emperor’s uncles, brought up in the old palace, were given in marriage
to rich and powerful ághás, who were favourites of his majesty. On
the 23d of Rajab the emperor removed to the gardens of Beshektásh,
where he either spent his time in the library, or in the orchards of
that place, and returned to his own palace in the month of Shabán,
where, night after night, he attended to the duties of religion, and
to the distribution of alms. He ordered Súfí Mustafa Effendí, his own
Imán, to draw out a statement from authentic documents of all his
royal children; and a list of twenty-six names, male and female, was
returned to him. To each of these he sent by this prelate, and others
who were joined with him in the commission, immense presents; and as
many of them as had arrived at the age of puberty, received a suitable
provision.
During the month of Ramazán he was most assiduous in offering up his
devotions; and on the Leilet ul kadr,[23] he made such a distribution
of money and of other benefits as had never been exemplified in any
of his predecessors. After the termination of the fast, the usual
salutations were attended to, and he again began to enjoy the pleasures
which his palace afforded.
It having been alleged that the use of wine had been the cause of the
disturbances and tumults which had taken place in the city from time to
time, the pious and religious emperor, in order to put a stop to this
forbidden and pernicious practice throughout the empire, ordered the
laws to be enforced. The taverns were a perfect nuisance; and therefore
the keepers of them had their licenses taken from them: the sellers of
wine were obliged to flee, and their houses or shops were thrown down,
without paying any regard whatever to the vast advantage which accrued
to the government from this traffic; because of the great evil which it
had done to the morals of the inhabitants. It was not long, however,
before the use of wine again became as general as ever.
_A messenger from Holland arrives in Constantinople._
Messengers, with valuable gifts and rich presents for the Ottoman
emperor, from the válí of Holland, a country bordering on the ocean
on the north of France, with some large merchant-vessels carrying a
variety of merchandize from the same country, arrived this year at the
port of Constantinople. When the owners or skippers of these vessels
asked leave to depart, they were allowed to do so, and so also were the
messengers or ambassadors who had been honoured with lodgings in the
imperial gardens of Scutari.
Kitanjí Omar Páshá was commissioned by the Ottoman government to
proceed to Walachia and Moldavia, with the view of fixing and settling
the authority of the Voivodas who had been appointed by government
in these provinces, for since the days of the apostate Michael
these countries had been in a most unsettled state. The chief of
Transylvania, during the troubles which reigned in these two provinces,
found means to attach some few fortresses to the jurisdiction of
Temisvar; but when he learned that Sultán Ahmed Khán was in Adrianople,
he became terrified, and instantly relinquished Lipova and Yanova,
which of course were taken possession of by some of the border
chieftains.
Afterwards, when a Polish army entered the territories of Moldavia, the
governor of Silistria, Delí Hasan Páshá, marched against it and routed
it.
_A mosque is built in the garden of Stavros._
No mosque having hitherto been built in the garden of Stavros, orders
were issued this year to erect one, besides some other necessary
erections. The household troops and the attendants of the grand vezír
finished the whole in the space of forty days. The emperor sometimes
resided in this garden, and not unfrequently amused himself by sailing
in his pleasure-boat in the straits of Constantinople.
_Sultán Ahmed Khán resolves on a second journey to Adrianople._
Sultán Ahmed Khán, of restless disposition, like his great ancestor,
Sultán Selím Khán, resolved on again visiting the city of Adrianople.
Accordingly the grand vezír, Nesúh Páshá, the nobles, the emperor’s
favourites, and ághás of the stirrup, were ordered, on the 9th of
Shevál, to repair a second time to Adrianople. In conformity to custom,
the vezírs and ulemá accompanied his majesty as far as Dávud Páshá,
where they all took leave of him and returned to the city. At Burghas
the emperor took up his lodgings in the mansion of Mohammed Páshá,
the martyr, and attended the chase. On his first going forth to this
sport, and whilst endeavouring to raise the wild beasts, a huge boar,
resembling the devil, presented himself, and in his fury and rage
terrified every one away: the emperor alone had courage to seize a
spear, and, like a flash of burning light, attacked the ferocious
animal. The grand vezír hurried forward to aid his master, and on
finding, brave and powerful as the sultán really was, and though he
had succeeded in stupifying the wild beast, that he had not yet killed
it, immediately thrust his spear into the body of the wild boar, when
the dogs instantly fell upon it. It amused the emperor exceedingly to
see the manner in which the dogs applied their teeth to the carcass
of the wild beast. In three days after this event the emperor reached
Adrianople, where he spent the winter, alternately following the chase
and attending to religious solemnities.
