Part 31

Having given his orders he waited on the venerable cazí who accompanied the camp, Ahmed Effendí, and informed him of the resolution the council had adopted, and requested him to give his opinion. The reverend prelate expressed, in no unmeasured terms, his entire disapprobation of that resolution. “It is no mark of sound judgment,” said the venerable man, “to adopt a method which leaves in our rear the enemy watching our movements, whilst we are pursuing an uncertain object from motives of ambition. Moreover, it is entirely contrary to the will of the emperor, who expressly declared that it was his utmost wish that we should, in the first instance, attempt the reduction of Osterghún. Having had, therefore, the emperor’s mind on the subject, it is as clear as day that nothing could be more improper than to pursue the plan which has been adopted, and, in part, acted upon. If, in prosecuting your present plan, so much as one village belonging to the Ottoman empire should fall into the hands of the enemy, you will find yourself at a loss to give any satisfactory answer when you happen to be interrogated on that point. I would observe, moreover, that only about eighty days remain for continuing this campaign, and that should you, in pursuance of the resolution of the council, follow the course which promises to enrich the soldiery, no less than twenty or thirty days will be necessary for this purpose. The soldiery, bent on acquiring spoil, will pay no regard to your commands when once they are let loose after plunder. They will become disunited and scattered; neither can you expect that this year you will ever induce them again to act as a regular military force. If, in these circumstances, the enemy should commence their hostile movements, with whom, let me ask you, will you march to meet them? What preparations can you effect? What aid can you command? Now, however, that you have time and troops at command, turn your thoughts towards Osterghún, and endeavour at least to fulfil the emperor’s express desire. If you attend to this advice, though you should even fail in the attempt, you are sure to escape reproach.” The clear and cogent mode of the worthy prelate’s reasoning made a very deep impression on the mind of the commanding general; in short, he was like one awakened from sleep. The arguments of the priest carried irresistible conviction, and the general was no longer in doubt as to the line of conduct he ought to pursue. He immediately resolved on proceeding to Buda, countermanded the march of the janissaries, who by that time had marched a stage on their way towards Kaniza, and made arrangements for laying siege to Osterghún.

The reverend priest acted in the transactions we have alluded to without the least fear of blame or reproach. His open and manly conduct, so utterly void of any thing like hypocrisy, was such as threw a glory and dignity around his sacred office and character, and secured him the high approbation of the vezír himself, and all others. Petcheví relates this account somewhat differently, and Káteb Chelebí, in his Fezliké, confirms his view of the matter, but it is of no importance to show wherein the two accounts differ.

The commanding general having resolved, as we have seen, on laying siege to Osterghún, the army commenced its march towards that place. The beglerbeg of Bosnia, with the troops under his command, was ordered forward to Buda. Twenty-five pieces of artillery, thirty thousand balls, ten thousand talents of gunpowder and other ammunition were transported in boats towards the place which was soon destined to become the scene of action and of blood. The spáhís and janissaries, on reaching the plains of Mehaj, were all furnished with the weapons peculiar to each, and about the middle of Rabia II. the Moslem camp was pitched in the vicinity of Osterghún. On the same day, also, on which they had pitched their tents every disposition for commencing hostilities was quickly and promptly attended to. On one side of Osterghún was a high hill whereon stood a considerable castle; and it being probable that a secret way from it to the city might be discovered, by which much mischief to the besiegers might be avoided, Mustafa Páshá, beglerbeg of Buda, was ordered, with a body of troops, to assault this fortress or castle, called Dipadilin, which he did on all sides. Jegirdilin, another fortress or castle, in connection with Osterghún, and with which the Moslems had become well acquainted in a former siege, was also subjected to the operations of war. Vishégrade, situate somewhere on the Danube between Osterghún and Wáj, and which could easily prevent provisions or stores being transported by water to the aid of the Moslem army, was, after a short siege, allowed to capitulate. Khádem Khosrú Páshá, the beglerbeg of Bosnia, who commanded at the siege of Vishégrade, found the garrison was composed of those Franks whom the Pope had sent in aid of the Germans, as formerly mentioned, and who had been distributed into the different forts in the hands of the Austrians. Like their brethren, the Franks at Alba Julia, they entered voluntarily, and on similar terms, the service of the grand sultán. At the commencement of the siege their number amounted to more than a thousand, but most of them perished before they had agreed to capitulate.

