frigates, completely armed and equipped, with the cross-bearing ensign
flying, drums beating, and music playing; and casting anchor there,
they fired their guns with indescribable demonstrations of joy, while
the Moslims advanced from the Ok-meïdán in two hundred boats and
skiffs, embarked on board their own vessels, rushed on these ten ships
like bees swarming upon a hive, and enthralled them, head and stern,
with their ropes like a spiders web. The infidels, supposing that they
were only come on a parley, stood quietly without stretching out a hand
against them. The Moslims, in the mean time, shouting “Allah! Allah!”
began to tie their hands behind their backs, and to plunder their
ships; when the infidels, speaking in their own language, said “_Chi
parlai_,” that is to say, “What do you say?” The Káfirs discovered by
the answer who they were, and cried out, “These Turks have entered
our ships like a plague, we can make no resistance.” On entering the
harbour they had fired all their guns as signals of joy, and were now
so crowded together that they could not use their arms, they were
therefore all taken. The infidels within the town, seeing this sad
event, those who were coming to succour them having been thus taken,
tore their hair and beards, and began a heavy fire from the batteries
at Seraglio Point, the Lead Magazines at Ghalatah, and the Kíz
Kulleh-sí (Tower of Leánder). The undaunted Moslims, however, in spite
of the enemy’s batteries, lowered the cross-bearing flag on the twenty
ships which they had taken, put all the prisoners on board of their
own vessels, and came to an anchor before the garden of the arsenal,
firing their guns repeatedly from joy and exultation. The serden-gechdí
(_i.e._ mad caps) immediately disembarking from the vessels, brought
the glad tidings to the Sultán and Ak-Shemsu-d-dín, in the garden of
the arsenal; when the latter, turning to Mohammed, said: “When your
majesty, being then a prince at Maghnísá, heard of the taking of ’Akkà,
Saïdá, and Berût (Acrí, Sidon, and Beïrút) in Egypt, by the infidels,
and grieved at the thoughts of what the captives, women, and children
must suffer, I comforted you by saying, that when you conquered
Islámból you would eat of the sweetmeats taken in the plunder of
’Akkà. Lo! those sweetmeats are now presented to you, and my prophetic
prayer, that the city might be conquered on the fiftieth day, has
been answered!” There were found by the Musulmáns on board the twenty
ships, three thousand purses of coins (fulúrí) of Tekiyánús (Decianus),
one thousand loads of pure gold, two thousand loads of silver, eight
thousand prisoners, twenty captains of ships, a French princess (a
kings daughter, a yet unexpanded blossom), a thousand Muselmán damsels,
brilliant as the sun, noble and ignoble, and some thousand-times a
hundred thousand warlike stores; all of which the Sultán confided to
the care of Ak-Shemsu-d-dín, while he himself was entirely engaged in
continuing the siege.
The complete account of the affair is this: Kostantín, the late King
of Islámból, being betrothed to a daughter of the King of Fránsah,
the latter, in order to send her with an escort worthy of her rank,
equipped a fleet of six hundred ships, and sent them to ravage the
coasts of Arabia (’Arabistán). In that unhappy year they had plundered
’Akkah, Saïdah, Berút, Tarábulus (Tripoli), Ghazzah, and Ramlah, as far
as the land of Hásán (Haúrán?), and carried off more than two thousand
Húrí-like damsels from ’Arabistán, with spoils to the amount of
millions. Of this fleet, ten galeons and ten frigates were dispatched
to carry the Princess to Islámbúl. When they reached the straits of the
White Sea (the Dardanelles), they discovered that the Túrks had built
castles there; but these accursed fellows, by disguising themselves,
taking advantage of a fresh southerly breeze, and sending forwards five
empty ships to receive the fire from the castles, in two hours got
twenty miles beyond them. Having by this stratagem reached Islámból,
they were taken, thank God! as has been related. This French princess
afterwards gave birth to Yildirím Báyazíd; but other historians tell
the story differently, and say that she was taken by the father of
Mohammed the Conqueror, and gave birth to him, but he was in truth
the son of ’Alímeh Khánum, the daughter of Isfendiyár Oghlú. The
correctness of the first account maybe proved thus: My father, who died
an old man, was with Sultán Suleïmán at the sieges of Rhodes, Belgrade,
and Sigetvár, where that prince died. He used to converse much with
men advanced in years: among his most intimate friends there was one
who was grey-headed and infirm, but more eloquent than Amrïo-l-kaïs
or Abú-l-ma’álí. He was chief secretary to the corps of Janissaries,
and his name was Sú-Kemerlí Kójah Mustafà Chelebí. This gentleman was
certainly related to this daughter of the King of Fránsah, from whom
he continually received presents; and I remember that when I was a boy
he gave me some curious pictures which had been given to him by her.
During the siege of Sigetvár, before the death of Suleïmán was known to
the army, the silihdár (sword-bearer) Kúzú ’Alí Aghá, by the desire of
the Grand Vizír Sokól-lí Mohammed Páshá, assembled a council of war, at
which the corpse of the Sultán was seated on his throne, and his hands
were moved [by some one concealed] behind his ample robe (khil’ah). To
this council all the vizírs, vakíls, and senior officers of the army
were summoned. Among them were the rikábdár (stirrup-holder) Julábí
Aghá, the metbakh emíní (clerk of the kitchen) ’Abdí Efendí, my father,
and the abovementioned Sú-kemerli Kójáh Mustafá. He was at that time so
old, that when he accompanied the army he was always carried about in
a litter (takhti-reván). He had been one of the disciples of the great
Muftí Kemál Páshá-zádeh, and was deeply read in divinity and history.
Being one of the servants of Kemál Páshá-zádeh, “I was,” he used to
say, “when a youth of twenty-five years of age, present at the conquest
of Cairo by Sultán Selím I.” A.H. 923 (A.D. 1517); and the writer of
these pages was lost in astonishment when he heard him give an account
of the great battles of Merj Dábik and Kákún, of Sultán Ghaúrí’s
quaffing the cup of destiny, of his son Mohammed’s being deposed by the
soldiery on account of his youth, of Túmán-Báï’s succeeding him, of
his continued war and twenty-three battles with Selím, till at length
Caïro was taken. He was a most faithful man, and one whose word could
be taken with perfect security; and having heard him relate the story
of the abovementioned French princess from beginning to end, I write it
down here.
_An Explanation of the Relationship between the House of ’Osmán and the
King of France._
Sú-Kemer-lí Mustafá Chelebí gave this narrative: “My father was the son
of a King of France, named——. When the treaty had been made by which
he engaged to give his daughter (my father’s sister) to the Tekkúr
(the Emperor of Constantinople), a fleet of six hundred vessels was
dispatched to ravage the coasts near the castle of ’Akkah, in order
to furnish her with a dowry. It returned home laden with an immense
booty, and a vast number of captives, male and female, and having
reached Párisah, the ancient capital of our country, great rejoicings
were made. Among the female captives there was a young Seyyideh (_i.e._
one of the prophetic race), who was given by the King of France to my
father, and from whom I was born. When I was three years old, the king
my grandfather sent my father with his sister, and vast treasures, to
Islámból, and having been captured at Seraglio Point, we were delivered
up to Sultán Mohammed, in the garden of the arsenal. After the city was
taken, my father was honoured by admission into Islám (the Mohammedan
faith), having been instructed by Ak-Shemsu-d-dín, and all the
victorious Moslims having reverently presented his sister the princess
to the Sultán, she was also instructed in Islám by the same holy man,
but refused to embrace it. The Sultán upon this said, “We will give
her an excellent education,” and did not trouble himself to insist
much on that point. I was then five years old, and being taught the
doctrines of Islám by Ak-Shemsu-d-dín, received the honour of Islámism
(God be praised!) without any hesitation. My father was made one of
the kapújí-báshís (lord-chamberlains), and I was brought up in the
seráï kháss (_i.e._ the Grand Seignor’s palace) by my aunt, my father’s
sister. Mohammed Khán having afterwards formed a close attachment for
my aunt, she became the mother of Sultán Báyazíd (II) Velí, and the
princes Jem and Núru-d-dín.” “When my aunt,” he added, “died, as she
had never embraced Islám, Sultán Mohammed II. caused a small sepulchre
(kubbeh) to be erected beside the sepulchral chapel (turbeh) which he
had built for himself, and there she was buried. I myself have often,
at morning-prayer, observed that the readers appointed to read lessons
from the Korán [in these turbehs] turned their faces towards the bodies
of the defunct buried in the other tombs while reading the lessons, but
that they all turned their backs upon the coffin of this lady, of whom
it was so doubtful whether she departed in the faith of Islám. I have
also frequently seen Franks of the Fránsah tribe (_i.e._ French), come
by stealth and give a few aspers to the turbeh-dárs (tomb-keepers) to
open this chapel for them, as its gate is always kept shut. So that
there can be no doubt, according to the account given by Srí Kemer-lí
Mustafá Chebebí, that a daughter of the King of France became the wife
(khátún) of Mohammed the Conqueror (Abú-l Fat-h), and the mother of
Sultán Báyazíd.”
_An Account of the heroic Deeds and Misfortunes of Jem-Sháh, son of the
Emperor Mohammed Abú-l Fat-h (the Conqueror)._
When Báyazíd Velí was khalífah, his brother Jem-Sháh (these two being
princes of a high spirit) contended with him for the possession of this
foul world, and having been worsted in a great battle on the plains of
Karamán, fled to Kalávún Sultán of Egypt. From thence as he was going
on a pilgrimage to Meccah, he was driven by the buffetting of the
sea on the shores of Yemen and ’Aden, whence he visited the tomb of
Veïso-l Karní, performed the pilgrimage, and travelling through Hijáz,
returned to Egypt, from which country he went by sea to Rhodes and
Malta, and from thence to France to visit his grandmother (the Queen of
France), one of the most exalted sovereigns of that time, accompanied
by 300 Muselmán followers: he spent his time like a prince, in hunting
and all sorts of enjoyment. One of his most favoured companions and
counsellors was his _defterdár_ (secretary) Sivrí Hisárí; another was
’Ashik-Haïder. Seventeen sons of báns (princes) stood before him [as
slaves] with their hands crossed upon their breasts [ready to receive
and execute his orders]. He was always followed by this suite in all
his travels through Káfiristán (the land of the infidels). He composed
some thousand penj-beïts mukhammases, and musaddeses (odes), together
with kásáyids (elegies), which form a díván (collection of poems),
praised by all the world.
_A Stanza by Jem-Sháh._
Bird of my soul, be patient of thy cage,
This body, lo! how fast it wastes with age.
The tinkling bells already do I hear
Proclaim the caravans departure near.
Soon shall it reach the land of nothingness,
And thee, from fleshy bonds delivered, bless.
In this kind of elegies he was an incomparable poet. Sultán Báyazíd at
length sent an ambassador to the King of France and claimed Jem-Sháh.
