the Morea, some Greeks, who had taken their part, fled with them to
Charles V. Among them was one James Heraclides, whose ancestors had
been Despots, or Lords, of Samos and Paros. In his suite was a lad
named John Basilicus, the son of a ship-captain in Crete. He took a
fancy to the young man, and had him educated, and for some years he
worked as a copyist in the Vatican library. On the death of his patron,
John persuaded his household to acknowledge him as the nephew of their
deceased master by allowing them to take possession of the property
left by him, only keeping for himself all the diplomas, title-deeds
and other documents he could find. Many years afterwards he repaired
to Charles V. in his retirement at Yuste, and obtained from him an
acknowledgment that he was nephew and heir of Heraclides, and as such
was recognised by him as Despot of Samos and Paros. Charles V. also
acknowledged the good service he had done while in the Albanian light
cavalry attached to the Spanish army, and according to some accounts
gave him the right of conferring the degree of Doctor and creating
Notaries and Poet-Laureates. Armed with these credentials he repaired
to Wittenberg, where he became acquainted with Melancthon, published
an historical work in Latin, and with the Emperor’s consent exercised
his powers by creating some Poet-Laureates. At Lubeck he assumed the
character of a prince banished by the Turks, and thence repaired to
the courts of Denmark and Sweden, and next went by Dantzic to Albert
of Brandenberg, the first Duke of Prussia. He then visited Nicholas
Radzivill at Wilna, who introduced him to Sigismund, King of Poland. To
gain Radzivill’s favour he professed himself a Protestant. In Poland
he heard of the disturbed state of Moldavia, and found that the wife
of the Hospodar Alexander was a kinswoman of his pretended uncle.
Armed with letters of recommendation from Radzivill and the King, he
entered Moldavia, assumed the name of James Heraclides, and on the
strength of a forged pedigree, passed himself off as a descendant of
the ancient Moldavian dynasty of that name. He applied himself to
learn the language and to gain the affections of the nobles. Thereon
Alexander, who at first had received him well, tried to poison him,
but he escaped to Upper Hungary; here he obtained the assistance of
Albert Laszky and would have invaded Moldavia through Ruthenia, if
the Palatine had not stopped him by the King of Poland’s orders. He
then retired to Kaschau, where he gained the confidence of Busbecq’s
old colleague Zay, then Governor of Upper Hungary. Having come to
an understanding between themselves, they wrote to Ferdinand, who
entered into a secret agreement to assist Basilicus with money, and
allow him to levy troops in his dominions. To lull the suspicions
of Alexander, a report of Basilicus’s death was circulated, and his
funeral was actually performed by Laszky at Kesmark, the capital of
the County of Zips. His second invasion proved more successful. In
November, 1561, he defeated Alexander near Suczawa, who fled to Jassy,
and thence to Constantinople. There he endeavoured to prejudice the
Sultan against him, and spread reports that he was about to invade
Thrace with his German mercenaries. Though Solyman was much annoyed
at these events, and had commenced to assemble an army to attack the
Despot, yet he deemed it wiser to dissemble his vexation, and, yielding
to the representations of the Despot’s envoys, which were supported by
a judicious administration of bribes, he conferred on him the vacant
dignity. The Despot, however, soon made himself unpopular by raising
the taxes, which he was obliged to do in order to provide the increased
tribute he had agreed to pay, Alexander having carried off all the
money in the treasury. Moreover, to save expense he dismissed his
German and Italian troops, retaining only Hungarians. The priests and
common people were alienated by his religious innovations, especially
as they could not refute his arguments, ‘having learnt to worship God
with more zeal than knowledge.’ He declared his intention of abolishing
vain ceremonies and false doctrines, and introduced Calvinist preachers
from Poland, who ridiculed the mass-books, expressed their abhorrence
of all ceremonies, destroyed images, and, in the words of the episcopal
historian, had the arrogance to affirm that their doctrines agreed
with the testimony of the Scriptures. He began to plunder the churches
of their treasures, plate, &c., which made the priests fear their
turn would come next. His crowning act of sacrilege was to melt down
certain silver crosses, venerable both from their age and the relics
they contained, and to coin them into pieces bearing his image and
superscription. The nobles were further estranged by his projected
marriage with the beautiful Christina, daughter of Martin Zborowski,
Castellan of Cracow, a man of great influence in Poland, and the leader
of the Protestant party. Accordingly, they conspired against him,
treacherously surprised and killed most of his foreign guards, his
other partisans, and his infant child, and besieged him in Suczawa.