_Nesúh Páshá’s enmity to the lord high treasurer, Etmekjí Zádeh. Ahmed
Páshá._
Nesúh Páshá, the grand vezír, having a second time accompanied Sultán
Ahmed Khán to Adrianople, acquired, by his apparent diligence in
serving his royal master, a peculiar intimacy with him; but Etmekjí
Zádeh, from his office in the vezírship and in the treasury, stood
in the way of his arriving at the possession of absolute sway. Nesúh
Páshá thirsted for this; and being, moreover, a man without the least
virtue, he could not endure to see the prosperity of Etmekjí Zádeh, and
therefore not only hated and envied him, but also sought opportunity
to ruin him. Thinking he had something to accuse him of, and by which
at least he hoped to lessen him in the esteem of his master, he
represented to his majesty the pusillanimity which he discovered during
the late war with Persia. This he did whilst travelling to Adrianople,
and recurred to this part of Etmekjí’s history so frequently, that
his majesty determined on depriving him of his office as lord high
treasurer, and also of the government of Caramania, to which he had
been appointed. Nesúh had the envious satisfaction of seeing the object
of his hatred humbled; but by the intervention of Etmekjí’s friends in
about a week afterwards he was raised to the government of Aleppo, and
Lunka Zádeh was made lord high treasurer in his room: Abdulbákí Páshá
was made second treasurer, and Kalander was made third.
_Begzádeh, a celebrated spáhí, assassinated._
Etmekjí Zádeh having been, as before observed, appointed to the
government of Aleppo, the grand vezír sent him off to take charge of
it. About this time Begzádeh, one of the most celebrated spáhí chiefs,
a native of Khorassan, and a man of intrepid bravery and fortitude,
incurred the displeasure of the grand vezír. This spáhí, when he first
entered the service, had only a salary of twelve akchas; but by his
bravery, and other splendid talents which he possessed, he came at
last to have the command of twelve thousand spáhís, who were entirely
obedient to his will. This Begzádeh came to Constantinople when Nesúh
Páshá was there, but feared to have any interview with him. At length,
however, Soklún Mesli Aghá, the ághá of the janissaries, undertook
to introduce him to the grand vezír, promising by an oath no injury
would happen to him. The other consented, and the vezír, after he
was introduced to him, took special care to show him every mark of
esteem and respect due to his character and station, promising, at
the same time, to attend to all his requests. This state of affairs
continued for about four months, during the whole of which time
Begzádeh had constant access to the grand vezír, and shared in his
apparent kindness. The deceitful vezír, however, had formed the plan of
murdering him. He several times proposed to the ághá above-mentioned
to perpetrate this deed, but Mesli pleaded his promise and oath, and
would not consent to be guilty of so base a crime. The grand vezír
was determined, and under the pretext of settling some business which
related to the Turcomans, sent off Begzádeh to Aleppo. Immediately
after his departure for that city the grand vezír sent an order to
Etmekjí Zádeh, the válí of Aleppo, to take away the life of Begzádeh.
The order was thus: “Your head or his.” This was sent off by the
notorious executioner, Káísh Mohammed. The válí no sooner received
this peremptory mandate than he, though reluctantly, entered into the
views of the grand vezír, because, in fact, he felt afraid of him. On
the last day of one of the festivals, as Begzádeh was reclining on a
pillow and trimming his beard, Káísh Mohammed rose up and left the
company, but soon returning again with a hatchet he had in readiness,
with one blow cut off one of his ears, when instantly Begzádeh,
though a powerful man, fell down on one side and gave up the ghost.
The grand vezír rewarded Káísh Mohammed for this deed of blood with
an ágháship, and sent the hateful wretch into Romeili. He was a most
merciless, blood-thirsty villain, and the instrument by which very
many lost their lives. He at last, however, perished by the hands of
the kizilbáshes.
