but the dynasty of the Turks was overthrown by that of the Circassians;
[33] and their favorite Barkok, from a slave and a prisoner, was raised
and restored to the throne. In the midst of rebellion and discord, he
braved the menaces, corresponded with the enemies, and detained the
ambassadors, of the Mogul, who patiently expected his decease, to
revenge the crimes of the father on the feeble reign of his son Farage.
The Syrian emirs [34] were assembled at Aleppo to repel the invasion:
they confided in the fame and discipline of the Mamalukes, in the temper
of their swords and lances of the purest steel of Damascus, in the
strength of their walled cities, and in the populousness of sixty
thousand villages; and instead of sustaining a siege, they threw open
their gates, and arrayed their forces in the plain. But these forces
were not cemented by virtue and union; and some powerful emirs had been
seduced to desert or betray their more loyal companions. Timour's front
was covered with a line of Indian elephants, whose turrets were filled
with archers and Greek fire: the rapid evolutions of his cavalry
completed the dismay and disorder; the Syrian crowds fell back on each
other: many thousands were stifled or slaughtered in the entrance of the
great street; the Moguls entered with the fugitives; and after a short
defence, the citadel, the impregnable citadel of Aleppo, was surrendered
by cowardice or treachery. Among the suppliants and captives, Timour
distinguished the doctors of the law, whom he invited to the dangerous
honor of a personal conference. [35] The Mogul prince was a zealous
Mussulman; but his Persian schools had taught him to revere the memory
of Ali and Hosein; and he had imbibed a deep prejudice against the
Syrians, as the enemies of the son of the daughter of the apostle
of God. To these doctors he proposed a captious question, which the
casuists of Bochara, Samarcand, and Herat, were incapable of resolving.
"Who are the true martyrs, of those who are slain on my side, or on that
of my enemies?" But he was silenced, or satisfied, by the dexterity
of one of the cadhis of Aleppo, who replied in the words of Mahomet
himself, that the motive, not the ensign, constitutes the martyr; and
that the Moslems of either party, who fight only for the glory of God,
may deserve that sacred appellation. The true succession of the caliphs
was a controversy of a still more delicate nature; and the frankness of
a doctor, too honest for his situation, provoked the emperor to exclaim,
"Ye are as false as those of Damascus: Moawiyah was a usurper, Yezid a
tyrant, and Ali alone is the lawful successor of the prophet." A prudent
explanation restored his tranquillity; and he passed to a more familiar
topic of conversation. "What is your age?" said he to the cadhi.
"Fifty years."--"It would be the age of my eldest son: you see me here
(continued Timour) a poor lame, decrepit mortal. Yet by my arm has the
Almighty been pleased to subdue the kingdoms of Iran, Touran, and the
Indies. I am not a man of blood; and God is my witness, that in all my
wars I have never been the aggressor, and that my enemies have
always been the authors of their own calamity." During this peaceful
conversation the streets of Aleppo streamed with blood, and reechoed
with the cries of mothers and children, with the shrieks of violated
virgins. The rich plunder that was abandoned to his soldiers might
stimulate their avarice; but their cruelty was enforced by the
peremptory command of producing an adequate number of heads, which,
according to his custom, were curiously piled in columns and pyramids:
the Moguls celebrated the feast of victory, while the surviving Moslems
passed the night in tears and in chains. I shall not dwell on the
march of the destroyer from Aleppo to Damascus, where he was rudely
encountered, and almost overthrown, by the armies of Egypt. A retrograde
motion was imputed to his distress and despair: one of his nephews
deserted to the enemy; and Syria rejoiced in the tale of his defeat,