After three months his Hungarian troops mutinied and surrendered the
fortress, and he was cruelly murdered by Tomza, the leader of the
conspirators.
[242] See note, page 226.
[243] The farewell audience took place on the Tuesday before September,
10, 1559. Apparently, however, it was on June 6 that Lavigne procured
the release of the prisoners. The Baily, Marini di Cavallo, was much
annoyed at the favour, which had been refused to his entreaties and
bribes, being granted to Lavigne. ‘Et il ne s’est peu tenir, tout saige
et _cavallo_ qu’il est, de se faire cognoistre fol et _asino_: car
usant de paroles magnifiques et de ceste bonne créance de Realto contre
moy, au lieu de me louer et vous faire remercier par sa seigneurie
d’une si bonne œuvre qu’il n’eust jamais sceu mectre à fin, soubz main
il a tasché de faire dresser les commandements desdits pellerins en son
nom, et de corrompre l’ambassadeur du roy des Romains (Busbecq) affin
qu’il escripvit à l’empéreur que c’estoit à la requeste de ladicte
seigneurie qu’ils avoient esté déliverez.’—Charrière, _Négociations_
&c., ii. 584.
[244] It is curious to find that some Goths still existed in the
Crimea so late as Busbecq’s days. They occupied the south coast from
Balaklava to Sudak, and the mountains north of the latter, and the
Genoese officer who governed this coast in the fifteenth century, bore
the title of Capitanus Gotiæ. They are mentioned by the monk Rubruquis,
who was sent in 1253 by Saint Louis to the Great Khan, and also by
Marco Polo, (book iv. c. 24, Yule’s edition, ii. p. 421 and note).
The traveller Pallas, at the end of the last century, could find no
traces of them or of their language, so that he thinks (_Travels_,
vol. ii. p. 358), that Busbecq’s belief in their existence must have
arisen from some German, Swedish, or other captives being found in
the Crimea. Busbecq, however, is not the only writer who notices
these Goths, and it is not difficult to understand that the tribe may
have disappeared before the time of Pallas in the numerous wars which
devastated the Crimea. The ruins of Mancup still remain, four leagues
south of Simferopol, and nearly due east of Sebastopol. It is an almost
inaccessible fortress, on a high isolated rock. Pallas describes the
ruins of it in the second volume of his _Travels_. One of Gibbon’s
numerous references to Busbecq is found in a note to Chapter xl., where
he alludes to ‘these unambitious Goths.’
[245] The Flemish is not given by Busbecq, but has been taken by the
translators from an article on Busbecq in _Les Voyageurs Belges_, ii.
p. 30, by the Baron de Saint-Génois,
[246] This is a mistake on Busbecq’s part. The first German immigrants
came to Transylvania at the invitation of Geisa II., king of Hungary,
in the times of Conrad III. and Frederick Barbarossa, _i.e._, about the
middle of the twelfth century. Most of them came from the Lower Rhine.
They still form distinct communities, marrying only among themselves,
and are known as Saxons.
[247] See note 1, page 415.
