. b. the Convoy recovered by the Turks 806 a. again taken from them by the Christians ib. a. overthrow the Garrison of Pesth ib. a. bathing themselves at Buda by them of Pesth surprised and slain ib. b. seeking to surprise Palotta are overthrown 807 a. three of their Spies taken ib. b. overthrown by Collonitz ib. b. together by the ears among themselves 811 b. defeated by Collonel Sultze 823 b. again overthrown 825 b. their Army stealeth by night out of Hungary 828 b. overthrown by the Vayvod of Valachia 834 a. the manner of their burials 836 b. treacherously seek to surprise Pesth 838 a. seek in vain to surprise Lippa 842 a. overthrown by them of Pesth 843 a. their unreasonable demands for Peace 848 b. troubled with Civil Wars 857 b. betrayed by the Haiducks 864 a. thinking to surprise others are themselves surprised 877 a. repair to Buda in Multitudes 882 a. their Army for Transilvania 917 a. threaten War in Hungary 920 a. their courses there 923 b. defeated at Vasselloy 932 a. the Greatness of their Empire and their beginning 955 a. Turqueminus chosen Sultan of Egypt 111 b. Tzihanger refuseth the noble Mustapha his Brothers Wealth and Treasure offered him by his Father Solyman and for sorrow killeth himself 516 a. V. VAcia shamefully betraied by the Haiducks 558. b. Valachia spoiled by the Tartars 847 a. the Vayvod expelled his Country by Battori 901 b. Valachia when first spoiled by the Turks 140 b. invaded by Mahomet the Great 247 b. oppressed by the Turks 737 b. in great Troubles 798 b. Valmes fortified by Mahomet the Great 274 a. Valetta the Grand Master of Malta advertised of Solyman's purpose for the Invasion of him and his Knights 536 a. his effectual speech unto his Knights ib. a. his great preparation against the Turks coming ib. a. his whole strength 537 b. he certifieth Garzias of Toledo Viceroy of Sicilia of his Estate 538 a. sendeth a new supply into the Castle of S. Elmo âwice before assaulted by the Turks 539 a. disappointed of a supply to have been brought him by his own Gallies ib. a. his Letters to Garzias the Viceroy of Sicilia 540 b. he sendeth three of his Knights to know the sâate of them in the Castle S. Elmo 541 b. encourageth his Soldiers after the loss of the Castle 542 b. his Christian-like Letters to the Governor of the City of Melita 543 a. his resolute answer to the Messengers sent unto him from the Great Baâsa ib. b. he receiveth a small supply from Sicilia 544 b. maketh hard shift to send News of his distress to the Viceroy of Sicilia 546 a. his comfortable speech unto his Soldiers at such time as the Turks were entred the new City 550 a. his great carefulness 552 b. his Letters to the Grand Prior of Almaine concerning the manner of the Turks proceedings in the Siege of Malta 553 a. Venerius the Venetian Admiral and Barbadicus their Proveditor perswade the rest of the Christian Confederates to give battel unto the Turks at Lepanto 590 a. coming to the relief of Don John is encountered by Partau Bassa 595 b. in danger ib. b. at the request of the Spaniards displaced but not disgraced 601 b. The Venetians with a great Fleet spoil the Coasts of Lycia Pamphilia and Cilicia 13 b. in the division of the Greek Empire amongst the Latines had for their share all the rich Islands of the Aegeum and Ionian with the famous Island of Candy or Crete 59 a. enter intâ Confederation with other Christian Princes against the Turk 265 b. they with their Confederates do the Turks great harm 277 b. receive a great overthrow from the Turks at the River of Sontium 282 b. their Merchants in Syria imprisoned by Campson Gaurus the Egyptian Sultan 321 a. their Senators diversly affected towards the Confederation with the Emperour and the French King against Solyman 467 b. they refuse to yield up Cyprus unto Selymus demanding the same 569 a. make great preparation for their own defence and crave Aid of the other Christian Princes 570 a. what Princes promised them Aid ib. a. weary of the delays and cross dealings of the Spaniards their Confederates conclude a Peace with Selymus without their Knowledge 613 a. Veradinum besieged by the Turks 773 b. relieved by the Lord Basta 774 a. Vesprinium taken by the Turks 721 a. Vesprinium yielded to the Rebels 864 a. Ufegi Bassa taken Prisoner 340 a. put to death ib. b. Vicegrade taken by the Christians 752 a. Vicegrade yielded to the Turks by the Haiducks 859 a. Victor Capella
and Commanders of his Forces on the Frontiers carefully to abstain from Incursions within the Dominions of the Turks And a little to asswage the exasperated Spirits of his discontented Subjects he resolves to treat them with more kindness and gentle usage than formerly And in the mean time for fear of the worst and to provide against the dangers so imminently hanging over their heads he gave Orders that a Survey should be made of all the Magazines and Arsenals on the Frontiers and an account taken of the Cannon and Arms. But the Emperor remain'd not long in these doubtful apprehensions before he receiv'd Intelligence from his Envoy lately dispatch'd to Constantinople to found the minds and intentions of the Vizier year 1671. that the Grand Seignior did not design a War against the Emperor and that he had refus'd to hear or receive any Propositions made by the Malecontents For whether it was that this Vizier out of a Principle of Justice deny'd to side or joyn with Rebels against their own Prince or out of a sence of Honour to that Peace which he himself having made did esteem Sacred Or whether it was that he thought a War against Poland at that time would be more Honourable and Advantageous to the Empire or perhaps all these Considerations together might divert him from designs against Hungary The War was reserv'd for another Vizier and until the space of ten years afterwards of which dismal effects we shall discourse in their due places In the mean time the Emperor dispatch'd Secretary Perez with Presents to the Grand Seignior and Grand Vizier to confirm the Peace and renew the Truce for so it may be call'd rather than a Peace of twenty years longer the which Presents were accepted and all matters establish'd to the satisfaction of both Princes Now had the Emperor time to seize on the forfeited Estates of the three Counts who were lately Executed for High Treason so their Jewels and Plate which were very valuable together with the Treasure of Nadasti who was Richer than all the others were carried on 8 Waggons to Vienna and the Castle of Puttendorf with the Gardens and Houses of Pleasure belonging to Nadasti were given to General Montecuculi Nor were the moveables of Tekeli the Father lately deceas'd year 1671. together with his Rich Furniture Jewels Plate and Horses of high price less considerable than those of the afore-mention'd Lords all which were converted to the use of the Emperor The Prince Ragotski who as we have said before proceeded more warily than his other Associates had seasonably made his peace with the Emperor and obtain'd his Pardon on Condition that he should renounce his right of Sovereignty over the Town of Trenschin That he should send 200000 Florins to that Town for payment of the Garrison there and should send a like Sum to the Emperor's Coffers at Vienna and that he should out of his own Revenue maintain 500 Soldiers in the upper Hungary and supply them with Ammunition and all things necessary for the War. About this time the Inhabitants and Soldiers of Kalo and Tokai fell at variance together about their Quarters and Provisions and at Cassovia the Citizens Conspir'd to make a Massacre in one Night of all the German Soldiers but the Plot being discover'd both sides came to an open Fight together which continu'd long but at length the Soldiers gain'd the advantage having kill'd and made Prisoners almost all the Citizens This Accident made but an ill preparation for a Diet which the Emperor had Summon'd to meet at Presburg on the first day of the ensuing year and call'd thereunto by especial Writ all the Nobility and Deputies of the upper and the lower Hungary But when the time came there was but a small appearance most of the Deputies declaring that they absented themselves by reason that they would not concur with their own