Depth and Rapidity of the Danube requires Betwixt those Canals there are several small ones which cut the Islands but don't properly make distinct Arms being only Streams that proceed from the Inundations of the River The first of those Islands and the nearest to the City is a second Town as we may call it the whole Place being full of Country-houses Palaces Gardens great Walks of Trees as those of the Cours le Reins Inclosures Thickets Malls and other things that conduce to the Ornament of a Capital City The whole being inclosed like a Park with high Pallissadoes of curious Workmanship This is that they call Leopolstadt From hence we enter the City by a little Bridge and a great Suburb beyond it that joins to the Houses of the Island in which the Empress some few Years before had caused a Palace to be built call'd the New Favorita which was the principal Beauty of the Island though to speak freely all those Houses Palaces and Gardens have little Magnificence or Grandeur in them but the Place of it self is very much adorned by Nature The other Island beyond it betwixt the two great Branches of the River is greater than Leopoldstadt but without Houses being only adorned with Walks of Trees and Thickets 'T is called Tabor and communicates with the First by a large Bridge as it does with the Terra Firma upon the Austrian-shore by one yet larger This Canal is properly the great Stream of the Danube At the Head of this last Bridge there 's a little Fort upon the Bank of the River built only with Turf and Pallissados which was useful to the Duke of Lorrain favoured his Retreat and covered those that sustained the Party commanded to destroy the Bridge In all the Letters which that Prince wrote to the King of Poland about his Retreat of all those Islands he mentions only the Tabor as if he had confounded it with that of Leopoldstadt but it is certain that he possessed himself of the latter immediately from whence his Infantry marched to Vienna and into which the Tartars and Janissaries entred upon their arrival so that it was not possible for him to burn the Bridge which joins with those two Islands Yet he left Coll. Greben there to defend it till he marched his Troops over the Tabor and gained the other Bridge of the Great Canal But the Tartars seized it defeated the Detachment and took or killed Col. Greben who was never afterwards heard of Then they run to the other of which the Duke of Lorrain had time to burn part and by that means saved the Remainder of the Imperial Army Those Bridges are now rebuilt but to me they don't seem to be in the same Place and the Road across those Islands appears to be changed The City is encompassed with large Suburbs which at that time extended very near the Glacis and to which the Imperialists had begun to set fire to satifie in some measure the King of Poland and to shew some deference to his Advice for the Emperor thought there was no need of it so that they left in effect the Walls of the Houses and the Terrasses of the Gardens which the Turks made use of to place their Batteries upon and to make their Approaches so that under the Shelter of those Ruines they advanced their Trenches within 60 Paces of the Counterscarp the first Night that they opened them which was the 13th of July 1683. This fatal Experience hath since occasioned them to remove the Suburbs at a greater distance when they began to rebuild them after the Siege As to the Fortifications some of them are strong and others weak There are 12 Royal Bastions faced with Brick with Cavaliers Ravelins Half-Moons and fine Gates all fac'd with Bricks as the Bastions and adorn'd with Wreaths of hewn Stone The Ditch is large and deep part of of it dry and part full of Water The Counterscarp is very sorry ill pallissadod nor did I see any thing that deserved to be called a Covert-Way or any detached Works beyond it The side on which the Town was attack'd hath two indifferent Bastions a Ravelin before the Courtin betwixt both the whole covered with Brick with a Cavalier or Platform for Guns and a large Ditch but so little Ground within and so little space betwixt the Rampart and the Houses that there could be no Retrenchment made on it particularly the Bastion of the Court the Emperor's Palace joining close to it and the Platform of it serving instead of a Terrasse for the Appartments so that when the Turks were lodg'd at the Point of it The Count de Staremberg could not make any more than one Retrenchment and told the King of Poland when he shewed him the Breaches that he could not have held out above three Days longer notwithstanding certain Barricadoes he had made at the entrance of the Bastion and of the Streets which run into it but I am of Opinion as were all those who saw the Disposition of the Ground that it might have bin carried in 24 Hours If the Grand Visier had not despised our Supplies been less intent upon the spoil of the Town and on the Evening before the Battle attack'd the weak Retrenchment of the Garrison for all Ingineers agree that he began the Siege like an able Captain and one that was well informed of the weak Places of the Town and that there is no other Place for carrying on of Trenches but those of the two Bastions attack'd by the Turks called the Bastions of the Lyon and of the Court. This was the Condition of the Place without that within was not ill there being great Stores of Provisions and Ammunition abundance of Artillery the Citizens resolved on a long Resistance and vigorously to endure the fatigues of the Siege There was a numerous Garison for Count Staremberg brought thither above 1000 Men and was also seconded by Count Caplier Commissary General of the Provisions who defended the Place longer than the other that fell sick of a Dysenterie during the Siege But notwithstanding all this the Duke of Lorrain was very much afraid of the Town and amongst other Reasons he wrote to the King of Poland at the beginning of the Siege he acquainted him That Vienna though well fortified with Bastions ought to be looked upon to be more a Courtly than a Warlike City as being defective in Works and a regular Counterscarp that which they had not being large enough in several Places It must be owned also That it was very ill defended and as feebly attacked since the Turks having advanced the first Night within 60 Paces of the Ditch were notwithstanding above six Weeks in passing it though the Place was batter'd with seventy Pieces of Cannon of which there were twenty five of a prodigious Size and the Garison made no great Sallies but contented themselves to defend their Ground foot by foot in the common Manner I saw nothing in reality in all the
Letters from the Duke of Lorrain and Prince of Transylvania to the King of Poland that took any great Notice of the Vigor of the Garifon who undertook nothing extraordinary but only sustained the Enemies Assaults with Bravery the Cavalry having continued a long time in the Ditch without making any attack either on the Quarters or Trenches The Turks on their side did not push on the Attacks with vigor so that the City which ought to have been in Ruins by Cannon and Bombs was very intire those Places excepted that were directly exposed to the Batteries I neither saw Steeples beat down nor many Houses shattered and much fewer burnt which confirms the Opinion of the Pachas that the Grand Visier spar'd that City for his own Interest whilst by a quite contrary and ill understood Policy he utterly ruined all the Neighbourhood as far as from Presberg to 5 or 6 Leagues up the Danube beyond Vienna The Tartars in effect left furious Marks of their Rage and Cruelty in those Parts for they not only depopulated those Countries but quite destroyed all the Houses except one Castle belonging to the Emperor which is within a small League of Vienna upon the great Road to Presburg where the Turks laid up their Magazins and which the Grand Visier preserved out of Respect to the Memory of the Great Soliman because that Emperor having formerly encamped upon that Ground when he besieged the same Place The Germans built an House there with a Park inclosed with Stone-Walls flankd with little Towers looking like Pavillions representing the Form and Disposition of the Sultans Tents whose Quarter was built by way of a Palace or Seraglio Those that are versed in War could not comprehend the Reasons of the Grand Visier who without any necessity thus ruined a fine Country of the Conqest whereof he assured himself and designed to have made it his Residence Besides that in ravaging behind him he not only starved his own Camp but also cut off all Possibility of Subsistance in his retreat in case of any Misfortune whilst at the same time he spar'd the Country on his left-hand towards Newstadt and the Mountains of Styria where the Tartars had scarcely ever touched He had pitched his Camp from the Brinks of the Danube which inclosed his right Wing to the Foot of the next little Hills where the Vineyard was taking up a vast Tract of Ground in Form of a Half-Moon insomuch that the very sight of it was formidable The Tartars had advanced further having passed the first Arm of the River and possessed themselves of the Isles over-against the Place On the first of which there was an Attack with a Battery of only six Pieces of Cannon pointed along the Streets of the Suburbs against a Bastion on the outside which is washed by the little Stream of the Danube This took up the width of the whole Street and could be nothing but a false Attack to fatigue the Garison for its Works were inconsiderable though that Arm of the River was not only fordable but very shallow in that Place The other two Approaches were towards the middle of the Camp full of irregular Cutts Turnings and VVindings after the Turkish Fashion with frequent Places of Arms all well covered and guarded the Trenches being deep and the Parapets raised high besides which the laborious Janisaries had made several Holes like Huts to secure themselves from the Granado's Firepots and Bombs as for Stones they did no hurt there In a word all that could be thought of for strengthening a Trench and covering a Battery was practised here No Body ever saw such fine VVorks and Gabions nor so many Fascines and Sacks of Earth particularly on the Brink of the Ditch from whence they defended the Lodgments made upon the two Bastions The Grand Visier had taken up his Quarters upon certain little Heights near that renowned Palace called the Favorita which he inclosed within his Park the extent whereof was prodigious I have heard the King compare it to the largeness of the City of VVarsaw He had added Gardens VVater-Courses and other Imbelishments to it and also a sort of a Menagery for after the Siege was raised several Rabbets live Pidgeons and the Body of the finest feathered Ostridge that ever was seen whose Head the Visier's Party had cut off as they retired were found there He was a Man who loved his Pleasures and Magnificence in all things mixing them always with a Representation of VVar. The Cares of that Siege did not debar him of his Divertisements nor interrupt his Amours And I know that the Mufti who accompanied him in that famous Expedition often reproached him with his brutal Debaucheries threatning him with the Vengeance of God and Forewarning him as by a Spirit of Prophecy that his infamous Commerce with Boys which the Turks as well as Christians are forbid under very severe Penalties would be the Cause of the ruin of the Empire and of his ill success in that Enterprize He had little reason to fear it humanly speaking for the Ottoman Empire had never assembled so vast an Army nor so many Pioneers at once nor gathered together such vast Quantities of Ammunition and Artillery The Camp was an entire VVorld as one may say I have heard some Turks who pretended not to exagerate when they said That it consisted of seven hundred thousand Men including regular Troops Pioneers Artificers Domesticks and such as composed the Trains of the Officers VVhen we arrived to the top of Mount Callemberg and first saw them we were struck with Fear and Admiration at the same time which we could not avoid at the sight of so many Men and such great Riches agreeable to the Grandeur and Puissance of the Grand Senior But the terror wherewith we were seized overcame our Admiration when the King asked one of his Gentlemen who advanced to the top of the highest Mountain to view them and bring some News of them he gave so terrible a Description of them that the whole Army trembled at it which that great Monarch seeing and fearing lest such a Prepossession might discourage the Army he openly derided the Gentleman's Relation calling it a Coward 's Vision but when the Business was over being himself amazed at his good Success he confessed that he had Reason to speak of it as he had done and that his Fear was very well grounded Amongst this prodigious Number of People which I have spoke of 't was computed that there were nigh 300000 fighting Men without including the Tartars and other Auxiliary Troops as Walachians Moldavians Transylvanians c. But according to the just Relation of an Envoy from Count Teckley who afterwards followed the King of Poland to Cracow that Number was reduced to an hundred and sixty thousand effective Turks whereof 22000 Men were at that time killed being in the Month of August The Grand Visier depending upon his formidable strength marched as if it had been to a Triumph and had
extraordinary Vigor and obtained an entire Victory without giving the Enemy time to rally The Detachment was cut to pieces and Anchar himself was killed by a Dart thrown by a Kettle-Drummer of the Regiment of Pancernes This Action was much valued by the Duke of Lorrain in whose sight it was done He wrote a Letter about it to the King of Poland and in the same did particular Justice to their General Pr. Lubomirski is certainly one of the bravest Men of his Age being all Fire and having all the vigor that can be desired for a brisk Expedition he despises Danger is without Fear a good Partisan a Lover of War but especially of Battles desires always to be charging the Enemy as all brave Men do who are not answerable for the Event of an Action The like Desire of Glory excited him to ingage in the Battle of Jurafno in the Year 1676. where he gave marks of an extraordinary Valor which he also had Occasion for to make amends for the Fault he had committed by hazarding in this Rencounter the whole Polish Army as likewise the King's Person and without a certain presence of Mind which accompanied his Bravery he would have found great Difficulty to disingage him After the Defeat of the Hungarians near the Morave the Duke of Lorrain marched back to the Danube towards that Place where he had past the same in order to endeavour to inform himself of the State of the Siege He endeavoured diverse times to throw in some Troops by the way of the River and otherwise but found all the Avenues shut up and carefully guarded insomuch that during the Siege it was impossible for him to inform the Governor of the Relief that was preparing for him And on the other hand the Governour could not send any Body to the Duke of Lorrain but once a Jew in disguise who deceived the vigilance of the Turks by tarrying three or four Days in their Camp wherein the exactness of the Officers may be admired and particularly that of the Visier who shut up Vienna so close as not to leave the least Passage for the Imperialists unless it were through the Air. He had shut up the little Channel of the Danube above the City and besides it was so low that Year that one could not swim under Water If the whole Conduct of this Ottoman General had been equal to those Precautions perhaps the King of Poland would have met with greater Difficulties in succouring the Place But in the main he committed unpardonable Faults being ill informed of the Marches of the Christians careless in shutting up and guarding the Passes and being willing to doubt of the arrival of the King of Poland he suffered a Bridge of above two hundred and fifty Paces to be made over a very rapid River and permitted the Christian Army to march over steep Mountains where some little Detachments of Foot might have stopt or at least much incumbred their March He neglected to possess himself of those Mountains and to seize the two Forts that I have spoken of which were very important Posts to hinder their Descent towards Vienna and he wanted little of letting the King of Poland fall upon him without coming out of his Camp all out of a vain Presumption and extraordinary Contempt he had of the Polish Army The greatest of his Mistakes was his besieging Vienna for it is certain that if he had sat down before Raab or Comorra the King of Poland would not have gone in Person to their Succour though they be Places of very great Importance he not being obliged to it by the Treaty nor having promised the Pope any thing but for Vienna Whilst he press'd the Town by his frequent Assaults the Duke of Lorrain who incamped at Clauster Neyburg near the Danube waited with Impatience for the arrival of the Polish Army and gave Orders for augmenting that of the Emperor which was joined by the Princes and their Troops from all Parts of the Empire The Elector of Saxony brought ten thousand four hundred Men thither The Elector of Bavaria sent almost as many and soon after followed them in Person Count VValdeck conducted the Troops of the Circles thither The Elector of Branderburg did not make such haste he would first have certain Fiefs which the Emperor was obliged to sell him for the Overplus of the Troops that he was to furnish besides his Quota so that that Body was but just entred Silesia when the News of the raising of the Siege past through that Country being carryed to Cracow where the Queen of Poland was On the other side the Duke of Lorrain was busie getting together Materials for building a Bridge expecting that the King would determine the Place where he designed to pass the River and in the mean time the Grand Visier caused a great Number of Tartars and Turks to pass the River some by swimming and others in Boats who joining Count Teckley's Army formed a Camp in the Plains beyond the Danube not far from that of the Duke of Lorrain who advanced to give them Battle Both Army 's disposed themselves for Fighting The Duke drew up his in three Lines putting the Polish Regiments in the first and made the Emperor's Cuirassiers and Dragoons to support the whole The Turks charged with so much violence and fury that they broke the first Ranks pressed in upon the Polanders knock'd down all that stood against them and pierced through to the last Line where the Count de Boutlaer was wounded in the Head with as desperate a cut of a Scimiter as could be received without Death The Germans seeing this Disorder opened very discreetly to the Right and Left that the broken Troops might pass and having born all the fury of the Turks and stop'd their Impetuosity by the firmness of the Squadrons of Cuirassiers the Dragoons of the third Line received the Enemy without firing charged them in their turn pressed in upon them and the Polanders being returned from their first Disorder and having rallyed seconded those brave Men so well that the whole Turkish Army was defeated and pursued to the Danube where the Bassa of VVarradin fell a swimming through a Shower of Musquet-shot trusting to the strength of his Horse which actually carried him over to the other side in sight of every Body This Battle was fought on St. Bartholomew's Day 1683. and was the last Action that happened in those Plains where the Duke of Lorrain being Master of the Field saved that part of Austria with those Parts of Moravia and Silesia that adjoyn to it by his good Conduct The People there were in continual Alarms they had barricadoed all their Ways thrown up Retrenchments before their Town-Gates and armed all the Inhabitants of their Cities In a Word all was in a Consternation as far as Breslaw CHAP. III. The Continuation of the Campagne with the March of the King of Poland and the raising of the Siege of Vienna VVHilst the Duke
of Lorrain was supporting the Emperor's Affairs with the utmost diligence and the Princes of the Empire were gathering together their Troops throughout all Germany the King of Poland hastened the March of his with all possible speed The Generals assembled them as soon as they were levied and to give the Germans some Comfort of their Expectations Lieutenant General Schignafski began his March with a body of Cavalry composed of the Regiments of Hussars Pancernes Peteores and some other old standing Troops that were first in condition to March The Great General followed with the rest some Weeks after The new-raised Foot marched separately from their Quarters where they were brought together by Regiments by Companies and by Recruits without any other Rendezvous than that appointed by the King in General under the Counterscarp of Vienna insomuch that Poland was filled with Soldiers and Equipages marching in Disorder and with great Precipitation towards Cracow in order to enter into Silesia where the Imperial Commissaries had prepared Provisions and Forage for them The King of Poland regulating his Departure upon the News he received of the State of his Troops set out at last about the beginning of July taking the Road towards Cracow which is reckoned to be about forty Leagues from Villaneuf He made something more of it because he had a mind to go to the famous Devotion of Chenstokova as renowned in those Countries and perhaps as rich as the House of Loretto Besides the Queen had made a Vow at her lying in and the King whose Piety is equal with his other Virtues believed that he ought to beg in that holy Place the Protection of Heaven by the Intercession of the Virgin seeing the Enterprize he had undertaken was for the Glory of the Christian Name the Defence of the Church and the safety of the Empire From Villaneuf he went to Falenta a fine Pleasure-House about a League from thence where he tarryed that Day The third Day he had Advice at Nadazzin where he dined of the raising of the Siege of Newhausel and the Retreat of the Imperial Troops into the Isle of Schit occasioned by the Approach of the Grand Visier He lay afterwards at Radgiovick another renowned House in Poland at Rava the Capital of the Palatin of Great Poland and at the Abbey of Vitouf near Pietrecouf the Residence of the Chief Tribunal of the Kingdom for the first six Months which begins on St. Francis's Day the fourth of October He lay afterwards at Krotchin which is another fine Country-House belonging to the Count d'Henof regularly built with Stone adorned with a fine Garden with several Water-Works Terras-Walks c. therein and which is very rare in Poland furnished pretty neatly Next Morning the Court arrived at Chenstokova where the King tarryed to perform his Devotions There he dispatched some Courriers to the Emperor and Duke of Lorrain who had sent a Polish Gentleman called Glinski an Officer under Prince Lubomirski to give his Majesty an Account of the Turks before Vienna which they had besieged The King of Poland wrote upon that Subject to other Courts to excite the Compassion of the Princes in favour of the Emperor who was chased from his Capital City and upon the very brink of seeing himself stript of all his Territories then continued his march and arrived at last at Cracow at a Pleasure-House which the Kings of Poland have at the end of one of the Suburbs called Lobzouf where he staid some Days In the mean time his Troops advanced towards the same Place and some small Parties of them passed by every Day Lieutenant General Schignafski came no nearer than within two Leagues with his Body of Cavalry which the King went to see upon the Road and ordered them to march by the Foot of the Mountains on the left-hand that they might not fall into the Road marked out for the Grand Army which was to the Right the General Rendezvous of which was to be at Tarnovitz the first City of Silesia and of the Emperors Territories towards Cracow being 12 great Leagues from thence The Grand General who led the Body of the Army in Person from the Frontiers of Russia arrived some Days after and incamped within half a League of Lobzouf from whence he continued his March through Bengin and the King having seen those two Chief Bodies of his Troops go before set out himself on the 15th of Aug. He took his way by the Foot of the Mountains to the Left and afterwards fell into that of the Great Army at Bengin where Count Caraffa the Emperor's General who was sent per Post to represent that the danger was Pressing arrived two Hours before the Court The fight of the Camp gave him some hopes but he could not yet believe that the King was there he being prepossessed as was the whole Court of Vienna and several others that that Prince would never go out of his Dominions insomuch that when the Marquis d'Arquyan who was the first that visited him at Dinner told him that the King was just coming the Count de Caraffa as a Man who still doubted it replyed Sir 't is said so Before I go further I must observe one Particular relating to the Person of Prince James the King 's Eldest Son whom the Gazetts thro' Ignorance or Malice have confounded with his younger Brother Prince Alexander who was then but 7 Years old and yet they published That he followed the King in this Expedition I am not ignorant of the Venom hid under this Affectation and that most of the Polanders prefer him to the Elder as well because he was born upon the Throne if I may so speak and after the Election and Coronation as because of his charming Behaviour and the fancy of the Nation However I ought to undeceive the Publick as to the Error imposed on them upon this Occasion and to leave to Posterity the Remembrance of the first sâ—â—ting out into the Field of Prince James Eldest Son to the King of Poland was at 16 Years of Age. He was born in France aad held at the Font by Lewis le Grand whose Name he also bears with that of his Grand-Father 'T is certain that the Polanders don't look upon him as the Son of a King but only as the Son of the Great Marshal On the 5th of August the King received Deputies from the States of Silesia who came to assure him that the Provisions were ready upon the Road as also the Waggons granted by the Imperial Envoy for carrying 200 Foot The King I say sent on the 9th Expresses every where to hasten the new Troops who began to march the next Day That same Day his Polish Majesty dipatched the Gentleman of whom I have already spoke to Count Teckley to entertain with that Hungarian General the mutual Correspondence they had agreed upon and to renew the Reciprocal Promises they had made each other to wit on the King's Part that the Polish Troops should commit no
