our general Assembly as to retain those who may be cause of much trouble without our Consents There is no Difficulty that I understand I am content to accept the antient and honourable Treaties made with the famous Emperour Solyman and his Successors and now lastly at Chotyn if there be any other difference I have Power and am ready to accommodate it My desire then only is That a present End and Conclusion be made of a Peace firm and perpetual and that the Emperour will be pleased according to many promises to deliver and set free the Captives taken in the last Wars as I do in his Majesties Name give my Word that all others taken on our parts shall have Liberty and Pasport to return And if there have been any Difficulty made by occasion of my pressure for the rejection of Tomsha and Cante-Emir-Emirze I do make this true Protestation That as it is the Request of his Majesty my King in Friendship so there is no other end nor cause of that desire but only to remove all occasion of offence and breach with this Imperial Port which those ill Neighbours are ever ready to minister But if that be any great Inconvenience to this Imperial Port I only then seek that better order may be taken with them for the future that they may live quietly without offence of the publick Peace I desire your Excellency to weigh and consider these my Reasons and Protestations which proceed only from a good and sincere Heart to promote and maintain an inviolable and good Friendship with this Imperial Port. Within two days after the Duke of Sbaraskie took his leave of the Emperour to the great Joy of himself and his Train who thereby saw themselves delivered out of Captivity The three great and noble Prisoners were set free and did make a publick acknowledgement of his Majesty of Great Britains Favour to whom both the Ambassador and they attributed the best part of their good Success and gave particular Thanks by Letter Articles Contracted between the Grand Seignior and the King of Poland HIS Majesty of Poland having sent into our happy Port his well deserving and famous great Ambassador the most Illustrious Duke of Sbaraskie to offer us sincere Peace loyal Friendship and good Correspondence and to seek that the antient Peace and Friendship should be of us anew confirmed and the old Capitulations renewed and that for the time to come there might be established an eternal Peace and Friendship His Kingly instance hath been most pleasing to us and the Peace and Friendship of us accepted and we have ordained That all the antient Treaties shall be renewed and at the present have given this our Capitulation with the following Articles FIrst That never upon our part nor of any of our Visiers Beglerbeghs Beghs Cadees Officers nor Souldiers any harm shall be done to the Provinces Cities Castles Towns Villages and other Places pertaining to the King and State of Poland And likewise upon the part of his Majesty of Poland that by his Princes Ministers or Cossack nor any other his Subjects there shall be no wrong done in any part of our Empire City Castle Town or Village but that both parties shall always remain Friends to Friends and Enemies to Enemies II. And seeing that the Tartars of Dobrirza Biaolograd Keil Ozu and Silistra and the People of Moldavia do enter invade and damnifie the State of Poland We command that for the time to come our Beglerbeghs of Silistra and all other Beglerbeghs of Bender shall take care to keep all those Passages and Rivers to the end that hereafter the said Nations shall have no passage by those ways to damnifie the State of Poland and whensoever it shall be known that the said Ministers have used Negligence in keeping those Passages according to the Treaty with Sultan Solyman of happy Memory that such Ministers be degraded and severely punished III. The Vayvod of Moldavia likewise shall never grant any Passage to the said Nations and whensoever it shall be known that the said Vayvod hath transgressed in this our Will he shall be degraded and severely punished IV. And whensoever the said Tartars and others contrary to this our Will shall make any Invasion or Spoil in the State of Poland all our Ministers and Governours shall apprehend and severely punish them and as it is set down in the Agreements with Sultan Solyman all the Slaves and Prisoners which shall by such Malefactors be brought into our Dominions shall be set at Liberty and their Goods restored to them again and the Malefactors punished for having transgressed our Imperial Capitulations V. And if any of our Subjects shall buy any Person or Polish Goods unjustly taken by such Malefactors and it shall be made known unto us by the King of Poland the buyers for having bought unlawful Goods their Estate shall be confiscate and they themselves severely punished VI. The Prince Chrim Tartar shall be obedient to us and all the Tartarian Nation under his Command Kalgha Sultan and other Emirs and Princes of his Blood from henceforth shall never enter into nor invade any part of the State of Poland nor ever do any Dammage either by the way of Moldavia the open Field or Desart nor shall ever enter into or invade any part or jurisdiction of the same And at all times that his Majesty of Poland shall give notive That the said Prince or others above mentioned have broken this our Will and Capitulations and entered and damnified his State for their Disobedience the said Prince as well as the others shall be by us punished and chastised and we command that never any one in any part of our Dominion shall sell either People or Goods robbed from the State of Poland and finding that there be any one that hath dared to buy Men or Goods robbed from them such shall be immediately punished with confiscation And as before mentioned the Beglerbeghs of Silistria with all Diligence shall keep the Straights of Osue and never suffer the said People to pass and if it shall be known they have transgressed they shall be punished with loss of their Charge and Office. VII And whensoever the said Prince Chrim Tartar or his Kalka Emirze or others shall by our order be called and commanded in their proper Persons to go to any part of the War in our Service if by chance they should pass by the Confines of Poland as it is set down in the Capitulations of my Father of happy Memory They shall not enter into any Village Borough Castle or City of Polonia or do any kind of dammage to the People thereof and finding that they have given any molestation or hurt they shall be corrected as is aforesaid VIII And in Conformity of my Fathers said Capitulation every time that his Majesty of Poland shall invite and call the said Prince Chrim Tartar in his Occasion of War whilst he giveth him his annual stipend the said Prince with
observantiae vinculum accipiet inducet cum omnia singula quae de Confiniis suprà recensito modo ultrò citroque promissa acceptata sunt tam de distinctionibus limitum quà m de evacuationibus demolitionibus plenarie in effectum executionem deducta fuerint ita ut absolutae designatione limitum in unoquoque Consinio statim subsequatur demolitio aut evacuatio quod ut quam câlerrimè succedat designentur ad limites terminos Confiniorum ponendos distinguendos ex utraque parte Commissarii qui die Aequinoctii scilicet 22. mensis Martii aut 12 secundum veterem Stylum Anni Millesimi Sexcentesimi Nonagesimi noni in locis inter Commissarios consensu Gubernatorum utriusque Confinii determinandis mediocri pacifico Comitatu conveniant atque intra spatium dúorum Mensium si possibile sit aut etiam citius ubi fieri poterit Confinia limitibus terminis manifestis per superiores articulos constitutis distinguant separent determinent Statuta inter legatos Plenipotentiarios utriusque imperii accuratissimè citissime exequantur XIX Has vero conditiones articulos ad formam hic mutuò placitam à Majestatibus utriusque Imperatoris ratihabitum iri atque ut solennia ratificationis Diplomata intra spatium triginta dierum à die Subscriptionis vel citius in Confiniis per Illustrissimos Excellentissimos legatos Plenipotentiarios Mediatores reciprocè recteque commutentur legati Plenipotentiarii utriusque imperii sese infallibiliter obligant atque praestituros compromittunt XX. Duret Armistitium hocce extendatur favente Deo ad viginti quinque Annos continuè sequentes à die qua ejusdem subscriptio facta fuerit quo Annorum numero elapso vel etiam medio tempore priusquam elabatur liberum esto utrique partium si ità placuerit Pacem hanc ad plures adhuc Annos prorogare Itaque mutuo libero consensu quaecunque stabilita sunt Pacta inter Majestatem Serenissimi Potentissimi Ramanorum Imperatoris Majestatem Serenissimi Potentissimi Ottommannorum Imperatoris Haeredes eorundem imperia quoque Regna ipsorum Terrâ item marique sitas Regiones civitates urbes subditos clientes observentur sanctè religiose ac inviolabiliter demandâtur seriò omnibus utriusque partis Gubernatoribus Praefectis Ducibus Exercituum atque Militiis quibusvis in eorundem clientela obedientiae subjectioni existentibus ut illi quoque praedeclaratis conditionibus clausulis pactis articulis sese adaequatè conformantes omnibus modis caveant ne contra Pacem amicitiam hanc sub quocunque nomine aut praetextu se invicem offendant aut damnificent sed quolibet prorsus inimicitiae genere abstinendo bonam colant vicinitatem certò scientes quod si eatenus admoniti morem non gesserint severrisimis in se poenis animadvertendum fore Ipse quoque Crimensis Chanus omnes Tartarorum Gentes quovis nomine vocitatae ad Pacis hujus bonae vicinitatis reconciliationis Jura ritè observanda adstricti sint nec iisdem contraveniendo hostilitates qualescunque exerceant erga quasvis Caesareas Provincias earumque Subditos aut Clientes Porro sive ex aliis Exercituum generibus sive ex Nationibus Tartarorum si quis contra Sacras Imperatorias hasce Capitulationes contra Pacta Articulos earum quidpiam ausus fuerit is poenis rigorosissimis coerceatur Incipiat verò modo dicta Pax Quies Securitas subditorum utriusque Imperii à supradata die Subscriptionis cessent exinde atque sustollantur omnes utrinque inimicitiae Subditi utriusque partis securitate tranquillitate fruantur Eoque fine quò magis per summam curam ac sedulitatem hostilitates inhiberi possint transmittantur quà m celerrimè Mandata Edicta publicandae Pacis ad omnes confiniorum Praefectos cumque spatium aliquod temporis requiratur intra quod officiales in remotioribus praesertim Confiniis istam conclusae Pacis notitiam obtinere valeant statuuntur viginti dies pro âermino post quem si quis hostiâe âuidpiaââ alterutra ex parte admittere praesumpserit poenis superius declaratis irremissibiliter subjaceat Ut demum Pacis Conditiones Viginti hisce articulis conclusae utrinque acceptatae debito summòque cum respâctu inviolatae observentur Si quidem Domini Plenipotentiarii Ottomannici vi concessae iisdem facultatis Imperatoriae instâumentum Turcico sermone exaratum subscriptum legitimum validum nobis exhibuerint Nos quoque vi Mandati Plenipotentia nostra propriis manibus propriis Sigillis Subscriptas Signatas haâce Pactorum literas in Latino Idiomate tanquam legitimum validum vicissim Instrumentum extradidimus THE INSTRUMENT OF THE Treaty of Peace BETWIXT THE GERMAN and OTTOMAN Empires Subscrib'd Ianuary 26. 1699. FOR the perpetual Memory of the Thing Be it known to all whom it may Concern That after a cruel and pernicious War had for 17 years been carried on with the Effusion of much Blood and Desolation of many Provinces between the most Serene and most Potent Prince and Lord Leopold Elect of the Romans and Emperor of Germany always August King of Hungaria Bohemia Dalmatia Croatia Sclavonia Arch-Duke of Austria Duke of Burgundy Brabant Styria Carinthia Carniola Marquis of Moravia Duke of Luxemburgh of the Upper and Lower Silâsia of Wirtemberg and Tecka Prince of Swevia Count of Hâbsburgh of Tyrol Kyburgh and Goritia Marquis of the Sacred Roman Empire of Burgovia of the Upper and Lâwer Lusatia Lord of the Marquisate of Sclavinia of the Port of Naon and the Salt Mines on one part And between the most Serene and most Potent Prince and Lord Sultan Muââapha Han Emperor of the Ottâmans and of Asia and Greece and his Glorious Predecessors on the other Part. These two most Potent Emperors out of a just Sense of Compassion towards their afflicted Subjects at length resolving to put an End to these Mischiefs every Day encreasing with Destruction to Mankind the Divine Goodness brought it to pass that by the Endeavours and Mediation of the most Serene and most Potent Prince and Lord William III. King of Great Britain France and Ireland and the High and Mighty Lords the States General of the United Belgic Provinces that Solemn Treaties of Peace were set on foot at Carlowitz in Sirmium upon the Confines of both Empires and there brought to a Conclusion There Meeting at the said place on the part of his Sacred Caesarean and Imperial Majesty of the Romans as his Plenipotentiaries the most Illustrious and most Excellent Lords Wolfang Count d'Ottingen of the Sacred Roman Empire Chamberlain of his Sacred Caesarean Majesty and Privy-Counsellor and President of the Imperiaâ Aulic Council and the Lord Leopold Schlik Count in Passaun and Weiskirchen of the Sacred Roman Empire Chamberlain of his said Caesarean Majesty Captain General of the Guards and Colonel of the
Clementia Dei perpetua stabilis firma inconcussa permaneat conservata atque custodita sit ab omni turbatione mutatione confusione violatione uno eodemque tenore firmissimè perseveret constantissimè continuet ut omnes omnino hostilitates amoveantur atque sustollantur quà m citissimè notitia praebeatur in Confiniis Praefectis Gubernatoribus ut sibi caveant ne imposterum transgressiones fiant nevè altera pars alteri damna inferat Verùm enimverò omnes utrinque sincerè amicè sese praestent juxta istam almam Pacem Ut autem omnibus cognita comperta sit istius almae Pacis Conclusio triginta dies pro termino ponantur post quem nullus praetextus nullaque excusatio acceptabitur sed in eos qui adversabuntur editis Edictis exactam obedientiam merentibus severissimè animadvertatur Post Subscriptionem autem Instrumentorum utriusque Partis Ablegatus priùs à Polonia missus ad Fulgidam Portam veniens juxta antiquam consuetudinem afferat Regias publicas Literas Ratificationem Pactorum Instrumentis declaratorum continentes atque Literas Imperatorias ratificatorias item accipiat deducat Postea verò ad solennem confirmationem Pactorum Pacis perfectionem reciprocae sinceritatis absolutam terminationem mutuae Amicitiae dispositionem ac digestionem reliquarum rerum juxta laudatum veterem morem adventurus Magnus Legatus quamprimùm commodè fieri poterit moveat ac proinde undecim numaero Pactis conclusa juxta istas conclusiones alma Pax ab utraque Parte acceptetur atque colatur Cùm verò altè memorati Illustrissimi Excellentissimi Domini Excelsi Imperii Plenipotentiarii Commissarii existentes Legati vi suae Facultatis auctoritatis Tuâcico Sermone exaratum legitimum validum instrumentum tradiderint ego quoque vi Facultatis Deputationis meae propriâ manu subscriptas Sigillo sigillatas à me praesentes Pactorum Literas tanquam legitimum validum Instrumentum tradidi THE TREATY OF PEACE BETWEEN The Most Serene and Most Potent King AND Republick of POLAND AND The Sublime OTTOMAN Empire Made at Carlovitz in Sirmium in a General Congress of the Confederate Plenipotentiaries In the Name of the most Holy and Individual Trinity TO the perpetual Memory of the Thing Be it known to all and every one whom it may Concern Whereas there has been a long War between the Kingdom of Poland and the Sublime Empire to stop the Effusion of humane Blood and with Desires of Restoring a mutual Quiet the most Serene and most Potent William III. King of Great Britain France and Ireland and the States General of the United Provinces in order to set on foot this Treaty of a happy Peace have interpos'd their Mediation all the Duties and Conditions of which Mediation have with great Study and Industry been perform'd by their Excellencies the Plenipotentiary Ambassadors to the Fulgid Port on the behalf of his Britannick Majesty by William Lord Pagett Baron de Beaudesert in the County of Stafford Lord Lieutenant of the said County and on the part of the States General by Lord Iacob Colyer which War through GOD's Blessing by Reciprocal Inclinations on both sides has been Compos'd and wholly Extinguish'd at Carlovitz on the Confines of Sirmium where according to the Designment of the Illustrious Mediation a Congress of the Plenipotentiary Ambassadors was appointed and Treaties of Articles of Peace begun with the most Illustrious and most Excellent Lord Mehmet Effendi Creat Chancellor of the Sublime Empire and the most Illustrious and most Excellent Lord Alexander Mauro Cordato of the Noble Family of Scarlati and Privy-Counsellor of the Sublime Empire Ambassadors Extraordinary for the Treaty of Peace and after some Sessions at length by the Divine Goodness this Business of a happy and desir'd Peace was Digested into Terms agreed on both sides and a most entire Friendship and Peace was Perfected and Concluded Restor'd and Renew'd between the most Serene and most Potent Emperor Sultan of the Musulmen Sultan Mustapha Son of Sultan Mehmet and the most Serene and most Potent King Augustus II. my most Noble Lord and the Republick of Poland which Peace is to be Religiously observ'd betwixt both Dominions and is Digested into Eleven Articles which follow one by one I. BY the Help and Blessing of God Hostility with the High Empire founded on Eternity having for some time ceas'd and now the Ancient Friendship Agreeable to the Nature of Reconciliation and good Neighbourhood reviving that all Acts of Hostility may be prevented and the Subjects enjoy their Ancient Security Quiet and Tranquillity the Ancient Limits shall be establish'd and restor'd to what they were before the two last Wars and the Confines of the Provinces subject to Poland shall by these Ancient Boundaries be separated and distinguish'd as well from the Imperial Confines of Moldavia as of those of all other Countries subject to the Sublime Empire nor shall there on either side be any Pretension or Extension made but the Ancient Limits without Change or Disturbance shall as Things Sacred be Religiously observ'd and maintain'd II. Whatsoever Fortifications or Places great or less which before the War before this lay within the Limits of Moldavia and have hitherto been in the Possession of Polish Masters the Polish Garrisons shall be withdrawn and they shall be Evacuated and the Province of Moldavia shall remain as free as ever and in the same peaceable State it was before the last War. III. The Fortress likewise of Caminiec being before the two last Wars situated within the Ancient Limits towards Poland shall be Evacuated and the Musulman Garrison withdrawn and shall be entirely left Nor shall the Sublime Empire hereafter make any Pretensions upon the Provinces of Podolia and the Ukrain and the Deputy of the Ukrain Cossacks who goes by the Title of Hatmannus now residing in Moldavia shall be remov'd And considering the Ancient Limits of Poland and Moldavia are very plain if the Season permits the Evacuations on this side shall be begun by the beginning of the ensuing March and the Polish Troops shall be withdrawn out of Moldavia as soon as possible and tâe Fortifications and Places shall be Evacuated and Moldavia left free And at the same time from the beginning of Maâch the Evacuation of Caminiec shall Commence and the Business of the Evacution shall without Hesitation Neglect or Delay be put in Execution as soon as it can be perform'd and the said Evacuation of this Fortress of Caminiec shall at farthest be compleââed by the 25th of May and that the Evacuation of the said Fortress may be perform'd with Speed and Ease The Poles shall as much as possible in order to the Lading and Carrying away of Goods assist the Transportation with Carriages and Cattle and on all hands the Evacuation shall be carry'd on with Security and Safety In all which Evacuations of Fortresses and other Places in
certain of his chief Counsellors and they altogether favouring the Roman Catholicks would give them of the Religion no certain Answer whereon to rest they therewith much discontented as our of hope to be by them relieved and in gââaâ fear to be by their Adversaries as Enemies ânto âhe State oppressed layd their heads together and after good Deliberation taken what were best for them to do both for the safety of themselves their Wives Children and Religion they by a general consent of themselves appointed the fourth of May to hold a general meeting of them of the Religion in the new Court at Prague there to consult of all matters concerning the bâsiness of Religion And yet in the mean time openly in Parliament protesting by the Mouth of Wentceslaus Bodouiisius a Baron of Bohemia Them to have appointed this Assembly for the Emperors good and for the common quiet of the whole Realm as also for the better informing of the Emperour of all Matters and to provide that the Emperour and the Kingdom might not through the means and perswasions of those his evil Counsellors be brought into extream Peril and Danger Immediately after the States of the Religion with all speed dispatched their Ambassadors unto King Matthias the Elector Palatine the Duke of Saxony and the Duke of Brunswick to request them by their intercession to become Mediators for them unto the Emperour for the obtaining of the free Exercise of their Religion which in all points agreed with the Confession of Augusta and which long before was exhibited unto Maximilian the Emperour and by him allowed Now in the mean time these the States of the Religion were by some for these their proceedings commended but by other some not only blamed but also accused of Rebellion against the Emperour and the State. But the matter being declared unto the Emperor he complaining unto himself of the inconsiderateness of his Counsellors to maintain his Authority caused the Parliament then in hand to be prorogued and to seem of himself to grant that which he could not well withstand commanded by a Decree that same very day to be appointed for the concluding of that Article of Religion on which the States themselves had before appointed for their Assembly to be holden in the new Court at Prague Notwithstanding which Decree many troublesome Spirits publickly set forth other their Conceits in Writing to far other purpose grievously therein reprehending the States of the Religion for that of themselves they had appointed a day for their Assembly into the new Court at Prague Which as they said was nothing else but in a rebellious manner to rise against the Laws of the Kingdom and the Authority of their lawful Prince and therefore advised them to forbear from making any such Assembly as was by them appointed Hereof arose great troubles even under the Emperours nose in Prague the chief City of Bohemia they of the Religion not daring to trust the Roman Catholicks neither they them being still ready upon every false report or vain âurmise to go together by the ears until that the Emperour for the staying of these Troubles and the avoiding of farther danger was glad to cause it to be openly proclaimed in the new Court at Prague That his Imperial Majesty having received and understood the Apology of the States now did abrogate that his Edict published against them but a few days before and now by this his new Edict did account all the States of the Religion for his faithful and well beloved Subjects and as of them unto whom the right of the Kingdom and the King's Oath belonged as well as to all other States of the Kingdom And that he also had those the same States excused in that they for the good of his Majesty and of the whole Kingdom had appointed their Assembly in the new Court at Prague and that therefore he denounced them in so doing not in any thing to have done any thing contrary unto his Majesty And that he appointed the five and twentieth day of May for the general Assembly of Parliament to be holden in the Castle of Prague for the ending of the Article concerning Religion and the reforming of other the publick Grievances of the Common-weal yet with this proviso That the said States should safely and quietly come unto the said Parliament without entertaining of any foreign Souldiers as that his Majesty should also not by himself nor any other for pay entertain any or suffer any foreign Souldiers to come into the Kingdom Which the Emperours Edict being proclaimed the States of the Religion having made their publick Prayers and sung certain Hymns and Psalms unto the Glory of God for the good success of their business left the new Court at Prague and returned every man home to their own Houses to make themselves ready to come unto the Parliament to be holden at the appointed day But the day appointed for the Parliament being come and the Emperour still delaying the matter the States of the Religion weary of such long delays and in doubt to be therewith deluded as having not received from the Emperour any such answer as whereon to rest the third of Iune offered unto the Emperour a short writing concerning their Grief and farther purpose to this effect They had as they said expected and well hoped that regard being had not only of so many requests of so great and most noble Princes made in their behalf but even of the Emperour's promise also made unto them both in the general Assembly of the States the last year and in the late Precept of the Emperour 's also they should at length have received such answer unto their Petition concerning the free Exercise of their Religion as whereon they might have safely rested Which for that it had not been yet done they referred the doing thereof unto God and future time imputing the blame thereof not unto his Imperial Majesty but unto the unquiet and troublesome Natures of some as well the Ecclesiastical as Temporal Magistrates and Persons But forasmuch as they meant not longer to be deluded by their Enemies and much less to be defrauded of his Majesties Royal Promise which was now unto the World known they had thought good to offer and present unto his Majesty a Writing conceived in the Bohemian Tongue according unto which they desired to be secured concerning the free Exercise of their Religion most humbly requesting his Majesty to accept of the same and at length to satisfie their requests Which if it might not be granted the Emperour's Majesty having more respect unto the troublesome Clergy-men and some other his evil affected Counsellors than to the faithful States and Subjects of his Kingdom that then they would rest themselves upon the Decree made in the Assembly holden in the year 1608 and upon the last Edict of his Majesty yet with this solemn Protestation That seeing they had by certain Information understood much Warlike Preparation
all his Forces and Army shall go help and assist his Majesty in every such Occasion and shew all Friendship and Sincerity to which effect we have given order that our Imperial Letters be written to the said Prince in this particular who shall observe all according to our Will and Pleasure IX And for the better establishing of this our Peace and Amity according to the antient Capitulations and Observance his Majesty of Poland promiseth to send his Great Ambassador to the said Prince of Tartars and beginning from this present the 24th of the Month of Iune to pay yearly to the said Prince his accustomed stipend in this form following Every year his Majesty shall send the said stipend into the Castle of Chotyn in Moldavia and the Vayvod thereof shall certifie the said Prince Chrim who shall presently send his Ambassador to receive the same by the hands of the Vayvod The which Prince shall always observe this form and shall be always obedient to this our Imperial Will. X. And in case that his Majesty of Poland should fail any year to send the said stipend the Prince Tartar shall not suddenly rise with his Army and invade Poland but according to the agreements of Sultan Solyman continuing still in his Obedience he shall certifie us and we will procure and recover his right XI His Majesty of Poland doth promise that from henceforward the Cossacks shall not enter nor come into any part of our Empire by the Rivers of Osue or any other nor make any spoil therein and if the said Cossacks do enter into any part of our Dominions and do any hurt we certifying his Majesty by our Imperial Letters he promiseth to correct them severely and to put to death the Maleâactors for breaking the Capitulations and violating the Peace and Amity XII And all our Subjects which shall be made Slaves and imprisoned by the said Cossacks shall be immediately set at liberty and the Ministers of his Majesty shall always be diligent to punish the Transgressors and wholly restorâ those Persons and Goods which they shall have taken from our said Subjects and that never any Subject of the King of Poland shall buy any stollen Goods and if any have presumed and bought that he be severely punished and in general all that which we have promised concerning the Tartars and Moldavians so his Majesty also doth promise to us for the Cossacks and other his Subjects XIII After the Conclusion of this Peace if upon the Confines or open Fields Fishers or Hunters on either part meeting together shall happen to fall out or be at difference by their own Occasion it shall be no disturbance to this our Peace and Amity XIV Always according to the antient Agreements the Princes or Vayvods of Moldavia shall shew to his Majesty of Poland all due Reverence and respect good Amity and Neighbourhood and seeing that the said Vayvods have ever been as it were Instruments of Preservation or of the breach of the Peace therefore we command that for the time to come neither the said Vayvods nor other of our Beglerbeghs or Ministers shall build in those Confines any new Castle Fort or Bridge and that in those Castles or Forts of those Frontiers which are already built there shall never any other Garrisons be kept but Moldavians and according to the antient Capitulations the Tartars shall not inhabit dwell or till within those Confines of both Nations XV. And to the end this Peace and Amity may be always kept between us we swear by the Name of God and assure by this our Imperial Article that all the Ambassadors great or inferiour which shall be sent from us to his Majesty or those great or less which shall be sent from his Majesty to us shall always be safe and secure as well in their coming as their return and that there shall never be need of any other pasport but that they shall be of us by all ways honoured and well received XVI Concerning Merchants Passengers and other Polack Negotiators they shall always come safely and securely by Sea and Land into all the parts of our Empire and for Customs Tolls and other Duties of their Merchandise and in case of Debt Credit Suretiship and such other like Accidents concerning the course of Iustice and Law we command that it shall be always observed according to the Agreements with our Father of happy Memory Sultan Achmat. Which Articles we at this present accept and confirm ratifie and command that they be of all our Subjects for ever punctually obeyed and observed XVII Furthermore we promise and in the Name of God swear to observe and maintain for ever all those Covenants and Articles agreed upon and written in our Capitulations by our Great Grandfather Grandfather and Father and never to disannul any of them XVIII And whereas to shew greater desire of Sincerity concerning this Peace his Majesty of Poland hath sought of us by his said great Ambassador that the Subjects of Poland may safely and securely come by the River of Turla with divers Merchandise and sell buy and traffick in Ackirman which traffick being used will be of great benefit to both Estates We ordain and command from henceforward that the said Nation may come and negotiate safely and securely in the said Ackirman And to the end that this business be established and concluded in a good manner we will give order to our Ambassador whom we intend to send shortly to his Majesty for the ratification thereof XIX Which present Articles Capitulations Peace Amity League and Correspondence by the Grace of God we promise undoubtedly to maintain so long as we live in this World and do hereby conclude between us and our Posterity and the King and State of Polonia an everlasting Peace Sealing it and confirming it with these Words Friends to Friends and Enemies to Enemies Notwithstanding all this after the Duke was departed one days Journey where he stayed to receive the Treaty signed they altered some of the Articles to their own advantage without his Knowledge Which when he heard he complained anew by his Letters to the Port of the abuse offered unto him and made haste rather to escape than return But the Cossacks at the same time being stirred about the Black Sea the Visier and State having nothing more in care than to shut up that back poât whereby they suffered much loss and Dishonour and could not revenge it upon a fugitive People which divided their Naval Army being forced to send a portion of Gallies to defend the Trade the best part of relief of the City of Constantinople coming from those Coasts resolved to give content to the Poles and to assure the Peace that they might with more Security attend their Affairs in Asiâ and Hungary which Action was favoured vehemently by the present Visier To which end he sent answer into Polând with Promises of Faith and Reparation for the Injuries committed by the Tartars laying the fault of
with other Matters caused great Heats and Animosities on both sides So that some of the Turkie Company Men of the better Principles thought it most advisable to Petition his Majesty to constitute another Ambassador with Letters of Revocation to recal this but others who were the zealous Men of those Times who had tasted the sweetness of Sequestrations and proved it to be the Grand Catholicon of all Remedies perswaded that his Estate should be Sequestred This I say may perhaps have been the attempt of some few though the generality of the Company have so far disavowed the Seizure of his Lands and Estate in England that they declared themselves ignorant of any Estate he had there Howsoever this Apprehension being fixed in the Mind of Sir Sackvile Crow he proceeded to strange Extremities against the Company For he not only caused all the Goods and Monies belonging to them within the Grand Signior's Dominions to be sequestred and seized by his Agents but also imprisoned the Persons of all the English Merchants and Factors which were considerable either at Constantinople or Smyrna The Particulars of all which will appear with more clearness by this following Warrant Sir Sackvile Crow his Second Warrant dated in Pera of Constantinople the 30 th of April 1646 directed to Iohn Hetherington Lorenzo Zuma Enordering upon false Pretences the Sequestration of the Merchants Estates at Smyrna according to a Schedule WHereas the Levant Company sometime before our coming to this Place by a Court of their Assistants thereunto especially authorized treated with Vs touching a yearly Allowance for our Care and Pains during our residence here as his Majesty's Ambassador to be had and taken in such Particulars as might have relation to their Trade and Occasions And for a conclusion of such Treaty as aforesaid did offer unto us the election of any one of their Agreements formerly made with any of our Predecessors in like occasion And for a further manifestation of their sincerity in their said Offer upon our accord thereunto did at the Court aforesaid in publick give into our Hands and Possession the Copies of five of their Agreements made with our said Predecessors with Power to chuse which of them we should best like of to be a Rule and Pattern for an absolute Conclusion and Condition to be drawn up between us and them thereon also promising that they would make grant and confirm the like unto us And whereas we thereon and to the Purposes and Ends aforementioned chose and fixed upon that Agreement which the said Company had made with Sir Thomas Glover formerly Ambassador Resident for the Crown of England with this State And his Majesty by his Favour did assure the same unto us graciously promising to make his Employment of us here as good and beneficial in all the Allowances and Perquisites thereof as it had been to any of our Predecessors whoever and we expected no less The said Company finding themselves mistaken in their Offer as they pretended first retired from the same denying their said Agreement though sufficiently proved before his Majesty and then by force of Presents and Mony given under-hand to the Officers of that Time so prevailed against us that we could not only not obtain that Right which since hath appeared unto us and as well by their own Agreement as by his Majesty's Iudgment then Custom and their former Contracts was due unto us but were forced after to other Agreements with the said Company by which over and above all such Rights Priviledges and Perquifites as then were and should be granted unto us by his Majesty's Capitulations and besides all other Gratifications and Allowances accustomed to be given to his Majesty's Ambassador which in Houshold Provisions only the said Company assured us were to the value of 800 l. per Annum Sterling at least and over and above such Plate and Houshold-Stuff as they assured us we should find of theirs here and hold to our use during our Residence of which we found not the value of an Asper the said Company did covenant with us for and in respect of our Pains and Care only therein agreed to be taken by us in their Affairs and Occasions as aforesaid for and during all our time as his Majesty's Ambassador with this State they would pay or cause to be paid unto us the Sum of 5000 Chickeens per An. to be paid by equal Proportions quarterly before-hand by their failing wherein besides our other Engagements for them to a very good Value twenty and five thousand Dollars or thereabouts rests at this day due and unpaid unto us And whereas also after the Agreements aforesaid upon several Arguments held before his Majesty concerning the Rights of that Consulage which amongst other things is granted by the Grand Signior and payable by his Capitulations to his Majesty's Ambassador Resident at this Imperial Port from Strangers to which the said Company could shew no likely or probable Title the said Company were adjudged to relinquish their Pretences to the said Consulage and a Grant thereof under his Majesty's Royal Hand and Signet was thereon made and given to us for our better support during the time of our Residence here The said Company upon Conditions between them and us agreed did also promise to give us Content therefore with intent nevertheless thereby to get advantage of our credulity and absence and to draw us out of suspect of their evil Intentions towards us which hath since as well by their several interruptions and hinderances here in the Collection thereof as their practices and endeavours at Council Table before his Majesty and by their other Appeals to the Courts of Parliament where in these Times of Distractions they presumed of some better advantage hath appeared unto us Whereby and by suggesting several Vntruths against us and by other false ways they have endeavoured not only to deprive us of the Strangers Consulage and benefit thereof but under that colour also and these their Pretences to keep themselves from paying as us from taking such other Consulage as was and is as much our right and due unto us from themselves by the said Capitulations and the Grand Signior's Grant thereon for all their own Goods traded in And now of late but suspecting our just Intentions of making a claim thereto for until this present day we never made any demand thereof or publick pretence therein to prevent what they suppose we might justly do in our own Right for we take God to Witness we knew no other cause under like unjust and scandalous Pretences we are certitified that they not only go about to get us removed from our Employment here but upon false Suggestions loose and bare Suspicions only have gotten Order for the seizure of all our Lands and other Estates in England into their power as some of their own Servants and Factors here have the confidence to report and affirm and as we are assured from thence without hearing
of whatsoever State and Condition or in whatever part of the Kingdom excepted according to the 1st Article in the year 1608. published before the Coronation a free Exercise of their Religion in general is granted and also that none of the said Inhabitants shall any wise be disturbed for the future in the free Exercise of their Religion on the severe punishment that is expresly set down in the 26th Article of the Diet of Sopron Notwithstanding which when the said Protestants of Cassovia and Epperies would have freely us'd and enjoy'd their Right Establish'd by His Majesty s Warrant and continu'd their way of Worship as also the Instruction of their Youth within the said Cities and their Walls as places provided by the above-mention'd Articles and formerly us'd and allow'd they were not only not admitted but severely prohibited and hindred by the Magistrates and Clergy of these Cities nay sent away and Banish'd till this time to the fore-specified places in no wise convenient for them as if they were Strangers and wholly incapable of the Common Liberties of the Kingdom Wherefore in this Point also Relying on the Gracious Resolution of His most Sacred Majesty and the Articles he has been pleased to make with us We do most Humbly implore a lawful Restitution and firm Establishment of the free exercise of our Religion in its former State according to the said Article 1 st Anno 1608 viz. within the Walls of the said Cities We also submissively beg that till we have a convenient opportunity of Building and Erecting new Churches Schools and Parishes which by reason of our great Poverty and the vast Taxes and Contributions to the present War we are not able now to perform it be graciously granted to us that we may anew freely enjoy the said exercise of Religion in certain private and convenient places and have Schools for the Instruction of Youth Thirdly Though the indifferent and common use of Bells and Burials was every where permitted as well to the Protestants as Catholicks by these express words of the 26 th Article of the Diet of Sopron The free use of Bells and Burials is left to the Catholicks of those places as well as to those of the Helvetian Confession and of that of Ausbourg Which nevertheless the Catholick Magistracy and Clergy of Cassovia and Epperies have fully deny'd and do still deny the said free use of Bells and Burials to the Protestant Inhabitants of the said Cities forbidding them with most severe Threats to perform the usual Ceremonies of Burials within the Walls of the said Cities notwithstanding the gracious resolution of His most Sacred Majesty made to the illustrious States of the Kingdom in the Diet of Sopron December the 10 th Anno 1681. So that we earnestly desire the common use of Bells and Burials for the Protestants as well within as without the City Walls free from any molestation or disturbance conformable to the Pious Grant of His most Sacred Majesty Fourthly It is evident also that by Vertue of the general clause inserted in the end of the so often mention'd 26 th Article in these words Provided always That the Laws of the Kingdom confirm'd by the Royal Charter be not hereby prejudiced The standing Laws of the Kingdom concerning the Ecclesiastical Revenues of those of the Helvetian Confession and of that of Ausbourg were left in force and consequently any Arbitrary proceedings forbidden especially such as against the instinct of Nature tend to the enriching of some Persons to the Damage and Wrong of othes Nevertheless the Roman Catholick Magistrate and the Clergy of Cassovia and Epperies by their own Authority and by Force have taken and appropriated to themselves all the pious Legacies and Gifts left by Will through the pious zeal of the Protestants for the use of Protestant Churches and Schools viz. in Cassovia four Houses standing within the Wall of the said City one of which the Magistrate has sold and alienated to the illustrious Michael Domeczki a Garden and certain Plow Lands lying in the Territory of the same City as also a Vineyard formerly called Varghaszóló lying in the Territory of Tokai And in Epperies certain Vineyards likewise lying in several Territories of Upper Hungary together with their Revenues actually retaining the same for their own use and for the most part turning them into prophane uses against the 11 th and 14 th Articles of the year 1647 to the great injury and damage of the Protestants Wherefore in this Case also the Protestants appealing to the aforesaid Laws and Constitution of the Kingdom do lawfully require that all the pious Legacies and Church Lands violently taken away and retain'd from them who are the right Owners be restor'd together with their Revenues according to that Rule of Common Justice Render to every one his own Fifthly It is certain likewise that for the paying of the Protestant Ministers and of the Catholick Curates it was evidently enough provided not only by the often mentioned 26 th Article in these words Nevertheless the Catholicks shall not be obliged to pay any thing to the Ministers of the Protestants nor the Protestants to the Curates of the Catholicks But also by the 11 th Article of the year 1647 in these words Let no Protestant be obliged to pay any thing to the Catholick Curates nor the Catholick to the Protestant Ministers Nay in the following 12 th Article of the said year 1647 are contained these words Concerning any use whatever of the Ministerial Functions but where the Protestants have no Parishes let them pay the Ministers that they employ as the Catholicks are to pay their Catholick Curates and where hitherto the Protestants did pay nothing to the Catholick Curates they shall not be obliged hereafter to pay any under any pretence whatsoever nor the Catholicks to the Protestant Ministers Which words together with these of the same 12 th Article concerning the Revenues of Schools but in any place whatsoever the Catholick Curates and the Protestant Ministers shall receive the Revenues of Schools from their respective Followers only Establish this positive Law and Constitution that the Protestants pay the Protestants and the Catholicks the Catholicks Notwithstanding this the Protestants are forced maugre themselves to pay the Catholick Curates whilst not only a Weekly allowance together with other perquisites is constantly paid to the Catholick Curates by the Magistrate out of the publick Purse wherein the Protestants put most being three for one Catholick but also the Revenues of Schools are adjudged and paid to the same Catholick Curates and with the greatest injustice deny'd to the Protestant Ministers and School-Masters Therefore they demand with all Submission and Justice that the Protestant Ministers and School-masters be allow'd out of the publick Purse a Salary equal with that of the Catholick Curates or that neither of the Parties be paid out of that Fond but each by their respective Followers according to the intention of the before mention'd Articles
recompence this Imperial Royal Favour with all sort of Happines from above Deliver'd to His Sacred Majesty at Aix la Chapelle upon his going to Vienna the 24 th day of April in the year 1689. Your most Sacred Majesty's most Humble and Faithful Subjects the Deputies of the Evangelicks in the Counties Cities Towns and Frontiers of Upper and Lower Hungary about the Business of their distressed Religion The First Article of the Peace of Vienna in the Year 1606. AS to the Business of Religion notwithstanding the former publick Constitutions and the last Article of the Year 1604 which was made without the Diet and the consent of the Subjects and therefore is annulled it is granted That according to his Imperial Majesty's former Resolution to which the Subjects refer themselves in their replying all and each State of the Kingdom of Hungary as well the Peers and Noblemen as the free Cities and the Privileged Towns belonging immediately to the Crown and all the Hungarian Soldiers in the Frontiers shall any where and at any time profess and exercise their Religion without any Disturbance either from His most Sacr'd Majesty or from any Person whatsoever a free exercise of Religion being hereby granted to all the said States of the Kingdom Provided always That the Roman Catholick Religion be not thereby prejudiced That the Roman Catholick Clergy Churches and Chappels remain free and unmolested and that what has been taken from them in these Troubles be restor'd The First Article made before the Coronation in the Year 1608. concerning Religion COncerning the first Article of the Treaty of Vienna it is resolv'd by the States and Orders of Hungary that the Exercises of Religion shall be left free not only to the Noblemen and to the Inhabitants of the free Cities but also to the Hungarian Soldiers in the Frontiers of the Kingdom of Hungary and to all the Farmers and Peasant that will freely accept the same nor shall any of 'em be disturbed in the free Exercise of Religion but to prevent any effect of hatr'd and dissension between Roman Catholicks and Protestants It is Order'd That each Party shall have a Superior or Surperintendant of his own Profession Although this last first Article of the Year 1608 was renew'd in 77 th Article of the Year 1618 inserted in the General Constitutions of the Kingdom by Order of the Emperor Ferdinand the Second in the Year 1622 restor'd to his Force by the 22 d Article of the Year 1625 by the 33 d Article of the Year 1630 and by the 29 th Article of the Year 1635 confirm'd in the 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 and 14 th Articles of the new Treaty of Peace made with George Ragoczy Prince of Transilvania in the Year 1648 Ratifyed both in the aforenamed Articles of 1649 and in the 10 th Article of the Year 1649 and in the 18 th Article of the Year 1655 made at Rakocziâ and lastly confirm'd again and inserted in the Constitutions of the Kingdom by Order of Leopold the present Emperor in the Year 1659 yet notwithstanding all these the said Article remains without Force and the Exercise of the Protestant Religion is wholly exterminated against the Articles and the publick Constitutions of the Kingdom as well as against the Sacred Imperial Letters Patent And yet all this contributed little towards a Peace for the Results of this Diet concerned none but the good and quiet Men and such as were zealous for the Settlement and Peace of their Country Whilest Tekeli and others of that Spirit whose Minds were possess'd with virulent Malice and Ambition were plotting and contriving the means to set up their own Authority and give themselves into the Hands of the Turks rather than to the Power of their Sovereign Prince of whose natural Clemency thô they were well assur'd yet they suspected and fear'd his Councils which being chiefly influenced and directed by Jesuits and the Spirit of the Clergy could never be reconciled in any tollerable manner to the Protestant profession Thus whilest things were Negotiating in the Diet Tekeli besieg'd Kalo which surrendr'd at discretion with little or no resistance and Prince Apafi joyning with some Parties of the Malecontents laid Seige to Zatmar with an Army composed of Transilvanians Moldavians Turks and Malecontents of Hungary all which acted in four separate Bodies being well provided with Cannon and all sorts of Ammunition and Provisions so soon as Apafi had form'd his Siege he put forth a Manifest or Declaration which he caused to be privately stolen into the Town and there dispers'd signifying that out of Christian piety and compassion to the miserable state of that Kingdom he had left his Country and Dwelling with no other intent than only to cause their Churches to be restor'd to them with a free Liberty of Conscience and Exercise of Religion and that their Estates which had been confiscated for the sake of their Religion and defence of their Rights and Privileges might be again restor'd to them To which he added many Solemn Protestations that he had no other end nor intention than the welfare and happiness of the Kingdom Farther also he said that he had a power sufficient for this Enterprise being well seconded by the Grand Seignior and acted by his Commission and that the Succession to the Principality was promised unto his Son to whom besides the Forces with him he had left a Guard of 20.000 Men. Having made thus much known to the Inhabitants of Zatmar he vigorously proceeded in the Siege having received a Recruit of 8000 Men from the Pasha of Buda being a Detachment from 40.000 which were Encamp'd before the place whereof he was Governour And thô with these Forces the Town of Zatmar was taken yet Serini who Commanded the place retiring into the Castle or Citadel he so well defended the same that Apafi was forc'd to raise the Siege and march away burning several Towns year 1682. and taking a Thousand Prisoners in his Retreat The raising of this Siege was variously interpreted and so ill taken by the Turks that Complaints were made thereof against Apafi at the Port. But it was no time now to make alterations or disturbances in Transilvania Towards the end of this year the Emperor being desirous to Crown the Empress at Oedembourg sent a Convoy of 500 Huâsars 100 Heyduks and 500 Cuirassiers to fetch the Crown of St. Stephen from the Castle of Presburg where it is always lodg'd which being brought thither the Empress was Crown'd Queen of Hungary with great Solemnity And that this Ceremony might be performed with the more order and security a Cessation of Arms was agreed with Tekeli for six Moths And to make appear how propitious this day of Coronation was like to be Count Caprara fell on the Rear of Apafi s Forces as they were retiring into their own Country took all their Baggage and entring into Transilvania burn'd five Castles and divers
