but was afterwards murdered, as has been already observed. Alí Páshá
Yávuz died at Belgrade at the time he was commander-in-chief. Ghází
Lálá Mohammed Páshá, the conqueror of Osterghún, died of the palsy.
Dervísh Páshá, who was raised from among the bostánjí báshís to the
premiership, was deposed by the people, and deservedly murdered for
his wickedness. The next in order was the celebrated Murád Páshá, who
was succeeded by the infamous Nesúh, son-in-law to the grand sultán;
but who, on account of his maladministration and bad conduct, fell
under his father-in-law’s displeasure, and was executed as an example
to others. Mohammed Páshá, called Oghuz, another son-in-law of the
emperor, was deposed, and died at Aleppo. Khalíl Páshá, the last grand
vezír, was at the time of Ahmed’s death engaged in an expedition
against the Persians. Háfiz Ahmed Páshá, the eunuch, has been already
mentioned, and his virtues and good deeds have been recorded. Súfí
Sinán Páshá was twice káímakám, and as often deposed. Sárukjí Mustafa
Páshá fell into disgrace when he was káímakám, and was killed. Khezer
Páshá, governor of Cairo, was afterwards made káímakám. Gúrjí Mohammed
Páshá, the eunuch, was celebrated for his prudence, and his modesty
commanded respect. Ahmed Páshá, usually called Etmekjí Zádeh, the
celebrated lord high treasurer, became obnoxious to every successive
vezír; and each, in his turn, persecuted and sought to kill him.
Through his fawning disposition, and the distribution of gifts, he
contrived, as we shall afterwards see, to die a natural death. Kúrd
Páshá was a vezír at the time that Ahmed ascended the throne, but
was afterwards degraded. Gúzelcheh Mahmúd Páshá was made a vezír,
but was degraded. Jeghala Zádeh Sinán Páshá died of grief because of
the defeats he had sustained when fighting against the kizilbáshes.
Mohammed Páshá Ebn Khoaja Sinán Páshá was a very celebrated vezír, but
was barbarously murdered. Súfí Mohammed Páshá was káímakám at the time
of Sultán Ahmed Khán’s death.
_Some of the events which took place during the reign of Mustafa Khán._
When it pleased God to remove by death Sultán Ahmed Khán, his brother,
Sultán Mustafa Khán, was, on the 23d of Dhu’l Kadah, 1026 of the
Hijrah, raised to the vacant throne. Mustafa discovered, however, a
deficiency of judgment; but it was attributed to his long confinement,
and it was hoped he would by experience acquire a right knowledge of
the duties which belonged to his exalted station. In the meantime,
matters were conducted by the metropolitan priest, Isaád Effendí.
The new emperor, according to custom, went to the tomb of his
predecessor, at which he girded himself with a sword, when all the
nobles and grandees instantly made their obeisance before him. After
having visited the tombs of his other noble ancestors, he caused
alms and donations to be distributed. He was then placed on a chair
of state, and heralds, by supreme authority, were sent every where
announcing Mustafa’s exaltation.
Mustafa Aghá Salihdár Sheheriárí was raised to the government of Cairo.
The royal foster-mother was given to him in marriage. The government of
Syria was conferred on Tchokadár Aghá: that of Caramania was given to
the ághá of the falconers. Some other friends of the emperor met with
tokens of the royal favour about the same time.
_Sultán Mustafa Khán is deposed._
According to Hasan Beg Zádeh, the ághá of the royal house, Mustafa
Aghá, who during the preceding reign had exercised absolute authority,
began again, under the new emperor, to manifest a desire to exercise
the same unlimited power. He wished to have all the nobles and grandees
of the state obedient to his nod. The emperor, who was himself without
any restraint, did not interfere; and, in short, seemed to give himself
no concern about it whatever. This conduct excited much discussion.
The ághá’s incapacity to govern became quite notorious, and therefore
the necessity for deposing him became equally clear. It began to be
openly spoken, that if he remained much longer at the head of the
administration, he would, without doubt, waste and destroy the whole of
the imperial treasures. Some of the great doctors and learned men who
had been well acquainted with the affairs of the state, wrote to the
queen-mother, pointing out to her the necessity there was for removing
the above-mentioned ághá from the royal house. Overcome by the tears
of the ághá, and the sweetness of his tongue, she, however, paid no
regard to the communication sent her. In short, fraud and mismanagement
arrived at such a pitch of notoriety, that the people began not only to
look on the emperor with aversion, but to assemble for the purpose of
actually deposing him. The aforesaid ághá wrote to the reverend mufti,
to the rest of the learned men, and to the nobles, that all the princes
of the blood were on the very eve of being murdered; and called on
them to come forward and prevent the extinction of the Ottoman race.
