four hundred years The next day after having buried the dead and cleansed the City they gave thanks to God with publick Prayers and great rejoycing The poor Christians before oppressed now overcome with unexpected joy welcomed their victorious Brethren with great joy and praise and the Souldiers embracing one another sparing to speak of themselves freely commended each others valour Eight days after the Princes of the Army meeting together began to consult about the choice of their King among whom was no such difference as might well shew which was to be preferred before the others And although every one of them for prowess and desert seemed worthy of so great an honour yet by the general consent of all it was given to Robert Duke of Normandy who about the same time hearing of the death of the Conqueror his Father and more in love with his Fathers new gotten Kingdom in England in hope thereof refused the Kingdom of Ierusalem then offered unto him which at his return he found possessed by William Rufus his younger Brother and so in hope of a better refusing the worse upon the matter lost both After whose departure Godfrey of Buillon Duke of Lorain whose Ensign was first displayed upon the Walls was by the general consent both of the Princes and the Army saluted King He was a great Souldier and indued with many Heroical Virtues brought up in the Court of the Emperor Henry the Fourth and by him much employed At the time of his inauguration he refused to be crowned with a Crown of Gold saying That it became not a Christian man there to wear a Crown of Gold where Christ the Son of God had for the salvation of mankind sometime wârn a Crown of Thorn. Of the greatest part of these proceedings of the Christians from the time of their departure from Antioch until the winning of the Holy City Godfrey by Letters briefly certified Bohemund as followeth Godfrey of Buillon to Bohemund King of Antioch Greeting AFter long travel having first taken certain Towns we came to Jerusalem which City is environed with high Hills without Rivers or Fountains excepting only that of Solomons and that a very little one In it are many Cisterns wherein water is kept both in the City and the Country thereabout On the East are the Arabians the Moabites and Ammonites On the South the Idumaeans Aegyptians and Philistians Westward along the Sea-coast lie the Cities of Ptolemais Tyrus and Tripolis and Northward Tiberias Caesarea Philippi with the Country Decapolis and Damasco In the assault of the City I first gained that part of the Wall that fell to my lot to assail and commanded Baldwin to enter the City who having slain certain Companies of the Enemies broke open one of the Gates for the Christians to enter Raymond had the City of David with much rich Spoil yielded unto him But when we come unto the Temple of Solomon there we had a great conflict with so great Slaughter of the Enemy that our men stood in blood above the ancles The night approaching we could not take the upper part of the Temple which the next day was yielded the Turks pitifully crying out for mercy and so the City of Jerusalem was by us taken the fifteenth of July in the year of our Redemption 1099 thirty nine days after the beginning of the Siege four hundred and nine years after it fell into the bands of the Sarasins in the time of Heraclius the Emperor Besides this the Princes with one consent saluted me against my Will King of Jerusalem who although I fear to take upon me so great a Kingdom yet I will do my devoir that they shall easily know me for a Christian King and well deserving of the Universal Faith but love you me as you do and so farewell From Jerusalem Whilst these things were in doing at Ierusalem such a multitude of the Turks and Sarasins their Confederates now in their common calamity all as one were assembled at Ascalon a City about five and twenty miles from Ierusalem to revenge the injuries they had before received as had not before met together in all the time of this sacred War. Against whom Godfrey the late Duke and now King assembled the whole Forces of the Christians in those Countries and leaving a strong Garrison in the new won City set forward and meeting with them joyned a most dreadful and cruel battel wherein as most report were slain of the Infidels an hundred thousand men and the rest put to flight The Spoil there taken far exceeded all that the Christians had before taken in this long Expedition Godfrey after so great a Victory returning to Ierusalem gave unto God most humble thanks The rest of the Princes returned either to their Charge as did Bohemund to Antioch Baldwin to Edessa Tancred into Galilee whereof he was created Prince or else having now performed the uttermost of their Vows returned with honour into their own Countries This was of all others the most honourable Expedition that ever the Christians took in hand against the Infidels and with the greatest resolution performed for the most part by such voluntary men as moved with a devout Zeal to their immortal praise spared neither life nor living in defence of the Christian Faith and Religion all Men worthy eternal Fame and Memory Not long after ensued a great Pestilence the ready attendant of long war and want whereof infinite numbers of People died and among the rest Godfrey the first Christian King of Ierusalem never to be sufficiently commended who with the general lamentation of all good Christians was honourably buried in the Church of the Sepulchre of our Saviour on the Mount Calvary where our Saviour suffered his Passion in which the Christian Kings succeeding him were also afterwards buried He departed this life the eighteenth of Iuly in the year of our Lord 1100. when he had yet scarce reigned a full year year 1100. Whose Tomb is yet at this day there to be seen with an honourable Inscription thereupon After the death of Godfrey the Christians made choice of Baldwin his Brother Count of Edessa who leaving his former Government to Baldwin sirnamed Burgensis his near Kinsman came to Ierusalem honourably accompanied and was there by the Patriarch on Christmas-day with all Solemnity crowned King in the year 1101. year 1101. He aided by the Venetians and Genoways at Sea and by Bohemund King of Antioch by Land took from the Infidels the City of Cesarea Stratonis standing upon the Sea-side and overthrew certain Companies of the Aegyptian Sultans at Rama But understanding that the Christian Princes of the West were coming to his aid with a new Power he glad thereof went to meet them and safely conducted them to Ierusalem alongst the Sea-coast by the Cities of Berythus Sidon Tyre and Ptolemais all yet holden by the Enemy At which time the Turks at Ascalon having received great aid from the Arabians and Aegyptians invaded
loath to stay the course of his Victory by the Valour of the Defendants resolved there to spend their lives he departed thence and marched directly unto Ierusalem the chief City of that Kingdom and approaching the same gave summons thereunto perswading the Citizens yet whiles they had time to yield themselves together with the City unto his mercy Which they refusing to do he inclosed the same with his Army and by the space of fourteen days laid hard Siege unto it leaving nothing undone or attempted that might help for the gaining thereof At which time the Citzens considering the danger they were in and that the Strength of the Kingdom with the Flower of their Chivalry were in the late Battel lost and that they were not now to expect any forreign aid agreed upon certain conditions to yield up the City which were That such Christians as would might remain still with their Liberty and Goods and that such as would not might in safety depart with so much of their Goods as they could carry upon their Backs These Conditions being by Saladin granted the Holy City was unto him delivered the second of October in the year 1187. after that it had been by the Christians holden from the time that it was by Godfrey of Bulloin and other Christians won about 89 years Saladin entring into the City prophaned first the Temple of the Lord converting it unto the use of his Mahometan Superstition the other Churches he used as Stables for his Horses only the Temple of the Sepulchre was by the Christians for a great sum of Mony redeemed and so kept undefiled The Latine Christians he thrust out of the City yet with leave to carry with them such things as they were able themselves to bear who travelling with heavy Burthens but much more heavy Hearts some to Tripolis some to Tyre some to Antioch for only these three Cities were now left unto the Christians in Syria were by the false Count of Tripolis by the way lightened of their Burthens to the increasing of the heavyness of their Hearts most of them being by him and his Followers spoyled of that little they had by the mercy of their Enemies saved in the ruin of their State. Unto the other Christians that were natural Syrians Greeks Armenians Georgians and such like Saladin appointed certain places of the City for them to dwell in where some of their Posterity were long time after to be found All the Monuments of the Christians were by the barbarous Mahometans and Turks defaced only the Sepulchre of our blessed Saviour Christ with the Monument of Godfrey of Bulloin and his Brother Baldwin for the reverence of the mân were by them spared In these so great troubles above twenty Thousand of the Christians perished amongst the rest the Count of Tripolis was shortly after found dead in his bed and as some say circumcised a manifest token of his Revolt not from the King only but from the Christian Faith also Ierusalem thus won Saladin returned again to the Siege of Ascalon which after he had by the space of ten days most straightly besieged was unto him by composition delivered wherein amongst other things agreed upon for the safe departure of the Citizens was comprised also that he should freely set at liberty Guy the King and Gerard Master of the Templars both before taken Prisoners as is before declared which he afterward performed Thus the victorious Turk still urging his good fortune departing thence attempted to have taken Tripolis but having made some proof of his own Forces and the Valor of the Defendants he was glad to give over the Siege and to depart as he came Marching thence with his Army because he would leave no place unattempted he laid Siege unto the City of Tyre where Conrade Marquess of Mont-Ferrat was a little before arrived with Isaac Angelus the Greek Emperors Fleet and a supply of certain Companies of good Souldiers Unto which place were come great numbers of the poor distressed Christians fled from Ierusalem and other places so that the City was full of Men. This City Saladin most furiously assaulted but was by the Christians notably repulsed not without the great loss of his best Souldiers At which time also the Admiral of Sicilia discomfited his Fleet at Sea and landing his Forces came unlookt for upon the back of him so that having his Hands full before by them of the Town and charged behind by these new come Enemies he was glad to retire in such hast as that he leât his Tents with all that therein was unto the Spoyl of the Christians Within a few days after Saladin having again repaired his Army invaded the Country about Antioch with Fire and Sword destroying whatsoever was subject to his Fury even to the gates of the City but knowing that so strong a City was not without great charge and long Siege to be won he thought it good to make proof if it might by policy or corruption be gained Wherein he so cunningly dealt with the Patriarch that he had by his means the Castle otherwise almost impregnable for gold betrayed unto him By means whereof he in short time became Lord and Master of that famous City about nineteen years before hardly gained by the whole power of the Christians after eleven months Siege and with it five and twenty Cities more that depended on the fortune thereof with all the Provinces belonging thereunto always deemed to have been the third part of the Kindom of Ierusalem The loss of so great a City together with the Ruin of the whole Kingdom had in a short space filled every corner of Christendom with the heavy Report thereof Wherewith the Christian Princes of the West namely Frederick the German Emperor with Frederick his Son Duke of Suâvia Philip the French King Hânry the Second King of England Otto Duke of Burgundâ Lââpoââ Duke of Austria with many other gâeat Princes and Prelates of Germany Italy and other places not a little moved as also with the pitiful complaints of the Embassadors at the same time sent from the distressed Christians and the effectual perswasions of Clement the Third then Pope promised and all or most part indeed made great preparations which they afterwards though not all at once as letted by other occasions but at divers times imployed for the most part with the danger of their own Persons against the Turks for the relief of the poor oppressed Christians and recovery of the Holy Land but with what success shall hereafter God willing be declared Of which so great preparations made against him Saladin not ignorant set at liberty Guy the King of Ierusalem who contrary to his promise made at Ascalon he had now detained a year in Prison yet before his inlargement exacting of him an Oath Never by force of Arms afterwards to seek to recover his Kingdom or to revenge the wrongs he had sustained hoping thereby to stay the coming of the other
grant or accept Whereupon Saladin forthwith caused such Christian Captives as were in his power to be beheaded which albeit King Richard understood yet would he not prevent the time before agreed upon for the execution of his Prisoners being the twentieth day of August upon which day he caused the Turks Prisoners to the number of 2500. or as the French and Germans write to the number of 7000 in the sight of Saladins Army to be executed The loss of the strong Town of Ptolemais much empaired the reputation of Saladin even among his own People as it commonly falleth out that the evil success of a great Commander in his affairs altereth the good Will Affection and Opinion especially of the Vulgar Sort which judge of all things by the Event And albeit that his losses were great and such as much daunted him yet he thought it best as the case then stood to make them greater and with his own hands as it were to ruinate and overthrow such Towns and Cities as he saw he could not keep rather than to suffer them whole and undefaced to fall into the Enemies Hand So carried headlong with despair he caused all the Towns he had along the Sea coast in Syria and Palestine to be sacked and ruinated and their Walls overthrown especially such as were of most importance and like to stand the Christians in stead namely Porphiria Cesarea Ioppa Ascalon Gaza and Elam with divers other Castles and Citadels in the Countries thereabouts most part whereof were again by King Richard and the Templars fortified and repeopled although Saladin in the mean time did what he might to have letted the same Nothing more hindred the good proceeding of the Christian Princes in this and other their most honourable expeditions against the Infidels than the discord among themselves one still envying at anothers Honour and every one jealous of his own Great strife and heartburning there had been between the two Kings of France and England during the time they were together in this sacred Expedition to the great hindrance of the same No less contention had there been betwixt Guy the late King of Ierusalem and Conrade Marquess of Mont-Ferrat about the Title of that lost Kingdom whereby the whole power of the Christians in Syria was divided into two Factions Richard King of England Baldwin Earl of Flanders Henry Earl of Champaine the Knights Hospitalers of St. Iohn the Venetians and Pisans taking part with Guy And Philip the French King Odo Duke of Burgundy Rudolph Earl of Claremont the Templars the Genoways the Lantgrave of Thurin Leopold Duke of Austria and Robert Count of Nassau taking part with Conrade the Marquess But Conrade shortly after the taking of Ptolemais being slain by two of the desperate Assassins or as some others say by two desperate Ruffians suborned thereunto by the Prince of Torone in revenge of the despight done unto him by the said Marquess by taking from him Isabel his Espoused Wife as he was walking in his City of Tyre and doubting no such Treason King Richard seeing now a fit occasion offered for the utter extinguishing of that claim and how to entitle himself unto that Kingdom perswaded the aforesaid Isabel the Widdow of the late Marquess and in whose right he had laid claim unto the Kingdom to relinquish that so troublesom a Title and to take to her Husbnamd Henry Earl of Champain his Nephew unto whom he gave the City Tyre Guy the King exclaming to the contrary as of a wrong done unto himself Shortly after he began also to tamper with Guy perswading him to resign unto him that little right and interest he had in the Kingdom of Ierusalem and in lieu thereof to receive at his Hands the Kingdom of Cyprus which his offer the poor King was glad to accept By which exchange Guy became King of Cyprus and Richard King of Ierusalem which honourable Title he afterwards as some report used in his Stile as did some others his Successors the Kings of England after him So Guy with all his Wealth passing over into Cyprus took possession of the Kingdom where he long lived not Nevertheless that pleasant Kingdom continued in his Family of the Lusignans by the space of about 283 years afterwards untill that at length that Family failing in the Posthumus Son of Iames the Bastard last King of that Island it fell into the Hands of the Venetians by whom it was holden as a part of their Seigniory almost an hundred years until that it was in our fresh remembrance again from them taken by Selymus the Second great Emperor of the Turks in the year 1571. as in the process of this History shall in due place God willing be declared Now was King Richard for the increase of his honour more desirous than before of the City of Ierusalem as the most precious and honourable prize of all that religious War. And thereupon with all the power of the Christians then at his command set forward from Ptolemais and was come on his way as far as Arsuâ a Town situated betwixt Cesarea and Ioppa In the Vauward was King Richard himself with the Englishmen after whom followed Odo Duke of Burgundy with his French and in the Rereward Iaques de Avenes with the Flemings Brabanders and Wallons who after the death of their Count Philip at the Siege of Ptolemais had put themselves all under his Regiment Saladin with a great Army still at hand and as it were tending upon them first with certain Embuscadoes charged the Rereward and so afterwards came on with his whole power upon whom Iaques turning himself with his Flemings received the charge with great assurance and so long themselves endured the same until the French came in to their succors and after them the English also There was fought a notable Battel and great Valour shewed both on the one side and on the other but especially by them of the Turks part who knew well the purpose of the Christians for the besieging of Ierusalem and that thereupon depended their only hope and that he that could hold the same might almost assure himself to carry away the glory of that War. The French and the English in that âattel honourably strove who might shew the greatest Valour neither would the low Countrymen under Iaques their General seem to be any thing behind them This sharp conflict began about Noon and continued until the going down of the Sun. King Richard as some write was there wounded with an Arrow and Iaques valiantly there fighting was slain having sold his life dear to the great admiration of the Infidels and dying left the Victory unto the Christians It is reported that in this Battel was slain more Turks and Sarasins than in any one Battel within the memory of man before of the Christians were not lost any great number either any man of name more than the aforesaid Iaques the valiant General of the Flemings The next day the Christians
removed to Bethlem a Town about the mid way betwixt Ioppa and Ierusalem But winter now coming fast on and want of Victuals like enough to increase the King changing his mind for the Siege returned with the greatest part of the Army to Ascalon which he that Winter new fortified the Walls thereof being before by Saladin in his dispair demolished the Duke of Burgundy with his Frenchmen all that while quietly wintring at Tyre In the mean time the power of the Christians was thus greatly diminished some one way departing from the Camp and some another The Italians for the most part with them of Pisa who in these three years Wars had striven with the Venetians for the Honour of their Service were now returned home as were the Venetians themselves also Nevertheless Winter now past and the Spring time come King Richard took the Field again and came to Bethlem where by the way he met with an exceeding great number of Camels charged with great store of Victuals and Munition sent by Saladin out of Egypt to Ierusalem all which he took but purposing to have gone on to the Siege of Ierusalem he was by the backwardness of the French glad to change his purpose and to return to Ptolemais for the Frenchmen perswaded by the Duke their General who well knew the French Kings mind that if any thing worth remembrance were done it was to be done by them and that the glory thereof should wholly redound unto the King of England as there in person present and to his Englishmen shewed themselves so unwilling to the Siege as that therein was nothing done to the great grief of that worthy Prince At which time also news was brought unto King Richard how that Philip the French King forgetful of his solemn promise made before his departure out of Syria had now invaded the Country of Normandy and excited Earl Iohn the Kings Brother a man of an haughty and aspiring nature to take upon him the Kingdom of England in his absence as had before in like case William the younger Brother served Duke Robert his eldest Brother then absent at his Father the Conquerors death in the first sacred expedition under Godfrey of Bulloin Wherefore King Richard beside the present difficulties fearing lest while he was so far off in Wars for defence of the Christian Common-weal he might lose his Kingdom at home thought it best to grow to some good end with Saladin and so to make his return but the politick and wary Sultan not ignorant of the discord of the Christians and that their Forces daily decayed in Syria either of the troubled Estate of the Kings affairs at home in his Kingdom or of his desire to return would not hearken to any other conditions of Peace but such as might both for the present weaken the Forces of the Christians in Syria and discourage others that had a mind to come thither afterward when they should see that for nought they should travel to conquer that which they must of necessity restore again The conditions he offered were That the Christians should forthwith restore whatsoever they had won in those three years Wars Ptolemais only excepted and from thenceforth for the space of five years the Turks should not in any thing molest the Christians but to suffer them in peace to live by them which hard conditions for that no better could be had the King was glad to accept and so concluded a Peace Whereby the labour and travel of the two great Kings and so many Nations with them were all become frustrate and vain having now to no purpose lost their Men their Mony their Time their Hope their Blood their long Travel to gain that they must now in one hour forego nothing more left unto the poor Christians in Syria than the Cities of Antioch Tyre and Ptolemais This done King Richard leaving the affairs of Asia unto the charge of Henry Count of Champagne his Nephew shipping the greatest part of his People with his Wife Berengaria first for Cicilia and from thence for England where they in safety at length arrived followed shortly after with some few himself where by the way by extremity of Weather he was in the Adriatique driven to land upon the Coast of Histria where travelling with a small retinue homewards in the Habit of a Templar he was discovered and taken Prisoner by Leopold Duke of Austria whom he had before disgraced at the winning of Ptolemais as is before declared who now glad to have him in his power made prise of him and sold him to Henry the Emperor for forty thousand pounds by whom he was kept Prisoner by the space of a year and three months and then ransomed for the Sum of an hundred and fifty thousand pounds About this time died the great Sultan Saladin the greatest terror of the Christians who mindfull of mans fragility and the vanity of worldly honours commanded at the time of his death no Solemnity to be used at his burial but only his Shirt in manner of an Ensign made fast unto the point of a Lance to be carried before his dead body as an Ensign a plain Priest going before and crying aloud to the People in this sort Saladin Conqueror of the East of all the greatness and riches he had in his life carrieth not with him after his death any thing more than his shirt A sight worthy so great a King which wanted nothing to his eternal commendation more than the true knowledge of his Salvation in Christ Jesus He reigned about sixteen years with great honour and dying left nine Sons which were all murthered by Sephradin their Uncle excepting one called also Sephradin Sultan of Alâppo who by the Favour and Support of his Fathers good Friends saved himself from the treacherous practises of his Uncle Of this Sephradin the Uncle descended Meludin Sultan of Egypt and Coradin Sultan of Damasco and Ierusalem Saladin his great Kingdom being by them now again rent in pieces The death of Saladin in short time bruited abroad with the discord among the Turks and Sarafins about his Dominions put Celestinus then Pope in good hope that the City of Ierusalem might in that change and hurly be easily again recovered and that Kingdom established But when he had in vain dealt to that purpose with the Kings of France and England then altogether busied in their Wars the one against the other he perswaded Henry the Sixth then Emperor to take the matter in hand who for that he well could not or else would not himself in person undertake that long expedition sent Henry Duke of Saxony his Lieutenant with a great Army into Asia unto whom were joyned two Legats Conradus Archbishop of Mogunsia another of the Electors and Conradus the Bishop of Herbipolis At which time also may other great Princes took upon them that holy War namely Herman Lantgrave of Thurin Henry Palatine of Rhine Henry Duke of Brabant Conrade
Majesty of a Kingdom as then when Richard the First King of England passing that way with his Fleet for the relief of the Christians then distressed in the Holy Land about the year 1191 was prohibited there to land and certain of his People by force of Tempest there cast on Shore were by the Cypriots either cruelly slain or taken Prisoners which barbarous violence King Richard took in so evil part that he there by force landed his Army and rested not until he had taken Isaac the King Prisoner and subdued the Island The King he sent in Chains of Silver to Tripolis there to be kept in close Prison the Kingdom he kept a while in his own hand which not long after he gave or as some say exchanged with Guido the titular King of Ierusalem for which cause the Kings of England for a certain time afterwards were honoured with the Title of the Kings of Ierusalem This Kingdom by many descents came at length to Ianus Son of King Peter who in the year 1423 was by Melechel a Sultan of Egypt taken Prisoner but afterwards for the ransom of an hundred and fifteen thousand Sultanins was set at liberty and restored to his Kingdom paying unto the Sultan and his Successors a yearly Tribute of forty thousand Crowns This Ianus left a Son called Iohn who after the death of his Father married the Daughter of the Marquis of Mont-Ferrat after whose death he married one Helena of the most noble House of the Paleologi in Grecia by whom he had one only Daughter called Carlotte but by another Woman a base Son called Iames. This King Iohn was a Man of no Courage altogether given to pleasure and according to the manner of his effeminate education shewed himself in all things more like a Woman than a Man which Helena his Wife a Woman of a great Spirit quickly perceiving took upon her the Soveraignty and whole Government of the Realm gracing and disgracing whom she pleased and promoting to the Ecclesiastical Dignities such as she best liked abolishing the Latin Ceremonies and bringing in them of the Greeks and took such further order as pleased her self in matters of State concerning both Peace and War her Husband in the mean time regarding nothing but his vain pleasure whereby it came to pass that all was brought into the power of the Greeks the Queens Friends Now the Queen her self was much ruled by the Counsel of her Nurse and the Nurse by her Daughter so that the People would commonly say The Daughter ruled the Nurse the Nurse the Queen and the Queen the King. The Nobility ashamed and weary of this manner of Government by general consent of the People sent for Iohn the King of Portugals Cousin-German whom some call the King of Portugal to whom they gave Carlotte the Kings Daughter in marriage with full power to supply that want of Government which was in King Iohn his Father in Law. He taking the Authority into his Hands quickly reformed the disordered Kingdom as well in matters concerning Religion as civil Policy The Latin Ceremonies were again restored and the Government of the Daughter the Nurse and the Queen brought to an end But the mischievous Daughter doubting the Countenance of the young King perswaded her Mother as she âendred her own Life to poison the King. Which thing the wretched Woman by the consent of the Queen Mother as was reported in short time performed and so brought that noble Prince well worthy longer life unto his untimely end whereby the Government was again restored unto the Greek Queen who in the name of her weak Husband commanded again at her pleasure But above all the Nurse and her Daughter insulted upon the young Queen Carlotte which she not well brooking grievously complained thereof to Iames her baâe Brother requiring his help for redress thereof who not long after slew the Nurses Daughter not so much in revenge of the wrong by her done unto his Sister as to prepare a way for himself for the obtaining of the Kingdom grieving inwardly that she or her Husband should be preferred before himself Which thing Helena the Queen quickly perceiving perswaded the King her Husband to cause his base Son to enter into the orders of Priesthood and so to become a Churchman thereby to cut off all his hope of aspiring unto the Kingdom which the King at her instance did and made him Archbishop of Nicosia In the mean time Carlotte by the perswasion of her Mother and the Nobility of the Country married Lewis Son to the Duke of Savoy who being for that purpose sent for came with all speed to Cyprus After that the Queen-Mother and the old Nurse desiring nothing more than to revenge the death of the Nurses Daughter upon Iames now Archbishop devised first how to thrust him out of all his âpiritual Promotions which were great and afterward quite banish him the Kingdom Hereupon the Queen wrote Letters against him to the Pope to have him disgraded for that he being a Man base born with his hands imbrued with innocent Blood was unworthy of holy Orders Which Letters by chance came to Iames his hands who inraged therewith accompanied with a number of his Friends and Favorites suddenly entred the Court slew such of his Enemies as he found there divided their Goods amongst his Followers and as King possessed himself of the Regal City In this Broil the Greek Queen Helena died and shortly after her Husband also All things being thus in an hurly and out of order certain of the Nobility for redress thereof sent for Lewis the Husband of Carlotte as for him to whom that Kingdom in the right of his Wife most justly belonged who upon his arrival was of all sorts of Men joyfully received and welcomed as their King. Iames the Usurper understanding before of the coming of Lewis and perceiving the inclination of the People towards him fled with divers of his Friends to Alexandria to crave aid of the Egyptian Sultan in whose Court he found such Favour as that he was by the Sultans commandment Royally apparelled and honoured with the Title of the King of Cyprus which he promised for ever to hold of the Sultans of Egypt as their Vassal and Tributary At which time the Sultan also by his Embassadors commanded Lewis to depart the Isle who by all means sought to have pacified the Sultan declaring unto him his rightful Title yet offering to pay unto him the wonted Tribute and to allow unto Iames a yearly Pension of ten thousand Ducats during his life But all in vain for Iames still present in the Sultans Court and wisely following his own suit at last concluded with the great Sultan who thought it more honour to make a King than to confirm a King and receiving of him a great Army returned into Cyprus where in short time he so distressed Lewis that he was glad to forsake the Island with his Wife and to return into his Country
was once attempted against the Portugals at Diu and Ormuz the like whereof Alphonsus Albuquercius the King of Portugal's Viceroy in India attempted when as with his light Horsemen running through that Country he thought upon a sudden to have spoiled Mecha and to have robbed the Sepulchre of Mahomet as had hapned under the Empire of the Sultans and as Trajan the Emperour had long since in like manner attempted to rage and spoâl Those Places which he possessed in Affrick were as they said to be set upon and the Coast of Spain towards the Mediterranean to be infested so at length to gratifie the Moors his Subjects who still instantly requested the same that so they might more safely traffick and travel and that so the Moors might at length be delivered from the imperious command of the Spaniards of which exploit Sultan Selymus lately before dead was in his life time well perswaded but might now at this time be much more commodiously done for that the Moorish Nation was now greatly increased and much oppressed by the Spaniards and having got great Wealth by the Trade of Merchandise even by Nature or Religion had conceived a mortal hatred against the Spaniards whereunto might not a little avail the Ports in Affrick whereinto the Turks Fleet might at all times in safety retire And in brief that which was of greatest importance to the better success of this War the French King and the Queen of England had of their own accord promised the Continuation of their Wars and that the French King should invade Navarre and by force of Arms recover the right he pretended unto that Kingdom whilst in the mean time the Queen of England should not only trouble him in the West Indies and other Places of the Ocean toward the North and West but might also stir up new Broils in the Kingdom of Portugal where most part of the People with great impatience bear the proud command of the Spaniard as perswaded and that truly all their Prosperity and Quietness to have been lost together with their last King their true and lawful Sovereign For he at Peace with the Kings of France and England exceedingly thereby enriched his Subjects by Traffick whereas since they fell into the Hands of the Spaniard they daily complain of their new Losses and Dangers by Reason of his perpetual Wars Moreover that there was to be found great store of exiled Spaniards dispersed here and there which being malecontent and weary of the Spanish Government were fled not only out of Portugal but even out of Arragon and other parts of his Kingdom which now living in France England and Constantinople both secretly and openly liberally offered great helps the like whereof many of the Moors also promised All which together seemed to promise a most easie Expedition and certain Victory if any should upon the sudden invade Spain for that there was almost no use of Arms the Inhabitants at home seldom times exercising themselves therein neither in Places needful having any ordinary Garrisons and but few Horses fit for Service And that in fine it was to be considered Spain to be greatly bared of men which knew how valiantly and courageously to manage Arms for the often choice they make of them which almost most daily transported into the Indies Italy and the Low-Countries whereby the strength of his Country must needs be exceedingly impaired so that if they should be invaded with any strong and mighty Army they might seem hardly able to be holpen or defended by their own People but should need the Aid and help of the other near Provinces subject unto this Kingdom which if they should be either letted or stay to come in good time they should leave so much the more easie Victory unto their Enemies In the fifth place were they which went about to perswade Amurath to break his League with the Venetians using Reasons rather probable than true although they might seem unto the Turks less doubtful for that men easily and willingly believe such things as they themselves desire These men went about to prove no Expedition to be less difficult than this as judging of things present by the event of former Wars passed wherein the Turks had always taken something from the Venetians who to redeem their Peace were divers ways enforced to satisfie the Turks That the Venetian Common-wealth was afraid of the Turks and abhorred War was manifest they said in that that in all Actions it had propounded unto it self Peace as the end thereof and after the manner of their Ancestors never entred into Wars but enforced thereunto and would happily upon the first denouncing of Wars willingly depart with certain Places for fear of greater harm or to be utterly overcome as it appeared they did in the yielding up of Cyprus The Power and Force whereof was not so great as that it could alone stand against the great Sultan and to confederate it self with others would require no small delay for the great and many Difficulties which commonly used to arise in making of Leagues not being now so conjoyned with the Spaniard as in times past of whose aid it being of late destitute was constrained to make an hard Peace with Selymus And if so be the Spaniard would needs joyn himself unto the Venetians against the Turks yet that he could by no means afford unto them such Aid and Supplies as were of necessity to be required unto so great a War he himself being in his Wars otherwise so intangled as for all other Confederation they could make without him to be but weak and to no purpose That which the Pope could do herein to be but little for albeit he should according to his Duty exhort other Christian Princes to give Aid and to stir them up unto this War yet that beside some little supply of Money hardly drawn out of his own Coffers and the Ecclesiastical Revenues he could scarcely perform any thing more or when he had done his uttermost devoir could but joyn five Gallies of his own unto the Venetian Fleet which with the Gallies of the Duke of Savoy of the Knights of Malta and of the Florentines could but make a Fleet of some twenty Gallies which was but a small matter Besides that the Turks were perswaded that betwixt the Venetian State and the other Christian Princes was no such Friendship and good Agreement as the greatness of the imminent Danger of that War and as the necessity of the cause would require and that hitherto their Treasures had been so exhausted in paying the Debt they were run into in the last War and in building of Fortresses that happily they were not now so furnished with Coin as was requisite for the defraying of so great a War. And unto this War against the Venetians consented almost all the Visier Bassaes differing only in this Where or against what Place of the Venetian Territory this War were to be first begun some naming one place
inviolably maintained between both our Kingdoms which on our part we shall be very loth to infringe or dissolve We do by these our Letters recommend unto your princely Favour this our said trusty Servant and Ambassador to reside and remain in your Port on our behalf to treat with you in all Affairs for the publick Weal of our Dominons and for the general Peace of us both and our Allies and Friends as also for the support and aid of all our Subjects which do live and trade within your Estates and Countries to whose good Discretion we recommend their Affairs and by whose Indâstry and Mediation we conceive our People may be relieved in their just and reasonable demands to the perfect maintenance and assurance of that mutual Commerce which hath so long time been continued between our Royal Progenitors And as we have great cause to profess our grateful Acknowledgement for many Favours which our former Ambassadors and all other our Subjects have and do receive from your Royal Hands so in our Princely love we do intreat you to take knowledge of and to command redress for divers Oppressions and Wrongs done unto some of our said Subjects Persons and Goods that live under the assurance of your Friendship with us which we have formerly signified to our Residents at your Port but as we verily believe they have never come unto your Ears that are open to the just Complaints of all Strangers whereof we have now given charge to our Servant and Ambassador to acquaint you with more at large unto whom we desire you to give Protection and Credit in whatsoever he shall move and propound for the establishing confirmation and inlargement in all Occasions of those Liberties and Priviledges which our Subjects have antiently enjoyed by the Benignity of your self and of your Royal Ancestors And in all other things and occasions wherein he hath or shall receive our Commands as if our self did communicate them with you which we doubt not shall redound to the great Vtility and Honour of both our Empires And so we wish you Health and true Felicity Dated at our Royal City of London the sixth day of September Anno Dom. 1621 and of our Reign of Great Britain France and Ireland the nineteenth Articles propounded by the Ambassador to the Grand Seignior FIrst his Sacred Majesty of Great Britain according to the most noble and renowned League of Amity between your Majesties and your Crowns and Dominions hath commanded me to renew the antient Capitulations and Priviledges granted by your Imperial Majesty and your Royal Ancestors and therein to move your Majesty that you will be pleased to inlarge and extend your Favour to our Nation that live under your Protection and to give Remedy to divers Injuries done unto them by the Customers of this Royal Port Aleppo Smirna Scio Patras and other Places contrary to the Justice and Honour of your Majesty and that you will be pleased to give order for several Commands to these Places in all our just Occasions that both the Fame of your Justice may be renowned and the Friendship of your Majesties confirmed and the Correspondence and Commerce between your Dominions established and increased Secondly his Majesty hath commanded me to offer himself as a Mediator of Peace to accommodate the late breach with the Kingdom of Poland the King of Poland having sent his Ambassador express into England to desire his Aid he hath thought it more agreeable to his Honour and to the antient League of Friendship to use his Credit with your Majesty to procure the general quiet and peace of the Princes of Christendom desiring your Majesty to consider his Interest in the publick cause and not to despise the Forces of so many as may partake in the quarrel which if your Majesty shall hearken unto the rather for his sake as your Royal Ancestor hath done in the like Occasion his Majesty will accept it as a respect of your Love which will assure and increase the Commerce and Friendship of your Dominions in which his Maiesty hath given me more particular and full Instructions to treat and mediate in this Business Thirdly his Majesty hath commanded me to move your Imperial Majesty for the release of divers of the Polish Nobility now your Captives and for one Scottish Gentleman a Subject of his Majesty my Royal Master Fourthly his Majesty desires that you will take some order with the Pyrats of Tunis and Algier who shelter themselves under your Royal Protection to the great Dishonour of your Majesty and do many Robberies upon the Subjects of Kings and Princes in Amity and League with your Empire and take even the Ships sent unto your Royal Port admonishing your Majesty to consider that if they be suffered to continue they will occasion the dissolution of all Commerce and Trade being common Enemies to all honest Merchants by whom the Friendship of these Kngdoms are maintained and increased And that if your Imperial Majesty please not to exercise your Royal Power and Authority to bridle or destroy them that then you will not take it in ill part that his Majesty with other Princes his Allies shall make an Army to punish both them and all others that receive and cherish them which hath hitherto been forborn in respect only of your Majesty and that the Towns where they harbor themselves are or ought to be under your Imperial Command Fifthly his Majesty hath commanded me to require Justice and Restitution of a great sum of Money taken from Arthur Garaway here imprisoned by force and Injury in the time of Achmet Bassa whereof his Majesties former Ambassadors have complained to Sultan Achmat your Majesties renowned Father and to Mehemet Bassa Visier to Hussen Bassa to the Hoja of the King and to the Mufti wherein your Majesties most noble Father gave Command for our Satisfaction All the said great Officers having heard the cause upon Examination giving their Testimonies of the great wrong done unto him Mehemet Bassa also writing a Letter by the order of your Majesties Royal Father promising Justice and Restitution which his Majesty doth yet expect and again demand And having so often written in this cause his Majesty will not believe but that in Justice and Honour this Royal Court would do right imputing the Fault to his own Ministers and Ambassadors that they never complained to your Imperial Majesty according to his Highness Command Also his Majesty hath commanded me to require and desire your Majesty to give him your Royal Answer in all these Particulars by your Letters in Writing as shall be fit for your own Honour and conformable to the antient League of Amity and Friendship between your Royal Majesties His Majesties Ambassador not many days after sent to the Visier who had promised him an answer unto these Articles who returned him this that followeth To the First he said That the Emperour his Master had given him order to renew the Capitulations and to
his Life so long as he acted nothing contrary unto his which he confirmed by Vows and all imaginable Protestations encouraging him to proceed forward to his Government with those cheerful Words and Assurances that Solyman Pasha taking his farewel with more ease of mind and confidence of Life departed Adrianople in three days after his designment to the new Office But not many days Journey had he advanced into Asia before the Grand Signiors and Viziers Commands overtook him altering his design for Damascus and instead thereof ordered him a Pilgrimage unto Mecha and exile into the remote and desert parts of Arabia until he should be thought worthy to be recalled by that power which banished him In like manner some few days after the Mufti being on a Friday seated in his place in the Mosch of Sultan Selim a very noble and famous Fabrick and attending there the Grand Signiors entrance that he might begin his Prayers was unexpectedly whispered in the Ear that he should retire and give place to another Mufti which immediately he obeyed and in four hours departed Adrianople being banished to Gallipoli for his Friendship as was supposed to Solyman Pasha and for not passing the Fetfa for his Death according to the will and desire of the Grand Signior During the Transaction of these affairs in divers parts the Wars against the Venetians were carried on faintly the Gallies had no other design or employment than to transport recruits of Men and Ammunition to Canea that so the Turks might rather keep the ground that they had gained in that Island than add thereunto by new Conquests until such time as that being freed from other Wars they might have leisure and opportunity to attend unto that alone Accordingly the Captain Pasha set forth at the usual Season from Constantinople and arrived at Scio with twenty three Gallies besides his own called the Bastard-Gally or Admiral the advice of which coming to the Captain-General of the Venetians he hastned thither with all his Fleet to besiege him in the Port but this seeming after some days a tedious work and what might lose too much time he resolved to depart from thence and so leaving a sufficient Guard before the Port he set Sail with two Galleasses thirteen light Gallies and seven Auxiliaries for the Coast of Rhodes where his Brigaâtiâes advised that the remainder of the Turkish Fleet were Anchored and were taking aboard two thousand Soldiers for reinforcing Canea but before the Venetians could arrive intelligence was given them by the way that the Turks were loosed from Rhodes and were Anchored under the Island of Patmos wherefore altering their course they steered for Nio and there watering their Vessels sailed near to Nixia where the Van-guard discovered five and thirty Gallies of the Enemy which had made prize of a Tartana laden with Provisions designed for the Venetian Fleet and having taken out her lading had set her on fire The Venetians having their Enemy in their Eye gave them chase until the Evening when the Night coming on put an end to the pursuit but keeping their course towards Candia they had sight again of them the next Morning and coming nearer the Turkish Admiral put forth his Flag of Defiance as if he intended to come to a Battel but the Wind blowing hard and the Sea increasing both Fleets were separated until the Morning when the Venetians discovered certain of the Enemies Gallies to Leeward of Milo where bearing down before the Wind upon them five of them ran ashore one was sunk and four were taken by the Venetian and Maltese Gallies three of which fighting with great Courage and Valour killed divers brave Cavaliers of one and the other Country The men which ran the Gallies ashore at Milo did it with design to secure themselves in that small Fort which the Turks possessed in that Island but they were not able to withsâand the valour of the Venetians who having first recovered the Cannon of the Gallies which were ran ashore with their rigging and what else was useful they set the Hulls on Fire and immediately entering the Port the Captain-General landed two hundred select men and veterane Soldiers to besiege the Fortress giving Orders to one Manolacchi Macchiotti who was well acquainted with the Turkish Language to summon them to a Treaty the which they readily accepted and were received to quarter at discretion of the General the next Morning they were brought down to the Sea-Coast to the number of about nine hundred amongst which there was a Janizar-Aga a Bey of Rhodes and three of Constantinople besides Captains and other persons of condition and quality These Prisoners being divided into several Gallies and Ships the Venetians departed and cruising about the Coast of Candia to hinder the importation of all succours they encountered with Antonio Priuli with a good Squadron of Vessels under his Command THE HISTORY OF Sultan Mahomet IV. THE XIII EMPEROUR OF THE TURKS The Second BOOK Anno Christi 1662. Hegeira 1073. AT the beginning of this Year the People of Algiâr sent Messengers and Presents to the Grand Signiors Court then at Adrianople complaining against the Actions His Majesties Fleeâ under the Command of the Earl of Sandwich had done against their Town and Castles pretending those Forts to be the Grand Signiors and the Affront offered to him as willing to interest him in thier Quarrels and Piracies And that thier Addresses might be more graciously received they brought with them certain Presents which tho in former times were Yearly were now only as their Affairs required and on this occasion were doubled for besides their Presents to the Ministers and Officers of State they brought to the Grand Signior a Ship made in Silver beset with Emrods Rubies and other Stones fourteen young and hansom Boys and a Neger Eunuch for the Seraglio But the Earl of Winchelsea His Majesties Embassador there Resident being then at Court had so well prepossessed the Vizier with the Ground and Reasons for the War that the complaints of Algier were judged in no wise touching the Ottoman Interest or the breach of Peace any Impeachment of the good Correspondence and Friendship which then intervened between the King of England and the Grand Signior But their Presumption to search English Ships and take out Strangers Goods was objected as an Argument of their Disobedience and Rebellion contrary to the Grand Signiors Capitulations which also was aggravated by their ill Treatment of the Grand Signiors Pasha whom they had beaten imprisoned and cast out of all Power and Authority which severe Reprehensions so terrified and discouraged them that they not only desisted from their Pretensions against the English but began to fear lest the Power and Interest of the Ambassador at Court should contrive some mischief to their own Persons Soon after this the Vizier esteeming it necessary towards his better establishment to gratifie the City of Constantinople and the Grandees of the Empire by the