of October a Battery he plied the Castle so hard that the Turks spread a white Flag and came to Capitulations which were soon agreed upon Terms That the Garrison and People therein might march forth with all their Goods for Carriage of which 30 Boats were to be assigned them but in regard Boats were not to be procured 200 Carts were provided in the place thereof So that on the 19th of October 2559 Soldiers all Armed with about as many Inhabitants marched out of the place which were Convoyed by 200 Dragoons towards Nicopolis and the Hostages being committed to safe Custody five Companies of the Regiment of Dunghen were placed therein for a Garrison Upon the Report only of the march of the Imperialists towards Widin Tekeli abandoned the City tho' he had a stately House therein and very well furnished yet so debased was he in his Courage that he fled before the Battle towards Nicopolis from whence he came with a sad Countenance and Tears in his Eyes to meet the Garrison and People expelled from the Town and Castle Howsoever he showed a courteous Aspect to the German Soldiers who were appointed for Convoy to the People of Widin and in a Friendly manner treated them with Wine and a plentiful Entertainment As Widin was a great loss to the Turks so it was of high advantage to the successful Arms of the Emperor for by taking this place all the Conquests made by the two last Victories namely the Territory of Nissa and other Places possessed on the Way to Sophia were all covered and the Way secured for importing Forage and Provisions and all Necessaries for support of the advanced Troops under Piccolomini posted for guard and defence of the Conquered Countries and free Communication and Correspondence with the Neighbouring Principalities And on the contrary the Turks of Temeswâer and other Garrisons maintained in the Upper Hungary were all greatly streightned and annoyed thereby without any hopes of being succoured or relieved and thereby Tekeli also was dislodged from those Parts in which he had perswaded the People by his fair Words and Promises to remain constant and faithful and stand by the Grand Seignior with their Lives ând Fortunes It being now towards the end of October it was judged high time to give refreshment end âase to the wearied Soldiery by putting them into warm and commodious Quarters during the Winter Season The Province of Walachia was a Country near to them abounding with all sorts of Provisions and there it was intended to Quarter a great part of the Army Upon which Resolution Prince Lewis dispatched to the Prince of Walachia these following Propositions requiring an immediate Compliance therewith otherwise that he would do himself Reason with his Sword giving him only six Days time to return an Answer The Propositions made to the Prince of Walachia and the States of that Province dated the 28th of October were as followeth Propositions made by the Prince of Walachia WHEREAS it hath pleased Almighty God to give many signal Viâtories unto His Imperial Majesty whereby several Cities Countries and Provinces have been recovered out of the Barbarous Possâssion of the Turks and thereby âlâo Wâlachia secured from Servitude and Slavery in consideration whereof it was demanded from the Prince and States that Winter Quarters be given for the space of seven Months for 15000 Men Horse and Foot according to the Rules and Proportions which have been setled by the Imperial Decrees in former times both in Hungary and Transilvania That is to say from the first of November 1689 to the last of May 1690 in the manner following I. That two Pounds of Bread shall be provided for every Man per Day with a Pound of Flesh and a Measure of Wine besides his Bed Salt Candle Wood and all other Necessaries for support of Humane Life That four Bushels of Oats a Month eight Pounds of Hay a Day with two Bundles of Straw a Week shall be allowed for every Horse II. That the Prince and States shall pay unto the Soldiers 800000 Florins within a certain time III. That the Prince and States shall find 1500 good Horse to mount those Cavaliers who have lost their Horses and also shall find them Armour within a certain time according as hath been practised in Hereditary Kingdoms and Provinces the Arms for Cuirasiers shall not be valued at more than 30 Dollars for every Horse-man and 25 for every Dragoon the which shall be defalked out of the Sum of the ready Money which is to be paid IV. That the Deputies sent by the Prince and States shall return to them again and in the space of six Days shall come back to the Imperial Camp with the positive Resolution of what shall be performed in this Matter and shall bring with them Commissaries who shall allot to the Soldiers their respective Quarters V. That the Prince and States shall appoint and ordain Hostages namely two Barons of the chief Nobility in the Province who shall remain with the Imperial General as Guarantees for performance of the Treaty and that the Prince may have liberty to change and relieve them every Month if he pleases with two others VI. That in case the ârince and States shall punctually comply with these Propositions they are hereby assured in the Name of His Imperial Majesty That neither the Emperor's General nor any other Officer or Soldier shall bind or oblige them to any other Conditions nor shall they in the least manner be farther oppressed or damnified but to the contrary they shall be succoured defended and protected in the free Exercise of their Laws and maintained in their Rights Privileges and Possessions Given in the Imperial Camp under Fetislau the 28 th of October 1689. Signed Lewis of Baden About this time the Express which Prince Lewis had dispatched lately to Piccolomini returned back with this following Letter Count Piccolomini to Prince Lewis IF Your Most Serene Highness shall be pleased to return me back all Your Army I can here give them Quarters and good Subsistence The Albanians of Clementa have sent their Deputies to me with Proposals to submit unto the Emperor with whom I am now in Treaty The Albanians under the Turks have done the like and have offered to surrender unto me all their Castles I have summoned all the Greek Communities to come unto me and I have sent the Draughts of the Imperial Escutcheon or Arms which I brought painted from Vienna to be affixed and set up in every Town and City And I hope speedily to bring all the Countries from Scutari to Novibassar under subjection Upon these Successes I hear that Mamut Pasha is fled and I have sent to seek for his Horse-Tail which the Vizier gave him The City of Prisseren being abandoned by its Inhabitants I intend to make use thereof Ten Thousand Rascians with Arms in their Hands are come in to me without any Head or Commander with intention to rob and live
Eldest Son and after him Iathatines his younger Brother who slain by Theodorus Lascaris the Greek Emperor as is before declared after him succeeded in that Kingdom another Iathatines the Son of Azatines who was by the Tartars expulsed and his Kingdom subdued as in the former part of this History it appeareth After which time the Selzuccian Family there also by the Tartars in the lesser Asia depressed retained scarce the name and shadow of their former Majesty and Glory In which troublesom times and confusion of the State Ertogrul well beaten and wearied in the World kept himself close in his house at Suguta as well contented therewith as with a Kingdom seeking by all means to keep Peace on every side with his Neighbours as well Christians as others In which quiet kind of life he sweetly passed over the troublesome times of Mesoot the Son of Kei-Cubades and of Kei-Cubades the Son of Feramuzin both Sultans but the great Tartars Tributaries and reigning but at their pleasure until the time of the Second Aladin the sole and last Heir of the Iconian Kingdom before by the Tartars divided which was no few years All which time Ertogrul lived quiet at Suguta as one amongst many other of the Iconian Sultans Subjects wisely considering the fall of the Selzuccian Sultans both in Persia and at Iconium as also the ruin of his own House and Family both from Royal State brought almost unto nothing and therefore with patience taking the World as it came and making a vertue of necessessity contenting himself with a little bare himself kindly towards all men In which contented kind of life he grew to great years with his three Sons greatly beloved and honoured of their Neighbours as well Christians as Turks and no less favoured by the second Aladin then Sultan than he had been of all the Sultans before him whom the young men his Sons after the manner of their Nation forbidding them with empty hands to salute their Princes oftentimes visited with one Present or other In all which his Sons were many good parts to be seen yet so as that in Othoman was easily to be seen a greater Courage and Spirit than in the other two his Brethren which was the cause that he was the more by them of his Tribe regarded but especially of the youthful and warlike sort which commonly resorted unto him when he went to hawk or hunt or to other delights of the Field the counterfeits of War and was of them commonly called Osman Gazi that is to say Osman the Warlike In this frontier Country near unto Suguta the dwelling place of old Ertogrul had Sultan Aladin divers Lieutenants and Captains Governours of his Castles and strong Holds upon those frontiers with whom Othoman was well acquainted and unto whom he for Friendship sake oftentimes resorted but especially unto the Captain of In-Ungi for that he knew himself to be of him well beloved and therefore unto him very welcome So it fortuned upon a time that as Othoman being yet but young was going to make merry with the Governour of Eski-Chisar a Castle about four and twenty miles off called of the Greeks Palaeocastron by the way as he went at a place called Itburne a Town in Phrygia chanced there to see and afterwards to fall in liking of a fair maiden called Malhatun unto whom his affection dayly increasing he without his Fathers knowledge sent a secret Friend of his to intreat with her of Marriage Which after long discourse to her made concerning Othomans affection and request gave him answer that betwixt Othoman and her was great inequality a thing especially to be regarded and eschewed of such as wished to live a happy life in wedlock bands she was as she said but meanly born and therefore was not to expect so great a match whereas he could not want choice of other Maids of more worth and in all respects more answerable unto himself But among other causes why she gave him this answer one was for that some that wished her well and put into her head that Othoman meant not indeed to marry her but under that colour to obtain of her some few days pleasure had so having dishonoured her afterward again to cast her off which was indeed far from his thoughts for he the more inflamed with her modest denial the more desired her for his Wife In the mean time Othoman going again unto the Governour of Eski-Chisar and courteously by him entertained chanced as it oftentimes doth among familiar Friends in their merriments to fall in speech of his Love with greater affection than discretion commending her Beauty her Feature and gracious Perfections not dissembling also to her greater praise the repulse by him received at her hands Which the Governour hearing seemed greatly to like of his choice saying that she was by the Divine providence for so the Turks religiously use to speak appointed only for him to have But in the mean time secretly inflamed with the immoderate commendation of Othoman without respect of Friendship he began to grow amorous of her himself whom he had never seen so light is that foolish affection and that so far as that being otherwise a man of good discretion he was not able to conceal or cover these new conceived flames but that Othoman by certain conjectures and tokens perceived the same And yet dissembling the matter as if he had suspected nothing being risen from the Banquet calling unto him one of his trusty Servants sâcretly sent him away unto certain of the Maids Friends willing them in his name as they tendred her honour presently to send her away unto some safe place further off for fear she were not ere long taken from them by a great man more amorous of her person than respective of her honour And by and by after taking leave of his unfaithful Friend and bidding him farewel took his away to the Captain of In-Ungi whom he knew to be his dear Friend But whilst he there stayed certain days passing the time in hawking hunting and other youthful disports with the Captain his Friend the Governour of Eski-Chisar who commanded all the Country thereabout called Sultan-Ungi sent one of his trusty Servants to Iburne to see fair Malhatun and how all things went there Who coming thither and understanding of her secret departure and that by the advertisement from Othoman she was conveyed to certain of her Friends afar off at his return from point to point certified his Master thereof who exceedingly grieved with the report and fretting above measure to see himself so deluded by Othoman presently sent unto the Captain of In-Ungi being within his jurisdiction to command him without delay to deliver Othoman unto him But he loving of him well as a faithful man unto his Friend could with no threats or intreaty be perswaded so to do Wherefore the Governour in a great rage presently raising the greatest Power he was able to make came to
before indeed begun in the time of Amurath the first his great Grandfather as is before declared but by him greatly augmented and the policy of that State whereby it hath ever since in his Posterity flourished even by himself plotted For the better establishing whereof in his own House and to cut off all occasion of fear as also to leave all such as might have the heart to arise against him naked and bare of Forces to resist but especially the other ancient and noble Families of the Turks still secretly repining at the great honour of the Othoman Kings he as a man of great Wisdom and Judgment to keep them under in the beginning of his Reign by manifold favours began to bind unto himself men of strange and forreign Countries his Servants and by ordering of his most weighty Affairs by their Authority so by little and little to cast off the service of his natural Turks they in the mean time little or nothing at all looking into this his practice And whereas the Othoman Kings his Predecessors had for the most part or rather altogether raised their Ianizaries and other Souldiers of the Court of such Children of the Christians as were taken in the Wars he seeing by experience how serviceable those new kind of Souldiers were began forthwith to plot in his head how to make himself an Army altogether of such able persons his own Creatures and so to bring in a new kind of Warfare wholly depending of himself And to that end by his Officers appointed for that purpose took from the Christians throughout his Dominions every fifth Child the fairest and aptest of whom he placed in his own Seraglio at Hadrianople and the rest in other like places by him built for such purpose where they were by sufficient Teachers first instructed in the Principles of the Mahometan Religion and then in all manner of Activity and Feats of Arms. Of these when they were grown to mans state he made Horsemen gave them great Pensions and sorting them into divers orders appointed them also to guard his Person honouring the better sort of them with the name of Spahi-Oglani that is to say his Sons the Knights and of these he began to make his Bassaes his Generals of his Armies and the Governors of his Provinces and Cities with all the great Offices of the State. The rest and far the greatest part of these Tribute Children taken from their Christian Parents and not brought up in the Seraglios he caused to be dispersed into every City and Country of his Dominion in Asia there for certain years to be brought up in all hardness and painful labour never tasting of ease or pleasure out of which hard brood so enured to pains he made choice of so many of the most lusty and able bodies fittest for service as he thought good who kept in continual exercise and by skilful men taught to handle all manner of Weapons but especially the Bow the Peece and the Scimitar were by him as occasion served added to the other Ianizaries and appointed for the guarding of his Person calling them commonly by the names of his Sons The remainder of these Tribute Children as unfit for the Wars he put unto other base Occupations and Ministeries But unto those Martial Men of all sorts so by him ordained he appointed a continual pay according to their degrees and places and by great benefits and liberties bestowed upon them bound them so fast unto him as that hâ might now account himself to have of them so many Sons as he had Souldiers For they together with the Christian Religion having forgot their Parents and Country and knowing no other Lord and Master but him and acknowledging all that they had to come and proceed of his free grace only remained ever bound and faithful unto him and so kept others also as well the natural Turks themselves as the other oppressed Christians within the bounds of Obedience and Loyalty A great Policy proceeding from a deep Judgment first to weaken the Christians by taking from them their best Children and of greatest hope and then by them depending wholly of himself to keep in awe and dutiful Obedience his natural Subjects also having them always as a scourge ready to chastise the Rebellious or Disloyal Now the other Othoman Kings and Emperors the Successors of Amurath keeping this custom and also increasing it one after another have thereby not only kept the Empire still in their House and Family where it was first gotten but also so maintained the Majesty of their State as they are of their Subjects feared obeyed honoured not as Kings but as Gods. For the natural Turks their Subjects losing courage continually and daily growing more base and dastardly by reason they are not suffered to practise the knowledge of Arms and the Souldiers in whose power all things are knowing nothing of their own but holding and acknowledging all that they have to come of their Lord account them as Lords and Kings of all ruling much after the manner of the Pharaohs the ancient Kings of Egypt who were absolute Lords and Masters both of the publick and private Wealth of their Subjects whom they kept under as Slaves and Villains And hereof cometh it to pass that the better part of them whom we call Turks but are indeed the Children of Christians and seduced by their false instructors desire to be called Musulmans that is to say Right Believers holding it a reproachful and dishonourable thing to be called Turks as it were peculiarly and above other People For that they knowing right well that there is not one natural Turk among all those that bear Authority and Rule and are had in greater Honour and Reputation than the rest such as are the Men of War and Courtiers but he is born a Christian either of Father or at the least of his Grandfather avouch those only to be Turks which live in Natolia all of them either Merchants or of base and mechanical Crafts or poor Labourers with the Spade and Pickaxe and such like People unfit for the Wars the rest as I say holding it for a Title of Honour to be descended of Christian Parents Yea the Grand Seigniour himself although by the Fathers side he be come of Progenitors such as were natural Turks born yet many of them had Christian Mothers which they accounted in the greatest part of their Nobility and Honour Thus by the Wisdom of Amurath was the order of the Ianizaries and other Souldiers of the Court greatly advanced though not by him begun and the politick state of the Turks Kingdom to say the truth quite altered the natural Turks more than the Sultan himself now bearing therein no sway but only these new Souldiers all of them descended from Christian Parents and by adoption as it were become the Sons of the Turkish Sultans and under them commanding all by whom they have ever since managed their estate and by their good service
and Building it self had also divers fair Monasteries and Houses of Religion joyned unto it whereunto belonged six thousand Priests whose Houses and Lodgings extended almost all over the place where now the Turks Palace standeth and the other places adjoining to this great Church which is now their chief Moschie and called by them by the proper name of S. Sophia because they hold even as we do the Wisedom of God to be incomprehensible and infinite The next in magnificence unto this is the Moschie of Solyman wherein he lieth buried and his well beloved Wife the fair Roxolana a work well beseeming the Majesty of so mighty a Monarch There are beside these also many other fair Moschies Seraglioes for the Turk his Wives and Concubines Bezastanes or Burses for Merchants Obelisks Bathes and other publick Edifices and Buildings of great Majesty and State all well worth the beholding wherein consisteth all the Beauty of this so ancient and renowned a City far unlike to that it was in the time of the first Greek Emperors and before it was spoiled by the Latines For the Turks private Houses in this so great and imperial a City so much renowned through the World are for the most part low and base after the Turkish fashion built some of Wood some of Stone and some of unburnt Brick laid with Clay and Dirt which quickly decaieth again they after their homely manner by long custom received never building any thing sumptuously for their own private use but contenting themselves with their simple Cottages how mean soever commonly saying them to be good enough for the short time of their Pilgrimage and yet not sparing for any cost upon the publick Buildings and Ornaments of the Common-Weal which they built with great Majesty and Pomp but especially their Moschies wherein they excel Nevertheless there yet are in Constantinople some other Houses also built high and comely enough but these be few and very old all inhabited by the Christians and Jews and not by the Turks but of this enough And so again to our purpose Mahomet with his puissant Army thus encamped before the City placing his Asian Souldiers on the right hand towards the Bosphorus his European Souldiers on the left hand toward the Haven lay himself with 15000 Janizaries and other Souldiers of the Court in the middle betwixt both against the heart of the City On the farther side of the Haven also by Pera he placed Zoganus one of his chief Counsellors with another part of his Army At which time also Pantologes his Admiral came to the Siege with a Fleet of 30 Gallies and 200 other small Ships and a number of other lesser Vessels which were rowed with three or five Oars a piece full of Turkish Archers fitter for shew than Service But for defence of the Haven and so of the City on that side the Emperor had caused the Haven to be strongly chain'd overthwart from the City to Pera and within the Chain had orderly placed his strong Fleet the greatest strength whereof was seven great Ships of Genoa with three Gallies and two Galliots of Venice three of Creet and a few others of the Island of Chios all which were there rather by chance upon Merchants affairs than that they were provided for any such Service yet by this means the Turks Fleet was shut out of the Haven and so the City put in good safety on that side When Mahomet had thus conveniently encamped his Army and surrounded the City both by Sea and Land he first cast up great Trenches as near as he possibly could unto the Walls of the City and raised Mounts in divers places as high as the Walls themselves from whence the Turks with their Shot greatly annoyed the Defendants After that he placed his Battery against one of the Gates of the City called Calegaria and terribly battered the same specially with one piece of Ordnance of a wonderful greatness which with much difficulty was brought from Hadrianople with an hundred and fifty Yoke of Oxen and carried a Bullet of an hundred pound weight made as his other shot was of a kind of hard black Stone brought from the Euxin Sea for as yet as it seemeth so soon after the invention of that fatal Engine the use of Bullets of metal was unknown There with continual Battery he terribly shook the Walls which although they were very strong yet were they not able to withstand the fury of so great a Battery The Christians also out of the City discharged their great Artillery upon the Turks but so sparingly as if they had been afraid to shake their own Walls or loth for good Husbandry to spend Shot and Powder which was to the Canoneers very sparingly allowed yet that which was spent was so well bestowed that the Turks were therewith grievously annoyed The Breach also which they had made at the aforesaid Gate was by the Defendants with great and dangerous labour again repaired with Faggots and Earth and such like matter best serving for that purpose and so made stronger than before In which most dangerous work they were altogether directed and greatly encouraged by Iustinianus the Genoway the Emperors Lieutenant-General for defence of the City Yet for all this diligence of the Christians Mahomet continued his Battery with no less fury than before but reposing greater hope to find a way into the City by the Spade and Mattock than by Battery he employed his Pioneers whereof he had great store to dig a Mine being altogether directed by Christians skilful in that kind of work whom he had for that purpose entertained By whose cunning direction with the industrious labour of the poor Pioneers the Mine was brought to such perfection that part of the Wall with one of strong Towers in the same was quite undermined and stood supported but with such untrusty stays as the Pioneers had left for the bearing up thereof till such time as it should be by the Tyrants appointment blown up This dangerous work was neither perceived neither yet feared by the Constantinopolitans as a thing not possible to have been done forasmuch as Bajazet and Amurath had both with great labour before in vain attempted the same at such time as they hardly besieged the City But that which those great Kings had with much vain labour by unskilful men made proof of Mahomet had now by men of greater device brought to pass although it took not such effect as he wished for one Io. Grandis a German Captain and a man of great experience suspecting the matter had caused a Countermine to be made whereby the labour of the Turks was in good time discovered and they with Fire and Sword driven out of the Mine and the same strongly filled up again and so the City for that time delivered of a great fear and danger Mahomet perceiving that it availed him not to continue his Battery against that place which was again so strongly repaired removed the
Whereby the Mamalukes drawn into divers Factions some seeking to prefer one and some another had in four years space with Civil Wars sore weakned their Estate and slain divers of their greatest Princes which had aspired unto that Kingdom For appeasing of which Mischiefs tending to the utter ruine of their Kingdom the great Courtiers and chief Men amongst the Mamalukes with one consent offered the Kingdom to Campson Gaurus or as the Turks call him Carsaves Gauris of whom we now speak a Man of great integrity and courage and altogether free from ambition He terrified with the dreadful example of so many Kings whom he had seen in short time miserably slain by the ambitious aspiring of other proud Competitors when he was sore against his will hoist up upon the shoulders of the Nobility and chief Souldiers and so carried into the Court as their manner was began earnestly to refuse the Kingdom and to withstand their choice excusing himself as unfit for so high a Place and with trears standing in his Eies besought the other great Lords his Friends that they would forbear to thrust him well contented with his private life into that glorious place subject to so many dangers and the rather for that he neither had Mony to give bountifully unto the Souldiers of the Court as other the Egyptian Sultans had accustomed neither held that sufficiency and authority as was requisite for repressing of such violent and seditious tumults as were too rise in that troublesome time and confusion of all things The Nobility on the other side perswaded him That he would not upon a foolish obstinacy or vain modesty refuse the offer of his present good Fortune but couragiously to take upon him the Government of the State now sore shaken with civil Discord together with the regal Dignity which was with the general good liking of all the Men so frankly offered unto him At last they all by solemn Oath promised unto him That they would with all their power policy and wealth maintain and defend the Majesty of his State and that the Men of War should not demand their wonted Largess before the same might by his Receivers and Treasurers be raised of his Customs and other Revenues of the Crown By which perswasions Campson incouraged suffered himself to be saluted Sultan and so took upon him the Government Afterwards when he had given unto the Men of War ten millions of Ducats by the name of a Largess and by his moderate Government had caused Men generally to have his prowess and wisdom in admiration he did with such policy and dexterity reform the shaken State of that Kingdom before rent in sunder with Civil Wars taking away by Poison and other secret devices some few the chief Authors of Sedition that for the space of sixteen years neitheir tumult nor noise of War was at any time heard of in all Syria or Egypt worthy undoubtedly the name of a most excellent and fortunate Prince if when he had by singular wisdom and policy established the general peace and prosperity of his Kingdom he could have there contented himself to have lived in quiet and in the winding up of his life not rashly have thrust himself into the dangerous quarrels of other Princes The Cadelescher and Iachis Selymus his Embassadors departing from Iconium came in few days to Campson the great Sultan who then lay incamped near unto the River Orantes at this day called Farfar These Embassadors entertained by Campson with greater bounty than courtesie and shortly after their coming having audience in his Pavillion did with most temperate and calm Speech deliver their Embassage To whom Campson answered That it was the ancient Custom of the Egyptian Sultans forasmuch as they held the chief place in their Religion with all care and industry to keep the other Mahometan Kings and People in peace and concord amongst themselves whereof he for his part had been always most desirous and was for no other purpose come with his Army into his Province of Syria than to perswade Selymus to peace Who if he would needs wilfully proceed in his intended Wars against Hysmael the Persian King his friend and confederate he would then do what should stand with his honour and place and not longer suffer all to go to wrack for the vain pleasure and fury of one insolent and ambitious Man. He said also That he had of long time before seen into Selymus his insatiable fierce and troublesome disposition who having most unnaturally procured the death of his good Father the old Emperor Bajazet and slain his Brethren Princes of great Valour seven of his Nephews Princes of no small Hope with many other of his best Friends and faithful Counsellors could make no end of his ambitious Tyranny Wherefore they should tell Selymus that one and all the conditions of peace should be if he would from thenceforth desist from invading of Hysmael and restore to Aladeules his Son his Fathers Kingdom which had of long been under the defence and protection of the Egyptian Sultans as of right and reason he ought to do he should in so doing beside his favour and friendship which might greatly stand him in stead reap greater fame and glory by an assured and honourable peace than by doubtful and dangerous War. The Embassadors although they knew right well that Selymus would not for any threats give over his enterprise or lay down Arms yet to the intent they might the sooner be dispatched and so in time advertise Selymus of the Sultans sudden coming seemed wonderfully to like of his motion for peace and to give good hope by their reasonable perswasions to induce Selymus to like thereof forasmuch as they were of his secret Counsel and Men able to do much with him whereby they trusted as they would have had the Sultan to believe it would easily be brought to pass that those sparks might be quenched which all things standing upright had not as yet kindled the Fire of War. So they being by Campson rewarded and having leave to depart travelling day and night returned to Selymus who was then come to Caesarea Campson also removing from Oranoes came into Comagena unto the famous City of Aleppo which City is probably supposed to have been built of the ruines of the ancient City Hieropolis by Alepius the Emperor Iulianus his Lieutenant who in that Province did many notable matters and called the new built City after his own name It is situate near unto the River Singa which rising out of the Mountain Pierius with many turnings and windings runneth through Comagena and being but a small River falleth at length into the River Euphrates This City Hyalon King of the Tartars took and burnt at such time as the Christian Princes of the West made War with the Egyptian Kings for the Kingdoms of Syria and Ierusalem Which calamity notwithstanding it was again repeopled and is at this day a famous City for the commodious situation thereof
Infection forthwith shew what Turk soever fell into their hands And thus ended the Troubles of this year being as it were an Introduction for greater to ensue the year following year 1593 The Turks together with the beginning of the new year began also their wonted Incursions into the Frontiers of the Christians They of the Garrison of Petrinia a strong Fort but lately and contrary to the League built by the Turks upon the River of Colapis or Kulp for the further Invasion of Croatia made daily Incursions out of that new Fort and entring into the Island Turopolis spoiled and burnt the Town and Castle of Beck-Vochobinam and having made a great slaughter carried away with them 400 Prisoners And in Hungary the Turkish Garrisons to supply their Wants made divers Inrodes upon the Christians and did exceeding much harm of which Adventures six hundred in passing over the frozen Lake were all drowned in the midst thereof In another place three thousand of them near unto Nuhuse divided themselves into two Companies whereof the one shewed it self in the sight of the Towns-men the other still lying in ambush They of the Town upon the sight of these Turks sallied out and causing them to retire followed them so far that they were past the Place where the rest of the Turks lay who presently starting up ran with all speed toward the Town in hope to have surprised it and wanted not much of that they desired for there was scarce an hundred of the Germans there in Garrison left in the Town who had scarce so much time as to draw up the Bridges which done they with the great Ordnance from the Walls enforced the Turks to retire and forsake the Town About the same time also the Turks in Garrison at Petrinia sallying out upon the sudden took the Town of Martenize which they spoiled and having slain and taken about seven hundred Persons set fire on the Town and so returned having lost in this Exploit not past an hundred and fifty of their own Men. Not long after the same Garrison Souldiers of Petrinia took another Castle three miles distant from the River of Kulp whereinto the Christians dwelling round about had for fear of the Enemy conveyed all their Wealth with great store of Victuals all which the Turks took and having slain six hundred-men in the Castle returned with an exceeding rich booty to Petrinia which they bought with the Lives of five hundred of their Fellows slain in taking of the Castle With like Insolency did also the other Garrisons of the Turks rage in all the other parts of Hungary About Sassovia in the upper Hungary they carried away about three hundred Christian Captives And in the nether part of Hungary they took the strong Castle of S. Hedwig upon the Lake of Balaton which they spoiled and burnt and so likewise the Castle of Isna but attempting the lesser Comara they were by the Garrison Souldiers valiantly repulsed They also fortified the Castle of Stock which they had but a little before taken that so it might serve for a safe Refuge for their Adventurers Which their manifold Outrages contrary to the League evidently declared the desire they had to begin that bloody War which presently after ensued and was indeed the more suspected for that at the same time the Emperours Ambassador Frederick Corcowitts was by the Commandment of Amurath shut up close in his House at Constantinople and not suffered to speak with any man neither to write or to send any Messenger to the Emperour which caused him the more to suspect some great matter to be by the Turk intended and therefore began to raise new Forces The Hungarians and Bohemians also seeing their Towns and Castles thus taken their Provinces spoiled infinite number of People led away into Captivity and the Enemy daily increasing in strength at length agreed upon their own Charges to maintain a certain number both of horse and foot for the repressing of these the Turkish Incursions Now although the Emperour knew right well all these Outrages of the Turks contrary unto the League could not be done without the knowledge and good-liking also of Amurath as before informed thereof by his Ambassador from Constantinople yet to shew himself willing to have the League on his behalf kept as also to make a further proof of Amurath his Resolution for Peace or War he wrote unto him as followeth Rodolph the Second Emperour of the Romans unto Amurath the Third King of the Turks WHereas nothing is hitherto on our behalf omitted for the preservation and continuance of the League and Amity betwixt your most Excellent Majesty and Us by the renewed Capitulations of Peace and that we have with all sincerity and love performed and are hereafter ready to perform whatsoever is on our part to be performed and done and as we have hitherto so for ever hereafter also make offer of the same we most assuredly promise unto our selves on your Majesties behalf that you in like manner will not suffer any thing on your part to be wanting but gladly and willingly to do all things which shall be meet and needful for the preservation and keeping of this our mutual love and friendship Upon which good hope grounding our selves to declare our plain meaning and sincerity indeed we will cause our honourable Present which is now ready to be brought unto your most Royal Majesty at such time as shall be agreed upon betwixt our Ambassador and you unto whom in all such matters as he by our Commandment shall have to deal with your most Excellent Majesty your Visiers or Servants we request you to give full Credence In the mean time your Excellency shall do well to provide that as we have now severely commanded our Subjects to keep the Peace upon our Frontiers so that your Souldiers also make no Incursions as Enemies into our Territories nor do in them any harm but to endeavour themselves also to Peace and Quietness and especially that all such things as contrary to the Capitulations of the League have been there of late taken from our People or otherwise unjustly possessed may be again restored the Losses recompenced the new Fort of Petrinia demolished and the Bassa of Bosna and others the Authours of breaking of the League punished and displaced whereby we shall gather your Royal Majesties most noble and kind affection towards Us and our State which as it shall be a thing most just so shall it be a singular Confirmation of our League But concerning these Matters and others to the same belonging our Ambassador is to declare our Mind more at large that so our prest desire for the continuance of our League and Friendship with your Majesty may more plainly be known So wish we all Health and Prosperity unto your most Royal Majesty From Prague the eighth of March 1593. The Emperour also at the same time and to the same purpose ãâã to Sinan Bassa in this sort Rodolph the
of this League But that for lack of Heirs Male the Country of Transilvania with all the Territories thereunto annexed should descend unto his Sacred Majesty and his Successours the King of Hungary as a true and inseparable member thereof whereunto the Prince and all the States of Transilvania should bind themselves by solemn Oath But yet that at such time as the Heirs Male should fail in the line of the present Prince and that the Country of Transilvania should according to these present Conditions be devolved to the Crown of Hungary as well his present Imperial and Royal Majesty as his Successours should keep inviolate the antient Laws Priviledges and Customs of that Country and always appoint one of the Nobility of Transilvania to be Governour or Vayvod of the same and no other Stranger Thirdly That his Majesty should acknowledge the Prince of Transilvania for an absolute Prince and by special Charter confirm unto him the Title of Most Excellent Fourthly That his Imperial Majesty should procure one of the Daughters of the late Archduke Charles his Uncle for a Wife for the Prince that as they were now to be joyned in League so they might be joyned in Affinity also Fifthly That the Emperour should procure him to be made one of the Order of the Golden Fleece Sixthly That the Prince might with more chearfulness and security make War against the common Enemy his Imperial and Royal Majesty should not at any time howsoever things fell out forsake the said Prince or any of the Countries subject unto him and even now presently to aid him according as the present occasion required and afterward if great need should be with greater help whether it was by his General of Cassovia or others and this giving of Aid to be on both sides mutual and reciprocal according as the necessity of the one or the other part should require and that where most need was thither should most help be converted Seventhly That the sacred Roman Empire should take upon it the Protection and Defence of the Prince and his Territories and that his Imperial Majesty should create the said Prince and the Prince's Successors Princes of the Empire yet so as that they should have neither Voice nor Place among the said Princes Eighthly That whatsoever Castles Towns Cities or other Places of Strength should by their common Forces be taken or recovered from the common Enemy at such time as his Imperial Majesty should send into the Field a full Army should be all his Majesties but such Places as the Prince should by his own Forces or Policy gain from the Enemy should remain unto the Prince himself Yet that what Places soever the Prince should recover which at any time before belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary before it was taken by the Turk those he should forthwith deliver to his Majesty as soon as reasonable recompence were by him therefore made unto the Prince Ninthly His Sacred Majesty should promise of his own Bounty to give unto his Excellency sufficient Aid for the fortifying and defence of such Places as should be thought necessary for the behoof of the Christians as again the said Prince should likewise promise not to spare his own Coffers or Forces that the same Places should be throughly fortified and defended for the behoof of his Majesty and the common good of the Christian Common-weal Lastly That forasmuch as the Events of War are uncertain and many things suddenly happen contrary to mens Expectation if such necessity should chance unto his Excellency or his Successors which mishap God forbid that having spent themselves they should not be able longer to defend their State and Country but that the mighty Enemy prevailing they should at last be inforced to forsake the same in this their Extremity his Imperial and Royal Majesty should promise both for himself and his Successors within the space of one Month to assign some certain Place in some other of his Dominions where the said Prince and his Successors might honourably live and the like regard to be had also of other such principal men as should together with the Prince adventure their Lives and Livings in defence of the Christian Common-weal Which Articles of Confederation agreed upon and solemnly confirmed the same Ambassadors were with all Kindness Bounty and Magnificence dismissed and sent back again unto the Prince who was not himself in the mean time idle but labouring by all means he could to draw unto him Michael the Vayvod of Valachia a man of no less worth than himself and Aaron the Palatine of Moldavia both of them then the Turks Tributaries and by them to alienate from the Turk both those Countries that so with their combined Forces they might the better defend their Liberty and withstand their common Enemy wherein he did so much and prevailed so far with them both that casting off the Turks Obeisance they shortly after to the great Benefit of the Christian Common-weal and no less hindrance of the Turks proceedings in Hungary joyned hands both together with him for the recovery of their lost Liberty Which revolt of these bordering Princes for that it so much concerned the common good as that the safegard of Austria and of the remnants of Hungary with some good part of Germany also is even by them that in those matters saw much not without cause supposed to have rested therein and that this noble Vayvod of whom much is to be said hereafter was the second Actor herein it shall not be from our purpose to see the manner of his revolt also from the Turk as we have already the Transilvanians For the more Evidence whereof as for the Honour of the man whilst he lived a most worthy member of the Christian Common-weal we will a little step back to see how he obtained of the great Turk this so honourable a Preferment as was the Vayvodship of Valachia not without his revolt long now to be holden Alexander the late Vayvod of Valachia a Moldavian born and by Amurath himself promoted to that Dignity proud above measure of this his so great a Preferment as also of his own Nobility and the deceitful Favour of Fortune still fawning upon him not only oppressed his People himself with intolerable Impositions but to be in farther favour with the Turks brought into that Country too much before exhausted such a company of them as that they seemed now almost wholly to have possessed the same oppressing the poor Christians the natural Inhabitants with new Exactions and more than Tyrannical Injuries even such as were not elsewhere by the Turks themselves used not only breaking at their Pleasure into their Houses and despoiling them of their Goods but taking Tithe also of their Children as if it had been of their Cattel a thing never before there seen and for the satisfying of their beastly Lust ravishing their Wives and Daughters even in the sight of their Husbands and Parents with divers other such outragious
Holiness's Letters directed both unto the Kings Majesty and my self understood as well his Royal Majesty and my most gracious Lord and Master as also my self as his Servant to be both accused unto your Holiness as if by those things by us done in Moldavia the Endeavouâs of the Christians had been hindered and the Power of the Enemy confirmed Whereof I am not with many Words to purge my self unto your Holiness forasmuch as I assure my self your Holiness to have already fully understood both what the things were that were done in Moldavia and how they were done partly by the Kings Majesties Letters and partly by his principal Secretary for that cause especially sent unto your Holiness Yet doubt I not to request this one thing of your Holiness that if it hath known me for a man I will not say of any Capacity or Wit but even of the least Experience in the World or of any Religion at all so to perswade it self of me nothing to have been done especially in this matter either rashly or to the hinderance of the Christian Common-weal I will not now repeat what mine Opinion was concerning the League and Confederation to be made with the rest of the Christian Princes for the combining of their Forces against the common Enemy especially his Sacred Majesties as also what mine own Labour and Endeavour was in the last assembly of the States in the high Court of Parliament Which thing after it was even by them whom it most concerned either delayed or neglected or utterly cast aside and yet his Majesty had still a great desire to do the Christian Common-weal some great good I also to the uttermost of my Power laboured to that end that by the common decree of the Kingdom an Expedition might be made into Tartaria not so much in revenge of the Injuries done by that Enemy in these late years past as so in the mean time to turn him from the Necks of the Christians as that he should not joyn his Forces with the Turks or if it so pleased God to bless those our Endeavours utterly at length to root out that so great a Mischief But how it came to pass that this Expedition so much by the King desired yet scarcely begun or taken in hand took not effect it is not needful for me to declare for that I suppose your Holiness hath by others especially your Nuntio understood the same In the mean time by others and often Messengers News was brought That Sinan Bassa with a great Army was already come over Danubius and I by Letters from the Vayvod of the farther Valachia was advertised how that he not able to encounter him had forsaken that Province which at the first Impression taken and almost utterly wasted by Sinan he was now come fast upon Transilvania and in Moldavia the Tartar was still expected insomuch that Roswan who having taken Prisoner Aaron the Palatine whom he secured in his House and so himself invaded the Palatine began now also to quake for fear and to crave help of me or rather to seck how he might fly away as not long after he did neither having any great strength about him or expecting any greater from the People of that Country for why that Province was brought so low by the Miseries of the former years but especially by such as had evil governed the same that at such time as I entred into Moldavia I assure your Holiness there were not in it of Housholders above 15000 and those also for the most part poor Country People of the basest sort in whom there could neither be any great help neither if they had been able to have done any thing durst Roswan have trusted himself with them upon whom he had with all kind of Cruelty tyrannized Chotiim a Castle in the very Confines of this Kingdom was kept with no greater Garrison than 200 Hungarians who perceiving themselves neither of sufficient strength to hold the Place nor to withstand the Enemy they also by and by followed after Roswan All the rest of the Province was not only unarmed but altogether poor and naked without any certain Government without Counsel without Strength and without any Defence at all two Castles only excepted which standing upon the Confines of Polonia might have served better for the Enemy out of them to have infested us than for the defence of Moldavia against them so that had the Enemy once set foot into that Province neither could it without a great Power have been recovered neither being recovered could easily have been defended against so puissant an Enemy and that which worse was was not it self alone to have been consumed with that Fire but like enough to have carried away with it Podolia also bordering upon it with a great part of Ruscia Wherefore in this state of things when as both that Province was in greatest danger to have been lost and so many Enemies hovered not more over the Heads of all Christendom than over this Kingdom what was of us to be done I know to whom I speak these things even unto him not only whose divine Wisdom but singular Love also towards my native Country is to me most known Verily I entred into Moldavia with no great Army yet such an one as haply as in like case it often chanceth Fame had made amongst the Enemies a very great one so that Sinan fearing if he should thrust himself with his Army into the Streights whereby he was to break into Transilvania to be shut in by our Army stayed his Journey and the Tartar the more earnestly he was called upon by Sinan by reason of the Fame of this our Army resolved to make himself so much the stronger So that whilst he assembled the Nogaian Tartars and others farther off and so from all parts raised the greatest Power he could the matter was delaied almost unto the end of November at which time he with a most huge Army accompanied with Sendziak Iehivense and a great power of the Turks raised out of their Provinces thereby came directly upon me in the Fields of Coroce Sendziack the Tartar Cham's Sisters Son now called himself the Bassa of Moldavia as did the Tartars eldest Son name himself Prince of another part of that Province also for so that Country was to have been divided betwixt them that that part which was next unto the Tartars Dominions should be allotted unto the Tartar and the other part confining upon this Kingdom to be governed by Sendziak as Bassa thereof and so to make it the seat of a perpetual War from whence Podolia Ruscia and the lesser Polonia might be with continual Incursions wasted even before our faces concerning which matter they now dispersed their Letters wherein they published the Power and Authority given them from the grand Seignior exhorting the People of that Country to receive the same A whole day we fought with this multitude our men always by the goodness of God having not only