lighted off his Horse at about 25 Paces distance from the King who did the same at about 15 and after a short Conversation but very Affectionate on both sides both of them mounted again at the same time and went together to the Camp that was marked out at Olle Brun where the King treated the Duke of Lorrain at Dinner That Prince gave afterwards so many Marks of his Consideration and Esteem for his â—olish Majesty that the King thought he could never sufficiently testifie to the Duke of Lorrain the Esteem and if I may venture to say it the Veneration which his Vertues and extraordinary Merits inspired him with The Duke of Lorrain in his Conversation after this Interview said oftentimes that the Republick of Poland had never shown greater Proofs of Judgment than in the Choice they had made of so great a King and his Minister Count Taff being then present added That the King of Poland himself knew very well that in the time of his Negotiation at the General Diet he had assured him in the Name of the Duke of Lorrain his Master that he would desist from his Pretensions to the Royalty if he the Grand Marshal made any to that Crown The Army sojourned two Days at Olle Brun and during this Interval 500 Dragoons and 1500 Germans were sent to lay a Bridge over the Danube On the 3d of Sept. they incamped near Stadeldorf a Pleasure-House scituated on a rising Ground wherein the King lodged and in which the Elector of Saxony who arrived the night before came to salute his Majesty as Prince VValdeck had done the Day before On the 4th they tarried there to hold a general Council at which assisted besides the Elector of Saxony the Duke of Lorrain and Prince VValdec General of the Troops of the Circles General Caprara and some others of that Rank On the 5th the Palatin of Russia Grand General of the Crown arrived with the Polish Army which the King saw defile and ordered them at the same time to march to the Bridge whither he followed in Person about 4 a Clock at Night and where the whole Army encamped upon the Brink of the Danube The Bridge was built over-against the Town of Thoulon six Leagues above Vienna at a Place where the River forms two Isles which required three Bridges and made the Passage the more secure by a plurality of easie Retreats defended by the Arms of the Danube On the 6th of September the Army began to pass the Bridges and the King in the mean time dined in one of the Isles The Great General of Poland marched on the Head of all with his Polish Troops as if it were to cover the rest and it is certain that that Post was their due the Germans being so dejected with Fatigues and Toils occasioned by the bad state of Affairs that they wanted to be incouraged and heartened The sight of a Turban frightened them an accidental Cry of Alla which the Turks use in War and signifies God allarmed the Camp which happened twice or thrice the Night after they had passed the Danube This Disposition was the Occasion that the Polish Army had the right and that of the Emperor with the Duke of Lorrain at their Head the Left the Electors keeping in the Center near the King's Person That Night he incamped beyond the Bridges on Thoulm side where he tarryed the 7th and 8th that all the Army Bagage might pass over The Troops of the El. of Bavaria which came that way out of his Electorate joined us the first Day and next Day that Prince arrived by Water in the Camp a little before the King left Thoulm Here the Duke of Lorrain appointed several of the Emperor's Huntsmen to conduct the Ranks through the Defiles of the Mountains which they had often ranged as a Hunting and knew very well these Guides led the Army through the least difficult ways and over the easiest Hills though this Mountainous Country is every where bad for a March insomuch that they could carry but very little of their Artillery with them and that with inconceivable Trouble notwithstanding they were so small that they could mount them with the help of an Irou Crow He had so many Tartars and useless Horse in his Camp as did nothing but starve him and Forage began to be very scarce with him however our Troops met no Body in those Defiles but some Servants of the Army who were keeping Cattle here and there and fled upon first sight of us But that which happened to a Colume of Polish Foot will certainly appear to be very odd A Tartar Officer commanding a Party of about 30 Horse happened in his March to fall into a Closs-Valley and finding the said Body of Poles there he came up to General de Henoff who was at their Head not to fire upon him but cooly to ask him News as if they had been Friends and when he was told That they were Part of the Polish Army which was advancing under the command of the King in Person he answered jearingly That he knew very well that Prince Lubomirski had brought some Polish Troops to the succour of the Germans After which he rode off with his Troop without General de Henoff's thinking fit to attack him or perhaps he could not do it in that hollow Way or that the Tartars kept himself at some distance from him The Duke of Lorrain having provided the Army with good Guides made the King take the shortest Way over the Mountains and accompanied him almost constantly as did also the Emperor's Chief Generals They decamped from Thoulm on the 9th of September 1683. in the Afternoon Next Day they passed half of the Defiles and the Court stop'd at Night on a great steep Hill which they had gained with much trouble The King had found it so troublesom to get up that Hill that he wrote the same Night to the Queen That the Fatigue of the March together with the want of Provisions had made them lose so much Flesh that they were fit to run with a Hart upon the Course Those who gave out That that Prince was brought so low that he was not able to get on Horseback any more did not expect such a plain Contradiction as this Affair gave them for they did not cross the Mountains in Coaches and 't is certain that upon the Day of Battle his Majesty was almost 12 Hours on Horseback I don't say but that he had some trouble to mount his Horse for he was forced to make use of a Stool or some rising Ground at his mounting But when he is on Horseback he finds himself very easie which stood him in good stead at the Defeat of Barcan On the 11th they continued their March without seeing any Appearance of the Army or having had any News of it since they left Thoulm for which they began to be uneasie But on the 3d Day about Noon they discovered the Points of the Hussars
Lances And the German Cavalry had reached a Valley at the bottom of the last Mountain where the King stopt and dined before he marched up the same This March was very tiresome to the whole Army for besides the great heat of the Season they wanted Water Provisions Tents c. the Equipages staying behind in the Bottom And the King as well as Generals had only Muleteers to follow them so that His Majesty was forced one Day to eat nothing but Bread and drink only Water that was in the Flagons of the Bavarian Soldiery which they carried at their Sides During this Halt the Army made a shift to gain the top of the Hill The Germans on the left made themselves Masters of Calemberg and there planted their Cannon the Polanders on the Right took possession of the Wood and the Eminences parallel to that of the Castle In this Place they encamped the same Day being Sept. 11. to give their Troops a Breathing time and to agree on the Order of Battle in a general Council that Evening The encampment was very irregular the Ground not allowing them to make it better They were canton'd as well as they could in the Wood the Infantry being entrenched in a small compass of the open Country where they covered themselves with Chevaux de frise and with what Artillery was arriv'd whilst the Cavalry were Posted very disorderly and confus'dly in other places Nothing hitherto appear'd to dispute their Passage though the Grand Visier had certain notice of the Approach of the King of Poland by a Turk and a Tartar taken in the Mountains and sent back on purpose after they had been well examined to give Intelligence of it as Eye witnesses of the matter But that presumptuous General never troubled his head about it and continued the Siege with the same application as if he had only the Entrenchments of Vienna to force He was lodged in two places upon the Attack'd Bastions when the Succour arrived and thinking to force the Place to Capitulate before he could be brought to a Battle he only sent below Calemberg in the Bottoms and Hollows of the low Hills on the side of his Camp a Body of about Ten Thousand Men Horse or Dragoons these last fighting on foot according to the Disposition of the Ground as their Janizaries do Besides he Cannonaded the City as usual which was very pleasing to the King of Poland who upon hearing this noise declared that he had a very great esteem for the Turks since they were such brave Fellows as to wait for his coming For in the way it was sometimes suspected that they would not but in my mind without grounds since the Grand Visier could be in fear of none but him who defeated him I mean God Almighty to whom alone this success was owing He had still left above 140000 Men and the whole Quota of our Armies amounted to no more than 70000. The Empire with all its Members made about 45000 the King of Poland not above 20000 without reckoning the Volunteers which upon such an extraordinary occasion flocked from all parts and compos'd a considerable Body The Marquiss of Parelle a Savoyard brought thither at his own charge fourscore Gentlemen all Horse But the Volunteers swelled the Armies without reinforcing them and were often a greater incumbrance than a strength to them On Saturday Night September 11. They made great Fires on the Hill as a signal to the City of the Arrival of the Supplies But they saw nothing of it no more than of the Fight next day by reason of the disposition and unevenness of the Ground where this great Action passed After the Siege was raised the Governour Staremberg told the King that they only discovered the Lances of the Hussars with Perspective Glasses from the Top of the Steeple of St. Stephen's Church In the mean time the King of Poland had caus'd the Descent of the Hills to be descry'd by a French Man that was near his Person and whom he look'd upon as an Engineer because he knew some Terms of that Art This pretended Engineer had a great Opinion of his own Parts and to shew some proofs of it in this juncture he was very warm in giving a Description of the Country through which they were to march to the Turkish Camp being willing to cry down those who he said had misinform'd his Majesty on this Subject in telling him of great Plains fit for his Gens-des-Armes whereas there were nothing but Precipices Hollow Ways and Rocky Descents This Scene pass'd in the presence of the Duke of Lorrain and of other Generals of the Emperor who were offended at the disrespectful manner wherein a Man of this Character dar'd to extol himself in such an Assembly It was therefore necessary to draw up a Line of Battle according to the Disposition of the Ground and to make use of the Cavalry as well as they could since this Affair could not be decided but by beating the Enemy from their Posts and by particular Skirmishes Nor did the King of Poland at that time think of being able to reach the Turkish Camp from the Brow of the Hill in less than three Days and marked out with his Eye the places where they should Encamp Septemb. 12. and 13th by driving the Enemy gradually out of the Posts and Defiles which they held by great Platoons of Cavalry or Musqueteers on Horseback whom I before called Dragoons from their manner of fighting All those matters were settled in the Council of War held Septemb. 11. after Midnight A Scheme was drawn of the Mashalling the Forces wherein the Polanders were to be on the Right and their Generals to draw up in the form of a Half Moon in the Wood and Hills to prevent the Tarters from falling upon the Army in the Flank or the Rear whilst it was engaged with the Turks posted as might reasonably be fear'd before the Camp The Duke of Lorrain took the Left towards the Descent on the side of the Danube by possessing himself of Calemberg and the adjacent Eminences By this means he had a less compass to fetch to march to the Turkish Camp and the Attacks so that it was he properly speaking that clear'd the Trenches and Rais'd the Siege The Duke of Saxony drew up his Troops on the Right of the Duke of Lorrain and the Elector of Bavaria his on the Right of the Duke of Saxony each of these Princes keeping at the Head of his own Body The King of Poland Posted himself in the Centre of all animating this great Body with his Presence and Voice acting in all places and giving his Orders which according to the Emperor's Command were obeyed with the utmost submission The Duke of Lorrain sent a great many Adjutants to be near his Polish Majesty to receive his Orders and to convey them to all parts of the Army To the Infantry were allowed Chevaux de frise On the Advantageous Emeniences were planted what Cannon they
The Sultan was likewise for Comforting his Son-in-Law by the Example of Solyman the Great who met with the same Misfortune before Vienna where indeed he was not defeated but only miss'd of his Aim in taking it However with all these Testimonies of Favour the Sultan order'd him to make amends for this Misfortune by covering the Frontier Places He consented to the Deposing of the Old Cham of Tartary who was succeeded by one of the Visier's Relations and at the Death of the Visier of Buda that Post was fill'd by Kara Mehemet Pacha the Grand Visier's Intimate Friend This Letter from the Prince of Transylvania contain'd likewise several other Particulars and concluded with this Compliment to the King That his Victory was so compleat and his steddy Resolution so commendable in carrying on his Design to the utmost that all Christendom must still remember his Name and have it always in their Mouths The Emperor for his part rewarded the Good Services of the Count of Staremberg on whom he bestow'd the Title of Felt-Mareshal that is General of his Army but he slighted those of the Duke of Saxe-Laonburg whose Deserts were equal to his Birth and who hop'd to have had the Dignity that was conferr'd on Staremberg This made the Prince of Saxony to withdraw in Discontent having the Satisfaction only of seeing the King of Poland approve of his Resentment and Retreat That King sent him a very rich Sabre as a Testimony of his Esteem by a Gentleman who waited upon him at Presburgh where he had left the Army Staremberg had likewise the Golden-Fleece bestow'd upon him and 100000 Crowns being part of 400000 sent by the Pope as a supply to the Army Thus have we given you a Faithful and Exact Account of this Great Action which will be a more Shining Ornament to the History of our Age by the Extraordinariness of the Event than by the greatness of the Matters of Fact For we shall in the Sequel meet with more Heroical and Considerable Transactions on one side as well as the other I shall now present you with the Particulars of the March and Encampments of the King of Poland from Tarnowits to Vienna and set down upon occasion the several Stages thereof The first Country the King of Poland entred after he had left his own Dominions was the Dutchy of Silesia This Province is one of the Hereditary Countries of the House of Austria and begins on the side of Poland at Bengin nine Leagues off Cracow From Bengin to Tarnowits three Leagues This is the Place which the Poles call Tarnosky Goury Most of those Towns of Provinces subject at present to the Republick going under two Names As for the Leagues from hence to Vienna they are to be reckon'd as German Leagues of the larger Measure the swiftest Courrier not being able to compass a Stage in less than two Hours and some will take above three Hours Riding From Tarnowits to Gleibwitz three Leagues a Stage and an half In this Road you will meet with great variety of Woods open Plains Sandy Fields and Fertile Grounds with some Villages that look better than those in Poland tho' the Houses are made of Wood The Towns are all wall'd even Gleibwitz it self which is the least upon the Road but yet this Town makes some shew has a great Clock in it its Gates are guarded and the Burghers are of a Manly Aspect The King encamp'd at this Place the first Day after he had left Tarnowits and din'd at Vessolo a Village between both From Glebwitz to Routh three Leagues a Stage and an half You still meet with the same pleasant Prospect of a mixt Country which hitherto is pretty good Travelling tho' Sandy Routh is only a small Village situated in the midst of a Wood but it has a very fine Abbey of the Cistercian Order and the Post-Office is within its inward Yard The King din'd at Pilikvitzé and lay in the Abbey Dutchy of RATIBOR From Routh to Ratibor three Leagues one Stage and an half They are very long Leagues and the Country very close and sandy but in going down the Hills that lie next to the Marshy Plain in which Ratibor is situated we discover'd a very pleasant Country This Marshy Plain makes the Avenues to the Town very difficult by reason of the Length of the Causeys made of Faggots Ratibor has Suburbs quite round its Walls and is wash'd with the River Odar which we pass'd over a Wooden Bridge into one part of the Suburbs The Place is very large and set off with Stately Brick Houses It is the Capital City of a fine Dutchy which the House of Austria often pawns Casimir King of Poland enjoy'd it a long time under that Title and the Heirs of Queen Lewes his Wife pretended to great Reimbursements after her Death for that Territory to be made out of the Emperor's Demesnes The King who din'd the third Day at Samotitzé just step'd to Ratibor where he staid a little with the Lords of the Family of Henoff who had provided a Collation for him and went to lye at Pietrovitzé From Ratibor to Troppaw 4 Leagues two Stages This is an Uneven Country but Champian and well manur'd and this City is one of the finest in the Province surrounded with good Walls with Turrets and several pieces of Workmanship on the Gates the Churches are well built the Inhabitants of a graceful Mein It has a Governor and a well-disciplin'd Garrison On that side of it towards Ratibor the Suburbs are but indifferent through which runs the River Oppava which gives the City a Second Name being call'd by the Poles Oppava from the Name of the River The King din'd there the fourth Day The Marquisate of MORAVIA From Troppaw to Hauff four Leagues two Stages Upon leaving of Troppaw the Plains by which it is surrounded and which are very Champian go a League farther and with them is terminated the Province of Silesia separated on this side from the Marquisate of Moravia by a Ridge of large Mountains of six Leagues length which arising from those of Hungary on the Left are joyn'd to those of Bohemia beyond Breslaw on the Right These Mountains are very high cover'd with large Woods of Fir and at the Bottoms wash'd with Fountains and Rivulets where are some Villages ill built but pretty populous Such a Village as this is Hauff which might be reckon'd a large Town and would be a good City in Poland It is call'd in the Polish Language Dwortzè This Ridge of Mountains is terminated by a long rough and steep descent at the foot of which is the City of Sternberg which is properly no more than a Street with a Gate at each End but large rich and well built In the midst of this Mountain is a Castle of Ancient Structure very large and well kept as belonging to a Petty Prince or rather some Great Lord of Germany From Hauff to Sternberg three Leagues a Stage and an half