the Grand Signior disclaims all Right or Claim and this he so piously observes to the shame of our Sectaries in England who violate the penetralia of the Sanctuary that when a Bashaw though afterwards convicted of Treason bestows any Lands or Rents on any certain Mosch or Temple that Grant or Gift is good and exempted from any Disposal or Power of the Grand Signior The Lands being thus originally in the Grand Signior after the Conquests were made and the Country secured and in condition to be distributed Divisions were made of the Houses Manors and Farms among the Souldiery whom they call Timars as the Reward and Recompence of their Valour and Labour in consideration of which every one proportionably to his Revenue and Possession is obliged to maintain Horse and Men to be always ready when the Grand Signior shall call him forth to serve him in the Wars by which means the whole Country being in the hands of the Souldiery all places are the better strengthened and the conquered People more easily kept from Mutiny and Rebellion not mucâ unlike our Tenure of Knights-service in England and Lands held of the Crown but with this difference that we enjoy them by the Title of a fixed and settled Law never to be forfeited but upon Treason and Rebellion they enjoy them also by Inheritance derived from the Father to the Son but yet as usufructuary during the pleasure of the Emperor in whom the Propriety is always reserved and who doth often as his Humor and Fancy leads him to please and gratifie a Stranger dispossess an ancient Possessor whose Family hath for many generations enjoyed that Inheritance Sometimes I have heard with the Sighs of some and the Curse of others how the Grand Signior heated in his Hunting and pleased with the refreshment of a little cool and crystal Water presented him by a poor Paisant hath in recompence thereof freed the Tenant from the Rent of his Landlord and by his sole Word confirmed to him the Cottage he lived in the Woods Gardens and Fields he manured with as sound a Title as our long Deeds and Conveyances secure our Purchases and Inheritances in England and this the former Master dares not name Injustice because this Tenant is now made Proprietor by the Will of the Grand Signior which was the same Title and Claim with his Prescription Tenant-right and Custom availing nothing in this Case For if the inheritance hath been anciently derived from Father to the Son the more is the Goodness and Bounty of the Emperor to be acknowledged that hath permitted so long as Succession of his Favouâs to run in one Family in whose Power it was to transfer it to others The absolute and unlimited Power of this Prince is more evident by the Titles they give as God on Earth the Shadow of God Brother to the Sun and Moon the Giver of all Earthly Crowns c. And though they do not build and erect Altars to him as was done to the Roman Emperors when that People degenerated into a fashion of deformed Adulation wherein Italy is at present corrupted yet the Conception they have of his Power the Ray they conceive to be in him of Divine Illumination is a kind of imagery and idolatrous Fancy they frame of his Divinity It is an ordinary saying among the Turkish Cadees and Lawyers That the Grand Signior is above the Law that is whatsoever Law is written is controllable and may be contradicted by him his Mouth is the Law it self and the Power of an Infallible Interpretation is in him and though the Mâfâi is many times for custom formality and satisfaction of the People consulted with yet when his Sentences have not been agreeable to the Designs intended I have known him in an instant thrown from his Office to make room for another Oracle better prepared for the purpose of his Master Some maintain that the very Oaths and Promises of the Grand Signior are always revocable when the performance of his Vow is a restriction to the absolute Power of the Empire And I remember when my Lord Ambassador hath sometimes complained of the Breach of our Capitulations and pleaded that the Grand Signior had no Power by single Commands to infringe Articles of Peace to which he had obliged himself by solemn Oaths and Vows the Interpreters have gently touched that Point and been as nice to question how far the Power of the Grand Signior extended as we ought to be in the subtile Points of the Divine Omnipotence but rather in contemplation of the Grand Signior's Justice Wisdom Faith and Clemency insinuated Arguments of Honour Convenience and Justice in maintaining the League inviolate with the King of England It was Iustinian's Rule concerning the Prerogative of Princes Etsi legibus soluti sumus tamen legibus vivimus That is although the Majesty of Princes and the necessity of having a Supreme Head in all Governments did free and privilege them from all Punishment and exempt them from the Censure and Correction of the Law that no earthly Power could call them to account for their Errors or Disorders in this World yet it is necessary to the being of an absolute Monarch to be a severe Executioner of the Laws of his Country and it is more his Interest and Security than to act without Rule and always to make use of the Power of Absolute Dominion which is to be applied like Physick when the ordinary force of Nature cannot remove the malignancy of some peccant Humours The Grand Signior himself is also restrained by Laws but without impeachment to his Absolute Jurisdiction For when there is a new Emperor it is the custom to conduct him with great Pomp and Triumph to a place in the Suburbs of Constantinople called Iob where is an ancient Monument of some certain Prophet or Holy Man whom the Turks for want of knowledg in Antiquity and History style that Iob who was recorded for the mirror of Constancy and Patience For they confound all History in Chronology saying That Iob was Solomon's Judg of the Court and Alexander the Great Captain of his Army At this Place solemn Prayers are made that God would prosper and infuse Wisdom into him who is to manage so great a Charge Then the Mufti embracing him bestows his Benediction and the Grand Signior swears and promises solemnly to maintain the Musleman Faith and Laws of the Prophet Mahomet and then the Viziers of the Bench and other Bashaws with profound reverence and humility kissing the Ground first and then the Hemm of his Vest acknowledg him their lawful and undoubted Emperor And after this Form of Inauguration he returns with the like Solemnity and Magnificence to the Seraglio which is always the Seat of the Ottoman Emperors And thus the Grand Signior retains and obliges himself to govern within the compass of Laws but they give him so large a latitude that he can no more be said to be Bound or Limited than a Man who hath
and all the chief Commanders of the Souldiers of the Sacred War appointed him Governor of the Kingdom reserving unto himself only the Title of a King with the City of Ierusalem and a yearly Pension of ten thousand Ducats all which was done to the great disgrace and discontentment of the Count of Tripolis the old Governor It was not long but that Saladin having breathed himself a little after so great Labours came again into the Holy Land where he took many Castles and did infinite harm insomuch that the Country people were glad for fear to forsake their Houses and to fly into Cities The Christian Army in the mean time lying fast by at Sephor not once moving although many a fair occasion were offered for the chief Commanders affectionated unto the Count of Tripolis and envying the Preferment of Guy the new Governor were unwilling to fight but finding one excuse or other suffered the Enemy at his pleasure to spoil the Country and so in safety to depart which he had never before done in those Quarters Within less than a month after Saladin with a great Army well appointed with all the Habiliments of War needful for the besieging of a City or strong Castle came again into the Land of Palestine and passing through the Country beyond Iordan sate down at last before Petra in hope by the taking thereof to have made his passage between Egypt and Damasco more safe Of which his purpose King Baldwin having knowledge and taught by the evil success of late to what small purpose it was to commit the managing of his Wars unto a General so evil beloved and less regarded as way Guy his Brother in law sent against him with his Army Raymund the Count of Tripolis the old Governor whom he had again restored unto the Government and displaced Guy Of whose coming Saladin hearing raised his Siege after he had lien there a month and so departed A little before this Expedition the King still growing sicker and sicker his foul Disease still increasing by the common consent of the Nobility appointed Baldwin his Nephew by his Sister Sybilla a Child but of five years old to succeed him in the Kingdom and the Count of Tripolis to have the Government of the State during the time of his Minority This Sybilla the Kings Sister was first married to William the younger Marquiss of Mont-Ferrat who dying within three months after left her with child with this his Posthumus Son Baldwin now by his Uncle deputed unto the hope of the Kingdom After whose death she was married to Guy Lusignan Count of Ioppa and Ascalon the late Governor who taking in evil part this the Kings designment especially for the Government of the Kingdom by the Count of Tripolis departed from the Court as a man discontented unto his City of Ascalon whereof the Patriarch and the Princes of the Sacred War fearing and that not without cause great danger to ensue came to the King then holding a Parliament in the City of Acon most humbly requesting him for avoiding of further danger and the safety of his Kingdom to receive again into his Favour the Count Guy his Brother in law and to make an atonement betwixt him and the Count of Tripolis But this their request sorted to no purpose so that the Parliament was dissolved without any thing for the good of the Common-weal in that point concluded After that time the Kindgom of Ierusalem began still more and more to decline In the old King Baldwin sick both in body and mind was almost no hope in the young King yet unfit for so great a burthen much less and the dissention betwixt the two Counts Guy and Raymund with their Favorites was like enough to bring great harm unto the State. Besides that the Count of Tripolis fearing the Power of Guy his Enemy was thought to have secret Intelligence with Saladin the Turk insomuch as the King was almost in purpose to have proclaimed him Traytor Wherefore the King now rested only upon the Counsel of William Archbisâop of Tyre and the Masters of the Knights of the Sacred War by whose advice he sent Hâraclius Patriarch of Ierusalem Roger Molins Master of the Knights of St. Iohns and Arnold Master of the Templars Embassadors unto Lucius the Third then Pope unto Frederick the Emperor Philip the French King and Henry the Second King of England to declare unto them the dangerous State of that Christian Kingdom and to crave their Aid against the Infidels These Embassadors coming to the Council then holden at Vârona with great gravity and diligence in the presence of the Pope and of the Emperor declared the hard estate of the Christians of the East with their humble Request unto them for Aid in such sort that they moved them with all the Princes there present to Compassion From thence they were by the Pope directed unto Philip the French King with whom having dispatched their Affairs they from him passed over into England and afterward into Germany and had at length brought their Negotiation to so good pass that in every place great preparation was made for a great Expedition to be made against the Turks for the Relief of the Christians in the East with which good News the Embassadors returning to Ierusalem filled the sick King with the hope of great matters But greater Quarrels shortly after arising betwixt the Pope and the Emperor and sharp War likewise betwixt the French King and the King of England and the other Christian Princes also being at no better quiet the notable Expedition that had with the expectation thereof so filled the World was again laid aside and quite dashed Whereof King Baldwin understanding both by Messengers and Letters from his Friends oppressed with grief and heaviness more than with the force of his Disease a man for his prowess and painfulness not inferiour to any his Predecessors died without Issue the 16 th day of May Anno 1185. being but five and twenty years old year 1185. whereof he had reigned twelve His Body was afterward with the general mourning of his Subjects solemnly buried in the Temple near unto the Mount Calvary together with his Predecessors the Kings of Ierusalem King Baldwin thus buried Baldwin the Fifth of that name yet but a Boy was Crowned King. But then began the Sparks which had of long lien raked up and hidden in the ashes to break out into a great fire for Raymund Count of Tripolis contended the whole Government of the Kingdom and tuition of the King to be due unto him by the appointment of the late King and consent of the Nobility and did so much that he had almost obtained it to have been confirmed unto him in open Parliament But Sybilla a woman of a most haughty spirit Sister unto the late King and Mother unto the young King yet living prickt forward her Husband Guy in no case to give place unto his Competitor Raymund and so animated
rested upon the coming of the two mighty Princes Philip the Second of that name King of France and Richard the First King of England who having agreed betwixt themselves with their combined Forces to relieve the distressed Christians of the East and again if it were possible to repair the broken State of the Kingdom of Ierusalem were now met together at Marseilles in Provence From whence the French King first departing with his Fleet for Cicilia and with a prosperous gale for certain days holding on his course and now come nigh unto the Island was by force of a furious tempest suddenly arising so tossed and tumbled in the deep that many of his Ships there perished eaten up of the Sea others by force of Weather driven upon the Sands and Rocks were there broken all to pieces and the rest some with their Masts broken some with their Tacklings and Sails rent and all in general sore Weather-beaten with much ado arrived at Messana the desired Port. At which place King Richard afterwards but with better fortune arrived with his Fleet also Both the Kings now met together resolved there to winter the French King enforced by necessity so to do for the repairing of the late Losses he had received as well in his People and Provision as in his Shipping all which was to be relieved by new Supplies out of France and the King of England staying to take Order for the Dowry of his Sister Ioan Widow of William the late King of Cicilia with Tancred the base Son of Roger that had now aspired unto the Kingdom of that Island About which matter great Stirs arose betwixt King Richard the Queens Brother and Tancred the new King insomuch that it was like to have broken out into open War had it not to the good contentment of King Richard been otherwise taken up and so the Controversie ended But whilst these two great Kings thus wintred in this fruitful Island and oftentimes as good Friends met together sometime for their disport and sometime to confer of their so weighty Affairs the way as was thought to have appeased all former displeasure and to have increased love it fell out clean contrary jealousie and distrust not only reviving the old but also still raising new Quarrels betwixt them to the great hindrance of the common good by them intended which may serve for a warning to all great Princes willing to continue in Amity and to hold a good Opinion one of another never to see one the other or coming so to an interview not to converse or stay long together which as it is not often done without the danger of their persons so can it not possibly be long continued but that it will engender in themselves as well as in their Followers Jealousie envy hatred and mistrust aâ we have before said and hereafter in the coursâ of this History may appear There was an old ãâã betwixt these two great Kings Richard ând Philip about Adela the French Kings Sister whom Richard having before his Father yet living affianced had now rejected as her whom his aged Father Henry the Second had too familiarly used and in stead of her to the great disgrace of the French espoused the Lady Berengaria Daughter to the King of Navar which Indignity with divers others then arising betwixt the French and the English as then with great heart-burning smouldred up in respect of the common Cause then in Hand afterwards brake out again to the shameful overthrow of this most honourable Expedition and lamentable disturbance of both Realms Winter past and the Spring now come the French King not altogether the best pleased first loosed from Messana and with his Fleet in safety arrived at Ptolemais where he was by the Christians now the third year lying at the Siege so joyfully received as if he had been to them sent with Succours from Heaven After whom shortly after followed also King Richard of whose Fleet by force of Weather sore beaten and dispersed two Ships by the rage of the Tempest driven aground upon the coast of Cyprus were by the Island people spoiled and the Men that in them had hardly escaped the danger of the Sea with most barbarous Inhumanity some slain and some taken Prisoners the rest of the Fleet arriving there also were with like Incivility forbidden to land the Cipriots ready at hand in all places to keep them off With which so great an Indignity the King justly moved and by force landing his people with incredible Celerity and Success over-ran the whole Island never ceasing until he had made a full Conquest thereof and taken Isaac Comnenus commonly called The King of that Island and of some for what reason I know not Emperor of the Griffons Prisoner yet was he indeed neither King nor Emperor but being a man of great Nobility and Power and of the honourable Stock of the Comneni had in the troublesome Reign of Andronicus Comnenus the Emperor his Cousin laid hold upon that fruitful Island and there tyrannized as a reputed King until that now he was by King Richard taken Prisoner and for his unfaithful dealing sent fast bound in Chains of Silver into Syria The King thus possessed of the whole Island there at Limozin married the Lady Berengaria the King of Navars Daughter brought thither by Ioan late Queen of Cicilia the Kings Sister And so disposing as he thought best of all things for the safe keeping of the Island set forward again with his Fleet towards Syria Where by the way he light upon a great Ship of the Sultans laded with Victuals and other War-like Provisions for the relief of the besieged all which became a Prey unto him So holding on his course he at length arrived at Ptolemais where he was by the French King and the rest of the Christians there lying most honourably rereived Now had the City of Ptolemais been three years besieged by the Christians and notably defended by the Turks during which time many an hot Assault and bloody Skirmish had passed betwixt them And now the eyes of all men were fixed upon the two Kings of England and France unto whom all the rest offered their Obedience and Service The Christian Camp was great composed especially of Englishmen Frenchmen Italians and Almains not them that were left of the Emperor Frederick his Army for they were for the most part dead or else returned home again into their Countries but of such as moved with the Zeal they bare unto this Religious War came daily in great numbers thither as did also many others of divers Nations desirous in some measure to be partakers of so honourable a War. These Religious and Venerous Christians thus lying at the Siege had with much painful labour undermined one of the greatest Towers of the City called the accursed Tower with some part of the Wall also by means whereof they were in hope to find a way into the City Wherefore all things being
the Mamalukes and others with a full purpose to have utterly rooted out all the remainders of the Christians in Syria and the Land of Palestine and so to have entirely joyned those two great Countries unto his own Kingdom But what he had so mischievously devised he lived not to bring to pass being in the midst of those his great designs taken away by sudden death After whom Alphix or as some call him Elpis succeeding him in the Kingdom and with a puissant Army entring into Syria laid Siege to Tripolis which he at length took by undermining of it and put to the Sword all the Christians therein except such as by speedy flight had in time got themselves out of the danger and rased the City down to the ground which calamity betided unto the Christians the ninth of April in the year 1289. Presently after he had the strong Castle of Nelesine yielded unto him year 1289. whereinto he put a strong Garrison to hinder the Christians from building again the late destroyed City In like manner also he took the Cities of Sidon and Berythus which he sacked and laid them flat with the ground And after that he removed to Tyre which aâter three months straight Siege was by the Citizens now out of all hope of relief yielded unto him upon condition That they might with bag and baggage in safety depart With like good Fortune he in good time and as it were without resistance took all the rest of the strong Towns and Castles which the Christians yet held in Syria and the Land of Palestine excepting only the City of Ptolemais whereunto all the poor Christians fled as unto a Sanctuary to be there defended by the honourable Knights Templars and Hospitalers Nothing now leât unto them more than that strong City the Sultan of his own accord made a Peace with them for the space of five years fearing as was supposed to have drawn upon him all the Christian Princes of the West if he should at once have then utterly rooted out all the Christians in those Countries together The Christians affairs thus brought to the last cast in Syria and yet faintly as it were breathing by the benefit of the late obtained Peace Peter Beluise Master of the Templars with the grand Master of the Knights Hospitalers suddenly passed over as Embassadors from the rest into Europe unto Nicholaus quartus then Pope craving his fatherly aid Who moved with so great miseries of the poor afflicted Christians solicited the other Christian Princes to have sent them relief especially Rodolph the German Emperor who then busied ãâã the affairs of the Empire and his Troubles nearer home as were the other Christian Pâinces also gave good words but no help at all Yet some of them under the colour thereof got from their Subjects great sums of Mony which they imployed to other worse uses only the Pope sent fiâteen hundred men at Arms whom with devout perswasion and much earnest Preaching he had induced to take upon them that sacred Expedition and entertained them of his own charge unto whom also many others out of divers Countries upon a Religious Zeal joyned themselves as voluntary men who meeting together at Brundusium and there embarked with the two grând Masters of the Templars and Hospitalers in safety at length arrived at Ptolemais There was then in the City a great number of People of all sorts of able men there was about fifty thousand and about forty thousand of the weaker sort amongst whom divers Murders Felonies Rapes and such other shameful Outrages all hastning the dreadful judgments of God were dayly committed and let pass unregarded more than of them that were injured For all the chief Commanders were then at variance among themselves every one of them laying claim not worth a rush unto the vain Title of the Kingdom of Ierusalem Henry King of Cyprus coming thither with a great Fleet charged the Templars to deliver him the Crown of that Kingdom which they had as he said wrongfully taken from Almericus and Guy his Ancestors And Charles King of Sicilia by his Embassadors laid claim unto the Title of that Kingdom as due unto the Kings of that Island and understanding it to be given unto Henry King of Cyprus caused all the Revenues of the Templars within his Dominion to be brought into his Treasuries and their Lands and Houses to be spoyled Hugh also Prince of Antioch laboured with tooth and nail to defend the overworn Right that his Father and Grandfather had unto that lost Kingdom And the Count of Tripolis laid in for himself That he was descended from Raymund of Tholous and that beside himself remained no Prince of the antient Nobility which had won that Kingdom out of the hands of the Sarasins and that therefore that regal Dignity did not of better right appertain unto any other than unto himself Neither did these four Princes more strive for the Title of the lost Kingdom than for the present Government of the City straightway about to perish The Popes Legate pretending thereunto a right also for that King Iohn Brenne had before subjected it unto the See of Rome As for the claim unto the City of Ptolemâis the Patriarch of Ierusalem challenged unto himself the Preheminence for that the Metropolitical City of Tyrâ under which the City of Ptolemais was the third Episcopal Seat was under his jurisdiction even by the Decree of the West Church The Templars also and the Knights Hospitalers whose power in the City was at that time far the greatest pretended the Government thereof of best right to belong unto them as the just reward of their blood already and afterward to be spent in the defence thereof promising great matters if it might be wholly referred unto them Neither spared the French King or the King of England by their Messengers to claim the Soveraignty of the City by their Predecessors sometimes won And they of Pisa having still a Consul therein and by often Marriages with the natural Inhabitants grown into great affinity with them did what they might to get the Government into their Hands The Venetians also by their Authority and great Wealth laboured to gain the good Will of the People sparing therein no Cost And they of Genoa no less cunning than the rest supplanted the strongest Factions by giving aid both apertly and covertly unto the weaker that so having weakned the Faction they most doubted and hated they might by the joynt favour of the weaker aspire unto the Government of the stronger and so consequently of the City it self The Florentines also by their continual Traffique thither were not out of hope by one fineness or other amongst so many Competitors to find a mean to step up above the rest But the greatest part of the People for all that were most inclined unto the Armenians and Tartars as both for their nearness and power most like of all other to stand them in stead All
solemnly kept by the space of nine days Thus at length having passed through the troubled State of the Greek Empire during the long Reign of the old Emperor Andronicus the considerate Reader may easily see the causes of the declining and ruine also of this famous Empire and how that the Greek Emperors troubled with their tempestuous Affairs nearer home in Europe yea in the very Imperial City it self and in their own Palaces were not at leisure to look over the Strait into Asia but glad to leave their Territories there unto the weak defence of themselves At which time and even in the midst of the aforesaid trouble Othoman on the one side with great industry laid the Foundation of his Empire in Phrygia and Bithynia now the greatest terror of the World and then did those things which we now have of him written The other Princes of the Turks also the Successors of Sultan Aladin at the same time on the other side alongst the River Meander encroaching on as fast until that at last amongst them they had thrust the Greek Emperors quite out of Asia and in fine became themselves together with the Greek Empire a Prey unto the Othoman Kings as in the process of this History shall more at large appear But again to return unto Othoman himself who all this while that old Andronicus the Greek Emperor was thus troubled had with his Son Orchanes sought by all means on every side to inlarge his Kingdom the Garrisons by him left in the two late built Castles near unto the great City of Prusa under the Charge of the two valiant Captains Actemur and Balabanzuck as is before declared having now continued there certain years had by shutting up the passages and spoiling of the Country brought the City into such distress and penury that many of the Citizens and other the poor Christians fled into the City there died of Famine The rest now out of all hope to be relieved by the Greek Emperor not then able to relieve himself came to Composition with Orchanes for Othoman was then sick of his old Disease the Gout covenanting with him that they might in safety with life and liberty depart and so much of their Goods as they themselves could carry and so yielded to him the City Which conditions as most write were on the Turks behalf well and faithfully performed yet some there be that report them to have been in most part by Orchanes broken Thus was Prusa one of the greatest Cities of that part of Asia yielded unto the Turks in the year of our Lord 1327. and was afterwards by Orchanes made the Royal Seat of the Othoman Kings About this time or very shortly after Othoman in the eight and twentieth year of his Reign died at the age of 69 in the year of our Lord 1328. and lieth buried at Prusa where his Tomb is yet at this day to be seen in a certain Chappel of an old Monastery in the Castle standing in the midst of the City covered with a Mantle of green Chamlet and a little Tulipant or Turkish Hat such as he used to wear lying over his head differing from those which the Turks now wear especially the better sort of them so great that they can therewith scarcely come in at a door There is also another Monument of him to be seen at Suguta fast by the Sepulchre of his Father Ertogrul there made by his Sons in remembrance of him whereof some have reported him to have been there buried Howbeit the Turks themselves generally suppose the true Monument wherein he is interred to be at Prusa as is aforesaid He was wise politick valiant and fortunate but full of dissimulation and ambitious above measure not rash in his Attempts and yet very resolute what he took in hand he commonly brought to good effect to all men he was bountiful and liberal but especially to his Men of War and the poor whom he would many times feed and cloth with his own hands Of a poor Lordship he left a great Kingdom having subdued a great part of the lesser Asia and is worthily accounted the first Founder of the Turks great Kingdom and Empire Of him the Turkish Kings and Emperors ever since have been called the Othoman Kings and Emperors as lineally of him descended and the Turks themselves Osmanidae as the People or Subjects of Othoman or Osman for so he is of the Turks commonly called NOte That in the reckoning up of certain of the great Christian Princes and Prelates of the same time at the end of every of the Turkish Kings and Emperors Lives the first and greatest number following their Names sheweth the Year of our Lord wherein such an Emperor King or Bishop began to Reign or Sit and the number following how long he reigned or sate As for example Andronicus the elder began to Reign in the East in the Year of Grace 1282. and reigned 43 years and so of the rest Wherein we seek not the exact Computation unto a month or day as not much material to our History or any part of our purpose but only the reasonable view of the great Princes of the forepassed Times as they lived in Ages together Christian Princes of the same time with Othoman Emperors Of the East Andronicus Paleologus the elder 1282. 43. Andronicus Paleologus the younger 1325. 29. Of the West Albertus of Austria 1298. 10. Henry of Lucelbourg 1308. 6. Lewis the Fourth of Bavaria 1314. 32. Kings Of England Edward the First 1272. 34. Edward the Second 1307. 20. Edward the Third 1327. 50. Of France Philip the Faire 1286. 28. Lewis 1314. 2. Philip the Long. 1316. 5. Charle the Faire 1321. 7. Of Scotland John Baliol. 1292. Robert Bruce 1306 24. Bishops of Rome Boniface the VIII 1295. 8. Benedict the XI 1304. 2. Clement the V. 1306. 11. John the XXII 1317. 18. â ORCHANES OTOMANI II SECVNDVS TVRCARVM REX ANNO 1328. Suscipit Orchanes desuncti Scepâra Parentis Major ut ingenio sic magis Arte valens Bithynos Phrygiamque domat Prusamque Superbam Et populos late Marte farente premit Sic laetus tantis Asiam turbasse ruinis Transit in Europam Callipolimque capit Rident interea Groeci sua damna sed ecce Dum sua contemnunâ in sua fata ruunt His Fathers glorious Race now being run The politick Orchanes mounts the Throne Bithynia Phrygia Prusa farr and neare All by his prosperous Armes subjected were Proud of his Asian spoiles his Banners spread\ To Europe âre the beauteous Nicomede Meanwhile the Greeks th' impending Tempest scorne And are by th'mighty Torrent overborne The LIFE of ORCHANES or URCHAN Second King of the Turks AFTER the death of Othoman his two Sons Orchanes whom the Turks call Urchan and Aladin his Brother having with great Solemnity enterred their Father at Prusa immediately summoned a Parliament whereunto both the Brethren came accompanied with the chief of their Nobility This Parliament was called especially
not before the time by him prefixed devour the Reliques of the Greek Empire And it were to be wished that the Christians of our time also by their example warned would at length awake out of their dead sleep who of late hath lost unto the same Enemy not the Castle of Zembenic or the City of Callipolis but whole Kingdoms as Hungary and Cyprus and are still fair in the way I say no more for grief and foreboding of evil fortune But again to our purpose Solyman having made this prosperous entrance into Europe and there got strong footing by speedy Messengers certified his Father what he had done and that it was expedient for him with all speed to send unto him a great supply of men of War as well for the sure defence and keeping of those Castles and Forts by him already gotten as for the further invasion of the Country This message was wonderful welcome unto Orchanes and whereas many Families of the Sarasins at that present were come into the Country of Carasina to possess the Dwellings and Places of them which in hope to better their Estate were before gon over into Europe all these Sarasins he commanded to pass over into Europe likewise which they did accordingly seating themselves for a time in the Country near to Callipolis In the mean time Solyman omitted no opportunity to enter further into the Country winning small Forts and Holds and still peopling the same with his Turks And on the other side they of Carasina passed over into Europe placing themselves as it were in a new World. For which cause and for the great desire they had to extend the Turkish Dominion and Religion they refused no pains of War so that all things at that time prospered with the Turks and went backward with the Christians In the time of these Wars not far from Callipolis was a little Castle called Congere the Captain whereof was by a Greek name called Calo Iohannes a valiant and painful man this Captain continually molested and troubled the Turks which lay on that side of Callipolis under the leading of Ezes-Beg many of whom he slew and took Prisoners as he could find them at any advantage Solyman much angred herewith by crafty and secret Espials learned a certain time when he was gone out of his Castle to do some exploit upon the Turks Whereupon he presently so beset the Castle with Souldiers that he could by no means return thither but he must first fall into their hands and for more assurance placed others also in by-ways lest he should by any ways escape The Captain ignorant of all this prosecuted his enterprise and having taken a Turk Prisoner thinking to return to his Castle was hastily pursued by Fazil-Beg for which cause making the more haste he suddenly fell into the danger of the Turks laid in ambush where his men were all slain and himself taken and brought before his own Castle and had there his head presently struck off whereupon the Castle was forthwith by them that were therein having now lost their Captain surrendred and Chazi Ili-Beg a valiant Captain of the Turks placed therein who from thence never ceased to trouble the Country even to the Walls of Dydimotichum as did Solyman also out of Callipolis Thus in the space of one year the Turks got strong footing in Europe possessing divers Castles and Towns with the Country about them which Solyman gave in reward unto his Captains and Souldiers as appeareth by the Graves and Tombs of Ezes-Beg and Fazil-Beg the two which first came over into Europe which are there yet well known About this time it fortuned that as this Martial Prince Solyman was for his disport hawking in the Fields of Bolayre on Europe side galloping in to his Falcon was with his Horse overthrown in a ditch of which Fall he being sore bruised shortly after died The news of his death being brought to Orchanes his Father gave unto him then being sick just occasion of great sorrow so that within two months after he died also being fourscore years old when he had raigned thereof 31 years and died about the year of our Lord 1359. Some Histories report otherwise both of his death and of the time wherein he lived as that he should be slain in a Battel against the Tartars or as others write with an Arrow at the Siege of Prusa in the year of our Lord 1349. But Ioannes Leunclavius in his History collected out of the Turks own Chronicles whom we follow as most probable reporteth it as before This Orchanes was wise courteous and bountiful more ingenious than his Father in devising warlike Engins He built divers Princely Churches Abbies Colledges and Cells and was in his superstitious Religion very zealous in so much that he appointed Pensions to all such as could in the Church say the Book of Mahomets Law by heart and appointed competent maintenance for all Judges of his Courts because they should not take any thing in reward of his Subjects for the perverting of Justice He greatly inlarged his Kingdom in Asia and not content to be inclosed with the Seas of Euxinum and Hellespontus set fast footing in Europe which some attribute to his Son Amurath He was to the Christians always a most mortal Enemy and so died FINIS Christian Princes of the same time with Orchanes Emperors Of the East Andronicus Paleologus the younger 1325. 29. John Paleologus 1354. 30. Of the West Lewis the Fourth of Bavaria 1314. 32. Charles the Fourth Son to John King of Bohemia 1346. 10 Kings Of England Edward the Third 1327. 50. Of France Philip Valois 1328. 22. John Valois 1350. 14. Of Scotland Robert Bruce 1306 24. David Bruce 1341. Bishops of Rome John the XXII 1317. 18. Benedict the XII 1335. 7. Clement the VI. 1342. 12. Innocent the VI. 1354. 10. â AMVRATHES PRIMVS TERTIVS TVRCARVM REX 1350. Saevus Amurathes animo dum maxima versat Discordes Groecos sternere marte parat Totus et intentus sines extendere Regni Europam penitrans obvia quoeque rapit Attoniti trepidant nimia formidine Thraces In medio quorum Sceptra superba locat Hinc Moesos premit ille feros miserumque Dynasten Cossovi in Campis obruit atque necat Sed non longa fuit sceleris tam dira voluptas A servo coesus condidit ense ferox Sterne Amurath new thoughts resolves upon With armes divided Greece to overrun And wholly bent to enlarge his narrow bounds Europe invades and all he meets confounds The too too timorous Thracians stand amaz'd To find his Scepter in their bowells plac'd The fierce Bulgarians did his fury quell And at his feet their noble Despot fell At last the ponyard of a little Slave Taught him what short liv'd pleasures Tyrants have The LIFE of AMURATH The First of that NAME Third King of the Turks And the great AUGMENTOR of their Kingdom AMurath the younger Son of Orchanes succeeded his Father in the Turkish Kingdom
Feet suddenly stabbed him in the bottom of his belly with a short Dagger which he had under his Souldiers Coat of which Wound that great King and Conqueror presently died The name of this man for his courage worthy of eternal memory was Miles Cobelitz who before sore wounded was shortly after in the presence of Bajazet cut into small pieces The Turks in their Annals somewhat otherwise report of the death of Amurath as that this Cobelitz one of the Despot his Servants in time of the Battel coming to Amurath as a Fugitive offering him his Service and admitted to his presence in humbling himself to have kissed his Feet as the barbarous manner of the Turks is stabbed him into the belly and so slew him being himself therefore shortly after as is aforesaid in the presence of Bajazet most cruelly hewen into small pieces Whereupon ever since that time the manner of the Turks hath been and yet is that when any Embassador or Stranger is come to kiss the Sultan his hand or otherwise to approach his Person he is as it were for honours sake led by the Arms unto his presence betwixt two of the great Courtiers but indeed by so intangling him to be sure that he shall not offer him the like violence that did this Cobelitz unto Amurath The dead body of Amurath was presently with all secrecy conveyed into his Tent by the Bassaes and Captains present at his death whether Bajazet was also brought with an Ensign before him as the Successor in his Fathers Kingdom His younger Brother Iacup sirnamed Zelebi or the Noble yet ignorant of that had hapned was by the great Bassaes sent for as from his Father who casting no peril but coming into his Fathers Tent was there presently by them strangled by the commandment of Bajazet as most Histories report howbeit the Turks Annals charge him not therewith This was the beginning of the most unnatural and inhumane custom ever since holden for a most wholsome and good policy among the Turkish Kings and Emperors in the beginning of their Reign most cruelly to Massacre their Brethren and nearest Kinsmen so at once to rid themselves of all fear of their Compââitors This Amurath was in his Superstition more zealous than any other of the Turkish Kings a man of great courage and in all his Attempts fortunate he made greater slaughter of his Enemies than both his Father and Grandfather his Kingdom in Asia he greatly inlarged by the Sword Marriage and Purchase and using the Discord and Cowardise of the Grecian Princes to his profit subdued a great part of Thracia called Romania with the Territories thereto adjoyning leaving unto the Emperor of Constantinople little or nothing more in Thracia than the Imperial City it self with the bare name of an Emperor almost without an Empire he won a great part of Bulgaria and entred into Servia Bosna and Macedonia he was liberal and withall severe of his Subjects both beloved and feared a man of very few words and one that could dissemble deeply He was slain when he was threescore and eight years old and had thereof reigned thirty one in the year of our Lord 1390. His dead body was by Bajazet conveyed into Asia and there Royally buried at Prusa in a fair Chappel at the West end of the City near unto the Baths there where upon his Tomb lieth his Souldiers Cloke with a little Turkish Tulipant much differing from those great Turbants which the Turks now wear Near unto the same Tomb are placed three Launces with three Horse-tails fastned at the upper end of them which he used as Guidons in his Wars a thing in ancient time not strange There standeth a Castle with a Tomb made in remembrance of him in the Plains of Cossova where he was slain and his Entrails buried which giveth occasion for some to report that he was there also himself enterred FINIS Christian Princes of the same time with Amurath the First Emperors Of the East John Paleologus 1354. 30. Andronicus Paleologus 1384. 3. Emanuel Paleologus 1387. 30. Of the West Charles the Fourth 1346. 32. Wenceslaus Son to Charles King of Bohemia 1378. 22. Kings Of England Edward the Third 1327. 50. Richard the Second 1377. 23. Of France John Valois 1350. 14. Charles the Fifth 1364. 16. Charles the Sixth sirnamed The welbeloved 1381. 42. Of Scotland David Bruce 1341. 29. Robert Stewart 1370. Bishops of Rome Innocent the VI. 1354. 10. Urban the V. 1364. 8. Gregory the II. 1372. 7. Urban the VI. 1378. 11. The LIFE of BAJAZET The First of that NAME The FOURTH and most UNFORTUNATE King of the Turks BAjazet or as the Turks call him Baiasit of his violent and fierce Nature sirnamed Gilderun or Lightning succeeded his Father Amurath in the Turkish Kingdom his younger Brother Iacup being strangled immediatly after his Fathers death as is before declared He in the first year of his Reign invaded Servia and there besieged Cratova a City of the Despots whereunto the Silver Mines of Servia not the least cause of that War belonged Which City was yielded unto him upon condition That the Christian Inhabitants might with Life and Liberty depart Who were no sooner gon out of the City but that by his commandment they were all most cruelly slain by his men of War for that purpose sent out after them At this time he also won Uscupia with divers other Castles in the Country near unto Cratova Sigismund at the same time King of Hungary a young Prince of great hope and Brother to Wenceslaus then Emperor of the West advertised from the Servians his Allies and Confederates of these proud proceedings of Bajazet by his Embassadors sent of purpose requested him That as he was a just Prince and wished to live in quiet with his own to desist from doing of such open wrong and from invading of such Countries of his Friends and Confederates as he had no right in Which Embassadors so sent Bajazet detained without answer until such time as he had overrun a great part of the Despot his Country and therein done what he thought good Then calling the said Embassadors unto him into one of the strong Towns which he had in every corner filled with his own Souldiers told them that they might there see that his Right both unto that Town and the rest by him taken was good enough for as much as the very Walls acknowledged the same And so giving them leave to depart willed them so to tell their Master Which his proud answer by the same Embassadors reported unto the young King no less troubled him than if open War had by them been denounced unto him seeing the Tyrant as it should seem pretended Right unto whatsoever he could by force get nevertheless being himself not yet well setled in his Kingdom and in doubt of the contrary Faction that altogether liked not of his Election into Hungary for their King he was glad at that time to put it
Bajazet being the fourth in descent from the Warlike Othoman the raiser of his Family and Tamerlane in like degree from the great Zingis the first and most fortunate Leader of the Tartars his Countrymen unto the pleasures of the East both Princes of great Power and like Spirit wise hardy painful resolute and most skilful in Martial Affairs but ambitious above measure the ground of all the former troubles by them raised to the astonishment of the World. Howbeit the great Vertues and other the honourable qualities of Bajazet were in him by his cholerick and waiward Nature much obscured which made him to exceed both in Cruelty and Pride being also much more hand-fast than were his honourable Predecessors For which causes he was much feared and less beloved of his Souldiers and Men of War in general and of them at his most need forsaken He used commonly to say That his Treasures were his Childrens Meat and not his Souldiers Pay which by way of reproach was by a Common Souldier cast in his Teeth when he raged to see himself by them forsaken in the great Battel against Tamerlane telling him as he fled that he ran not away but went to seek his Pay wherewith to provide his Children Bread. Whereas all the aforesaid Vertues in Tamerlane were graced with divers other of like Nature no man being to his Friends more courteous or kind either unto his Enemies more dreadful or terrible The good service of his Servants he never forgot either left the same long unrewarded being thereof so mindful as that he needed not by them or others in their behalf to be put in remembrance thereof having always by him a Catalogue both of their Names and good Deserts which he daily perused Oftentimes saying that day to be lost wherein he had not given them something and yet never bestowing his Preferments on such as ambitiously sought the same as deeming them in so doing unworthy thereof but upon such as whose Modesty or Desert he thought worthy those his great Favours so tempering the Severity of his Commands with the Greatness of his Bounty as that it is hard to say whither he was of his Nobility and Men of War for the one more feared or for the other beloved both the great Staies of Princes States Fear keeping the Obstinate in Obedience and Love the Dutiful in Devotion But with Bajazet it was not so who deeming all done for him but Duty and by Nature cholerick and proud after the manner of Tyrants desired above all to be of his Subjects feared not much regarding how little he was of them beloved not the least cause of his great fall and misery and that therein he was of his own so smally regarded wherein for all that he is to be accounted more fortunate than the other great Conqueror his Enemy having ever since in the lineal descent of himself had one of the greatest Monarchs of the World to succeed still in his Kingdom and Empire as he hath even at this day Whereas the glory of Tamerlane his Empire even in his own time grown to the height thereof and labouring with the greatness of it self and by him divided amongst his Sons shortly after his death decaied rent in sunder by Ambition and Civil Discord and not long after together with his Posterity rooted out by Usun-Cassanes the Persian King to the Worlds wonder took end nothing of the huge greatness thereof now or since then remaining more than the fame thereof as doth also the misery of the other so brought low But leaving this mirror of mishap Bajazet unto his rest and Tamerlane for a while to triumph in Samarcand let us now proceed in the course of our History yet not forgetting by the way to remember such Christian Princes as then lived together with these two great Monarchs Christian Princes of the same time with Bajazet the First Emperors Of the East Emanuel Paleologus 1387. 30. Of the West Wenceslaus Son to Charles King of Bohemia 1378. 22. Rupertus Duke of Bavaria 1400. 10. Kings Of England Richard the Second 1377. 23. Henry the Fourth 1399. 12. Of France Charles the Sixth sirnamed The welbeloved 1381. 42. Of Scotland John Stuart otherwise called Robert the Third 1390. 16. Bishops of Rome Urban the VI. 1380. 11. Boniface the IX 1390. 14. â MAHOMETHES PRIMVS QVINTVS TVRCARVM REX 1405. Vindicibus Mahomet patrium sibi vindicat armis Imperium etsractas fervidus auget opes Quod patri abstulerat violentia Tamberlani Imperio reddit Marte favente suo Ille sagittiferosque Dacas validosque Triballos Contudit et populos Ister amoene tuos Turcica sic rursus sublata potentia stragem Attulit imperio Romule magne tuo His Fathers Throne by chance of Warr impair'd Bold Mahomet with gallantry repair'd What from the Father Tamberlane had wonne Was wrested from him by the valiant Sonne The Dacians and the Servians strength he broke And thou fair Ister feltst the dreadfull Stroke Prosperity to the Turkish State is come And now great Romulus attend thy doome The LIFE of MAHOMET The First of that NAME Fifth King of the Turks And RESTORER of their sore shaken Kingdom HOw wonderfully the Turkish Kingdom was by the Violence of Tamerlane shaken and the Majesty thereof defaced it well appeareth in that the Histories of that time as well those of the Greeks as of the Turks in nothing more differ than in the Successors of Bajazet their late unfortunate King. Some writing that he had two Sons Orchanes otherwise called Calepinus and Mahomet and that Calepinus in the second year of his Reign was slain and his Kingdom possessed by Mahomet his Brother Others reporting that Bajazet had two Sons namely Calepinus and Mustapha and that Calepinus succeeding his Father in the Turkish Kingdom when he had reigned six years died leaving behind him two Sons Orchanes and Mahomet and that Orchanes being young was slain by his Uncle whom Mahomet in revenge of his Brothers death afterwards slew and possessed the Kingdom himself Others reckon up seven Sons of Bajazet Iosua Musulmanes Moses Calepinus Iosua the younger Mustapha and Halis with an uncertain Succession amongst them also This diversity of Opinions full of no less uncertainty as I mean not to follow in report of this History so will I not spend any time in refuting the same although much might be said in the matter but leave these Reports together with the History following to such credit as they shall hap to find with the considerate Readers The Greek Historiographers best like to know the Turkish Succession as well by reason of their nearness as in that they were by them as their bad Neighbours so much troubled make no mention at all either of Calepinus or of Orchanes In like manner Historiae Musulmanae Turcorum diligently gathered out of the Turks own Histories by Io. Leunclavius a learned Physitian and himself a great Traveller amongst them and therefore deserving the more credit
Potions and Receits after their wonted manner as if they had had the King still in Cure and Letters were sent in post to Elvan Beg for speedy dispatch of the business for which he was sent into Asia Yet for all this cunning dissimulation the Pentioners and other Souldiers of the Court wont to be near unto the Kings Person and some of them always of the Privy-Chamber began to suspect the matter and coming to the Bassaes said they marvelled that the King in so long time did never shew himself as he had always before done Whereunto the Bassaes answered That he had been dangerously sick and was as yet but a little recovered and that therefore the Physitians would not suffer him to look abroad or take the Air for fear of casting him down again Then will we our selves said the Pentioners go and see his Majesty and with that were ready to force in upon the Bassaes. Eivases seeing their importunity desired them to hold themselves contented and not as then to trouble the King for that he had that day as he said taken Physick but to morrow said he we will request his Majesty if he so please to shew himself that you may see him wherewith they for that time held themselves content Now among the Kings Physitians there was one Geordiron a Persian a man of a quick spirit and subtile device which found means to deceive the Pentioners he devised that the dead body of the King being apparelled in Royal large Robes should be brought betwixt two as if he had been led into an high open Gallery and being there set to have a Boy so neatly placed behind him under his large Robes as that he unperceived might move the Kings hand up to his head as if he should stroke his Face or Beard as his manner was The next day the dead King being accordingly brought forth by the Bassaes in his rich Robes and wrapped with Clothes about his Head as if it had been for fear of the Air or of taking cold and so placed in an high open Gallery as was before devised suddenly the Physitian came running in fuming and raging as if he had been half mad ready to tear his Clothes for anger and in great choler casting his Cap against the ground asked the Bassaes if they meant to kill the King by bringing him into the open Air We said he have with great pains in long time a little recovered him and will you thus foolishly cast him down again Pardon us good Doctor said Eivases for these Gentlemen pointing to the Pentioners were so importunate to see his Majesty that to satisfie their desires he was content to be led forth of his Chamber whereof we hope shall ensue no harm The Pentioners seeing the King many times moving his hand to his face and as it were stroking his Beard held themselves well contented supposing him to have been alive although but weak and therefore not willing to speak unto them The Physitians taking him up amongst them carried him into his Lodging again which was but fast by making as if they had carried an extream sick man. Thus was his death cunningly concealed one and forty days until the coming of Amurath his Son. This Mahomet was both wise and valiant and withall exceeding bountiful but Ambitious above measure and may of right be accounted the Restorer of the Turks Kingdom for he recovered again all those Countries in Asia which Tamerlane had taken away and given unto other Mahometan Princes after the Overthrow of Bajazet And when as the Kingdom of the Turks was rent in pieces and almost brought to nought by Civil Wars and the Ambition of himself and his Brethren he at length got possession of the whole and so left it to his Son Amurath an entire Kingdom in the former greatness although not so much by him augmented His body lieth buried in a fair Tomb made of artificial stone very beautiful to behold in a Chappel at the East side of Prusa where we leave him at his rest Christian Princes of the same time with Mahomet the First Emperors Of the East Emanuel Paleologus 1387. 30 Of the West Rupertus Duke of Bavaria 1400. 10. Sigismund King of Hungary 1411. 28. Kings Of England Henry the Fourth 1399. 13 Henry the Fifth 1413. 9. Of France Charles the Sixth sirnamed The welbeloved 1381. 42. Of Scotland John Stuart otherwise called Robert. 1390. 16. James the First 1424. 13 Bishops of Rome Boniface the IX 1391. 14. Innocent the VIII 1405. 2. Gregory the XII 1407. 2. Alexander the V. 1410. 1. John the XXIII 1411. 5. Martin the V. 1417. 13. Europam lucâu et funesâis cladibus implens Soevus Amurathes totus in arma ruit Major at Huniades virtute et fortibus ausis Cogit eum trepida vertere terga fuga Consilia Eugenij bellum âurialia suadent Sacrorum antistes Martia ad arma ruit Arma viri tractent curet sua templa Sacerdos Europoe exitium res tulit ista grave Fierce Amurath vers't in warr do's next arise And fills poore Europe with laments and cries Till by the brave Huniades outdone The dastard Sultan was compell'd to run The Priest Eugenius dismall Warrs perswades The privilege of Buff the Gowne invades Had the Priest prayd and let alone the Drum Europe had not to such confusion come The LIFE of AMURATH The Second of that NAME Sixth King of the Turks And the great ESTABLISHER of their Kingdom AFter that the death of Mahomet had been politickly concealed one and forty days by the three great Bassaes Bajazet Eivases and Ibrahim Amurath or Murat as the Turks call him his eldest Son at that time coming to Prusa was by them placed in his Fathers Seat and the death of Mahomet at the same time published whereupon great Troubles began on every side to arise The Princes of Smyrna and Mentesia rose up in Arms and at Thessalonica an obscure Fellow crept as it were out of a Chimney-corner took upon him the Name and Person of Mustapha the Son of Bajazet which was slain many years before in the great battel against Tamerlane at Mount Stella as is before declared in the life of the unfortunate Sultan Bajazet This counterfeit Mustapha animated by the Grecian Princes and going from Thessalonica to Vardarium set so good a Countenance upon the matter with such a Grace and Majesty that not only the Country people apt to believe any thing but men of greater Place and Calling also as Tzunites Beg the Prince of Smyrna his Son with the Sons of old Eurenoses Bassa perswaded that he was the very Son of the great Bajazet repaired unto him as unto their natural Prince ad Soveraign From Vardarium he went to Serrae and from thence to Hadrianopole Amurath being as then at Prusa where he was received as if it had been that noble Prince Mustapha whom he feigned himself to be so that in short time he was honoured as a King in all
