The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq Volume 1

THE LIBRARY

of

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY

Toronto

OGIER GHISELIN
DE BUSBECO

VOL. I.

AVGERrVS GISLENVS BVSBEQVIVS.
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THE

LIFE AND LETTERS

OF

OGIER GHISELIN DE BUSBECQ

SEIGNEUR OF BOUSBECQUE
KNIGHT, IMPERIAL AMBASSADOR

BY

CHARLES THORNTON FORSTER, M.A.

Late Fellmv of Jesus College, Cambridge : Vicar of Hinxton
AND

F. H. BLACKBURNE DANIELL, M.A.

Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge : Barrisier-at-Law

TloKKSiv av^ptii-KQiv fSei/ fto-Tfo koX v6ov lyva

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL. I.

LONDON
C. KEGAN PAUL & CO., i PATERNOSTER SQUARE

1881

22(o

BaAs

V.I

KEF. & REN.

( 7'Ae rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved)

TO

MONSIEUR JEAN DALLE

MAIRE OF BOUSBECQUE

AS A SLIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HIS KINDNESS

AND THE VALUABLE ASSISTANCE WE HAVE

DERIVED FROM HIS RESEARCHES

THESE VOLUMES ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

PREFACE.

We ask to be allowed to introduce the Reader to a
kind and genial cicerone, who can take him back, three
centuries deep, into the Past, and show him the Turk
as he was when he dictated to Europe instead of
Europe dictating to him ; or conjure once more into
life Catherine de Medici, Navarre, Alengon, Guise,
Marguerite the fair and frail, and that young Queen,
whom he loved so well and served so faithfully.

CONTENTS

OF

THE FIRST VOLUME.

Life of

BUSBECQ

Turkish

Letter

I.

r»

}j

II.

»

»

III.

J'

It

IV.

PAGE
I

75
174
192

Errata.

The references in footnotes on pp. 105-250, to other passages in this volume
after p. 72, should be advanced by 2 pages, e.g. for 163, read 165.

LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

Introdttctory.

The days are now past when students were content to
take their history at second hand, and there is there-
fore the less reason to apologise for introducing to the
reader, in an English dress, the letters of one who was
an eyewitness and actor in some of the most important
events in the sixteenth century.

Several of the most striking passages in Robert-
son's History of Charles V. are taken from Busbecq ;
De Thou has borrowed largely from his letters ; and
the pages of Gibbon, Coxe, Von Hammer, Ranke,
Creasy, and Motley, testify to the value of informa-
tion derived from this source. It must not, however,
be supposed that all that is historically valuable in his
writings has found a place in the works of modern
authors. On the contrary, the evidence which Busbecq
furnishes has often been forgotten or ignored.

A remarkable instance of this neglect is to be found
in Prescott's account of the capture of Djerb6,^ or
Gelves, by the Turks. The historian of Philip II. has
made up this part of his narrative from the conflicting
and vainglorious accounts of Spanish writers, and does
not even allude to the plain, unvarnished tale which

1 See Prescott, Philip II.., book iv. chap. i.
VOL. I. K

LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

Busbecq tells— a tale which he must have heard from
the lips of the commander of the Christian forces,
his friend Don Alvaro de Sande, and which he
had abundant opportunities of verifying from other
sources.

The revival of the Eastern Question has drawn
attention in France ^ to the career and policy of one
who was so successful as an ambassador at Constanti-
nople, and the life of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq has
been the subject of two treatises at least since i860,
while a far more important work dealing with our
author's life is about to issue from the press. Of this
last we have been allowed to see the proof-sheets, and
we take this opportunity of expressing our obligation
to the author. Monsieur Jean Dalle, Maire de Bous-
becque. His book is a perfect storehouse of local
information, and must prove invaluable to any future
historian of the Flemings. It is entitled Histoire de
Botisbecque.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
hardly any author was so popular as Busbecq. More
than twenty editions ^ of his letters were published in
the literary capitals of Europe — Antwerp, Paris, Bale,
Frankfort, Hanau, Munich, Louvain, Leipsic, London,
Oxford and Glasgow. His merits as a recorder of
contemporary history are briefly sketched by a writer
of that period, who thus describes his despatches to
Rodolph : ' C'est un portrait au naturel des affaires de
France sous le r^gne de Henri HI. II raconte les
choses avec une naivete si grande qu'elles semblent se
passer a nos yeux. On ne trouve point ailleurs tant
de faits historiques en si peu de discours. Les grands

^ The Society of Sciences, Agriculture, and Arts at Lille has for
several years been offering a prize for an essay on Busbecq's life.
^ See Appendix, List of Editions.

HIS MERITS AS A WRITER.

mouvemens, comme la conspiration d'Anvers, et les
petites intrigues de la cour y sont egalement bien
marquees. Les attitudes (pour ainsi dire) dans lesquelles
il met Henri III., la Reine Mere, le due d'Alen^on, le
roi de Navarre, la reine Marguerite, le due de Guise,
le due d'Espernon, et les autres Courtisans ou Favoris
de ce tems-la, nous les montrent du cote qui nous en
decouvre, a coup seur, le fort et le foible, le bon et le

mauvais.' ^

All who have studied the letters of Busbecq will
endorse this opinion ; nor is it possible for anyone
even superficially acquainted with his writings, not to
recognise the work of a man who combined the rarest
powers of observation with the greatest industry and
the greatest honesty.

He was eminently what is called 'a many-sided
man'; nothing is above him, nothing' beneath him.
His political information is important to the soberest
of historians, his gossiping details would gladden a
Macaulay ; the Imperial Library at Vienna is rich
with manuscripts and coins of his collection. To him
scholars owe the first copy of the famous Monu-
mentum Ancyranum. We cannot turn to our gardens
without seeing the flowers of Busbecq around us —
the lilac, the tulip, the syringa. So much was the
first of these associated with the man who first
introduced it to the West, that Bernardin de Saint
Pierre proposed to change its name from lilac to
Busbequia. Throughout his letters will be found hints
for the architect, the physician, the philologist, and the
statesman ; he has stories to charm a child, and tales
to make a grey-beard weep,

^ Milangcs a'Histoire et de LUtirature, vol. i. p. 48, edition of 1702.
The author is Noel d'Argonne, who wrote under the assumed name of
de Vigneul-Marville.

B 2

LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

Of his careful and scientific investigations it is
almost unnecessary to cite examples. Never having
seen a camelopard, and finding that one had been
buried at Constantinople, he had the animal dug up,
and a careful examination made of its shape and capa-
bilities. On his second journey to Constantinople he
took a draughtsman with him, to sketch any curious
plants and animals he might find. He sent his phy-
sician to Lemnos to make investigations with regard
to Lemnian earth — a medicine famous in those days ;
while he despatched an apothecary of Pera to the Lake
of Nicomedia to gather acorus^ for his friend Mat-
tioli, the celebrated botanist.

While furnishing information of the highest value,
Busbecq never assumes the air of a pedant. He tells
his story in a frank and genial way, not unlike that of
the modern newspaper correspondent. If to combine
amusement and instruction is the highest art in this
branch of literature, he would have been invaluable
as a member of the staff of some great newspaper.
Among books, Kinglake's Eothen is perhaps the nearest
parallel to Busbecq's Turkish letters ; the former is
more finished in style — Busbecq evidently did not
retouch his first rough draft — but it does not contain
one tithe of the information. Such is the author for
whom we venture to ask the attention of the English
reader.

Even to those who can read the elegant Latin in
which he wrote, it is hoped that the notes and articles
appended may be found interesting and useful. They
have been gleaned from many different quarters, and
to a great extent from books inaccessible to the ordi-
nary student. This is specially the case with the
Sketch af Hungarian History during the Reign of

^ The sweet or aromatic flag.

HIS WORK AS A DIPLOMATIST.

Solyman. In no modern writer were we able to find
more than scattered hints and allusions to the history
of Hungary during this important epoch, when it
formed the battle-field on which the Christian and the
Mussulman were deciding the destinies of Europe.

The object of Busbecq's mission was to stay, by
the arts of diplomacy, the advance of the Asiatic
conqueror, to neutralise in the cabinet the defeats of
Essek and Mohacz. In this policy he was to a great
extent successful. He gained time ; and in such a
case time is everything. What he says of Ferdinand
is eminently true of himself^

There are victories of which the world hears much
—great battles, conquered provinces, armies sent be-
neath the yoke — but there is also the quiet work of
the diplomatist, of which the world hears little. In
the eyes of those who measure such work aright, not
even the hero of Lepanto or the liberator of Vienna
will hold a higher place among the champions of
Christendom than Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq.

Removal of the RtMish.

For the rebuilding of a house, it is absolutely ne-
cessary to remove the rubbish with which the site is
encumbered. Unfortunately, the process is equally
necessary in writing the life of Busbecq. There is
rubbish of ancient date and rubbish of modern date,
which cannot be ignored and must be removed. With
regard to one story, a writer of the present time is
specially bound to protest. It is to be found in the
treatise of Monsieur Rouziere, entitled. Notice sur
Aiiger de Btisbecq, Avibassadeur dti Roi Ferdinand i^"'

' See Fourth Turkish letter adfinem.

LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

en Ttirquie, et de V Empereur Rodolphe II. en France.
There is the more need for warning the reader against
it, because Monsieur Rouziere ushers in his narrative
with a long- tirade ag^ainst similar inventions. ' He is
not,' he tells us, ' a professor of history, or one of those
knights of the quill who wander from town to town
discovering documents which, like the Sleeping Beauty,
are waiting for the champion who is to break the
enchanter's spell.' Monsieur Rouziere is specially
bitter against ' un Americain qui vient de mourir en
parcourant I'Europe pour faire des decouvertes his-
toriques, et qui a I'Escurial avait fait la trouvaille d'une
relation sur la mort de don Carlos ecrite par son valet-
de-chambre.' With this preamble, he introduces his
readers to the following story, which is simply a
romance of his own creation :

' When Charles V. came to Flanders for the pur-
pose of installing his sister Mary, Queen of Hungary,
in the government, he visited Comines, in company
with Gilles Ghiselin, Seigneur of Bousbecque, father of
the Ambassador. As they were entering the town, the
Seigneur, entreating Charles to wait for a few moments,
knocked at the door of a house, which, though unpre-
tentious, had a dignity of its own. Out of it issued
a boy with sparkling eyes ; so interesting was his
appearance, that the words, ' O ! what a lovely child ! '
burst from the emperor's lips. The Seigneur bade
the boy kneel down. ' Ogier,' said he, ' look Avell at
your lord; when you are older you will serve him
as faithfully as your father and grandfather.' He then
informed the emperor that, not having any legitimate
children, he had allowed all his love to centre on this
offshoot, who, he fondly hoped, would one day be
admitted into his family.'

Monsieur Rouziere is certainly not fortunate in his

rouzi£re and huysmans.

story ; ^ the Seigneur's name was George^ and not Gilles,
and he had, moreover, three legitimate children. A
house at Coniines is shown as the scene of this event,
but from inquiries made on the spot, we have ascer-
tained that there is no tradition connecting it with
Busbecq earlier than the publication of Monsieur
Rouziere's treatise in i860. He is a lively and
amusing writer. It is the more to be regretted that he
has not regarded the line which separates biography
from romance.

Monsieur Huysmans, the well-known French artist,
has also laid the foundation of several errors in the
striking picture which has been purchased by the
Belgian Government, and now adorns the Hotel de
Ville of Belgian Comines. Its artistic merits make
one regret the more that he did not select one of the
many dramatic events in Busbecq's life, instead of
giving us a scene which not only is not recorded, but
never could have happened. In the first place, the
date 1555 is wrong; in no case could the scene have
taken place earlier than 1556. Secondly, Monsieur
Huysmans has been led into error by a loose transla
tion in the French version of Busbecq's letters by

^ Monsieur Rouziere being a complete stranger to the neighbourhood.
Monsieur Jean Dalle, the present Maire of Bousbecque, acted as his
cicerone. Before going away. Monsieur Rouziere selected an old house
in Comines to which he attached his legend ; this house is now shown as
the birthplace of the Ambassador, on the authority of a man who could
have had no acquaintance with the traditions of the place. On the other
hand, Monsieur Dalle's family have resided in the neighbourhood from
time immemorial, and Monsieur Dalle himself has for the last twenty
years taken the keenest interest in the subject. He tells us that there is
not the slightest evidence connecting the house with Busbecq, and that
no one ever heard of the story till after the pubhcation of Monsieur
Rouziere's brochure in i860.

^ That the name of Busbecq's father was George — and not, as usually
supposed, Gilles (^gidius) — is established by the deed of legitimation, a
copy of which is given in the Appendix.

LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

the Abb6 de Foy. For some time Busbecq was con-
fined to his house by the Turkish authorities. De
Foy, in speaking of this curtailment of his liberty, uses
the expression ' une etroite prison ' (whence, by the
way, some have supposed that Busbecq was confined
in the Seven Towers). Monsieur Huysmans, led
astray by this phrase, and imagining that the Ambas-
sador was confined in a prison, straightway concluded
that if he was imprisoned he must have been arrested.
On this he grounded the subject of his work, ' Soliman
fait arreter Busbecq, diplomat Flamand, Constanti-
nople, 1555.' There is also a striking error in the
persons represented in the picture. When Busbecq
first arrived at Constantinople Roostem was in dis-
grace, and Achmet held the post of chief Vizier. The
latter had only consented to accept the seal of office
on condition that the Sultan undertook never to re-
move him. The Sultan kept his word. When it was
convenient to reinstate Roostem, he did not deprive
Achmet of the seal of office, but of his life. The
execution of Achmet is one of the most striking scenes
recorded by Busbecq. Unfortunately, Monsieur
Huysmans had not studied his subject sufficiently, for
in his picture Roostem is in office, and Achmet stands
by as a subordinate.

As to errors of a less recent date, they are, for the
most part, such as an intelligent reader of Busbecq's
letters may correct for himself. For instance, it is not
hard to prove that the author of the life prefixed to
the Elzevir edition is wrong in stating that Busbecq's
father died before the Ambassador went to England,
when we find that he had an interview with him after
his return from our island. Neither is there much
danger of the veriest tiro being led astray by De Foy's
suggestion that, when Busbecq came to England for

DE FOY AND HOWAERT.

J*!

the marriage of Philip and Mary, he had long con-
versations with Henry VIII., who tried to induce him
to enter his service. There is, however, danger in
Howaert's ^ statement that Busbecq accompanied the
younger sons of Maximilian to Spain, and introduced
them to Philip. The story is not impossible in itself,
nor is it even improbable. But there is this suspicious
circumstance about it ; those who mention it do not
seem to be aware that Busbecq did accompany the
two elder sons of Maximilian, Rodolph and Ernest, to
Spain in the capacity of ' l^ctiyer trenchant! This
latter fact is established on the best of authorities,
namely, the Patent of knighthood issued by the Em-
peror Ferdinand to Busbecq, a copy '-^ of which we have,
through the kindness of a friend, been enabled to pro-
cure from the archives of Vienna.

That Busbecq accompanied the four younger Arch-
dukes to Spain is perhaps doubtful, and still more
doubtful is the story grafted on to it by later hands,
namely, that Busbecq pleaded the cause of the Nether-
lands before Philip II., obtained the recall of Alva and
the substitution of Requesens in his place. No facts
could be more interesting if they should but prove to
be true ; unfortunately they are at present without
authority.

BoJisbecque and its Seignenrs.

It is from the seigneury of Bousbecque that Ogier^
Ghiselin takes the name by which he is best known,
Busbecq (Latin, Busbequius).

^ See letter to Boisschot, appended to the Elzevir edition of Busbecq's
letters from France.

''■ See Appendix, Patent of ktiighthood.

^ Ogier is the name of an old Norse hero, who figures prominently in
the Carlovingian epic cycle. Jean Molinet says of some Burgundian

10 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

Properly of course his name is identical with that of
the seigneury, but, by common consent, the Ambassador
is known as Busbecq, while the name of the place,
after numerous variations — Bosbeke, Busbeke, Bous-
beke, &c., has settled down into the form Bousbecque/

It will be necessary therefore to speak of the man
by one name and the place by another.

The geographical position of Bousbecque has an
important bearing on the biography of the Ambassador ;
as the place is not marked in English maps, a plan of
the district is given in this volume showing the relative
positions of Bousbecque, Comines, Wervicq, Halluin,
&c. It will be seen that Bousbecque lies on the river
Lys, about two miles from Comines. In the times
with which we shall have to deal, it formed part of the
County of Flanders ; it is now part of the French fron-
tier, and is included in the Departement du Nord.

The neighbourhood of Bousbecque has a history
extending to early times, for close to it stands Wervicq,
marking with its name the Roman station of Viro-
viacum ; in Bousbecque itself Roman paving-stones
have been dug out on the road now known as the
' Chemin des Oblaers ; ' whence it may be assumed that
the road mentioned in the itinerary of Antoninus, as
running from Tournay to Wervicq, passed through
Bousbecque.

The depth of the river Lys, which is an affluent of
the Scheldt, exposed the neighbouring country to the
attacks of the Northmen ; the hardy pirates sailed up
the stream, and built their castles and forts on the

archers, who displayed great courage at a critical moment, ' Et n'y avoit
celui d'entre eux qui ne montrast mine d'estre ung petit Ogier.' (Molinet,
chap. XXX.) It was Latinised into Augerius, hence some write Auger.

1 Bousbecque takes its name from a tributary of the Lys, which is still
called Becque des bois.

BOUSjBECQUE and its seigneurs. II

banks of the river. Their descendants became the
seigneurs, or lords, of the territories which their ances-
tors had won.

A distinction must here be drawn between the
seigneury of Bousbecque and the parish (now com-
mune) of Bousbecque. The parish of Bousbecque
contained a great many other seigneuries besides that
from which it takes its name ; notably, for instance, the
seigneuries of la Lys and Rhume. The first mention
of Bousbecque occurs in a deed, without date, but ne-
cessarily between 1098 and 1113 ; in it Baudry, bishop
of Tournay, conveys to the Collegiate Chapter of St.
Peter, at Lille, the whole tithes of Roncq and half the
tithes of Halluin and Bousbecque (Busbeka).^

In 1 1 59, Wautier, Seigneur of Halluin, husband of
Barbe daughter of the Count of Soissons, conveys to
the Abbey of St. Aubert, with the consent of his wife
and his children — Wautier, Roger, Guillaume, Alix, and
Richilde — his share of the tithes of Iwuy. The Roger
here mentioned, married Agnes de Bousbecque ; hence
we see the high position held at that early date by the
family of Busbecq ; ^ a daughter of their house was
considered a proper partner for a nobleman of royal
family, the grandson of a Comte de Soissons.

Adjoining the seigneury of Bousbecque lay the
seigneury of la Lys, and in 1298 both these seigneuries
are found in the possession of the same person, men-

^ For this and other documents quoted in this section see Monsieur
Dalle's Histoire de Bousbecque.

^ Some few traces, showing the high position of the early Seigneurs,
are still to be found in Bousbecque ; among these is the beautiful cross, of
which we have been enabled by the kindness of Monsieur Dalle to give
a representation in the frontispiece of the Second Volume. Monsieur
Dalle considers it to be ' la croix d'autel mobile qui etait sans pied et
sans hampe, qui Ton portait de la sacristie a I'autel au moment du saint
sacrifice, et qui se plagait sur un pied prepare d'avance.' — Histoire de
Bousbecque, chap, xxxviii.

12 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

tion being made in the archives of Lille of ' William
de la Lys, sire de Bousbeke, fius Monseigneur William
de la Lys, ki fu sire de Bousbeke.'

Thus for a time the title by which the family was
known was not Bousbecque, but la Lys.

In December 1348, was signed the Treaty of Dun-
kirk, by the Earl of Lancaster, the Earl of Suffolk, and
Sir Walter Manny on the part of England, and on the
part of Flanders, by ten delegates of rank ; among their
names is found that of Jehan de la Lys.

About this time the seigneuries of la Lys and Bous-
becque passed to the house of Pontenerie; William of
that name marrying Marie de la Lys, heiress of the
seigneuries, and assuming — no doubt as one of the
conditions of the contract — the name of la Lys. His
children were severally known as, Guillaume, Jeanne,
and Marie de la Pontenerie, dit de la Lys.

Again there was a failure in the male line, and
Marie, the youngest daughter, brought the seigneuries
to Bauduin de Hingettes.

Their son, Jehan de Hingettes, married a Halluin,
and dying in 1466, his daughter Adrienne de Hingettes,
dit de la Lys, became representative and heiress of the
family. She married Gilles Ghiselin L, and thus the
seigneuries of la Lys and Bousbecque passed into the
possession of the noble house of Ghiselin.^

On the marriage of Adrienne to Gilles Ghiselin L
the title of la Lys was dropped, and that of Bous-
becque resumed.

Gilles Ghiselin L, Seigneur of Bousbecque, knight
of Jerusalem and Cyprus, was a man of considerable

' For the pedigree of the Ghiselins see Monsieur Dalle's Histoire de
Bousbecque, chap. iv. In consequence of there being several seigneurs of
the same name it will be necessary to speak of them as Gilles Ghiselin
I., &c.

GEORGE GHISELTN L 13

importance, and from the following notice it would
appear that he was a man of high character. In 1474
there was a dispute between the dean and chapter of
Messines ^ on the one side, and the abbess, convent, and
church on the other. It appears that the bailiffs of
the abbess had arrested a man in a house belonging
to the dean and chapter. The chapter resented this
intrusion on their rights, and the case was submitted to
two men for arbitration, Gilles Ghiselin I. and Guil-
laume Wyts.

George Ghiselin I., great uncle of the Ambassador.

Gilles Ghiselin I., died in 1476, leaving six children
by his wife Adrienne ; two of whom, George and Gilles,
were destined to occupy a prominent part in the history
of their time.

George, the elder, succeeded to the seigneury of
Bousbecque ; his grandmother was a Halluin, and he
also was married to a member of the same house.

It is not improbable that he owed his promotion to
a high place in the Burgundian Court to the influence
of Jeanne de la Clite, dame de Comines, the wife of
Jean Halluin, Seigneur of Halluin, and the head of
that important family.

At any rate this lady had an influence at the Court
of Burgundy which it is impossible to overestimate, and
we find her husband's relations,^ the Ghiselins of

' Marie, daughter of Gilles Ghiselin I., became Abbess of Messines.
The following is an extract from L. Guicciardini's Description de tout lePah
Bas, Antwerp, 1567. ' Messine ha une tres-bonne et tres-ample Abbaye
de femmes, de laquelle I'Abbesse est Dame du lieu, et de sa jurisdiction,
tant au temporal qu'au spirituel.'

2 Jeanne de la Clite was married to Jean Halluin (Halewin), Seigneur
of Halluin, the relation and near neighbour of the Busbecqs of Bous-
becque. The families had been connected from a very early date by the

14 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

Bousbecque, occupying high positions in the ducal
household.

In June 1478, Mary of Burgundy, daughter and
heiress of Charles the Bold, was married to the Arch-
duke Maximilian, afterwards Emperor ; George Ghi-
selin was appointed one of his chamberlains, and a
iTiember of his council.

On August 7, 1479, there was a great battle at
Guinegatte, between Maximilian and the French. The
latter were at first successful, their men at-arms de-
feated Maximilian's horse, and chased them off the
field, while the free-archers began plundering the bag-
gage, and murdering the non-combatants. But the
battle had yet to be decided. Maximilian's army did
not consist solely of horse, for there were two divisions
of Flemish pikemen on foot. To the surprise of
Philippe de Comines, who gives an account of the battle,
the Flemish infantry were not shaken by the defeat of
the cavalry ; the firm front which they showed was
probably owing to a custom which the Burgundians
had adopted from their English Allies. Their officers,
who in this instance consisted of two hundred of their
own nobles and gentlemen, y^?/^//^ on foot These two
divisions were severally commanded by the Count of

marriage of Roger Halluin to Agnes de Bousbecque ; it will be noticed
that the grandmother of George and Gilles Ghiselin was also a Halluin ;
moreover in consequence of this alliance the Busbecqs quartered the
Halluin arms. We should have been afraid, however, to state positively
that a relationship existed between them and Jean Halluin, husband of
Jeanne de la Clite, had not Monsieur Leuridan, who is the chief authority
on genealogies in the North of France, most kindly investigated the
question for us. The result of his researches has placed the matter
beyond doubt ; Jean Halluin and George and Gilles Ghiselin had a com-
mon ancestor in Jacques Halluin, Seigneur of Halluin in the fourteenth
century. As far as mere cousinship is concerned they were but distant
relations, still it is easy to understand that two seigneurs, in the fifteenth
century, living within two miles of each other, would value and appreciate
any blood relationship however slight.

BATTLE OF GUINEGATTE. rs

Nassau and the Count of Romont. As soon as a
French force could be collected, it was brought up to
crush the Flemings ; the Count of Nassau's command
was hard pressed, and in spite of a gallant resistance,
Maximilian's guns were taken, and turned on the Bur-
gundians. At this critical moment, the Count of Ro-
mont charged with his division, retook the guns, and
sweeping on, captured the whole of the French artil-
lery, thirty-seven pieces, with their camp and commis-
sariat stores. This battle is generally spoken of as an
indecisive one, because Maximilian retired instead of
following up his success. His strategy may have been
bad, but, as to the great victory he gained, there can
be no doubt. On the Burgundian side, we have the
account of Molinet, who tells us that the French lost
ten thousand men, thirty-seven guns, and their camp
with all its stores. On the French side, we have the
account of Philippe de Comines, who endeavours to
represent it as a drawn battle ; but he does not dis-
guise the effect which the news of. this defeat had on
his master, Louis XI. He was with him when the
tidings came, and from that very hour, he tells us, the
French king determined to make peace with Maximilian.
It was onthefieldof Guinegatte^ that George Ghiselin,

' For this battle see Philippe de Comines, book vi. chap. 5, and
Molinet, chap. Ixvi. Jean Molinet was chronicler to the Court of Bur-
gundy from 1474 to 1506. He is a most painstaking writer, and of great
value on account of the graphic details to be found in his narratives.
Unfortunately for his reputation as an annalist, he here and there inserts
chapters of pedantic nonsense, in which frequent references are made to
the saints of the calendar and the heroes of mythology. But it is only
fair to observe that the quantity of wheat to be found is greatly in excess
of the chaff, and that he keeps his wheat and chaff separate and distinct.
In his historical chapters he never indulges in these vagaries. Possibly
the court fashion required him to write such pieces, for Molinet was by
no means bhnd to the faults and errors of his patrons, and could also
see the humorous side of their misfortunes. The following description

i6 LIFE OF BUSBECQ,

Seigneur of Bousbecque, in company with nine other
gentlemen, received knighthood at the hand of Maxi-
mihan. It seems certain that he was fighting on foot,
with his retainers, in the ranks of the Flemish pikemen.

The scene now changfes from the battle-field to the
scaffold. The Flemings, as represented by their four
members — Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, and the belt of vil-
lages known as the Francq — were anxious for peace
with France. They had also serious grievances against
Maximilian (now King of the Romans) and his minis-
ters. They declared that the latter had misappro-
priated the revenues, and the former been more
grievous in his exactions than Philippe le Bon or
Charles the Bold.

They also objected to having German troops quar-
tered in the country.

Early in 1488 the smouldering fires of insurrection
burst into a flame. Curiously enough, Maximilian's
treatment of a friend and relation of the Busbecqs
was the proximate cause of the outbreak. Adrien de
Vilain,^ Seigneur of Rasenghien, had been one of the
leaders of the Gantois after the outbreak in 1485. He
had subsequently retired to Lille, with the approval of
Maximilian, who had given him a pardon. Here no
doubt he felt safe in the neighbourhood of the Ghiselins
of Bousbecque and other friends ; but one day he was

of Maximilian's imprisonment in Bruges, is to be found in Recollection
des tnerveilles advcmies en nosire temps, written by Molinet.
' Les moutons diftenterent

En son pare le berger,

Les chiens qui le garderent

Sont constraint d'eslonger.

Le berger prist figure

D'aigneau, mais ses brebis,

Dont il avait la cure,

Devindrent loups rabis.'

1 See Molinet, chap, clxii.

ARREST AND RELEASE OF ADRIEN VILA IN. 17

seized by Chariot, de Mennevilie and a party of the
Count of Nassau's archers, who carried him off, and
imprisoned him in the castle of Villevorde. His re-
lations were naturally incensed at this breach of faith,
and one morning, when the warden of the castle had
gone to Brussels, Vilain's first cousin, Adrien de Lic-
kerke, rode into Villevorde with thirteen of his friends ;
leaving the rest in the town, he proceeded to the castle,
with three of his companions, and knocked at the gate.
The porter at first refused to admit them, but by dint
of entreaties, backed by the offer of a handsome reward,
his scruples were at last overcome. On entering, they
asked for Adrien Vilain. The porter replied that he
was no longer in the castle ; but a glance into the
court-yard disproved his words, for there was the pri-
soner drearily pacing up and down in his gown. De
Lickerke went up to him. ' You have been here lono-
enough, fair cousin,' quoth he, ' come back with usV
Vilain's gown (the civilian dress), was quickly ex-
changed for a soldier's doublet, and a hat placed on his
head. The porter, seeing their intentions, attempted to
raise an alarm, but they hustled him against the wall,
and nearly killed him. Quitting the casde with the
prisoner they joined their friends in the town, and
taking horse rode for their lives. Avoiding Brussels,
they made for Tournai, some seventy miles distant,
not sparing the spur till they were in a place of safety!
Whether Maximilian had authorised the seizure of
Vilain or not, at any rate he was deeply annoyed at his
escape. De Lickerke was now a marked man ; pro-
bably he thought that his safety lay in boldness, for he
put himself at the head of 3,000 Gantois, and one
wintry night (January 9, 1488) took Courtrai 1 by sur-

' See Molinet, chap, clxiii.
VOL, I. C

1 8 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

prise, making the inhabitants swear allegiance to
Philippe (Maximilian's infant son) and the Gantois.

The King of the Romans was at this time at
Bruges, where the States were assembled to conclude
a peace with France. The Gantois had committed
themselves ; it was time for the Brugeois to rise. On
the last day of January, 1488, the guild of carpenters
made the first move by seizing two of the gates of
Bruges,^ those of St. Catherine and Ghent. Maxi-
milian, with his officers, attendants, and body-guard lay
at the Palace (Prinssenhof), not far from the centre of
the town ; with him were Pierre Lauchast, Carondelet
the Chancellor, George Ghiselin, and other faithful
followers.

It is difficult to say whether his best plan would
have been to remain quiet, or to follow the example of
Philippe le Bon,^ put himself at the head of his guard,
and fight his way out of the city. Unfortunately for
himself and his friends, he took a middle course. On
February i, between five and six in the morning, he
marched into the market-place with his household
troops Leaving the larger portion of them there, he
proceeded with his personal attendants to the gates of
Ghent and St. Catherine, where he met with scant
courtesy from the guard of carpenters.

Meanwhile the troops in the market-place had been
standing round a huge bonfire, and it occurred to their
commanding officer that it would be a good opportunity
to put them through their drill. He gave the order
for them to execute a German ^ manoeuvre, ' Faison le
limechon a la mode d'Allemagne,' and marched them

' See Molinet, chap, clxiv.

' See De Barante, Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne, vii. 428.
2 The Flemings having objected to the introduction of German troops
into their country this order was most impolitic.

THE INSURRECTION AT BRUGES. 19

round the square in fours. Next he gave the order
for them to bring their pikes to the charge ; there
was a crowd looking on, and, imagining they were
about to be attacked, they fled in confusion and dis-
may. Maximihan, hearing the uproar, returned, and
led his men back to their quarters. No blood had
been shed, but the mischief had been done.

At twelve o'clock the same day the trades of Bruges
met at their several halls, arms were served out, flags
were unfurled, and columns of citizens streamed into
the market-place. There they formed a regular en-
campment, planting their fifty-two banners, throwing
up entrenchments, and arming them with cannon.

The Brusreois were now masters of the situation.
On February 5, at the request of the Gantois, they
compelled Maximilian to leave his palace, and lodged
him in the famous grocer's shop in the market-place,
known as the Cranenburg. But the king of the
Romans was not the chief object of their wrath ; it was
against his ministers that they vowed their direst
vengeance. A reign of terror commenced ; rewards
were offered for the apprehension of Pierre Lauchast
and others connected with the treasury. Maximilian's
friends and advisers were compelled to seek safety in
concealment or in flight.

George Ghiselin had his head tonsured, and as-
sumed the dress of a mendicant friar of the Au^ustin
order. In this disguise he attempted to leave the
city. Unfortunately he was recognised at the gate,
and arrested.

Shortly afterwards he was called up for exami-
nation before the town judges, in company with Jehan
Van Ninove, and a sergeant named Bontemps. The
court had not sat for a full hour, when the dean of the

carpenters brought a detachment of his men to the

c 2

LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

door, and threatened to break it open. The judges,
seeing that resistance was useless, allowed them to
seize the unfortunate prisoners, whom they straightway
carried off" to the market-place, and there examined
after their own fashion.

The deans of the different trades had enclosed a
space for the purpose of holding their consultations ;
m the middle of this enclosure stood a rack, specially
constructed for torturing victims of different sizes.
Hard by was a scaffold of unusual size, and there,
waiting for his prey, stood Maistre Charles, the exe-
cutioner of Bruges.

Jehan Van Ninove's turn came first. He was
frightfully tortured, his legs being actually dislocated.
Whilst he was being racked, proclamation was made
that he had agreed with Pierre Lauchast to bring the
troops of the guard into the town for the purpose of
mtimidating the citizens of Bruges. Bontemps was
then tortured, but George Ghiselin was respited. The
unfortunate prisoners had now no doubt as to what
their ultimate fate would be, and they all three asked
to be executed, and forgave those who had compassed
their death.

There was one listening on whose ears the words
fell with no unwelcome sound ; Maistre Charles ' had
an eye to his fees, and determined that there should
be no delay on his part. In a trice he was on the
scaffold, gettmg out his swords and preparing his
bandages. Then, louder than thunder, swelled the
shoutmg in the market-place, some demanding their
immediate execution, and some its postponement.

"Le bourreau, qui volontiers entendit ces mots pour son gain^ et
afin que la chose nedemourast \ faire pour faulte de lui, monta soudate

^T'r^^r"! °" !f ?^"i ^- executions, et en attendant saproie"
estoit sorti d'espdes et de bandeaux.'-Molinet, chap, clxvii.

EXECUTION OF GEORGE GHISELIN.

The latter prevailed. Maistre Charles was disap-
pointed of his prey, and the unhappy men were sent
back to prison.

On February 28, the leading spirits of the insur-
rection being absent from the town and engaged in an
attack on Middelbourg, the town judges made a most
meritorious effort to save the lives of these victims of
mob law. They called them up for sentence.^ Maistre
Charles was again in high glee ; his swords and
bandages were all ready, and his palm itching for the
fees. He must have been greatly cast down when the
judges passed a merely nominal sentence on George
Ghiselin and his companions ; they were to beg pardon
in their shirts of the deans, make some pilgrimages,
and distribute certain sums in charity ; the only object
of the sentence being to satisfy the people. There
was now a gleam of hope for the unhappy men ; but,
unfortunately, Middelbourg surrendered the same day,
and the ringleaders, returning in triumph, were furious
at this attempt to frustrate their vengeance. They
seized the unfortunate prisoners, and racked them again
in the market-place.

On the next day, February 29, 1488, Maistre
Charles once more made his preparations, and this
time he was not disappointed. Bontemps, whose turn
came last, was pardoned by the mob, now glutted with
blood, but the rest were all executed, and amongst
them died that gallant knight, George Ghiselin, Seigneur
of Bousbecque.

' Those called up were Jehan van Ninove Wautergrave, Victor hoste
de la Thoison, Peter d'Arincq at deux autres. Molinet, chap, clxix. A
comparison of this Ust with the names of those brought out for execu-
tion will show that the two others (deux autres) were George Ghiselin and
Bontemps.

22

LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

Gilles Ghiselin II., Grandfather of the Ambassador.

George Ghiselin left ne children, and on his death
the seigneury of Bousbecque passed to his brother Gilles.
The latter appears to have entered the public service
at an earlier period than his elder brother. Gilles won
his spurs from Charles the Bold, and George from
Maximilian.

At home and at court, Gilles Ghiselin II. must
necessarily have been brought into contact with a
man of world-wide fame— Philippe de Comines/ the
father of modern history. Living within two miles
of each other during their boyhood, and connected by
marriage, they were both at an early age introduced
mto the household of Charles the Bold.

The famous Duke of Burgundy made a point of
gathering ^ round him and educating his young nobles.
Philippe de Comines entered his service when he was
about seventeen years old, and it is not improbable
that Gilles Ghiselin II. joined his court at the same
time. It will be necessary here to give some account
of the posts which the two young men severally filled.
In the ducal household ^ there were fifty bread-servers,
fifty cupbearers, fifty carvers, and fifty equerries, each
of whom in battle was accompanied by a swordbearer,
and the whole body was commanded by four captains'
Thus the ofi^cers of Charles the Bold's house were
formed into an organised band of picked troops. In
this body Philippe de Comines was enrolled as a cup-

- Many expressions used by Philippe de Comines, which are supposed
to be obsolete, are s.mply the id.oms of Comines and its neighbourhood
where the h.stonan spent the early part of his life, and may still be
ofihe Lyf " '^"'' ''' "'"""' ""'^ °'^^^ ^'"^g^^ °" the banks

^ ' Nul prince ne le passa jamais de d<?sirer nourrir grans ^ens et le.
tenir bien reglez.'- Philippe de Comines, book v. chap 9 ''

^ See Molinet, chap, i.

GILLES GHISELIN. 23

bearer, ' dcuyer ^chanson", and Gilles Ghiselin II. as a
carver, Umyer trenchant: They were both at a
later date appointed chamberlains to the duke, and
members of his council ; they were also both knighted
by their Sovereign, and not improbably on the same

occasion.

Philippe de Comines is supposed to have won his
spurs on the occasion of the Burgundian and French
armies entering Liege, an event rendered familiar to
English readers by the pages of Qtientin Durward.
Gilles Ghiselin II. may have received the accolade at
the same time.

In August 1472, Philippe de Comines deserted his
master, and threw in his lot with Louis XI. of France.
Gilles Ghiselin remained constant to the house of
Burgundy in sunshine and in shade. He accompanied
his master in his numerous campaigns, and was with
him at the fatal battle of Nancy.'

Gilles Ghiselin must have taken part in many a
victory, but it is only the disastrous defeat that is re-
corded by his descendant on his tomb. That inscrip-
tion must have been placed by one who valued loyalty
above success, and merit above reward. We know
who caused that inscription to be engraved ; it was his
grandson, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq.

The death of his master on the fatal field of Nancy,
January 1477, apparently marks the termination of
Gilles Ghiselin's military career. Though he did not
become Seigneur of Bousbecque till after his brother's
death in 1488, there was probably some family ar-
rangement by which he resided at the chateau, and
represented its absent lord. During his service

1 The reader will remember Scott's description of the battle of Nancy
in Anne of Geier stein ; the Burgundians were surprised m the night and
cut to pieces by the Swiss,

^4 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

under Duke Charles, he must have acquired con-
siderable wealth, for shortly after his return to Bous-
becque he built the noble church ^ which still stands as
a memorial of his munificence. He also rebuilt or
more probably restored, the seigneur's chateau 'the
lamily residence of the Busbecqs, and there with his
wite, Agnes Gommer, he setded down to lead the life
of a country gentleman.

_ He was, however, too valuable a man to be left
without work. In 1480, three years after the batde
f7'.,^ ^^^ appointed High Bailiff of Ypres
grand bailly de la ville, salle et chatellenie d'Ypres '
1 his important town, which formed one of the four
members of Flanders, is situated about ten miles north
of Bousbecqij^. About six miles from either of these
places lies Messines, of which his sister Marie waS
lady-abbess. The casdes of Halluin and Comines
were both in the hands of his relations ; while in the
important town of Lille, Gilles Ghiselin and his wife
had a magnificent hotel, whither after her husband's
death Agnes Gommer retired to end her days It
will be seen, therefore, that Gilles Ghiselin II., the
grandfather of the Ambassador, was, at this period of

office in the household ^of Maximilir l^JZ
appear that if Gilles Ghiselin II. was a loyal sub't
he was no less a loyal Fleming, and had litde taste
for the service of the German Archduke, who had
been marned by his Sovereign. That this is the true
reading of his story may be gathered with fai^ pZ

to be the work of the twelfth ortrrte^nTh^c^rf "f L'^ceTterf "^
de le sainte vraie crois et biaucop d=autres dimtes iL, .iT T "'^ ^
noble homme Gilles Gisselins : prodsTour iuT' ' ^ ' ' '""' ''"''''''

PHILIPPE LE BEAU. 25

bability from the records of Bousbecque church. It
was built by Gilles GhiseHn about 1480. In 1485 a
window was presented to this church, blazoned with
the arms of Ghent and Rasenghien, by a distant re-
lation of the family, Adrien Vilain, Seigneur of Rasen-
ghien, whose story has already been told. Now in
1485 Adrien Vilain was one of the leaders of the Gan-
tois in opposing Maximilian. It may fairly be inferred
that his views met with some sympathy from his friend
at Bousbecque. To admit such a window into his
church was not the way to curry favour with Maximi-
lian.

With regard to Maximilian's son Philippe le Beau,
Gilles Ghiselin was in a different position. He was
the child not only of Maximilian, but also of Mary of
Burgundy, and the grandson of his old master Charles
the Bold. Moreover, the early education of Philippe
had been entrusted to the neighbour, connection, and
doubtless intimate friend and ally of the Busbecqs,
Jeanne de la Clite,^ of whom mention has already been
made. She probably exercised considerable influence
over the selection of the officers of the young prince's
household, and it is not surprising to find that Gilles
Ghiselin II. filled the post oi dctiyer trenchant?

It is not probable that Philippe le Beau had like
his grandfather fifty squires to discharge the duties of
this office. It is more likely that Gilles Ghiselin II. was
his sole ^cuyer trenchant, though it is possible that he
may have had one or two coadjutors.

On attaining his eighteenth year Philippe was
united to Joanna the second daughter of Ferdinand
and Isabella of Spain. In its political issues this mar-
riage was probably the most important event of its

' For an account of Jeanne de la Clite see page 27.

^ For an account of the office of ecuyer trenchattt see page 59.

26 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

kind in the history of the world. Philippe was already
Sovereign of the Low Countries, as his mother's heir ;
through his father he was entitled to the reversion of
the possessions of the house of Hapsburg, and had
practically a claim on the Imperial title. Joanna, on
her part, was destined to become by the death of her
brother and her nephew heiress of Spain, and to trans-
mit not only Spain itself, but vast empires in the
western hemisphere to the descendants of this marriage.
Of Philippe and Joanna were born two sons, Charles
v., the famous Emperor, and Ferdinand, who was
born in Spain, and brought up there by his grandfather
Ferdinand of Aragon, to whom his brother resigned
Austria, Styria, and the Tyrol, and who succeeded
eventually to the Imperial title. The last of these two
princes specially commands our notice, for he it was
who invited young Ogier Ghiselin into his service, and
sent him first to England, and afterwards to Constan-
tinople.

In November 1501 Philippe and Joanna left the
Netherlands for a visit to Spain. The Count of Nas-
sau was entrusted with the government of the country,
and with the care of their children whom they left be-
hind them. Their family then consisted of Charles,
the future Emperor, and his two sisters, Leonora^ and
Elizabeth.2 Mechlin was appointed as their residence,
and an establishment was created for them, in which
the post of premier dacyer trenchant was assigned to
Gilles Ghiselin, who had been the faithful servant of
their father and their great grandfather.

_ • Leonora (as she is called by Busbecq), otherwise Eleanor, was mar-
ried 15 19, to Emanuel, King of Portugal, and was left a widow with only
one daughter in 1521. She married Francis I., King of France, in i c J
lost her second husband, 1547, and died February 1558.

' Elizabeth, or Isabella, married Christian II. of Denmark in i?ic
and died 1526. •' ■"

THE BUSBECQ MONUMENT. 27

Gilles Ghiselin did not live to see his young master
and mistresses ascend the thrones, to which they were
destined ; he died in 1514, full of years and honours.

The careers of George and Gilles Ghiselin had an
important bearing on the destinies of Ogier ; his cre-
dentials to Ferdinand were the eminent services of his
grandsire and great uncle.

Possibly the calm courage with which he faced the
prospect of death and torture at Constantinople, may
have arisen in some degree from the memory of what
his ancestors had been.

In Bousbecque church still stands the monument
which marks Ogier's regard for the grandsire he never
saw.

To this object he devoted what was probably the
first large sum he was able to save from his salary as
ambassador.

It bears the date 1559, and the following inscrip-
tion : —

CY GIST MESSIRE GILLES CHEVALIER SEIGNEUR DE EOUSBEKE
FILZ DE FEU GILLES AUSSY CHEVALIER EN SON TEMPS SR DUDICTE
BOUSBEKE DU HEULLEHOF ET WASTINES &C EN SON TEMPS ESCUIER
TRENCHANT A FEU DUO CHARLE DE BOURGOGNE LE SERVIT A LA
JOURNEE DE NANSY ET DEPUIS AU DICT ESTAT A TRES PUISSANT
ROY PHILIPPE DE CASTILLE ET PREMIER ESCUIER TRENCHANT A
MESSEUR LES ENFFANS DU ROY QUAND IL SE PARTIT DES PAYS
DEMBAS POUR ESPAIGNE LEQUEL TERMINA VIE PAR MORT LE XVIIIE
JO" DU MOIS D'APVRIL ANNO XVCXIIII ET DAME AGNIES GOMMER SA
COMPAIGNE EN SON TEMPS DAME DESPLANQUES, ET DE LE PHALESQUES
LAQUELLE TERMINA VIE PAR MORT LE SECOND JOUR DE JUILLET
XVCXLI PROES DIEU POUR LEURS AMES.

yeanne de la Clite and her son George Halhiin.

Hitherto the family history has been traced, but
before proceeding further, it will be necessary to de-
scribe the man to whom the Ambassador must have
owed more than to anyone else.

28 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

This was Georg-e Halluin, son of Jeanne de la
elite, cousin of Philippe de Comines/ and an intimate
friend of the great Erasmus. Mention has already
been made of alliances between the Busbecqs and the
Halluins ; in the map it will be seen that Bousbecque
lies half way between Halluin and Comines, being
about two miles distant from either.

Towards the end of the fourteenth century, Colard
de la elite I. married Jeanne de Wazieres, Lady of
Comines, and thus became seigneur of the place. He
had two sons, (i) Jean de la Clite I.,^ Seigneur of
Comines, guardian of Philippe de Comines ; (2) Colard
de la Clite H., dit de Comines, father of Philippe de
Comines.

Jean de la Clite I. married Jeanne de Ghistelles,
and had a son, Jean de la Clite H., who was united to
Jeanne d'Estouteville.

The sole child of the pair last mentioned was Jeanne
de la Chte, who was destined to exercise so important
an influence on the current of modern history.

It will be seen therefore that Jeanne de la Clite

' An interesting document is given by Dupont {Memoires de Philippe
de Comines, iii. i8o), which connects George Halluin with Philippe de
Comines. The latter had been the ward of George Halluin's great
grandfather, but the accounts as regards the administration of his pro-
perty had never been dosed. This no doubt was owing to Philippe de
Comine's desertion, and the disturbed state of Flanders, but on July 7
1519, George Halluin paid over the balance due, after deducting the ex-
penses of his education, and received an acquittance for the same

•' These particulars as to the family of Philippe de Comines, Jeanne
de la Chte, and George Halluin, we owe to the kindness of Monsieur
Leundan, Archiviste of Roubaix. The accounts hitherto published con-
tarn manifest errors. For instance, Dupont represents Jeanne de Wa-
zieres as Dame de Comines et de Halewin, and when the property comes
to Jeanne de la Clite she is only Dame de Comines, and as such marries
the Seigneur of Halewin (Halluin). Monsieur Leuridan's account of the
Seigneurs of Comines will appear shortly in the fourteenth volume of the
Bulletin de la Cojitmission historique du Nord, under the title of Re-
cherches snr les Sires de Comines.

JEANNE DE LA CLITE. 29

was the granddaughter, and Phihppe de Comines the
nephew, of Jean de la CHte I., but though the girl be-
longed to a younger generation, she was older than
her cousin Philippe, having been born in the Castle
of Comines in 1440, while the historian was born in
the same place in 1445.

Philippe de Comines, being yet a child when his
father died, was handed over to the care of his uncle ;
and there is a manifest probability that he and Jeanne
were brought up together. His name is famous, she
was one of the most accomplished women of her
age. As she was so much older, it is probable that
hers was the predominating influence : what that in-
fluence was likely to be may be traced in the edu-
cation she bestowed on her son.

Charles the Bold, as has been already stated, made
his court a sort of school for young men of noble
birth ; it was not likely therefore that he would neg-
lect the education of his only child.

He provided for it by appointing Jeanne de la
elite ■&.% premiere gouvernante to the young princess.

On three remarkable occasions in the life of Mary
of Burgundy we meet with Jeanne de la Clite ; (i)
when tidings came of the disastrous defeat of Nancy,
and the death of Duke Charles, the Chancellor
Hugonet asked Jeanne de la Clite ^ to break the news
to her young mistress before he himself made the
official announcement ; (2) when it was proposed to
marry the princess to the Dauphin of France, a sickly
child of eight, Jeanne de la Clite ^ put her veto on the
project. Her interference was not altogether approved
of by the Burgundian Council, but it was decisive ; (3)
Mary of Burgundy's first-born, Philippe le Beau, was

' De Barante, Histoire des Dues de Boiirgogne, xi. 196.
'^ Philippe de Comines, book vi. chap. 2,

30 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

baptised when six days old. Jean Molinet, the court
chronicler, thought it necessary to record the order in
which the great nobles and ladies went to the cere-
mony : of Jeanne de la Clite ' we read that she stopped
behind to take care of her young mistress.

After Mary's accession to the throne, Jeanne de la
Clite became her premiere dame cT honneur ; her next
office was gouvernante to Philippe le Beau, who lost
his mother when he was scarce five years old. She
saw her young charge grow up, and became dame
d' honneur to his wife, the unfortunate Joanna of Spain,
accompanying her in that capacity to Spain in 1501.

She had been gou.vernante to Mary of Burgundy,
and in all probability she was present at the birth and
christening of her grandchildren, Charles and Ferdi-
nand, but her long connection with the royal family
was now to terminate. Of her own choice she retired
to Comines, and spent her last days in ministering to
the welfare of her people.

Her important duties had not prevented her form-
ing domestic ties. Early in life she was married to Jean
Halluin, or Halewin, Seigneur of Halluin, and chief of
what may be termed the Halluin clan,^ bringing as her
marriage portion the important seigneury of Comines.
Five children were the fruit of this marriage, three
daughters, Wautier, who died young, and George
Halluin.

The last succeeded to the seigneuries of Halluin
and Comines, and also to the title ^ which had been

' Molinet, chap. lix.

^ The Halluins formed a numerous and powerful family, of which the
Seigneur of Halluin was the head. At the battle of Gavre, 1453, Jean
Halluin, husband of Jeanne de la Clite, is said to have brought forty-four
knights on to the field, every one of the blood and every one of the name
of Halluin. Le Glay, Catalogue descriptif des 7nanuscrits de la Biblio-
thique de Lille, preface, xviii.

' Jeanne de la Clite had been created Vicomtesse de Nieuport.

GEORGE HALLUIN. 31

bestowed on his mother for her eminent services.
George Halluin was born in 1470, his father died in
T473, so that, from his earhest infancy, his mother
must have had the supreme direction of his education.
Probably no woman was ever better fitted for the task.
It is remarkable that Philippe de Comines, who was an
excellent modern linguist, regretted deeply his igno-
rance of the ancient languages, when we couple this
circumstance with the fact that his cousin and playmate,
Jeanne, gave her son an education which made him one
of the first Latin scholars of his age. With regard to
his literary merits, we can produce two unimpeachable
witnesses ; the one is a man whose name was for cen-
turies familiar to the schoolboy, Jean Despauteres, the
writer of Latin grammars, the other is the great
Erasmus.

