of gilt Plate Cossi took upon him this Message which when he had delivered to Othoman he found him very willing to go as a man not doubting any harm But Cossi inwardly grieving to see so brave a man and his kind Friend by such treacherous manner to be brought to his end moved with compassion discovered unto him the whole Conspiracy of the Captain against him and of the Plot laid for his destruction willing him to take heed unto himself for which vertue Othoman gave Cossi great thanks as to his Friend for saving his life and withall richly rewarded him promising him greater matters if he would continue that his faithful Friendship Now concerning the Captain of Bilezuga saith he at your return recommend me unto him and tell him That I think my self much bound unto him for many curtesies but especially for that he hath heretofore divers times in most friendly manner protected my Goods and Cattel within the safeguard of his Castle which his Friendship I most humbly request him to continue for one year more enforced thereunto by reason of the dangerous Wars betwixt me and the Prince Germean-Ogli as he well knoweth wherefore if it might so stand with his good pleasure I would presently send unto his Castle such things as I make most reckoning of requesting him once more to be the faithful keeper thereof as he hath been before and tell him further that my Mother-in-Law with her Daughter my Wife desire nothing more than to find opportunity to be acquainted with the honorable Lady his Mother for which cause if it please him I will bring them both with me to the marriage This Othomans request when the Captain of Bilezuga understood by Michael Cossi he sent the same Cossi back again to hasten his coming willing him to bring with him what guests he pleased appointing certain time and place when and where the marriage should be solemnized And because the Castle of Bilezuga was thought to be too little conveniently to receive the multitude of People which were expected at the marriage there was another open place of greater receipt appointed in the Country for that purpose about three miles distant from the Castle The marriage day drew nigh whereunto Othoman must repair for his promise sake and therefore prepared with all diligence to set forward and to put in execution what he had devised for the safety of himself and destruction of his Enemy Othoman had of long accustomed in dangerous times to send by carriage the best of his things made up in packs to be kept in safety in the Castle of Bilezuga under the colour whereof he now made great packs in form as he was wont but instead of his rich Houshold stuff and such other things of price he thrust in armed men covering those packs with homley coverings sending them by Carriages to the Castle of Bilezuga giving charge that they should not come thither before twilight After that he apparelled certain of his best Souldiers in Womens apparel as if it had been his Wife and Mother-in-Law with their Women so casting his journey that he with these disguised Souldiers and the other sent in packs might at one instant meet at the Castle aforesaid The Captain being now in the Country and understanding that Othoman was coming in the Evening with a great train of Gentlewomen thought the cause of his late coming to be for that the Turkish Women use to shun the sight of Christian men by all means they can Othoman being now come to the place in the Country where the marriage was next day to be solemnized having done his humble reverence to the Captain requested him to do him the honour that his Gentlewomen which were nigh at hand might by his appointment be sent to his Castle there to have some convenient lodging where they might alight and bestow themselves apart from others according to the homely fashion of their Nation lest peradventure the presence of so honorable a company of Noblemen and Gallants might put them out of countenance which the Captain granted and having saluted them a far off after the Turkish manner commanded them to be conveyed to his Castle making reckoning of them all as of a rich prey At the same time that these disguised Souldiers arrived at the Castle came thither also the other Souldiers covered in packs in the carriages which so soon as they came into the Castle suddenly leapt out of the packs and drawing their short Swords with the help of their disguised Fellows slew the Warders of the Castle and without more ado possessed the same the greatest part of the Captains people being before gone out of the Castle to the place of the marriage Othoman having tarried so long with the Captain as he supposed the Castle at that time by his men surprised so soon as the Captain had taken his Chamber suddenly took horse with all his Followers accompanied also with Cossi taking his way directly to the Castle of Bilezuga of whose sudden departure the Captain understanding presently took horse and pursued him with all his Train which were for the most part drunk and overtaking him before he came to the Castle set upon him in which conflict he was by Othoman slain and the rest put to flight The same night Othoman using great celerity early in the Morning surprised the Castle of Iarchisar also where he took Prisoners the Captain thereof with his fair Daughter Lulufer which should have been married to the Captain of Bilezuga the next day with all her Friends as they were ready to have gon unto the marriage which fair Lady he shortly after married unto his eldest Son Orchanes who had by her Amurath third King of the Turks and Solyman Bassa Othoman omitting no opportunity presently sent one of his Captains called Durgut-Alpes a man of great esteem and valour to besiege the Castle of Einegiol wherein he used such celerity that preventing the fame of that was done at Bilezuga he suddenly environed the Castle in such sort that none could pass in or out until such time as that Othoman having brought his Prisoners and Prey to the Castle of Bilezuga and there having set all things in good order came with the rest of his men of War to Einegiol which he presently by force took promising the Spoil thereof unto his Souldiers The Captain called Hagio Nicholaus his ancient Enemy he caused to be cut in small pieces and all the men to be slain which cruelty he used because they a little before had used the like tyranny against his Turks When Othoman had thus got into his subjection a great part of the strong Castles and Forces of the greater Phrygia with the Territory to them belonging he began with all carefulness to make good Laws and to execute justice to all his Subjects as well Christians as Turks with great indifferency studying by all means to keep his Country in peace and quietness and to protect his Subjects
Men at Arms and such as he had kept aloft upon the Hill for Rescues he had compassed about with his Waggons as with Trenches The signal of the battel being given the fierce and couragious Souldiers on both sides with chearful minds began at first to Skirmish a far off but afterwards Fortune as it were fawning upon both sides and their courage thereupon increasing they began with greater force to fight foot to foot and hand to hand Which hot fight continued about three hours at length the Turks battel was put to the worst by Benedict Losonicus who had the leading of the right Wing and so likewise in the left also by Stephen Bamffi who with great slaughter had notably foiled the great Bassa of Europe still pressing hard and desperately upon him Which discomfiture of his Men in both Wings Amurath beholding presently sent in strong Supplies and in both places renewed the battel whereby the Hungarian and Valachian light Horsemen before wearied were enforced to retire unto the Men at Arms who serred together and standing as a strong Wall easily repulsed the greatest Assaults of the Turks In which manner of fight many were on both sides slain but far more of the Turks by reason they were neither so well horsed nor armed as were the Christians Huniades in the mean time with the Artillery from the Hill did the Turks great harm which Amurath perceiving drew as close unto the Hill as he could by that mean saving his people so much as was possible out of the danger of the Artillery mounted on high above them in such sort as that it could little or nothing now hurt them which Huniades from the Hill beholding came down to the relief of his Men sending new Supplies to both Wings sometime encouraging them with chearful Speech and sometime with his own most valiant hand unto the weary he sent Relief the fearful he encouraged them that were flying he stayed and where he saw the Enemies fastest coming on there was he himself present to meet them omitting nothing that was of a good General or worthy Souldier to be done The valiant he commended the coward he reproved and as a careful General was himself in every place present Whereby the battel became so fierce and terrible that in every place a man might have seen all fouly foiled with blood and the quarry of the dead Amurath in like manner still sent in new Suppliâ—s nothing discouraged with the great loss of his Men presuming upon his multitude as fully resolved orderly to fight and to make use of all his Forces in hope at length by continual sending in of fresh Supplies to weary his Enemies whom he saw he could not by force overcome Wherein he was not deceived for one Battalion of the Hungarians was oftentimes enforced to weary four or five of the Turks before they could be relieved they came on so fast That day they dined and supt in the battel refreshing themselves with such short repast as they could eat standing going or riding The Turks Army was that day in every place put to the worst and oftentimes with great slaughter enforced by the Hungarians to retire almost unto their Trenches yet was the battel still again renewed and so fought on both sides as well appeared they were resolved either to overcome or there to die This cruel fight maintained all the day was by the coming on of the night ended both the Armies retiring into their own Trenches but with purpose the next day to renew the battel and not to give over or turn their backs till the Victory were by dint of Sword determined So with little rest was that night spent both Armies keeping most diligent watch all carefully expecting the next day as by battel therein to try whether they should live or die It was yet scarce fair day when both the Armies in good order ready ranged began again the battel which at the first was not by the Hungarians fought with such â—orce and courage as before for there was none of them which had not the day before spent their whole strength whereas there was yet 40000 of the Turks which either had not fought at all or but lightly skirmished Yet Huniades exhorted his Souldiers not by faint-hearted cowardise to break off the course of the Victory by them the day before so well begun but couragiously to prosecute the same beseeching them not to be now wanting unto themselves and their Country but to remember how they had fought the day before how many thousands of their Enemies they had slain and not now at last to give over and so shamefully to frustrate all the pains and dangers by them before endured for that they as he said were to be thought worthy of Honour not which began but which ended honourable actions He wisht them to set before their eyes the Calamities like to ensue if they should as Cowards be overcome first the divers kinds of death and torture then the slavery of their Wives and Children the Ravishment of their Virgins and Matrons and last of all the utter destruction of their Kingdom with the horrible confusion of all things as well Sacred as Prophane all which were by that one days labour said he to be avoided And therefore he besought them for the love both of God and man with their wonted Valour that day to set at liberty for ever themselves their Country their Wives and Children and whatsoever else they held dear In like manner also did Amurath encourage his Souldiers with great Promises and Threats perswading them rather to endure any thing than by that days overthrow to be driven out of Europe He carefully viewed his Army ordered this Battels and with many great Reasons perswaded them to play the men But after that some light Skirmishes being past both the Armies were fully joyned the battel was fought with no less force and fury than the day before Of the Christians many then wounded came now again into the battel there either by speedy death or speedy victory to cure their Wounds before received and there did right good Service Great was the slaughter in every place neither could the force of the Hungarians be withstood whose furious impression when the Turks could not by plain force endure they began with their fresh Horsemen cunningly to delude their desperate fierceness at such time at the Hungarians began most hardly to charge them they by and by turned their backs suffering them a while to follow after them far scattered and dispersed who allured as it were with the hope of present Victory eagerly pursued them and in the pursuit slew divers of them and they again upon a signal given closing together and turning back upon the dispersed Troops well revenged the death of their Fellows and with their often charges and retreats wonderfully wearied the Hungarians notably deluding their furious Attempts with that uncertain kind of fight all the day long Many of
Spanish Station in the thick of the Dust and Smoke presently entred his men who by the ruines of the Wall recovered the top of the Rampiers Mustapha also at the same instant hardly charged the English so that in both places was made a hard and doubtful Fight Mustapha desiring nothing more than with better success now to redeem his forme dishonour did what he might to incourage the Souldiers calling upon them by name and putting them in remembrance of their former Victories The Rhodians on the other side mindful of their former honour with the greatness of the present danger valiantly repulsed the Enemy and forced him with shame to retire In this Assault many Englishmen were slain and Prejanes also sore hurt having before slain many of the Turks Mustapha beside the loss of his men had also two of his Ensigns taken by Christopherus Vaulderick Commendator of the German Knights Achimetes having won the top of the Walls had there set up the Turkish Ensigns but by the valiantness of the Defendants and by means of certain small Pieces of Ordnance by Martiningus aptly placed in the Houses before the new made breach and by force of Shot out of the Flankers on both sides of the Breach whereof none fell in vain he was again inforced to forsake the Walls and to retire The three and twentieth day of September the Turkish Captains hoping by means of a Mine which they had made against the Avergne Bulwark to enter and win the City approaching the Walls with great Multitudes of Souldiers ready to have entred upon the blowing up of the Mine which being met with a countermine out the City wrought not such effect as was by them expected so that having received some harm standing in a place of great disadvantage and done nothing they returned again into the Camp. Yet all the expert Captains probably conjecturing that the Wall might be inwardly shaken by the Mine though it were not by them outwardly perceived caused that part of the Wall to be most violently battered all the rest of day and night following and by the fury of their Artillery made a fair and large Breach All that night was heard in the Turks Camp an unwonted clattering of Weapons and of men running too and fro as if there had been some great matter a doing which the Rhodians conjectured as the truth was to be a sign of some great Assault to be shortly given Solyman resolving the next day with all his Force to assault the new made Breach after he had by himself in a melancholy mood walked up and down in his Tent a great part of the night sent for the chief Commanders of his Army to whom he declared his mind as followeth Your Valour and Wisdom worthy Captains needeth not any exhortation yet the desperate madness of our Enemies maketh me to speak unto you these few words Who whilst they yet do as from the beginning as men without reason desperately defend their City rent with our Artillery shaken with our Mines their Churches and Houses beaten down about their Eears wearied and worn out with Slaughter Labour and Wounds which must needs befal men so oftentimes assaulted they worthily seem unto our Souldiers men of invincible Force and Courage which opinion to have removed much concerneth the happy and wished success of our Assault Wherefore I would have you with effectual perswasion and bountiful promises to hearten on our Men to the winning of this City Beside this you shall open unto them my purpose and intent and that they should not think that they are brought hither to besiege one City but that in taking this one they shall upon the matter make a way into all the Dominions of the Christians Here be the Kinsmen Allies and Friends of all the Kings Princes and Potentates of Christendom here is all our Enemies Treasure the Spoil whereof promised unto our Souldiers may serve to great purpose to encourage them forward here is the store of Ordnance Armor and other Warlike Provision which shall both furnish us and in time to come miserably confound the rest of the Christians We shall beside this enjoy a most goodly and rich City with a Haven of all others most commodious from whence all things necessary for War may at all time as occasion shall require by Land and Sea be supplied which as they shall be to us things of great importance so shall we despoil our Enemies of far greater This is their Castle Storehouse Treasury and Armory this is the very receptacle and place of refuge for all such as trouble the Turks by Sea from hence shall we have free scope and passage into Apulia Calabria Sicilia and many other Chistian Countries But as for your selves valiant Captains when as I consider how that you have within these few months by your Valour and Wisdom subdued unto my Empire the strong City of Belgrade which my great Grandfather Mahomet that mighty Emperor could not with all his power get I rest in great hope that these fierce and obstinate Christians shall not long be able to defend themselves in these their Dens and lurking places Having ended this Speech the Captains every one unto his Company made known what the great Emperors Will and pleasure was and open Proclamation made through all the Camp wherein the spoil of that rich City was all granted unto the Souldiers as a Prey and Reward for the pains they were to take Solyman heavy with sleep and care laid himself down upon his Pallat to take his rest But the Great Master to whom the unaccustomed stir of the Enemy portended some great matter all that night in Arms painfully viewed every part of the City chearfully encouraging his Souldiers to remember That they did watch for the safety of their Country their Lives and Liberty It fortuned the same night that a poor Christian serving a Turk in the Camp calling secretly unto the Watchmen upon the Walls gave them warning that the Turks prepared the next day to give a general Assault unto the City Which thing when the Great Master understood because he would have nothing done rashly or fearfully as it commonly happeneth in things done upon the suddain called together his Knights and spake unto them as followeth I am glad sacred Companions and Fellows in Arms that the time is come when in one Battel getting unto your selves great honour and defending your Country you may be justly accounted the worthy defenders and Revengers of the Christian Commonweal and Name The people against whom we are to fight to morrow assaileth us only presuming upon their multitude But if we measure Valour not by number but by Courage and Prowess undoubtedly a few resolute men will easily overcome a multitude of Cowards You know your Enemy and the manner of his fight you are to fight most worthy Knights with them whom you have always vanquished at Sea and in just Battel sometimes overcome by Land at such time
with life but the Master of the Gallion and two Christian Captives but there perished together with the rich Spoil But the Bassaes following their former resolution departed from Cyprus and afterwards in safety arrived at Constantinople where both then and all the Winter following such preparation was in making as if Selymus had the next year purposed some far greater matter than the Conquest of Cyprus Whilst Sebastianus Venerius now the Venetian Admiral yet lay at Corcyra the rude Acroceraunian people more famous for nothing than for their Theft and want of all things by trusty Messengers promised to deliver into his power the strong Castle of Chymera kept by a Garrison of three hundred Turks if he himself with a few Gallies and a convenient number of Footmen would come into the Bay of Ambracia offering him good Hostages for the better assurance of their promise Of which their offer he gladly accepted and forthwith went to the appointed place with a Company of Horsemen three thousand Footmen and certain Gallies who were no sooner landed but that presently a thousand of those rough Mountain people came unto them with which power taking the Hill and repulsing the Turks Garrison coming to the relief of the Castle he so discouraged them that were in the Hold that the next night they let themselves down with Ropes into the Valley below but being descried were there all either taken or slain And so in a very short time was that strong Castle taken by the Admiral and a strong Garrison of Christians put into it in stead of the Turks Not long after Quirinus the Viceadmiral a Man of great Courage landed with twenty four Gallies in Peloponnesus near the Bay of Maine and there upon the suddain both by Sea and Land besieged a strong Castle which the Turks but two years before had built to trouble the Christians passing that way Which Castle he took in five hours and put to the Sword five hundred Turks which lay there in Garrison and razing it down to the ground carried away with him four and twenty great Pieces of Artillery into the Island of Zacynthus At such time as Mustapha before lay at the Siege of Famagusta Bragadinus Governor of the Town and Baleonius a most expert Captain from out of the high places of the City beholding the great Army of the Turks which covered the ground almost as far as they could see with the cunning manner of their Fortification were therewith much moved and therefore thought it good betime to give the Senate knowledge thereof and in so great a danger to crave their aid And that their request might be of more weight and have the better hearing they intreated Hieronimus Ragazonius Bishop of the City a reverend and devout Man to take upon him that charge unto whom they joyned Nicholas Donatus a noble Gentleman of Cyprus The Bishop at the first was very unwilling to go as loath in so great danger to leave his Flock but at length overcome with the entreaty of the Governor and Tears of the besieged suffered himself to be entreated and embarked in a Gally about the going down of the Sun loosing out of the Haven and hoising Sail with a fair gale of Wind passed through the Turks Fleet which then lay at Anchor before the City and by the coming on of the night and by the great way he made got him quickly out of sight After four days failing he came to Crete and so at last to Venice where as he had before unto the Admiral so there unto the Senate he declared the dangerous estate of the City the strength of the Enemy the weakness of the Defendants against so great a multitude and the want of many things needful for the holding out of the Siege and to be brief that except they sent speedy relief the City could not be kept Zanius at that time Admiral careful for the besieged caused four tall Ships to be laded with all manner of Victual and a great quantity of Gunpowder and put into them seventeen hundred select Souldiers all which he sent from Crete to the relief of them of Famagusta appointing M. Antonius Quirinus with twelve of the best Gallies in all the Fleet to conduct the same thither This Quirinus was a most valiant and expert Captain meanly descended but by service grown to be a Man both of great reputation and wealth and therefore Zanius at his departure to Venice although he knew the matter required haste yet presuming upon his wisdom and carefulness left it to his discretion when and how to perform that piece of service Quirinus not without cause doubting to set forward the Seas as then full of the Turks Gallies year 1571. staied until Winter was well spent and then setting forward the seventeenth of Ianuary kept aloof from the Ships which with a prosperous Wind came directly before Famagusta in hope that the Turks Gallies which lay in the mouth of the Haven might so be drawn farther into the Sea in hope of some good Booty he himself staying with his Gallies in place convenient out of sight Neither had the event deceived his expectation had not his fierce nature hindred the same for the Turks upon the dawning of the day descrying the Ships made hastily toward them but Quirinus not able longer to stay himself and before desirous to fight with them shewed himself too soon in the open Sea before the Enemy was come near the Ships whom as soon as the Turks had seen and that there was no hope to withstand him they staied their Oars and with all speed retired But Quirinus following faster upon them they were glad for safegard of their lives with all the power they could to run three of their Gallies aground and to run to shoar themselves which three Gallies Quirinus did with his great Ordnance beat all to pieces and sore gauled the other four The Haven thus cleered he returned again unto the Ships and brought them with the supply in safety to Famagusta upon whose arrival was great rejoycing both amongst the Garrison Souldiers and the Citisens for the Turks thought nothing less than that the Christian Gallies durst at that time of the year have put into those dangerous Seas which Quirinus well knowing came forth again with his Gallies and roaming up and down at his pleasure took two of the Enemies Ships richly laded coming to the Camp with which Booty he enriched his Souldiers and further incited by occasion landed his Men in divers places alongst the Sea Coast in Pamphilia and there did great harm So having filed the Country with the terror and fame of his Name he returned again to Famagusta where he notably encouraged the Garrison Souldiers perswading them to remember their wonted Valour and filling them with hope that the Christian Fleet would be with them in the beginning of the next Summer to deliver them from their Enemies and to raise the Siege So having in twenty
had the worse success the year before was so much the more careful to beware how he endangered himself within the reach of the Galeasses The Christians desired nothing more than to fight and to come to handy Blows but the Turk who thought it sufficient for the present not to be overcome sometime made away as fast as he could and by and by stayed again if happily he might have taken the Gallies separated from the Galeasses never seeming willing to adventure further than reason and discretion would The Enemy seeing the Christian Fleet coming still on and ready to give Battel first seemed as if he would have done the like but afterwards turned his Course upon the right hand and kept aloof alongst the Coast of Malea At which time the Christians although they were very desirous to have followed them yet the Turks with their nimble Fleet were quickly too far gon for the Christian Fleet to overtake them especially with their heavy Ships That day almost spent as it were in the chase of the Enemy towards the going down of the Sun the Enemy put into the current of the Sea betwixt Cerigo and the Harts Island in bredth about ten miles and there dividing their Fleet into three parts lay in good order as expecting the coming of the Christians with the Prows of their Gallies turned as if upon the confidence of the place which they had filled overthwart they had purposed nothing more than to fight Yet both Fleets seemed resolved the one not to fight without the Galeasses and the other not to come near those hot Ships from whom they had but the year before received so great harm And although the Enemy as was afterwards known purposed nothing less than to fight but upon great advantage yet fearing by open flight to dishonour his Lord and Master and by granting as it were of Victory to encrease the Fame of the Christians the crafty Pyrat made a great shew of that he least indeed purposed For pretending a great desire to fight he indeed deluded the Christians hope who although the Wind had failed them yet in hope the Enemy would abide them Battel with much labour and rowing came so near him that the great Shot began to flie too and fro on both sides but when the matter should have come to have been tried by dint of Sword then it plainly appeared what the Enemy had indeed purposed for still keeping the Prows of his Gallies upon the Christians he by little and little shrunk back and beside that the shadow of the night began then to approach he caused all his great Ordnance charged only with Powder to be shot off and so in the thick of the smoke retired unseen colouring his subtil departure also by certain Lights left in their Cock-Boats making shew as if the whole Fleet had still there stayed By this means the Turks with great celerity escaped being also holpen in this that the Christians hindred by the heaviness of the Galeasses could not but fair and softly pursue them for these Galeasses as they are Vessels of great service so are they also heavy and unweldy and not fit for chase The departure of the Enemy at length known the Christians also unwilling to fight by night returned to Cerigo Two days after the Turks stayed in the Bay of Tenarus now called Metapan and the Christians at Cerigo contented in that that the Enemy was the cause that the Battel was not fought and reckoning his weary and covert declining of Battel as a secret confession of the Victory The third day after the Christians desirous of nothing more than to joyn in Battel with the Enemy in their former order set forward from Cerigo and sailing all the night were in the break of the day descried from Land by the Turks whereupon Uluzales by shooting off of certain warning Pieces commanded all his Men to go aboord and to put themselves readiness for Battel And now the Christians were not far off when as the Turks lest declining of Battel might reprove them of fear came out of the Haven with their Fleet divided into three Battels whereof the left Wing was extended a great way into the Sea the right Wing still keeping near unto the Main and in the middle Battel was Uluzales himself who came all on faster than the Tide drave them staying their Course oft times of purpose to have drawn the Gallies of the Christians from the Galeasses and Ships Uluzales seeing his Fleet thus in order and fearing nothing more than the Galeasses commanded both the Wings of his Fleet having in each of them fourscore Gallies to fetch a great compass about the one on the right hand and the other on the left aloof off from the Galeasses and so to assail the Wings of the Christians on the sides or behind in hope so to have disordered their Battel and without danger to have drawn the Gallies from the Galeasses and the other heavy Ships Which their intent the Christians perceiving in their Wings turned about their Gallies also in manner of the new Moon their main Battel still facing the middle Battel of the Turks The Wings of the Turks Fleet thus far separated from the middle Battel seemed to present unto the Christians a great advantage which Fuscarinus intentive to all the offers of good Fortune quickly perceiving and calling unto Columnius and Lilly and shewing them the Enemies main Battel at hand and the Wings gone a great way off requested and perswaded them That not staying for the heavy Ships and Galeasses they would with him upon the suddain assail the Enemies middle Battel now destitute of the Wings not doubting but so to overthrow the Enemies greatest strength there before the Wings could now they were so far gon joyn themselves to the Battel again What could as he said have hapned more wishedly than to have their Battel divided So that they might at more advantage fight against every part thereof now separated than against all three parts at once If they had thought themselves not only equal but too strong for the whole Enemies Fleet united should they not the better overcome them apart and dispersed The opportunity as he said was but short and therefore to be forthwith resolved upon If they would take the present occasion of Victory then offered and as resolute Men charge their Enemies little fearing any such thing they should by their celerity and valour teach the Turks what the Christian discipline of War and power was able to do but if they would therein use delay they should ere long in vain wish for the like occasion they had let slip when as their Battel was again strengthned with the Wings This the Admirals Speech was of most that heard it joyfully received and his Counsel well liked and that with such a general chearfulness of the Souldiers as shewed in them no want of courage to have given the Enemy present Battel But Columnius and
and so leaving the Ships and Galeasses at Zacynthus went with the rest of the Fleet to Cephalenia whether Don Iohn was not yet come but had sent word thither That if they had any desire to joyn their Forces with his they should yet come further back unto him in Corcyra This Message which they had rather feared than expected much troubled the Venetians who readier to suspect every mischief than to hope for any good began to fret and complain That the Spaniards could very well tell the Venetians what they had to do and forget in the mean time what was on their own part to be performed A hard thing it was to say and yet to be said that now they had more to do with those their dallying Friends and Cofederates than with their Enemies for with their Enemies they were to fight but in time of Battel but with them they were to wrestle at all times and in all places They were by them as thâ—y said drawn from the fight of their Enemies when as they might have been overthrown not to the intent that with their united Forces they might more safely â—ight against them or under the conduct of Don Iohn gain the Victory but rather lest any thing should have been done which might be to the honour or profit of the Venetians and that time which was to have been bestowed in the managing of the War spent in lingring and delaying and vain going forward and backward to no purpose One only way there was as they said to have dispatched with the Turk which was by overcoming him in another notable Battel and so to have utterly broken his strength at Sea which Course the Confederates made no less difficult by their backwardness and delays than the Enemy by declining of Battel That they had long ago by many secret signs probably conjectured that the Spaniards had more care to hinder and cross other Mens doings than to do any thing of themselves That their endeavours were to frustrate those great hopes which promised unto the Christian Common-weal the greatest Felicity and Happiness together with immortal Glory and That the Turks of late discouraged with the fortunate proceedings of the Christians might again rejoyce at their mishaps The Venetians notwithstanding all these their murmuring Speeches loath to fall off from the Spaniard kept still on with the rest until they came to Don Iohn at Corcyra who then lay with 53 Gallies and 18 Ships at Spâ—lca in the uttermost end of the Island At their first meeting Don Iohn shewed himself not a little offended that they had not with more duty before attended his coming and they again not a little complained of his long stay with many other their grievances which were tedious here to rehearse The Fleet now all with much ado at length met together which consisted of two hundred Gallies nine Galeasses and thirty six tall Ships It was by general consent agreed That they should again set forward toward the Enemy They were not yet under Sail when two of their Espials brought them news that the Enemies Fleet weakly furnished both of Mariners and Souldiers was come to Navarinum which filled them all with good hope that the Turks Fleet so evil provided might in that place upon the suddain be easily oppressed and the rather if they came upon them unexpected Wherefore because they would not be descried they kept not their Course on right forth but sailing by night kept aloof upon the right hand and having passed Zacynthus came with great silence unto the Strophades where they lay at Anchor all that day In the evening they loosed thence so casting their Course that the more to terrifie the Enemy they might before day fall upon him and be seen in the mouth of the Haven where he lay before there could be any report made of their coming thither But this Course so well set the time was so evil cast that it was fair day long before they could come to the appointed place when the Turks out of their watch Towers discovered a far off the coming of the Christian Fleet gave warning thereof unto their Fellows whereupon an Alarm was presently raised in the Town and all Men in Arms ran headlong to the Walls and to the Haven But the Turks out of hope with their evil rigged Fleet to be able to withstand the Christians and not daring to trust to that weak Habor and all now in a great hurly burly ran confuseded hand over head Souldiers and Mariners aboord and whilst they had yet time got them in hast out of that Habor and as Men chased by their Enemies got them into safe Harbor at Modon a strong Town of Peloponnesus about six miles off Columnius was sent before the rest of the Fleet to have pursued them but they were got so far before him that they had recovered the Harbor before he could overtake any of them The Christian Fleet coming before the Harbor and leaving a space as it were of purpose for the Enemy to come out into there lay in the face of the Town daring the Turks Battel But when they had so lien almost all that day and no Man durst come out and now towards the evening certain signs of Tempest appeared the Christians fearing to be by force of Weather driven on ground put farther off again to Sea. Then at length Uluzales sent out certain light Gallies to follow in the tail of the Fleet when the Confederates suddainly staying their Course and turning their Prows upon them drave them headlong again into the Harbor and afterwards retired themselves with the whole Fleet into the Islands Oenusae now called Sapientia right opposit against Modon The next day wanting fresh Water they removed unto the Bay of Messina there to water in the mouth of the River Pamisus which there falleth into the Sea where in passing by Corone they were oftentimes shot at out of the Town and landing their Men to water were encountred by certain Troops of Horsemen sent for that purpose by Uluzales There was Water dearly bought with the Lives of many there slain on both sides in the end the Christians prevailing watered and so again returned unto the Oenusae from whence they came Methoâ—e or Modon for it is by both Names known standeth almost in an Island stretching far into the Sea where towards the West runneth out a long point of the Land a great way into the Sea in the uttermost part thereof standeth a great round Tower. The Town it self is on the one side enclosed with the Sea and toward the Land so strongly fortified as that it seemeth almost impregnable Towards the South cometh in a fair Bay about three miles wide safe from all Winds except the Northerly Wind only and shut up by a little Island in the mouth of the Bay maketh a safe and quiet Harbor with two entrances thereinto on either side of the Island Within this Bay lay the Turks Fleet
the Army could not then get over In this Passage being with great Tumult and Disorder attempted it came to pass that about 8000 Persons carried away with the violence of the River were miserably drowned with the great outcry of all the Host. The like hapned also to many Mules Camels and Sumpter Horses upon whose Backs divers Persons being mounted in hope to have passed dry over the River were likewise headlong overwhelmed therein With great Complaints and blasphemous Cursings was the whole Night spent by them that were yet on this side the River whose fears were not a little increased by the Example of their unfortunate Fellows before drowned And like enough it was some pestilent Sedition to have ensued thereupon had there not a shallow Foord by great chance been discovered which gave safe Passage to those that were left for in the Passage which the People made that followed Mustapha the Gravel of the bottom of the River being raised and removed by the heavy Hoofs of the Cattel was driven down the River to a place where by great good hap there was also a Foord and there gathered together in a heap had in such sort raised the depth of the Channel that it made as it were a shelf for their commodious Passage so that the remnant of the Army Carriages and Artillery passing over the same there was not so much as one man that perished So having with much difficulty as last got over the River of Canac they rested themselves that day and the next and there stayed untill the whole Army was mustered and again put in Order Removing thence the day following they encamped in certain barren Champains where was neither Corn nor Cattel neither could they perceive or learn that in those quarters were any Villages at all By means whereof the hunger of their Beasts increasing they were inforced to give their Horses and Mules Leaves and Stalks of very dry and withered Reeds and such other like things of little or no sustenance at all and the men themselves were fain to satisfie their hunger with those uttermost reliques which they were fain to pick out of such poor Victuals as now by Corruption were become loathsome to mans Nature and that which worse was they saw no end of their Miseries they were so entred into Notwithstanding there was now no looking back but needs on they must and follow the fortune of their Leaders among whom Mustapha before all the rest set forward on his determined Journey He had not long marched but there was discovered good store of sundry Pâ—â—nts and shortly after a very large plain Country all green and flourishing and garnished with many Trees by the only sight whereof every man was refreshed with the hope of Relief and with more than ordinary paces hasted untill they were entred into those Champains abounding with all kind of Corn and Fruits that could be of an hungry man desired In this place did every man satisfie his Appetite and forgot in part the sore-passed Calamities Through this fruitful and pleasant Country Mustapha leading his Army at last arrived at Ere 's the chief City in that Coast of Siruan as you travel from Georgia This City of Ere 's was forsaken of a number of her Inhabitants as soon as it was known that the Turks were come to Canac who all followed their Governour Samir Chan who with Ares Chan Governour of Sumachia and other the Governours of Sechi and other Places of Siruan forsook the Cities and all together withdrew themselves into the Mountains as places of more surety attending the event of these so great Motions so that as the Turks entred the City undisturbed so were they with the prey they found therein nothing inriched for that in this common danger every man had carried away with him the best things he had Here stayed Mustapha two and twenty days during which time he erected a Fortress in the said City whereupon he placed two hundred small pieces of Artillery and for the keeping thereof appointed Caitas Bassa with a Garrison of five thousand Souldiers In the mean time also he commanded Osman Bassa one of the voluntary Captains with ten thousand men to possess Sumachia sometime the metropolitical City of that Province with the Title of Visier and Governour-general of Siruan Giving him further in charge that in any case he should clear the passage to Derbent and give present Advertisements to the Tartarians of his arrival there whom he supposed by that time to be come into those quarters for that they had before so faithfully promised to Amurath Osman comming to Sumachia presently seised upon the City and was friendly entertained of those that remained there whom he likewise courteously intreated without doing or suffering any outrage to be done upon them Of which his courteous usage they of Derbent understanding sent presently to offer their City unto him beseeching him to receive them into his Protection and to defend them from the Persians under whom although they had long lived in subjection yet differed they from them in the Ceremonies of their Mahometan Superstition wherein they better agreed with the Turks Mustapha having thus brought the Country of Siruan into the Turkish subjection and finished his Fortress at Ere 's and put all things in such order as he thought best importuned by the Ianizaries and the People of Grecia and somewhat inforced by the season of the year which was now far spent departed from Ere 's and turned his course homeward toward the Country of Alexander sirnamed the Great as he had promised in his late passage into Siruan And having travelled a long Journey he sent before him certain Engines and Pioneers to make a Bridge over Canac so without danger to pass over his Army Having passed the River he gave notice to Sahamal one of the Lords of Georgia of his arrival who presently came and yielded himself as Vassal to the Turks and being entertained of the Bassa with great Pomp and rewarded after the Turkish manner took his leave and so returned into his Mountain of Brus. Mustapha setting again forward and travelling by Night because he would not lose the oportunity of the fair weather by the errour of his Guides lost his way and so fell into rough and difficult Passages whereby he was inforced to stay and wait for day light which arising did manifest unto them that they were now entred into the Countries of his Friend Alexander and therefore he gave forthwith Proclamation throuâ—â— all the Army That no man upon pain of Death should be so hardy as to molest or disquiet any of the Subjects of Alexander but to have good respect unto them and to intreat them with all Courtesie The day following he still travelled on in the same Country when there arrived from Zaghen certain Ambassadours of Alexanders with great abundance of Cattel Corn Fruits and other relief sent for a Present to the General with a solemn excuse that
of a Country Shortly after 600 Garrison Souldiers or Lippa seeking after Booty and adventuring too far into the Enemies Territory were discovered by the Turks Scouts and so beset by the Turks and Tartars billeted in the Country about Temesware that there was no way left for them to escape Which they well perceiving resolved among themselves as became valiant men to fight it out even unto the last man and with no less Resolution performed what they had before determined for being on every side beset and hardly charged by their Enemies they as men before resolved to die altho scarce one to twenty fought most desperately seeking for nothing else but to sell their Lives as dear as they could unto their Enemies and so fighting were all slain except some few which by great fortune escaped leaving unto the Enemy a right bloody Victory Yet by this loss of so great a Party was the Garrison of Lippa greatly weakned which the Enemy knew right well and thereupon began forthwith to prepare to besiege the Town Which Barbelus the Governour a most valiant man wisely foreseeing sent in Post unto the Transilvanian Prince to request him with all speed to send him four or five thousand good Souldiers with which Power he doubted not by the Help of God to be able to defend the Town against all the Forces the Enemy was at that time able to bring against it Unto whom the Prince without delay sent 8000 who all in safety in good time arrived at Lippa for shortly after their arrival 40000 of the Turks and Tartars came and sat down before the Town inclosing it on every side and so lay for certain days without any thing doing worth the speaking of they of the Town in the mean time doing them all the harm they could with their great shot which they sent amongst them not sparingly But they had not so long lain but that News was brought into the Camp That the Transilvanian Prince was with a great Power coming thither to relieve the Town whereupon they presently rise and retired to the place where they had before encamped about two miles from Lippa where certainly understanding that the Prince neither was neither could in short time be in such readiness as was before reported they forthwith returned and more straightly besieged the Town than before They had now brought with them seventeen pieces of battery eight Waggons laded with Shot and Powder and forty six others laded with scaling Ladders and other warlike Provision thus appointed they began to batter the Town and afterwards gave thereunto divers desperate assaults which the Christians valiantly received and still with great slaughter repulsed their Enemies For that strong Town was with Towers and Bulwarks flanking one another so fortified that out of them the Christians with their murthering pieces made great spoil of their Enemies and still enforced them with loss to retire no bullet almost flying in vain In the heat of one of these assaults the Governour caused one of the Gates of the Town to be set open having before within the Town placed sixteen great pieces at the very entrance of the same gate charged with all kind of murthering Shot Unto which Gate as of mere Desperation set open by the Defendants the Turks and Tartars desirous of revenge came thronging as thick as might be thinking to have thereby entred when suddenly and as it were in the turning of an hand they were with the aforesaid murthering pieces cut down as with a Sithe and so again and the third and fourth time before they could clear themselves of the danger thereof their Heads Arms and Legs and other rent Limbs flying in the Air most miserably to behold Nevertheless the siege was by them continued and the often assaults so resolutely maintained as if they had thereupon purposed to have engaged all their Lives But this so obstinate a Resolution was by an unexpected accident when they least thought converted into such a desperate fear and astonishment that they upon the sudden no man forcing them forsook their Trenches wherein they lay encamped and leaving behind them their Tents their great Ordnance and whatsoever else they had they betook themselves to a most disordered flight The Transilvanian who by chance were even then coming thither pursuing them slew divers of them and took some others of them Prisoners At this Siege the Bassa of Temeswar himself was mortally wounded and Hamat Sanzack of Giula with divers others of good place slain and 4000 of the common Souldiers The cause of the Turks so great and sudden fear was this Whilst the Bassa of Temeswar lay at the Siege of Lippa as is aforesaid they that were left in the City fearing no harm lived in great Security in the mean time the Governour of Lugaz sent out six thousand Souldiers towards Temeswar now in the absence of the Bassa to seek after Booty who coming to Temeswar with great speed rifled the Suburbs of the City slew all the Turks they could light upon and set at Liberty a thousand Captives and so having trussed up their Booty set on fire all the Suburbs and departed Which fire grew so great and so terrible that it was plainly seen into the Camp at Lippa making a shew as if the whole City had been on a light Fire which so daunted the Hearts of the Turks at the Siege that they presently fled as is before said leaving all that they had behind them The Transilvanian all this while busied in raising of his Army and providing of things necessary for the maintenance of his Wars was come into the Confines of Hungary towards Temeswar even as the Turks fled from Lippa At which time certain Hungarian Heidons that served him getting over Danubius not far from Nicopolis took Plenia a little Town of the Turks which they ransacked and burnt and having slain in the Country thereabout above three thousand of the Turks returned with a rich Prey unto the Prince Not long before the Christians had surprised Clissa a strong frontier Town of the Turks in Dalmatia not far from Spalato which Town the Bassa of Bosna sought now again to recover and thereto layd hard siege For the relief whereof Leucowitz Governour of Stiria and the other Provinces thereabouts belonging to the House of Austria and the Governour of Zeng with a Fleet of two and forty Ships wherein they had embarked 4000 Souldiers well appointed with all things necessary set forward toward Clissa and by the way lighting upon a Galley of the Venetians bound with certain warlike Provision towards the Turks Camp took her as good Prize and rifled her This Fleet with a fair Wind arrived at Siret near unto Trau where the Governour landing his men marched that Night part of his way toward Clissa and all the next day lay close The Night following they set forward again and having marched fifteen miles came unto the Enemies Camp before day where setting upon the
