himself by what means the disorders might be corrected and the Revenue and Tribute improved for he had an excellent Genius or Spirit in the matters of Money nothing in advantage of Interest could ever escape him so that he began to lay a new foundation in all proceedings he would not be contented with the old Taxes and Impositions and where he found Lands improved or the Customs augmented he would put in for a share of the Benefits and would reform every thing wherein he judged his Master to have been abused But though he was acute and sharp-sighted in such matters as these yet he wanted experience in the Government of Egypt for these great Beghs of this Country being alarmed with the innovations began to stand upon their Guard and to enter into private Consultations in what manner to oppose themselves to this new way of Government which looked like slavery and designs of bringing them into servitude and a subjection unknown to them and their Fore-fathers For indeed the Government of Egypt if well considered is rather Aristocratical than Monarchical for though they acknowledge the Sultan to be their Head and accept his Pasha for Ruler and pay a yearly Tribute yet the Beghs which are great Lords in their respective Countries carry the sway and Dominion in all other matters and will endure nothing with favours of oppression or innovation so that these persons grown jealous by the proceedings of the new Pasha flew into open Sedition and immediately to Arms with force of which they assaulted the Pasha's Palace took him and threw him into Prison The News whereof flying with all haste to the Ottoman Court appeared at the first apprehension or surprise as if all Egypt had revolted and gave the World occasion to discourse That the Wars were to be carried Eastward and that the sudden resolution of removing the Court to Constantinople was in order to a farther March into those parts But frequent Messages with time making the business to be better understood caused the Grand Signior to dispeed with all haste another Pasha with Commission to remove the former and to continue all the ancient Customs and Priviledges from the beginning indulged to the Beghs of Egypt with which Message and gentle words of grace and favour from the Sultan all discontents being pacified the former Pasha was released from his Imprisonment and suffered to depart and thence proceeded to the Island of Candia where he entred on that Pashaluck sâceeding Ibrahim Pasha in Charge who as before related was sent to Kemenitz to be General of the Army in place of the Pasha lately deceased But here I must not forget a story which happened during the time of this Summer whilst the Grand Signior had his abode and injoyed his Recreations in the circumjacent parts of Constantinople there was a certain Sultana which had been a cast Wench of Sultan Ibrahim who after his death having been married to some Pasha obtained her release from the old Seraglio and being also a Widow by the death of this Husband had liberty to take her habitation on the Banks of the Bosphorus or where she thought fit This Lady was called Soltana Sporcha in Turkish Modar how she came to be so nominated I cannot tell perhaps some Italian Pages of the Court might in respect to her way of living impose this Name upon her for she was no other than a Bawd or something worse making it her Profession to buy young Girls and to educate them in singing dancing and in all the ways which best accomplish Courtisans Amongst this Train of Scholars she had one more brisk and aeây than the others which could sing and dance and prate incomparably and was so quick in her Reparties that she greatly delighted the Pasha's and Lords whose pleasures she attended bringing from them considerable Gifts and Presents to the enriching of her self and Mistress and became so much the talk of the Court that at length the report of her arrived the cars of the Grand Signior who being also desirous to injoy some divertisements by the pranks of this witty Girl sent to the Sultana one of the black Eunuchs for her which Imperial Command she not daring to disobey consigned her with great submission into the hands of the Messenger but with this caution that she humbly desired the Sultan not to make any attempt on her Chastity in regard she was both a Virgin and Free-woman The Grand Signior having pleased himself with the wantonnness of this Wench began to take a fancy to her and resolved to take her into the Seraglio but she shewing a kind of nicety and coiness the Grand Signior who perhaps was better accommodated sent her back again to her Mistress reflecting as was supposed with some disgust on the caution which accompanied her It happened not long after that this Girl exercising her Art in the presence of some great Persons one Chesmé Aga a Bosnian by Nation Captain of the Great Visiers Guard a stout and valiant man happening to be a Spectator one night became unfortunately enamoured of her and from that time not being able to remove the impression she had made in his heart resolved if possible to make her his Wife and to that end made his affections known and his intentions of Marriage both to her and to her Mistress The Girl was well enough pleased to become the Wife of so honourable a Person but the Sultana unwilling to lose the profit and benefit she daily brought her in refused the March declaring That she was a Slave and not at her own disposal and therefore in no capacity of bestowing her self any way without her consent This impediment giving a stop to the Marriage put the two Lovers on plots and contrivances in what manner to injoy each other and Love being ingenious quickly found out a means to bring them together for the Girl escaping from her Mistress lodged her self in those Chambers which her Lover had found for her And being now missed none but Chesmé Aga was charged with her of whom she complained to the Grand Signior and cited him before his Master the Great Vizier to answer for her but he denying to know any thing of her and no witness appearing against him all farther proceedings were superseded for the present But Soltana Sporcha keeping watchful spies upon all the motions of Chesmé Aga at length found him and his Mistress together and by the Authority of Officers brought them both before the Vizier to whom the Sultana sent a rude message That Chesmé Aga should be punished and that her Slave should be returned The Visier hereof acquainted the Grand Signior and gave him to understand the message which the Sultana had sent him desiring to know what punishment he was pleased should be inflicted on them In which interrim Chesmé Aga told the Visier That he expected no other than a sentence of death from the Grand Signior only he desired that his beloved Mistress might
they did not submit they threatned them with the last Extremity Within the space of four Hours the same Aga's returned again declaring their necessity to submit to the hard Conditions of the Conquerors and soon after they were follow'd by the Pasha Atlagick attended with his Son and Nephew and with Cernigick the Sangiack and five Aga's with 50 other Turks of Condition who being conducted to the Tent of General Cornaro they were received by him in quality of Slaves howsoever to demonstrate the Generosity of the Conqueror an Allodgment was assigned them in a Tent provided for them where they were treated with all Conveniencies both of Victuals and Lodging The Day following in the Morning about 900 Women and Children came forth and about 400 Turks capable to bear Arms with Countenances full of Sorrow and dejected Looks which showed the inward Grief which oppressed their Spirits These were follow'd by a Troop of 150 poor Christians who having hereby regained their Liberty and Freedom from Slavery changed the Scene of Sorrow into another of Joy and Festivity 22 Pieces of Brass Cannon were found in the place 200 Horse great quantities of Provision and Ammunition both for War and Sustenance for Life Clin being in this manner surrendered the Proveditor Girolamo Cornaro General in Dalmatia designed to take Narenta an ancient Port for all sorts of Merchandize brought thither in former Times from Thrace Servia Bosnia and Macedon and several other Provinces but first it was esteemed necessary in order thereunto to become Masters of a small Tower called Narino built about three Years before by the Pasha of Bosnia who had furnished it with some Guns and encompassed it with a double Palisado In pursuance of this Resolution the General embarked at Spalatro all his Troops Provisions Cannon and other Military Appurtenances with which having loosed from that Port they were so crossed by contrary Winds that the Fleet was forced to put into divers Harbours and the Winds continuing long in that Quarter they spent some Weeks without any Action At length the General being wearied with longing Desires to act something the Season of the Year also spending apace and the time approaching both for the Fleet and Armies to draw into Winter Quarters he resolved to proceed from the Port of St. George de Lesina with the Gallies Galleots and lighter Vessels only leaving Orders with General St. Paul to follow him with the Ships and Gaâlâasses so soon as Wind and Weather should sârvâ him And being by force of the Oar come to the Mouth of the Port of Nârenta at the Point of which the Fortrâss of Narin was situâted Cornaro Landed some Troops both of Horse and Foot upon whoâe approach the Turks of the Garrison of Narin to the Number of 150 finding themselves battered by Cannon from the Galley callâd Qâeâini they quitted the Fort and betook themselves to a hasty Flight in hopes to escape with their Liberty but being pursued by the Horse and some Morlacks who were good Footmen they were either cut to pieces or taken Prisoners amongst which was Alâilâgh Carovaz their Commander in chief The Venetians being encouraged by this Success the General marched to a certain Village called Metrovich where he remained some Days in expectation of the Fleet under the Command of General St. Paul and of being thereby reinforced with Men Artillery Provisions Ammunition and all things necessary By this unexpected Invasion all the People of those Countries being greatly alarm'd and in much Consternation provided to save and put themselves into a posture of defence Howsoever the General Cornaro having made several Detachments of Morlacks to waste the Country round they had the Fortune to surprize divers Villages and People which they having first Plundered put all to Fire and Sword and returned with a considerable Booty both of Cattle Captives and Heads But the Winds still continuing oppositâ to the Ships of Burden and by Rains and blustering Weather according to the Season of the Year which was now far advanced and improper for Action General Cornaro having secured the Country and Forts which he had conquered embarked the remainder of his Forces and returned to Spalatro where he disposed his harassed Troops in Winter Quarters there to refresh and take Breath against the next Campaign After which above 1500 Inhabitants of the Country about Narenta came in and put themselves under the Protection of the Republick And now after all these Actions and Martial Exploits both by Sea and Land of which the Turks have had little cause to boast in all the course of the past Year unless in their defence of Negropont it will be time for us to conclude this Years History and proceed to the Transactions of the following being the Year 1689. The Successes of the GERMANS AGAINST THE TURKS in Hungary In the Year 1689. THIS Year begins with the Surrender of the strong City of Sighet to the Clemency of His Imperial Majesty not being subdued by Arms but by Famine having almost for the space of two Years endured extream Want and Scarcity of all things necessary for the Support of Life At length common Reports flying That Sighet was upon Capitulations reduced thereunto by extream Want and a thousand other miserable Sufferings the News thereof came confirmed to Vienna by the Duke of Holstein on the 21st of Ianuary and that the Surrender was agreed on Articles not much differing from those of Alba Regalis after the Example of which one or two Commissioners were appointed in behalf of the City to carry the Particulars unto Vienna there to be Signed by His Imperial Majesty for which Affair the Person deputed was Hassan Bei Lieutenant Governour of the place who on the 28th Day of Ianuary arrived at Vienna desiring that the following Capitulations might be confirmed and corroborated by the Imperial Signature which were expressed in this manner I. THAT so soon as Hassan Bei shall be returned to Sighet the Governour and Garrison therein shall faithfully deliver up into the Possession of the Germans the Castle and City of Sighet with all the Powder therein without spoiling it or maliciously suffering it to be made wet as also all other things belonging to Military Services That upon the Surrender the Turks shall retire to such place in the Lower City as shall be assigned for their Quarters to lodge in and there protected by a Guard of Imperial Soldiers there to remain until the rigour of the Winter Season is past and the Drave become Navigable by Thawing of the Ice and in the mean time Waggons and Boats shall be provided for their faithful and secure Transportation and till such time the Arms which belong to them in quality of Soldiers shall be deposited in some safe place and be thence returned to them upon their Departure All things belonging to the Castle shall remain as upon Delivery And because it is uncertain when the River will be
of this Victorious Nation of latter times wherein we are to make a longer stay as more pertinent unto the dangerous estate of the present time It fortuned that whilst Cutlu-Muses and his Sons supported by the Sultan Axan their Kinsman thus mightily prevailed against the Christians in the lesser ASIA on the one side and Melech with his Cousin against the Egyptian Chaliph in SYRIA on the other side that one Peter a French Hermit moved with a devout zeal according to the manner of that time went to visit the Sepulchre of our Saviour with the other holy Places at JERUSALEM who coming into SYRIA then for the most part possessed by the Turks and Sarasins diligently noted by the way as he travelled the Manners and Fashions of these barbarous Nations their Government their Cities their Power and Strength but above all the grievous Miseries of the poor oppressed Christians that there lived in most miserable thraldom among them without hope of release all which he in the habit of a poor Pilgrim at liberty safely viewed in the midst of these Miscreants being withall a little low hard-favoured Fellow and therefore in shew more to be contemned than feared yet under such simple and homely Feature lay unregarded a most subtil sharp and piercing wit fraught with discretion and sound judgment still applying to some use what he had in his long and painful travel most curiously observed He cometh to JERUSALEM and performing his devotions there saw the grievous misery of the poor devout Christians so great and heavy as that greater or more intollerable could none be wherewith not a little grieved he entred into a deep discourse thereof with Simon the Patriarch and Abbot of the Monastery of the Christians there before built by certain Italian Merchants and with the Master of the Hospitalers by whom he was fully informed thereof as of whatsoever else he required After much grave Conference it was at length agreed upon amongst them that the Patriarch and the grand Master should in their own and the names of the other oppressed Christians write their Letters unto the Pope and the other Christian Princes concerning their Miseries and to crave their Aid for the Recovery of those holy places out of the hands of those cruel Infidels of which Letters the devout Hermit promised himself to be the trusty Carrier and of their Petitions the most careful Solicitor Whereupon the Patriarch and grand Master in the name of the poor oppressed Christians wrote their Letters unto this effect We the Citizens of the holy City and Country-men of Christ Iesus daily suffer those things which Christ our King suffered but once in the last days of his mortality We are daily buâfetted scourged and pierced every day some of us are brained beheaded or crucified We would fly from City to City unto the remotest parts of the Earth and remove out of the middle of that Land where our Saviour wrought our Redemption to lead a poor exiled and vagrant life were it not impiety to leave the Land sacred with the Birth Doctrin Death Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour without Inhabitants and Priests and that there should first lack such as would indure Death and Martyrdom than such as would inflict the same and that there should not be such which would as willingly die for Christ as in battel so long as there were any that would fight against them These things truly we most miserably suffer yet was there a time when as our Ancestors feared no such thing either to themselves or their Posterity And now perhaps the Christian Kingdoms of the West live likewise without the least suspicion of fear but let them be moved by our example and Testimony The strength of the Turks is daily increased and ours diminished The continual gaining of new Kingdoms giveth them courage They have already devoured the whole World in hope The Forces of the Turks are fiercer and stronger than the Forces of the Sarasins their Policies deeper their Attempts more desperate their Endeavours greater and their Success fortunater Yet have the Sarasins attempted both Romes they have besieged Constantinople and have wasted not only the sea coasts of Italy but even the heart of the Land also Then why should the kingdoms of the West presume themselves to stand in safety and out of all peril when as the chief fortresses of the world have been so endangered What may the rest of Christendom promise unto it self seeing that Jerusalem the seat and spectacle of the Christian Religion hath been besieged taken sacked rased and triumphed upon Seeing that of the Christian profession remain but the poor and weak reliques in comparison of the ancient whole entire body This land which is dayly besprinkled with our blood yea the blood it self crieth out for revenge And we your most humble suppliants prostrate at your feet call upon the help aid mercy faith and religion of you most blessed Father of the Kings Princes and Potentates Christians not in name and profession only but in heart soul and spirit Before the tempest thunder before the lightning fall upon you avert from you and your children the storm hanging over your heads defend us your poor suppliants deliver your religion from most wicked and accursed slavery You shall in so doing deserve immortal fame and God shall requite your so great valour in this world with terrestrial kingdoms and in the world to come with eternal bliss whose sacred inheritance you shall have defended from the rage of hell With these Letters and plenty of other secret instructions the devout Hermit returning into Italy and coming to Rome delivered his Letters unto Urban the second of that name then Pope with a full discourse of the miseries of the Christians under the Turkish Thraldom which he had seen at Ierusalem and other places as he travelled requesting his holy care for the redress thereof with whom he so prevailed that shortly after he calling a Council at Claremont in France among other things propounded the misery of the poor oppressed Christians at Ierusalem as an especial matter to be considered of And having caused the aforesaid Letters directed unto him and the other Christian Princes to be openly read in the Council whereunto three hundred and ten Bishops were then out of divers parts of Christendom assembled with the Embassadors of all Countries much moved the whole Assembly to compassion at which time also the Hermit whose flowing Eloquence fully countervailed what wanted in his feature standing up in the midst of the Council delivered his message in the name of the afflicted Christians with their heavy groanings and tears which as they could not be in Letters expressed so were they not hardly by the religious Hermit as by him who having but lately seen both the misery of the men and desolation of the places and at the heart touched with the grief thereof so lively represented as that it moved the whole Assembly
with the like sympathie of heaviness and grief Which the Pope perceiving took thereupon occasion to enter into a large discourse concerning that matter with many effectual reasons perswading the Fathers and Princes there present of the necessity of so religious a War to be taken in hand for the deliverance of their oppressed Brethren out of the Thraldom of the Infidels and now as well with their present Decree as afterwards at their return home into their Countries by all means to further the same Which notable persuasion with the heavy complaint of the Hermit and the equity of the cause so much moved the whole Council and the rest there present that they all as men inspired with one Spirit declared their consent by their often crying out Deus vult Deus vult God willeth it God willeth it which words so then uttered by way of applause were in the great and most sacred expedition following much used of the devout Christians as the fortunate signal of their cheerful forwardness even in their most dangerous enterprises Strange it were to tell and hardly to be believed but that the ancient Histories bear witness of the like how far in one days space the report of this religious decreed war was by flying Fame dispersed The Council dissolved and the reverend Fathers returning every man home into his own Country it pleased God by their effectual persuasions so to work with the rest of the Christian Princes and people in general that in all Countries and Provinces in Christendom were shortly to be seen men of all sorts in great number with red Crosses on their breasts the cognisance of that sacred expedition readie of themselves to spend both life and goods for the defence of the Christian Religion and recovery of the Holy Land. The number of whom is of divers diversly reported but of most supposed to have been three hundred thousand fighting men Of whom the chief Commanders were Godfrey Duke of Lorrain with his two Brethren Eustace and Baldwin all of the honourable House of Buillon Hugh sirnamed the Great brother to Philip then the French King Raymund and Robert Earls of Flanders Robert Duke of Normandy William the Conquerors Son Stephen de Valois Earl of Chartiers Ademar Bishop of Podie the Popes Legate and Peter the Hermit not to be numbred amongst the least as chief Author of this most famous expedition unto whom many other honourable Princes joyned themselves as partakers of their travels though not with like charge The first that set forward in this expedition was one Gualter Sensavier a noble Gentleman with a great band of men not long after whom followed Peter the Hermit with forty thousand more who both travelling through Germany Hungary and Bulgaria were glad oftentimes especially in the further part of Hungary and Bulgaria to open themselves a way with the sword and so with much labour and no less loss came at length to Constantinople where they were not greatly welcome unto the Emperor Alexius Comnentis who guilty unto himself of the unlawful means whereby he had extorted the Empire from Nicephorus his predecessor had that expedition of the Christians into the East in distrust as purposed against himself until that fully resolved to the contrary by the Hermit and others and that a far greater power was coming after for the invasion of the Turks and recovery of the Holy Land he was content to relieve them now weary of their long travel and afterward to make room for them that were to come shipped them over the strait of Bosphorus into Asia who marching forward into Bithynia encamped their Army in the Country not far from the City of Nice In the mean time Godfrey with his Brethren an divers other Princes that had joyned themselves unto him with the Germans and Loranois and the gratest part of the Army followed the same way that the Hermit had taken before him At which time also Hugh the French Kings Brother with the Legate the two Roberts the one Duke of Normandy and the other Earl of Flanders and the rest of the French Commanders passing over the Mountains into Italy came to Rome with a wonderful great Army where taking their leave of the Pope because they would be less troublesome unto the Cities and Countries whereby they were to pass they divided their great Army into three parts whereof the one part went to Brundusium and the other to Bary and the third to Hydruntum unto whom also Bohemund one of the great Princes of Apulia joyned himself with twelve thousand good souldiers that followed him From these three Ports the Christian Army departing and crossing the Adriatick arrived in safety at Dirrachium and nigh thereabout upon the coast of Dalmatia from whence they travelled by land through Macedonia to Constantinople where they met with Duke Godfrey and the rest of the Army whom also at the first Alexius the Emperor is reported to have but coldly entertained as jealous of his own estate until that better perswaded of their designments and good meaning towards him confirmed by many rich Presents sent unto him by these strange Princes he joyned with them in league wherein it was agreed That the Emperor during the time of this expedition should furnish them with new supplies of men armour victuals and whatsoever else they should want in regard whereof the Princes on the other side promised to restore again unto the Empire what Provinces Countries or Cities they should happily gain out of the hands of the Turks and Sarasins the City of Ierusalem only excepted which agreement was afterward on the suspitious Emperor's part but slenderly performed Nevertheless this league so made he granted them passage and so transported them over the strait into Asia only Bohemund for an old grudg betwixt the Emperor Alexius and his Father would not come to Constantinople but marching with his Army through the upper Mysia and Thraâia came sooner than any man thought unto the straight of Hellespontus and so passed Now had Gualter and the Hermit Peter with their Army lien two months in the Country about Nice expecting the coming of the rest of the Christian Princes for why they thought it not good before their coming to attempt any thing against the Enemy whom they knew to lie not far off very strong But the common Souldiers weary of so long lying and nought doing and pinched with some wants and withal disliking of Guâlter their chief Commander and the Hermit Peter of whose integrity and holiness they had a greater opinion than of his prowess and direction rose up in mutiny and displacing Gualter made choice of one Raymund a valiant German Captain for their General by whose conduct they took Exorgum a Town of purpose forsaken of the Turks For they long before understanding what a tempest of war was growing upon them out of Europe sought by all means to cut off these that were already come over as the forerunners of a greater Army
him Captives For the repressing of which Outrages the Emperor with a strong Army passed over into Asia and there in the Frontiers of his Territories fortified Dorileum against the Incursions of the Turks In performing whereof he to the example and stirring up of others carried the first Basket of stones himself upon his shoulders and used such further diligence that in short time the City was compassed about with strong Walls and deep Ditches maugre the Turks who ceased not with continual Alarms and Skirmishes to have hindred the Work. With like care and for like purpose he also fortified Subleum another strong Hold and leaving in either place a strong Garrison returned again to Constantinople Nevertheless the Turks ceased not with continual Inrodes to do what harms they might upon the Frontiers of the Empire although not altogether with so good Success as before being many times cut off by the Garrisons of the late fortified Towns which grievances still increasing caused the Emperor to expostulate with the Sultan as with an unthankful man and forgetful of so great kindness before done unto him as the establishment of him in his Kingdom came unto who with no less vehemency upbraided him again with Inconstancy and breach of Promise as well for fortifying the aforesaid Places contrary to the League betwixt them as for that having promised much more he had thereof performed nothing Thus unkindness daily growing upon every trifle as it commonly falleth out among men of great Spirit and jealous of their own Honours it was daily expected when the matter should fall out into open and bloody War both of them being men of great valour and apt to revenge the least Injury to them offered Yet was it the Sultans manner warily to manage his Wars by his politique and expert Captains whereas the Emperor being of an hotter nature and couragious above measure commonly in all his great Expeditions adventured his own Person without respect what danger might thereof insue unto himself or his State. Long it was not but that the Emperor fully resolved to be revenged of so many wrongs done unto him and his Subjects by the Turks raised the whole Power of his Empire both in Europe and Asia in such sort as if he had therewith purposed not only to have rased to the ground Iconium the Regal Seat of the Turkish Sultan but even utterly to have destroyed the whole Nation of the Turks Thus with a most puissant and populous Army well appointed of all things necessary he passed over into Asia and so in good Order marching through Phrygia Laodicea Chomas called in ancient time Passas St. Archangel Lampis Caelaenas where the head of the great and famous River Maeander riseth whereinto the River Marsyas falleth and from thence to Chânia he with evil Luck and worse Speed passed by Myriocephalon an old ruinous Castle ominous by the name thereof as by the event in short time after it proved And albeit that he marched very circumspectly still intrenching his Army in every place where he lodged yet could he make but small speed by reason of the multitude of his Carriages and of the base people that attended the same The Turks in the mean while oftentimes shewing themselves in Troops and in places of advantage skirmishing sometime with one of the Army and sometime with another but never daring to adventure the fortune of a just battel yet by such means were the Victuallers of the Army oftentimes cut off and the passages for the Emperor made very dangerous And the more to distress the Christians in their long travel they found the Country before them of purpose destroyed by the Turks and the water in many places poisoned whereof the Christians unadvisedly drinking fell into many grievous Diseases especially the Flux and thereof died in great number The Sultan in the mean time although he had in readiness a right puissant Army of his own and had procured great Aid from the Persian Sultan his Kinsman and chief Supporter yet fearing the doubtful event of War and loath to adventure his whole Estate upon the fortune of a battel sought by his Embassadors sent for that purpose to come to some peace with the Emperor and that upon such honourable Conditions as by the wiser sort were thought not to be at any hand refused which large offers the Sultan as desirous of Peace made unto him not once but again and again which the Emperor nevertheless reposing great confidence in his own Power and prickt forward by the Gallants of the Court better acquainted with the brave Triumphs of Peace than the hard Wars of the Turks proudly rejected and so dismissing the Embassadors scornfully willed them to tell their Master That he would give him answer unto his Requests under the Walls of Iconium Which caused the Sultan now out of all hope of any Reconciliation to be made betwixt the Emperor and him with all his Power to take the Straits of Zibrica whereby the Army of the Christians departing from Myriocephalon must of necessity pass The entrance into these Straits was by a long Valley on either side inclosed with high Mountains which towards the North rising and falling according as the Hills gave leave opened into divers large Vallies which by little and little growing again straiter and straiter with high and craggy Rocks hanging over on either side and almost touching one another gave unto the painful Traveller a most hard and difficult passage Into this so dangerous a Valley the Emperor not fearing the Enemies force desperately entred with his Army having neither provided for the clearing of the Passages or safety of his Carriages in no other order than as if he had marched through the Plain and Champain Country although it were before told him that which he shortly after but too late saw that the Enemy had strongly possessed both the Straits and Mountains to hinder his farther passage The Vauward of his Army was conducted by Iohn and Andronicus the Sons of Angelus Constantine accompanied with Macroducas Constantine and Lapardas Andronicus in the right Wing was Baldwin the Emperors Brother in law and in the left Maurozomes Theodorus after them followed the Drudges and Scullions with an infinite number of Carters and other base people attending upon the Carriages with the Baggage of the whole Army next unto these came the Emperor with the main Battel consisting for the most part of right valiant and worthy Souldiers the Rereward was shut up by Andronicus Contostephanus with a number of most resolute men They were not far entred into these Straits but that the Turks from the Mountains and broken Cliffs shewed themselves on every side delivering their deadly shot from the upper ground upon the Christians below as thick as hail nevertheless the Sons of Angelus with Macroducas and Lapardas and the Vantguard casting themselves into a three-square battel in form of a wedge with their Targets in manner of a Penthouse cast close together over
Children altogether following his pleasure his Mother with his Fathers Kinsmen and Friends who above all things ought to have had an especial care of his Education neglecting the old Emperors trust in them reposed followed also their own Delights without the regard of the Ruine of the Commonweal Some enamoured with the Beauty of the young Empress gave themselves all to bravery and the courting of her othersome in great authority with no less desire in the mean time with the common Treasures filled their empty Cofers and a third sort there was of all the rest most dangerous who neither respecting their sensual pleasure nor the heaping up of wealth looked not so low aiming at the very Empire it self As for the common good that was of all other things of them all least regarded Among these third sort of the ambitious was old Andronicus the Cousin of the late Emperor Emanuel a man of an haughty and troublesom Spirit whom he the said Emperor Emanuel had for his aspiring most part of the time of his Reign kept in prison or else in Exile as he now was being by him not long before for fear of raising new troubles confined to live far off from the Court at Oenum who now hearing of the death of the Emperor Emanuel of the Factions in Court of the Childishness of the young Emperor Alexius given wholly to his Sports and the great men put in trust to have seen to his bringing up and to the Government of the Empire some like Bees to fly abroad into the Country seeking after Mony as the Bees do for Hony some others in the mean time like Hogs lying still and fatting themselves with great and gainful Offices wallowing in all Excess and Pleasure to have no regard of the Honour or Profit of the Common-weal thought it now a fit time in such disorder of the State for him to aspire unto the Empire after which he had all his life-time longed That he was generally beloved of the Constantinopolitans yea and of some of the Nobility also he doubted not for them he had long before by his popular behavior gained together with the distrust of the late Emperor jealous of his Estate which as it cost him his Liberty so missed it not much but that it had cost him his Life also but now that he was dead wanted nothing more than some fair colour for the shadowing of his foul purpose Among many and right divers things by him thought upon was a clause in the Oath of Obedience which he had given to the Emperor Emanuel and Alexius his Son which Oath he had delivered unto him in Writing That if he should see hear or understand of any thing dangerous or hurtful to their Honor Empire or Persons he should forthwith bewray it and to the utmost of his power withstand it which words not so to have been wrested as best serving for his purpose he took first occasion to work upon And as he was a stout and imperious man thereupon writ divers Letters unto the young Emperor his Cousin unto Theodosius the Patriarch and other such as he knew well affected unto the late Emperor Emanuel wherein among other things which he wished to be amended in the present Government he seemed most to complain of the immoderate power and authority of Alexius then President of the Council who in great favour with the young Emperor and more inward with the Empress his Mother than was supposed to stand with her honour ruled all things at his pleasure insomuch as that nothing done by any the great Officers of the Empire or by the Emperor himself was accounted of any force except his approbation wâre thereunto annexed whereby he was grown unto such an excessive pride having all things in his power as that no man could without danger as upon the venemous Basilisk look upon him Of which his so excessive and insolent power Andronicus by his Letters now greatly complained moved thereunto as he would have it believed with the care he had of the young Emperors safety which could not as he said long stand with the others so great power which he therefore as in duty bound wished to be abridged aggravating withall the infamous report of Alexius his too much familiarity with the Empress which first muttered in Court afterwards flew as he said throughout the whole World. The reformation of which things as tending to the danger of the Person of the Emperor and Dishonour of the State he forsooth as one in conscience bound with great Gravity and Eloquence being a very learned man both in open Speech and Writing most earnestly desired and thereby so wrought as that he was generally accounted for a man of great experience as indeed he was and a faithfull Counsellor to the State a thing much to have been wished Wherefore leaving Oenum the place whereunto he was by the Emperor Emanuel in a sort banished travelling towards Constantinople he gave it out in every place where he came what he had sworn and what he would for his Oaths sake do unto whom men desirous of the change of the State and such as gave credit unto the report long before given out That he at length should become Emperor flockt in great numbers as Birds about an Owl to see him and with vain praises to chatter about him In this sort he came as far as Paphlagonia in every place honourably received as if he had been a deliverer of his Country sent from God. And in the Imperial City he was not longed for of the Vulgar People only as their Light and Load-Star but divers of the Nobility also by secret Messengers and Letters perswaded him to hasten his coming and to take upon him the Government assuring him that there would be none to resist him or to oppose themselves against his shadow but all ready to receive him especially Mary the young Emperors Sister by the Fathers side with her Husband Caesar who being a Woman of great spirit and grieving much to see her Fathers Empire made a prey unto Alexius the President and the Empress her Step-Mother whom she naturally hated had raised a great and dangerous tumult in the City against them both which was not without much bloodshed appeased and now ceased not by often and most earnest Letters to her own destruction and her Husbands as it afterwards fell out to prick forward Andronicus and to hasten his coming who by Letters and Messengers daily coming unto him from the Court still more and more encouraged leaving behind him the Country of Paphlagonia came to Heraclea in Pontus and still on towards the Imperial City with great cunning and dissimulation winning the hearts of the People as he went. For who was so stonie hearted whom his sweet words and abundant tears flowing from his gracious eyes as from two plentiful Fountains down by his hoary Cheeks might not have moved All that he did or desired was as he said for the
these so great Innovations happened through the working of ambitious heads to the lamentable ruine and destruction of a great part of the Christian Common-weal Alexius the Usurper but now Emperor not contented as is before declared traiterously to have deprived Isaac his elder Brother of his Empire and sight together sought also after the life of the young Prince Alexius his Brothers Son and Heir apparent of the Empire who seeing the Villany committed in the Person of his Father saved himself by flight from the fury of his Uncle and so accompanied with certain great Lords of the Greeks his Fathers Friends fled to crave Aid of the Christian Princes of the West whom the Grecians commonly call the Latines And first he took his way to Philip the German Emperor who had married Irene his Sister the Emperor Isaacs Daughter by whom he was most honourably received and entertained This great Lady not a little moved with the Miseries of her Father and the flight of her Brother ceased not most instantly to solicite the Emperor her Husband not to leave unrevenged so great a Villany by the example thereof dangerous unto himself and others of like Majesty and State. She declared unto him what an execrable Indignity it was to see her Father the Emperor unworthily imprisoned deprived of his Empire and sight and of the society of men by his Brother that had by him received and recovered his Life his Light and his Liberty and to see the Heir apparent of the Empire banished by the wickedness of his Uncle to wander up and down here and there like a Beggar a great part of which disgrace as she said redounded unto her self the Daughter of Isaac and Sister to the young wandring Prince and to himself also the Son in law unto the unfortunate Emperor her Father Moreover she said that the Murderer Alexius durst never have been so hardy as to commit so great and detestable a Villany if he had not lightly regarded and contemned the Majesty of the said Philip whom if he had had in any Reverence or Honour or at all feared he durst not have attempted so Villanous an act This Greek Lady moved with just grief with these and such like Complaints so prevailed with her Husband that he promised her to be in some part thereof revenged which he could not for the present perform letted by the Wars he then had with Otho his Competitor of the Empire At the same time it fortuned that great Preparations were making in France and Italy and divers other places of Christendom for an Expedition to be made against the Turks into the Holy Land. The chief men wherein were Theobald Count of Champagne a man of great fame and General of the Christian Army Boniface Marquess of Mont-Ferrat Baldwin Earl of Flanders and Hainault and Henry his Brother Earl of St. Paul Henry Duke of Lovain Gualter Earl of Breame with divers other noble Gentlemen which to name were tedious unto whom resorted also many valiant and devout Christians out of divers parts of Christendom ready to have spent their lives in that so Religious a War so that now the number of them was great and the Army right populous But being thus assembled together they thought it not best to take their way to Constantinople through Hungary and Thrace and so to pass over into Bythinia for that the Greeks had still in all former times shewed great discourtesie unto the Latines in passing with their Armies that way and therefore they thought it much better now by the way of Italy to take their Journey by Sea into the Holy Land and for their Transportation especially to use the help of the Venetians whom they found much the easier to be intreated for that by the means of so great an Army they were in hope to scoure the Adriatick then much infested by the Dalmatians as also to recover Iadera with some other Cities upon the Coast of Sclavonia before revolted from their State to the Hungarians as indeed they afterward did But by the way as this Army was marching out of France and come into Piemont the noble Count of Champagne General thereof there fell sick and died to the exceeding grief and sorrow of the whole Army in whose stead the Marquess of Mont-Ferrat a man of great Nobility and well acquainted with the Wars of the East was chosen General This great Army transported by the Venetians into Sclavonia took Iadera with divers other Port Towns along the Sea coast and having there done what the Venetians most desired was about again to have been imbarkt for Syria and so into the Holy Land. But the young Prince Alexius in the mean time had by himself and the noble Grecians fled with him for fear of the Tyrant so wrought the matter with the Latine Princes of the West especially with Innocentius tertius the Pope with Philip the Emperor his Brother in law and Philip the French King that they pittying his Estate and induced also with some other Considerations more proper to themselves took him as it were into their Protection commending by Letters and Messengers for that purpose sent unto the Army which they might command the defence both of himself and his Cause who with the Commendation of three so great Princes coming to the Army yet lying at Iadera expecting but a fair Wind to have passed into Syria was there of them all most honourably received as the Son of an Emperor and as became one to them so highly commended And he himself also as one knowing his good was not wanting unto himself but recommended his person to their Protection as a poor exiled Prince in Distress yet was he of a lively Spirit gracious in Speech beautiful to behold and very young and withall fully instructed by the noble Grecians that were with him in all things that might serve to further his purpose And forasmuch as this great Army consisted of divers Nations especially of the French Italians and Venetians not all to be by one mean moved he fitted every one with such motives as he thought might best prevail with them Unto the French he promised to pay the great sums of money they had borrowed of the Venetians for the furnishing of themselves in this War Unto the Venetians he promised Recompence for all the Injuries they had sustained by the late Constantinopolitan Emperors especially by the Emperor Emanuel who for that they refused to Aid him in his Wars against William King of Sicily did in one day confiscate all the Goods of the Venetian Merchants within his Empire of a great value and afterwards contrary to the Law of Nations shamefully entreated their Embassadors sent unto him amongst whom was Henry Dandulus now by fortune General for the Venetians in the Army who moved as well with the wrong in particular done unto Himself as with the Common desired to be revenged both of the one and the other which although he could not have of
been so let in for Frenchmen but they were not so well masked but that they were by them of the City discovered for Enemies and so kept out and deceived of their purpose The Christians thus overthrown and the French King taken Prisoner Melech-sala the Sultan taking compassion upon him and yet minding of his life to make his own gain cheering him up with comfortable speeches began to talk with him of his deliverance and of a good attonement to be made betwixt them The Conditions whereof propounded by the Sultan were That the King should forthwith deliver again unto him the City of Damiata and moreover pay unto him for the ransom of himself and his and for the charges of the War eight thousand pound of Gold That all Prisoners should on both sides be frankly set at liberty and so a Peace to be taken for ten years For the more assurance whereof the Sultan offered to swear That if he failed in the performance thereof to renounce his Mahomet requiring also of the King to swear If he failed in any thing that he had promised to deny his Christ to be God which prophane Oath the King detested wishing rather to die than to give the same the Sultan wondring at his constancy took his word without any Oath at all and so published the League But whilst they were coming together to Damiata Melech-sala now in the pride of this Victory fearing nothing less than the sudden change of Fortune or the mischief hanging over his head was in the presence of a number of his Noblemen suddenly slain by two desperate Mamalukes and one Turquiminus a sturdy Slave of their own order and vocation by whose procurement it was supposed to have been done by the consent of the whole Army created Sultan in his stead who revoking the League before concluded by Melech-sala made another in his one name with the King much upon the same Conditions that the other was which after he had received Damiata he caused openly to be proclaimed Nevertheless after that King Lewis had paid his ransom and was with the remnant of his Army by the Genowaies transported from Damiata to Ptolemais the false miscreant performed not the half of that he had promised of twelve thousand Christian Captives that should have been set free scarce enlarging four thousand and killing all the sick Souldiers whom by his promise he ought to have relieved neither suffering any Christian to carry any of his goods with him out of Egypt which by the League he ought to have done also The French King coming to Ptolemais and purposing to have returned home was intreated by the Master of the Templars and Hospitalers and other the Nobility of the Christians to stay which he did almost by the space of four years in which time he repaired the Cities of Cesarea and Ioppa and fortified many strong places for the Defence of the Christians against the Infidels and so commending the protection thereof unto the Knights of the sacred War and sending his Brethren away before him followed after himself greatly lamented for by all the Christians in Syria and so arrived in France the sixth year from the time of his departing thence This was the end of this long and unfortunate expedition of Lewis the French King wherein as some write were eighty thousand Christians lost Howbeit the French Chronicles extenuating their loss report of two and thirty thousand French six thousand to have returned again into France The City of Damiata in the space of a few years twice won and twice lost by the Christians was shortly after the delivering up thereof by the Sultan rased down to the ground because it should no more serve the Christians for an entrance into his Kingdom The late Egyptian Sultans thus oftentimes invaded by the Christian Princes and reposing no great assurance in the Prowess of the effeminate Egyptians a People fitter for Merchandize and other base occupations than for Chivalry and War had for the strengthning of their Kingdom bought an infinite number of Slaves especially of the poor and hardy Circassians called in antient time Getae and Zinchi near unto Colchis and the Euxine Sea brought unto Alexandria and other Ports of Egypt out of those bare cold Countries by Merchants and from thence transported to Caire and other Cities of Egypt of which poor Slaves the late Egyptian Sultans taking their choice and culling out from the rest such as were like to be of the greatest Spirit and Ability of Body delivered them unto most skiful and expert Teachers by whom they were carefully taught to run to leap to vault to shoot to ride with all other feats of activity and withal cunningly to handle all manner of Weapons as well on horseback as on foot and so instructed and become cunning were taken out of their Schools into pay and inrolled together as the Sultans choice Horsemen were commonly by the name of Mamalukes In whose good service the late Sultans finding great use spared for no cost both for their maintenance and increasing of their number dayly erecting new Nurseries stored with the young Fry which growing up and ready was still joyned to the other It is wonderful to tell unto what a Strength and Glory this order of the Mamalukes was in short time grown by the care of the Egyptian Kings by them they managed their greatest affairs especially in time of Wars and by their Valour not only defended their Country but gained many a fair Victory against their Enemies as they did now against the French but as too much power in such mens hands seldome or never wanteth danger so fell it out now betwixt the late Sultan Melech-sala and those Masterful Mamaluke Slaves who proud of their Preferment and forgetful of their Duty and seeing the greatest Strength of the Kingdom in their Hands traiterously slew Melech-sala their chief Founder setting up in his place as aforesaid one Tuâquiminus a base Slave one of their own order and servile vocation but indeed otherwise a man of a great Spirit and Valour This Melech-sala murthered by the Mamalukes was the last of the freeborn Kings of Egypt in whom the Turks Kingdom in Egypt erected by Saracon and the great Sultan Saladin as is before said and in his Stock and Family ever since continued took end as did also all the power of the Turks in that great and rich Kingdom For the proud Mamalukes having now got the Sovereignty into their Hands and exalted a Sultan out of themselves imperiously commanded as great Lords over the rest of the People not suffering them to have the use either of Horse or Armor or to bear any sway in the Common-Weal but keeping them under with most heavy impositions and still preferring their own Slaves wherewith the Country of Egâpt now swarmed made the natural Country People of all others most miserable not daring to meddle with any thing more than Merchandize their Husbandry or other their base Mechanical Occupations
have in hand but that all cannot be at once told and for the better understanding of the desirous Reader I thought it not good abruptly to break off the course of the aforesaid History drawing so near to an end but to make him partaker of the heaviness thereof Now had the Turks no Kingdom left in the lesser Asia and that also at the pleasure of Gazan the great Tartar C ham divided betwixt Mesoot and Cei-Cubades as his Vassals bound unto him by a yearly Tribute as is aforesaid who both kept in awe by the greatness of the Tartar did nothing worth the remembrance but as they lived so also died almost buried in obscurity Of these two Mesoot died without issue but Cei-Cubades departing left behind him his Son Aladin who by the name of Aladin the Second succeeding in the Kingdom united again the same before divided yet paying still Tribute unto the Tartar his Sovereign as had his Father with the other late Sultans of the Turks before him Much it was not that this Aladin did albeit that the power of the Tartars in his time began to decline and not to lie so heavy upon the Turks as before He was a man of a quiet Spirit and therefore much delighted in Peace a great Friend to Othoman the first founder of the glorious and mighty Othoman Empire as in his life shall appear But this Aladin the last of the Turks Sultans of the Selzuccian Family dying without issue one Sahib his Visier-Azemes or chief Counsellor and then a man of greatest Authority aspired unto the Kingdom which he had for the most part himself swayed all the Reign of the late Sultan his Master which usurped Sovereignty no way unto him due he could neither himself long hold or deliver unto his Posterity for that many others of the Nobility men of great Power and born of greater Families than he envying at his honour and disdaining to be governed by him or any other no greater than themselves laid hold some upon one Country or Province some upon another where they were able to do most erecting unto themselves greater or lesser Satrapies according to the measure of their own Strength and Power without respect of any Superiority one should have over another but every one of them absolutely commanding over so much as he was able by strong hand to hold So that as it had oftentimes before chanced that the great Monarchies destitute of their lawful Heirs had in part or all become rich Preys unto such as could first lay strong hand upon them even so fell it now out in the great Kingdom of the Turks every one of their great Princes measuring the greatness of his Territory not by the measure of his right but by the strength of his own power Wherein they shared so well for themselves that Sahib at first in possession of all was in short time thrust quite ãâã of all and so the great Kingdom of the Turks in the lesser Asia brought unto a meer Anarchie no King now left among them the whole Kingdom being divided into divers Satrapies or other lesser Toparchies The greatest of those Princes that thus shared the Turks Kingdom amongst them was one Caraman Alusirius who as strongest took unto him the City of Iconium the Regal seat of the Turkish Sultans with all the great Country of Cilicia and some part of the Frontiers of the Countries of Lycaonia Pamphilia Caria and the greater Phrygia as far as Philadelphia and the City of Antioch upon the River Meander All which large Territory was of him afterward called Caramania and by the same name is commonly at this day known and by our late Geographers described Of this Caraman also descended the Caramanian Kings who of long time after unfortunately strove with the Othoman Sultans for the Sovereignty of their Empires until that at length they with their Kingdom and all the rest of these Turkish Satrapies were in the fatal greatness of the Othoman Empire swallowed up and devoured as in the process of this History shall if God so will in due time and place be declared Next Neighbour unto him was Saruchan of the Greeks called Sarchan of whom the Country of Ionia-Maritima was and yet is called Saru-Chan-Ili and Saruchania that is to say Saruchans Country The greatest part of Lydia with some part also of the greater Misia Troas and Phrygia fell to Calamus and his Son Carasius of whom it is called Carasia or Carasi-Ili or as we might say Carasius his Country The greatest part of the antient Misia with some part of Lydia was possessed by Aidin and was of him called Aidinia or Aidin-Ili as his Country Some part of the great Country of Pontus with the Cities of Heraclea-Pontica Custamona Synope and others neer unto the Euxine and the Country of Paphlagonia fell into the hands of the Sons of Omer or as the Greeks call him Amur of whom that Country took not its name as did the others of such Princes as possessed them but is commonly called Bolli of a City in that Country by the Turks so named As was also Mendesia or as some call it Mentesia a Country in the lesser Asia so by the Turks called of Mendos or Myndus a City in Caria There were beside these divers other places and Toparchies in the lesser Asia which in the renting of this great Kingdom from the Turks received names before unto the world unknown all which to prosecute were tedious Let it suffice us for the manifesting of the Turks Anarchie and the ruin of their Kingdom in the lesser Asia as in part also for the more evidence of the heavy History following to have remembred these as the chiefest especially such as took their names of such great Princes or Captains as in that so great a confusion of the Turks Kingdom by strong hand first seized upon them and so left them to their posterity of whom much is to be said hereafter These Princes one and all that thus shared the late Aladinian Kingdom were descended of the better sort of the Turks which with the Selzuccian and Aladinian Sultans driven out of Persia by the Tartars had under them seated themselves in the lesser Asia as is before at large declared Now amongst these great men that thus divided the Turks Kingdom most of them that write of the Turks Affairs both Greeks and Latines reckon up Othoman the raiser of his House and Family for one who indeed in the later time of the late Sultan Aladin began to flourish and was of him for his Valour extraordinarily favoured as in this History shall appear but of his Kingdom held no more than one poor Lordship called Suguta in Bithynia not far from the Mountain Olympus long before given unto his Father Erthogrul for his good service with such other small holds thereabout as he had himself gained from the weak Christians his Neighbours For although he