Long before his mother had resigned her influential
position at the Court, George Halluin had grown to
man's estate. A brilliant career, accompanied with
wealth and high honours, seemed the manifest destiny
of the young Seigneur. He was a gallant knight,
placed at the head, not only of numerous vassals, but
also of an important clan. His advice was sought by his
Sovereign, and his voice in the council chamber was
listened to with respect.^

As a loyal gentleman he was ever ready to give

^ George Halluin was sent on one occasion as Ambassador extra-
ordinary to Henry VIII. of England. Like Veltwick (see p. 54) he
was, it would appear, the joint envoy of the brothers Charles V. and
Ferdinand. Foppens, in his Bibliotheca Belgica, says he was sent by the
Emperor. With this statement compare the following extract of a letter
from Lord Berners to Wolsey dated Calais, June 29, 1524. 'On this
Wednesday, the 29th, there came to Calais, Mons. de Halwyn from the
Archduke of Ostrych (Ferdinand) with 20 horse.' Halluin asks Earners
to inform the Cardinal of his arrival, and intends crossing as soon as he
can obtain a safe conduct. See Brewer's Letters and Papers of the Reign
of Henry VIII., vol. iv. part i, p. 191.

32 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

his country the benefit of his services, but of ambition
he had none. The campaign over, the crisis past,
George Halluin sought once more his books and his
friends. He collected a magnificent library, he sur-
rounded himself with students, young and old, and be-
came the guide and oracle of the best scholars of his
age. He took an interest not only in the pursuits of
finished scholarship, but also in the best method of
instructing beginners. He had a theory, which Erasmus
thought he pushed too far, that grammars and rules
were a hindrance rather than a help, and that the only
road to a real knowledge of the Latin language lay
through the best Latin authors.

In order to establish his views, he wrote a treatise
on modern and ancient writers, showing how many
mistakes arose from the grammars used by the former.
It is curious that such a man should have been brought
into so close connection with Despauteres, the great
writer of grammars. When the latter was school-
master at St. Winoc, he showed George Halluin his
treatise on Versification, 'Ars Versificatoria,' ^ which it
had cost him three years to prepare, feeling confident
of his approval. George Halluin examined it, and at
once hit the blot.

Despauteres had to a great extent followed the
lines of his predecessors, instead of mastering the
authors for himself. George Halluin's first question
was, ' Have you read Silius Italicus ? ' Despauteres
had not. ' Read him by all means,' said the Seigneur,
' and you will then see your mistakes.' When Silius
Italicus was finished, he sent the schoolmaster Lucre-
tius, Virgil, Manilius, Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius,
&c., all of which were new to Despauteres, with the
exception of Virgil. Despauteres read them, and re-

' Published at Strasburg, 1512.

ERASMUS. 33

wrote his book at the cost of three years more labour.
The preface testifies his gratitude to George Halluin.
At this time Despauteres was schoolmaster of St.
Winoc, but not long afterwards he became master of
the ancient chapter school at Comines/ a post which
he owed no doubt to the patronage of the Seigneur.

The following extracts from the letters of Erasmus
will show what the great leader of the Renaissance
thought of George Halluin.

Erasmus to George Halluin, Seigneur of Comines.

' Dearest George, if I am not very much mistaken,
I have a clue to the man who quarrels with my book
on Folly.^ He is a monk, he is a dark man, and his
stomach is the biggest part of him. At first my book
was understood by few, till Listrius published notes on
it ; but when, thanks to your translation, people were
able to read it in French, fellows understand it who
cannot construe the Psalms they patter.

' Louvain, August 29, 15 17.'

' The following inscription was placed over the tomb of Despauteres
in the church of Comines : —

Epitaphium doctissimi viri Johannis Despauterii,

quondam hujus oppidi ludi-magister.

Hie jacet unoculus visu prjestantior Argo,

Flandrica quem Ninove protulit et caruit.

Obiit 1520. Requiescat in pace.

The following is a free translation of his epitaph somewhat amplified.
Underneath this stone doth lie
The famous master of one eye,
That eye it served him for a hundred,
To catch his scholars when they blundered.
His birthplace is at Ninove seen,
His fame and glory in Comines.

^ The famous 'Eyxci^toi' Monplas, dedicated to Sir Thomas More.
George Halluin published a French translation of the work.
VOL. I, D

34 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

Erasmus to Thomas More.

' In time we shall have scholars, for there is hardly
a gentleman who is not giving his children a classical
education, though there is not in the Court circle a
single well-educated man, with the solitary exception of
George Halluin.

' Anderlecht, 1520.'

Erasmus to George Halluin, Seigneur of Comines.

' I cannot tell you with what pleasure I received
your letter. You have not then forgotten your old
friend Erasmus, and in spite of your rank can conde-
scend to write to him.

'You say you are not satisfied with any of the
Latin grammars or exercise books yet published, or
with the Latin of modern writers. I am not sure, my
dear friend, that you would not criticise Cicero himself,
just as some have accused Virgil of solecisms, and
Livy of writing dog Latin.

' For my own part, I approve not of those who
neglect either their authors for their grammar, or their
grammar for their authors. The grammar rules should
be few and sound ; all the rest should be picked up
from reading the best authors, or in conversation with
good Latin scholars. ... I should be more inclined
to agree with you, if an instance could be given of a
man who had learnt to write Latin without the aid of
a grammar. I have with me here Ulrich von Hutten,^
an exquisite Latin scholar, of gentle birth and good
breeding. I should recommend you to discuss the sub-
ject with him. I will come to you the day after
to-morrow, health permitting, for I am still poorly,

^ This visit to Erasmus at Louvain is mentioned in Strauss's Life of
Ulrich von Hutten, English translation, p. 215.

THE SEIGNEUR OF CO MINES. 35

otherwise this letter would have been in my own hand-
writing, instead of being dictated. Most honoured
Sir, farewell.

' Louvain, June 21, 1520.'

An account of George Halluin would be incom-
plete without a list of his works, which are, (i) A trans-
lation into French of the 'EyKMjjuov Mwpi'as, written
by Erasmus, and dedicated to Sir Thomas More. (2)
A treatise De Restauratioiie Linguce Latiuce. (3)
On the Coronation of Emperors. (4) A work on
Music. (5) A treatise against Luther. (6) Notes
on Virgil. ^

This list shows the wide range of his studies, and
also implies no small amount of literary toil, for George
Halluin was one who loved to polish and mature his
work. As Despauteres puts it, ' nothing would satisfy
him that fell short of perfection.'

Such was the man who must have exercised the
greatest influence over Busbecq's earlier years. The
latter was born in 1522. George Halluin did not die
till 1536, when Busbecq had left his home for the Uni-
versity of Louvain.

As, however, we have no direct record of the con-
nection between George Halluin and Busbecq, the
probabilities, which in this case seem to amount to
certainty, must be set before the reader. { i ) Busbecq
was born at Comines, and passed his earlier years at
his father's house, two miles from Comines. (2)
Though Jean Despauteres was dead, the school at
Comines under his pupils maintained its high repu-
tation. (3) George Halluin was a great patron of
scholars, and had the finest library in Flanders. {4)

' These notes are still preserved in the library of the cathedral at
Arras.

D 2

36 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

The Busbecq family, as has been already shown, had
made constant alliances with the Halluins ; moreover,
not only were they their nearest neighbours, but they
had also been brought into close relations by the posi-
tions that George and Gilles Ghiselin and Jeanne de
la elite had severally occupied in the Burgundian Court.
(5) Busbecq's father was on intimate terms with
George Halluin, hawking and feasting with him (see
infra, page 39). Taking all these points into con-
sideration, is it probable that Busbecq's father, the
neighbour, relative, fellow seigneur, and intimate
friend of George Halluin, would fail to consult him as
to the education of his scholar son ? Erasmus, it is
to be remembered, writing of these days, says that all
the noblemen were anxious to give their sons a good
education, but that George Halluin was the only mem-
ber of the Court circle who was himself a scholar. Is
it likely, therefore, that Busbecq's father, having such
a man at his door, went elsewhere for advice .? Then
there is the other side. Busbecq's writings will show
that he was formed in the mould of George Halluin.
A Latin scholar of exquisite taste and wide reading, a
student of many different subjects ; in religion a re-
former within the pale of the Church, desiring compre-
hension and objecting to schism ; in short, a follower
of George Halluin and a follower of Erasmus. At
the end of Busbecq's fourth Turkish letter will be
found a distinct reference to the life which George
Halluin led, as his beau idM of earthly happiness
His wants are summed up thus— a quiet home, a good
garden, a few friends, and plenty of books. This was
the lot which George Halluin deliberately chose : this
the life which Busbecq would fain have led.

The following epitaph was engraved on Georp-e
Halluin's tomb ; — ^

GEORGE GHISELIN II. 37

Munera qui sprevit aulse fumosa superbse
Pro dulci Aonidum ludo et sudore Minervas,
Nee tamen abstinuit regum, si quaiido vocatus,
Conciliis, gravibus consultans publica dictis,
Nee patriae duros sudanti Marte labores
Defuit, et neutram eontempsit tempore laudem.
Qui, quos antiqua populos ditione tenebat,
Legibus instituit, fuerant ut tempora, Sanctis.
Comminii genetrix, Halewini eui pater arcem
Jure dedit prisca majorum laude regendam,
Ejus habes clauses eineres hoe marmore, mentem
Pronus ei precibus commenda, siste viator,
Sternum eineres facial qui vivere rursus.

Of which the following is a free translation.

He left ambition's phantom-chase,
The glare of Court, the greed of place,

For joys that letters yield ;
But yet should Halluin's sovereign call,
He gave good counsel in the hall,
And struck a blow amongst them all

For country on the field.
At once the scholar and the knight,
He taught his people what was right —

At least the best he knew.
The Seigneur he of old Comines,
And on his scutcheon might be seen

The arms of Halluin too.
On either side of hneage high,
He ruled each ancient seigneury,

The head of Halluin's clan.
Then, traveller, pause awhile, and pray
To Him who can revive this clay
Mid realms of everlasting day.

There's One alone who can.

George Ghiselin II., father of the Ambassador.

Gilles Ghiselin II. had four children, (i) Gilles
Ghiselin III., who died childless; {2) Marie Ghiselin,
who appears to have accompanied her widowed mother
to Lille, and after her death to have occupied the family
mansion. It was with her, in all probability, that Bus-
becq was staying when he received the summons to
Vienna (see page 75) ; (3) Barbe Ghiselin, married

3 8 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

to Frangois de Hocron, governor of Bethune ; (4)
George Ghiselin II., Knight, Seigneur of Bousbecque.
The hves of George Ghisehn I. and his brother
Gilles introduce us to the scenes of public life, the
Court, the battle-field, and the scaffold. George Hal-
luin has given us a glimpse of the library and the stu-
dent. From the story of George Ghiselin II. may be
gleaned not less valuable knowledge of a seigneur's
life whilst living amongst his people. It is not impos-
sible that the influence of his friend, relative, and near
neighbour, the student Seigneur of Comines, may have
induced George Ghisehn to prefer home duties and
home pleasures to the perilous honours of a public
career. At any rate, the life of Busbecq's father is the
life of a country gentleman, interested in the welfare
of those around him, and joining in the recreations and
festivities of his neighbours.

Comines had long been celebrated for its cloth,
and George Ghiselin II. endeavoured to establish the
manufacture in his own seigneury. Nearly two hun-
dred years before, 1352, the inhabitants of Bousbecque
had been given a charter, entitling them to manufac-
ture cloth. Their right appears to have lapsed, for on
June 7, 1531, -George Ghiselin 11.^ obtained from
Charles V. a renewal of the privilege. It does not
appear, however, that his vassals reaped much advan-
tage from this right. About this time the trade of
Comines began to decline, and under these circum-
stances it is not surprising to find that the attempt to
revive the industry in Bousbecque proved a failure.
It is interesting, however, to notice the source from
which the Ambassador acquired his knowledge of the
mysteries of the craft.^

A curious document has been discovered among

' See Monsieur Dalle, Histoire de Bousbecque, chap. vi. = See page 141

GEORGE HALLUIN'S PARTY. 39

the archives of Lille, which furnishes us with a striking
picture of the sort of life led by George Ghiselin II.
and his brother seigneurs. It will be found in the
Appendix, under the head of Pardon of Darnel de
Croix. From this interesting record it appears that
on a certain day in the summer of 15 19, George Hal-
luin. Seigneur of Comines, had a meeting in the broad
meadows beneath the castle, for the knightly sport of
hawking. Thither came George Ghiselin, the father of
the Ambassador, from his chateau at Bousbecque, bring-
ing with him the Seigneur of Wambrechies, Daniel de
Croix, a relative of his wife's, and thither rode other
gendemen of the country, Jacques de le Sauch and the
Seigneur of Croiselle ; while Comines was represented
■ by its bailiff, Jehan Homme, and several other towns-
men who had fought against the French under the
banner of the Halluins.

The noble seigneurs and the worthy clothiers passed
a merry day with hawk and hound ; they had their
sport in the field, and they feasted in the castle. Their
host was one whom they all respected, a gallant knight,
a safe adviser, a prince of scholars, one who could hold
his own in the field or in the council-chamber, and yet
preferred his library at Comines, and a chat with Eras-
mus, to the honours of a Court and the condescensions
of an Emperor.

Between eight and nine in the evening, the festivi-
ties drew to a close. George Halluin and the Seigneur
of Croiselle, according to the official account, retired to
bed. It is pardonable to imagine that the former may
have sought his library, to add another note to his
Virgil, to have a chat about Latin grammars with Jean
Despauteres, or to indite a letter to Erasmus in the
most faultless of Latin.

Meanwhile, George Ghiselin, in company with

4° LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

Jehan Homme, bailiff of Comines, Jacques de le Sauch,
and Daniel de Croix, strolled towards the market-
place of the town. It happened to be a fete-day, so
there was a general holiday and merry-making. To
this fete had come a minstrel named Chariot Desru-
maulx. Perhaps he may have helped to entertain the
gentlemen at the castle, at any rate he attached himself
to the party of seigneurs as they went towards the
market-place. Possibly in Provence he would have
been allowed to associate with men of rank, but the
Flemish seigneurs evidendy thought that the man was
taking a liberty. On the road one of them suggested
that they should adjourn to the inn of Master Francis
Barbier, on the Place de Comines, and there prolong
their festivities. The proposal met with general ap- '
proval. Daniel de Croix and Jacques de le Sauch went
on m front, while the Seigneur of Bousbecque and the
bailiff followed at some little distance. When the two
gentlemen first mentioned came to the inn. Chariot
Desrumaulx insisted on entering with them. De Croix,
who still had his hawk upon his wrist, i remonstrated
with him, and told him in plain terms that he was too
drunk and quarrelsome for them to wish for his com-
pany. The minstrel persisted in entering, whereupon
de Croix took him by the collar, and, with the assist-
ance of de le Sauch, expelled him from the house.
Desrumaulx grew violent, and attempted to draw his
sword, but his hand was stopped by de le Sauch be-
fore he could disengage his weapon. At this moment
up came Jehan Homme, bailiff of Comines, and George
Ghiselin. The former immediately executed his office

' The object of this statement is to show that Daniel de Croix had
no intention of attacking Desrumaulx. The account is evidently drawn
up so as to represent the young Seigneur's case in the most favourable
light possible. uidjie

THE MINSTRELS DEATH. 41

by arresting Desrumaulx, and was on the point of con-
signing him to the gaol, when the bystanders good-
naturedly interfered. They made what excuses they
could for the man ; ' he was drunk and saucy now, but
if he were allowed to sleep it off, he would come to his
senses in the morning.' Desrumaulx promised to go
to bed quietly, and on this understanding he was re-
leased. On regaining his liberty, however, instead of
going off to his lodgings, he stationed himself at the
entrance to the Place, laid down his violin, took off his
coat, and in loud insulting language challenged the
best of the seigneurs to single combat. Young Daniel
de Croix, no doubt with good reason, considered the
challenge as specially addressed to himself. Accord-
ing to his ideas, his reputation as a gentleman and a
soldier was at stake ; if he permitted a base-born min-
strel publicly to insult him, he could never hold up his
head again among his comrades at arms. Assuming,
probably, that with his superior skill he would have no
difficulty in disarming his tipsy antagonist, he threw
his hawk to his man-servant, and sallied out into the
market-place. Desrumaulx, on seeing him, repeated
his insults, and drawing his sword advanced to meet
him. Hereon de Croix, unsheathing his rapier, ex-
changed some passes with the minstrel ; the latter's
skill proved greater than the young Seigneur had anti-
cipated, and he succeeded in hitting his antagonist's
shoulder. De Croix, smarting under the blow, made
a lunge at the minstrel, and ran him through the body ;
his rapier entered a little below the right breast, in-
flicting a wound that was almost immediately fatal.
De Croix was now in a very serious position, for not
only was the man dead, but he had died before he
could be confessed and shriven, consequently the young

42 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

Seigneur had to answer for the perdition ^ of his soul,
as well as the destruction of his body ! We are left to
imagine the hurried council held in the market-place
by the seigneurs ; how the swiftest horse was saddled,
and de Croix rode forth into the night to escape for
his life. The French frontier was not far distant, and
there probably he took refuge. When the time came
for trial at Lille, de Croix did not appear, being afraid
that the justice of the court would not be tempered
with mercy. Application was made to Charles V. for
a pardon ; the petition was no doubt backed up by the
influence of the Halluins, Ghiselins, and other noble
houses connected with the family of de Croix. At
any rate it was successful ; and de Croix received a
free pardon, on condition of his paying all legal ex-
penses, and compensating the family of the man he
had killed.

The scene preserved in this curious document fur-
nishes a picture of a seigneur's life in the country, and
conveys some idea of the tone of the society from
which Busbecq went forth to sketch the manners and
customs of the East.

George Ghiselin II. died in 1561, leaving three
legitimate children, (i) Jean Ghiselin, Seigneur of Bous-
becque, whose name ^ is found amongst the signatures
appended to a remonstrance addressed by the Estates
of Lille to Margaret of Parma, against the decrees she
had issued for enforcing the edicts of Charles V. for

' De Lickerke, after the capture of Courtrai (see page 17) slew the
Seigneur of Heulle, who had seized the castle while the former was en-
gaged m superintending an execution. Jean Molinet is greatly moved at
the thought of his dying before he could be confessed. ' Lui feru d'une
espde trois cops en la teste, tellement qu'il morut illec sans confession
qui fut chose piteuse et lamentable.'— Molinet, chap, clxiii. '

^ This was not the first time that a Ghiselin of Bousbecque had
ventured to differ with his Count. See page 25.

OGIERS MOTHER. 4J

the suppression of heresy. He died childless, Novem-
ber 1578 ; (2), Marguerite Jacqueline Ghiselin, married
November 28, 1565, to Jean Baptiste de Thiennes,
Seigneur of Willersies ; she died March 27, 161 1. (3),
Agnes Ghiselin, who succeeded her brother Jean in
the seigneury of Bousbecque. She married Jacques
Yedeghem, Seigneur of Wieze, captain, governor, and
high bailiff of Termonde (Dendermonde).

These last had a son, Charles de Yedeghem, who
became Seigneur of Bousbecque ; from him, his uncle,
the Ambassador, on December 18, 1587, bought a life-
interest in the seigneury.'

Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq.

Besides the children born in lawful wedlock, George
Ghiselin II. had, by Catherine Hespiel,'-^ an illegitimate
son, who is the subject of this memoir, Ogier Ghiselin
de Busbecq. The mother was an unmarried woman,
in a humble position of life, and is supposed to have
been a servant at the Bousbecque chateau. If this was
the case, there is nothing surprising in the fact that
she was at Comines when her son was born, in 1522 ;
for it is hardly likely that her mistress would allow her
to remain an inmate of the Seigneur's house. In jus-
tice to George Ghiselin himself, it must be remembered
that the standard of morality in Flanders, with regard
to such connections, was not high, as is shown by
Motley's ^ description of a seigneur's privileges in old
times ; and also by the fact that up to a late date they

1 A copy of the deed is given in the Appendix.

^ The monuments in Bousbecque Church show that after Busbecq's
death the Hespiels were in fairly good circumstances ; one of them was
burgomaster of the village. From this Monsieur Dalle concludes that
Busbecq was not forgetful of his mother's izxmXy.—Histoire de Bousbecque,
chap, xxvii.

2 See Motley's Rise of the Dutch Republic, i. 6.

44 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

retained the right of legitimating their bastard chil-
dren. At any rate, his conduct as a father was unim-
peachable ; he received the httle fellow into his chateau,
and gave him an excellent education.

From considerations already stated, it is impossible
to doubt that Busbecq came under the influence of
George Halluin. He must often have been found in
the famous library ^ of the Seigneur of Comines, with
his head buried in some weighty folio; thither, no
doubt, he brought the botanical specimens he had dis-
covered in the woods and fields of Bousbecque, and
the Roman coins he had unearthed at Wervicq. From
his kind patron he must have heard of the great Eras-
mus, of Melancthon, Thomas More, and other leaders
of that age. One can picture to oneself how Ogier
may have questioned him as to Luther, and asked how
It was that he and Erasmus were so far apart, when
they agreed so heartily in detesting the greed and
superstition of the monks. ' My boy,' ^ one can imagine
George Halluin saying, ' when your grandsire, ctlles
Ghisehn, was about to restore the Bousbecque chateau
he took me to see the old place. The great hall was
well-nigh perfect, and all the windows had been closed
with boards. On entering, we found it had been made
a home for the owl and the bat ; the creatures flew up
agamst me ; and as I tried to escape, I stumbled over

' ' Guere loing de Messine sur la Lisse est le village de Commines
avec un bon chasteau, ou y ha une tres-belle et tres-noble librairie'
rassemblee par George, Seigneur de Hallewin et de Commines <^entil-
homme tres-docte, lequel entre ses autres ceuvres plus dignes et louables
entretenoit et carressoit continuellement gens doctes et vertueux '— L
Guicciardmi, Description de tout le Pais bas, page 311.

^ An attempt is here made to give the views of Erasmus as thev
would present themselves to such a mind as George Halluin's The ideas
are m a great measure adopted from Nisard's Renaissance et Rdfonne to
which a httle local colouring has been added, and are offered as an ex
planation of Busbecq's neutrality with regard to the religious differences
winch sent his countrymen into opposite camps. '

LUTHER AND ERASMUS. 45

the rubbish, and fell on the floor, which was covered
with filth. I was so disgusted that I would fain have
persuaded your grandfather to leave the old place to
its present occupants, and build a fair castle at some
little distance ; but he laughed at my boyish fancy, say-
ing it were foul scorn that he should be ousted from
the roof of his ancestors by a set of night-birds. He
called in his men, the windows were unbarred, and
broad streams of light poured into the hall. Then
might you have seen owl and bat shrinking from the
bright sunbeams ; thenceforth the Bousbecque hall was
no resting-place for them, for they love not to roost
save where there is perpetual darkness and night.^
Here is my parable, Ogier ; Luther would quit our
Church because of the many corruptions and abuses
that have crept in ; he would leave the monks to their
darkness, and build himself a brand-new chapel after
his own design. Erasmus would count it shame to
allow such night-birds to deprive him of his inheritance
in the Church. He would do what your grandsire did,
open the windows and pour in the light ; that is a
power against which neither monks nor bats can stand.'
'But where is the light,' says Ogier, 'and where are
the windows .-* ' ' There,' replies the Seigneur, pointing
to his well-stored shelves, ' there is the light of anti-
quity, which will chase the night-birds from our Church.
Never think, Ogier, that the Bible is the only revela-
tion of God ; all knowledge comes from him. Seneca,
who never read a word of the Bible, can help us to the
truth ; and if it be the truth, it is God's truth, as much

' ' Le moine est inquiet, furieux, au milieu de cette universelle renais-
sance des lettres et des arts ; il baisse sa lourde paupifere devant la lumi^re
de I'antiquitd resuscitee, comme un oiseau de nuit devant le jour.' —
Nisard, Renaissance et R^fornie, i. 55. ' Le g^nie de I'antiquit^ chassant
devant lui les ^paisses tdnfebres de I'ignorance.' — Renaissance et Reforme,
i. 66.

46 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

as if it had been uttered by inspired lips. I will tell
you a secret, boy ; you remember the old line, "Fas est
et ab hoste doceri." The drones in the monasteries
have, like other animals, that intuitive knowledge which
tells them what is fatal to their existence ; so we may
learn from them their vulnerable part. Erasmus has
said many hard things of them, but that is not the
chief reason of their hate. What is it then ? li is
because he has sent the world to school with Gi'eece and
Rome for its masters} Just as the owls and bats in
your grandsire's hall might have held their own had
we attacked them with sticks and stones, but shrank
discomfited before the light of day, so the monks might
battle against downright attacks, but they know that
the light of antiquity must drive them from their roosts.
My ancestors have left their mark on the history of
Flanders ; but I doubt whether they ever discharged a
more glorious office than that which fell to me when I
undertook the translation of the great satire which
Erasmus 2 dedicated to Sir Thomas More. I once

1 < ■

' Mais ce qui rendit surtout Erasme odieux aux moines ce fut son
role litte'raire, si brillant et si actif. Chose singulifere, il excita peut-etre
plus de haines par ses paisibles travaux sur I'antiquite profane, que par
ses critiques des mceurs et des institutions monacales, ses railleries contre
I'dtalage du culte extdrieur, ses insinuations semi-hdre'tiques contre
quelques dogmes consacrds meme par les chrdtiens d'une foi ^clairee.
A quoi cela tient-il ? Est- ce que la science fait plus peur k I'ignorance
que le doute k la foi ? Est-ce que la foi des moines, exterieure, disci-
plinaire, pour ainsi dire, mais nullement profonde, ^tait plus toldran'te que
leur ignorance .' Enfin, y avait-il moins de p€ril pour eux dans le
tumulte des dissensions religieuses, que dans I'e'clatante lumi^re re'pandue
par les lettres sur le monde moderne, rentre dans la grande voie de la
tradition ? ' — Renaissance et R^forme, i. 63-4.

^ Erasmus was by nature extremely timid, ' animo pusillo,' as he de-
scribes himself to Colet (Ep. xli.). When writing to George Halluin he
seems delighted at his having translated the 'Eyxco/jiov Uaplas, but he was
by no means willing to stand the odium which arose on the publication
of his satire in French. He shifts the responsibihty entirely on to his
friend. No doubt he thought that the shoulders of the Seigneur of

BUSBECQS EDUCATION. 4f

spoke of it to my friend. He shook his head. " You
have brought me, my dearest George, into some trouble
with your translation ; it is too good ; it seems incre-
dible, but the lazy crew positively understand it. No,
no, stick to your Virgil ; they cannot attack me about
it ; and, between ourselves, you will frighten them
much more." As he said to me, so I say to you, my
dear young friend, leave religious questions alone ;
they will right themselves, if we only let in the light.

' And why should not you help in this work, Ogier ?
There are manuscripts yet to be discovered, there are
inscriptions yet to be copied, there are coins of which
no specimen has been garnered. Then there is the
great field of Nature before you ; plants with rare vir-
tues for healing sicknesses, fruits that are good for
food, flowers with sweet scents and various hues. Why,
again, should you not utilise the taste you have for
observing the habits of the animal world ? Depend
upon it, these studies are intended by God for the im-
provement and advancement of the human race. Let
monk and sectary fight it out as they will ; do you be
content to let in the light, and leave the rest to God.'

Such was the influence that presided over Comines
during Busbecq's earlier years ; for the ideas of George
Halluin were the ideas of Erasmus. We may be quite
certain also that, under the same guide, Busbecq was
not allowed to damp his ardour and stupefy his brains
with too copious doses of Latin grammar, before he
was made free of his Livy and his Virgil. As much as
possible of the works of the ancients, and as little as

Comines were broader than his own. (See Ep. cclxxxiv. to Abbot Antony
de Berges.) ' Post hsc accepi a nonnulhs, quod me vehementer com-
movit, te mihi nescio quid subirasci, opinor ob Moriam, quam vir
clarissimus Georgius Haloinus, me dehortante ac deterrente, fecit Galli-
cam, hoc est, ex mea suam fecit, additis detractis et mutatis quee voluit.'
December 13, 15 17.

48 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

possible of the cut and dried rules of the moderns —
such would be George Halluin's advice. If any one
be curious as to the result of such a system, they have
but to look at Busbecq's Latin for the answer.

At the age of thirteen Busbecq became a student
at Lou vain, the celebrated University of Brabant,
where Erasmus once taught. Here he spent five years,
at the end of which he received a reward, which must
have been more precious to him than any of his Uni-
versity laurels. In consideration of his merits as a
student, and other good qualities, Charles V. issued a
Patent,^ removing the stain from his birth, and admit-
ting him into the noble family of Busbecq.

According to the fashion of the times, the young
man's education was not completed at Louvain. He
went the round of the great Universities of Europe,
studying at Paris, Bologna, and Padua ; at the last he
became the pupil of the famous Baptista Egnatius, the
friend and fellow- worker of Erasmus.

The ideas which he imbibed in the course of his
education appear to be a sort of continuation or de-
velopment of those of Erasmus. There is a striking
resemblance between the views of Busbecq and those
of his contemporary, Pierre de la Ramee. These
views and theories consisted in making the results
achieved by the ancients a new point of departure for
the learning of modern times.^ In medicine, for in-

> See Appendix. Legitimation of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq. The
Patent is dated November 24, 1540. It is interesting to know that
just before that date Charles had been making a progress throughout
the neighbourhood of Bousbecque. He was at Ghent November i at
Oudenarde on the 2nd, at Courtrai on the 3rd, at Tournai on the c'th
at Lille on the 7th, and at Ypres on the 9th. {Journal des Voyages de
Charles Quint. Par J. de Vandenesse.) Probably Ogier's father took
advantage of the opportunity to procure from the Emperor the grant of
Legitimation.

"^ One of the most remarkable applications of this theory is with

PJERRE DE LA RAM]£E.

49

Stance, the works of Galen and Hippocrates were to
be taken for the foundation, and all later writers
ignored ; on this substratum the medical science of the
future was to be built. That these ideas rested on a
sound basis there can be no doubt. Immense results,
in almost every field of human knowledge, had been
achieved during the palmy days of Greece and Rome ;
with the downfall of the latter a flood of barbarism had
poured over the civilised world. The human race had
been struggling again towards the light, but struggling
with slow and feeble step. In Busbecq's days they had
not nearly reached the point where Greece and Rome
left off.

Compare, for instance, the writings of Philippe de
Comines, one of the ablest men of his time, with those
of Busbecq sixty years later. The former are stamped
with the ideas of the middle ages, the latter are bright
with the freshness of a modern writer. The difference
is simply enormous, and it is to be attributed to the
fact that Philippe de Comines, who was fully conscious
of his loss, was ignorant of Latin, while Busbecq had

regard to the military art. Busbecq wrote a treatise on the Art of War-
fare against the Twks. In it he constantly quotes as his authorities
the great captains of Greece and Rome ; some may smile on reading his
work, and imagine that the tactics of Cassar and Alexander are out of
place in the days of gunpowder and cannon balls, but the following pas-
sage will show how one of his countrymen successfully followed out the
principle, which he may possibly have taken in the first instance from
Busbecq's work. ' Lewis William of Nassau had felt that the old mili-
tary art was dying out, and that there was nothing to take its place. He
had revived in the swamps of Friesland the old manoeuvres, the quick-
ness of wheeling, the strengthening, without breaking the ranks or
columns, by which the ancient Romans had performed so much excellent
work in their day, and which seemed to have passed entirely into oblivion.
Old colonels and ritt-masters, who had never heard of Leo the Thracian
or the Macedonian phalanx, smiled and shrugged their shoulders . . .
but there came a day when they did not laugh, neither friends nor
enemies.'— Motley, Untied Netherlands, iii. 4; see also United Nether-
lands, iv. 34.

VOL. I. E

so LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

kept company, as it were, with the brightest wits
and most learned men of ancient times.

But it must not be supposed that the men of
Ramie's school had any idea of contenting themselves
with the knowledge of the ancients ; on the contrary,
they made it the starting-point for the prosecution of
further discoveries. Busbecq's letters furnish us with an
excellent instance of the practice of these ideas. With
Pliny, Galen, Vopiscus at his fingers' ends, he is ever
seeking to verify, correct, or enlarge the store he has
received. For him all knowledge is gain, and he seeks
it in every quarter ; inscriptions, coins, manuscripts ;
birds, beasts, and flowers ; the homes, customs, and lan-
guages of mankind ; the secrets of earth, air, and water
— all alike are subjects of interest to him. One trait marks
the man. On his journeys he made it a rule, as soon as
he reached his halting-place for the night, to sally forth
in search of some discovery. Occasionally an inscrip-
tion, or some of his favourite coins, was the result ; at
other times it would be a strange plant, or even a quaint
story ; but whatever it was, it was duly garnered.

It seems probable that Busbecq, after the comple-
tion of his studies, returned to Flanders, and for a few
years led that quiet life with his books and a few
friends, which afterwards, amid the blaze and glare of
a court, seemed to him the perfection of human hap-
piness. We have no record of his life during these
years, but it is easy to picture it. Many a quiet morn-
ing spent in reading at Bousbecque, or in a corner of
the Halluin library at Comines, a chat with a chance
student friend as to the last news from the Universities,
a stroll to inspect Roman coins or pottery lately dis-
covered at Wervicq, a search for some rare plant, a
series of observations on the habits of some animal.
Nor would his life be spent only in the country. At

OGIER'S RELATIVES. 51

Lille there was the family mansion, and his aunt
Marie Ghiselin to welcome him ; there he could find a
larger circle of literary friends, and ransack their libra-
ries for books, which might be absent from the collec-
tions at Bousbecque and Comines.

It may seem strange that he was so thoroughly ac-
cepted in the family, but the explanation is not diffi-
cult. His address was singularly winning, and at the
same time he inspired every one with confidence in his
honesty ; ^ he was remarkable for his tact '^ in dealing
with the prejudices of his fellow-creatures, and when it
was necessary to be firm^ he could be firm without
blustering. The qualities which made him so success-
ful as a diplomatist were the qualities most calculated
to endear him to his friends. The man who could in-
gratiate himself with Roostem was not likely to be
unpopular among his own kith and kin.

We now come to the event which first intro-
duced Busbecq into public life. On July 25, 1554, in

1 His contemporary, L. Guicciardini, says of him in his book, pub-
lished 1567, 'II est homme sage et prudent : a cause dequoy il ha este
envoys plusieurs fois ambassadeur par les Princes en divers endroicts,
pour tres-grans affaires et mesmes par I'Empereur Fernand, a Sohman
Empereur des Turcs, ou il traicta, par I'espace de huict ans continuels les
affaires de la Chrestiente, avec telle fidelite et loyaiite que outre le grd
qu'il acquit empres de son Seigneur, fut surnommd par les Turcs mesmes,
Homme de bien.' — Description de tout le Pais bas, p. 311.

^ On his way to Constantinople some of his escort complained of his
servants not paying proper respect to paper — an unpardonable offence in
the eyes of a Turk, Another might have argued the question, but
Busbecq thoroughly appreciated the men he was dealing with. He
tacitly admitted the heinousness of the offence; ' but,' added he, ' what
can you expect of fellows who eat pork ? ' This argument was in their
eyes unanswerable.

•'' Roostem once sent a fine melon to Busbecq, telling him that there
was plenty of such fruit at Belgrade ; the melon was supposed to repre-
sent a cannon-ball, and the message was tantamount to a threat of war.
Busbecq thanked him warmly for his present, and at the same time took
the opportunity of observing that the Belgrade melons were very small
compared to those produced at Vienna I

E 2

52 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

Winchester Cathedral, Mary of England gave her hand
to Philip of Spain. Among those who witnessed the
ceremony was Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq.

It was only natural that Ferdinand, the brother of
Charles V., should send an ambassador to represent
him at the marriage of his nephew to the daughter of
his unfortunate aunt, Catherine of Aragon. For this
purpose he selected a Spanish gentleman, Don Pedro
Lasso de Castilla,' who had been the companion of his
boyhood in Spain, and had since continued to be a
member of his household. With him Busbecq went
as attach^. In the life appended to the Elzevir edi-
tion of Busbecq's letters, we are told that he joined the
embassy on Don Pedro's invitation ; but in a document
of infinitely higher authority, the Patent of knighthood
given in the Appendix, it is distinctly stated that the
summons came from Ferdinand himself, who thus

^ Don Pedro Lasso de Castilla was grandson of Don Pedro de Cas-
tilla, who claimed to be descended from an illegitimate son of Pedro the
Cruel, King of Castile. The grandfather married Catalina Lasso, and was
living at Madrid in 1494. His son, Don Pedro Lasso de Castilla, married
a lady of the noble family of Haro, and three of their children were in
the service of Ferdinand and his son. Francisco was Mayor-domo
Mayor of Maria the wife of the Emperor Maximilian, and accompanied
his daughter, Anne of Austria, to Spain in 1570. Diego was at one
time Ferdinand's ambassador at Rome, while Pedro served Ferdinand
from his childhood, and accompanied him to Germany, when he left
Spain after the death of his grandfather Ferdinand. He became his
Master of Horse, and governor to his son Maximilian, in whose house-
hold he subsequently held the post of Mayor-domo Mayor. He was
created a Knight of the Order of Santiago, at Brussels, by a Patent
dated March 26, 1549. (See Ouintana, Historia de Madrid.) This ac-
count has been given at greater length because it has been frequently
stated that Busbecq's chief was Pierre Lasso, a native of Lille ; we can
find no trace of any such person.

On the other hand, Ferdinand's ambassador is frequently spoken of
in the Calendar of State Papers of the reign of Mary (vol. ii. pp. 78, 90, 94,
&c.), as Don Pedro Lasso de Castella (Castilla). See also Viagede Felipe
Segutido d Inglaterra by Mufioz. This rare work, written by a contem-
porary, was repubhshed at Madrid 1877, under the supervision of Don
Pascual de Gayangos, to whose kindness we are indebted for the reference.

MARRIAGE OF PHILIP AND MARY. 53

adopted into his service the grandson of the icuyer
trenchant who had served his brother, his father, and
his great-grandfather.

In order to mark the importance of the occasion,
Don Pedro Lasso was attended to England by a
numerous train, many of whom were gentlemen. Al-
together there were nearly seventy persons in his suite. ^
The arrival of this embassy was peculiarly gratify-
ing to Queen Mary, and she caused Don Pedro and
his staff to be received with special honours. As
they entered London, June 26, 1554, a salute was
fired from the Tower, a compliment which excited the
jealousy of Noailles, the French ambassador.-

Busbecq must have had no ordinary powers as a
linguist, for we have it on the authority of his contem-
porary, L. Guicciardini, that there were six languages
with which he was as familiar and ready as with his
mother tongue (Flemish). These were Latin, Italian,
French, Spanish, German, and Slav ; unfortunately, a
knowledge of English was not amongst the number
of his accomplishments, and this may partially account
for the absence in his letters of any allusion to the
manners and customs of our country. It is much to
be regretted that we have not got some record of his
visit ; if he acted as secretary, as is supposed, possibly
his despatches from England may still be lying among
the archives at Vienna to gladden the heart of some
future discoverer.

Don Pedro Lasso with Busbecq and the rest of his
suite, stayed in England till October 1 554. They then
took leave of the Queen, and travelled down to Dover
with the intention of crossing over to the Continent.
Here they found themselves stopped. Every day

' See Calendar of State Papers of the reign of Mary, vol. ii. p. 90.
' See page 75.

54 LIFE OF BUSBFCQ.

French vessels could be seen hovering off the harbour
in search of a Prize. The Ambassador found it neces-
sary to write ^ to Queen Mary, reminding her that he
had only come to England by his master's orders to
do honour to her nuptials, and asking her to give such
mstructions as would ensure his safe departure. It is
not likely that an ambassador who was received with
such high distinction made so reasonable a request in
vain, and there can therefore be little doubt, that
Busbecq and his chief were escorted to Calais by a
squadron of English ships manned with stout sailors
from the Cinque Ports.

On reaching the Netherlands, the embassy was
broken up, Don Pedro repaired to Brussels, and
Busbecq went back to his friends and relatives. It is
evident^ that the young diplomatist had impressed his
chief with a very high idea of his ability and discre-
tion, for a {c^N days after his return from England,
whilst staying with his aunt Marie Ghiselin, at Lille,
he received a summons from Ferdinand to undertake
the duties of ambassador at Constantinople. He was
called to a most difficult and apparendy hopeless task.

Ferdinand of Austria, King of the Romans, and
afterwards Emperor, Sovereign of Hungary and Bo-
hemia, was in a most critical position ; it is no exag-
geration to say that he and his kingdoms lay at the
mercy of the Sultan, who might any day annihilate
his forces, and take possession of his dominions. His
only hope of rescuing his subjects from slavery lay in
the skill of his ambassadors. In 1545 Gerard Velt-
wick^ (Velduvic), had been sent to represent the two
brothers, Charles V. and Ferdinand, at the Turkish

^ This letter is dated Dover, October 6, 1554. See Calendar of State
Papers oj tJie reign of Mary, vol. ii. p. 125.

^ See Appendix. Sketch of Hungarian History ■ see also Itineraries.

JOHN MARIA MAL VEZZI.

court ; on his return, John Maria Malvezzi, one of his
companions, had succeeded to the post. Malvezzi was
not fortunate ; the Turks regarded an ambassador
simply in the light of a hostage,^ and when Ferdmand
in the autumn of 155 1 broke faith with them by takmg
possession of Transylvania, they threw Malvezzi mto
a horrible, dungeon; there the unfortunate man re-
mained till August 1553, when his release was pro-
cured by Francis Zay and Antony Wranczy (Verantius)
afterwards Bishop of Erlau, who came to Constan-
tinople as Ferdinand's representatives.

Malvezzi returned to Vienna broken in health by
his sufferings In the Turkish dungeon. It was not
long, however, before Ferdinand ordered him to resume
his duties at Constantinople ; Malvezzi did his utmost
to comply with his master's wish ; he struggled as far
as Komorn and there broke down. Ferdinand sus-
pected him of pretending to be worse than he really
was, in order to avoid a post of the perils of which he
had had such painful experience. As Busbecq forcibly
remarks, Malvezzi's death a few months later removed

this doubt !

Ferdinand had need of some one to succeed Mal-
vezzi. It was not an enviable post, and the courtiers
of Vienna had no fancy for the risk of being slowly
done to death in some noisome dungeon at Constan-
tinople, or of returning, as the Pashas at one time
intended Busbecq should return, noseless and earless !
But Ferdinand felt that it was absolutely necessary to
have a representative at the Turkish Court to assist
him in staving off the evil day. Accordingly he sent
a summons to Busbecq, and at the same time de-
spatched a message to his late chief, Don Pedro Lasso,
asking him to use his influence with the young diplo-

1 See Sketch of Hungarian History.

5^ LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

matist, and urge him to start at once for Vienna. It
would seem as if the post were but httle coveted, when
such pressure had to be apphed. Busbecq, however,
needed no urging ; he was a man capable of finding
mtense pleasure in new scenes, new work, new dis-
coveries, and all were included in the prospect now
openmg to his eager eyes.

It was on Novembers, I554, that Ogier received
t'erdmand's message. Heat once started for Bous-
becque, and paid a last visit of love to his father his
friends, and the home that was so dear to him Thence
he hurried off to Brussels, where he had an interview
with his old chief, and before many hours were past
he was galloping along the road to Vienna. A com-
parison of dates will show how very prompt Busbecq
must have been. He received the summons on No-
vember 3, and by the eighteenth he had reached
Vienna, having paid at least two visits in the mean-
time, and made his preparations for his distant journey
It was probably at Bousbecque that he enlisted the
followers who were to accompany him in his lono- and
perilous expedition ; it is evident that they were Flem-
ings, sturdy fellows who knew no fear, fond of a bottle
ot wine, and not averse to a practical joke ' There
were amongst them men of fair education,'^ who had
perhaps been trained in the chapter-school of Comine'^
and there was one man of eminent ability, who came
froni the neighbouring town of Courtrai, William Ouac-
quelben.^ He acted as physician to the party, a^d at

^ Compare the pardon of Jean Dael in the Appendix with the story
of the Greek steward and the snails, page 1-2 ^

' L. Guicciardini says of the Netherlanders, ' La pluspart des eens ont
quelque commencement de Grammaire, et presque tous, voretsques Tu
villageo.s, sgavent hre et ^.cr\r^.'^Description de tout e Pa^sUT^^

EMBASSIES TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 57

first seems to have occupied a position little differing
from that of a servant ; how Busbecq learnt to love
and appreciate him will be told in his own words.

Even the journey to Vienna had dangers of its
own. A system of posting had already been established
between Brussels and Vienna, so that Busbecq could
change his weary steeds at every stage ; but it was
November, the days were short and the nights long,
and his business being urgent, he had to risk his neck
by galloping over villainous roads long after it was
dark.

At Vienna he was welcomed by an old friend and
fellow-countryman, John Van der Aa, who was now
acting as one of Ferdinand's privy council ; it was in
a great measure owing to his strong recommendation
that Ferdinand invited Busbecq into his service. John
Van der Aa had now the pleasure of presenting the
young Ambassador to Ferdinand, who received him in
a manner betokening at once kindness and confidence.

It is net the object here to anticipate his account ;
how he visited his dying predecessor Malvezzi, and
all the particulars of his journey to Constantinople, may
be read in his own words. Busbecq tells his story in
his own pleasant way ; this memoir is only intended
to fill up the blanks as far as possible ; as to the rest,
the writer will be left to speak for himself.^

Something perhaps ought to be said as to the style
of his work. It was the fashion among the students of
that day to compose short accounts of their journeys
for the information and amusement of their friends.

^ We take this opportunity of explaining how it comes to pass, that in
this Life of Busbecq, in which so much space is assigned to an account of
his relations, so small a portion comparatively is devoted to the man
himself. Busbecq's letters are to a great extent an autobiography. It •
would be impossible to anticipate their contents without robbing them of
their freshness.

58 LIFE OF BUSBECQ,

These were generally written in Latin verse, very-
much after the model of Horace's journey to Brundi-
sium. (Hon Sat. i. 5.) Busbecq speaks of his first
Turkish letter as containing two of these itineraries/
and it was originally published under the title of
Itinera Constajitiiwpolitanuni et Amasianum ; the other
three letters, though not stricdy itineraries, are written
in the same style. Probably these letters would
not have been half so amusing, or half so instruc-
tive, if Busbecq had intended them for publication ;
so far was he from thinking, when he wrote them,
of committing them to print, that it was not till some
twenty years later that any of them saw the light, and
then only the first was published. Neither did the
author ever sanction the publication. His country-
man, L. Carrion, took on himself the responsibility
of sending the work to the press. It is from him we
learn that the letters were written to Nicolas Michault,
seigneur of Indeveldt, Busbecq's fellow-student in Italy,
and for many years Ambassador ^ to the Court of Por-
tugal ; he also tells us that the writer never intended
to give them to the public. That Busbecq had at any
rate no hand whatever in the publication is abundantly
proved by the mistakes of Carrion, some of which have
been repeated in subsequent editions. For instance,
the first letter ought to be dated September i, 1555,
whereas in all the Latin editions it is printed Sep-
tember r, 1554, the internal evidence being conclusive
as to the correctness of the former date.

' See Appendix Itineraries.

^ He was Ambassador for the two Queens, i.e., Mary Queen of Hungary
and Leonora Queen of Portugal and France, sisters of Charles V. and
Ferdinand, who after thfir widowhood lived together in the Netherlands
till the abdication of Charles X., when they accompanied their brother
to Spjin.

VISIT TO SPAIN. 59-

Biisbccq at the Coicrt of Vienna.

The four Turkish letters supply us with a full
account of the eight years which Busbecq spent at the
Court of Solyman, and it will not be necessary to take
up the thread of his story till his return to Germany
in the autumn of 1562.

At first he was uncomfortable, and felt out of his
element in the atmosphere of a court ; he hoped for a
peaceful paradise after George Halluin's model, by the
waters of the Lys, a quiet home furnished with plenty
of books, a good garden, and a few friends.

But his services were far too highly valued by
Ferdinand and his son Maximilian to allow of his
retirement.

It was not long before a new post was found for
him. Very soon after Busbecq's return from Constan-
tinople, an application was made to Maximilian, which,
if it gratified his ambition, must also have filled him
with the greatest anxiety. Philip of Spain proposed
to bestow the hand of his daughter on one of Maximi-
lian's sons, and, distrusting no doubt the more liberal
tone which prevailed at the Court of Vienna, coupled
the proposal with the condition, that the young Arch-
dukes, Rodolph and Ernest, should be entrusted to his
charge. Though Maximilian acceded to his request,
it was probably not without compunction that that wise
and tolerant prince committed his two boys — the eldest
of whom was only eleven years of age — into the keep-
ing of the royal bigot.

The only precaution open to him lay in the ap-
pointment of the officers of the household which
was to accompany them to Spain. To Busbecq was
assigned the post of dciiyer trenchant, ^ an appoint-

^ Ecuyer {escitier) trenchant. The first of these words supplies the

6o LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

ment which met with the warm approval of Fer-
dinand.

The young- Archdukes proceeded to Spain. They
were handed over to the Jesuits to be educated, and
Busbecq left their service. It is easy to understand
that a man brought up in the school of Erasmus was
not likely to prove acceptable to the staff of instructors
appointed by Philip ; but whatever the circumstances
may have been through which he lost his post, it is
certain that he in no way fell in the estimation of Fer-
dinand and Maximilian. The latter, on his coronation
as Kmg of Hungary (September 8, 1563). bestowed
on Busbecq the honour of knighthood ; the occasion
was peculiarly appropriate, as the Ambassador had by
his diplomatic skill greatly mitigated the lot of the in-
habitants of that unfortunate kingdom. This distinc-
tion was confirmed by the Emperor, who issued the
Patent, dated April 3, 1564, a copy of which will be
found in the Appendix. A far greater proof, however,
of Maximilian's esteem and confidence was received
by Busbecq about this time. Rodolph and Ernest, his

derivations for two English titles (i) squire, (2) sewer ; the first being the
equivalent of ecuyer, and the second of eaiyer trenchant. The office of
sewer {^cuyer trenchant) is alluded to by Wxltorv, Paradise Lost, ix., where
the poet speaks of

Marshaird feast
Served up in hall by sewers and seneschals.

' Here,' says Todd in his note, ' is an allusion to the magnificence of
elder days ; the marshal of the hall, the sewer and the seneschal having
been officers of distinction in the houses of princes and great men.
From Minshew's Guide into Tongues it appears that the marshal placed
the guests according to their rank, and saw they were properly arranged,
the sewer marched in before the meats and arranged them on the table,
and the seneschal was the household steward, a name of frequent occur-
rence in old law books, and so in French ''le grand Seneschal de
France,' synonymous with our " Lord High Steward of the King's
household." ' Busbecq himself held the offices of sewer and seneschal.
See Appendix, Sauvegarde &^c., where Parma gives him the title r,<"
* Grand maistre d'hostel de la Royne Isabella.'

THE ARCHDUCHESS ELIZABETH. 6r

two eldest sons, were being- educated by Philip's Jesuits ;
but the Archdukes Matthias, MaximiHan, Albert, and
Wenceslaus, were still under their father's care, and by
him Busbecq was appointed their governor and sene-
schal. For several years he was engaged in superin-
tending the household and education of the young
Archdukes, whom, according to Howaert,^ he had the
honour of escorting to Spain and introducing to Philip.
His youthful charges had not yet arrived at manhood,
when his services were required for their sister.

Busbecq iii France.

Maximilian's daughter, the Archduchess Elizabeth
(Isabella), had to leave her family and her country to
unite her fortunes with Charles IX. of France, the un-
happy king whose memory will be for ever associated
with the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The position
she went to occupy was as perilous as it was brilliant.
Queen of France, wife of Charles IX., daughter-in-law
of Catherine de Medici, with Marguerite de Valois
(afterwards Queen of Henry of Navarre), for a sister-
in-law, she had need of the trustiest and wisest coun-
sellor her father could supply ; and it was therefore no
idle compliment to Busbecq, when he was called from
the care of her brothers to take his place at the head
of her household. He had, like his grandfather Gilles
Ghiselin II., held the post o'i ^cuyer trenchant in the
imperial family. He had next been appointed gover-
nor and seneschal to the young Archdukes, and he was
now sent as seneschal, or high steward, of the Arch-
duchess's household when she left parents and father-
land to share a foreign throne.

The marriage took place by proxy, October 23,

' See page 9.