wonderfully even to the astonishment of the World increased and extended their Empire But of them more shall be said hereafter This great King was whilst he lived of his Subjects wonderfully beloved and no less of them after his death lamented He was more faithful of his word than any of the Turkish Kings either before or after him by Nature melancholy and sad and accounted rather politick than valiant yet was indeed both a great dissembler and painful in travel but wayward and testy above measure which many imputed unto his great Age. He had issue six Sons Achmetes Aladin Mahomet Hasan otherwise called Chasan Urchan and Achmetes the younger of some called Calepinus three of whom died before but the two youngest were by their unnatural Brother Mahomet who succeeded him in the Turkish Kingdom even in their infancy in the beginning of his Reign most cruelly murthered Christian Princes of the same time with Amurath the Second Emperors Of the East John Palaeologus 1421. 24. Constantinus Palaeologus 1444. 8. Of the West Sigismund King of Hungary 1411. 28. Albert the Second King of Hungary and Bohemia 1438. 2. Frederick the Third Arch-Duke of Austria 1440. 54. Kings Of England Henry the Fifth 1413. 9. Henry the Sixth 1422. 39. Of France Charles the Sixth 1381. 42. Charles the Seventh 1423. 38. Of Scotland James the First 1424. 13. James the Second 1436. 29. Bishops of Rome Martin the V. 1417. 13. Eugenius the IV. 1431. 16. Nicholas the V. 1447. 8. Qui riâi inÌuumeros populos tot regno lot urbes Solus eâ immensi qui timor orbis âram Me ãâã quaecunque rapit mors improba sed sum ãâã âxcelsa duclus ad astra tamen ãâã Aleââânder non me suit Anibal et non Eâderiâ Auâoniâs tot licet ille Duces ãâ¦ã Danaos domuique feroces ãâ¦ã populâs Sauromatas que truces Pannonius sensiâââ antum surgebit in armis Vis meaâquâe latio cognita nuper erat Arsacidae sensere manus has sensit Arabsque El mea suât Persae cognita tela duci Mens fueral bellâre Rhodum superare superbam Italiam sed non fata dedere modum Hei mehi nam rapuit mors aspera quaeque sub alto Pectore âonâideram rertit et hora brevis Sic hominum faâlus perâunt sic Stemata Sicque Imperium atque qurum quicquid et Orbis habet I who to kingdomes Cities brought their fate The terrour of the trembling world of late Yield to the greater Monarch Death but am Yet proud to think of my immortal fame Greater than Alexander once was I Or him that Camps of Romans did destroy I vanquisht the victorious Greeks and I Destroyd Epyrus and fierce Tartary From mighty Me th'Hungarians had their doome And the report reacht y e proud walls oâ Rome Th'Assyrian and Arabian felt my hand Nor could the Persian my dread power withstand Ore Rhodes and Italy I designd to ride But fate the progress of my aimes denyd Ai me grim Death and one unlucky houre Has baffled all my thoughts and boundless power So haughty man and all his hopes decay And so all sublunary gloryes pass away The LIFE of MAHOMET The Second of that NAME The Seventh KING and First EMPEROR of the TURKS For his many VICTORIES sirnamed The Great THE report of the death of old Amurath the late King was in short time blown through most part of Christendom to the great joy of many but especially of the Greeks and other poor Christians which bordered upon the Tyrants Kingdom who were now in hope together with the change of the Turkish King to make exchange also of their bad Estate and Fortune and the rather for that it was thought that his eldest Son Mahomet after the death of his Father would have imbraced the Christian Religion being in his Childhood instructed therein as was supposed by his Mother the Daughter of the Prince of Servia a Christian. But vain was this hope and the joy thereof but short as afterward by proof appeared For Mahomet being about the Age of one and twenty years succeeding his Father in the Kingdom in the year of our Lord 1450. year 1450. embraced in shew the Mahometan Religion abhorring the Christian but indeed making no great reckoning either of the one or of the other but as a meer Atheist devoid of all Religion and worshiping no other God but good Fortune derided the simplicity of all such as thought that God had any care or regard of worldly men or of their actions which graceless resolution so wrought in him that he thought all things lawful that agreed with his lust and making conscience of nothing kept no League Promise or Oath longer than stood with his Profit or Pleasure Now in the Court men stood diversly affected towards the present State the mighty Bassaes and others of great Authority unto whom the old Kings Government was never grievous inwardly lamented his death doubting lest the fierce Nature of the young King should turn to the hurt of some of them in particular and the shortning of their Authority in general as indeed it shortly after fell out But the lusty Gallants of the Court weary of the old King who in hope of preferment had long wished for the Government of the young Prince were glad to see him set upon his Fathers Seat. And the vulgar People never constant but in unconstancy and alwaies fawning upon the present exceedingly rejoyced in their young King. The Ianizaries also at the same time according to their accustomed manner took the Spoil of the Christians and Jews that dwelt amongst them and easily obtained pardon for the same whereupon he was by the same Ianizaries and other Souldiers of the Court with great Triumph saluted King. Which approbation of these men of War is unto the Turkish Kings a greater assurance for the possession of their Kingdom than to be born the eldest Son of the King as in the process of this History shall appear so great is the power of these masterful Slaves in promoting to the Kingdom whichsoever of the Kings Sons they most favour without much regard whether they be the eldest or not This young Tyrant was no sooner possessed of his Fathers Kingdom but that he forgetting the Laws of Nature was presently in person himself about to have murthered with his own hands his youngest Brother then but eighteen Months old begotten on the Daughter of Sponderbius Which unnatural part Moses one of his Bassaes and a man greatly in his favour perceiving requested him not to embrue his own hands in the blood of his Brother but rather to commit the execution thereof to some other which thing Mahomet commanded him the Author of that counsel forthwith to do So Moses taking the Child from the Nurse strangled it with pouring water down the throat thereof The young Lady understanding of the death of her Child as a Woman whom Fury had made past fear came and in her rage reviled the Tyrant to
after his death to the power of Bajazet his Son had he not by Domestical troubles been enforced to turn himself another way and as it were to neglect in time to relieve his distressed Garrison in Otranto as shall hereafter be declared Christian Princes of the same time with Mahomet the Great Emperors Of the East Constantinus Palaeologus last Christian Emperor of Constantinople 1444. 8. Of the West Frederick the Third Arch-Duke of Austria 1440. 54. Kings Of England Henry the Sixth 1422. 39. Edward the Fourth 1460. 22. Of France Charles the Seventh 1423. 38. Lewis the Eleventh 1461. 22. Of Scotland James the Second 1436. 29. James the Third 1460. 29. Bishops of Rome Nicholas the V. 1437. 8. Calixtus the III. 1455. 3. Pius the II. 1458. 6. Paulus the II. 1464. 7. Xystus the IV. 1471. 13. Arma manu quatiunt fratres hostilia regnum Hinc Bajazethes Lizimus inde petit Bajazethes rerum potitur Rhodon inde Quiritum Lizimus extrema maenia sorte petit Sustinet et bello varias et pace procellas Bajazethes foelix et miser inter opes Iam senio tremulus sert bella domestica regno A Gnato ejectus dira venena bibit Two Brothers now infest the mighty State Lemes on this ' Side Bajazet on that Fortune crowns Bajazet while Lemes flyes From Rhodes to Rome drivin by his destinies Much Bajazet endur'd in warr and peace Happy and wretched his triumphall daies Till worne with age and with domestick strife A Cup of Poyson ends his loathsome life The LIFE of BAJAZET The Second of that NAME AND Second Emperor OF THE TURKS UPon the death of Mahomet the late Emperor great Troubles began to arise about the Succession in the Turkish Empire some of the Bassaes and great Captains seeking to place Bajazet the eldest Son of Mahomet in the Empire and others with no less devotion labouring to prefer Zemes or Gemes otherwise called Zizimus Bajazet his younger Brother By occasion whereof there arose two great and mighty Factions which in few days grew to such heat that many great Tumults and hot Skirmishes were made in the Imperial City betwixt the Favorites of both Factions and great slaughter committed In these Broils the proud Janizaries for an old grudge slew Mahometes one of the four great Bassaes a man by whose grave Counsel most of the weighty Affairs of the Turkish Empire had been managed during the Reign of the late Emperor and proceeding further in their accustomed Insolency spoiled all the Christians and Jews which dwelt amongst them of all their Wealth and Substance at which time the rich Merchants and Citizens of Constantinople which were natural Turks themselves escaped not their ravenous Hands but became unto them a Prey and Spoil also The other three Bassaes of the Court Isaac Mesithes and Achmetes lately returned from the winning of Hydruntum in Italy although they secretly maligned and envied one at the greatness of another yet to appease these so dangerous Troubles and to assure their own Estates joyned hands together and by their great Authority and multitude of Followers and Favorites found means that Corcutus one of the younger Sons of Bajazet a young Prince of eighteen years old was as it were by general content of the Nobility and Souldiers saluted Emperor and with great Triumph and Solemnity placed in the Imperial Seat. In whose name the aforesaid Bassaes at their pleasure disposed of all things little or nothing regarding either Bajazet or Zemes then both absent the one at Amasia and the other at Iconium in Lycaonia For the jealous Turkish Kings never suffer their Sons to live in Court near unto them after they be grown to years of discretion but send them to Govern their Provinces far off where they are also under the Command of the Emperors Lieutenants-General in Asia or Europe and may not depart from their Charge without great danger not so much as to visit their Father without express leave and commandment So jealous are those Tyrants yea even of their own Sons Bajazet and Zemes hearing of the death of their Father and of the Troubles in the Imperial City hasted thitherward with all speed where Bajazet being the nearer first arrived but finding the Empire already possessed by Corcutus his younger Son and himself excluded he in grief of his heart poured forth most grievous Complaints before God and man calling Heaven and Earth to witness of the great wrong and injury done unto him by the proud Bassaes. And what by Tears and humble Obtestations what by great Gifts and greater Promises but most of all by the earnest labour and solicitation of Cherseogles Vice-Roy of Graecia and the Aga or Captain of the Janizaries both his Sons in law prevailed so much with the great Bassaes and Souldiers of the Court that Corcutus being of a mild and courteous disposition overcome by their intreaty and the reverence of his Father resigned unto him the Imperial Government which he presently took upon him with the general good liking of the people and made Corcutus Governor of Lycia Caria and Ionia with the pleasant and rich Countries thereabouts allowing him a great yearly Pension for the better maintenance of his Estate with promise also of the Empire after his decease and so sent him away to his Charge where he most pleasantly lived during the Reign of his Father Bajazet giving himself wholly to the study of Philosophy which made that he was afterwards less favoured of the Janizaries and other men of War. Zemes thus prevented by his elder Brother and understanding by his Friends how all things stood at Constantinople and that Bajazet was already possessed of the Empire returning with great speed raised a puissant Army in the Countries which were under his Command and marching through the heart of Asia the less by the way as he went took into his possession such Cities and strong Places as he thought best and so entring into Bithynia took the great City of Prusa the ancient Seat of the Othoman Kings Purposing in himself that as Bajazet had shut him out of Europe so he would also in requital thereof exclude him out of that part of the Turkish Empire which is beyond Hellespontus in Asia and to make himself Lord thereof Wherein Fortune at the first seemed unto him most favourable all the people wheresoever he came yielding unto him Obedience as unto their Prince and Soveraign so that in short time he seemed both unto himself and to others in strong possession of that part of the Empire Of these his proceedings Bajazet having Intelligence and perceiving the greater part of his Empire now in danger to be lost and doubting further that Zemes his ambitious Mind would hardly rest therewith long contented for remedy of so great a Mischief levied a strong and puissant Army wherewith he passed over into Asia and came to Neapolis a City of Anatolia near whereunto Zemes lay with his Army strongly incamped As
Germany Frederick the Third Arch-Duke of Austria 1440. 54. Maximilian the Third 1494 25. Kings Of England Edward the Fourth 1460. 22. Edward the Fifth 148â 0. Richard the Third 1483. 3. Henry the Seventh 1485. 24. Henry the Eighth 1509. 38. Of France Lewis the Eleventh 1461. 22. Charles the Eighth 1483. 14. Lewis the Twelfth 1567. 17. Of Scotland James the Third 1460. 29. James the Fourth 1489. 25. Bishops of Rome Xystus the IV. 1471. 13. Innocentius the VIII 1484. 8. Alexander the VI. 1492. 11. Pius the III. 1503. 26 days Jullus the II. 1503. 9. En Selymus scelere ante alios immanâor omnes In Patris et Eratrum dirigit arââa necem In Persas movet inde ferox Memphilica Regna Destruiââel Syros Aethiopasque domat Hinc in Christiâolaâ irarum effundere fluctus Ipsorumque uno vertere regna parat Cum diro victus prosternitur ulcere Christus Scilicet est populi portus et aura sui Lo Selymus the vilest of the Othoman brood Embrud his hands in Father's Brothers bloud Persian Egyptian Syrian and Moore Submit their Scepters to his insolent pow'r But when the Christians Realms he vainly thought To speedy desolation to have brought A mortall ulcer seizd him to make knowne The great Messiah can protect his owne The LIFE of SELYMUS First of that NAME The THIRD and most WARLIKE Emperor of the Turks THIS Selymus by favour of the great Bassaes and Men of War whom he had before corrupted year 1512. having deprived his Father Bajazet first of the Empire and shortly after of his Life also and now fully possessed of the Empire himself first took view of the Treasures which the Turkish Kings and Emperors his Ancestors had before of long time heaped up in great abundance out of which he gave unto the Souldiers of the Court two millions of Ducats and for a perpetual remembrance of his thankfulness towards them augmented their daily wages allowing unto every Horsemân four Aspers a day and to every Footman two above their wonted allowance By which exceeding bounty he greatly assured unto himself the minds of the Men of War. Shortly after he passed over with a great Army into Asia leaving the government of the Imperial City of Constantinople unto his only Son Solyman and marching into Galatia came to the City of Ancyra in hope there to have oppressed his elder Brother Achomates But he understanding before of his coming withal wisely considering how unable he was to withstand his Forces fled before into the Mountains of Cappadocia upon the Confines of Armenia taking up men by the way as he went and praying aid of all sorts of People yea even of such as were but of small ability themselves and unto him meer Strangers that so he might in best manner he could provide such strength as might serve him to make head against his Brother and for the recovery of Asia Selymus having spent that Summer without doing any thing worth the speaking of and considering that he could not well winter in that cold Country near unto the great Mountain Taurus by reason of the deep Snows and extream cold there usually falling and that to go farther was to no purpose forasmuch as Achomates flying from place to place and Mountain to Mountain was not to be surprised he retired back again into Bithynia and sending his Europeian Horsemen down to the Sea-coast and the Janizaries to Constantinople resolved to winter with the rest of his Army at Prusa At which time being wholly bent against Achomates his Competitor of the Empire he for certain years continued the League which his Father Bajazet had before concluded with Uladislaus King of Hungary Sigismundus King of Polonia and the Venetians And thinking no care no not of Children superfluous which might concern the establishing of his Empire he called unto him five of his Brothers Sons Orchanes the Son of Alem Scach Mahometes the Son of Tzian Scach Orchanes Emirsa and Musa the Sons of his Brother Mahometes all young Princes of great hope of years betwixt sixteen and twenty excepting Musa who was not past seven years old Of all these Mahometes whom his Uncle Achomates had a little before taken Prisoner at Larenda as is before declared and upon the death of Bajazet had again set him at liberty being about twenty years old was for rare Fonture and Princely Courage accounted the Paragon and Beauty of the Othoman Family which great perfection as it won unto him the love and favour of the Men of War and also of all the People in general so did it hasten his speedy death only Selymus his cruel Uncle envying at his life After he had got these poor innocents into his hands he sent for divers of his great Doctors and Lawyers demanding of them Whether it were not better that some five eight or ten persons should be taken away than that the State of the whole Empire should with great effusion of Blood be rent in sunder and so by civil Wars be brought in danger of utter ruin and destruction Who although they well perceived whereunto that bloody question tended yet for fear of displeasure they all answered That it were better such a small number should perish than that the whole State of the Empire should by Civil War and Discord be brought to confusion in which general calamity those few must also of necessity perish with the rest Upon colour of this answer and the necessity pretended he commanded these his Nephews before named to be led by five of his great Captains into the Castle of Prusa where they were all the night following most cruelly strangled It is reported that Mahometes with a Pen-knife slew one of the bloody Executioners sent into his Chamber to kill him and so wounded the other as that he fell down for dead and that Selymus being in a Chamber fast by and almost an Eye-witness of that was done presently sent in others who first bound the poor Prince and afterward strangled him with the rest whose dead bodies were buried at Prusa amongst their Ancestors The cruelty of this Fact wonderfully offended the minds of most men insomuch that many even of his Martial men filled with secret indignation for certain days absented themselves from his presence shunning his sight as if he had been some fierce or raging Lion. Of all the Nephews of old Bajazet only Amurat and Aladin the Sons of Achomates yet remained year 1513. whom he purposed to surprise upon the suddain and so to rid himself of all fear of his Brothers Children having then left none of the Othoman Family but them and his two Brethren upon whom to exercise his further Cruelty These two young Princes had a little before recovered the City of Amasia from whence they were the Summer before expulsed by their Uncle Selymus at such time as Achomates their Father was glad to flie into the Mountains of Cappadocia Selymus fully resolved upon their destruction sent
of the Field When Martial minds with couraged bold withstand their Foes with spear and shield Let him well know how that in vain he beareth Arms but for a shew And that the honour of the Field will never such a Coward know Ne let him hope to gain the Spoil by any Wars he takes in hand That feareth with couragious mind his Enemies Forces to withstand Christian Princes of the same time with Selymus the First Emperors of Germany Maximilian the First 1494. 25. Charles the Fifth 1509. 39. Kings Of England Henry the Eighth 1509. 38. Of France Lewis the Twelfth 1497. 17. Francis the First 1514. 32. Of Scotland James the Fourth 1489. 25. James the Fifth 1513. 32. Bishops of Rome Julâus the II. 1503. 9. Leo the X. 1513. 8. Imperij Solyman patrij moderatur habenas Regnaque Christianum cladibus usque metit Antiquam capit ille Rhodon Nexumque Parumque Turrheni infastat Littora curva Maris Pannonios multo populatur milite fines Et cingit muros clara Vienna tuos Inclyta Sigethi dum moenia concutit armis Cogitur hinc Stygiam nudus adire domum Magnificent Solyman mounts his Fathers Throne With Christian Slaughters formidable growne Rhodes Naxos Paros felt his cruelty And the sweet Shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea Th' Hungrarian Territories he did inrade And feirce attemps on fair Vienna made Till from the walls of Sigeth meanly câme Th' aspiring Tyrant crept to his long ãâã The LIFE of SOLYMAN THE FOURTH and most MAGNIFICENT Emperor of the Turks THe death of Selymus was with all carefulness concealed by Ferhates the only Bassa then present for fear lest the Janizaries and Souldiers of the Court getting knowledge thereof should after their wonted manner in the time of the vacancy of the Empire spoil the Merchants and Strangers in places where they lay in Garrison and especially in the Imperial City and not so contented after their accustomed insolency prescribe unto the greatest Bassaes at their pleasure For preventing whereof Ferhates dispatched a trusty Messenger with Letters in Post to Solyman the only Son of Selymus then lying at Magnesia certifying him of the death of his Father and that he should deserve well of his peaceable Subjects by hastning his coming to Constantinople whilst all things were yet in good order in time to repress with his presence the feared disordered proceedings of his Men of War. Solyman having to his great content perused the Bassaes Letters as one desirous enough of the Empire yet considering the cruel disposition of his Father whom upon a meer jealous conceit of his aspiring mind and for certain words by him let fall in dislike of his Fathers extream dealing had practised most unnaturally to have taken him away by Poison which danger he escaped only by the carefulness of his Mother who misdoubting the worst caused the Poisoned rich Shirt sent to him from his Father to be first worn by one of his Chamber whereof he in short time after died and also that the Letters were signed only by Ferhates and the news not seconded from any of the other Bassaes fearing some hidden and secret Plot of his Father tending to his destruction durst not adventure to remove from his charge but returned the Messenger as one to whom he gave little or no credit Ten days thus spent and the death of Selymus nothing as yet suspected Ferhates understanding by his Messenger the weariness of Solyman and that he expected more assured advertisement sent presently unto the other great Bassaes Pyrrbus and Mustapha at Hadrianople that they should without delay repair unto the Court unto whom at their coming he declared the death of the Emperor Which after they had seen to be true they by another secret and speedy Messenger advertised Solyman again thereof confirming those Letters with all their Hands and Seals whereby Solyman now assured of his Fathers death presently put himself upon the way and by long and painful journies in few days came to Scutarium called in ancient time Chrisopolis over against Constantinople Where he was met with the Aga or Captain of the Janizaries and by him transported in a Gally over that strait passage to Constantinople where at his landing the Janizaries by the appointment of their Captain were ready to receive him knowing as yet nothing of the death of Selymus until that Solyman being now in the midst of them the Captain with a loud voice said unto them Behold your Emperor Whereupon they all with great acclamation cried out Long live the great Emperor Solyman which consent of the Men of War is unto the Turkish Emperors the greatest assurance of their Estate And so with much Triumph he was by them brought into the Roial Palace and placed in his Fathers Seat in the year 1520. in which year also Charles the Fifth was chosen Emperor of Germany The Janizaries disappointed by the Bassaes of the spoil of the Merchants especially Christians and Jews received of the bounty of Solyman a great Largess and in the beginning of his Reign had their accustomed Wages somewhat augmented also to their wonderful contentment Solyman was about twenty eight years old when he began to Reign and was at the first supposed to have been of a mild and peaceable disposition so that the Princes to whom the Name of Selymus was before dreadful were now in hope that a quiet Lamb was come in place of a raging Lion. But in short time they found themselves in their expectation far deceived and especially the Christian Princes bordering upon him unto whom he became a far more dangerous Enemy than was his Father before him converting his Forces most part of his long Reign upon them which Selymus had almost altogether imployed against the Kings of Persia and Egypt the greatest Princes of the Mahometan Superstition The first that felt his heavy Hand was Gazelles Governour of Syria who presently upon the death of Selymus thinking himself now discharged of the Oath of Obedience which he had given to Selymus but not to his Successors and earnestly desiring to restore again the Kingdom of the Mamalukes lately overthrown gathered together the remainder of the dispersed Mamalukes which speedily resorted unto him out of all parts of Asia and Africk and alluring with rewards the Leaders of the wild Arabians with great numbers of the Country People of Syria discontented with the Turkish Government entred into open Rebellion and by force of Arms drave the Turks Garrison out of Byrtha Trypolis and divers other Cities of Syria taking them into his own possession And the better to effect that he had taken in hand he sent Embassadors to Caire unto Cayerbeius who had of Selymus received the Government of Egypt the unworthy reward of his horrible Treason perswading him by any means to take revenge of the injury and wrong before done to the Mamalukes and by killing of the Turks Garrisons to make himself Sultan of Egypt and restore again the Kingdom of the
issued out at the Castle Gate with the rest following him where valiantly fighting with the Janizaries upon the Bridge and having slain some of them he was first wounded in two places of his Body with small Shot and at last struck in the Head with an unlucky shot fell down dead the Turk for joy crying out their wonted word Alla. The rest of the Souldiers in flying back again into the Castle were all slain by the Turks except some few whom some of the Janizaries in regard of their Valour by putting their Caps upon their Heads saved from the fury of the reââ In this Siege the Turks as they themselves reported lost seven thousand Janizaries and twenty eight thousand other Souldiers beside many voluntary Men not enrolled in their Muster-Books and three of their great Bassaes. Serinus his Head was presently cut off and the next day with the Heads of the other slain Christians set upon a Pole for all the Army to gaze upon After that it was taken down and by Muhamet the great Bassa sent to Mustapha the Bassa of Buda his Kinsman who by two Country Men sent it wrapped in a red Scarf covered with a fair linnen Cloth to Count Salma in the Emperors Camp at Rab with this taunting Letter thus directed Muhamet Bassa to Eccius Salma Greeting IN token of my love behold here I send thee the Head of a most resolute and valiant Captain thy Friend the remainder of his Body I have honestly buried as became such a Man. Sigeth biddeth thee farwell for ever The death of this noble and valiant Captain was much lamented of all the Christian Army and his Head with many tears by his Son Balthasar honourably buried amongst his Ancestors in Tschacatârna his own Castle Solyman at his coming with this mighty Army into Hungary had purposed before his return if he had not been by death prevented to have conquered both the remainder of the Kingdom of Hungary and to have again attempted the winning of Vienna For the accomplishing of which his Designs he at his first coming sent Parthaus Bassa with forty thousand Turks to help the Bassa of Temesware and the Tartars in the behalf of the Vayvod to besiege the strong Town of Guyla situate upon the Lake Zarkad in the Confines of Transylvania not far from whence Suendi had but in August before overthrown the Tartars called in by Solyman for the aid of the Vayvod and slain of them ten thousand And at the same time he sent Mustapha Bassa of Bosna and Caraâbeiâs with a great Power to Alba Râgalis who joyning with the Bassa of Buda should keep the Emperor Maximilian busie whilst he in the mean time besiegeth Sigeth as is before declared Parthaus Bassa coming to Gyula and laying hard Siege to the Town was still notably repulsed by Nicholaus Keretschen Governor of the Town insomuch that in a sally he had certain Pieces of his great Ordnance taken from him by the Defendants and the rest cloied But this brave Captain not to have been constrained by all that the Bassa could do was at last perswaded by his Kinsman George Bebicus from whom Suendi had a little before taken certain Castles for revolting from the Emperor to the Vayvod for a great sum of Mony to deliver up the Town to the Bassa which he did covenanting beside his Reward That the Souldiers should with Bag and Baggage in safety depart all which was frankly granted who were not gon past a mile out of the Town but they were set upon by the Turks and all slain except some few which crept into the Reeds growing in the Marish fast by and so escaped The Traitor himself expecting his Reward was carried in Bonds to Constantinople where afterward upon complaint made how hardly he had used certain Turks whom he had sometime taken Prisoners he was by the commandment of Selymus who succeeded Solyman thrust into an Hogshead struck full of Nails with the Points inward with this inscription upon it Here receive the Reward of thy Avarice and Treason Gyula thoââoldst for Gold if thou be not faithful to Maximilian thy Lord neither wilt thou be to me and so the Hogshead closed fast up he was therein rolled up and down until he therein miserably died The Emperors Camp then lying at Rab and the Bassa of Buda and Bosna with thirty thousand Turks not far off at Alba Regalis and many hot skirmishes passing between them it fortuned that the fifth of September the Turks in hope to have done some great piece of service upon the Christians came forth of the Camp in great number and by chance light upon a few Forragers of the Army of whom they slew some the rest flying raised an Alarm in the Camp whereupon the Hungarians and Burgundians with some others issuing out pursuing the Turks slew divers of them in which pursuit George Thuriger descrying the Governor of Alba Regalis a Man in great account and very inward with Solyman whilst he lived fiercely pursued him in the midst of the flying Enemies and never left him until he had taken him Prisoner and at his return presenting him to the Emperor was for that good service Knighted and rewarded with a Chain of Gold. There was by chance then present a Spaniard who had heard him say openly at Constantinople That he alone with his own power was able to vanquish the German King by which name the Turks commonly term the Emperor With which words when that the Spaniard hardly charged him in the presence of the Emperor still urging him as it were to say something for himself the Turk answered him in these few words following Such is the chance of War thou seest me now a Prisoner and able to do nothing All these troubles with many more like in short time to have ensued were by the death of Solyman within a while after well appeased Muhamet Bassa after he had repaired the Breaches and placed a Turk Governor of Sigeth with a strong Garrison for the defence of the place and commanding of the Country called back the dispersed Forces and rising with the Army retired toward Belgrade carrying Solymans dead Body all the way sitting upright in his Horse-litter carried by Mules giving it out that he was sick of the Gout which thing the Janizaries easily believed knowing that he had been many years so carried yet still wishing his presence as always unto them fortunate although that he were able for to do nothing Christian Princes of the same time with Solyman Emperors of Germany Charles the Fifth 1519. 39. Ferdinand 1558. 7. Maximilian the Second 1565. 12. Kings Of England Henry the Eighth 1509. 38. Edward the Sixth 1546. 6. Queen Mary 1553. 6. Queen Elizabeth 1558. 45. Of France Francis the First 1514. 32. Henry the Second 1547. 12. Francis the Second 1559. 1. Charles the Ninth 1560. 14. Of Scotland James the Fifth 1514. 29. Queen Mary 1543. Bishops of Rome
most terrible and desperate Assaults at length namely the 13 day of September when they had with all their force for the space of six hours furiously assaulted the Castle and slain most of the Defendants at last look it Serbellio shot in with two Bullets and wishing rather to die than to fall into the hand of the Enemy thrust himself into the midst of the Turks there to have perished but by the hasty coming in of Pial Bassa both he and Salazar were taken alive as for all the rest that followed them they were put to the Sword. The Bassa in his rage struck Serbellio and the more to grieve him caused his Son to be cruelly murthred before his Face Neither was this Victory by the Turks obtained without Blood having in less than three months space that the Siege endured lost above thirty thousand Men. These strong Holds the greatest strength of that Kingdom thus taken the Turks marched to Tunes which they easily took and afterwards overthrew the Fortifications thereof because it should no more Rebel Mahomet the young King but the year before placed in that Kingdom by Don Iohn was there taken and in bonds sent aboord to be carried with Carrera Captain of Guletta Prisoners to Constantinople and thus the Kingdom of Tunes with the strong Castle of Guletta fell again into the possession of the Turks to the further trouble of the Christian Countries lying over against it The proud Bassaes having as they thought best disposed of all things at Tunes and Guletta departed thence and with their Fleet of 400 Sail came the fourth of October within sight of Malta But understanding that they of Malta were provided for their coming and remembring what dishonour their most magnificent Emperor Solyman had not many years before there sustained whereof divers of them had been eye-witnesses they turned thence and sailed directly to Constantinople Shortly after this great Emperor Selymus spent with Wine and Women unto whom he had given his great strength died the ninth of December in the year of our Lord 1574 when he had lived one and fifty years and thereof reigned eight and lieth buried at Hadrianople He was but of a mean Stature and of an heavy Disposition his Face rather Swollen than Fat much resembling a Drunkard Of the Othoman Kings and Emperors he was of least Valour and therefore least regarded altogether given to Sensuality and Pleasure and so dying left his Empire unto Amurath his eldest Son a Man of more Temperance but not much greater Courage who nevertheless by his valiant Bassaes and Men of War did great matters especially against the Persians the mortal and dangerous Enemies of the Turks as shall be hereafter in this History declared Christian Princes of the same time with Selymus the Second Emperors of Germany Maximilian the Second 1565. 12. Kings Of England Queen Elizabeth 1558. 45. Of France Charles the Ninth 1560. 14. Of Scotland Queen Mary 1543. 20. James the Sixth that now reigneth 1567. Bishops of Rome Pius the V. 1566. 6. Julius the XIII 1572. 12. Non ego fortis eram quis tanto nomine dignus Ni fortem faciat mens generosa virum Me tumidum fortuna tumens evexit in altum Et par fortuna mens mea semper erat Sic quamvis tenero mihi nil nisi molle placeret Nominis augendi raptus amore fui ãâ¦ã ad fortia facta ministros ãâ¦ã sublatum est nomen in astrameum ãâã I waâ not none deserve that name ãâ¦ã whose generous minds bespeake their fame Fârtune advanc'd me high and fickle Shee Still found a Soule bravely prepard in me Soft in my tender years tho' I became ãâã still I priz'd the glory of my name ãâ¦ã abroad my Ministers of State ãâ¦ã âhe Slavish drugery of my fate pag 651. Mustapha Ferhates Sinan et ter maximus Osman Terrores Orbis Succubuere mihi Armenios domui fortes Medosque feroces Et mihi paruerat Regia Taurisij Sed mihi quid prodest tantorum parta labâre Gloria Si Subito maxima quaeque ãâã Et nihil est tanti quod non brevis aufereâ ãâã Sic mea cum multis gloria victa ãâã Osman Ferhates Sinan Mâstaphâ The terrors of the World did me obeâ I broke the Medes and the ãâ¦ã And batterd downe the proud Taurâââân Towers Yet what 's all this to my ill gott renowne Since greatest things are soonest tumbled downe We 're robb'd of all we have in one short houre And quickly we and ours shall be no more THE LIFE OF AMURATH The Third of that Name Sixth Emperour of the Turks THE death of the late Emperour Selymus year 1574 was for fear of the insolent Janizaries notably concealed by the great Bassa's until such time as Amurath his eldest Son then in Asia by speedy Messengers advertis'd thereof about twelve dayes after arrived at Constantinople and there received into the Seraglio took possession of the Empire the five and twentieth day of December solemn amongst us Christians for the Nativity of our Saviour Christ Jesus He was about thirty or as some write seven and twenty years old when he began to reign of a manly stature but pale and corpulent wearing his Beard thin and long in his Countenance appeared not the fierce nature of the Othoman Princes being indeed himself of a peaceable disposition a lover of Justice and in the manner of his Superstition very zealous The riot and excess grown amongst the Turks by his Fathers evil Example he reformed by his own Temperance and the severe punishment of notorious Drunkaâds yet it is reported that he would oftentimes himself drink plentifully of Wormwood-wine he was much subject to the Falling-sickness and sore troubled with the Stone more spare-handed than was for the greatness of his State and yielding more to the counsel of his Mother his Wife and Sister than of his great Bassa's which was of many imputed to him for simplicity At his first coming to Constantinople to appease the murmuring of the Janizaries grieved to see themselves so disappointed of the spoil of the Christians and Jews which they were wont to take in the vacancy of the Empire he beside the usual largess which the Turkish Emperours at their first entrance into the Empire bestow upon them augmented also their daily wages and granted them this Priviledge That their Sons as soon as they came to be twenty years old should be inrolled amongst the nâmber of the younger Janizaries and be partakers also of their immunities whereby he won their favours exceedingly And immediately to rid himself of all competitors he after the unnatural manner of the Turkish Policy caused his five Brethren Mustapha Solyman Abdulla Osman and Tzihanger to be all strangled in his own presence The Mother of Solyman pierced through with the cruel death of her young Son as a Woman overcome with sorrow desperately struck her self to the heart with a dagger and so died At which so
thus ended shortly after a great Sedition was raised at Constantinople by the Souldiers of the Court which returning out of Persia with great Insolency demanded their Pay. For the satisfying of whom by the consent of the great Sultan himself the Value of the Coin was inhansed and a new kind of Subsidy for levying of Money imposed upon the Subjects in general none excepted who standing upon their antient Liberties and Priviledges refused to pay it especially the Ianizaries and other Souldiers of the Court. Wherefore their Aga or Captain was commanded to appease them and to perswade them to pay the demanded Tribute in attempting whereof he was in danger to have been slain by the insolent Ianizaries and yet nevertheless for prevailing no more with them was in displeasure thrust out of his Office and another placed in his room that should have married Amurath's Daughter of whom for all that the Ianizaries would not accept in any case but threw Stones at him and threatned to kill him The next Night a great Fire arose in the City for the quenching whereof the Ianizaries were commanded as their Duty was to put to their helping hands which they not only most obstinately refused to do but also kept back others that brought Water for the quenching thereof and together with the other Souldiers of the Court did what they might to make it burn the faster With the rage of this Fire were consumed seven of their Temples twenty five great Inns fifteen thousand Houses with many Warehouses and Shops To appease this dangerous stir and to prevent further mischief commandment was given to the Beglerbeg of Graecia and David Passy a Jew the first Authors of this new Imposition that they should either gather the aforesaid Tribute by them devised and pay the Souldiers or by some other means to give them Contentment But here began the Priests publickly to perswade the People from payment of this new Tribute or any other such like perswading them in any case to defend their antient Liberties and Customs whereupon the Churches were by the Priests shut up publick Prayers for the Health of the Sultan intermitted the Bassaes Houses assaulted and all the City on a new hurly burly For the appeasing whereof Amurath was glad to yield unto the Ianizaries to pay the Souldiers out of his own Treasury to revoke his Mandates given out for the exaction of the new tribute and to deliver the two Perswaders thereof to the Pleasure of the Ianizaries who drew them up and down the Streets at Horses Tails and afterwards cutting off their Heads in scorn tossed them from hand to hand one to another as if they had been Tennise Balls About the latter end of September Sinan Bassa of Buda having with the assistance of the Sanzacks about Fille raised an Army of eleven thousand Souldiers with purpose to have spoiled all the upper part of Hungary came the sixth of October before the Castle of Putnoc and gave thereunto summons but finding them in the Castle better provided and more resolute than he had before supposed he departed thence and passing the River Schayo came to Sixo a Town of about five hundred Houses which after a sore battery he took and burnt it down to the Ground In the mean while Claudius Russel General for the Wars in that part of Hungary having assembled his Forces came upon him and after a hard fight put him to the worse when he had slain of his Turks about two thousand five hundred besides three hundred other drowned in the River Schayo Shortly after the Christians in like manner breaking into the Frontiers of the Turks took from them the Castles of Blavenstein Gestes with some other small Forts thereabouts in the upper part of Hungary year 1589 Sinan for that he had contrary to the League and without the Commandment of Amurath so unfortunately attempted War in Hungary was the next year in great Displeasure sent for to Constantinople and Ferat Bassa of Bosna late General of the Turks Army against the Persians and now but newly come home placed in his room at Buda Amurath before not ignorant of the great Preparation that Philip the King of Spain had made and of the invincible Armado as it was termed by him set forth for the Invasion of England the Fame whereof had long before filled a great part of the World as also of the evil Success thereof the last year viz. 1588 and of the purpose her Majesty of England had for the troubling of his rich Trade especially into the West Indies and for the relieving of Don Anthonio by him driven out of Portugal wrote unto her about this time concerning those and such like matters as had been moved by her Agent as followeth Amurath the Third Emperour of the Turks unto Elizabeth Queen of England France and Ireland greeting MOST Honourable Matron of the Christian Religion Mirror of Chastity adorned with the Brightness of Sovereignty and Power amongst the most chast Women of the People which serve Iesu Mistriss of great Kingdoms reputed of greatest Majesty and Praise among the Nazarites Elizabeth Queen of England to whom we wish a most happy and prosperous Reign You shall understand by our high and Imperial Letters directed unto you how that your Orator resiant in our stately and magnificent Court hath presented unto the Throne of our Majesty a certain writing wherein he hath certified us how that about four years ago you have made war upon the King of Spain for the abating and breaking of his Forces wherewith he threatneth all other Christian Princes and purposeth to make himself the sole Monarch both of them and all the World beside As also how that the same King of Spain hath by force taken from Don Anthonio lawfully created King of Portugal his Kingdom and that your Intention is that his Ships which go and come into the Indies may from henceforth be embarred and stayed from that Navigation wherein are yearly brought into Spain precious Stones Spices Gold and Silver esteemed worth many millions wherewith the aforesaid King as with a great Treasure enriched hath means to molest and trouble all other Christian Princes which if he shall still proceed to do he will make himself daily stronger and stronger and such an one as may not easily be weakned After that your aforesaid Orator requested our Highness in the beginning of the next Spring to send out our Imperial Fleet against him being assured that the King of Spain could not be able easily to withstand it for that he had now already received a great overthrow by your Fleet and being scarce able to withstand you alone if he should be on divers parts invaded must needs be overcome to the great benefit of all the Christian Princes as also of our Imperial State. Besides this that whereas the aforesaid Don Anthonio is by force driven out and deprived of his Kingdom that we to the imitation of our
noble Progenitors of happy Memory whose Graves the Almighty lighten should also give the Aid and Succour of our magnificent State as did they unto all such as had recourse unto their high Courts and Pallaces for relief In brief all these things with many others which your aforesaid Orator hath at large declared unto our Imperial Throne we have well understood and laid them up in our deep remembrance But forasmuch as we have for many years past made Wars in Persia with a full Resolution and intent utterly to conquer and subdue the Kingdom of that accursed Persian Heretick and to joyn the same unto our antient Dominions and now by the Grace of God and help of our great Prophet are now upon the point for the satisfying of our desire that once done due Provision shall be assigned unto all such things as you have of us requested or desired Wherefore if you shall sincerely and purely continue the bond of Amity and Friendship with our high Court you shall find no more secure Refuge or safer Harbour of good Will or Love. So at length all things shall go well and according to your Hearts desire in your Wars with Spain under the shadow of our happy Throne And forasmuch as the King of Spain hath by Fraud and Deceit got whatsoever he holdeth without doubt these deceitful Deceivers shall by the Power of God in short time be dispatched and taken out of the way In the mean time we exhort you not to lose any Opportunity or Time but to be always vigilant and according to the Conventions betwixt us favourable unto our Friends and unto our Enemies a Foe And give notice here to our high Court of all the new Wars which you shall understand of concerning the said King of Spain for the behoof both of your self and us To be brief your Ambassador after he had with all care and diligence dispatched his Ambassage and here left in his place one Edward Bardon his Deputy and Agent now by our leave maketh his return towards your Kingdom being for the good and faithful Service he here did worthy to be of you esteemed honoured and before others promoted who when he hath obtained of you all those his deserved Honours and Preferments let him or some other principal Ambassador without delay be appointed to our Imperial Court to continue this Office of Legation This we thought good to have you certified of under our most honourable Seal whereunto you may give undoubted Credence From our Imperial Palace at Constantinople the 15th of this blessed Month Ramazan 1589. Yet for all these fair shews it may seem unto him that looketh more near into the state of the Turkish Affairs at those times and that which hath ensued since that Amurath glad of the Discord of these two so great Christian Princes and not well assured of his new Conquests in Persia had no great mind to the Invasion of Spain as too far from the strength of his Empire an Enterprise not to be so easily managed by Sea as were the Wars he shortly after undertook against the Christian Emperour Rodolph by Land wherewith for all that God be thanked he found his hands full all the remainder of his Life as did also his Son Mahomet that reigned after him About this time also the Polonian Borderers whom they call Cossacks a rough and warlike kind of People after their wonted manner making an inrode upon the Turks and Tartarians upon the sudden surprised Koslaw a Port Town within a days Journey of Caffa where they had the spoil of many rich Warehouses of the Turks Merchants and the rifling of certain Ships lying there in Harbour and having taken their Pleasure burnt the rest and so with a great booty returned to their lurking Places With which Injury the Tartars provoked and set on by the Turks to the number of forty thousand brake into Podolia and the Provinces near unto Polonia and resting in no place but burning the Country before them sâew the poor Country People without Mercy and making havock of all that they light upon besides the spoil carried away with them many thousands of most miserable Captives the greatest part whereof for all that the Polonians rescued with the notable slaughter of the Enemy surprised in their return Whereupon such unkindness rise between the Turkish Emperour and Sigismund the Polonian King that it was thought it would have broken out into open Wars had not the Polonian by his Ambassadors and the Mediation of the Queen of England wisely appeased the angry Turk and so again renewed his League Amurath now at Peace with the World from which he by Nature abhorred not year 1590 and sitting idle and melancholy at home was perswaded by the Bassaes his Counsellors to take some new War in hand for that great Empires as they said could not without the continual use of Arms long stand or continue as appeared by the Roman State which so long as it was at Wars with Carthage or their great Captains and Commanders occupied in arms against their Neighbour Princes still remained triumphant and commanded over a great part of the World but giving it self to Ease and Pleasure and the Martial Men not after their wonted manner imployed it in short time by Civil Discord fell and of the Mistress of the World became it self a Prey even unto the basest Nations Which old Cato in his great Wisdom foreseeing cryed out in the Senate That the Souldiers and Men of War were to be kept still busied in Arms far from home for that in so doing all should go well with the State and the Glory thereof increase Whereunto the Othoman Emperours his noble Progenitors having respect propounded not Peace as the end of their Wars as do other weak Princes having their own Forces in distrust but as invincible Conquerours still sowed Wars upon Wars making one Victory the beginning of another whereby they not only brought that their Empire unto that greatness it was now of but by such continual Imployment made their Souldiers more courageous and ready and also kept them from Rebellions and Tumults whereunto in time of Peace and living at ease these Martial men are most commonly inclined learning as all others do by doing nothing to do that is evil and naught Every thing as they said was by the same means to be maintained whereby it was at the first increased and that therefore great Empires as they were by Wars begun and augmented so were they by continual Wars also to be from time to time established whereas otherwise the Souldiers living in Peace and forgetting their Martial Prowess would for most part grow cowardly as giving themselves over to the Love of their own Dwellings of their Wives and of their Children and other Pleasures or else converting their Studies to Merchandise or other profitable Trades would in time forget the use of Arms and be thereunto again hardly drawn unto the great weakning of his