the upper hand but without any notable loss also yet not without great slaughter of theirs and would to God I had had such strength as that not only the conditions of Peace but even the Enemies themselves might have been in my power But when we were oftentimes come to parle they still requiring the same and so at length unto Conditions of Peace if such were given them as whereby this only Kingdom had without the wrong of any other been delivered from so great and sudden a danger what reasonable man could find fault therewith if we should have preferred the health and welfare of our Country whereunto all good men owe all they have before other mens Profits But now these things were so done as that it was no less provided for the good of the neighbour Christians yea and happily not the least for theirs who for the same slander this Kingdom unto your Holiness the fury of Sinan Bassa was by this means repressed who whilst he feared to be shut up in the Straits by our Army now come into Moldavia and expected the Tartars coming spent almost all the rest of the Summer idly and without any thing doing The Tartar himself was not only turned from the Bowels of Christendom whereinto he had purposed as the year before to have entred we having with our own Breasts received his force and fury but being brought unto Conditions was expresly enjoyned in a most short prefined time and without any more harm doing to return again into his Country by the self same way he came and by no other whereby it is come to pass that until this day Christendom hath not this year yet felt the Tartars Weapons But unto Transilvania and Hungary what a space and power was given for them to gather their Strength and Forces together and out of the same places to oppose them against the Enemy whenas our Army kept them safe at their Backs and eased not only Moldavia but Valachia and Transilvania also of that care Whereas if this cause of delay had not been objected unto the Turks first and after unto the Tartars not to say any thing of the Turks the Tartars at the very self-same time that the Transilvanian Army was gone into Valachia against Sinan might have broken into Transilvania before it could have returned home or else marching directly towards that Army might have met with it out of Transilvaniâ As for Moldavia which together with the Memory of the Christian name yet left in it had utterly perished it was most manifestly preserved by the coming of our Army Which what end it would have had if the Enemy might at his Pleasure have raged as he did in the farther Valachia those most bitter remembrances in it yet at this day smoking do well declare out of which it is well known more thousands of Christian Captives to have been carried away into most woful Captivity than almost out of any other Province in all the time of these miserable Wars Which altho it be thus yet boast we not thereof neither send we any triumphant Letters unto your Holiness nor brag we of our good Service done for the Christian Common-weal contenting our selves with the Conscience of the thing it self In the mean time we are accused unto your Holiness but for what cause If any man complain for the taking of Moldavia I will not say it was by them before willingly forsaken whilst I was yet in the Frontiers thereof but that this Kingdom hath a most antient Right unto it and such a Right as that when our Kings being busied in their Wars against the Muscovite the Cruciat Teutony Brethren or others some others also troubling the state thereof it for a time became a Prey unto the Turkish Tyrants yet in all the Leagues made or renewed betwixt this Kingdom and them was still excepted That all such things as the Palatine of Moldavia was of duty to perform unto the King should by him still be performed Which Kings of Polonia and namely Augustus himself the last of the Iagellonian Race appointed divers of those Palatines themselves Which altho they be things most manifest yet having more regard unto the welfare of that Province as a Christian Country than of our Right we restored the same into the same state wherein it hath been for many Years before these Wars Wherefore if any man think any thing done whereby the Enemies of the Cross of Christ might be eased or strengthened or the Defenders of the Faith hindred it is so far from any such thing to be done that rather as is before declared the Enemies force is repressed and averted and greater means given unto the Christians afront to impugne them the Enemy being at their Backs by us shut from them But I fear that they have not fully informed your Holiness how these things were done who have reported unto your said Holiness not only the Name of the Turks to have been proclaimed together with the Polonians in Moldavia but also the Name of the Tartars the proper Enemies of the Polonians and by the Power and Decrees of them three as it were confederate together things to have been ordered in Moldavia Which their Complaint if it tend to that end as if a confederation were made with them I frankly confess certain Conditions to have been given them but such as whereby is provided not only for the quiet and security of this Kingdom but no less also for the whole Christian Commonweal as is before declared All which things for all that altho they were done for the good of this Kingdom and all Christendom in general yet were they so done that they were all by me referred unto the King's Majesty and the States of the Kingdom so that at this present the Kingdom is at free liberty either to joyn in Confederation with the rest of the Christian Princes or if that cannot upon certain and indifferent conditions be agreed upon yet with no mans injury or hurt to ratifie this joyned with the health and good of a great part of the Christian Commonweal only God grant that the Christian Princes may seriously think both of this so Christian a Confederation against the common Enemy and strive also all together against the enemy with their weapons and not with Misreports and Slanders one against another They are not to assail the enemies feet but his throat neither is the seat of the war to be placed in the borders of Polonia where it concerneth themselves much to have all things rather peaceable behind them but let the War be undertaken with no less charge preparation than if the enemies royal seat were to be assailed which standing in an open and plain Country shall always without much ado be his that being strongest can take it This have I written at large as my purpose was all which I most humbly beseech your Holiness with your divine Wisdom to consider of and with your wonted Clemency to
purpose sent from Constantinople an Ensign in token of his Submission unto the Turkish Emperour as also of his favour towards him Which the more to assure him of he by another honourable Messenger shortly after received from Mahomet the Turkish Emperour more kind Letters than at any time before with the confirmation of the Vayvodship of Valachia by the grand Seignior's solemn Oath unto Michael the Vayvod and his Son Peter then about thirteen years old for the term of both their Lives without disturbance paying but the half of the old yearly Tribute by the Turks before demanded So glad they were upon any condition to have reduced that Martial man with his Country unto their Obeisance and in token of further Grace together with these Letters he received also a goodly Horse most richly furnished with a fair Scimiter and an Horse-man's Mace in sign of the martial Power and Government committed unto him by the great Sultan Mahomet All which goodly gifts and Honours the Vayvod seemed thankfully to accept nevertheless not daring too far to trust unto the Turkish Faith of the small assurance whereof he had before had sufficient Experience he still kept strong Garrisons upon the Frontiers of his Country with such other Forces also as he was wont excusing the same to be done for fear of the Tartars by whom he also excused himself for not going with the Turks General this Year into Hungary as he was by special Messengers from the grand Seignior himself requested telling him that he might not in any case so do for fear of the Tartars most horrible Incursions and the Spoils of his Country yet knew he right well how that they were by the great Sultan's express Commandment charged not to do any harm either in Moldavia or Valachia as they went into Hungary But this wary Vayvod not greatly trusting either the Sultan or them as also loth himself a Christian to go against the Christians his Friends and late Confederates excused himself by the necessary care he had of his Subjects and Country and so requested that his reasonable Excuse to be in good part of the great Sultan accepted but of him more is to be said hereafter Thus passed this Year without any great thing done more than is before declared both these great Princes the Emperour and the Turkish Sultan being warned by the last Years Work what it was to put all to the Fortune of a Battel and therefore now contenting themselves to have shewed their Forces year 1598 as not afraid one of the other countenanced this years Wars more in shews than deeds What great things might by the Christian Princes at Unity amongst themselves be done against the Turk is by the considerate Right easily to be gathered but especially by the notable Victory of the famous Transilvanian Prince Sigismund who conederated but with his poor oppressed Neighbours the Valachians and Moldavians and strengthened with some small Aid from the Emperour and the Hungarians not only delivered those three Countries from the heavy burthen of the Turkish Thraldom but vanquished also their most renowned Captains overthrew their mighty Armies burnt and spoiled their Countries razed their Towns and Cities which as it hath been before in part declared so if it should be all particularly set down besides that it would be tedious so also might it haply seem almost incredible Besides which Calamities of War commonly more felt of the Subjects than of the Prince the great Sultan himself found no small Wants as well in his Coffers as other his necessary Supplies for the maintenance of his Wars especially in Hungary the only Country of Moldavia before these Troubles yielding unto him yearly a Tun of Gold 2000 Horses for Service 10000 great measures of Wheat with as much Barly and a wonderful proportion of Butter Honey and other Victuals the other two Provinces paying the like or more as a yearly Tribute whereof he had of late to his great discontentment by the general Revolt of these three Countries been quite disappointed But this so wholsome a Confederation to the great hurt of the Christian Commonweal and benefit of the Turks now broken and Moldavia by the Polonians dissevered from the rest and again made tributary to the Turk as is before declared and now Valachia also in a sort acknowledging the Turks Obeisance the noble Transilvanian Prince who hitherto with great Cheerfulness and Courage had fought the most Christian Battels against the Turk now left as it were all alone and doubting how with his own small Forces to be able long to defend his Country against the Turk and the Polonian whom he feared not much less than him left the same should together with himself fall into the hands of the Turks or some other his Enemies by a wonderful Change voluntarily resigned this his Country of Transilvania unto Rodolph the Christian Emperour and his Heirs for ever and so leaving his Wife in Transilvania went himself into to Silesia there to take Possession of the Dukedoms of Oppel and Ratibor which together with the yearly Pension of 50000 Joachims or the Revenues of the Bishoprick of Vratislavia he had in lieu thereof received of the Emperour whereupon the Possession of Transilvania by the general consent of all the States of that Country was in the beginning of this Year 1598 delivered unto the Archbishop of Vacia the County Nadasti and Doctor Petzi the Emperour's Commissioners and a solemn Oath of Obedience and Loyalty taken of them all in general albeit the aforesaid Commissioners as also the Emperour himself would have persuaded the Prince either not at all or at leastwise not so suddenly to have forsaken his Country but to have still kept the Government thereof himself yet for a year or two well foreseeing that the same could not so conveniently be governed by any other as by himself a natural Prince therein born and exceedingly beloved of his Subâects The same Commissioners also in Iune following going into Valachia there took the like Oath of Obedience of Michael the Vayvod and his People who loathing the Turkish Sovereignty all willingly yielded themselves unto the Emperour's Protection These Commissioners also at the same time came to agreement with the Tartars Ambassadors offering unto the Emperour Peace and Aid for the yearly Pension of 40000 Duckats and as many Sheep-skin Gowns their usual manner of Apparel All this while continued the Diet of the Empire begun in December last past at Ratisbon Matthias the Emperour's Brother being there his Deputy and in his Majesty's Name demanding a greater Aid for the maintenance of his Wars against the Turk the common Enemy than was by the Princes and States of the Empire offered where after great and long Deliberation a large Proportion was by them all agreed upon for the defraying of the charges of those Wars and defence of the Christian Commonweal to be paid in three years next and so thereupon was the Assembly dissolved But as they
how much the Suspicion was the more by them feared for them to be enforced to resolve upon any thing contrary to their good liking whereas he contenting himself only with their Oath without any other Hostages and so giving Aid unto the Confederates had put himself upon their Faith together with all his People into the midst of Transilvania a matter of far greater importance than any pleadge they were able to have given him Besides that of the six thousand men which he had brought with him into that Country three thousand five hundred of Silesia now brought to 2000 could not be persuaded longer to stay without their Pay before hand the Pay of their Country being already spent and the rest drawn out of the Garrisons of the upper Hungary or else there pressed were at a certain time to return Yet nevertheless he attempted in some sort to satisfie their Request for not grieving of the Country by requesting of them to deliver unto him some strong Place whereinto he putting his men into Garrison they might so lye without any farther charge or trouble to the Country living upon their own Wages Which when he could not obtain and withal considering that if those few of his People which yet remained could be contented to stay with him the retaining of them might give occasion unto the desirous of new Stirs upon every the least disorder of the Souldiers to alter the matter at their pleasure as had hapned unto the eight thousand Almains of Castaldo driven sometimes out of that Country under the colour of some Insolency by them committed altho others had been the chief doers thereof namely about some twenty Polonians he resolved of all these things to give notice to the Court and so fair and softly to march with his Souldiers unto the Confines of that Country and to save his eight pieces of Artillery with his other Munition in Samos Vivar Castle a strong Fortress a good way within the Confines which together with the strong Castle of Kuivar Aga Leche an Albanoise and General of the Vayvod's Horse-men delivered to Zakell Captain of Zaccomar one of his Majesties Commissioners who there provided for the Governour Basta his familiar Favourite altho that the Transilvanians had with great Promises sought to have crossed such delivery of the aforesaid Castles and to have had them in their own Power Wherefore Basta not deceived but by necessity inforced yielded that he could not hold and gave that he could not sell making a vertue of Necessity deceived in the event of the matter which he had propounded unto himself from the beginning for the assurance of that Country to the Emperour by an excusable error if it be true that some wise men say nothing to be more unreasonable than by the Event of Maâters to judge of their Wisdom by whom they were managed which consisteth not in divining before of the certainty of the Event but in the reasonable Conjecture thereof by the means leading thereunto than which nothing is more deceitful as not depending from our own Actions only but from other mens also more gross and unreasonable none knowing better how much the Wisdom of Man deceiveth it self than those which are unto themselves true Witnesses of the event of their own Consultations Nevertheless the matter was afterward so well handled by Basta Petzen and others the Emperour 's great Favourites in Transilvania that in a Diet holden by the Transilvanians he was with a convenient Guard again by them received as the Emperour's Lieutenant until further Order were by him taken for the Government and Assurance of that Country the Chiaki and his Complices faintly consenting thereunto as not greatly pleased therewith Neither had Bâsta much cause to be proud of such his Government having thereof no longer assurance than pleased that fickle People to afford him yet sith no better could be had he must take it as he might deeming it better in some sort for the present to hold it for the Emperour than not at all with which his weak State amongst more Enemies than Friends we will for a while leave him But whilst things thus passed as we have said in Transilvania and Hungary the Treaty for Peace betwixt the Emperour and the Turk being vanished into Smoak Ibrahim Bassa the Turks General in Hungary having all the last Winter made great preparation for the Invasion of the Emperour's Territories and the doing of some notable Enterprise for the recovery of his Reputation somewhat impaired by the evil success of the last Years Wars and even in these his greatest Preparations of this Year not a little troubled by the Mutiny of the Janizaries and Spahi for want of their Pay at Constantinople as also with the Rebellion in Caramania now at length in the latter end of August by order from the Grand Seignior his great Lord and Master began to set forward with his Army from Belgrade supposed to be above two hundred thousand men strong And coming to Babotsca a strong Fortress of the Christians in the nether Hungary sat down before it and having planted his Artillery furiously battered it with purpose to have the next day assaulted it but the Captain of the Castle considering the weakness of his Garrison to withstand so puissant an Enemy and that the Walls to be already sore shaken with the fury of the great Ordnance came to a reasonable Composition with the Bassa and so delivered unto him the place Which Exploit done and the Castle to him surrendred he marched from thence to Canisia a strong Town in the Frontiers of Stiria of most men before supposed a Place impregnable for that it was scituate in a very deep Marsh and furnished with a strong Garrison of valiant Souldiers part Hungarians and part Almains after this strong Town Ibrahim the great Bassa especially longed so to free those Frontiers of the Turks from the often Incursions that the Garrison Souldiers of that place made therein as also by the taking of that so strong a Fortress from the Christians to open a more safe and free Passage for the Turks into Austria to the indangering of other places of the Empire also farther off Wherefore incamping his great Army on the side of the Marsh which compassed the Isle round whereon the Town stood he began with Faggots and Earth to fill up the Marsh so to pass over his Army they in the Town in the mean time not ceasing with their thundring Shot to disturb them and to do them what harm they might who for all that proceeding in their Work had brought it now almost close unto the Island where whilst they were about to have landed they were by the Souldiers of the Garrison so encountered that having lost a number of their men as well Janizaries as others with two of their best Captains also they were by plain Valour inforced to retire But preparing themselves against the next day with a greater force to have again returned unto
many other Places of the Turkish Empire At which time also the Janizaries at Constantinople having received some Disgrace by some of the Great Sultan's Favourites and with great Insolency requiring to have their Heads caused their Aga well accompanied presumptuously to enter into the Seraglio to prefer this their Request whom Mahomet to the terror of the rest caused for his Presumption to be taken into the midst of the Spahi and so by them to be cut in pieces which was not done without the great Slaughter of the Spahi themselves also slain by the Janizaries Whereupon the other Janizaries arising up in Arms also and even now ready to have revenged the Death of their Captain were yet by the Wisdom of Cicala Bassa bestowing amongst them a great Sum of Money again appeased without farther harm doing Which their so great Insolency Mahomet imputing unto their excessive drinking of Wine contrary to their Law of the great Prophet by the persuasion of the Mufti commanded all such as had any Wine in their Houses in the City of Constantinople and Pera upon pain of Death to bring it out and sâave it except the Ambassadors of the Queen's Majesty of England the French King and of the State of Venice so that as some report Wine for a space ran down the Channels of the Streets in Constantinople as if it had been Water after a great shower of Rain Sigismund the Transilvanian Prince now of late again possessed of Transilvania as is before declared could not yet well assure himself of the keeping thereof year 1602 for that he with the Transilvanians of his Faction alone was not able to withstand the force of Basta who still strengthened with new Supplies both of men and all things else necessary for the Wars from the Emperour was now with a great Power already entred into Transilvania the Polonians busied in the Wars of Suevia and the Turks with their other greater Affairs neither of them sending him their promised Aid the greatest hope and stay of himself in that newness of his Estate Wherefore seeing himself every day to lose one place or other and fearing also lest his Souldiers for want of Pay should in short time quite forsake him and go over to Basta he thought it best betimes and whilst he had yet something left and was not yet altogether become desperate otherwise to provide for his Estate especially having small Trust in the Turks to whom he had been before so great an Enemy Wherefore he dealt with Basta for a Truce or Cessation from Arms until Ambassadors might be sent unto the Emperour to intreat with him for some good Attonement Wherewith Basta being content and the Ambassadors sent the matter was so handled with the Emperour that Sigismund to make an end of all these Troubles was contented to the behoof of his Imperial Majesty to resign unto Basta his Lieutenant all such places as he yet held in Transilvania upon much like Conditions he had about three Years before made with him and so in all and for all to submit himself unto his Majesty Which intended Surrender of the Prince's being bruted in Transilvania Zachel Moises his Lieutenant and now in Field with the Prince's Forces not able to endure or to hear that that noble Province should again fall into the hands of the Germans encouraging his Souldiers went upon the sudden to assail Basta in hope to have found him unprovided and so discomfiting his Army to have driven the Imperials quite out of Transilvania but he an old and expert Commander perceiving even the first moving of the Transilvanians with great Celerity put his Army in good order and so joyned Battel with them wherein he with the loss of some five hundred men overthrew Moises with his Army of Transilvanians Turks and Tartars having slain above three thousand of them and put the rest to flight Moises himself with some few others being now glad to take their Refuge into the Frontiers of the Turks Territories towards Temeswar But when Sigismund understood what his Lieutenant had without his knowledge done he in token of his own Innocency went himself unto the Imperial Camp accompanied only with certain of his Gentlemen and thereunto Basta excused himself of that which was by his Lieutenant against his Will and without his Privity done frankly offering to perform whatsoever was on his part to be performed according to the Agreement made betwixt the Emperour and him And so presently calling his Garrisons out of all such strong Places as were yet for him holden he surrendred them to Basta and so forthwith honourably accompanied put himself upon his way towards the Emperour After whose Departure out of Transilvania all that Province voluntarily and without more ado yielded to Basta as to the Emperour's Lieutenant who presently called an Assembly of all the Nobility of the Country taking of them an Oath for their Obedience and Loyalty unto the Emperour Thus by the Wisdom and Prowess of this worthy Commander is the Country of Transilvania once again brought under the Emperour's Obeisance a matter of far greater Importance than to have won the strongest City the Turk holdeth in Hungary But whilst these things thus passed in Transilvania great troubles arise in Valachia the Country next adjoyning for that the People of that Province not able longer to endure the great Insolency of the Turks who after the Death of Michael had by their Power made one Ieremias Vayvod there by a general consent took up Arms and proclaiming one Radoll a favorite of the Emperours Vayvod year 1601 chased Ieremias before placed by the Turks quite out of the Country who flying unto Simon Palatine of Moldavia his Friend by his means and the help of the Turks returning unto Valachia drave out thence Radoll again who being now at this present with Basta with about ten thousand Valachians his Followers earnestly requested of him now that he was so quietly possessed of Transilvania to help him with his Forces for the recovery of Valachia And Basta well considering how much it concerned the quiet and sure keeping of the possession of Transilvania for the Emperour to have that so near a Province to friend easily yielded to his request and gave him a great Regiment of his old approved Souldiers and so sent him away to recover his Estate with whom at his entrance into Valachia the Moldavian meeting with a great Power both of his own and of the Turks come thither in the favour of Hieremias there was fought betwixt them a most terrible and bloody Battel the glory whereof fell unto Radoll he carrying away the Victory In which Battel two of the Turks Bassaes were there slain with a great number of others both of the Moldavians and Turks After which Victory Radoll recovered again the Soveraignty of Valachia for which he was beholding to Basta and shortly after with the same Aid cut in pieces a great power of the Tartars that were coming to
so mindful of him but that he for his part desired not any greater reward for the Services by him done more than the Government which his Majesty had before promised him whereof according to which Promise which he could not think but to be agreeable to his good liking he was now possessed with a resolution to hold and keep the same for his Majesties Service Which was as much in effect as for a disloyal Subject to talk with his angry Sovereign with his hand upon his Sword but with this sly Answer such as it was Sultan Mahomet for all his Greatness must as yet content himself for fear lest if he should have sought to have by force removed him he might so have raised a more dangerous Rebellion in Europe than was already in Asia Zellaly so politick and resolute a man and not to seek what to do in such matters being possessed of so great a Government and the Christian Emperour at hand ready to have backed him if he should upon any Discontentment have revolted The Troubles of this Year 1603 thus overpast year 1604 the beginning of the next was like unto a fair blooming Tree which promising great store of Fruit but afterward blasted with the Extremity of the Weather proveth in effect as barren as it before seemed in hope fruitful for beginning with the sweet Western Winds of Peace it ended with the stern Northern Blasts of War. The Turks had oftentimes the last Year made motion of Peace but especially toward the end thereof outwardly making shew-of a great desire and forwardness in themselves thereunto Which business the last Year begun was even with the beginning of this Year also effectually continued that Commissioners were on both sides appointed to conferr and conclude upon the same Among these Commissioners Collonel Althem was one who to perform his Charge having taken with him the other Commissioners deputed with him for this purpose with certain other Captains embarqued himself with them in thirteen Ships from Strigonium and from thence sailing down the River landed with his Train in the Island betwixt Buda and Pesth Of whose Arrival there the Turks of Buda advertised and on their part ready came forthwith thither also with all the outward shews that might be of their most earnest desire for the concluding of Peace whereas our Men who by a thousand effects were assured of the unfaithfulness of the Turks and that Necessity and not the desire of any Quietness had drawn them to seek for Peace to the contrary shewed themselves very backward in this Business For why they knew âight well that the Turks had not taken this maâter in hand but to overtake them and by this time of Peace to gain a time of War more commodious and fit for their ambitious and cruel Designs They had the year before made sufficient Proof of our Forces accompanied with good Fortune which caused them to despair by strong hand to vanquish and overcome us besides that they still every hour in one place or other received a thousand Losses and Crosses from our Garrisons who distressed and annoyed them both with their Forces and with driving of them unto the extremity of Wants Our men knew moreover also that the Troubles of Asia as well from the Rebels as from the Persian which lay so heavy upon the Great Sultan drew them to this necessity to seek for a breathing time of Peace wherein to repair that which was in their Forces and Strength by Wars impaired And even yet also the manner of the Turks demeaning of themselves in this Action their Delays their Excuses and deferring from day to day to conclude upon some Point of this Treaty gave our men good cause to suspect them of evil meaning as men respecting their Profit more than their Faith and more subtil and cruel in all their Actions than honourable and valorous The Fifth of Ianuary was the day by our men expected for the Treaty for as then the Bassa of Buda had appointed with the rest of the Commissioners to come into the Isle to hear what our Commissioners should demand and to intreat of the Peace But he was too true an Infidel to fail of his Infidelity and so came not at all but deceived our Men both of their Hope and Expectation At length instead of himself Letters were brought from him to Collonel Althem whereby he excused himself for not coming requesting him with the rest of the Commissioners to come over the River to Buda the more commodiously for them to conferr together and so the better to conclude their Negotiation Now though Almain for the Majesty of his Prince and the Honour of the State ought not at the Request of these his Enemies to have put himself into their Power but to have stood fast upon the Terms of Honour yet to the end that the Country of Hungary so miserably spoiled with Wars should not take occasion to complain of his negligence in this Negotiation of Peace he resolved to go to Buda as the Bassa had requested deeming every Action tending to the hinderance of the common Good to be but in shew honourable and in deed hurtful Upon which Resolution he sent before the Gentleman of his Stable and his Cook with a Gentleman of the Turks sent but the day before from the Bassa which men going aboard together were assailed with such a cruel Tempest upon the River that neither the Skill of the Water-men nor Goodness of the Vessel was able to resist the force thereof so that the Boat was sunk and the men drowned an evil Presage of the Peace to be made the raging Water as it were foreshewing the Troubles to come But this Tempest by the sacrifice of those poor drowned men appeased Althem and Geisberg two of the chief Commissioners embarqued themselves and so passed over the River to Buda At whose Arrival the Turks gave in shew a thousand Testimonies of their Joy for their coming Neither did the Germans refuse their kind offered Courtesies but largely fed of the good cheer and filled themselves with the good Wines whereof the Turks had given them Plenty and they again using them as kindly as if they had been their Brethren and conversing with them as with their own Countrymen Amidst this carousing and Platters full of good cheer the Proposition of Peace which the Turks meant to demand were served in also and a Truce for twelve days demanded to consider of the matter during which time it should be lawful for every man without let freely to come and go whither they would which was forthwith on both sides agreed upon And for better Testimony of the Turks true meaning in this their Negotiation of Peace the Bassa in the presence of our Commissioners dispatched a Courrier toward the great Sultan to advertise him of this business and of the proceeding therein according to the Commandment by him before given Which he did to cause our men to
them with what they were able and so as before to continue in their Allegiance and Obedience unto the Emperour Of all which things when Basta had upon his Faith given assured them they opened their Gates and received in the Souldiers unto whom now almost dead and starved with Hunger nothing could have happened more comfortable or welcome Leusta Barbeld and Zebena famous Towns in those Places following the Example of Eperia submitted themselves in like manner and helped Basta's Souldiers with Relief Thither with great danger came unto Basta Sigefrid Collonitz a Man of great Power and Authority in that part of Hungary to conferr with him about the appeasing of these Troubles who afterward by his Letters unto the States and the rest of the Nobility of Hungary yea and to Botscay himself in vain persuaded them to lay down Arms and to return again unto their wonted Obedience unto the Emperour There had been hitherto in the Imperial Camp great scarcity of Victuals and of other Necessaries so that for want thereof and for the extremity of the Cold and other Miseries it was greatly feared lest the Camp should have been broken up to the irreparable loss of his Imperial Majesty as the state of things then stood in Hungary For the remedy whereof thirty Waggons loaded with Money and Cloth were sent from Vienna under the Conduct of County Solmes Collonel Starenberg the Treasurer and others unto whom Tanhusar joyned fifteen hundred Hussars Hungarian Horse-men so called to strengthen the Convoy against the danger which was feared from the Haiducks which lay upon the way and who indeed were now roaming about and seeking after Booty in every corner of the Country Which Hussars being come with the rest of the Convoy into a thick Wood about two Miles from Filek like Enemies set upon the Waggoners whom they should have conducted and there made a great slaughter of such as were about to resist them insomuch that the County Solmes had much ado to save himself and to get out of their hands leaving the Waggons as a Prey unto the treacherous Hussars who now become Masters of them drave them away to Botscay the Rebel's Camp Tanhusar their Captain in vain pursuing after them with such of his Hussars as more faithful than the rest had no hand in that so foul a Treachery and recovering nothing but ten Waggons loaded with Cloth which the Traitors had left behind them having taken the Horses out of them and put them into the other Waggons wherein the Money was which was reported to be 130000 Florens with the more speed to bring them to Botscoy Who having upon the sudden received so great a Sum of Money by him not looked for forthwith divided the same amongst his Souldiers the more to encourage them in their Rebellion against the Emperour The News of this so great a loss being quickly spread thorow all the Emperour's Camp at the first filled the Souldiers with Grief and Disdain against the treacherous Hussars but afterwards with Wrath and Indignation against their own Commanders as deeming it to have been nothing but a false Report by them devised and given out to deceive them and to feed them with a vain hope Which Persuasion though not true had now so strongly possessed their Minds as that they were about all to have risen up in Mutiny and to have forsaken the Service to the utter Peril of their Captains and endangering of the whole Province now upon point to have been for ever lost All which Mischiefs Basta foreseeing did first what he might with Words and fair Promises to have appeased them which not serving he with certain thousands of Duckats and Waggons of Cloth taken up at Leusta and other Towns there by wisely contented them in some good measure furnishing the old Souldiers before half naked both with Money and Apparel the Souldiers greatest Contentments Which Mutiny so again appeased the Imperials shortly after surprising a Castle not far from Eperia found therein a great many of Hungarian Gentlemen whom they carried away wiâh them Prisoners to learn of them what they might concerning the Rebels Proceedings and farther Designs In the mean time the Haiducks on the other side besâeged the Castle of Sedara which they after many Assaults took and put to the Sword all the Garrison Souldiers therein and departing thence first rifled and after burnt the Town of Filek They also took the Castles of Bolvar Setschin Dregell Burac Holloc Blavenstein and the strong Castle of Cabragetia whither they of Hatwan not long before had carried their great Ordnance at such time as they for fear of the Turks then lying at the Siege of Strigonium had abandoned the Place all Strong-Holds in the upper Hungary After the taking of which Places Ferentius Radius and Charles Istuan Botscay's near Kinsman and the chief Captains and Ring-leaders of the Rebels exalted Contribution-Money of the Mineral Towns as they call them belonging unto the Emperour in the upper Hungary but especially of the City of Newsol inforcing them also to swear to be in all things obedient to Botscay and to take his part against the Imperials threatning with Fire and Sword to infest such Places as should refuse to do the like And to the intent that they should not by Collonitz be encouraged or defended who to that end was coming thither the Rebels in great number went to meet him and having belayed all the Passages enforced him to retire himself unto his Castle of Libentsia where he lying in great danger with his Wife then in Child-bed accompanied but with fifty German Souldiers only for that he durst not to trust his Hungarian Cossacks now in heart altogether inclining unto the Rebels was glad in post to send to Vienna most humbly requesting to have a new supply of German Souldiers sent unto him for his relief and the furtherance of the Emperours Service in that so dangerous a time and wavering estate of that Country being the best part of that the Emperour then held in Hungary Now while Basta thus lay with his Army at Eperia and in the Country thereabout he daily received great harm from the Haiducks who were still hovering about him as Hawks over their Prey his Souldiers by necessity inforced to fetch in Wood and other things necessary into the Camp being still most miserably slain and cut in pieces yea they were so bold as oftentimes to trouble him in his Camp and to assail his Souldiers where they lay quartered in their Trenches as amongst other times they did in the latter end of December to end the year withal at which time they by night breaking into the quarter where Charles Collonitz with Copel and Pettenger two Captains of Austria with their Companies lay they slew the said Copel with almost all his Souldiers and burnt Pettinger in his Tent Collonitz himself being at the same time in great danger and hardly by them beset also until that incouraging his Men
Buda and Strigonium with a purpose to have besieged the same Of whose coming the Germans there in Garrison hearing and warned by the Treachery of the Haiducks of Vacia what to fear from the Haiducks in Garrison with them in Vicegrade betime retired themselves out of the Town into the Castle In which doing they were well advised being otherwise like enough to have run the same Fortune that the Germans their Fellows before had done at Vacia For the Turks with the rebellious Haiducks were no sooner come thither but that the Haiducks in the Town without more ado opened the Gates of the Town unto them as unto their Friends directing them in best sort they could both for the besieging and winning of the Castle Which while the Turks hardly besieged and Germans therein notably defended Hassan the Visier Bassa together with Begedes Bassa to perswade them to yield up the Castle writ unto them in this fort RIght worthy and valiant Friends it is not to you unknown the Castle of Vicegrade of right to belong unto our most mighty and dread Sovereign the Great Sultan And therefore seeing that it is Reason that every man should have that which of right belongeth unto him we advertise and request you to yield up the same Castle unto our most mighty Emperour and the honourable Lord Stephen Botscay Prince of Hungary and with all your Substance to depart thence Promising you upon our Faith and Honour to suffer you quietly and in safety with your Wives and Children Bag and Baggage to depart thence and to provide you sufficient Shipping for the carrying away of your things to Strigonium And if it shall please you to take part with us we promise you the same pay from our Emperour that you had from your own and the same kind Entertainment which the Wallons have before had with us But if that you upon an obstinate Resolution shall refuse this our friendly Motion and Grace offered you blame us not if we shall by strong hand and force of Arms seek to obtain our Right In kindness we offer you our Friendship and so with speed expect your Answer But the Germans hearkening not unto these Letters as Men resolved valiantly stood upon the defence of themselves and of the Place until that by extream Necessity forced thereunto they yielded the same by Composition Basta in the mean time with his Forces much diminished lying at Eperia and in the Country thereabout seeing the general revolt of the Haiducks of late the Emperours greatest strength in Hungary and Botscay the Rebels strength daily to increase more and more with no possibility for himself with such small Forces as he then had to repress the Rebels Insolency or to remedy these so far spreading Evils but for want of great Strength he must lie still as it were a man besieged was therewith exceedingly grieved and as it were almost overwhelmed with the heavy burthen of so many great Miseries at once besetting him To threaten without Power he knew to be but Folly and to speak fair to be but vain Nevertheless having procured from the Emperour a general Pardon for all such as having taken part with the Rebels were willing to return again to their allegiance he to assure all them whom it might concern of the Emperors gracious Favour and to put them all out of fear caused Letters of general Pardon to be published for all men to take knowledge of the purport whereof was this WE George Basta County of Hust and Marmar Lord of Sult Knight Counsellor to his Imperial Majesty Governour of the Realm of Transilvania and Lieutenant of the Christian Armies of the Emperour to all faithful love and greeting Whereas in this so troublesome a State of things some as well of the Nobility as others in these upper parts of Hungary partly of their own accord and partly for fear have revolted from his Imperial Majesty and taken part with the traiterous Haiducks in their Rebellion to the great prejudice of the Emperour's Service and the staining of their Faith We in the name of his Imperial and Royal Majesty whom we know to be greatly inclined and ready to pardon his Subjects even of his own natural Goodness and Clemency have by vertue of the full Power and Authority by his said Imperial Majesty granted unto us given free Grace and Pardon to all them which have withdrawn themselves from his Obeisance or forsaken the same of what order quality or condition soever they be whom we will receive into our Protection as void of all Crime and request them as much as in us is possible to make their Profit of this Grace and to return unto their former Duty and Obeysance under all assurance of Impunity for their forepassed Faults and without any search or inquiry to be of the same hereafter made as well for matters of Religion as of State assuring them of their Lives Goods Fortunes Dignities Franchises Priviledges and Immunities whatsoever as is more at large declared by his Majesties Letters Patents which remain with us And if any letted either with their urgent Affairs or with Sickness cannot repair unto us within the day in the same Letters Patents nominated we will accept of their just Excuses But if any contrary to our hope shall upon any indurate mind or obstinate Contumacy fail to repent and to make their appearance before us within the day limited we denounce them to be Rebels subject unto the Pain of Rebellion and stained with the note of Infamy pronouncing their Lives their Goods and Dignities to be confiscate and devolved unto the Emperours Coffers for which they shall by Us the Chieftains and Captains of his Armies with all Rigour and Extremity be prosecuted Protesting before the Majesty of God before the Majesty of the Emperour and before all Christendom us not to be in any sort culpable of the Evils Calamities and Miseries which shall ensue of the Wars and Disasters which such their Rebellion shall cause but to be there-from exempt and acquitted the only Authors of these Disorders having deserved these Imprecations and Calamities upon tâe heads of whom we justly from henceforth lay them as upon the miserable Authors thereof by their Wickedness having refused so great Grace from the Emperour and us unto all men made known by these Presents This Proclamation solemnly by Basta published with the sound of many Drums and Trumpets the sixteenth of Ianuary and ten days Liberty given for such as would come in and again submit themselves divers Gentlemen of the Country near unto Eperia where Basta with his Army lay for fear of being spoiled came in and accepted of the Grace offered other of the seditious dwelling farther off little or nothing at all regarding the same Insomuch that the Rebels in number daily increasing and the Rebellion still farther and farther spreading Botscay was now grown so strong that he dismissed from him most part of the Turks whose service he
had come for that purpose Whom our men nothing suspecting were about to receive them into the Town when as a Sentinel without the Town it being a thick mist perceived three thousand more of the Turks lurking thereby and forthwith giving an alarm to those of the Town bewrayed the Enemies Treachery who thereupon retired they of the Town discharging their great Ordnance after them The next Month about the beginning of April certain Messengers came from Eperia a City of the upper Hungary yet holden for the Emperour to Vienna declaring the most miserable state of that City which although the way thereunto being three or four Weeks before opened it had received some good store of Victual yet now as they said was so on every side by the Rebels beset as that no Provision at all could more thereunto come hoping by that means to bring to pass that the Citizens pinched with hunger and want of things necessary should at length yield themselves together with the City into their Power By which means they but a little before had obtained the strong Town of Tokay wherein the Famine was so great that the Souldiers had not only eaten their Shoes and Leather Jerkins but had now also kill'd two Boys to eat and some others of them had cast Lots among themselves which should be kill'd for the other to eat By which Extremity Ruber the Governour of the Place was enforced to yield unto whom Botscay who then lay at Cassovia is said to have offered a great sum of Money with many other good things to have taken his part all which he most constantly refused protesting even unto Death to continue faithful in his Obedience to the Emperour About the same Time Illishascius who had before not a little laboured about the furthering of the Peace in Hungary writ Letters from Cassovia unto a certain great Man at Vienna whereby he declared that Botscay without the Consent of the Estates of Hungary could of himself determine nothing concerning the Conclusion of the Peace who had oft-times told him to his Face that rather than they would again submit themselves to a foreign Governour they would for ever put themselves under the Turks Protection and yet promised by the same Letters that although he had got unto himself great Displeasure thereby with the Haiducks he would not for all that cease by all means to draw the States of the Country in their next assembly unto his part so that that which was before concluded at Vienna concerning Religion should not again be reversed for many of them as he said were affraid that it would not be performed which was there promised unto the States concerning the Exercise of their Religion And that therefore they could not yet be perswaded to put themselves from under the Turks Protection until they saw themselves sufficiently secured both for the Liberty of their Religion and the keeping of their antient Priviledges And that they could not nor would not endure a foreign Governour to rule over them with whom they could not talk nor yet suffer Clergy-men to have any Voices in their Civil Affairs And therefore he said he thought it very necessary that the Emperour should not doubt in this point to gratifie the Hungarians And that Transilvania whereupon he had been hitherto enforced to bestow so great cost for the keeping thereof being now left unto Botscay he should appoint such a Governour over Hungary as the States of that Country should require For that there was no hope of any Peace to be made with the Turks except Botscay and the States of Hungary should undertake the Treaty thereof seeing that they but only seeking for a Peace in shew were oftentimes discovered but to seek for their own Advantages and Profits But concerning Illishascius himself the Hungarian Rebels seeing him so much to labour about the concluding of a Peace in scorn called him by the by-name of Cripelishacius as he that too much enclined unto the Germans which by-name he took in so ill part as that he departed straight to Eperia with a purpose not to have been present at the next assembly of the States but being again pacified and by Botscay called back he made such a notable Speech unto the States in their next Assembly that all men now began both to hope and wish more for Peace than they had before done In the mean time the Turks in great numbers being gathered together to Belgrade expected the end of this Treaty for Peace and Letters from the Great Sultan to Botscay were intercepted also whereby he adviseth him to proceed in his purpose and joyning with his Powers to seize upon Austria Bohemia and Moravia for that he could be contented with Hungary and Transilvania and leave the rest of the Provinces unto Botscay as his Inheritance The Tartars about this Time were about to make a Road into Polonia but when as they with their often Incursions had not a little troubled the Haiducks also in the upper Hungary they resolved amongst themselves to joyn their Forces together and to fight as well against the Turks as the Tartars and from thenceforth neither to trust the one nor the other Hereupon whenas the Turks in great number came to assault Lippa a Town of the Haiducks they forsaking the Town fortified the Castle with certain Companies of armed Men and afterwards bestowed many others here and there in Caves and Cellars in the Town and laied great store of Gun-powder in the Streets Unto which Town the Turks coming and finding the Gates open and none to risist them hasted to have taken the Castle But in the mean time the Powder which the Haiducks had laied taking fire blew up a number of them and they which lay hid in the Caves and Cellats forthwith breaking out slew of them whomsoever they met and so made of the Turks a great slaughter and again cleared the Town The Estates of Austria considering the great harms they had in these late Troubles received as well from the Hungarian Rebels as from the Emperours mutinous Souldiers and by Experience taught how dangerous a thing it was for them to rest upon other mens Protection being unto them strangers resolved now in a general Assembly of the Estates by them about this time holden to take upon themselves the defence of their Country against such sudden Incursions and Tumults of the mutinous Souldiers and no more to rely upon foreign Protection still to seek when they had most need thereof Wherefore to assure themselves in their own strength they with a general consent agreed to have always in readiness two thousand Horse-men and eight thousand Foot-men to be maintained at the common Charge fifty of the Country Peasants still finding of one of the said Souldiers And much about this time viz. the Third of Iune Illishascius a great Man amongst the Rebels and yet the greatest furtherer of the Peace as appeared by his doings and by that