fine after having done all things possible in vain God be thanked to frighten me I was called some Days ago to an Audience of the Visier's Deputy Our Conversation lasted an Hour and an half He talked to me of the unheard of Temerity of this enterprize and of the extream Anger of the Grand Senior and at last told me That he gave me Notice as a Friend that perhaps I might be so happy as to buy off my own and the Blood of the French for a great Summ of Money I answered him I was as secure at Constantinople as at Paris because his Emperor was just and mine very potent That I would not give one Denier towards repairing the Damages sustained at Scio That it was the Tripolins part to pay it I added several things which certainly the Turkish Minister had never heard before The Countenance and Tone wherewith I pronounced them were a la Gascogne I spoke of all that the Emperor of France would do in this Country if he were exasperated and I concluded with telling him That if the French were troublesom to the Grand Senior or the Visier I would carry them all back into France where they would soon forget Turkey The Deputy treated me very civilly He told me That he exhorted my Prudence to take other Resolutions and went immediately after to give the Visier an Account of our Conferences being much surprized at my stedfastness I do not know what will become of this Affair I shall certainly support it to the end nay to the last extremity M. du Quêne is still before Scio where the Tripolins design to refit They have done no sort of Violence nor made no Threats to any French Man 'T is certain that if such a like thing had happened to any other Nation it would have been the utter ruine of them I was told about six Days ago That they expected News of the Captain Bassa who is to go to Scio with the Grand Senior's Gallies I wait the Consequences and the Success of his Interview with M. du Quesne with impatience I am c. A Letter from the Duke of Lorrain to the King of Poland Most Serene King I received with a due Respect the Letters which your Majesty was pleased to do me the honour to transmit to me dated the 25th Inst And from them I understood how much your Majesty's Royal Mind is moved to accelerate the Succour of the City of Vienna and how much inclined to the Defence of the Christian Empire and Austrian Territories Of which indeed I have been always so much perswaded that in relation hereunto I have received from your Majesty's Letters nothing new nor what I did not before believe In the mean time I esteem it a great Favour and honour to me that your Majesty does not vouchsafe to trust to your own most prudent Judgment in these things that are still to be done I have hitherto indeavoured to guard my self against the Watchfulness of the Enemy by the Scituation of my incampments which though indeed I did not look upon as walled about yet I have thought them to be as good as such from the Scituation of the Rivers and the disposition of the Ground they take up I have provided for the Security of the Bridge of Crems and am advising the building of a second about Tulm a Place nearer to Vienna and which is reckoned to be secure That which is hardest to me is that I can scare send any Person into the Town nor on the other hand receive any News from the besieged But seeing I understand from the magnificent Marshal of the Court of the Kingdom of Poland that the particular Relations of what things are acted in the Imperial Army do not displease your Majesty I have communicated something to your Majesty in Writing which hath Relation to the same from which and from the said Marshal's Letters your Majesty may distinctly understand every thing particularly what was done against the flying Rebels and Turks about Presburg on the 29th Instant by Prince Lubomirski and his Polish Officers and Soldiers alone most prudently valiantly and with the natural Vigor of the renowned Polish Nation Your Majesty will also understand in what Condition this Army is and also the Progress of the German Auxiliaries It is my Hope and Prayer to see the Christian Army defeat this most inveterate Enemy and deliver the Austrian Territories under your Majesty's Conduct being sensible that in such a Field I shall have an Opportunity of further deserving your Royal Majesty's Favour and Benevolence to whom I wish a healthful and long Reign from the very Heart of Your Majesty's most Humble and most Obedient Servant and Allie Charles Duke of Lorrain Dated in the Imperial Camp near Mayerech the 31st of July 1683. The Duke of Lorrain's Account whereof mention is made in the foregoing Letter given to Prince Lubomirski to be sent with his Dispatches to the King of Poland THE Turks having opened their Trenches on the 14th instant before Vienna pretty near the City from the 16th they advanced their Works to within 60 Paces of the Counterscarp and took Post in an Island of the Danube over-against Vienna called Tabor from whence I was obliged to retire I would willingly have kept that Post to have had Communication with the City but this Island extending about two Leagues and the Arm of the Danube which runs near the City being almost fordable every where and the Squadrons and the Infantry being able to pass in Battalia in many Places of the Fords the Banks on that side where the Turkish Camp was being raised and their Cannon commanding the whole Island even to the Bridges which being broke down by their Artillery there was no other retreat left me but the City or to swim over the Danube which were two Extremities equally dangerous And though the Bridges had been covered it was in Teckley's power to come and post himself at the end on this side I remained in the Island without Forrage and Subsistance insomuch that that Post not being tenable and particularly with Cavalry alone having been obliged to put the Infantry into the City to defend it I thought that I was obliged to pass the Danube with the Imperial Cavalry in order to preserve them for their relief The Communication being thus cut off we have had no News of them since the 22d when the Enemy had advanced their Works to the Palissado's which the besieged defended with dint of Sword They extended their Works to the Right and Left and had already made them reach three Points of the Counterscarpe They had not yet begun to batter the Walls and had only 10 or 12 great Pieces of Cannon mounted in Battery Having received Advice of the Auxiliaries of Poland by the Count de la Tour I endeavored to send some Persons into the Town to acquaint the Governor therewith but I have as yet no Advice of their being got in not having received
the present and will cut off the Communication which I apprehended with so much reason That the Rebels will not easily present themselves before this Army That Teckley's Troops will be deserted by a great Number of Hungarians who will not rejoin him and that the Misunderstanding between him and the two Bassa's will not be disadvantagious to him In the mean time after having ruined every thing that might serve to make Bridges I thought it advisable to rejoin the Infantry and the Bagage and to put my self within reach to cover the passage of the Succours from Poland and to hasten the others The News I have of them are that the Bavarians ought to be arrived near to Krems where I believe there may be 15 or 16000 Foot as well Bavarians as Imperialists within these few Days I believe that the Troops of Saxony and Franconia are upon their march and I hasten them as much as I can I cannot deny but that I very much doubt the holding out of Vienna for though I may very well hope that it is strong enough with a good Garison and good Troops yet the forwardness of the Enemies Approaches and the Accidents that may Occasion a Confusion in a City that did not expect to be besieged oblige me to hasten the Succours that they may show themselves to the Besiegers c. A Letter from the Emperor to the King of Poland LEopold by the Favor of the Divine Clemency chosen Emperor of the Romans always Augustus King of Germany Hungary Bohemia Dalmatia Croatia and Sclavonia Arch-Duke of Austria Duke of Burgundy Stiria Carinthia Carniola and Wirtemberg and Count of Tirol To the most Serene and most Potent Prince John III. King of Poland Great Duke of Lithuania Russia Prussia Masovia and Samogitia our most dear Brother and Neighbor greeting and mutual Friendship Most Serene and most Potent Prince our most dear Brother and Neighbour In this most calamitous Condition into which the Treachery of the Hungarians and the most impetuous Barbarity of the Turks hath cast our Country of Austria Your Serenities most kind Letters wrote to us on the 7th of July have wonderfully refreshed us It was indeed a most joyful Message to us when we understood that your Serenity having laid aside all other Military Expeditions was marching your Army with utmost Diligence to rescue Vienna which is so closely besieged out of the Jaws of the Barbarous Enemy With how grateful and true a Sense we accept this Readiness to assist us as not proceeding only from the League betwixt us but from your Serenities kind Affection and Inclination which you have towards us and our Interests and with what Returns of Kindness we shall acknowledge this obligation which tends to the safety of Christendom We have given Orders to our faithful and beloved John Christopher Free Baron of Zieroua Ziorouski our Envoy and magnificent Counsellor to us and to the Sacred Empire to explain more at large He hath also Instructions to acquaint and submit to your Serenities sublime Prudence what we have thought necessary and useful on the present Occasion for the more vigorous carrying on of the War and raising the Siege of the said Town Wherefore out of friendly and brotherly confidence we obtest your Serenity to give entire Credit unto our said Envoy in every thing he shall say to you in our Name and that you would cheerfully prosecute what you have begun whereas by this Assistance and delivering and rescuing the City of Vienna you will purchase Glory and eternal Fame and more and more engage our Affection which hath long ago been fixed upon your Serenity unto your Royal Off-spring To which end we pray That God would vouchsafe you the height of all sorts of Felicity Given at Passaw Aug. 3. 1683. of our Reigns over the Roman Empire the 26th over Hungary the 29th and over Bohemia the 27th Your Serenity's Brother and Neighbour The Reader may observe from this Letter that the Emperor does not give the Title of Majesty to the King of Poland nevertheless he did it once in an Italian Letter wrote with his own Hand which is preciously kept in Poland as a Piece upon which they may found their Right of Pretensions for the future A Letter from the Duke of Lorrain to Mons Yablonowski Great General of Poland Dated from the Camp at Angres the 16th of August 1683. SIR THE Count de Caraffa General of the Battle set out Yesterday in order to go to the King I have given him Charge of a Letter for your Excellency wherein I signified to you that the Counterscarp of Vienna was after having held out twenty three Days taken by the Turks under the Covert of three great heaps of Earth which they had cast up to clear three Points from whence they entred into the covered way And after having lodged themselves there they applied themselves to the Descent of the Ditch which they sounded on the 8th of this Month. Altho' the Garison chased them them thence with loss yet the Enemy had time to fix their Miners to the Ravelins which they blew up on the 12th and there assaulted the Place They were repulsed insomuch that they think of nothing but mining and blowing up the Bastions which they attack Your Excellency who knows what it is for Places to be besieged may judge of the State of Vienna which the Turks think fit now only to attack by Mines and as they are already in the Ditch you may easily comprehend the Danger and the Importance of not loosing one Minute of coming to the Succour of a Place which is of so great Moment to the common Cause and to all Christendom I have given your Excellency all these Particulars because that knowing how much you understand the State of all things I should have done an Injury to your Merit and Zeal if I did not tell you the true State of the Besieged and the Importance of hastening to their Assistance I pray the King to succour us his presence alone is worth an Army so I beg him to advance his march with the first Troops By the same reason I pray your Excellency to hasten your march to join me I should be overjoyed to see you both for the Advantage I promise my self from the Troops you command and for the Satisfaction that I hope to see so great a General as your Excellency with us Count Oberstoff will tell you more particularly how much I pray your Excellency to join us with all possible diligence how much I esteem you and how much I am SIR Your Excellency's most Affectionate Servant Charles de Lorrain I pray your Excellency to march directly towards the Bridges of Vienna from whence you shall hear further from me You will do me a pleasure to give an Account of Your march so soon as the Count ' dOberstoff shall have joined You being impatient to have it in my power to testifie to Your Excellency the Esteem I have for Your Person
1683. Your Royal Majesty's Fredrick William By the Grace of God Marquis of Brandenburg Arch-Chamberlain of the Holy Empire and Prince Elector Duke of Prussia Madgenburg Juliers Cleves Bergs Stetin Pomerania of the Cassubii Silesia Crosna Carnovia and of the Vandals Burgrave of Norimberg Prince of Alberstadt Count of Minden and Caminam Mark and Ravenburg Lord in Rauenstein Ravenburg and Butau Most Affectionate Kinsman Frederick William Elector The Superscription on the Cover of this Letter was thus To the most Serene and Potent Prince and Lord John III. King of Poland Great Duke of Lithuania Russia Prussia Muscovia Samogitia Livonia Podolia Podlachia Kiovia Volhinia Smolencia Severia and Czernichovia Lord Kinsman and our most Honourable Brother A LETTER FROM Aubeleire Bassa of Alleppo and Governour of Strigonia to the most Great King of Poland Octob. 26. 1683. At Midnight AFter having offered our Vows to the Honour of the Great King of Poland having been summoned to surrender the Place we signified to You That we were to hold a Council with our Bassa's and the Ancients and that then we would declare our Intentions But the new Command which we have just now received in your Majesty's Name is so pressing that our Council is scarce broke up before we begin to treat with You. And though Your Majesty's Seal is not affixed to the Letters which you have sent us yet we are fully perswaded that you will keep your Word with us because the Name of the King of Poland is Great and Glorious throughout the whole Earth The Whole of the Matter is this We supplicate Your Majesty 1. To give a Free Pass-Port to the Man who shall deliver our Letters to you to go and come conform to Your Word which you gave us this Day 2. That we shall march out without the loss of one Man belonging to our Emperour without Arms or Bagage whatever that we shall be allowed a Guard to conduct us safe to the next Ottoman Place We desire the same thing of the Generals of the Imperial Army and of all the Senators of your Council as Your Majesty shall think fit to the end that after having surrendered up the Place and brought back our Infantry we may have wherewithal to justifie us before our Emperor Aubeleire Bassa of Aleppo and Governour of Strigonia A LETTER FROM THE SENATE OF VENICE TO THE KING OF POLAND Most Serene King SInce Your Majesty invited us to enter into a League against the common Enemy upon which our Republick made it appear how much Veneration was due to the generous Sentiments of Your Majesty as You may have understood by our Answers there happens now a Motive from what has been represented to us by the Imperial Ambassador which has induced the Republick to think it necessary to make no longer delay to testifie their Readiness to do all on their side that may be Advantagious to the Good of Christendom We consider tho' the Republick is still sensible of the great Damages they suffered in the late War of Candia wherein they spent immense Summs with the Blood of their Citizens and the Substance of their Subjects that we must trust to the Help of God to the Assistance and Zeal of the Sovereign Bishop our common Father and to the Continuation of so Holy a League as this which will grow daily stronger and stronger especially being assisted by Your Majesty's puissant and strong Arm which has over thrown the Turks and put them to flight with so much Valor and Courage and which continues still in that constant Course of defeating them as we have just now heard with great Joy We communicate to You the Disposition of the Senate which is very willing to enter upon this grand Affair which being well examined We may consult to do that which shall be thought most convenient for the good of the Catholick Religion and seeing the Republibk professes a singular Respect to Your Majesty who is to have so great a share in this Alliance they were willing to acquaint you with it forthwith firmly believing that You will heartily approve of it In the mean time we shall expect Your Majesty's Answer that we may give the necessary Orders to advance and establish so important a Treaty And desiring Opportunities to testifie the good Will which we bear to Your Royal Person We wish Your Majesty long and happy Years and the continual Blessing of God upon the Valor of Your Arms. Given at the Ducal Palace under the Seal of St. Mark and of the Manual Sign of George Quirino Grand Counsellor the 21st Day of January the 7th Year of the Indiction 1684. Anthonio de Negry Secretary FINIS
Polish Manuscripts OR THE Secret History OF THE REIGN OF JOHN SOBIESKI The III. of that Name K. of Poland CONTAINING A Particular Account of the Siege of Vienna and some Circumstances in Relation to the Raising of it not before made known to the World With the Letters that passed on that Occasion betwixt the Emperor King of Poland Pope Elector of Brandenburg Duke of Lorrain Republick of Venice and many remarkable Intrigues of those respective Courts The Whole intermix'd with an Account of the Author's Travels thro' Germany Poland Hungary c. And many useful Geographical Remarks Translated from the French Original wrote by M. Dalerac a Domestick to the late Queen of Poland and employed by that Court in Important Negotiations to those of the French King Emperor c. LONDON Printed for H. Rhodes at the Star near Fleet-Bridge T. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard A. Bell at the Cross-Keys and Bible in Cornhil T. Leigh and D. Midwinter at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1700. THE Author's PREFACE THE War that the Turks commenced against the Emperor in 1683. hath been attended with such remarkable Circumstances that it will be hard to find in Ages past any thing more worthy of Publick View or more capable of embellishing History All the Relations that have hitherto been published are defective stuffed with forged Particulars disguised Narratives and Circumstances founded upon no better Authority than that of some Letters from one Friend to another who diverted themselves at the Expence of the Truth Yet the Publick was easily imposed upon as usual by those sorts of Relations which they fancy contain something more Secret and Particular than is to be found in the Publick News-Papers One of the most intollerable of those Forgeries is in my Opinion what we find in the Story of Mahomet VI. who was dethroned the Absurdities of which I shall observe according as they come in my Way 'T is true that he who wrote the Historical Account of the Fall of that Ottoman Emperor was not on the spot where those Affairs were transacted nor is an Historian obliged always to see what he relates 'T is not for that I condemn him but I cannot excuse his insisting upon the Infallibility of his Memoirs upon which he founds his Relation If he had no better for the other Particulars of the Sultan's Misfortune than he has for the Circumstances of the Campagn of Vienna We shall quickly see by reading of them how little Credit is to be given to his Romance Those Considerations prevailed upon me to undertake this Work and to form the Design of giving the History of that famous War with all the Exactness of an Eye-witness with all the Fidelity of a disinterested Writer and without Passion Qualities very requisite in every Historian especially in one who writes the History of hs own Time in the view of those who are concerned in the Matter and whose Attention to it is no small Obstacle to that Liberty which he might otherwise be inclinable to take My Testimony and Sincerity is so much more to be relied on because I was not wanting in Care and Exactness to observe what passed in that great Event nor do I want Courage to speak the plain Truth without disguise The Letters and other Pieces I join to my Relation are incontestible Proofs of it The Reader must begin with razing out his Prejudices and forgetting if possible the sorry Relations that have already been published of that Campagne which contain nothing of real Truth but the Gross of the Action that is to say the raising of the Siege and the Names of those that commanded at it Before I enter upon those particulars I conceive it will not be amiss to say something how the Poles manage their War which will be found at large in the first Chapter I could have added some Circumstances concerning the League concluded at the Diet of Warsaw betwixt the Republick and the Emperor but it is not with Negotiations as with Military Exploits the latter being acted in the view of the Publick seem to require or at least to allow that Fame may be charged with them But the former demand a respectful Silence the Interests and hidden Designs of Princes not admitting us either to be able or to dare to publish them in the same manner as we do their Exploits and Atchievments So that I have satisfied my self here with illustrating the Historical Particulars of a Publick Event one of the most considerable that hath fallen out in our Days but which may well be said to be more remarkable by the happiness of the Success than by the greatness of it or the difficulty of putting it in Execution In effect it may be said without rashness That there were many Blunders in the Art of War committed on both sides on this Occasion as if the same Genius which conceived those vast Designs had all of a sudden been deprived of Understanding and Reflection to carry them on to an issue But here we must except the Duke of Lorrain who always shewed himself a great Captain both in Project and Execution was constantly faithful to the Common Cause neglected his own Interest sacrificed all to those of the Empire which he served without concerning himself with the particular Interests or Heats of the Ministers of the Court of Vienna I shall further add here for illustrating those Preliminaries that the Emperor being informed of the Design of the Turks to make a powerful Irruption into Hungary looked out for Methods on all sides to guard himself and prevent the Storm Finding it was not to be done by renewing of the Truce the very Proposal of which was rejected by the Port he bethought himself of having recourse to an Alliance with Christian Princes Count Albert Caprara his Envoy at Constantinople not having been able to succeed in the Treaty that he had Order to manage with those Infidels The Emperor knew that the King of Poland had a design to renew his War with the Turks which being too much divulged by Noisie Embassies sent to several Princes had made the Sultan hasten his Preparations The Emperor knew also that the Repubâ—ick of Poland was making considerable Preparations for the Recovery of Caminiec and Podolia Upon this he ordered his Resident at the Court of Poland to begin a Negotiation on that Subject After the first overtures the King of Poland sent the Great Chancellor of the Crown his Brother-in Law to confer with some of the Imperial Ministers at Breslaw on pretence of taking the Waters of Hiertberg on the Frontiers of Bohemia This Conference had all the Success which the Court of Vienna could desire There they laid the Foundation of that famous League which reached such a fatal Blow to the Ottoman Empire The Count de Valestein was in 18 Months after sent by his Imperial Majesty in Quality of Ambassador to the Diet held at Warsaw with the necessary full
