land on the Volga—Great Bulgaria—kept its name long after the New or
Black Bulgaria arose on the Danube. It remained Turanian; it became
Mahometan; it flourished as a Mahometan state, till in the 15th
century, it yielded to the advance of Russia, and gave the Russian Czar
one of his endless titles.’ Mr. Freeman here quotes ἡ πάλαι καλουμένη
μεγάλη Βουλγαρία from Theophanes. This is an oversight, the words are
not taken from Theophanes, though he uses a similar expression, but
from Nicephorus of Constantinople.
[106] Baldwin, tenth Count of Flanders, was elected Emperor 1204, and
taken captive by Bulgarians 1205. He died a prisoner, but that he
was put to death is by no means certain. He was succeeded by his son
Baldwin, eleventh Count and second Emperor of that name. See Gibbon,
chap. lxi. Busbecq would naturally take great interest in the Sovereign
of his ancestors.
[107] The Rascians and Servians were distinct tribes in Busbecq’s time
and long afterwards; see page 165, where he notices that at Semendria
the Servians leave off and the Rascians begin; they are now both
included under the name of Servians.
[108] This pass is commonly known as ‘Trajan’s Gate,’ or the ‘pass of
Ichtiman.’ It is a point on the frontier between Bulgaria and East
Roumelia.
[109] For an account of Selim, who at last succeeded in dethroning
his father, see Creasy, _History of the Ottoman Turks_, chap. vii.,
and Von Hammer, book xxi. He was father of the Sultan to whose court
Busbecq was accredited. His successful rebellion against his father has
an important bearing on the events of which Busbecq was about to be a
spectator.
[110] Buyuk Tchekmedjé and Kutchuk Tchekmedjé. The bridges were
constructed by Solyman.
[111] Of the two women mentioned here, one is called Bosphorana
by Busbecq and the other Roxolana. Bosphorana means a native of
the kingdom of the Bosphorus—not the Thracian Bosphorus near
Constantinople, but the Cimmerian Bosphorus, now called the straits
of Caffa—which included the Crimea and the Caucasus. Roxolana means
Russian; she was always spoken of by contemporaneous Venetian
ambassadors as ‘la Rossa,’ and Creasy in a note (p. 184), says that
‘La Rossa’ was euphonised into Roxolana; the mistake is obvious,
for Roxolana is the classical equivalent for a Russian woman (see
Smith’s _Classical Dictionary_, s.v. Roxolani), and it is to Busbecq
that she owes the name by which she has become famous. Her real name
was Khourrem, i.e., ‘the joyous one.’ See Von Hammer, book xxxi.
vol. v. p. 538. A curious story is told of how Roxolana prevailed
on Solyman to make her his wife. Having borne a son to the Sultan,
she became entitled, according to the Mahometan law to her freedom;
this she claimed, and then refused to allow Solyman the rights of a
husband unless he married her. She cleverly pointed out to the Sultan,
that though she had lived with him _as a slave_ without the bond of
marriage, _as a free woman_ she could not feel justified in doing so
any longer. Solyman, as Busbecq’s letters will show, was the very man
to be influenced by such an argument, and being unwilling to give her
up, he consented to her taking the position of a lawful wife.
[112] See Creasy, _Ottoman Turks_, chap. iii., Von Hammer, book vii.,
and Gibbon, chap. lxv. Tamerlane is a corruption of Timour lenk, i.e.,
Timour the lame.
[113] During the Russo-Turkish war, 1877-8, a paragraph appeared in a
paper published at Constantinople, professing to give an account of
Mr. Gladstone, late Prime Minister of England. It described him as
originally ‘a pig-driver.’ This created great amusement in England, but
to the countrymen of Roostem there seemed no inherent absurdity in the
statement.
[114] Busbecq is in error here, for Solyman was encamped at Eregli, in
Karamania, about 250 miles from Amasia. Von Hammer takes our author
to task for laying the scene at Amasia; but Busbecq nowhere commits
himself to this statement.
