themselves very near the Castle it self so that now all the publick Intelligence in this Part of the World sounded loud to a General Assault and the fatal Determination of so long and so bloody a dispute And there is no question to be made but that never any Besiegers labour'd with more indefatigable pains with such an obstinacy that neither inundation of Water nor unseasonable Weather could stop the Career of their Travel beyond all the Roman Industry before Jerusalem But when the day was appointed the Duke of Lorrain relaps'd to such a degree that the Margrave of Baden was sent to Command the Army during his Indisposition and more than that not to mention the Rainy weather alleadg'd for another Cause the Serasquier Bassa said to be repass'd the Bridge of Esseck so soon as the Duke had ceas'd his pursuit advances again and lodges himself within four Hungarian Miles of Buda It behov'd him to use all his Wits to save his Neck and therefore while he lay there he provided five Boats laden with Provision and Ammunition to be sent up the River and at the same time having given orders to the Bassa of Agria to Alarum the Imperialists of Pâ—st resolv'd himself to advance near the Leaguer as if he intended to assail the Christian Camp to the end that by the favour of the Night and such a Diversion the supply might the more easily be got into the Town But the Duke of Lorrain having notice of his design commanded Major General Dunevelt to pass the Danaw with a Body of Horse near Vacia which he did directing his March toward Pest So soon as the Turks perceiv'd the Imperial Troops they retreated with all the haste they could On the other side Dunevelt advancing along by the River side had the good Fortune to meet with five Boats which he took with ease and put to the Sword all the Turks that were in ' em By which means the support intended for the Garrison became a supply no less seasonable to the Besiegers But notwithstanding this Disappointment and that the Besieged were said to be reduc'd to four Thousand Men they forgot not their wonted Custome of making Sallies first upon the thirteenth of November at what time they were beaten in again with little loss to the Besiegers The next day they came forth again and forc'd the Bavarians from their Works but other Forces coming in to their timely assistance the Christians regain'd their Posts though with the loss of two Hundred Men. The fifteenth day they made another Salley with six Hundred Men and prevail'd so far that they took away and carry'd into the Town the very Deal Boards which the Besiegers made use of in working their Mines Which nevertheless was not so prejudicial as their Counter-mines which now began to take Effect And certainly it was encouragement sufficient for the Besieged to do their utmost to preserve themselves and annoy their Enemies when they saw the Serasquier Bassa with his numerous Troops o'r-spreading all the neighbouring Feilds and watching all opportunities to send 'em fresh Relief For the Bassa was all this while posted within five Miles of the Town so that the Imperial Cavalry being hinder'd from forraging suffer'd very much while the Besiegers seem'd in a manner besieg'd themselves But that which mainly incommoded the Christians was the unseasonable Weather which had not only drown'd several of the Bavarian Trenches but begot sundry distempers as well among the Officers as Soldiers lying wet and cold which had much impair'd the Infantry and much weaken'd the Cavalry insomuch that the Regiments of Savoy Magni and Heuster were reduc'd to Thirty and Forty Men. Yet notwithstanding all the hardships which they suffer'd the Imperialists could not so soon resolve to go without the purchase of a Place which had cost the expence of so much time and blood And therefore perceiving that the Serasquier embolden'd with a Reinforcement of forty Thousand fresh Men and fourteen Peices of Cannon drew nearer and nearer within two Miles of the Camp a Council was call'd wherein they resolv'd to abide the Enemy in their Trenches which were deep and well fortifi'd On the other side the wary Turk did not think it convenient to make a general Attacque upon the Enemies Camp where he well knew he should meet with a dangerous opposition For upon his first approaches certain Detachments of the Imperialists being sent out to encounter his formost Troops had given 'em such proofs of their Courage that the Bassa was forc'd to retire Which the Besieged impatient of his delays observing and to ruine one of the Christian Batteries which did very much annoy the Town made a desperate Salley upon the Bavarian Quarters but were repuls'd with considerable loss at what time Collonel Kreig who commanded in the Trenches two Captains and a Lieutenant of the same Regiment were slain On the 25th the Besieged made another Salley wherein they ruin'd several of the Besiegers Works and discover'd their chief Mine Nor was it possible to prevent some successes of the Enemy where so numerous an Army daily hover'd so near their Camp Among the rest it was not the least that the Bassa of