made him swallow Poyson without effect strangled him with his own hands reporting he had destroy'd himself when he had Reign'd Six Months and Eight Days The French and Venetian Army by Land and Sea continued in the Neighbourhood expecting the effect of young Alexis Promises which he not being able to perform in the time agreed on too earnestly endeavouring to raise the Money fell into the hatred of the People and was thus deprived of his Diadem and Life So bloody a Regicide deserved the Chastisement our Warriours intended him who drawing their Army down Besieged Constantinople for 72 Days Geofry de Vilhardouin writ the Story of this Siege and the particular Actions of the Heroes Murzuphle fled with his Treasures abandoning the City which was taken the 12th of April 1204. The Princes and other Lords resolved to choose an Emperor amongst them The Earl of Flanders with the Count of St. Paul named Five to give their Suffrages The Marquis of Montferrat and the Earl of Savoy other five The Venetians choosing the like Number In all 15 Voyces The Plurality were for Baldwyn This Prince was very powerful and a Great Souldier of which he had given many Proofs in the Siege He was Uncle by the Mothers Side to Lewis design'd Successor to Philip the August King of France He was Crown'd by Thomaso Morosini newly created Patriarch of Constantinople Boniface Marquis of Montferrat had from young Alexis for a Recompence the Island of Candia which he sold the Venetians for a great Sum of Money and was nevertheless made King of Thessaly Godfry Lord of Champagn was made Duke of Athens and Prince of Achaia John Earl of Brienne was sometime after made King of Jerusalem Baldwin had scarcely possest this new Dignity a Year before he went to Besiege Adrianople three Days Journey from him and possest by his Enemies who very much annoyed him That Success he had in the beginning did not accompany him in this Affair since by the profound Secrets of the Divine Pleasure being attackt with great Numbers of his Adversaries Greek Fugitives Bulgarians and Tartars he was defeated and supposed to be kill'd in the Plaines of Orestes A nostris pro Mortuo deploratus est says Paulus Aemilius His Brother Henry Succeeding him in the Empire This Disaster happened in the Year 1205 though some Chronologists antidate it two or three Years Twenty Years after This Famous Impostor calling himself by the Name of this Emperour appeared in Flanders Jane eldest Daughter of this Baldwin by Mary the Daughter of Henry Earl of Champagne was at that time Countess of Flanders and Married to Fernando Infant of Portugal She had great Wars her Husband having been taken Prisoner at the Famous Battle of Bovines which King Philip the August gained over the Emperour Otho the 4th in year 1214. And was long a Prisoner in the Louvre at Paris Although this had been some Years past she still felt her losses and that great Consternation Robert Son of Peter de Courtenay Earl of Auxerre and Prince of the Blood of France and Yolente only Daughter and Inheritrix of the Emperour Henry Earl of Flanders then possest that Throne to which this Impostor pertended One would have thought he should first have gone to the place where he was taken Prisoner but he could hope no assistance from the Greeks On the contrary Theodore Lascaris who resided at Nice and always took upon himself the Title of Emperour of Constantinople would have used him worse than the Bulgarians if he had fallen into his hands As for Robert de Courtnay whose Mother Yolente was his pretended Niece he was no ways inclin'd to yield him the Empire he had too much difficulty in obtaining it His Father the Emperour Peter falling into the Hands of Theodore was cruelly put to Death by him So that this Impostor thought his Affairs would advance better and he be more kindly received in his Native Country The Earldome of Haynault was his first Inheritance for this Baldwin was Son to an Earl of Haynault of the same Name Sirnamed The Magnanimous and of Margaret of Alsace Heiress of Flanders For this Reason he was Joyfully received there and with more satisfaction to those Martial People who hated the Dominion of a Woman Besides it was Independant on the Kings of France The Flemings received him very coldly seeing but a small Train with him nor would they own him for their Earl or Emperour of Greece This Impostor affected an extraordinary Gravity in his Meine the better to draw Veneration and acquire the Majesty of an Emperour The Countess Jane refused to see him but was advised to interrogate him for the better discovery of his Practises The President of her Councel of State summon'd him to appear ask'd him many troublesome Questions Gravibus fatigare percontationibus ausus est and spoke to him in this manner If it be true that you are the Earl Baldwin and assume not a False Title to the Empire of