[115] Ghemlik, on the Sea of Marmora, called Prusias by Busbecq. It was
originally called Kios, and about B.C. 200, Prusias, King of Bithynia,
gave it his own name. See Strabo, 563-4.
[116] The legend of Orpheus being torn to pieces by the women of Thrace
was a favourite with the ancients. See Virgil, _Georgic IV._, &c.
[117] See Tacitus, _Annals_, xii. 63. Herodotus, iv. 144.
[118] The bronze serpents, which are still on the same site, are three,
and not two in number. See Gibbon, chap. xvii., where he describes
these serpents, and proves that they form the serpent pillar mentioned
by Herodotus, ix. 81; on it was placed the golden tripod, made of part
of the spoil taken at the battle of Platæa B.C. 479, and dedicated
to Apollo. It was removed from Delphi to Constantinople by order of
Constantine.
[119] ‘The centre of the Forum was occupied by a lofty column, of which
a mutilated fragment is now degraded by the appellation of the _burnt
pillar_. This column was erected on a pedestal of white marble 20
feet high, and was composed of ten pieces of porphyry, each of which
measured about 10 feet in height and about 33 in circumference. On
the summit of the pillar, above 120 feet from the ground, stood the
colossal statue of Apollo. It was of bronze, and had been transported
either from Athens or a town in Phrygia, and was supposed to be the
work of Phidias. The artist had represented the god of day, or, as it
was afterwards interpreted, the Emperor Constantine himself, with a
sceptre in his right hand, the globe of the world in his left, and a
crown of rays glittering on his head.’ Gibbon, chap. xvii.
[120] A similar story is told of the obelisk in front of St. Peter’s at
Rome.
[121] The battle of Tschaldiran, August 23, A.D. 1514. See Creasy,
_History of the Ottoman Turks_, chap. viii.; Von Hammer, book xxii.
[122] Busbecq is alluding to the then recent conquests of Mexico and
Peru. When he penned these lines only thirty-four years had elapsed
since Cortez conquered Mexico, and twenty-four since Pizarro made
himself master of the kingdom of the Incas; the tide of adventurers was
still pouring into those unhappy lands.
[123] Busbecq is evidently referring to the exploits of his countrymen
in the days of the Crusades. ‘At the same time’ (A.D. 1200), says
Gibbon (chap. lx.), ‘Baldwin, Count of Flanders, assumed the Cross at
Bruges, with his brother Henry, and the principal knights and citizens
of that rich and industrious province.’ See also page 105.
[124] Properly, the name of the islet at Alexandria on which the
lighthouse stood; hence the name was given to any lighthouse.
[125] A Dalmatian fortress captured by the Spaniards in the autumn of
A.D. 1538, and recaptured by the Turks in the following August. Von
Hammer, book xxix.
[126] ‘The straits of the Bosphorus are terminated by the Cyanean
rocks, which, according to the description of the poets, had once
floated on the face of the waters. The deception was occasioned by
several pointed rocks alternately covered and abandoned by the waves.
At present there are two small islands, one towards either shore; that
of Europe is distinguished by the pillar of Pompey.’ Gibbon, chap. xvii.
[127] P. Gilles (or Gyllius) was born at Albi in 1490. He was sent
by Francis I. to the Levant; the remittances he expected having
miscarried, he was obliged to enlist in Solyman’s army and served
against the Persians. In 1549 he received money from his friends, with
which he purchased his discharge. He returned home in 1550, and died at
Rome in 1555, the year that Busbecq wrote this letter. Besides other
works he published three books on the _Thracian Bosphorus_, and four on
the _Topography and Antiquities of Constantinople_. Gibbon quotes him
frequently, and speaks of his learning with great respect.
[128] This passage appears to be founded on a mistranslation of
Herodotus, iii. 104.
[129] ‘In the deep gullies and broad plateaus of Angora is bred the
finest species of the mohair goat; its long silky and lustrous fleece
is the principal export of the country, so much so that it is a common
saying that “mohair is the soul of Angora,” without which it would have
become a desert long ago. The mohair is forwarded on mule and camel
back (in its raw state) to Constantinople, and thence, per steamer, to
Liverpool; it all finds its way to Bradford to be manufactured. The
export in this article alone was valued at 462,550_l._ for the year
1877, and in years of greater prosperity and higher values, this amount
has been nearly doubled.’ Extract from the letter of the correspondent
to the _Standard_ newspaper, dated, Angora, October 1, 1878.
