into Themiswear but also seize upon one part of Transilvania which was weary of the Imperialists and who would be glad to lay hold on that Opportunity to declare themselves against them He kept always some Correspondency in Hungary and Letters with Cyphers were intercepted written to some of his Friends which made the People have a suspicion that there was a Design under hand but it could not be discovered It happened in the same time that is to say in April that some Houses were set on fire at Onod and some other Towns of Hungary and Transilvania which was laid upon the Emissaries of the Malecontents although they could not prove it The Turks sent some Succours to Teckely who endeavoured to lead them to Themiswear but having been wounded as he was forcing a Passage he was forced to go back towards Walaquia exspecting the Turkish Army which was meeting together at Sophia in Bulgaria That caused the Imperialists to apply themselves about fortifying Belgrade as well as it could possibly seeing the Confusion and the Charges occasioned by the War the Emperour had upon the Rhine did put him in because the Turks are very bad Inginiers they thought indifferent Fortifications or rather some Reparations in the old ones would serve to defend the Place which has been the cause it has been lost since They blocking up Cavis a long while since which being very remote from the Frontiers of the subdued Countries suffered much for Want without being willing to surrender They betook themselves too to block up Great Waradin and they began by plundering and spoiling the Country round about the place to hinder the Garrison from having any means to subsist They expected to attaque by that means three Places at once the two Towns we have already spoken of and that of Themiswear because the Turks being a great way off could not carry Victuals thither but with great difficulty chiefly to Canisa which was the remotest of all but they could not hinder some Convoys from getting at several times into Themiswear and Waradin Prince Lewis of Baden went to Belgrade to command a little Body of an Army which was there with an intent to observe the Turks March and to watch the opportunities to do them some Damage The Imperial Troops being so divided those that were about Waradin did not find themselves strong enough to keep the Garrison within the Place for after having repelled it back twice with great difficulty they were wholly defeated at the third Sally and their Commander made a Prisoner five or six hundred of them remained dead upon the Spot the rest betook themselves to their Heels Teckely did the best he could on his side to raise the Blockade of Themiswear which felt already great Incommodities for not having been provided with Victuals But because he had been necessitated to pass the Danube and to retire into Servia lest he should be surrounded with the Imperial Troops which were on the other side of the Danube it was a hard matter to come over it again The Imperialists had garrisoned all the little Places which are along the River to hinder the Communication the Turks of Hungary had with those of Servia Teckely set upon one of those Towns called Novigrad upon the Frontiers of Bulgaria and made the Garrison of it Prisoners of War After the taking of that place three thousand Walaquians came to him in spite of General Heuster who lay upon the Frontiers of Walaquia with a Body of Troops to oppose to the Designs of the Count. The Walaquians feared extreamly least the Imperialists should enter into their Territories as they had done into those of the Transilvanians and use them as they pleas'd but they committed the same fault as the last had done that is that instead of acting openly for the Turks and making all their Endeavours to support that wavering Party they did but help them under-hand a Conduct that did but irritate the Emperour but not hinder him from quartering his Troops amongst them The Moldavians did also the same and found themselves at last exposed to the same Troubles altho' a little less by reason of their being afar off In the mean while Prince Lewis of Baden was advanced in July as far as the River Morave to observe the Turkish Army's March having had notice that that Army was stronger than his which consisted not of full thirty thousand Men that the Turks was fifty thousand he returned the same way and to increase his Army he got the Fortifications of many little Towns to be levelled to the Ground along the Danube and took out of them the Troops that were in Garrison therein The Turks having seen the Christian Army return towards Belgrade passed the River Morave to follow it but having had notice they had received some Reinforcement from Transilvania went back again over the River and retired themselves towards Nissa where they intrenched themselves Prince Lewis of Baden falled not to follow them but there fell such a quaintity of Rain that it was impossible to overcome the difficulty of the Ways and the Provisions having begun to grow scarce they were forced to return back towards the Bridges they had laid over the Morave hard by Passarowis The Army arrived there at the end of August and was soon followed by that of the Turks who believed the Christians did fly from them a second time The Infidels made a great Detachment of their Cavalry supported by some Janisaries to disturb the March of the Christian Army and endeavour to intercept the Convoys which would come from Semandria where the Magazines of the Christians were But that Detachment was defeated the 29 of August and betook it self to flight after having lost five or six hundred Men. The next day the Christian Army advanced to that of the Turks who expected them being regularly drawn in Battalia beyond a Wood. The Christians had crossed the Wood and their Infantry was drawn up in Battel-array in the Plain beyond it under the favour of a Mist when the Weather clearing up made the Turks perceive the Fault they had committed in letting almost all the Enemy's Army to pass without having made any Opposition Upon which they came forward to charge it with much Fury but having been received with great Valour they gave back and the Christian Army having advanced accordingly the Horse had room enough to inlarge their Wings and to assault the Infidels Presently they gave way every-where and they had been cut into pieces if the Ground had not been incumbered with Woods and Entrenchments beyond which the Turks did rally and which were to be forced one after another Having been repelled thus they retired into their Camp where it was thought they would hold out but they were so much affrighted that as soon as they perceived some Imperial Regiments appear they left it with all their Cannon and Ammunition and also the best part of their Baggage The Christian Army went to encamp
talkt of nothing but going into Winter-Quarters without attempting any thing farther The King to diminish their fright entreated the Duke of Lorrain to take the right hand which was nearest the Enemy and marched his Troops to the left They encamped in this order while they expected the Foot to which Orders had been sent to make haste They arrived the next day and a resolution was taken to attacque the Turks the day following being the 9th of October The Christian Army was about Thirty thousand two thirds of which was Cavalry and the rest Infantry For the Turks they were but Fourteen thousand Spahies and Twelve hundred Janizaries The Christian Army advanced in the morning after having formed three Lines the two first of which were of Imperial Troops and the last of those of Poland one part of which nevertheless was in the first Lines on the right and left one commanded by the King the other by General Jablanowski The Turks appeared about Nine a Clock rang'd in Battle as if they had been in a condition to resist an Army twice as strong as theirs possibly not knowing the number of the Enemies or puffed up with the advantage they had gain'd over the Poles two days before Immediately they charg'd Jablanowski who was on the left Wing thinking to rout the Poles in the first Engagement But they being supported by the Imperialists the Turks turned all their Forces to that side without minding the right and the main Body which flank'd them and with which they were within half an hour inclos'd and put to the rout This is the nature of the Turks to act at first with an extream impetuosity without regarding danger but when their Shock is over and that they begin to be terrified they run into disorder and nothing is able to put new Courage into them As soon as they were once broken they ran with all speed to Barkan and the first that came pass'd the Bridge over the Danube with speed and broke it after them without staving for the rest of their Army Soon after the Fort was attacqued on all sides and was entred with Sword in hand the Turks who had not pass'd over the Bridge madly threw themselves into the Danube endeavouring to gain the other side either on Horse-back or by swiming instead of defending themselves As soon as it was understood that they might lodge all night at Barkan both Poles and Germans were desirous of it and for fear they should Quarrel Count Staremberg caused the Cermans to go out The Poles having observed the Heads of some of their Companions which the Turks had set upon the Palisadoes set fire to the Fort and burnt it down We are assured that Tekely during the action was not far from thence and that he drew near to joyn the Turks by the Viziers order but having seen what had passed from the Neighbouring Mountains he went back as fast as he could If this be true we must avow that this Count ill ferv'd them who had given him the Title of Prince of Hungary In the mean while if before he acted weakly for them for fear he should make them too powerful it was time to assist them with all his Forces lest he with them should be driven out of Hungary However it were whether through weakness or ill politicks the Malecontents did not do what they should have done on this and other occasions After the taking the Fort of Barkan it was found that this Post being commanded by the Castle of Gran was of no use towards the Seige of that Town and that there wanted time to put it into a condition of defence the Palisadoes having been burnt Therefore they abandoned it and the Duke of Lorrain judged that it would not be difficult to pass the Danube a little higher over against the two Isles which he designed to do an hours march above Gran. Order was given to the Governour of Comorra to send the Bridge of Boats which was before that place to serve on this occasion The King of Poland had been of a contray Opinion but the Duke of Lorrain so strongly represented to him both the facility of the Enterprize and the dishonour it would be for the Christians to end the Campaign without having drawn any advantage from the consternation which they had cast among the Enemies by the Victories which they had newly gain'd that the King at last consented to stay and cover the Siege continuing encamped on the side of Barkan While they were at these terms Count Humanai comes with some Commanders of the Malecontents into the Camp of the King of Poland to entreat Audience of him He grants it them and after some Complements they tell him they were very sorry to see Humgary covered with Trops of Turks and Tartars as it had been and the Neighbouring Countries exposed to the danger of falling under the Turkish Domination but that they were not the cause that all these misfortunes with all their Consequences ought to be attributed to them who had advised the Emperor to violate all the Laws and all the Priviledges of Hungary to have occasion to pillage it without his knowledge and the goods of those who should oppose them while none were able to demand justice against them that it ought not to be thought strange that the Nobility and People of Hungary had desired the Conservation of their Priviledges with as much Ardour as strangers had laboured to take them away That it were unjust to exact from them that they should see all their Laws overturned and their Goods and Families become a prey and sport to the Germans without stirring That they had a thousand times carried their Complaints to His Imperial Majesty that they always found him prejudiced against them by the great credit which they had who look on Hungary as an assured Pillage if they could introduce an Arbitrary Government That if not obtaining any satisfaction from his Majesties Council some of the Nobility had taken unlawful ways to prevent the ruine of their Countrey this fault would be at least as pardonable as the Pillages and Violences of strangers That also the greatest part did not at the beginning enter into any Conspiracy but that the Enemies of the Realm had with joy taken advantage of the faults of some few that they might treat as Rebels all who had any thing to lose and seize on their goods this strange coâ—nduct has oblig'd a great number to dâ—part part from them That as to be accused and have an Estate was the same thing as to be Condemned to Death or at least to lose all that one had Despair had put in Arms the People who demanded nothing but to live in Peace obeying the Emperor and the Laws that in pursuance thereof the Emperors evil Counsellors had carried him to change the whole form of the Government without having any regard to Priviledges of which they who remained within Obedience ought not to have been despoiled by
