in that place where the Paeonians had encamped the day before. He did this for four days, observing the number of the enemy and what were their dispositions toward him: whether they were terrified in all things, so as to shrink back for a short time, or whether they were advancing with boldness and fearing nothing; and how they were provided with supplies in the camp. A For if one were following the enemy's camp, he could see these things at once and reckon very clearly: their degree of fear or boldness, and how they were provided with supplies and numbers, whether the army was on the march or near to it. Amurates, riding behind, was considering these things for four days; but on the fifth day, John Choniates, perceiving that the king's army was following him step by step, went into council with the king of the Paeonians, and they deliberated whether they should B offer battle there, and having fought in this way, continue onward, or if they should proceed without fighting, occupying the land. Then it was decided by those consulting to offer battle, so that they might not be harassed and troubled by being pursued, or face difficulties that would hinder them if they attempted anything in his territory. As soon as it had been decided, and they were remaining, Amurates arrived and encamped in the plain. First, having drawn up the Janissaries, he encircled them with shields, having fixed large iron ones into the ground. The king always carries these C wherever he marches on camels, and he also carries on the camels the weapons for the Janissaries. And wherever he is to be in battle, having distributed the weapons, he draws up for battle. After these shields, he stood his camels in front of the shields, and in this way drew up toward the gates. In the middle were himself and the leaders of his house, and those of the Janissaries who were present with him in the camp. The army of Europe was stationed D beside him, having as commander Garazies, a reputable man. It was drawn up by squadrons, separated one from another by not much space. And the army of Asia was also drawn up by squadrons standing in a front, so as to give aid to one another whenever any of these were hard-pressed by the enemy. For the cavalry troops could not be drawn up in any other way than by squadrons, since the infantry are well-able to be drawn up on the wing. Not so, however, the cavalry. The Paeonians were also drawn up by companies and tribes. And the Paeonians held the right, and the Dacians the left. John Choniates, having the Phaxin, those called the Vitaxides, advanced upon the commander of the Asian army. And the greater part of them, not even coming to close quarters, did not withstand the Paeonians, but fled from a long distance, and gave themselves to their feet.
A The European army, which still stood and had fled nowhere, remained, awaiting the enemy. For it is manifest, I think, that for as long as the king remained, for that long the European army also stood. Although it did not resist the enemies, but turned to flight, nonetheless it returned to the royal camp. For we know that this race of men, after the nomadic Scythians, especially flees, and very easily gathers itself again in flight, and renews the battle. When they turned to flight, however, they were easily preserved. The Dacians, in the tumult of this battle, when they saw the Albanians turned to flight, no longer stayed there, but turning to the king's treasures, they plundered them and the wealth of the kingdom, and also the royal bedchamber, having killed the camels, while exhorting one another to this very thing. When they were occupied with this work, and the satiety of plundering had stolen over them, they did not return to the battle, nor did they wish to obey anyone, but were returning to their own camp.
B John, when he had routed the Asian army, approached King Ladislaus, and diligently advised him that he should stand firm and remain in that place with his soldiers, and should not permit them to go anywhere, so that to him returning to the battle against Amurates, if anything more dangerous should arise, it would be a most safe refuge to which he might retreat. He also instructed Ladislaus to entreat the soldiers who were with him not to move themselves from that position, but to remain fixed in the same footprints, awaiting until, the European army having been routed, put to flight, and conquered, he should return a victor; and until he might finish the battle, which now alone remained. When he had said these things, he immediately girded himself to join battle with the European army, which stood drawn up to the left of the king, and engaging, fought for some time.
C The aspect of the battle, however, was as follows. When it came to close quarters, the Pannonians were routing the Turks, and were pursuing them as far as their camp. The Turks, having turned, then pursued the Pannonians; and they did not cease from the pursuit until they had also driven them to the camp. If at any time the Pannonians were enjoying victory, they pursued the Turks most fiercely, and very many fell, crushed by the Pannonians. The Pannonians also, at times, although they were very numerous, were retreating with shame. There fell in that place Carazies, the leader of the Europeans, pierced through by a Pannonian sword. For Pannonian swords are accustomed to give wounds that do not differ from those which spears are accustomed to make.
D For the swords of the Pannonians and the Germans are long and sharp, and they do not strike with a balanced blow, as do the barbaric and the Italian ones. The barbaric swords (and the Turks use such ones) are very heavy, and cut on one side only. Nor do I know any swords whose edge penetrates more deeply into bodies. Compared to these are the Italian swords, which were formerly in use among the Greeks. The Germanic and Pannonian swords are long and round, and sometimes also square: they have a sharp edge…
A, and as they taper to a very sharp point, they inflict a wound similar to that of a pike, as the rider presses down on them, producing the shape of a pike. In this way, then, Carazes met his end.
Regarding Ladislaus, the king of the Paeonians, the following took place. There were men about him who envied John and were vexed by his excellence. As they saw him managing the affairs of war with skill, having routed the entire army of Asia, and fighting most nobly against the army of Europe, and having killed its commander Carazes, they said to the king: “O King, why do we stand here waiting for John to perform all these deeds, as if he were the only man, yielding to him the destruction of the enemies? This indeed brings some considerable shame upon us, that we should stand here while your servant rushes out to engage in battle with these Turks. For it was fitting, as you are our king, to demonstrate to us, and to those around you, deeds that would be praised both by our wives, and by those in our cities who hear how the battle turned out, and even by the enemy. But he, having routed so great a multitude of men, carries off immortal glory, while for you, standing here and watching individual events, only reproach is left for those who come after. Do not suppose that when he has routed the armies, the gates of the king will await our approach, but they will flee instantly wherever they may go. Go B then, let us go to the gates of Amurates. For since you are a king, it would be fitting for you to confront a king.” Upon hearing this, the young man—for this speech promised great deeds—as quickly as he could, drove to the royal gates where he had stood prepared for battle. Having dug a trench around the camp, he waited to see how the battle would proceed. When he charged into the janissaries, and the janissaries, having encircled them and cut them off, were fighting in a manner worthy of note, the horse of the king of the Paeonians C was wounded in the feet and fell. And those around him, neither perceived the fall, nor had they seen it due to the tumult that had arisen around them. There, the janissaries took off his helmet, and having severed his head, they brought it to the king. Therizes was the name of the janissary, to whom for this reason King Amurates granted a new courageous task and honored him greatly. Indeed, it is said that Amurates, when he saw the Paeonians charging and fighting in a manner worthy of note, had started to flee. But before he could turn to flight, someone seeing him uttered D blasphemies against him, considering it a terrible thing if they should escape, and restrained him. Not long after, the head of the king of the Paeonians was severed and brought into the camp to the king of the Muslims. When the Paeonians began to give way, they were searching for their king. But when they discovered that he had fallen in the line of battle and had been beheaded,
A they immediately advanced, attempting to recover the corpse; but they did not succeed, for the Turk stirred up the new arrivals, and they fought fiercely. When they were unable to recover the body, they marched away toward the encampment. And immediately the rumor reached Choniates and the others in the battle lines, bringing the fighting to a halt; and as they were withdrawing and traveling in total disorder, he learned the details. He no longer marched toward the camp, but he himself, with the Daci, headed straight for the Ister; and in their haste, they fled in complete disorder, as did those around the king of the Paeonians. During this retreat, Julian the Cardinal, a man who had shown himself excellent in all things, died at the hands of the Turks. And other good men, not a few of the Daci, also fell during this retreat. John, indeed, when he reached the Ister and his army had crossed and dispersed, was captured as he traveled with a few of his men by Dracules, the prince of the Daci, who was his enemy. Previously, John had opposed him among the Paeonians, in the presence of King Vladislaus, when they were making their expedition from Dacia and crossing the Ister, plundering his villages, and he had slandered him to the king of the Paeonians, accusing him of favoring the cause of the Turks and Amurates and of secretly signaling to them whatever they happened to be doing at any given time. He had brought these charges as if to destroy him, but later, by means of money, he had been released and had escaped on this account. But as he was traveling through Dacia, he captured him, intending to take revenge, and casting him into prison, kept him under guard. When the Paeonians reached home and learned that John had been seized, they considered it terrible and intolerable that a Paeonian man of such dignity should be held captive by Dracules. They sent envoys ordering him to release John; if not, he should know that they would consider him an enemy and would march against him with all their forces. When this was announced to him by the Paeonians, Dracules, fearing for his own affairs and that the Paeonians, conceiving some more extreme plan, might march against him and take the man by force, decided to release Choniates. He treated him kindly and did not hesitate to provide him with an escort through Prasobus and Ardelium as far as the Paeonians. B Not long after this, Choniates, having undertaken an expedition on behalf of Danus, the prince of Dacia who had been deposed, killed Dracules along with his son. For having raised an army, he was preparing to restore Danus, the son of Masarempes and Amurxes, to Dacia. This youth, together with his son, was arrayed for battle. But when both sides were drawn up and were on the point of engaging, the Daci, abandoning the son of Myrxes, deserted to Danus. When he saw that he had been abandoned and that the Daci were crossing over to Danus, he fled; C and Danus pursued him as he sought his safety in flight with all his might, and catching Dracules along with his son, he slaughtered them both. Having brought matters to this pass, he returned. D
A And the Getae, who had rushed toward the Danube, sought safety in flight. And while the one fled, Dracules pursued him with all his might, and catching them both, he slaughtered them forthwith. Thus, he himself was brought home. Not long after, they chose him as general and administrator of their affairs, as they were already being warred upon by the Germans and Bohemians, and they entrusted to him the management of affairs as it seemed best to him. He then assembled an army and marched against the Bohemians, and warred against them for a considerable time. And he clashed with Iscra, a man prosperous in military strategy, and, having fought, was defeated. But later, he attacked again, and having clashed, he overcame him. Amurates, having cut off the head of King Vladislaus, 4 sent it around, displayed it to the armies, and having packed up his things, he departed for home. In this battle, there fell of the Turks, as they themselves say, about six thousand, and of the Paeonians, more than these. And even more perished during the retreat by the hands of the Getae. 11
This is how the Turkish expedition ended. And matters returned once again to Amurates, not a little to the doubt of those who had arrived throughout Europe. However, he showered Therizen, who had carried off the head of the king, with much money and appointed him a governor of regions. As for the body of Caraizes, the king himself brought it to Adrianople, buried it magnificently, and conducted the funeral with due honor. In his place, he appointed Scuras, an Albanian man, to be general of Asia, whom he had taken captive from the land of the Albanians, and the king himself had raised him in his own household. He first declared him a governor, and afterward designated him general of Asia. But having cast Phatumas out of his honorary office—for he had been a prytanis (judge) in the king's household—he established Sarazenes, a man of Greek descent, in his place. B But the greatest power was held by Chaliles son of Priamus, a man considered the most prudent at the king's gates. Not long after, Amurates had Phatumas arrested and stripped him of all his possessions, the sum of which amounted to about one hundred and fifty myriads, and in silver about four thousand talents. 13 Yet, there were treaties under the king with the king of the Greeks, and they were no longer broken; he remained quiet for the time being, and served the king with gifts, so that King Amurates might harbor no hostile thoughts toward him. For he was indeed at odds with his own brother, Theodore, who had recently arrived at Byzantium to succeed to the rule from his brother. And he acted in opposition to the king (i.e., the Byzantine emperor) against his brother. And later, it came to an open quarrel with him, and his brother Theodore, to whom Selybria and the region bordering it had been entrusted, marched against the king of Byzantium. For he was demanding sufficient revenue for himself to live on, but did not obtain it. Whence he was brought into war against his brother, and he marched. Later, however, before accomplishing anything against him, he ended his life by a pestilential disease, leaving behind Constantinus...