more but to have his Life spared fearfully promising a large ransom for himself and those few which were yet alive with him Howbeit the Vayvod mindful of the manifold Injuries by them done unto him and his Subjects and nothing mitigated or moved with the rich Spoils thrust upon him or the large Promises the Turks had made him commanded all those his Enemies now in Power to be slain every Mothers Son of whom his Souldiers had a wonderful rich spoil although much more was lost in the fire and so giving thanks unto God for the Victory rested with his People a while at quiet Yet within less than a Month after he sent Albertus Kiral his Lieutenant with an Army to Phloch a great open unwalled Town on the farther side of Danubius equally distant from Vrosczok and Nicopolis from whence the Turks oftentimes passing over that frozen River into Valachia had there done great harm which Town not inferiour unto a good City he suddenly surprized and sacked it and put to the Sword all the Inhabitants thereof except such as were before his coming fled And shortly after the more to annoy the Turks marching again over the frozen River to have surprized Hersowa a walled City but one days Journey from Brailoua he was by the way encountred upon the Ice by the Turks whom he there in a great conflict overthrew and having slain many of them and put the rest to flight holding on his intended Journey took that rich City which he rifled and burnt down to the Ground all except the Castle which was yet by the Turks valiantly defended and so with the spoil of the City returned again over the River there to refresh his Souldiers wearied with Labour and the Extremity of the Winter weather And yet not so contented within six days after passing again over the River and having upon the side thereof in a great Battel overthrown the Turks Garrisons took Silistra a great City of Macedonia built by Constantine the Great being the Seat of one of the Turks Sanzacks and well inhabited with rich Merchants which fair City he ransacked and having slain most part of the Inhabitants burnt it down to the Ground as he had the other no less Terror than Grief unto the Turks But whilst the aforesaid Confederation betwixt the Emperour and the Transilvanian Prince was yet in hand and the Troubles in Valachia thus arising Amurath the great Sultan grievously troubled with the Stone and attainted with the falling Sickness his wonted Disease and inwardly also tormented with the late Insolency of the Janizaries and Revolt of the Countries of Transilvania Valachia and Moldavia no small hinderance to the proceeding of his Wars in Hungary as a man both in Soul and Body tormented with great Impatiency and Agony of Mind departed this Life the eighteenth day of Ianuary in the year of our Lord 1595 when he had lived one and fifty or as some say two and fifty years and thereof reigned nineteen At the time of his Death arose such a sudden and terrible Tempest at Constantinople that many thought the World should even presently have been dissolved His dead Body was not long after with great Pomp and Solemnity buried by Mahomet his eldest Son in a Moschy which he himself had before built at Constantinople Christian Princes of the same time with Amurath the Third Emperours of Germany Maximilian the Second 1565. 12. Rodolph the Second 1577. Kings Of England Queen Elizabeth 1558. 45. Of France Charles the Ninth 1560. 14. Henry the Third 1574. 14. Henry the Fourth 1589. Of Scotland James the Sixth 1565. Bishops of Rome Gregory the XIII 1572. 12. Pius the V. 1585. 5. Urban the VII 1590. 12 days Gregory the XIV 1590. 10 months 10 days Innocent the IX 1591. 2 months one day Clement the VIII 1592. ãâ¦ã le virtus non ingens copia rerum ãâã saâiunt magnum non ãâã dextra potens Maximuâât Superunt ãâã qui terriâat Orbem ãâ¦ã âibi gloria tota manat ãâ¦ã alia Sceptra paravit ãâ¦ã maxima quaeque dedit ãâ¦ã multumâe beatus ãâ¦ã terror et ira Dei. ãâ¦ã superbis inani ãâ¦ã miseris numinis ira premat ãâ¦ã magniâni vis SuccuÌbere magnus ãâ¦ã ponderâ pressa ruunt ãâ¦ã âempâra longa 'T is not thy vertue nor thy dread command That makes thee great nor thy victorious hand Ther 's an almighty God who makes thee so From him these glories Achâet on thee flow He in thy infant hands the Scepter plac'd And he thy vigorous youth with honours grac'd Not for thy merittâ he exalted thee But that his Scourge of Vengeance thou shouldst be Boast thou not then of what is not thine owne For he that sett thee up may pull thee downe Be humble in thy most triumphant State For great things sink deprest by their owne weight Nor feed thy self with hopes of endless daies For at Fates Summons thou must goe ãâã waies THE TURKISH HISTORY The Second Uolume Beginning from MAHOMET III. And Continued to this Present Year 1687. THE SIXTH EDITION LONDON Printed for Tho. Basset at the George near St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCLXXXVII Si quid in humanis magnum te reddere possit Quid prohibet magnis nomen inesse âuum Qui subjecta vides tot dissona regna tot urbes Et nulli cedens sceptra superba geris Cum tamen ignores quid sit Sapientia Christi Omnia quae jactas sunt Mahomete nihil If any thing on earth can make man great Great as the greatest art thou Mahomet Who overlookst the World from thy bright Throne And seest the largest part of it thine owne But since the Christian Law thou dost disdeigne Thy labours to be truely Great are all but vaine THE LIFE OF MAHOMET The Third of that Name Seventh Emperour of the Turks year 1595 THE Death of the late great Sultan Amurath was not forthwith made known in the Court but with wonderful secresie concealed not onely for fear of the Ianizaries who in the time of the vacancy of the Empire always do whatsoever pleases themselves but also for that the People having in distrust the fierce Nature of Mahomet Amurath's eldest Son were generally better affected to Amurath the younger Brother a Prince of a more mild spirit and courteous disposition unto whom they in heart wished those stately honours which could by no means without the great wrong and prejudice of his elder Brother and danger of the whole State be given unto him Ten days after came Mahomet in post from Amasia to Constantinople and was there by the great Bassa's and other his mighty Favorites saluted Emperour which done he presently after caused all his Brethren to be invited to a solemn Feast in the Court whereunto they yet ignorant of the death of their Father came cheerfully as men fearing no harm but being come were there all by his commandment most miserably strangled and at once to rid himself of the
great Spirit and yet exceeding proud which was the cause that he was both the less beloved and feared of his Subjects in general but especially of the Janizaries and other his Souldiers and men of War who scorning his loose Government and griev'd to see even the greatest Affairs of his State not only imparted to Women but by them managed and over-ruled also as by his Mother the Sultaness his Wife and others not only rebelled against him but were oftentimes in their Rages about to have deposed him He was altogether given to sensuality and voluptuous pleasure the marks whereof he still carried about with him a foul swoln unwealdy and overgrown Body unfit for any Princely Office or Function and a Mind thereto answerable wholly given over unto Idleness Pleasure and Excess no small means for the shortning of his days which he ended with Obloquy unregarded of his Subjects and but of few or none of them lamented He had Issue four Sons and three Daughters married unto three of the great Bassaes. His first and eldest Son was called Mahomet after his own Name whom he caused to be strangled in his own sight upon suspicion of aspiring to the Empire and conspiring with the Rebels in Asia but afterward finding him guiltless caused his Body to be buried in his own Sepulchre and hanged the Bassa that had misinformed him His second Son died a natural Death being yet very young His third Son was Sultan Achmat who succeeded his Father and came to the Empire by the untimely Death of Mahomet his eldest Brother His fourth Son being then a Youth of about sixteen Years old was carefully kept within the Seraglio with such a strait Guard set over him as that his Name was not to be learned even by a good understanding Friend of mine of late lying above three Months together at Constantinople who most curiously enquired after the same having very good means to have learned it He was reported to have been long since murthered howbeit that he of late lived but looking every day to be by his Brothers cruel Commandment strangled which is accounted but a matter of course and a Death hereditary to all the younger male Children of the Othoman Emperours the Policy for the maintenance of their great Empire entire and whole so requiring His dead Body lieth buried at Constantinople in a fair Chappel of white Marble near unto the most famous and beautiful Church of S. Sophia for that only purpose by himself most sumptuously built about fifty foot square with four high small round Towers about the which are certain small round Galleries of Stone from which the Turkish Priests and Church-men at certain hours use to call the People every day to Church for they use no Bells themselves neither will they suffer the Christians to use any But the top of this Chappel is built round like unto the ancient Temples of the Heathen Gods in Rome In the midst of this Chappel being indeed nothing else but this great Sultan's Sepulchre standeth his Tomb which is nothing else but a great Urn or Coffin of fair white Marble wherein lieth his Body covered with a great covering of the same Stone over it made rising in the midst and stooping on each sidâ not much unlike to the Coffins of the ancient Tombs of the Saxon Kings which are to be seen on the North side of the Quire of S. Paul's Church and in other Places of this Land but that this Coffin of the Great Sultan is much greater and more stately than are those of the Saxon Kings it being above five foot high at the end thereof and by little and little falling toward the feet covered with a rich Hearse of Cloth of Gold down to the ground his Turbant standing at his Head and two exceeding great Candles of white Wax about three or four Yards long standing in great brass or silver Candlesticks gilded the one at his Head the other at his Feet which never burn but there stand for shew only all the Floor of the Chappel being covered with Mats and fair Turky Carpets upon them And round about this his Tomb even in the same Chappel are the like Tombs for his Wives and Children but nothing so great and fair Into this Chappel or any other the Turks Churches or Chappels it is not lawful for either Turk or Christian to enter but first he must put off his Shoes leaving them at the Church or Chappel Gate or carrying them in his hand Near unto this Chappel and the great Temple of Sophia are divers other Chappels of the other great Turks as of Sultan Selim this Man 's Grand father with his seven and thirty Children about him of Sultan Amurath this Man's Father with his five and forty Children entombed about him Anâ in other places not far from them are the Chappels and Sepulchres of the rest of the Great Sultans as of Sultan Mahomet the Great of Sultan Bajazet Sultan Selim the first Sultan Solyman all by these great Mahometan Emperours built whose Names they bear And being all of almost one form and fashion have every one of them a fair Hospital adjoyning unto them wherein a great multitude of poor People are daily still relieved Some others of the great Bassaes have their Chappels and Sepulchres with their great and stately Alms-houses also not much inferiour unto those of the great Sultans as namely Ibrahim Bassa of all the Bassaes that ever were amongst the Turks the most magnificent hath his stately Chappel Sepulchre and Alms-Houses near both in Place and Beauty unto that of Solyman's The Turks bury not at all within their Churches neither are any at all buried within the Walls of the City but the great Turkish Emperours themselves with their Wives and Children about them and some few other of their great Bassaes and those only in Chappels by themselves built for that purpose All the rest of the Turks are buried in the Fields some of the better sort in Tombs of Marble but the rest with Tomb-stones laid upon them or with two great Stones the one set up at the head and the other at the feet of every Grave the greatest part of them being of white Marble brought from the Isle of Marmora They will not bury any man where another hath been buried accounting it Impiety to dig up another man's Bones by reason whereof they cover all the best Ground about the City with such great white Stones which for the infinite number of them are thought sufficient to make another Wall about the City But not to stand longer upon the manner of the Turks Burials leaving this great Sultan to rest with his Ancestors let us now prosecute the course of our History Christian Princes of the same time with Mahomet the Third Emperours of Germany Rodolph the Second 1577. Kings Of England Queen Elizabeth 1558. 47. Of France Henry the Fourth 1589. Of Scotland James the Sixth 1567. Bishops of Rome Clement the
divided the Spoil betwixt them finally That in what sort soever the matter past they held them insupportable to all men but especially to themselves The Turks threatned to take their just Revenge the which being impossible to effect in the Country of the Vscoques for that by the Letters of the Commonwealth of Venice their Passage was stopped they resolved to be revenged upon their Subjects and recover a part of their Goods which they had lost Finally they prepared to come into the Gulph of Venice with a mighty Army the which without doubt had brought that State into great Extremities and been very prejudicial to many Provinces of Christendome But for that the Insolencies and Thefts of the Vscoques had like to have ingaged the Venetians in a dangerous War against the Turk with whom they were in League it shall neither be unpleasant not unprofitable to make a little Digression and shew what these Vscoques were About the Year 1550 there assembled together in certain places near the Sea belonging to the Princes of the House of Austria People who were cruel violent and infamous from divers parts of the Country of Chimâra Dalmatia and the other Confines of Hungary and such as had been banished from the State of Venice whose delight was only to live upon Spoil and Blood. All these Thieves being thus gathered together whom they called by a general Name Vscoques as enemies to all Art and Industry to live honestly by their Labours retired themselves into a desaât Country receiving no Pay from the Princes of Austria who command there Being thus by their natural Inclination given to Spoil adding thereunto the spur of Poverty nothing moved them to stay in those places but all liberty was left them to rob and spoil whereupon they applied all their Minds and Forces so as having made certain light Foists they began to make Courses at Sea with the most barbarous and impious Cruelty that ever was practised amongst the Scythians Tartarians or any other inhumane Nation whatsoever And for that it is an ordinary course for any one that will commit a great Villany to seek out some goodly Pretext to cover it so they concluded among themselves to shadow their Insolencies and Thefts with a colour to go against the Infidels wherefore in the beginning there were no Merchants were they Turks Jews or Subjects to the Turk although they were Christians but if they entred into the Gulf either to traffick or to furnish Venice with Provision and Merchandise they were taken by them their Goods divided amongst them and they forced to pay a great Ransome or to dye miserably All the Ports of the State of Venice both of Istria Dalmatia and the Islands from whence they received their Victuals and Provision were soon after shut up by these Pyrates who not content to spoil the Turks which trafficked no more by reason of their great Dangers and Loss allured by the rich Spoils which they took and the desire they had to encounter them they began to set upon the Venetian Ships forcing the Merchants whom they took to confess by Torments that the Goods belonged to Turks although in effect their chief Booty came from Christians Having drawn many unto them of their own Humours and thinking their Spoils at Sea not sufficient to satisfie their covetous Desires nor the Presents which they were to give to others to be favoured and supported in the Courts of Princes they stayed not long before they entered with all violence into the Turks Country through the Venetian Territory to whom they were as hurtful as to the Turks from whence they carried away rich Spoils and many Prisoners There was nothing that was precious rich or good but was subject to the insatiable greediness of those pittiless Thieves and Pirates if passing by Sea they came near unto the Maritine Coasts Whereupon grew the great Complaint you have heard made by the Turks threatning to be revenged upon the Estate of Venice for the insolency of the Vscoques which afterward bred a cruel War betwixt that State and the Arch-duke Ferdinand of Grets now Emperour who seemed to support them thereby to ingage the State in a War with the Turk But for that the Success thereof doth not belong to our History we will leave it to them that have written it at large On the fifteenth of November this year Sultan Achmat Chan having lived thirty years and governed that great Empire of Turkey fifteen died When he came to the Empire he was but fifteen years old He was of a good Constitution well complexioned and somewhat inclined to be fat strong and active which appeared by his Exercise in casting of a Horse-mans Mace of nine or ten pounds weight wherein he exceeded any one of his Court in memory whereof there are two Pillars set up in one of the Courts of the Seraglio at Constantinople with an Inscription as marks of his Dexterity He was by nature ambitious and proud which some hold qualities befitting his great Estate He was not so cruel as many of his Predecessors but he was much given to Sensuality and Pleasure for the which he entertained three thousand Concubines and Virgins in a Seraglio being the fairest Daughters of the Christians His Mother was a Christian of Bosna or of Cyprus and therefore it is thought he was somewhat favourable to Christians He was much delighted in Hawking and Hunting and namely for Hawking he kept in Grecia and Natolia 40000 Faulkoners who attended his coming and kept his Hawks in their several places of Charge and had good yearly Pensions Neither were his Huntsmen much fewer in number or of less Charge As the Turkish Emperours are bound by the Law of their Religion once every day to practise some manual Trade so Mahomet his Father gave himself to the making of Arrows and Achmat to the fashioning horn Rings such as the Turks wear when they draw their Bows This they do in the morning after they are ready and have said their Prayers then they call for their Exercise but it is only for form for they scarce make an Arrow or a Ring in a whole year Christian Princes at the same time with Achmat. Emperours of Germany Rodolph the Second 1577. 35. Matthias 1612. Kings Of Great Britain King James Of England 1602. Of Scotland 1567. Of France Henry the Fourth 1589. Lewis the Thirteenth 1610. Bishop of Rome Paul the V. 1605. Nought but affliction thundring out of Heaven Makes men on earth to any goodness given Nor longer than she thunders any fear That any heav'n holds any Thunderer So Mustapha while heaven restrain'd his state And held him fetter'd in his brothers hate To vertuous actions did his studies drive Was curteous pious and contemplative But when his brother could no longer live And liberty did to him power give Then pride and tyrannie his horses were And drive him alwaies past heav'ns love or fear Greatness on Goodness
and being come to the foot of the Tower with his Chamber-Fellow he found the Greek Priest attending for them who told him that he had charge from Martine to conduct them to a certain Cave which was in a great Rock a League from thence where they must remain all the day and that in the Evening he would not fail to come unto them and bring them Habits like unto his own that being so disguised he might conduct them to his Lodging in Constantinople and there conceal them as long as they should think fit This Device pleased them well and so they went all three unto the said Cave whereas the two Cameradoes hid themselves and the Priest returned to his House At the break of day it being the three and twentieth of November 1617 some of the Guards entering the Prisoners Chamber saw that they were escaped and found the Ladder of Ropes which they had used tied to the Window whereat they were much amazed knowing well that they should smart for it notwithstanding he who had charge of the Prisons sent speedily to Constantinople to give notice of their Escapes As soon as this was known they sent Posts speedily to all parts to make inquiry of these Fugitives especially at the ports and passages giving them special charge to observe all men that passed if there were not one who had the little finger of his right hand shrunk up as Prince Coresky had by a Wound which he had received Within few days after the Turk seised upon the Servants of the Baron of Sancy or Mole Ambassador for the French torturing two of them after their manner which is to lay the Party upon a Table on his Belly and to give him three or four hundred blows with a staff upon the soles of their Feet the calves of their Legs and their Buttocks yet could they not make them say any thing that might charge their Master as these Turkish Tormentors did hope Not content herewith they did as much to a poor Turk who was a Weaver by his Trade and dwelt near unto the Ambassador thinking to force him by this cruel torture to depose falsly that he had seen the Secretary Martine going and coming to his Master's Lodging untill the time of the Prisoner's Escape but God would not suffer the Weaver to depose any thing but the Truth notwithstanding all the miserable and cruel Torments which he had suffered The which is worthy the Observation for that the Turks do generally hate Christians mortally and do greatly rejoyce at their Disasters As for the Guards of the Towers some of them were empailed and some were pounded or beaten to pieces in great Mortars of Iron wherein they do usually pound their Rice to reduce it to Meal Three days after the Chiaus Bassa had charge to seise upon the Person of the French Ambassador the which he performed very severely and uncivilly without any respect unto his quality Having taken him the said Chiaus led him unto the Visier's House where having been examined upon many Circumstances touching the Escape of Prince Coresky they left him as a Prisoner in the hands of the said Chiaus where he continued for the space of three days during the which the said Ambassador desiring to write to some of his Friends and also to speak with the Mufti which is the Turks High-priest to acquaint him with his just grievances he could not obtain leave but by giving two thousand Crowns unto his Jaylor True it is that this Present made the Chiaus tell the Ambassador that if he would obtain any favour from the Mufti he must procure it by Money according to which Advice he gave three or four thousand Crowns whereupon the Mufti became tractable acquainting the Grand Seignior Mustapha with the Ambassador's just Complaints and of what Importance his Detention was seeing there was nothing found to charge him That he had favoured the Escape of Prince Coresky as it was suspected and that his Secretary who had practised it for his own private profit had left his Master above ten or twelve days before the said Escape with an intent as he said to return into France Finally That all the World would tax him to have violated the Law of Nations and that no Christian Prince nor other would hereafter put any confidence in him and it was to be feared that they would all joyn together and make War against him and in truth the Ambassadors both the King of England's and the Low Countries were much discontented at this unworthy usage of the French protesting openly That if he were not speedily fet at liberty they would retire themselves into their Countries All which Considerations represented by the Mufti moved the Grand Seignior to command that the said Baron of Mole or Sancy should be sent back to his House without any farther Displeasure But all this could not free his Houshold Servants from their Imprisonment but he was forced to pay two or three and twenty thousand Crowns for their Redemption for else they should have been so tormented as their Lives had been in danger for so they were threatned Soon after the Grand Visier hearing of the tyrannous Government of Sultan Mustapha returned from Persia with his whole Army towards Constantinople where he forced him to leave the Empire and to retire to his Cell having reigned but two months and some odd days But to return to Prince Coresky whom we left with Captain Rigaut in the Lodging of the Greek Priest at Constantinople whereas they lay hidden for the space of two Months untill that their good Host got leave from the Patriarch of Alexandria as well for himself as for two others who he said were of his Society to go and confine themselves in the Desarts of the Archipelagus with many Hermits which lived there after the manner of the ancient Anchorites Having gotten this leave and pasport they embarqued being disguised like Priests and arrived at Etchut where they found an English Ship ready to set sail for Messina in Cicily from whence he went by Land to Naples where he made himself known to the King of Poland's Ambassador who was wonderful glad of his Liberty leading him to the Duke of Ossuna then Viceroy of Naples who furnished him with all things necessary and a good Convoy to go to Rome where the Pope received singular content to see him and to hear of his strange Adventures From thence he past to Vienna where the Emperour entertained him according to his merits after which he retired to his own house full of Honour gotten by his Valour and Constancy in his Afflictions Our Ambassador that was lately in Constantinople saith he escaped by the black Sea and so into Polonia Osman thy gentle nature far declin'd From Turkish tyranny and pride of mind Which made heaven raise thee and extirpat them The proud Usurpers of thy Diadem O! would all Princes when their States are blest With power and empire
that we soon struck our Top Mast boared our main Yard and so fished the Mast it self where it was defective that with the help of our fore-Sail and the benefit of better Weather we safely arrived on the Thirty first in the Port of Lisbon The Match being then in Treaty between Charles the Second our Dread Soveraign and Catherine the Infanta of Portugal now our gracious Queen all the concernments of England were extreamly acceptable to the Court of Portugal and particularly the Person of the Earl of Winchelsea a Peer of England qualified with the Character of Ambassadour Extraordinary to the Ottomon Port. For at our first arrival there I being then Secretary to the said Earl was employed to carry a Letter to the King which was received by the Councel of State then sitting After the Letter had been read and considered I was called in and an answer given me by the Marquis de Nissa and D. Gasper Faria de Sevarin then Secretary of State to this purpose That they were glad so grateful an opportunity presented whereby they might Demonstrate their warm and real affections towards the King of England by serving his Ambassadour in so necessary a piece of Service as that which was required That Orders were given to furnish the Ship with a Mast and what she wanted out of the Kings Stores and that both his Excellency and Lady with all their Retinue should be welcomed a shore with due regard to their Quality and Condition The Day following his Excellency was complemented from the King by a Maestro de Campo sent to him on Ship-board and being come ashoar and lodged at the House of Mr. Maynard the English Consul he was visited by D. Francisco de Melo who had before and was afterwards employed Ambassadour into England and by D. Antonio de Saousa and others After Eight days his Excellency had Audience of the King and the Queen Mother and was received by both with many demonstrations of a hearty desire to contract a firm Alliance with England He was afterwards invited by the Conde de Odemira Governour of the young King and Chief Minister of Portugal to a Quinta or Garden-house at Bellain where were present the Duke of Calaval the Visconde de Castel Blanco and D. Francisco de Melo the entertainment was very splendid with variety of Dishes and Wine corresponding rather with the inordinate Tables of English than with the frugality and temperate Diet of Spaniards Our Ship being in this interim refitted we returned aboard on the Twelfth of November the Earl of Winchelsea being presented by the King with several Hampers of sweet-Meats Vessels of Wine and other Provisions for his Voyage and his Lady by the Queen Mother with a Jewel of considerable value and with diverse boxes filled with Purses of perfumed Leather and Amber Comfits On the Thirteenth we set Sail being design'd by Order of his Majesty for Algier to settle a Peace with that unsetled People where arriving on the Tewenty second day about Three a Clock in the Afternoon we came to an Anchor about Two Miles distant from the Town which we saluted with Twenty one Guns but received none again in answer thereunto it being the custome of that People not to acknowledge Civilities but to repay injuries and not requite benefits We found that they had already begun to break the Peace Having brought in thither an English Ship which lay between hope and fear of freedom or seizure So soon as we had dropt our Anchors a Boat came from that Ship acquainting us of the State of Algier and how near Matters were to a Rupture with them by this Boat my Lord Ambassadour sent a Letter to the Consul appointing him to come aboard who the next Day being the Twenty third appeared accordingly to whom his Excellency imparted the Instructions and Orders from his Majesty to renew the Peace on the former Articles and particularly to insert a Caution That the Algerines should on no terms search our Ships but that the Passengers and goods thereon whether of English or Strangers should be free and exempted from all seizure and Pyracy whatsoever I being appointed to assist the Consul in this Treaty accompanied him ashoar and in the first place we applyed our selves to Ramadam Bullock-bashee then the Chief of their Divan and Head of their Government whom we acquainted that on the Ship in the road was an Earl of England sent Ambassadour by his Majesty our King to the Grand Signor and in his way thither was appointed to touch at Algier and to inform the Government of that place of the happy Restoration of his Majesty to the Throne of his Father and to confirm the same Peace which was before concluded with usurped Powers and so delivered him the Letters from his Majesty which were superscribed in this manner To their Excellencies the Aga Iiabashees and rest of the Honourable Council of State and War in the City and Kingdom of Algier Ramadam answered us that he was well satisfied with the Proposal that there was a Peace already with the English and that they were Brothers that the next Day was appointed for a general Divan of great and small at which we might freely open our breasts and declare whatsoever was committed to us by our King and his Ambassadour But for the better understanding of the State of Algier at this time we must observe that for many years before this government was composed of a Divan the Chief and Head whereof was a Pasha sent every Three years to preside there and had so continued until that some few Months before this time one Halil a poor Fellow who had no better Estate than the Sixteenth part of a Vessel but bold and desperate complained one Day in open Divan against the Pasha accusing him of many miscarriages with which he so affected the Divan that he rudely threw him from his Seat drubbed him trampled on him and plucked the Hairs out of his Beard which is the greatest mark of ignominy and contempt that any Person can offer to another and having committed him to Prison and Chains he with the Divan took upon himself the unlimited Power of an Arbitrary Government And thus for the space of Six or Eight Months this Miscreant tyrannized and ruled without controul Until an obscure and contemptible Moor an ordinary Jerbin or Countryman instigated as was supposed by the Aga or General of the Souldiery approaching near him in the Streets under pretence of kissing his Vest struck him with a long Knife between the Ribs which boldness of the Moor so astonished the Attendants which were about him that none had power to lay hands on the Murderer but suffered him to depart and fly unpursued Of this wound Halil dyed in Two days in which time he nominated Ramadam his Kinsman to be the most proper and fit Person to succed him in the Government and this recommendation so prevailed on the Divan that he was elected
use of it to the destruction of all such who might either endanger his Prince or himself that in two or three Years time he became Master of the Lives and Estates of the Grand Muâiniers confiscating their richess and fortunes to the use and security of his Master having in his time put to Death thirây six thousand persons whom he proscribed in several Countries and privately strangled in the City by vertue of his absolute and uncontroulable Authority without giving the Offenders liberty of Processes or Pleas for their Lives or the solemnity of Scaffolds or applause of a Funeral Oration at the Gallows whereby to win the affections and compassions of the vulgar but went through with his bloody and tragical business without noise or rumour or knowledge almost of the Souldiery or the people whilst the great Personages whose rapine and pride had contracted them envy and hatred from their inferiours stood confused and amazed not having power to rebel nor Sanctuary to fly unto Such is the effect of an absolute and arbitrary power which is Master of times and affairs and rather fits and squares Enterprizes to Counsels than Counsels to Enterprizes Reges Hercule non liberi solum impedimentis omnibus sed Domini rerum temporumque trahunt Consiliis cuncta non sequuntur Liv. lib. 9. The Grand Signior in the mean time applauded the diligence and circumspection of his Minister and though yet trembling with the memory of late sollevations amongst the Janizaries yet being young and active addicted himself wholly to the delight of Hunting and to follow the Chace of fearful and flying Beasts whilst his Vizier so closely follow'd his game of Bloud that he left noPerson considerable in the Empire who was not a Creature made by or depending on him unless the Kahyabei or Lieutenant General of the Janizaries Mortaza Pasha of Babylon now called by the Turks Bagdat and the Pasha of Magnasia Men whose bravery and generous Justice or else their Guards or Fortune had only seated beyond the reach and Sword of this Tyrant This was then the State of the Turkish Affairs amongst themselves As to Foreign and Christian Princes the Emperor the King of England the French King and the States of Holland had their Embassadors and Residents at the Ottoman Court with whom as yet passed a fair and amicable correspondence excepting with the French whose Embassadour had then lately obtained his release from Imprisonment to which he was confined contrary to the Law of Nations and the Custom of the wisest and most generous People of former Ages and compelled to return into France an Agent being there setled by the Merchants to Negotiate their Affairs the occasions and grounds whereof we have at large signified in another place which unlawful treatment of a Person Sacred none will much admire who considers the humour of supream Ministers that judge themselves under no restraint or limits of Law either Civil or National This Embassador from France was call'd Monsieur le Haye the Father a Person excellently well qualisi'd having with success pass'd in that capacity for the space of 25 years until some misunderstandings passing between him and this Tyrannical Vizier he suffered many indignities from him which being added to the extream torment of the Stone under which he laboured made him willing on any terms to return to his own Counrâey The Venetians notwithstanding the War had two Ministers there resident the Eâcellentissimo Capello Procurator of St. Mark a right worthy and noble Person and Signior Ballarino a Person vigilant and subtle who omitted no opportunities to advance his own Fortunes and with that the benefit of his Republâck The Emperors Resident called Simon Renninghen a Person sincere free and open hearted agreeable to the Nature of the Germans had for some Years tho with some difficulty continued the Peace or rather matters from breaking out into an open War the Incursions on the Frontiers and other accidents always adminstring occasions of discontent and complaints to both parties But that the Series of this History may be continud with an even Thread and clear light to the Reader we must cast back our Eyes to the Year 1657. when the Ambition of George Ragotzki Prince of Transilvania began New troubles in his own Principality and laid the Foundation of a future War between the Emperor and the Turks For now Poland was so wearied with the incessant Wars of Muscovy the inveterate Enemy of that Crown with the frequent Rebellions of the Cossacks and the invasion of the Swedes whom the traiterous Vice-Chancellour and his Adherents had invited to the spoils of their own Countrey that King Casimirus was reduced to the ultimate extremity of his Affairs the publick Exchequer and private Treasuries were exhausted the Villages dispeopled the Fields uncultivated Traffick and Commerce ceased nothing but Wars Robberies and Confusion filled the Diurnals with News and the hearts of the Inhabitants with Sorrow and Calamities Wherefore Casimer King of Poland vexed on all sides and not knowing where or how to apply a remedy dispatched his Great Chancellor Albertus Pravesmoski in Quality of Embassador to demand assistance from Ragotzki promising in recompence thereof to adopt his Son to succeed him in that Kingdom No Message could arrive more grateful to ambitious Ragotzki who by so desired a proffer seemed to arrive to the Zenith of his Prosperity which like the Land of Promise being only shewed to his Father in a long Prospective seemed now as it were by Inheritance to devolve upon his Son in order unto which many days of Treaty and Conferences were held between Ragotzki and the Polish Ministers but Ragotzki insisting on certain particulars which were not in the Power of the King or his Commissioners to grant without the approbation of a Diet the Treaty was dissolved and Ragotzki remained displeased and angry pretending himself to have been deluded and slighted resolved to avenge the Affront and by his Arms gain to himself the Crown of that Kingdom so that raising a strong Army and joining himself in a Confederate League with Sweden he invaded Poland wasting all the Frontiers with Fire and Sword. The Ottoman Port growing jealous of the successes of these Affairs and not so much of the Advance of Ragotzki as of the growing greatness of the Swedes with whom unwillingly they would be Borderers issued an express Command That without contradiction or delay he should immediately give a stop to his March and return with his Army into Transilvania And though the Emperor of Germany and the Krim Tartar declared their dislâke of his proceedings threatning to invade his Principality at home unless he retracted himself and desisted from this enterprize yet Ragotski having his understanding blinded with Ambition and the lust of Rule and Government stopped his ears to the menaces of his Enemies and the counsel of his Friends This Ragotski enjoyed a State most happy large fertile and populous in Power inferior to few superior to
gains which rendred him the more liable and obnoxious to the stroke of Justice His Goods were now seised on for service of the Sultan his Master as justly confiscated for Treason his Estate was found to amount unto three Millions of Pieces of Eight in ready Money he had sixteen hundred Camels four Hundred Mules Six hundred Horses of the best sort besides ordinary Horses of service proportionable to those of value In his Chests and Stores were found Four thousand Girdles or Sashes of the best sort of Silver never worn Seven and twenty pounds weight of Pearl three hundred Daggers or Turkish Hanjars most set with Diamonds and Rubies besides Ninety Sable Vests each whereof migât be valued at a Thousand Dollars his Swords and rich Furniture were without number or account with a Cart-Load of the best and finest China over and above all thiâ remained to his Son a Revenue of about Ten pounds Sterling a day who being condemned to the torture to confess the hidden Riches of his Father at his first examination discovered One hundred and twenty five thousand Zaichins of Venetian Gold. Of an Avania brought upon the Dutch Nation BEfore we proceed on with the Relation of the War in Hungary where we for a time shall leave the Great Vizier it will not be from our purpose âo digress a little in recounting certain intermediaâe Accidents which had reference to our own and the Dutch Nations Interest at the Ottoman Court. And first I shall begin with the Dutch to whom a considerable trouble and misfortune beâel by means of a Ship of theirs called the Emperor Octaviano which designing to lade Turks Goods at Alexandria for Constantinople had her Licence and Dispatches obtained by means of the Holland Resident the Sieur Warnero This Ship being accordingly laden at Alexandria whereon also the Grand Signior himself had Thirty thousand Dollars Interest and being ready to depart was near the Port surprized by the Venetian and Maltese Corsairs and so taken This News was posted over land from Grand Cairo and the Cargo sent of the Goods importing Fourscore and âour thousand Dollars which in the Month of âane arrived at Constantinople The persons interested in this loss being many in the nature of a Tumult applied themselves to the Grand Signior and demanded sentence against the Dutch Resident for reparation alledging that he had recommended the Ship and Commander who had combined with the Corsairs to surprize him and that the Resident had engaged for the faithfulness of the Captain who had betrayed their Goods not endeavouring to defend himself so much as by the shot of one Musket The Grand Signior being likewise concerned herein himself was easily perswaded to grant his Order and Sentence That the loss of all should concern the Dutch Resident and his Nation requiring the Chimacam of Constantinople to summon the Resident and intimate his pleasure therein exacting a time limited for the payment The Resident being called to several Audiences thereupon denied to have had any hand in the employment of this Ship on the this Voyage and that their Capitulations to which the Grand Signior had sworn acquitted him from being responsible for the misdemeanors of any of his Nation for whose fidelity and good behavivour he had never personally engaged and thereupon positively refused to make himself liable for payment of this Money to which he was neither obliged by the Law of Nations nor his own private Act. Notwithstanding which the Turks sentenced the Resident to be liable to make satisfaction in regard that when the Ship was first freighted he appeared before the Chimacam at Constantinople and being asked whether the Commander of this Ship was an honest man and one who might be intrusted with such a concernment of the Turks his Answer was That he believed he might and that he was always esteemed faithful and honest to his Trust which in the Turkish Law amounting to as much as if he had said he would become his security the Grand Signior confirmed the former sentence against the Resident and with haste and fury dispatched a Kapugibashee to bring his Person to Adrianople where being arrived and continuing as yet constant to his first Answer was committed to custody of the Chaousbashee or Chief of the Pursuivants where they gave him time until after the Feast of the little Biram to consult his own good and security of his Nation within the Turkish Dominions The Feast was no sooner ended but the Grand Signior sent immediately to know his ultimate resolution declaring That if he continued still obstinate against his Power he had commanded that he should be committed to that Dungeon which had some few years before been the Lodging of other Christian Ministers The Resident terrified at the thoughts of such an Imprisonment declined from his âormer constancy ingaging to pay the Money in an Hundred and five days time for no longer would be granted so violent and unreasonable the Turks were in their demands against the Law of Nations the particular Capitulations and the common reason and justice of the World. This Money was for the most part taken up by the Dutch Nation in Turky at Interest and afterwards the debt extinguished by Money lent them by the States for payment of which a particular Imposition was granted on all Goods brought from Turky until the Debt to them was cleared with an Interest of one per cent for the year By which it may be observed how little are esteemed the Persons of Christian Representatives in the Turkish Court who having proved with what tameness some Princes have taken the affronts offered to the Person of their Ambassador in former times and now observing with what patience the States of Holland have sustained the like insolence and injury in their Resident they may possibly profess their Function sacred but yet in matters of their own interest will never be induced to vouchsafe them that respect or just treatment which is due to them In what state the Affairs of England in reference to the Turkish Court stood about this time with Algier and other Parts of Barbary IN the preceding year we declared how a Peace was concluded between England and Algier For better confirmation whereof and security of our Merchants Estates in the Levant upon occasion of a future breach it was judged necessary by His Majesties Council That the respective Articles last made and concluded with Algier Tunis and Tripoli should be distinctly described and ratified by the Grand Signior with this Clauâe at the Conclusion of each viz. That in case âhe foregoing Articles were not kept by these his Subjects respectively but should contrary to the meaning thereof through Piracy be broken that then it should be lawful for the King of England to chastise those People by his own ârms and Force without Impeachment or Breach of that good Peace and Amity which Intervenes between His Majesty of Great Britain and the Ottoman Emperor And this was supposed might
Rain the Turks call these People Euruchs and are Shepherds who with theiâ Wives Children and Cattel Live and Inhabit where they most delight or like the Shepherds of Ancient days remove their dwellings to those Places where they find most plenty of Water and Pasture Amongst these Cots so soon as I alighted ârom my Horâe I was received and saluted by the Aga or Chief with great Humanity and Kindness for so soon as he understood who I was and that I was imploied in publick Affairs he presently placed me under some neighbouring Trees and called for Carpets and Cushions to sit on which were more Fine and Rich than agreed with the outward appearance of Men wholly unaccustomed to a City-life After some Discourse had with me which I remember to have been very Courteous and Inquisitive of my Condition and Business he provided Provender for our Horses and in a short time ordered Bread and Eggs to be brought for to stay my Stomach supposing that hard Travels had sharpened my Appetite About an hour after that he invited all my Company and then we fed very plentifully of several Dishes which the good Houswives had dressed within the Precincts of their poor Tents whilst the Shepherds had in the Field killed a fat Kid and were then roasting it whole at the fuel of a Tree which they had fell'd this Roast meat they cut into quarters and with Bread and Salt put it into a Linen-cloth delivering it to one of my Servants for our Breakfast the next morning Having thus well refreshed my self with the Charity of these good Shepherds I arose with the Moon about eleven a Clock at Night but before my Departure I demanded what I had to pay to which the generous Shepherd replied That my Acceptance was a sufficient Payment for that all Men were obliged to be Civil and Hospitable to Men who travelled the World like me for publick Service and withal desired me to speak well wheresoever I came of such poor Men who led their Lives in the Fields wâo were instructed in these Principles viz. to hurt none and to be humane and helpful to all Mankind In a few days after my Arrival at Smyrna I imbaâked on the Bonaventure Frigat Commanded by Capt. Berkeley afterwards Sir William Berkeley and shaping our course first for Tripoli in Barbary we came to Anchor before the Town the 29 th and immediately going ashore we were conducted to the Presence of the Pasha of that Country whom I acquainted with the occasion of this Address delivering into his hands two Copies of the late Treaty of Peace one confirmed by the Hand and Seal of His Majesty our Gracious Soveraign and the other of the Sultan both which he received with singular Respect and Reverence promising to maintain the Peace sacred and inviolable and so being dismissed fairly from him we speedily repaired on Board and setting Sail again that Night with a prosperous Gale we anchored in the Bay of Tunis on the second of September and the next day being landed we in the first place made our Addresses to the Dey who bears the Office of Prince or Governor in chief tho in the Arabian Language the word signifies as much as Uncle to whom I tendred the Confirmations of Peace in the same form and manner as before at Tripoli the Dây received them with Respect and Honour promising to continue the Peace that part which was from our King he received himself but that which was from the Grand Signior he advised me to deliver to the Pasha for coming from his Master it might more nearly concern him than any other the Pasha having seen and read the Hattesheriff returned it again to the Dey to be placed amongst the Records and Registers of the Divan and so making a Visit to all the great Men in Power giving them notice of our Business that so none might take Exceptions or judg themselves neglected for want of Addresses we the same Night departed from Tunis and proceeded forward in our Voyage to Algier But before we arrive there I have time to acquaint the Reader of the Pestilential Fever which then affected our whole Ship. When we departed from Smyrna we had fourteen Sick of the Autumnal Distemper but before ten Days we had ninety five out of a hundred and sixty Men which lay Sick on their Beds and Hamocks and we feared so general a Weakness that we should not have had Strength sufficient to have Sailed our Ship for I think there was scarce any amongst us in perfect Health But God shewed his Strength in our Weakness so that in ten Days having buried nine of our Men he was pleased with the change of our Climate to renew our Health and in Answer to our Prayers as it were by a Miracle to restore us to all the Health and Strength and Comfort that we could desire At Algier that Den of Thieves and Harbour of Faithless Men and all Impiety we arrived the 10 th of September where immediately with assistance of the Consul we designed to render the Confirmations of the Peace unto the Divan then the supreme and Absolute Power But whilst we imagined the Peace firm and improbable that those Articles which were concluded and agreed but the last Year should so easily and soon be forgotten we found the Scene of Affairs greatly altered and fears of an unexpected Rupture for the Ships of Algier roving in the Seas had lately sent in nine small English Vessels without a Pass from the Duke of York for want of which they pretended by a new Agreement they ought to be prize of which six by means of the Consul being released three only remained under Detention at our Arrival when immediately we applied our selves to Shaban Aga a Spanish Renegado then Cape or Chief of their confused Divan to him we first disclosed the import of our Message and shewed the Confirmations of our Peace subscribed by the King of England and the Grand Signior After he had read them a Divan was called and the Confirmations openly published at which time it was assented and agreed that the Articles ought to be maintained and the Peace continued but to have this established by firm Authority it was farther referred to the Great Divan which is a Grand Assembly of the People who usually meet together every Saturday of the Week In the mean time having had an Acquaintance formerly with the Pasha of this Place sent hither by the Grand Signior we were desirous to make him a Visit the better to discover in what nature they Honour and own the Ottoman Port but before we could be admitted to his Presence we were obliged to demand License of the Divan which they granted with some unwillingness and with the cautâon of two or three Witnesses of our Discourse ãâã were scarce welcomed into the Room and the usual Salutations passed before we were interrupted by the Officers and not suffered to proceed so little esteem they made of the
Pasha to whom notwitstanding they allowed twelve thousand Dollars a Year for his Maintenance so as to carry the fair and specious outside at the Ottoman Court of receiving a Pasha from thence but were so far from permitting him to intermeddle in the Government that they confined him like a Prisoner not suffering him to stir Abroad without Permission and Consent of the Livan and that very seldom tho he often pleaded his Health was much impaired by his Restraint and craved Enlargement rather for necessity than his Pleasure The Day of the great Divans Assembly being come the Confirmations of the Peace was again read and well approved and so laid up in the Repository of their Writings and promise made us for Releasement of our Ships But let us now observe the levity and unsteadiness of this popular Government for being the day following appointed to receive our dispatches and discharge of the three Ships there arose unexpectedly at the Divan certain Scruples and Jealousies amongst them which immediately quashed all our Negotiations and instead of confirming the Peace produced a War. For the Divan being met they were afraid to release the Ships lest the Soldiers who had sent them in being then abroad should call them to question for it at their return and not to release them might be an occasion of a War which not succeeding according to their desire the causeâs thereof might be called into question and punished for it of which still remained the fresh memory of late Examples In this Dilemma of their Affairs they resolved to make the Act herein to be of general and publick Assent and to that end they Assembled a Grand Divan calling the Captains of Ships and Gallies then in Port unto their Council who without Hesitation or questioning other Matters declared that the three English Ships were lawful Prize and that it was no longer requisite to maintain the second Article of freeing Strangers Goods on English Vessels it neither being the design nor interest of Algier to benefit all Christendom by their Peace with England this Sentence was followed by the whole Rabble of the Divan with cry and noise to which the wiser sort notwithstanding our Plea and Reasons to the contrary which laâted for full two hours were forced to condescend and concur in the same Vote Howsoever by Importunity and something of the force of Reason which in the most blind and obscure minds of Men hath something of forcible Violence we obtained the release of the three Ships upon discharge of the Strangers Goods and payment of their Freight But the second Article of Peace forbidding the search of English Ships for Strangers Estates or their Persons was declared null and no longer to be maintained nor the Peace likewise unless His Majesty would accept it upon that Condition to which end they wrote this following Letter The Letter of the Government of Algier to His Majesty GReat and Christian Prince King of England After Health and Peace c. Since we have made Peace with You unto this day there have nâ Injuries nor Damages been offered by Vs. Your Ships that have been as Prizes for Your sake we have let free not offering them the least Injury nâr diminishing any thing from them in the least until such time as Your Consul gave Vs Couâter-passes that what Ships were found with them to be let free and those that are without them to be brought in And we have found divers without them which for Friendship sake which is between Vs We have let go free Now from henceforth if that we find any of our Enemies Goods or Men in Your Ships we shall take the Goods and Men paying the Freight to their Port. And we shall desire yâu as soon as you shall receive this our Letter that you will send your answer hereunto for we shall think it long until we receive it from You and for the future what Ships shall be brought in without a Pass-port we shall take them and detain them here until such time as we have an answer from You which pray send without delay The end of the Month Sefar 1074. which was then in the Month of September 1663. In this manner a second War broke forth in the space of two Years by which a Person may judg of the inconstancy and unsteady humour of this People who but three days before gave us all the evidence of fair Correspondence and Friendship and it is probable that when they entered the Divan they came not with Resolutions or Thoughts of War however accidents and occasional Discourses each with other following the cry and humour of some rude Savage Person which leads the rest carried all things with Violence towards a Breach So that by what preceded and from these following Reasons it may be concluded impossible to maintain a firm and lasting Peace with this People First Because these People are composed of the worst Sort or Scum of the Turks and worst of Christians which are Renegadoes who have renounced God and their Country and a Generation of People who have no Religion nor Honour Peace cannot be longer expected or maintained than fear or interest enjoins them to compliance Secondly The Government of Algier being popular and in the hands of a vile Commonalty who are ignorant Persons guided by no Rules or Principales unsteady in all their Councils not resolving or consulting any thing before they enter the Divan do commonly follow that Resolution which they perceive to be carried on with the greatest noise and therefore are a People not capable of Peace or Friendship Thirdly This irrational Commonalty is over-awed by a heady Soldiery who are only then affrighted into a Peace whilst a stronger force compels them into good Manners But when that Power and Punishment is withdrawn they again harden their hearts like Pharaoh and then when the Temptation of rich Merchant-men presents it self their natural Inclination to Piracy returns and their Covetousness again prevails and then they curse the Peace and the makers of it and without remorse break their Articles and their Faith having neither Honour nor Conscience to restrain them Wherefore unless the Heads of the chief Cauâers of the War be given in satisfaction or Money paid for the expence and Hostages given for security of it it can never be expected that a lasting Peace should be maintained with this People the proof of which hath been mâde appear by the sequel of affairs and by those Wars which have ensued since this time And nâw let us return to the Wars in Hungary and âecome Spectators of those Transactions which were âhen the general concernment of the Eastern and Western World. The Proceedings of the War in HUNGARY WE lest the Grand Vizier on his March towards the parts of Hungary with an Army as computed to consist of Eighty Thousand fighting men and of about Seventy Thousand designed for Pioniers and other necessary services of the Army In this march the Vizier
