Part 21

At length, however, a report spread that the commander-in-chief had come to Sigetwar. The enemy now thought of the contents of the letter which had fallen into their hands, as before related, which were confirmed by the information which the two discharged prisoners brought them from Karah Omar. All was confusion and alarm, and every one became concerned about his own personal safety. One company after another took to their heels. Ferdinand tried to stop the fugitives, but without effect. The condition of the enemy was desperate. The cattle they had for transporting their ordnance had all fled towards Hungary during the storm, and their ordnance remained in the ditches, and could not, of course, be removed. Hasan Páshá knew all this, and determined on attacking them next day. The snow ceased, and the sky became clear and serene; but the sharp wind increased to such a degree as to freeze the river into thick ice. In these circumstances, Hasan Páshá called the famous Karah Omar Aghá, and ordered him to proceed with three hundred chosen men to the enemy’s camp, supposing they had all fled. He gave him his own standard. The Berk having been completely frozen over, this detachment found no difficulty in crossing the river, which was scarcely done when they were met by an infidel chief, who earnestly entreated to be taken into Kaniza. He said he wished to embrace Islamism, and stood before them in this imploring attitude with his cap in his hand. Karah Omar conducted him forthwith to the páshá, who perceiving his prisoner to have a richly ornamented head-dress on his head, gave him a chair to sit upon. “I am,” said the supplicant, and in answer to the páshá, “a Genoese captain, and commanded in this war a thousand men. Forty thousand pieces of gold, besides other property, I have left behind in my tent, and have come to embrace the Moslem faith.” Thus saying, he wept. The páshá immediately placed one of his extra turbans on his convert’s head, explained to him the Mohammedan faith, then called his warriors together, and presented the convert in his new dress. To Karah Omar he promised the sanják of Petcheví. All the cannons and arms in the fortress were now put into a state of readiness for commencing a pursuit after the enemy; and the whole of the garrison had their eyes turned towards the enemy’s quarters. When Karah Omar and his men were within a short distance of the enemy’s ditches, all the guns and muskets in the fortress of Kaniza were discharged at one instant. This explosion, along with the sound of drum which accompanied it, as well as the cry of _Allah! Allah!_ from every mouth in the garrison, made the poor devils in the enemy’s camp creep together with absolute terror. What firmness had remained with them, entirely vanished; they fled in all directions. Ferdinand and Mathias issued from their tents, and endeavoured to rally their troops on the road which led to Sigetwar. Karah Omar, on reaching their advanced trenches, slew nine hundred of them before they had time to escape, and took one hundred and fifty prisoners, whom he sent into the fortress. In these trenches he seized twelve pieces of ordnance, besides other arms and ammunition.

Hasan Páshá despatched other five hundred men to the aid of Karah Omar, who, after having received this augmentation of force, conveyed the whole of the cannon and ammunition which fell into his hands into the fortress.

Next morning Hasan Páshá, after having offered up his devotions, sat down on the gate opposite to Sigetwar, took out two purses, the one containing ducats, the other dollars, and scattered these pieces of money among those of his men who had been the active agents in seizing prisoners, or who had brought in several heads. Eighteen thousand heads, it was conjectured, had thus been brought to him. The páshá, without any unnecessary delay, sent off an account of their wonderful good fortune to the commander-in-chief, and immediately mounting his horse, rode to the enemy’s forsaken trenches, and encouraged and praised his men. Only about six hundred remained in the fortress: the rest were all employed either pursuing the fugitive army, or taking possession of their trenches. Four times did Ferdinand try to rally his forces and retake them; but Hasan Páshá, who was now master of them, turned his own guns (about forty in number) against him. Those of the enemy who had kept together made their way to Perzencha, where they found some little time to reflect on what had befallen them. It was now they perceived with some clearness the stratagem which the Turks had so effectually laid for them. Again Ferdinand rallied his men, and again attempted to retake his trenches; but Hasan Páshá directed the guns of the fortress, as well as their own, which had been left on the trenches, against them with such effect as again to repulse them with immense slaughter. The field was literally covered with dead bodies. More than thirty thousand heads were again collected, and laid before the páshá. He desired his troops to carry on the pursuit with vigour, and not to lose time in searching the enemy’s tents, as they should find time enough for that afterwards. “The enemy, you see,” said he, “are abandoning their tents as fast as they are able, but let us try and surprize Ferdinand before he leaves his own.” Accordingly, a field-piece was directed against it, but the ball, though it shattered his tent to pieces, and killed a number who were near it, did himself no injury. Ferdinand had now no alternative left him but flight. Accordingly, he, and those who still remained faithful to him, mounted their horses, but were every moment in terror lest the Turks should intercept them and cut them off. In this terror they made to the ford of Paulet, where Ferdinand experienced great difficulty in crossing it, and where a hundred of his few remaining troops perished. Thus did Ferdinand leave the whole of his camp, his ordnance, his treasures, his splendid furniture, and his glory behind him.

