ANNALS OF THE OTTOMAN SULTANS, WRITTEN BY THE TURKS IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE, brought from Constantinople in 1551 by the study and diligence of Hieronymus Beck a Leopoldstorf, son of Marcus, and at the command of the Divine Ferdinand, Emperor, Opt. Max., translated into German by the Turkish interpreter Johannes Gaudier, called Spiegel. Johannes Leunclavius, a nobleman of Angria, illustrated the Latin translation and augmented it up to the year 1588.
PREFACE OF JOHANNES LEUNCLAVIUS TO THE NOBLE AND MAGNIFICENT D. HIERONYMUS BECK A LEOPOLDSTORF, COUNCILLOR OF THE IMPERIAL MAJESTY’S AULIC CHAMBER, REGARDING THESE ANNALS.
A305 I remember hearing more than once from you, most magnificent sir, that when you had undertaken your pilgrimage and gone to Rome in the Jubilee year of 1550, and having set out from Rome for Venice, you had landed from there upon larger triremes at Tripoli in Syria; and that you had visited Aleppo, Damascus, Nazareth, the Holy Sepulcher of Christ in Jerusalem, and Mount Horeb in Arabia; and that afterward, having traveled through Egypt, you had crossed the sea from the city of Alexandria, and traveling through Attalia in Pamphylia, Cotyaeum in Phrygia, and Prusa in Bithynia, you had finally arrived at Byzantium in Thrace. And indeed at Byzantium, in the most spacious royal seat of the Turks, you had obtained with great zeal and not without expense a book written in the Turkish language, containing the deeds of the princes of the Ottoman family: which you offered as a gift to the most pious Divine Ferdinand, Roman Emperor, upon your happy return to Austria in the year of Christ 1551; humbly asking the King that, for the sake of public utility, he might order it to be translated into the Latin or German language. After that, you, overwhelmed by public offices and business, had little concern for this matter, though you did not altogether abandon it.
After no small time had elapsed, 306 when the noble man Ulricus Maschwander a Cranigsperg—who served the Divine Ferdinand in his bedchamber for many years—was celebrating the solemn wedding in Vienna of his daughter, Alphonsa de Games, who had been given in marriage: he answered you, as you inquired more diligently about that book, that he remembered the Emperor had given certain Annals to his Turkish interpreter to translate and practice upon, and that he possessed that Turkish history, written by hand in the German language. Therefore, when this was sent to you by him in the year 1586, and when you had recognized, from the proemial letter of the interpreter Johannes Gaudier (called Spiegel), that it was a translation of your book, you ordered it to be copied out immediately with great pleasure. I had returned from Constantinople to Vienna in the preceding year, and to me you not only indicated that those Annals of yours had been found, but also, not unwillingly, you shared them with me, such is your singular benevolence toward me. I read this through most gladly, and since it pleased me not a little for many reasons, at your request I transcribed them into Latin, so that, being published, they might also be of use to foreign nations. Therefore, the Turkish Annals now return to you, printed in copper-plate types, for they are owed to your study, because not only did you bring them back with you from those places, but you also rescued them, nearly buried for 37 years, back from darkness, and saved the German version—which was lurking elsewhere—from moths and bookworms. For this reason, since you were the first author to bring these books to us, and likewise the defender and preserver of that which was perishing: the Annals themselves cannot bear the name of anyone else without injustice to you. I am also confident that you, along with other sincere judges, will approve of my laborious work in polishing these. For since the most distinguished man, Hugo Blotius, J.
A Since both sides were of the same stock and desired no innovation for themselves, they brought this forth in writing, confirming by the holy men that they would make no change regarding their religion. From that point, the high priest of the Romans, having chosen two men—the most approved among the Greeks—attached them to himself, having conciliated them as being most worthy of the honor of the highest position and as leaders of the religion. B For he had established these men, who were settled in the region around him—about thirty in number—as his companions and counselors, providing them with a sufficient income and a region from which they might receive funds, granting to each of them more or less according to the region and the worth of each man. C Having selected these two men from the Greeks, Bessarion from Trebizond, the Metropolitan of Nicaea, and Isidore, the Metropolitan of Russia, he took them as his assistants and fellow-workers in settling the dispute among the Greeks. Concerning Bessarion, I shall make mention of this fact: that he was a man gifted by nature with understanding, and even among many of the Greeks who were highly approved in these matters, he stood far apart, and in judging whatever might come to pass, he seemed to be the most capable; in his wisdom, he was second to no one among the Greeks or the Romans. D The Roman high priest Nicholas, who succeeded Eugenius, followed him, and he cherished him greatly. Wherefore, he put him in charge of the city of Bologna, which was wealthy, so that he might govern it. But when that city was tossed by the tempests of sedition, and the strife did not cease to contend, that divine man appeared among them. That city, in its wealth and other blessings, yielded to none of the chief cities of Italy: it is distinguished for the studious attention to literature of the cities of Italy. C Isidore, a prudent man and a lover of his fatherland, as is well known, was taken by the Barbarian when Byzantium was captured, though he had been a defender of his fatherland. Him, too, the high priest Eugenius deemed worthy—since he seemed to surpass those among the Greeks [in standing], and to cooperate with him towards that which he desired, the union of the Greeks with the Romans—and he requested him of the Greeks; and the high priest promised, pledging that he would care for that kingdom and the Greeks in the future, and that he would not cease to incite the Hungarians and the Germans to take up arms against the Turks, insofar as it might seem good to the Greeks and others. D The king, having reached these agreements with them, sets out for Byzantium. They will be read by the Greeks and the Germans, even by the Turks, so that it may be a good thing for the Greeks and for others. The high priest having undertaken this, the king is carried to the kingdom of Byzantium.
The Greeks, 156, having returned home, said that they were no longer willing to abide by the things agreed upon, but maintained the contrary, no longer wishing to conform to the Romans. However, the high priest and certain learned men whom he sent to Byzantium to the Greeks, to arrive at a discussion with the wise men of the Greeks, did not accept the agreement made with them.
PRELIMINARY EPISTLE TO HIS MAJESTY FERDINAND, KING OF THE ROMANS
Most Serene and Most Powerful King, Most Clement Lord:
A Since not long ago Your Royal Majesty entrusted to me a Turkish book, in which the rise and deeds of the Turkish emperors are described—which book the noble, strenuous, and most upright Hieronymus Berk of Leopoldstorf, returning from his travels in Jerusalem and Turkey, offered to Your Royal Majesty, and which Your Royal Majesty graciously commanded me to translate into German—I have humbly fulfilled this, rendering it into the German language according to the method in which it was written by the Turks. Although I would gladly have rendered this same work in a rhetorical style, yet, since from my youth I have been but little steeped in the humanities and am by no means versed in such matters, I am nevertheless of the firm hope that this humble labor will be pleasing to Your Royal Majesty. I would have also noted at the same time at what time, according to the years of our salvation, these deeds occurred; but since the years of the Turks are shorter than ours, and their anniversary days do not coincide with the same time as ours among us Christians—although they too have twelve months in a year, this is done solely by reason of the phases of the moon—moreover, they write and say themselves that over the space of thirty-two years, according to their reckoning, the mobile heaven or their firmament completes its course; this would be almost equivalent to saying that where we Christians reckon and name thirty-one years, they reckon and name thirty-two.
B And although it cannot be calculated from my translation at what time of the years of Christ these deeds of the Turkish emperors occurred, yet I consider it worth reading for any governor, leader of the militia, or captain who has to deal with the enemies of the Christian name. For from this it is possible to see what policy or heroic spirit may achieve, and how a magistrate ought to conduct himself toward men who are greedy and arrogant in pursuit of their own advantage; and what detriment also can arise and befall a fatherland and an army on account of disobedience, confusion, perfidy, pride, and self-interest. Therefore, one can easily deduce from this that since the modern Turkish emperors have grown from a small and obscure family with a meager band to an immense power, as indeed I understand from this history, it is because Asia, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia, and Serbia fell into so many calamities and into the hands of the enemies of the Christian name C not for any reason other than disobedience, confusion, perfidy, pride, and private interest; which (God forbid!) we see happening even to this very day. For what other cause is there for Christian devastation than disobedience, perfidy, avarice, pride, and the pursuit of private interests? For one man favors the Turks for his own advantage, another woiwode does likewise; a third, obeying no one, considers himself a lord. Hence it happens that we conduct all wars undertaken against the enemies of the Christian name less prosperously, on account of disobedience, confusion, perfidy, avarice, pride, and self-interest. We reckon them to be of little substance, we attack our business inconsiderately, and we propose to ourselves great wealth to be acquired from them; we are lively and spirited at the first encounter, but immediately we flag. May God Almighty deign to grant us his grace, so that we may conduct ourselves against such enemies of the divine name, be obedient to our superiors and magistracy, preserve good policy, and assign to avarice, pride, and private interest only what is fair, lest we too at last (which God forbid) come into the greatest ruin, just as the regions mentioned, and our posterity be forced to adopt a diabolical faith and religion. May God deign to grant us this forever. Amen.