[130] The province of Angora occupies almost the same area as the
ancient Galatia.
[131] See Herodotus, iii. 113. These sheep are very common in Asia and
Africa. Great numbers are to be found at the Cape of Good Hope, whence
they are called ‘Cape sheep.’
[132] Pierre Belon (Bellonus) was a contemporary of Busbecq’s, having
been born about 1518. He travelled in Greece, Italy, Turkey, Egypt,
Palestine, and Asia Minor. By profession a physician, he devoted
himself to the pursuit of Natural Science. He published several books,
and is generally considered to have been the founder of the science of
Comparative Anatomy. Busbecq corrects Belon, but his own account of
the hyena is wrong. It has vertebræ in the neck, and also an array of
teeth. If he had been able to procure a specimen we should have had an
accurate description. The Sultana, therefore, is indirectly responsible
for the errors.
[133] The Kanûns formed a kind of Domesday Book, drawn up by the
direction of Solyman, who thence received the name of Solyman Kanûni.
[134] A full account of the inscription is to be found in Merivale’s
_History of the Romans_, chap. xxxviii. ‘Augustus employed the next
few months in compiling a succinct memorial of his public acts to be
preserved in the archives of the state, a truly imperial work, and
probably unique of its kind. The archives of Rome have long mouldered
in the dust, but a ruined wall in a remote corner of her empire,
engraved with this precious document, has been faithful to its trust
for eighteen hundred years, and still presents us with one of the most
curious records of antiquity. The inscription, which may still be read
in the portico of a temple at Ancyra, attests the energy, sagacity, and
fortune of the second Cæsar in a detailed register of all his public
undertakings through a period of fifty-eight years,’ &c. In a note Dr.
Merivale states that it was first copied by Busbecq in 1544. This is
incorrect; Busbecq had it copied by his servants, and the date should
be 1555.
[135] ‘Reges amici atque socii, et singuli in suo quisque regno,
Cæsareas urbes condiderunt; et cuncti simul ædem Jovis Olympii,
Athenis antiquitus inchoatam, perficere communi sumptu destinaverunt,
genioque ejus dedicare.’—Suetonius, _Octavius_, chap. lx. Augustus
directed a decree granting especial privileges to the Jews to be
inscribed ἐν ἐπισημοτάτῳ τόπῳ γενηθέντι μοι ὑπὸ τοῦ κοινοῦ τῆς Ἀσίας
ἐν Ἀγκύρῃ.—Josephus, _Antiquities_, xvi. 6.
[136] Menin (near Bousbecque) and its neighbourhood were famous for
their capons. See L. Guicciardini, _Description de tout le Païs bas_,
p. 311.
[137] There are different versions of this story, see Von Hammer, book
v. and Gibbon, chap. lxiv. Creasy says that Amurath was killed by a
Servian noble, Milosch Kabilovitsch. Being mortally wounded, Amurath
died in the act of sentencing Lazarus, Despot or Cral of Servia, to
death.
[138] The permanent corps of paid cavalry in the Turkish army was
divided into four squadrons, organised like those which the Caliph
Omar instituted for the guard of the Sacred Standard. The whole corps
at first consisted of only 2,400 horsemen, but under Solyman the Great
(Busbecq’s Sultan), the number was raised to 4,000. They marched
on the right and left of the Sultan, they camped round his tent at
night, and were his bodyguard in battle. One of these regiments of
Royal Horseguards was called the Turkish Spahis, a term applied to
cavalry soldiers generally, but also specially denoting these select
horseguards. Another regiment was called the Silihdars, meaning ‘the
vassal cavalry.’ A third was called the Ouloufedgis, meaning ‘the
paid horsemen,’ and the fourth was called the Ghourebas, meaning ‘the
foreign horse.’ See Creasy, _History of the Ottoman Turks_, chap. ii.