Greece I demand of you Why you have abandon'd your Subjects in that Country Even those poor People laden with Miseries whom the Divine Providence by the Suffrages of so many brave Men had committed to your Protection Why forsake you them in their greatest need of your Conduct and Care having so many Generous and Experienc'd Captains to whom you owed the last and greatest Obligations for chusing you among the most principal Men in the World to be their Chief and set the Imperial Diadem upon your Head Why have you thus neglected them exposed to the rage of Barbarous Nations For this reason although you were the true Baldwin we have sufficient Cause to dissemble our knowledge of you sure then we shall not own you who are but a false and a counterfeit Badlwin Why when the Affairs of all the East were laid on your shoulders to be supported and sustained by you when they were in disorder and lost by your misfortune have you feign'd to be dead and conceal'd your being alive What could you expect from so strange a Deceit Or what could be the reason of such a supposition and imposture If you would so long dwell among the Dead why should we now believe you are alive not having appear'd in any place these twenty years And had you been what you pretend now why did you not come in the time of Philip the August your Brother in Law who Married Alix one of your Sisters and in the life time of so many persons of Honour who might either have proved your Imposture or authorized your Title Why came you not sooner out of the Grave In what darkness have you hid that Glorious Face known to the whole World And with what new one do you pretend to Enchant the eyes of Men after so many years I ask if you believe your self that we ought to give faith to a Man who after so vast an Interval shall say I am the Emperor Baldwyn Have we never seen nor heard that there
and not defer it a moment for there can be no advantage in long debates Otanes reply'd My Dear Son thou speakest like the Son of Hystaspes a Man of Gallantry and Honour with whom thou dost equally possess Prudence and Courage however let us not precipitate the Execution of such an affair but with mature deliberation let us undertake and proceed in it Then Darius replying said Know my Lords here present that if you follow the opinion of Otanes you are all ruin'd For some body for his particular intent will discover this matter to the Vsurper and therefore you that first began to execute the business because you have thought sit to trust several Persons and me also let us go through with it this Day For know that if you resolve to pass it I will prevent my being the Sacrifice of another Mans Peace and first discover to the Magicians what will destroy you all Otanes considering the determination of Darius said Since you so much resolve to hasten this affair tell us how we shall get arm'd into the Palace and attack the Impostor You know at least by Fame the Guards about his Person are very strong How then shall we make our way to him Darius answer'd There are many things my dear Otanes that are more easily executed than projected as there are also several which seem plain in the discoursing of whose Success is doubtful You may reasonably suppose we shall find no great difficulty in passing his Guards being so many of the chief Persons in the Empire we shall meet no Man dare stop us but rather give us place either for Fear or Respect I have at least a pretention not to be deny'd I came now from Persia and can tell them I have Affairs of the greatest consequence to acquaint the King with from my Father who is Governor there A Fiction may be allowed when Necessity requires it Truth and Falshood have oft' the same end For who uses the former aims at their own Advantage and the latter serves to perswade what we desire As to the Guards of the Pretended King If they let us pass quietly and without resistance they will have no occasion to repent it and we shall have an opportunity to reward them as they merit But if any resist our intent we must use them like Enemies and being entred resolve to execute our great design Gobrias extreamly approved this Discourse and further added My Dear and Honoured Friends It will be much more glorious for us to tear the Empire from this Vsurper or if we can't to die in so noble an Action than for us Persians to obey a Mede whose Ears have been cut off for his Crimes especially if we call to our remembrance what Cambyses recommended to us on his Death-bed with all the Imprecations imaginable if we suffered such an Ignominy and lost the Empire to the Medes We then believed not whathe said we could not perswade our selves neither of his Brothers Murther nor of the Magitians insolence to gain the Crown by so base an Imposture I am now convinced by Darius and am of the Opinion That immediately and without separating we