A the ruler of the Peloponnese, who, having laid waste the king’s territory, as well as Pindus, Boeotia, and the Locrians called the Ozolians, did not cease from ravaging the land and waging war, but pursued his campaign against Attica, as I have already shown before. Upon learning these developments in detail, the king would not bear it; instead, sending word for his army to assemble for him at Pherrae, he marched out from Adrianople, leading forces from both Asia and Europe. Nerius, the tyrant of Athens, urged him on to campaign against the Peloponnese, and Turachanes, the governor of Thessaly, was no less eager.
Constantinus, however, having walled off the Isthmus, resided there, keeping guards stationed at the Isthmus, and he himself spent most of his time there. When he heard that Amurates was marching against him, he sent for all those who were in the Peloponnese, and his brother along with B them, who happened to be celebrating the wedding of his daughter. For he had already betrothed her to Eleazarus, the son of the prince of the Triballi. These men, then, arrived at the Isthmus as summoned and strengthened the wall, as it seemed likely to provide them with a strong defense. But Amurates, advancing and taking up the armies of the region wherever he moved, arrived at Thebes, where Nerius also joined him, bringing an army from Athens. Upon reaching Mingiae, he encamped and spent a few days preparing cannons and siege engines. Following this, he descended to the Isthmus and encamped from sea to sea, with the camp and its baggage extending across that entire space.
C There, a Peloponnesian scout, having returned, reported [to the prince] the multitude of the king, his pack animals, and his camels; and he could not bear to remain silent, but spoke to the ruler as follows: "O master, what great evils you have brought upon the Peloponnese by undertaking a war against such a king! For he brings with him all of Asia and Europe, and there is nowhere that will stand firm, not even if you had a double wall erected at the Isthmus. But for God's sake, send envoys with the utmost speed and call the king to a reconciliation, lest he utterly destroy us, the wretched, with wretched results." Upon his saying these things, the ruler became angry, and in his anger, he ordered the man to be cast into prison D so that he might learn, through what would come to pass, the nature of his words.
It happened that an envoy had been sent by him to the king, though he did not seek moderate terms from him. For he demanded that the Isthmus remain under his control and that he hold the entire territory outside it belonging to the king that he had subdued. Because of this, he suffered punishment at the hands of the king, who seized the envoy and held him under guard at Pherrae. The ruler himself, however, marched against the Peloponnese in the middle of winter. This envoy was Chalcocondyles the Athenian. Having imprisoned him at Pherrae, along with his attendants, [the king] pressed on. It seems to me that Amurates, as he was encamped at Mingiae, having taken the best of his army—who numbered about six thousand—and circling around the Isthmus...
A Since they were occupied by the Albanians and restored to the Venetians; by whom they were subsequently surrendered to Sultan Selim. In the next year 980 (A.D. 1573), on the fifteenth day of the month of January, a siege of Castelnuovo was attempted by the Venetians; the suburbs were captured, but upon the arrival of the Barbarians as reinforcements, the siege was abandoned. The Venetians desired to get possession of this town and its citadel, so that they might free Cattaro, a city of their own jurisdiction and a very fortified one, from every danger. For Cattaro is situated in a certain gulf of the sea, which was formerly called the Rhizonian Gulf, and now, from the city itself, is called Catarino: the mouth of which the Turks have hitherto tried in vain to close with the fortification of Castelnuovo, so that Cattaro might not be assisted.
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Amida, desiring to recover his kingdom, sent his men to Don John of Austria, who was then sending out a fleet to Africa, already famous for so many victories over the Turks, to ask for his help so that he might be restored to his kingdom. At the same time, he promised that he would have huge forces from his friends and allies, and such an abundance of provisions that it would suffice for even the largest of armies. The Austrian agreed to his demands, and with a magnificent fleet—which was also accompanied by other triremes under the Duke of Sessa and the Prince of Melfi, Giovanni Andrea Doria—he crossed over into Africa, occupied Tunis, reduced the king given by the Turks to his power, and granted the captured city to his soldiers for plunder. But when Amida did not fulfill his promises and otherwise showed signs of unreliable faith, having secretly solicitous of Turkish aid, he was, by order of the Austrian, transported to Sicily with his two sons. There, when he received word that it would come to pass that his brother Mahomet, whom he detested most, was to be placed in charge of the kingdom, he was driven to such a frenzy that he was about to throw himself from the trireme and drown himself in the waters; Amida’s son with difficulty prevented him from doing so. B Mahomet, Amida’s brother, obtained the kingdom from the Austrian, having first taken an oath in the presence of the Austrian, in which he promised that he would remain a forever faithful client to the Spanish king. He then came into the power of the Turks in the next war, which we are about to describe, and was transported by sea to Constantinople, where he was still alive three years ago when we were there, and was being held in custody in the fortress which is called the Heptapurgion by the Greeks and Yedikule by the Turks.
Then the Austrian called a council of his men, in which, various opinions having been stated and examined, it was finally concluded that a new fortification should be constructed between La Goletta and Tunis, at the lake lying between the two, which would be ten Italian miles from La Goletta and a little less from Tunis. For the completion of this task, Gabriel Serbelloni, an Italian from Milan, was left there with three thousand Italian infantry, and a Spaniard named Salazar with as many Spaniards: both of whom were very experienced in the fortifying of cities and citadels. The end and scope of this entire plan was that in this way La Goletta might be made stronger, and the Barbarians might be the more easily maintained in their fidelity due to the proximity of both garrisons and the convenience of the lake, C at which, because both fortifications were situated, they could render assistance to one another without any difficulty. These events took place in the year 980 (A.D. 1573).
Various changes occurred in our time in the Tunisian kingdom, in which, in previous years, King Assan, son of Mahomet (whom our people incorrectly called Muleassem, since it is handed down that *Mule* signifies king or lord in their language, while *Assan* was his proper name), possessed the throne after excluding and killing his eldest brother, Mamuna, who is *Maimon* to our people. The same man either killed his other brothers, whom his father had left him at his death—twenty-one in number—or blinded them by applying hot iron to their eyes: except for Rossette, who had been born second. He, in an attempt to expel his brother Assan, having conducted the matter with little success, fled to Cesairis (which our people call Algiers) to Hayreddin "Barbarossa": who sent Rossette to Constantinople, yet under the pretext of his restoration he deceived the Tunisians, expelled Assan, and captured the city with the citadel and the whole kingdom, and submitted it to Sultan Suleiman, calling himself a vassal-sultan of his; this truly happened in the Mahometan year 940 (A.D. 1534). Charles Augustus restored Assan to the kingdom in the year 943 (A.D. 1537), after expelling Hayreddin; which he held, thereafter vexed by no one, until the year 950 (A.D. 1544), in which, terrified by the report of the approaching fleet of Hayreddin, he crossed over to Sicily and Naples. Amida, son of Assan, occupied Tunis with the citadel during his father’s absence, and captured his father upon his return, and with a hot scalpel injured the pupils of his eyes, depriving him of sight. D His brothers Nahaser and Abdalas, whom he had captured with his father, were treated with the same inhumanity by Amida. His uncle Abdamelech ejected Amida from the kingdom. For he, having set out for La Goletta, and with the help of the Spaniard Francisco Tovaris, the prefect of La Goletta, entered Tunis, and soon proceeded to the citadel with his face veiled, and occupied it by deceiving the guards who believed him to be Amida. After the thirty-sixth day of his reign, Abdamelech having departed from human affairs, his son Mahomet, only twelve years of age, succeeded him: who, being not yet of an age suitable for governing the state, and since the administration of his curators seemed intolerable to many, Amida returned and wrested the kingdom from his cousin. Amida was again driven out by the Turks, led by Uluç Ali, in the year 980 (A.D. 1573), and by the authority of Sultan Selim, another man was substituted in his place. Amida, fleeing to La Goletta, which was held by a Spanish garrison, led a private life with his two sons.