vast extent of their Lodgings The King hath so often defeated the Turks who always leave considerable spoils behind them that his whole Quarter or Park is made up of those of the Bassas he has defeated and amongst others of them that commanded the Ottoman Army at Kotchim called Soliman and Ussein whose Tents demonstrate the magnificence of their Serasquiers or Commanders in Chief and of the Grand Senior's Favourites Soliman had a Hall for his Council or Divan the Largeness and Beauty of which charms me every time I think on it The Tapestry was of Silk and Gold the Workmanship and Figures of which were as agreeable as the Matter was rich The Columns that supported it were all gilt and the Architecture of them resembling those of the Columns of a Palace the Cords of it were of Silk and Cotton of a wonderful Largeness and Beauty and indeed there are few People of Note either in Poland or Turky but the Cordage of their Pavillions is of Cotton I should here speak of the Pay of the Polish Armies but have reason to fear that the Reader will be weary of such a particular account therefore shall only say in general that it would be good enough if the Republic took care to give it regularly but they don't much trouble themselves to pay the same quarterly according to the order of the Diet. The Colonels who are absolute Masters of their Regiments take less care to distribute to their Soldiers the little Mony which they receive from the Treasury or from the Provinces upon which their Pay is assigned they never clear Accounts with their Officers but give them only a Sum in part of what is due which here they call ad rationem or on account so that the Captain is obliged to keep back the Pay of the Subaltern and the Soldiers who starve for hunger whilst the Captain makes up his loss by pillaging on his march Indeed when they are in the Field he takes care for the subsistance of his Company for having neither Ammunition-bread nor Sutlers at least in no great number the Soldiers would starve and the Campagn by consequence come to nothing if the Captain did not take care to have Meat and Bacon carried on Waggons for his Men and this is the reason why they are obliged to have so much Equipage Let the Reader judge then if any Man of Honour or Officer of Merit can be fond of the Polish Service since he cannot live there without pillaging nor have any satisfaction to see himself at the Head of a Troop of Beggars in Rags who have neither Mein nor Discipline all their Exercise consisting in forming of a Battalion and discharging their Pieces If they were to make a general Attaque the Major Generals themselves would find it hard enough to manage a Trench and yet they are for the most part chosen out of the ablest Officers and the eldest Colonels of the Foreign Army Their Office looks somewhat like a French Mareschal de Camp but in Poland it is a meer vain Title without Profit and Authority without Sallary The next thing to be discoursed of with relation to their Pay is the advantages of the Great Treasurer of Poland because of the dependance the Army has upon him and the Compositions which the Officers are obliged to make with him who quit part of what is their due to have the rest in ready Mony Thus they say Count Morstin enriched himself when he was Great Treasurer of the Crown But when this Officer is too rigorous he may occasion great Disorders if not Revolts which endanger himself There was an Instance of this in the Reign of King Casimir upon Gonchefski the Grand General and Treasurer of Lithuania which may well make his Successors tremble The Lithuanian Army being dissatisfied with some Article or Command of the Treasury they entred into a Confederacy against this Lord twenty five Towariches or sworn Officers went to his House pulled him out of his Bed from his Lady carried him to the Field with a Confessor at his Heels oblig'd him to confess himself speedily and afterwards kill'd him This unparallel'd Crime was only punished on a small number of those Madmen that were found whose Heads were cut off one of them being condemned to have his Hand burnt off holding certain Papers in it and being daub'd over with Pitch suffer'd that punishment with as much Constancy as Scevola without ever opening his Hand or turning away his Head Since I am come to speak of the Army of Lithuania I shall only say that it is an Auxiliary Body independant on the Army of the Crown submitting only to their own Generals who acknowledge no Supream They assemble the Army assign them Quarters and act with them according to their own Pleasure and Interest tho' in general they regulate themselves by the Councils held at the end of the Diets or the beginning of the Campagns but those Resolves and their Actions never keep pace Their best concerted Expeditions do frequently miscarry for want of Union and Agreement For Example during the Siege of Vienna which I am going to relate The King was returning back to Poland when the Lithuanians join'd him in Hungary At the Battle of Kotchim their Grand General Pats refus'd a long time to fight so that the Crown General then call'd the Great Mareschal Sobieski took it upon himself in point of Honour and resolv'd to answer for the Event notwithstanding all which Pats would not Charge till after Sobieski had forced the Turkish Camp but retir'd from the Council the night before refusing to consent to the Expedition During the famous Campagn which General Sobieski then King continued so long in the Winter the Lithuanian Army refus'd to follow him after some days march which did so much provoke that Great Prince that he published Circular Letters to send them back as useless which might be called a Casheiring them if the King had that despotical Authority in Poland He compleated that Expedition only with the Army of the Crown and subdued all Ukrania to the Republick whose Standards he advanced within ten days Journey of the Black Sea Let us speak at present of the Arms of the Poles in general Of old they made use only of Scimiters Lances Gides Javelins Bows and Arrows at present they have added Fire-Arms and most of them have Pistols with which they don't hit very exactly tho' they be great Skirmishers By degrees they lay aside their Lances and Gides their Javelins are almost wholly disused so that they have nothing of the Old Sarmatian Armour left but the Bow and Arrow The first Journy I made into Poland all Horsemen of any distinction and the Gentlemen belonging to the King Queen and Senators still carry'd them ev'n as they travell'd thro' the Country and made a Noble Ornament of those Arms in time of Peace I have seen the King and Princes carry them they are not unbecoming nor unseemly in a Chamber
for the Troops and thus is witness to the losing of many opportunities and sees the best concerted Designs and Enterprizes miscarry by those disorders and unaccountable mismanagements joyn'd with the Natural Carelesness of the Poles and the Impunity to which they are accustomed The Palatin of Russia the present Grand General does indeed begin to make his Authority valued and to restore Discipline in the Camp having order'd several People to have their Heads cut off at the Entrance of the Campagne of 1688. He likewise check'd the foolish Pride of the Hussars by taking away their Lances arming them with Carbines and sending them out upon advanc'd Guards and Convoys as Light Horse This he began in 1689 and if he continue there may be some hopes of restoring the Antient Polish Valour for these Troops are not really bad but fight in great and small Bodies as well as those of other Countries if they be well managed They understand little of the Art of War during a Campagne as to know how to seize a Post or Defile They are yet more ignorant of the Way of Managing a Party tho' they make very large ones and we may truly say they understand nothing of Sieges All their time is spent in ordinary Skirmishes and Fights The Stratagems of War are little known amongst them They send out for intelligence or discoveries some Cossack Foot who Lye in Ambuscade one by one in Woods or hide themselves in a hole that they dig in the ground like Badgers and flie like Wolves upon any miserable fellow that straggles from the Camp or on a March and this Prisoner they call a Tongue because of his informing them of the State of the Enemies Army After the Siege of Vienna I saw one of those Savage Partymen return to the K. with a Turk tied so as a Huntsman does a great Beast and push him brutishly into the Tent without speaking a word The K. gave those Cossacks ten Crowns for each Tongue as they call them and relied very much upon them for getting such fellows on occasion as the fittest persons in the Army for that Trade as to which I cannot omit one particular which may serve to give the Reader a better Character of those Savage Fellows A Cossack returned one Evening with a Turk taken in that manner as I have said threw him into the Kings Tent just as if one should throw down a Bundle upon the ground and then went to the Treasurer for his Premium after which he returned to the Door of the Tent and thrusting in his head to thank the K. said John They have paid me God restore it thee and good night Their great Parties are usually considerable Detachments or Entire Brigades of Polish Cavalry Those Brigades are from 600 to 1000 Men and are call'd Poulk Thus all the Gens d'Arms are divided amongst the principal Officers of this Body as is also the rest of the Cavalry Cossacks Vallachians or Poles whose Poulks are composed of 40 Companies We must except the Hussars who don't enter into the Brigades their Companies serving alone The Brigadiers of the rest are twice as proud but nothing braver than the other Officers I knew one of them call'd Miogensky that was first Gentleman of the Kings Chamber and is now Treasurer of the Court who hearing some Poles returned from France telling Wonders of the Valour of the Troops of the Kings Houshold boasted that he would with his Poulk and a hundred Horse only beat all those Gens d' Arms to pieces This Bravo said he never return'd from a Party without putting his Enemy to flight tho' a whole Garrison and that he had repulsed the Enemy to the very Gates of Caminieck Yet never did any Man flie better than this Person and his Brigade on two occasions especially at the Town of Eperiez in Hungary where he was shamefully beat by a Party of Rebels I must not forget one Circumstance relating to the Hussars which is that every Year they had new Lances given them at the beginning of the Campagn for it was supposed for their Honour that they had broke those of the preceding Year and indeed formerly nothing more shameful could befal an Hussar than to bring back his Lance from an Engagement and therefore new ones were always carried in Waggons with the Camp to supply those that were broken At the beginning of each Campagn when the Captain gave the Hussar his Lance he used to give him a Present of 100 Crowns with it towards the Charge of the Campagn besides his Pay from the Republick There 's another Circumstance no less necessary to be known for the better discovery of the Polish Genius and their way of making War viz. that the Hussars Pancernes and other Gens d'Arms who are paid their Winter Quarters in Silver and have nothing to look for from the place where the Company is Quarter'd spend that time either at home or at their Captains Court and leave their Servants only with the Standard In 1688. the Tartars made an Irruption towards Volhynia where they forced some Regiments of Foot into places fortified with Pallisado's and carried off whole Companies of Hussars as was said in the Gazetts but 't was only the Pacolets or Hussars Servants and besides there were several Companies particularly that of the Great Chancellor of Lithuania which had not above seven or eight Servants at most left to guard the Standard Being unwilling to tire the Reader with any more particulars of this nature I come now to the particular Account of the famous Expedition of Vienna which was so extraordinary in all its Circumstances so happy in its Success so ill disputed by the Turks and so little expected by the Christians An Expedition famous for its Event considerable for the Number of Princes that came thither to put themselves under the Command of the King of Poland whose great Fame excited a general Curiosity and laid the Foundation of the Hope of the Empire I shall relate the Matter as a faithful Historian being ready to account for the Truth of my Relation before those who were present at that great Action CAP. II. Containing the Relation of the Campagn of 1683 being the first after the Rupture of the Truce betwixt the Emperour and Turks THE Ottoman Empire became so formidable under the Reign of Sultan Mabomet IV. and the Ministry of the two Grand Visirs Kuproli the Father and Son that the least March of the Infidels gave the Alarm to all Europe The Battle on the Banks of the Raab where the Auxiliary Troops of France put a stop to the progress of the Turks and saved all Germany did a little diminish the fear on that side But their subduing the Kingdom of Candie in 1669. by taking its Capital renewed it The Grand Visir Ahmet Kuproli according to the Politicks of the Port made a Truce of twenty years with the Emperor of Germany after the bad success of the Battle of Raab or
Bastions of Vienna Never was there a bolder Enterprize than this which the Hand of the Lord only did frustrate Nothing was ever more fine than the Preparations he made for it Nothing more glorious than his first success so that no General could carry on any thing further by his own Ability had Foresight the rest is in the hands of the Lord of Hosts who scatters them with his Breath as he did here this Army of Infidels Besides those Great Precautions Kara Mustapha was not wanting in those Excellent Qualities which make a Complete General He had Valour Elevation and Capacity but with those an unconceivable Boldness and Presumption supported by his Riches and the favour of the Sultan his Son-in-Law which Character he maintain'd with all the Grandeur Expence Pride and Splendor imaginable His Equipage his House his Furniture equall'd the Magnificence of Kings and surpassed that of the greatest of other Princes That which I saw of it in the Army was surprizing his Waggons for carrying what belonged to his Chamber were painted and gilt His Turkish Coffers which are ordinarily of Ozier and covered with Leather were covered with Crimson Velvet his Pavillions his Tapestry his Moveables discover'd so much Pride and Pomp as makes what the Romans said of the Antient Kings of Persia credible And as to these things design'd for his own use never was there any thing seen more beautiful delicate handsome gallant and rich especially in his Armour Scymiters Anchars or Daggers Quivers Bow-cases Saddles Housses Harness for his Horses but still more in things prepar'd for his own Body as Girdles Vests Turbans which were so covered with Jewels that nothing else was to be seen He had 150 Valets de Chamber who had nothing else to do but every one of them to take care of one piece of his Attire as three of them inform'd us who were taken in the Camp before Vienna after he fled To look upon this surprizing Treasure of Riches and Magnificent Equipage one would think that this General came rather to a Triumph than Battle and so much the more that there was found in his Coffers abundance of rich Standards of Cloth of Gold design'd for a Triumphal Pomp and some Ceremony of Establishing a Mosque but the King of Poland Consecrated 'em in diverse Churches to the Glory of the God of Hosts as that of St. Peter at Rome Loretto and diverse Churches of his own Kingdom I shall only add to compleat the Visirs Character that he was a handsome Man tho' of a swarthy black Complexion like those of certain remote Provinces in Asia as is signified by his Name Kara which in the Turkish is as much as to say Black There are diverse persons of this Colour at the Sultans Court Mahomet IV. himself is so as was the Caimacan and the Visir of Buda the Visirs intimate Friend who was preferr'd to that Post by his means instead of another who was a Man of sense and disswaded the Port from undertaking the Siege of Vienna for which sage Advice he was rewarded with the Loss of his Head The Fame of the Great Preparations of the Ottoman Court spread abroad insensibly the King of Poland at the same time bethought himself of Preparations The Diet of Grodno having left the disposition of the Affair to him he sent Ambassadors into diverse Courts of Europe but the Cabals amongst them for driving on their private Interests made all the good designs of that Prince to miscarry The Convocation of 1681. terminated in vain disputes The Diet of 1681. was broke by the Elector of Brandenburgs Intrigues so that every thing was suspended in that Country by the misunderstanding there was amongst the Members of the Republick The Muscovites on the contrary thought of nothing but Peace The Czar sent one to Constantinople to treat of it and at the same time that he might have two Strings to his Bow according to the vulgar saying he sent an Ambassador to the Convocation at Warsaw in 1680. to propose a League against the Turks that so by threatning the Port with that Alliance he might obtain the better Conditions or assure himself of the Assistance of the Republick in case the Treaty with the Turks came to break off But having succeeded in their design at Constantinople they recall'd their Ambassador from Warsaw and the following year viz. July 1681. the King of Poland sent an Embassy into Persia to represent to the Sophi the Advantages he might reap in that conjuncture if he would declare against the Sultan who being taken up with his Vast Design against the Christians could not be in a condition to dispute the Conquest of Babylon with him which was taken from his Predecessors by Amurat but the Sophi would not listen to those Overtures preferring the Interest of his Religion to the Aggrandizing of his Empire tho' the Turks themselves look upon the Persians as Infidels because they follow Alis Interpretation of the Alcoran Yet on this occasion he would manifest to the Turks that tho' he err'd according to them in point of Discipline he follow'd their Essential Opinions and was acted by the true Spirit of Mahometism in sacrificing the particular Interests of his Glory to their common Sect. Thus Count Siry the Polish Ambassador return'd without having been able to engage the Sophi by the Natural Motives of Ambition or Grandeur he lov'd his Repose and Pleasures cover'd over with the pretext of Conscience better than the Conquest of Babylon his Antient Patrimony and its probable he also inform'd the Sultan of it to assure him against all fears of any such diversion The Court of Vienna being more allarm'd than the rest of Christendom labour'd with all possible Application to cover themselves from the Storm with which they were menaced Count Teckleys Progress in Upper Hungary seem'd to prepare the Grand Seniors path so that the Imperial Ministers endeavour'd all they could to lay some Obstacles in his way They prevail'd in Transylvania where Prince Michael Albaffi abandon'd the Rebels by degrees they also engaged the King of Poland on the Emperors side and in the mean time until they could pry further into the Designs of the Turks the Court of Vienna maintain'd the War against Count Teckley with as much Vigour as they could General Caprara wandred up and down in Hungary without being able to save the Provinces the Hungarian Count taking Places of importance there every day in spight of him The Grand Visir well knowing the importance of the Counts Progress which made his so much the easier neglected nothing to fortifie the Malecontents sent them Troops instead of the Transylvanians who had withdrawn and had a mind to have deposed Abaffi for which end he was summon'd to the Port but suspecting the reason he avoided the Snare by temporizing and paying his Money instead of going in Person The Grand Visir had a mind to Invest Count Teckley with that Province until such time as he could bestow
Visiers The simple Beys are only either Governors of Castles or Colonels of the Cavalry But to return to the Relation After the Emperor was come to Vienna he sent the King of Poland Word that he passionately desir'd to see him and to thank him in Person for the Signal Service he had done him which one might easily have believ'd he would have done However one would not have thought That the Emperor after such a piece of Service would have stood so much upon the Punctilio's and Formalities of it In short 't is most certain that after several Debates upon that Subject it was agreed between the Ministers of the Imperial Court and Guinsky Vice-Chancellor of Poland that the Interview of the two Princes should be in the open Field and on Horse-back to avoid those Niceties upon which his Polish Majesty was once a-minded to go away without seeing the Emperor It was on the Fifteenth of September when they came to an Interview about a League and an half off of Vienna or a little more The King of Poland had decamped in the Morning and tho' the Emperor to stop his March had sent him word that he was coming to wait upon him yet he still continued it that he might oblige the Emperor to follow him and remov'd his Camp a quarter of a League farther The Troops were still a filing off when they perceiv'd a Body of Cavalry which was compos'd of the Lords of the Imperial Court who had quitted their Coaches and mounted on Horse-back when they were about two hundred Paces from the Army The King of Poland at the same time order'd his Troops to draw up into a Line of Battle and afterwards advanc'd towards the Emperor who was making to him with full speed After these two Princes were met the King of Poland unvailing his Bonnet at the same time that the Emperor clap'd his Hand to his Hat told him in Latin That he was very glad that he had been able in such a Critical Juncture to give him any solid marks of his Friendship After this short Compliment he presented the Young Prince his Son to him adding That he had brought him along with him to teach him how he ought to succour his Allies He likewise presented to him the two Generals of the Crown who saluted the Emperor without alighting Lastly seeing that this Prince was stiff and mute without returning a word of Answer or shewing any token of Honour not so much as saluting the Young Prince the King left him very bluntly and said Without doubt Brother you have a mind to take a view of my Army there are my Generals whom I have order'd to shew it your Majesty With that he turn'd his Head from him and march'd away and the Emperor with the same Indifference that he had heard this Discourse suffer'd him to depart whilst he for his part went to visit the Lines Two Days after he sent 3000 Ducats of Gold to each of the two Polish Generals and a Sword set with Diamonds of about a thousand Pistols value to Prince James As to him the Emperor willing to make amends for the Fault he had committed in not saluting him of which there were loud and severe Complaints made he in my mind committed a fresh one by writing to the Prince of Poland a very submissive Letter wherein he cast all the Blame of that Disrespect on the Surprize he was in in remembring the Danger and seeing the Person who had deliver'd him from it 'T is said that he wrote as much to the Castellan of Livonia Baron of Felkerzen Prince James's Governour but this I am no farther assur'd of than that it was the common Discourse of our Court but the other Letter I saw with my own Eyes September 16. the Army rested the Seventeenth it broke up and encamped at Fichau four Leagues off Vienna and in the mean time the Bridge of Toulm was order'd to be brought down and to be put on the Right Branch of the Danube below Presburg by which they enter'd the Isle of Schut which they were to cross because the Country from thence to Raab through which the Turks had made their Retreat was all laid waste and the other side towards Presburgh was not in a better condition by reason of the Encampments of that Body of an Army which Count Teckeley had brought thither in the beginning of the Campaign and likewise because of the Neighbourhood of Newhausel The Army was divided into four Parts for the better conveniency of Forraging The King of Poland led the Van-guard of the whole with his Troops posted about two or three Leagues in the Front towards the Enemy The Duke of Lorrain came next with the Emperor's Cavalry marching a little towards the Right The Count of Staremberg being march'd out of Vienna at the Head of the Infantry which he had thrown into that Town led them on the Left side of the Isle by Goutta and other Towns that border'd on the Plains of Newhausel The Regiments of Croatia brought up the Rear at 3 or 4 Leagues distance The King by the way went to visit Presburgh when the Army was encamp'd over against it He likewise visited Raab or Yavarin going out of the Isle with a small Attendance over which a great Party of Rebels lodg'd in some Gentlemen's Houses thereabouts might have had the Better being near the place where the King din'd but they durst not attempt any thing and the King repass'd the River the same Night to rejoyn the Army in the Island The Rejoycings and Feasts which his Presence occasion'd in these two Places had nothing in them extraordinary The Prince of Poland threw a great many Ducats in Presburgh among the People that were gather'd under the Windows At Raab a great deal of Wine and Powder was spent The Bishop of the Place harangued the King whom he stil'd the King of Hungary and their Deliverer The Governor made him a very Noble Feast under the Salvo of an hundred Cannon Whilst the King of Poland was crossing the great Isle of Schut the Elector of Bavaria with his Troops was posted between Vienna and Presburgh The Count Waldeck likewise made a Halt with those of the Circles and the Elector of Saxony drew off all his Forces But his Polish Majesty not willing to leave any thing for the Germans to do after he had done so much in this Notable Juncture continued his March always at the Head of his Army to put an end to the Campaign and to return to his Estates by the way of Vpper Hungary During this he receiv'd a Letter from Michael Apaffy Prince of Transylvania full of Compliments upon the Success of his Arms. He sent him word of the Arrival of the Grand Visier at Buda whom the Sultan had pardon'd for the Miscarriage before Vienna having sent him a Vest and a Sabre a Standard and other Trophies of the Dignity of Grand Visier as an Assurance of his being still in his Favour