Hasan Páshá, after performing his afternoon’s devotions, called Meseli Beg and Omar Beg, and ordered them to pursue the fugitives wherever they could find traces of them, but prohibited their taking spoil till the infidels were wholly rooted out, or completely dispersed. After writing out a statement of the successes which had attended the Moslem arms, he sent it off to the commander-in-chief, and then returned to Kaniza.

On the following morning, after offering up his devotions as usual, the páshá mounted his horse, rode to the camp, where he was cheered, saluted, and had his hands kissed by his victorious troops, whom he, in his turn, praised for their heroism and bravery. On entering into Ferdinand’s tent, he perceived a lofty throne standing in the midst of it, every where ornamented with silver and gold: its feet and top were garnished and variegated with precious stones and other jewels; a diamond was fixed in each of its supporters, each one of which was equal in value to the revenue of Rúm (Europe or the Roman empire). On each side of this throne were twelve chairs decked with crimson silk, the borders of which were ornamented with pearls and other jewels. In front of the throne was a table about six cubits in length, ornamented and decorated like the former. In this pavilion of grandeur did the pious Hasan Páshá perform his devotions, and returned thanks to God for the victory with which their efforts had been crowned. With tears in his eyes he acknowledged it as a favour from God, and as a sign of their prophet’s benevolence, miraculously interposed in their behalf. After having ended this oration, he drew his sword and split the throne into pieces, sat down upon one of these, and his grandees and ághás, according to their rank, sat down on the chairs which surrounded him. He now again pronounced a long oration, and then wrote out a third statement, giving an account of the patience, firmness, union, and other excellent qualities of his men to the commander-in-chief. After having finished his discourse, and had sent away the report to the serdár, he asked who were the first who had entered into Ferdinand’s pavilion. Three janissaries and four borderers presented themselves, and said they were the first who had entered it. “Well then,” said the noble-minded páshá, “with the exception of the tent itself, and the arms that are in it, all the rest belongs to you.” As to the rest of the tents, whether they belonged to Ferdinand or to others, none of them were touched, but were strictly watched till such time as the decision of the commander-in-chief could be obtained. The forty-two pieces of cannon and five falconets which had been taken in the trenches, were most beautifully ornamented by art, each being of considerable value. They had the appearance of ingots of gold, and bore the image of the emperor and of the pope, figures, which one who saw them would have supposed had been executed or contrived by a skilful artist who had studied the Seher Sámrí.[9] Besides this number of cannon, fourteen thousand muskets, and as many spades and mattocks were found in the enemy’s camp. Also several gold basins and plates: ten thousand tents besides those which belonged to the superior officers; weapons of all sorts and sizes; large and small drums, trumpets, bells, chests, waggons, and carriages fell into the hands of the victorious Moslems; but the number of all these things together is only known to the Creator of men and angels. A vast quantity of articles of less value fell also a prey to the conquerors, but it is not possible to describe them all. As to articles of provision, which the enemy had left behind them, it was quite wonderful. Viands and wine were found preserved in silver and Chinese vessels; medicaments cherished by caranfil (cloves), sweetmeats, other kinds of eatables mixed with ferment, ginger, electuaries, and many other sorts, as much as would supply the garrison of Kaniza for a whole year. The whole of the cannon and arms were transported by order of the páshá into the fortress.