[139] Evelyn, who no doubt took the hint from Busbecq, induced Charles
II. to adopt the Eastern dress. _Diary_, p. 324.
[140] See page 102 and note 1.
[141] See Creasy, _History of the Ottoman Turks_, chap. viii.: ‘The
schism of the Sunnites and the Schiis (the first of whom acknowledge,
and the last of whom repudiate the three immediate successors of the
Prophet, the Caliphs Abubeker, Omar, and Othman) had distracted the
Ottoman world from the earliest times. The Ottoman Turks have been
Sunnites. The contrary tenets have prevailed in Persia; and the great
founder of the Saffide dynasty in that country, Shah Ismael, was as
eminent for his zeal for the Schii tenets, as for his ability in
council, and his valour in the field. The doctrine of the Schiis had
begun to spread among the subjects of the Sublime Porte before Selim
came to the throne; and though the Sultan, the Ulema, and by far the
larger portion of the Ottomans, held strictly to the orthodoxy of
Sunnism, the Schiis were numerous in every province, and they seemed to
be rapidly gaining proselytes. Selim determined to crush heresy at home
before he went forth to combat it abroad, and in a deliberate spirit
of fanatic cruelty he planned and executed a general slaughter of such
of his subjects as were supposed to have fallen away from what their
sovereigns considered to be the only true faith.’ This massacre took
place in 1513. The Selim here mentioned was the father of Solyman. See
Creasy, _History of the Ottoman Turks_, chap. viii. There was not much
to choose between Philip of Spain in the West and Selim in the East!
See Motley, _Dutch Republic_, part iii. chap. 2.
[142] Scordium, or water germander, is mentioned in Salmon’s _Herbal_
as a sudorific, &c.; he notices that it has a smell of garlic, and that
it is a specific against ‘measles, small-pox, and also _the plague or
pestilence itself_.’ The plague is a form of blood poisoning; a medical
friend whom we consulted considered that the symptoms indicated only a
mild form of the disease; he also entirely approved of the physician’s
treatment of the case.
[143] See note page 254.
[144] An electuary is a medicine of a pasty consistence composed of
various ingredients. The one mentioned in the text was invented by the
celebrated physician Frascatorius. It contained scordium, from which
its name is derived. The prescription for it may be found in Larousse’s
_Dictionnaire Universel_, vii. 3117. Evelyn went to see the severall
‘drougs for the confection of _Treacle_, _Diascordium_, and other
electuaries.’—_Diary_, p. 262.
[145] See _Sketch of Hungarian History_.
[146] See _Sketch of Hungarian History_.
[147] See page 90.
[148] Rakos is the name of a plain near Pesth; the greater
extraordinary Hungarian Diet used to assemble on this plain after the
manner of the Polish Diet which met near Warsaw. The Turks continued to
use the place for mustering their militia.
[149] The Emperor Claudius was murdered by his wife Agrippina, who gave
him poison in a dish of mushrooms. Tacitus, _Annals_, xii. 67.
[150] In all the Latin editions of Busbecq the date is given as
September 1, 1554. This is manifestly wrong, as may be shown by
internal evidence, as for example the date of the marriage of Philip
and Mary, July 25, 1554. Busbecq was present at this marriage, and was
not summoned to Vienna till November 3, 1554, see page 77. He must,
therefore, have returned in 1555.
[151] At Augsburg.
[152] See page 190.
[153] See _Sketch of Hungarian History_.
[154] Roxolana, see note, page 111.
[155] I.e., the modern Bulgaria.
[156] See page 115.
[157] I.e., the Crimea and adjacent countries, the birthplace of
Mustapha’s mother, see page 111.
[158] The Turkish historians do not mention Bajazet’s connection with
the attempt of the Pseudo-Mustapha. Busbecq’s account, therefore,
fills an important gap. Von Hammer would discredit all statements that
are not confirmed by Eastern writers, but surely the evidence of the
Austrian Ambassador deserves as much consideration as that of Ottoman
Ali. See note 1, page 264.