with the Army and the Isle of Schut the only Road that could be Travelled with any safety and to facilitate that of the City Komorne which was seated at the farther end of the Island The King of Poland left the Isle October 3. and Encamped beyond it under the Cannon of that Fortress facing towards Newhausel on the Left leaving space on the Right for the German Army who arrived the next Day near the City and passed the Bridge the same Day and all the fifth which obliged the King to make a stand in that place to the sixth that the Duke of Lorrain might have time to draw over all his Forces However the Imperial Artillery and the Regiments of the Cravatians could not pass over till this Day and the Army was forced still to Halt But our Parties and our Cossacks having brought News the Night before that the Turks were likewise passing the Danube at Pest and Barean to put a stop to our March and cover Newhausel Lewents and the Country that lay at the foot of the Mountains the King resolved upon Marching directly to the Bridge of Strigonium to burn it before the Enemy could all get over to us and to carry the Fort which lay at the head of the Bridge by the Vanguard with Sword in Hand In the mean time he took a view of the Rounds of his Camp of Komorne to descry the Avenues and the Disposition of the Ground He sent a French Engineer named M. du Pont with a great Party of Horse towards Lewents with Orders to advance as nigh as he could to the Enemies Army His Cossacks were likewise ordered forth towards the Danube one of whom brought a Turk who was advanced but only twenty paces from the Main-Guard of the Enemies Camp The Engineer returned without having discover'd any thing because his Guides had led him all the Night without coming nigh either of the Bridges on the contrary they brought him towards Newhausel by the Walls of which he marched But another Officer committed a greater Error for being commanded to go as far Barcan he stopp'd in a Village half-way where he spent the greatest part of the Night a Detachment of the Turks surprized him cut off his Head with thirty Horse that attended him whose Trunks we saw the next Day as we passed through that Village So that the King could never get any certain Intelligence what number of Turks had crossed on this side of the River nor where their particular Post was We could plainly see the Fires which they made in the Villages upon the Road thereby to cut off from us both Wood and Forrage the former of which was very scarce in those Plains We were informed by the Prisoners that marched on the side of us that the Tartars were advanced by the way of Pest and were to join the Rebels of Hungary led by Count Teckly along the Mountains but we knew nothing of what past at Barcan This Post was very still undiscovered and the King was ill advised to think of carrying the Place by his Dragoons and Infantry without communicating any thing of his Design to the Germans that he might let them see that the Poles knew how to carry considerable Forts by surprize Full of this design he urged the Duke of Lorrain to decamp from Komorne and advance towards the Bridges of the of the Turks under a pretence of burning them without letting him know any of his Real intentions But the Imperial Army could not yet break up since their Cannon and part of the Cavalry was still stopp'd in the Isle by the breaking of part of the Bridge which was repairing all the fifth Day On October 6. about Nine in the Morning they decamped without waiting for the coming up of the rest and in that very instant the King received advice that Teckley being informed of his March was retreated towards Transylvania having gained the Mountains This redoubled his Desire of advancing towards the Enemy which they did this very Day within two short Leagues off the Fort of Barcan having marched three large Leagues During these Transactions the Queen of Poland to whom the King had sent me with a very large Account of the Particulars of Vienna dispatch'd me back again with her Answers and order'd me particularly to insinuate to the King by means of the Senators that follow'd the Camp that it was high time to return back to his Dominions This the Poles passionately long'd for because the Infantry began to be out of Heart for want of Provisions particularly Bread for which the Germans cannot be excus'd having the conveniency of the Danube by which they might have convey'd great plenty into the Camp had they us'd due Precautions Besides this the Poles thought they were at the fag-end of the World and long'd for their Beer their Colworts and their Cacha without which they fancy'd they could not live But the King would listen to none of these Considerations and with a steddy Resolution pursu'd that Glorious Carreer which he had form'd in his Mind from the Banks of the Danubâ—â— the Vistula across all Vpper Hungary I met with the German Army in the Isle of Komorne and because I could not tell for certain where the Polish Army was which always march'd two or three Leagues in the Van I resolv'd at Presbourg to follow a Courrier from the Emperor that was going thence to the Duke of Lorrain from whom I expected to receive a Convoy After 4 Hours march we found the Arrier-Guard compos'd of the Cravatian Regiments We went afterwards by the course of the Country towards the Place where they told us the Main Body of the Army lay but we turn'd too much towards the the Left and fell in with the Camp of the Infantry commanded by Staremberg which coasted along the Left Arm of the Danube and encamp'd this Day upon the Shore about Goutta a small City over against Newhausel By this means we could not get before Midnight to the Duke of Lorrain's Camp posted about the Middle of the Isle four large Leagues off Komorne being two Days March to that City On the Morrow being Sunday Octob. 3. I waited upon the Duke of Lorrain at his Levée who inform'd me That the King was this very Day to pass the Danube over the Bridge of Komorne his Army being march'd over the Day before That Prince order'd me to be conducted thither by one of his Adjutants upon Horses belonging to his own Equipage I arriv'd at the Bridge that very Instant the King pass'd it and his Majesty who had order'd me to rejoyn him by coming that Road in which he was pursuing the Enemy was surpris'd and at the same time glad to see me arrive so safe to his Camp During the Halt he made there he receiv'd an Express from the Prince of Transylvania with Letters writ in Cyphers dated at Buda which contain'd little else but the Re-establishment of the Grand Visier in his former Dignity and the
Particulars of the whole Intrigue at Court Much about the same time there arriv'd two Envoys from Count Teckley their Master being minded to adjust his own Particular Interests with the King of Poland when he perceiv'd the contrary Party so apparently to decline The Imperial Ministers who were near his Polish Majesty's Person were at first for treating those Envoys as Rebels and talk'd of nothing but hanging drawing and quartering them without any respect had to the presence of their Deliverer who had put them into a posture of speaking so big But the King nettled at such a groundless and unseasonable a piece of Arrogance gave 'em to understand That he was the Master and solemn Protector of all those who had any Negotiations with Him Those Envoys quarter'd in the Camp within the King's Lodgments all the time that the Army tarry'd there were treated by the Officers and sent back with all the Assurances imaginable which piece of Civility Count Teckley afterward repay'd Him with Interest Octob. 6. the Army as was said before advanc'd three Leagues beyond Komorne and encamp'd in the open Plains bounded on the Left by a ridge of Hills and on the Right by the Danube The Duke of Lorrain made a Proposal to the King of staying there October 7 to wait for the Infantry who were not yet come up and the King yielded to it So that the Duke of Lorrain retiring about Midnight to his Quarters and the Chevalier Prince Lubomirsky waiting upon him for Orders he acquainted him with the Resolution taken of staying there and accordingly order'd all Parts to go out a Forraging But a Moment after the King changing his Mind or fortified afresh by some unknown Circumstance in his Design of going to attack the Fort of Barcan he gave Orders to his Generals to dislodge the Army by Break of Day and to send before his Vanguard reinforc'd with Horse and Dragoons which were to march directly to that Post The Chevalier Lubomirsky retain'd by some secret Impulse would not send out to Forrage without sending again to the Duke of Lorrain's Quarters and his Conjecture prov'd true the Duke ordering him to march with all speed after the King of Poland who was already advanc'd a great way Such a desperate Resolution stunn'd the German Generals and was excused by none However they decamp'd without weighing things but not without murmuring and inwardly rejoycing at the Misfortune which afterwards attended our presumptuous Precipitation The Turks had two Days before pass'd over the Bridge of Strigonium and beside those who were lodg'd in the Fort there were great Platoons posted in the Gardens and Orchards round about Barcan Of this the King of Poland was not aware but was well pleas'd to rob the Germans of the Glory of this Expedition and of carrying the Place within their View and without their Assistance But God was pleas'd to mortifie this Hero by a contrary Success and to let him know that the Disposal of the whole was in his Hands having sav'd his Sacred Person by a Miracle no less Remarkable than that of the Deliverance of Vienna the Glory whereof if unblemish'd might perhaps have made the Poles too vain-glorious The Van-Guard was scarce arriv'd upon the Plains above the Bottom stretch'd out to the River and the Fort where they were to encamp on this Day but the Turks began to draw out of the Gardens in order to skirmish with our Dragoons At first their Number was inconsiderable but large Squadrons issu'd out insensibly Some out of the Fort others over the Bridge marching from Strigonium and at last the Body of Troops thus increas'd came thundring upon the Polish Van-Guard who had not so much as time to put themselves into a Posture of Fighting Horror and Confusion seis'd their Spirits no Officer to be seen no Word of Command given and those who did give any were so little Masters of themselves that they order'd the Dragoons some to dismount some to remount without any reason for either of these Counter-Orders For they were open Plains where the Infantry was expos'd to the Natural Fury and Impetuosity of the Turks They therefore drew themselves up in a confus'd Line of Battle the Troops of Pancernes Cosacks and other Cavalry descended below the Curtain whose Brow the Dragoons were in possession of in the same Line the Stragenic who commanded the Body in Person caus'd a discarge to be made upon the Enemy who bore upon them with an extraordinary violence The Turks at first gave ground but soon return'd upon that Body of Horse with the same Vigour without fearing the Fire of which they bore a second Discharge after which the Cosacks were broke the rest endeavour'd to regain the top of the Curtain and terror joyn'd with the Impetuosity of the Turks routed the whole Line without resistance The Dragoons of the Grand General remounted in order to fly for it those belonging to the King who were on the Right had not time to do it and were all cut in pieces However the King march'd on with the Hussars and the other Troops of Horse who were but little prepar'd for a Battle which they had no leisure now to wait for He saw at a distance the Disorder of his defeated Vant-Guard which at first he would have dissembled but at last perceiving that they were vigorously beaten off he put himself in a posture of defending them He drew up his Cavalry in a Line which upon the first Onset receiv'd the Turks with a great deal of Bravery the Hussars likewise charg'd them twice and the rest of the Troops bore some time the terrible Shock of the Enemy who were animated by their first Success But their Squadrons stretching out to the Right and Left with a design of surrounding our whole Line our Left Wing being disorder'd began to give ground and the Right being routed at the third Onset which the Turks made upon them with their Sabres in their Hands for that was all the Weapon they made use of in this Transaction fac'd about at the same time to avoid the Fury of the Enemy The Grand General seeing the Disorder pray'd his Majesty to retreat whilst he would endeavour to bear the Charge of the Turks with some rally'd Troops to cover his Sacred Person But that Prince being seldom us'd to such a Retreat receiv'd the Proposal very ill and still fought on till the Croud of those who fled carry'd him off in spight of his Teeth Never such a Confusion was seen The Hussars threw away their Lances the Cornets their Standards which one might see heap'd up pel-mell with the Kettle-drums in the Furrows The Officers could not be so much as hearken'd to those Brave Soldiers left the King to the mercy of the Turks who eagerly pursu'd him Some of the Soldiers were for Butchering the Leaders that would have forc'd them to rally and others reply'd to those who upbraided them for their Cowardise That their Lives were as precious to
these Transactions the Turks press'd forwards to regain the Fort and their Number hindering their Retreat they cast themselves into the Danube which a moment after became all black and its Stream cover'd all over with Men Arms Horses and Turbants whose heaps and mixture made an admirable Picture being both a dreadful and a pleasant Sight Those who would not venture so dangerous a Passage were cut in pieces on the Bank of the River and there were heaps of 'em all along of a Fathom high which form'd a kind of a Parapet or Breast-work As an Addition to their Misfortune the Bridge was broke by the Multitude of those who fled over it after 7 or 8 hundred had pass'd it with the Visier of Buda The rest endeavouring still to gain the Boats which lay there fell by hundreds at a time one upon another and were all stifl'd by the Weight of those that lay uppermost But whereas they could not disengage themselves nor advance one way or other they were expos'd to the Fire of our Artillery and Troops yet 't is certain there were fewer kill'd that way than by being suffocated Whilst the Turks were thus drown'd the Polish Infantry advanc'd towards the Fort of Barcan the Regiments of the Queen and Prince of Poland arriv'd thither the first and began the Assault The Count of Morstein being Colonel of the One and Sessevin Colonel of the Other led them directly to the two Gates and forc'd them The Enemy laid their Arms on the Ground in order to surrender themselves and hung out a white Flag But the Poles either did not or would not see it and fell upon them without giving them Quarter who seeing themselves hopeless betook themselves to their Arms again resolving to sell their Lives at as dear a rate as possible Thereupon they made so terrible a Discharge that our Infantry began to give Ground and were for regaining the Gates A French Gentleman Mouilly by Name who was Page to the Marquiss of Arquyen and Ensign to the Regiment of the Prince of Poland plac'd himself at the Gate on the Left by which that Battalion had enter'd and with his Sword drove back those who fled thither and by this Undauntedness much above one of his Years he oblig'd them to return upon the Enemy of which not a Man was sav'd This was the Finishing-stroke of that Defeat the most Entire and Compleat that had been known for a long time before Count Teckley arriv'd soon enough upon the adjacent Hills to be an Eye-witness of this Bloody Scene He did indeed appear upon the Brow of the Mountains at the close of the Action when the Danube was cover'd with those unhappy Creatures and when the rest of this Army were cut in pieces in the Fort only 7 or 800 having sav'd themselves by passing the Bridge with the Visier of Buda before it was broke down The Christians at this time could not expect any rich Booty since the Turks had brought thither neither Artillery nor Equipages but to make amends for it they did not lose many Men nor any Officer of Note whereas the Enemy left behind them two Bassas taken Prisoners and three others drown'd in the River with the Standards of the Visiers and other Honourable Tokens of the Victory After the Taking of the Fort they rested a while on the Banks of the Danube to take a view of that dreadful Spectacle Some drew up what the Current threw ashore such as Horses Arms Men and other Spoils whilst the rest play'd with the Artillery that of Strigonium not wounding a Man of our Side One single shot and perhaps the last either from beyond the River or from the Fort of Barcan unfortunately struck between the two Eyes of a French Gentleman belonging to the Prince of Poland nam'd Duheaume and forc'd one of 'em out of his Head The King endeavour'd to chear him up by all the Marks of Esteem and Affection by the Care he order'd to be taken of him and by the Present he sent him the next Day of 100 Ducats in Gold This Gentleman very well deserv'd those distinguishing Favours not only for his constant Attendance upon the Prince's Person but likewise for the Present he made the King in the Fields of Vienna of a Tuft of Heron's Feathers garnish'd with a Rose of Diamonds and Rubies which he found in the Grand Visier's Tent and was the same which that Ottoman General us'd to put on the Head of his War-Horse The Army return'd upon the Plains above Barcan and encamp'd there by possessing all the Curtains of the Bank of the Danube The King with the Duke of Lorrain resov'd to pass the River in that Place and to put an end to the Campaign by the Taking of Strigonium which would enhance the Reputation of the Christian Army by thus Marching over the Conquests of Solyman the Great The Emperor's Generals were with much ado brought over to consent to it and the Season being already very much advanc'd made the Poles murmur who began to Breath after their Country but the King threatening to leave them and trust his Person with the German Troops each Soldier return'd to his Duty and murmured no more unless in Secret As for the Germans he gave them to understand That Strigonium could not hold outlong and that the Visier could not come to its Relief after the last Defeat Besides he was advertis'd of his Retreat towards Belgrade leaving Buda as soon as Kara Mehemet Pacha wounded in the Battle was return'd thither The Latter stay'd four Days after the Battle in Strigonium and then went to Buda along the Danube without any Obstruction having left two Bassas in the Place with a strong Garrison to maintain the Siege in case the Victorious Army should attempt it It was therefore resolv'd upon and all Hands at Work for building a Bridge in a place where the River made an Island about half a League above the City Beside the Safety of this Post by the Space which facilitated the Retreat from one Bridge to the other they rais'd a Fort at the Head of the Latter on the Enemy's Side of the River And moreover they had not far from Javarin or Raab where they might cover themselves in case the Turks should make any desperate Sally upon them Whilst this was doing and all things necessary for carrying on a Siege were bringing from Komorne General Dunneval march'd to seise upon Lewents a very considerable City which facilitated the Communication of the Turks between Newhausel and Buda The Bassa of Newhausel knew nothing of the Matter whereupon several of his Parties were surpriz'd and fell into the Snare without dreaming of it The King order'd Barcan to be put into the Hands of the Germans who burnt the Houses that were hard-by At last the Bridges being finish'd by the 19th of October the Duke of Lorrain order'd part of his Army to pass over that Day and the two next On the 22d the Polish Infantry commanded