Your Royal Majesty’s D Most humble and most obedient servant and Turkish interpreter, JOANNES GAUDIER, alias S. TEGEL
A When it came to a colloquy and a disputation, the Romans could accomplish nothing, but returned home having achieved nothing. Not long after, Eugenius returned to Rome, aided by the Venetians, who at that time were waging war very successfully against the tyrant of the Ligurians. For the Venetians had created as general of the war a man by birth a Ligurian, who had previously been a friend and relation of the tyrant of the Ligurians. The name of the leader was Carmagnola, and to him they entrusted the army. Upon receiving the army and the ships that he had asked the Venetians to man for his soldiers, he set out, traveling partly by land and partly along the Po, having ships equipped with wooden breastworks, about seventy in number. B Armed with these forces, he set out against the tyrant of Milan, Philip by name. Now, there was a general for him named Nicolaus, surnamed Brachius, a man skilled in military affairs and considered among the first in the art of war. At first, the Venetians were aggressive in the war for a long time, fighting one another around the lake for the sake of its defense. And when Nicolaus Brachius came to the city of Brescia, and they laid siege to the city with the intention of capturing it, they resisted for a considerable time, and were brought to such a necessity that they even ate mice and cats, and chose to endure the harshest of things rather than yield to the enemy at all: the faction of the Guelphs, which was in the city, resisted so bravely. C The entirety of Italy, we have learned, is divided into two factions, that of the Guelphs and the Gibellines. By what means, however, both the families and the cities throughout Italy were everywhere divided into these two factions, so as to be enemies to one another, perpetually at odds in their judgment, and whence the origin of this disagreement arose, I have heard from no one such that I could determine anything true regarding them, nor could I myself, by conjecturing, have anything certain to say about them. The region of the Ligurians, and that of the Genoese, is assigned to the faction of the Gibellines; the Venetians, the Romans, and the Marchia are divided into the Guelph faction. The Tyrrhenians, however, and the region of Basilea, stretching far toward Iapygia, waver between both. D For some of these are distinguished by being for the Guelph, others for the Gibelline faction. And in one and the same city, it is possible to see both factions divided and fighting against one another. Hence, I suppose, seditions for the most part happen to befall those dwelling in Italy. It happened, meanwhile, that the inhabitants of Padua also brought in their own leaders, among whom was Marsilius, a member of the family of the Carraresi, who was preparing to betray the city to Carmagnola. This city is great and opulent, containing seventy stadia in circumference, and the river called the Brenta cuts through it: since it is washed on all sides by this river,
A it is rendered most well-fortified. When they had brought this Marsilio there, they fixed a day on which the act of treachery was to be carried out. But on that day a great storm arose, by which he was hindered, and he was unable to appear at the appointed day. A certain man, privy to the treachery, being very anxious that someone else might anticipate him and reveal the plot, came forward himself and declared the treachery. When the others learned of it, they fortified the city with guards as well as they possibly could. And having laid an ambush for Marsilio where he was about to pass through as he approached the city, they captured him and about a hundred men who were with him, whom they killed together with their wives, and slew Marsilio himself. B Indeed, the fact that these events occurred during this same war strengthened the Venetians all the more, and in the commands of Carminiola, at first they fared better in the war against the leader of the Ligurians; but later, when he turned traitor, as it was reported to them, having been caught red-handed plotting against the city, he died. It is said, however, that when he was being led to execution, to the place where he was to be beheaded, he went with his mouth covered and obstructed, so that he could not address or entreat those who had gathered to watch the execution. After the death of this man, they summoned Francesco Sforza by name, and having appointed him general, they entrusted the affairs of the war to him. To him it fell, having served the Venetians, to come later, after no long time, to the lordship of Milan; and while serving them in command and being in great repute, he reached C the city of Lodi, which is very close to Milan, subduing the region of Bergamo and certain other small towns of Liguria beyond the river Adda. Thereafter, when peace had been made between the Venetians and the Lord of Milan, he married the illegitimate daughter of the lord. And having placed himself in the middle between both, he remained at rest during the war against Nicolaus. This man, then, when the treaties were made and there was peace, went to Parthenope to the King of the Tarraconensians, intending to commend himself to the king, and to serve him if he should need anything in the war against the Tyrrhenians. But when he found nothing there suitable for his purposes, he returned to the Lord of Milan. And he not long after this died, a man who was most excellent in military leadership, in leading an army, and in fighting. Having had a strangury disease for many years, he died, leaving behind a most honorable memory of himself throughout all of Italy; he was by birth a Perugian. D Francesco, then, when not long after the Lord of Milan died of disease, leaving his life behind, immediately fell into dispute with the
A Venetians, joining himself to the Milanese, urging and aiding them to reclaim their aristocracy. Indeed, for some time that city pursued an aristocracy, creating magistrates from the nobility of the city. But when it began to look toward equality, affairs were managed very tenuously if at any time it sent an army anywhere. For this reason, the city inclined toward tyranny. The citizens then call for the leader Francesco. Some resisted. Francesco, therefore, having raised an army, marched with speed against the Venetians where he learned they were encamped. Advancing with his army near the city, about a hundred stadia away, he besieged the city; and having taken hold of affairs regarding the tyranny, he set about securing those appropriate to him. And not allowing any of the necessities of life to enter the city, he brought them to terms through the pressure of the siege. He did not, however, form a plan to drive immediately B from the city, fearing the people of the city, which was the greatest of all in Italy, and many times larger than his own army, and moreover excellent in matters of war, and significant in its army, and expecting that an army from the Venetians would arrive for them for this war. He was staying there, conducting matters regarding the city; but as he heard that the army coming to assist—that from the Venetians—was already close and moving forward, he met them as quickly as he could, far from the city, some five hundred stadia away, and encamped. There the Venetian general also encamped opposite—Cudunidas was his name—and having dug a trench around himself, he awaited the army from Milan to come to his aid, and then to engage in counsel. C There, however, when Francesco learned through scouts that the army was marching out from the city to assist the Venetians, he lit many fires in the camp by night, so that the enemy might suspect nothing of what he was planning, and arming his men by night, he marched with all speed toward the Milanese army. Having engaged them in battle there, and having destroyed the greater part of the army, and having prevailed over it, so that nothing of importance was left, he immediately marched back to his camp. And having engaged with the Venetian general not long after, they fought a fierce battle, and D having driven them to flight, he captured about six thousand cavalry, and won a signal victory. Not long after, marching upon the city where he had been staying before, he brought his affairs to a conclusion. And he entered not long after, and made peace, a certain Nazarene having moved him to this end. And he sent his son to the Venetians, and continued showing goodwill. But these things happened not long after.
Then, when the Greeks had returned home, the Pope [index: entries preserved]
A Eugenius sent no aid worthy of mention, even as he had promised, to the Greeks, but rather sent aid to those who were fighting against them. Straightaway the Greeks were turned, and they felt regret for had come to an agreement with the pontiff. Nor did he send aid to the Greeks for this reason. For there was a war in Italy against the Tyrrheni [Tuscans] because of a regional dispute. He had an army and funds for this war, and also had a commander related to him who was adept at partisan affairs, a prudent man, and he did not cease to carry on the matter—now indeed against the Tyrrheni, at another time against the Duke of Urbino—for in that season the metropolis of the Tyrrheni seemed to be standing on the side of the ruler of the Ligurians, Philip, and to be fighting strongly in concert with him. Because of this, they were resisting the Pope himself, and the Venetian, who was a scion of the Condulmer family, whom the supreme Pontiff himself, the Senate and others were promoting, so that this family might also participate in the Senate. For as they were warring with one another, the Venetians and Philip, Duke of Milan, all of Italy was divided B between the two sides. There are tyrants and principalities dispersed throughout Italy: the tyrants of Ferrara, who are of the house of the Estensi, and those of Rimini, and the Malatesta who rule over the Marches. Add to these the tyrants of Urbino, Mantua, Milan, Rome, Naples, and Iapygia. Now, as to the princes of Ferrara, Milan, Iapygia and Mantua, it is sufficient, in order to make mention of them for the present history, to have said thus much. Regarding the tyrants of Urbino, it is known that the Malatesta family appears to be of most ancient lineage and to rule the March; having long since held power, they showed themselves to be prominent among the rulers of Rimini and others in this region, and from then on they were impelled to be established as commanders of those who held authority among the Italians. And the Venetians came to have commanders from these, and the Tyrrheni, and had passed through to the rule of Mantua. But I come now to speak of the Roman pontiff.
C As soon as a pontiff dies, the cardinals gather in a certain house, and, being divided in their votes, they propose and choose whomever the cardinals of the Colonna and Orsini factions judge suitable for the task. They invite them to themselves to offer the choice to those they deem suitable. D And these households are the most powerful among those in Rome. And at times they offer it to these men, and at other times they weigh down others, and not inclining elsewhere, they make them pontiffs. But when they have gathered the votes, and the pontiff is declared, they keep him at home, testing whether the election is pleasing to the rest. They order the pontiff who has been declared to sit upon a seat that has a hole in it, and there is a man from among those who are in charge upon whom this duty is enjoined, who touches him to make it apparent that the pontiff is a man. For it is agreed that a woman was once subject to the pontificate because
her sex was unknown. For the men of Italy and of the entire western region almost all shave their beards. And when she had become pregnant, as she came to the sacrifice, she gave birth to the child during the ceremony, and was seen by the people. Therefore, that they may not be deceived again, but know the fact and not doubt, they touch the created pontiff. And he who touches him cries out: "A male lord for us." They do, however, change their names, as if they had become more divine than their former selves, and have reached a state of change in all respects. They also choose their names by ballot, in which they insert the names of the pontiffs. A The princes of Italy and of the rest of the west greatly honor him. The cardinals are about fifty in number. For the princes of Italy, usually dividing their principalities into two parts if they have two sons, assign one part to one son, and the other to the other son for the priesthood, so that no disputes or controversies may arise between them regarding the inheritance. Hence they obtain great honor before the Roman pontiff: all also hold the pontiff very dear and revere him greatly. Regarding the pontiffs, indeed, Joachim, an abbot, a man skilled in prophecy, and numbered among the learned men of Italy, predicted many things, how each would come to the pontificate and would live therein. And just as he predicted, so it happened. Other things also worthy of being considered a miracle are told about this man. For when he was ignorant, B and had not the slightest bit of learning, he was a janitor in a certain monastery of the Nazarenes or monks in Italy; and once, when he had gone into the garden, there appeared a man of most beautiful form, who, standing by Joachim and holding an amphora in his hand, said: "Joachim, take, drink this wine: for it is the best." Obeying the word, he drank to satiety, and returned the amphora, saying that he had drunk enough. To whom the man replied: "O Joachim, if you had drunk all the wine, no knowledge would have escaped you." Then, coming into conversation and disputation with the men most learned of that time, he appeared clearly divine in his knowledge. Hence, having been made abbot, he also prophesied some great things concerning the dignity of the pontificate, all of which the result at length confirmed. For whatever he predicted, it is evident came to pass, although his miracles are everywhere common throughout Italy. C Regarding the princes of Italy who are not very great and are subject to the pontiff, together with the Duke of Milan, and also about the princes of the region who are subject to the king of Parthenope, since it is not worth the labor, I shall omit discussing them. The republics, however, which pertain to Italy, D are the city of the Venetians, Bologna, and all the Taraconese cities, which follow Florence, and maintain the same form of republic with her. Add also the city of the Genoese.
But regarding these, we have spoken above. These are all the principalities of Italy, which, at times, bring aid to the Venetians; at other times, indeed, to the prince of Milan. I return now to the point from which I digressed.
B The Greeks, having returned to their own country, sent envoys to King Amurath, begging for peace and desiring to strike a treaty with him. Not long after, Constantine set out for the Peloponnese, encouraging his brother toward the succession of the kingdom; and from there he prepared to sail to Byzantium. But when he had arrived at Lemnos, he took to wife the daughter of the ruler of Lesbos. At that time, the fleet of Mechmet arrived, and besieged Constantine at Kotinos, which is a city of Lemnos. Mechmet, putting his naval forces ashore, entered the island with a large contingent, and pressed the brother of the king with a siege for twenty-seven days. Yet, though he broke down the wall with bombardments, he could not compel his men to break into the city. Since he could not take that city, he withdrew his fleet and returned home. When Constantine had arrived at Byzantium, and the king declared his judgment, he was ordered to return to the Peloponnese. It was necessary, however, for him and his brother Theodore to leave the Peloponnese and go to Byzantium.
Of these matters, thus far. The younger brother of these, named Demetrius, having come into disagreement with his brother, the emperor of the Greeks, by whom the greater part of his region was being despoiled, and since nothing was being conceded to him by his brother after many exchanges had been made, driven by fraternal hatred, he sent envoys to Amurath. From him he received an army, C set out for Byzantium, and surrounded the city with a siege. Not long after, he won over to his side Asanes, his son-in-law, whose authority and power in Byzantium were greatest. This man seemed to assist Demetrius if by any means he could acquire the kingdom. Finally, since nothing was accomplished by the siege, he dismissed the army. Then, not much time having elapsed, when he had been ordered to go on an embassy to his brother the king, he came to Byzantium; and not much later, he was captured by King John, together with his wife's brother. D But while he was being kept in prison, separated from his wife's brother, by the counsel of Asanes, he fled by night to the city of Galata, situated opposite Byzantium. Afterwards, having sent envoys, he obtained peace and returned to the principality of the Euxine Sea. His wife's brother was also released from his bonds by the king.
The king, having entered into a treaty with Amurath, son of Mechmet, did not cease to carry on deliberations with Eugene, the Roman pontiff, sending an embassy to him; and likewise...