On their receiving this intelligence, they were roused to fury, and
immediately agreed to the deposition of the emperor. In the beginning
of Rabia I., under the pretence of distributing to the household troops
their wages, they succeeded in getting them properly equipped, and
arranged into proper order to answer their own purposes. They then
barricaded the emperor’s apartment; and, by a postern door, brought
forth the young Osmán, and placed him on the throne of Mustafa his
uncle. The emperor’s friends about him no sooner perceived the soldiers
than they immediately anticipated the deposition of their master, and
began to regret, when too late, that the advice which had been given to
the queen-mother had not been followed.
Hájí Khalífeh says, in his Fezlikeh, that this infamous emperor was,
for some time, deprived of the use of his reason, and became quite
remarkable for his strange gestures before people. He used to wander
among the tombs, throw money into the sea to the fish, and scatter
it on the roads; proofs sufficient of the derangement of his mind.
This ághá too, he states further, in order to preserve the civil and
religious institutions of the country free from confusion and outrage,
wrote to the mufti, Isaád Effendí, and to the káímakám, Súfí Mohammed
Páshá, with regard to the state of the emperor’s mind, assuring them
that there remained no possible chance of ever bringing him again
to his right senses. If prompt measures were not instantly taken, he
maintained, the funds of the state would soon be totally annihilated.
Accordingly, the household troops, under the pretence of paying
them their wages, were collected and arranged in the manner before
described; when Sultán Mustafa Khán, on the first of Rabia I., was
deposed, as before observed, after a reign of only three months and ten
days, and he retired into his former privacy.
_Sultán Osmán Khán inaugurated._
On the first of Rabia I., after all the vezírs and other magnates of
the state had assembled in royal diván, and after the household troops
had been properly arranged, the ághá of the palace, Mustafa Aghá
himself, shut the door of the emperor Mustafa’s apartment, and brought
forth Sultán Osmán Khán, when he was instantly placed on the chair of
state, and was solemnly inaugurated by the vezírs and nobles assembled.
After this ceremony was once over, and the fact announced to the
assembled multitude, they were allowed to retire.
The new emperor, in conformity to ancient custom, proceeded with
great pomp to the Abí-eyúb, where he girded on his sword, visited the
tombs of his ancestors, distributed alms among the poor and indigent,
gave donations to his friends, such as royal bounty confers on such
occasions, but which, in this instance, was rather too much for the
imperial coffers to afford; for every inauguration cost, generally,
three thousand yúks of money (3,000,000 dollars). Besides, on this as
well as on the late former inauguration, the usual presents made to the
army were sent to it. The son-in-law of the reverend mufti, Mohammed
Effendí, _viz._ the kapújí báshí, Mustafa Aghá, was, on this occasion,
the bearer of the royal gifts to the army, which he conveyed to the
commander-in-chief. On his arriving at Diárbeker, the head-quarters of
the grand army, he was honoured with the ágháship of the janissaries,
and was afterwards raised to the government of Diárbeker itself.
_Concerning Mohammed Gheráí._
On the very day of Osmán’s inauguration Mohammed Gheráí Khán, who had
been incarcerated in the Seven Towers, found means of escaping from his
place of confinement, and with a small party of Tátárs absconded. When
this fact was noised abroad the káímakám, Mohammed Páshá, dispatched
Hájí Súbáshí by water and Iskander Páshá by land in search of the
fugitive. Hájí Súbáshí steered his course towards Varna, and happened
to reach it before Iskander Páshá, who had directed his steps to the
same place. Hájí apprized the inhabitants of the purport of his visit
to Varna, and put them all on the alert. On the afternoon of the same
day Mohammed Gheráí also reached it, and halted underneath a large tree
in the fields. This was no sooner discovered than the inhabitants made
an attempt at surrounding him and his party. Mohammed Gheráí, however,
was determined not to allow himself to fall into their hands without
making a struggle in his own defence, and therefore prepared to offer
resistance. With an arrow from his bow he shot one of the janissaries,
but afterwards yielded the contest and entered the City; when Iskander
Páshá, who by this time had arrived at Varna, took him under his own
charge, and conducted him back to Constantinople; and he was again
confined within the Seven Towers, from which he had so lately made his
escape. Iskander Páshá, it is to be observed, showed him nevertheless
the respect due to his birth and rank.