indefatigable Man made as good a Campaign as could have been imagin'd whilst the Germans perish'd with Misery under the Walls of Buda When he went out of the City the Second Bassa commanded in his Absence and never fail'd of coming to compliment him upon his Return with an extraordinary submission It was then that he open'd all the Avenues and brought plenty of all things into Newhausel which before was under a kind of Blockade and so quite chang'd the Face of Affairs in that City from what it was in his Predecessor's Time In the midst of these Transactions his Polish Majesty inform'd by Count Teckley of the Arrival of this Bassa and of the Friendship there was betwixt him and the Visier of Silistria then prisoner at Leopold he oblig'd the Visier to write to his Friend of Newhausel concerning my Exchange with the 30 Turks of Zetzen This Letter and Instructions were sent to Prince Lubomirski who serv'd with his Polish Regiment in the Imperial Army at the Siege of Buda He had a Commission of offering two Men more for my particular Ransom because those that were detain'd at Transchyn were only stopp'd by way of Reprisal for my former Patron 's Breach of Faith The Prince sent an Express to Komorne with all these Dispatches and a Letter which he wrote to me From Komorne to Newhausel a Correspondence was settl'd as if it were in time of Peace the Peasants on both sides went and came by an Establish'd Custom The same thing was allow'd to the Slaves of both Nations who left a Comrade as Hostage in the City where they were attended by some honest Man still wearing Shackles on one Leg. Without this it would have been impossible to have concluded upon any Exchange or to have negotiated for any Ransom The Hungarian Governour of Komorne nam'd Zamori George according to the Custom of that Country of putting the Christian after the Sirname this Governour I say sent by Prince Lubomirski's Order a Peasant to Newhausel with the New Proposals of the King of Poland The Bassa who never heard of my Name inform'd himself by the old Officers who the Frenchman was that the King of Poland demanded and who was his Master He afterwards sent a Chaous to the Quarters of the Bey the Eldest Son of his Predecessor which Chaous came to call me in the Kitchin and commanded me to follow him without asking any Leave of my Master or so much as letting me go to speak to him In the way he inform'd me of the Proposals that were arriv'd and the Bassa's Intention of accepting them The Bassa examin'd me very mildly about my Quality about the Refusal which his Predecessor made of Releasing me and what the Pretences and Excuses were that he had alledg'd for so doing What I answer'd him was confirm'd to him by Mustapha-Aga who had taken me The time of my Enlargement being now come the Bassa consented to the Exchange and demanded for the two Men that were offer'd him two Spahas of his Acquaintance prisoners in Poland call'd Alé Spaha and Mehemet Spaha Upon this the Messenger was sent back with the Answers and from that time the Bassa kept me at his own House sending one of his Men to fetch my Rug and my Knap sack from the old Patron 's Cook without any other Formality I never far'd better than I did this Day All the Turks of the Houshold being newly come from Constantinople where they had been us'd to Civility gave me Bread Meat and some small pieces of Money At Night they brought me into an old ruinous Building possess'd by a great many Soldiers Spahas or Janizaries of the Ottoman Race very sociable Persons who receiv'd me civilly especially those with whom I was acquainted in the former Bassa's House who waited for an Opportunity of being convey'd back to the Levant On the Morrow an Aga took and carry'd me before the Cadis or Judge of the Town before whom they had summon'd the Boy my Master to consent to my being made free by vertue of a considerable Exchange offer'd to the Bassa That Bey sent thither his two Brothers who disputed a long time about the Reparation that ought in justice to be made for a Slave for whom they said they might have 5000 Crowns at Constantinople The Cadis took my Name and continued writing in his Register but they would by no means consent to the Manumission and so went away without signing it Notwithstanding this the Bassa continu'd his Resolution and detaining me at his House lie the next Day sent these three Beys away with all their Family to Constantinople He committed me to the care of his Valets de Chambre who were six young Levantines well shap'd and lodging all together who were allow'd four dishes at a Meal out of their Master's Kitchin and they always left me enough with Bread that I had every Morning hot out of the Oven for a comfortable Subsistence The Turks do not bake as we do they make thick Cakes rather than Loaves and bake every Day according to the number of the People among which they are to be distributed But that which restor'd me perfectly to my former Health were the Melons and Ice I have already observ'd That the Melons of Hungary are extraordinary good There are whole Fields full of 'em round about Newhausel from whence they bring ten Cartloads a Day into the City besides which the Bassa orders a small Cart of 'em to be brought every Day after Dinner for the use of his Family out of his own Private-Garden which he cultivated very carefully and caus'd to be watch'd every Night by one of his Men in their Turn Out of this Cart thirty are pick'd out for his own Table the rest fell to the share of the Footmen and Slaves So that I did eat 10 or 12 a Day like so many Apples I drank Water and Water-Ic'd for the Turks have no other way of refreshment than to put large pieces of Ice into a Pitcher full of Water whose Mouth is stopp'd with another Isicle that drops into the Water by little and little and of this they drink I began to feel my self in a comfortable condition which increas'd upon the hopes of seeing a speedy end put to my Misery The Bassa order'd a Cloth Coat two Shirts and a Cap to be given me and charg'd his Valets de Chambre not to put me upon waiting so that they would not let me so much as carry the Dishes to the Kitchin for fear the Patron should chance to meet me He being a Man of Courage and desirous of being better instructed took an occasion by my stay of informing himself of all things that I was able to give him an account of both with respect to the Countries and to the Courts of Princes I then took Notice That the Grand Visier's Design was after the taking of Vienna to fall into Bohemia All the Questions of this Bassa were about the City of Prague what
Passes Cities and Rivers lay between He enquir'd likewise very much about the King of Poland and his Family In a word all that could be of any Service to him he made the subject of our Conferences which were held almost every Night after Supper in the presence of two or three of the Principal Officers of the Cavalry and the Curate of the Mosque whom he very highly esteem'd inviting him every Night to Supper The more I advanc'd in the Knowledge of the Turkish Language the more he lik'd my Company and the greater was his care of me He ask'd Whether I had Bread enough allow'd me by his Steward and upon my Reply order'd me two Loaves a Day But the Valet de Chambre whose Business it was to distribute the Bread to the rest kept back the Moiety for his own use and his Knavery being found out by the Bassa he commanded an hundred Blows to be given him upon the Soles of his Feet The Turks have several sorts of Coyn beginning with the Ducats or Turkish Sequins call'd Altom The Crowns of every Country are of the common Value In the Levant they are call'd Piastres in Hungary Rixdollars and of these they make up the Purses which contain 500 each This is their peculiar way of reckoning considerable Sums as they do by Aspres in the ordinary course of Trade Besides the Crowns they have Lion-dollars of a less value call'd simply Cara-groch made almost like the Dutch Crowns with a great Lion on one side There are a great many of these Pieces in the Frontiers of Russia because all the Commerce of Valachia and Constantinople through those Provinces that ly between the Niester and the Danube is carry'd on by Lion-dollars At Newhausel they have small Silver Pieces of the Emperor's Coyn worth 5 German Groats or 10 French Sous stamp'd with the Arms of the King of Hungary on one side and on the reverse with a Nostre-dame encircl'd with Rays The Tinfes of Poland of the same Value are likewise currant here And the smallest Coyn us'd in Domestick Affairs were the Para and the Atché The first of these are very thin and of very fine Silver about the bigness of a French Denier having several Arabic Characters on them 48 or 50 of them go for a Crown and 40 for a Lion-dollar The Atché is the smallest Coyn the Turks have which yet is worth about 4 French Deuiers and with these Pieces they pay off the Troops and go to Market it sounding big to hear them prize such or such a Commodity at 4 or 500 Atchés or Aspres In the mean time Prince Lubomirski having receiv'd our Answers dispatch'd them away to the King of Poland who sent him back an Order to take out of the Prisons of Transchyn the 28 Turks which had been sent thither by way of Reprisal This spun out a long time by reason of the great Distance there was betwixt Buda and the Niester where the King of Poland then was it was further protracted by the Knavery of a Secretary belonging to the Prince Lubomirski who instead of going to fetch the Slaves stay'd at Niklitsbourg where he consum'd the Money that had been given him and a thousand Crowns that he had borrow'd in his Master's Name So that after two Months waiting for News from him they were forc'd to send another Messenger who brought the Turks at last about the beginning of November to Komorne At their Arrival two of the Chief of them came to Newhausel to cast themselves at the Bassa's Feet and to beg for my Liberty and their own This Man affected with their Misfortune and desiring to render a considerable Service to the Grand Signior in delivering such Brave Soldiers was at first for frightning them by telling them That they must make him amends for the Ransom he was like to lose for me These unfortunate Creatures represented to him That they could give him but little satisfaction at present being so long prisoners but assur'd him that they would make him an ample Return as soon as they should get into their own Country The Bassa smil'd and commanding their Fetters immediately to be knock'd off which they had always wore to this time told them very freely that he did not pretend to exact an Aspre of them thinking himself sufficiently happy in being able to do that piece of Service to his Countrymen and the Sultan I was afterwards call'd into his Chamber He told me That indeed the Turks retain'd at Transchyn were arriv'd but that there were still wanting two more that were propos'd for my personal Exchange I reply'd That they could not as yet be brought from Poland or that they might be deliver'd without sending them so far into Hungary by the Bassa of Caminiec Upon this Overture the Bassa of Newhausel reflecting upon the Distance of the Country and willing besides to demonstrate his Generosity and Confidence told me that he would trust to my Word without waiting for any farther News and would remit me upon the Promise which I made him of immediately delivering the two Spahi of his acquaintance specify'd in our Letters I gave him a Note under my Hand for it writ in Latin to which for want of a Seal I clapp'd my Five Fingers And here 't is to be noted That all the Turks wear a Ring engrav'd with Arabic Characters which they make their Seal making the Impression of it in a Letter or a Deed by the side of the Superscription to attest the Truth and Validity of the Contents Besides this Note the Bassa made me swear to the same thing upon my Prayer-Book and these Assurances I ratify'd to him by an honourable Promise of Returning back to Newhausel in case these two Men were not set at Liberty In pursuance to this the Bassa order'd my Fetters to be knock'd off for you must take Notice That the Bey the Kiayia of his deceas'd Father who had taken them off at first by his own Authority put them upon me again two Months after the Bassa's Death in order to oblige me to be more urgent for my Ransom There was nothing now more to do than to appoint a day with the Governour of Komorne and the Officer who had brought the Turks from Transchyn to make our Exchange in the open Field They sent on each side Pasports and they agree'd to have 30 Men of a Side and the Place they fix'd on was to be not far from the Danube near the Village of SanPetré But the Execution of it was put off to the 14th of November through two Scruples of Interest that were as Unintelligible as Unreasonable The Officer of Prince Lubomirski to whom several Polish Slaves had writ during the Goings and the Comings of the Express from Komorne to Newhausel thought of delivering two or three others with my eight and twenty Turks pretending that this Number was too extravagant for a single Man It was to no purpose for me to write that his Polish Majesty
detain'd 'em only upon my account That zealous Patriot was harden'd to this Project and I believe he would have stopp'd the Exchange had he not receiv'd fresh Orders from Vienna whither Prince Lubomirski was return'd being wounded in the Camp before Buda The King of Poland being tir'd with the Delay redoubled his Instances and that Lord did the same to his Envoy with Orders at the same time to give two of his own Prisoners which he had at Komorne in case that the Bassa of Newhausel made any Scruple upon the two Spahis that had not yet been sent The other Pretension was started by the Keeper of the Prisons of Komorne nam'd Lasko That covetous Officer was for exacting of those miserable Turks the Fees of the Prison settled on both sides at a Ducat a Head as if for fourteen or fifteen Day 's stay in his Prison by chance for want of a more secure Place they ought to have pay'd a Fee which the Governor of Transchyn never demanded of them The Bassa of Newhausel perceiv'd the Pretension of Lasko to be very unjust and appear'd very much concern'd to me and the more because for one Ducat that he might demand of me he must give 28 for these unhappy Creatures who had nothing in the World However he very generously compleated his Design and pay'd the whole Fees so boundless were his honourable Intentions This Noble Bassa whom I shall never forget loaded me with Favours upon my Departure gave me a Coat and Money to buy me what I wanted besides at Komorne He intrusted me with more to send him several Toys and Tobacco from thence embrac'd me very joyfully and affectionately and order'd me to be conducted to the Place of Rendezvous by a Colonel of Hungarian Cavalry with thirty of the Best Horse belonging to his Garrison or Houshold my self being mounted on one of his Arabian Horses of which he had thirty very Rich Ones The Exchange was made with all the Fairness and Honor imaginable We arriv'd the first at the Rendezvous Prince Lubomirski's Officer put his Turks into a large Boat with thirty Foot Solders as a Guard allow'd him by Zamori George Governor of Komorne and pass'd the Danube over against San-Petré When he saw this Body of Turkish Cavalry having as many Led-horses as there were Men he fear'd some Foul-play he therefore put his Prisoners into the Thickets and plac'd his Foot in a Covert way before his Boat to secure a Retreat in case of any accident But Maiar-Alay-Bey who commanded that Troop of Horse order'd them to alight and advanced himself to dissipate the Fears of the Pole Lasko advanced likewise towards Alay-Bey whom he knew particularly They sat down on the Grass and entred into a Friendly Conference which lasted a quarter of an Hour At last Alay-Bey seeing his Countrymen in Chains coming out of the Bushes for whom he had provided several Waggons he took me by the Hand and gave me to Lasko and the Polish Officer assuring them over and over That I was the King of Poland's French Gentleman Each Party took their Leaves and went on his own Way The Footmen march'd in good Order towards the Boat Alay-Bey caus'd the Priest or Otgé of Zetzen who was one of the Turks that had been detain'd and particularly recommended to him by the Bassa of Newhausel to get upon the Horse that brought me thither He doubtless was very glad to see his Brethren arrive as I was to see once more Komorne and the Christian Country where I took up my Lodging for that Night On the Morrow I punctually discharg'd the Commissions of the Bassa and laid out all the Money he gave me in small Toys which I presented to my Good Friends of Newhausel of whom I receiv'd a thousand Tokens of Friendship at the latter end of my Slavery and whom I would certainly have seen again had not the Imperialists besieg'd that Place the next Year They broke up the Siege of Buda at the same time The very day of my Departure part of the Army pass'd the Bridge of Barcan in order to encamp on the Plains between that Fort and Newhausel The Elector of Bavaria arriv'd at Komorne just as I got on Shore and was receiv'd under the Discharge of all the Artillery of the Citadel which I took at first for a Rejoycing for the Taking of Buda On the Morrow I waited upon that Prince and the Duke of Lorrain to recommend to them the German Slaves which I had left behind me in Chains Besides the Bassa had given me in charge to propose in his Name a general Discharge of the Prisoners of both Nations Head for Head wisely foreseeing that he should want Men and chusing rather to spend his Provisions on Turks who were of use to him than on Slaves that were only a Burden I cannot sufficiently commend the Vigilance and Bravery of this Officer nor his Conduct and Skill in matters of War He was better vers'd in Fortifications than the most Skilful of his own Nation Newhausel had several Defects in the Fortification which lay on the side of the Komorne Gate by which it was attack'd That Governor discover'd them and order'd them to be repair'd in opening the Angles enlarging the Breast-works and strengthening with Fascines the back Part of the Open Curtains He made all his Cavalry march out one Day to cut down a large Thicket which lay about a League off the City over against Goutta Another time he carry'd off all the Wood of the Neighbouring Villages depriving the Enemy by that means in case of a Siege of that Supply with which he furnish'd his Garrison I was very sorry to hear of the Loss of that Brave Man tho' I was the cause of his being besieg'd For upon the Report I made to the King of Poland of the state of that Place in the presence of the Pope's Nuncio Palavicini and his acquainting his Holiness with it It was resolv'd upon at Vienna through his Sollicitations to bestow the next Campaign on that Undertaking For which purpose General Heyseler was detach'd with a Body of Troops this Winter to block up the Place and to prevent them from receiving any Supplies from Abroad But this Blockade did not hinder the Bassa of Newhausel from making Sallies upon the German Quarters The Germans had during Summer taken a Town nam'd Schoran a League off that City from whence the Turks had been forc'd to withdraw They afterwards made some Provisions at Nitra in Preparation for the intended Siege The Bassa after my Departure retook Schoran and went to burn upon the River of Nitra at the very Gates of that City the Boats which the Germans had caus'd to fall down with Provisions These were the Transactions of Hungary this Campaign The King of Poland on his side did all he could to oppose the Incursion of the Turks and Tartars commanded by the Serasquier Suleyman Pacha who was advanc'd as far as the Niester and by this march
A Letter from the Emperor to the King of Poland wrote by his own Hand Dated at Passaw Aug. 24. 1683. To the most Serene Lord the King of Poland my most dearly beloved Brother and Neighbour I Have seen by Your Majesty's Letter wrote with Your own Hand dated the 15th Instant how that You have already sent a good part of Your Army before and given order that they shall join very speedily with the Troops of Lithuania and the Cossacks and that You had begun Your march on that great Day of the Feast of our Lady with Your whole Army to come and succour with all Your might my City of Vienna which is ready to surrender being closely besieged by the most powerful Army of the Turks So puissant and opportune a Succour makes me sufficiently to see the brotherly Love You have for me to preserve my Dominions as well as the Zeal You have for the Good of Christendom So I return You most hearty Thanks and shall endeavour upon all Occasions to acknowledge Your brotherly Love I have been also willing to confess the same by this my devout Acknowledgment which will be presented by the Count de Schafsgoutz who will acquaint You that I am to set out to Morrow for Lintz in order to be nearer the City and have News of it the sooner and to have an Opportunity to consult more easily with You to whom I wish a perfect Health and all Prosperity Your Majesty's most Affectionate Brother and Neighbour Leopoldus A Letter from the King of Poland to the Pope Dated at Ratibor Aug. 24. 1683. This Letter properly speaking is only the rough Draught drawn by the King himself and wrote with his own Hand from which I copied it For he afterwards gave this rough Draught to an Italian Secretary who translated it into his own Language with the Ceremonies and Titles agreed on LAst Year I ordered the Imperial Minister at my Court to acquaint his Master That Vienna would be besieged the beginning of this because I had Advice of it from good Hands So soon as the Confederacy and the Diet were over I caused my Secretary to write to Cardinal Barbarini that in case Vienna should be besieged I would go in Person to succour it I received the News of its being besieged on the Twenty Third of July between Warsaw and Cracow In a Months time I have raised an Army without Money for the Provinces have scarce begun to pay their Contributions I gathered together the Troops that were in Podolia towards Caminiec and those which cover the Frontiers of Ukrania I caused them to make long marched insomuch that in a little time they have marches above an hundred German Leagues without having had Rest or Intermission And seeing I have Advice every Moment that the City which has been besieged only forty Days and defended by a whole Army is notwithstanding reduced to a great extremity I send part of my Army before with the Lieutenant General who will join the Duke of Lorrain the Day after to Morrow But seeing every Body wants my presence and that my Hussars Cannon and Infantry can march but four German Leagues a Day I take this Day some Troops of light Horse with me and by the Blessing of God shall be upon the Banks of the Danube by the last Day of this Instant to see and determine with the Duke of Lorrain and the other Generals how and by which way we shall succour Vienna and we shall forthwith pass the River which we wish to render yet more glorious by the defeat of the Infidels Let your Holiness now judge if you ought to give Credit to those who would have made you believe that the Polanders would do nothing this Campagne and that the King would never go out of his own Kingdom The King and his Army shall be sooner at the Gates of Vienna that one could have expected to have heard of his departure out of his own Territories And then you may reflect whether or no one can do more for a Friend and Allie but in so far as it concerns the good of the Church and Christendom I and my Kingdom shall be always ready to shed the last drop of our Blood as a true Shield of Christianity AN ACCOUNT OF THE Raising of the SIEGE OF VIENNA Written by Order of the Queen of POLAND THIS Account is properly an Abstract of the Letter which the King of Poland wrote to the Queen by the ordinary Post five or six Days after the departure of the Courier which he had sent the Day after the raising of the Siege who only carried the News by Word of Mouth whereof the King afterwards made an ample Relation to the Queen This is an Abstract of the Circumstances and particularly of the very Words in which the King wrote them connected together The Reader may observe some Verbosity and extravagant Praises therein but it is the Genius of the Nation and of the Polish Language which is full of Periphrases and Circumlocutions which in that Country they reck on to be great and sublime so that they make a Harangue at saluting one or for a Compliment of nothing The Victory which the King of Poland hath obtained over the Infidels is so great and so compleat that past Ages can scarce parallel the same and perphaps future Ages will never see any thing like it All its Circumstances are as profitable to Christendom in general and to the Empire in particular as glorious to that Monarch On one hand we see Vienna besieged by three hundred thousand Turks reduced to the last extremity its Outworks taken the Enemy fixed to the Body of the Place Masters of one Point of the Bastions having frightful Mines under the Retrenchments of the besieged We see an Emperor chased from his Capital retired to a Corner of his Dominions all his Country at the mercy of the Tartars who have filled the Camp with an infinite Number of unfortunate Slaves that had been forcibly carried away out of Austria On the other hand we see the King of Poland who goes out of his Kingdom with part of his Army and hastens to succour his Allies who abandons what is dearest to him to march against the Enemies of the Christian Religion willing to act in Person on this Occasion as a true Buckler of Religion and will not spare his eldest Son the Prince of Poland whom he carries with him even in a tender Age to so dangerous an Expedition as this was That which preceded the battle is no less surprizing The Empire assembles on all sides the Elector's of Saxony and Bavaria come in Person to join their Troops with the Imperialists under the command of the Duke of Lorrain Thirty other Princes repair out of Emulation to one another to the Army which nevertheless before they will enter upon Action stay for the presence of the K of Poland whose presence alone is worth an Army They all march with this Confidence The
