three years afterwards. Khoja Saadín Effendí was tutor to the emperor
when he resided in his Sanjak. After his elevation to the throne,
Saadín Effendí became his counsellor in what concerned the well-being
of the state and in the art of government. Cazi Zádeh Effendí was a
mufti who wrote a comment on the law, and was a guide to salvation.
Malúl Zádeh Effendí was military judge in Romeili and succeeded Cazi
Zádeh as mufti. In consequence of having failed to show some acts of
politeness to the emperor’s adviser and spiritual counsellor, Khoja
Hasan Ján Zádeh Saadín, and for some mistakes which he had committed,
he was represented to the emperor, and deposed. He died in 992. Tchoí
Zádeh Effendí was an interpreter of the law, and his decrees were
esteemed more excellent than any of those of his contemporaries. He
succeeded Malúl Zádeh as the mufti. He was a remover of oppression and
injustice. He died in 995. His son, Shúkhjí Effendí succeeded him in
the high priesthood, but was afterwards deposed. Bostán Zádeh Effendí
is well known. Zekeriáh Effendí is the most honourable of all the
interpreters of the law. On going into the imperial palace one day to
receive a robe of honour from his majesty Sultán Murád Khán, he was
seized with fainting fits, in one of which he died, 1001. Abdur-rahmán
was contemporary with Sultán Soleimán and Sultán Selím, and was one
of the military judges of those times in which they lived. He died in
Rabia II. 983. Násir Zádeh Effendí died suddenly in 984, whilst Cazi
of Constantinople. Ahkí Zádeh Effendí retired from his jurisdiction in
Anatolia with a salary of 150 akchas. He died in 989. Bokhárí Zádeh
Effendí was deposed from his jurisdiction in Tripoli, in Syria, and
died in 986. Mehshi Sinán Effendí retired with a salary of 200 akchas
from his office, as military judge, in Anatolia, and died in 982.
Neshánjí Zádeh Effendí was deposed from his jurisdiction in Medina.
Hemshíreh Zádeh Effendí died when he was lecturer in Sultán Selím’s
academy, _i.e._ in 989. Sinán Zádeh Effendí died in 987. Kamí Ahmed
Effendí died in the same year. Mualim Zádeh Mahmúd Effendí was raised
from the academy of Sœhen to the office of recorder or chancellor.
He was afterwards deposed, and died in 987, Bábá Effendí was tutor
to Rustem Páshá. He was a pious and religious man. Sárí Kiris Zádeh
Effendí died when he was Cazi of Haleb, in 987. Abdul Vafá Effendí
was the son of Abú Saoúd. Ezumí Effendí was tutor to one of the royal
princes. He died in 999. Hazár Beg Chelebí died in the academy attached
to the convent of Brúsa. Khosrú Zádeh Mustafa Effendí was a man of
various attainments, and an orthodox guide in religion. In 998 he
was Cazi of Tripoli in Syria, where he caught a severe cold. He died
at Aksheher, on his way to Turkey, in 1000. He was a well-informed,
gentle, and humane man. He made a collection of all the vulgar
errors, and translated the History of Kútb Mekí, and left several
fine poems in Turkish. Vankúli Mohammed Effendí was a man of the most
consummate skill and learning. From the academy of Sœhen he was
raised to be Cazi of Magnesia. He held the same office, successively,
in Thessalonia, in Kutahiah, and in Anatolia, and was afterwards
raised to the chief Caziship in Medina. He retired from office with a
salary of eighty akchés, and died in the latter city, in 1000. To his
extensive information he added that of undaunted firmness, and was a
perfect linguist. He wrote several pious epistles and translated the
_Seháh Júherí_, which was deposited in the mosque of Sultán Mohammed
Khán. He also translated the _Kimiái Sa’ádet_. Abdul Káder Effendí,
son of Emír Gísúdárí, and known by the name of Yálánjek Effendí, was
judge of Kutahiah, and afterwards held the same office in Tripoli.