[159] All the Latin editions have July 14, 1555. See note, page 173.
[160] ‘The regular answer of the ancient Sultans, when requested to
receive an embassy, was, “The Sublime Porte is open to all.” This,
according to the Turkish interpretation, implied a safe conduct in
coming, but gave no guarantee about departing.’—Creasy, _History of the
Ottoman Turks_, chap. xviii.
[161] ‘The intruding Ottoman himself, different in faith as well as in
blood, has more than once declared himself the representative of the
Eastern Cæsars, whose dominion he extinguished. Solyman the Magnificent
assumed the name of Emperor, and refused it to Charles V.’—Bryce, _The
Holy Roman Empire_, p. 407.
[162] Compare Johnson’s _Vanity of Human Wishes_:—
‘Condemned a needy suppliant to wait,
While ladies interpose and slaves debate.’
[163] The great Council of State was named the Divan; and in the
absence of the Sultan the Grand Vizier was its president. The other
Viziers and the Kadiaskers, or chief judges, took their stations on
his right; the Defterdars, or treasurers, and the Nis-chandyis, or
secretaries, on his left. The Teskeredyis, or officers charged to
present reports on the condition of each department of the State,
stood in front of the Grand Vizier. The Divan was also attended by the
Reis-Effendi, a general secretary, whose power afterwards became more
important than that of the Nis-chandyis, by the Grand Chamberlain,
and the Grand Marshal, and a train of other officials of the Court.
(Creasy, _History of the Ottoman Turks_, chap. vi.)
[164] ‘The Sultan (Bajazet I.) had at this time 7,000 falconers,
and as many huntsmen. You may suppose from this the grandeur of his
establishments. One day in the presence of the Count de Nevers, he
flew a falcon at some eagles; the flight did not please him, and he
was so wroth, that, for this fault, he was on the point of beheading
2,000 of his falconers, scolding them exceedingly for want of diligence
in their care of his hawks, when the one he was fond of behaved so
ill.’—Froissart, iv. 58.
[165] The reference is to the _Digest_ or _Pandects_ of Justinian,
liber xxxix. titulus 4, _De Publicanis et Vectigalibus et Commissis_,
where ‘Babylonicæ pelles’ are mentioned in a catalogue of taxable
articles.
[166] See Homer’s _Iliad_, iii. 2-6, and compare Milton, _Paradise
Lost_, i. 575:
‘That small infantry
Warred on by cranes.’
[167] These stories of the lynx and crane are quoted by Burton in his
_Anatomy of Melancholy_.
[168] Gibbon’s reference to this passage is not fair. He says (chap.
lxviii. note), ‘Busbequius expatiates with pleasure and applause on
the rights of war, and the use of slavery among the ancients and the
Turks.’ In the first place Busbecq merely throws out a suggestion,
which _he would be sorry for his friend to take in sober earnest_.
Secondly, we must remember the evils existing in Busbecq’s days, which
slavery would have remedied; (i.) it was the common practice to put
to death all prisoners of war, who could not pay ransom; e.g. see
Busbecq’s letter of November 13, 1589, to Rodolph. Slavery in this
case would be a mitigation of their fate, (ii.) At that time death or
mutilation were the punishments for almost every offence. Busbecq’s
project is an anticipation of the more merciful system of modern times
which has introduced penal servitude, which is really ‘a just and mild
form of slavery.’
[169] Shooting with the crossbow has been a custom at Bousbecque from
very early times. The village had a guild of crossbowmen in the times
of Charles V., which was reconstituted in 1715. A society of the kind
still exists there. See _Histoire de Bousbecque_, p. 170.
[170] This passage occurs in the life of Saturninus, who uses it in
support of an invective against the Egyptians. The quotation is from
a letter of Hadrian’s preserved in the works of his freedman Phlegon.
(Vopiscus, in _Historiæ Augustæ Scriptores_, ii. 719, in the Leyden
edition of 1671.) The Egyptians still hatch chickens in ovens, but the
heat is supplied by a fire, and not by the hot-bed mentioned in the
text. The process is described in Wilkinson’s _Ancient Egyptians_, ii.