[248] A similar legend is told of St. Raymond, a Spanish saint, who
lived in the thirteenth century. He was confessor to Don James, King of
Aragon. In the words of Mrs. Jameson (_Legends of the Monastic Orders_,
p. 421), ‘the latter’ (the King) ‘had but one fault; he was attached
to a certain beauty of his court from whom Raymond in vain endeavoured
to detach him. When the King summoned his confessor to attend him
to Majorca, the saint refused unless the lady were left; the King
affected to yield, but soon after their arrival in Majorca, Raymond
discovered that the lady was also there in the disguise of a page; he
remonstrated; the King grew angry; Raymond intimated his resolution to
withdraw to Spain; the King forbad any vessel to leave the port, and
made it death to any person to convey him from the island. The result
is thus gravely related: St. Raymond, full of confidence in God, said
to his companion, “An earthly King has deprived us of the means of
escape, but a heavenly King will supply them!” Then walking up to a
rock which projected into the sea, he spread his cloak on the waters,
and setting his staff upright and tying one corner to it for a sail,
he made the sign of the cross, and boldly embarked in this new kind of
vessel. He was wafted over the surface of the ocean with such rapidity
that in six hours he reached Barcelona. This stupendous miracle _might_
perhaps have been doubted, if five hundred credible witnesses had
not seen the saint land on the quay at Barcelona, take up his cloak,
which was not even wetted by the waves, throw it round him, and retire
modestly to his cell; more like an humble penitent than one in whose
favour Heaven had so wonderfully wrought.’
[249] This feat is by no means impossible. See Hone’s _Everyday Book_,
ii. p. 771-9.
[250] A receipt by which this feat may be accomplished is given in
the _Booke of Secrets_ of Albertus Magnus, imprinted at London by H.
Jackson. ‘Take the juice of Bismalua, and the white of an egge, and the
seed of an herb called Psillium, also Pulicarius herba, and break it
into powder, and make a confection, and myxe the juice of Radysh with
the white of an egge. Anoynt thy body or hand with this confection, and
let it be dryed, and after anoynte it againe; after that thou mayest
suffer boldely the fire without hurt.’ (See Hone’s _Everyday Book_, ii.
p. 774.) Similar feats were performed before Evelyn. (_Diary_, p. 370.)
[251] See note, page 226.
[252] Treaty of Cateau Cambrésis, concluded between France and Spain,
April 3, 1559.
[253] ‘Alvaro de Sandé fit tres bien à la bataille de Gerbes, là
où combattant vaillamment il fut pris et mené à Constantinople en
signe de triumphe et presenté au grand Solyman, qui le fit garder
fort curieusement et estroictment, en faisant serment sur son grand
dieu Mahom(!) qu’il ne luy feroit jamais plus la guerre, et qu’il
vieilliroit et mourroit en prison sans le vouloir jamais mettre à
rançon; car il sçavoit bien que le roy d’Espagne son maistre le
rechapteroit de beaucoup. Enfin, voyant que pour or ny argent il ne
le pouvoit faire rançonner ny avoir, il envoya prier avec grande
suplication le roy Charles, son beau et bon frere, par le moyen de
ceste bonne Reyne d’Espaigne sa sœur, d’envoyer une ambassade vers
le Grand Seigneur pour le luy demander et le luy donner; dont le Roy
(comme je le vis moy estant lors à la Cour) despescha aussitost M. le
chevalier de Salvyaty, qui a esté depuis premier escuyer de la reyne
de Navarre, homme fort digne pour ceste charge, et fort habile, qu en
fit l’ambassade, avec danger de sa vie, pourtant qu’il courut par les
chemins, me dict il à son retour. Le Grand Seigneur du commancement
en fit un peu de refus à ce qu’il me dict; mais vaincu par prieres du
Roy, il ne l’en voulut refuser, et le luy accorda pour la premiere
demande qu’il luy avoit faicte, parce que c’estoit son avenement à
la couronne: outre plus, luy envoya les plus belles offres du monde.
Par ainsy ledict chevalier s’en retourna libre avec son prisonnier,
qui ne pensoit rien moins à cela devoir à nostre Roy sa vie et sa
liberté.’—_Brantôme_, i. 218.