Hasan Beg Zádeh relates this account somewhat differently, but the
difference is not so great as to render it necessary to give his
version of the story. It has been also said, that Mohammed Gheráí’s
brother, Sháhín Gheráí, had fled to the court of Persia, but that when
the sháh had told him of Osmán’s inauguration, he resolved on returning
home. When Sháhín Gheráí was on the eve of setting out on his return
to his own country, the sháh, it has been said, did him the honour of
holding his stirrup and bridle till he mounted his horse. After taking
his leave of the sháh, the latter called him back, and asked him if, in
the event of the Osmánlí commanding general employing him against him,
he would obey. “By all means,” was the reply. “Will you draw your sword
and fight against my troops?” asked the sháh again. “Without doubt I
will,” returned the undaunted Tátár prince. On hearing this heroic
reply, the sháh shook his head at him. But the whole of this story
seems to have been a sort of pleasant raillery. We must now return to
the affairs of Khahíl Páshá’s expedition.
When the spring season arrived Khalíl Páshá removed from Diárbeker,
where he had wintered; and, after collecting his forces in the plains
of Choluk, directed his march towards Tabríz, by the roads of Bedlís
and Wán. The sháh was stationed at Ardabíl. The khán and his Tátár
army, leaving their winter-quarters, joined the grand army at Wán,
where, after holding a council of war, it was agreed to march without
delay upon Ardabíl. It is necessary to observe here, however, that
sometime before this Karchúgheráí Khán had driven the whole of the
people in the country towards Ardabíl, with the view of saving them
from the advancing Osmánlí army.
_Ján Beg, khán of the Tátárs, defeated._
After the Osmánlí grand army had appeared before Tabríz, a reciprocal
intercourse was entered into by the two belligerent powers, with the
view of effecting a cessation of hostilities and promoting a peace. The
commissioner employed on the part of the Osmánlís was the defterdár,
Hákim Aghá, who, when proceeding to Ardabíl, had perceived the governor
of Tabríz, Karchúgheráí Khán, with a Persian army, employed in guarding
an immense host of the country inhabitants and others, small and
great, near Ardabíl; and therefore, on his return to the Osmánlí camp,
recommended that a strong detachment of the Tátár army, and a division
of the other cavalry, should instantly advance upon them and seize
upon their property; they might easily, he said, vanquish any force
which the enemy could oppose to them, and thus acquire immense spoil.
The Tátárs and some of the other troops were elated by the prospect
of booty. A council was held, in which the defterdár, Bákí Páshá, and
some other intelligent officers, expressed their entire disapprobation
of the proposed movement. They alleged, and wisely too, that an army
which must first accomplish seven or eight stages, could not be in a
very fit condition, all at once, either to give a battle or sustain an
attack. They asked, moreover, what proof there was that the enemy was
not sufficiently vigilant and strong? But his highness, the Tátár Khán,
the grand vezír’s deputy, and Abáza Páshá, had been completely gained
over to the other side of the question by Hákim Osmán’s representation;
and a thirst for acquiring booty having infected the troops, every
obstacle which could be mentioned was treated with contempt. The moment
for enriching themselves had arrived; and why, they triumphantly asked,
put off longer time? It was highly improper, and every way impossible,
they maintained, that so much spoil as that which now offered itself,
could be overlooked: nor would they fail in obtaining it, if they would
but be true to themselves. Such were the arguments which the advocates
for Hákim’s proposals advanced; and the commanding general himself
was, at last, completely swayed over to their side. It was, therefore,
agreed that a strong detachment should instantly advance. Accordingly
his highness the Tátár Khán, and the whole of his troops; the governor
of Diárbeker, Mustafa Páshá, Alája Páshá, governor of Wán; Osmán Páshá,
governor of Sivás: Arslán Páshá, governor of Romeili, with ten sanjáks
and their officers; and Abáza Mohammed Páshá, governor of Aleppo,
set out. The command of this mighty detachment was intrusted to the
beglerbeg of Diárbeker, Hasan Páshá. The turnají báshí, and a certain
number of janissaries, were also attached to it, and all set forward
in the utmost haste and precipitation. The rest of the janissaries
caught the infatuation. The idea of acquiring wealth had filled their
minds, and they were determined to have a share of the general spoil.