when the sultan was driven by the revolt of the Mamalukes to escape
with precipitation and shame to his palace of Cairo. Abandoned by their
prince, the inhabitants of Damascus still defended their walls; and
Timour consented to raise the siege, if they would adorn his retreat
with a gift or ransom; each article of nine pieces. But no sooner had
he introduced himself into the city, under color of a truce, than he
perfidiously violated the treaty; imposed a contribution of ten millions
of gold; and animated his troops to chastise the posterity of those
Syrians who had executed, or approved, the murder of the grandson
of Mahomet. A family which had given honorable burial to the head of
Hosein, and a colony of artificers, whom he sent to labor at Samarcand,
were alone reserved in the general massacre, and after a period of seven
centuries, Damascus was reduced to ashes, because a Tartar was moved by
religious zeal to avenge the blood of an Arab. The losses and fatigues
of the campaign obliged Timour to renounce the conquest of Palestine
and Egypt; but in his return to the Euphrates he delivered Aleppo to the
flames; and justified his pious motive by the pardon and reward of two
thousand sectaries of Ali, who were desirous to visit the tomb of
his son. I have expatiated on the personal anecdotes which mark the
character of the Mogul hero; but I shall briefly mention, [36] that he
erected on the ruins of Bagdad a pyramid of ninety thousand heads; again
visited Georgia; encamped on the banks of Araxes; and proclaimed his
resolution of marching against the Ottoman emperor. Conscious of the
importance of the war, he collected his forces from every province:
eight hundred thousand men were enrolled on his military list; [37] but
the splendid commands of five, and ten, thousand horse, may be rather
expressive of the rank and pension of the chiefs, than of the genuine
number of effective soldiers. [38] In the pillage of Syria, the Moguls
had acquired immense riches: but the delivery of their pay and arrears
for seven years more firmly attached them to the Imperial standard.
[Footnote 33: See the reigns of Barkok and Pharadge, in M. De Guignes,
(tom. iv. l. xxii.,) who, from the Arabic texts of Aboulmahasen, Ebn
(Schounah, and Aintabi, has added some facts to our common stock of
materials.)]
[Footnote 34: For these recent and domestic transactions, Arabshah,
though a partial, is a credible, witness, (tom. i. c. 64--68, tom. ii.
c. 1--14.) Timour must have been odious to a Syrian; but the notoriety
of facts would have obliged him, in some measure, to respect his enemy
and himself. His bitters may correct the luscious sweets of Sherefeddin,
(l. v. c. 17--29.)]
[Footnote 35: These interesting conversations appear to have been copied
by Arabshah (tom. i. c. 68, p. 625--645) from the cadhi and historian
Ebn Schounah, a principal actor. Yet how could he be alive seventy-five
years afterwards? (D'Herbelot, p. 792.)]
[Footnote 36: The marches and occupations of Timour between the Syrian
and Ottoman wars are represented by Sherefeddin (l. v. c. 29--43) and
Arabshah, (tom. ii. c. 15--18.)]
[Footnote 37: This number of 800,000 was extracted by Arabshah,
or rather by Ebn Schounah, ex rationario Timuri, on the faith of a
Carizmian officer, (tom. i. c. 68, p. 617;) and it is remarkable enough,
that a Greek historian (Phranza, l. i. c. 29) adds no more than 20,000
men. Poggius reckons 1,000,000; another Latin contemporary (Chron.
Tarvisianum, apud Muratori, tom. xix. p. 800) 1,100,000; and the
enormous sum of 1,600,000 is attested by a German soldier, who was
present at the battle of Angora, (Leunclav. ad Chalcondyl. l. iii.
p. 82.) Timour, in his Institutions, has not deigned to calculate his
troops, his subjects, or his revenues.]
[Footnote 38: A wide latitude of non-effectives was allowed by the
Great Mogul for his own pride and the benefit of his officers. Bernier's
patron was Penge-Hazari, commander of 5000 horse; of which he maintained
no more than 500, (Voyages, tom. i. p. 288, 289.)]