Sultan Selim endured these advances of the Christians in Africa very grievously. Therefore, he appointed Sinan Pasha, a cunning man and very experienced in military affairs, to supreme command of the fleet: which contained 160 triremes and 33 vessels of a different kind. He arrived in Africa in the month of July, in the Mahometan year 981 (A.D. 1574). Although indeed Serbelloni, the prefect in charge of completing the new fortification, had used great diligence in all things, nevertheless it was not yet finished, because the architects, together with the stone-masons and all the material, having been sent later, finally reached Africa toward the end of the month of March.
he observed how the wall was kept and prepared for war. A And he was vexed with Turachanes because, while he himself had judged that he should campaign in the summer, the latter had persuaded him that it was better to begin the affair in winter, as if the Peloponnesians would not withstand a hostile force, but would immediately take to flight as soon as they learned he had arrived at the Isthmus; and he waited there for several days, as if the leader of the Peloponnesians would yield on account of these things. And when the days had passed, he came down to the wall and encamped. On the next day, he struck the leader’s camp with long cannons; on the following day, they made an attempt against those in the wall and brought up their siege engines. On the fourth day toward evening, each man lit as many fires as possible around the camp, according to his own equipment. For it is the custom of this race of Turks, when they intend to go into battle, that three days before the day on which battle is joined, they light very many fires throughout the camp, and each man lights as many as he can, and they chant a certain hymn B to God and to the hero, making it clear that they intend to join battle on the third day following. And then, having made a fire, they readied themselves for the assault on the wall. On the fifth day toward evening, they brought up the engines, and under cover, the so-called Sarachorides—the remaining useless mob of the people. For besides the army that follows this king in his campaigns, they lead along a mob, and grain is brought from the neighboring regions and from the rest of the king’s land. Others, in turn, are the Asian so-called Agiades, a foot-mob that is employed for the needs of the army and for the clearing of roads C and for the camps. It seems to me that the camp of this king is equipped most beautifully of all the camps we have seen or heard of, both regarding the tents and the abundance of supplies. For first of all, there follow the king great markets for grain, horses, slaves, and for the needs of the army, whatever might be required, arriving there in great abundance for this purpose. After this, those of the great men who follow the king each lead along many pack-animals on the march—some having camels with grain and arms and sufficient barley for the fodder of the pack-animals, others mules, others both, and some horses—so that the pack-animals of the army are double [the number of the men]. D Besides these, he leads along a mob from his own country for the sake of grain, and whenever the camp is in need, he distributes the food to the best men and thus allows it, whatever it may be. One would see in the camp of the king ten thousand tents, or more or less, as each happens to be stationed. At that time, when the Sarachorides were drawn up against the Greeks,
A inner thoughts and secret intentions, the death inflicted upon the Kurdish sanjak of Hadrianopolis by Ismail became a punishment that fell upon his own informants and accusers. He held not only the sultans in suspicion, but he also did away with all his own brothers, as many of them as he could lay hands on. And because, while the Kurdish sanjak—of whom we shall soon speak—was lacking, some nobles had advised Ismail to surrender him to the Turks, so that the peace long ago initiated and maintained between both nations might not be violated, he not only refused to obey their advice, but he even punished the authors of the suggestion—who were also dissuaders of the Turkish war—with capital punishment, as traitors. Many were gravely offended by such excessive severity on the part of the man, and in the sixth month of his reign, through the agency of his sister, they administered poison to him. Having drained this, he exchanged his life for death.
Year 983 (A.D. 1576): Stephen Báthory, of Somlyó, a Hungarian noble, and otherwise a man of heroic spirit—who, a few years earlier, following the death of John Sigismund, the Waivode of Transylvania (for he died in the Christian year 1571, who was a Mahometan in 978 with the burden of an annual tribute to be paid to the Sultan of the Muslims, had succeeded him)—was made King of Poland, with the recommendation of Sultan Murad, his patron, after Henry of Valois the Gaul, whom Murad also used to boast he had brought to the Polish throne through his own efforts, had fled from Poland after the death of his brother Charles, and had been deposed from the kingdom by the decision of the nobles.
B While Ismail Shah was still alive, a certain sanjak of the Kurdish nation, named Abdallah Beg, having fallen under suspicion for certain reasons during the reign of Sultan Selim II, the father of Murad III, had been summoned by Sultan Selim—under a different pretext, as is the custom of the barbarians—to betake himself to the Porte. The Kurd obeyed the sultan’s command, conscious of no guilt on his part, and came to Sultan Selim at Hadrianopolis. Selim ordered that he be seized and thrown into prison. This is usually done when men of great authority or of great families are to be apprehended, through the offices of the Zausii [Çavuş], who is in charge of the noble courtiers whom the Sultan of the Muslims uses, just as our princes use commissioners to dispatch various matters. While the Pasha of the Zausii was attempting with his men to seize the Kurd, during Sultan Murad’s mission, the Kurd, defending himself and his men, killed him on the spot; the others were partly killed and partly wounded. For this reason, Selim ordered his throat to be cut, along with all his men. With him strangled, and his brother’s son possessing his sanjak by right of succession, another relative approached the Ottoman Porte and, partly by gifts offered and partly by huge promises made, both to the sultan himself and to his counselors, whom they call viziers, obtained the sanjak of his relative. The other man, having been cited to the Porte, and having understood the whole affair, and fearing for himself lest, even without guilt, he should suffer the same punishment with which his patron had been afflicted, avoided the journey to the Porte and, as if despairing of obtaining the grace of Sultan Selim, fled into Parthia to Shah Ismail II, who then held power among the Parthians. C It must be known, however, that those Kurdish sanjaks, even though they remain under the empire of the Ottoman Sultan, are not governed in the way other sanjaks are accustomed to be; but they are like the waivodes or palatines and governors of Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia, who must be the sons of noble families, born in the very region of their fatherland, and chosen by their own lords and peoples. The Kurds, moreover, undoubtedly trace their origin to the Chaldeans and the peoples of Mesopotamia. For to this day, many Kurdish princes are found in the region of Baghdad, which is the ancient Babylonia, and in Carahemid, which is Amida, and in Diarbekir or Mesopotamia: the peoples of which regions are the Chaldeans and Assyrians, neighbors to Van and Scheherezul, and extending as far as the borders of the Persians. Furthermore, it is certain that even today the Arabs call Chaldea "Keldan," which the Persians, along with the Ottomans, call Kurdistan, that is, the kingdom of the Kurds. And all these people are of the Mahometan sect. Therefore, when that Kurdish sanjak of whom we spoke betook himself to the Persians, Shah Ismail not only received him very humanely, but even offered him his aid for the recovery of his ancestral and paternal domain. Cosroe Pasha, who was then the beglerbeg of Van and the neighboring region, and the other frontier sanjaks who belonged to his beglerbegate, when they understood these things, began to inflict damage upon the Persian borders through incursions, saying that the mutual peace had been violated by the fault of Shah Ismail, who had received the fugitives and rebels of the Sultan of the Muslims under his own protection against the laws of peace, and had decreed that they should be helped. This was the beginning of the most grave war which has been waged to this day between the Persians and the Turks.
In the same year, the firstborn son of Shah Tahmasp, Muchemetes by name, nicknamed Khodabendeh—which in the Persian tongue signifies "Servant of God"—succeeding after the death of his brothers Haydar Mirza and Ismail II, although by nature he was desirous of quiet, nonetheless decided to continue the war begun by his brother Ismail against the Turks: this was because his son was Emir Khan Mirza, a youth of great spirit and extremely eager for conducting affairs. He placed him in supreme command of his forces. The causes of the war were various, which we shall repeat here a little more deeply, never before revealed by others in such a way. For we have taken pains to learn something certain about the matters carried out in this war within Turkey itself from trustworthy men, scorning the rumors commonly bandied about and the reports of new events scattered here and there by letters. D Other causes also contributed, especially those gathered from dissensions over superstitions and the vain observation of dreams, to which the Turkish race is overly prone. For three years earlier, throughout Anatolia, many thousands of those who devote themselves to the Turkish rites and their disciplines and studies (whom they call *sohtas*) began to stir...
A they were attempting to fight them, and they spent the whole night sleepless, trying to provoke the Greeks to battle. As dawn was already breaking, the king ordered the signals to sound: cymbals, horns, and trumpets signified, with a very great noise, that the battle was now to begin. The Turks, drawn up in order, began to assault the wall as vigorously as possible. The king and his mercenaries stood in battle array in the middle of the Isthmus, where they had pitched their tents. They brought up scaling ladders, undermined the wall, and fought bravely in order to capture it. He had also stationed the bombardiers there, and he did not allow the Peloponnesians to look out or appear. For the bombard is a terrible thing, and no armor can withstand it, such that it cuts through everything it reaches. It seems that when something resists it, then indeed it strikes even more deeply, since it would not penetrate so far into cotton, wool, or fleece. B When the mercenaries were in safety, they brought the ladders to the wall and began climbing, and they crossed over at the very place where the king stood watching; a mercenary named Chiteres, a Triballian by birth, climbed the wall, captured it, and, after ravaging those in that position, put them to flight. And they, having abandoned their ranks, began to descend at that spot, and, being close, they were struck with fear by God and by lack of experience, and that is how they behaved. For they went off fleeing, and those who were positioned again beside them, not knowing what hardship was befalling them, went off fleeing too; and so, all of them having abandoned the wall, they fled in no order. These Turks, having rushed in at the place where it had been captured by the mercenary, and at the other spot where they had broken it down by undermining, were pouring in through the gates and running.
C Some, turning toward the camp of the Greeks, were plundering the Greeks' furniture and other goods; others, turning toward the men, were destroying some and capturing others, putting them in the rank of slaves. And there was a great slaughter of those fleeing. But of what happened concerning the leaders of the Greeks, let us hear. For when they saw the Greeks fleeing with all their might and in no order, they first tried to restrain them; but when they could not restrain them as they were in flight, they themselves also fled, though not toward Corinth. For they knew that if they were besieged in it, they would easily be captured, since there was not sufficient food stored there, nor other supplies. D But hurrying toward the interior, they arrived ahead of the enemy at the remote Laconian region of the Peloponnese, waiting to see where the king intended to go. For they had decided to flee into the sea and withdraw from the region if Amurates were to arrive with his army. For they knew that the Peloponnesians...