should go from this place to the Palace and execute our designe They all agreed to what Gobrias proposed But while these seven Illustrious Persian Lords were consulting the Magicians Patizithes and Smerdis were thinking how they might strengthen their Usurpations by obtaining the Friendship of Prexaspes in whom they believed great dispositions towards it Cambyses having shot his Son with an Arrow his excess of Cruelty not satisfied with that used him yet more barbarously ripping him open to shew his skill in shooting through his Heart boasting his nimbleness and dexterity Prexaspes onely had the certain knowledge of Smerdis's death having murther'd him with his own hands to obey the impious and unnatural Cruelty of Cambyses which made him odious to all the Persians that suspected it They sent for him to the Palace promising him Wonders and obliging him to take an oath of Secrecy not to discover how they had Usurpt the Persian Monarchy Prexaspes promised them all they desired The Magicians finding him so much inclin'd to their purpose told him their Intention to assemble the Persians at the foot of the Castle and that he should go with them and from the top of a Tower assure the People no other than Smerdis the Son of Cyrus was their present King They chose him rather than any other because of his Authority and his often Protesting on several occasions he had not kill'd Smerdis as he was suspected to have done even this also he promised them They assembled the Persians ordering he should ascend the Tower to make his Speech as they had agreed But he forgot on purpose what the Magicians desired him to say and discours'd of Achemenis the first of the Persian Line declaring the Progress and the Particulars of that Illustrious Family and coming to Cyrus he shew'd them the great things he had done for the Persian Nation After this he told them the truth of all alleadging for his Excuse the fear he had of Death if he had open'd his lips but being then forced to speak he declared the real truth that he had murthered Smerdis the Son of Cyrus by the most express Command of Cambyses and that those who now possest the Regality were Magicians and Impostors calling for Curses on the Persians heads if they did not tear it from them and take Vengeance on their deceit After which he threw himself down from the Tower on the Pavement To give him his due he was a man of extraordinary Merit excepting his guilty Obedience to Cambyses These seven Lords resolved to attack the Magicians immediately after having recommended the Success of their Enterprize to their Gods They knew nothing that had arrived to Prexaspes till by the way they heard the surprizing Catastrophe and going to a private place a little out of the street discoursed what was to be done since this last Conjuncture Those who had been of the same Opinion with Otanes persisted in their first Sentiments to defer the business because of this Accident But they who agreed with Darius persevered that there was no time to be lost but immediately to advance to the Palace and finish their Resolutions in so just a designe While they were in this Debate they observed seven Faulcons pursuing two Vultures This they took for a good Augury of the happy Execution of their Enterprize and went boldly to the Palace When they came to the outward Gate it happened as Darius had foreseen The Guards having so much respect for the great Lords of the Empire suspected no Accident from those who appear'd in so much Pomp and Majesty not so much as asking If they were sent for or What they desired When they entred the Court of the Palace they met several Eunuches that went on Messages and introduced those who had any affairs in the Court These demanded the occasion
Scepter with other Jewels and Marks of Royalty He appeared in publick accompanied with his Officers and Gentlemen of his Court having two Pages on Horse-back One carried his Crown and a Bible the Other his Sword He caused a Throne to be built in the most publick place hung with Cloath of Gold on which he sate as in his Court of Justice He created twelve Judges to whom he gave so many Imaginary Kingdoms He married several Women who were drest like so many Queens He sent twenty eight Disciples Teachers of his Law about 〈◊〉 World who were all executed and put 〈◊〉 but one who cunningly made his 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—rd â—â—â—ppeâ—doling who beâ—â—◠〈◊〉 Câ—nsul or Magistrate of the 〈◊〉 would needs be the Executioner He â—â—â—mitted many Cruelties and Extravaâ—â—ncies and the King as many in his turn 〈◊〉 heading People himself not sparing one 〈◊〉 his Wives who was grieved to see the â—â—â—eries the poor People endured by the â—â—tremity of Famine the City being beâ—â—ged by Francis Count of Waldeck their â—â—â—hop assisted by the Circles of the Emâ—â—re His False Doctrine