and within a year should cause sufficient Recognizance or Caution sealed with his own hand to be delivered unto the Creditors That he should cause all the Letters and Writings as well concerning the upper Austria as the nether within the same time to be delivered unto him together with a Copy of the Priviledges therein until that Deliberation might be had concerning them to be transferred unto him also That the Nobility and States of Bohemia should in the Emperours Name ratifie and confirm the Treaty held at Vienna for the making of the Peace betwixt the Emperour the Turks and the Hungarians That they also should not refuse at the Emperours request to promise unto the Arch-duke a certain Succession into the Kingdom of Bohemia but yet with condition so that if it should happen the Emperour to dye without Heirs Male before the death of the Arch-duke his Brother but if he should have Heirs Male lawfully begotten and under age that in that case he should only have the Rule and Government of the Kingdom of Bohemia yet with certain Bohemian Counsellers joyned unto him That the Arch-duke should by writing confirm unto the Nobility and States of Bohemia That he should after the usual manner and fashion demand the Kingdom of Bohemia being void of a King. That he should take the usual Oath of a King and always have like regard of all their Priviledges as the other Kings his Predecessors had That the States of Bohemia should not gainsay but that the Arch-duke might hereafter use the Title of the designed King of Hungary That the Adminstration of the Marquiset of Moravia should be granted unto the Arch-duke Matthias and his Heirs together with the Title of a Marquess until that after the death of the Emperour this Province was again to revert unto him which was to enjoy the Kingdom of Bohemia But if it should happen the Arch duke to dye before the Emperour the States of Bohemia should not refuse but that this Province separate a-part might as should seem good chuse unto it self a Patron and Defender unto the death of the Emperour That the Bishoprick of Almits hitherto in Temporalities subject unto the King of Bohemia should from thenceforth acknowledge the Arch-duke Matthias to be the Governour thereof lest there should be a confusion of Suits in Moravia the Bishop in the mean time having regard unto his own Priviledges That the Emperour at the request of the Arch-duke should maintain the Priviledges of them of Silesia and of the States of the six Cities and augment them also with new Priviledges being reasonable and convenient That for the defence of the borders against the Turks the Nobility and States of Bohemia should not contribute more than hitherto they were wont yet saving unto the Arch-duke power and ability in the general Meetings and Assemblies of the Kingdom to entreat thereof as the Emperour had hitherto had That the Titles of all the Provinces which the Emperour did now surrender unto the Arch-duke Matthias should be still unto him reserved That the Arch-duke Matthias should utterly renounce the County of Tirali and surrender his part thereof unto the Emperour That in the Meetings and Assemblies to come the Arch-duke should by all means endeavour that the Emperour should receive a reasonable yearly Contribution out of those Provinces which he now departed with That all offences hitherto committed should generally be forgiven and pardoned all and every the Persons on both Parties onely Verkavious excepted concerning whom as also concerning his debt the Nobility of Moravia had undertaken in their next Assembly to take order And that Arms should on both sides be laid a part Which Articles thus agreed upon and on both parts accepted of the Crown of Hungary with the Ornaments thereto belonging such as are King Stephen's Sword the Golden Apple with the Cross of the Kingdom upon it two pair of rich Shooes a very ancient Robe with a Royal Scepter were by the Emperour 's chief Lieutenant carried into the Camp and there in a broad and open Field delivered unto the Arch-duke Matthias who with his Army in order ranged and sixteen thousand Horse and Foot divided into three Battalions after he had received these Royal Ornaments commanded three great Vollies of shot to be discharged and afterwards royally feasted the Emperour's Ambassadors Which Pacification thus made many out of the Arch-duke's Camp but especially the Hungarians went into the City of Prague there to buy things necessary and many came also out of the City to see the Arch-duke's Camp. But in the mean time certain insolent Souldiers having by night broken up certain Shops of the Iews and carried out of them much rich Wares were the cause of great stirs and Tumults in the City insomuch that divers of the Souldiers were therefore cast into Prison The first of Iuly King Matthias rising with his Army departed from before Prague taking his way with his chief Counsellors towards Lintz and dividing his Army into three parts that so they might the more easilier pass through those Countries home After the rising of which Army a certain Noble Bohemian and a good Souldier called Cottouits unto whom the Hungarians and Haiducks had in this Expedition done great harm with six hundred Harquebusiers and a number of Country-men went forth to a Place called Partouitse where having cut off the Passage and cut down Trees cross the ways that none might that way conveniently pass he with such fury in a Place of advantage charged the Hungarians coming that way that having slain about nine hundred of them some others were also carried away Prisoners with a great booty of Horses Waggons and other Goods With which deed the Hungarians grieved trod down the Corn as they went and began to set fire on the Villages and Houses in the Country thereabouts But the news thereof being brought unto the King he forthwith by Herbenstein General of the Horse-men commanded the Hungarians and Haiducks not onely to desist from this their Insolency but themselves also upon a great Penalty to help to quench the fires by them raised In the mean time the coming of King Matthias being reported at Vienna great preparation was there made for the receiving of him and bringing of him into the City according to his Royal Dignity who the fourteenth of Iuly toward night being come thither with the Arch-duke Maximilian his Brother and three thousand Horse the Archbishop of Hungary who with Count Trautsamius and many other the Emperour's Counsellors and Servants went out of the City to meet him and there amidst eight Ensigns of German Souldiers and fifteen hundred Horse-men as it were set in order of Battel received him with a long and Eloquent Oration as did afterwards Trauâsamius in the name of the States of Austria the Emperour's Counsellors also honourably welcoming him Which done mounting again to Horse the King with the Arch-duke Maximilian his Brother staied until that two Troops of the
but especially in Bavaria to be made and divers Consultations in many Places to be holden against the States of the Religion his Imperial Majesty and the other his faithful Counsellors thereof not knowing which might tend unto the Ruine and Destruction both of his Majesty and of the whole Kingdom they themselves would take upon them the defence thereof and do their endeavour that furnished with Men and Arms they might to the uttermost of their power defend him their Sovereign together with themselves and the whole Kingdom against the Force and Invasion of their foreign Enemies In the mean time while these things were thus in doing an Ambassador came from the Duke of Saxony to Prague to intreat the Emperour for the States and for the granting of them the free Exercise of their Religion the Ambassadors of the States of Silesia forthwith following of them also who in like manner requesting also of the Emperour to have the liberty for the free Exercise of their Religion by him confirmed unto them promised their most ready help and aid unto the States of Bohemia if need should so require But the States of Bohemia having from day to day in vain expected answer from the Emperour turning themselves unto their former Resolution for the defence of themselves and of their Religion forthwith raised a great number both of Horse and Foot whom with their well-known Captains and Commanders they brought even unto the City of Prague Howbeit at length viz. the eleventh of Iuly the Saxon Ambassador earnestly solliciting their Cause and urging their request they according to their desire received answer from the Emperour by Letters from his Majesty written to this effect He gave all Men as he said to understand and by these his Letter witnessed to eternal Memory That after that all the free States of his Kingdom of Bohemia which in the receiving of the Lord Supper participate the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under both kinds his faithful Subjects had in the Assembly holden in the Castle at Prague in the year 1608 in all humility requested That it might be lawful for them to hold and freely to Exercise their Religion according to the Confession of Augusta as some call it exhibited unto his Father Maximilian the Emperour of most happy Memory and by him unto the said States allowed and that he then and at that time by reason of other most weighty business for which that Assembly was then called and such as could suffer no Procrastination or delay had thought it good to deferr the allowing and ratifying of this their Petition unto this present Assembly of Parliament and that the same States now again assembled incessantly renewing this their former Petition and having thereunto joyned also the request and Intercession of certain Noble Personages had requested to be therein satisfied and that he with his Counsellors would consult how Provision might be made for his Subjects in the Kingdom of Bohemia as well Commucating under both kinds as under one now at length to have effected the same Wherefore seeing that his Will and Desire was that both in these and future times Peace and Quietness might for the increasing of the Kingdom be preserved and kept amongst his Subjects of all the three Estates of the Kingdom of Bohemia communicating as well under the one as under both kinds that both parties might freely and without any impediment or let have the free Exercise of their Religion whereby they were both in hope to obtain everlasting Salvation And to the intent that Accomplishment and Satisfaction might in all points be made as well according unto the breaking up of the Assembly of Parliament in the year 1608 as to the performance of his own Precept of late published whereby he hath acknowledged and even yet acknowledgeth those same Estates communicating under both kinds and subscribing to this Confession for his faithful and loyal Subjects unto whom the Rights and Immunities of the Kingdom of Bohemia belonged He by the common consent of the Counsellors and other Magistrates of the Kingdom did determine That his Subjects communicating both under one and both kinds should friendly and peaceably live together without wronging or reviling of one another and that upon the Pain and Penalty in the Law set down to be inflicted upon them that should otherwise do And moreover seeing that they which communicated but under one kind enjoyed the free Exercise of their Religion in all points throughout the Kingdom of Bohemia that he gave leave and commanded that they also which communicated under both kinds viz. all the States of the Religion with all such as embraced the Confession of Bohemia sometime exhibited to Maximilian the Emperour his Father in the Parliament holden in the year 1575 and now again to himself presented should every where and in all places of the Kingdom have the free Exercise of their Religion without the let or interruption of any to retain the same until a general Union of Religion and an ending of all Dissention and Controversies might be made Moreover That He did grant unto the States of the Religion this Favour That they should have the lower Consistory at Prague with Power to conform the same according to their own Confession That they might lawfully make their Priests as well in the Bohemian as German Tongue and set them over their Churches without any let of the Arch-bishop of Prague That he did also restore unto them the University of Prague which for many years ago belonged unto the States of the Religion under both kinds giving them Power again to open the same to furnish it with grave and learned Men of their own Confession to beautifie it with good Laws and to appoint certain of their own Company and Profession for Governours and Defenders as well of the Consistory as of the University whom so by the States appointed and chosen he without any stay or delay or other instruction or information than they should from the States receive would confirm in that their Office and pronounce them for the lawful Defenders yet so as that if he being letted by other greater business cannot perform the same within the space of fourteen days they shall nevertheless continue Defenders and as well enjoy the charge of the Office committed unto them as if they had been therein by him confirmed and that one or other of their number being dead it shall be lawful for the States to chuse others in their Places And if that beside the Churches which they now hold they would build other more or erect more Schools for the instructing of the Youth it shall be lawful for them freely and without any let so to do as well in the Cities as in the Country Towns and Villages And forasmuch as in some of the Cities of the Kingdom of Bohemia Men of both Religions dwelt together he therefore did will and command That for the preservation of Peace and Quietness
the Favour of her blasts and that he follows obstinately that pernicious Curiosity to know by Experience how high Fortune can advance him for then the desire to enjoy that which is above his Condition blinding the Eyes of Reason he doth precipitate himself by his rash and insolent Actions to the lowest step of shameful ruine The Riches of Nassuf were so great and proportionable to his Fortune as after his Death they found about two Bushels of Diamonds and Pearls Doubtless this rich and stately spoil deserved to be enjoyed by some great Prince So the Emperour Achmat seised thereon and applyed it to his Chasna or Treasury This Death of Nassuf is related after another manner by one who was then present in Constantinople the which I have thought good to set down as I have received it from him The Grand Seignior being much discontented with his Visier whether incensed with such as were near about him who both hated and feared Nassuf or doubting his great Power he dissembled his spleen until he might find some Opportunity for Revenge yet it was not so secretly carried but Nassuf had discovered the Sultans Discontent and laboured by great Gifts both to the Sultana and others to pacifie him providing notwithstanding in the mean time for his own safety sending Horsemen daily over into Asia meaning to pass himself when he had gathered together a sufficient strength But it fell out on the seventh day of October it being the Turks Sabboth that the Moon about eight a Clock at Night was much eclipsed which made the Turks expect some great accident The Grand Seignior having formerly caused it to be bruted That he would about that time pass to visit a new Mosque which was then in building whereupon all the Streets were hanged with Cloth and Arras and as the Custom was a cry went before that The King cometh at the noise whereof Nassuf being then in his House could not but descend to salute the Sultan as he passed by But it was not the Grand Seignior himself but his Bostangi Bassa whom he had caused to be attired like himself who being come before Nassufs Door and finding him standing there he suddenly leapt unto him and told him that the Sultans Pleasure was he should deliver up his Seal whereat Nassuf being amazed demanded what the Sultan meant to do to whom the Bostangi Bassa replied That he knew not what the Princes Pleasure was but if he would not deliver it he would return with that Message unto him Whereupon Nassuf drew the Seal out of his Bosom and delivered it Then the Bostangi Bassa shewed him a Warrant for his Head whereunto he presently submitted himself and then two Jamoglans strangled him his Head was presently cut off and carried to the Grand Seignior and his Body thrown into the Street to be trampled on It was thought his Death was procured by the Wife of Cicala Bassa of Babylon who had been manzoled or deposed from his Government there by Nassuf and was a little before returned to Constantinople but could not be allowed by Nassuf to have any access unto the Grand Seigniors Presence whereupon he wrote a Letter unto the Sultan wherein he accused Nassuf to have conspired with the Persian to kill him charging him with many things that were Capital This Letter he sent by his Wife who was Sister to the Grand Seignior who coming to his speech although she were watchfully observed by Nassuf who was then present left the Letter in his Chamber and so departed The Grand Seignior finding this Letter and reading it was much incensed against Nassuf and never quiet in Mind until he had his Head. He writes that there were found in Nassufs House eighty Bags of Gold each Bag containing ten thousand Chequinos After Nassufs Death Mechmet Bassa Admiral at Sea who had married Sultan Achmats eldest Daughter was made chief Visier he was born in Constantinople and the first natural Turk that was ever Visier since Constantinople was won You have heard in the last years Relation of some Combustions which were growing in Transilvania and how the Sultan had written his Letters of an imperious stile unto the Nobility and States of the Country which Letters were fixed up in form of a mandate throughout all Transilvania and in Places that were nearest unto those Noblemen which held the Emperours party against Bethlem At the same time Bethlem defeated certain Troops of the Garrisons at Lippa and Genoa which over-ran and spoiled the Country so as the Governours of those Places were forced to send to Vienna to demand Succours of Men and Money A Chiaus arrived at that time at Lintz bringing Letters unto the Emperour from the Grand Seignior the first point contained in them was That his Imperial Majesty should have a care that the Peace made betwixt them for twenty years should not be violated and that for his part he desired to observe it faithfully Secondly That in the name of his Imperial Majesty they had seised upon certain Places in Transilvania a Province which had been always under his Protection which received her Princes from his Hand and the which he was bound to defend against all her Enemies Thirdly That the Tyranny of Prince Battori had constrained him to give Forces to Bethlem Gabor to dispossess him of the Principality of Transilvania That after the death of the said Battori he had invested Bethlem to govern it in Peace Fourthly That since he had been advertised how that some Troops of Souldiers in the Name of his Imperial Majesty contrary to the Articles of Peace had by force seised upon the Forts of Hust and Vivar and the Towns of Nagipan and Tonase Fifthly That he had given express charge to Bethlem not to suffer any Enterprise no not upon the least Village of his Principality to the end that nothing might be separated but that he should repell the Injury of the Aggressor by force Sixthly That he exhorted his Imperial Majesty if he desired the continuance of the Peace to command his People to make Restitution of the places usurped or to signifie his Intention by the same Chiaus which he had sent to the end he might be fully assured for the mischief increasing daily the affection which he bare to the good of Peace might grow cold The Emperour received the Chiaus at Lintz very honourably and gave him an answer to his Letter wrapt in a piece of Cloth of Gold the sence whereof was That this business being of great importance his Imperial Majesty desired to confer with the Princes Electors and States of the Empire to hear their Advice after which he would acquaint him with his last Resolution and finally that he should rest assured that for his part he would not attempt any thing contrary to the Peace In the mean time there was a petty War in Hungary the Incursions and Spoils betwixt the Christians and the Turks beginning again The Turks of the Garrison of
and his rest in Paradise This Paternal Empire and Monarchical Kingdom hath almost untill this present blessed time been always hereditary from Grandfather to Father from Father to Son and so cursively on that manner but having regard unto the Age and Years of our great and noble Vncle Sultan Mustapha he was preferred and honoured to sit on the Othoman Throne and being settled for some time took care for the Affairs of the Empire and for all that might concern the People both in general and particular But he having been many years retired in Solitariness and given to Devotion and Divine Obedience being also as it were wearied with the cares of the Empire of his own accord withdrew himself from the Government for that the Diadem and Scepter of the Empire of the seven Climates was the true Right and Inheritance of our most excellent Majesty of the which with the meeting and consent of all the Visiers and other Deputies of State of the Primate of the Mussulman Law and of the other honourable Doctors of the Souldiers and of all Subjects both publick and private the Almighty God hath made an high Present and worthy Gift unto us And in the happy day in the beginning of the Moon Rebea-il-evel of this present Year 1027 in an expected time and in an acceptable hour was our blessed and happy sitting establish'd upon the most fortunate Othoman Throne the Seat and Wisdom of Solomon In the Pulpits of all the Mosques the Congregations of the faithful and Devotion of the Musselmen throughout all our Dominions is read to our Imperial Name the Hutbeh And in the Mints where innumerable Sums of money are coined as well upon the Silver as the Gold our happy Name and Stamp is signed And our most powerful Commandments are obeyed in all the Parts and Dominions of the World and the brightness of the Light of the Sun of Iustice and Equity hath caused the darkness of Injuries and Molestations to vanish away Now seeing it hath been an ancient Custom of our famous Predecessors to give notice of the same unto such Princes as are in sincere Friendship and do continue it with the House of great Majesty and our Imperial Court We also have written these our princely Letters and appointed for their Bearer the choice among his Equals Hussein Chiaus whose Power is great one of the honoured and respected Servants of our magnificent Port the refuge of the World to the end that such News might cause great joy of our most honourable Assumption And we do hope that when they shall come to your hands in conformity of the well grounded friendship upon the sure League Articles and Writings which hath been established of old with our most Royal Race and permanent Empire you will manifest infinite Ioy and Gladness and certifie as much to the Rulers and Governours of the Dominions and Countries under you that they may know that the Articles of Peace and League and the points of the Oath which are firm and to be desired on both parts from the time of our Grand-father and Predecessor of Royal Stock now in Paradise whose Souls God inlighten undoubtedly during the time of our Reign shall be observed with all respect And let there not be the least imagination of any want of due observance of the signs of Friendship on our part or by any manner of means on your part for the violating the Foundation of the Peace and League The Copy of a Letter written by Halil Baâsa chief Visier and General in the Expedition against the Persian at his Return from the Wars to the City of Senit in April 1618 unto Sir Paul Pinder Knight then Ambassador for the King's Majesty at Constantinople The Humble Visier Halil Bassa TO the courteous Lord of the Nation of the Messiah both great and honourable among the people of Jesus and the true Determiner of Christian Affairs our good Friend Paul Pinder the English Ambassador whose latter days be with all felicity To whose noble presence after our many kind Salutations tending to all good Affection and manifestation of Ioy worthy and beseeming our Friendship our loving Advice is this That if you desire to hear of our Estate and Being you shall understand that after we departed from the happy Port with the Army for the Wars of Asia we arrived and wintered in Mesopotamia and removing thence in the Spring with all the Musselman Host always victorious we went to Van from which place untill we came to Tauris the Mussulman Army went on always sacking and destroying all those Places and Towns of the Persians which we met withal by the way in those parts where were burnt pillaged and ruined some thousands of Villages and tormenting all those people that came to hand And when we were come near to Tauris the General of the Persian Forces of perverse Religion called Carelghai Han the accursed retired himself into the said Tauris where beating up his Drums in every quarter he made a shew that he had a will to fight so we sent a little before us some Tartars and others of our Army to hearken out and take notice of the Enemy who meeting with seven or eight hundred Persians of note put them to the Sword very few escaping and that with very great difficulty and hazard by which the said General finding himself unable to resist the power and fury of the Mussulman Host or to stay any longer in the said place the very same day that we arrived there the said General having spoiled all the City sled away so we took the place ransacked it and burned all the Buildings Towers Gardens and whatsoever else we found in it And thus the great City Tauris by Divine Favour and Grace became ours Then forthwith we sent after the Enemy the Tartar with some Beglerbegs who overtaking them gave them Battel and albeit some of ours did fall yet they which fell on the Enemies side were innumerable And so going forward towards Erdevil their obscure Residence about ten days Iourney of the Country we went burning and sâoiling it and killing all the Persians that we met that indeed there was so much glory and honour won as that all the ancient men of the Country do affirm there was never seen the like insomuch that from the Confines of Erdevil twenty days Iourney of the Countây was on that manner by us destroyed Thus afterward the King caused to empty the said place of Erdevil and sled into a place called Hulchal and caused his Army to go to the top of a high Mountain from whence having sent three or four times men of Quality unto us seeking and intreating for peace with promise to give yearly to our Emperour an hundred Somes of Silk and all such places as are upon the Confines gotten in the time of Sultan Solyman except Der Ne and Der Tink wherewith we were contented with the peace and his Ambassador is upon the way coming toward us And so
seek to ward off the blow of a War with Germany and yet secretly nourished and encouraged it by giving Orders to the Pasha of Buda to take up his Winter-quarters with the Prince of Transylvania and to follow his Directions but yet so to govern Matters with Caution as not to engage too far on uncertain Grounds or doubtful Hazard but to embrace Propositions of Peace if offered with Honour and Security In prosecution of these Rules Morteza observing that Weymar and Mansfelt having united their Forces with Gabor had formed a considerable Army and were able to fight with Wallestein General of the Imperialists joined also his Forces to theirs judging it a prudent and politick Design to wage a War at the Blood and Expence of others With these Encouragements and with the favour of a good Opportunity the Confederates fell upon the Army of Wallestein near the River Gran who not being able to withstand their Force and Fury was put to flight and pursued in the Rear with great slaughter and endeavouring to pass the River on two Bridges of Boats were closely followed by the Prince's Forces who gaining the Pass put the whole Army into great amazement and resolved to pursue them to the Gates of Presburg or Vienna Notwithstanding this Success the Prince of Transylvania observing the backwardness of his Allies to contribute the Succours of Men and Mony which they had promised and fearing that the unfortunate Estate of the Turkish Affairs should cause the Sultan to disown the War dispeeded a Messenger to the Emperor in the Winter-season to excuse the Constraint upon him of taking up Arms and to offer Terms of Accommodation and Peace But the Emperor refused all Treaties until such time as Gabor had separated himself from his Allies and from association with the Turk Upon which Answer Gabor retired to Cassovia and Morteza to Pesth This Compliance gave beginning to a Treaty at Komara where the Commissioners on part of the Emperor of the Grand Signior and Prince of Transylvania assembled All Parties seemed inclinable to War and yet with occult Intentions to make Peace being necessitated thereunto by the urgency of their distinct Interests The Emperor was urged by his Wars with the Protestants of Germany and apprehension of Forces from England in favour of the Elector Palatine then King of Bohemia The Grand Signior was encumbred by the unfortunate condition of his Wars in Asia And Bethlem Gabor jealous of being disowned by the Port deserted by his Allies and exposed to fight and contend singly with the Emperor In short Gabor concluded a Peace with the Emperor apart which gave some Jealousies and displeasure to the Grand Signior Howsoever he dissembled his Discontent and willingly interessed Gabor with Morteza as Commissioner for him who being variously disposed yet moved with the considerations of their common Advantage work'd all Differences into a Composition of Peace the Articles of which being brought to Constantinople by an Internuncio from the Emperor and delivered in presence of the two Ambassadors of Gabor they were accepted by the Chimacam and ratified by the Grand Signior Articles of Peace concluded between the Emperor of Germany Ferdinand the Second and Bethlem Gabor in the Month of December 1626. I. THE Prince of Transylvania doth promise by the Faith of a Christian never to move Arms or use any Hostility against the Majesty of the Emperor or the House of Austria or their Successors much less to enter into their Dominions with an Army nor to aid his Enimies or keep a Correspondence with them Not to plot any Innovation in the Kingdom of Hungary or other Christian Countries Nor to stir up or provoke the Turks Tartars or others to invade them Not to entertain or assist in any evil Counsel against his Majesty nor to give ear to the Requests and Destres of his Enemies but rather to reveal all their Conspiracies and Wickednesses which shall be made known unto him and by all means to demonstrate and shew a sincere mind truly desirous of Peace and sollicitous of the Common Good. III. That the Prince shall instantly depart with his whole Army out of the Territories and Cities of the Emperor and that he shall restore as well all Goods belonging to the Imperial Treasure as those of his faithful Subjects III. That he shall remove from him the Rebel Mansfelt and all other his Followers and Adherents desirous to invade the Dominions of the Emperor And that he shall not aid any Stranger whatsoever who at his Instance hath entered into the Territories of his Majesty with Count Mansfelt to whom Letters of Publick Safety shall be given that they may return by twenty or thirty in a Troop conditionally that in no place of their Retreat they shall joyn with the Enemies of the Emperor IV. That seeing it is fit for Establishment of the Peaâe that the Inhabitants of Countries and Cities belonging to the Prince by consent of the Emperor should remain during his Life in Obedience and Fidelity to him and that those Inhabitants should do Homage to the Emperor saving their corporal Oath to the Prince to keep inviolate these Articles That they should have leave by Letters of full Authority and Power granted them by the Prince in their first Assemblies and Conventions to make sâch Oath of Homage V. That at the same time of performing the Homage and Oath besides the Oath before the last War they shall take a new Oath according to the Agreement between the Prince and the Commissioners of the Emperor VI. The Prince shall procure that all Places upon the Confines which were taken by the Turks in the last War be restored and that all Captives taken Prisoners shall be set at liberty And that the Prince shall procure the freedom of all such the Emperor's Subjects as shall be in the Turkish Captivity VII That all the Subjects of the Emperor lately incited and drawn to the Service of the Prince shall be free from their Oath and if the Prince hath any of their Writings Obligatory in his Hands that he shall restore them And that these Conditions being confirmed all other things formerly treated shall remain in their former State and Vigour VIII That if any other Difficulties arise they shall be accommodated with Fidelity and Quietness by Commissioners on both Parts And that all those who in the last Commotions have served the Prince shall be absolved according to the Treaty and Agreement at Vienna IX That all the Inhabitants of Cities and Countries which have served the Prince shall be absolved only those excepted who have voluntarily taken up Arms against the Emperor for whom the Prince only shall intercede excusing always private Men who have done private Wrongs for they shall according to Law and Custom seek their Restitution by Civil Action X. That all other Articles of Peace concluded at Nichilsburg and Vienna shall remain in their former Vigour and Force And that all Goods of the Emperor's Clergy
whence many Sallies were made with variety of Fortune till at length the Turkish Souldiers being wearied and tired with incessant labour and watchings many of them fled from their Colours and with such diminutions the Army being much abated in its Numbers the Vizier withdrew them from the Persian Dominions Some Months after the Turkish Army being reinforced the Vizier entring again into Persia overthrew the Trucmen who opposed him in his March and destroyed the Gregorians who were Friends to the Persian with a very great slaughter took Moroc their General and cut off his Head And adding to these Victories the report of having taken some few inconsiderable Towns his Expedition ended without other Advantages or Progress of their Arms. This ill Success much troubled the Councils at Constantinople for they considered that they had now waged an expensive laborious War for the space of three Years without any Effect agreeable to the Blood and Charge which maintained it but rather to the Loss and Damage of the Empire The Souldiers abhorred the length and tediousnes of the Way and the misery of the March being to pass over vast Countries and Desarts where there was nothing besides Rocks Sands and Barrenness Many Horses Camels and other Beasts of Burden perished for want of Nourishment and where Provisions were to be had the Price was so excessive that the Timariots and other Souldiers had not a Purse to defray their Charges The Enemy likewise was very strong for the Sofi was at the Head of forty thousand brave Horse which daily infested the Ottoman Camp beat their Convoys and cut off their Provisions and so obstructed them that they could not advance The Vizier Halil then General being discouraged by these Disasters was inclinable to accept of the Proposition made by the Persian viz. That Babylon should remain to his eldest Son in Fee and to his Heirs and Successors acknowledging to the Grand Signior a Tribute as great as the yearly Revenue which proceeded from it at the time when it was in the Hands of the Sultan But this middle Way seemed an Expedient dishonourable to the Greatness of this Empire and that which argued pusillanimity and want of courage in the Government and therefore was rejected by the Council of State as well as by the Military Men. Howsoever the Persians taking their Measures by the disposition they discovered in the Vizier thereunto adventured to dispatch an Ambassador to Constantinople with tender of the same Project but as he was coldly and faintly received so he was in a few days dispatched with few words and little respect as if he had been sent as a Spy to discover the State and Condition of the City and the Inclination of the Prince rather than to obtain any Benefit by the Treaty For now Amurat growing into Years increased in Spirit and discovered a Martial Courage be began to leave his Delights and Walks in Gardens and the society with his Mother and Women and to assume thoughts of War and Government such as entertained him in softness and luxurious Pastimes were reproved by the Ministers about him and by them perswaded to buckle on his Armour and to delight in Martial Exercises So that now new Measures were taken in all Affairs And in the first place Halil the Great Vizier was recalled from being General in Persia and the Pasha of Darbiquier put into his Place and though he was Brother-in-Law to the Grand Signior yet being esteemed at Court as a Person who had amassed great Riches in his Employment he was forced to disgorge five hundred thousand Crowns as an ease of his Burden and an Atonement to pacify the Sultan for the Fault of his Misfortunes and ill Success In these Times of Licentiousness and Revolt the Pirats of Algier and Tunis began also to cast off their Respect and Reverence to the Ottoman Empire for being become Rich by the Prizes they had taken on Christian Vessels they resolved to set up for themselves and to esteem the Peace which Christian Princes had made with the Grand Signior not to concern them but as if their Governments had been independent demanded a particular Treaty and distinct Articles with themselves So that now daring to do any thing six Vessels of Tunis chased some Christian Ships into Rhodes and there attaqued them notwithstanding that the Castle shot at them They afterwards took a Dutch Ship which had laden at Alexandria and entring the Port of Salines in Cyprus they engaged with two Venetians the lesser Ship made a good resistance but having no help she was thrice fired and at last burnt the other being a Ship of eight hundred Tuns was cowardly set on fire by the Mariners and abandoned escaping ashore with their Boats. Then they sailed for Scanderone where finding a Dutch Ship and a Polaca they took both and then landed The Aga of the Scale with all the Inhabitants fled so that finding no opposition they ransacked and robbed all the Ware-houses and afterwards set them on fire The greatest Loss fell upon the English and Dutch the first lost about ten thousand Dollars and the latter about thirty thousand Of these Losses and breach of Peace the Christian Ambassadors much lamented and complained that if some Remedy were not applied thereto all Trade must be given over no Security being to be expected in the Articles and Faith of the Grand Signior To which though the Vizier and Great Men did seem to yield a favourable Ear and promise Redress Yet being corrupted with some share of the Spoils and sweetned with part of the Robbery they began to reject the Memorials of the Ambassadors and to allow the Pleas of the Pirats as grounded on some solid Foundation of Reason and Religion suffering them to publish Discourses that the Turks were obliged to maintain a perpetual War with the Christians as Enemies to their Law and Alchoran and though Policy may suggest some Conveniencies by Peace with them yet those Considerations are Matters of Sin rather than of Reason To make all this good the Divan of Tunis sent two Deputies to remonstrate the great Benefit and Advantage the Port received by the Depredations and hostile Acts which they committed on the Christians And to inculcate this Argument the better they declared That they had lately taken two Gallies of Malta out of the Spoils of which they presented unto the Sultan two Stirrups of Gold with divers Slaves two of which were Cavaliers one of the Roman and the other of the French Nation those which were Youths and comely in shape and feature were entred into the Service of the Seraglio and the more strong and robustous were committed to the Service of the Gallies so that the Turks were inwardly pleased with these Piracies howsoever gave good words to the Christian Ambassadors promised much and effected nothing At that time Trade flourished greatly in those Parts and had done much more had it not been interrupted by the Piracies of
Minister or Bailo then resident at Constantinople called Soranço alledging that contrary to the Articles of Peace they had afforded Provisions and Entertainment to his Enemies in Candia and at a time when having made Prize of his own Ship and Domestiques of his Seraglio they seemed with more extraordinary demonstrations of Hospitality than usual to receive them into their Harbours To which the Bailo made Answer That his Majesty was ill informed of the true state of those Matters for that the Port to which the Malteses came had neither Castle nor Fortress belonging to it but was an open wide and unfortified place for if the Grand Signior is not able to defend thâse Ships from careening as they have oâten done before Rhodes it self how was it possible for the Venetians to drive them from the Seas and deny them the use of that Salt Water which hath neither Fort nor Castle to reach and command them With which Answer Ibrahim seemed to remain satisfied and Matters appeared so appeased on the side of the Venetians that Soranço though a Person of a most acute and penetrating Judgment imagined nothing less than a War and though he was assured otherwise by something that the English Ambassador had discovered in that Matter yet because it came not first from the Report of one of his own Interpreters he would not seem to believe or give credit thereunto notwithstanding the strong Probabilities that might perswade it Indeed Christian Ministers must necessarily with much Difficulties and less Inspection govern and penetrate Affairs in the Turkish Court than in any other because access to the great Ministers is seldom privately or familiarly admitted from whence wise Men most commonly take their Measures and Observations but on the contrary are forced to act all by the Negotiation of their Druggermen or Interpreters and as they hear with their Ears so are they often-times beholden to their Reflections which how subject they may be to Error is best known to those Ministers who have practised much and long in that Court. And in this manner Ibrahim covered his Design against Candia by pretence of making War upon Malta to which he had lately received so just a provocation To this Enterprize none instigated him more than a certain Hagia or Tutor which had accompanied him in the time of his Solitude and had instructed him in the first Principles of the Mahometan Doctrine he was a subtil and understanding Man and one who kept a secret Correspondence in the Christian Courts for being Master of what Gold he pleased he paid for his Intelligence with Liberality and Secresy and though he was no Prophet yet he pretended to be a Magician or Conjurer or one that had a Command or Soveraignty over Familiar Spirits an Excellency greatly admired and reverenced by the Turks This Man had for a long Season attended an opportunity to promote a War against Venice esteeming their Territories very convenient to be laid to the Turkish Dominions and their Force an under-Match for the Puissance of the Ottoman Empire And now this Accident provoking the Desire of the Turks to this War and the Opportunity appearing commodious to cover the Design under pretence of Assailing Malta it was secretly resolved to attempt the Island of Candia for as its Strength and Situation made it the Key to all the other Isles of the Archipelago so it would be the Bullwark of the Maritime Countries from whence the Passage would be short and easy into Africa from whence the Gallies might advantagiously relieve Cyprus and guard the Fleet from Egypt and from thence might be opened a Door to invade Sicily and the other parts of Italy On these Considerations War being resolved against Candia Reports divulged the Design only against Malta and for that end Orders were issued for building and fitting an hândred Gallies and as many Ships of War and Commands sent into Barbary for assistance of all their Naval Forceâ and the Day appointed for Rendezvous and Departure all which time the Enterprize was kept secret and by no more Symptoms suspected unless by the unusual Caresses the Turks at that time over-acted in their officious kindness towards the Venetian Bailo The Report of these great Preparations flying over all Parts of Europe was entertained at Malta with some Apprehension as being the Place on which all the Storm was to refund its Fury Whereupon the Cavaliers or Knights of that Place summoning a Council resolved to cite all the Fraternity to repair to the Defence of their Capital Seat and of their Order and Patrimony Likewise Letters were directed to the several Officers to prepare and send Powder Match and Lead Iron Buckets and Timber to make Carriages for Cannon and for other Uses as also Corn Bisket Salt Flesh and Fish Vinegar Wine and all other sorts of Ammunition They likewise instituted some Officers over the Waters to see that the âountains and Conduits should be made clear which were to serve the City and that those without that were to remain in the possession of the Enemy should be carefully and artificially poisoned all the Mills remaining in the Fields were transported into the Town the Doors and Windows of Wood belonging to the Peasants Houses were taken down and carried into the City with all their Utensils and what else was portable so that nothing remained but the wide Fields and an open Air to breath in In the mean time the Venetians being a wise and jealous State suspected the worst of all Events and feared what their Minister at Constantinople could not discover which caused them to make some Preparations but yet with that dexterity and secresy as not to render them diffident of the Turks Proceedings For to be jealous of a Friend is sometimes to make him an Enemy and Distrust always argue Disaffection which Prudence teaches to conceal from those who are more powerful than our selves Some were notwithstanding of Opinion that the Complaints of Ibrahim were only Artifices to extract the Blood of Gold which they judged fit to administer if it were possible to satisfy the Appetite of those Leeches Others were of a contrary sense and would by no means admit it for good Counsel or Policy to buy their Peace of the Turk for besides that it was disagreeable to the Grandeur of Venice it was but a Shadow that they purchased since their Enemies could on every slight Occasion reassume what they had sold and make the Menaces of War and the Sale of Peace serve them for a perpetual Fountain and Mine of Gold and Treasure and that since it was necessary at one time or other to cast off this Yoke of Tyranny the sooner it was done the Advantage would be the greater and the Honour more apparent to the World seeming to make War rather their Choice than their last Remedy Howsoever Orders were given to the Bailo with all Prudence and Art to touch gently the Pulse of the Turks to discover if Mony would redeem the present
person nor am I to be esteemed as possessed with affection or partiality to any side which is a point of sobriety and good temper necessary for all Historians For we who lived in those parts were little concerned for the House of Kuperlee or for the Favourites of the Court nor was it of any moment to us whether the Faction of the Spahees or Janizaries prevailed or whether the Courtiers or the Soldiers ruled the Empire only we esteemed it our duty to speak best of that Government under which our Trade thrived most And tho the times of Sultan Ibrahim were the golden days for Merchants which employed our Navigation beyond the memory of any times either before or since and consumed of our Manufactories tho not in greater quantities yet perhaps with better advantage and profit to our Nation Yet I ought not to be so injurious or ungrateful to Sultan Mahomet the Fourth as to accuse his Government of Oppression or Violence towards us or of any breach of Articles and Priviledges which he had granted to his Majesties Subjects but shall rather applaud and be ready to own that Iustice which our Complaints have found and met at the Ottoman Court under the protection of those worthy Ambassadors sent by his Majesty to stand Centinel on the Guard of their Country For whereas in the time of Sultan Morat when the Military men bore the sway Injustice and Violence which mingled in all the actions of Rule had an influence also on the English affairs And when in the time of Sultan Ibrahim that the Female Court had gained the predominancy and that vast Treasures were expended in Riot and Luxury the prodigality of great persons made it necessary to be rapacious and unjust But in these more moderate times of this present Sultan when neither excessive Wars abroad nor Luxury nor immoderate expence at home exhausted the Coffers We may easily imagine that the disorders of State did not drive the Rulers to a necessity of exercising unjust Arts which are always most certain Symptoms either of a bad Government or a vicious inclination in the Prince The English Trade according to the Chronicles of Sir Richard Baker was first introduced into the Country of the Turks in the Year 1579. but Sagredo an Italian Writer accounts only from the Year 1583. perhaps before that time Overtures were only made for a Trade which might be so inconsiderable as that until then it was not esteemed worthy to be adorned with an Ambassador or to be opposed by the Ministers of Foreign Princes For so soon as an Ambassador from England appeared at the Ottoman Court with Credential Letters from Queen Eâizabeth the French and Venetian Ministers took the Alarm and opposed his reception especially the French who as Sagredo reports in his History of thâ Turks represented unto the G. Vizier how much this new Friendship with the English would obstruct that ancient Alliance which was made with his King and would impeach and lââsen the Priviledges and Trade which they enjoyed in those parts To which the Vizier answered according to their usual phrase and stile That the happy Imperial Seat where his Master resided was called the Port because it was free and open to all such who desired to take refuge and sanctuary therein and therefore the English without just reason ought not to be excluded That the Sultan ought not to be denied that freedom of love and hatred which was common to all Mankind and that he was as well resolved to chuse and cherish his Friends as to prosecute and destroy his Enemies Whereunto the French Ambassador urged That since it was the pleasure of the Grand Signior to admit the English that at least they should be obliged to enter Constantinople under the French Colours But the English Ambassador replied that his Mistress who was so potent scorned all Dependencies on other Nations and would rather abandon the Friendship of the Sultan than admit the least diminution of her own honour And embellishing his Discourses as Sagredo proceeds with the representation of that advantage and profit which the English Trade would bring to the Ottoman Empire he so ensnared the hearts of the Turks that they preferred the admittance of new Guests before the Alliance of ancient Friends Since which time our Commerce and Trade with the Turk hath been in its increase and being governed by a Wise and Grave Company of Experienced Merchants hath by Gods blessing brought an inestimable Treasure and advantage to the English Nation which that it may still continue increase and flourish in all Ages and times to come is the hearty desire and Prayer of him who is a true and faithful Servant to that worthy Society and a sincere Wellwisher to his Country Farewel THE HISTORY OF Sultan Mahomet IV. THE XIII EMPEROUR OF THE TURKS Beginning in the NINTH YEAR OF HIS REIGN The First BOOK Anno Christi 1661. Hegeira 1072. IT was now the beginning of this Year when the Earl of Winchelsea arrived at Constantinople the first Embassadour sent abroad from His Majesty of Great Britain Charles the Second after his happy Return to the Glorious Throne of his Ancestors to Sultan Mahomet the Thirteenth Emperour of the Turks it being judged fit that amongst other Alliances which were to be contracted with Foreign Princes and States this of Turkey should not be omitted but rather in the first place considered In regard that as the flourishing Estate and Prosperity of England's richess depends absolutely on her Foreign Trade so on none more particularly than on that of Turkey which consumes great quantities of her most staple and substantial Manufactures and makes returns in whatsoever Employs and gives Bread to the poor and industrious of the Nation But before we come to treat of the Successes of this Ambassador and the various Transactions in the Turkish Affairs we shall relate some accidents which befel us in our Voyage by Sea to Constantinople The Earl of Winchelsea and his Lady with a numerous Retinue being embarked on the Plymouth Frigat commanded by Sir Thomas Allen and accompanied with a Catch and two Merchants Ships the Prosperous and Smyrna Factor for Turkey set sail from the Downs on the Twentieth of Octob. 1660. And proceeding with a favourable Gale and fair Weather until we were come to the heighth of the Norward Cape or Cape Finisterre we then contended with so severe a storm that we were forced to bring our Ship under a main course to fasten our Helm and lye and drive In the Twenty nineth about Five in the Morning our main Tack flew which shook and strained our Mass so violently that it was shivered in two places between Decks The danger hereof might have proved of ill consequence had the Mast gone by the Board for in all probability it would have carried up our Decks unfixed both our Pumps and laid us open to the Sea but the Providence of God and the diligence of our Seamen was such year 1661.