in order passed away, and thus at length succeeded them. Since, therefore, those three transgressed against the supreme eulogy of the testament and the precept of the prophet Mahomet, the Persians grant them no faith, which have been delivered either by tradition of word or by written monuments by those three. Nay, wherever they find their books and writings, they immediately burn them in the flames and act cruelly against those who observe them. The same Persians adore their Shah or King, and venerate him as if he were some earthly god. Nor are they accustomed to pray five times by day and night, after the manner of the Osmanlis, but only once. In sum, they are followers of a religion delivered to them by a certain doctor, whose name was Sheik Haidar; and who continue in the footsteps of another doctor, whom they call the Imam Harust. These two doctors or imams existed in the Persian city of Reza, at the time when Erdebil, son-in-law of Usum-chasan, Shah of the Persians, lived, as did Shah Ismail, the first of that name, son of Erdebil and grandson of Usum-chasan through his daughter Martha. And when these doctors had proposed in both preaching and writing what we have recounted, those two princes, Erdebil and Ismail, father and son, approved and embraced their doctrine and sect. And indeed Ismail, of the surname Sophini, had such fortune that the fame of the new religion, which they called Sophian, drew to him first small, then larger troops of men, until at length, having vanquished in battle the kings of the Persians, his uncle Jacup and his son Alvantes, he slew them and subjected the kingdom to himself, which has been propagated among his descendants with royal dignity even to this day. Nevertheless, those two Persian imams or doctors, Haidar and Harust, are condemned with the execration C not only of the Osmanlis, but also of other Mahometans, as much in Barbary or Africa as in the vast empire of the Kezies, which is commonly called the Great Khan of the Tartars, or Chitainus. For these reasons, therefore, the Osmanlis are so hostile to the Persians that their mufti, that is, the patriarch or supreme pontiff, has delivered this sentence concerning them: namely, that it is more pleasing and acceptable to God, for the sake of the Mahometan religion, that one Persian be slain, even if he be a Mahometan by profession, than if any one should kill 70 Christians, who differ entirely in religion from the Mahometans. Finally, it is evident that at that time, when the illustrious and noble orator of the Emperor of the Christians to the Ottoman Porte, David Ungnad, Baron of Sonnegg, was about to depart from Constantinople and take leave of the Sultan of the Mussulmans, the Persian legate had also betaken himself to the Divan for the same reason. Seeing this man, who had arrived a little later, occupying the first place owed to himself, the orator of our Emperor was about to depart without saluting the Sultan; but Mechemetes Bassa, the vizir-azem whom we have mentioned, having noticed this, ordered the Persian to sit in a lower place, although he was a Mahometan. Whence it is evident that among the Turks, more Christians differ in religion from the Persians than become followers of Mahomet. D
Having set forth the causes and beginnings of the war, and that more fully and truly than has been performed by anyone before now, whose labor has come to light for the public, let us now come to the events themselves carried out in the war.
As stated above, the war was begun under Ismail II, Shah of the Persians. When he died not long after, although his brother and successor in the kingdom, Shah Muchemetes Hodabendes, had determined to prosecute the war begun by his brother, nevertheless, in order to enter upon it the more preparedly, he thought one thing should be done and another feigned, especially since the kingdom was not long since entered, and matters were not yet sufficiently settled, which the rash cruelty of Ismail had not a little disturbed. And so, desiring to bring a remedy to the disturbances that had lately arisen between the two nations, he sent legates with letters to Sultan Murates, in which he signified that he had never approved of his brother’s counsel in breaking the peace, but had always desired above all that the peace and mutual friendship—once established between the two families and cultivated for so many years—might be preserved perpetually. On the other hand, Murates, who believed the exposition and declaration of the indicated dreams to be true, and was being fired up without intermission to bring war upon the heretical Persians by the aforesaid sheik and hoggia, made little account of the Shah Muchemetes' embassies and letters; and so, scarcely having heard the legates, he ordered that a numerous and powerful army should be gathered. Another instigator was added, and one no less sharp, Ilusreves Bassa of Van, who daily kept sending couriers with letters to Constantinople, through which letters he rendered Sultan Murates more certain that, in reality, the Persians were not seeking peace, but had sent letters and legates to the Porte merely for the sake of appearances, so that they might interpose a delay and, by carrying on the war, might render themselves better prepared in all matters.
In the Mahometan year 984 (A.D. 1577), Shah Muchemetes entered into a league with those peoples whose emperor is by far the most powerful of all in the whole world, the Ulu Chan Chitainus, and who is wont to be styled Kezies Bassa, and joined them to himself as allies in waging war against the Turks, even though his ancestors had waged continuous wars with them. For although they themselves are also Mahometans, they nevertheless differ from the Persians in certain opinions concerning religion. He had also, besides these, many auxiliaries of no small authority from among the Turks themselves, who differed from other Ottoman Turks in their opinion of religion and inclined toward the Sophians. Finally, he also obtained not small forces from the Georgians, who were anciently called Iberians, and who to this day profess the Christian religion, yet differ somewhat from the Greeks and our own. They obey different princes, and in their hearts incline toward the Persians, to whom they were of the greatest profit in this war.
A had been utterly crushed by the king, and that neither arms, nor men, nor anything else worth mentioning were left in the cities or the citadels. They no longer hoped that the principality of the Peloponnese would remain under their control in the future, but were convinced that they would suffer the total loss of all their possessions.
Amurates, once he occupied the Isthmus and had come into the Peloponnese, first ordered about three hundred of the captives—who had fled during the night to the mountain situated above Cenchreae, which they call Oxy, and had escaped—to be surrounded as if by a hunting net. All were captured, and having deceived them, he led them to a single place and cruelly slaughtered them. Afterward, Amurates bought six hundred captives, whom he intended to offer as a sacrifice in honor of his father, wishing to expiate the slaughter of those men.
Having performed these acts, he divided his army. He handed one part to Turachanes, the governor of Thessaly, as he was experienced and, indeed, had had the most dealings with the Turks in the Peloponnese, and he gave him about a thousand of the new arrivals to march through the inland territory; he himself marched through Sicyonia, straight toward Achaia. B Having arrived at Sicyon, on the very day the Isthmus was taken, the king’s army attacked and plundered the entire city most thoroughly. Since the men were away at the Isthmus and the city was not situated in a fortified location, they were enslaved immediately at that time, and they proceeded for a great distance across the Peloponnese, chasing both the leader and the other Greeks, as everyone fled in whatever direction they could. He took the city empty and began to besiege the acropolis. There were present there Mulgerius, a Greek, and some other Greeks, not many of them, along with their wives and children. C When, after undermining the acropolis, he came to an agreement with the guard of the acropolis, he surrendered himself and the fortress. He sent these people, along with the women and children, to Aegium, a flourishing city, while he himself set fire to the buildings of the conquered city.
Having done this, he went further and arrived at Patras, a flourishing city of Achaia. The inhabitants had deserted this city, fleeing to the continent of the Venetians, which lay opposite. However, some remained in the citadel and in the palace: fools indeed, for while the others took care to flee, they themselves precipitated their own grave danger. There were four thousand of them. D Amurates received the men and women who were in the palace into his protection through terms, and enrolled them all into the list of slaves. He then began the assault on the citadel, and sent the new arrivals to capture it suddenly. They made an attack on the wall with great force, and having undermined it, they forced their way in. The Greeks, having ignited resin and pitch with fire at the opening, repulsed the new arrivals as they defended themselves and reinforced the acropolis. Amurates, when Turachanes arrived from there, bringing as many captives as possible, was present.
That act, they say, was committed by Osman for two reasons. First, because he feared that as time went on his father-in-law might remove him from the scene. Further, so that once the fortress of Temircapina had been brought under his control, he might surrender himself and the region to the patronage of his sultan, Osman, which he indeed did. For when the Shamkhal Khan died, Osman Pasha remained the sole and absolute prince in his father-in-law’s territory, with absolutely no one to hinder him. He immediately dispatched messengers via Caffa—which is situated to the north between Tatary and Muscovy, and has Circassia to the south—with letters to the Ottoman Sultan Murad, committing and commending himself entirely to his faith and power. At the same time, he set forth what he had achieved, requesting that, if he were indeed thinking of supreme empire not only over that place and domain but over the whole Caspian Sea, Muscovy, the East Indies, Samarkand, Khorasan, and the Persian regions of Gilan, he should send him an army, funds, and provisions at the earliest opportunity. Sultan Murad, moved by these joyful tidings, saw to it that he received other necessary things, and in addition sent 60,000 Tatars along with two brothers of the King of Tatary, one of whom was subsequently strangled by Osman Pasha in the year 991 (1584 A.D.). And these things were done in the first year of the war, namely 985 (1578 A.D.), in which it is established that over 70,000 perished, whether by battle or by the Turkish shortage of supplies.
When the winter passed and the summer of 986 (1579 A.D.) arrived, and the auxiliary forces with funds had reached Temircapina, the Ottomans began to inflict damage on the enemy through their usual raids into the borders of Shirvan. This situation led to a great battle with the Persians, in which the Tatars, along with one of the King of Tatary’s brothers, were slaughtered and destroyed, while the other brother, still alive, was taken by the enemy. Osman Pasha himself escaped, though barely, with a very few of his men. Since the disaster of the ill-fated battle had left him with mere scraps of troops, he began, in the manner of Turkish brigands, to infest surrounding territories daily with predations, showing no regard or consideration for friend or foe. By these robberies he both lived himself and fed his own men, repeatedly retreating with them to the aforementioned fortress if the enemy threatened. And it is said that the location of this fort is by nature most defensible; having placed upon it a band of Janissaries using muskets, along with several field pieces and falconets, he rendered himself so safe and the fortress itself so impregnable against those naked and unarmed peoples—who had never in their whole lives seen the artillery of war or muskets with their own eyes, nor heard the thunder of them with their ears—that he seemed a monarch to himself.
On the other side, the aforementioned Pasha Mustapha, observing this turn of events, did nothing at all through the winter of 985 (1578 A.D.), remaining with his troops at Erzurum, as we indicated above. At the beginning of the following summer, in the year 986 (1579 A.D.), he led his army to the Persian borders and clashed in various battles, sometimes with the Persians, sometimes with the Georgians, yet he always departed defeated, with significant loss of his own men. In the same year he fortified Kars, a place four days' journey from Erzurum toward Yerevan, and appointed a beylerbey and a defterdar over it. Similarly, at Tschildir, situated on the borders of Georgia, he established another beylerbey with a defterdar.
In this same year, Sultan Murad also sent the grand admiral, Uluzali Pasha, with the fleet to Mingrelia, a region of the peoples of Colchis, to build a fortress in those parts. For this absolute authority, a beylerbey was appointed by him, along with a defterdar. The name of the place is Fassa. Sultan Murad had ordered Fassa to be constructed so that he might open a shorter and safer route in those parts, by which the troops could more easily be led against the Georgians, and once they were defeated and brought under the yoke from that direction, it would be all the more convenient to march beyond Temircapina to wage war on Shirvan. Not long after the grand admiral Uluzali had departed from there with his soldiers and fleet, however, the fortress of Fassa was thoroughly razed and laid waste by the enemy.