A to the Pannonian king Wladyslaw, who had recently ascended to the helm of the kingdom. Georgios Boukos, stripped of his authority, was inciting him to these designs, and was contributing great sums of money to this expedition. It seems also that Johannes Choniates—or Huniades—at that time of great power and bearing the reputation of being well-versed in the strategies against the Turks, strongly advised the Pannonian king to take up arms against Amurath, son of Mechmet. Having assembled a very great army there, and having taken along Draculea, the chieftain of the Dacians, and Georgios, the chieftain of the Triballi, who acted as guide of the way, they crossed the Ister and, having entered the king's territory, they proceeded, enslaving everything that got in their way. They were also burning the villages, and ravaging beautiful Sophia, setting fire to it. B Amurath, however, as soon as he heard that the Pannonians were approaching with a great force, having gathered all the armies of Asia and Europe, marched forward himself, as if to join battle. When he had reached the territory called Basiliza, he found the Pannonians encamped. Amurath, having already sent a force ahead, commanded them to watch the Pannonian army, to report to him wherever it should happen to be, and to try to obstruct the mountain pass of the royal territory by fortifying it with trees. They were doing so, and having fortified it, they tried to resist. They also tried occasionally to stop the Pannonians from passing inside into Thrace. Amurath, however, was encamped on the mountain that sits above the narrow C way; there, having gathered his best men, especially those who were thought to be renowned in strategy. These were: Thezetes, son of Brenezis, Turachanes, the commander of Thessaly, Kumulies, Chasanes, the commander of Europe, and Isaac, the commander of Skopje. When they had arrived and sat down, he spoke as follows: "O Muslim men, you see to what necessity our affairs have come. For these Pannonians, having taken along the chieftains of the Dacians and Triballi, are marching against us. Now is the time, if anyone contemplates any good plan for how we might prevail in this war, to declare it in the present while setting it forth well. For it seems to me that we must go to war, and join battle with the enemy as quickly as possible. For I believe we shall defeat them, being few in number as they are. Now, it seems best to me to engage in battle at once, and not to delay." When Amurath had said this, Chasanes, the commander of Europe, encouraging D them to battle, said the following: "O King, there is no one who would not praise this counsel, as it befits a great king and an Osmanid who yields nothing to the enemy, and who esteems men of little worth, and the...
region seeks to preserve with all its might. For unless we resolve to fight, our courage will perish, restrained by the fear of the king, and it will become stronger for the enemy. And I fear lest, to the contrary, that delay in battle should prove to be of no benefit, but rather result in our ruin. Nor did it seem tolerable to me from the beginning that the entrance should be blocked, as though we were afraid and were casting this thought upon our army. But we should have gone straightway to risk an engagement, and by this means endeavored to save the country, without yielding anything to the enemy. If you wish yourself, O King, to punish those who have ravaged your country; if not, remain here yourself, and I for my part will hand them over to you; so that neither they, nor the rest who are to the west, will ever desire to attack you again. Thus spoke Chasanes, son of Mazalis; and as the others kept silent, not daring to declare an opinion contrary to the king, Turachanes, the governor of Thessaly, spoke as follows: B "It is right, O King, for each person to speak his mind, respecting your opinion in no way, especially when the present circumstances present a greater danger. And whatever station a man happens to hold, when some danger besets him, it is necessary to say what each one thinks. And it is even more incumbent upon a master that each of us declare what we know regarding the present state of affairs, in proportion as the danger comes upon us universally. For I, O King, if matters were within my control... But if you were to cut off one of the wings, it would be difficult to make use of it for whatever need might arise. But if you were to take off the other as well, leaving only the body of it, it would no longer be able to fly, but would be left to walk alone. How would it then be able to use it in the future, if it wished to go for food, or make any other use of it for its present needs? I would say this also regarding you. For I call the Gates the body, and the most secure harbor remaining for us here; and I liken the army of Asia to a wing, and likewise that of Europe. C If they engage in battle, neither side will be willing to endure the conflict to the end. For Asia will not even come to blows with these men, who are spear-bearers and armed in their own fashion; but the army of Europe will indeed desire to fight, yet if the Asian army departs, left alone, it will no longer remain to face the end, but will itself flee wherever it might be able to save itself. And there would remain to you the Gates and the new arrivals, and I do not know how you could save yourself or make fit use of the present situation, other than to defend yourself only, while accomplishing nothing. But it seems best to me not to make an engagement, D but to retreat and hie backward to whatever might be in our way. And to do this until they themselves, pressed by famine, become the complete opposite, and in such a difficult...
A inflict a defeat upon them. But when the Turks had first been routed by the Christians on both flanks, and observed that the Christians, burdened by excessive armor, were weary, they feigned flight and opened a way for them to pursue. The Christians indeed, straightway like a certain flood, scattered with spurred horses. But the Turks, who had begun the flight, wheeling their horses to the side, attacked the light-armed and defenseless soldiers of the Christians, whom they knew to be naked, and briskly drew their scimitars against them. When they saw this happening, they most swiftly followed their own armored cavalry; but as it was no longer possible to remain intact, they turned their battle line again against the Turks; at length they began to destroy one another with mutual wounds, and thus, with ranks broken and dissipated, the whole army threw itself into a foul flight. Then truly the Turks, whom we said had fled before, gathering here and there from the rear, pressed upon the Christians right up to the very fortification of the camp; and from that point, there was fighting on both sides all that day until evening, and from evening again until daybreak. Jancus, however, seeing the matter thus conducted, withdrew himself by stealth with the remnants of the Christian army from the camp and fled. The Christians being at last overcome, the Turks became masters of everything of Jancus, with his artillery and the entire equipment of war: these being brought to Sultan Murates, with outstretched hand one to another, they received each other with joy, and resting in that place for three whole days, they celebrated with singular hilarity as if it were a festival. Hence Sultan Muchemetes departed before his father for Hadrianopolis. These things were done on the plain of Cossova in the year 853 (Chr. 1448). Murates also followed his son Muchemetes to Hadrianopolis, and lived there for some time in leisure, yet so that he sent the beglerbeg of Romania with troops to build the fortress of Gergonis: which being completed, Murates betook himself B to the mountainous parts of Anatolia for the sake of enjoying a cooler breeze, in the year 853 (Chr. 1448). Returning from the mountains, he undertook an expedition into Albania to occupy the fortress of Beligrad. But that attempt was in vain, and therefore he returned to Hadrianopolis, nor did he again from that time take part in any expedition or war; he died on a Wednesday which was the tenth of the month of Mucherem, in the year 855 (Chr. 1450), after he had reigned for thirty-one years. Sultan Muchemetes his son succeeded his father in the administration of the kingdom, and immediately on the sixteenth day of the said month led an army into Caramania and waged war against the Caraman prince, Ibrahimi beg. But that being settled not long after, he returned to Hadrianopolis and began to build a new fortress there, in the same year 855 (Chr. 1450). In the next year following, namely 856 (Chr. 1451), not far from Constantinople, in a certain place situated at the rear of the town of Galata, he founded a most strongly fortified fortress on the sea. Upon the completion of the building of this fortress, he sent commands with letters to all the provinces of his, and gathered armies both from Anatolia and Romania, having also hired twenty thousand infantry. The Janissaries were about ten thousand. Many others also flocked to him, upon whom the necessity of serving in war did not otherwise weigh. He also ordered war engines to be cast, in the likeness of dragons. Thus with all the equipment of artillery and with such great forces he set out from Hadrianopolis and moved his camp to Constantinople; and by firing the engines, he shattered the walls and their battlements. The Christians, as many as were the guard of the city, indeed defended themselves bravely; but they could not protect the city against the force of Muchemetes. For he, having granted the soldiers license to plunder Constantinople provided they should occupy it, so inflamed the spirits of the Turks that with great force they invaded it, besieged it, and finally took it by violence. The Turks became masters of the city on the twentieth day of the month of Rebuiluté. Sultan Muchemetes, having entered the captured city, rode hither and thither through it, marvelling at the unusual forms of the buildings. When he arrived at the Atmeidan, he saw there a stone column, upon which was placed a triple bronze snake, also three-headed. Having caught sight of it, he asked what this idol might be. At the same time, swinging a heavy iron club, which the Turks call a pusdigan, with great force against it, he crushed the lower jaw of one of those three serpentine heads. This being done, snakes immediately began to be seen in the city in great numbers. On account of which, some were his advisors to leave that snake alone henceforth; since by that image it had been brought to pass that there should be no snake in the city. Hence that column endures to this very day. And although with the lower jaw of one bronze snake cast down, snakes have come into the city, they cannot however cause harm to anyone. There was also an erected bronze horse, upon which a certain equestrian statue sat. Both of these Muchemetes demolished. It is said, however, that by this statue the approach was barred to the plague, so that it could not penetrate into the city nor rage within it. Constantinople having been occupied, Muchemetes sought the mountainous parts of Anatolia for the sake of refreshing himself; and having returned from there, he led troops into Albania: where he brought Siurigen under his power, in the year 858 (Chr. 1453). In the following year, he attacked Nova with troops, and captured it. For the Christians had again become masters of it. This was done in the year 859 (Chr. 1454). Following these, he led an army to Alba Graeca; but D since he could not take it by storm, he departed. Dais Caratzes Bassa, who held the office of beglerbeg, perished there. In the same year 860 (Chr. 1456), two comets were seen, one towards the rising sun, the other towards the setting. Having returned to Constantinople, Muchemetes instituted a great celebration while he circumcised his son Bajazet, in the year 861 (Chr. 1457). Then, having gathered an army, he went into the Morea, and captured the city of Gordus, with certain small towns, in the year 862 (Chr. 1458).
situation we might attack them with all our might. In this way, we shall be able to deal with the enemy according to our own intent." To this opinion, which appeared better and safer than the former, the rest of those then present also gave their vote. A
Jesse, the son of Brenezes, spoke as follows: "In my opinion, O King, nothing of this is suitable for us. For if you should get the better of your enemies, I do not see what profit would accrue to you from this. For your grandfather, Pajazites Lælaps, once routed the Celts and the Paeonians, yet no benefit accrued to him from this. For they, retreating into their own country, saved both themselves and their country by immediately marching away. But if the contrary should happen B — may the omen be averted—and those to whom hardships were to befall should be caught up in them, it is better, I think, to choose in every respect the safer course, from which, if nothing should go amiss for him, one might by no means be defeated, but rather come off even with the enemy, if things should not turn out for him according to his will. Since, therefore, there is a double choice proposed, one perilous and the other safer, who would hesitate to choose the safer of these? And who, surely, if he were in his right mind, would not pursue the safer counsels? Therefore, to retreat and cede to the enemy is, I think, neither becoming to you, O King, nor would I myself advise it. For we would appear cowardly, and the spirits of the enemy would increase C while ours would diminish; nor would we be able to hold onto the Asians and the infantry we have any longer. But I do not counsel committing the outcome of the battle to chance. Rather, I think it more prudent that we diligently block the defiles, and remain, whiling away the time here, until the necessity of retreating is forced upon the enemy. Then, I judge that we should pursue those who are retreating, sending the whole cavalry in against them, and afflicting them as much as we are able."