62 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

1570, and in the following month the Archduchess set
out for France under the care of her faithful seneschal.
A reader of the life of Busbecq prefixed to the Elzevir
edition, would be led to suppose that he remained at
the head of the Queen's household in France from that
time forth. Such, however, was not the case. Various
notices by his friends Lipsius,^ the celebrated scholar,
and de I'Ecluse, the botanist, prove beyond doubt
that he shortly afterwards returned to Vienna. At
any rate he was there in the summer of 1572 and the
winter of 1573, apparently the life and soul of the
literary and scientific society of the Austrian capital.
Here he was able to keep up to some degree his con-
nection with Turkey, for we find that he received
parcels of tulip bulbs and other rare plants from Con-
stantinople, of which his countryman de I'Ecluse
reaped the benefit.

' See Lipsius' Letters, Centuria i. 5 : ' Prandium mihi'hodie apud
heroem nostrum (non enim virum dixerim) Busbequium. Post pran-
dium longiusculce etiam fabulse ; sed de litteris ut apud eum solet.'
Vienna, June 13, 1572. It was at Vienna that Lipsius first made
Busbecq's acquaintance (Lipsius, Ce?tt. iii. 87) ; they afterwards corre-
sponded with each other {Cent. i. 17, 18, 34, 63). Lipsius felt his death
deeply, and wrote of him in the strongest terms of affection and regret.
{Cent. ii. ad Belgas, 78). The following inscription is from his hand : —

In Augerh Gisleni Busbequii tristem mortem et situm.
Augerius istic est situs Busbequius.
Quis ille.'' Quern virtutis et prudentiee,
Habuere carum, gratia, ipsi Cassares.
Hunc aula eorum vidit, aula et extera
Asise Tyranni. Quae viri felicitas !
Probavit hsc et ilia : in omni tempore,
In munere omni, Nestorem se prsebuit
Lingua atque mente. Jam quies eum sibi
Et patria hasc spondebat ; ecce sustulit
Viam per ipsam miles incertum an latro.
Sed sustulit, simulque sidus Belgicas,
Quod nunc choreas fulget inter astricas.

Justus Lipsius magno amico exiguum
monumentum P.

MISSION TO FRANCE. 63

Such a life must have been nearly as much after
Busbecq's own heart as the paradise of which he
dreamed by the waters of the Lys ; perhaps he thought
his troubles were over, and he would be allowed to go
peacefully to his grave after enriching the world with
the fruits of a long course of scientific study. Such,
however, was not to be the case. On May 30, 1574,
Charles IX. of France ended his brief and unhappy
life. The Archduchess Elizabeth was now a widow.
What her position was may be gathered from the
graphic touches in Busbecq's letters ; from the first it

was difficult, and at last — to use her own words it

became intolerable.

The Emperor, on hearing of his son-in-law's death,
immediately despatched his old friend and faithful
servant to comfort his daughter, and take charge of her
affairs.

The instructions which Busbecq received were by
no means simple. It was thought probable that the
new king, Henry III., would make an ofi'er of his
hand to Elizabeth, and this alliance would, it appears,
have been acceptable to Maximilian ; the widowed
Queen did not care for her brother-in-law, but was
prepared to yield to her father's wishes. There was a
possibility also of a match with Sebastian, the chivalrous
boy-king of Portugal, or, again, of her being asked to
undertake the government of the Netherlands.

There was also the question whether if she re-
mained a widow, she was to live in France or return
home, and whether, if she came back, she would be
allowed to bring with her her delicate little daughter.
Important above all other matters though, in the eyes
of Maximilian, was the question of her dower. The
usual allowance for a widowed Queen of France was
6o,coo francs per annum, and this sum had been settled

64 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

on Elizabeth at her marriage. Busbecq was to see that
this income was properly secured, and this was no easy
matter. He found from the case of Mary Queen of
Scots, that promises to pay were of little value unless
the sums were charged on part of the crown lands, and
it was only with great difficulty that he managed to
effect a tolerably satisfactory arrangement. Such was
the general purport of Busbecq's instructions. He had
also a sort of roving commission to report on the
general condition of France, and the character of her
public men ; he was to chronicle passing events, and
give an estimate of what the future was likely to bring
forth. Reports on these heads, with an occasional
piece of gossip, form the contents of his letters to the
Emperor Maximilian.^ The first of this series is
dated Speyer, August 22, 1574, and the last, Wasser-
burg, February 8, 1576.

After conducting his widowed mistress back to
her parents, Busbecq returned to France to take
charge of her affairs. He had to collect the revenues
of her dower, which were charged on sundry lands
in Berry, Marche, and Forez, and generally to protect
her interests at the court. To this employment
more important duties were afterwards united. On
the death of Maximilian, his son Rodolph suc-
ceeded to the throne. The new Emperor was well
acquainted with Busbecq, who, as has already been

' Busbecq's letters to Maximilian appear to have altogether escaped
the notice of historians and biographers. They are printed only in one rare
book, Howaert's second edition of Busbecq's letters from France, 1632.
In the same edition are to be found five more letters to Rodolph, written
during the wars of the League. It seems impossible to suppose that
Motley knew of them, for they contain some of those striking details
which the historian of the Netherlands would certainly have appropriated
— for example, the chain shot, the musket balls joined together with
copper wire, and the fences of rope, with which Parma prepared to en-
counter the cavalry of Henry of Navarre.

THE EMPEROR RODOLPH. 65

mentioned, had acted as his dcuyer trenchant when
he left his home for Spain; and though Rodolph's
mmd was to a certain extent warped by the education
he had received from the Jesuits, he nevertheless in-
herited his father's and grandfather's appreciation of
Busbecq. Accordingly, we find him employing Bus-
becq as his representative at the Court of France, and
receiving letters from him containing not only the
news, but the gossip of the capital. It is generally
stated that Busbecq's position was that of ambassador ;
this is doubtful, though there is no question as to his
having discharged the duties and exercised the in-
fluence of an ambassador. There is an obvious reason
for his not having been accredited as a regular diplo-
matic representative. He was a Fleming, and there-
fore a subject of Philip of Spain. Even at the court
of Constantinople this circumstance had proved an
obstacle in the course of his negotiations, and it was
still more likely to be a stumbling-block at the court
of France. His services, however, being too valuable
to be dispensed with by the Emperor, it would appear
that the difficulty was surmounted by giving him the
work without the title— in short, he was ambassador
without the credentials of an ambassador.

The letters of Busbecq to Rodolph, as printed in
the Elzevir edition, are fifty-three in number. The
first is dated March 25, 1582 ; the last was written
December 8, 1585. We have in them a description
of France on the eve of a most important epoch, the
wars of the League ; and we have also a most valuable
account of the progress of events in the Low Coun-
tries, in which Busbecq as a Fleming felt a strong
personal interest.

It is not necessary to enter into the history of a
period which has been made familiar to English readers

VOL. I,

66 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

by Motley's Rise of the Dutch Republic, and United
Netherlands ; but, on the other hand, it must not be
supposed that there is no additional information to be
gleaned from Busbecq's letters by those who are already
acquainted with the works of the American historian.
On the contrary, there are points omitted by Motley
which are of considerable importance ; as, for instance,
Alengon's plan for making Dunkirk the seat of his
government. Again, there are questions like that of
Salceda's conspiracy, in which Busbecq's evidence
does not appear to have been sufficiently considered.
To those who are content to take their history
at second hand, it is useless to suggest the advisa-
bility of comparing Busbecq's letters with the re-
ceived modern histories ; to real students the advan-
tages are obvious. Here is a witness almost, one might
say, under cross-examination. Busbecq had to send off
his despatches to his master periodically. He could not
alter or retouch them ; he was obliged to content him-
self with giving the news of the day, and his estimate
of its value at the time. A distinguished general has
said that in his profession it was necessary to be near
the troops who were actually engaged, in order to feel
the pulse of the battle ; and it is only by reading the
works of contemporary writers that we can feel the
pulse of history.

It is not impossible that Busbecq had his own hopes
and ambitions with regard to the Netherlands. On
September 15, 1578, the eldest of his Imperial pupils,
the Archduke Matthias, was appointed Governor-
General of the insurgent Provinces. It is vain now to
inquire into what might have been, but in 1578 it could
not have seemed altogether impossible that peace and
happiness might be in store for the Netherlands under
the government of the son of Maximilian and grandson

WILLIAM THE SILENT. 67

of Ferdinand. It is a significant fact that Busbecq's
despatches to Rodolph prior to March 1582 have not
been allowed to see the light. Matthias left the
Netherlands in October 1581, so that Busbecq's pub-
lished correspondence commences just six months after
the departure of the Archduke. If ever the earlier
letters should be forthcoming, they will, no doubt, be
found to contain much interesting information as to
this episode in the history of the Netherlands, and
this, in all probability, is the reason they have been
suppressed.

In writing to Maximilian of William the Silent,
Busbecq speaks of the great patriot of the Netherlands
in terms of the highest respect. When writing to
Rodolph some eight years later, his tone is completely
altered. It is evident that he dislikes him. This change
is not surprising if we remember the treatment which
Busbecq's pupil had in the interval experienced at his
hands. It seems evident that in this instance Orange
placed his faith in the strong battalions ; he preferred
a treacherous scoundrel to an honest and capable ^ man,
because the one could bring French troops into the
field, and the other had but his own sword to offer.
It would be a curious problem to consider whether

• It is impossible to regard Motley as fair in his treatment of Matthias.
The historian of the Netherlands evidently considers that he holds a brief
for William of Orange ; if the great patriot fails to act wisely and rightly,
some justification must be made out ! Matthias accordingly is treated
as a meddlesome interloper, for venturing to accept the invitation of a
large body of the leading men of the Netherlands — amongst whom were
some of Orange's friends — to come amongst them as their governor.
And yet Matthias was a descendant of their last native sovereign, Mary
of Burgundy, and brother of the head of that Empire of which the Low
Countries formed part. Motley cannot call in question his courage, his
humanity, or his honourable conduct, but he damns him with faint praise,
dismissing him with these words : ' It is something in favour of Matthias
that he had not been base, or cruel, or treacherous.' — Rise of the Dutch
Republic, part vi. chap. 4.

F 2

68 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

in this matter Orange was wise in his generation.
What did the Netherlands gain by substituting Alen9on
for Matthias ?

With regard to the rehgious aspect of the struggle,
Busbecq's evidence is peculiarly valuable. He was a
Netherlander, who had left his native country before
the struggle broke out. Circumstances had never
compelled him to cast in his lot with the one party or
the other.

A reference to his conversation at Prinkipo with
Metrophanes^ the Metropolitan, shows us what Bus-
becq's wishes must have been. If he desired to see
the Greek Church reunited to the Western, he must
have been anxious to preserve the latter from schism.
His views were those of Erasmus ; he wished for
union and he wished for reform. That Busbecq was
a deeply religious man may be gathered from his de-
scription of the death of Quacquelben and other pas-
sages ; that he was not in any way imbued with the
superstitions of his time may be seen by the fact that
he went to Constantinople accompanied not by his
priest, but by his Bible. From the circumstances of
the case it is almost necessary that the evidence with
regard to a religious war should be the evidence of
partisans ; hence the great authority due to the testi-
mony of a neutral.

The reader will be left to gather from Busbecq's
own letters an idea of his life at Paris, and it will only
be necessary to resume the story at the point where
his letters cease.

At the end of his fifty-first despatch we find that
his couriers have difficulty in passing through the
country, on account of the outbreak of hostilities be-
tween the Guises, the King, and Henry of Navarre.

^ See Fourth Turkish Letter,

THE OLD HOME. 69

At this point in the Elzevir edition, Busbecq's let-
ters come to an end, and we should have to part com-
pany with him at the close of 1585, if it were not for
the edition by Howaert already referred to, which for-
tunately preserves five more letters to Rodolph, dated
from November 13, 1589 to August 27, 1590. These
despatches contain interesting and valuable information
as to the state of France during the wars of the League ;
among the more striking passages is an account of the
siege of Paris, and a comparison of the relative chances
of Parma and Henry IV. in the struggle that was then
imminent.

During these troublous times, Busbecq must have
led an uncomfortable life in France, with no certain
resting-place, but driven hither and thither, as the tide
of battle ebbed and flowed. It is no wonder that he
sighed for the day when he should bid farewell to his
dangerous task, and enter the quiet haven he had pre-
pared for his old age.

In spite of his long sojourn in foreign courts,
his heart still yearned for the home of his forefathers.
The chateau had suffered at the hands of the insur-
gents, and the vassals of the seigneury were well
nigh ruined by the requisitions of the Spaniards ;
but its associations had a charm for Busbecq such as
no other place on earth could have. His first step was
to purchase ^ a life interest in the seigneury from his
nephew, Charles de Yedeghem. He next proceeded
to restore and repair the chateau, so as to make it fit
for his residence. A tradition still lingers at Bous-
becque of the beautiful garden ^ which he formed, and

' The deed by which this transfer was effected is dated December 18,
1587. It will be found in the Appendix.

"^ No doubt the garden was such as Erasmus loved. See Nisard :
'Au sortir de table, on va s'asseoir dans le jardin, au milieu des fleurs

70 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

the lilacs, tulips, and other new plants with which he
filled it. Nor was he forgetful of the interests of his
vassals. In the Mairie of Bousbecque may still be
seen the Sauvegarde which Parma granted to the
inhabitants, in token of his respect for their Seigneur.
A copy of it will be found in the Appendix. Its date
will recall a famous event — the defeat of the Spanish
Armada.

Bttsbecqs Death.

In the autumn of [592, when he was seventy years
old, Busbecq obtained six months' leave of absence
from his post,^ and set forth to revisit the home of his
youth. It does not appear that he had seen it since
the day he parted with his father, nearly forty years
before ; meanwhile, the generation he knew must have
well nigh passed away, and it was, no doubt, with a
melancholy pleasure that the old man set out to take
possession of his chateau and his seigneury.

The country was in an unquiet state on account of
the civil war which was then raging, and Busbecq
took the precaution of furnishing himself with the
passports both of the Leaguers and the Royalists.
While passing through Normandy he stopped for the
night at Cailly, a small village about nine miles from
Rouen. This part of the country had in the preceding
year been the scene of a long and desperate struggle
between Parma and Navarre, and parties of armed
men were prowling about, who combined the calling
of the soldier with the exploits of the brigand. Durino-

^tiquetdes, portant des inscriptions qui indiquent leurs noms et leurs
qualitds mddicinales.' — Retiaissance et Reforme, i. 60.

^ Elizabeth of Austria having died January 22, 1592, Busbecq's duties
as her seneschal had come to an end, but he was still acting as Rodolph's
representative. It is probable that he took his holiday as soon as he had
wound up the affairs of his late mistress.

BURIAL OF BUSBECQS HEART. 71

the night one of these troops, who professed to be
fighting for the League, swept down on the little
hamlet where Busbecq was lodging, took possession of
his portmanteaux, and carried him off, telling him that
they were acting under the orders of the governor of
Rouen. The old man, nothing daunted by their
violence, gave them a lecture on the ambassadorial
privileges to which he was entitled, and told them that
he did not believe that any such order had been issued
by the governor of Rouen. Perhaps he frightened
them, more probably he persuaded them — at any rate,
next morning they brought him back to Cailly, and
restored his baggage.

The governor of Rouen, on hearing of the affair,
apologised for the outrage, and offered to inflict severe
punishment on the offenders. The good old man
replied that he was too much occupied in making his
peace with God to think of revenging injuries. He
felt he was dying. The shock he had received in his
encounter with the marauders proved fatal. He was
never to see the home for which he had so often
yearned in distant lands. He was removed from
Cailly to the chateau of the Lady of Maillot, near
St. Germain, not far from Rouen, and there he died,
October 28, 1592.

Even when the hand of death was upon him, his
thoughts were of the home he loved. He desired
that his heart at least should be laid in Bousbecque
Church by the side of his forefathers.

But his wish was not immediately fulfilled. All
his attendants could then do was to consign his body
with due honours to a tomb in the church of St.
Germain. Six years later, when Busbecq's former
pupil. Archduke Albert, was Governor-General of the
Netherlands, his dying wish was remembered. His

7 2 LIFE OF BUSBECQ.

heart was placed in a leaden casket and conveyed to
BoLisbecque, where it was consigned to its last resting-
place amid all the pomp ^ and ceremony of a great
military funeral.

In Bousbecque Church may still be seen the
monument which the Ambassador erected to his
grandfather, Gilles Ghiselin, ^ctiyer trenchmit to three
generations of the house of Burgundy, and Agnes
Gommer, his wife. Underneath that monument their
remains are still resting to-day, and in the same grave
still lies their grandson's heart.

servei'3 'Tvf "^^''t P^''^ ''" '^'' occasion; the accounts are still pre-
served among the archives of Bousbecque.

TURKISH LETTERS.

LETTER I.

Introduction — Return from England — Visit to Bousbecque — Posting
to Vienna — Interview with Ferdinand — Malvezzi's misfortunes — Pre-
parations for the expedition — Impatience of Ferdinand — Komorn —
Paul Palyna — His ideas of punctuality — Meeting the Turkish escort —
Gran — A Sanjak-bey — Feats of Turkish horsemen — A Tartar whose
hair served as hat and helmet — Buda — The Pasha of Buda — His
sickness and its cause — William Ouacquelben called in — Busbecq's
fears — Janissaries — Their duties as policemen — Their dress — Their
visits to Busbecq — Turkish guests and hard drinkers — Determined on
making a night of it — Why Turks never drink in moderation — The
old gentleman at Constantinople who gave notice to his soul — De-
scription of Buda-Pesth — Turkish ideas with regard to houses — The
fish in the boiling spring — Interview with the Pasha of Buda — A
dilemma — Turkish customs — Busbecq embarks on the Danube for
Belgrade — Heydons — Turkish sailors — Belgrade — Roman coins —
Defence and capture of Belgrade — Louis of Hungary — Importance"of
fortresses against Turkish inroads — Trajan's bridge — A Servian
funeral — Servian marriage customs — Description of a Turkish Khan
— A Turkish hostel — Sleeping in a stable — How Busbecq made him-
self comfortable — How the party obtained supplies of wine — Turkish
methods for measuring time — Busbecq's escort acknowledge the ad-
vantages of a watch — Sophia — The Bulgarians — Dress and bonnets of
the women — Baldwin, Count of Flanders — Trajan's pass — Philippo-
polis — Adrianople — Turks fond of flowers — An open purse necessary
in Turkey — Tchourlou — Sehm's defeat — Selimbria — Reverence of the
Turks for paper — Reasons assigned by themselves for this superstition
— The red-hot gridiron and the cock — Busbecq arrives at Constanti-
nople — Visits Roostem — The story of Roostem's fall from power —
Solyman — Roxolana — Mustapha — Roostem once a pig-driver — His
services as a financier — Makes a profit out of the vegetables and
flowers from the Sultan's gardens — Why a Sultan is obliged to murder
his brothers — Mustapha summoned to his father's camp — The death
sentence — The case submitted to the Mufti — The mutes — A look
from Solyman — Mustapha strangled — Mutiny in the camp — Roostem
dismissed — Mustapha's wife and son — Visit from Ibrahim Pasha —
Trick played on the mother — Murder of the boy — Constantinople —
St. Sophia — Superstitions as to unclean fish — The Greek and the
snails — The cost of absolution in the Greek Church — Ancient columns
— Ingenuity of a Greek architect — Wild beasts — A dancing elephant

76 TURKISH LETTERS.

— A camelopard — Sailing up the Bosphorus — Thoughts suggested by
the beauty of the scene — Lazarus the Albanian — Busbecq summoned
by Solyman to Amasia — Crosses into Asia — Nicomedia — Jackals —
Nicaea — Angora goats — Fat-tailed sheep — The duck and the post-
horn — Angora — Turkish tombs — The hyena — Its knowledge of lan-
guage — How to catch it — Coins and plants — Town of Angora —
Monumentum Ancyranum — Manufacture of mohair — Fishing in the
Halys — Ignorance of the people — Sour milk — Turkish diet — Sherbet
— Grapes preserved in mustard — Dervishes — Legend of Chederle the
same as that of St. George — Amasia — Turkish incendiaries — Houses
of Amasia — Visit to Achmet Pasha — Interview with Solyman — The
Sultan's court — Promotion among the Turks — A body of Janissaries —
Their steadiness in the ranks — The Persian Ambassador and his
presents — Ali Pasha — Dinner given to the Persian Ambassador and
his suite — Audience with Solyman on leaving — Why the Sultan uses
rouge — Departure from Amasia — Busbecq ill — Returns to Constanti-
nople — Schiites and Sunnites — Busbecq leaves Constantinople —
Meets a train of Hungarian captives — One of the party dies from the
plague — Others are attacked — Providential discovery of a remedy —
Belgrade — Fertility of Hungary — Essek — Busbecq down with the
fever — Mohacz — Plots of the brigands — Busbecq nearly caught —
Interview with the Pasha of Buda — Departure for Komorn — How one
of Busbecq's escort lost his nose and his horse — The Sanjak-bey im-
proves the occasion — The value of a nose — The amount of compen-
sation affected by the doctrine of predestination — Return to Vienna —
Busbecq looks so ill that his friends think he is poisoned — Is regarded
with envy — Apologises for his want of style.

I UNDERTOOK, when we parted, to give you a full ac-
count of my journey to Constantinople, and this promise
I now hope to discharge with interest ; for I will give
you also an account of an expedition ^ to Amasia,
which is by far the rarer treat of the two.

To an old friend like yourself'^ I shall write very
freely, and I am sure you will enjoy some pleasant
passages which befell me on my way ; and as to the
disagreeables which are inseparable from a journey so

^ The word used by Busbecq is ' iter,' the best equivalent to which in
English is perhaps ' itinerary.' This first letter was originally published
by itself as an itinerary, under the title Itinera Constantinopolitatiuni et
Amasianum. The writing of itineraries, which were generally in Latin
Verse, was a special feature among the students of Busbecq's days ; for
an account of them, see Appendix Itineraries.

^ These letters were written to Nicolas Michault. See page 58.

RETURN FROM ENGLAND. 77

long and so difficult, do not give them a thought, for I
assure you that, though they annoyed me at the time,
that very annoyance, now they are past and gone, only
adds to my pleasure in recalling them.

You will remember that, after my return home from
England, where I attended the marriage of King
Philip and Queen Mary,^ in the train of Don Pedro
Lasso, whom my most gracious master, Ferdinand,
King of the Romans, had deputed to represent him
at the wedding, I received from the last-mentioned
Sovereign a summons to undertake this journey.

The message reached me at Lille '-^ on November 3,
and without any delay, except such as was entailed by
a detour to Bousbecque for the purpose of bidding
adieu to my father and my friends, I hurried through
Tournai, and thence to Brussels.

Here I met Don Pedro himself; and he, to use an
old proverb, gave the spur to a right willing horse, by
showing me a letter he had received from the King, in
which he charged him to make me set out as soon as
possible. Accordingly, I took post-horses, and came
with all speed to Vienna. Even at this early stage my
journey brought troubles of its own, for I was quite
unaccustomed to riding, and the time of year was by no
means favourable to such an expedition, involving as
it did bad weather, muddy roads, and short days. I

' The wedding took place at Winchester, July 25, 1554. The am-
bassador was Don Pedro Lasso de Castilla, a Spaniard, who held a high
post in Ferdinand's household. ' Ajour d'huy (June 26, 1554) sont arrivez
en ceste ville (London) dom Pietro Lasso et dom Hernando Gamboa,
ambassadeurs de la part des roys des Romains et de Bohesme, lesquelz
ont estd saluez de Fartillerie de la Tour, ce que Ton a trouvd fort estrange
comme fabveur qui ne fust oncques faicte ^ aultres ambassadeurs.' —
Noailles, iii. 262. See also p. 52.

"^ The Busbecq family had a magnificent hotel at Lille ; his grand-
mother, Agnes Gommer, had lived there after the death of her husband,
and his aunt, Marie Ghiselin, was probably living there at this time.

78 TURKISH LETTERS.

had, therefore, to pursue my journey long after night-
fall, and to gallop over a track, which hardly deserved
the name of a road, in complete darkness, to the great
danger of my neck.

On my arrival at Vienna I was presented to King
Ferdinand by John Van der Aa, a member of his
privy council. He received me with the kindness
which invariably marks his intercourse with those of
whose loyalty and honesty he has formed a favourable
opinion. He told me at great length his hopes with
regard to me, and how important it was to his interests
that I should accept the office of ambassador, and start
forthwith. He informed me he had promised the
Pasha of Buda that his ambassador should be there
without fail by the beginning of December, and he
was anxious there should be no want of punctuality on
the part of his representative, lest it should furnish
the Turks with a pretext for not fulfilling the engage-
ments which they had undertaken in consideration of
this promise.

We were within twelve days of the date. There
was barely time to make preparations for a short journey,
and I had a long one before me.

Even from this short space I had to deduct some
days for a hurried visit to John Maria Malvezzi at
Komorn, whither I went by the commands of the King,
who considered it of great importance that I should
have an interview with Malvezzi, and receive from his
own lips such information and advice as he might be
able to give me with regard to the character and dis-
position of the Turks, inasmuch as I myself had no
knowledge or experience of them.

He had been for some years Ferdinand's ambas-
sador at the court of Solyman, to which post he was
first appointed when the Emperor Charles, for divers

JOHN MARIA MALVEZZI. 79

weighty reasons, negotiated a truce with the Turks
through Gerard Veltwick ; ^ for on that occasion he had
also made a truce with them for eight years on behalf
of King Ferdinand.

Now Malvezzi had been one of Veltwick 's com-
panions, and on his return he was sent back to Con-
stantinople by Ferdinand to act as his ambassador, in
the hope that his presence at the Sultan's court would
be of service in checking the raids of the Turks in the
kingdom of Hungary, as there would be some one on
the spot to remonstrate with Solyman with regard to
the outrages committed by his officers, and demand
satisfaction.

But it happened not long after, that an opportunity,
which Ferdinand felt he could not afford to lose,
occurred for re-uniting Transylvania to Hungary.^ In
this he was warmly supported by the Hungarians, who
looked on Transylvania as an appanage of the kingdom.
Accordingly, he came to an understanding with the
widow and son of John the Voivode, who had formerly
usurped the title of King of Hungary, and recovered
Transylvania in exchange for other provinces.

When the Turks got wind of these transactions —
and, indeed, they could not have been kept secret^*
Roostem, the son-in-law of Solyman and chief of the
councillors who are called Vizierial Pashas, summoned
Malvezzi to his presence, and asked him whether the
news was true. He, without the slightest hesitation,
contradicted the report, and offered, moreover, to stake
his life on the result, and to submit to their worst
tortures if his statement proved incorrect. But when,

' Veltwick (Velduvic) went as ambassador to Constantinople a.d.
1545. An account of his embassy is given in the Iter of Hugo Favolius.
See Appendix Itineraries.

^ For an explanation of these transactions, see Sketch of Hungarian
History.

8o TURKISH LETTERS.

on Ferdinand's taking possession of the whole of
Transylvania, the truth became clear, and further con-
cealment was impossible, the Sultan was furious with
Roostem for having placed so much confidence in
Malvezzi's assurances, and Roostem was still more
enraged with Malvezzi, and often declared that he had
cheated him. Not to make too long a story, Malvezzi
was thrown into prison, his goods confiscated, and
his servants sold as slaves. In this prison he was
kept in close custody for nearly two years. Sickness
attacked him, and as he was not allowed to receive
any medicines, he contracted a disease which, some
time after, terminated his life. The Turks, in such
matters, have no idea of moderation ; they are exces-
sively complaisant when they wish to show their
friendship, and excessively bitter when their anger is
roused. But when their troubles at home made them
desirous of peace, and their attempt to recover Tran-
sylvania by force of arms was unsuccessful, they were
easily induced to leave off fighting and to arrange the
dispute by negotiation. The Turkish demand was
that the whole of Transylvania should be restored ; but
inasmuch as his treaty with the Voivode was the result
neither of force nor fraud, Ferdinand ^ maintained that
it ought not to be set aside, and declined to evacuate
Transylvania. With a view to satisfying the Turks
on these matters, he despatched to the Sultan's Court
two ambassadors, in whose loyalty and zeal he had the
greatest confidence — Antony Wranczy (or Verantius),
Bishop of Erlau, and Francis Zay, the commander of
the ships which the Hungarians call Nassades. On

1 Here and elsewhere Busbecq calls Ferdinand ' Caesar.' He was not
Emperor till 1558, but the title of Caesar belonged to him as King of the
Romans ; so also at the end of the Fourth Turkish Letter Maximilian is
spoken of as ' Cssar ' on his election as King of the Romans.

MAL VEZZrS MISFORTUNES.

their arrival Malvezzi was released from his dungeon,
and sent back to Ferdinand with despatches from
Solyman. Shortly after this, the King desired him to
return to Constantinople to act as his ambassador in
ordinary when peace should have been concluded.
Accordingly he set out, but a fresh attack of the disease
he had contracted during his confinement compelled
him to stop at Komorn, a fortress v/hich lies at the
point where the river Waag joins the Danube, and is
our furthest outpost against the Turk.

He felt that his end was drawing near, and wrote
to Ferdinand, asking him to appoint some one to take
his place as ambassador. The King did not altogether
believe what Malvezzi said, nor, on the other hand,
was he disposed to think it quite without foundation.
However, he was rather inclined to suspect that his
reason for avoiding the office of ambassador was not so
much the severity of his attack, as the recollection of
what he had suffered before, and the dread of what might
be in store for him in the future ; at the same time,
he felt that he could not in decency compel a man who
had done good service to King and country to proceed
on an errand for which he declared himself unfit. The
death of Malvezzi a few months afterwards gave ample
proof that his illness was neither an excuse nor a sham.
The result of all this was that I became Malvezzi's
successor ; but inasmuch as I had no experience in the
tactics and character of the Turk, the King, as I told
you before, thought that a visit to Malvezzi would be
useful, since he could give me directions and sug-
gestions as to the best method of dealing with Turkish
chicanery. Accordingly, I spent two days with Mal-
vezzi, and learnt as much as I could in so short a time
of the policy to be followed and the things to be
avoided in one's daily transactions with the Turk -

VOL. I, G

82 TURKISH LETTERS.

Thence I returned to Vienna, and set to work, as hard
as I could, to get together what I wanted for my
journey. But there was so much business to be done,
and the time was so short, that when the day came on
which I had arranged to leave, I was not ready. The
King kept pressing me to go, and I had been busy
arranging and packing since three o'clock that morn-
ing ; but it was with great difficulty that I managed to
complete my preparations shortly after dusk. The
gates of Vienna, which at that hour are locked, were
unbolted, and I set out.

The King had gone hunting that day ; and when
he left he told me he felt quite sure that before he
returned in the evening I should be on my road. And
so I was ; but there was very little difference between
the time of his return and of my departure.

At eleven, p.m., we reached Fiscagmund, a
borough town of Hungary, four miles ^ from Vienna,
where we stopped for supper, for in our haste we had
left Vienna supperless, and then pursued our way to-
wards Komorn. One of the king's instructions was
that I should get hold of one Paul Palyna at Komorn,
who had great knowledge of the raids and robberies of
the Turks, and take him with me to Buda ; since, if he
were at hand to prompt me, I should find it a great
advantage when remonstrating with the Pasha con-
cerning the outrages, and demanding satisfaction for
the same. But that I should start punctually appeared
to Palyna the most unlikely thing in the world, and
accordingly, when I arrived at Komorn, he had not yet
left his home, and not a soul could give me any infor-
mation as to when he was likely to arrive. I was
intensely annoyed. I despatched a report of the matter

' Busbecq's miles are German Stunden, each equal to about 2^ Eng-
lish miles.

AN ESCORT OF TURKS. 83

to Ferdinand, and devoted the next day to waiting for
this precious companion of mine at Koniorn. All in
vain ; so on the third day I crossed the river Waag,
and pursued my way towards Gran, the first fortress
within the Turkish boundary line.

The officer in command at Komorn, John Pax,
had given me an escort of sixteen hussars, as the Hun-
garians call these horsemen, with orders not to leave
me until we came in sight of the Turkish outposts.
The Turkish officer in command at Gran had given
me to understand that his men would meet me mid-
way between that town and Komorn. For three
hours, more or less, we had advanced through a flat
and open country, when four Turkish horsemen ap-
peared in the distance ; my Hungarians, however,
continued to ride with me, until at last I advised them
to retire, fearing that, if they came nearer, some trouble-
some breach of the peace might ensue. When the
Turks saw me coming, they rode up, and, halting by
my carriage, saluted me. In this manner we advanced
a short distance, conversing with each other, for I
had a lad who acted as interpreter.

I was not expecting any addition to my escort,
when suddenly, as we came to a spot a little below the
level of the rest of the country, I found myself sur- '
rounded by a troop of 1 50 horsemen, or thereabouts.
I had never seen such a sight before, and I was de-
lighted with the gay colours of their shields and spears,
their jewelled scimitars, their many-coloured plumes,
their turbans of the purest white, their robes of purple
and dark green, their gallant steeds and superb ac-
coutrements.

The officers ride up, give me a courteous welcome,
congratulate me on my arrival, and ask whether I have
had a pleasant journey. I reply in terms befitting the

G 3

84 TURKISH LETTERS.

occasion, and so they escort me to Gran, which con-
sists of a fort situated on a hill, at the foot of which
flows the Danube, and a town hard by on the plain,
where I take up my quarters. The archbishop of this
place stands first among the nobles of Hungary both
in rank and wealth. My lodging had more of the
camp than the city. Instead of beds there were planks
covered with coarse woollen rugs ; there were no
mattresses, no linen. And so my attendants had their
first taste of Turkish luxury ! As for myself, I had
brought my bed with me.

Next day the Sanjak-bey in command of the place
repeatedly urged me to visit him. This is the title
which the Turks give to an officer in command ; and
the name comes from the sanjak,^ or standard, which is
carried in front of his squadron of cavalry ; it consists
of a lance, on the top of which is a brass ball plated over
with gold. I had no despatches or commission for this
officer, but he was so persistent that I had to go. It
turned out that all he wanted was to see me, to go
through some civilities, ask my errand, urge me to pro-
mote a peace, and wish me a prosperous journey. On
my way to his quarters I was surprised to hear the frogs
croaking, although it was December and the weather
was cold. The phenomenon was explained by the ex-
istence of some pools formed by hot sulphur springs.

I left Gran after a breakfast, which had to serve for
a dinner as well, as there was no resting-place between
it and Buda.

In spite of my entreaties that he would spare him-
self the trouble of paying me so great an attention, the

- Busbecq's explanation is correct. The word may possibly be a
corruption of the Latin signum. It is now apphed to the district which
was formerly governed by a Sanjak-bey, i.e., Lord of the standard.
Busbecq writes the word Singiaccus, Von Hammer uses the form San-
djak, while Creasy prefers Sanjak,

^

THE PASHA OF BUD A. 85

Sanjak-bey must needs escort me with all his house-
hold, and the cavalry under his command. As the
horsemen poured out of the gates they engaged in
mimic warfare, and also performed several feats, one
of which was to throw a ball on the ground, and to
carry it off on the lance's point when at full gallop.
Among the troopers was a Tartar with long thick hair,
and I was told that he never wore any other covering
on his head than that which nature afforded, either to
protect him against weather in a storm, or arrows in a
battle. When the Sanjak-bey considered that he had
gone far enough, we exchanged greetings, and he re-
turned home, leaving an escort to conduct me to Buda.

As I drew near to the city I was met by a few
Turks, who were by profession cavasses. These
cavasses act as officials, and execute the orders of the
Sultan and Pashas. The position of cavasse is con-
sidered by the Turks to be one of high honour.

I was conducted to the house of a Hungarian gen-
tleman, where, I declare, my luggage, carriage, and
horses were better treated than their owner. The
first thing the Turks attend to is to get carriages,
horses, and luggage into safe quarters ; as for human
beings they think they have done quite enough for them,
if they are placed beyond the reach of wind and weather.

The Pasha, whose name was Touighoun (which, by
the way, signifies a stork in Turkish), sent a person to
wait on me and pay me his respects, and asked me to
excuse him from giving me audience for several days,
on account of a severe illness from which he was
suffering, and assured me that he would attend to me
as soon as his health permitted.

This circumstance prevented my business from
suffering at all by Palyna's delay, and enabled him
also to escape the charge of wilful negligence. For

TURKISH LETTERS.

he used all diligence to reach me in time, and shortly
afterwards made his appearance.

The illness of the Pasha detained me at Buda for
a considerable time. The popular belief was that he
had fallen sick from chagrin on receiving the news
that a large hoard of his, which he had buried in some
corner, had been stolen. He was generally supposed
to be an arrant miser. Well, when he heard that I
had with me William Quacquelben, a man of great
learning and a most skilful physician, he earnestly de-
sired me to send him to prescribe for his case. I
made no objection to this proposal, but my consent
was like to have cost me dear ; for when the Pasha
gradually got worse, and a fatal termination to his
illness seemed probable, I was in great alarm lest, if he
joined his Mahomet in Paradise'l the Turks should
accuse my physician of murdering him, to the danger
of my excellent friend, and my own great disgrace as
an accomplice. But, by God's mercy, the Pasha re-
covered, and my anxiety was set at rest.

At Buda I made my first acquaintance with the
Janissaries ; this is the name by which the Turks call
the infantry of the royal guard. The Turkish state
has 1 2,000 of these troops when the corps is at its full
strength. They are scattered through every part of
the empire, either to garrison the forts against the
enemy, or to protect the Christians and Jews from the
violence of the mob. There is no district with any
considerable amount of population, no borough or city,
which has not a detachment of Janissaries to protect
the Christians, Jews, and other helpless people from
outj-age and wrong.

A garrison of Janissaries is always stationed in the
citadel of Buda. The dress of these men consists of a
robe reaching down to the ankles, while, to cover their

JANISSARIES. 87

heads, they employ a cowl which, by their account, was
originally a cloak sleeve,^ part of which contains the
head, while the remainder hangs down and flaps
against the neck. On their forehead is placed a silver-
gilt cone of considerable height, studded with stones
of no great value.

These Janissaries generally came to me in pairs.
When they were admitted to my dining room they
first made a bow, and then came quickly up to me, all
but running, and touched my dress or hand, as if
they intended to kiss it. After this they would thrust
into my hand a nosegay of the hyacinth or nar-
cissus ; then they would run back to the door almost
as quickly as they came, taking care not to turn their
backs, for this, according to their code, would be a
serious breach of etiquette. After reaching the door,
they would stand respectfully with their arms crossed,
and their eyes bent on the ground, looking more like
monks than warriors. On receiving a few small coins
(which was what they wanted) they bowed again,
thanked me in loud tones, and went off blessing me
for my kindness. To tell you the truth, if I had not

1 See Creasy, History of the Ottoman Turks, chap. ii. : ' The name
of Yeni Tscheri, which means "new troops," and which European
writers have turned into Janissaries, was given to Orchan's young corps
by the Dervish Hadji Beytarch. This Dervish was renowned for sanc-
tity ; and Orchan, soon after he had enrolled his first band of invo-
luntary boyish proselytes, led them to the dwelling-place of the saint,
and asked him to give them his blessing and a name. The Dervish
drew the sleeve of his mantle over the head of one in the first rank, and
then said to the Sultan, " The troops which thou hast created shall be
called Yeni Tscheri. Their faces shall be white and shining, their right
arms shall be strong, their sabres shall be keen, and their arrows sharp.
They shall be fortunate in fight, and shall never leave the battle field
save as conquerors." In memory of that benediction the Janissaries
ever wore as part of their uniform a cap of white felt like that of the
Dervish, with a strip of woollen hanging down behind, to represent the
sleeve of the holy man's mantle, that had been laid on their comrade's
neck.' See also Gibbon, chap. Ixiv.

TURKISH LETTERS.

been told beforehand that they were Janissaries, I
should, without hesitation, have taken them for mem-
bers of some order of Turkish monks, or brethren of
some Moslem college. Yet these are the famous
Janissaries, whose approach inspires terror everywhere.
During my stay at Buda a good many Turks were
drawn to my table by the attractions of my wine, a
luxury in which they have not many opportunities of
indulging. The effect of this enforced abstinence is to
make them so eager for drink, that they swill them-
selves with it whenever they get the chance. I asked
them to make a night of it, but at last I got tired of
the game, left the table, and retired to my bedroom.
On this my Turkish guests made a move to go, and
great was their grief as they reflected that they were
not yet dead drunk, and could still use their legs.
Presently they sent a servant to request that I would
allow them access to my stock of wine and lend them
some silver cups. ' With my permission,' they said
• they would like to continue their drinking bout
through the night ; they were not particular where
they sat ; any odd corner would do for them ' Well I
ordered them to be furnished with as much wine as they
could drmk, and also with the cups they asked for
Bemg thus supplied, the fellows never left off drinkino-
until they were one and all stretched on the floor iS
the last stage of intoxication.

To drink wine is considered a great sin among the
Turks, especially in the case of persons advanced in
lite :_ when younger people indulge in it the offence is
considered more venial. Inasmuch, however, as thev
thmk that they will have to pay the same penalty after
death whether they drink much or little, if they taste
one drop of wine they must needs indulge in a
regular debauch ; their notion being that, inasmuch as

HARD DRINKERS AMONG THE TURKS.

they have already incurred the penalty, appointed .
such sin, in another world, it will be an advantage i
them to have their sin out, and get dead drunk, since it
will cost them as much in either case. These are their
ideas about drinking, and they have some other notions
which are still more ridiculous. I saw an old gentleman
at Constantinople who, before taking up his cup, shouted
as loud as he could. I asked my friends the reason,
and they told me he was shouting to warn his soul to
stow itself away in some odd corner of his body, or to
leave it altogether, lest it should be defiled by the wine
he was about to drink, and have hereafter to answer for
the offence which the worthy man meant to indulge in.
I shall not have time to give you a full description
of the good town of Buda, but that I may not pass it
over altogether, I will give you a sketch of such sort
as is suitable for a letter, though it would not be suffi-
cient for a book. The town is built on the side of
a hill, in a most delightful situation, the country around
being rich and fertile. On the one side it is bordered
by vine-clad hills, and on the other it commands a view
of the Danube, as it flows past its walls, with Pesth
beyond, and the broad fields on the other side of the
river. Well might this town be selected as the royal
capital of Hungary. In past times it was adorned with
the magnificent palaces of the Hungarian nobility, some
of which have fallen down, while others are only kept
from falling by a liberal use of props and stays. The
inmates of these mansions are generally Turkish sol-
diers, who, as their daily pay is all they have to live
on, can spare nothing for the purpose of mending the
walls or patching the roofs of these vast buildings.
Accordingly, they do not take it to heart if the roof
lets in rain or the wall cracks, provided they can find a
dry spot to stable their horses and make their own

90 TURKISH LETTERS.

bed. As to the chambers above, they think it is no
concern of theirs ; so they leave the rats and mice in
full enjoyment of them. Another reason for this
negligence is that it is part of the Turkish creed to
avoid display in the matter of buildings ; they consider
that a man proves himself a conceited fellow, who
utterly misunderstands his position, if he aims at having
a pretentious house, for he shows thereby, according to
their notion, that he expects himself and his house to
last for ever. They profess to use houses as travellers
use inns, and if their habitations protect them from
robbers, give them warmth and shade, and keep off
rain, they want nothing more. Through the whole of
Turkey it would be hard to find a house, however exalted
or rich its owner may be, built with the slightest
regard to elegance. Everyone lives in a hut or cot-
tage. The great people are fond of fine gardens and
sumptuous baths, and take care to have roomy houses
to accommodate their retinues ; but in these you never
see a bright verandah, or a hall worth looking at, nor
does any sign of grandeur attract one's attention. The
Hungarians also follow the same practice, for with the
exception of Buda, and perhaps Presburg, you will
scarcely find a city in the whole of Hungary con-
taining buildings of any pretension whatever. For
my own part, I believe that this is a very old habit
of theirs, and arises from the circumstance that the
Hungarians are a warlike nation, accustomed to camp
life and expeditions far from home, and so, when they
lived in a city, they did so as men who must shordy
leave it.

Whilst at Buda I was much struck with a spring
which I saw outside the gate on the road to Constanti-
nople. The surface of the water was boiling hot, but
at the bottom you could see fish swimming about, so

THE PASHA'S DILEMMA. 91

that, if they were caught, you might expect them to
come out ready boiled !

At length, on December 7, the Pasha was ready to
receive me. I gave him a present with a view to
securing his favour, and then proceeded to complain
of the arrogance and misdeeds of the Turkish soldiers.
I demanded the restitution of the places which had been
taken from us in violation of the truce, and which he
had undertaken in his letters to restore to my master
on his sending an ambassador. The Pasha replied
with complaints as heavy as mine about the losses and
injuries he had sustained at the hands of our people.
As to restoring the places, he took refuge in the
following dilemma : — ' I,' said he, ' either did not
promise to restore these places, or I did promise to
restore them. In the former case, I am not bound to
restore them ; while in the latter case, a man of your
intelligence must comprehend that I made a promise
which I have neither the right nor the power to keep ;
for my master has assigned me the duty of enlarging
his dominion, not of diminishing it ; and I have no
right to impair his estate. Remember it is his interest
that is in question, not mine. When you see him you
can ask him for whatever you like.' He concluded by
remarking that ' it was very wrong of me to bother a
man still weak from illness with a long discourse about
nothing.'

When he had delivered this decision with the air
of a judge, I had leave to go. All I gained by my
interview was the conclusion of a truce until an answer
should be brought back from Solyman.

I observed, when we were presented to the Pasha,
that they kept up the custom of the ancient Romans,
who put in the word ' feliciter ' at the end of their
speech, and used words of good omen. I noticed also

92 TURKISH LETTERS.

that in most cases the left-hand side was considered
the more honourable. The reason they assign for
this is that the sword confers honour on that side, for
if a man stands on the right, he has in a certain sense
his sword under the hand of the man who flanks him
on the left ; while the latter, of course, would have his
sword free and disencumbered.

Our business at Buda being thus concluded, in so
far as we were able to accomplish it, my companion
returned to the King, while I, with my horses, carriages,
and ^ people, embarked on some vessels which were
waiting for us, and sailed down the Danube towards
Belgrade. This route was not only safer than that by
land, but also occupied less time, for encumbered as 1
was with baggage, I should have been twelve days at
the very least on the road, and there would also have
been danger of an attack from Heydons— for so the
Himgarians call the banditti who have left their flocks
and herds to become half soldiers, half brigands. By
the river route there was no fear of Heydons, and the
passage occupied five days.

The vessel on board which I sailed was towed by
a tug manned by twenty-four oarsmen ; the other
boats were pulled along by a pair of sweeps. With
the exception of a few hours during which the wretched
galley-slaves and the crew took food and rest, we
travelled incessantly. I was much impressed on' this
occasion with the rashness of the Turks, for they had
no hesitation in continuing their voyage during the
night, though there was no moon and it was "quite
dark, amid a gale of wind. We often, to our very
great danger, encountered mills and trunks and branches
of trees projecting from the banks, so that it frequently
happened that the boat was caught by the gale and
came crashing on to the stumps and branches which

BELGRADE. 93

lined the river side. On such occasions it seemed to
me that we were on the point of going to pieces.
Once, indeed, there was a great crash, and part of the
deck was carried away. I jumped out of bed, and
begged the crew to be more careful. Their only
answer was ' Alaure,' that is, ' God will help us ; ' and
so I was left to get back to my bed and my nap — if I
could ! I will venture to make one prophecy, and that
is, that this mode of sailing will one day bring about a
disaster.

On our voyage I saw Tolna, a Hungarian borough
of some importance, which deserves special mention for
its excellent white wine and the civility of the people.
I saw also Fort Valpovar, which stands on high
ground, as well as other castles and towns ; nor did I
fail to notice the points at which the Drave on the one
side, and the Theiss on the other, flow into the
Danube. Belgrade itself lies at the confluence of the
Save and Danube, and at the apex of the angle where
these streams join, the old city is still standing ; it is
built in an antiquated style, and fortified with numerous
towers and a double wall. On two sides it is washed
by the rivers I mentioned, while on the third side,
which unites it to the land, it has a citadel of con-
siderable strength, placed on an eminence, consisting
of several lofty towers built of squared stone.

In front of the city are very large suburbs, built
without any regard to order. These are inhabited by
people of different nations — Turks, Greeks, Jews,
Hungarians, Dalmatians, and many more.

Indeed, throughout the Turkish Empire the
suburbs, as a rule, are larger than the towns, and
suburbs and town together give the idea of a very
considerable place. This was the first point at which
I met with ancient coins, of which, as you know, I am

94 TURKISH LETTERS.

very fond, and I find William Quacquelben, whom I
mentioned before, a most admirable and devoted
fellow-student in this hobby of mine.

We found several coins, on one side of which was a
Roman soldier standing between a bull and a horse,
with the inscription ' Taurunum.' It, is a well-ascer-
tained fact that the legions of Upper Mcesia were
quartered here.

Twice in the days of our grandfathers great efforts
were made to take Belgrade, on the first occasion by
Amurath, and on the second by Mahomet, the captor
of Constantinople. But the efforts of the barbarians
were on both occasions baffled by the gallant defence
of the Hungarians and the champions of the Cross.

It was not till the year 1 520 that Belgrade was taken.
Solyman, who had just ascended the throne, advanced
against the city with powerful forces. He found it in
a weak state, the garrison not having been kept at its
proper strength, owing to the neglect of the young
King Louis and the feuds of the Hungarian nobles ;
consequently he made himself master of the city with-
out much loss. We can now see clearly that Belgrade
was the door of Hungary, and that it was not till this
gate was forced that the tide of Turkish barbarism
burst into this unhappy country. The loss of Belgrade
entailed the death of Louis ^ on the battle-field, the
capture of Buda, the enthralment of Transylvania, and
the utter prostration of a flourishing realm, amid the
alarm of neighbouring kingdoms lest their turn should
come next. The loss of Belgrade ought to be a warn-
ing to the Princes of Christendom that they, as they
love their safety, should take the utmost possible care
of their forts and strongholds. For the Turks re-
semble in this point great rivers swollen by the rains ;

' At Mohacz, A.D. 1526. See Sketch of Hungarian History.

A SERVIAN FUNERAL. 95

if they can burst their banks in any single place, they
pour through the breach and carry destruction far and
wide. In yet more fearful fashion do the Turkish
hordes, when once they have burst the barriers in
their path, carry far and wide their unparalleled de-
vastations.

But we must now return to Belgrade, with full
purpose to make our way straight to Constantinople.
Having procured in the city what we thought needful
for our journey by road, leaving Semendria, formerly a
stronghold of the Despots ^ of Servia, on our left, we
commenced our journey towards Nissa. When we
came to high ground the Turks showed us the snow-
capped mountains of Transylvania in the distance, and
they also pointed out by means of signs the place near
which some of the piles of Trajan's bridge may still
be seen.^

Aftei" crossing a river, called Morava by the natives,
we took up our lodgings in a village named Jagodin,
where we had an opportunity of seeing the funeral
ceremonies of the country, which are very different
from ours. The body was laid in a chapel, with its
face uncovered, and by it was placed food in the shape
of bread and meat and a cup of wine ; the wife stood
by the side, and also the daughter, dressed in their
best clothes ; the latter wore a head-dress of pea-
cock's feathers. The last present which the wife made
to her husband, after he had been waked, was a

• The Princes of Servia were styled Despots in Greek, and Cral in
their native idiom. See Gibbon, chap. Ixiii. note.

' 'A little below Orsova the Danube issues from the Iron Gate, and
at a village called Severin, where it expands to a width of 1,300 yards,
the foundations of the piers, corresponding in number with the statement
of the historian, have been seen when the water was more than usually
low. Here, then, as is now generally agreed, stood the bridge of Trajan's
architect, Apollodorus.' — Merivale, History of the Romans ^ chap. Ixiii.

96 TURKISH LETTERS.

purple cap of the kind that young ladies wear in that
country.

Then we heard wailing and crying and complain-
ing, as they asked the dead man ' What they had
done that he should desert them ? Had they in any
way failed in showing submission to him or in
ministering to his comfort ? Why did he leave them
to loneliness and misery ? ' &c. &c. The religious
ceremonies were conducted by priests of the Greek
Church. I noticed in the burial-ground a great many
wooden figures of stags, fawns, &c., placed on the top
of posts or poles. On inquiring the reason, I was
informed that the husbands or fathers placed these
monuments as memorials of the readiness and care
with which the wives and daughters had discharged
their domestic duties. On many of the tombs were
hanging tresses of hair, which the women and girls
had placed there to show their grief for the loss of
relations. We heard also that it was the custom in
these parts, when the elders had arranged a marriage
between a young man and a young woman, for the
bridegroom to seize his wife by force and carry her off
According to their ideas, it would be highly in-
delicate for the girl to be a consenting party to the
arrangement.