project yet the fury once on foot they proceeded by insensible steps to the uttermost of outrage against many Innocents in that Business though otherwise obnoxious and against the Throne and Life of their own Emperour Vbi furor ingruat innocentes ac noxios juxta cadêere where Rage and Fury hath got the upper hand there the innocent and nocent fare alike Secondly in the degrees that yet the King had not fallen thus low if first he had not lost that awe and reverence which alway attendeth upon Majesty if it be kept up by unseemly Offices done by him in the Streets and Taverns apprehending many Souldiers for petty faults like a Constable making his Person common cheap and despised among them which was wont only to be seen and feared as somewhat above humane greatness And this he did also in hatred and disdain of those that had in the War forsaken him And now in this last act if his own obstinacy had not plunged him into Destruction but that he had softned them by a seasonable yielding to time he had prevailed only by time Thirdly in the order that these Mutineers having no Head or Direction kept that relegement that they took Oath in their Fury in hot Blood in the Kings yard not to dishonour spoil nor sack the Imperial Throne neither committed nor suffered any insolency or violence in the City to the Neutrals but rather proclaimed Peace and Justice Fourthly in the Consequents that at the third days end all was quiet and all Men in their Trade as if no such thing had hapned only the Janizaries suffered no Divan nor Council until they had received a donative as Guerdon of their Iniquity In which also the infinite waste of Treasure is worthy the Consideration which was exceedingly exhausted by three changes in four years and by the late Wars in Persia and Poland for every Janizary in the City absent or present whose roll was about forty thousand received twenty five Chequines of Gold besides the Spahies Jamoglans and other Orders at every alteration which amounts in all near to two Millions And now those Fellows that had tasted the sweet of prosperous Mutinies haud ignari summa scaelera incipi cum periculo peragi eum praemio took such a Head as could not safely be suffered on nor securely be taken off Fifthly of certain Presages that fore-ran for Osman dreamed in the Night That he thought he rid a Camel and being mounted he could not force him to go by fair means nor stripes and that then he descending in a Rage the Body of the Beast vanished and left the Bridle and Head in the Kings Hand Who next day troubled at this Fancy sent to a learned Man familiar with him for the Interpretation He excused himself as unfit to give Opinion in a matter of that Consequence but perswaded Osman to enquire of the Mufti He also craved pardon but withal said there was none so fit to interpret it as Mustapha the Kings Uncle who was esteemed a holy man that had Visions and Angel-like Speculations in plain terms between a Mad-man and a Fool. The King repaired to Mustapha who briefly told him The Camel signified his Empire his riding abuse in Government his dissention his Disposition the vanishing of the Body the revolt of his Subjects the Head remaining in his Hand only a bare Title and that he should shortly die within a few Months and lose his Kingdom but the empty Name of Emperour should accompany him to his Grave A second of less consequence in the Visier Delauir Bassa from whom his Majesties Ambassador having received particular Friendship about six days before this uprore he went to visit and having no other business but to perswade him to stay the King from his intended Pilgrimage the Ambassador gave him many Reasons in the present Estate of their own Affairs especially the Treaty of Poland yet depending To which the Bassa replied very gravely Then the Ambassador urged the fear of some Tumult collected from the licentious Speeches rumoured in the Town And he was bold to deal plainly sincerely and friendly That if any such thing should happen the fault would be imputed to the Bassa as being of authority to perswade the King whom his Quality and Youth would excuse but all the Fury would be discharged upon the greatest Minister desiring him to consider the event at least to take his Affection in the best part The old Reinard stayed a while from reply at last smiling to himself that he should be persuaded against that which was his own Counsel he gave a final answer That there was no Remedy he durst not hazard himself to oppose the Kings Resolution but assured him he would so order the matter as this Journey should not proceed so far as was expected The Ambassador concluded for himself desiring then that he would leave him a particular recommendation to the Chimacham or Deputy as his Friend To which he suddenly replied Trouble not your self nor fear I will never remove so far but that I will leave one of my Legs in this City to serve you Which the poor man fulfilled for being murthered within few days after one of his Legs whole and entire was hanged in the Hippodrome the most publick place of the City The reading of History to know what is done and past having in it no Recompence but Delight unless it look forward to Use and Action either to correct Errors or by that light to gather advantage in future it will not be an unprofitable digression to observe what was like to succeed these monstrous Alterations It was feared by contemplative men that the Souldiers in Asia who had lost their hope would not sit down with this affront but rather attempt some revenge for the Death of the King who was their Martyr or that some great Bassa far removed from Court might apprehend this occasion not to obey an Usurper set up by Treason and under that colour to hide their own Ambition or lastly that the whole State would fall into Combustion and intestine War. This they themselves foresaw and it came to pass as will appear in the Story for within few Months Abassa Bassa of Arzirum declared himself revenger of his Princes Blood and troubled and almost hazarded the whole Empire The Persian apprehended the Opportunity and recovered the Province and City of Babylon and the same Souldiers that had betrayed their Prince were never quiet until they had made some satisfaction by restoring his Brother and right Heir only it pleased not God to open the Eyes of Christian Princes to see the Inconveniency of their own uncivil Quarrels while the distractions of this mighty Empire did invite to conquer it and to divide it as a prostituted Prey On Saturday Evening the first of Iune following the Capi-aga or Major Domo of the Seraglio having received a secret order to remove the Brethren of Osman from their Lodgings and in the Night to
they will send again to you to the end that a Convoy may come from your Army to meet and receive them from the Pasha who is sent with Troops from hence That so the Respect and Safety of Ambassadors observed by all Nations as is fit and necessary may remain in it's ancient Lustre For you know how careful both sides ought to be of their safe Passage Prosperity to those who follow the true Direction Signed Osman Pasha of Aleppo Given in the Army near Nissa The Elector of Bavaria's Answer To Osman Pasha of Aleppo Greeting c. WE have received your Letter from the Camp at Nissa wherein you give us to understand That an Ambassador by name Zulficar Effendi and the first Interpreter have Orders from your Emperor to come to our Army Now althó we being inclined to Military Actions might well refuse to receive them here which none could take amiss in this present heat of Affairs or might put off their Reception until another time since We judge that their Proposals will little agree with our present Intentions Yet being moved by a Christian Compassion We do Grant that they may come to the Army And We will favourably hear what your Emperor hath Commanded them to propose unto us To which end We have Commanded that a Pasport shall be prepared for their Security and delivered to the Persons who brought your Letter We have also given Orders to the Governour of Semandria that in the manner directed him and with a sufficient number of Troops he Conduct them safe to our Army Upon which they may firmly Rely Given at our Camp before Belgrade August 23d 1688. In pursance of this Letter Orders were given to General Caraffa to go to Titul and receive the Ambassadors but in the mean time the Siege proceeded and Attacks were made with all the Fury and Vigour imaginable many Pieces of the Cannon which came from Buda being cast in hast burst one after another so that to supply their defect the Elector sent for most of the Cannon from Semandria which being raised and planted did great Execution and throwing Bombs and Carcasses from Fifteen Mortars at a time struck Terror into the Defendants and set Fire to divers parts of the Fortress Howsoever the Turks manfully applied themselves to quench the Flames and returned the Cannon-shot and Bombs with other artificial Fires made with Pitch and Sulfur upon the Besiegers in the same manner as they had practised in the defence of Buda They Sprang also one Mine which venting about eight or ten Paces backwards did no farther mischief than the killing of one Man but this being followed by a Storm of Bombs one of which falling into a Magazine where some Hundreds of Weights of Powder it blew all into the Air without other Mischief than the Death of eight Common Soldiers The Turks believing that this Blow and Springing of the last Mine had caused some disorder in the Trenches made a violent Sally with their Scemyters in their Hands into the Approaches but being strongly opposed by a Captain who Commanded a Hundred Men reinforced also by some Parties of Strasser's Regiment they were repulsed with the loss of Forty of their Men eight Imperialists only being killed The Fury of the Turks being hereby much abated Differences as is usual arose between the Commanders and the Souldiers the first seemed resolved to defend the Fortress to the last extremity and last drop of their Blood knowing that they could not long out-live any Surrender made upon Composition But the Soldiers who could save their Lives on easier Terms were desirous to be freed from the Showers of Fire which being continually poured upon them did in the Night resemble the dreadful Flames of Vesuvius or Mongibello The Elector of Bavaria being well assured in the mean time that the Conquest of that Castle would shortly be added to the Triumphs of Caesar had time with much quiet of mind and without any distraction to give a Magnificent Reception to the Duke of Loraine who being now in some measure recovered from his late Sickness could not absent himself from Martial Exercises at least from being a Spectator or bearing some share in this Heroick Enterprize News being come that the Duke of Loraine having left his Royal Consort the Queen at Buda was not far distant the Elector accompanied with the Duke of Mantoua and several of the General Officers went to him at the Foot of the Bridge which was made over the Save and there received him with the joyful Salutation of all the Cannon which were planted in the Lines of Circumvallation and by the Soldiery drawn up in several Battalions and having walked over all the Lines and observed the disposition of the Siege all which being well approved he was conducted to the Bavarian Tents where he was sumptuously treated by the Elector After which whilst these Noble Generals were viewing the approaches the Turks sprang a second Mine under the main Battery not far from the persons of these great Commanders who being reserved by the Providence of God to reap more Laurels remained untouched amidst that danger Howsoever the Turks thinking thereby to have gained some great advantage made a brisk Sally with Colours flying and Drums beating drawn up in posture of Battel The Swedes and Franconians having then that place allotted them to Guard gave way upon the first attack of the Enemy and abandoned their Post leaving their Officers to the mercy of the Enemy who were miserably slaughtered by them After which the Turks advancing to the Left were so warmly received that they were repulsed with the loss of many of their Soldiers Soon after which these Illustrious Dukes entred the approaches from whence the Turks had been beaten and bestowed due Praises on those Soldiers who so bravely and valiantly had behaved themselves to the Reproach of those who cowardly retreated After which the Duke of Loraine retired to the Quarters of his own Regiment of Horse than which he had at that time no other Command in the Army the whole conduct and General direction being entirely in the power of the Elector of Bavaria The Breaches being now made some wider than others the 5th of September was appointed for a day of a General Assault which being come the whole Army remained in a readiness to make the on-set and execute the last Orders of their Generals when unexpectedly a Bomb from the Enemies Works fell amongst certain Barrels of Powder which blowing up over-turned the Works which belonged to Mines then preparing and burned in a furious manner all things near it killing divers Soldiers and amongst the rest was Count Guido of Staremberg and Count Berzetti Chief Director of the Mines This Fire was followed by such a terrible Rain which continued all that day and part of the Night following that it was impossible to execute the intended Attack but afterwards the Weather clearing up the Mines were repaired
their heads and their Archers on every side lustily bestowing their shot among the thickest of their Enemies by plain force drove them out of the Straits they had before possessed and caused them to retire farther off into the Mountains and so having made themselves way with little or no loss passed those dangerous Straits until that at length having recovered the top of a Hill very commodious for their purpose as the case stood they there stayed and presently encamped themselves And haply with like good fortune might the rest of the Army have passed also had they in like order and with like courage presently followed after but failing so to do and troubled with the multitude of their Carriages which could not possibly make any way through those strait and rough passages but troubled themselves one with another as also the whole Army they were from the upper ground miserably overwhelmed with the multitude of the Turkish Archers whose Arrows fell as thick upon them from the Mountains as if it had been a perpetual Tempest or shower of Hail to the great disordering and dismaying of the whole Army which the Turks quickly perceiving and therewith encouraged in great numbers came down from the Mountains where they had before hovered over the heads of the Christians and forcibly entring the plain ground and coming to handy blows first overthrew the right Wing where Baldwin himself seeking to restore his disordered Companies and to stay the fury of the Enemy now raging in the blood of the Christians with a Troop of valiant Horsemen breaking into the thickest of them as became a worthy Captain was there compassed in with the multitude of his Enemies and slain together with all his Followers and the greatest part of the whole Wing by him commanded With this Victory the Turks were so encouraged that coming down with all their Power they stopped all the ways whereby the Christians were to pass who as men couped up in those dangerous straits were not able either to defend themselves or to heâ—â— one another but inclosed as Deer in a toyl and one troubling another were the cause both of the destruction of themselves and others For by reason of the straitness of the place neither could they that were before retire neither they that were behind in the rereward come forward to relieve the one the other as need required the Carriages also which were many and in the midst of the Army serving them to no other purpose than to the hurt of themselves There were the Beasts that served for burden together with the Souldiers overwhelmed with the Turks shot the Vallies lay full of dead Bodies the Rivers ran mingled with the blood of Men and Beasts in such terrible manner as is not by Pen to be expressed For the Christians not able either to go forward or retire were there in those straits slain like sheep if any courage or spark of valour were by any shewed against the Enemy fighting at so great advantage it was but lost serving to little or no purpose And to increase their miseries the Turks in scorn shewed upon the point of a Lance the head of Andronicus Bataza the Emperors Nephew who coming with an Army out of Paphlagonia and Heraclea Pontica against the Turks of Amasia was now by the way by them overthrown and slain The report whereof confirmed by the sight of his head and the consideration of the desperate danger wherein the whole Army presently stood so troubled the Emperor that he was at his wits end and with dry tears if it may be so said dissembling his inward grief as one out of comfort stood doubtful which way to turn himself For the Turks having suffered the Vantguard to pass with all their Power charged the Emperors main battel as his chief strength nothing doubting but that having once overthrown it they should easily and at pleasure overthrow the rest Oftentimes had the Emperor attempted to have driven the Enemy out of those straits and so to have opened a way for his Army to have passed but all in vain the Power of the Turks still increasing and they at great advantage notably maintaining the passages before by them taken Nevertheless seeing no less danger in staying still than in going forward he with a few of his best Souldiers armed with despair and resolved to die unto which kind of men nothing is terrible set forward directly upon his Enemies willing the rest with like resolution every man to make for himself the best shift he could And so with many wounds and sturdy blows both given anâ— received he by plain force and might of Hand brake through the thickest of his Enemies and so escaped out of those straits as out of a trap but yet not without many wounds received in his Person and himself so wearied as that he was not able to lift up his Helmet being beaten close to his head and in his Target were found sticking thirty of the Turks Arrows or thereabouts the manifest tokens of his danger The other Legions seeking to follow the Emperor for other way they had none were on every side hardly assailed by the Turks and infinite numbers of them slain beside many others that perished in those straits overborn and trodden to death by their own Fellows Yea such as had the fortune to escape out of one of these perilous straits were forthwith slain in the next for this so dangerous a passage through the Mountains was divided as is aforesaid into seven Vallies which giving fair and broad entrances the farther a man went grew still straiter and straiter all which straits the Turks had before strongly possessed At which time also the more to increase the terror of the day the light sand raised with the feet of the Men and Horses was with the violence of a most tempestuous Wind which then blew carried so forcibly and thick that both the Armies grapling together as if it had been in the darkness of the night killed whomsoever they met withall without respect of Friend or Foe by which errour many were even of their own Friends slain In every place lay great heaps of Turks slain together with the Christians and with them great number of Horses and other Beasts for carriage so that those Vallies where this bloody Conflict was seemed to be nothing else but a large burying-place of the Turks and Christians with their Horses but the greater number was of the Christians that perished and they not altogether of the common sort but even of the bravest Captains and the Emperors nearest Kinsmen The violence of the Wind ceasing and the day clearing up there was of all others to be seen a most woful Spectacle men yet alive some wounded some whole covered some to the middle some to the neck with dead Carkasses in such sort as that they were not able with any strugling to get out who with their hands cast up towards Heaven with ruthful
thing and had before born some Sway. The Souldiers whose help he had used in aspiring to the Government he rewarded with great bounty all their Offices and Preferments he bestowed either upon his own Children or other his great Favorites divers of the Nobility of whom he liked not were by him in short time driven into exile some were by him deprived of their sight and some others cast into prison not knowing any cause why more than that they were by him secretly condemned for that they were of the Nobility or had done some good Service for the State or exiled for their Personage or some other thing that grieved Andronicus or else for the spark of some old displeasure which yet lay hid as fire raked up in the ashes So that the State of that time began to grow most miserable and the treachery even of men nearest in blood seeking the destruction one of another for to serve their own turns or to gratifie Andronicus most horrible not only one Brother betray'd another but even the Father his Son and the Son his Father if Andronicus would have it so Some accused their nearest Kinsmen that they derided Andronicus his proceedings or that without regard of him they more favoured Alexius the young Emperor then a great offence Yea such was the mischief of the time that many in accusing others were themselves accused and charging others of Treason against Andronicus were themselves charged by them whom they accused and so clapt up both together in one prison Neither were they of the Nobility only which were Enemies to Andronicus thus hardly dealt withall but even some of his great Favorites and Followers also for some whom but yesterday he had used most kindly and enrolled among his best Friends upon them to day he frowned and tyrannized most cruelly so that you might have seen the same man the same to day as it is reported of Xerxes his Admiral to be crowned and beheaded to be graced and disgraced insomuch that the wiser sort deemed Andronicus his praisings the beginning of a mans disgrace his bounty his undoing and his kindness his death The first that tasted of his Tyranny was Mary the Daughter of Emanuel the Emperor who for the hate she bare to Alexius the late President and the Empress her Mother in law had as is aforesaid above all other wisht for his coming but was now by one Pterigionites sometime an Eunuch of her Fathers corrupted by Andronicus having in his aspiring mind purposed the utter destruction of all Emanuels Posterity cunningly poysoned as was her Husband Caesar who lived not long after her poysoned also as was supposed with the same Cup that his Wife was Now among others of the late Emperors House none had ever stood more in his light than had the fair Empress Xene the young Emperors Mother whom now he ceased not most bitterly though wrongfully to accuse as an utter Enemy both to the Emperor and the State making as if he would leave all and again depart if she were not removed from the Emperor her Son and by his cunning so incensed the giddy headed vulgar people against her that they came flocking to Theodâ—sius the good Patriarch ready to tear him out of his Cloaths if he consented not to the removing of the Empress as Andronicus had desired So a Council being called of such his Favorites and others as were not like indifferently to hear her Cause but assuredly to condemn her the Guiltless Empress after many things falsly laid to her Charge was accused of Treason as that she should by her Letters have solicited Bela King of Hungary her Brother in law to invade Brantizoba and Belligrade two strong places belonging to the Empire Whereupon she was condemned and shamefully cast into a most filthy Prison near unto the Monastery of St. Diomede Amongst other Noblemen called unto this wicked Council were Leo Monasteriotes Demetrius Tornicius and Constantius Petrenus who not yet altogether devoted to Andronicus being asked their Opinions concerning the Empress said They would be glad first to know Whether that Council against his Mother were called by the Emperors consent or not With which Speech Andronicus pierced to the heart as with a Sword in great rage started up and said These are they which encouraged the wicked President to all his Villanies lay hands upon them Whereupon they of his Guard in threatning manner shook their Weapons and Swords at them as if they would even presently have slain them and the tumultuouâ— common people catching them by their Cloaks as they came out pulling them some one way some another were so fierce upon them as that they had much ado to escape out of their hands with life Now lay the fair Empress but the other day one of the greatest Princes of the East and honoured of all her Subjects in great misery and despair scorned even of her base Keepers every hour expecting the deadly blow of the Hangman Yet was not the cruelty of Andronicus against her any thing asswaged but grieving that she yet breathed shortly after assembled the former Council the Ministers of his Wrath demanding of them What punishment was by Law appointed for such as betrayed any Town or Province of the Empire whereunto answer being given in Writing That it was by the Law death he could no longer hold but that he must in great choler break out against the poor Empress as if it had been she that had done it and thereupon the wicked Counsellors crying out with one voice That she was to be taken out of the way as they had before agreed by and by without longer stay a damned Writing was subscribed by the young Emperor her Son as if it had been with the blood of his own Mother whereby she was I abhor to write it most unworthily condemned to die The men appointed to see this most horrible and cruel Execution done were Manuel Andronicus his eldest Son and Georgius Augustus his near Kinsman who both dismaid at the very mentioning of the matter not regarding the Emperors Command said plainly that they never before consented to the death of the Empress but had clean hands of so hainous an offence and therefore would now much less see her innocent Body dismembred in their sight At which unexpected answer Andronicus much troubled with his Fingers oftentimes pluckt himself by the hoary Beard and with burning eyes casting sometime up his head and sometime down sighed at his own most miserable tyrannical estate freting inwardly that they which were nearest unto him whom he thought he might even with a beck have commanded to have done any mischief abhorring his cruelty should refuse to do the thing he so much desired to have done yet repressing his anger for a while within a few days after he again commanded her to be strangled which was accordingly done by Constantinus Tripsicus and Pterigionites the ungracious Eunuch by whose help he
rested upon the coming of the two mighty Princes Philip the Second of that name King of France and Richard the First King of England who having agreed betwixt themselves with their combined Forces to relieve the distressed Christians of the East and again if it were possible to repair the broken State of the Kingdom of Ierusalem were now met together at Marseilles in Provence From whence the French King first departing with his Fleet for Cicilia and with a prosperous gale for certain days holding on his course and now come nigh unto the Island was by force of a furious tempest suddenly arising so tossed and tumbled in the deep that many of his Ships there perished eaten up of the Sea others by force of Weather driven upon the Sands and Rocks were there broken all to pieces and the rest some with their Masts broken some with their Tacklings and Sails rent and all in general sore Weather-beaten with much ado arrived at Messana the desired Port. At which place King Richard afterwards but with better fortune arrived with his Fleet also Both the Kings now met together resolved there to winter the French King enforced by necessity so to do for the repairing of the late Losses he had received as well in his People and Provision as in his Shipping all which was to be relieved by new Supplies out of France and the King of England staying to take Order for the Dowry of his Sister Ioan Widow of William the late King of Cicilia with Tancred the base Son of Roger that had now aspired unto the Kingdom of that Island About which matter great Stirs arose betwixt King Richard the Queens Brother and Tancred the new King insomuch that it was like to have broken out into open War had it not to the good contentment of King Richard been otherwise taken up and so the Controversie ended But whilst these two great Kings thus wintred in this fruitful Island and oftentimes as good Friends met together sometime for their disport and sometime to confer of their so weighty Affairs the way as was thought to have appeased all former displeasure and to have increased love it fell out clean contrary jealousie and distrust not only reviving the old but also still raising new Quarrels betwixt them to the great hindrance of the common good by them intended which may serve for a warning to all great Princes willing to continue in Amity and to hold a good Opinion one of another never to see one the other or coming so to an interview not to converse or stay long together which as it is not often done without the danger of their persons so can it not possibly be long continued but that it will engender in themselves as well as in their Followers Jealousie envy hatred and mistrust aâ— we have before said and hereafter in the coursâ— of this History may appear There was an old 〈◊〉 betwixt these two great Kings Richard â—nd Philip about Adela the French Kings Sister whom Richard having before his Father yet living affianced had now rejected as her whom his aged Father Henry the Second had too familiarly used and in stead of her to the great disgrace of the French espoused the Lady Berengaria Daughter to the King of Navar which Indignity with divers others then arising betwixt the French and the English as then with great heart-burning smouldred up in respect of the common Cause then in Hand afterwards brake out again to the shameful overthrow of this most honourable Expedition and lamentable disturbance of both Realms Winter past and the Spring now come the French King not altogether the best pleased first loosed from Messana and with his Fleet in safety arrived at Ptolemais where he was by the Christians now the third year lying at the Siege so joyfully received as if he had been to them sent with Succours from Heaven After whom shortly after followed also King Richard of whose Fleet by force of Weather sore beaten and dispersed two Ships by the rage of the Tempest driven aground upon the coast of Cyprus were by the Island people spoiled and the Men that in them had hardly escaped the danger of the Sea with most barbarous Inhumanity some slain and some taken Prisoners the rest of the Fleet arriving there also were with like Incivility forbidden to land the Cipriots ready at hand in all places to keep them off With which so great an Indignity the King justly moved and by force landing his people with incredible Celerity and Success over-ran the whole Island never ceasing until he had made a full Conquest thereof and taken Isaac Comnenus commonly called The King of that Island and of some for what reason I know not Emperor of the Griffons Prisoner yet was he indeed neither King nor Emperor but being a man of great Nobility and Power and of the honourable Stock of the Comneni had in the troublesome Reign of Andronicus Comnenus the Emperor his Cousin laid hold upon that fruitful Island and there tyrannized as a reputed King until that now he was by King Richard taken Prisoner and for his unfaithful dealing sent fast bound in Chains of Silver into Syria The King thus possessed of the whole Island there at Limozin married the Lady Berengaria the King of Navars Daughter brought thither by Ioan late Queen of Cicilia the Kings Sister And so disposing as he thought best of all things for the safe keeping of the Island set forward again with his Fleet towards Syria Where by the way he light upon a great Ship of the Sultans laded with Victuals and other War-like Provisions for the relief of the besieged all which became a Prey unto him So holding on his course he at length arrived at Ptolemais where he was by the French King and the rest of the Christians there lying most honourably rereived Now had the City of Ptolemais been three years besieged by the Christians and notably defended by the Turks during which time many an hot Assault and bloody Skirmish had passed betwixt them And now the eyes of all men were fixed upon the two Kings of England and France unto whom all the rest offered their Obedience and Service The Christian Camp was great composed especially of Englishmen Frenchmen Italians and Almains not them that were left of the Emperor Frederick his Army for they were for the most part dead or else returned home again into their Countries but of such as moved with the Zeal they bare unto this Religious War came daily in great numbers thither as did also many others of divers Nations desirous in some measure to be partakers of so honourable a War. These Religious and Venerous Christians thus lying at the Siege had with much painful labour undermined one of the greatest Towers of the City called the accursed Tower with some part of the Wall also by means whereof they were in hope to find a way into the City Wherefore all things being
manner of Caps the Ianizaries use at this day The Turks also in Orchanes Reign and long time after used not to cut or shave their Beards but did wear them long so that if the King would disgrace any man he would in his displeasure command his Beard to be cut or shaven The manner of cutting and shaving their Beards which they now use they learned of the Italians of whom they have also borrowed many other fashions not only differing but quite contrary to their ancient Manners and Customs Orchanes about this time removed his Court to Nice where he lay a long time after There he built a sumptuous Church appointing a Preacher to preach to the People every Friday he erected in Nice also two fair Abbies in the one of which he with his own hands served the Strangers and Poor the first dinner He was the first that builded Abbies or Monasteries among the Turks whose example most of his Successors have imitated and is amongst them used unto this day The Government of Nicomedia Orchanes committed to his eldest Son Solyman as is before said a Prince of great towardliness giving him in great charge to have a vigilant Eye to the Towns of Taraxa Govinuca and Mudurne which were nigh unto Nicomedia yet in possession of the Christians all which Towns with the Countries adjoyning Solyman in short time got without force by composition This Solyman was of a Princely Disposition so tempering Justice with Clemency in his Government that many Christians allured with his Vertues became of his Religion and gladly put themselves under his Subjection the politick Laws of the Country he neither abrogated nor changed but maintained as they had been of ancient time accustomed whereby he greatly won the Hearts of the People Amurath his younger Son Orchanes made Lord and Governor of Prusa after he had removed his Court to Nice And the Castle of Chara-chisar with the Seigniory thereto belonging he gave to his Cousin Artemure the Son of his Uncle Iundus There was at this time in Orchanes Court a Noble young Gentleman called Turson-Beg the Son of Dharasis King of Charasia by whose perswasion Orchanes in Person himself with a strong Army made an Expedition into that Country for that his Fathers Subjects after the death of the King his Father denied their Obedience to his elder Brother wishing rather to have Turson for their Soveraign In whose behalf Orchanes taking that journy surprised by the way many Castles and Towns to his own use Orchanes was no sooner entred the Country of Charasia but Tursons elder Brother fled to Pergamum whither the Turks shortly pursued him where Turson desirous to speak with his Brother unwarily approaching the City was wounded with an Arrow shot from the Walls and there slain With whose death Orchanes was so greatly offended that he threatned to destroy the whole Country with Fire and Sword if they did not by a day prefixed generally submit themselves to his mercy The People terrified with this proclamation of so great a Prince already in Arms yielded themselves unto his Subjection The Kings Son also that was fled into Pergamum upon reasonable conditions yielded himself unto Orchanes who sent him to Prusa where after he had there lived two years he died of the Plague after whose death Orchanes made his Son Solyman Prince of Carasina Neither is this taking in of the Country of Carasina to be accounted a small Conquest one of the greatest Houses of the Turks the Successors of the Iconian Sultan Aladin now thereby taking end and their Dominions which were not small as containing almost Lydia with some good parts of Misia Troas and the lesser Phrygia now united unto the Othoman Kingdom Orchanes upon his return for the good success of this journy built a Church and Monastery at Prusa placing therein religious men with all diligence sought for out of all his Kingdom of which Religious the Turks write many Fables better worth the smiling at than the serious reporting Hitherto the Kingdom of Othoman and Orchanes his Son was contained within the bounds of the lesser Asia which the Turks call Anatolia Now it resteth to be shewed upon what occasion Orchanes or rather his Son Solyman Bassa as it were fatally with a small power first passed over Hellespontus into Europe where they and their Successors have by little and little so enlarged their Dominions that they have now long ago quite overthrown the Grecian Empire with many other great Kingdoms and are at this present a terror to all Christian Princes bordering upon them to the perpetual Infamy of the Greeks who for want of courage and busied with civil discord never sought in time to impeach their greatness Orchanes having now so augmented his Kingdom that he might from many parts thereof out of Asia take view of the pleasant borders of Europe from whence he was excluded only by the narrow Sea of Hellespontus and continually incited with the insatiable and restless desire of Soveraignty began to devise how he might possibly pass that strait Sea and set foot in Europe another part of the World. Which his conceit one day he imparted to his Son Solyman who presently answered his Father That if it would please him to give him leave he would not doubt to pass the Strait of Hellespontus and in time to plant the Mahometan Religion in those Countries of Europe possessed by the Christians Which answer of Solyman much pleased his Father who gave him leave to depart into his Country and in that matter to proceed further as he thought best and as occasion should best serve Solyman taking leave of his Father took his journey into Carasina where riding up and down the Country as it had been for his pleasure only he made his way to the place where it is thought the famous City of Troy sometime stood where yet as the Turks and some others say are to be seen the wonderful ruins of that unfortunate City by the Sea side In this place Solyman stood still a great while as it were in a study forecasting as it seemed some great matter without speaking one word to any of his Followers When one of his Chieftains called Ezes-Beg to put him out of his deep thoughts boldly said unto him My Lord and great Soveraign what strange thing is this that you are so deeply drowned in these your melancholy thoughts undoubtedly it is some great matter that you are studying upon Truth it is said Solyman for I was thinking how it were possible to pass over this Sea of Hellespontus into the borders of Europe and to take view of that Country and so to return undiscovered If this be the matter said Ezes-Beg joyning unto him one Fazil-Beg a man of no less valour than himself we two will by the power of God perform unto you this Enterprise Then was Solyman desirous to know of them about what place they would pass over which they well knowing the Sea coast shewed
unto him all that he had willed him to say not forgetting over all to publish his Courtesie and Bounty who besides that he had frankly set him at liberty had also given him a very fair Horse well furnished although he well knew he was to serve against himself Whereunto Bajazet answered no more but that he would shortly make trial of him and that he well hoped before the march were ended to make him acknowledg his own folly The next day the two Armies drew near together and incamped within a League the one of the other where all the night long you might have heard such noise of Horses as that it seemed the Heavens were full of Voices the Air did so resound and every man thought the Night long to come to the trial of his Valour and the gaining of his desires The Scythians a People no less greedy than needy talked of nothing but the Spoil the proud Parthians of their Honour and the poor Christians of their deliverance all to be gained by the next Days Victory every man during the Night time speaking according to his own humour All which Tamerlane walking this Night up and down in his Camp heard and much rejoiced to see the hope that his Souldiers had already in general conceived of the Victory Who after the second watch returning unto his Pavillion and there casting himself upon a Carpet had thought to have slept a while but his Cares not suffering him so to do he then as his manner was called for a Book wherein was contained the lives of his Fathers and Ancestors and of other valiant Worthies the which he used ordinarily to read as he then did not as therewith vainly to deceive the time but to make use thereof by the imitation of that which was by them worthily done and declining of such dangers as they by their Rashness or Oversight fell into And afterwards having a little slumbred he commanded Axalla to be sent for who forthwith came unto him with divers other great Lords and Captains the chief Commanders of his Army with whom after he had a while consulted of the order of the Battel he mounted on Horseback himself and sent every one of them to their own Charges to put the same in readiness At which very instant he received News that the Enemy marched forward and came to take his ground for the Battel whose order of march Tamerlane was desirous to see that so accordingly he might marshal his own And having caused three thousand Horsemen to advance forward with charge to begin the skirmish himself followed after to lodge every part of his Forces in such places as he had foreseen to be fittest for his advantage Now seeing the Ianizaries march in a square Battel in the midst and upon the two Fronts two great Squadrons of Horsemen which seemed to be thirty thousand Horse and another which advanced and covered the Battalion of the Ianizaries he thought this their order to be very good and hard to be broken and thereupon turning himself to Axalla who was near unto him said I had thought this Day to have fought on Foot but I see that it behoveth me now to fight on Horseback to give Courage unto my Souldiers to open the great Battalion of our Enemies And my Will is That my men come forward unto me as soon as they may for I will advance forward with an hundred thousand Footmen fifty thousand upon each of my two Wings and in the midst of them forty thousand of my best Horsemen My Pleasure is that after they have tried the force of these men that they come unto my Avauntguard of whom I will dispose and fifty thousand Horse more in three Bodies whom thou shalt command which I will assist with eighty thousand Horse wherein shall be mine own Person having an hundred thousand Footmen behind me who shall march in two Squadrons and for my Rereward I appoint forty thousand Horse and fifty thousand Footmen who shall not march but to my aid And I will make choice of ten thousand of my best Horse whom I will send into every place where I shall think needful within my Army for to impart my Commands Over the first forty thousand Horse the Prince Ciarcan commanded over the foremost Footmen was the Lord Synopes a Genoese Kinsman to Axalla and his Lieutenant over the Footmen a Captain of great estimation the Prince Axalla his own charge consisted of five Squadrons of Horsemen Bajazet his Army being also both fair and great came bravely still on forward towards their Enemies who stirred not one whit from the place they had taken for the Battel except certain light Horsemen Scithians Parthians and Muscovites who sent out as loose men hotly skirmished betwixt the two Armies Now was Tamerlane by an Espy advertised that Bajazet having before given order for the disposing of his Army was on foot in the midst of thirty thousand Ianizaries his principal men of War and greatest Strength wherein he meant that day to fight and in whom he had reposed his greatest hope His Battel of Horse was very fair amounting to the number of an hundred and forty thousand Horse all old Souldiers The Sultan of Egypt having also sent unto his Aâ—d thirty thousand Mamalukes all very good Horsemen with thirty thousand Foot. So that his Army marching all in one Front in form of an Half-Moon but not so well knit together as was Tamerlanes whose Squadrons directly followed one another seemed almost as great as his and so with infinite numbers of most horrible Outcries still advanced forward Tamerlane his Souldiers all the while standing fast with great silence There was not possible to be seen a more furious charge than was by the Turks given upon the Prince of Ciarcan who had commandment not to fight before the Enemy came unto him neither could have been chosen a fairer Plain and where the skilful choice of the place was of less advantage for the one or the other but that Tamerlane had the River on the left hand of his Army serving him to some small advantage Now this young Prince of Ciarcan with his forty thousand Horse was in this first encounter almost wholly overthrown yet having fought right valiantly and entred even into the midst of the Ianizaries where the Person of Bajazet was putting them in disorder was himself there slain About which time Axalla set upon them with the Avantguard but not with like danger for having overthrown one of the Enemies Wings and cut it all to pieces and his Footmen coming to joyn with him as they had been commanded he faced the Battalion of the Ianizaries who right valiantly behaved themselves â—or the safety of their Prince This hard fight continued one hour and yet you could not have seen any scattered but the one still resolutely fighting against the other You might there have seen the Horsemen like Mountains rush together and infinite numbers of Men die cry lament and
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 â—â—ately 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 Oâ—â—oman 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