On this the ill-complexioned Frank caused a sallow-faced fellow to
cut his throat while shaving him with a poisoned razor. The corpse of
Jem, together with his property, amongst which was an enchanted cup,
which became brimful as soon as delivered empty into the cup-bearers
hand, a white parrot, a chess-playing monkey, and some thousands of
splendid books, were delivered up to Sa’dí Chelebí (Sivrí Hisárí) and
Haïder Chelebí, that they might be conveyed to the Sultán. Jem’s Sa’dí
[_i.e._ Sivrí Hisárí], being a learned and acute man, first dyed the
parrot black, and taught him to say, “Verily we belong to God, and
to Him shall we return! Long live the Emperor!” He then returned to
him with the remains of his master, and delivered over his property
to the imperial treasury. But when Báyazíd asked “where is the white
parrot?” the bird immediately repeated the above-mentioned text, and
added: “Sire, Jem-Sháh having entered into the mercy of his Lord, I
have put off the attire of the angel clad in white, and clothed myself
in the black of mourning weeds.”—“How!” said the Sultán, addressing
himself to Sivrí Hisárí, “did they kill my brother Jem?” “By Heaven! O
Emperor!” replied he, “though he indulged in wine, yet he never drank
it but out of that enchanted cup, nor did he ever mingle with the
infidels, but spent all his time in composing poetry; so by God’s will
there was a certain barber named Yán Oghlí (John’s son), who shaved
him with a poisoned razor, which made his face and eyes swell, and
he was suffocated.” Báyazíd ordered the remains of Jem to be buried
at Brúsah, beside his grandfather Murád II. While they were digging
the grave there was such a thunder-clap and tumult in the sepulchral
chapel, that all who were present fled, but not a soul of them was
able to pass its threshold till ten days had passed, when this having
been represented to the Sultán, the corpse of Jem was buried by his
order in his own mausoleum, near to that of his grandfather. Prince Jem
Sháh died in A.H. 900, after having spent eleven years in travelling
through Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Mesopotamia, and in Firengistán, through
Spain and France, and having escaped from his brother’s den, and
drunk of the cup of Jem, he at last was intoxicated by drinking of
the cup of Fate. According to the French account, however, another
person was killed by the poisoned razor, and his corpse was sent to
Rúm (Turkey) instead of the remains of Jem, who in fact became King
of France, and was the forefather of the present sovereign of that
country. On enquiring into this report, and hearing what had happened
at the tomb, _viz._ that Murád would not allow the corpse to be buried
in his mausoleum, he ordered it to be interred elsewhere. After the
taking of Uïvár (Raab) in the year 1073 (A.D. 1662-3), Mohammed Páshá
was sent as ambassador the following year, 1074 (1663-4), into Germany
(Alámán Díarí), in order to conclude a peace with the emperor of
that country (Nemseh-Chásárí): having accompanied him I spent three
years in visiting, under the protection of a passport (pátentah)
written by him, the seven kingdoms of Káfirístán. Having set foot on
the land of Dúnkárkeïn (Dunkirk), situated on the shore of the ocean
which separates the eastern side of the New World from France, I
passed the Ramazán of the year 1075 (March 1665) there, and having an
acquaintance with some well-informed priests (pápáslar), I asked them
about the history of Jem-Sháh. They answered, that when the order came
from the ’Osmánlí (Sultán) to kill Jem, the French king spared him
out of pity, as being a relation to the ’Osmánlí (family) and his own
sister’s son, and that having caused another person who resembled Jem
to be poisoned, they sent his corpse to Islámból, saying it was that
of Jem: that having been afterwards made king of the country on the
borders of France (tísh Fránsah) at the time of the conquest of Egypt
by Sultán Selím, he sent him presents with letters of congratulation on
his victory. They also confirmed the account of the near relationship
between the House of ’Osmán and the Kings of France through the mother
of Sultán Báyazíd and the progeny of King Jem. He is buried, they
added, in a mausoleum (kubbah) in a garden like Irem, outside of the
city of Paris, where all the Musulmáns his companions and slaves have
been entombed. It is on account of this relationship between the house
of ’Osmán and the French kings, that when the foreign ambassadors are
assembled in the díván the Frank ambassadors stand below, because
their sovereigns are not Moslems; but the French is placed above the
Persian ambassador, below whom the German envoy is seated, so that
the ambassador from Persia has an infidel on each side. Murád IV.,
conqueror of Baghdád, altered this regulation, and gave precedence to
the French ambassador over all others, and the Russian (Moskov) then
taking the right hand of the Persian; an arrangement which offended
the German ambassador, but he was obliged to acquiesce in it. This
distinguished honour was granted to France because a French princess
was the mother of Sultán Báyazíd.
Let us now return from this digression to the siege of the castle of
Kostantín. Sultán Mohammed Khán having taken the daughter of the King
of France out of the booty of the captured fleet, and by the advice
of the captors, placed the rest in the hands of Ak-Shémsu-d-dín to
be divided among the army, continued to encourage the besiegers. At
length the fiftieth day came. It was manifest that all was terror and
confusion within the city, and these graceless Christian infidels
planting a white flag on the ramparts, cried out, “Quarter, O chosen
House of ’Osmán! we will deliver up the city.” A respite of one day was
therefore given to all the unbelievers, to go by land or sea to any
country that they would. The Sultán then having the pontifical turban
on his head, and sky-blue boots on his feet, mounted on a mule, and
bearing the sword of Mohammed in his hand, marched in at the head of
70,000 or 80,000 Muselmán heroes, crying out, “Halt not, conquerors!
God be praised! Ye are the vanquishers of Kostantaniyyeh!” He led
them directly to the palace of Constantine (Takfúr Seráï), where he
found some thousands of infidels assembled and prepared to defend it
resolutely. A great battle ensued, and in that contest Kostantín, the
king, was slain, and buried with the rest of the faithless (káfirs) in
the Water Monastery (Súlú Menastir). The treasures in the king’s palace
were so great that God only knows their amount. They were amassed by
this Kostantín, who was a merchant, and as rapacious as a griffin
(’anká), and had rebuilt Islámbúl the ninth time. Mohammed proceeded to
the church of Ayá Sófiyah in order to express his thanks by saying a
prayer, accompanied by two inclinations of the head (_rik’at_). Twelve
thousand monks who dwelt within and all around it, having closed its
doors, threw from the roof, towers, turrets, and belfries, arrows and
burning pitch, and naptha on the Moslems. Mohammed having invested the
church with the armies of Islám, like a swarm of hornets, for three
days and three nights, at length took it on the fifty-third day. He
then having slain a few monks, entered the church, bearing the standard
of the Prophet of God in his hand, and planting it on the high altar
(_mihráb_), chaunted, for the first time, the Mohammedan ezán (call
to prayers). The rest of the Muselmán victors having put the monks to
the edge of the sword, Ayá Sófiyah, was deluged with the blood of the
idolaters. Mohammed, in order to leave them a memorial of his skill in
archery, shot a four-winged arrow into the centre of the cupola, and
the trace of his arrow is still shown there. One of the archers of the
Sultán’s guard having killed an infidel with his left hand, and filled
his right with his blood, came into the Sultán’s presence, and clapping
his hand red with blood on a white marble column, left the impression
of a hand and fingers, which is still seen near the turbeh-kapú-sí. It
is on the opposite corner as one enters, at the height of five men’s
stature above the ground.
_Eulogium on Yá Vudúd Sultán._
While Sultán Mohammed was going in solemn procession round Ayá Sófiyah
a flash of lightning was seen to strike a place called Terlú-direk,
and on going thither they found a body lying with its face turned
towards the kibleh, and written on its illuminated breast in crimson
characters, the name Yá Vudúd (O All-loving). Ak-Shemsu-d-dín,
Karah-Shemsu-d-dín, and the other seventy holy men, exclaimed, “This,
O Emperor! was the cause of Islámból’s falling on the fiftieth day.”
Having prayed that it might fall in fifty days, on that very day
he resigned his soul and bore his prayer to heaven. Then while all
those learned, righteous and excellent men were making the necessary
preparations for washing that noble corpse, a voice was heard from the
corner of the Terlú-direk (the sweating column), saying: “He is washed
and received into mercy, now therefore inter him.” All were breathless
with astonishment: and those venerable sheïkhs having placed the
illustrious corpse of Yá Vudúd Sultán on a bier, and intending to bury
him near Shehíd-kapú-sí, proceeded to the stairs of Emír Oní, where
the bier was put into a boat, which instantly, without an oar plyed or
a sail set, flew like lightning, and did not stop till it came near
[the tomb of] Abú Iyyúb Ensárí. There the holy man was buried, and the
neighbouring landing-place was thence called Yá Vudúd Iskeleh-sí.
Sultán Mohammed Khán, Father of Victory (_i.e._ the Conqueror), a
Sultán son of a Sultán of the Islamitic sovereigns of the House of
’Osmán, entered Islámból victoriously on Wednesday the 20th day of
Jumázíu-l-ákhir, in the year of the Prophet’s flight 867 [1st July,
A.D. 1453], as was expressed by the prophetic and descriptive letters
of the text _beldetun tayyibetun_ (a good city), and in the day, hour,
and minute, which had been foretold to the Sultán by Ak-Shemsu-d-dín.
Several poets and men of learning have made other lines and technical
words containing the date of this victory of victories; but the date
found in the exalted Korán is complete, if the last letters are
counted as they are pronounced. Sultán Mohammed II. on surveying more
closely the church of Ayá Sófiyah, was astonished at the solidity
of its construction, the strength of its foundations, the height of
its cupola, and the skill of its builder, Aghnádús. He caused this
ancient place of worship to be cleared of its idolatrous impurities
and purified from the blood of the slain, and having refreshed the
brain of the victorious Moslems by fumigating it with amber and
lign-aloes, converted it in that very hour into a jámi’ (a cathedral),
by erecting a contracted mihráb, minber, mahfil, and menáreh, in that
place which might rival Paradise. On the following Friday, the faithful
were summoned to prayer by the muëzzins, who proclaimed with a loud
voice this text (Kor. xxxiii. 56): “Verily, God and his angels bless
the Prophet.” Ak-Shemsu-d-dín and Karah Shemsu-d-dín then arose, and
placing themselves on each side of the Sultán, supported him under his
arms; the former placed his own turban on the head of the conqueror,
fixing in it a black and white feather of a crane, and putting into
his hand a naked sword. Thus conducted to the minber he ascended it,
and cried out with a voice as loud as David’s, “Praise be to God the
Lord of all worlds,” (Kor. i. 1.) on which all the victorious Moslems
lifted up their hands and uttered a shout of joy. The Sultán then
officiating as khatíb pronounced the khutbeh, and descending from the
minber, called upon Ak-Shemsu-d-dín to perform the rest of the service
as Imám. On that Friday the patriarch and no less than three thousand
priests who had been concealed underneath the floor of the church,
were honoured by being received into Islám. One of them, who was three
hundred years old, they named Bábá Mohammed. This man pointed out a
hidden treasure on the right side of the mihráb, saying it was placed
there by Suleïmán (Solomon), the first builder of this ancient place
of worship. The Sultán having first offered up prayer there for the
prosperity and perpetuity of the place, caused the ground to be dug
up beneath it, and during a whole week many thousand camel-loads of
treasure in coins of Tekiyánús and Okí-yúnus (Decianus and——), were
carried away and deposited in the royal treasury and in the garden of
the arsenal.
_On the glorious Conquest of the Ok-meïdán (Archery-ground)._
When the Sultán had distributed all the booty among the victors, he
caused the idols like Vudd, Yághús, Ya’úf, Suvá’, and Nesr, which were
found set with jewels in Ayá Sófiyah to be carried to the Ok-meïdán,
and set up there as marks for all the Muselmán heroes to shoot their
arrows at; and from thence an arrow which hits the mark, is to this
day called by archers an idol’s arrow (púteh ókí). One of those idols
was standing till knocked to pieces in the time of Sultán Ahmed Khán.
Another was called Azmáïsh, because it stood on the south side, and
the arrows hit it when shot with a northerly wind; the spot on which
it stood is now called Tóz-kópárán-áyághí (Dust-maker’s Foot). Another
idol called Hekí, placed near Kháss-kóï, was most easily hit from
the north; hence the phrase “a hekí-shot.” Another called Písh-rev,
placed on the north-west side, and most easily hit from the south-east
(kibleh), still gives its name to such a shot. From Pelenk, placed on
the west side and hit from the east, the term pelenk is derived. In
short, having placed twelve different idols on the four sides of the
Ok-meïdán, a grand archery-match was made, and all the old archers,
each shewing his skill in taking aim at them, made glad the soul of the
illustrious Sa’d Vakkás, and hence arose the custom among the people
of Islámból of meeting there on holidays for the purpose of trying
their skill in archery. Sultán Mohammed II. having gone thence to the
garden of the arsenal, gave a banquet for three days and three nights
to all the Moslem conquerors, himself appearing like the cháshnegír
báshí (chief butler), with his skirts girt up round his loins and a
handkerchief in his girdle, offering them bread and salt, and providing
them with a splendid dinner. After the repast he carried round the
ewer, and poured out water for the learned and excellent to wash their
noble hands; thus for three days and three nights breaking his spirit
by performing these services.