_Other events and circumstances of this year._
On the 10th day of Moharrem, Chokadár Khás, Mohammed Aghá, was
appointed to the command of the janissaries, and in four or five months
afterwards was raised to the government of Romeili. One of the seven
daughters of the late Sultán Murád Khán was given away in marriage,
and the rest of them were similarly disposed of. On the 1st of Shevál,
the royal prince, Sultán Hasan, was born, and Omar Aghá was sent to
Adrianople, where the emperor then was, to inform him of the birth
of this prince. In the month of Shevál, at the time the emperor was
preparing to go to Adrianople, and when he entered into the garden of
Floreiya, he conferred on Khalíl Páshá the second kapúdánship. The
guardianship of the foot of the throne was given to Gúrjí Mohammed
Páshá, who had been deputy of Constantinople. A royal edict to build
ten more galleys at the royal expense, was issued this year. An order
was also issued, during the time the emperor was at Adrianople, to
build a palace in the royal garden, near the port of Constantinople. On
the 25th of Shevál, the day on which his majesty reached Adrianople,
the Bostánjí báshí, Hasan Aghá, who had remained in Constantinople,
received the sanják of Sefd (in Syria). The country adjacent, which
belonged to Maán Oghlí, who by this time had fled to Europe, was
annexed to Sefd. Kashiki Hasan Aghá was made Bostánjí báshí. The
lately-created válí of Sefd went to Adrianople to do homage to the
emperor for the dignity and honour conferred on him, and afterwards set
out for his new government.
The emperor, finding himself in a great measure at ease and free from
care, determined on taking some recreation in a pleasure-boat or yacht,
and therefore ordered one to be constructed. The whole of the river
Tonja, as far as his place of hunting, was cleared of wood, stones,
and every thing that might obstruct the passage of his yacht, by
janissaries, spáhís, and other soldiers, which they accomplished in a
short time. He ordered the boat to be brought from Constantinople to
Rudosjuk, which was transported from that place to the river Tonja on
sledges. After the new yacht was painted and ornamented, he employed
it for the purpose for which it had been made. He ordered another, of a
peculiar construction, to be conveyed from Gallipoli to Adrianople.
_The treaty of peace with Persia adverted to._
This year a copy of the articles of agreement entered into with the
sháh of Persia was written out by the reverend mufti, Mohammed Effendí,
and sent to the court of Persia. In conformity to ancient treaties it
was agreed: 1st, That the Persians should make use of no expressions of
contempt, of execration, of reproach, or of abuse against the chosen
friends and contending heroes of the faith, the prelates and priests
of Islamism, and the orthodox followers of the same. 2d, None worthy
of the name of Iránís, of whatever class (according to the agreement
which sháh Tehemasp had promised to abide by), were to be obliged to
hear wicked or profane reading, or explanations (of the law); and all
of this name who wished to enter the Osmánlí dominions, were not to
be prohibited. 3d, Such Musselmans as were in service or in garrisons
at the making of this treaty, were not to be vexed or oppressed. 4th,
The frontier lines were to remain as they were in the reign of Sultán
Selím Khán. 5th, The estates which belonged to Sanjár Oghlí, of happy
memory, were to be added to the territories of Baghdád, without any
resistance being offered. 6th, When the chief cities in the district
of Sheherirúz were set free from the power of Helú Khán, they were
never again to receive any aid or assistance from the Persians. 7th,
All pilgrims, travelling from the east by the way of Aleppo and Shám,
were not to be allowed to travel by the road of Baghdád and Bassora,
without a sufficient guard. 8th, To Shamkhál Khán and other rulers in
Dághistán, who from ancient times had been on a friendly footing with
Turkey, or to any part of their dominions, no injury was to be done;
they were also, by the same treaty, to sustain no loss whatever. 9th,
When once the Turkish fortresses or redoubts, which had been erected
for the purpose of preventing unfortunate Russians[24] from passing and
repassing, were relinquished, the sháh was, under no pretext whatever,
to place garrisons in them. 10th, The frontiers were to be protected.
In conformity to the spirit of this treaty, the frontier páshás,
_viz._ the válí of Baghdád, Mohammed Páshá, and the beglerbeg of Wán,
Mohammed Páshá, received an imperial commission to proceed and settle,
along with the Persian commissioners, the line of frontier between the
dominions of the Ottoman emperor and those of the sháh of Persia.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1023, H.