was To deny Infants â—â—otism To Rebaptize those who had been so already To have all things in common â—o marry several wives He denied that Jesus Christ took Humane Nature from the Virâ—n Mary He denied the Pardon of Sinners abolisht Magistracy took Others Goods by Force and Extirpated those who believed not his Foolish Doctrine The 24th of June 1535. the City was taken by the skill of two Fugitives who did that good Service for the Bishop and the Besiegers John Bulchold the Impostor King Bernard Knipperdoling both Magistrate and Hangman and Crechtineh were all three Executed the 25th of Jannary 1536. being torn to pieces with Red-hot Pincers Bulchold repented and implored the Mercy of God Their Bodies were bound in Iron-Frames and hung on the highest Tower of the City the pretended King being placed in the middle a mans heighth above the rest CHAP. VI. THE False Clotaire CALLED GONDOALD THis Impostor appeared a second time in France under the Kings of the first Race in the year 586. calling himself the Son of Clotaire the first King of Soissons and by consequence Grandson to Clovis the Great I will observe what two Historians say of him those are Robert Guaguin and Paulus Aemilius both having writ the History of France His Mother Educated him from a Child like the Son of a King above all things preserving his Hair which was a Mark of the Royal Family amongst the Old French-men Clotaire his pretended Father would not own him when his Mother brought him to Soissons which perswades me that he was Illegitimate But Childebert his Uncle King of Paris who had no Child took pity of him and bred him in his Court At which Clotaire was angry and writ to him in these terms Send back to me Gondoald that I may take care of him my self and breed him up if I find him my Son for if he be not the Education of a Prince which you give him may be the occasion of Errour and Illusion in the World who may shew him those Honours which are not his due Clotaire when he had him in his power shaved his Head and shut him up in a Monastery This pretended Father dying in the year 564. Cherebert or Childebert King of Paris his elder Brother took a Kindness to him and was careful of him for some time But Cherebert was an Effeminate Prince abandoning himself to Debauchery and Women which extreamly altered his Health so that Gondoald's Happiness had but a short date For after the Death of this generous Brother of Clotaire which was in the year 565. Sigebert another of his Brothers King of Austrasia the Country which is now called Lorrain sent for him to his Court without saying how he intended to treat him and leaving him altogether in uncertainty which he nevertheless construed to his own advantage And this unhappy man no sooner arrived at the Court but he shaved him a second time and put him into a Monastery at Collein So that finding himself thus tost about he made an Escape and fled into Italy where Narses that famous Eunuch General of the Emperour Justinian's Army with admirable success made War against the Goths This was no small advantage to Gondoald to make a Friendship with one of the most Valiant and most Illustrious Captains mentioned in History Totila that Generous and Magnanimous King of the Ostrogoths whom Bellisarius the indefatigable General for the same Justinian could not entirely overcome lost both his Diadem and his Life by the Conduct of this Little Old Man of three Cubits stature who wanted one of the most Essential Parts of a Man I will onely use the words of Paulus Jovius in his Elogies of Illustrious men speaking of him Narses says he deserves an Admiration extraordinary and above all other men who being born a Slave in Persia and bred in the Seraglio or Apartment of the Empresses Women being but half a Man deprived of that Part which both Sexes most value became the Imperial Treasurer and was the only accomplisht General not only for all Military Vertue but likewise for his good Fortune whoever suffered so great a Deprivation E tanta ereptae virilitatis calamitate unicus prope cum Virtute tum fortuna Imperator extiterit It had been incomparably a greater Advantage if Gondoald could have been with this Captain in the heighth of his Favour for at that time viz. in the year 566. Justin the Second succeeded his Maternal Grandfather the Emperour Justinian who extreamly loved Narses for his Merit and the good Service he had done him having Extirpated two powerful Kings of the Ostrogoths Totila and Teias and defeated an Army of Seventy two thousand Frenchmen commanded by one Bucelin General for Theodobert King of Mets. Gornandes Archbishop of Ravenna and born a Goth is mistaken in his History when he reckons Two hundred thousand men kill'd and attributes the Victory to Bellisarius Sometime after Gondoald's Arrival the Empress Sophia perswaded by the Enemies of Narses's Glory recalled