whence they afterwards hardly escaping fled to Bajazets Court. Where after Achmetes had staid two months he by the aid of Bajazet recovered the possession of Eiracum part of his own Inheritance Iosephus the other Mahometan King having tarried in Bajazets Court eight Months at length procured him to invade the Dominions of the Egyptian Sultan in which expedition he mightily prevailed and having slain the Egyptian Sultans General and discomfited his Forces took the City of Malaty or Meletine in Armenia with Dâorige Derende and Bexene taken from the Turcomans and spoiled all the Country thereabouts From thence marching with his Army toward Erznitzane the Prince thereof called Tachretin met him upon the way yielding his City and Country into his Power which Bajazet presently gave to Iosephus Niger who after he had six days enjoyed this new Government finding the People unwilling to be governed by him a Stranger surrendred the same again into the Hands of him that gave it Whereupon the Citizens of Erznitzane humbly requested of Bajazet That they might be again governed by their old Prince Tachretin now his Vassal Which thing he at their earnest request granted but taking his Wife and Children as a Pledg of Loyalty sent them away to Prusa where they were all not long after made away When Bajazet had now many years thus mightily prevailed against the Christian Princes in Romania Bulgaria Bosna Thessalia Valachia and other places of Europe as is before declared and inflamed with insatiable Ambition had in worse manner oppressed the Mahometan Kings and Princes of Asia of whom some were by him slain some driven into exile some imprisoned and othersome brought into such subjection that they lived as it were but at his Devotion and was now grown to that greatness that in the Pride of his Heart he stood in fear of no man but was as he thought a terror unto the World having under his obeisance great and large Dominions in Europe but far greater in Asia it fortuned that divers of these miserable and discontented Mahotan Princes by great fortune as if it had been by appointment to meet together at the Court of the great Tartarian Prince Tamerlane whether they were fled for Relief and Succor The Prince Germian Ogli after long imprisonment in the Castle of Ipsala in Europe brake Prison and with Hissar-Beg his great Counsellor and Prison-Fellow consorted themselves with a Company of loytring Companions roaming from place to place delighting the Country People with their Apish Toys in which Company he passed Hellespontus as a Bearward and at length with much ado came to Tamerlane his Court whither the Prince of Mentesia was come before in the habit of an Hermit as is aforesaid with his Head and Beard shaven Aidin Ogli passing through the Country as a Pedlar with a Pack at his Back came thither also the Prince Tachretin as a Servingman came attending upon the Prince Isfendiar who came also but in some better fashion than the rest as an Embassador from some other Prince All these poor Princes with divers others in like misery in short time arrived at Samarâand Great Tamerlane his Court every one particularly complaining of his own Private grief and altogether earnestly requesting that mighty Prince to take upon him their defence and to revenge the wrong done unto them by the Turkish Tyrant Bajazet Whose pitiful complaints much moved the Noble Tartarian but especially the long and wrongful imprisonment of Germian Ogli and the pitiful complaint and moan of Tachretin who had of late lost his Wife and Children by the Cruelty of Bajazet Yet in this matter of so great and important consequence Tamerlane made no great shew of his forwardness although he was by Nature in nothing more delighted than in relieving of the distressed and chastising of the proud but coldly answered these Princes That he could not tell whether all were so as they had reported of Bajazet or not but that he well knew him to be a very zealous King in setting forth of the Mahometan Religion and that he had therefore made great Wars upon the Christians in which godly cause he said perhaps they had refused to assist him or else had given him some other greater occasion of offence to him unknown For I can hardly believe said he that so great and religious a Prince as he would without just and sufficient cause offer such violence as you complain of especially unto you his Neighbour Princes and of the same Religion with himself nevertheless whatsoever I intend concerning your request said Tamerlane I will send first an Embassador unto him to understand more of him and his proceedings before I resolve upon any thing with which answer he willed them until then to hold themselves contented But as Tamerlane was about to have dispatched his Embassador to Bajazet he was advertised that Achmetes late King of New Babylon and Iâsâphus King of Colchis both by him driven out of their Kingdoms having broken out of Prison ârom the Sultan of Egypt were now come to Bajazet his Court to crave his aid and assistance wherefore he deferred to send his Embassador suspecting that Bajazet incited by these two exiled Kings would first in their quarrel begin to make War upon him But not long after understanding that they were both again departed from his Court as is before declared he then dispatcht his Embassador to Bajazet with many rich Gifts and Presents courteously requesting him the rather for his sake to dâal kindly with these poor Mahometan Princes his Friends as also with the Greek Emperor Emanuel his Ally for whom he was now become an Intercessor unto him Some report also that he besides this requested to have the two aforesaid Mahometan Kings of Bagdat and Colchis delivered unto him and withal seemed not a little to dislike of Bajazet his proceedings against the Turcomans his Friends But Bajazet being a Prince of a great and haughty Spirit and unaccustomed to hear of any thing that fitted not his humor highly offended with this Embassage in great scorn rejected the Presents by Tamerlane sent unto him and specially certain Garments which Tamerlane after the manner of those Eastern Nations had in kindness amongst other things sent him willing the Embassador to bid his Master meddle with his own matters and to prescribe Laws unto his own Subjects and not unto him with whom he had nought to do and to send his Rags for Presents unto his Inferiors and not to Princes of greater Power and State than himself Adding thereunto many other words full of despight and disdain affording him no better Stile than the plain name of Tamerlane calling him the Husband of a Whore if he met him not in the Field and wishing unto himself again to take unto him his thrice divorced Wife after she had been polluted by another man as the greatest dishonor that might be if he failed to meet him wheresoever he durst to dare him Battel Which proud answer of
Bajazet being the fourth in descent from the Warlike Othoman the raiser of his Family and Tamerlane in like degree from the great Zingis the first and most fortunate Leader of the Tartars his Countrymen unto the pleasures of the East both Princes of great Power and like Spirit wise hardy painful resolute and most skilful in Martial Affairs but ambitious above measure the ground of all the former troubles by them raised to the astonishment of the World. Howbeit the great Vertues and other the honourable qualities of Bajazet were in him by his cholerick and waiward Nature much obscured which made him to exceed both in Cruelty and Pride being also much more hand-fast than were his honourable Predecessors For which causes he was much feared and less beloved of his Souldiers and Men of War in general and of them at his most need forsaken He used commonly to say That his Treasures were his Childrens Meat and not his Souldiers Pay which by way of reproach was by a Common Souldier cast in his Teeth when he raged to see himself by them forsaken in the great Battel against Tamerlane telling him as he fled that he ran not away but went to seek his Pay wherewith to provide his Children Bread. Whereas all the aforesaid Vertues in Tamerlane were graced with divers other of like Nature no man being to his Friends more courteous or kind either unto his Enemies more dreadful or terrible The good service of his Servants he never forgot either left the same long unrewarded being thereof so mindful as that he needed not by them or others in their behalf to be put in remembrance thereof having always by him a Catalogue both of their Names and good Deserts which he daily perused Oftentimes saying that day to be lost wherein he had not given them something and yet never bestowing his Preferments on such as ambitiously sought the same as deeming them in so doing unworthy thereof but upon such as whose Modesty or Desert he thought worthy those his great Favours so tempering the Severity of his Commands with the Greatness of his Bounty as that it is hard to say whither he was of his Nobility and Men of War for the one more feared or for the other beloved both the great Staies of Princes States Fear keeping the Obstinate in Obedience and Love the Dutiful in Devotion But with Bajazet it was not so who deeming all done for him but Duty and by Nature cholerick and proud after the manner of Tyrants desired above all to be of his Subjects feared not much regarding how little he was of them beloved not the least cause of his great fall and misery and that therein he was of his own so smally regarded wherein for all that he is to be accounted more fortunate than the other great Conqueror his Enemy having ever since in the lineal descent of himself had one of the greatest Monarchs of the World to succeed still in his Kingdom and Empire as he hath even at this day Whereas the glory of Tamerlane his Empire even in his own time grown to the height thereof and labouring with the greatness of it self and by him divided amongst his Sons shortly after his death decaied rent in sunder by Ambition and Civil Discord and not long after together with his Posterity rooted out by Usun-Cassanes the Persian King to the Worlds wonder took end nothing of the huge greatness thereof now or since then remaining more than the fame thereof as doth also the misery of the other so brought low But leaving this mirror of mishap Bajazet unto his rest and Tamerlane for a while to triumph in Samarcand let us now proceed in the course of our History yet not forgetting by the way to remember such Christian Princes as then lived together with these two great Monarchs Christian Princes of the same time with Bajazet the First Emperors Of the East Emanuel Paleologus 1387. 30. Of the West Wenceslaus Son to Charles King of Bohemia 1378. 22. Rupertus Duke of Bavaria 1400. 10. Kings Of England Richard the Second 1377. 23. Henry the Fourth 1399. 12. Of France Charles the Sixth sirnamed The welbeloved 1381. 42. Of Scotland John Stuart otherwise called Robert the Third 1390. 16. Bishops of Rome Urban the VI. 1380. 11. Boniface the IX 1390. 14. â MAHOMETHES PRIMVS QVINTVS TVRCARVM REX 1405. Vindicibus Mahomet patrium sibi vindicat armis Imperium etsractas fervidus auget opes Quod patri abstulerat violentia Tamberlani Imperio reddit Marte favente suo Ille sagittiferosque Dacas validosque Triballos Contudit et populos Ister amoene tuos Turcica sic rursus sublata potentia stragem Attulit imperio Romule magne tuo His Fathers Throne by chance of Warr impair'd Bold Mahomet with gallantry repair'd What from the Father Tamberlane had wonne Was wrested from him by the valiant Sonne The Dacians and the Servians strength he broke And thou fair Ister feltst the dreadfull Stroke Prosperity to the Turkish State is come And now great Romulus attend thy doome The LIFE of MAHOMET The First of that NAME Fifth King of the Turks And RESTORER of their sore shaken Kingdom HOw wonderfully the Turkish Kingdom was by the Violence of Tamerlane shaken and the Majesty thereof defaced it well appeareth in that the Histories of that time as well those of the Greeks as of the Turks in nothing more differ than in the Successors of Bajazet their late unfortunate King. Some writing that he had two Sons Orchanes otherwise called Calepinus and Mahomet and that Calepinus in the second year of his Reign was slain and his Kingdom possessed by Mahomet his Brother Others reporting that Bajazet had two Sons namely Calepinus and Mustapha and that Calepinus succeeding his Father in the Turkish Kingdom when he had reigned six years died leaving behind him two Sons Orchanes and Mahomet and that Orchanes being young was slain by his Uncle whom Mahomet in revenge of his Brothers death afterwards slew and possessed the Kingdom himself Others reckon up seven Sons of Bajazet Iosua Musulmanes Moses Calepinus Iosua the younger Mustapha and Halis with an uncertain Succession amongst them also This diversity of Opinions full of no less uncertainty as I mean not to follow in report of this History so will I not spend any time in refuting the same although much might be said in the matter but leave these Reports together with the History following to such credit as they shall hap to find with the considerate Readers The Greek Historiographers best like to know the Turkish Succession as well by reason of their nearness as in that they were by them as their bad Neighbours so much troubled make no mention at all either of Calepinus or of Orchanes In like manner Historiae Musulmanae Turcorum diligently gathered out of the Turks own Histories by Io. Leunclavius a learned Physitian and himself a great Traveller amongst them and therefore deserving the more credit
Constantinople was with this his outragious dealing much offended and thereupon calling unto him his Bassaes and faithful Counsellers declared unto them the unnatural proceedings of Mahomet against his Brother Isa. Wherein said he he doth me also great wrong in taking upon him the Soveraignty over those great Dominions and Countries in Asia which of right belong to me his elder Brother and not to him the youngest of six In revenge of which Injury and Wrong I intend in mine own Right to pass over into Asia with a strong Army and by force of Arms to recover mine Inheritance there if I may not otherwise come by it Unto which Speech one of his grave Counsellors replied That in his opinion it was not the best course for himself to go in Person into those Wars For although said he your Brother Mahomet be but young and therâfâre by your greatness less accounted of yet is his Fârtune great and his experience above his years None have yet had to do with him but they have had enough of him yea it is worth the noting how politickly he hath born himself for his own safety and the safeguard of the Countries which he governed all the while that the great and mighty Tamerlane with his innumerable Forces covered the face of the Countries fast by him most part whereof Mahomet hath now since his departure again recovered Wherefore it were best for you to send for your angry Brother Isa to Constantinople and to make him General of the Army you intend to send into Asia against Mahomet In which Wars it is not unlike but that one of your Brethren will be lost whereby you shall have one Competitor of your Kingdom the less So shall you afterwards with less trouble subdue him that is left or at leastwise please him with some part of that which they have so mightily striven for This Counsel was of Solyman and all the rest well liked of and approved So was Isa presently sent for unto Constantinople and a great Army levied Who being come to Hadrianople was by Solyman courteously welcomed and made General of his Army and therewith shipped over the Strait of Hellespontus into Asia Where at his first coming he possessed the whole Countrey of Carasia or Lydia and passing further in all places where he came was received of the people with great Reverence they all promising him their Obedience if it were his fortune to prevail against his younger Brother Mahomet wherewith he held himself well contented So coming to the City of Beg-Bazer otherwise called Despotopolis he there wintered with his Army In which time he with many kind and loving Letters still directed to Mahomet as his younger Brother seemed to be glad that he was so well obeyed and liked of by his Subjects and that presuming of his Love and Favour he was as his loving Brother and not as an Enemy come into Asia to intreat with him of such matters as much concerned the good of them both Whereunto Mahomet with like dissimulation answered That he was right glad of his coming for which he needed not as he said to make any excuse for that he was entred into a Kingdom in part his own and the rest open before him in token whereof he commanded a rich Garment to be cast upon the Messenger as a favour sending also divers rich Presents unto his Brother with great Provision of Victuals and other necessaries for his Souldiers But Winter past and the Spring come Isa marched with his Army to Prusa and there shewed unto the Citizens the loving Letters he had at sundry times before received from Mahomet and telling them that he was in good hope that they should in short time right well agree requested to have the Castle deliverd unto him sometime their Soveraign whereinto the better sort of the Citizens had retired themselves and made fast the Gates against him but when he saw that he could by no fair words or policy gain the possession of the Castle enraged with that repulse he set fire upon that goodly City and burnt it down to the ground Mahomet not ignorant how his Brother Isa roamed up and down his Kingdom using all kindness to such as yielded unto him and exercising no less cruelty upon such as refused his Obedience and how that he had rased the Royal City of Prusa having gathered a strong Army marched in ten days from Amasia to Prusa and by the way meeting with his Brother Isa in a great battel overthrew him with all his Forces Isa himself accompanied with no more but ten persons fled unto Castamona Prince Isfendiar his City who hearing of his arrival there entertained him with all the Honor he could in recompence of the great Friendship he had before found at his hands at what time he was an humble Suiter in his Father Bajazet his Court. Mahomet coming to Prusa grieved exceedingly to see that fair City so destroyed yet to comfort the poor Citizens he gave exceeding Sums of Money to be bestowed amongst them and took order for the new building of the City and there continued certain days himself to see the Work begun Isa in the mean time having incited the Prince Isfendiar in his quarrel to invade his Brother Mahomet and going thither himself in Person was by him now the third time overthrown and put to flight Nevertheless he with some small Forces twice afterwards entred into Mahomets Dominion but finding few or none willing to follow his evil Fortune was glad at last to fly to the Prince of Smyrna by whom he was both honourably entertained and comforted This Prince of Smyrna moved with Isa his pitiful Complaints in so manifest a wrong did not only promise him what help he could of himself but also by his Embassadors solicited the Princes of Aidinia Saruchania and Mentesia to give him Aid in so just a quarrel for the relief of Isa against his usurping Brother These Princes pitying the case of the distressed Prince and moved with the Request of the Prince of Smyrna and fearing also the ambitious spirit of Mahomet amongst them sent such Aid that being all assembled together Isa had now twenty thousand men in Arms. Mahomet understanding of this great Preparation made against him and having raised a strong Army thought it not best to expect his Brothers coming into his Country where perhaps many might joyn themselves unto him being so strong in the field but entred the Prince of Smyrna his Country with such speed that he was upon him and the rest of his Enemies before he was looked for where after a great and bloody Fight he obtained of them a notable Victory Isa having lost the battel and therewith his hope also fled into Caramania and there in such obscurity ended his days that no man can tell where nor how he died This was the end of this noble Prince always of greater courage than fortune The Prince of Smyrna the chief Author of this
thousand Ducats Uladislaus newly elected King of Hungary seeing that part of his Kingdom which is called Transylvania or Pannodacia to be much subject to the Incursion of the Turks who having got into their possession all the Country of Moldavia and grown insolent by continual Victories ceased not to invade and spoil the Country of Transylvania for remedy of that daily mischief created Iohn Huniades Vayvod or his Vice-Gerent in Transylvania This Huniades as some write was Earl of Bistrice born in Valachia others say that he was born but of mean Parents and called Huniades of the Village wherein he was born and grew to be great by his Vertue and Prowess Whatsoever his Parents were he himself was a politique valiant fortunate and famous Captain his Victories so great as the like was never before by any Christian Prince obtained against the Turks so that his Name became unto them so dreadful that they used the same to fear their crying Children withall This worthy Captain according to the trust reposed in him began to keep the Turks short by cutting them off whensoever they presumed to enter into his Country and also by shutting up the Passages whereby they were wont to forrage the Country of Transylvania and when he had put his own Charge into good safety he entred into Moldavia and never rested until he had won it quite out of the Turks hands And not contented with this passed many times over Danubius into the Turks Dominions making havock of the Turks and carrying away with him great Booty with many Captives Now were two great and worthy Captains met together in places nigh one to another Huniades in Transylvania and the next part of Hungary and Isa in Rascia and the upper part of Servia the one lying at Temeswar and the other at Sinderovia both Men of great spirit and desirous of Honour Of these two Isa in great favour with Amurath and by him highly preferred to increase his credit with the Sultan his Uncle and to inlarge the Bounds of the Turkish Kingdom committed to his Charge continually forraged the Country about Belgrade to the intent that having wearied the Inhabitants with the harms he daily did them and brought the City into great wants he might so at length gain the same for the most part abandoned then of Citizens which Amurath could not by force obtain and so to open a way into Hungary Thus was the Country by him spoiled the Villages rifled and burnt and great numbers both of Men and Cattel daily carried away yea sometimes not contented to have spoiled the open Country he assailed the very Suburbs of the City and was thence hardly repulsed and finding Huniades the only man that hindred his further proceedings to requite him and provoke him the more brake sometimes into his Country laying in every corner as he went strong Ambushes so to have circumvented that wary Captain if it had been possible But he grieved to see the Country thus spoiled and purposing thereof to be revenged secretly raised a strong Power both of Horse and Foot and with his Companion Nicholas Vilach a right valiant Captain passing over Danubius came and incamped betwixt Belgrade and Sinderovia being about twenty miles distant Of whose coming Isa-Beg understanding forthwith set forward with a great Army against him lest he should by longer delay seem to stand in doubt of his Enemy whom he had by many Injuries so often provoked So marching on with his Army ranged in order of battel he found Huniades as ready for battel as himself who in both wings had placed his light Horsemen and behind them his men at Arms with certain Companies of Cross-bows on Horse-back in the midst stood his armed Men with his Archers and other Souldiers more lightly armed ready at all assays all strongly guarded with Men at Arms after whom in the rereward followed also a strong Squadron of valiant Footmen The signal of battel being given there began a great and cruel Fight as amongst men desirous either to overcome or there honourably to end their days At the first incounter the Wings of Huniades his battel were by the Turks inforced to retire but coming to the Men at Arms their fury was there staid and a cruel battel fought wherein many fell on both sides but of the Turks more who trusting to their agility and nimbleness of body were not able long to endure the shock and strength of the Men at Arms but were there by heaps overthrown and most miserably slain Which Isa-Beg beholding and perceiving the Hungarians couragiously to fight as men almost in possession of an assured Victory to save himself turned his back and fled to Sinderovia The rest beholding the flight of their General betook themselves to flight also after whom the Hungarians fiercely followed especially Huniades himself who by his example to animate the rest left not the chase until he was come almost to the Suburbs of Sinderovia few of the Turks escaped the rest being either taken or slain Huniades after so great a Victory with a rich Prey and a multitude of Prisoners returned to Belgrade having now sufficiently revenged himself of the wrongs he had before received After which time Isa the Turk was more quiet as having sufficient proof of his valour The fame of this Victory increased not a little the fame of Huniades the report whereof coming to Buda filled the City with joy and gladness but most of all King Uladislaus who thereupon caused publique Prayers with Thanksgiving to be made in every Church and by his Letters Gratulatory with many rich Presents incouraged Huniades to the prosecution of the Religious War wherein was propounded unto him not only the increase of his Wealth a base regard in the honourable but the immortality of his name year 1440. and hope of eternal bliss Not long after this Victory Huniades obtained a far greater in Transylvania For Amurath much grieved with the loss he had first by himself and after by his Lieutenant Isa received at Belgrade and in the Country thereabout lest he should seem to yield unto the Hungarians repaired his broken Forces with new Supplies with purpose again to renew his Wars in Valachia And so having put all things in a readiness sent one of his Bassaes called Mesites his Vice-Roy in Asia a man of great Wisdom Experience and Valour with a puissant Army upon the sudden by the way of Valachia Transalpina to invade Transylvania This worthy Captain according to his charge departing out of Servia and passing from Danubius suddenly entred into Huniades his Country burning and spoiling whatsoever came in his way and killing all that he light upon Man Woman and Child without respect of Age Sex or Condition filling all the Country as he went with tumult and terror Whereof Huniades but lately come into the Country understanding and having as then no sufficient Forces to oppose against the Fury of so puissant an Enemy either means to raise any in so
had not been taught the same by mine own experience to my great loss and hearts grief We entred into Epirus and here encamped an hundred and threescore thousand men strong now if leasure serve you take view of them examine the matter you shall find a great want of that number The Fields could not contain our Regiments and the multitude of our mân but now how many Tents stand empty how many Horses want Riders You shall go to Hadrianople with our Forces much impaired As for me the Destinies have vowed my Spirits to this Country of Epirus as unto me fatal But wherefore do I impute unto my self these impediments and chances of Fortune For then first began this seed of mischief in Epirus when the Hungarians with other the Christian Princes rose up in Arms against us at which time we fought not with them for Soveraignty but for the whole State of our Kingdom as the bloody Battlâs of Varna and Cossova still witness unto the World. So whilst I had neither leisure nor sufficient pâwer to take order for all my important Affairs at ãâã in the mean time this Enemy grew as you see But how or in what order you are hereafter to wage War against him you may not look for any directions from me which have in all these matters so evil directed my self Fortune never deceived my endeavour more than in this But happily thou Mahomet my Sâa maist prove a more fortunate Warrior against him and for so many Honours already given unto me the Destinies have reserved the triumph of Epirus for thee Wherefore my Son thou shalt receive from me this Scepter and these Royal Ensigns but above all things I leave unto thee this Enemy charging thee not to leave my death unrevenged It is all I charge thee with for so great and stately a Patrimony as thou art to receive from me it is the only Sacrifice that my old departing Ghost desireth of thee Shortly after he became speechless and striving with the Pangs of Death half a day he then breathed out his gastly Ghost to the great joy and contentment of the poor oppressed Christians He died about the midle of Autumn in the year of our Lord 1450 when he had lived eighty five years as most write and thereof reigned eight and twenty years or as some others report thirty about five months after the Siege laid before Croia Thus lieth great Amurath erst not inferior unto the greatest Monarchs of that Age dead almost in despair a worthy mirror of Honours frailty yeilding unto the worldly man in the end neither comfort nor relief Who had fought greater Battels who had gained greater Victories or obtained more glorious Triumphs than had Amurath who by the Spoils of so many mighty Kings and Princes and by the conquest of so many proud and warlike Nations again restored and established the Turks Kingdom before by Tamerlane and the Tartars in a manner clean defaced He it was that burst the heart of the proud Grecians establishing his Empire at Hadrianople even in the Center of their Bowels from whence have proceeded so many miseries and calamities into the greatest part of Christendom as no Tongue is able to express He it was that first brake down the Hexamile or Wall of separation on the Strait of Corinth and conquered the greatest part of Peloponesus He it was that subdued unto the Turks so many great Countries and Provinces in Asia that in plain Feild and set Battel overthrew many puissant Kings and Princes and brought them under his Subjection who having slain Uladislaus the King of Polonia and Hungary and more than once chased out of the Field Huniades that famous and redoubted Warrior had in his proud and ambitious Heart promised unto himself the Conquest of a great part of Christendom But O how far was he now changed from the man he then was how far did these his last Speeches differ from the course of his fore passed life full of such base passionate complaints and lamentations as beseemed not a man of his place and spirit but some vile wretch overtaken with despair and yet afraid to die Where were now those haughty Thoughts those lofty Looks those thundering and commanding Speeches whereat so many great Commanders so many Troops and Legions so many thousands of armed Souldiers were wont to tremble and quake Where is that Head before adorned with so many Trophies and Triumphs Where is that victorious Hand that swaied so many Scepters Where is the Majesty of his Power and Strength that commanded over so many Nations and Kingdoms O how is the case now altered he lieth now dead a gastly filthy stinking Carcass a Clod of Clay unregarded his Hands closed his Eyes shut and his Feet stretched out which erst proudly traced the Countries by him subdued and conquered And now of such infinite Riches such unmeasurable Wealth such huge Treasures such stately Honours and vain glorious Praises as he in his life time enjoyed his frail Body enjoyeth nothing but left all behind it O the weak condition of Mans Nature O the vain glory of mortal Creatures O the blind and perverse thoughts of foolish men Why do we so magnifie our selves why are we so puft up with Pride why do we so much set our minds upon Riches Authority and other vanities of this Life whereof never man had yet one days assurance and at our most need and when we least think quite forsake us leaving even them that most sought after them and most abounded in them shrowded oftentimes in the Sheet of Dishonour and Shame That his death is otherwise by some reported I am not ignorant The Turks saying that he died miraculously forewarned of his death at Hadrianople and some others That he died in Asia strucken with an Apoplexy proceeding of a Surfeit taken of the immoderate drinking of Wine But Marinus Barlesius who lived in his time in Scodra fast by Epirus whose Authority in report of the Wars betwixt him and Scanderbeg we follow setteth it down in such manner as is aforesaid Presently after his death Mahomet his Son for fear of some innovation to be made at home raised the Siege and returned to Hadrianople and afterward with great Solemnity buried his dead body at the West side of Prusa in the Suburbs of the City where he now lieth in a Chappel without any roof his Grave nothing differing from the manner of the common Turks which they say he commanded to be done in his last Will that the Mercy and Blessing of God as he termed it might come unto him by the shining of the Sun and Moon and falling of the Rain and Dew of Heaven upon his Grave He whilst he lived mightily enlarged the Turkish Kingdom and with greater Wisdom and Policy than his Predecessors established the same insomuch that some attribute unto him the first institution of the Ianizaries and other Souldiers of the Court the greatest Strength of the Turkish Empire
advice of his Bassaes encamped fast by the Sea-side and there presently began to build a great strong Castle close unto the Straits of Bosphorus near unto Propontis on Europe side directly over against the other Castle in Asia For the speedy accomplishment of which work he assembled thither all the workmen he could possibly get out of Europe and Asia apportioning unto his Captains and Souldiers of his Army part of the work also by whose industry and labour that great building was in shorter time brought to perfection than was by any man at the first expected This Castle which for the greatness thereof is of most Writers reputed for a City was by the Turks named Genichisar and of the Grecians Neocastron or New Castle and also Laemocastron or Castle upon the Straits and was there by the Turks built as well for the safety of their own passage too and fro as for to hinder the passage of the Christians through those narrow Straits they now possessing the strong Forts on both sides and thereby also to distress the City of Constantinople from whence this Castle was not above five miles distant When Mahomet in the second year of his Reign had finisht this great Castle with some other small Forts about the same and also repaired the other Castle in Asia over against it he placed therein strong Garrisons and furnished the same with Attillery in such sort that no Ship could pass through the Strait of Bosphorus into the great Euxine or Black Sea but she was in danger to be sunk whereby the rich trade which the Marchants of Venice Genoa and Constantinople had to Caffa and other places lying upon the Euxine were almost quite cut off to the great hinderance of those Estates Now Mahomet by Nature ambitious and withal desirous to do some such thing as the glory whereof might far pass the Fame of his Predecessors thought nothing more answerable to his high conceipts than to attempt the winning of Constantinople and the utter subversion of the Greek Empire whereupon his Father Amurath and his great Grandfather Bajazet had before in vain spent their Forces Besides that it grieved him to see that goodly City the ancient Seat of the Christian Empire to be so commodiously situated as it were in the midst of his Kingdom and not to be at his Command Hereunto the small power of the Greek Emperor himself and the other Christian Princes at the same time at mortal discord among themselves ministred unto his greedy desire no small hope of success and served as Spurs to prick him forward unto so great an enterprise Wherefore all the Winter he caused great preparation to be made of shipping and other warlike provision both for Sea and Land and gave out Commissions for the levying of a mighty Army to be in readiness against the next Spring But whither he would imploy the same no man could certainly tell some guessing one thing and some another as the manner of men is when such extraordinary preparation is at hand Constatinus the eighth of that name then Emperor of Constantinople a Prince of a mild and soft Spirit fitter for the Church than for the Field hearing of the great preparation made by the Turkish King and fearing lest that tempest then growing should upon the suddain break forth upon himself first made such preparation as his own small ability would extend unto And then sent his Embassadors unto other Christian Princes earnestly craving their Aid and Assistance in that his dangerous Estate But that labour was lost and all his suit vain for they being at variance one with another and having more care of private revenge than how to repulse the common Enemy of Christianity could not or would not afford him any help at all Nicholas the fifth of that Name then Bishop of Rome with Alphonsus King of Naples and the State of Venice promised to have sent him thirty Gallies but none for all that came There were by chance at Constantinople certain Ships and Gallies of Venice Genoa Crete and Chios of whom the Emperor made stay at which time also it chanced that Iohannes Iustinianus an Adventurer of Genoa who had been scouring those Seas came to Constantinople with two tall Ships and four hundred Souldiers where he was entertained by the Emperor And forasmuch as he was a man honourably descended and supposed to be both of great Courage and Direction was by the Emperor appointed General of all his Forces next unto himself He also entertained six thousand Greeks which with three thousand Venetians Genowaies and others whom he had made stay of joyned unto the Citizens was all the weak Strength he had to relie upon for the defence of his State and Empire Against the beginning of the Spring the Turkish King had in readiness a great and puissant Army of three hundred thousand men of whom the greatest part were taken out of Bulgaria Servia Rascia Thessalia Macedonia and Grecia which as yet were called the Christian Countries and were themselves either indeed Christians or else such Renegates as had not long before forsaken the Christian Faith unto these also were joyned divers other Christians which came out of Germany Bohemia and Hungary to serve the Turk in his Wars This hath been none of the least means whereby the Turkish Kings have grown so great and their Kingdom so mightily inlarged by inforcing and alluring Christians to fight against Christians to the utter confusion of themselves Among the great multitude of the Europeian Christians were mingled his effeminate Souldiers of Asia and his natural Turks and Ianizaries which were in number fewest and yet commanded all the rest With this great Army well appointed with all warlike provision came Mahomet the Turkish King from Hadrianople and the ninth day of April in the year 1453 encamped before Constantinople and with the multitude of his Army filled all the main Land before the City from the Sea side of Bosphorus unto the place where the same Sea compassing in the City on two parts and running far into the Land betwixt Constantinople and Pera maketh there a goodly Haven betwixt them This City of Constantinople called in ancient time Bizantium is in form of a Triangle situated in Europe in the pleasant Country of Thracia upon a point of the main Land shooting out towards Asia called of Pliny and Solinus the Promontory Chrysoceras where the Sea of Propontis joyneth unto that Strait of Sea which divideth Asia from Europe called in ancient time Bosphorus Thracius sometime the Strait of Pontus and the mouth of Pontus and of the modern Writers the Strait of Constantinople and about two hundred years past or more S. George his Arm. This point of the main whereon the City standeth lyeth about two Italian miles more Northward than doth the ancient City of Calcedon on the other side of the Strait in Asia more than thirty miles distant from the Euxine or
Christians besides the noise of Trumpets Drums and other instruments oâ War with the horrible cry of the hellish Turks was so great and hideous that it seemed as if Heaven and Earth should have gon together nothing was to be heard but the very terror of the Ear nothing to be seen but death and the very instruments of death And now in this extremity a fearful cry ran through the City That without present help all would be lost at the great Gate whereupon not only they which were whole which were the fewest in number but they also which lay wounded or sick in their beds chearing up themselves with Weapons in their Hand ran with speed to the place where the danger was chusing rather there to die than to be slain in their beds Thus whilst the Christians of all sorts and from all parts of the City ran desperately to the Gate the Turks were on every side hardly pressed and in great number slain yet fresh men still coming up as if they had sprung out of the Earth the deadly ââght was by them still maintained for the Turks on the one side for fear of the Tyrant laboured with might and main to win the City and the Christians on the other knowing no hope left for them if they should be overcome with no less resolution defended the same In this obstinacy of mind many fell on both sides sometimes the Turks seemed to have the better and were straitway by the Christians put to the worse Which manner of mortal Fight with doubtful event was continued most part of that day until that at length many being on both parts slain and the rest for the most part sore wounded and hurt the fury of the Assault began to asswage for the Turks now weary of that long and deadly Fight and fainting with their wounds had no great stomach to mount up the Rampiers where they saw no hope to prevail but all things threatning present death Mahomet beholding the wonderful slaughter of his men and that having done what was possible for men to do they now fought as men discouraged and in despair of Victory himself caused a Retreat to be sounded which the Turks no sooner heard but that they left the Assault and without order ran to their Tents as men half scared out of their Wits Of this Victory the Christians as they had good cause rejoyced greatly yet was this joy mingled with much sorrow and heaviness for the loss of such worthy men as were slain in that Assault many of whose bodies they were glad to gather up by piecemeal some here some there some cleaving on this Wall and some on that which they as the time would give leave honourably buried with the rest of the slain At which time also they with all diligence and expedition repaired their breaches and put all things in such readiness as if they should have presently received a fresh Assault Mahomet wonderfully grieved with the shameful dishonour and great loss he had received at the last Assault repented himself that ever he had taken the matter in hand wishing that he had never heard of the name of Scodra and in his choler and frantick rage most horribly blasphemed against God most wickedly saying That it were enough for him to have care of Heavenly things and not to cross him in his Worldly Actions in which fury he descended from the Mount and got into his Tent where he again tormented himself with his melancholy Passions by the space of two days wherein he would neither be spoke withal or admit any man to his presence Upon the third day he called a general Counsel of his Commanders and best Souldiers and thereupon openly before them all said That he was determined to give the Enemy a fresh Assault for that being weakned with so many Assaults he could not possibly be able to hold out another and therefore hoped for an easie Victory But he had no sooner so said but that all they that heard him cried out with one voice to the contrary saying That it was not by any means to be attempted for as much as his best Souldiers were already slain and the greater part of them that were left either sore wounded or brought to that weakness that they were not able to do any more service and that therefore it were better for them to kill one another or else himself to kill them one by one than to expose them to be so shamefully butchered by the Christians In this diversity of opinions Achmetes Bassa the great Champion of the Turks a man reverend and of great authority for his birth years and rare experience in Martial Affairs and one by whom Mahomet had done great matters standing up with pleasing speech calmed his furious mind and with substantial reasons perswaded him to desist from that his intended purpose and to take another surer course as followeth A notable Speech of the great Bassa Achmetes YOUR great Valour and worthy Praises invincible Emperor said he who is able to express the greatness whereof the mind of man cannot conceive and my dull Spirit but wonder at my Tongue faltereth to speak of them neither would this time serve so much as to recount them It is of all men deemed a thing of great honour most dread Soveraign when a Prince hath received a Kingdom from his Ancestors to be able in safety to keep and defend the same greater than this is it honourably to increase and augment it so left but of a small thing by worthy prowess to bring it to the highest type of worldly honour is of all other things the greatest Which most rare excellency all men worthily ascribe unto your perfection and felicity and I of all others can thereof bring the most assured testimony who have oftentimes heard it of mine Ancestors which following the Othoâan Princes out of Asia into Europe that your worthy Predecessors at their first coming into Europe without offence be it said possessed but a corner thereof to whom you afterward by divine appointment succeeding have adjoined so many Provinces Kingdoms and Empires as were tedious to rehearse them For who can worthily express how you have in Europe subdued Constantinople the Imperial City of the East Empire with all Thracia Achaia Grecia Peloponnesus Boeotia Thebes and the noble City of Athens the Mother and Nurse of all good Learning The Empire of Trapezond with the Emperor thereof is by you overthrown The Kingdoms of Servia and Bosna with the Princes of Peloponnesus are by you gloriously vanquished You have at your command twelve Kingdoms in Asia the lesser Pontus Bithynia Cappadocia Paphlagonia Cilicia Pamphilia Lycia Caria Lydia Phrygia Nicomedia and Nicea with the famous City of Prusa Besides these Ionia Doris Smyrna Colophon Ephesus Miletum Halicarnassus Pergamus with the Country of Taurica are under your Subjection The great Country of Armenia hath felt your force The Islands of Lesbos Chios and Euboea are parts of your
Court four Epirot Mamalukes who grieved to see Tomombeius contrary to their desires preferred to the Kingdom by others of a contrary faction whether it were upon a malitious disposition or upon hope of reward and better entertainment or for that in so great a declination of their Kingdom they thought it good to seek for new friends of more assurance fled secretly to Sinan Bassa as to a most famous Captain and one of their own Nation For this great Commander Sinan Selymus his right hand was born in a poor Country Village of Epirus in the Mountain Country of Ambracia whom a wonderful mischance preferred to that height of credit and wealth for it is reported that a Sow kept in the House wherein he was Born bit off his Genitors being then but a Child as he lay by chance sleeping in the shadow and being made of a greater esteem by that mishap was by them which took up delicate Minions from the Turkish Emperor brought to Constantinople and presented to the great Emperor Mahomet Selymus his Grandfather where fortunâ by the fatal direction of his good hap advanced him to his appointed honors whom she had long before dismembred By these fugitive Mamalukes Selymus and Sinan were instructed of all the devices of the Enemy and especially what stratogems Tomombeius had with great cunning and policy devised whereinto they must needs fall if they should go directly on and not forsake the high-way Wherefore guided by the same Fugitives they fetcht a great compass on the left hand and by an unused way before it was day having escaped the front of their Enemies Camp with all the dangers prepared for them they came and shewed themselves at their backs in order of Battel with their great Artillery ready bent because they were desirous without delay to joyn Battel Tomombeius now too late perceiving that his Plot was discovered by the Treason of some of his own People although he was therewith above measure grieved for that all that he had with so great industry and the labour of so many Men brought to pass was through spiteful fortune made frustrate and in a moment brought to nought yet for all that he was a Man of an invincible courage presently entred into his wonted and deep devices and calling to him his chief Commanders quickly told them what he would have done Now in this short moment of time he was to do many things at once the signal was to be given for the Souldiers to mount their Horses and to make themselves ready the order of his Camp was to be changed his Battel to be ordered his Souldiers to be encouraged and all his great Ordnance as the case required quite the contrary way to be turned all which things as they could but hardly and troublesomely by one Commander be directed so were they hastily and disorderly at once done by many But above all other things the great concourse of people for turning and removing the great Artillery most troubled the well ordering of the rest for many of them were huge Iron pieces of great weight made fast in Stocks of Wood with Rings and iron Clasps after the old and rude manner of ship Ordnance which for their exceeding and ponderous weight could not be out of their places removed but by the strength of many Horses and the great labour of Men with leavers and rouls put under them and such as were mounted upon Carriages when they were drawn through all parts of the Camp with the great clamour of the disordered and hasty People some drawing some thrusting forward the same with their tumultuous stir and doings wonderfully troubled the other Souldiers as they were mounting to Horse and repairing toward their Ensigns But two things marvellously helped these difficulties the Souldiers cheerfulness and constancy which was such as passeth credit for they did not upon any apprehension of fear fail either in hope or courage as oftentimes it hapneth in suddain accidents wherein even the old approved Souldiers do many times fail of their wonted valour And although they were twice overcome in Battel yet still they were of greater spirit and confidence as Men destitute neither of courage or skill but only of fortune Wherefore Tomombeius having with much ado ordered this Battel and his Souldiers with great cheerfulness desiring the signal to be given commanded all the multitude of his Arabians to compass in the wings of the Enemies Battel behind and so to skirmish with them that so if it were possible the Turks Horsemen might with the danger of the doubtful fight with such an uncertain Enemy be disordered before he set forward to charge them with his Troops and withal commanded his great Ordnance which was now turned upon the Enemy to be presently discharged So did the Turks likewise discharging at once from a convenient distance both their greater and smaller Ordnance and speedily recharging them brought them within an Arrow shot so that for a good space they lay beating the one the other on both sides with their great Artillery only in which manner of fight the Egyptian Canoniers were almost all slain and many of their Field-pieces broken by force of the Enemies shot For Selymus had in his Camp many excellent and skilful Canoniers whom he had with great entertainment allured out of Italy and Germany and especially of those refuse Jews which by the zeal of King Ferdinand being driven out of Spain afterwards to the shame of the Christians dispersed those rare and deadly devices through the East The chief of these Canoniers was one Iacobus e Rogio Lepidi a cunning Engineer who but a little before overcome by the Turks rewards abjuring the Christian Religion revolted unto the Mahometan Superstition But after that the Mamalukes had brought the matter to Battel on both sides they gave out a most hideous and dreadful cry and with exceeding fury assailed the Turks in three places for Selymus still keeping his wonted order approached his Enemies with his Battel in form of an half Moon Mustapha Bassa had the leading of the Asian Horsemen in the right wing and Ionuses Bassa of the Europeians in the left he himself stood in the main Battel with the Squadron of his trusty Janizaries and great store of Artillery but Sinan the Eunuch Bassa General of the Field led after him a great number of most valiant Horsemen drawn out of every Troop to be ready against all the uncertain events that might happen in the Battel unto whom he joyned five hundred Harquebusiers Janizaries Men of wonderful courage and activity selected out of Selymus his own Squadron to relieve such part of the Army as should chance to be most pressed by the Enemy So almost at one time whilst Tomombeius stood in the main Battel against Selymus and the Wings of the Mamalukes with equal Battel encountred the Wings of the Turks and the Arabians also valiantly charging them in the rereward as they had in charge four
of the Rhodians that he seemed to make no doubt of the good success of that War presumptuously affirming that upon the first landing of Solymans great Army they of the Rhodes would without delay yield themselves and their City into his hands Amongst others of great experience whose opinion Solyman was desirous to have before he would take so great a matter in hand was the famous Pirat Cortug-Ogli a Man of a mischievous and cruel Nature but of great experience in Sea matters Who presented to Solyman by Mustapha and Ferhates two of the greatest Bassaes going before him after due reverence done and commanded to deliver his opinion spake unto Solyman as followeth The greatness of your deserts most mighty and puissant Emperor maketh me being by you so commanded at this time frankly to speak what I think may be for the glory and honour both of your Majesty and Empire I daily hear the pitiful lamentation of the miserable People of Mitylene Euboea Peloponesus Achaia Caria Lycia and all alongst the Sea Coast of Syria and Egypt bewailing the spoil of their Countries the ransacking of their Cities the taking away of their Cattel and People with other infinite and incredible Calamities which they daily suffer of the crossed Rhodian Pyrats no Man withstanding them Many a time have these wretched People holden up their Hands to me for help most instantly requesting me to be a mean for them to your Imperial Majesty whereby they might be protâcted from the injury rapine and slaughter of these cruel Rovers Wherefore in their behalf I beseech your sacred Majesty by the most reverend Name of the holy Prophet Mahomet and by your own most heroical Disposition to deliver your afflicted Subjects from these their most cruel Enemies and at length to set them free from the fury captivity and fear of these Pyrats more grievous unto them than death it self and consider with your self that this injury and insolency tendeth not so much to the hurt of your poor Subjects and oppressed People in private as to the dishonour and disgrace of your Imperial Name and Dignity which if any other Christian King or Prince should offer your Majesty I know would not suffer unrevenged And will you then suffer these Robbers Cut-throats base People gathered out of all the Corners of Christendom to wast your Countries spoil your Cities murther your People and trouble all your Seas For who can pass by Sea to Tripolis Damasco Alexandria Caire Chalcide Lesbos Chios nay unto this your Imperial City of Constantinople without most certain and manifest danger of these Rovers What have we heard every Spring this many years but that the Rhodians had taken some one or other of your Ports led away your People into most miserable Captivity and carried away with them the rich spoils of your Countries And that which is of all other things most dishonourable this they do under your nose and in your sight in the midst and heart of your Empire Pardon me I beseech you most Mighty Emperor if I too plainly speak what I think For whatsoever I say I say it to no other end bât that you should now at length do that which should many years ago have been done We your most Loyal Subjects may not nor ought not for the increase of our Mahometan Religion and for the enlarging of your Empire and Honour to refuse to adventure our Goods our Bodies our Lives to all hazard and danger without exception If you likewise be carried with love of Glory and Renown or ravished with the desire of never dying Fame in what Wars can you more easily gain the same or better imploy us your Servants than in vanquishing and subduing the Rhodes the reputed Bulwark of Christendom which only keâpeth us from their Countries But some will perhaps say your Ancestors have in former times unfortunately attempted that City so did they also Belgrade in Hungary yet hath your happy Fortune to your immortal Fame brought the same under your subjection being far more strongly fortified than it was in times past and do you then despair of the Rhodes Cast off such vain and needless misdoubt The Turkish Empire-hath always grown by adventures and honourable attempts Therefore make hast to besiege it both by Sea and Land. If your Subjects mourning under the heavy burthen of the Christian Captivity built it with their own Hands for the Christians cannot they now at liberty desirous of revenge and fitted with opportunity with like hands destroy the same If it please you to vouchsafe but to look into the matter most dread Sovereign you shall see that there is a divine occasion by the procurement of our great Prophet Mahomet presented unto your most Sacred Majesty now that the Christians of the West are at discord and mortal War amongst themselves Your Majesty is not ignorant that in mannaging of Wars the opportunity of the time is especially to be followed and that when occasion serveth all remisness and delay is to be carefully avoided the changes of times are most fickle and if you suffer your good hap now to pass over you shall perhaps in vain afterwards pursue the same when it is fled and gone Solyman by Nature an ambitious young Prince prickt forward thus also by the perswasions of Cortug-Ogli and others seeking their further credit and preferment by fitting his ambitious humor but most of all by thâ instigation of the Bassa Mustapha resolved to go in person himself against the Rhodes And first to make some proof of what spirit and courage Villerius the new chosen Great Master was of in whose sufficiency the greatest part of the defence of the City was supposed to consist to him by way of a little cold Friendship he sent a Messenger with this short Letter thus directed Solyman by the grace of God King of Kings Lord of Lords greatest Emperor of Constantinople and Trapezond most Mighty King of Persia Arabia Syria and Egypt Lord of Asia and Europe Prince of Mecha and Aleppo Ruler of Ierusalem and Master of the Universal Sea To the reverend Father Philippus Villerius Liladamus Great Master of the Rhodes and Legate of Asia Greeting I am glad of thy Kingdom and new promotion which I wish thou mayest long and happily enjoy for that I hope thou wilt in Honour and Fidelity exceed all them which before thee Ruled in the Rhodes from whom as my Ancestors have withdrawn their hand so I after their example joyn with thee in amity and friendship Ioy thou therefore my Friend and in my behalf rejoyce of my Victory and Triumph also for this last Summer passing over Danubius with Ensigns displayed I there expected the Hungarian King who I thought would have given me Battel I took from him by strong hand Belgrade the strongest City of his Kingdom with other strong holds thereabouts and having with Fire and Sword destroyed much People and carried away many more into Captivity as a triumphant Conqueror breaking up