that we soon struck our Top Mast boared our main Yard and so fished the Mast it self where it was defective that with the help of our fore-Sail and the benefit of better Weather we safely arrived on the Thirty first in the Port of Lisbon The Match being then in Treaty between Charles the Second our Dread Soveraign and Catherine the Infanta of Portugal now our gracious Queen all the concernments of England were extreamly acceptable to the Court of Portugal and particularly the Person of the Earl of Winchelsea a Peer of England qualified with the Character of Ambassadour Extraordinary to the Ottomon Port. For at our first arrival there I being then Secretary to the said Earl was employed to carry a Letter to the King which was received by the Councel of State then sitting After the Letter had been read and considered I was called in and an answer given me by the Marquis de Nissa and D. Gasper Faria de Sevarin then Secretary of State to this purpose That they were glad so grateful an opportunity presented whereby they might Demonstrate their warm and real affections towards the King of England by serving his Ambassadour in so necessary a piece of Service as that which was required That Orders were given to furnish the Ship with a Mast and what she wanted out of the Kings Stores and that both his Excellency and Lady with all their Retinue should be welcomed a shore with due regard to their Quality and Condition The Day following his Excellency was complemented from the King by a Maestro de Campo sent to him on Ship-board and being come ashoar and lodged at the House of Mr. Maynard the English Consul he was visited by D. Francisco de Melo who had before and was afterwards employed Ambassadour into England and by D. Antonio de Saousa and others After Eight days his Excellency had Audience of the King and the Queen Mother and was received by both with many demonstrations of a hearty desire to contract a firm Alliance with England He was afterwards invited by the Conde de Odemira Governour of the young King and Chief Minister of Portugal to a Quinta or Garden-house at Bellain where were present the Duke of Calaval the Visconde de Castel Blanco and D. Francisco de Melo the entertainment was very splendid with variety of Dishes and Wine corresponding rather with the inordinate Tables of English than with the frugality and temperate Diet of Spaniards Our Ship being in this interim refitted we returned aboard on the Twelfth of November the Earl of Winchelsea being presented by the King with several Hampers of sweet-Meats Vessels of Wine and other Provisions for his Voyage and his Lady by the Queen Mother with a Jewel of considerable value and with diverse boxes filled with Purses of perfumed Leather and Amber Comfits On the Thirteenth we set Sail being design'd by Order of his Majesty for Algier to settle a Peace with that unsetled People where arriving on the Tewenty second day about Three a Clock in the Afternoon we came to an Anchor about Two Miles distant from the Town which we saluted with Twenty one Guns but received none again in answer thereunto it being the custome of that People not to acknowledge Civilities but to repay injuries and not requite benefits We found that they had already begun to break the Peace Having brought in thither an English Ship which lay between hope and fear of freedom or seizure So soon as we had dropt our Anchors a Boat came from that Ship acquainting us of the State of Algier and how near Matters were to a Rupture with them by this Boat my Lord Ambassadour sent a Letter to the Consul appointing him to come aboard who the next Day being the Twenty third appeared accordingly to whom his Excellency imparted the Instructions and Orders from his Majesty to renew the Peace on the former Articles and particularly to insert a Caution That the Algerines should on no terms search our Ships but that the Passengers and goods thereon whether of English or Strangers should be free and exempted from all seizure and Pyracy whatsoever I being appointed to assist the Consul in this Treaty accompanied him ashoar and in the first place we applyed our selves to Ramadam Bullock-bashee then the Chief of their Divan and Head of their Government whom we acquainted that on the Ship in the road was an Earl of England sent Ambassadour by his Majesty our King to the Grand Signor and in his way thither was appointed to touch at Algier and to inform the Government of that place of the happy Restoration of his Majesty to the Throne of his Father and to confirm the same Peace which was before concluded with usurped Powers and so delivered him the Letters from his Majesty which were superscribed in this manner To their Excellencies the Aga Iiabashees and rest of the Honourable Council of State and War in the City and Kingdom of Algier Ramadam answered us that he was well satisfied with the Proposal that there was a Peace already with the English and that they were Brothers that the next Day was appointed for a general Divan of great and small at which we might freely open our breasts and declare whatsoever was committed to us by our King and his Ambassadour But for the better understanding of the State of Algier at this time we must observe that for many years before this government was composed of a Divan the Chief and Head whereof was a Pasha sent every Three years to preside there and had so continued until that some few Months before this time one Halil a poor Fellow who had no better Estate than the Sixteenth part of a Vessel but bold and desperate complained one Day in open Divan against the Pasha accusing him of many miscarriages with which he so affected the Divan that he rudely threw him from his Seat drubbed him trampled on him and plucked the Hairs out of his Beard which is the greatest mark of ignominy and contempt that any Person can offer to another and having committed him to Prison and Chains he with the Divan took upon himself the unlimited Power of an Arbitrary Government And thus for the space of Six or Eight Months this Miscreant tyrannized and ruled without controul Until an obscure and contemptible Moor an ordinary Jerbin or Countryman instigated as was supposed by the Aga or General of the Souldiery approaching near him in the Streets under pretence of kissing his Vest struck him with a long Knife between the Ribs which boldness of the Moor so astonished the Attendants which were about him that none had power to lay hands on the Murderer but suffered him to depart and fly unpursued Of this wound Halil dyed in Two days in which time he nominated Ramadam his Kinsman to be the most proper and fit Person to succed him in the Government and this recommendation so prevailed on the Divan that he was elected
to keep the business in suspence than to come to an open rupture with them and rather than to use long discourse to them or perswasions to little purpose to write them this short Letter the superscription of which was to Ramadam their Governour in Chief and to the rest of the Divan WE are sorry that there should be still one difference in our Treaty relating to the search of Shipâ and delivering up Merchants Forreigners and Strangerâ goods This is an Article which the King my Master did not think you would have insisted upon because it was granted to others who were Uâuâpârs and his Subjects and therefore did not impower me to conclude with you in it Howsoever I shall acquainâ the King my Master of your earnest Desiâes and Resolves in this Business and doubt not but what is Iust and Reasonable will be assented unto Wherefore in the mean time we must desire you whilst his Royal assent is expecting to your proposals that the Peace may continue on the same Terms that it now stands Let your Friend and Kinsmân comâ abâard as is desired and he shall be welcome and we shall protect him to the uttermost of our power And on this Promise and word of ours yâu may rely on as of a Christian and a true Englishman Our desire also farther is that the Lord Obryan may remain in the Consuls House until such time as his Ransom comes And so we wish that a hearty and long Peace may be continued between the two Nations Given aboard the Plymouth Frigat November 25 1660. Winchelsea Upon delivery of this Letter it was concluded that the former Articles should stand in force only that difference about searching our Ships should remain in suspence and be specified as not fully agreed on Howsoever they would search our Ships and it should not be accounted a breach of our Capitulations until the King should intimaâe his dislâke thereof And that when Notâce should come from his Majesty to Algier that he approved not thereof then it should be lawful for both sides to break into Acts of Hostility This moderate course we thought to be less prejudicial to us for the present than an open and sudden War For by this means we gained the releasement of two small English Ships which their Men carried in thither and had time to give notice to our Merchants in all Ports and places of the true state of our business with Algier On the Twenty-seventh of November we departed from the bay of Algier with a prosperous and steddy Gale steering N.E. and N. N. E. for Messiââ from whence we intended to dâspatch Letters unto all places rendring advices to his Majesty and the Merchants of the State and Condition of our Affairs and Negotiation at Algier And whilst we pleasantly sail'd with a prosperous wind on a sudden a cry was made of Fire in the Ship which astonished us all with a great amazement For the Cooper it seems going into the Steward's Room to stave a Cask which formerly had some Brandy in it by chance a Snuff of the Candle fell in at the bung which put the whole Vessel into a Flame But the same Man immediately stopping the Bung soon smothered the Fire and therewith extinguish'd thatand our fears As to other Matters our Voyage to Messina was speedy and happy for we arrived there on the Second of December Some Days passed before we could get pratick for having touched at Algier a place always suspected for the Plague great scruple was made of admitting us to free converse in the Town Until the Lord Ambassadour gave under his Hand and Seal an assurance of the Health of our Ship on confidence of which we received Pratick and the Palace called Paradise where commonly the Vice-Kings are lodged was appointed to receive his Excellency and his Retinue and the Furniture thereof ordered by D. Francisco de la Villa Padierna a Spaniard who was Stratago which is as much as Commander in chief of all the Castles and Forts in and about Messina So soon as his Excellency landed this Stratago made him a Visit and at his departure left his Guard with him in a Complement but in the mean time the Iurati who were six in number chose as I think every year or every third year by the Citizens for Government of the City were wanting in the like civility towards our Ambassador four of which are chosen out of the Burgers and two out of the Gentry for they took no notice of him nor sent him any message until the hour that he was about to depart when his Excellency refused to receive their visits excusing his neglect of attendance to matters of Ceremony at a time when business urged his departure whence this omission on the Jurats side proceeded may in probability be deriv'd from the antipathy they have to the Spaniards and their Government always running contrary to that unto which they find the Spanish Ministers most inclined During our abode at this place his Excellency having returned his Visit to the Stratago accompanied with D. Ioseppe de Luna a Cavalier of Maltha and having wrote a Letter to the Conde de Ayala then Vice-King of Sicily residing at Palermo he gave advices unto all places of the doubtful state of our affairs with Algiers that so Ships might be cautious of that people and how they adventured themselves abroad without Convoy and having compleated these Dispatches we again returned aboard on the ninth of this Month when the Stratago abounding in all points of civility sent an honourable present of all sorts of fresh provisions aboard Ship and soon after came himself in person to bid Farewel to his Excellency At his coming aboard we gave him nine Guns and at his going off fifteen and so soon as our Anchors were away and our Fore-top-Sail filled we bid adieu to the Town with twenty one Guns more which they returned by firing all the Guns of the five Castles under command of the Stratago which is an honour they seldom pay to any other than the Generalissimo of Spain the Vice-King and the Popes Admiral We had so fair a Wind and so prosperous a passage that we arrived at Smyrna on the 14 th of December where we found the Prosperous and Smyrna Factor the Merchants Ships which we had lost in the Storm happily arrived Here we remained for some days to order and settle several affairs according to Instructions given by the Turky Company And on the sixth of Ianuary being Sunday and Twelfth-day we returned aboard to prosecute this Ultimate stage of our Voyage to Constantinople our Frigat the Plymouth Anchored near the Town within the very Port of Smyrna from whence sailing with a fresh Easterly Wind from the shore we were carried without the Port and out of command of the Castle where the wind sailing and being wholly calm we Anchored until the next morning when with a gentle gale at South-East we proceeded forward and
the Table Eighteen Coââans or Vests being the usual number given to the English Ambassadour with one extraordinary in favour to the New Ambassador were brought forth and bestowed and in the mean time the Present from our King to the Grand Signior provided at the expence of the Turky Company consisting of Fifty Vests viz. Ten of Velvet Ten of Saâtin Ten of Cloth of Gold Ten of Tabbies and Ten of fine English Cloth were brought forth and displayed in the open Court by Fifty men which carried them and Four English Mastiffs which were more acceptable to this Grand Signoir than all the rest The whole body of Janisaries then payed consisting of about Five thousand were drawn up in a body and ranged on one side of the Court-yard amongst them there was that silence that the least whisper noise or motion was not heard and as their Janisar Aga and other Commanders passed the bowings they made in salute were so regular and at the same time as may well testify the exactness of their Discipline and admirable obedience which hath in a great measure contributed towards their Conquests and Enlargement of their Empire Being thus Vested and ranked in Order the Great Vizier entered into the Presence of the Grand Signior and then Two Capâgi-bashes or Chief of the Porters of the Gate with long Silver Staves took the New Ambassador under each Arm to conduct him to the Chamber of Audience those permitted to accompany him were Sir Thomas Bendysh the Earl of Winchelsea's Brother Sir Thomas Allen Captain of the Plymouth Frigat the Interpreter and my self who then being Secretary carried the Credential Letters made up in a Purse of Cloth of Gold. We gently knocked at the first Gate which was immediately set wide open to us in the Porch whereof Forty white Eunuchs attended clothed in Vests of Sattin and Cloth of Gold of divers colours and stood with their Hands before them with marvellous silence and modesty Coming near to the Presence door where the Kapi-Aga or Chief of the white Eunuchs attended we made a pause in the Porch and trod very softly so as not to disturb with the least motion the greatness of that Majesty and so profound was the silence that nothing was heard besides the murmurings of a Fountain adjoining hereunto Just at the entrance of the Chamber hung a gilded Ball studded with divers precious Stones the Floar was covered with Crimson Velvet embroidered with Golden-wyre The Grand Signior himself sate in a Throne raised a small heigth from the ground supported with Four Pillars plated with Gold from the top hung several gilded Balls twined with Masses of Pearl the Cushions he sate upon and those also that lay by were richly embroidered and beset with Jewels and on his right hand stood the Great Vizier And having made a considerable stop at the Door the Two Capugibashees who held his Excellence under each Arm brought him to the middle of the Room and laying their Hands upon his Head made him bow until he touched the Carpets with his forehead and then raising him again they retired backward with him unto the farthest part of the Room and in like manner they took all the others singly and in order placing them behind the Ambassadors The Credential Letters from our King were then presenâed and appointed that they should be delivered to the hands of the Reis-Efendi or Secretary of State. Then the Druggerman or Interpreter by Order of the Lord Ambassador read a Paper in the Turkish Language to this Effect First Declaring how the King of Great Britain our Soveraign Lord and Master was restored to the Throne of his Ancestors without War or any Conditions And the great Clemency of His Majesty in pardoning all but those who had a hand in the Murder of his Father Secondly Recommending the Merchants and their Interest to the continuance of his usual Favour and Protection Thirdly Begging the freedom of all English Slaves as a particular Testimony of Favour and Grace to this New Ambassador These Ceremonies being performed and the Paper read we immediately departed passing to our Horses by the same way which we came And being mounted we drew up a little out of the passage to see the Soldiers march by us which indeed appeared to be a very flourishing Militia of young Men robust and well clothed many of them running with Bags of Money on their Shoulders and all of them chearful and glad of the charge they carried with them after them followed their Commanders exceedingly well mounted And last of all came the Great Vizier attended with many Pashaes and a goodly Equipage And then his Excellency with Sir Thomas Bendysh and attendance proceeded forwards and returned to their home After this Two visits were made Namely to the Captain-Pasha or Admiral of the Seas and the other to the Muftee at the first Six Vests were presented and at the latter Five and both were performed and accepted with such mutual kindness that never did the Turkish Ministers cast more serene countenances on the Trade and Concernments of England than on this conjuncture And thus the Earl of Winchelsea being very successfully and with signal Demonstrations of Honour and a good correspondence seated in the usual residence of Ambassadors the Grand Signior as a particular Note and mark of his favour presented him with Three English Slaves and returned a kind and friendly answer to his Majesties Letters by Sir Thomas Bendysh who embarked on the Plimouth Frigat and departed the Eleventh of March. And thus having given the Reader a Relation of the State of the English concernments in Turky Let us view and consider the Condition of the Turkish Affairs amongst themselves At the arrival of this Ambassador the important affairs of this vast and still growing Empire were governed by the Great Vizier Kuperlee a Person decrepit and infirm in body by reason of his great Age but of a solid and subtle judgment by Nature cruel and by Years froward which disposition was singularly well fitted to do service to his Master against the impetuous storms of the Faction of those times in which the Pashaws and Chiefs of the Soldiery as often it happens in Empires whose Body is grown too vast to be ruled by a weak Head became rich and powerful and by the long Vacations of Peace insolent and wanton for as then the Wars with Venice were carried on faintly only by sending forth an Armata of Gallies in the Spring and the preparations became rather accustomary returning with the Year and made for exercise of the Arsenal and amusement of the People than designed with any probable expectation of success or Victory proportionable to that Treasure and Trouble which maintained them So that to encounter so many difficulties and predominancy of Ambition and Avarice the Prince himself being young the Fortune of his Empire had more than urgent necessity of such a rough and cruel disposition as was found in Kuperlee who so seasonably made
to concur herein with assistance of his Imperial States yet at least he would be pleased not to interdict him from the Glory of that design in which he questioned not but to succeed and in a short time to render not only to his Majesty but also to the whole Christian World proofs of his Valour and a good account of his Enterprize Howsoever the Emperor's Council seriously considering that Serini's State could not be engaged with the Turk without involving his Interest and that the Princes of the Empire though when assaulted would willingly contribute their Forces in the defensive part yet would be backward to be the Aggressors and engage their States in an offensive and provoking War did therefore not only deny to second or abet his designs with Military succours but positively commanded him to retire and desist from his resolution against Canisia with which Answer the Zeal and Spirit of Serini was so inflamed that throwing in passion his Cemiter on the Ground he raised his well-formed Seige and retired to his proper Residence at Chiacaturno The loss also of Varadin moved the Transilvanians to consult their safety in this extremity of their Affairs which now amidst these dangers and storms which threatned them appeared in a desperate and languishing Condition unless remedied by a desperate Cure and the resolves of some wise and valiant Counsel Wherefore in the first place they concluded to depose Acatius Barclay the Favourite of the Turks and in his stead they constituted Iohn Chiminianus or Kemânius the late General of Ragotski's Army In the next place they made their Addresses and Applications to the Emperor for assistance supplicating as Ragotski and those of Varadin had done before the powerful protection and sacred Patronage of the Imperial Eagles alledging those Arguments of common safety and mutual interest which apparent reason suggested and which were the present Subject and Theme of all the Courts in Christendom To this Demand the Emperor assented promising readily his assistance but with Proviso that for his security the Cities of Zechelhid Chowar Iulia and other places should receive Garisons of German Soldiers The Transilvanians willingly accepted the Propositions so that soon after those places were supplied with German Garisons But as yet no effectual Forces came from the Emperor nay rather the German Councils seemed willing to perswade the Turks that there was no design but to maintain the ancient friendly and amicable Correspondence to which end it is said confidently that the Prince Gonzaga wrote to the Pasha of Buda That those Garisons sent to possess certain places of Transilvania were only in appearance and not to create Dissentions between the Austrian Court and the Ottoman Prince which Letters Ali Pasha sent to the Transilvanians with design that discovering unto them an evident reason to distrust the Emperor they should wholly resign themselves to the good will and disposition of the Port. But notwithstanding these verbal assurances prevailed not so much with the Turks on one side as the German Garisons administred jealousie on the other So that the Vizier raged furiously against the Emperor for encouraging Kemenius who had treacherously murdered his two innocent Brothers in his Rebellion against Barclay the only true and lawful Possessor Nor did the Turks only vent their anger and disdain in words but also by the sad and calamitous effects of War passing without farther parly into the Emperors Dominions in Hungary where they put all to fire and sword Count Serini perceiving evidently hereby that the War was broken forth and that it was not longer time to stand at a gaze and not make necessary Provisions for defence about the beginning of Iune year 1661. he laid the foundations of a Fortress on the Banks of the River Muer within the Dominions of the Turks about a League distant from Canisia and in memory of his Family and Name called it Serinswar a place convenient to assault and offend the Enemy and to fix the Bulwark or Redoubt of the Province of Stiria which work was laid with that secresie and executed with such expedition that it was almost finished beâore it was known or notice taken thereof by the Turks but so soon as it was discovered and the News arrived at Constantinople the old Vizier Kuperlee stormed with rage and in his height of passion signed a Command for strangling the Pasha of Canisia for not timely preventing the Erection of that Fort in its beginning In like manner this work was an occasion of disgust at Vienna for though the Turks were the first who had broken the Peace and given just cause to the Christians to provide all cautions imaginable for their safety Yet I know not why nor wherefore there wanted not certain persons in the Court either emulous of Serini's Glory or zealous of the Emperors Interest who interpreted the activeness and forward heat of this Count to be like fire to enflame the Fuel of Controversie between the two Empires yet certainly we cannot but meritoriously applaud the Heroick Spirit of this Prince who was provident of his Countries safety watchâul of the Enemies Motion soon touched with the sense of the Mahometan infidelity and in fine a zealous Champion of the Christian Cause But now with what Salve or Balsome soever the Italian or Spanish Chirurgions of Politick Government imagined to âbduct a callous over the smarts or wounds of these differing States the Breaches grew every day too wide to be drawn up or cemented by artificial compliances or verbal lenitives for now the succours promised by the Emperor were arrived in Transilvania under the Command of Count Mântecuculi and joining with the Forces of Kemenius formed such a numerous and well composed Army as was judged not only sufficient to contend for the interest of the Christian Cause but also for the entire decision of the Worlds Dominion So that both Generals with an unanimous consent confident of Victory agreed not to expect the approach of Ali Pasha but boldly to meet and provoke him to Battel Ali the Turkish General perceiving the strength and resolution of the Christians thought it prudence for a while to detract from Engagement and temper the usual mettle of the Ottoman fury with cooler Counsels of advantage which delays and opportunities of time would administer for observing that the Transilvanians were divided into Factions he humoured the dissenting party by constituting Michael Apafâ their Prince a person in the flower and strength of his Age of great parts and abilities and one who violently affected the Principality having but lately pârchased his freedom from slavery In this manner Apafi passing from his Prison and Chains to the glâry and trouble of a Throne poor Transilvania remained divided and taking Arms against her self went daily working and contriving her own ruine This hath always been the Master-piece of the Turkish Policy and this disunion amongst Christians hath availed the Ottoman Interest more than their
always be a Plea in defence of the English Nation in Turky when at any time His Majesty provoked by the Injuries of those faithless and piratical Nations should take due Revenge upon them not only on the Seas but also on the Land subverting those very Cities and Fortresses which are the Nests of Piracies and the common Chastisement and Gaols of Christendom When these Articles came to the hands of His Majesties Ambassador the Earl of Wiâchelsea with Orders to have them ratified and subscribed in the manner foregoing the Turkish Court was then at Adrianople to which place on this occasion the Lord Ambassador made a Journey from his usual Residence at Constantinople and having acquainted the Chimacam with the whole matter and the Propositions rightly apprehended by him they were offered and the next day communicated in behalf of the Ambassador to the Grand Signior who readily promised compliance with His Majesties desires ordering the Articles and Conclusion of them to be ingrossed and prepared for the Imperial Assent Howsoever some considerable time ran on before they were delivered out in regard that being matters of State relating to War and Peace they could not be fully granted without Privity and Knowledg of the Grand Vizier who was the supreme Counsellor and therefore we were forced to attend thirty five days before an Express could go and return from the Frontiers with the Answer expected which was as easily granted by the Vizier as before it was entertained by the Grand Signior On August 5. the Confirmation of the several aforesaid Articles were consigned unto my self in presence of our Lord Ambassador by the hands of the Chimacam being my self designed in Person to deliver them for which Service a Frigat of His Majesties Navy attended at Smyrna so that very Evening I departed and arrived at Smyrna the 15 th of August In my Journy from Adrianople to Smyrna omitting the Geography of the Countries and the pleasent view I had from the top of a Mountain between Malagra and Gallipoli from whence I could survey all the Hellespont and at the same time take a prospect of the Propântick and Ionian Seas I shall only relate two passages which beâel me in this Journey not unpleasant to be remembred The first was at a small Village called Ishecle at the foot of the Mountain Ida not far from the Ancient Troy now named by the Turks Kauzdog which signifies the Mountain of Geese the People that inhabit here are of a rude Disposition great Thieves and of a wild and savage Nature at my entry thereupon I was advised by those that were with me that it was necessary to take Mules to carry my Baggage through the Mountains and to press the People to convoy me to the next Government by Virtue of a Command the Grand Signior had granted me for the security of my Travels so that arriving at this ãâã by break of day I went directly with all my Attendance being about eighteen or nineteen Horse to the Kadi's House where knocking hard at the Door a Servant looked out at the Window and spying so great a company wholly affrighted ran to his Master and awakening him with such dreadful news he had scarce any Soul or Life remaining to render an Answer for he was one of those who three times a day was used to take his Dose of Opium which gave him a strange kind of Intoxication or Drunkennesâ during the Operation of which men have their Spirits violently moved and agitated that afterwards it leaves them so wearied and languid that in the morning when they first awake they remain like dead Stocks their Members are benumbed and can scarce turn from one side to the other In this condition the News of new Guests surprized this Kadi when wholly feeble he called to his Servant to reach him his Box of Opium of which when he had taken his usual Propotion and that it began to work his Life returned again to him and he began immedâately to recover so that he had Courage to open his Gates and receive us in when he had read the Command and found no hurt in it the Man was transported with Joy and Opium and was so kind chearful and of a good humour that I could not but admire at the change he told me ââat he lived in a barbarous Country and was forced to use that for Divertisement and as a Remedy of his melancholly hours I easily perceived the effect it had upon him for he seemed to me like a Bedlam in which humour he called all his Neighbours about him and after a wise Consultation they provided me with two Mules and five Men on foot with rusty Muskets without Powder or Shot to guide and guard me through the Mountains I had not travelled two Miles before all my Guard were stollen aside and taking advantage of the Woods and Mountains were fled from me so that I found my self with no other than my own People in an unbeaten Path and a way unfrequented the man excepted who drove the Mules who for sake of his Beasts was obliged to a farther attendance We travelled in this manner through the Mountains about four hours when near a Village called Suratnee we met one of the Principal men on Horse-back carrying a flead Mutton behind him which upon Examination we discovered to be carried for a Bribe to the Kadi of Isheclee that so he would be his Friend and favour him in his Cause And further upon inquiry finding that our Entertainment was likely to be mean at Suratnee we forced the Gentleman to return with us and to sell us his Mutton at the market-price and so for that time we disappointed our Kadi of his Fee or Reward and being upon the rise of a Hill descending to Suratnee so that the People could see us at a distance they like true Sons of Kauz-dog forsook their Habitations and fled which we perceiving posted after them and catched two of their men whom we brought under Shart or the Country-mans Oath which they account very sacred and will by no means break to be true and faithful to us to serve and not leave us for so long time as we should remain in their Village and accordingly these men were not only serviceable but diligent so soon as they discovered me to be one who would pay justly for what I took and was not a Turkish Aga or Servant of Great men who harrass the People and take their Service and Meat on account of free Quarter the whole Village returned again from their places of Refuge amidst the Woods so that I neither wanted Provisions nor Attendance Another passage happened unto me of better Civility and Enâertainment in the Plains of Pergamus where noâ many Miles from that Ancient City I arrived about six a Clock in the Evening aâ certain Tents or Cots of Shepherds being only Hurdles covered with Hair-cloth lined within with a sort of loose Felt a sufficient defence agâinst the Sun and
him or else that he would by his authority enjoyn the Tartars to restore their Captives and their spoils and render them a reasonable satisfaction The Grand Signior returned no reply hereunto but referred that to be done by his Chimacam silence being esteemed some part of his Majesty and State which he seldom breaks but with few and haughty words This Ambassadour was a man of a bold and daring Spirit a fit Orator for such an Embassy had not his immoderate Covetousness the Vice and Folly commonly incident to Old Age much eclipsed many of those Vertues of which he was Master He was also a Man of a violent temper feavered to a madness in the height of his Choler which strangely betrayed him to âany undecencies in his Language and Comportment For at his Audience with the Chimacam when he came to receive the Grand Signior's Answer his words were vented with that heat and so like to menaces that the Turks taking exception thereat returned his course Speeches with the like Dialect at which the Ambassadour swelled with that indignation and anger as became not the Moderation and Gravity of his Office adding in Conclusion That he was an Aged Man full of Years and Corporal Infirmities that nothing could arrive more happy to him than a Death in which he should triumph to suffer for the benefit and glory of his Country This excess and intemperance of Language moved the Turks to set a Guard upon him and confine him to his own House in the nature of a Prisoner which violation of his Sacred Office so worked upon his Spirits that he often vented some part of his fury in words and blows on the Ofâicers of his Guard for which rude behaviour having received some reproofs from the Chimacam his passion not knowing which way to ease it self feavered him into a desperate sickness of which in a few days phrensical and distracted he departed this life The Secretary of the Embassy being the next in Office took upon him the Function and Charge of the Ambassadour and having now nothing to act but to recâive the Answer to the Message of his Master for which a Day being appointed he was presented with a Horse and Furniture by the Chimacam of whom having Audience he received no other satisfaction to the Complaints against the Tartars than these following which were related to me by the Secretary of the Embassy who did me the honour to make me a Visit when I was on my recovery from a dangerous Sickness at Constantinople First That no compensation or pretence be ever hereafter demanded for the late incursions made by the Tartars into Poland Secondly That the Polanders make not War upon the Cossacks who had lately renounced their subjection and were fled for protection to the Ottoman Power Thirdly That the Poles immediately make War upon the Muscovite Fourthly That the Turk Merchants have free Trade into Poland and that the Turkish Merchants receive satisfaction for what injuries and losses they lately suffered With these Propositions and Conditions of Peace the Secretary was dispatched which did not so well please the Poles as to return thanks for them or a Messenger with Advice of their Acceptance or Ratification and though they could not but be sensible of the scorn and yoke the Turks would impose upon them yet having still remaining amongst them certain Reliques of their former dissentions and diversity about election of a Successour to their King and there being a certain Spirit of Luxury Pride and Sedition which was crâpt in amongst the Nobility they considered not the advantage of the present time but willingly preferred a present ease and enjoyment of their Feasts and Banquets before the hazards and uncertainties of benefit which they might receive by the doubtful lot and fortune of War and though never any Season appeared more opportune and advantageous to the Pole than this when the flower of the Turkish Youth and Force was employed in Candia and all places in part dismantled of their usual strength and complement of Souldiers to defend their Frontiers yet they seemed resolved to pass by the former Incursions and Spoils and Robberies made on their People so the Turk would but stop here and permit them without farther provocation to enjoy their quiet and debauched way of living Only some of the Borderers on the Turks who had deeply suffered by the late Incursions moved with the loss of their Estates and the Captivity of their nearest Relations joyned with a considerable number of the Muscovites entered Tartary in the months of October and November and burned about three hundred Villages carrying away Caâtives and other prey from under the very Walls of Coffa At this time also the Pasha of Balsora began new rumours and an unseasonable Rebellion who being reported to have an Army of Horse and Foot consisting of forty thousand men gave no small disturbance and apprehension to the Turks who with their difficulties of War in Candia and the jealousies of a storm from Poland remained with some doubts and hesitancy about the way of their proceedings At length Orders were dispatched to the Pashaws of Erzirum Aleppo Damascus and Darbequier to unite against the Rebel to divest him of his Government and to sând his forfeited head to his Master These Pashaws accordingly joining their Forces defeated the Rebel and as all Conspiracies of open Rebellion distant from the Court have had but ill success in these Countries against the true Prince so this Pasha was routed and being forsaken by his Servants fled with a few Horse to the Protection of the King of Persia. The principal Cause which moved the Pasha of Balsora as I was informed from the mouth of the Pasha of Damascus to this Rebellion was the Confidence he had in his own strength and the fidelity of his people to whom of ancient right that Government was of hereditary Succession descended to him by his Ancestors for many Generations by which means he challenged such absolute interest in his Principality that for many Years he refused to acknowledge the Grand Signior by any other tokens of homage than in the bare name of his Protector and in making Publick Prayers for his Prosperity and Victories But at length the Grand Signior coming to impose farther on him stirred his hot desires into Rebellion and to an open defiance About the beginning of this Year the Captain-General Cornaro with the Proveditor of the Armata Francesco Barbaro returned to Venice bringing with them one Ramadam a Saâgiack of Egypt and other Slaves taken by the Captains Grimani and Molini The manner was this Ramadam with three and twenty Ships laden with Men and Ammunion endeavoured to enter into Canea but being charged by the Venetians and overcome set sire to their Ship and leaping into the Schiff to save their Lives were taken by the Boat of Molino and though fourteen Gallies came out of Canea to their assistance yet they could not hinder the taking of five
never were revenged or accounted for and when the Ships departed above an hundred Slaves escaped from the Gallies and parts of Constantinople and gained Sanctuary aboard amongst the rest one Monsieur De Beau-jeu a Knight of Malta who had for a long time been Prisoner in the seven Towers but at length knocking off his Irons and by help of a Cord letting himself down from one of the highest Towers in the night recovered the Ships and regained his liberty Nor yet did this nor other affronts whereby the French did really brave the Turks administer sufficient subject of choler to the Vizier for passing all by as if nothing had been done or nothing worthy his notice frankly gave his Orders to let the Ships pass the Castles which upon the foregoing causes and pretences had been before detained adding That it was natural as well for men as for birds to endeavour to procure their liberty and therefore were not blameable but that those to whose care they were committed wanting due circumspection and vigilance in their Office should pay for the escape of their charge by the price of their own lives or liberties The French Ambassadour in the mean time proceeded in his Journey to Adrianople where the Court resided and having passed through the several degrees and Punctilio's of Visits and other Ceremonies at length descending to matters of business proposed the renovation of the Articles of Peace with an addition of thirty two Particulars to be altered or adjoyned The Vizier who all this time kept more in his heart than he evidenced in his countenance refused to condescend to a concession of the most easie and reasonable of their demands offering only to renew the Capitulations verbatim according to the Tenour of the ancient Cannon without other alteration than the Name of the present Sultan and the Date of the Month and Year and herein he was so constant and fixed that no arguments or colours of reason could seem to move him in the most minute and less important points of circumstances and this perhaps lest the World should imagine that the Turks were affrighted into Terms and better Treatments of Friendship or that Immunities and Privileges in the Ottoman Court were acquired rather by rude usage adjoyned with menaccs and neglects than by more candid and fawning Addresses In this manner the French Affairs rather went back than forwards in the Ottoman Court and it seemed that the Turks late Embassy into France and of the French to the Port served to augment the differences more than allay them For the new Ambassador falling short in his expectation having obtained nothing of those many Particulars which he demanded retired male-content from Adrianople to his usual Residence at Constantinople where he resolved to attend what farther Instructions should be given him from France and supposing his Master would ill resent his usage so contrary to what was promised in general terms did suppose that his next Orders would be of revocation and that those frequent disgusts and disrespects so often received and given on one side and the other would at length burst out into an open defiance The Turks apprehended so much themselves and as their affairs and designs proved afterwards with Poland they were displeased that they had given the most Christian King so just an occasion of quarrel for understanding towards the latter end of the Year 1671. that great Preparations for War were making in France both by Sea and Land they were conscious that their demerits had justly deserved the chastisement of the French Arms in revenge of the many injuries they had offered that Nation and therefore paused a while and observed the motion of these Enemies before they would engage themselves in a War with Poland But at length the beginning of the Year 1672. having discovered the designs of France to be only intended against Holland the Turks reassumed their purposes so long premeditated against Poland with an arrogance natural to Turks and with a scorn not only of France but of all Christendom For his most Christian Majesty judging perhaps that the rude treatment of an Infidel Prince so far remote intrenched not so much on his Honour and Interest as the quarrel he had with the neighbouring States seemed to contemn for the present or rather to defer the revenge of former injuries until a more fit and commodious season wherefore in the mean time his Ambassador upon new Instructions from France brought purposely by a Man of War repaired a second time to Adrianople where he intimated unto the chief Ministers the great desire his Master had to maintain that League and Friendship which for above an hundred years had continued inviolate and uninterrupted and therefore waving all other former Particulars of demand declared himself satisfied only to renew the Capitulations with that single alteration of their Customs from five to three in the hundred according to that Priviledge which the English and all other Christian Merchants enjoyed whose League and Friendship was subsequent to that of others The Great Vizier being now freed of that suspicion and fear he apprehended of the French Fleet and being assured that their Arms were not now probable to disturb him in his designs intended he seriously smiled in his sleeve at these Addresâes and with a kind of scorning neglect bid the Ambassador welcome to the Court saying That he should have what he desired Wherefore the Capitulations were transcribed and the alteration made in the value of their Customs but the Vizier who meant nothing less than to yield them this Priviledge deferred the signing thereof from day to day pacifying the daily importunity of the Ambassador with dilatory excuses until at length having protracted the time to the very day that the Grand Signior and he began their March towards Poland without so much as granting the Ambassador a personal Audience did then with soft and gentle words signifie to the Interpreters the grand pressures of his Affairs at present that would not permit him time to perfect all matters with the Ambassadour whom they should assure that at his return with Glory and Victory from the Enterprizes in hand those requests should be granted and his promises performed and in the mean time his Nation should remain secure in these Dominions as in former times and the League and Friendship continued and maintained The Ambassador was strangely surprised at this last Farewel but being a Gentleman of great Morality and Vertue knew no doubt how to bear such a disappointment with an equality of mind agreeable to the greatness of his Soul and therefore with a due resentment of the injury received he returned to Constantinople whilst the Sultan and his Vizier proceeded in their March towards the Confines of Poland But before I enter into a relation of the motives of that War and the success thereof which is the Subject of the following Year let us return to the place from whence we have digressed and observe in this
various Commotions and Disturbances in this State sufficient to attract the eyes of the Turks and encourage the Cosacks in their intended Revolt At length Prince Michael Korebut Wisnowieski being elected King it seemed agreeable to reason that all Verania should have returned to obedience of him to whom the best part of that Country did by right of patrimony year 1662. and natural inheritance belong but the success thereof fell out contrary to all expectation for Dorosensko then General designing to usurp that Government proposed the project of uniting Verania to the Body of Poland as a member of the Crown by which means that Province would not only become free from its Vassalage to the Nobility but obtain equal suffrages in the Diet with all the other more free and priviledged Countries and in this manner he might not only compel Poland to condescend to his designs but confirm himself in the absolute and supreme Authority of the Cosacks This proposition therefore seemed so insolent and savouring of Rebellion to the Polish Court that a severe and menacing Message was dispatched to Dorosensko threatning to take from him his Bulaua or Truncheon of General if ever he entertained any such imagination so highly derogatory to the Majesty of the Polish State he therefore thought it his time to cast himself wholly into the Protection of the Sultan and accordingly dispatch'd Ambassadors to the Port to signifie their submission begging to be received into the Arms of the Ottoman Power and as an assurance thereof that he might receive the Tough which is the Ensign of Authority carried by Pashaws The Vizier at the first motion hereof reflecting on the evil consequences in case the Grand Signior's honour should be foiled in this action suspended a while a compleat answer thereunto but at length being instantly sollicited and perceiving the Disorders and Factions of Poland to encrease the Cosacks were received for Subjects of the Empire and obliged to wage War against all Enemies to the Ottoman Power Duke Michael being elected King the first Act he perfoâmed was to send an Ambassador extraordinary to the Grand Signior with no other Design than to acquaint him of his Election to the Crown only in case an opportunity presented then to move for a ratification of the Articles concluded at Choccin This Amââssador called Wisozki being of a haughty and proud spirit became the Author of all the mischief which ensued for being of a temper which could not equally bear the honour of his important Office lanched out into matters beyond his Commission and instead of imparting his Message would become sole Arbitrator of all the differences between those two powerful Princes for he being unacquainted with the Power or Affairs of the Turks supposed nothing in this World comparable to the number riches and valour of his own Nation and therefore gave himself that liberty of arrogant Language that by way of Command and Menaces he rather seemed to act the part of a Governor or Umpire in the differences of State than of an Orator or Suppliant for peace In his conceit the Turks wanted both courage and power to invade Poland and therefore supposed he might safely brave them into a ratification of former Articles especially when he mentioned a hundred thousand Horse which he undertook before the Vizier to be able on his own acâount to conduct as far as the Walls of Adriânople It was a strange humor of Rodomontado that inspired these two last Ambassadors year 1672. and if from them we may take a pattern of the disposition of the rest of the Polish Nobility it will be no wonder to hear and read the Destractions that are amongst them that they carry themselves with disrespect to their Prince are emulous and factious amongst themselves and that their pride and ignorance which have flattered their humour and triumphed amidst their Tenants and Vassals should betray them to all those evils which we may fear may be the consequences thereof The Great Vizier considering the confidence which this person used in his Discourse imagined that the differences in his Country might be composed and therefore in compliance with his desire offered in general terms to confirm the peace made at Choccin without Addition of any new Article in reference to the Cosacks being a business of that nature which admitted of no present determination this he said was his ultimate resolution which if the Ambassadour approved not he might then advise it home and expect a farther result of their Counsels Wisozki being really possessed in his fancy of the Turks weakness gave way to his passion and with little judgment replied That he approved not of the Proposition nor needed he to transmit any such advice into Poland he himself being a Plenipotentiary of as full a Power as the King and Council for being a Nobleman he was by consequence that necessary Member of the Republick that nothing could pass without his Suffrage The Vizier amazed at this extravagant way of discourse the which he supported with moderation and contempt dispatched away a Chiaus into Poland with Letters desiring that this Ambassadour should be recalled as being a Person unable to manage matters of the least concernment and if they supplied his place with an other he should be received with due respect and a plain way laid open to conclude his Negotiations to the satisfaction of both Parties Wisozki abounding in his own sense and humor represented matters in a far different manner into Poland alledging That the Law of Nations was impeached by the violence offered to his Person being imprisoned and the usual Tain or Allowance of Ambassadours withheld from him both which were not absolutely true for the maintenace he refused as too mean for his Quality and Office and for his Imprisonment it was no other than Confinement to the City of Constantinople with a prohibition only from passing over unto Pera where formerly in a house he had taken he committed a thousand irregularities and disorders which caused the Vizier to recal him again over to Constatinople denying him the liberty of passing more to the other side These were the injuries which he complained of into Poland still fancying That if the Nobility were assembled to consider of these matters the Turk would be so affrighted at it as to condescend unto any terms he should propound These reports of Wisozki took that impression with the Court that esteeming all authentick which he said or wrote without farther examination issued out Orders for a general Insurrection and that all people should prepare for the War rendring the Vizier no other answer than that when their Ambassadour was set at liberty and had licence to depart the like should be permitted unto theirs and in the mean time the Chiaâs was committed to safe custody The Grand Signior highly angred at this obstinate misunderstanding immediately ordered that Wisozki should depart and at the same time commanded his whole Militia to rise and follow him to