consents to the abrogation of their ancient Laws and Privileg1es of their Country which the Emperor design'd to reduce to the same Constitution with that of his Hereditary Dominions Other Deputies refus'd appear without Letters of License or safe Conducts and Pardons from the Emperor for what was formerly done by them in the late Commotions But this Act of Grace and Clemency being deny'd by reason of that constant Correspondence which the Malecontents held with the Turks the Emperor's Commissioners namely the Count Rothal who was Chief Plenipotentiary the Archbishop of Gran and others proceeded to open the Diet upon the 24 th of Ianuary to which time the Assembly was adjourn'd but neither then nor on the 3 d of February to which time a farther adjournment was made not one of the Deputies of the upper Hungary making their Appearance his Majesty being desirous to provide for the safety of his Subjects even against their own wills made this following Declaration which we have thought fit to insert for better understanding of this History and contracted for brevity thereof LEOPOLD by the Grace of God Emperor of the Romans c. This is to make known unto all Men that having happily extinguish'd the Fire of Rebellion in this Our Kingdom of Hungary and punish'd those ungrateful Persons who were the Chief Incendiaries and who growing wanton with those Benefits which We had heaped upon them violated their Bonds of Allegiance to Us and seducing to their Party many of the Nobility with divers Towns and all the Estates of this Kingdom call'd Strangers to their aid and assistance and rais'd an Army to oppose Our Power and Dominion In pursuance whereof they Besieg'd Tokai where We had plac'd a Garrison kill'd great numbers of Our Soldiers taken the Convoys which we had sent for supply of Zatmar fought against that Army which We had sent to suppress the Troubles of Hungary and to abate and diminish Our Authority several-unlawful Assemblies were held for contriving and carrying on a War against Us by which Councels Our good Subjects being disturb'd the Turks Invited into Our Dominions Our Royal Treasury pillag'd Incursions made into Austria Stiria Moravia and other Our Hereditary Dominions and at length a Conspiracy was made against Our Life which was prevented by the Divine Providence of God Almighty And now whereas it is a Duty incumbent on Us to provide for the safety of those People which God hath committed to Our Charge and that Christendom and Hungary may not for the future be expos'd to the like Disorders We have by Our Absolute Power and Imperial Authority made an exact Regulation of the Military Quarters allotting the number of Soldiers which every County is to maintain and the Orders and Decorum which Soldiers are to keep that they may not molest or trouble the Inhabitants where they are Quarter'd And We require all Persons concern'd without Excuse Delay or Conditions whatsoever to submit unto that power which God hath given Us over them which We have been compell'd to maintain by force of
they might with all Humility offer to his Majesty for his own personal Conservation and for the Defence of their holy and true Religion with the great Body of the Empire The Grand Seignior who dreaded the ill Consequences of such seditious Meetings return'd to them a gentle Message of Thanks for their Care and Love desiring them to offer him such Remedies which they in their Wisdom did judge convenient for cure of the present and prevention of future Evils it being natural for the common sort of People in such cases to cast the Blame on the chief Ministers of State they immediately reply'd That the Mufti was a bad Man and had abused his Office and that it was generally murmur'd in all places of the Empire That his Majesty was in such times as these too expensive in his Seraglio and too loose in his Government giving himself up to Hunting and Recreations and forsaking as it were the Helm of Government whilst the Vessel of the Empire was tossed amidst an Ocean of Miseries and ready every Day to suffer Shipwrack And that his Majesty did too much neglect his Imperial City of Constantinople gracing every little Place with his Presence which made that Royal Seat become desolate and so impoverish'd that it was not possible to answer and pay the vast Taxes and Impositions which were charged upon it The Grand Seignior seem'd to take all this that was said very kindly and immediately depos'd the Mufti and banished him to Prusa and calling for one of the Kadileschers who are Chief Justices he cloth'd him with a rich Sables and invested him with his Office And looking more nearly about him to the main Chance he recall'd the Orders he had lââely given for a general Hunt on a certain Day and a vast number of Grey-hounds which with great Charge had been got together from all parts of the Empire were let loose and suffer'd to run without a Master through all the Streets of Constantinople The Expences of the Seraglio were also much retrench'd and the dayly Allowances reduc'd to one Moiety And after this Example the Kuslir-Aga the Kimacham and all the great Ministers of State made a Regulation in their Families And to make this Reformation the more publick and notorious to the People the Grand Seignior put on a more grave and penitential Face than ordinary and frequented the Royal Mosques going to one or other of them every Day with much Solemnity This Reformation quieted the Minds of the Commonalty pretty well but this and the News of the Vizier's coming to Constantinople very speedily to assist at the Councils for conserting Measures for the next Year's Campaign terrified the Ringleaders of the late Cabals with an Apprehension of being called to an Account on score of their late seditious Meetings for the Turks who can easily dissemble with the Vulgar and temporize during the Outrages and Fluctuations of the People yet so soon as the Storm is appeas'd they never fail to question the Cause and punish Captain Tom and his mutinous Rabble with Punishment agreeable to their Demerit As the Grand Seignior was affraid of his People and they of the Grand Seignior and Vizier so likewise were they generally possess'd with a Panick-fear of the coming of the Enemy which will plainly appear by this Instance The Turks having surrender'd up Napoli di Romania upon Conditions to the Venetians one of them was That they should Transport the Inhabitants and Garrison of that City to some Place within the Dardanelli near to the Castles The Venetians in pursuance of this Article embark'd all the Soldiers with the Men Women and Children and transported them to the place appointed to which when they began to draw near so that many Colours of St. Mark were seen from the Castles entring into the Hellespont the News thereof was posted from all hands to Constantinople which put the whole City into a Consternation and gave cause of Rumour every-where that the Venetians had already passed the Castles and Reports flew up and down that they were in a few Leagues or as some fancied in sight of the Town This put all Hands to work and in a confused manner many Pieces of Cannon were mounted at the Seraglio Point on the Maiden Tower which is a little Fort built on a Rock in the Water in the midway between Constantinople and Scutari where also Guns were mounted and Soldiers and Inhabitants of the City posted in all places where might be any suspicion or danger of the Enemiâs descent or landing This hurly burly continu'd for the space of two Days by which time the truth of the Matter being known and that the Venetians were retired things began to be quieted and the People to return to their own Habitations and Business Thus have we done with the Campaign in Hungary for the Year 1686 which ended very glorious for the Emperor It rests now before we proceed farther to take a view and survey of the Successes of the Venetians both by Sea and Land which were not less prosperous than those in the parts of Hungary In the preceeding Years of this War the Venetians made it their chief Business and Enterprise to render themselves Masters of the Morea a fruitful and ancient Country in which are many Provinces and amongst them that of Laconia now call'd Maina