and Valor moved with a chosen Company of Footmen and certain Troops of Horsemen suddainly set upon the Turks in divers places dispersed abroad far into the Country with such a terrible cry of the Country People and Instruments of War that the Turks being therewith amazed ran away as if they had been mad and were many of them slain without resistance and had not the Gallies lien near the Shore to receive them that were able to flie thither there had not one of them which landed escaped the hands of the Island People The Turks having received this loss left the Island and put to Sea again The Rhodians for the most part now assured and out of doubt of the coming of the Turks by the perswasion of Gabriel Pomerolus Vicemaster and other men of great experience pluckt down the Suburbs of the City and laid them even with the ground their pleasant Orchards also and Gardens near to the City they utterly destroyed the Great Master for example sake beginning first with his own being a place of great delicacy lying under the Walls near to the French Bulwark and taking into the City all such things as they thought needful for the induring of the Siege they utterly destroyed all the rest were it never so pleasant or commodious within a mile of the Town leaving all that space as even and as bare as they could possibly make it to the intent thaâââe Enemy at his coming should find nothing neaâ the City whereof to make use But whilst the pleasures and delights of the Suburbs are thus in defacing another more heavy and woful sight presented unto the Eyes of the Citizens filled the City with greater mourning and pensiveness than did the coming of the Enemy The miserable multitude of the poor Country People some bringing Wood some Corn some Cattel some Fouls and other such necessaries as they had out of the Country into the City for so the Great Master had commanded after whom followed great numbers of Women and Children weeping with dischiveled hair scratching their faces and tearing themselves after the manner of the Country wringing their Hands and casting up their Eyes to Heaven beseeching God with heavy countenance and floods of Tears to defend the noble City of the Rhodes and themselves from the fury of their Enemies Which multitude of Country People with their Provision being packt up into narrow rooms in the Houses of the Citizens and their Cattel starving for want of Fodder afterwards corrupted the Air whereof insued rotten Agues and the Flux during the time of the Siege But after the City was given up such a Plague and Mortality followed as destroyed great numbers of the Turks and poor Christians which knowing not whether to go chose rather there to die than to forsake their native Country The General of the Turkish Fleet which landed in the Island of Chos and was of purpose sent by Solyman to provoke the Rhodians to Battel at Sea before he with his whole power came to besiege the Island came dayly with twenty Gallies half those narrow Seas over betwixt Lycia and the Rhodes leaving the rest of his Fleet riding at Anchor at the Promontary called Gnidum not far from the City of Rhodes ready to aid him as need should require this manner of bravery he used many days together hoping thereby to allure the Rhodians out of their Haven to give him Battel knowing that if he should therein obtain the Victory it were at that time little less than the taking of the City or if he could by cruel fight but weaken the Forces of the Rhodians he should therein do his Master good service and greatly further his Victory by diminishing the number of the Defendants When he had many days without intermission in this proud manner come half Seas over and sometimes passing further came and lay at the mouth of the Haven as it were daring them to fight the Rhodians not wont to be so braved at their own doors moved with the intollerable insolency of this proud Turk by their continual importunity caused the Great Master to call a Counsel to consider whether they should fight with this Fleet of the Turks or not The Counsellors by the appointment of the Great Master assembled the Chancellor a man of great Authority and Spirit famous for his noble Acts both at home and abroad and chief of them which were of opinion this Fleet of the Turks was to be fought withal said So great disgrace was not longer to be suffered but presently revenged For said he the huge Fleet of the Turks I do not say at whose force and fight but at whose very name many men do tremble and quake which for all that is unto us no great novelty for every year we hear of the like is as a head to be joyned unto these pyratical Gallies as Members and then will it be most expedient which will be a most easie thing for us to do having the better both for strength of shipping and number and valor of men to give that great head such a blow and wound by cutting off these limbs that it shall ever after stagger and faint for want of strength or else there is no other Fleet at all prepared against us to follow this and then this discomfited we shall be at quiet Which thing in my judgment though others which fear their own shadows and the falling of Heaven say otherwise is most like to be true for the great Turk is not so sottish to come hither the fittest time of the year being so far spent in the latter end of June to besiege this City and such a City as he knoweth to be most strâng wanting nothing that is needful and throughly manned with valiant Souldiers from whencâ his Ancestors have been with loss and shame repulsed when as the remainder of the Summer will be spent before he can encamp himself and place his batteries and Winter time as you know is unfit for every Siege especially in this Island wherein they can find no Haven or Harbor to rest in Wherefore on God his name let us set upon our proud Enemies and let us not for a few threatning words sent unto us from a fearful youth upon a fineness and policy lest we shâuld follow the tail of his Fleet bound for some other place sit still like Cowards within our Walls with our hands in our bosoms as men which for fear and dred durst not shew their heads Which our Cowardise and want of Courage we forsooth call Fabius his policy But I would to God we were like Fabius but I fear we shall prove more like Antiochus the Etolians the Vitellians all whose courage consisted in words vainly hoping to gain the Victory by sitting still and wishing well But the help of God is not to be gotten with Womens Prayers and Supplications or these faint-hearted Policies which Cowards call advised counsel but Victory is gained by adventuring and exposing
his defence and quarrel to adventure their lives And but a little before a certain Spaniard being but a common Souldier coming into the Generals Tent and casting the like Bread down at the feet of Vastius bitterly cursing the Emperor and King Ferdinand had raised a wonderful Tumult wherefore the Italian Souldiers flocking together out of their Tents gave many hard Speeches concerning their Pay their Victuals and the difficulties of the Hungarian War. There one Titus Marconius of Volattera a Man of a troublesome Spirit but reasonably well spoken was by the other Souldiers set up upon a great heap of Saddles that he might be the better heard and by divers seditious Captains requested frankly to speak his mind so far as he thought concerned the safety and welfare of them all Where it is reported that he spake unto them in this seditious manner as followeth And shall the Spaniards said he beloved Companions and Fellows in Arms as you have heard go into Italy And to our great hurt again return into their old Wintering places And that which I am ashamed to say as notable Guests lie with our Wives And we Italians as banished Men fight this Winter with Ice and Snow in Hungary And that forsooth for a most beggarly King and him also to the Hungarians a Forreigner and meer Stranger against a natural born Prince of his Subjects well beloved and strongly backt with the power and wealth of the Turkish Emperor And that which might justly grieve any couragious mind under the conduct of Maramaldus who oftentimes blinded with anger and hasty cruelty hath so furiously thrust us through with his Sword that he seemeth not more to desire the name of a Captain for any thing than for the killing and murthering of us now his Souldiers Neither can I believe that you who have oftentimes been Captains and Antients âour selves will be so mad as to serve under a common Captain without hope of any Pay of any Provision of Victory or return Truly it delighteth me not so much to have come hither for the honour of the Italian Name no more reckoned of than a Rush although I have eleven times served as it doth this day ashame me to see thâs shameful end of the War ended before it was well begun But in Regal Dignity is no shame nor equity in rewarding the Souldier for Kings now adays make account of Souldiers only according to their necessity this is it alone that giveth us Pay this is that getteth us love this is it maintaineth our reputation all which Peace once by Victory obtained leese their Grace So fareth it with us at this present Fellow Souldiers the Emperor and âis Brother King Fârdinand delivered from the fear of a most dangerous War to ease themselves of this multitude of us seek to thrust us into Hungary as Beasts to the slaughter by the spending of our Blood hoping to purchase unto themselves Victory and by the loss of us to take no harm themselves though the Turks and Hungarians should with Sword and Famine utterly destroy us shut up with the Ice of Danubius and the Snow of the Alpes But peradventure you understand not these devices no more than you understand what this terrible and bloody Comeâ shooting his Beams towards Italy pretendeth Verily it is not fatal either to Solyman or Caesar but rather threatned unto us death and destruction for they with like counsel full of safety and discretion would not open any way unto their own destinies but warily withdrew themselves one from the other and shunned all the dangers of the Field Wherefore if it were lawful for them without any blemish of their Majesties so notably to provide to keep themselves out of danger when as on each side half the World lay as a reward of the Victory shall not we look to our selves that we be not thrust thither from whence appeareth no hope of return but with utter destruction when as we may do it without âffence and by good right especially seeing no Pay is offered us That you see what a goodly end is made of that notable War wherein only we the Italians in stead of commendation and reward reap injury and disgrace and are peradventure of purpose exiled into Hungary that this flour of Chivalry being drawn out of Italy and sent far out of the way Colonies of Spaniards and Germans may be placed in our steads Truly it seemeth hard dealing to be sent out of the way into a barbarous Country where we shall find all hostility and no place of refuge to receive us being distressed Besides this we shall also whether we will or nâ feel how heavy and intollerable it will be both to our bodies and minds to endure the miseries of this Winter and dangerous War and in the mean time with no small hearts grief imagine what things our Children our Brethren our Kinsmen yea our Wives suffer at home of the Spaniards and Germans Wherefore worthy Companions it concerneth us more at this time to have a good foresight than valiantly to Fight The occasion presented unto us for our safety and welfare standeth upon a fickle point it must be done without delay and we must hie us hence before that the Spaniards truss up their Baggage and so preventing the Emperors formost Companies come first our selves into Italy for if we shall stay but a little to consult upon the matter Vastius and our other proud Commanders will presently be here the very betrayers of the Italian Blood who for their own gain and our mischief have brought us into these straits who I know will most earnestly entreat us and with many subtilties seek to seduce us by offering us great pay and whatsoever else we shall require which will all prove but words But you if you be Men refuse to talk with them as with âour Common Enemies or rather in revenge of their old injuries kill them Here wanteth not in this Assembly valiant Men for courage and integrity of life their betters far which can lead you forth order your Battel and fortunately use this your courage and forwardness Wherefore if you be wise set forward resolutely and good fortune no doubt will attend you in your hast for the full accomplishment of your desire consisteth in your hast only Marconius had no sooner made an end of this mutinous Speech but the tumultuous Souldiers in every Band began highly to commend and approve the same and by and by such a confused noise was heard through all the assembly as useth to rise amongst the discontented vulgar People ready to rise in Arms but the Drums presently striking up a March they made no longer stay but without delay pluckt up their Ensigns and forward they go directly towards Neostat In this tumult in stead of their old Captains which either were not then present or refused to go with them they chose others to be their Leaders who once named by the seditious multitude might
first encounter slew many of his Men. Wherewith the Admiral grievously offended and still landing fresh Men even with his multitude oppressed them of the Island being but in number few and weary of long fight and so enforced them to retire into the City To be revenged of this injury the Bassa caused certain pieces of great Ordnance to be landed and a Battery planted against the City by force whereof he had in short time in divers places opened the Walls and then with all his power assaulting the Breaches forthwith took the City which after he had rifled he burnt it down to the ground rased the Walls and put the Men every Mothers Son to the Sword. As for the Women he gave them without respect unto the lust of his Souldiers and Mariners whom afterwards together with the Boys and young Children he shipped into the Country near unto Athens to be from thence conveyed unto Constantinople into most miserable servitude Aegina thus utterly rased he with much like force and cruelty raged upon them of Paros and the other Islands thereabouts killing the old Men and such as made resistance and thrusting the rest into his Gallies Shortly after he came to the Isle of Naxos where all the Island people were for fear of his coming fled out of the Country into the City where landing his Men he made havock of whatsoever came to his hand And in the mean time sent a Messenger unto the Duke to will him to yield himself and his City into the obedience of the Turkish Emperor Solyman Which Messenger admitted into the City and brought before the Duke in blunt and plain terms without further circumstance delivered his Message thus If thou wilt without more ado yield thy self thy City and Territory to the Constantinopolitan Emperor thou shalt deserve his favour and so save thy self with that thou hast But if thou otherwise advised shalt now refuse this Grace thou shalt never hereafter have the like offer but for ever undo thy self thy Wife and Children thy Citizens and Subjects in general Here is present a most mighty Fleet with most valiant and victorious Souldiers furnished with all the habiliments of War requisite for Battel or Siege Be warned by them of Aegina Paros and other thy neighbour Princes of the Islands Thy hap is good if thou be not misadvised and warned by other Mens harms wilfully refuse to remedy thine own and when thou mightst be safe wilfully cast away thy self Thus said he was commanded by the Duke to stand aside and a while to expect his answer who with the chief of his Subjects there present but much troubled and all full of heaviness and sorrow consulted what answer to make But after they had according to the weightiness of the cause and necessity of time fully debated the matter it was with general consent agreed That forasmuch as they were not themselves of power to withstand so furious an Enemy neither to expect help from others they should therefore yield unto the present necessity which otherwise threatned unto them utter destruction and reserve themselves unto better times Whereupon answer was given unto the Messenger by the Duke That he was ready to yield himself unto Solyman as his Vassal and of him as of his Sovereign to hold his Seigniory for the yearly Tribute of five thousand Ducats Of which offer the Bassa accepted receiving in hand one years Tribute So was that notable Island yielded unto the Turkish obeisance the 11 of November in the year 1537. from whence Lutzis the proud Bassa loaded with the rich Spoil of the Countries and Islands he had passed by returned to Constantinople with his Fleet. Not long after this great Bassa then in credit and authority next unto Solyman himself fell at ods with his Wife Solymans Sister for that he after the unnatural manner of those barbarous People kept in his house a most delicate Youth in whom he took more pleasure than in his Wife Which she being a Woman of great Spirit not able to endure and knowing her Husband by marrying of her to have been from base degree advanced unto the highest Honours the Emperor her Brother could heap upon him in great rage reproved him with most bitter words saying That she had married him to be of him beloved and used as his Wife and not contemptuously abused by his Minions Wherewith the Bassa moved gave her a Blow on the Ear and caused her as a foolish and unquiet Woman to be shut up in her Chamber But she not brooking such abuse came weeping to Solyman her Brother and complaining of her Husband requested to be Divorced from him who made no better reckoning of her And with her complaint so incensed Solyman that he took from him his Seal and thrust him out of all his honourable Promotions and had undoubtedly put him to death had not the remembrance of his old love and friendship staied his fury yet having utterly disgraced him he banished him the Court into Macedoniâ where he spent the remainder of his loathed life like a poor priâate Man of whom Boisardus thus writeth Quae tibi cum molli res est pollute Cynedo Cum cubet in Thalamis regia nympha tuis Ex humili fortuna loco te evexit in altum Ex alto major saepe ruina venit On dainty Boys thou filthy Man why do'st thou fix thine eye Whilst Princely Dame of Royal Blood doth in thy Chamber lie From base estate to honours height blind Fortune did thee call And set thee up with Princes great to work thy greater fall Solyman thus fallen out with the Venetians as is aforesaid to intangle them at once with Wars in divers places commanded his Lieutenants in every place bordering upon any part of the Venetian Seigniory to vex and molest them with all Hostility which they did accordingly In Pelâponnessus Cassimes besieged Mauplium and Epidaurus two strong Cities of the Venetians Barbarussa landing his Men in Dalmatia surprised the ancient City of Botrotus belonging to the Venetians carried away the Citizens and rased the City Obroatium another City of the Venetians in Dalmatia called in ancient time Argirutum with the Castle of Nadin were taken by Ustref Solymans Lieutenant in Illyria The Venetians thus invaded on every side requited them again with the like Pisaurius and Veturius the Venetian Admirals landing their Men besieged Scardona a City of the Turks in the borders of Dalmatia which they took by force put the Turks to the Sword and overthrew the Walls of the City because it should be no more a refuge unto the Turks they also sent one of their Captains called Gabriel Ribeus to besige Obroatium who upon the coming of Amurathes one of Ustref his Captains cowardly fled and in flight lost most of his Men for which his Cowardise Pisaurius caused his head to be struck off aboord the Admiral Galley And Camillus Ursinus appointed by the Venetian State Governour of Iadera
of them he proceeded further in the matter to know his pleasure what he would have done therein cunningly by the way of good Counsel perswading him unto that which he most wished himself to be done Immediately after he secretly advertised M. Antonius the Venetian Embassador That there was great hope of Peace and that therefore the Senate should under the colour of exchanging of Prisoners and redeeming of Merchants Good send some fit Men to Constantinople with whom he would in secret confer of all such matters as might farther the pacification This unexpected news from the Embassador brought to Venice was well heard of the Senate for they thought it much to concern their State to have a way opened whereby upon tolerable conditions to make Peace with the mighty Tyrant if that the League betwixt them and the King of Spain could not be concluded Hereupon they made choice of one Iacobus Ragazonius to go about the matter to Constantinople This Ragazonius was a Man of great spirit and dexterity of Wit to take any matter in hand and of a great reach and deep judgment in the managing thereof and withal exceeding rich and of so good carriage of himself as that he was therefore famous all which things were thought of great moment to win the favour of that covetous and barbarous Nation The Senate although they had not yet made proof what Men thought of the matter yet doubted they not but that upon the report of the sending of this notable Man Men would thereof diversly divine every Man according to his own fantasie and that many of the wiser sort would indeed surmise as the truth was that he was sent for to entreat of Peace although the exchange of Prisoners and redemption of Merchants Goods were the only things were openly pretended and the Senate although they thought it not amiss to have it so understood because such a suspicion was like enough to stir up both the Pope and the Spaniard to accept of such conditions of the desired League as they had before rejected yet lest the hope of the League which they for many causes thought good to cherish thereby cut off might cause the Pope and the Spaniard both to be cold in the matter they certified both them and other Christian Princes of the sending of Ragazonius yet of purpose concealing the secret drift of his going Ragazonius throughly instructed by the Senate was in a Gally conducted to Ragusium which Cassan-Beg the great Bassa Muhametes Son Governor of Liburnia understanding met him upon the Frontiers and told him That he was sent by his Father both to meet him and safe conduct him which the Martial Man contrary to the manner of the Turks courteously performed honourably entertaining him and afterward sending him with a safe Convoy until he was out of all danger Ragazonius coming to Constantinople was there by night secretly received into the City and at first brought into a little base Inn and a Guard set over him that he should speak with no Man. But after three days he was removed to a much better place and presented with divers kinds of dainty Dishes of sundry kinds of Meats The effect of his Message was to try the Turks minds and after conference had with the Embassador to entreat of Peace At length having access to the great Bassa Muhamet after he had delivered unto him as he had in charge his Message concerning the exchange of Prisoners and Merchants Goods Muhamet asked him If he had nothing in charge from the Senate concerning a pacification to be made Whereunto he answered That he had but that he must first speak with the Embassador without whose Advice and Counsel he was not of himself to do any thing At that first encounter the Bassa to terrifie the Messenger declared unto him the innumerable multitude of the Turks Horsemen and Footmen which no Nation as he vainly boasted was able by force or policy to withstand Also his great and invincible Fleets at Sea with whom all the power of the Christians joyned together was not able to encounter and much other such like strength and wealth of his And that the Venetians were now no more able to withstand Selymus than they were in times past to resist his Father and his Ancestors Yet he discoursed of this matter in such sort as not thereby to cut off the hope of the pacification but said That the Venetians should best have provided for the safety of their State if at the first they had listned unto him friendly and faithfully advising them not to have entred into Arms in which doing they shewed more courage than power and that yet as the case now stood and that Selymus was in a most assured hope in short time to become Lord and Master of the whole Island it should be to their great good to prefer the favour and good will of the Turks before War and by the voluntary yielding up of Cyprus gain unto themselves perpetual Peace and Tranquility As for the Isle it self it was not now worth the hazarding of so many dangers being destitute of Inhabitants which were almost all either slain or fled the Cattel driven away the Towns ransackt and burnt and the whole Country of late most pleasant and beautiful now so spoiled and unpeopled that it could not of long time yield unto him that should have it any profit or commodity Ragazonius being a cool and advised Man and withal perceiving that the Bassa was not to be contradicted in his talk so tempered his answer as that he shewed no token of fear neither let any word fall that might offend his ears saying That he was right glad that he had found so much favour in his sight as to have access and leave to talk with so great a Prince who for wisdom and gravity excelled all the rest of the Princes of the great Emperors Court who so far as he might with his Loyalty towards his Sovereign had always most graciously favoured the Venetian State who also not ignorant of the uncertainty of worldly things knew of all others best that on both sides were both Men and Arms and that most mighty Princes had oftentimes with small forces been overthrown the event of things never deceiving Men more than in matters of War no power upon Earth being sure which could not within some bounds contain the strength of it self and that therefore he was in good hope that he so worthy a Man knowing best what belongeth both to Peace and War would devise some such course as might sort to the good and quiet both of the Venetian State and Turkish Empire in which doing he should find sufficient matter for his eternal praise and glory if by his discreet wisdom a pacification might be made Such talk having passed at their first meeting Ragazonius had leave to speak with the Embassador who then lay at Pera under safe keeping In passing over to Pera Ragazonius might see a
Battel it was as he said the part of wise and worthy Commanders to moderate with reason their happy fortunes for that thereunto were incident many accidents whereby their former felicity might be disgraced they had already run alongst the Enemies Coasts spoiled the Frontiers of his Countries and were with much honour and great spoil in safety returned having encreased the Turkish Empire with many strong Towns of the Enemies the Island of Cyprus was with wonderful good fortune brought under the Turks obeisance the Enemies great provision at Sea frustrated in such sort as that having lost divers of their Gallies they were never yet able to draw their Swords they had with their Fleet at their pleasure roamed up and down the Adriatick and displayed their victorious Ensigns almost unto the very City of Venice What could they then devise or wish for more honourable or glorious than with the safety of their Fleet yea without any loss at all to have performed so great matters Now the three general Commanders of the Enemies Fleet to be so at discord among themselves as that they were ready to fall in sunder of themselves who now upon the approach of Winter and for want of Victual must needs in few days return home with their Fleet never after to meet again with the like strength at Sea and therefore to what purpose were it by force of Arms and uncertain Battel with danger to seek for the sovereignty and command of the Sea which would forthwith of it self without any danger fall unto them Neither should they by the doubtful Victory so much encrease their Honour as by the uncertain event of a Battel blemish the same if any thing should fall out otherwise than well And that therefore they should do well to take heed that in seeking to augment their former Victories they hazarded not their Honour already gained but wholsomely delay the War and keep themselves in safety with their Fleet within the Gulf and not to go out at the Enemies pleasure but when they should see good themselves as such time as the Enemy was not so well provided so should they as he said without any great labour or danger attain to the full of their own desires Partau Bassa was of opinion That the Christians would not at all offer him Battel which opinion the Christians had also of him and in this question for giving or not giving of Battel seemed neither to approve nor dislike that Chiroche had so gravely spoken but as a Man indifferent and loath to encur any blame shewed himself ready either to stay or to set forward as should be thought best by the greatest part But Haly Bassa a Man of an hotter spirit and the great Champion of the Turks could not endure to hear of any delay but of present Battel The pleasure of Selymus the hope of Victory the remembrance of the displeasure Pial Bassa had the last year incurred for not giving the Christians Battel enduced him now in no case to refuse Battel but forthwith to go out of the Gulf and to accept thereof if it were offered In which his opinion he was the more confirmed by the relation of Caracoza a famous Pyrat and of great account among the Turks who in a swift Galliot taking view of the Christian Fleet had reported it to be much less than indeed it was deceived as was afterward thought by not taking full view thereof by reason of his posting haste or else blinded by the Island which lying behind the Fleet suffered him not perfectly to descry the same Upon which report there was great rejoycing amongst the Turks who now after their accustomed manner dreamed of nothing but Victory and Spoil So that Haly vainly perswaded that his Fleet was both the greater and stronger would now needs fight in hope that the Christians upon first sight of the Turks Fleet would either retire and save themselves by shameful flight or else in adventuring Battel at so great ods by their foolish hardiness receive a notable overthrow This opinion of the Bassa was also not a little confirmed by the perswasion of Cassanes Barbarussa his Son Uluzales and Chais-Beg Governour of Smyrna all Men of great mark and experience especially in matters at Sea. And although Partau the other Bassa stood wavering as a Man in doubt and Chiroche Governour of Alexandria with Carabuzes Governour of Silicia and Mechmet Governour of Euboea Men of no less worth than the other upon better consideration were of a quite contrary mind for not giving the Christians Battel yet such was the authority of Haly or rather his opportunity forced to his own Destiny that his opinion prevailed so that now out they needs must and fight Albeit the two other Espials sent out after Caracoza and having more perfectly viewed the Fleet returning with speed told the Bassaes as truth was That the Christians very strong and well appointed were coming with Ensigns displayed of purpose to fight and that their Fleet was in number much greater than was before supposed With which news so far contrary to their expectation the Bassaes were exceedingly troubled and demanding whether the formost Gallies were all Venetians or not and being answered that they were intermixt some Venetians some Spanish and of the other Western Countries they began to doubt the worst and became exceeding pensive Nevertheless knowing themselves to be of all things well furnished having now victualled in the Bay of Corinth and there also taken in twelve thousand Janizaries and Spahies drawn out of the Garrisons of Aetolia Acarnania Peloponnesus and the other Countries thereby all resolute Men and four thousand other common Souldiers and that they could not now with their honour shrink back they held it still for the best to hold on their former resolution for the giving of the Christians Battel Yet before their setting forward calling together the Captains and chief Commanders of the Fleet Partau the more to encourage them spake unto them as followeth We are to fight said he Fellows in Arms with that kind of Men whom our Ancestors have driven out of Euboea the Rhodes Mitylene Peloponnesus and Tripolis and we our selves but yesterday out of the famous Island of Cyprus whose Cities and strong Towns in number infinite our Emperor hath as the rewards of his Wars whom we have always vanquished as well by Sea as by Land and shall it then now repent you that you in this War embrued in the Christian Blood have sunk or taken many of their Ships and Gallies That you have carried away great and rich Spoils That you have taken whole Islands and Cities at the first assault That we have by proof shewed unto the World what force is in the Turk to subdue strong Cities and Towns And what little power is in the Christians to defend the same What direction brought us Victory before the same shall also at this present give us the like Not to speak of that that we far
eleven Sons namely Mahamet the eldest of an infirmity in his eyes sirnamed Codabanda a man of a peaceable and quiet disposition more delighted with the sweet pleasure of a contented Life than the careful Honours of so great a Kingdom Ismahel the second Son of a more fierce and troublesome nature so much abhoâring quietness that not regarding the League hardly concluded betwixt his aged Father and the Tuâkish Emperours Solyman and Selymus he would now and then without his Fathers knowledge upon a youthful heat break out into the Frontiers of the Turks Dominions and there make great spoil for which doing although he was both of his Father and the People the more regarded yet was he by his Fathers commandment who in outward shew seemed to mislike of those his youthful pranks tending to the breach of the League restrained of his liberty and sent to the Castle of Cahacha betwixt Tauris and Casbin where he remained at the time of his Fathers death Aidere the third Son no less ambitious than was his Brother Ismahel but not of like valour kept by Zalcan Pyry Mahamet and other his Kinsfolks all men of great Power and Authority The other eight were Mamuâ Solyman Mustapha Emanguli Alichan Amet Abrahim and Ismahel the younger The old King before his death had by his last Will and Testament solemnly appointed Ismahel his second Son to succeed him in the Kingdom as of all his Sons most fit to take upon him so great a charge Which thing Mahamet his elder Brother seem'd not much to dislike contenting himself with such Honours as his Father had before bestow'd upon him Tamas thus dead Ismahel was by the Sultans sent for to Cahacha to take upon him his Fathers Kingdom at Casbin when in the mean time there arose a great tumult in the City yea even in the Kings Palace for Aidere the third Brother who in the time of his Fathers greatest sickness had entred the Chamber where he lay drawing towards his end and in his sight most presumptuously set the Royal Crown upon his head to the manifesting of his ambitious desires for which he was then worthily reproved now after the death of his aged Father carried headlong with the same aspiring humour and supported by Zalcan and other his mighty Favourites had so effectually dealt with the great Lady Periaconcona his eldest Sister and the other Sultans Counsellors of Estate put in trust to see the Will of the dead King put in execution as that the Succession could not be any longer kept from him and preserved for Ismahel but by the help of some fine and secret deceit This Lady Periaconcona elder than all the young Princes the Sons of Tamas her Brethren a Woman of great spirit and deep conceit left in great trust by her Father seeing the proceedings of her Brother Aidere durst neither openly to move any thing unto the Sultans prejudicial to his designs neither could she in her heart indure so great an injury to be done to her Brother Ismahel appointed by his Father to succeed him Wherefore in this perplexity she cast in her wily head how to satisfie her ambitious Brother present how to save the right of Ismahel absent the honour of her dead Father's Will and Testament and the safety of the Kingdom For having thorowly debated the matter with the Sultans she resolved that Aidere invested in Royal Apparel and setled in the great Gallery should attend the acclamation of the People an be theâe openly inthronised as the very elected King. With which vain shew the unwise youth blinded with Ambition suffered himself to be led year 1576 and being set in his Majesty verily persuaded himself that he should now be honoured both of his Friends and Foes as King. But unto these his so hasty and prosperous designs the Success that sprung from the subtilty of those Counsellors and his dissembling Sister were nothing conformable for that she by their advice took order for the gates of the Palace to be presently lock'd leaving at every passage a sure Guard and only one wicket open safely warded with a company of most faithful and valorous Captains and Souldiers wholly devoted to Tamas and Ismahel with straight charge to suffer every man to enter in saving only the known friends of Aidere In this sort did she think to have entertained the young man until such time as Ismahel should arrive at Cahaca and so put in execution what he thought best for the honour of himself and the general quiet of the Kingdom Who joyeth now but Aidere in conceit a King replenished with unwonted joyes receiving honour from all men but his best Friends By means whereof perceiving now the prohibition of them and moved also with the great stir of Zalcan his greatest Favourite who discovering the deceit and crying upon King Aidere threatned the Lady the Sultans and the rest that waited upon the feigned Succession indeed ordained but for the scorn and despight of the ambitious man strucken with an exceeding fear and full of sorrow he withdrew himself closely amongst certain Women in the Court hoping so to find some way to escape with life In the mean time so greatly increased the cries and threatnings of the Friends and Favourites of Aidere who now had all of them prepared themselves for some dangerous and pernicious attempt that the Counsellors with consent of the Lady his Sister were inforced to take order That to bereave this tumultuous and seditious People of all their hope and courage Aidere should be deprived of his Life Whereupon Sahamal the Georgian Uncle to Aidere by the Mothers side by the appointment of the Lady Periaconcona and the Sultans after long search made for him at last found him hidden amongst the Women and without further delay taking him by the locks struck his head from his shoulders and in the place where Zalcan and the rest of his unfortunate Favourites stood crying and threatning amongst the thickest of the prease of the proud Conspirators flung the Head all bloudy and as it were yet breathing for heat crying aloud to them Behold there your King enjoy him at your pleasure At which sudden and horrible Spectacle every man burned in rage and anger neither for the present wanted there many a rash head that vainly threatned most cruel revenge but in the end when they perceived the neer Succession of Ismahel inevitable and the death of Aidere irrevocable every man betook himself to his own private Affairs and so at last divided themselves one from another and so departing from the Palace scattered themselves some one way some another every man as he thought best for his own safety Shortly after Ismahel the desired King arrived at Casbin where he was of his Sister and the Sultans joyfully received as their lawful and undoubted Sovereign and with the great acclamation of the People saluted King who as soon as he saw himself possessed of the Royal Seat and his power
more but to have his Life spared fearfully promising a large ransom for himself and those few which were yet alive with him Howbeit the Vayvod mindful of the manifold Injuries by them done unto him and his Subjects and nothing mitigated or moved with the rich Spoils thrust upon him or the large Promises the Turks had made him commanded all those his Enemies now in Power to be slain every Mothers Son of whom his Souldiers had a wonderful rich spoil although much more was lost in the fire and so giving thanks unto God for the Victory rested with his People a while at quiet Yet within less than a Month after he sent Albertus Kiral his Lieutenant with an Army to Phloch a great open unwalled Town on the farther side of Danubius equally distant from Vrosczok and Nicopolis from whence the Turks oftentimes passing over that frozen River into Valachia had there done great harm which Town not inferiour unto a good City he suddenly surprized and sacked it and put to the Sword all the Inhabitants thereof except such as were before his coming fled And shortly after the more to annoy the Turks marching again over the frozen River to have surprized Hersowa a walled City but one days Journey from Brailoua he was by the way encountred upon the Ice by the Turks whom he there in a great conflict overthrew and having slain many of them and put the rest to flight holding on his intended Journey took that rich City which he rifled and burnt down to the Ground all except the Castle which was yet by the Turks valiantly defended and so with the spoil of the City returned again over the River there to refresh his Souldiers wearied with Labour and the Extremity of the Winter weather And yet not so contented within six days after passing again over the River and having upon the side thereof in a great Battel overthrown the Turks Garrisons took Silistra a great City of Macedonia built by Constantine the Great being the Seat of one of the Turks Sanzacks and well inhabited with rich Merchants which fair City he ransacked and having slain most part of the Inhabitants burnt it down to the Ground as he had the other no less Terror than Grief unto the Turks But whilst the aforesaid Confederation betwixt the Emperour and the Transilvanian Prince was yet in hand and the Troubles in Valachia thus arising Amurath the great Sultan grievously troubled with the Stone and attainted with the falling Sickness his wonted Disease and inwardly also tormented with the late Insolency of the Janizaries and Revolt of the Countries of Transilvania Valachia and Moldavia no small hinderance to the proceeding of his Wars in Hungary as a man both in Soul and Body tormented with great Impatiency and Agony of Mind departed this Life the eighteenth day of Ianuary in the year of our Lord 1595 when he had lived one and fifty or as some say two and fifty years and thereof reigned nineteen At the time of his Death arose such a sudden and terrible Tempest at Constantinople that many thought the World should even presently have been dissolved His dead Body was not long after with great Pomp and Solemnity buried by Mahomet his eldest Son in a Moschy which he himself had before built at Constantinople Christian Princes of the same time with Amurath the Third Emperours of Germany Maximilian the Second 1565. 12. Rodolph the Second 1577. Kings Of England Queen Elizabeth 1558. 45. Of France Charles the Ninth 1560. 14. Henry the Third 1574. 14. Henry the Fourth 1589. Of Scotland James the Sixth 1565. Bishops of Rome Gregory the XIII 1572. 12. Pius the V. 1585. 5. Urban the VII 1590. 12 days Gregory the XIV 1590. 10 months 10 days Innocent the IX 1591. 2 months one day Clement the VIII 1592. ãâ¦ã le virtus non ingens copia rerum ãâã saâiunt magnum non ãâã dextra potens Maximuâât Superunt ãâã qui terriâat Orbem ãâ¦ã âibi gloria tota manat ãâ¦ã alia Sceptra paravit ãâ¦ã maxima quaeque dedit ãâ¦ã multumâe beatus ãâ¦ã terror et ira Dei. ãâ¦ã superbis inani ãâ¦ã miseris numinis ira premat ãâ¦ã magniâni vis SuccuÌbere magnus ãâ¦ã ponderâ pressa ruunt ãâ¦ã âempâra longa 'T is not thy vertue nor thy dread command That makes thee great nor thy victorious hand Ther 's an almighty God who makes thee so From him these glories Achâet on thee flow He in thy infant hands the Scepter plac'd And he thy vigorous youth with honours grac'd Not for thy merittâ he exalted thee But that his Scourge of Vengeance thou shouldst be Boast thou not then of what is not thine owne For he that sett thee up may pull thee downe Be humble in thy most triumphant State For great things sink deprest by their owne weight Nor feed thy self with hopes of endless daies For at Fates Summons thou must goe ãâã waies THE TURKISH HISTORY The Second Uolume Beginning from MAHOMET III. And Continued to this Present Year 1687. THE SIXTH EDITION LONDON Printed for Tho. Basset at the George near St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCLXXXVII Si quid in humanis magnum te reddere possit Quid prohibet magnis nomen inesse âuum Qui subjecta vides tot dissona regna tot urbes Et nulli cedens sceptra superba geris Cum tamen ignores quid sit Sapientia Christi Omnia quae jactas sunt Mahomete nihil If any thing on earth can make man great Great as the greatest art thou Mahomet Who overlookst the World from thy bright Throne And seest the largest part of it thine owne But since the Christian Law thou dost disdeigne Thy labours to be truely Great are all but vaine THE LIFE OF MAHOMET The Third of that Name Seventh Emperour of the Turks year 1595 THE Death of the late great Sultan Amurath was not forthwith made known in the Court but with wonderful secresie concealed not onely for fear of the Ianizaries who in the time of the vacancy of the Empire always do whatsoever pleases themselves but also for that the People having in distrust the fierce Nature of Mahomet Amurath's eldest Son were generally better affected to Amurath the younger Brother a Prince of a more mild spirit and courteous disposition unto whom they in heart wished those stately honours which could by no means without the great wrong and prejudice of his elder Brother and danger of the whole State be given unto him Ten days after came Mahomet in post from Amasia to Constantinople and was there by the great Bassa's and other his mighty Favorites saluted Emperour which done he presently after caused all his Brethren to be invited to a solemn Feast in the Court whereunto they yet ignorant of the death of their Father came cheerfully as men fearing no harm but being come were there all by his commandment most miserably strangled and at once to rid himself of the
accept the same And so prostrate at your Holiness's Feet I most humbly commend me to your Clemency From Zamoschie the tenth of Ianuary 1596. Thus much the great Chancellor in defence of himself and of that he had done in Moldavia which howsoever it contented the Pope well I wot it nothing pleased the Emperour and much less the Transilvanian Prince now not a little weakened by the taking away of the Country of Moldavia from him To end this troublesome year withal many sharp and bloody Skirmishes daily passed in divers Places of those frontier Countries the Turks almost in every Place still going to the worse In the beginning of November Leucowitz Governour of Carolstat the second time surprised Wihitz in the Frontiers of Croatia where these Wars first begun but being not able to take the Castle contented himself as before with the spoil of the City and afterward setting it on fire departed Maximilian also attempted Zolnoc and the Christians in Garrison at Strigonium and Plindenburg now become near Neighbours unto the Turks at Buda did with continual Inrodes not a little molest them both all the latter end of this year and the beginning of the next And the Turks in Braila in Valachia upon the side of Danubius fearing after the flight of Sinan to be besieged by the Vayvod forsook the City and in such haste passed the River that in that tumultuous passage three hundred of them perished Sinan Bassa by the Transilvanian Prince of late driven out of Valachia was not long after sent for to Constantinople but the crafty old Fox not ignorant of the fierce Nature of the great Sultan and warned by the late misery of Ferat found occasions to delay the time so long until that he was sent for again and after that the third time also In the mean while he had so wrought by his mighty Friends in Court and by rich Rewards mightier than they that at his coming to the Court he was there honourably received as the chiefest of the Bassaes and being afterwards offered to be discharged of the Wars as men of above fourscore years old he refused so to be saying That he was born and brought up amongst Souldiers and martial men and so wished among them to dye as not long after he did dying as was thought of conceit of the evil Success he had in his Wars against the Transilvanian Mahomet the Turkish Emperour exceedingly grieved with the loss of so many his Cities and strong Places this year lost as namely Strigonium Vicegrade Siseg Petrinia Lippa Ienna Tergovista Bucharesta Zorza and many others of less Name and both by Letters and Messengers understanding daily of the slaughter of his People and wasting of his Frontiers commanded great Preparation to be made against the next Spring giving it out that he would then in Person himself come down into Hungary with such a Power as never had any his Predecessors the Othoman Kings and Emperors and there take most sharp revenge of all his former Wrongs Nevertheless these his so hasty designs were by the Plague and Famine which then both raged extreamly in most part of his Empire and by other great occurrents of the same time so crossed that by that time the Spring came he scarcely well knew which way to turn himself first For beside these Troubles of the West of themselves enough to have filled his hands the Georgians in the East a warlike People moved with the good Success of the Christians in Valachia and Hungary had taken up Arms against him and the old Persian King but a little before dead had left that great Kingdom to his Son a man of greater Spirit than was like to endure the manifold Injuries before done unto his Father by the Turks to the great dishonour of that Kingdom and prejudice of himself Of which things the Bassa of Tauris gave him ample Intelligence wishing him betimes to provide for such Storms which joyned to the rest filled his Head with many troubled Thoughts whereunto we leave him until the next Spring The Transilvanian Prince careful of his Estate and not a little troubled with the dissevering of Moldavia thought it not unfit for his Affairs now after the flight of Sinan and discomfiture of the Turks to go in Person himself unto the Emperour and to declare unto him the wrong done him by the Polonian and further to confer with him concerning the managing of the Wars against the common Enemy So having put all things in readiness for his Journey he set forward in Ianuary 1596 and by the way of Cassovia year 1596 the fourth of February arrived at Prague in Bohemia where he was by the Emperours appointment most honourably entertained But immediately after his coming thither he fell sick of an Ague which grievously vexed him by the space of three Weeks In the latter end of February having somewhat recovered his Health he went to the Church where after his Devotions done he was by the Dean of the Cathedral Church welcomed with a most eloquent Oration setting forth his worthy Praises and further animating him unto the like Exploits against the common Enemy of all Christianity Whereunto he forthwith answered in Latine so eloquently and so readily that all men marvelled that heard him protesting in his speech That as he and his Subjects had not hitherto spared their Lives or Goods in defence of the common Cause so would they not afterwards spare the same but adventure all for the benefit of the Christian Common-weal well hoping that the Emperour and the other Christian Princes would not as occasion should require be wanting unto him with their Forces or the Clergy with their Prayers which done he doubted not as he said by the Power of God but to obtain more notable Victories than he had yet against the Turks the Enemies of God. Whilst he yet thus lay at the Emperours Court it fortuned that the People called Siculi offended to have their Liberties in some part infringed in the late Assembly of the States holden in Transilvania in December last rise up now in Arms in divers Places refusing to yield their former Obedience to the Prince A matter like enough to have wrought him much trouble and supposed not to have been done without the privity of the Cardinal his Uncle but by the Wisdom and Courage of such as he had in his absence put in trust with the Government of his Country divers of the Ringleaders of this Rebellion were apprehended and in divers sorts executed and three hundred of their Complices to the Terror of their Fellows had their Noses and Ears cut off By which wholesome Severity all those Troubles were appeased and the Country again quieted At the same time also the Transilvanians obtained of the Turks a notable Victory with an exceeding rich booty Mahomet the Turkish Sultan had about this time sent a new Bassa for the Government of Temeswar against whose coming the old Bassa before
places belonging unto his Principality as also to cease from further molesting of his People that were now voluntarily again returned unto his Obedience which his request was neither of the one nor of the other much regarded or hearkened unto For the Emperour upon the first Advertisement of this so great an alteration in Transilvania calling unto him Michael the Vayvod not so much troubled with the strangeness of the matter as for that his Wife and Son whom he had lest as Hostages with Basta were now come into the Hands of the Transilvanians his mortal Enemies and satisfying him in many things that he had before requested took order with him That with all convenient speed returning home again into Valachia where he was now much longed for the People generally disliking of the simple Vayvod by the great Chancellor set over them and gathering together such Power as he could he should joyn himself with Basta his Lieutenant General unto whom he had already sent great Companies both of Horse and Foot for the expulsing of Sigismund out of Transilvania and the reducing again of that Province under his Obeisance Whereupon the Vayvod forthwith returning into Valachia and assembling about ten thousand of his Friends all good and expert Souldiers went to seek for Basta as he had with the Emperour agreed whom he found ready in the field with about twenty thousand Foot and eight thousand Horse but newly departed from Veradinum where mustering their Army they with their united Forces entered into Transilvania there to put in Execution what the Emperour had commanded Where the Vayvod in disdain of the People which loved him not with Fire and Sword wasted all the Country before him as he went not without the great discontment of Basta to whom it seemed not good to make desolate that Country which he was in good hope should in short time be his Lord and Masters the Emperours But Sigismund understanding both of the coming of his Enemies and of the harm they did in his Country rise from Solnock where he lay encamped with his Army and so to hinder their further proceeding went to meet them howbeit being come so near unto them as that he might well discover them he would not come to the trial of a Battel with them which was by them offered but fortified himself in his Trenches so seeking but to delay the time until the coming of the Tartars which were to have come unto him from the Chancellour of Polonia as also of six thousand Turks to have been sent him from the Bassa of Belgrade Where having afterward understood that the Passage of the Tartars to have been sent him was stayed by Don Ferrant Gonzaga the Emperours Lieutenant in the upper Hungary and that the Turks staying at Giula would come no farther except they had their Pay before hand finding himself too weak with his own Power to encounter with his Enemies he rise with his Army with purpose to have retired a little back and to have taken certain strait Passages whereby the Enemy must needs pass so by the Advantage of the place to have holpen his own weak strength But Basta and the Vayvod perceiving his rising whereunto they were still attentive followed him with such speed that they overtook him before he could get thither and so hardly pressed him that needs he must turn his Face and joyn Battel or else suffer his People altogether like Beasts to be slain In which doing albeit that neither he nor his failed to do what was by men to be done for the obtaining of a notable Victory yet such was the Valour of the Souldiers of Basta and the Vayvod that in a great fight having disordered his Foot-men they put them to flight and so cut them all in pieces Which the Prince beholding and not able to remedy the matter betime fled with his Horse-men from the Fury of his Enemies and so retired to the uttermost Confines of Transilvania having in this Battel lost ten thousand of his faithful Souldiers Whereupon Claudiopolis with divers other Cities and Towns of that Country returned again unto the Emperours Obeisance In the prosecuting of this Victory the Vayvod to satisfie the hatred he had of long borne against the Transilvanians did what spoil he could utterly wasting all the Places whereby he passed which Basta not liking requested him to use his Victory with more Modesty and to have more respect to what he did especially unto such Places or Persons as of themselves returned unto the Emperour's Obeisance Whereunto he proudly answered That he would do what he thought good without his Appointment or the Emperour 's either especially in that Country which he had now with his own Sword twice conquered and that therefore Basta might command them that were by him to be commanded as for himself he acknowledged no Sovereignty that either Basta or the Emperour had over him Unto which his so presumptuous a Speech Basta replied not but yet much therewith discontented began to enter into a great Suspicion from what ground those his haughty Conceits easily by his Words to be gathered might grow and so from that time better observing his Proceedings perceived him to have Intelligence with the Turks with purpose to joyn hands with them that so by their help chasing the Imperials out of Transilvania he might hold it to himself as tributary to the Othoman Emperour of all others best able to defend him Which to be true beside divers other strong Presumptions he certainly understood by certain Letters of his written to that purpose intercepted by his Souldiers and brought unto him whereupon he became very pensive and heavy for the great Power the Vayvod was of in those Countries as also for the great Strength he had even then present about him and wherewith he was as it were then guarded So consulting with certain of his Collonels and chief Commanders of his Army what were best to be done in that so dangerous a case whereof so much depended A Wallon Captain offered himself to go into the Vayvod's Camp and there in his own Tent to kill him as a Traitor Which his Offer well liked of and he as ready to perform as he was to promise going into the Vayvod's Camp accompanied with some threescore men and finding him in his Tent boldly stepping to him willed him to yield himself the Emperour's Prisoner whereat he being about to lay his hand upon his Scimitar the Wallon Captain with an Halbard thrust him into the Breast at which very instant another with a Sword at one Blow clave his Head down to the Shoulders an unworthy Death for so worthy a Captain had not Ambition the torment of great Spirits carried him too high with the Wings of immoderate desire beyond the bounds of Loyalty and Reason But there he lieth now dead among his Friends whom the great Turk sometime more feared even in his Palace at Constantinople than he did all the rest of the Emperour's