Not far from Jagodin we came to a little stream,
which the inhabitants call Nissus. This we kept on
our right, skirting its bank until we came to Nissa
(Nisch). Some way on, we found on the bank (where
the traces of an old Roman road still remained) a little
marble pillar with a Latin inscription, but so mutilated
as to be undecipherable. Nissa is a small town of
some account, to which the people of the country often
resort.

I must now tell you something as to the inns we

A CARAVANSERAI. 97

make use of, for that is a subject on which you have
been some time wanting information. At Nissa I
lodged in the pubUc inn, called by the Turks a cara-
vanserai — the most common kind of inn in those parts.
It consists of a huge building, the length of which
somewhat exceeds the breadth. In the centre is an
open space, where the camels and their baggage, as
well as the mules and waggons, have to be quartered.

This open space is surrounded by a wall about three
feet high, and this is bonded into the outer wall sur-
rounding the whole building. The top of the former
is level, and about four feet broad. This ledge serves
the Turks for bedroom and dining-room, and kitchen
as well, for here and there fireplaces are built into the
outer wall, which I told you encloses the whole build-
ing. So they sleep, eat, and cook on this ledge, three
feet high and four feet broad ; and this is the only
distinction between their quarters and those of the
camels, horses, and other beasts of burden.

Moreover, they have their horses haltered at the
foot of the ledge, so that their heads and necks come
right over it ; and as their masters warm themselves
or take their supper, the creatures stand by like so
many lackeys, and sometimes are given a crust or
apple from their master's hand. On the ledge they
also make their beds ; first they spread out the rug
which they carry for that purpose behind their saddles,
on this they put a cloak, while the saddle supplies
them with a pillow. A robe, lined with skins, and
reaching to the ankles furnishes their dress by day and
their blanket at night. And so when they lie down
they have no luxuries wherewith to provoke sleep to
come to them.

In these inns there is no privacy whatever; every-
thing is done in public, and the only curtain to shield

VOL. I. H

98 TURKISH LETTERS.

one from people's eyes is such as may be afforded by
the darkness of the night.

I was excessively disgusted with these inns, for all
the Turks were staring at us, and wondering at our
ways and customs, so I always did my best to get a
lodging with some poor Christian ; but their huts are so
narrow that oftentimes there was not room enough for a
bed, and so I had to sleep sometimes in a tent and
sometimes in my carriage. On certain occasions I got
lodged in a Turkish hostel. These hostels are fine
convenient buildings, with separate bedrooms, and no
one is refused admittance, whether he be Christian or
Jew, whether he be rich or a beggar. The doors are
open to all alike. They are made use of by the
pashas and sanjak-beys when they travel. The
hospitality which I met with in these places appeared
to me worthy of a royal palace. It is the custom to
furnish food to each individual who lodges there, and
so, when supper-time came, an attendant made his
appearance with a huge wooden platter as big as a
table, in the middle of which was a dish of barley
porridge and a bit of meat. Around the dish were
loaves, and sometimes a little honey in the comb.

At first I had some delicacy in accepting it, and
told the man that my own supper was being got ready,
and that he had better give what he had brought to
people who were really in want. The attendant, how-
ever, would take no denial, expressed a hope ' that I
would not despise their slender fare,' told me 'that even
pashas received this dole, it was the custom of the
place, and there was plenty more for supplying the
wants of the poor. If I did not care for it myself
I might leave it for my servants.' He thus obliged
me to accept it, lest I should seem ungracious. So I
used to thank whoever brought it, and sometimes took

SLEEPING IN A STABLE. 99

a mouthful or two. It was not at all bad. I can assure
you that barley porridge is a very palatable food, and
it is, moreover, recommended by Galen ^ as extremely
wholesome.

Travellers are allowed to enjoy this hospitality for
three full days ; when these have expired, they must
change their hostel. In these places I found, as I
have already told you, most convenient lodgings, but
they were not to be met with everywhere.

Sometimes, if I could not get a house to lodge in,
I spent the night in a cattle shed. I used to look out for
a large and roomy stable ; in one part of it there would
be a regular fire-place, while the other part was assigned
to the sheep and oxen. It is the fashion, you must
know, for the sheep and the shepherd to live under
the same roof.

My plan was to screen off the part where the fire
was with my tent hangings, put my table and bed by
the fire side, and there I was as happy as a king. In
the other part of the stable my servants took their
ease in plenty of good clean straw, while some fell
asleep by the bonfire which they were wont to make in

' Galen, the great physician, who flourished in the second century of
our era. Busbecq's alkision to him is quite in accordance with the
fashion of his day. See Ranke's Civil Wars and Monarchy in France,
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, chap. xix. ' Peter de la Ramde
wished to forsake in all things the path hitherto trodden, to alter the
entire system of doctors and professors in the university, and to make
the works of the ancients the immediate text-books of the different
branches of study, — the codex of the civil law in jurisprudence, Galen
and Hippocrates in medicine, and in theology the Old and New Testa-
ments. . . . Physicians arose who brought into practice once more the
deserted rules of Hippocrates ; and it soon went so far, as Ambrose Pare,
the reformer of surgery, said, that people were not content with what
they found in the ancients, but began to regard their writings as watch-
towers, from which more might be discovered.' For Busbecq's applica-
tion of these principles see the Life.

H 2

100 TURKISH LETTERS.

an orchard or meadow hard by, for the purpose of
cooking our food. By means of the fire they were
able to withstand the cold ; and, as to keeping it burn-
ing, no vestal virgin at Rome was ever more careful
than they. I dare say you will wonder how I managed
to console my people for their bad lodgings. You will
surmise that wine, the usual remedy for bad nights, is
not easily found in the heart of Turkey. This is quite
true. It is not in every district that you can get wine,
and this is especially the case in places where Chris-
tians do not live. For ofttimes, getting wearied of
Turkish insolence, they leave the neighbourhood of
the high road, and take refuge in pathless wilds, where
the land is poorer, and they themselves are safer, leav-
ing their conquerors in possession of the more fertile
spots. When we drew near to such places, the Turks
warned us that we should find no wine there, and we
then despatched a caterer the day before under the escort
of a Turk, to obtain a supply from the neighbouring
Christian districts. So my people did not lack this
solace of their hardships. To them wine supplied the
place of feather beds and bolsters, and every other
comfort that induces sleep. As for myself, I had in
my carriage some flasks of excellent wine, which sup-
plied my own private table.

I have now told you how I and my people provided
ourselves with wine ; but we had one hardship almost
worse than want of wine, and this was the dreadful
way in which our nights were broken. Sometimes, in
order to reach a good halting-place betimes, it was
necessary to rise very early, while it was still dark.
On these occasions it not unfrequently happened that
our Turkish guides mistook the moonlight for the
approach of dawn, and proceeded to wake us soon after
midnight in a most noisy fashion. For the Turks, you

TURKS AND TIMEPIKCES. toi

must know, have neither hours to mark their time,
nor milestones to mark their roads.

They have professional people, called talismans,
set apart for the service of their mosques, who use a
water-glass ; and when these talismans know that morn-
ing is at hand, they utter a cry from a lofty minaret
built for that special purpose, in order to call and invite
the people to the performance of their devotions. They
utter the same cry when one quarter of the day has
elapsed, at midday, again when three quarters of the
day are over, and, last of all, at sunset ; each time
repeating the cry in shrill quavering tones, the effect of
which is not unpleasing, and the sound can be heard at
a distance that would astonish you.

Thus the Turks divide their day into four portions,
which are longer or shorter according to the season.
They have no method for marking time during the night.

But to return to my subject. Our guides, deceived
by the brightness of the moon, were wont to give the
signal for striking camp when the day was yet far dis-
tant. Up we jumped in haste, for fear of causing any
delay, or being blamed for any misadventure that
might ensue. Our baggage was got together, the bed
and tents thrown into the waggon, our horses har-
nessed, and we ourselves stood ready and equipped,
waiting for the signal to start. Meanwhile, our Turks
had found out their mistake, and turned into bed for
another sleep.

When we had waited some time for them in vain, I
would send a message to tell them that we were quite
ready, and that the delay rested with them. My mes-
sengers brought back word that 'the Turks had re-
turned to their bedclothes, and vowed that they had
been atrociously deceived by the moon when they gave
the signal for starting ; it was not yet time to set out,

102 TURKISH LETTERS.

and we had much better all go to sleep again.' The
consequence was that we had either to unpack every-
thing at the cost of considerable labour, or to spend a
good part of the night shivering in the cold. To put
a stop to this annoyance, I ordered the Turks not to
trouble me again, and promised to be responsible for
our being up in good time, if they would tell me the
day before, when we ought to start, assuring them that
' I could manage it, as I had watches that could be
trusted ; they might continue their slumbers,' I added,
'relying on me to have the camp roused at the pro-
per time.'

My Turks agreed, but were not quite comfortable
about it ; so at first they would come early, and wake
up my servant, bidding him go to me, and ask what
the fingers of my timepieces said. On his return he
would tell them, as best he could, what the time was,
informing them that it was nearly morning, or that the
sun would not rise for some time, as the case might be.
When they had once or twice proved the truth of his
report, they trusted the watches implicitly, and ex-
pressed their admiration at their accuracy. Thence-
forward we were allowed to enjoy our night's rest
without having it cut short by their uproar.

On our way from Nissa to Sophia we had fair
roads and good weather, considering the season of
the year. Sophia is a good-sized town, with a con-
siderable population both of residents and visitors.
Formerly it was the royal city of the Bulgarians ; after-
wards (unless I am mistaken) it was the seat of the
Despots of Servia, whilst the dynasty still existed, and
had not yet succumbed to the power of the Turk.
After quitting Sophia we travelled for several days
through fruitful fields and pleasant valleys, belonging
to the Bulrarians.

BULGARIAN WOMEN. 103

The bread we used through this part of our expe-
dition was, for the most part, baked under ashes. The
people call these loaves ' fugacias : ' they are sold by the
girls and women, for there are no professional bakers
in that district. When the women hear of the arrival
of strangers, from whom they may expect to earn a
trifle, they knead cakes of meal and water without
any leaven, and put them under the hot ashes. When
baked they carry them round for sale at a small price,
still hot from the hearth. Other eatables are also very
cheap. A sheep costs thirty-five aspres,^ a fowl costs
one; and fifty aspres make a crown. I must not
forget to tell you of the dress of the women. Usually,
their sole garment consists of a shirt or chemise of
linen, quite as coarse as the cloth sacks are made of in
our country, covered with needlework designs, of the
most absurd and childish character, in different colours.
However, they think themselves excessively fine ; and
when they saw our shirts— the texture of which was
excellent— they expressed their surprise that we should
be contented with plain linen instead of having worked
and coloured shirts. But nothing struck us more than
their towering head-dresses and singular bonnets— If
bonnets they can be called. They are made of
straw, woven with threads ; the shape is exacdy the
reverse of that which is usually worn by our women in
country districts ; for their bonnets fall down on the
shoulders, and are broadest at the lowest part, from
which they gradually slope up into a peak. Whereas,
in Bulgaria the bonnet is narrowest at the lowest part ;
above the head it rises in a coil about three-quarters of
a foot ; it is open at the top, and presents a large cavity

1 An ' aspre ' or ' asper ' is still the lowest coin in Turkey. At the
present rate of exchange a penny is worth nearly 100 aspres, but in
Busbecq's time the Turkish coinage had a considerably higher value.

i°4 TURKISH LETTERS.

towards the sky, so that it seems expressly made for the
purpose of catching the rain and the sun, just as ours
are made for the purpose of keeping them off.

The whole of the bonnet, from the upper to the
lower rim, is ornamented with coins and figures,
bits of coloured glass, and anything else that glitters,
however rubbishy it may be.

This kind of bonnet makes the wearer look tall,
and also obliges her to carry herself with dignity, as it
is ready to tumble off at the slightest touch. When
they enter a room you might imagine it was a Clytem-
nestra,^ or Hecuba such as she was in the palmy days
of Troy, that was marching on to the stage.

I had here an instance of the fickleness and instability
of that which, in the world's opinion, constitutes no-
bility. For when, on noticing some young women, whose
persons had an air of better breeding than the rest, I
inquired whether they belonged to some high family,
I was told that they were descended from great Bul-
garian princes, and, in some cases, even from royal
ancestors, but were now married to herdsmen and shep-
herds. So little value is attached to high birth in the
Turkish realm. I saw also, in other places, descen-
dants of the imperial families of the Cantacuzeni^ and

' See Ranke's Civil Wars and Monarchy in France, Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Ce?tturies, chap. xiv. 'As he (the Prince of Condd) had dis-
tinguished himself by his bravery in the held, he now desired to shine
through his versatihty, by taking part in the knightly festivities of the
court, in which it was the fashion to represent the heroic fables of the
Greeks: It would seem that it was the fashion in high circles to appear
on certain occasions in the dress and character of Greek heroes and
heroines.

^ John Cantacuzenus became Emperor 1341, and abdicated 1354.
His son Matthew was associated with him. His descendants have given
many princes to Moldavia and Wallachia. The Pateologi held the
Empire 1282-1453 (see Gibbon, chap. Ixii., and following chapters).
Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, when banished from his kingdom became
a schoolmaster at Corinth,

BALDWIN, COUNT OF FLANDERS. 105

Palaeologi, whose position among the Turks was
lower than that of Dionysius at Corinth. For the
Turks do not measure even their own people by any
other rule than that of personal merit. The only
exception is the house of Othman ; in this case, and in
this case only, does birth confer distinction.

It is supposed that the Bulgarians,^ at a time when
many tribes were migrating of their own accord or
under compulsion, left the Scythian river Volga to
settle here, and that they are called Bulgarians (an
equivalent for Volgarians) from that river.

They established themselves on the Balkan range,
between Sophia and Philippopolis, in a position of great
natural strength, and here they long defied the power
of the Greek Emperors.

When Baldwin^ the elder. Count of Flanders, gained
possession of the imperial throne, they took him
prisoner in a skirmish, and put him to death. They
were not able to withstand the power of the Turks,
who conquered them, and subjected them to their
heavy yoke. They use the language of the lUyrians,
as do the Servians and Rascians.^

^ See Freeman's Essays, Series iii. p. 418. 'The Bulgarian land on
the Volga — Great Bulgaria — kept its name long after the New or Black
Bulgaria arose on the Danube. It remained Turanian ; it became
Mahometan ; it flourished as a Mahometan state, till in the 15th century,
it yielded to the advance of Russia, and gave the Russian Czar one of his
endless titles.' Mr. Freeman here quotes 17 TraXai KaXovfiivr] /ieydXr/ BovX-
yapia from Theophanes. This is an oversight, the words are not taken
from Theophanes, though he uses a similar expression, but from Nice-
phorus of Constantinople.

" Baldwin, tenth Count of Flanders, was elected Emperor 1204, and
taken captive by Bulgarians 1205. He died a prisoner, but that he was
put to death is by no means certain. He was succeeded by his son
Baldwin, eleventh Count and second Emperor of that name. See
Gibbon, chap. Ixi. Busbecq would naturally take great interest in the
Sovereign of his ancestors.

^ The Rascians and Servians were distinct tribes in Busbecq's time
and long afterwards ; see page 163, where he notices that at Semendria the

io6 TURKISH LETTERS.

In order to descend to the level country in front of
Philippopolis it is necessary to cross the mountain by a
very rough pass. This pass the Turks call ' Capi
Dervent ' ' — that is to say, The Narrow Gate. On
this plain the traveller soon meets with the Hebrus,
which rises at no great distance in Mount Rhodope.
Before we had crossed the pass I mentioned above, we
had a good view of the summit of Rhodope, which
stood out cold and clear with its snowy covering.
The inhabitants, if I am not mistaken, call the moun-
tain Rulla. From it, as Pliny tells us, flows the
Hebrus, a fact generally known from the couplet of
Ovid :—

' Qu4 patet umbrosum Rhodope glacialis ad Hsemum,
Et sacer amissas exigit Hebrus aquas.'

In this passage the poet seems to refer to the
river's want of depth and its scant supply of water ;
for though a great and famous stream, it is full of
shallows. I remember, on my return, crossing the
Hebrus by a ford close to Philippopolis, in order to
reach an island, where we slept under canvas. But
the river rose during the night, and we had great
difficulty next day in recrossing and regaining our
road.

There are three hills which look as if they had
been torn away from the rest of the range. On one
of these Philippopolis is situated, crowning the summit
Avith its towers. At Philippopolis we saw rice in the
marshes growing like wheat.

The whole plain is covered with mounds of earth,

Servians leave off and the Rascians begin ; they are now both included
under the name of Servians.

1 This pass is commonly known as ' Trajan's Gate,' or the ' pass of
Ichtiman.' It is a point on the frontier between Bulgaria and East
Roumelia.

ADRIANOPLE. 107

which, according to the Turkish legends, are artificial,
and mark the sites of the numerous battles which,
they declare, took place in these fields. Underneath
these barrows, they imagine, lie the victims of these
struggles.

Continuing our route, we followed pretty closely
the banks of the Hebrus, which was for some time on
our right hand, and leaving the Balkans, which ran
down to the Black Sea, on our left, we at last crossed
the Hebrus by the noble bridge built by Mustapha,
and arrived at Adrianople, or, as it is called by the
Turks, Endrene. The name of the city was Oresta
until Hadrian enlarged it and gave it his own name.
It is situated at the confluence of the Maritza, or
Hebrus, and two small streams, the Tundja and Arda,
which at this point alter their course and flow towards
the ^gean Sea. Even this city is of no very great
extent, if only that portion is included which is within
the circuit of the ancient walls ; but the extensive
buildings in the suburbs, which have been added by
the Turks, make it a very considerable place.

After stopping one day at Adrianople, we set out
to finish the last stage of our journey to Constantinople,
which is not far distant. As we passed through these
districts we were presented with large nosegays of
flowers, the narcissus, the hyacinth, and the tulipan
(as the Turks call this last). We were very much
surprised to see them blooming in midwinter, a season
which does not suit flowers at all. There is a great
abundance of the narcissus and hyacinth in Greece ;
their fragrance is perfectly wonderful, so much so, that,
when in great profusion, they affect the heads of those
who are unaccustomed to the scent. The tulip has
little or no smell ; its recommendation is the variety
and beauty of the colouring.

io8 TURKISH LETTERS,

The Turks are passionately fond of flowers, and
though somewhat parsimonious in other matters, they
do not hesitate to give several aspres for a choice
blossom. I, too, had to pay pretty dearly for these
nosegays, although they were nominally presents, for
on each occasion I had to pull out a few aspres as my
acknowledgment of the gift. A man who visits the
Turks had better make up his mind to open his purse
as soon as he crosses their frontier, and not to shut it
till he quits the country ; in the interval he must sow
his money broadcast, and may thank his stars if the
seed proves fruitful. But even assuming that he gets
nothing else by his expenditure, he will find that there
is no other means of counteracting the dislike and
prejudice which the Turks entertain towards the rest
of the world. Money is the charm wherewith to lull
these feelings in a Turk, and there is no other way of
mollifying him. But for this method of dealing with
them, these countries would be as inaccessible to
foreigners as the lands which are condemned (accord-
ing to the popular belief) to unbroken solitude on
account of excessive heat or excessive cold.

Half way between Constantinople and Adrianople
lies a little town called Tchourlou, famous as the place
where Selim was defeated by his father, Bajazet.
Selim,! who was only saved by the speed of his horse
Caraboulut (i.e. the dark cloud), fled to the Crimea,
where his father-in-law exercised supreme power.

Just before we reached Selimbria, a small town
lying on the coast, we saw some well-preserved traces

' For an account of Selim, who at last succeeded in dethroning his
father, see Creasy, History of the Ottoman Turks, chap, vii., and Von
Hammer, book xxi. He was father of the Sultan to whose court Bus-
becq was accredited. His successful rebelhon against his father has an
important bearing on the events of which Busbecq was about to be a
spectator.

TCHEKMEDJ^. 109

of an ancient earthwork and ditch, which they say
were made in the days of the later Greek emperors,
and extended from the Sea of Marmora to the
Danube.

These fortifications were intended to defend the
land and property of the people of Constantinople
which lay within their defences, against the inroads of
barbarians. They tell of an old man in those days
who declared that the existence of these works did not
so much protect what was inside, as mark the sur-
render of the rest to the barbarians, and so encourage
them to attack, while it damped the spirit of the
defenders.

At Selimbria we stopped awhile to enjoy the view
over the calm sea and pick up shells, while the waves
rolled merrily on to the shore. We were also attracted
by the sight of dolphins sporting in the waters ; and, in
addition to all these sights, we enjoyed the heat of
that delicious clime. I cannot tell you how warm and
mild the air is in this charming spot. As far as
Tchourlou there was a certain amount of cold, and the
wind had a touch of the North about it ; but on
leaving Tchourlou the air becomes extremely mild.

Close to Constantinople we crossed over bridges,
which spanned two lovely bays.^ If these places were
cultivated, and nature were to receive the slightest
assistance from art, I doubt whether in the whole
world anything could be found to surpass them in
loveliness. But the very ground seems to mourn its
fate, and complain of the neglect of its barbarian master.
Here we feasted on most delicious fish, caught before
our eyes.

While lodging in the hostels, which the Turks call

1 Buyuk Tchekmedjd and Kutchuk Tchekmedjd. The bridges were
constructed by Solyman.

no TURKISH LETTERS.

Imaret, I happened to notice a number of bits of paper
stuck in the walls. In a fit of curiosity I pulled them
out, imagining that there must be some reason for their
being placed there. I asked my Turks what was
written on the paper, but I could not find that they
contained anything which could account for their being
thus preserved. This made me all the more eager to
learn why on earth they were kept ; for I had seen
the same thing done in other places. My Turks made
no reply, being unwilling to answer my question,
either because they were shy of telling me that which
I should not credit, or because they did not wish to
unfold so mighty a mystery to one outside the pale of
their religion. Some time later I learned from my
friends among the Turks, that great respect is paid to
a piece of paper, because there is a possibility that the
name of God may be written on it ; and therefore they
do not allow the smallest scrap to lie on the ground,
but pick it up and stick it quickly in some chink or
crack, that it may not be trodden on. There is no
particular fault, perhaps, to be found with all this ; but
let me tell you the rest.

On the day of the last judgment, when Mahomet will
summon his followers from purgatory to heaven and
eternal bliss, the only road open to them will be over
a red-hot gridiron, which they must walk across with
bare feet. A painful ordeal, methinks. Picture to your-
self a cock skipping and hopping over hot coals ! Now
comes the marvel. All the paper they have preserved
from being trodden on and insulted, will appear unex-
pectedly, stick itself under their feet, and be of the
greatest service in protecting them from the red-hot
iron. This great boon awaits those who save paper
from bad treatment. On some occasions our guides
were most indignant with my servants for using paper

SANCTITY OF PAPER. iii

for some very dirty work, and reported it to me as an
outrageous offence. I replied that they must not be
surprised at such acts on the part of my servants.
What could they expect, I added, from people who are
accustomed to eat pork ?

This is a specimen of Turkish superstition. With
them it is a fearful offence for a man to sit, even un-
wittingly, on the Koran (which is their Bible) ; in the
case of a Christian the punishment is death. More-
over, they do not allow rose-leaves to lie on the ground,
because they think that the rose sprang from the sweat
of Mahomet, just as the ancients believed that it came
from the blood of Venus. But I must leave off, or I
shall tire you with these trifling matters.

I arrived at Constantinople on January 20, and
there I found the colleagues I mentioned above,
Antony Wranczy and Francis Zay. The Sultan was
away in Asia with the Turkish army, and no one was
left at Constantinople except the eunuch Ibrahim
Pasha, governor of the city, and Roostem, who had
been deprived of his office. Nevertheless, we visited
the ex-chief-Vizier, showed him every courtesy, and
gave him presents to mark our esteem ; for we did not
forget the great influence he once had, and his prospect
of shortly regaining it.

Now that I am speaking of Roostem, I may as well
tell you how he came to be deprived of his high office.
Solyman had a son by a concubine, who came from the
Crimea, if I remember rightly. H is name was Mustapha,
and at the time of which I am speaking he was young,
vigorous, and of high repute as a soldier. But
Solyman had also several other children by a Russian
woman (Roxolana).^ To the latter he was so much

1 Of the two women mentioned here, one is called Bosphorana by
Busbecq and the other Roxolana. Bosphorana means a native of the

112 TURKISH LETTERS.

attached that he placed her In the position of a wife,
and assigned her a dowry, the giving and receiving of
which constitutes a marriage amongst the Turks. In
taking her as his wife, he broke through the custom of
his later predecessors on the throne, none of whom,
since the days of Bajazet the elder, had a lawful wife.
For of all the indignities which the vanquished Sultan
endured, when he and his wife fell into the hands of
Tamerlane,^ nothing seemed more dreadful than the
insults which his wife received before his eyes. His
humiliation made so deep an impression on his suc-
cessors that, up to the time of Solyman, they abstained
from contracting a legal marriage with any woman, by
way of insuring themselves, under all circumstances,
against a similar misfortune. The mothers of their
children were women in the position of slaves, the idea
being that, if they were insulted, the disgrace to the

kingdom of the Bosphorus— not the Thracian Bosphorus near Constanti-
nople, but the Cimmerian Bosphorus, now called the straits of Caffa —
which included the Crimea and the Caucasus. Roxolana means Russian ;
she was always spoken of by contemporaneous Venetian ambassadors
as ' la Rossa,' and Creasy in a note (p. 182), says that ' La Rossa ' was
euphonised into Roxolana ; the mistake is obvious, for Roxolana is the
classical equivalent for a Russian woman (see Smith's Classical Dic-
tionary, s.v. Roxolani), and it is to Busbecq that she owes the name by
which she has become famous. Her real name was Khourrem, i.e., ' the
joyous one.' See Von Hammer, book xxxi. vol. v. p. 538. A curious
story is told of how Roxolana prevailed on Solyman to make her
his wife. Having borne a son to the Sultan, she became entitled
according to the Mahometan law to her freedom ; this she claimed',
and then refused to allow Solyman the rights of a husband unless he
married her. She cleverly pointed out to the Sultan, that though she had
lived with him as a slave without the bond of marriage, as a free woman
she could not feel justified in doing so any longer. Solyman, as Bus-
becq's letters will show, was the very man to be influenced by such an
argument, and being unwilhng to give her up, he consented to her taking
the position of a lawful wife.

1 See Creasy, Ottotnan Turks, chap, iii., Von Hammer, book vii.,
and Gibbon, chap. Ixv. Tamerlane is a corruption of Timour lenk i.e.
Timour the lame.

ROOSTEM'S ORIGINAL OCCUPATION. 113

Sultan would not be so great as in the case of a lawful
wife. You must not be surprised at this, for the Turks
do not consider the position of the children of con-
cubines and mistresses inferior to that of the offspring
of wives ; both have precisely the same rights of in-
heritance to their father's property.

Thus, then, matters stood. Mustapha's high
qualities and matured years marked him out, to the
soldiers who loved, and the people who supported him,
as the successor of his father, who was now in the
decline of life. On the other hand, his step-mother, by
throwing the claim of a lawful wife into the scale, was
doing her utmost to counterbalance his personal merits
and his rights as eldest son, with a view to obtaining
the throne for her own children. In this intrigue she
received the advice and assistance of Roostem, whose
fortunes were inseparably linked with hers by his
marriage with a daughter she had had by Solyman.
Of all the Pashas at Solyman's court none had such
influence and weight as Roostem ; his determined
character and clear-sighted views had contributed in
no small degree to his master's fame. Perhaps you
would like to know his origin. He was once a pig-
driver ; ^ and yet he is a man well worthy of his high
office, were his hands not soiled with greed. This was
the only point as to which the Sultan was dissatisfied
with him ; in every other respect he was the object of
his love and esteem. However, this very fault his
master contrived to turn to his advantage, by giving
him the management of the privy purse and exchequer,

^ During the Russo-Turkish war, 1877-8, a paragraph appeared in a
paper published at Constantinople, professing to give an account of Mr.
Gladstone, late Prime Minister of England. It described him as
origmally ' a pig-driver.' This created great amusement in England, but
to the countrymen of Roostem there seemed no inherent absurdity in the
statement.

VOL. I. I

114 TURKISH LETTERS.

Solyman's chief difficulties being on the score of
finance. In his administration of this department he
neglected no gain, however trivial, and scraped up
money from the sale of the vegetables and flowers
which grew in the imperial gardens ; he put up sepa-
rately to auction each prisoner's helmet, coat-of-mail,
and horse, and managed everything else after the same
fashion.

By these means he contrived to amass large
sums of money, and fill Solyman's treasury. In short,
he placed his finances in a sound position. His suc-
cess in this department drew from a very bitter enemy
of his an expression, which will surprise you as coming
from a Turk. He declared that, even had he the
power to hurt Roostem, he would not use it against
one whose industry, zeal, and care had re-established
his master's finances. There is in the palace a special
vault, where these hoards are kept, and on it is this
inscription, ' The moneys acquired by the care of
Roostem.'

Well, inasmuch as Roostem was chief Vizier, and
as such had the whole of the Turkish administration
in his hands, he had no difficulty, seeing that he was
the Sultan's adviser in everything, in influencing his
master's mind. The Turks, accordingly, are convinced
that it was by the calumnies of Roostem and the spells
of Roxolana, who was in ill repute as a practiser of
witchcraft, that the Sultan was so estranged from his
son as to entertain the design of getting rid of him. A
few believe that Mustapha, being aware of the plans
of Roostem and the practices of his stepmother, deter-
mined to anticipate them, and thus engaged in designs
against his father's throne and person. The sons of
Turkish Sultans are in the most wretched position in
the world, for, as soon as one of them succeeds his

WRETCHED POSITION OF A SULTAN'S SONS. 115

father, the rest are doomed to certain death. The
Turk can endure no rival to the throne, and, indeed,
the conduct of the Janissaries renders it impossible for
the new Sultan to spare his brothers ; for if one of
them survives, the Janissaries are for ever asking
largesses. If these are refused, forthwith the cry is
heard, ' Long live the brother ! ' ' God preserve the
brother ! ' — a tolerably broad hint that they intend to
place him on the throne. So that the Turkish Sultans
are compelled to celebrate their succession by im-
bruing their hands in the blood of their nearest
relatives. Now whether the fault lay with Mustapha,
who feared this fate for himself, or with Roxolana, who
endeavoured to save her children at the expense of
Mustapha, this much at any rate is certain — the sus-
picions of the Sultan were excited, and the fate of his
son was sealed.

Being at war with Shah Tahmasp, King of the
Persians, he had sent Roostem against him as com-
mander-in-chief of his armies. Just as he was about to
enter the Persian territory, Roostem suddenly halted,
and hurried off despatches to Solyman, informing him
that affairs were in a very critical state ; that treason
was rife everywhere ; that the soldiers had been
tampered with, and cared for no one but Mustapha ;
that he (the Sultan) could control the soldiers, but that
the evil was past his (Roostem s) curing ; that his pre-
sence and authority were wanted ; and he must come
at once, if he wished to preserve his throne. Solyman
was seriously alarmed by these despatches. He im-
mediately hurried to the army, and sent a letter to
summon Mustapha to his presence, inviting him to
clear himself of those crimes of which he was sus-
pected, and indeed openly accused, at the same time
assuring him that, if he proved innocent, no danger

I 2

ii6 TURKISH LETTERS.

awaited him. Mustapha had now to make his choice.
If he obeyed the summons of his angry and offended
father, the risk was great ; but if he excused himself
from coming, it would be tantamount to an admission
of treason. He determined to take the course which
demanded most courage and involved most danger.

He left Amasia, the seat of his government, and
went to his father's camp, which lay at no great dis-
tance,^ either trusting in his innocence, or feeling
confident that no evil would happen to him in the
presence of the army. However that may be, he fell
into a trap from which there was no escape.

Solyman had brought with him his son's death
doom, which he had prepared before leaving home.
With a view to satisfying religious scruples, he had
previously consulted his mufti. This is the name given
to the chief priest among the Turks, and answers to
our Pope of Rome. In order to get an impartial
answer from the mufti, he put the case before him as
follows : — He told him that there was at Constanti-
nople a merchant of good position, who, when about
to leave home for some time, placed over his property
and household a slave to whom he had shown the
greatest favour, and entrusted his wife and children to
his loyalty. No sooner was the master gone than this
slave began to embezzle his master's property, and
plot against the lives of his wife and children ; nay,
more, had attempted to compass his master's de-
struction. The question which he (Solyman) wished
the mufti to answer was this : What sentence could
be lawfully pronounced against this slave } The

' Busbecq is in error here, for Solyman was encamped at Eregli, in
Karamania, about 250 miles from Amasia. Von Hammer takes our
author to task for laying the scene at Amasia ; but Busbecq nowhere
commits himself to this statement.

MUST A PH A STRANGLED. 117

mufti answered that in his judgment he deserved
to be tortured to death. Now, whether this was the
mufti's own opinion, or whether it was pronounced at
the instigation of Roostem or Roxolana, there is no
doubt that it greatly influenced Solyman, who was
already minded to order the execution of his son ; for
he considered that the latter's offence against himself
was quite as great as that of the slave against his
master, in the case he had put before the mufti.

There was great uneasiness among the soldiers,
when Mustapha arrived in the camp. He was brought
to his father's tent, and there everything betokened
peace. There was not a soldier on guard, no aide-de-
camp, no policeman, nothing that could possibly alarm
him and make him suspect treachery. But there were
in the tent certain mutes — a favourite kind of
servant among the Turks — strong and sturdy fellows,
who had been appointed as his executioners. As soon
as he entered the inner tent, they threw themselves
upon him, and endeavoured to put the fatal noose
around his neck. Mustapha, being a man of consider-
able strength, made a stout defence, and fought — not
only for his life, but also for the throne ; there being
no doubt that if he escaped from his executioners, and
threw himself among the Janissaries, the news of this
outrage on their beloved prince would cause such pity
and indignation, that they would not only protect him,
but also proclaim him Sultan. Solyman felt how
critical the matter was, being only separated by the
linen hangings of his tent from the stage, on which this
tragedy was being enacted. When he found that
there was an unexpected delay in the execution of his
scheme, he thrust out his head from the chamber of
his tent, and glared on the mutes with fierce and
threatening eyes ; at the same time, with signs full of

ii8 TURKISH LETTERS.

hideous meaning, he sternly rebuked their slackness.
Hereon the mutes, gaining fresh strength from the
terror he inspired, threw Mustapha down, got the
bowstring round his neck, and strangled him. Shortly
afterwards they laid his body on a rug in front of the
tent, that the Janissaries might see the man they had
desired as their Sultan. When this was noised through
the camp, the whole army was filled with pity and
grief ; nor did one of them fail to come and gaze on
that sad sight. Foremost of all were the Janissaries,
so astounded and indignant that, had there been
anyone to lead them, they would have flinched from
nothing. But they saw their chosen leader lying lifeless
on the ground. The only course left to them was to
bear patiendy that which could not be cured. So, sadly
and silently, with many a tear, they retired to their
tents, where they were at liberty to indulge their
grief at the unhappy end of their young favourite.
First they declared that Solyman was a dotard and
a madman. They then expressed their abhorrence
of the cruel treachery of the stepmother (Roxolana),
and the wickedness of Roostem, who, between them,
had extinguished the brightest light of the house ot
Othman. Thus they passed that day fasting, nor did
they even touch water; indeed, there were some of
them who remained without food for a still lono-er
time.

For several days there was a general mourning
throughout the camp, and there seemed no prospect of
any abatement of the soldiers' sorrow, unless Roostem
were removed from office. This step Solyman accord-
ingly took, at the suggestion (as it is generally believed)
of Roostem himself He dismissed him from office,
and sent him back to Constantinople in disgrace.

His post was filled by Achmet Pasha, who is more

DISMISSAL OF ROOSTEM. rig

distinguished for courage than for judgment. When
Roostem had been chief Vizier he had been second. This
change soothed and calmed the spirits of the soldiers.
With the credulity natural to the lower orders, they
were easily induced to believe that Solyman had dis-
covered Roostem's machinations and his wife's sor-
ceries, and was coming to his senses now that it was all
too late, and that this was the cause of Roostem's fall.
Indeed, they were persuaded that he would not even
spare his wife, when he returned to Constantinople.
Moreover, the men themselves met Roostem at
Constantinople, apparently overwhelmed with grief
and without the slightest hope of recovering his
position.

Meanwhile, Roxolana, not contented with remov-
ing Mustapha from her path, was compassing the
death of the only son he had left, who was still a child ;
for she did not consider that she and her children were
free from danger, so long as his offspring survived.
Some pretext, however, she thought necessary, in
order to furnish a reason for the murder, but this was
not hard to find. Information is brought to Solyman
that, whenever his grandson appeared in public, the
boys of Ghemlik^ — where he was being educated —
shouted out, ' God save the Prince, and may he long
survive his father ; ' and that the meaning of these cries
was to point him out as his grandsire's future successor,
and his father's avenger. Moreover, he was bidden
to remember that the Janissaries would be sure to sup-
port the son of Mustapha, so that the father's death
had in no way secured the peace of the throne and
realm ; that nothing ought to be preferred to the

1 Ghemlik, on the Sea of Marmora, called Prusias by Busbecq.
It was originally called Kios, and about B.C. 200, Prusias, King of
Bithynia, gave it his own name. See Strabo, 563-4.

120 TURKISH LETTERS.

interests of religion, not even the lives of our children ;
that the whole Mussulman religion (as they call it,
meaning ' the best religion ') depended on the safety of
the throne and the rule of the house of Othman ; and
that, if the family were to fall, the foundations of
the faith would be overthrown ; that nothing would so
surely lead to the downfall of the house as disunion
among its members ; for the sake, therefore, of the
family, the empire, and religion itself, a stop must be
put to domestic feuds ; no price could be too great for
the accomplishment of such an end, even though a
father's hands had to be dipped in his children's blood ;
nay, the sacrifice of one's children's lives was not to be
esteemed of any great account, if the safety of the
faith was thereby assured. There was still less reason,
they added, for compunction in this case, inasmuch as
the boy, as Mustapha's son, was already a participator
in his father's guilt, and there could be no doubt that
he would shortly place himself at the head of his father's
partisans.

Solyman was easily induced by these arguments to
sign the death-warrant of his grandson. He com-
missioned Ibrahim Pasha to go to Ghemlik with all
speed, and put the innocent child to death.

On arriving at Ghemlik, Ibrahim took special care
to conceal his errand from the lad's mother, for that she
should be allowed to know of her son's execution, and
almost see it with her eyes, would have seemed too
barbarous. Besides, his object, if it got wind, might
provoke an insurrection, and so his plans be frus-
trated.

By the following artifice he threw her off her guard.
He pretended he was sent by Solyman to visit her and
her son ; he said his master had found out, when too
late, that he had made a terrible mistake in putting

EXECUTION OF MUSTAPHAS SON. 121

Mustapha to death, and intended, by his affection for
the son, to atone for his injustice to the father.

Many stories of this kind he told, in order to gain
credence with the fond mother, whose fears had, at
that time, been to a great extent dispelled by the
news of Roostem's fall. After thus flattering her
hopes, he presented her with a few trifling gifts.

A couple of days later he threw in a word about
the confined atmosphere of the city, and the desir-
ability of change of air, and so obtained her consent to
their setting out next day for a seat near the city. She
herself was to go in a carriage, and her son to ride in
front of the carriage on horseback. There was nothing
in these arrangements that could excite suspicion, and
so she agreed. A carriage was got ready, the axle-tree
of which was so put together as to ensure its breaking
when they came to a certain rough place, which they
needs must cross. Accordingly, the mother entered
the carriage, and set forth, poor woman, on her journey
into the country. The eunuch rode well in front with
the lad, as if to take the opportunity for a chat ; the
mother followed with what speed she might. When
they reached the rough ground I told you of, the
wheel struck violently against the stones, and the axle
broke. The mother, whom this accident filled with
the worst forebodings, was in the greatest alarm, and
could not be kept from leaving the carriage, and fol-
lowing her son on foot, attended only by a few of her
women. But the eunuch had already reached his des-
tination. As soon as he had crossed the threshold of
the house which was to be the scene of the murder,
he uttered the sentence of death : ' The order of the
Sultan is that you must die.' The boy, they say,
made answer like a true Turk, that he received the
decree, not as the order of the Sultan, but the com-

122 TURKISH LETTERS.

mand of God ; and, with these words on his lips,
suffered the fatal noose to be placed round his neck.
And so — young, innocent, and full of promise — the
little fellow was strangled. When the deed was done
the eunuch slipped out by a back door, and fled for
his life. Presently came the mother. She had already
guessed what had taken place. She knocked at the
door. When all was over, they let her in. There lay
her son before her eyes, his body still warm with life,
the pulses throbbing, the breath hardly departed from
him. But we had better draw a veil over the sad
scene. What a mother's feelings must have been to
see her son thus entrapped and murdered, it were easier
to imagine than describe.

She was then compelled to return to Ghemlik.
She came into the city with her hair dishevelled and
her robe rent, filling the air with her shrieks and
moanings. The women of Ghemlik, high and low,
gathered round her; and when they heard of the fear-
ful deed that had been perpetrated, like frenzied
Bacchantes they rushed out of the gates. ' Where's
the eunuch ? Where's the eunuch .'' ' is their cry.
And woe to him had he fallen into their hands. But
he, knowing what impended, and fearing to be torn in
pieces by the furious women, like a second Orpheus,^
lost no time in making his escape.

But I must now return to my subject. A mes-
senger was despatched to Solyman, with a letter an-
nouncing my arrival. During the interval, while we
were waiting for his answer, I had an opportunity of
seeing Constantinople at my leisure. My chief wish
was to visit the Church of St. Sophia ; to which, how-
ever, I only obtained admission as a special favour, as

' The legend of Orpheus being torn to pieces by the women of
Thrace was a favourite with the ancients. See Virgil, Georgic IV., &c.

DESCRIPTION OF CONSTANTINOPIE. 123

the Turks think that their temples are profaned by the
entrance of a Christian. It is a grand and massive
building, well worth visiting. There is a huge central
cupola, or dome, lighted only from a circular opening
at tlie top. Almost all the Turkish mosques are built
after the pattern of St. Sophia. Some say it was for-
merly much bigger, and that there were several
buildings in connection with it, covering a great extent
of ground, which were pulled down many years ago,
the shrine in the middle of the church alone being left
standing;

As regards the position of the city, it is one which
nature herself seems to have designed for the mistress
of the world. It stands in Europe, Asia is close in
front, with Egypt and Africa on its right ; and though
these last are not, in point of distance, close to Con-
stantinople, yet, practically, the communication by sea
links them to the city. On the left, are the Black
Sea and the Sea of Azoff. Many nations live all
round the coasts of these seas, and many rivers pour
into them ; so that, through the length and breadth of
these countries, which border on the Black Sea, there is
nothing grown for man's use, which cannot, with the
greatest ease, be brought to Constantinople by water.
On one side the city is washed by the Sea of Marmora,
on the other the creek forms a harbour which, from its
shape, is called by Strabo ' the Golden Horn.' On the
third side it is united to the mainland, so that its
position may be described as a peninsula or pro-
montory formed by a ridge running out between the
sea on one side, and the frith on the other. Thus
from the centre of Constantinople there is a most
exquisite view over the sea, and of Mount Olympus in
Asia, white with perpetual snow. The sea is perfectly
crowded with shoals of fish making their way, after the

124 TURKISH LETTERS.

manner of their kind, from the Sea of Azoff and the
Black Sea through the Bosphorus and the Sea of
Marmora into the ^gean and Mediterranean, or again
returning to the Black Sea. The shoals are so big,
and so closely packed, that sometimes fish can be
caught with the hand. Mackerel, tunnies, bigheads,
bream, and sword-fish are to be had in abundance.
The fishermen are, for the most part, Greeks, as they
take to this occupation more readily than the Turks,
although the latter do not despise fish when brought
to table, provided they are of the kinds which they
consider clean ; as for the rest, they would as lief
take a dose of poison as touch them. I should
tell you, by the way, that a Turk would sooner have
his tongue or teeth torn out, than taste anything
which he considers unclean, as, for instance, a frog, a
snail, or a tortoise. The Greeks are subject to the same
superstition. I had engaged a lad of the Greek Church
as purveyor for my people. His fellow-servants had
never been able to induce him to eat snails ; at last they
set a dish of them before him, cooked and seasoned in
such a way that he fancied it was some kind of fish,
and helped himself to it most liberally. But when the
other servants, laughing and giggling, produced the
snail shells, and showed him that he had been taken
in, his distress was such as to baffle all description.
He rushed to his chamber, where there was no end
to his tears, misery, and sickness. He declared that
it would cost him two months' wages, at the least, to
obtain absolution for his sin ; it being the custom of
Greek priests to charge those who come for confession
a price varying with the nature and extent of the
offence, and to refuse absolution to those who do not
comply with their demand.

At the eixl of the promontory I mentioned, stands

SNAILS AND CONFESSION. 125

the palace of the Turkish Sultan, which, as far as I can
see — for I have not yet been admitted within its walls
— has no grandeur of design or architectural details to
make it worth a visit. Below the palace, on lower
ground near the shore, lie the Sultan's gardens fringing
the sea. This is the quarter where people think that
old Byzantium stood. You must not expect here to
have the story of why in former days the people of
Chalcedon were called blind,^ who lived opposite
Byzantium — the very ruins of Chalcedon have now
well nigh disappeared ; neither must you expect to
hear of the peculiar nature of the sea, in that it flows
downwards with a current that never stops nor
changes ; nor about the pickled condiments which are
brought to Constantinople from the Sea of Azoff,
which the Italians call moronellas, botargas, and caviare.
Such matters would be out of place here ; indeed, I
think I have already exceeded the limits of a letter ;
besides, they are facts which can be read both in
ancient and modern authors.

I now return to Constantinople. Nothing could
exceed the beauty or the commercial advantages of its
situation. In Turkish cities it is, as I told you before,
useless to expect handsome buildings or fine streets ;
the extreme narrowness of the latter renders a good
effect impossible. In many places are to be found
interesting remains of ancient works of art, and yet, as
regards number, the only marvel is that more are not
in existence, when we remember how many Constan-
tine brought from Rome. I do not intend to describe
each of them separately, but I will touch on a few.
On the site of the ancient hippodrome are a pair of
bronze serpents,^ which people go to see, and also a

' See Tacitus, Annals, xii. 63. Herodotus, iv. 144.

2 The bronze serpents, which are still on the same site, are three, and

126 TURKISH LETTERS.

remarkable obelisk. There ai'e besides two famous pillars
at Constantinople, which are considered among the
sights. One of them is opposite the caravanserai
where we were entertained, and the other is in the
market-place which the Turks call ' Avret Bazaar,' i.e.
the female slave market. It is engraven from top to
bottom with the history of the expedition of Arcadius,
who built it, and by whose statue it was long sur-
mounted. It would be more correct to call it a spiral
staircase than a column, for there is inside it a set of
steps, by ascending which one can reach the top. I
have a picture of it. On the other hand, the column ^
which stands opposite the inn where it is usual for the
imperial Ambassadors to be lodged, is formed, with the
exception of its base and capital, of eight solid blocks
of porphyry, united in such a way as to present the
appearance of a single block. Indeed, the popular
belief is that it is made out of one piece ; for each
separate joining is covered by a band running right
round the column, on which laurels are carved. By
this means the joinings are concealed from the eyes of

not two in number. See Gibbon, chap, xvii., where he describes these
serpents, and proves that they form the serpent pillar mentioned by
Herodotus, ix. 8i ; on it was placed the golden tripod, made of part
of the spoil taken at the battle of Platsa B.C. 479, and dedicated to
Apollo. It was removed from Delphi to Constantinople by order of Con-
stantine.

' ' The centre of the Forum was occupied by a lofty column, of which
a mutilated fragment is now degraded by the appellation of the burnt
pillar. This column was erected on a pedestal of white marble 20 feet high,
and was composed often pieces of porphyry, each of which measured about
10 feet in height and about 33 in circumference. On the summit of the
pillar, above 120 feet from the ground, stood the colossal statue of Apollo.
It was of bronze, and had been transported either from Athens or a
town in Phrygia, and was supposed to be the work of Phidias. The
artist had represented the god of day, or, as it was afterwards interpreted,
the Emperor Constantine himself, with a sceptre in his right hand, the
globe of the world in his left, and a crown of rays glittering on his head.'
Gibbon, chap. xvii.

OBELISK IN THE HIFFODROME. 127

those who look at it from the ground. Having been
shaken by several earthquakes, and scorched by a fire
in the neighbourhood, the column is splitting in many
places, and is here and there belted with iron to pre-
vent its coming to pieces. They say that it was at
one time surmounted by a statue of Apollo, afterwards
by one of Constantine, and lastly by that of Theodosius
the elder, all of which were successively thrown down
by a gale or an earthquake.

The Greeks tell the following story about the
obelisk in the hippodrome, which I mentioned above.
They say that it was torn from its base, and lay on the
ground for many years, and that in the time of the
later Emperors, an architect was found who undertook
to replace it on its pedestal. The contract being con-
cluded, he set up a huge machine, which was chiefly
worked by ropes and pulleys ; by this means he got
the huge stone into an upright position, and raised it
within three inches of the blocks, on which it had to be
placed. The spectators forthwith concluded that all
the architect's trouble, and the labour he had bestowed
on his machine, had been to no purpose, and that the
work would have to be begun afresh, at the cost of
great toil and great expense. But the architect was
not in the least alarmed, and, profiting by one of
nature's secrets, he ordered large supplies of water to
be brought. With this for several hours the machine
was drenched. As the ropes, by which the obelisk was
suspended, got wet, they gradually contracted, and of
course became shorter, so that the obelisk was raised
higher and placed on the blocks, amid the cheers and
admiration of the crowd.^

I saw at Constantinople wild beasts of different
kinds — lynxes, wild cats, panthers, leopards, and lions,

■ A similar story is told of the obelisk in front of St. Peter's at Rome.

128 TURKISH LETTERS.

so subdued and tame that one of them, when I was
looking on, suffered its keeper to pull out of its mouth
a sheep that had that moment been thrown to it. The
creature remained quite quiet, though its jaws were but
just stained with blood.

I saw also a young elephant which could dance and
play ball most cleverly. When you read this, I am
sure you will not be able to suppress a smile. ' An
elephant,' you will say, ' dancing and playing ball ! '
Well, why not ? Is it more wonderful than the ele-
phant which, Seneca tells us, walked on the tight
rope, or that one which Pliny describes as a Greek
scholar ^

But I must make myself clear, lest you should
think I am romancing, or misunderstand me. When
the elephant was told to dance, it hopped and shuffled,
swaying itself to and fro, as if it fain would dance a jig.
It played ball after the following fashion : — On the
ball being thrown to it, the elephant caught it cleverly,
driving it back with his trunk, as we do with the palm
of the hand. If this is not enough in your eyes to
warrant the assertion that the animal danced and
played ball, you must go to some one who can make
up a story with less scruple and more wit than your
humble servant.

Just before I reached Constantinople there was a
camelopard (giraffe) in the menagerie ; but at the time
of my visit it was dead and buried. However, I had
its bones dug up for the purpose of examining them.
The creature is much taller in front than behind, and
on that account unfit for carrying burdens or being
ridden. It is called a camelopard because its head
and neck are like a camel's, while its skin is spotted
like a pard (panther).