and the Inhabitants Mainioti a sort of People who call themselves Christians but live chiefly upon Spoyl and Robbery In this Country the most considerable Places are Calamata Zarnata Chielefa and Passava all which Places were subdu'd by the Venetians and taken from the Turks in the preceeding Year of 1685 in despight of the Captain Pasha and in the sight of him and his Army year 1686. as we have before related which Disgrace being a Crime sufficient to cost him his Head he resolv'd to save his Life if possible by recovery of Chielefa to gain which he began betimes his Campaign and on the first of April he invested the Place with an Army composed of Ten thousand Foot and Fifteen hundred Horse commanded by himself and four other Pashas with a great number of Labourers and Pioniers At his first appearance before this Fortress the Captain Pasha sent a Summons to the Governour call'd Seignior Marin Gritti Proveditor extraordinary for the Maina demanding with many Threats the Surrender of that Town To which Seignior Gritti return'd a resolute Answer That he and all his Soldiers would either live or die in Defence of that Place not doubting but that the Omnipotent God would favour their just and brave Intentions The Captain Pasha having receiv'd this Answer immediately rais'd a Battery and began to fire upon the Town with six Pieces of Cannon at which the Governour not being in the least dismay'd put all things in order for a resolute Defence The Turks ply'd their Batteries so warmly on the Town that in the space of ten Days they had open'd a Breach wide enough for
of Boiaria and Antivari the Turks were so confounded thereby that they knew not where to apply themselves until at length some Venetians Landing near Antivari were Attacked by one Ahmet Aga the Son of the Governour of that place whom they repulsed with much Vigour and killed Ahmet upon the Place and stranded a Brigantine belonging to Castel Nuovo on the Shoar But the grand Design and Enterprize of this Year being the Siege of Negropont the whole Venetian Fleet with the Gallies of the Pope and Malta having made their general Rendezvous in Porto Poro on the 19th of Iune Old Stile weighed Anchor directing their Course towards the Archipelago The Fleet was divided into three Squadrons one Commanded by his Excellency Veniero Captain Extraordinary of the Ships another Squadron consisted of Gallies under Command of the Governour of the Condannata or of such who are Condemned to the Oar whose Post was to keep to Windward of the Fleet. The third Squadron was Commanded by the Doge himself who with the remaining part of the Galleasses Gallies Galleots and Ships were to take their Station to Lee-ward besides which a Squadron of Ships with 13 Christian Corsairs making in all 26 Sail were dispatched before with Orders to advance as far as the Dardanelli and give a stop to the Captain Pasha who upon the News of this powerful Fleet durst not adventure Abroad but kept within the Reach and Covert of the Castles For indeed the Turkish Fleet which for many Years past had not been of equal force to engage the Venetians was this Year also much weakened by the want of Eight Gallies which the Captain Pasha had dispatched to the Black Sea for relief of their Saicks against the Cossacks who much infested that Coast and for want of forty Galleots which were remaining on the Stocks in the Arsenal at Constantinople having neither Slaves for the Oar nor Soldiers for Fight and Defence nor Seamen to Sail and direct them Nor was the Captain Pasha of sufficient force to give Convoy to the Fleet expected from Egypt consisting of nine great Soltanaes and diverse Saicks laden with Ammunition and Provisions of which tho' the Grand Seignior had great want and had dispatched divers Commands unto Alexandria to hasten their Voyage yet the fear they had of being intercepted by the Venetians was a sufficient Defence for them against the reiterated Commands of the Port. This Squadron of Ships coming to Anchor before the Mouth of the Dardanelli kept the Turkish Fleet within the Castles whilst the Doge advanced with the main Fleet towards the Island of Negropont in the Form and Manner before described The Island of Negropont is the most considerable of all the Isles in the Archipelago the ancient Name of it amongst the Greeks and Latines was Eubaea it had also other Names as Macris from the narrowness of the Channel which passes between the Island and the Main Land Abantias and the People Abantiades the chief Town was Chalcis now named after the Denomination of the Country Pliny calls the Island Asopis and Strabo Ocha it had also the Name of Ellopia from Ellope the Son of Iupiter This Island as believed was once joined to the Main Land but separated from thence by some Earthquake and now adjoyned by a Bridge it is 365 Italian Miles in compass 90 Miles in length and 40 in breadth The City of Negropont anciently Chalcis is situated on the Euripis which is a narrow Channel that in a wonderful manner Ebbs and Flows seven times in 24 Hours The Walls of the City are about two Miles in compass but the Suburbs are much larger and more Populous by reason of the many Greeks and Iews which Inhabit therein The Captain Pasha is the Chief Commander thereof but commonly governs by his Deputy There is a Bey also belonging to it a Man of great Power by reason that he draws from thence a Yearly Revenue for Maintenance of a Gally This Island of Negropont formerly belonged to the Venetians and to this Day the Arms of St. Mark remain over one of the Gates of the City when Pietro Zani was Doge it was given by the Emperour of Constantinople to the Venetians in recompence and reward of some good Services performed by that Republick towards him or rather because he could not defend it he gave it over into the Hands of a good Ally But in the Year 1469 Sultan Mahomet being desirous to joyn that Pleasant Isle to his other Conquests endeavoured to make a Bridge for the more easie Transportation of his Troops into the Land but being repulsed by the Inhabitants and the Bridge overthrown the Turks were forced to betake themselves unto their Boats and Vessels Howsoever in less than a Month afterwards the Turks returned before the Place with 300 Sail and then having formed the Bridge as was intended Mahomet himself came with an Army of 120000 Men and Attacked the City which was Fortified after the manner of those Times and defended by a Garrison of 24000 Men under the Command of Giovanni Bondulmiero Ludovico Calvo and Paolo Erizzo The Turks raised several Batteries in different Places against it by which they made such large Breaches that they made four terrible Assaults thereon in which above 40000 Turks were Slain and the Enemies bravely repulsed but at length being overwhelmed with Numbers and tired with a long Siege the Guards which defended the Porta Bureliana conveyed themselves secretly away and abandoning their Post they entered the Gate without much opposition killing all the People who passed the Age of 20 Years Calvo was killed on the Place and Bondulmiero in his House Erizzo having Intrenched himself in some fast place defended himself Valiantly and at length surrendred on Conditions of Life but the Turks maintained them not but caused him to be Sawn in two His Fair Daughter chose rather to die by her own Dagger than to give up her Chastity to the Lust of the Turks The Turks having remained Masters of this City ever since the Year 1469 it came at length to be Attacked in hopes of Recovery in this Year 1688 in order unto which the Captain Extraordinary Veniero was appointed with nine Ships belonging to the Republick a Fire-ship and a Palandra to guard the Channel of Negropont and to hinder the Turks from bringing Succours to the City to which also seven Gallies were added under Proveditor Pisani At the same time also several light Gallies were ordered to scower the Channel of Volo and hinder all Succours from passing on that side All the Land Forces being Embarked upon the Ships Gallies Galleases Galleots Palandras and other Vessels the Venetian Fleet weighed Anchor on the 7th of Iuly from Porto Poro and Sailed with a fair Wind directing their Course towards the Island of Negropont but by what Misfortune not known a great Ship called the Smyrna Merchant ran upon a Rock which being high and easily seen it was suspected to