began to move the prosecution of the War in Candia desiring to obtain the glory of subjâcting totally that Island which for the space of Twenty five years had been the principal subject of the Ottoman design and exercise and acquire to himself the Fame in History of being Conquerour of Candia and Concluder of the Venetian War. Wherefore the Vizier with several other principal Persons assembled in a Garden near the City of Adrianople sent for the Signior Ballarino Representative for the Republik of Venice where being come at the first word demanded of him the Surrender of the whole Island of Candia To which he modestly replied That so great a gift was not in his power to give and that his office was only to be assistant to that happy hour wherein all matters might concur towards Peace and that his Mediation might contribute towards a conclusion of this long and tedious War. In the mean time he should acquaint his Prince with the demand the Vizier was pleased to make To which the Turks added menaces with high and insolent words designing to bend their whole force and power against Candia the effect of which will hereafter be a material subject of our History And thus much to my best remembrance I received from the mouth of that Venetian Minister In the mean time the Grand âignior though he continued his Sports and Hunting without regard to the violent heats of the Summer yet he began to entertain something more of warm affection towards his Women and to be reconciled to that Sex in contemplation of hiâ little Son who beginning now to play and prattle afforded him matter of entertainment in the Apartments of his Women so that he affectionately doting on his Queen gave order for increase of her Revenue and Attendance and appointed the best Artisans of Adrianople to make her a Crown studded with very precious Stones to adorn her Head of which he was so impatient that he ordered the Goldsmiths to work in the Seraglio permitting them scarce time to eat or sleep until it was finished In recompence of which aâfection of her Sultan this Lady so corresponded that she appeared passionately in love practising certain pretty tricks of swooning and of an uneasie condition in his absence which so endeared him in all respects to her that it was said the Sultan kept himself constant to this Queen only and contrary to the custom oâ other Emperors and permission of the Turkish Laws made use of the multitude of his other Women only for Slaves or Attendants to the greater state and adoration of his beloved Queen And now the Grand Signior at the perswasion of the Vizier and others of his Council resolving to winter at Constantinâple certain Women of the lower rank were diâpatched before as fore-runners of the removal of the Court And being in the Seraglio at large without observance and awe of their usual Spies two of the boldest Wenches finding a Cradle wherein the Royal Infants were usually laid adventured to pick out the best Jewels of which some were very good Stones and afterwards laid it up again in a private place where it was not easily found Not many days after the Queen-Mother wanting the Cradle of so much value and antiquity where many of the young Sultans had lain sent to the Seraglio at Constantinople to fetch it thence But it not being found inquisition was made into all secret corners the Wardrobes were searched but nothing appear'd to the great fear of those to whose care it was committed one accusing the other to acquit himself In fine the matter was so traced that some whispers there were concerning ãâã in whose hands the Cradle not long ãâã was seen to remain The Women having ãâã consciences were amazed in being so closeââââllâwed and fearing the matter should be ãâã diâcovered entred into consultation what course they should take to save their lives and their honour In fine they both concluded thââ in such an extremity desperate remedies ought to be used than which none was better than to set âiâe to the âeraglio by which means either the thing sought for would be esteemed for burnt and consumed by the fire or in so great a loss it mâghâ be hoped that matters of smaller moment wââld not be remembred Wherefore the bold Wenches without other consideration gave fire wiâh their Candle to the roof of Cedâr of which wood most of the Womens rooms in the Seraglio are made which in a moment made such a flâme as with the help of a little wind was carried through all the quarters of the Womens Aparâments and thence took its way to the ãâã Châmber and other considerable parts of the Court where many Records and Registers of Law were consâmed to afâes together with one of the lesser Treasuries where much richess which endured not the test of âire perished And the whole Seâagâio had run an evident hazard ãâ¦ã the Bââtângâes and other Servants of the Court ventured far into the slames in which many of tâem miserably perished The fire being quenched and the Women afterwards I know not how detected to have been the Autâors thereof were sent to Adrianople and being âheâe accused were strangled by the immediate ãâ¦ã the Grand Signior ãâã the destruction of that considerable part ãâ¦ã Seraglio was no impediment to the Grand ãâã return to Constantinople being rebuilt ãâã that speed and industry equal or excelling ãâã mâânificence of the former that the day ãâ¦ã the Journey thither was not prolonged ãâ¦ã âheâeof Howâoever the Grand ãâã aversion to the place made the wheels of ãâ¦ã move sâow and the quickness of his ãâã grew slack and cold observing so ãâ¦ã pleasure in their Emperor to the place ãâã For though he was pressed by the Vizier to ãâ¦ã and could not handsomly refuse ãâ¦ã with the time appointed yet to defer ãâã resolution as long as was possible he contriv'd a âong way of Meander towards Constantinople forming his Journey in Company with the Great Vizâer by way of the Dardanelli upon the Hellespont on pâeteâce of viewing the Fortifications of the new ãâã raâsed at the entrance of that Streight and seâding some Provisions ârom thence for Relief ãâ¦ã wherefore the Captain-Pasha was ãâã to âea with three Gallies and at ãâ¦ã to attend the Grand Signiors arrival ãâ¦ã him thence to the Castles and ãâ¦ã And tâe design being now resolved ãâ¦ã the VVar in Candia for ãâ¦ã a numerous Army it was concludâd That the Captain-Pasha should propose to the ãâ¦ã âhe Grand Signiors desire of ãâ¦ã with consent of our King ãâ¦ã paying what reasonable Raâes should âe demanded But the Earl of ãâã then Loâd ãâã modeââly replied Thât âhough âis Majeâây of England did always enterââin a good affection and a zealous disposition ãâã the âffâirs of the Grand Signior yet at ãâã the VVar with Hâlland and ill underâtanding with France made his occasions for his own Shipping more urgent than usual and the time most
that the Factories should be transferred again over to Tripoli in Soria a place formerly ârequented by our Merchants but by reason of the danger and inconvenience of that Port the Trade was transported to the Scale of Scanderoân This alteration the Tefterdar pretended to have been granted to the Merchants at their earnest Petition and promise to the Grand Signior of payment of 13000 Dollars Yearly for discharge and maintenance of those Guards which were requisite in that place for safety of the Coast and defence of the Caravans which pass with Merchants goods to Aleppo but time and corruption of the Ministers had deprived the Grand Signior of the benefit of that duty And this he urged with the greater instance and eagerness knowing that the Scale of Scanderoon being prohibited the Hattesheriff whereon consisted the priviledg of the Merchants and their sole security must consequently fall and they forced to a new agreement On this occasion our Lord Ambassador had Audience with the Vizier and insisted on that point of our Capitulations which gives us liberty to Trade in any part of the Grand Signiors Dominions and therefore to consent to be restrained or confined to any particular place was to assent to a breach of the Capitulations which was out of his power and only to be dispensed with by his Master the King of England and the Grand Signior by whom they were established and to connive or assent to the breach of one particular clause was to hazard the loss and breach of the whole year 1666. for that our Capitulations to use the Turks saying are like a string of Beads of which when one link is broken the others drop off To which the Vizier replied that the Scale of Scanderoon was open and clear as before for the English Trade but because the Tefterdar and Customer pretended that the Grand Signior was put to great expences for maintenance of a Watch and Guard at that Port which was only in respect to the security of the Merchants Goods Orders shâuld be given for taking away those Officers as unnecessary and insignificant to the publick Service no Guards having ever been in that place the Embassador judged his business to be granted and so thanked the Vizier and departed But not many days after the Tefterdar procured a Command for shutting the Scale of Scandeâoân and transporting the Factory to Tripâli which Command was rather intended to affright our Nation into some composition than really to be put in execution as appeared by the sequel for the Tefterdar better considered than to bring so great an Odium upon himself from the whole Country and City of Aleppo and to enforce the Embassador to have recourse to the Grand Signiors own person for redress of an abuse of so high a nature in derogation of his Imperial Capitulations Howsoever it is observabâe in the transaction of all this business that it is dâfficult to bring a corrupt Turkish Minister to Juâââce or punishment meerly for breach of our Capâtulations or in respect to any difference or abuse offered to Christians unless the complaint be âccompanied with Presents or Money which are most prevalent Arguments in the Turkish Court and in this case I really believe that had three or four thousand Dollars been offered as a reward for bringing the Customer to capital punishment the complaint had found acceptance and honourable success for default of which the Cause was starved and naked and carried no fire or heat in those aggravations with which it was represented It is lâkewise observable that business in the Turkish Court doth not always find that dââpatch or expedition as is generally believed in âhâistendom unless it come accompanied with the interest of the Ministers themselves and then it is transacted in a moment which otherwise languishes with delays and will never want excuses to defer it Anno 1666. Hegeira 1077. WE shall begin this Year with the strange rumour and disturbance of the Iews concerning Sabatai Sevi their pretended Messiah which for being most principally acted in Turkey may properly belong to the History of this time and place which therefore for delight of the Readers I shall here insert for though it may have been elsewheâe published yet being an issue of my Pen I may lawfully now own it and annex it to this Hiâtory in respect of that near coâerence it may have therewith and that many other particulars have been added thereunto which succeeded until the Death of this Sabatai According to the Predictions of several Christian Writers especially âf such who comment upon the Apâcalypse or Revelations this year of 1666. was to prove a year of Wonders of strange Revolâtions in the World and particularly of blessing to the Iews either in respect of their Conversion to the Christian Faith or of their Restoration to their Temporal Kingdom This opinion was so dilated and fixt in the Countries of the Reformed Religion and in the heads of Fanatical Enthusiasts who dreamed of Fifth Monarchies the down-fall of the Pope and Antichrist and the greatness of the Iews insomuch that this subtil people judged this Year the time to stir and to fit their Motion according to the season of the Modern Prophecies Whereupon strange reports flew from place to place of the March of multitudes of People from unknown parts into the remote deserts of Arabia supposed to be the Ten Tribes and a half lost for so many Ages That a Ship was arrived in the Northern parts of Scotland with her Sails and Cordage of Silk navigated by Marriners who spoke nothing but Hebrew and with this Motto on their Sails The Twelve Tribes of Israel These reports agreeing thus near to former Predictions put the wild sort of the World into an expectation of strange accidents this Year should produce in reference to the Iewish Monarchy In this manner Millions of people were possessed when Sabatai Sevi first appeared at Smyrna and published himself to the Iews for their Messiah relating the greatness of their approaching Kingdom the strong hand whereby God was about to deliver them from Bondage and gather them from all the parts of the World. It was strange to see how this fancy took and how fast the report of Sabatai and his Doctrine flew through all parts where Iews inhabited and so deeply possessed them with a belief of their new Kingdom and Riches and many of them with promotion to Offices of Government renown and greatness that in all places from Constantinople to Buda which it was my fortune that Year to travel I perceived a strange transport in the Iews none of them attending to any business unless to wind up former Negotiations and to prepare themselves and Families for a Journey to Ierusalem all their Discourses their Dreams and disposal of their affairs tended to no other design but a re-establishment in the Land of Promise to Greatness and Glory Wisdom and Doctrine of the Messiah whose Original Birth and Education is first to be recounted
their Pasha Osman whose Covetousness and Tyranny forced them for self-preservation to precipitate that Authority which they knew on their complaints his Majesty would have granted them and that he would be pleased to receive them into his protection and favour as his faithful and humble Subjects and Slaves and as an evidence thereof would grant them a Pasha confirmed by his Royal Signature The Sultan though at first shewed himself much displeased with this manner of proceeding against Osman Pasha yet seeing that there was no remedy suffered himself to be mollified by their Presents and submission granting them a Pasha for their Governour whose power proved as unsignificant as his doth who bears that Title at Algier Matters being thus reduced to some tolerable condition amongst them they concluded That the most beneficial course of life to render them considerable as well as to amuse and divert the minds of their rude people from innovations against their Governours was to grant free liberty to whomsoever pleased to arm out Ships of War which Priviledge Osman Pasha reserved to himself and his Confidents and finding at present that they were able to set out six Sail from foâty to fifty Guns and four more from twelve to thirty intending to accomplish in all the full number of fifteen Sail those who traded in the Levant Seas began to apprehend that this faithless and heady people would at a time when they found their advantage and the temptation of a rich Prize break their Peace with his Majesty our King the which Osman Pasha had notwithstanding conserved for several years without violation moved perhaps thereunto out of an apprehension that in such troubles which a War with England might bring upon them he might lose or impair his riches and bring the like confusion on his people as he had lately heard of in Algier on the like occasion but how and in what manner these matters succeeded and how at length this people broke their Peace and Faith we reserve to be recounted at the end of the Year 1674. Towards the end of the month of August it pleased God to take out of this life unto a better Sir Daniel Harvey his Majesties Ambassadour at Constantinople a man whose person being comely was extremely grateful to the Turks and for the experience he had at the Ottoman Court was equal in the happy management of Affairs to any of his Predecessours Anno 1673. Hegeira 1084. year 1672. BUT it seems the Turks had made too much haste in their return to digest a Conquest of so large Extent so that they were scarce well warmed by their Winter-fires before they were alarmed again with Jealousies of Poland and the Seditions amongst the Cossacks whom Dorosenzko wrote he could not keep in subjection unless he had some Succours sent him from the Port. The rumors likewise that the Muscovite armed and was resolved to Assist the Poles in recovery of their lost Country increased the apprehensions of the Turks who too late perceived the errour they had committed in so soon disbanding their Army which before some were scarce got home they were forced to recal But now the year was well begun and no grand preparations made so that it was impossible to collect an Army in so short a time considerable enough to be honoured with the Conduct of the Sultan wherefore it was resolved that all things this year should be disposed in a readiness against the next But the Grand Signior had a project of his own to depart speedily with his Court and to pass the heats of the Summer in the Mountains of Zegna about five or six days Journey on his way towards Poland which being reported to be a place well planted with Trees watered with cool and fresh Springs and abounding with all sorts of Game made him impatient to take up his Summer-quarters in a Country so agreeable to his humor and that he might cover the design of pleasure with that of profit and policy he pretended that the report of his proceeding so far would both hasten the Army and give a terrour to the Enemy But the Great Vizier and his Council who weighed all things better were of another opinion judging it neither honourable for the Court to be retired into Woods and Mountains nor the advantage of such a surmise able to countervail the expence and inconveniences of that Journy and therefore it was concluded to stand unto the first resolution That the Grand Signior with the main Body of his Army should not move until the following year but that in this interim all preparations should be made for Provisions and Ammunition in order unto which three thousand Janisaries were already sent away to Keminiecz under the Command of the Sampsongibashee and six thousand more under the Zagargibashee were to be landed on that Isthumus which joyns the Crim Tartar unto the Main from whence they had a short March to the assistance of Dorhsenzko Chasaein Pasha lately come from Damascus was nominated for General to be sent into Silistria and there to command in Chief over the Militia of Dobriza Bosna and Rumelia in case of any alteration and disturbance in Poland this Person was always accounted a stout and valiant Souldier though seldom fortunate and was the same that lost the Battel before Lewa in the last German Wars as we have before intimated he was about this time grown infirm by a hepatical Dysentery which reduced him to a weak condition of body with little hopes of recovery In the mean time arrived at Adrianople an Ambassadour from the great Czar of Muscovy bringing Letters dated in April of the preceding year year 1673. which was before the time that the Turks had entred Poland the contents of which were That the Grand Signior would do well to desist from his design against that Country for that if he did proceed and invade those Dominions he should find himself obliged to make War upon him and with his mighty and puissant Power to drive him back to his own Jurisdiction This Message appeared very unseasonable and caused much laughter at first for that the Turk had since the Date of that Letter invaded Poland and possessed himself of vast Countries and yet neither encountred any opposition from the Muscovite nor so much as heard any rumor of his Motion Wherefore the Turks with scorn forbad the Ambassadour any farther Addresses and commanded him to be gone speedily saying That his Master had neither courage nor force to maintain his word of War nor wisdom to manage a Treaty of Peace The Reports now from the parts of Poland spake matters to be in a quiet posture and not likely to concern the Turks much for this year wherefore the Grand Signior began again to renew his purposes of pastime and pleasure in the Mountains of Zegna but because no true or perfect account could be given of the delights refreshments and situation of that place the Olack Celebi or chief Postmasâer was
by His Majesty for Ambassador to the Grand Signior in the place of Sir Daniel Harvey who dyed in August 1672. at his Country-house not far from Constantinople His Excellency entred the City on the first day of Ianuary 1673 4. rejoycing the English Factory with the sight of their new Ambassador that Office having been now void for the space of sixteen months who was welcome also to people of the Country judging him fortunate for arriving at the Feast of their great Biram nor less pleasing was the News thereof to the Court especially to the late Pasha of Tunis whose Goods and Monies taken by one Dominico Franceschi out of an English Ship called the Mediterranean in her passage from Tunis to Tripoli this Ambassador had recovered from Ligorne and Malta which being an action without example was greatly admired and applauded by the Turks and esteemed an evident demonstration of that great Interest and Power which the Glory of our King hath acquired in Foreign parts and of the singular dexterity of such a Minister About the 18 th of March Sir Iohn Finch arrived at Constantinople being transported to the Dardanelli on his Majesties Fregat the Centurion and thence on a Gally hired at Smyrna for that purpose Some few days after his arrival the Grand Signior and Vizier being at Adrianople the Lord Ambassador had audience of the Chimacam whom he saluted with this speech I am come Ambassadour from Charles the Second King of England Scotland France and Ireland sole Lord and Soveraign of all the Seas that environ his Kingdoms Lord and Soveraign of vast territories and possessions in the East and West-Indies Defender of the Christian Faith against all those that Worship Idols or Images To the most Powerful and mighty Emperor of the East to maintain that peace which hath been so useful and that commerce which hath been so profitable to this Empire For the continuance and encrease whereof I promise you in my station to contribute what I can and I promise to my self that you in your will do the like But to proceed to the Wars The Pâlanders being thus prosperous made use of their success and the sharp cold of the Winter-sâason to make their Incursions and Winter-quarters through all the Principalities of Moldavia for they being born in cold Countries and accustomed to the Snows and Frosts were more patient and enduring of extremity of weather than were the Turks who were brought forth from more mild and moderate Climates so that neither could the Poles be driven out from those Countries nor Keminitz be relieved by them until such time that the Sun getting high and thawing the Snows and warming the Earth prepared a season fit for return of the Turks who marching according to their custom with an Army composed of great multitudes quickly compelled the Poles to retire For the Grand Signior and Vizier having both seated their Winter-quarters on the Banks of the Danâbe were ready at the first opening of the Summer to enter their Arms into the Enemies Countries and having called the Tartars to their assistance did according to the usual custom make Incursions for depredation of Slaves Cattel and whatsoever else was portable in a running March. The Chan or King of this People was at that time greatly indisposed in his health of which he advised the Great Vizier as if he intended thereby to obtain a release from his personal attendance that year in the War But the Vizier who either supposed this excuse to be only a pretence or that he had a kindness for his Person immediately dispatched away his own Physician called Signior Masselini an Italian born a worthy Learned man a good Christian and my intimate Friend with whom maintaining a constant correspondence by Letters he wrote me That from the Grand Signiors Quarters which were at Batadog near the Banks of the Danube he arrived after seventeen days Journey in Chrim where he said he was received with singular honour and kindness by the Great Chan whom he found to be a Prince of admirable prudence gentleness and generosity but greatly afflicted with a Hypochondriacal Melancholy which being an infirmity of some years standing was with the more difficulty removed howsoever he was so far from being uncapable to follow his Army that he advised him to divert his mind with the thoughts of War which counsel having taken after thirty days abode in the Camp he found himself much more chearful than before and greatly relieved of that pressure of Melancholy and caliginous Vapours which offended his Brain We are now said he at Vssia at the Mouth of the Boristhenes which we have passed from the other side unto this where the River is nine miles brâad from hence we are marching towards Bender upon the Niester to pass into Moldavid and there to joyn with the Ottoman Army The Poles have sent to demand Peace but with condition that Kemenitz be restored to them which Proposition was with great disdain rejected and will never be granted whilst this Emperour reigns These people greatly desired a Peace with Poland which the Election of Sobieski for King may probably facilitate for not only they but the Turks also dread a March into Poland and are so inveterately bent to take revenge on the Muscovites and Cosacks who lately became their Subjects that they could accept of any reasonable Terms of Accommodation with Poland I for my part found Tartary a very pleasant Country plentiful of all Provisions and the people much more courteous and obliging to the Strangers and Christians than those Turks with whom you and I have conversed Thus far Masselini writes in commendation of the Tartars and in farther confirmation hereof I have read in some Books That as to their Morals there are very few Nations to be found less vicious they are extremely severe and faithful they have no Thieves or false Witnesses amongst them little Injustice or Violence and live in union and great tranquillity the marvellous fidelity of the Captive Tartars in Poland is every day to be observed who never fail to return at the time appointed when they are licensed upon their word to go and procure their Liberties by the exchange of Polish Prisoners which they execute punctually or return themselves not failing a minute And it is observed That the Polish Gentlemen do rather trust the young Tartars which are in their Service with the keys of their Money and Jewels than any of their Houshold The time for Armies to draw out of the Winter-quarters and take the Field being now come the Grand Signior and Vizier with great numbers both of Horse and Foot passed the Danube and prosecuting their March to the Cânfines of Poland they relieved Kemenitz in the first place the Poles at the News of their approach rasing the Siege Thence they proceeded to Chuâzim a strong Fortress on the Niester taken from them in the last year by the Christians after the defeat given to Chusaein Pasha
days to flourish and to be distinguished from all the Marts in the World but also the injoyment thereof invited the Inhabitants from the more elevated parts of Smyrna where was health and pleasure to the lower Bogs and Marishes exchanging health and chearful air for profit and convenience of Commerce Hereupon applications were made by all the Consuls of the Frank Nations to their Ambassadours and Ministers at the Grand Signiors Court. In the mean time Trade by common agreement was interdicted at least as to the lading or unlading of Ships which continued for several days and touched somewhat grievously the English and Dutch Nations the first having two Ships and the latter six Merchants-ships in Port. The English Ambassadour being then personally at Adrianople was the first who without the assistance of any other Minister moved in this affair but found great opposition in it from the Turkish Officers who with some resentment of the present reluctancy of the Merchants declared not without passion the resolution the Grand Signior had to conform the honour of the Custom-house in some semblance with those of Christian Princes and therefore did wonder that the Christian Merchants could so easily condescend to the rules of those Custom houses in their own Countries where they were Natives and yet could not support the same in these parts where they were Aliens and Strangers And as a farther evidence of the Turks resolution to maintain this point it was said by the Vizier's Kahya that the Grand Signior was resolved to blow up both Port and Town rather than not be obeyed in his own Dominions with this Answer Merchants despairing of the success began to unlade their ships at the Custom house or to give an account there of the Goods in their Boats for the Customer was become sensible there was not sufficient Water for ships to ride at the Key of the Custom house and did also indulge unto the Merchants several other particulars herein that so the innovation might sit the more lightly on them which he perceived was so ill resented and taken to heart And this was the first beginning in the Months of August and September when this priviledge was taken from the Merchants And in this Year also the Great Chan next to the Besasteen was in Building and the first Foundation thereof laid and the great Aquaduct brought from the Plains of Bogiaw and little Harchi-bonar At the end of the year 1674 we have related the beginning proceedings and conclusion of the War which our Gracious King was pleased in defence of his Subjects and Commerce to make on Tripoly which we brought down to this year 1676 when Sir Iohn Narbrough Sailing home for England touched in his way at Algiers for better understanding of the State of all matters with that Government Things had for some time remained in a doubtful condition between England and that people who having lately proved the smart effects of War with us were not very forward to make a breach Howsoever it being that time when by means of a General Peace which we enjoyed with all the World and of a War in which the rest of Christendom was involved that our navigation flourish'd and that few other Ships besides English passed the Seas the Algerines grew weary of a Peace with us And herein they seemed to have some more reason then usual because that when it was their fortune to meet with strangers they were so disguised with English Colours and Passports surreptitiously and fraudulently procured that they could not distinguish their Friends from Enemies whereof they made frequent Complaints and addresses to his Majesty The King out of a sence of Justice and a tender care of his Subjects welfare knowing that such indirect practises must necessarily produce a War was pleased by a Letter to that People to signify his care in that particular and recalling all Passports formerly given promised a better regulation of them for the future as appears by the Proclamation here following which was inclosed and seât in the Letter to Algiers By the King. A PROCLAMATION Relating to the Articles concluded between His MAJESTY and the Government of Algiers CHARLES R. WHereas by the late Articles of Peace concluded between His Majesty and the Government of Algiers His Majesty out of His Royal Care of the Persons and Estates of His Subjects did agree and provide That none of His Subjects employed or trading in any English Ship or Uessel should for the future be taken and sold as Slaves or his or their Goods made Prize by any of the Subjects of the said Government of Algiers And also that any of His Majesties Subjects going in foreign Ships as Passengers only and having Authentick Passports testifying the same should have the like freedom for their Persons and Goods aboard such Foreign Ships And whereas His Majesty is informed that divers of His Subjects contrary to the effect and true meaning of the said Treaty do take upon them to colour and conceal the Ships of Foreigners with whom the said Government of Algiers is in War and to that end do either wholly Navigate the Ships of such Foreigners or otherwise serve in the same as Mariners or Souldiers Which way of proceeding as it doth for the present administer just cause of Complaint from the said Government of Algiers so will it in a short time if not prevented indanger the Security intended by the said Articles for the Ships Persons and Estates of His Majesties Subjects His Majesty doth therefore by this His Royal Proclamation strictly forbid all His Subjects that they do not for the future Navigate the Ships or Vessels of any Foreigners in War with the said Government nor presume to serve in the same either as Mariners or Souldiers And His Majesty doth hereby further Declare That if any Offenders contrary to this His Royal Proclamation shall be taken His Majesty will not require any release of their Persons or Estates from the said Government of Algiers but that they must expect to be excluded as they were intended out of the benefit of the said Articles His Majesty also strictly charging such persons as shall hereafter go as Passengers in Foreign Ships or Uessels to take care that they have Passports with them signed by His Majesties proper Ministers in England or His Ministers or Consuls abroad expressing the Names of their Persons and the Contents and Qualities of their Goods at their perils Given at our Court at Whitehall this Two and twentieth day of December 1675. in the Seven and twentieth year of Our Riegn God save the King. year 1676. This Care and just Expedient of his Majesây to prevent Fraud and Abuses in this business was otherwise construed by the Algerines and made use of in a contrary sence then was intended by his Majesty For now whatsoever Ships they met with without these new Passes they began to send to Algier and make prize of their goods not considering that the meaning of the
corrupted âlyeth to Mahomet the Turk 255 b his first speech to Mahomet 256 a. honourably entertained ib. b. by Isaack Bassa created King of Epirus 258 b. taken prisoner by Scanderbeg 260 a. sent prisoner into Italy 260 a. enlarged returneth to Constantinople and there dyeth ib. a. b. Amurath the First succeedeth his Father Orchanes in the Turkish Kingdom 131 a. invadeth Europe ib. a. taketh Hadrianople ib. a. maketh his royal seat in Europe 132 b. beginneth the order of the Ianizaries 132 b. 133 a. returneth into Asia 133 a. marrieth his Son Bajazet unto Hatune the daughter of the Prince Gyrmean with a great dowry 134 a. purchaseth the Principality of Amisum of Chusen Beg ib. a. invadeth Servia and taketh Nissa the Metropolitan City thereof ib. a. imposeth a yearly tribute upon the Country of Servia ib. a. in a great battel overthroweth Aladin the King of Caramania's Son in Law with the other Mahometan Princes his Confederates 135 b. by his Captains winneth and spoileth a great part of Bulgaria 137 b in a great and mortal battel overthroweth Lazarus the Despot of Servia with his Confederates in the Plains of Cossova 139 a. slain ib. a. buried aâ Prusa 139 b. Amurath the Second placed in his Fathers seat 173 a. afraid to go against the Rebel Mustapha ib b. in vain besieged Constantinople 175 a. strangleth his Brother Mustapha ib. b. winneth Thessalonica 176 b. taketh unto himself the greatest part of Aetolia 176 b. enforceth the Princes of Athens Phocis and Beotia to become his Tributaries ib. b. falsifieth his faith with John Castriot Prince of Epirus and poysoneth his three eldest Sons his Hostages 177 a. oppresseth the Mahometan Princes in Asia ib. a. b. spoyleth Hungary ib. b. contrary to his faith invadeth Servia and subdueth it 178 a. putteth out the Eyes of the Despots Sons his Wives Brethren ib. a besiegeth Belgrade 179 a. dealeth subtilly with the Ambassadors of King Uladislaus 179 notably encourageth his Souldiers to the assault of Belgrade ib. b. shamefully repulsed 181 a. his sullen answer unto the Ambassadors of King Uladislaus ib. a. sendeth Meâites Bassa to invade Transilvania 182 a. grieved with the loss of Mesites and his Army sendeth Abedin Bassa to revenge his death 184 a. in despair about to have slain himself 197 a. by the mediation of the Despot of Servia obtaineth Peace of King Uladislaus for ten years ib. a. inâadeth Caramania ib. a. weary of the World committeth the Government of his Kingdom to his Son Mahomet and retireth himself unto a Monastical Life ib. b. At the report of those preparations of the Hungarians and request of his Bassaes forsaketh his solitary Life and raiseth a great Army in Asia 202 a. by the Genowayes transported with his Army into Europe ib. a. joyneth battel with King Uladislaus at Varna ib. b. about to have fled reproved of Cowardise by a common Souldier ib. b. prayeth unto Christ 203 a. in danger to have been slain ib. a. wisheth not many times so to overcome as he did at the battel of Varna ib. b. to perform his Von resigneth his Kingdom to his Son Mahomet which he shortly after resumeth again 204 a. his crafty Letters to Scanderbeg 205 b. his passionate speech in his rage against Scanderbeg 206 a. breaketh through the Hexamylum and imposeth a yearly tribute upon them of Peloponesus 507 b. after three days hard fight with great slaughter of his Men overcometh Huniades in the Plains of Cassoua 211 a. invadeth the Despot 212 a. his grave Letters of advice to Mustapha concerning his invading of Epirus 312 b. cometh with a great Army to Sfetigrade 216 a. in vain with great fury giveth many a desperate assault unto the City 218 a. in one assault loseth seven thousand of his Turks 218 b. by great promises seeketh to corrupt the Garrison of Sfetigrade 219 a. by the practice of one man hath the City of Sfetigrade yielded unto him ib. b. having lost thirty thousand of his Turks at the Siege of Sfetigrade returneth to Hadrianople 220 a. with a great Army cometh again into Epirus and besiegeth Croia 221 a. in two assaults loseth 8000 of his Souldiers 223 a. content to buy the Life of one Christian with the loss of twenty of his Turks ib. b. seeketh by great gifts to corrupt Uranacontes the Governour of Croia 224 a b. overcome with Melancholy tormenteth himself 225 b. by his Ambassadors offereth Scanderbeg Peace ib. b. his last speech unto his Son Mahomet concerning such things as at his death grieved him most 226 dieth ib. b buried at Prusa 227 a. Amurath the Son of Achomates slieth unto Hysmael the Persian King 343 a. marrieth his daughter ib. a. spoileth Capadocia and for fear of his Vncle Selymus retireth ib. b. Amurath the Third taketh upon him the Turkish Empire 651 a. pacifieth the Ianizaries and augmenteth their priviledges ib. a. strangleth his five brethren ib. a his Letters unto the Nobility of Polonia in the behalf of Stephen Bathor Vayvod of Transylvania ib. b. attentive to the stirs in Persia 654 a. informed thereof by Ustref Bassa of Van ib. b. resolved to take the Persian War in hand 655 a. by Mustapha advertised of the success of the Persian Wars 663 b. consulteth of his proceeding therein 666 a. dischargeth Mustapha of him Generalship and calleth him home to Constantinople 669 b. appointeth Sinan General for the Persian Wars 671 a. in despight of Sinan appointeth Mahamet Bassa General for those Wars in his stead 675 b. circumciseth his eldest Son Mahomet ib. a. displaceth Sinan Bassa and casteth him into exile 679 a. appointeth Ferat General for his Wars in Persia 681 a. sendeth for Osman Bassa into Siruan 686 b. maketh him chief Visier and General of his Army into Persia 688 a. in disporting with his Mutes taken with a fit of the falling sickness 689 a. causeth great triumph to be made throughout his Empire for the winning of Tauris 701 b. maketh choice again of Ferat Bassa to succeed Osman Bassa dead in the Persian Wars 703 b. concluded a Peace with the Persian King 707 b. his answer to the Letters of Sigismund the Third King of Polonia 706 a. glad himself to yield unto the insolency of the Janizaries 707 b. his Letters to Elizabeth Queen of England 708 b. perswaded by his Visier Bassa's to take some new War in hand 709 a. in doubt whom first to begin withal 710 a. b. resolveth to make War upon the Emperour with the reasons leading him thereunto 713 b. giveth leave to Hassan Bassa of Bosna as it were without his knowledge to pick quarrels with the Emperour and so to disturb the Peace 714 a. sendeth home the body of the Persian Hostage dead in his Court ib. b. proclaimeth War against the Emperour 720 a. the proud and blasphemous manner of his denuntiation of War ib. a. he dreameth 723 b. sick of the Falling sickness 736 a. dieth 740 a. Amurath Rais his Gallies fight with a
337 a. sought after by Selymus hideth himself in a Cave 341 a. is found and taken ib. a. by the commandment of Selymus strangled ib. a. Coresky a Prince of Polonia marrieth the Princess Alexandrina 934 b. a challenge sent unto him by the Turks General 937 b. taken Prisoner by the Turks 938 a. his Wife carried Prisoner into Tartaria 941 a. his generous resolution 946 a. he escapes out of Prison 947 a. and also out of Constantinople 948 a. strangled in Prison 974 a. Corinth taken and spoiled by the Knights of Malta 906 a. Cortug-Ogli the Pyrat perswadeth Solyman to besiege the Rhodes 383 a. Corone Pylus and Crisseum Cities of Peloponesus belonging to the Venetians yielded unto the Turks 313 a. Corone besieged by the Turks 423 b. relieved by Auria 424 b. abandoned and forsaken by the Spaniards 426 a. Cornea and Serbellio two antient Spanish Captains persuade the giving of battel unto the Turks at Lepanto 590 a. Costly dishes 504 a. Cossacks they mutiny and leave Prince Alexander 936 b. Count Solmes surprising Wiscenburg is taken Prisoner 819 b. Cowardise punished 765 a. Crete described 588 a. Croia besieged by Amurath the Second 221 a. in vain assaulted ib. b. besieged by Mahomet the Great 273 a. relieved ib. b. again besieged by Mahomet 274 b. the third time besieged 382 a. yielded to the Turks 284 a. Cubates Selymus his Ambassador cometh to Venice 568 a. but homely entertained there ib. b. his speech in the Senate of Venice ib. b. for fear of the People secretly conveyed away 569 b. Curzola forsaken by the men defended by Women 588 b. Cusahin Bassa of Caramania riseth up in Rebellion against Mahomet the Third 779 a. overthroweth the Sanzacks sent to have oppressed him ib. b. at the coming of Mehemet the Visier Bassa sent against him flieth ib. b. forsaken of his followers is taken and tortured to death at Constantinople 780 a. The Cuselbassa's when and how they begun amongst the Turks 317 a. Cydan King of Fez with his Army overthrown 915 a. Cyprus described 570 b. how that Kingdom came to the Venetians ib. b. taken from them by Selimus the Second 587 b. Cyrene yielded unto the Turks 576 b. Czarnieuiche corrupted giveth the Turks passage over the Danubius into Valachia 617 b. revolteth unto the Turks 618 b. D. DAmasco betrayed to Saladin Sultan of Egypt 41 b. taken and sacked by the Tartars 79 b. yielded to Selymus 361 b. Damiata and the description thereof 62 b. taken by the âhristians being before unpeopled by the Plague 65 a. Dampiere a valiant Commander 869 b. Dandalus Admiral of the Venetian fleet 59 b. Daout Bassa his death conspired by the Great Visier 976 b. David and Alexius Comneni Nephewes to Andronicus the Emperour erect unto themselves a new Empire in Trapezond 59 b. David the last Emperour of Trapezond put to death by Mahomet the Great and that Empire subverted 245 b. Daut Chan for his good service rewarded by Amurath the Third 701 b. Dearth in the Turks Army at Triala 684 b. Death of the French Ambassador at Constantinople 901 a. of Amurath Seider 905 a. of Sultan Achmats Daughter 907 b. of Sigismund sometime the warlike Prince of Transilvania 919 b. Debreus slain and his Army overthrown by Scanderbeg 250 a. Dedesmet the Georgian Widow with her Son Alexander submit themselves to Mustapha the Great Bassa 663 b. Delimenthes with five thousand Persians pursueth the Turks Army 439 a. assaileth their Camp by Night and maketh of them a great slaughter ib. a. Demetrius submitteth himself unto Mahomet the Great 241 b. Description of the Town of Arrache or Allarche 900 a. of the Grand Seigniors Chamber 901 b. Desdrot Governour of Stellusa to the terror of the Turks in Sfetigrade before their Faces executed 195 b. Didymoticum yielded unto the Turks 131 a. Diogenes the Emperour discomfiteth the Turks 6 a. himself by the treason of John Ducas by then again overthrown 7 a. taken Prisoner 7 a. honourably used by the Turks Sultan 7 b. overthrown and taken Prisoner by Andronicus hath his âyes put out whereof he dieth 8. a. Discourse of the magnificence of the Turks Court and Empire 955 a b. Dissention among the Turks about the succession after the death of Mahomet the Great 297 a. Dissention betwixt Don John and Venerius the Venetian Admiral 591 b. Dium a Castle of the Venetians in the East-Indies in vain assaulted by the Turks 451 b. Doganes Aga of the Ianizaries whipt and displaced 230 b. Dotis taken by the Turks 769 a. Dragut a most famous Pyrat of the Turks by Auria driven out of the City of Africa in the Kingdom of Tunes 508 b. cometh to the siege of Malta 538 b. his Souldiers enforced shamefully to retire 540 a. slain 541 a. Dracula Vayvod of Valachia dissuadeth King Uladislaus from farther proceeding in his Wars against Amurath 201 b. aideth him with his Son and 4000 Horse 202 a. his last farewel unto the King ib. a. The Drusian People what they are 692 a. A Drunkard severely punished 920 b. Dulcigno Antivari and Budua strong Towns of the Venetians upon the Coasts of Epirus and Dalmatia yielded to the Turks 588 b. The Duke of Muscovy his Letters and Presents sent unto the Emperour 751 a. Duke Mercury General of the Emperours Forces in the lower Hungary cometh in vain to relieve Canisia 790 b. in retiring loseth three thousand of his men with certain pieces of great Ordnance and his baggage 791 a. bisiegeth Alba-Regalis 793 a. winneth it ib. b. enforceth Hassan the Turks General with the loss of 6000 of his Turks to retire 794 a. Dyrrhachium now called Durazo taken by the Turks 314 a. E. EArthquake most terrible in Constantinople 324 a. Edward eldest Son to Henry the Third King of England taketh upon him an Expedition into the Holy Land and arriveth at Tunes 83 b. arriveth at Ptolemais 84 a. taketh Nazareth and putteth the Turks to flight ib. a. by a desperate Sarasin dangerously wounded with an envenomed Knife ib. b. cured of his wound maketh Peace with the Sultan and returneth into England ib. b. The Egyptians diversly affected towards the Mamalukes 368 b. Eivases Bassa hath his Eyes burnt out 175 b. Elpis the Egyptian Sultan besiegeth Tripolis and taketh it by force 86 a. winneth Sidon and Berythus and raseth them taketh Tyre by Composition and winneth all the strong Holds in Syria and Palastine from the Christians except only the slrong City of Ptolemais ib. a. maketh Peace with the remainder of the Christians ib. a. Emanuel the Greek Emperour with a great power invadeth the Dominions of the Sultan of Iconium 27 a. loseth a great part of his Army 28 a. in danger to have been taken notably defendeth himself ib. b. in his greatest distress hath Peace offered him by the Sultan which he accepted gladly 30 a he vanquisheth Arapacke the Sultans General ib. b. falleth sick and dieth ib. b. Emanuel the Greek Emperour upon hard
Actions 971 a. Othoman of greater Courage and Spirit than his other Brethren the. Sons of old Ertogrul 90 a. amorous of Malhatun a Countrey of Muid 94 b. in danger for his Love 95 a. by general consent chosen Governour of the Oguzian Turks ib. b. surpriseth the Castle of Calce 96 a. fighteth a battel with the Christians at Opsicium 96 b. winneth the Castle of Cara-Chisar and killeth the Captain ib. b. setteth in order his little Common-wealth 97 a. killeth the Captain of Cupri-Chisar ib. a. his death contrived by the Captain of Bilezuga 97 b. turneth the treachery devised against him upon the head of the Captain that devised it whom he killeth and surpriseth his Castle 98 b. surpriseth the Castle of Jar-Chisar ib. b. taketh the Castle of Einegiol and cruelly executeth the Captain ib. b. by the good administration of Iustice strengthneth his Government 99 a. taketh the City of Nice ib. a. taketh upon him the Honour of a King or Sultan ib. b. maketh Neapolis his Regal Seat ib. b. in a great battel overthroweth the Christians 99 b. besiegeth Prusa 100 a. whilst the Greeks are at discord among themselves layeth the foundation of the Great Othoman Empire that now is 113 a. 116 a. dieth and lieth buried at Prusa 123 b. the Wealth he left unto his Sons Orchanes and Aladin 125 a. Orchanes his Father Othoman yet living manageth the Turks Kingdom 125 b. surpriseth the Castle of Tzupri-Chisar 125 b. fighteth a doubtful battel with Andronicus the Greek Emperour at Phylocrene 126 a. surpriseth Nice 126 b. hath Nicomedia yielded unto him 127 b. committeth the Government thereof unto his Son Solyman 128 a. first of the Turks that built Monasteries ib. a. subdueth the Country of Carasina ib. b. dieth 130 b. Orchanes and Mahometes two of Bajazet's Nephews overthrown by Chelife and Techellis the Rebels 321 a. Osman Bassa by Mustapha made Governour of Siruan taketh Sumachia 662 b. hath Derbent yielded unto him ib. b. by the Persian Prince driven out of Sumachia flieth to Derbent 665 a. kills Sahamal his Wives Father 666 a. is by Amurath sent for into Siruan 687 a. laid in wait for by Mahomet the Tartar King ib. b. overcometh the Tartars lying in wait for him ib. b. by Amurath made chief Visier and General of his Wars against the Persians 688 a. raiseth a great Army 697 a. wisely appeaseth his mutinous Souldiers unwilling to go for Tauris ib. b. cometh to Tauris 698 a. taketh the City ib. b. in thirty days buildeth there a strong Castle 699 a. giveth the City to be spoiled by his Souldiers ib. a. leaveth Giaffer the Eunuch Bassa of Tripolis with a Garrison of 12000 Souldiers Governour of Tauris 700 a. dieth 701 a. much lamented for at Constantinople ib. b. P. PAleapolis by Sultan Aladin given to Othoman 96 a. Palotta yielded to the Turks 721 a. Pallas Lippa beheaded by Botscay his Master 860 a. Pantogles with the Turks fleet cometh to the siege of Constantinople 233 a. displaced 234 a. Paphlagonia and Pontus with a great part of Cappadocia won by Mahomet the Great 245 b. Partau the Visier Bassa sent by Solyman against the supposed Mustapha brought him to Constantinople 520 a. sent by Solyman to have brought Bajazet to Amasia is by him with good words sent back again 522 b. standeth indifferent for giving or not giving of battel unto the Christians at Lepanto 593 a. encourageth his Souldiers ib. a. flieth himself out of the battel 595 b. Paradiser executed for yielding up of Canisia unto the Turks 792 a. The Patriarch of Graece âlayed alive 904 b. Peace concluded betwixt King Uladislaus and Amurath the Second 197 a. by the perswasion of Julian the Cardinal unfortunately broken by Uladislaus 198. a. Peace concluded betwixt Mahomet and Scanderbeg 263 b. betwixt Bajazet and Caytbeius 306 b. betwixt Bajazet and the Venetians 315 a. betwixt the Venetians and Solyman 468 b. betwixt the Venetians and Selymus the Second 613 a. betwixt Amurath the Third and Mahomet the Persian King 707 b. Peace concluded betwixt the Emperour and his discontented Subjects in the upper Hungary 876 b. between him and the Turks 878 a. betwixt the Georgians and Turks 925 a. between the Turks and Persians 950 a. Peloponesus described 240 b. made tributary to the Turk 241 a. subdued by the Turks 242 a. Pera yielded unto the Turks 237 b. Perenus the noble Hungarian upon the suspition of aspiring apprehended 494 b. matters surmised against him 495 a. He Valentinus and Maylat three of the chief of the Hungarian Nobility unworthily kept in perpetual Prison 496 a. Persecution in the Greek Church for matters of Religion 101 a. Persians better Horsemen than the Turks 351 b. The Persian King's Success 845 a. he enters into the Province of Babylon 897 a. his cruelty against the Armenians ib. b. Pesth distressed for want of Victuals 806 b. victualled 820 a. again victualled ib. b. shamefully abandoned by the Christians 849 a. taken by the Turks ib. b. Pesth taken by Cason Admiral of the Turks fleet upon the Danubius 478 b. besieged by the Marquis of Brandenburg 493 a. in vain assaulted 494 a. the siege given over ib. b. taken by the Christians 802 a. Peter a French Hermit going on Pilgrimage to Jerusalem observeth the miseries of the Christians under the Turks and Sarazens 9 a. in the Council of Claremont delivereth his message in the behalf of the poor distressed Christians 10 a. he with Gualter Sensavier the first that set forward in the great Expedition of the Christians into the Holy Land ib. b. loseth greatest part of his Army 11 a. discouraged about to have stoln home brought back and inforced to take a new Oath for his fidelity and perseverance in that War 13 b. Peter Damboyse Grand Master of the Rhodes a careful Governour 291 b. his chearful speech unto the rest of his Knights and Souldiers 292 a. Peter Emus for his barbarous Cruelty beheaded at Venice 689 b. Petralba yielded to Scanderbeg 194 b. Petrella yielded ib. b. Petrinia taken by the Christians 753 a. Petrinia in danger to have been betrayed to the Turks 848 a. Philaretas the Greek Emperours Lieutenant put to flight by the Turks 6 b. Philadelphia taken by Bajazet 140 b. Philes a devout man but no Soldier undertaketh the defence of the Greek Empire against the Turks 109 a. in plain battel overthroweth them 109 b. 110 a. Philip the Second of that Name the French King in going towards the Holy Land suffereth Shipwreck upon the Coast of Sicilia 48 a. arriveth at Ptolemais 48 b. his speech unto Richard King of England and the other Christian Princes in his sickness ib. b. he sweareth unto King Richard not to invade his Territories in France and so returneth home 49 b. Phocas by killing of Mauritius the Emperour with his Children possesseth himself of the Greek Empire 15 b. slain afterwards by them of his own Guard 16 a. Pial Bassa Solyman's Admiral sent to