They took their empty bags, in the hope of getting them filled, and
off they set on their beasts of burden in the track of their brethren
who had gone before them. So great, in fact, was the eagerness with
which the royal army advanced in pursuit of the treasures they had
promised themselves, that they accomplished the eight days’ journey in
even less than two; having never once halted, except to feed. Those
in front and those in the rear moved forward, alike without order
and without subordination, towards Ardabíl, till they arrived in the
plains of Sarav, where they first had a glimpse of the kizilbáshes,
with whom they must contend for the prey. Karchúgheráí Khán, aware
of the advance of the Osmánlís, had placed the greater part of his
troops in ambuscade; whilst, at the same time, in order to deceive
the Osmánlís, he showed, at some little distance, two small bodies,
which at once attracted the attention of these ardent heroes. Next
morning the Osmánlís, in their eagerness for conquest, and in their
thirst for spoil, without order or government, and without taking any
kind of precaution, commenced an attack. Those who had been placed
in ambuscade now rushed forth upon the fatigued Moslems, when a most
desperate battle, which lasted two hours, was fought; but the Osmánlís
were at length obliged to give way. The commander, Hasan Páshá, Arslán
Páshá, governor of Romeili, and Mustafa Páshá, governor of Diárbeker,
fell in the bloody contest. Almají Mohammed Páshá and Rushvánlí Mustafa
Páshá were made prisoners. The greater part of those whose horses were
fatigued furnished food to the sword of the foe: many of the noble and
heroic Tátárs met with the same fate; but the common horde of Tátárs
fled. The khán himself continued firm, and fought with great bravery,
till he was nearly surrounded by the enemy, when he too gave way.
The janissaries were very active in supporting him, pouring in shots
of musketry among those who had been endeavouring to seize him, and
levelled many of them with the dust. It was owing entirely to their
vigorous assistance that he escaped falling into the hands of the
kizilbáshes, and got to a place of safety. The defeat of the Osmánlís
was complete. The brave troops of Shám were unable to maintain their
ground; five hundred of them had been made prisoners by Karchúgheráí
Khán, and were murdered; their officers were sent to the sháh. In this
sanguinary combat very many of the foe also perished. The ungracious
sháh, during the whole of the bloody conflict, shut himself up within
the city of Ardabíl, giving himself up to humble supplications; and
would hardly believe the intelligence which announced the defeat of the
Osmánlí army.
Hasan Beg Zádeh says, in his version of this story, that when Khalíl
Páshá was marching against Ardabíl, Sháhín Gheráí deserted to the
enemy, and betrayed the cause of the Osmánlís. In consequence of the
information which he imparted to the kizilbáshes, they sent one or
two emissaries into the Tátár camp, who circulated among the Tátárs
that the Persians were in a state of entire defencelessness. This,
of course, roused the Tátárs, and hurried them heedlessly onward.
The words of Hákim Osmán had the same effect on, or they imparted
impetuosity to the Osmánlís themselves, and the result was as we have
related it, _i. e._ both the Osmánlís and Tátárs were defeated and
routed. Among those who fell on this memorable occasion were the khán’s
military judge and an Osmánlí sheikh of the name of Islám.
The news of this terrible disaster reached the royal camp during the
night season: the troops in the camp were called to arms, and a council
of war was held. Bákí Páshá, with his wise associates, advised to
advance, without a moment’s delay, upon Ardabíl; “for,” said they, “if
we retreat, the enemy will be encouraged and emboldened to pursue us,
and will most certainly attack us, when every one will try to escape
the best way he can. Our fate will resemble that which befell Jeghala
Zádeh of former days.” This mode of address had the effect of animating
the troops in the camp, when it was resolved to march forward by break
of day, which they did.
The advance of the main army, under the commander-in-chief, towards
Ardabíl, did not hinder the sháh, though the Osmánlís had manifested
no want of firmness, from making some invidious remarks to those
around him. He tauntingly asked, if the Romeilian strangers were
not yet defeated? whilst, at the same time, he sent messenger after
messenger with this message: “Come, let us make peace: you are coming
with hostile intentions: your late defeat has been owing to your
vain and premature haste.” With such words of bitter reproach as
these did he fill his letters to the commanding general; and yet, at
bottom, he was most anxious to conclude a peace. Last of all, on a day
which blew a hurricane, one Búrún Kásim, a messenger from the sháh,
entered the Osmánlí camp, and immediately presented himself before the
commander-in-chief, who was at the time sitting in council with the
other grandees of the army. “Why,” said the commander-in-chief to the
ambassador of the kizilbáshes, “the red-heads, proud of the victory
they have gained, have taunted us with disgraceful reproaches under
the appearance of asking a peace: and if we retreat you are ready to
fall upon us. Your professed desire of peace is hollow: which of your
words can I believe?” Búrún Kásim, the sháh’s ambassador, stormed.