It was not with his will that he was restrained from denouncing the
great men of his day; for which, in fact, he was at last banished the
city. He was a man of great violence and excessive virulence. It is
said in the _Zeíli Shukáïk_, that his composition is weak, and his
sentiments incorrect. He was some time Cazi of Yení Sheher, but was
degraded, and died in 1000. Mevlana Mohammed Aydin of Akhisar was some
time Cazi in Egypt, and was afterwards chief-priest in Medina. He was
a clever, excellent, and acute man. His poems were extant in the year
1003. There is also a translated compendium of his writings. He died
in the year 1000, in Medina. Ismáíl Effendí was a complete separatist,
and subsisted by teaching. He resembled a dervish: but having been
a well-informed man, he wrote a commentary or paraphrase on the
_Mesnevi_, the _Diván of Háfiz_, the _Gulistán_, and the _Bostán_, in
Turkish. He died in 1000. Sevdí Effendí was a native of Bosnia. He was
a person of great learning. After having travelled the whole path of
literature, he was content to live on a small salary for teaching the
domestics in the palace of Ibrahím Páshá. He died in the last-mentioned
year. His explanations of the _Mesnevi_, and of the _Diván of Háfiz_,
and his translations and explanations of the _Káfi_, the _Sháfi_,
and the _Gulistán_, are still extant. Abd-ur-rahím Chelebí Kanáli
Zádeh, was the younger brother of Alí Effendí. He too was a man of
parts. He died in 1000. Mulla Abdul Kerím, a native of Magnesia, was
Imám to the Sultán. He was studying in the academy of Magnesia when
Sultán Murád Khán, son of Sultán Selím Khán, went to that quarter.
The Imám of Magnesia having been removed by death at the time of the
sultán’s visit, this man was appointed to succeed him in the office of
Imám. After Murád ascended the throne of the Ottomans, he was created
military judge. His learning and virtues, as well as his condescension
to the poor and to strangers, are much celebrated. The following is
one instance of his ingenuity and freedom. The Jews, both priests
and laity, in contradistinction to all other people, would not wear
orange-coloured turbans, and therefore could not be distinguished in
the twilight of the morning and evening from others. On this account
Mulla Abdul Kerím caused them to be obliged to wear scarlet bonnets.
He was the means also of causing them to remove their dead in their
burying-ground, near the Musselman streets in Kásim Páshá, to some
other place; and, in one night, caused a mosque to be erected on the
spot.
He was in the habit of making poor wretched apes to perform astonishing
feats, alleging they were only made to be instruments of sport; and was
thus the cause of many a poor innocent creature’s death. He died in
1002.
_Reverend Doctors contemporary with Murád Khán._
Sheikh Yolluk Mohammed Chelebí was preacher in the mosque of Sultán
Mohammed, and taught theology. Sheikh Mohammed Effendí was an
illustrious preacher in St. Sophia, and, in fact, a brave fearless
man. He was the cause of serious difficulties to Sheikh Emír Effendí,
who was preacher in the Soleimáníyeh. Sheikh Khezr Effendí was the son
of a chief of a cohort of Janissaries, and a pious chaste preacher
and a good speaker. Sheikh Tátár Ibrahím Effendí was a practical man
and a historian: he explained and taught extempore in the mosque of
Sultán Mohammed. Sheikh Shabán Effendí was a painter. He perfected
himself in Emír Bokhárí’s convent, and chose the life of a Dervísh. His
imperial majesty was in the habit of paying him visits. Sheikh Kúrd
Effendí was a very able expositor. Sheikh Hasan Effendí officiated in
the mosque of Khoja Mustafa Páshá. Sheikh Mohammed Effendí, after the
death of Bábá Effendí, by the recommendation of Siná Allah, military
judge of Romeili, was appointed to the mosque of Sultán Mohammed, by
Ferhád Páshá. He captivated, by his lofty eloquence, the heart and
the affections of the great, and secured the respect of the emperor’s
tutor and his family. These things caused his patron, Siná Allah, to
regret his having recommended him. Jaghala Zádeh and other vezírs
were assiduous in attending the assemblies on Thursdays and Fridays
to hear his orations. In short, so great was his fame, that even the
emperor and the great men of the state were included in the number
of his hearers, which increased every day. The wife of Rustem Páshá
built for him a mosque and a small meeting-house, when of course
he ceased preaching any more in Sultán Mohammed’s mosque. Sheikh
Abú-vafá was employed by the Khalifs in many cities for the purpose
of extending religion. He was in great favour with the late lamented
emperor Murád-khán when he was in Magnesia. In consequence of his great
fame he was called from that city, after Murád’s inauguration, to
Constantinople, put in possession of a splendid mansion, and allowed a
suitable salary. He was generally known by the appellation _Pádisháh
Sheikhí_ (the emperor’s spiritual guide). He had a great deal in his
power, being keeper, as it were, of the emperor’s conscience; and it
was, therefore, an easy thing to secure offices of trust and importance
for those who found access to him. In a certain sense he was a sort of
asylum to the members of the diván. Doubtless those who had posts, and
who were deprived of them, found it their interest to wait upon his
eminence, and show him the respect due to him. He died in 998.
