mind affecting liberty and therefore a great enemy to Tyrants but having to deal with potent adversaries he was forced to add policy to his strength and so piece out the Lions skin with the Foxes tail for it was almost a miracle that in little more then a month he should recover the whole Kingdom of Epirus save one City out of the hands of the Turks who had many and strong Garrisons therein He was of so even a temper that prosperity could not make him proud nor fear daunt him but alwayes kept the same cheerfulness of countenance as he used to do his courage was invicible of exceeding strength and agility of body modest and temperate in speech so politick that he was by his very enemies called The Master of Policy a great cherisher of valour in others dividing the spoyl of his enemies amongst his Souldiers reserving no part thereof to himself nay having taken Mustapha the Turkish General Prisoner and receiving five and twenty thousand Ducats for his ransom he freely divided it amongst them which made his Souldiers not only obedient to his commands but also so resolute that they feared not to set upon their enemies though with never so great disadvantage reward being the Razor that whetteth a Souldiers courage and pricketh him forward to all adventurous enterprizes His personal valour was seen in his combat with Feri-Bassa a great Commander of the Turks whom he slew hand to hand though some blame this as a fault the loss of a General being a general loss who should not expose himself to private dangers and indeed the greatest oversight that he committed in all his Wars was soon after when the Turks besieged Croya in whose Army he had so far ingaged himself that he was by them on every side enclosed and in great danger to have been slain or taken although through his valour he broke thorough and made an escape for the office of a good General consisteth not in the adventuring his person to manifest danger but in the politick Government of his charge Of his great bounty to his Souldiers we have in part spoken before we shall to that add an example of his Justice Mahomet the Great sent 14000 horse-men against him under the command of one named Debreas who promised to perform wonders against him but was by Scanderbeg overthrown and by him slain encountring hand to hand all the enemies spoyl he divided amongst his Souldiers and gave Debreas Horse and Armour unto one of his chief Commanders named Moses to another called Musachius who had behaved himself gallantly in that Battel he gave a Prisoner who by his outward part and behaviour seemed to be a man of some account This Turk agreed with Musachius upon a ransom of 200 Ducats and thereupon drew forth the money out of a little bag which he had kept secretly about him offering it to Musachius for his ransom who taking it told the Turk be must provide more money for his ransom for that was his own by Law of Arms being taken with his person On the other side the Turk alledged the agreement with the payment of the full sum agreed upon This controversie being brought before Scanderbeg he with great pleasure heard them both Musachius pleading hard for his ransom and the Turk for his liberty when they had both ended their Pleas Scanderbeg told them that they both contended for that which in right was his and neither of theirs for the Prisoner said he with the money was both mine at first taking him and although Musachius I gave you the Prisoner yet not the money which I knew not of neither said he to the Turk doth the concealing of it make it yours who by the Law of Arms had lost your self and it to me Afterwards he decided the business thus allotting Musachius the money he agreed for and to the Turk his desired Liberty Such was his heroical disposition that when the fore-named Moses had revolted from him and joyned himself to his enemy Mahomet divers of his friends according to the custom of the world aggravating his offence with many hard speeches before Scanderbeg he could not abide to hear the same but commanded them to hold their peace and to use no more such speeches only wishing that all Treason and evil fortune were together with Moses gone out of Epirus Such was also his celmency that notwithstand-the said Moses had with the power of the Turks given him a sharp and terrible battel in which he was overthrown and afterwards being in disgrace with the Sultan fled from Constantinople and prrostrated himself before Scanderbeg with his girdle about his neck in token that he had deserved death desiring mercy upon his knees he presently granted him his request restraining by Proclamation all people from speaking against him and restoring his goods and offices again which by his Treasons he had confiscated One great policy for the preservation of his Country was that upon the approach of his enemies he took order that all the provisions of the Country should be conveyed to places of refuge and nothing left abroad for the Turks to prey upon by which means provisions many times grew so short amongst them that straying abroad for forrage he with the more ease overcame them Many were the battels which he fought against the Turks in all which he remained Victor scarcely ever suffering the least check so that fortune seemed to wait upon him as his handmaid It is reported of him that having slain of the Turks in one Battel twenty four thousand and being informed the next day that the remainder of them might easily be surprized if presued he said O no let some of our enemies live to report their own slaughter and our victory He having at another time brought the Turks unto a great straight they sent unto him offering to deliver up their Horses and Arms so that they might depart with their lives to whom he returned this answer That as they came into his Country without his Command so should they not by his leave depart thence Having thus victoriously reigned the space of 24 years January 17. in the great Climactorical year of his age he deceased at Lyssa a City of the Venetians to which State he commended the tuition of his Wife Son and Kingdom till such time his Son should come of age His death was worthily lamented of all Christian Kings and Princes he being the scourge and maule of the Turks and the most careful watch-man and invincible Champion of the Christians his dead body was with the general lamentation of all men magnificently buried in the Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas at Lyssa About nine years after his decease the Turks having taken that City they with great devotion digged up his bones where happy was he that could but see or touch them and such as gained them or any part of them esteemed of them as so high and precious Relique that they caused them to be set in silver