were obliged to make too many Detachments and to keep them too Remote one from the other and that they could cut them off if they did Fight them one after another they not being able to help themseves reciprocally That it was impossible to entertain an Army in Servia because the Turks and Tartars had Ruined it and would Ruine it still more That if they had the worst in a Battel as that might happen the farther advanced they would be the more difficult it would be to Retreat which would put the whole Army to Flight that they should not consider it as a small matter to reduce all Hungary into the Emperor's Hands and to keep it so that they should be no more in danger of loosing it which they would be exposed to in undertaking too much That that very thing would keep all the Neighbourhood in its Duty without any need of hazarding any thing else They added some other Discourses of the same nature which aimed all to stick to the surest But the first Opinion was esteemed best and they did not perceive it was maintained with Reasons more Specious than Solid but after this Resolution was Embrac'd there was no more time to change for the better part In the Month of February the Tartars who had consumed all that they could find of Provisions in Servia repassed the Danube and went to look for some in Walaquia The Imperialists quartered there but not finding themselves Capable to stop their Inroads retired into the Transilvanians Territories and gave an opportunity to the Walaquians to Reproach them that it happened nothing otherwise than what they had forewarned and that they had refused them what they had promised them Some thought the Hospodar kept a Correspondence with the Tartars and that he had drawn them to drive away the Imperialists However it were by this it Manifestly appeared that they were grasping at more than they could keep and they were not displeased to Mortifie the Walaquians The Tartarians retired soon after and the Imperialists who feared least the Turks should attack Nissa or Widdin called into Servia the Troops they had in Transilvania to secure those Places Canisa after having suffered a blockade almost without Intermission since the taking of Buda surrendred it self at last to the Emperor for want of Victuals as soon as they lost all the hopes of receiving any Succours The Surrender of that Town pleased the the Imperial Court mightily so much the more that they hoped Themiswear and Waradin would follow its Example which nevertheless did not happen those places having been victualled many times A little after the surrender of Canisa Michael Abaffi dyed at Alba-Julia after having been a long while Sick and dying recommended his Children to the Emperor as to the Power then most capable to support them and get his eldest Son to succeed him in the Principality The Turks had made him Vaivode as you may have seen in the first Book of this History and the Malecontents of Hungary had protected him as it has been told in the Second against the intrigues of the Imperial Court. Because he had been in the Party of both during many Years But the Emperor having made himself Master of all the Vpper Hungaria after the raising of the Siege of Vienna he began to keep fair with him rather by necessity than by Inclination for fear least he should act again for the Turks or for the Malecontents and to be revenged for what was past they filled Transilvania with Imperial Garrisons and the Transilvanians were not much better used than the Hungarians Charles the fourth Duke of Lorrain dyed also in the beginning of that Campagne and the Imperial Court was deprived of a most able and zealous General for the House of Austria whose Interests his Relations were bound to The Duke of Bavaria was named to command in his room upon the Rhine while Prince Lewis of Baden was coming to take the Command of the Army in Hungary 'T is reported for certain that this last should excuse himself because although he had met with such good Success in the last Campagne his Army wanted many necessary things so that it had been impossible to do any thing if the Turks had used a better Conduct than they did The Imperial Army conquered a good part of Servia and often routed the Turks but this was not effected without exposing themselves to great Hazards and by a timely laying hold of those Opportunities which the Slowness and Consternation of the Turks have long ago furnished them with If it happened that the Turks should take better Measures and act with more Vigour there was cause to fear least the Imperial Arms should not be so dreadful as before It seemed indeed the Grand Vizier was a preparing himself to do better in this Campagne than his predecessors had done for some Years past he was a gathering his Troops at Nicopoli in Servia whither he had given a Rendezvous to a grand number of Saiques While they were expecting the opening of the next Campagne every Party named a Vaivode of Transilvania The Emperour declared himself for the eldest Son of the deceased Abaffi and the Grand Seignior for Teckely for although that Principality was Elective the States have used to choose ordinarily him they think to be the strongest or the best supported to provide in the same time for the Security of the Country and keep to themselves a Shadow of Liberty which they shall enjoy in Reality when they be able to do it with Security Abaffi had a strong Party in the Country and got himself to be chosen according to the usual Formalities in spight of the Manifesto Teckely had sent thither by which he declar'd he had been made Vaivode by the Grand Seignior under whose Protection Transilvania was He forbid the Transilvanians also to acknowledge the Emperour of Germany's Orders oâ— his Commanders neither should they furnish them with any thing whatsoever ordering them to keep their Provisions for the Turks and Tartars Armies which were going to enter their own Country to deliver them from the Germans Yoak A little while after during the time the Serasquier besieged Widden and the Vizier Nissa Teckely appeared upon the Fronteers of Transilvania The General Heusler who commanded four thousand Men of the Imperial Troops had made himself Master of the Passages with some of the Country Millitia Teckely who was coming from Walaquia with an Army of fifteen or sixteen thousand Men composed of Hungarians Turks and Tartars besides some Transilvanians and Walaquians caused his Transilvanians to go across some Hills whither the Horse could not pass When he thought they were come to the place whereby they should attack the Enemy in the Reer he assaulted them in the Front with the main of his Army the twenty second of August The Transilvanian Militia that were not concerned in the defending of the Germans run presently away and the Imperialists encompassed about were almost all
German Troops among several other Insolences had demolisht some Protestant Churches and plundered their Houses The Protestants not being of humour to suffer these evil treatments got together and put all the German Souldiers to the sword who had removed never so little from their Quarters The Emperor thereupon caused all those people to be attainted of High Treason There needed no more to persuade them that the Design was as much against their Possessions and Religion as their Persons as a Roman-Catholick Historian * Hist des troubles de Hung. l. 1. p. 26. has well judged That this reasoning was not far from Truth The Emperor adds he who pretends to so great Piety receives blindly all the Counsels that are given him for the Glory of God and the extirpation of Heresie without considering that those that inspire these sentiments into him laudable in appearance but dangerous in execution are moved thereto rather by humane considerations than for the Interest of Heaven and that they seek less to establish the Worship of the true Religion than to preserve the Hereticks goods for themselves which they had obtain'd the Confiscation of The Hungarians who did not look upon things with the same Eye were so exasperated with this Conduct that the States themselves Assembled at Cassovia resolved to refuse the Imperial Troops Victuals and Lodging unless they paid for them and got their Reasons represented to the Emperor At last in the month of July the Imperial States having entred into Negotiation with the Turks 't was resolved at Vienna to withdraw out of Hungary 9000 Men of the German Troops that were there at the end of the Campagne Baron John of Goes was gone to Themiswar on the Emperors side to treat with Ali Bassa and the Accommodation was reckoned easie because the Turks only demanded two things They only required that a Fort should be demolisht which Count Nicholas de Serin had caused to be built upon the Mure which discharges its self into the Save that they might bring in thither the Booties which Rovers took from the Turks They demanded further that the Emperor should call home his Troops that were in Transylvania and the Neighbouring Counties Yet in the mean while all the Year was spent in sending and receiving Courriers without concluding any thing That same Year the Emperor made a severe Regulation for the Marching and Quartering of Souldiers which might have prevented many of the Disorders had it been observed For this end they should have paid the Army well and treated the Souldiers with the same severity that they punisht the Disobediences of the Hungarians when they fell into the hands of the Imperial Comissaries But whether they had neglected the second thing or that they had some secret Order contrary to the Proclamation the Troops which should lodge in the Cities of the Mountains about the end of the Year 1662. to stay till they saw where they should be employed the following Year going along plundred several Countrey Houses and committed the same Insolences there that they had done in conquered Lands The Cities of the Hill Countrey having advice of this conduct believed that they had made the Regulation that was spoke of only to amuse them and refused absolutely to receive eight hundred Men that should have taken up their Winter Quarters there They offered in vain to pay all their charge they would by no means trust people that never kept their word