great Spirit and yet exceeding proud which was the cause that he was both the less beloved and feared of his Subjects in general but especially of the Janizaries and other his Souldiers and men of War who scorning his loose Government and griev'd to see even the greatest Affairs of his State not only imparted to Women but by them managed and over-ruled also as by his Mother the Sultaness his Wife and others not only rebelled against him but were oftentimes in their Rages about to have deposed him He was altogether given to sensuality and voluptuous pleasure the marks whereof he still carried about with him a foul swoln unwealdy and overgrown Body unfit for any Princely Office or Function and a Mind thereto answerable wholly given over unto Idleness Pleasure and Excess no small means for the shortning of his days which he ended with Obloquy unregarded of his Subjects and but of few or none of them lamented He had Issue four Sons and three Daughters married unto three of the great Bassaes. His first and eldest Son was called Mahomet after his own Name whom he caused to be strangled in his own sight upon suspicion of aspiring to the Empire and conspiring with the Rebels in Asia but afterward finding him guiltless caused his Body to be buried in his own Sepulchre and hanged the Bassa that had misinformed him His second Son died a natural Death being yet very young His third Son was Sultan Achmat who succeeded his Father and came to the Empire by the untimely Death of Mahomet his eldest Brother His fourth Son being then a Youth of about sixteen Years old was carefully kept within the Seraglio with such a strait Guard set over him as that his Name was not to be learned even by a good understanding Friend of mine of late lying above three Months together at Constantinople who most curiously enquired after the same having very good means to have learned it He was reported to have been long since murthered howbeit that he of late lived but looking every day to be by his Brothers cruel Commandment strangled which is accounted but a matter of course and a Death hereditary to all the younger male Children of the Othoman Emperours the Policy for the maintenance of their great Empire entire and whole so requiring His dead Body lieth buried at Constantinople in a fair Chappel of white Marble near unto the most famous and beautiful Church of S. Sophia for that only purpose by himself most sumptuously built about fifty foot square with four high small round Towers about the which are certain small round Galleries of Stone from which the Turkish Priests and Church-men at certain hours use to call the People every day to Church for they use no Bells themselves neither will they suffer the Christians to use any But the top of this Chappel is built round like unto the ancient Temples of the Heathen Gods in Rome In the midst of this Chappel being indeed nothing else but this great Sultan's Sepulchre standeth his Tomb which is nothing else but a great Urn or Coffin of fair white Marble wherein lieth his Body covered with a great covering of the same Stone over it made rising in the midst and stooping on each sidâ not much unlike to the Coffins of the ancient Tombs of the Saxon Kings which are to be seen on the North side of the Quire of S. Paul's Church and in other Places of this Land but that this Coffin of the Great Sultan is much greater and more stately than are those of the Saxon Kings it being above five foot high at the end thereof and by little and little falling toward the feet covered with a rich Hearse of Cloth of Gold down to the ground his Turbant standing at his Head and two exceeding great Candles of white Wax about three or four Yards long standing in great brass or silver Candlesticks gilded the one at his Head the other at his Feet which never burn but there stand for shew only all the Floor of the Chappel being covered with Mats and fair Turky Carpets upon them And round about this his Tomb even in the same Chappel are the like Tombs for his Wives and Children but nothing so great and fair Into this Chappel or any other the Turks Churches or Chappels it is not lawful for either Turk or Christian to enter but first he must put off his Shoes leaving them at the Church or Chappel Gate or carrying them in his hand Near unto this Chappel and the great Temple of Sophia are divers other Chappels of the other great Turks as of Sultan Selim this Man 's Grand father with his seven and thirty Children about him of Sultan Amurath this Man's Father with his five and forty Children entombed about him Anâ in other places not far from them are the Chappels and Sepulchres of the rest of the Great Sultans as of Sultan Mahomet the Great of Sultan Bajazet Sultan Selim the first Sultan Solyman all by these great Mahometan Emperours built whose Names they bear And being all of almost one form and fashion have every one of them a fair Hospital adjoyning unto them wherein a great multitude of poor People are daily still relieved Some others of the great Bassaes have their Chappels and Sepulchres with their great and stately Alms-houses also not much inferiour unto those of the great Sultans as namely Ibrahim Bassa of all the Bassaes that ever were amongst the Turks the most magnificent hath his stately Chappel Sepulchre and Alms-Houses near both in Place and Beauty unto that of Solyman's The Turks bury not at all within their Churches neither are any at all buried within the Walls of the City but the great Turkish Emperours themselves with their Wives and Children about them and some few other of their great Bassaes and those only in Chappels by themselves built for that purpose All the rest of the Turks are buried in the Fields some of the better sort in Tombs of Marble but the rest with Tomb-stones laid upon them or with two great Stones the one set up at the head and the other at the feet of every Grave the greatest part of them being of white Marble brought from the Isle of Marmora They will not bury any man where another hath been buried accounting it Impiety to dig up another man's Bones by reason whereof they cover all the best Ground about the City with such great white Stones which for the infinite number of them are thought sufficient to make another Wall about the City But not to stand longer upon the manner of the Turks Burials leaving this great Sultan to rest with his Ancestors let us now prosecute the course of our History Christian Princes of the same time with Mahomet the Third Emperours of Germany Rodolph the Second 1577. Kings Of England Queen Elizabeth 1558. 47. Of France Henry the Fourth 1589. Of Scotland James the Sixth 1567. Bishops of Rome Clement the
whereas they by their general good liking had made choice of him for their Prince and that hitherto he had done nothing without their knowledge and consent and that even now at this present he was by their consent ready to depart from the Castles and free Cities in the upper Hungary and had now sent his Letters unto the Archduke Matthias for the sending of his Deputies to receive them whether he should from thenceforth relinquish the Title of a Prince or not And that for as much as no War could be made without great harm doing that he would therefore for the avoiding of farther troubles about such matters that a Decree should be made That all such Wrongs and Injuries should be forgiven and forgotten and that every man should still hold all such Goods whether they were moveable or immoveable during the time of this late War. He wished them also in the next general Assembly of the States with all their Power and Endeavour to urge the repealing of the Article concerning the burning of Hereticks with all other Articles contrary to their Religion and not to remit any thing concerning the choice of their Palatine as had in former time been used neither in this next general Assembly of the Estates to neglect any thing which might seem to concern their Priviledges and Liberty And that therefore they should be careful to send thither Wise and powerful men such as should not easily be overcome with the Clamours and Out-cries of the contrary Part. At length he wished them to consider of this also how a true and sincere Confederation might be made betwixt Hungary and Transilvania so that a safe and quiet Traffick and Commerce might in both Places be used These things thus done Botscay's sickness still more and more increasing upon him so at length prevailed that it made an end of him to the great sorrow and grief of all the People in general who had him in great Honour and Regard He dyed at Cassovia the Thirtieth of December in the Year 1606. He was honourably descended and a Man of great Spirit Ambitious Wise and Politick a great lover of his Country but an extreme Enemy unto the Germans and their Government in Hungary A little before his Death he earnestly perswaded Iohn Ianusie his Chancellor to continue in his Allegeance to the Emperour and not to raise new stirs or so much as in him was not to suffer any to be raised Nevertheless such his wholesome Counsel not regarded there were some who immediately after his death were about to have raised new Forces for to have seized upon Transilvania and so to have stirred up new Troubles For preventing whereof Matthias the Archduke forthwith sent a Messenger unto the States of the upper Hungary advising them That the great harms and miseries considered which that part of Hungary had of late felt and indured almost to the utter ruine and destruction thereof which proceeded not so much from the Wars with the Turks as from their own civil Tumults and Seditions they should from thenceforth give themselves to Quietness and Peace and not again insolently to prescribe unto the Emperour what to do or how he was to dispose of the Country of Transilvania assuring them that the Emperour would not hereafter wink at such their rebellious Plots and Devices but forthwith turn all his Power and Forces to the utter destruction and rooting out of such rebellious and seditious Persons the disturbers of the common Peace and Quiet By which the Arch-duke's warning some otherwise ready enough to have raised new stirs and troubles were not therein so forward as otherwise haply they would haue been but kept themselves quiet Now many there were and yet are which much marvelled that the Christian Emperour would thus make Peace with the Great Sultan as is aforesaid he being then so much troubled with Wars both against his own Rebels and the Persian King in Asia most part of his Forces being turned that way so that a fitter time or of more advantage could not have been wished for the Emperour to have done great matters against him in and not only to have holden his own which he did not in Hungary but to have recovered some good part of his Losses there before received also And indeed true it is that the time then well served for both but what availeth opportunity without Power And had the Hungarians the greatest strength the Emperour hath hitherto had for the defence of that little which is yet left of that so great a Kingdom been at quiet and at his Command and he himself a Prince which had rested upon his own Strength and Power ever at his pleasure to have been raised and as need should require supplied without depending upon his Friends and Allies then haply it might have been in him accounted a great oversight to have omitted and overslipped so fair an opportunity But the Hungarians being then not only revolted from him but taking part with the Turks and the Turks with them and he of himself with his own Power not able to hold the Field against them or well to maintain a defensive War and his Friends and Allies his wonted and greatest stays then at his greatest need failing of him also what should he in such a case do but as he did to accept of a reasonable Peace whilst he might have it especially against such an Enemy as whose whole Power being turned against him might have easily endangered his whole Estate For it is not reasonably to be thought how the Emperour should of himself without the great Aid of the other Christian Princes his Friends and Allies be able to withstand the huge and dreadful Power of the Othoman Emperour as without ominous Presage be it spoken it is to be feared it will too true appear whensoever his Wars and Troubles in the East being ended he shall again turn his Forces this way toward the West year 1607 Now Botscay was no sooner dead but that some others of the Nobility both of Hungary and Transilvania happily no less ambitious than was he began by divers means to seek after and to aspire to that Principality Of whom though some either with the weakness of their own means or with the threats of Matthias the Archduke deterred ceased farther to seek after it yet were there some others who better supported and nothing afraid of the Arch-duke's great Words laboured under hand to have obtained it For the crossing of whom and the avoiding of farther Troubles to be raised by these ambitious Competitors certain of the Nobility of Transilvania gathered together at Claudianople the Twelfth of February made choice of Sigisâund Ragotsie for their Governour and their Prince of Transilvania and the more to assure him of their love and affection towards him bound themselves unto him by the Oath of their Allegeance solemnly taken in the chief Church there And afterward sent Messengers to the Archduke Matthias at Vienna to
declining of his Fortune let us behold him in his beginning and first rising He was the Son of a Greek Priest born in a little Village near unto Solonica and having been taken by the Tribute which the Turks exact from Christians upon their miserable Children taking one of three he was carried very young to Constantinople and there sold for three Chequines or Sultanins every one of which is not above eight Shillings sterling to an Eunuch of the Sultans who nourished and bred him up till he came to the age of twenty years and afterwards sold him to a Steward of the Sultanaes House to serve him in his charge who finding this Slave to have a Spirit capable of greater Affairs than the Household employed him in the oversight of the building of a rich and stately Mosque which the Sultana caused to be erected at her charge In this place he gave such proof of his Wit and Judgment to the Sultanaes content that soon after she gave him the Government of her Houshold The Sultan had a will to employ him in his Service and retired him from the Sultanaes House into his Seraglio where he was honoured with the charge of the Capigi Bassa or Captain of the Porters or Ushers of the Seraglio from thence he was advanced to the Dignity of the Bassa of Aleppo and soon after he was made Governour General of Mesopotamia The Commodity of his Government frontiring upon Persia stirred up his ambitious Thoughts and his disordinate desire to become Sovereign of that Country and made him to entertain many Practices with the King of Persia an antient Enemy to his Master The report of his Practices came to Constantinople the Sultan is advertised he knows the ambitious and stirring Spirit of this Nassuf and finds that he is very profitable for his Service if he can by any mild course withdraw him from his Disloyalties and Intelligences with the Persian wherefore he dissembled the Knowledge of his treacherous Designs and to gain him the more powerfully he gorged his ambitious Appetite with the greatest Dignity of his Empire After the Death of Murath Bassa he honoured him with the Place of Grand Visier and gave him all his Goods and in his Place made him General of the Army against the Persian with promise to give him his Daughter in Marriage Thus was Nassuf advanced by his Dexterity Wit Diligence and Treachery to the greatest Charges of the greatest Empire of the World. He entered into Persia as Lieutenant General of his Masters Army with the which he made so great a spoil as he forced Ka Abbas King of Persia then reigning to demand a Peace and after that he had granted him a surcease of Arms he brought his Ambassador to Constantinople to conclude this Peace to his Masters benefit as we have formerly observed He enters in Pomp presents a Million of Gold unto his Emperour is well received at the Seraglio much made of by the Bassaes but more by the Sultan who caused him to marry his Daughter Fortune having thus advanced him to the height of Greatness not being possible to climb higher she overthrows him and doth precipitate him to the lowest degrees of Misery The Sultan fears his Spirit too head-strong by reason of his Ambition he grows jealous of his Actions and about the end of the year concludes his Ruine and Death The commandment is given to Bostangi Bassa that is to say the Sultans chief Gardiner and overseer of his Seraglio and all his Houses one of the goodliest Dignities of the Court. Nassuf was at that time sick in his House Bostangi goes thither to visit him and to cause him to be strangled being accompanied only with seven or eight Men for that he would not give any suspition of the commandment he had received from his Master Being come unto his Lodging he demanded to speak with him and Nassuf excused himself by his Servants by reason of the discommodity of his Health but the Bostangi who would needs execute his Commission replied that he could not return to the Sultan who had sent him to have certain News of his Health before he had seen him to be the better assured At this reply Nassuf grew distrustful and would without all doubt have been far from thence in some place of Mesopotamia but believing whatsoever happened to him was inevitable he commanded them to suffer the Bostangi to enter who at his first approach entertained him with many Complements of Courtesie and having demanded some questions of him touching his Health he drew out of his Pocket a commandment from the Sultan to Nassuf to deliver unto him the Seals of the Empire the which being presently done he drew out another commandment unto him by the which he was enjoyned to send him his Head then Nassuf cryed out aloud and desired to speak with the Sultan but the Bostangi answered that he had no Commission to conduct him to the Seraglio but to cause his Life to be taken away presently upon this refusal he intreats him to give him leave to wash himself in the next Chamber to the end that his Soul said he should not depart this World in the Estate of Pollution according to the Turks belief who hold the washing of the Body for a true Purification This Favour was also denied him he saw there was no Remedy in his Misery not any hope of Grace Bostangi Bassa's Followers which were seven or eight Capigies being come to take away his Life and environing his Bed which was an undoubted summons that he must die in the end he resolves and turning himself unto these Executioners he willed them to do their Duties whereupon they fell to work and casting themselves upon him they put a Cord about his Neck and sought to strangle him but seeing that the fatness of his repleat Body would not suffer them to take away his Life presently they cut his Throat with a Knife His Death could not be displeasing to the Christians seeing that all his Designs tended to their Ruine he had perswaded his Master to break the Peace with the Emperour the French King and the Venetians promising him to make him Sovereign Monarch of the whole World to the end he might keep his Spirit in Action and make himself necessary to his Master and live more safely in Combustions than in a Calm whereas the Envy and Malice of his Enemies gave him a thousand furious Assaults Thus Nassuf Bassa ended his Days and Fortune before Governour of Mesopotamia General of an Imperial Army and Grand Visier of the Turkish Empire advanced to these supream Dignities by the great Actions of his Mind but overthrown shamefully to his Ruine by his boundless Ambition Doubtless it is a difficult thing for a Favorite that is insolently audacious to continue long in Grace with his Prince especially when his unrestrained Ambition hath once broken the Bounds which Reason prescribeth to those that Fortune advanceth by
hundred Captives and so retired again to Sea. The rest of their Fleet lay about Vellona in the Gulf which made the Spaniards jealous that the Venetian had been acquainted with this Enterprise And since there is News That the Gallions and Galliots of Algiers have taken Iuisa a small Iland of four miles compass near unto Majorca It is a Place of great Importance for that it hath a Haven able to contain much Shipping for the Guard whereof the King of Spain entertains a great Garrison and it did much annoy them of Algiers They took the Town but it is not yet certain whether they have taken the Castle This is all I could learn of the Turks Affairs since the Year one thousand six hundred and nine untill this present The Reader may observe that since the Reign of Ottoman their first Emperour this great Empire of the Turks is proudly built upon the four Monarchies of the World that is to say of the Assirian Persian Greek and Roman For they injoy Babylon and all Chaldae with the Countrey of the Medes We have seen them in Tauris the Capital City of Persia Greece is subject to the yoke of their Command Constantinople sometimes called New Rome by the transport of the Imperial Seat is now made their Throne and so many Provinces and Realms which in former times depended upon the Roman Empire do now acknowledge their power they are Masters of the Realms of Aegypt and Cyprus the Islands of Rhodes Metelene Negropont Chio and many others acknowledge them the Empire of Trebisond is theirs the Realm of Colchos now called Mingrelia pays them Tribute they of Tunis and Algier in Affrica obey them Dalmatia the Illyrians Tâiballians the Countries of Transilvania Valachia and Molâavia do them Homage and we see them Command even in the chief Towns of the Realms of Hungary But all this Power of the Ottomans had never been so great nor so fearful but by thâ discord division and bad intelligence betwixt Christian Princes as you may read in the Course of this History as well in Greece at Constantinople as in other parts of Europe whereas these Princes contending one with another have furnished matter and means to the Turk to dispossess them of the chief pieces of their Monarchies They measure the continuance of their Empire by the discord betwixt the Princes of the Belief of the Name of Jesus and they confess truely that this Division is the onely cause of their Greatness the which hath made them believe that among Christians there was a bad Angel enemy to peace which they call the stronge or powerful Spirit which kindling the fire of Revenge and Ambition in the Hearts of great Men draws from their Affections the good of their Belief to entertain them in perpetual Discord during the which they promise unto themselves a firm and an assured Reign So the Mufti and the Talismans praying on Friday in their Mosques demand of their Prophet the Circumstance of this bad Intelligence betwixt the Christian Princes to the end they may injoy the Empire which they have unjustly usurped Yet their Prophecies do not promise them a perpetual Possession behold one in their own Tongue which hath always made them fear the union of Christians Patissae homomos ghelur caiferun menleker alur keuzul almai alur kapze iler ie di yladegh Giaur Keleci osikmasse on ikigladegh on laron Begbhgheder Enfi iapar baghi diker bathesai baglar ogli kesi olar onichi ylddensora Hristianon-keleci osechar al Turkci gheressine Tuschure That is to say Our Emperour shall come he shall possess the Realm of an Infidel Prince he shall take the Red Apple and make it subject to his Power if at the seventh Year of his Command the Christians Sword doth not advance he shall Rule unto the twelfth Year he shall build Houses plant Vines compass in Gardens with Hedges and beget Children but after the twelfth Year that he hath held the Red Apple the Christians Sword shall appear and put the Turk to flight By the Infidel Prince they understand a Christian Prince for so they call them and by the Red Apple an Imperial Town strong and important in the which and elsewhere the Turks shall build Houses that is to say convert Holy Temples to the Use of the Mahometan Impiety for by this Word to build they that have Commented upon this Prophesie understand Usurpation of the Houses of God Plant Vines by these Words they signifie the Extent of the Turkish Empire and the settling of their Colonies as we see in Hungary and Transilvania Compassing in Gardens that is to say they shall fortifie the Towns which they have taken from their Enemies Beget Children extend the Mahometan Religion far in the Christians Countries But after the twelfth Year c. within a certain time best known to God his Divine Majesty opening the Eyes of his Clemency upon the Christians will unite the Wills of their Princes kindle their affections with a holy zeal and blessing their Arms will make them victorious over the Turk whom he will banish out of the East and chase into Scythia from whence they came to be a scourge unto Christendom These are my Wishes wherein I hope all good Christians do concurr The Beginning of the Turkish EMPIRE HAving run over the Occurrents which have happened in the Turks Estate for the space of eleven years I must according to Master Knolles his Method conclude the Work with a description of the Grand Seignior's Port or Court of his Government Officers Riches Force and Religion The Turks a People of Scythia having like a violent Deluge overthrown a great part of the East and taken divers Provinces being expelled from Hierusalem by Godfrey of Bouillon and the Christians their remainder retired to Nicea where they lived without any head or sovereign Commander until that Ottoman about the Year of our Redeemer one thousand three hundred by Practice made himself sole and absolute Monarch His Son conquering divers Provinces removed his Imperial Seat to Prusia now called Bursia the chief Abode of the Kings of Bythinia Amurath the First being drawn in by the Emperour of Constantinople to succour him and allured with the Wealth of Europe turned his Arms against him taking divers Provinces and Towns from him amongst others Adrianopolis which he made the Seat and residence of the Turkish Emperours in the Year one thousand three hundred sixty three But Mahomet the Second having taken the City of Constantinople and expelled the Emperour in the Year one thousand four hundred fifty three he made it the Royal Seat of the Othomans for which he had great reason being one of the fairest and sweetest Seats of the World. Constantinople hath in circuit by the opinion of some Writers fifteen or sixteen miles and is called by the Turks themselves Stambull or Stambolda the Sea beating upon it upon the North and South sides Towards the East it is divided from Asia by
unreasonable Howsoever the Complaints were many and great yet the King of Poland's Ministers found no redress for those their alledged Wrongs but were answered That the Tartars were absolute Lords over themselves and that they pretended to have an annual Tribute of forty thousand Dollars from the King of Poland which being denied them they had reason so to do and that the Grand Seignior could only intreat but not command them to surcease The Tartars seeing the Polack thus slighted at the Port grew more insolent and outrageous wherewith the Turks were well content for the great benefit they received by Slaves which were continually brought to be sold in their Dominions finding for the most part that those men had able Bodies and fit to be applied to the Oar. It is true that the Chrim-Tartars in antient time being so near Neighbours were wont to receive such a sum from the Crown of Poland for which they were obliged to serve in every occasion of War. But of later years that payment discontinued because they rather received hurt than any assistance of that vagabond and predatory People When the Cossacks saw that after so many Complaints they could not live in quiet not procure Restitution of their Wrongs nor take their Revenge upon the Tartar being a flitting and fugitive People year 1620 who had no certain place of abode they resolved to fall into the Dominions of the Grand Seignior who seemed if not to protect yet to connive at Injuries they received from these their Neighbours The Cossacks then that inhabited upon the Banks of the River Boristhenes which emptieth it self into the Black Sea were conjectured to be fittest for the Execution of this Revenge and therefore they prepared a great number of well armed Barques and falling down the said River did very great damage to the Turk by robbing burning and spoiling divers Towns and Villages bordering upon the Black Sea. This News being brought to Constantinople the Grand Seignior took it in great scorn that such a base and rude People should come and affront him so near his Doors Therefore he caused some Gallies to be armed forth with speed to suppress them but his Forces were four or five times valiantly repulsed and still the Cossack went safely home with his Prey Now the tide of Affairs was turned and this great Emperour who was formerly petitioned bâ the Polack is now become a Suitor to him himself and finds his Ministers measured by the answer the Grand Seignior had given concerning the Wrongs done by the Tartars That though the Cossacks adhere to the Crown of Poland yet they are free People of themselves but when the Tartar shall cease from his Hostility it is like enough the Pole will intreat the Cossack to do the same and that is all the Authority he can exercise over them Affairs standing thus no accommodation for Wrongs on either side could be made and the Grand Seignior although he was but now fifteen years of age yet was he strong vigorous and of a high Spirit and more than desirous of a War but especially with the King of Poland from whom he looked for better Satisfaction This desire was nourished in him by the Counsels of Ali Bassa Great Visier and notwithstanding it was utterly disliked by all the rest of the Ministers of State and Officers of War in that Empire A War was nevertheless thereupon proclaimed throughout all the Turks Dominions which did in general displease the common Souldier also The Grand Seignior the four and twentieth of April commanded payment to be made to all the Souldiery year 1621 and the day following caused all his Tents and Pavilions with those of his Visiers and other Officers to be solemnly pitched without the City with those of all Trades that were to attend his Royal Camp. The Grand Seignior having now gathered of Foot and Horse three hundred thousand though reported to be six hundred thousand set forward together with his Court and Train out of Constantinople the Nine and twentieth of April with three hundred Field-pieces beside an hundred double Cannon sent unto the Frontiers by Sea leaving Achmet Bassa and the Bostangi Bassa Governours of the City till his return When he was arrived at the Confines of Poland he first attempted the Fortress of Cotyn in the Province of Moldavia lately given by Gasparo Gratiani to the Polacks The which being strong of Scituation and well furnished for defence the Turk finding it difficult to carry in few days left it besieged and passing the River of Boristhine found there the Chancellor of Poland intrench'd upon the borders in a strong Place and of good advantage kept with forty thousand Polacks and Cossacks and eight thousand High Dutch sent by the Emperour in Aid of the King of Poland The Prince was incamped at Caminitza and strongly intrenched with sixty thousand Souldiers the King abiding in Cracovia with the Nobility and his Court. The Grand Seignior facing the Trenches upon Boristhine with the multitude of his Army inclosed them round and shut up all the Passages sending presently the Prince of the Tartars Ieanbeagh-Ghiray-Han with thirty thousand light-horse to make Incursions within the heart of Poland who did great spoil and brought away Captives twenty five thousand Souls of all sorts which dammage did not so much proceed from the Will of the Prince as from a Captain of his a Nobleman of Tartary called Kante-Emir-Emirze in great Favour at that time with the Emperour for it was thought that between the King of Poland and the Prince of Tartary there was some secret Intelligence by the virtue of Money During the space of four and thirty days that the Grand Seignior held these Trenches besieged almost every other day he gave them terrible assaults but was alway forced to retire with loss The Polack in bravery making some sallies and encounters were also glad to recover their strength only once they so far advanced in the Evening with their shot upon the quarter of the Janizaries that they made a great Execution and almost put the whole Camp into disorder and as the Turks themselves did confess if this sally had been given in the Night it had hazarded the Confusion of the whole Army All which being seen by the Grand Seignior and little hope of advancing further for divers reasons he was enforced to treat a Cessation of Arms with the Chancellor The first was That considering he had spent so much time without any advantage and the Winter approaching whereby his Army suffered great Extremities of Cold and other Miseries by reason of terrible Rains which had carried away divers Tents Horses and other Cattel and some part of his Cannons Secondly the provision of fodder was become so dear that divers forsook their Horses for want of means to feed them besides the great Mortality of Men of Fluxes Feavets and Colds and the Horses of Asia not used to such a Climate that many Men of Quality that came out with
Colledge where Mustapha was kept and there in Tears made them an Oration offering great Recompence repenting of his Error and finally invoked them by the Merits of his Father and all his Ancestors to have some pity upon their true Master The Multitude tam prona in misericordiam quam immodica saevitia fuerat sometimes as prone to pity as they were before to hatred now knew not what to do a silent murmur now ran among them and they were half converted but the Aga of the Janizaries thinking to merit of the King and beginning to plead unseasonably for him with some harsh words of upbraidure ut natura maris omni flatu venti turbida as the Nature of the Sea is to swell with every blast of Wind anew moved their Fury so that they cried out Treason and fell upon him and Huzein Bassa and cut them into pieces every man taking a part of their Flesh to satiate their Revenge The Mufti would speak but was withdrawn by some for respect to his Place and with Difficulty was conveyed away Now the poor Osman saw his Friends slain and knew not which way to convert himself but binding up his Eyes with a Napkin expected Death as the last of their Fury But they carried him first before Mustapha and accused him as the Disturber of the Peace of the Empire and demanded sentence against him More vulgi suum quisque flagitium alijs objectans The forsaken Prince pleaded for Life and the new King knew not how to condemn but nodded and agreed to all that was propounded At last they consulted with themselves and put him upon an Horse an insolent Spahi changing Turbants with him and sent him away Prisoner to the seven Towers under good Guard in his Passage begging a draught of Water at a Fountain and then returned to their new Master and placed him in the Seraglio and Imperial Throne where he had need to have good Broaths and Nourishment to restore his decayed Body The Souldiers now thought all was done and only sacking the Houses of Huzein Bassa and some others their conceived Enemies returned in quiet to their several Lodgings and had no further Malice But the new Visier Daout Bassa made by Mustapha knew well if Osman lived that this storm might pass over and he would as easily and by the same means return to his estate as he fell from it vulgus ut mos est cujusque novi motus cupidum Therefore he consulted with some few interessed in Mustapha's Preferment and thereby obnoxious to Osman to search how many of the Royal Blood were left alive and resolved if there remained two to make an end of Osman Two of his Brothers were found the one about twelve the other about seven years of Age and thereupon the Visier went himself to the Prison with a pack of Hangmen and gave order to strangle the unfortunate Prince who now having had no rest in two Nights and thinking himself secure for a season was newly fall'n asleep but awaked by the coming of these Messengers asked What News saying he did not like their sudden Intrusion They at first stood amazed and the King made shew to defend himself But a strong Knave struck him on the Head with a Battle-ax and the rest leaping upon him strangled him with much ado Thus one of the greatest Monarchs in the World was first affronted by mutined Troops his own Slaves almost unarmed and few in number no man taking up a Sword to defend him and they who began this madness not meaning to hurt him by the increase of their own Fury which had no bounds deposed him against their own purpose and at last exposed his Life against their Will to the Counsels of other men whom they equally hated And now they mourned for their dead King as freshly as they raged unreasonably knowing they had stained their Honour being the first of their Emperours they ever betrayed and that they had set up another that in all likelyhood they must change for disability Nunquam tulit documenta sors majora quam fragili loco starent superbi This was the last Act of the Life of Sultan Osman but his Intents and great Designs which drew upon him this fatal blow will not be unworthy the Communication the Practises Reasons Secrets and Counsels of all Actions being the Soul of History and res gestae but the bare Carkass and as many Ages have not produced so strange an Example of the incertainty of humane Greatness so in the disposition thereof and in the ways leading thereunto there was seen evidently the wonderful Providence of God in confounding the Counsels of the worldly wise who had laid a Foundation of new greatness whereby this Prince aspired the universal Monarchy And lastly the World may see upon how weak Foundations this Monarchy was at first builded how easily it was now shaken and corrupted how their Kings are subject to the Rage of a few Slaves how Anarchy hath prepared it an easie prey to any able hand that would attempt it From the Invasion of Poland all these changes took their beginning Sultan Osman advanced to the Throne in his Youth full of heaâ and Blood being of a great and haughty Spirit very courageous strong of Body and a mortal hater of Christians envious of the Glory of his Ancestors and ambitious to raise his Name above any of theirs had projected in himself the Conquest of the remains of the bordering Europe But to so great Designs he had one Vice that resisted all hope of Prosperity which was extream Avarice unnatural to Youth and a symptom of the decrepit Age of Monarchy Vbi vires luxu corrumpebantur contra veterem discipliinam instituta majorum apud quos virtute quà m pecunia res militaris melius stetit His first Enterprise was that of Poland moved by the Incursions of the Cossacks which then he undertook of his own Head without the Counsel of any of his Visiers who in a Tyranny grown to the height by Ease and Wealth are ever corrupt and lazy and against the liking of all the Souldiers who contrary to their Institution being married and Fathers of Families entered into Trades receiving nothing in War more than in Peace besides Danger and Travel are not easily drawn from their own Chimnies This Action he thought so easie as he had disposed of his Conquest and divided the live Lyons Skin But being met upon the Borders with a poor Army in Comparison he was first arrested at Chotyn a little Fortress which he was fain to leave behind him untaken and then seeking to advance into the plain Country by forcing the Trenches of the Chancellor of Poland opposed against him he could never procure his Janizaries to fight though ingaging his Person once or twice beyond the regard of his Quality and his own Troops ready to mutiny against him and to forsake him he was at last inforced to raise shamefully his Camp and to accept of
any Treaty to save his outward Honour In this attempt he lost above an 100000 horses for want of Fodder and eighty thousand men for want of fighting for they would rather dye running or pillaging or eating than in the face of the Enemy For this disgrace he conceived so inward and rooted an indignation against the Janizaries and so justly that he often lamented himself and complained he was no King that was subject to his own Slaves upon whom he spent great Treasures and yet they would neither fight in War nor obey in Peace without exacting new Bounties and Priviledges Delauir Bassa a man of great Wit and Courage lately called from the Eastern Parts where he had long governed with honour who came in though late yet in a very brave and warlike Equipage above all other his Captains was suddenly made great Vizier the former Huzein Bassa being in the same disgrace common with the Souldier though not in the same fault This man was never bred at Court but had lived many years in action and so had neither faction nor dependance at the Port but stood upon himself and his own merit and being now unexpectedly advanced to this high Dignity he wrought upon the King 's discontent and nourished it and in conclusion brake with him That it was true he was no Emperour nor could be safely alive while the Janizaries had the Power which they lately usurped informing him That they were corrupted from their antient Institution and were lazy Cowards given over to Ease and lust Et animi per libidines corrupti nihil honestum inerat But if his Majesty would pull up his Spirits and follow his Advice he would provide him a new Souldiery about Damascus Coords of Men ever bred in the frontier with hardness and War of great Courage and Experience and that of them he should erect a new Militia that should wholly depend on him entertaining only 40000 in pay which should alway be his Guard and that in the Distribution of every Province he should constitute that the Beglerbeg in his Government should train some of the Inhabitants who in all occasions of making a great Army should be in readiness and thereby he should spare infinite Treasures spent upon these drones that eat up his Estate and with Men of new Spirits and Hopes he should be enabled to do greater matters than any of his Ancestors but withal he desired the King to communicate this Counseâ to no man nor to trust his Life upon anothers secresie Delauir Bassa never revealing himself to any but the King who extreamly pleased with this advice that flattered his own humour consented and remitted all to the Visiers direction who was a true Souldier and a very wise man able by his Credit in Asia to perform all he had undertaken for he was exceedingly beloved in those parts very rich and had kept Damascus whereof he was Governour for himself in a late Rebellion Upon this Conclusion between them it was first agreed That the King should pretend to go in Person either to visit Mecha or against the Emir de Sidon who was moved to take Arms really to assist in the design but they used it to colour the departure of the Emperour which when it was well weighed was found that then the Army of the Janizaries must be kept together which could not agree with their ends Hereupon the Journey of the Pilgrimage was divulged That the King might under the Shadow of an holy Devotion go out with a small Train and disperse those who were suspected to him And for this Preparation was made but somewhat too grosly by melting of all the Plate Saddles furniture of House Lamps of Churches and whatsoever could more easily be conveyed away in Metal with all the Jewels and Treasury This gave the first suspition which was confirmed by divers unadvised words let fall from the King of disdain against the Cowardise of the Janizâries and that he would shortly find himself Souldiers that should whip them and lastly dismissing all his Houshold except some few elect the discontented sort observed this and betrayed him Delauir Bassa kept his own secret and in the mean time prepared by his Friends in Asia ten thousand men about Damascus ten thousand from the Coords besides those in readiness of the Emir de Sidon and all upon pretence of defending the Borders of Persia who might make some advantage of the changes in those parts and gave order That all these should meet the King at Damascus where he would presently cut off his Guard and stay there until he had regulated his new Army and Discipline and then to return triumphant to Constantinople and utterly root out the order of Janizaries Spahies and Timariots and to exauctorate all their Captains and Officers to settle a new Government and to change the Name of the City And these things succeeding he then resolved with his new Souldiers to attempt the recovery of his Honour in Christendom in the mean time to hold a dissembled Friendship there in all parts Certainly this was a brave and well-grounded design and of great consequence for renewing of that decayed Empire languishing under the Insolencies of lazy Slaves if God had not destroyed it it being very true That the Turkish Emperour stands at the Devotion of his own Troops foâ Peace or War Life or Death and is in effect nothing but the Steward or Treasurer of the Janizaries If this project had taken effect what events it might have produced by a Civil War is not easie to judge For doubtless the Souldiery would have set up another King and maintained him as well as they could and the European part had been in danger to have been torn away by the division Besides Delauir Bassa having the King and the Treasury in his Possession and his own credit so great and his Inclination velle imperare so willing to bear rule once discovered it might well be thought that he had some ends of his own to share a part of this mighty Estate if on the other side the Visier had proved true and faithful the reformation and new erection of the Discipline of War and the increase of Treasure consequent to the dismission of the old Militia would have been fearful to all Christendom but ubi est sapiens ubi disquisitor saeculi hujus Perdam sapientiam sapientum vanam reddam intelligentiam intelligentium It is a great question whether then was the wiser wish That these Counsels had succeeded or not for either division and subversion or a new prosperity and enlargement of their Dominion had necessarily followed Some Observations upon this Occasion will not be impertinent to those that desire to know as well the Disposition and use as the things themselves First in the purpose of the Souldier not at all to violate or hurt the King much less to depose and murder him but only to take away those about him whom they thought assistants in this
Fleet for defence of Candia Foscolo who had been General in Dalmatia being sent thither with title of Generalissimo in the place of Mocânigo But these Dissentions amongst the Turks according to their usual Custom lasting not long before they came to a Conclusion year 1651. by the entire destruction of one of the Parties the Chief Ministers began to reassume again the thoughts of prosecuting the War in Candia and to send Recruits to reinforce the Army under the Command of Chusaein Pasha who was returned with new Forces and Courage to assault the City of Candia At this time a certain Greek pretending to be a Person of Quality and discontented with the Turks fled from them to the Christians where being received with all kind and obliging entertainment he had thereby liberty of seeing and visiting all the Fortifications of the Place After he had observed and discovered as much as he desired this traiterous Fugitive fled again to the Turkish Camp where he revealed what places were most strong or best fortified and where the Town was weakest and most easily to be assaulted The Venetian General being awakened at this Discovery and considering the numbers of his People to be few in respect of the Enemy and that the Outworks could not be maintained without a more numerous Garison he resolved to destroy some of those Forts and accordingly blew up with Mines four Bastions which being at a distance could not be relieved without much danger The Turks hereby making conjectures of the weakness of the besieged cheerfully assaulted the Fort of St. Demetrio thinking to carry it without much trouble but contrary to their expectation they encountred so bold a resistance that they lost three thousand Men on the Place At Constantinople they were still so intent to carry on this War that having prepared and laden on the Fleet great quantities of Granadoes Bomboes and Mortar-pieces with other Fire-works the Captain-Pasha with hopes agreeable to his Force set forth to Sea with eleven hundred Sail consisting of Gallies Ships Galleasses Saiques Brigantines and smaller Vessels with resolution to engage the Venetian Fleet whose Commanders also were equally desirous and ready to consent with them to a Battel On the 7 th of Iuly the Venetians being at an Anchor in the Port of St. Ermina discovered the Turkish Fleet to which as they were much inferiour in number so they were superiour to them in the agreement and experience of their Commanders The Turks having passed forward on their way the Venetians pursued them and the better to draw them to a Battel Mocenigo ordered two Ships commanded by Barbaro and Dolphino to cross the Turks at the point of the Island and his Vice-Admiral Bataggio with four Ships to engage the main Body of the the Turkish Fleet to whose assistance many other Vessels coming in he so rudely treated several Gallies that they were forced to seek harbour in the Port of Chios now Scio with the loss of Mahomet Pasha of Anatolia who was sent to succeed in the Office of Chusaein Pasha the General of Candia but Night coming on the rest of the Fleet retreated to the Isles of Naxia and Paros On the tenth day the Turks having watered their Fleet gave a signal of defiance to the Venetians by discharge of two pieces of Cannon and the Venetians accepting the Challenge both Fleets gave a furious charge one to the other but the Turks were not able to withstand the Courage and Skilfulness of the Venetians for the Captain-Pasha having lost many of his Men and the Poop of his Gally being carried away with a Cannon-shot the whole Fleet was put into Disorder and then unto flight so that the Gallies began to employ themselves in toaing the Ships But one of their Mahones being separated from the rest was assaulted by two Galleasses and some Ships and finding none to come in for Succour the Captain was killed with four hundred Souldiers and two hundred were taken Prisoners In the mean time Mocenigo the General gave chase to the Gallies which two to a Ship were toaing the heavier Vessels as fast as they could but being hardly pursued were forced to cast off the Hauser and shift for themselves as well as they were able The Turkish Ships seeing themselves thus abandoned fired whole Broad-sides upon the Enemy but the Venetian Gallies leaving their own Ships astern that they might pursue their advantage Querini boarded a Great Galleass called the Soltana upon which were three hundred Souldiers who offered to surrender upon promise of Quarter for their Lives But the Christian Souldiers heated with fight and not then understanding any thing of Conditions desperately boarded the Vessel whereby the Turks being reduced to an extremity of despair gave fire to the Powder and therewith carried as well the Vanquishers as the Vanquished into the other World. According to this example four other Vessels burnt themselves one of 60 brass Guns and three others of 40 to 44. Fifteen Vessels of the Starboard Wing saved themselves by good sailing Of the Larboard Wing Captain Nicolo a Renegado with his Ship was taken by the Admiral of the Galleasses likewise another Great Vessel by Lazaro Mocenigo and another by Proveditor Melino In short there was not one Vessel which remained in sight of the Venetians which was not either taken sunk or burnt Notwithstanding all which considering the Vessels which were escaped and the 3 thousand Men which the Turks had landed at Naxia in order to their being transported unto Candia the Victory seemed to be very imperfect wherefore the Venetians attending another encounter with the Turkish Fleet did happily meet them in a few days after and being encouraged with the late Success as the Enemy was low in their Spirits and Resolution they bravely attaqued the Turks and took 39 Gallies 23 Ships three Galleasses together with the three thousand Souldiers which were then embarked from Naxia Those which escaped took Refuge in the Port of Rhodes After this great loss the Turks entertained no great Designs of the Conquest of Candia but only to conserve Canea and the footing that they had won in that Island nor did ever the Turks after this dare to stand a formal Battel with the Venetians at Sea but rather contriving to escape than to fight did ever after build light Gallies for transporting of Men and Ammunition with intention to wage their War only at Land and not at Sea it being a saying ever after common in their Mouths That God had given the Sea to Christians and the Earth to the Turks To these ill Successes abroad were added great Dissentions at Home for the mutinous Spahees in Asia having united into a strong Body marched towards Constantinople to join with their other Brethren in those Parts The Janisaries on the other side not less diligent to oppose their Enemy to revenge the Outrages committed on their Brethren whom the Spahees had ill-treated having cut off the Noses and Ears of several of
which came thither to refresh themselves the Pasha was so enraged thereat that he caused his Souldiers to put Man Woman and Child to the Sword throughout the Village And in this manner the Affairs of the Turks remained in the greatest Confusion imaginable through the whole course of this Year 1658. ANNO 1659. NOr did this Year begin with better Omens of Success for to the other Dangers was added a Report that the Persian had taken the Field with two hundred thousand Men for recovery of Bagdat year 1659. or Babylon which was the ancient Patrimony of his Forefathers so that the Grand Signior being rendred thereby more willing to agree and accommodate Affairs with the Pasha proffered to him the Government of the Province of Soria for ever paying only a yearly Homage of an hundred thousand Sultanees in lieu of three hundred thousand which that Country always yielded But the Pride of the Pasha scorned a Proffer of so mean a Consideration having nothing less in his Thoughts than the entire enjoyment of the Empire or at least to partake an equal share thereof with the Sultan For the Hopes of the Pasha encreasing with his Army which was now grown to eighty thousand Men he took up for some days his Head-quarters near the Fortress of Tocacaia within ten days march of Smyrna and thence approaching towards Constantinople the chief Ministers concluded that there was no other Safety but in their Arms and that the Pasha was not to be reduced to any terms of Gentleness or Moderation Accordingly the Great Vizier passed into Asia with a numerous Army and speedily joined Battel with the Pasha which continued for some Hours with great slaughter on one side and the other but at length the fortune of the Day turned in favour of the Pasha and the Vizier's Army being routed he lost all his Cannon and Baggage and he himself was forced to save himself in the Neighbouring Countries where not being pursued by the Pasha he had time again to collect his torn and scattered Troops The News hereof multiplied the Disorders and Confusions at Constantinople to which being added the Motion of the Persians and that they were to join with the Pasha as also some Troubles in Transylvania caused by the unquiet Spirit of Ragotski together with the ill Humour of the Male-contents in the City made all things appear with equal or greater Danger at Home than Abroad Wherefore as the ultimate Remedy of these imminent Dangers it was resolved that the Grand Signior should go in Person to the War on supposition that Reverence to his Royal Person would produce that awe on the Spirits of his Subjects which was not to be effected by Violence or force of Arms. According to this Resolution the Grand Signior passed into Asia and joining his Forces with those of the Vizier composed an Army of seventy thousand Foot and thirty thousand Horse with which marching boldly towards the Enemy the Heart of the Pasha began to fail him so that calling a Council of his Officers he proposed his Inclinations towards Terms of Agreement rather than to hazard all on the Uncertainties of a Battel the Spirits of the Souldiery being now become tractable by the appearance of so great a Force assented to the Proposition and thereupon Articles being speedily drawn up were sent to the Grand Signior for his Approbation who though he would not seem to refuse any thing therein contained yet declined a personal Treaty as being a Matter too mean for his Imperial Person to capitulate with his Vassals and therefore ordered that Mortaza Pasha should Treat in his behalf promising to confirm whatsoever Act Mortaza Pasha should conclude in this Matter Mortaza being thus made Plenipotentiary refused to treat with the Pasha until such time as he had retreated with his Army at a distance of some days March from the Grand Signior's Camp which being performed near a Town called Alexandria he foolishly suffered himself to be separated in a private Place from his Army on pretence that Peace was more aptly concluded in a free Retirement than under the consâraint and force of the Souldiery Here Mortaza meeting the Pasha forcibly strangled him with seventeen of his Complices whom he had brought with him for Witnesses to his Capitulations with the Grand Signior With the news hereof the Army of the Pasha soon disbanded every one with shame and silence shifting for himself retired to his own Country and Home And herewith easily ended this Civil War almost in a moment which but now threatned the Extirpation of the Ottoman Race The cruel Vizier retained his thoughts of Revenge which we shall shortly hear in what manner he vented on the great Spahees and rich Men in Asia who had joined themselves with the Pasha in this Rebellion This good Service promoted Mortaza and rendred him more considerable to the Grand Signior so that he was employed in the Assistance of the Tartars against Ragotski in Transylvania and afterwards preferred to the important Charge of Bagdat or Babylon of whose Success and Fate we we shall hear in the Sequal of a few Years But as yet the Commotions of Asia were not so wholly extinguished but that the Nephew of the Pasha of Aleppo in revenge of the treacherous Death of his Uncle took up Arms and was followed by the People of the Territories depending on Aleppo To his Assistance came in also the Son of Chusaein Pasha late General in Candia whom the cruel Vizier had put to death notwithstanding the merit of his late Services which might seem to atone for his former Misfortunes and make satisfaction for non-compliance with Instructions but this Vizier who never pardoned any Person would not begin with an Act of Clemency towards one who was none of his Creatures or Confidents depending on him To these joined the Bey of Torgue who casting off his Obedience to the Pasha of Cairo entred into the Cabal with ten thousand Horse so that a formidable Army being composed by this Union gave a new Subject of Fear and Apprehension at Constantinople But the Great Vizier so dextrously managed his Affair by sowing Dissention between the Chiefs and bestowing Largesses on the Souldiery that the Army unsensibly mouldred away leaving their Generals and Commanders to shift for themselves and exposing them to the Justice of a Vizier who was unacquainted with Mercy and never pardoned any who was either guilty of a Fault or supected for it Towards the end of this Year the Vizier built the lower Forts which are scituated at the entrance into the Dardanelles commonly called by the name of the Queen-Mother's Castles And dispatched a Chaous to the Pasha of Canea to put all things in a Readiness for the Siege of Candia Orders were also given to the Pashaws of the Inland Countries to prepare themselves for the Wars against Dalmatia and Transilvania ANNO 1660. THE Rendezvous of the Army being appointed at Belgrade the Vizier hastened thither in Person to quicken the