It is needless to point out the absurdities and gross inaccuracies of
this account, which is given by Salviati’s friend. It is contradicted
by the despatches of the French representative at Constantinople,
which show that Salviati’s mission was a complete failure: ‘Solyman ne
se souvenant plus de ses parolles et de ce qu’il avoit escrit au roy
dernièrement par M. le chevalier Salviati, que sa foy ne permettoit
point de délivrer les chrestiens pris en bataille, accorda la
délivrance desdits trois chevaliers espagnols, à la premiere requeste
et instance que Ferdinand luy en a faicte soubz ombre de cent cinquante
esclaves turcqs qu’ilz ont promis dellivrer.’—Charrière, _Négotiations
de la France dans le Levant_, ii. 704.
[254] ‘Quant à l’aultre point des chevalliers espagnols délivrez, Ali
me dit que certainement leur foy ne permettoit point délivrer les
chrestiens pris en bataille, mais que le Grand Seigneur ayant remis
ce pesché sur ses bassats, ils avoient trouvé par leur loy que pour
eschange d’esclaves en tel nombre que les Espagnols promettent, et
faire un bien public comme la paix, leur foy, comme par une indulgence
spécialle, permettoit ladite délivrance.’—_Charrière_, ii. 706.
[255] See page 156.
[256] These ants are mentioned first by Herodotus, iii. c. 102, where
he gives an account of the stratagem by which the Indians steal the
gold thrown up by them as they burrow. The most plausible conjecture
is that which identifies this animal with the Pangolin or Ant-eater.
See Blakesley’s and Rawlinson’s notes on the passage, in the latter of
which the statement in the text is referred to.
[257] This headdress must have resembled that of the Janissaries
Busbecq saw at Buda. See p. 87 and note.
[258] Aleppo is really a considerable distance from the Euphrates.
[259] The date of Bajazet’s death was September 25, 1561.
[260] See note, page 108.
[261] See _Sketch of Hungarian History_.
[262] Compare page 159.
[263] Theriac, the original form of the word treacle, is derived from
θηρίον, i.e. a venomous serpent (see Acts xxviii. 4). It originally
meant a confection of vipers’ flesh, which was popularly believed to be
the most potent antidote to vipers’ poison. Hence the word came to mean
any antidote against poison.
[264] The value of this balsam is illustrated by the amusing account
of the adventures in Ireland of Jean de Montluc, Bishop of Valence,
given by Sir James Melville in his _Memoirs_ (page 10, Bannatyne Club
edition). Like his friend Busbecq (see vol. ii. p. 34, _Letter to
Maximilian_, XI.) he had been ambassador at the Turkish Court, and was
afterwards sent in the same capacity to Scotland. On his return he paid
a visit to Ireland to intrigue with the chieftains who were hostile to
England. Melville, then a boy of fourteen, was sent back with him by
Mary of Guise, the Queen Regent, to be a page to her daughter Queen
Mary. They landed on Shrove Tuesday, 1550, in Lough Foyle, and were
taken to Odocarte’s house. A woman, who had been brought to entertain
the bishop, and was kept quietly in his chamber, ‘found a little glass
within a case standing in a window, for the coffers were all wet by the
sea waves that fell in the ship during the storm. But she believed it
had been ordained to eat, because it had an odoriphant smell; therefore
she licked it clean out; which put the bishop in such a rage that he
cried out for impatience.... But the Irishmen and his own servants
laughed at the matter, for it was a phial of the only most precious
balm that grew in Egypt, which Solyman the great Turk had given in a
present to the said bishop, after he had been two years ambassador
for the King of France in Turkey, and was esteemed worth two thousand
crowns.’
[265] See p. 86.
[266] Here we part from the gallant Spaniard. For his future career see
note p. 317. He was finally Governor of Oran, ‘où il a finy ses jours
fort vieux et cassé.’—_Brantôme_, i. 219.