Constantinople was with this his outragious dealing much offended and thereupon calling unto him his Bassaes and faithful Counsellers declared unto them the unnatural proceedings of Mahomet against his Brother Isa. Wherein said he he doth me also great wrong in taking upon him the Soveraignty over those great Dominions and Countries in Asia which of right belong to me his elder Brother and not to him the youngest of six In revenge of which Injury and Wrong I intend in mine own Right to pass over into Asia with a strong Army and by force of Arms to recover mine Inheritance there if I may not otherwise come by it Unto which Speech one of his grave Counsellors replied That in his opinion it was not the best course for himself to go in Person into those Wars For although said he your Brother Mahomet be but young and therâ—fâ—re by your greatness less accounted of yet is his Fâ—rtune great and his experience above his years None have yet had to do with him but they have had enough of him yea it is worth the noting how politickly he hath born himself for his own safety and the safeguard of the Countries which he governed all the while that the great and mighty Tamerlane with his innumerable Forces covered the face of the Countries fast by him most part whereof Mahomet hath now since his departure again recovered Wherefore it were best for you to send for your angry Brother Isa to Constantinople and to make him General of the Army you intend to send into Asia against Mahomet In which Wars it is not unlike but that one of your Brethren will be lost whereby you shall have one Competitor of your Kingdom the less So shall you afterwards with less trouble subdue him that is left or at leastwise please him with some part of that which they have so mightily striven for This Counsel was of Solyman and all the rest well liked of and approved So was Isa presently sent for unto Constantinople and a great Army levied Who being come to Hadrianople was by Solyman courteously welcomed and made General of his Army and therewith shipped over the Strait of Hellespontus into Asia Where at his first coming he possessed the whole Countrey of Carasia or Lydia and passing further in all places where he came was received of the people with great Reverence they all promising him their Obedience if it were his fortune to prevail against his younger Brother Mahomet wherewith he held himself well contented So coming to the City of Beg-Bazer otherwise called Despotopolis he there wintered with his Army In which time he with many kind and loving Letters still directed to Mahomet as his younger Brother seemed to be glad that he was so well obeyed and liked of by his Subjects and that presuming of his Love and Favour he was as his loving Brother and not as an Enemy come into Asia to intreat with him of such matters as much concerned the good of them both Whereunto Mahomet with like dissimulation answered That he was right glad of his coming for which he needed not as he said to make any excuse for that he was entred into a Kingdom in part his own and the rest open before him in token whereof he commanded a rich Garment to be cast upon the Messenger as a favour sending also divers rich Presents unto his Brother with great Provision of Victuals and other necessaries for his Souldiers But Winter past and the Spring come Isa marched with his Army to Prusa and there shewed unto the Citizens the loving Letters he had at sundry times before received from Mahomet and telling them that he was in good hope that they should in short time right well agree requested to have the Castle deliverd unto him sometime their Soveraign whereinto the better sort of the Citizens had retired themselves and made fast the Gates against him but when he saw that he could by no fair words or policy gain the possession of the Castle enraged with that repulse he set fire upon that goodly City and burnt it down to the ground Mahomet not ignorant how his Brother Isa roamed up and down his Kingdom using all kindness to such as yielded unto him and exercising no less cruelty upon such as refused his Obedience and how that he had rased the Royal City of Prusa having gathered a strong Army marched in ten days from Amasia to Prusa and by the way meeting with his Brother Isa in a great battel overthrew him with all his Forces Isa himself accompanied with no more but ten persons fled unto Castamona Prince Isfendiar his City who hearing of his arrival there entertained him with all the Honor he could in recompence of the great Friendship he had before found at his hands at what time he was an humble Suiter in his Father Bajazet his Court. Mahomet coming to Prusa grieved exceedingly to see that fair City so destroyed yet to comfort the poor Citizens he gave exceeding Sums of Money to be bestowed amongst them and took order for the new building of the City and there continued certain days himself to see the Work begun Isa in the mean time having incited the Prince Isfendiar in his quarrel to invade his Brother Mahomet and going thither himself in Person was by him now the third time overthrown and put to flight Nevertheless he with some small Forces twice afterwards entred into Mahomets Dominion but finding few or none willing to follow his evil Fortune was glad at last to fly to the Prince of Smyrna by whom he was both honourably entertained and comforted This Prince of Smyrna moved with Isa his pitiful Complaints in so manifest a wrong did not only promise him what help he could of himself but also by his Embassadors solicited the Princes of Aidinia Saruchania and Mentesia to give him Aid in so just a quarrel for the relief of Isa against his usurping Brother These Princes pitying the case of the distressed Prince and moved with the Request of the Prince of Smyrna and fearing also the ambitious spirit of Mahomet amongst them sent such Aid that being all assembled together Isa had now twenty thousand men in Arms. Mahomet understanding of this great Preparation made against him and having raised a strong Army thought it not best to expect his Brothers coming into his Country where perhaps many might joyn themselves unto him being so strong in the field but entred the Prince of Smyrna his Country with such speed that he was upon him and the rest of his Enemies before he was looked for where after a great and bloody Fight he obtained of them a notable Victory Isa having lost the battel and therewith his hope also fled into Caramania and there in such obscurity ended his days that no man can tell where nor how he died This was the end of this noble Prince always of greater courage than fortune The Prince of Smyrna the chief Author of this
Faith and Protector of Europe and that is it for which the Pope doth with his Letters dayly solicite and importune you And albeit that the common cause and quarrel of the Christian Religion require it yet doth the necessity of Hungary and Polonia no less enforce it of which the one is most miserably and dayly vexed with the Turks Forces and Fury out of Servia and Dalmatia and the other out of Moldavia and Valachia Now if any there be whom neither the zeal of Religion the necessity of the cause the hope of immortal Fame and Glory can move let their own Safâ—ty the present Servitude of their Wives and Children the Safeguard of their Wealth and Substance the lawful Revenge of the Wrongs done them stir them up to take in hand this sacred Expedition So fit an opportunity is now given unto you that at one and the self-same time you may set your bodies in perpetual Safety and Happiness your Souls in Quietness and Rest and unto both give Eternal Glory and Happiness You lack not worthy Captains Mony the Sinews of the War which shall be brought unto you from all parts of the Christian Common-wealth not lusty and couragious Souldiers not Policy not Fortune not the propitious Hevenly Powers which have made choice of you for the defence of the true Faith and Religion you want nothing worthy Princes but Will. It is an Expedition necessary religious profitable and honourable wherein are propounded most ample Rewards both in this Life and in the Life to come Wherefore most mighty Prince and you right worthy Princes all I pray and beseech you by the Faith of Christ Iesus by the Love of your Children by the Health of your Kingdom and deliverance from your present destruction with valiant Courage and one Consent to take this sacred War in hand and so thereby to enrol your Names in the Eternal Book of Fame And sith that you are to go not so much to a Worldly as a Spiritual War against the Enemies of Christ and his Truth take up your Arms with such Zeal Courage and Chearfulness as the Expectation and Hope of Men as your Valour the present Danger and the Mercies of God towards you seem of right to require This Legate having made an end forthwith ensued the miserable Supplication and Tears of the Despot perswading them of the necessity of that Expedition to be taken in hand declaring unto them the Cruelty of the Turks their Torments and strange Tortures his Sons deprived of their Sight and spoiled of their Genitories many half mangled and more cut in sunder with Saws some slain quick and others buried alive with many other strange kinds of death such as would abhor any Christian Ears to hear And warning the Hungarians by his example to beware how much they had need to look to themselves told them That they were but by the River Savus divided from the Turks which in Summer was oftentimes to be waded over and in Winter hard frozen and so to be passed that the Country beyond Danubius lay all open upon them and that he sometime the rich King of Servia was now driven into exile by the power of the Turk deprived of his Kingdom of his Children shamefully disgraced spoiled of his Wealth and Fortune glad to flie from place to place and yet not able to find any safe place to rest in First he fled as he said to Ragusium where by and by he was sought after and endangered by the Turks then into Hungary which was also forthwith by them on every side infested and whereof the Barbarian King now asked Tribute to have some colour for the invasion thereof which dreadful Enemy was not far off from it but still hovered even over it as well witnesseth Valachia and Transylvania two of the greatest and richest Provinces of the Hungarian Kingdom which had not the Valour of Huniades the Fortune of the Common-Weal and above all the Mercy of God delivered out of the Hands of this filthy Nation the State of Hungary had now been utterly forlorn The Events of War he said were divers Fortune uncertain and that God would not every day be tempted Wherefore with many Tears abundantly running down his aged Face he besought King Uladislaus and the rest not to let slip this fair occasion neither by Cowardise or Negligence to break off the course of their good Fortune and Victory but to make choice rather to become Revengers of other mens harms than of their own and to satisfie the good opinion the World had conceived of them He was as he said a sufficient Example to all Men. Besides that he offered a great sum of Mony himself towards the defraying of the Charges of the War assuring them also of great supplies both of Men and Mony from divers other Christian Princes Which opinion of the Legate and Despots being generally liked and approved a Decree was made by a whole Court of Parliament there assembled That the King should himself in person with all speed possible entertain that honourable War. So that though it were now upon the approach of Winter yet were Men taken up in every place and Embassadors sent unto the Emperor and the other Neighbour Princes to pray of them Aid against the common Enemy Who for the most part excused themselves by their own particular Affairs but sent no Aid at all Nevertheless many devout Christians both out of France and Germany for the Zeal they bare unto Christ and the Christian Religion forsaking Wife and Children and whatsoever they had else came and worthily served upon their own Charge The Spring being come and Supplications made in all places for the prosperous success of this Religious War King Uladislaus the first of May set forward from Buda where passing the River Danubius and marching fair and softly and coming to the River Tibiscus he there staied three days for the coming of his Army Departing thence and marching on alongst the side of Danubius until he came within the sight of Bulgaria he there at a place called Cobis over against Sinderovia passed over Danubius with his Army which was now grown very great and so marched directly to Sophia situate about six days march from Danubius in the Frontiers of Bulgaria so called of a most sumptuous and magnificent Temple there built by Iustinian the great Emperor Which City being then old and ruinous and but badly fortified was easily taken and afterward for that it was not well to be holden was by the Kings commandment burnt as were all the other Country Towns and Villages thereabouts to the terror of the rest Marching thence he came unto the River Morava and there incamped where the plain Country easily riseth and falleth in manner of the Sea when it is moved with a little Wind. Here five hundred Horsemen being sent over the River not so much to seek after Prey as to view the Country which way the Army might most safely and easily pass
great Assaults to have recovered the City but was both times repulsed with the loss of five hundred men Amurath understanding that Scanderbeg lay at the siege of Sfetigrade sent with all speed to recall his Army but lately before dispersed Whereof Scanderbeg having Intelligence considering also the difficulty of the Enterprise with the approach of Winter raised his Siege and returned to Croia where he set all things in the same order he had done before the coming of Amurath to the Siege of Sfetigrade and put two thousand of his best Souldiers there in Garrison under the charge of the famous Captain Uranacontes and stored his City with sufficient Victual for a years Siege wherein he had great help from the Venetians and other Christian Princes for that there was then great scarcity of all things in Epirus by reason of the late Wars The like care he had also of all the rest of his Cities being continually advertised from his secret Friends in the Turks Court of the great preparation intended against him by the Turkish King against the beginning of the next Spring Amurath understanding that Scanderbeg was departed from Sfetigrade year 1450. changed his former determination for the calling back again of his Army and appointed it to meet again at Hadrianople in the beginning of March following whether the Bassaes and other great Commanders at the time appointed assembled with their Companies according as Amurath had before commanded So that by the latter end of March he had there in readiness an Army of an hundred and threescore thousand men strong Of which great multitude he after the manner of the Turkish Wars sent forty thousand Horsemen under the leading of Sebalyas a politick Captain as his Vauntcourriers into Epirus in the beginning of April in the year 1450. The valiant Captain with great speed and no resistance entred into Epirus as was given him in charge and without let came to Croia where after he had advisedly considered of the situation thereof and of the places thereabouts he strongly encamped himself near thereunto in the pleasant Plain called Tyranna and there within his Trenches kept his Souldiers close attending nothing more but that no new supply of Men Munition or Victuals should be conveyed into the City more than was therein before his coming For he was not able with his Horsemen to do any thing against the City and Scanderbeg had left nothing abroad in the Country Subject to his fury Besides that he was expresly by Amurath forbidden to attempt any thing against Scanderbeg himself After Sebalyas had twenty days thus lien encamped before Croia neither doing nor taking harm Amurath by reason of his great age having marched oftentimes but five miles a day came thither also with his whole Army wherewith he filled all the Country round about the very sight whereof had been enough to have discouraged the same Garrison in Croia had they not been men both of great Experience and Resolution Where after he had spent four days in setling of his Camp he sent two Messengers unto the Governor as the manner of the Turks is offering him if he would yield up the City that it should be lawful for him with all his Souldiers in safety with Bag and Baggage to depart and the Governor himself to receive in Reward two hundred thousand Aspers with an honourable Place amongst the great Bassaes of his Court if it would please him to accept thereof and further that the Citizens should enjoy all their ancient Liberties as in former time without any alteration with promise also of greater These Messengers coming to the Gates of the City could not be suffered to enter but standing without were commanded there to deliver their Message which when the Governor had heard he scornfully rejected their Offers and returned the Messengers shamefully derided by the Souldiers which stood upon the Wall. Amurath more offended with this Contempt than the refusal of his Offers and seeing no other means to gain the City converted all his devices unto the Siege thereof Wherefore he first commanded ten great pieces of Artillery to be forthwith cast for he had brought with him none ready made because of the difficult passage over the high Mountains into Epirus whereby it seemed to be a matter of infinite trouble to have brought his great Ordnance and therefore carried with him great store of Metal in mass whereof at his pleasure to make his great Artillery as he saw cause In fifteen days this work was brought to perfection and ten pieces of huge greatness were ready mounted upon Carriages Six of them he placed against the East side of the City towards the Plain of Tyranna and the other four against the Gate in which two places only Croia was subject to battery being on all other parts naturally defended with impregnable Rocks upon the tops whereof were built fair Battlements more for beauty than needful defence These two places Amurath battered four days continually and with the fury of his Artillery had in both places beaten down half the Wall and sore shaken the rest Wherewith the Turks were exceedingly encouraged and with great chearfulness made all things ready to assault these Breaches whensoever Amurath should command striving among themselves who should shew himself most forward in that dangerous Enterprise And Mahomet the young Prince the more to encourage the Souldiers besides the great Rewards by his Father proposed promised of himself to give an hundred thousand Aspers unto him that should first set up an Ensign upon the Walls of the City The Garrison Souldiers on the other side considering that the whole State and Welfare of Epirus was reposed in their valour and that the Eyes of most part of Christendom were as it were fixed upon them were nothing dismayed with the Breaches made but manfully comforted and encouraged one another to endure all manner of peril and danger that might possibly chance but especially the worthy Governor Uranacontes who going through the midst of his Souldiers and shaking some of them by the hands withall said Thâ—se these are the Fortresses of our City these are the invincible Bulwarks these are the irremovable Stones and surest Cement What Honour what Praise what Triumph should we hope for if these Walls standing whole and strong we should lie shrouded under the defence of them and not they defended by us So can Cowards defend Cities and Sheep fear nâ—t the Wolves rage when they are safely shut up within the Walls of their Sheep-coats But that is the praise of the Walls and not of the Men. Worthy Castriot our Prince hath commended this his City to be defended by us and not us by it Honour is attended upon with danger and fostered up amongst perils every base Mariner may be a Master in fair Weather and firm things stand of themselves and need not our upholding Wherefore men of worth shun such things which being kept or lost yield like praise Things ready to
is not more uncertainty in any thing than in matters of War Fortune is to be proved and oftentimes provoked of him that will Wed her And yet I will not deny but that we must go more warily to work against this Enemy and hazard our selves with better advisement and not without reason like wild Beasts to run headlong upon our own death At length we shall wear them out if we kill but ten of them at an Assault yet are they daily to be assailed that they may have no leisure to refresh themselves and to make up their Breaches and peradventure if Force may not prevail Fortune may find some mean that we look not for as it fell out at the Siege of Sfetigrade beyond all our expectation Treason is ingenious and mens desires great where great Rewards are propounded With these and like Speeches old Amurath encouraged his Captains and Souldiers and the next day early in the morning began the Assault which the Turks valiantly attempted and without regard of danger came to the Gates of the City assaying but with vain and desperate labour to have broken them open In this Assault Wild-fire was cast into many places of the City and the great Artillery oftentimes discharged into the Breaches whereby many of the Turks themselves were slain with their own great shot together with the Christians for Amurath desperately set was content to buy the life of one Christian with the loss of twenty of his Turks But the Christians still valiantly repulsed their Enemies so that of them that came to the Gates none escaped alive and of them that assaulted the great Breach they which were most forward were first slain and they which stood farther off were sore wounded with Shot Yet for all that Amurath still maintained the Assault by sending in of new Supplies delighting to see them go forward but grieved at the heart to see them so slain until at last weary with beholding the slaughter of his Men he caused a Retreat to be sounded and so ended the Assault perswaded by his Bassaes not wilfully to cast away his valiant Souldiers where there was no hope to prevail but to reserve them for his better Service Amurath now out of hope to win the City by Assault thought good to prove what might be done by undermining of the same during which work he caused small Alarms daily to be given unto the City to the intent that the Defendants busied therewith should not perceive the secret work of the Mine About which time his Provision of Corn began to fail in his Camp for which cause he sent his Purveyors for Corn to Lisia a City of the Venetians with whom he was at that time in League and bought of them great store of Corn. But as his Officers were conveying it to his Camp Scanderbeg having Intelligence thereof slew the Convoy and carried away with him all that Provision dividing it among his own Souldiers Howbeit not long after Amurath received great abundance of Corn and other Provision out of Macedonia beside that the Venetian Merchants afterward furnished him with plenty of Corn Oil Honey and other necessaries which Scanderbeg might well have hindered but that he would not in so doing offend the Venetians which were also his secret Friends considering that Amurath might have had all the same Provision out of the further part of Macedonia Thracia Mysia and such other places if he had not otherwise had it from the Venetians Whilst Amurath thus lay expecting the success of his Mine four hundred of the Garrison Souldiers of Croia sallying out of the City chased divers of the Turks that were come forth back again unto the Camp whereof Amurath was glad hoping that they encouraged with that good hap would to their further loss give the like attempt afterwards But the staid discretion of the Governor deceived that his expectation who considering the danger would not suffer his Souldiers any more to sally out of the City Scanderbeg also at this time having encreased his Army with a new Supply of two thousand Souldiers divided the same into three parts delivering one part to Moses another to Tâ—nusie and reserving the third unto himself With this Army of nine thousand thus divided 〈◊〉 determined by night at one instant to assail the Turks great Camp in three divers places appointing in which quarter every one should charge But as Scanderbeg in the night appointed was coming towards the Turks Camp he was discovered by their Scouts whereupon a sudden Alarum was raised in the Camp and all mens minds turned that way and Souldiers appointed with all diligence to guard that side of the Camp. But whilst the Turks were all at gaze this way for fear of Scanderbeg Moses and Tanusie in the dead of the night at one time assailed the Turks Camp in two divers quarters as they were appointed where they slew a number of the Turks and made great spoil At which time Scanderbeg did also what he might but by reason he was beâ—ore discovered did not much harm Upon the approach of the day Scanderbeg retired again to the Hills and by that time it was fair day light sate down upon the side of a great Mountain about twenty Furlongs off in the open sight of all the Turks Camp which he did of purpose that Moses and Tanusie which were by night retired into the Mountains might see which way to hold to meet with him again But the Turks thinking that he stood there to brave their whole Camp and as it were to deface them to the great encouragement of the Defendants divers of them earnestly craved leave of Amurath that they might go up to him and at leastwise beat him out of sight which he granting 12000 of his best Souldiers whereof 7000 were Horsemen and the rest Foot presently set forward to encounter him Scanderbeg seeing them all the way they came upon their approach softly retired a little farther up into the Mountains still expecting the coming of Moses and Tanusie The Turks unacquainted with such difficult ways marched up the steep Hills after Scanderbeg with much labour and pain well wearied of themselves but when they were come a great way into the Mountains they perceived by the rising of the dust that some greater Force was coming cross those Mountains and not long after they might plainly see the foremost of their Enemies Wherefore fearing to be enclosed they began to retire in which Retreat Scanderbeg hardly pursued them and having the advantage of the ground slew many of them but especially with his Archers Moses also coming afresh on another side caused them to fly down the Hill amain and beside the slaughter that he made took divers Prisoners After which Victory by Scanderbeg obtained in the sight of Amurath and his whole Army he retired again into the Mountains The late spoil of the Turks Camp with this Overthrow of the Souldiers but now sent against Scanderbeg much grieved the old
Black Sea lying from it Northward and two hundred miles from the Strait of Hellespontus or Calipolis from thence South Which noble City of all others most fitly seated for the Empire of the World and with great Majesty overlooking both Europe and Asia is by the Cosmographers accounted to stand in the height of 43 Degrees upon seven little Hills of no great but easie ascent and was there first built by Pausanias the Lacedemonian King and called Bizantium and so many years flourished as a populous and rich City until the civil Wars betwixt Severus the Emperor and Niger what time it indured the Siege of the Romans under Severus three years with such obstinacy that it yielded not until it was brought to such extremity that the Citizens did eat one another and then yielding had the Walls overthrown by Severus and the City it self destroyed and brought to the low estate of a poor Country Village and so by him given to the Perinthians In which base estate it continued until the time of Constantine the Great the Son of Helena whom some will needs have to have been an English Woman by whom it was new built and beautified with Buildings so stately and sumptuous that unto the strange beholders it seemed a dwelling place for Heavenly Wights rather than for Earthly Men. And to grace it the more translated his Imperial Seat thither and called it Nova Roma or New Rome and all that pleasant part of Thracia alongst the Sea Coast of Hellespontus Propontis and Basphorâ—s by the name of Romania of the fair Roman Colonies there by him planted which name it at this day retaineth and is of the Turks called Rumilia and Rum-Ili that is to say the Roman Country But as for the City it self the glorious name of the Founder so prevailed that the City was and yet is of him called Constantinople or Constantine his City and now of the barbarous Turks commonly but corruptly Stamboli It is as we said built in the form of a Triangle whereof the longest side which runneth from North-East to South-West is on the South-side washed with the Propontis and towards the ending of the point which is about the seven Towers is somewhat indented being commonly reputed to be eight miles long The other side lieth East and West five miles in length being washed with the Havon which is somewhat more than eight miles long before it meet with the fresh water and about a quarter of a mile broad on the suther side whereof standeth the City of Pera commonly called Galata sometime a Colony of the Genowaies This Haven is very deep and by that reason as commodious as deep bearing Ships full fraught close to the Shoar so that they may discharge their Burthens with the least trouble that may be and is of Strabo called Cornu Bizantij or the Horn of Bizantium The third side of this City towards the Continent lieth almost North and South five miles also in length those two sides that lie upon the Sea and the Haven are environed and girt with a single Wall built after the antique manner with many high Towers which strongly defend and flank the same Without which Walls especially towards the Haven there lieth a Street between them and the Shoar But the other side which is the third and regardeth the main Land beside the Ditch which is also fenced is defended with three Walls the first Wall standing upon the Ditch being but low and the second not far distant from the first raised somewhat higher but the third overlooketh and commandeth both the other from whence as from an high sortress both the other Walls and all the Ditch without may easily be defended But the two utter Walls with the whole space betwixt them are now by the Turks but slenderly maintained lying full of Earth and other Rubbish even as they were in the time of the Grecians some cause why they with less heart and courage defended the same against the barbarous Enemies In the East part of the City on that point which in the Reign of the Grecians was called the Cape of S. Demetria distant from Asia not much more than half a mile stands the Seraglio or Palace of the great Turk containing in it self a great part of an Hill enclosed round with a Wall as if it were it self a City in circuit more than two miles wherein amongst other stately Buildings near unto the Sea standeth a very fair and sumptuous Gallery built for pleasure with a private Gate well fortified and planted with great Ordnance and other Munition whereby the great Turk at certain times passeth when he is disposed in his Gally to take his pleasure upon the Sea or to pass over the Strait unto his Houses or Gardens of Delight on the other side in Asia In this great City are also many other most stately and sumptuous Buildings as well of late erected by the Turkish Sultans since they became Lords thereof as before by the Greek Emperors amongst all which the Temple of S. Sâ—pâ—ia standing on the East side of the City nor far from the Scraglio now reduced unto the form of a Mahometan Moschie and whither the great Turk goeth oftentimes to hear Service being indeed but the Sanctuary or Chancel only of the great stately and wonderful Church built by Iustinian the Emperor is most beautiful and admirable That which standeth of it now is both round and very high built after the fashion of the Pantheon in Rome but much greater fairer and not open in the top as is that the Walls thereof being of the finest Marble and the Floor all paved with fair Marble also In the midst there is a very great and large Circle compassed in with high and huge Pillars of most excellent Marble of divers sorts and these support a mighty Vault that beareth up as many more Pillars above standing after the very same order and in a down right line almost of the like greatness and goodness of the Marble with the other below upon which above the second Vault in manner of a Loovar resteth the great round Roof which coverth all that space of the Church which is compassed with the aforesaid Pillars being all enameled and fillited with the Pictures of Saints after the antient manner of some great Churches in Christendom but that the Turks who like not to have any Pictures in their Churches have put out their Eyes only as loath to spoil such a rare peece of work and utterly to deface it In like manner the Walls of the upper Vault are wrought painted or portraied after the same order though in some part decaied by reason of their long continuance and standing About this Church are eighteen or twenty Doors of Brass right fair and costly well declaring the magnifence and greatness thereof in more antient times when as it had as is reported more than two hundred Doors of like making and greatness and besides the hugeness of the Frame
the notable Overthrow received in Aemathia This was the woful end of this noble and valiant Man well worthy of remembrance had not his haughty thoughts soared too high with the desire of Soveraignty When Mahomet understood in what manner Isaac Bassa was overthrown and his Army discomfited he was therewith much grieved and justly blamed the Bassaes security yet such was his credit with his Soveraign that the matter was in better sort passed over than was supposed it would have been Nevertheless Mahomet in revenge thereof would willingly have imployed all his Forces upon Scanderbeg if his more urgent Affairs would have so permitted For at the same time besides that great Wars began to rise betwixt him and the Venetians which continued for many years after he was certainly informed That the Christian Princes were making a strong Confederation against him At which time Mahomet disdaining openly to sue for a Peace at Scanderbegs hands cunningly practised by such as were sent to redeem the Prisoners and also by the Sanzack himself to perswade Scanderbeg to require Peace of him assuring him that if he did but ask it it would for a long time be easily obtained Which thing Scanderbeg well acquainted with the Turkish Policy utterly refused to do Wherefore Mahomet for the defence of his Countries bordering upon Epirus sent two of his most expert Captains Sinam and Hamur with each of them 14000 Souldiers into Macedonia expresly charging them not to enter at any time or upon any occasion into Epirus or by any means to provoke Scanderbeg which his Commandment they so well observed that the Epirots by the space of almost two years enjoyed the fruits of Peace although there was no Peace at all concluded So that the remembrance of old Injuries wearing out with time at length by the mediation of the same Captains a Peace for a yeâ—r was agreed on betwixt Mahomet and Scanderbeg In which time he passed over into Apulia and there notably aided King Ferdinand against the French the proceeding wherein as not pertinent to our History I of purpose pass over After that the time of the Peace before concluded was expired all things now going well with Mahomet as he desired he resolved according to his wonted manner to trouble the quiet Estate of Scanderbeg and so sending a new supply of Souldiers to Sinam-beg who then lay with a strong Garrison upon the Frontiers of Epirus commanded him with all his Power to make Wars upon Scanderbeg Sinam accordingly with an Army of 20000 Men entred into Epirus where he was forthwith encountred by Scanderbeg and his Army utterly overthrown so that but few escaped by flight with Sinam himself Presently after he sent Asam-beg another of his Captains into the same Service with an Army or thirty thousand whom Scanderbeg also in plain battel vanquished at Ocrida in which battel Asam himself was sore wounded and finding no way to escape was glad to yield himself Prisoner to Scanderbeg by whom he was courteously used and afterwards set at liberty Iussum-beg following Asam with eighteen thousand into Epirus was set upon by Scanderbeg also and having 〈◊〉 part of his Army was glad by speedy flight to save himself with the rest After all this Caraza-beg an old Captain and a man of great experience who had been a great Commander and a Companion with Scanderbeg in the time of old Amurath requested of Mahomet that he might prove his Fortune against his old acquaintance Scanderbeg assuring him of better Success than before The long and approved experience of this old Leader put Mahomet in such hope of good speed that he gave present Order for the levying of such an Army as Caraza had requested and for ten thousand more than he had at the first required With this strong Army in number almost forty thousand Caraza set forward having before filled the minds of men with the expectation of some greater matter to have been by him done Scanderbeg understanding certainly that Caraza was coming stood more in doubt of the Man than of his Power and therefore assembled greater Forces than he had usually done before and to welcome him sent two thousand of his best and most expert Souldiers secretly into the Enemies Country who lying in ambush amongst the Woods and Mountains whereby Caraza must needs pass suddenly set upon four thousand Horsemen the forerunners of Caraza his Army who marching disorderly and fearing no such matter were in a trice overthrown and most part of them slain those few that escaped fled back again to the Army as if they had come in post to bring tidings of some hasty News to the General With which so unfortunate a beginning Caraza was so discomfited that if he might for shame he could have been content to have returned again and gone no farther yet for his Honours sake holding on his way he came into Epirus where whilst he was after the manner of old men long in resolving what course to take he was upon the sudden assailed by Scanderbeg before he could well put his Men in order of battel At which time there fell such a vehement shower of Rain that both the Armies were glad to retire before any great hurt was done Three days together it rained continually for it was about the later end of Autumn all which time Scanderbeg ceased not in one place or other to trouble the Turks Camp so that the old General partly distempered with the extremity of the Weather which for the violence thereof he took to be ominous and more discouraged with the restless Attempts of Scanderbeg rose with his Army and retiring back by the same way he came returned to Constantinople Where he was well derided of Mahomet that having promised so much had performed so little yet afterwards was again by him in some sort commended for that he had with less loss looked upon Scanderbeg than other his Generals before sent against him Mahomet perceiving that Scanderbeg was not to be subdued but with such Forces as he was not then at leisure to imploy on him thought it not amiss to prove if he could by fair Speeches and glorious shews of Friendship get within him and so bring him to confusion for which purpose he sent unto him an Embassador with rich Presents and Letters of this Purport Sultan Mahomet Lord and Emperor of the East and of the West and of all parts of the World unto Scanderbeg Prince of Albania and Epirus sendeth greeting I Think Friend Scanderbeg that no Acquaintance can be greater or Friendship more firm than that which hath grown of long and mutual conversing and living together and especially if the same have taken beginning from Childhood and tender Years as you know it hath done betwixt us Two who have of long time even from our Childhood lived together in great Love and Friendship when as you first lay as Hostage in my Fathers Court. Wherefore beloved Scanderbeg when as I call to remembrance all
any corner of the Empire were it never so little But Corcutus and his Friends who had reposed all their hope and all their devices in the departure of Selymus with the Souldiers of the Court as if they had with great modesty contended on both sides again perswaded him yea and instantly requested him not to refuse that honour by general consent without any disgrace to his Brother given to him as to a worthy Chieftain of great experience in Martial Affairs So Selymus with wonderful cunning deluding Corcutus and his Favourites whilst he seemeth craftily to refuse the thing he most desireth is by the general consent of all parts chosen General of the Army to go against his Brother Achâ—mates which was no sooner made known unto the Souldiers especially the Janizaries and other Souldiers of the Court but they before instructed with loud Acclamations saluted him not for their General only but for their Sovereign Lord and Emperor also and so without further delay put themselves in Arms to defend and make good that they had done if any better disposed should seem to withstand them or dissent from them Selymus by the Souldiers thus saluted Emperor at first made shew as if he had been half unwilling to take upon him the Empire and so began faintly to refuse it as moved so to do by the due reverence and regard of his Father yet living But after a while he suffered himself to be intreated and then commending himself and his cause wholly to the Men of War to bind them unto him the father promised beside the particular favours he ought them to bestow a right great and general Largess amongst them which he afterward accordingly performed After that he requested the chief Bassaes and Commanders of the Army there present to go forthwith unto his Father and to take such order seeing it was the mind of the whole Army it should be so that the Empire might by his good Will without further trouble or tumult be forthwith transferred unto him Mustapha the great Bassa in whose wily head all this matter was to his own worthy destruction first hammered whether it were upon a new fineness of his own or that Selymus as it was given out had threatned to kill him except he would go and shew all the whole process of the matter to his Father coming as a man dismaied to Bajazet who awaked with clamour and tumult of the Souldiers was come out of his Chamber into the open rooms of his Palace in few words delivered unto him this most unwelcome Message as followeth Emperor said he the Men of War have in their Counsel saluted Selymus both their General and Emperor which their choice they râ—quire thee to ratifie being ready presently to break into the Court to kill us both if thou shalt refuse forthwith to resign the Empire They all with one consent request that of thee which they have already put into the hand of another Wherefore it is a thing of far more danger to seek to recover that thou hast already lost than willingly to yield that which is already taken from thee seeing it is not by any force or policy to be regained They in Arms in fury and now entred into Rebellion think upon some greater mischief Bajazet troubled with fear and choler and then too late perceiving the treachery of the Bassaes and how he had been by them betrayed pausing a while at the strangeness of the matter afterwards in fury brake out into these Words False and Forsworn do you thus betray me and with such monstrous villany requite mine infinite Bounty Why do you not also as Murderers take away my life which could not endure for a while to expect the dissolution of this my weak and aged body but deposing your just and lawful Sovereign must needs in post hast set up a most wicked and graceless man to reign over you But much good do it you with your desired Emperor the Contemner of God and Murtherer of his Father to whom ere it be long you shall full dearly pay the price of this your perfideous dealing and treachery against me And he himself beginning his Empire by most unnatural treason murder and bloodshed shall not I hope escape the heavy hand of God the undoubted and severe Revenger of so great Impiety and Treason Mustapha with Bostanges and Ajax as false as himself returning back again to the Souldiers speaking not a word of the sorrow and indignation of Bajazet told them how that he was well content to resign the Empire and so had appointed Selymus to whom both God and the general consent of the Men of War had already delivered the Empire to succeed him in the Empire When this their Speech was generally reported they whom Selymus had before corrupted began now to hold up their heads and look big on the matter and others who before stood doubtful what to do seeing now no other remedy in hast joyned themselves unto the same Faction Whilst all things were thus disorderly carried by the unruly Souldiers Selymus was by them mounted upon a couragious Horse and so with all Pomp conducted up and down most of the fair Streets of the imperial City and with the general voice and clamor of the People howsoever their minds were for most part otherwise affected saluted Emperor And the same day both the great Bassaes and the Souldiers in general were all solemnly sworn unto Selymus as their only Lord and Emperor Corcutus whether it were for grief of his hope now lost or fear of his life although Selymus had promised to give him the City of Mytilene with the Island of Lesbos secretly embarked himself and so returned to Magnesia Bajazet of late one of the greatest Monarchs of the World but now thus thrust out of his Empire by his Son detesting both him and the treachery of his Subjects and overcome with sorrow and Melancholy determined of himself before he were thereto enforced by Selymus to forsake Constantinople and to retire himself to Dymotica a small City wholesomely situated in Thracia not far from Hadrianople where in former time he had for his pleasure bestowed great cost and now as he thought best fitted his present estate Wherefore causing great store of Treasure Plate Jewels and rich Furniture to be trussed up he with five hundred of his Houshold Servants full of Heaviness and Sorrow with Tears trickling down his aged cheeks departed out of the Imperial City towards Hadrianople with purpose from thence to have gone to Dymotica Selymus brought him about two miles upon his way and so returning again to Constantinople took possession of the Palace Bajazet being then about seventy six years old or as some report full fourscore and beside his old disease of the Gout sore weakned with heaviness and grief of mind was not able to travel above five or six miles a day but was constrained by the extremity of his pain and weakness to stay sometimes
great cries and signs of joy valiantly and with great slaughter repulsed their Enemies as if they had been fresh men Long it were to recount the deadly fight and hard adventures which befel at the Assault of the other two Stations of the Avergnoys and Narbonenses but the Turks were in every place put to the worst and lay by heaps slain in the Ditches and Breaches of the Town Solyman from his standing for that purpose made of high Masts beholding the miserable slaughter of his men and no hope of gaining the City caused a Retreat to be sounded a thing welcome both to the Rhodians and the Turks In this terrible Assault which endured by the space of six hours divers of the Knights of the Order were slain especially of the French and Spanish Nation with one hundred and fifty common Souldiers all worthy of eternal fame and of the Turks as they which write most modestly report twenty thousand The young Tyrant was so much offended with the shameful repulse he had received at this last Assault that he fell into a rage against all them which had perswaded him to enter into that action but especially against the great Bassa Mustapha whom he accused as an unfaithful Counsâ—llor and chief perswader of that unlucky War who flattering him in his vain humor by extolling his Forces above measure and falsly extenuating the power of the Enemy assuring him that upon the first approach of his Army they would yield themselves without resistance had drawn him into that dangerous Expedition like to sort to the great dishonour of himself and all the Othoman Family for which doing he adjudged him worthy of death and in great fury commanded the Executioner without further delay to put him to death in his presence Which dreadful doom so suddainly and upon so light an occasion given upon a man of so great mark and quality struck such a terror into the minds of all there present that none of them durst speak one word against the rigor of that sentence or so much as fet a sigh in pitying of his case The Executioner now ready to give the fatal stroke Pyrrhus the most ancient of all the Bassaes moved with compassion and presuming of his great favour with the Tyrant whom he had from his Childhood had the charge and government of stept forth and appealing unto his mercy earnestly requested him to spare his life Wherewith Solyman was so filled with wrath and indignation that for his presumption and for sending for him to Constantinople to come to that dangerous Siege he commanded him to be executed also All the rest of the Counsellors seeing the danger of these two great men fell down at the Feet of the fuming Tyrant craving pardon saying That the Enemies ground had already drunk too much of the Turkish Blood and was not to be further moistned with the Blood of two such noble Personages and worthy Counsellors Solyman moved with this general intercession of his great men pausing a little upon the matter the heat of his Fury being something over suffered himself to be intreated and granted them their lives unto Pyrrhus for his great Age and Wisdom and to Mustapha for his Wives sake who was the Tyrants natural Sister sometime the Wife of Bostanges All the time of this Siege the Turks great Fleet furnished with Men and all manner of Warlike Provision lay before the entrance of the Haven without doing any thing at all for the Admiral being no man of War seeing the mouth of the Haven chained and the Castles upon the entrance full of Ordnance and strongly manned durst not attempt either to enter the Haven or besiege the Castle for which his Cowardise and for that he had negligently suffered Provision both of Victual and Munition to be conveied into the City during the time of the Siege to the great relief of the besieged he was by Solyman adjudged to die a most cruel death but by the mediation of Achimetes one of his best Men of War the severity of that sentence was changed into a punishment unto any noble mind more grievous than death it self for he was by Solymans commandment openly set upon the Poup of the Admiral Gally and there as a Slave received at the hands of the Executioner a hundred Stripes with a Cudgel and so with shame was thrust out of his Office. After that Solyman had in so many places with all his power so long time in vain besieged the Rhodes his haughty Courage began to quail so that he was upon point to have raised his Siege and left the Island yea the grief he had conceived went so near him that he many times fainted and lay speechless as if he had been a dead man. The remembrance of so many unfortunate Assaults the death of so many worthy Captains the loss of so many valiant Souldiers sufficient to have subdued a great Kingdom so much grieved him that a great while after he shunned the company of Men and would not suffer himself to be spoken withal until at length he was again by Abraham his Minion a man in whom he took singular pleasure recomforted and perswaded to continue the Siege for that time as he said which worketh all things would at length â—ame the fierceness of his Enemies whom the Sword could not upon the suddain subdue In the mean time Solyman for his pleasure and to shew unto the Rhodians that he purposed not to depart began to build a sumptuous Castle upon the top of the Mount Philerâ—nus in the eye of the City During which time divers Letters were shot into the City with Turkish Arrows out of the Camp wherein many of Solymans most secret Counsels were revealed and the revolt of a great man promised which the Rhodians by many circumstances gathered to have been Mustapha who could not easily forget the injury so lately offered unto him by Solyman needs it must be some of Solymans secret Counsel otherwise he could not have revealed so great secrets as it were out of the Bosom of Solyman But see the chance at the very same time tidings came unto Solyman that Cayerbeius the Governor of Egypt was dead in whose place Solyman sent Mustapha to Caire as Governor of Egypt by that honourable preferment again to please his discontented mind after which time no more Letters came into the City Now the Turks began to make fair Wars their terrible battery began to grow calm and for certain days it seemed by the manner of their proceeding that they purposed rather by long Siege than by Assault to take the Town Nevertheless the Enemies watching day and night in their Trenches used all the policy they could sometimes offering unto the Souldiers upon the Walls great rewards if they would yield up the City and sometimes threatning them as fast and to breed a dislike amongst the Defendants they would oftentimes say that Solyman desired only to be revenged upon the Latines without