but when they found it for their purpose Besides tho they had agreed to furnish Forrage for nothing to the Cavalry it made so great desolation that they were forced to pay for it Five hundred Men to whom they had designed for their Winter-Quarters Nagibamia a City of Upper Hungary on the Frontiers of Transylvania took so little notice of the Regulation during their March that when they came before this place the Inhabitants shut their Gates upon them believing that they were more safe on the Turks side than on those that were come to defend them The Germans who could not give any reason of their conduct endeavour'd to maintain it by violence They endeavoured to break open the Gates on the eighth of December but the Inhabitants who had called some of the Neighbouring Trained Bands to their assistance charged them very roughly and a great many were left dead on the place on both sides The like Quarrels happened in other places in Hungary where the Germans committed the like Insolences which constrain'd the Emperor to withdraw the greatest part in the middle of Winter for fear lest the desperate Hungarians should put these Ill-disciplin'd Souldiers to the sword in every place Chimin Janos having been defeated and kill'd by the Treachery of some of his Officers in the beginning of the Campagne 1662. tho his Son and some others attempted to oppose Michael Abffia as is already said the Party of this last was infine the strongest The Emperor opposing his advancement he joined himself wholly to the Turks The Negotiation of Themisware continued all the Winter the Turks making them still hope that it would be easily accommodated Yet they made a Bridge over the Morass of Essek which might have been awatch-word to the Germans that they had some design upon Hungary But as the Commissaries met at Themiswar to conclude the Truce provided the Imperialists called home their Troops that were at Zekelheid a place in Transylvania and demolisht the Fortifications thereof as the Turks for their part should that of St. Job it could not be thought at Vienna that there was any difficulty remaining to hinder the conclusion of the Treaty Yet the Grand Signior would not ratifie what had been done unless the Emperor would renounce in due form all claims that he could make to Transylvania and all its dependences that he should demolish the Fort of Serin that he should pay the charges of the War and that he should fend an Ambassador to the Port with great Presents The Court of Vienna not being able to digest these Propositions they began to commit acts of Hostility on both sides The Hungarians who had beheld this Negotiation with grief because it was not all communicated to them were not at all sorry that it came to nothing It seem'd hard to to them that in a thing that concerned the Kingdom of Hungary only two German Envoys were employed who by the Orders of the Emperor and without imparting it to the States made Treaties whereupon the Repose or Ruine of the Hungarians depended A little time after the Turks began to march with as great Numbers as they could into Hungary The long Siege of Candy which continued seven Years had exercised a great part of their Armies The Emperor and his Ministers who had lulled themselves asleep with hopes of a Peace began too late to give notice to the States of Hungary of the danger their Countrey was in if they did not take speedy measures to oppose the Enemy They answered the Emperor on
their Quarters at Debrezen Wesselini at Nagibania Filek and Harak Teckely took a Journey to Transylvania to preserve Abaffi in the good sentiments which he had towards the Male-contents and to come to a closer Treaty with the Port which had given him hopes of Succours A little before the Princess Ragotski had endeavoured to corrupt Teckely by offering him one of her Daughters in Marriage and making him other considerable promises if he would quit the party of the Male-contents He did not reject these Proposals which being discovered to some persons he became suspected by the other Leaders The very Troops which he commanded refused to obey him any longer and put themselves under Wesselini who quartered them in the County of Zathmar and its Neighbourhood 1679. The Emperor who had been engaged in a War with France ever since the year 1673. and obliged to employ good part of his Troops for the defence of the Empire being near concluding a Peace with France found himself in a condition to speak more haughtily to the Male-contents believing that he had put a division among the Leaders by rendring Teckely suspected and being able to dispose of a greater number of Troops he demanded of the Male-contents that before entring into a Treaty they would send home all the Auxiliary Forces which they had and promised to have regard to their Complaints but they took care not to fall into so gross a snare It soon after appeared that he would not grant them any thing for that he ever pretended to govern the Kingdom by a Viceroy not to give the Protestants any Churches but in Villages The Truce being ended there was no speaking of either side of renewing it and action began in the middle of Winter Tekeli who had spoken of an accommodation and who would have his Estate restored found himself but abused in these hopes These very goods which were worth more than two Millions being in the hands of some persons who were in credit at the Court of Vienna hindred him from forsaking the party in which he had been engaged This is not the first time that they have rendred those suspected whom they would have destroyed by pretending that they would restore what they had taken away They had no design but to ruine for ever the Nobility of Hungary who were concerned in the Revolt and by no means to let them have wherewith to live in Peace Tekeli did not fail to be revenged of this policy and the Male-contents understanding how he was used confided in him more than ever He seized on Chemnitz a Town on the Mountains which the Male-contents had had and which they knew not how to keep and made Incursions which much incommoded the Imperialists The same was done on all sides and the Army of the Male-contents although deprived of the Polish succours was Master of the Field by reason of the sickness of Count Lesly and the weakness of the Imperial Army The Plague which was in Hungary and in Austria abated the Efforts of both parties and at the same time broke off some Treaties which had been begun where the Emperor appear'd disposed at last to yield to the Male-contents the greatest part of their demands This misfortune was herein advantageous that the Imperialists were in no condition to profit of their divisions Wesselini the Palatines Son had commanded the Army while Tekeli had been in Transylvania and pretended to command it till the end of the Campagne after the arrival of the other who came at the beginning of October with a recruit of four thousand men Tekeli maintained that having been chosen Chief in his absence which had been for the good of the Party he ought not to deprive him of the command Wesfelini said that he being in possession no body ought to dispute the rank which he held This difference so heated their Spirits that the Army being divided between them came to blows Tekeli had the advantage and having taken his Competitor Prisoner contented himself to send him to Clausembourg in Transylvania The Campagne ended without any thing considerable done only that they agreed on a suspension of Arms which was to continue till the end of April in the ensuing Year 1680. While the Armies were in Winter Quarters Count Lesly being troubled with the Gout went to Prague where the Emperor was by reason of the Plague which ravaged Austria The frequent illness of the General did not permit him to command the Army any longer Count Caprara was sent in his place He arrived at the very time of great disorders in the Army which not being paid was daily diminished by desertions Two Regiments mutinied and since there was nothing but words to give them instead of mony they went over to the Enemy which occasioned mony to be speedily sent lest the rest of the Army should follow their example The Male contents might have profited themselves of this conjuncture if they had had a little more mony and if they had been as able in matters of State as they were for making Incursions Teckely was accused of having intended quite another thing than the advancement of the common good of this Party It was said that heaskt leave of the Emperor to marry the Widdow of Prince Ragotski and that he offered to turn Catholick and to enter into the Emperors Party if he would restore him his Estate The Emperor who feared that he should make him too powerful by this Marriage especially if at the same time he should restore him his Estate in the same condition it had been in before the Troubles or else being resolved never to restore his Estate to him haughtily rejected his proposals Thereupon however it had been at other times in the Dyet which was held at Tirnaw to break all measures which might be taken to bring in the generality of the Male contents incapable of distinguishing the snares laid for them from an honest Treaty or Stratagem of War Teckely declared that he would make no Treaty without leave of the Port. This put the Emperor into a fright wherefore he sent to Constantinople to know whether the Turks were so engaged with the Male-contents as these would have it believed In the mean while the Truce ends and notwithstanding the apparent Negotiations for an Accommodation Hostilities began again by divers Incursions where the Male-contents much better Party Men than the Imperialists carried several advantages over them Teckely soon after invested Zathmar but after having blocked it up for some time he was obliged to leave it and to divide his Army into three Bodies one of which he commanded and the other two had for Heads Petrozzi and Palassi Imbre They endeavoured to enter upon the Emperors Territories by different ways and were repulsed in some Rencounters as they had the better in others without coming to any decision It is said that in some Standards of the Male-contents which the Imperialists gained Comes Tekeli qui pro Deo Patria