remove the Christians out of Zerbi 530 a. in disgrace with Solyman shunneth to come to Constantinople 532 a. by Selymus the Second sent against the Venetians 572 a. in vain attempteth the Island of Tenos ib. a. Pisaurius the Venetian Admiral doth very great harm unto the Turks 313 b. Plague and Famine among the Turks 744 a. Plague in the Venetian Fleet 574 a. A great Plague at Constantinople 901 a. Polinus the French Ambassador with Presents from Francis the French King meeteth Solyman coming from Buda 490 a. his request to Solyman ib. a. returneth into France ib. a. sent back again to Solyman by the way solliciteth the Venetians to take up Arms against Charles the Emperour ib. a. grieved not to find the Turk so ready to send his fleet in the Aid of the King his Master as he had before hoped 490 a. is sharply shaken up by Solyman Bassa ib. a. brought to the speech of Solyman himself 492 a. by him rejected until the next Spring ib. a. setteth forward with Barbarussa and the Turks Fleet 496 b. by his Letters from Ostia comforteth the Popes Legat in Rome 497 a. Podolia and Russia invaded by the Turks 311 a. The Pope and the King of Spain fearing lest the Venetians should make Peace with the Turk hasten their Confederation with that State long before by them delayed 581 a a perpetual League concluded betwixt the Pope the King of Spain and the Venetians 582 a. the League proclaimed ib. b. The Popes Letters unto the King of Polonia to dissuade him from invading of Moldavia to the trouble of the Transilvanian Prince 756 b. A Practise to murther the Brethren of Sultan Osman 973 a. Prejanes cometh to the Rhodes 391 a. Presents given by the Turks to the Emperours Commissioners 833 b. sent to the Grand Seignior by King Mathias 890 a. from the Persian to the Emperour 897 b. from the Persian to the Turk 912 b. from the united States to the Turks 916 b. Presents of great value sent by the Persian King unto Selymus 566 b. Prince Ciarcan slain 151 b. Princes of Germany joyn their Forces with King Ferdinand against the Turk in Hungary 492 a. Processions of the Turks 915 b. The Protestant States of Austria take Arms in defence of their Religion 892 a. swear obedience unto King Mathias 893 a. The Protestant States of Bohemia assemble in the new Court at Prague ib. b. raise their forces in defence of their Religion 894 b. Prusa yielded unto the Turks 123 a. burnt by Isa 164 a. repaired by Mahomet ib. a. again burnt by the Caramanian King 164 b. Q. QVeen Isabella with Child 469 a. delivered of a Son ib. b. that Son by the Name of Stephen crowned King of Hungary 470 a. her answer unto the Ambassador of King Ferdinand demanding of her the Kingdom of Hungary 471 b. invaded by King Ferdinand craveth Aid of Solyman 473 a. by the commandment of Solyman departeth with her young Son out of Buda 481 a. yieldeth up to King Ferdinand all the right she had in Transilvania and Hungary 571 b. Quinque Ecclesiae yielded unto the Turks 497 b. Quinsay on the Province of Mangi of all the Cities of the World the greatest 53 b. R. RAB besieged by Sinan Bassa 731 a. battered and assaulted 733 b. by Treason yielded unto the Bassa 724 a. notably again surprised by the Christians 771 b. Rab attempted by the Turks 875 a. Radul the Valachian aideth Basta against the Turks 818 a. Rama forsaken by the Turks ib. b. Ramadan Bassa slain by the insolent Ianizaries 690 a. Rayschachius for sorrow of his Son slain by the Turks suddenly dieth 476 b. The Rebels of Asia appeased by the Visier 881 a. New Rebels in Asia 887 b. Rhodes by the Knights Hospitallers recovered from the Turks in the year 1308 113 a. besieged by Mesites Palaeologus 291 b. for fear of the Turks the Rhodians destroy their Suburbs and Places of Pleasure without the City 389 a. the Rhodes described 391 a. besieged by Solyman 392 b. in five places at once by the Turks assaulted 395 a. the distressed estate of the Rhodians and their Resolution therein 398 a. the Rhodes yielded unto Solyman 404 a. Richard the First King of England setteth forward toward the Holy Land 48 a. revengeth the Injuries done to him by the Cypriots and taketh Prisoner Isaack Comnenus their King ib. b. arriveth at Ptolemais ib. b. causeth all the Turks his Prisoners in the sight of Saladins Army to be executed 50 a. giveth Cyptus to Guy in exchange for the titular Kingdom of Jerusalem ib. b. with great slaughter overthroweth Saladin in plain battel ib. b. returning homeward taken Prisoner by Leopold Duke of Austria 51 b. Rodolph the Emperour prayeth Aid of the German Princes against the Turk 715 b. his Ambassador shut up close in his House at Constantinople 716 b. his Letters to Amurath ib. b. his Letters to Sinan Bassa 717 a. presented with the spoil of the Turks overthrow at Alba-Regalis 723 b. requesteth Aid of the Great Duke of Muscovia the King of Polonia and of the Prince of Transilvania 725 a. holdeth a Dyet of the Empire at Ratisbone for the withstanding of the Turks 750 a. receiveth Aid from the Pope the King of Spain and the Princes of Italy 792 b. Robert Duke of Normandy by general consent chosen King of Jerusalem which honour he refuseth 17 a. Robert Son to Peter fourth Emperour of the Latines in Constantinople 68 a. goeth to Rome and in his return dieth in Achaia 68 a. Rogendorf his Name terrible unto the Turks 413 b. with King Ferdinands Army entreth into Hungary and besiegeth Buda 473 b. threatneth the Queen derided by the Bishop 474 a. in vain assaulteth Buda ib. b. in raising of his siege by Night receiveth a great overthrow 478 a. conveyed up the River to Comara there dieth 478 b. Ronzorius sometime a notable Pyrat entertained by Andronicus the Emperour against the Turks 104 b. relieveth Philadelphia 105 a. for lack of pay spoileth the Emperours Territories in Asia ib. a. suddenly slain 105 b. Roscetes riseth against his Brother Muleasses King of Tunes 433 a. flieth to Barbarussa and by him carried to Constantinople ib. a. Roverius robbeth Dautius Bajazet the Great Turks Ambassador to Pope Alexander 307 b. Roxolana conspireth with Rustan Bassa against the noble Mustapha and faineth herself religious 512 b. sent for by Solyman refuseth to come 513 a. plotteth the confusion of Mustapha ib. a. bringeth him into suspicion with his Father ib. a. she with Rustan put Solyman in fear of his Life and Empire by his Son Mustapha ib. a. loveth her younger Son Bajazet better than her eldest Son Selymus 519 a. comforteth him going in fear unto his Father 520 b. Rustan Bassa a man of a mischievous Nature 512 b. farthereth the devices of Roxolana for the destruction of the noble Mustapha 513 b. sent by Solyman with an Army into Asia to have taken or slain Mustapha 514
was not taken to hinder a Reverse but on the contrary the Turks giving Fire to their Mine it recoyled back on themselves and buried many of their Men and so shook the Walls and Fortifications of the Tower that by the help of a Battery of eight Pieces of Cannon which were levelled and plaid upon it the Breach was made considerably wide and so enlarged that at a Council of War held on the 13 th of this Month it was resolved not longer to defer the Assault on the Bavarian side The Orders for which were no sooner Issued and the Signal given than all the Voluntiers and brave Adventurers in the Army Transported with Ambition and Desire of Glory pressed to be the first that should mount the Breach In this Action Count Guy of Staremberg Count Herberstein and Count Aversberg were Commanded each with Two hundred and twenty Men to make the Asââult in three several places the first of which was to enter in the middle of the Curtain the second on the right Hand and the third on the left amongst which some Granadiers were mixed and Pioniers to prepare and level the Ground to make an Allodgment and a Reserve of Two thousand Men was appointed to sustain and second the Assailants The Ascent unto the Breach was very difficult and the Turks had repaired it in many places with Palisodoes howsoever to brave Minds spirited with a desire of Glory such as were the Voluntiers who were Gentlemen of principal Quality from divers Parts and Nations of Europe nothing seemed so difficult and hazardous but what they were able and daring to surmount The Onset was made about seven a Clock in the Evening and the first thing attempted was to force up the Palisadoes which being done they found the Besieged posted behind in their Trenches with good Order the Christians Attacked them with great Vigour and the Turks made an equal Defence pouring whole Vollies of shot with great numbers of Granadoes and discharging a prodigious quantity of Stones from their Mortar-pieces upon them on each side likewise was a round Tower filled with Musquetiers and Granadiers who bestowed their Shot liberally upon them so that the Assailants being between Firings on each side as also on the Front were killed and wounded in great numbers howsoever they made themselves Masters of the Breach which they maintained and defended above the space of an hour but at length the heat of the Fight was so great as had put things into much Disorder and caused the Pioneers and Labourers to disperse and a Provision of Faggots and Sacks of Earth not being at Hand sufficient to cover the Assailants they lay naked and exposed to the Shot of the Enemy and at the same time a Mine being prepared and fired under the Breach it did great execution so that many Persons of great Quality and Valour were killed and wounded in this Action and the Turks making a Sally in another place at the same time the General caused a Signal to be given for the Troops to Retreat which was done in very good Order The Regiments of Souches Mansfelt and Staremberg were those which suffer'd most in this Action The Persons Wounded were The Prince of Commarcy The Duke of Bejar a Grandee of Spain Marquis Blancfort Son of Mareschal Crequi Count Staremberg Count Dona. The Duke of Escalona a Grandee of Spain Two Captains of Souches's Regiment The Baron Chifler the Natural Son of Prince Rupert My Lord George Savil Second Son of the Lord Marquis of Halifax Count Maldeghen Mr. Fitz Iames Natural Son of King Iames the II. of England Count Urse three Spanish Gentlemen Monsieur Sulpice a Gentleman belonging to the Prince of Commarcy Persons Killed were Prince Palatine of Veldens Prince Piccolomini Count Hortemback Page to the Duke of Loraine The Cavalier of Courmaillon Count Ermestein Major of Schezfemberg's Regiment Six English Noblemen amongst which was that Worthy Gentleman Colonel Robert Forbus Second Son to the Earl of Granard Three Spanish Gentlemen belonging to the Duke of Bejar The Turks had about Two hundred Men killed and One hundred wounded The Besieged thinking hereby to have gained a great advantage over the Christians and thereby to have put them into some Confusion and Disorder made a Sally that Night on the Brandenburgher's Quarters but were vigorously repulsed back again into the Town with the loss of many Heads which the Brandenburghers carried into the Camp to receive the usual Rewards promised thereupon For several Days there hapned nothing but Batteries and Firing Mines on one side and the other but the Mines on the Christian side did not so much execution as did those of the Turks Howsoever the Bombs were much available and did great damage within the Town especially those of a new Invention made by an Ingenier called Gonzales which not only killed but set all on Fire wheresoever it fell One of this sort of Bombs hapning within the Walls of a great Edifice for as we said before all the Roofs and Coverings were taken off produced most terrible and direful effects not only beating down the Walls but Killed above One hundred Men Women and Children The Turks to Revenge themselves for all these Slaughters were very diligent and active in Springing their Mines which they had prepared with great Art by which many Soldiers and Officers of note were destroyed to the great diminution in number of the Besiegers In the mean time the Christians plied their great Guns and Sprang the Mines to widen the Breaches in order to make a General Assault for which Preparations were daily made and Ladders brought and all Instruments provided in order thereunto On the 20 th Day of Iuly about seven a Clock in the Morning a strange hollow Noise was heard under Ground and the Earth trembled both in the Town and under the Feet of the Soldiers in the Camp and a dark Cloud of Smoak and Ashes cover'd the City so thick and black that for the space of an hour scarce any thing of the Walls themselves could be seen which caused a Terrour in the Minds of the Besiegers notwithstanding their Resolution and Bravery for whole showers of Stones were cast up and thrown into the Bavarian Trenches whereby many Soldiers and Officers of Quality were Wounded And whilst the Elector of Bavaria and the Prince of Baden were busily employ'd in Riding about to confirm their Soldiery a Stone of considerable weight and bigness fell between them All which Convulsion hapned by blowing up of the chief Magazine of the City whether by Bomb from the Camp or any other Accident is uncertain But such were the dreadful effects thereof That it shook down one Wing of the Castle and that side of the Wall towards the Water threw vast quantities of Stone and Rubbish into the Danube and Killed above Fifteen hundred People who were useless and unfiâ for Service and had for their better safety hid themselves in Vaults
in his stead Mahomet Effendi Treasurer in the time when the Giurbaes governed an ill Man and of a bad Reputation Nor could the Vizier think himself secure whilst Yeghen Command his Forces so near as Sophia and was disobedient to all Commands aspiring to no less than to be Seraskier or General of the Army nor could it be thought he would stop there or at any other point until he came to be Grand Vizier Wherefore Mustapha Vizier dispatched private Orders to have Yeghen strangled who remained hovering about between Belgrade and Sophia keeping all Strangers from any near approach so that the execution of those Orders were respited until a more opportune conjuncture For he continued still in Rebellion having refused to go to Bosna declaring that he would not give up the Command of Seraskier of the Army in Hungary to Hassan Pasha or any other Whilst these things were in Agitation an Envoy arrived at Constantinople from the Emperor of Morocco with Letters of Complement to the Grand Seignior upon his Exaltion to the Throne and with Offers year 1688. that as the Christians were united together against the Musulmen so he was ready to give his Assistance to the Grand Seignior in defence of the Mahometan Faith. It being now the Spring time when the Turks always put their Horses out to Grass and Soil The Imbrahor or Master of the Horse invited the Grand Seignior into the Fields to see in what order his Horses were governed at their Pasture and there gave him a very Splendid Entertainment The Grand Seignior was so pleased with the Dinner the Air and the Fields that in two or three days afterwards he went again to the Meadows at Cat-Hanah about two English Miles at farthest from Pera where he was again feasted not without the Censure and Murmuring of the People who said That in a short time he would follow the Example of the late Sultan in his Diversions and Negligence in the Government so they should have changed as indeed they had to little purpose It began now plainly to appear That the Turks by reason of their intestine Divisions had made very inconsiderable Preparations either by Land or Sea year 1688. Howsoever something was necessary to be and therefore in the first place Eleven Gallies were sent to Guard the Black Sea against the Cosacks who as was reported were preparing to make Incursions into the Parts near Constantinople as they had usually done in former times But their chief Apprehensions and Fears were raised from a Report that the Imperialists were marching towards Belgrade And indeed they had great Reasons for it for they had nothing of Force on the Frontiers nor nothing to oppose them in case the Emperor should think fit to push forward his Conquests which nothing could obstruct besides Famine and Hunger in a March through a ruined and a desart Country The Turks in these extremities finding no safety or success and protection in their Arms had recourse to their last refuge which was if possible to obtain a Peace with the Emperor a Method which they had never practised before since they were an Empire to be the first to Sue for a Peace But now Necessity pressing them they were for dispatching an Ambassador to the Kings of France England and the States of Holland whose design substance and main drift of his Embassy was only pretended to give notice unto those Powers of the Exaltation of Sultan Solyman to the Throne of the Ottoman Empire But with private Instructions to insinuate unto those Princes severally to interpose in a Mediation of Peace and to use their endeavours to give a stop to the Career of the Imperial Arms which good Offices in order to a Peace might reasonably be expected from Kings and Princes who had for many years maintained a happy Peace and Correspondence with the Ottoman Port where their Ambassadors had been treated with Friendship and their Merchants with Security and their Trade flourished on all sides with Profit and Advantage One Achmet Aga being proposed for this Embassy he was severally treated and feasted by the three Ambassadors who by the Discourses they had entertained with him observed him to be a Person discreet and better practised in Affairs of Countries different to their own than commonly Turks are who think it an Indignity to them to look into the States of Christian Princes year 1688. which so lately the Ottoman Empire overlooked as unworthy their Consideration To Transport this Ambassador a French-ship was appointed and his Equipage prepar'd but by the Conduct of Sir William Trumbal English Ambassador then at Constantinople and the confused Affairs of the Turks this Embassy did not succeed And indeed the Turky Company could not expect to Reap any thing from thence but trouble and expence and perhaps displeasure at the Port in case his Entertainment had not equalled that which he had received at Paris Howsoever the Turks were better resolved in the Point of that Embassy designed to the Emperor And to that end they chose Hamedi Effendi one who had been bred up a Clerk and afterwards came to be first Accountant in the Treasury and Mauvro Cordato a Greek by Nation a Man of Intrigue and Business having for many years been employed for Interpreter to the Grand Vizier ever since the Death of Panaioti The Turks being ashamed as a thing below the Dignity of their Empire to Sue for Peace thought it might prove a certain consequence in Answer to a civil Letter written by the Grand Seignior to the Emperor giving notice of his Exaltation to the Ottoman Throne much after the same Tenour with that which was written to the other Powers with this Addition and Alteration year 1688. That whereas the ancient Amity and Friendship had been broken during the Reign of his Predecessor he as to his own Person had not been consenting nor instrumental thereunto and that God having punished the Authors of this War he resolved to take different Measures and considering the Emperour as his Neighbour he was desirous to enter into a League of Friendship with him and to establish a firm and lasting Peace in case the Emperor should be inclining thereunto These Ambassadors were appointed to begin their Journey towards the end of Iune towards whose expences the Grand Seignior intended to allow Six thousand Dollars which was esteemed a sufficient Provision for them until they came to the Confines whence according to the ancient Canon they are to be conducted by the Emperor's Guards and defray'd at his Expence Their Retinue consisted of 60 persons half of which was habited in the Turkish and half after the Grecian Fashion As yet they had received no Passports for them but in assurance that they would be granted the Ambassadors were posted away to Belgrade there to remain in expectation of them The New Grand Seignior during all these Combustions and Negotiations minded little or nothing of Business nor indeed was
Ioseph Clement of Bavaria the King passing the bounds of all moderation breaks with the Emperor and writes this following Letter to the Pope Most Holy Father WE have resolved to Write with our own Hand unto your Holiness desiring you to do justice to Cardinal de Fustemburg who hath been chosen Archbishop and Elector of Cologne on the 19th Current of this Month of September by such plurality of Voices that this Cardinal doth not doubt but to obtain the Approbation and Confirmation of your Holiness in this Election which hath been performed according to the strict Rules of the Cannon especially since amongst all those who stood Candidates for this sublime Office none is or can be so capable to govern and worthy the Dignity of an Archbishop as this Cardinal What therefore I desire of your Holiness is but a meer Act of Iustice But since we could never as yet obtain the least point of favour from you we find our selves obliged to lay before your Holiness that in case your denial of Constituting the Cardinal of Fustemburg Elector by your Bull should be the Cause and Original of a War which cannot be other than bloody and miserable we protest before God that your Holiness is liable to answer for all those wretched and fatal Accidents which shall trouble and disquiet the repose of Christendom which you as the common Father are obliged to prevent And lest it should be Objected That the Bishoprick of Argentina with which the Cardinal of Furstemburg is invited is incompatible with the Archbishoprick of Cologne We declare That the said Cardinal shall readily quit that See for which we Present one of the most considerable Subjects of our Kingdom who is the Bishop of Metz against whom your Holiness can have no Objection considering that your Holiness once gave him the Character of being the Scourge of the Hereticks Which being the only Occasion and Sum of this Letter we crave Holy Father the Apostolical Benediction Given at Versailes September 22. 1688. Subscribed Lewis King of France the Eldest Son of the Church This Letter being delivered to Pope Innocent ââth by Cardinal de'Estrees received not the Answer which the King expected for this Pope being a person of Courage just and severe in Observance of the Canonical Cannons and Constitutions would not be induced out of fear or dread of those Menaces pronounced in the Letter to disannul or make void the Lawful Election of Prince Ioseph Clement of Bavaria to the Archbishoprick and Electorate of Cologne Whereupon the King being highly displeased made a solemn Protest against the Validity of that Election with which he dispatched Messengers and Curriers with a thousand Menaces into all parts of Germany as also into Holland enjoyning them not to intermeddle or concern themselves in the Electorate of Cologne declaring that he was resolved to vindicate the cause of the Cardinal of Furstemburg by force of Arms and at the same time commanded his Troops to march into the Eccleasiastical State near Avignon and into Germany upon which Philipsburg was attacked and taken Some Manifestos were likewise published at the Diet at Ratisbon and other places declaring That the King did not design to act any thing against the Truce made at Nimeguen but rather intended to Convert it into a perpetual Peace in case the Cardinal of Fustemburg might be established in the Electorate Offering also to demolish Philipsburg and restore it to the Bishoprick of Spire and Freibourg to the Emperor it being first demolished But then as to the pretensions of Madam d' Orleans relating to her Demands upon the Palatinate the same should be amicably debated which not being agreed in the space of one year they should then be referred to the impartial Mediation of the King of England and the Republick of Venice But no sooner was this Declaration published than the French by Force of Arms made themselves Masters of several Cities seizing and fortifying Castles miserably burning and destroying the Palatinate and exacting Contributions in Suevia Franconia and other places upon pain of military Execution raging over all those Countries with such barbarous Inhumanity as if men had laid aside all sense of Bowels or Compassion to each other waging War in a manner unknown to Tartars Scythians or other more salvage People of former Ages This surprizing Irruption of the French into Germany being carried by an Express to his Electoral Highness at Belgrade gave as we have said a stop to the progress of his Victorious Arms against the Turk so that having committed the Command of the Imperial Forces to the auspicious Conduct and Care of General Caprara he returned with all Expedition to Vienna commanding his own Forces to follow him At Vienna having passed some few days and diverted himself with his most Serene Consort at the Imperial Court of his most August Father in Law he hasted with all expedition to Monaco the place of his Electoral Residence there to take such Measures as might secure his Brother in the Electorate of Cologne to which he had been fairly chosen and confirmed therein by the concurrence of Pope Innocent the Eleventh And likewise guard his own Countries from the Incursions of the French who now like a Torrent carried alâ before them burning and laying all places desolate even to the very Borders of the Bavarian Dominions Thus were the Ottoman Dominions in Europe rescued from the fatal Blow of an entire Conquest year 1688. For not only were the Bavarian Troops recalled but the French pressing hard upon the Upper Germany the Emperor was forced to give Licence to the Militia of the Circles to return home and to remand back from Hungary some of his own Regiments for security of the Empire and of the Electors and other Princes who now judged it time to unite themselves against the common Enemy which tho' once esteemed to be the Turk only yet now the French being become more formidable more cruel and bloody than the Turks themselves when they came first from Scythia it became the common Interest of all Germany to unite in a Body in opposition to the dreadful power of their mighty Foe So the Elector of Saxony joyning with the Princes of Lunenburg Brunswick Hanover and Hesseâcassel they vigorously made Head resolving to oppose all the Attempts which the French made upon the Empire In this manner the Turks being relieved from imminent destruction by a stop given to the Current of the Christian Arms they had time to take some breath and respite and recover themselves a little as will appear in the course of the following Year The Pasha of Belgrade taken Prisoner as we have said was carried to Vienna where he was treated with Respect and permitted the liberty of the City under the care of Cavag re Marc Ant o the Empeperor's principal Interpreter because he was a man of Years a great Soldier and one chosen for his Valour and Bravery for the defence of Belgrade
persuasions might have with his Transilvanian Friends and those of his Faction inviting them to cast off the Yoke of Germany from their Necks and reassume their Ancient Liberties and to that end he wrote this following Letter Ad Capitaneos Directores Magistratus Inclyti Regni Transilvaniae Omnia bona det Deus Regno Transilvaniae vigile Ingenium oculos Incolis ejus opto Nolim Ingratitudinem vestram quâ Caesaream amplexi fuistis protectionem respicere imò potius certiores vos facere commune facere velim vehementer volens Regnum Transilvaniae in tantis afflictionibus exactionibus versari Non dubito quin satis perspexeritis hucusque iniquas Germanorum Machinationes Volunt se in regnum intrudere ut vos ex regno expellant Vos peribitis illi manebunt Pellite itaque corrigite ceaecitatem vestram Ad Arma currite omnes Nobiles Libertini Subditi pro felici Patria certate certe vos libertatem consecuturos quam turpiter perdidistis ad Comam usque Nisi omnes audacter insurrexeritis peribitis vos filii vestri Nobilissimum Regnum in manibus barbarorum manebit Valete et vigiliate vobis Patriae vestrae Datas trans Danubium proximè ad Transalpinas And to leave no Stone unturned he sollicited the Ottoman Port for new Succours promising mighty Successes in case the Tartars would invade Transilvania the which accordingly was designed and had taken effect had not the Cosacks made an unexpected Irruption into Tartary and thereby obliged those Barbarians to quit their design that they might attend to the safeguard of their own Country All places in Bosnia being now subdued and brought under the power of the Emperor Bertzka only excepted situate on the Save Prince Lewis after he had fortified Proot and Gradisca marched against it being a place of such importance as secured all the River from thence to Belgrade The Turks having advice of the approach of Prince Lewis with Terror and terrible Consternation abandoned that vast City pleasant for its Situation in a delicious Country abounding with all sorts of Provisions and Fruits both for the sustenance and delight of the Inhabitants into this Commodious Dwelling made void by the flight of the Turks a Garrison of Two thousand Germans was lodged which served them for Winter-Quarters wherein to refresh themselves after all the fatigues dangers and tedious Marches of the passed Campaigne and to secure this City so plentiful of all sorts of Provisions a regular Fortification was Erected on the rising of a Hill which served to cover and very much to strengthen the City Now in regard Advices were brought to Bertzka that the Pasha of Bosnia was making Levies of men and recruiting his Forces in the Neighbouring parts General Piccolomini was dispatched to Vienna to render an Account of the State of that Country and to press for Forces immediately to be dispeeded for security thereof it being a Province inhabited by many Christians who with encouragement and protection would be ready to submit and do Homage to the Emperor Piccolomini so well Negotiated his Affairs at Vienna that he soon procured Orders directed to the General at Belgrade to reinforce Prince Lewis with a considerable Body of men But because the French were now in motion and had already entred Germany with a formidable Army to oppose which there was need of the Counsel and Direction of the best and most Experienced Captains who had lately with such auspicious Fortune conducted the Imperial Forces against the Turks it was resolved to recall Prince Lewis of Baden to Vienna and to commit the Charge of Bosnia to the Courage and Conduct of Piccolomini year 1688. So soon as Piccolomini was returned to Gradisca Prince Lewis took Post for Vienna having some few days before his departure taken possession of Oliva and Sbornich or Swornich a City and Castle of considerable importance of the latter of which the Charge was committed to Major Thomas Stracharta a Scotch Gentleman who bravely maintained it against Two Assaults of the Turks These places were situate on the River Drine After which this Valiant Prince departed leaving most manifest Evidences and Proofs behind him of his Courage assisted with Fortune for that in the space of about Nine Weeks he had subdued all the Province of Bosnia defeated the Pasha with double Numbers taken Proot Gradisca Bertzka and divers Castles with no more than Eight thousand Germans Hungarians and Croatians Tho' it was now time to end this Campaigne yet still the Blocades of Sigeth Canisa and Grand-Waradin were continued year 1688. the Defendants tho' reduced very low remained howsoever very obstinate and resolute to maintain the Garrisons to the last extremity in hopes rather that their Ambassadors would succeed in the Conclusion of a Peace than in any apparent probability there was of rescuing themselves by their own force or other expected Succours And indeed the Turks might then on very good Grounds have hoped for a peace since that they readily offered to have quitted all pretensions to the Conquered places and suffered the Emperor to remain in quiet possession of all whereof he had made himself Master which had been a vast advantage to the Empire at that time when the French were entered into Germany with a formidable Army burning laying waste and destroying all the Palatinate threatning War on the Empire which continued for several Years with such fury that had not King William of England joyned with Spain Holland and some of the Princes of Germany opposed this terrible Foe all the Empire and other Countries had sunk under the weight of the Arms of France But God knows by what Fate the Emperor refused to hearken to those fair Propositions of Peace which that they might not be urged or pressed on his Counsellors the Turkish Ambassadors were committed Prisoners to the Castle of Puffendorf where they passed some Years under a tedious restraint and loss of Liberty contrary to the Law of Nations And tho' the Turks may be much blamed for this kind of Violation of the Law of Nations and disrespect to the persons of Ambassadors which in all Countries have been esteemed sacred yet it is a new thing to be so practised by Christian Princes especially by the Austrian Family which is Renowned over all the World for their Piety Justice and Clemency As there was at that time no Reason or Sense for not closing with the Turks in a Peace so afterwards the Folly and Misfortune was so apparent that the Court of Vienna hath often lamented the unhappy Consequences of that evil Counsel which the Ministers of State to throw off from themselves have cast on the prevailing Faction of the Jesuits and Clergy which have ever carried a great sway in that Counsel And thus having by God's Assistance finished the Wars in Hungary by a full and ample Relation of all that passed in that miserable Country during the Course of the
their Winter-quarters were drawn over to the opposite side where joyning with those of Buda they encamped at Souseberg Whilst these Troops were drawing together a Party of Rascians surprized and took Titul in which they found 400 Turks and put them all to the Sword. In this interim General Veterani received Intelligence That 300 Ships laden with Provisions under the Convoy of 4000 Men were speedily designed from Widin to Belgrade for subsistence of that place and hereupon the General sent Orders to the Colonels Pohland and Antonio to intercept them in their passage These two Braves having joyned their Forces making together 4000 Men lay in wait for the Enemy about two days and on the third seeing them begin to appear they drew their Forces so close together that they seemed not to make above 400 Men in all The Turks contemning so small a number detached a Party of 1000 Jannizaries to attack them which running upon them with fury and precipitation were so rudely treated by the Rascians that the Turks were forced to send a stronger Party to their assistance the which also were so bravely received that above 1000 Turks were killed on the place and many drowned in their retreat but the Ships betaking themselves to the other side of the River were saved Nor were the Rascians less fortunate some days afterwards having taken 400 Waggons laden with Ammunition and Provisions in their passage from Belgrade to Temeswaer besides several Prisoners amongst which were three Turks of good Quality Another strong Party of Rascians making an Incursion near Mitrovitz attacked Kathana Mustapha and killed 1500 of his Men on the place took several Prisoners four Guns and all his Baggage upon which the Turks quitting Mitrovitz the Rascians entered and possessed themselves of it These Successes being the Preludes to the ensuing Campagne were good Omens of a happy and glorious Victory the truth whereof will speedily appear by what is to follow before the Conclusion of this Year By all the Misfortunes which had attended the Turks in this War it was believed not only at Vienna but concluded as well in England as in all parts of Germany that the Turks were become weary of the War and that there was nothing now wanting to beget a Peace but a good Mediator acceptable to both the Emperor and the Sultan The Turks had already given Proofs of their Inclinations to a Peace by the Ambassadors which contrary to the Custom of the Turks and which had never been practised before had sent their Ambassadors in a manner to supplicate Peace with the Emperor and who remained still in the Imperial Dominions tho' confined to the Castle of Puttendorf in the nature of Prisoners the which was excused by the Austrians by the constant practice of the Turks who had for the most part Imprisoned Ambassadors or put Guards upon them at all times when their Negotiations succeeded not or that Propositions were offered not very pleasing to the Grand Seignior But be it how it will it being now evident that both Parties had need of a Peace no Princes appeared capable of the Office of Mediation but only William King of Great Britain and the States General of the United Provinces being both Friends to the Port and to the Emperor and his Allies About that time Sir William Trumball sent by King Iames II. to reside Ambassador at Constantinople being recalled Sir William Hussey one of the Members of the Turky Company was Elected by that Company according to their Privileges to reside Ambassador at the Ottoman Port And being afterwards presented to His Majesty King William to receive His Royal Consent and Confirmation he was accepted by His Majesty and received his Commission and Instructions accordingly by which he was appointed in the Name of King William and Queen Mary to Offer unto the Sultan Their Majesties Mediation For better effecting of which Sir William Hussey was appointed to take a Journey by Land to the Ottoman Port and in his way to call at Vienna there to receive such Directions about Treating this Peace as should be delivered him by the Emperor the King of Poland and the State of Venice then in an Alliance together Sir. William Hussey not leaving England until the latter end of the year 1690. and having his Lady with her Women in his Company he arrived not at Vienna until the beginning of the Winter when the Danube being frozen up and no passage without great danger by Land and the Instructions according to the slow Motions of the Imperial Court not formed nor delivered to the hands of Sir William Hussey until towards the Spring he arrived not at Adrianople till the Month of Iune wherâ the Grand Vizier was still remaining and preparing for his march with the Army towards Belgrade But before he departed he first gave Audience to Sir William Hussey the English Ambassador at which little passing besides Ceremony no Judgment could be made of the Viziers Inclinations to a Peace whose Thoughts were taken up with the Contrivances for the War for the Turks being resolved to try the fortune of the following Campagne would not much hearken to Proposals of Peace especially being offered with an Uti Possidetis that is to make short work That both Parties should be contented with what they had in Possession and so an Amnesty to pass What the Vizier had in his Mind he was not willing to declare but by the Sequel it appeared that he resolved to Fight and to adventure his own Life with the Fortune of the Ottoman Empire on the hazard of a Battle esteeming it more glorious to die in the Field than poorly and meanly in a private Chamber by a Cord applied to his Neck by the Hands of two Executioners With these thoughts the Grand Vizier proceeded to Belgrade to Head the Army which was full of Hope and Assurance of Victory under the Auspicious Conduct of this Kuperlee Son of Old Kuperlee and Brother to that Prudent and Moderate Vizier who subdued Candia and put an end to the Venetian War which had lasted for 27 or 28 Years for the Turks attribute more to the Fortune of a Man and of his Family and the Stars under which he is Born than to his Wisdom Conduct and Experience And for this reason the Turks so often change their Ministers doing as Gamesters do with their Dice and Cards throwing them away in hopes by this Change to change their Fortune In this manner as we said the Grand Vizier marching hastily away to the Frontiers the Business of the Mediation went not forwards but this great Work being at a stand Sir William Hussey proceeded to Constantinople which hath for many Years been the usual place of Residence for the English Ambassadors On the 18th of this Month of Iune Sir William Hussey made a Solemn Entry into the City being met on the way by at least 50 of the English Nation all well and bravely mounted on Horseback
That such were the Ancient Customs of the Ottoman Empire which they were resolved to observe and abolish the Abuses introduced by the late Grand Seignior and his Prime Vizier Mustapha Then the Seraskier with much earnestness did exaggerate the Unjust Oppression which was practised by Christians to those of the same Faith who Inhabited the Country called Syrmium situate between the Drave Save and Danube who were barbarously spoil'd of their Cloaths robb'd of their Cattle and obliged to pay excessive Impositions against all Laws of Humanity and a regulated Government whereas on the contrary their Sultan sent Money to be distributed among the Poor Subjects to buy them Cattle and Seed thereby shewing himself a Father of the Miserable and not a Tyrant and this Charity continued he which ought to be natural to you Christians towards one another need not hinder the Hostility of Soldiers when they meet and encounter leaving the poor Country-Men in Peace who labour only for the Publick Good and the Service of that Prince whom God shall place over them I answered with applauding such Pious Maxims and that I hoped so good Dispositions would incline them more favourably to hearken to what I was to propose in the Name of my King towards the ending this Bloody War between the two Empires and that as to the Particulars he mentioned I being a Stranger knew nothing of them He then proceeded to charge Count Chizzâola Commandant of Esseck to have deceived him on several Occasions after his Word given a Crime says he which will be punished by God and if the Charity of my Emperor towards the Poor Subjects and Country-men had not restrained me what wou'd have hindred me this Winter to have made Excursions even to Buda But all I shou'd have gained wou'd have been only the Tears and Curses of the Miserable I answer'd with commending the generous Clemency and Mercy of the present Government and our Conference ended with the usual Ceremonies of Coffee Sherbet and Perfumes In the Afternoon I was call'd for by the Seraskier to a Private Audience at which only his Effendi and my Secretary who was instead of an Interpreter were present I represented to him that this perillous Journey I had undertaken and by a way so unusual to Ambassadors from England was a Mark of the high Friendship and Affection which the King my Master bore to the two Empires of Germany and Turkey who resenting sensibly the fatal Consequences of so long and bloody a War commanded me to pass by Vienna there to receive the Orders and Instructions of the Emperor of the Romans towards the amicable ending of it to which good Work shou'd not the Grand Sultan and His Ministers likewise correspond it might be justly feared that the Mischiefs and Desolations hereafter ensuing wou'd call down Vengeance from God upon the Musselmen The Seraskier applauding the King 's Generous Design took notice that there never yet was between England and the Ottoman Empire either War or any alienation of Affection but always perfect Friendship which he beg'd God wou'd continue He commended the Wisdom of the present Vizier his Humanity and Treatableness and approved my Solicitous Earnestness to continue my Voyage leaving it to my Choice either to go by Land or Water I told him I resolved to go by Water as far as Rusgiuk a Days Journey below Nicopolis and to Travel thence by Land He again renew'd the Complaints made in the Divan in behalf of the Poor Inhabitants of Syrmium and press'd me to Write to your Excellency to forbid the Plundering of Villages and Excursions of the Heâdukes who behave themselves more like Thieves than Soldiers and that your Excellency wou'd order that they who are Peaceable and Disarm'd may continue not only in Repose but also be protected to the Benefit of that Prince to whom God shall give the Government He assured me further That whatsoever Expedient shall be proposed by the Imperialists towards the preventing such Violences he will readily agree to and cause it to be rigorously observed and in this so Christian a Cause intreated me to interpose the good Offices of my King. I do therefore beseech your Excellency to Correspond herein with Amet Passa either by Letter or by Deputies on both sides to meet on the Confines and to be pleased to inform me of your Resolution herein by an open Letter sent to the Seraskier with whom I also leave a Copy of this as I will likewise do with the Grand Vizier not designing to expose the Confidence they have in my King to the Hazards of any Accidents which might prove equally prejudicial to both Empires I took this Opportunity to shew my self equally Charitable towards the Poor Christians taken in Orsoâa and made Slaves as was reported after they had Capitulated to have safe Conduct into the Emperor's Territories I was answer'd That they had Surrendred themselves with condition That if Belgrade were lost they would be Prisoners of War and that the Grand Vizier was not capable of violating the Publick Faith so shamefully I demanded concerning some other Prisoners recommended to me by their Friends but was answer'd That they were all the Grand Seignior's Captives and without his express Order they could not treat either for their Ransom or Exchange He told me That all Officers were well treated and kept without Irons in a Chamber apart with their Servants at the Expence of the Grand Seignior I left 100 Ducats of Gold to be distributed by Capt. Runkel to the Poorest of them which was all the Service I could do them and of which I intreat your Excellency to give their Friends an Account A Courier being dispatched to Constantinople I have had Permission to Write to the Grand Vizier and Sir William Trumbal giving Information of my Arrival I purpose suddenly to continue my Voyage with full intention to do all the Service I can to both Empires in execution of the Commands of my King in whose Name I continue to press as desired your Excellency that some Means may be found out to prevent the Rapines daily practised upon the Poor Country People The inclosed short Letter for my Lord Pagett I intreat your Excellency wou'd transmit to him as also this Original that his Lordship being sufficiently informed may better know what to sollicite from the Emperor and what to acquaint the King my Master I am Belgrade April 30. May 10. 1691. Sir William Hussey's Letters to the Lord Pagett at Vienna Adrianople May 25. 1691. My Lord I Sent a full Account of our Arrival at Belgrade April 30. S. N. From thence we came by Water to Rustick two Days lower than Nicopolis and thence in eight Days Land-Iourney hither whence we advanced forwards two Days but met there by my Secretary and Interpreter from Constantinople with Letters and Advice from Sir William Trumbal that the Vizier was upon departure and ordered us to stay his Arrival at Adrianople We returned back two Days past
I have been received and treated in all Places with singular marks of Respect and Honour equal to any in the same Character I send this upon Fortune to inform your Lordship of our Arrival As to our Negotiation I must attend the Audience before I can give you any Account still in suspence God be praised we are all well and my Secretary I brought from Vienna The Turks pretend to have a great Army and design chiefly towards Transylvania If this meets a quick conveyance I beg your Lordship to acquaint my Lord Nottingham of my Arrival I have wrote to the Dutch Ambassador for his Advice and Consideration in respect to me and his Stay or Iourney hither since I cannot be permitted to attend him at Constantinople How I shall proceed to Constantinople stay here or follow the Campaign your Lordship must expect hereafter My Secretary has added a few Lines I inclose to your Lordship My humble Duty to all the Ministers Nothing shall be wanting which is in my Power I am c. Adrianople June 3 13. 1691. My Lord THE Vizier made his Entrance first with no great Train nor in the Publick Streets but past direct to his Tents half an Hours distance the Grand Seignior enter'd on the 29th with a fair shew to us but to others very short of former Splendour he was in a Litter one of his Court with him at the other end The Vizier sent his Emeen Chewse the 2d in that Office with eight more the same Afternoon he entred that he being in haste desired me to be ready to come to Audience next Day We were surprized because our Druggermen in good Manners thinking that Day due to his Repose did not design to have carried my Complement and to desire leave of Audience till next Day but I sent them immediately to perform my Duty in congratulating his Excellency's Arrival and to concert Matters for next Day also to desire it might be private in regard I was without Equipage suitable to a Publick Appearance The Chewse Bassa told the Vizier in regard I had no great Retinue his Personal Attendance might be wav'd but he commanded him to come in Person Accordingly on Monday Morning June â 11 about nine a Clock we set forward in the best Accoutrements we could I was in my Embroider'd Scarlet Coat six English Footmen in my English Lac'd Liveries six in red Liveries al modo Turchesco 18 Chewses in Van two Druggermen after them then my self with the Chewse-Bassa on my right Hand and about 10 Gentlemen on Horseback follâwing me some of my own Company others that came from Belgrade with me and several other Turks that we made a large Train and drew Crouds of Spectators In half an Hour we arrived at his Camp conducted into his Tents we past one very large one and through that into another his Officers were all drawn in Lines they brought me a Stool to sit on and immediately the Vizier enter'd sat down upon a Bed carpeted his People made a Prayer at his Entrance he bid me welcome and I acquainted him with my Commission delivering him the King's Letter and its Translation after this was over the Tent full of Officers and his two Sons standing on his right Hand I ask'd his Excellencies leave now or when he pleas'd to speak in private he told me after Sherbet Coffee c. the Turkish Treat the Company should retire and he being in haste desired it now when we discoursed according to the Relation I send inclosed Veâbatim as nigh as we four could remember and to which we all put our Hands viz. my self Senior Marsigli Mr. Coke Secretary and Senior Antonio Perrone chief Interpreter there remained none in the Room but the Vizier as before mentioned and one Druggerman more At Departure I was Vested and 11 more all that I had of Quality and conducted back with some Respect His Excellency was very courteous and we had all the Marks possible of a very kind Reception with as much Honour as any in the Character My Lord The Point resolved was That his Excellency would not own the Turks at Vienna under any Publick Character would neither write to them or send any other Wâen I told him the Emperor had accepted the King of England and States of Holland to assist and was well disposed to a Peace and if his Excellency did incline also I hop'd there might be a happy issue he reply'd He was for Peace but upon Terms of Honour and if I had Power to treat would call for Pen. I reply'd It could not be expected I should have full Authority before his Excellency's Mind had been known and that Vienna was thought the properest Place in regard there had been some Overtures already made and Representatives of all Parties present That to arrive at an end there must be a beginning and that if his Excellency permitted I would send my Secretary to Vienna to perswade His Imperial Majesty to impower his General that so his Excellency being now upon departure for the Confines they might treat there and if his Excellency judged my Person and Presence necessary to so bless'd a Work I would wait upon his Excellency and attend his Camp He told me there was no occasion I should take so much trouble but said Send your Secretary to Vienna that the Emperor send a Person according to custom fully impowred to treat here or else that we are as we are And to this he added two or three Lines To this there 's no Reply My Lord I spoke several times that the Commission was to me and the Dutch Embassador equally which I did and now repeat to avoid all Thoughts because the Vizier when he spoke said Let the Emperor send his Commission to me not naming the Dutch and to this no Reply 'T is not an Ambition I desire nor shall I less communicate with the Dutch Embassador whose Counsel I shall always desire My Lord I am very glad I have the Opportunity of returning Count Marsigli who will supply by Parole what I may omit or what is not convenient for a Letter and that your Lordship will transmit it to my Lord Nottingham 'T is absolutely necessary that the Emperor resolves that he adjusts the Points with the Allies or treats without them which the Turks would imbrace greedily but since His Imperial Majesty will not relinquish them nor they able to defend but must disgorge and be swallowed up if alone 't is I think very reasonable that the Emperor requires them to positive and convenient Conditions The Turks Nature is to do at once and therefore considering well there must be a Power intrusted I shall be very ready to give all the possible assistance I can and if required readily pass to the Camp or Confines for obtaining so pious a Work grateful and most heaâtily wish'd by the poor Subjects of both Empires and I hope I shall have the better fortune for the many hearty Prayers and good Wishes I