mighty number of Buyers or Scorcerers of Children or Men who in hope of getting slaves carry with them bundles of long Ropes wherewith they easily tye together fifty or sixty men These traders purchase of the Souldiery or Free-booters whomsoever the Sword hath not devoured which is granted them upon condition that the King may have the tenth of what is trafficked for the rest unto themselves to sell Nor is there any Mercandize so profitable amongst them nor so frequent as anciently among the Romans who called things fairly bought their proper Goods and Rights as just as that of slaves ALLACEâ— HECHBER DABIT DEUS HIS QUOQUE FINEM Such as are of extraordinary beauty comeliness or composition of body The condition of Virgins other women are chosen out for Concubines mean and indifferent Faces are appointed Matrons hand-maids amongst whose offices some are so filthy and so loathsom as were before though somewhat uncivilly related Others are set to womens work as spinning carding weaving It is free for none of them to profess the Christian Faith or hope of liberty during life There is some content in hope but these have none How private Turks use prisoners Hitherto hath been spoken how the Kings use Captives now how private men their Prisoners newly taken first they threaten them with all sorts of menacing sharp words promises and allurements to entice them to circumcision which if yielded to they are treated somewhat more courteously but then all hope of ever returning to their Country is clean cut off and whosoever endeavours it burning is his appointed punishment Such as are thought more firm and less fugitive are admitted to their Masters military imployments and can onely be made free when age hath made them useless and then he is rather turned off then remitted orderly or when the Master by hurt in War or danger of death bequeaths him liberty They are permitted marriage but their children are disposed at their Master's pleasure which makes the more understanding sort utterly abhor marriage They who refuse Circumcision are miserably and unhumanely treated of which I have had the experience of thirteen years sufferings nor can I express in words the great calamities of such people How Christians ignorant in mechanik Arts are used The condition of such unskilful men is wretched Those whose toyl brings profit are only in reputation with them and therefore learned Men Priests and Noble-men who have lived in retiredness and pleasures when they fall into the hands of Turks are of all most miserable the Merchant or Man-scourser bestows no cost on them as scant vendible they walk with naked head and feet and often their whole bodies no new cloaths succeed the old worn out they are hurried through Mountains Rocks from place to place Winter and Summer and have no end thereof till death or that they find a foolish Purchaser that they think buyes ill Merchandize but no man is so happy or esteemed amongst them for Age Art or Beauty that being sick will leave behind them First they are whipped to go on if they cannot do that then they are put on horse-back and there not able to sit upright their bellies are tyed on horse-back no otherwise then a sack of Corn or Cloak-bag if he die he is stripped of all his cloaths and thrown into the next ditch to be devoured by dogs and vultures How prisoners newly taken are used They do not only bind them in endless chains but in their journey also manacle their hands they march the distance of a large pace one from another that mutually they do not hurt and tye their hands lest with stones they mischief do their Masters that when sometimes they lead great multitudes as ten times five hundred chained together the strength of whom if hands at liberty to throw stones might much annoy them At night when they rest their feet are likewise chained and exposed to all injuries of weather The condition of Women is a little more humane they who have strength of limbs are driven on foot those more tender are set on horses such as are infirm and cannot ride are put in baskets or ripiers as we use geese Afterwards their condition is sadder either they are included in strong Turrets or forced to endure the wicked lusts of their Merchants Where still they are is ever heard vast and hideous howlings of both sexes suffering violations from them neither doth the age of seven or six years defend them from those vitious actions a people imcomparably wicked both against nature and before libidinous How used that are exposed to sale At the break of day they are brought to Market like droves of sheep or herds of goats Merchants appear prizes are set if the prisoner be liked his cloaths are stripped off he is viewed by the buyer all members surveyed tryed and throughly searched for faults in joints or arteries if he please not then returned to the owner and this is done until he find a purchaser When bought he 's carried to some heavy servitude to plow keep sheep omitting baser Offices They endure there many unheard examples of calamities I have seen men tyed together with yokes to draw the plow Maidens are severely forced to perpetual labours