We have already noticed that Karah Omar Aghá, after the páshá had augmented his party, was ordered to pursue the fugitive enemy. He did so. As many of the enemy as had succeeded in reaching the ford of Paulet were totally panic-struck, when they perceived Karah Omar with his party of men pressing towards them. They threw away what heavy baggage had yet remained to them, crossed the ford in the utmost hurry and confusion, and took with them what they esteemed most valuable. The Moslem pursuers slackened not their pace, crossed the ford after them, and coming up to them, slew many of them. The fugitives were now obliged, in order to escape with their lives, to throw away every thing by which they had been encumbered, and even their arms, and took to their heels as fast as they were able. It was not known how many of them had perished, but about six thousand of the better sort of them fell by the hands of their valiant pursuers. Several of their captains were conveyed back to the páshá; but as the number of the prisoners which were thus brought were too many to be retained, the páshá gave orders to cut off the heads of all who were afterwards brought in on the ditches, and to throw their bodies into the river. Some of the prisoners, when they were asked the cause of their signal defeat and dispersion, attributed it to the effect which the letters that had been conveyed into their camp had had on their minds. A fearful terror, said they, seized us, and we began to imagine we saw nothing but troops of Turks with green turbans coming to your aid, and attacking us in conjunction with you.

In this memorable retreat, Don Juan, Hersog of Malta, finding it impossible to escape the danger of being taken prisoner, stripped off his clothes, wrapped himself up in a shabby coverlet, and lay four days in a ditch, pretending he was wounded. On the fifth day of the retreat, some men belonging to Zerín Oghlí, who had come from Mekomúriah to inquire into the state of matters, chanced to pass the ditch where this helpless Hersog lay. He implored them to extricate him, which they did, and carried him to Zerín Oghlí, who, when he learned who he was, showed him great respect, and sent him away to his own country.

The loss sustained by the enemy in this campaign was truly great: seventy or eighty thousand infidels, at the very least, must have perished. Those Italian and German foot soldiers who escaped the sword of the victorious Moslems, fell down on the roads benumbed with cold, and remained there. The few naked and weeping wretches who had been so fortunate as to reach their own countries, did so only with their lives.

Karah Omar Aghá of Petcheví relates the following story: “When we were in pursuit of the infidels, flying before us, we sometimes came up to ten or fifteen of them sitting and warming themselves before fires which they had made; but, when they saw us approaching, they started up upon their legs, took off their hats, and made obeisance to us. The fact is, we were weary of cutting and slashing the poor wretches, and therefore did not think it manly to kill men who were thus vanquished and suffering like those just now mentioned. The like of these creatures we passed, and went on slaughtering and hewing down all such as still had the hardihood to carry arms. The vast quantity of articles of value, as well as of arms, which the fugitives threw away, in their hurry to escape, strewed the roads every where, and it required two months’ time before they could be all collected and brought to Kaniza.”

Karah Omar Aghá was rewarded for his services in this campaign with the sanják of Petcheví.

_Some further account of the affairs relative to Kaniza.—The arrival of the Commander-in-chief at Sigetwar._

The commander-in-chief, Yemishjí Hasan Páshá, notwithstanding the opposition which had been manifested against his marching towards Kaniza, during the cold season, forced his way as far as Sigetwar. After the weather had become more intensely cold, a spirit of envy and insubordination began to manifest itself among his troops. They assembled together in a tumultuous manner, and attacked the Commander-in-chief’s tent with stones; and three days afterwards, when order seemed to have been restored, they broke loose and set off for Belgrade. This took place on the 12th of Jemadi II. However, the commander-in-chief received a letter from Hasan which announced to him the success which had been obtained over the enemy in their expulsion from Kaniza, and which gave him great joy. On the same day, towards evening, he received another from the same quarter, intimating the complete dispersion and defeat of the whole of the enemy’s army, a copy of which he immediately transmitted to Constantinople. He afterwards issued orders to the various troops to go into winter-quarters. He himself remained at Shuklúshka. On the 15th of the above month, one division of the troops, on its return, reached the bridge of Usk, and passed over in safety; but the next division was not quite so fortunate. Owing to the great and severe frost which had commenced, the river Drave was frozen over, and on the 20th, when the next division was crossing this bridge, it fell. All that were on it, at the time, perished. It was repaired, however, in two or three days afterwards.

