Part 8

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.