_The Moslem Emperor returns to Constantinople._
In the commencement of the month of Moharrem the happy and fortunate
monarch Sultán Ahmed Khán began to retrace his steps towards his royal
residence at the Sublime Porte. The troops who had accompanied his
majesty to Adrianople were, previous to his own departure, allowed to
return home. His majesty himself accomplished the journey in fifteen
days, seven of which he rested, having arrived at Constantinople about
the middle of the month. The day on which he entered the city two of
his sons, Sultán Osmán and Sultán Mohammed, mounted on swift chargers,
went out to meet their royal father, and returned along with him,
riding in front of the janissaries. Some few days after his arrival in
the royal residence he retired into the Terskháneh, and resided for a
while in the mansion which he had ordered to be erected in it, and was
now completed. Being naturally fond of this garden, he caused it to be
decorated with flowers and shrubs taken from the interior garden of his
seraglio or harem.
_The admiral, Khalíl Páshá, goes to sea._
The admiral Khalíl Páshá set sail with forty-five vessels for
Beshektásh, whence, after a few days’ riding, he proceeded to the
island of Scio, which he reached after a sail of twenty-two days. Here
he learned that no less than twenty-seven hostile ships had entered
a harbour belonging to the island of Skyro, but which, he afterwards
heard, had gone to the island of Súsam. Thither he directed his course,
having been previously joined by Mímí Beg, kapúdán of Rhodes, with
twenty galleys: but before the Turkish fleet could make up to them
they escaped through the straits of the islands of Andro and Istendil
(Tino), and made their way to some of the sea-ports belonging to his
holiness the pope. Khalíl Páshá on the 2d of Jemadi I. arrived before
Corone, passed Modon, and on the 15th reached Avarín (Navarin): thence
he sent out two vessels for the purpose of reconnoitring the coast.
After having got all his ships properly pitched at this place, he
again, on the 21st, set sail with fifty-nine ships of various size
towards the shores of the infidels. After passing Messina, he reached
the island of Malta on the 28th of the month; on the same day he
effected a descent on that island.
Along the shore, at the distance of about a mile from each other, a set
of towers had been erected, which, by means of igniting in succession
a certain quantity of gunpowder in each, communicated a signal to the
chief fortress of the island. This was done on this occasion; and in
a very short time some thousands, foot and horse, came rushing forth
to meet the invaders, when a most terrible battle ensued, and was
maintained till after mid-day. Several hundreds of these infidels
became food for the sword, and a good number of them were taken
prisoners. The deputy grand master, the lords of Malta, with several
other persons of distinction, fell in the struggle. The heroic and
warlike Moslems followed up their advantages to the very walls of their
chief city or fortress; burned the whole of their harvest of anise and
cummin; cut down their olive and other fruit trees; carried off their
flocks of sheeps and herds of cattle; and reached the fleet at the time
of the evening prayers. The fleet now sailed past the city, when each
galley, as it passed, fired a broadside against it, and directed its
course towards Tripoli in Barbary; but not before they had committed
some more mischief on another part of the island.[25]
The fleet, as we have already observed, sailed for Tripoli. The
distance between Malta and Tripoli is two hundred and twenty miles,
and the fleet did not reach the harbour of the latter place till
the 2d of Jemadi II., having left Malta about the end of Jemadi I.
The inhabitants of Tripoli were at this time in a most disorganized
state. One Seferdeíá had usurped the government, had been guilty of
murder, robbery, and every species of oppression, and even refused to
permit the Turkish fleet to enter the harbour. By wise and prudent
management, however, this Seferdeíá was induced to come on board the
báshtirdeh (the admiral’s ship), when his person was instantly secured
and placed in irons. His associates and followers, on learning the
fate of their chief, shut themselves up in the city, determined on
resisting and fighting to the last. But by the timely mediation of a
number of reverend fathers their misconduct was overlooked, and the
city was again restored to its former government. The whole of the
property and wealth which the rebel Seferdeíá had accumulated was
registered, and afterwards confiscated. After these proceedings had
ended, the admiral ordered his pavilion to be erected on shore; held a
council for examining into the nature and extent of the crimes which
the rebel-prisoner had committed, and proofs of which the nobles,
ulemá, and the people in general furnished in abundance. The admiral,
after hearing all the evidence which was brought before him in regard
to Seferdeíá’s crime, and finding that the general voice demanded
his life, ordered him to be brought forward, caused his crimes to be
recorded, and afterwards hanged him in front of the gate of the city.
The fleet left Tripoli on the 10th of the last-mentioned month, and
arrived before Navarin on the 14th of the same. The ships which had
been sent out to reconnoitre the enemy’s coasts joined the fleet at the
last-mentioned station, bringing along with them a prize laden with
wheat.