Since the war was being conducted with little success by Mustapha Pasha, and the soldiers were miserably afflicted by a scarcity of provisions and a plague violently raging in the camps, he was ordered by letters from Sultan Murad to withdraw to Amasya to spend the winter. He nevertheless remained through that winter in Erzurum with the remnants of the army, the greater part of the soldiers having slipped away due to destitution, the virulence of the contagious pestilence, and the approaching cold of winter, and the beylerbeys themselves having returned home when they saw that nothing could be correctly accomplished against the enemy.
Meanwhile, the Persian set out from Qazvin—which is the second and more interior capital of his empire—toward Tabriz with his forces. There, having been informed about the Turks who were scattered here and there and fleeing, he rushed into the enemy territory and, laden with immense booty, himself dismissed his soldiers into winter quarters. Upon learning of this Persian incursion, Murad, fearing that the enemy might advance further, immediately commanded Mustapha by letter to move with all his army to the Persian borders once again. He, however, did nothing of the sort, as he had already learned through scouts of the Persians' departure; and besides, even if he had greatly desired to lead his forces against the enemy, he could have achieved nothing due to the contumacy of his army, which was completely disobedient. Indeed, it is established that at one time there was deliberation in the camps about murdering Mustapha, the causes of the hatred against him being primarily an insatiable avarice and a supine negligence in procuring provisions and other necessities for the soldiers; for this reason it had come about that, with the soldiers killed by famine and pestilence, the camps were seen to be all but exhausted. For these reasons, Mustapha was recalled by Sultan Murad to the Gate [the Sublime Porte], and in his place was substituted Sinan Pasha, who on account of his severity toward all...
and having made an about-face, departed. After this, not long later, he concluded a truce, and from then on, the Greeks were subject to the payment of tribute, having previously been free. A Thus, the city of Thebes, when the king attempted to attack the Peloponnese, they abandoned, and the men, having migrated, withdrew to the Isthmus, where they were eventually captured by the Turks. The region outside, that is, the Pindus and the rest of the king’s territory, immediately after the capture of the Isthmus, came into the king’s power. This is how far matters went in the Peloponnese.
And the king, in the following summer, campaigned against Scenderes, the son of Iban, who, having arrived at the king’s court as a boy and having become his favorite, had fled back to his paternal land; and having taken as his wife the daughter of Arianites, he fought openly against the king. They neither paid tribute to the king, nor did they go to the court themselves, nor were they willing to obey. For this reason, having gathered all his army from both Asia and Europe, he marched against the land of Iban; and when he invaded the country, he plundered and burned the crops, dispatching his forces wherever he could reach, and he set fire to the villages and the fields. And the crops were burned by the army, and everything there was destroyed. B Scenderes, therefore, had sent ahead to the seaside region of the Venetians along the Ionian Sea, both he himself and all the Albanians, their wives and children, so that they might be safe from the impending danger. They themselves, moving about, went from one place to another in the region, in case their cities needed any help. And they stayed upon the mountain that hangs over their land and stretches as far as the Ionian Sea, watching to see how matters would turn out for them. Amurates, advancing, first besieged the city of Sphetia, and proposed terms, that they should surrender it, and that they themselves should each go off to their own affairs; but they would not be persuaded. After this, he attacked with his new recruits, and took the city by force, and enslaved it, and put all the men to death. After this, he proceeded against Getia, and received it by agreement, and having enslaved those in the city, he marched his army against the city of Crua, which is the preeminent city among those in the land of the Albanians. It is situated in a very strong position. C He took up a position before it, and besieged it, and struck the wall with his cannon, and brought down no small part of it. After this, he attacked with the new recruits, intending to take the city. And since he was not able to take it, he led away the army; for it was already late in the year, and winter, having set in, was pressing hard upon the army. He was bringing his son, who was just coming into his youth, Mechmetes, around with the army, ever since he had taken the kingdom from him. D And it happened in the following way: when he was fighting against the Paeonians at Varna, and he saw his army turning in flight, and becoming fearful 186
which Sinan Pasha desired, more than what had been done by Mustapha beyond the territories and regions situated outside Sirvan—yet, because of the scarcity of soldiers consumed by famine and plague, he could accomplish nothing worthy of memory, except that he established two beglerbegs on the borders of the Georgians, with two defterdars, some at Sochuma, others at Batina. Such are the names of the cities there. However, the beglerbegates in those parts are not to be highly esteemed. Indeed, more beglerbegates were established in those frontier places than sanjakates. The same Sinan Pasha, when he was at one time about to enter the region of the Curggini, that is, the Georgians, experienced a grave slaughter of his men, and many of his war engines were even left behind there. At another time, when he was sending auxiliary forces and money to Tiflis, which was being besieged by the enemy, his army was attacked by the Persians and Georgians with such impetus that, having lost all their equipment, almost none of them returned alive to the camp of Sinan. This caused the Turks, who were besieged within Tiflis, to be extinguished by dire famine, having even tasted the flesh of dogs and mice. 373 On the fourth day of the month of August, in the year 987 (A.D. 1580), there came to Constantinople an orator sent by the Persian Shah, Maxudes Chan, who, in the name of his king, was authorized to conclude peace with Sultan Murad. He was received magnificently by Mustapha Pasha and other nobles of the Porte.
On the sixth day of the same month, Mustapha Pasha died, having contracted a disease only two days earlier from a rather greedy consumption of melons, upon which he had poured a generous amount of water diluted with sugar (which the Turks call Zerbetum). Many thought that he had brought death upon himself by taking poison out of fear of punishment, since he feared that if he were accused by the Persian orator—on top of previous matters because of which he had incurred the indignation of Sultan Murad—concerning several missions of his king that had been suppressed, he would face the danger of death with great infamy. There was indeed a constant rumor throughout all Constantinople at that time that he would be strangled. The property of the deceased was confiscated to the treasury, with a certain portion left to his grandsons, who, being still under age at that time, were transferred to the services of the Porte. Sultan Selim II had once used him as a tutor. Later, when he had become beglerbeg of Cairo, he was within a hair's breadth of being killed by the order of Selim. He was altogether worthy to be his own executioner, due to the treachery he practiced after the capture of Famagusta against Bragadin and others, and his truly beastly inhumanity. A
They were accustomed to inquire for what reason this "horse" of Mustapha Pasha—as they are wont to speak in this war—presses them. But the Persians never seem likely to do this; they declare that they will cede to the Ottoman family those territories on this condition: if the Turks can force them into their power with arms as well as hold and retain them by the sword. Besides this, they have explicitly declared several times that they would admit no other condition of peace. However, that Maxudes Chan, having finished his embassy and returned to his prince, committed the crime of treason some time later, deserted his lord, entrusted himself to the faith of Murad, and subsequently followed Ferbat Pasha, who was setting out for the Persian war, so that he might obtain some sanjakate in those frontiers.
In the year 988 (A.D. 1581), almost nothing memorable was done, because of the extreme lack of supplies on the frontiers and in the camps; the soldiers themselves were entirely disinclined toward this war, and were withdrawing themselves by any means they could. Sinan Pasha, also weary of a war that was being conducted with no profit and desiring to return to Constantinople, where he would receive greater advantages from the office of vizier—as he was a man of sagacious talent—decided not to continue the war against the Persian, but to establish peace by some means. For this reason, having sent Zausii and letters to the King of the Persians, he signified that if he wished to make peace with his prince, he should send an envoy who was prudent and of excellent authority, equal to such great business: thus, he said, it would undoubtedly come about that peace could be happily concluded between both sides and arms laid down. In the meantime, however, a truce was to be arranged, which would be observed in good faith on both sides. At the same time, he promised all his study and effort to settling the disputes on fair terms. This mention of peace was not unwelcome to the Persian Shah, and therefore, having soon granted and approved a truce, he replied that he would send an orator, having first deliberated on the cause. These things having been completed, Sinan Pasha left the camp and set out for Constantinople, entering the city around the middle of the month of July with exquisite pomp, with the nobles of the Porte going out to meet him.
On the seventeenth day of the month of August, the Persian orator was granted the opportunity to explain his embassy; although this seemed at first to be pleasing to Sultan Murad, it was nevertheless devoid of any fruit. For the cause of preventing the peace from being joined was this: the Ottomans wanted to make it to their own greatest advantage and the Persians’ detriment, namely, that the Persians should cede to the Turks everything contained within Sirvan, and whatever else—so to speak—Mustapha Pasha’s "horse" had impressed upon them in this war.
At the beginning of spring, in the following year 989 (A.D. 1582), on the twenty-ninth day of the month of March, there was sent by the Shah Mohammed one of the number of Persian nobles, whose name was Ibrahim Chan, who came to Constantinople with a great and distinguished retinue of more or less three hundred horsemen: partly to treat regarding peace with Sultan Murad, partly to be present at the Muslim ceremony, by which Murad’s son, Mohammed, an adolescent of more or less sixteen years, was to be circumcised with solemn rite. On the twenty-eighth day of the month of May began the celebration of this circumcision, unprecedented in our century, with the ambassadors of the greatest princes of almost the entire world present at Constantinople, namely of Rudolph II, the august Emperor of the Christians, and of Henry III, King of France (whose orator, however, Germinius Germollaeus...).
he was greatly alarmed, and he made a vow that if he should escape his present danger and obtain victory, he would resign his kingdom to his son, and depart to Asia to pass his life there, having priests and the Nazarites A with him, and frequent the places of worship and offer sacrifices there. So when he had extorted victory from the Pannonians, the king having been slain, he returned to his home, and summoning his younger son, he handed over the reigns of the kingdom. Now his eldest son, Aladines, was no longer alive, but had already paid the debt of nature, having been struck by something while hunting in the chase; and he died in this way. Mehmed, however, called to him the younger son to govern the kingdom. And when he reached him, having handed over the government and the gates and the newcomers, he himself departed for Asia, and to Prusa, where the royal seat was. Having therefore abdicated the kingdom, he dwelt with the Zichidians, who are the Nazarites or monks of the Turks, and with Scilidis, and with the learned men of that race, for a long time. B And long after, he repented of this, and of having departed from the kingdom and following a private life. But since he could not endure the condition of his life, he began to consider by what means he might recover the royal status and dignity. For he was carefully watching that his son might not perceive what he himself was contriving, lest a war should arise of which he would be held the author by the Turks. And this which he had planned he brought to an end, namely, that he would return to the kingdom by the work and industry of the son of Chatitis, of the family of Priam, whom he used familiarly, and with whom he had the closest intimacy. When Chatitis therefore understood the intention of Murates sufficiently, he bids his son Mehmed go hunting, that he might exercise himself on horseback C as much as possible. Now he, following the command, went off to the hunt. Meanwhile, Chatitis sends a messenger to the father, that he should suddenly come the same day to the royal city and bid the citizens receive him as king. Arriving on the appointed day, just as he had been commanded, busied with the hunting of the boy, he invaded the kingdom: arriving at the gates of the citizens, as is proper, he said: "My son," he said, "has yielded the kingdom to me with changed intent," not knowing what to do in the present business, but he followed the king and worshipped him: [he followed him] wherever he had gone to make war. Nor did it escape Mehmed that Chatitis had done this, having helped the father as much as possible. But although he might justly have been angry at Chatitis, he did not wish to show his anger, fearing the power of the man, whom he knew to have the greatest influence with his father Murates. Thus, at that time, because of the man’s power in the kingdom, his son was affected.