During this diversion of the Mogul arms, Bajazet had two years to
collect his forces for a more serious encounter. They consisted of four
hundred thousand horse and foot, [39] whose merit and fidelity were of
an unequal complexion. We may discriminate the Janizaries, who have been
gradually raised to an establishment of forty thousand men; a national
cavalry, the Spahis of modern times; twenty thousand cuirassiers of
Europe, clad in black and impenetrable armor; the troops of Anatolia,
whose princes had taken refuge in the camp of Timour, and a colony
of Tartars, whom he had driven from Kipzak, and to whom Bajazet
had assigned a settlement in the plains of Adrianople. The fearless
confidence of the sultan urged him to meet his antagonist; and, as if he
had chosen that spot for revenge, he displayed his banner near the
ruins of the unfortunate Suvas. In the mean while, Timour moved from the
Araxes through the countries of Armenia and Anatolia: his boldness was
secured by the wisest precautions; his speed was guided by order
and discipline; and the woods, the mountains, and the rivers, were
diligently explored by the flying squadrons, who marked his road and
preceded his standard. Firm in his plan of fighting in the heart of
the Ottoman kingdom, he avoided their camp; dexterously inclined to the
left; occupied CÊsarea; traversed the salt desert and the River Halys;
and invested Angora: while the sultan, immovable and ignorant in his
post, compared the Tartar swiftness to the crawling of a snail; [40] he
returned on the wings of indignation to the relief of Angora: and as
both generals were alike impatient for action, the plains round that
city were the scene of a memorable battle, which has immortalized the
glory of Timour and the shame of Bajazet. For this signal victory the
Mogul emperor was indebted to himself, to the genius of the moment, and
the discipline of thirty years. He had improved the tactics, without
violating the manners, of his nation, [41] whose force still consisted in
the missile weapons, and rapid evolutions, of a numerous cavalry. From
a single troop to a great army, the mode of attack was the same: a
foremost line first advanced to the charge, and was supported in a just
order by the squadrons of the great vanguard. The general's eye watched
over the field, and at his command the front and rear of the right and
left wings successively moved forwards in their several divisions, and
in a direct or oblique line: the enemy was pressed by eighteen or twenty
attacks; and each attack afforded a chance of victory. If they all
proved fruitless or unsuccessful, the occasion was worthy of the emperor
himself, who gave the signal of advancing to the standard and main body,
which he led in person. [42] But in the battle of Angora, the main body
itself was supported, on the flanks and in the rear, by the bravest
squadrons of the reserve, commanded by the sons and grandsons of Timour.
The conqueror of Hindostan ostentatiously showed a line of elephants,
the trophies, rather than the instruments, of victory; the use of
the Greek fire was familiar to the Moguls and Ottomans; but had they
borrowed from Europe the recent invention of gunpowder and cannon, the
artificial thunder, in the hands of either nation, must have turned the
fortune of the day. [43] In that day Bajazet displayed the qualities of
a soldier and a chief: but his genius sunk under a stronger ascendant;
and, from various motives, the greatest part of his troops failed him
in the decisive moment. His rigor and avarice [431] had provoked a mutiny
among the Turks; and even his son Soliman too hastily withdrew from the
field. The forces of Anatolia, loyal in their revolt, were drawn away to
the banners of their lawful princes. His Tartar allies had been tempted
by the letters and emissaries of Timour; [44] who reproached their
ignoble servitude under the slaves of their fathers; and offered to
their hopes the dominion of their new, or the liberty of their ancient,
country. In the right wing of Bajazet the cuirassiers of Europe charged,
with faithful hearts and irresistible arms: but these men of iron
were soon broken by an artful flight and headlong pursuit; and the
Janizaries, alone, without cavalry or missile weapons, were encompassed
by the circle of the Mogul hunters. Their valor was at length oppressed
by heat, thirst, and the weight of numbers; and the unfortunate sultan,
afflicted with the gout in his hands and feet, was transported from the
field on the fleetest of his horses. He was pursued and taken by the
titular khan of Zagatai; and, after his capture, and the defeat of the
Ottoman powers, the kingdom of Anatolia submitted to the conqueror,
who planted his standard at Kiotahia, and dispersed on all sides the
ministers of rapine and destruction. Mirza Mehemmed Sultan, the eldest
and best beloved of his grandsons, was despatched to Boursa, with thirty
thousand horse; and such was his youthful ardor, that he arrived with
only four thousand at the gates of the capital, after performing in five
days a march of two hundred and thirty miles. Yet fear is still more
rapid in its course; and Soliman, the son of Bajazet, had already passed
over to Europe with the royal treasure. The spoil, however, of the
palace and city was immense: the inhabitants had escaped; but the
buildings, for the most part of wood, were reduced to ashes From Boursa,
the grandson of Timour advanced to Nice, ever yet a fair and flourishing
city; and the Mogul squadrons were only stopped by the waves of the
Propontis. The same success attended the other mirzas and emirs in their
excursions; and Smyrna, defended by the zeal and courage of the Rhodian
knights, alone deserved the presence of the emperor himself. After an
obstinate defence, the place was taken by storm: all that breathed was
put to the sword; and the heads of the Christian heroes were launched
from the engines, on board of two carracks, or great ships of Europe,
that rode at anchor in the harbor. The Moslems of Asia rejoiced in their
deliverance from a dangerous and domestic foe; and a parallel was drawn
between the two rivals, by observing that Timour, in fourteen days,
had reduced a fortress which had sustained seven years the siege, or at
least the blockade, of Bajazet. [45]
[Footnote 39: Timour himself fixes at 400,000 men the Ottoman army,
(Institutions, p. 153,) which is reduced to 150,000 by Phranza, (l. i.