carried him and his People thither consisting of 600 Men besides Women and Children but this mistrust of the Turks words cost them dear for arriving there they were put for two days into a Fort of the City and afterwards commanded them to bring out their Arms and lay them upon Waggons on promise of sending them for Esseck which being done they commanded them to come forth two by two that they might be the better counted After which they drove them back to the Fort like Cattle and chained them there with Iron-Chains where they kept them in so severe an Imprisonment that most of them died with Want and Hunger except such as were under 20 years of Age whom they Shaved and Circumcised and made Turks but the Women and Children they Sold and pillaged all the Goods which they brought out with them In this Island the Enemies found 23 great Guns 15 Field-pieces and three Mortars but the Bombs and Powder were thrown into the River And thus ended this Year which proved the most unfortunate to the Emperor of any that had happened since the beginning of this War. THE Venetian Successes In Their WAR against the TURKS In the Year 1690. year 1690. WE concluded the Venetian Successes of the last Year's Expedition with the Triumphant and Glorious Entry of that Illustrious Prince Francisco Morosini Cavaliââ Captain General and Elected Doge of Venice to whom his Country testified as much Honour and Glory as could be contrived and expressed the Particulars of which are long and not necessary to be inserted in this History only it may not be improper to recount in short some of the Exploits of this Great Man with that Applause which is due unto his Memory This Francisco Morosini descending from the most Ancient Patrician Family in Venice was Born in the Year 1618. He was in his Infancy dedicared by his Parents to the Service of his Country and educated in all Martial Exercises and rising by degrees and steps to several Offices both Military and Civil he at length arrived at the Supream degree of Government in that Republick being elected Doge during the time that he was fighting abroad in defence of his Country he was at first made a Noble Commander of a Gally which is the first step and degree which a Noble Venetian takes then he was made a Vice-Admiral and Governour of a Galleass next Captain of the Golf Proveditor-General of the Arms in Candia and then Captain General in which Office he continued a long time until the Year 1661 behaving himself with incomparable Valour in which Year he fought a Battle with the Gallies of Barbary under the Fortress of Valona he took a great Ship called a Sultana richly laden from Egypt near the Island of Milo he defended the Brââches of Candia and took another great Sultana the Captain of which was called Admiral Nicolâ of Nadalin Furlâno and made him Prisoner he laid the Captain Pasha's Gally Aboard and almost entirely ruined it year 1690. he took the Gally of the Pasha of Cyprus together with the several Fortresses of Calamo Egena Volo and Megara and having made himself Master of those Seas he destroyed 13 Galleots under the Fortress of Prevesa He made many Sallies from Candia in the Face of the Enemy destroying many of their Works and Intrenchments he subdued the Fortress of Calamata and made himself Master of two Turkish Gallies commanded by Hali Pasha he also took the Fortresses of Toron Chisme Castel-rugio and Schiaâo putting them and other Islands under Contribution He also took the Castle of Capricorno and destroyed the Forts of Calogero Sancta Veneranda and Calami which commanded the Fortress of Suda He likewise took two Ships bound from Alexandria laden with Soldiers and Provisions with another Convoy bound from the same Place for Constantinople under which were divers Ships and Vessels In fine after all these Successes and Triumphs being returned to Venice he was made Proveditor of Friuli to oppose the Incursions of the Turks who at that time threatned those Countries very much but those Fears being blown over he was sent back a second time to Command both the Seas and the City of Candia then streightly Besieged by the Grand Vizier Kupriogli with the main force of the Ottoman Empire the which Siege having continued for the space of almost three Years the Turks were concluded to have lost 128000 Men before it During which time this Hero behaved himself with all imaginable Wisdom and Bravery and tho' at length he was forced after many Conflicts and various Successes which we have distinctly recounted in our History of the Lives of the three last Emperors yet the fame of that renowned Defence accompanied with an ensuing Peace will much more immortalize his Fame than any other of his Martial Successes it being the most memorable Siege that ever happened in the World. Finally in the Year 1683 when the Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha appeared before Vienna with an Army of 200000 Men he was then appointed Proveditor-General of Friuli to oppose the vast Inundations of the Turks which had happened to all those Countries had the Success of that Vizier answered the Expectations of so mighty a Power After which he was sent a third time in quality of Captain-General against the Turks in the Morea where in the space of five Years he performed all those great Actions which have been before recounted by which he acquired such immortal Honour and Fame that he was by the Death of Contareno exalted to the Supream Throne of that Victorious and Renowned Republick where we shall now leave him employed in the exercise of the Sublime Dignity and so proceed to recount the Actions of that Noble General the Cavalier and Procurator Girolamo Cornaro who when the Doge about the latter end of the last Year returned to Venice was left in the Command before Malvasia of the Blockade which continued during the whole Winter past But the Summer coming on and the Army and Navy reinforced considerably with Men Provisions and Money dispatched from Venice under several strong Convoys and being joyned with the Pope's and the Maltese Gallies it was proposed to convert the Blockade into a Formal Siege It was now full 17 Months that the Besieged had with much patience stood out in defence of their City so that it was believed that they were reduced to the utmost Point of Famine and Penury the which Opinion the Turks were willing to confirm in the Minds of the Besiegers that they might take them off from the Attempts of Attacking Bombing or other Methods for forcing the Town But the Captain-General having discovered that the Defendants were still provided for a longer Subsistence and able to hold out for some Months resolved on some more expedite means than by the dilatory ways of a Siege and the lazy Formalities of a Blockade for tho' it was most desirable for sparing the effusion of Christian Blood to
That such were the Ancient Customs of the Ottoman Empire which they were resolved to observe and abolish the Abuses introduced by the late Grand Seignior and his Prime Vizier Mustapha Then the Seraskier with much earnestness did exaggerate the Unjust Oppression which was practised by Christians to those of the same Faith who Inhabited the Country called Syrmium situate between the Drave Save and Danube who were barbarously spoil'd of their Cloaths robb'd of their Cattle and obliged to pay excessive Impositions against all Laws of Humanity and a regulated Government whereas on the contrary their Sultan sent Money to be distributed among the Poor Subjects to buy them Cattle and Seed thereby shewing himself a Father of the Miserable and not a Tyrant and this Charity continued he which ought to be natural to you Christians towards one another need not hinder the Hostility of Soldiers when they meet and encounter leaving the poor Country-Men in Peace who labour only for the Publick Good and the Service of that Prince whom God shall place over them I answered with applauding such Pious Maxims and that I hoped so good Dispositions would incline them more favourably to hearken to what I was to propose in the Name of my King towards