their Sovereign The Truth is the Palatines and great Men of the Kingdom being weary to see the Crown as it were Hereditary in the House of Austria made use of the pretence of Religion to stir up the People and oblige them to take Arms for defence of their Liberty both Spiritual and Civil And this aversion was the true Cause of the War. The Emperour was no less dissatisfied with the Turks for General Kops having sent complaints to the Bassa of Waradiâ for that he had given Quarters to the Hungarians in Places which depended on his Government the Bassa told him That he look'd upon them as Passengers who paid for what they took for their subsistance and that consequently he could not look upon their Reception into his Territories as any violation of the Peace The Hostilities betwixt the Imperialists and the Turks did still continue notwithstanding their Negotiations Five hundred Christian Horse commanded by Azos Benas advancing towards Erlaw were cut in pieces by the Infidels Another Party commanded by Collonel Wolping was likewise defeated by a Detachment from the Garrison of Newhausel with the loss of above 200 the Commander being also much hurt A few days after this Encounter the Bassa of that City dyed which occasioned an Accident which did well-nigh make a rupture betwixt the Emperour and the Port. The Imperialists had unadvisedly attack'd the new Bassa which the Grand Seignior did send to Newhausel and defeated his Convoy consisting of 200 Horse by way of Reprisal as they gave out for the Damages which had been done them by the Garrison of that Place without considering that this new Governour had had no share in these Violences The Bassa of Buda sent his complaints of this Affront to the Imperial General with threats that he would acquaint his Master with it and exact satisfaction by all the ways imaginable And they did so for drawing out strong Parties from the Garrison of Erlaw and Waradin they resolved to revenge the Insult done to the Bassa of Newhausel and marching towards Sando near Butrac which they pillaged they returned with above 200 Prisoners Count Wourmb the Emperour's General demanded Justice for this Violence from the Bassa of Buda but received no other answer but that what was done was by way of Reprisal During these Traverses Count Paul Wesselini dyed who had Commanded the Army of the Malecontents with great success but is succeeded by Count Tekeley young yet wary and brave who to this day heads the however broken discontended Party The Emperour who knew that the greatest force of Tekeley's Army came from Transilvania would divert Abaffi by re-establishing the Party of Pedipold who had formerly contested for the Sovereignty of that Principality To this end he obliged that Prince to send four Deputies to Constantinople to implore the protection of the Grand Seignior but the Visier caused them to be put into the Castle of the seven Towers which extremely surprised the Emperour's Resident who had orders to Negotiate that Affair joyntly with them The Emperour being informed hereof sent Monsieur Iullies with secret Instructions to the Port but he dyed by the way which did not a little trouble his Imperial Majesty being all this Envoy's Papers fell into Count Tekeley's Hands who drew no small advantage from the lights he received by them Hoffman Secretary of State returning from Constantinople was stopped at Belgrade being the Bassa of that Place refused to furnish him with necessaries for the continuation of his Journey But the Emperour having dispatch'd an Express to the Bassa of Buda to complain of this incivility he obtained what he desired Being upon his departure from Belgrade he was informed that the Great Visier was arrived upon the Banks of the Danube with a great Army and design to enter into the Province of Vkraine to fight the Muscovites he sent to demand Audience of him but this Minister returned him for answer That he should have it at Constantinople when the Campaign was ended Many and great were the Encounters betwixt the Imperialists and Malecontents the latter being for the most part successful who also ravaged Moravia being assisted by 2000 Tartars and Austria it self under the Command of Collonel Iosua sometimes a Priest known by the Name of Father of Ioseph who turning Protestant raised 6000 Men at his own Charges and joyning with the Malecontents grew formidable even to the Gates of Vienna But the Imperialists had also their turn and Count Esterhasi Governour of Papa attacked 2000 Janizaries and 500 Spahies near Vesâren He took several Prisoners and amongst them some Agas As this Action might cause a Rupture if mis-represented betwixt the two Empires his Imperial Majesty dispatch'd a Courier to the Port to inform the Grand Seignior with the particulars of this Combat year 1679. The constancy of the Malecontents and their Intelligence with the Turks did not a little disquiet the Emperour but he was more troubled when he heard that these Infidels were upon the point of agreeing with the Muscovites which would put them into a Condition to turn all their power against him He thought he could not do better than to divert them by obliging the King of Persia to break with them and therefore sent the Baron of Meierburg to Hisâahan to negotiate that Affair The Diet of Transilvania being held at Clausenburg the Grand Seignior as well to secure his own Interest as being dissatisfied with Prince Abaffi's Conduct sent the Bassa of Waradin with a strong Army to preside at that Assembly But things being accommodated betwixt them to the satisfaction of the strongest the Transilvanian and the Bassa's bordering upon his Principality who had been at the Diet had no other thoughts but of deliberating with the Deputies of the Hungarians of the means how to assist them The Emperour being advertised hereof sent Doctor Ferling to Constantinople to endeavour to penetrate into the Intentions of that Monarch and hinder that the Bassaes should not succour the Rebels There was also some under-hand dealing with the great ones of the Party to make their particular Peace with the Court. Amongst others the Proposition being made to Palaffi Imbre he found so little security in it that to shew his Companions he would never accommode himself with the Emperour he treated with the Bassa of Buda to deliver all the Places that were in his power into his hand and possession the which also he put in Execution tho' his Castle of Devin was in the mean time invested by Count Strasoldo before the Turks could enter it and together with the City forced by him 500 of the Garrison being made Prisoners The Grand Seignior to shew the esteem and satisfaction he had of the Person of Abaffi sent him a Sable as a token of his Favour and gave Orders at the same time to all the Bassaes of Hungary to send Troops and Forces as oft as he should require them being absolutely resolved to assist the Malecontents which he also
a Sable a Pole-ax and a Colours He gave him also upon his own account some Horses richly harnessed some affirmed that his Civilities passed further and that Tekely was declared King of Hungary by the Bassa who put the Crown upon his Head and cloathed him in Royal Habiliments in presence of all the Officers of the Garrison and several Bassaes who had been expresly commanded thither to assist at the Ceremony Tekely having satisfied his Ambition would now content his Love. He had sent his Secretary to Vienna to obtain the Emperours Permission to espouse the Princess Rogotski His Imperial Majesty thinking he ought to manage this Count in a time wherein he endeavoured to make him break his Engagements with the Port and further perceiving that it was but a Civility done him and that if he did not consent they would effect it without him granted his Envoy what ever his Master had desired Tekely gave immediately advice hereof to the Princess and prayed she would not defer his Happiness any longer She who as she had not desired to see him a King but to prevent her descent into a lower rank then that wherein Prince Rogotsky had placed her sent him word that he might come to Montcatz where after his return from Buda their Marriage was celebrated with great Pomp. This Lady was Sister to Count Serin a Roman Catholick but in some few Weeks after her espousals with Count Tekely she turn'd Protestant and thereupon discharged all her Catholick Servants This gave so much suspition to the Imperial Court that no more good was expected from that Alliance nor were they deceived his Attachments to the Port being too strict and his jealousie of the Germans too great He for all that treated still with Count Saponara the Emperours Envoy but it was to amuze him in expectation of the Turks taking the field to second his Designs The Emperour did also employ Count Serin to his new Brother-in-Law but he instead of serving his Sovereign enter'd into new Engagements as shall be declared hereafter In the beginning of Iuly the Tartars made inrodes as far as Trinchein from whence they brought more than 18000 Slaves killing all the old men from whom they could expect no Service The Palatine would have raised the Militia of the Country to oppose them but the Protestants refused to obey his Orders until the Emperour would give them Satisfaction upon all the points that had been proposed in their Name the last Diet. About the end of the same Month his Imperial Majesty received Letters from Count Albret· Caprara which signified to him that he had received Audience from the Great Visier and that he could not obtain a prolongation of the Trevis but upon the following Terms viz. That Hungary should be put into the same state that it was in the year 1655 That this Kingdom should pay his Otthoman Highness a Tribute of 50000 Florins yearly That the Fortresses of Leopolstat and Gratz should be demolished That Neutra Schults Eckof and the Isle of Schults near Presburg with the Fort of Muran should by a formal cession be delivered to Count Tekely That a general Amnesty or Act of Oblivion should be granted to the Malecontents and that they should be re-established in all their Goodâ and Priviledges These Conditions seemed so harsh to the Emperour that he rejected them preferring a War before such a sordid accommodation The Cessation betwixt Tekely and the Germans being ended he joyned Forces with the Turks near Pest consisting of 40000 Men. He passed near Caschaw or Cassovia and turning suddenly surprised the Castle of Zatmar and in a few days after took the City Cassovia and other considerable Places ran the same fate And now the Turks act by themselves Tokai rendring it self to them as soon as they appeared before it The Emperour sent to complain to the Bassa of Buda of these Acts of Hostility but he answered that he did not pretend to break the Cessation in attacking these little places which were but receptacles of Robbers the Inhabitants thereof daily pillaging his Highnesses quarters Thus the strongest seldom fail of pretences to oppress the weakest On the other side the Bassa of Waradin having besieged Fileck pressed it hard He had already assaulted the place thrice and though Strazoldo Caprara Staremberg and the Palatine advanced with design to relieve it yet all these Generals however brave durst not attempt the Enemies Lines and it might be said that they were come so far but to be witnesses of the Victory by the loss of the place which surrendred it self The sixteenth of September the Hungarians entred into the Turkish Service but the Germans and all the Officers were made Prisoners because they refused to sign the Capitulation and the Women were made slaves the Turks lost 2000 Janizaries in this siege which obliged them to treat the Officers with so much Rigour and perhaps the place which they demolished was therefore razed or rather to prevent the Malecontents who demanded the possession of it from enjoying it The said Bassa after the forcing of Filek went with 40000 Men and invested Lewentz and Neutra which surrendred to him upon demand And Tekeley taking advantage of the absence of Strasoldo rendred himself Master of the High-land Cities The Bassa of Buda advanced also towards Gran with design to make a Bridge there over the Danube to the end he might open a passage into upper Hungary Tekeley seeing himself Master of the upper Hungary especially of the Cities thereof which by their Mines of Gold made up a great part of the Revenues of the Crown and now having refreshed himself in these rich Quarters he caused Moneys to be coined representing on one side his Effiges with this Inscription Emericus Comes Tekeley Princeps Hongariae and on the reverse these words Pro Deo pro Patria pro Libertate The Winter being now advanced he sent his Secretary to Vienna to offer a Cessation of Arms. This proposal was not disagreeable to the Imperial Court but they could not resolve to leave the said upper Cities in his possession his Deputies represented thereupon That their Master could not part with them without the consent of the Bassa of Buda but that he would favour the Imperial Work-men and suffer them to labour for his Majesties profit provided he might be allowed a Compensation for his Protection if not he threatned to destroy the said Cities worth 200000 Crowns yearly to his Imperial Majesty after some altercation the Cessation was again agreed upon and the Directors of the Mines were obliged to pay Tekeley six hundred Crowns every Week this Trevis did not hinder several Encounters betwixt the Christians and Turks A Party of Hussars in November defeated a Detatchment of the Infidels commanded by an Aga who was kill'd there There were found in his Pockets nineteen Letters of the Bassa of Buda's writ to Officers of that Nation ordering them to cause the Grand Seignior's Subjects to pay the Extraordinary
not be obliged to serve after the Siege Many accepted of the Condition received three Patacoons each advance Moneys and were regalled with Bread and Wine by the care of the Prince of Swartzenberg and by the Liberality of the Religious and the Citizens Wine never failed nor indeed fresh Meat for the sick store of Cattel having been twice brought in by sally during the Siege The Magistrates had by the Governours Order taxed the Ecclesiasticks the Cloysters the Citizens and the Peasants who were refuged in the City to furnish for the use of the Souldiers the hundredth Pint which was punctually executed there being none that refused to pay this Imposition the greatest Lords and the Emperours Officers not exempting themselves upon this Occasion St. Stephens Steeple being very obnoxious to the Turks by reason of its height and the great extent of its Discoveries was much shot at by them though Solyman when he besieged Vienna had declined ruining so noble a Fabrick upon no other Terms but that they should put a a Half Moon the Arms of that Empire upon the Spire of it which was still up The Centinel that was there the 7 th perceived betwixt the River Mark and Moravia on the other side the Danube Fire and Smoke which lasted till eight a Clock C. Starenberg judg'd they were C. Tekely's Troops who in passing the Waagh had skirmished with the Imperialists and it proved so as he found by the return of one of hâs Spyes which he had sent to the Duke The account he gave was that the Turks having detatched â000 Horse to discover the Succors which were arrived in the Princes Army out of Saxony Bavaria and the Circles these Infidels fell into an Ambuscade which was laid for them and where most of them were cut in pieces that an Aga Count Tekely's Secretary and an Hungarian Count since dead of his Wounds were taken Prisoners that the Imperialists had taken a great number of the Enemies Waggons with Baggage and that since this Advantage many of the chief of the Malecontents were come in to the Duke Collonel Heister having passed the Danube at Closternewburg took four hundred of the Enemies Horse On the other side the Malecontents continued to send small parties into Moravia who set fire by Night on the Houses and Villages and as it was a hard matter to remedy these Disorders by force of Arms the Duke judged that the best way to repress them was by that of Reprizals He caused Tekely to be advertised that he would send Orders to Zatmar and to all the Emperours Garrisons to burn the Palaces and Houses of all them of his party This threatning put a stop to these Incendiaries for he thereupon sent a Person to Chevalier Labormiski under pretext of an Envoy to the King of Poland to the end he might inform the Duke of Lorrain that he had not commanded those burnings and that they should hear no more of them About this time Count Albret Caprara the Emperours Envoy at Constantinople had Permission given him by the Grand Visier to return to his Master and having passed by Tuln he had in charge to propose to his Imperial Majesty that upon the Cession of Raab he would abandon the Siege of Vienna Kotlinski a Lieutenant upon promise of the first vacant Company had been dispatched from Vienna to the Duke one from the Deputies of the Council of State and the rest from the County Caplier and Starenberg The first for they were of several dates marked the danger the Counterscharp was in others gave an account of the state of the Siege minding him of the Necessities of the place and the Accidents that might happen and praying him to hasten the Succours and these were writ by the Governour Caplier's Letters particulariz'd the slain and wounded finishing with earnestness for Relief praying him to consider the Officers their want of Granados their stock being near spent and the Disposition of the Citizens not to be relied upon The last Letter marked that C. Starenberg was sick of a bloody Flux and could answer for nothing unless the Succours were great and quick The Duke who was careful in informing the Emperour the King of Poland and the Elector of Saxony of all he could learn of the state of the besieged failed not to quicken the Auxiliaries to communicate his Intelligence and Letters to them He dispatch'd Count Caraffa to the King of Poland with them and hasten'd the march of General Sânariski who was come into Silesia six days since This Count had also in charge to pray his Majesty of Poland to come with the first Troops as well for the esteem he had of his Merits as because he believed that upon the Kings advance the gross of his Army would follow with more diligence After he had dispatched C. Caraffa he sent the Count Schaffenberg to the Elector of Saxony to provide Waggons and Carriages for the Auxiliary Troops by the way as they should pass As he did not doubt but that these pressing Letters would quicken the advance of the Troops he thought he was obliged to provide also for the passage of the Danube and in order to it resolved to go to Krembs whereof he advertised the Emperour by an Express About the same time C. Starenberg had News from his Highness of the defeat of C. Tekely near Presburg as also of the taking of a great Convoy that was going to the Ottoman Army and that the King of Poland was upon his march to succour the Place This good News infused Joy into the whole City and was welcomed with all the Artillery and the ringing of all their Bells As every little Success encourages Souldiers at least to hope so it far'd here A Scholar having killed a Janizary and ripped open his Stomach found ten Duckats in Gold in it and a Souldier having after a stiff Combat disarmed a Janizary cut off his Head with his own Sable Searching him afterwards he found a Girdle about him full of Moneys which he hid so well that his Comrades did not discover it Being returned into the City having unstitch'd his purchase he found an 100 Sequins of Gold. He was so transported at the sight with Joy that he ran like a Mad-man through the Strees clapping his Hands and shewing his Gold to every body making it appear by his Extravagancies that he thought himself happier than the Emperour His good Fortune gave Courage to his Companions upon hopes oâ the like Adventure making them good Anatomists and diligent Waiters The Duke of Lorrain left Anneren encampt at Volgerdorp He there received Letters from the Count Caplier and Starenberg The first pressed strongly for Relief by reason of the Diminution of the Garrison and the Ammunitions of War. The Style of the second Letter was upon the brave and seemed of a Person not greatly concerned but in the three last Lines being in Cypher he besought the Duke for speedy Succours because the Retrenchments and cuttings off in
43 b. Bakockza taken by Count Sârini 146 b. Ballarino Secretary to Signior Capello the Venetian Bailo supplies his Office 88 a. his sorrowful Letter to Senator Nicolo Contarini 122 b. his Character 123 b. he is suspected by the Turks to use Sorcery 132 b. Balsora taken by the Persian 6 a. its Pasha rebels in 1667. and is forced to flee into Persia 194 a. Baltagibashee what 134 b. Cardinal Barbarini bestows a Pension of eight hundred Crowns a Month upon Count Serini 153 a. he supplies the Venetians with four thousand Measures of Corn in their Wars in Candia 194 a. Barcan taken by Count Soise and burnt 156. b. besieged by the Christians 305 b. taken 306 a. the grand Slaughter there ib. a. The Bassas of Buâa Erseck and Poslega strangled 303 a. The Bassa of Buda strangled by the Grand Signior's Order 278 b. The Bassa of Waradin strangled by the Grand Signior's Order 279 a. Girolomo Bataglia and Francesco Bataglia Proveditors General both killed at the Siege of Candia 204 b. Duke de Beaufort the Pope's General at Sea desires of the King of France his natural Prince leave to try his Fortune by Land at the Siege of Candia 212 b. he is killed there 214 b. Bechir Pasha of Babylon joyns with Abassa in his Rebellion 3 a. Beker Pasha of Rhodes strangles the Pasha of Cyprus 54 a. made Captain Pasha 55 a. put to death by Order of the Grand Signior 56 b. Belgrade here the Great Vizier had his Winter-quarters the first Year of the Hungarian War in 1663. 145 a. resides there the second Winter after the Peace made 161 b. Signior Bembo obtains a Victory over the Turks at Sea 90 a. Sir Tho. Bendish Ambassador at the Port his Expedient for obtaining redress of Wrongs offered to the Merchants 58 a. he opposes the forcing of English Ships into the Turks Service against Candia but without effect 83 a. Berclay made Prince of Transilvania 107 b. the Transilvanians depose him 110 a. Berzenche taken by Count Serini 146 b. Bethlem Gabor vid. Gabor Biram Pasha made Great Vizier 34 a. is slain at the Siege of Babylon 43 a. A Blazing-star seen in most parts of the known World in 1664. and particularly in Turky with their opinion what it portended 162 a. Dukes of Brunswick and Lunenburg assist Candia with three thousand men 206 a. Buda the Garrison their mutiny but upon surrendring four of the Ring-leaders to punishment and craving pardon things are quieted and past by 19 b. The Siege of Buda 309 a. 319 a. some Standards taken and presented to the Duke of Lorrain with 15 Barks loaden with the Wives and Children of the Turkish Officers of Buda with great Riches 320 a. an Account given by a Deserter of the Condition of the Besieged ib. b. General Schoning arrives with the Brandenburg Auxiliaries 321 b. Several Mines sprung by the Besieged 323 a. b. An Assault made with great loss on both sides 323 324. Letters from the Besieged discovered 324 a. another Mine sprung and several Miners in danger of being covered by the Earth ib. b. several false Allarms 325 a. Captain Libert an excellent Miner lost ib. a. Two Mines sprung by the Turks with little harm ib. a. Preparation for a general Assault ib. a. The Castle blown up ib. b. The Bassa summoned to surrender but refuses ib. b. A general Assault 326 b. The Generals of the Infantry being most wounded they of the Horse were ordered to supply their places 327 b. A second Summons sent 328 a. The Bassa's Answer ib. a. Another Assault 329 a. The Besieged expect Succours ib. a. their Succours defeated 331 a. Another Attempt of the Grand Vizier's to relieve the Besieged 332 a. The Sieur Rummel slain with a Musket Bullet ib. a. Another Attempt to relieve tke Besieged 333 a. Upon the Chancellors ' arrival from the Emperor a Council of War called and a general Assault made the Besiegers enter the City 334 a. Abdi Bassa the Governour slain ib. b. The great Treasure taken ib. b. The Grand Vizier decamps immediately upon the taking of Buda ib. b. pursued by the Duke of Lorrain 335 a. C. CAffa taken by the Tartars from the Turks but soon restored 11 a. Cairo a Rebellion of the great Beghs there 149 b. another 259 a. Caminiec taken by the Turks in eleven days 233. a. blocked up by the Poles 239 a. but the Siege raised by the Turks 240 b. Candia its General fights a Turkish Gally belonging to the Archipelago mistaking it for a Pirate commanded by Dervis Bei which had like to have broke the Peace but the Venetian Ambassador at the Port makes up the business 10 a. Candia the Isle how it became the Possession of Venice 61 a. what the occasion of the Turks making War against it 55 b. the beginning of the War 59 a. The Turks Sea and Land Forces at first employed in it what ib. b. what the preparations of the Venetians 60 b. the Turks land in this Isle 61 a. what supplies the Venetians had towards this War from Christendom ib. b. Candia the City first besieged in 1647. by the Turks who were then forced to raise the Siege 75 b. besieged a second time in 1650. and again beaten off 83 b. besieged a third time when the Turks losing 3000 Men at one Assault again drew off 84 b. this War carried on faintly by the Turks for several years 114 a. prosecuted afresh in 1666. 185 b. what aid the Venetians then had from Christian Princes 188 b. the Fortifications of the Town described and what Quarters were possessed by the Besiegers and Besieged 195 a. the History of the Siege continued uninterruptedly from 195 to 207 and from 211 to 219. its Duke killed 206 b. large Succours sent thither from France 212 b. the Garison makes a notable Sally but with bad success 213 b. French Officers slain in this Sally 214 b. the French depart 215 a. a Council held to consider of the state of the Town 216 a. the result of the Council to enter into a Treaty with the Vizier 217 b. the Conditions of Peace 218 b. the Town delivered to the Turks 219 b. an account of the number of the slain on both sides the Batteries Storms Sallies c. ib. a. what a sad spectacle of Desolation at its Surrender 220 a. Canea taken by the Turks 61 b. they land here forty thousand fighting Men 74 b. Cantemir a Tartar makes a new-Colony 34 b. being driven out of it by the Tartar Han he is strangled at Constantinople 35 a. Marin Capello takes the Algierine Gallies in the Port of Valona 39 b. Antonio Capello Commander of the Venetian Gallies 60 b. Gio. Capello made Doge General of the Sea 62 a. what his Armata ib. a. Siguior Capello Bailo at the Port imprisoned 85 b. his ill usage casts him into a deep Melancholy 86 b. his Commission taken from him 88 a. he dyes at Constantinople but his Corps conveyed to
departs 203 a b. his Speech to the Senate at his return ib. b. W. WAldeck General of the Lunenburg and Brunswick Forces in Candia slain there 206 a. Earl of Winchelsea sent Ambassadour to the Port 97 a. his Answer to the Captain-Pasha proposing to him to hire some English Ships to serve in the Wars against Candia 166. a. Wirtemberg slain at the Siege of Newheusel 315 b. Wisozki Ambassadour from Poland to the Port his insolent behaviour there 232 â Y. YAmboli a famous Hunting of the Grand Signior there 159 a. Z. ZAtmar besieged by Abaffi 281 b. Forced the City but could not take the Cittadel ib. b. Taken by Tekely 283 a. Zechelhyd revolts from the Emperour to Apafi Prince of Transylvania 146 a. The End of the TABLE S. Paul Rycaut many years Consul of Smyrna now his Brittanique Maj ties Resident at Hamburgh and Fellow of the Royall Societie THE HISTORY OF THE TURKS BEGINNING With the Year 1679. Being a full Relation Of the Last Troubles in Hungary with the Sieges of Vienna and Buda and all the several Battles both by SEA and LAND between the CHRISTIANS and the TVRKS until the End of the Year 1698 and 1699. IN WHICH The Peace between the Turks AND THE Confederate Christian Princes and States was happily Concluded at Carlowitz in Hungary By the Mediation of His Majesty of Great Britain and the States General of the Vnited Provinces With the Effigies of the Emperors and others of Note Engraven at Large upon Copper which Compleats the Sixth and Last Edition of the History of the Turks In Two Vol. in Folio By Sir PAVL RYCAVT Kt. Eighteen Years Consul at Smyrna now his Majesty's Resident at Hamburg and Fellow of the Royal Society LONDON Printed for Robert Clavell in St. Paul's Church-Yard and Abel Roper against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet M DCC TO THE King's Most Excellent MAJESTY WILLIAM III. King of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. Great SIR THE Dedication of this following History of the Turks may most justly be Addressed to the Clemency and Patronage of Your Majesty for Two Reasons First Because the greatest Part of this Treatise was Writteâ at Hamburg whilst I was actually employed for the space almost of Eleven Years in the Service of Your Majesty the which I hope will not be looked upon as a Point of my Demerit or Neglect in my Duty to have taken out so many Hours as this Work might Require from the Service of Your Majesty For I can safely say and that Your Majesty's Secretaries also in England and Abroad can Attest for me that I have been diligent in my Office and have neglected nothing therein which my Duty and Services to Your Majesty might require and expect from me for it was Written at my Vacant Hours when nothing of my other Services could give me the least Avocation But what may chiefly oblige me farther to this Dedication is the Healing Powerful and Successful Hand which Your Majesty hath Applied by Your Ambassadors in making that Peace at Carlowitz between the Christians and the Turks which will ever be remembred in Future Ages and which as Your former Actions shewed the World You were a great Captain in the Arts of War so this will give good Proof You were a Wise and Prudent Governor in the Exercises of Peace And may deserve to have that Motto inserted in Your Escocheon Beati sunt Pacifici And so may Your Majesty be always Blessed and Prosperous in this Life and Your Great Good Works Rewarded in Heaven Which are the most Devout Prayers of Your MAIESTY's Most Obedient Subject and most Humble Devoted and Dutiful Servant Paul Rycaut Hamburg Jan 15. 1700. THE PREFACE TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Would not have Thee entertain a worse Opinion of this History by Reason of the Place where it was Wrote and Finished being at a far distance both from Constantinople and Vienna Though perhaps it might have been more lively had its Colours been laid on in the Places themselves where the Actions were performed and at a time when the Humour of the Turks and the Idea I conceived of their Actings had taken so strong an Impression in my Mind that whilst I was upon the Place I could suffer nothing to pass my Pen without its due Observation Being thus accustomed to such Contemplations as these in my more Youthful Days I could not let pass the continual News and the constant Intelligences I received from Hungary and other Parts which were the Seats of War between the Christians and the Turks without making some Reflections thereupon After which I might justly challenge the Privilege of an Exauctorate or of a Miles Emericus And I think I need not Blot any more Paper for the future on any Subject relating to the Turks for having arrived at that great Period of the last Wars concluded between the Emperor of Germany and all his Allies against the Turks It may appear how much the Ottoman Force is able to avail when it is put into the Scale and Ballance against all Christendom It hath been an ancient Custom and Policy amongst the Turks in the time of their prosperous Successes by which their Empire was enlarged never to continue a War longer than for three Years in which time they always advanced considerably and would make no Peace with their Neighbours until their Triumphs and Acquisitions would answer the expences and effusions of their Blood and Treasures After which they commonly fixed Twenty Years for the Settlement and Security of those new Conquests and Plantations in which time many young Soldiers being Born and Bred up in Arms they not only took those Habitations for their Native Soil but esteemed them also to be by the Mahometan Religion obliged ever to defend and maintain them But these last Wars have quite put the Turks out of their Ancient Methods for instead of maintaining a War no longer than Three Years they have been forced to continue it for more than Twenty to the great Ruin and Destruction of their Empire I have always been of Opinion That the Turks could never maintain a VVar for longer than Three Years I mean with benefit and profit to the advancement of the Ottoman Empire of which I once made very perspicuous Observations Whilst I was in the Camp with them I found the Timariots very poor and wanting at the end of that Term so that they stoal from each other their Bridles and Saddles Lances and all other necessaries of War and would excuse themselves by saying that they could not do otherwise in so long a War of more than their Three Years And in like manner the Janisaries by their ancient Constitution might challenge a Privilege to quit the Service at the end of the Month of October and in case they were not called they might then Disband themselves on St. Demetriu's Day which is the 28th Day of October at which time the Janisar Aga could not without
were of Opinion that it was absolutely necessary to re-establish the Charge and Office of Palatine according to the Ancient constitution of that Nation and that a General Diet should be conven'd to that purpose But when the Imperial Ministers of State as well Ecclesiastick as Civil came to Debate upon these Points they offer'd many Qualifications As that the the Authority of Palatine should be limited and restrain'd That the Emperor's Writs or Letters should be Imperative rather than Mandative that is that they should be penn'd in such a Stile as that they might appear rather Assertive of the Absolute and Imperial Power than to condescend unto more moderate Terms anciently us'd in that Kingdom And when they came to the Article about restitution of the Churches which was the main point on which the Malecontents insisted they Treated with such Niceties and with so many Provisoes and Savings that the Deputies believ'd that the Imperial Ministers came to speak for Colours and Subterfuges to evade and illude an Accommodation rather than with true and sincere affections to heal the breaches and compose the differences of the Nation Whilst these Matters were in Negotiation Count Paul Wessellini who was Brother to the late Palatine and General of the Malecontents died and then the Command of the Army was committed to Count Tekeli who as we have said had gain'd such great Reputation in the Court of Prince Apafi that he made him his principal Minister of State and tho' he was a young Man of about twenty four or twenty five years of Age yet he so distinguish'd himself by his Valour Prudence and Industry that the eyes of all Hungary were upon him as a Person in every respect agreeable to the present great Undertakings Tekeli being now at the head of twelve thousand Fighting Men well appointed and fitted with all Necessaries and a Train of Artillery of about twelve pieces of Cannon and four Mortars look'd on himself as in a Condition to undertake some great Enterprize And having joyn'd with the Forces of his Cousin Count Tekeli and supply'd himself with some of the Emperor's Money out of the Mint at Nagibania he held a Council of War and propos'd to Besiege either Caschau or Kalo Howsoever the Inclinations he had for the Daughter of Count Serini Widow of the late Prince Ragotski directed him in the first place towards Mongatz that he might if possible come to a sight of that Lady for whom he had so great a passion But upon the approach of these Troops her Mother-in-Law who was zealous for the Interest of the Emperor gave Orders to the Forces which were rais'd within her State to fall upon Tekeli whose Quarters were not far distant from Mongatz The Fight was bravely maintain'd on both sides till at length the Troops of the Princess were forc'd to give way and 200 of them being slain on the place and many Prisoners taken amongst which the Count Serini was one the rest were put to flight being entirely defeated With these Successes the Army of the Malecontents daily increas'd to which an additional Force of eight or nine thousand Tartars being added the Emperor thought it necessary to recruit his Army with a Regiment of Horse under the Command of Count Stirum and with some other Troops which were in Bohemia and Stiria EMERIC COMTE DE TEKELI The Emperor perceiving that he was very unable to resist the Forces which were now in open Field and in defiance against him had his Recourse to the Old Project of making New Propositions and Offers of Peace to the Malecontents But this was always so unluckily managed and with so ill a grace that it was no wonder if it found no better Success But now as if it were intended to make things more plain and satisfactory to the World without Disputes or Qualifications a Manifesto was publish'd by the Emperor's Command Granting and Indulging unto all a General Act of Pardon and Oblivion a Restoration to their Estates a Free Exercise of Religion and a Right and Privilege of being equally admitted into Places of Trust and Offices of Court with the Germans and others of the Roman Catholick Religion provided that within the space of three Months they lay down their Arms and submitted to the Clemency of his Imperial Majesty And as to those who should still stand out and obstinately persevere in their Rebellion he requir'd the States of Hungary and all his Loving Subjects of that Kingdom to joyn their Forces unto his for the subjection of such Rebellious Persons who were Enemies to himself and to their own Country But least these fair Offers should Operate any thing on the Minds of the People Tekeli at the same time to make the Embroils more confused sent a List to the Emperor of fresh Aggrievances for which he desir'd some Remedies might be consider'd All which the Emperor referr'd to the Examination of a Diet which was suddenly to Assemble And in Order thereunto the General Baragotzi sent Passports to the Chief of the Malecontents that they might freely come to the Diet and return without molestation Insinuating unto them that their Government by a Palatine should be restor'd and whatsoever they could expect to gain by force of Arms should now be more easily yielded and granted by Covenants of an Amicable Agreement But all these Hopes and Expectations were overthrown by the heats which arose between the Emperor's Ministers at Vienna and the Deputies appointed by the Malecontents to Treat and prepare Matters against the Meeting of a Diet. For one day when the Differences were in debate it happen'd that the Chancellor Oker unadvisedly said That the Hungarian Nation had always been Faithless and Rebellious against their Prince Which words being immediately catch'd at by the Great Chancellor of Hungary It is unjust said he to Charge the Crime of some particular Persons on the whole Nation To which Oker with more passion than before made this Reply That it would be happy for the Emperor if one in twelve were found that truly and sincerely adher'd to his interest At these words Count Palfi the Treasurer of Hungary not being able to contain himself longer burst out into a passion and call'd the Chancellor Traytor Knave and Rascal And Count Harcani another of the Deputies as Gouty as he was made a shift to get upon his Legs and perswade his Companions to break up the Assembly and be gone to avoid the noise of such Ribaldry and affrontive Language And as they were going out of the Room the Chancellor of Hungary and Count Forgatz added Know said they that we have never betray'd our King nor pleaded for our Kindred who were found guilty of base and perfidious Actions Consider that we have not forgot how far you Countenanc'd the Governour of Freibourg To all which Oker made no Reply but return'd to the Emperor to give him an account of what had pass'd at this Conference
the 26 th Article of Sopron wherein the same City of Moramoruss is expresly named they had obtain'd the liberty of exercising publickly their Religion and of having Churches Parishes and Schools and have quietly enjoyed the same without giving any offence to the Catholicks until the fatal breaking out of the Wars in the year 1683 and the unexpected Burning of the Town which occasion'd an interruption of the said Exercise of Religion the Ministers and their Parishioners having been forced to disperse themselves up and down yet since the Troubles are appeased they desire in vain to reassume their publick exercise of Religion and to call back their Ministers being hinder'd from the same by the Earl of Hoffkirchen Governour of this Territory who every day growing severer forbids with greater Threats the total Exercise of the Protestant Religion Nay three Months ago the Roman Catholicks did Proclaim with the Beat of Drums that no Protestant should presume to go out of the Territory of Moramoruss to any Neighbouring to perform the Duties of his Religion nor Exercise it in his private House under pain of Imprisonment and of other severe Punishments Therefore they Humbly beg That this their Grievance may be redressed and they re-established in the Privilege granted by the Article It may be added to the foregoing Grievances that one Samuel Bizkey a Protestant Minister of a place of Lower Hungary called Hedes notwithstanding the Protection granted to him by the Council of War has been Plunder'd twice of all the means of Life Clothes Books and Furniture by some Emissaries of the Archbishop of Gran and at last on the 22 d of the last Month of March was taken and carried to Presburg into the Prisons of the Archbishop where he has nothing allowed him but dry Bread and dirty Water Likewise the Protestant Minister of Totâfalu in Upper Hungary has been taken by a Jesuit called Father Ravasz residing at Naghybania and carried in Fetters into the Prisons of Zatmar where he is still detain'd and most barbarously used The XXI Article of the Diet of Presburg in the year 1687 in the business of Religion the 25th and 26th Articles of the year 1681 are renew'd with the inserted Decleration ALthough they of the Helvetian Confession and of that of Ausbourg by their protesting against the 25 th and 26 th Articles of the late Diet of Sopron have unworthily abused the same and thereby forfeited ipso facto the benefits granted in them nevertheless since His most Sacred Majesty tending the Union and the general quiet of the Kingdom through his great Favour and Clemency has most Graciously resolved that the said Articles shall yet be in force the States have Order'd That the same shall be lookt upon as renewed and reinforced notwithstanding the opposition of the Catholick Clergy and other secular Persons and that as far as they have hitherto been infringed through Abuses introduced by the one or the other party they shall forthwith be put in Execution To these Agrievances the Emperor returned a very Gracious Answer and made several Proposals tending to a Peace And First He offer'd a General Pardon unto all even to Tekeli himself provided he would personally appear to make his Submission Secondly That every Person should be restor'd to his Lands and Goods confiscated again restor'd Thirdly That free exercise of Religion should be allowed but the manner how and the Regulation thereof should be determined at a General Diet which was judged of absolute necessity for the repose and quiet of Hungary Fourthly That all the vacant Offices Governours and Balliages of that Kingdom should be indifferently conferr'd upon Hungarian Gentlemen who were capable by their Natural parts and Abilities to Merit and Discharge such Preferments And Lastly That his Imperial Majesty would vacate the Office of Vice-King and return to the ancient constitution of a Palatine whose Election should be free according to the usage of former times The Plague which still Raged in Austria and Hungary prevented the proceedings of this Treaty which might have taken effect some time before and answer'd all the Demands of the Malecontents but now so much Blood had been drawn in all Parts and Corners of that unhappy Kingdom that it was past the Art of Man to stanch the Bleeding And besides Tekeli and his Malecontents were so nearly adjoyn'd and engaged in secret Leagues and Alliances with the Turk that it was almost impossible to destricate and disentangle themselves from the invitations they had made and from the Assurances and Pledges they had given to the Turks Howsoever the Emperor not to leave any means unattempted until all was become desperate dispatched Count Esterhasi into Hungary in quality of his Plenipotentiary to put those Overtures into Execution which had been fram'd and debated in the Emperor's Council But whilst these things were in agitation they received another Impediment by a discovery made of a Correspondence which several Principal Officers held with the Maleconts upon which Filek and two other Councellors and Mannagers of the Revenue of Hungary were Arrested and accused of having moved and promoted an Insurrection in divers Counties Towards the end of this year when the Armies were drawn into their Winter quarters new Treaties were set on foot The Baron de Kaunitz the Emperor's Resident at Constantinople labour'd to continue and renew the Truce but the Grand Vizier would not agree thereunto on any other Terms than that it might be allowable for the Grand Seignior to afford aid and assistance to the Malecontents But this was to cure a Soar with a greater Evil and what was inconsistent with Reason to make a Peace and yet to continue a War. When the Emperor believed all Accomodation with the Malecontents impossible at least far distant Behold on a suddain and much unexpected the Counts Tekeli Pestrozzi and Wessellino in despight of their Engagements to the Turks offer'd to make Terms by themselves and to abandon their People and their Cause in case they assented not thereunto The Conditions were to have all their Churches restor'd with their Goods and Estates which had been Confiscated To which the Emperor readily assenting there never appear'd at any time a greater probability and likelyhood of an Agreement than upon this overture But whereas to establish and confirm such an Accomodation it was necessary to convene a Diet which by reason of the present Contagion could not be done a Cessation of Arms was in the mean time concluded But whilst in order thereunto a Conference was held at Tokai Count Caprara unluckily march'd out of his Quarters with a considerable force towards that place upon which the Malecontens were so Allarum'd that they Sallied out of their Winter quarters in great numbers leaving the Treaty imperfect and the Cessation of Arms broken and violated ANNO 1681. Notwithstanding the unlucky Accidents which had happen'd to hinder and disappoint the Progress of the aforesaid Treaties Yet at the beginning of this
Articulos adhuc ratos fore benignissime resolvisset eosdem Status quoque Ordines ad mentem Paternae resolutionis Cleri aliorum secularium Catholicorum contradictione non obstante pro renovatis priori firmitati restitutis âânsândos acsi in quantum hactenus ineffectuati vel verò per aliquos abusus ab una aut altera parte medio tempore introductos violati fuissent suae debitae executioni tempore eorundem conditorum Articulorum vel expost occupatorum aut reoccupatorum impendendae restaurationi utprimum demandandos esse statuerunt Pacifications Viennensis Ann. 1606. Articuli Primi Continentia haec est QUantum itaque ad Religionis Negotium attinet non obstantibus prioribus pro tempore Constitutionibus Publicis sed neque Articulo postremo Anno 1604. cum is extra diaetam sine Regnicolarum assensu adjectus fuerit propterea etiam tollitur deliberatum est Ut juxta Serenissimae Caesariae Regiaeque Majestatis priorem Resolutionem ad quam se Regnicolae in sua Replicatione referunt nimirum Quod omnes singulos Status Ordines intra ambitum Regni Hungariae solum existentes tam Magnates Nobiles quam liberas Civitates Oppida Privilegiata immediatè ad Coronam spectantia Item in Confiniis quoque Regni Hungariae Milites Hungaros in sua Religione Confessione nusquam numquam turbabit nec per alios turbari aut impediri sinet Verum omnibus praedictis Statibus Ordinibus Regni liber Religionis ipsorum usus exercitium permittetur absque tamen praejudicio Catholicae Romanae Religionis ut Clerus Templa Ecclesiae Catholicorum Romanorum intacta libera permaneant atque ea quae hoc disturbiorum tempore utrimque occupata fuere rursum eisdem restituantur Anno 1608. Articuli Primi ante Coronationem editi de Ne Negotio Religionis tenor talis est QUantum itaque ad Primum Constitutionis Viennensis Articulum attinet deliberatum est per Status Ordines Inclyti Regni Hungariae ut Religionis Exercitium tam Baronibus Magnatibus Nobilibus quam etiam Liberis Civitatibus ac Universis Statibus Ordinibus Regni in suis Fisci bonis item in Confiniis quoque Regni Hungariae Militibus Hungaris sua cuique Religio Confessio nec non Oppidis Villis eam sponte ac libere acceptare volentibus ubique liberam relinquatnr nec quisquam omnium in libero ejusdem usu ac exercitio quoquam impediatur Quin imo ad praecavenda inter Status Ordines aliqua odia dissensiones ut quaelibet Religio suae Professionis superiores seu superintendentes habeat statutum est N. B. Ut utposterior hic Articulus primus Ann. 1608. Ann 1618. Articulo 77. renovatus Ann. 1622. tempore Ferdinandi 11. Imperatoris Regio diplomati per Generales Regni Constitutiones Conditione 6 clariori sensu insertus Ann. 1625. Artic. 22. Ann. 1630. Artic. 33. Ann. 1635. Artic. 29. identidem tam idem Articulus quam etiam praedeclarata Conditio sexta suo vigori restituti Ann. 1638. memorata Conditio 6. diplomatis Regij Ferdinandi 11. similiter diplomate Regio Ferdinandi III. Imperatoris aeque Conditione 6ta per expressam de verbo ad verbum confirmata Ann. 1647. Artic. 5to novo diplomate Regio Pacificationis cum Illustrissimo Principe Transylvianiae Domino Georgio Ragoczy conditae diversisque aliis subsequentibus uti 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14. Articulis quod ad diversos casus stabilitus Ann. 1649. Artic. 10. Ann. 1655. Artic. 18. qua praeattacta pacificatio Rakocziana qua praespecificati Articuli Anno 1647. pariter ratificati Denique Anno 1659. moderni Imperatoris Leopoldi Regio insimul diplomate Publicis quoque Regni Constitutionibus Articulo 1. indito Conditione similiter 6ta per omnia ut in prioribus Ferdinandorum II III. Imperatorum diplomatibus Verbo Regio ratihabitus esset his nihilominus non obstantibus omnes praevij hi Articuli Conditiones diplomaticae omni sua firmitate privati sunt Exercitio Religionis Evangelicae contra omnes Sanctiones Articulares publicas Regni Constitutiones sacra item Regia diplomata in ipssisimo Exterminio jamnum effectivè versante Most Sacred Imperial and Royal Majesty Most Gracious Sir ALthough we have already made it appear to Your most Sacred Majesty year 1681. and to the Ministers of Your most Imperial Court year 1681. that many Injustices were done to us in the Year 1681 against the clear and evident Grants of the 25 th and 26 th Articles of Sopron Humbly solliciting this full Year and a Half the Observation of the same and the Redressing of the Grievances of our Evangelical Religion yet because it is daily Reported that by Virtue of Your Majesty's Commissions appointed last Year and before through Hungary nothing was Ordered against the full intent of the said Articles and that we desire more than is granted in them We thought it our Duty to justify both our Complaints and our repeated Requests the reather because the Worthy Ministers of Your Imperial Court have often assur'd us that without any delay or difficulty we should be maintain'd in the clear Grants of the said Articles of Sopron in order to which we shall set down here as in a kind of Table the very words of the said Articles together with our Requests against the Misintepretation of the said Articles either by Your Majesty's Commissioners or by other Persons under pretence of fulfiling the same and the Decisions made thereupon by that means we shall shew Evidently that the said Articles were Infring'd to our great prejudice and that our Requests are most Just. The XXV ARTICLE runs thus AND because his Majesty intending the Peace and general Quiet of the Kingdom was pleased also to come to a Gracious Resolution upon the business of Religion therefore the States of the Kingdom insert the said Resolution in the Articles I. And Principally whereas the free exercise of Religion granted in the year 1606. by virtue of the Peace of Vienna has been disturbed in part during these Troubles therefore the first Article of the said Peace being hereby confirm'd the same free exercise of Religion is granted to every Person and every where in the Kingdom according to the first Article made before the Coronation in the year 1608. Provided that the Privileges of Lords of Manors be not hereby prejudiced Hereupon we require in the Article's own words that the same free exercise of Religion as was disturbed in part during the Troubles and before the Troubles did include Evangelical Ministers or Preachers be granted to every Person and every where in the Kingdom not excepting the free Cities Towns and Villages which make the fourth State since they are expresly comprehended in the aforesaid Article made before theCoronation in the Year 1608. II. A free Return in the Kingdom and a free exercise of
any other place appertaining to the Dominion of the Czars That then the King of Poland shall send an Army for the Relief and Succour of such place Besieged And in like manner in case the Turks shall Besiege Leopolis or any other City in Poland the Moscovites shall endeavour the Relief and Succour thereof Twelfthly That the Czars shall forthwith give Advices to the Ottoman Port of the League concluded with Poland and their Intentions to make War upon the Grand Seignior And tho' the Turks upon such intimation shall offer to give satisfaction to either or both Parties yet no heed shall be given thereunto or Conclusion made without the Approbation and Consent of all the Confederate Christians Thirteenthly The Moscovites engaged to send their Ambassadours into divers parts of Christendom as England Denmark Holland and other Princes to crave their Assistance and Union against the Mahometan Armies Fourteenthly That after a Peace shall be concluded by common Consent of the Confederates with the Turks And that afterwards one of them shall be desirous to commence a new War That then the other Confederates shall not be obliged to joyn therein Fifteenthly That whereas some Disputes remain still undecided touching the Limits and Bounds of Poland and Moscovy That Commissioners shall forthwith be authorized and dispatched for accommodation of that Matter especially about the Dependencies on Kiovia Sixteenthly That Security of Trade and Commerce be established between the two Kingdoms Seventeenthly That the Debts which are owing from the Subjects of one Kingdom to those of another shall mutually be accounted for and satisfied by one to the other And that what Suits do or shall arise between the Subjects of either Kingdom shall be determined by the ordinary Courts of Iustice where the Defendant abides Eighteenthly Those Points which remain undecided and cannot be agreed by the Commissioners the same shall be remitted to the Determination of the Sovereigns Nineteenhly That the People on each side who live on the Borders shall pass friendly and peaceably one with the other and in case of Differences arising between them the smaller Causes shall be determined by the Palatines and the greater by Commissioners Twentiethly Neither side shall give Succour or Assistance to the common Enemy nor entertain any of their Subjects in the War or in any Office or Employment One and twentieth That their Majesties the Czars shall Swear to the Observation of these Articles in presence of the Polish Ambassadours And the like shall be performed by the King of Poland at a meeting of the Diet in presence of the Ambassadours from the Czars and in the mean time the Ambassadours shall mutually engage that all these Articles shall be observed and maintained Two and twentieth That whilst these Articles are interchanging and before the Ratifications are made It shall be lawful for the Merchants of each Country and Nation to Trade and Traffick without any trouble or interruption of Commerce Only Tobacco and Brandy shall not be brought into Moscovy but remain Contrabanda as by ancient Articles Three and twentieth In case the Poles or Moscovites shall have occasion to dispatch Messengers to Persia or other Parts no molestation let or hindrance shall be given them nor Passports denied Four and twentieth And in regard a good Understanding and Communication is necessary in this War the King of Poland obliges himself to maintain and defend the Confines and Country of the Dukedom of Solensko and the Czars so far as Kohzin And that private Letters shall pay Postage on both sides but the Publick and Royal Letters shall go free without Charge Five and twentieth That both Parties shall give Advices to all the Allies and Confederates of this happy League and Agreement Six and twentieth That this Contract shall as well oblige the Heirs and Successors as the Princes who are Parties thereunto And in case this Original Instrument of Accord should be lost or embezled in the Chancery or Paper-Office of either side yet the Agreement shall not be Rescinded thereby but stand in full Vertue and Force The League being in this manner agreed signed and ratified on both sides the News thereof soon spread it self over all Europe and was particularly received at Vienna and in the Confederate Camp with as much Joy and Triumph as it was at Constantinople with Trouble and Confusion And now it was expected by all the World that this Agreement should be executed and that the Moscovites should in the first place to give a beginning have made Incursions into the Enemies Country and without farther delay have invested those Places which lay upon the Frontiers but instead thereof their first Exploit was to take Possession of the Dukedom of Smolenzko and of Kiovia and of about Fifty Leagues of Country which lies along by the Banks of the Niester but as to other Acts of Hostility unless it were by some ranging and confused Incursions made by their own Cosacks with design rather to Pilfer and Pillage than to Offend and Damage the Enemy nothing of Moment was performed by which means the Tartars against whom the Moscovites were obliged to oppose their Arms found an opportunity to joyn with the Cosacks of Poland who with united Forces not only disputed the Passes with the Polanders but likewise recruited and reinforced the Grand Vizier's Army in Hungary After this Agreement was finished the next Treaty in hand was to deal with Apafi Prince of Transilvania to draw him off from his Adherence to the Turk This Prince finding himself between two great Powers the least of which was able to crush him to nothing kept and maintained his Agents at both Courts only to protract time and divert a Storm Count Caraffa quartering with a strong Party of Horse and Foot on the Confines of that Principality was appointed by the Emperor to treat with Apafi and to joyn Menaces and Force to fair Words but little Satisfaction could be extorted from him more than a Desire to live in a kind of Neutality for thô the Imperial Forces were not far distant from him yet the Turks were not as yet beaten out of the Field nor their Garrisons taken but all things seemed to remain in a doubtful state and change of War. Thus Apafi feared both and demanded Protection and Assistance from both sides hoping that whilst he was wavering and seemed unfixt he should preserve both his Friends or at least not provoke them to be his Enemies But what Count Caraffa could not obtain by Treaty he forced by two Regiments which procured the Contributions which were then exacted to which Apafi more easily yielded because such a Compliance seemed rather an effect of Violence and Necessity than of Choice Howsoever the Turks were not so very well assured of the Constancy of the Transilvanias but that just cause of Jealousie remained of their Inclinations towards the Emperor to prevent which the Turks order'd a strong Body of Men to march and quarter on their Confines