We now return to Dipadilin. Vishégrade having been disposed of in the way now related, part of Khosrú Páshá’s troops, and the Franks above-mentioned, were sent to join the troops employed under the beglerbeg of Buda against Dipadilin. This augmentation of force so terrified the besieged that they became discouraged; but the hearts and hands of the Moslems were so mightily strengthened by it, that on the 6th of Jemadi II., the sixth day of the siege, after the hour of morning devotions, they fired off three large guns, and all at once rushed forward to a general assault. It so happened, by the providence of God, that the morning was very dark and hazy; so much so, indeed, that objects could hardly be seen at the shortest distance; and thus the Moslems entered the place before they were discovered. Not only this place, but, in short, every other between it and Osterghún, in the short space of this one day, fell into the hands of the Moslem conquerors. Not one of the infidels in any of these different places escaped with his life: more than four thousand, it was said, perished. The count, who commanded in Osterghún, came forth to stimulate and encourage the infidels to oppose the Moslems, but he never returned: his body was found among the slain. A number of troops, and a quantity of provisions and other stores, which had been advancing by the Danube to the aid of the Moslems, but which, on account of the infidels in Vishégrade, were hindered from reaching their destination, were at once, by the fall of that place, allowed to proceed. The troops on board, having received intimation from the commander who carried on the siege of Vishégrade, disembarked, took up their quarters in a small island, attacked those of the enemy who had been employed in menacing them whenever they offered to sail forward, and slew about two hundred of them. These and the other troops now joined their brethren who were set down before Osterghún itself, the downfall of which was the principal object in the Moslem army’s taking the field this year.

_Osterghún set fire to._

The janissaries having extended their trenches, on one side, to within a small distance of the city or suburbs, and as the cannon placed on the hill Dipadilin were kept constantly firing on the city and fortress, the commanding general, in pressing the siege, ordered the palanka of the city or suburbs to be set fire to. When the besieged perceived this palanka on fire many of them rushed forth and endeavoured to extinguish it, but not one of those who did so ever returned again.

_The city and fortress taken._

On the 16th of Jemadi II. three successive general assaults were made, in the last of which the city was taken, and two thousand infidels that were found in it were immediately dispatched to the flames of hell. Mustafa Páshá, who had vanquished Dipadilin, was sent to reduce a tower called the Water Tower; which he did completely. On the 10th day, after taking possession of the city or suburbs, another assault was announced to the troops, who prepared for the onset. The enemy’s troops within the fortress perceiving with what determined perseverance the besiegers were animated, and fully convinced they should not be able to resist an assault, if it were attempted, but which they had every reason to anticipate, they, in this hopeless condition, offered to capitulate. When this proposal of the besieged was announced to the commanding general, he sent his confidant Petcheví Ibrahím Effendí,[15] the person who first informed him of the proposal of the enemy, to settle the articles of capitulation. These he settled in conformity to ancient custom. On the 21st of the month, five thousand four hundred miserable-looking wretches issued forth from the citadel, loaded with what private property they were able to carry—which they had been allowed to take with them—were put on board transports, and sent off to their own infidel country. One of their chief captains, however, embraced the Moslem religion, and was much caressed and befriended by the commanding general. All the Franks in Osterghún who followed the example of their brethren, who had lately entered the service of the grand sultán, shared the same immunities as those formerly mentioned. The injuries which Osterghún and Dipadilin had sustained in the siege were ordered to be forthwith repaired. The noble temple of Osterghún, which had been desecrated ever since the enemy had entered the city, and filled with their abominations, was also ordered to be purified; divine service according to Mohammedan usage was performed in it. A sufficient garrison was appointed: Petcheví Ibrahím Effendí and two other officers were sent off for Constantinople with intelligence of the splendid victory gained over the infidels; and in consideration of which, each spáhí received two, and each foot soldier one piece of money. The commanding general, after this distribution of money among his troops had taken place, directed his course towards Buda and Belgrade.

There can be no doubt that the fall of Osterghún contributed very much to induce the court of Vienna to submit, or rather to offer the conditions which they not long afterwards forwarded to the court of Constantinople.

_Progress of Botchkai._

Botchkai, of whom we have before spoken, when thoroughly strengthened and supported by Ottoman forces, nothing withstood him: he was every where victorious. During the time that the Moslem general was employed in the reduction of Osterghún, Botchkai formed the design of laying siege to the fortress of Uivár, and therefore requested to be supplied with Moslem troops for that purpose. In accordance with this request Sinán Páshá, the beglerbeg of Agria, the princes of Serim, of Alasha Hisár, of Semendria, and the prince of Terhalah with a thousand Tátárs and a body of Circassians, were sent to his assistance. Botchkai committed the command of his army to an infidel of the name of Humnaí, a Hungarian prince. Bektásh Páshá, formerly mentioned, was also engaged in the siege of Uivár. One thousand of the janissaries who had been engaged in the siege of Osterghún, and a considerable number of provincial troops, under the Khosrú Páshá, beglerbeg of Bosnia, were afterwards sent forward to Uivár; over whom, as well as over those Moslem troops already sent, he was made chief commander. Uivár, however, though at first it showed some little courage, soon submitted to Botchkai, who having expressed a desire that it should remain under his dominion, the commanding general, in conformity with the promise which had been made to him with regard to making him ruler of Mejár or Ardil, or both, deputed Teryákí Hasan Páshá to accompany Ahmed Effendí, the priest of the camp, and formally to install Botchkai in the possession of Uivár.