before seem'd sufficiently inclin'd to satisfie the Protestants therein It is said that the Grand Seignior being advertis'd of the disposition Tekeli was in to agree with the Emperor sent him a Bassa who promis'd him the Principality of Transylvania after the Death of Abaffi and other Advantages to the Malecontents if they would put what they held in Hungary and what they should take under the Protection of the Port and that they consented and promis'd to Pay a Tribute of Eighty thousand Crowns provided it assisted them with a Speedy and Powerful Supply The Diet who fear'd as much as the Emperor lest the Turks who had newly made a Truce for Twenty Years with the Moscovites should enter Hungary with all their Forces hastened to conclude something which might satisfie the Malecontents Endeavours at the same time were us'd to draw Tekeli to come to the Diet by offering him the Sons of the Palatine as Hostages but he absolutely refus'd to go fearing Treachery In fine it was concluded with the consent of the Emperor that the Protestants should have those Churches restor'd which they had built at their own Charges but not the Churches which they had taken from the Catholicks with liberty to build Three more new ones and to have Preaching as before They also engaged to Pay once for all a certain Sum to the Turks in lieu of a yearly Tribute upon condition that they lengthned out the Truce of the Year 1664. for Twenty Years In July these Conclusions were communicated to Tekely who kept firm to what he had demanded He would have all places whatever where the Protestants had had Preachings to be absolutely restor'd and that the promis'd Tribute should be Paid which the Malecontents could not deny because the Turks had their Wives and Children in Hostage Although this was no bad Reason there was another not mentioned which was yet more forcible The Inconvenience of breaking Faith Which is that after what had pass'd it was no more possible for the Malecontents to trust to any Treaty being strongly perswaded that the destroying them would never be scrupled when it could be done with security Where Soveraign Princes think they have right to violate all sorts of Treaties with their Subjects nothing but a Foreign Protection and that interested in their Preservation can assure those who have once taken Arms against them Therefore the Malecontents could not hope to be restor'd to their Countrey under the Government of the House of Austria but by rendring the Kingdom of Hungary Tributary to the Turks who would find themselves engaged to support those who had render'd them this important Service And from that time the Turks began to make great Preparations and the report ran that they would go Succour Tekeli with 20000 Men who joyn'd to the Hungarians and Transylvanians might put them into a condition to Conquer all Hungary This oblig'd Count Caprara to draw nearer to Tekeli to observe his March and hinder him from joyning the Turks This report appear'd false at least for that Year and all was reduc'd to Incursions and Pillages like to those of former Years Tekeli took Besermin Little Waradin and Kalo but rather to Sack than keep them Soon after Abaffi who always had Pretensions upon the County of Zathmar joyn'd Tekeli with an Army of Transylvanians and with him undertook the Siege of Zathmar Their Army being 30000 strong Count Caprara was in no Condition to attack them with his much Inferior in Number All that he could do was to seize the Passes to hinder the Enemies from proceeding to attack the Towns on the Mountains or to cast themselves on any other side upon the Emperor's Lands However Tekeli nimbly pass'd the Tibisque with a Detachment of 5000 Men while Abaffi continued the Siege With this Body Tekeli exacted very great Contributions from divers places for permitting the Hungarians to gather their Vintages Abaffi in a little time makes himself Master of the Town but having found more resistance from the Cittadel than he expected he at last rais'd the Siege and contented himself with Pillaging several Villages about Samos some believ'd that he had rais'd this Siege because the Grand Seignior had sent him word that he intended that place as soon as they were Masters of it should be put into the hand of a Bassa who assisted Abaffi Others said that it proceeded from a misunderstanding between the Transylvanians and Hungarians and that this was the cause of raising the Siege The worst which hapned to them was that some German Troops coming up to Abaffi's Army which expected no such thing put it into disorder and took all their Booty After which they pursued it even into Transylvania and made more waste than that had done in Hungary The Campagne ended as the precedeing Years with a Suspension of Arms for some Months and Tekeli was permitted to put his Troops into Winter-Quarters within Four Counties on the other side of the Tibisque At last the Diet settled the Article concerning Religion which contain'd these following Heads 1. That the Free-Towns and all Estates depending immediately on the Crown should enjoy Liberty of Conscience 2. That they should have a Free Exercise of their Religion yet without injuring the Rights of particular Lords 3. That the Hungarian Soldiers which should be in Garrison upon the Frontiers should enjoy the same Liberty 4. That the Priests and Ministers should keep Possessions of the places of which they were seiz'd without the one sorts driving out the other 5. That it shall be permitted the Lutherans and Calvinists to build two Churches one for one Communion and the other for the other in the Counties which had none 6. Lords and Gentlemen should be permitted to build Chappels in their Castles and to have the Exercise of their Religion 7. That the Catholicks should have the free Exercise of their Religion throughout the Realm 8. That the Lutherans of Presbourg should be permitted to build a Church in a place which should be appointed them 9. That the Differences which might arise concerning Religion should be judged by the King 10. That it should be forbidden upon pain of the King's displeasure to all Persons whatsoever to speak ill of the Religions tolerated and to injure those who profess'd them The Protestants were not entirely satisfy'd with that Article but it must pass for that time and the Emperor to sweeten the People restor'd the Confiscated Goods which had not been dispos'd of to those who could pretend to them by the Death or Absence of the Possessors He also gave Gratifications to divers Hungarian Lords and outed from their Charges some Persons who were not acceptable to the Hungarian Nation All this was made known to Tekeli who would abate nothing of what he had demanded manifestly 1682. The Turks were dispos'd for great Enterprize and there was no doubt but it was for Hungary though they did not yet say so The Emperor resolv'd to send Count Albert Caprara the
Ransom a considerable number of German Prisoners which he had taken the last Campaign At the same time he guarded all the Passes of the Vpper Hungary to hinder the Imperialists from furnishing the places they yet had with Victuals and Ammunition On the other side the Grand Signior having come to Adrianople about the end of the foregoing year the Standard of the Horses Tail was set up from the second of January and the Army began to draw to the side of Belgrade where its Rendezvous was The ways from Adrianople to that place were seen covered with Troops which marched day and night They who saw this March assure us that to lose no time they caus'd a quantity of necessary provisions to march by night by the light of an infinite number of large Lanthorns of white Linnen placed at convenient distances and tied to the tops of Pikes Although great preparations were opportunely made both the Army and the Places thro' which it pass'd suffered much from the Season The Peasants were constrained to furnish what they had of Forage and Victuals if it could be found in their houses and if there was no body in them they were burnt The Peasants losing less by these firings than if they had staid in their houses abandoned a great many Villages to retire with what they could carry to the Woods and Mountains Altho' what was possible was done in Austria to put it into a Condition to resist the Turks the Finances were either so ill administer'd or so wasted that the Soldiers not being paid deserted in great numbers and often took part with the Army of the Malecontents One party was plac'd in the Isle of Schut and the Inhabitants were so ill treated that they were obliged to abandon their Houses and to retire where they could within the Neighbourhood These disorders so incens'd those very Hungarians who had kept within obedience that if they had serv'd themselves of this occasion with readiness and vigour possibly they might have made all Hungary rebel But in the course of these Wars it has been a Thousand times observ'd that neither the Imperialists have known how to Profit of the Faults of the Malecontents nor the Malecontents of those of the Imperialists More Order a little more Discipline and a little Skill in the Art Military might have mutually serv'd and hurt both sides and if the one did not profit by the Advantages which they gain'd from time to time the others had no better Conduct when they had the better In the Month of February the Turks had a design upon the Isle of Schut whether they hop'd to go over the Ice but there being a Thaw the Enterprize fail'd and some Soldiers were drown'd Tekeli endeavour'd also in vain some Weeks after to surprize Tirnaw that he might hinder the Communication of Leopolstadt with Trentshin The Count Summon'd another Diet to Casseire threatned as he had before to Pillage those Hungarians who would not be there He did not fail to execute his Menaces against them who refus'd to meet him although the Emperor had forbidden them While he was employ'd in these Military Executions he receiv'd the News of having a Daughter born at Mongats and he pray'd the Vaivode of Transylvania to be Godfather who sent a Gentleman of the best Quality to stand for him At the beginning of May the Grand Vizier arriv'd at Belgrade and soon after about the same time the Emperor had a Review of his Army near Presburg It consisted of near 40000 Men of which more than 12000 were Cavalry But as he came not to Command he soon after return'd to Vienna and left the Command to the Duke of Lorrain That Prince after having long weigh'd whether he should attack Gran or Newhausel determin'd upon the last and went to form the Siege at the beginning of June when the Ottoman Army march'd back again Upon the advice which he had he drew into the Isle of Schut to observe the Enemy from thence with greater Security and to be in a condition to act on either side the Danube as should seem fitting He went not far from thence because they could not yet judge with certainty of the design of the Turks After having pass'd the Save they encamp'd near Esseck and there it was that Tekeli came up to the Vizier having cross'd the Danube at Valkowar There were sent to meet him 3 Leagues off before his coming up the Chiaous Bassa accompanied with the Spahilar Aga and divers other Aga's to whom Mauro Cordato the Grand Seignior's Chief Interpreter serv'd for Trucheman Sixscore of the Viziers Dellies came to offer him their Services and told him That they came to obey his Orders They put themselves at the Head the rest of the March towards the Camp of the Turks After them march'd 150 Hussars well mounted with Trumpets and Kettle-Drums One of them carried a Standard of a Blew Colour where one might see in Gold an Arm with a naked Sword in the hand and the Name of Tekeli about it There was also a Red Standard with his Arms and some others with Six led Horses Fifty Hungarian Gentlemen Protestants and Catholicks and among others Count Humanai followed One might see after that a Cornet who was follow'd with divers Hungarians mingled among Turks Seven other Saddle-Horses were led by Grooms cloath'd in the Hungarian fashion One might see after them Tekeli himself upon an Horse proudly harnass'd which the Vizier had sent him There were about six Persons with Tygers Skins upon their Backs cloathed in the Hungarian fashion with a grey Cloath lin'd with white Wolves Skin with edges of Silver upon the Hems and long white Feathers in their Caps There was also another Coach and two Calashes follow'd with a Green Standard at the Head of a Company of Heydukes well appointed and arm'd At last came a Troop of Cavaliers who with the former made the number of 400. In this order Tekeli arriv'd at the Tent of the Vizier who treated him and all his Followers with Sweet-meats Caftans The Vizier also presented him with a Vest lin'd with Ermine and cover'd with a Stuff with small Flowers of Silver upon a red Ground after which he was Conducted to a Tent which had been prepar'd for him and which was encompass'd with divers others for the Nobility which he had with him Tekeli had this Reception in the sight of the Emperor's Envoy that he might see the esteem which they had at the Port for this Head of the Malecontents Tekeli had several Conferences with the Grand Vizier upon the Designs which they might form in concert and upon those which each might execute by himself after which he return'd for Cassovia As soon as he was arriv'd he publish'd a Manifesto by which he exhorted all the Hungarians who had any love for their Countrey to range themselves under his Standards and assur'd them if they did of the Protection of the Grand Seignior who had oblig'd himself to