his Gallies taken in token of which Victory he sent part of the rich spoil there taken with the Admirals Ensign as a Present unto Solyman whereby he became famous in the Turks Court but much more after he had repulsed Auria from Cercenna and taken two great Genoway Ships which were coming to Auria loaded with Men and Munition the loss whereof filled the City of Genoa with much sorrow All things sorting thus according to his desire and his name become no less terrible in Spain Italy Sicily and the Islands of the Mediterranian than it was in the greatest part of Africk Solyman grieved with the loss of Corone Patras and the Castles upon the Straits of Lepanto taken from him by Auria Himerales his Admiral being shamefully put to flight by the Counsel of his Bassaes but especially of Abraham the chief Bassa sent Embassadors unto him to Algiers offering him the greatest honours of his Court and to make him Admiral of all his Fleet if he would forthwith repair unto Constantinople for why he was the only man in all mens judgments who for his years and great experience at Sea as well as for his invincible Courage and Glory of his late archieved Kingdom was to be compared with Auria and to be opposed against the Christian Fleet. Sinas a great man in Solymans Court was with this Embassage sent and speedily trasported to Algiers by Mangalis a famous Pyrat then Governor of the Rhodes who at his landing was honourably received by Barbarussa and audience given him Barbarussa understanding the cause of his coming was exceeding glad thereof presently conceiving no small hope of obtaining the Monarchy of Africk if he might once come to Solymans presence and at large shew unto him the state of Africk and power of the Christians with their continual discord amongst themselves Wherefore without further delay committing the protection of his Son Asanes then about eighteen years old and the Government of his new gotten Kingdom to Ramada and Agis two of his nigh Kinsmen and assured Friends of whose Fidelity he doubted not he with forty of his own Gallies in most warlike manner appointed set forward with Solymans Embassador towards Constantinople where by the way he met with a Fleet of Genoway Ships bound for Sicily for Corn which after a sharp and cruel fight he took and burnt After that landing by night in the Country of Elba not far from Naples he suddenly surprised Rhium a rich City where loading his Gallies with the Wealth thereof and carrying away with him all the Inhabitants into Captivity he arrived at Constantinople in the year 1533 where he was by the great Courtiers brought to Solyman of whom he was joyfully received if it were but for the Presents which he gave him which were fair Boys and young Maidens sumptuously apparrelled Eunuchs and wild Beasts of Lybia as Lyons Leopards and such like But after he had certain days discoursed at large with the great Bassaes of the State of Africk the strength of the Christians and how the Wars were to be managed he was afterwards by them seldomer sent for and offering himself into their Company was hardly admitted for Envy the inseparable Companion of growing honour had quickly overtaken him in the Court so that many men letted not openly to say It had not been the fashion of the Othoman Kings to prefer Pyrats the worst kind of Thieves to the honour of their great Admiral and that there wanted not neither ever would want men both vertuous and valiant in the Turks Court which could with great honour maintain and augment the glory of the Turkish Empire both by Sea and Land whereas he had against all right and conscience by shameful Treachery intruded himself into another mans Kingdom in Africk and there persecuted the Mahometan Princes and People being of no Religion himself as one that was born of a renegat Greek and from his youth lived as a merciless Pyrat and common Enemy of Mankind By which Speeches Barbarussa perceived in how evil time Abraham Bassa his best Friend and by whose means he was sent for was absent from Court who at that time was gone to Comagena and wintered at Aleppo with purpose as Solymans Forerunner with the first of the next Spring to pass over Euphrates against the Persian After long suit and much expectation Solyman answered Barbarussa by Ajax and Cassimes two of the great Bassaes That all the matter concerning him should be referred to the discretion of Abraham the chief Bassa for that he was by his Counsel especially sent for into Africk wherefore if he did expect any thing he should repair unto him in Syria that according to his grave judgment all things might be ordered Barbarussa thus rejected into Syria although he well perceived that it tended to his no small disgrace yet in hope by sufferance to obtain another Kingdom seemed contented with the answer and resolved forthwith to take upon him that long and painful journey which the old King lustily performed and so posting by Land through Asia the less and travelling over the Mountain Amanus then covered with deep Snow came in dead time of Winter to Aleppo in Syria where he was honourably received by the great Bassa and heard at large to his so good contentation and liking that he deemed him of all others the fittest to command the Turks Power at Sea and to that purpose writ commendatory Letters in his behalf to Solyman wishing him for his sufficiency to place him as the fourth with the other three Bassaes of his Counsel After Barbarussa was again arrived at Constantinople with these Letters and that it was once known how effectually the chief Bassa had commended him to Solyman it was a wonder to see how on a suddain the face of the Court was changed upon him every man either for Friendship or Flattery began now to speak of his praises and to extol his worthiness who was now in all mens mouths but Barbarussa so great was the Power and Authority of the chief Bassa that being absent yet was his approbation of all men accounted sufficient to prefer whom he pleased and his Letters Laws to the rest of the Court. Barbarussa had brought with him from Algiers one Roscetes the Elder Brother of Muleasses King of Tunnes who wrongfully driven into exile by his younger Brother had lived certain years at Algiers but now by the perswasion of Barbarussa was come with him to Constantinople to crave aid of Solyman against the oppression of his Brother Him Barbarussa oftentimes shewed unto the great Bassaes and in his discourses with them concerning the Conquest of Africk set him out as a most fit instrument for subduing of the Kingdom of Tunes as a man whom the People more affected than they did Muleasses the Usurper After long deliberation and consultation had with the Bassaes concerning the invasion of Africk Barbarussa now admitted unto the presence of Solyman
that the Christians sometime valiantly receiving the Enemies charge and sometime charging them again repulsed the proud Enemy still busie with them In these continual skirmishes Antius Macer Fuchstat General of the Carinthian Horsemen fighting valiantly was slain being for his brave Armor supposed by the Turks to have been the General of the Field And by like mishap four and twenty Horsemen of great fame were also slain and their Guidon taken amongst these were three Noblemen Andreas Reschius Christopherus Hernaus and Georgius Himelbergus In another place was made a most cruel skirmish with the Saxon Horsemen and them of Misnia Thuringia and Franconia who followed the Saxons Ensign of these fighting most valiantly was slain above six and thirty worthy Captains Lieutenants or Ancients and Chuenricus a principal Captain of the Saxons taken who afterwards died in Bonds amongst the Turks Amongst them which were slain Sebastianaus Methescus and Iacobus Scullemburgh were of greatest Nobility In like manner the Horsemen of Austria couragiously resisting the Enemy for a space were in the end overthrown where amongst them was slain two valiant Noblemen Fetâ—aius and Hoschirchius with divers other men of great place and reputation both in their own Country and abroad But the greatest sâ—aughter was made amongst the Bohemian Horsemen upon whom being disordered by the Janizaries Harquebusiers the Turkish Troops of the old Garrison Souldiers breaking in with their Scimeters and heavy Iron Maces made a most bloody execution The Battel of Footmen being sore gauled and almost disordered in their march by certain Companies of Janizaries and Archers of the Aspi who from a woody Bank of a Marish discharged their shot and arrows continually upon them yet never coming to handy Blows was on the other side so hardly charged by Amurathes with his Troops of Horsemen of Bosna that being not able longer to keep order it was at last by him broken and cut in pieces where the Turks with their Swords and Hatchets slew the poor Christians without mercy Lodronius himself carried away with the breaking in and force of the Horsemen was driven into a Marish where after that he being sore wounded and almost fast in the deep Mud had done the uttermost of that his last endeavour he by the fair entreaty of the Turks perswading him rather to yield than there to be slain so yielded himself that he with three Companies which were with him after they had laid down their Weapons were all saved as valiant Souldiers for now the merciless Turks imbrued with the Christian Blood were weary of slaughter and began greedily to seek after the Spoil hunting after them who flying dispersedly thought themselves to have escaped the Enemies hands with such success that a great number of them was taken and led away for Slaves few of the Footmen escaped and almost all the rest which were not fled before the Battel were to be seen dead upon the ground This shameful Overthrow at Exek was reported to have exceeded the most grievous Overthrows that the Christians had received in any former time for the Flower both of Horse and Foot there lost by the rashness and fault of an unlucky General rather than by the Valour of the Enemy ruthfully perished so that many Provinces were filled with heaviness and mourning For it never chanced before as was to be seen by the unfortunate Battels of Sigismund the Emperor and King Ladislaus that the Turks got such a Victory without some loss so that they which fell almost unrevenged at Exek may seem to have augmented that loss by the great infamy thereof Mahometes having thus almost without the Blood of his Souldiers obtained so great a Victory and taking the Spoil of the Christian Camp pitched his Tents in a little Meadow being cleansed of the dead Bodies and after he had merrily feasted with his Captains commanded the chief Prisoners the goodly Spoils and fairest Ensigns to be brought unto him and openly commending the Captains who had that day done any good service commanding divers Bags of Mony to be brought unto him by the Receivers he with his own hand rewarded the Souldiers some with Gold some with Silver according to their deserts And causing all the Prisoners which were not common Souldiers to be brought forth he diligently viewed them and presently caused every one of their â—ames and the office they bare to be inrolled by his Clerks and unto such as brought in the Heads Ears or Hands of the Christians with Rings upon them he forthwith caused one Reward or another to be given Lodronius when as by reason of his deadly Wounds he was thought unable to endure travel or to be brought alive with the other Prisoners to Constantinople was slain by his Keepers and his Head afterwards sent thither For as many noble Gentlemen and amongst others Laurentius Streiperg and Dietmarus Losestaine have reported who ransomed afterwards returned home again to their Wives and Children amongst the Prisoners which were together with the fair Ensigns and other gallant warlike Furniture especially gilt Armor and Headpieces presented by Mahometes his Messengers to Solyman three of the greatest Captains Heads were in a silver Bason there seen and known which were the Heads of Paulus Bachitius the valiant Hungarian Captain Antius Macer General of the Carinthian Horsemen and Lodronius General of the Footmen which after the Tyrant had looked asquint upon as abhorring that loathsome sight he with stern countenance commanded all the Prisoners to be slain But upon the intercession of the Janizaries who entreated for them as valiant men to whom they had at the time of their taking past their Faith and might afterwards do him good service he changed his countenance and saved many of them But Cazzianer flying to his own Castle was of all men accused as a wicked forsaker of his own Camp and Ensigns and commonly railed upon as the eternal infamy of his Country and Author of the publick calamity so that it was reported that he durst neither go abroad nor shew his Face for shame He was so generally hated that infamous Libels made against him and the other Captains which shamefully fled as he did were commonly sung in the Streets by Boys in all places of Germany Wherewith he was so much grieved that he requested of King Ferdinand that he might safely come to the Court to answer whatsoever could be laid against him which his request the King easily granted and when he came to the Court received him with doubtful countenance But when the hearing of his cause was by the King somewhat longer protracted than he would have had it and he in the mean time kept under safe custody impatient of such delay and half doubtful whether he he should be quitted or condemned thought it better to flie than to abide the Trial. So feigning himself sick and â—craping up by little and little with his Knife a brick pavement under his Bed and so in the
thanks and praising his forwardness requested him to follow him to whom he would in good time give a sign what he would have done The foremost of the Turks light Gallies was now come to the great Galleon of Bondelmerius which was the foremost of the Christian Fleet whereunto were sent also certain Gallies from Salec to help to assail that tall Ship which shooting afar off did no harm neither Bondelmerius them who would not suffer one Piece to be discharged for he being an expert Seaman and loath to shoot in vain expected that they should come nearer unto him and then upon the suddain to discharge all his great Ordnance upon them Neither was he deceived in that his expectation for the Turks coming near unto him were so overwhelmed with the great and small Shot out of the Galleon that they were glad to stay their Course and retire In the mean time Auria called back again the Ships which were gone before and caused his Galleon to be towed out and by Boats on purpose sent out charged the Captains of the Gallies to make themselves ready to fight upon signal given by the sound of the Trumpet and displaying of the Admirals Ensign yet was not Auria of mind to fight with his Gallies without his Ships Which thing the crafty Enemy well perceived and therefore sought by all means to joyn Battel with the Gallies before the coming in of the tall Ships which were as Castles in respect of the Gallies for it was then such a calm that the Ships were not able to keep way with the Gallies and the smooth Water seemed to offer a fit opportunity for Battel which so well pleased the Patriarch that many heard him crying aloud to Auria to give the signal and marvelled much why he deferred to give Battel For he fetching a great compass and hovering about his Ships with his Gallies kept such a Course that many thought he would upon a suddain have done some strange and unexpected exploit upon the Enemy but Auria held that strange Course of purpose to have drawn the Enemies Gallies within the danger of his great Ships who thundering amongst them with their great Ordnance might have easily sore beaten and disordered them and opened a way unto his Gallies to have gotten a most certain Victory But the crafty old Turk doubting by the strangeness of Auria's Course to be circumvented with some fineness changed his Course and lay still with his own Squadron of Gallies warily expecting to what purpose that strange Course of the Enemy tended In the mean time both the Wings of his Fleet had a little before Sun-set begun in divers places to encounter with the Christians some were in vain still assailing Bondelmerius his great Galleon others with their great Ordnance had so sore beaten two tall Ships wherein Buccanigra and Mongaia two Spanish Captains were imbarked with their Companies that they were given for lost many of the Souldiers and Mariners being slain Two other Ships loaded with Victual the one of Venice the other of Dalmatia were burnt by the Turks and some few of the men saved by their Ship-boats and by swiming to the Ships nearest unto them In the shutting in of the Evening Salec took two Gallies stragling behind the rest of the Fleet whereof Mozenicus a Venetian and Bibiena a Florentine were Captains After these Gallies was taken also the Ship of Aloysius Figaroa a Spaniard although his Souldiers had for a time fought most valiantly In this Ship with Figaroa the Father was taken his Son a young Gentleman and beautified with all the good gifts of Nature who afterwards presented to Solyman turned Turk and growing in Credit in Solymans Chamber after three years miserable imprisonment obtained his poor Fathers Liberty and sent him well rewarded home again into Spain Whilst both the Fleets were thus expecting how they might to their most advantage joyn Battel suddainly arose a great Tempest of Thunder Lightning and Rain with a fresh Gale of Easterly Wind whereupon the Christians seeing the Turks hoâ—sing up their small Sails without delay hoised up both small and great to clear themselves of the Enemy and with that fair Wind returned again to Corcyra so disorderly and in such haste sparing neither Sail nor Oar that it seemed rather a shameful Flight than an orderly Retreat So that Auria a man of so great fame at Sea as that he was called a second Neptune was that day accounted no Captain It is reported that Barbarussa with the same Wind pursued the Christians a while and being not able longer to see what Course they held by reason of the darkness of the night to have staid his Course for the Admirals had caused their Lights which they used to carry in the Poops of their Gallies to be put out Whereat Barbarussa heartily laughing said oftentimes in the Spanish Tongue Auria hath therefore put out his light the better in the dark to hide his Flight noting him in such a fear as that he without regard of honour sought only how by Flight to escape When they were come to Corcyra they were all generally of opinion That by the benefit of that suddain Storm they had avoided a great danger The Imperials especially the Genoways to excuse Auria imputed the cause of so shameful a Flight unto the Venetians who would not from the beginning receive any Spanish Souldiers into their Gallies the better to have withstood the Enemy and that Auria therefore doubting of the Venetians refrained from joyning Battel and the rather because that upon the coming forth of the Turks Fleet they had hoised up their Sails tied up to the Yards with small Lines which they might at their pleasure easily cut and set Sail to flie which way they would Shortly after came Barbarussa with all his Fleet to the Island of Paxus about four Leagues from Corcyra Eastwards braving the Christians as if he would have fought with them if they durst come out Whereat Gonzaga the Viceroy fretting went to every one of the three great Commanders requesting them for the honour of the Christians to repress that proud Turks insolency At last the matter was brought to that pass that the Venetians having taken in certain Companies of Spaniards the Fleet should be divided into four Squadrons and so to give Battel But this consultation was so long protracted that Barbarussa fearing the tempestuous Autumn Weather hoised sail and about the seventh of October returned again into the Bay of Ambracia After the departure of Barbarussa the Generals of the Christian Fleet directed their Course into the Bay called Sinus Rizonicus to besiege Castronovum or New-Castle a strong Town of the Turks standing in that Bay and bordering upon the Venetian Senators The Inhabitants were part Dalmatians part Epirots which had renounced the Christian Religion and some Turks living most part by Merchandise Unto this Town the Christians laid Siege and in short time won it where they had
had done The Queen seeing the City so craftily surprised and the Nobility injuriously detained in the Camp troubled with fear and grief by humble Letters requested Solyman not to forget the Faith he had long before given unto her and even of late confirmed by his Embassadors but mindful both thereof and of his wonted Clemency to send back unto her the Noblemen who for their Fidelity and valiant Service had well deserved both of him and her this she did by Rustemes Bassa whom she had loaded with Gifts and amongst other things of great price had sent him a fair Coronet of her own and a goodly Jewel set with rich Stones to send unto his Wife Solymans Daughter for a Present After that Solyman consulted with his Bassaes four days what order to take concerning the Kingdom of Hungary in discourse whereof his great Bassaes were of divers opinions Mahometes advised him to carry away with him to Constantinople both the young Child and all the Nobility and to leave such a Governor in Buda as by his wise and moderate Government rather than by rigour might put the People out of fear of Servitude and Bondage by defending them from wrong and yet by little and little lay upon them the yoke of the Turkish Government But Rustemes Bassa before corrupted and a man in greater favour than the rest because he was Solymans Son in Law and therefore further from all suspition of Flattery stood altogether upon terms of honour saying That nothing could be more dishonourable unto so great and mighty a Monarch who never had at any time with any Spot or Stain blemished the Glory of his Name than after Victory against all right and reason to break his Faith at once with a weak Woman and silly Infant whom he had before taken upon him to protect and defend On the other side Mahometes Governor of Belgrade an old mortal Enemy of the Christians of all the rest best acquainted with the state of Hungary and for his great experience and approved Valour then extraordinarily admitted by Solyman into Council among the great Bassaes disliked of both the former opinions as too full of Lenity and being asked his own delivered it in this mischievous manner as followeth I know said he most mighty Solyman that he which in consultation of matters of so great consequence is to deliver his opinion last shall if he dissent from the rest be subject to envy and reprehension And therefore it cannot be but that I being of a quite contrary opinion to them that have before spoken my speech must be unto your Ears both unpleasant and tedious But I refuse not to be counted by my self yea and presumptuous if you will so have it rather than a smoother up of other mens sayings as one of no Iudgment whilst I recount those things which as the present case standeth may wonderfully profit your designs and the Imperial State for of right I may desire you to yield a little to my years and if I may by your good favour so say to that I have already done when as I now grown an old man in Wars against these Hungarians have by experience learned those things of the State and Strength of this Kingdom and the disposition of the People which being here laid down may much avail for your better determination of this so weighty a cause as admitteth no repentance if you shall now be overseen therein You have now within the space of these twenty years come in Wars your self in person five times into this Country when I as no obscure Captain or Souldier was in all those Wars and Battels ever present of purpose as I suppose to revenge your Injuries to enlarge your Empire and in brief to assure you of a good Peace which could never be but by force of Arms and Victory And therefore you valiantly won Belgrade the infamous dwelling place and receptacle of most outragious Theeves and Robbers and in former time famous for the unfortunate attempts of your Ancestors when as from thence the Hungarians in time of Peace had at their pleasure whilst your Father was then occupied in the Persian War spoiled the Borders of Servia and Illyria The same Hungarians about five years after for that they had in cruel manner slain your Embassadors you overthrew in battel and slew their King and possessed of Buda to manifest and make known by a notable demonstration the magnificence of your heroical mind even unto the remotest Enemies of our name did choose out of the reliques of that vanquished Nation one whom you might grace with the honour of the Regal Crown although not born of Royal Blood or unto you known for any other desert than that he was a little before both your publique and private Enemy and coming gainst you with a strong power out of Transilvania he had in the mean time lost his Brother a better man than himself slain with our Sword. After that rose up the Austrian King a new Enemy to expulse this Hungarian reigning by your courtesie and so you took in hand the third War against the Germans which you so effectually prosecuted that having forthwith restored the King you carried the terror of your self not only to the Walls of Vienna but into the very heart of Germany But two years yet scarcely past the same King never long contented with Peace or Wars supported by the power of his Brother Charles and in vain besieging Buda defended by your Garrisons stirred you up again to revenge the Injury Slaughter and Spoil by his Souldiers done for that you thought it to stand with your honour to protect him with your power whom you had of â—our rare Bounty made a King and then desired above all things to fight a noble Battel with the two Brethren for the Empire of the West But they at such time as you with Fire and Sword ran through their ancient Kingdoms endured not the noise of your coming After that ensued a Peace between the Hungarians and the Germans your Majesty permitting and approving it at such time as you made haste to go against the Persians but the German King so broke that Peace that had not I in good time revenged his Treachery by the overthrow of a great Army of his at Exek you must of necessity have been sent for from Babylon your self as but now you were glad to come in haste by long and painful journeys from Constantinople to aid us in time and as I verily hope to make an end for all that all things set in firm order in Hungary the inconveniences of so many labours and so great charge five times undertaken for another mans profit might now at length take end except as I see some wish you be in mind never to give over the protection of the Child and Widdow a matter full of infinite labour and peril not to be countervailed with that glorious shew of honour which by these in my opinion too
Christian state was sore shaken and a way opened for the Turk The Emperor at his coming to Luca was honourably received by the Cardinals and Bishops and lodged in the Court the great Bishop was before placed in the Bishops Palace whither the Emperor came thrice to talk with him and the Bishop to him once But the Bishop having nothing at all prevailed with the Emperor and the French Embassador for the appeasing of the troubles even then like to arise betwixt him and the French King did what he might to perswade him to employ such Forces as he was about to pass over with into Africk against the Turks in defence of his Brother Ferdinand and of the Country of Austria if Solyman should happily pursue his late obtained Victory at Buda But he still resolute in that fatal determination of invading of Africk rejected that the Bishops request also So the great Bishop having moved much and prevailed little in the greatest matters which most concerned the common good taking his leave of the Emperor returned by easie journies to Rome The Emperor in the mean time with certain Bands of Italians under the leading of Camillus Columna and Augustinus Spinola and six thousand Germans came from Luca to the Port Lune and there imbarking his Souldiers in certain Merchants Ships provided for the purpose and five and thirty Gallies departed thence commanding the Masters of the Ships to direct their Course to the Islands of Baleares but after they had put to Sea they were by force of Tempest suddainly arising brought within sight of Corsica where after they had been tossed too and fro two days in the rough Seas and put out of their Course the Wind something falling they put into the Haven of Syracusa now called Bonifacium The dispersed Fleet once come together into the Port of Syracusa and the rage of the Sea well appeased he put to Sea again for the Islands Baleares now called Majorca and Minorca where in his Course he met with a Tempest from the West more terrible and dreadful than the first wherein divers of the Gallies having lost their Masts and Sails were glad with extream labour and peril in striving against the rough Sea to get into a Harbor of the lesser Island taking name of Barchinus Mago the famous Carthaginensian whose name it retaineth until this day From hence the Emperor with all his Fleet passed over to the greater Island being wonderful glad that Ferdinand Gonsaga his Viceroy in Sicilia was in good time come with the Sicilian Gallies and Ships of Italy in number an hundred and fifty Sail wherein he had brought such store of Bisket and Victual as might have sufficed for a long War. Mendoza was also expected to have come thither with his Fleet from Spain but he by reason of contrary Winds being not able to hold that Course altered his purpose according to the Tempest and so happily cut over directly to Algiers So the Emperor nothing misdoubting the careful diligence of Mendoza and thinking that which was indeed already chanced and the Wind now serving fair by the perswasion of Auria his Admiral hoised sail and in two days came before Algiers and there in goodly order came to anchor before the City in the sight of the Enemy Whilst the Fleet thus lay two of the Pyrates which had been abroad at Sea seeking for prize returning to Algiers not knowing any thing of the Fleet fell into the Bay amongst them before they were awar the bigger whereof Viscontes Cicada stemmed with his Gally and sunk him the other with wonderful celerity got into the Haven In the mean time Mendoza with his Gallies had passed the Promontory of Apollo now called the Cape of Cassineus and in token of honour saluting the Emperor after the manner at Sea with all his great Ordnance gave him knowledg that the Spanish Fleet was not far behind In this Fleet was above an hundred tall Ships of Biscay and the Low Countries and of other smaller Vessels a far greater number In these Ships besides the Footmen were embarked a great number of brave Horsemen out of all parts of Spain for many noble Gentlemen had voluntarily of their own Charge gallantly furnished themselves with brave Armor and couragious Horses to serve their Prince and Country against the Infidels Over these choice men commanded Ferdinand of Toledo Duke of Alva for his approved Valor then accounted a famous Captain These Ships going altogether with Sails were not able to double the Cape as did Mendoza with his Gallies for now it was a dead Calm howbeit the Billows of the Sea went yet high by reason of the rage of the late Tempest and did so beat against the plain Shore that it was not possible to land the Souldiers but that they must needs be washed up to the middle which thing the Emperor thought it not good to put them unto and so to oppose them Sea-sick and through wet against the suddain and desperate Assaults of their fierce Enemies He also staied for the coming of the Spanish Ships for two causes first that he might with his united Power more strongly assault the City and terrifie the Enemy then to communicate the whole glory of the action with the Spaniards at whose request and forwardness and greatest Charge he had undertaken that War. Which fatal delay of two days although it was grounded upon good reason did not only disturb an assured Victory but to the notable hurt of the whole Army opened a way to all the calamities which afterward ensued In the mean while the Emperor sent a convenient Messenger to Asanagas otherwise and more truly called Assan-Aga or Assan the Eunuch who with a little Flag of Truce in his hand making sign of a Parly and answered by the Moors with like as their manner is went on shore and was of them courteously received and brought to Assan This Assan was an Eunuch born in Sardinia brought up from his youth in the Mahometan Superstition by Barbarussa a man both politick and valiant and by him left for the keeping of his Kingdom of Algiers in his absence with Solyman This Messenger brought into his presence required him forthwith to deliver the City first surprised by Force and Treachery by Horruccius and afterwards to the destruction of mankind fortified by Hariadenus Barbarussa his Brother to Charles the mighty Emperor come in person himself to be revenged on those horrible Pyrats which if he would do it should be lawful for the Turks to depart whether they would and for the natural Moors to abide still with their Goods and Religion wholly reserved unto them untouched as in former time and for himself he should receive of the Emperor great Rewards both in time of Peace and Wars so that he would remember himself that he was born in Sardinia and was once a Christian and accept of the fairest occasion which could possibly be offered for him to return again
to think upon that horrid Wreck when as having lost so many Ships and they poor Men landed in Africk were in doubt however to return again into their native Countries Yet the notable courage of the Emperor still kept the distressed Men in hope which never altogether forsaketh wretched Men in the midst of their calamities for he with a couragious heart and chearful countenance performed all the parts of a provident and courteous General For when he had again made sure his Camp against the assaults of the Barbarians he commanded the wearied Captains especially the Duke of Alva wonderfully wearied in the late skirmish and dung wet to spare themselves and take their lest he comforted the wounded Men and caused them to be carried and cherished in the Tents which by chance yet stood for the tempestuous Wind had almost overthrown them all and so not sparing himself for any pains being in his Armor and through wet won the hearts of all his Souldiers the more In this conflict he lost about three thousand Men amongst whom was five of his forward Captains and three Knights of the Rhodes but many more were hurt The greatest loss was thought to be in loss of the Ships and of the Mariners which was also encreased by the loss of a wonderful deal of great Ordnance reckoned so much the greater for that it would come into the hands of the Moors to the common harm of the Christians so soon as the Sea would give them leave to dive for it Shortly after Auria as he was to foresee a Tempest a wonderful observer of the Sea of the Heavens and of the Clouds mistrusting that place departed with the remainder of the Fleet to the Cape called Metafusium because it was a place of safer riding for his Gallies and better for the taking in of the Souldiers advising the Emperor to march thither by Land. Which his Counsel the Emperor liking well of to relieve the hunger of his Souldiers commanded first all the draught-Horses which were first unshipped for the drawing of the great Ordnance and after them the Horses for service to be killed and divided for Meat among the Souldiers As for Wood to make Fire of they had plenty of the Planks and Ribs of the broken Ships Fortune as it were with that one poor benefit recompensing so many calamities The next day the Emperor departed from Algiers with his Army divided into three Battels the sick and wounded Men being received into the middle and when he had marched seven miles the Enemies Horsemen still hovering about him he came to a heady Brook which the Moors call Alcaraz which was grown so high with the abundant Rain and the check of the Wind and of the Sea that being but a shallow thing before it was not now to be passed over by a good Horseman Wherefore the Emperor of necessity there encamped in such sort that lying with his Army in form of a Triangle two sides of his Army was defended with the Sea and the Brook and the other with a strong Guard of armed Men for he thought it not good to depart from the Sea a sure defence for his Army on the left hand to seek a Foord farther off Many adventuring to swim over were by the violence of the Stream carried away and drowned Wherefore the Emperor caused a Bridge to be made over it of the Masts and Sail-yards of the broken Ships which were by chance there taken up and so passed over the Italians and Germans The Spaniards marching higher up the Brook found a Foord whereby they passed over After which time the Turks pursued them no further being called back again by Assan their Governour as for the Moors and Numidians which still followed at hand always ready to skirmish they were easily repulsed by the Harquebusiers and Field-pieces appointed to every Nation but upon such sick and wounded Men as were not able to keep way with the Army they exercised all manner of cruelty for there was none which in that small hope possessed with fear of their own safety was greatly moved with the compassion of their Fellows misery The next day passing over another little River which the Souldiers waded over up to their Brests they came in three days march to the Rode where the Fleet lay and encamped in the Ruins of the old City Tipasa near unto the Sea side which served them in stead of a Fortress against the Barbarians The Sea was now calm the Wind laid and the Weather so faiâ— that all Men thought the Souldiers might now well be embarked and transported into Europe wherefore the Emperor to the great joy of the whole Army commanded every Man to make himself ready to go aboord in such sort that first the Italians next the Germans and last of all the Spaniards should be embarked but so many Ships and Gallies as is before said being lost by Shipwreck it was thought that those which were leâ—t were not able to receive the whole Army although it was crowded together as close as were possible Wherefore the Emperor commanded the Masters and owners of the Ships to cast all the Horses overboord into the Sea reputing it an unmerciful part to prefer the safegard of those Horses although they were of great worth before the life of the basest common Souldier or Horse-boy in his Camp. Which thing much grieved the minds of the Noblemen and Owners of those goodly Beasts not only for that they were not without extream necessity for the present deprived of such an inestimable Treasure but should for ever as they said lose the most notable race of Horses in Spain there with grief and vain compassion was to be seen goodly Horses of service bearing up their proud Heads swimming all about the Sea unto the Ships nearest unto them for safegard as if it had been to the Shore and in the end wearied with long swimming to be there drowned But scarce half the Souldiers were yet embarked when the East and North-East Wind and straitways after divers contrary Winds almost as great as the first rose whereupon the Ships which had already taken in the Souldiers not expecting any command for fear of being driven upon the Rocks directed their Course according as the Wind carried them with full Sails alongst the Coast They were quickly out of sight and dispersed with the Tempest some into one Country some into another carrying the Fame of that Shipwreck and the report that all was lost into the Islands of the Mediterranean and Ports of Italy The force of this Tempest was so great and the Billows went so high that some of the Ships were in the sight of their Fellows swallowed up of the Sea. But amongst the rest two Spanish Ships full of Souldiers were by wonderful mishap by contrary Winds driven again to Algiers and there set fast upon that fatal Shore where the Numidian Horsemen with a multitude of Moors following them came running
Souldiers either slain or hurt moreover they brake one of their best Pieces and dismounted four others which for that day made them to leave the Battery The next night the Turks approached yet nearer unto the Castle upon whom the Christians in the break of the day sallied out even unto their very Trenches and afterwards retired With the rising of the Sun which the Turks have in great reverence they renued their Battery with greater force than before yet with such evil success that the Bassa was almost mad for anger for about the evening the Fire by mischance got into their Powder wherewith thirty of the Turks were burnt many hurt and one Piece broken At length the Turks were come so near that they had planted their Battery within a hundred and fifty Paces of the Wall which they continued with such fury that they had made a fair Breach even with the Ditch but what was beaten down in the day time the Defendants repaired again by night in such sort as that it was not to be assaulted Yet in conclusion a traiterous Souldier of Provence before corrupted by the Turks found means to flie out of the Castle into the Camp where he declared unto the Bassa the weakest places of the Castle by which it might be most conveniently battered and soonest taken and especially one place above the rest which was against the Governours Lodgings which standing towards the Ditch and having underneath it Cellars to retire the munition into could not if it were once battered well be repaired again or fortified Which the Bassa understanding caused the Battery there to be planted laying the Pieces so low that they did easily beat the Cellars and Vaults in such sort that in short time the Walls were so shaken that the Rampiers above through the continual battery began greatly to sink which so amazed the Souldiers seeing no convenient means to repair the same that setting all honour aside they requested the Governour That sithence the matter began now to grow desperate and that the place was not longer to be holden he would in time take some good order with the Enemy for their safety before the Walls were further endamaged With which motion Vallier the Governour an ancient Knight of Daulphiny and one of the Order was exceedingly troubled which Peisieu another of the Knights perceiving he as a Man of great courage and of all others there present most ancient in the name of the other Knights declared unto them That the Breach was neither so great nor so profitable for the Enemy but that it was defensible enough if they would as Men of courage repair the same saying That it was more honourable for worthy Knights and lusty Souldiers to die valiantly with their weapons in their hands fighting against the Infidels for the maintenance of their Law and Christian Religion than so cowardly to yield themselves to the mercy of those at whose hands nothing was to be looked for but most miserable servitude with all kind of cruelty and therefore perswaded the Governour to hold it out to the last For all that he overcome with the importunity of such as would needs yield who with all vehemency urged the imminent danger wherewith they were all like to be overwhelmed and finding himself bereâ—â— both of Heart and Fortune and forsaken of his Souldiers without farther consideration consented that a white Ensign should be displayed on the Walls in token that they desired parley When a Turk presenting himself they requested him to understand of the Bassa if he could be contented that some of them might come to intreat with him of some good order to be taken for the yielding up of the Castle Whereunto the Bassa willingly consenting two of the Knights were forthwith sent out to offer unto him the Castle with the Artillery and Munition so as he would furnish them with Ships to bring them with Bag and Baggage safely to Malta Whereunto the Bassa briefly answered That forasmuch as they had as yet deserved no grace presuming to keep so small a place against the Army of the greatest Prince on Earth if they would pay the whole charges of the Army he would condescend to their request or if they would not thereunto consent that for recompence all they within the Castle should continue his Slaves and Prisoners notwithstanding if they incontinently and without delay did surrender the place he would exempt out of them two hundred Whereupon the Messengers returning in despair were staid by Dragut and Salla Rais with flattering words and fair promises that they would so much as lay in them perswade the Bassa to condescend to a more gracious composition fearing indeed that the besieged through despair would resolve as their extream refuge to defend the place even to the very last Man. Wherefore they went presently to the Bassa to declare unto him his oversight in refusing them who voluntarily would have put themselves into his hands whom reason would he should with all courtesie have received for that after he had the Castle and the Men in his power he might dispose of them as he should think good The Bassa liking well of his counsel caused the Messengers to be called again and with fained and dissembling words told them That at the instance of Dragut and Salla Rais there present he did discharge them of all the costs and charges of the Army swearing unto them the better to deceive them by the Head of his Lord and his own inviolably to observe all that he had promised unto them which they too easily believed and forthwith went to declare the same to the Governour and others within the Castle The Bassa the better to come to the effect of his desire after these Messengers sent a crafty Turk whom he charged expresly to perswade the Governour to come with him into the Camp for the full conclusion of the giving up of the Castle and for the appointing of such Vessels as should be needful for their safe conduct to Malta and that if he made any doubt to come he should make shew as if he would there remain in Hostage for him but above all things to consider of the strength and assurance of the besieged and of the disposition of all things there Which the subtil Turk so finely handled that the Governour by the counsel of those who had perswaded him to yield notwithstanding the reasons of Wars and Duty of his Office forbad him in such manner to abandon the place of his charge resolved upon so small an assurance of the Bassa and gave ear to the miserable end of his Fortune So taking with him a Knight of his Houshold to send back unto those of the Castle to declare unto them how he sped in the Camp under the conduct of the Turk that was come to fetch him he went straight to the Tent of the Bassa who by the Turk that went first in was advertised of the small courage of the Defendants
the Persian fashion seven Staves of Silver seven Scimiters with red Scabberts seven Bows with Arrows and Quivers all wrought with Gold and precious Stones he presented also many other Carpets called Tefâ—ich made of the finest Lawn and so large that seven Men could scarcely carry one of them All the Faulcons were dead by the way The Presents which the Embassador gave unto the Great Turk in his own Name were also these An Alcoran a Pavilion fair and large certain Scimiters Bows and Arrows richly garnished with certain Carpets of Silk and Camels hair After which Presents so delivered and Reverence done unto the Great Sultan by the Embassador and thirty of his Followers all in Cloth of Gold he returned to his Lodging very honourably accompanied as well by the Turks as them of his own Retinue First besides many others there were a great Company of the Spahies and Chiauses and other Courtiers mounted upon goodly Horses well furnished and in decent order here might a Man have seen store of Cloth of Gold Velvet Damask and other kinds of Silk After these there followed about three hundred Persian Horsemen apparelled after their manner some with Gowns made of divers little pieces of Taffata of sundry Colours representing the Pictures of Men Women Horses and other Beasts and some of them embroidred with Flowers and Fruits of sundry sorts some had also Gowns of Cloth of Gold but not so fair as the Turks and some of Velvet but very few of Cloth for that the Persians have no great plenty either of Velvet or yet of Cloth except such as they have from the Portugals that travel into those Eastern Countries yet of Silk and Wool it appeareth they have great plenty most part of their Gowns being of Wool quilted with Bombast After these Horsemen followed many Persian Footmen peradventure all Servants after whom came the Turkish Horsemen and last of all came a Horse of the Embassadors led by a Persian after which Horse followed two hundred Janizaries and in the Rearward of all came the Embassador alone gorgeously attired both himself and his Horse He himself was invested with crimson Velvet mingled with some other Colours his Saddle and Bridle were all bedeckt with Jewels the Caparison of his Horse was all embroidred with Turquoies and other precious Stones the Horn upon the top of his Turbant which the Turks call Metevenchia was altogether wrought with Gold and set with precious Stones in brief upon every part of his Body hanged Jewels of great price After the Embassador followed about an hundred and forty Persian Horsemen and others of his Court apparelled as before some well some ill according to their Ability Now although the Persians as is to be thought shewed all their Pomp yet they made nothing so fair a shew as did the Turks neither are they so fair Men of complexion being for the most part of a swarft and brown Colour and rather little Men than otherwise not much unlike to the Spaniards The Embassador being departed the Presents were all brought and shewed to Selymus who allowed for their ordinary Charges five hundred Ducats a day for that indeed their number was great and their Beasts many These Expences bestowed upon the Embassadors do presently begin as soon as any of them enter into his Dominions and end so soon as the business for which they come is finished But long it was not but that this Embassador having concluded a Peace betwixt the two great Princes Tamas and Selymus and dispatched such matters as he came for returned home again into Persia. The Venetians also now at this same time by their Embassadors sought to renew the League they had made with the great Turk now expired which as it was easily obtained so was it of small assurance Selymus the next year quarrelling with them and raising new Wars to the great hurt and disturbance of that State as shall forthwith appear Selymus now at Peace with all the World a thing of the Turks not much desired began to think of Works of Charity year 1569. and purposing to build a magnificent Temple at Hadrianople for his own Sepulture with a Monastery a Colledge and an Alms-House as had his Father and other his Ancestors before him at Prusa and Constantinople led thereunto with a vain and superstitious Devotion was troubled with nothing more than how to endow the same with Lands and Revenues sufficient for the maintenance of so great a Charge for that that the Mahometan Kings are by their Superstition prohibited to convert any Lands or Possessions to such holy uses other than such as they have with their own Sword won from the Enemies of their Religion which they may as they are perswaded as a most acceptable Sacrifice offer to their great Prophet which Devilish perswasion ferveth as a Spur to prick forward every of those ambitious Princes to add something to their Empire This his devout purpose once known wanted not the furtherance of many ripe Heads devising some one thing some another as they thought best fitted his humor But amongst many things to him presented none pleased him so well as the Plot laid for the taking of the rich Island of Cyprus from the Venetians a Conquest of it self sufficient both for the eternizing of his Name and performance of his own charitable Works intended with a large overplus for the supplying of whatsoever wanted in his Fathers like devout Works at Constantinople But that which moved him most of all was the glory of such a Conquest which as his Flatterers bare him in hand might make him equal with any his Predecessors who in the beginning of their Reign had usually done or attempted some notable thing against the Christians Hereupon the matter was by Selymus propounded to the great Bassaes to be considered of without whose Advice and Counsel the Turkish Emperors seldom or never take any great Wars in hand Amongst these grave Counsellors Muhamet the chief Visier Bassa a Man of greatest Authority unto whom Selymus was beholden that he had so quietly obtained the Empire and a secret Friend unto the Venetians seemed much to mislike of that motion perswading Selymus not to yield thereunto alledging beside the danger and uncertainty of the expedition that his Father Solyman at the time of his death had charged him straily that the League with the Venetians should be religiously kept and that he could not with his Honour without just cause so quickly break the League which he himself had but a little before most solemnly confirmed But Mustapha the second Bassa sometime Selymus his Tutor and therefore of him much honoured with Pial Bassa the Admiral both envying at the great honour of the Visier Bassa so mightily impugned that he had before said and so importuned Selymus with the shew both of Honour and Profit attending that action as also with the easiness thereof a great part of the Venetian Arsenal being but a little before burnt and their