_Facts relative to the new Emperor Sultán Mohammed Khán III._
On the third day after Sultán Mohammed Khán succeeded to the throne
of his ancestors, _i.e._ on the third day after his return to
Constantinople and after his father’s interment, the whole of the
nobles and dignitaries of state laid aside their mourning, waited on
his majesty to congratulate him on his elevation, and to receive tokens
of his favour, which were liberally distributed on this occasion. To
the Janissary body alone six hundred and sixty thousand pieces of
gold were given. The Bostánjí Báshí, Ferhád Aghá, who brought the
intelligence to Magnesia, where the young prince then was, of the
late emperor’s demise, received in money and presents to the amount
of twenty thousand ducats, and was, agreeably to his own request,
confirmed in his office. Lála Mohammed Páshá, who accompanied Mohammed
Khán from Magnesia, and who was the husband of the new monarch’s nurse,
was rewarded with a vezírship. The soldiers who came along with him
were registered, and a suitable provision made for them. Some of their
ághás were made masters of the royal stables: others of them were made
Kapújí Báshís; and others again were made colonels of regiments. As the
office of chief judge happened to be vacant at the time we are speaking
of, by reason of death, the emperor’s tutor, Sa’d ud-dín Effendí, was
appointed to fill it.
On the 27th of the month (Jemadi I.) an official was sent by night to
the Seven Towers, who dispatched Ibrahím Páshá, who had been degraded
and sent thither from Diárbeker, in the former reign, for having been
guilty of tyranny and oppression. The ághás, khojas, and others who had
rashly meddled with the affairs of government, were also brought forth.
Most of them were sent to Egypt, and a certain allowance was given to
each of them by way of salary: the rest were set at liberty.
In Jemadi II. a royal order was issued permitting the pages to leave
the royal harem (probably those pages who belonged to the late
emperor), and to return to their own friends.
_The Premiership conferred on Ferhád Páshá._
The grand vezír, Sinán Páshá, having become obnoxious to the emperor,
in consequence of his hostility to Ferhád Páshá, who was, at that
very time, governor of Constantinople, and who had free access to the
royal ear, was deposed. On the 6th of Jemadi II. the premiership was
graciously conferred on Ferhád, and an officer was dispatched to Sinán
Páshá to take back the seals of office from him. This officer met Sinán
Páshá returning from Belgrade, and received from him the object of his
mission; whilst Sinán Páshá was ordered to retire to Mulghera. His
deputy at Belgrade, vezír Satúrjí Mohammed Páshá, and the treasurer,
Hájí Ibrahím Páshá, sealed the whole of their papers and deposited them
in the fortress of Belgrade.
_Insurrection of the Valachians and Moldavians._
The Waiwoda of Moldavia having marched against Bender, attacked the
emír of that place, and afterwards laid siege to Ak-kirman. But
before the Waiwoda had succeeded in reducing it, he was repulsed by
Adel Gheráí, sent thither with a body of Tátárs by Ghází Khán. The
firmness of the besiegers, on the approach of this horde, was turned
into feebleness. Some of them were killed, some fled, some were made
prisoners, and the whole body was dispersed.
The accursed Waiwoda of Valachia, Michael, formerly mentioned, sent
a body of troops to Ibrail, to distress and reduce that place. The
inhabitants in the villages and suburbs, on the approach of these
barbarians, fled into the fortress, leaving their dwellings to the
rapacity of their invaders, who first subjected them to spoliation, and
afterwards set fire to them. Having accomplished this, they erected
fortifications against the fortress; but a body of about four thousand
Tátárs crossed over the Danube on the ice, destroyed wholly these
fortifications, and slew about one thousand of the Valachian army,
or rather insurgents. These wandering insurgents, amounting to about
twenty thousand naked wretches, collected chiefly out of Hungary,
Transylvania, and Valachia, returned again to lay siege to Ibrail, and
were accompanied by a number of field-pieces. The inhabitants, anxious
to oppose them, went forth to give them battle, but being overpowered
by numbers they returned to the fortress and annoyed them from thence.