there to attend and observe the Motions both of the Germans and the Transilvanians the latter of which seeing the Sword over their Heads continued still in a state of Irresolution So that the Emperor esteeming that nothing was to be done by Treaty commanded the Agents to quit his Court Howsoever for a while a stop was given to their Departure for that the Brother of the Prince of Valachia called Catachuzeno of which Family and Name were the last Greek Emperors being privately dispatched to Vienna to enter into a Treaty and League with the Emperor in the Name and Behalf of his Brother did insinuate many fine and hopeful Projects for gaining without Blood or Treasure the three Principalities In order unto which a Dispatch was sent to the Count Scaffemberg under the Imperial Signature immediately to march with his Forces to Cassovia where he should find Orders for his farther Proceedings the Count accordingly obeyed and immediately upon his arrival received a positive Commission to joyn Seven thousand Germans to Four thousand Hungarians detached from the Troops quartered in the Upper Hungary and with that Army without any farther delay to march to the Confines of Transilvania situate on the River Maros where Catachuzeno had given Assurances that Twelve thousand Transilvanias well provided and armed would there be ready to meet Scaffemberg and joyn with his Forces at their first appearance and with these proceeding farther to Valachia he should there on the Confines have his Numbers increased by an addition of Sixteen thousand Valachians and Moldavians with which formidable Force composing a most powerful Army it was not to be doubted but that after the Example of their Soldiers the three Provinces would revolt and yield to the Emperor and with such a Force which nothing could oppose Incursions might be made with Fire and Sword into all Towns and Quarters of the Turks from the River Danube to the Confines of Poland and whereby an intercourse of Arms and other intelligences would be obtained This had been a rare design and a happy project had allthings corresponded with the like Success and in such a manner as they had been promised and insinuated by Catecuzeno But tho' all things did not answer these expectations yet in other matters the March of these Forces came very opportunely into those Countries and served to obstruct the Tartars passage into the upper Hungary where they were speeding to joyn with Tekeli and to wast and destroy all those Counties By this time the Sultan had received a new Confirmation of the Advice That Apafi had sent Commissioners to Treat with the Emperor at Vienna and tho' the Turks were well assured of the inclination of Apafi towards them yet not knowing how far the fear and dread of the succesful Arms of the Imperialists might prevail Orders were dispatched to the Vizier then at Belgrade immediately to send Succours into Transilvania to fix and confirm the wavering Mind of that Prince Accordingly a very considerable Force being on the march thither they were encounter'd on the way by Count Schaffemberg who charged the Ottoman Troops sent to secure Transilvania with such Bravery and Success that he killed and routed that whole Party and made himself Master of that important Pass of Hermansburg After which he pressed the Estates of Transilvania once more to declare but they seeking new pretences and excuses of delay endeavouring so long as they could to maintain their Neutrality were so distressed at length by Oppression and Free quarters and Insolence of the Soldiers that seeing no other remedy they joyned their Troops with the Imperialists year 1686. and in a Body charged a party of the Tartars and put them to Flight In the mean time the Season coming on for laying as was resolved Siege to Buda the Duke of Loraine departed from Newstadt with intention to go to the place of General Rendezvous but being seized by some Indisposition he stopt at Odemberg and came not unto the Muster and Review of the Army until about 19 29 of May At which time the Elector of Bavaria and Prince Lewis of Baden Count Staremberg and Count Bielk with a Regiment of Swedish Curassiârs raised for the Service of the Duke of Bavaria together with the Auxiliary Troops of Saxony came to the Camp at Newstadt upon the River Waagh but the Brandenburghers and the Troops of Suabia being not as yet come the Duke of Loraine marched toward Raab Comorra and Gran and put off the Review and Muster of the Army until the 5 th of Iune But on the first of that Month a General Council of War was held to agree upon such Measures as were to be taken for carrying on the Siege of Buda At that assembly of Officers all the miscarriages and defects in the mannagement of the last Siege of the Year 1684 were examined and Plats brought of the place drawn by divers Hands In fine After long Discourses thereupon it was resolved That every one should possess the same Post which he held before at the last Siege and that some false Attacks should be made at first until the Lines were formed and secured in such manner as to hinder all Succours from being brought into the City After the Council was risen several small Parties of Horse were detached to scowre about the adjacent Parts of Buda Alba Regalis and Erlaw to make discovery of the State and Condition of the Enemy The same Day the Commissary Generals brought unto the Duke of Loraine a List of the Forces which were formed and in a readiness to be employed in the Siege of Buda the which was composed of Thirty thousand Foot and Twenty thousand Horse besides the Hungarians and Brandenburgers which were not as yet come to the Camp The Artillery consisted of Sixty Pieces of heavy Cannon Forty Mortar Pieces besides a great number of Bombs Carcasses and Granadoes with vast Stores of Ammunition and Provisions The greatest part of the Army was by this time advanced as far as Gran which is about Forty English Miles distant from Buda the Imperial Troops with those of Saxony passed the Danube over a Bridge at Gran whilst the Bavarians continued their march on the other side that place being designed for the General Rendezvous and where the Feast of Corpus Christi falling out on the 13 th of Iune was to be celebrated the Solemnity thereof caused so great a Concourse of People that the City not being capable to contain them the Procession was made without the Walls and within the compass of the Camp. Some Writers say That the People flocked in greater numbers to perform the Festival in that place where it had been interdicted by the Turks for the space of One hundred and twenty Years which now they were joyful to see restored These Writers had said more properly if instead of the word Restor'd they had used the word Introduced for that it is scarce an Hundred Years
And thus ended the Successes of this Year 1687 to the Glory of God and Confusion to the Enemies of the Christian Faith. The Victories and Triumphs in Hungary gained by the Imperial Arms were almost miraculous as is before related the successes in the Morea with the subjection of Patras Athens and other places of Greece were wonderful and the relief given to Singh and taking of Castel Nuovo were all works of the Divine Providence And when we farther consider the Tumults Seditions and Mutinies amongst the Turks themselves to the deposing of their Sultan himself and destruction of their Chief and Principal Officers by the madness and fury of the Soldiers even almost to to the total destruction of their Empire we may believe that the Hand of God was lifted up against this People to bring them to the brink of Ruin and Misery and cause them to cease and be no longer a People Let us therefore proceed to the Ensuing Year and therein relate the sequel of the wonderful works of God in whose hands are the disposal of Empires and Kingdoms year 1688. ANNO 1688. THE Emperor who had from the time of the Incoronation of the King of Hungary remained at Presburg otherwise called Possonium with all the Imperial Court returned now at the beginning of this year to Vienna and arrived there on the 26 th of Ianuary The Season was now come for making Preparations for the next Campaign against the Turks and Consultations were held not only to secure the new Conquests but to advance farther and to enlarge the Imperial Dominions at all which his Cesarean Majesty was pleased to assist in Person But in regard the Work was great and the Charges immense to Recruit the old Regiments and raise new to provide Ammunition Provisions and Forage for that vast Army which was designed for Hungary His Imperial Majesty was pleased to convene all the States of Austria and of his Hereditary Dominions who accordingly meeting and forming an August Assembly the Chancellor in the name of the Emperor declared unto them in a Florid Oration the neccessity that there was for a large supply of Money whereby to carry on the War against the Turks not only on the defensive part but also to advance forward in that way which God had opened and to enlarge the Dominions and extent of Christendom At the Conclusion of the Speech the States of Austria having with most profound Reverence and Respect returned their most humble Thanks to his Imperial Majesty for his gracious Clemency they promised in the most submissive Terms imaginable to answer the just Demands of his Majesty to the utmost of their Power The like was done by the States of Stiria the Governour of which Province called Stubemberg having offer'd to his Majesty the Sum of Three hundred thousand Florins besides the One hundred and Sixty thousand which those States annually pay for Maintenance of their own Charges both Civil and Military and of the Militia which is quarter'd on the Confines of Sclavonia Moreover Messages were sent to the several Princes of the Empire to send their respective Quotas and Contingents and numbers of Soldiers according to the ancient Constitutions of the Empire And in the mean time the Imperial Chamber took such due means and measures in order to the preparations of all things necessary that Recruits were made the Artillery mounted the Magazines filled with Ammunition and Provisions and all sorts of Carriages Pontons Boats Barges and all other appointments for War were provided in great abundance In the mean time the Garrison of Alba Regalis being reduced to great Extremities by Famine and want of all necessaries dispatched away a certain Aga called Achmet with some few Attendants to Belgrade there âo expose to the Governours of that place the Miseries of their languishing City Achmet privately conveying himself out of the Town with his Servants found by chance a small Boat tied on the Banks of the Danube into which being enter'd they quietly passed for some Days down the Stream until they came near to a place called Erdeody which had not long before been possessed by the Christians The Heydukes perceiving the Boat from the Walls immediately suspected that the People therein were Fugitives then making their Escape to prevent which they privately went on Board a Saick or Turkish Vessel and crossing upon them cut them off in their way and firing on them with their Muskets forced them to Steer and Row to the other side but they following them made them all Prisoners Achmet only excepted who being very nimble and active and a kind of a Bog-trotter escaped over a Marsh with all his Letters and fetching a compass ouâ of the way he came over against Valkowar which he supposing to be still a Garrison of the Turks made a Sign for a Boat to Ferry him over the River the Boat passing over rowed and manned by Heydukes seized Achmet who being surprized to see himself made a Prisoner and thinking that they were Turks and not Enemies cried out I am a Turk sent by the Pasha and Garrison of Alba Regalis with a Verbal Commission only to the Port denying to have any Letters about him but they rifling him found near Three hundred Letters which were afterwards sent to Vienna and translated by the Emperor's Interpreter And now Achmet finding it no time longer to conceal his Business openly declared with Tears in his Eyes That he was the more troubled for this misfortune because that thereby he could not answer the expectation of his Friends at Alba Regalis who had dispeeded him for Belgrade to give an Account to those Governours of their distressed Condition and according to such Answers as they should receive from thence to take a Resolution either to Defend or Surrender the Town He farther added That thô sometimes certain Hungarian Friends conveyed into the Town some Flour Pease Beans and Butter yet it was in such small Quantities that all was devoured and the People therein reduced to such Extremites that in case a small number of Germans should appear with Cannon before the City the Bodies of the Garrison and Inhabitants were become so enfeebled by Famine and their Spirits so low that without all doubt they would upon the first Summons Surrender at Discretion But to give the Reader a more evident Narration of the Misery of that place it will not be from our purpose to insert one of the Letters which were taken about Achmet subscribed by the three Pashas from Alba Regalis to the Grand Vizier in these Terms After the Complements and Ceremonious words premised which are commonly long and full of Bombastick Expressions according to the Turkish Stile they began in this manner Most happy Lord IF you enquire after the State of this City and of the Turkish Soldiers therein and in the Parts adjacent all that we can say is That we recommend theirs and our Condition to
to settle matters in a better state then before And being come to Hermanstadt he was informed that the German Troops were not provided and accommodated according to Agreement whereupon he dispatched a resolute Message to Apafi and the States of the Country giving them to understand that in case better Provisions were not made for the necessary Quarters of the Soldiers he should be forced to take such Measures as were most adequate to the present occasion Apafi considering that Carafa was resolute and not to be opposed in his Demands made a vertue of necessity and sent his Chief Minister Telecky the most esteemed and most honoured Person of the States and Nobility unto him to make him a Complement with all the high Expressions of Submission and Compliance In pursuance whereof the General took into his consideration the particulars of the several Quarters and thought fit to advance the Allowance one Third more than what hath been agreed in the former Treaties And having made some alterations amongst the Officers belonging to certain Imperial Garrisons he fixed his own Head-Quarters at Hermanstadt as being not only the strongest Garrison but the most proper and convenient place from whence he might most easily succour and relieve the other Quarters as occasion served The Name of the Germans was become now so dreadful over all Hungary that many strong Fortresses at the first appearance of the Imperial Forces surrendred themselves as did Halmet a Castle on the Frontiers of Transilvania encompassed with a deep and broad Ditch and furnished with Draw-Bridges and Garrison'd by Turks yield up it self to General Magni who proceeding forwards in his March took in the Fortress of Felsiat with as much ease and facility as he had done that of Halmet by which means he brought above Two hundred Villages under Contribution and excluded the Turks from all Communication with the parts of Transilvania All things being setled in Transilvania to the satisfaction of the Emperor Baron de Pace was detached with Three Regiments and reinforced with some other Troops under General Saurau with Orders to march towards Stephanopolis a Frontier Garrison of Valachia to prevent the designs of that Despot in case he should attempt any thing to the prejudice of the Emperor But the Imperial Court being sufficiently satisfied that the Despot had no other but sincere intentions to preserve his own Dominion and benefit Christendom His Imperial Majesty was pleased to send the Bishop of Nicopolis unto him giving him to understand that he should receive his gracious Assistance in all his designs and that he would cause the Succession of that Principality to descend upon his Son acknowledging only that Homage which from ancient times was paid to the King of Hungary Whereupon the Despot sent an Envoy to General Carafa at Hermanstadt to receive Orders and Instructions in what manner to behave and govern his Affairs In the mean time the Turks in Alba Regalis finding themselves without all relief and no returns made to those Messages which they had dispatched by various ways began again to be very mutinous and unruly towards their Governors howsoever they still held out resolving as yet to hearken unto no terms which should be offered them by the Enemy Notwithstanding which the Marquess of Baden who was President of the Council of War for his Imperial Majesty being commanded to pass from his Government of Iavarin or Rab unto Ratisbon there to reside as Plenipotentiary for his Imperial Majesty at that Diet did think fit before his departure to regulate some Affairs within his Jurisdiction and particularly to appoint Count Ricceardi accompanied with an Interpreter and a party of Hungarian Horse to view and observe the State of Alba Regalis and to try if he could incline and persuade the Turks to surrender but they being quite of another humour not being reduced as yet to the utmost point and extremity of Famine cryed out with a loud Voice that they would maintain their City to the last drop of Blood and even to more violent necessities than those of Agria Ricceardi returning with this report to Giavarin the Marquess of Baden issued out new Orders to straiten the Town with more rigour and closeness than before and not only reinforced the Castles of Palotta Zioccha and Schambegh warning them to be more diligent and watchful for the future to prevent all Communication between Alba Regalis and the Neighbouring Villages and to make the Blocade more formal General Batthiani was not only commanded to march into those Quarters with his Hungarian Troops but likewise caused them to be reinforced by some of the Militia belonging to the Circles of Franconia and other Troops under the Command of Count Erdeodi Lieutenant-General at that time of Giavarin Moreover the Marquess of Baden before his departure disposed the March of the Militia and ordered their several Quarters in parts adjacent to Oseck there to oppose the passage of the Enemy over the Drave After which all matters being well ordered with excellent Methods and Rules of Government the Marquess took Post for Vienna where having received Instructions from the Emperor for better Government of his Presidency at Ratisbon he proceeded thither and there he held several publick and private Conferences for the better Regulation of the Military Affairs for the Ensuing Campaigne In the mean time Recruits were made and Horses provided to Remount such as wanted them and whilst it was doubted Whether the Elector of Bavaria could be present in Person to conduct his Army this Year into Hungary upon a jealousy that the French would fall into the Palatinate yet the Treaty was concluded for the Bavarian Troops to continue in Hungary and serve with their best assistance to forward the Progress of the Imperial Arms. Mareschal Caprara commanding now in Chief in Hungary provided Oseck with all things necessary for their Subsistence and gave Orders to those Captains who commanded upon the Save to provide great Numbers of Boats and Barges and Floats for making Bridges over that River and as occasion served therewith to Transport Provisions and Materials for War. The Turks on the other side had also Erected another Bridge for the better security of Bosnia and assembled at Costanovitz on the River Unna with design to make Incursions into the Confines of Croatia but that Country was so well guarded and defended by the vigilance of Count Erdeody the Banno or Chief Governor thereof that all attempts of the Turks on that side were wholly disappointed and defeated And farther to render the Actions of the Turks fruitless and ineffectual in Sclavonia where they had made Provisions of Victuals and Ammunition and had laided therewith Lighters and Barges to supply their smaller Garrisons on the River Save Baron de Tunkel was dispeeded with a Detachment of Two hundred Horse and a Regiment of Dragoons with some Haiducks to oppose the intentions of the
of the City from whence they proceeded to the Emperor's Palace in the manner following In the first place two Turkish Chiauses on Horseback led the way with Staves in their Hands denoting Peace or Amity after whom came two led Horses followed by the Secretary of the Ambassadors carrying the Credentials made up in Purses of Cloth of Gold holding them up in his Hand that they might be seen by the People who flocked in great Numbers to see this Entry After these followed several Attendants with led Horses all richly Harnassed and covered with Embroidered Cloths Then came Zulfigar Effendi the Ambassador in the Emperor's Coach accompanied with Alexander Maurâcordato a Greek Associate to Zulfigar and Interpreter to the Grand Seignior together with Lacovitz the Imperial Interpreter On the right side of the Coach walked the Ambassador's Footmen cloathed in Green and on the left those of Maurocordâto being Rascians with Liveries of Yellow all which were followed by a numerous Train of Attendants belonging to the Ambassador amongst which there was one Coach with the Ambassador's Kinsman and Senior Tarsia chief Interpreter to the State of Venice at the Ottoman Port who were likewise attended with led Horses and Footman In this manner being come to the Gate of the Palace it was permitted only to the Ambassadors to enter into the first Court-Yard the others alighted at the Draw-bridge and walked on Foot to the Stairs whence the Ambassadors with the Secretary carrying the Credentials before them were conducted between the Guards of Archers and Halberdiers to the first Anti-chamber being followed by great Crowds of People In the mean time whilst they were ascending the Stairs His Imperial Majesty came out of his private Apartment and entered into the Chamber of Audience and seated himself under a rich Canopy of State opposite to the Entrance into the Chamber having the chief Princes and Ministers of State ranked on each Hand according to their several Degrees and Qualities Then were the Ambassadors admitted in without other Attendance than their Secretary who carried the Credentials before them they were then conducted to the Foot of the Throne the Turk wearing his Turbant on his Head and Maurocordato carrying his Cap in his Hand with his Head uncovered after the Christian manner Zulfigar Effendi having made three very low Bows in his approach to His Majesty took the Credentials into his Hands and with another profound Obeisance was offering to present them when His Majesty making a Signal with his Hand they were laid on a Side-Table near the Chair of State and then both one and the other kneeled a little and kissed the Hem of the Imperial Mantle After which retiring at some distance back Zulfigar Effendi made his Speech in the Turkish Language to this effect The Ambassador's Speech THE Most Puissant and Great Emperor of the Musselmen the Highest Monarch of the Universe Sultan Solyman Han Son of Sultan Ibrahim Han our Lord and Master hath sent us to you who are the Most High and Most Glorious Emperor amongst the Christian Kings and Princes to deliver this His Imperial Letter to You His Friend The Summary Contents of which is to signifie unto You His Exaltation to the Throne of his Ancestors which hath happened in the Year or Hegeira 1099. on the 2d Day of the Month Meherem And also to put âou in remembrance of the ancient Friendship and mutual good Correspondence which passed between his Progenitors and Your famous Predecessors with all Sincerity And hath commanded âs his Servants to signifie unto You His Great Friend the High Respect he bears in His Imperial Breast to the ancient Friendship which intervened between the Progenitors on both sides May the High God inspire and instill into the Hearts of both Monarchs that which is profitable and best for the Devout Servants of God. To this Speech His Imperial Majesty did not vouchsafe to return an Answer by Words from his own Mouth because that as yet no Treaty was begun nor the least step made thereunto and likewise because that the Persons who brought these Letters were not qualified with the Character of Ambassadors but rather of Messengers sent to prepare the way in order to a stricter and closer Treaty and therefore the Baron de Herbert a Gentleman of the Emperor's Bedchamber and Councellor of State by Command of the Emperor returned an Answer in the manner following An Answer return'd by Baron Herbert THE Most August Puissant and Invincible Emperor of the Romans King of Hungary and Bohemia Arch-Duke of Austria c. Our Gracious Lord hath heard and understood what hath been most humbly proposed to His Sacred Caesarean Majesty in the Name of the Most Serene and Most Powerful Prince Sultan Solyman notifying by You His Exaltation to the Throne And whereas You have made mention of the ancient Friendship which intervened between the Ancestors of both these Sublime Monarchs You are to reflect and consider That it never entered into the Thoughts of His Imperial Majesty to trouble or dissolve that friendly Correspondence but would rather most sacredly have continued the same until this very Hour had he not been most Unjustly Attacked against the League and Articles stipulated and Sworn by both Monarchs by which the Effusion of much Humane Blood would have been spared Of all which the Most Iust God being Witness hath Crowned the Peaceable Mind of Our Most August Emperor with Wonderful Success and Glorious Victories Howsoever the Mind of His Imperial Majesty being still inclined to a Peace he resolves so soon as he shall have read the Contents of the Letter to give Order unto His Ministers to receive and consider what farther Proposals shall be given thereupon and to enter into the Particulars of a Treaty which is all that I am Commanded by my Imperial Master to say in this Matter To which Zulfigar Effendi made this short Reply The Ambassador's Reply THAT tho' many times most grievous Wars have arisen between Great Monarchs yet frequently even in the heat thereof a Peace hath unexpectedly ensued And whereas they had been employed and diâpatched from the Ottoman Port on a Work so bânâficial and happy to a great part of Mankind they did not doubt but upon the Treaty and Conferences such Expedients would be âoând as would bring all Matters to a happy Cânclâsion And farther he said That he hââ anâther Letter from the Grand Vizier directed to the President of War beseeching His Majesty that he would be pleased to behold the same with a Gracious Eye The Audience being in this manner ended which lasted about the space of half an Hour the Ambassadors for so they were called in Turkish returned from the Palace in the same Form as they came thither and conducted to their Lodgings where at the Charge of the Emperor a most sumptuous Dinner was provided for them sufficient to entertain a Hundred persons Tho' the Ceremonies observed at this Audience and the Honours and Treatment
Magno Cancellario Reis Mehmet Effendi cum Selectissimo Domino ab Intimis Secretis Alexandro ex Prosapia Scarlati Mauro Cordato altè memoratae suae Sultanicae Majestatis Plenipotentiariis Commissariis Extraordinariis Legatis ad Tractatum Constitutionem Negotii Pacis perfectâ Authoritate destinatis ac deputatis Mediationem inter Serenissimi Potentissimi suae Regiae Majestatis Magnae Britanniae Praepotentum Generalium Statuum Nederlandensium Hollandiorum Illustrissimorum Excellentissimorum Plenipotentiariorum Eorundem Extraordinariorum Legatorum Domini Wilhelmi Lord Pagett Baronis de Beaudesert c. Domini Jacobi Colyer c. ab utraque autem parte ad Pacem Inducias propensio inclinatio adhibita fuit attamen non facile fuit intra breve tempus sublatis difficultatibus res universas convenientes amicitiae vicinitati perfectè debitè in bonum ordinem redigere sed ne interrumperetur continuatio horum almorum Tractatuum quinimo deinceps perficiatur ad finem deducatur hac intentione utrinque per mutuum consensum id est à Die 25 Decembris anno 1698. à Nativitate Domini Dei Jesu Christi in futuros duos integros annos inter altè fatos ambos Magnos Dominos fiant Induciae in quibus almus hicce Tractatus in bonum ordinem reducatur atque inter suam Czaream Majestatem Moscoviticam Sultanicam Majestatem Turcicam Deo Altissimo secundante Pax perpetua aut in sufficientes annos Induciae concludantur vetus Amicitia restauretur Proinde in hâc constituto determinato unanimi consensu desinat omne praelium bellum pugna conflictus utrobique amoveantur tollantur hostilitates à Subditis suae Czareae Majestatis Moscovitis Cosaccis ac aliis Confiniis Musulmannicis Crimensibus atque reliquis suae Sultaniâae Majestati subjectis Terris Subditis nulla incursio hostilitas fiat neque clam neque palam ullum damnum inferatur Pariter ex parte suae Majestatis Sultanicae adversus partem suae Czareae Majestatis nullius ordinis Exercitus potissimùm verò Crimensis Chanus omne genus Tartarorum Hordarum penitùs ullas incursiones faciant nec ullum damnum palam aut clam in Civitatibus Oppidis subditis Territoriis suae Czareae Majestati perpetrent Et si qui clam vel apertè motum aliquem dispositionem hostilitatem ac incursionem contra hanc constitutionem conditionem quae nos inter confecta est fecerint ex quacunque demùm parte tales contumaces reperiantur apprehendantur incarcerentur sine remissione indefense puniantur Hâc itaque praefatâ ratione tempore colendi observandi hujus Armistitii conflictatio hostilitas absolutè amoveatur tollatur ac ab utraque parte ad concludendam Pacem perfecta propensio plena inclinatio adhibeatur Crimensis Chanus ex munere suae erga Imperialem suam Majestatem Turcicam obedientiae subjectionis huic Paci adjungatur Quae omnia ut ab utraque parte acceptentur observentur quoniam altè memoratae suae Sultanicae Majestatis Plenipotentiarii Legati Commissarii vigore suae facultatis Authoritatis Turcico Sermone scriptum legitimum firmum Instrumentum ex eoque Latino Serâone propriis manibus Sigillis firmatam Copiam dederunt pariter ego facultatis Plenipotentiae mihi datae vigore manu propriâ subscriptum Sigillo firmatum hoc Scriptum Ruthenico Latino Sermone copiatum tanquam firmum legitimum Instrumentum tradidi Scriptum in Carlowiz Ann. 1698. Mense Decem. Die 25. A COPY OF THE Turkish Treaty WITH THE MUSCOVITE It is God the most Powerful the most Iust who brings all Things to pass In the Name of God the Merciful always Compassionate THE Reason of the making this Writing Refulgent in Truth and the necessity of the Description of this Instrument stamp'd with Reality is this The War betwixt the Sublime Empire of Mustapha by the Concessions of the Plenitude of the Eternal Confirmations of the Incorruptible Lord Creator and the Immortal Maker of most Freewill the Lord God whose Glory be extoll'd beyond Similitude or Equality and by the Grace of the most Honour'd Mecca and the Servant of the most Illustrious Medina Defender and Rector of the Holy Jerusalem and other Blessed Places Sultan of the two Earths and King of the two Seas Lord of Potent Egypt and the Abyssine Provinces and Arabia the Happy and the Land of Adenum and Caesarean Africk and Tripoly and Tunis and the Island of Cyprus and Rhodes and Crete and other Islands of the White Sea and Emperor of Babylon and Bosnia and Laxa and Revanum and Carsia and Erzirum and Sehresul and Mussul and Diarbekir and Rica and Damascus and Aleppo and Sultan of the Persic and Arabic Irachian Region and King of Ghiurdistania and Turchistania and Daghistania and Trapezuntum and Emperor of the Provinces of Rum and Zulchadria and Maras Emperor of the Regions of Tartary of Circassia and the Abastans and the Crimea and Desti-Capzac Emperor of the East and West and Anatolia and Rumelia Possessor of the Royal-Seat of Constantinople and Protected Prussia and Defended Adrianople and besides of so many the most large Provinces and of âo many Climates and Cities and most Celebrated Governour Sultan of Sultans King of Kings most Serene most Potent most August Lord our Emperor the Refuge of Musulmen Sultan Son of Sultans Son of Sultan King Mehmet whose Empire God perpetuate and establish his Government to the Day of Iudgment And the most glorious amongst the principal Christians Director of the great Affairs of the Christian Commonwealths Adorn'd with the Robes of Greatness and Majesty Conspicuous with the Power of Greatness and Glory the Czar of the Muscovite Regions and Lord of all the Ruthenic Provinces and Possessor of the Lands and Cities Subject to them the Sublime Czar of Muscovy Peter Alexovic whose End let God crown with Salvation and Righteousness considering this War for some Years has been the Occasion of Calamity to the Subjects on both sides with an Intent that it might be chang'd into Friendship and Kindness that Affairs might be put into better Order and the State of the Servants of God might be reduc'd into a better Condition in the Congress of Sirmium in the Confines of Carlovitz upon Treaty with the most Illustrious and most Excellent amongst the Christian Grandees Lord Procopius Begdanoviz Vosniziri Plenipotentiary Commissionated by the Czar and Ambassador Extraordinary and Privy-Counsellor and Lieutenant of Bolchia Design'd and Deputed by the said Czar with full Powers to Treat and Conclude a Peace and the most Illustrious and most Excellent amongst the Christian Grandees William Lord Pagett Baron of Beaudesert c. and Lord Jacob Colyer performing the part of Mediators with great good Offices and Diligence Deputed so to do by the most Glorious amongst the most Illustrious Christian Princes and the Resort of
the Rulers of the Nations William III. of England Scotland and Ireland King and the States General whose Ends God crown with Salvation and Righteousness altho' both Parties show'd a Propensity and Inclination to Peace and Reconciliation but considering in so short a time it was not easie to remove all Difficulties and to settle all things Agreeable to Friendship and good Neighbourhood Therefore least the Continuance of these good Treaties should be interrupted but that they should proceed and be brought to an End with this Intent on both sides by mutual Consent the Term of Two Years is Agreed on to begin from the 25th of December Christmas-day A. Heg 1110. within which time this good Treaty may be reduced into Order and by the Grace of the most High God a Peace or Truce may be concluded betwixt the Sublime Empire and the Muscovitish Czareate by which perpetual and ancient Friendship may be Renew'd Therefore within the Term thus prefix'd by unanimous Consent all War Battles and Skirmishes shall cease and all Hostilities shall be remov'd and forbid to the Subjects of the Czar of Muscovy both Muscovites and Cossacks and all others there shall be no Excursion Hostility Damage whether privately or publickly done or committed upon the Musulman Confines subject to the Sublime Empire whether in the Crimea or any other Places or upon the Subjects of this Empire In like manner on the part of the High Empire no Army of what Condition soever especially belonging to the Crimean Cham and all sorts of Tartars or Hords shall make any sort of Excursion nor commit Damage privately or publickly upon the Cities and Towns and Subjects or Dependants upon the Czar And if contrary to this Compact and Agreement which is made betwixt us any either privately or publickly shall raise any Commotion or make Preparation for it or shall commit Hostility or make Incursion or shall be Obstinate or not Obedient let 'em âe of what âide theâ ãâã they shall be Apprehended ââprison'd and Punish'd without Mercy Therefore after this method shall this Truce be cultivated and observ'd during the time of it all Conflicts and Hostilities shall be remov'd and extinguish'd and both Parties with full Inclination shall apply themselves to the Conclusion of a Peace and the Crimean Cham shall be included in this Place by reason of the Obedience and Subjection he owes to the Sublime Empire That it may be receiv'd and observ'd on both sides the Plenipotentiary Ambassador and Commissary of the highly foremention'd Czar by Virtue of his Powers and Authority has deliver'd an Authentick Instrument in due Form written in the Muscovite Language We likewise by Virtue of our Powers and Deputation have deliver'd this Authentick Instrument in due Form Subscrib'd with our Hands and Seal'd with our Seals God is favourable to Justice A COPY OF THE Muscovite Treaty WITH THE TURKS IN the Name of the Omnipotent Lord God One in Holy Trinity By whose Grace the most Serene and Potent Lord Czar and Great Duke Peter Alexovic Emperor of the Whole Great and Little Russia of Muscovy Kiovia Wolodimiria Novogardia Czar of Carania Czar of Astrachan Czar of Siberia Lord of Plescovia Great Duke of Smolenscum Lord of Treria Ingoria Permia Viatka Bolgaria and of other Dominions Great Duke of Novogardia of the Lower Country of Csernihovia Resania Rostovia Jarosclavia Belovroria Valoria Obdoria Condinia and Emperor of all the Northern Country and Lord of the Land af Iveria Czar of the Cartalinensians and Grunizensians and Duke of Karbardia of the Csercassians and Mountaneers and many other Dominions and Lands to the East West and North from Father and Ancestors Heir Successor Lord and Commander between his Majesty and the most Mighty Great Lord Sultan Mustapha Han Son of Sultan Mehmet Han Lord of Constantinople of the White Sea the Black Sea of Anatolia Rumia Romania of the most Honour'd Mecca and Medina and Holy Jerusalem of Egypt of the Abyssines of Babylon and Rica and Commander of Damascus Emperor of the Tartarian and Crimean Hords as also of many other Dominions Kingdoms and Cities Islands and Provinces Whereas the War for many years has been the Cause of the Misery of the Subjects and Dependants on both Parties that Friendship and Kindness might be restor'd and by that means the Civil Affairs might become better settled and all things chang'd into a more flourishing Condition with this intent a Congress was had in Sirmium on the Confines of Carlovitz with the most Illustrious and most Excellent the most Select Lord Great Chancellor Reis Mehmet Effendi and the most Select Lord of the Privy Council Mauro Cordato of the Family of Scarlati Plenipotentiary Commissioners and Ambassadors Extraordinary of the highly mention'd Sultan Majesty Deputed with full Powers to Treat of and Settle the Business of a Peace through the Mediation of his most Serene and most Royal Majesty of Great Britain and of the States General of the Netherlands by their most Excellent Plenipotentiaries Ambassadors Extraordinary the Lord William Lord Pagett Baron de Beaudesert c. and Lord Jacob Colyer c. both sides show'd an Inclination to a Peace and Truce but in so short a time it was not easie to remove all Difficulties and put all things into an Order agreeable to Friendship and Good Neighbourhood yet least the Continuance of these Treaties should be Interrupted and that they might be perfected and brought to an end with this Intent by mutual Consent on both sides a Truce betwixt the two great highly mention'd Lords is Agreed on for Two Years to Commence from Christmas-day the 25th day of December Anno Domini 1698. within which Term this Treaty may be reduc'd into good Orâer and by the Blessing of God a perpetual âeace or a Truce for a sufficient Number of years may be Concluded and Antient Friendship restor'd betwixt his Czarish Muscovite Majesty and Turkish Sultan Majesty Therefore within this prefix'd time all War Battles Fights and Skirmishes shall Cease and on both sides all Hostilities shall be remov'd and extinguish'd nor shall any Incursion or Hostility be done or any Damage committed either privately or publickly by the Subjects of his Czarish Majesty whether Muscovites or Cossacks or others within the Mussulman or Crimean Confines or within any other of his Sultan Majesty's Dominions or on any of his Subjects In like manner on the part of his Sultan Majesty no sort of Troops of what Condition soever shall be brought against his Czarish Majesty especially the Crimean Cham and the Tartars of what Nation or Hord soever shall be oblig'd not to make any Incursions or do any Damage publickly or privately either in the Cities Towns or Territories Subject to his Czarish Majesty And if contrary to this Constitution and Agreement made betwixt us any privately or publickly should raise any Commotion or make Preparation for it or make Incursion or Commit Hostility such obstinate and disobedient Persons of what side soever they are shall be
corrispondendo con previi avisi faranno la loro congiunzione in luogo conveniente con comitiva di Gente militare bensì mà pacifica e quieta d'ugual numero é coll ' ajuto d'Idio cominciaranno la loro funzione dal giorno dell ' Equinotio de'i 22 12 Marzo dell ' anno corrente adopraranno ogni diligenza nella distinzione dell ' uno e dell ' altro Confine delle sudette parti affinche con prestezza finiscano nel termine di due Mesi e più presto se si può fare XII Quanto più è desiderata la fermezza dell ' amicizia e la quiete delli Sudditi di ambe le parti tanto più devono essere ugualmente abominati quelli che portati dal reprobo loro ò genio ô costume anco nel tempo di Pace con ladronecci altri ostili essercizii intorbidano la tranquillità del Confine perciò ne dall ' una parte nè dall ' altra si darà ricetto o fomento à tali forusciti di qualsivoglia sorte mà saranno perseguitati presi e consegnati acciò che ad essempio di altri siino col meritato castigo puniti e sarà per l'avenire proibito l'appoggio il mantenimento di questi mali Huòmini XIII A cadauna delle parti sia lecito di risarcire riparare e fortificare le posseduto Fortezze mà non già di fabricarne di nuovo altre Fortezze appresso il Confine ò le Fortezze demolite dalla Republica di Venezia nelle Sponde della Terra ferma Per la commodità però de'i Sudditi sia lecito di porre Borghi e Villaggi per tutto osservandosi trà di loro pacificamente ogni buona corrispondenza e vicinanza e contenendosi nelli proprii termini e se à caso succedesse frà lora alcuna differenza subito convenendo li Prefetti del Confine d'ambe le parti amichevolmente e con ogni giustizia levino l'occasione di qualsivoglia contrasto XIV Tanto per la Religgione e par la libertà e permuta degli Schiavi quanto per il Traffico si osservarà lo Stile e tenore delle antecedenti Capitolazioni e sarà lecito all' Ambasciatore della Republica di portarne le sue ulteriori istanze al Soglio Imperiale Intanto circa il Traffico siano confermati anco per questa Pace li sacri commandamenti concessi peravanti alla Republica il Traffico haverà da godere la sua forma che haveva avanti questa ultima Guerra e li Mercanti della Nazione Veneta tutti li Privileggi che le sono stati concessi XV. Sin' al giorno delle immediate Sottoscrizzioni frà li Plenipotenziarii dell ' Eccelso Imperio e della Republica di Venezia dal giorno della Sottoscrizzione delli Plenipotenziarii di Sua Maestà Cesarea e di Polonia dell ' accordato per la Republica deve cessar ogni ostilita d'ambe le parti tanto per Terra quanto per Mare osservarsi ogni buona corrispondenza affinche li Rettori di ogni Confine habbiano la notizia di questo Armistizio si pone per le parti di Bosnia Albania e Dalmazia il termine di trenta giorni e per le parti dell ' Isola di Candia e di Morea e gli altri Confini di quelle parti si pone il termine di giorni quaranta doppo e dentro quali termini al possibile dal canto dell ' Eccelso Imperio e dal canto della Republica di Venezia non si contravenirà ad alcuno di questi Articoli che si potranno osservare Si concede inoltre alli Sudditi una vera universale amnestia e qualsivoglia loro fatto ò delitto commesso in tempo di Guerra passando in totale oblivione nissuno di essi come delinquente sarà per l'avenire castigato e molestato THE TREATY of PEACE BETWEEN The Sublime OTTO MAN Empire AND Most Serene Republick of VENICE THE Treaty of Peace between the Sublime Ottoman Empire and the most Serene Republick of Venice concluded in the Congress of Carlovitz in Sirmium under Tents the 26th Ian. 1699. The Ambassadors there present on the part of the Sublime Empire were the most Illustrious and most Excellent Signiore's Mehmet Effendi Great Chancellor and Alexander Mauro Cordato and on the part of the most Serene Republick the most Illustrious and most Excellent Signioâ Charles Ruzini Kt. The Mediators the most Illustrious and most Excellent Signiore's William Pagett Ambassador of his Britannick Majesty and Iames Colyer Ambassador of the High and Mighty States General of the United Provinces besides the most Illustrious and most Excellent Signiore's Ambassadors Plenipotentiaries of his Caesarean Majesty and of Poland c. I. THE Morea with all its Cities Fortresses Castles Lands Villages Mountains Rivers Lakes Woods Ports and ev'ry thing else that is found within the Circumferânce of it now in the Possession of the Republick of Venice shall remain peaceably in the Possâssion and the Dominion of the said Republick as it stânds Bounded by Sea and by Land by that Line where remain the footsteps of the Antient Wall so that from within the Morea that I and shall not be Extended any farther towards the Terra Firma nor on the side of the Terra Firma shall they exceed these Limits of the Morea II. The Târra Firma that is in the Possession of the Sublime Empire shall remain entirely in the Possession and Dominion of the said Empire exactly in the State it was in in the beginning of the last War. The Fortress of Lepanto shall be Evacuated by the Republick of Venice the Castle of Rumelia on the side of Lepanto shall be Demolish'd and likewise the Fortress of Preveza shall be Demolish'd and the Terra Firma on that side shall be left in its first intire State. III. The Isle of St. Maura with its Fortress and that Entrance upon the Bridge call'd Peracia without any farther Extension of it towards the Terra Firma and the Island of Leucade adjoyning to St. Maure shall remain in the Possession and Dominion of the Republick of Venice IV. The Evacuation of Lepanto and the Demolishment of the Castle of Rumelia and of Prevesa shall be perform'd immediately after the Separation made of the Limits of Dalmatia and in the mean time to prevent all Hostilities and all Occasions of Complaint the Garrisons of the Three said Places shall keep themselves at Home and shall not make any Excursion into the Terra Firma nor any Demand upon what pretence soever and the Inhabitants of the said Places may either stay behind or go away without any Violence to be us'd towards ' em V. The Gulphs that are betwixt the Terra Firma and the Morea shall remain in Common and each Party does oblige it self to Clear and Preserve 'em free from Robbers VI. The
Islands of the Archipelago and of those Seas shall remain in the State they were before the beginning of this last War in the possession of the Sublime Empire and the Republick shall not pretend from 'em any Duties or Contributions or any thing else introduc'd in the time of the present War. VII For the time to come the Sublime Empire shall not pretend from the Republick of Venice or from the Inhabitants any Pension pass'd or future upon account of the Island of Zante The Island of Egina with its Fortress being adjacent to the Morea and in possession of the Republick of Venice shall in its present State remain in the Possession and Dominion of that Republick VIII In Dalmatia the Fortresses of Cnin Sing Ciclut and Gabella being at present in the Possession and Dominion of the Republick of Venice shall remain in the quiet Possession and Dominion of the same but because the Limits ought to be put into such a Form that Possessions may be distinguish'd and the Subjects of both Parties rest in Quiet and Tranquillity and that they may not come to any sort of imaginable Difference which might Disturb the Peace of the Confines it is agreed that a streight Line be drawn from the Fortress of Cnin to the Fortress of Verlika and from that to the Fortress of Sing and from that to the Fortress of Duare call'd Zadveria and from that to the Fortress of Vergoratz and likewise from that to the Fortress of Ciclut and Gabella a streight Line shall be drawn and thus the Confines shall be separated so that within the Lines towards the Venetian Dominion and the Sea all the Lands and Districts with the Castles Forts Towers and inclos'd Places shall remain in the sole Possession and Dominion of the foresaid Republick and the Lands and Districts which shall be without the said Line shall remain in the Possession and Dominion of the Sublime Empire with all the Castles Forts Towers and inclos'd Places that are there and for the time to come no sort of Encroachment Extension or Restriction on one side or other shall be permitted And the said Lines according to the nature of the Place shall be made plain and manifest by the Boundaries either of Hills or Woods or Rivers or Currents and where the place won't afford the evidence of such Marks there shall these Distinctions be made by Ditches or Pales or Pillars as shall be agreed by the Commissaries of both Parties by common consent design'd for this purpose and that these Fortresses might have in the Front of 'em a convenient space of Territory The Commissaries shall assign a quantity of Land of about one Hour about three miles to the Fortresses of Cnin Verlika and Sing Duare and Vergoratz and Ciclut to be measur'd either in a right or semicircular Line according as the Convenience and Circumstances of the Land will permit the Fortress of Cnin shall have its Flank towards the Parts of Croatia even to the Confines of the Caesarean Dominion without any prejudice to those Three Potentates the Boundaries of whose Dominions terminate thereabouts but the Rights accorded to each of these Three Governments by this Universal Peace shall always be observ'd The soresaid Line shall be observ'd by each Party but if in the Neighbourhood of it or within it there happens to be any Fortress belonging to the Sublime Empire which just behind it has an entire Territory belonging to it then shall it enjoy from the Front the quantity of Land of an Hour Circumscrib'd within Semicircular Circumference and as to the Fortress of Ciclut that shall likewise have from the Front a Territory of one Hour and in the Flank besides that Line the space of two Hours of Land to be measur'd by a right Line to the Sea. And in this Form and by this Regulation the Confines distinguish'd and the Limits settled and the Lands of each Possession separated shall be inviolably observ'd and without any alteration and if any one shall have the Boldness to violate these Marks for Boundaries or commit Trespasses on these Limits and even Officers that shall be wanting of a due Care in punishing Delinquents shall be severely punish'd as well on one side as on the ' tother And in Case the Commissaries shall meet with any Difficulty which they can't Agree they shall truly and sincerely inform their Patrons to the end that by the good Offices of the Representatives to the Fulgid Port of their Caesarean and Britannick Majesties and of the High and Mighty States General of the United Provinces the matter may be amicably determin'd and from any such like Difference about the Confines no Hostilities shall ensue nor shall the peace of the Subjects be disturb'd nor shall it be interpreted to break the Peace concluded with the Sublime Empire IX The Territory and Districts of the Signory of Ragusa shall continue joyned to the Territories and Districts of the Sublime Empire and all Obstacles shall be remov'd that may hinder the Continuation and Communication of the Lands of the said Signory with the Lands of the foresaid Empire X. All in the Neighbourhood of Cattaro Castelnuovo and Risano that is actually in the possession and Dominion of the Republick of Venice shall remain in the peaceable Possession and Dominion of the said Republick with all the Lands appertaining and this same is to be understood of any other Fortress on that side being now actually in the possession of the said Republick And the Commissaries that shall be appointed on one side and the other shall be Men of an Experienc'd Probity that they may without partiality and prejudice equally decide this important Affair And here two Separations shall be made by evident Signs that all occasions of Disturbance may be remov'd but good notice is to be taken that the said entire Continuation of the Lands of Ragusa be not interrupted XI The Distinction of the Limits on both sides in Dalmatia and about Cattaro being to be set on foot as soon as ever the Season will permit the Commissaries design'd for this work giving previous Advices they shall indeed have a Military Attendance but a peaceable and quiet one of equal number on each side and by the help of God they shall enter upon this Office on the day of the Equinox of this instant Year viz. 12 2â March and shall in the foresaid Places use all their Diligence in distinguishing and separating one Confine from the other that they may with Expedition finish the matter in two Months and sooner if it be possible XII As the Continuance of the Friendship and Quiet of the Subjects on both sides is earnestly desir'd so ought those to be equally abominated who carry'd on by their own ill Disposition or Custom do in the time of Peace with Robberies and other hostile Acts disturb the Tranquillity of the Confines therefore no Reception nor Encouragement shall be given to these Banditti of what sort soever by either Party but they shall
to surprise Pesth The Turks Commissioners disavow the Practice for the surprising of Pesth The Commissioners for the Emperour refuse any more to go to Buda The Message of County Ysolan from the Great Sultan to the Emperour The Turks in all the Negotiation for Peace did nothing but dissemble with the Emperour's Commissioners The Treaty for Peace with the Turks cometh to nothing Divers Reports concerning the Turks great Preparations and Designs Babylon reported to have been taken by the Persian King. The Turks wisely dissemble their Losses The great Opinion the Turks have of the Power of their great Sultan The Disposition of the young Turkish Emperour Fury and Tyranny the chief means whereby the Turkish Emperours command their Subjects The miserable estate of the Country of Transilvania An horrible Famine An Assembly of the States of Transilvania for the appeasing of the Troubles there The Troubles of Transilvania secretly maintained by the Nobility of the Country A severe and miserable kind of Punishment The Treaty of Peace betwixt the Christians and the Turks quite broken off and the War again begun Booties taken from the Turks by the Christians The Christians by the Turks Prisoners informed of their evil meaning in the Treaty of Peace Zeffer Bassa recovereth the Government of Bosna from Zellaly and shortly after dieth Zellaly made Governour of Temeswar The Miseries of the Hungarians The Regiment of Collonel Althem in Mutiny The Regiment of Collonel Meysberg in Mutiny A strange Action of two of the Citizens of Vienna The Turks in vain seek to surprise Lippa Cassovia in danger to have been burnt by the Turks The Cittadel of Canisia by chance burnt The Turks of Buda overthrown by the Christians of Pesth New Tumults in Transilvania The Rebels in Transilvania surprised and slain The miserable estate of Transilvania Captain Horwat's Answer in excuse of the Haiducks Two of the Turks Spies of Buda taken The Letters of the Bassa of Buda to the Governour of Strigonium Cicala Bassa with his Army overthrown by the Rebels in Asia Cicala Bassa again overthrown The Success of the Persian King. Sultan Achmat sick of the small Pox. Good Counsel taken in evil part by Sultan Achmat. Hassan Bassa appointed Lieutenant General of the Turks Wars in Hungary Hassan Bassa sent for to come to Constantinople Hassan Bassa continued General of the Turks Army against the Christians and Cicala appointed General of their Army against the Persians Cicala Bassa maketh shew as if he were unwilling to be General in the Wars against the Persians The Reasons why the Tartar Cham is so ready to serve the great Turk in his Wars against the Christians Hassan Bassa setteth forward with his Army toward Hungary Maximilian the Arch-duke sent Ambassador from the Emperour unto the Pope to crave his Aid against the Turk The Pope's Answer unto the Emperour's Demands Valachia spoiled by the Tartars Rodolph the Vayvod submitteth himself and his Country to the Emperour's Protection The Turks surprised by the Haiducks The Haiducks what manner of men they be and their outrageous Insolency The Turks in their Hearts meaning War make shew as if they were desirous of Peace The Castle of Reovin surprised by the Haiducks Petrinia in danger to have been betrayed unto the Turks The insolent and unreasonable Demands of the Turks for the concluding of a Peace with the Christians The Answer of the Emperour's Deputies unto the Turks proud Demands The Turks scorn and deride the reasonable Answer of the Emperour's Commissioners The shameful Cowardise of Iagenreuter Governour of Pesth Pesth most shamefully abandoned by the Christians Pesth taken by the Turks Iagenreuter for his Cowardise worthily committed to Prison The Bassa of Buda excuseth himself for the taking of Pesth Hassan Bassa cometh into Hungary Strigonium besieged by the Turks The Christians sally forth upon the Turks The careful Endeavours of Basta the Emperor's Lieutenant General for the Preservation of Strigonium The comfortable Speech of County Sultze Governour of Strigonium to his Garrison A notable Sally of the Christians out of the Fort of St. Thomas The Christians falling into an Ambush of the Turks lose one of their chief Commanders More than beastly Cruelty exercised by the Turks upon the dead Body of County Holenloth Hatwan most shamefully forsaken by the Christians Bethlin Habor the Rebel surprised and overthrown by the County Tambier Succours sent to the Rebel by the Bassa of Temeswar defeated by the County Tambier and the Bassa's Lieutenant slain The Visier Bassa seeketh âo gain Strigoniâm by offering of the Christians Peace Depuâieâ appointed to entreat with the Turks of Peace The Treaty for Peace broken off The Cossacks depart out of the Turks Camp unto the Christians The Janizaries in Mutiny against the Visier Bassa The Reason of the Mutiny of the Janizaries against the Bassa their General The Fort of St. Thomas the second time assaulted by the Turks The shameful Treason of the Haiducks of Strigonium The Fort of St. Thomas the third time assaulted by the Turks The Turks seeking to undermine the Fort of St. Thomas disappointed of their purpose A Treaty for Peace The Treaty broken off and nothing concluded The Janizaries unwilling to continue the siege of Strigonium The Fort of Saint Thomas six times in one day assaulted by the Turks The siege of Strigonium given over by the Turks Basta pursueth the Turks Army departing from the siege of Strigonium The upper Hungary by the Turks and Tartars spoiled and burnt The Visier Bassa by his Letters maketh a motion for the Treaty of Peace New Rebellion in Transilvania raised by Istivan sirnamed Botscay * He was in scorn called Potscay which in the Bohemian Language signifieth âarry or stay of the long delayes he by way of disgrace had before indured in the Emperours Court. Belgiosa goeth against the Rebels of Transilvania Belgiosa in a great Battel overthrown by Botscay the Rebel Botscay dealeth unfaithfully with such upon his faith given them yielded unto him Botscay in his Rebellion countenanced by the Great Sultan and called Prince of Transilvania Pallas Lippa Botscay's Lieutenant pretendeth the defence of Religion for the strengthening of Botscay in his Rebellion The great City of Cassovia yielded to the Rebel Botscay An impudent shift of the Visier Bassa for the saving of his Credit with the Great Sultan Basta goeth with his Army against the Rebels in the upper Hungary Belgiosa in the Castle of Zipze besieged by the Rebels The Priests and Jesuits for fear of the Haiducks fly from Presburg to Vienna Certain Companies of the Rebels discomfited and overthrown by the Lord Basta Blase Nemet one of the Captains of the Rebels taken and put to death Basta distressed by the Rebels The Rebels by Basta overthrown The Citiââns of âassovia reâuâe to submit themselves and to receive the Emperour's Souldiers into their City Eperia yielded unto Basta The Hussars traiterously spoil them whom they should have conducted Basta wisely appeaseth his Souldiers ready to forsake his Service