If I had not visited the Black Sea, when I had an op-

SAILING UP THE BO.SPHORUS: 129

portunity of sailing thither, I should have deserved to be
blamed for my laziness, since the ancients held it to be
quite as great an exploit to have visited the Black Sea,
as to have sailed to Corinth. Well, we had a delightful
voyage, and I was allowed to enter some of the royal
kiosks. On the folding doors of one of these palaces
I saw a picture of the famous battle ^ between Selim
and Ismael, King of the Persians, executed in masterly
style, in tesselated work. I saw also a great many
pleasure-grounds belonging to the Sultan, situated in
the most charming valleys. Their loveliness was
almost entirely the work of nature ; to art they owed
litde or nothing. What a fairyland ! What a land-
scape for waking a poet's fancy ! What a retreat for
a scholar to retire to ! I do declare that, as I said just
now, these spots seem to grieve and ask for Christian
help and Christian care once more ; and still truer are
these words of Constantinople, or rather of the whole
of Greece. That land was once most prosperous ; to-
day it is subject to an unnatural bondage. It seems as
if the country, which in ancient times discovered the
fine arts and every liberal science, were demandino-
back that civilisation which it gave to us, and were
adjuring us, by the claim of a common faith, to be its
champion against savage barbarism. But it is all in
vain. The princes of Christendom have other objects
in view ; and, after all, the Greeks are not under
heavier bondage to the Turks, than we are to our own
vices— luxury, intemperance, sloth, lust, pride, ambi-
tion, avarice, hatred, envy, malice. By these our souls
are so weighed down and buried, that they cannot look
up to heaven, or entertain one glorious thought, or
contemplate one noble deed. The ties of a common

' The battle of Tschaldiran, August 23, a.d. 15 14. See Creasy
History of the Ottoman Turks, chap. viii. ; Von Hammer, book xxii.
VOL. I. K

130 TURKISH LETTERS.

faith, and the duty we owe our brethren ought to have
drawn us to their assistance, even though glory and
honour had no charm for our dull hearts ; at any rate,
self-interest, which is the first thing men think of
nowadays, should have made us anxious to rescue
lands so fair, with all their great resources and advan-
tages, from the hand of the barbarian, that we might
hold them in his stead. At present we are seeking
across the wide seas the Indies ^ and Antipodes. And
why ? It is because in those lands there are simple,
guileless creatures from whom rich booty may be torn
without the cost of a single wound. For these ex-
peditions religion supplies the pretext and gold the
motive.

This was not the fashion with our ancestors. They
scorned to place themselves on the level of a trader by
seeking those lands where gold was most plentiful, but
deemed that land most desirable which gave them the
best opportunity of proving their valour and perform-
ing their duty. They, too, had their toil ; they, too,
had their dangers ; they, too, had their distant expedi-
tions ; but honour was the prize they sought, not profit.
When they came home from their wars, they came home
not richer in wealth, but richer in renown?

These words are for your private ear, for perhaps
some may hold it foul wrong for a man to suggest that
the moral tone of the present day leaves aught to be

• Busbecq is alluding to the then recent conquests of Mexico and
Peru. When he penned these lines only thirty-four years had elapsed
since Cortez conquered Mexico, and twenty-four since Pizarro made him-
self master of the kingdom of the Incas ; the tide of adventurers was
still pouring into those unhappy lands.

2 Busbecq is evidently referring to the exploits of his countrymen in
the days of the Crusades. 'At the same time' (a.d. 1200), says Gibbon
(chap. Ix.), ' Baldwin, Count of Flanders, assumed the Cross at Bruges,
with his brother Henry, and the principal knights and citizens of that
rich and industrious province.' See also page 103.

THE BOSPHORUS AND BLACK SEA. 131

desired. However that may be, I see that the arrows
are being sharpened for our destruction ; and I fear it
will turn out that if we will not fight for glory, we shall
be compelled to fight for existence.

I will now take you back to the sea which the
ancients call Pontus and the Turks call Caradenis, or
the Black Sea. It pours through a narrow outlet into
the Thracian Bosphorus, down which it rolls, beating
against the curving headlands with many an eddy till
it reaches Constantinople after the space of one day.
At this point it rushes into the Sea of Marmora by a
passage almost as narrow as that by which it enters
the Bosphorus. In the middle of the mouth next the
Black Sea is a rock with a column, on the base of
which a Roman name is written in Latin characters
{' Octavian,' if I remember rightly) ; then on the Euro-
pean shore is a lofty tower, which serves as a light-
house to ships by night. They call it Pharos.^ Not
far from it a brook flows into the sea, from whose bed
we gathered some pebbles almost equal to the onyx
and sardonyx ; at any rate, when they are polished
they are nearly as brilliant. A few miles from the
entrance I mentioned are shown the straits across
which Darius led his army in his expedition against
the Scythians of Europe ; then half-way between the
northern and southern entrances to the Bosphorus
stand two castles opposite each other, one in Europe
and the other in Asia. The latter was held by the
Turks a long time before the attack on Constantinople ;
the former was built by Mahomet, and fortified with
strong towers, a few years before he stormed Constan-
tinople. At present the Turks use it for the incarcer-
ation of prisoners of rank. Not long ago, Lazarus, an

' Properly, the name of the islet at Alexandria on which the light-
house stood ; hence the name was given to any lighthouse.

132 TURKISH LETTERS.

Albanian chief, made his escape from it. He was
recaptured with the Spaniards at Castel Nuovo,^ and
brought back to Constantinople. For this offence he
suffered the fearful punishment of impalement, but bore
his sufferings with wonderful composure.

And now, perhaps, you will want me to tell you
something about the floating islands, called the Cya-
nean '-^ islands, or Symplegades. I honestly confess
that during the few, hours I was there I was unable
to discover any Cyanean islands, though possibly they
had floated off somewhere else ! If you are disposed
to be curious on this head you will before long have
a more accurate account from P. Gilles,^ whose re-
searches into all subjects of this kind are most precise ;
from me you must not expect to hear of more than
meets the traveller's eye.

One matter it would be unpardonable to pass by in
silence, viz. that Polybius is utterly wrong in the con-
clusion which he deduces from various arguments, that
in process of time the Black Sea would be so choked
by the alluvial soil brought into it by the Danube, the

' A Dalmatian fortress captured by the Spaniards in the autumn of
A.D. 1538, and recaptured by the Turks in the following August. Von
Hammer, book xxix.

* ' The straits of the Bosphorus are terminated by the Cyanean rocks,
which, according to the description of the poets, had once floated on the
face of the waters. The deception was occasioned by several pointed
rocks alternately covered and abandoned by the waves. At present there
are two small islands, one towards either shore ; that of Europe is dis-
tinguished by the pillar of Pompey.' Gibbon, chap. xvii.

^ P. Gilles (or Gyllius) was born at Albi in 1490. He was sent by
Francis I. to the Levant ; the remittances he expected having miscarried,
he was obliged to enlist in Solyman's army and served against the
Persians. In 1549 he received money from his friends, with which he
purchased his discharge. He returned home in 1550, and died at Rome
in 1555, the year that Busbecq wrote this letter. Besides other works he
published three books on the Thracian Bosphorus, and four on the Topo-
graphy and Antiquities of Constantinople. Gibbon quotes him fre-
quently, and speaks of his learning with great respect.

DEPARTURE FOR AMASIA. 133

Dneiper, and other rivers, as to become unnavigable.
He is utterly wrong, I say, for there is not one atom
more difficulty in sailing over the Black Sea now than
there was in his days.

This is one of those numerous instances in which
time and experience upset conclusions, which in theory
seemed impregnable.

In former days everyone subscribed to the opinion
that the lands under the torrid zone were uninhabit-
able, and yet the accounts of men who have visited
those regions prove that they are for the most part
quite as thickly populated as other countries ; nay
more, they tell us that at the very time when the sun
is at its highest, and its rays fall perpendicularly on
the earth, the heat ^ is tempered by continuous rains
shadincr and coolings those lands.

When the Sultan had received the despatches an-
nouncing my arrival, orders were sent to the Governor
of Constantinople to convey us over to Asia, and send
us on to Amasia (or Amazeia, as it is spelt on ancient
coins). Accordingly, we made our preparations, our
guides were appointed, and on March 9 we crossed
into Anatolia, as the Turks now call Asia. On that
day we did not get further than Scutari. This village
lies on the Asiatic shore opposite ancient Byzantium,
on the very ground, or possibly a little below, where
the site of the famous city of Chalcedon is supposed
to be.

The Turks thought it quite sufficient progress for
one day to get horses, carriages, luggage, and suite
across the straits ; their special reason for not going
further on that day was, that, if they had forgotten
anything necessary for the journey, (a very ordinary

' This passage appears to be founded on a mistranslation of Hero-
dotus, iii. 104.

^34 TURKISH LETTERS.

circumstance), they would not have far to send for it.
Leaving Scutari on the next day, we passed through
fields full of lavender, and other fragrant plants. Here
we saw a great many big tortoises crawling about.
They were not afraid of us, and we should have caught
and eaten them with the greatest pleasure, had we not
shrunk from hurting the feelings of the Turks who
accompanied us; for had they touched them, or so
much as seen them brought to our table, they would
have held themselves to be defiled, and would have
required endless washings to remove their imaginary
pollution. You will remember my telling you of the
extent to which both Greeks and Turks carry their
superstition in avoiding contact with animals of this
kind. Since no one, therefore, would snare as vermin
a creature so harmless, and no one will eat it, the con-
sequence is that tortoises swarm in these parts. I
kept one which had two heads for several days, and it
would have lived longer had I not neglected it.

That day we came to a village called Cartali. By
the way, I shall from this point be glad to give you
the names of our halting-places. The journey to
Constantinople has been taken by many, but the road
to Amasia has, to the best of my knowledge, been
traversed by no European before us. From Cartali
we came to Gebise, a town of Bithynia, which they
think was formerly Libyssa, famous as the burial-place
of Hannibal. From it there is a most lovely view
over the sea and bay of Ismid ; I observed also some
cypresses of extraordinary height and girth.

Our fourth stage from Constantinople brought us to
Nicomedia (Ismid). It is an ancient city of great
renown ; but we saw nothing in it worth looking at
except its ruins and rubbish, which contained, in the
remnants of column and architrave, all that is left of

JACKALS. 135

its ancient grandeur. The citadel, which stands on a
hill, is in a better state of preservation. Shortly before
our arrival, a long wall of white marble had been dis-
covered under the earth by some people who had been
digging, which, I am inclined to think, formed part
of the ancient palace of the kings of Bithynia.

After leaving Nicomedia, we crossed the range of
Mount Olympus, and arrived at the village of Kasockli ;
thence to Nic^a (Isnik), which we did not reach till
late in the evening. I heard not far from the city
loud shouting, and what seemed to be cries of mockery
and insult issuing from human lips. I asked what it
was, suggesting that it might proceed from some boat-
men on the Lake of Isnik, which was not far off, and
that they were chaffing us for being so late on the road.
They told me that it was the bowlings of certain wild
beasts, which the Turks call jackals. They are a
species of wolf, not so large as the common wolf, but
larger than foxes, and quite a match for the former
in greed and gluttony. They hunt in packs, doing no
harm to human beings or cattle, and obtaining their
food by thievery and cunning rather than by force.
Hence the Turks call sharpers and swindlers, espe-
cially if they come from Asia, jackals. They enter the
tents, and even the houses, of the Turks at night, and
devour any eatables they find ; indeed, if they can get
nothing else, they gnaw any leathern article they may
chance upon, such as boots, leggings, belts, scabbards,
&c. They are very clever in this manner of stealing,
except in one particular, for, absurdly enough, they
sometimes give evidence against themselves. When
in the very act of stealing, if one of the pack outside
happens to set up a howl, they answer the cry, quite
forgetting where they are. The sound awakes the
inmates ; they catch up their arms and visit the thieves,

^36 TURKISH LETTERS.

whom they have taken red-handed, with condign
punishment.

We remained the following day at Nic^a, and I
am incHned to think that the building I slept in was
the very one in which the Nicene Council was formerly
held. Nicaea lies on the shores of the Lake of Isnik.
The walls and gates of the town are in fairly good con-
dition. There are four gateways in all, and they can
be seen from the centre of the market-place. On each
of them is an ancient inscription in Latin, stating that the
town had been restored by Antoninus. I do not remem-
ber which Antoninus it was, but I am quite certain that
It was an Antoninus, who was Emperor. He also built
some baths, the remains of which are still in existence.
Whilst we were at Nicaa, some Turks, who were
diggmo up stone from the ruins for the construction of
public buildings at Constantinople, came across a statue
of an armed soldier, of excellent workmanship, and
almost perfect. But with their hammers they soon
reduced it to a shapeless mass. On our expressing
vexation at this act of theirs, the workmen jeered at
us, and asked us if we wanted, in accordance with our
customs, to worship the statue and pray to it.

From Nicaea (Isnik) we came to Jenysar (Yeni
Shehr), next to Ackbyuck, and thence to Bazargyck
(Bazarjik), from which place we came to Bosovick, or
Cassumbasa, which lies in the gorge of the pass o'ver
Mount Olympus. From Nicaea our road lay almost
entirely along the slopes of Mount Olympus, until we
reached Bosovick.

Here we lodged in a Turkish hostel. Opposite
stood a rock somewhat higher than the building, in
which was cut a square cistern of considerable ""size,
and from the bottom of it a pipe ran down to the
highway road. The ancient inhabitants used in winter

ANGORA GOATS. 137

to fill the cistern with snow ; as it melted, the iced
water, trickling down to the road through the pipe,
refreshed the thirsty wayfarer.

The Turks consider public works of this kind the
noblest sort of almsgiving, inasmuch as they help not
only everyone, but everyone equally. Not far from
this spot Otmanlik was pointed out to us on our right
— the retreat, as I imagine, of the famous Othman,
founder of the family which bears his name.

From this pass we descended into wide plains,
where we spent our first night under tents, on account
of the heat. The place was called Chiausada. Here
we saw a subterranean house, which was lighted only
by an opening in the roof. We saw also the famous
goats ^ from whose fleece — or hair, if you like the word
better — is woven the watered stuff known as mohair.
The hair of these goats is extremely fine and marvel-
lously flossy, hanging down to the very ground ; the
goatherds do not shear it, but comb it off, and it is
almost as beautiful as silk. The goats are frequently
washed in running water. Their food is the scanty dry
grass peculiar to these plains, and it is to this that the
fineness of their coats is chiefly owing ; for it is an as-
certained fact, that when the goats are removed else-
where, their wool does not retain its silky character,
but changes with the pasturage ; indeed, the whole

' ' In the deep gullies and broad plateaus of Angora is bred the finest
species of the mohair goat ; its long silky and lustrous fleece is the prin-
cipal export of the country, so much so that it is a common saying that
" mohair is the soul of Angora," without which it would have become a
desert long ago. The mohair is forwarded on mule and camel back (in
its raw state) to Constantinople, and thence, per steamer, to Liverpool ; it
all finds its way to Bradford to be manufactured. The export in this
article alone was valued at 462,550/. for the year 1877, and in years of
greater prosperity and higher values, this amount has been nearly
doubled.' Extract from the letter of the correspondent to the Standard
newspaper, dated, Angora, October i, 1878.

138 TURKISH LETTERS.

animal degenerates to such an extent that one would
scarcely recognise the breed. These fleeces, after
being spun into thread by the women of the country,
are taken to Angora,^ a city of Galatia, and there
woven and dyed ; further on I will give you a de-
scription of the process. In this locality is also to
be found that curious breed of sheep with great fat
tails ; indeed, their flocks consist of little else. The
tails weigh from three or four to as much as eight
or ten pounds \^ so big are the tails of some of the
older sheep, that it is necessary to furnish them
with a carriage for their support, which consists of a
little board running on a pair of small wheels, so that
the sheep may drag that which it cannot carry. This,
perhaps, you will hardly believe, and yet I am telling you
the truth. Now, while I fully admit that there is a
certain advantage in these tails from the supply of fat
which they yield, I must say I found the rest of the
meat tough and wanting in flavour, as compared with
ordinary mutton. The shepherds, who manage these
flocks, never leave the pasture grounds by night or day,
carrying their wives and children about with them in
waggons, which they use as houses, except on certain
occasions when they pitch small tents. These men
wander to great distances, choosing plain, hillside, or
valley, according to the season of the year and the state
of the pasturage.

I flatter myself that I discovered in this district
some species of birds which our countrymen have
never seen, nor even heard of. Amongst these is a
kind of duck, which may fairly be classed among horn-

' The province of Angora occupies almost the same area as the
ancient Galatia.

^ See Herodotus, iii. 1 13. These sheep are very common in Asia and
Africa. Great numbers are to be found at the Cape of Good Hope,
whence they are called ' Cape sheep.'

TURKISH BURIAL PLACES. 139

blowers, since its cry is exactly like the sound of a
postman's horn. This bird, in spite of its inability to
defend itself, is bold and saucy. The Turks believe
that it can frighten evil spirits away. However that
may be, it is so fond of its liberty that after being
kept a good three years in a farm-yard, if it gets the
opportunity, it prefers freedom and hunger to captivity
and plenty, and flies off to its old haunts by the river.

From Chiausada we came to Karaly, thence to
Hazdengri, and so to Mazzotthoy. We then crossed
the river Sangarius (Sakariyeh) which rises in Phrygia
and flows into the Black Sea, to Mahathli, thence to
Zugli, Chilancyck, Jalanchich, Potughin, and so to
Angora (Ancyra) — which the Turks call Angur.

We remained one day at Angora. As the weather
was hot we made but short stages. Moreover, our
Turks assured us that there was no need for hurry, as
the Persian Ambassador was still lingering on the road,
and the authorities wished us both to arrive at Amasia
as nearly as possible at the same time.

In none of the villages mentioned above did we see
anything worth notice, save that, among the Turkish
burial places we sometimes lighted on ancient columns,
or blocks of fine marble, on which traces still remained
of Greek and Roman inscriptions, but so mutilated
that they could not be read. It was my amusement,
on reaching our lodgings for the night, to inquire for
ancient inscriptions, or coins of Greece or Rome, and,
if these were not forthcoming, for rare plants.

It is a practice of the Turks to cover in the tombs
of their friends with huge stones, which they bring
from a great distance. No earth is thrown upon the
graves, and but for these stones they would lie open.
They are intended to furnish the dead man with a
convenient seat when he pleads his case, as he will

MO TURKISH LETTERS.

have to do — according to their notion— with his evil
ang-el as his accuser and examiner, and his good angel
as counsel for the defence. The object of placing a
heavy stone on the grave is to protect the body from
dogs, wolves, and other beasts ; the most pertinacious
of which is the hyena, a creature often met with in
these parts. It burrows its way into the graves, pulls
out the bodies, and carries them off to its den, the
mouth of which is marked by a huge heap of bones of
men, horses, and other animals. The hyena is a
creature not quite so tall as a wolf, but quite as long
in body. ■ Its skin resembles that of a wolf, except that
the hair is rougher, and it is also marked with large
black spots ; the head is firmly attached to the back-
bone, without any joint between, so that when it wants
to look back it must turn right round. They say that
it has, in the place of teeth, one continuous bone.

The Turks, like the ancients, think that the hyena has
great efficacy in love charms, and though there were
two hyenas at Constantinople when I was there, the
owners refused to sell them to me ; assigning as a
reason that they were keeping them for the Sultana,
i.e. the wife of the Sultan— the popular belief being
that she retains her husband's affection by means of
philtres and sorceries. Belon,^ I must tell you, is wrong
in thinking that the civet cat is the same as the hyena.

Now for one of the best jokes you ever heard

' Pierre Belon (Bellonus) was a contemporary of Busbecq's, having
been born about 15 18. He travelled in Greece, Italy, Turkey, Egypt,
Palestine, and Asia Minor. By profession a physician, he devoted him-
self to the pursuit of Natural Science. He published several books, and
is generally considered to have been the founder of the science of Com-
parative Anatomy. Busbecq corrects Belon, but his own account of the
hyena is wrong. It has vertebrse in the neck, and also an array of teeth.
If he had been able to procure a specimen we should have had an ac-
curate description. The Sultana, therefore, is indirectly responsible for
the errors.

HYENAS. 141

in your life. I will tell you the story just as I had it
from the lips of the natives. They say that the hyena,
which they call Zirtlan, understands the language of
men (the ancients, by the way, said that it also imitated
it), and that it is therefore captured in the following
way. The hunters go to its den, which is not hard to
find, being marked by a heap of bones, as I mentioned
before. One of them enters with a rope, one end
of which he leaves in the hands of his friends outside
the cave. He creeps in, saying, ' Joctur, joctur ucala,'
that is, ' I cannot find it; it is not here.' Meantime,
imagining from what he says that its hiding-place is
not discovered, the beast remains perfectly still, until
the hunter has succeeded in attaching the rope to
its leg, shouting out all the time ' that the hyena is not
there.' Then, with the same words, he goes back, and
as soon as he has got out of the den he shouts out at
the top of his voice that the hyena is inside ; the
creature, understanding what he says, makes a rush to
escape, but all in vain, the hunters hold him fast by
the rope round his leg. After this fashion they say it is
killed ; or, if pains be taken, it may be captured alive ;
but this is a difficult matter, for it is a fierce brute,
and makes a stout resistance. So much for the hyena.

We found, in some places, ancient coins in great
abundance, especially those of the later emperors, Con-
stantinus, Constans, Justinus, Valens, Valentinianus, Nu-
merianus, Probus, Tacitus, &c. I n many places the Turks
used them for the drachm and half-drachm weights.
They call them 'giaur manguri,' or, ' the infidel's money.'

There were, besides, many coins of the neighbour-
ing cities of Asia, Amysus, Sinope, Comana, Amastris,
and lastly, some of Amasia, the city to which we were
going. Talking of coins, a coppersmith roused my
anger by telling me, when I inquired for coins, that a

142 TURKISH LETTERS.

few days before he had had a whole potful of them,
and that, thinking they were worthless, he had melted
them down, and made several copper kettles out of
the metal. I was greatly vexed at the destruction of
so many interesting relics; but I had my revenge. I
informed him that, if he had not destroyed the coins, I
would have given him a hundred gold pieces for them.
So I sent him away quite as unhappy at the loss of the
windfall which he had been so near getting, as I was at
the sacrifice of these records of antiquity.

We did not meet with many new botanical speci-
mens on the road. The plants were, for the most
part, identical with those in our country ; the only
difference being that they grew more or less luxuriantly,
according to the nature of the soil.

We sought unsuccessfully for the balsam tree,
which Dioscorides tells us is indigenous in Pontus, so
that I cannot tell whether the stock has died out, or
migrated to another country.

Angora formed our nineteenth halting place from
Constantinople. It is a town of Galatia, and was, at one
time, the head-quarters of the Tectosages, a Gallic
tribe. Pliny and Strabo both mention it, but it is
not improbable that the present city covers only a part
of the ancient town. The Kanuns^ call it Anquira.

Here we saw a very beautiful inscription,^ containing

' The Kanuns formed a kind of Domesday Book, drawn up by the
direction of Solyman, who thence received the name of Solyman
Kanuni.

^ A full account of the inscription is to be found in Merivale's History
of the Romans, chap, xxxviii. 'Augustus employed the next few months
in compiling a succinct memorial of his public acts to be preserved in
the archives of the state, a truly imperial work, and probably unique of
its kind. The archives of Rome have long mouldered in the dust but a
ruined wall in a remote corner of her empire, engraved with this precious
document, has been faithful to its trust for eighteen hundred years and
still presents us with one of the most curious records of antiquity. The

MONUMENTUM ANCYRANUM. 143

a copy of the tablets in which Augustus gave a summary
of his achievements. We made our people copy out as
much as was legible. It is engraven on the marble walls
of a building now ruinous and roofless, which formerly
may have formed the official residence of the governor.
As you enter the building one half of the inscription is
on the right, and the other on the left. The top lines
are nearly perfect; in the middle the gaps begin to
present difficulties ; the lowest lines are so mutilated
with blows of clubs and axes as to be illegible. This
is indeed a great literary loss, and one which scholars
have much reason to regret ; the more so as it is an
ascertained fact that Ancyra was dedicated' to Augustus
as the common gift of Asia,

Here we also saw how the famous watered stuff, or
mohair, which is woven of the hair of the goats I have
already described, is dyed ; and how, when water has
been poured on, it takes those waves from the action of
the press, from which it derives its name, and for which
it is prized. The stuff which bears the mark of a very
large wave, and keeps its pattern, is considered the
best ; but if, in any part, smaller and uneven waves
occur, although the colour and material be precisely
the same, it is worth less by several gold pieces on
account of the flaw. Elderly men among the Turks,

inscription, which may still be read in the portico of a temple at Ancyra,
attests the energy, sagacity, and fortune of the second Csesar in a detailed
register of all his public undertakings through a period of fifty-eight
years,' &c. In a note Dr. Merivale states that it was first copied by
Busbecq in 1544. This is incorrect ; Busbecq had it copied by his ser-
vants, and the date should be 1555.

' ' Reges amici atque socii, et singuli in suo quisque regno, Casareas
urbes condiderunt ; et cuncti simul asdem Jovis Olympii, Athenis anti-
quitus inchoatam, perficere communi sumptu destinaverunt, genioque
ejus dedicare.'— Suetonius, Octavius, chap. Ix. Augustus directed a de-
cree granting especial privileges to the Jews to be inscribed eV eVio-v/^ordro)

T6T!(fyivr)6kvri. ^oi vnh Toi Koivoi T^s 'Aalas iv 'AyKi5p_>;.— Josephus, Antiqui-
ties, xvi. 6.

144 TURKISH LETTERS.

when they are of high rank, are generally distin-
guished by dresses made of this material. Solyman
prefers it to any other dress for state occasions, wear-
ing that which is of a green colour ; a hue which,
according to our notions, is hardly becoming to a man
of advanced years ; but their religion, and the example
of their prophet Mahomet, who wore it constantly,
even in his old age, gives it favour in the eyes of the
Turks. Among them black is considered a mean and
unlucky colour, and for any one in Turkey to appear
dressed in black is held to be ominous of disaster and
evil. On some occasions the Pashas would express
their astonishment at our going to them in black
clothes, and make it a ground for serious remonstrance.
No one in Turkey goes abroad in black unless he be
completely ruined, or in great grief for some terrible
disaster. Purple is highly esteemed, but in time of
war it is considered ominous of a bloody death. The
lucky colours are white, orange, light blue, violet,
mouse colour, &c. In this, and other matters, the
Turks pay great attention to auguries and omens. It
is a well-known fact that a Pasha has sometimes been
dismissed from office because his horse stumbled,
under the idea that it portended some great misfortune,
and that, if the man were removed from his office, it •
would fall on a private individual, and not on the

state.

From Angora we came to the village of Balygazar,
thence to Zarekuct, next to Zermeczii, after which we
arrived at the bank of the river Halys (Kizil Irmak).

As we crossed the country towards the village of
Algeos, we had a distant view of the mountains near
Sinope. They have a red appearance from the red
chalk which takes its name from Sinope.

Here is the famous Halys, once the boundary be-

FISHING IN THE HAIYS. 145

tween the kingdoms of Media and Lydia, about which
the ancient prophecy said that ' Croesus, if he crossed
the Halys to make war on the Persians, would de-
stroy a mighty realm '—but he did not know that the
realm he was to destroy was his own. On the bank
was a copse of trees, which at first excited our atten-
tion, as we thought we had discovered a new kind of
fruit tree ; but we soon became aware that it was the
liquorice tree, and gorged ourselves with the juice from
its roots.

It happened that a country fellow was standing
there, so we asked him through an interpreter whether
there were plenty of fish in the river, and how they
were caught. His answer was, that there were plenty
of fish, but that it was impossible to catch them. When
we expressed our surprise at this intelligence, the man
explained the matter thus : ' Well, if anyone tries to
put his hand on one of these fish, they jump away, and
will not wait for him to catch them.'

On a former occasion, when we met with some
birds of a species unknown to us, and asked how they
could be caught, another fellow declared that ' it was
impossible to catch them, because, when anyone tried
to lay hold of them, they flew away.' One of my
colleagues, Francis Zay, had with him nets, which he
ordered to be unpacked with a view to fishing.
Amongst other fish, we caught the common Danube
shad. There are also crabs in the Halys in large
numbers, which, if they are not sea crabs, are, at any
rate, very like them.

The Turks, who stood by, were amazed at the great
pains we Christians took in fishing. ' How so,' you
will say, ' are there no fishermen in Turkey ? ' Well,
there are some, but in those districts they are very rare.
I remember, in another place, we were greeted with

VOL. I. L

146 TURKISH LETTERS.

roars of lauehter when we drew off the water of a
stream and captured a quantity of gudgeons. They
were greatly amused at our fishing for anything so
small, and could not make out what gain or advan-
tage we expected to get from them. The foolish
fellows did not understand that a large supply of these
little fishes enabled us to prepare big dishes of stew
sufficient to dine a great many people.

But these Turks live so sparingly, and care so
little for the pleasures of the table, that if they have
bread and salt with an onion or leek, or a kind of
sour milk which Galen mentions by the name of
oxygala, and they call yoghoort, they are quite content.
They mix this milk with very cold water, and crumble
bread into it, using it when the heat is overpowering,
to allay their thirst. We, too, often found this drink
most useful in hot weather, for not only is it very
pleasant and wholesome, but it also has, to a re-
markable degree, the power of quenching thirst.

At all the caravanserais (or Turkish inns, as I ex-
plained before) there is plenty of it for sale, and other
relishes are also to be bought. For the Turks do not,
when travelling, require hot dishes or meat ; their
relishes are sour milk, cheese, dried prunes, pears,
peaches, quinces, figs, raisins, cornel berries. Dainties of
this description are set out for sale on great pans of
earthenware, having been first boiled in plain water.
Each man buys what he fancies most, and eats the
fruit with his bread by way of a relish ; when he
has finished the fruit he drinks the water. Thus
these men's food and drink costs them very litde,
so little, indeed, that I would venture to say that
one of our people will spend more on his food in one
day than a Turk does in twelve. Moreover their yearly
feasts generally consist only of cakes and buns, and other

SHERBET. 147

confectionery, with several dishes of rice, to which they
add mutton and chickens— not capons,^ for poultry of
that kind is unknown to the Turks. As to pheasants,
thrushes, becaficos, &c., they have never even heard
them mentioned. If honey or sugar be mixed with their
draught of water, they would not envy Jove his nectar.

I must not, however, pass over one kind of drink,
if I am to give you a full account. They take raisins
and have them ground ; when ground and pounded
they throw them into a wooden vessel, and pour over
them a certain proportion of hot water and mix them up ;
they then cover the vessel carefully, and leave the liquor
to ferment for a couple of days ; if the fermentation is
not sufficiently active they add the lees of wine. If you
taste it when first it begins to ferment, it seems insipid
and disagreeably sweet ; afterwards it gets a kind of
acid flavour; in this stage it is extremely palatable
when mixed with the sweet liquor. For three or four
days it forms a most pleasant drink, especially when
cooled with plenty of snow, of which there is an unfail-
ing supply at Constantinople. They call it 'Arab
sherbet,' i.e. ' the drink of the Arabs.' But after three
or four days it is spoilt, and gets quite sour. In this
stage it affects the head, and makes people stago-er
quite as much as wine, and on this account is con-
demned by the religious laws of the Turks. I must
confess that I thought sherbet a most pleasant drink.

I found also the grapes, which in many places they
keep till the summer, most refreshing at times. The
following is their method of preserving them, as I
took it down from their lips : — They select a bunch
in which the grapes are of a good size and fully ripe, a
condition which is easily brought about by the sun in

' Menin (near Bousbecque) and its neighbourhood were famous for
their capons. See L. Guicciardini, Description de tout le Pais bas, p. 3 1 1.

L 2

148 TURKISH LETTERS.

Turkey. This bunch they put into a vessel of wood or
earthenware, after first covering the bottom with a good
layer of ground mustard ; on the top of this they put
the grapes ; then they pour the mustard flour in gra-
dually, so as to pack the grapes in it ; lastly, having
filled the vessel with grapes up to the top, they end by
pouring in unfermented wine as fresh as possible ; this
done, they shut up the vessel and keep it till the hot
summer weather sets in, when people are thirsty, and
refreshment of this kind is acceptable. They then
unseal the vessel, and put out the grapes for sale,
together with the sauce, which last the Turks like
quite as well as the grapes themselves. But the
flavour of mustard was not at all to my taste, so I had
my grapes carefully washed. I found them very re-
freshing and wholesome during the great heats.

You must not be surprised at my gratefully record-
ing in my letter to you the things which proved bene-
ficial to myself, for you will remember that the
Egyptians carried this feeling to such an absurd length,
that they worshipped as gods the vegetables of their
own gardens from which they had derived benefit.

But it is high time for me to return to my road.
Leaving the bank of the Halys (which the Turks, I
think, call Aitoczu) wecame to Goukurthoy, and thence
to Choron (Chorum), and after this to Theke Thiol
(Tekiyeh). Here there is a famous monastery of
Turkish monks, or dervishes, from whom we learned
a great deal about a hero named Chederle, a man of
great prowess and courage, whom they try to identify
with our St. George, ascribing to him the same feats as
we claim for our saint — to wit, that he saved a maiden,
who had been given up to a fierce and terrible dragon,
by slaying the monster ; to this they add many other
stories of their own invention, telling how their hero

CHEDERLE.

149

was wont to wander through distant lands, and at last
came to a river whose waters gave immortality to those
that drank thereof.

They do not mention the geographical position of
this river (methinks it ought to be marked down in
Dreamland) ; all they tell me is that it is concealed
beneath a covering of deep darkness and thick night,
and that no mortal since Chederle has had the luck to
see it ; but that Chederle himself, being released from
the laws of death, rides to and fro on a gallant steed,
which, like its master, has, by a draught of this same
water, purged itself of mortal dross. They represent
him as one who loves the battle shock, and helps in
war those who are in the right, and those who have
invoked his aid, of whatever faith they may be. These
tales seem absurd, but I will tell you one still more
ridiculous. They declare that he was one of the com-
panions and friends of Alexander the Great. The
Turks have not the slightest idea of chronology, or of
different epochs, and they mix up together in a won-
derful way all historical events. Should the thought
occur to them, they have no hesitation in stating
that Job was king Solomon's seneschal, and Alexander
the Great commander-in-chief of his armies. Even
these are not the greatest of their absurdities.

There is in the mosque (as the Turks call their
temples) a fountain of choice marble, fed by a spring
of the purest water ; and this they believe to have
been miraculously produced by Chederle's steed. They
have many stories also about Chederle's comrades, his
groom and his sister's son, whose tombs they show in
the neighbourhood. They tried hard to persuade us
that miracles daily took place for the benefit of those
who come to these tombs to ask for aid. They firmly
believed, moreover, that chips of stone and earth taken

15° TURKISH LETTERS.

from the spot, where Chederle stood waiting for the
dragon, were, when mixed with water, efficacious
against fever, headache, and diseases of the eye. I
must tell you that the neighbourhood is full of snakes
and vipers ; they are so numerous that some places in
the hot hours positively swarm with the venomous
beasts, who are basking in the sun, to such an ex-
tent that men dare not approach them. I must not
forget to tell you that the Turks shake with laughter
when they see in the Greek churches pictures o1" St.
George, whom they declare to be their own Chederle,
with a boy sitting on the haunches of his masters
steed, mixing wine and water for him— for this is the
manner in which St. George is painted by the Greeks.

But our journey has been long and we must
shortly rest. There was now only one stage, namely
Baglison (Baglijah), between us and our destination,
Amasia, which last we reached on April 7, thirty
days after our departure from Constantinople. As we
drew near we were met by some Turks, who came
to congratulate us on our arrival, and to do us the
compliment of escorting us into the city.

Amasia is the chief town of Cappadocia, and there
the governor of the province is wont to hold his courts,
and to keep the main body of his troops. But even
from the time of Bajazet the place seemed in some
mysterious fashion to be associated with misfortune,
and that this idea was not groundless is proved by the
miserable end of Mustapha. Strabo tells us that this
was his native place. The town lies between two
ranges of hills, and the river Iris (Yeshil-Irmak) flows
through its centre ; so that both banks are covered
with houses, which rise gradually up the sides of the
hills, like the tiers of seats in a theatre ; every part of
the town therefore commands a view of the river, and

TURKISH INCENDIARIES. 151

those who Uve on one side of the town are completely-
exposed to the eyes of those who Hve on the other.
It is, indeed, so hemmed in by hills that there is only
one road by which carriages and beasts of burden can
enter or leave the city.

On the night of our arrival there was a great fire,
which the Janissaries extinguished after their own
fashion by pulling down the neighbouring buildings.
How it arose I cannot say, but there is no doubt
that the soldiers have good reasons for wishing for
fires, for, inasmuch as they are employed to put them
out, and in most cases this is only effected by pull-
ing down the neighbouring houses, as I told you
before, they pillage, not only the goods and chattels
of the people whose houses are on fire, but also those
of their neighbours as well. So the soldiers them-
selves are often guilty of incendiarism in order to get
an opportunity of plundering the houses.

I remember an instance of this when I was at Con-
stantinople. There had been a great many fires, and
it was quite certain that they were not accidental, yet
the incendiaries were never caught. Most people laid
the blame on Persian spies ; but at length, after a more
careful investigation, it was discovered that they were
the work of marines from ships lying in the harbour,
who set fire to the houses in order to cover a raid on
the goods of the neighbourhood.

On the highest of the hills which overhang Amasia
there is a citadel of respectable strength, which is per-
manently occupied by the Turks, either to overawe
the tribes of Asia, who (as I shall explain later) are not
over well disposed towards their Turkish masters, or
to hold the Persians in check ; for, great as the dis-
tance is, they have sometimes extended their raids as
far as Amasia.

^52 TURKISH LETTERS.

On this hill are many traces of ancient monuments,
possibly those of the kings of Cappadocia themselves.'
But neither the houses nor streets of Amasia have any
beauty to attract one's notice. The houses are built
of white clay, almost in the same fashion as those in
Spain ; even the roofs are made of this material, being
flat without any gable. They use a fragment of some
ancient pillar for a roller, and when any part of the
roof is damaged by rain or wind, they pull this roller
backwards and forwards until the roof is once more
solid and smooth. In summer time the inhabitants
sleep on these roofs in the open air. In these districts
ram does not fall either often or heavily ; but when it
does come down, the clothes of the people walking m
the streets are terribly soiled by the mud which drips
everywhere from the roofs. On a house top near our
lodgmgs I saw a young Sanjak-bey eating his supper on
a couch after the fashion of the ancients.

On our arrival at Amasia we were taken to call on
Achmet Pasha (the chief Vizier) and the other pashas—
for the Sultan himself was not then in the town— and
commenced our negotiations with them touching the
business entrusted to us by King Ferdinand. ''The
Pashas, on their part, apparently wishing to avoid any
semblance of being prejudiced with regard to these
questions, did not offer any strong opposition to the
views we expressed, and told us that the whole matter
depended on the Sultan's pleasure. On his arrival we
were admitted to an audience; but the manner and
spirit in which he listened to our address, our argu-
ments, and our message, was by no means favourable.
The Sultan was seated on a very low ottoman, not
more than a foot from the ground, which was covered
with a quantity of costly rugs and cushions of exquisite
workmanship ; near him lay his bow and arrows. His

THE AUDIENCE. 153

air, as I said, was by no means gracious, and his face
wore a stern, though dignified, expression.

On entering we were separately conducted into the
royal presence by the chamberlains, who grasped our
arms. This has been the Turkish fashion of admitting
people to the Sovereign ever since a Croat,^ in order to
avenge the death of his master, Marcus, Despot of
Servia, asked Amurath for an audience, and took
advantage of it to slay him. After having gone through
a pretence of kissing his hand, we were conducted
backwards to the wall opposite his seat, care being
taken that we should never turn our backs on him.
The Sultan then listened to what I had to say ; but
the language I held was not at all to his taste, for
the demands of his Majesty breathed a spirit of inde-
pendence and dignity, which was by no means accept-
able to one who deemed that his wish was law ; and
so he made no answer beyond saying in a tetchy way,
' Giusel, giusel,' i.e. well, well. After this we were
dismissed to our quarters.

The Sultan's hall was crowded with people, among
whom were several officers of high rank. Besides
these there were all the troopers of the Imperial guard,'''

' There are different versions of this story, see Von Hammer, book v.
and Gibbon, chap. Ixiv. Creasy says that Amurath was killed by a
Servian noble, Milosch Kabilovitsch. Being mortally wounded, Amurath
died in the act of sentencing Lazarus, Despot or Cral of Servia, to death. '

' The permanent corps of paid cavalry in the Turkish army was
divided into four squadrons, organised like those which the Caliph Omar
instituted for the guard of the Sacred Standard. The whole corps at
first consisted of only 2,400 horsemen, but under Solyman the Great
(Busbecq's Sultan), the number was raised to 4,000. They marched on
the right and left of the Sultan, they camped round his tent at night, and
were his bodyguard in battle. One of these regiments of Royal Horse-
guards was called the Turkish Spahis, a term applied to cavalry soldiers
generally, but also specially denoting these select horseguards. Another
regiment was called the Silihdars, meaning 'the vassal cavalry.' A third
was called the Ouloufedgis, meaning 'the paid horsemen,' and the fourth

154 TURKISH LETTERS.

Spahis, Ghourebas, Ouloufedgis, and a large force of
Janissaries ; but there was not in all that great assem-
bly a single man who owed his position to aught save
his valour and his merit. No distinction is attached
to birth among the Turks ; the deference to be paid
to a man is measured by the position he holds in the
public service. There is no fighting for precedence ;
a man's place is marked out by the duties he dis-
charges. In making his appointments the Sultan
pays no regard to any pretensions on the score of
wealth or rank, nor does he take into consideration
recommendations or popularity; he considers each
case on its own merits, and examines carefully into the
character, ability, and disposition of the man whose
promotion is in question. It is by merit that men rise
in the service, a system which ensures that posts should
only be assigned to the competent. Each man in
Turkey carries in his own hand his ancestry and his
position in life, which he may make or mar as he will.
Those who receive the highest offices from the Sultan
are for the most part the sons of shepherds or herds-
men, and so far from being ashamed of their parentage,
they actually glory in it, and consider it a matter of
boasting that they owe nothing to the accident of
birth ; for they do not believe that high qualities are
either natural or hereditary, nor do they think that
they can be handed down from father to son, but that
they are partly the gift of God, and pardy the result
of good training, great industry, and unwearied zeal ;
arguing that high qualities do not descend from a
father to his son or heir, any more than a talent for
music, mathematics, or the like; and that the mind
does not derive its origin from the father, so that the

was called the Ghourebas, meaning ' the foreign horse.' See Creasy, His-
tory of the Ottoman Turks, chap. ii.

PROMOTION IN TURKEY. 155

son should necessarily be like the father in character,
but emanates from heaven, and is thence infused into
the human body. Among the Turks, therefore,
honours, high posts, and judgeships are the rewards
of great ability and good service. If a man be dis-
honest, or lazy, or careless, he remains at the bottom
of the ladder, an object of contempt ; for such qualities
there are no honours in Turkey !

This is the reason that they are successful in their
undertakings, that they lord it over others, and are
daily extending the bounds of their empire. These
are not our ideas, with us there is no opening left for
merit ; birth is the standard for everything ; the pres-
tige of birth is the sole key to advancement in the
public service. But on this head I shall perhaps have
more to say to you in another place, and you must
consider what I have said as strictly private.

For the nonce, take your stand by my side, and look
at the sea of turbaned heads, each wrapped in twisted
folds of the whitest silk ; look at those marvellously
handsome dresses of every kind and every colour ; time
would fail me to tell how all around is glittering with
gold, with silver, with purple, with silk, and with velvet ;
words cannot convey an adequate idea of that strange
and wondrous sight : it was the most beautiful spectacle
I ever saw.

With all this luxury great simplicity and economy
are combined ; every man's dress, whatever his position
may be, is of the same pattern ; no fringes or useless
points are sewn on, as is the case with us, appendages
which cost a great deal of money, and are worn out in
three days. In Turkey the tailor's bill for a silk or
velvet dress, even though it be richly embroidered, as
most of them are, is only a ducat. They were quite as
much surprised at our manner of dressing as we were

15^ TURKISH LETTERS.

at theirs. They use long robes reaching down to the
ankles, which have a stately effect and add to the
wearer's height, while our dress is so short and scanty
that it leaves exposed to view more than is comely of
the human shape ; besides, somehow or other, our
fashion of dress seems to take from the wearer's height,
and make him look shorter than he really is.'

I was greatly struck with the silence and order
that prevailed in this great crowd. There were no
cries, no hum of voices, the usual accompaniments of.
a motley gathering, neither was there any jostling;
without the slightest disturbance each man took his
proper place according to his rank. The Agas, as
they call their chiefs, were seated, to wit, generals,
colonels (bimbaschi), and captains (soubaschi).^ Men of
a lower position stood. The most interesting sight in
this assembly was a body of several thousand Janis-
saries, who were drawn up in a long line apart from
the rest; their array was so steady and motionless
that, being at a little distance, it was some time before
I could make up my mind as to whether they were
human beings or statues ; at last I received a hint to
salute them, and saw all their heads bending at the
same moment to return my bow. On leaving the
assembly we had a fresh treat in the sight of the
household cavalry returning to their quarters ; the men
were mounted on splendid horses, excellently groomed,
and gorgeously accoutred. And so we left the royal
presence, taking with us but little hope of a successful
issue to our embassy.

^ By May lo the Persian Ambassador had arrived,
bringing with him a number of handsome presents^
carpets from famous looms, Babylonian tents, the inner

' Evelyn, who no doubt took the hint from Busbecq, induced Charles
II. to adopt the Eastern dress. Diary, p. 324.

A STATE DINNER. 157

sides of which were covered with coloured tapestries,
trappings and housings of exquisite workmanship,
jewelled scimitars from Damascus, and shields most
tastefully designed ; but the chief present of all was
a copy of the Koran, a gift highly prized among the
Turks ; it is a book containing the laws and rites en-
acted by Mahomet, which they suppose to be inspired.

Terms of peace were immediately granted to the
Persian Ambassador with the intention of putting
greater pressure on us, who seemed likely to be the
more troublesome of the two ; and in order to convince
us of the reality of the peace, honours were showered
on the representative of the Shah. In all cases, as I
have already remarked, the Turks run to extremes,
whether it be in honouring a friend, or in pouring
contempt and insult on a foe. Ali Pasha, the second
Vizier, gave the Persian suite a dinner in his gardens,
which were some way from our quarters, with the
river between, but still we could command a view of
the place where they dined, for, as I told you before,
the city is so situated on the hill sides that there
is hardly a spot in it from which you cannot see and
be seen. Ali Pasha, I must tell you, is by birth a
Dalmatian, he is a thorough gentleman, and has (what
you will be surprised to hear of in a Turk) a kind and
feeling heart.

The table at which the Pashas and the Ambassador
were seated was protected by an awning. A hundred
pages all dressed alike acted as waiters ; their method
of bringing the dishes to table was as follows.

First they advanced toward the table where the
guests were seated, following each other at equal dis-
tances. Their hands were empty, as otherwise they
would not have been able to make their obeisance,
which was performed by their putting them on their

iS8 TURKISH LETTERS.

thighs, and bending their heads to the earth. Their
bows being made, the page who stood nearest the
kitchen began taking the dishes and handing them
on to the next, who deHvered them to the page
next him, and so down the row until they reached the
page who stood nearest the table, from whose hands
the chief butler received them and placed them on the
board. After this fashion a hundred dishes or more
streamed (if I may use the expression) on to the table
without the slightest confusion. When the dinner was
served the pages again did reverence to the guests,
and then returned in the same order as they had come,
the only difference being that those who had been last
as they came were the first as they retired, and that
those who were nearest the table now brought up the
rear. All the other courses were brought on to the
table after the same fashion, a circumstance showing
how much regard the Turks pay to order even in
trifles, while we neglect it in matters of extreme im-
portance. Not far from the Ambassador's table his
retinue was feasting with some Turks.

Peace having been concluded with the Persian, as
I have already told you, it was impossible for us to
obtain any decent terms from the Turk ; all we could
accomplish was to arrange a six months' truce to give
time for a reply to reach Vienna, and for the answer
to come back.

I had come to fill the position of ambassador in
ordinary ; but inasmuch as nothing had been as yet
settled as to a peace, the Pashas determined that I
should return to my master with Solyman's letter, and
bring back an answer, if it pleased the King to send
one. Accordingly I had another interview with the
Sultan ; two embroidered robes of ample size, and
reaching down to the ankles, were thrown over my

so LYMAN THE GREAT. 159

shoulders (they were as much as I could carry). All
my people were likewise presented with silk dresses of
different colours, which they wore as they marched in
my train.

With this procession I advanced as if I was going
to act the part of Agamemnon ^ or some other monarch
of ancient tragedy. Having received the Sultan's
letter, which was sealed up in a wrapper of cloth of
gold, I took my leave ; the gentlemen among my
attendants were also allowed to enter and make their
bow to him. Then having paid my respects in the
same way to the Pashas I left Amasia with my col-
leagues on June 2,

It is customary to give a breakfast in the Divan (as
they call the place where the Pashas hold their court),
to ambassadors on the eve of their departure, but this
is only done when they represent friendly govern-
ments, and no peace had as yet been arranged with us.

You will probably wish me to give you my im-
pressions of Solyman.

His years are just beginning to tell on him, but his
majestic bearing and indeed his whole demeanour are
such as beseem the lord of so vast an empire. He
has always had the character of being a careful and
temperate man ; even in his early days, when, accord-
ing to the Turkish rule, sin would have been venial,
his life was blameless ; for not even in youth did he
either indulge in wine or commit those unnatural
crimes which are common among the Turks; nor
could those who were disposed to put the most un-
favourable construction on his acts bring anything
worse against him than his excessive devotion to his
wife, and the precipitate way in which, by her influence,
he was induced to put Mustapha to death ; for it is

' See page 102 and note i.

t6o TURKISH LETTERS.

commonly believed that it was by her philtres and
witchcraft that he was led to commit this act. As
regards herself, it is a well-known fact that from the
time he made her his lawful wife he has been perfectly
faithful to her, although there was nothing in the laws
to prevent his having mistresses as well. As an up-
holder of his religion and its rites he is most strict,
being quite as anxious to extend his faith as to extend
his empire. Considering his years (for he is now get-
ting on for sixty) he enjoys good health, though it may
be that his bad complexion arises from some lurking
malady. There is a notion current that he has an
incurable ulcer or cancer on his thigh. When he is
anxious to impress an ambassador, who is leaving,
with a favourable idea of the state of his health,
he conceals the bad complexion of his face under a
coat of rouge, his notion being that foreign powers will
fear him more if they think that he is strong and well.
I detected unmistakable signs of this practice of his ;
for I observed his face when he gave me a farewell
audience, and found it was much altered from what it
was when he received me on my arrival.

June was at its hottest when we began our journey;
the heat was too much for me, and a fever was the
consequence, accompanied by headache and catarrh.
The attack, though mild and of an intermittent kind,
was a lingering one, and I did not get rid of it till I
reached Constantinople.

On the day of our departure the Persian Ambas-
sador also left Amasia, setting out by the same road
as ourselves ; for, as I mentioned before, there is only
one road by which the city can be entered or left, since
the rugged character of the surrounding hills makes it
difficult of access on every other side ; the road shortly
branches off in two directions, one leads eastward and

RETURN TO CONSTANTINOPLE. i6r

the other westward ; the Persians took the former and
we the latter.

As we left Amasia we could see everywhere
throughout the broad plains the lines of the Turkish
camps crowded with tents.

There is no need for me to waste your time with a
description of our return journey, since we traversed
almost the same ground, and made nearly the same
halts as we had done in comine, save that we travelled
somewhat quicker, and occasionally got over two of
our former stages in one day. Thus we reached Con-
stantinople on June 24, and I will leave you to picture
to yourself the wear and tear of the journey to one
suffering like myself from a lingering fever. I re-
turned worn to a shadow; however, after a time,
having had some rest and gone through a course of
warm baths, recommended by my physician Quacquel-
ben, I soon recovered strength. He also soused me
with cold water on leaving the bath ; I cannot say it
was pleasant, but it did me a great deal of good.

Whilst I was still at Constantinople a man who
had come from the Turkish camp told me an anecdote
which I shall be glad to include in my letter, as it
illustrates the great dislike which the natives of Asia
entertain to the religion ^ and supremacy of the Otto-

' See Creasy, History of the Ottoman Turks, chap. viii. : ' The schism
of the Sunnites and the Schiis (the first of whom acknowledge, and the
last of whom repudiate the three immediate successors of the Prophet,
the Caliphs Abubeker, Omar, and Othman) had distracted the Ottoman
world from the earliest times. The Ottoman Turks have been Sunnites.
The contrary tenets have prevailed in Persia ; and the great founder of
the Saffide dynasty in that country, Shah Ismael, was as eminent for his
zeal for the Schii tenets, as for his ability in council, and his valour in the
field. The doctrine of the Schiis had begun to spread among the sub-
jects of the Sublime Porte before Selim came to the throne ; and though
the Sultan, the Ulema, and by far the larger portion of the Ottomans,
held strictly to the orthodoxy of Sunnism, the Schiis were numerous,
in every province, and they seemed to be rapidly gaining proselytes,

VOL. I. M

1 62 TURKISH LETTERS.

mans. He informed me that Solyman, as he was re-
turning, was entertained by a certain Asiatic and spent
the night in his house. When the Sultan had left, the
man considering it to have been polluted and defiled by
the presence of such a guest, had it purified with
holy water, fumigation, and religious rites. When Soly-
man heard of this insult to himself he ordered the man
to be executed, and his house razed to the ground.
So he paid heavily for his dislike to the Turks and
partiality for the Persians.