Hasan Páshá, the celebrated governor of Kaniza, went to Shuklúshka to pay his respects to the commander-in-chief, who, in return, showed to the heroic Páshá every mark of esteem, and granted a favourable reception to every request he made to him. The government of Kústandil was conferred on Meseli Beg, and Korah Omar Aghá was confirmed in the sanjakship of Petcheví. To each of the veteran soldiers who sustained the siege along with him five pieces of money were allowed, besides the provisions which were due. Hasan Páshá dispatched his lieutenant, Iskender Páshá, to court, whose arrival there gave the emperor the sincerest joy. He approved of the distribution and appointments which had been made, and raised Hasan to be one of his favourite vezírs. Three robes of honour, a richly ornamented sword, and three beautiful horses, were sent as presents to the celebrated páshá. The commander-in-chief, in like manner, conferred marks of esteem upon him, and sent his lieutenant, Mustafa Khetkodá, to Petcheví, to furnish provisions for Kaniza, and then set out for Belgrade.

In consequence, however, of the violence of the mountain-like masses of ice which drifted down the Save, the bridges on that river were broken down, and the returning troops had to cross it in boats. In this journey they suffered great hardship, and had to overcome many difficulties before they reached Belgrade. About this time the ághá of the janissaries, Alí Aghá, was sent to Constantinople in order to negotiate a marriage between Yemishjí Hasan Páshá, the commander-in-chief and prime minister to the Ottoman emperor, and the sultana, the widow of the late prime minister, Ibrahím Páshá.

The following is a copy of a letter from the grand sultán to Hasan Páshá in reference to his brave and wise conduct during the siege of Kaniza. After having referred to the great glory which had accrued this year, by his instrumentality, to the Ottoman empire, he says, that the celebrated name of his choice servant, his prudent vezír, the beglerbeg of Kaniza, Hasan Páshá, was to be inserted among the other great and celebrated names recorded in the annals of the empire. He then proceeds: “I have appointed you a vezír; and may my servants who were with you in the siege of Kaniza, and who, in a peculiar sense, are my children, receive a benediction; who, beyond all conception, exemplified the most strenuous courage, not regarding their own lives in their faithfulness to their religion and to us; who in the most arduous struggle of human exertion never once flinched from the dangers of either fire or water; who manfully and heroically maintained their ground on the batteries of Kaniza; who in open battle, on the field of blood, discomfited, routed the hateful enemy, and hewed them down whenever they attempted to rally; who caused the iron-cased host to fly, leaving all their valuables a prey to their pursuers; and, in one word, who acquired peculiar glory by their unexampled heroism. We therefore request that in every thing they continue to manifest towards you the most implicit obedience, which will secure to them our approbation. You will read this letter, which contains the expression of our will, in the presence of our brave veterans, and cause them to understand it. We sanction, by our royal authority, the distribution of money, &c. to be made to our servants at Kaniza under your command. We commend you all to the true God.”

The day on which this letter was read in Hasan Páshá’s diván there was not one in it who did not weep; and many a kind and benevolent wish was offered up for the happiness of the emperor of the Moslems. This solemn scene was afterwards changed into that of joy, the demonstrations of which were every where manifested. Three full months were spent in collecting and bringing into Kaniza the cannon, arms, ammunition, tents, &c. which the enemy had left behind them.

Many of the illustrious European young men who were employed in this war lost their hands and feet by reason of the severe frost; and several of them were killed in order to relieve them from pain and sufferings. The Franks formerly mentioned purchased, at a low price, about two hundred of the Spanish and Italian prisoners.