About this same period, Teryákí Hasan Páshá was sent with a division of the Romeilian troops to reduce Besperim and Polatah. The last of these only he subjected to the Moslem yoke, and afterwards returned and joined the royal camp in the vicinity of Buda. The beglerbeg of Buda, Bosniak Mustafa Páshá, in the meantime, was degraded, and his beglerbegship was conferred on Alí Páshá son of Kází Zádeh, ruler of Silistria. The jurisdictions or sanjáks of Semendria, of Nicopolis, of Silistria, of Chormin, and of Wiza, were all put under the guardianship of the garrison of Buda.

After the fortress, which had been reduced, had been all repaired, the victorious general made preparations for returning to Belgrade.

_Botchkai pays a visit to the commanding General._

When the grand vezír, Lálá Mohammed Páshá, returned, last year, to Constantinople, he did not forget to lay before his royal master a statement of the promise or engagements he, as the organ of the Ottoman government, had entered into with Botchkai; the result of which was a splendid crown, valued at three thousand ducats, and, moreover, richly studded with precious stones, for Botchkai. One Seyed Mohammed was sent to Botchkai from the commanding general, to inform him of what was going on in his favour, and to invite him to wait upon him. The commanding general, who at this time was encamped near Pest, no sooner heard of the near approach of Botchkai, who, in obedience to the invitation sent him, was coming to wait on him, than he ordered a splendid royal pavilion, handsomely adorned with fine curtains, to be erected for his royal visitor. The whole of the troops were ordered to stand under arms, and in proper order to receive him. The flooring of the pavilion was made of precious odoriferous wood or planks; and, in short, every thing suitable to the dignity of the approaching monarch was punctually attended to. At length Botchkai, attended by a guard of ten thousand Hungarians, besides many distinguished princes, arrived in the Moslem camp, and went immediately to pay his respects to the commanding general. The splendid and highly valuable crown, above referred to, was brought forth and placed on his head by the hands of the general. A richly-ornamented sword was presented him on the same occasion: and immediately afterwards he was declared to be raised, by Ottoman imperial munificence, to the sovereignty of Hungary. The banners and standards, which the Ottoman government condescended to send him, were presented to him in due form. Botchkai made all due acknowledgment for the dignity and honour conferred on him, kissed the commanding general’s hand, and said: “We are now become the emperor’s servants. Those who are hired with money, serve generally out of fear of reproach or of punishment; but we, inasmuch as we are favoured servants, still manifest the most genuine and cheerful obedience.” Thus, the contract first made with Botchkai was fully ratified and signed; the field-pieces in the camp were fired in token of joy; great demonstrations of heartfelt pleasure were every where, throughout the camp, instituted, and cheerfully observed; and Botchkai, now created king of Hungary, took leave of his friends and returned to his newly-acquired dominions.

Botchkai, after he was advanced to the rank and dignity of a sovereign prince, contributed very much to the welfare of the Moslem religion. So much so, indeed, that the infidel Germans, who were filled with hatred against him, when they found it impossible to take him in open battle, endeavoured by every means they could devise to poison him, which at last they accomplished.

When tidings of the death of Botchkai reached the Sublime Porte, the government proceeded to make choice of another of the Transylvanian princes to succeed him in the sovereignty of Transylvania,[16] and Batori Ghabor was the one who was elevated to that dignity. The elevation of Batori Ghabor, as now hinted, had the effect of widening the breach between Turkey and Austria, but it eventually led to the latter’s negociating for peace.

The commanding general, who unfortunately became indisposed, remained a few days in Buda arranging and settling matters with his servants, appointed the celebrated hero Hasan Páshá, beglerbeg of Romeili, commandant of Buda, and set out for Belgrade. On reaching this city, he paid off the troops, and allowed them to return to their own provinces; but he himself spent the winter there, where he enjoyed all the pleasures of life.

The Moslem army, by the assistance of God, achieved this year the advantages and triumph which they sought. This one campaign brought them more glory than any one of the preceding twelve. In fact, the Moslems accomplished more this year than they had done in all the others put together: so wonderfully successful had they been. The wealth they had acquired was altogether unprecedented in the history of their wars with the northern infidels.

The exalted commanding general, after having gone to Belgrade, as before mentioned, procured double pay for the troops. Petcheví Ibrahím Effendí was appointed to see the distribution properly attended to.