separated from the sight of men nor are they suffered speech or conference with other Servants If any man be taken prisoner with wise and children him some great person willingly purchaseth to be imployed in his Country-house in Tillage Vineyards Meadows Pastures and children born of them are all his Slaves and if they persevere in Christian Faith a certain time is allotted them to servitude and then made free their children notwithstanding continue Slaves at the Master's will and imployed where he pleaseth for they have no certain nor enrolled Estates in Lands and so not assured seats of residence If after making free they desire to return to their Country they have Letters Patents given for their journey But to such as abjure the Christian Religion no certain time of bondage is prescribed them nor right of return all hopes of their liberty totally depends upon the Master's pleasure and when they have got freedom they pay the Tenths as other Turks but freed from other Taxes with which Christians are burthened Of Captives made shepherds The Husbandman hath an hard and sad condition but the Shepherd far more grievous they always live in solitariness night and day covered only with the roof of Heaven The Master and the wise have some small Tents no shelter for the shepherd unless at spare times compelled to work on Tapestry or Carpets Every month they change their Pastures and drive their flocks from one Mountain to another Some Masters that have more humanity now and then give small rewards which the Servant keeps as his proper Goods and preserves to bear the charge of a return to his Country if ever he get liberty but these largesses are seldom done and then but as a
ambitiously sought after the same deeming them altogether unworthy but upon such whose modesty and desert he took special notice of that they were worthy of such favours so tempering the severity of his commands with the greatness of his bounty that it is dubious whether he were of his Nobility or men of War for the one more feared or for the other beloved both the great staies of Princes States fear keeping the obstinate in obedience and love the dutiful in devotion Although by Religion he was a Mahometan yet would he dislike no man for his Religion whatsoever so that he did worship but one onely God creator of Heaven and Earth and all that therein is he himself beleiving that God was one in essence and in himself immutable without change or diversity and yet for the manifesting of his omnipotency and power he created in the world sundry kinds of people differing both in nature manners and conditions yet all framed to the Image of himself so in like manner was he contented of his Subjects to be diversly served according to the diversity of their natures and manners so they worshipped no strange Gods which was the cause that he permitted the exercise of all Religions in those Countries subject to his obedience were they not meer Atheists or Idolaters His Army though very great was like unto a well governed City in passing thorough any Country with his Souldiers he took such order that none of the people whereby he passed were by them any thing injured insomuch that if a Souldier had but taken an Apple or other thing of like value from any man he died therefore so severe were his commands It is reported that one of his Souldiers having taken a little milk from a Country woman and she complaining thereof he commanded the said Souldier to be presently killed and his stomach to be ript where the milk being found he satisfied the woman and so sent her away who doubtless else had died for her false accusation had it not so appeared This severity with some other of the like nature was very conducible to the preservation of his Army which was so great that it was thought almost impossible to have found sufficient victuals for the releif thereof but by his severe punishment of disorders both Artificers and Merchants from far Countries resorted with their Commodities and Merchandise to his Camp without fear from every place for which they received present mony and so in safety again departed Those Cities that yeilded to him he favourably received but the other that refused to submit themselves to his obedience he used with all extremity He used often to say that a small number well conducted did many times carry away the victory from the confused multitude He rather sought to maintain his Army upon the spoile of his enemy though with some hazard then upon his Friends and Allies and when he sent out any part of his vast Army for the taking of any place he would command them on pain of his displeasure so to behave themselves that at his comming he might either finde the City taken or the Gates shut against him which they seldom failed for to do for he had his men at so great command that no danger unto them was more dreadful then his displeasure nor did he punish any thing so severely as cowardise insomuch that if in his disport of Hunting the wild Beast any one did for fear give way either to a Bear or Lyon and slew him not was sure therefore to die himself and to turn his back upon the enemy was no less dangerous then to run upon his own death That he was free from covetousness and that ambition with which many Princes are infected may appear by this That after his many conâ—â—ests in the lesser Asia and the overthrow of Bajazet the Empire of Constantinople being profered to him by the Emperors Ambassadors he returned this answer That he was not come from so far Country for the enlargement of his Dominions already large enough but rather to win Honour and thereby make his name famous to all posterity That he come as his friend and Ally and that his upright meaning therein was in greatest cause that God from above had beheld his power and thereby bruised the head of the fiercest enemy of mankind that was under Heaven That unto his courage he had alwayes faith joyned such as should never suffer