Part 7

On the thirtieth day of the siege, Sultán Mohammed having placed the ’Urf (_i.e._ the judicial turban) on his head, and sky-coloured boots on his feet, mounted a mule which might rival Duldul (Mahomet’s steed), made the round of the walls, and distributed largesses among his troops. He then passed over with many thousand men from Iyyúb to Kághid khánah, and crossing the streams of Alí Beg Kóï and Kághid Khánah came to the place called Levend-chiftlik, where forty ships (firkatah) had also been built. These, like the former, they moved on rollers to the Ok-meïdán, and launched them at the Sháh-kúlí stairs into the sea, filled with some thousand scarlet scull-capped Arabs, burning as brandy, and sharp as hawks.

SECTION XI.

There appeared off Seraglio Point ten large admirals’ ships and ten 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.