him into Italy and also treated him with great Scorn and Contempt saying He was sitter to distribute Wooll to her Women and to the Maids of her Seraglio to spin than to command an Army Which Expressions he so much resented that he called Alboin his Friend King of the Lombards out of Hungary to come into Italy who made such a Progress there that this most wise Empress was not able to put a stop to Gondoald hoped considerable Assistance from Alboin with which he designed to take from his Brothers Sigebert Chilperic and Gontran who bore the Titles of Kings of Mets Paris and Orleans the Cities where they lived and kept their Courts a more considerable Kingdom than either of them possest Narses being naturally Merciful and Religious was perswaded by the Entreaty of Pope John the Third who came to meet him at Naples how pernicious the consequence must
that Bajazet's was as numerous as Tamberlain's And that the Occasion of Bajazet's defeat proceeded from the generosity of the Tartars in freeing of Diest and other Nations as Germian Mentez c. which Bajazet had subjugated whose Princes were in Tamberlains Army There was none but Bulcis or Bulcogli for so they called George Son of the Despot of Servia who followed not the good Example endeavouring to exterminate the Tyrant by abandoning him as the rest did His Men behaved themselves so well to the Glory of the Christians that Tamberlain cry'd to those about him See how valiant and resolute those Dervices are Proh quam feroces truculenti sunt isti Dervisii till some of his Great Officers told him They were Christians and not that sort of Religious Turks called Dervices Turlacks The Victory fell on Tamberlain's side One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Men being Killed upon the Place This Battle was Fought in the Year 1399 and according to the most probable Opinion in the great Plain called Cassobe or Descanards near Mount Stella Memorable for the Famous Defeat that Pompey the Great gave there to Mithridates King of Pontus I find very different Accounts of this Action but follow the Turkish Annals which say that Zelebis or the Noble Mustapha the Name of Zelebis being given to all the Children of the Turkish Emperor was killed in this Fight And he being the Subject of this Discourse who must appear and pretend to the Ottoman Empire and dispute it with his Brothers and with Amurath the Second his Nephew It seemed necessary to dispose the Reader for the History and Adventures of this Impostor by the recital of what preceded it to give him a more full Idea and clear knowledge thereof The Disasters of his Father Bajazet being so annexed to his Death I will say something farther concerning them without resting on what several Authors report of Tamberlains being the most Inhumane and Bloody of Mankind and of his Extraction from the meanest of the People having been very well informed by that Excellent Book of this Conqueror's Life Written by Monsieur Sainctyon which was taken from an Arabian Historian called Alhacent who was an Occular Witness of his Actions and Military Expeditions and familiar with him which Life is very different from that Written by one Acamed Son of Gueraspes a Creature of the Ottoman Family and by consequence an Enemy to Tamberlain He was the Son of the Potent Monarch Og King of Saketay or the antient Pâ—â—shia nearly related and Successor to the Great Cham of Tartary He had two Sons Cham Sentrokius which signifies the Love of Mankind and Letrokius whose Variance occasioned the Desolation of their Country But he for the Goodness of his Life his Royal Vertues and above all his Justice and Victories might be equal'd with Alexander the Great So far was he from those Vices of Cruelty Barbarity and Rage which Paulus Jovius accuses him of Feritatem truculentiam ore truculento recedentibusque Occulis semper minaci And the Turkish Annals call him Inhumane for this reason that when Gilderum or Bajazet was taken and brought to him he conducted him to his Tent receiving him on foot with great Honour Gilderum was on Horse-back because of his Wounds supported by Tamberlain's People and being brought in they both sate down and eat together Tamberlain saying thus to him Prince we ought to give God infinite thanks and to sing Hymns of Praise to him that he has given me who am a poor Lame Man so vast an Empire extending from the furthest Parts of India to the Gates of Sivas which is Sebaste And to Thee from the Walls of this same City to the Confines of Hungary God having thus disposed so great a Part of the World between us what can such a Cripple as I desire of him more 'T is for this his great Goodness that we ought to make him our Acknowledgments It may be thou hast not done this heretofore as thou oughtest but hast been ungrateful to his Bounty for which Reason this misfortune is come upon thee Philip Camerarius