King passes the Danube first and leaves no Troops on the other side to cover Moravia from the Incursions that the Malecontents under Count Teckley might make into the same as the Duke of Lorrain had proposed because says the King he had wrote to that Hungarian Lord that if he burnt one Straw in the Territories of his Allies or in his own he would go and burn him and all his Family in his House so that this was enough to protect that Country during the distance of the Army He leads them afterwards through unfrequented Defiles to the tops of the Hills of Vienna and in sight of the Turks who drew out of their Camp to put themselves in order and even attack'd the Imperialists by break of Day on Sunday the 12th of September before the King of Poland had made an end of forming his Order of Battle and extending his Lines in which his Majesty had mixed his Hussars and other Polish Troops among those of the Empire In the mean time the Turks leave their Trenches well provided with Janisaries with a considerable Body at the Posts and at the Attacks to hinder the besieged from sallying out hoping to continue the Siege at the same time as the Army should make head against the Succours of the Christian Princes and truly they had wherewith all to back this proud Resolution having above 300000 Men according to the King's Account who found above 100000 small Tents in their Camp wherein apparently according to the manner of disposing their Men there were at least three Men in each and his Polish Majesty has reduced the common Report of 300000 Tents which would infinitely augment the number of Soldiers to that of 100000. The Battle was fought on the 12th it lasted 14 or 15 Hours the slaughter was horrible and the loss of the Turks inestimable for they left upon the Field of Battle besides the Dead and Prisoners all their Canon Equipage Tents and infinite Riches that they had been six Years gathering together throughout the whole Ottoman Empire There was found in their Camp above a Million of Powder Bullets Balls and other Ammunition without reckoning the Powder that the Servants burnt by inadvertency in several Places of the Park of the Artillery the flame whereof made an Emblem of the terrible day of Judgment with the Earthquakes that will accompany it and that thick Mass of Clouds that will obscure the Universe A Loss nevertheless which ought to be called a great Misfortune seeing 't is above a Million more as the King assures us in his Letter that he wrote himself to the Queen from which all these Particulars are extracted The Battle ended by the Infantry of the Trenches and of the Isle of the Danube where the Turks had a Battery The Night was spent in slaughter and the unhappy Remnant of this Army saved their Lives by flight having abandoned all to the Victors even an infinite Number of Waggons loaden with Ammunition and some Field-pieces that that designed to have carried with them and which were found next Day upon the Road they had taken which makes us suspect that they 'l not be able to rally again as neither having where withal to incamp themselves nor Cannon to shoot with So soon as the Grand Visier knew the Defeat of his first Lines he caused a red Tent to be pitched at the Head of his Main Body where he resolved to dye for the Ottoman Empire but his last Efforts were to no purpose and the Wing of the Imperialists which he attacked with all his might was so opportunely succoured by the presence of the King who brought part of the Troops of his left Wing thither that all fled before him So soon as he perceived the red Tent knowing by it that the Visier was there in Person he caused all his Artillery to fire upon that Pavillion encouraging the Activity of the Gunners by considerable Recompenses promising them fifty Crowns for each Cannon-shot and these leveled their small Pieces so well that they brought down the Tent of the Grand Visier and the Troop of Prince Alexander his second Son had the Advantage to break through that Body of Cavalry at the very Place where the Visier was who was dismounted and had much ado to save himself upon another Horse having left among the slain his Kiayia that is his Lieutenant General ad the second Person of the Army with abundance of considerable Officers all the Standards the Marks of his Dignity that are carried before him or that are set up before his Pavilions even the great Standard of Mahomet which the Sultan had put into his Hands when he set out upon this Expedition and which the King has sent to Rome by the Sieur Talenti one of his Secretaries to be a Testimony to the Pope of this great Victory The King understood afterwards by Deserters who come every hour in Troops to surrender themselves to him as well as the Renegadoes that the Visier seeing the defeat of the Army called his Sons to him imbraced them bitterly bewailed their Misfortune and turned towards the Han of the Tartars and said And thou wilt not thou succour me To whom the Tartar Prince replied That he knew the King of Poland by more than one Proof and that the Visier would be very happy if he could save himself by flight as having no other way for his Security and that he was going to show him Example The Grand Visier being thus abandoned took the same way and retired in Disorder with only one Horse that which he had in the Battle and was armed all over with Steel having fallen into the Hands of the King with all the Equipages of that Ottoman General who has left his Majesty Heir to all his Riches In effect his Letters were dated from the Tents of the Grand Visier the Park whereof was of as large Extent as the City of Warsaw or that of Leopold inclosing his Baths Fountains Canals a Garden a kind of Menagerie or Place for strange Beasts and Birds with Dogs Rabbets and Parrots There was found an Ostridge of an admirable Beauty which had been taken from one of the Emperor's Country-Houses and whose Head the Visier's Men cut off in their Retreat that it might not serve to adorn the King's Menagerie This Precaution would have been of greater use if they had taken it with Respect to the Standard of Mahomet and of that prodigious Quantity of Riches Bows Quivers Sabres set with Rubies and Diamonds precious Moveables and Equipages of great Value that were left with the Tents to the King of Poland which made that Monarch say very pleasantly in his Letter to his Queen You will not tell me at my return what the Tartarian Women tell their Husbands when they see them return from the Army without Booty Thou art not a Man seeing thou returnest empty handed for doubtless he was the first in the Battle who returns loaden with the Spoils of the Enemy
Grand Visier assembled his Army at Belgrade and the Duke of Lorrain assembled the Emperor's near Comora and Raab He was joined by the Polish Troops in the Emperor's Pay commanded by the Chevalier Prince Lubomirski who had treated with them for three Regiments The Duke advanced afterwards to the other side of the Danube where he formed the Siege of Newhausel an important Place the furthest advanced of any belonging to the Turks about 8 Hungarian Leagues from Presburg that is to say 12 Hours March at least situated in a vast Plain Part of which is Marshy and Part of it full of Ditches and hollow Ways but all of it open and cultivated It is bounded on one side by an Arm of the Danube to which another great River joins called Waag and on the other it has a pleasant Edge of little Hills and altogether form a charming Lantskip with considerable Towns frequent Villages and generally a fruitful Soil The Town is small formerly built of Brick with with large Streets pav'd in the Hungarian Manner that is to say with Borders raised like a Casway with 6 Foot of Earth It had stately Churches very Lofty Monastries and Considerable Pallaces amongst others that of the Bishop of Nitra Spiritual Lord of Neuhausel upon which are still to be seen the Arms of the Bishops that built or repaired it At present all those Houses are in Ruines where the Turks have formed ' emselves Habitations without restoring the Buildings to which they have added other Houses made of Earth and Wood according to the Custom of that Nation who never repair any thing that they acquire They have turned the Churches into Mosques the Palaces into Lodgings for their Bassas and others of the first Rank The Convents were given to the Soldiers of the Garison the rest is inhabited by Merchants and Tradesmen of their own Nation and Way for after Ahmet Kuproli the Son took it not so much as one Christian staid in the Town but all of them retired elsewhere The Town is regularly fortified with 6 Royal Bastions according to the Modern Way faced with Brick well terrassed with a great Parapet of Turf betwixt which and the Wall there is a very large Way The Top of the Platform is also very large Each Bastion hath a spacious Cavalier capable of containing 500 Men the Streets of the Place end at the Avenues and the whole Circumference is very Easy and Commodious for giving Mutual Assistance to one another It hath only two Gates they are well vaulted but have neither Ravelin nor Half-Moon this being only the Body of a Fortification which the Turks never suffered to be compleated Nay the Ditches are not all throwly dug and beyond 'em there is the Draught of a Counterscarp which shews the Ingineers design so that all the Out-works remain about the Height of a Man and the Place hath no other Defence but an Inundation which fills the Ground designed for Ditches and leaves a little Space at the Foot of the Walls in form of a Fausse Braye This City had a little Suburb going to the Gate that looks towards Comorra beyond the little River Nitra with a sorry wooden Bridge after the Polish Manner which is not Unuseful to cover this Front tho' it be the easiest Part of the Town to attack by drawing the Water from the Ditches and conveying it away by the River As for the rest the City is encompassed with marshy Medows through which there lie Cause-ways shaded with Trees and admirable Gardens from whence as also from the River Nitra the Turks had great Relief there being no Water in the Place It was furnished with Cannon Arms Powder and Provisions for 2000 Foot and 800 Horse the usual Garison and defended by two Pachas the one being Governour called Aly and the other his Deputy called Mustapha The former was about 60 Years of Age of a good Aspect with a venerable large grey Beard and of more than a middling Stature of a melancholy Air lean Face of a Carriage genteel enough but Ignorant to a Progidy a great Hater of the Christians and full of the foolish Vanity of the Turks who have a mighty Conceit of their own Nation and Power The other on the contrary was a young Man of a good Countenanco fair Complexion pleasant Look full Face of a cold but easie Access a Noble Mien and about 40 Years of Age. The Turks call this City Oiiy-War a Hungarian Word for Bishops-Castle After 't was taken by the Grand Visier Kuproli it was agreed that the Christians might build another City in lieu of it in the same Country whereupon they erected Leopoldstat within 6 Leagues of it fortified much in the same Manner The Duke of Lorrain had scarce begun his Approaches before Newhausel till he heard of the March of the Infidels But the Court of Vienna whom he informed of it being prepossessed with contrary News ordered him to continue the Siege since the Grand Visier was still at Belgrade He obeyed and very narrowly escaped being swallowed up by the Ottoman Army having had much difficulty to retire his own and to throw them speedily into the Isle of Comorra commonly so call'd from the famous Fortress at the oint of it but properly called the Grand Schit or Schut by which he sav'd the Empire That we may the better understand the Importance of this Step I must inform you that the Isle of Schit is one of the finest in any River of Europe begins near Presburg and lies along for the space of 10 Hungarian Leagues On the Point opposite to the Turkish Couutry as you go down the River there 's a little City formerly walled and still a good Town called Comorra covered with a Cittadel that is looked upon as Impregnable and a Master-Piece of the Art Military both in regard of its Scituation betwixt two large Arms of the Danube which wash its Flanks and join together at the Point of its Bastions and in regard of its Fortifications and Works It hath one called Couronné in Mathematical Terms whose Extent Regularity and Outworks are certainly comparable to the finest of that kind as is also the Esplanade which separates it from the City but the Body of the Place is nothing answerable 'T is an Irregular Pentagon because in order to possess all the Ground of the Point they were forced to contract the Fortification towards the end where there are little Bastions and narrow Curtains but that Part is well enough defended by the two Arms of the Danube and the height of the Ramparts But towards the City the Works have their full Extent the Ditches Half Moon space betwixt the Glacis and the Crowned Work answer very well to the rest but those who are versed in Fortifications think the Defences too near the Walls too high and the Flanks ill defended I observed one Irregularity here which is a great eye-sore viz. That the Gate opens in the Corner of the Curtain almost touching
carryed the Residents of the Emperor and of the King of Poland chained as Captives to be witnesses of the same the former was found in that Condition in the Camp after the Flight of the Turks who had forgot him there I determine nothing about the precise Number of this prodigious Multitude of Troops and pass over the divers Relations that have been made of this great Affair I tell in a Historical manner what I know from the Original recommending the Reader to judge of the thing upon two Circumstances one of which is that next Morning after the Battle there were remaining at ten of the Clock twenty five thousand small Tents after a whole Nights plunder which began about 7 in the Evening If the Turks put 4 Men in each Tent as we do 't is easie to draw a Conclusion from thence The other Circumstance relates to the Tartars who have no Tents besides these a great many were scattered in the Neighbouring Islands the Grand Visier had left ten thousand Men to guard his Bridges upon the Raab to hinder the Garison of that Place from burning them and besides all this the Sultan who was advanced to Belgrade to encourage the Expedition had sent him towards the end of the Siege a Reinforcement of twenty thousand Men in the Room of those that might be killed or dead but they did not arrive in time Whilst he batters the Place with a terrible fury Count Teckley advances through Hungary to Presburg with another Body of about twenty thousand Men Hungarians and Turks the latter commanded by three Bassas He had brought over almost all that Kingdom to his Party and the arrival of the Grand Visier augmented the Inclination which those who still adher'd to the Emperor had for a Revolt Thus the Town of Comorra was burnt by the Rebbels under the favour of this Irruption and that of Presburg opened its Gates to Count Teckley and received a Turkish Garison of about three hundred Men. The Grand Visier being informed of its Surrender sent some Troops thither with Orders to lay a Bridge over the Danube to the end that the Tartars or some Turkish Cavalry might pass over the same from his Camp before Vienna into that other part of Austria bordering upon Moravia in order to shut up the Passage of the Succours expected from Poland But the Duke of Lorrain being informed of the Surrender of Presburg and fearing what the Visier had projected as to a Bridge he advanced in great Diligence thitherwards with the rest of the Imperial Army which since its March out of the Islands of Leopoldstadt and Tabor moved up and down the Plains on the other side the Danube along the Roads where the Troops of the Allies were to come He carefully concealed his March and slipt during the Darkness of the Night into the Thickets and Vineyards above Presburg from whence he sent some Horse by break of Day with Orders to approach the Castle and to see whether 't was still in the hands of the Germans to the end he might put some Troops into the same and afterwards force the Town to return to the Obedience of the Emperor Presburg the Capital of the Kingdom of Hungary Residence of the Governour General call'd Palatin and the Place where the States assemble for the Election and Coronation of their Kings was formerly a considerable City and an Ancient Roman Colony founded by Piso from whence comes the Latin Denomination of Posonium which the Turks and Hungarians have corrupted to Poson It has only been the Capital of the Kingdom since the Turks took Buda which before that time was the Residence of the Kings of Hungary whose Palace is yet to be seen at least Part of that which King Matthias caused to be built there and called by his own Name Presburg is scituated upon the left-hand Branch of the Danube inclosed within a Chain of little Hills covered with Vineyards and the Channel of the River which is very broad there and washes its Walls Upon one of those rising Heights near the City is a Castle or more properly a Noblemans House which in reality is very large in Form of a Square but all intire It is covered by a Modern Fortification with some Works at a distance upon the brow of the Hill on that side which commands the City The Town is only girt with a single Wall flanked with great Towers of Stone and a covered Rampart sufficient to stop an Army for some Days The Gates are very broad but the Ditch is narrow and not very deep 'T is not very considerable within there are some Fountains in it several Churches pretty well built some Squares but small and huddled up there 's a great many People in the Town and extraordinary plenty of Provisions and above all of admirable Fruit. I have heard the King of Poland express his wonder at this Plenty as the Product of a fortunate Country and of a Climate cherished by the Heavens which ought not to surprize us for he spoke without doubt in Comparison of that from whence he came where Nature overwhelmed with Snow produceth nothing that is delicious though to speak the Truth there are few Countries in the World better than the Kingdom of Hungary Notice being given to the Duke of Lorrain by his Men that the Castle of Presburg held out still he advanced thither with his Troops and summoned the Town which delayed its Submission to the Emperor only to gain time for the Turkish Garison to march out at an opposite Gate and to give 'em leasure to regain Count Teckley's Camp which was pitched upon a rising Ground about a quarter of a League beyond it This step broke all the Measures of the Grand Visier for building his Bridge for which all the Materials were already got together in the Town The Duke of Lorrain did not content himself with having retaken the Town but went in quest of the Enemy on the other side who boldly offered him Battel and bore the Shock with Vigor But at last were broke by the Imperialists and pressed upon in their Retreat by the Polish Troops under the command of Prince Lubomirski who signalized themselves on this Occasion The Duke of Lorrain having afterwards given necessary Orders for the Security of Presburg he repassed the Morave foarding it as he had done before when he went thither and pitched his Camp at Levenstorf in the same Plains where he had not been long till he saw the Enemy again Anchar one of Count Teckley's â—â—eutenants returned with a great Detachment of Hungarian Troops and passed the Morave burning wherever he came and ravaging the finest Country in all Austria The Duke of Lorrain being informed of this by the Spies belonging to the Polish Troops could not refuse Prince Lubomirski who commanded them the Glory of Fighting those Rebels with the Regiments of their own Nation only and the said Prince having obtained leave for that purpose led on his Men with