“What,” said the intrepid vezír, but with a view of giving a facetious
turn to the conversation, “is it customary, Kásim Beg, for the storm
to blow so furiously in this country?” Kásim Beg was prevented from
making a reply by Bákí Páshá, a man of knowledge and experience, as
before hinted, who at this moment addressed the commander-in-chief
thus: “No, my lord; this violent storm is only the effect of the wind
of Búrún Kásim Beg’s nose.”[27] This jocular answer of Bákí Páshá was
not without its effect on the mind of Kásim Beg, who now changed his
tone, and said he wished God might not visit Bákí Páshá with just
vengeance. “Will you never,” said he, “leave off your devilish wit:
your wish is, to leave us recorded in the history of romance.” The
grand vezír and those about him could not refrain from laughing most
heartily at hearing Kásim Beg, and looked astonished. Kásim was again
filled with rage, but it evaporated into air. When Sháh Abbás heard
of this ludicrous story he praised Bákí Páshá for his malicious wit,
and sent him no fewer than three loads of handsome presents on account
of his facetious craftiness. But to return. The Osmánlí main army
on approaching Sarav, having had abundance of provisions, proposed
presenting themselves before Ardabíl, now only one stage distant, the
following day. One messenger after another, however, assured them that
the city was abandoned, that the lamps near the tomb of Sheikh Súfí and
all manner of valuables had been removed; in a word, that the whole
of the sepulchres of all the former sháhs were deserted. Under these
circumstances, it appeared to the Moslems to answer no good purpose
to advance any farther; and after having considered the matter in
every point of view, the commander-in-chief renewed the treaty which
had been entered into at the time Nesúh Páshá was grand vezír. It
was, therefore, settled and signed that the sháh of Persia was, in
future, to send annually to the court of Constantinople a tribute of
two hundred loads of silk, and one hundred loads of other rarities.
The crafty sháh, as if he meant to show how pleased he was with this
renewal of the treaty, sent eight hundred camel-loads of provision of
various kinds to the Moslem camp, which were accordingly distributed
among the troops. To the grand vezír alone he sent nine camel-loads
of sweetmeats, of preserved fruits of various sorts, of lemons and
oranges, of fine flour, of rice, and of sugar, each loaf of which
weighed from five to ten wakiyet. To the ághá of the janissaries, to
the grand vezír’s deputy, and to the other páshás and grandees of the
army he sent two, three, or five similar loads of presents, each as
he thought proper. All these loads of presents were sent as tokens of
the sháh’s friendship, and were conveyed to their respective owners by
Mirzá Mohammed Hasan, his ambassador to the Moslem camp. On the part of
the grand vezír several royal presents were sent to the sháh in return,
and the treaty, after receiving the commander-in-chief’s signature, was
sent him, along with Mohammed Aghá, the jibbají báshí. The Persian sháh
set at liberty the whole of the Osmánlí prisoners that had been seized,
and that yet remained alive, who returned to the Osmánlí camp, which,
on some of the first days of Dhu’l kadah, was removed from Serav, and
the army marched towards Erzerúm. In the month of Dhu’l hijja the
troops were all permitted to return to their respective homes, and the
grand vezír went to Tocat, where he expected to winter; but he was
deposed. In the following year, however, he was made lord high admiral
of the Turkish fleet.
_The arrival of the king of Poland’s ambassador._
Some time before the last events which we have recorded took place,
Gurgrofshá, a relative of the king of Poland, and one of his privy
counsellors, arrived in Constantinople as ambassador from the court
of Poland, complaining of several inroads having been made upon the
dominions of Poland by the Tátárs, even since the time of the last
treaty, and praying that that part of the treaty which referred to
the Tátárs maintaining the peace might be enforced. The grand vezír
immediately wrote to Ján Beg, khán of the Crimea, to maintain the peace
inviolate.
_An ambassador arrives from Fez._
The ambassador of the Pádisháh of Fez arrived at Constantinople with
letters and some valuable presents for the Ottoman emperor. He also
complained of some depredations which had been committed by some of the
wild and wandering Arabs in the districts near Bussorah, and praying
that a stop might be put to their ravages. A messenger was instantly
despatched with respect to this matter to the proper quarter.
_A phenomenon._
There appeared one evening in the heavens a bright pillar or column
which shone like a comet; the appearance of which occasioned among the
people a variety of conjectures.
_Death of Etmekjí Zádeh Ahmed Páshá._