maintain them in their Estates their Religion and their Privileges On the other side he threatned those who should obstinately adhere to the Emperor to Pillage their Lands and give them no Quarter As soon as this Manifesto came into Lower Hungary Papa Thata Westprin and Lewentz received those that Tekeli sent these Towns being too much expos'd to the Turks whose Army was too near for them to take long time to consider what they had to do The Emperor fearing lest all the Towns which he had in Hungary should do the like and turn out his Garrisons gave Orders to the Governours to send out all the Ammunition and to abandon them that they might render themselves at the Camp which General Schultz had form'd near the Waag This Order was executed with much precipitation and the Ecclesiastick Catholicks withdrew at the same time lest the Protestants should revenge themselves upon them for the ills they had suffer'd at their sollicitation At the same time almost all the abandon'd places receiv'd Tekeli and if he or the Turks had been content with that Advantage that Campagne and had only applied themselves to fortifie the places as they might have been and once for all to make themselves Masters of the Passes possibly they might to this day have possess'd all Hungary But we have often already remark'd that the Malecontents were fit only to make Incursions In the mean while the Turkish Army as some said 200000 strong and according to others 120000 advanc'd towards Austria without staying to attack either Raab or Comorra as it was thought it would have done So that the Duke of Lorrain who had weakned his Army that he might leave in those places Garrisons able to employ the Turks at least some time took care for no more than to place himself in some advantageous Post to observe the Enemy Forty thousand Men which he had were not able to dispute the Field with so numerous an Army as that of the Turks Therefore he posted himself about the end of June between Rabuits and Raab and there expected the Enemies Army On the First of July it appear'd on the other side of Raab and the Imperialists that they might dispute the Pass rais'd Batteries upon the River which in some places incommoded the Turks But they at the same time rais'd others and detach'd a considerable Body of Cavalry to go search an other Ford which was higher and which Count Budiani defended with some Hungarians Some Malecontents who led the Turkish Cavalry no sooner appear'd to Budiani but he turn'd to their side and suffer'd the Enemies Troops to pass They marchd directly to Rabuits which they went through without opposition and instead of applying themselves to enclose the Duke of Lorrain or to attack him on one side while the Body of the Army came upon him on the other they employ'd themselves in Pillaging and making Slaves The Passage over the River being thus gain'd the Duke of Lorrain caus'd the Infantry in the Isle of Schut to march and kept the Cavalry with him to observe the Enemy A few days after there was a Skirmish near Petronel between that Cavalry and the Enemie's which at first was without any great Advantage on either side although the Imperial Cavalry soon gave ground In the mean while since there was no probability of stopping the march of the Enemies and that it was seen they intended for Vienna the Duke of Lorrain himself gave Order to Pillage all about that the Turks might not find wherewith to subsist and this Order was punctually executed the German Troops being excellent at making waste in a Country belonging to Friends as well as Enemies The Emperor who staid at Vienna till then took no longer time to consider on which side the Danube he should retire and a few days after he pass'd over the Bridges of Vienna to get to Lintz by great Journeys for fear of being Surrounded by the Tartars who ran on all parts We are assur'd that there went out of Vienna more than 60000 Souls who imitated the Prudence of the Court and who did not think fit to be Buried under the Ruines of that Town On the 12th of July they began to Burn the Suburbs and to dispose all things for a vigorous defence It having not been imagin'd that the Turks would leave behind them Comorra and Raab unattack'd it was thought there was time enough to fortifie the place if they should carry the two others So that there were only the old Fortifications which were not in a condition long to resist so Puissant an Army if the Turks had known what belong'd to attacking a place Before they had invested it the Duke of Lorrain put in all the Foot which he could get together which made about 17000 with a great Number of Gentry who had thrown themselves into the place besides the Burghers who were fit to bear Arms Ernest Roger Count Staremberg Great Master of the Ordonance was declar'd Governor and had given him several Generals who were to Command under him The Duke of Lorrain having provided for all things as much as the shortness of time would permit retir'd beyond the Bridges with the Horse having given Order to break them so that it was suspected that he was not sure of undertaking the Defence as he did afterwards On the 14th of July the Turks encampt before the Town and began to work on their Lines The Town of Vienna being situated on the Southern Mouth of the Danube which in that place makes two Isles cross which Men pass the River over three Bridges The Vizier little skill'd in War and uncapable of good Counsel did not at the first make any effort for rendring himself Master of these Bridges which he might have done but placed all his Army on the middle of the Town He afterwards when it was too late repented of this Fault when he had continued a sufficiently long time before the place The Works were not carried on with more Skill the Turks having only some Runagades for Engineers who seem'd able among People who understood nothing at all but they are not comparable to the Christian Engineers Therefore they employed much time and lost abundance of People to gain the Works which Christian Troops could have gain'd easily and without great loss On the other side the Imperialists had a number of Engineers who if they were not well exercis'd at least were more than those of the Turks and their Commanders Brave and Able perfectly well-employed their Men who for the most part rather want Heads than Courage I will not stay here to recount the Circumstances of the Siege of which many Relations have been made because Tekeli had no part in it While the Turks press'd Vienna which they did at first with Vigour enough he form'd a design of Besieging with 20000 Hungarians and 8000 Turks the Castle of Presburg which held out against him although the Town had been Surrender'd The Duke of Lorrain having
Intelligence of it sent on that side 200 Foot convoy'd with 300 Horse to endeavour to enter the Castle but the Convoy was beaten and the 200 Men obliged to return Upon this News he with speed march'd his Cavalry which consisted of 8000 Germans and 2000 Poles Commanded by Lubomirski and put 200 into the Castle The Burghers surpriz'd to see an Imperial Army surrender'd almost as soon as they were Summon'd and hardly gave the Malecontents time to retire to their Camp which was not far from the Town Tekeli incens'd at this Affront which they had now done sent a Detachment of his Army to fall upon the Enemy which at first made no movement because it was not yet rang'd in Battel But as they soon as it was who apparently had imagin'd that they should find no more than a Party of Imperial Horse believing them sufficiently employ'd in opposing the Incursions of the Tartars were surpriz'd to see the whole Army march towards them and since theirs was inferiour in number they soon after thought of retiring They did it in very good order but being warmly charg'd by the Imperialists they began to fly as fast as they could some to Tirnaw and others to a River two Miles distant on the other side of which they made a stand and stopt the Enemy who did not think it worth their while to pursue them farther This Action was towards Evening and in the Night Tekeli who was encamp'd at some distance from thence thought that he ought to dislodge against the opinion of the Turks who were encamp'd by themselves near him the Reason which he gave was That it was of Importance to rally them who had newly been defeated and dangerous to expose affrighted Troops to a Victorious Army Thereupon the Turks divided from him and would not rejoyn him but by express Order from the Grand Vizier This mixture of Christian and Mahumetan Troops commanded by different Heads produces no good The Heads would often be of different Sentiments 〈…〉 â—â—uld one yield to the other and the Turks would have the Christians undergo all the hazard when there was any as the Christians sought for nothing but advantaging themselves at the expence of the Turks Their Design had been to seize the Castle of Presburg that they might have a Passage there over the Danube that they might easily maintain a Communication with one another For that end the Turkish Cavalry which was not employ'd at the Siege ought to have search'd out that of the Imperialists and have constrained them to withdraw into Germany which had not been difficult for any other People besides the Turks to have done The Duke of Lorrain being drawn nearer to Vienna that he might incommode the Besiegers as much as he could possibly the Malecontents provided for the Turks divers Boats by means of which they might have some Communication with them and at the same time might enter into Moravia from whence they might draw considerable Contributions and part of which they might ravage nor could the Imperialists be able to hinder them These last in truth march'd against the Malecontents to take from them what they had gotten and having come up to them Charg'd them with vigour enough but 300 Horse who came to their Assistance sav'd the Booty which they had taken The Imperialists took the way of Tuln and Krembs to receive the Auxiliary Troops who came from all Parts of Germany and Poland as fast as they could possibly But having received advice that the Tartars and Turks followed by Tekeli were entered into Moravia they were oblig'd to turn on that side In the end the Grand Vizier having known that the Succours advanc'd and that the Imperial Horse march'd to joyn them gave Orders to the Tartars and Male-contents to make waste in the Hereditary Countrey as far as they could either to oblige the Duke of Lorrain to return that way or to take from the Succours all means of subsisting when they should arrive From the 23d of August the Tartars had enter'd Moravia and had begun to make the Country in such a manner desolate that it could not recover in a long time for the Male-contents they were contented to keep encamp'd near Mark and to promise the Tartars to follow them In the mean while they did not advance at all and it seem'd as if Tekeli as much fear'd the Success of the Siege of Vienna and the Consequences which the taking of that Place might have as he had before fear'd the Victories of the Emperor In truth were it supposed that the Turks had made themselves Masters of all Hungary and of part of the Hereditary Countries of the House of Austria they would have had no more need of Teckely and perhaps might treat him with as much contempt as they had lately paid him honours while he was necessary to them On the other side if the Turks should fail in the Siege of Vienna the Emperor would be more formidable than ever because ordinarily the Turks who are insupportable with good Fortune have little courage under bad Teckely made these reflections or had some other reason for acting less vigorously than ordinarily and did not manage his Forces without cause The Duke of Lorrain having made Detatchment to discover the condiion of the Enemy followed immediately after with all his Horse The Tartars and Turks seeing the Imperialists come up put themselves into a posture to receive them and fell upon them so briskly that at the first they routed some Squadrons and some pierced even to the Body of Reserve but not being sufficiently sustained the greatest part of them who had advanced so far perished After that the Tartars having in vain attempted to gain the Flank of the Imperialists their Army divided into two parts and one part retired towards Teckely's Camp the other towards the Bridges of Vienna where a great many perished who cast themselves into the Danube in hopes of swimming over The Infidels were inferior in number to the Imperialists who had then above 30000 Horse There perished in that action between 1000 and 1200 Men of the Turks and Tartars who had apparently been Conquerors if Teckely had assisted them to purpose The Turkish Troops and those of the Male-contents having been repulsed and beaten more than once on the other side the Danube the Vizier could hardly have any communication with them nor give them assistance that there was one of the greatest faults which he made in the Enterprize of the Siege of Vienna whereas he ought before all things to be Master of the two Mouths of the Danube and to pursue the Imperial Army which could not have made head against a much greater number of Troops so that while one part of the Army had carried on the Siege the other might have cover'd it and have foraged all about which the Vizier having understood too late order'd the Walachians and Moldavians to labour to rebuild the Bridges of Vienna which the Imperialists had broken