After a delay of fourteen days at Constantinople,
for the purpose of recruiting my strength, I set out for
Vienna. But the beginning of my journey was
marked by an evil chance. Just as I left Constanti-
nople I met some waggons of boys and girls who
were being carried from Hungary to the slave market
at Constantinople ; this is the commonest kind of
Turkish merchandise, and just as loads of different
kinds of goods meet the traveller's eye, as he leaves
Antwerp, so every now and then we came across
unhappy Christians of all ranks, ages, and sexes
who were being carried off to a horrible slavery ; the
men, young and old, were either driven in gangs or
bound to a chain and dragged over the road in a long
file, after the same fashion as we take a string of
horses to a fair. It was indeed a painful sight ; and I
could scarce check my tears, so deeply did I feel the
woes and humiliation of Christendom.

Selim determined to crush heresy at home before he went forth to combat
it abroad, and in a deliberate spirit of fanatic cruelty he planned and exe-
cuted a general slaughter of such of his subjects as were supposed to have
fallen away from what their sovereigns considered to be the only true
faith.' This massacre took place in 15 13. The Selim here mentioned
was the father of Solyman. See Creasy, History of the Ottoma7i Tiirks,
chap. viii. There was not much to choose between Philip of Spain in the
West and Selim in the East ! See Motley, Dtitch Republic, part iii.
chap. 2.

THE PLAGUE. 163

If this is not enough to make you think that my
path was crossed with evil, I have something more to
tell. My colleagues had placed under my care some
members of their retinue who were tired of being in
Turkey, in order that I might take them back with
me. Well, when I had been two days on the road, I
saw the head man of this party, whom they called their
Voivode, riding in a waggon. He was ill, and on his
foot was the plague ulcer, which he kept uncovered in
order to relieve the pain. This circumstance made
us all very uncomfortable, since we were afraid that,
this disease being contagious, more of us would be
attacked.

On reaching Adrianople, which was not far off, the
poor fellow's struggles were terminated by death.
Then, as if the peril were not sufficiently great, the
rest of the Hungarians seized the dead man's clothes ;
one took his boots, another his doublet, another, for
fear anything should be lost, snatches up his shirt, and
another his linen ; though the risk was perfectly
obvious, we could not stop them from endangering the
lives of the whole party. My physician flew from one
to another, imploring them for God's sake not to touch
articles, contact with which would bring about certain
death, but they were deaf to his prophecies.

Well, on the second day after our departure from
Adrianople, these same fellows crowded round my
physician, asking him for something to cure their sick-
ness, which they described as an attack of headache
and general languor, accompanied with a feeling of
deep depression ; on hearing of these symptoms my
physician began to suspect that this was the first stao-e
of the plague. He told them that 'he had not
warned them without reason ; they had done their best
to catch the plague, and they had caught it. In spite

M 2

1 64 TURKISH LETTERS.

of their folly he would do what he could for them ; but
what means had he of doctoring them in the middle
of a journey, where no medicines could be procured.'

On that very day, when, according to my custom
on reaching our lodgings for the night, we had set out
for a walk in search of interesting objects, I came
across a herb in a meadow which I did not recognise.
I pulled off some leaves and putting them to my nose
perceived a smell like garlic ; I then placed them in
the hands of my physician to see if he could recognise
the plant. After a careful examination he pronounced
it to be scordium,^ and raising his hands to heaven
offered thanks to God for placing in his path, in the
hour of our need, a remedy against the plague. He
immediately collected a large supply, and throwing it
into a big pot he placed it on the fire to boil ; he told
the Hungarians to cheer up, and divided the brew
amongst them, bidding them take it, when they went
to bed, with Lemnian earth ^ and a diascordium ^ elec-
tuary ; he recommended them also not to go to sleep
until they had perspired profusely. They obeyed
his directions and came to him again on the following
day, telling him that they felt better. They asked for
another dose of the same kind, and after drinking it

' Scordium, or water germander, is mentioned in Salmon's Herbal as
a sudorific, &c. ; he notices that it has a smell of garlic, and that it is a
specific against ' measles, small-pox, and also the plague or pestilence
itself. ' The plague is a form of blood poisoning ; a medical friend
whom we consulted considered that the symptoms indicated only a mild
form of the disease ; he also entirely approved of the physician's treat-
ment of the case.

^ See note page 254.

^ An electuary is a medicine of a pasty consistence composed of
various ingredients. The one mentioned in the text was invented by the
celebrated physician Frascatorius. It contained scordium, from which
its name is derived. The prescription for it may be found in Larousse's
Dictiomiaire Universel, vii. 31 17. Evelyn went to see the several! ' drougs

for the confection of Treacle, Diascordium, and other electuaries.' Diary

p. 262.

FERTILITY OF HUNGARY. 165

they became convalescent. Thus by God's goodness
we were delivered from the fear of that dreadful
malady. But as if all this were not enough, we were
not able to accomplish the rest of our journey without
further misfortune.

After passing through the lands of the Thracians
and Bulgarians, which extend as far as Nissa, we
traversed the country of the Servians, which reaches
from Nissa to Semendria, where the Rascians begin,
and so arrived at Belgrade, the weather being intensely
hot, as might be expected in the dog-days.

Whilst at Belgrade we were offered one fast-day a
plentiful supply of excellent fish ; among them were
some fine fat carp caught in the Danube, which are
considered a dainty. My men stuffed themselves with
this fish, and in consequence many of them were at-
tacked by fever, which was caused more or less by
their greediness. This great supply of fish — enough
to satisfy forty men — cost half a thaler, and almost
everything else at Belgrade is equally cheap. Hay
fetches absolutely nothing ; everyone is allowed to
take as much as he likes out of the rich meadows ; he
is only charged for the cutting and the carrying. All
this, as we crossed the Save, made us admire still more
the wisdom of the ancient Hungarians in choosing
Pannonia, and thus securing for themselves a land of
plenty, capable of producing every kind of crop. We
had travelled far, through many a land both in Europe
and Asia, and in all that long journey we had seen
nothing but stunted crops of grass, barley, oats, and
wheat, with the very life scorched out of them by the
heat ; but when we entered Hungary, the grass was
so high that those in the carriage behind could not see
the carriage in front — a good proof of the fertility of
the soil.

1 66 TURKISH LETTERS.

After Semendria, as I told you, the Rascians begin,
and occupy the land as far as the river Drave. They
are great drinkers, and are considered treacherous. I
cannot tell you how they got their name, or whence
they sprang, but, at any rate, they were most anxious
to do what they could for us.

After passing through some of their villages, which
were of no particular interest, we came to Essek,
which is often inaccessible by reason of the swamps in
which it lies. This is the famous battle-field which
witnessed the rout of Katzianer and the destruction of
a Christian army.^ Here, in consequence of the ex-
cessive heat to which we were exposed whilst passing
through the open plains of Hungary, I was seized with
an attack of tertian fever.

After leaving Essek, we crossed the Drave, and
arrived at Laszko. Whilst resting here, wearied with
the journey and worn out by heat and sickness, I was
visited by the officials of the place, who came to con-
gratulate me on my arrival. They brought enormous
melons, and pears and plums of different kinds ; they
also furnished us with wine and bread. Everything
was most excellent, and I doubt whether the famous
Campania itself, highly as it is praised by past and
present writers for the fertility of its soil, could pro-
duce anything to surpass the fruits they brought us.
A long table standing in my bedroom was filled with
these gifts. My people kept the Hungarians to supper,
and gave the state of my health as the reason for not
introducing them to my room. On waking, my eyes
fell on the table, and I could not tell whether I was
awake or dreaming, for there before my eyes appeared
the veritable Horn of Plenty ! At last I asked my
doctor, and he informed me that he had had them set

' Sec Skfi'ch of Hiiiigaiiaii History.

MOHACZ. 167

out on the table, that I might at least have the pleasure
of looking at them. I asked him if I might taste
them. He told me I might do so, but it must only be
a ' taste.' Accordingly all the fruits were cut, and I
took a little morsel of each, to my great refreshment.
On the next day the Hungarians came and paid their
respects. After complaining of wrongs received from
some of their neighbours, they asked for the King's
protection.

From this place we came to Mohacz,^ the fatal
field on which Louis of Hungary fell. I saw not far
from the town a small stream flowing between high
precipitous banks, into which the unhappy young King
was thrown with his steed, and so died. He was un-
fortunate, but he also showed great want of judgment
in venturing, with a small force of raw troops and
unarmed peasants, to make a stand against the nume-
rous and highly disciplined forces of Solyman.

From Mohacz we came to Tolna, and from Tolna
to Feldvar. Here I crossed over to an island in the
Danube of no great size, inhabited by the Rascians,
who call it Kevi. Crossing the Danube again at this
point, I arrived at Buda on August 4, twelve days after
our departure from Belgrade.

During this part of our journey we lost several
horses from congestion, brought on by their eating the
new barley and drinking water when it was too cold.
I had also been in much danger from brigands, by
whom this part of the country is infested ; they are for
the most part Heydons.''*

I had evidence a little later of the risk I had run
in the confession of some fellows who were executed
by the Pasha of Buda. They admitted that they had
hidden themselves in the gully of a broad watercourse,

' See Sketch of Hungarian History. - See page 90.

1 68 TURKISH LETTERS.

over which ran a crazy bridge, with the intention of
starting up from this ambuscade and attacking us. It
IS the easiest thing in the world for a few men to cut
off a party greatly outnumbering their own on a bridge
of this kind. The bridges are in such bad condition, and
so full of cracks and holes, that even with the utmost
care it is impossible to traverse them without great
danger of one's horses falling; and so if there are
brigands to meet the party in front, and others press
them in the rear, while their flanks are galled by the
fire of those who are in the gully, lurking in the under-
wood and reeds, there would be little chance of escape ;
and the whole party on the bridge being on horseback,
and therefore scarce able to move, would be in a worse
case than ever the Romans were in the Caudine forks,
and at the mercy of the brigands, to be slain or cap-
tured at their pleasure. What deterred them I know
not ; possibly it was the number of our party. Again,
it may have been the sight of the Hungarians who
accompanied me, or the circumstance that we advanced
in a long column, and were not all on the bridge at the
same time. Whatever the reason may have been, by
God's mercy we came safe to Buda.

The Pasha was not in the city, having encamped
opposite Buda, in the plains near Pesth, called Rakos,^
where, after the custom of the Hungarians, he was
holding a muster of Turkish feudal militia. Several
of the neighbouring Sanjak-beys were with him, but
more were expected; and so when I asked for an
audience, he put me off for three days, in order that
he might have a greater assemblage of Sanjak-beys

1 Rakos is the name of a plain near Pesth ; the greater extraordinary
Hungarian Diet used to assemble on this plain after the manner of the
Polish Diet which met near Warsaw. The Turks continued to use the
place for mustering their militia.

RECRIMINATIONS. i6g

and soldiers. On receiving a summons, I crossed the
Danube and came to his camp. He made many com-
plaints of the outrages committed by certain Hun-
garians. There is one point in which the Turks and
Hungarians have precisely the same way of proceed-
ing, the latter being quite as bad as the former. When
they have committed some outrage, they complain of
their unfortunate victim as if he were the one in fault.
The Pasha also added threats of reprisals, thinking,
probably, that I should be intimidated by the presence
of his army. I replied briefly that his charge against
the Hungarians might with much better reason be
brought against the Turks. I told him that, even on
my way there, I had come across soldiers of his who
were engaged in plundering and harrying the property
of some unhappy Christian peasants who were subjects
of his Royal Majesty {King Ferdinand), which was
perfectly true. The Pasha replied that he had handed
over to the soldiers certain rebellious Christians, who
were the Stiltan's subjects, to be chastised and pillaged.
After rejoinders of this kind, he dismissed me, more
dead than alive, for this was the day on which my
fever recurred.

On the next day we set out for Gran, under the
escort of some Turkish horsemen. My intention was
to cross the Danube, and spend the night in a village
which lies on the opposite bank over against Gran, so
that the next day I might reach Komorn at an earlier
hour, and in this way lessen the effects of the fever,
which I expected to recur on that day. Accordingly
I requested our conductor to send some one forward to
bring the ferry-bridge across to our bank, with a view
to accelerating our passage. Although there were
several reasons which rendered this plan scarcely
feasible, still, partly from a wish to please me, and

170 TURKISH LETTERS.

partly because he was anxious to announce my coming
to the Sanjak-bey, he despatched a couple of men.

When the men had ridden forward for the space of
one hour, they noticed four horsemen under the shade
of a tree, which stood at a little distance from the road.
As they were dressed in Turkish fashion, they took
them for Turks, and rode up. On coming nearer,
they inquired whether the country in that direction was
fairly quiet. The four horsemen made no reply, but
charged on them with drawn swords, and slashed one
of the Turks over the face, cutting his nose nearly off.
so that the greater part of it hung down on his chin.
One of the Turks was leading his horse by the rein.
This the horsemen seized, and one of them mounted
on its back, leaving his own scurvy jade in its place.
After this exchange of steeds they took to flight, while
the Turks fell back to our party — the man whose face
had been damaged bellowing lustily, and showing the
horrid wound he had received. They told us to make
ready for fighting our way through an ambuscade they
had discovered. Even I got into the saddle, in the
hope of encouraging my men. But we came too late ;
the battle was all over. The fellows, who were far
more anxious to carry off their booty than to bandy
blows, were already galloping back to Raab, a town
which our people hold, and of the garrison of which
they formed a part. The Turks pointed them out to
us, as they rode across the neighbouring hills on their
way to Raab.

After this adventure we came to Gran, where next
day the Sanjak-bey, after giving me a hearty welcome,
recommended me, am.ongst other things, not to forget
the proof I had just received of how insolent Hun-
garian soldiers could be, and to remember that not
even the respect due to the presence of his Royal

THE VALUE OF A NOSE. 171

Majesty's ambassador had kept them from playing
their old tricks. He requested me also to see that the
horse which had been taken away was returned.
Meanwhile, my friend the Turk who had been
wounded was standing" in a corner of the Sanjak-bey's
hall, with his head covered with bandages and his nose
freshly sewn up. As he drew his breath there was a
kind of hoarse, uncomfortable sound. He kept asking
me for something to comfort him under his misfortune.
I promised to give him that which should cure his
wound, and presented him with two gold ducats. He
wanted more, but the Sanjak-bey cut him short, and
declared that it was enough, and more than enough, to
cure him, reminding him that his misfortune must
have been predestined, and therefore I could not justly
be held responsible for it !

After this I was allowed to resume my journey,
and on the same day reached Komorn. Here I
waited patiently for my fever to come on at its regular
time. At last I found that it had left me, and that the
Turkish fever had not ventured to cross into Christian
territory ! Hereupon I gave thanks to God for de-
livering me, in one and the same day, both from sick-
ness and also from the toils and troubles of a long- and
difficult journey.

Two days later I reached Vienna, but I did not
find my most gracious master Ferdinand, King of the
Romans, in the city. At present his place at Vienna
is occupied by Maximilian, King of Bohemia, whose
kindness has made me well nigh forget the hardships
I have undergone ; but I am still so reduced by loss
of flesh and lack of care, and the inconveniences arising
from travelling whilst sick, that many imagine I have
been poisoned by the Turks. At any rate, the other day,
when the Archduke Ferdinand was here and I bowed

172 TURKISH LETTERS.

to him, on his asking one of his people who I was, the
man replied, loud enough for me to hear, that ' my
looks might tell from what country I had come ; '
probably intending to suggest that I had swallowed
the same sort of mushroom as Claudius ^ of old. But
I am quite certain that I am suffering from nothing of
the kind, and that after a little rest I shall recover my
colour, my strength, and my general condition ; in-
deed, I feel every day that there is a gradual change
for the better.

In the meantime I have sent news of my return
to the King of the Romans, informing him at the same
time of the six months' truce, and giving him a short
account of the negotiations in which I have been en-
gaged. When he returns from the Diet, in the affairs of
which he is now engaged, I shall be able to give him
a full report.

Many, who from fear or some other reason, shrank
from accompanying me to Constantinople, would now
give a handsome sum for the honour of having returned
with me. Their case reminds me of the famous line
in Plautus —

' Let him who would eat the kernel crack the nut.'

A man has no right to ask {or part of the profit, if he
has not taken on himself /^r/ of the work.

You have now got an account of my journey to
Amasia as well as the history of my journey to Con-
stantinople ; the yarn I have spun is rough and ready,
just as I should tell it if we were chatting together.
You will be bound to excuse the want of polish,
inasmuch as I have complied with your request, and
despatched my letter at an early date. In mere fairness

' The Emperor Claudius was murdered by his wife Agrippina, who
gave him poison in a dish of mushrooms. Tacitus, Annals, xii. 67.

APOLOGY. 173

you cannot expect fine writing from a man who is hur-
ried and overwhelmed with business. As to fine writ-
ing indeed, I do not beheve I am capable of it, even if
I had time to think and leisure to compose.

But while I own my deficiencies in this respect, I
have the satisfaction of feeling that I can claim for my
poor narrative one merit, compared with which all other
merits are as nothing. It is written in a spirit of
honesty and truth.

Vienna, September i, 1555.'

' In all the Latin editions of Busbecq the date is given as September
ij 1554- This is manifestly wrong, as may be shown by internal evi-
dence, as for example the date of the marriage of Philip and Mary,
July 25, 1554. Busbecq was present at this marriage, and was not sum-
moned to Vienna till November 3, 1554, see page 75. He must, there-
fore, have returned in 1555.

174 TURKISH LETTERS.

LETTER II.

Reasons for returning to Constantinople — Roostem restored to power —
Negotiations — Busbecq's nose and ears in danger — Bajazet — Account
of Solyman's family — Story of Prince Jehangir— Roxolana's partiality
for Bajazet — The temper of Mustapha's partisans — Bajazet suborns a
man to personate Mustapha — The impostor in Bulgaria — His artful
address — Solyman's appreciation of the crisis — The Sanjak-beys —
Pertau Pasha — Seizure of the impostor — Tortured by order of the
Sultan — The impostor's revelations — Drowned at midnight — Danger
of Bajazet — Roxolana's intercession for her son — Bajazet's visit to his
father — The cup of sherbet — Bajazet more fortunate than Mustapha
— Achmet Pasha — Various reasons assigned for his execution —
Strange request to his executioner — Busbecq's best friends.

I HAVE received your letter, in which you tell me that
you have heard of my departure for Thrace, while you
wonder at the infatuation which has induced me to
revisit a country destitute of civilisation, and notorious
for deeds of cruelty.

Well, you wish me to tell you of my journey, the
position of affairs when I arrived, my reception at Con-
stantinople, etc. ; in short, you want to know how I am,
whether I am enjoying myself, and whether I have
any immediate prospect of returning. You claim an
answer to your questions on the score of our ancient
friendship.

Here is my reply to your inquiries. First, the
report which you heard of my return hither was quite
correct, nor need you be surprised at my taking this
step. My word was pledged, and having once under-
taken the duty, I could not consistently draw back.

My position was this : I had been appointed by
my most gracious master Ferdinand, King of the

RETURN TO TURKEY. 175

Romans, ambassador in ordinary to Solyman for se-
veral years. This appointment, however, and my
acceptance of it, appeared to rest on the assumption
that peace had been concluded ; still, as the hope of
an arrangement had not been altogether abandoned,
I did not, until the matter was finally settled, one way
or the other, feel justified in avoiding the toils and
risks of my present position.

Accordingly though I was under no delusion as to
the extent of the danger I was incurring, and should
have much preferred to hand over the duty to another,
still, since I could not find a substitute, I was obliged
to obey the wish of my most kind and considerate
Sovereign — a wish which to me was law. As soon
as he had returned from the session of the Imperial
Diet,^ and had given me an interview, in the course
of which I informed him of the state of our negotia-
tions with Solyman, he ordered me to hold myself in
readiness to carry back his answer to the Sultan.

It was winter, and the weather was bad, being wet,
cold, and windy, when I was ordered back to Con-
stantinople with despatches which could hardly be
acceptable to those to whom I went. Here you will
exclaim at my infatuation in venturing a second time
on such a risk. I cannot look on it in this lio-ht. It
seems to me that what was the right course before
must be the right course now. And surely the proper
measure of the credit to be attached to an honourable
act, is the amount of toil and danger involved in its
accomplishment.

In the month of November I left Vienna to retrace
my steps to the shores of the Euxine. I have no
intention of abusing your patience by wearying you

' At Augsburg.

176 TURKISH LETTERS.

with a repetition of the trifling occurrences which befell
me on my way, for I think you must have been so
bored with the account of my former journey, as hardly
yet to have recovered from its effects. Repetition is
all the more needless, because we took almost iden-
tically the same route as before.

Early in January I reached Constantinople, after
losing one of my companions from an attack of acute
fever, brought on by the hardships of the road. I
found my colleagues safe and sound, but a great change
had taken place in the Turkish Government. Bajazet,
the younger son of Solyman, had been delivered from
a position of serious danger, and forgiven by his father.
Achmet Pasha, ^ the Chief Vizier, had been strangled ;
and Roostem restored to his former honours.

Of these things more anon. I will now tell you of
the unfavourable reception I had from the Sultan, the
Pashas, and the rest of the Turks.

In accordance with their usual practice before ad-
mitting an ambassador to the presence of their Sove-
reign, the Pashas desired me to tell them the purport
of the answer with which I was entrusted ; on learning
that his Majesty declined to make any concession, and
insisted on his right to the fulfilment of the treaty
which he had fairly and honestly negotiated with the
widow and son of John the Voivode^ (i.e. Governor) of
Transylvania, the wrath and indignation of the Pashas
knew no bounds. A long career of success has made
the Turks so arrogant, that thej^ consider their pleasure
to be the sole rule of what is right and what is wrong.

At first they tried to frighten us, and enlarged on
the danger of entering the Sultan's presence with such
despatches. When we were not to be intimidated,

* See page i88.
"^ See Sketch of Htc7tgarian History.

BUSBECQS jNOSE AND EARS IN DANGER. 177

and again asked for an audience, they refused to in-
volve themselves in our dangers by presenting us to
their Sovereign. To use their own phrase, they asked us
' how many spare heads we thought they had got, that
we expected them to introduce us to their master's pre-
sence with an answer of this kind ? It was a downright
insult on our part, and one which their master was not
the man to pocket. He was in his capital, surrounded
by his victorious troops ; his successes against the Per-
sians had raised his spirit and swelled his pride, while
the son who had aspired to his throne had been put to
death, from which last circumstance we might learn a
lesson as to how far his wrath could go. What could
possibly suit him better than a campaign in Hungary,
where his war-worn soldiers might forget their hard-
ships, and enjoy the plunder of a well-stocked country,
while he annexed to his empire the remainder of that
province, which in good sooth was not much ? In
short our wisest course was to keep quiet, and not
arouse his anger ; there was no need for us to hasten
on the evil day; it would come quite soon enough
without our interference.' Such was the advice of the
Pashas, nor was more comfort to be derived from the
opinions expressed by the rest of the Turks ; for the
mildest punishment they threatened us with was, that
two of us Avould be thrust into a noisome dungeon,
while the third (your humble servant, to wit), would be
sent back to his master, after being first deprived of his
nose and ears. Moreover, we noticed that people, as
they passed our lodging, scowled at us in a way that
boded no good. From this time we met with harsher
treatment, our confinement was closer, no one was suf-
fered to visit us, our people were not allowed to go
abroad ; in short, although we were ambassadors, our
lot was scarcely better than that of prisoners. This

VOL. I. N

178 TURKISH LETTERS.

has been our position for the last six months, and what
will be the end of it God only knows ; we are in His
hands, and whatever may befall us, whatever we may
have to bear, v/e shall have the great comfort of feeling
that there is nothing on our part of which we need be
ashamed.

I will now proceed to answer your inquiries touch-
ing Bajazet, but in order to make my explanation
clearer, I must give you further explanations about the
Sultan's family. Solyman has had five sons, the eldest
of whom was Mustapha, whose unhappy end I have
already described ; he was the son of a woman who
came from the Crimea ; by a Russian ^ woman, to whom
he is legally married, he has had four sons— Mahomet,
Selim, Bajazet, and Jehangir. Mahomet, after marry-
ing a wife (for the Turks give the title of wife to con-
cubines), died while still young. The surviving sons
are Selim and Bajazet.

Jehangir, the youngest, is dead, and of his death I
shall now proceed to give you an account. The news
of Mustapha's death, when it arrived at Constantinople,
overwhelmed the young prince with terror and dismay.
The poor lad, whose person was disfigured by a hump,
had no strength of mind or body to enable him to
resist the shock. The death of his brother reminded
him of the fate in store for himself at no distant day.
His father's death would seal his doom. The con-
signment of the old Sultan to the tomb would mark
at once the commencement of his successor's reign,
and the termination of his own life. Whoever that
successor might be, it was certain he would regard
all his brothers as rivals to his throne, who must
be got rid of without delay ; and of these brothers
he was one. These sad thoughts took hold of him

' Roxolana, see note, page 109.

SELIM AND BAJAZET. 179

to such an extent, that an order for his instant execu-
tion could not have terrified him more. So great was
his misery that it brought on an illness which ter-
minated in his death.

^ Two sons, as I said, survive ; one of whom, Selim,
being the elder, is intended by his father to succeed
him on the throne. Bajazet's claims are warmly sup-
ported by his mother, who is devoted to him. Pos-
sibly his hopeless position may have excited her pity,
or she may be influenced by his dutiful bearing
towards herself; but whatever the reason may be,
no one doubts that, if it depended on her, Bajazet
would be placed on the throne to the exclusion of
Selim. She must, however, yield to the father's will,
and he is thoroughly determined that, if the fates
permit, no one but Selim shall succeed him. Bajazet,
being aware how matters stand, is anxiously looking
round for an opportunity of escaping the fate marked
out for him, and exchanging a pitiless doom for a
throne. Indeed the support of his mother and Roostem
prevents his altogether despairing of success ; and to
fall fighting for the chance of empire seems to him a
more honourable lot than to be butchered like a sheep
by his brother's hangman. Such were Bajazet's feel-
ings, and his difference with Selim was becoming more
and more marked, when he discerned in the odium
excited by the execution of Mustapha an opportunity
of putting in motion the revolution he had long been
planning.

So intense was the sorrow for Mustapha, that many
after his death grew weary of life ; all their prospects
had been bound up in his fortunes, and what they
most longed for was an opportunity of avenging his
wrongs or sharing his fate. Some of his supporters
were rendered so uneasy by their own fears, that they

N 2

i8o TURKISH letters:

thought there could be nothing worse than their pre-
sent position, and therefore were looking out for the
means of bringing about a general revolution ; all that
was wanted was a leader ; Mustapha indeed could not
be recalled to life, but a pretender could be set up.
Bajazet was on the watch, and the idea struck him as
one admirably calculated for the furtherance of his
design. At his instigation, some of his followers in-
duced a fellow of low origin, but daring and resolute,
to announce himself as Mustapha, and boldly personate
the dead prince. In height, features, and general ap-
pearance he was not unlike that unhappy youth.
Feigning to have escaped from the Sultan by flight,
the pretender began to show himself first northward
of Constantinople, on the slopes ^ of the Balkan lead-
ing down to the Danube, not far from the provinces of
Moldavia and Wallachia.

There were two reasons for choosing this locality ;
first, because the proximity of the above-mentioned
provinces afforded a good opening for revolutionary
schemes, and, secondly, because the whole country was
full of Spahis, a branch of the service which had pro-
vided Mustapha with most of his followers. He landed
there with a few attendants, pretending to be a tra-
veller, who desired to escape notice. When his com-
panions were questioned as to who he was, they made
people think it was Mustapha by timid hints, rather
than by downright statements ; nor did their leader
himself deny that such was the case. This cunnino-

1 •

device made people still more anxious to see him.
Hereon the pretender threw away all disguise; and
after expressing his joy at his safe arrival among them,
and thanking God for his preservation, proceeded to
tell them the following story. He said that ' when he

' I.e., the modern Bulgaria.

THE FALSE MUSTAPHA. iSi

was summoned/ he had not ventured to enter into the
presence of his offended father or trust himself in his
hands, but that by the advice of his friends he had, by
means of large promises, procured a man who resem-
bled him to go in his stead, that he might learn his
father's disposition towards himself, at the risk of an-
other man's life : this man, before he was admitted to
his father, or given any opportunity of pleading his
case, had been cruelly strangled, and exposed in front
of the Sultan's tent ; at the time there were many who
had a sort of suspicion of the trick, but a still larger
number, owing to the features of the wretched man
being rendered undistinguishable by his agonising
death, had been induced to believe that he himseff
had suffered. On learning this, he had felt that he
must without loss of time fly for his life. Knowing
that his safety depended on secresy, he had only al-
lowed a few of his companions to share his flight ; he
had made his way along the north coast of the Black
Sea through the tribes of the Bosphorus,^ and had
come amongst them, because he felt that in their loyal
protection lay his best chance of safety. He implored
them not to fail him in the hour of trial, when he was
suffermg from the persecution of his wicked step-
mother, or hold him of less account than they had
been wont to do in the time of his prosperity ; his
object was to avenge his wrongs, and draw the sword
m self-defence. What else remained to him.? If he
still lived, it was only because another had died in his
stead ; proof enough had been given of his father's feel-
ings towards him ; to his parent's mistake, not to his
parent's affection, he owed his life ; all this misery arose

' See page 113.

'' I.e., the Crimea and adjacent countries, the birthplace of Mustapha's
mother, see page 109.

i82 TURKISH LETTERS.

from the sorceries of his mother-in-law ; the poor old
Sultan being hardly in his right mind, and rnadly
devoted to his wife, she was able to sway him at her
pleasure, and with Roostem's assistance, to drive him
to the commission of any crime she chose ; but, thank
God, he had true friends to help him out of his mis-
fortunes, and inflict condign punishment on his ene-
mies ; he still had devoted followers, on his side were
the Janissaries and the greater part of his father's
household, large forces would pour in when they heard
of his standard being raised, and hosts of friends, who
mourned his death, would rally round him when they
found he still lived. He only asked them to receive
him kindly as a guest, and protect him in the day of
adversity, until such time as his supporters could be
assembled.'

At first he used this language privately, but after-
wards he harangued in a similar strain the inhabi-
tants of the places he visited ; the men who were
supposed to have been the companions of his flight
supported his assertions by similar narratives ; while
persons of considerable position, who had been
suborned by Bajazet, made statements to the same
effect. By this means a great number of people who
had no connection with Bajazet, were drawn into the
mistake. For the affair was so artfully managed that
some who had known Mustapha during his life, and
had recognised his body when it lay before his father's
tent, were nevertheless anxious to discredit their own
senses, and allowed themselves to be persuaded that
this was the true Mustapha. And though the intimate
friends and dependants of Mustapha, on whose me-
mories his features were imprinted, were in no wise
decei'/ed by the impostor, nevertheless, they were so
blinded by fear and resentment, that they were among

THE IMPOSTOR'S SUCCESS 183

the first to give in their allegiance. There was nothing
they were not willing to undergo sooner than live any
longer without a Mustapha. Their adhesion prevented
the rest from having any doubts as to his being the
true Mustapha, and convinced them that the story of
his execution was founded on a mistake. Nor was the
impostor himself idle ; for some he had fine words
and promises, while on many he bestowed money and
presents, purporting to be a remnant saved from the
wreck of his former fortune (for Bajazet had taken care
that there should be no lack of funds), and so, by one
means or another, he managed to keep his followers
together, and add to their number.

Accordingly, in a km days a large and daily in-
creasing force had been collected ; the muster had
already assumed the proportions of a regular army,
when Solyman was suddenly informed of the insurrec-
tion ; letters and messengers came in hot haste from
the neighbouring Sanjak-beys to tell him that the in-
surrection was rapidly gaining head, and the crisis had
become serious.

The Sultan, rightly surmising that one or other of
his two sons was privy to the conspiracy, considered it
a most serious matter, and sent despatches severely
reprimanding the Sanjak-beys for their remissness in
allowing the insurrection to assume such formidable
proportions, instead of nipping it in the bud ; more-
over, he threatened to punish them severely if they
failed to send him the impostor in chains at the very
earliest date possible, and with him all the other ring-
leaders in this monstrous treason. He told them that,
in order to expedite matters, he was sending one of his
Vizierial Pashas to their assistance (the name of this
officer was Pertau, he is married to the widow of the
Mahomet of whom I told you), and that he was accom-

^^4 TURKISH LETTERS.

panied by a large force of household troops ; but if
they desired to clear themselves, they had better bring
the matter to a conclusion with their own forces, before
the reinforcements arrived.

Pertau's command was not numerous, but it was
composed of the most loyal of the Sultan's troops ; for
Solyman had taken care to select his most faithful
colonels, captains, and cavalry officers. There was,
indeed, serious aj^prehension of Pertau's forces being
mduced to go over to the enemy in a body, as it was
impossible to say how far they had been tampered
with, or to what length their party feeling might carry
them. The rank and file of the Janissaries, excited
by the idea of a revolution with Mustapha at its head,
were well inclined towards the insurgents, and eager
for the rising to become general. There were, there-
fore, serious reasons for anxiety.

On receiving Solyman's commands, the Sanjak-
beys felt the necessity of vigorous action, and, with
many mutual exhortations, set to work in all haste to
oppose and check the pretender's plans, doing their
utmost to cut off the bands that were coming up, and
to break up the force which he had already collected,
whilst they cowed the whole country side with threats
of the Sultan's vengeance.

Meanwhile, the column of Pertau Pasha was ad-
vancing towards the scene of insurrection. The effect
produced by the approach of the regular troops was
such as might have been expected. The raw levies
of the pretender were panic-stricken when they saw
that they were out-generalled and attacked on every
side: At first small parties dropped away; after
a while the whole army, throwing honour and obli-
gation to the winds, deserted their leader, and scat-
tered in every direction. The pretender, with his chief

DROWNED AT MIDNIGHT. 185

officers and advisers, attempted to follow the example
of his men, but was stopped by the Sanjak-beys, and
taken alive. They were all handed over to Pertau
Pasha, and sent off to Constantinople with a guard of
picked troops. On their arrival, Solvman had them
carefully examined under torture, their confession
established the guilt of Bajazet, and made his father
acquamted with his treasonable designs. He had in-
tended, it appears, as soon as the forces of the insur^
gents had reached a certain size, to join them with a
strong body of troops, and either to lead them straight
agamst Constantinople, or to fall with all his strength
upon his brother, according as circumstances mioht
favour either attempt ; but whilst he hesitated, his de-
signs were nipped in the bud by the prompt action of
his father. Solyman, having satisfied himself on these
points, ordered them all to be drowned in the sea at
dead of night, deeming it most inexpedient that any of
these transactions should be noised abroad, and his
family /misfortunes become the gazing-stock of neio-h-
bouring princes. The Sultan, who was grievou^slv
displeased with Bajazet for this audacious attempt
was debating in his mind how he should punish him ■
but his wife being a clever woman, his intentions were
not long a secret to her.

_ Having allowed a {^^ days to elapse, in order to
give time for his anger to cool, she alluded to the sub-
ject in Solyman's presence, and spoke of the thought^
lessness of young men, quoting similar acts which had
been done by his forefathers. She reminded the Sultan
that ' natural instinct teaches everyone to protect him-
selt and his family, and that death is welcome to none-
that the mind of a young man can easily be seduced
from the right path by the suggestions of unscrupulous
advisers. It was only fair,' she said, ' to pardon a first

i86 TURKISH LETTERS.

fault, and if his son came to his senses he would have
saved him to his own great benefit as a father ; but if
Bajazet should go back to his former ways, it would then
be time to punish him, as he deserved, for both his mis-
deeds. If he would not grant this mercy to his erring
son, she implored him to grant it to a mother's prayers.
She begged for the life of the son she had borne, and
entreated him to spare their common child. What
must be her feelings,' she continued, ' if, of the two sons
whom God had spared her, one should be reft away
by his unrelenting father. He ought to control his
wrath, and lean to mercy rather than severity, however
just that severity might be ; for the Deity, whose power
and justice were infinite, did not clothe himself always
in severity, but to a great extent allowed mercy to
prevail, otherwise the human race could not suffice to
supply victims for his vengeance. To whom ought a
man to extend mercy, if not to his children .'* Hence-
forth Bajazet would be a dutiful son, and, freed by this
great act of grace from his present fears, overflow with
love and obedience towards his father ; there was no
surer bond for noble souls than kind and generous
treatment ; the recollection of the pardon he had re-
ceived would prevent Bajazet from repeating his offence.
She pledged her word for him, and undertook that he
should henceforth be a good and dutiful son.'

By these words, accompanied as they were with
tears and caresses, Solyman was softened ; and being
at all times too much under his wife's influence, he
changed his resolve, and determined to spare Bajazet,
on condition of his coming and receiving his commands
in person. The mother was equal to the occasion, and
wrote secretly to Bajazet, telling him not to be afraid
to come when he was sent for, he would be perfectly
safe; she had obtained his, restoration to his father's

A PERILOUS INTERVIEW. 187

favour, from whose mind all displeasure had been re-
moved. On receiving diis message his hopes rose,
and he determined to trust himself in his father's hands ;
but he was not without fears, as he thought every now
and then of his brother Mustapha, whose fate testified
pretty clearly to the magnitude of the danger he was
incurring. Accordingly, he came to the place appointed
for the conference, which was a public inn a few miles
from Constantinople, called Carestran. This was in
accordance with a rule of the Turkish Court, that no
grown-up son of the Sultan should during his father's
lifetime set foot within the walls of Constantinople, lest
he should tamper with the household troops, and en-
deavour to seize the throne. On dismounting, he found
his father's slaves waiting for him with an order to lay
aside his sword and dagger. Nor was there anything
unusual in this, as it is the general rule for those who
are admitted to an audience with the Sultan ; still it
was a precaution which was not calculated to allay the
fears of his conscience-stricken son. But his mother,
foreseeing how frightened he would be when entering
his father's presence, had stationed herself in a chamber
close to the entrance of the house, by which Bajazet
must pass. As he went by, he could hear his mother
calling to him through a little canvas-covered window,
and saying, 'Corcoma, oglan, corcoma' ; i.e.. Do not fear[
my son, do not fear. These words from his mother gave
Bajazet no little comfort. On entering, his father bade
him take a seat by his side, and proceeded to lecture
him most seriously on the rashness of his conduct in
venturing to take up arms under circumstances which
made it not improbable that he himself was the object
of his attack ; and granting that his attempt was directed
only against his brother, it was even then an outrage-
ous crime.

TURKISH LETTERS.

' He had done what he could towards destroying
the very foundations of the Moslem faith, by bringing
to the verge of ruin through family feuds that which
was nowadays its only support — the imperial power of
the house of Othman ; this consideration alone ought
to prevent a true believer from entertaining such a
design.

' On the wrong and insult to himself,' continued the
Sultan, 'he would not dwell, though he had attempted
to seize the throne during his lifetime, and thus com-
mitted an unpardonable offence, for which no possible
punishment could ever atone ; in spite of all this, he
had determined to spare him, and deal with him rather
as a kind father than as a strict judge, in the hope that
he would henceforward leave the care of the future in
the hands of God ; none of these matters depended
on man's pleasure, it w^ by God's decree that king-
doms went and kingdoms came. If fate ordained that
after his death he (Bajazet) should reign, the matter
was settled, the realm would come to him without any
effort on his part ; no human means could avail to
hinder that which was appointed from on high ; but if
God had decreed otherwise, it was mere madness to
toil and strive against His will, and, as it were, to
fight against God. In short, he must leave off foment-
ing disorders, cease to attack a brother who did nothino-
to provoke him, and refrain from troubling: his aeed
father. But if he returned to his old courses, and
stirred up another storm, it should break on his own
head, and there should be no pardon for a second
offence ; in that case he would not find in him a gentle
father, but a stern judge.'

When he had thus spoken, and Bajazet had made a
short and judicious reply, apologising for his fault

ACHMET'S DEATH-WARRANT. 189

rather than palhating it, and promising submission for
the future to his father's will, Solyman ordered the
national beverage to be brought in, and handed to his
son — it was a compound of sugar and water, flavoured
with the juice of certain herbs. Bajazet, longing, but
not daring, to refuse it, drank as much as appearances
required, with misgiving in his heart that this might be
the last cup he should ever taste. But presently his
father removed his anxiety by taking a draught from
the same cup. Bajazet therefore was more fortunate
than Mustapha in his interview with his father, and
was allowed to return to his government.^

I have a few things to tell you about Achmet's
death. Some think he was accused of a secret leaning
towards Mustapha, or at any rate of negligence in not
detecting the conspiracy of the pretender and Bajazet
till it was almost too late. Others think that he had
long before been sentenced to death for robberies and
depredations committed by him at a time when he
was without official rank, and fighting for his own
hand ; and that this sentence, which, on account of his
gallantry and military skill, had been postponed, though
never actually remitted, was now to be put into
execution. Others, again, think that the wish to
restore Roostem to his old position was the one and
only reason for putting Achmet to death. Solyman
was believed to have promised Achmet never to de-
prive him of the seal of office so long as he lived.
When circumstances necessitated the restoration of the
seal to Roostem, he was obliged, in order to keep his

■ The Turkish historians do not mention Bajazet's connection with
the attempt of the Pseudo-Mustapha. Busbecq's account, therefore, fills
an important gap. Von Hammer would discredit all statements that are
not confirmed by Eastern writers, but surely the evidence of the Austrian
Ambassador deserves as much consideration as that of Ottoman Ali. See
note I, page 262.

190 TURKISH LETTERS.

pledge and avoid a breach of faith, to put Achmet to
death, and hence the order for his execution. They
declare also that Solyman said, it was better for him
to die once than to die a thousand times, as would be
the case, if he .survived to be perpetually tormented
with vain regret for the power that had been snatched
from his hands and given to another. However that
may be, one morning when he had gone to the Divan
(which I have already explained to be the council cham-
ber), without the slightest knowledge of what was about
to happen, a messenger came to sentence him to death
in the Sultan's name. Achmet, being a man of mar-
vellous courage, received the announcement with almost
as much composure as if it were no concern of his.
All he did was to repulse the hangman, who was pre-
paring to perform his office, deeming it unfitting that
one who had but lately held so exalted a position,
should be touched by his polluted hands. Glancing
round on the bystanders, he begged as a favour of a
gentleman, with whom he was on friendly terms, to act
as his executioner, telling him that it was a kindness
he should greatly value, and the last he would ever be
able to do to him ; after many entreaties, his friend
acceded to his request. When this was settled, Achmet
enjoined him, after putting the bowstring round his
neck, not to strangle him at the first pull, but to
slacken it and allow him to draw one breath ; after
which he was to tighten the string until he was dead ;
this fancy of his was duly complied with. A strange
wish, methinks, to pry at such a time into the mystery
of death, and pay one visit to the threshold of the king
of terrors before passing his portals for ever !

After his death the badges of his former office and
the post of Chief Vizier were restored to Roostem.

As to your inquiry about my return, I may answer

BUSBECqS BEST FRIENDS. 191

in the words of the famous quotation, ' Facilis descensus
Averni.' Well, He who guided me on my way hither
will bring me back in His own good time. In the
meanwhile, I shall console myself in my loneliness and
troubles with my old friends, my books ; friends who
have never failed me hitherto, but have done their
master true and loyal service by night and day.
Farewell.

Constantinople, July 14, 1556.'

' All the Latin editions have July 14, 1555, See note, page 171.

192 TURKISH LETTERS.

LETTER III.

Introduction — Departure of Busbecq's colleagues and preceding nego-
tiations—Turkish hawking — Busbecq summoned to Adrianople —
Earthquake there —Account of earthquake at Constantinople— Bus-
becq returns to Constantinople — Hires a house there — Is forced to go
back to his former abode — Description of it— Anecdotes of animals
in it — Busbecq's menagerie — How Busbecq's friend availed himself of
the Turkish abhorrence of pigs — Stories of a lynx, a crane, a stag —
Turkish mendicants— Turkish slaves — Busbecq's kite-shooting — His
tame partridges from Chios — Mode of keeping them — Artificial egg-
hatching in Egypt — Turkish horses — Camels — Their use in war — •
Turkish commissariat — Turkish and Christian soldiers contrasted —
Their clothing and equipment — Illustration from Ctesar of Turkish
tactics — Turkish kindness to animals — Cats preferred to dogs — Ma-
homet and his cat — Narrow escape of a Venetian who ill-treated a bird
— Turkish fondness for birds — Tame nightingales and goldfinches —
Turkish women and marriage laws — Divorces — Baths for women —
Extraordinary story of an old woman— Busbecq's letters intercepted
— Pashas puzzled by supposed cipher — Conversations with Roostem —
Hungarian affairs — Ali Pasha appointed commander there — His cha-
racter and appearance — Besieges Szigeth unsuccessfully — Turkish
army preserved by advice of a Sanjak-bey — His subsequent treatment
— Retreat and death of Ali Pasha — Capture of Gran — Skirmishes and
raids in Croatia — Turkish and Persian dread of fire-arms — Story of
Roostem's corps of musketeers — Turkish opinion of duelling — Arslan
bey — Account of the Mingrelians and their king — Busbecq's life
and occupations — Turkish archery — Turkish readiness to adopt
foreign inventions and customs — Lemnian earth — Why some Turks
have their children baptised — Parthian tactics of the Turks — Bus-
becq's acquaintances of various nations — Rudeness of a Cavasse
and Busbecq's retaliation— Story of Roostem — Turkish treatment
of ambassadors — Story of a Venetian ambassador — Emblematic
present from Roostem— Beginning of Bajazet's rebelhon — Removal
of him and Selim to new governments — Reluctance of Bajazet
to obey— Selim marches on Ghemlik — Bajazet's remonstrances and
his father's reply — Missions of Mehemet and Pertau Pashas to
Selim and Bajazet— Reluctance of Solyman's troops— The Mufti con-
sulted—Message of Bajazet to Solyman — His preparations at Angora

Characters of the rival brothers — Address of Bajazet to his army —

His defeat at Koniah and retreat to Amasia— Reputation he gains by

INTR OD UCTION.

193

his conduct — Solyman crosses to Asia — His motives — Busbecq a
spectator of his departure — Description of the procession — Busbecq
summoned to Solyman's camp — Description of it — Turkish observance
of Ramazan — Impression made on a Turk by the carnival — Why
wine was forbidden by Mahomet — Turkish miUtary punishments —
Quarrel of Busbecq's servants with some Janissaries — Light in which
the Janissaries are regarded by the Sultan — Albert de Wyss — Baja-
zet's proceedings at Amasia — Description of Persia — Characters of
Shah Tahmasp and his son — Solyman's policy towards Bajazet — Flight
of Bajazet to Persia — Description of the celebration of Bairam by
the army — Return of Busbecq to Constantinople — Incidents of Baja-
zet's flight — Solyman is dissuaded from marching against Persia-
Disaffection among his troops — Bajazet's arrival in Persia — His re-
ception by the Shah — Duphcity of the Shah— His probable motives—
Bajazet's troops separated and massacred in detail — He and his
family are thrown into prison — Opinions as to his probable fate — In-
fluence of these events on Busbecq's negotiations — His course of
pohcy — Conclusion.

Of course you have heard of the last arrangements.
Well, my colleagues left me some time ago, and I am
alone at Constantinople. A strange fancy, I think I
hear you say. What on earth can have induced him
to stay among savages, an exile from his dear native
land ? But w^hile you exclaim at my choice, you do
not forget to ask for every scrap of news I have to
give, solemnly promising to accept it all — good, bad,
and indifferent — ^just as it comes. You have other
questions which you wish answered. What books am I
reading ? What am I doing ? How do I get through
the day ? Do I ever go out ? Come, come, what you
are plaguing me for is, I see, not a letter but a diary.
Again, you are specially anxious for information about
Bajazet's fortunes, touching which, you say, there are
many rumours at home. You assert that I am under
an engagement to give you news of him, and you de-
mand heavy damages for breach of contract ! I believe
you intend dragging me into court, and are already
preparing your pleadings ! Pray do not be so hard !
Restrain your passion, my friend ; or if nothing else

VOL. I. o

194 TURKISH LETTERS.

will serve, take the full sum ; I will pay interest as
well, in fact do or pay anything sooner than be brought
into court, though indeed a demurrer would probably
lie to your claim, for surely after so long an interval
I might set up the Statute of Limitations.

When my colleagues, with whom my former letters
have made you acquainted, saw that we had already
wasted three years here, and that no progress had been
made towards peace, or even towards an armistice of
any duration, and there appeared hardly any hope
of gaining anything if they stayed, they sought leave
to return. Now I must tell you that it is easy enough
to get here; the difficult thing is to get away \^ and
they had much trouble before they could obtain Soly-
man's consent. After this we had to decide whether
we should all three leave, or I should remain behind,
while my two colleagues, who had been longer at Con-
stantinople, returned home. For this point Solyman
had left for our decision, as he was afraid, if he kept
one of us, that people would think that he was anxious
for peace. My colleagues considered it was essential
to the Emperor's interest that one of us should remain.
This was tolerably obvious ; but, while I shared their
opinion, I thought it politic to dissemble, and so, when-
ever the subject was mentioned in the presence of
Turks, I took care to express my dissatisfaction with
any arrangement which kept me at Constantinople.
' Admitting that I had come to discharge the duties of
an ambassador in ordinary, yet such a position implied
that peace had been concluded. While this was un-
certain, I did not see how I could remain at the Sul-

' 'The regular answer of the ancient Sultans, when requested to re-
ceive an embassy, was, "The Sublime Porte is open to all." This
according to the Turkish interpretation, imphed a safe conduct in coming,
but gave no guarantee about departing.'— Creasy, History of the Ottoman
Turks, chap, xviii.

ROOSTEM PRESSES BUSBECQ TO REMAIN. 195

tan's court without disobeying my instructions, or at
any rate going beyond them. The proper course,' I
added, ' would be for one and all of us to receive our
passports.'

I took this line in order to make them press me to
stay, knowing that it would make a material difference
in my position whether I remained at the request of
the Turkish Government or of my own free will. I
was fully alive to the fact that if none of us remained
to represent his Majesty, there was a probability, or
rather a certainty, of war ; whereas if I stayed, the pros-
pects of a peaceful arrangement would not be preju-
diced. While communications were being exchanged
between Vienna and Constantinople, a long time would
elapse, in which many things might occur to improve
our position. Finally, anything was better than need-
lessly to plunge into the horrors of war. These con-
siderations did not blind me to the fact, that, as far as
my own personal interest was concerned, I was acting
imprudently in remaining behind. I foresaw the addi-
tional responsibility I must undertake, and the risks
and dangers of the position I was to occupy, which,
great as they must be in any case, would become
extremely serious if the negotiations ended in war.
But men who take upon themselves the onerous office of
ambassador must not allow considerations of this kind
to come between them and their duty to the State.

Roostem, in his excessive anxiety to keep me,
played as it were into my hands. No doubt he under-
stood how much the chances of peace would be dimi-
nished by our departure in a body, and the rupture of
the negotiations which were pending. His chief reason
for dreading an outbreak of hostilities was the effect
it would probably have on Solyman's sons, who would
be sure to take up arms as soon as their father marched

o 2

196 TURKISH LETTERS.

for Hungary. However quiet Selim might be, he
knew that Bajazet would be certain to attack him ;
and the deep interest which he, his wife, and his
mother-in-law took in the younger prince, made him
anxious that nothing should occur to provoke a step
on his part which he foresaw would be his destruction.
Therefore, having summoned us to his house, he com-
municated at great length to my colleagues the con-
siderations he wished to be brought before his Majesty
to induce him to agree to the terms the Sultan offered.
But he urged me to stay at my post, and to persevere
in my efforts for the re-establishment of peace. There
was no doubt, he said, that the course he recommended
would meet with the Emperor's approval, as he had
never shown himself averse to peace. I, on the other
hand, expressed annoyance at his proposals, and
made objections to them, as far as I could do so with
decency and safety. On this Roostem grew eager, and
begged me not to take a step which must necessarily
put an end to all prospect of peace, saying that his Em-
peror^ was eager to lead his army into Hungary, and
would have done so long ago, if he himself had not
through the influence of certain ladies ^ (meaning his
wife and mother-in-law) prevented him. To use his
own expression, they had detained him by seizing the
hem of his garment. He implored us not to go on
teasing and provoking against ourselves the rage of a
sleeping lion. I began to be less decided in my

' ' The intruding Ottoman himself, different in faith as well as in blood,
has more than once declared himself the representative of the Eastern
Caesars, whose dominion he extinguished. Solyman the Magnificent
assumed the name of Emperor, and refused it to Charles V.' — Bryce,
The Holy Roman Empire, p. 407.