[267] The then Duke, or rather Elector, of Saxony, was Augustus the
Pious, who succeeded his brother, the famous Maurice, in 1553, and
died in 1586. The Duke of Bavaria was Albert III., surnamed the
Magnanimous, who reigned from 1550 to 1579. His wife was a daughter of
Ferdinand. William the Rich was then Duke of Juliers, Cleves and Berg,
&c. He reigned from 1539 to 1592, and he also had married a daughter
of Ferdinand. He was younger brother of Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII.’s
fourth wife.
[268] Ferdinand might have defended himself by the example of his
predecessor Sigismund. See the story in Carlyle’s _Frederick the
Great_, i. 187, of his speech at the Council of Constance. “‘Right
Reverend Fathers, date operam ut illa nefanda schisma eradicetur,’
exclaimed Sigismund, intent on having the Bohemian schism well dealt
with,—which he reckons to be of the feminine gender. To which a
Cardinal mildly remarking, ‘Domine, schisma est generis neutrius
(Schisma is neuter, your Majesty),’ Sigismund loftily replies, ‘Ego sum
Rex Romanus et super grammaticam (I am King of the Romans, and above
Grammar)!’”
[269] An allusion to Horace, _Odes_, iii. 3, 1-10.
[270] In the battle of Nicopolis, A.D. 1396, Bajazet defeated
Sigismund, King of Hungary (afterwards Emperor), and a confederate army
of 100,000 Christians, who had proudly boasted that if the sky should
fall, they would uphold it on their lances. Among them was John, Count
of Nevers, son of Philippe-le-Hardi, Duke of Burgundy, afterwards the
Duke known as Jean Sans-Peur, who led a contingent of French knights.
In the battle of Varna, A.D. 1444, Ladislaus, King of Hungary and
Poland, was defeated, and killed by Sultan Amurath II. For Mohacz, see
_Sketch of Hungarian History_.
[271] Compare Camoens: ‘Eu nunca louvarei o general que diz “Eu não
cuidei.”—I will never praise the general who excuses himself by saying,
“I thought not.”’
[272] See _Sketch of Hungarian History_.
[273] The Suleimanyeh, or mosque of Solyman, is the most glorious
masterpiece of Ottoman architecture. It is built after the pattern of
St. Sophia, and was intended to surpass it. As regards the regularity
of the plan, the perfection of the individual parts, and the harmony of
the whole, that intention appears to have been fully attained. It was
begun in 1550 and finished in 1555.
[274] Johann Trautson von Matray, Freiherr von Sprechenstein, &c.,
descended from an ancient Tyrolese family, was Governor of the Tyrol,
and Privy Councillor and Lord High Chamberlain to Ferdinand, who
created him a Baron. Leonard von Harrach, a member of an ancient
Bohemian family, Privy Councillor and Court Chancellor of Ferdinand, is
probably the person meant.
[275] Mattioli or Matthioli, an Italian physician, was one of the
founders of modern botany. He was born at Siena in 1500, and died at
Trent in 1577. He was educated at Venice and Padua, and afterwards
lived at Siena and Rome, but was compelled by the sack of the latter
city to retire to Trent, from which he removed to Goritz. In 1562
he was summoned by Ferdinand to his Court, where for ten years he
was first physician to Maximilian. His most celebrated work is his
_Dioscorides_ and his _Commentary_ on that author. In this he made
especial use of two MSS. discovered at Constantinople by his intimate
friend Busbecq, one of which is presently mentioned in the text.
Mattioli in his _Commentaries_, continually refers to the specimens
and information he had received from Quacquelben, Busbecq’s physician.
He gives a figure and description of the _Acorus_, the plant mentioned
in the text, which Busbecq had had collected for him from the Lake of
Nicomedia, and also mentions the _Napellus_ under the head of Aconite.
Apparently there were two species known by that name, one of which was
extremely poisonous. Mattioli gives instances of experiments tried with
it upon condemned criminals, some of which proved fatal. Mattioli also
describes and gives figures of the horse-chestnut and lilac, taken from
branches and seed sent him by Busbecq.
Quacquelben took advantage of the return of Busbecq’s colleagues in
August 1557, to send Mattioli a box of specimens accompanied by a long
letter, which, with Mattioli’s reply, is printed among the letters of
the latter.