Now when he had led his army away from Macedonia, which lies toward the Ionian Sea, which is the land of the Albanians, D this...
that the commander of the land forces in those regions should be sent to confront him. A Osman Pasha, having accepted Murad’s command, did whatever had been enjoined upon him by him. For, having set out for Caffa, he spent that whole winter there. When summer arrived, in the year 991 (1584 A.D.), Sultan Murad sent there the brother of Muchemet the Tartar, whose name was Islan Chan. He had until then been kept at Iconium, a city of Asia. But now he was being taken to Caffa with the intention that Osman Pasha, having killed Muchemet, should give this man, the king of the Kerai Tartars, the position in place of Muchemet. When Islan Chan sailed to Caffa by Murad’s command, Uluzalis, the prefect of the sea, went with him, along with a few galleys and a not insignificant guard of the Porte’s janissary musketeers. After these had landed at Caffa, that unhappy Muchemet Chan, deserted by his own people and, most importantly, betrayed by his Kihaia, or the prefect of his court, fell into the hands of the Turks; and by them, together with two sons, he was strangled with his throat crushed. B In his place, with no one objecting, Islan Chan was soon appointed by them, according to the decree of Sultan Murad, to be the chan or king of the Kerai Tartars. Another son of his fled to the prince of the Nogai Tartars, his father-in-law. It seems likely that such a death befell Muchemet not undeservedly, due to the impiety he had exercised toward his father. For when the latter was worn out by old age and thought to be little suited for governance by his son, Muchemet had forced his father to abdicate the kingdom with the help of the Turkish sultan, and had soon transferred it to himself; yet the Tartars demanded his brother Islan Chan, whom the father also favored more. Islan, along with another, younger brother, had betrothed himself to the Polish king, Stephen Báthory, for fear of fraternal cruelty. At the request of Muchemet, the Turkish sultan urged the Polish king that they be surrendered to him. There was among the Turks a certain Transylvanian, commonly called Marchatzi Paul—that is, Paul Marchatzius—who had plotted against Transylvanian affairs. C When the king demanded him in return, some hope of surrender was given. Therefore, Murad consulted with his counselor, Siaus Pasha, and with the Beglerbeg of Rumelia or Greece, and the Cadilescher. When these persuaded him that such subsidies ought to be sent to the Tartar, he ordered that all things necessary for waging war be given to him. A hundred pack animals are said to have been sent to him, laden with small silver coins, which the Turks call *aspros* in the Greek style. The sum of these amounted to one hundred and eighty thousand German thalers, with the price of the thaler reduced to sixty *aspros*, which at that time had been established for this coin by the decree of Sultan Murad. And so, the load of one animal contained one thousand eight hundred thalers. He sent this money to the Tartar, besides other gifts, namely, garments made of cloth and silk, and weapons of every kind. But let the reader know that this was the reason why this Tartar Chan, Muchemet, was obligated to lead out or send his own forces house-to-house against whatever enemy Murad might choose, and at whatever time, seeing that he received annually in that name, for himself and his chiefs, from Murad a sum of two hundred thousand sultanins, more or less; D besides daily expenses, which were counted out to him for that purpose, according to Turkish custom, at one thousand *aspros* per day. When the Tartar had received what we mentioned from Murad, he departed from Crimio, his royal city, and pretended that he would proceed to Temircapi. But after having progressed some distance from Crimio, he returned home, claiming at one time to his men that he was doing so because the storms were adverse to the journey; at another time because of a suspicion he had conceived regarding his brothers; at another time because of the Cossacks (as they are called in the Moldavian and Wallachian borders, who are called Martelosi, Uscochi, and Morlachi in Hungarian, Croatian, and Dalmatian lands: unless it be that the Cossacks act in greater numbers), who could not be ignored, since not long ago, under the Polish leader Potocova, they had captured and sacked the neighboring Benderia, a fortress provided with Ottoman law and situated toward the Black Sea: now pretending these reasons, now those, for his excuses, he did not undertake the expedition promised to Murad. Indeed, I remember hearing from wise men, skilled in Turkish deceit, that it had been concluded in Murad’s council that the Tartar Chan should be sent away to those remote regions: so that meanwhile, while he was absent from home, his kingdom, which was otherwise also held under Sultan Murad’s empire, might be reduced to the form of a province under a Beglerbeg. And it is possible that he had sniffed out these Turkish ambushes, and for that reason had changed his plan for the journey, lest being intent on increasing and preserving the possessions of others, he should be stripped of his own. However the matter stands, Murad, taking it very ill that he had been deluded in this way and had suffered such a loss both of money and of other things, began to think of revenge. And so he sent a command to Osman Pasha, ordering that the command first be offered to him there: that he should leave there in his place Giafer Pasha (he had once been Beglerbeg of Temesvar, which had been in Hungary) with the title of Vizier of the Ottoman Porte, and then proceed with the highest speed he could to Caffa to punish the Tartar. [alt-version omitted] As for the Tartar brothers residing in Constantinople in the house of a certain Siaus, an old Hungarian, the younger one escaped to the Persians; lest Islan should imitate his example, he was first deported by galley to Rhodes: from there he was transferred to Iconium and kept there until, finally, having been made free, he was substituted for his brother Muchemet, as we have already indicated.
A region remained at peace for that year. At the approach of the following year, he commanded his army to follow him once more, and he marched again against Scanderbeg, the son of John, and against that region of the Albanians situated there, for he had ordered all his forces to be held ready and equipped. Full of rage, therefore, he set out toward Crua, as if to take it by force. Moreover, he intended to demand of the Venetians that they surrender Scanderbeg; and should they fail to do so, he would besiege whichever city Scanderbeg might enter as a fugitive. When he had entered the hostile territory, he moved directly toward Crua, and he ordered his soldiers to make an incursion into that part of the region which he had previously left intact and unravaged by plunder. Those who heard his command filled everything with conflagration and fire, and wretchedly devastated this region as far as the river. But they were unable to ravage the territory beyond the river, because it was impassable for the king’s cavalry. The Albanians, however, having sent their wives and children off to the fortified places of the Venetians, gathered upon the mountain that overlooks the city of Crua. From there, Scanderbeg led out the wives and children and deposited them in the cities of the Venetians. The men, however, were left behind in the city to resist the enemy and defend the walls; and those who were chosen for this task were those who wished to undertake the struggle willingly, not under compulsion. Amurates, sitting by, prepared his B heavy artillery, intending to bring down the wall and, remaining there, to enter the city with his foreign troops. When everything was prepared for him, he struck the wall with his artillery and brought down a large portion of it. Scanderbeg lit fires on the mountain, showing them to those within the city so that they would know, whenever necessity required, that he would be at hand to assist them. When certain of the king’s men ascended the mountain, Scanderbeg attacked them and fought, performing deeds worthy of mention. And when it seemed to the king that the wall had been sufficiently leveled, he readied, with his entire army, to join battle, and the foreign troops attempted to take the city where the wall lay fallen upon the ground. The defenders, however, fought more bravely than expected, their desperation giving them spirit. There, as he intended to besiege them until they were overcome by famine, and having launched a second, violent assault, a messenger arrived from George, the leader of the Triballi, announcing that John [Hunyadi], having gathered many of the Paeones, was crossing the Ister and marching against him with a hostile intent. When Amurates learned this, he made his preparations as quickly as possible and departed for the place where he heard the enemy was approaching, and he sent a herald to Europe to proclaim that all the Turks should come to him. These men arrived at his side as each was able to get away, that he might in time station each of them for battle. He was leading his entire army through a region of Mysia that lies along the land of the Triballi themselves. This is the region passed by the Morava river, which flows into the Ister. The king’s territory extends from there for eight hundred stadia.
… subordinates had placed. There had come forward a man of integrity and not in the least suspicious. He was advised to abandon the Cossacks and immediately go to the king, who they solemnly promised would impose no harsh sentence upon him. When he was deceived in this manner and had set out for the assembly at Warsaw, it was deliberated in the senate what should be done in this affair. It seemed to the greater part of the senators that one should by no means hand over to certain death at the hands of the barbarian a Christian man, a Polish soldier, and finally a brave man, who in the remarkable strength of his body excelled everyone in that kingdom. Rather, Zausius should be placated in the most accommodating way possible. In short, everything should be done for the safety of a man who, relying on the guarantee of a royal safe-conduct, had not hesitated to come to Warsaw. King Stephen, on the other hand, argued that Potocova had indeed been summoned under the public faith, but that this was not understood as having been given except in so far as he could explain and prove his case to be just. But now, since it is evident that he acted against the terms of the treaty, which Sultan Murad takes most indignantly, he cannot enjoy the benefit of the royal safe-conduct as a treaty-breaker and violator of the public peace. The threatening letters of the Sultan of the Turks had been heard, and if they did not value his wrath so highly, and preferred to have Potocova preserved, he himself would not oppose their will and would do his duty against any of the kingdom’s enemies; he warned them, however, not to rashly accumulate new enmities while the Muscovite war was not yet finished. With the Poles yielding to the royal opinion in this way, the execution of Potocova was carried out.
