infidels came forth and importuned the commander-in-chief to spare
their lives. Their request was granted. Next morning their commander,
the malignant count, came out with ten thousand men, all covered
with steel, and said; “This German army, who have crept into holes
in the earth, have been influenced by fear more than any thing else.
Otherwise,” continued he, “so many thousands of muskets ought to have
been adequate to prevent you from even looking at the place.” Thus
saying, he wept and fell down dead before the conquerors. The remains
of this royal count were afterwards put into a tomb and covered over
with stone, when several rounds were fired over it. The rest of the
prisoners were all shipped off in boats to their own country, and Senja
Osmán Páshá and two thousand soldiers were appointed to garrison Yanuk
for three years, at a stipulated rate of pay. A thousand Janissaries
from Wáj, three hundred cannoneers, and a thousand armourers were also
added to the above number; and every thing else necessary for defence
was fully attended to.
After the defeat of the archduke, Ghází Gheráí Khán marched against the
fortress of Papa. The infidels on the approach of the Tátárs fled, and
left the place for them to take possession of it.
_Komran laid siege to._
Information from Komran apprised the commander-in-chief that, in the
event of Yanuk being taken, Komran would yield without resistance.
This turned out, however, to be a false report; for when Yanuk did
fall, they manifested no disposition to do as they had said.
The weather was awfully cold, and the Serdár determined that if he
should be obliged to lay siege to it, it should not be said that it
was taken at an easy rate. He did lay siege to it; but his troops,
from what they had endured at the taking of Yanuk, were a good deal
dispirited. The enemy made several sorties, went as far as the Moslem
trenches, and slew a considerable number of the most heroic soldiers
of the Serdár, who now began to be convinced of the difficulty of his
undertaking, and resolved, as the day of Kásim was near at hand, to
relinquish his object for the present. Accordingly on the 7th of Sefer,
after having transported his provisions and heavy baggage to some of
the nearest fortresses belonging to the Osmánlís, he raised the siege
and returned to Buda.
It is related in the histories of Hasan Beg Zádeh, Alí, and Abdulkádír,
secretary to the ordnance, that the governor of Komran cried out from
the battlement, “Send us Hasan Páshá, Beglerbeg of Romeili, and we
shall deliver up the fortress.” The son of the grand vezír, however,
paid no regard to him, and merely remarked, “Let him fire his cannons
if he will;” but the Janissaries on his saying this immediately
relinquished their trenches and retired. Kátib Chelebí[2] in his
Fezlikeh denies this story altogether, and declares it to be a foul
calumny invented by men who had been neither members of the diván of
that day, nor present where the event is said to have taken place.
On the 5th of Sefer, two days before the siege was raised, permission
was granted to Ghází Gheráí Khán to return home with his Tátár army,
first giving him the robe of honour which in the spring of that year
had been sent to him, and showing him the honours due to his rank.
He left, however, one of his mirzás with a thousand Tátárs in winter
quarters in the vicinity of Alba Julia, or Weissenburg in Siebenbürgen.
The grand vezír himself made his way to Buda, and after the lapse of a
week he appointed his son, Mohammed Páshá, to remain in Buda with the
Janissaries and the army of Romeili. Lála Mohammed Páshá was sent with
the army of Anatolia into winter quarters in Weissenburg. The Beglerbeg
of Bosnia was sent with his troops to Usk. The troops of Sivás, of
Diárbeker, of Werka, of Haleb, and of Shám, were allowed to return
to their respective homes. The artillery and other stores were all
deposited in Buda, and after distribution of provision, &c. had been
made to the troops, the grand vezír returned to Belgrade.
Before leaving Buda, however, he sent off Rezván Aghá to carry tidings
to Constantinople of the fall of Yanuk, which he reached after fourteen
days’ travelling. The news of the fall of Yanuk was the cause of great
rejoicings in the metropolis, which were demonstrated by the roar of
cannon and the firing of musketry. To the Serdár and to the Khán a robe
of honour, a sword, and richly ornamented plumes, accompanied by royal
letters, were sent to each of these personages; also robes of honour
for each of the Beglerbegs and other dignitaries were sent off at the
same time.