in the 54th Chapter of his Historical Meditations makes him continue it further as follows Can we think the Soveraign Disposer of the World thought us the most worthy to Command so many Millions who are wiser and stronger than we That it should please Him that Thou who art almost blind shouldest be Emperor of the Turks And I who am a Tartar and Lame be the Soveraign of so many People No certainly it was not our Merit but a pure Effect of his Grace and Bounty Tamberlain sent him Doggs and Hawks either to divert him in his Trouble or reproach his extraordinary Delight in those Creatures The Turkish History saying that Gilderum kept Seven Thousand Faulconers and Six Thousand Dogs He talked so insolently to Temir on this Occasion that he exposed him to the Contempt of his Army setting him on a Mule and commanding him to be led through it Thus enduring the Mocks of the Souldiers and causing his Wife the Daughter of Eliazar the Despot of Servia whom he passionately Loved to wait half naked at his Table One Day Temir or Tamberlain asked him and desired him to Answer ingenuously If he had fallen into his Power how he would have used him Gilderum or Bajazet who was a Man of a terrible and cruel Temper answered him in a Rage thus To say the Truth if Fortune had given me the Victory and made me thy Master I would have shut thee up in an Iron Cage and so carried thee about with me Tamberlain was not ignorant of the Lex Talionis nor of that natural Law which the Emperor Alex. Severus as saith Lampridius so often repeated Do to another what you would have done to you Following the Law of the Twelve Tables of the Romans and of that famous Edict mentioned by Aulus Gellius in the First Chapt. of his Noctes Atticae where the Curious Discourse is between Sextus Cecilius the Lawyer and Phavorinus the Philosopher And therefore accordingly he shut him up in an Iron Cage Yet the Turkish Annals say He still continued his Humanity always before he decamped going to see and civilly saluting his Prisoner He assured him he would â—ere long grant what he should desire But telling him he would first carry him to Samarcand where he kept his Court and from thence send him to his own Country Bajazet was so afflicted with this that he killed himself in the Fourteenth Year of His Reign and the Fourth of his dreadful Imprisonment in the Year 1403. and of the Hegira or Flight of Mahomet 804. Theod Spandugin relates these Circumstances of it That having no other way to end his Life filled with Rage and Despair he frequently and with such violence beat his Head against the Bars of his Cage that he broke his Skull and died distracted This Emperor left Five Sons of whom Mustapha Zelebis the Eldest was lost at the Battle The Annals
say Amissus fuit in Temiriano praelio The others escaped who were Lemir Solyman Isa Zelebis Zultan Muchemet and Casan Zelebis who was then very young I will not meddle with the Accidents Wars and Murders which happened amongst them only relate how after the Death of Lemir Solyman in the Year of Christ 1423. which is of the Hegyra 824 Amurath his Son being newly Placed on his Throne Twenty Years after Tamberlain's Famous Victory a certain Man called Dusmes Mustapha pretending to be the Son of Can Gilderum or Bajazet appeared in Romania And although Mahomet the First and Amurath the Second was assured that he was killed at Mount Stella yet the Grecian Emperor Emanuel Paleologus would never believe it but always thought him the true Mustapha and by giving him his utmost Assistance pulled many Unhappinesses on his own Head Amurath offered him great Advantages not to meddle with their Quarrel but to let them determine it among themselves with their own Arms. Carion in his Chronicle speaks not of Mustapha as an Impostor but says that the Greeks perceiving Amurath to raise the Ottoman Name and Power after that Fatal Overthrow at Mount Stella where his Grandfather lost both his Glory and Liberty and that he attacked all the little Christian Princes who had dependance on the Eastern Empire to extirminate one after another by their Spoils seeking to repair his own Losses though they most Religiously observed the Peace with his Father Wherefore the Greeks then brake it also taking out of Lemnos his Uncle Mustapha whom they had kept there under a sure Guard as a Rival capable of frustrating his Designs for which purpose they gave him all Imaginable Assistance that he might disposess Amurath and obtain the Empire for himself This Prince whither True or False is uncertain lived sometimes at Verdari a little City of Thessaly bearing the Name of a River which runs by it where severall Lords of the Family of the Eurenoses took his Party Assisted with whose Forces he Besieged the City Serra which with its Fortress he forced to a Surrender This great Success exalted his Hopes and gave him Courage