_Peace is proposed by the Archduke Mathias._

Botchkai, of whom we have had a great deal to say, vexed and distressed the Austrians to the very utmost; which at last had the effect of inducing the Archduke Mathias, who was at that time in Vienna, when he perceived the danger which threatened to subvert from him the whole of his dominions, to send an embassy to the Moslem commander-in-chief. He clearly saw that his troops were not able to resist the superior force of the Ottomans, or withstand the powerful and vigorous hostility of Botchkai. His only army in Transylvania also was on the very point of being surrounded. When made aware of all these alarming circumstances, he sent the embassy alluded to, and, at the same time, informed the emperor his brother, who was at Prague, the capital of Bohemia, of what he had done. He stated in his communications to the emperor, that if a treaty of peace was not agreed upon he should by degrees be stripped of all his dominions in Hungary. “Part of them would fall,” he said, “under the Turks, and the rest would be trampled under the feet of Transylvanian cavalry.” The emperor, well aware that peace was every way desirable, expressed his approbation of the steps Mathias had taken to bring about so very requisite an object.

The emperor, however, in conformity to the principles of his vain religion, applied to the ungracious Pope of Rome for his advice, who expressed himself altogether hostile to the measure proposed. This audacious pope[17] had the hardihood and wickedness to write back to the emperor, desiring him to get his brother to withdraw the proposals he had made, or if he refused to do so, to kill him. Such was the advice of the pope.

The emperor informed his brother of the sentiments which his holiness had expressed, and urged him in the strongest manner to pay implicit regard to them: assured him, moreover, that it was of much more consequence to him to have the prince of religion on his side, than any relative, however near to him; and therefore conjured him to continue the war. Mathias replied, that it was of the utmost moment to him to have peace on any terms; that preliminaries had been entered into, and that he was determined not to recede.

In the meantime Mathias collected what Hungarian and Transylvanian forces he was able, who, when united with the troops he had sent to protect his Transylvanian dominions, formed a very considerable army. With this army he purposed advancing upon Prague, but the death of the emperor,[18] which happened at this time, put a stop to this warlike attempt.

The death of the emperor changed the aspect of affairs in relation to Mathias altogether, and bound him, in consequence of the law of succession, to respect the unworthy injunctions of the pope. This pope, to reproach and mortify Mathias for having offered conditions of peace to the Turks, raised Maximilian, a younger brother, an infidel, to the imperial dignity, to the exclusion of the lawful heir. It was that very same Maximilian, who, with his 70,000 infidels, was defeated before Agria by the heroic Sultán Ahmed Khán; that same Maximilian who hardly escaped from the scene of action with his life; who, unable to mount his horse or gird on his sword, fled away on foot; who, preferring a monastic life, ran off to the pope and entered into a monastery; it was that very same Maximilian whom the pope, in the plentitude of his power, and in the bitterness of his wrath, nominated to fill the throne of the Roman emperors, and whom he sent into Hungary. Mathias, however, prepared to dispute his pretensions, and with the army he had led, or had intended to lead against his deceased brother, he stood ready to meet this Maximilian. But Maximilian’s courage failed him, and Mathias, without striking a blow, ascended the throne of the Cæsars. Maximilian being now unable to promote the pope’s purposes, was appointed to the government of Vienna, and Mathias repaired to Prague, the imperial city, and commenced the exercise of his imperial prerogatives.

After Maximilian had gone to Vienna, he, in conformity to an agreement between him and Mathias, who was bent on promoting a treaty of peace, sent, the year peace was concluded, two hundred thousand dollars towards fulfilling the stipulations of that treaty, but he was exempted for the space of twenty years from any farther demands of this kind; though during each of the three years in which the negociations were carried on, he sent presents to the commander-in-chief, accompanied by letters humbly imploring a speedy termination of all hostilities.

_Concerning Jeghala Zádeh’s operations on the confines of Persia._

Notwithstanding the misfortunes which fell, during the events of the last year, to the lot of Jeghala Zádeh Sinán Páshá, he was this year, again in a condition to raise his standard in the province of Erzerúm. He removed his son, Mohammed Páshá, from Shirwán, and placed him in the government of Diárbeker, whilst that of the former reverted to Ahmed Páshá, son of Hasan Páshá.

Having heard that the Persians had concentrated their forces at Tabríz, he pushed forward his army as far as Salamas. This took place on the 21st of Rabia II. The perverted sháh came to Khúi, where the advance-army of both sides met; but the Persians, after having sustained some loss, were obliged to retreat. At Hamla another of their divisions was completely routed. On the following day, the sháh divided his army into three divisions on the lake of Tabríz, on the banks of which his troops had concentrated themselves on the preceding day. He himself, from motives of security to his own person, took up his position on a rising ground in the neighbourhood.