him to make so great a breach in his reputation as that it should be reported of him that in the colour of a friend he came to invade the Realm of his Ally That he desires no more but that the service he had done for the Greek Emperor might for ever be ingraven in the memory of his posterity to the end they might for ever wish well unto him and his successors by remembring the good he had done them That long might the noble Emperor live happily to govern his Estate and that before his return he would so well consider for the establishing of the same as that he should not lightly fall again into the like jepordy alwayes assuring himself of his good will and favour towards him Having thus purchased an everlasting renown by his many victories and restored several Princes that had fled unto him for refuge to their ancient inheritances after he had long time wasted Phrygia Caria Lydia with the most part of the lesser Asia and conquered all Syria Judea Egypt and Persia with divers other great Kingdoms and Provinces he returned home beautifying his Regal City of Samorcand with the spoyls of a great part of the world before by him wasted where he for a long space reigned in great peace and glory Afterwards hearing of the rising again of the Turkish Kingdom under the Ottoman Princes he resolved for a second expedition but in the midst of his preparations he was prevented by death dying of an Ague the 27 of January in the year of our Lord 1402. whose death was ushered by a terrible blazing Star portending as it were to the world the death of so eminent a Prince who while he lived made such a bustle therein The Character of Scanderbeg Prince of Epirus THis famous and renowned Champion was son to John Castriot who reigned in Epirus in the time of Amurath the fixth King of the Turks about the year of our Lord 1422. His father not being able to withstand the growing fortunes of that ambitious Tyrant delivered him with his three brothers as hostages to obtain peace whom the perfidious Amurath promised to entreat well and honourably but upon the death of their Father poysoned three of them only this George Castriot for so was his name whom the Tyrant entirely loved escaped death For his excellent feature and pregnant wit he was by the Turks named Scanderbeg or Lord Alexander and in his youth shewed many tokens what a rare Scholar he would prove in the School of Mars He was of a very noble generous
Corcutus and five of his brother Achomet's Sons makes war against Hysmael the Persian Sophy with whom he had a signal encounter beyond Euphrates but such was the equal fortune of the day that Selymus content to have coped personally with that renowned and dreadful Potentate retreated back to Constantinople whence he threatned Hungary but the force and fury of his Army fell upon Campson Gaurus and Tomombeus Sultans of the Mamaluke Empire whom he overthrew in two fatal battels at Singa and in the City of Grand Cairo which with Egypt and Syria were annexed to his Dominions In his return hence as he was meditating an useful expedition into Hungary being seized by a canker in his back he breathed out his revengeful soul in the year 1520. SOLYMAN his only Son not so strange considering his Father was a most Martial Prince succeeded to the Throne in whose reign this great Empire rose to its highest pinnacle and culmination of Glory He was sirnamed the Magnificent for the nobleness of his Acts He first conquered the Isle of Rhodes defeated King Lewis of Hungary and slew him at Mohaez and besieged Vienna but in vain In fine this was the potent Monarch that conquered Hungary took Buda Strigonum Alba Regalis in pretence of the right of King John and his Orphant elected by the Hungarian Nobility against the due title of Ferdinand He likewise threatned Italy with his Fleets and aided the French King by them against Charles the Fifth as he likewise combated the Persian Kings Hysmael and Tamas He besieged Malta by his General Mustapha but was there worsted Towards the latter end of his reign he was enjealoused by his Paramour Recotane against the Noble Prince Mustapha his eldest Son by another woman to make way for her children and Mustapha strangled as Solyman was upon a pretended Expedition against the Persians In his seventh and last expedition into Hungary he died at the siege of Zigerh 1566. having made Hungary a Province of Turkie Selymus having met his Fathers Corps about Belgrade having been privily advertised of his death by Mahomet Bassa who had concealed it from the Janizaries as is usual in that Government to avoid the mutiny of the Janizaries was there saluted Emperor but not admitted to the Seraglio at his return to Constantinople till he had given them a large Donative He was a Prince no way like his Father but given to excess and debauchery which made him willing to make peace with the Emperor of Germany and the Persians notwithstanding by his Captains he gained Cyprus from the Venetians as he lost the famous battel of Lepanto to Don John of Austria Toward the end of his reign he subdued Moldavia and Valachia more absolutely to the Turkish subjection as he also reduced the Kingdom of Tunis and the strong Castle of Guletta taken from Barbarossa by Charles the fifth 42 years before He died at the 51 year of his age spent with wine and women and in the year of the Incarnation 1574. AMVRATH the third succeeded him having caused his five Brethren to be strangled in his sight He was a Prince not vicious as his Father but given to peace and addicted to a quiet life and managed his Arms as his Father had done before him by Lieutenants who were famous men in their times as Sinan Ferhates Mustapha and Osnan Bassa the first and last of whom sorely plagued the Persians against whom Amurath was provoked by a dream and vision and took from them the Province of Media now called Sirvan a great part of the greater Armenia and the Regal City of Tauris after two or three dismal