_Distribution of the Booty._
After this splendid feast, which lasted three days and three nights,
the Sultán accompanied by the three imperial defterdárs and all the
clerks of the army, proceeded to pile up in the garden of the arsenal,
the treasures taken on board of the French fleet, with those pointed
out in the Ayá Sófiyah by Mohammed Bábá, and those taken from the
seven thousand monasteries, convents, and palaces within the city.
The first to whom their share was allotted were the physicians,
oculists, surgeons, washers of the dead and grave-diggers serving in
the army; next the sherífs (_i.e._ members of the Prophet’s family);
then the learned and pious ’ulemá and sulehá (_i.e._ doctors of law);
then the imáms, khatíbs, and sheïkhs; after them the móllás and
kázies (judges); then the serden gechdis (dread-noughts); next the
Arab marines who dragged the ships overland, from the village thence
called Levend-chiftlik; after them the janissaries; then the sipáhíes,
za’íms, tópchís, jebehjís, lághemjís, eshekchís, horsekeepers, and
camp-servants, respectively forming together one hundred and seventy
thousand men, to whom sixty-three thousand houses were allotted,
besides their legal share of the spoils. Out of this the victors paid
during their lives the tenth appointed by God’s law, to the Sultán,
whose own share was three thousand eight hundred captives, twenty
thousand purses of gold, coins of Tekiyánús and Yánkó son of Mádiyán,
three thousand palaces, two bezestáns, and seven thousand shops. They
also gave to the Sultán the mosque of Ayá Sófiyah, with seven great
convents, and fixed the rent to be paid by him for the New Seráï at one
thousand aspers a day. A Jew, who offered one thousand and one aspers,
was put to death. In the karamán-ward of the city three hundred lofty
palaces were given to the ’ulemá, one hundred and sixty-two to the
janissaries, seventy to the vezírs, seven to each of the seven kubbeh
vezírs. In short, all the houses in Islámból were thus distributed
among the victors, and the daughter of the French King mentioned above,
was given to the Emperor. Thus was every duty which the law required
fulfilled. Ak-Shemsu-d-dín then standing up, thus spoke: “Know and
understand ye Moslem conquerors, that it is you of whom the last of
the prophets, the joy and pride of all creatures, spoke, when he said:
‘Verily they shall conquer Kostantaniyyeh; the best of commanders is
their commander; the best of armies is that army!’ Squander not away
then these treasures, but spend them on good and pious foundations
in Islámból; be obedient to your Emperor; and as from the days of
’Osmán down to the present time, you called your Emperor Beg, so from
henceforth call him Sultán; and as at the feast he girded up his loins,
and served you himself, in return for his bounty, call him Khúnkár.”
He then fastened to the head of the Sultán a double black and white
heron’s plume (aigrette), saying: “Thou art now, O Emperor, become the
chosen Prince of the House of Osmán, continue to fight valiantly in
the path of God!” A shout of victory was then made, and the Muselmán
warriors took possession of their new habitations. It was at that
time that, with the permission of Ak-Shemsu-d-dín and the other holy
men, a coin was first struck bearing this legend: “The Sultán, son
of a Sultán, Sultán Mohammed Khán, son of Sultán Murád Khán, be his
victory exalted; coined in Kostantaniyyeh in the year 757.” On the
following day, when the Sultán, as he came out of the harem, received
Ak-Shemsu-d-dín in the Arsenal-Garden: “Did you not eat some sweetmeats
last night, Sire?” said the latter. “No,” replied the Sultán, “we eat
none!”—“Do you not remember,” replied the holy man, “that when you
were so much grieved while governor of Maghnísá, on hearing of the
capture of ’Akkah by the Franks, I told you that you would eat some
of their sweetmeats when you had taken Islámból? And did you not last
night enjoy the society of the French princess? Was not that tasting a
sweetmeat won from the Franks? Henceforward let that unexpanded rose
be called ’Akídeh (sugar-candy) Khánum, and be thou thyself styled
Khúnkár (blood shedder). Let this day be a day of rejoicing, but let it
likewise be a day of justice! Of the three thousand blooming Mohammedan
virgins who came in the suite of ’Akídeh your spouse (khássekí), let
not one be touched, but send to ’Akkah, Ghazzah, Ramlah, Khaúrán, all
the countries whence they were taken, a register containing their
names, and order their parents, relations, and friends to repair to
Islámból, that each of them may, with the consent of their parents, be
joined in lawful marriage with one of the Moslem warriors, and the city
of Islámból be thus made populous.” The counsels of Ak Shemsu-d-dín
were followed; and in a short time ten thousand fathers, mothers,
relations, and connexions, hastened to the city, and three thousand
heroes were made happy by being joined in lawful matrimony to three
thousand virgins. Orders were then issued to all the vezírs who were
Páshás in Europe and Asia, to send all the sons of Adam from each
district to Islámból. Thus the ward of Uskúblí was peopled by the
inhabitants of Uskúb; the Yení Mahallah by the people of Yení-shehr;
that of Ayá Sófiyah by the people of Sófiyah; that of Tenes by the Urúm
(Greeks) from Mórah (the Morea); the neighbourhood of Tekkúr-serái and
Shahíd-kapú-si by the Jews of fifty communities brought from Seláník
(Thessalonica); Ak-Seráï by the people from Anátólí (Natolia); the ward
below the castle by the Syrians and Arabs; the Persians were settled
in Khójah-khán near Mahmúd Páshá; the Gypsies (Chingáneh) coming from
Balát Shehrí are established in the Balát-mahalleh-sí; the U’luch from
’Akl-bend in the ’Akl-bend ward; the Arnáúts (Albanians) near the
Silivrì-gate; the Jews from Safat in Kháss Kóï; the Anatolian Turks at
Uskudár (Scutari); the Armenians of Tókát and Sívás near Súlú Monástir;
the Magnesians in the Ma’júnjí ward; the Ekirdir and Ekmidir people
at Egrí kapú; the———— in Iyyúb Sultán; the Karamanians in the Buyúk
Karamán ward; the inhabitants of Kóniyah in that of Kuchúk Karamán;
those of Tirehlí in Vefà; the people of the plain of Chehár-shenbeh in
the bázár so called; the inhabitants of Kastemúní in the Kazánjílar
(brazier’s) ward; the Láz from Tirábuzún (Trebizonde) near the mosque
of Sultán Báyazíd; the people of Gelíbólí (Gallipoli) at the Arsenal;
those of Izmír (Smyrna) in Great Ghalatah; the Franks in Little
Ghalatah (Pera); the inhabitants of Sínób and Sámsún at Tóp-kháneh. In
short, the Mohammedan inhabitants of all the large towns in the land
of the House of ’Osmán were then brought to people Islámból, called on
that account Islámí ból (i.e. ample is its Islám!).
By God’s decree, Islámból was taken in the month of Temmúz (July), and
the sea was then dyed with the blood of some thousands of martyrs. Now
it happens, that for forty days, every year at that season, the sea
is still blood-red, from the gate of Iyyúb Ensár to the Martyr’s-gate
(Shehíd kapú-sí). This is a marvellous thing and one of God’s secrets.
“Verily God hath power over all things!”
SECTION XII.
_Description of the new Seráï, the Threshold of the Abode of Felicity._
The conqueror having thus become possessed of such treasures,
observed that the first thing requisite for an Emperor is a permanent
habitation. He therefore expended three thousand purses on building
the new Seráï. The best of several metrical dates inscribed over the
Imperial gate, is that at the bottom in conspicuous gold letters on a
white marble tablet, Khalled Allahu azza sáhibihi. May God make the
glory of its master eternal! (_i.e._ A.H. 876, A.D. 1471-2). Never
hath a more delightful edifice been erected by the art of man; for,
placed on the border of the sea, and having the Black Sea on the North,
and the White Sea on the East, it is rather a town situated on the
confluence of two seas than a palace. Its first builder was that second
Solomon, the two-horned Alexander. It was, therefore, erected on the
remains of what had been built by former princes, and Mohammed the
Conqueror added seventy private, regal, and well-furnished apartments;
such as a confectionary, bake-house, hospital, armory, mat-house,
wood-house, granary, privy-stables without and within, such that each
is like the stable of ’Antar, store-rooms of various kinds round a
garden delightful as the garden of Irem, planted with twenty thousand
cypresses, planes, weeping-willows, thuyas, pines, and box-trees, and
among them many hundred thousands of fruit trees, forming an aviary
and tulip-parterre, which to this day may be compared to the garden of
the Genii (Jin). In the middle of this garden there is a delightful
hill and rising ground, on which he built forty private apartments,
wainscoted with Chinese tiles, and a hall of audience (Arz-ódá) within
the Port of Felicity, and a fine hippodrome, on the east side of which
he erected a bath, near the privy treasury; close to which are the
aviary, the pantry, the treasurers chamber, the Sultán’s closet, the
Imperial mosque, the falconer’s chamber, the great and small pages’
chamber; the seferlí’s and gulkhan’s chamber, the mosque of the
Buyúk-ódá, and the house of exercise, which joins the bath mentioned
above. The privy chambers (kháss-ódá), mentioned before, were occupied
by three thousand pages, beautiful as Yúsuf (Joseph), richly attired in
shirts fragrant as roses, with embroidered tiaras, and robes drowned in
gold and jewels, having each his place in the Imperial service, where
he was always ready to attend. There was no harem in this palace; but
one was built afterwards, in the time of Sultán Suleïmán, who added a
chamber for the black eunuchs (_taváshí aghá-lar_), another for the
white eunuchs (_teberdárán khásseh_, _i.e._ privy halbardiers), a
cabinet (_kóshk_) for recreations, and a chamber for the díván, where
the seven vezírs assembled four days in the week. Sultán Mohammed,
likewise, surrounded this strongly-fortified palace with a wall that
had 366 towers, and twelve thousand battlements; its circumference
being 6,500 paces, with sixteen gates, great and small. Besides all
the other officers before enumerated, there were in this palace twelve
thousand Bóstánjís, and, including all, forty thousand souls lodged
within its walls.
SECTION XIII.
_Description of the Old Seráï._
Sultán Mohammed the Conqueror also determined to place his honourable
harem in Islámból. In an airy and elevated position, on the side of
the city which overlooks the canal, there was an old convent, built
by King Púzantín, and placed in the midst of a delightful grove,
full of all sorts of beasts and birds. This convent, in the time of
Púzantín and Kostantín, had been occupied by twelve thousand monks
and nuns. The occasion of its being built was, that Simon, one of the
apostles of Jesus, having engaged in devotion, and in maintaining
a friendly intercourse with all sorts of wild animals, dug a pit in
the ground in order to supply them with water, on which a spring
of truly living water burst forth. Simon afterwards built a small
oratory there, which, in process of time, was replaced by the convent
which Mohammed destroyed, when he built upon its site the old palace
(_Eskí Seráï_) begun in the year 858 (A.D. 1454), and finished in the
year 862 (A.D. 1458). The wall has neither towers, battlements, nor
ditch; but is very strong, being cased with azure-coloured lead. Its
circumference was then twelve thousand arshíns (25,000 feet). It is a
solid square building, one side of which stretched from the brazier’s
(_kazánjílar_) quarter, near the mosque of Sultán Báyazíd, down to
the Miskí-sábún (Musk-soap) gate, from whence another extended to the
palace of Dellák Mustafá Páshá. Thence a third rested against the wall
and cistern of the little bázár. The site of the palaces of the Aghá
of the janissaries, and of Siyávush Páshá, now occupies that of the
Old Seráï. From thence the fourth side, passing above the quarter of
Tahta-l kal’ah, came again to the Brazier’s bázár. Within this palace
there were many courts, cabinets, cisterns, and fountains; a kitchen
like that of Kei-kávus, a private buttery, chambers for three thousand
halbardiers (_teberdár_), servants without ringlets, one apartment
(_ódá_) for the white, and one for the black Aghá (of the eunuchs),
who were both subordinate to the (_Kizlar Aghá_) Aghá of the Porte
(_Dáru-s-sa’ádeh_, _i.e._ the house of felicity). Having placed in this
all his favourites (_khássekí_), together with the French Princess,
he came twice every week from the new palace to the old, and on those
nights did justice there.