the ending this Bloody War between the two Empires and that as to the Particulars he mentioned I being a Stranger knew nothing of them He then proceeded to charge Count Chizzâola Commandant of Esseck to have deceived him on several Occasions after his Word given a Crime says he which will be punished by God and if the Charity of my Emperor towards the Poor Subjects and Country-men had not restrained me what wou'd have hindred me this Winter to have made Excursions even to Buda But all I shou'd have gained wou'd have been only the Tears and Curses of the Miserable I answer'd with commending the generous Clemency and Mercy of the present Government and our Conference ended with the usual Ceremonies of Coffee Sherbet and Perfumes In the Afternoon I was call'd for by the Seraskier to a Private Audience at which only his Effendi and my Secretary who was instead of an Interpreter were present I represented to him that this perillous Journey I had undertaken and by a way so unusual to Ambassadors from England was a Mark of the high Friendship and Affection which the King my Master bore to the two Empires of Germany and Turkey who resenting sensibly the fatal Consequences of so long and bloody a War commanded me to pass by Vienna there to receive the Orders and Instructions of the Emperor of the Romans towards the amicable ending of it to which good Work shou'd not the Grand Sultan and His Ministers likewise correspond it might be justly feared that the Mischiefs and Desolations hereafter ensuing wou'd call down Vengeance from God upon the Musselmen The Seraskier applauding the King 's Generous Design took notice that there never yet was between England and the Ottoman Empire either War or any alienation of Affection but always perfect Friendship which he beg'd God wou'd continue He commended the Wisdom of the present Vizier his Humanity and Treatableness and approved my Solicitous Earnestness to continue my Voyage leaving it to my Choice either to go by Land or Water I told him I resolved to go by Water as far as Rusgiuk a Days Journey below Nicopolis and to Travel thence by Land He again renew'd the Complaints made in the Divan in behalf of the Poor Inhabitants of Syrmium and press'd me to Write to your Excellency to forbid the Plundering of Villages and Excursions of the Heâdukes who behave themselves more like Thieves than Soldiers and that your Excellency wou'd order that they who are Peaceable and Disarm'd may continue not only in Repose but also be protected to the Benefit of that Prince to whom God shall give the Government He assured me further That whatsoever Expedient shall be proposed by the Imperialists towards the preventing such Violences he will readily agree to and cause it to be rigorously observed and in this so Christian a Cause intreated me to interpose the good Offices of my King. I do therefore beseech your Excellency to Correspond herein with Amet Passa either by Letter or by Deputies on both sides to meet on the Confines and to be pleased to inform me of your Resolution herein by an open Letter sent to the Seraskier with whom I also leave a Copy of this as I will likewise do with the Grand Vizier not designing to expose the Confidence they have in my King to the Hazards of any Accidents which might prove equally prejudicial to both Empires I took this Opportunity to shew my self equally Charitable towards the Poor Christians taken in Orsoâa and made Slaves as was reported after they had Capitulated to have safe Conduct into the Emperor's Territories I was answer'd That they had Surrendred themselves with condition That if Belgrade were lost they would be Prisoners of War and that the Grand Vizier was not capable of violating the Publick Faith so shamefully I demanded concerning some other Prisoners recommended to me by their Friends but was answer'd That they were all the Grand Seignior's Captives and without his express Order they could not treat either for their Ransom or Exchange He told me That all Officers were well treated and kept without Irons in a Chamber apart with their Servants at the Expence of the Grand Seignior I left 100 Ducats of Gold to be distributed by Capt. Runkel to the Poorest of them which was all the Service I could do them and of which I intreat your Excellency to give their Friends an Account A Courier being dispatched to Constantinople I have had Permission to Write to the Grand Vizier and Sir William Trumbal giving Information of my Arrival I purpose suddenly to continue my Voyage with full intention to do all the Service I can to both Empires in execution of the Commands of my King in whose Name I continue to press as desired your Excellency that some Means may be found out to prevent the Rapines daily practised upon the Poor Country People The inclosed short Letter for my Lord Pagett I intreat your Excellency wou'd transmit to him as also this Original that his Lordship being sufficiently informed may better know what to sollicite from the Emperor and what to acquaint the King my Master I am Belgrade April 30. May 10. 1691. Sir William Hussey's Letters to the Lord Pagett at Vienna Adrianople May 25. 1691. My Lord I Sent a full Account of our Arrival at Belgrade April 30. S. N. From thence we came by Water to Rustick two Days lower than Nicopolis and thence in eight Days Land-Iourney hither whence we advanced forwards two Days but met there by my Secretary and Interpreter from Constantinople with Letters and Advice from Sir William Trumbal that the Vizier was upon departure and ordered us to stay his Arrival at Adrianople We returned back two Days past
Enemy And at Adrianople three other Pasha's were put to Death for the same Crime or Default After these Executions done the General of the Janisaries was Named for not behaving himself well but because there are some Points of respect reserved for the Order of Janisaries he was only dismissed from his Government and with a good Grace sent to be Pasha of Gaza the meanest Pashaluck in the whole Empire and this would have been a Favour had they not sent an Executioner after him and in his way taken off his Head as is the usual Custom amongst the Turks with such Orders and Methods as these the Turks reassumed something of their Courage dispatching without delay Commands for Listing and Enrolling Janisaries and other Orders of Militia as also Timariots Zaims Segmen and others and that they would augment their Numbers as far as to 100000 Men or at least to the same degree as they were the last Year But before we proceed farther on the Turkish side we must look a little back and see what the Germans are doing after so Signal a Victory The 20th of this Month of August being the next Day after the Battle some Parties of Hungarians and Rascians were commanded to Pursue the Enemy in their Flight which they did with such Expedition that they brought back with them many of the Fugitives dispersed and stragling thro' Private Ways and unknown Paths and reported That the whole Turkish Army were Flying in the greatest Confusion imaginable and that a great part of them had already passed the Save and had broken all the Bridges behind them and that great Numbers of Dead Bodies were found on the Roads and covered the Ground for some Distance from the Camp For which great Victory Te Deum was sang on the 21st with a Triple Discharge of all the Guns as well of those which were taken from the Turks as those belonging to the Christian Army And here on the 22th the Christian Army reposed and rested it self in the Field of Battle In the mean time before the News of the Victory Colonel Mackeri Governour of Verovitza with a Party of 1600 Men attacked the Castle of Velicko and having thrown some Bombs into it it was forced to Surrender at Discretion having had about 300 Men Killed and not above 60 left Alive the Booty was not great unless it were the Releasement of Christian Prisoners of which 300 obtained their Liberty The first Motion the Army made from the Field of Battle was to Carlowitz where the Duke of Holstein was Buried The next Day being the 25th they marched to Peter Waradin where the Dukes of Ahremberg and Arschot the General Souches together with several other Officers Died of their