Evils The Duke of Lorrain answer'd That they might expect all from the Clemency of His Imperial Majesty if they would immediately break with the Turks and submit themselves to the discretion of their Soveraign That this was all the Counsel that he could give and that he had no other Answer to make to their Propositions Thereupon they separated and the Deputies return'd to the place from whence they came The Duke of Lorrain applied himself to put the Imperial Troops into the Quarters which had been assign'd them and left the Counts Rabata and Caraffa with Baron Merci to Command them All the Necessary Orders being given he took the way of Lintz where the Emperor still was The King of Poland who had parted some time before for Cassovia took in his way the Small Town of Schim where was a Turkish Garrison He continued on his March and sent to Summon Cassovia which having a strong Garrison of Malecontents refus'd to Surrender The King not knowing how to force them in the middle of the Winter and not liking to leave his Troops expos'd to the Incursions of the Malecontents in a Country of which they had no knowledge made but little stay in Vpper Hungary He gave Order to his Army excepting some Foot to enter into Poland and took the Passes to return to Cracovia His Army followed him soon after and left the Germans the liberty to take the Quarters which had been assign'd them Cara Mustapha had presented himself before the Grand Seignior the first time at Belgrade and to excuse himself had laid the blame upon several others and particularly upon Tekeli by whom he said he had been betray'd The Grand Seignior at first appear'd satisfied with his Reasons but whether it were that as soon as he came to Adrianople whither he went soon after some had taken Care in his Presence to aggravate the Faults of the Vizier or upon any other occasion he as has been said sent to have him Strangled In the mean while Tekeli having notice of the ill Impressions the Vizier had given of him to his Highness and not being able to subsist without Aid of the Port took a Bold Resolution which succeeded well He render'd himself at Adrianople and having obtain'd Audience of the Grand Seignior he told him That being inform'd that his Conduct had been mis-represented to his Highness he came to justifie himself before him or to offer him his Head if he were culpable The Grand Seignior was touch'd at his Submission and the Confidence which he appear'd to have in the Justice of the Musulmans He gave him Commissioners to whom Tekeli related the particulars of the Vizier's Faults of which he had been already inform'd in part Among these Faults he particularly enlarg'd upon one of them on which we have remark'd above which is That the Vizier not having given him Troops enough to act on the other side the Danube the Imperial Horse which were the best Horse in the World had been in a condition to traverse his Designs and that it had been strong enough to be Master of the greater part of Hungary almost in the View of so formidable a Body Besides not being able to have Communication ready and easie enough with the Vizier who was not Master of the Danube he could not be reliev'd when he needed it nor could give the Necessary Advices That if the Vizier had had the Precaution to render himself Master of some Pass upon the Danube though he had not succeeded before Vienna he might have preserv'd to the Grand Seignior all the Upper Hungary which held with the Malecontents by retreating on that side That his Army joyn'd to that of the Malecontents was yet stronger than was necessary to beat the Army of the Emperor and the King of Poland in case they durst have pursued the Vizier and that it had been easie to take Quarters in those Parts of Hungary where the Imperialists had never been but because they had abandon'd them These Reasons supported by the Vizier's Enemies and conformable to the Prejudices they had given the Grand Seignior against the Conduct of that Minister appear'd to him so plausible that he promis'd Tekeli his Protection and gave him his word that he would never forsake him The Count for his part fail'd not to give hope that with the Assistance of the Port he would restore Matters into so good a Condition that he should give the Emperor more trouble than ever The Grand Seignior after having caus'd Cara Mustapha to be put to Death nam'd in his Place Ibrahim who before had been Caimacan This new Vizier after he had a long time consulted with the other Ministers of the Port was of Opinion to make Peace with the Emperor but the Grand Seignior as they assure us was so opposite to this whether because of his word pass'd to Tekeli or for any other Reason that he followed the contrary Opinion which was for his continuing the War The End of the Second Book MEMOIRES FOR THE LIFE OF Emeric Count Teckely BOOK III. Containing the History of what arrived to him from the Year 1684 to the Year 1687. TEckely being returned into Hungary immediately saw the Effects of the Grand-Signor's Promises in that the Bassa's of the Neighbouring Cities sent to offer him what Assistance he should have occasion for The Emperor on his side set out an Act of Oblivion in the beginning of the Year 1684 wherein he gave an Assurance 1st To re-establish all those who had born Arms against his Service in their Honours and in their Estates which should not be forfeited 2d That they who formerly possessed Employments should be indempnified for the Loss of their Posts which had been conferred upon others 3d. That Orders should be exhibited for maintaining Officers and Souldiers by dispersing them into the Garisons of Hungary The Declaration also purported That from the 15th of February those Male-contents that would return to their Duty should find the Emperor's Commissioners at Presbourg ready to accept their Oaths and to hear their Remonstrances in order to give an Account thereof to the Imperial Council which would not forget to afford them Satisfaction At last it threatned those who would not enjoy the benefit of this General Pardon with the severest Rigours that have been accustomed to be practised against obstinate Rebels This Declaration which would have been laugh'd at before the Turks had been defeated produced some effect amongst People fatigued with so long a War and from which they did not see how they could disengage themselves with Honour The Barons Baragozzi were of the first who thought upon deserting the Party of the Male-contents and the eldest of this Family withdrew himself into the Castle of Zakwar which belonged to him with three hundred Hussars The Count Humanai who had been deputed to the King of Poland and the Duke of Lorrain did the same and fixed himself in his Castle of Vngwar where he thought himself secure They were
not insist upon the Circumstances of this Siege whose History no further relates to the Life of Count Teckely than as the taking of this Place had an Influence in the Affairs of all Hungary and to which the Circumstances are of no effect It shall suffice to say that if the Place was well assaulted according to the method of the Germans it was as well defended the Besieged being resolved to hold out to Extremity There was no Obstruction to the Siege without till the 12th of August when the Serasquier appeared upon the Hills near the Danube After he had encamped there he put himself in order of Battel the next day without ingaging still with the Imperialists who had exceeded their Lines It is said that the Turks were 50000 Men and the Christians not above 40000 the rest having continued in the Lines The next day the Turks advanced on farther and some of them crept along a Mountain which was at the right of the Imperialists with a design to get into the Place through the Camp whilst the rest of their Army diverted that of the Christians But the first were assaulted and the others vigorously repulsed at the same time who retired to their Camp after having lost near 2000 Men. Instead of returning to the Charge they decamped in the Night and went to post themselves three Leagues from thence where resided the Grand Visier It is said that this last would absolutely have the Serasquier return against the Christians and heard not the Excuses Indeed unless the Turkish Army was severely frightned at the loss it had received in returning divers times the Imperial Army which was extreamly fatigued with the Siege and had been under Arms three days could hardly have resisted long The 20th 2000 Janisaries came again to attack the Lines and performed it with so much Vigor that they broke through immediately and had all unquestionably entred the Place if they had been supported as they ought but there could enter not above 300 whereof the greatest part were wounded It is said that the Visier gave 30 Crowns to each of the Janisaries who in this occasion had perfectly well discharged their Duties but who were not assisted by the Spahies who complained of having been in other Encounters abandoned by the Janisaries Thus the Jealousy there is between those two kinds of Turkish Souldiers and the small Experience of their Officers preserved the Christian Army at this time They were contented to appear often in order of Battel in view of the Imperialists who went out of their Lines to receive them but advanced not up to them when they saw them fixed The Turks attempted once again to break through the Trenches of the Imperialists the 29th of August but being entred into the Camp on one side whilst the Visier made an appearance of going to assault it on another they lost 7 or 800 Men without being able to pierce as far as the Place The loss was small for an Army as considerable as that and which ought to save the Place upon any Conditions In the mean time the Turks not returning to attack the Lines the Imperialists won Buda the 2d of September by a general Assault wherein they broke through the last Trenches of the Enemy on three sides The Turkish Army which might have prevented the taking of the Place by continual Skirmishes with the Imperialists did not appear the day whereon the Town was won and was preparing to march towards Alba-Regalis