encounters they confirmed likewise the Crim-Tartar in a surer obedience to the Ottoman Family The same Sinan waged a fierce War in Hungary took Raab and other Towns but they were all recovered again and he after many grand atchievements shamefully driven to flie out of Hungary by Sigismund Prince of Transylvania since which time until this day the Turks power was never formidable in Europe Amurath died in the year 1595. having raigned 21. years MAHOMET the third his eldest Son succeeded him commencing his reign with the bloody Massacre of 18. of his Brethren and ten of his Fathers Wives and Concubines thought to be impregnate with Posthume issue that so he might make sure work He was dreaded before his assumption to the Crown to have been of a fierce and untractable nature but he proved a meer swine for he was memorable for nothing of military concernment but his personal appearance in Hungary with 200000 men where he took Agria and was present at the battel of Keresture in 1596. the second of his reign out of which field he run in the beginning of the Fight and would never endure to hear of an engagement again something was done by his Captains in Hungary but as much was done against them and things continued there in statu quo to his death which hapned by his unweildy Fat under which he could not stand in the year 1603. ACHMAT his Son a stripling succeeded him a Prince proud and imperious yet no way Martial he had some Piques with the Persian who threatned him hard and made him glad to urge a peace with Rodolphus the Emperor being also perplexed with his Rebels in Asia Like his Predecessors he was engaged in a Valachian and Moldavian War which he finished with victory taking the Princes Alexander Bougdan and Coresky Prisoners the latter of whom made a great bustle in the Ottoman Court by his escape out of prison This Sultan Achmat was much given to women and with too frequent use of them died young at the age of 30. years in 1617. As to his Sons and Successors having spoken of them in the modern History of the Turks hereto adjoyned this is their brief Character Mustapha the Brother German of Achmat appointed by him because of the minority of his Sons to the Government was a bookish Philosophical man and bred in the fear of death all his dayes Osman Achmat's Son who dethroned him a Prince of 16. years of age was a very forward active Prince he quarrelled with the Poles and perceiving in that War the sloath and cowardliness of the Janizaries by which he came off with dishonour by the advice of Derlavir the grand Visier an experienced honest man and a great Captain on the Asian side intended the extirpation of them and the erection of a new Militia which design being sented was the cause of both their deaths Osman being strangled in prison and the Visier cut in pieces by the tumultuous mutinies of those Bands MVSTAPHA was re-inthroned but was the same man and again deposed by the same Janizaries and Sultan Morat the brother of Achmat established He was as warlike a Prince as his brother or any of his Progenitors for he recovered Bagdat taken by the Persians during these changes at Constantinople and there in prosecution of his Brothers intentions designed the perdition of
gross absurdities did he publish to catch the credulous inconsiderate multitude but his devices are so ridiculous that a wise man cannot chuse but smile at his conceits in pleasure this indeed hath made many of the most serious of them to mislike his inventions and sensual delights amongst the rest hear Avicena one of his own Sect Mahomet saith he hath given as a Law which sheweth the perfection of felicity to consist in those things which concern the body whereas the wise and sages of old had a greater desire to express the felicity of the soul then of the body as for the bodily felicity though it were granted them yet they regarded it not nor esteemed it in comparison of the felicity which the soul requireth Nor were his ridiculous fopperies of Hell less then the other namely that it was in the navel of the world compassed with a large high wall of attractive Adamant having seven gates of flaming brass to enter in at that it was divided into several Cells or Dungeons whereof some were more loathsom and fuller of torments then others which are prepared for those souls who have highest transgressed Some of these Caves saith he are so deep that a milstone in a thousand years cannot attain to the bottom and other places are without bottom In the descent of these deep Caves or Dungeons are placed sharp pikes and swords to wound and torment the souls that move there These Dungeons are full of flaming oyle and brimstone which striketh such a terror that the very Devils themselves do howl scrich and rage there beyond measure other Dungeons be full of serpents toads and all manner of venemous and noison creatures that can be imagined Here shall the wicked eat of the fruit of the Tree Zacon which being in their guts shall flame like sulphur they shall drink boyling water and every day have alteration of new torments Some Rivers saith he be full of Crocodiles others so cold as makes them gnash and chatter others boyl with violence of heat yet saith the Alcoran shall not these pains endure for ever for after so many thousand years when each soul hath suffered according to the demerits of the sins which he hath committed then shall they be delivered by Mahomet yea his charity is so great that he will deliver the Devils also first changing their affrighting shapes into others more tolerable and then by washing them in a River flowing out of Paradise called Alcanzar they shall become whiter then the driven snow and from thence forward sing Lala hillulaes unto Mahomet His doctrine of Angels was that they were either good or bad yet both subject to death the good as consisting of flame because Lucifer an Angel by ambition was cast out of Paradise the bad Angels are imprisoned in Dogs Swine