until it dissolves them into Showers or precipitates them into the abyss of all Confusion This George Ragotzki was of a tall and well proportioned Stature black Hair and a frisled Beard his Eyes quick and lively of an active Body and healthy Constitution his Spirit was high and great which betrayed him to Extravagancies his Comportment was generous and courteous towards all which rendered him exceedingly beloved and esteemed by his Nobility he was free in his Speech and eloquent in his Expressions prudent in his Counsels and Enterprizes had not the quickness and vivacity of his Soul made him something rash and violent in his Attempts he was of the Protestant Religion leaving behind him a Widow and a Son of hopeful and happy endowments After the Death of Ragotzki it might well be expected that these Storms of War should be dispersed and that Transilvania should at length enjoy the Sun-shine and calmer Weather of Peace and Repose But Ali Pasha General of the Turkish Camp being by this time arrived the Consines with his powerful Army resolved not to return empty or in vain without advantaging the Ottoman Interest and making some Satisfaction towards the Expence and Trouble of so great an Army Wherefore taking pretence against Varadin for receiving Ragotzki after his Defeat abetting his party and following his Interest designed to summon that important Fortress to surrender which is situated at the âoot of those Mountains which open a Passage into Transilvania The Inhabitants of Varadin terrified at the approach of this formidable Enemy dispatched a Messenger to the Emperor imploring with most effectual Arguments his Sacred Protection and powerful Assistance against the common Enemy to Christendom representing to his Cesarean Majesty how that the Turks in their Capitulations with him had agreed to Build or Erect no new Fort on those Frontiers and whereas it was the same thing to force and usurp a Fortress already made as to form a new one the taking of Varadin was to be esteemed a real Violation of the Articles of Peace That his Majesty would be pleased to reflect on the fatal Consequences which the loss of Varadin might prove to Hungary as well as Transilvania being that Gate which obstructed cuts off all Intercourse between them and Germany These Considerations with several others were exceeding prevalent in the Imperial Council so that it was resolved that General Souches should prepare his Army and put all things in readiness to afford the Assistance which was desired supposing that with the German Regiments and Hungarian Forces might be formed an Army of about 25. thousand fighting men But in regard in those Instructions given to Souches there was a Clause that he should be careful not to engage his Forces in any attempt where the event might be doubtful he assembled the principal Persons of that Country and the Militia to consult whether succor and relief might be given to Varadin without hazarding the Army in a doubtful and a dangerous Adventure in consideration of which point a true Computation being made of all the Imperial Forces they were found much inferior to that calculate which was made of them at Vienna For that since Tockai Zatmar Kalo and other places belonging to the State of Ragotzki had been Gaââsoned by German Soldiers there remained not of them above 4000. effective Men the Hungarian Forces which were supposed to have consisted of 2000. Men could not form 600. the Haiducks which were computed to be 6000. Men did not appear in the Person of one being all dispersed and retired to their own homes The additional Forces from the Princes of the Empire were as uncertain as the Expectation of them long and tedious for tho the Imperial Forces united are of puissance sufficient to bid Battel and Defiance to the numerous Troops of the Ottoman Power yet in regard the Union of that Body depends on the Assembly of Diets Treaties and long Debates which are subject to time and delays caused by different Factions which are impossible to be avoided amongst different States whose Disunions Competitions Emulations and Pretences always in such meetings abound and prejudice the common cause and benefit of the Empire the raising of such a formidable Army becomes a matter always of time and difficulty Howsoever the Emperor whose Hereditary and Elective Possessions bordering on the Confines of the Enemy is necessarily engaged to be the standing Bulwark of the rest and a Bank against the Inundation of barbarous Nations whilst other Princes whose Dominions are more Remote and Secure apprehend not the Premures and Storms that the Emperor sustains and is enforced to expel with the loss and diminution of his own People and impoverishment of his peculiar Treasure To these Considerations which rendered these pious Intentions towards Varadin almost impossible there wanted Money which is the Sinews of War and the Soul of all Enterprizes And that which farther retarded those Succors and Prosecution of the design in hand was the departure o His Cesarean Majesty from his Court at Vienna on occasion of a Progress as far as Trieste to take Homage of his Provinces of Stiria Carinthia and Cragno which was an Action much against the Counsel and Advice of the Arch-Duke Leopold his Uncle who foresaw how great disorders would ensue by the Emperors absence in this Conjuncture from his Imperial Court. Upon which Considerations Count Souches sent a true List of all his Forces with an account of the strength of his Enemy remonstrating that it was impossible to convey Forces into Varadin without hazarding a Battel with Ali Pasha which would prove an absolute Breach of the Peace which in this Conjuncture and want of Preparation was neither honourable nor safe for the Empire In the mean time Ali Pasha proceeded and encamped with his Army before Varadin breaking first Ground the 4 th of Iuly 1660. and beginning a formal Siege he soon begirt the Town and continually labouring in making Trenches Batteries and Approaches they arrived in a few days to the Counterscrap of the Wall. But the better to describe the Siege and Assaults on this famous City it will be necessary first to explain the Condition and Scituation of the place Varadin therefore is seated in a Plain on the Banks of the River Chryse to the East it is environed with such craggy and rough Mountains as render it almost on that side unaccessible to the South the Town extended it self most to the North it is washed with the River over which some small yet fruitful Hills raise themselves it is encompassed with a Wall filled with Earth after the fashion of Modern Fortifications and strengthened with five main Bulwarks and a very deep Ditch filled with the River Water It was well provided both of Victuals and Ammunition and armed with Ordnance both great and small as was sufficient to have repulsed a puissant Enemy have sustain'd a long strait Siege But the Garison within consisted only of 850 Soldiers
whence this humour of the Gr. Signior proceeded nor ignorant what ill Consequences such petty matters might produce wherefore he resolved if possible to reconcile the favour and good will of the Valede or Queen Mother but all his Addresses it seems were returned fruitless so difficult was it to appease the Malice of a feminââe Spirit and this malice She so ill concealed that it was often said by Turks of Quality and Judgment That the Great Viziers Mother who entertained a Familiarity with Spirits as they believed had by their Enchantments procured the Office of Vizier for her Husband and Son successively and prevailed still to preserve her Son in the favour of his Master yet could not by force of Magick get Power or Dominion over the Valede No Spells it seems had virtue enough to qualifie the Spirit of that angry Iuno Some hereupon judged that the Vizier might have thoughts to make Resignation of his Office and to content himself with some Pashalick of a higher and more eminent Degree but Apprehensions and Jealousies of their Dangers and his own natural Ambition soon stifled those Considerations resolving to continue his Charge in Opposition to all the Difficulties and Dangers he might encounter And perhaps he gave himself the same Counsel which the Vitellian Soldiers did to their General Nihil atrocius eventurum quam in quod sponte ruant morindum victis moriendum deditis id solum referre novissimum Spiritum per ludibrium contumelias effundant an per Virtutem Men who must dye whether they yield or are conquered by force have the same Fate all the difference is that the one dies with Valour and Reputation the other with Reproach and Cowardice But to execute this stout Counsel with Prudence and Wisdom he conceived it necessary if possible to reconcile the sincere Friendship of Samozade the Reis Effendi or Chief Secretary of State a Person the best practised of any in the Affairs and Nogotiations of the Ottoman Empire and one much in the Esteem and Favour of the Queen Mother and in order thereunto treats him with more Familiarity and Condescension than was ordinary or by many judged agreeable to the Greatness of a Grand Vizier for always when he came into his Presence he arose up calling him secretly Father Tutor and Companion in supporting the Burden of the weighty Government and such other Compellations as the Grand Signior vouchsafed only to the Vizier for tho this Reis Effendi was of the greatest Abilities and this present Vizier the most youthful and unexperienced of later Times yet it may be accounted one special mark and token of his Prudence in knowing how to elect so useful a Friend and of his Policy in procuring his sincere faithfulness towards him and making him really his own To which end he conversed much with him communicated all his thoughts freely demanded his advice received his private Entertainments and in fine was wanting in no points of affable Courtesy and Compliance whereby he might create him his own contenting for some time himself with the name of Vizier tho the other as one who best knew how to manage it enjoyed the Power The Chief Officers of the Seraglio instigated by the Queen Mother to diminish something the Power of the Vizier put often the Grand Signior in mind as a matter agreeable to his Dignity to have a regard to his Government which caused him more frequently than his humour served to betake himself to his Choisk over against the Viziers Gate to make his usual Observations and perceiving some Christians to enter the Court with red Calpacks or Caps and yellow Shooes prohibited to Christians by orders of inferior Magistrates but never until now thought worthy the Imperal Observance immediately called for the Subashee or Constable of Constantinople and from the Window commanded him with great Fury to enter the Viziers Court and such Christians as he should find there with yellow Shooes and red Caps he should first beat and then send uncovered and barefooted home The Subashee armed with a Power in this matter as high as the Viziers entered the House without Complement or Licence and encountring first the Kapikahya's or Agents of Moldavia and Valachia negotiating the Affairs of their Prince and Country he rudely layed them down and without Respect to their Persons or Office beat them on the Feet tore off their red Stockins and Caps and sent them home with their Heads and Feet bare derided by the People and lamenting the Affliction of that Tyranny to which they were subjected This inhumane Treatment of Persons in a manner sacred was seconded by publick Proclamations strictly prohâbiting all Christians from wearing red Caps yellow Shooes scarlet Vests and the like and Ianizaries from the use of Hanjars or Daggers and silk Tuâbants upon pain of Death which Order was so strictly enjoyned that the Corners of every Street were furnished with Officers to observe and punish such as were found to offend The Grand Signior himself judged also the Execution of this Order of that importance as to deserve his own proper Care and Inspection wherefore walking abroad as his manner was in disguise with his Executioner at hand encountred in the Streets an unfortunate Bridegroom an Armenian who that day on priviledge of his Espousals had adventured to dress himself with yellow leathern Soks nothing was or could have time to be pleaded in his behalf before the fatal Blow was struck which sent him to his Grave instead of his Nupital Bed. This fury continued some few days with much rigour and strict observation but afterwards growing cold again all care was neglected happening herein as commonly it doth in all things which have no other foundation than humour and fancy But this inspection into petty matters did not so much disturb the thoughts of the Vizier as did the power and greatness of Mortaza the Pasha of Babylon by the Turks called Bagdat a person of an undaunted Courage and greate Conduct whom he had hitherto suffered to live contrary to the true knowledge of his interest and the Rules his Father had left him wherefore he resolved to renew his design and attempts against his Life one I remember was in December of the past Year when in our Journey to Adrianople we met a Messenger on the way who amongst other Discourses informed us that he was then going to Bablyon for confirmation of Mortaza and as a testimony of the G. Signiors favour and good will towards him he carried him a Sword and a Vest of Sables we immediatly and that truly guessed for what Present the Sword was sent for in some Months after the Chaons-bashee or chief of the Pursuivants returned without delivery of his Present For the wise Mortaza was so justly Jealous that he would not so much as admit him to his Presence but returned him again with his Sword and Sables for those who were more easy and credulous and who believe to dye
Horse and Dragoons come in to their assistance by whose Resolution they not only routed the Turk but took the Palancha which was the Defence of the Bridg and having gained it in hot Blood put all to Fire and Sword after which Fire being set to the Bridg in divers places in a short time it was consumed and remained in Ashes The news of this Exploit was received at Vienna with great Joy believing that for the following Year they had disappointed the Turks of a Passage but by the sequel it will appear how much they erred in the account made of the Diligence of the Turks who in forty days repaired that which they esteemed a work of some Years and as I observed it was all built of new Timber and on another Foundation different from the old From this place Serini marched to Quinque Ecclesiae or Five Kirk at whose near approach the Turks set out a white Flag on one of the Towers signifying a desire of Parly as if they had had intentions to surrender on Terms and Articles of Agreement the Christians with this Confidence marched near the Walls where the Turks espying their Advantage on their Enemies now under command of their Guns fired upon them and did severe Execution killing amongst others several principal Officers of which were General Hammerling and Count Harberstein which perfidious Action so transported Serini that he resolved on a furious Assault and performed it with that Gallantry that on the 5 th of February he took the Town by Storm and Force of Arms and in Recompence of their treacherous Stratagem put all the Inhabitants to the Sword and gave up the Town to the Pillage and Plunder of the Souldiery and aâtewards setting it on Fire rendred it the most horrid Spectacle of Fire and Sword that had as yet been seen or known in this present War. These Successes of Serini gained him the Reputation of a valiant and fortunate Prince and his liberal hand in frankly bestowing the Booty and Pillages amongst the Soldiery invited great numbers to follow his Banner His active Spirit and Vigilance gained him likewise a Reputation amongst the Turks that their principal Fear and Dread was of Serin-Ogli as of a watchful and politick Enemy for in every place he made great Havock and Spoil being reported to have laden two thousand five hundred Carts with Slaves Goods and Ammunition and to carry with him an hundred fifty five Pieces of Cannon taken out of small Forts and Palancha's and to have laid waste all the Country between the Dravus and the Danube In these Incursions and victorious and dreadful Travels through the Enemies Country the valiant Serini at length arrived at Sigeth a Fortress consisting of a new and old Town conjoyned by a Bridg which crosses a famous Marsh or Fen ennobled by the Attempt made thereon by Solyman the Magnificent in the year 1565. with an Army of six hundred thousand Men in defence of which Nicholas Serini the great Grandfather of the present Count immortalized his Fame and Memory with the loss of his Lise and renowned âhe Place it self by his Feats at Arms. At this place Serini was resolved to revenge the Blood of his Ancestors and sacrifice great numbers to the Ghost of his Grandfather to which end he sent the Count Olack before him with part of his Army to Summon the Enemy and prepare the way to his own more effectual Force Olack had ordered all things accordingly when Serini full of Glory and Spoils arrived him in his Leagâre and joyning together appointed a day for a general Storm but whilst these things were meditating and that Sigeth was reduced almost to the last Extremity advice came of the near approach of a Body of twelve thousand Turks and Tartars to encounter which the Attempt was accounted difficult considering the loss and diminution of the Christian Forces which by continual Actions and the bitter Sufferings of the Winter Season were reduced to a number inferior to that of their Enemies and wanting all sorts of Provision and Ammunition it was resolved as most expedient to raise the Siege which was the next day performed and the Soldiery taken into Garisons to Repose and Recruit themselves But whilst by the active and zealous Spirit of this great Champion most matters proceeded succesfully on the side of Croatia the Christian Affairs on the other side by the negligence of some Ministers ran into evident Ruin and Disorder For Claudiopolis which not many years past had defended it self so valiantly against the Turks under the Command of the Governor Retani did now wanting pay the Sinew and Lise of the Soldiery âollow the late Example of Zechelhyd and surrendred it self into the hands of Apafi and tho the Complaints and Murmurings of the Soldiers gave a sufficient time of warning to make due Provisions against a Misfortune so imminent and plainly appearing yet the want of Expedition at Vienna and the unprofitable Application only of empty Words and Air to feed the penury and satisfie the Appetite of starving Men was a Remedy so little available that the Garison submitted to Apafi and yielded to Conditions whereby they might Eat and Live the Story of which Place compared with that of Zechelhyd was so shameful and pungent to Men capable of any impressions of Honour or Duty that at length it awakened the Germans and admonished them to provide better for Zacmar and Tockey and other Frontier Garisons lest they also should incur the like Fate and Misfortune with the two former By this time the Actions of Serini were rumoured in the Grand Signiors Seraglio and the report of them became common in the mouths of the Vulgar wherefore full of Anger and Disdain the Sultan wrote severely to his Vizier reproving him of negligence for suffering Serini so freely to Range his Countries without controul to the great Dishonour of his Empire and Damage of his People whereupon the Vizier not as yet having received his Recruits nor prepared so early for the March of the gross of his Army dispatched notwithstanding a considerable Force to precede him with Orders either by stealth to surprize Serinswar or else to lay Siege unto it This Army marching by the way of ââsna the news thereof was brought to Count âeâer Sâriâi appoinâed by his Brother to stand Centinal on the Guard of his Country whilst he in Perâon was ââsied in Hungary who immediately thereupon with what Force he could collect ambushed himself at the narrow Pass of a Mountain calâed the Morlac where he had not long aââended before the Turks without order or care entred with their whole Body but being on a sudden surprized by the Count were wholly deâeââed leaving two thousand dead on the place with many Prisoners The Month of March being now well entred tâe Frosts began to thaw and the Air become more mild and moderate when Count Nicholas Serini entertained thoughts of laying Siege to Kanisia But to lay
Oâout Pasha with which name before the People were well acquainted and that it was accustomed to their mouths two poor silly Country-men mistaking and calling it simply by the former name were apprehended by some of the Bostangees and brought before the Grand Signior as contemners of the Imperial Command and by his immediate Sentence were put to death About the end of May the Grand Signior had a Son born to him of one of his Women for joy of which seven days of Dunalma or rejoycing were appointed through all the Ottoman Dominions but especially at Adrianople the Solemnity was greatest all sorts of Artisans endeavouring to outvy each other in their Shows and Pastimes to entertain the City At the Gate of the Seraglio was erected a magnificent Pavilion for the Grand Signior before whom were shown rare artificial Fire-works invented by the most ingenious Masters thereof amongst the Iews one of which firing a Rocket which not ascending with usual strength unhappily fell on the Vest of the Grand Signiors Favourite standing at the door of the Tent at which the young Man being surprized sent to find out him who fired it which happening to be a poor Iew was condemned immediately by the Grand Signiors Sentence to receive eighty Blows on the Soals of his Feet but as report went this young Favorite not appeased with this slender Punishment obtain'd the Sultans command to put him to Death But to return to the Turkish Camp. The Vizier was astonished to understand that Kanisia was besieged and wondred much at the rashnesâ of Serini in attempting a Work so difficult without probability of success howsoever being advised that the Garison was ill provided of Victuals and Ammunition he gave order for its supply In order to which eighty Carts laden with Provisions convoyed by a considerable number of Turks were conducted by way of Sigeth but being interrupted in their passage by Serini's Soldiers were routed put to flight and their Provisions taken In the mean time the Besieged made many vigorous Sallies and some not without losâ to the Christians and to defend themselves the better uncovered the tops of their Houses and made their Lodgings under ground secure from Granadoes or shot of the Enemies Batteries On the other side the Ammunition and Artillery from the Emperour came not so timely as was expected nor were the Bomboes and Granadoes so artificially made but that many of them spent themselves in vain the Succours likewise of men fell very short of the numbers promised and Souldiery being drawn from their Winteâ Quarters before the colds were past or the pasture grown began to murmur but nothing discontented them so much as want of Pay the just complaint of Souldiers which discouraged them more than the difficulty of their advenâââe against all which Serini provided as much as he was able out of his own Purse continuing the Siege more out of reputation than probable hopes of success for his Army was at least diminished two thousand in its number of which four hundred Hungars and two hundred Germans were ãâã the first Assaults made upon the Suburbs and the rest perished by sickness and the vigorous and frequent ââllies of the Enemy Howsoever Serini seemed not to doubt of the success if he could but be for some time secured from the advance of the Vizier who now began to draw his gross and numerous Army out of their Winter Quarters into the open field and therefore with the other Officers before Kanisia signified their advice to the Empârour and General Council of War That it was necessary that the Imperial Army should be as early in the Field as the Ottoman and for the mâre methodical government of Affairs that the Army should be divided into three Bodies one to recâuit the Forces before the Town a second to march to Osâk and hinder the Enemies passage over the Dravus and a third to take the Field and apply assistance where it was judged most useful This counsel bâing weâââccepted by the Emperour Orders were immediaâeây issued forth to General Montecuculi to begin his March with design to obstruct the Turks passage over the Dravus for that the success against Kanisia was of that high importance as might justly require the imployment of all the Christian Forces in its concernment Wherefore one Poââ was dispatched after the other to Montecuculi to solâicite his speedy March and to give a stop to the Viziers Progress But he answered That âe attended General Sporch whom he every day expected to joyn with him but this Answer proving by the effect to be nothing more than a present excuse gave occasion of suspicion and produced that discontent in the minds of the most zealous as spread a rumour through all Germany much to the disreputation of Montecuculi Time thus being protracted and no Forces appearing to recruit the Leagure at length advice came to the Generals when they were just going to dinner that the Vizier with a most numerous Army was within three Leagues of the Town For the Bridge of Osek was against the common opinion again rebuilt planked and compleated with new Timbers in the space of forty days many hands making light work which when first founded was the work of six years which Expedition was the more remarkable in regard that this Bridge was not formed out of the Ruines of the old nor founded on the same ground but new framed out of the Woods with as much comliness and order as befits a Bridge of that nature and length passing over a wild Marsh or Fen. The news of the Viziers so near approach was strange to Serini who by the calculation made of his March did not yet expect him for several days but the Vizier apprehending the straitness in which Kanisia might be leaving the gross of his Army made more expidite Journeys with a Body of twenty thousand Horse which not being unknown to Serini his daring spirit was once resolved to give him Battel in which opinion was also Count Strozzi but Olach dissenting and refusing to ingage his Forces the Siege was raised and all the Forces with good order retreated to Serinswar where they arrived the day following leaving to the Enemy a great quantity of Powder Match Shovels 20 Carts of Meal and Two Iron Guns broken No Pilgrim ever followed his way with more devotion to the sacred Shrine than the Vizier was willingly led in pursuit of his Enemy to the Walls of Serinswar being the place to which his intentions inclined as the beginning and consummation of the War. Over against this envied Fort there is a little Hill strong by Nature incompassed with a narrow Ditch yet not so narrow as that a Horse can leap over it nor yet so shallow as to be forded This Hill Serini proposed to the rest of his Collegues or Coadjutors viz. Olach and Spaar as a place commodious to incamp their Army because lying open to the River could easily be relieved
and would serve as a Redoubt or Out-work to the Fort in which upon all extremities they might find Sanctuary and refuge But the apprehension of the Viziers Numbers and his near approach had made that impression of fear in their minds that no safety seemed to remain unless they could see the River Mura between them and their Enemy Nor was Serini more successful in his perswasions to assault the Enemy whilst they were wearied with their March and busied in extending their Tents the other Generals being of opinion that it was too great a hazard for them alone to venture their Forces in so unequal a Combat but they ought rather to expect Montecuculi by the addition of whose Forces the lot of War would be less hazardous if not wholly certain In this manner great Enterprises have been disappointed which have wanted only resolution to make them successful Fortune being commonly favourable if not a Servant to bold and daring Spirits the disunion also of Generals hath been the overthrow of the wisest Counsels and Wars have been observed never to have thrived where the Heads of Armies have been of dissenting humors or dâfferent interests This timidity on the Christian part raised in that manner the spirits of the Turks that without stop or opposition passing the River Muer they arrived at Serinswar where they immediately fell to their Mattock and Spade breaking ground for their Trenches which by continued labour they so diligently attended that in Seventeen days they arrived at the very Ditch of the Fort Only whilst the Turks were transporting their Numbers over the River the generous spirit of Strozzi not enduring to see their passage so easie and open valiantly opposed himself and his small Force against the greater power of the Enemy and so resolutely performed the Action that he killed Five hundred upon the place till at length being unfortunately shot by a Musket-bullet in the Forehead he gloriously together with one Chiâfareas a renowned Croatian Captain ended his days in defence of his Countrey and the Christian Cause In this interim General Montecuculi arrived with his Army and was received by Count Serini with all evidences and demonstrations of respect and hearty welcome and between both passed an appearance at least of friendly correspondence But as to the present Engagement Montecuculi was of opinion That the opportunity was over slipt which should at first have been peâformed rather by way of surprize than open Batâel before the Ottoman Army had arrived to its full numbers consisting now of an hundred thousand fighting men To which reasons Serini replied That the Christian Cause and the States and Confines of the Empire were not to be maintained by men that carry their thumbs at their girdles or by Armies made resty with ease and wanton with luxury That those Armies were raised not to consume and exhaust the Revenues of their Princes and Exchequers of their States without making satisfactory amends by a valiant defence of that Interest which they owned That the Enemy had not been before that time attempted was no fault or neglect of his who under the very Walls of Kanisia resolved to give them Battel but that the other Generals supposed it more prudence and caution to protract the Engagement till his Arrival who being now happily conjoyned with them nothing ought to deter them from a glorious Attempt on the Turks who not consisting of above Thirty thousand men ill disciplined and worse armed were not able to withstand the prowess of their Veterane Army which far exceeded them in number discipline and courage These or such like expressions Serini used and to prove what he averred he dispatched a confident Person of his own who spake naturally the Turkish Language with a Letter to the German Resident then entertained under custody in the Turkish Camp to know of him the true state and number of the Turks which Messenger soon after returned with this short account Nisi memortuum velis amplius non rescribas hic vix sunt triginta millia nec illa satis electa quid vos a pugna deterret Tormenâa Arcis nimis in altum exploduntur Which in English is thus Unless you desire my death write not back to me again here are scarce Thirty thousand men and those ill provided what then should deter you from an Engagement The Cannon in the Castle are too high mounted or shoot over Serini gave this Letter to Montecuculi who replied That so soon as General Sporch came up with his Forces he would immediately draw up the Army into Batalia Sporch being arrived he then resolved to expect Marquess Baden and so deferred the Batâel from time to time until the Turks advantaging themselves by these delays had worked themselves under ground to the very Walls of the Castle At length Montecuculi entring into Serini's Fort it is not known upon what reasons of jealousie or discontent cleared Serini's Forces of the Garison and dispossessed the Governour which when Serini perceived full of anger and displeasure he quitted the Camp and retired himself to his Residence at Chiacaturno with intent to make his just Appeal and Complainâ to the Emperor's Court. The Turks availing themselves of these delays and discontents proceeded forward in their work so that having Mined to the very Walls on the 9 th of Iune they blew up one of the half Moons at which the Defendants were so terrified that with amazement they left open one of their Sally Ports at which the Turks entring put the whole Garison into disorder consisting of 1900 fighting men so that now no safety remaining but in flight they forsook their Fort and crouding over the Bridge in confused heaps broke it down with the over-pressure of its burden by fall of which many perished in the Waters and about Three hundred and fifty which remained were cut off by the Sword this was the sate of Serini's Fort built with Art and lost by Cowardice and ill Conduct which the Year beâore only with Twenty Germans and One hundred and fifty Hungarians withstood a most impetuous and fierce storm of the Enemy but now was less tenable than a Palancha tho Garisoned with 1900 Men of whom in this last Assault one alone had Courage to fire his Musket but none adventured to draw a Sword unless certain Voluntiers and French Officers whose Courage only renowned their own Deaths and served to upbraid the Cowardice of their Companions In the Fort were only found five small Field Pieces one whole Cannon a great Mortar Piece and two small ones belonging to Count Serini there were also one Mortar Piece and two small Field Pieces like to those of Serini belonging to the Emperor tho other Guns of weight or value were carried out of the Fort as being judged not long tenable and decreed to be abandoned to the Enemy Serinswar being thus taken was immediately demolished by the Vizier and razed to the Ground either because he
EMPIRE CONTINUED From the Year of Our Lord 1676 to the Year 1686. By Sir Roger Manley Knight year 1676 THE History of the Turkish Empire having been transferr'd to us by Mr. Knolles very methodically and well and continued by the deserving Pen of Sir Paul Rycaut to the Year 1676 being the Twenty eighth of Sultan Mahomet the Fourth now reigning We have as well by inclination as to satisfie the desires of some Friends thought fit to prosecute so landable a Design by extending the History of that great Monarchy to our present Times And though we may be defective in skill for so Eminent an Undertaking we shall notwithstanding add Industry to our Endeavours and compensate our Failings by the candour and ingenuity of our Narrative Achmet the great Visier being dead in his way to Adrianople was succeeded by Kara Mustapha his Brother-in-Law aged about fifty and who had exercised the Office of Caimacan for many years The Grand Seignior to indear him the more to him married him to one of his Daughters though very young not exceeding five years of age according to the custom practised by the Sultans to be rid of their Daughters betimes which are always numerous by reason of the multiplicity of their Concubines and by this means to ease themselves of the Expence which they are obliged to be at in maintaining them according to their Quality In the same Month of Ianuary the strong Garison of Canisia having drawn out a Party to attack the Isle of Sexin allarmed all Croatia by their Military Executions exacting Contributions and pillaging and burning such places as did not submit to their tyranny The Turks of Newhausel did also ravage the Countrey on their side as far as Frystat But before we enter upon this stage of War it may be requisite to say somewhat of the Troubles of Hungary which preceded and their causes and how the Infidels came to be Principals in a War of Religion between Christians The Kingdom of Hungary being subdivided into Counties as in England or Communities have right to send their Deputies to the Dyets or Conventions of the Estates which ought to be summoned every three years according to the Laws of the Kingdom year 1676 This Assembly is composed of the Clergy the principal Lords the Gentry and the said Deputies of the Counties In hath the right of choosing a Palatine who ought to be an Hungarian according to the priviledges of the Nation and to have the intire direction of War and Justice The great Lords have âo great Authority over their Vassals that they are look'd upon as so many lesser Sovereigns in their several Territories They have also great Revenues which inables them upon occasion to raise considerable Bodies of Men the People in general being strong active and valiant but covetous vindicative and inconstant The great Employments of the Kingdom were also invested in the Natives and no Strangers were to be imposed upon them or Foreigners enquarrered amongst them all which the Emperour upon his Election to the Crown was obliged to observe by the solemnity of an Oath But on the other side there being very many Arrians Calvinists and Lutherans in the Countrey they added to the aversion the Natives have to the Germans having been as they thought too severely used by them complaining that they were hindred in the free Exercise of their Religion their Churches violently taken away from them and their Ministers forced from their Duty It was farther complained that the Grandees of the Kingdom were not permitted to injoy their Priviledges of which one was That none of them should for any Crime whatsoever be convened before any Iudges but those of their own Nation Notwithstanding all this as the Emperour had sworn to maintain their Priviledges he had likewise promised to defend their Country which could not be done against the Insults of so powerful an Enemy as the Turk without an Army and those strangers living ill with the Inhabitants and they again shutting their Towns against them occasioned infinite Violences and Disorders on both sides which Repugnancy was the source of all the Troubles in Hungary The Emperour beginning to suspect the fidelity of the Hungarians by reason of the obstinacy wherewith they refused to lodge his Troops began seriously to think of securing the Kingdom to himself which being perceived he augmented by that Precaution the hatred which the Nation had conceived against him which was re-doubled by the refusal of his Generals to withdraw their Troops out of their Fortresses These Grievances did so far agitate these Spirits already jealous and dissident that they at length resolved to shake off a Yoke that seemed so insupportable Many great Lords by their particular Interest were glad to entertain this aversion which might serve for the Execution of the Designs they had already formed And thus the Spirit of revolting did insensibly diffuse it self through the whole Kingdom and the general aversion grew to that height that they of the Religion said openly that they would rather live under the Domination of the Turks than the Tyranny of the Germans whilst one of their Preachers did dare maliciously to insinuate That these Infidels would at least grant them the liberty of their Religion whilst the Dutch would rack their Consciences under pretence of reforming them The Emperour being informed of these murmurings thought it expedient to secure the Lower Hungary and so strangle the Rebellion in its birth Their reiterated pressing to have the German Troops removed out of the Kingdom gave him just cause of jealousie and besides he would not lose the expence of all his toyls and those vast charges he had been at in fortifying the Frontier places and entertaining Armies capable to oppose the Invasions of the Turks Finally he judged it absolutely necessary to reduce a Nation to their duty that gloried in their disobedience to his Orders being a King is no farther a Sovereign than whilst he obliges his Subjects to pay obedience to the Laws and his Commands And thus in short we have shewed the cause of this Revolt which yet lasts on both sides and though perhaps this digression may seem foreign to some yet being the Turks have been so mainly concerned as to become Parties in it we thought it reasonable to subjoyn it to their History And now to come nearer to the matter in hand we will say somewhat of the Maxims of these Infidels which will give us some light into their Policies And first it is a fundamental one to keep their Men perpetually imployed for Idleness ingenders indigested Humours in the Politick as well as the Natural Body which renders it infirm Another Maxim is that they do never imploy their Forces more than in one War at one time unless against weak Princes Nor do they desire to continue long in Arms against the same Enemy unless constrained by their constancy to the ând they may not grow too warlike and expert but leaving them by Treaties and
Effects but from the Fundamental and Original Constitutions so that your Lorship will conclude that a People as the Turks are Men of the same Composition with us cannot be so Savage and Rude as they are generally described for Ignorance and Grossness is the Effect of Poverty not incident to happy Men whose Spirits are elevated with Spoils and Trophies of so many Nations Knowing my Lord that this Work which I have undertaken is liable to common Censure I have chosen to shrowd my Name under the Patronage of your Lordship to protect me from the ill-understanding and mis-conceptions of our Country-men both at Home and Abroad against which I doubt not but to be sufficiently armed in all parts where I travel when the Countenance your Lordship affords me is joined to the Authority of his Excellency the Earl of Winchelsea His Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary now actually Resident at Constantinople my ever honoured Lord to whom I read a long time before published to the World the greatest part of this following Treatise and as I received his favourable Approbation and Assent to the Verity of most Matters herein contained so I must ingenuously confess to have been beholden to that quick and refin'd Genius of his who often rectified my Mistakes supplied me with Matter and remembred me of many material Points which I might otherwise have most unadvisedly omitted And his Excellency knowing that in his absence this Book might want a favourable Patron left me to my self to seek out one who might concur with him in the same Innocent Defence And as my Lord you are a Publick Person and under our Gracious Sovereign are one of those Generous Spirits which have espoused the common Interest of the Nation so I presume on this present Occasion not to want your Protection also in a single Capacity For which excess of Favours I shall ever pray for the Exaltation of the greater Glory of your Lordship and for ever acknowledg my self My Lord Your Lordship 's most Humble most Faithful and most devoted Servant PAVL RICAVT TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Present thee here with a true System or Model of the Turkish Government and Religion not in the same manner as certain ingenious Travellers have done who have set down their Observations as they have obviously occured in their Iourneys which being collected for the most part from Relations and Discourses of such who casually intervene in Company of Passengers are consequently subject to many Errors and Mistakes But having been an Inhabitant my self at the Imperial City for the space of five Years and assisted by the advantage of considerable Iourneys I have made through divers parts of Turky and qualified by the Office I hold of Secretary to the Earl of Winchelsea Lord Ambassador I had opportunity by the constant access and practice with the chief Ministers of State and variety of Negotations which pased through my hands in the Turkish Court to penetrate farther into the Mysteries of this Polity which appear so strange and barbarous to us than hasty Travellers could do who are forced to content themselves with a Superficial Knowledg The Computations I have made of the Value of their Offices of the Strength and Number of their Souldiery according as every City and Country is rated are deduced from their own Registers and Records The Observations I have made of their Polity are either Maxims received from the Mouth and Argument of considerable Ministers or Conclusions arising from my own Experience and Considerations The Articles of their Faith and Constitutions of Religion I have set down as pronounced from the Mouth of some of the most learned Doctors and Preachers of their Law with whom for Mony or Presents I gained a familiarity and appearance of friendship The Relation of the Seraglio and Education of their Youth with divers other matters of Custom and Rule where transmitted to me by several sober Persons trained up in the best Education of the Turkish Learning and particularly by an understanding Polonian who had spent nineteen Years in the Ottoman Court. If Reader the Superstition Vanity and ill foundation of the Mahometan Religion seem fabulous as a Dream or the Fancies of a distracted and wild Brain thank God that thou wert born a Christian and within the Pale of an Holy and an Orthodox Church If the Tyranny Oppression and Cruelty of that State wherein Reason stands in no competition with the Pride and Lust of an unreasonable Minister seem strange to thy Liberty and Happiness thank God that thou art born in a Country the most free and just in all the World and a Subject to the most indulgent the most gratious of all the Princes of the Vniverse That thy Wife thy Children and the Fruits of thy Labour can be called thine own and protected by the valiant Arm of thy fortunate King And thus learn to know and prize thy own freedom by comparison with Foreign Servitude that thou mayst ever bless God and thy King and make thy Happiness breed thy Content without degenerating into Wantonness or desire of Revolution Farewel THE MAXIMS OF THE Turkish Polity BOOK I. CHAP. I. The Constitution of the Turkish Government being different from most others in the World hath need of peculiar Maxims and Rules whereon to establish and confirm it self I Have begun a Work which seems very full of Difficulty and Labour for to trace the Footsteps of Government in the best formed and moulded Common-Wealths such as are supported with Reason and with Religion is no less than to unriddle and resolve a Mystery For as a Common-Wealth by many Authors hath not been unaptly compared to a Ship in divers respects and proper Allegories so principally the small Impression or Sign of Track the floating Habitation leaves behind it on the Sea in all the Traverses it makes according to the different Winds to attain its Port is a lively Emblem of the various Motions of good Government which by reason of Circumstances Times and multiplicity of Changes and Events leaves little or no Path in all the Ocean of Humane Affairs But there must be yet certain Rules in every Government which are the Foundations and Pillars of it not subject to the Alteration of Time or any other Accident and so essential to it that they admit of no change until the whole Model of Polity suffer a Convulsion and be shaken into some other Form which is either effected by the new Laws of a Conqueror or by intestine and civil Revolutions Of such Maxims as these obvious to all who have had any practice in the Ottoman Court I have made a Collection subjoining to every Head some Reflexions and Considerations of my own which at my leisure Hours I have weighed and examined bâânging them according to the proportion of my weak Judgment and Ability to the Measure and Test of Reason and Vertue as also to a Similitude and Congruity with the Maxims of other Empires to which God hath given
slavery they profess and cannot but fansie a strange kind of projected baseness in all the deportment within the Walls of the Seraglio when there appears so much condescension Abroad to all the lusts and evil inclinations of their Master so that a generous Prince as some have been found among the Ottoman Emperors though he desired not the publick Liberty would yet be weary of this slavish compliance and seek other counsel and means to inform himself of the true state of his own and other Kings Dominions than such as proceed from Men unexperienced in any other Court or Country than that they live in This flattery and immoderate subjection hath doubtless been the cause of the decay of the Turkish Discipline in the Time of Sultan Ibrahim when Women governed and now in this present Age of Sultan Mahomet whose Counsels are given chiefly by his Mother Negroes Eunuchs and some handsome young Mosayp or Favourite seldom any from without being permitted or have their Spirits emboldened to declare a Truth or are called to give their counsel in Matters of greatest importance So that this Obedience which brave and wise Emperors have made use of in the advancement of noble Exploits and enlargement of their Empire is with effeminate Princes delighted with flattery the Snare of their own Greatness and occasion of weak Counsels and Means in the management of great Designs If a Man seriously consider the whole composition of the Turkish Court he will find it to be a Prison and Banniard of Slaves differing from that where the Galley-slaves are immured only the Ornaments and glittering out-side and appearances here their Chains are made of Iron and there of Gold and the difference is only in a painted shining servitude from that which is a squalid sordid and a noisome slavery For the Youths educated in the Seraglio which we shall have occasion to discourse of in the next Chapter are kept as it were within a Prison under a strange severity of Discipline some for twenty thirty others forty Years others the whole time of the Age of Man and grow gray under the correction of their Hogiaes or Tutors The two Brothers of this present Grand Signior are also imprisoned here restrained with a faithfull and carefull Guard and perhaps are sometimes permitted out of Grace and Favour into the presence of their Brother to kiss his Vest and to perform the offices of Duty and Humility before their Prince The Ladies also of the Seraglio have their faithful Keepers of the Black Guard to attend them and can only have the liberty of enjoying the Air which passes through Grates and Lattices unless sometime they obtain licence to sport and recreate themselves in the Garden separated from the sight of Men by Walls higher than those of any Nunnery Nay if a Man considers the Contexture of the whole Turkish Government he will find it such a Fabrick of slavery that it is a wonder if any amongst them should be born of a free ingenâous Spirit The Grand Signior is born of a Slave the Mother of the present being a Circasian taken perhaps by the Tartars in their incursions into that Country The Visiers themselves are not always free-born by Father or Mother for the Turks get more Children by their Slaves than by their Wives and the continual supply of Slaves sent in by the Tartars taken from different Nations by way of the Black Sea as hereafter we shall have occasion to speak more fully fills Constantinople with such a strange Race Mixture and Medly of different sorts of Blood that it is hard to find many that can derive a clear Line from ingenuous Parents So that it is no wonder that amongst the Turks a disposition be found fitted and disposed for Servitude and that is better governed with a severe and tyrannous Hand than with sweetness and Lenity unknown to them and their Forefathers as Grotius takes this Maxim out of Aristotle Quosdam homines naturâ esse servos i. e. ad servitutem aptos ita populi quidem eo sunt ingenio ut regi quam regere norint rectius But since it appears that Submission and Subjection are so incident to the Nature of the Turks and Obedience taught and so carefully instilled into them with their first Rudiments it may be a pertinent question How it comes to pass that there are so many Mutinies and Rebellions as are seen and known amongst the Turks and those commonly the most insolent violent and desperate that we read of in Story To let pass the Mutinies of former Times in the Ottoman Camp and the usual though short Rebellions of ancient Days I shall instance in the Causes and Beginnings of two notorious Disturbances or rather Madnesses of the Souldiery not mentioned in any History which being passages of our Age deserve greatly to be recorded This Obedience then that is so diligently taught and instilled into the Turkish Militia as to the Spahees in their Seraglios or Seminaries the Janisaries in their Chambers sometimes is forgot when the Passions Animosities of the Court by which inferior Affections are most commonly regulated corrupt that Discipline which its Reason and Sobriety instituted For the affections of Princes are endued with a general Influence when two powerful Parties aspiring both to Greatness and Authority allure the Souldiers to their respective Factions and engage them in a Civil War amongst themselves and hence proceed Seditions destruction of Empires the Overthrow of Common-Wealths and the violent Death of great Ministers of State. And so it happened when ill Government and unprosperous Successes of War caused Disobedience in the Souldiery which some emulous of the Greatness of those that were in Power nourished and raised to make place for themselves or their Party For in the time of Sultan Mahomet the present Grand Signior when the whole Government of the Empire rested in the hands of one Mulki Kadin a young audacious Woman by the extraordinary Favour and Love of the Queen-Mother who as it was divulged exercised an unnatural kind of Carnality with the said Queen so that nothing was left to the Counsel and Order of the Vizier and grave Seniors but was first to receive Approbation and Authority from her the black Eunuchs and Negroes gave Laws to all and the Cabinet-Councils were held in the secret Apartments of the Women and there were Proscriptions made Officers discharged or ordained as were most proper to advance the Interest of this Feminine Government But at length the Souldiery not used to the Tyranny of Women no longer supporting this kind of Servitude in a moment resolved on a Remedy and in great Tumults came to the Seraglio where commanding the Grand Signior himself to the Kiosch or Banquetting-house they demanded without farther Prologue the Heads of the Favourite Eunuchs there was no Argument or Rhetorick to be proposed to this unreasonable Multitude nor Time given for delays or consultation but every one of the accused as he