Having increas'd the Garison of this City it turn'd towards Esseck and remained some time encamped three Leagues from thence to observe the march of the Imperial Army The Duke of Lorrain after having made the Christian Army rest three days near Buda resolved to follow that of the Turks and went to encamp the 19th of September at Tolna upon the Danube but the Turks being unwilling to engage themselves in a Battel he divided his Army half of which passed the Danube to go and form the Siege of Seged and the other took to the right with a design to invest Quinque Ecclesiae The Visier retired to Esseck and put his Troops in Winter-Quarters whilst the Imperialists obtained these two Places at the end of the Month besides several others of less note Count Veterani also beat a cosiderable Relief that was marching to raise the Siege of Seged so that it seems the Affairs of the Ottoman Empire were generally in a declining state without a Man found capable to re-instate them In the two Sieges of Buda they had lost their best Troops and their bravest Officers who had put themselves in a state of perishing or were effectually dead with their Arms in their Hands rather than to abandon this Place to the Christians After that one saw amongst the Turks none but such Officers as were equally unable to defend and attack with Honour The hopes of Teckely and those who had remain'd fix'd to his Interests diminished at the same time and having no Troops in his Dependence nor being able to obtain any of the Turks he found himself reduced to make use of some Intrigues the success of which was not advantagious to him It is said that the Princess Ragotski sent the Countess Nadasti and another Hungarian Lady to Cassovia with a design to gain some Persons there under pretence of being willing to submit to the Emperor But their Intention was discovered and they were apprehended whether what was asserted of them was true or that they were used so out of Suspicion or Revenge A Turkish Party that was to surprise Cassovia was defeated by the Generals Caraffa and Heusler It is also assured that the Princess Ragotski sent two Persons to Caraffa in order to let him know that she was absolutely disposed to enter into some Accommodation with the Emperor and demanded for that end a Truce for three Months Caraffa referr'd her to the Emperor's Ministers of State lest if it proved a Feint they should tax him with Imprudence in suffering himself to be impos'd on As the Affairs of the Turks every day grew worse they nearly observed the Person of Teckely lest by a Disgust of them he would no longer serve them and should apply himself to make a serious Composition with the Emperor It was for this reason they denied him the Liberty of throwing himself into Mongatz notwithstanding he promised to disturb the Imperial Troops from thence Whilst the Imperialists and Turks made great Preparations for the following Campagne the Garison of Mongatz seeing the Emperor disposed to treat the Remainders of the Male-contents with Severity did all the Waste they could in the Neighbourhood to deprive the Imperialists of the means of Subsistance and took away as much as they could carry off and as they judged convenient to support a Siege The Princess Ragotski is even accused of having directed the Hands of two Prisoners of War to be cut off and sent them back in this Condition bidding them hereafter go and serve
the Emperor Being in so weak a State as she was if she used them thus she must have particular Reasons for it otherwise she ought to have feared lest the Imperialists should entertain those Prisoners so whom they should have taken upon her Teckely being in the Neighbourhood without having wherewithal to attempt any thing by force the Imperialists were perswaded that it was impossible for him to remain in Peace It was imagined that he sought Opportunities again of causing an Insurrection in Vpper-Hungary and that he held great Intelligences there As the German Troops misused the Hungarians more than they had ever done regarding Hungary hereafter as a Land of Conquest the Commanders might easily conjecture that the Hungarians were not less incensed against them than before altho they did not shew it for fear of drawing upon themselves some Disturbance Possibly this Conduct of the Germans which reduced to despair several Hungarian Families who were no easier under the Emperor than when they bore Arms against him engaged some of them to a secret Correspondence with their ancient Captain Perhaps also that as those are never absolutely pardoned who have made some figure in a rebellious Party notwithstanding their submission especially if they have Estates so an Occasion was look'd after to destroy the ancient Friends of Teckely and to seize upon what they had by accusing them of Treason In the Month of February were arrested all those who were suspected to have any Intelligence with this Count and no Hungarian was permitted to leave any Towns where it was conjectured he had any Correspondence without Security A little while after it was found that the Conspiracy had been almost universal and that several of the chief Inhabitants not only of Cassovia and Eperies but also of Tirnaw Altsol Newsol Leutsch Oedemburgh and Presburgh were concerned therein The Prisons were filled with an infinite number of Persons and the most considerable in Hungary They put to Death the greatest Offenders or the most Unfortunate and the rest were discharged upon the Payment of Fines which absolutely ruined them The ancient Formalities were no more observed than Persons dared to demand them for fear of passing for Rebels Count Caraffa and a Chamber composed of Strangers and established at Cassovia put a great number to the Rack upon slender Proofs which so severely handled them that some died thereof These extorted Confessions which were given out as they would themselves gave the Judges an Opportunity of seizing upon what remain'd to the Hungarians after the first Conspiracy If the Hungarians repented of having so soon submitted to the Emperor and had renewed their ancient Practices it must be confessed that either the Yoke which was imposed on them was very severe since they chose rather to embrace a desperate Party than to see themselves eternally subjected thereto or that they were extreamly inconstant since they were uneasy in all Conditions The Turks could not get together Money and Troops sufficient to give them a prospect of re-establishing soon their Affairs in Hungary as it appeared enough by the Campagne of the following Summer The Imperialists even published that the Visier had wrote a Letter to Prince Herman of Baden President of the Council of War to demand a Peace of the Emperor He made him apprehend 't was said that the Sultan his Master being inclined to make a Peace if the Emperor was in the same Disposition as it was supposed he would considering the ruine of the People that a Place be agreed upon where Persons should be sent on each side to form the Articles and to make the Sincerity of the Port appear as soon as the Council of Vienna should give its Parole to enter into a Treaty the Count of Teckely should be given up to the Emperor The Turks deputed likewise an Aga to Debrezen who was conducted to Eperies where he demanded a Pass-Port for an Ambassador but the Emperor made Answer to him by Caraffa that he would make a Peace if the Grand Signor would oblige himself to pay him six Millions of Gold for the Expences of the War and for the Destructions that had been made and if he would restore him all the Places he possessed in Hungary and would also satisfy Poland and the Republick of Venice As for what relates to the Offer which the Turks made of delivering up Teckely it was answered that he was esteemed too little formidable to give Disturbance to the Emperor and that a Motive of that nature was not capable of advancing the Peace If it be true that the Turks made this Offer Teckely had an occasion to fear and if such an Answer was given them as was declared certainly it was not proper to angment that Esteem which the Turks had for him He was at this time in Lippa and he escaped an eminent Danger for the Garison of Chenod having surprised the City of Lippa he had much ado to secure himself in the Castle During all this Winter the Imperialists made great Incursions and if they did not all succeed they had notwithstanding generally the upper hand The Visier made a Review of his Army about the end of April in the Plain of Salankemen near Belgrade it was near 50000 strong Teckely had orders to go to him and as he was upon his way with 2 or 300 Horse he was attack'd near Giula by 500 Hussars who killed him above 100 Men but as for him he retired to Kerek during the Fight In the beginning of June the Duke of Lorrain likewise took the Field with part of the Imperial Army which was to consist of above 50000 Men and took his March by the Drave towards the Bridg of Esseck which the Turks had not as yet absolutely repaired since some Imperial Detatchments had burnt down a part of it The 26th of June he set upon them and constrained them to repass the Drave upon a Bridg of Boats which they had altho they had made a Fort at the Head of their Bridg which the over-flowing of the River broke at the same time This very over-flowing hindred the Imperialists from attempting to pass it during some days but they found means to surmount all Difficulties and the Army passed near the Fort of Siclos the 11th and 12th of July and was joined four days after by the Elector of Bavaria who commanded the rest of the Troops and had cross'd the Danube at Mohats They continued to march towards the Enemy and arrived at their Trenches the 19th The Imperial Army was obliged to break through some Defiles which the Enemy guarded but not without loss and the Turks were found after that so well posted that there was a necessity of enduring all their Artillery in order to approach their Trenches They lost in this occasion 7 or 800 Men and after having attempted to draw the Turks out of so advantagious a Post the Generals of the Emperor judged it most convenient to retire which they did in good order The Turks