leaving the Kingdom of Cyprus again to Iames who now by the supportation of the Egyptian Sultan possessed thereof yet lived not without care of Carlotte and her Husband Lewis whom he knew the Cypriots wonderfully affected Wherefore for the more assurance of his Estate he thought it best to joyn in League and Friendship with the Venetians whom he knew to be of great power at Sea and of all other fittest to cross whatsoever Lewis should in the right of his Wife attempt against him Which League he afterwards made and the better to confirm the same took to Wife Catharine Cornelia the Daughter of Marcus Cornelius a Magnifico of Venice being before adopted to the Senate and ever after their reputed Daughter Not long after this marriage Iames died in the year 1470. leaving the Queen great with Child who in due time was delivered of a fair Son unto whom with the Mother the Venetian State became Tutors as their adoptive Fathers and in their behalf took upon them the Government of the Realm This Child shortly after died also not without some suspicion of Poison after whose death great Troubles arose in the Kingdom insomuch that Andreas Cornelius the Queens Uncle a most grave Counsellor and Governor of the Realm under the Queen was by the Conspiracy of certain Noblemen slain and all the Island ready to revolt from the Queen For appeasing of which Troubles the Venetians were glad oftentimes to send their Admirals with their Gallies into Cyprus to take order in the matter and to aid the Queen who at length perswaded by George Cornelius her Brother whilst it was yet in her power as a loving Daugter to yield up the Kingdom unto her adoptive Fathers which she destitute both of Counsel and Power could not long hold so far from her Friends beset on one side with the great Turk and on the other with the mighty Sultan of Egypt She I say thus perswaded by her Brother came to Venice where she was with the greatest Honour that could be devised received by the Duke and whole State at Sea in their great and goodly Ship the Beucentaure and so with all Royal Triumph brought through the midst of the City unto the place most richly for the time appointed for the receiving of her where shortly after attired in all her Royal Habiliments she came in great Majesty unto the Senate House and there before the Tribunal Seat of Augustinus Barbadicus then Duke of Venice laid down her Crown and Scepter and as a most loving Daughter resigned up her Kingdom to the great honour and profit of her Country Thus the Kingdom of Cyprus was delivered into the hands of the Venetians in the year 1473 which they peaceable held from that time paying unto the Sultans of Egypt such Tribute as had the late King Iames which yearly Tribute they in like manner paid unto the Turkish Emperors after that the Kingdom of Egypt was by Selymus the first conquered in the year 1517 as due unto him by Law of Arms with which yearly Tribute both Selymus himself and Solyman after him held themselves well contented But now this Turkish Emperor Selymus the Second of whom we speak desirous both of the honour of such a Conquest and of so rich a Prey made no account of the accustomed Tribute but of the fruitful Island it self whereof he as is before declared hath by his Embassador made a proud demand but is thereof denied by the Senate year 1570. Selymus throughly furnished with all things necessary for the Invasion of Cyprus in the beginning of February sent a great power both of Horse and Foot into Epirus and the Frontiers of Dalmatia to forrage the Venetian Territory especially about Iadera of purpose by that War so near at home to withdraw them from the defence of Cyprus so far off About the middle of April following he sent Pial Bassa with fourscore Gallies and thirty Galliots to keep the Venetians from sending aid into Cyprus This Pial was an Hungarian born of base Parents but turning Turk and giving himself to Arms was first preferred for his Valour shewed against the Christians to Zerbi and afterwards by many degrees rose to the honour of one of the greatest Bassaes. He departing from Constantinople and cutting through Peloponnesus and Helespontus came to Euboea and there for certain days lay in such order as if he should have presently given the Enemy Battel but understanding by his Espials that the Venetians grievously visited with the Plague and slowly relieved by their Friends were not like in haste to come out he took his Course to Tenos an Island of the Venetians to have taken it from them This Island is one of the Cyclades and was by nature strong but stronger by the industry of the Defendants who living far from the Christian Countries and compassed about with such cruel and warlike Enemies as people far distant stood in dread of could never for any fear or danger be removed from the Christian Religion or induced to submit themselves to the Turks Government as most of the other Islands had Pial here landing his Forces sought both by fair means and foul to have perswaded the Inhabitants to have yielded up their Town but when he could get nothing of them but foul words again he began by force to assault the same Two days the Town was valiantly both assaulted and defended but at length the Turks perceiving how little they prevailed and that the Defendants were resolutely set down for the defence of themselves and their Country shamefully gave over the Assault and abandoning the Island directed their Course toward Cyprus For Mustapha Author of that Expedition for his ancient hatred against the Christians made General by Selymus had before appointed Pial Bassa at a time prefixed to meet him at the Rhodes and that he that came first should tarry for the other that so they might together sail into Cyprus Mustapha having before sent a great part of his Army by Land into Pamphilia embarqued the rest with Haly Bassa General of the Forces at Sea who yet staid for him with the rest of the Fleet at Constantinople This Haly was one of the chief Bassaes a man of great account and sometime an especial and noted Follower of Muhamet Bassa but now as it is oftentimes elsewhere seen that Men together with the change of Fortune change their Minds and Affections also was become a great Favorite of Mustapha Now to colour so manifest a wrong and breach of the Turks Faith Mustapha the General acording to the Turkish manner a little before his arrival in Cyprus gave the Venetians there to understand by Letters of his coming as also of his purpose for the taking of that Island from them for that without some such slender denouncing of War unto them against whom it is intended the Turks generally account their Expeditions not to be altogether so lawful or fortunate as otherwise and therefore writ unto them
them at Calipolis and that therefore they should beware how they encountred with the Turks Fleet but upon equal strength It was also at the same time commonly reported That King Philip chief of the Confederates careless of the Wars against the Turk in the East was about to turn his Forces upon the Kingdom of Tunes or Algiers nearer unto him as indeed he did the year following The Venetians intangled with so many difficulties were even at their wits end and day by day the Senate sat from the rising of the Sun to the setting of the same consulting how all these mischiefs were to be remedied But for as much as the greatest danger was to be feared from the Turks Fleet as then hovering even over their heads they by Letters commanded Fascarinus their Admiral That whether the Confederates came unto him or not he should forthwith take his Course toward the East and there according to the Enemies designs and his own discretion and valour to do what he should think best to be done for the common good of his Country and not to refuse to joyn with the Enemy in Battel if he saw any good hope of Victory Neither ceased they at the same â—â—me both by their Embassadors and Letters earnestly to call both upon the Pope and the King to hasten their Forces to encounter the Enemy before he should come out of his own Seas and to carry the terror of the War home to his own doors rather than to receive it at their own The like Message was also done to Don Iohn putting him in mind what his place what the time and what the danger of the time required entreating him if it were possible of himself to add something unto that haâ—t which the necessity of so important a cause required Who nevertheless for all the Messengers and Letters to him sent which were many went still on fair and softly delaying from day to day telling That he would by and by come and that the Spaniards would always be so good as their word Which was so far from his thought that afterwards finding one excuse after another he not only staied his coming but called back again Requisenius also whom he had sent before with twenty Gallies to Corcyra Now were two months fittest for the Wars vainly spent when Superantius grieved to see time to no purpose so slip away and fearing lest the rest of the Summer should to as small effect in like manner pass also with great instance importuned him to hasten his journey Then at length Don Iohn answered That the Venetians requested but reason neither that he wished for any thing more than to satisfie their desires but that a greater care hindred the less which was first to be prevented He was advertised as he said that the French King pretending the suppressing of certain Pyrats had assembled a great Fleet at Rochel with purpose indeed to invade Spain now that the King was busied in these Wars against the Turk and that therefore they must pardon him if he prâ—ferred the regard of Spain before others being expresly commanded from the King not to depart from Mesâ—â—na until he had other commandment from him But whether this excuse by France proceeded of a true fear or otherwise the Venetians much doubted and the rather for that the French King understanding thereof by the Venetians was therewith as reason was exceedingly offended protesting that he was ever so far from that purpose of hindering any the Confederate Princes in that their Religious War that if the troubles of his own Country would have so permitted he would gladly have given them aid therein Many there were also that thought Envy the ancient Enemy of Vertue and Valour to have had a great power in his delay doubting whether the Spaniards would more rejoyce of the Victory well hoped for if they should joyn with the Venetians or grieve if the same should by the Venetians be obtained without them Superantius weary of discourses and long expectation and almost out of hope of any help in time from the Spaniard how untowardly soever things went thought better yet warily to moderate his grief than in so dangerous a time to give any occasion for the Spaniard to fall quite off Yet spake he not fauningly or flatteringly of the matter but with a certain modest gravity declared That he had thought Heaven would sooner have fallen than that Don Iohn would not at the appointed time have come to Corcyra And withal besought him and wished him to beware that he brought not the common State into some great danger if they had to do with such an Enemy as might be delayed with then he said he could easily abide delay but now for that the War and the Enemy was such as wherein or with whom never any General had delayed without loss to what end did he longer defer or trifle out the time Or what other Fleet did he expect If they should divide their Forces then were they all too weak but united together strong enough to defend the common cause The nearer the Enemy came the more haste were to be made to joyn with the Venetian Fleet. And what could be as he told him more honourable or glorious than for him a noble young Gentleman royally descended of whom the World had conceived a great hope that he would in Martial Honour exceed the glory of his most famous Ancestors again to vanquish the proud Turk the greatest and most mighty Monarch of the World to fight the Battel of the Highest to assure the Christian Common-wealth against so puissant an Enemy and to purchase unto himself immortal Glory and Renown As for the French there was no such thing to be feared as was pretended who with such slender preparation not worth the name of a Fleet was not so unadvised as to set upon a Kingdom of such strength and power as Spain Furthermore he said that it concerned not the Venetians more than the King himself to have the Turks repressed whose Kingdoms of Naples Sicilia and Spain were no less than their Territory exposed to danger by Sea. The good success of their Affairs in the East would open the way to the Conquest of Africk but if the Turk should prevail then were they to despair not of Africk but of all Italy Sicily yea and of Spain it self The time he said and necessity of the War with the extremity of the danger of the whole and common State required that he should with all his power and speed possible take upon him the defence of the common cause or to say more truly of the Christian Common-weal then so dangerously impugned These reasons drawn from the common good and the truth it self much moved the General but the Kings pleasure was to be preferred before all reasons or dangers that could be alledged But hearing afterward what resolute command the Venetian Senate had sent unto their Admiral he became exceeding careful for he feared
as on a Platform they placed their Gabions all afront filled with Earth and great Ordnance betwixt to have battered the Castle But when this Engin in manner of a floating Fort should have performed the service for which it was devised it proved unserviceable after it had with much ado been brought thither being ready to sink with the weight of the great Ordnance and other things wherewith it was overcharged For which cause and for that they understood a great number of Horsemen to be come into the Town they gave over the Siege vainly begun and put again with their Fleet to Sea. It fortuned at the same time that a tall Ship of Venice departing from Zacynthus and coming alongst the Coast of Peloponnesus with provision for the Fleet was descried by the Enemy who thinking to do the Christians a great dishonour if they could almost in the sight of their Fleet surprise her they sent out certain light Gallies to have taken her Uluzales in the mean time with the rest of his Fleet lying in the very mouth of the Bay ready to come out if the Christian Fleet should once stir to relieve her Which the Christians perceiving and well hoping that so the Enemy would be drawn to battel sent out Columnius with his Gallies to rescue the Ships and others also which lying aloof might get in betwixt the Turks Gallies and the Bay Don Iohn and the Venetian Admiral lying ready to have given Battel if Uluzales should have come forth but the Christians coming on with a small Gale the Enemy being afraid by shooting off of certain warning Pieces within the Bay in time called back the Gallies that were already gon out of the Bay who all forthwith came in excepting Mahomet the Nephew of Barbarussa a most famous Captain amongst the Turks who as one of great courage and desirous of honour staied a little without the Bay with greater courage than discretion expecting who should assail him Him the Marquess St. Crucis set upon and had with him a great and terrible fight but in the end the Marquess prevailing slew Mahomet with all his Turks and with honour carried away the Gally So the dishonour which Uluzales would have done the Christians fell upon himself having in his own sight lost one of his best Captains with his Gally The next day because the year should not pass without something done nor the hope of so great a preparation come to nothing the Christians determined to besiege the Castle of Navarinum which was in ancient time called Pylus more famous for nothing than for that it was the native place of old Nestor The City of Navarinum standeth upon a rising ground stretching somewhat into the Sea whereinto it hath a large prospect and a fair large Haven but subject to the North-wind It is defended with a point of the Main running with a compass into the Sea whereon standeth an old Castle Some sent before to view the situation of the place brought word back that the Castle might in three days be won The performance of which exploit was committed to Alexander Farnesius Prince of Parma whom the Venetians furnished with Munition and Victual He landing with 2000 Italians 1000 Spaniards and 500 Germans began with twelve great Pieces to batter the Castle And albeit that the Battery was planted so â—ar off as that it did the Enemy no great harm yet happily the enterprise had taken effect if by taking the straight and troublesome passages through a rough and thick Forest the City had been kept from relief but forasmuch as those passages were left free the Enemy cunningly opposed policy against force for sallying out of the City they gave the Christians an hot skirmish and in the mean time whilst the Christians were so busied by a Port toward the Forest on the other side of the City received in great number both of Horse and Foot. The report of this new come aid caused the Prince to raise his Siege and to go again aboord And now rested all the hope of the gaining of the Town in the strength of the Fleet and that not small for that the Turks not relieved with Victuals by Land were by the Confederates kept from them also by Sea for at that time the Turks were troubled with two great mischiefs the Plague and Famine For no provision had there been made as in a thing not feared and that little being spent that was in the Town they were enforced to seek for Victuals further off which coming but sparingly as in time of Dearth was oftentimes by the way intercepted by the Souldiers that lay about in the Country Villages wanting Victuals no less than they in the City And the more Men the Beglerbeg of Graece brought down for defence of the Sea Towns so much the more the wants of all things daily encreased So that no Man doubted but that in short time all would be brought to extream penury What a death the Mortality had made the want of Men in their Gallies well declared for many of the Gallies for lack of Mariners and Souldiers were sent away into Euboea or left at Malvasia or carried away to Constantinople Those who staid in the Bay of Modon were scarce 100 Gallies and 40 Galliots and they so slenderly manned that the greatest Gallies had scarcely an hundred and twenty Men left in them and they so meager and faint as that they could scarcely hold up their Weapons The Christians understanding of these things were in good hope that by continuing the Siege they should without danger gain a notable Victory for which cause Fuscarinus perswaded the Spaniards of wose constancy he doubted to hold it out as Men of resolution shewing them that in the event of this action rested for them for ever to be feared or contemned of the Turks who except they should be changed into Fishes or into Birds could not as he said without a notable overthrow escape their hands out of the Bay. But unto this his hope and counsel the event was not correspondent for the Spaniards whether it were for the tediousness of the Siege or for want of Victuals or for the approach of Winter or else moved with some other reason began to think of the matter diversly and at the first a report was raised That the Christians giving over the Siege would shortly return home and the reason was for that they wanted Bisket and had scarcely Victuals left for fifteen days which was to be reserved for their long journey home besides that The approach of Winter did call them from the action and that having done what they might they could never draw the Enemy forth to battel and that therefore having sufficiently and as far as was possible already discharged their duties they were now also to regard their safety and to foresee that their Fleet wherein the welfare of them all was reposed were now not too far endangered At the first these Speeches
together in a great heat and all be-bloodied urged their happy and fortunate Victory But Mustapha who perceived all that had passed and staied waiting till the fight was at the hottest and the medly at the thickest that so the flight of the Enemies might breed their greater disorder and now seeing that his People could no longer endure the fury of the Enemies Rage even as if it had lightned and thundred and as though the Earth had shaken with such Cries and Acclamations as the Turks use in their Assaults for the more Terror of the Enemies exciting his Army ran as it were headlong upon his Adversaries and so renewed a most terrible Battel The Persians wonderful Courage endured this unexpected and dreadfull Assault and with incredible signes of Valour in that little time of day-light that was left for the Night began now to approach continued their manifold slaughters and at last being favoured by the darkness of the Night withdrew themselves with as little loss as possibly they might Neither durst Mustâ—pha any longer pursue them but was glad by Night to return to his Camp. Of the success of this Battel the Persians certified their King as also of the greatness of the Turkish Army with their further purpose for the annoying thereof And by the Turks also were presented to Mustapha who had already sent away Posts with News to Amurath 5000 Heads which by their Colour Countenance and Beards bewraied themselves to be Persians and 3000 Persians alive Of this Victory Mustapha greatly rejoyced and to make it seem the greater seeking by all means to conceal his own Losses and to raise a greater Terror by the Fame thereof amongst his Enemies caused the Heads of those three thousand that were brought before him alive to be presently cut from their Shoulders and gave order that of those Heads there should be framed a Bulwark in those Fields for a most horrible and uncouth Spectacle The same day that Mustapha imployed himself about this barbarous and cruel work there came unto him certain Messengers from Manucchiar the younger Son of the Georgian Widow Dedesmit a great Prince in that Country who told him That with his good favour and leave Manucchiar their Lord and Master was comming to salute him and to offer himself unto him as his obedient and devoted Servant At which news Mustapha redoubling his Joy gave commandment That all the Bassa's and Captains of the Army with all solemn Pomp with Trumpets Drums peals of Ordnance and all other signs of munifical and joyfull Entertainment should go forth to meet the said Manucchiar and to acompanie him to his Presence Which they did accordingly and so encountering him with all signes of Honour conducted him to the great Pavilion of Mustapha who there caused him again to be saluted with like Triumph Manucchiar dismounted from his Horse and against his Will beholding the strange and uncouth pile of Heads all pale and filthie to behold and indeed imagining what the matter meant yet notwithstanding before all other things having done his due Reverence to the great Bassa and according to his degree placed himself next to his side after he had presented him with such Gifts as his Country yielded he gave him to understand That for the Honour and Estimation which he bare to the Turkish Valour he was always devoted to the House of the Othomans and as he had oftentimes desired to spend his Goods and Life in their Service so at this present time moved by his ancient desire allured by the strange fame of this victorious and wonderful Army and stirred up by a particular fantasie to learn the painful and hard Precepts of the Art Military under such a General Commander of other Commanders he offered him all Devotion and Service more than ever he had done to any heretofore and himself having nothing in the World more deare unto him consecrated his own Life to his Commandments desiring that the same might be imployed in the conflicts of War under his Banners among Warriers and Souldiers of Fame and Renown and therefore besought him to accept of him in the name of Amurath whose obedient Vassal he vowed himself to remain for ever Graciously did Mustapha receive all this Discourse from Manucchiar and having shewed him again the pile of Heads together with his Battels Armour and Provision of War told him That as all these Forces are the Gift of God who always favoured the righteous Counsels of the Othoman Emperours in such sort that they lord it over all the World even to the astonishment of all that live in the World at this day so had he for his particular chosen the better part in comming now to yield himself and to submit his Obedience to his Lord although it had been better if he had done it before And as concerning the desire he had to be his Companion and Fellow in these warlike Affairs he did very friendly accept of his comming and promised him all good Entertainment and assured Safety And so in exchange of the Presents which he brought with him he apparelled him in Cloath of Gold honoured him with a Battel-axe and Targuet wrought with Gold and Ammel and never permitted him to go from his Pavilion without a train of his Slaves following him This Georgian Prince thus solemnly entertained the General gave order thorough the Camp That they should the next Morning remove from those Mountains and now every man was putting himself in readiness when as there rise a most terrible Tempest of Wind and Rain mixt with Thunder and Lightning which continued with such Violence by the space of four days together as if the Heavens had been dissolved into Waters Whereby it came to pass that out of the dead Carkasses and Heads before mentioned issued a most horrible stink so that thereby and by the foulness of the Weather with the other Annoyances always attending upon so great a Camp the whole Army was exceedingly troubled and divers Diseases arose among the Turks But at the last the Weather breaking up Mustapha rise with his Camp and set forward toward Teflis and being not able by reason of the foulness of the way to pass any further that day stayed in the Plains where the Lake Chielder Giol standeth and there refreshed his sick and wounded Souldiers removing thence the next day about Noon he came to the Castle of Archicheleck sometime a Castle of the Georgians but taken from them by Solyman in his Wars against Tamas and ever since holden by the Turks Here Mustapha surveyed his Army and by diligent account taken found himself to want 40000 of his Souldiers whereof some were slain in the Battel some were dead of Sickness and many wearie of so long and perillous a Journey were by Night stolne out of the Camp and returned to take their ease at home From thence the Army removed and lodged at Night near the marish called of the Turks Peruana Giol or
he came not himself because the Infirmity of his Body would not suffer him Wherewithall Mustapha rested satisfied and leaving the City of Zaghen on the right hand caused the Messengers of Alexander to guide him the way to Teflis which they so directly did that within the space of three days they conducted him thither with his Army without the feeling of any annoyance from whence they returned being well rewarded for their pains by the General Who now come to Teflis found the Garrison he had there left for the keeping thereof so hardly pinched with Famine that they were glad to eat Cats Dogs Sheep-skins and such like unwonted food for neither durst they for fear of the Enemy go out of the Castle to provide for themselves neither if they had so done had it any thing availed such was the carefulness of the Enemy in keeping of his things but now by the coming of the General they were relieved with Meat Money and plenty of all things Having stayed there two days he put himself again upon his way and with Fire and Sword destroyed whatsoever came in his way in the Champains subject to the said City only the Sepulchres of Simons Progenitors Lord of that Country were left untouched by the Turks Fury The next day they travelled over rough and ragged Mountains full of a thousand difficulties which were the more increased by wonderfull great Snows that were fallen by reason whereof many Souldiers Horses Camels and Mules perished In which distress the Army continued two days during which time the Souldiers were fallen into such disorder that forgetting the feat of the Enemies Country wherein they were â—very man without regard took up his several loâ—â—ing apart some here some there where they might find either some thick Bush or some small Cottage or some quiet Valley to shelter themselves in from the Wind the Snow and the Storms Of which disorder certain Georgian Lords understanding by the Scouts which from time to time waited upon the Turks Army joyned themselves together and in the Night secretly approached unto it expecting the Opportunity of performing some notable Exploit and having observed that Hosaine Bey had withdrawn himself with his Regiment from the rest of the Army under certain Mountains to defend himself from the Storm and Wind they took the Occasion presented and so assailing him slew his Slaves and all his Squadrons took a great booty of many loads of Money and Apparel led away with them all his Horses and whatsoever else they could find and scarce gave him liesure to save himself by flying into the Tents of Beyran Bassa The next morning the Turks removed and in the Evening came to a Castle called Chiurchala where they stayed a whole day to make provision of Victual which was attempted by sending abroad many of their Slaves into the Fields conducted by them of the Castle who were all miserably cut in pieces by the Georgians From this Place the Turks Army departed in great hunger over divers rough places of the Georgians where they were oftentimes fain to rest themselves and at last came to the Confines of Dedesmit of her called the Widows Country In the entrance whereof they must needs pass thorough a narrow Straight between certain Mountains where the River Araxis windeth it self with a thousand turnings in the low Vallies a dangerous place and so narrow that no more but one man alone could at once pass through it Between this Straight and a very thick and hilly Wood they lodged upon the Bank of the said River and from thence they removed the next morning and travelled over very steep Mountains and rough Forrests over Ice and Snow more hard than Marble and over other hanging Rocks in such miserable sort that many Camels Mules and Horses tumbling down headlong into the River there miserably perished Through these ruinous Crags and divers other Miseries they marched all the next day and after that another day also as miserable to the Army as the former and so at last being sore afflicted with hunger spoiled of the Enemy tormented with the hard season of the Year and scituation of the Place they arrived in the Territories that lay under Altunchala or golden Castle the princely Widows Palace where they had all manner of Relief for all the Miseries they had endured since their departure from Chiurchala by the space of six days which if it had been a fair common travelled way might have been performed in one only days Journey The Widow with Alexander her eldest Son came down from her Castle and went unto the Pavilion of Mustapha offering him divers Presents and promising unto him all faithful Obedience whom Mustapha courteously received declaring unto her what honourable entertainment he had given to Manucchiar her younger Son there present who had been with him in all the Expedition into Siruan And for the present dissembling the privy displeasure he bare against Alexander whom he thought to have been one of them that spoiled the Sorians in their return from the Camp he embraced him courteously and prayed her to be content to leave him also there with him giving her farther to understand that he would send both her Sons to Constantinople to Amurath with Letters of Credence for their yielded Obedience for their Favour shewed to his Army in giving it so secure Passage and so many Helps and lastly that for their good Deserts they might be of the said great Sultan both honourably entertained and rewarded The aged Lady although her Mind was herewithall so retroubled yet outwardly in her Countenance shewed her self pleased and seemed courteously to yield that she was of necessity constrained to grant as well for that he was already possessed of one of her Sons as also for that both herself and her whole state were now in his Power and as it were at his Devotion and therefore leaving both her Sons behind her she returned her self heavy to her Castle In this Place Mustapha having refreshed his Army two days departed thence toward Chars and after many days travel at last arrived at Erzirum to the great rejoycing of the whole Army which was there presently discharged by the General without any mustering at all and leave given for every man to return into his Country Mustapha settling himself in Erzirum dispatched Posts with Letters of plentiful Advertisements to his great Lord and Master of all things that had passed not forgetting to magnifie his own Exploits above Measure He certified him of the Battels he had had with the Persians the Obedience he had received of the Georgians and Siruanians the mutiny of his own Souldiers the Fortress he had built at Ere 's the Garrisons left in that City with Caitas Bassa and in Sumachia with Osman Bassa and in brief whatsoever else had passed and whatsoever he had taken from the Enemy Neither did he fail to propound unto Amurath what he thought convenient to be attempted the
Country carrying away with him whatsoever he met withall and committing such Insolencies as hungry Souldiers beyond all honesty use to do in strange and fruitful Countries But when he was in the midst of these spoyls and least feared the Enemy he was suddenly assailed by the Prince and having no means to escape his Fury in this Extremity after a fierce and bloody Battel wherein the Turks although in number few yet shewed many effects of Valour he was there slain with all his Souldiers leaving the Fortress the Spoils and the Country committed to his Custody free to the Pleasure of the Victor which the Persian Prince having once again gotten into his Possession took away the two hundred pieces of Artillery that were left in the Fort by Mustapha and presently sent them to Casbin to his Father The Prince encouraged with so happy a beginning leaving his Mother at Ere 's followed on his Journey toward Sulachia but by the way descending the Hills he discovered where the Tartarians lay encamped Whereupon he stood in great doubt whether to adventure upon so mighty an Enemy or to content himself with the Victory he had already gotten and so to return into Persia to return he thought it too great a shame and chose rather to adventure himself to most manifest Peril And therefore descending the Hill and drawing nigh the Enemy he perceived that the Army was all laid down to rest and that their Horses were some couched some standing but all unsadled whereupon without any stay setting Spurs to his Horse he pricked forward with all his host and most terribly assaulted the Tartarians now buried in their spoils and sleep and having slain their first and second Watch although with some loss among the tumultuary Souldiers he made an universal confusion and slaughter putting some to flight killing others and taking divers of them Captives Among whom was their General Abdilcherai who was taken alive and sent to the King. After these Victories the Persian Prince scoured to Sumachia and compassed the City round about wherein the Turkish Bassa Osman sat as Governour to the reproach of Persia and there encamping himself send word to Osman That if he would yield himself he would let him depart with Life and Goods otherwâ—se if he wâ—uld obstinately hold it out and not yield the City which he so unjustly possessed he should be constrained to surrender it by force and his Life withall Osman who as then knew nothing of the Tartarians overthrow but still hoped of their return thought it best to entertain the Prince with fair words untill their coming and therefore gave him courteous answer that he was very ready to yield up the City but withall intreated him that he would stay but for three days and grant him time to put all things in readiness that so he might freely depart as it had pleased him in courtesie to offer The Prince glad of such an answer supposing it to have proceeded of a sincere meaning expected of the Turk the performance thereof But Osman meaning nothing less than to commit himself to the faith of his Enemy and seeing that the Tartarians whom he looked for appeared not he resolved to save himself by secret flight doubting as he had good reason that if he should longer stay to be betraied by the Inhabitants of the City themselves and therefore somewhat before the assigned term of the three days appointed for the surrendring of the City he by the help of a dark Night and the covert of the high and rough Crags with great silence withdrew himself out of Sumachia carrying away with him all hiâ— Substance and so in safety arrived at Derbent The next Morning the Inhabitants of Sumachia opened the Gates of the City to the Prince who seeing their Infidelity first by giving of entertainment to Osman and now by helping him to escape without giving him any knowledge thereof did put in execution the effect of his Wrath and Indignation which even at Casbin he had conceived in his Mind against them and with great Cruelty did punish the miserable and unfortunate Citizens laying their Houses even with the Ground rasing both the old and new Walls of that City of late so desired a Receipt for the Turks But when he was to depart thence he stood in doubt Whether to go on to Derbent or to return to Persia the strength of that City the approach of Winâ—eâ— and the long Journey he was to take homeward persuaded him to lay aside the enterprise for Derbent whereupon he resolved to return to Casbin yet first to make his return by them of Ere 's and Sechi and upon them as upon Rebels to inflict well deserved Punishment So making his present repair thither spared neither Sex nor Age nor any Condition of Persons but upon them all poured forth his furious Indignation without exception Which done he with his aforesaid Mother Begum and his Army though somewhat diminished yet victorious and triumphant returned to Casbin Young Abdilcherai the Tartarian was kept safe in the Kings Palace at Casbin but with such easie Imprisonment as was agreeable to his calling which was day by day so inlarged as that he seemed not to live as a Prisoner but rather as a Companion of those of the Court and as it were in apparent Liberty By which occasion having insinuated himself into the love of Begum the King's Wife he spent his time in courting her and she again in entertaining of him in all secret and covert manner Yet these their mutual Affections and interchangeable Favours passed not so secretly but that in the Court and all over the City it was a rise Report That the shameless Lady prodigal of her Honour had participated both her bed and her self with the Tartarian Prisoner Howbeit neither the King nor the Prâ—nce knew any thing of it But the King perceiving the young Gentleman to be generally commended valiant courteous and of a comely Feature and withall nobly born for he gave it out that he was the Brother of Tartar Chan perswaded himself that it would stand with the great good of his state of a Captive to make him his Son-in-law by giving him his Daughter in Mariage whereby he was in good hope there might grow such an amity and union between the Tartarian Praecopenses and himself as that they would from thenceforth not only refuse to favour Amurath in those Wars but also become Enemies unto him and in the favour of Persia turn their Arms and Affections against him Which his deep and considerate purpose so displeased the Sultans of Casbin that they sought by all means they could possibly devise to avert the King from that so strange a Policy but all in vain for the King being fully resolved and now upon the point to make a conclusion of the Marriage the Sultans entering into the Palace with their Followers and finding there the unfortunate Tartarian ran him through the Body and cutting off
with his Army the shortest and safest way to Teflis for that some were of Opinion that it were best to go by Tomanis and some other by the way of Mustaffa his Country wherein Mustaffa did readily resolve him that the easiest and shortest way lay through his own Country being also in his Opinion the safest This counsel of Mustapha pleased Mahamet greatly so that he made choice of him to be the guide of his Army reposing himself wholly upon his good direction and so departed thence toward Teflis passing through Altunchala and Carachala both belonging to the said Georgian abounding with all things necessary for the sustenance of man neither were they ever disturbed by any Enemy Having passed Mustapha's Country they came to a friendly Castle called Gori from whence they discovered in certain fields a great Army of the Georgians mingled with Persians but apparelled after the manner of Georgia these were those Captains of Persia sent from the Persian King as in other years before to aid the Georgians who secretly conjoyned with Simon Chan the Georgian had changed their Apparel because the treaty of Peace should not be disturbed and their King accounted unjust of his Word who under a colour of a treaty of Peace whilst Amurath attended nothing else but to succour and defend his conquered Countries without purpose to annoy any other places went about to procure the destruction of the Turks These then as soon as they saw the Turkish Army and perceived that they also themselves were by them descried sent Heraulds unto them with haughty words of defiance and to offer them battel With great Grief of Mind did the Bassa receive this proud defiance but having no other purpose but only to bring his Succours safe to Teflis he dismissed the Heraulds and studied by all means he could to shun Battel That Evening he was favoured in his purpose by the great and continual Rain which then fell and served for a reasonable excuse of his delay but the next day proving fair and the Sun shining bright both the Armies marched in sight the one of the other all day untill about four hours and an half before night at which time the Turks arrived near to a River that separated the one Army from the other There the Bassa fell in Consultation with Mustapha whether they should pass over the River before Night or stay on that side they were untill the next Morning In which case Mustaffa advised him to stay as fearing lest the Enemy should set upon the Army disordered in passing the River and so annoy them Notwithstanding the General disliked this Advice of Mustapha having taken a strong conceit even upon the first discovery of the Enemy that there was some intelligence and compact between Mustapha and the Persians and that to that end he had maliciously perswaded him to come that way and not by the way of Tomanis and therefore the Bassa thinking that if there were any such Plot laid between Mustapha and the Enemy to set it in some confusion would not in any case follow the Counsel of the suspected Georgian to stay that Night but commanded that with the greatest speed that might be all his Souldiers with their Treasure and Corn should pass over the River to the end that before Night he might on the other side of the River incamp his Army in some good place to the scorn and derision of his Enemâ—es Mahamet his Lieutenant a bold young man and an hardy was the first that ventured over and after him the Carriages of Mony and of Corn and then the whole Army with such speed that some of the confused Multitude were drowned in the passage being rather troden down with the Horses and Camels than brought to their deaths either by the depth of the Channel or swiftness of the River As soon as the Georgians perceived that the Turks had passed the River without staying untill they might settle themselves in any good order they in great haste and fury ran upon them and presently assailed them whilest they were yet all in confusion and out of order by reason whereof the Turks although they turned their faces upon their Enemy and made some good resistance yet in short time you might have seen the Banks of the River in many places stained with the Turkish Blood and many Carkases of the Turks here and there scattered without any apparent loss among the Georgians and Persians Amongst them that fell in this slaughter were a number of Sanzacks of the Curdi and Mesopotamians which the rest perceiving and by the overthrow of their own conjecturing the loss of others turned their backs and fled the like did the remnant of the Mesopotamians and after them at last the whole Army whom the Georgians pressed so sore in their flight that many of the Turks seeing no other way to escape cast themselves into the River and so though hardly escaped with their Lives Great was the shame great was the confusion but greatest was the loss they received for that in the heat of the Battel the Kings Mony and Corn was taken by the Georgians and Persians every man saving only so much for himself as he could secretly hide upon his own Body or convey by the means of some trusty slave which by the help of their swift Horses was preserved rather by Fortune than by Valour The Turks thus discomfited and spoiled of their relief the next Morning gathered themselves together again one with another cursing the Heavens the King and their adverse Fortune some of them also threatning the Georgian Renegate Mustapha as though all this mischief had hapned through his treachery and secret Intelligence with the Enemy Notwithstanding when they found that they had still remaining so much Money and other easements as might suffice to comfort the afflicted Minds of the Souldiers besieged in the Fort they resolved to hold on their way towards Teflis and in their Journey used such speed that the day following they arrived there in the Evening But when they of the Fort saw their Friends whom they had so long expected arrived in such bad sort and so evil furnished they were astonished and wonderfully grieved at this common loss and all in a confusion protested to Mahamet That they would abandon the place if they had not forthwith necessary Provision made for them But the General after he had with large Promises mitigated their first Furies and Insolencies presently in the Morning caused a Divano or Counsel to be called in the Castle where having gathered together all the chief Men in his Army he spake unto them in this manner FOR as much as it hath pleased God that so great and important an occasion of Victory which was offered unto us for the Honour and Glory of every one of us is now fallen out so unfortunately that it hath not only not ministred unto us any matter of triumphing over our Enemies as we should have done but