Wounds the great Heats having contributed much to their Deaths On the 30th a General Council of War was held in the Imperial Army at which it was resolved That the Duke of Croy Field-Marshal with the Generals Saurau and Hoffkirchen and five Regiments of Horse and as many of Foot besides Rascians and Hungarians should March towards Esseck to cover that Country and Pass and accordingly they began their March on the last of the Month whilst Prince Lewis of Baden remained in the Camp to secure and cover them in the Rear Of all which Matters the News being sent to Vienna both as to the Victory and the Methods taken after it we may imagine that all the Imperial Court as well as all Parts of Christendom were filled with an extraordinary Joy for so signal a Victory and as the Emperor sent his Gracious Encouragements to all the Officers so more especially to the General Officers declaring Prince Lewis of Baden Lieutenant-General of the Imperial Army in Hungary where whilst these things were agitating the News came of the Victory which King William of England had gained at the Boyne in Ireland which served to augment the Triumphs with another triple Discharge of all the Cannon in the Army The Winter drawing near the greatest part of the Turkish Militia being under great Discouragements and having a long Journey Home thought fit to leave the Camp So did the Tartars Plundering all in their way so did the Arnouts and Albanians and all the Soldiers whose Towns and Houses were not at a far distance so likewise the Spahee's stole privately away and the Asâatick Horse made towards the Dardanelli where they passed into Asia and in this manner did all the Forces disperse that scarce any appearance remained of an Army or a Camp and those few who kept to their Colours were possessed with great Consternation upon the News that the Poles had actually Invaded Walachia and brought great Destruction and Ruine upon that Province The Weather beginning now to be Cold and Wet much incommoded the Soldiers of Prince Lewis his Army in their March especially the Foot who trashing through the Waters in a Country where was no Wood to Dry them or Warm and Dress their Victuals many of them fell Sick and Died. And indeed that Country as I have my self observed hath neither Timber nor Underwoods so that the Inhabitants live in Caves under Ground the Soil being of a stiff Clay grows hard with Fires like a Stone all their Fuel being Turf of which by the Laziness of the Inhabitants a sufficient store had not been gathered to furnish the present use of the Army Whilst the Army quartered in this Barren Country News was brought to Prince Lewiâ Thaâ General Veterani having heard of the Defeat of the Turks had Decamped from ãâã and was marched to Lippa where coming before the Town he sent his Summons to Surrender which being refused some few Bombs were cast into it which brought the Garrison to a Desire to Capitulate but nothing would be granted but a Surrender at Discretion In fine all the Men being 216 in number were made Prisoners together with three Pasha's viz. Mahomet Bey and one Alâ Pasha who had been sent thither for a Place of Banishment by the Grand Vizier and also another Bey with a Ziorbassi or Captain In the Town were three Guns and two Mortar-pieces only with a good quantity of Ammunition but little of Provisions After which Count Guttensteyn was made Governour of the Place with some Hundreds of Men for a Garrison And whereas News was brought That Tekeli with five or 6000 Men was Quartered about Tâmâswaer it gave some Apprehensions of his Design to Invade Transilvania for which reason General Veterani kept his Station at Lippa to observe his Motions In the mean time Prince Lewis continued his March to Segedin where he refreshed his Army for some Days And here it was that a certain Turk came from Belgrade under a Pretence to demand the Exchange of 4000 Turks against so many Christians but this Proposal seeming fictitious he was suspected for a Spy seized and committed to Prison It being thought fit to secure Lippa lately taken the Prince sent his
Clementia Dei perpetua stabilis firma inconcussa permaneat conservata atque custodita sit ab omni turbatione mutatione confusione violatione uno eodemque tenore firmissimè perseveret constantissimè continuet ut omnes omnino hostilitates amoveantur atque sustollantur quà m citissimè notitia praebeatur in Confiniis Praefectis Gubernatoribus ut sibi caveant ne imposterum transgressiones fiant nevè altera pars alteri damna inferat Verùm enimverò omnes utrinque sincerè amicè sese praestent juxta istam almam Pacem Ut autem omnibus cognita comperta sit istius almae Pacis Conclusio triginta dies pro termino ponantur post quem nullus praetextus nullaque excusatio acceptabitur sed in eos qui adversabuntur editis Edictis exactam obedientiam merentibus severissimè animadvertatur Post Subscriptionem autem Instrumentorum utriusque Partis Ablegatus priùs à Polonia missus ad Fulgidam Portam veniens juxta antiquam consuetudinem afferat Regias publicas Literas Ratificationem Pactorum Instrumentis declaratorum continentes atque Literas Imperatorias ratificatorias item accipiat deducat Postea verò ad solennem confirmationem Pactorum Pacis perfectionem reciprocae sinceritatis absolutam terminationem mutuae Amicitiae dispositionem ac digestionem reliquarum rerum juxta laudatum veterem morem adventurus Magnus Legatus quamprimùm commodè fieri poterit moveat ac proinde undecim numaero Pactis conclusa juxta istas conclusiones alma Pax ab utraque Parte acceptetur atque colatur Cùm verò altè memorati Illustrissimi Excellentissimi Domini Excelsi Imperii Plenipotentiarii Commissarii existentes Legati vi suae Facultatis auctoritatis Tuâcico Sermone exaratum legitimum validum instrumentum tradiderint ego quoque vi Facultatis Deputationis meae propriâ manu subscriptas Sigillo sigillatas à me praesentes Pactorum Literas tanquam legitimum validum Instrumentum tradidi THE TREATY OF PEACE BETWEEN The Most Serene and Most Potent King AND Republick of POLAND AND The Sublime OTTOMAN Empire Made at Carlovitz in Sirmium in a General Congress of the Confederate Plenipotentiaries In the Name of the most Holy and Individual Trinity TO the perpetual Memory of the Thing Be it known to all and every one whom it may Concern Whereas there has been a long War between the Kingdom of Poland and the Sublime Empire to stop the Effusion of humane Blood and with Desires of Restoring a mutual Quiet the most Serene and most Potent William III. King of Great Britain France and Ireland and the States General of the United Provinces in order to set on foot this Treaty of a happy Peace have interpos'd their Mediation all the Duties and Conditions of which Mediation have with great Study and Industry been perform'd by their Excellencies the Plenipotentiary Ambassadors to the Fulgid Port on the behalf of his Britannick Majesty by William Lord Pagett Baron de Beaudesert in the County of Stafford Lord Lieutenant of the said County and on the part of the States General by Lord Iacob Colyer which War through GOD's Blessing by Reciprocal Inclinations on both sides has been Compos'd and wholly Extinguish'd at Carlovitz on the Confines of Sirmium where according to the Designment of the Illustrious Mediation a Congress of the Plenipotentiary Ambassadors was appointed and Treaties of Articles of Peace begun with the most Illustrious and most Excellent Lord Mehmet Effendi Creat Chancellor of the Sublime Empire and the most Illustrious and most Excellent Lord Alexander Mauro Cordato of the Noble Family of Scarlati and Privy-Counsellor of the Sublime Empire Ambassadors Extraordinary for the Treaty of Peace and after some Sessions at length by the Divine Goodness this Business of a happy and desir'd Peace was Digested into Terms agreed on both sides and a most entire Friendship and Peace was Perfected and Concluded Restor'd and Renew'd between the most Serene and most Potent Emperor Sultan of the Musulmen Sultan Mustapha Son of Sultan Mehmet and the most Serene and most Potent King Augustus II. my most Noble Lord and the Republick of Poland which Peace is to be Religiously observ'd betwixt both Dominions and is Digested into Eleven