to attempt Adrianople then Capital of the Ottoman Empire whose Inhabitants had a Favorable Opinion both of his Person and Title opening their Gates at his Approach and swearing Fidelity to him All Romagna followed their Example and submitted to his Government yet he still continued his Residence at Verdari Sultan Amurath thinking on little but his Pleasures at Bursa where he then kept his Court or Port heard what Progress Mustapha had made and sent against him Bassa Bajazet with a considerable Army but when he came before Adrianople this Trayterous Bassa abandoned his Conscience and his Honour joining with Mustapha's Army for Recompence of which Treason he was made Vizier which is like Chancellor or Prime Minister of State Zunaites Prince of Smyrna who had been Prisoner with the Impostor Mustapha in the strong Fortress of Monemuasia which was the antient Epidaurus armed also for him The Turks call'd this Man Chusines He raised a considerable Body of Men composed for the most part of Azapes being foot who fight with Bows and Arrows Laonicius supposes these to have been an Auxiliary of Strangers He gave great priviledges to all those who took up Arms in his Favour and that freely embraced his Party Having raised this Army he left Adrianople and Marched streight to Bursa and on the way finding his new Vizier the Bassa Bajazet was conspiring against him he caused him to be Excecuted publickly as a Traytor within one days Journey of Bursa Thus paying with an Ignominious Death his double Treason In the mean while Amurath advised with his Bassa's how he might best defend himself from the Storm that threatned him They counsell'd him to release out of Prison Mechemet Beg Chief of the Michalogli of whom Lunclavius in the Twenty Seventh Chapter of his Pandects gives this account Osman one of the Chief Heads of the Ottoman-Family the better to Establish his Greatness made a Friendship and Allyance with Three little Princes by whose Assistance he extraordinarily advanced his own Affairs and gained many great Victories over the Christians One of these Princes was called Michael another Mark both of the Eastern Imperial Family and the Third a Turk named Aurami From which Three were descended the most Considerable Persons then in the Ottoman-Empires Still retaining the Names of the Son of Michel Mark and Aurami or Michalogli Marcalogli and Auramogli the Turkish Pronounciation calls the last Eurenosogli whom Mustapha had on his side as Amurath had the Micaloglis and above all Beg Mechemet the Instrument of his Good Fortune who extirminated his Rival in this manner Amurath recalled him to the Port from Nisar the antient Nicocesaria often called also Tocat the Chief City of Capadocia where he was under Restraint kept like a Prisoner giving him with his Liberty the Command of his Army Mechemet without staying at Bursa March't to Lupadi or Vlabat a considerable Town in Natolia encamping near the Bridge Dusmes Mustapha likewise advanced with his Army on the other side of it opposite to him Mechemet apprehending the Danger of a Battle saw that Dusmes his Army was no way to be forced thought on a Stratagem more for his purpose He then in Disguise went to the Enemy's Guards and being one of the greatest Men among the Turks made himself known to them desiring to speak with the Officers that were his Friends to whom with Substantiall Evidence he represented and proved the Imposture of Dusmes Mustapha with the Interest the Greeks were able to make of their Division by indeavouring to set up a base unknown Impostor and Creature of theirs on the Ottoman Throne Telling them also what Recompences Amurath would give them Mechemet with the Sentiment of the Christian Religion had also renounced and disclaimed the Blood of the Imperial Family of Greeks of whom he was descended By this and other Arts he drew to his Master Amurath's side the most considerable Lords and Souldiers in Dusmes Army as Laonicius reports at large which over-threw all his Affairs without Hopes of any Re-establishment reducing him to the utmost Extremities Dusmes Mustapha and Amurath both sent Ambassadors to the Emperor of Constantinople Johannes Paleologus to obtain his Assistance making great Offers and solliciting his Ministers with mighty Promises This Affair was much debated in the Councel of State The Reasons of both Sides being considered the Emperor declared for Mustapha who was his Creature whom he had begun to oblige when he was in Prison And therefore promised himself more from his gratitude than Amurath would ever do This had great Reason to fright Amurath's Party and doubtless had it been known the greater part of his Captains would have declared for his Enemy But his Ambassadors foreseeing the danger of such a Report returned with speed after this denyal to give the Army an Account of their Expedition but Mechemet the