or Account of them which being taken up by those Officers and great Persons who were out of the reach of Law forced the worthy Ambassador at that time Resident to represent his Grievances with much resolution signifying them to the Grand Signior by Fire on the Yards of eleven English Ships then in Port which were drawn off from the Scale where they usually lay to the side of the Seraglio which coming to be discovered first to the Vizier before the Grand Signior had notice thereof he immediately extinguished those Fires by a fair Accommodation before they burst into a more dangerous Flame by the knowledg of the Grand Signior who might justly destroy him for suffering such notorious Injustice to run to that publick and known extremity The Persians in like cases put on a Vest of white Paper signifying the aggravation of their Injury is not to be described in as much Paper as can cover their Bodies This great Office of Charge and Trust as it is the highest so it is the nearest to Iove's Thunder-bolt and most exposed to Envy and Emulation strange Stories are read and confirmed by Eye-witnesses in our days concerning the unexpected rise and ascent of unworthy Men on a sudden without degrees steps or approaches to this mighty Power and Glory and as soon have been thrown down and been the Subject of the Peoples Cruelty and Revenge some have been the Sons but of a few days growth and the Sun hath scarce set before their Greatness and Glory hath declined others have continued but a Month some a Year others two or three and withal even in those who have lived longest and happiest Fortune sports with that wantonness and inconstancy âhat it may serve to be the Mirror and Emblem of the World's Vanity and uncertain Riches It is the Fate of great Favourites with barbarous Princes to be but short-liv'd For either the Prince delights to exercise his Power in debasing some and advancing others or hath bestowed so largely that his Bounty is at a stop and begins to be wearied with heaping of Favours as the other is glutted and satiated with receiving them Fato potentiae raro sempiternae an satias capit aut illos cum omnia tribuerunt aut hos quod nihil reliquum est quod capiant Tacit. Lib. 3. Emulation and Flattery are likewise great and the Factions are commonly many in the Ottoman Court whereby the State of the first Minister is endangered Insita mortalibus natura recentem aliorum felicitatem aegris oculis introspicere modumque fortunae à nullis magis exigere quam quos in aequo vident Tacit. Lib. 3. Sometimes the Queen-Mother rules sometimes the Kuslir Aga commands perhaps a beautiful Woman is Mistress of the Power as well as of the Affections of the Sultan every one of these have some Favourites some or other who watch Preferments and are intent to observe all Miscarriages of State which may reflect on or question the Judgment or Honesty of the first Author by which means the unhappy Vizier either by the Sultan's immediate Command or Tumults of the Souldiery raised by the powerful Factions afore-mentioned yields up his Life and Government together whose Power and Greatness being only borrowed from his Master and depending on another's Pleasure by its short continuance and mutability verifies that true saying of Tacitus Lib. 12. Nihil rerum mortalium tam instabile fluxum est quà m fama potentiae non suâ vi nixae But it doth nor always happen that the Prime Vizier because he is deprived of his Office should therefore lose his Life for many times especially if he be a Man whose Disposition is not greatly suspected of Malice or Revenge to the Contrivers of his Fall or be not of a generous Spirit and great Abilities and Popularity whereby he may be venturous and capable of raising Rebellion or Mutiny he is permitted calmly to retire and quietly to descend from his high Throne of Honour to enter into a lower Region and Air of a small and petty Government of a Pasha as not many Years past the Predecessors of Kuperli Father of this present Vizier being degraded had the Pashalick of Kanisia which is accounted one of the meanest of all the Governments which are subject to a Pasha conferred on him and here I cannot tell whether such a Vizier hath not more reason to bless and congratulate his Fortune than accuse it for in this condition he is more free from Cares and Dangers and much more happy if his Ambition and greatness of Spirit render not his Repose and Ease less pleasing because it is not in the highest Lodgings of Honour and Command But it is seldom so among the Turks for with them it is esteemed no disgrace to be transplanted from the Mountains to the Valleys they know their Original and Composition partakes not much of Heavenly Fire and that the Clay they are framed of is but of common Earth which is in the Hand of the Grand Signior as the Pot to frame and mould as is most agreeable to his Pleasure and Will. And as it is no disparagement to decline and go backward in Honour amongst the Turks so it is no new thing or Absurdity in their Politicks to see Menrise like Mushromes in a Night and from the meanest and most abject Offices without Degrees or convenient Approaches at once leap into the Seat and Quality of the Prime Vizier I shall instance in one Example worthy of Record which was of late days and as yet that I know of hath had no place in History It happened that in Constantinople there was either great scarcity of Flesh or the negligence of the Butchers had made it so so that they who were not so early abroad as to watch their usual time of making their days Provision or came any thing late were necessitated to pass that day with a Lenten Diet among those who had missed one morning their common proportion of Flesh was one Dervise a Cook of a Chamber of Janizaries this Man knew the Blows and Punishment he was to suffer from the chief of the Chamber that through his sloth and want of care the whole Company should that day pass without their Dinner which caused him in great passion with loud Exclamations as he passed the Streets to accuse the ill Government and little care was had to rectify these common Abuses It fortuned that at that time that Dervise was lamenting his Case to all the World and cursing the principal Officers that the Grand Signior in disguise passed by and seeing a Man in such disorder of Mind came in a courteous manner to demand the Reason of his Passion to whom the Dervise replied It was vain for him to be inquisitive or for me said he to inform you what you are able to afford no Remedy unto for none but the Grand Signior himself is of sufficient Power to redress that for which I have so much cause to be troubled At
Pascha of Temeswar in Hungary hath a Revenue and hath under his command 6 Sangiacks viz. Lipona Tchanad Ghiola Mundava Waradin to which also Ianova is added conquered in the Year 1663. 22. Is the Government of the Pascha of Bosna which is part of Illyrium divided formerly into Liburnia and Dalmatia now called Sclavonia his Revenue is a and commands 8 Sangiacks viz. Hersek Kelis Ezdernick Puzga Feraigne Zagine Kirka Rahvige There are other Paschas of Coffa Theodesia in Taurica Chârsonesus which having no Sangiacks no Timariots nor Ziamets under them but only a few beggarly Villages which we shall purposely omit as not worthy the notice And so much shall be said for the Paschaes or Beglerbegs with Has or with the Revenue imposed upon Countries under their command collected by their own Officers Those that are with Saliane or paid out of the Grand Signior's Treasury are 1. The Pascha of Grand Cairo called by the Turks Misir hath a Revenue of Six hundred thousand Scheriffs or Zechins a Year which he may justly and honestly pretend to as much is the Tribute yearly paid the Grand Signior from that place which is most commonly brought since the War with Venice upon Camels backs by Land with a guard of 500 Men not to expose it to the danger of being intercepted at Sea another Sum of Six hundred thousand Zechins yearly goes to the payment of the Turks Forces in Egypt besides the vast Sums of Mony this Pascha extorts with insupportable Avarice and Tyranny from the Natives of the Country during the space of his three Years Government by which means he grows excessive rich and able to refund a good stream into the Grand Signior's Coffers at his return as hereafter shall be the subject of our more large discourse he commands 16 Sangiacks as is reported but not being registred in the King's Book I let them pass without naming them 2. Is the Government of Bagdat otherwise Babylon and hath a Revenue of a Million and seven hundred thousand Aspers and commands 22 Sangiacks viz. Dertenk Gezan Gewazir Renk Aidiie Gelle Semwat Remaliie Beiare Derne Debare Wasit Gebkiule Gedide Kesend Kasrschirin Ghiilan Karag Anne Asebah Demarkapn Deirberhiie Karaniie 3. Is the Government of the Pascha of Yemen which is in Arabia Faelix whose place of Residence is at Adem upon the Red Sea which Place and Country being recovered for the most part again from the Turk by the Arabians it is neither needful to mention the Revenue nor the Sangiacks it formerly commanded 4. The Pasha of the Abissines hath his Residence at Saquen a small Isle in the Red Sea and commands the Ports of Mesauna and Erkiko which the Turks lately took from the Abissines but this Pasha being very poor and far distant from the Succours of the Turks we cannot assign any Sangiacks or render any thing certain of his Estate 5. In the Government also of Bosra on the Confines of Persia were reckoned 26 Sangiacks but now not held by the Turk who hath no other Power there nor Benefit thence excepting only that Prayers are made constantly for the Sultan 6. In the Government of Lahsa on the Confines of Ormus in Persia are accounted six Sangiacks viz. Aiwen Sakul Negniie Netif Benderazir Giriz but these Countries are poor and have scarce any place in the Grand Signior's Registers To these we should add the Governments of Algiers Tunis and Tripoly in Barbary but that being much fallen off from the Turks Obedience and become almost independent of them we shall pass by the Discourse of them especially because of late Years the mutual Treaties with Barbary and interchanges of War and Peace with those Countries hath made the State and Condition of that People well known and familiar in England The use of the particular Catalogue foregoing is to demonstrate the Greatness and Power of the Ottoman Empire which hath so many considerable Governments and Principalities in its Possession wherewith to encourage and excite the endeavours of Heroick Spirits to an ambition of great and noble Enterprizes whereby to merit the Rewards which remain in the Power of the Sultan to gratify them with And also to help in the just computation of the number of Men the Turk can bring into the Field every Pascha being obliged for every 5000 Aspers ââânt to bring a Souldier to the War though notwithstanding they often appear for ostentation and gain of the Grand Signior's Favour with more Men than their own Complement as in the last War with Germany the Beglerbeg of Romania brought 10000 effective Men into the Field Of these Beglerbegs five have the Titles of Viziers which signifies as much as Counsellors viz. the Pascha's of Anatolia Babylon Cairo Romania and Buda which are charges of the greatest Riches Power and Fame the others have their pre-eminence rank or order according to the priority of Conquest and Antiquity in the possession of the Turks These are all the great Governments of the Empire in whose respective Jurisdictions are always three principal Officers viz. the Mufti the Reis Efendi otherwise called Reis Kitab which is Lord Chancellor or Secretary of State or rather those two Offices united into one the third is Tâfterdar Pashaw or Lord Treasurer These three Officers are near Councellors and Attendants on their Pashaws and so also they are on the Prime Vizier whose Mufti Reis Efendi and Tefterdar have a Superiority and dignity above others and are to them as the Original to the Copy Of the Mufti we shall speak in due place The Reis Efendi which signifies chief of the Writers or Book-men for the Turks call always Men of the Law and Professors of the Pen and Parochial Priests by the Title of Efendi is always present and attending on the Vizier for passing Orders Decrees Patents and Commissions into all parts of the Empire which are daily dispatched in those Numbers into all Places as is incredible for the Turks governing more by their Arbitrary Power and according to the Exigencies of Affairs than by a set Rule or Form every Business requires its distinct Order and the very Courts of Justice are moderated according to the Commands and Directions they receive from Above by which means the Reis Efendi's Hands are filled with such a multitude of Business as employs great numbers of Writers and consequently brings in Riches flowing to his Coffers some in which Office who by their Parts Industry and Courage have gained Authority and Respect have amassed Wealth which might compare with the Riches and Treasure of Princes We shall here instance in one of late years famous in Turky for his Knowledg and Riches called Samozade one who had piled those heaps of all things that were rich and curious as were too tedious and long to insert in a Catalogue in this place It may suffice that being executed in the time of the last Wars against the Emperor of Germany for some Conspiracy against the Great Vizier such a Treasure
Constitutions of the People they had conquered and accordingly made Provision and used proper Arts to keep them in Obedience and next by their Generosity and Wisdom won those Nations to admire and imitate their Vertues and to be contented in their Subjection But the Turks have but one sole Means to maintain their Countries which is the same by which they were gained and that is the cruelty of the Sword in the most rigorous way of execution by Killing Consuming and laying desolate the Countries and transplanting unto parts where they are nearest under the Command and Age of a Governor being wholly destitute and ignorant of other resined Arts which more civilized Nations have in part made to serve in the place of Violence And yet the Turks made this course alone answer to all the Intents and Ends of their Government For the Subjects of this Empire being governed better by Tyranny than Gentleness it is necessary that courses should be taken whereby these People may remain more within compass and reach of Authority which they would hardly be were every part of this Empire so well inhabited to afford entertainment within the Fortifications of its vast Mountains and Woods to the many unquiet and discontented Spirits that live in it And this may be one cause that so rarely Rebellions arise amongst the Turks though in the remotest parts of Asia and when they do are easily suppressed This also is one Cause why great Men so easily resign themselves up the Will of the Grand Signior to Punishment and Death whether the Sentence be according to Law or only Arbitrary This is the reason that Fugitives and Homicides cannot escape for having no place for flight neither the inhabited Cities which are immediately under the Eye of a vigilant Commander will afford them refuge nor can the desolate Countries entertain them and Christendom is so abhorred by them that they will never take it for their Sanctuary And thus deprived of all means of Safety they wholly attend to please and serve their Great Master in whose Favour and Hands alone is the Reward and Punishment Another Advantage and that not inconsiderable that this manner of dispeopling the Country brings to this Empire is the difficulty an Enemy would find in their March should they with a Land Army attempt to penetrate far into the Country for without great quantities of Provision they could not possibly be sustained from the Country none can be expected what little it affords the Inhabitants will conceal or carry away and leave all Places as naked and barren of Food for Man as the Sea it self And though it is known often that in Asia the Troops of some discontented Bei or Aga to the number of three or four hundred Men in the Summer-time having their retirements in the Woods and Mountains assault Caravans and rob all Passengers from whom there is any hope of Booty yet in the Winter they are dispersed because they have no Quarters against the Weather nor Provisions for humane Sustenance every one shifting for himself in some place where his Condition is the least known or suspected And it may not be here from our Purpose to admonish the Reader that as the Turks account it one good part of their Policy to lay a considerable part of their Empire desolate so on the contrary they observe in their new Conquests to fortify strengthen and confirm what they have gained by numbers of People and new Colonies of their own and when they have reduced any considerable Country to their subjection they commonly are inclined to make Peace with that Prince from whom they have won it so as to have time to settle and secure their new Conquests for Countries over-run in haste are almost as speedily again recovered and are like Tempests and sudden Storms which are the sooner dispersed for being violent Augustus Caesar who was a wise and judicious Prince considering the extent of the Roman Empire wrote a Book saith Tacitus which was published after his Death wherein he described the publick Reâenue the number of Citizens and Confederate listed for the War the Fleets Kingdoms Provinces Tributes Customs c. Addideratque insuper Consilium coercendi intra terminos imperii incertum saith that Author Tac. Lib. 1. Annal. metu an per invidiam Which doubtless this wise Emperor meant of a moderate and not a precipitate progress of their Arms as well as of prescribing fixed limits to the ultimate Confines of the Empire beyond which a Statute should be made of Non plus ultra notwithstanding the most promising Designs and Incitements that could offer CHAP. XVI All Hereditary Succession in Government as also the preservation of an Ancient Nobility against the Maxims of the Turkish Poâity HAving formerly entred into Discourse of the several great Officers of State it will be necessary to declare what care the Turks take to preserve the Body of their Empire free of Faction and Rebellion for there being many Provinces in the Sultan's Gift which are remote rich and powerful and so administer temptation to the Governors to throw off the Yoke of their Dependance and make themselves and their Posterity Absolute great care is taken to prevent this Mischief by several Arts none of which hath been more effectual amongst the Turks nor more sedulously practised than the destruction of an Ancient Nobility and admitting no succession to Offices of Riches but only in the direct Ottoman Line as my Lord Verulam says Essay 14. A Monarchy where there is no Nobility at all is ever pure and absolute Tyranny as that of the Turks for Nobility attempers Sovereignty and draws the People somewhat aside from the Line Royal. By which means it comes to pass that Pashaws Education in the Seraglio in the manner as we have said before without knowledg of their Blood or Family and without the support of powerful Relations or Dependencies being sent abroad to Foreign Governments where they continue but for a short season have no opportunity or possibility of advancing any Interest of their own above that of the Sultan And though some have out of an aspiring and ambitious Spirit assumed a blind Confidence of renting away part of the Empire as Asan Aga Pashaw of Aleppo of late Years with a strong and powerful Army marched as far as Scutary threatning the Imperial City and the Turkish History tells us of the revolt of several Pashaws yet all these Rebellions have been but of short durance the Grand Signior never designing by open Force and Dint of Sword to try his Title to the Empire with his own Slaves but only by some secret Plot and Stratagem getting the Head of the Rebel he is assured of the Victory without other hazard or dispute of War for immediately thereupon the whole Army disperses and every one shifts by flight to save himself from the Sultan's Anger Nor is it imaginable it can be otherwise for these Men are but Strangers and Foreigners in the Countries they ruled
and it is very rare when any Law-Suit is in Hand but Bargains are made for the Sentence and he hath most Right who hath most Mony to make him rectus in Curia and advance his Cause And it is the common course for both Parties at difference before they appear together in presence of the Judg to apply themselves singly to him and try whose Donative and Present hath the most in it of temptation and it is no wonder if corrupt Men exercise this kind of Trade in Trafficking with Justice for having before bought the Office of consequence they must sell the Truth Vendere jure potest emerat ille prius Add hereunto a strange kind of Facility in the Turks for a Trifle or small Hire to give false Witness in any case especially and that with a word when the Controversy happens between a Christian and a Turk and then the Pretence is for the Musselmanleck as they call it the Cause is Religious hallows all Falseness and forgery in the Testimony so that I believe in no part of the World can Justice run more out of the Current and Stream than in Turkey where such Maxims and Considerations corrupt both the Judg and Witnesses Turcae magnae pietatis loco ducunt dicere falsum testimonium adversus hominem Christianum non expectant ut rogentur injussi adsunt seque ultro ingerunt This Consideration and Practice made an English Ambassador upon renewing the Capitulations to insert an Article of Caution against the Testimony of Turks as never to be admitted nor pleaded in any Court of Turkish Justice against the English Interest and nothing to be admitted as evidence in that Case but only a Hoget which is the Nature of a Recognizance made before a Judg or a Bill or Writing under the Hand of him on whom the Demand is made which Article as it was very advisedly and with great Prudence and Wisdom obtained so it hath proved of admirable Consequence and Security to the Trafique and Merchants Estates which before being liable to the Forgeries and false Pretences of every dissolute Turk hath now this Point as a Defence and Foâification by which false Pretences and Suits for considerable Sums of Mony and Matters of great value have been blown away and decided with great Facility and little Expence In the time of Bajazet the fourth King of the Turks the Courts of Justice were in like manner corrupted as at present for reformation of which the Prince resolved to execute a great Number of the Lawyers until it was pleasantly represented by his Jester to whom between Jest and Earnest he had given liberty to speak the Truth which soberer Men durst not that all the cause of Bribery and Corruption in the Judges proceeded for want of Stipends and necessary Maintenance Whereupon Bajazet growing cooler and sensible of the Cause of that Evil applied a Remedy by granting their Pardon allowing them Salaries and Stipends with additional Fees of twenty Aspers in all Causes exceeding a Thousand and twelve Aspers for every Writing and Instrument out of Court. And in the Times of the best Emperors when Vertue and Deserts were considered and the Empire flourished and encreased Men had Offices conferred for their Merits and good Services were rewarded freely and with bounty without Sums of Mony and Payments to be a foil to the lustre of their better Parts But now it is quite contrary and all Matters run out of course a manifest Token in my Opinion of the declension and decay of the Ottoman Empire as Livy saith Omnia prospera sequentibus Deos adversa autem spernentibus Howsoever in part this serves the great End of the Empire for Pashaws and great Men having a kind of necessity upon them to oppress their Subjects the People thereby lose their Courages and by continual Taxes and Seisures on what they gain Poverty subdues their Spirits and makes them more patiently suffer all kinds of Injustice and Violence that can be offered them without thoughts or motion to Rebellion And so the Lord Verulam says in his Essays That it is Impossible for a People over-laden with Taxes ever to become Martial or Valiant for no Nation can be the Lion's Whelp and the Ass between Burthens By which means the Turk preserves so many different sort of People as he hath conquered in due Obedience using no other help than a severe hand joined to all kind of Oppression but such as are Turks and bear any Name of Office or Degree in the Service of the Empire feel but part of this Oppression and live with all freedom having their Spirits raised by a Licence they attain to insult over others that dare not resist them But the Issue and Conclusion of the Spoils these great Men make on Subjects is very remarkable for as if God were pleased to evidence his just Punishment more evidently and plainly here than in other Sins scarce any of all those Pashaws who have made haste to be Rich have escaped the Grand Signior's Hands but he either devests them of all or will share the best part of the Prey with them Amongst which I have observed none passes so hardly as the Pashaws of Grand Cairo because it is the richest and most powerful of all the Governments of this Empire and so either in his Journey home or after his return he loses his Life by publick Command or at least is rifled of his Goods as ill got which are condemned to the Grand Signior's Treasury And it is strange to see yet with what heat these Men labour to amass Riches which they know by often Experiences have proved but Collections for their Master and only the Odium and Curses which the oppressed Wretches have vented against their Rapine remain to themselves Rebus secundis avidi adversis autem incauti Tac. And this is like the Policy that Caesar Borgia used otherwise called Il Duca Valentine who the better to reduce Romagna lately subdued to Obedience made one Messer Romiro d' Orco his Deputy a Man of a cruel and tyrannical Disposition who by Rigour and Force reduced Affairs to the Will and Order of his Prince And the Work now done and the People remaining extraordinarily discontented the Duke thought it time to purge the Minds of his People of the ill apprehension they had of his Government by demonstrating that the former hard usage proceeded from the bad Inclination of his Minister commanding the same Romiro d' Orco at Cesanna to be cut in pieces and exposed to the publick view of the People with a piece of Wood and a bloody Knife by his side This saith Machiavil Lib. del Principe cap. 7. Fece aquelli popoli in un tempo remanere stupidi sodisfatti and the Turk understands well how profitable in the same manner it is for the constitution of his Estate to use evil Instruments who may oppress and poll his People intending afterwards for himself the whole Harvest of their Labours
any grant of savour or dispensation The Mahometan Religion tolerates Christian Churches and Houses of Devotion in places where they have been anciently founded but admits not of holy Buiâdings on new foundations they may repair the old Coverings and Roofs but cannot lay a Stone in a new place Consecrated to Divine Service nor if Fire or any accident destroy the Superstructure may a new strength be added to the foundation wherewith to underprop for another Building so that at last the Christian Churches in those Dominions must necessarily come to ruin as many already have submitted to the common fate of time And as it happened in the great and notable Fires of Galata first and then of Constantinople in the year 1660 that many of the Christian Churches and Chapels were brought to Ashes and afterwards by the Piety and Zeal of Christians scarce re-edified before by publick order they were thrown down again into their former heaps being judged contrary to the Turkish Law to permit Churches again to be restored of which no more remained than the meer foundation CHAP. III. The Arts wherewith the Turkish Religion is propagated THE Turks though they offer the specious outside of the foregoing toleration yet by their Law are authorized to enforce Mens Consciences to the profession of their Faith and that is done by various arts and niceties of Religion For if a man turn Turk his Children under the age of 14 years though educated with other Principles must be forced to the same persuasion Men that speak against the Mahometan Law that have rashly promised at a time of distraction or drunkenness to become Turks or have had a carnal knowledge of a Turkish Woman must either become Martyrs or Apostates besides many other subtilties they have to entrap the Souls of Christians within the entanglements of their Law. It is another Policy wherewith the Mahometan Sect hath been encreased the accounting it a Principle of Religion not to deliver a City or Fortress by consent or voluntary surrender where Mosques have been once built and Mahometanism professed And therefore the Turk no sooner enters a Town by Conquest but immediately lays foundation for his Temples thereby imposing an obligation of an obstinate and constant resolution on the conscience of the defendants which many times hath been found to have been more forcible and prevalent on the spirits of men than all the terrours and miseries of Famine Sword or other calamities It is well enough known upon what different interests Christianity and Mahometanism were introduced into the World the first had no other enforcements than the persuasions and Sermons of a few poor Fishermen verified with Miracles Signs and Inspiration of the Holy Ghost carrying before it the promises of another life and considerations of a glorified spirituality in a state of separation but the way to it was obstructed with the opposition of Emperours and Kings with scorn and contempt with persecution and death and this was all the encouragement proposed to Mankind to embrace this Faith but Mahometanism made its way with the Sword what knots of Argument he could not untie he cut and made his spiritual power as large as his temporal made his precepts easie and pleasant and acceptable to the fancy and appetite as well as to the capacity of the vulgar representing Heaven to them not in a spiritual manner or with delights unexpressible and ravishments known onely in part of illuminated Souls but with gross conceptions of the beauty of Women with great Eyes of the duration of one act of Carnal copulation for the space of sixty years and of the beastly satisfaction of a gluttonous Palate things absurd and ridiculous to wise and knowing Men but yet capable to draw multudes of its professours and carnal defenders of its verity And this Doctrine being irrational to the better sort of judgments causes the Lawyers who are men of the subtilest capacities amongst the Turks to mistrust much of the truth of the Doctrine of Mahomet especially the assertions relating to the condition of the other life For the representation of the delights of the next World in a corporeal and sensual manner being inconsistent with their reason leads them to doubt the truth of that point and so wavering with one scruple proceed to a mistrust of the whole System of the Mahometan Faith. One would think that in such men a way were prepared for the entertainment of a Religion erected on more solid principles and foundations and that the Jews might gain such Proselytes to their Law from which a great part of the Mahometan superstition was borrowed or that the Christians might take advantage in so well disposed subjects to produce something of the Mystery of Godliness But the first are a people so obnoxious to scorn and contempt esteemed by the Turks to be the scum of the World and the worst of men that it is not probable their Doctrine can gain a reputation with those to whom their very persons and bloud are vile and detestable nor is it likely the Christians will ever be received by them with greater Authority and more favourable inclination untill they acquit themselves of the scandal of Idolatry which the Images and Pictures in their Churches seem to accuse them of in the eyes and judgment of the Turks who are not versed in the subtile distinctions of Schoolmen in the limitations and restrictions of that Worship and the evasions of their Doctours matters not onely sufficient to puzzle and distract the gross heads of Turks but to strain the wits of learned Christians to clear them from that imputation But to return to our purpose The propagation of the Mahometan Faith having been promoted wholly by the Sword that persuasion and principle in their Catechism that the Souls of those who die in the Wars against the Christians without the help of previous acts of performance of their Law or other Works are immediately transported to Paradise must necessarily whet the Swords and raise the Spirits of the Soldiers which is the reason that such Multitudes of them as we read in History run evidently to their own Slaughter esteeming their Lives and Bodies at no greater price than the value of Stones and Rubbish to fill Rivulets and Ditches that they may but erect a Bridge or Passage for their fellows to assault their Enemieâ The success of the Mahometan Arms produced another argument for the confirmation of their Faith and made it a Principle That whatsoever prospers hath God for the Authour and by how much more successfull have been their Wars by so much the more hath God been an owner of their Cause and Religion And the same argument if I am not mistaken in the times of the late Rebellion in England was made use of by many to intitle God to their Cause and make him the Authour of their thriving Sin because their wickedness prospered and could trample on all holy and humane Rights with impunity And I have known that
after which is done the Dervises with marvellous modesty and reverence bowing to their Superiour begin to turn round some of them with that swift motion that their faces can scarce be seen a certain Pipe made of a Cane sounding all the time of this motion and on a sudden when the Musick ceases they all stop with that exactness and firmness shewing no symptoms of a disordered or swimming Brain to which having accustomed themselves from their infancy or youth in some years that motion becomes as natural with as little disturbance to their head or stomach as to walk forward or to use any other exercise which nature is delighted with This custome they say they observe with great devotion in imitation of their first Founder Mevelana who for fourteen days together and without taking any nourishment used this Virtiginous motion by a miraculous assistence his Friend Hamze or Companion all that time sounding by him with his Flute or Pipe until at last falling into an ecstasie he received strange Revelations and Divine commands for the institution of this his Order The Pipe they play on they esteem for an ancient sanctified sort of Musick and to be that on which Iacob and the other holy Shepherds in the Old Testament praised God. It hath a dolefull melancholy sound but their constant exercise and application thereunto makes it as Musical as can be imagined in such an Instrument the best of those Canes are esteemed to come from Iconium and are of twenty five Dollars price But this sort of devotion with instrumental Musick is by Turks themselves disputed against denying that their Founder who was so spiritual a man did ever institute or himself use Musick in his turning round because the Alchoran expresly forbids all devotion and service of God with Musick but onely with the natural and living Voice And that is the reason why in calling their people to prayers they use no Bells but onely the Voice of a Man and for this cause I remember that in my time prohibitions have been made by publick Authority against this practice of the Dervises But they on the contrary alledging David's example and his Dancing before the Ark as arguments for their Musick and Giration have by the help of several persons in power many of them being greatly affected with their devotion maintained from time to time this custome and institution of the first Founder of this Order notwithstanding that one Vanni Efendi a great Seigh or Preacher esteemed as a knowing person by the Grand Signior and all the Court hath by his Authority endeavoured to Reform this Corruption as he calls it amongst them They profess Poverty Chastity and Obedience like Capuchin Fâyars or other Orders of St. Francis but if any have not the gift of Continence he may obtain license to leave his Convent and Marry but of these they observe that none ever thrived or lived happily with contentment that renounced this Dedication to God's Service The Novices serve in the most servile Offices and in time others supply their places they lie as Companions two together in a Cell some of which employ their time in Learning to Reade and Write in Turkish Arabick and Persian but most yield to the slothfull temperament to which they are naturally addicted but because the nature of Man is restless and musâ employ it self either in good or bad actions most of these associates exercise some kind of Legerdemain or tricks to amuse the minds of the common people and some really apply themselves to Sorceries and Conjurations by help of familiar Spirits Busbequius tells strange stories of one with whom he was acquainted and he would strike a stone of great weight and bigness against his bare Breast with that force and violence as were sufficient to knock down an Ox or break the bones of the sloutest Gyant and that the same man he hath seen take an Iron Bar red hot from the Fire and hold it in his mouth and though the spittle and moisture of his mouth hissed with the heat yet he seemed to take it thence again without the least hurt or burning Imaginable This sort of people of all other Turks addict themselves to drink Wine Strong Waters and other intoxicating Liquors and eat Opium in that quantity by degrees using their bodies thereunto that no Mountebank or Mithridates himself who was nourished by Poison are capable to digest half that proportion that these men will do the effect of which is at first like men drunk or mad to raise their spirits to a sort of distracted Mirth and afterwards when the subtile vapours are consumed and spent and a dull sâupefaction overcomes them they name it an ecstasie which they account very holy and divine in imitation of their first Founder who was often observed to put himself into this condition and therefore what helps may be found to excite mirth or distraction is lawfull and allowable in this Order There is a famous Monastery of these in Egypt invoking for their Saint one Kederlââ which by the Stories they tell of him should be S. George in conformity with whom all other Dervises maintain a reverent esteem of this Saint affirming that in his life time he was a valiant Horseman killed Dragons and all sorts of venomous beasts and now being departed this life God for preservation of good men hath given him power to deliver such as being in distress invoke his assistence especially those who are at Sea and at the point of shipwrack and that he with an extraordinary swiftness of motion flies from one part of the World to another in the twinkling of an eye and seasonably comes in to their succour These by virtue of that blessing Kederlee confers upon them pretend to charm Serpents and Adders and handle them as familiarly as we do the most innocent and domestick Creatures which art as I have heard from good Authority is not peculiar in Egypt onely to Dervises but to other men who are said to be naturally endewed with a virtue against the poisonous bites of Vipers and other venomous Beasts who putting great numbers of them into a Bag together do cull and sort them out with their hands as one would do Worms or Mussels and others wiâh a word charm Serpents from moving as they crawl along the Banks of Nile which Gifts these men pretend to inherit from their Parents and others to possess in reward of their Vertue and Sanctity This sort of Egyptian Dervises have Sainted the Horse of St. George and have seated him in Paradise with the other three beasts in high respect and esteem amongst the Turks viz. the Ass on which Christ rode the Camel of Mahomet and the Dog of the seven Sleepers These Dervises have Monasteries in the most famous places of the Turkish Empire which serve the travelling Pilgrims of this Order for Inns and places of entertainment for they above all other Religious Turks journey and travel from one place
Venice is so greatly esteemed by the Turks that they seem not to desire the conquest of that place for any other reason more than the benefit of the Arsenal as a person of great quality amongst them said once that had they made a Conquest of Venice they would not inhabit there but leave it to the Venetians in regard that the City affords not fresh Water which is necessary for the use of their Moschâ and their Washing before Prayer but that the Arsenal and a Tribute would satisfie the desires of the Grand Signior But the Turks are not likely to be Masters of this Sea of Neptune whilst they so unwillingly apply their minds to Maritime Affairs who being conscious of their former ill success at Sea and how little use they make of those advantages they have for shipping acknowledge their Inabilities in Sea Affairs and say That God hath given the Sea to the Christians but the Land to them And no doubt the large Possessions and Riches they enjoy on the staple Element of the Earth is that which takes off their minds the deep attention to matters of the Sea which is almost solely managed by Renegadoes amongst them who have abandoned their Faith and their Countrey And it is happy for Christendom that this faintness remains on the Spirits of the Turks an aversion from all Naval Employment whose numbers and power the Great God of Hosts hath restrained by the bounds of the Ocean as he hath limited the Ocean by the Sands of the Sea-shoar THE CONCLUSION BY the Discourse made in the three foregoing Books it will evidently appear what sort of Government is exercised amongst the Turâs what their Religion is and how formidable their Force which ought to make the Christian World tremble to see so great a part of it subjected to the Mahometan Power and yet no Mean thought of to unite our Interests and compose our Dissensions which lay us open to the inundation of this flowing Empire To which I shall add this one thing very observable That the Grand Signior wages his War by Land without any charge to himself an advantage not to be parallel'd by the Policy of any Government I ever heard or read of before for his Spahees and Ianizaries are always in Pay both in War and Peace his Zaims and Timariots have their Lands to maintain them and other Militia's enjoy the fixed Revenue from their respective Countries and yet notwithstanding through the expence of the Naval Forces the building Gallies and the like matters not provided for those who laid the first foundation of this Government the Revenue of the Empire hath been bankrupted and by the corruption of the Officers or ill management been sold for 3 years to come until all was redeemed and restored again by the wisedom of that famous Visâer Kuprinli whom we have occasion so often to mention in the foregoing Treatise We cannot now but pity those poor Borderers in Hungary Styria Croatia and other parts subject to the Incursions of this cruel Enemy since we know in the last War not three English miles from Vienna many poor people have been surprized and fallen into the hands of the Tartar and Turk and sold afterwards into perpetual slavery this consideration ought to move us who are barricado'd and fortifi'd by the Seas from the violence of our Enemies to bless God we are born in so happy and so secure a Countrey subject to no dangers but from our selves nor other miseries but what arise from our own freedom and two much felicity we ought to consider it is a blessing that we never have felt any smart of the rod of this great Oppressour of Christianity and yet have tasted of the good and benefit which hath proceeded from a free and open Trade and amicable Correspondence and Friendship with this People which have been maintained for the space of eighty years begun in the Reign of Queen ELIZABETH of blessed memory preserved by the Prudence and admirable Discretion of a series of worthy Ambassadours and daily emproved both in business and reputation by the excellent Conduct and Direction of that Right Worshipfull Company of the Levant Merchants hath brought a considerable benefit to this Kingdom and gives employment and livelihood to many thousands of people in England by which also His Majesty without any expence gains a very considerable increase of His Customs The sense of this benefit and advantage to my own Countrey without any private considerations I have as a Servant to that Embassie or the obligations I have to that worthy Company cause me to move with the greatest sedulity and devotion possible to promote and advance the Interest of that Trade And as some study several ways and prescribe Rules by which a War may be most advantagiously managed against the Turk I on the contrary am moâe inclinable to give my judgment in what manner our Peace and Trade may best be secured and maintained knowing that so considerable a welfare of our Nation depends upon it that a few years of Trades interruption in Turkey will make all sorts of people sensible of the want of so great a vent of the commodities of our Countrey And therefore as I am obliged to pray for the glory and prosperity of His Majesty our gratious Sovereign so likewise as that which conduces to it for the continuance of the Honour of this Embassie in Turkey and the profitable returns of the Levant Company FINIS THE CONTENTS Of the several CHAPTERS The First Book Chap. I. THE Constitution of the Turkish Government being different from most others in the World hath need of peculiar Maxims and Rules whereon to establish and confirm it self Page 1 Chap. II. The absoluteness of the Emperor is a great support of the Turkish Empire 2 Chap. III. The Lesson of Obedience to their Emperor is taught by the Turks as a Principle of Religion rather than of State 4 Chap. IV. A True Relation of the Designs managed by the old Queen Wife of Sultan Ahmet and Mother of Sultan Morat and Sultan Ibrahim against her Grand-Child Sultan Mahomet who now Reigns and of the Death of the said Queen and her Complices 6 Chap. V. The Education of Young Men in the Seraglio out of which those who are to discharge the great offices of the Empire are elected it being a Maxim of the Turkish Polity To have the Prince served by such whom he can raise without envy and destroy without danger 12 Chap. VI. Of the Method in the Turkish Studies and Learning in the Seraglio 15 Chap. VII Of the Platonick Affection and Friendship the Pages in the Seraglio bear each to other 16 Chap. VIII Of the Mutes and Dwarfs 17 Chap. IX Of the Eunuchs ibid. Of the black Eunuchs and Apartments of the Women 17 18 Chap. X. Of the Agiamoglans 19 Chap. XI Of the Visier Azem or Prime Visier his office the other six Visiers of the Bench and of the Divan or place of Iudicature 20
to allure them by the promises of the Imperial favour and protection offering them preferments upon Condition they would change their Religion at length finding them proof against all their arts they stigmatiz'd several and sold them to the Spanish Gallies from whence afterwards they were redeem'd by the famous Ruyter Admiral of Holland others were thrown into vile loathsome Prisons in which some perish'd the rest who out-lived their misfortunes were released by the importunities of the States Ambassador at the Imperial Court. These matters of fact are too publick to be denied and the Reasons that are given seem by no means sufficient to palliate such Barbarities Those Letters in Cypher which were produc'd against them to prove them Guilty of Treason are justly suspected but grant them true they were but from particulars and one or two Mens Guilt cannot render a whole body of Men liable to punishment As for those Accusations which were laid upon them of being Murderers Robbers Ravishers c. they were only alledged not proved and consequently likely to be meer Calumnies To conclude that they were Rebels because some fled from the Persecutions they saw pouring upon them seems to be no very good consequence and to shew not so much their guilt as their fear at least this cannot be urg'd against those that made their appearance and that there were several which signed the Paper that was presented them argued they indeed weak but not criminal and the rigours that were used to bring them to sign it do extreamly diminish if not absolutely take away all the force of that Argument So that I doubt not but it will appear to the impartial Reader that the conduct of the Popish Clergy has had too great an influence on these last Troubles and that their persecuting Maxims are as ruinous to the interest of a State as contrary to the Spirit of our Christian Religion And from this Original began that War which haâh ever since continued with great effusion of Blood and strange vicissitudes of Fortune which not only reduced Hungary to the pit of despair but even Germany it self to the brink of Destruction until God was pleas'd to take the Cause into his own Hands and avenge Christendom from their Enemies whose Sins it seems were more ripe for the Divine vengeance than those of the Christian people The discontents on both sides grew so high that the Emperor resolved to perform nothing on his part of what he had promised to his Hungarian Subjects nor they any thing on theirs which respected Duty and Allegiance to their Prince Both Parties stood in defiance to each other the Emperor would not lose the benefit of the charge and expences he had been at to fortify the frontier Garrisons against the Turks Nor would the Hungarians restrain themselves from their usual Incursions notwithstanding the Treaty so lately sign'd by them By which the Emperor received frequent complaints from the Turks So all was now private Machinations and open Defiances It was now in the Month of September That the three years were expir'd year 1665. at the end whereof according to the Statutes of that Kingdom a Diet was to be Assembled at Presburg for redress of those aggrievances of which the Subjects complain'd It was usual for the Emperor to be present there but some jealousies being whisper'd of a Plot to seize his Person his Majesty refrain'd from making his appearance at that Diet which being by that means put off the Sovereign Chamber of the Kingdom taking all matters into their Consideration sent their Deputies to complain unto the Emperor That Colonel Spaar Governour of Zatmar had extorted Money from the Citizens upon pretence of paying his Soldiers tho' in reality to appropriate it to his own benefif and service That the German Soldiers were sâill quarter'd in the Countries notwithstanding all the Promises and Engagements given to the contrary the which aggrievances together with that of taking away their Churches was such a Scandal and block of Offence as caused great Commotions in that Kingdom whensoever that matter came into dispute Hence it was That the Protestants chose three Leaders or Chiefs of their Faction and Party against which Prince Ragotski and Apafi opposed their Forces in favour of the Palatine Wesselini year 1666. and Count Palaffi Imbre appear'd as one of the Chief of the Male-contents but having not sufficient Force to sustain his party and interest he crav'd assistance and succour from the Turks to whom he offer'd his Son for a Hostage and the Town of Debin with the dependences thereunto belonging as a farther security for performance of Articles All was now divided into Sects and Parties Count Peter Serini of whom the Emperor had not the least jealousie entertained secret consults with the Malecontents and with Nadasti raised Forces upon pretence of giving a stop to the Turks in their passage to Dalmatia but with real design to seize the Person of the Emperor at Puttendorf a place appertaining to Count Nadasti as he was Riding post with Prince Lubkovitz Chief Steward of his House and with about 12 Gentlemen of his Retinue to meet the Empress but that Plot took not effect for their Ambuscade missing the Emperor he happily met the Empress on her Journey out of Spain This Conspiracy being thus disappointed Count Nadasti desired the Emperor year 1667. that he might be made Palatine of Hungary in the place of Wesselini lately deceased But the Emperor not being well satisfy'd of the Faith and Integrity of that Person refused to confer it upon him or any other until he saw the Tranquillity and Peace of that Kingdom better secur'd At which Nadasti being enrag'd corrupted a Carpenter in revenge to set fire to the new Appartment which was building in the Palace for the Empress Eleonora In expectation that in such an affrightment and confusion the Conspirators might seize on the Person of the Emperor But God conserved his Imperial Majesty tho' that Plot was not detected until Nadasti received the reward of his demerit The Deputies of the upper Hungary made new Addresses to the Emperor year 1668. to have the Office of Palatine supplied according to the Constitutions of the Kingdom but in those times of Sedition and Discontent his Imperial Majesty not finding a Person equally grateful to the Hungarians and loyal to himself to whom he could confide that Important Charge did for some time keep the Office in his own hands which with the refusal made to restore the Protestant Churches was so generally displeasing that the Nobility deny'd to be present at the Coronation of the Empress until they were a little mollify'd and appeas'd by having the Revenue and Rents of their Churches releas'd to them Besides the Office of Palatine the Government of Carelstadt became vacant by the decease of the Count Aversperg which being in Croatia and lying commodious for Serini he immediately made applications for it by means of his Lady who with her good
air and address and the vivacity of her Spirit and fluency of her Language thought nothing difficult for her to obtain but missing thereof for Reasons best known to the Emperor who judg'd it not good policy to add greater Authority to a person who was Vice-King of Croatia and possess'd already more Power and Interest than he could willingly afford him the Lady was forc'd much against her Nature to acquiess in a denial but not being able to suppress the violent commotions of her Spirit she openly breath'd out her menaces against the Emperor and finding an humor in the People generally inclin'd to a Revolt easily perswaded her Son-in-Law Prince Ragotski and the other principal Nobles of Hungary to enter into an Association and Conspiracy against the Emperor The first thing they did was to complain of the German Garrison in Tokai and being assembled at Zemblin they fent their Deputies to represent unto the Emperor that according to the Laws and Privileges of that Kingdom all their Forts and Places of Strength ought to be Garrison'd with no other than Soldiers of their own Country That the Protestants receiv'd all sorts of ill treatment and discountenance their Churches were taken away and not restor'd as was promis'd and agree'd besides several other Aggrievances which they laid before the Emperor supplicating his Imperial Majesty to grant them ease and redress therein according to the Constitutions and Privileges of that Kingdom which his Majesty at his Coronation had Sworn to maintain To all which the gentle and sweet temper of his Imperial Majesty and the sense of his Conscience was inclin'd to yield a benign and gracious Answer had not Father Emeric a Jesuit and his Confessor instill'd other Principles and Motives into his Mind giving him to understand that it had always been the Prerogative of the Kings his Predecessors to dispose Garrisons in all places of that Kingdom consisting of such Nations as he should judge most for the safety and security thereof And that whereas at present the Hungarians were inspir'd with an humor of Rebellion and Revolt there was no reason to trust or confide in them but in the Germans only whose Loyalty and Duty was sufficiently known and approv'd by his Majesty Farther he added that the Hungarians had in the late War against the Turk suffer'd Waradin to be lost and at the Battle of St. Gothards upon the River of Raab had appear'd in such small numbers for defence of their Country as if they had intended to have betray'd it had it not been for the German and other Foreign Forces the whole Kingdom had become a Prey to the Turks With such Discourses as these the Deputies were entertain'd and dispatch'd away without other satisfaction at which the Nobles and People were so displeas'd that they gave a stop to the Payments they had begun to make towards building the Forts and cut all the Germans in pieces which they found quarter'd about the Country and particularly they kill'd forty Soldiers of the Regiment of Spaar near Xants the which piece of Blood and Slaughter was again return'd by the Germans and Force repell'd again by Force So that now all was open defiance War and Massacre To carry on the Great Designs in hand the Malecontents assembled at the Castle of Kivar upon the Frontiers of Transilvania about two Leagues distant from Ghibania where the Gold and Silver Mines arise The Principal Persons there present were Ladislas Giulaf Gabriel de Kende Benedict Seredey Ionas Veradt the Calvinist Minister of Cassovia also Derus Bansi General of the Transilvanian Forces Ianos Betlem the Chancellor Michael Talha Governor of the Frontiers with some others where a League was form'd between the Hungarian and Transilvanian Protestants to drive and expell the Germans out of the Kingdom to demolish Zatmar and to arm themselves in defence of their Religion In this accord the Wife of Prince Apafi appear'd extreamly zealous being a Woman of a Masculine Spirit a fierce Protestant and one who had a hand in all Matters whilst her Husband apply'd himself to Hunting and to the Conversation of Learned Men. In the mean time Count Nadasti having fail'd in his late Treason against the Emperor contriv'd to Poyson him at a Magnificent Banquet which he had prepar'd for him at which the Persons present were the Empress the two Imperial Princesses Prince Charles of Lorain with all the Court. The fatal Dish prepar'd for the Emperor was a Pidgeon Pye which he extreamly lov'd but God preserv'd his Sacred Person by means of the Lady to the Count who being endow'd with greater Sentiments of Honour and Religion than her Husband beseech'd him on her knees to desist from so black and so detestable a Wickedness but not being able to prevail upon him she Order'd the Cook to set another Pye of the same fashion before the Emperor in the place of that which was poyson'd of which he having eaten without any hurt Nadasti apprehended the dealing of his Wife therein and least the Cook should discover the Secret he kill'd him the same day with his own hand Count Serini tho' he was contriving all this time yet it was not in Matters of so black a nature as these He entertain'd several Conferences with Count Tassembach a Person of as Ambitious and unsetled an humor as any whatsoever year 1669. and ready to enter into any League and Conspiracy with the other Malecontents And in fine after many Consultations he concluded it necessary to engage the Turks with them in the whole Enterprize But lest it should come to be discover'd to the Emperor 's Resident at Constantinople by the openness of the Turks who can keep no Secret it was resolv'd that the Matter should be Negotiated by the Transilvanians who being already Subject to the Turks and under their protection might with less suspicion propose this Treaty This Overture being made to the Turks they immediately embrac'd it being an Offer which at the first sight appear'd very advantageous but then the next Condition requir'd by the Chimacam who was Kara Mustapha the Grand Vizier being then at the Siege of Candia was That in Consideration of the aid and protection which the Grand Seignior was to give unto the Hungarians they were to become his Tributaries in the same manner and on the same Conditions as the Transilvanians were This Demand tho it seem'd hard to the Hungarians yet they resolv'd to pursue their Design and accordingly sent their Agents to the Vizier at Candia hoping by the lenity and moderation of his Nature to obtain more easie terms than those demanded by the Chimacam and in the mean time to notifie their intention of Revolt unto all the World they caus'd a Standard to be erected with two Scymeters died with Blood and a Crescent or Half Moon over them The Grand Vizier being then labouring at the Siege of Candia and in a doubtful Condition of Success was not willing