his Army and departed thence the fifth of November and returned to Rab. Not long after Christopher Lord Teuffenbach the Emperours Lieutenant in the upper part of Hungary who lay encamped at Cassovia with his Army of fourteen thousand Souldiers removed thence and marching along the Country two days came and laid siege to Sabatzka one of the Turks strongest Castles in those quarters out of which they usually did much harm among the Christians This Castle of Teuffenbach battered in three places and having at length made it assaultable took it by force the nineteenth of November and put to the Sword all the Turks there in Garrison in number about two hundred and fifty and instead of them left a strong Garrison of his own whereby all the Country thereabouts was restored to great quietness Sabatzka thus taken the Christian General removed with all speed to Filek a strong City of the higher Hungary which Solyman the Turkish Emperour took from the Christians in the year 1560 and placed therein a Sanzack under the command of the Bassa of Buda The General encamping before this City the next day after planted his Battery and in most terrible manner without intermission thundered against the Walls and Gates of the City The Sanzack Governour thereof considering the Power of the Christians got out secretly by Night with a few Souldiers to acquaint the other Turkish Sanzacks his Neighbours with the coming of the Christians and the number of their Army and further to consult with them how the City might be relieved The Bassa of Temesware with the Sanzacks of Giula Hadwan Scantzag and Scirme undertook the matter and thereupon the Bassa sent for eight hundred Ianizaries of late left by Sinan Bassa in Garrison at Buda and Alba Regalis who all flatly refused to go to this Service saying That they would not be led as Beasts to the slaughter as were their Fellows but a little before at Alba Regalis nevertheless they enforced the Armenians whom Sinan and his Son had brought thither to go but of Buda Alba Regalis and Scamboth were sent only fifteen hundred common Souldiers For all that the Bassa with the Sanzacks his Followers firm in their former Resolution for the Relief of the distressed City having made great Preparation and raised an Army of 18000 strong with many Field-pieces by Night drew near unto Filek and staied within two miles of the City But the General of the Christians with Stephen Bathor and the other Captains understanding of their coming with 7000 good Souldiers chosen out of the whole Army went out presently against them and the one and twentieth of November suddenly assailing them in their Tents overthrew them and put them all to flight whom the Christians fiercely pursued with a most terrible Execution In this fight and flighâ— there was slain 6000 Turks and but few or none taken The Bassa himself with the Sanzack of Filek and many others of great Name were â—ound amongst the Bodies of the slain Turks This Victory gained with little or no loss yielded unto the Christians a rich Prey many gorgeous Tents and fair Ensigns much Cattel and 29 Field-pieces with 200 Waggons laden with Victual and other Provision all which they carried into the Camp at Filek and so more straightly besieged the City than before The same day the Lord Palfi and Martin Lasla came to the Camp with six thousand Souldiers and forthwith three Trumpeters were sent to them of the City That if without further resistance they would forthwith yield the City they should have leave in safety to depart with Life and Goods although the Turks had of late in like case broken their Faith with the Christians at Palotta but if they refused his Grace and would needs hold it out to the uttermost then to denounce unto them all Extremities For all this the Turks nothing dismaied refused to yield whereupon the battery began afresh and in more terrible manner than before so that though the City was most strongly fortified both with Walls and Rampiers yet had the Christians in three days space with continual battery made a fair breach into it whereby they in despight of the Enemy entred without any notable loss the four and twentieth of November ransacked the City and burnt a great part thereof The same day they also took the uttermost Castle wherein the Sanzacks Palace stood This Castle standeth upon a very high hill strengthned both by Art and Nature and had in it a strong Garrison of valiant Souldiers who spared not lustily to bestow their shot amongst their Enemies of whom they slew a great number Nevertheless the Christians after they had for the space of two Days and two Nights with a most furious battery shaken the Walls by plain force entred the Castle the six and twentieth of November and put to the Sword all the Garrison Souldiers except such as had in good time forsaken this Castle and retired themselves into another more inward Who being in number eight hundred with their Wives and Children without hope of Relief and seeing the Cannon now bent upon them set out a white Ensign in token of Parley which granted it was agreed that they should depart with Life and so much of their Goods as every one of them could carry Upon which Agreement the Castle was yielded the eight and twentieth day of November and the Turks with a safe Convoy brought unto the Place they desired In this Castle was found a great booty many pieces of Artillery and much other warlike Provision but of Victuals small store The General with the rest of the Captains entring the Castle fell down upon their Knees and with their Hearts and Hands cast up to Heaven thanked God for their Victory and for the recovery of that strong City but especially for the delivery of so many Christians out of the Turkish Thraldom for it is reported that there were above eight hundred Country Villages subject to the Jurisdiction of Filek the poor Inhabitants whereof were now all freed from the Turkish Servitude by the taking of this only City The Christians forthwith repaired the Walls Bulwarks and Trenches and strongly fortified every place against the Enemy and so leaving a sufficient Garrison in the City and Castles departed with their Army now in number about twenty thousand towards Sodoch six miles from Filek But as they were upon the way News was brought unto the General how that the Turks had for fear abandoned the Castles of Dijwin and Somoske whereupon he sent out certain Companies of Souldiers to take in both those places who coming thither found them indeed forsaken by the Enemy but yet many pieces of Artillery and other warlike Provision there still left In the latter end of November the General marched with his Army towards Setschine a strong Town in the Diocess of Agria but the Turks in that place had two or three days before prepared themselves to flie and sent their Wives their
themselves In this assault and fury perished of the Turks about four thousand and of the Christians not past three hundred In this Town beside that which the fire devoured was found a very rich Prey The first that entred the Town was one Tersky a notable Captain with his Company after whom followed Ruswurme who each of them were thought in their Entrance at the Breach to have slain with their own hand eight or ten Turks Now in the mean time Mahomet the great Sultan being come to Belgrade removed thence to come down into the Heart of Hungary sending Cicala Bassa before him and at length after long looking for the second of September arrived at Buda having in his Army about two hundred thousand men and three hundred Field-pieces From thence he presently sent 40000 to Temeswar but stayed there himself with the rest of his Army The Christians yet lying at Hatwan and doubting lest the Sultan suddenly passing the River should come upon them not yet ready for Battel departing thence and retiring back again came and incamped not far from Vachia And albeit that the Arch-duke before his Departure from Hatwan had left a convenient Garrison for the keeping of the Town yet such was the terror of the Turks approach that the next day after they that were there left in Garrison forsook the Town and setting it on fire followed themselves after the Camp. This coming of the Turkish Sultan to Buda brought also a great fear upon them at Vienna as much doubting lest he should that way have turned his Forces which caused them both day and night to labour for the better Fortification of the City and for the provision of all things as if it had been for a present Siege But Mahomet not provided for the undertaking of so strong a place and not ignorant of the disgrace his great Grand-father the victorious Solyman had sometime received under the Walls thereof had no purpose thereto as having bent his thoughts quite another way In the upper part of Hungary is an ancient famous City well fortified and honoured with a Bishops See called Agria not far from Hatwan upon this City as the chief Fortress of the Christians in those Quarters had Mahomet at his coming into Hungary cast his eyes and began now that way to make head with purpose by taking of that City and placing there a strong Garrison to hinder the uniting of the Emperour's Forces with the Transilvanians for the mutual strengthning of the one the other by the way of the upper Hungary Which the Arch-duke perceiving sent thither forthwith the valiant Collonel Tersky with a notable Company of Italians and Germans and a thousand other Harquebusiers who all arrived there in safety At which time also the Lord Teuffenbach sent into the City three thousand Foot-men under the conduct of County Turne with good store of warlike Provision needful for the defence thereof The one and twentieth of September Mahomet attended upon by the great Bassaes Ibrahim Giaffer Hassan and Cicala for old Sinan was now dead with his Army of an 150000 men came and encamped between the two Rivers of Danubius and Tibiscus covering a great part of the Country with his Tents Approaching the City he with wonderful Celerity cast up five great Mounts and from them with such fury battered the Walls that the Christians were glad night and day to stand in Arms for the defence thereof And altho that the Walls were so great and in many places so weakly fortified as that they were not but by a greater Garrison to be defended against so puissant an Enemy and that therefore the Defendants with their Honour lawfully might even the first day have set the City on fire and retired themselves into the Castle which was both fair and strong and the only place to be trusted unto yet for the space of six days they worthily defended the whole City against the fury of the Enemies and out of it did them great harm But seeing the danger greatly encreasing and that the City was not longer to be holden they set it on fire having before conveyed all the best of their Substance with themselves into the Castle which the Turks quickly perceiving brake so suddenly into the City as if they would together with the Christians have entred the Castle also but in the attempt thereof they were notably repulsed and many of them slain Adjoyning to the Castle was a great and strong Bulwark against which the Turks for certain days furiously thundred with their great Ordnance and that without intermission and having in divers places sore shaken it in the space of two days assaulted it 12 times but not without the wonderful loss of their men and yet gave it not so over but as men with their loss more enraged came on again with greater fury than before and so at last by plain force took it and there put to the Sword all them they found therein except such as by good hap got betimes into the Castle This Bulwark thus lost the Christians the next day sallying out again recovered wherein they slew a great number of the Turks with the loss of some thirty men and as many more wounded The besieged now divers times both by Letters and Messengers craved Aid of Maximilian the General giving him to understand that they could not long hold out for want of Shot and Powder if they were not betimes relieved whereof the Enemy also was not ignorant yet were they resolved to hold it out even to the last man altho the great Sultan had oftentimes by Messengers sent of purpose willed them to yield it up with promise that they should in safety with Life and Goods depart otherwise threatning unto them greater extremities than was of late shewed unto the Turks at Hatwan if they should as obstinate men hold it out unto the last whereunto they never answered him any thing for Terskie had forbid them all Parle with the Enemy and in the midst of the Market-place had caused a pair of Gallows to be set up threatning to hang him thereon whosoever he were that should once make motion of yielding up the City Whilst the besieged thus live in hope of Relief the Arch-duke upon the coming over of the Sultan towards Agria having retired with his Army to Strigonium and there staid somewhat too long expecting the coming of more Aid began now at length to set forward and to make some shew as if he had indeed purposed to have relieved his distressed Friends so hardly beset at Agria But such was the foulness of the Weather hindering the passage of his great Ordnance not to speak of any thing else that in fourteen days he marched scarcely twelve miles forward Whereby the Enemy took occasion to prevail as he did in his Siege who now hearing of the coming of the Christians and seeing to how little purpose he had so long battered the Castle converted all his endeavours to
the filling up of the Ditch of the old Castle with Faggots Earth and such like matter for the hastening of which work Mahomet himself spared not to ride up and down in all places of his Army with his Presence and cheerful Speech encouraging his men in that desperate Work. But whilst the Turks are thus busie in fulfilling his Command the Christians sallying out upon them made great slaughter of them and put to flight Ibrahim the great Bassa with such as were about him after whom they so eagerly followed that he in the flight lost his Tulipant for haste and was there very like to have been taken Nevertheless the work went still forward and was now at length with the restless labour of so great a multitude brought to such perfection that the Turks thought it now no great matter by assault to enter the Castle and thereupon the tenth of October gave unto it four desperate Assaults one upon another being still with greater slaughter of his men repulsed But coming on again the fifth time with fresh Supplies and greater fury than at the first they prevailed and so entring put to the Sword all they found in the Castle in number about eight hundred four hundred of whose Heads one of the Turks Captains caused to be carried unto Mahomet in the Camp in the beholding whereof he is said to have taken great Pleasure as in the undoubted Signs of his Victory The old Castle thus taken nothing remained but the new Castle against which the Turks converted their whole Forces wherein they reposed not so much hope altho their Battery were very terrible and their Power great as in the secret Mines wherewith they had in fourteen places undermined the Castle and were now almost ready to be blown up Which the besieged perceiving and withal considering the state wherein they stood and not hearing any thing of relief resolved amongst themselves without the consent of their chief Commanders no longer to hold out but to yield And thereupon altogether as if it had been but one man rise up in a Mutiny against their two Governours Paul Niari and Tersky who at the first by all the reasons they could devise dissuaded them from such Cowardise putting them in mind of the Oath they had taken which not prevailing they afterwards upon their knees requested them as men to hold it out yet a while in hope of speedy relief yea Tersky with his hands cast up intreated them that if they would no longer hold it out but needs yield then they should first kill him with their own hands that he might not live to see so great a Dishonour But what availeth Persuasion with men possessed with so great fear And in the mean time 250 of the common Souldiers among whom were many Italians secretly escaping out of the Castle fled into the Camp of whom divers became Renegades and turned Turk which added to the former fear so much discouraged the minds of the rest that they forthwith required to come to parle with the Enemy and so agreed That they might with Bag and Baggage and their Swords by their sides in safety depart the great Sultan giving his Faith for the performance thereof with Hostages delivered on either side So the thirteenth of October about Noon the Garrison Souldiers came out of the Castle in number about 2000 but they were not gone far but that they were in a great Plane set upon by the Turks and Tartars and there cut in pieces some of them were flain quick and some other of them otherwise shamefully dismembred the Turks in the mean time upbraiding them and saying That Faith was not to be kept with them that had so cruelly before dealt with them of Hatwan This perfidious dealing much offended divers of the better sort of the Turks insomuch that some of them complained thereof unto the Sultan who as is reported caused some of the chief Authors thereof to be put to death and afterward by open Proclamation commanded that if any of the Turks or Tartars had taken any of them Prisoners they should forthwith set them at liberty Thus is the famous City of Agria of long time a Christian Bishops Seat now become a sure Receptacle for the Turks and Infidels Whilst Mahomet thus lay at the Siege of Agria the Bassa of Bosna with certain other of the Sanzacks thereabouts having raised a great Army came and besieged Petrinia in the Borders of Croatia which he at his first coming so furiously battered by the space of seven days that it was of many thought not possible for it to hold out two days longer In the mean time the Lord Herbenstein and Leucowitze with all the Power they could make out of Croatia and Windismarch came towards Petrinia but having no means in so great haste to make a Bridge over the River of Kulp they retired towards Siseg there to pass over The Turks hearing of their retire and supposing them to have fled for fear put six thousand Horsemen over the River to pursue them upon whom the Christians turning and charging them home overthrew them and having slain many of them drave the rest headlong into the River where most of them perished The Christians nevertheless keeping on their way to Siseg there the next day by a Bridge passed over the River and so marching towards Petrinia and being come near unto the Town were encountered by eight thousand Turks whom they also put to flight and by certain Prisoners there taken understood that the Bassa the day before was risen from before the Town and gone which they at the first believed not but coming thither found it so to their own good Contentment and the great Joy of the late besieged Maximilian the General marching on fair and softly from Strigonium at length the seventeenth of October came to Cassovia four days after that Agria was lost and there met with the Transilvanian Prince who was come thither with eighteen thousand men and forty Field-pieces to aid him of whom eight thousand were mercenary Horse-men fifteen hundred were of the Nobility of his Country and the rest Foot-men The next day after they setting forward from Cassovia joyned themselves with the rest of the Army led by the Lord Teuffenbach and Palfi and so of all their united Forces made one Army consisting now of 32000 Horse-men and 28000 Foot who drew with them an 120 Field-pieces and 20000 Waggons wherewith they every night enclosed their Army as with a most sure Trench So orderly marching they kept on their way towards Agria with a full resolution to give the Turks Battel whereof the whole Army seemed to be very desirous By the way at length they came to a fair Heath two miles long and four broad where they were to pass over a certain River the Passage whereof Giaffer Bassa had before taken with 20000 Turks and Tartars the rest of the Turks Army lying still not far from Agria Now the purpose of
to go but That they were his Christian Souldiers and Brethren under his leading both of long and late time who never by him deceived of their wonted Pay at such time as it was due would not now as he hoped forsake him And albeit that he well knew them to have deserved at his hands a greater Contentment nevertheless being himself deprived of his Revenue by these late Wars and his Possessions subject every hour unto the Incursions of the Turks could not therefore according to his Desire and their Deserts shew unto them the great good Will he bare them yet now and even presently was come the time wherein they might not only abundantly inrich themselves but also adorn their Heads with an immortal Crown of Glory and make themselves for ever famous by performing the most happy and glorious Exploit that ever was by valiant Souldiers attempted or atchieved in that part of the World. And to the intent that they might know how dearly he accounted of the Life and Honour of every one of them he would therefore himself with the Lord Swartzenburg of whom proceeded all that fair Device and new Stratagem be present with them in the Action and that therefore they were not to think that they were led forth to any private danger farther than their Commanders themselves whose Folly were to be accounted great if rashly and upon no good ground they should adventure their Lives and Honours together whereof they ought not now to doubt having by a thousand Proofs known how much they had been of them always regarded And that therefore it behoved them so much the more to shew their Valour in this piece of Service undertaken for the great benefit of the Christian Commonweal and the Honour of Christ Jesu unto whom they were with one accord to make their Prayers with his mighty hand to strengthen their Hearts and with glorious Victory to bring to happy end the intended Exploit against his Enemies to the honour of his Name and the advancement of the Christian Religion and Faith. At the end of which Speech all the Souldiers cried aloud That they were most ready to do any their Commands and to follow them whithersoever So order was taken that within three hours they should every man be prest and ready with their Arms according to their places and so having well refreshed themselves about eleven of clock the seven and twentieth day of March they in good order began to set forwards toward Rab. But for that the multitude of Souldiers oftentimes giveth the Enemy warning of that is intended against him Palfi gave order to one Iohn Stroine his Serjeant-Major to follow fair and softly after him with 1700 Horse and Foot which he well performed and so upon the break of the day they began to draw towards Rab and there lay close in Ambush all that day until night about seven miles short of the Town refreshing themselves in the mean time with plenty of Victuals which they had brought with them from Komara Night the favourer of Deceit being come in two hours March they began to draw near to Rab and there staid about five hours from whence they sent before them a French Engineer a man of great Judgment with thirteen others before rewarded with 1500 Duckats having with them four Petards Engines of Force to blow up into the Air any thing whereunto they be fastened be it never so great and weighty where by good chance they found the Draw-bridge down and the Portcullis up for that the Turks then casting no Peril expected every hour for certain Waggons with Provision from Alba-Regalis By which good hap the Christians unperceived coming to the Gate and thereunto fastning their Petards in good order gave fire to the same which presently took not hold yet were they not far gone but that they were by a Sentinel descried who demanding what they were was presently answered by the violent Engines which in a trice tore in sunder the Gate with some part of the Wall and of the Fortifications near unto it When now the Watch but all too late began to give the Alarm and the Christians in the foreward thrusting presently in took the Gate none of the Turks yet coming to the defence thereof or to hinder them from entring The first that appeared were 200 Turks which with their wonted Cry Alla Alla in such hideous manner as if they would therewith have rent the Heavens would have staid the Christians from farther entring but were themselves over-charged by 300 which were already entred At which time also the Bassa came on with more than a thousand following him and that with such Courage and Fury as was never greater to be seen in any Turk where after a most terrible Fight maintained by the space of two hours the Bassa himself being slain the Turks began a little to retire whereby a thousand Christians more had leisure to enter when straightway after came Giaffer the great Bassa with above a thousand tall Souldiers following him all the Inhabitants also of Rab running after him and that with such force that they constrained the Christians to retire unto the Gate whereby they entred Who resolved rather honourably to die within the Town than with dishonour to be forced out there with incredible Courage sustained the greatest Impression of the furious Enemy where was to be seen the true Christian Valour for the performance of so great an Exploit well worthy of eternal Memory But this Bassa also the other being dead of a Wound in his Neck encountered by the Lord Swartzenburg after he had in that sharp Conflict shewed great tokens of his Valour was there at length slain also both whose Heads struck off were for a Present afterwards sent to the Emperour at Prague with all the particularities of the whole Action But now the Turks perceiving that all their chief Commanders were slain retired most part of them into the City some 300 of them crept underneath one of the Bulwarks where stood certain Barrels of Gunpowder which they desperately set on fire and so together with themselves blew up three hundred Christians that were above upon the Bulwark the greatest loss the Christians had in all that Victory who were otherwise supposed not to lose therein above two hundred of their men Thus the Turks discomfited and altogether full of fear losing both their Force and Courage fled in every place before the Christians they in every corner making of them a most horrible Slaughter The Turkish Women all this while out of their Windows and other high places ceased not to cast down Stones Timber and such like things upon the Heads of the Christians whom they thought by all means to annoy and to help the Turks The bloody Execution continued all that day until night the Christians still finding one or other hidden in the most secret places of the City upon whom to exercise their Wrath who ransacking also every corner thereof
with many sharp Sallies to their great loss encountered and some of their great Ordnance cloyed in such sort as that they were in good hope to protract the time until they might by them their Friends be relieved yet not doubting but that the Turks according to their wonted manner would do what they might to subdue them According to whose expectation the Transilvanian Prince with a great Power taking the Field to have relieved them was letted so to do by the Tartars to that purpose stirred up by the Turks so that he could by no means joyn his Forces with Maximilian for looking to the Safety of his own People and Country Yet in token of forwardness he sent certain Companies of brave Souldiers unto the Lieutenant Basta who understanding that of 2000 good Souldiers in Garrison in the City at the beginning of the Siege there were scarce 700 left alive all the rest being with continual Assaults slain or mortally wounded used a notable Stratagem to delude the Enemy withal for having put his men in good order and coming bravely on as if he would even presently have joyned Battel a thing which the Turks most desired whilst they likewise with great stir were putting themselves in order of Battel and wholly busied therein he by another way of the Turks least suspected cunningly thrust into the City eight hundred good Souldiers and that done presently retired again into his Trenches wherein he strongly incamped feared not all the Turks Forces who thinking even then to have come to a day Battel and still in vain expecting the same returned deceived by this fineness And so shortly after inforced by continual foul Weather raised their Siege not without great difficulty and danger Relief lying so near at hand and the Defendants strengthened with new Supplies to have been longer maintained So passed the Troubles of this Year with no gain but great loss of the Turk who at their departure inforced by the unseasonableness of the Weather and fear together left behind them in their Trenches many Tents with some great pieces of Artillery being not able to convey the same by Water to Buda and withal fearing greatly to be encountered by the Forces of Basta strengthened with new Supplies even then sent unto him from the Emperour The Arch-duke Matthias Swartzenburg and the other Commanders of the Army in the lower Hungary being twelve thousand strong with the Garrison Souldiers of Rab Strigonium and Komara in the mean time because they would not stand idle together with the Hungarian Horse men over-ran all the Country thereabout even unto the Gates of Buda in good hope also to have met with eight thousand Turks as they were by their Espials advertised coming towards Pesth with Victuals for the relief of the Castle of Buda Whilst things thus passed in Hungary Mahomet to shew his Greatness as also the more to keep the Christian Princes in suspence sent Cicala or as the Turks call him Cigala Bassa his Admiral with a great Fleet to Sea wherewith being come upon the Coast of Sicilia he requested the Viceroy of that Kingdom to send him aboard his Fleet the Lady Lucretia his Mother which dwelt in Messina for that he greatly desired to see her and to do her Honour promising so quietly to depart without any harm doing And the Viceroy again considering how that the angry Renegade for the like Courtesie to him at another time before denied had in his rage done great harm all along the Sea-Coast covenanting with him to send her in safety back again sent her honourably accompanied aboard the Admiral Gally whom Cicala her Son received with great Joy and Triumph and having kept her with him one day with all the Honour that might be according to his Promise sent her back again to Messina and so without any any harm done for her sake to any part of Christendom peaceably returned back again with his Fleet. Now in the mean time Michael the Vayvod of Valachia with good Forces of his own because he would be doing something also resolved to give an Attempt upon Nicopolis a City of the Turks in Bulgaria and so giving order to his People caused a Bridge to be made over Danubius to pass that great River by Whereof the Bassaes of Silistria and Badoua understanding thought it good with all their Power to disturb him in that work and so coming as the said Bridge was by the Vayvod's Souldiers laid over the River upon Boats without farther stay attempted to have broken the same to the intent that the Vayvod should not that way pass Who hasting thither with his Army rescued his Work and inforced his Bassaes to forsake the Exploit by them begun where betwixt them for a space was fought a most hard Conflict until at length the Turks were with a great Slaughter overthrown and so glad some here some there by flight as they might to save their Lives After which Victory he without let passing over the River with his whole Forces came and incamped under the Walls of Nicopolis where they of the City understanding of the late Slaughter of the Turks and finding themselves not able to hold it out against the Force and Valour of the Valachies and now out of hope of any help or relief in time to come from the Turks without farther resistance yielded themselves into the Power of the Vayvod who having sacked the City and set it on fire carried thence a great spoil and booty with a number of the Bulgarians chusing out the best and most able Bodies amongst them to serve him in his Wars and appointing the rest to inhabit and manure the wasted places of Valachia The Report of this Overthrow given unto the Turks by the Valachian with the sacking of Nicopolis running abroad brought a general fear upon the Turks even in the Imperial City of Constantinople For the staying whereof Mahomet commanded the chief of his Bassaes with a great power of tumultuary Souldiers taken up in haste to go forthwith against the Vayvod to stay the course of his farther Proceedings to the dismaying of his People himself thundring out most horrible Threats against him who encouraged with his late Victory and well acquainted with the Turks manners little regarded the same as knowing that he was not with Words but with Arms to be vanquished Now Mahomet the Turkish Emperour year 1599 oppressed with Melancholy to see himself at once assailed with the Plague then raging in Constantinople the bloody Wars in Hungary and the horrible mortality and loss of his People in both places and withal not ignorant of the evil Success of his Army at Veradinum and of the great harm done at Nicopolis by the Valachian yet for all that ceased not in what he might to provide for so many Evils but gave order to Taut Bassa with all speed to set forward as we have said from Constantinople toward Valachia as from whence he feared the greatest danger who without delay to
believe that the great Sultan himself was desirous of Peace and that his Captains well affected thereunto were willing to further the same Which done the Bassa presented unto Collonel Althem two Cases full of Turks Arms of all manner of Fashions very rich and cunningly wrought both carried by a Mule with Furniture for an Horse embroidered with Gold and Pearl very sumptuous and rich as a Present from the great Sultan his Lord and Master to the Emperour And for the Archduke Matthias he presented unto the Collonel a Robe of purple Velvet with Sleeves cunningly embroidered with Gold and Pearl embossed with fine and curious Figures cunningly wrought with the Needle for the rareness thereof as admirable to behold as for the richness thereof to have been desired which was by every man wondered at when as shortly after it was by Althem presented unto the Arch-duke together with other Presents from the Turks Besides that the same Bassa in token of Friendship presented unto Althem himself another very fair and rich Robe all the rest of the Commissioners receiving also from the Bassa other Robes of less Value but yet all very rich and sumptuous This business for this time thus ended and the Truce for twelve days concluded the Christian Commissioners loaded with Presents took their leave of the Turks with the shews of their good Wills and so returned back again to Pesth Howbeit these the Enemies fair Presents still favoured but of Enmity being indeed but like to the Presents of Hector and Ajax tending rather to War than to Peace Now the Death of the most valiant and renowned Lord Nadasti which at this time happened was another evil Presage of the bad Success of this Treaty of Peace now at hand who having of long been a bar unto the Turks Rage in that part of Hungary where he dwelt they now after his Death with the violence of their Forces as with an heady stream bare down before them all our good Fortune in that Province This worthy man of great Fame and Desert had spent both his Years and Fortune in the most honourable Wars against the Turks wherein he was so skilful and expert that he was of them feared as another Huniades and of the Christians honoured as another Matthias He had a thousand times most valiantly fought against these Miscreants and as many times foiled them to the great benefit of the Christian Commonweal the advancement of the Emperour's Service and the relief of his distressed Country These his heroical deeds of Arms were engraven upon the Gates of the Towns and Cities of Hungary and within the Rocks of Transilvania having both in the one Country and the other right happily defeated these Infidels He had the Honour to have received the first Incursions and Attempts of the Turks at such time as Amurath the Third having perfidiously broken the League made with Maximilian the Emperour with his Forces invaded Hungary and was the first of all the Christian Chieâ—tains that made head against them and being by their sudden coming in by them almost surprised performed yet great and worthy Exploits and Service against these faithless men It should seem that good Fortune favoured the Country of Hungary but only in respect of him for he being dead it died also burying it self as it were in his Grave and him in Glory not suffering him to grow old and so to languish in the Ruines of his native Country He died of a natural Death about fifty and four Years old most part whereof he lived in Arms still charged with the burthen of his Armour and even at the yielding up of the Ghost yet breathing Wars against these the Enemies of the Christian Faith. His Death was much lamented of many faithful Christians but especially of his own Tenants and Subjects whom he had always kept and preserved in Safety and still maintained them in all Peace and Tranquility during all these former Wars the Turks not daring once to assail them nor to enter into their Territory being staid from so doing by the Bulwark of his Valour right dreadful to their Attempts Never Turk was buried in his Territory no more than were the Barbarians upon the Banks of the River Eurotas his Wisdom had so wisely provided for the Preservation of his People and his Valour so worthily assured them of their Health and Safety He was for his Country another Epaminondas who made his Town not only free from the Arms and Invasions of their Enemies but also dreadful to their Forces so long as he lived The Turks on the contrary part no less rejoyced for his Death but accounting his Country now rich and plentiful for that it had never been by them spoiled for their most assured Prey came now thither on all sides to have taken the Spoil thereof and therewith to have enriched themselves But as they were about so to have done the valiant Collonitz honouring the Remembrance of the Lord Nadasti his late Fellow and Companion in Arms and holding that for his own which he had left opposed himself with his Forces against these ravening Wolves so that they were no sooner entered into this his Territory but that contrary to their Expectation they were encountered by this new Nadasti and by him so overthrown and cut in pieces that for a good while after they durst no more attempt the like This so great a loss of so worthy a man was a little â—ased by the Victory about the same time gained by the Vayvod of Valachia against the Tuâ—ks spoiling of his Country This valiant Champion not able longer to endure the proud Insolency and Tyranny of those barbarous People gathered together his Troops of Horse-men with such other small Forces as he had whereof the Turks having made small reckoning and therefore without order pillaging and ransacking his Country were when they least feared by him upon the sudden surprised and overthrown many of them being cut in pieces a number more taken Prisoners with all the Spoils they had got and the rest with such fear chased out of his Country as that being glad to have escaped they took no pleasure for a great while after to look into that his Province again But to return again to the Commissioners for the Peace to be made betwixt the Great Sultan and the Emperour The Bassa of Buda to the end that the Captains and Governours of the Turks and Castles belonging to the Turks being ignorant of the Truce should not continue their war-like Actions to the prejudice of his Faith given immediately after the departure of the Christian Commissioners from Buda dispatched divers Courriers towards them to give them knowledge thereof and especially the Governour of Agria commanding them from thenceforth to abstain from their ordinary Incursions into their Enemies Territories and from all other Actions of Hostility and so to keep themselves quiet until they were from him otherwise commanded This little time of respite and
not their best course to stay any longer there with so great a Power but with the greatest part thereof to go to Presburg to reform that City and some other Places by the way persuading themselves That the Captain of this Castle so shut up and on every side beset with his Enemies would at length of himself yield up the Castle But while the Rebels thus lay at the Siege of this Castle certain Companies of them went to have taken the Spoil of a Religious House there by but coming thither and breaking open the Doors and searching every secret Corner of the House they found therein nothing worth the reckoning of but so returned almost empty handed for the Priests had for feat of them before carried away with them all the best of their Goods and Substance into the besieged Castle And so likewise the rife Report of their coming to Presburg flying abroad almost all the Priests and Jesuits in Presburg and the Country thereabout leaving their Churches and Colledges fled with their Substance to Vienna scarcely accounting themselves safe there until that the Garrison of that strong City was increased with a new supply of six hundred good Souldiers And now the Rebels their Number still more and more increasing and having set all the upper part of Hungary on a Broil were besieging divers other Castles and strong Places yet holden for the Emperour when as Basta in the mean time coming from the Siege of Strigonium came and with his Army incamped about three miles from Filek Of whose coming the Rebels hearing and thereupon retiring he forthwith followed after them toward Budnoc which Castle they also left and so near unto Ramosambat the place of their Rendezvous gathered together in great number with an intent to have given Basta Battel whereof Basta having knowledge to spare the effusion of more Christian-blood by an Herald sent unto them in friendly and courteous manner advised them to change their Minds and to return again unto their former Allegiance but finding them obstinately set down in their former purpose for the maintaining of their Rebellion and the giving of him Battel he marching forward with his Army with great Force charged certain Companies of the Rebels appointed to keep the Passage of Filek who at the first right valiantly received the Charge and defended the Passage until that at length with number oppressed and above four hundred of them slain they were put to the worse and inforced to fly in which flight amongst others there taken Prisoners Blase Nemet their Captain was taken also whom Basta caused to be hanged up by the heels with the Ensigns set up about him which he had taken from the Rebels in the late Fight and after he had for a time so hung made him to be taken down and his Head to be struck off from his Shoulders In this Conflict fifty of Basta's Men were slain also and many more hurt and amongst them Collonitz hurt in his Shoulder and his Foot with a small Shot Basta after this Victory marching on with his Army by the way met with certain other Companies of the rebellious Haiducks as he was going to St. Peters with whom he had many an hot Skirmish for the space of three days together being by them still put to the worse insomuch that having burnt many of his Carriages Tents and other Luggage he was of nothing more careful than how well to get out of their hands Nevertheless seeing no other remedy he with great Courage not only endured the often and fierce Assaults of his Enemies still more and more increasing upon him but the fourth day after so many unfortunate Skirmishes being the eight and twentieth of November putting his Men in order of Battel right valiantly again charged the Rebels who by reason of the darkness of the Weather it being then a very thick Mist being not able to perceive where the Enemies Attempts were most to be feared or what way to turn their own Forces as men dismayed were easily by them overthrown and put to flight whom so flying Basta with his Souldiers fiercely pursuing made of them a great Slaughter so that in the space of less than three hours fifteen hundred of them were in this thick and dark Mist slain with some few also of Basta's Souldiers and amongst them Frederick Earl of Solmes and the County of Erbach wounded Upon the report of which Overthrow the Rebels which yet lay at the Siege of the Castle of Zipze in hope there at length to have taken Belgiosa forthwith rose and retired themselves to Leusta But Basta after this Victory removing to St. Andrews and having recovered that Town from the Rebels and thereinto put a new Garrison and so by this means somewhat daunted and repressed the Insolency of the Haiducks in those Quarters and being not well able longer to keep the Field with his Army in so unseasonable a time of the Year and so to maintain War as it were both against his Enemies and the extremities of Nature sought by Letters to have reclaimed them of Cassovia again unto their Obedience offering unto them Pardon for all their Offences past â—o that they would now at last acknowledge their fault and receive into their Town a Garrison of the Emperours To which purpose he writ also to them of Eperia in hope that if he might so have gained those two strong Towns to have in them wintered in safety with his Army But they of Cassovia having in the City a strong Garrison of six thousand good Souldiers and out of fear to be by Basta besieged at that time of the Year and withal in hope if need were to be by Botscay relieved who was then reported to be forty thousand strong utterly refused to hearken unto Basta's Motion for their Reconciliation or at all to submit themselves again unto the Emperour Which caused him with his Army to come nearer unto the City yet still seeking rather by fair means to have persuaded the Citizens to have returned unto their Loyalty than by force to have constrained them But finding them obstinately set down and by no Persuasions to be removed but with their great Ordnance in what they might to trouble his Camp he sent before the County Hohenloh and Rotuitz with part of his Army to Eperia to command them upon their Allegiance to receive the Emperour's Souldiers into the City and to relieve them with such things as they were able and within a few days after viz. the fifth of December followed himself with the rest of his Army But being come thither after much Talk had with the chief Men of the City it was at length contrary to all Mens Expectation agreed That Basta assuring them of the free Exercise of their Religion of the good Behaviour of the Souldiers towards them and to defend them from the Injury and Incursions of their Enemies they should open their Gates unto the Imperials and relieve
of Gold and drawn by four great white Horses wonderful beautiful Then followed eight other Caroches in which were a great number of the Brides Maids with many Negroes gelt and finally twenty five Virgin slaves chosen amongst the fairest all on Horse-back having their Hair confusedly hanging upon their Shoulders Such was the Pomp of this Marriage but many times the Nuptial Feast is intermixt with Funeral mourning For not many days after the Sultans second Daughter promised to Nassuf Bassa was carried to her Grave without any Pomp or Honour for the Turks make no great esteem of Women The day after the marriage the Grand Seignior did cruelly beat his Sultana the Mother of this Daughter whom he had married to the Captain Bassa he stabbed her with his Hand-jar or Dagger through the Cheek and trod her under his Feet The reason was because she had strangled a Favorite of his which was one of his Sisters Slaves whom the Grand Seignior having seen and beeing enamoured with her sent for her The Sultana hearing thereof caused her to be brought to her lodging where she stript her of her Apparel strangled her and put her Cloths upon one of her own Slaves whom she sent to the Sultan instead of the other and at her return strangled her also as she had done many others when they once appeared to be with Child by the Grand Seignior The Plague beginning furiously to spoil the City of Constantinople the Sultan was forced to return to his Country Palace called the Serail of Darut Bassa to avoid the danger of this violent Contagion the which makes me think that the Turkish Emperours for their own profit dispense with some Articles of their Faith for as we have said before The Turks are so obstinately tied to the belief of Predestination as they will not vouchsafe to turn from a pestiferous Body when it is carried to the Grave and much less forbear to visit his Friends being sick of the Plague for that say they if we must needs die of this Contagion it is in vain to flie it for it will find us wheresoever if not our Health shall never be empaired altho' we converse with those that are sick of this Disease But their Sultans know well how to flie the danger yea and to cause them to be led under the Arms that come to kiss his Hand lest they should offer him some violence Thus we see the defect of false Religions when as we see this mark of Universality in the Faith taken away for there every Man believes according to his private interest as well among many others which have separated themselves from the Truth to canton themselves in their Errors where we do often try the diversity of their belief Sultan Achmat being in his Palace of Darut Bassa and going to visit a stately Mosque which he caused to be built there a Deruis or religious Turk thrust on by some devillish Fury cast a great Stone at him to beat him down but the blow of this detestable Traitor fell upon his Shoulder and hurt him but lightly Achmat commanded they should draw from this wretch the Confession of his Confederates but the Officers of the Port caused him to be executed the next day somewhat too suddenly and by a Death too honourable for a Crime so full of Abomination for they caused his Head to be cut off A Deruis of the same Order had in former times sought to murther the Emperor Mahomet the Second On the fourteenth of April the Lady Ann Glover Wife to Sir Thomas Glover Ambassador residing at Constantinople for the English was buried with very great Solemnity the like had not been seen in the Country since the Turks conquered Constantinople There were present at this Funeral of most Nations in the World the Sermon was preached in a large Garden under a Cypress Tree and although but few of those present did understand it yet it wrought this effect that whereas the Jesuits and Friers had formerly possest both Turks Jews and other People that the English Nation since the change of their Religion had neither Churches nor any form of divine Service hereby they perceived that they had both and served God far more decently and devoutly than they themselves insomuch that the Jesuits being ashamed of their Impostures and slanderous Untruth durst not for a while after walk the Streets for fear of the Turks who threatned them for so much belying the English. The Sermon being ended the Body was carried from Pera unto the English Graves which were almost a mile from the Place it was closed in Lead and laid in a Caroch covered over with black Velvet and the Horses with black Cloth. The Dutch Ambassador the Hungarian Agent the French Collonel with a great number of all Nations both Men and Women followed her to her Grave The Tomb was of fair Marble built four square almost the height of a Man having an Epitaph engraven thereon We have seen the year before the Island and Town of Lango spoiled by the Gallies of Malta and Naples but the Castle was saved from Ruine by the resistance it made against the Christians Attempts but this year in Iune the great Duke of Tuscans Gallies running over the Archepelague assailed it so furiously as they forced and spoiled it carrying away twelve hundred Prisoners Mechmet Bassa Admiral at Sea whom we saw even now busied at his Nuptial Pomp with the Emperours eldest Daughter being advertised of these Spoils of the Florentines by the daily complaints of the Turks which lost their Shipping and of many other Enterprises attempted upon his Masters Countries lying near the Sea shore he departed from Constantinople in August with three and thirty great Gallies having commanded all the Beyes of the Islands and Towns in the Archipelague to joyn with him with as many Gallieâ— as they could make to stop the Christians Courses in the West But whilst that he is busied in those Seas the Pirats of Ruscia descending into the Euxine Sea by the Mouths of those Rivers which discharged their Waters into the Sea over-ran and spoiled the Turks Coasts in those parts At the firm Land Constantine one of the pretending Princes in Moldavia annoyed all that had any dependance upon the Turk A part of that great Army of the King of Polands which had mutinied for their Pay spoiled Podolia and a Prince of the Tartarians discontent for that Achmat had preferred a Cousin of his before hiâ— in the Investiture of the Realm of the Tartars Precopians with 5000 Souldiers spoiled the Rivers of Moldavia under the Turks Dominion and he did the like in the Gulph of Nicopolis This was at such time when as miserable Moldavia was the Theatre whereas the Turks Tartarians and Moldavians acted a bloody Tragedy at the Costs and Charges of the poor Country-men For Tomsho having been chosen Vayvod or Prince of that Province by the Turk Constantine who