Toads Wolves Bears Tygers c. After the Judgement day they must be tormented in Hell some millions of years and afterwards be delivered by Mahomet As absurd and ridiculous were his opinions concerning our Saviour Christ as that the Virgin Mary conceived him by smelling to a Rose presented to her by the Angel Gabriel and that he was born out of her breasts also that he was not crucified but Judas or some other wicked thief in his stead Christ being separated from them by a cloud that covered him which came from Heaven that at the last day the Righteous should enter into Heaven the Jews under the banner of Moses the Christians under the banner of Christ and the Saracens under his banner Having with these and the like odd whimzies patched up his Alcoran to give it the better credit that the people might imagine it to come from Heaven he devised this cuning way He secretly caused a wild Ass to be taken and bound his Alcoran being fairly written about his neck then as he preached unto the people he pretended a sudden rapture of some extraordinary thing that was revealed to him from above and with a loud voice spake to the people Ye have desired a Law behold God hath sent you a Law from Heaven go to such a Desart there shall ye find an Ass and a Book tyed about his neck which will direct you in the wayes which God hath commanded Thereupon the people ran in great hast and as they could do no other found it according as he had said so with great pomp they bring back the Ass with the book about his neck suitable to the bearer and now as thoroughly convinced they give great honour to this their new Prophet Thus were these silly souls deluded by this cunning Impostor who worse then Herostratus purchased to himself a lasting name by by the grandest wickedness that could be committed We shall conclude this Chapter with a brief Epitomy or Summary of their Religion such as it is wherein all those that are not wholly given over to sensuality and brutishness may see the ridiculous machine whereon the great fabrick of their faith is grounded A Summary of the Religion of the TURKS THe Turks believe one sole God in one sole Person Creator of heaven and earth the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked who hath created Paradise for the recompence of the righteous and Hell for the last punishment of crimes They believe that Mahomet was a very great Prophet whom God sent in the world to teach men the way of salvation and call themselves Musulmans that is to say recommended to God or saved They believe the Decalogue of Moses and are obliged to observe it they celebrate Friday as the Christians Sunday that day they assemble in Temples at noon to pray They are obliged to pray five times a day viz. in the morning at noon at the evening when the Sun setteth and an hour within night They fast the month or moon which they call Ramazan during this month they neither drink nor ear all the day until the Sun be set but in the night drink and eat according to their appetites flesh and fish except the flesh of swine and wine that is all times forbidden them after this fast they have the feast of great Bairan as the Christians Easter after Lent In this Bayran or Byram lasting 3 days they are very jolly and give Presents like our New years gifts especially the Grand Seignior gives and receives much They are great founders of Temples and Hospitals and are obliged to give to the poor the first day of the year the Tyth of what they have gained during the preceding year They believe that after being well washt saying some prayer appropriate to that Ceremony they have also the soul purified from all filthiness of sin which is the cause that they wash and bath often especially before they pray They have no Sacrament but Circumcision they cause their children to be circumcised at the age of seven or eight years and when they can pronounce these words La ilha ilha allha Mehemet rasoul allha that is There is
twenty eight ships burnt the Captaine Bassa only saving himselfe with fourteen Gallies The number of Turks slain was reputed no lesse then five thousand and four thousand taken and as many Christian slaves set at liberty The Venetians lost their Captain General Marcello five hundred Marriners and Souldiers of whom the Maltesse did brave service In room of Marcello the gallant Mocceingo was elected General by the Senare and a chain worth two thousand pound bestowed on him besides In September the same yeare the Noble Generall being recruited following his successe landed and took the important and strong Island of Tendos the Grecian Harbour when they besieged Troy and soon after took the Island of Lemnos after a difficult siege for the Turks esteemed it as impregnable and having repaired and provided the Fortresse with all necessaries for defence it lying within view of the enemy and a great anoyance to their Trade and provision by Sea departed towards Scio and now the hopes of an accomodation by a Treaty which was maintained at that time by their Secretary Bellarini were evaporated into the Turks fury who caused the said Secretary to be secured and the Treaty to be laid aside For these losses nothing discouraged but rather heightned the Grand Seignior and Visier nor did they give over the designe of reducing Candia which was onely feasible by successe at Sea as being an Island but Mahomet breathing nothing but Revenge and Honour with fierce language and sterne looks upbraided the Bashaws for imploying such base cowardly fellows and then chearfully bad them equip another Fleet and he would designe and appoint the Commanders whom his own observation had recommended to his choice In the same time the Land service in Dalmatia went hotly on but so as it shewed the Turkes had not totally recovered the use of their Armes and while a greater experience could be gained He thought it not adviseable to hazard an expedition in person or venture the Reputation of his Prime Visier