Agria having forc'd the Entrenchments which the Imperialists had made on that side next to Pest and put to the Sword those few men that were left to guard 'em had convey'd about eight Boats with Men and Provisions into the Town that another strong Party of the Turks being sent out towards old Buda had surpris'd several of the Imperial Forragers had taken 500 Horses and all the Baggage of the Count de Schram and that the Bavarians were forc'd to abandon their Mines being all fill'd with water On the 27th of October the Serasquier advanv'd so near the Christian Camp that he beat in their main Guard But the Polish Horse commanded by Prince Lubomirski not only gave a stop to their further Progress but constrain'd 'em to retire with some loss Nevertheless the Besieged encourag'd with their new recruits of Men and Provision the same day made so desperate a Salley with 2000 Men that they forc'd the Imperialists from their Trenches and being conducted by a Renegado who two days before had got into the Town to their Principal Mine they took the Powder out of it ruin'd all their Works on that side and advanc'd to the Besiegers chief Battery but the Forces that guarded the next Post hast'ning to their Releif the Enemy was beaten into the Town again Thereupon at length in consideration of the Season the ill Condition of the Army and for that their Principal Mines and Works were spoil'd both Generals resolv'd in pursuance of the Emperours Orders to raise the Seige To which purpose all the sick and wounded men to the number of 8000 being first sent away with the Baggage and Camp Attendance the great Guns were drawn off from the Batteries and for the defence of the Army in their retreat planted in the Island of St.
with that Bravery that they made themselves Masters of the Place notwithstanding the great number of Janizaries that defended it of whom there were slain not fewer then a Thousand who had not time to retire into the upper Town The next day the Duke caus'd an attack to be made upon the Fort of St. Gerard which the Enemy quitted together with the Cannon that was in it And now being thus Master of the lower Town and the Fort he caus'd his men to take two Posts more one next the great Tower in the way to Gran the other near the Court in that joyn'd the Town and the Castle On the other side the Besieged were not idle but finding themselves very much annoy'd by the Christians from St. Gerrards Hill upon the first of August made a thund'ring Salley toward the close of the Evening which began a sharp and fierce encounter between them and the Christians in which the besieged suffer'd a repulse wherein the slaughter of the Enemy could not choose but be very considerable as being repell'd when it cost the lives of two hundred of the victorious Besiegers among whom the Signior Cavallieri Lieutenant Collonel of the Regiment of Grana and the Marquess Bagni were slain the Count of Sherfenberg Major General and the Marquess de Parella with several other Officers wounded The day following the Enemy made another Salley but retir'd presently again perceiving perhaps those disadvantages in the day on which they had run headlong the night before in the dark Whatever were the reason of their sudden retreat certain it is that the Turks got nothing by either Salley but broken pates besides the Christians gain'd a work which the Besiegers had cast up to guard a breach which the Besiegers had made in the Wall of the Town and for some days continu'd their Batteries with their Bombs and Cannon with so much vigour that they made several other breaches and proceeded so succesfully in their Mines that the Duke of Lorrain minding to give a general assault sent an Officer with two Turkish Prisoners before-hand to summon the Governour Cara Mahomet to surrender the Town and to let him know that if he suffer'd things to run to the last extremity he must not expect any Quarter Which was answer'd with no less inhumanity then haughtiness by the Barbarian For after he had caus'd the heads of forty Christian slaves to be cut off in his own and the presence of the Messenger he bid him tell his General he would neither give nor expect Quarter However he did not long enjoy the satisfaction of his cruelties nor his insulting replies For upon the sifth of August the haughty Turk receiv'd his death wound by a shot from the Camp as he was viewing one of the Christian Batteries of which he died within two or three days after He was said to be one of the best Officers the Turks had as being one who had serv'd in the Sieges of Candia Caminiec and Vienna in the battle of Choczin against the Poles and in all the most memorable Occasions of his time To whom immediately succeeded Cheitan Bassa no less infortunate as being kill'd with a Cannon shot before he was hardly warm in his Government so that the closest Aga of the Janizaries to prevent a vacuum in authority was forc'd to take upon him the defence of the place In the mean time the Christians tho' continually vex'd with warm and frequent Alarums and Salleys fail'd not to make their approaches with a