_Eulogium on the living water of the old palace (Eskí Seráï)._
Abú-l fat-h Mohammed, being a wise and illustrious Emperor, assembled
all his learned men in order to enquire which was the best water in
Islámból, and they all unanimously pointed out to him the spring
of Shim’ún (Simon), within the Eskí Seráï, as the lightest, most
temperate, and copious of all; which was proved by dipping a miskál
of cotton in a certain quantity of each different kind of water, then
weighing each parcel, and after drying it in the sun, weighing it a
second time. The Sultán, therefore, resolved to drink of no other water
than this, and to this time it is the favourite source from which all
his successors drink. Three men come every day from the Kilárjí-báshí,
and three from the Sakká-báshí of the Seráï, and fill six silver
flaggons, each containing twenty ounces, with this limpid water, seal
the mouths of them in presence of the inspector of water with seals of
red wax, and bring them to the Emperor. At present this fountain is in
front of the Inspector’s-gate (Názir kapú-sí) on the eastern side of
the Eskí Seráï, where Sultán Mohammed the Conqueror caused the water
to run outside of the palace, and erected the building over it; it is
now the most celebrated water in the town, and is known by the name of
the fountain of Shim’ún. In the year——, Sultán Suleïmán having enlarged
this old palace to the extent of three miles in circumference, built
three gates. The Díván kapú-sí towards the east, Sultán Báyazíd kapú-sí
to the south, and the Suleïmániyyeh kapú-sí towards the west. On the
outside of this gate Sultán Suleïmán built the mosque bearing his name
from the booty of the conquest of Belgrade, Malta, and Rhodes; and
near it colleges for science, and teaching the traditions and art of
reciting the Korán, a school for children, an alms-house, a hospital,
a cáravánseráï, a bath, and market for boot-makers, button-makers, and
goldsmiths; a palace for the residence of the late Siyávush Páshá,
another for the residence of the Aghá of the janissaries, a third for
Lálá Mustafà Páshá, a fourth for Pír Mohammed Páshá Karamání, a fifth
for Mustafà Páshá, builder of the mosque at Geïbiz, a sixth for his
daughter Esmahán Sultán, and a thousand cells, with pensions annexed,
for the servants of the mosque. The four sides, however, of the old
Seráï, were bordered by the public road, and, to this time, are not
contiguous to any house. The abovementioned palaces are all built
on the site of the old Seráï, which was erected by Sultán Mohammed
Khán, who afterwards constructed barracks for 160 regiments (Bulúks
and Jemá’ats) of janissaries, and 160 chambers (_ódás_) for the
Segbáns (_Seïmens_), a mosque for himself, chambers for the armorers
(_jebeh-jís_), powder magazines at Peïk-khánah, Kalender-khánah,
Ters-khánah, Top-khánah, Kághid-khánah, and many other similar public
buildings within and without Islámból; the sums thus expended, having
been drawn from the treasures amassed in his conquests.
SECTION XIV.
_On the Public Officers established at Islámból at the time of the
Conquest._
Within three years the city of Islámból became so populous, and
contained such a sea of men, that it was impossible to restrain its
inhabitants without public authority. The assistants first granted to
the Grand Vezír Mahmúd Páshá, were five executioners, a regiment (ódá)
of janissaries, with a Muhzir Aghá (colonel), cháúshes (apparitors)
of the Tópjís and Jebehjis, a captain (_ódábáshí_) of the Bóstánjís,
and a túfenkjí (musketeer), and matarahjí (water-carrier) taken from
the janissaries, with whom he took his rounds through the city on the
fourth day of every week, in order to punish by the falákah (bastinado)
all transgressors of the law. He went first to the Díván-khánah
(Court-house) of the tradespeople at the U’n-kapán (flour-market),
and held a díván there; he next visited the stairs (_iskeleh_) of the
fruit-market, and held a díván to fix the price of fruit; from thence
he proceeded to the green-market and shambles (Salkh-khánah), where
he settled the rate at which greens and mutton should be sold, and he
afterwards returned to the Seráï.
The second public officer was the Segbán Báshí (commander of the
Seïmens), to whom the falákah was entrusted, but he had no executioners.
The third was the judge and Móllá of Islámból, who could inflict the
bastinado (falákah), and imprison for debt.
The fourth, the Móllá of Iyyúb, who could inflict the same punishments.
The fifth, the Móllá of Ghalatah, and
The sixth, the Móllá of Uskudár, possessing the same power within their
respective jurisdictions.
The seventh, the Ayák Náïbí, or superintendant of the markets, who
punished all who sold above the legal prices, or used false weights and
measures.
The eighth, the Mohtesib Aghá-sí (inspector of shops), by whom all
defaulters in buying and selling were punished, according to their
offences, with imprisonment and torture; such as covering their heads
with the entrails of beasts, or nailing their ears and noses to a plank.
The ninth, the ’Asas-báshí, and
The tenth, the Sú-báshí, two police-officers attended by executioners
provided with whips and scourges, but not with rods and stocks
(_falákah_). They made domiciliary visits, took up offenders, and
attended at the execution of criminals condemned to death.
The eleventh, the Islámból-Aghá-sí, or commandant of Constantinople.
The twelfth, the Bóstánjí-báshí, who constantly, from night till
morning, takes the round of all the villages on the sea-shore, punishes
all whom he finds transgressing; and if any are deserving of death,
throws them into the sea.
The thirteenth, Chórbájís (colonels of the janissaries), who
continually go round, from night till morning, with five or six hundred
of their soldiers in quest of suspicious persons, whom they send
prisoners to the Porte, where they receive their due.
The fourteenth, the forty Judges appointed, according to the law of the
Prophet, to preside over the forty Courts of Justice (_mehkemeh_) in
Islámból, under the four Móllás mentioned above. They also have power
to imprison and inflict punishment.
The fifteenth, the Sheïkho-Islám or Mufti (head of the law). He can
only give the legal answer to questions submitted to him, _viz._ “It
is,” or “It is not.” “God knows!” “Yes,” or “No.”
The sixteenth, the Anátólí Kází-askerí (military judge of Anatolia),
has no right to punish, but sits in the díván as chief and president of
all the Asiatic judges.
The seventeenth, the Rúm-ílí Kází-’askerí (military judge of Romelia),
has likewise no power of punishing, but decides all lawsuits brought
into the díván from the country, and is the head of all the European
judges. He is likewise appointed, by the canons of Sultán Mohammed the
Conqueror, to write all the imperial patents (_beráts_).
The eighteenth, the Commander (Dizdár) of the Seven Towers.
The nineteenth, the chief Architect; if any building be erected in
Islámból without his permission it is pulled down, and the builders are
punished.
The twentieth, the Kapúdán-Páshá (Lord High Admiral) established in the
Arsenal (Ters-khánah); who commands by sea night and day.
The twenty-first, the Kyayà (_ket-khodà_) of the Arsenal (Ters-khánah),
who, if any thieves are found by day or night in the district called
Kásim Páshá, can inflict the severest punishment, even death, if
necessary.
The twenty-second, the Ta’lím-khánehjí Báshí (adjutant-general,
commander of the 54th regiment of janissaries), and of the kórújís
(invalids), whose barracks are within the boundaries of Ok-meïdán, take
their rounds there, and if they meet with any suspicious vagabonds,
carry them to their commander, the Atíjí Báshí (Chief of the Archers),
who, punishing them according to their deserts, orders them to be
suspended from a tree by the string of the bowmen, and assailed by a
shower of arrows.
It was ordained by the regulations of Sultán Mohammed the Conqueror,
and that ordinance has been renewed by a khatisheríf (imperial
rescript) from all his successors, that any offender whom these
officers shall apprehend, if he be a soldier, shall receive no mercy,
but be hung upon a tree forthwith. In fine, in the districts on
both sides of the Strait of the Black Sea, there are thirty-three
magistrates, and thirty-five local judges, deputies of the Móllá, in
the city. But the town of Bey-kós has a separate jurisdiction, the
judge of which is appointed by the Munejjim Báshí (astronomer royal).
Besides the judges and magistrates already enumerated, there are also
166 District Judges, subordinate to the four Móllás of Islámból, 360
Subáshís, eighty-seven guards of janissaries, with their commanding
officers (serdárs), and forty Subáshís of the free vakfs (charitable
foundations). In short, the whole number of Kázís and Súbáshís within
the precincts of Islámból, established by the code (_kánún_) of
Mohammed the Conqueror, amounts to twelve hundred. There are also
within the same jurisdiction the governors and magistrates of 150
corporations of tradesmen; but these governors have no legal authority
to imprison and punish; they can only determine questions respecting
the statutes of the corporations over which they preside.
SECTION XV.
_On the Imperial Mosques in the Mohammedan City of Kostantaniyyeh._
The first, and most ancient of these places of worship dedicated to
the almighty and everlasting God, is that of Ayá Sófiyah, built, as
mentioned in the seventh Section, in the year 5052 after the fall of
Adam. It was finished by Aghnádús (Ignatius?), a perfect architect,
well skilled in geometry, under the direction of the Prophet Khizr;
and forty thousand workmen, seven thousand porters, and three thousand
builders, were employed in raising its domes and arches on three
thousand pillars. Every part of the world was ransacked to find the
richest marbles, and the hardest stones for its walls and columns.
Stones of various hues, fit for the throne of Belkís, were brought
from Ayá Solúgh (Ephesus) and Aïdinjik; marbles of divers colours were
removed from Karamán, Shám (Syria), and the island of Kubrus (Cyprus).
Some thousands of incomparable columns, wasp and olive-coloured, were
imported from the splendid monuments of the skill of Solomon, standing
in the neighbourhood of Átineh (Athens). After working at the building
for forty years, Khizr and Aghnádús disappeared one night when they
had finished half the dome. Seven years afterwards they appeared again
and completed it. On its summit they placed a cross of gold an hundred
Alexandrian quintals in weight, visible at Brúsah, Keshísh-dágh (Mount
Olympus), ’Alem-dághí, and Istránjeh dághí. On the birth-night of the
Prophet there was a dreadful earthquake, by which this and many other
wonderful domes were thrown down; but it was afterwards restored by
the aid of Khizr, and by the advice of the Prophet, to whom the three
hundred patriarchs and monks, presiding over the church, were sent by
him. As a memorial of the restoration of the dome by the aid of the
Prophet and Khizr, Mohammed the Conqueror suspended in the middle of
it, by a golden chain, a Golden Globe, which can hold fifty kílahs of
grain, Roman measure; it is within reach of a man’s hand, and beneath
it Khizr performed his service to God. Among the pious, many persons
have chosen the same place for offering up their orisons; and several
who have persevered in saying the morning prayer there for forty days,
have obtained the blessings, temporal and spiritual, for which they
prayed: it is, therefore, much frequented by the pious and necessitous
for that purpose.