Before the spring of the following year commenced, about three thousand villages put themselves under the protection of the Ottomans; and more than two thousand peasants came from Usk, from Púzgha, from Petcheví, from Shuklúwish, and from Bosnia, to repair the fortress of Kaniza. Its outer works these labourers greatly enlarged and strengthened with trees cut down for the purpose. They surrounded the whole with a line of fortifications; erected minarets on its walls; built a mosque, a palace, and an arsenal within the citadel; erected sheds over the guns, and made a new bath. The successful warriors, however, never ceased to make excursions into the enemy’s territories, almost as far as Vienna, and uniformly returned with much booty and many captives.

_State of matters in the East.—Concerning Scrivano._

It had been determined by the court of Constantinople that Hájí Ibrahím Páshá should go and have an interview with the late governor of Baghdád, Hasan Páshá, the commander-in-chief in the east, and, along with him, attack Karah Yázijí (Scrivano). Instead of paying regard to these injunctions, however, he marched directly to Cæsarea, where he gave the rebels battle, was routed, and at last obliged to take refuge in the fortress of Cæsarea. When Hasan Páshá heard of this terrible disaster, he, without loss of time, removed to Elbastan on the 12th of Sefer of this year, met the rebel army at a place called Sepetlú, where he arranged his troops in order of battle. The enemy did not decline the combat. Early next morning at sun-rise the two armies commenced a bloody contest, which continued without intermission till after mid-day, when victory declared itself in favour of Hasan Páshá. The rebels were routed with great slaughter, leaving one third of their number, which had amounted to 30,000, lifeless on the field of battle, besides the whole of their tents and baggage. Karah Yázijí fled with the remnant of his broken forces into the Jánbeg mountains, where he fortified himself. The victorious páshá pursued the rebels as far as Tokat.

_Some other events of this year.—Karah Yázijí dies in the mountains of Jánbeg._

Towards the end of Jemadi II. information was brought to the Moslem authorities by some of the rebel chiefs, that Karah Yázijí had died in the mountains, whither he had fled, in the month of Ramazán, but that his brother, Delí Hasan, had succeeded him in the command of the rebels.

Háfiz Ahmed Páshá, third vezír and the governor of Anatolia, passed over to Uskadár (Scutari) and proceeded to Kutahia. On the 12th of Shevál the káímakám, Khalíl Páshá, was removed from office, and was succeeded by Hasan Páshá, who at that time was the third vezír.

On the same day, _i.e._ on the 12th of Shevál, Yemishjí Hasan Páshá’s commissioner, Alí Aghá, ághá of the janissaries, who had been sent to Constantinople to contract a marriage between the commander-in-chief and Ayesha Sultáná, the relict of the late grand vezír, Ibrahím Páshá, met along with Yemenlí Hasan Aghá, the vezír’s own deputy, and Abdí Chelebí, secretary of the customs, and fixed the dowry at four thousand ducats. After the contract was settled and sealed, one Nesúh Aghá was sent to Belgrade with the marriage documents to the serdár. Nesúh, who had lost his commission among the spáhís, expected, on this occasion, either to be raised to the ágháship of the janissaries, or to be made chief master of the horse, what he was before; but neither of these offices could be conferred on him at that time: he was, however, made a kapújí báshí. This same Nesúh Aghá afterwards attained the rank of páshá, and became, in the end, prime minister; but we shall have to speak of him in the sequel.

On the 20th of Dhu’l kadah Alí Aghá left the Sublime Porte with his troops and marched for Belgrade.

_Concerning the rebel Delí Hasan, the brother of Karah Yázijí.—Hasan Páshá, the commander-in-chief, falls a martyr._

It is recorded by Sháh Verdí, who had been deputy or lieutenant to Karah Yázijí, that when Karah Yázijí died, as already observed, his followers took his body, and cutting it into pieces, afterwards buried it in separate and distinct places, in order that the Osmánlís might not have it in their power to burn it.