^ Compare Johnson's Vanity of Human Wishes: —

' Condemned a needy suppliant to wait.
While ladies interpose and slaves debate.'

SCENE IN THE DIVAN. 197

refusals, and to say that I would stay, did I not fear
that the Pashas would be unreasonable in their treat-
ment of me. I felt sure, I added, that if anything
occurred to displease them they would hold me re-
sponsible for it, and make me the scapegoat, even for
matters totally out of my power to prevent. Roostem
told me not to be afraid, saying that whatever turn
things might take, nothing should be laid to my
charge ; if I would only remain he would undertake
to protect me, and, to use his own expression, would
regard me as his brother. I replied that I would
think it over, and so we departed.

The next day we were summoned to the Divan, ^
or Council of State, where almost the same scene was
enacted, except that Roostem, on account of the pre-
sence of the other Pashas was more guarded in his
language. Before I finally agreed to remain, I de-
posited a protest with the Pashas, in which I put on
record that I was remaining without knowing what my
master's wishes might be, and therefore reserved all
questions for his decision without prejudice. I under-
took nothing, and did not engage to be responsible for
the result which God had foreordained. This protest
was afterwards of great service to me when affairs
looked gloomy, and the Pashas were inclined to treat
me harshly. I have now given you my reasons for
remaining.

' The great Council of State was named the Divan ; and in the
absence of the Sultan the Grand Vizier was its president. The other
Viziers and the Kadiaskers, or chief judges, took their stations on his
right ; the Defterdars, or treasurers, and the Nis-chandyis, or secretaries,
on his left. The Teskeredyis, or officers charged to present reports on
the condition of each department of the State, stood in front of the
Grand Vizier. The Divan was also attended by the Reis-Effendi, a
general secretary, whose power afterwards became more important than
that of the Nis-chandyis, by the Grand Chamberlain, and the Grand
Marshal, and a train of other officials of the Court. (Creasy, History of
the Ottoman Turks, chap, vi.)

198 TURKISH LETTERS.

The departure of my colleagues took place towards
the end of August 1557. In the following winter the
Sultan, according to his usual custom, removed to Adri-
anople, with the double object of making a demonstra-
tion against Hungary and of enjoying the good hawk-
ing and the bracing climate, which he thought were
beneficial to his health. At the junction of the rivers
near Adrianople are wide tracts of flooded lands, on
which there are great quantities of wild ducks, geese,
herons, eagles, cranes, and buzzards. To capture these
he generally uses a small species of eagle ; these birds
are trained to seek their quarry in the clouds, and bring
it down, or to seize it as it flies beneath them, and
with one swoop dash it to the ground.^ I hear he has
falcons so well trained that they can bring down a crane,
striking it under the wing in such a way as to keep
clear of its beak, on which they would otherwise be
impaled. Their boldness, however, is not always suc-
cessful, for if they make the least mistake, they imme-
diately suffer for it ; the crane's beak goes through
them like an arrow, and they tumble lifeless to the
ground.

For the reasons I have mentioned, the Sultan makes
a practice every year of repairing to Adrianople at the
beginning of the winter, and of not returning to Con-
stantinople till the frogs drive him away with their
croaking.

Shortly after the departure of the Court, I re-
ceived a letter from Roostem ordering me to follow.

' ' The Sultan (Bajazet I.) had at this time 7,000 falconers, and as
many huntsmen. You may suppose from this the grandeur of his estab-
lishments. One day in the presence of the Count de Nevers, he flew a
falcon at some eagles ; the flight did not please him, and he was so
wroth, that, for this fault, he was on the point of beheading 2,000 of his
falconers, scolding them exceedingly for want of diligence in their care of
his hawks, when the one he was fond of behaved so ill,' — Froissart iv. 58.

JOURNEY TO ADRIANOPLE. 199

Some horsemen were attached to me as an escort, and
al^o sixteen Janissaries, either as a mark of honour or
to prevent my escaping. As I was directed to come
with all speed, at first we travelled by long stages, but
we had scarcely commenced our third day's journey
when the Janissaries began to grumble. It was winter,
and they had to trudge along muddy roads, so our
long marches were not at all to their liking ; they de-
clared that when they were campaigning with the
Sultan they did not march more than half the distance,
and said they could not stand it. This troubled me,
as I did not wish to be hard on them. At last, while
I was considering with my attendants what to do for
them, one of them suggested that they were very fond
of a sort of omelette, which my cook compounded of
wine and eggs with plenty of sugar and spices. ' Pos-
sibly,' said he, 'if they were served with this for
breakfast every day, they would make fewer complaints
of fatigue and be more obliging.' Queer as the sug-
gestion was, I determined to try it, and the result was
a most complete success, for they were so charmed
with the omelette, and so merry with the wine with
which I plied them, that they were ready to start
before the order came, and volunteered to follow me
to Buda if I would always treat them so.

Travelling thus, I arrived at Adrianople, where I
was obliged to listen to the complaints, not to say
abuse, of Roostem about the raids and robberies of the
Hungarians. To these, however, the answer was not
far to seek, for I was able to tell him of the numerous
wrongs which our people daily received from Turkish
soldiers. He could not be surprised, I added, if the
Christians retaliated.

I was enabled to answer him thus by the arrival of
a courier with despatches from the Emperor, in which

200 TURKISH LETTERS.

he narrated the outrages perpetrated every day by the
Turks in our territory, in violation of the armistice
which we had made for a fixed period on the departure
of my colleagues; how they harried the miserable
peasantry with their ceaseless raids, plundered their
property, and carried off into captivity themselves,
their wives, and their children.

I must not omit to mention that on the day of the
courier's arrival at Adrianople there was a great earth-
quake, apropos of which he related, that he had felt an
earthquake, which he considered to be the same, at
Nisch and Sofia, and many other places through which
he had journeyed, so that the air enclosed in the caverns
of the earth seemed to have run a race with him and
to have travelled almost as fast as he had ridden. In
confirmation of this theory, I must tell you that a
similar earthquake was felt four days later at Con-
stantinople ; here are the data and you can make your
own deductions.

I may remark that Constantinople is very subject
to^ earthquakes, and I remember that once, a little after
midnight, our lodging began to shake so violently that
we thought the house would fall. I had been sound
asleep, but when it woke me and I could see by my
night-light books and cups tumbling about, laths and
stones falling from the wall, and the whole room shak-
ing violently, for a moment I was dumbfoundered and
knew not what to make of it. At last, when it oc-
curred to me that it was an earthquake, I jumped up
and ran out, for fear the house should tumble in upon
me. The same earthquake continued for some days,
though the shocks were not so violent. All through
the city, and especially in our lodging and in St. Sophia,
even where the walls are most solid, may be seen huge
cracks caused by settlements from earthquakes.

RETURN TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 201

I stayed at Adrianople about three months, and
then, after concluding a seven months' armistice, I was
taken back to Constantinople in March. As I was
tired of being confined in the same lodging, I had
recourse to the cavasse who acted as my keeper (for
among the various duties which, as I have already
told you, are assigned to men of this profession
amongst the Turks, is the custody of ambassadors),
and asked him to allow me, like other ambassadors, to
hire a house with a little bit of garden or pleasure-
ground, at my own expense. The cavasse made no
objection, as it would be a saving for his master of 400
gold ducats a year if I took a house for myself, this
being the price which the Sultan paid for my present
lodgings ; so I hired a house, or rather block of build-
ings, with some land about it, where I intended to lay
out a garden, hoping by this means to divert my mind
from the cares and anxieties of my position.

When, however, my cavasse found it was impos-
sible to watch me in a house, which was furnished with
several means of egress and lay in its own ample
grounds, as strictly as in a caravanserai fa word with
which I think my former letters have made you fami-
liar), where all the windows were closely barred, and
to which there was only one entrance, he changed his
mind, and induced the Pashas, who had now returned
from Adrianople, to shut me up once more within the
walls of our old lodging. Thankful, indeed, was I that
I did not get worse treatment, for some of the Pashas
held that, now that I was alone, it was a needless ex-
travagance to give me such a roomy lodging. The
majority, however, of the council were more considerate,
and I was allowed to return to my old prison-house.

I will take the opportunity of giving you a descrip-
tion of my abode. The house is situated on high ground

202 TURKISH LETTERS.

in the most populous quarter of Constantinople. From
the back windows there is a lovely view of the sea ;
though we are at some distance from the shore we can
distinguish the gambols of the dolphins in the water,
while the prospect is bounded by Mount Olympus in
Asia, white with perpetual snow. On every side it is
open to the breezes, and is on this account considered
a peculiarly healthy residence. So airy a situation the
Turks appear to think too good for foreigners, as they
have not only put iron bars on our windows, to the
discomfort of our eyes, but have built up parapets
which prevent our getting fresh air or a good view.
This was done to meet the complaints of our neigh-
bours, who declared that their houses, which stood on
lower ground, were completely exposed to the gaze of
the Christians. In the centre there is a large open
space or court in which is a well. No one lives on the
ground-floor, but on the upper storey there is a veran-
dah running round the court, out of which open the
chambers which form the outer part of the building,
and which consist of a great number of small rooms,
all built after the same pattern, like the cells of a
monastery. The front windows open on the public
street leading to the palace ; and from them the am-
bassadors have an opportunity, nearly every Friday
(which answers to our Sunday) of seeing the Sultan on
his way to his devotions. As he passes, the cavasse
and Janissaries make their bow, or rather return his,
for among the Turks it is the custom for the man of
higher rank to bow first. In conformity with this rule,
the Sultan himself does not wait for the people in the
street to bow to him, but first bows himself, and they
return his salute amid loyal shouts and blessings. The
ground-floor of the edifice is intended for a stable.
The vaulted roofs, which are universal throughout the

SNAKES AND WEASELS. 203

building, render it safe from fire on the inside ; while
on the outside it is protected by a covering of lead.

While the house has many advantages, it must
be allowed that it has corresponding inconveniences.
Everything in it is constructed for use, and nothing
for ornament or comfort ; it has no beauty or novelty
of design to render it attractive. It has no garden to
take a walk in ; not so much as a tree, or shrub, or patch
of grass to refresh the eye, while it swarms with different
kinds of vermin, such as weasels, snakes, lizards, and
scorpions. Sometimes when a man goes to fetch his hat
in the morning, he has the unpleasant surprise of finding
a snake coiled round it. However, to let you into the
secret of our diversions, we contrive to extract some
amusement from these creatures. Sometimes a weasel
has a battle-royal with a snake, with my whole house-
hold standing round, and in spite of its struggles drags
it off in triumph to its hole ; sometimes again a weasel
changes its abode, and moves its young elsewhere.
For instance, the other day, when my friends and I
were still at dinner, one of them jumped down on the
middle of the table from her nest in the roof with a
young one in her mouth. On our pulling her away,
she left it there, and stationed herself at the door
to see what would happen to the cub. After amusing
ourselves with the ugly little beast we placed it on the
floor, whereupon the mother darted in, caught it up, and
carried it off to its new home.

We also had an opportunity of inspecting a strange
reptile from the stables, which had been trodden on by
the horses and killed ; it was either a snake or a python.
Its stomach appeared to be very much swollen, so I
ordered my people to cut it open, and there we found
three good-sized mice. I could not make out how an
animal that crawled so slowly could catch such nimble

204 TURKISH LETTERS.

creatures ; nor could I understand how it contrived to
swallow them whole, when its jaws were, as it seemed,
so narrow. But my difficulty was solved by my find-
mg another snake in the act of swallowing a toad or
poisonous frog. It had seized it by the hind legs, and
had already sucked them and a good part of its body
down its throat. The toad was still alive, and kept en-
deavouring to get away from its enemy, struggling as
hard as it could with its front feet. When I first saw it
I was thoroughly puzzled. I thought the creature was
some strange abortion, for it appeared to me to be a
two-footed beast, with an enormous tail. When I saw
what it was, I began beating it with a stick, and tried
to make it release its victim. It was frightened, and
did its best to disgorge its prey in order to escape ;
but it was some time before it could succeed in get-
ting rid of the toad, for it had sucked it in so far that
the creature stuck in its throat. At last, after much
difficulty, it managed to disgorge; but then it could
not shut its mouth, and gaped hideously with its open
jaws until we killed it. My stick, if Pliny is to be be-
lieved, would be serviceable to women in childbirth.

Besides the creatures that breed in the building, I
keep a good many animals, which furnish my people
with employment and amusement. I am heartily glad
to have something for them to do, as otherwise they
would get terribly homesick. For what better resource
is left us in our isolation than seeking to forget our
cares in the society of animals ? There is not much
amusement to be had, I warrant you, in a great stone
prison-house like ours. The chief favourites are the
monkeys, on account of their strange tricks, which are
very amusing. You may generally see round their
cage a group of admiring bystanders, who watch their
mischievous pranks with the keenest interest. I have

BUSBECQS MENAGERIE. 205

also wolves, bears, broad-horned stags — which are fre-
quently but incorrectly called fallow deer — and common
deer, likewise gazelles, lynxes, ichneumons, and of
the weasel kind the varieties called martens and
sables ; also, if you care to know, a pig as well, whose
companionship I am told by my grooms is wholesome
for horses. I certainly ought to have given him a
place in my catalogue, as he attracts numbers of
Asiatics to my lodging. They come to see this un-
clean animal, which the laws of their religion forbid
their tasting. The beast is all the more interesting to
them, because pigs are never kept, or even seen, in
their country. Indeed, a Turk would as lief touch one
of them as I would touch a man with the plague.

I will tell you a capital story of a friend of mine,
who took advantage of this prejudice. He wished to
send me a private parcel, so he got a little pig, and
put it with the parcel in a sack, which he then told
his servant to take to me. When he came to the door
my cavasse met him, and asked him what he had got
in the sack. The servant whispered in his ear, ' It is
a little pig, a present from a friend.' The cavasse
gave the sack a poke with his stick, on which the little
pig began to squeak. The moment he heard it he
made a hasty retreat, crying out, 'Well, take your
nasty dirty present in, if you must, and be hanged to
you.'^ Then, with a look of intense disgust, he turned
to his fellow Mussulmans, and said, ' How extraordi-
narily fond the Christians are of the flesh of that fil-
thiest of animals ; they positively cannot live without
It.' Thus the servant was admitted, and brought in
the secret parcel.

I have also many kinds of birds, such as eagles,
ravens, jackdaws, foreign kinds of ducks, Balearic
cranes, and partridges. From this you will see that

2o6 TURKISH LETTERS.

my house is full of animals, ' A Noah's ark, in short,'
as one of my friends observed.

Not only is the menagerie a great resource for my
people by keeping them from fretting, but I also
derive advantage from it myself, as I am able to verify
the wonderful stories I have read in various authors of
the great affection beasts are capable of entertaining
towards human beings. I never ventured to accept
these statements for facts, until I saw an Assyrian lynx
so attach himself to one of my people after only a few
days' acquaintance, that one could only explain it by the
theory that he had fallen in love with him. When he
was present the lynx would give him many caresses
that plainly showed his affection, hugging and all but
kissing him. When he wished to go, the animal
would try to detain him by placing its claws gendy on
the hem of his garment, and would cast wistful looks
after him as he went away. During his absence the
lynx was in a state of the deepest melancholy, con-
stantly gazing at the door till the man returned ; on
which the creature, strange to say, recovered his spirits
and welcomed his friend, When I took the man away
with me to the Turkish camp across the water, the
poor beast was inconsolable, refused its food, and after
a few days pined away. I was much annoyed at this,
for I had intended to make him, with a very tame
ichneumon I had, a present to the Emperor, on ac-
count of the remarkable beauty of his coat ; it was in-
deed so handsome, that if a common lynx were set
by his side you would hardly think that they both
belonged to the same species. It is in Assyria that
the handsomest lynxes are found, and their skins are
worth fifteen or sixteen golden crowns. I have no
doubt that they are the same as the Babylonian skins
considered so valuable in former days, which are men-

STORY OF A CRANE. 207

tioned in the Digest in the chapter on Farmers of the
Revenue.^

Here is another story, which relates to a bird.
Among other cranes I have a Balearic one. This spe-
cies is distinguished from the common kinds by a
white tuft of feathers hanging down from either ear,
and also by the black feathers which cover the front of
its neck. These last the Turks are wont to stick in
their caps. It also differs in size from common cranes.
This Balearic crane I speak of showed most distinct
signs of affection for a Spanish soldier, whom I ran-
somed from captivity, being so attached to him that it
used to march beside him for many hours as he walked,
to halt when he stopped, and to stay by him when he
sat down ; and it allowed itself to be stroked and patted
by him, though it could not bear to be touched by any
one else. When he was away, it used to go to his
room and knock at the door with its beak. If it
was opened, it pried about to see if it could find him.
When it found itself disappointed, it used to go all
over the house and disturb us all with cries so loud
and shrill that we were obliged in self-defence to shut
it up ; but when he returned, it would run to meet him
with outspread wings and queer comical gestures, as if
it were practising some outlandish jig, or preparing to
do battle with a pygmy.^ To be short, at last it made a
custom of sleeping under his bed ; and one day actu-
ally presented him with an ^gg.^

' The reference is to the Digest or Pandects of Justinian, liber
xxxix. titulus 4, De PubUcanis et Vectigalibus et Commissis, where
' BabylonicEC pelles' are mentioned in a catalogue of taxable articles.

^ See Homer's Iliad, iii. 2-6, and compare Milton, Paradise Lost,

i-S75:

' That small infantry

Warred on by cranes.'

' These stories of the lynx and crane are quoted by Burton in his

Anatomy of Melancholy,

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You have heard the marks of afifection for men
displayed by two animals. I will now give you an
instance of an ungrateful beast, which proved itself
both savage and treacherous. I had a tame stag
which lived with us for many months and seemed
quite domesticated. When the rutting season arrived,
however, he suddenly became so frantic, that, forgetful
of the ties of hospitality and kindness, he as it were
declared war on us and treated us all like enemies,
attacking with his horns everyone he met, so that we
were obliged to shut him up. One night he broke out
in spite of bars and bolts, and frightened the horses,
which, after the Turkish fashion, were passing the
night in the open air in the courtyard. When the
grooms ran out to quiet the disturbance, and tried to
drive the stag back to his prison, he not only refused
to go in, but turned on the men and wounded several
of them. Excited by this they drove the foe into the
stable, which, as I said, was very spacious, and there
with my permission attacked him with lances, hunting
spears, and every weapon that came to hand. At first
he made a gallant defence, but at last, overcome by
numbers, he fell pierced with wounds in every limb ;
for more than forty men were arrayed against him,
and he was all alone. Thus he atoned for his bad
conduct to his hosts. All the ambassadors at Con-
stantinople had a share of the fruits of that night's
chase, for I had the stag cut up and sent them each a
present of venison.

The stag was one of very large size, like those that
are in the habit of going up from Hungary to Austria
at the beginning of autumn for the purpose of mating
with their kind. I got him from beggars who made a
profit of him. They went about collecting alms, and
before asking for money they repeated a prayer, in

TUEKISH BEGGARS. 209

which there was frequent mention of the name of God.
As often as it occurred they bowed their heads, and
they had trained the stag to do the same. By this the
lower orders were led to imagine that the animal re-
cognised the name of God, and gave many a penny to
its owners. As the stag was an unusually fine spe-
cimen of its kind, I had intended bringing him to the
Emperor.

Now that we are talking of Turkish beggars, I
may as well give you some account of their ways.
They are not so numerous as with us, and for the
most part consist of religious impostors of one kind or
another, wandering from place to place. Some feign
madness or idiocy as an excuse for their begging, for
lunatics and crazy folk are considered sure of salva-
tion by the Turks, and therefore regarded as saints
whilst still on earth. There are Arabs too among
them, who carry about with them banners, under
which they declare their ancestors fought to extend
the Moslem religion. They do not beg indiscrimi-
nately or from everybody, but force upon the passers-
by in the evening a tallow candle, a lemon, or a
pomegranate, for which they expect double or treble
its value, that so by a pretence of selling they may
avoid the disgrace of askino-.

But the people who among us are beggars among
them are slaves, for when a slave has lost the use of
his limbs his master is still bound to maintain him ;
besides, however feeble a slave may be, they manage
to get some service from him. I remember ransoming
a Spanish gentleman, who had been an officer in his
own army. Though he was completely crippled by
his wounds, yet the Turk who had bought him
managed to make some profit of him. He took him
over to Asia, where flocks of geese are kept, and hired

VOL. I. P

210 TURKISH LETTERS.

him out as goose-herd, by which he turned a nice
Httle penny.

I have my doubts as to whether the man who first
abohshed slavery is to be regarded as a pubHc bene-
factor. I know that slavery brings with it various
disadvantages, but these are counterbalanced by cor-
responding advantages. If a just and mild form of
slavery, such as the Roman laws ordained, especially
with the State for master, had continued, perhaps fewer
gallows and gibbets would be needed to keep those in
order who, having nothing but life and liberty, are
driven by want into every conceivable crime. Freedom
when combined with extreme poverty has made many
a man a rascal ; it causes temptation such as few can
resist. Nature has denied to many the power of self-
control, and the knowledge which is indispensable for
acting aright ; they need the support and guidance of
a superior as the only means of stopping them in their
career of vice. They are like savage animals, and
require chains to prevent their becoming dangerous.

In Turkey the class which is likely to go astray is
controlled by a master's authority, while the master is
supported by the slave's labour. Both publicly and
privately the Turks derive great advantages from this
institution. Slave labour enables them to live both
comfortably and economically; indeed they have a
proverb to the effect that no one can be considered
poor as long as he is master of a single slave. So also
in the department of public works, if there is any
building, removing, clearing, or breaking up to be done,
there is a constant supply of slave labour to execute
the work. We never attain the grandeur of the works
of antiquity. What is the reason ? Hands are want-
ing, or, in other words, slave labour. I need not men-
tion what means of acquiring every kind of knowledge

SLAVERY AMONG THE TURKS.

211

the ancients possessed in learned and educated slaves.
Well, well, you must not put down all this as my
serious opinion ; it is a mere fancy which I should be
sorry you should take in sober earnest.^

Slave-hunting is the chief source of profit to the
Turkish soldier. If he brings back from a campaign
nothing except one or two slaves, he may consid'er
himself well repaid for his exertions, as the price of an
ordinary slave is from forty to fifty crowns, and twice
this sum may be obtained for a slave who is young or
handsome or a skilful craftsman. This will give you a
notion of the gain they make, when they carry off some
five or six thousand prisoners from a town, and will
show you how profitable their raids must be. I observe
that the Romans also did not despise gains of this
kind ; nay, their own writers tell us how they sold by
public auction the populations of entire cities, number-
ing 25,000 or 30,000 souls. The Turks would make
of such a booty fifteen hundred thousand crowns more
or less. They abstain, however, from exercising the
rights of war over men of their own religion, and allow
them to retain the status of freemen unimpaired.

But to return from this digression. As I have
already spoken of my hunting, I must now tell you

' Gibbon's reference to this passage is not fair. He says (chap
kvui. note), ' Busbequius expatiates with pleasure and applause on the
rights of war, and the use of slavery among the ancients and the Turks '
In the first place Busbecq merely throws out asuggestion, which he would
be sorry for his friend to take in sober earnest. Secondly, we must re-
member the evils existing in Busbecq's days, which slavery would have
remedied ; (1.) it was the common practice to put to death all prisoners of
war, who could not pay ransom ; e.g. see Busbecq's letter of November
13, 1589, to Rodolph. Slavery in this case would be a mitigation of their
fate. (11.) At that time death or mutilation were the punishments for
almost every offence. Busbecq's project is an anticipation of the more
merciful system of modern times which has introduced penal servitude
which is really ' a just and mild form of slavery.' '

P 2

212 TURKISH LETTERS.

about my fowling. Kind as the Turks are to all
animals, they are especially so to birds, and most of all
to the kites, whom they regard as useful scavengers of
their city. Accordingly these creatures, having neither
snares nor missiles to fear, are to be found in numbers
at Constantinople, and are wonderfully tame. They
come at one's whistle, and pounce on pieces of food
which are thrown into the air. My plan is to order a
sheep to be killed ; the kites are then whistled for, and
fragments of the offal are thrown into the air. In a
moment some ten, twelve, or twenty appear, and pre-
sently they gather so thick as almost to overshadow
the house. Some are so bold that they will snatch the
meat from my people's hands as they hold it out.
Meanwhile I post myself behind a pillar with my cross-
bow,^ pick out a kite, and make my clay bullets rattle
on its wings or tail, till I have brought down one or
two. I am obliged to bolt my gates before indulging
in this sport for fear of irritating the Turks.

Talking of birds, I must tell you about my par-
tridges, so that you may have a full account of all my
amusements, and may perhaps feel the same surprise
about the habits of these birds that I did. I had some
partridges from Chios with red beaks and red legs, so
tame that they became quite tiresome. They were con-
tinually at my feet, beating the dust from my velvet slip-
pers with their beaks to dust themselves with. They got
so troublesome that I ordered them to be shut up in a
room, where they grew so fat that they died after a few
days' confinement. At least this is the account my
servants give, and the question is whether to believe

' Shooting with the crossbow has been a custom at Bousbecque from
very early times. The village had a guild of crossbowmen in the times of
Charles V., which was reconstituted in 171 5. A society of the kind still
exists there. See Histoire de Bousbecque, p. 1 70.

TAME PARTRIDGES OF CHIOS. 213

them or Pliny, for the latter has a passage to the effect
that hares and partridges never grow fat, So far you
have no ground for surprise, but listen to the rest of
the story. Chios abounds in birds of this kind, which
live there in the houses. Almost every peasant keeps
more or less of them, according to his means or incli-
nation. At dawn the public herd summons them by a
whistle, and they run out in crowds, and gather on the
road. Then following their keeper, like sheep do with
us, they go into the fields, where they feed and sun
themselves all day long. Towards evening they are
recalled by the same signal, and return home in a
body to their several roosts. This habit is said to be
formed by the peasants putting the birds, as soon as
they are hatched, into their bosom inside their shirt,
and so carrying them about and nursing them for a
day or two, lifting them from time to time to their
mouth and feeding them with spittle. They become
attached to their masters by such kind treatment (for
indeed almost every animal has a more lasting feeling
of gratitude than man), and do not forget those who
nursed them. One precaution only must be taken ;
they must not be allowed to pass the night in the fields,
for if this should occur once or twice they readily
return to their natural habits, and prefer a free life to
the company of man. I am doing my best to secure
one of these partridge-tamers for the Emperor, so as
to introduce the art into our country. Although I
have not seen with my own eyes this system in prac-
tice, yet its existence is established by witnesses so
numerous and credible, that I place the same reliance
on my ears that I should on my eyes. The same may
be said of the following anecdote, which is here so com-
monly reported and so universally admitted, that any
one, who ventures to throw doubt upon it, is thought

214 TURKISH LETTERS.

an ignoramus. Those who come hither from Egypt, as
many do every day, uniformly declare, that in that
country eggs are not put under hens to be hatched in
our fashion, but that in spring a sort of vast oven is made
out of a big dunghill by certain men who carry on the
trade. To this the whole neighbourhood far and wide
bring their eggs, which are put in and quickened by the
heat of the sun and the rotting dung. In due time the
eggs produce chickens, which are distributed by the
managers of the business to the people who brought
the eggs, not by counting, for that would be too long a
process, but by measure. I have less hesitation in
telling you this, as there is a passage in Vopiscus
quoting a letter of Adrian's, in which he vents his wrath
on the Egyptians in the following words : — ' I wish
them nothing worse than to be fed on their own
chickens, which are bred in a way too foul to speak of '^
I have no doubt this was an old custom among- the
Egyptians, and I suspect it was on that account that
Adrian reproached them with the foulness of their food,
inasmuch as they lived on chickens hatched in dung-
hills. I may, however, be mistaken, and I leave the
point for your decision.

I will now complete the catalogue of my amuse-
ments. I keep several thoroughbred horses, both
Syrian, Cilician, Arabian, and Cappadocian, and also
baggage camels, so as always to have cattle ready for
my return journey. I do this, because I wish the
Turks to believe that, having fulfilled all my master's

' This passage occurs in the life of Saturninus, who uses it in support
of an invective against the Egyptians. The quotation is from a letter of
Hadrian's preserved in the works of his freedman Phlegon. (Vopiscus, in
HistoricB Angustce Scriptores, u. 719, in the Leyden edition of 1671.)
The Egyptians still hatch chickens in ovens, but the heat is supplied by
a fire, and not by the hot-bed mentioned in the text. The process is
described in Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii. 450.

TURKISH HORSES. 213

instructions, I am only waiting for the Sultan's permis-
sion to depart ; for this I have now been pressing for a
long time past in very urgent terms, the truth being
that, in consequence of their present discords and the
civil war between the brothers, I do not despair of
negotiating a peace on fair and reasonable terms.

I am particularly fond of watching my horses, when
in the summer evenings they are led out from their
stable one by one, and picketed in the courtyard to en-
joy the night air, and take their repose in cooler quar-
ters. They come prancing from their stalls with their
necks arched, tossing their manes as if they appreciated
the interest we take in them. Their fore-feet are
hobbled, and one of their hind-feet is fastened by a rope
to a peg. The Turkish horse is the gentlest creature
in the world, and also the most capable of attachment
to its master or groom. These qualities are the results
of the kind treatment they receive from the Turks
during their early training, I saw, when I was travel-
ling to Cappadocia through Pontus or the part of
Bithynia which is deservedly called A xylos^ (woodless),
what care the peasants take of the foals while they are
still quite young and tender, how they pet them,
how they bring them into their rooms and almost to
their tables, and how they handle them and stroke
them. They seemed to regard them almost as their
children. Round their neck all have a band like a neck-
lace full of amulets against the evil eye, which is
greatly dreaded. The grooms in whose care they are
placed treat them with equal kindness, making them
fond of them by continually stroking them, and never

' Axylos, a woodless tract in Asia Minor, ' northward of the region of
lakes and plains, through which leads the road from Afioum Karahissar
to Koniah, a dry and naked region, which extends as far as the Sangarius
and Halys.' — Leake, Asia Minor, p. 65.

2i6 TURKISH LETTERS.

beating them cruelly with a stick unless they are abso-
lutely compelled to do so. Being thus used they become
extremely attached to men, and yet you will not find
one which this treatment has made a kicker or a biter
or refractory. Such vices are seldom met with in this
country. But, good heavens, how different our system
is from theirs ! According to our method grooms
think it essential to use the roughest words and loudest
tones in talking to their horses, and to be for ever
thrashing them. The consequence is that the horses
quiver all over with terror on their entering the stable,
and regard them with equal hatred and fear.^

The Turks like to have them trained to kneel down
at command and so take up their rider, and to pick up
from the ground in their teeth a stick, a mace, or a
sword, and to give it to their master in the saddle.
When they have learned to do these things, as an
honour and a mark of their proficiency, they fit silver
rings in their nostrils, to show that they have been
thoroughly trained. I saw a horse who, when his
master was thrown from the saddle, would stand by
him without moving a step, and others who would go
round their groom, as he stood at a distance, and halt
at his bidding. I also saw some who, when their
master was dining with me in a room upstairs, kept
their ears pricked up to catch his voice, and neighed
when they heard it. It is a peculiarity of these
horses that they always come in at the end of their
work with stiff and outstretched necks. Again, they
cannot be pulled up or turned sharply, which I think

• Evelyn narrates how he went to see some Turkish horses captured at
the siege of Vienna ; he admired their spirit, and says they were, 'with
all this, so gentle and tractable as called to mind what I remember
Busbequius speaks of them to the reproch of our groomes in Europe
who bring up their horses so churhshly as makes most of them retain
their ill habits.'— Evelyn, Diary, p. 461, Chandos Edition.

TURKISH GROOMS. 217

I may say is the fault of the bit, which is of the same
kmd and shape throughout Turkey, and is not, as
among us, made more or less severe to suit the horse's
mouth. Their horses' shoes are not so wide open in
the middle as with us, but are almost solid and un-
broken, so as to protect the feet more thoroughly/
Turkish horses live much longer than ours, for you
may see some twenty years old with as much spirit
and strength as eight-year-olds have with us, and
some, which for their great services were pensioned
for life in the Sultan's stables, are said to have lasted
to their fiftieth year, and even longer. During the
hot summer nights the Turks do not keep their
horses under cover, but expose them, as I said, to the
night air with horse-cloths over them, their litter being
composed of dry dung. For this purpose all through
the year they gather the horses' droppings, and after
drying them in the sun break them up into powder.
This forms their horses' bedding, and is the only kind
of litter they have. They use no straw, not even
for food, but diet their horses on a moderate portion of
hay and a little barley. They prefer having them
too thin to too fat, considering that in this condition
they are fitter for travelling and work of every kind.
They cover their horses with the rugs I mentioned, in
summer just the same as in winter, but change them
according to the season. They consider these cover-
ings useful for producing a sleek coat, and also neces-
sary as a protection against cold, for their horses are
chilly and cannot stand exposure.

As I said, I enjoy looking at my horses when, to-
wards sunset, they are being picketed out in the court.

1 ' They were shod with yron made round and closed at the heele
with a hole in the middle about as wide as a shilling. The hoofes most
intire.' — Evelyn, Diary, p. 462.

2i8 TURKISH LETTERS.

When I call them by their names of Arab or Cara-
manian, or whatever else it may be, they neigh in reply,
and give me a look. I have taught them to know me
by sometimes going- down and giving them each a
pumpkin skin. In truth I am glad of any employment
to divert my thoughts from my troubles.

I have six she camels procured, nominally for the
purpose of carrying baggage, but in reality that I may
bring them to the royal family, as I think it not impos-
sible that they may like to keep a stud of these useful
animals. There are two things from which, in my
opinion, the Turks derive the greatest advantage,
namely, rice among grains and the camel among beasts
of burden, both of which are exceedingly well suited
for the distant campaigns they make. The first keeps
well, affords a wholesome food for men, and a little
of it goes a long way. Camels carry the heaviest
weights, endure hunger and thirst, and require very
little care. One driver can attend to six camels. They
are, I may say, the most obedient creatures in the
world, and they need no currycomb or scraper, but are
groomed with brushes as clothes are with us. They
lie, or, more correctly speaking, kneel on the bare
ground to receive their loads. But if the load should
be excessive, they give a grunt by way of protest and
refuse to rise. If the weight be unduly heavy, it does
not take much to rupture them, especially if the road
be muddy or slippery. It is a pretty sight to see them
kneeling in a circle with their heads together, and
taking their food and drink out of the same bucket or
manger without any quarrelling or discontent, though
their fare be scanty. On an emergency, if food is
scarce, they browse on brambles and thorns, and the
more these make their mouths bleed the more they
enjoy them. The Scythians supply some camels, but

TURKISH COMMISSARIAT. 219

more are produced by Syria and Assyria, where they
are kept in very large herds and are bred in great num-
bers. They are so cheap there, that sometimes a mare
of good pedigree is bartered for a hundred camels.
Yet in this perhaps it is not the cheapness of the camels
that is so wonderful as the price asked and given for
the mares, for such mares are valued so highly that
the owner of one considers himself a rich man. The
test of their excellence consists in their being ridden
down the side of a steep and high mountain, and those
that do not stumble in the descent are highly prized.

The Turkish monarch o-oine to war takes with him
over 40,000 camels and nearly as many baggage mules,
of which a great part, when he is invading Persia, are
loaded with rice and other kinds of grain. These mules
and camels also serve to carry tents and armour, and
likewise tools and munitions for the campaign. The
territories, which bear the name of Persia, and are
ruled by the Sophi, or Kizilbash as the Turks call
him,^ are less fertile than our country, and even such
crops as they bear are laid waste by the inhabitants in
time of invasion in hopes of starving out the enemy,
so that it is very dangerous for an army to invade
Persia, if it be not furnished with abundant supplies.
The invading army carefully abstains from encroaching
on its magazines at the outset ; as they are well
aware that, when the season for campaigning draws
to a close, they will have to retreat over districts
wasted by the enemy, or scraped as bare by countless
hordes of men and droves of baggage animals, as if
they had been devastated by locusts ; accordingly they
reserve their stores as much as possible for this emer-
gency. Then the Sultan's magazines are opened, and a
ration just sufficient to sustain life is daily weighed out

* See note 2, page 299.

2 20 TURKISH LETTERS.

to the Janissaries and other troops of the royal house-
hold.i The rest of the army are badly off, unless
they have provided some supplies at their own ex-
pense. And this is generally the case, for the greater
number, and especially the cavalry, having from their
long experience in war already felt such inconveniences,
lead with them a sumpter horse by a halter, on which
they carry many of the necessaries of life ; namely, a
small piece of canvas which they use as a tent, for
protection against sun and rain, with the addition of
some clothes and bedding ; and as provisions for their
private use, a leathern bag or two of the finest flour,
with a small pot of butter, and some spices and salt,
on which they sustain life when they are hard pressed.
On such occasions they take out a few spoonfuls of
flour and put them into water, adding some butter,
and seasoning the mess with salt and spices ; these in-
gredients are boiled, and a large bowl of gruel is thus
obtained. Of this they eat once or twice a day, ac-
cording to the quantity they have, without any bread,
unless they have brought some biscuit with them. In
this way they are able to support themselves from
their own supplies for a month, or if necessary longer.
Some fill a bladder with beef, dried and reduced to
powder, which forms a highly nutritious food and ex-
pands greatly in the cooking, like the flour of which I
spoke above. Sometimes too they have recourse to
horseflesh ; dead horses are of course plentiful in their
great hosts, and such beasts as are in good condition
when they die furnish a meal not to be despised by
famished soldiers, I must not forget to tell you of

' Cyrus, in his expedition against his brother Artaxerxes, took with
him 400 waggons loaded with barley and wine that, in case provisions
should be very scarce, he might have the means of supplying the Greeks
who were the flower of his army.— Xenophon, Anabasis, i. 10.

TURKISH AND CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS.

221

the men who have lost their horses. When the Sultan
moves his camp they stand in a long line by the side
of the road with their saddles on their heads, as a sign
that they have lost their steeds and need assistance
for the purchase of others. An allowance is then made
to them by the Sultan at his discretion.

From this you will see that it is the patience, self-
denial, and thrift of the Turkish soldier that enable
him to face the most trying circumstances, and come
safely out of the dangers that surround him. What a
contrast to our men ! Christian soldiers on a campaign
refuse to put up with their ordinary food, and call for
thrushes, becaficos, and such like dainty dishes ! If
these are not supplied they grow mutinous and work
their own ruin ; and, if they are supplied, they are
ruined all the same. For each man is his own worst
enemy, and has no foe more deadly than his own
intemperance, which is sure to kill him, if the enemy
be not quick. It makes me shudder to think of what
the result of a struggle between such different systems
must be ; one of us must prevail and the other be
destroyed, at any rate we cannot both exist in safety.
On their side is the vast wealth of their empire, unim-
paired resources, experience and practice in arms, a
veteran soldiery, an uninterrupted series of victories,
readiness to endure hardships, union, order, discipline,'
thrift, and watchfulness. On ours are found an empty
exchequer, luxurious habits, exhausted resources,
broken spirits, a raw and insubordinate soldiery, and
greedy generals; there is no regard for discipline,
license runs riot, the men indulge in drunkenness
and debauchery, and, worst of all, the enemy are
accustomed to victory, we, to defeat. Can we doubt
what the result must be .? The only obstacle is Persia,
whose position on his rear forces the invader to take

2 22 TURKISH LETTERS.

precautions. The fear of Persia gives us a respite,
but it is only for a time. When he has secured him-
self in that quarter, he will fall upon us with all the
resources of the East. How ill prepared we are to
meet such an attack it is not for me to say.

I now return to the point from which I made this
digression. I mentioned that baggage animals are used
in a campaign for carrying armour and tents. These
for the most part belong to the Janissaries. The Turks
take great care to have their soldiers in good health
and protected against the inclemency of the weather.
They must defend themselves from the enemy, for
their health the State will undertake to provide. There-
fore you may see a Turk better clad than armed.
They are especially afraid of cold, and even in summer
time wear three garments, of which the innermost one,
or shirt, is woven of coarse thread and gives a great
deal of warmth. For protection against cold and rain
they are furnished with tents, in which each man is
given just room enough for his body, so that one tent
holds twenty-five or thirty Janissaries. The cloth for
the clothes I referred to is supplied by the State, and
is distributed after the following fashion. The soldiers
at nightfall are summoned by companies to the office
for the distribution of such stores, where parcels of
cloth are ready in separate packets according to the
number of men in each company. They march in, and
take their chance in the dark, so that if any soldier's
cloth is of inferior quality to that of his comrades, he
has nought to grumble at save his own bad luck. For
the same reason their pay is not given them by tale,
but by weight, to prevent anyone accusing the pay-
master of giving him light or clipped coins. Moreover,
their pay is always given them the day before it is
actually due.

SERVING OUT ARMOUR. 223

The convoy of armour, of which I spoke, is in-
tended chiefly for the use of the royal horse-guards,
as the Janissaries are lightly equipped, and generally
do not fight at close quarters, but at a distance with
muskets. Well, when the enemy is near, and a battle
is expected, the stock of armour is produced, consisting
for the most part of antiquated pieces picked up on
the fields which have been the scene of Turkish vic-
tories ; they are distributed to the royal horse guards,
who at other times have only their light shield to
protect them. Where so little pains is taken to pro-
vide each man with a suit that fits him, I need hardly
tell you that they are but clumsily equipped. One
man's cuirass is too tight, another's helmet too big ; a
third gets a coat of mail too heavy for him to bear ; one
way or another no one is properly accoutred. Yet they
never grumble, holding that a man who quarrels with
his armour must needs be a cowardly fellow, and
are confident that they will make a stout fight of it
themselves whatever their equipment may be. This
feeling is the result of their great successes and military
experience. In the same spirit they do not hesitate
to turn their veteran infantry, who never have fought
on horseback, into cavalry, for they are firmly con-
vinced that a man who has courage and military
experience will do brave service in whatever kind of
fighting he may be engaged.

I think the Romans were of the same opinion,
especially Julius Caisar, who they relate was wont to
say, 'his soldiers even when perfumed would fight
well.' 1 F^or what should we consider to have been his

' The quotation is from Suetonius, Life of Julius CcEsar, chap. 67.
Suetonius observes that sometimes Caesar, after a great victory, relaxed
the strict rules of discipline, and allowed his army to abandon themselves
to the utmost license, boasting that ' his soldiers, even if perfumed

2 24 TURKISH LETTERS.

intention, when, before he went to his conference with
Ariovistus, he mounted the tenth legion ? In my opi-
nion it was that they might fight on horseback if neces-
sary, a kind of fighting to which they were by no
means accustomed. For we know that among the
Romans the drill of the infantry was quite different
from that of the cavalry. But if, in your opinion,
Caesar's design was to transport the legion on horses
and employ them on foot, we are driven to the con-
clusion that Caesar involved his troops in a most
hazardous operation. For the highly trained cavalry
of Ariovistus were so close that they could annoy the
Romans with stones ; consequently, if they had sud-
denly charged, the legion would have had no time to
dismount, send their horses to the rear, and form line
of battle. According to our notions, such an arrange-
ment would have been the height of folly. But,
whichever of these explanations is the correct one,
it was by confidence in their experience of arms,
though with a training quite different from our system,
that the Romans in ancient times brought their wars
to a triumphant conclusion, and the same reason will
account for the uniform successes of the Turks in
modern days. But enough of this.

I now return to what I mentioned, namely, that the
Turks behave kindly to every sort of animal. The doo"

for a banquet, would fight well.' The conference with Ariovistus is de-
scribed in CjEsar de Bella Galileo, i. 43-45, and in Merivale, chap. vii. :
'Each was attended by a squadron of cavalry of equal numbers.
Casar had no Roman cavalry, nor could he safely confide in his Gauhsh
auxiliaries : yet he would not reject the arrangement proposed by his
adversary, nor betray any appearance of distrust or dread. He caused
a party of Gauls to dismount, and placed upon their horses the infantry
of his favourite legion ' (the tenth). The conference was interrupted by
the impatience of the German horse, who suddenly assailed the Romans
with stones and arrows, See also pages 48 and 49.

MAHOMET AND HIS CAT. 225

among them Is considered a foul and unclean animal
and therefore they keep it out of their houses ; its
place is taken by the cat, a creature endowed, as they
thmk, with far more correct notions of propriety than
the dog. For this preference they quote the example of
Mahomet their lawgiver, who was so fond of his cat
that when she had fallen asleep on his sleeve as he sat
at table, and the hour summoned him to the mosque to
his devotions, he preferred to cut off his sleeve rather
than disturb her sleep. Notwithstanding that such is
their feeling about dogs, and though they are public
property, not having masters, and watching special
streets and wards rather than particular houses, and
though they hve on the refuse which is thrown out into
the highways, yet if there should be in the neighbour-
hood a bitch with young, they go to her and pile round
her bones and scraps of cakes and porridge, and this
they think a charitable action. If, in conversation on

he. ^' K \r'""^t '^'"^ ^^ ^'"'"g '« ^ brute what
hey probably would not give to a rational being of
their own nation, or at any rate would refuse to a
Christian, they replied, that inasmuch as God has
endowed man with reason, a noble organ for everv
purpose, so that no misfortune befalls him, which he
has not brought on himself by his own misconduct he
therefore deserves less compassion ; but that no hing
has been granted to brutes by God except certa^^
natural instincts and appetites, which they cannot he "
ollowing, and, therefore, they have a claim upon us
for sympathy and assistance. For this reason theTare
indignant If any beast be put to death by tortvS^ "'

a bird the size of a cuckoo, and almost the same'colot ^

VOL. I. Q

226 TURKISH LETTERS.

its beak was not large, but its throat could be expanded
by force so as to receive the fist of a full-grown man.
As he was naturally fond of a joke, and was struck by
the strangeness of the phenomenon, he fastened the
bird to the lintel of his door with its wings outspread
and with its throat forced open by a peg, so as to show
a huge orifice. The Turks who were passing by in
crowds kept stopping and looking up, but when they
perceived the bird was alive and moving, struck with
compassion they exclaimed, it was a shame that a
harmless bird should be so tortured, called the gold-
smith out, seized him by the neck, and dragged him
before the judge who tries capital charges, and he was
near being bastinadoed, when a messenger came from
the gentleman, who administers the law to the Vene-
tians at Constantinople, and is called the Venetian
Baily,^ to demand his release ; the application was
favourably received by the judge, and the goldsmith
was dismissed, to the great indignation of the Turks
who were present. Thus was he preserved. This
goldsmith was a frequent visitor at my house, and
I had a hearty laugh when he told me the whole story,
and what a fright he had had. Moreover he brought
the bird for my inspection. I have described its ap-
pearance, and it is said to fly at night and suck cows'
udders. I fancy it is the same as the goat-sucker of
the ancients. This story will show you how merciful

^ The Venetian ambassador to the Porte bore the title of Bailo or
Baily. This title was probably given to him on account of the protec-
tion and jurisdiction he exercised with regard to the persons and goods
of all Venetian subjects, who lived and traded in all the factories of
the Levant. He, with the ambassadors of the Pope and the Emperor,
took precedence of all other ambassadors. On account of the importance
of the post, appointments to it were not made by the Senate, but by the
Great Council. Marc Antonio Barbaro, the subject of Yriarte's inte-
resting work, Lm. Vie d'tin Patricien de Vetiise, was appointed to this
office in 1568.

TURKISH KINDNESS TO BIRDS. 227

the Turks are to all kinds oi animals, and especially
to birds. ^

Opposite our lodging there Is a lofty plane tree
remarkable for the extent of ground its branches cover,
and the thickness of its foliage ; here bird-catchers
sometimes station themselves with a great number of
small birds. Many people go to them and ransom
their prisoners for a trifle, and then release them from
their hands one by one. They generally fly up into
the plane tree, where they clean themselves from the
dirt of their cages, chirping all the while. Then the
Turks who ransomed them say to each other : ' Do
you hear how yon bird congratulates himself on his
freedom, and is thanking me for it .? '

You will ask then, are the Turks such Pythagoreans
that every animal is considered sacred among them,
and that they eat no flesh .? Far from it ; on the con-
trary they usually abstain from nothing that may be set
before them, whether boiled or roast. Indeed they
say that sheep were born for slaughter, but they think it
atrocious that people should seek to find pleasure in
their agonies and torments. As for the smaller birds,
who make the country places and fields resound with
their song, some of the Turks cannot be induced to
kill them, or even to keep them shut up in cages,
thinking it a shame to rob them of their liberty. There
are diff'erent opinions, however, among them on this
subject. Some at any rate keep in their houses night-

j This story is referred to by ^z.zon, Essays, XIII. : Of Goodness
and Goodness of Nature. ' The inclination to goodness is imprinted
deeply m the nature of man ; insomuch that if it issue not towards man
It will take unto other living creatures ; as it is seen in the Turks a'
cruel people, who nevertheless are kind to beasts, and give alms to dogs
and birds ; insomuch as Busbechius reporteth, a Christian boy in Con-
stantinople had like to have been stoned for gagging in a waggishness
a ong-billed fowl.' Bacon, in his Essays, also alludes to Jehangir
Solyman s son, to Roxolana, to Selim, and to the fate of Mustapha '

Q 2

228 TURKISH LETTERS.

ingales, that sing very sweetly, and make a profit by
hiring them out in the spring-time. I have seen people
carrying about goldfinches so well trained, that, when
a coin was shown them from a window above, they
would fly to almost any distance to get it ; and, if the
holder did not let it be pulled away, they would perch
on his hand and go with him from room to room,
trying all the time to wrest the coin out of his hand ;
the moment they got it, they would fly back by the
way they had come to their master, who was standing
in the street and calling them back by ringing a bell,
and would give him the coin, receiving some hemp-
seed as a reward. But I must stop, or you will think
that I wish to imitate Pliny or /Elian, and compose a
history of animals.

Passing on to other topics, I will tell you about
Turkish women and the manner in which they are
guarded. The Turks are the most careful people in
the world of the modesty of their wives, and therefore
keep them shut up at home and hide them away, so
that they scarce see the light of day/ But if they
have to go into the streets, they are sent out so covered
and wrapt up in veils that they seem to those who
meet them mere gliding ghosts. They have the means
of seeing men through their linen or silken veils,
while no part of their own body is exposed to men's
view. For it is a received opinion among them, that
no woman who is distinguished in the very smallest
degree by her figure or youth, can be seen by a man
without his desiring her, and therefore without her
receiving some contamination ; and so it is the univer-

1 Busbecq's countrywomen enjoyed great liberty. ' Les femmes,
oultre ce qu'elles sont de belle et excellente forme, sent de beau maintien
et gracieuses ; car elles commencent dds leur enfance, selon la coustume
du pais, k converser librement avec un chacun.' — L. Guicciardini, De-
scription de tout le pais bas, p. 38.