_Concerning the bad management of the Commander-in-chief; his error and
failure in some other matters._
There is no evidence from the records of the intendant of the finances
what was the actual number of the troops employed in the war in
Hungary; he merely states that thirty thousand household troops were
sent thither. The army of Romeili was immense. After the death of
Soleimán Khán, and before the war commenced in Hungary, the people
thirsted for spoil. An army equal to that of Romeili, but destitute
of the means of subsistence, was collected in that quarter. A swift,
active body of troops, competent for every sort of depredation, and
equal to a whole province in number, assembled. The Tátárs alone
amounted to more than forty thousand. Such was the vast army the
commander-in-chief had under his command: such also was their fitness
for contending with the enemy, if properly and wisely directed.
When, however, the pensioned Janissaries entered their trenches, the
rest needlessly wasted their time in idleness: when the Khán and other
chiefs proposed to commit depredations in the enemy’s territories,
they were checked by being asked what advantage would accrue by
treading down one province? and yet it is a certain fact, that no
power whatever could have stopped the army, especially after the
victory gained at Yanuk, from reaching Vienna, had they been properly
commanded. When a deputation came from the country about Buda, begging
protection against rapine and plunder, they were told, that unless
one province fell another could not rise. To this very evident defect
and mismanagement in the government of the commander-in-chief is to
be attributed chiefly every misfortune which happened to the Moslems.
The peasants were made slaves, and villages were ruined. Some of the
most powerful of these peasants were roused to seek revenge: five or
six hundred of them seized on a palanka, and refused giving it up so
long as one of them remained alive. When their villages and hamlets
were robbed and plundered, they set fire to them and left them. The
mills near Belgrade were taxed. No apology was offered to the Waivodas
of Moldavia and Valachia for the heavy injuries done to them, but they
were still more oppressed; and when they sent their usual presents they
were rejected with disdain, and the bearers of them threatened with
death; and this wicked and unreasonable conduct awakened the spirit of
rebellion and revolt which afterwards manifested itself in these two
provinces, as we shall see.
_The Waivoda of Moldavia rebels._
At the time the war broke out in Hungary the Emperor of Austria sent
letters to all the Christian chiefs, and even to the Pope, to come and
aid him in attacking the followers of Mohammed. The Transylvanians,
Valachians, and Moldavians entered with one consent into this
confederacy, and commenced hostilities by making inroads on the
Mohammedan population dwelling on the banks of the Danube. At this time
the Waivoda of Moldavia was one who had been raised to that dignity by
Sinán Páshá, but who, when Ferhád was deposed, was also deposed. His
office was conferred on a young Moldavian prince who had been educated
at Sinán’s expense, and who it was supposed had embraced Mohammedanism.
When this young man went to take possession of his new government he
was accompanied, according to custom, by a kapújí báshí, whilst a
messenger was sent forward to announce his approach. Notwithstanding
all this, however, his predecessor inspired him with such terror, that
he found himself necessitated to apply for aid to the grand vezír,
his patron. This aid was accordingly granted. One Mustafa Páshá, who
had been governor of Merœsh, in Asia, was appointed to conduct a
body of troops to his assistance: and some military ághás, of whom the
grand vezír wished to get rid, were appointed to join this expedition,
with two thousand Janissaries also. When this expedition reached the
Danube they found it completely frozen, and therefore halted at Rusjuk
in order to transport their field-pieces and heavy baggage to Yerkok
on the opposite side. Whilst thus employed, and suspecting no danger,
they were suddenly fallen upon by an army of infidels, headed by the
deposed Waivoda, who slew their leader, a great number of his men, and
carried off a number of others prisoners. From this time the rebellion
in Moldavia increased day after day.
_Concerning the insurrection occasioned by Michael, Waivoda of
Valachia._
As the country of Valachia abounded with sheep, cattle, honey, and
salt, the merchants and rich men of Constantinople were in the habit
of advancing sums of money to every new waivoda on the condition of
collecting from the peasantry articles of the above description in
return. This practice occasioned frequently great contention. It
happened sometimes, when the waivodas did not fulfil their engagements,
that those who had advanced them money in the way above described,
went and abused and harassed the begs, and created much disturbance.