_On the Dimensions, Builders, &c. of that ancient place of worship, Ayá
Sófiyah._
This mosque is situated on elevated ground at the eastern end of the
city, a thousand paces (_ádim_) distant from the Stable-gate (ákhór
kapú) near the sea, and a thousand from Seraglio Point. The great
cupola which rears its head into the skies is joined by a half-cupola,
beneath which is the mihráb (sacred recess), and to the right of it a
marble pulpit (_minber_). There are altogether on the whole building
no less then 360 gilt cupolas, the largest of which is the great one
in the middle; they are ornamented with broad, circular, and crystal
glasses, the number of which in the whole mosque amounts to 1,070. The
abovementioned cupolas (_kubbehs_) are adorned within by wonderful
paintings, representing cherubims and men, the work of Monástir, a
painter, skilful as Arzheng. These figures seem even now, to a silent
and reflecting observer, to be possessed of life and thought. Besides
them, there are, at the four angles supporting the great cupola, four
angels, no doubt the four archangels, Jebráyíl (Gabriel), Míkáyíl
(Michael), Isráfíl, and ’Azráyíl, standing with their wings extended,
each 56 cubits high. Before the birth of the Prophet, these four
angels used to speak, and give notice of all dangers which threatened
the empire and the city of Islámból; but since his Highness appeared,
all talismans have ceased to act. This cupola is supported by four
arches (_ták_) that excel the arch of the palace of Kesra (Chosroes)
(Táki Kesra), the arch of Khavernak; that of Kaïdafà; that of Káf, and
that of Sheddád. The large columns, of the richest colours and most
precious marble, are forty Mecca-cubits high; those of the second story
are not less beautiful, but are only thirty cubits high. There are
two galleries running round three sides of this mosque, and forming
upper mosques for the worshippers; there is an ascent to them on both
sides, which may be ascended on horseback; it is a royal road paved
with white marble. The mosque has altogether 361 doors, of which 101
are large gates, through which large crowds can enter. They are all
so bewitched by talismans, that if you count them ever so many times,
there always appears to be one more than there was before. They are
each twenty cubits high, and are adorned with goldsmith’s work and
enamel. The middle gate towards the Kiblah, which is the highest of
all, is fifty cubits high. It is made of planks from the ark which Noah
constructed with his own hand. Over this central southern gate there is
a long coffin of yellow brass, which contains the body of Aï Sóf, who
caused Ayá Sófiyáh to be built; and though many emperors have tried at
different times to open this coffin, an earthquake and a horrible crash
immediately heard within the mosque, have always prevented them from
compassing their designs.
Above it, in a niche, supported on small columns, stands a picture of
Jerusalem (the ancient Kibleh), in marble; within it there are jewels
of inestimable value, but it is also talismanic, and cannot be touched
by any body. In this place there stood likewise upon a green column
an image of Mother Meryem (the Virgin Mary), holding in her hand a
carbuncle as big as a pigeons egg, by the blaze of which the mosque was
lighted every night. This carbuncle was also removed in the birthnight
of the Prophet, to Kizil Almà (Rome), which received its name (Red
Apple) from thence. The Spanish infidels were once or twice masters of
Islámból, and thence that egg (the carbuncle) came into their hands.
The walls of this mosque, as well as the extremities of the columns,
are carved like various flowers, with the most exquisite workmanship.
The Mihráb and Minber are of white marble highly ornamented.
_A Description of the four Minárehs (Minarets)._
While Mohammed the Conqueror was residing as Viceroy at Edreneh
(Adrianople), there was a great earthquake at Islámból, which made
the northern side of Ayá Sófiyah bend, and threatened its ruin. The
infidels were much alarmed; but Prince Mohammed, in a friendly manner,
sent the old architect, ’Alí Nejjár, who had built the great mosques
at Brúsah and Edreneh for Yildirim Báyazíd, and was then living, to
the Greek king, in order to repair Ayá Sófiyah. It was he who erected
for the support of the building four strong buttresses, every one of
which is like the barrier of Yájúj (Gog). The architect having made a
staircase of two hundred steps in the buttress on the right side of
Ayá Sófiyah, among the shops of the turban-makers (_sárikchí_), the
king asked for what purpose this staircase was intended? The architect
answered, “For going out upon the leads in case of need?” When the
work was completed the king bestowed rich presents on the architect,
who returning to Edreneh, said to Sultán Mohammed, “I have secured the
cupola of Ayá Sófiyah, O emperor, by four mighty buttresses; to repair
it depended on me, to conquer it depends on thee. I have also laid
the foundation of a mináreh for thee, where I offered up my prayers.”
On that very foundation, three years afterwards, by the will of God,
Sultán Mohammed built a most beautiful six-sided mináreh. Sultán Selím
II. afterwards, in the year——, added another at the corner opposite
to the gate of the Imperial palace (Bábi humáyún, the Sublime Porte),
which is more ornamented, but a little lower than that of Mohammed the
Conqueror. Sultán Murád III. built subsequently two other minárehs on
the north and west side, each with only one gallery.
The ensigns (’alems, _i.e._ the crescents) on the top of these four
minárehs are each of twenty cubits, and richly gilt; but that on the
great dome is fifty cubits long, and the gilding of it required fifty
thousand pieces of gold coin. It is visible at the distance of two
farasangs by land, and a hundred miles off by sea. Murád III. also
brought from the island of Mermereh (Marmora) two princely basons
of white marble, each of them resembling the cupola of a bath, and
so large that neither Jemshíd nor Dárá ever possessed such an one.
Each of them can contain a thousand kílehs. They stand inside of the
mosque, one on the right hand and the other on the left, full of
living water, for all the congregation to perform their ablutions and
quench their thirst. The same Sultán caused the walls of the mosque
to be cleaned and smoothed; he encreased the number of the lamps, and
built four raised stone platforms (_mahfil_) for the readers of the
Korán, and a lofty pulpit on a slender column for the muëzzins. Sultán
Murád IV. the conqueror of Baghdád, raised upon four marble columns a
throne (_kursì_) of one piece of marble, for the preacher (_vá’iz_),
and appointed eight sheïkhs as preachers of the mosque: the Efendís
Kází-zadeh, Uskudárlí Mahmúd, Ibráhím sheïkh to Jerráh Páshá, Sivásí,
Kudsí, Terjimán Sheïkhí ’Omar, and the great sheïkh, Emír Ishtíbí,
who was so learned and skilful in answering questions and solving
difficulties respecting the law, God be praised! We had the happiness
and advantage of enjoying the exalted society of all these doctors
and hearing their instructions. Sultán Ahmed I. built, on the left
of the mihráb, a private recess (_maksúrah_) for the exclusive use
of the emperor. In short this mosque, which has no equal on earth,
can only be compared to the tabernacle of the seventh heaven, and its
dome to the cupola of the ninth. All those who see it, remain lost
in astonishment on contemplating its beauties; it is the place where
heavenly inspiration descends into the minds of the devout, and which
gives a foretaste even here below of the garden of Eden (‘Aden).
Sultán Murád IV., who took great delight in this incomparable mosque,
erected a wooden enclosure in it within the southern door, and when he
went to prayers on Fridays, caused cages, containing a great number
of singing-birds, and particularly nightingales, to be hung up there,
so that their sweet notes, mingled with the tones of the muëzzins’
voices, filled the mosque with a harmony approaching to that of
Paradise. Every night (in the month of Ramazàn) the two thousand lamps
lighted there, and the lanterns, containing wax-tapers perfumed with
camphor, pour forth streams of light upon light; and in the centre of
the dome a circle of lamps represents in letters, as finely formed
as those of Yákút Musta’simí, that text of the Scripture, “God is
the light of the heavens and the earth.” There are also, on the four
sides of the mosque, some thousands of texts in beautiful characters;
and there, likewise, by command of Sultan Murád IV., the celebrated
writer Etmekjí-zádeh Chelebí wrote the names of the Most High, of the
prophet Mohammed and his four companions, in Kara Hisárí hand, so
large that each elif measures ten arshíns (10 ells = 23¼ feet),
and the rest of the letters are formed in the same proportion. Ayá
Sófiyah is the Ka’beh of all Fakírs, and there is no larger mosque in
Islámból. It possesses all the spiritual advantages to be obtained in
any other, whether it be El Aksà at Kuds (Jerusalem), or the mosque of
the Ommaviyyeh (Ommiades), at Shám (Damuscus), or that of El Ez-her at
Misr (Cairo). It is always full of holy men, who pass the day there in
fasting and the night in prayer. Seventy lectures (on theology) well
pleasing to God are delivered there daily, so that to the student it is
a mine of knowledge, and it never fails to be frequented by multitudes
every day.
_The Servants (Khuddám) of the Mosque._
They are the Imáms (reciters of the Form of Prayer); the Khatíbs
(reciters of the Khotbah, bidding-prayer on Friday); Sheïkhs
(preachers); Devrkhán (Scripture readers); Ders-’ámils (lecturers);
Talabah (students); Muëzzins (cryers, who call to prayers from the
Minárehs); Ejzá kháns (lesson readers); Na’t kháns (reciters of the
praises of the prophet and his associates); Bevvábs (door-keepers); and
Káyims (sextons): in all full two thousand servants, for the revenues
of the mosque settled upon it by pious bequests (evkáf) are very large.
_Stations and Places in this Mosque visited as peculiarly fitted for
Devotion._
First. Ayá Sófiyah is, in itself, peculiarly the house of God.
Second. The station (Makám) of Moslemah, in a place called U’ch Búják
(the three corners), where he, who was commander of the forces in the
Khalifate of Mo’áviyyeh, is said to have offered up prayer.
Third. The station of Iyyúb Ansárí, who, after the peace made in the
year of the Hijrah 52, entered Ayá Sófiyah and performed a service of
two inflections on the spot called Makámi Iyyúb Sultán, south of the
Sweating Column. There is now a Mihráb there much frequented at all the
five services.
Fourth. The station of ’Omar Ibn ’Abdo-l-’aziz, who being commander at
the peace in the year of the Hijrah 97, offered up prayers on the west
side of Ayá Sófiyah, at the foot of the green Mihráb. This place goes
now by his name.
Fifth. The station of Hárúnu-r-rashíd, who, at his coming a second time
to Kostantaniyyeh, in the year of the Hijrah 58, having crucified King
Yaghfúr in the belfry of Ayá Sófiyah, offered up prayers within the
mosque in the kiblah of the prophet Solomon, on the south-east side,
within the gate of the Defunct (Meyyit-kapú-sí).
Sixth. The station of Seyyid Battál Ghází in the sky-smiting belfry of
the church.
Seventh. The station of Bábá Ja’fer Sultán, Ambassador of
Hárúnu-r-rashíd.
Eighth. The station of Sheïkh Maksúd Sultán, the companion of Bábá
Ja’fer. These two, with the king’s (_i.e._ the Greek emperor’s)
permission, both offered up prayers on the eastern side of the mosque,
within the sepulchral gate (Turbeh-kapú-sí), at the places now bearing
their name.
Eighth. The station of Salomon, who is said to have offered up prayer
on the ground where Ayá Sófiyah now stands, at the place called the
Green Mihráb, to the right of the Minber.
Ninth. The station of Khizr, beneath the gilt ball in the centre of the
cupola, is a place where some thousands of holy men have enjoyed the
happiness of discoursing with that great prophet.
Tenth. The station of the forty, to the south of the platform of the
Muëzzins, is a place where the ground is paved with forty stones of
various colours, and where forty holy men stood when the extraordinary
accident which happened to Gulábí Aghá took place.