Because this opinion was considered better and safer than the previous one, the rest of those then present did not hesitate to give their assent to it. It was decided, therefore, neither to fight nor to retreat, but it pleased them more to draw out the time by staying, and then to press upon the enemies as they departed. They sent the army of Europe, that as fiercely as it could, it might hinder the entry of the enemies. When these things were seen, they defended the defiles with might and main, that they might not enter. D The Paeonians essayed often to break through and to dislodge the Turks from their watch, but they accomplished nothing; for in the place where they strove to break through, the Turks resisted strongly, and the thrusting took place on both sides. In the end, the King’s men, having driven back the Paeonians, stood in their path. When time had passed, and the Paeonians achieved nothing and were being pressed by famine, they retreated, turning back the way they came. At night, having packed up their gear, they set out. And when the dawn began to break, and the Turks saw the camp of the enemies gone, they remained throughout the night. Here, having chosen...
A His son, Sultan Bajazet, arrived at Constantinople from Amasia; and, having occupied the royal seat, he was saluted as emperor in his father’s place.
He had scarcely remained at Constantinople for a few days, when his brother, Sultan Zemes, having led forth the forces of Caramania, went to Prusa and established his headquarters there. Sultan Bajazet, however, having summoned Geduk Ahmed Pasha with an army from Apulia, and gathered other great forces besides, moved into Anatolia against his brother Zemes. When they had joined battle, Zemes departed defeated, and soon fled into Caramania. Therefore, when Sultan Bajazet had driven him out, he turned his route and returned to Constantinople. Then, he sent Geduk Ahmed Pasha back into Caramania; while he was staying there, the Italians recovered Apulia, and all the Turks who had been left as a garrison at Otranto were reduced to captivity, in the year 886 (A.D. 1482).
But Sultan Bajazet departed again from Constantinople and came with an army into Caramania, for his brother Zemes had now returned from his pilgrimage to Mecca. Since a battle was again joined in Caramania, Sultan Zemes was defeated once more, fled to the sea, and took refuge in Italy. From there, having moved his camp, Sultan Bajazet departed for Constantinople, and from there proceeded to Adrianople.
On the sixth night of the month of Chevval, he invited all his viziers to his house, along with Geduk Ahmed Pasha; at this banquet, he drank wine with them and gave a garment to every vizier, except for Geduk Ahmed Pasha, whom he ordered to be killed, in the year 887 (A.D. 1483).
At the same time, the son of the prince of Caramania, Casanes Beg, whom Bajazet was keeping in his retinue, died.
After this, Bajazet undertook an expedition and lingered for some time at Sophia, where he had collected a large band of soldiers. He sent the greater part of them to the river Morava and ordered two old fortresses to be fortified there. Once these were completed, he returned from Sophia to Constantinople in the year 888 (A.D. 1484).
In the month of Rebjulula, on a certain Tuesday, the city D of Adrianople, with everything for the distribution of merchandise and the buildings constructed there, was consumed by fire. At that same time, Bajazet began to build a Xenon near the river. Having then moved his camp from Adrianople, he crossed into Moldavia and occupied the fortress of Chilim. And not long after, on a Wednesday, he also brought the fortress of Chermen, situated in those same territories, into his power. And having secured all this land, he changed his route and returned to Adrianople in the year 889 (A.D. 1485).
Then the light of the sun also failed, and Sultan Bajazet betook himself toward the mountainous regions for the sake of his health. Here three envoys approached him, of whom one had been sent from India, another from Cairo, and the third from Hungary: he heard these indeed in order as they pleaded their business and, having assented to their requests, dismissed them liberally gifted.
Afterward, the eunuch Ali Beg, who administered the office of beylerbey, set out with a great army into Wallachia; and, having reconciled the Wallachian Vaivoda to himself, he burst into Moldavia with his own and the Wallachian forces. He devastated everything with plunder, fire, and sword; and finally, laden with spoils, returned to Adrianople in the year 890 (A.D. 1486).
Meanwhile, Sultan Bajazet, resting at home, sent away his commanders, Ischender Beg and Balim Beg, the son of Malcozi, to re-enter Wallachia and persuade the Wallachian Vaivoda to join his arms with them again and make an incursion into Moldavia. The Vaivoda consenting, the expedition was soon undertaken; the whole region was sacked, and they departed with great loot.
While these things were happening in Romania, the Sultan of Cairo moved on the one side with his men, among whom was Usunes Usbeg; and he gathered his own and his allies' forces in the places lying between Adana and Tarsus. On the other side of Sultan Bajazet, the Sangiak of Anatolia and likewise Ferhat Beg—the son-in-law of Sultan Bajazet and the beylerbey of Caramania—and Caragosa Beg were gathered; with joined armies, they marched against the Sultan’s forces from Cairo. When they came to blows, they fought very valiantly on both sides. Finally, the Sultan’s forces compelled the Bajazetites to turn their backs, the son-in-law of Bajazet himself, Ferhat Beg, being killed.
333 Not long after, Bajazet issued an edict that Muchemet Beg, son of Cheseri Beg, along with the son of the commander who had been created the beylerbey of Romania, should transport the forces of Romania into Anatolia and, having assumed the Anatolian troops, invade the Sultan of Cairo in war. These men, therefore, obeying the command of Bajazet, sought the enemy directly; and since he also was prepared for battle, they clashed from both sides in a most fierce conflict, in which the commander's son, Achmet Pasha, fell from his horse and came into the hands of the Sultan's men and was led to Usbeg and handed over to custody. The Bajazetites received a huge defeat at that time, which, when it was made known to Bajazet, he sent his vizier, Daudes Pasha, with an overwhelming army against the Sultan of Cairo. But the Sultan's forces, not at all terrified, soon advanced to meet him with their men. Daudes, thinking he should not encounter them, maturely adopted a plan to shift his march and led his army back. In this journey, Daudes met Aladeules, the leader of Dulgadir, to whom he himself showed great honor. After Daudes had turned away from the Sultan's men, he entered the Varsac territory and cast its nobles part into chains, part he killed, and part, through the intervention of a settlement, he received into favor and restored to their fortunes. The nobles of the Turgurense province consulted for their own safety by flight. At length, however, having obtained safe passage, they approached Daudes Pasha, and peace having been ratified with him, they rendered their oath. These things accomplished
they depart from the camp. As dawn shone, the Turks, A recognizing that the enemy had withdrawn by night, halted for a little while. The King then, choosing from his army all those who remained and were drawn up for battle, handed them over to the European commander to pursue the enemy. He ordered Turachanes to follow in turn with the army of Thessaly. Therefore, taking these men, he rode with all the speed he could, pursuing the enemy. But since John Huniades knew beforehand that the Turks would attack them as they retreated, he also chose the best of the Pannonians and set them in ambush, intending that when the Turks arrived and pursued his own army, he would attack them on both sides.
There, as Chasanes was riding along the plain step by step, pursuing the Pannonians, his brother Turachanes rode up and said to his brother: "Chasanes, are you riding through the plain with such a great army? Know, then, that you are not traveling a safe route. For the Pannonians will neither endure our pursuing them, nor will they, remaining quiet, flee backward with pleasure. They are the ones who, for so long a time, were challenging us to fight in the open, and they were fighting, I believe, gladly; and I think they would have paid a great price to be able to descend and join battle with us on the plain. But by traveling along the foot of this mountain, we can pursue them as far as is sufficient, and we shall be able to watch them as we see fit."
Speaking these words, as he did not persuade Chasanes, he himself, having the army of Thessaly, turned along the foot of the mountain with his ordered column. But as Chasanes was traveling through the plain with the European army, and because at that moment Choniates, who had lain in ambush, B saw the army, those around the King, then fleeing, suddenly appeared from John's ambush and attacked the barbarians; and Choniates, putting them to flight, destroyed some and took others alive.
There many of the King’s men fell, and the brother of Chaliles, the son of Priamus, was captured by the Pannonians. And others of the Turks were captured while fleeing. Chasanes himself fled to the King’s camp, having few of his army with him. Coming into the sight of the King, he is said to have spoken as follows: "O King, what things we have suffered at the hands of a man whom we know to be most wicked, who has most plainly betrayed your affairs to the enemy, for he is truly a traitor! He revealed our councils to the enemy, and though drawn up in battle order, he would not go with me. Furthermore, he revealed everything to his friend George Buco, as to how we were going to overwhelm them. Truly in this manner your affairs have perished, and we have escaped in flight, a few safe."
There then Chaliles, the son of Priamus, angry on account of his brother, urged the King against Turachanes. But the King, C indignant that he had not gone in the same direction as the European commander, but had turned and gone another way, [considering it a betrayal...] D
Daudes dismissed his soldiers and returned to Sultan Bayezid, who was at that time residing in the region of Visena.
A Bayezid collected another great band of soldiers and sent them into Anatolia, giving them as leader Iskender Beg, son of Michael, commanding him to make war upon Aladeules, the leader of Dulgadir. When they had entered the borders of the leader, secure in their own affairs, they deemed themselves entirely safe. Yet then Aladeules, attacking them unexpectedly, slew two of the sons of Iskender Beg and seized Iskender himself alive, sending him to the Sultan at Cairo. Having received this disaster, Bayezid nevertheless celebrated the marriage of his three daughters with notable magnificence: one was given as wife to the son of Uzun Hasan; the second to a grandson of Uzun Hasan named Alio; the third to the son of Daudes Pasha. After these weddings, messages were sent here and there, and he ordered the soldiers to assemble; while they were flowing together to him daily, a messenger arrived sent from the Sultan at Cairo.
B At that time, an ambassador of exceptional dignity, named Jachoschius, came to Bayezid from Hungary. He was brought to the Sultan and heard most kindly. Having concluded his embassy, he received a garment as a gift from Bayezid, according to the custom of the people, and was dismissed in a most honorable and kindly manner. On his journey, however, as he was returning home—when he had already reached the borders of Semendria—a certain Turkish horseman, a military man named Gases Mustaphas, who happened to be there at that time, mounted his horse, attacked the ambassador, and wounded him so gravely with his sword that he immediately met his death there. The cause that had impelled him to do this was that, when that ambassador had once held Gasim Mustapha and his brother captive, he had transfixed Mustapha's brother with a spit and forced Mustapha himself to roast his own brother transfixed in that way, after having knocked out thirty-two of the same Gases Mustapha’s own teeth. For this reason, then, he killed the ambassador found there, although Gases Mustaphas himself, consumed by wounds in the same place, also met his end. These things occurred in the year 891 (Chr. 1487).
C After this, Sultan Bayezid set out from Anatolia and came to Constantinople. Having sent mandates here and there through all his provinces, he gathered a great army from Anatolia and Romania and sent it toward Arabia, having appointed Ali Pasha the eunuch as the supreme commander of all the forces. When he had reached the city of Adana with his soldiers, he restored, rebuilt, and fortified the citadel of the city, and having captured certain other towns, he placed garrisons in them, in the year 893 (Chr. 1489).
Meanwhile, while Bayezid’s men were intent on capturing and constructing these fortresses, the Sultan’s forces on the other side also undertook an expedition and set out against the enemy. When the armies met, a violent battle was joined. And although the battle lines of those belonging to the Cairo Sultan were finally broken and dispersed, Ali Pasha did not allow his soldiers to pursue them from the rear, because he feared that the fortune of war might turn, and at the same time he thought that he had attained enough glory, having so happily scattered the enemy forces; he also deemed it necessary to take care that his own men were not worn out by excessive labor. And therefore, having moved his camp from there, he led his soldiers home. But after Bayezid’s men had departed, the Sultan’s men, having gathered their own forces again, surrounded the cities of Adana and Tarsus with a siege; when they could not gain possession of them, they led their forces away from there. But not long after, equipped with an apparatus of siege engines and other things, they attacked Adana again, and having taken the city, they razed the citadel and thus returned home, in the year 893 (Chr. 1490).