_Punishment inflicted on the infidels of Maneíah._
The Turkish fleet reached Yaswah on the 24th of the last-mentioned
month, where it was joined by three vessels belonging to Tunis,
commanded by Murád Beg. The inhabitants of the mountain of Maneíah,
in the Morea, had formerly been visited by an army, which had taken
ample vengeance on them for their hostile and rebellious spirit. Such
of them, at that time, as had not perished, or who had not been made
captives, submitted themselves, and were pardoned: but ever since the
year 1020, forgetting their former visitation, and the promises which
they then made, they have manifested nothing but a spirit of rebellion.
Arslán Páshá, with some Romeilian troops, was sent to chastise them and
bring them again under subjection. The admiral, who had had orders to
render him, towards the end of the voyage, every assistance, no sooner
reached Yaswah than he landed a number of his troops for this express
purpose. The páshá proceeded with this reinforcement to the mountains,
and soon brought the rebels to their senses, having killed many of them
and taken a number of others prisoners. They agreed to pay the ordinary
taxes, and promised never to show insubordination in future.
_Mímí Páshá falls a martyr._
About this time a sword and two robes of honour were transmitted to the
kapúdán páshá, Khalíl Páshá, from the court of Constantinople. Ma’áraf
Beg, called Sanjován Oghlí, and the beg of Damietta, Mímí Beg, were
ordered, towards the end of Rajab, to go and guard the island of Borák.
After having reached this island they ordered all their vessels to be
properly pitched, and went to wait on the governor of the island. On
their return, however, to their ships they were suddenly attacked by a
party which had belonged to an enemy’s vessel, when, by the permission
of God, Mímí Beg fell a martyr. The son of Sanjován made his escape in
some way or other, but their two vessels were carried off by the enemy.
The admiral, on the 10th of Ramazán, reached the island of Mewkina,
where he captured a prize; on the 14th he arrived at Scio, and reached
the port of Constantinople on the 25th of Shevál.
_The cossacks become troublesome._
The tribe of cossacks had been in the habit of coming along the Black
Sea in skiffs, and ravaging the villages on the banks of the Danube,
near the mouth of that river. In the month of Rajab of this year a
party of them, conducted by some apostate runaways, came and reduced
the city of Sinope, called Medinet-alashuk, situate on the shores of
the Black Sea, in the province of Anatolia. The inhabitants of this
ancient city were no way apprehensive of danger from these cossacks,
and before they had the least intimation of their approach were
attacked by this horde, who slew every Muselman that fell in their
way. They plundered and ransacked the city, made its families slaves,
and then set fire to the buildings. In short, they not only desolated
the whole place, but robbed and spoiled every house and family in the
neighbourhood, and afterwards set off in their boats. Ibrahím Páshá,
who had been sent to guard the mouth of the Danube, hearing of the fate
of Sinope, immediately prepared his boats, sixty in number, and sailed
down one of the outlets of that river with the view of intercepting
them, but in vain. The accursed infidels heard of this fleet of boats
that was waiting their arrival, and therefore, before coming up to the
mouth of the river, they drew to shore, fixed their boats on a kind of
drays, and proceeded overland towards a part of the river higher up.
Though they found means of avoiding Ibrahím and his fleet of boats,
they did not escape the Tátárs. A party of this hardy and fearless
race of men fell upon them just as they were in the act of launching
their boats, and recovered the whole of the property and families they
had carried off with them. Numbers of these barbarians perished in the
struggle, and others of them were made prisoners. Some few of their
boats which had succeeded in getting off before the Tátárs came upon
them, were pursued by Ibrahím, and were either sunk or taken. In the
beginning of Ramazán twenty cossacks were sent as trophies, under the
charge of some of Ibrahím Páshá’s men, to the Sublime Porte. It is
said, that one messenger after another had arrived in Constantinople
with information respecting the assault which Sinope had sustained
from the cossacks; and that when the emperor asked the grand vezír,
Nesúh Páshá, concerning the truth of the matter, he declared, though
falsely, that he knew nothing about it. The emperor, however, was
not satisfied with this answer, and applied to the learned mufti for
information, who unhesitatingly told him the truth. The emperor was
exceedingly angry at the grand vezír for the falsehood he had told him.
_Some fortresses built on the Ouzi (Borysthenes)._