Michael, mentioned at the head of this article, was one of these
waivodas who failed to fulfil his promises, and who was therefore one
day visited by more than four thousand of this sort of creditors,
chiefly Janissaries and principal servants of great men, who profited
by this rapacity. They assaulted the waivoda in his own palace,
seized upon every thing which fell into their hands, and beat and
abused as many of his domestics as chanced to come in their way. This
circumstance of violence and mode of assault completely wrought on the
mind of the hateful infidel, and led him to the following method of
settling with his creditors. He called them together, and by way of
giving them his advice, at the same time appearing very polite, said:
“If you kill me, you will of course lose all the property that is due
to you: that is evident. Come, then, follow my advice, and go along
with persons duly appointed into the province, collect what property
you can, and pay yourselves out of it.” Manifesting for some time,
however, some degree of hesitation and unwillingness, they at last
agreed; but it turned out that the quantity they had collected was
not sufficient to liquidate the whole of his debt, and they therefore
pressed him to furnish the remainder. “Let the cazí of Yerkok,” said
they, “be called, and let him examine the accounts. If he is unwell,
his deputy, Alí Ján Effendí, may come in his stead;” for it was
customary when any law-suit happened between any of the Mussulmans
living in Valachia, that an appeal was made to the cazí of the above
place. The cazí, or rather his deputy, Alí Ján, arrived and decided in
favour of the appellants, whose receipts amounted to sixty thousand
dollars. The contention was long, and a thousand obstacles presented
themselves in settling this affair; but at last the sum of the debt was
reduced to six thousand akchas.
The above Alí Ján relates the following story about himself: “On
retiring from the tribunal, and when I was outside of the city,” he
says, “I was met by an old acquaintance, an infidel, who accosted me
thus: ‘Alí Ján, you have been my friend for twenty years: do not let
the evening overtake you, nor remain at Yerkok; but hasten as fast
as you are able to Rusjuk, for all hope of accommodation is at an
end,’ and immediately went away.” The deputy, perceiving some strange
commotion and troops hastening towards the city, mounted his waggon,
and made the best of his way to Yerkok; but had scarcely time to give
the cazí an account of the affair in which he had been employed,
before these raggamuffian soldiery murdered every one of the Waivoda’s
creditors and every Mussulman in the place, and thence marched to
Yerkok, which they also attacked. “Seeing no alternative left me but
either to fall into the hands of these infidels, or make my escape,”
says Alí Ján in continuation of his story, “and being a good swimmer, I
immediately swam across the Danube. Another person swam across at the
same time, and we were the only persons of the inhabitants of Yerkok,
amounting to four thousand men, women, and children, that escaped being
either murdered or made prisoners. The city they afterwards burned to
the ground.”
These events, now recorded, took place in Jemadi 1. of 1002. Those
Musselmans that lived in Moldavia removed to Kili, to Ak-kermán, or to
Korsú, as they found most convenient. Some of the people of Rusjuk who
were present, and saw when these movements took place, sent an account
of the whole state of matters to the court of Constantinople, but the
Rusjukians themselves afterwards removed and dispersed themselves among
the Balkan mountains.
It being the winter season when these accounts reached the metropolis,
the operations of war were deferred till the spring of the year.
_Death of Sultán Murád III._
In Jemadi I. of 1003 of the Hijrah, the constitution of the deceased
emperor, now removed from this vain world to the distant light of God,
became so shattered and altered, as to receive no benefit whatever from
the skill and penetration of the medical faculty.
At the commencement of his disease, the grand vezír, Sinán Páshá went
in to see him into the palace at the very time when the singers or
chanters, and the females of the palace, were all collected in the
royal apartment; and though it was an exceedingly rare thing to read or
chant verses on such an occasion, yet, contrary to usual custom, the
Emperor ordered the following distich to be chanted:
I am afflicted, O Fate!
This night me watch, and me sustain.—[3]
At the time the Emperor departed this life, two vessels from Egypt
arrived before the royal fortress, and, according to ancient custom,
commenced firing their guns in token of rejoicing. But such was the
tremendous effect once and again which the concussion of the air, put
in motion by the explosions, had upon the mirrors in the apartment
next to the royal saloon, that they fell down from their places and
were shattered to pieces. When these mariners, however, were made
aware of what had taken place, and perceived the emblems of grief
and affliction, their joy was turned into sorrow, and tears began to
trickle down on their beards.