_Narrative of Gulábí Aghá._
Gulábí Aghá, Rikáb dár (stirrup-holder) of Sultán Suleïmán, a pious
man, who died at the age of 151 years, relates that in consequence of
the great plague in the reign of Sultán Selím II., which at Islámból
carried off three thousand souls every day, that prince ordered the
prayer Istiská to be proclaimed during three days; and that the mosque
being much crowded on the holy night Kadr, in order to hear the sermon
of the Sheïkh (_i.e._ Doctor) of the order of Beshiktásh Evliyá Efendí,
the Sultán ordered the people present to be numbered. This Sheïkh, who
was born at Tareb-afzún (Trapezonde), was a foster-brother of Sultán
Suleïmán. The throng to hear his sermon was so great that all the
people of Islámból filled the mosque three days before he preached.
Sheïkh Yahyá being now in the middle of his sermon, and the whole
multitude listening to his admonitions with their utmost attention,
Gulábí Aghá, who was in the midst of the crowd, felt himself much
distressed by a necessity of withdrawing. His body began to swell like
the kettle-drum of Bagdad; he stood up two or three times on tip-toes
to see whether there was no possibility of making his way through the
multitude, but saw that a man must needs be engulfed in this ocean of
men. He was ready to die for shame when he addressed himself to the
forty, on the station of whom he was then standing, and begged of them
to save him from being disgraced by exposure to the crowd. At that
moment he saw a stately man standing near him, in the dress of a Sipáhí
(soldier), who said to him, “I will release thee from thy pain;” and
thus saying, stretched his sleeve over Gulábí’s head, who instantly
found himself transported into a meadow on the bank of the stream
near Kághid-khánah. His pain and distress were removed forthwith; and
in a moment afterwards he was again in the same place in the mosque.
When the sermon was finished all the hundred and one gates were shut
except the large one at the south side, where the Defterdár Dervísh
Chelebí, son of the Sheïkh Bábá Nakkásh, placed himself with his
attendants in order to count all those who were then present in the
mosque and its three stories of galleries, whose numbers amounted to
fifty-seven thousand men. Gulábí Aghá not having the least doubt that
the Sípáhí, who had transported him so charitably into the meadows of
Kághid Khánah, was no other than the prophet Khizr himself, laid hold
of the skirt of his robe, saying, “I am thy slave, O King! and will
never again quit thee.” The Sipáhí answered him very roughly, “Be gone,
man! We are not the man of whom thou speakest.” Gulábí Aghá, however,
laid hold of him the faster; and the Sipáhí twice boxed his ears, and
thus they made their way through the crowd. Gulábí, however, would
not lose sight of him, and following him very close, saw him enter a
place of retirement near Ayá Sófiyah. Gulábí waited for some time at
the door, when, lo! it opened, and there came out a young cook of the
Janissaries, elegantly dressed, with his official knife and silver
chains. Gulábí instantly laid hold of him; but the Janissary cried
out, “Begone, man, thou art mad!” Gulábí, notwithstanding, would not
loose his hold; on which the cook of the Janissaries gave him a good
thump, and entered a Búzah khánah in the market of Ayá Sófiyah, where
he ate some kabábs and bread and drank búzah (a kind of beer), without
taking the least notice of Gulábí. The Janissary went out and Gulábí
followed him into a narrow street, where finding they were alone, he
threw himself down at his feet, and entreated him, saying, “Be gracious
to me, O Prophet, and grant me thy love!” The Janissary answered, “O
seeker! although thou art a faithful lover, thou art not yet ripe, but
wantest much of perfection, and must still undergo many trials; but as,
notwithstanding my rebuffs, thou followedst me with unabated zeal, I
will now bring thee to an old man, in whose company thou shalt remain
forty days without opening thy lips or asking concerning any men or
things that shall pass under thine eye.” He then, in that solitary
place, knocked at a low and dirty gate, which was opened by an old
camel-lipped negro, who pushed them both into the house. Gulábí, when
he had recovered his senses, found himself in an assembly of men, who
saluted him and received his salutations in return. The Janissary
changed dress, and took the chief seat, after having kissed the hand of
the old man, to whom he related Gulábí’s adventures. The Sheïkh said,
“If he has renounced the world and all the pleasures of the senses, he
is welcome in this assembly of Forty.” Gulábí then remained three days
and three nights without eating or drinking. His house, family, and
relations at U’n-kapání came into his mind; but he put his trust in
the Almighty and resigned himself to his will. On the fourth, the old
man said, “Now look to the business entrusted to you by God.” At the
same time the man, who had first assumed the shape of a Sipáhí and then
of a Janissary, stood up and brought out from a closet thirty-eight
kinds of weapons, one of which he laid before thirty-eight of the men
in company, placing before himself a Janissary’s basin with water in
it. Gulábí being eager to drink, his guide said, “Have patience, we
shall this day see whether this place be attainable by thee.” Some
time afterwards there appeared on the opposite side, a male child; and
one of the company, taking his sword, immediately cut off its head.
“Friend,” said Gulábí, “why did you kill that boy? Did not I say, do
not be curious?” replied his companion, the Janissary. Next appeared
two men pursued by a lion, who tore one of them to pieces and eat him
up, while the other saved himself by taking shelter behind the Sheïkh.
Gulábí asking for an explanation, received the same answer. Next came
an innocent little child pursued by a wolf. One of the men, sitting
on the prayer-carpet (sejjádeh), took his bow and arrow and shot the
beast dead; after which the child vanished in a corner. Three men then
appeared on the other side, two of whom were hanged by the Sheïkh’s
permission; and the third was about to be hanged, when Gulábí begun to
intercede with the Sheïkh for his life. The Janissary seizing Gulábí
by the collar, made him sit down in his place, and said, “Did I not
tell you to have patience for forty days?” At that moment the water
in the basin before the Janissary began to boil and bubble, and two
small ships appeared upon it, one of which, by the Janissary’s aid,
was saved, but the other perished with all its crew and passengers,
except a little boy and girl who escaped to the edge of the basin. The
Janissary pushing the innocent boy into the water, he was drowned; but
the girl he drew out of the basin. Gulábí crying out, “Why didst thou
drown that innocent boy, and why were all those Muselmáns lost in that
ship?” The Sheïkh, from his seat as President, said, “Let us give a
bit of bread to this man; and come let us offer up a prayer for him in
the presence of these Forty.” So they all treated him with kindness
and gave him a loaf of bread, an akchah, a piece of gold, a bunch of
grapes, a date, and an olive; and prayed for him that he might continue
in good health till his happy end, be honoured among the angels,
preserved from misfortunes, heavenly and earthly, and die, after a long
and prosperous life, under the shadow of the banner of the prophet of
God. The whole company, at the termination of the prayer, said “Amen!”
The Janissary and the negro door-keeper then laying hold of Gulábí’s
collar, said, “Close thy eyes!” He closed his eyes, and on opening
them again, suddenly found himself in one of the taverns at Ghalatah,
where a crowd of drunken Janissaries hailed him; saying, “Come, old
man, and drink a pot with us!” Gulábí, who had fasted three days, and
supposed these Janissaries to be of the same kind as that who had been
his guide, removed his hunger by partaking of the food prepared in
the tavern. At length, when sunset was near, he took a boat to return
to the U’n-kapání. On coming into a narrow street he was assailed by
two drunken Janissaries, who stripped him of his turban and his sable
robe, and said they would kill him if he did not drink another cup of
wine. Whether he would or not, he was compelled to drink it. So he
returned home naked, and never afterwards left his house again, having
abandoned the world and given himself up to a spiritual life, in which
he soon became a great man. He dwelt within the U’n-kapání among the
goldsmiths, bestowing great liberalities on all comers and goers,
to the astonishment of all men. Having heard the account of these
extraordinary events which befel the late Gulábí Aghá (to whom God has
granted mercy and pardon) at the station of the Forty, in Ayá Sófiyah,
from his own mouth, it appeared proper to insert it here. The proof of
it rests with the relater. One of the traditions of the Prophet says,
“A liar is he who makes a story out of everything he hears.” We now
return to our description of the stations in Ayá Sófiyah.
Eleventh. The station of the Apostles on the eastern side of the
gallery.
Twelfth. The station of Ak Shemsu-d-dín, near the Sweating Column,
which stands on the western side of the South gate. It is a square
marble pillar eleven cubits high, and cased to a mans height with
brass. It sweats day and night, winter and summer.
Thirteenth. The station of the South-East gate (Kiblah kapú-sí). This
gate being made of the wood of Noah’s ark, all merchants who travel
by sea, and sailors, are accustomed to offer up a prayer, accompanied
by two inclinations of the body, and touch the wood with their hands,
saying a Fátihah (_i.e._ the first chapter of the Korán) for the rest
of Noah’s soul before they set sail.
_Virtues of the Golden Ball._
If any man have a bad memory which he wishes to improve, he should
place himself beneath the Golden Ball suspended in the middle of the
cupola, and say the morning prayer seven times; three times repeat the
words Allahumma Yá káshifo-l mushkilát Yá ’álimu-s-sir va-l khafiyyát
(_i.e._ O God who openest all difficult things and knowest all secret
and hidden things), and each time eat seven black grapes, and then
whatever he hears will remain fixed in his memory as if engraven
on stone. A most noted example of this was Hamdí Chelebí, son of
Ak-Shemsu-d-dín, who lived in the village of Turbahlí Góïnuk. He was
so foolish and forgetful, that if any one gave him the Selám he was
obliged to write the word Selám on a piece of paper and read it before
he could comprehend that he ought to answer ‘Ve aleïkum es-selám.’
No doctors could do him any good, so that at last he was completely
a prey to forgetfulness, till he went, by Ak-Shemsu-d-dín’s advice,
to Ayá Sófiyah, where, after saying the requisite prayers, and eating
the grapes as prescribed above, beneath the Golden Ball, he was so
completely cured of his stupidity, that he began immediately to compose
his poem of Yusuf and Zuleïkhá, which he finished in seven months;
after which he wrote his Kiyáfet-námeh (Treatise on Physiognomy), which
is known all over the world as a wonderful poem on the nature of the
Sons of Adam.
Fourteenth. The station of the cool window, on the south-east side
(Kibleh) of Ayá Sófiyah, on the inner side of the Imperial Gate, is a
window opening to the north, where fragrant breezes and songs of the
nightingales from the garden outside refresh the soul. It is there
that Ak-Shemsu-d-dín, immediately after the conquests, delivered his
Lectures on Joreïri’s Commentary on the Korán; and having prayed that
all students who pursued their studies there should be blessed with
success, that spot has ever since been a delightful place. It was there
also that our instructor, the Sheïkh of Sheïkhs, Evliyá Efendí, that
master of the art of reading the Korán, delivered his lectures on that
science to some thousands of hearers.
Fifteenth. The station of the Lord Jesus’s cradle, in a corner on the
eastern side of the upper gallery, is a hollow trough of reddish marble
like a cradle, where the Christian women used to place their children
when sick in order to obtain their recovery.
Sixteenth. The station of the Washing Place of the Lord Jesus. Near
the cradle just mentioned above, there is another square trough of
stone, where the Prophet Jesus was washed immediately after he was
delivered from the womb of his mother Meryem. Kostantín the Ancient,
mentioned above, is said to have brought both the cradle and the font
from Beïtu-l-lahm to the south of Kudsi Sheríf, but the humble writer
of these lines saw the washing-trough of Jesus at Beïtu-l-lahm. That
children who are crooked and sickly, when washed in the trough in Ayá
Sófiyah immediately become straight and healthy, as if revived by the
breath of Jesus, is known to all the world.
Seventeenth. The station of the Gate of the Seven. On the east side of
the upper gallery there is a large door, the folds of which are not of
wood, but of white marble adorned with sculpture. It is visited and
admired by all travellers and architects as not having its fellow on
the face of the earth. It is a favourite place of worship.