Articles which follow one by one I. BY the Help and Blessing of God Hostility with the High Empire founded on Eternity having for some time ceas'd and now the Ancient Friendship Agreeable to the Nature of Reconciliation and good Neighbourhood reviving that all Acts of Hostility may be prevented and the Subjects enjoy their Ancient Security Quiet and Tranquillity the Ancient Limits shall be establish'd and restor'd to what they were before the two last Wars and the Confines of the Provinces subject to Poland shall by these Ancient Boundaries be separated and distinguish'd as well from the Imperial Confines of Moldavia as of those of all other Countries subject to the Sublime Empire nor shall there on either side be any Pretension or Extension made but the Ancient Limits without Change or Disturbance shall as Things Sacred be Religiously observ'd and maintain'd II. Whatsoever Fortifications or Places great or less which before the War before this lay within the Limits of Moldavia and have hitherto been in the Possession of Polish Masters the Polish Garrisons shall be withdrawn and they shall be Evacuated and the Province of Moldavia shall remain as free as ever and in the same peaceable State it was before the last War. III. The Fortress likewise of Caminiec being before the two last Wars situated within the Ancient Limits towards Poland shall be Evacuated and the Musulman Garrison withdrawn and shall be entirely left Nor shall the Sublime Empire hereafter make any Pretensions upon the Provinces of Podolia and the Ukrain and the Deputy of the Ukrain Cossacks who goes by the Title of Hatmannus now residing in Moldavia shall be remov'd And considering the Ancient Limits of Poland and Moldavia are very plain if the Season permits the Evacuations on this side shall be begun by the beginning of the ensuing March and the Polish Troops shall be withdrawn out of Moldavia as soon as possible and tâe Fortifications and Places shall be Evacuated and Moldavia left free And at the same time from the beginning of Maâch the Evacuation of Caminiec shall Commence and the Business of the Evacution shall without Hesitation Neglect or Delay be put in Execution as soon as it can be perform'd and the said Evacuation of this Fortress of Caminiec shall at farthest be compleââed by the 25th of May and that the Evacuation of the said Fortress may be perform'd with Speed and Ease The Poles shall as much as possible in order to the Lading and Carrying away of Goods assist the Transportation with Carriages and Cattle and on all hands the Evacuation shall be carry'd on with Security and Safety In all which Evacuations of Fortresses and other Places in
repulsed with Loss 314 Desire Peace which the Emperor unhappily refuses 319. Design against the Christians 341. Defeated 342. Attack the Christians ib. Are beaten and Retreat ib. Fly to Potoschin 343. Abandon their Camp and the Germans possess it ib. Put to Flight 346. Defeated 348. Forces Land at Negropont 357. Return with Loss to Temeswaer 387. Despise a Peace 393. In hopes of Victory under their new Grand Vizier 397. Falsifie their Faith 401. Pursued by the Rascians 425. Resolve to continue the War 432. Repulsed from Titul and Fitz by the Rascians 441. Repulsed from Portsea 443. Vigorously Attack Poroka ib. Are repulsed 444. Design to recover Scio 520. Many of them Drown'd in the Watersin Asia 503. Averse to a Peace with thesurrender of Caminiec 513. Regain Scio 525. Defeated 537. Again worsted 540. Inclinable to a Peace 553. V. VAlier set upon by ten Turkish Vessels after a bloody Fight is kill'd 392. Valona in fear by the Venetians 390. Abandon'd by the Turks 391. Venier kill'd 364. Venetian Armada sails to Patrass 266. Venetian Camp wasted with Sickness 318. Venetian Fleet Winters at Napoli di Romania 356. Resolve to Besiege Napoli di Malvasia 389. Venetians troubled by the Port 9. Their Ambassador imprison'd 10. Declare War against the Turks 136. Their Reasons for it 137. Relieve Chielifa 223. Anchor before Corinth 269. Take Possession of it 270. Their Successes against the Turks from 313 to 327. At Sea give the Turks a great Defeat 537. Veterani Routs the Tartars 220. His Character 299. Defeated 531. Vicegrad describ'd 140. Storm'd and taken ib. Victory a wonderful one 346. Vienna a Plague there 49. Fortified 94. A great Consternation there 101. Garrison'd 102. The number of the Garrison ib. Council appointed for Government of it 103. A Fire there 104. Staremberg Governour thereof Wounded 105. The Besieged make a Sally ib. Spring a Mine 107. A Letter shot into the Town ib. The Turks spring a Mine 108. Counterscarp taken by the Turks ib. Are in hopes of Relief â13 Signs of Approaching Succours 116. Turks play their Cannon against it 119. Ioy within the Town 121. Virovitz surrender'd 148. Vizier of Buda his great Power 218. Viziers Four new ones of the Bench made 303. Vizier Grand makes a Peace with the Poles 39 and why ib. Accepts of the Conditions offer'd by the Moscovites 51. Publishes a Manifesto at Alba-Regalis 100. In the Camp before Vienna 103. His Tents fall to the Lot of the King of Poland 120. Complains against the Pasha of Buda 123. Strangles the Vizier of Buda and other Pashas 124. Excuses himself before the Grand Seignior 132. Is acquitted 133. Order'd to stay at Belgrade 230. Prepares for War and sends to the Tartars ib. Endeavours to relieve Sighet ib. Gives up the Seals 286. Is kill'd ib. The new G. Vizier goes not to the War 34. Marches to Nicopolis 373. Invests Belgrade 382. Not enclin'd to a Peace 397. Character of one 434. Artifices of his Son ib. Seeks the Life of the Chimacam which puts his own in danger 436. Remov'd and another instituted 437. At Belgrade 497. Sent to the Army 502. Begins his March to Adrianople ib. Deposed 514. A new one 515. His Character ib. Raises the Siege of Belgrade 518. Sent for in hast 519. Delays to return 520. Put in fear 522. Strangled 529. Ungwar taken 162. Vypalanca burnt by Rabutin 557. W. WAllestein Count sent into Poland 95. His Business ib. Walpo invested 249. Surrenders ib. Waradin Great Besieged and Blockaded 428 429 430. In great distress 438. Surrender'd 439. Wazia attack'd and taken 154. Wesselini dies 44. Widen taken by the Germans 349. A Place of much advantage 350. Tartars retire from it 376. Invested by the Turks 378. Surrenders to them ib. Witzen a Fight near it 141. Wormb Count blamed 45. Wuchin taken by Dunewalt 248. Y. YEdic breeds Disorders in Asia 334. A Party of his Soldiers Defeated 335. Marches to Prusa and defeats the Pasha ib. Declar'd King of Anatolia ib. Besieges Angona which ransoms it self ib. Is defeated by the Teftish and kill'd 336. Yeghen Commits some Outrages 288. Eâtrusted with the Army ib. Demands the Seals of the Grand Seignior ib. Mutinies 304. Seizes on Hassan Pasha ib. Commits great Spoils 318 His Fate 333. Kills the Tartar Prince ib. The Father Meditates Revenge but he is favour'd by the Grand Vizier ib. Commits all sorts of Outrages 334. Commands issued from the Port to take him dead or alive ib. Flies into Albania ib. Is beheaded by Mamoot Bei ib. Z. ZArnata taken by the Turks 182. Zatmar invested by Apafi 92. Siege raised ibid. Zelen surrenders to the D. of Lorrain 263. Zemplin refuses to receive a German Garrison 29. Zerneck quitted by the Turks 250. Zyclos taken 221. The End of the CONTENTS Lamen Jeremy Cap. 13. Granado in Spain was recovered from the Sarasins by Ferdinand in 1491. The Causes of the Greatness of the Turkish Empire The Order of the Author 's Proceeding in the Writing of this History Divers Opinions concerning the beginning of the Turks 2 King. 17 4 Esdr. 13 Jo. Leunclavius Pandect cap. 22. Sebast. Munster Universalis Cosmograph lib. 2. Scythia the native Country of the Turks Pomp. Mela lib. 1. cap. ult Plin. secundus lib. 6. ca. 7. The great agreement betwixt the Turks and Scythians When and for what causes the the Turks left their ancient and natural Seats in Scythia to seek others in the Countries more Southerly 755. 