On the night of the 5th of Jemadi II., the remains of the Emperor were
carried from the bed of state to the table or board on which the dead
bodies are washed, and were afterwards consigned to a coffin and put
into a vault.
For nearly two weeks the vezírs and military judges could come to no
agreement among themselves how to act, with respect to settling the
government. At length, the Aghá of the royal house, without informing
any of the vezírs what he meant to do, and under the pretext of needing
some water, called the Bostánjí Báshí, Ferhád Aghá; informed him of
the secrets that were going on, and sent him with letters to the
heir-apparent, at that time in Magnesia, calling upon him to return
and ascend the throne of his ancestors. Two days after the above
messenger was sent off, one of the vezírs, Ibrahím Páshá, learning
the steps which the Aghá of the royal house had taken, immediately
sent off a letter to the prince by Súfí Osmán Aghá, who followed the
previous messenger close at his heels. Ferhád also, the governor or
Káímakám of Constantinople, on learning these manœuvres, wrote
officially to the young prince about his father’s death, and also
letters of congratulation: seeking by these means to screen himself
from all suspicion, and, at the same time, to ingratiate himself into
the prince’s favour. He also made several promotions; and the day after
sending off the above letter, he caused several criminals to be taken
out of prison and executed before the multitude, with the view of awing
them, and left their bodies exposed. His officers of police went about
the city and kept every thing quiet and in good order.
The young prince, Sultán Mohammed Khán, no sooner received intelligence
of his father’s demise than he set sail from Medeyna on the 16th of
Jemadi II., and landed near Sinán Páshá’s summer palace. Thence he
immediately went into the royal harem, where he had an interview with
his mother, and made arrangements for entering into mourning. His
inauguration was completed before Friday, the day of assembly (_i.e._
the Mohammedan sabbath), when it was necessary for him to attend the
mosque.
After all these things were once over, the remains of the late emperor
were carried into the area of the palace, when Khoja Sa’d-ud-dín
Effendí said, “We are now assembled to perform the last duty, to our
late Emperor,” and then requested permission to perform the funeral
rites. Ferhád Páshá obtained this permission for him from the new
emperor. But before he and the reverend prelate had time to come out
from the royal presence, the Muftí, Bostán Zádeh, in virtue of his
office, proudly arrogated to himself this honour, and without further
ceremony commenced performing the obsequies in question. When Sa’d ud
dín Effendí saw this he was greatly displeased, and said, “The relation
of the dead, the chief mourner, granted me the permission of performing
what you, the Muftí, have taken upon yourself to do. It is right
and proper to perform the service over again.” The Muftí, in reply,
observed, “that it was the permission of the Lord of the whole universe
he possessed, and therefore that what the other demanded was not only
unnecessary, but prohibited him from attempting it.” This circumstance
was afterwards the cause of much ill will and strife between these two
reverend divines.
After this unpleasant discussion between the two prelates respecting
the right of performing the funeral obsequies over the remains of
the deceased emperor was finally ended, his Majesty, the Asylum of
the World, returned to the royal harem, leaving his vezírs and other
grandees to accompany the bier of his father to the vicinity of St.
Sophia, where they interred it in a tomb previously prepared.
In a tumult which had taken place on this occasion, nineteen brothers
of the emperor, all innocent and guiltless, were strangled and added to
the company of martyrs. Early next morning the reverend Muftí performed
the customary prayers over these martyred bodies, which were afterwards
interred in a grave at the foot of their father’s tomb.