_The Spectacle of the resplendent Stones._
On the east side of the upper gallery there are five or six smooth
flat slabs of various coloured stones, which reflect the rays of the
rising sun with so bright a light that the eye of man cannot look
stedfastly on them. In short, there are some thousands of holy places
of pilgrimage in Ayá Sófiyah, which is a Ka’beh for Fakírs, but the
writer of these pages has only described those which he knew. The whole
of this mosque is also covered with lead, which has remained uninjured
for so many thousand years from its being mixed up with some thousand
quintals (kantár) of gold. All architects are lost in astonishment at
the solidity of the foundations of this vast building, and no tongue or
pen is capable of adequately describing it. We have seen the mosques
of all the world; but never one like this. Mohammed the Conqueror,
after having repaired this mosque, also repaired that called Little Ayá
Sófiyah, near the Kadirghah límání (galley harbour), which had been
previously a church built by Elínah, mother of Kostantín.
_The Mosque of Zírek Báshí._
This is also a large mosque, built by Kostantín for the benefit of
the soul of the Lord Yahyá (St. John), and called, in the time of the
Nasárá (Christians) Menastir Sanjovaniyyeh (Monastero San Giovanni).
The holy body of that Saint is now at Malta, which is, therefore,
called Sanjovanniyyeh (_i.e._ Malta di San Giovanni). It was carried
away by the Maltese infidels from a convent in the village of Beït
Sabástiyyeh (Σεβαστὴ), near Kudsi Sheríf. His head is still preserved
in a golden dish in a cavern in the middle of the mosque of the Bení
Ommayyeh in Shám (Damascus). The Maltese having removed the body of
St. John from Beït Sabástiyyeh, carried it to ’Akkah, and there
enclosing it in a chest adorned with jewels, conveyed it to their
own country; having ever since made all their conquests in the name
of St. John, whose name and figure they now bear, together with the
cross, upon their banners. As St. John was nearly related to Jesus,
on his mother the Virgin Marys side, the mother of Constantin built
this mosque as a convent to the honour of his spirit. It was enclosed
by a very strong wall, had a cistern of its own, and cells for three
thousand monks. After the conquest, Mohammed the Conqueror converted it
into a mosque, and it has forty-six cupolas great and small, and many
beautiful columns. All its cupolas are gilt, and as it stands upon a
hill, it is much admired and extremely conspicuous. In short, Mohammed
the Conqueror, in the course of his reign, converted no less than
6,670 large monasteries (deïr) into places of worship for Musulmáns.
He afterwards began to build a splendid mosque on his own account. He
began by building the Irghát hammámí (workmen’s bath) in the Karamán
chárshú-sí (Karamanian market), that the workmen might perform their
ablutions every day before they began to work at the mosque. This was
finished in forty days, and still bears the same name.
_Description of the Mosque of Mohammed the Conqueror._
The foundations of it were laid in the year 867 (A.D. 1463), and it
was finished A.H. 875 (A.D. 1470). The date of its commencement is
expressed by the Arabic words Sheyyed-allahu erkánehá. It is situated
on high ground, in the midst of Islámból, on the site of a convent
which bore the name of king Vezendún (Byzantium). This convent having
been entirely destroyed by an earthquake its site was fixed upon for
this new mosque by the conqueror.
_Form of this Mosque._
The ascent to it is by a flight of stone steps on the right and left;
and its height from the ground to the roof is 87 builders cubits, four
cubits being the height from the ground, of the platform on which it
stands. It has a large cupola in the centre, and semi-cupolas over
the Mihráb. The Mihráb, Mimber, and Mahfils, for the Muëzzins and the
Emperor, are of white marble and of ancient workmanship. The cupola
has two rows of galleries adorned with lamps. On the left side of the
Mihráb stands an ancient banner in long strips, made of Alí’s doublet
(jubbeh). There is nothing suspended in this mosque except lamps; but
it possesses great spiritual advantages, and prayers offered up in it
are sure to be answered, because the workmen employed in building it
were all Musulmáns; and to this day neither Jews nor Christians are
allowed to enter its blessed doors. Its spirituality was secured by
the workmen, who never began their work till they had performed their
ablutions, and it was built from the wealth obtained in the Conquest.
On issuing from its southern (kiblah) gate, there is seen on the right
hand, a square white marble column, on which the following traditional
saying of the Prophet is inscribed in blue and gold and in large
Jellí characters, by Demirjí Kúlí:—“Verily, Kostantaniyyeh shall be
conquered! How excellent a commander is that commander! How excellent a
host is that host!” It is approached on the southern side, also, by two
stone staircases on the right and left; and on the four sides of its
court (harem) there are stone benches (soffahs) and variegated columns,
the sculptures on which astonish the beholder. On a needle-like pillar,
within the southern gate of the court, there is a figure representing a
Mevleví Dervísh, with his cap and fan (mirvahah). In the centre of this
court there is a large basin, covered by a leaden cupola, supported by
eight columns. Round this basin there are verdant cypresses towering
to the sky like minárehs, and each appearing like a green angel. On
the right and left of the mosque there are lofty minárehs, with a
single gallery. The cloisters round the court are covered with leaden
cupolas, and the floor is paved with variegated marble. On the outside
border of the windows of the court the Súrah Fátihah (1st chap. of the
Korán) is inscribed in white marble letters on a green ground, in the
character invented by Yákút Mosta’simí, which is not equalled by any
thing of the kind in all Islámból. The architect, to shew his skill
in the construction of this basin in the centre of the court, placed
over it a brazen cage like a net, which is also itself a masterpiece.
The water rushing out, day and night, from the pipes of this basin,
affords abundantly wherewith to quench the thirst of the devout, and
enable them to perform their ablutions. The great cupola of the mosque
seems also to hang without support, like the vault of heaven. Before
the Mihráb is the monument of Mohammed the Conqueror and his family.
Besides which, on the sides of the mosque there is a great court which
has eight gates, and fine gardens on both sides. Outside of it there
are the eight celebrated colleges (Semániyyeh), filled with students,
on both sides of which are their apartments and stables. There is
also a refectory (Dáru-z-ziyáfet), a hospital (Dáru-sh-shifá), a
cáravánseráï for guests, an ancient bath, and an A B C school for
children. When all these buildings, crowded together, are seen from a
height above, they alone appear like a town full of lead-covered domes.
_Appeal of the Mi’már Báshí (Head Builder) to the Law of the Prophet
against the Conqueror._
Mohammed being, like Jem, a very passionate Emperor, severely rebuked
the architect for not having built his mosque of the same height as
Ayá Sófiyah, and for having cut down the columns, which were each
worth the whole tribute of Rúm (Asia Minor). The architect excused
himself by saying, that he had cut down two columns three cubits each
on purpose to give his building more solidity and strength against the
earthquakes, so common in Islámból, and had thus made the mosque lower
than Ayá Sófiyah. The Emperor, not satisfied with this excuse, ordered
both the architects hands to be cut off, which was done accordingly.
On the following day the architect appeared with his family before the
tribunal of the Kází, styled Islámból-Mollá-sí, to lay his complaint
against the Emperor and appeal to the sentence of the law. The Judge
immediately sent his officer (Kiahyà) to cite the Emperor to appear in
court. The Conqueror, on receiving this summons, said, “The command
of the Prophet’s law must be obeyed!” and immediately putting on his
mantle and thrusting a mace into his belt, went into the Court of Law.
After having given the selám aleïk, he was about to seat himself in the
highest place, when the Kází said, “Sit not down, Prince, but stand
on thy feet, together with thine adversary, who has made an appeal to
the law. The Mi’már Báshí (head architect) thus made his complaint:
“My Lord (Sultánum)! I am a perfect master builder and a skilful
mathematician; but this man, because I made his mosque low and cut
down two of his columns, has cut off my two hands, has ruined me, and
deprived me of the means of supporting my family. It is thy part to
pronounce the sentence of the noble law.” The Judge then said to the
Emperor, “What sayest thou, Prince? Have you caused this man’s hands to
be cut off innocently?” The Emperor immediately replied, “By heaven! my
Lord (Sultánum), this man lowered my mosque; and for having cut down
two columns of mine, each of which was worth the tribute from Misr
(Egypt), and thus robbed my mosque of all renown, by making it so low,
I did cut off his hands: it is for thee to pronounce the sentence of
the noble law.” The Kází immediately answered: “Prince (Begum), Renown
is a misfortune! If a mosque be upon a plain, and low and open, worship
in it is not thereby prevented. If thy stone had been a precious stone,
its value would have been only that of a stone; but of this man, who
has now for these forty years subsisted by his skilful workmanship, you
have illegally cut off the hands. He can henceforward do nothing more
than cohabit with his wife. The maintenance of him and his numerous
family necessarily, by law, falls upon thee. What sayest thou, Prince
(Begum)?” Sultán Mahommed answered: “Thou must pronounce the sentence
of the law!” “This is the legal sentence,” replied the Kází, “that if
the architect requires the law to be strictly enforced, your hands
be cut off; for if a man do an illegal act which the noble law doth
not allow, that law decrees that he shall be requited according to
his deeds.” The Sultán then offered to grant him a pension from the
public treasury of the Musulmáns. “No!” returned the Móllá; “it is not
lawful to take this from the public treasury: the offence was yours;
my sentence, therefore, is, that from your own private purse you shall
allow this maimed man ten aspers (akchahs) a-day.” “Let it be twenty
aspers a-day,” said the Conqueror; “but let the cutting off of his
hands be legalized.” The architect, in the contentment of his heart,
exclaimed, “Be it accounted lawful in this world and the next!” and,
having received a patent for his pension, withdrew. Sultán Mohammed
also received a certificate of his entire acquittal. The Kází then
apologized for having treated him as an ordinary suitor; pleading the
rigid impartiality of law, which requires justice to be administered
to all without distinction; and entreating the Emperor to seat himself
on the sacred carpet (sejjádeh). “Efendí,” said the Sultán, somewhat
irritated, and drawing out his mace from under the skirt of his robe,
“if thou hadst shewn favour to me, saying to thyself, ‘This is the
Sultán,’ and hadst wronged the architect, I would have broken thee
in pieces with this mace!” “And if thou, Prince (Begum),” said the
Kází, “hadst refused to obey the legal sentence pronounced by me, thou
wouldst have fallen a victim to Divine vengeance; for I should have
delivered thee up to be destroyed by the dragon beneath this carpet.”
On saying which he lifted up his carpet, and an enormous dragon put
forth its head, vomiting fire from its mouth: “Be still,” said the
Kází, and again laid the carpet smooth; on which the Sultán kissed his
noble hands, wished him good day, and returned to his palace.
Subsequently, Abdál Sinán, when Mi’már Báshí, added some embellishments
to this mosque, and, at a later period, ’Alí Kúshjí, the celebrated
astronomer, erected a school for the instruction of Muselmán children
in the Korán within the precincts (harem) of this mosque, near the
Dyer’s gate (Bóyájíler kapú-sí) opposite to the great dome. The same
astronomer also placed there a sun-dial, which has not its equal in
the whole world. It is engraved on a square marble tablet, according
to that text of the Korán:—“Dost thou at all know how thy Lord hath
extended the shadow?”
After these events, in the reign of Báyazíd Velí, there was a great
earthquake at Islámból for seven days and six nights. The castle
of Ghalatah was damaged in many places; but it was repaired by
the architect, Murád, who recorded the date of the repairs in an
inscription engraved in the Jellí character on a square marble tablet.
The reparations of the city were finished in sixty days. It is written,
that this was the severest earthquake since the time of Yánkó ibn
Mádyán. Báyazíd afterwards built a bridge of fourteen arches over
the river Sakariyah, at the town of Keïveh, in the Sanják of Izmít
(Nicomedia); another of nineteen arches, over the river Kizil Irmák, at
the city of ’Osmánjik; and a third of nineteen arches, over the Gedúz
(Hermus), in the province of Sárú khán; after which he began to build
the mosque that bears his name, near the old palace in Islámból. Its
foundations were laid in the year 903 (A.D. 1498), and it was finished
in A.H. 911 (1505-6). It is built nearly in the same style as the
mosque of his father Mohammed the Conqueror; but its two minarets are
contiguous, not to it, but to the two rows of houses built on each side
for the accommodation of strangers, which were subsequently added to
the mosque.