in so minute an enterprise reserving that designe till he had trained and accustomed his men to that service to the same end keeping his Army in continual service in Candia though with little effect For nothing of consequence was archieved of either side and those small successes that were were equal and mutual The turks severity policy now the one and then the other prevailed as if they bartered and exchanged Victory For which lazy progress notwithstanding on purpose to shew his severity against such remisse and unactive Commands though it were hardly possible to effect more with the force he had upon the Island He some time after caused the Bassa Governour thereof to be put to death at his return from that Government the like fate befell the Bassa of Bosnia for his slow and fruitlesse menage of the war in Dalmatia aforesaid Another Fleet as the grand Seignior threatened was again rigged and in August the same year defeated in the same place by the same Generall the Emperour himself coming to the Castles to view the encounter which was gallantly maintained on both sides and the losse nothing so considerable to the Turks for that he set to Sea with a potent Fleet the next moneth the Venetians having lost their General by a casual lighting of the shot of a tire of Canon from the Isle of Scio into his magazine of powder which here blew him up and other Nobles with him into the air The turks get conquest With this Fleet the Turk regained the Isle of Tenedos though with a great ruine to themselves for the Venetian Fleet who had braved and affronted them all this Summer being gone to take in fresh water the Turkish Fleet took the opportunity and landed there a great Body of men who storming it were at first repulsed but prepared for a generall onslaught the Venetian Garrison working a Mine under the Fort disposed the Powder therein with a Match sitted to it when quitting the place and getting on ship board the Turks taking possession were blown with the Fort into the aire The Venetian Fleet returning and perceiving what had happened the Turks Fleet being at hand prepared for the encounter which was again resolutely performed the Grand Seignior being in view again and cocerned in the regaining of the aforesaid Island but in fine the Venetians got the Victory sinking twenty of the Galleys and taking four more the rest sheltred themselves within the Dardanelles So often was that little Republick in one year successefully against this potent enemy Besides that it hath sustained their whole Naval Force and their strongest efforts by land for twenty years together without any considerable losse and with very inconsiderable helps and supplies from other Christian Neighbour Princes But there is a great deale of difference and odds betwixt an united and entire State whose virgin generosity had almost tired this lustfull Leviathan and divided Dominions not only by distances Limits Laws and customs but Religion also and prostituted likewise to his ravishing Armes by others interests designes and ambition After his return from that short expedition the Grand Seignior continued at Constantinople busie in reforming his Court and Officers and other abuses in the Seragiio which by the depravity of the times and those breaches and corruptions in the State had prevailed to custom sloth and Epicurisme and Pride the mother of faction and the specifick direct bane and ruine of this arbitrary government were extremely predominant and corruption by bribery to which the Turkish Ministers of State are most strongly inclined was never so boldly licentious so that the vertues of another Hercules was requisite to purge out these enormities Yet such was the excellency of this Princes judgment The Grand Seignior excellent in Government such his severe Government of himself and commands and punishment of others and the strict execution of them that by thiâ— he quickly reduced things to the former state denying himself the ordinary use of those pleasures for whose excesses his predecessors are so infamous to Christendom This sharp and rigid proceeding with all sorts of persons especially the Souldiers of his Guard putting the hard yoak of Discipline upon their necks again began to grate and gall and make them to wince against the Government and therefore a Persian war was concluded which Kings Ambassador had his head taken off for making a denunciation thereof at Constantinople But a nearer European quarrel presenting it self a truce and peace was afterwards patch up betwixt them The Swede proving very successeful in Poland in 1656. 1657. by taking most of the Towns and Cities of that Kingdom Prince Ragotzi enters Poland and wanting men at present to maintain them fairly invited Ragotzi Prince of Transilvania to come and take share of the spoil promising him a part of the conquest for his labour To the same purpose Oliver Cromwell courted him and many transactions of that nature there passed between them Ragotzi no
way disliking the bargain and being next neighbour Recalled by the Grand Seignior out of covetousnesse and ambition came in with a great Army and assisted the Swede at the siege of Cracovia which at last was yielded and put into his hands The news hereof hastily alarmed the Turkish Court who resenting the growing greatness of the Swede and the ill neighbourhood they were like to have from him if once he could fix and settle himself in Poland the Grand Seignior commanded Ragotzi as his Tributary and Vassal for for many yeares those Princes like the other of Vallachia and Moldavia have received their investitâ—â—â— from the Turk to abandon his League wiâ—â— the Swede and to return home restoring the Polander the places he had taken Ragotzi not daring to refuse marched back again and upon his arrivall was met with a Chiaux commanding him to resign his Principality to his Cousin Radus for that he had presumed without the Grand Seigniors command or licence to invade