450.
[171] Axylos, a woodless tract in Asia Minor, ‘northward of the
region of lakes and plains, through which leads the road from Afioum
Karahissar to Koniah, a dry and naked region, which extends as far as
the Sangarius and Halys.’—Leake, _Asia Minor_, p. 65.
[172] Evelyn narrates how he went to see some Turkish horses captured
at the siege of Vienna; he admired their spirit, and says they were,
‘with all this, so gentle and tractable as called to mind what I
remember Busbequius speaks of them to the reproch of our groomes in
Europe, who bring up their horses so churlishly as makes most of them
retain their ill habits.’—Evelyn, _Diary_, p. 461, Chandos Edition.
[173] ‘They were shod with yron made round and closed at the heele
with a hole in the middle about as wide as a shilling. The hoofes most
intire.’—Evelyn, _Diary_, p. 462.
[174] See note 2, page 299.
[175] Cyrus, in his expedition against his brother Artaxerxes, took
with him 400 waggons loaded with barley and wine that, in case
provisions should be very scarce, he might have the means of supplying
the Greeks, who were the flower of his army.—Xenophon, _Anabasis_, i.
10.
[176] The quotation is from Suetonius, _Life of Julius Cæsar_, chap.
67. Suetonius observes that sometimes Cæsar, after a great victory,
relaxed the strict rules of discipline, and allowed his army to abandon
themselves to the utmost license, boasting that ‘his soldiers, even
if perfumed for a banquet, would fight well.’ The conference with
Ariovistus is described in Cæsar _de Bello Gallico_, i. 43-45, and in
Merivale, chap. vii.: ‘Each was attended by a squadron of cavalry of
equal numbers. Cæsar had no Roman cavalry, nor could he safely confide
in his Gaulish auxiliaries: yet he would not reject the arrangement
proposed by his adversary, nor betray any appearance of distrust
or dread. He caused a party of Gauls to dismount, and placed upon
their horses the infantry of his favourite legion’ (the tenth). The
conference was interrupted by the impatience of the German horse, who
suddenly assailed the Romans with stones and arrows. See also pages 48
and 49.
[177] The Venetian ambassador to the Porte bore the title of Bailo
or Baily. This title was probably given to him on account of the
protection and jurisdiction he exercised with regard to the persons
and goods of all Venetian subjects, who lived and traded in all the
factories of the Levant. He, with the ambassadors of the Pope and
the Emperor, took precedence of all other ambassadors. On account of
the importance of the post, appointments to it were not made by the
Senate, but by the Great Council. Marc Antonio Barbaro, the subject
of Yriarte’s interesting work, _La Vie d’un Patricien de Venise_, was
appointed to this office in 1568.
[178] This story is referred to by Bacon, _Essays_, XIII.: _Of Goodness
and Goodness of Nature_. ‘The inclination to goodness is imprinted
deeply in the nature of man; insomuch that if it issue not towards
man, it will take unto other living creatures; as it is seen in the
Turks, a cruel people, who nevertheless are kind to beasts, and give
alms to dogs and birds; insomuch as Busbechius reporteth, a Christian
boy in Constantinople had like to have been stoned for gagging in a
waggishness a long-billed fowl.’ Bacon, in his _Essays_, also alludes
to Jehangir, Solyman’s son, to Roxolana, to Selim, and to the fate of
Mustapha.
[179] Busbecq’s countrywomen enjoyed great liberty. ‘Les femmes, oultre
ce qu’elles sont de belle et excellente forme, sont de beau maintien et
gracieuses; car elles commencent dés leur enfance, selon la coustume
du païs, à converser librement avec un chacun.’—L. Guicciardini,
_Description de tout le païs bas_, p. 38.
[180] The festival called by Busbecq the Turkish Easter was that of
Bairam. It succeeds Ramazan, the month of abstinence, which he terms
their Lent. It lasts three days, and seventy days later is the Kourban
Bairam, or Feast of Sacrifice, which lasts four days.