At that time also, on a certain Thursday, about midday, the earth trembled at Constantinople, and many buildings collapsed. There was also such a fire at Bursa that 25 districts of the city were consumed. D Bayezid ordered the unheard-of [fire] to be extinguished.
At this time in Constantinople, on a certain Sunday, at the first light of dawn, it began to rain; then thunder followed, and a building was struck from the sky, in which gunpowder had been stored with a large quantity of saltpeter. With this material ignited, the building itself was destroyed from the foundation, and the fire, spreading through the city, consumed not only many buildings but also five thousand people of every age and sex.
On the other side, the Sultan’s men again undertook an expedition; they captured and looted Larenda, burned it, and reduced it to ashes, and after plundering other towns and villages besides, they returned home. There also perished Jacupes Beg, the son of Uzun Hasan. These things happened in the year 895.
Bayezid, informed of these matters, departed from Constantinople and went to Gumulzina, where he amused himself with hunting. Having left Gumulzina, he betook himself to Ypsala, and having spent a few days there, returned to Constantinople. Another ambassador sent from Cairo came to him there; he received him most humanely and, having presented him with the most ample gifts, dismissed him in good peace. Nor long after, he himself also sent one of his own men to Cairo, in the year 896 (Chr. 1491).
When this ambassador of Sultan Bayezid reached Cairo, peace was established between them, and the Sultan of Cairo restored Tarsus and Adana to Bayezid, along with the small towns belonging to them.
At this time, upon the death of the King of Hungary, his successor sent an ambassador to Sultan Bayezid. When Bayezid had heard his requests, he made peace with the Hungarian. In the same year, a fire having broken out again at Bursa, a large part of the city, along with very many merchants’ shops, burned down. The Sultan also sent an ambassador from Cairo with a very ample retinue to Sultan Bayezid. These events are to be referred to the year 897 (Chr. 1492).
Following these things, Bayezid departed from Constantinople and traveled to Adrianople; he pitched camp outside the city and remained there for several days. On a certain day, however, he spoke to his viziers and said that he had in mind a certain difficult expedition
of his own army, took Turachanes, and having put him under guard, sent him into Asia, to the strong city of Tochata, where he was kept in bonds and confinement. For Chalicis was also suggesting to the King, reminding him how that man, while lingering in great Bidinidis and being governor of the region along the Ister, had been accustomed to use Buko, the ruler of the Triballi, as an intimate and familiar friend, and that for this reason he was signaling to them [note: the Greek here uses the dual, the Latin the singular], so that they might, out of fear, assist one another in current circumstances. And that, receiving gifts from Buko, he had promised to provide him with his own services, whatever Buko might think would be to his advantage; and that persuaded by this, the King had imprisoned Turachanes, having sent him away into Asia, and had entrusted the administration of the government of Thessaly to another man. And Turachanes was thus cast into prison. B Now George, the ruler of the Triballi, since he was accomplishing nothing by means of the Paeones, sending a messenger to the King’s gates, attempted to sound out the opinion of the King, whether he would restore his government to him, so that he might pay him tribute and a half-share of the revenue of his country; and he said that he would make a treaty on these terms, and he undertook that he would also persuade the Paeones to join in this treaty. There, when the King heard that the messenger was proposing such things, he promised him both the other things and the return of his son, and that they would be favorable to the King from that time forward. Thereupon Buko, going among each of the Paeones, and even the King Ladislaus himself, persuaded them to make a treaty with Amurates, saying the following: "O King, King Amurates invites you to a treaty, and does not even refuse to restore the country. C If, therefore, you were to be persuaded by me, by making a treaty in such a situation, you might better prepare yourself for war." And as he went over all these things, he no longer held back his consent a second time. Saying these things, he persuaded them, and just as he had promised to do, so the Triballian prompted him, and he immediately sent a messenger to the King’s gates, inviting envoys, with the intention that the Paeones would make peace, and he himself would recover his government. Thereupon Amurates sent envoys, and they made the treaty, on the condition that George should hold his country and pay half the revenue to the King. And at the same time, oaths were taken, on the condition that neither should the Paeones plunder the King’s country, nor again should the Turks cross the Ister for the sake of D any harm or by any device, and that for all their lives they should be strangers and friends without guile or deceit. And the Daci were to be tributaries to the King, which they had also agreed to in the treaty the King had formerly made with them, and to pay to the Paeones, as they had been doing previously. When these things had been accomplished, Amurates immediately campaigned against Karaman. For he, when he learned that the Paeones were attacking King Amurates, thinking that by crossing the Ister and driving into the King’s territory it would be to his advantage at that time...
A suffered damage to their vaulted ceilings, with some portions cracking and others falling to the ground. Private dwellings had their chimneys or vents thrown down, and their walls were in part fissured and in part laid low. The battlements of the city walls fell to the ground, and the walls themselves, along with their towers, collapsed. Finally, as many buildings of magnificent workmanship were leveled to their foundations, a great multitude of people perished beneath the very rubble. No one knew where to turn. The city’s populace, migrating from their own homes, took refuge partly in the squares, partly in the courtyards of houses, and partly in gardens, so as not to be crushed by the falling buildings. Indeed, the earth did not cease to tremble throughout that entire first night. Since no one could see sleep for their eyes, all invoked the aid of both the Deity and Mahomet with constant prayers. This earthquake could be felt for forty consecutive days, hour by hour. When it had finally subsided, Bajazet dispatched orders throughout all Anatolia and Romania that sarchores—that is, mercenaries and craftsmen—should be sent to Constantinople. Eighty thousand men, both stonemasons and woodworkers, as well as mercenary craftsmen, flocked to the city. They were given the task of repairing and restoring the collapsed buildings of the city for a set wage. Jonuzes Aga, a commander of the Janissaries, was appointed by Bajazet as overseer of these workers; he had full authority as both inspector and executor of the works, along with his Janissaries. Meanwhile, Bajazet himself, for the sake of getting some rest, betook himself to Adrianople.
At that time, there was in the province of Tekke a prominent man named Chasanes Chelifes. He had a son who was called Scachoculis; for six or seven entire years, he remained in hiding such that he never appeared, for which reason he was regarded as a holy man. Bajazet was accustomed to send him seven thousand aspers annually to his cave, not knowing that he belonged to another sect and was a Kiselem Bassa. Thus, at the time when work was being vigorously carried out in Constantinople to restore the city, this man finally emerged from his hiding places and caverns, and aided by the work of certain accomplices, he entered the city of Antalya on a certain Sunday; this was able to be done all the more easily because annual fairs B were being held there at that convenient time. He plundered that city and ordered its Cadi to be cut into four pieces, and those very pieces to be hung in distinct places. From there, having sent certain men of his own sect and party into neighboring provinces, he commanded it to be proclaimed that the time had now arrived which was opportune for them, provided that they took up arms and hastened to him. Therefore, as many as embraced that sect, and had previously been forced to profess it only in secret, flocked to him in such numbers that in a very brief space of time he had ten thousand men under arms in his camp. Furthermore, many from the province of Tekke joined themselves to him. Having thus obtained such great forces, he left Antalya and sought Anatolia; and he attacked the Beglerbeg of Anatolia, Caragosa, C and he engaged the man, Caragosa, with the army of Anatolia, and battle was joined immediately. The seditious men feigned defeat and retreated a little. Then the Turks, having abandoned their ranks, began to plunder the enemy’s baggage. But the rebels, having turned their reins at the right moment, cut down Caragosa’s forces; they captured him and brought him to the capital of Anatolia, Cutaigen, and demanded that the town be surrendered to them. When they could not obtain this from the townspeople, they pierced Caragosa Bassa through with a stake alive in their sight. Following these events, the Sultan’s son, Sultan Corcutes, having set out for Manissa with certain Sanjaks, led his forces against these rebels. But he was himself defeated with his men, and scarcely saved himself by flight. From here, with his strength increasing daily, Scachoculis proceeded to plunder and burn all of Anatolia, and to commit many crimes. Afterward, having progressed further, he invaded the Aidinian territory. Corcutes, having fled, as has been said, informed his father of the whole matter with great speed. Bajazet, becoming enraged against his vezirs, and especially against Ali Bassa and the Cadi’s son, because they had signaled nothing to him regarding this uprising, soon ordered Ali Bassa to set out into Anatolia with an army, and to suppress this sedition and visit the death penalty upon the authors of the rebellion; he threatened that if he did not do so, he would order that his skin be stripped from his entire body. Therefore, Ali, having used the greatest diligence, betook himself to Anatolia: since Bajazet had attached not a small part of his court and of the Janissaries, and had further commanded his son, Sultan Achmetes, whose seat was in Amasia, that he should come to the aid of Ali Bassa with his forces. Achmetes, having departed from Amasia, joined Ali Bassa; and they, having soon met with each other, gave several days to refreshing the army and consulted about waging the war. Meanwhile, however, Scachoculis had raided Caramania with his forces, against whom the Bassa of Caramania, whom they called Cheiderem Bassa, and a certain Sanjak in the same province, Zindis Kemales Hegus, came to meet him; having attacked him at Culis, they not only departed as the inferiors, but indeed, as was the custom, the heads of both were severed. Then the seditious men, having left Caramania, headed toward the Zibuccian plain. When this was signaled to Ali Bassa, he was greatly perturbed in spirit: "Whoever loves me," he said, "let him mount his horse without delay." And giving the example to the others, he was the first to mount his horse; and by making a forced march in the manner of couriers, he finally caught up with the rebels in the Zibuccian fields. Scachoculis, however, having learned of the arrival of the Osmanli, fortified his camp there on the plain with a rampart, having also arranged camels in a circle; and he determined in his heart to test the luck of Mars in this place. Furthermore, he raised towers in certain places of the camp, fortified in this way, from which his men could defend themselves and keep the enemy from attacking the camp. These men were therefore exceptionally prepared to engage in battle. On the opposite side,
he rushed into it with force, subjecting everything and reducing it to servitude wherever he turned. Caramanus, having heard that the Paeones were making war on Amurates, set out against him with a hostile intent. Thus, with the enemy approaching from both regions, the army of Amurates was distracted and weakened. Therefore, since the greatest war was threatening Amurates, he judged that it would be useful for him to conclude a treaty with the Paeones, and he averted the entire storm of the war toward Caramanus. Caramanus, so as not to experience the King’s force, sent envoys to sue for peace, whom he had ordered to say that he was prepared to serve Amurates whenever he needed his services. But if he should have little faith in his promises, he would ensure his compliance with hostages and other things, lest he have any doubt. A These things, then, occurred for him in Asia. But as to Europe, regarding the deeds of the Peloponnesian princes in his territory, the following account shall now be told. For when Theodorus, who was later chosen king, had come to Byzantium to his kingdom, Constantinus, called Dragases, arriving in the Peloponnese and taking over his brother’s territory—including Sparta, which overlooks Mount Taygetus, and almost the entire rest of the Peloponnese, except for the territory of Thomas, the King’s brother—held it under his own authority. When he had arrived there, he prepared to wall off the Isthmus, separated the territory outside the Peloponnese from the King, and seized Boeotia, taking the city of Thebes under his control. B And the tyrant of Attica, promising to pay him tribute, made a pact and was received into friendship. He also occupied Pindus. This mountain is inhabited by the Vlachs, who have the same language as the Dacians; nor are they known to differ in any way from the Dacians who dwell along the Ister. Arriving then at this leader, they surrendered themselves to him and subsequently waged war against the Turks residing in Thessaly, receiving a commander from the Peloponnesian prince. Leodoricium, a small town situated in the region of the Locrians, and [the part] of Pindus adjoining the city of Phandrium, received a commander from the King. That part [of the mountain] which extends into Achaea was inhabited by the Arabai, Albanian men, who were permitted by the King to rule their own ancestral territory. C These also defected to the Greeks. Therefore, gathering the entire Peloponnese at the Isthmus, he set out to wall it off as quickly as possible. Having summoned his brother there also, and just as he himself ruled the territory, he sent for everyone and drove them to the wall, handing over to each party as much as they were able to have built in that time. When the wall of the Isthmus was finally completed, D