most obstinate resolution To which purpose upon the eighth of August the Christians after they had beaten back a thousand of the Turks who Salli'd out early in the morning with some loss to themselves but a greater slaughter of the Enemy They also sprung a mine the same day in a place near one of the principal Batteries of the Besieged which tho' it took not the intended effect yet were the Besiegers thereby nothing discourag'd in their laborious Progress but having finisht the rest of their Mines within some few days after sprung 'em together which so well succeeded that they made a very large Breach in the Wall However the Duke of Lorrain did not think it fit to give a general Assault for that he found the besieged had made a large retrenchment behind the Wall of the Town and understood moreover that the Garrison was very numerous But there was a more powerful reason for the Duke of Lorrain to defer a general Assault which was his small number of Infantry reduc'd by continual Salleys and hard labour to little more then 8000 fighting men and those dishearten'd by the loss of several of the young German Nobility and their inspiring Leaders And therefore he thought it more proper to stay for the Bavarian succours that were daily expected While they therefore are marching to his relief it may not be amiss to give a brief accompt of what happen'd in other parts in reference to the Diversions which the Christians made in other places which no question were no small hindrance to the relief of the Turks in Buda Among which we are not to imagine that of the Venetians to be the least Who with their own and several Galleys of Malta the Pope and Duke of Tuscany consisting in all of forty six Galleys six Galleasses thirty three Men of War and several other smaller Vessels man'd with twenty four thousand foot and four hundred mounted Cavalry under the Command of Morosini as Captain General put forth to Sea about the nineteenth of July from Corfit and the next day arrived before Sancta Maura This Sancta Maura is an Island joyning almost to the Continent seated in the Golf of Larta otherwise Prevesa famous for the victory of Augustus against Marc Antony and wrested from the Venetians by Mahomet the second since which time it has continu'd under the subjection of the Turk to the great annoyance of the Venetians by Pyracie being well peopled and about seventy Miles in Circuit The main Fortress is seated at the mouth of the Gulf on a little neck of Land very strong and well fortified having the Sea on the one side and a great Morass on the other On the 21th of July the light Vessels enter'd the Port of Damata on the right side of the Island sufficiently capacious to receive a large Fleet and secur'd by a Mole Signior Monetta landed first with a hundred and fifty men and after him General Strasoldo with two Venetian Regiments the Popes and the Infantry of Malta at what time the rest of the Venetian forces and those of the Duke of Tuscany landed on the West side The next day the General sent a Summons to those in the Fort to surrender it To which the Governour return'd for answer That the Fortress belong'd to the Grand Signior who had given him charge of it and that according to his duty he would defend it to the last Thereupon a party of Horse was sent toward the Suburbs of the
Town on the East side which they found quitted by the Enemy The 23th of July the Ships began their batteries from the Sea but with small success by reason of the high Winds The next day the whole Fleet was so dispos'd as to do more signal execution with their Canon and some of the Galeasses roaring within Musket shot threw a great many Bombs and Fire-balls into the Place which did great execution yet not so but that the Galleas commanded by General Carnaro receiv'd two dangerous shot from the enemies Cannon the General himself being wounded with a splinter besides that the Galley belonging to Signior Quirini which row'd the Galleass was very much disabl'd The 25th a Battery was finish'd of 10 peices of Cannon carrying Balls of fifty pound weight and upon the 27th another somewhat nearer the Castle both on the East side of it The day following the Christians posted themselves in the Suburbs and rais'd another battery on the West side Two days after a large breach was made in the Wall at what time the Turks Sally'd out but being discover'd were soon beaten back Thus disappointed they labour'd to fill up the breaches with bags of Straw and packs of Wool but that labour being easily frustrated by the Cannon from the batteries the Christians advanc'd their Trenches to the Counterscarp and made a descent into the Mote After that upon the fourth of August they made two descents more into the Mote their Cannons having made another wide breach and dismounted all the Cannon of the Fort on that side Upon the sixth all things being prepar'd for a vigorous assault the General sent a second Summons to let the besieged understand That if they refus'd the second offer of his Clemency they were to expect but the utmost severity Thereupon the next morning three