the King of Poland and make war with a Prince in league and amity with him and withall to resign his Forts and places of strength To the first he seemingly yielded but the other he would by no means hearken to and thereupon making use of his Forces reassumes his former Title and prosecuted the Turk with open war And at the beginning with very good success though his confederate the Prince of Vallachia was routed and 8000 men slain as he was marching to his assistance defeating the Turkish Army and Bassa of Budo at Lippa 6000. men taken and killed and the victory followed thirty leagues where hearing of the advance of the prime Visier with 8000. he retired in haste and making opposition about Alba Julia to the whole Force of the Turk was there worsted a little before which he had vanquished his competitor Radus and after besieged and taken the Castle wherein he had thought to have secured himself and put him to death Before and after his overthrow he had importuned the Emperour of Germany by many â—â—stances at Vienna to undertake the Protection of his Countrey offering to give him caution of what Towns he should please but the Emperour delaying a timely interposition yet giving the Turk occasion of a quarrel by under-land assisting Ragotzi with some men Ragotzi died of his wound received at Alba Julia and with grief at Waradin Which being defended for a while after by Collonel Gaude a Scotchman was yielded upon termes to this prime Visier being the immediate earnest of those present conquests in Hungaria In the mean while Rodus the compe it or of Ragotzi being put to death by him as abovesaid The Transilvantan Troubles the prime Visier named another to the Principality of Transylvania at the end of the year 1659. a Nobleman by descent allied to the former Princes by name Michael Apaffi though vulgar errour call him Abaffi who at the appointment of the Grand Seignior was accepted by the States thereof when they perceived it was in vain to struggle for Ragotzi's Interest against the whole power of the Sultan without any assistance from the Emperour who in this declension of that Princes fortune abandoned the quarrel and left them to themselves nor would hearken to any overtures made to him for his protection upon whatever termes of resignation or Dominion and his Envoys publickly declared to the Turk as much who measuring his designes by those seares and jealousies which this Punctuall satisfaction signified was the more incited to a pursuance of those resolutions which had been taken up sometime before at the Port. The Emperor complies with the Tuâ—k And by this meanes Transylvania was quite lost and absolutely in the power of the Turk with some further advantages gained for his intended invasion of the adjacent provinces of Hungaria and Austria Leave we this Kingdome for a while which is to be the Dolefull and Tragical Conclusion of this Narrative and retrospect to the Grand Seigniors Home affairs which diverted him from an immediate prosecution of his successe in Europe for the Bassa of Aleppo where resides the greatest English Factory in 1659. broke out into a Rebellion and threatned a conjunctory with the Persian declaring for Reformation in Government and Religion the latter especially having for better pretence made some new fangled expositions of the Alchoran more to the humor of the preciser and rigid zealots of the Mahumetan Religion By vertue whereof and some former discontents which were not yet quite purged out of the Souldiery who were distributed and had their possessions in those parts under his command for the Grand Seigniour allows each Horse-man such a proportion of ground for which he is to be in a readiness to do him service he had amassed a very considerable Army severall inferiour Bashaws dependants and retainers to the former Prime Visier whose quarrel they espoused resorting to him from their respective Governments With this power he marched towards Constantinople and came on his way thither as far as Scutary within four miles of that City and thence sent in his demands which swelling to that daring presumption as to require a resignation of the Imperiall Title to a pretended Son of the late Emperour Morat an impostor of his own setting up such another as Perkin Warbeck to whom he gave all honour and observances becoming the state of a Sultan and in his right and Title encountered and overthrew two distinct Armies of the Grand Seignior that were in hast dispatcht to obstruct the increase of more adherents and favourers of his enterprise He continued in this posture like a cloud hovering over Constantinople big with some ruinous storm till this successefull Prime Visier having amassed his European Forces The expedition of Asia passed the Bosphorus into Asia with fifty thousand men more prepared to follow him being the choice of the Turkish power and with good speed advanced after the Rebel who knowing the courage both of the Leader as having been his Neighbour at Damasco and the Souldiers after a long consultation with his council of War resolved immediately in all humble and frankest manner to submit themselves to the Sultans mercy dismissing the common Souldiers to shift for themselves which being done so unexpectedly the Visier gave notice of it by an expresse with as much favour to their persons as the case deserved to the Grand Seignior who gave them all his pardon with some extraordinary respects for the Bassa of Aleppo but presently after when there was no danger of the Rebellion and all things were quieted thereabouts at the instance of some Enemies of his at Court but more truly by reason of State and the policy of the Government The Bassa of Aleppo strangled which never pardons that Crime he and thirty more were suddenly strangled their heads chopt off and set upon poles against the Emperors Seraglia at Constantinople This treacherous and cruel dealing after pardon given and such a Loyal Rendition of themselves