willed them to sit down by him telling them that he was sent from Heaven to purge the World from evil and to prepare the Law of God to expel Cydan out of his Kingdom and to restore Peace unto the World wherefore he advised them not to have any commerce with Cydan nor to assist him in any sort They observed many marks upon his body he had one blue Tooth all the rest being white Hair upon either Shoulder a red Circle in the Palm of his right-hand and the proportion of a Spur upon his right foot Having gotten some Victories against Cydan and taken the Town of Morocco in the end his devillish Art failing him he was slain as you have heard Such were the Affairs of Africk in the Realms of Fez and Morocco But in Algier a wonderful drought had caused cruel Combustions it had so devoured the fruits of the Earth before their Maturity as there followed a wonderful Famine throughout the whole Land. The Turks attributed the cause of their Misery sometimes to their Sins then to the coming of the Moors who had been expelled out of Spain as a pernicious Vermin and sometimes to the licentiousness of Christians which lived in those Places Wherefore in the beginning of May this Year the Judge of the Town ordained That all the Turks should make their devout Prayers to Mahomet their Prophet to obtain Rain so necessary in that Country that the Moors should depart the Town within three days upon pain of death and that all the Christians as well free as bond-slaves should cause their Heads and their Beards to be shaven this was speedily executed for the Turks Decrees require a prompt Obedience But the miserable Moors which could not get out of Algier within their three days prefixed detained either by Sickness or some other Impediment were all cut in pieces For thirteen days there was nothing seen within the Town but Processions of Turks without Turbants crying and howling after their manner to obtain Rain from their false Prophet but he which commands Sovereignty over times from whose hand proceeds fair Weather and Rain and which makes the Earth fruitful held the Pipes of Heaven yet stopped to open them at more religious and holy Vows than the superstitious Clamours of these Infidels For Bernard Murroy of the Order of the Redemption of Captives hearing that the Turks meant to revenge their Miseries upon them and to ruine a little Chappel which the Christian Slaves had in the Prison for the pious Exercises of their Religion obtained by the means of Bius Consul of the French in Algier permission from the Dovan or Turkish Judge to make Processions and to pray unto God to send them the dew of Heaven which was so necessary for them All the Christian Slaves which were Prisoners continued their Devotions for the space of five days but on the fourth day being the Eighth of May there fell such abundance of Rain upon Algier as these poor Christians seeing their Prayers heard in the midst of the Enemies of their Faith gave infinite Thanks unto God for his great Mercy and Grace These miserable Christian Slaves were still detained in Irons and cruel Servitude by this Accident This Murroy of the Order of the Redemption of Captives accompanied with two others of the same Order had redeemed to the number of one hundred thirty and six but when he was ready to embarque them their evil Fortune would have it that the Gallies of Genoa running along that Coast landed some men near unto Algier where they took the Bassa's Son of that Town with many other Turks and amongst this number a Virgin of Algier of a very noble Family and of as rare a Beauty for the misery of these Slaves for that when as the Bassa's Son and the others were redeemed by a Frigot which the Father had sent the fair Algerian Virgin was still detained by a Captain of the Genowayes who had retired to Calvy an Island adjoyning there to satisfie his Desires with more ease upon the frail and fading perfection of this fair Slave which had deprived him of his Liberty In the mean time the Bassa of Algier seeing his Son returned with the other Turks and not the Algerian Virgin commanded that the hundred thirty and six Slaves should be put again into Irons with the three religious men which had redeemed them Thus this feminine Beauty or rather the Passion of this Genoways who holds the Possession so dear makes a great number of Christian Souls to suffer by insupportable Servitude howsoever they of his Nation flattering his disordered lust say that his Desire to win her to God and to make her a Christian caused him to keep her so carefully These suffered in Algier the loss of their Liberty but a Capuchen Friar a Florentine by Nation endured at Tunes the loss of his Life by the Cruelty of the Moors chased out of Spain and retired into those Countries This religious Man being a Slave among the Turks attended daily from Florence or from some other place money to redeem his Liberty but it happened one day disputing in a Barbers House with a Morisque concerning Christian Religion the Zeal of his Faith transported him so far as to say among divers Turks That his Religion was better than that of Mahomet's These Words took criminously in that place were reported by the Morisques to the Cadi or Judge of the Town whom they prest with such horrible Clamours and Cries as he pronounced Sentence of Death against this Capuchen He was delivered unto them and they stripped him naked leading him with Infamy through Tunes some spitting in his Face others casting Dirt at him and so they led him out of the Town where they tied him unto a Post and they being cruelly incensed by a Speech which a Morrabour or religious Turk said unto them That he among them that gave him not one Blow with a Stone should be no good Turk stoned him to death where afterwards they burnt his Body and threw the Ashes into the Wind. The Martyrdom of this Capuchen was followed by the constant Confession amidst the violence of Torments of a penitent Renegado a Florentine by Nation and Captain of the chief Gally of Chio Four French-men being Slaves in the Island of Chio in the Patron or chief Gally belonging to the Bey or Governour of the Island they resolved to recover their Liberty with the hazard of their Lives to return into France and carry into some Port of Christendome that Gally being the best appointed in the whole Haven They drew unto their Party the Captain which commanded being a Florentine Renegado Their Enterprise should have been executed when as they should go to Land to cut Wood. But whether that the Scribe were treacherous to his Companions or transported with some rash Indiscretion being on Land he spake these Words aloud the which overthrew both the design and them that projected it Ho
they have their whole Privities smoothed off by their Bellies and in their Turbants they bear short Quills of silver through which they make Water This inhumane Custom was first invented by Sultan Solyman who seeing a Gelding make offer to cover a Mare grew suspitious that they were able to do some small thing notwithstanding the loss of their Genitors The Grand Senior hath a Seraglio for his Women without his Palace in the which there are always four or five hundred young Virgins the fairest of the Christians Children which he gathereth up out of Graecia for Tribute The Sultan repairs sometime thither to make choice of such as he shall like best for his Pleasure whereof they are advertised the day before by the Eunuchs that they may prepare themselves in their best Habits to give him content Being all in a Room and standing upon either side the Sultan enters attended by an Eunuch or two and views them to her that he likes he casts a Handkercher whereof he hath many hanging at his Girdle and in this manner it may be he makes choice of half a dozen the which his Eunuchs observing they put them presently into a Coach and are carried into another little Seraglio within his Palace In this Seraglio they have good Entertainment and are apparelled in Silk twice a Year and are taught to make divers Works by ancient Matrons and are attended on by the younger sort They have many Eunuchs with their Aga or Captain and they have one hundred Capigies and Janizaries which keep their Gates When as the number of these Virgin slaves decreaseth and they have not wherewithal to supply them with their Tributary Children they send to the Market in Constantinople where they say there are daily ten thousand Slaves of all Ages and Sexes to be sold and there they buy the fairest they can get but they will not have them above eight Years old lest they should be corrupted before they come into the Turks Seraglio As for the other Seraglio within the Sultan's Palace there remains the Sultanaes with their Children and such other Concubines as he hath made choice of for his Delight He never marries but when any one is brought unto him he gives her an attire for her Head of Gold and ten thousand Aspers causing her to live in a Chamber a-part increasing her daily Maintenance The first that bears him a Child is called Sultana and is Mistress of all the rest and most favoured by him as the chiefest of all his Women the rest as they are favoured by this Prince are brought unto him to have his Pleasure and then returned back again if they chance to be with Child they are put into the number of the Sultanaes and are much respected by him Such as the Prince hath had the use of but no Children by them are given in marriage to his Slaves who are advanced to Dignities and made Governours of Countries He has three hundred Sollacchi which march continually about his Person and make as it were his Guard being under the command of the Aga of Janizaries they are richly attired having Lawn Garments hanging down beneath their Knees and over it a quilted Wastcoat with half sleeves of Taffaty Damask or Satten and on their Heads Caps and Feathers like unto the Captain of the Janizaries and they attend on him with Bows and Arrows He hath also still about him when he Rides abroad forty Peichi that is to say Foot-men or Posts which run wonderful swiftly and are still at hand to attend his Commandments where he shall please to imploy them they wear long Coats of Cloth of Gold with a broad Girdle of the same and Caps like unto Womens Thimbles with a Horn of Silver and gilt standing up before There are about four thousand Capigies or Porters which continually attend his Palace and Seraglioes they are attired like unto the Janizaries and have over them three Capigi Bassaes. These Men are many times imployed to execute the Grand Siegnior's Commandments when he will have any great Mans Head or his Throat cut as we have seen of late years in Gambolat Bassa and in Nassuf Bassa who was Grand Visier to Achmat. The Grand Seignior's Government is so absolute as they all term themselves his Slaves and no Man how great soever can assure himself of his Estate no not of his Life but by the Great Turks special Favour He commits the managing of his Estate to such as have abjured the Christian Religion and have been brought by way of Tything in their Infancies from Greece and Natolia and afterwards for their Merits are advanced to great Dignities as Bassaes Beglerbegs and such other The Prince hath a Court or Council which they call Divano and this is held within the Seraglio four days in the Week that is to say Saturday Sunday Munday and Tuesday where they treat of matters of State and afterwards of the Affairs of private Men. To this Council are admitted the Grand Visier eight or nine Bassaes who are also called Visiers and are continually resident at Constantinople for there are many more which are imployed abroad in the Conduct of Armies or Government of Countries the Beglerbegs and others At the rising of the Court or Council the Grand Visier informs the Sultan of all the Proceedings in particular wherein he dares not dissemble for that the Prince hath a Window joyning to the Divano where he may hear and see any thing and not be seen He seldom impugns what they have resolved unless it be to moderate some rigorous Sentence or to give answer to some Ambassadour and what he himself concludes is irrevokable Their Suits are very short for their have no Advocates to breed delaies as they have in Christendom yet commonly he that bribes most speeds best for the Turks are the most covetous and corrupt Nation in the World neither will they do any man a kindness without a Fee and yet they are not sure to injoy any thing they get no longer than it shall please the Prince They punish Crimes with great severity and speedily the Fact being proved which doth so terrific them as by the report of such as have conversed long there you shall seldom see a Murther or a Theft committed by any Turk and if any foul Fact be committed it is most commonly done by Grecians The chief of the Grand Seignior's Council is the Grand Visier who wears the Princes Signet and is as it were the Lieutenant-General of the whole Monarchy he hath authority over the other Bassaes and they are bound to yield him an account of their Imployments He is still about the Prince's Person and is not sent abroad for any Imployment unless it be for an important War as they have done of late years against the Persian When the Visier is sent abroad he makes choice of one of the Bassaes to be his Lieutenant and to execute his Authority and he is called
any ill The French and many others pretend Debts of many of those People that are gone up and would know who shall pay them and pretend to be paid out of their Estates but we have put them off telling them we believe your Lordship will hardly let your Estate go to pay their Debts nevertheless shall advise your Lordship of it so have secured none only to one Huzoone Amet Aga one of the chief Men in the Town here Mr. Lancelott having given him a Bill of Exchange for 475 Dollars and the Bill returned unpaid we were forced to deliver into the Hangee's Hands for his Security 10 Cloathes We have given the Ships liberty to lade by reason of their continual grumbling but fear our Design on the Ionas will not take for the Caddie seeing the stubbornness of Terrick will not assist us as he promised We have not ought to inlarge at present but to subscribe our selves Your Honours Iohn Hetherington Lorenzo Zuma Matters running thus high and the Breach made so wide there remained little hopes of an Accommodation For now the Merchants at Galata having obtained their Liberty from the Ambassador's House by the Vizier's Command entred into a Consultation in what manner to govern their Affairs electing some particular Men to that Employment which they called by the Name of the Sealed Knot which much provoked the Anger of Sir Sackvile Crow and more because that deserting his Protection they made Applications to the Heer Coppes Agent for the States of Holland who readily embraced the defence of their Cause and willingly represented to the Grand Vizier the Aggrievances and ill Treatment of which they complained The French Ambassador on the other side being a great Favourer of Sir Sackvile Crow and his Proceedings assisted him both at Smyrna and Constantinople All which will more particularly appear by the following Letters The Factors General Letter to the Levant Company dated the 28th of June 1646 in Constantinople Right Worshipful SIrs at present we have our Heads and Hands full and all little enough to preserve your Estates from devouring and our selves from that Evil Consequence might ensue upon such unheard-of Proceedings and Intentions as have been long in private agitation but when the Monster came to the Birth there wanted strength to bring forth so in a good hour we may say the Snare is broken and doubt not the Devices of the Crafty is frustrate by him whose Almightiness shews it self most when we Mortals are least capable to help our selves We shall according to our Obligation give your Worships some account of the last Progressions of his Lorship Sir Sackvile Crow whom his Majesty sent hither Ambassador and to be a Protector of your Estates and our Persons how he hath performed this Charge and Duty formerly your Lorships have in part heard what hath happened of late we shall now chiefly insist upon After his Lordship had caused the stay of the Ships in this Port and at Smyrna under pretence of this State 's requiring it in respect of their Wars with the Venetians the Sampson and Smyrna Merchant having been here almost seven Months to the great loss and damage of Ships and Goods he picks a quarrel with the Factory of Smyrna for not complying according to his Order in the paiment of their Parts of the last Leviation-Mony and hereupon sends down Iohn Hetherington one of his Servants a most lewd debaucht prophane riotous Fellow yet his Lordship's Kinsman accompanied with two Chiouzes two Druggermen a Janizary and other Servants to proceed with those who should refuse to pay their Leviation according to the Instructions he had given the said Hetherington and Lorenzo Zuma Druggerman But before the arrival of these Agents the Nation there had undertaken the paiment by an Obligatory Letter to his Lordship this would not satisfy nor deposition of Goods for Security until Answer should come from hence of the paiment of their Bills of Exchange which was tendred buâ— the second day after their arrival Hetherington and his Retinue goes to the Caddie's and thither causes the Consul and all the Nation to come where it was pretended they had laden the William and Thomas with Corn and sent her away and therefore by virtue of an Imperial Command very privately here procured the Consul and six more of the Nation were delivered into the Hands of the Chiouz and so brought up hither not being suffered to return to their own Houses but put a day and a night into an offensive dark place the Doors and Windows not only shut but nailed upon them not suffering either their Friends or Servants to come at them or a Window open till the evening for which also they paid Dollars 100. In this disgraceful manner they were brought hither where they have been since the 22 d of the last Month Prisoners in his Lordship's House to the 21 st present notwithstanding they had complied in paying the Leviation Monies in less than a Week after their arrivals and by fair Promises put off from day to day for their dispatch to their Business at Smyrna which could not but much suffer by their absence Their Magazines and Counting-houses continued sealed from the time of their Attachments the Ships not permitted to lade or depart though empty and no Debts due to them would be paid in this their Absence and time of Distraction The Leviation Monies being satisfied of which Dollars 31000 his Lordship forced into Cancellaria and we of Smyrna expecting no more rubs in the way his Lordship the 16 th Instant calls a Court and there declared That of what Monies had been collected there would not remain much on the old Accompt therefore provision must be made for the future growing Charge for so much as upon this pretended Imbargo no Ships would come in haste and he and his must be maintained which he would provide for Hereupon when we could not do otherwise Dollars 25000 was promised half by this Factory for which his Lordship caused us to enter into Bond as he did those of Smyrna for the other half this being effected which we should not neither altogether have been so ready to have complied in but thereby to put a period to all other Demands and enable our selves to proceed in our Business for your Worships better Service The 18 th present his Lordship calls another Court and after arguing of some General Matters with a seeming sadness tells us how that he had been wronged by false Information from hence and Smyrna but he was so far from proving it as that he would not discover so much as whom he suspected and thereupon the Levant Company at Home had by means of the Parliament procured Sequestration of his Estate and Lands in England and endeavoured to surprize his Person and therefore according to Religion Reason and common Policy he ought to secure himself and his Hostages and thereupon he departed from us requiring the Nation speedily to resolve of some present
to keep the business in suspence than to come to an open rupture with them and rather than to use long discourse to them or perswasions to little purpose to write them this short Letter the superscription of which was to Ramadam their Governour in Chief and to the rest of the Divan WE are sorry that there should be still one difference in our Treaty relating to the search of Shipâ— and delivering up Merchants Forreigners and Strangerâ— goods This is an Article which the King my Master did not think you would have insisted upon because it was granted to others who were Uâ—uâ—pâ—rs and his Subjects and therefore did not impower me to conclude with you in it Howsoever I shall acquainâ— the King my Master of your earnest Desiâ—es and Resolves in this Business and doubt not but what is Iust and Reasonable will be assented unto Wherefore in the mean time we must desire you whilst his Royal assent is expecting to your proposals that the Peace may continue on the same Terms that it now stands Let your Friend and Kinsmâ—n comâ— abâ—ard as is desired and he shall be welcome and we shall protect him to the uttermost of our power And on this Promise and word of ours yâ—u may rely on as of a Christian and a true Englishman Our desire also farther is that the Lord Obryan may remain in the Consuls House until such time as his Ransom comes And so we wish that a hearty and long Peace may be continued between the two Nations Given aboard the Plymouth Frigat November 25 1660. Winchelsea Upon delivery of this Letter it was concluded that the former Articles should stand in force only that difference about searching our Ships should remain in suspence and be specified as not fully agreed on Howsoever they would search our Ships and it should not be accounted a breach of our Capitulations until the King should intimaâ—e his dislâ—ke thereof And that when Notâ—ce should come from his Majesty to Algier that he approved not thereof then it should be lawful for both sides to break into Acts of Hostility This moderate course we thought to be less prejudicial to us for the present than an open and sudden War For by this means we gained the releasement of two small English Ships which their Men carried in thither and had time to give notice to our Merchants in all Ports and places of the true state of our business with Algier On the Twenty-seventh of November we departed from the bay of Algier with a prosperous and steddy Gale steering N.E. and N. N. E. for Messiâ—â— from whence we intended to dâ—spatch Letters unto all places rendring advices to his Majesty and the Merchants of the State and Condition of our Affairs and Negotiation at Algier And whilst we pleasantly sail'd with a prosperous wind on a sudden a cry was made of Fire in the Ship which astonished us all with a great amazement For the Cooper it seems going into the Steward's Room to stave a Cask which formerly had some Brandy in it by chance a Snuff of the Candle fell in at the bung which put the whole Vessel into a Flame But the same Man immediately stopping the Bung soon smothered the Fire and therewith extinguish'd thatand our fears As to other Matters our Voyage to Messina was speedy and happy for we arrived there on the Second of December Some Days passed before we could get pratick for having touched at Algier a place always suspected for the Plague great scruple was made of admitting us to free converse in the Town Until the Lord Ambassadour gave under his Hand and Seal an assurance of the Health of our Ship on confidence of which we received Pratick and the Palace called Paradise where commonly the Vice-Kings are lodged was appointed to receive his Excellency and his Retinue and the Furniture thereof ordered by D. Francisco de la Villa Padierna a Spaniard who was Stratago which is as much as Commander in chief of all the Castles and Forts in and about Messina So soon as his Excellency landed this Stratago made him a Visit and at his departure left his Guard with him in a Complement but in the mean time the Iurati who were six in number chose as I think every year or every third year by the Citizens for Government of the City were wanting in the like civility towards our Ambassador four of which are chosen out of the Burgers and two out of the Gentry for they took no notice of him nor sent him any message until the hour that he was about to depart when his Excellency refused to receive their visits excusing his neglect of attendance to matters of Ceremony at a time when business urged his departure whence this omission on the Jurats side proceeded may in probability be deriv'd from the antipathy they have to the Spaniards and their Government always running contrary to that unto which they find the Spanish Ministers most inclined During our abode at this place his Excellency having returned his Visit to the Stratago accompanied with D. Ioseppe de Luna a Cavalier of Maltha and having wrote a Letter to the Conde de Ayala then Vice-King of Sicily residing at Palermo he gave advices unto all places of the doubtful state of our affairs with Algiers that so Ships might be cautious of that people and how they adventured themselves abroad without Convoy and having compleated these Dispatches we again returned aboard on the ninth of this Month when the Stratago abounding in all points of civility sent an honourable present of all sorts of fresh provisions aboard Ship and soon after came himself in person to bid Farewel to his Excellency At his coming aboard we gave him nine Guns and at his going off fifteen and so soon as our Anchors were away and our Fore-top-Sail filled we bid adieu to the Town with twenty one Guns more which they returned by firing all the Guns of the five Castles under command of the Stratago which is an honour they seldom pay to any other than the Generalissimo of Spain the Vice-King and the Popes Admiral We had so fair a Wind and so prosperous a passage that we arrived at Smyrna on the 14 th of December where we found the Prosperous and Smyrna Factor the Merchants Ships which we had lost in the Storm happily arrived Here we remained for some days to order and settle several affairs according to Instructions given by the Turky Company And on the sixth of Ianuary being Sunday and Twelfth-day we returned aboard to prosecute this Ultimate stage of our Voyage to Constantinople our Frigat the Plymouth Anchored near the Town within the very Port of Smyrna from whence sailing with a fresh Easterly Wind from the shore we were carried without the Port and out of command of the Castle where the wind sailing and being wholly calm we Anchored until the next morning when with a gentle gale at South-East we proceeded forward and
was sitting on Cushions in a little Room with a Fire and his Feet covered several Pashaws Pages and other Officers standing by him His Excellency and Sir Thomas Bendysh were seated on Two Velvet stools where first the Earl of Winchelsea having presented the King's Letters to the Vizier wrote in Parchment and put into a bag of Cloth of Gold Sir Thomas Bendysh began to inform the Vizier that this was that honourable Person of whom he had formerly acquainted him was coming to reside for Ambassador in his place That he was of that Nobility and relation to our King that had not his Majesty intended highly and in an extraordinary manner to Honour and oblige the Grand Signior he would not have exposed his Kinsman and a Person extraordinary to the hazard of a Voyage so long and dangerous as this Then the Earl of Winchealsea began to speak and relate the happy restauration of the King his Master to the Throne of his Ancestors extolling his Power Greatness and Clemency in pardoning all but such who were engaged in the Blood of his Father That in his passage to Constantinople he had by Command of the King touched at Algier endeavouring to renew the former Articles of Peace and release an English Lord meaning the Lord Obryan taken Captive by them contrary to the Articles of Peace but without success not being able to reduce them to any Terms of Reason or Justice And enlarging in his Complements with assurances of the friendship which the King his Master desired to conserve and maintain wiâ—h the Grand Signior as a token thereof he acquainted him that he was the first Ambassador sent abroad by his Master since his happy return before he had designed or appointed any to Christian Princes The Vizier readily answered That it was but Reason it should be so since the Grand Signior was an Emperor and they but Kings and he the greatest and most Soveraign Potentate of the World And that as to the Business of Algier he would take care of it and do him Iustice. This having passed Two China dishes with Sherbet were brought forth and given to the Two Ambassadors and Two larger bowles of the same to their Attendants Then the Present was brought forth and laid before the Vizier consisting of Twenty Vests Four of them were of fine English Cloth of several colours Four of several coloured Velvets Fourof several flowred Stuffs with Gold and Silver Four of watred Tabbies and Four of Sattins In recompence hereof both the Ambassadors were vested with Six others which Vests are of no great matter of use or value more than that they are evidences and badges of the Vizier's favour After this his Excellency with Sir Thomas Bendysh arose and departed wearing these Vests until they were passed without the Gates of the Viziers Palace and then they delivered them to be carried by their Servants as the others did and so his Excellency returned to his House at Pera with an appearance of a fair Correspondency and with assurances that the Capitulations and friendship should be maintained and conserved with a strict and inviolate Faith. The day of giving pay to the Janisaries drawing near the Ambassador's Audience with the Grand Signior was deferred until that time for with that occasion the Court would appear in the most solemn manner and the attendance of the Soldiery would render all things more great and powerful In the mean time the Grand Signior often took a view from his Seraglio of the Plymouth Frigat and frequently rowed round her in a Boat and some say he once came Incognito aboard to see her at length he was so pleased with her that he fancied her to be a very proper Vessel to carry Soldiers and Ammunition for Candia but proposing his Thoughts and intentions to the Vizier he was disswaded from the demand or constraint of the Ship being admonished that this was a matter unpracticable and uncivil towards a Prince who on confidence of Amity and Alliance with him had adventured his Ship within his Port. The Twenty sixth day of February being Pay-day of the Janisaries the Lord Ambassador had Audience of the Grand Signior which was performed in this manner His Excellency with Sir Thomas Bendysh departing from his House with his retinue on Horse-back by break of day in the Morning was met on Constantinople side by the Chaous-Bashee and his Chaouses and by them conducted to the Seraglio We rode through the first Court which was very spacious and then we alighted from our Horses and walked through another Court leading to the Divan or place of Judicature at the upper end of which the Great Vizier was seated on his right Hand sate Five Viziers of the Bench of which the Captain-Pasha or Admiral of the Seas was one on the left were the Two Kadileschers or Chief Justices one of Anatolia and the other of Romelia and by them the Tefterdar Pasha or Lord Treasurer with Three other Pasha's The floar of the Divan was covered with Carpets and on them a richer covering of Bags of Money for payment of the Janisaries The Two Ambassadors with about Six or Seven of their retinue amongst which I was one being admitted in and placed at the lower end their Excellencies approached toward the Vizier and were seated near unto him on Two stools covered with Crimson Velvet and some Discourse and Complement having passed between them they retired to another part of the Room that they might give way to Business In the mean time the payment of the Soldiers went forward every Churbagee or Captain taking from the heaps the Pay of his Soldiers and laying the Bags on their Shoulders made up to the Viziers and having kissed the Hem of his Vest on his Knees he retired with great Humility and hast from him passing away with his side towards him it being very unseemly amongst them to turn their backs to Personages of that Dignity The Payment being over Three small Tables were brought in the first of which was covered with a Silver Voyder at which the Two Ambassadors sate with the chief Ministers but the Great Vizier by reason of his Age and Weakness retired into another Room The other Two Tables were covered with a mixed Mettal which served in the place of a Table-Cloth at which the others sate We had no Knives Forks nor Plate but only Wooden Spoons were laid for us which was sufficient in that manner of eating for their Meats are most boyled and conveniently received by the Spoon or are so well roasted that they are easily parted with the Fingers The dishes were served in by one at a time but so fast that we had scarce tasted of one before it was snatched away to make place for another and I think there might be about Twenty several changes in this manner at the end of all to conclude our Feast a great Bowl of Sherbet was brought in and we drank of it as large draughts as we pleased Being risen from
departure nearly approached yet the Grand Signior was so impatient that he would scarce expect until the Equinoctial which was the Term formerly appointed and published for this expedition resolving sometimes to proceed before and leave the Vizier to follow him letting fall words often That such as loved and honoured him would keep him company But this hasty resolution and eager desire of his Journey the Vizier Mufti and others of his Counsellours did moderate perswading him to a little longer patience to which though with some difficulty he assented yet he could not forbear from his Horses back and constant exercises abroad nor could he be induced to take one Nights repose longer in his great Seraglio at Constantinople but lodged at Daout Pasha a small Palace about four miles distant from Constantinople Which extravagant manner of living most People attributed to his wandring humour and delights in hunting riding and such like exercises having his sole pleasure in the Woods and Fields But others who judged with better Foundation did conceive That the Grand Signiors choice of other places of Residence rather than his Imperial Seraglio proceeded not so much from his own unsetled humour and course of living as from an apprehension of some Designs and mutinous Treasons of the Janisaries against him For to speak the truth since the death of Kuperlee the Militia began again to be corrupted and if we may believe the opinion of the most principal Turks the Vizier undertook this War to employ the busie spirits of the Soldiery which began to grow resty and insolent through idleness and by that means secure his own life and establish his Condition and Fortune The Equinoctial being come the Grand Signior would not have one days longer patience for though the Season was wet and rainny yet the Tents were pitched and though the Wind was so violent and forcible as overturned almost the whole Camp yet no difficulties and inconveniencies of Weather could give one hour of intermission to the Sultans desires Wherefore on the Ninth of this Month the Grand Signior departed from Constantinople attended with his Court his principal Officers of State and with what part of his Army was then a in readiness to march The magnificence of the show they made was according to the usual Solemnity yet worthy the sight of a Stranger and perhaps not incurious to the Reader in its Relation First marched with a singular Gravity the several and distinct Orders of Civil and Military Officers in their proper Habits and Caparisons the Santones in their wild dress followed by the Emirs or such as are of the Kindred of their false Prophet the Great Vizier and Mufti rode in rank together the Vizier on the left hand the most honourable place amongst the Soldiery being the side to which the Sword is girt as the right is of greatest esteem amongst such as are of the Law being that hand which guides the Pen The Trappings of the Viziers Horse were plaâ—ed with Gold and before him were carried three Horse-tails called in Turkish Tugh and behind him came about Three hundred and fifty Pages all Young men well mounted and armed with Jacks and Coats of Male Next followed the Minions of the Court or Seraglio viz. the Paicks with Caps of beaten Gold and embroidered Coats the Solacks with Feathers armed with Bows and Arrows these two last are of the highest degree of Lacqueys which more nearly attend the Person of the Grand Signior these were followed by Nine led Horses of the Grand Signior richly adorned with precious Stones and Bucklers all covered with Jewels of an unknown value Immediately before the Person of the Grand Signior was led a Camel carrying the Alcoran in a Chest covered with cloth of gold The Gr. Signior himself was clothed in a Vest of cloth of gold lined with a Sable incomparably black held up from the sides of his Horse by four Pages his Person was followed with great numbers of Eunuchs and Pages with long red Caps wrought with Gold about the head carrying Lances and Mails with two Locks one on each side of their Head which are worn by such only as are of the Royal Chamber After these crowded great numbers of Servants with the chief Comp. of Saphees commanded by the Selictor Aga in number about 1800. And in this manner and order they marched to their Tents The Tents were raised on a small Hill as may be judged about Four Miles distant â—â—om Constantinople and about Two Thousand in number ranged at that time without order only the Grand Signior's seemed to be in the midst and to over-top all the rest well worthy observation costing as was reported One hundred and eighty thousand Dollars richly embroidered in the inside with Gold and supported by Pillars plated with Gold. Within the Walls of this Tent as I may so call them were all sorts of Offices belonging to the Seraglio all Retirements and Apartments for the Pages Chioskes or Summer-houses for pleasure and though I could not get admittance to view the innermost Rooms and Chambers yet by the outward and more common places of resort I could make a guess at the richess and greatness of the rest being sumptuous beyond comparison of any in use amongst the Christian Princes On the right hand hereof was pitched the Grand Viziers Tent exceedingly rich and lofty and had I not seen that of the Sultans before it I should have judged it the best that my eyes had seen The ostentation and magnificence of this Empire being evidenced in nothing more than in the richess of their Pavilions sumptuous beyond the fixed Palaces of Princes erected with Marble and Mortar On the Sixteenth of this Month the Aga of the Janisaries first raised his Tents and began his march the next day followed the Grand Signior Vizier and other Officers and Spahees At which time all Asia was full of Soldiers flocking from all parts of the East as from Aleppo Damascus Arabia Erzirum and Babylon So that for a long time Boats and Barks were continually imployed to ferry the Souldiery from Scutari into Europe And the High-ways Villages and all parts of the Road towards Adrianople were filled with Soldiers as if all Asia had issued out to devour and inhabit the German Possessions And for greater expedition in the march of the Army Proclamation was made of a general Rendezvous at Sophia at the Biram then within Three weeks time where they designed to soil their Horse and refresh themselves before they fell in earnest to their business But before the Grand Vizier departed from Adrianople to prosecute a War in Hungary against the Emperor he called Signior Ballarino to his presence as if he would treat with him of matters tending to an adjustment with Venice when at the same time he had 20000 men in a readiness at Scutari to march into Dalmatia and to joyn with other Forces in Bosna and Croatia but this dissimulation and
many of the Pashaws at the Head of their Troops killed the most forward in this Rebellious attempt whose perfidious insolence and riot could not yet have been restrained had not the Garison quickned their pace more like a flight than an orderly March. But the Vizier on the contrary distributed Money to the Garison and especially to the Hungarians with design as is supposed to allure and attract their minds to a belief of the gentleness of the Turkish Yoke as if he compassionated the miseries of that Country which was the Stage whereon the Tragedies of so many miseries and slaughters were acted This Siege continued about the space of Forty three Days of the Garison marched out Three thousand five hundred sound men and about Five hundred wounded those Inhâ—bitants who would remain had protection and liberty The Army which besieged the Town consisted of Fifty thousand men In the Town were found Sixty pâ—eces of Brass Cannon but most broken and unserviceable with litâ—le Ammunition but with great provision of Huâ—gâ—rian Wines The loss the Turks might receive is computed to have been of about fiâ—â—een thousand men amongst which was slâ—in the Spaheelar Agasee or General of the Horse Beco Pasha Beglerbeg of Romalia Usaff Pasha of Anatolia and Ibrahim Pasha of Seyda with sixâ—een Captains belonging to Buda and nine to â—onstantinople The loss of Newhausel affected the Austrian Court with so dreadful apprehensions of the Oâ—tâ—mâ—n Fortune and Fury that they hastened the fiâ—â—shing of the Works and Forâ—ifications of Viâ—nâ—a cutting down all the Woods and Boscage thereâ—â— ouâ—s which might benefit or shelter the Enemy and so great an impression did the fear oâ— the Turks prevalency and power work on the minds of the Germans that they not only Fortified the Frontiers but secured the innermost parts of Austriâ— which exâ—end along the River as far as within three Mâ—les of Lintz But above all Pâ—ssâ—nium which was upon the Frontiers though not an open Town yet of no â—â—â—eâ—gth or resistance was not neglected but reinfoâ—ced â—â—th a considerable Garison and the 〈◊〉 â—eâ—toâ—ed and â—epâ—ired with as many additional Fortifications as time would admit But the Inhabitants had lost so much of their Spirit and Courage by the melancholly relation of the fate of Newhausel and the apprehension of the dreadful advance of the whole Turkish Force that their constancy to the Emperor began to waver and to entertain some thoughts of submitting to the mercy and clemency of the Turks who had newly declared that such as voluntarily submitted to the Ottoman Obedience should for Three years be exempted from all Tribute or Taxes This consideration adjoined to fear so prevailed on those of Possonium that they shut the Gates against the Garison which was sent to recruit and defend them some publickly declaring the extremity of their affâ—irs had no other safety than in a surrender oâ— themselves to the mercy and protection of the Vizâ—er Howsoever the Count Strozzi with his Italian Artifices so wheedled the grosser humour of the Hungarians that they were perswaded to admit him and his Regiment within the Town where he disposed all things with that Conduct and built those Forts and in a short time so apparently render'd the Town tenable that the Inhabitants taking Courage resolved to defend themselves in obedience to their Prince to the ultimate point of Estates and Lives In the mean time the Turks made themselves Masters of Leventz a Town though tenable and not contemptible for its strength yet was by the Peoples fears and allurements of the Vizâ—ers promises and fair Propositions committed to the mercy of the Turks and swore in Fealty to them the 23 d day of September By this time the news of the taking of Newhausel was arrived at the Ottoman Court where it was entertained with so much joy that a Dunelma or Festival was appointed for the space of seven days through the whole Empire which according to the fashion of the Turks is Celebrated by adorning the Gates and outward Walls of their Houses so soon as it begins to be dark with grate store of Lamps and Candles during which time the Nights are spent with Musick and Banqâ—ets as the Days are with Visits and Presents and Corban which is an Alms which rich men make in flesh to the poor sort and is given either at the little Biram which is called the Feast of Corban or upon some publick Thanksgiving which is performed in this manner He that makes the Corban first lays his hand upon the head of the Sheep or Lamb makes a short Prayer and then in the Name of God cuts the throat the Butcher afterwards fleying off the skin the Corbanist divides the flesh into small pieces to as many poor as flock to receive it In the heat of these Revels and Banquets every one spake high in praise of their fortunate Arms and Congratulated each with other the prosperous beginnings of this War promising to themselves the following year rather a time of Peregrination or Travel through the pleasant Countries and Cities of the Christians than blood and sweat in obtaining the possession of their Enemies Nor were such imaginations vain or absurd for the Commonalty to entertain in regard it was evident to the World in what manner the Ottoman Arms roved through Hungary uncontrouled without an appearance of any consideraable Force to give them the least stop or interruption so that under the very Walls of Rab and Presburg and on the Banks of the Danube near Komarra Incursions and depredation were made and great numbers of People of both Sexes and of all Ages were carried into slavery the Country all round laid waâ—e the Corn and Hay burnt with all other miserable effects and Concomitants of War In this manner all places seemed to fall down and yield at the very rumour of the Turks approach for not only Leventz surrendred it self but likewise Niâ—ra though over-topped by a strong and an impregnable Castle was by the Cowardice of the Commander betrayed at the first Summons of the Turks for which action the Captain afterwards by express Command of the Emperor suffered Death After all these successes though no opposition appeared in the Field to obstruct the luxuriant and wanton march of the victorious Squadrons of the Ottoman Army and not only Hungary but Austria and the lower Germany was Alarmed and terrified with the rumour of the Turkish numbers and though the Vizier as it is said began this War with the ambitious thoughts of possessing Vienna it self and out-vying the Acts of Solyman the Magnificent Yet it seemed strange that being come thus â—ar and almost in prospect of his hopes that he should give a check to his Fortunes and not advance towards Vienna to which now the passage seemed wide and open but it was almost a miracle that he should not make a Visit to Pâ—ssonium before which had he only displaid his dreadful Arms it had surrendred at his