they brought about a very great sedition. At that time, the envoys of Sultan Achmet, who had been compelled by fear to withdraw themselves and consult for their own safety by flight, were present at the city. Following these events, the Janissaries sent envoys to Sultan Selim, to announce that if he were to come to the city, they would certainly salute him as emperor and acknowledge him as their lord. At that same time, Achmet also drew nearer to the city, having pitched his camp with his forces at Scutari, opposite Constantinople; and having sent many thousands of gold coins to his father, he departed by the route he had come. And since he had claimed the taxes, tributes, and the remaining fruits and revenues of the empire in Anatolia for himself, he began to govern those provinces with violence. And although the Sultan had also subjected certain towns of Anatolia to himself, he was none the less unable to retain them, since the forces of Sultan Achmet's prefects were greater. Therefore, Corcut, departing from those places, crossed the sea to Gallipoli, and taking only two men with him, he sailed to Constantinople. When he had arrived there, he entered a certain small temple, not far from the domicile of the Janissaries. When this had been announced to Sultan Bajazit, he ordered another house in the city to be assigned to him, wherein he might dwell removed from the Janissaries. When he had moved into this, he went to his father with good leave, and having kissed his hand, he was conducted to his own lodging. At that time, Sultan Selim had arrived at what they call the Menamor. And as he approached closer to Constantinople, and Sultan Corcut, his brother, B went out to meet him, riding on horses, they extended their hands to one another and conversed with one another most lovingly. Thence, Selim having entered the city, pitched his tents in the Janissary field, Corcut returning to his own lodging. Then indeed the assembled Janissaries chose ten from the whole number of their men, whom they ordered to be sent to the pashas to say: that they acknowledged Sultan Selim, the son of the Emperor Bajazit, as their lord. That Bajazit, on account of his adverse health and the weakness of his strength, could no longer go forth to fight wars. Wherefore, the pashas should signify to Sultan Bajazit that he should willingly hand over the administration of affairs to his son Selim. If that were not done, they would take measures against them; and furthermore, they would place Selim on the royal throne by force, and declare him their lord and emperor. When those ten chosen men of the Janissaries had explained these things to the pashas, the pashas, with those very same ten men, approached Sultan Bajazit. He, having understood their demands, replied that as long as he himself should survive, he would hand over the empire to no one. To these things, the supreme vizier, Mustapha Pasha, said: Farewell then, most great emperor. For soon, when we shall have departed from you, these men will take our lives. Then the Sultan said: If we have not yet abdicated the empire, do you think it will come to pass that they will take us from the midst? By no means, they submit; they will take your life, but by casting the hooks of their javelins into your vestment, they will drag you from the imperial throne. When these things had been said by them, Sultan Bajazit having deliberated the matter with his own mind, C raised his head and said: I do indeed entrust the total sum of affairs to my son, Sultan Selim. This speech of Bajazit having been reported to the Janissaries, they soon betook themselves unanimously to Sultan Selim. These things, however, were done in the year 1518 (A.D. 1512).
The next day, Sultan Bajazit sent the chests in which the imperial treasures were contained to his son, Sultan Selim, and ordered the viziers and the remaining pashas to approach his lord, Sultan Selim, and signify to him that he merely grant him, his father, a delay of thirty days, after which he would depart to Didymoteichon and spend the remaining space of his life there; in the meantime, Selim might dwell in the Janissary lodging. When they had explained these things to Sultan Selim, he said: Whatever it shall have seemed good to my father and the pashas to command, let it be ratified. For matters are still in their own power and judgment. The next day, Selim approached his father and kissed his hand. Then indeed his father rising said: Approach, my son, and sit in this place; since, I abdicating, you have been made lord of affairs and emperor. To this Selim said: By no means, my father. For I am indeed your servant, my lord and father: D and I requested nothing more than that it be permitted me to look upon your face and kiss your hand. When I have obtained this, let it be permitted me, your servant, to depart now with your good peace, with the administration of affairs remaining most prosperously with you. But Sultan Bajazit said: My son, I have resigned the empire to you with all my heart and mind. But I advise this one thing: that you do not shed innocent blood, nor kill anyone without cause. When Selim had promised that he would comply with his father's counsel, he retired to the new garden, or Genibaxen, to his tents. The next day, at early dawn, he sat before the tribunal and ordered the Agha of the Janissaries to be summoned; who soon stood before him with all the forces of the Janissaries. When they had been addressed by him, Selim asked: Did they wish to acknowledge him as lord and emperor? With all unanimously acclaiming that they wished to do so entirely, Selim soon addressing them again said: If any one among you shall have committed any fault, will it be permitted me by you to punish him? Indeed it shall be permitted, all shout out. Therefore, henceforth, Selim submitted, I shall begin my rule. The next day, when it had grown light, he sat in the same place before the tribunal, the viziers and all the pashas coming together to him there. On that day, he ordered a certain Janissary, who was wearing a golden *uscufia*, or cap, on his head, to be seized and suspended from a tree: and a certain man from the number of the Ulofezii had his head truncated. That Janissary was accordingly removed from the midst by hanging, because he was the father-in-law of Sultan Achmet. When Sultan Selim had thus established the empire for himself in this manner, Corcut, having boarded a trireme, returned to Manisa, his province. When not many days had passed, Bajazit, departing from Constantinople, was thinking of going to Didymoteichon. Him, the Sultan
A he sent to the king's territory, and he ravaged the land and continued to wage war. Not long after this, Omar, the son of Turakhan, having taken up the Thessalian army, made an assault upon Thebes and Attica, and having plundered them, he marched off laden with much booty. There, Nerius, the tyrant of Athens, seeing that the affairs of the Turks were rising up again B and recovering their former shape and condition, sent envoys to the Sublime Porte, asking for peace, and that he might enter into a treaty with the king, and offering to pay the tribute just as he had paid it before. King Amurath indeed complied and treated with him, on the condition that he should pay the tribute annually, just as he had previously. This Nerius had come from Florence, the metropolis of the Tyrrhenians, to the tyranny of Athens in the following manner. Antonius, the son of Rainerius, having summoned both this man and his brother from Florence—they being his kinsmen and relatives—kept them with him, providing them with their living and necessities. But when Antonius died, having been struck by an apoplexy in his sleep, his wife sent an embassy to King Amurath, that he might entrust the principality to her and to whoever was best in that city, who was a kinsman of the woman by birth, and our father C (94). She sent him to the king with an immense sum of money, so that he might procure the principality of the region of Attica and Boeotia for them. But as he had left the city and was making his journey to the king, those who were most powerful in the city, out of hatred for Chalcocondyles, led the wife of Antonius out of the acropolis by guile, and promoted the kinsmen of Antonius into the principality; and driving the wife of Antonius out of the city, they held the city themselves. Indeed, by forming a marriage alliance with the wife of Antonius for the sake of her virtuous adopted son, they were present in the acropolis. And not much later, casting out the woman, and driving out our family, they held the affairs of the city. D Chalcocondyles, when he had come to the king, was indeed seized and cast into prison, ordered to surrender the region. But since he promised thirty thousand pieces of gold, yet could accomplish nothing of the sort, he meanwhile learned that the king had sent an army against Boeotia, in order to occupy the city of Thebes. He meanwhile did not cease to act diligently, wherever the opportunity for flight might be given, to escape to Byzantium. When this was first offered to him, he abandoned his tent, his servants, and his baggage animals, and fled to Byzantium; and there, boarding a ship, he sailed to the Peloponnese. And there, ships of the tyrants of Attica, patrolling the sea, captured the ship and, taking Chalcocondyles himself prisoner, led him back to the king. The king indeed released him from the accusation and pardoned him, blaming him for nothing on this account. However, since the three myriads were demanded of him, he stated that he did not have them to pay. Hence the region was gravely ravaged by the depredations of the Turks who tarried in Thessaly. Nerius
A from all sides, and having settled the troubles in Anatolia, directed his march toward Persia. He encountered the Persian king at Chaldiran, where a most fierce battle ensued—for the Persians used cavalry and held the high ground, while the Turks relied upon their artillery and musketeers. In this conflict, the Persian king was defeated and put to flight, leaving his camp and treasury to the victors. Selim then took Tabriz, the royal seat of the Persians, but did not hold it for long, soon returning toward Amasya to spend the winter there.
Meanwhile, at Cairo, the sultan of the Mamluks, Qansuh al-Ghawri, having heard of the arrival of the Ottoman sultan and fearing for his own safety, began to assemble his forces to block his path. Selim, learning of this, marched against him, and they met at Marj Dabiq near Aleppo. A great battle took place, in which the Mamluk king was killed, and his army was routed, allowing the Turks to occupy Syria. Following this victory, Selim moved against Jerusalem and Damascus, and subsequently against Egypt. Qansuh’s successor, Tuman Bay, attempted to offer resistance, but he was defeated in the vicinity of Cairo, and Egypt fell to the Empire of the Ottomans. B Having thus concluded his campaigns with great success, Selim returned to Constantinople, where he passed away after a short duration, having significantly enlarged the borders of his domain. He was succeeded by his son, Suleiman, in the year 926 (A.D. 1520).
Upon his accession, Suleiman, desiring to test his arms, determined to march against the King of Hungary. He set out for Belgrade, which he besieged and captured in the year 927 (A.D. 1521). Afterward, in the year 932 (A.D. 1526), he again prepared for war and, having gathered fifty or sixty thousand men, constructed bridges across the rivers Sava, Drava, and Danube. He captured Varadin, along with other fortified places, intending to attack Buda itself. The Hungarian king, learning of this expedition, prepared for war and, with his army, encountered Sultan Suleiman. On a Wednesday, around the time of the afternoon prayer (Ikindi), the armies clashed with such force that many thousands fell on both sides. After a long battle, the Hungarian king was defeated and lost his life. The Hungarians fled, pursued by the Turks, who killed many thousands during the rout. Having achieved this success, Suleiman led his men to Buda and took the city without bloodshed, reducing its inhabitants of every age and sex to slavery.
Following the occupation of Buda, Suleiman returned to Adrianople and enjoyed a period of rest. At that time, there was a certain man in Anatolia called Calender Çelebi, from the family of Hacı Bektaş, whom the Turks revere and invoke as a holy man. This Calender Çelebi stirred up a revolt with a small number of dervishes, defeated several provincial governors (sanjak-beys), and incited all of Anatolia to arms. Upon receiving news of this movement, Suleiman sent Ibrahim Pasha with a distinguished army to engage Calender Çelebi and restore order. Ibrahim caught up with Calender and his forces and engaged them in battle; it was a fierce fight on both sides, but in the end, Calender and his faction were defeated and killed.