[276] The sweet or aromatic flag was used as a medicine in cases of
bites from mad dogs, &c. See Salmon’s _Herbal_. It was also used for
scenting rooms, and for ornamental purposes. See Evelyn’s description
of Lady Clarendon’s seat at Swallowfield: ‘The waters are flagg’d about
with _Calamus aromaticus_, with which my lady has hung a closet that
retains the smell very perfectly,’ _Diary_, p. 490. See also Syme’s
_English Botany_, vol. ix. p. 11.
[277] See page 389.
[278] Matarieh, a village near Cairo, occupies the site of the ancient
On or Heliopolis, where Cleopatra’s Needles originally stood.
[279] See page 256 and note.
[280] This MS. was purchased by the Emperor, and is still preserved
at Vienna. It is one of the most ancient and remarkable MSS. in
existence. It was written at Constantinople, towards the end of the
fifth century, for Juliana Anicia, daughter of the Emperor Olybrius,
who died A.D. 472. On the second and third pages are two miniatures,
each representing seven famous botanists and physicians assembled in
consultation. Among those represented in the second are Dioscorides
himself and Cratevas. On the fifth page is a picture of Dioscorides
engaged in the composition of his work. Visconti considers that the
resemblance of the two portraits of Dioscorides proves that they were
taken from a real original, and are not imaginary. On the sixth page is
a picture of Juliana Anicia seated on a throne between two allegorical
figures of Wisdom and Magnanimity. A winged Cupid, above whom is
written ‘The Love of the Creator of Wisdom,’ is presenting her with an
open book, while a kneeling figure entitled Gratitude is kissing the
feet of the princess. Engravings of these pictures, which, apart from
their antiquity, are remarkable as works of art, are given by Visconti,
_Iconographie Grecque_, vol. i. ch. 7, and by Montfaucon, _Palæographia
Græca_, bk. iii. ch. 2. Throughout the MS. the description of each
plant is illustrated by a figure.
Dioscorides was a famous botanist and physician, who wrote a celebrated
treatise on Materia Medica. Cratevas was a Greek herbalist, who is
supposed to have lived about the beginning of the first century B.C.
The great work of Busbecq’s friend, Mattioli (see note 1 page 415), was
his edition of _Dioscorides_.
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
LONDON: PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
_INDEX TO THE LETTERS._
_Aa_, John Van der, member of Ferdinand’s privy council, presents
Busbecq to Ferdinand, i. 78
_Abbot_ of Turkish Monastery—his alleged miracles, i. 363-365
_Achmet_ Pasha, appointed Grand Vizier, i. 118;
his character, 119;
Busbecq and his colleagues visit, 152;
strangled, 176;
details of his execution, 189-190;
many of his retainers join Bajazet, 275
_Aconite_ or Napellus, used by Turkish pilgrim, i. 362
_Acorus calamus_, plant sent by Busbecq to Mattioli, i. 415
_Adrianople_, town of, i. 107;
Solyman’s winter residence, 198;
Busbecq summoned thither, 199;
earthquake there, 200
_Affenstein_, commander of German reiters, killed, ii. 104
_Aga_ of the Janissaries, mentioned, i. 232, 285
_Agiamoglans_, name of a class among the Christian tribute children,
i. 306, and _note_
_Aigues-Mortes_, seaport in Languedoc, surprised by the Huguenots,
ii. 42, and _note_;
Italian nobles captured by the Huguenots taken thither, 155
_Akschehr_, town in Asia Minor taken by Bajazet, i. 273
_Albacar_, Spanish physician sent by Busbecq to Lemnos, i. 416
_Albanians_, a Georgian tribe, i. 246
_Albanians or Epirotes_, ii. 143, and _note_
_Aldegonde_, St., a prisoner in the hands of the Royalists, ii. 4;
said to be sent by the States as envoy to Alençon, 198;
made burgomaster of Antwerp, 210