Poles And at the same time the Turks who were on the rising of a Hill advanced as if they intended to Charge the main Body of the Christians But being within half Musquet shot of them they on a suddain Wheeled about and fell upon the left Wing which when the Duke of Loraine observed he crossed the Line of the Cavalry on the left Wing and with all the party of the first Line which had not been engaged he in Person charged the Enemy in the Flank with so much Courage and Bravery as put them to a General Rout and into that Confusion that they were never more able again to Rally Dunewaldt was Commanded to Pursue them and with the Poles of the left Wing enter'd pell-mel with them at the very Gates of Barcan at which place many of them were killed and perished in the Marshes of Gran. Whilst Dunewaldt pursued the flying Enemy the whole Army advanced in Battalia towards Barcan and in the way thither it was resolved by all Parties to Assault the place in this heat of Action whilst the Enemy was Affrighted and in Disorder the King accordingly drew out some Troops of his Cosacks and the Duke of Loraine five Battalions of Staremberg Grana and Baden which were appointed for that Service Which Detachment was no sooner order'd than Information came that the Bridge over the Danube by the Crouds and Multitudes of the Turks pressing over it was broken and that Barcan it self was so filled up with People that they had scarce room to stir and were ready to trample one another Under-foot Prince Lewis of Baden with these Forces and three Regiments of Dragoons and three Pieces of Cannon assaulted the Fort and took it by main force The Slaughter which was there made by Fire and Sword was very Cruel and Bloody But most to avoid the Fury of the Enemy threw themselves head-long into the Danube some endeavoured to save themselves by Swimming others by their Horses hanging on their Mains and Tails others on Planks and Boards of the broken Bridge in which Passage thô many saved themselves yet the greatest part perished in the Waters as appeared by the Bodies of Men and Horses together with their Garments which cover'd the Surface of the River in places where the Current ran not so rapid on the Sides and Banks as in the middle of the Water In fine of these great numbers in Barcan none escaped unless Seven or Eight hundred Men who having betaken themselves to a Redoubt belonging to that Fortress obtained Quarter for their Lives on Condition of quiet Surrender In this Action the Turks lost their best Captains and the Bravest of their Soldiery and so fatal was this Fight to them that they never recovered their Courage and Spirits again but suffer'd themselves for several years afterwards to be beaten and baffled by their Enemes After which we shall find them still decaying and giving Ground and at length falling into Discords and Civil Dissentions the Ottoman Empire had nearly expired had not the Christians falling into Wars amongst themselves which have always proved advantagious to the Turks given new Life and growth again unto that People This Victory obtained the King of Poland with his General and Senators justly applauded the Wisdom and Conduct of the Duke of Loraine and Valour of the German Troops to whom he acknowledged the whole Success of that day was to be attributed In the Quarters of the King Te Deum being sang and Thanks returned to Almighty God for so signal a Blessing the Duke of Loraine took a Survey of the Fort of Barcan to see in what manner it was possible to be put in a condition to offend Gran which was Situate on the other side of the Water just in opposition to it But such was the Fury of the Soldiers that they burnt almost all the Palisadoes and set fire to part of the Town and so ravenous were they after the Plunder of the Place that the Germans and Poles had fallen into Civil Wars amongst themselves had not Count Staremberg put an end to the Scuffle by commanding the âermans to with-draw and leaving the Poles Masters of the Place they made all the Spoyl they were able in revenge of the Loss they had suffered the day before Nothing could come more seasonable nor more advantagious to the Christian Arms than this Victory for besides the Loss as we have said of the best of their Men there remained not above two or three Thousand alive of all that Army which consisted of Fourteen thousand of their best Horse and Twelve hundred Ianisaries commanded by the new Pasha of Buda Haly Pasha of Aleppo and six other Pashas Twelve hundred or One thousand Prisoners were taken and amongst them the Pashas of Aleppo and Silistria with several other Agas The Consequences of which Victory were very happy to the Christians for besides that it administred new Courage to the drooping Spirits of the Poles it totally dismayed the Malecontents and produced such Disorder in the Turkish Army that the Great Vizier with all the Authority with which he was clothed was not able to contain them within any bounds or limits of Duty but rather fearing to be Murdered by them than hoping to Appease them was forced to abscond himself from their Rage in obscure Retirement By this Overthrow the Grand Vizier lost all the remainder of his Baggage which had been saved at the Battle of Vienna with Twelve Pieces of Cannon which had been advanced some Hours on the way before the Siege was raised and was employed by the new Vizier of Buda for the Service of this Camp. The Duke of Loraine pursuing the course of his good Fortune was desirous to conclude this Campaign with the taking of Gran which was the glorious period to which the Emperor directed him if possible to advance his Affairs In order hereunto the Duke of Loraine taking first according to his usual Methods a judicious Survey of the situation of the Place and the way thereunto observed that in the middle of the River something below Gran there was an Island in which was not only good Forage for the Horse but also an ancient Intrenchment which with some little Labour might be made useful and defensive against the Cannon of the Town And from the farther side of that Island with the help of a few Boats the whole Army might find an easy Passage The King of Poland approving this Design Boats were ordered down from Comorra for framing the Bridge But whilst this was doing the late Successes which had brought great Reputation to the Emperor's Affairs had moved Tekeli to send the Count de Humanay in Behalf of the Malecontents to offer Terms of Peace and Pacification The Duke of Loraine who had been long versed in the Practices of Tekeli and his Associates was of opinion That the Malecontents were not as yet reduced to such Terms as might render them
and night Within the Town they were industrious and brave every Ianisary behaving himself with Resolution and indefatigable Labour And on the other side Without the Town the Soldiers were harassed and tyred with continualWatchings and Pains and the Pioneers and Labourers working beyond their strenght in the excessive heats fell into Malignant Fevers and Diseases of the Camp by which the numbers of those People being greatly diminished the Mines and Works advanced very slowly On that side towards Strigonium the impediments and hindrances were as great as on the other for the Defendants continually Fired upon the Labourers which obstructed them in such manner that it was impossible to joyn their Trenches to the Wall of the Bastion which Flanked the Curtain and such showers of Granadoes and Vollies of small Shot were thrown amongst them that they were forced to desist from their Work and to proceed by Mining the Earth which required much time and retarded the Conquest of the place On the 30 th of August about Sun-rising the Turks made a Furious Sally into the Trenches of the Germans causing them to Fly with the loss of Forty or Fifty Men but other Troops coming to their Succour they were forced to Retire in much Confusion and Disorder and endeavouring an Escape by the Breaches in the Walls and narrow Avenues they exposed themselves to the Swords and Fire Arms of their Enemies who destroyed them with great Slaughter At the beginning of September the Rains fell in such abundance that the Soldiers in some of the Trenches remain'd a whole Day up to the middle in Water which increased the Diseases of the Camp from which some of the Commanders were not freed and particularly the Duke of Loraine who became so indisposed in his Health that he was constrained to Retire unto Old Buda for ease and remedy where he continued not above four or five Days before he returned again to the Camp during this time the Turks made other Sallies upon the Christians for several Days to their great loss and discouragement for besides Three hundred Common Soldiers many principal Officers were killed and wounded amongst which those of chief Note were the Marquis Cavalieri Lieutenant Colonel of the Regiment of Gran Count Tirheim a Captain of the Regiment of Baden were slain and Major General Schaffemberg and the Marquis of Parella with several other Officers were wounded But to suport the Spirits of the Christians which were not a little dismayed by these losses and the great difficulties which were yet to be overcome the Bavarian Infantry fortunately came to their Succours thô those of Franconia were Countermanded which so enlivened and cheared up the Hearts of the drooping Camp That the Duke of Loraine sent a menacing Message to the Governour of Buda giving him to understand that in case he stood out longer and refused to surrender until he was forced thereunto by a General Assault which he was preparing to make that then he would put all to the Sword giving Quarter to none nor sparing Age nor Sex To which Summons he returned this answer That in such Case he would neither demand Mercy or Quarter for his own Person nor for any of the Soldiers or Inhabitants of that place And on the other side he declared That he would give no Quarter to the Besiegers but when they fell into his Hands would treat them with the same usage which was threatned unto them And to shew how much he was in earnest he caused Forty Christian Prisoners to be brought before him on the Walls and in Presence of the Person who brought the Summons he commanded them all to be put to Death saying That if it were in his Power to Massacre the whole Christian Army he would do it with as little Remorse as he executed his present Rage on those miserable Wretches And it being farther told this Vizier that the Duke of Bavaria had in Person and with 30.000 Men reinforced the Army which encompassed the City He made answer That he knew very well what a Petty King of Germany meant and that his Three thousand Men which he had brought with him could not terrify him who commanded a Place where the Soldiers were many and brave and where was no want of Ammunition and Provisions On the 8 th The Christians Sprang a Mine under one of the Towers where the Turks had placed their principal Battery and at Night Sprang three or four more under the Curtain but not with so good effect as was expected Howsoever they had brought their Attacks to the very Ditches of the Town and Castle and had made a Lodgment upon one of the Breaches On the 9 th and 10 th Several other Mines were fired with such Success that they overthrew a great part of the Wall and opened so wide a space that four of five Carts might enter a-breast Howsoever it was not thought advisable to make an Assault by Reason that the Defendants had formed several Retrenchments within and guarded them with many Troops and Batteries And besides the Infantry were so weakned by Dissenteries and other Sicknesses that it was not thought fit to hazard them upon so desperate an Attempt Howsoever having fired a Mine at Kulakupee with good effect they seconded it with a furious Assault but were again repulsed with much loss and great slaughter of the common Soldiers and the Counts of Harach and Nassau and the Major of the Regiment of Mansfeldt were all killed and the Counts of Staremberg and Aversberg were amongst the number of the wounded Amongst these Disorders and Discouragements five Christians found means to make their Escape out of the Town and informed the General that the Turks had raised two Batteries each of five Pieces of Cannon upon a Horn-work which was palisadoed and was guarded by another Tower behind this Work and joyned to a more inward Wall made of Earth above nine Foot thick That there was also a Ditch and Palisadoes behind the Breach and that there were still 20.000 Men within the Town who were capable to bear Arms and that the principal Officers upon hopes of being relieved by the Seraskier as was assured them by some Soldiers lately come from Belgrade and the Bridge of Esseck had resolved to maintain the Town to the last and utmost Extremity Howsoever that there was some division amongst them for thô the Inhabitants seem'd resolute to stand out unto the last drop of their Blouds fearing lest they should be treated like the Garrison of Virovitza yet the Ianisaries who had no other Concerment in the Place than their own Lives protested that in case they were not speedily relieved by the Seraskier they would constrain the Governour to surrender upon Capitulations If the Garrison of Buda were in a bad Condition the Imperial Camp in the Leaguer was not in a much better for most of the Officers were either killed sick or wounded and such was the scarcity of all Provisions
diligence being used to extinguish the Fire which still raged both in the Town and Castle it was at length overcome and much of the Ammunition and Provisions conserved what Goods remained were given to the Soldiery In the Castle were eight Pieces of Cannon without other Arms about Two hundred and seventy Christian Slaves were set at Liberty The taking of this Place was esteemed of much importance by Reason that thereby the Countries of Zathmar and Zobolesch were freed of all Contributions and the Towns and Boroughs in all Parts round as far as Waradin were bridled and kept under some restraint by a Garrison of an Hundred Musquetiers and Two hundred Heydukes and a Hundred Hussars which Count Caraffa had put into St. Iob which were esteemed sufficient to resist any suddain Incursion of the Enemy until Relief came which could not be long wanting from the neighbouring Places In the mean time as we have said Count Caprara had drawn his Line of Circumvallation before Mongatz and laid a formal Siege Against which the Besieged wanting no resolution to defend themselves fired continual Vollies of great and small shot And on the 10 th of March made a Sally to ruin the Batteries of the Imperialists but were vigorously repulsed with some loss Thô not long afterwards they made another Sally with more success having overthrown a Battery and made the Cannon unserviceable But in regard the Defendants found by experience that frequent Sallies cost the Lives of many Soldiers which they could ill spare they resolved to conserve them selves within their Walls on the Defensive part without other hazards of offending the Enemy On the other side the Imperialists pressed forward with much Resolution plaid with their Cannon on the Palanca and threw Bombs and Carcasses into the Town but what damage was done thereby was soon repair'd by the diligence of the Besieged returning their Shot with fiery Bullets of a new invention which did great execution within the Lines This and other Successes raised their Spirits within the Town to a steddy defence to secure which the Princess Ragotzki imposed a new Oath of Fidelity on all the Souldiers which they chearfully took and to express their readiness thereunto they fired all the great and small Shot round the Town with resolute Protestations never to hearken unto any Offers or Conditions for Surrender of the Place To confirm the Soldiery in this good Humour it was noised in the Garrison that there were sufficient Provisions in the Magazines for the subsistence of a whole Year that the Princess had received Letters from her Husband Tekeli assuring her that he would very suddainly appear before the Town with an Army sufficient to raise the Siege and restore their Liberties and reward all those who had continued firm and constant in their Faith and Allegiance unto him Nor was this Report confined within the Walls of Mongatz but it was spread over all the Imperial Camp that Tekeli had joyned the Seraskier's Army with a Force of Eight thousand Turks and Tartars and shortly resolved to attempt the raising of the Siege before Mongatz and to Re-inforce the place with considerable Recruits To prevent which Count Caprara dispeeded General Piccolomini with a strong Detachment to joyn with Mercy Caraffa and Heusler and with united strength to oppose the Enemies passage and watch some favourable opportunity to engage them But the Report of the Turks numbers and Tekelis design soon vanished there being no such apparent Force in the Field to give them opposition In the mean time the Siege proceeded vigorously Bombs and Carcasses being daily fired and thrown into the Palanca and Castle one of which fell into the very Room where the Princess Ragotzki was at Dinner which without any disorder or affrightment of the Lady was soon extinguished Howsoever the Besiegers made such a Breach into the Palanca that they lodged a strong Party upon the brink of the Ditch The Besieged on the other side had raised a great Battery behind the Breach which dismounted several of the Imperialists Cannon and made divers Retrenchments and fired continually Bombs and Carcasses into the Lines which often times did considerable execution But when the Officers of the Garrison consider'd that the only means to preserve the place was to prevent the Draining of the two Ditches of the lower Town which were extreamly deep they cut a passage for several streams of Water by secret and hidden Channels to fall into the Ditch which being increased by the melting of Snow from the Mountains and continual Flouds of Rain which fell in that Season of the Year the Ditches were not only filled but the Earth made so soft and moist that it was impossible to maintain their Works so that Caprara could do nothing more than Batter the Town with his Cannon and throw some Bombs and Carcasses with little or no Execution In fine the Season coming on for Action which required an application to something more profitable and promising than this difficult Work the Siege was raised by Order of the Emperor about the end of April after five Months had been unprofitably spent before that place But before the great and most considerable Actions of the following Campaign began there were certain Preparations or Preludes thereunto represented in Fights and Skirmishes between certain Parties detached from the main Bodies in all which the Imperialists gained the Advantage and sometimes had the fortune of a clear Victory On the 14 th of March some Imperial Troops having their Winter-quarters in Croatia routed Fifteen hundred Turks drawn up in open Field and put them to flight Achmet Aga their chief Commander was killed and his Son taken Prisoner This Engagement happen'd near a little Town called Ialonne which the Croats stormed and took and pillaged it and set at liberty Eight hundred Christian Slaves of which Three hundred were in a condition to take up Arms. Another Detachment of Croats possessed themselves of the Castle of Clanitz where they found a considerable Booty as also of the Town of the great Cladussa about four Leagues from Strediclo from whence they were enabled to make Incursions into the Territories of the Turks without any opposition year 1686. About the beginning of this Month other Detachments from the Garrison of Vesprin and Places in the Lower Hungary took the Castle of Palotta about two Leagues distant from Alba Regalis and put all to the Sword. About the end of this Month Count Baragotzi with a Regiment of German Horse and some Hungarian Troops intended to surprize Tekeli in Giena a little Town belonging to the Turks but the Design failed Tekeli being retired a little before the coming of the Enemy Howsoever his March was not altogether fruitless for in his return he took forty Turks whom he made Prisoners The Turks on the other side with Three thousand Horse and Foot under the Command of Fonduck Pasha designed to surprize Wirowitza in Croatia but the
fortyfied than in the former Siege for that several new Works were raised on the Banks of the Danube and that on the other side the Ditch had been made much more deep and large than it was before That the Turks had prepared diverse Countermines in those places where the Christians had lately made their Mines That they had made diverse new Sally-ports That they had unpaved all their Streets uncovered the tops of their Houses to prevent the Mischief which was feared from Bombs and Carcasses against which they had fortified the large Cistern of Water which was built in the middle of the City That they had furnished the Town with such quantities of Provisions and Ammunition and Stores of all things necessary for War and support of Human Life as were sufficient without other Supplies or Recruits to maintain a Siege for six Months That the Garrison consisted of Twenty five thousand select Men at least chosen out of the Ianisaries and Spahees and were all resolute Men and good Soldiers That the Governour in chief was a stout and valiant Man a Renegado and one who was learned and experienced in all the Military Arts of the Christians That under him six Agas were subordinated all Men of Conduct and Bravery to succeed in the Government as one or the other of them should fail And lastly That the Town was discharged of all useless and unnecessary Inhabitants such as Women and Children and Iews and Armenian Merchants who were permitted to withdraw themselves with all their Goods and Estates out from the City Notwithstanding this Discourse maintain'd and urged by divers the contrary Opinion prevailed for the Siege of Buda as if the Difficulties thereof served rather to enflame than to discourage so many valiant and generous Spirits Such an Enterprise as the taking a Capital City with the Conquest of which the whole Kingdom would follow and fall a Prey into their Hands seemed an Adventure and an Exploit worthy the undertaking of so many brave Soldiers who were certainly the greatest Captains of this Age and perhaps we may speak it without injury to past times that they were the best Soldiers that ever the World had produced Indeed the whole Army of this Year was in a most Flourishing Condition well Provided and Accoutred Fleshed with Blood and Victory and so Couragious that nothing seemed too hard and difficult for them And this was one Reason to perswade the Military Councils to the Siege of Buda not knowing whether the next Year would produce such an Army as at present which as it was capable to undertake any thing so it was pity to have it wasted and employed in trivial matters and taking in of Fortresses from whence no Important Consequences could be expected There was moreover one thing more especially urged that by the last Siege the Defects and Errors and false Attacks were all seen and discover'd the which might now easily be rectified and provisions made against the mischiefs which cost the Lives of many Men and the Ground and nature of it and Situation being perfectly known the subjection of this place would become much more easie than the time before notwithstanding all the Provisions the Turks had made In fine with these Arguments as I said the Siege of Buda was resolved and every thing prepared in order thereunto In the mean time the Turks were not idle on their part every Day Olacks or Curriers were dispatched in all hast from Buda to Belgrade and thence to the Port to expedite the coming of the Ottoman Army and Succours for Re-inforcement of their Garrison giving them advices of the Motion and Approach of the Imperial Troops against them which if not prevented would quickly surround their Walls and intercept their Advices and Relief The Turkish Officers and Soldiers in all their Quarters in Hungary amassed and gather'd what Forage and Provisions they were able which they laid up and disposed in those Garrisons which were most exposed to the Enemy and Re-inforced them with Troops drawn from other places which were in the least danger of the Enemy and at farthest distance from them The Tartars were urged and sollicited not only to hasten their march to the Confines of Poland to keep that Country in Awe but also to send another Body to joyn with the Ottoman Camp in Hungary In the mean time Skirmishes daily hapned between several Hussars and Dragoons belonging to Raab and Strigonium and detached Parties from Buda to which place Reinforcements were so constantly sent that the Garrison was calculated to amount unto above Nine thousand Men year 1686. besides the Citizens and Inhabitants tho' in reality the numbers were much greater And in regard the Grand Seignior was not well satisfied with the Valour and Conduct of the present Pasha another was sent to supply the place who incessantly laboured both Day and Night about the Fortifications for tho' it was not certain whether the Imperialists would make that Siege the business of this Year yet it was greatly feared and too much labour and caution could not be used for the Defence of a place of such Importance In the mean time the Grand Seignior removed from Adrianople to Constantinople to pass his Summer there in hopes that his Presence would bring some Trade to that City but the War had drained all the Money in such manner that the Merchants found little benefit or alteration in the quickness of their Trade The Grand Vizier intended at the same time to have moved from Adrianople towards Belgrade but the great Fire which had hapned lately there caused him to retard his March for some Days in order to rebuild the publick Edifices consumed by the Fire Besides the Fire and Sword there was great Scarcity of Corn in all the Ottoman Dominions by the two first the Rich were the greatest Sufferers but the latter was an Aggrievance which most affected the Poor Howsoever they supported these Troubles and Losses with Patience without Murmurings amongst the Citizens or Mutinies as yet in the Camp. The Moscovites were all this time playing a double Game having sent an Envoy to the Court to complain of the Incursions which the Tartars had made into their Country and of the Depredations which the Turkish Governour of Asac had made upon them at the Mouth of the Tanais The Envoy found a kind Reception and Orders were sent both to the Tartars and Governour of Asac to abstain for the future from all such Acts of Hostility and maintain a good Correspondence with the Moscovites who were become Allies and faithful Friends to the Port And more to engage the Envoy some few Russian Slaves were given him with License to rebuild an old ruined Greek Church in Constantinople with which to outward appearance the Envoy returned with entire Satisfaction The Polish Inter-nuntio who from the beginning of the War had been kept under restraint at Constantinople was now upon exchange for a Turk of
was to be fir'd The next Day following about Nine a Clock in the Morning the Turks beat again a Parly towards the side of the Breach of the Bavarian Quarter and sent the two Agas which had been employed the Day before with the Duke of Loraine unto the Elector desiring that two Hostages might be returned in their Places which being done accordingly one of the Agas offered in the Name of the Vizier of Buda To yield and surrender up the Place with all the Dependencies which he avowed to be very great and to contain no less than a Hundred and Fifty Leagues of Land thereupon depending or otherwise to deliver up any other two places within the Kingdom of Hungary being under the Turks Dominion at the Will and Choice of the Emperor provided that a general Peace might thereupon be concluded and ensue But in regard the Elector was sufficiently informed that it was not in his own nor yet in the Emperor's Power to make a Peace without the common Consent of the Allies for which there was no time at that critical Season The two Agas were remanded back and the Hostages returned and then the old Trade proceeded and they began again to fire on all sides as before But this Cessation of Arms was made use of by the Christians for discovery of the Breach of the Castle and the entrance thereunto by way of the Town of which a Lieutenant Colonel belonging to the Regiment of Baden took a particular Observation The same Day a Mine was fired by the Imperialists at the Attack of Loraine which made a Breach in the second Wall and shaked the third which so alarum'd the Defendants that in great numbers they came running to that place by which such a diversion was made of their Forces as gave the Bavarians an opportunity to enter the Castle but being not able to make good their Ground they were constrained to abandon the Lodgment which they had already begun During these Actions Count Staremberg applying himself to all places where his Presence was required without any regard to the hazard and danger of life he received a Musquet Shot on his Left-hand which carried away his Thumb and with another Shot he was both wounded in the Cheek and in the Shoulder but the Wounds were so slight as did not constrain him to withdraw from his Care and Command The Duke of Loraine was at the same time indisposed in his Health by the accession of a Fever which though not very violent yet it gave some cause of Fear and Discouragement to the whole Camp howsoever the Spirit of this Hero was so great that he still continued to prosecute his Enterprize and give direction for perfecting the Mines which were now necessary on that side for that little thereof could be effected at the Bavarian Attack where the Labourers were stopped by Rocks and Quarries of Stone And whilst the Miners worked at the Breach of Loraine they were forced to withdraw themselves from the pestilential Air caused under Ground by the noisome Stench of dead Bodies Howsoever the Mine under the third Wall was finished and sprung with good success thô the Ditch was not so filled that the Soldiers could pass to the Assault yet bringing Sacks of Earth and other defensible Matter they lodged and covered themselves at the foot of the Breach Whilst the Siege proceeded with all this heat and vigour certain News was brought that the Grand Vizier had composed a Body of Seven thousand Horse drawn out of divers Garrisons in Hungary and caused them to advance as far as Sarowitz which is within Thirteen Leagues of Buda and that other Troops had passed the Bridge of Esseck and that the Seraskier was appointed to guard that way until the Vizier in Person had made his Passage who with 40 000 Men was marching to the Relief of distressed Buda and that he would be shortly Reinforced wiâh a very great Body of Tartars and Asiatick Horse which were already on their March and had passed Adrianople But the Generals who had received more certain Advices of the Strength of the Vizier were well assured that neither the Number of his Soldiers was so great nor the Quality of them so formidable being for the most part composed of soft Asiaticks of Country-men and People inexpert and unaccustomed to War and for that Reason it was not to be imagined that the Grand Vizier would put all to the hazard of a pitched Battle Howsoever not to despise an Enemy the Generals considering hereof at a Council of War dispatched immediately express Orders to the Cavalry quarter'd in all parts of the Upper Hungary where was no apprehension of any Enemy to march unto the Camp and accordingly General Dunewaldt with several Regiments of Horse under his Command and Count Caprara and General Heusler with their Troops and Count Budiani with about Two thousand Hungarians all valiant and veterane Soldiers appeared at the Rendezvous and with all expedition marched towards the Enemy with intention to give them a stop in their Way towards Buda The Ban or Governor of Croatia having given Advice to the Generals that he had raised the Militia of that Country for the Service of the Emperor was commanded to March towards the Bridge of Esseck and joyning with the other Forces to make Head and Opposition to the Grand Vizier in his March. The rumour and report of the Grand Vizier's approach with all his Army did daily increase and as a certain Fore-runner thereof several Thousands of his Horse were advanced very near to discover the Force and Actions of the Christians Whereupon a Council of War being called of all the Generals it was concluded to countermand the Advance of the Troops and appoint them to appear at a general Rendezvous where it was plainly manifested how greatly the numbers were abated and therefore since the great Line of Circumvallation was perfected and well flanked with strong Redoubts Spurs and other defensible Works they order'd that the same should be maintained by Three thousand Foot which were sufficient to give a stop to any Attempt which might be made upon the Camp And the Imperial Bavarian and Brandenburger Cavalry were commanded to lodge on the Hills and rising Grounds which were round the Town And the Heydukes were encamped along the Wall of the old Town extending themselves from the Fort situate on the Danube unto the Trenches of the Brandenburgers Having thus secured their Camp and put every thing in a readiness to receive the Enemy in case they should attempt to force their Lines they proceeded on all sides to perfect their Works on the Breaches The Bavarians being piqued in point of Honour for the Foyl or Disadvantage they had received about two or three Days before had incessantly fired on the great Tower with their biggest Cannon and from another Battery near adjoyning plaid continually on the Breach of the Wall which as yet
and that the late Recruit of Two hundred Men who bravely made their way into the City was but a small Help and Comfort to a Garrison already wasted and almost totally consumed by a long Siege That the Castle was in a manner lost since that the principal Towers and Bulwarks of it were possessed by the Enemy And in short that those who remain'd alive were wearied out with continual Watchings and every Day diminish'd by Cannon and Musquet-shot by Bombs Fires and Carcasses continually thrown into the Town All these Matters being reported before the Generals they conceived certain hopes of putting a speedy end to their Labours and Dangers Howsoever therewithal they so far consulted their own Condition that they concluded it very necessary before any thing was farther attempted to expect the coming of that Body of the Army under Count Scaffemberg and the Twelve hundred Swedes which were now on their March and near at hand At length Scaffemberg being come with a Reinforcement of Eight thousand Men besides the Swedes raised the Spirits of the whole Army and put the Generals into a capacity of executing the Designs they had already plotted and contrived On the Loraine Quarter a Bridge was made near the great Tower leading towards the inward Palisadoes of the Enemy and to conserve it from fire they covered it over with Earth The like was also performed on the Bavarian side but whilst these things were preparing a stop was put thereunto by an unexpected and vigorous Sally which the Besieged made for dislodging the Soldiers which had possessed the Tower. Three Attempts were made thereupon with the greatest fury and desperation imaginable throwing Granadoes Sacks of Powder and artificial Fires composed of Sulphur Pitch and all sorts of burning and fetulent Matter notwithstanding which they were most vigorously repulsed with much loss The Elector considering the dangerous Post which his Men had undertaken to defend thought fit to withdraw his Soldiers from the Bulwark that he might with more advantage batter the great Tower with his heaviest Cannon which were so hotly plyed that the whole Tower was beaten down and the Enemy thereby made uncapable to offend from those Works The Bridge of which we spake being finished on the side of the Imperialists with the Battery on the Rondel the inward Palisadoes were broken down and the Breach widen'd above Forty Paces so that now all had been surrender'd had not the Vizier comforted the Pasha with Assurances that he and the Seraskier had resolved to attempt the Camp in three places at the same time and that the most forcible one should be given at the Water-side where 't was believ'd the least Opposition could be made Upon this Advice the Water-side and Banks of the River were well fortified and secured and a strong Chain stretched over the Water below the Bridge of Boats from the Shoar to the Point of St. Margaret's Isle to obstruct the Passage of Spies and Messengers who used to swim over the Water with Intelligence and which also might serve to give a stop to the Cavalry in case they should attempt any thing on that side The City being now in a languishing Condition the Grand Vizier resolved to make his last Effort and having chosen out of his Army Three thousand of his bravest Soldiers which he encouraged with Thirty Dollars a-piece paid them in hand and with promise of Increase of their daily Pay during Life to such as should make and force their Way into the Town and at the same time another Body was ordered to enter the Line at the place which they had lately attempted The Three thousand descended by way of the Vally called Shamboiuck and with great Fury fell in upon the Guards of the Imperialists but were so well received by the Baron of Asti with his Talpatz and Hussars and by General Heusler with his Regiment that they were vigorously repulsed After which they made an Attempt on Count Caprara and again on the Quarters of the Duke of Loraine but in all places were ill treated and came off with a great loss of Men. In the mean time the second Body of Turks assaulted other parts of the Army which increased the heat of the Fight to succour which the Duke of Loraine detach'd all the Forces which were about him remaining alone only with two Assistants but the Battle growing hot and the Turks endeavouring in diverse places to break into the Line the Duke of Loraine put himself at the Head of two Battalions of Brandenburgers whose Example gave Life and Courage to the whole Army But whilst this Fight was mannaged in diverse Squadrons which confusedly ran from one side to another some of them had the fortune to force the Line towards the Wall of the lower City but passing to the Line of Contravallation they met there such Vollies of Shot and continual Firings that knowing not which way to retreat they fell into the Squadrons of Baron Marcy and Serau by whom the greatest part of them were kill'd upon the place and those which escaped were so confused that being dispers'd about the Fields they knew not which way to take Some of them happen'd to fall in with the Brandenburgers others into the general Quarters where being encompass'd on all sides they were miserably cut to pieces and slain not so much as their Servants or Grooms of their Horses escaping The Besieged in the mean time being Spectators of all that passed designed by a most vigorous Sally to meet their Succours but were so warmly encounter'd by the Bavarians that they were forced to Retreat with precipitation and disorder The Body which the Turks kept for a Reserve observing the unfortunate issue of these Conflicts durst not adventure to make another Attack but retired back to their Camp. The Turks lost above One thousand Men kill'd on the place and Twenty five of their Colours were taken Howsoever this Advantage was not obtained without some considerable loss on the Christian side which was the more to be lamented by the Death of Baron Marcy who after having kill'd several Ianisaries with his own hand receiv'd two Cuts on the Head with a Cymeter and one on his Shoulder which thô at first were not esteem'd Mortal yet the Wounds being neglected and the Cure thereof not much regarded he Died thereof in a short time afterwards to the great Grief of the whole Camp which much lamented the loss of so brave a Soldier The Vizier being informed of this unfortunate Success immediately gave order to the Ianisaries of his Guards which were kept for a Reserve to renew the Fight and attempt once more to give succour to the Town but the March of these fresh Forces being discovered by the General Count Piccolomini who was at the Head of five Regiments of Horse divided into Twenty five Squadrons he marched boldly to meet the Enemy but the Turks upon appearance of the Van-guard of the Christians sounded a Retreat and returned back to the
the Anguish of the Wrack howsoever the Sentence pronounced against him was executed on his Dead Corps which was to have his Hand and Head cut off and his Four Quarters disposed in divers places of the City In like manner Palassi Sekel Barrock and Concoud were Beheaded and Quartered As also the same day one Besseck a Counsellor of Newsol and Weber a publick Notary Tascias and several incurred the same fate and so had also Feldmeyer a Commissary at War but that he Killed himself in Prison howsoever that did not hinder but that the Sentence was Executed on his Dead Body To examine this Plot and sift into the bottom of it so employed Count Caraffa as for some time it deferred the design of Bombing Agria and indeed so many were the Conspirators that great Executions were acted in divers places and many also received pardon from the Mercy and Clemency of the Emperor for that his Imperial Majesty had been well assured there were considerable Numbers of poor innocent People engaged in the Plot rather by delusion and example of others than by a Natural Spirit and inclination to a Revolt Thô Caraffa was otherwise employed yet there wanted not other active Officers in the Field to watch the Motions of the Enemy and take the Advantages which did present Baron Orlick was commanded to burn the Bridge which the Turks had built over the Drave near Esseck and accordingly marched away from Quinque Ecclesiae with Six Companies drawn out from the Regiments of Montecuculi and Herberville and being on his march he received Advice that Eight hundred Janisaries and Two hundred Spahees selected out of the Flour of the best Ottoman Troops were detached from Esseck with a design to intercept a Convoy appointed for the relief of Ziclos and to take and demolish a small Redoubt which had some days before been raised on the Banks of that River by order of Count Vechi Wherefore leaving the design of burning the Bridge Baron Orlick marched directly against the Enemy whom he found attacking the Fort in which they had already killed a great many men with Grânadoes But so soon as Orlick appeared the Turks fell into disorder and fear and being furiously charged by him were defeated with the loss of above Six hundred men killed on the place amongst which were two Aga's and a Bey or Lord Many Prisoners were taken with all their Baggage and many Ensigns and Colours of which Five were sent to the Emperor by Baron de Hertleben first Captain of that Regiment And on the Emperor's side Six Sergeants Five Troopers and Twelve Dragoons were killed and many wounded About the same time another Party of Turks was beaten near Zolnoch Twenty of which were killed and about Thirty taken Prisoners Moreover Seven thousand Turks Tartars and Malecontents being joyned together endeavoured to surprize Chonad which is a Fortress situate on the River Maros which falls into the Tibiscus near to Segedin But they met so vigorous a repulse and rude entertainment from the Defendants that they were forced to desist from their Attacks and march away with the loss of Four hundred Soldiers some of which were principal Officers Thus the News of one ill success coming to Constantinople on the Head of another struck the People of all sorts and conditions with a strange Consternation the Government fearing the ill consequences thereof endeavoured by all ways and methods of gentleness to appease the unquiet and fluctuating Spirits of the People and Soldiers To do this there was a necessity of vast Sums of Money wherewith to quiet and gratify the Army and Fleet and to satisfy the Tartars who declared that it was impossible for them to move without Money and which way to raise it was the great difficulty for the Grand Signior's Treasure was exhausted and the People already tired and over-burdened with Taxes Wherefore after a long Debate thereupon in the Divan it was agreed That the Jewels and Plate of the Sultans amassed in several Chambers of the Seraglio should be put to sale which might have raised vast Sums of Money could they have been sold to their value but there was an impossibility of finding Buyers for thô the Money could have been found in Constantinople yet there was none who durst own to be Master of so so great Riches In fine after divers Debates and Expedients proposed it was agreed to raise Money by way of Contribution on the chief and prime Officers of the Seraglio and of the Empire and particularly on Kadees and Men of the Law and Church on Customers Tax-gatherers and rich Merchants such as lived easily and idly in their Houses it seeming reasonable that such who enjoyed Protection and Safeguard in their peaceable Acquisitions at home should maintain and provide them who were venturing their Lives and fighting in their defence abroad And whereas the Tartar Han was very pressing and importunate for Money without which he could not move or serve in this Year 's Campagne it was resolved to send him Fifty thousand Crowns in Money and to make up the rest of his Demands in Diamonds Scymeters studded with Rubies Emralds and Pearls and with Bucklers set with precious Stones and other things of value taken from the Treasury in the Seraglio But whilst this was contriving an unhappy Sedition and Mutiny arose amongst the Levents who are Soldiers belonging to the Sea who having wanted Pay for a long time came in a tumultuous manner to the Captain Pasha who is Admiral of the Fleet to demand it and rushed with such violence into his House that he had scarce time to escape out of their hands and had proceeded to greater extremities had they not been appeased with a speedy tender of Six Months Pay. When these things were quieted a strict Examination was made into the Cause and Leaders of this Mutiny of which some were strangled and about Twenty others were put into a Sack after their Custom and cast into the Sea Howsoever this Severity did not so suppress this Rabble but that many of them assembled together in the City where they plundered divers Houses and committed a Thousand Outrages until such time as Proclamation was made giving Licence to the People to do themselves Justice and kill those who made any attempt on their Houses or Goods which was the best way to deal with a Licentious Tumult for so soon as such a Decree was known the lewd Mobile grew afraid and dispersed most of them withdrawing themselves Aboard their Vessels But not only did the Ottoman Government labour under a want of Money but of Men also For whereas they expected a Recruit of Forty thousand men out of Asia for this Campagne notwithstanding the most rigorus Commands sent to compel all men to the War there appeared not Six thousand For Turcomania had not furnished above Two thousand men Syria and Palestine One thousand Eight hundred and the Asia Minor Two thousand
suspected by the Enemy fearing some Turn which they did not foresee He was also a Courtier as well as a Soldier and knew how to comport himself towards the chief Ministers of State in the Court as he did also to the Generals and Officers and Soldiers in the Camp. Count Staremberg one of the Emperor's Field-Marshals a Person Renowned through the World for the defence of Vienna was a person of admirable Courage and much Fire in his Temper and endued with all Qualities fit for a Soldier thô not so proper for a General being naturally violent and transported with Passion He is as we find him more celebrated amongst Foreigners and Strangers for defending Vienna than amongst the Germans who served in the Garrison with him alledging that he exposed his Soldiers too frequently to unnecessary Sallies and was too prodigal of spilling their Blood. The Prince of Salm was another Field-Marshal to whom the Education of the Young King of Hungary was committed It is said That he hath served long and gained great Experience in the War But his Valour Wisdom and Nobility have endued him with such Vertues as serve not only to render him esteemed and honoured for himself but capable also to inspire Learning and Royal Thoughts into the Mind of that Young King. Count Rabata another Field-Marshal and Commissary-General of the Imperial Army was esteemed more capable of the latter than of the first Office. For as to the providing for the subsistence of an Army no man was ever reputed more intelligent and industrious being endued with an admirable Faculty to draw out a Scheme for Winter-Quarters and the manner how to regulate Troops with such Discipline as might tend to the Conservation of the Provisions of a Country which Soldiers are apt to consume unnecessarily especially the German Armies which love Plenty and Excess and do commonly if not prevented by good Management ruin those Countries in Two Months which might otherwise conveniently maintain an Army for the whole Year Count Dunewald General of the Imperial Cavalry was esteemed very capable of that Charge and with all the Reason and Justice in the World may be numbred amongst the best of those Officers who are esteemed to be Couragious Wise and Experienced in War. Count Palfi General of the Hungarian Horse was a man of great Understanding but because he hath not served in any other Wars than those of Hungary he is not much esteemed for a Soldier howsoever being descended from one of the most Ancient and Noble Families in Hungary the Court of Vienna judged it policy to give in his Person an Example and Proof of the Emperor's Favour and good Will towards the Hungarian Nobility By reason of which he made a speedier advance into Preferments in the War than could reasonably be expected from his Services and Actions Count de Serien General of the Bavarian Troops besides his other Qualities hath but too much of Wit and good Management by which he seldom fails of arriving at the end of his designs having by his Conduct and good Fortune got into the Command of the Bavarian Troops And so insinuated himself into the Court of Vienna that they seem to say that they are obliged to him for the strict Alliance which the Elector hath made with the House of Austria In short he was esteemed for a Person of admirable dexterity in avoiding invidious matters without being either suspected or perceived The Prince of Croy General of the Artillery was a person of undoubted Valour Gondola first Lieutenant-General of the Horse was a very Ancient Officer much beloved by his own Soldiers in short he is a man without Vice Vivacity of Spirit or Ambition being of a Conversation easy and inoffensive to all the World. Count Taff a Lieutenant-General of the Horse was a very Gallant man having in all occasions of danger acquitted himself with great Courage and yet he is not so much to be commended for his Military performances as for the Character he hath acquired of a just civil and an honest Gentleman He was of great Understanding pleasant Conversation good Literature and well studied accomplished in all his Exercises doing every thing with a good Grace In fine he would be supereminent in every thing did he not prefer those Qualities which rendered him useful before those which made him acceptable I had once the honour to see him at Vienna and have some acquaintance with him in the Year 1666. Count Souches chief Lieutenant-General of the Infantry was greatly advanced by those Employments which his Father had bequeathed to him Count Schaffenberg Lieutenant-General of the Foot was a person of great Courage but something tenacious The Prince of Neuburg Great Master of the Teutonick Order was a very good Man but heavy and unactive bold in danger but without much Application to business The Prince of Savoy a Gentleman of great Courage of more solid Judgment than quickness of Fancy He was a Man of good Learning and in his studies had applied his mind to that part of the Mathematicks which treats of Fortifications by which and by practice in War there was great hope that with time he would arrive at those eminent degrees of Honour and Preferment of which the greatness of his Birth and his own Virtues made him capable Veterani was as Brave and Valiant as any having signalized himself in the last War by an extraordinary Action worthy for ever to be remembred He was an Italian by Birth but so plain and unaffected in his Speech and Behaviour that he seemed to have contracted nothing of the Air of that Nation but the Name only Heusler was a Soldier of Fortune as stout and brave as Hercules himself no man more Valiant and none more Active and Vigilant and by his Merits only arrived to the highest Commands in the Army his Comportment Motions and way of Speaking favoured of a man of Quality Piccolomini was not only endued with Courage which is the first Principle of a Soldier but was a Master in the Trade of War Tho' he hath been maliciously traduced as wanting both but his own Actions Conduct and Success in many Battels have evinced the contrary To these we might add the Prince of Lommercy Rabbatin Nigrelli Esterhasi Apremont and Wallis all Major-Generals of Renown and Famous Reputation besides many other Field-Commanders Captains and subaltern Officers so that as we have said no Age could ever boast of more brave and undaunted Spirits On the contrary the Turks had in several Battels unfortunate to themselves lost the best of their brave Soldiers Pashas and Timariots and what remained were cut off by the Chiurbas and the rebellious Soldiers as fore-related so that now there scarce survived one person fit and of sufficient Experience to conduct an Army as will appear in the sequel of this present Year But to return now to the Councils of War held
their respective Countries the main Body of the Venetian Armata entered into the Port of Napoli di Romania with design to Winter there so as better to Command the Archipelago and to be near Negropont so as to be ready to obstruct the Turks in case they should Attempt to repair those Works it being intended to make another Attack on that place early in the Spring and to that end Orders were sent to Venice to dispatch away the Recruits for the Land Forces wiâh all Necessaries for the Fleet and Provisions for the Winter of which there was so great want that both the Land and Sea Forces had much difficulty to subsist so melancholy a Countenance was put on through the whole Camp that nothing but the prevailing Authority of their Doge and Captain-General could âestrain them from a Mutiny but that which a little comforted the Soldiery was the mildness of the Winter which gave a cheerful green colour to the Fields which yielded Herbs and Winter-Fruits in much Plenty and because the Buildings of the Town had been much destroyed and ruined by the Bombs and Cannon they raised little Hutts and Cottages for shelter and Lodgings for the Soldiery to which the Athenians who had no great desire to return to their own City had greatly contributed having Built divers Houses at their own Cost and with their own Labour But what most dis-spirited the Army was the Sickness of the Doge Morosini who long had laboured under a violent Fever in such a manner that the Physicians themselves despaired of his Life for Conservation of which solemn Prayers and Processions were appointed to be made both at Venice and in all Places under that Dominion At length after a tedious Expectation the Convoy arrived to the universal Joy and Consolation of all the Forces and Country round about which began to give new Life to all Motions and Enterprizes and to inspire the Soldiers with a new stock of Courage for all People having been supplied both with Money and Provisions the Carpenters fell heartily to Work on the Vessels and Gallies to repair and make them fit for the next Voyage and the Soldiers remained ready to Embrace any new Enterprize But the Doge continuing sick and reduced to a great weakness and debility of Body put a damp on the Spirits of the Soldiery and much retarded the proceedings of all Designs For âho ' the Captain Extraordinary Venier was Commandâd with his Ships to watch and guard one side of the Channel of Neâââpont and Captain Valier Commander of the Great Alexander to attend the other yet the Captain Pasha broke into Negropont with ten Gallies and there landed 500 Men promising them by Order of the Sultan in a short time a much greater force with which they should be supplied very speedily and that in the mean time they should labour with all possible industry to repair the Works which the Enemies Bombs and Cannon had ruined so that the Venetians were not able to obstruct the Turks from giving Relief to Candia but instead thereof had the Misfortune to lose two of their Gallies by Storm and were forced to return back again to Napoli di Romania where their chief Comfort was that the Sickness began to decrease which had for some time raged both in the Fleet Army and Countries round the City The Spring coming on the Doge began to recover his Health and Strength again to the great Joy of all the Soldiery so that he could now attend to Business and give Orders to the Armata which had been so well repaired and Careened as that the Gallies were in a Condition already to put to Sea Notwithstanding all which the Turks were not obstructed in their passage to Negropont where four Gallies belonging to the Beyes arrived bringing Spades Shovels Pick-axes and several other Instruments for repairing the Breaches made last Year by the Enemy on which their Slaves being dis-enchain'd from the Oar laboured Day and Night with all diligence and Missir Ogli with some Gallies was also arrived being sent to forward that Work for the Turks had an Opinion that the Venetians would make another Attempt thereupon and which should be the Work of the following Summer But the Venetians had suffered so much the last Year before Negropont that they esteemed themselves in no good Condition for a second Enterprize they having not as yet licked their Wounds whole nor recruited their Army which was much more weak than it was the Year past and unable to undertake an Enterprize in which they had already been foiled Howsoever not to sit Idle and look about them their Aim was on Malvasia to reduce which ten Gallies and 12 Galleots were dispatched by the Captain-General to assist in the Building of two Forts near the Bridge entering to the Town on which the Mainotes whom the Captain-General had armed were labouring to finish being of great importance towards a Blockade and to hinder all Vessels from bringing Provisions to the place And farther to proceed in this Design the whole Armata was Commanded to Sail to Porto Porrâ appointed as it was the last Year to be the Magazine for Arms Provisions and Ammunition for the War where being arrived they attended the Duke of Guadagne with his Troops for Reinforcement of the Army and in the mean time the Bridge was broken and the two Forts before Malvasia were finished and a great number of Boats Felucca's and Palandra's lay before the Town to hinder all sorts of Provisions and Succours from being brought into it by which the place was entirely blocked up on all sides both by Sea and Land for the situation of the Town being on a Peninsula there was no Communication could be had with the Country but by the Bridge and a narrow spot of Land. Whilst Maâters remained in this Nature before Malvasia a certain Greek called Liberachi lay encamped near Xeromero alias Missolonghi with about 100 Turks 150 Sclavonians and some Deserters from the Venetian Army This Liberachi or Liâerio was a Mainote by Nation a Fellow bold and subtle and did great Services for the Venetians until he was takân Prisoner by the Turks and carried to Constantinople He had not remained any long time there before he gained such Credit with the Turks that by his fair Words and Promises they were perswaded that he could draw all the Mainotes to their Party and cause them to Revolt from the Venetians Upon which Opinion they set him at Liberty and entertained such Confidence of him that they gave him the Title and Charge of Bey that is Lord of the Mainotes whereby many Deserters from the Venetian Camp came in to him And some Propositions for joyning Forces passed between him and Ensign Bossina who in the Month of October 1687. with most part of the People called Oltramarines had Deserted and listed themselves under this Bossina who stiled himself