Following these events, in the Mohammedan year 990 (A.D. 1583), a certain Pole named Podolovius (he was called by this name in Constantinople; others call him Polidovius), born of noble birth and the second marshal of the royal stable, whom they commonly call the vice-marshal, was sent as an extraordinary envoy by King Stephen with letters to Sultan Murad, in which, among other things, it was requested that in the name of his king he be allowed to purchase a few thoroughbred horses in Anatolia, which the king might use for himself once they were brought to Poland. Having obtained Murad’s consent, he set out for Asia and bought twenty-four distinguished and truly royal horses. With these he crossed into Europe, intending to return home under the protection of Sultan Murad’s safe-conduct. But when by chance news of new Cossack movements and incursions reached the Porte, Murad immediately sent Zausius from Constantinople, who caught up with Podolovius on the road, slaughtered him and his men, and brought the royal horses, along with the rest of the envoy’s and his companions' belongings, back to Constantinople. A He came to Podolovius not far from Adrianople and told him of the mandate from his powerful sultan, even producing letters, to bring him back to Constantinople with his horses and companions. Podolovius denied that he would do this and showed his letters of safe-conduct. He said that neither these nor the person of an envoy ought to be violated against the law of nations, especially by allies. Zausius appealed to the jurisdiction of the nearest Cadi, or judge, who, having been summoned from the closest possible place, when he had come to the point of what was being brought forward by each party, heard it. He ordered the letters given by the Sultan, as much to Podolovius as to Zausius, to be shown to him: having inspected them, when he recognized that Zausius’s mandate was more recent, he declared that the force of the former had expired and the execution of the latter was required. They therefore began to return, and when Zausius was leading them away from the royal road, he was warned by the envoy to keep to the royal road. The barbarian shouted, asking whether he wanted to dictate laws to the Sultan of the Muslims and to his own people in his own kingdom, as to which path he ought to be led along? And so they went into the forest, where all were ordered to prepare themselves for death, in accordance with the Sultan’s mandate. He had thirty-four servants, who were slaughtered in order (except for one boy, who is said to have skillfully fled into the forest and escaped), and finally Podolovius, after prayers offered to God, had his head cut off by Zausius. B Zausius brought all his, 379, and his companions' things to Constantinople, along with the royal horses. By the order of Murad, the horses were in part received into the Sultan’s seraglio for Murad’s own use; in part they were distributed among the Pashas, and with singular ignominy for King Stephen, were shown to the people here and there.
When these things had happened throughout the autumn, at the beginning of the following year 991 (A.D. 1584), Mustaphas Zausius came to Grodno, which is situated in Lithuania, having been sent to King Stephen of Poland by Sultan Murad to excuse the slaughter of the royal envoy Podolovius, about which I have just spoken. He said—falsely narrating the matter, however—that he had been killed without any intervening order from Sultan Murad, as he had gone beyond the prescribed limits of his embassy to see the Turkish forces that were being sent against the Persians at that time. Now, by his mandate, Murad was bringing to him the perpetrators of the slaughter, so that King Stephen might exact punishment. Because, however, the Cossacks had recently inflicted great damage on the Turkish borders, Murad asked in turn that the stolen property be restored and the leader of the Cossacks be handed over to him for execution. He had come to Grodno at this time, enticed by the same bait of fraudulent words by which we said earlier that Potocova had also been circumvented. He was a warlike man, and had several times defeated the Turks who were bearing themselves too insolently on the borders in their usual manner. Murad wanted him to be sent to him in place of two worthless scoundrels, who perhaps had been sought for capital punishment for some other crime. With the leading nobles of the kingdom interceding with the king for his safety, he was indeed not handed over to the Turk, but nevertheless, it is uncertain where he was deported, for he was never seen again from that time. C That Mustaphas Zausius, who was not among the primary men but a vile one among his own, was accustomed to say after returning to Constantinople that he had foreseen from the beginning the terrible and threatening eyes of the Poles, who were fiercely incensed on account of the unworthy slaughter of the royal envoy committed against the law of nations, and it had appeared to him that he was in no small danger. But because he remembered that Potocova had previously been removed from the midst for fear of his sultan, he was completely hardened...
as far as the royal city of Nesium: to the traveler proceeding on the right, Nobopyrum, or Bopyrum, is inhabited upon the great mountain of the prince of the Triballi. B When Amurates arrived there, he found Joannes Choniates marching against him with the army of the Paeones, with hostile intent. In the camp of Choniates there were forty thousand infantry, recruited from both the Pannonians and the Dacians. There were seven thousand cavalry, and others were transported in wagons, the number of which was two thousand. In these were carried the arms and the supplies necessary for the expedition. On each wagon two men stood, a shield-bearer and an artilleryman. In the same wagons were carried many artillery pieces, which they call Zarobotanae. Armed and equipped in this way, they crossed the Ister. But the leader of the Triballi, judging that the army of the Pannonians was not so powerful that it could defeat the forces of the king, and fearing Amurates more than the foreign Pannonians, from whom he had suffered many evils—and although he was extremely desirous of avenging Amurates, who had deprived his eyes of others—nevertheless, he undertook that expedition joined to the Pannonians with an unwilling mind; indeed, he refused it entirely. For the Pannonians did not seem strong enough to defeat the king’s forces. When he had answered this to the Pannonians, Joannes, irritated by that response, hurled grave threats at the leader of the Triballi. Yet, without abandoning the expedition he had begun, he led his hostile forces into the king’s territory; C and having advanced as far as Aristinum, he fortified a camp in the field of Cosobo, where formerly Amurates, son of Orchanes, while engaging in battle against Eleazar, the despot of Serbia, and killing him, also fell himself, having been killed by a Triballian man. The cause which had drawn Joannes into this war was this: when he had seen in that engagement which was fought at Varna that the Turks, as soon as they had come to close quarters, had given way and taken to flight, he thought that the Turks could have been easily defeated, had not the imprudence of King Vladislaus prevented it. Nor did he say that it would be difficult or laborious to subdue the Turks in war even now. Therefore, he was turning it over in his mind to gather a greater army so that he might defeat Amurates, terrified by his forces. He thought these things so easy and simple to accomplish, that he did not even doubt that, just as he had conceived in his mind, D and Skenderbeg and Arianites, intending to have them approach and join with him in the forward parts of Europe; for so it had been declared also to them. But when Amurates, son of Mehmed, arrived at the field of Cosobo and found the enemies marching, he encamped. It is said that his army amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand. And on the following day he immediately drew up his line of battle as if for a fight. The regiments also drew up in battle array. And towards
A Having been commanded by the imperial legate to provide for their needs, they returned to their own people. Being summoned from his house by most affectionately written letters, he received as his companions on this journey several barons and noblemen, whose names it has pleased me to list, taken from the journal of Melchior Besolt, who described this journey of ours.
Karl Dietricstain, Baron in Holenburg and Finckenstain. Sigismund Ludwig, Baron of Polhaim. Johann Bernhard von Lembach, etc. Wolf Ungnad, Baron in Sonneck. Georg Hartmann, Baron of Liechtenstein, the legate’s brother. Johann Ulrich, Baron of Stahremberg. Georg Andreas, Baron of Buchaim. Stephan von Reva, Count of Turoc, a Hungarian. Wilhelm von Dietricstain. Johann Leunclavius. Franz Georg Oberdorf. Maximilian Mager von Fuchstat. Melchior Besolt. Anton von Stamp. Georg Rothut. Hector von Eltz, Prefect of the Court. Johann Jakob Eglof, Prefect of the Stables. Jakob Mielich. Viktor Rechlinger. Johann Basilius von Hohenwart.
There were also sixteen noble youths assigned to the service of the barons and noblemen, besides other plebeians. In short, the entire company, excluding the legate, consisted of eighty-nine persons. There were sixty-six horses, besides ten or twelve hired ones; and seventeen carriages (commonly called *coccios*) in which we were to be conveyed from Taurunum, or Belgrade, to Constantinople. For it is there that one disembarks, and by a terrestrial journey, leaving the Danube to the left, through Serbia, Bulgaria, part of Macedonia, and Thrace, one travels to Constantinople. The Pasha of Buda had added to the companions of the journey one of the nobles, who are called *Beys* by the Turks, as well as three *chaouses*, who hold the place of commissioners in our courts, and three Janissaries. These, with their own servants, were themselves conveyed in seven chariots or carriages, beyond the mounted men. B Heinrich, Baron von Liechtenstein, after the gift had been offered to Sultan Murad, having lost his brother Georg Hartmann, who died in Constantinople, and now being himself weakened by a long illness, sent back the greater part of his household with the horses and carriages from Constantinople on the twelfth day of December to Austria; he himself decided to return home by a Venetian ship, towards the beginning of spring, by way of central Greece.
The following year, on the thirteenth day of the month of April, he came to Gallipoli, situated on the Hellespont; where, as his illness grew worse, to the great grief of his people, on the 16th day of the same month, amid continuous prayers, as if falling asleep, he happily exchanged this mortal life for the immortal one. Present then as he departed to the blessed abodes of the pious was Johann Leunclavius, whom he had deeply desired to have as a companion on this journey. For the sake of the memory of the deceased, he left with Dionysius of Chios, a learned monk and an excellent man, the chief of the church of St. Mark in Gallipoli, the plaque listed here, written in the Greek, Latin, Italian, and German languages: until a due monument to the virtue and piety of the excellent baron shall be erected by his brothers, the most generous barons, Georg Erasmus and Johann Septimius—the latter of whom, of his own order, has in our century travelled through a greater part of the world, wandering and observing, more successfully than any other German.
IN THE YEAR OF CHRIST 1585, ON THE 16TH DAY OF APRIL. THE ILLUSTRIOUS AND GENEROUS LORD HEINRICH, BARON VON LIECHTENSTEIN, OF NICOLSBURG, AMBASSADOR OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR RUDOLF II TO THE OTTOMAN GATE, PIOUSLY MIGRATED FROM THIS TO THE CELESTIAL LIFE. BURIED IN THIS TEMPLE OF ST. MARK IN GALLIPOLI, AT THE STEPS, NEAR THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL. ON THE 20TH DAY OF THE MONTH OF APRIL, IN THE YEAR INDICATED ABOVE.
I assuredly promise myself that this mention of our journey will not be unwelcome to the human reader, by which I was pleased to perform in passing my own duty toward the blessed spirit of the excellent Baron Heinrich, whose benevolence and love toward me I had experienced continuously from the very first years of his own youth. Now, returning to our plan, let us finally at last finish this task.