_The late Emperor’s age.—The time of his reign.—Some of his virtues and
good deeds described._
Sultán Murád Khán was fifty years old when he died, and reigned a
little more than twenty years. He was the father of one hundred and
two sons. Four of those princes who suffered martyrdom, namely, Sultán
Mustafa, Sultán Báyazíd, Sultán Osmán, and Sultán Abdullah were the
most distinguished, and were all of them instructed in the doctrines of
Nawa Effendí. The others, too, were all graceful and virtuous. Sultán
Mustafa was a man of an extensive genius, and a great orator. The
glorious parent of these princes when despairing of life repeated the
following lines:
“What the Almighty Notary has written on my forehead, I know not;
“Alas! I have never smiled in the rose-bower of this world.”[4]
The lamented emperor was a man of very extraordinary attainments. Owing
to his wisdom and prudence, all parts of the empire felt, during his
whole reign, the benefit of his solicitude and care, of his military
skill and heroic bravery, both in governing the empire and in vexing
and punishing the enemies of religion and of the state. In consequence
of no impediment having been thrown in the way of the learned men and
poets of that day, they have favoured the world with a sober account of
his life, which is contained and set forth in a book of contemplation
called the Fatúhát Síám (فتوحات صيام), in which is introduced Arabic,
Persian, and Turkish poetry.
During the time the royal prince remained in Magnesia, the late emperor
caused a noble mosque of two minarets, a school, and other religious
establishments to be erected there, besides an inn and conservatory. He
caused also the roof of the temple of Mecca to be supported by pillars,
a canal to be made, and an edifice, where religious rites might be
performed, to be erected. He transmitted many thousands of ducats to
that city of religious fame. At Bektásh, over the grave of Yahiah
Effendí, he caused a splendid arch to be raised to his memory.
_Vezírs contemporary with Sultán Murád Khán._
Mohammed Páshá, who had continued in possession of the premiership
ever since the days of Soleimán, was murdered in a scuffle with a
furious mad fellow in the diván. He was succeeded in office by Ahmed
Páshá, who died about four months after entering upon his duties in
the grand vezírship. Lálá Mustafa Páshá, the conqueror of Cyprus and
Shirván, died when he was governor of the Sublime Porte. Khoja Sinán
Páshá, the conqueror of Yanuk, was his successor, and he was succeeded
by Zál Mahmúd Páshá, who was proprietor of the temple called Zál
Páshá in the neighbourhood of Ayúb-Ensári. He died in office. Vezír
Hasan Páshá was also carried off by death. Síávush Páshá was Káímakám
once, and three times grand vezír, but died without any office. Osmán
Páshá, son of Timúr Páshá, one of the ancient heroes, was during his
premiership commander-in-chief in the Persian war. He reduced Tabríz,
and afterwards fell sick and died. Mesíh Páshá succeeded Osmán, but
died out of office. Ferhád Páshá was twice commander-in-chief in the
east, and for having afterwards effected an advantageous peace, was
created grand vezír. He was Káímakám, or governor of Constantinople,
when Sultán Murád Khán died, as we have already seen. Ibrahím Páshá was
son-in-law to the emperor. Vezír Jeráh Páshá is well known. Jaghala,
son of Sinán Páshá, was both vezír and admiral at the same time. Boyálí
Mohammed Páshá, son of Pír Ahmed: he died after he was deposed from
the beglerbegship of Haleb. He was successively Remembrancer, Reïs
Effendí, Chancellor and Válí of Haleb, and twice in the privy council.
He was a man of very extensive information and experience. He built a
handsome mosque, a school-house, and another edifice dedicated to a
religious purpose, in Constantinople, where he died in the month of
Ramazán, in the year 1001 of the Hijrah. Khalíl Páshá was son-in-law to
the emperor. Hazár Páshá was Válí of Egypt. Ja’fer Páshá was son-in-law
to Mohammed Páshá. He was an excellent vezír: he died lamented in 995.
Hasan Páshá, the eunuch, was a potent and brave man: he was a native of
Shirván, but was raised to the office of grand vezír. Vezír Alí Páshá
married the widow of Mohammed Páshá, and died in office. Mohammed Páshá
was murdered whilst governor of Romeili. Vezír Yúsuf Páshá was by birth
an European, but of noble descent. He died a martyr in the arms of his
domestics in his own palace near Kirk Cheshmeh. Vezír Shemshí Páshá was
a Persian: he died in 989. Vezír Hasan Páshá was joint governor in the
government of Romeili with Mohammed Páshá, who was the son of Sinán
Páshá, grand vezír at the death of Murád Khán. Between Hasan Páshá and
Mohammed Páshá, who were both in active service under Sinán Páshá, in
the late war in Hungary, existed no small degree of envy.
_Learned Men contemporary with Sultán Murád Khán._