Pâsha of Temiswar Count Serini overthrows a Party of Turks and Tartars Zechâhyd revolts to Apafi Oseck The Bridge burned Quinque Ecclesiae taken by Serini Sigeth Besieged The Siege raised Claudiopolis yields it self to Apafi Count Pâter Sââini ãâã the Tuâks in the Streights ãâ¦ã The dânger of Serini Serini maâeâ known to the Eâperor his design against Kanisia Kanisia besieged The Dieâ at Ratisbone The strength of the Christian Army Italy England Poland France Count Strozzi's Speech to the French King. Rebellion of the Beghs in Egypt Ibrahim Pasha sined and imprisoned A Dispute between the Mufti and a Shegh Predictions amongst the Turks The Grand Signiors aversion to Constantinople A small Seraglio by that name near Constantinople A Son born to the Grand Signior The Siege of Kanisia * Fifteen English Miles The ãâ¦ã âhe ãâã Aâmy ãâã Sârâzzi slain Serini's Reasons to fight with the Turks The German Residents Letter to Count Serini Montecuculi contrary to the opinion of Serini decâânes the Battel with the Turks Serini retireâ from the Warâ Serinsââar taken Reflections on the disgrace of Serini Nitra tâken by âhe Christians The Târks assault Soise Lewa taken The Pope recals hâs Forces from assistanâe of the Emperor The Pope supplies the Emperor with Money but not with men Count Soise marches to raise the Siege of Leventz The Turks before Lewa The Christian Army put themselves into Battalia Husaein Pasha routed and ââed Refâge deniâd them at Sârâgonium The Moldaâians ãâã Valacââans return home ãâ¦ã Bârcan Barcan burnt The Turks with part of their Army pass the Rab. The Rab swells with immoderate Rains. The Turks vain joy Signifies the Son of a Kul or Slave The defeat given the Turkish Army by the River Rab. Tac. lib. 1. The slâân on the Turks side Reasons why the Services of Montecuculi were accepted better than those of Serini Sedition in the Turkish Camp. Tac. in Vita Agricola The Grand Signiors hunting at Yamboli Vizier sends for the Princes of Moldavia and Valachia The Princeâ of Moldavia and Valachia recalled to the Wars Fides Graeca or the honesty of a Greek The reasons which inclined both Parties to Peace The Hungarians oppose the Peace The Emperors Reasons for a Peace The French Army march homeward Serini's Death The Character of Sirini The Vizier sends for his Mother to Belgrade The Blazâng Star. The âultâns hatâed to Coâsâantiâââââ increases The Sultan seeks to destroy his Bâother The Vizier offers to depose the Tartar Chan. The Turkish Ambassadour departs Rumours of the People on occasion of stay of the German Ambassadour Mustapha Pasha's affectation and popularity * It is in the fashion of a Mace which the Turks wear at their Saddles The German Ambassadors Entrance Audiânce given to the German Ambassador The Genoese make Peace with the Turk The Genoese received The Turks resolve to prosecute the War in Candia The G. âiânior paâsionately loves his Queen The Turks prepare for a War on Candia The G. Signior arrives at Constantinople Marquess Villa received into service of the Venetians The Speech of Marquis Villa to the Senate The Reasons why the German Ambassadour interposed not in behalf of Transylvania The German Ambassador's Audience with the Vizier An Ambassadour arrives from France Reflexions of the Turks on the âmbassy of Monsieur De Ventâlay A strange âââidânt befallen the French Captain of the Mân of War. The French Embassadours second Audience The Grand Signiors Huntings The Nogay Tartar desires Lands of the Grand Signior Marquess Villa suâveys the Forts in Dalmatia Spalato ãâã ãâã Clâssa ââbânico * Iune * Sabatai wââte a Letter to elâât one maââut of every Tribe The Iews âârupâe to say the head of Israel 1662 7. Arab. Prov. Arab. Prov. The course of life which Sabatai led after he turned Mahometan The manner of exchange of the Emperors and Turks Ambassadour The âurks medâtate a new War. An Engagement near Canea Marquess Villa lands at the City of Cândia The Venetians incamp The Turks assault them The Turks make another assault The Venetian Camp raised TheGreat Vizier arrives at Thebes Twelve Târkisâ ãâã taâen The Vizier passes over into Candia By the number of Coftans is to be esteemed the honour the Turks bear to one Prince above the other The Polish Ambassadours Audience The Death of the Polish Ambassadour The Revolt of the Pasha of Balsora The disposition of the Turks Camp. The Batteries raised by the Turks The âirst Mine blown up Two Sallies made by the Christians The Captain-General disarms his Gallies Five Mines the Christians sprang Attempts of the Turks on the side of Panigra Arrival of Gallies from the Pope and Malta Chevalier d'Harcourt An Agent arrives at Candia to treat with the Vizier The Turks assault Panigra The Turks fire a dreadful Mine The Turks spring another Mine Two Mines of the Christians Four Mines and a Sally of the Christians Two Mines of the Christians One Mine of the Christians * Which is their Triumph for Victory The G. Signior sends a Messenger to bring him certain information of the state of his Camp in Candia The Winter causes all Action to cease General Barbaro and Uvertmiller departed from the Army The deaths of Secretary Giavarina and Padavino Formality in making Ianiâaries in these days A Fight at Sea. The success of the Turks at Sea. Captain Georgio taken by tâe Turks The Turks resolve to make their passage by St Andrea A Sally made by the Christians Another Sally Marquess Villa returns into Italy Causes of Marquess Villa 's departure Marquâss Villa's Speech Marquess St. Andrea visits the Works Some French Gentlemen Adventurers for honour arrive at Candia The Christians overthrow a battery of the Turks A Sâllâ made by the French. The Dukes of Brunswick ând Lunenburg sent âorces to râlieve Candia Count Waldeck ãâã âf his wouâdâ A Mine of an hundred and sixty Sacks of Powder fired by the Chrians The Christians sally on the side of Sabionera Katirgi-Oglé his original and life The Turks storm three Bastions at once The Female Court sent to Constantinople The Ianisaries jealous of the safety of the Sultans Brothers The Grand Signior displeased with Tobacco An Ambassador sent from Venice French ãâã âf ãâã sail to Constantinople The Grand Signior sends a Messenger to the French King. Sir Daniel Harvey Ambassador from his Majesty A Relation of the state of Candia toward the end of this year The story of the false Reaux or Temins The Grand Signior designs to cut off his Brothers Tac. Lib. 6. The Turks storm again the Foât of St. Andrea Succours sent out of Christendom The French Fleet loose from Tolon They arrive at Candia The French Forces landed A Council of War held in Candia The order of the Christian Army to make their Sally The Christians sally at the Gate St. George The Christians fall upon the Turks The Christian Army in confusion French Officers slain The French leaue the Town The Turks make an assault A Council
Poland proposes enquiries concerning the State of Gran. The Description of Gran. The King of Poland declines the Siege He is persuaded to it by the Duke of Loraine The Disposition of the Christian Army in the Camp before Gran Theâr Apâroaches The Besieged accept Conditions The Castle Surrendr'd Thanks returned to God. The Christian Army drawn into Winter-quarters Leventz taken Esseghet Probens and other places taken The Forcââ of Lituania with the Duke of Loâainâ Sâtzân tâken ãâã the Poles The King of Poland and âis Aâmy return home Several Castles belonging to the Malecontents submit The Grand Vizier excuses his Misfortunes before the Grand Seiânior And is acquitted The Queen Mother Dead Tekeli comes to the Gâand Seignior The Janisaries demand the Head of the Vizier His Death resolved TheVizier's Death The Mutability of the Turkish Court. Soliman Aga. Kara Kaia made Vizier The Vizier proposes Peace Disliked by the Grand Seignior A defensive War intended ASeraskâeâ appointed The Soffraw granted to the Christian Ministers The Venetians declare War against the Turks The Moscovites inclinable to enter into the League 1st 2dly 3dly 4thly 5thly 6thly 7thly 8thly 9thly 10thly 11thly The Reasons which the Venetians had to make a War. Aids from Italy Some of the Malecontents fall off to the Emperor Their ill Condition A General Pardon Several revolt from Tekeli Tekeli puts forth an Act âf Pardon Count Humanai put to Death The King of Poland recalls his Forces Tekeli Writes to the Pope The Seraskier comes to Belgrade The Turkish Army Fears from France That King makes a Truce with the Emperor The Siege of Buda intended Vicegrade The Crown of Hungary Hailewell Vicegrade battered And is stormed and taken The Casâl is also surrendred The Turks fall on the Baggage before Gran. Are put to flight A Fight near Witzen The Tuâkâ are defeated Pest set on Fire by the Turks The Christian Army repasses the Danubâ July The Seraskier Assaults the Christians He is repulsed and flies July The Siege of Buda formed The Pâsââ of Marââ ovârtârâââ The Venetians prepare for War and noâânate their Officers Rendezvous at Corsu Santa Maura Summons sent to Santa Maura The Batteries The Turks parly and surrender Preveza attacked Preveza Surrendered Tâe Auxiliary and Venetian Forces return to their Winter quarters The Vizier of Buda slain He is succeeded by Shitan Ibrahim The Character of Shitan Ibrahim Sallies from the Town A Fight before Buda A Sally from the Town An Assault on lower Buda The lower Budâ and Castle taken Two parties of Turks Deâeated Virovitz Surrendred The Proceedings at the Siege of Buda The illCondition of the Besiegârs Sept. Sallies from the Town Summons sent to the Town The Vizier Answer His Cruelty The Christians make an Assault and are repulsed The ill Conâition of the Leagueâ Sallies made by the Turks The Vizier's Orders to the Seraâkier The Duke of Loraine Marches after the Seraskier The Bavarians advance their Works The Besieged take a Boat with Provisions The Seraskier endeavours to raise the Siege A Sally ouâ of the Town A Sally out of the Towâ Thâ Serâskier âeâires The Difficulties of the Siege The ill Condition of the Christian Camp. Octob. The Christians receive a great Loss A Sally from the Town upon the Bavarians Alarums given The difficulties of gaining the Town Consultations about raising the Siege Nov. The Siege raised The Tartars take the Island of ãâã Andrews Ill Accidents after raising the Siege Winter-quarters assigned Vuâzia Attacked Five hundred Christians put to the Sword. Barsfeldt taken Aâd Stropko The King of Poland 's Actions this year Jazlowits taken A party of Tartars defeated The Turks censure of the Poleâ And of the Venetians The Pasha of Candia put to Death The State of Christendom The Elector of Bavaria Marries with the Emperor's Daughter The Emperor's want of Mony. Treaties with the Princes of the Empire Auxiliaries of the Emperor The Pope gives Assistance The Turkâ prepare for War. ãâã Tuâks Foâces at Sea. The Mosaip Admiral Lâvies made in Europe and Asia The Turks propose a Treaty A Chiaus sent to Vienna He is sent back A miserable Plague and Famin. ãâ¦ã Newhaâsâl A Convoâ brought thither Other Convoys Successes of Tekâââ Espeâies Gutta taken * Five English Miles Successes of Colonel Heusler A party of Malecontents defeated The Pasha Erla and Novigrad strangled A Convoy sent to Relieve Esperies taken Another Convoy defeated The Turks slight the Poles The Poloâ and Tartars Treat The placâ of General Renâârvoââ The Forces oâ the Circles Care taken to supply tâe Army with Provision May. Newhausel streightned Ungwar taken Schultz âorced to leave the Town A Council of War called June The state of Buda Novigrode Filse Letters delivered to the Duke of Loraine The Siege of Newhausel resolved Preparations thereunto July Heusler beats A Party of the Enemies Horse The Town Surveyed The Form of the Siege resolved and described The Swedes come to the Siege The Trenches enlarged The Siege formed Newhausel The Batteries make a Breach Leisly attends the Motion of the Seraskiers The Town on Fire A Sally from the Town The Ditch filled with Rubbish The difficulty of draining the Ditch Galleries prepared They are burned The Galleries and Batteries burnt The Elector of Bavaria comes to the Camp. The Turkish Army near Buda Their motion observed Strigonium besieged The Order of the Christian Army They are met by the Garrison of Vâcâgrade The Turks Civility to that Garrison A Relation of the Siege of Strigonium The two Armies in sight of each other The Christians Retreat And are followed by the Turks A Battle begun The Turks defeated The loss which the Turks sâstaineâ All ââingâ ready for an Assault upon Newhausel An Assault made The Town is taken The dismal Condition of Newhausel The illCondition of the Turkish Army The Expedition of Count Lesly to the Bridge of Esseck The Turks near Esseck defeated Esseck Taken by Count Lesly Esseck burnt Schultz before Esperies Capitulations made The German Soldiers belonging to the Garrison endeavour to Plunder Provisionâ and Ammunition iâ the Town Cassovia Caprara Besieges Cassovia Peterhasi relieves Cassovia Cassovia surrândred The Morlaques The Mainiotes The Mainiotes worsâ the Turks Duare besieged and relieved The Venetian Fleet and Auxiliaries The Fleet Sails to Coron Coron described The Venetians land their Men and open their Trenches The Turks march to relieve thy Place Siaus Pasha Tâe Pasha of the Moâââ fortifies his Camp. Mines prepared Orders for an Assault The Turks take a Forâ from the Venetians La Tour killed with many other Knights of Mâlta They regain the Fort. The bravery of the Forces of Malta 1685. Aug. The Venetians annoyed in their Trenches An attempt resolved on the Turkish Camp. The Turks defeated The Boâty taken Preparatiâns for a new Assault Aug. 11th A Mine sprung An Attack on the Venetian side An Attack on the side of Malta A Parly offered Coron taken by Storm Morosini applauds the Valour of his Officers The
of their rich Horses and Mules being near unto the River side and terrified with the thundring Shot leapt into the River and were there drowned together with their riders The Persians also receiving great loss retired farther off for fear of the great Artillery So Selymus without resistance passing over the River marched forthwith toward the Enemy whom the Persians as Men nothing dismayed notably encountred The Battel was of long time doubtful and much Blood shed on both sides and if the approach of the night had not broke off that mortal Fight the Persian Army rather overcharged with the multitude of the Enemy than vanquished by valour had undoubtedly received a great overthrow but through the benefit of the night they without further loss escaped the pursute of the Turks Upon this Victory Selymus left his Carriages and Baggage with his Footmen and taking with him only his Horsemen set forward with intention to have upon the sudden surprised the regal City of Tauris before the fame of the late fought Battel could be carried thither the Persians in the mean time being no less careful of their affairs The day before ten thousand fresh Horse men well appointed which had not yet been in the Battel where coming to Hysmael these he craftily laid in the Turks way commanding them upon the approach of the Enemy to fly as if it had been for fear Selymus in the morning having descried these Horsemen at hand supposing them to be such of his Enemies as being overtaken with the night were not able to follow the rest of his Army exhorted his Souldiers couragiously to pursue their discouraged Enemies The Persians seeing the Turks of purpose betook themselves to flight and they suspecting no deceit followed fast after them until that about mid-day being weary of the pursuit and coming to a little River which was in their way they there staied to refresh themselves and after they had taken a short repast again pursued the Persians still leaving behind them such as were not able to fast to follow prickt forward with hope that before night they should surprise and ransack the rich City of Tauris The Turkish Horsemen thus drawn far from the Footmen the Persian Horsemen left in ambush in the mean time set upon the Turks Footmen lying as they supposed in great security and with a great slaughter overthrew them at which time they also took all Selymus his Treasure and great Artillery Which overthrow was by speedy Posts about two a Clock in the night made known to Selymus who now in his mind already conceived the sacking of Tauris and withal that the fierce Enemy was following him at the heels Selymus wonderfully abashed with this unexpected news and the loss of his Footmen forthwith began to retire which the ten thousand Persians which had before of purpose fled perceiving now turning themselves upon the retiring Turks charged them hardly so Selymus enclosed both before and behind by his Enemies received a great overthrow and the Turks thus hardly beset and almost despairing of their lives and having lost their Ensigns brake out sideways betwixt their Enemies and fled Selymus seeing all desperate and forlorn betook himself to flight also with the rest and passing the River Euphrates brake down the Bridge which he had but a little before repaired for fear the Persians should further pursue him and with much trouble and no less danger coming at length to Amasia assembled thither the relicks of his discomfited Army Such of the Turks as remained behind and were not able in flight to keep way with the rest were all slain be the Persians The Genoway Author thus concludeth his History That the Persian King did not more rejoyce at this Victory than did he himself for the overthrow of the Turks hoping in that their so great a confusion to free himself of his long and miserable thraldom and to find a way unto his native Country Parents as afterwards he did for flying first to Trapezond and there taking passage into Europe he came to Hadrianâple from whence he travelled by Land on foot to Salonica and there chancing upon certain Ships of Christian Merchants which had brought Corn thither âhe was by them transported into the Island of Chios from whence he joyfully returned to Genoa his native Country after he had amongst the Turks endured ten years Captivity most part whereof he lived as a Page in old Bajazets Privy-Chamber and the rest as a Souldier of the Court in the Reign of Selymus and therefore well acquainted with the fashion of the Turks Court and manners of that barbarous Nation Now shall it not as I hope be much from our purpose here with Iovius a little to digress in comparing these two great Princes Hysmael and Selymus together who in that time had filled the World with the glory of their Fame that wearied with bloody Broils and the wonderful chances of War we may a little repose our selves with matter of a milder Vain neither unpleasant nor unprofitable These two mighty Princes as they were for royal descent strength of body courage of mind riches and power equal and had thereby obtained like fame and renown so in conditions and qualities of mind and martial Discipline they much differed First of all beside the mutual hatred of the one Nation against the other delivered as it were by Succession from their Grandfathers and Fathers these two Princes and so likewise their Subjects also were at great ods about an idle Question of their vain Superstition the one preferring and honouring Ebubekir Homaris and Ottoman as the most true and rightful Successors of their great Prophet Mahomet the other with no less devotion honouring Haly and detesting the three former differing otherwise in few or no points of their most fond Superstition yet did they under the colour and zeal of their Religion as they would have it both pretend just causes of War although their evil dissembled ambitious desires plainly declared unto the World that they both shot at one and the same Mark viz. By confirming their power and strength to extend the bounds of their great Empires For Hysmael of purpose affected the fame and glory of Darius and Xerxes the ancient Persian Kings who having subdued Asia with great boldness passed over into Europe and Selymus the greatness of Alexander of Macedon who subverted the Persian Empire Which their aspiring thoughts masking under the vail of zeal towards their Religion seemed not altogether vain Fortune with like indifference immoderately favouring their bold ambitions and endless desires But in Hysmael appeared such a wonderful devotion and gravity that his haughty thoughts were with the reverend Majesty thereof covered whereas in Selymus his inhuman cruelty did blot and obscure all his other princely Vertues for he with reward and punishment retained the Majesty of his Empire but with the greater fame of severity than bounty Because it was expedient in the exact discipline of that servile
Government whereof the greatest strength of the Othoman Empire consisteth to use all rigor and severity otherwise it stood with the State of Hysmael who leavied always his Armies of his Nobility and Men free Born with whom temperate Justice civil Courtesie and popular Clemency are of greatest force to win their Fidelity Faith and Loyalty for that there is no Man well Born which feareth not more the blemish of infamy than the heaviness of punishment so that it was not to be marvelled if Hysmael by such honorable Vertues did mightily defend the glory of his Majesty and Renown Unto these his rare Vertues was also joyned a comliness of Face the fairest gift of Nature well beseeming so great a Monarch for he was well Colored quick Eyed yellow Bearded and that which amongst the Persians is accounted the sign of ancient Nobility hookt Nosed and was withal exceeding Eloquent by which good Gifts he wonderfully won to himself both the Eies and Hearts of such as beheld him But in Selymus his stern Countenance his fierce and piercing Eies his Tartar-like pale Color his long Mustacho 's on his upperlip like Bristles frild back to his Neck with his Beard cut close to his Chin did so express his martial disposition and inexorable nature that he seemed to the beholders to have nothing in him but Mischief and Cruelty Which diversity of countenances was also accompanied with no less diversity of affections and so consequently with far unlike manner of Government For Hysmael was of nature courteous and affable easie to be seen and spoken withal doing nothing that beseemed his Regal Function but in the sight of all men his manner was to dine openly in the company of his Nobility delighting much in Hawking and Hunting accompanied with his Noblemen and the Embassadors of foreign Princes He would oftentimes run leap and prove Masteries with his chief Courtiers being himself a most excellent Horseman and cunning Archer in his exercises he was so popular that he would not stick openly to bath himself and swim in his Princely Baths his Wives the beautiful Daughters of his Nobility or Neighbour Princes Ladies of great Chastity he neither loathed nor divorced after the ancient manner of the Persian Kings who always used most tenderly to love and cherish their Wives doing them all the honour possible in Court as Partakers of all their Fortune and carried them their Children Nurses and richest Furniture into their farthest Wars to their great trouble and charge by the presence of so dear Pledges the more to encourage their minds in time of Battel Whereas Selymus contrariwise did all things in secret eating his meat alone without any company attended upon with his Pages and Eunuchs only and satisfying Natures want with some one simple dish of meat He seldom went abroad but to the Church upon the Friday the Turks chief Sabbath and then so beset with his Pensioners and other Souldiers of the Court that although he used to ride alone mounted upon some couragious Horse yet was it a hard matter by face to know him among so many armed men who with great Pride and Insolency kept back the beholders He was seldom seen abroad in the City chusing rather for his recreation to pass over in his Gally into Asia and there alongst the Sea coast to take the air his Wives he would not suffer to come to Court neither used their company but for procreation sake and that as was thought without any great good countenance or familiarity for that he being not greatly given to Women but more delighted with unnatural pleasure thought a mans body and mind to be not a little weakned with the allurements of Women wherefore he seldom resorted to the cloister of choice Paragons in the midst of Constantinople shut in on every side with high and blind Walls Those dainty pieces either taken from their Christian Parents or by chance surprised by Pirats are there most curiously kept by ancient Matrons and old Eunuchs by whom they are with all diligence instructed in the Principals of the Mahometan Law and to read the Arabian Tongue and withal cunningly and comely to sing play daunce and sow but Selymus of all others used seldomest to see their allurements as a man not greatly delighted with Women or desirous of many and oftentimes unfortunate Children having but one Son Solyman by the Daughter of Mâhâmet a Tartar King who afterwards by the sufferance of God proved a great Plague to the Christian Common-Weal Such spare time as he had from his serious and weighty Affairs he used to spend in walking in his Gardens with some of his Bassaes or other great Courtiers and in beholding and noting the Noblemens Children there sporting themselves would discourse and consult of many things of great importance Some hours he would spend in the Baths and reading the Histories of his Ancestors and other foreign Princes imitating therein his Grandfather Mahomet the Great who caused almost all the Histories of the famous Princes of the World to be translated into the Turkish Language and their lively counterfeits to be with cunning hand drawn that by their worthy examples he might be the more enflamed to extend his fame and glory He would many times scoff at the great business of his Father Bajazet who as he said was so drowned in the Study of Averrois determining nothing certainly of the Nature of the Soul and the Motions of the Heavens that he desired rather the name of a sharp Disputer amongst the idle Professors of Philosophy than of a renowned Chieftain amongst his valiant Souldiers and Men of War. One of the Persian Embassadors finding him pleasantly disposed demanded of him why he did not wear his beard long as his Father Bejazet and other great Princes of that Age had done thereby to seem unto their Subjects of greater Majesty to whom he answered That he liked not to carry about with him such an unnecessary handful whereby his Bassaes might at their pleasure lead him up and down the Court as they had done his Father noting thereby that Bajazet whilst he yet lived had been too much overruled by the Bassaes which he could by no means indure following no mans advice but his own in whatsoever he took in hand But to come unto the Persians themselves they in their Wars had great disadvantage of the Turks for as they were strong in Horsemen so were they destitute of expert trained Footmen by whose only means the Turks have atchieved their greatest Victories and performed their greatest Wars Beside this it was a great want in the Persians that they had not the use of Guns against whose fury no sufficient resistance can be made or force of man opposed as appeared by the lamentable example of Usun-Cassanes at Artenga and now of Hysmael in the Calderan Fields whose victorious Armies of Horsemen were in both places put to the worst by the terror and violence of the Turks Artillery For the
Forces much weakned that he rejected the Counsel of Muhamet calling him in his Choler Christian which among the Mahometans is a Word of no small disgrace and yielding wholly to the perswasion of Mustapha and Pial presently caused preparation to be made both by Sea and Land for the performance of that his resolution Which was not so covertly carried in the Turks Court but that it was discovered by M. Antonius Barbarus the Venetian Embassador and not without cause suspected by the Venetian Merchants whom the barbarous Turks began now to cut short in their Traffick looking big upon them as Men suddainly changed and evil intreating them with hard speeches the undoubted signs of greater troubles to ensue The Venetian Embassador now out of doubt of the Turks purpose for the invasion of Cyprus came unto Muhamet the chief Bassa complaining of the breach of the League and putting him in mind of the Fidelity of the Venetian State towards the Turkish Emperor requesting him that Selymus might not make too much haste to begin that War which would set all Europe on a broil but rather by his Embassadors first to declare his mind to the Senate for that so it might haply come to pass that all might be quieted to the good of both parties without War. Which the politick Embassador requested not of the Bassa for any hope he had to avert the War for which the Turk had now all things in a readiness but only by such an hope of composition to hinder the Turks endeavours and to win time until that the State being fully certified of all these matters might make ready their Fleet and Forces and so in Arms be ready to answer their armed Foes Neither did he ever leave the Bassa until he had by his means procured That one Cubates should be sent Embassador to Venice to prove the minds of the Senators whether they would willingly deliver the Island or adventure to have it taken from them by Force These things and such like as were then done at Constantinople being by Letters sent in Post from the Embassador made known at Venice brought a general heaviness upon the City for why that understanding and provident State warned by their former harms of all others most dread the Turks Forces Cubates the Embassador accompanied with Aloysius Barbarus the Embassadors Son and Bonricius his Secretary departing from Constantinople came by long journeys to Ragusium where Angelus Surjanus sent from Venice to meet him was ready to receive him who being taken into his Gally brought him to Venice In the mean time the Senators sitting oftentimes in Counsel were divided in opinions concerning the chief matter they consulted upon some there were that thought it not good to wage War against such an invincible Enemy nor to trust upon a vain and idle hope neither to commit all unto the hazard of such Fortune as was unto them in that War by the Enemy propounded they alledged That they had always unfortunately taken up Arms against the Turks and that therefore they should set before their Eyes what harms they had suffered and how that beside the losses already sustained they had always in the winding up of the Wars lost something more that it were better to depart with Cyprus so that they might quietly enjoy the rest rather than enter into Arms Time they said would at length give them some one fit occasion or other to recover that they had lost and to restore their State unto their former Honour which for the present was above their power to maintain To put their trust in their Confederates they said was but to deceive themselves they should remember how often even small causes of false suspition or hope of profit or fear of harm had utterly frustrated and broken in sunder the most solemn Capitulations of the strongest Leagues how often destruction had come thence from whence aid was always to have been hoped for they needed not to seek farther for examples than from their own Domestical Affairs Others were of a contrary opinion as that the Island was by force of Arms to be defended saying That nothing could be more dishonorable than without fight to depart with so notable a part of their Seigniory neither any thing more commendable than to prove all things for defence of their Honour neither would the proud Turks with whom no assured League could be made as they said hold themselves content with this yielding up of the Island but by intreating of them and giving them way become more insolent and when they had taken Cyprus from them would also seek after Creet and Corcyra and so yielding them one thing after another spoil themselves of all together ambitious and greedy Princes they said grew more bold and insolent by other Mens fear and that no great or notable matter was to be done without danger that hard beginnings had oftentimes merry endings that the Favour and good Will of that insatiable and greedy Nation was not to be gained but with so great loss and charge as that such a costly Peace would be much more hurtful than War it self beside that it much concerned other Christian Princes to have the Venetian State preserved and that therfore it was to be hoped that they would to the uttermost of their power give them aid The matter thus debated to and fro it was in the end resolved upon to take up Arms in defence of their Honour and by plain force to withstand the Turk So when Cubates the Turks Embassador came to Venice neither did any Man of Courtesie meet him neither was any Honour done unto him or so much as common Courtesie shewed unto him but being afterward admitted into the Senate House with his two Interpreters only he delivered Selymus his Letters inclosed in a little Bag wrought with Silk and Gold and so whilst the same Letters were in breaking up and translating out of the Turkish Language into Italian delivered also his Message by word of mouth as followeth What great account the mighty Sultan my dread Sovereign hath always made of your most honourable Friendship is therein right well declared That in the very entrance of himself into his Empire he forthwith and without any hard or new Conditions renewed his League with you which he hath on his part always kept most faithfully and unviolate worthily grieving the like kindness not to be shewed on your behalf neither the like care of keeping your Faith to appear in you who by harboring of Pyrats in your Havens and murthring of his Subjects have oftentimes broken the League Which injuries although they were by War to have been revenged yet hath he so mighty a Monarch hitherto been always more mindful of your Honour and Friendship than of his own Majesty and Profit But forsomuch as there is no end of these Injuries and Wrongs and that it is now come to that point That longer to forbear might be imputed unto him rather
for Cowardise than Courtesie as also that it much more concerneth your State than him and that therfore you ought no less than he to desire that all causes of unkindness might be cut off and order taken that in so great and mutual goodwil there should be no falling out by new quarrels dayly arising the only remedy thereof is if you shall deliver unto him the Island of Cyprus the cause of all these grievances Now it beseemeth you for your great Wisdom to make small reckoning of so small a matter in comparison of the Favour of so great a Prince which if you willingly of your selves yield unto him you shall right wisely provide for your Affairs and have him so great a Monarch always your Friend and Confederate whereas if you shall shew your selves obstinate and not to yield to this his so small a request his purpose is by strong âand not only to take from you the Island the cause of the War but also to prosecute you with most cruel War both by Sea and Land. And thereupon I take God to witness all the blame of the calamities to ensue of so mortal a War to be imputed unto your selves at the worthy reward of your wilfulness and breach of Faith. Which said he in the name of Mahâmet the Visier Bassa told the Senators That he was right sorry that this breach was fallen out betwixt the Emperor Selymus and them and that although he doubted not but that they would right wisely consider of all things yet he could not for the good Will he bare unto them but admonish them of such things as he deemed for them both profitable and wholesome and therefore did most instantly request them and withal advise them not to enter into Arms against so mighty a Prince neither wilfully to plunge themselves into such dangers as they could hardly or never find the way out for that their strength was nothing answerable unto his and that the event of that War would be unto them deadly and therefore he took God and the love he bare unto them to witness that he had in friendly sort forewarned them of their harms and advised them for their good Giving them further to understand that Selymus did nothing but thunder out most cruel Threats against their State which his indignation was raised of the manifold complaints brought against them to his Court at Constantinople Selymus his Letters answerable to his Embassadors Speech was also full of false surmised grievances he complained That the Venetians had in warlike manner entred into the Frontiers of his Empire in Dalmatia and there had done great harm that they had put to death certain Turkish Pyrates whom they had taken alive that their Island of Cyprus was an Harbor for the Pyrates of the West and that from thence they robbed his peaceable Countries and surprised his Subjects travelling that way for Devotion unto the Temple of Mecha or otherwise about their Affairs And that therefore those causes of discord might be taken away and the hindrance of Traffique removed he required them to yield unto him the Island of Cyprus which if they refused to do he would by force of Arms take it from them and by force of strong hand cause them to do that which they might the better have done frankly and of their own accord and further to make them understand how far the Turks did excel all other Men in Martial prowess As for the League before made betwixt his Father and them he said he had renewed the same not because he had any liking thereunto but because he had as then set down with himself for a while in the beginning of his Empire peceably to endure all things The Venetians for that they knew the Embassadors errand before his coming having now read his Letters gave him such answer as they had before resolved upon which was That the Venetians had at all times inviolably kept their Leagues with the Othoman Emperors and had in regard thereof let slip many opportunities and fit occasions for them to have augmented their Dominions in That they could without any danger to themselves have destroyed the Turks Fleet both at the Rhodes and Malta and other places also but that they more regarded their Honour and alwaies thought that nothing better became great and magnificent Princes than to perform their Faith once given and in all their actions to be like themselves And therefore had dissembled and put up many grievous and bitter indignities lest they might be thought to have first broken the League That they had never passed their own Bounds or invaded the Turks only to have taken order that no Pyrates should at their pleasure roam up and down the Seas Now whereas all Duties being on their part sincerely and most religiously kept Selymus complained himself to be wronged whereas he himself had done the wrong and had contrary to the League denounced War against them expecting nothing less siththence that they could not by the power of the League they would by force of Arms defend that Kingdom which they by ancient and lawful right possessed delivered unto them by their Ancestors That God in whose help they trusted would weigh in indifferent Balance all Mens Words and Deeds whom they took to witness that they were the Authors of Peace and Selymus the cause of War and that the âame God would be now present unto their just complaints and forthwith after with his power to take revenge on them which falsifying their Faith and Promise given and violating the sacred League had enforced them to take up most just and necessary Arms which they would with the same Courage mannage that they had taken them in hand With this answer the Embassador departed let out by a secret Postern for fear of the People who having got knowledge of the matter were in great number assembled to the Court-Gate muttering among themselves that it were well done to rend in pieces that accursed Turk the Messenger of his faithless Master Which outrage it was thought they would in their fury have performed had not such as by the commandment of the Magistrates guarded him better assured him of his safety than either regard of Duty or the Law of Nations he by the way as he went still storming and swearing by his Mahomet to be of that so great an indignity revenged This answer of the Senate unto the Turks Embassador concerning War was of some well liked and highly commended as full of Honour and Valour Others deemed it too sharp liking of nothing that was said or done to the further incensing of the Turkish Emperor being of opinion that they might have of him obtained a more indifferent Peace by Courtesie than by Rigor As for the decreed War they utterly disliked forasmuch as all Wars were woful but especially those that were to be maintained against them that are too strong for us In such diversity of opinions it appeared That
an inconsiderablenumber both in respect of the Circuit of the Fortress of that gross Army which encompass'd it The Enemy being now as it is said before under the Counterscarp of the Wall they perceived that the Ditch was so deep and filled with Water that though their great Guns had made open Breaches in the Walls yet there was no possibility to storm them or bring the Soldiery to scaling Ladders or handy blows The besieged also made such continued Sallies with success and slaughter of the Enemy that after Three and Twenty days of vain labour to sew the Ditch Ali Pasha was at length almost resolved to have raised his Siege and given over the Enterprize upon which whilst he considered and âuminated as ill Fortune would have it a certain Maid which formerly had been a servant to the Governour of the Garison then a Captive in the Turkish Camp having observed how on occasion the Citizens used to empty and drain the Ditch revealed the secret to the Turks hoping thereby not only to purchase her Liberty but with that also a Sum of Money for price of her Treachery so that discovering where another Ditch was to be opened the course of the Water was soon diverted and the Walls of the Town laid dry and open to the Assailants As this happened without so another accident within equally dangerous befel the Besieged for one day an Officer of the Ammunition going into the Stores with a lighted Candle by chance dropped a spark of fire from his Lanthorn into the Powder which taking fire blew up the Powder Granadoes Fire-works and all other military Stores with the neighbouring houses and above a hundred men which loss alone was sufficient to have dejected the minds of frail men yet they so valiantly bore up their courages that they seemed not in the least abated but rather animated with the height of anger and despair The Turks having now free access to the Walls undermined some small Forts which they blew up and thereby made so great a Breach that with facility hoping to gain the Town if they made use of the occasion they poured in such multitudes of People as the Besieged were scarce able to withstand and the Turkish Soldiery being also weary of their sufferings and irksomness of their tedious leagure resolved now or never to put an end to their labours so that advancing with their open Breasts to the top of the Battlements without fear either of Cannon or Musket-shot they entered within the Walls and planted the Turkish Banners on the Works but being afterwards received by a resolute Company of the Defendants they were again thrown from the Walls and tumbled back into the Ditch with an incredible Slaughter It is impossible here to describe the anger the courage the despair which was apparent in the faces of the Besieged enflamed by the love of their own Country and hatred of the Turks so that three or four sustained sometimes the Assault of a Troop and a small number united opposed a whole Sangiack of the Enemy The Women also forgetting the imbecillity of their Sex renewing in themselves the Courage and Vigour of the Ancient Amazons exposed themselves without fear upon the Walls throwing scalding Water Stones burning Pitch and whatsoever came next to hand upon the Assâilants whom they so valiantly repulsed from the rising of the Sun till twelve at Noon that after much slaughter on both sides the Turks growing faint retreated and took breath a while within their Trenches And now the Soldiery considering the Obstinacy of the Christians began to mutiny and resolving not to cast away their lives in vain motioned to raise the Siege and be gone which when the General opposed they threatned to sacrifice his Life to the Ghosts of their departed Brethren But see how many times the Devil ruines the fortune of the Christians for whilst they were in this deliberation to depart behold a certain Thracian one of the Garison Soldiers advis'd the Turks that there were not above Three hundred sound Men remaining in the whole Garison that they were now reduced to their ultimate Crisis so that if they appear'd only beforethem and would but terrifie them with another assault the Town was their own without the least doubt of Surrender This advice retarded the hasty departure of the Camp instead of which they again muster'd themselves before the Walls and prepar'd to assault the Breach resolving to put all to a second extremity The Christians within perceiving the resolution of their Enemy and being sensible how much they were infeebled by the last Convulsion and loss of blood and as yet sore of their wounds immediately spread a white Flag of Treaty which was as readily accepted by the Turks and all Articles agreed on the 17 th of August and on the 20 th the Garison marched freely out with Colours flying and Drums beating with liberty to go wheresoever they pleased without hurt or injury which Conditions were fully and faithfully performed and maintained Varadin being thus yielded afforded matter of discourse of discontent of fear and apprehensions at Vienna some argued That it was but common and natural Reason when our Neighbours house is on fire to look to our own others blamed the slow and phlegmatick proceedings of the German Ministers who in such urgent emergencies as these could sit as unconcerned as Spectators at a Theatre who regard nothing which way the prize is carried and in short the whole Christian World stood Admirers of this sottishness esteeming either those Borderers astonished and struck into a stupid timidity or moved by principles of Policy which none besides themselves either understood or penetrated Only Count Nicholas Serini a Prince who had a fair and Soveraign Inheritance in those parts Commander of Croatia and the Confines under his Cesarean Majesty a most mortal and inveterate Enemy of the Turks could not endure their insults bravadoes and daily encroachments but watching his occasion of advantage when Canisia was almost destroyed by a dreadful fire and thereby their Ammunition and Provision for the most part consumed he gathered what Forces he could possible and made use of the opportunity to lay Siege unto it not doubting but in that Conjuncture and miserable Calamity of all things to promote the Interest of his Master and the common cause of Christendom which as soon as he had done he wrote a Letter to the Emperor acquainting him that God had opened him a Gate and Paâh to his Interest and to a just revenge of the Ottoman perfidiousness Who having violated their Faith and the mutual Peace in taking Varadin would be justly and gloriously recompensed by the loss of Canisia which being now as it were by miracle put into his hands it were a neglect of the Divine Providence not to improve with advantage an opportunity so cheerful and so promising to which besides other arguments he added That if his Cesarean Majesty should not think fit
propriarum usu insimul interdictis funeratione verò demortuorum Evangelicorum nisi Plebani Catholici eatenus prout Baptismatum Copulationum Sacramentorum Officio ritu opera uti vellent ad disrepectuosa quadriviorum compitorum campepestrium loca amandata totali integro actuali Articularis Ecclesiae Helvetio Evangelicae beneficio esset orbatum quare plenariam sui praemissorumque occupatorum ablatorum prohibitorum omnium realem restitutionem redintegrationem vi praespecificati Articularis indulti jure merito expeterent Par ratio Oppidi Jafzbrinij Oppidi Comarom Non sine animi dolore conquererentur quoque cives incolae stipendiarij item Milites Hungarici Confinij Comaromiensis Augustanae Helveticae Confessionis Quod posteaquam vigore Articuli 26. Diaetae Soproniensis ubi idem Confinium perexpressun denominaretur tam liberam publicae Religionis exercitij praxin quam Templorum etiam ac Scholarum Parochiarum pacificam adepti fuissent ac in iis imperturbate fine laesione Catholicae Religionis perstitissent utque dum Artic. 1683. ob fatales belli tumultus insperatam Oppidi Conflagrationem Ministris eorundem Evangelicis una cum civibus hinc inde dispersis tale liberum Religionis exercitium quodammodo intermitti contigisset jamnunc annis fatis clementioribus supervenientibus ubi virtute praescripti Articuli 26. idem publicum Religionis suae exercitium reassumere Ministros suos Ecclesiasticos reducere voluissent intervenientibus Excellentissimi D. Comitis à Hoffkircher dicti Confinii Commendantis loci Cleri contradictionibus id effectuare in praesens usque nullatenus permissi imo de die in dies gravioribus minis absterriti totali Religionis suae exercitio inhibiti privati sunt pro uti talem inhibitionem ulterius quoque praeattacti D.D. Catholici practicaturi tribus abhinc mensibus circiter ad pulsum tympani per plateas Confinij factum etiam ad circumjacentia loca egressum Evangelicis pro peragenda devotione sua sub incaptivatione aliis gravibus poenis severissime interminati sunt prohibitis etiam precibus in privatis alias aedibus peragi solitis Hinc non absimiliter pro Articulari sui praemissorumque restitutione redintegratione supplicarent His Accederet Inferioris Hungariae Possessionis Hodos nuncupatae Praedicantem Evangelicum Samueleni Riczkey dictum non obstantibus Protectionalibus ex intimo Consilio Bellico eidem Possessioni gratiose elargitis hinis vicibus per homines Celsiss Rever D. Archiepiscopi Strigoniensis esse expoliatum omni supellectili domestica privatum ultimum etiam in prsona 22 praeteriti mensis Martij captum Posoniumque ad aedes Archiepiscopales in carceres deductum ubi dire dure tractatur nonnisi sicco pane squalida aqua emaceratur Similiter superioris Hungariae Possessionis Totthfalu Praedicantem Evangelicum per Naghybaeniarensis Residentiae Patrem Iesuitam Ravasz vocatum captum vinctumque ad carceres Szatthmarienses deduci curatum ubi etiamnum detineretur miserrime tractaretur Diaetae Posoniensis Ann. 1687. Articulus XXI In negotio Religionis renovantur Articuli 25 26 Ann. 1681. cum interjecta Declaratione LIcet quidem in Negotio Religionis Augustanae Helvetiae Confessioni addicti Articulis 25 26 novissimae Diaetae Soproniensis oppositam iisdem per reclamationem suam abutentes ipso facto eorundem beneficij participes esse desiissent propter bonum nihilominus domesticae unionis pacis internamque Regni tranquillitatem cum sua Majestas Serenissimae ex gratia clementia sua praecitatos Articulos adhuc ratos fore benignissime resolvisset eosdem status quoque ordines ad mentem Paternae resolutionis Cleri aliorum secularium Catholicorum contradictione non obstante pro renovatis priori firmitati restitutis censendos acsi in quantum hactenus ineffectuati vel verò per aliquos abusus ab una aut altera parte medio tempore introductos violati fuissent suae debitae executioni tempore eorundem conditorum Articulorum vel expost occupatorum aut reoccupatorum impendendae restaurationi utprimum demandandos esse statuerunt THE GRIEVANCES Of the two Imperial and Free Cities of Vpper Hungary Cassovia and Epperies wherein are Contain'd the Injuries done to all the Protestant Citizens and Inhabitants of the three Ranks as well in their Civil Liberties against the 25th 26th and 41st Articles of the Diet of Sopron An. 1681. together with their Demands FIRST It must be allow'd that in the 26 th Article of that Diet year 1681. by the Special Favour of His most Sacred Majesty 't was expresly Ordain'd in these very Words But in other parts 't is Order'd according to His Majesty's Gracious Resolution that Places be appointed for the Building of Churches and Schools and Erecting Parishes for the Conveniency of those of the Helvetian Confession and of that of Ausbourg That instead of the Churches Schools and Parishes taken from the Protestants there should be Assign'd them by Commissioners appointed from His Majesty commodious and convenient Places and that without any Restriction even in the Cities of upper Hungary according to the literal and genuine sense of the Clause of the said Article which saith Furthermore in the Free and Mountain Cities as also in all the Cities of upper Hungary are Places to be allow'd for the Building of Churches and Schools and Erecting Parishes Nevertheless in the beginning of Ianuary in the year 1687. His Majesty's High-Commissioners appointed with so much Clemency in upper Hungary were so far in their proceedings from satisfying either His Majesty's pious Resolution or the true and clear intent of the Article that even in contempt of them all and in compliance with their own false Glosses they did assign to the Protestants inconvenient and undecent places without the said Cities which have no Suburbs and consequently very remote in the Fields to the evident exterminating of the free Exercise of our Religion from the said Cities Wherefore we do constantly insist on the most Holy Resolution of His Majesty as it is declar'd in the express'd words of the Article before alledg'd and by vertue thereof do humbly implore that instead of the inconvenient appointed Places such others as shall be both commodious and free from all Civil Taxes or Contributions according to the intention of the 8 th Article An. 1647. and the 12 th An. 1649. in the above-mentioned Cities and within the Walls of the same without any Ambiguity since the before-cited 26 th Article includeth the inward not the outward parts of the Cities be granted and assign'd to us the true and lawful Citizens and in no wise deserving so unjust a Banishment from the midst of the Cities Secondly 't is also undeniable that in the 25 th Article immediately foregoing the Gracious Resolution of His Most Sacred Majesty is declar'd in these very words To all and every one through the Kingdom no Protestant Inhabitant