which afforded him occasion of farther delay pretending that his Goods might be arrested at Komara and until he was satisfied to the contrary he was resolved not to make the Exchange The German Ambassadour was more moved with choler at this humor than at the former and the Turks that attended growing more hungry and more cold bestowed on him a million of curses The Sun now declining towards its setting Count Leslie sent word to the Turk That he was resolved not longer to abuse his own patience but immediately to proceed forward giving order to his Coach to drive on protesting That if any mischief was derived from this irregular proceeding the fault was not his nor would he answer for any of those fatal consequences which might ensue to which also being added some perswasions of the Pasha of Quinque Ecclesiae the Turk at length came out from his Boat and went to his Post. The Turks were drawn up on their own Quarter to the number of about three hundred and the Hungarian Hussars or Horse-men on the other ' to about two hundred the two Ambassadours making a stand at their respective Poles proceeded with equal paces to meet in the middle where some few Complements having passed between them and Salutes interchangeably sent to the chief Ministers of each Empire the German Ambassadour entred his Coach and the Turk his Boat and so both returned to their respective Courts Such as was the sordid and interessed humour of the Turkish Ambassadour in this transaction so no less dishonourable was his way of living at Vienna where he sojourned with that miserable famine and penury in his house as discontented all his family causing some to leave him and return home others with better motives as it is hoped to the number of thirty became Christians and imbraced the Faith at the same rate he was generous in his Pâ—esents for to the Master of the House where he lodged he gave two five-Senars or eighteen Pence English and to the Commissary who conducted him to the Frontiers he presented a Bag of Rice which was not accepted but returned with the like complement as that with which it was tendered But no sooner was this Peace concluded and the Ceremonies thereof thus happily finished but the Turks attentive to another War which is the life of their Empire and their only security against intestine Discords made all the Preparations and Provisions this Year that were possible for the total subjection of Candia of which this Vizier was highly ambitious designing thereby to gain unto himself that renown of which his Predecessours had been in pursuit for the space of twenty five years so that all Ammunition Victual and whatsoever was necessary was in great quantities supplied from all the circumjacent parts of the Empire The City of Candia was some time beâ—ore governed by the Proveditor Priuli but afterwards the Venetians apprehensive of the succeeding War conferred the Charge on Marquess Villa a worthy and experienced Souldier with Tiâ—le of General of the Venetian Infantry as we have before intimated and having left him and his Forces in the month of December last on the Island of Paros where having as is said mustered his Forces he imbarked them on sixteen Gallies five Galleasses and thirty five Men of War with which sailing in company from Anti-Paros the whole Fleet on the 12 th of February made their Rendezvous at Argentiera during which time the Turks landed eighteen hundred Janisaries at Canea being transported thither on thirty five Gallies which having incountred with the Cavalier Hoquincourt in the channel of Scio received some damage and loss of men in their way though this Cavalier himself was wounded in the Engagement and forty of his men slain The Venetian Fleet departing from Argentiera on the 23 th of February came in sight of Candia when a very great storm arising with Thunder and Lightning put the whole fleet in danger of shipwrack but by Gods Providence though tossed with contrary winds they arrived on the 26 th in safety in the Port of Suda being directed thither in a dark night by those Lights which the Fortress had put abroad though the Turks on the other side had put out false Fires to deceive them The Army being landed at this place and a Muster made of the Forces Pay was given to the Souldiery with which being become the more couragious they marched towards Canea with hopes to perform some memorable Enterprise at that place The Lieutenant-General Vuersmiller led the Van consisting of six-hundred Foot and an hundred and eighty Horse and advancing beyond those bounds which Maâ—quess Villa had prescribed him was incountred by a more numerous Force from the Garrison by which being at first put into some disorder had been intirely defeated had not the Marquess opportunely arrived to his Succour howsoever the Venetians lost in this Skirmish three hundred Souldiers forty Horse and twelve Officers amongst which the Murquess Câ—va was slain upâ—n the place and Captain Scot a Scoth man taken Prisoneâ— whom the English Factory redeemed at Smyrna of the Turks seven hundred were computed to have been killed with the Aga of the Janisaries a stout and a well experienced Souldier And as this beginning was not very auspicious to the Christians so neither did the Heavens seem much to favour them for an unusual rain with few fair days continued almost for the space of three months which filled all Rivers Marshes and Diâ—ches with so strange an inundation that the Arâ—y beginning to want Forage for the Horses and all other Provisions for their Men and the Garrison of Canea being reinforced from Râ—timo Chiramo Armiro and other places discouraged the Commanders in that manner thâ—t they thought it more convenient to retire and incamp in the pleasant and â—ruitâ—ul Vallies of Spâ—â—a Longa until better weather and other Recruits of their Army should open a way either to make another Attempt on Canea or new Candia But Fortune did not favour these designs for the Captain-general Andrâ—a Câ—rnaro arriving with his Fleet part at Candia and part at Standia which is an Island or Rock about two Leagues distant from this City a new resolution was taken to remain on the defensive part and to attend wholly to the guard of the City for as in the natural body when it is assaulted by acute and hot humors the spirits retire to the heart to comfort and secure that from the violence of the distemper so the Venetians perceiving that their Enemies daily grew more numerous resolved to contract theâ—r Force into one Body for deâ—ence of that City which was the heart or the most principal instrument of life in that Island Wherefore Recruits both of Men Ammunition and Provisions were daily sent thither and the Captain of the Gulf arriving at Suda with eleven Gallies and oâ—e Galleass carrying fiâ—teen hundred Soldiers with three hundred Pionierâ— joyned his Forces to the Body of the Fleet and all imbarking in
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
they remaining with the hatred whilst the Prince under colour of performing Justice procures both Riches and Fame together If it be suspected that any great Man intends to make Combustion or Mutiny in his Government or that his Wealth or natural Abilities render him formidable without farther inquisition or scrutiny all discontent of the Grand Signior is dissembled and perhaps an Horse a Sword or Sables Vest is reported to be presented and all fair Treatment is counterfeited until the Executioner gets the Bow-string about his Neck and then they care not how rudely they deal with him just like the Birds in Plutarch who beat the Cuckow for fear that in time he should become a Hawk And to make more room for the multitude of Officers who crowd for Preferments and to act the cruel Edicts of the Empire with the least noise times when a great Personage is removed from his place of Trust and sent with a new Commission to the Charge perhaps of a greater Government and though he depart from the Regal Seat with all fair demonstrations of Favour before he hath advanced three days in his journey triumphing in the multitude of his Servants and his late Hopes the fatal command Overtakes him and without any Accusation or Cause other than the Will of the Sultan he is barbarously put to death and his Body thrown into the Dirt of a foreign and unknown Country without solemnity of Funeral or Monument that he is no sooner in the Grave than his Memory is forgotten And this methinks is somewhat agreeable to the crafty Policy of Tiberius who sometimes would commissionate Men for Government of Provinces to whom before-hand he had designed not to permit licence to depart the City Postremò eò provectus est ut mandaverit quibusdam provincias quos egredi urbe non erat passurus Hence are apparent the Causes of the decay of Arts amongst the Turks of the neglect want of care in manuring and cultivating their Lands why their Houses and private Buildings are made slight not durable for more than ten or twenty Years why you find no delightful Orchards and pleasant Gardens and Plantations and why in those Countries where Nature hath contributed so much on her part there are no additional labours of Art to complete all and turn it to a Paradise for Men knowing no certain Heir nor who shall succed them in their Labours contrive only for a few Years enjoyment And moreover Men are fearful of shewing too much ostentation or magnificenâ—e in their Palaces or ingenuity in the pleasures of their Gardens lest they should bring on them the same Fate that Nabal's Vineyard occasion'd to his Master and therefore Men neglect all application to the Studies of Arts and Sciences but only such as are necessary and conducing to the mere course of living for the very Fear and Crime of being known to be Rich makes them appear outwardly Poor and become naturally Stoicks and Philosophers in all the points of a reserved and cautious Life And here I am at a stand and cannot conclude this Chapter without contemplating a while and pleasing my self with the thoughts of the Blessedness the Happiness the liberty of my own Country where Men under the protection and safe influence of a gratious and the best of Princes in the World enjoy and eat of the Fruit of their own Labour and purchase to themselves with security Fields and Manors and dare acknowledg and glory in their Wealth and Pomp and yet leave the Inheritance to their Posterity CHAP. XVIII The several Arts the Turks use to encrease their People is a principal Policy without which the greatness of their Empire cannot continue nor be encreased THere was never any People that laid Foundations and Designs of a great Empire but first thought how to make it populous and by which means they might best supply them with People not only sufficient for the Sacrifice and Slaughter of the War but for the Plantation of Colonies Possession and Security of what the Sword hath conquered We never underderstood how one People alone that was Martial and by successes in War had framed a large Empire was able from the mere original of its own Stock to abound with issue of natural Subjects to bear proportion with the stronger Nations nor how a handful of People with the greatest Policy and Courage in the World was able to embrace a large extent of Dominion and Empire It is true that Alexander did with an Army for the most part composed of Macedonians as it were in a Rant make a Conquest of the best part of the Eastern World but this Empire like a Ship that had much Sail and no Ballast or a fair Tree over-charged with Boughs too heavy for its Stem became a Windfall on a sudden The Turks therefore during the continuance of their Empire have not been ignorant of this Truth for no People in the World have ever been more open to receive all sorts of Nations to them than they nor have used more Arts to encrease the number of those that are called Turks and it is strange to consider that from all parts of the World some of the most dissolute and desperate in Wickedness should flock to these Dominions to become Members and Professours of the Mahometan Superstition in that manner that at present the Blood of the Turks is so mixed with that of all sorts of Languaâ—es and Nations that none of them can derive his Lineage from the ancient Blood of the Saracens The Romans who well knew the benefit of receiving Strangers into their Bosome called this freedom they gave Ius Civitatis whereby Foreigners became as lawful Possessours of Estates and Inheritances and had as much right to the common Priviledges as any that were born in the Walls of Rome and this Ius Civitatis was given to whole Families so that as Sir F. B. says well that the Romans did not over-spread the World but the World it self The English call it Naturalization the French Enfranchisement and the Turks call it Becoming a Believer for they joining with it a point of Religion not only the Proffers of the Goods of this World but also of Delights in the World to come make the Allurements and Arguments the more prevalent and it being an Opinion amongst them as over all the World that it is a Meritorious Work to create Proselytes scarce any who hath Mony to purchase a Slave but will procure one young and fit for any Impression whom he may name his Convert and gain Reputation amongst his Neighbours of having added to the number of the Faithful Of all this Number which yearly are added to the Professors of Mahomet none can retreat on lower Terms than Death and Martyrdom for Christ which causes may whose Consciences though touched with the sense of the denial of their Saviour yet having not Grace or Courage to assert their Faith on so hard a Lesson grow desperate or careless and die
and Battalions of the second Line as were nearest unto it The Elector of Bavaria coming at the same time to their Assistance put the Turks into a disorder and confusion and afterwards forced them to make a Retreat and draw a little off The Hungarian Troops which were accustomed to the Turkish manner of Fighting were order'd to charge them in the Rear which having done they wheel'd about and made a stand So soon as the Turks were out of reach of the German Musquets they rallied again and made another Charge as furiously as they had done the first but the Imperialists maintaining their Ground and not giving one Foot backwards many principal Officers amongst the Turks fell in this Charge at the head of their Squadrons which caused a second Disorder amongst them and to turn their Backs and being pursued slowly by some Troops which continually fired upon them they were put to the rout and fled The right Wing of the Turks observing the Disorder of the left wheel'd about towards that side not only to Succour the flying Party but to joyn with them to make a second Effort and tryal of their Fortune To this Purpose a considerable Detachment advanced to charge the Christians in the Flank but being repulsed the whole Army was put to flight and being pursued by the Hungarians Croats and some Troops of Dragoons fear so possessed many of them that they took their Way without any consideration over the Moorish or Fenny Grounds where sinking up to their Middles in the Water and their Horses plunging in the Boggy places above Two thousand Men were lost and perished in the Quag-mires In the mean time the right Wing of the Christian Army having knowledge of the Passage over the Marsh by the Turks who led them the Way pursued them beyond the soft Ground and perceiving that the Turks began to rally on the top of the Hill where they had left their Cannon with some Chambers of their Ianisaries they made a stand until the Duke of Bavaria was come up with the left Wing So soon as these two Bodies were joyned on the other side of the Moorish Ground the Turks durst not stand another shock but leaving their Camp Tents Cannon Baggage and Ammunition they all betook themselves to a shameful flight Such was the general Fear and Consternation amongst them that they fled by three several Ways and the Ianisaries to Revenge themselves on the Spahees for exposing and abandoning them upon the Hill killed many of them to get their Horses Thoô the Turks in the first Action did not lose above Four thousand Men yet double the Number perished in the Fenny Ground and in the Pursuit the Seraskier himself was wounded and Osman Pasha of Gran Cairo and two other Pashas were killed The Christians lost not above Two hundred Men and took but few Prisoners because that giving Quarter was almost out of Fashion The Pursuit continued not far by reason that the Turkish Horse were more nimble than the Christian and fled to Buda and Alba Regalis the Foot saved themselves in the Woods and in the Mountains Howsoever afterwards in more cool Bloud many were hunted out who had layn hid amongst the Reeds and Ofiers which grew in the wet and marshy Grounds so that about Four hundred Prisoners might be taken and many Christian Slaves obtained their Freedom The Turks lost Thirty eight Colours Twenty three Pieces of Cannon two Mortars and great store of all sorts of Ammunition After the Battle was ended Te Deum was sung and Thanks publickly render'd in the Camp to Almighty God for so signal a Victory and the Prince of Neuburg was dispatched with all diligence to render an account unto the Emperor of the happy Success of that fortunate Day Whilst the Turks were engaged in Battle and their Army routed and totally defeated their Garrison in Newhausel declined and the Besiegers daily advanced upon them The Galleries were again refitted and repaired and the Soldiers lodged at the Foot of the Breach so that all things were ready for a general Assault only Count Caprara thought fit to demand first the Orders of the Duke of Loraine not knowing whether he might be desirous to be present at this great Action to add the Subjection of this Place to the Glory of his late Victory But the great Mind of the Duke which was zealous for the Service of the Emperor and the Christian Cause gave orders not to defer the Assault for one Moment but first to advise the Besieged of the defeat of their Seraskier and to verify the same by some Prisoners taken in the late Battle which were sent into the Town that being informed of their desperate Condition they might be induced to accept Terms of Mercy for their Lives The 18 th was the Day appointed for this Attempt but the Rains were so violent that it was thought fit to expect more favourable Weather and to break some Palisadoes with the Cannon which were newly erected within the Breach The next Morning being the 19 th at break of Day the signal of the Assault was given by the discharge of Thirty six Pieces of Cannon upon which immediately Three thousand Men were appointed to make the Assault Count Scaffemberg at the head of his Men Commanded the Attack in face of the right Bastion and mounted thereupon without the loss of one Man and was followed by the Troops of Lunenburg and Suabia the Turks now losing their Courage did not dispute the Breach with such Resolution as was agreeable to the Resistance they had made at first and thereby gave opportunity to Scaffemberg to possess himself of the Bastion without much difficulty The Baron of Asti and Colonel Kaletz who Commanded the other Attacks with the Troops of Cologne Bavaria and Franconia were in like manner successful and planted the Imperial Standards on the Breach where a Pasha which Commanded it was killed he was a Native of Bohemia and of the Family of Garasba In the Bastion Eight hundred Men were slain excepting Two or Three hundred who cast themselves over the Wall into the Ditch where they met the Sword of the Bavarians and under that ended their Days All this time Seventy Pieces of Cannon continually plaid upon the Town and Twenty Mortar-pieces which threw Bombs and Carcasses and Three thousand Men already upon the Walls and within the Town in which Amazement the Turks spread a white Flag which was the signal of a Parly or of a Surrender But alas it was too late for the Christians being already Masters of the Town they killed all without remorse or distinction of Age or Sex either of Men Women or Children The Governour of the Place died the next Day of his Wounds which he had received on the Breach the Garrison which consisted of Three thousand Men was reduced to On thousand Seven hundred most of which also were killed on that fatal Day At length the Town being taken Orders were
on the 17 th about eight a Clock in the Morning the new Grand Seignior went by Boat from the Seraglio to Eiub where the Nakib Effendi or Chief of Mahomet's Kindred Girt him with the Sword which is a Ceremony answering to our Coronation and having said Noon-Prayers at that place and all the Ceremonies ended he rode from the Mosch in a Solemn Cavalcade through the City back to the Seraglio but not with such Splendor and Magnificence as had been done in the time of the Grand Seigniors his Predecessors All People crouded as we may believe to see the Features and Fashion of their new Sultan of whose Person and Abilities Reports had created already a high Expectation He was of a long lean pale Visage but not of an ungrateful Aspect his Eyes were full and black and his Beard was black but somewhat grisly what his Qualications of Mind were will be more evidently discovered hereafter and come then more properly to be described in their due place But in the mean time we may reflect that the change of the person of the Prince could not be of much advantage to the Publick For what the other did out of a remiss and voluptuous Humour attending only to his Divertisements and leaving the Care and Management of all his Affairs to the Contrivance and Conduct of his Ministers this Grand Seignior must now do out of necessity being wholly unexperienced in the World having all his Life been kept up in a Chamber without other Conversation than that of a few Eunuchs some old Women and two or three Hogiaes or Masters to assist him in his Studies As Books were his Entertainment in his confined Life so â—he seemed to have had an affection for them in the choice he made of Kupriogli for his Favourite who was esteemed in that Country a learned Man and to have had the best Library of any in that whole Empire It was said That he had promised his deposed Brother all security of his Life and that he should be kept in the same manner as he was and that he might allow him what comfort he could in that manner of Life he suffered his Children to be with him for some Days but they were afterwards by the Councils of others taken from him and lodged apart His other Brother Achmet the Companion with him in his Imprisonment he visited and promised to be kind to him but he was not perfect Master of his Senses of which we shall speak more when we come to see him on the Throne after the Death of Sultan Solyman The Hazaki Sultana or Empress of the deposed Sultan was sent to the old Seraglio there to remain until Death or some other Revolution of Fortune shall release her In the place of her the Mother of the present Grand Seignior who for some years was reported to be dead appeared alive and removed from the old Seraglio to her Son but she was a little Maddish Thus were all things turned up-side down all the great Officers of the Empire except the Captain Pasha or Admiral being changed Which when a Man seriously considers and that these Revolutions were carried on by common Soldiers one would admire that they should pass with so little Confusion or Blood-shed For except those six which were killed in the Army and Cuchiuck Mahomet at Constantinople in a Military Fury there was only Solyman and Regeb cut off for the Death of Ibrahim at Rhodes did not proceed from them but from Regeb As to the daily Insolences in the Streets they were not committed by the Spahees but by poor Drunken Ianisaries who had neither Money nor Cloths and therewith would be supplied from Christians and Iews and Turks too But this was no new thing but what had been formerly practised by the baser sort of the Soldiers as often as they came from the War or were shortly going thither And now since things were thus changed some Reformation was expected and that was to begin in the Seraglio where the first and most plausible thing was the Retrenchment of the Expences which during the time of the late Sultan had been excessive the very Barly for the Horses costing One thousand five hundred Dollars or Three hundred pounds Sterling a Day the number of the Hawks and Dogs with the People who attended them was vast all which were ordered to be reduced for the present Sultan took so little delight in these Divertisements thaâ— he was to learn how to Ride and the Stables were to be reduced to a Hundred Horse one Hundred and fifty of the Pages were to be made Spahees and the rest were to be changed and new ones put into their places The same was to be performed in the Courts and Chambers of the Women so that the Retrenchments made were calculated to amount unto Eight thousand Purses of Money a year every Purse being Five hundred Dollars and may be accounted to be almost a Million of pounds Sterling The Greyhounds and Dogs of which there were many Hundreds kept in the Seraglio for the use of the late Sultan were all let loose and suffered to run about the Streets of Constantinople where they might have starved had not the godly Men whose Religion consists much in feeding Dogs and Cats taken Compassion on them and fed them daily with Bread from the Bakers Shops These Retrenchments of expence in the Seraglio pleased the Soldiers wonderfully hoping that thereby the more Money would be coming to them and so they continued very observant and quiet during all the time that the Money was paying out but so soon as that began to fail and fall short they became as troublesome as ever assembling with great Insolence at the Vizier's House threw Stones at his Windows storming and raging like Mad-men until such time as with fair words and promises of Money within a few Days they were for a while appeased Thus far had the Soldiery found the ways to raise Money but now they being at a stand it was the Vizier's turn to set on foot some new invention or conjuration for more But so empty and drained were all the great Banks that no other way could be thought on but only to go over the rich Men once more and to squeeze them to the last Dreggs of all their Estates to perform which they began with the old Kuzlir Aga who obtained his Liberty upon payment of Nine hundred Purses in all besides his Furniture and Curiosities which were taken from him to a great value and after that he had the favour to be Banisht to Grand Cairo The Hasnadar Aga who as we have said succeeded him was displaced and paid Two hundred Purses and the Aga of the old Seraglio was made Kuzlir Aga which Promotion was according to the ancient Methods that every one should rise and succeed gradually and favoured something of a Reformation But because this new Tax would not reach the entire Sum required for
one or the other So soon as the Day-broke the Garrison sallied out and entered the deserted Camp in which they found great Spoils three pieces of Cannon 100 Bombs and other warlike Instruments which the Turks had left behind in their affright which possessed them with such pannick Fear that they stopped not or looked behind them till they had passed the Bridges at Walcowar where they stayed no longer than only to break them down to secure their flight The Story hereof was pleasantly related by a certain German who had three years before been taken by the Turks and had for his skill in the Turkish Language been received into Service of the Pasha's Secretary This Man during the flight had thrown himself into a Cock of Hay and Straw where he lay hidden until the Turks were gone and then creeping out escaped to Esseck and there told the Duke That the â—asha was a dull old timorous Fellow who when he heard all the Drums beat and the Trumpets and Bagpipes sound he was struck with so much Fear that he trembled his Hands and Feet shook his Knees knocked one against the other and his Legs were not able to support his Body and he farther said That the Pasha had been ordered by the Grand Vizier that so soon as he had made himself Master of Esseck that he should not stop there but should make Excursions round the Country ruining and destroying all with Fire and Sword but this Stratagem so well succeeded that the People and Country were freed of the Turks and the Ruin which they threatned The Siege being thus raised Lieutenant Colonel Lyon was dispatched with the News to the Imperial Court which so much rejoyced the Emperor and the whole City that all the former sinister Successes of the Campagne seemed forgotten and fwallowed up in the Joy of this Action for which the Duke of Croy and General Staremberg were so cryed up that never any thing seemed comparable to this Stratagem and gained them not only the Fame of valiant but wise Generals This News was the more wellcome because it was surprizing and unexpected for the Town was so ill fortified that the Soldiers would never have been perswaded to hold out had not the Duke liberally distributed his Money in the Garrison and treated the Soldiers plentifully at the Rate of a Pound of Flesh and a Quart of Wine for every Day And indeed there was a necessity thereof in that moist Country which is nothing but marshy and wet Places and in that Season of the Year subject to Rain Fogs Frost and all extremities of the Weather Thus this Siege being happily raised Te Deum was sung in Esseck and all the Trenches of the Enemy being levelled the Duke committed the Command of the Town to General Staremberg and returned himself to Vienna In the mean time Prince Lewis continued his march for Zatmar where he arrived the first of December having been Complimented all along in his march by the States of Transylvania particularly at Enget where Thanks were particularly returned him for having delivered them from the Tyrannical Government of Count Tekeli Which poor Prince after many Difficulties being come into Walachia 300 Zecklers which had followed him did then Desert him but marching home without leave were pursued by some of his Troops and cut down in such manner that none of them escaped The Walachians also unwilling to have their Country ruined by the Rascians who designing to make their Winter-quarters there caused great Fears so that he laboured under perpetual Troubles and Hardships At Zatmar Prince Lewis was forced to continue for some Days for Refreshment both of his Soldiers Horses and Mules the which were so extreamly tired by their long Marches especially the Beasts which had carried the Baggage that they would not stir nor rise until they put fire under them In the mean time the Turks under the Command of the Grand Vizier's Son continued to over-run and spoil all the Country on the other side of the Theysse and sent a Summons to the Governor of St. Iob to Surrender the place to them but he answered That the Place being a Fortress belonging to the Emperor of which General Nigrelli had the Keys he was not capacitated to comply with their Desires Hereof News being brought to Prince Lewis at Zatmar who had not with him above 2000 good Horse the Enemy being 15000 strong did not think himself in a Condition to fight them but sending to Colonel Schick who with his Regiment was quartered near Zolnock and to the Hussars who were in those parts to joyn as speedily as they could possibly with him and to put themselves into a posture to meet and fight the Enemy Whilst things were forming and contriving for this Action a certain stout Fellow who used to go out upon Parties named Kis Ballad had a Rencounter with the Tartars in the Parts adjacent of whom he killed 100 and took 50 Prisoners Of this Body those that escaped carried News to the Turks and Tartars that the Prince had quitted Transylvania and lay encamped near Zatmar upon which Advice 12000 Turks made an Excursion into that Country But Prince Lewis having now got together 4000 good Horse adventured to seek the Enemy and on the 20th of this month came to Claussenburg where two Days before the Turks had been and summoned the place to make a Surrender but the Summons being rejected the Turks having burned the Suburbs returned to Enget and in their march passing in sight of Claussenburg they burnt and destroyed all Places in their way and attacked the Foragers and advanced Guards took some few German Prisoners with the loss only of about 50 of their Men and so marched directly towards Temeswaer But Prince Lewis having been joyned by General Nigrelli with 2000 Horse by which and his own he made a Body of 4000 well armed and accoutred he pursued them so closely at the Heels that the Enemy entirely quitted Transylvania with the greatest haste and confusion imaginable and falling in with their Rear cut down about a 1000 of their Men took three pieces of Cannon with a great many Camels and Horses and most of their Baggage and hasting away with all the speed possible more in the Nature of a Flight than a Retreat they at length arrived at Temeswaer but with much diminution of their numbers caused by toilsome and long Marches and the excessive Colds in the Night whereby some were frozen to Death and others seized by Catarrhs and Rheums which made them uncapable of farther Service After this the Island of Orsoua surrendred to the Turks for want of Ammunition the Governor upon the Articles granted desired to be conducted to Belgrade not knowing but that it remained still in the hands of the Germans and tho' the Turks told him the contrary yet not believing them he still persisted so earnestly to be Convoyed to Belgrade that the Turks at length
being taken up for the Persians At this time the Royal Presents contained in the 12 Chests which had been carried upon the six Camels were taken out and carried by the Hands of 150 Men as the Custom of the Turks was The which consisted of Cloth of Gold Damasks Sables Boxes of Musk and Amber Silks and Sattins of various Colours Turbants Hangings of Silk ordinary Damasks Bezoar-stones Persian and Indian Sattins Bridles of Gold a Topus or Mace of Gold with a Sword of the like Metal After all which Ceremonies according to the Ancient Custom the Persian Ambassador being upon his Return from the Presence of the Sultan he introduced 20 of his Persian Nobles and then he delivered the Royal Letter The which Ceremony being over he proceeded out from the Royal Presence Cloathed in a Rich Vest like unto that which he had received at his Audience with the Great Vizier which was like to that which they had usually given in former times to Christian Ambassadors besides which the Grand Seignior presented him with the same Horse which was sent him to carry him to his Audience with the Sultan and Vested 90 Gentlemen of his Retinue After which he returned to his Lodgings which had been provided for him and with the same Attendance as had accompanied him to his Audience After some Days continuance at the Ottoman Court it was made known by some of the Principal Ministers of State that one part of the Substance of the Letter was after the Salutes and kind Wishes and Congratulations at his Ascension to the Sublime Throne of his Ancestors The King of Persia made the following Request to the Grand Seignior The King of Persia's Requests and Demands The First Article demanded THAT he would be pleased if it were possible to Remove Bebek Suliman Bei from the Government of Caramania and to put another Prince into his place who might prove of a more Quiet and Placid Disposition than this Bebek who was of a Turbulent Spirit and gave much Molestation to the Persians the which the King of Persia or Sofi did not doubt but to obtain from that Friendship which intervenes between their great Powers and Dominions And whereas Yearly many Persian Pilgrims travel to Mecca where having no Place to Pray in and make their Devotions separately and apart from other Nations they found themselves much hindered and incommoded in the Exercise of their Mahometan Devotions wherefore their Desire was That they might have a Place assigned them for the Use of the Persians The Second Article demanded Farther it was desired That the preheminence of Place and Superiority in the Holy Land might be given to the Armenian Patriarch before others of the Christian Rite who were Subjects to the King of Persia the which ought not to be refused them in regard that they profess the same Faith with other Christians namely Greeks and Franks But in regard that it hath never been the Custom of the Turks to return a speedy Answer to fair Promises or Flattering Insinuations a term of 25 Days passed before an Answer was returned to the preceding Demands and that was done when the Ambassador received Audience with the Chimacam And then he was Invited with all his Court and Attendance to an Entertainment with the Grand Vizier where they met about two a Clock in the Afternoon the Feast held until five a Clock and concluded without other Presents than good Musick unless it were of a stately Horse with an agreeable Furniture Some Days afterwards he was Invited to Dinner by the Chimacam Hassan Pasha and in a Week afterwards he was in like manner treated by the Aga or General of the Janisaries who also presented the Ambassador with a very fine Horse After all which Feasts and Bankets and Presents the Ambassador thought it time to send his Presents to the Grand Vizier by his Kahya and other Principal Officers of his Court in number about 40. The Persian Presents to the Turks There were six Camels two of which were laden with Presents and the other four with fine Tents and Furniture for the same with rich Garments The Presents were all carried by the Hands of 28 Persians that is to say with Cloth of Gold Damasks Indian Sattins Persian Turbants with a rich Sword. Moreover two small Bails to the Vizier's Kahya which contained about 25 Pieces of Sattins Damasks and Cloth of Gold. In like manner the Presents to the Chimacam Chavan Pasha contained about 40 Pieces And that which was for the Janisar-Aga was not much inferiour to it After some Days stay a Messenger was sent from the Grand Seignior with the Answer to the Letter of Business which the Persian Ambassador had brought Which was in this manner The Grand Seignior's Answer to the Persian Ambassador THAT Solyman Bebek being an Inheritary Prince could not be removed from his Government it being against the Mahometan Law to be removed from thence nor was it possiâ—le for them to Allow or Assign any separate Place to the Persians to Pray and Exercise their Devotions in because that Mecca is a Holy Place and free and common to all Mahometans The Holy Land hath also â—een Assigned to the Standard-Bearer Omer as also to the Franks the which having not been much Esteemed or set by in the Time of Mustapha Pasha Vizier the Preheminence of that Place was given as a Law to the Franks which was so solemnly given that it could not be taken away Corrupted or Violated Five or six Days afterwards the Ambassador went to the Vizier to take his Letter which being delivered to him about three or four Days afterwards the Vizier sent him by Order of the Grand Seignior 50 Bags or Purses of Money by the Chiaus-Basha ten Days after which he departed from Adrianople and went to Constantinople taking 60 Days Journey within the Dominion of the Ottomans accounting Tocat in Mesopotamia and other Parts the which was so divided that a Persian Merchant coming to die within that Dominion his Goods may be challenged by his Relations and conveyed away to their Inheritance The Persian Ambassador had still another Request to make in respect to his Nation That the Persian Subjects who Inhabit at Balata in Constantinople wanting a Place for their Devotions may have that Place restored to them for their Prayers which was formerly belonging to the Armenians The which Request was granted to them before the Departure of the Ambassador with Power to rebuild the same again in what should be wanting the which was taken away soon after the Departure of the Persian Ambassador from Constantinople And tho' the Armenian Commissary endeavoured to proceed and made his Complaints at Adrianople against the Impediments he had found yet no Remedy was found but an end was put to all the Work and the Workmen desisted from all other Proceedings in that Building And here it may be enquired How it came to pass that so many Embassies were sent from Persia to the Turks successively one
Eugenius Prince of Savoy did not only on the 10th of this instant Month Valiantly Attack the Ottoman Camp fortified upon the Banks of Tibiscus or Theysse with a treble Ditch and with a Force of Thirty Thousand Men therein but assisted by the Gracious Favour of Almighty God most happily subdued them killing Ten Thousand of them upon the Place amongst which were the Supream Vizier and Aga of the Ianisaries and the rest which the narrowness of the Bridge could not contain threw and precipitated themselves into the River where the greatest part of them were Drowned with Seventy two Pieces of their Cannon with some Thousands of Waggons laden with Provisions which all fell into our Hands and all which was done on our sides with the loss only of 500 Men and about as many Wounded After this Battle was ended all was in great Confusion amongst the Turks and every one shifted as well as he could to escape The Grand Seignior himself posted to Temeswaer from whence he dispatched a Black Eunuch to his Mother with the unhappy News of the late ill Success and the Particulars of it to avoid false Reports which upon this Occasion might be apt to be spread abroad of the Death of himself and other Sinister Rumours more fatal to the Empire than ever was known afore times and might terrifie the Valide Soltana who by the News of the Life of her Son might take Heart and receive Comfort and prevent the Mutinies amongst the Soldiery and People who were too ready upon such an Evil Report to Enthrone the Brother of Sultan Achmet the last Brother of the three lately Deceased But it being known that Sultan Mustapha was certainly Alive all was pacified which being of so great Importance the Grand Seignior sent a Letter as I said to his Mother by a Black Eunuch by way of Nicopolis who was a Magriplee or an Abyssine or Ethiopian well beloved by the Queen and greatly Confided in by her The Relation on the side of the Turks was represented as favourably as the thing would bear in which he declared That there had been a very great Battle near a River in which his Person was not present and so was safe but his Vizier being Engaged against an Army of 100000 Men was Slain together with the greatest Number of Janisaries and Foot Soldiers and those of the Principal Officers the which Relation he also dispatched by the second Master of the Horse with a Coftan to Hâ—ssaein Pasha declaring him to be Grand Vizier which happened well for the Christians for he was a Man always inclined to a Peace and no great Friend to the French he was a great Lover of Wine which mollified the Rigorous Temper of a Turk and made him more Jocund and Easie than commonly the Water-Drinkers amongst the Turks profess to be at which News the Christians immediately conceived an abundance of Joy not doubting but that a Peace would immediately ensue as it did accordingly for all People were grown weary of so long a War which had now continued for about twenty Years with very Unfortunate Successes to the Turks both by Sea and Land. After all which the Grand Seignior returned with what speed he could to his Seraglio at Adrianople where all things had put on a Countenance of Melancholy and Sadness In the mean time the Christians resolving to prosecute and follow their Blow whilst the Turks with Fear and Disorder were flying homeward the Prince Eugenius of Savoy spent the whole Day on the 12th of October in passing the Imperial Army over the Save but the River being narrow and the Weather good and favourable they arrived early in the Camp on the other side And next Morning of the 13th they began their March towards Bosnia which was diâ—â—icult to pass by reason of the Mountains Woods and Rocks in the way which was rude and unbeaten Upon the 14th of this Month the Body of the Army Encamped about Kottor where the March had been worse and more difficult and longer by an Hour than the Day before and tho' Colonel Kyba with his Squadron was marched before howsoever he proceeded not in his March because he had News on the way and chiefly from Bagnaluca That the Enemy had not the least Intelligence of the Advance of the Imperial Army so that he made a Halt until His Most Serene Highness was come up to joyn the Body under his Command that so they might hold a Conference and Council of War together which they performed standing not to lose time and then Colonel Kyba proceeded with his Forces unto Castle Doboy where was a Garrison of Turks and was situated two or three Hours from the Christian Camp And here it was thought fit not to go farther this Night because they concluded that they were not as yet discovered by the Enemy because they had not heard them shoot the Alarm as their Custom was to do whensoever they discovered any Body of Men approaching towards them and so to keep all things still without any discovery they marched with much silence without Beat of Drum or Sound of Trumpet And the very same Day the Prince of Savoy arrived in the Camp where a Council of War being called it was concluded That Colonel Kyba should be dispatched away before to take Possession of some Ground near to the Turkish Castle of Doboy as was formerly agreed and there to form his Camp where he was reinforced with 600 Men Upon appearance of which his Orders were That in case the Castle did not presently Surrender he should march immediately forward and without loss of time march into the Country leaving the last 600 Men before the Castle to inclose the Enemy who should soon be reinforced by 200 Men more And so should proceed to the second Castle called Maglay where finding Opposition he should leave that likewise and so proceed forward By this time or towards the Morning of the 15th of this Month some Shooting was heard which was the first Signal of an Alarm Howsoever they continued to March without beating their Drums or sounding their Trumpets but this Days March was more troublesome and difficult than the Day before by reason that it was through Hilly and rough Places Howsoever coming at length to Castle Doboy they Summoned the Place to Surrender the which being denied at first by the Turks in Garrison the Christians laboured all Night and in that time raised a Battery on which they planted six Piâ—ces of Cannon with two Mortar-pieces The Day following the Cannon beginning to play the Turks Capitulated and Surrendered themselves at Discretion and Mercy of the Enemy The Garrison consisted of about 80 Men out of which they made Prisoners of such as appeared to be the most Soldier-like Men as for others who were Old and Infirm with Women and Children they gave them liberty to shift for themselves and go to what Places they pleased In the Castle little Provision was found and few
pass the Save upon the Return of the Imperial Army which happened to be on the 25th and 26th but Colonel Kyla staid as he usually did some time behind to burn and destroy every thing that remained as yet unconsumed And on the 27th they marched on until they came to the Camp which was before Seniza And on the 28th they entered into bad Defiles and at length into the Valley of Orohovitâ— where the Artillery and Waggons joyned again with the Army The 29th they Encamped near Schebze where Advices were brought to the Generals in what manner the Enemy was gathered into a Body near Belgrade consisting of several Thousands of Men. Lastly The Imperialists returned again over the Save carrying with them a great quantity of Turkish Cloth with many Turkish Women and Goods belonging to the saved Christians with a great quantity of small and great Cattle After the Return of the Christian Army under the Command of Prince Eugenius of Savoy from the Fortunate Successes in Bosnia the Troops were commanded on the 30th of October to march from Marga towards Caranzebes from whence on the very same Evening Lieutenant-Colonel Count of Herberstein was Commanded to March before with his National Militia of Rascians joyned with some Germans And the 31st was appointed for a Day of Repose and Rest for the whole Army and on that Occasion sufficient Provisions were made both for Horse and Man. When on the first of November the Body of the Army began to move from Caranzebes and in grievous Weather with Rain and Snow marched all the way so far as Soczan And then about two a Clock in the Afternoon they made a Halt near Gialuk in the Valley of Carassona And on the third they pitched near the deserted Village of Petrovizas From whence on the 4th Days March a Detachment was sent before to Invest the Fort of Vypalancha where the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regiment of Rabutin Lord of Graser with a Body of 500 Horse had taken his Post or Possession and seated himself on the side of the Danube about 100 Paces from the River advancing to the Pallisadoes and there immediately began to fire upon the Place and to Entrench with so much diligence that in a short time they had opened the Trenches 200 Paces and having prepared the small Pieces of Cannon which they brought with them and one Mortar-piece they began therewith to make their Batteries The 5th Day in the Morning they set in order their Batteries and began also to throw Bombs into the Palanca which they found to be much more strong than it was believed at first for that it was encompassed with a double Ditch and treble Rows of Pallisadoes and a place of Retreat guarded with 400 Men and well provided of all things and for the better Security they had made some hundreds of Faggots and in the mean time the Turks in a great Body showed themselves upon another Stream of the Danube above and others at the Foot of the Mountain near to Rham together with Saicks and Frigats on the River Likewise on the other side of Belgrade near Kroska Semandria Columbas Isbeck and Gradiska which were all places so near that in 24 Hours time Succours might be brought from them at least to hinder if not totally prevent the Designs of the Enemy For which reason the General Count Rabutin resolved to lose no time but forthwith to make an Assault upon the Place and if possible to take it by force to which end he prepared 500 Germans and 200 Rascians to make the Attack upon the Place On the 6th with dawning of the Day appeared on the other side of the River a great number of the Turkish Boats battering with their Cannon as they had done all the Day before against the Christian Camp And in the mean time with the Break of Day the Attack began in two Places at the same time that is upon the left Hand of the Danube where the greatest difficulty was under the Command of Heer Viart Sergeant-Major of the Hanover Troops and then on the right Hand on the River Cerasse where the Soldiers to pass the Water Waded up to the Middle under the Command of Captain Beaumont of the Regiment of Rabutin And to give the greater Inconvenience to the Enemy they fired their Cannons continually without Intermission as also their Bombs besides Small-shot from 250 Men out of the Trenches but in regard that in the Night before certain Recruits were sent to reinforce the Place together with a Boat on Board of which were 100 Men from Columbas and Isbeck with new Ammunition so that they met with very much resistance besides they Storm'd without making any Breach and that in the sight of 20 or 30 Saicks and Frigats which appeared above and below the Place insomuch as things looked more doubtful and hazardous than with any promising Countenance of Success Howsoever General de Rabutin and Sergeant-General Count de Leiningen applyed all possible care and Industry to hinder and prevent the Enemies Succours from coming upon them by which the Soldiers at the appearance and so near an approach of their Enemies again reassumed new Courage and tho' they were at first well enough animated when they observed the Turks come upon them with their Cries of Allah Allah which they usually make upon their Charge and that 400 of their Horse remained for a Reserve the Vigour and Spirit was renewed on all sides and then with Axes and Hatchets they cutting down the Pallisadoes gained so much Ground that all things laid open before them So that after a doubtful Conflict of about an Hour and a half the Place was overcome and taken by the Valour of the Christians so that not only the Commander in Chief Hay Beigh but all the Garrison with the Inhabitants without any Exception were Killed or droven into the Danube All which was done and acted in a very short time which was well that it so happened for had it admitted of any farther delay the Christians would have encountred many more Difficulties for that the Turks were bringing over many Succours which would have caused very dangerous Diversions When on the contrary the Turks lost 800 Persons and the Christians only 10 which was almost a Miracle to consider General Rabutin was always present on the right Hand during the Assault and after it the better to Encourage the Soldiers he alighted from his Horse and having Commended and Praised every one publickly in his Place according to his Deserts and especially the Sergeant-General Count of Leiningen who had the left Wing under his Conduct and had done and acted as much as could be expected on such an Occasion and indeed both he and Sergeant-Major de Viart showed as much Bravery Conduct and Military Experience as could be desired of the greatest Captains in the World. But now in regard this Pass of Vypalancha was too far within the Territory of the Enemy to be any long time maintained for