which Trade in those Seas and accordingly those Gallies were without the least delay dispatched again for the Cape Lands which are most infested by the Pirates being favoured by the Northern Winds which continued for several Days even to the end of this Month. But this Wind which was beneficial to the Gallies of Malta was so prejudicial and dangerous to the Palanders as put them besides all their Works and Operations so that instead of annoying the Town they had Business enough to save themselves from sinking in the Seas which the Northerly Winds drove violently upon them So that now the Besiegers had nothing to annoy the Enemy but what was thrown from the Forts erected on the Land. Things in this mânner noâ succeeding well on the Venetian side some little encouragement was administred by the Arrival of the Proveditor General of the Seas Girolamo Cornaro who on the 5th of the Month of August whilst the Doge was in person on the side of the Gardens to invigorate and by his presence to animate the Approaches against the Town was discovered to double the Cape of St. Angelo with two Gallies and a Galleot and to bend his Course directly towards the Fleet. The Arrival of Cornaro a person of so much Honour and Esteem generally applauded in all parts gave wonderful satisfaction to the Fleet and Army for tho' the Gallies and Galleot he brought with him could not contribute much to the Reinforcement of the Armata yet the Reputation of such a person renowned as well for his Bravery and Conduct as for the fame of his Family and Ancestors gave a general Satisfaction and Confidence to all the Forces It being observed by the Doge that notwithstanding all their Endeavours no great Advancement was made on the Town and that the Defendants continued still resolute and unterrified and therefore that something more effectual should be attempted upon them to force them to a Surrender It was ordered that four of the greatest Ships should be appointed to batter the Town with their Cannon whilst an Attempt should be made to burn their Galleots Brigantines and Londra's which were drawn up close under the Walls To execute this Enterprize four Boats or Pinnaces armed with Stout Resolute Seamen Commanded by Peter Ferrari were appointed to burn the Vessels lying under the Walls and being furnished with Fireworks were to make an Attack on them under the Smoak of the Cannon which were to play on the Town from the four Ships Things being all prepared for such an Enterprize the Doge left his own and mounted the Galley of Pisani who was Captain of the Slaves condemned to the Oar and thereon returned to the Garden side to be a Spectator of the Action knowing that his presence would much animate and inspire Courage into the Assailants The next Day being the time appointed a Body of about 100 Oltramarines were ordered in the Night to hide themselves under some little Hills and Rocks called Grebani and at the Foot of one of the Enemies Forts to cover the Attack in case the Turks should make a Sally from the Town But the Success did not answer the Expectation of the Martial Spirits of so many brave Officers and Soldiers who came down in great Numbers to behold the performance of this Action the which was absolutely defeated for want of the four Ships which were detained below by contrary Winds Howsoever the Expectation being great the Officers on the shoar approached the Town nearer than was necessary and safe of which the Turks not neglecting their Advantage made many Shots amongst them from the Walls one of which killed Lorenzo Venier Captain Extraordinary of the Ships and Michael Angelo Caraccioli a Cavalier of Malta whilst they were both in serious Discourse together having received the Mortal Blow on their Heads The Death of Venier was greatly lamented not only by the Doge but by the whole Army and indeed the Loss was general being one of the most able Citizens of Venice and the best Sea Captain belonging to that Republick And indeed it seemed as if an unhappy Constellation had been reigning over him at that time when being desirous to be aboard for better direction of the four Ships the Doge permitted him not out of a regard to his Person which he did not think fit to adventure on so desperate a hazard so that what was intended for his Conservation was turned to his Loss and Destruction But this was not all the Misfortune for the Turks observing such a Concourse of People and from thence apprehending some intention of an Assault made a Sally not only from the Town but from the Rocks under which the Oltramarines had concealed themselves where the Turks falling on them in the Rear killed many of them and put the rest to Flight and tho' the Sergeant-Major Tomaso Pompei with some of his Men came in to their Succour he got nothing thereby more than a Musket-shot in his Thigh after which he was forced to retreat After which unhappy Misfortune the Doge returned to his Ducal Gally greatly afflicted for the Death of Venier by which the Ships wanting an Admiral Domenico Diedo was substituted in his place until the return of Pisani from the Gulf of Corinth All which time the Forces sent to guard that important Pass and Narrow leading into the Morea remained there without any Action the Seraskier not intending to make any effort thereon for that Year for that his Eyes being fixed on Negropont where he expected that the Venetians should renew their Attempt he judged that their appearance before Malvasia was nothing but a Blind to divert him from the guard of that important place Things not being very promising before Malvasia and little hopes to subdue it by force the Doge resolved to spend the remainder of the Summer in cruising in the Archipelago but not to lose all the Fruits of the preceding Labours the Redoubt raised at the Bridge was fortified and perfected and the other Forts strengthned with as many Men and Cannon as were esteemed sufficient both to keep the Enemy from Sallying out or Provisions from entring in but before the Doge departed four of the greatest Ships were ordered to batter the Town and give a farewell to them with their biggest Cannon The which being performed within Musket-shot ruined almost all the Suburbs yet not without some Loss aboard the Ships by the Enemies Small-shot from the Walls The Preparations for securing the Blockade of the Town being perfected and the Work of Careening Washing and Tallowing of the Venetian and Maltese Gallies being ended it was concluded necessary to execute the former resolution of sailing up the Archipelago to the Gulph of Negropont whereby the Seraskier might be alarm'd and amused so far as to keep his Forces on that side and without farther attempt to pass the Streight of Corinth into the Morea and that in the mean time
hunc Principem sibi devincire enititur His nos uberrimae Sacrae Caesareae vestrae Majestatis gratiae committentes sumus conatu summo Serenissime Potentissime Invictissime Caesar Imperator semper Auguste Sacrae vestrae Caesareae Majestatis Humillimi Devotissimi Servi H. HEEMSKIRK COLYER Adrianop 31 May 1693. All thoughts of Peace and Treaties being thus laid aside the Government employed its utmost Endeavours and Counsel were taken in Matters and Contrivances tending to the War It was reported That the Grand Seignior Sultan Achmet had resolved to go as far as Sophia where he would pass the Summer being nearer to Belgrade and the Frontiers in Hungary but the Physicians perswaded the contrary as being prejudicial to the Health of the Sultan who was already affected with the Dropsie the fatal and common Disease of that Ottoman Family for Cure of which many Consultations were held by the Physicians who in regard that they found as yet a Schirrus only upon the Liver they gave great hopes of his Recovery howsover the People took occasion from hence to discourse That in case this Sultan Achmet were Dead he would be succeeded by Sultan Mustapha his Nephew and Son to the late Sultan Mahomet who had been Deposed which would be a happy Change for the whole Empire he being Young and Brave and as to all appearance of a Martial Spirit and a Lover of Justice To forward the Preparations for the War with all Expedition possible strict Orders were given to provide ãâ¦ã with Provisions ãâ¦ã âood for want of which the ãâã laboured under the greatest Extremity Letters also and Commands weâe dispatched to all Parts in Asia to hasten the March of the Janisaries and Spahees and to enroll new Janisaries a Method not used in former Times by which taking every Pitiful Fellow that offered to come in they composed such a Band of raw Soldiers not only unexperienced in War but Poor and Feeble and Old that scarce one half of them were judged able to hold out a March to Belgrade The Turks also dispatched away 2000 Janisaries to reinforce the Garrison at Negropont likewise they reinforced Canâa with Men and Provisions as they also did their Army in and about the Morea and strengthned their Castles at the Dardanelli with Soldiers Gunners and Engineers under Command of Husaein Pasha who had formerly been Chimacam with the Grand Seignior but the Troops designed for Hungary marched slowly These Preparations being much retarded by the late Change of those two great Officers namely the Grand Vizier who as we said voluntarily resigned and the Tefterdar or Lord Treasurer called Ismael Effendâ Matulled or put out Disgraced and Exiled tho' some reported That he was secretly Strangled which was a strange and an unseasonable Policy at such a time as this to put all things backward by the Death of two prime Officers of State who perhaps were Innocent and Good Ministers But under such a Government as this it is not sufficient to be Wise Honest and Industrious but you must also be Successful and free of Enemies which are things not in our power By these Changes place was made for other Officers for Osman Pasha a Cunning Knavish Candiot as most of that Nation are was made Chimacam in Adrianople Mustapha Pasha who had been Chimacam and Seraskier on the Danube was declared Grand Vizier and Cantemir the Son of Dica Bey who had for 30 Years past been Prince of Moldavia was made Successor to his Father This Grand Vizier before he could be warm in his Place or provided with things necessary for the War or acquainted with his Souldiery and the Chief Commanders which were to fight under him was commanded to be gone with all expedition to the Army which he prepared to do with what speed was possible And in regard that all intentions for Peace were laid aside the Mediators were dismissed from their further Attendance and Mr. Heemskirk was licensed to return to Vienna tho' some difficulties arose thereupon at the instance of the French who suggested that Heemskirk was an Instrument and Spye of the Emperor and a German and not sent as a Mediator from the King of England whose true Minister my Lord Paget was And this colour had like to have cost Heemskirk dear had not my Lord Paget own'd him for a Minister of the King and unridled the Secret of the two Ambassadors In like manner my Lord Paget had leave to go to his House at Pera near Constantinople which is the usual place of the English Ambassadar's residence But as to the French Ambassador he continued still at Adrianople and when the Vizier marched he sent Fontaine his Dragoman or Interpreter with him to attend all the Motions of the Vizier and his Camp. Whilst these things were in Action the news from Asia was unpleasing and administred Matter for serious Consideration at the Ottoman Court where it was reported That the Army of Bassora under their New Arabian Prince did daily increase and that the Pasha of Sivas or Sebasse on the Frontiers of Persia were in Arms and that such was the confusion in those Eastern Countries as obliged the most powerful of the Asiatick Spahees to remain at home on the guard of their own Country and Estates so that the present Ottoman Force was inferiour to that of the preceding year and by reason of the forementioned Changes to which we may farther add that of the Seimen Pasha who was Lieutenant General of the Janisaries and advanced to be Aga or General of the Janisaries in the place of Ismael Pasha Likewise divers Captains who had been Creatures and Favourites of the late General were deprived of their Commands least they should make Desturbances or raise Factions in the Army all which as it diminished and enfeebled their Force so it hindered the early appearance of the Turks in the Field But the Preparations at Sea against the Venetians proceded more briskly than they did at Land for in the Month of May 22 Sail of Gallies and 13 Great Men of War were provided and fitted out of the Arsenal at Constantinople and ordered to sail down to the Castles of the Dardanelli there to join with the Gallies of the Beyes of the Archipelago to which some Ships of the Barbarouses being added they computed that they might form a Fleet of 24 Sail of Men of War besides Gallies Things proceding thus slowly by Land for the Causes before-mention'd the Vizier did not begin his March from Adrianople towards the Christians until the 26th of Iune Old Style designing at first for Belgrade when on a sudden express Orders were given to the Army to change the course of their March and leave the Road to Belgrade and take that for Valachia and through that Country to enter into Transilvania This alteration was the more surprising to the Germans who expected not the Turks on that side because it was not known above a Week or 10 Days
and Tunis to hasten their Maritime Preparations tho' with little hopes of success by reason that those Governments in Barbary were at Wars one with the other and had great Jealousies amongst them At this time also Orders came from Adrianople directed to the Chimacam and Lieutenant-General of the Janisaries to provide Quantities of Rice and other Provisions for the Relief of Temeswaer which for want thereof was greatly distressed and so Orders were given all the way on the Road thither to take up all the Waggons and Carts that they could meet with by that time that they came to Philippopolis and Sophia might make up a Number of 300 which might probably prove a sufficient Convoy to secure them And for a better Reinforcement Orders were given for the enrolling of 300 Janisaries being new raised Soldiers and with such Preparations as these for the next Campaign ended this Year Anno 1695. THIS Year began with a most Terrible Fire in Constantinople year 1695 which consumed 4000. Houses and Shops towards that part where stands the Historical Pillar which is about the middle of the City which Accident gave some stop to the Counsels then in hand howsoever the Preparations for the next Years War by Sea and Land proceeded The Tartar came to Adrianople where he spent the remainder of the Winter in Conferences with the Grand Vizier and other Principal Officers of State in order to carry on the War both by Sea and Land And whereas all sorts of Provisions were become very dear both in Adrianople and Constantinople by reason that the Seas were obstructed by the Venetians so that no Coffee Rice nor Sugar could be transported from Egypt into those Parts the French Ambassador undertook to supply the same with French Ships demanding only That when such Commodities arrive the Turks should pay no more for them than in Times of Peace which besides some other private Contracts were very pleasing to the Turks and served to confirm the Friendship and increase the Confidence between the two People As the Eyes of all the Turkish Officers were intent on the War there being a Design to recover Scio in the Winter Season before the Venetians could come forth with their Fleet the Sultan sent for Mezzo Morto who was Admiral of the Fleet together with six Captains of the Men of War reproaching them for Cowardice for that in case they had done their Duty in the last Engagement against the Venetians Scio had not been lost wherefore these Officers were discharged of their Commands and Sarhos or Drunken Chusaein Pasha was declared Captain Pasha or Admiral in the Place of Mezzo Morto being esteemed a Man of more Boldness and Courage and Conduct than the other and such was the Shame and Confusion that the Turks conceived for the loss of Scio that even in the Winter a thing not practised by the Turks Orders were given to the New Admiral to prepare and equip an hundred Frigats Whilst all things were preparing for this Years War and in an especial manner for the recovery of Scio on the 27th of Ianuary Old Stile the Grand Seignior Sultan Achmet dyed which for that present put a stop to all Business then in agitation both in regard to the War or Peace For as to the latter my Lord Paget arrived at Adrianople on the 23d and next Day desired an Audience of the Grand Vizier which was promised to him on the 31st when the Propositions he had to make were so reasonable and the Turks in so good a Temper that the Ambassador perswaded himself that they would be accepted the Great Vizier and Chimacam showing themselves not averse but rather well inclined to a reasonable Peace But whilst they were thinking of these things the Court and City and all People were surprized to hear the News of the Death of the Sultan who at the time of his last Agony desired to see and speak with his Successour Sultan Mustapha who could not be perswaded to go to him and so he died without that Satisfaction by a great Defluxion or Catarrh which fell upon his Lungs Only he left it in Commission to his Servants to acquaint his Nephew Sultan Mustapha who was undoubtedly to succeed him That all he had to desire of him was to desire him that he would permit his Son to live but whether this Request was granted him or not is not yet known for Matters of this Nature are seldom reported without the Walls of the Seraglio So soon as he was dead Mustapha Eldest Son to Sultan Mahomet IV. was proclaimed and saluted Emperor and all passed without any Disturbance Disorder or Inconvenience whatsoever In very few Hours afterwards the Body of the Deceased Achmet was hurried away to Constantinople and with a small Attendance buried in the Sepulcher of his Brother and immediately the Sultana his Mother was required to hasten thither and retire and Expresses dispatched to all Parts to carry and divulge the News and most especially acquaint the New Valide Sultana with the Exaltation of her Son to the Throne of his Father For the present Sultan Mustapha being about 33 Years of Age and in his Prime appeared very Robust and Comely and to show a mildness of Spirit at the beginning he for the present confirmed the Great Vizier in his Place by restoring the Seals to him which he had resigned into his Hands and giving him a Cofran lined with Sables His Mother was now every Day expected at Adrianople until whose coming thither nothing was to be done for as she was a Person highly beloved and esteemed by her late Husband Sultan Mahomet Father of the present Sultan Mustapha as we have manifested in our foregoing History so she was a Woman of Intrigue and one who had so great a Power over her Son that he entirely gave himself up to the Government and Guidance of his Mother She was a Native of Canea tho' some say she was a Circassian born and taken from thence when the Place was first possessed by the Turks her Father was a Protopapa or Bishop of that place His first entrance into Business was to enquire after the State of the Treasury and to inform himself therein he called for the Treasurer and demanded of him How much Money there was in the Treasury To which Answer was made Fifteen Purses What then said he is become of all the rest To which it was answered That his Predecessor had disposed of it It is well said he and I shall take it from them who have received it With these Beginnings it was much feared that he would prove a troublesome Neighbour to all Christendom and a Cruel and a Severe Master to all the surviving Ministers of State but things were carried so closely that the Government had no News of any thing until the Successor had carried his Point and secured every thing for his Establishment to which many things concurred as that he was the Son and lineally descended
from Sultan Mahomet IV who after a Reign of 48 Years was Deposed by reason of the Ill Fortune and Avaritious Temper of some of his Ministers or to please the Soldiers who said That he had Lived and Reigned long enough Moreover the People had a great Esteem for this his Son being Young and Handsome and in his Robust and Mature Age nor was there any Person able to stand against him nor capable of being offered to the Soldiery for their Emperor There was none of the Ottoman Family known unto the World but a Child of two Years old the Son of the late Sultan Achmet and of such an one in such a Conjuncture of time it was not so much as to be thought of tho' most of the Ministers in Power did all they could to keep Sultan Mustapha from the Throne Sultan Mustapha the Second the Present Emperour Eldest Son to Sultan Mahomet the 4 th When the Grand Seignior Vested him as is commonly done by every Sultan at his Inauguration he told him That he should be careful what he did that he should treat his Soldiers well and above all that he be sure to tell him the truth and if not he should soon know and be sensible of what would follow But since this Severity and sharp Saying he remitted something of his Angry Temper and became more mild and easie so that to encourage and raise his Spirit a little he sent his Kuzlir-Aga in Ceremony with a great Attendance to carry to the Grand Vizier a Prayer which he himself had composed in the time of his Solitude and Seclusion from the World which were received with profound Respect the Bearer himself had five Purses presented to him and the Chief of his Attendants was treated with several Rich Vests and the others of meaner Degree had a good number of Zaichins distributed amongst them The Grand Seignior also would not want his own Present which was in Horses and Jewels several Young Damsels richly adorned with above 100 Purses of Money and yet for all this the Vizier thought not himself safe nor did the bitter Thoughts of Death pass from him for whilst he was trembling for himself he received a Hattesheriff or a Royal Command from the Hand of the Grand Seignior requiring him to command the Chiaus Pasha to Arrest the Chimacam of Adrianople the Vizier's own chief Creature and Confident and to put him between the Gates a Prison for great Personages The Fault objected to his Charge was That in the time of the late Sultan Achmet he had put to Death two of this present Sultan's Favourites for endeavouring to promote the Interest of their Master to the Prejudice of the Ruling Prince Notwithstanding all which Mortifying Commands and Accidents the Grand Vizier appeared outwardly with a chearful Countenance for the least Sadness would have been interpreted for Contumacy and a Discontented Spirit against the Commands and Pleasure of his Master for which reason he bore up bravely against all Misfortunes concealing the Agitations of his Mind from all those who had Business with him and even from his own Domesticks At this time my Lord Paget Ambassador from His Majesty King William was then at Adrianople watching an Opportunity to make Proposals for a Peace with the Emperor of which tho' about the latter time of Sultan Achmet there was a great and a fair appearance yet after his Decease this young Sultan mounting the Throne all the hopes vanished he himself being of a hot and fiery Spirit was fully resolved to try his Fortune in the War from which Design neither his Mother nor his Women nor his greatest Favourites could divert them And the Kiah-Bey himself who was Lieutenant-General of the Janisaries a Person of great Esteem and Power in the Army was disgraced and put out of Office for arguing in the Divan against the Grand Seignior's taâing ths Field this Year in Person These Changes had disconcerted all the Measures which my Lord Paget had taken towards a Peace of which there now remained no hopes for this Year for the Sultan was not to be removed from his Resolution nor the Soldiery averse to it having fixed it in their Minds that this Sultan was Lucky and Fortunate and was to restore all that had been lost since the Siege of Vienna and the fatal Managements of the Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha And to this purpose the Grand Seignior discoursing with the Vizier he told him how sensible he was of the evil management of Affairs in the Empire and that they were much worse than they had been in the time of his Father to restore which to a better Condition he again declared his Resolution to try his Fortune for another Year the which not succeeding well he was of an Opinion That he could at any time make a Truce with the Christians which perhaps he might be inclined to accept next Year not out of a Necessity thereof but in consideration to his People to whom after a long War of 17 or 18 Years he was glad to give Ease and Quiet for he was sensible that the Ottoman Empire was in great Disorder by reason of the Ignorance Negligence and ill Administration of some of the principal Ministers of State which he would make it his Care to remedy With these Resolutions of the Sultan all things were preparing to take the Field early with a strong Army it being divulged and published amongst the Soldiery that their first March should be towards Belgrade from whence if they could have made any Conquest on the other side of the Save the Turks might yet as low as they were have proved a troublesome and a dreadful Enemy to all Germany And indeed the Christians were more sensible hereof than formerly for the Turks had lately had many lucky Hits to encourage them and which did indeed animate the People very much seeming to them like good Omens of Change of Fortune in their favour For the Venetians had in two several Engagements at Sea been worsted by the Turks which was the cause of the Surrender of Scio to the Turks of which they possessed themselves without any great Difficulty where tho' the loss the Venetians had sustained both in Ships and Men was very considerable yet the loss of their Reputation at Sea was much more and of a more evil Consequence for the Turks animated hereby fell boldly upon the Venetians in the Morea and put them to the Rout fansying the Summer following to regain all again despising now the Enemy which lately they durst not see and were afâraid to approach To these good Fortunes of the Sultan the News was added by way of Moldavia of a great Victory that the Tartars had obtained against the Poles which with the Successes the Ottoman Pasha's had obtained against the Rebels in Asia put all things at the Port into a smiling Condition no Man doubting but that the influence of these prosperous Beginnings would crown all the Actions
his Father and Unkle's not going to War in Person had been the Ruine of the Ottoman Army and the Cause of all those Losses and Disgraces which his Empire had sustained but Money must be found by one way or other to do which the Grand Vizier was strictly enjoyned to give an Account of Eighteen Millions in the space of Thirty Days besides the Arrears due to the Soldiery in the Time of the last Sultan Achmet And tho' the Grand Vizier alledged That it seemed reasonable that such as had managed the Publick Offices during the two preceding Reigns should be answerable for the Miscarriages and not he who had been employed therein but only some few Months before yet the Sultan would not admit of this Excuse for a Reason but required the Account of the Eighteen Millions His Mother also furnished her Son with Seven Millions and a half in ready Money and Fifteen Millions in Jewels which she had been collecting in the space of fifteen Years that she had been the Wife of his Father and from the Widow of the late Deceased Sultan Achmet they took another half Million the Vizier was Taxed at a Million and a half and five Millions in Jewels likewise a good round Sum was demanded from the Chimacam and other Pasha's and Persons in great Offices There was a farther Proposition made to screw Money out of all the Arabians and Negro's at Court The Kuzlir-Aga was the first of that Rank from whom the most considerable Sums were exacted to pay which their Estates and Faculties sent and conveyed out of sight to Constantinople were all called from thence The like was also demanded from the Ulema and all the Ecclesiastical Lands and Estates were Taxed To execute all these Contrivances and Ways for raising Money the Grand-Seignior was solely intent labouring Day and Night to amass Money and spent his whole time to heap up Riches to do which he acted many things without the knowledge of the Vizier and wrote Letters and received Answers relating to the raising Men and providing Subsistence for the Troops without interesting his Grand Vizier therein the which struck such a Fear and Terrour into the Minds of all those who had to do with the Publick Interest that none durst to act any thing privately or in an obscure manner which might be of prejudice to the Grand Seignior and his Government To keep this Sultan in the Humour of going to the War his Mother laboured to keep up his Spirits which being observed by the great Men such as the Mufti the Grand Vizier the Lord Treasurer and the Generals of the Janisaries and of the Spahees they all submitted thereunto only they gave in a Petition to be delivered to the Sultan by the Hand of the Valide Soltana or Queen-Mother representing That since they had observed that it was His Majesty's Resolution to go in Person to the War they were concurring with him in the same promising to be helpful therein to the best of their Powers beseeching only That His Ottoman Majesty would be pleased to Indulge them so much time as might serve to assemble and gather their Militia into a Body and to make Provisions for their Subsistence as also Ammunition and Cannon with Powder and Bullet sufficient to attend so great an Army Of all which they gave the Sultan in Writing a particular Account in what forwardness all things were and concluded That since it is the Custom of the Germans to be late in the Field they did not doubt but to be more forward than they and to Grace and Honour the Sultan's first Expedition with the Success of Glorious Atchievements of which the Miscarriage would prove of evil Consequence as the contrary would be of mighty advantage to the whole Ottoman Empire which languishing after a Fortunate Sultan would then think the Wheel turned in case they could see the end of a Campaign concluded with Honour of a New Sultan The Grand Seignior being sensible hereof raised all the Forces he was able both in Asia and Europe And to Engage the Tartar Han on his side certain Aga's were dispatched to Tartary with Purses of Money with Presents of a Sword richly adorned with Diamonds and with rich Coftans as also with Presents to the other Kinsmen of the Han and to the Mirzees who are the Noble Men and Chief Officers both of War and Peace desiring them all to be early at the War By which great Assiduity of the Sultan all the Great Officers were in fear of him knowing that as he Rewarded generously so he Punished severely The Grand Vizier in the mean time considering the Troubles under which he was to labour as also the Invincible Difficulties of the present War in case the Sultan should persist in his Resolution of going in Person to Command the Army he endeavoured what he could to obtain the Favour that he might lay down his Office and quietly and safely retire from all Business for which he made Talkish to the Grand Seignior which is a Petition made by the Master of Requests of which there is but one belonging to the Court called Talkishgee the substance of which was to lay before the Grand Seignior the impossibility of making the Donative to the Soldiers amounting unto Twelve Millions the which was always given by the Sultans to the Soldiers whensoever they made their first Campaign This was so reasonable an Exception and Excuse that there was no reply to be made thereunto but the absolute Will and Pleasure not to pay it for besides the want of Money in the Treasury which had been exhausted by a long and an unfortunate War the Grand Seignior added That he did not esteem himself obliged to a Custom which was begun in the most Flourishing Times of the Empire when Success crowned all their Enterprizes with Victory when the Enemies were forced to pay all Charges of the War with an Overplus of Riches and Increase which filled the Royal Exchequer and that Wars maintained the Empire But those Days added the Grand Seignior are now past and that it would be an Insolence in the Soldiery to expect a Donative from him who was not in the least beholding to them for his being placed in the Throne to which he came by Succession and a Just Title and not by the Favour and Assistance of the Soldiery and that whosoever had opposed him therein who was their True and Lawful Soveraign would have been guilty of High-Treason and ought to Die by the Just Laws of the Empire In this manner the Wisest and most Experienced Officers observing how difficult and almost impossible it was to divert the Grand Seignior from his Resolution of going in Person to the War they all agreed to joyn with their Master and to applaud his happy Designs which they prayed to God might be prosperous promising to give all Assistance with their Lives and Fortunes that he might return with Victory and Success So soon were their Minds
Designs and infatuate them in all their Counsels Howsoever all the World cannot but confess That the loss of so many Brave Men could not but prove a fatal Blow to all Christendom especially to the Germans who fought almost to the last Drop of Blood Nor were the Turks unsensible of their Losses also both as to Numbers and Quality for one of the Sultan's Brothers-in-Law called Sahin Mehmet Pasha a brisk daring Man and a good Soldier and so Named from Sahin which signifies a Falcon and was the next to the Grand Vizier and carried three Horse-Tails gilded before him was killed by a Carbine-shot for which reason he was much lamented at the Court and most especially by the Queen-Mother not only because he had been her Son-in-Law but a Person endued with many Rare and Excellent Vertues Besides which the famous Mahmud Pasha Celebrated by all to be one of the most Accomplished Soldiers of this Age and the most Warlike Cavalier of all the Ottoman Nation He was an Albanian Born a Man of great Reputation and Fame called Mahmud Bei Oghli and was slain with three Carbine-shots and fell amongst the most Renowned Officers of the Turks These two were said to be the first who broke into Veterani's Army one to the Right and the other to the Left-Wing where they found and encountred such unexpected Opposition that the Turks confessed That they had never met the like and had not prevailed against their Enemies at that time had it not been for the Resolution and Bravery of their Fortunate Sultan who standing in the Rear with his Scimiter in his Hand hindered the base intended Flight of his Soldiery This Action gave a full stop to all the following Designs of this Year for the Turks reasoning with themselves That in case so small an Army as that of Veterani was able to do such Feats what would become of their Forces were they to engage against the whole entire Army of the Kral that is the Elector for they call the King of Poland Kral and so other Inferiour Princes to the Emperor whom they call Kaisar but the King of England they could never be taught to call otherwise than Kral The Grand Seignior having made his Triumphant Entry into Constantinople the Militia of Asia which attended the Sultan from the War had licence given them to return Home to their own Countries and Orders were given to open a Door as they call it to enroll Janisâriâs according to the usual Ceremonies usââ on those Occasions and care was taken to ãâ¦ã as well the New Janisaries ãâ¦ã Veterane Albanian Troops ãâ¦ã or Marine Regiments ãâ¦ã their Numbers of which âeveral had been lost in the late Engageâânts at Sea the which tho' they had not for many Years been fought with so much equality of Fortune between the Venetians and the Turks as they had been for this Year yet it was not determined which side had gained the better tho' the Turks avoided the Fight so much as was possibâe and thereby gave an evidence of their own Weaknesâ and doubtful Condition It hath been long since we have heard any Discourse of Tekâây being not regarded so much by any as by the French Ambassador for as to the Turks they had no Opinion of him nor would they have it be thought that they had any need of his Forces or Interest of his Party in Hungary but suffered him to Lodge in one of the vilest Streets in the Town amongst Iews and the meaner sort of the Armenians called Balata his Countenance was much changed pale and fallen and his Feet Swelled so that his Enemies scorned him and his Friends could expect nothing more of good from him The Year drawing now towards an end all the Endeavours of the Turks were to begin the following Year with greater Forces than that of the preceding and herein they were the more concerned in regard of the Moscovites who were coming down upon the Tartars with vast Numbers of Soldiers and all things prepared to make War upon them and to take Asac at least the Diversion hereby would be great and so employ the Tartars that to defend their own Countries they would be obliged to desert the Service and Cause of the Turks Howsoever the Successes of the Turks had been this Year so great as gave them courage to consider in what manner they might be able to form two Armies for the next with one of which the chief Design was to enter Transylvania and if possible to make Peace with the Moscovites by the Negotiations of the Tartars but all this came to nothing as we shall see by the Sequel of the following Year Anno 1696. year 1696. THO' the Turks had gained some advantage the last Year over the Venetiaâs both by Sea and Land namely in the Recovery of Scio and by giving a Check or Stop to the Venetian Fleet yet they gained little more thereby than some little Fame and Reputation to the present Sultan Mustapha whom the People began to consider as a Deliverer sent to them from Heaven to recover their almost lost Empire which lay under sad Distresses as well in Asia as in Europe This Opinion of the People when they observed the Justice the Courage and the Resolution of this Sultan to go in Person to the War and that nothing could divert him from it gave them Courage and Assurance tâ expect a turn of Fortune and hopes of better Successes for the future and tho' the French promised them not to make Peace without them but to joyn with them in a perpetual League of Friendship yet the Turks did not much trust them but kept a watchful Eye over them knowing very well how little stress there is to be laid on the Promises of the Great Monarch of France who was also equally Jealous of the Faith of the Turks and both of them equally doubtful of one another This Great Ottoman Empire had the last Year changed both their Master and the Chief Officers without any considerable Change or Troubles in the State amongst themselves for that this Sultan in whom clearly appeared a Spirit of greater Wisdom and Courage than in his Father Mahomet IV or in his Uncle's succeeding him gave the Soldiery and the People such Hopes and Expectations from him that none durst open his Mouth or lift up his Hands against him there appeared also something more of Justice and Vertue in him and of Diligence and Care and Sedulity in his Business than was found in his Father or in any of the succeeding Uncles as we have formerly said which gave hope to the great Governors of the Empire that under him the Losses which the Empire had sustained in these last Wars might be repaired for tho' the Recovery of the Isle of Sâio was made before he came to the Throne and consequently might be looked upon as an effect of his Uncle's Counsels for that Mustapha did not enter upon the Government until the end of Ianuary
being taken up for the Persians At this time the Royal Presents contained in the 12 Chests which had been carried upon the six Camels were taken out and carried by the Hands of 150 Men as the Custom of the Turks was The which consisted of Cloth of Gold Damasks Sables Boxes of Musk and Amber Silks and Sattins of various Colours Turbants Hangings of Silk ordinary Damasks Bezoar-stones Persian and Indian Sattins Bridles of Gold a Topus or Mace of Gold with a Sword of the like Metal After all which Ceremonies according to the Ancient Custom the Persian Ambassador being upon his Return from the Presence of the Sultan he introduced 20 of his Persian Nobles and then he delivered the Royal Letter The which Ceremony being over he proceeded out from the Royal Presence Cloathed in a Rich Vest like unto that which he had received at his Audience with the Great Vizier which was like to that which they had usually given in former times to Christian Ambassadors besides which the Grand Seignior presented him with the same Horse which was sent him to carry him to his Audience with the Sultan and Vested 90 Gentlemen of his Retinue After which he returned to his Lodgings which had been provided for him and with the same Attendance as had accompanied him to his Audience After some Days continuance at the Ottoman Court it was made known by some of the Principal Ministers of State that one part of the Substance of the Letter was after the Salutes and kind Wishes and Congratulations at his Ascension to the Sublime Throne of his Ancestors The King of Persia made the following Request to the Grand Seignior The King of Persia's Requests and Demands The First Article demanded THAT he would be pleased if it were possible to Remove Bebek Suliman Bei from the Government of Caramania and to put another Prince into his place who might prove of a more Quiet and Placid Disposition than this Bebek who was of a Turbulent Spirit and gave much Molestation to the Persians the which the King of Persia or Sofi did not doubt but to obtain from that Friendship which intervenes between their great Powers and Dominions And whereas Yearly many Persian Pilgrims travel to Mecca where having no Place to Pray in and make their Devotions separately and apart from other Nations they found themselves much hindered and incommoded in the Exercise of their Mahometan Devotions wherefore their Desire was That they might have a Place assigned them for the Use of the Persians The Second Article demanded Farther it was desired That the preheminence of Place and Superiority in the Holy Land might be given to the Armenian Patriarch before others of the Christian Rite who were Subjects to the King of Persia the which ought not to be refused them in regard that they profess the same Faith with other Christians namely Greeks and Franks But in regard that it hath never been the Custom of the Turks to return a speedy Answer to fair Promises or Flattering Insinuations a term of 25 Days passed before an Answer was returned to the preceding Demands and that was done when the Ambassador received Audience with the Chimacam And then he was Invited with all his Court and Attendance to an Entertainment with the Grand Vizier where they met about two a Clock in the Afternoon the Feast held until five a Clock and concluded without other Presents than good Musick unless it were of a stately Horse with an agreeable Furniture Some Days afterwards he was Invited to Dinner by the Chimacam Hassan Pasha and in a Week afterwards he was in like manner treated by the Aga or General of the Janisaries who also presented the Ambassador with a very fine Horse After all which Feasts and Bankets and Presents the Ambassador thought it time to send his Presents to the Grand Vizier by his Kahya and other Principal Officers of his Court in number about 40. The Persian Presents to the Turks There were six Camels two of which were laden with Presents and the other four with fine Tents and Furniture for the same with rich Garments The Presents were all carried by the Hands of 28 Persians that is to say with Cloth of Gold Damasks Indian Sattins Persian Turbants with a rich Sword. Moreover two small Bails to the Vizier's Kahya which contained about 25 Pieces of Sattins Damasks and Cloth of Gold. In like manner the Presents to the Chimacam Chavan Pasha contained about 40 Pieces And that which was for the Janisar-Aga was not much inferiour to it After some Days stay a Messenger was sent from the Grand Seignior with the Answer to the Letter of Business which the Persian Ambassador had brought Which was in this manner The Grand Seignior's Answer to the Persian Ambassador THAT Solyman Bebek being an Inheritary Prince could not be removed from his Government it being against the Mahometan Law to be removed from thence nor was it possiâle for them to Allow or Assign any separate Place to the Persians to Pray and Exercise their Devotions in because that Mecca is a Holy Place and free and common to all Mahometans The Holy Land hath also âeen Assigned to the Standard-Bearer Omer as also to the Franks the which having not been much Esteemed or set by in the Time of Mustapha Pasha Vizier the Preheminence of that Place was given as a Law to the Franks which was so solemnly given that it could not be taken away Corrupted or Violated Five or six Days afterwards the Ambassador went to the Vizier to take his Letter which being delivered to him about three or four Days afterwards the Vizier sent him by Order of the Grand Seignior 50 Bags or Purses of Money by the Chiaus-Basha ten Days after which he departed from Adrianople and went to Constantinople taking 60 Days Journey within the Dominion of the Ottomans accounting Tocat in Mesopotamia and other Parts the which was so divided that a Persian Merchant coming to die within that Dominion his Goods may be challenged by his Relations and conveyed away to their Inheritance The Persian Ambassador had still another Request to make in respect to his Nation That the Persian Subjects who Inhabit at Balata in Constantinople wanting a Place for their Devotions may have that Place restored to them for their Prayers which was formerly belonging to the Armenians The which Request was granted to them before the Departure of the Ambassador with Power to rebuild the same again in what should be wanting the which was taken away soon after the Departure of the Persian Ambassador from Constantinople And tho' the Armenian Commissary endeavoured to proceed and made his Complaints at Adrianople against the Impediments he had found yet no Remedy was found but an end was put to all the Work and the Workmen desisted from all other Proceedings in that Building And here it may be enquired How it came to pass that so many Embassies were sent from Persia to the Turks successively one
understanding and struck with present despair both of his State and Life the night now coming on fled with Euphrosina the Emperor Alexius his Wife and Eudocia her Daughter whom he had married when he had reigned about a month and sixteen days The Tyrant Author of all this mischief and of the calamities ensuing thus fled and the Latines furiously entring the Priests and Religious Men in their Surplices and other Ecclesiastick Ornaments with their Crosses and Banners as in solemn procession met the Latines and falling down at the Souldiers Feet with Floods of tears abundantly running down their heavy countenances besought them but especially the Captains and Commanders to remember the condition of wordly things and contenting themselves with the Victory the Glory the Honour the Empire the Immortality of their Name to abstain from Slaughter from burning from spoâling and ransaking of so beautiful a City and that seeing they were themselves men they would also have pity of men and being themselves Captains and Souldiers they should also have compassion upon Captains and Souldiers who although they were not so valiant and fortunate as they were yet nevertheless were both Captains and Souldiers and that they would keep and preserve their City whereof if they ruinated it not they might have much more pleasure and commodity than if they should destroy the same which as it had been the principal seat of the Greek Empire so might it now be of the Latines That seeing they had thereof a careful regard as then belonging to another man they ought now upon better reason to have more care thereof being their own That the Authors of all these troubles and mischiefs Alexius the Elder and Murzufle had already received a reward answerable to their follies in that they were driven into Exile That they would have pity and compassion of an innocent and unfortunate Multitude of poor People oppressed and grievously tormented with the often tyrannies of their murderous Lords and Governours That in so doing God the Lord of Hosts the giver and guider of Battels the God of mercy would therefore reward them To conclude they humbly besought them to pardon their Citizens to put on the hearts of gracious and merciful Lords and Fathers not of Enemies and rough Masters of Forgivers not of Revengers and to understand by their Tears their miserable Estate and Woes passed With this so humble a Submission and Complaint of the Religious some of the better sort were happily moved but with the common Souldiers breathing nothing but Victory with their Weapons in their Hands and the Spoil of an Empire in their Power what availed Prayers or Tears Every man fell to the Spoil and in so great choice and liberty of all things âitted his own disordred appetite without respect of the wrong or injury done to others only from the effusion of innocent blood they abstained they whose lives they sought after being already fled together with the Tyrant Other injuries and outrages so great as that greater none could be were in every place so riâe that every Street every Lane every Corner of the City was filled with Mourning and Heaviness There might a man have seen Noble Men earst of great Honour and reverend for their hoary Hairs with other Citizens of great Wealth thrust out of all they had walking up and down the City weeping and wringing their hands as men forlorn knowing not where to shroud their Heads Neither stayed the greedy rage of the insolent Souldiers within the Walls of mens private Houses but brake out into the âtately Palaces Temples and Churches of the Greeks also where all was good prize and nothing dedicated to the Service of God left unpolluted and defaced no place unsought nor corner unrifled right lamentable and almost incredible it were to report all the miseries of that time Some of the Greek Historiographers men of great mark and place and themselves Eye-witnesses and Partakers of those evils have by their Writings complained to all Posterity of the insolency of the Latines at the winning of the City to their eternal dishonour but that disordered Souldiers in all Ages in the liberty of their insolent Victory have done such outrages as honest minds abhor to think upon Thus Constantinople the most famous City of the East the seat and glory of the Greek Empire by the miserable ambition and dissention of the Greeks for Sovereignty fell into the Hands of the Latines the twelfth of April in the year 1204 year 1204. or after the account of others 1200. Constantinople thus taken and the Tyrants put to flight the Princes and great Commanders of the Army held a Council to consider what were best to be done concerning the City and the new gained Empire for after so great a Victory they thought it not good to raâe so antient and important a City seated as it were a Watch-Tower upon the Theatre of the World overlooking both Asia and Europe from the one to the other as an eye of the Universal and so commodiously planted as was no other City of the World for the keeping under of the Enemies of the Christian Religion but that it were much better to place there a Latine Governour to establish there the Latine Laws and Customs and to unite the Greek Church as a Member unto the Church of Rome In which consultation some were of opinion not to have any more Emperors in Christendom but one and therefore to make choice of Philip the German Emperor Author of this War whose Wife Irene was the only Daughter and Heir of the late Emperor Isaac Angelus unto whom by all right the Inheritance of her Fathers Empire belonged But the greater part considering that the troubled affairs of Greece in so great a change and newness of the Empire had need of the personal presence of a Prince thought it better to make choice of one among themselves who there still resiant in that place might at all times give aid unto the Latines in their sacred Wars taken in hand against the Infidels which opinion as the better was approved of them all The chief men in this Election of the new Emperor were Baldwin Count of Flanders and Hainault Henry his Brother Lewis Count of Bloys Simon de Montfort Iohn de Dammartin Gualter de Brienne Hugh Count of St. Paul Iohn Count of Brenne Boniface Marquess of Mont-Ferrat Stephen Count of Perch and five Gentlemen of Venice unto whom also were joyned two Bishops of Syria the one of Bethlem the other of Ptolemais who had oftentimes come to the Camp of the Latines to stir them up for the taking in hand the sacred War in Syria with two Bishops of France also namely of Soisson and Troy in Champagne and the Abbot of Lemely These great Lords and Prelates assembled into the Church of the holy Apostles after they had there with great devotion craved of God to inspire them with his Spirit for the choice of a good and just Prince fit for
so great a charge with one consent made choice of Baldwin Count of Flanders and Haynault for Emperor of Greece a brave and valiant Prince about two and thirty years old who was afterward the sixteenth day of May in the year 1204. or after the computation of others in the year 1205. in the great Temple of S. Sophia solemnly crowned by Thomas Maurocenus a Venetian first Patriarch of the Latines in Constantinople From which time the Greek Church in Constantinople began to receive the Rites and Ceremonies of the Latines and to acknowledge the Supremacy of the Church of Rome It was not long after that Constantinople was thus taken by the Latines but that they dividing their Forces without any resistance took in the most part of the great Countries and Provinces on Europe side belonging to the Greek Empire in the time of Isaac Angelus the late Emperor the fortune of the whole Empire as it were following the fortune of the Imperial City Which large Countries so gained from the Greeks the Latines divided amongst themselves as good prize taken from their Enemies Unto Baldwin the Emperor and his Sucessors in the Empire was assigned the Imperial City of Constantinople and the Country of Thracia with a limited Soveraignty over all the rest of the Provinces by the Latines already or afterwards to be gained Unto the Venetians in this division of the Empire was allotted for their share all the rich Islands of the Aegeum and Ionian with the famous Island of Candy also which although it were before by the young Emperor Alexius in the beginning of these Wars given unto the Marquess of Mont-Ferrat yet in this division of the Empire it was taken from him not without his good liking and given to the Venetians as for them more fit instead and lieu whereof the Marquess had the City of Thessalonica with all the Kingdom of Thessaly and a great part of Peloponesus assigned unto him with the Royal Title of a King. Of the aforesaid Islands in number many and exceeding rich the Venetians in the name of the State fortified some few of the greatest with convenient Garrisons the rest they left to be possessed and defended by the better sort of the Citizens at their private cost and charges who according to their ability took into their possession some one Island some another and some two or three as they were able to set out their Gallies one two or more for the keeping of the same over all which the Seigniory nevertheless had a general care still keeping a Fleet with one of their Admirals at Sea by whom they not only repressed the Genoa Pirates then busie in those Seas but also took in certain strong Towns in the Main upon the coast of Peloponesus namely Modon and Corone all which they of long time after held as a part of their Seigniory Some other particular places yet parts of the Empire were given unto particular men as the Dukedom of Athens unto one Geffrey of Troy in Champaigne a Frenchman a valiant Captain whom they also made Prince of Achaia another Dukedom was also given to the Count of Bloys as were divers other Countries and Towns also unto other more private men who nevertheless were bound to hold the same of the Emperor as of their Lord and to pay him yearly a fourth part of the Revenue arising thereof towards the maintenance of his State. Yea the Greeks themselves in this shipwrack of their State and Empire although they disdained nothing more than the strange Government of the Latines yet could they not be perswaded to joyn together in so common a calamity but after their wonted manner sought every man how to share out something for himself without regard of the common good one seized upon one strong Town or City and so likewise another which for all that they held not long driven thence for the most part by a greater power either of the Latines or of their own Countrymen The man whom the discontented Greeks most looked after was Theodorus Lascaris the Emperor Alexius Angelus his Son-in-Law who at the taking of the City fled to Adrianople and afterward into Bythinia where he was of the People not of that Country only but of others also farther off joyfully received and honoured as their Emperor So taking into his hands the Countries of Bythinia Phrygia Missia Ionia and Lydia even from the windings of the famous River Maeander Southward unto the Euxine Sea Northward he with the general good liking of the People took upon him the Estate of an Emperor and so in the renowned City of Nice made the seat of his Empire At the same time also David and Alexius Comneni the Nephews of the Tyrant Andronicus sometime Emperor of Constantinople by his Son Manuel possessing the more Eastern Countries of Pontus Galatia and Capadocia erected unto themselves another Empire in Trapezond where their Posterity of the honourable house of the Comneni reigned in great glory many years after until their Empire together with the Empire of Constantinople was by the great Emperor of the Turks Mahomet the Second subverted and brought to nought as shall afterward in due time and place be declared Thus the Greek Empire exposed as it were to the general Spoil was no longer one but many Empires Baldwin reigning in Constantinople the Marquess of Mont-Ferrat in Thessaly Theodorus Lascaris at Nice Alexius Comnenus in Trapezond and the Venetians in the Islands all in Royal Dignity Besides whom were many other lesser Princes which had here and there according to their ability seized upon some one or other part of the Empire and there erected their Toparchies reigning therein as petty Kings as did Aldebrandinus in Attalia Michael Angelus in Epirus with divers others too long to rehearse Baldwin as is aforesaid created Emperor of Constantinople by the help of the Venetian Admiral Dandulus and other great Commanders of the Army in short time brought under his obeisance all the Cities of Thracia excepting the City of Adrianople whereunto the better sort of the discontented Greeks together with Theodorus Lascaris disdaining the Government of the Latines were fled as unto a most safe Sanctuary which Baldwin knowing and withal desiring whilst yet he had his Friends about him to set his new Empire in some good stay without farther delay came and laid hard Siege to the same Now the Greeks generally evil entreated by the Latines and grieved to be governed by them were some of them fled into other their Neighbour Princes Countries but especially into Bulgaria otherwise called Misia a large Kingdom lying betwixt the great Mountain Aemus and Danubiuâ by whose perswasion Iohn King of that Country aided by the Scythians a fierce Northern People but lately come into those quarters and by the fugitive Greeks themselves took upon him to relieve the besieged City and so with a great Army approaching the same sent before certain Troops of the Scythian Archers on horseback to