In consequence of the ice on the Danube having all melted before this
second visit to Ibrail, and it being impossible to obtain aid from the
Tátárs in sufficient time to stop the progress of these infidels, they
commenced, without further resistance, to batter the fortress and to
explode mines, which so alarmed the besieged, seeing their condition
was desperate, as to lead them to propose a capitulation. Accordingly,
Karah Shawesh Mohammed Beg and Mustafa Shawesh stepped out and met the
Hungarian chiefs, who, according to their religion, swore solemnly that
they should all be allowed to evacuate Ibrail, and retire across the
Danube without molestation or sustaining any injury.
When these followers of Mohammed were on the eve of crossing the
Danube, according to the terms of capitulation, they found themselves
necessitated to leave behind them the greater part of their
property—about one thousand loads, which caused a great out-cry. They
determined, therefore, to take all, and made an effort to remove what
was left; but the perfidious enemy opposed them. They surrounded the
complainants, seized some of the most distinguished Moslems amongst
them, and made them prisoners: others of them they entirely robbed, and
others they murdered on the spot.
When this violence and perfidy was remonstrated against by Karah
Shawesh Beg, the Hungarian chiefs answered by displaying their naked
swords, murdering a number more in cold blood, and driving the
remainder across the Danube.
The accursed Michael, already too often mentioned, having killed
Mustafa Páshá, the Beglerbeg of Merœsh, went every where exciting
insubordination and insurrection, and plundering and murdering where he
could. With four thousand of his raggamuffin army he penetrated into
Silistria, but was so firmly and effectually opposed by Mustafa Beg,
the governor, that only about one hundred of the four thousand vagrants
escaped the edge of the sword. Thus ample vengeance was taken on them.
_Ferhád Páshá makes preparations for war._
After the above-mentioned Yerkok was destroyed, letters reached the
Sublime Porte which imported that Michael was marching at the head of
one hundred thousand men, collected from the neighbouring princes, and
committing devastation and plunder in the villages on the banks of the
Danube and on the shores of the Black Sea; thus exercising violence
and cruelty on the servants of God. When this disastrous account
reached the royal ear, the grand vezír, Ferhád Páshá, who was also
commander-in-chief, was ordered to make preparations for war against
the insurgents by the time the spring season arrived. Letters were
sent to those chiefs on the borders who had maintained their integrity
to join the troops of war at a certain place; orders were issued to
prepare bridges and other apparatus necessary for crossing the Danube
at Rusjuk, opposite Yerkok; and an earnest request was sent to the
chiefs of Silistria, Nicopolis, and Widin, to furnish a sufficient
number of artificers for accomplishing this design. Until the arrival
of the grand vezír the office of commander-in-chief was conferred
on Lála Mohammed Páshá, Beglerbeg of Anatolia, who went to Widin.
Mohammed Páshá, Beglerbeg of Romeili, son of Sinán Páshá, lately in the
premiership, gave up his office of commandant in Buda to vezír Hasan
Páshá, who had been at Widin and returned to Belgrade.
_The Spáhís raise a tumult._
On the 12th of Shabán, as Ferhád was leaving the diván, and intending
to return to his own palace, he was met by ten thousand of the troops,
who were waiting for him at the gate of the diván. These complained
of not having been duly paid for three years’ services performed in
garrisoning the fortress of Ganjé, and demanded payment. The grand
vezír told them in return that their wages would be paid them from
the treasury of Tabríz and Ganjé. “Why,” said he, “do you break the
law by raising a tumult? Do you not know that disobedience to the
supreme authority involves in it the guilt of infidelity?” Thus saying,
he dismissed them. They, however, began to speak publicly of their
grievances, and sounded abroad that they were oppressed, and in fact
effected a tumult in the city. Next day Ferhád’s embarrassments were
increased, for the whole of the Spáhís, and some of the Salihdárs,
sycophants of Sinán Páshá, who united with them, came in a tumultuous
manner to the door of the diván, declared that until Ferhád Páshá’s
head was cut off they would accept no wages, and stoned such of their
companions as ventured to ask them. The ághás endeavoured by kind
advice to soothe them, but without any beneficial effect. The chávush
báshí and the deputy of the household troops tried what they could
do in appeasing them, but were rewarded with a shower of stones, and
of course were obliged to seek shelter. The tumult increased in noise
and numbers. The insurgents were then told that the pay of the men of
Ganjé would be forthwith advanced, and that all their wishes, whatever
they might be, would be complied with. These promises also made no
impression. The insurgents continued obstinate and determined, and
threatened they would permit no member of the diván to stir out of the
council alive before the head of Ferhád was given to them, and became
more and more turbulent and vociferous.