C With order restored in Anatolia, Suleiman prepared for another expedition to invade Hungary again. He issued public edicts for his soldiers to assemble at Belgrade, to which place he also traveled, intending to proceed to Buda. While on this journey, the Voivode of Transylvania came to him, offered his submission to Suleiman's authority, and presented him with most magnificent gifts, kissing his hand. This proved so pleasing to Suleiman that he soon appointed him King of Hungary. From there he proceeded to Buda, and once it was occupied, he marched on Vienna. Upon his arrival, the Germans who were holding the city fortified it, and Sultan Suleiman besieged it with heavy artillery for twenty days, digging tunnels under the walls until they should collapse. This done, a sudden and violent cold broke out, so severe that neither the soldiers nor the pack animals could endure it. Despairing of capturing Vienna, he was forced to lift the siege and returned to Constantinople, where for some time he abstained from war. These events took place in the year 935 (A.D. 1529).
While remaining quietly at Constantinople, he invited all the pashas, dignitaries, and the envoys of foreign princes with great solemnity and exhibited all kinds of spectacles at the Hippodrome (Atmeydanı) in Constantinople, having his sons—Sultan Mustafa, Sultan Mehmed, and Sultan Selim—circumcised in the year 938 (A.D. 1532). D In the same year, on the twenty-eighth of the month of Ramadan, he left Constantinople to wage war against the Spaniard. Upon arriving in Germany, for the space of two months he marched his troops back and forth, ravaging and plundering everything with fire and sword. No army was opposed to him by the Christians, nor were their battle lines seen anywhere; instead, they continually harassed Suleiman’s columns from both flanks, killing many who were intercepted or carrying them off as captives. Sultan Suleiman sent twelve thousand soldiers, under the leadership of Kasan, the Voivode (son of Michael Beg), along with the *Akinjis*, to devastate those regions further with fire and pillage and to carry off the inhabitants into slavery. While they were doing this, they were heavily laden with booty. However, on their return, they chanced to fall in with Christian forces; though they fought most fiercely and resisted the enemy bravely, in the end, they were for the most part annihilated, and Kasan the Voivode himself was killed or captured. As winter was approaching, Suleiman changed his route and returned to Constantinople, where, after resting for some time, he assigned Manisa to his son, Sultan Mustafa, in the year 939 (A.D. 1532).
Meanwhile, while Sultan Suleiman was away on his campaign in Germany, the supreme prefect of the Spanish fleet, Andrea Doria, along with the Grand Master—who had abandoned Rhodes in previous years—raised the aid of other Italian princes and led a great fleet to sea, consisting of fifty large ships and fifty triremes. There were about fifty thousand soldiers on board. With this army, they attacked the Morea by surprise, first taking the city of Koroni with its citadel, then the island of Bozcaada and the town of Patras, together with other castles, and having sent infantry and cavalry troops into the region itself, they devastated the whole of it, carrying off a huge multitude of men, women, and children into captivity.
In previous years, a man born on the island of Mytilene, whose name was Hayreddin, had become remarkably skilled in naval warfare, and, practicing piracy, had many times engaged the Christians at sea. Having by then acquired great means, he outfitted several ships, adding to...
moreover, being a tyrant, effeminate, and of soft character, had been deprived of his rule by his brother Antonius through treachery. A But when Antonius died, Nerius returned from Florence and was restored to the principality. At that time, because Nerius had joined his arms with the Greeks, his region was ravaged by the governor of Thessaly. Being in great difficulty, he made peace with the king. The Greeks, learning that peace had been concluded between the prince of Attica and the king, immediately took up arms against the Athenians. The prince sent a messenger to the king, indicating the great peril he was in, to wit, that the Greeks were besieging the city and striving with all their might to capture it. Turachanes, therefore, the governor of Thessaly, sending messengers to the king, exhorted him to attack the Peloponnese by war. But these things happened only after a long time. Yet at that time, it had been reduced to servitude by the ruler of the Peloponnese, the brother of the king, in the manner I have previously described.
But such were the events concerning the Greeks and the Peloponnese. Now, what the King of Constantinople did will be declared in what follows. For as soon as he heard that the Paeonians [Hungarians] had defected and, at the instigation of Georgius, had concluded a treaty with Amurates, he sent legates to the Roman Pontiff, proposing that if triremes and ships arrived at the Hellespont to close off the passage [Β] into Europe to Amurates while he was in Asia, his affairs could easily be brought down. For if the army of Europe alone were left with Amurates, it would be unwilling to fight against the Paeonians. The legates were ordered to go to the Gauls and the Duke of Burgundy, reminding them of the slaughter they had suffered under Bajazet through the imprudence of Sigismund; that slaughter, if they only willed it, could be repaid to the Turks. They went, therefore, to the Roman Pontiff and manned ten triremes, which they sent to the Hellespont. The Pontiff also equipped ten triremes, filled them with soldiers, and sent them to King Joannes, as if he were to carry out what the king had ordered. They arrived, therefore, at the Hellespont and prevented Amurates from crossing into Europe. C And these things happened along the coastal region of Macedonia toward the Ionian Sea.
For since there was an expectation that the Paeonians would arrive again in Europe, in order to expel the Turks and Amurates from Europe, and since it was foreseen that the war would follow again; for it was announced everywhere in Europe that the Paeonians were gathering again to campaign and that the Hellespont was being held by the Westerners; each one was emboldened to set out for his own ancestral rule, hoping to hold it and occupy it, whatever might turn out in his favor. Then, indeed, Zenempisas, having set out from the coast of Macedonia toward the Ionian Sea, and gathering the Albanians who were in that region, went forward through Argyropolichne, D and subdued all the plain that he occupied there.
A on the twenty-third of the month of Rejeb, stirred up a revolt, and they stormed and plundered the houses of Aigasis the Pasha and of the supreme treasurer, Abduselam. The following day, which was Wednesday, they likewise forced open the houses of the Pashas Ibrahim and Mustafa by night, but with such moderation that they took no plunder from there. Finally, once the tumult of the Janissaries was composed, Suleiman decided to set out into Hungary; and having collected fifty or sixty thousand armed men, he bridged the rivers Sava, Drava, and Danube. He occupied Varadin of Perri along with other fortified places, intending to seek out Buda itself with his army. When this expedition of Suleiman was known, the King of Hungary also prepared himself for war; and with his soldiers, who were completely armed in iron, he presented himself as an obstacle to Sultan Suleiman. On a certain Wednesday, about the time of the Ikindi prayer, the armies clashed with such force from both sides that many thousands of men fell slaughtered on both sides, and very many were wounded. Although the battle had been fought for a long time, the King of Hungary, though defeated at last, also perished himself. Moreover, with the Hungarians put to flight, the Turks pursued the enemy and slaughtered many thousands of them while they were fleeing. After the affair was successfully concluded, Suleiman led his men to Buda and took the city without bloodshed, with the people of every sex and age reduced to slavery, in the year 932 (Chr. 1526). After Buda was occupied, he returned to Adrianople and gave himself to rest for some time.
There was then a certain man in Anatolia called Calender Zelebi, of the family of Chazis Bectasis. The Turks worship Chazim Bectasem as a kind of divinity and even invoke him. Therefore, this Calender Zelebi, having stirred up a sedition, routed a number of Sanjaks with no great number of Dervishes, and incited all of Anatolia to arms. Suleiman, having received news of this movement, sent Ibrahim Pasha with a distinguished army so that he might attack Calender Zelebi in war and bring him into order. Ibrahim, having caught up with Calender and his forces, joined battle; in this, there was brave fighting on both sides, with the result, however, that Calender himself was defeated with his faction and perished.
C With the disturbances of Anatolia settled, Suleiman prepared himself for another expedition, intending to invade Hungary again; and therefore, having published edicts, he ordered the soldiers to assemble at Alba Græca, to which place he himself also betook himself, intending then to move on to Buda. While he was on this journey, the Ban of Transylvania came to him, and having offered his service, he submitted himself to the rule of Suleiman, bringing with him most ample gifts and kissing his hand. This matter was so pleasing to Suleiman that he soon created him king of Hungary. Following that, he set out for Buda, and having occupied it, he hastened to Vienna. When he had arrived there, the Germans, who were keeping themselves within the walls, fortified the city; the Sultan Suleiman besieged it with war engines for twenty days, and he even dug tunnels beneath the walls, until a portion of them collapsed. With that matter finished, a cold so intense suddenly set in that neither the soldiers nor the pack animals could endure it. And thus, deprived of all hope of taking Vienna, he was compelled to lift the siege; and having returned to Constantinople, he abstained from wars for some time. These things were done in the year 935 (Chr. 1529).
While he was remaining quietly at Constantinople, having invited with great solemnity all the Pashas and nobles, and the envoys of foreign princes, and having exhibited every kind of spectacle in the At-Meydan at Constantinople, he caused his sons, Sultan Mustafa, Sultan Muhammed, and Sultan Solimen, to be circumcised, in the year 938 (Chr. 1532).
In the same year, on the twenty-eighth day of the month of Ramadan, he departed from Constantinople, intending to wage war on the Spaniard. And when he had arrived in Germany, for the space of two months he led his forces round and about, ravaging and plundering everything with fire and sword. There was no army set against him by the Christians, nor was their battle line seen anywhere; the light-armed troops of Suleiman were merely harassing their columns on both sides, and many whom they caught they either killed or took prisoner. Furthermore, Sultan Suleiman sent twelve thousand soldiers under the leadership of Casane the Voivode, who was the son of Michael Beg, with the Akinjis added to him, so that they might further depopulate those regions with fire and pillage, and carry off the inhabitants enslaved. When they were doing this, they were captured as rich prey. But on the return journey, as it happened, they fell in with Christian forces, with whom, although they fought most fiercely and resisted the enemy bravely, in the end they were nonetheless slaughtered and taken captive to the point of extinction, at least for the greater part, including Casane the Voivode himself. And when winter was already approaching, Suleiman changed his route and returned to Constantinople; where, when he had rested for some time, he assigned Manisa to his son Sultan Mustafa, in the year 958 (Chr. 1532).
In the meantime, however, while Sultan Suleiman was away in foreign lands warring in Germany, the supreme commander of the Spanish fleet, Andreas Doria, along with the Grand Master who had yielded Rhodes in previous years, having also gathered the aid of other Italian princes, led out a great fleet on the sea, which contained fifty large ships and fifty triremes. And in these there were up to fifty thousand soldiers. With this army they unexpectedly attacked the Morea; first they took the city of Koroni with its citadel, then the island of Bozcaada and the town of Bodrum, along with other certain forts; and having sent infantry and cavalry forces into the region itself, they devastated the whole of it, carrying off a huge multitude of men, women, and children into captivity with them.