c. 29,) and swelled by the German soldier to 1,400,000. It is evident
that the Moguls were the more numerous.]
[Footnote 40: It may not be useless to mark the distances between Angora
and the neighboring cities, by the journeys of the caravans, each of
twenty or twenty-five miles; to Smyrna xx., to Kiotahia x., to Boursa
x., to CÊsarea, viii., to Sinope x., to Nicomedia ix., to Constantinople
xii. or xiii., (see Tournefort, Voyage au Levant, tom. ii. lettre xxi.)]
[Footnote 41: See the Systems of Tactics in the Institutions, which the
English editors have illustrated with elaborate plans, (p. 373--407.)]
[Footnote 42: The sultan himself (says Timour) must then put the foot of
courage into the stirrup of patience. A Tartar metaphor, which is lost
in the English, but preserved in the French, version of the Institutes,
(p. 156, 157.)]
[Footnote 43: The Greek fire, on Timour's side, is attested by
Sherefeddin, (l. v. c. 47;) but Voltaire's strange suspicion, that some
cannon, inscribed with strange characters, must have been sent by
that monarch to Delhi, is refuted by the universal silence of
contemporaries.]
[Footnote 431: See V. Hammer, vol. i. p. 310, for the singular hints
which were conveyed to him of the wisdom of unlocking his hoarded
treasures.--M.]
[Footnote 44: Timour has dissembled this secret and important
negotiation with the Tartars, which is indisputably proved by the joint
evidence of the Arabian, (tom. i. c. 47, p. 391,) Turkish, (Annal.
Leunclav. p. 321,) and Persian historians, (Khondemir, apud d'Herbelot,
p. 882.)]
[Footnote 45: For the war of Anatolia or Roum, I add some hints in the
Institutions, to the copious narratives of Sherefeddin (l. v. c. 44--65)
and Arabshah, (tom. ii. c. 20--35.) On this part only of Timour's
history it is lawful to quote the Turks, (Cantemir, p. 53--55, Annal.
Leunclav. p. 320--322,) and the Greeks, (Phranza, l. i. c. 59, Ducas, c.
15--17, Chalcondyles, l. iii.)]