When the emperor was made aware of these scenes of insubordination
and turbulence, he sent two military judges to exhort them to return
to their duty. These two prelates were the poet Bákí Effendí and
Abúlsa’úd, a principal effendí; but their exhortation to the mutineers
had no better result than the former. The mutineers stamped with their
feet on the ground, and again vociferated “The head of Ferhád!” Ferhád
was now induced to wait on his majesty and tell him how he had acted,
and how he had spoken to the instigators of the riots about their want
of subordination, which conduct manifested, he observed, their utter
want of religion. “Lála Mohammed Páshá and other vezírs were present
when I spoke to them,” said the grand vezír, “and I am sure nothing
of all that I said ought to have offended them. I am only one of your
slaves, and though I should be removed out of the world, that will
not reduce the number of your majesty’s councillors. To comply with
their demands will only have the effect of increasing their rebellious
spirit and open a door for making similar demands in future, which will
not be so easily resisted if their present one be complied with. At
the present moment, when neither exhortation nor threatening can make
any impression on them, it will be most advisable that your majesty
authorise the ághá of the Janissaries to bring out a considerable
number of his troops and station them below the arsenal, and order the
most powerful of the Bostánjís to be in a state of readiness at the
Tímúr gate. If, therefore, the vezírs be molested when they retire from
the diván, these troops will immediately, on the first signal, advance
and chastise the insurgents for their temerity.” The emperor approved
of this advice, and promised to act accordingly. He desired Ferhád
to remain with him, and that he would again send his vezírs to try to
pacify them. “If they succeed, well; if not, then your method will be
adverted to,” said he to his grand vezír, and ordered them to make the
endeavour. The vezírs, however, no sooner showed themselves, than the
audacious multitude commenced pelting them with stones as formerly.
At this moment the Janissaries and Bostánjís were let loose upon the
mutinous Spáhís, and dispersed them in all directions: not any two of
them remained together, so completely were they awed and terrified.
In this tumult the brother-in-law of Khalíl Páshá had his head hurt,
and Lála Mohammed Páshá his arms, by stones which were hurled at them.
Both of them were carried into the diván in a wounded condition by the
ághá of the Janissaries, who related to the members of the council how
matters stood, after which they all dismissed: Ferhád mounted his horse
and rode away to his own palace.
The grand vezír, reflecting on the disgrace done to him by the friends
and sycophants of his enemies, Khoja Sinán Páshá and his son Jaghala,
sought redress from the emperor. His importunity was not in vain, for
a royal decree ordered Sinán Páshá to repair to Mulghera, where he had
been before, and Jaghala Zádeh Sinán Páshá was ordered to Karahissar.
Síávush Páshá, being also involved in raising the tumult we have
described, was ordered to Iconium. Others who had taken a share in it
were similarly punished.
After peace and quietness were restored the emperor next day ordered
100,000 dollars to be distributed among the Janissary troops, and ten
of their chiefs were presented with robes of honour.
_Ferhád Páshá prepares to set out for Valachia._
All the preparations for the war having been properly attended to, and
all in a state of readiness, the grand vezír, Ferhád Páshá, on the 17th
of Shabán, marched at the head of his army from the imperial city,
and halted at Dávud Páshá. The second vezír, Ibrahím Páshá, was made
káímakám, or vice-governor of Constantinople. The chief ághá of the
Janissaries remained at home according to custom, but the commander
or ághá of the first legion of the Janissaries, with ten thousand
Janissaries, accompanied the expedition to Valachia. Ten galleys were
ordered up the Danube with cannon and other military stores as far as
Rusjuk; but Ibrahím Páshá, the káímakám, in consequence of some secret
enmity towards Ferhád, hindered as much as he could, and under various
pretences, the dispatch of these and similar other articles necessary
for the war, though he made it appear that he was every way active.