have gain'd on both sides God Almighty prosper and direct you to compleat it What you send to me pray let be clear to avoid Replies and that Count Marsigli may be perfectly instructâd who knowing the pâsture and ââmoâr of Affairs here will I hope expedite their Counsels and resolve them The Iuncture seems very favourable and the Allies I believe very pressing this Opportunity lost God knows the Consequences Senior Marsigli will tell your Lordship some things I have charged to his Memory and desire your Lordship to send to my Lord Nottingham My haste and length of Letters will not permit me to use Cypher at present I have presumed to write to His Imperial Majesty and most of the Ministers to acknowledge my Obligations and readiness in their Interests which I humbly beg of your Lordship to deliver and if the Bearer who goes directly to your Lordââip be present he can supply all that is deficient God Almighty prosper your good Offices I am with all Respect My LORD Your Lordship 's Most Devoted Servant William Hussey In the last Month of Iuly we left the two Ambassadors Sir William Hussey and the Heeâ Collier at Adrianople where having received the News of the total Defeat of the Turkish Army with the Death of the Grand Vizier a stop was given to their present Motion towards Belgrade with intention to proceed with the New Vizier thither and there to reassume the Mediation towards a Peace for which the present Conjuncture seemed very seasonable The New Vizier was called Ali Pasha had been Pasha of Scio and Kahya or Deputy to Kupriogli the Grand Vizier now slain in Battle But whilst they were meditating of these Matters and preparing to accompany the New Vizier in 10 or 12 Days as was given out unto Belgrade it pleased God that the English Ambassador Sir William Hussey fell Sick and Died the 14th of September after 13 Days of Sickness at Adrianople he was a Person much lamented by all for his excellânt Qualities and Experience in the Affairs of Turkey of which he had learned much at Aleppo and there gained a good Estate with which returning for England he Married the Daughter of that Worthy Person and Citizen Sir Iohn Buckworth after whose Death he was chosen by the Levant Company to be their Deputy-Governour in the Place of Sir Iohn Buckworth his Father-in-Law Deceased in which Office having acquitted himself for some Years with much Honour he was afterwards sent by King William and Queen Mary to succeed Sir William Trumball in that Embassy His Excellent Lady resolving to accompany him in all his Travels and Dangers patiently bore and sustained all the Fatigues and Inconveniencies of a Journey over Land which was never performed before by any other English Ambassador designed for Turkey who were always Transported either in the Companies own Ships or the King's Men of War by Sea But now things had changed their Face and as it was dangerous whilst the French were Masters of the Mediterranean Seas to expose those rich Ships to the danger of the Enemy so it was thought most convenient to hasten the Journey of the Ambassador by Land and that taking the Imperial Court at Vienna in his way he might there receive such Instructions from the Emperor and his Allies the King of Poland and the State of Venice as were most proper at that time in order to a Peace with the Sultan of which King William of England and the States of Holland offered themselves by their Ambassadors to be the Mediators Upon this Occasion Sir William Hussey with his Lady remained some Months at Vienna before he could procure his Dispatches and then the Winter coming on when the Danube was frozen up he departed not from Vienna until the Spring and arrived as we have related before in the Month of Iune of this present Year And whereas the Mediation of this Peace was of high Concernment to all Europe we shall here insert the Methods Rules and Instructions which the Emperor and his Allies gave to the English Ambassador in this Matter The first Paper given to Sir William Hussey at Vienna was dated March 1691 and called Informations for the English Ambassador designed to be Mediator of the Peace at Constantinople and which may serve to obviate the Objections which the Turks may make Annotata ad informationem à Dominis Ablegatis Turcicis ultimò exhibitam pro informatione Excellentissimi Domini Legati Anglici ad Portam Ottomanicam proficiscentis MISSIS omnibus iis quae Negotii tractandi substantiam alterare non videntur ad ea tantùm respondere visum fuit quae praedictam substantiam tangunt vel contra Legationis jura admissa praetenduntur à praefatis Portae Ottomanicae Doâminis Ablegatis ad concludendam pacem huc Missis Quorum in ordine primùm occurrit quod Domini Ablegati Turcici in praeterita sua informatione de Colloquio inter Eminentissimum Dominum Cardinalem à Kollonitsch illos in Coenobio PP Augustinianorum extra urben instituto commemorant in quo parum refert an Dominus Cardinalis à Kollonitsch illos Ablegatos Turcicos an verò hi praefatum Dominum Cardinalem à Kollonitsch ad Colloquium illud invitaverint in eo tamen substantia posita est quod nunc asseverent Domini Ablegati Turcici propositionem quam se Domini Cardinali à Kollonitsch tùm fecisse fatentur non ex mandato Portae verùm propriâ mentis occurrentià nunc demùm se fecisse profiteantur etenim saepe saepius per literas interrogati num super illa tractare sufficienter instructi sint Non tantùm se adaequata Plenipotentia provisos constanter responsoriis suis affirmarunt verùm etiam patefactam sibi diffidentiam Ministerii Caesarei super hac qualitate conceptam saepius repetitam aegrè demum ferre coeperunt quaestiuncularum inutilium nomine appellantes moram principali negotio per haec fieri questi sunt quod si ab initio statim ejusmodi propositionem Domino Cardinali factam non ex Portae mandato sed suâ tantùm privatâ mente originem ducere professi fuissent Ministerium Caesareum vel ejusmodi propositionem planè ab initio non recepisset vel de modo legis timandae dictae propositionis dictis Dominis Ablegatis temperamentum aliquod idoneum suggessisset quam circumstantiam cùm tacuissent tacere perseverassent Domini Ablegati Turcici eam nunc demum professi satis constat unde mora illorum detentionis causa processerit cui consequenter imputanda sit nam saepius per literas interrogati num puncta proposita Domino Cardinali à Kollonitsch ipsis copialiter transmissa menti suae conformia essent Affirmative responderunt quamvis non super iis quae Domino Cardinali à Kollonitsch proposita fuerunt aliquis Tractationis motus à Caesareo Ministerio ostensus sed tùm demùm fides rei adhibita fuit cum hanc ob causam
Enemy And at Adrianople three other Pasha's were put to Death for the same Crime or Default After these Executions done the General of the Janisaries was Named for not behaving himself well but because there are some Points of respect reserved for the Order of Janisaries he was only dismissed from his Government and with a good Grace sent to be Pasha of Gaza the meanest Pashaluck in the whole Empire and this would have been a Favour had they not sent an Executioner after him and in his way taken off his Head as is the usual Custom amongst the Turks with such Orders and Methods as these the Turks reassumed something of their Courage dispatching without delay Commands for Listing and Enrolling Janisaries and other Orders of Militia as also Timariots Zaims Segmen and others and that they would augment their Numbers as far as to 100000 Men or at least to the same degree as they were the last Year But before we proceed farther on the Turkish side we must look a little back and see what the Germans are doing after so Signal a Victory The 20th of this Month of August being the next Day after the Battle some Parties of Hungarians and Rascians were commanded to Pursue the Enemy in their Flight which they did with such Expedition that they brought back with them many of the Fugitives dispersed and stragling thro' Private Ways and unknown Paths and reported That the whole Turkish Army were Flying in the greatest Confusion imaginable and that a great part of them had already passed the Save and had broken all the Bridges behind them and that great Numbers of Dead Bodies were found on the Roads and covered the Ground for some Distance from the Camp For which great Victory Te Deum was sang on the 21st with a Triple Discharge of all the Guns as well of those which were taken from the Turks as those belonging to the Christian Army And here on the 22th the Christian Army reposed and rested it self in the Field of Battle In the mean time before the News of the Victory Colonel Mackeri Governour of Verovitza with a Party of 1600 Men attacked the Castle of Velicko and having thrown some Bombs into it it was forced to Surrender at Discretion having had about 300 Men Killed and not above 60 left Alive the Booty was not great unless it were the Releasement of Christian Prisoners of which 300 obtained their Liberty The first Motion the Army made from the Field of Battle was to Carlowitz where the Duke of Holstein was Buried The next Day being the 25th they marched to Peter Waradin where the Dukes of Ahremberg and Arschot the General Souches together with several other Officers Died of their Wounds the great Heats having contributed much to their Deaths On the 30th a General Council of War was held in the Imperial Army at which it was resolved That the Duke of Croy Field-Marshal with the Generals Saurau and Hoffkirchen and five Regiments of Horse and as many of Foot besides Rascians and Hungarians should March towards Esseck to cover that Country and Pass and accordingly they began their March on the last of the Month whilst Prince Lewis of Baden remained in the Camp to secure and cover them in the Rear Of all which Matters the News being sent to Vienna both as to the Victory and the Methods taken after it we may imagine that all the Imperial Court as well as all Parts of Christendom were filled with an extraordinary Joy for so signal a Victory and as the Emperor sent his Gracious Encouragements to all the Officers so more especially to the General Officers declaring Prince Lewis of Baden Lieutenant-General of the Imperial Army in Hungary where whilst these things were agitating the News came of the Victory which King William of England had gained at the Boyne in Ireland which served to augment the Triumphs with another triple Discharge of all the Cannon in the Army The Winter drawing near the greatest part of the Turkish Militia being under great Discouragements and having a long Journey Home thought fit to leave the Camp So did the Tartars Plundering all in their way so did the Arnouts and Albanians and all the Soldiers whose Towns and Houses were not at a far distance so likewise the Spahee's stole privately away and the Asâatick Horse made towards the Dardanelli where they passed into Asia and in this manner did all the Forces disperse that scarce any appearance remained of an Army or a Camp and those few who kept to their Colours were possessed with great Consternation upon the News that the Poles had actually Invaded Walachia and brought great Destruction and Ruine upon that Province The Weather beginning now to be Cold and Wet much incommoded the Soldiers of Prince Lewis his Army in their March especially the Foot who trashing through the Waters in a Country where was no Wood to Dry them or Warm and Dress their Victuals many of them fell Sick and Died. And indeed that Country as I have my self observed hath neither Timber nor Underwoods so that the Inhabitants live in Caves under Ground the Soil being of a stiff Clay grows hard with Fires like a Stone all their Fuel being Turf of which by the Laziness of the Inhabitants a sufficient store had not been gathered to furnish the present use of the Army Whilst the Army quartered in this Barren Country News was brought to Prince Lewiâ Thaâ General Veterani having heard of the Defeat of the Turks had Decamped from ãâã and was marched to Lippa where coming before the Town he sent his Summons to Surrender which being refused some few Bombs were cast into it which brought the Garrison to a Desire to Capitulate but nothing would be granted but a Surrender at Discretion In fine all the Men being 216 in number were made Prisoners together with three Pasha's viz. Mahomet Bey and one Alâ Pasha who had been sent thither for a Place of Banishment by the Grand Vizier and also another Bey with a Ziorbassi or Captain In the Town were three Guns and two Mortar-pieces only with a good quantity of Ammunition but little of Provisions After which Count Guttensteyn was made Governour of the Place with some Hundreds of Men for a Garrison And whereas News was brought That Tekeli with five or 6000 Men was Quartered about Tâmâswaer it gave some Apprehensions of his Design to Invade Transilvania for which reason General Veterani kept his Station at Lippa to observe his Motions In the mean time Prince Lewis continued his March to Segedin where he refreshed his Army for some Days And here it was that a certain Turk came from Belgrade under a Pretence to demand the Exchange of 4000 Turks against so many Christians but this Proposal seeming fictitious he was suspected for a Spy seized and committed to Prison It being thought fit to secure Lippa lately taken the Prince sent his
not being to be performed until the 25th of March the Turks who had magnified so much the Grandeur of their Empire to the Persians on all Occasions were in a Bodily Fear least in the mean time some Unhappy and Dishonourable News should come from the Frontiers or that the Persians should discover the Weakness of the Ottoman Force who formerly used to boast of 2 or 300000 could now scarce bring an Army of 60000 Men into the Field howsoever the Arrival of this Ambassador did not a little trouble the Minds of some principal Turks who being affectionate to their Country and People would be very sorry to have the Nakedness thereof discovered to their Insulting Neighbours The Day of the Ambassador's Audience being come a Horse was sent out of the Grand Seignior's Stable for the Ambassador to Ride upon richly adorned with Furniture and Trappings according to the Custom likewise 47 Chiauses with their Aga were also appointed with an Oda or Chamber of Janisaries with their Ciorbagee or Captain and likewise that Aga which had been sent lately into Persia to notifie the Exaltation of Sultan Solyman Being now returned they all with the Ambassador's own Retinue attended to conduct him to his Audience with the Grand Seignior Things being put into this Posture the Ambassador in a Glorious Habit and great Pomp mounted on Horse-back the Presents were all sent before valued in Persia at 100000 Dollars but being at Constantinople might be esteemed at double the Value they were carried by Camels covered with Cloth of Gold each of them bearing two great Chests in which were Cloaths Embroidered with Gold and Cloth of Gold the finest Linen of Persia some Pieces of them were worked with Golden Thread Besides there were Persian Girdles very rich Turbants of the finest sort proper for Princes some Bows and Quivers with Arrows Richly Inlaid some great and large Pieces of Amber with a good quantity of Lignum Aloes the most Precious sort of any in India of which much is consumed in the Grand Seignior's Seraglio some Strings of large Pearl of the biggest Size with many other Gallantries and Curiosities of India Five very fine Persian Horses covered with Cloth of Gold Sixty large Camels of which 30 were laden with Persian Carpets woven with Silk and Gold-Thread with various Colours rarely mixed These Camels were sent before by 30 Persians on Horseback very richly Cloathed The Ambassador himself was Cloathed with the most Rich Tissue and Weighty Cloth of Gold that could possibly be made On his Head he had a Cap in form and Manner of a Crown with Seven Feathers the Handles of which were studded with Jewels and Precious Stones the like Habit the Vice-Ambassador wore being appointed to succeed in the Embassy in case the first should fail by any Accident and before him five Horses were led Next followed the Secretary with the Credential Letters in a Bag of Cloth of Gold which he carried in his Hand lifted up as high as his Head on which he wore a Turbant Embroidered with Gold with four Feathers On one side of the Ambassador rode the Chiaus-Bashee and on the other the Vice-Ambassador and by his side the Aga who was returned from Persia these were immediately followed by two Persians with Beards well Mounted and richly Habited who were the Masters of the Horse each carrying a Scimetar in the Scabbard richly adorned with Jewels and carried under the Arm after the Turkish Fashion Next followed the Attendance of 60 Men on Horse-back with Beards cut short after the Persian Fashion all well Habited amongst which was not one whose Beard was not grown for the Young Youths were left at Home being Scandalous to show them Abroad When the Ambassador and Vice-Ambassador were come into the Divan where the Grand Vizier was present they caused them to sit down in the Rank with the Viziers of the Bench amongst which the Chimacam of Adrianople was reckoned but he who carried the Letters stood all the time during the Lutfé or Payment of the Soldiers after which according to the usual Custom they all sate down to Dinner where the Grand Vizier was present After which they were richly Vested but without Sables and with them 60 others of the Retinue had Vests which is much more than what are given to the Ambassadors of the Emperor the Kings of England France or Holland to the first of which as I remember are given 35 Vests and to those of the two Kings 22 a piece and to that of Holland 19 by which we may observe the Value which the Turks put on the Persian before those of the Christian Powers After the Audience with the Grand Seignior was performed they returned to their Lodgings in the same manner as they came from thence This Audience being over the Turks hoped that the Persian Ambassador would immediately and without farther delay return back to his Master the King of Persia but the Ambassador had other Intentions in his Mind For being desirous to be a Spectator of the Confusions amongst the Turks at Home and the Weakness of their Army on the Frontiers he pretended to renew the Ancient Capitulations which had been made between the Persians and the Turks which was a good Excuse to delay Time And tho' notwithstanding the Report caused to be spread Abroad That the Indians had declared War against the Persians it little moved the Ambassador from his Purpose of delaying his Departure that he might the better discover the Weakness and Nakedness of the Turks whose Affairs could not go well Abroad whilst they were governed by an unable Head at Home for the Grand Vizier was Old and Cholerick and had it not been for his Son who was a Person well in Years Diligent and Considerative who Discoursed and Prepared all Matters weighed and consulted them with Persons of Experience and Understanding he could never have carried them to any Maturity or remained long in that Sublime Office. Besides he was Naturally Cruel that upon the least Suspicion or Murmurings of any Pasha or great Man he without the least noise sent the Bow-string for him and privately cut him off Amongst the rest there was one Omer Pasha who having in several Fights signalized himself by his Bravery seemed to aspire unto some high degree of Preferment whereof the Vizier growing Jealous he sent and took him off But what most confirmed him was that he promised the Militia to deliver out their Pay to them at the end of every three Months in good Gold and Silver and not in Copper-Money against which there had been such Outcries and Tumults amongst the People to perform which Promise for there was no dallying with the Licentious Soldiery the Gold and Silver-Smiths were commanded to shut up their Shops and prohibited to Work or make any Vessels of Gold or Silver but to bring the Gold and Silver which they had in their Hands into the Mint there to be Coined into good Money which
Monsieur de Chateau-neuf the present residing Ambassador at which according to the usual Custom of the French at all their Audiences their Business was to extol the Greatness and Power of their Master and to report unto the Turks That their King had furnished King Iames with a Mighty Fleet and 30000 Men to Invade England which were all ready at the time of his Departure to Embark and consisted with Men of War and Transport Ships of more than 600 Sail the which joyning in England with the contrary Party to that which then Governed would no doubt carry all before them in that Country and consequently cause great Confusions in Holland and amongst all the Allies Moreover that his King was ready to enter into the Field in Person with a most formidable Army as he had promised the Sultan against the Emperor of the Success of which they would speedily hear from their fortunate King who had ever been Prosperous in all his Enterprises Moreover he added That all these great things the King had done were to support the Ottoman Empire which would certainly have been staggering under that Mighty Power of the Allies had it not been supported by the French and their Forces diverted from the Ottoman Dominions in Hungary all which the Grand Vizier heard with Pleasure and Attention assuring the Marquis and the Ambassador that he never had any Design or Imagination of making a Peace with the Emperor without the Concurrence of the French. Howsoever the Marquis not knowing how constant and firm to their Resolutions the Turks might be in case that things should succeed ill in the Turkish Army or that the Imperialists should take Belgrade he obtained Licence from the Vizier to accompany him to the War during this Campaign where he might be ready at hand to oppose all Proposals tending to a Peace in case any Endeavours should be made therein And in this manner the Grand Vizier departed the 30th of Iune from Adrianople towards Belgrade having pointed out 32 Days March from one Place to the other besides Days of Otoâack or Days of Repose But before the Vizier's Departure two Mirzes or Tartarian Noblemen with six other Tartars arrived at Adrianople bringing News That Batter Gherei one of the Sultan Tartars had entered into Volhinia a Province belonging to Poland and had carried away Captive above 30000 Souls which Rumour was spread abroad to encourage the Turks when in truth there were not above 2000 taken and farther to give Life to the Soldiery it was reported That Adil Gherei the Younger Brother was remaining within the Confines of Valachia attending his Elder Brother that they might with a joynt force March into Hungary Howsoever to secure the Tartars the Grand Vizier before his Departure from Adrianople dispatched away three Capugi-Bashees with pressing Commands to the Han of Budziack to march with all speed to Belgrade and not to delay their time as they had done the last Year and that they should have a care not to deceive him for that he depended much on their Forces but herein the Vizier was not well informed for the Budziack Tartar could not furnish more than 3000 Men and as to the Noghai Tartar they were Numerous but withal they were such a sort of Salvage Creatures Rebellious and Disgusted by the Turks that no great account could be made of them Nor yet of Sultan Galgha Prince of Crim Tartary who was engaged in a War against the Cossacks and had enough to do to defend himself against such a Stout and an Active Enemy Moreover to make the Assistance of the Tartars the less considerable this Year the Tartars rebelled against their New Han in their March towards Belgrade At first this Mutiny appeared only in some Dislikes which the Principal Tartars showed against their New Sultan the which daily increasing came to such a heighth that the whole Army forsook and left him and returned in a Body back to Budziack and were followed soon after by the Han himself with some of his Menial Servants the News hereof being brought to the Grand Seignior and Grand Vizier they knew not how to carry on the War for this Year so that all the Remedy which remained was to re-establish the Old Han Selim Gherey in his Place the which tho' it pleased the Soldiers better yet by this time the Season was so far spent that nothing of moment could be expected to be put in Action for that Year Some small Matters indeed the Turks did attempt but always with loss in Iuly they Attacked a small but a strong Fortress called Portsea near Peter-Waradin the which was so well defended by a Garrison of Rascians that the Turks were several times repulsed and at last hearing that some Imperial Heydukes and Dragoons had passed the Save and had cut down great Numbers of Turks they quitted their design on Portsea and returned back to Belgrade Howsoever upon better consideration concluding that the Place was of so high importance that they might be called into question for quitting the Siege they returned back again and on the 5th of August made another Attack upon the Place and resolved to carry it by force of Arms but News coming That a strong Body of the Imperial Troops were sent to relieve the Place and were already in their March they quitted the Siege and being Attacked in the Rear they left many Dead and Wounded Men behind them About the same time the Vice-Ban or Lieutenant-General of Croatia having got together a strong Body of 5500 Croats and Rascians made an Incursion towards Meydan in which Expedition he not only had the good fortune to release 400 Poor Christians who were Condemned to Die and should have been executed the next Day had they not been seasonably relieved by the Croatians but to return back with a considerable Booty of Cattle and Moveables together with some principal Turks of Quality and Note whose Houses and stately Buildings they Burnt and Destroyed little or nothing more remarkable farther passed all this Campaign unless it were a Matter of two considerable Convoys sent to Temeswaer the latter of which consisted of several Thousands of Turks conducting 100 Waggons and many Camels laden with all necessary Provisions and so having provided the Town for the whole Winter they returned back to Belgrade At the same time a Body of Rascians broke into the Morava and there attacked and beat another Turkish Convoy which carried 200000 Dollars to the Turkish Army which was a brave Booty for the Rascians for tho' the Grand Vizier upon the News thereof had Detached a Body of 10000 Arnauts after them yet the Prey had given them Wings and they escaped safe into their Towns and Garrisons of Refuge Some later Actions passed besides but none of great consequence expecting that the Turks having a mind to look big and put a good Face on it towards the latter end of the Campaign passed the Save to
recognize the Imperial Camp at Salankement but so soon as the News thereof was brought to the General a strong Party of Heydukes and Imperial Dragoons were Detached to meet them at the noise of which the Turks Retired and therewith the Campaign ended in Hungary For the Janisaries being debased in their Courages by the ill Success of the last Year refused to return into the Field complaining of the Cowardice of the Spahees by whom they had been exposed in open Field and given up to the Fury of the Enemy whilst the Spahees fled and saved themselves in Belgrade and the Tartars not returning to the War gave the Janisaries just cause to put an end more early than was accustomary to this Years Campaign who according to the Military Constitutions of the Ottoman Empire may be obliged to continue in the Field until the 28th of October but no longer for in such case if not provided with Winter-Quarters by that Day the Janisaries may leave the Camp against the Will and Command of their Generals and shift for themselves Tho' the Campaign was ended in Hungary yet something of Action continued in Poland where on the 27th of September the Turks Attacked a Fortress called Soroka with an Army of 30000 Men Commanded by the Seraskier Mustapha Pasha the same consisting of 8000 Turks 2000 under the Pasha of Silistria 6000 under the Hospodar of Valachia 2000 under the General of the Cossacks with 12000 Tartars With this Army as we say Mustapha Pasâa Invested this small Fortress which was defended by a Garrison of 600 Men with most of which the Governour made a Sally on the same Day that the Enemy came before it and killed about 80 of the Besiegeâs and so returned to the Fort having first burnt the Suburbs to prevent the Enemy from taking Shelter therein So inconsiderable a Fort as this which might have been taken by this Powerful Army with open Breasts without the Methods of Trenches and Approaches was now Invested with all the Formalities of a Siege âor the first Night the Turks began their Trenches and to throw Bombs into the Place and to raise a Battery of Great Guns which they plyed for three or four Days and Nights continually On the 1st of October they advanced their Treâches to the Ditch-side the which haâing filled up they stormed the Fortress but were râpulsed with the loss of 600 Men notwithstanding which they made a second Attempt and entered the City and Burnt it but being again beaten out of it they continued the following Day to Fire without ceasing for the space of three or four Days by which time tho' great Breaches were made yet the Besieged with indefatigable Industry repaired in the Night what the Enemies had ruined in the Day On the 5th and 6th the Turks took Post in âhe Ditch and endeavoured to fortifie themselves there but the Besieged Sallying out dislodged them from thence the Turks howsoever recruiting themselves with fresh Forces recovered their Post and having drained out all the Water from the Ditch they encompassed the Fortress round on all sides throwing thereinto Bombs Carcasses Stink-Pots and other Artificial Fires But neither these not Batteries availing to terrifie the Besieged the Turks applied themselves to sink Mines which the Besieged having discovered made some of them useless by Countermines howsoever the Turks intânding to Storm the Place on the 9th of that Month sired one of their Mines early that Morning which threw down part of the Wall aâd immediately they began to Storm the Place which the Besieged withstood for four Hours together driving the Târks from the Walls as often as they advanced and planted their Colours thereâpon In this Action the Besieged took three Standards and killed 800 of the Enemy and prosecuting this Success they drove them out of most of their Posts and Lodgments with the loss of 1000 of their Men and having gained six Ensigns they returned with Joy and Triumph to their Fortress This Vigorous Defence so astonished the Turks and caused them to despair of taking the Fortress that silently in the Night they raised their Camp with so much Precipitation that they left behind them two Great Guns and three Mortar-pieces with much Ammunition and Provisions The next Morning being the 11th of the Month the Besieged Sallying out found no Enemy near them The Action was very strange and almost Miraculous considering that the Turks had lost more than 4000 Men and the Christians had 150 Killed and 120 Wounded the Turks had an Army of 30000 Men to oppugne the Castle and the Christians no more than 600 to defend it And with this Action the Campaign ended as well in Poland as in Hungary After the Death of Sir William Hussey who Died as we have said the last Year at Belgrade William King of England c. immediately dispatched away Mr. Herbert in Quality of Ambassador to the Grand Seignior with Orders to reassume the Mediation of Peace between the Emperor and his Allies with the Sultan and not to lose the present Opportunity which looked favourable in regard to both sides Mr. Herbert had very little time given him to provide himself for so great an Undertaking and Journey over Land and tho' he was often afflicted with the Gout and not very well at ease when he begun so long a Journey yet being a Man of a great Spirit he forced himself that he might not lose the Merit and Honour of being the Instrument of procuring that Peace between the Emperor and the Sultan in which all Europe was concerned the Turks being then very low and much debased in their Spirits seemed flexible and inclinable to a Peace And not to lose this favourable Conjuncture the Journey of Mr. Herbert was pressed with all the haste imaginable but what with the Fatigue of the Journey and the Unquietness of his Mind for being obstructed in a Negotiation so much desired by him he became so violently Attacked by the Gout that he was forced to yield unto his Distemper and lay himself up for some Months at Frankfort so that it was March before his Arrival at Vienna and far in the Month of April before his Departure from thence during which time I received two Letters from him the chief substance of which was to complain of his want of Health and of the little appearance of a Peace between the Emperor and the Turks they despising as he said all the Overtures that had been made to them which had served only to exalt the French Ambassador and to keep the Turks from a Peace who imagined that such Instances would never have been made for Peace had the Christians not been droven to Extremities and want of Power to support and continue a War Howsoever Mr. Herbert in Obedience to His Majesty's Commands resolved to proceed and try his Fortune and being furnished by the Emperor the Venetians and the King of Poland with their Conditions
hunc Principem sibi devincire enititur His nos uberrimae Sacrae Caesareae vestrae Majestatis gratiae committentes sumus conatu summo Serenissime Potentissime Invictissime Caesar Imperator semper Auguste Sacrae vestrae Caesareae Majestatis Humillimi Devotissimi Servi H. HEEMSKIRK COLYER Adrianop 31 May 1693. All thoughts of Peace and Treaties being thus laid aside the Government employed its utmost Endeavours and Counsel were taken in Matters and Contrivances tending to the War It was reported That the Grand Seignior Sultan Achmet had resolved to go as far as Sophia where he would pass the Summer being nearer to Belgrade and the Frontiers in Hungary but the Physicians perswaded the contrary as being prejudicial to the Health of the Sultan who was already affected with the Dropsie the fatal and common Disease of that Ottoman Family for Cure of which many Consultations were held by the Physicians who in regard that they found as yet a Schirrus only upon the Liver they gave great hopes of his Recovery howsover the People took occasion from hence to discourse That in case this Sultan Achmet were Dead he would be succeeded by Sultan Mustapha his Nephew and Son to the late Sultan Mahomet who had been Deposed which would be a happy Change for the whole Empire he being Young and Brave and as to all appearance of a Martial Spirit and a Lover of Justice To forward the Preparations for the War with all Expedition possible strict Orders were given to provide ãâ¦ã with Provisions ãâ¦ã âood for want of which the ãâã laboured under the greatest Extremity Letters also and Commands weâe dispatched to all Parts in Asia to hasten the March of the Janisaries and Spahees and to enroll new Janisaries a Method not used in former Times by which taking every Pitiful Fellow that offered to come in they composed such a Band of raw Soldiers not only unexperienced in War but Poor and Feeble and Old that scarce one half of them were judged able to hold out a March to Belgrade The Turks also dispatched away 2000 Janisaries to reinforce the Garrison at Negropont likewise they reinforced Canâa with Men and Provisions as they also did their Army in and about the Morea and strengthned their Castles at the Dardanelli with Soldiers Gunners and Engineers under Command of Husaein Pasha who had formerly been Chimacam with the Grand Seignior but the Troops designed for Hungary marched slowly These Preparations being much retarded by the late Change of those two great Officers namely the Grand Vizier who as we said voluntarily resigned and the Tefterdar or Lord Treasurer called Ismael Effendâ Matulled or put out Disgraced and Exiled tho' some reported That he was secretly Strangled which was a strange and an unseasonable Policy at such a time as this to put all things backward by the Death of two prime Officers of State who perhaps were Innocent and Good Ministers But under such a Government as this it is not sufficient to be Wise Honest and Industrious but you must also be Successful and free of Enemies which are things not in our power By these Changes place was made for other Officers for Osman Pasha a Cunning Knavish Candiot as most of that Nation are was made Chimacam in Adrianople Mustapha Pasha who had been Chimacam and Seraskier on the Danube was declared Grand Vizier and Cantemir the Son of Dica Bey who had for 30 Years past been Prince of Moldavia was made Successor to his Father This Grand Vizier before he could be warm in his Place or provided with things necessary for the War or acquainted with his Souldiery and the Chief Commanders which were to fight under him was commanded to be gone with all expedition to the Army which he prepared to do with what speed was possible And in regard that all intentions for Peace were laid aside the Mediators were dismissed from their further Attendance and Mr. Heemskirk was licensed to return to Vienna tho' some difficulties arose thereupon at the instance of the French who suggested that Heemskirk was an Instrument and Spye of the Emperor and a German and not sent as a Mediator from the King of England whose true Minister my Lord Paget was And this colour had like to have cost Heemskirk dear had not my Lord Paget own'd him for a Minister of the King and unridled the Secret of the two Ambassadors In like manner my Lord Paget had leave to go to his House at Pera near Constantinople which is the usual place of the English Ambassadar's residence But as to the French Ambassador he continued still at Adrianople and when the Vizier marched he sent Fontaine his Dragoman or Interpreter with him to attend all the Motions of the Vizier and his Camp. Whilst these things were in Action the news from Asia was unpleasing and administred Matter for serious Consideration at the Ottoman Court where it was reported That the Army of Bassora under their New Arabian Prince did daily increase and that the Pasha of Sivas or Sebasse on the Frontiers of Persia were in Arms and that such was the confusion in those Eastern Countries as obliged the most powerful of the Asiatick Spahees to remain at home on the guard of their own Country and Estates so that the present Ottoman Force was inferiour to that of the preceding year and by reason of the forementioned Changes to which we may farther add that of the Seimen Pasha who was Lieutenant General of the Janisaries and advanced to be Aga or General of the Janisaries in the place of Ismael Pasha Likewise divers Captains who had been Creatures and Favourites of the late General were deprived of their Commands least they should make Desturbances or raise Factions in the Army all which as it diminished and enfeebled their Force so it hindered the early appearance of the Turks in the Field But the Preparations at Sea against the Venetians proceded more briskly than they did at Land for in the Month of May 22 Sail of Gallies and 13 Great Men of War were provided and fitted out of the Arsenal at Constantinople and ordered to sail down to the Castles of the Dardanelli there to join with the Gallies of the Beyes of the Archipelago to which some Ships of the Barbarouses being added they computed that they might form a Fleet of 24 Sail of Men of War besides Gallies Things proceding thus slowly by Land for the Causes before-mention'd the Vizier did not begin his March from Adrianople towards the Christians until the 26th of Iune Old Style designing at first for Belgrade when on a sudden express Orders were given to the Army to change the course of their March and leave the Road to Belgrade and take that for Valachia and through that Country to enter into Transilvania This alteration was the more surprising to the Germans who expected not the Turks on that side because it was not known above a Week or 10 Days
pry into the Secrets of the Empire Hereof the Cham having had some Intimation and seeing the Disorders arising in the Court and fearing to be sent away he desired to be dismist pretending that his Presence was necessary in his own Country he took leave of the Sultan at a Solemn Audience and being richly presented he began his Journey homewards being accompanied out of Adrianople by the Grand Vizier After the Departure of the Cham the Grand Vizier's Wife who was Sister to the Grand Seignior was forbidden the Court which was an evident demonstration that her Husband was not likely to continue long in that Office. The Heer Heemskirk who had been sent to the Assistance of Monsieur Coâyer Ambassador for the States-General at Constantinople for management of the Peace between the Emperor and the Turks or rather for want of an English Ambassaâor the two former Sir William Hussey and Mr. Herbert being both Dead At that time the Turks seeming inclinable to a Peace King William thought it not fit to let pass this Opportunity for want of an Ambassador from England but rather qualified Monsieur Heemskirk then at Vienna with the Title of English Ambassador to the Grand Seignior of which we have formerly made some mention the which had currantly passed with the Turks had not the French discovered the matter and declared that this Heemskirk was no English Man nor no Minister of the King of Enland but a German and one under Notion of an Ambassador sent for a Spy to deceive the Turks Upon which Insinuation Heemskirk was not able afterwards to treat with the Turks nor would they accept of any Propositions from him or acknowledge him for a publick Minister but committed him to Custody and kept him under a strict Guaâd and so was detained for some Months until the Lord Paget was sent to supply the Office of a true and undoubted Ambassador at which time Heer Heemskirk was called to Audience and had his Dismission Upon Departure Heemskirk said He was sorry that his Endeavours for putting an end to this Bloody War had been unsuccessful To which the Vizier answered That Peace would be when God pleased and was not at the Pleasure and Will of Man And so without saying any thing more material Heemskirk was dismissed and began his Journey from Adrianople towards Belgrade on the 2d of March. During these Matters great were the Disorders at Court the Grand Vizier grew weary of his Office and would gladly have been rid of it could he have done it with safety and Name his Successor and in the mean time his Wife endeavoured to accommodate Matters between her Husband and the Kuzlir-Aga Notwithstanding which Differences and the great Animosities yet they slackned nothing of their Diligences to be early this Year in the Field and accordingly Commands were issued out to dispose all things thereunto And an Aga was sent to Walachia for 500 Horses to carry Flour to Belgrade The French Ambassador perswaded the Turks to open their Campaign this Year by way of Transylvania and to induce them to follow his Advice he assured them that his King would have an Army this Year in Germany of 100000 Men but the Turks never gave much Credence to the Boastings of the French whom they commonly styled with the Name of Yalangi Francos And to second this Opinion of the French the Nogay Tartars who were setled in a Part of Moldavia made an Incursion through that Province into Transylvania and took from thence about 6000 Captives and a considerable Booty These Nogay Tartars were called into those Countries by the Tartar Han to succour and assist him at the time when the Moscovites came against Crim and were then placed with their Families in good Numbers about Budziac and part of Moldavia the Prince of which made Complaint to the Grand Seignior that being deprived of a great part of his Country by his new come Guests the Provinces were entirely ruined and the People no longer able to support the Charge and pay their Tribute But this Complaint having but little Effect the whole Blame of these Miscarriages were attributed to the ill Conduct of the Grand Vizier for which cause he was Deposed and the Embrahor or Master of the Horse was sent to demand and receive the Seals from him and the Chimacam of Adrianople employed to Seal up his House Hereupon the Deposed Vizier obtained by the assistance of Friends a Hattesheriffe or Royal Command from the Grand Seignior to return towards his Government of Tripoli de Soria without molestation for which he gave the Messenger that brought it five Purses of Money Notwithstanding which a Capigi with several Bostangees were dispatched after him to bring him back and having overtaken him he was committed Prisoner between the Ports from whence very few escape with their Lives nor did he long survive his Estate being all seized and confiscated to the Use of the Sultan Another Capigi-Basha was likewise sent to fetch the Head of Ali Pasha who was Great Vizier before this last Deposed Vizier Likewise about the same time the Kahya of Osman Pasha the lately deceased Chimacam of Adrianople was put under Arrest and his Master's Money Jewels and Goods with his own were demanded to bring Money into the Seraglio But before we proceed any farther it may not be from our Purpose to deâlare an Action which happened in the Port of Smyrna in the Month of March a follows One Capt. Hely Commander of a Merchant's Ship of 30 Guns having brought some Goods to Smyrna from Legorne and finding no Goods that presented for a Voyage back again he resolved to seek his Fortune in some other Port The same Morning Captain Marine a French Merchant-Man and Captain Teissere another French Man weighed also and accompanied the English Ship half way to the Castle where they remained a Back-stays for several Hours and seeing Captain Hely turning out watched an Opportunity to bear down upon him which Hely endeavouring to avoid all that was possible could not yet hinder the French Man from falling foul of him by which he broke his Sprit-sail Yard and Jack-staff and presented many Musquets and Pistols at the Men to provoke them to Fight or commit some rash Action to the Breach of the Peace in the Grand Seignior's Port but Captain Hely managed his Business with such Moderation and Courage that he saved the King's Jack and took it in and then hoisted it again and the French cutting some of their own Mizen-Shrouds Hely got clear and Sailed away towards the Castle with a good part of the French Man's Colours being foul of a Block That Night Hely having procured Materials to repair his Damage sailed away and the next Day got within five Miles of Murine Rowing to come up to him which he did near Cape Caraborno and there engaged him and after four Hours Fight in which Hely fired above 200 of his Cannon he took the French Ship which was
Designs and infatuate them in all their Counsels Howsoever all the World cannot but confess That the loss of so many Brave Men could not but prove a fatal Blow to all Christendom especially to the Germans who fought almost to the last Drop of Blood Nor were the Turks unsensible of their Losses also both as to Numbers and Quality for one of the Sultan's Brothers-in-Law called Sahin Mehmet Pasha a brisk daring Man and a good Soldier and so Named from Sahin which signifies a Falcon and was the next to the Grand Vizier and carried three Horse-Tails gilded before him was killed by a Carbine-shot for which reason he was much lamented at the Court and most especially by the Queen-Mother not only because he had been her Son-in-Law but a Person endued with many Rare and Excellent Vertues Besides which the famous Mahmud Pasha Celebrated by all to be one of the most Accomplished Soldiers of this Age and the most Warlike Cavalier of all the Ottoman Nation He was an Albanian Born a Man of great Reputation and Fame called Mahmud Bei Oghli and was slain with three Carbine-shots and fell amongst the most Renowned Officers of the Turks These two were said to be the first who broke into Veterani's Army one to the Right and the other to the Left-Wing where they found and encountred such unexpected Opposition that the Turks confessed That they had never met the like and had not prevailed against their Enemies at that time had it not been for the Resolution and Bravery of their Fortunate Sultan who standing in the Rear with his Scimiter in his Hand hindered the base intended Flight of his Soldiery This Action gave a full stop to all the following Designs of this Year for the Turks reasoning with themselves That in case so small an Army as that of Veterani was able to do such Feats what would become of their Forces were they to engage against the whole entire Army of the Kral that is the Elector for they call the King of Poland Kral and so other Inferiour Princes to the Emperor whom they call Kaisar but the King of England they could never be taught to call otherwise than Kral The Grand Seignior having made his Triumphant Entry into Constantinople the Militia of Asia which attended the Sultan from the War had licence given them to return Home to their own Countries and Orders were given to open a Door as they call it to enroll Janisâriâs according to the usual Ceremonies usââ on those Occasions and care was taken to ãâ¦ã as well the New Janisaries ãâ¦ã Veterane Albanian Troops ãâ¦ã or Marine Regiments ãâ¦ã their Numbers of which âeveral had been lost in the late Engageâânts at Sea the which tho' they had not for many Years been fought with so much equality of Fortune between the Venetians and the Turks as they had been for this Year yet it was not determined which side had gained the better tho' the Turks avoided the Fight so much as was possibâe and thereby gave an evidence of their own Weaknesâ and doubtful Condition It hath been long since we have heard any Discourse of Tekâây being not regarded so much by any as by the French Ambassador for as to the Turks they had no Opinion of him nor would they have it be thought that they had any need of his Forces or Interest of his Party in Hungary but suffered him to Lodge in one of the vilest Streets in the Town amongst Iews and the meaner sort of the Armenians called Balata his Countenance was much changed pale and fallen and his Feet Swelled so that his Enemies scorned him and his Friends could expect nothing more of good from him The Year drawing now towards an end all the Endeavours of the Turks were to begin the following Year with greater Forces than that of the preceding and herein they were the more concerned in regard of the Moscovites who were coming down upon the Tartars with vast Numbers of Soldiers and all things prepared to make War upon them and to take Asac at least the Diversion hereby would be great and so employ the Tartars that to defend their own Countries they would be obliged to desert the Service and Cause of the Turks Howsoever the Successes of the Turks had been this Year so great as gave them courage to consider in what manner they might be able to form two Armies for the next with one of which the chief Design was to enter Transylvania and if possible to make Peace with the Moscovites by the Negotiations of the Tartars but all this came to nothing as we shall see by the Sequel of the following Year Anno 1696. year 1696. THO' the Turks had gained some advantage the last Year over the Venetiaâs both by Sea and Land namely in the Recovery of Scio and by giving a Check or Stop to the Venetian Fleet yet they gained little more thereby than some little Fame and Reputation to the present Sultan Mustapha whom the People began to consider as a Deliverer sent to them from Heaven to recover their almost lost Empire which lay under sad Distresses as well in Asia as in Europe This Opinion of the People when they observed the Justice the Courage and the Resolution of this Sultan to go in Person to the War and that nothing could divert him from it gave them Courage and Assurance tâ expect a turn of Fortune and hopes of better Successes for the future and tho' the French promised them not to make Peace without them but to joyn with them in a perpetual League of Friendship yet the Turks did not much trust them but kept a watchful Eye over them knowing very well how little stress there is to be laid on the Promises of the Great Monarch of France who was also equally Jealous of the Faith of the Turks and both of them equally doubtful of one another This Great Ottoman Empire had the last Year changed both their Master and the Chief Officers without any considerable Change or Troubles in the State amongst themselves for that this Sultan in whom clearly appeared a Spirit of greater Wisdom and Courage than in his Father Mahomet IV or in his Uncle's succeeding him gave the Soldiery and the People such Hopes and Expectations from him that none durst open his Mouth or lift up his Hands against him there appeared also something more of Justice and Vertue in him and of Diligence and Care and Sedulity in his Business than was found in his Father or in any of the succeeding Uncles as we have formerly said which gave hope to the great Governors of the Empire that under him the Losses which the Empire had sustained in these last Wars might be repaired for tho' the Recovery of the Isle of Sâio was made before he came to the Throne and consequently might be looked upon as an effect of his Uncle's Counsels for that Mustapha did not enter upon the Government until the end of Ianuary
only of such as with great difficulty passed the Tibiscus by their Swiming and they report That the Turks could never imagine that it was possible for the Imperialists so soon to Attack them as that Day they did much less that it was possible for the Grand Vizier to pass his Cannon Ammunition Provisions with all the Militia of Janisaries over that Bridge and thence to proceed to Segedin and so into Transylvania and into the Upper Hungary In the mean time the Imperialists kept on their March to meet the Turks and having prepared their Trenches they fortified themselves therein which caused the Grand Vizier to assemble all his Pasha's which were to the Number of 15 leaving the Sultan on the other side of the Water with a Body of Spahee's and Silishars which are a sort of Spahees belonging to the Court together with the Solakbassees who are a sort of Pages also belonging to the Court but the Taraklee Spahees who are Timar's and Zaims followed the Pasha of their own Province and Country of which making an Account of their Numbers they calculated them to amount unto 25000 all Expert Men who managed their Arms to a Miracle but were in this Battle either Killed or Drowned The Arnauts observing the German Army to be marching to Attack them were the first who endeavoured to pass the Bridge and to put themselves to Flight The Janisaries also had the like Intentions to do the same saying That they had been Abandoned and Deserted by the Spaâees And as they approached near to the Bridge the Grand Vizier observing a Disposition in the Arnauts to pass the Bridge and fly he assembled a Body of his own Aga's together intending therewith to hinder and prevent the Flight which was done by killing a great Number of them The Arnauts finding themselves so ill Treated they put themselves into a Mutiny or rather into a Rebellion against the Grand Vizier and killed him After which some Thousands of the Spahee's placing themselves on the other side of the Bridge with their Swords drawn in their Hands they defended the Bridge and suffered none to pass over it By this time the Imperialists having put themselves into good Order of Battel furiously Attacked the Turks on all sides At the first Charge the Turks made some Resistance but at the second they began to give way and observing the great Destruction and Slaughter that the Fire and Sword made being terrified therewith they resolved to cast and precipitate themselves into the River where the greatest part of them perished all which as was said happened in the space of two or three Hours where could never be greater Confusion nor greater Effusion of Blood of their own Soldiery of which the Chief Commanders were Slain without Mercy or any Quarter and such a Multitude of Turks and Chief Pasha's are said to have perished upon the Spot that during the whole War the like Slaughter never happened as this For according to the Report of those who were not far from the Presence of the Sultan during all the time of the Battle they agree That according to an Account and List of the Slain there never happened so Great and so Terrible a Destruction as this to the Ottoman Army which more unhappily fell upon the Principal Commanders than upon the Common Soldiers which they esteem to be a just Judgment of God upon them for that no less than 15 Pasha's were killed in this Engagement five of which had been Beglerbeys or Viziers of the Bench besides the Supream Vizier And such a Slaughter or Destruction as this was never known to have happened for never in the Memory of Man or any Age was it ever known that five Viziers had ever fallen in one Battle amongst which was the Supream Vizier Giafer Pasha another Pasha the Aga of the Janisaries a Pasha and Vizier Missir Oglü a Vizier Fasli Pasha a Vizier and the rest of them were all Pasha's of Provinces and Governments There were 74 Captains with their Officers and Soldiers of their several Chambers all slain In every Chamber they account 100 Janisaries of which there may be in some Chambers 10 or 20 Supernumeraries so that it may be the general Opinion That above 8000 Janisaries were slain and those of the bravest and best Soldiers of all the Turkish Militia of which the Sultan was so sensible that he declared He was not so much troubled for the Number as for the Quality of such Brave and Experienced Soldiers who had so often and in so many Engagements Worsted and Overthrown the Germans Besides these were killed in this Battle the Kahya-Bey or Lieutenant General of the Janisaries with his 600 Braves which are always attending upon his Person having so many in that Company or Regiment being the first Oda or Chamber of the Janisaries for indeed the Kahya-Bey is always more Esteemed Obeyed and Feared than the Janisar-Aga himself Amongst the four other Generals of the Militia of the Janisaries the Zargagi-bashee who was the Major-General of the Janisaries was slain of the other three were ordained one against the Muscovites and the other two against the Venetians by Sea and by Land And besides the 74 Captains as many Beiracters or Ensigns were also slain And besides these 2500 Segmens of Bosnia being divided into several Divisions of the Great Vizier and divers other Pasha's with all the Gebegees who are Armourers together with their Captains and General as also the Gunners and Topegibashees or Masters of the Ordnance which are divided into two several Orders of Militia The gaining of this Battle was of that high Concernment and the Consequences thereof so considerable that from thence the Peace following was derived so that we may believe all the World to be interested therein and to be the Subject of the Speculation of the greatest Monarchs of this World. An Instance whereof we have in the following Letter Written by the Emperor himself and with his own Hand in Latin to King William of England in this Style The Emperor of Germany's Letter to King William of England PAUCAS ante horas desiderato ex Hungariâ nuntio recreamur quod exercitus noster sub ductu Principis Eugenii de Sabaudia die decimo currentis Mensis Ottomanica Castra ad Tibiscum triplici aggere munita triginta fere hostium Millibus propugnata non solum fortiter aggressus sit verum etiam Divino juvante numine foelicitèr superavit caesis in loco decem amplius millibus quos inter Supremus Visirius Janisariorum-Aga numerantur reliquique quos Pontis Angustia capere non potuit in Flumen praecâpitati maximam in partem submersi Tormentis etiam 72 una cum aliquot mille curribus commearu in potestatem redactis nostra vero ex parte tantum 500 occisis totidem sauciatis Englished thus IT is within some few Hours that the Post is arrived from Hungary bringing News That our Army under the Command and Conduct of