beginning of the Year 1684. to sound that Prince in favour of the Holy League in order by that means to give the Crim Tartars a powerful Diversion Upon their return Father Vota stopt in Poland to wait there for a more favourable Conjuncture to his pious Design giving out that the Czar had not hearkened to his first Overtures The King received him very pleasantly all Novelties are pleasing to the Learned and above all at this Court where every thing runs in the Excess as the Heat and the Cold he carried him to the War lodged him defrayed him and at last made him his most intimate Secretary Much about the time of the arrival of all those Persons extraordinary each in his Sphere arrived also one from France no less illustrious distinguished besides his Personal Merit by his great Birth 'T was the Marquis de Bethune heretofore Ambassador Extraordinary of France in Poland who returned thither without any other Character than that of Brother-in-Law to the Queen and without any other Design than to follow the King into the Army being out of Employment in France where the Peace had just extinguished the new Differences between the two Nations after the taking of Luxemberg in the Year 1684. which the Marshal de Crequi joined that very Year to the Conquests of Louis le Grand The Austrian Ministers being naturally suspicious according to the Genius of the Germans believed that the Voyage of the Marquis de Bethune comprehended some Politick Mystery Count Wallestein dropt some Words to that purpose in a Conference with the Marquis d'Arquyan who telling him one Day that he Count Wallestein would doubtless be glad to see a Lord in Poland whom he had known at Vienna and honoured with his Friendship that Minister answered smiling That he had rather see him elsewhere but the Marquis d'Arquyan replying That his arrival was without Mystery and only upon the Score of a Relation who came to see the King his Brother-in-Law after the happy Success of his Campagnes the Count de Wallesteine added with the same Tone That the Pretence of his coming was very plausible and the Colour well contrived However all those illustrious Persons lived in this Court in a perfect Union of Civility and honest Correspondence There had not been so great a Number of Foreign Grandees at that Court of a long time The end of the Campagne also increased it more with Officers of the Elector of Brandenburg's Troops Besides the young Prince of Courland his Brother Prince Ferdinand also repaired thither from Germany to get some Post in the Army The Rendezvouz of those illustrious Persons was in the House of the Marquis d'Arquin who kept an excellent Table and made a Figure worthy of the high Rank of Father to a great Queen They played a great Game there all the Winter whilst the King of Poland was taken up about calling of the General Diet whose Session happened in the following Year 1685. It ought to have been held in Lithuania as being the third according to the Regulations made for that purpose however the King of Poland with the Advice of most of the Senators assembled them at Warsaw on the sixteenth of February 1685. to save the Nobility the Trouble of a long Journey after so tedious a Campagn and that they should not be at so great a distance from the Frontiers to the end that they might be in a readiness to repair thither betimes upon all Occasions This raised great Difficulties in the Republick by the obstinacy of the Lithuanians as we shall see in the Second Part of these Memoirs In the interim Count Wallestein returned to Vienna leaving the Care of Affairs to a Resident called Chemoski a Relation of the Baron Jarowski who came afterwards and took it upon himself Secretary Alberti fixed himself also in this Court and Father Vota began his Intrigues in favour of the Confederate Princes This was the Face of the Court and of the Affairs of Poland when I arrived there after I came out of Slavery The Officer that Pr. Lubomirski had sent to Comorra to make the Exchange conducted me to Presburg by the Isle of Schit and from thence to Vienna I found the Country Peopled with new Inhabitants who were rebuilding the Villages and the Flying Bridge of the first of those Towns was re-established I tarried in the other five or six Days with my Deliverer who filled up the Measure of his Kindnesses to me by solid and effectual Services my Acknowledgment wherof can never be sufficiently testified It is certain that without the pressing Sollicitations of the Marquis d'Arquin the Queen's Father and without the Intercession of Prince Lubomirski who negotiated my Liberty at his own Charge which cost him above 400 Pistols whereof the Court of Poland repaid him nothing and of which he would not suffer me to reimburse the least Penny without these two Lords I say I had been killed at Nehausel either by Famine or by Arms for that Place having been besieged six Months after there was only found therein about 40 or 50 Slaves of nigh 1400 that I left in the Place as well in the Prisons as in private Houses the rest having been killed upon the Ramparts and in the Breach where the Bassa's exposed them to work to cover the Turkish Soldiers The Germans also massacred a great Number of them in the general Storm without distinguishing them from the Enemy in the heat of the Conflict At this Rate my Deliverance cost nothing to the King nor Queen of Poland all the Charge of it fell on Pr. Lubomirski Indeed the King had a great deal of Trouble to find the two Spahi's demanded by the Bassa He called Mehemet was found with a Polander of whom his Majesty bought him to put him into the Hands of the Marquis d'Arquin The other who was called Ali Spaha could not obtain the same Liberty Miogenski who had him in Custody refused to release him The first had all reason imaginable to praise his Bondage not only because of the good Treatment that he received in the House of the Queen's Father but also because of the fair Dealing that was observed for his Interest I had been exchanged with 28 Turks of Zetchin and had signified it so from Vienna without specifying any thing of the Conditions I had sworn to Upon the first News the Marquis d'Arquin not knowing what I had promised thought to procure me an advantage by causing this Mehemet to ran some himself it being said that the French Man for whom he was designed to be exchanged had obtained his Liberty by other means The Spahi offered 500 Crowns and a Turkish Envoy who was detained at Leopold by way of Reprizal for him of Poland at Constantinople paid the same After which he retired to Caminiec with all imaginable Security and Conveniency At my arrival the Marquis d'Arquin presented me with that Summ but I explained to him the Circumstances of my exchange and thanking him
for his good Will I convinced him that I ought to restore that Money to Mehemet Spaha as I afterwards did I departed by Post from Vienna and arrived at Cracow where a Canon Chancellor to the Prince of Poland a Man of great Merit and sweet Behaviour kept me three Days and treated me admirably after which I reached Reetchouf a Castle belonging to Prince Lubomirski the Podstarosta or Captain whereof gave me a Calash which brought me to Yaroslave and there I found the Equipages of the Queen's Father with one of his Gentlemen who brought me in three Stages to Zolkief where the Court was 'T is eleven great Leagues from Yaroslave in a straight Line leaving Yarvorouf on the Right I had found at Przevorska a City belonging to the great Marshal of the Crown Prince Stanislas Lubomirski about two Leagues above Yaroslave the Troops of the Elector of Brandenburg which two Commissaries of the Republick were conducting to the Frontiers of the two Estates and this was the only Rencounter worthy of Remark for me because of the Kindnesses shown me by the Officers and above all the General who made me a Present of a Case of Pistols of great Price which I bestowed as a small Mark of my Acknowledgment upon Pr. Lubomirski who liked them so well that he has always worn them since out of his Goodness and by an obliging Distinction which heaps further Obligations upon those I owe him already The End of the First Part. SOME LETTERS AND OTHER PIECES Whereof mention has been made in this first Part. The two first Letters which I put here may at first seem to have no Reference to what is related in those Memoirs but they are not useless to give an Idea of the Genius of the Port under the Ministry of the Grand Visier who besieged Vienna and they will also serve to expose the haughty and scornful Humor of that Ottoman General A LETTER FROM Monsieur De Guillerague Ambassador of France at Constantinople Wrote to the Marquis de Vitri the King 's Extraordinary Ambassador in Poland Dated at Pera from the Palace of France August 8. 1681. I Had resolved to send away my Family but just as they were ready to imbark a Messenger sent by the Consul of Smyrna acquainted me That on July 18. M. du Quene anchored at the Mouth of the Harbour of Scio with six Men of War and a Fire-Ship and that after a very short Negotiation to oblige the Governour of the Castle to turn out some Tripolins who had sheltered themselves under his Canon he fired so furiously for 4 Hours together that he shattered them The Castle also fired some Guns to which M. du Quene answered Some Houses were damaged many Tripolins killed as also several Turks of the Town and some Mosques were pierced through in many Places This Action has caused great Commotions at the Port several Councils have been held to which the Mufti and all other great Officers were called Janisaries were sent to the Castle of the Dardanelles Couriers were sent to several Places The Captain Bassa had Orders sent him to return into Port as soon as possible with the Gallies The Consternation they were in cannot be imagined Some were of Opinion to arrest me and some Officers advised more rigorously They threatned to hang me and all the French within their Dominions They sent to Scio for the particulars of the Damages and of the Enterprize I have Notice given me that I shall be called to Audience I shall perpaps speak as I ought and I have good Reasons to alledge which are drawn from the express Terms of the Capitulations I have supported the Affair hitherto without indecency and I hope that notwithstanding all this terrible Image of Preparations to destroy all I shall terminate the Matter to the Glory of the King Perhaps Sir you may find something of a Gascoigners Security in what I wrote to you But in fine it is good to act with cold Blood The Turks fancy that the King inclines to declare War with them I assure them that his Majesty will entertain the Ancient Alliance if the Port is disposed thereto and that he has no other design than against Rovers and the Rebel Subjects of the Grand Senior who ought not to be received into his Ports The Affair of the Mosques does above all things vex the Mussul-Men who are extreamly bigotted to their Religion and to every thing that relates to it externally I tell them That some chance shot might have done them some damage but that if the French had done it designedly the Disorder would have been much greater It is also true that M. du Quêne had no Design to shoot against the Mosques and that he thought only of battering the 7 Tripolin Vessels I still hope notwithstanding their Menaces that my Family may depart in 8 Days time and that my Reasons will be heard Another Letter from M. de Guilleragues to the Marquis de Vitry Dated the 8th of September 1681. from the Palace of France at Pera. IT is proper to inform you Sir That the continual Piracies of the Tripolins have obliged the King to send a Squadron of Men of War into those Seas under the command of M. du Quesne with orders to attack those Robbers even in the Harbours of the Grand Senior M. du Quêne anchored the 23d of July in the Mouth of the Harbor of Scio Having known that eight Tripolin Ships were there he signified to him who commanded in the Fortress of the Grand Senior that he came as a Friend and that the Emperor of France was an Ancient Allie of the Emperor of the Turks But that he had express Orders to extirpate the Pirates who by the Terms of the Capitulation were called Rebel Subjects and abandoned to the Vengeance of our Emperor The Governor gave no Answer The Tripolins were very numerous They had made themselves Masters of the Town and Harbour M. du Quêne after having tarried in vain for an Answer let fly his Cannon among them He shattered the Tripolin Ships several chance Shot damaged the Houses and Mosques and killed 200 of the Inhabitants The Fortress fired upon the King's Ships they answered and beat down a part of it This News caused a great Commotion at the Port I acquainted them that the Difference was only with the Tripolins That the Emperor my Master designed to entertain an Amity between the two Empires That the Men of War had done nothing contrary to the Capitulation That if they should do the least hurt to a French Man it would be taken as a Declaration of War the Consequences whereof would be terrible and that there was no Appearance that the Grand Senior would break a Peace which has been anciently established between the two Empires to support Robbers Several Councils have been daily held Orders were given to augment the Garisons of all Places of Strength Such great Commotions were never seen nor such an Alarm In
the Grand Visier having made me his Universal Legatee The Booty that was taken in this Action is infinite and inestimable The Field of Battle was sowed with Gold Sabres with Pieces of Stuff and such a prodigious Quantity of other things that the Pillage which has already lasted three Days will scarce be over in a whole Week although the Besieged are come out of the Town in great Companies to partake of the Booty with the victorious Soldier both the one and the other being scarce able as yet to perswade themselves that this happy success is real it is so extraordinary Insomuch that the whole Army which nevertheless has done its duty very couragiously can't forbear to attribute this great Victory to the mighty God of Battles who would make use of the Hands of the King of Poland to overthrow the Enemies of his Name for which let him be honoured and glorified for ever and ever The King did not taste all the Joy that Christendom will feel as well because his great Spirit is accustomed to Victories as by the Reflection he made upon the lamentable Spectacle wherewith he was pierced when he entred into the Camp of the Turks at the sight of an infinite Number of Slaves whose Throats the Infidels had cut after their defeat and whose Bodies yet chained were extended confusedly amongst the dying and the wounded The King was particularly touched with a Child of about four Years of Age who seemed to be admirably beautiful notwithstanding he was coverd all over with Blood from a wound he had received on his Head The Desolation was nothing less in the City of Vienna where the King entered the Day after the Battle and found heaps of Ruines rather than Houses and even the Emperor's Palace reduced to Ashes hy the Cannon and Bombs but he was eased of the Grief which this dismal Spectacle had occasioned by the Acclamations of the Inhabitants who thinking no more of their past Calamities were transported with Joy for their unexpected Deliverance The City not being able to hold out two or three Days more Some kissed his Hands some his Feet and others his Robe And all cryed out that they might be permitted at least to see and admire the Hand that had delivered them from the Bondage they had been so near reduced to They called him their Saviour And some of them dropt out that they must have such an Emperor as this magnanimous King His Majesty would have willingly put a stop to those Acclamations and desired the German Officers to silence the People but all in vain for it was impossible to stop the Current of the Burgers who repeated their Cries of Long live the King wherever that victorious Monarch went After having visited some Churches where he returned thanks to God for the happy deliverance of Vienna he dined with Count Staremberg the Governour where he was no less fatigued with Embraces than he had been with the Acclamations in the Streets The Elector of Bavaria the other German Princes the Officers and all the Army as one may say run thither as soon as they had Notice of it to see him near at Hand whose valour they had so much admired in the Battle The Princes imbraced and kissed the King with such Transports as are easily pardoned in extasies of Joy where Respect is a little neglected which cannot be attributed to any want of Considaration for they had given him very great Marks of it by the Submission with which they had always obeyed him and which that Monarch had wrote to the Queen was with more promptness and less reserve than that of his own Troops He returned afterwards into the Camp followed by the Princes where he was joined by the Duke of Lorrain and Elector of Saxony who had not seen the King since the Morning before the Battle because they had been always imployed at the head of the left Wing The King was afterwards obliged to change his Camp and to remove it two Leagues beyond the Field of Battle because the stench of the dead Corps began to be infectious He proposed to himself at the same time to pursue the Enemy close to give them no respite in their flight and was so pushed on with the Ardor of his Zeal that he could not give himself a Minutes rest In the mean time the Emperor advanced in great diligence to see him and arrived at Vienna two Hours after his Majesty departed thence But the King did not retard his March for it preferring the Security of his Victory and the Interest of of the Party to the Joy which doubtless he would have had to see the Emperor who likewise ardently desired to see him He marches then directly after the Enemy whom he had resolved to pursue into Hungary whither he had directed his flight the Electors of Saxony and Bavaria resolved also to follow his Majesty even to the end of the World as they themselves told him those Princes having joined themselves in strict Frindship to his Person as had the Elector of Bavaria to the Prince of Poland in particular with whom he would have divided his Spoils This victorious Army may justly be compared to that which Godfrey of Boulogne led in triumph thro' the Holy Land and ought to be the more satisfied with their Glory for that the Victory though bloody cost them but very few Men of Note among whom is reckoned only the Prince de Crouy of the Germans and of the Polanders the Starost Halitski Son to the Castellan of Cracow Potoski and Mordreoski Treasurer of the Court whom the King particularly regretted This surprizing success ought also to be attributed to a visible Protection of the Lord according to the Vision of Father Marc d'Aviano a Capuchin of a very Holy Life who administred the Sacrament to the King and the Prince his Son on the Morning of that memorable Day who positively affirms that he saw a white Dove fly in a Circle over the Christian Army during the whole Action and it was observed during the King's march that an Eagle followed his Majesty 7 Leagues and proportioned its flight so as to be always over his Head One may observe an Effect of this Protection upon the sacred Person of this Hero who exposed himself like the meanest Soldier and upon that of the Prince his Son who was always by his side wherever he went The same may be also said of the Elector of Bavaria who in the most dangerous Places testified a Courage worthy of the Origin he comes of and who was always by the King's side during the Battle I ought not to forget the Count de Maligni the Queen's Brother to whom the King in his Letter gives an Account of the Valor and good Conduct of that French Lord whereof he was an Eye-witness Let us conclude this Account as the King hath done his and let us return Thanks to God for this memorable Victory in which he did not suffer the Infidels
Disorders in Hungary particularly on Count Teckley's Land and on the Counts part that his should not come near Cracow as I have already said to which I must add what I have heard from the King of Poland's own Mouth to Ghiia when he took his Leave of him viz. That he must assure Count Teckley that if the Malecontents should burn one Straw in the Territories of Poland he would go in Person and burn his Wife and Children in his own House The Duke of Lorrain had daily given the King of Poland an exact Account of the State of the Siege by frequent Courriers and Count Caraffa gave him a full and the last Account of it whilst he was at Dinner at Bengin as likewise of the State of the Imperial Army which was given out to be 14000 Horse and 30000 Foot Whereupon his Polish Majesty opened his mind to that General and discovered to him the Design he had formed to attack the Turks by way of the Mountains of Callemberg which he described to him in the Camp and from that Day I observed in the K. a Prophetick Assurance of his beating them which the Event has always made me to take for a Celestial Inspiration Caraffa at the same time told him how that the Imperial Court had been obliged in flying from Vienna to leave in the Place a prodigious Treasure in Money and Jewels the loss of which would be no small addition to their Grief and conjured him by all these Motives to hasten his March whereof he would be assured before he returned In a Word he followed the Court of Poland to Tarnovitz and after having seen the Review of the Army and taken his Leave of the King and Queen he took Post having ordered Horses to follow him on purpose that he might be able to assure the Duke of Lorrain that he had seen them on their March for no Body ever believed that the K. would have led them in Person He arrived on the 21st of August at Tarnovitz in the Neighbourhood of which Place the Army incamped that Day in many separate Camps which the King caused to be done that it might appear to be the greater not only to the Imperial Commissaries but also to an extraordinary concourse of the Nobility of Silesia who flocked thither to see this famous King from whom the Deliverance of the Empire was expected They were supplied with Provisions in abundance the Polish Money past Currant Waggons were given to the Infantry to hasten their March and others got ready for the Cossacks who were impatiently expected by the King in fine all imaginable Methods of dispatch were formed out with such earnestness as the pressingness of the Occasion did re-require Upon which I find my self obliged to observe that the Lithuanians have so bad a Name for pillaging and other disorders in their Marches that the Imperial Commissaries prayed the King of Poland to divert that Plague from off their Country and to cause 'em to march over the Mountains of Hungary which way they actually took and failed not to burn plunder kill c. so that the way they went might be discover'd by their terrible Disorders of which C. Teckley who was assured by the King himself of a kind Neutrality between the Territories of Poland and those of Hungary depending on him testified a great Resentment All the Blame was laid upon the Lithuanian Generals and upon a Gent. of that Country call'd Teskievits to whom the Q. had given the Conduct of certain Troops made up of stragling Men that followed the Army of the great Dutchy of Lithuania as if they had been their Retinue The 22d of Aug. the K. after Mass went into the Camp in a Warriors Equipage having the Bontchouk carried before him preceded by his Guards and Horses of War whose Harnesses were glittering with Gold and precious Stones and without Exageration with such a Richness as I never saw elsewhere or perhaps 't is not valued but amongst those sorts of Nations as Turks Persians and Muscovites whose Pomp and Methods the Polanders imitate The K. had ordered his Infantry to break up before Day the better to conceal from the Germans the smallness of their Number and the bad Condition they were in The Artillery which consisted of 28 Pieces of very small size followed the first Day for the same reason for except 5 or 6 Cannon of a reasonable size for Field-Pieces the rest did not deserve that Name He would not therefore review any other but the Polish Cavalry and Dragoons which were truly extraordinary fine Troops all equipped as the best Regiments of Germany which charmed the Imperial Commissaries The Grand General drew them up in Battalia and the Princes and Senators who had Troops of Hussars among them having posted themselves at their Head the King made a Review of them and at the same time marched at the Head of all in Person I shall not trouble my self here with the particular Description of the Places along this Road nor with the Incampments of the Poles during this March I shall do it at length at the end of my Narrative that I may not break the Thread of my Discourse and shall content my self at present to inform the Publick that the King from that very Day quitted his Army in order to put himself with all Expedition at the Head of that of the Emperor where every Body wanted his Presence taking with him only a Body of 4000 Horse and a Detachment of twenty Hussars out of each Troop who were instead of his Guards and marched about his Person without Lances He wrote a Letter to the Pope from Ratibor to inform him of his hasty March with that Detachment He lodged in most of the Towns where they had prepared Lodgings for his Reception in others he encamped with his Guards No Monarch ever received so much respectful Homage from People of a Foreign Dominion as the King of Poland received from the Emperor's Subjects He marched through all Silesia and cross'd the Mountains being seven Leagues over that part it from Moravia He went through this last Province and was treated by the old Archbishop of Strigonia in the Town of Brin which is the only Place in that Country that can be called strong because of its Cittadel that the Natives reckon to be impregnable In fine leaving the Plains of Austria on his left Hand towards Ekendorf he marched to Olle Brun where he incamped on the 31st of Aug. The same Day the little General of the Crown joined the King in his March with the Body of Cavalry which he had conducted by the Foot of the Mountains and the Duke of Lorrain arrived just as his Polish Majesty was causing those Troops to defile Thus their first Interview was in the open Field the King received him at the Head of those Troops drawn up in order of Battle whose fierce Aspect did excellently well suit with the Noble and Warlike Air of that Monarch The Duke