The _iron cage_ in which Bajazet was imprisoned by Tamerlane, so long
and so often repeated as a moral lesson, is now rejected as a fable by
the modern writers, who smile at the vulgar credulity. [46] They appeal
with confidence to the Persian history of Sherefeddin Ali, which has
been given to our curiosity in a French version, and from which I
shall collect and abridge a more specious narrative of this memorable
transaction. No sooner was Timour informed that the captive Ottoman was
at the door of his tent, than he graciously stepped forwards to receive
him, seated him by his side, and mingled with just reproaches a soothing
pity for his rank and misfortune. "Alas!" said the emperor, "the decree
of fate is now accomplished by your own fault; it is the web which you
have woven, the thorns of the tree which yourself have planted. I wished
to spare, and even to assist, the champion of the Moslems; you braved
our threats; you despised our friendship; you forced us to enter
your kingdom with our invincible armies. Behold the event. Had you
vanquished, I am not ignorant of the fate which you reserved for myself
and my troops. But I disdain to retaliate: your life and honor are
secure; and I shall express my gratitude to God by my clemency to
man." The royal captive showed some signs of repentance, accepted the
humiliation of a robe of honor, and embraced with tears his son Mousa,
who, at his request, was sought and found among the captives of the
field. The Ottoman princes were lodged in a splendid pavilion; and the
respect of the guards could be surpassed only by their vigilance. On the
arrival of the harem from Boursa, Timour restored the queen Despina and
her daughter to their father and husband; but he piously required, that
the Servian princess, who had hitherto been indulged in the profession
of Christianity, should embrace without delay the religion of the
prophet. In the feast of victory, to which Bajazet was invited, the
Mogul emperor placed a crown on his head and a sceptre in his hand, with
a solemn assurance of restoring him with an increase of glory to the
throne of his ancestors. But the effect of his promise was disappointed
by the sultan's untimely death: amidst the care of the most skilful
physicians, he expired of an apoplexy at Akshehr, the Antioch of
Pisidia, about nine months after his defeat. The victor dropped a tear
over his grave: his body, with royal pomp, was conveyed to the mausoleum
which he had erected at Boursa; and his son Mousa, after receiving a
rich present of gold and jewels, of horses and arms, was invested by a
patent in red ink with the kingdom of Anatolia.
[Footnote 46: The scepticism of Voltaire (Essai sur l'Histoire GÈnÈrale,
c. 88) is ready on this, as on every occasion, to reject a popular tale,
and to diminish the magnitude of vice and virtue; and on most occasions
his incredulity is reasonable.]
Such is the portrait of a generous conqueror, which has been extracted
from his own memorials, and dedicated to his son and grandson,
nineteen years after his decease; [47] and, at a time when the truth
was remembered by thousands, a manifest falsehood would have implied a
satire on his real conduct. Weighty indeed is this evidence, adopted
by all the Persian histories; [48] yet flattery, more especially in the
East, is base and audacious; and the harsh and ignominious treatment
of Bajazet is attested by a chain of witnesses, some of whom shall be
produced in the order of their time and country. _1._ The reader has not
forgot the garrison of French, whom the marshal Boucicault left behind
him for the defence of Constantinople. They were on the spot to receive
the earliest and most faithful intelligence of the overthrow of their
great adversary; and it is more than probable, that some of them
accompanied the Greek embassy to the camp of Tamerlane. From their
account, the _hardships_ of the prison and death of Bajazet are affirmed
by the marshal's servant and historian, within the distance of seven
years. [49] _2._ The name of Poggius the Italian [50] is deservedly famous
among the revivers of learning in the fifteenth century. His elegant
dialogue on the vicissitudes of fortune [51] was composed in his fiftieth
year, twenty-eight years after the Turkish victory of Tamerlane; [52]
whom he celebrates as not inferior to the illustrious Barbarians of
antiquity. Of his exploits and discipline Poggius was informed by
several ocular witnesses; nor does he forget an example so apposite to
his theme as the Ottoman monarch, whom the Scythian confined like a wild
beast in an iron cage, and exhibited a spectacle to Asia. I might add
the authority of two Italian chronicles, perhaps of an earlier date,
which would prove at least that the same story, whether false or true,
was imported into Europe with the first tidings of the revolution. [53]
_3._ At the time when Poggius flourished at Rome, Ahmed Ebn Arabshah
composed at Damascus the florid and malevolent history of Timour,
for which he had collected materials in his journeys over Turkey and
Tartary. [54] Without any possible correspondence between the Latin and
the Arabian writer, they agree in the fact of the iron cage; and their
agreement is a striking proof of their common veracity. Ahmed Arabshah
likewise relates another outrage, which Bajazet endured, of a more
domestic and tender nature. His indiscreet mention of women and divorces
was deeply resented by the jealous Tartar: in the feast of victory the
wine was served by female cupbearers, and the sultan beheld his own
concubines and wives confounded among the slaves, and exposed without a
veil to the eyes of intemperance. To escape a similar indignity, it is
said that his successors, except in a single instance, have abstained
from legitimate nuptials; and the Ottoman practice and belief, at least
in the sixteenth century, is asserted by the observing Busbequius, [55]
ambassador from the court of Vienna to the great Soliman. _4._ Such is
the separation of language, that the testimony of a Greek is not less
independent than that of a Latin or an Arab. I suppress the names of
Chalcondyles and Ducas, who flourished in the latter period, and who
speak in a less positive tone; but more attention is due to George
Phranza, [56] protovestiare of the last emperors, and who was born a year
before the battle of Angora. Twenty-two years after that event, he was
sent ambassador to Amurath the Second; and the historian might converse
with some veteran Janizaries, who had been made prisoners with the
sultan, and had themselves seen him in his iron cage. 5. The last
evidence, in every sense, is that of the Turkish annals, which have been
consulted or transcribed by Leunclavius, Pocock, and Cantemir. [57] They
unanimously deplore the captivity of the iron cage; and some credit
may be allowed to national historians, who cannot stigmatize the Tartar
without uncovering the shame of their king and country.