17th the Moscovite delivered into the Hands of my Lord Paget the Articles which he had promised to consign to the Mediation And accordingly on the 6 16th he sent a Supplement thereunto which did not answer expectation so that Business remained for some time undetermined The next Day 9 19 the Polish Ambassador had another Conference with the Turks at which the remaining Points of the Treaty were agreed upon so that in a manner that whole Peace was agreed and finished The 10 20th of December the Venetian Ambassador communicated a new Commission and Project which he had received from the State of Venice to the Mediators And in the Afternoon the Moscovite Ambassador entertained a Discourse with the Mediators and Mauro Cordato but at that Meeting they cleared no Business With these frequent Conferences on all sides much time passed away until Christmas approached and then was the Season that Labours should give place to Devotion and Mirth and to the Solemnities of that Festival which continued until the Twelve Days were over and then all sides began again after the Plenipotentiary Ambassadors had passed their time very Jovially to renew again their Treaties Only the Turkish Ambassadors having little to do with the Christian Rites wished heartily that the Feasts were over and pressed heartily for an end thereof alledging That their Presence was required at the Port and that the Sultan would no longer allow of their Absence The first that betook himself to Business which was strange was the Moscovite Ambassador who on the 14 24th of Ianuary 1699 was the first who Subscribed the Instrument of Amnesty and the Treaties of the Peace of the Emperor and Poland with the Port were Signed on the 16 26th by their Ambassadors And the Venetian Treaty being very well adjusted and perfected all Parties appeared to be very well satisfied and the Venetian Ambassador as well as the others tho' for want of sufficient Power he could not then Sign his Instrument but supposed that Orders would come to him for doing the same before the Imperial Ratifications which were to be exchanged on the Line of Limits between Peter Waradin and Belgrade could be dispatched in which case the Mediators had Power to receive it Monday the 16 26 of Ianuary was appointed for the Solemn Day of Signature Monday the 16 26th of Ianuary was the Solemn Day of Signature the which having been passed in the Morning all the Ambassadors Turks as well as Christians with all their Attendants Guards c. with many Persons of Quality out of the Country making about 5000 Persons Dined at my Lord Paget's Quarters at whose Table the King of England's Health was the âirst that was drank then the Emperor's and the lasting Continuance of the Peace which was Signed that very Day And then we may believe and fansie that most People there present were all heartily Merry with as much Solemnity as that Place could afford And amongst other things of Mirth it was observed That my Lord Paget had an Oxe Roasted whole for the Soldiers a thing never known before in those Parts On the 17 27th the Mediators Dined with the Emperor's Ambassadors where they were entertained with the like Rejoycings and in the Evening with Fire-Works Fountains of Wine Drums Trumpets Musick and with the Discharge of Great and Small Guns The 18 28th the Moscovite Ambassador took his leave of my Lord Paget with many Lofty Expressions of Civility and Acknowledgments The 19 29th my Lord Paget Visited the Imperial Ambassadors as he did the Turks on the 20 30th and 21 31st which was in return of that Compliment which the Turks had made to him some time after the first Conferences The 21st of Ianuary or the first of February the Turks were to visit the Imperial Ambassadors and to take their leaves of them On the 24 3th the Imperialists were to take their Leaves of the Turks and return their Visit. And on the 24 4th or 23 âth in the Morning the Mediators and Turks designed to take their Journey towards Belgrade where the Mediators were to continue until the Exchange of the Ratifications The 26th at Night O. S. the Polish Ambassador departed by the Post after having passed many high Complements on my Lord Pagett expressing the Transport he was in for the Successful Assistances he had received from His Excellency in the Management and Conclusion of his Business The Muscovite Ambassador also declared That he would leave Peter Waradin on the 2 12th of February and in three or four Days after which the Mediators declared That the Place of Congress was likely to be quite cleared The House of Conference was bestowed by Count Ottingen on the Franciscan Fryars who at the same time declared That their Intentions were to make a Church thereof in memory of that Peace which had been there transacted For which God be praised which being of a High Concernment to all Christendom and to which the knowledge of the particular Articles may be useful to all Nations we have thought fit to add them hereunto in Latin and English as here followeth INSTRUMENTUM PACIS Caesareo-Ottomanicum Subscriptum Januarii 26. 1699. AD perpetuam rei memoriam Notum sit omnibus singulis quorum interest posteaquam per sedecim hucusque annos saevum exitiale multâ humani Sanguinis effufione cruentum adeò bellum cum plurimarum Provinciarum desolatione gestum esset inter Serenissimum Potentissimum Principem Dominum Leopoldum Electum Romanorum Imperatorem semper Augustum Germaniae Hungariae Bohemiae Dalmatiae Croatiae Sclavoniae Regem Archiducem Austriae Ducem Burgundiae Brabantiae Styriae Carinthiae Carniolae Marchionem Moraviae Ducem Luxemburgiae Superioris Inferioris Silesiae Wirtembergae Teckae Principem Sueviae Comitem Habspurgi Tyrolis Kyburgi Goritiae Marchionem Sacri Romani Imperii Burgoviae ac Superioris Inferioris Lusatiae Dominum Marchiae Sclavinicae Portus Naonis Salinarum c. ab una Et Serenissimâm atque Potentissimum Principem Dominum Sultanum Mustapha Han Ottomannorum Imperatorem ac Asiae Graeciae ejusque gloriosos Praedecessores ab altera parte misertique tandem afflictae Subditorum Sortis summè dicti ambo Potentissimi Imperatores finem tantis in perniciem Generis Humani indies augescentibus malis ponere seriò in animum induxissent factum Divinâ bonitate esse ut annitentibus Conciliantibus Serenissimo Potentissimo Principe Domino Guillielmo Tertio Magnae Britanniae Franciae Hiberniae Rege uti Celsis ac Praepotentibus Dominis Ordinibus Generalibus Unitarum Belgii Provinciarum Solennes ea de causa Tractatus Carlovizii in Sirmio propè Confinia utriusque Imperii instituti atque ad finem perducti fuerint Comparentes quippe dicto loco utrinque legitimè constituti Plenipotentiarii nomine quidem Sacrae Caesareae Romanorum Imperatoriae Majestatis Illustrissimi Excellentissimi Domini Dominus Wolffgangus Sacri Romani Imperii Comes ab Oettingen Sacrae
Aegypt to Damasco Galilee spoiled and the Castle of Burie taken by the Turks Berââus in vain besieged by the Turks Saladin invading Mesopotamia is himself invaded by the King of Jerusalem Aleppo betrayed unto the Turks Petra in vain besieged by the Turks ãâã in the Court of Jerusalem King Baldwin sendeth Embassadors unto the Châistian Princes of the West for Aid Guy the Ninth and last King of Jerusalem Saladin upon the discord of the Christians taketh occasion to invade the Holy Land. Ptoâomais besâeged by Saladin Guy King of Jerusalem taken prisoner Jerusalem besieged Jerusalem taken by Saladin The death of Raymund the traiterous Count oâ Tripolis The famous City of Antioch betrayed unto âhe Turks Frederick the Emperor seteth forward towards the Holy Land. Frederick the Emperors Son chosen General of the Christian Army A great battel betwixt the Turks and the Christians Ptolemais assaulted by the Christians An old grâdge betwixt Philip the French King and Richard King of England King Richard revengeth the injury done to his people by the Cipriots King Richard arriveth at Ptolemais The French King sweareth to King Richard in his absence not to invadâ his Territoriâs in France King Richard marcheth with his Army towards Jerusalem A notable Battel fought betwixt King Richard and Saladin King Richard purposing to have besieged Jerusalem is by the backwardness of the French inforced to retire King Richard glad upon hard comnditions to conclude a peace with Saladin King Richard returning out of the Holy Land taken Pâisoner by Leopold Duke of Austria The Turks overthrown bâ the Christians Joppa repaired by the Christians The German Princes return home Kingdoms after the manner of other things have but their time to flourish in and so again decay The Turks driven out of Persia by the Tartars The beginning of the Aladinian Kingdom in the lesser Asia at Sebastia and Iconium Alâxâus the young Prince craveth aid of Philip the Emperor and the Latine Princes against his Uncle the Usuâper Great preparations made by the Christians for an Expedition into the Holy Land. Alexius cometh unto the Army A great Fleet of the Latines before Constantinople The Latines by force enter the Haven of Constanââânople A hot skirmish betwixt the Greeks and the Latines at their landing Isaac the old Emperor taken out of prison and again saluted Emperor together with young Alexius his son Alexius seekâth to bring the Latines again into the City The Constantinopolitans again in an uproar Murzufle attempteth to burn the Venetian Fleet. Murzufle encourageth his Souldiers Constantinople hardly besieged Constantinople set on fire Nicetas Choâlaâes annalium âol 180. The Greek Empire divided amongst the Latines The beginning of the Empire of Trapezond by the Comneni Hadrianople besieged by the Emperor Baldwin Henry second Emperor of the Latines in Constantinople Antioch besieged by Jathatines Jathatines the Sultan slain by Theodorus Lascarâs the Greek Emperor John Brenne by Innocentius the Pope appointed King of Jerusalem Corradiâ and Meledin divide their Fathers Kingdom betwixt them The situation of Damiata in Egypt A desperate act of a Christian. Damiata in vain assaulted A fair Offer evilly refused Succours sent unto the besieged Damiata without resistance taken by the Christians Damiata unpeopled by the Plague Pelagius the Legate perswadet the Princes of the Christian Army to proceed for the conquest of Egypt The Christians entrapped within thé Sluces of the River Nile The misery of the Christians in the drowned Land. The death of Henry Emperor of Constantinople Peter Emperor Robert Emperor of Constantinople An horrible outrage committed upon the person of an Empress Baldwin the last Emperor of the Latines in Constantinople John Batazes made Emperor of the Greeks in Asia Plenty ensuing of peace An Imperial Crown bought with Egg-money 1227 1228 Frederick the Eâperor Crowned King of Jerusalem The unfortunate Expedition of the King of Navar into the Holy Land. The Christians by perswasion of the Templars break their league with the Turks Jerusalem taken and rased by the Turks King Lewis setteth forward toward the Holy Land. The Citizens of Damiata set fire upon the City and ran away by the light A fair Offer âondly refused Earl Robert in flâing drowned The Earl of Salisbury valiantly fighting slain The Governour of Caire apprehended The beginning of the Mamalukes and their Kingdom The ruine of the Turks Kingdom in Egypt The Emperor in love with Marcesina Marcesina the Emperors Concubine shut out of the Church Theodorus Lascaris chosen Emperor The death of Theodorus the Greek Emperor Enây in Court. Muzalo traiterâusly murdred in the Church Michael Paleologus aspireth Michael Paleologus crowned Emperor by Arsenius the Patriarch Haalon the Tartar sent with a great Army against the Turks Aleppo rased by the Tartars Damasco won The Egyptian Sultan invaded Syria Antâoch taken from the Christians Paleologus the Greek Emperor taketh possession of the City of Constantinople Paleologus jealous of his State. Paleologus causeth the young Emperors Eyes to be put out Jathatines died in Exile Carthage besieged by King Lewis Carthage won The Christian Princes returing from Tunes suffer shipwrack upon the coast of Sicilia Prince Edward arrived at Ptolemais Prince Edward wounded Rodulph the Emperor taketh upon him the Cross. Henry the Prince taken prisoner and sent to Caire Tripolis won and rased by Elpis the Egyptian Sultan Sidon and Berythus rased Tyre yielded The miserable âstate of a City abouâ to perish Ptolemais besieged Ptolemais in vain assaulted by the Sultan Cassanâs the Emperor invadeth Syriâ Jerusalem taken and repaired by Cassanes The description of Cassanes The City of Jerusalem with all Syria again recovered by the Egyptian Sultan The death of Mesoot and Cei-cubades The Turks Kingdom rent in sunder by themselves The Turks Anarchie Caramaâia Saruchania Carasia Aidinia Bolli Mendesia Othoman none of the Selzuccian Family All worldly things subject to change The greatest Kingdoms have in time taken end and so come to nought Solyman Sultan of Machan forsaketh his Kingdom for fear of the Tartaâs Romania Asiatâca The Sons of Solyman and their first adventures The Christians of Cara-Chisar fall out with the Turks Small things in time of trouble yield unto the Wise great content Othoman amorous of Malhatuâ a Country Maid A folly common unto Lovers No friendship in love Othoman besieged and in danger for his Love. The Oguzian Turks in doubt of whom to make choice for their Governor The Castle of Chaâce surpââsed by Othoman The Christians complain of the wrong done unto them by the Turks Othoman consulteth with his Brother Jundus what course to take for the oppressing of tâe Christians his Nâighbours Othoman sâttâth in order his little Commonweal Michâeâ Cossi ânviâeth Othomân ãâã the marriage of his Daughter The Captain of Bilezuga treacherously seeking the death of Othoman is by him himself slain Othoman by administration of justice strengtheneth his government The City of Nice besieged by Othoman Neapolis the first Regal City of the Othoman Kings
Michael The Turks forced to retire The Christian Fleet driven by Tempâst to the Island Aegusa The Christian Fleet cometh to Gaulos A fugitive discovereth the enemies purposes to the Great Master The Vice-Roy arriveth at Malta and landeth his Forces The Turks forsake the Siege The Turks overthrown by the Christians fly to their Gallies The Turks depart from Malta The carefulness of the Great Master The Great Masters Letters to the Grand Prior of Almaine concerning the manner of the Turks proceedings in the Siege of Malta The Island of Chios taken by the Turks The Turks surpâise Towns in Hungary Great troubles in Hungary The good success of the Emperors Captains A great Prey The Turks with much labour make a Bridge over the great Rivâr of Dravus The Turks âncamp bâfore Sigeth Count Serinus his comfortable and resolute speech to his Souldiers Solyman cometh into the Camp at Sigeth The defendants burn the new Town The Turks win the old Town Solyman dieth of the bloody Flux Muhamet Bassa concealeth the death of Solyman The great Bulwark undermined and set on fire by the Ianizaries The little Castle set on fire The last speech of Count Serinus to his Souldiers Serinââs slain Serinus his Head sent to Count Salma The Bassaes quipping Letter to Count Salma Nicholaus Keretschen corrupted for mony betrayeth Gyula to the Turks A Traitor well rewarded The Governor of Alba Regalââ taken The Turks sharp answer to thâ Spaniard The Turks Army returneth with the Body of Solyman to Belgrade Selymus saluted Emperor of the Turks in the year 1566. Solymaâ buried Troubles in Hungary The Bassa of Buda desirous to farther the Peace Maximiââan and Selymus both desârous of Peace Maximilian the Emperor sendeth Embassadors to Selymus The Embassadors come to Buda Presents given by the Emperors Embassadors unto the Bassa of Buda The Emperors Embassadors honourably received by the Turks at Constantinople Prâsents given by the Emperors Embassadors to the great Bassaes Presents send unto Selymus by the Emperor The Emperors Embassadors honourably conducted by the Târks unto the Court. The first Gate of the Great Turks Palace The second Gatâ A homely Fâast given to the Embassadors Followers in the Turks Court. The third Gate The Embassadors brought in unto Selymus with the manner of the Entertainment of them and their Followers Iâânerario Di. Marc. Antonio Pigafetta ca. 5. The principal Point whereupon the Embassadors differed from the Turks in the Treaty of Peace The âhief Capitulations whereon a Peace was concluded betwixt Maximilian the Emperor and Selymus Embassadors sent from Tamas the Persian King to Selymus * Schach âuli Soltââ was not the proper name of this Embassador but a Title of Honour and signifieth as much as a Prince Servant to the King. * Sayms are Souldiers of greater honour than the Spahi having for their Stipend yearly 2000 Aspers at the least out of the Revânues of âcertain Towns and Villages * A Mescali is four drams â Tumenlich is in value as much as the Turks Aspâr * December The Persian Embassador honourably entertained by the Turks at Hadrianople The Persian Embassador in going to visit Muhamet the Visier Bassa in danger to have been slain The rich Present sent by the Persian King unto Selymus The Embassadors Present to Selymus An honourable allowance Muhamet Bassa disswadeth Selymus from the invading of Cyprus Selymus sendeth Cubates his Embassador to Venice Hard to trust upon Confederations The Turks Embâssador homely ântertained at Venice Cubateâ the Turks Embassadors spâech in the Senate at Venice The effect of Selymus his Letters to the Venetians The answer of the Venetians to the Turks Demands The Turkâ Embassador sent away in secret from Venice The resolution of the Senate for War diversly liked and disliked of others The Emperor the French King and the King of Polonia entangled with their Leagues refused to aid the Venetians against the Turks What Christian Princes promised to aid the Venetians The description of Cyprus King Richard in England How the Kingdom of Cyprus came to the Venetians Sabellic Eânead 10. lib. 8. Selymus invadeth the Venetians Pial Bassa sent against the Venetians Mustapha Bassa his Letters unto the Venetians Mustapha Bassa goeth for Cyprus The Turke Fleet descried in Cyprus The Turks land in Cyprus Mustapha Bassa marcheth towards Nicosia Nicholaus Dandulus Governour of Nicosia The desâription of Nicosia The Turks before Nicosia Nicosia battered and assaulted and by the Christians valiantly defended The Venetian Fleet of an hundred and seventeen Sail at Corcyra The Christian Fleet setteth forward toward Cyprus The Christians sally out of the City upon the Turks Scouts sent out of the City taken by the Turks and executed Letters shot into the City Mustapha Bassa in vain perswadeth them of Nicosia to yield Mustapha encourageth his Souldiers Nicosia most terribly assaulted by the Turks The Turks gain the Bulwarks and Walls of Nicosia Nicosia taken by the Turks A great slaughter Cyrene yielded unto the Turks Famagusta besieged Mustapha raiseth his Siege The Turks at Sea advertised of the coming of the Christian Fleet prepare themselves for Battel The Commanders of the Christian Fleet of divers opinions for giving of the Turks Battel The Christian Fleet returneth upon the foul disagreement of the Commanders Zanlus the Venetian Admiral discharged of his Office and sent in bonds to Venice A desperate Fact of a Woman The strong Castle of Chymera taken by Venerius Quirinus taketh a Castle of the Turks in Peloponnesus Quirinus a valiant Gentleman Negligence severely punished by Selymus Muhamet Bassa a secret friend unto the Venetians puts them in hope of Peace The Venetians send an Embassador to Selymus to entreat with him of Peace Ragazonâus the Vânetian Embassador cometh to Constantinople The conference betwixt Mohamet the great Bassa and Ragazonius The Pope and the King of Spain fâaring lest the Venetians should make Peace with the Turk hasten the confederation The Venetians resolve to accept of the League with the Pope and the King. A perpetual League concluded betwixt the Pope the King of Spain and the Venetians Tâe proportioning of the charge of the Wars against the Turk and the other Capâtulations of the League The League proclaimed The Venâtians the more to trouble the Turk seek to stir up Tamas the Persian King to take up Arms against him Alexander the Venetian Embassador hath audience with the Persian King. The answer of Tamas the Persian King unto the Venetian Embassador Mustapha Bassa âetuâneth to the Siege oâ Famagusta The descripâion of Famagusta The number of the Defendants of Famagusta Famagusta assaulted and notably defended by the Christians Famagusta again assaulted by the Turks Bragadinus encourageth the defendants Balâonius a valiant Captain The Turks sââk to undermine âhe City The breaches notably defended They of Famagusta blow up one of their own battered Bulwarks with six hundred Turks thereon Famagusta hardly assaulted The Citisens of Famagusta request the Governor in time to yield up the City A
to do at their next general Assembly Botscay dyeth at Cassovia The Emperour not to be blamed for making Peace with the Turks Sigismund Ragotsie chosen Prince of Transilvania afterward yieldeth up the same Principality again Newhuse again delivered unto the Emperour The Janizaries in Mutiny against the Bassa of Buda The effect of the Letters of the Bassa of Buda to the Archduke Matthias The Rebels in the lesser Asia by the Visier Bassa appeased The Bassa of Aleppo after three notable encounters with the Visier flyeth The Bassa of Aleppo pardoned by the Great Sultan and received again into favour The great Sultan feeketh in vain by the means of the Tartar to make peace with the Persian The Letters of the Persian King unto the King of Spain The States of Hungary about to depart from Presburg by the persuasion of the Arch-bishop there staid The Turks in great numbers repair to Buda The States of Hungary depart from Presburg without any thing doing The Haiducks go about to raise new stirs in Hungary The Bassa of Buda forbidden to make Wars upon the Christians An Assembly of the States of the upper Hungary and the decrees by them there made The Haiducks conspire against the Germans The Turks further the insolent attempts of the Haiducks Six hundred Haiducks intercepted by Humanoius The Haiducks in their Rebellionsupported by the Turks A great Fire at Constantinople An Assembly of the States of Austria and the Emperors demands therein The Assembly broken up and nothing concluded A Diet of the Empire by the Emperour appointed at Ratisbone The Articles by the Emperour propounded to be considered of in the Diet of the Empire at Ratisbone The Deputies for the States of the Empire in the Assembly at Ratisbone at variance among themselves The Diet of the States of the Empire at Ratisbone broken off and nothing concluded Matthias the Arch-duke cometh to Presburg Commissioners appointed for the appeasing of the new Troubles in Hungary Letters of Confederation betwixt the States of Austria and Hungary for the maintaining of the Articles of Pacification agreed upon at Vienna The States of Enseric commanded by the Archduke Matthias to be always in a readiness against the Haiducks The Prince of Valachia dieth whose Widow notably preserveth the Country for her Son. ãâã Duke ãâ¦ã by ãâã Turks ãâã âpare ãâ¦ã The Haiâuâks refuse to admit of the Pacification made at Vienna The States of Austria warned by the Arch-duke to prepare themselves for an Expedition to be made into Moravia The Arch-duke Matthias prepareth himself for his Expeditition into Moravia The Nobility of Bohemia are by the Emperor commanded to be ready in Arms. The Arch-duke Matthias with an Army cometh to Zname in Moravia The Emperour sendeth Ambassadours to the Arch-duke Matthias at Zname The Tartar Cham dieth The seditious Turks raise new strises in the lesser Asia and spoil Smyrna with the Countrey thereabouts Ambassadours sent from the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg for the appeasing of the troubles betwixt the Emperour and Matthias Matthias the Arch-duke marcheth towards Prague An Assembly of the States of Bohemia holden at Prague in the Presence of the Emperour The Requests of the Nobility and States of Bohemia unto the Emperor Matthias the Arch-dukes Ambassadors come to Prague Commissioners appointed for the ending of the Troubles betwixt the Emperour and Matthias the Arch-duke The Articles of Pacification betwixt the Emperour and the Arch-duke Matthias The Crown of Hungary delivered unto the Arch-duke Matthias King Matthias departeth with his Army ouâ of Bohemia The Hungarians and Haiducks by Cotouiâs slain King Matthias entereth into Hungary and is royally received into Vienna The Protestant States in Austria require to have the free Exercise of their Religion granted unto them The Protestant States of Austria refuse to take their Oath of Allegeance unto the King until they might be secured of the free Exercise of their Religion Presents sent unto the Great Sultan from King Matthias Matthias sendeth unto the Protestant States at Horne The Catholick States take the Oath of Allegeance unto King Matthias King Matthias goeth to Presburg Articles by the Hungarians preferred unto King Matthias at Presburg The Protestant States of Austria crave Aid of the Nobility and States of Hungary The Protestant States of Austria by the Hungarians advised to lay down Arms and to submit themselves unto the King. Illishaschius chosen Palatine of Hungary Matthias at Presburg crowned King of Hungaây Illishascius and others in vain intreat for the Sâates of Austria The States prepare themselves for War. An hot Skirmish The States of Moravia make Intercession for the Protestant States of Austria The Articles of the Pacification in Austria The States of the reformed Religion in Austria take the Oath of Obediencâ unto King Matthias The Turks seek secretly to encroach upon the Christians and the Christians seek again to annoy them Illishascius the Palatine of Hungary dieth New Troubles for Religion arise in Bohemia The States of the Religion appoint an Assembly of themselves to be holden in the new Court at Prague The Emperour maketh fair weather with the States of the Religion in Bohemia The States of Bohemia by writing declare unto the Emperour their purpose for the defence of their Religion Ambassadors from the Duke of Saxony in the behalf of the States The States of Bohemia raise their Forces The Emperours Letters unto the States of the Religion in Bohemia for the free Exercise of their Religion The Turks Ambassadour cometh to Vienna and from thence to Prague The Persians enter into the Province of Babylon The Turks defeated The Turk makes Gambolat General of his Army He commands him to be slain Ambassadors come from the Persian to the Emperour Presents sent to the Emperor His Affairs will not suffer him to joyn with the Persian The Proceedings of Leopold in Bohemia Causes of the Troubles of Bohemia The Gallions of Malta defeated by the Turks The Gallion of the Order sets upon the Turks Caravan The Gallies of Malta go to surprise them of Biserta They sink a Gallion of Tunes The Courses of the Duke of Tuscany's Gallies They take a Turkish Ship. Bisquerre taken by the Florentines They take divers Turkish Vessels The Morisques or new Christians chased out of Spain The King of Spain's Edict War in Bârbâry Description of the Town of Arrache or Allarache Arrache in Barbary taken by the Spaniards A great Battel in Tartarie A great Plague in Constantinople 200000 persons died of the plague The Turks obstinate belief touching predestination Death of the French Ambassadour at Constantinople The Ceremony of Ambassadours at their first Audience Thâ ãâ¦ã The Sultans Chamber Troubles in Transilvania The Valachian expelled his Countrey by Battori Battori defeated by the Valachian Fortgatsie Lieutenant to King Matthias enters Transilvania Battori's Practises Fortgatsie expelled Transilvania by Battori Fortgatsie's miserable retreat Troubles in Moldavia Three Princes pretending to Moldavia The Negotiation of the Ambassador of England for one of
Pâsha of Temiswar Count Serini overthrows a Party of Turks and Tartars Zechâhyd revolts to Apafi Oseck The Bridge burned Quinque Ecclesiae taken by Serini Sigeth Besieged The Siege raised Claudiopolis yields it self to Apafi Count Pâter Sââini ãâã the Tuâks in the Streights ãâ¦ã The dânger of Serini Serini maâeâ known to the Eâperor his design against Kanisia Kanisia besieged The Dieâ at Ratisbone The strength of the Christian Army Italy England Poland France Count Strozzi's Speech to the French King. Rebellion of the Beghs in Egypt Ibrahim Pasha sined and imprisoned A Dispute between the Mufti and a Shegh Predictions amongst the Turks The Grand Signiors aversion to Constantinople A small Seraglio by that name near Constantinople A Son born to the Grand Signior The Siege of Kanisia * Fifteen English Miles The ãâ¦ã âhe ãâã Aâmy ãâã Sârâzzi slain Serini's Reasons to fight with the Turks The German Residents Letter to Count Serini Montecuculi contrary to the opinion of Serini decâânes the Battel with the Turks Serini retireâ from the Warâ Serinsââar taken Reflections on the disgrace of Serini Nitra tâken by âhe Christians The Târks assault Soise Lewa taken The Pope recals hâs Forces from assistanâe of the Emperor The Pope supplies the Emperor with Money but not with men Count Soise marches to raise the Siege of Leventz The Turks before Lewa The Christian Army put themselves into Battalia Husaein Pasha routed and ââed Refâge deniâd them at Sârâgonium The Moldaâians ãâã Valacââans return home ãâ¦ã Bârcan Barcan burnt The Turks with part of their Army pass the Rab. The Rab swells with immoderate Rains. The Turks vain joy Signifies the Son of a Kul or Slave The defeat given the Turkish Army by the River Rab. Tac. lib. 1. The slâân on the Turks side Reasons why the Services of Montecuculi were accepted better than those of Serini Sedition in the Turkish Camp. Tac. in Vita Agricola The Grand Signiors hunting at Yamboli Vizier sends for the Princes of Moldavia and Valachia The Princeâ of Moldavia and Valachia recalled to the Wars Fides Graeca or the honesty of a Greek The reasons which inclined both Parties to Peace The Hungarians oppose the Peace The Emperors Reasons for a Peace The French Army march homeward Serini's Death The Character of Sirini The Vizier sends for his Mother to Belgrade The Blazâng Star. The âultâns hatâed to Coâsâantiâââââ increases The Sultan seeks to destroy his Bâother The Vizier offers to depose the Tartar Chan. The Turkish Ambassadour departs Rumours of the People on occasion of stay of the German Ambassadour Mustapha Pasha's affectation and popularity * It is in the fashion of a Mace which the Turks wear at their Saddles The German Ambassadors Entrance Audiânce given to the German Ambassador The Genoese make Peace with the Turk The Genoese received The Turks resolve to prosecute the War in Candia The G. âiânior paâsionately loves his Queen The Turks prepare for a War on Candia The G. Signior arrives at Constantinople Marquess Villa received into service of the Venetians The Speech of Marquis Villa to the Senate The Reasons why the German Ambassadour interposed not in behalf of Transylvania The German Ambassador's Audience with the Vizier An Ambassadour arrives from France Reflexions of the Turks on the âmbassy of Monsieur De Ventâlay A strange âââidânt befallen the French Captain of the Mân of War. The French Embassadours second Audience The Grand Signiors Huntings The Nogay Tartar desires Lands of the Grand Signior Marquess Villa suâveys the Forts in Dalmatia Spalato ãâã ãâã Clâssa ââbânico * Iune * Sabatai wââte a Letter to elâât one maââut of every Tribe The Iews âârupâe to say the head of Israel 1662 7. Arab. Prov. Arab. Prov. The course of life which Sabatai led after he turned Mahometan The manner of exchange of the Emperors and Turks Ambassadour The âurks medâtate a new War. An Engagement near Canea Marquess Villa lands at the City of Cândia The Venetians incamp The Turks assault them The Turks make another assault The Venetian Camp raised TheGreat Vizier arrives at Thebes Twelve Târkisâ ãâã taâen The Vizier passes over into Candia By the number of Coftans is to be esteemed the honour the Turks bear to one Prince above the other The Polish Ambassadours Audience The Death of the Polish Ambassadour The Revolt of the Pasha of Balsora The disposition of the Turks Camp. The Batteries raised by the Turks The âirst Mine blown up Two Sallies made by the Christians The Captain-General disarms his Gallies Five Mines the Christians sprang Attempts of the Turks on the side of Panigra Arrival of Gallies from the Pope and Malta Chevalier d'Harcourt An Agent arrives at Candia to treat with the Vizier The Turks assault Panigra The Turks fire a dreadful Mine The Turks spring another Mine Two Mines of the Christians Four Mines and a Sally of the Christians Two Mines of the Christians One Mine of the Christians * Which is their Triumph for Victory The G. Signior sends a Messenger to bring him certain information of the state of his Camp in Candia The Winter causes all Action to cease General Barbaro and Uvertmiller departed from the Army The deaths of Secretary Giavarina and Padavino Formality in making Ianiâaries in these days A Fight at Sea. The success of the Turks at Sea. Captain Georgio taken by tâe Turks The Turks resolve to make their passage by St Andrea A Sally made by the Christians Another Sally Marquess Villa returns into Italy Causes of Marquess Villa 's departure Marquâss Villa's Speech Marquess St. Andrea visits the Works Some French Gentlemen Adventurers for honour arrive at Candia The Christians overthrow a battery of the Turks A Sâllâ made by the French. The Dukes of Brunswick ând Lunenburg sent âorces to râlieve Candia Count Waldeck ãâã âf his wouâdâ A Mine of an hundred and sixty Sacks of Powder fired by the Chrians The Christians sally on the side of Sabionera Katirgi-Oglé his original and life The Turks storm three Bastions at once The Female Court sent to Constantinople The Ianisaries jealous of the safety of the Sultans Brothers The Grand Signior displeased with Tobacco An Ambassador sent from Venice French ãâã âf ãâã sail to Constantinople The Grand Signior sends a Messenger to the French King. Sir Daniel Harvey Ambassador from his Majesty A Relation of the state of Candia toward the end of this year The story of the false Reaux or Temins The Grand Signior designs to cut off his Brothers Tac. Lib. 6. The Turks storm again the Foât of St. Andrea Succours sent out of Christendom The French Fleet loose from Tolon They arrive at Candia The French Forces landed A Council of War held in Candia The order of the Christian Army to make their Sally The Christians sally at the Gate St. George The Christians fall upon the Turks The Christian Army in confusion French Officers slain The French leaue the Town The Turks make an assault A Council
the Soveraignty of so great an Empire howsoever it was got caused the young Princes Eyes to be most cruelly put out the usual practise of the Tyrants of the East upon such as they are loath or fear to kill and yet would make them unfit for Government Of which barbarous cruelty his Sister Theodora married to Constantinus Prince of Bulgaria hearing ceased not with tears and prayers and all other womanly perswasions to stir up her Husband in revenge thereof whereunto also Iathatines the Turks Sultan gave no small furtherance who weary of Exile and to be so in a corner confined as into a Prison from whence he might not start by secret Messengers intreated the Bulgarian Prince to make War upon the usurping Emperor promising him a great summ of Mony if by his help he might recover his former Liberty Wherewith he the rather moved with a great power of his own and above twenty thousand Tartars which then lay by the River Isther suddenly brake into the Emperors Territories and in shorter time than was to have been thought overran all the Country of Thracia even unto the Sea side leaving neither man nor beast in all that Country as he went in good hope also to have by the way surprised the Emperor himself even then returning from his Wars against the Despot in Thessaly who hearing of his speedy coming being got unto the Sea side and having no way left to have escaped by Land shipped himself into a Gally of the Latines which with another her consort bound for Constantinople by good hap put in there for to water and so in two days arrived safe at the Imperial City Thus disappointed of the Emperor all his care was for the delivery of the Turks Sultan Wherefore marching in hast to Aenum he so terrified the Citizens with his coming that they without farther delay delivered him into his hands so to redeem their own Peace In his return you might have seen the Souldiers especially the Tartars driving before them infinite numbers both of Men and Cattel in such sort as that in the open Country of Thracia for a space was hardly to be seen either Countryman or Beast it was so clean swept both of Inhabitants and likewise of Cattel Iathatines the Sultan by the Tartars carried over Ister and so by them set at liberty shortly after died In whose Kingdom succeeded not his Son Melicke as some write but two others as the Turks themselves report the one called Mesoot the Son of Kei-Cubades and the other Kei-Cubades the Son of Ferameine born also of the Selzucâian Family as were all the other Turks Sultans but how near of blood unto the late Sultan Iathatines they say not Betwixt which two as his Vassals Gaza the great Tartar Cham by whom they were so preferred for the payment of a yearly Tribute divided the Turks Kingdom apportioning unto Mesoot the Cities of Amida in antient time called Amisus and Aminsus in Galatia Melatia otherwise called Melesine in the lesser Armenia Sivaste in antient time Sebastia and Harbarie before Satabrea both in Cappadocia with all the Country about them And unto Kei-Cubades Iconium the antient seat of the Turkish Sultans with all Rumilia Asiatica or the Countries of the lesser Asia alongst the Sea-coast which these two Princes held as the Tartars Tributaries as had the late Sultan Iathatines before them until such time as he was by the same Tartars again expulsed So that the Turks Kingdom which had of long time flourished in the Selzuccian Family in Persia in Syria Palestine and Egypt there quite overthrown by the Mamalukes and Tartars as is before declared and now brought underfoot in the lesser Asia also where only rested all the hope of that Nation was now at a low Ebb divided betwixt two weak Princes reigning but at the devotion of the Tartar. In which confusion of the Turkish Empire so rent not only divers men of greater Power and Authority amongst them shared unto themselves some one corner of the declining Kingdom and some another but many of the obscure and basest People also bearing with them nothing but their Bows and Arrows took the straight passages of the Mountains and from thence with their dayly Incursions did much harm in the Countries of the Christians joyning upon them which was no great matter for them to do the Garrisons which were wont to defend the same being for want of pay quite disbanded and the Castles upon the Frontiers by them abandoned which at the first as a thing of small importance neglected was at length unto the Greeks a great cause of the ruin and decay of the greatest part of their estate in Asia These mischiefs unregarded grew dayly more and more the Turks still gaining upon the Greeks what they lost unto the Tartars Whose invasions the Glory of their Kingdom only excepted was not so hurtful unto them as the cause of their much greater felicity afterwards At length it fortuned that a great power of these adventurous Turks meeting together in Paphlagonia were about to have invaded the Territories of the Christians against whom Michael Paleologus the Emperor sent out a strong and puissant Army to stay their further coming on lest breaking in that way they should without resistance at their pleasure forrage the Country before them Which Army conducted by unskilful Captains encountring with the Turks was by them in a great Battel overthrown and utterly defeated few or none of all that great multitude escaping for whilst the Greeks unadvisedly pursued the Turks retiring of purpose before them they were by them drawn into the danger of a greater Power lying in ambush for them and so entraped were slain with an exceeding great Slaughter After which so great a Victory the beginning of the misery of the Christians in the lesser Asia the Turks without let or stay overran all the Country unto the River Sangarius upon the Banks whereof the Greek Emperor was glad to fortifie divers Towns and Forts to keep them out of Bithynia Nevertheless they in short time after subdued all the Countries from Poântus and Galatia unto the Lycian and Carian Sea and the River Eurymedon which they divided amongst them into divers Toparchies little or nothing acknowledging the Soveraignty either of Mesoot or Kei-Cubades Whilst the Turks in the lesser Asia thus win from the Christians on the one side and lose to the Tartars on the other many an hard conflict in the mean time passed betwixt the Egyptian Sultans with their Mamalukes and the Tartars for the Soveraignty of Syria The poor remainder of the Christians all that while there in doubt both of the one and of the other from whom and from the Armenians then also much infested with the Mamalukes divers Embassadors were sent unto the Pope and the Christian Princes of the West to crave their aid and help in that their hard Estate whose prayers little prevailing with the rest yet so moved Lewis the French King
and Henry the Third then reigning in England that they both promised them aid Whereupon Lewis a man of a great devotion and always forward in that service against the Infidels took upon him the Cross the cognisance of the sacred War causing his three Sons Philip that succeeded him in the Kingdom sirnamed the Fair Peter Count of Alangon and Iohn Count of Nevers sirnamed Tristan for that his Mother was in her greatest heaviness for the taking of her Husband delivered of him in Egypt and most of the Nobility of France to do the like unto whom also Theobald King of Navar his Son-in-Law Alphonsus his Brother and Guydo Earl of Flanders joyned themselves And so having put all things in readiness took his way to Marselleis and from thence embarking himself with his Army in the Genoway Ships hired for that purpose set forward the first of March in the year 1270. But being at Sea he was by force of Weather constrained to land in Sardinia year 1270. and there to stay a while departing thence he at length arrived at Carthage the place by him desired where in the entrance of the Haven he surprised certain of the Enemies Ships but landing his men and assaulting the Town he was there notably repulsed This is not that antient great and famous City which sometime mightily strove with the proud Mistress of the World for Soveraignty but another built long after in the ruins or at least not far from the ruins of the same In the besieging whereof the Frenchmen found such resistance as well put them in remembrance of the antient glory of the Carthaginians One day it fortuned as the King thus lay at the Siege that the Defendants made a great and fierce Sally out upon the Frenchmen who before commanded so to do by little and little retired to draw their Enemies further on betwixt whom and the City the Constable with a great power coming in and charging them behind and they which before retired now standing close unto them they were on both sides hardly beset who for all that as became valiant men worthily defended themselves and made there a great fight though not without extreme peril which they in the City beholding gave out a most hideous and piteous cry a certain sign of their hard estate within astonying with the suddenness thereof both their Friends and Enemies But whilst they of the Town betwixt hope and despair stood thus beholding the fight at Land the Frenchmen by Sea approaching a Bulwark on that side of the Town took it without resistance which so dismaied them without that they began forthwith to flie of whom the greatest part casting away their Weapons were by the Kings commandment taken to mercy and they likewise of the Town upon promise of their lives yielded the same unto the King. Carthage thus won the King laid Siege to Tunes the chief City of that Kingdom being not far off where by the way he was encountred by the King of the Countrey who having there lost ten thousand of his Moors betook himself to flight with the rest Who thus overthrown resolved no more to tempt Fortune but to keep himself safe within the Walls of the City if happily so he might as it oftentimes falleth out more weaken his Enemies by lying still and protracting the time than by open Force and Valour Which their purpose King Lewis perceiving resolved not to stir from thence until that he were become Master of the City which as it seemed could not hold out for want of Victuals considering the multitude of People that were got into it Nevertheless thus besieged both by Sea and Land and so straightly hemmed in on every side as that no relief could possibly be brought unto it yet held it out by the space of six Months After which time Wants daily more and more increasing amongst the besieged Embassadors were sent out to the King to intreat with him of peace But whilst these Embassadors go to and fro and reason upon the capitulations of the desired peace behold a great and furious Plague arose in the French Camp which began to cut them down by heaps there dyed Iohn Tristan Count of Nevers the Kings youngest Son born in the first expedition that the said King his Father made into the Holy Land even at such time as he was taken Prisoner which Tristan died the five and twentieth day of August in the year of our Lord 1270. The good King having yet scarcely performed the Obsequies of his Son fell sick of the bloody Flix whereof he there shortly after died also About which time arrived there Charles King of Sicily the French Kings Brother with a great number of fresh Souldiers whose coming lightned somewhat the Frenchmens hearts heavy for the death of their King and daunted the Moors before brag of the same Shortly after whom arrived there also Prince Edward King Henry the Third his Eldest Son who travelling through France and taking shipping at Aquesmort not far from Marseilles was now in ten days with a brave Company of Englishmen come to Tunes and thereof the other Christian Princes namely of Philip the French King his Father Lewis being now dead of Charles King of Sicily and of the two Kings of Navar and Aragon joyfully received But these Princes had a little before his arrival concluded a Peace with the Moors King and the Infidels upon condition that he should pay a yearly Tribute of forty thousand Crowns unto the King of Sicilia and to suffer the Christian Religion to be freely preached in his Dominions by such devout persons as should be there left for that purpose and that unto such as should by their preaching be converted unto the Faith in Christ Jesus it should be lawful for them to be baptized and to profess the Christian Religion Of which Peace Prince Edward understanding did what he might to have disswaded them from the same saying that the War was by them all taken in hand against the Infidels as Enemies to the Cross of Christ with whom they were not to have Peace and for the recovery of the Holy City But say what he would and do what he could the Peace to his great discontentment was now concluded which they might not as they said again break and thereupon with the first fair Wind hoised sail and returned towards Sicilia with purpose the next Spring to have gone into Syria which their determination was shortly after by the hand of God disappointed For being come upon the Coast of the Island not far from Drepanum most of the great Princes and other Nobility in their long Boats went on Land the rest of the Fleet lying at Anker about a League off for that being for the most part Ships of great burthen they were not able to put into the Harbor But as they so lay by force of a sudden and violent Tempest then arising some were eaten up with the rough Sea some falling foul one on
two or three days in a place Whilst he was thus travelling Selymus no less careful of the keeping of his Estate than he had before been for the obtaining of the same began now to doubt That if he should depart from Constantinople and with all his Forces pass over into Asia against his Brother Achomates Bajazet in the mean time might in his absence return to Constantinople and so again possess himself both of the City and Empire Wherefore to rid himself of that fear he resolved most Viper like before his going to kill his Father and so most unnaturally to deprive him of life of whom he had received life such is the cruel and accursed Nature of Ambition that it knoweth neither Father Mother Brother Wife Kindred or Friend no sometimes not her own Children the fury whereof was never in any one more pregnant than in this most monstrous and cruel Tyrant Selymus The readiest and most secret way he could devise for the effecting of this his damnable device which without great impiety could not be so much as once by him thought upon was to work it by poyson upon which resolution he secretly compacted with Haman a Jew his Fathers chief Physitian to poyson him promising him for his reward a Pension of ten Ducats a day during his life And for that men are oftentimes with terror and fear as well as with reward enforced to be the ministers of mischief he to be the more sure of this Jew prone enough for gain to do evil threatned him with most cruel death if he did not both secretly and speedily work this feat commanding him so soon as he had done it to return unto him to Constantinople The deceitful Jew moved both with the fear of death and hope of reward two great motives coming shortly after to Bajazet and finding him very weak seeming to be very careful of him told him That he would prepare for him a portion which should both restore to him his health and also strengthen his weak body if it would please him to take it the next morning early lying in his bed Bajazet nothing distrusting his old Physitian whom he had so often and so long trusted said he would gladly take it Early the next morning cometh the Jew with the deadly poyson in a Cup of Gold Bajazet yet sleeping which he set down in the Chair of State and so stood waiting untill the aged Prince should of himself awake But Bajazet sleeping soundly as oftentimes it chanceth when men sleep their last and withal somewhat longer than stood with the Jews purpose he presuming of his wonted practice awaked him and told him That the time to take the portion was almost past and asked him if it were his pleasure then to take it Bajazet doubting no Treafon willed him to bring it whereof when the Jew had taken the essay having before himself taken a preservative against that poyson he gave it to Bajazet to drink who chearfully drank it up the Physitian commanding them that waited in his Bed-Chamber and attended on his person to keep him well covered with warm clothes and not to give him any thing to drink until he had well sweat This cursed Jew having thus poysoned the aged Prince to avoid the danger of the Fact and to carry the first news thereof to Selymus secretly conveyed himself away and in hast fled to Constantinople But Bajazet attainted with the force of the Poyso began first to feel most grievous gripings in his Stomach the strong pain whereof appeared by his miserable complaining and heavy groaning in the midst of which torments he gave up the Ghost in the year 1512 when he had reigned thirty years The Turks report that he died a natural death but Antonius Utrius a Genoway who at that time served in Bajazet his Chamber and was present at his death reporteth That upon his dead Body the evident tokens of Poyson were to be seen His dead Body with all his Treasures were presently brought back again to Constantinople and delivered to Selymus who caused the Body of his Father to be with the greatest solemnity that might be buried in a most sumptuous Tomb in a Chappel near unto the great Mahometan Temple which he had before built for himself at Constantinople which Monument there remaineth this day to be seen His Servants were all by Selymus restored to their places which they before held in the Court in the time of their old Master excepting five of the Pages of his Chamber who lamenting the death of their Master above the rest had attired themselves all in mourning Apparel for which cause they were by the commandment of Selymus cast into prison where two of them were put to death the other three at the suit of Solyman Selymus his Son and of other two Bassaes were saved but being stript of their rich Apparel and whatsoever else they had gotten under Bajazet they were inrolled for Common Souldiers under Sullustares Bassa Of these three Antonius Utrius the Genoway before spoken of was one who after ten years miserable Captivity amongst the Turks at last escaped at such time as Selymus was by the Persian discomfited and with much ado returning again into Italy wrote the History of all such things as he himself had there seen with the calamities of Bajazet his House and a great part of the tyrannous Reign of Selymus Haman the false Jew as the same Author reporteth coming to Constantinople and expecting some great reward for his foul Treason by the commandmet of Selymus had his head presently struck off with this exprobration of his Treachery That opportunity serving he would not stick for reward to do the like against Selymus himself Of this Bajazet Ianus Vitalis writeth this Elogium Dum rerum exquiris causas dum procul Hunnes Carmannos Cilices Sauromatasque domas Bajazethe domi proles tua te petit armis Et te per fraudes amovet imperio Adjicit inde novum sceleri scelus tibi miscet Pocula lethiferis illita graminibus Intempestivos crudelis vipera foetus Per sua sic tandem funera rupta parit Quid tutum est cui sint ingentia regna Tyranno Si timant natos progeniemque suam In English thus Whilst that thou Bajazethes seeks of things the hidden cause And fain wouldst bring the Hunne and Russ under thy Turkish Laws Thy Son at home steps up in Arms against thy Royal Crown And by false Treason and Deceit finds means to pluck thee down Whereto he addeth mischief more and straight without delay By Poyson strong in glittering Bowl doth take thy life away The cruel Viper so brings forth her foul untimely Brood Who eat and gnaw her Belly out their first and poisoned Food Which things may Princes hold for safe that do great Kingdoms sway If of their Children they must stand in dread and fear alway Christian Princes of the same time with Bajazet the Second Emperors of