In previous years a certain man was born on the island of Mytilene, whose name was Chairadines, who had become notably skilled in naval warfare; and engaging in piracy, he had many times clashed with Christians at sea. When he had already achieved success, he rigged out some ships; with the addition of
A Thereupon the governor of Veroia, having gathered the Scythians from Axine at the same time, and the King’s Turks, with many also from Therme and the Lake of the Perrhaebians joining him, marched suddenly and fell upon the unprepared Albanians who were encamped somewhere there about the territory of Kastoria. He destroyed most of them and slew Zenempisas the commander himself, and drove on for a long distance, dealing much slaughter and putting the rest to flight. This, indeed, took place in Europe, and they were settled into confusion, as each was driven toward their own affairs. The Turks also fell into great fear, thinking they were about to perish at the hands of the Paeones and the foreign nations dwelling among them. And wherever they chanced to be, they strengthened their walls, watching to see to what result this present turmoil would lead.
The Paeones, when the legate arrived from the Roman high priest himself—Julian by name, a man in other respects gentle and highly esteemed in Roman learning—he exhorted them to war, and the oath, which was of the greatest importance to them in the treaties, he absolved by the authority of the high priest, and read the letters there. And they set out to campaign in Europe, thinking they would seize it deserted while Amurates was away in Asia and delaying there, and with the ships of the high priest himself sailing through the Hellespont, so as not to allow him to cross; and with the King of the Hellenes signaling these things to them, that he would never cross into Europe. B Having made treaties with the Boemi concerning their dispute—which I think is the reason he also made the treaties of Amurates, as they were providing him with difficulties, and, as they were about to be at war with them from the land of the Boemi, they accepted the peace of King Amurates. Then indeed, having come to an agreement with them, as it provided them with peace, they set out to campaign against Europe, taking with them also the Daci and Dracules, the son of Myrxis, who, being present for the war, was enthusiastic and participated, providing about ten thousand cavalry.
They further urged George, the leader of the Triballi, to join them in this war, but he would not be persuaded, saying that they were performing impious and wicked deeds, breaking their treaties and beginning injustice. He thought to settle the charge against him for not campaigning for the King of the Paeones with a sum of money. C He also warned the King not to make war against the Turks, as their power was great and they could not be easily subdued by the Paeones. For George saw that the war equipment was not such as to be able to possess Europe. For very many Turks lived therein, nourished as it were in camps, and who for the most part procured their living from nowhere else but from wars. This race of men, moreover, when driven to desperation, is accustomed to display memorable valor everywhere. Furthermore, he showed Vladislaus that the Turks surpassed the rest of the nations in martial affairs. Vladislaus, persuaded by none of these things, set out from Ardelio, or Transylvania, and... the Ister.
a company of certain remarkable men, who were subject to the command of no one, he set out for Barbary and occupied the city of Caesarea, and kept its dominion for himself.
When this business was successfully completed, his name became famous throughout all of Italy; and a name was given him by the Italians, so that he was commonly called Barbarossa. Every year he used to send certain gifts to the Sultans Selim and Suleiman. The latter, Suleiman, having learned of the man’s excellence and the fame of his deeds, sent envoys and invited him to come to him. Khair ad-Din, having placed a suitable garrison in Caesarea and entrusted the city to the faith of strong men who were his very close friends, filled a number of triremes with soldiers and set out for Constantinople. When he had arrived there, he kissed the sultan’s hand, as is the custom for Sultan Suleiman. The sultan received the man most honorably, and, having established an annual salary of four million aspers, he created him supreme Beglerbeg of the sea and raised him to the dignity of vezir; whence the name given to him was that he should be called Khair ad-Din.
Having thus obtained command of the sea with full authority, he ordered one hundred triremes to be launched and fitted out and filled with soldiers, and with these he went to the Morea. When this matter was announced to the Christians, they soon left the region and the fortresses they had occupied deserted, and, boarding their ships, they departed from there. Upon the departure of the Christians, three hundred Janissaries and the same number of Azaps were sent to those places to be a garrison for Coron and the other towns. Then Khair ad-Din Pasha, with the same fleet, set out for Barbary and occupied the city of Tunis, which is inhabited by the Moors, and subjected it to his own rule, in the year 940 (A.D. 1534).
At this same time, when Tunis was taken by Khair ad-Din Pasha, a certain person from the number of the Parthian nobles, Ulama Beg, defected from Shah Tahmasp, son of Shah Ismail, even though he had the Shah’s sister as his wife. And so, a fugitive from Parthia, he came to Constantinople, and, having performed the oath of submission, dedicated himself entirely to Suleiman. On the advice of this man, Sultan Suleiman was thinking of undertaking a Parthian expedition, alleging as the cause of the war that the Shah, with his nobles and subjects, did not embrace the correct view of religion and did not follow the four prophets of Muhammad with the due honor. For this reason he deemed them most worthy to have war brought upon them, that they might be killed and thus utterly exterminated. And so, Suleiman having decreed this war, he granted the Sangiakat of the aforementioned Ulama Beg not far from Karahemid. Uluma, indeed, having recruited certain troops at Constantinople, set out with them to the Sangiakat entrusted to his faith. Orders were also sent by Sultan Suleiman to the other sangiaks of that province, by which it was commanded that they should obey Uluma Beg, as often as he was about to set out against the enemy. Uluma, therefore, having entered the Sangiakat decreed to him, gathered the nobles and sangiaks of that region, and, aided by their assistance, reduced under his own power the Prince of Kurdistan, whose name was Serefes. When this matter was announced to Sultan Suleiman, he sent his supreme vezir, Ibrahim Pasha, who, having the highest authority and power with the sultan, had been raised above all pashas and vezirs, and had obtained from him the title of Serasker of the Sultan, to Anatolia from Constantinople, and put him in command of the troops of Romania and Anatolia. With them he reached Aleppo and from there proceeded to Karahemid. When he had arrived there, he sent Uluma Beg ahead into Parthia so that he might be the guide on the journey; and he himself, following in his footsteps, pursued from behind, in the year 941 (A.D. 1535).
Continuing the journey in this manner, with no one resisting, they arrived at Tabriz. For the Shah was at that time away from that province, waging war in Khorasan against Kezien Pasha, who wished to wrest Khorasan from him. When they had approached closer to Tabriz, they found the city deserted and empty of inhabitants. But Suleiman himself followed Ibrahim, who had been sent ahead for this expedition, in the year 941 (A.D. 1535), with the Janissaries and other troops of the Porte, with such speed that at the time when Ibrahim entered Tabriz, Suleiman was looming over the gates of Karahemid. Meanwhile, Shah Tahmasp also had brought his own men closer to Tabriz so that he might crush Ibrahim Pasha there. Ibrahim, having learned of the enemy’s attempt, without delay informed Suleiman, who, by making double daily journeys, flew most quickly to Tabriz and joined himself with Ibrahim. And when, through scouts, they had learned in what places the Parthian army was staying, they led directly against them. Then, indeed, the Parthians, who had heard of the arrival of Suleiman with the Janissaries and the rest of the Porte’s soldiers, and seeing themselves in no way able to resist such an apparatus of war machines and such great troops, fled to Sultania. The Ottomans, weighed down by the excessive abundance of artillery, provisions, tents, carriages, and other heavy things, sent the artillery back to Tabriz with the rest of the baggage, protected by a garrison of three hundred Janissaries and three sangiaks, and in this way, having become more mobile, began to pursue the Parthian army keenly from behind. Then, indeed, the Parthians fled, and the Ottomans pressed hard upon the fugitives until they had arrived not far from the town of Hamadan. There, with the rains and the shortage of provisions, the icy cold overcame the Ottomans, so that very many lost their hands and feet to the cold, and an incredible multitude of men and beasts perished from the famine. Furthermore, it happened that in the very attempt to cross the river, which is called Docus Gezid, that river swelled vehemently from the rainwater. And therefore it cannot be said how many men, beasts, and burdens of other things perished, and everyone was despairing of their own salvation. Since, therefore, the Parthian army appeared nowhere, nor could it be known whither it had retreated; and since no region was nearer to Baghdad than [that place...]
and having ferried his army across, arrived in the king’s territory, and there he encamped along the maritime coast of the Euxine, in the region of Dobroditia of the Mysians, at Calliacre and Varna. And having arrived there, they began to besiege the cities. And Varna, while it was being besieged, surrendered by agreement, but Calliacre was taken by force, the Pannonians having climbed the wall. And having taken it and enslaved the inhabitants, they marched straight toward the territory of Byzantium and Orestias.
B The Pannonians were occupied with these things. But Amurates, son of Mechmet, leading an army against Caramanus, was ravaging the land, and having seized the pack animals and livestock as plunder, he pressed the siege of the citadel of Conium. Caramanus fled to the mountains of the region and remained there, intending to repel the enemy stoutly if he should advance against him. Finally, he sent an embassy to Amurates, promising to give hostages, and to send his son to his gates, and to pay double the annual tribute that he had paid before. While Caramanus was offering these terms and entreating for a truce, a messenger arrived at the king from the leader of the Triballi, reporting that the Pannonians had crossed the Ister. Amurates, being somewhat alarmed by this message, accepted the petition of Caramanus and entered into a treaty with him; and having received the hostages and his son, he led away his army. C When he understood that the Hellespont was held by the ships of the Italians and the Westerners, he was anxious in spirit, since it was not sufficiently certain by what means he might at present cross into Europe. Nevertheless, he did not fail to lead his army with the greatest possible speed to the Hellespont, so that if the enemy ships should sail up, he might drive them off with bombards and other artillery. For this place is reasonably the narrowest part of the Propontis, and there is a tower in Asia called the Sacred [Tower], where the continent closes in to such a small distance that nowhere else does it narrow so much. Having brought his army there, intending to cross, he no longer found the triremes, the forces of both Europe and Asia. For D very strong winds did not allow the triremes to sail into the Propontis, and a strong gale came down for many days, forcing the ships in no way to sail up against the wind. Amurates, therefore, when the enemy's triremes were no longer present there, safely crossed over at his leisure, he himself and the whole army. And when he had crossed, he sent a messenger to the king of Byzantium, saying to him that he had crossed over safe and sound, and that he was marching straight against his enemy, and he exhorted him to pray that his military affairs might turn out as well as possible for him.
LAONICI CHALCOCONDYLÆ ATHENIENSIS HISTORIARUM DE ORIGINE AC REBUS GESTIS TURCORUM LIBER SEPTIMUS
Battle of Amurath and Wladislaus at Varna; expeditions in the Peloponnese against Scanderbeg and Hunyadi. Death of Amurath in the year of Christ 1450.
A 174 The King of the Greeks, as he heard what the messenger of Amurath brought, was grieved in spirit, as is likely, because he had been unable to prevent the transit, but ([the enemy] had crossed) without a battle, and had transported all his forces at his leisure. He bore these things with a troubled mind. He was deliberating what, in the present state of affairs, he should best do: whether to announce war or peace to Amurath. For if he had decided to maintain peace with Amurath, it would come to pass that, while his army was being led through the region of the Pontus, he would be compelled to provide provisions and necessities; by this act he judged he would most greatly offend the Pannonians, and that hence the greatest danger hung over him from the Pannonians, should they defeat Amurath.
B 175 It seemed, therefore, most advisable at that time C to follow the side of the Pannonians and declare war upon Amurath. Chalil, son of Ibrahim, as his letters indicate, seems to have informed Amurath of this. He was even then a friend to the Greeks, and wished them to wage war with the king as little as possible openly, before they had sufficiently explored in what direction the war would break out. Amurath, therefore, as the enemies proceeded directly against him, took up arms, being well prepared; and receiving the whole army of Europe now gathered for him, he exhorted each one to undertake the war bravely. He himself, marching behind the army of the Pannonians, took camp by night,