In this summer also of the year 991 (A.D. 1584), Sultan Murad, while amusing himself with his mutes, nearly perished. For we have said above that the mutes are a great delight to the Osmanid sultans, as they skillfully know how to reveal the thoughts of their minds by certain signs, and in turn to understand what is indicated by the Sultan through motions and signs. C Murad was accustomed to place these mutes upon very large horses—slow on account of their size—while he himself used those that were most agile, especially Arabian ones; and, riding from one to another, he would drive them to run by beating both the mutes and their horses with ox-hide whips (which they call *caravazza*). While engaged in this sport, he was seized by an epileptic fit, which was familiar to him, and fell from his horse to the pavement with such a heavy crash that he was believed by the whole city to be either already dying or dead. D And so the Janissaries, according to their custom, as if the Sultan were deceased, were already seizing and plundering the shops of the Christians and Hebrews; and a great tumult was about to arise in the city, had not the Agha or commander of the Janissaries maturedly ordered that one caught in the very act be immediately hanged, to strike terror into the rest; some slaves, too, who were dressed in the garb of Janissaries, were led in the Turkish fashion to the hooks of the Scutari or Galata staircase, and there suffered the penalty of death. If Mehmed, the son of Murad, who was living in Magnesia, had been in the city at that time, it would have been all over for the life and empire of the father. Nevertheless, Murad recovered, and immediately after our arrival, on a certain Friday, which is sacred as the weekly feast day of the Turks, he rode out from the new seraglio (that it is called *yenisearai* by the Turks will henceforth be clear from the declaration of the annals), with us all observing, in the manner that was customary.
A the right wing was the Asian army, having Scura as general; and on the left was the European general, Carazies, having the European army. Each of the commanders also had his cavalry, and drew them up in order. The king himself was stationed in the center, for it is there that he is accustomed to encamp, having a rampart thrown up. After this, he had the camels set up there, and after that, the shields fastened upon them; then he drew up the new arrivals along with the cannon and small artillery and the rest. And when he had drawn them up, John Choniates also came against him, having arranged himself thus: on his right were the Hungarian lords and his nephews—Secoule was his name, and Eiloces, and Megalouses. In the center, Choniates himself was stationed, having the so-called Bitezidae, and the Ardelii B army. The left wing was held by Danus, who was useful to him, whom he had brought down into the Dacian land, and because of his enmity toward Dracules, had driven him out of his rule and made the country subject to himself, and had installed Danus to rule over it. There were about eight thousand Daces with him, who had arrived for this war.
When both sides had drawn up their ranks and appeared to be calling for the battle, Bitezes, one of Choniates’ soldiers, riding forward into the middle between them on his horse, challenged any one of the Turks to single combat before the armies came together. When the Turks realized that he had come forward to fight in single combat, they stood still themselves. And then there rode out from the other C army Eliezes, son of Barisaza, one of the commanders in Asia, a man who had proved himself good in warfare and was formerly commander of the new arrivals at the court of the king. When he had advanced into the center, he rushed against the Pannonian, and they immediately charged each other with their spears and broke them. And Bitezes fell there to the ground with his horse; and Eliezes, having had his breastplate cut and his belt and saddle broken, was riding on the very hindquarters of the horse. For his horse was much better than the other, and though he did not have the means to slay the Pannonian, who had fallen with his horse—at the moment he himself was also hardly and with difficulty managing to ride—still, upon the falling of the Pannonian, the Turkish army raised a great shout, considering it an omen. When both had ridden back to their own respective camps, Amurates the king, having summoned Eliezes into his presence, D spoke to him in this manner: "O boy, from what beginnings [such a great task]...
did you become so skilled in military matters? You had not previously fought elsewhere, yet you arrived among an army already engaged in battle and learned how one must join in the conflict?" B And when he replied, "O King, I learned this bravery from a hare," the King, struck with wonder at the matter, is said to have asked: "And how, O youth, could someone become skilled in military matters from a hare?" And he said: "I, O King, was spending time in Asia, in the region over which you placed us, and where you had appointed my father as governor, and I was out hunting. I happened to find a hare in its lair; and I thought it would be quite secure for me, in order that the hare might not escape, to shoot it with an arrow and take it. For of all the hares we know, those in Attalia are the swiftest of runners, and they are considered the ones of Europe to be of the best. While I was considering these things, I had a quiver ready, loaded with forty arrows. I shot the first arrow and missed. I then released a second arrow, which I likewise discharged at the hare; and this, too, led astray by error, harmed the hare not at all, though it was still snoring soundly. Therefore, taking it badly that I had not wounded the hare, I immediately shot all my arrows at it. But when there were no arrows left for me, the hare, having been awakened from its sleep, as soon as it perceived the commotion, took to flight. The dogs gave chase for a short distance, but they did not catch it. Then I realized, as my arrows had gone to waste, that it was still fated for that hare to live. And from then on, a conviction became fixed in my mind, O King, that I should deem that neither sword, nor spear, nor arrows were any longer to be feared—for if it is ordained by fate that I shall live longer, no spear could take my life from me. C For this reason, I proceeded with a valiant heart, not trembling at all, against this Pannonian here, knowing that if it is decreed by fate that I am to live longer, no danger could befall me from him." Hearing this, the King was wonderfully delighted and, because of this reasoning, esteemed the youth highly, and at that time gifted him with a robe of Syrian workmanship, inwrought with gold; and after this, he appointed him governor of his ancestral land, for his father had already died, and another man was administering that land, having been set there by the King. The race [of the Turks] is indeed divinely disposed to credit the glory of fate, as are almost all the others who are turned toward the religion of Mehmed. This is how the single combat occurred. But when the royal armies were stationed in the field, drawing up their standards to do battle, D the Asian army remained at rest. For the King feared that if the Asians were the first to make contact and were put to flight, that would be the danger of his military forces being immediately destroyed and lost in panic. But the Asian army remained standing, while he divided the European forces into cohorts, for as soon as he saw the Pannonians arrayed and advancing, he stood them for the battle. And thus, those European forces joined in the fray and fought. But much...
fought, struggling beyond hope, in a manner worthy of record. For having A advanced in small numbers, as the Pannonians were doing, they fled with all speed, in such a way that the Pannonian horses, following in pursuit, grew extremely weary and exhausted. And here, as the Turks had sufficient distance from the flight, they shot their horses with arrows, and coming up from behind, they cut down the Pannonians. For since they were the more numerous, and were carried on much better horses, and for the most part managed the battle with skill, they bore themselves better than the Pannonians. And on the first day, many Pannonians fell in the battle, and many of the Turks were also destroyed by the Pannonians. And for this whole day both sides fought, and they were evenly matched; but when it was late, they withdrew from one another, and both sides having returned to their camps, they rested. B The Pannonians, therefore, thinking that the Turks would depart by night and would not remain in their formation—and indeed, not a few of the horsemen had departed, but when they found the Triballi waiting in the narrow passes, they returned again to the camp—the Pannonians thus supposed that on the morrow, with a small part of the army, they would draw up against them, as the others would be departing and not remaining, and that by thus waiting they would immediately take the doors of the king. But the king and the Turks, having taken courage, were no longer affected by the same fear regarding the Pannonians; rather, being more emboldened, they were preparing, as if to fight on the next day, to put the Pannonians to flight.
The day, then, turned out in this way. But on that night, the Pannonians took counsel as to how they might conduct the battle on the morrow, and each man set forth his opinion as it seemed best to him for commencing the battle. And there was much talk. There, as they were deliberating, Tautes, the son of Sauzes, a descendant of Amurates, being of the race of the Ottomans, C came forward into the midst and spoke as follows: "For us, enough has been fought in Asia and in Europe, nor do we [think it] right, while attending to these [matters], to conduct the battle against the affairs of Amurates, laboring in vain. For if we do not provide for killing these men, we would not be able to overcome them so easily. But it seems to me that he who fights in a war, if he strikes a vital blow, he casts down the enemy and is able to use the army as he wills. And where could one strike more vitally than in the head? For it leads the whole body, and in it is the city; but if one does not strike a vital blow, it will be laborious and difficult to dispose of the enemies. And now, this is how it seems [to me]. For you see how the doors of the king stand D not at all eager for the battle, nor are they willing to risk danger, as if bearing the whole of this...
A king’s army and its necessity [depends on them]. Come then, let us move this formation of the king, and once this is gone, no one among the others will be willing to remain for us. It seems good to me, therefore, that we move our entire camp, and with the carriages upon which our cannons and smaller artillery happen to be, go during this night against the doors immediately, and not delay. And if we advance, firing upon the doors of the king with our cannons and other projectiles, and terrorizing them, I think that they will not remain until daybreak, but as the night is, so will they go, departing gladly. And once we have repelled their affairs, we might possess theirs. Saying these things, Taoutes persuaded them, and they acted in this way. And immediately, with the carriages, they advanced toward the king’s camp around the first watch of the night. But as they came close to the doors of the king, there they terrorized the new arrivals B with cannons and smaller artillery, and they attacked the camp of the king; and they fought greatly against that part, so that it appeared clearly. For the new arrivals, having prepared both the cannons and the smaller artillery, were directing fire against the Paeonians; and not a few of both sides fell on this night, being destroyed for the most part by the cannons. But when day was near, and they saw the king's camp established in the region and fighting worthily of mention, it seemed best that, having moved, they should retreat to the place in which they were encamped, and not wait to be surrounded by the soldiers of the king, having come near the doors. And as it seemed best, they did these things; they withdrew to their own region, where they were established before. And when day came, he drew up for battle a second time, intending to test how things might turn out for him. And drawing up in battle, having charged into the army of Asia, he made an engagement there; as he engaged, the commander C of Europe sent Turachanes, the prefect of Thessaly, with his own army, so that having come to the rear, he might engage the Paeonians as forcefully as he could. There Turachanes, having come to the rear of the Paeonians, struck down many of them in this battle. For some were pursuing the Albanians, and as they pressed on pursuing, these were fleeing with all their might. Except indeed for the attendants of the commanders who were Europeans, and having separated as they fled, they fought in the manner which is customary for the Turks against the Paeonians. But against those from Europe, being pressed upon from the rear, they turned and fought in close formation, at one time or another in the plain as each encountered the other. But they, as they saw the Turks fighting far beyond expectation, and that it was setting upon them most harshly, and that escape from the evil would be difficult, and even if they arrived safely, there was no way on oath that they would not be given...