Commissioners were sent out who being brought before the General cast themselves upon the ground and desir'd they might be admitted to composition Which being granted the Conditions were soon accepted that the Garrison should march away with their Arms and what they could carry about 'em and the Christians took possession of the Fortress wherein they found fourscore Peices of Brass Cannon of which twenty had the Arms of St. Mark upon 'em together with a great quantity of Ammunition and Provision There march'd out of the Garrison about 600 men and the like number of women and Children who were convey'd to Prevesa and by this means a great many Christian slaves were releas'd During the whole time of the Seige which lasted about seventeen days the Christians lost 400 Men the Turks 300. While things thus prosperously succeed at Sancta Maura the Seige of Buda carri'd on with so much vigour and the noise of the Bavarian Forces ready to joyn with the Besiegers so Alarums Adrianople that the Sirasquier Bassa receives positive orders to relieve the Town or die in the Attempt But General Lesly lay so unluckily posted in his way that he deem'd it necessary to remove so formidable an Enemy before he could proceed any farther Lesley having receiv'd advice of this and that to accomplish his design he was decamp'd from Walpa re-inforc'd with several Bridges of Horse and Foot from Bosnia and other places with a resolution to attack him posted himself in an advantageous place between two Morasses about half an hours march from the Bridge which he had made over the Drave at which time there came to his aid a seasonable recruit of 800 Croatian Gentlemen and a 1000 Soldiers from the Province of Zethmar which he plac'd before the two Morasses that cover'd the wings of his Army No sooner had he secur'd himself but the Enemy appear'd in sight upon the nineteenth of August and the next day made a furious onset upon the Croats and Zethmarians thinking to force them from their Station But they so rudely entertain'd their Assailants and were so bravely assisted by the Dragoons and Musketeers that were sent to their relief that the Turks were forc'd to retreat with considerable loss Nevertheless soon after they return'd again with a greater number and renewed the encounter with such a redoubl'd resolution that the Croats were constrain'd to give ground leaving three Standards in the victors hands which so highly enrag'd the Serasquier that he came on with his main Forces and fell upon two of Lesley's Posts on that side of the Morass where the German Cavalry and Infantry were plac'd who so stoutly behav'd themselves that after an obstinate conflict for three hours together the Turks were forc'd to retire notwithstanding the inequality of their number For that the Serasquier had no less then thirty thousand in his Army Lesley not above fourteen thousand to encounter him In this Action the Bassa lost five hundred of his best men of the Christians about two hundred were kill'd and wounded All this while great were the expectations on both sides at Buda while the besieged look'd many a long look for the Serasquier and the besiegers impatiently attended the Baverian re-inforcement And perhaps it might have been worse for the Christians had not their cause born up their resolution above their expectations For about the beginning of September the Duke of Lorrain himself wearied with the toils of Wars and watchful cares of an industrious General fell sick of a Fever which held him till past the middle of the Month so that he was forc'd to retire for a while to a place near the Camp call'd the old Town At the same time also sickness forc'd the Duke of Croy and Commissary General Breiner to leave the Camp Which distempers of the General and other great Officers though they had no fatal effect upon the Army yet it caus'd some abatement of their wanted successes 'T is true that the Enemy was repuls'd with loss in two Salleys which they made the first upon the eighth of September to their great damage and a second the same Evening with as ill success for the Battalions of Souches Beck and Newburgh coming into the timely assistance of those that guarded the Trenches the slaughter of the Enemy happen'd to be very great however they lost Lieutenant Collonel Souches with several other officers and forty Soldiers Nevertheless for want of Foot the besieged ruin'd the Works which the besiegers had rais'd to cut off the communication between the Town and the River Before this also upon the first of September the Turks made a desperate Salley in the night which before they had not done the fury of which fell upon the Dragoons who did not expect their coming of whom they slew a hundred and fifty with little loss on their side The next morning likewise they made a second Salley with Horse and Foot but the besiegers having timely notice of it repell'd the Enemy with a far greater slaughter and several Prisoners taken Equal or rather far better success had Collonel Heuster who being sent out with a thousand Imperial Cuirassiers and six hundred Hungarian