844. Sâbellicus Ennead 9. lib. 2. Armenia now called Turcomania the first Seat of the Turks after their first coming out of Scythia Togra otherwise called Tangrolipix sent to aid the Persian Sultan Mahomet the Persian Sultan goâth himself with an Army against Tangrolipix Tangrolipix by consent of the Souldiers made Sultan of Persia Tangrolipix first Sultan of the Turks When the Turks first received the Mahometan Superstition Cutlu-Muses sent by Tangrolipâx against the Turks Cutlu-Muses rebelleth against Tangrolipix The Turks Embassador contemned of the Emperor Tangrolipix invadeth the Emperors Dominions Dissention betwixt Tangrolipix and his brother Habramie Alim Cutlu-Muses flyeth into Arabia Covetousness and lack of reward the decay of the Constantinopolitan Empire Eudocia the Empress contrary to her Oath desirous to marry Diogenes Romanus of a Prisoner by the Empress made General of her Army Eudocââ marrieth Diogenes Romanus and proclaims him Emperor The Provinces of the Empire spoiled by the Turks The Turks discomfited by Diogenes the Emperor Diogenes goeth witâ a great Army against thâ Turks Axan the Sultan âindeth Embassadors unto Diogenes for peace John Ducas a notable Traitor cause of the flight of the Emperors Army Diogenes the Emperor taken by the Turks Eudocia the Empress deposed by the Traytor John Ducas Psellus and others Diogenes the Emperor taken Prisoner by Andronicus The miserable death of Diogenes the Emperor Axan the Sultan seeketh to revenge the death of Diogenes Cuâlu-âuses with his Sons and Kinsmen take up arms against Axan the Sultan A most
pitched his Camp in the very Bowels of the Country These proceedings giving matter of jealousie to all the Captains of the bordering Christians the Count Serini first hastned the finishing of his Fort as much as was possible and next according to his example the Imperialists in all parts of the Borders fortified their Towns and Castles and reinforced their Garisons which was answered by the Turks in the like preparations And thus mutual fears and jealousies effected that ill Correspondence in which the State of Affairs then remained And since Transilvania is the present Scene of Action it will not be much from our purpose to digress a little in declaring the state of that miserable Principality and by what ways and means the Turks encreased their Tribute and encroached on their Liberties the which Relation I received from one of the Transilvanian Agents to this effect In the time of Sultan Solyman Transilvania was governed by her own Laws and her natural Prince paying then only Thirty Thousand Dollars of yearly Tribute After which Ali Pasha taking Varadin on the Frontiers had some part of the Country allotted him for maintenance of his Garison and at that time solemnly swore That beyond those Limits alloted to Varadin the Turks should not farther enter into Transilvania but that Oath being little regarded they have since that time possessed themselves of six Provinces viz. Bichar Doboka Halnock Colos in which is Claudiopolis and of the best part of Zarand Nor were the Turks satisfied herewith but in the year 1658. the Vizier Kuperlee entered Transilvania and by force of Arms took the strong Town of Ianova and demanded the Surrender of Lugas and Karansebes into his hands Nor could the allegations of the Oath of Sultan Solyman or of Ali Pasha or any other perswasions or submission induce him to moderate any part of his severe demands until first having miserably destroyed the whole Country and satiated himself with blood he was contented upon the sad and humble supplication of the Ambassador from that Prince to withdraw his Army out of Transilvania on condition that Fifty thousand Dollars of yearly Tribute should be added to the former Thirty thousand and that Lugas and Karansebes should be wholly abandoned by the native Inhabitants and deliverd into possession of the Turk And as a mark of his absolute Dominion over that Country he forced one Achacius Barcley employed before as Ambassador to him to take on him the Government threatning that if he accepted not of the Charge he would invest a Carter in the Principality Notwithstanding all this Treatment and though the Transilvanians comply'd with all the propositions offered them by the Turk yet not long after the Tartar Han passed twice through the Country miserably harrassing spoiling and killing or making Captives all he met whose departure also from this Country was purchased with a considerable Sum of Money And this was the state of the misery of Transilvania when the troubles rised by Ragotzki and Kemenius added to the other discontents and administred farther occasion to the ensuing War. But whilst the thoughts of the Ottoman Court were intent on their preparation for the next years War in Hungary advice came that the Turkish Fleet consisting of Seventeen Ships and Thirty seven Saiques lately departed from Constantinople bound for Alexandria in Aegypt and convoyed by six Gallies which met them at Scio very rich with Money and other goods whose returns are yearly for the most part made in Sugar Coffee Rice and other Commodities were encountred near Rhodes by the Venetian Armata and such ruine and prize made of them that of the Threescore Sail Twenty eightSaiques 4 Ships were sunk and taken viz. 18 Saiques taken 10 burnt 3 Ships taken and one burnt and thereon Two hundred and seventy Slaves among which there were of note Arnout Asan Aga Eunuch of the Seraglio Mahomet Aga Bascut Agasey of Grand Cairo and Emin Reis Captain of a Ship. When this news arrived I happened to be at the Viziers Court and perceived a strange disturbance and alteration in the faces of all then present but more particularly the Grand Signior seemed to be heated with fury and present resolution of revenge so that he had almost forgotten his designs against the Emperor and quitting his pastime in Hunting he began to talk of transporting his Arms into Dalmatia and thereupon sent Orders to one Beco a Begh of the Morea to cause a survey of the High-ways Passages and Bridges towards Dalmatia as if he had intended immediately to march and either to defer his Hungarian War or wage both at the same time But his graver and more soberCouncil moderated his heat with Reason knowing that the designs of Princes though never so absolute must be subject to times and seasons until their Powers can extend to Omnipotency which never yet could exceed the abilities of a mortal man though some have affected Divine Honours and by Flatterers have been ranked after death in the number of the Gods. The Venetians lost Seventy men only or thereabouts and amongst them Giacomo Semitecolo a noble Venetian with other Braves and Souldiers of Fortune The Turks horribly touched with this loss and disgrace especially the Grand Signior who had an Interest in the Caravana had a mind to vent some of their fury on Signior Ballarino the Venetian Minister to the Port like those as we say who cannot beat the Horse will beat the Saddle so that they intended to imprison him again in some dark Cell or obscure retirement of which or of some other rigor Signior Ballarino was so sensible that he wrote this ensuing Letter to the Senator Nicolo Contarini which may serve to explain the anguish and sorrowful apprehensions of his Soul. IF my Mind were capable of Comfort I could not in the midst of so much anguish entertain a more efficacious Motive thereunto than those obliging Expressions which your Excellency uses towards me who like a Terrestrial Deity is pleased to protect me But alas I am too much overwhelmed with Grief to discover any Subject which may cause me to dry my Tears I find no shelter against that Storm which I foresaw Nor is it sufficient for me to discover the Tempest before it arrives It is not sufficient in this darkness to lose my Sleep disturb my Quiet tire my Body debilitate my Health by a slender Diet whilst tossed in the Bosom of an inexorable Element I am denied the enjoyment of a ray of Light. I hold the Helm of the Ship as direct as I can but the adverse Waves of my Fortune drive me into the midst of those Storms where I apprehend the greatest Dangers I am here in the midst of the Sea which is the Nest of Extravagancies the grand belief of unthought of Accidents the spacious Theatre of Tragedies a fierce Giant a horrible Monster who with gentle Opiates endeavours to lull asleep and lead those to Destruction who have too great a