[Footnote 47: See the History of Sherefeddin, (l. v. c. 49, 52, 53, 59,
60.) This work was finished at Shiraz, in the year 1424, and dedicated
to Sultan Ibrahim, the son of Sharokh, the son of Timour, who reigned in
Farsistan in his father's lifetime.]
[Footnote 48: After the perusal of Khondemir, Ebn Schounah, &c., the
learned D'Herbelot (Bibliot. Orientale, p. 882) may affirm, that this
fable is not mentioned in the most authentic histories; but his denial
of the visible testimony of Arabshah leaves some room to suspect his
accuracy.]
[Footnote 49: Et fut lui-mÍme (Bajazet) pris, et menÈ en prison, en
laquelle mourut de _dure mort!_ MÈmoires de Boucicault, P. i. c. 37.
These Memoirs were composed while the marshal was still governor of
Genoa, from whence he was expelled in the year 1409, by a popular
insurrection, (Muratori, Annali d'Italia, tom. xii. p. 473, 474.)]
[Footnote 50: The reader will find a satisfactory account of the life
and writings of Poggius in the Poggiana, an entertaining work of
M. Lenfant, and in the Bibliotheca Latina MediÊ et InfimÊ ∆tatis of
Fabricius, (tom. v. p. 305--308.) Poggius was born in the year 1380, and
died in 1459.]
[Footnote 51: The dialogue de Varietate FortunÊ, (of which a complete
and elegant edition has been published at Paris in 1723, in 4to.,) was
composed a short time before the death of Pope Martin V., (p. 5,) and
consequently about the end of the year 1430.]
[Footnote 52: See a splendid and eloquent encomium of Tamerlane, p.
36--39 ipse enim novi (says Poggius) qui fuere in ejus castris.... Regem
vivum cepit, cave‚que in modum ferÊ inclusum per omnem Asian circumtulit
egregium admirandumque spectaculum fortunÊ.]
[Footnote 53: The Chronicon Tarvisianum, (in Muratori, Script. Rerum
Italicarum tom. xix. p. 800,) and the Annales Estenses, (tom. xviii.
p. 974.) The two authors, Andrea de Redusiis de Quero, and James de
Delayto, were both contemporaries, and both chancellors, the one of
Trevigi, the other of Ferrara. The evidence of the former is the most
positive.]
[Footnote 54: See Arabshah, tom. ii. c. 28, 34. He travelled in regiones
RumÊas, A. H. 839, (A.D. 1435, July 27,) tom. i. c. 2, p. 13.]
[Footnote 55: Busbequius in Legatione Turcic‚, epist. i. p. 52. Yet his
respectable authority is somewhat shaken by the subsequent marriages
of Amurath II. with a Servian, and of Mahomet II. with an Asiatic,
princess, (Cantemir, p. 83, 93.)]
[Footnote 56: See the testimony of George Phranza, (l. i. c. 29,) and
his life in Hanckius (de Script. Byzant. P. i. c. 40.) Chalcondyles and
Ducas speak in general terms of Bajazet's _chains_.]
[Footnote 57: Annales Leunclav. p. 321. Pocock, Prolegomen. ad
Abulpharag Dynast. Cantemir, p. 55. * Note: Von Hammer, p. 318,
cites several authorities unknown to
Gibbon.--M.]