sent some Horse to charge the Rear but they were repulsed so well that the Christian Army repassed the Drave without loss The Visier also pass'd it and posted himself between Esseck and Darda in the Isles which the Marshes and Arms of this River compose there where it was not possible to force him The Christian Army was near Mohats and made several unsuccessful Motions to draw the Enemies to a Fight but there were only some inconsiderable Skirmishes for a long time C. Teckely was then in the Camp of the Turks and part of their Conduct is imputed to his good Advice The 12th of August the Christian Army in marching from Mohats towards Siclos was charged at last by the whole Turkish Army but the Elector of Bavaria who was the first attack'd sustained their Shock with so much Resolution that the whole Christian Army being come back repulsed them every where insomuch that Terror being introduced amongst them they fled towards Esseck The Bridg of the Drave being broke down by those who fled first many of them were drowned who undertook to swim over it and the Turks lost 6000 Men in this Engagement for want of knowing how to make an orderly Retreat to their Camp which it was easy to defend But when they have once the lower-hand their Minds are for the most part so strongly possessed with Fear that they no longer distinguish what they do Otherwise they had gain'd the Advantage in the first Skirmishes and even in the beginning of the Fight the Ground was favourable to them and they were superiour to the Christians in number their Army having been considerably angmented since it had been said they were above 50000 Men. The Christians plunder'd the Camp which they had deserted and found therein a very considerable booty After that the D. of Lorrain judging that the Grand-Visier was not in a condition of undertaking any thing during the rest of the Campaign left the C. of Dunewald with 4000 Horse and 6000 Foot to cover Siclos and Quinque-Ecclesia and passed the Danube with the remainder of the Army near Mohats From thence he marched towards Zolnick where having taken to the right he turned towards Transilvania to put his Army there in Winter-quarters The War had so entirely ruined Hungary that the Towns were almost become Desarts and the Lands by consequence untilled for the most part which made the Germans who had been formerly so ambitious of Winter-quarters in this Country no longer covetous in that respect On the other-side it was to be feared lest if Transilvania were left to the Discretion of the Turks they should take Quarters in 't themselves and compel Abaffi to do for them what he had lately done for the Emperor At the same time C. Dunewald took in the Lower-Hungary Butzin Walpo Esseck which the Turks abandoned in disorder and Peter-Waradin which compleated a Confusion in all the Affairs of the Turks and filled the Imeprialists with Courage who observing that to succeed they had nothing more to do than to undertake performed things every day which formerly they durst not so much as think on It was then the Emperor who had a mind to Crown the Arch-duke Joseph King of Hungary sent for the chief Lords of this Kingdom to Vienna He restored to them the Crown which he had transferred from Presburgh to Vienna and which he had always with him during the War This Prince made them a Discourse in Latin wherein he told them amongst other things that he deposited the Crown with them in order to see it suddenly upon the Head of his Son whom it was time to declare hereditary K. of Hungary The Hungarians returned Thanks to the Emperor in the same Language and sent the Crown to Presburgh but it was not set upon the Head of the Arch-duke till about the end of the Year as shall be seen in the Consequence The evil Conduct of the Grand-Visier followed with the ill Successes of this Campaign excited great Murmurings in the Army which besides wanted the Pay of several Months The Tumult went so far that the Army refusing to obey him advanced to Constantinople where it went to demand his Head and those of several Officers of the Grand-Signor The Visier of his own Accord surrendred his Commission which was given to Siaous according to the Wishes of part of the Army but this Resignation could not save his Life The Caimacan with some others were also put to Death Methinks the Army should have been contented with this Sacrifice but the excessive Expences of Mahomet the 4th and his slothful effeminate Life ruined even himself The troublesome Fellows deposed him also in the Month of November and placed upon the Throne his Brother Solyman the Third of the Name who is not more expert or more couragious than his eldest Brother But as when one is not satisfied with the Condition one is in it always seems to be likely to improve with change they did not cease to perswade themselves that all would go better under his Government than under that of the deposed Sultan who was imprisoned as his Successor had been for several Years To return to what pass'd in Hungary the D. of Lorrain sent word into Transilvania that to protect this Country from the Undertakings of the Infidels the Emperor had found it necessary to put Garisons into the chief Places and to give Winter-quarters to his Army there which the Transilvanians would doubtless approve of since it concerned their Deliverance from the Yoke of the Infidels The Transilvanians who had at least as much Liberty under the Protection of the Turks as they could expect under the Emperor were afraid of changing their Master for it was of no less import Abaffi in particular who had assisted the Male-contents and the Turks by whom he had been made Vaivod as it has been elsewhere said See Book 1. Page â—â— trembled at the Apprehension of falling into the Emperor's hands who had opposed his Establishment as much as possibly he could He repented that he had been a Spectator only for the last years of the Differences betwixt the Emperor and the Male-contents whom he should according to good Policy have continued to assist with all his Force since he could but perish or save himself with them But these Reflections were unseasonable now whereupon the Imperial Army was advised from the part of the Transilvanians that they would furnish it with as much Provisions as they possibly could but as for surrendring their Places or giving Quarters they could not do it without exposing themselves to the Revenge of the Turks and Tartars who entring into such an open Country as theirs would lead off without any hopes of Prevention the greatest part of its Inhabitants into Slavery and carry Desolation every-where The D. of Lorrain having answered to that in general Terms assuring them of the Protection of the Emperor did not cease to continue his Advancing into the Country and fixed a
itself in it and found therein almost a hundred Pieces of Cannon and much Ammunitions for War of which they were in great want Those of the Turks were commanded by a Serasquier a Title which signifies a General in the Turkish Language and which doth not belong to any Dignity of the Court it was composed of some disciplined Souldiers of Europe and Asia but chiefly of new raised Troops uncapable to stand against Veteran Souldiers as were the Imperialists however the Turks sustained not altogether so great Losses because their Troops did not persist obstinately to defend the Posts committed to their Guard but did flie before they were pursued too close During the Christians and the Turks were seeking one another for fighting Count Teckely seized upon Otsowa upon the Danube towards Transilvania abandoned by the Imperialists to try whether he could throw some Succours into Themiswear But having had order from the Vizier to march towards Nissa to reinforce the Turkish Army he gave over that Design He was not for all that in the Defeat the Orders he received coming too late or not having made hast enough Whether it was through Prudence or Chance he had not been yet in any great Army of the Turks when they had been resolved to fight however such were his Circumstances as render'd it his best Policy to avoid it as every ways dangerous for him because being engaged to venture himself upon such an occasion to encourage the Turks by his Example and to get their Esteem it might have unluckily happened that he had been taken by the Imperialists for want of not being constantly and sufficiently sustained and supported by the Turks On the contrary if he had mannaged himself the Turk would have believed that he did not rely upon them therefore they had accused him of Cowardize or Treachery according to the Success of the Fight Thus it was more safe for him to shun the Occasions where there was every way so great Danger The Imperial Army having tarried some days in the Turkish Camp to rest themselves they thought it convenient to send back one part of it for fear lest they should want Victuals and to march with the other towards Nissa in hopes to prevail there if possible thro' the Consternation the Turks were in before they had time to recollect themselves The Prince of Baden marched at the head of sixteen thousand Men toward Nissa as speedily as he could He came thither the 23d of September and found the Enemy well entrenched before the Place He disposed the Army in order to fight although the Enemy was stronger by half but they never went out of their Lines The next day the Imperial Army marched to look for some weak side and to assault the Enemy that way it went along their Camp during some hours without discovering any place whereby they could set upon them but at last they found one side covered by a Hill which was not entrenched and it was resolved to attack them that way The Turks perceiving the Resolution of the Christians posted upon the top of it a body of Janisaries and began to entrench themselves The Christian Army commanded some Regiments to advance to remove the Janisaries and the Turks sent some Spahees to attack the Christians in the Flanck during that Encounter but the Christian Horses presently advanced to receive the Spahees and repelled them easily enough The Janisaries made a greater Resistance but at last the Imperialists made them run and carried some Cannon upon the rising Ground whence they began to play upon the Turkish Camp the Spahees came to the Charge again and the Janisaries stood firm a little way off but the Spahees having been broken betook themselves to the flight in earnest without minding of turning back the Janisaries fired once upon them to force them to turn back which increased their Disorder So that the Serasquier seeing there was no way for the rallying of his Troops scared by the loss of two Fights thought it was high time to fly away the Night and Weariness of the Imperialists who had been in Arms since the Morning made their Retreat the more easie and hindered them from being pursued The Christian Army spent that night in the Turks Camp where it had time and the means to refresh itself with the Provisions it found in it The next day it entered Nissa without disturbance the Town not being fortified Three thousand Horse were presently detached to march towards Sophia whether the Serasquier was fled They came again some days after and upon the Report they brought concerning the Turks Consternation and the Goodness of the Country it was resolved to leave one part of the Army at Nissa to spend there the Winter and fortifie in some manner that place During the time the Prince of Baden was at Nissa the Serasquier sent him Mustapha Aga to beseech him to give a Pass-port and a Convoy to go to Vienna and joyn the other Embassadors of the Port. The Prince granted him what he petitioned for but that new Envoy had no new Proposals to make they acquainted him it may be with the Diversion of France least they should conclude any thing Teckely having heard of the Defeat of the Turkish Army at Nissa while he was in his March took his way towards Silestria thence he went to Sophia where the Grand Vizier was and got thither the 19th of October follow'd with a matter of a hundred Persons after having left the Troops he commanded which were encamped some Miles off of the Town The Vizier welcomed him very well and presented him with a magnificent Vest and some gallant Horses he certified him the Grand Seignior was extreamly well satisfied with his Conduct exhorted him to continue to act with Vigor against the common Enemy and assured him of the Protection of the Port. The Count had many Discourses with the Vizier and the other Turkish Officers to consider what might be done to stop the Imperialists Progress While they were a consulting together they had notice that the Prince of Baden had taken his March from Nissa towards the Danube where he made himself Master of Widden a place of moment to pass into Walaquia where he had a mind to give his Troops Winter-quarters he was arrived before that Place the 14th of October had beaten two Bassa's encamped thereabout and reduced it to surrender four days after although he had but four Field-pieces the great Cannon not being come from Semandria The Vizier very sorry for this News ordered Teckely to go to Nicopoli to prevent the Designs they might have upon that Place and to endeavour to retake Widden if it was possible In the mean time General Picolomini who had tarried at Nissa with some part of the Army made some Incursions in the neighbouring Countries but returning to Nissa he died of a Cholick at Pristina leaving the command of the Army to the Duke of Holstein till the Emperour had named a new Commander