_Description of the Mosque of Sultán Báyazíd II._
It is a square building supporting a large dome, flanked by semi domes
on the south-eastern (Kiblah), and opposite sides. On the right and
left of the mosque there are two purple columns of porphyry, of which
the like are to be found only in the mosque of Sultán Kaláún, in
Caïro; and there is suspended from these a double row of lamps. On the
right side of the mosque an elevated gallery has been constructed for
the use of the Sultáns of the house of ’Osmán at the public service
on Fridays. Sultán Ibráhím subsequently enclosed three sides of the
gallery with gilt gratings, so that it resembles a beautiful cage, or
net-work, or rather a palace of the immortals. The Mihráb, Minber,
and Mahfil, though made of marble, are simple and unornamented; and
on the first are inscriptions written in beautiful characters. The
mosque has five gates, and the outer court (harem) is adorned with
stone benches (soffahs), and on each side a cloister, supported by
variegated columns; and in the centre there is a large basin, where
all the congregation renew their ablutions. A cupola, supported by
eight white marble columns, was placed over the basin by Sultán Murád
IV., the Conqueror of Baghdád. On different sides of it four lofty
cypresses have been planted. When the foundations of this noble mosque
were laid, the Mi’már Báshí having asked the Sultán where he should
place the mihráb, was desired by his Majesty to tread upon his foot;
having done which, he immediately had a vision of the noble Ka’bah,
and knew, consequently, where to place the mihráb. He, therefore,
prostrated himself at the Sultán’s feet and began the work, the Sultán
having previously offered up a prayer, accompanied by two inclinations
of the body, for its happy completion. On the first Friday after
it was finished, when there was an assembly of some thousands, the
congregation, knowing that the Sultán had never in his life failed to
offer up the afternoon (’asr) and evening (’ashà) prayers, insisted
on his performing the functions of Imám. The Sultán, being aware that
no one present was so well acquainted with those services as himself,
consented to perform them. As this mosque was entirely built with
lawful money, it has great spiritual advantages; and being situated
in the centre of the markets of Islámból, is crowded day and night
by thousands of devout Muselmáns, who are offering up their prayers
there without ceasing; so that it has often happened that before one
party has got through the afternoon (’asr) service, as far as the
Ayetu-l Kursí (the verse of the throne, Kor. ii. 256), another coming
in prevents the first from finishing. The pipes of the basin in the
court are never closed, but pour forth streams of water day and night,
because the congregation never fails. This mosque is always illuminated
by flashes of light; and before the window of the mihráb there is a
garden like that of Irem, adorned with various fruits and flowers,
where, beneath a monument of white marble, covered with lead, rest
the remains of its founder. Round the inner and outer courts of this
mosque there are shops of all kinds of trades, with a public kitchen,
a refectory, and hostel for travellers; a school for instructing the
poor and rich in the Korán; and a college for lectures on the art of
reciting it. This court has six gates; and is adorned, externally,
with lofty trees, most of them mulberries, under the shades of which
some thousands of people gain a livelihood by selling various kinds
of things. Outside of this court there is a large valley, called the
Meïdán of Sultán Báyazíd, adorned on its four sides with shops; and on
one side by the great college of the same Sultán, which has seventy
cupolas. The superintendent (Názir) of this mosque is the Sheïkhu-l
Islám (_i.e._ the Muftí); he also gives the public lectures in this
college. He delivers his lectures once a week, and the students receive
a monthly stipend, besides an allowance for meat and wax-lights: this
is a very well-endowed foundation. This mosque has altogether 2,040
servants; and none has a better salary than the Muvakkit, or Regulator
of Time; because all the seamen and mariners in the empire of Islám
depend, for the regulation of time, on the Muvakkit of Sultán Báyazíd
Khán; and as the mihráb of this mosque was miraculously placed in the
true position of Kiblah: all sea-captains regulate their compasses by
it; and all the infidel astronomers in Firengistán, as is universally
known, correct their watches and compasses by the mosque of Sultán
Báyazíd. Besides this mosque, that Emperor built sixty other places of
worship in the countries which he conquered. The mosque and convent of
Emír Bokhárí, as well as the mosque of Ghalatah-seráï, were built by
him. May God reward all his pious works! His conquests are as follows:
The castles of Motón and Korón, Arkáriyah, Kalámitah, Kalávertah,
Holómích, Tiribólíchah (Tripolizza), Bállí-Bádrah (Palæ Patræ, _i.e._
Patras), and Anávárín (Navarino), in the year 906 (1500-1). All the
above castles are in the southern and western parts of the Peninsula
(Morea). He also conquered the castle of Ainah-bakhtí (Naupaktus or
Lepanto), A.H. 905 (A.D. 1499, 1500). The fortresses of Kilì and
Ak-kirmán were taken in the 889 (A.D. 1484). The castles Várnah,
Avlóniyah, and in Arnáútluk (Albania) Durráj (Durazzo), were captured,
and a tribute imposed upon Karah Boghdán (Moldavia), in the year 918
(A.D. 1512). After having conquered these and many other castles, he
was defeated in a second engagement with his son Selím I., at Chórló
(Τούρουλος or Τζορλοῦ), where he was deserted by all his servants,
who followed Selím to Islámból and proclaimed him Emperor. Báyazíd
Khán was immediately ordered to retire to Dímah-tókah (Dymóticho for
Didymótichon); but having reached Hávusah, a small town one days
journey distant from Edreneh (Adrianople), died there. Various reports
were circulated respecting the cause of his death. Some say that he
died sighing, and crying out, “O King Jem!” Others, that having been
poisoned by his son, he exclaimed, “May thy life be short, but thy
victories many!” His corpse was buried within the precincts of his
mosque. He reigned thirty-three years, and was succeeded by his son
Selím I., who began his victorious course by a signal defeat of Sháh
Ismá’íl, King of Írán, on the plains of Cheldir, beneath the castle
of Ak hichkah, where 200,000 Kizil-báshes (Persians) were put to the
sword. The Sháh himself escaped with difficulty, accompanied by only
seven horsemen, and his Queen Tájlí Khánum was taken prisoner, together
with three hundred female captives, who were entrusted to the care of
the Defterdár Tájir-zádeh Ja’fer Chelebí, and conducted by him to the
threshold of Felicity (the Sublime Porte). In this victorious campaign
the following castles were conquered:—Kars, Ak-hichkah, Erdehán,
Hasan, Erz Rúm, Baïbúd, Iánijah, Kumákh, Karah-Hamíd, Diyár-Bekr, and
forty other castles with their dependencies. Sultán ’Aláu-d-daulah,
of the Zúl-kadriyyeh family, Lord of Mer’ash, was also defeated and
killed, and his head, together with those of seventy other great
chiefs (Bóï Beg), was sent to Ghaurí, Sultán of Egypt, against whom
a campaign was immediately commenced: in the course of which Súltán
Selím conquered Halebu-sh-shuhbá (the bright), with its twenty, Shám
(Damascus), with its forty-two castles; Tarábulu-Shám (Tripoli), with
its seventy castles, occupied by the Durúzí (Druzes); Beïtu-l-mokaddas
(Jerusalem), Ghazah, and Ramlah, with seventeen castles. In that
paradisiacal country, Shám (Syria), he took up his winter-quarters;
and in the ensuing year he fought, on the plain of Kákún, the great
battle in which Sultán Ghaúrí was routed and slain. The wreck of the
army of the Cherákis (Circassians) fled to Misr (Caïro), with Selím
Khán at their heels; and after one continued battle for a whole month,
the province of Misr (Egypt), with its three hundred cities and seven
thousand villages, was given up to the conqueror in the year 922
(A.D. 1516). Híreh Beg was appointed Governor of Misr (Caïro); and
Kemàl Páshà-zádeh Ahmed Efendí, Military Judge. Possession was taken
of Mekkah and Medínah, and Selím assumed the title of Servant of the
two noble Mosques, and exalted his victories to the skies. On his
returning to Islámból, he laid the foundation of the mosque which
bears his name, but did not live to finish it. He was buried in the
kubbeh, opposite the Mihráb. He was born in Tarabefzún (for Tarábuzún,
_i.e._ Trebizonde), of which he was Governor while a Prince. He reigned
nine years, during which the Khotbah was said in his name in one
thousand and one mosques. He was succeeded by his son, the determined
supporter of the faith, and the breaker of the heads of the people
who contemplated rebellion, the tenth of the Sultáns of the house of
’Osmán, Sultán Suleïmán Khán el Ghází, who finished the mosque begun by
his father.
_Description of the Mosque of Sultán Selím I._
He began it as a monument to the illustrious memory of his father, in
the year 927 (A.D. 1521), and finished it in the year 933 (A.D. 1527).
It is a lofty mosque, in the interior of Islámból, on the summit of
one of the hills which overlook the canal; but it has no fine columns
within it like the other mosques. It is only an elevated dome supported
by four walls, but such as to raise the admiration of all who are
masters in mathematics, and to be pointed at as a proof of the great
skill of the old architect Sinán. On examining it, all mathematicians
are astonished; for its dome is found, on admeasurement, to be one
span wider than that of Ayá Sófiyah. It appears, in truth, to be an
azure vault, like the vault of the sky; but is not so high as that
of Ayá Sófiyah, since it measures only fifty-eight builder’s cubits
in height. The cause of its not having been made more lofty, is the
elevation of the hill upon which it stands. On the right side of its
precincts (harem) there is a deep cistern, made in the time of the
infidels; and on the north side is the ascent called the Forty Stairs,
though there are fifty-four steps. The declivity on each side is very
steep and precipitous; the architect Sinán, therefore, with a prudent
foresight, in order to avoid all risk from earthquakes, gave a very
moderate height to the mosque. The platform (mahfil) for the Muëzzins
is placed upon marble columns, adjoining to the wall on the right hand;
the Minber and Mihráb are of white marble, in a plain style. On the
left side of the mosque there is a gallery supported by columns for the
use of the Emperor: this was enclosed like a cage, with a gilt grating,
by Sultán Ibráhim. Round the cupola there is a gallery where lamps
are lighted on the blessed nights. The mosque is ornamented with some
thousand trophies suspended around it, but has no other distinction on
the inside. Opposite to the windows on the side of the Mihráb, is the
sepulchre of Selím Khán, in a delightful garden, where the sweet notes
of nightingales are heard. It is a hexagonal building, surmounted by
a cupola. This mosque has three gates, of which that looking towards
the Kiblah is always open. On the right and left of the mosque there
are hostels for travellers; and there are also, on the right and left
side, two minárehs, with one gallery each; but they are not so high as
other minárehs. The court of the mosque (harem) is paved with white
marble, has three gates, and stone benches (soffahs) all round. There
is a basin in the centre of the court, which constantly supplies the
Muselmán congregation with fresh and running water for their ablutions.
Sultán Murád IV. placed a pointed dome over it, supported by eight
columns, and there are four cypresses on the different sides of it.
Outside of this court is a large enclosure (harem), planted with trees
of various kinds, and entered by three gates. On the south (Kiblah) is
the gate of the mausoleum (Turbeh); on the west, that of the market; on
the north, that of the Forty Stairs. Below the market, looking towards
the Chukúr Bóstán there is a large school for boys, a public refectory
(Mehmán-seráï), and lodgings for men of learning and students. The bath
(hammám) is three hundred paces beyond this enclosure; but there are no
other colleges nor hospitals.
_Description of the Fifth Imperial Mosque; that of Sultán Suleïmán._