SLAVES AND WIVES. 229

sal practice to confine the women to the harem. Their
brothers are allowed to see them, but not their brothers-
in-law. Men of the richer classes, or of higher rank,
make it a condition when they marry, that their wives
shall never set foot outside the threshold, and that
no man or woman shall be admitted to see them for
any reason whatever, not even their nearest relations,
except their fathers and mothers, who are allowed
to pay a visit to their daughters at the Turkish
Easter. ^

On the other hand, if the wife has a father of high
rank, or has brought a larger dowry than usual, the
husband promises on his part that he will take no con-
cubine, but will keep to her alone. Otherwise, the
Turks are not forbidden by any law to have as many
concubines as they please in addition to their lawful
wives. Between the children of wives and those of
concubines there is no distinction, and they are con-
sidered to have equal rights. As for concubines they
either buy them for themselves or win them in war ;
when they are tired of them there is nothing to prevent
their bringing them to market and selling them • but
they are entitled to their freedom if they have borne
children to their master. This privilege Roxolana
Solyman's wife, turned to her own advantage, when she
had borne him a son while still a slave. Having thus
obtained her freedom, and become her own mistress
she refused to submit any longer to his will unless'
contrary to the custom of the Ottoman Sultans she
was made his lawful wife. The only distinction be-
tween the lawful wife and the concubine is, that the

; The festival called by Busbecq the Turkish Easter was that of
Ba.ram. It succeeds Ramazan, the month of abstinence, which he terms
their Lent. It lasts three days, and seventy days later is the Kourban
Bairam, or Feast of Sacrifice, which lasts four days

230 TURKISH LETTERS.

former has a dowry, while the slaves have none. A
wife who has a portion settled on her is mistress of
her husband's house, and all the other women have
to obey her orders. The husband, however, may
choose which of them shall spend the night with him.
He makes known his wishes to the wife, and she
sends to him the slave he has selected. Hardly a
pleasant task, one would fancy, for a wife, whatever the
feelings of the other might be ! Only Friday night,
which is their Sabbath, is supposed to belong to the
wife ; and she grumbles if her husband deprives her
of it. On all the other nights he may do as he
pleases.

Divorces are granted among them for many reasons
which it is easy for the husbands to invent. The di-
vorced wife receives back her dowry, unless the divorce
has been caused by some fault on her part. There is
more difficulty in a woman's getting a divorce from
her husband. Among the reasons which are considered
sufficient for granting a divorce are the deprivation of
the necessaries of life by the husband, and certain
kinds of ill treatment. In the latter case the woman
goes before the judge, and makes a declaration that she
is unable to remain any longer with her husband ;
when the judge asks the reason, she gives no answer,
but takes off one of her shoes and turns it upside down.
This the judge accepts as sufficient evidence that her
husband has treated her improperly.

People of consideration with large harems appoint
eunuchs to guard them. They also have baths at
home, in which they and their women perform their
ablutions, while people of smaller means patronise the
public baths. They consider cleanliness of the body
as even of more importance in a religious point of view
than purity of the soul, which is the reason of their

BATHS AND LOVE-MAKING. 231

frequent ablutions. The great mass of women use
the pubhc baths for females, and assemble there in
large numbers. Among them are found many girls
of exquisite beauty, who have been brought together
from different quarters of the globe by various chances
of fortune ; so cases occur of women falling in love
with one another at these baths, in much the same
fashion as young men fall in love with maidens in our
own country. Thus you see a Turk's precautions are
sometimes of no avail, and when he has succeeded in
keeping his wives from a male lover, he is still in
danger from a female rival ! The women become
deeply attached to each other, and the baths supply
them with opportunities of meeting. Some therefore
keep their women away from them as much as possible,
but they cannot do so altogether, as the law allows them
to go there. This evil affects only the common people ;
the richer classes bathe at home, as I mentioned.

It happened that in a gathering of this kind, an
elderly woman fell in love with a girl, the daughter of
an inhabitant of Constantinople, a man of small means.
When her courtship and flatteries were not attended
with the success her mad passion demanded, she ven-
tured on a course, which to our notions appears almost
incredible. Changing her dress, she pretended she was
a man, and hired a house near where the girl's father
lived, representing herself as one of the slaves of the
Sultan, belonging to the class of cavasses ; and it was
not long before she took advantage of her position as a
neighbour, cultivated the father's acquaintance, and
asked for his daughter in marriage. Need I say more .?
The proposal appearing to be satisfactory, the father
readily consents, and promises a dowry proportionate
to his means. The wedding-day was fixed, and then
this charming bridegroom enters the chamber of the

232 TURKISH LETTERS.

bride, takes off her veil/ and begins to chat with her.
She recognises at once her old acquaintance, screams
out, and calls back her father and mother, who discover
that they have given their daughter in marriage to a
woman instead of a man. The next day they bring
her before the Aga of the Janissaries, who was govern-
ing the city in the Sultan's absence. He tells her
that an old woman like her ought to know better than
to attempt so mad a freak, and asks, if she is not
ashamed of herself ? She replies, ' Tush ! you know
not the might of love, and God grant that you may
never experience its power.' At this the Aga could
not restrain his laughter ; and ordered her to be carried
off at once, and drowned in the sea. Thus the strange
passion of this old woman brought her to a bad end.

The Turks do not inquire very closely into secret
vices, that they may not give an opportunity for false
charges, but they punish severely open profligacy and
crimes that are detected.

I am afraid your ears have been offended by my
account of such an instance of wickedness ; but, if I
can, I will remove by a pleasanter story any disagree-
able impressions the former may have left, for I am
quite sure you will have a good laugh over what I am
going to tell you.

There came lately during the disturbances in Hun-
gary a courier from the Emperor. The Pashas desired
that he should not as usual be brought directly to me,
but first be taken to the Divan, their object beino- to
know the contents of the Emperor's letters before they
were delivered to me, as they suspected that many
things were suppressed, and that I did not give them

' See Thirty Years in a Harem for a description of taking off the
veil. ... It was the conclusion of the marriage, and the Bridegroom
made a present to the Bride on the occasion.

THE PASHAS AT FAULT. 233

a faithful account of the tenor of despatches. The
courier, however, foreseeing what was coming, con-
cealed the Emperor's packet, and delivered only my
private letters. The Pashas had been previously in-
formed by their interpreter Ibrahim, who is by birth
a Pole, that despatches which contained confidential
instructions were not written in the usual characters,
but in a new sort of letters ; namely, in what we call
cipher. As they were examining all the letters, they
chanced to come upon one from a friend of mine, the
Burgundian Secretary, which Ibrahim perceived was
written on unusually thin paper, through which the
letters could be seen when held to the light. He ex-
claimed, ' I have found it,' and told them to let the
others be, saying this was the one that contained im-
portant matter. The Pashas, telling him to break the
seal, read it, and translate it, assumed an attitude of
attention and expectation. Ibrahim, however, declared
that he could not make out a single letter. At this
the Pashas were amazed, and asked him if he had
never learnt, or had forgotten, Christian characters ? to
which Ibrahim replied, that this kind of writing was
known only to the confidential secretaries of Sovereigns.
As they did not clearly understand his answer, they
said : ' But if so, why do you delay .? why don't you
hurry off at once to the Secretary of the Venetian or
the Florentine Baily ? ' Off flew Ibrahim in hot haste.
Now the letter was written in such characters that a
boy ten years old could have read it, but botli the
Secretaries, seeing it was addressed to me, after one
glance returned it, declaring that without a knowledge
of the private key it was impossible for anyone to
decipher the writing. Ibrahim returned with this reply,
and the Pashas then deliberated what was to be done!
Then some one made the following suggestion :

234 TURKISH LETTERS.

' There is in the city the Patriarch, who is acquainted
with many kinds of characters ; if he, being an old
man and a Christian, cannot read them no one else
can.' They agreed to the proposal, but the Patriarch
declared that he could not make out a single jot of
them, for the characters were neither Greek, nor Latin,
nor Hebrew, nor Chaldee. So they brought the letter
back having had their trouble for nothing. Then,
Ali Pasha, though on other occasions he showed that
he was by no means a fool, turned to Roostem and
said, ' Cardassi (which means ' brother ' in Turkish),
I remember I had a slave, by birth an Italian, who
knew all languages and characters. Were he still alive
I feel no doubt that he could have read and interpreted
these characters ; but he died some time ago.' Not
knowing what further plan to adopt, they decided to
send me the letters as they could make no use of
them. When I had heard the whole story from Ibrahim
(for it was impossible to conceal it), I made vehement
complaints, and was very indignant at their having
thus intercepted my letters, without paying any regard
to international law, or to the Emperor from whom
they had come ; and I also told him to wait and hear
some passages translated from them, that he might
communicate them to the Pashas the next day.

On the morrow, when he appeared in the Divan,
the Pashas asked him, ' could I read those characters ? '
' As easily,' said Ibrahim, 'as his own name ; ' and at
the same time proceeded to lay before them certain
statements which I had desired him to communicate.
Then Roostem remarked : ' The Ambassador is a
young man, and yet he understands what the old Patri-
arch cannot so much as read ; he will certainly turn out
a great man, if he attams old age.'

I do not know if it was in consequence of this

ROOSTEM TRIES TO CONVERT BUSBECQ. 235

occurrence, or of something else, that this same
Roostem, in the course of a conversation I had with
him some days afterwards on pubHc business, began to
throw off his usual reserve, and finally went so far as
to ask me, 'Whether I had any objection to be initiated
into their religion, and to become a worshipper of the
true God ? If I should do so, Solyman, through his
influence, was ready to confer on me great honours
and great rewards.' I replied that I was determined
to remain in the religion in which I was born, and
which was professed by my master. ' Very well,' said
Roostem ; ' but what is to become of your soul .? '
' For my soul too,' I replied, ' I have good hopes.'
Then, after a moment's reflection, he said, ' You are
right ; and I myself do not dissent from the doctrine
that men who have passed this life in holiness and
innocence will be partakers of eternal bliss, whatever
religion they may have followed.' Such views are
entertained by some Turks, but they are thought here-
tical, and Roostem himself is not considered alto-
gether orthodox. The Turks deem it their duty and
an act of charity, to make one offer to a Christian of
whom they have a good opinion, of partaking in their
rites and religion, in the hope of saving, if they can, a
man otherwise destined to eternal perdition, and think
such an offer is to be considered the greatest possible
honour and mark of kindness they can show.

I will now give you another conversation with
Roostem, that you may understand how widely the
Persians are separated from the Turks by religion.^
He once asked me if war was still going on between
the Kings of Spain and France. On my replying that
it was, ' What right have they,' said he, ' to wage war
on each other, when they are united by the ties of

' See note, page 159.

236 TURKISH LETTERS.

religion ?' ' The same,' said I, ' as you have to fight
with the Persians. There are cities, provinces, and
kingdoms about which they are at variance.' ' It is
quite a different case,' said Roostem, ' for we, you must
know, hate the Persians worse, and consider them
more impious than we do you Christians.'

I will now give you some news of events in Hun-
gary, where, since my return, each side has met with
chequered fortune in its enterprises. To write a full
and particular account would be tedious and out of
place.' Isabella, the wife of King John, returned to
Transylvania with her son, after repudiating the agree-
ment and the treaties she had made with the Emperor
Ferdinand, and from fear of the Turkish arms, the
people of Transylvania again submitted to the old yoke.
Even these successes did not satisfy the Turks, who
appeared to be aiming at the acquisition of the whole
of Hungary. Accordingly, among other operations
they resolved to besiege the very strong position of
Szigeth,^ which derives its name from the Hungarian
word for island. For this enterprise they selected as
general a man, whose successful career was calculated
to inspire his troops with confidence and his enemies
with fear. This was Ali Pasha, an Albanian, who had
distinguished himself whilst governor of Hungary by
his successes, the chief of which was his decisive victory
over Sforzia Palavicini and the Bishop of Flinfkirchen.
He was summoned from his distant command on the
Persian frontier, and the greatest hopes were excited
by his appearance in Constantinople. My colleagues
were then still here, pressing for leave to return. The
Pashas thought it well that we should see the man who,
they considered, would be regarded by us as a very

' See Sketch of Hungarian History.

" Ten years later Solyman died while besieging this place.

ALT PASHA THE EUNUCH. 237

thunderbolt of war. He received us courteously, and
addressed us at length, telling us that we ought to
endeavour to make peace, and save Hungary from
being wasted with fire and sword, by acceding to the
terms which his Emperor ^ proposed. We answered
that peace was our first object, provided it was granted
on such terms as were consistent with the honour of
otiv Emperor; but that we were forbidden to agree
to such a peace as would be contrary to the interests
and dignity of his Majesty. So we departed, having
been first entertained by him with eati sticrde.

Ali was a eunuch, but his spirit seemed to have
gained what his body had lost. He was of short
stature, bloated person, and yellowish complexion ; the
expression of his face was morose, his eyes had a fierce
look, and his shoulders were high and broad. Between
them his head was sunk and concealed, From his
mouth projected two teeth like a boar's tusks ; his voice
was discordant. To describe him in a word, he was a
regular devil.

He set out the next day with a great train, and
having reached Hungary, he spent some time in pre-
parations ; then, marching on Szigeth, he drove away
the men who were rebuilding Babocsa — a fortress be-
longing to the Emperor, But his Majesty, who had
already been informed of Ali Pasha's designs, deter-
mined to send one of his three sons to encounter his
onslaught, and do battle for Hungary. The young
Archduke Ferdinand, on whom his choice fell, is equal
in courage to any of the famous generals of ancient
times. He took up a position against All's army with
a small body of picked cavalry. Turks who were
there told me that it was a goodly sight to behold the
splendour, discipline, and steadiness of our troops.

^ See note i, page 194.

238 TURKISH LETTERS.

The Pasha, whose army was much the largest, and
who was naturally a man of fierce and haughty temper,
could not brook that Christians should dare to face
him. Some marshy ground, which could not be crossed
without danger, lay between the two armies. Ferdi-
nand, whose object was to relieve Szigeth and to raise
the siege, had no need to cross ; but Ali Pasha, on the
contrary, was obliged to risk everything, as he had
no choice between advancing and committing himself
to an ignominious and hazardous retreat. He, there-
fore, seeing to what a strait he was reduced, decided
to risk everything on the success of his movement,
and was on the point of plunging with his steed into
the marsh, when a Sanjak-bey who was among the
bystanders, whose name I have forgotten, perceiving
the greatness of the danger, leaped down from his
horse, and, laying his hand on the Pasha's rein, said,
' My Sultan ' (for this is the title given by the Turks
to men of high rank), ' do you not see the peril into
which you are wilfully bringing yourself and us ? You
do not sufficiendy take into account the difficulty of
crossing this quagmire. The Christians are waiting for
us on the other side with stout hearts and strong lances,
and their serried squadrons will charge down on our
straggling column as soon as the vanguard has got
clear of the marsh, while the rest are still struggling
in the mud. They will take advantage of our rashness,
and fight with the certainty of defeating us. Restrain
your wrath, and recollect yourself. Preserve the lives
of your gallant soldiers and your own for our Emperor's ^
service and for better days. God will be sure to give
us an opportunity of mending this day's work.' At
these words Ali recovered his senses, and restrained
himself Every Turk on the field admitted that the
' See note i, page 194.

MILITARY ETIQUETTE. 239

army had been saved by the advice of the Sanjak-bey.
However, when news of the affair reached Constanti-
nople, although not even the Vizierial (that is the chief)
Pashas could deny that Ali's army owed its safety to
the prompt interference of the Sanjak-bey, and though
they praised his loyalty and generalship in private, yet
they were unwilling that such a breach of discipline
should go unpunished, and thus become a precedent
for the future. Accordingly, they removed him from
office, recalled him to Constantinople, and they placed
him on the list of those who had been dismissed the
service, until, when they thought his fault had been
sufficiently atoned for, they promoted him to a much
better government than the one he had lost, which made
It quite plain that he had been thus punished rather to
preserve discipline than because he had done wrong

Ah not long afterwards returned to Buda. During
his retreat his troops were so harassed by the Hun
garians that he lost a large part of his army He
arrived at the capital of Hungary a broken and dis-
honoured man, where he died shorriy afterwards of
grief and shame.

On the other hand, the Archduke Ferdinand re-
turned to his father with well-earned laurels His
success will not only be of immediate advantage but it
will enhance for the future the prestige of our arms
The Turks have now had ample proof that, if thev
trouble the Emperor, he is one who has both soldiers
and generals wherewith to chastise their insolence
This check has made the Turks on the borders a o-reat
deal quieter. >^'-^^^

While Ali was still encamped before Szigeth, our
soldiers took by escalade the city of Gran, with the
adjoining citadel of the same name. They carried off
some plunder, and also the inhabitants, who were

240 TURKISH LETTERS.

mostly women and children. The messenger who
brought the news to the Pasha came trembling, with
dismay painted on his face. ' Is all well .'' ' quoth the
Pasha. ' Why are you thus cast down ? ' Thereon
the man told him of the great disaster the Turks had
sustained in the loss of Gran. ' Disaster ! loss ! '
cried the Pasha. ' Well, I know what disaster and loss
mean ; I can tell you it was a disastrous loss when
they made me what I am.' The Pasha was a eunuch,
and he intended by this coarse joke on himself to divert
the attention of the people round him from the loss
which he was unable to repair.

In Croatia, too, and in the neighbouring regions,
various forays went on upon both sides, and people,
whether Turks or Christians, who were too venture-
some and careless, were punished for their presumption.
I will tell you an instance, and as it gave me reason
to rejoice, I trust you also will find the story agreeable.
True, it occurred a little before the affair of Szigeth
which I have just related ; but as it is a letter I am
writing, I feel that the order of time need not be very
strictly regarded. From those districts news was brought
to Roostem of a feat performed by a certain Turk, for
whom he professed great admiration and spoke of as
his kinsman. He had swept down on a large party of
Christians, who were celebrating a wedding without
the slightest notion that there were any Turks in the
neighbourhood. You may imagine what an unwelcome
guest he was. His troops scattered the people, killing
several, and carrying off many more as prisoners ;
amongst the latter was the unfortunate brideo-room,
with her who was about to become his wife. Roostem
was greatly elated, and kept boring everybody with his
boasts of the wonderful success of his kinsman's raid.
So far, the story is one on which we must exchange

JiAWS AND SKIRMISHES. 241

condolences rather than congratulations. Well, it is
the fortune of war. But retribution was close at hand
to changre Roostem's merriment into tears and lamen-
tation. There came not long afterwards from the
same districts in hot haste a Dalmatian horseman with
news of a great defeat. (The man belonged to a class
whom the Turks call Belli, i.e. madmen, on account
ot their blind and reckless daring.) He said that
several Sanjak-beys and other commanders of garrisons
had united their forces and invaded the enemy's terri-
tory ; they had scoured the country for many miles,
and had earned off much booty, but at last, advancino-
too far they fell in with a Christian force, composed
ot musketeers on horseback, by whom they were put
to Hight and utterly routed with the loss of many men
among whom was that Achilles, Roostem's kinsman, of
whom he had just been speaking in such high terms
Roostem was overwhelmed on hearing the disastrous
intelligence, and burst into tears. Richly did he de-
serve this misfortune in retribution for his former
boastfulness.

Now listen to the rest of the story, which affords
still greater reason for rejoicing. When the Dalmatian
horseman, who brought the news of the defeat I
mentioned, was immediately afterwards asked by the
Pashas in the Divan, ' How many of you then were
engaged?' he replied, 'Above 2,500.' The Pashas
proceeded, ' Pray, what was the number of the Chris
tians r to which he said, 'he thought they were not
above 500 that he could see, though there might have
been some more lying in ambush, and for his part
he thought there were, but he could take his oath
that there was not more than that number of Chris-
tians actually engaged.' Thereupon the Pashas got
angry with him for not being more ashamed at the

\TC\1 J

VOL. I.

242 TURKISH LETTERS.

defeat of a regular army of Mussulmans by a handful of
Christians. They thought it foul scorn that picked
warriors, who had been deemed worthy of being num-
bered amongst Solyman's household and of eating his
bread, should thus disgrace themselves. The mes-
senger most unblushingly replied, ' You do not take a
right view of the matter. Did you not hear that we
were overcome by the force of fire-arms ? it was fire
that routed us, not the enemy's valour. Far different,
by heaven, would have been the result of the fight,
had they met us like brave men. They called fire to
their aid ; by the violence of fire we were conquered ;
we are not ashamed ; it is one of the elements and the
fiercest of them, and what mortal man has such strength
as to be able to resist the fury of the elements ? ' ^
When he delivered this speech bombastically with
Dalmatian magniloquence, the bystanders, notwith-
standing the melancholy tidings, could with difficulty
check their laughter.

This news cheered me not a little, coming as it did
when I was still depressed by the recollection of the
previous disaster. I could thereby learn that the
Turks are much afraid of carbines and pistols, such as
are used on horseback. The same, I hear, is the case
with the Persians, on which account some one advised
Roostem, when he was setting out with the Sultan
on a campaign against them, to raise from his house-
hold servants a troop of 200 horse and arm them with
fire-arms, as they would cause much alarm and do

' The Turks could hardly object to the use of ' villainous saltpetre '
as by its aid Solyman's father, Selim I., had been enabled to crush the
Mamelukes. See Creasy, History of the Ottomati Turks, chap, viii
After the battle ' Koort Bey poured forth a brilliant eulogy on the valour
of the Mamelukes, and spoke with contempt and abhorrence of guns
which, he said, killed so cowardly, and so like an assassin.'

ROOSTEAPS DRAGOONS. 243

great execution in the ranks of the enemj^ Roostem,
in accordance with this advice, raised a troop of dra-
goons, furnished them with fire-arms, and had them
drilled. But they had not completed half the journey
when their guns began to get out of order. Every
day some essential part of their weapons was lost or
broken, and it was not often that armourers could be
found capable of repairing them. So, a large part of
the fire-arms having been rendered unserviceable, the
men took a dislike to the weapon ; and this prejudice
was mcreased by the dirt which its use entailed, the
Turks being a very cleanly people ; for the dragoons
had their hands and clothes begrimed with gunpowder,
and moreover presented such a sorry appearance, with
their ugly boxes and pouches hanging about them,
that their comrades laughed at them, and called them
apothecaries. So, since with this equipment they
pleased neither themselves nor others, they gathered
round Roostem, and showing him their broken and
useless fire-arms, asked what advantage he hoped to
gain from them when they met the enemy, and de-
manded that he should relieve them of them, and give
them their old arms again. Roostem, after considering
their request carefully, thought there was no reason for
refusing to comply with it, and so they got leave to
resume their bows and arrows.

The fighting on the Hungarian borders, which I
mentioned above, reminds me to tell you what the
Turks think of the practice of duelling, which we are
accustomed to regard as the greatest proof of personal
courage. There was in a part of Hungary which ad-
joins our frontier, a Sanjak-bey, famous for bodily
strength, named Arslan Bey. None drew the bow
with greater strength, no one's sword pierced deeper
or was more formidable to the foe. Veli Bey the

R 2

244 TURKISH LETTERS.

governor of the next Sanjak/ who coveted the same
reputation, put himself forward as his rival. From
this rivalry, and possibly other differences, there arose
a deadly feud between the Sanjak-beys ; they laid
plots against one another, and bloodshed was the
consequence. Whether it was for this or some other
reason that Veli Bey was summoned to Constantinople
is unknown to me ; at any rate he came. The Pashas
in the Divan, after putting many other questions to him,
finally wished to hear about his feud with Arslan Bey.
(Arslan in Turkish means Lion.) Then he narrated
at great length the whole story of their quarrel, and to
improve his case, he told them how it ended in Arslan
Bey's lying in wait for him and wounding him ; there
would have been no need, he continued, for Arslan
Bey to act thus, had he chosen to show himself worthy
of his name ; since for his part he had never declined
a fight with him, and indeed had many times chal-
lenged him to a duel. The Pashas,- in indignation at
this speech, exclaimed, ' Did you dare to challenge your
comrade to a duel ? Were there no Christians for you
to fight ? Both of you live on the bread of our Em-
peror, but yet you were preparing to engage in mortal
combat. By what law or precedent can you justify
such conduct ? Did you not know that whichever of
you fell the Emperor would lose a soldier by his
death ? ' With these words they ordered him to be
taken to prison, where he was made to do penance for
several months, and then having with great difficulty
obtained his discharge, was at last released with his
reputation much impaired. Among us many who have
never seen a public enemy are considered to be famous
and distinguished characters, because they have drawn

' Arslan was Sanjak-bey of Stuhlweissenburg and Veli of Hatwan.
^ Compare Brantome, Discours sur Duels, vi. p. 151.

THE MINGRELIANS. 245

their swords on a fellow- citizen or fellow-soldier.
What can you do when the sense of right is so per-
verted that vices usurp the place of virtues, and what
deserves punishment is accounted a glory and an
honour ?

As you are eager for information of every kind, I
must not deprive you of an account of the arrival here
of the king of the Colchians.^ He reigns on the banks
of the Phasis at the corner of the, Euxine, not far from
Mount Caucasus. His name is Dadian. He is a
man of dignified appearance and commanding person,
but at heart they say he is a mere savage. He was
attended by a large but ragged retinue in poor and
threadbare attire.

The Colchians are now called Mingrelians by the

' Of the nations mentioned in this passage the Mingrehans live along
the coast from the Turkish frontier to Sukhum Kaleh ; the Iberians corre-
spond to the modern Imeritians, while the ancient Albanians lived in
what is now the part of Georgia that borders on the Caspian and in
Daghestan, the country of the Lesghians. According to Mr. Bryce
(Transcaucasia and Ararat, p. 99) the modern Mingrelians correspond to
Busbecq's description of their a:ncestors. ' They are the ne'er-do-wells
of the Caucasian family. All their neighboiirs, however contemptible a
Western may think them, have a bad word and a kick for the still more
contemptible Mingrelian. To believe them, he is lazy, sensual, treacherous
and stupid, a liar arid a thief. Lazy the Mingrehan ' certairily is, but in
other respects I doubt if he is worse than his neighbours ; and he
hves in so damp and warm a climate that violent exercise must be dis-
agreeable.' According to Malte Brun, ' the Prince of Mingrelia assumes
the title of Dadian or Master of the Sea, though he possesses not even a
fishing-boat : he generally moves about with his suite from place to
place, and his camp is the scene of licentiousness as well as poverty.'
The Caspian Gates mentioned in the text are probably the Dariel Pass.
' There were three passes, between which boundless confusion has arisen:
first, the Dariel, sometimes called the Caucasian, sometimes the Caspian,
sometimes the Iberian Gates ; second, the pass between the mountains
and the sea near Derbend, where is the wall of Gog and Magog, called
sometimes the Caucasian, sometimes the Caspian, sometimes the Albanian
Gates ; third, a paSs^ somev/here on the south coast of the Caspian,
which was really visited and fortified by Alexander the Great.'— Bryce,
TfatiscaUcasia and Ararat, p. 76.

^46 TURKISH LETTERS.

Italians. They are one of the tribes settled between
the Caspian Gates, called by the Turks ' Demit Capi,'
1. e., ' Iron Gates,' and the Black and Caspian Seas,
which are now called Georgians, either from the sect
ot Christianity to which they belong, or because it is
their ancient name, which last seems the more probable
theory, among whom are also included the Albanians
and Iberians (Imeritians).

The reason of Dadian's coming is uncertain. Some
suspect that he has been summoned by the Turks • for
when the Turks are at war with the Persians, ' the
Mingrehans and the other tribes of that region would
If friendly, be able to render important assistance. But
the general and more probable version of the story is
that he has come to ask for the assistance of some
galleys to help him against his neighbours the Imeri-
tians ; and that he is prepared to pay tribute to the
Sultan in return for this favour. His father was killed
by the Imeritians, with whom the Mingrelians have an
ancient feud of long standing.

There is, however, an amusing story that, when on
a certain occasion a conference to effect a union and a
reconciliation had been arranged, and the Mingrelians
on the one part and the Imeritians on the other had
assembled in large numbers, they had a match to see
who should have the honour of drinking the most ; in
which the Mingrelians were worsted, and fell dead
drunk under the table. But the Imeritians behaved
dishonourably, and putting the doughty Dadian, while
he was sound asleep and snoring, into a carria<.e
carried him off as if they had taken him prisoner'in
fair fight, and shut him up in a lofty tower. To aveno-e
this wrong and to recover their king, the Mingrelians
collected men to the number of 30,000, commanded
by the wife of the captive prince, a woman of hiah

DAD/AN' S EXPLOJT. 247

spirit, who could ride a horse and wield a sword. The
chiefs of the army were equipped in cumbrous coats of
mail, and carried swords and lances tipped with iron.
There was also, you will be surprised to hear, a body
of musketeers. The rest were without any armour,
and fought with arrows, or stakes hardened in the fire,
and great clubs of wood, and rode barebacked, nor
was there any attempt at order among them. When
this raw and undisciplined army drew near to the
place where the king was confined, the enemy fired
some cannon, at which they took to their heels, and
ran away a full mile. Then they again plucked up
courage and returned to the attack : the cannons were
again discharged ; off went the Mingrelians once more,
and this scene was repeated over and over again.
Dadian, however, seeing help near at hand, cut the
sheets of his bed into strips, and letting himself down
at night through a window, reached his troops in
safety; an exploit, which has made him famous in
those parts.

All the country of the Mingrelians is exceedingly
rich in every kind of grain, except wheat and barley.
The crops receive but little attention, and it is sup-
posed that if a little care were taken, wheat and barley
might also be grown. The people are incorrigibly
lazy. Panic ^ is sown in a slovenly way, but it grows
with the greatest luxuriance, and produces such a crop
that one harvest is sufficient for two years' consump-
tion. They have got accustomed to this grain, which
they eat in large quantities, and do not wish for any
better kind of corr>. From vines planted at the foot
of thp tallegt trees, they make a great deal of fair

^ 'A plant of the millet kind, differing from it in the disposition of the
flower and seeds, which grow in a dose thick spike. It is sown in parts
of Europe as corn for the sustenance of the inhabitants.'— Johnson's
Dictionary.

''48 TURKISH LETTERS.

Wine. These vines climb among the branches of the
trees to which they are trained, and last for many
years. Abundance of wax and honey may be obtained
from the wild bees that work in the forests by anyone
who will take the trouble to look for their hives. The
woods also supply plenty of game, indeed the whole
country is full of pheasants and partridges. The very
pumpkins show the fertility of the soil, as they not only
are of a delicious Havour, but are often quite three feet

Ion

'g'

They have very little money. Few among them are
acquainted with silver coins, and still fewer with gold;
hardly anyone possesses them. I am not sure that
they ought not to be called fortunate on this account.
The absence of money is the absence of that which is
the chief incentive to crime ; and yet, for my part, I
have my doubts whether many of our friends at home
would care for this blessing, which renders it impos-
sible for anyone to grow rich ! Yet silver is to some
extent esteemed by them, for when any comes into the
country in the course of trade— as is necessarily the
case—they dedicate it to their churches, and it is
recast into crosses, chalices, or other church ornaments.
All these the king, when he thinks proper, melts
down, and converts the bullion to his own uses In
dealing with each other, barter is their only form of
trade. Everyone brings to market the commodity of
which he has plenty, to exchange it for what he is in
need of. Thus they do not feci the want of money
smce Its place is supplied by barter ; nay, even the
kings tribute is paid to him in the produce of the soil
He receives an abundant supply of what is needful in
the way of food and clothing. He has enough to eat
enough to drink, enough to clothe himself with and
also has the means of maintaining his household and

MODERN MEDEAS. 249

rewarding his supporters. He has an inexhaustible
store of provisions, both from tithes and other royal-
ties and from the presents which he is continually
receiving ; yet he is no miser, and gives as freely and
readily as he takes. His palace resembles a public
storehouse, being crammed with supplies of every kind.
From these stores rations are issued to all his subjects
who need them. Any who are in want, or have fallen
into poverty through the failure of their crops, are fed
from the royal granary.

It is the custom for merchants on landing to make
some present to the king ; its value is unimportant, as
he will accept whatever is offered, and they are then
invited to a banquet. There is a vast hall with
stables at each end, in which the king's table is laid.
It is a very long one ; he sits at the head himself,
and the others at a little distance from him. The
table is loaded with game and other dishep, and wine
is liberally supplied ; indeed, the hardest drinkers are
considered the most welcome guests. In the same
banqueting-hall the queen likewise dines with her train
of women, but at a separate table. I am afraid I
cannot say much for the manners of the ladies. They
behave quite as badly as the men, drinking, gesticu-
lating, tittering, nodding, and winking, to such an extent
as to make it plain that any of them would play the
Medea if a Jason ^ appeared. After the banquet the
king with his guests goes off to the chase.

In this country you may see in the forests parties
of the common people lying under the shade of
spreading trees, and keeping holiday with wine and
dances and songs. They stretch strings to a long pole,
and strike them with a small stick in regular time.
To the accompaniment of these rude harps they sing

' Medea was a Colchian, i.e. Mingrelian.

250 TURKISH LETTERS.

their love-songs and ballads in praise of heroes, among
whom, if the stories that are told are true, the name
of Roland frequently occurs.^ How it was conveyed
there I cannot conjecture, unless it came across the sea
with Godfrey de Bouillon. About this Roland they
tell many marvellous tales, even more absurd than
those of our own romances.

Where life is so easy and food so plentiful, morality
suffers. A respectable woman is not often to be met
with. A man who wishes to amuse his visitor and
make his stay agreeable, introduces him to his wife or
sister, and does not trouble himself as to how far their
intimacy may go. On the contrary, they think that
if their wives prove attractive it is a compliment to
themselves. Unmarried women are allowed the same
liberties, and behave just as badly as their married
sisters. Cases are often pointed out of girls of ten
years old who have got babies. When you express
your surprise, and refuse to believe that such diminu-
tive creatures can be mothers, they produce a baby not
much bigger than a large frog, which is the more
surprising, as the men and women are generally tall,
and remarkable for the symmetry of their limbs. But
they are so completely devoid of refinement and good
manners that, among other customs, they think it a
compliment to make a curious noise in the throat,
something like a hiccough.

For one thing they certainly have talents, and that

^ M. G^nin, in the introduction to his edition of the Song of Roland,
the most famous hero of the Carlovingian epic cycle, speaking of the
wide-spread popularity of the legend, quotes this passage. He also
mentions that Bellonus, or Belon (see note, page 138), states that the
Turks preserved at Broussa the sword of Roland, who, they declared, was
one of their countrymen. This illustrates what Busbecq in his first
letter says of the way in which the Turks identified St. George with one
of their own legendary heroes. Godfrey de Bouillon was one of the
leaders of the first Crusade, and the first Christian King of Jerusalem.

THE NOBLE SCIENCE OF THIEVING. 251

IS Stealing. Amongst them this art is held in high
esteem, and a successful pilferer is a great man. He
who is ignorant of the noble science of thieving is
despised as a mere blockhead ; indeed, they hardly
thmk him worthy of life. So strong is this feeling,
that if a man has a brother or son who cannot steal,
he considers him a hopeless case and a disgrace to
his family, and gives him away or sells him for a trifle
to foreign traders to carry him to some distant land.
An Italian merchant, who had been in that country,
told me that one of their priests robbed him of his
knife in church. He perceived the theft, but pre-
tended not to do so, and, to show the priest he had
been discovered, made him a present of the sheath
as well, that he might have something to put the
■ knife in !

When they enter a church they do not care much
lor the images of the Virgin, St. Peter, St. Paul or
other saints, but look about for a picture of St. George
on horseback. Before this they prostrate themselves
in adoration, and then kiss it all over, not omitting
even the horse's shoes. They say that St. George
was a brave soldier of great renown, who fouo-ht
several battles with the Evil Spirit on equal terms, and
always beat him, or at the worst was able to hold his
own.

_ I will now tell you something that will surprise you
Kings in the East expect presents from their visitors
Uadian brought Solyman a dish hollowed out of a ruby
ot such brilliancy that it would make the road by nicrht
as clear as if it were noonday. You will say, ' I*do
not believe it.' For the matter of that, I do not either
and what is more, I do not ask you to believe it. I
only tell you there are plenty who do. More knowing
people say it is a paten of garnet, and that it was

252 TURKISH LETTERS.

stolen from a son of the King of Persia, who was
wrecked on that coast as he was trying to escape to
Constantinople. He Hkewise brought twenty white
falcons, or hawks, which are said to be found in great
numbers in Mingrelia. So much for my news about
the Mingrelians and their manners.

You ask about my pursuits, and the general routine
of my life, and whether I ever go out of my house. Well, I
am not in the habit of going out, unless when despatches
are received from the Emperor for me to present to the
Sultan, or instructions come to remonstrate about the
raids made and mischief done by the Turkish garrisons,
and this happens only two or three times a year. Were
I to express a wish to take a ride occasionally through
the city with my keeper, it would in all probability be
granted ; but I do not care to have this made a favoui*
of, as I want to make them think that mv rieorous
confinement is no punishment to me. Besides, what
pleasure would it give me to ride about with Turks all
round me, making their remarks or perhaps venting
their abuse on me ? The country and the fields are
what I enjoy, and not a town ; least of all one that is
tumbling to pieces, and in which, with the exception
of its magnificent site, no relic of its original splendour
is left. The former rival of Rome is now crushed
beneath the yoke of the most cruel slavery. Who
could see this proud city and not pity her fall, while
musing over the changes and chances of this fleeting
world .? Besides, who knows how soon her fate may
be ours .-*

I keep at home, where I hold converse with my
old friends, my books. They are at once my com-
panions and my solace. For the sake of my health I
have built a tennis-court, where I play before dinner.
After dinner I practise the Turkish bow, in the use of

TURKISH ARCHER Y.

253

which weapon people here are marvellously expert
From the eighth, or even the seventh, j^ar of their aae
they begm to shoot at a mark, and practise archery ten
or twelve years. This constant exercise strengthens
the muscles of their arms, and gives them such skill
that they can hit the smallest marks with their arrows
The bows they use are much stronger than ours, and
being shorter, are also much more handy; the^ are
made not of a single piece of wood, but of the sinews
and horns of oxen fastened together with a quantky

draw the string of the very stiffest of them to his ear
Without training, however, the strongest man could do
nothing with a Turkish bow. Indeed, if a coin be set
between the string and the bow close to the notch
none but an adept could pull the string so far as would

intaTtl^t ;rnl^i:ran ifthT^ '^ ^'^^^ ^^^ ^^-
exposed ,J. they cho^" T^:^:^^
are taught, you may see them shooting^ith so sure
an airn_ that they surround the white ^on the L't
which IS generally smaller than a thaler, with fivfor
SIX arrows, so that every arrow touches tl e margin o

sLtnt o" '°" T ^^^ '' Th^y -'dom
use a range of more than th rtv feet On t-K« ^u u

of therigh, h,„d .hey wear bon'e rings o, ,i".t
bowstnng I.es when they draw ft, and the a ow is
kept ,n ,.s place by holding the left thumb T„ an
fpnght pos,t,o„ and joining i, ,o the forefinge so

Ur. u ij • kashas and men with larcre

households exercise their servants in this sort of prS
fee at home, the more skilful being told off to act as

?S4 TURKISH LETTERS.

teachers. Some of them at the feast of Easter ^ — for
the Turks have an Easter (the feast of Bairam) hke
ourselves — assemble in the great plain beyond Pera,
where, squatting on the ground in a line, with their
legs crossed in the Turkish manner like tailors, they
try who can shoot the furthest. I must mention that
the contest, after the usual Turkish fashion, is prefaced
by prayer. Great order and silence prevail through-
out, however large the number of spectators. On
these occasions they use special bows and arrows ; the
former are very short and stiff, and cannot be bent except
by a man who has had a great deal of practice. An
embroidered handkerchief, such as we use for wiping
our faces, is the winner's prize. The chief reward,
however, is the reputation which the successful archer
acquires. The range they attain with their arrows is
almost incredible. The point reached by the arrow of
the longest shot in the year is marked by a stone.
Many such stones set up in former days are still stand-
ing, several paces beyond those which are now erected.
These they firmly believe are the marks of their
ancestors' shots, to whose strength and skill, by their
own admission, they cannot aspire. Moreover, in
various streets and piazzas of Constantinople there
are ranges of this sort, at which there assemble not
merely boys and young men, but also those of more
advanced age. A target-keeper is appointed, who has
the charge of keeping it in order and watering the butt
every day, which otherwise would get so dry that the
blunt arrows which they use in practice would not
stick in it. It is also the keeper's business to stand by
the target and draw out the arrows, and throw them
back to the shooters after cleaning them. In return
everyone gives him a fixed fee, which forms his salary.

' See note, page 229.

INVENTIONS ADOPTED BY THE TUltKS.

25s

The front of the target is like a small door, from which
perhaps, ongjnated a proverb the Greeks liave ; when a
man has wholly missed the mark, they say ■ he s shoot^

;."s!d?h;"' : ^r- ''°' ■ *""^ "-c-ks ;;:':;■;

them. I am well aware, of course, that the i,,se of the
bow ,s very ancent among the Turks; but that does
not seem to me any reason why they should not
have gone on using the sort of target and but. l^ch
they found m the Greek cities when they took hem

nlZTTr f^ *-'".,"- ^>-»» /eater read"
ness than the Turks to avail themselves of the useful
mvent,ons of foreigners, as is proved by their Lploy-

™ ttdT/chri:- ir^Tr' '"' ™"v*-"'"g^

lnH,„ J '-nnstians. They cannot, however, be

Ick? be'ca '"' ;r "^\Pr""?' - '» establish ptlbli!

Aet ;ac ed bo "'' "u*'' *^ ^'criptures-that is,
tnerr sacred books—would no longer be sc-Mur,, if
they were /,™/.^. ,„d that, if ^ubh'c dock w're
"itroduced, the authority of their muezzins and he r
ancent ntes would be thereby impaired

Even m the case of other nations, it is their habit

he^ylrsoT^"' r ^"^'™' "^^S^^- T-his princ p le
tney carry so far as almost to infringe the precents of

he,r own religion. Remember, in saying'^tS T,m

speakmg o the practice of the ordinary Turk As a^

exan, , f „„,, everyone knows thjt they have no

the s Ightest sympathy with Christian worshtp bu

notw,.hstand.ng, as the Greek priests have a custom

crmty""t?oX:r ---"t-" ^^^
.-^p.urtt-:grtL;;*Tt:rSrr

256 TURKISH LETTERS.

and inquire if the waters have yet been blessed. If
they say no, they put off their voyage ; if they are
answered in the affirmative, they embark and set sail.

It was also a custom among the Greeks that the
cave in Lemnos from which is extracted the earth they
call ' goat's seal,' ^ should not be opened except on
August 6, the feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord.
This custom the Turks observe to this very day ; and
they think it proper that a service should even now be
performed there by a priest of the Greek Church in
the same manner as it used to be, while they remain
at a distance as spectators of the sacred rites in which
they cannot join. But if one should ask why they do
so, they reply that there exist many customs ordained
of yore, the advantage of which is proved by long
experience^ though the reasons for them are unknown.
The ancients, they say, knew more and saw further
than they do, and what they had approved of ought
not to be abolished. They prefer to keep such
customs rather than run the risk of changing them.
Some carry this way of thinking so far, that I have
known instances of Turks who had their children
secretly baptised ; their notion being that there must
be some advantage in this rite, or otherwise it would
never have been instituted.

But, by the way, I must not fail, when speaking of
Turkish drill, to mention a very ancient manoeuvre
which has been handed down from the time of the

' The chief production cf Lemnos was a red earth called Terra
Lemnia, or sigillata, which was employed by the ancient physicians as a
remedy for wounds and the bites of serpents, and which is still much
valued by the Turks and Greeks for its supposed medicinal virtues. It
is dug out of a hill, made into small balls, and stamped with a seal which
contains Arabic characters. Mattioli, in his letter to Ouacquelben (see
note I, page 415), asks him for information about this earth, and requests
him to procure some for him. See also page 416.

BUSBECQS V/S/TOXS.

'SI

Parthians ; namely, for the cavalry to pretend to fly
and to shoot down their tnnvary enemies when they

which they acquire the art of rapidly executing this
manceuvre. They put a brass hall "on the op o a

past ,t at full speed, they then turn suddenly, and bend

a;te iifirrfh^r^^^^^^^^^^^
r„^?:atttpec::it^^"^""™"^"-'---

But ,t ,s time for me to return to our lodrine- or
my keeper w,ll be angry with me ! Whatever^t L ,
have left unoccupied by the exercises I men,io,^ed is
spent ,n readmg, or talking with the ci.ize^sTpera
who are Genoese by origin, or with other fiends
but for th,s the cavasses' leave is necess-,rv Tl '
temper is indeed somewhat uncerLin b"' hey «cT
s.onally have lucid intervals, during which tl^e,^
more reasonable. Accordingly, wh n tty aTe'jr:
good humour, Ragusans. Florentines. Ven'etLs nd
sometimes also Greeks, and men of other nations ^ome
m numbers e.ther to pay a visit or on some business
H.ther flock also men from yet more distant hnds
whose conversation has great attractions for me A
few months ago there came an amber merchant ff
Dantzic. who had bought no the whnl» , [

amb^r A I Whole SUpp v of

ainber. As a great quantity of this article is sent .

their rooms, cabinets, and shrines with it h" "'

me a barrel of the beer thev call iT, i- / ^^'''^'

VOL, I. ^ ^ Juppenbier (spruce^

258 TURKISH LETTERS.

beer), which is certainly capital stuff. But I had a
hearty laugh at my Greek and Italian guests, who,
having never met with such a beverage, could not
find a name for it. At last, as they heard from me
that it was good for one's health, they thought it a
kind of medicine, and called it Sirup ; and as they kept
on asking for ' a little more of the same mixture,' by
repeated tastings, like the lady in Terence,^ they finally
finished my barrel at one sitting.

My cavasses are changed from time to time, and
sometimes I have the good fortune to have men who
are so considerate that they not only would not object
to my going out, were I to desire it, but they actually
invite me to take a ride. But, as I said, I make a
point of refusing to leave my quarters to prevent their
thinking that they have it in their power either to
gratify or to annoy me. I excuse myself on the plea,
that by such a long stay in the house I have grown a
piece of the building, so that I can't be torn away
without risk of its falling ! I tell them I will go out
once for all, when permission shall be granted me to
return home ! I am glad my household are allowed
their liberty, as it may help them to bear their long
exile more patiendy. In this, however, there is again
the inconvenience that quarrels often occur when they
meet with drunken Turks, especially if they are unat-
tended by Janissaries ; but even if they are at hand,
they cannot always prevent blows being exchanged.
All this causes me much annoyance, as I am obliged
to answer the accusations which are continually trumped
up against my people, though I must say that my
cavasses in most cases save me the trouble, they are so
particular about keeping the gates shut. Of this we
had lately an instance, which I must tell you. There

' The reference is to Teience, HeautontimoriDnenos, 3. i. 48.

BARRING OUT

259

had been sent to me by the Emperor one Philip Baldi
an Italian, a man of about sixty, who had travelled too

f 1,' 11 f ^tlT °f '''^' ^-e. and had consequently
fallen ,11.^ When the apothecary brought the clyster
the doctor had ordered, the cavasse refused him ad-
mittance, and would not allow him to take it to the
patient, treating him most uncivilly.

This cavasse had for a long while behaved kindlv
and courteously towards us, but he suddenly turned

his stick. As was much annoyed by his conduct, I
determined to show him he was wasting his trouble in
trying to intimidate us, as if we were a set of children
I ordered one of my servants to keep the door bolted'
and to undo it for no one except by my orders The
cavasse came as usual in the morning to open the
gates, but, as the key proved useless, he perceived they
were bolted inside, and called out to my servant, whom
he could see through the chinks between the folding-
doors, to let him in. My servant refused, and the
cavasse thereupon got angry, and began to abuse
him and swear at him. My servant replied, ' Bluster
to your hearts content; but neither you, nor any of
your people shall get in here. Why'should I open
the door for you any more than you do for us ? As
you keep us shut in, we will keep you shut out " You
may lock the door on the outside as tio-ht as voi^
P ease ; I will take care to bolt it on the insid .' Th n

orderTrf^: ^^'^^^t '^"^ ^^^^e Ambassadors

in the s'table % - ' T^ "' ^^^^^ P"^ ^y horse

m the stable. < I wont. ' At any rate give me hay

with his Turkish escort bv .nn.. ir ''''^^}^^^> ^^^ been taken prisoner
and that he had ^d "hrZ i wLThTL^s '^°\'' 1° ^^^^'-"'

S 2

26o TURKISH LETTERS.

and fodder for him.' ' There is plenty to be had in
the neighbourhood, if you are willing to pay for it'
I used to invite this cavasse to dine with me, or send
him something from my table ; this day, however, his
luck was changed, and he was obliged to stay before
the gate without breaking his fast, and tie up his
horse to the plane-tree which stands opposite. The
Pashas and most of the court officials pass this way
on their return home from the palace, and when they
saw the cavasse's horse, which they knew well enough
by its trappings, munching hay at the foot of the
plane-tree, they asked him why he kept it there in-
stead of in the stable, as he usually did 1 He then
told them the whole story ; viz., that because he had
shut us in, we had shut him out, and not only himself
but his horse, and that he got no food and his steed
no forage. The story reached the ears of the other
Pashas, and caused much laughter. From that time
they could no longer doubt how utterly useless it was
to lock me up, and with what contempt I treated such
petty means of annoyance. Shortly afterwards the
cavasse was removed, and the rigour of our confine-
ment was somewhat relaxed.

This occurrence was noticed by Roostem a few
days afterwards in a way that deserves to be recorded.
A man of reverend years and great reputation for
sanctity was paying him a visit, and asked him in the
course of their conversation, why, when the discord
between the Sultan's sons was so apparent, and serious
disturbances were expected to arise from it, nay were
imminent, he did not make a regular peace with the
Emperor, and so relieve Solyman of all anxiety in that
quarter ? Roostem replied, there was nothing he
desired better, but how could he do it ? The demands
I made he could not concede ; and, on the other hand,

AN AMBASSADOR'S DILEMMA. 261

I refused to accept what he offered. ' Nor does he
yield,' said he, ' to compulsion. Have I not tried
everything to make him agree to my terms ? I have
now for several years been keeping him immured,
and annoying him in many ways, and treating him
roughly. But what good am I doing ? He is proof
against everything. We do our best to keep him
in the closest confinement, but not content with
our locking him up, he actually bolts himself in. Thus
all my labour is in vain ; any other man, I believe,
sooner than endure these annoyances would ere now
have gone over to our religion ; but he cares nothing
for them.' This was related to me by people who
were present at the conversation.

The Turks are a suspicious nation, and have got
it into their heads, that the Ambassadors of Christian
princes have different instructions, to be produced or
suppressed according to circumstances, and that they
first attempt to get the most favourable terms they can,
and, if they fail, gradually come down and accede to
harder conditions. Consequently they think it is ne-
cessary to intimidate them, to flaunt war in their faces,
to keep them shut up like prisoners, and to torment
them in every way, as the best means of breaking their
spirit and making them sooner produce the set of
instructions, which specify the minimum they are em-
powered to accept.

Some think that this notion was much encouraged
by the conduct of a Venetian Ambassador, when there
was a dispute between the Venetians and Turks about
restoring Napoli di Romania to the Sultan. 1 The

In 1540, Luigi Badoer was sent as ambassador to treat for peace on
the basis of the status quo ante belhim, and the payment of 30,000 ducats,
but was forbidden in any case to cede Malvasia and Napoli di Romania.
Such were the instructions of the Senate, but the Council of Ten gave
him m addition secret instructions, empowering him to surrender these

2^2 TURKISH LETTERS.

instructions he had received from the Venetian Senate
directed him to do his best to make peace without
giving up NapoH, but, if he failed, at last to agree to
surrender the town, if he found war to be the only
alternative. Now it happened that these instructions
were betrayed to the Turks by certain citizens of
Venice. The Ambassador, in total ignorance of this,
mtended to open negotiations by suggesting easier
terms, and thus to sound the minds of the Pashas.
When they pressed him to disclose all his instructions,
he declared that his powers went no further ; till at
last the Pashas grew furious, and told him to take care
what he was about, as their master was not accustomed
to be trifled with, and also that he knew right well
what his instructions were. Then they repeated accu-
rately in detail the orders he had received from the
authorities of Venice, and told him, that ' If he did not
at once produce t}iem all, he would find himself in no
small danger as a liar and impostor, while inevitable
destruction would await the republic he represented,
if his deceit should provoke Solyman's wrath beyond
all appeasing, and cause him to destroy them with fire
and sword.' They warned him that ' he had not much
time for deliberation ; if he produced all his instruc-
tions, well and good ; but if he persevered in his
attempt to trifle with them, it would be too late after-
wards to talk of peace and express his regret' They
concluded by saying, that ' Solyman was no man's sup-
pliant; since by God's blessing he had the power to
compel.' The Ambassador knew not what to do, and

places, if he found it impossible to obtain a peace on easier terms. The
brothers Cavezza, of whom one was secretary to the Senate, and the
other to the Council of Ten, betrayed the secret, probably through a
French diplomatist to the Porte. The consequences are described in the
text See Daru, Histoire de Venise, book xxvi. p. 82, Von Hammer
book XX.X., and Charriere, Negoclations de la France dans k Levant i 548*

AN EMBLEMATIC PRESENT. 263

thinking it useless to attempt to conceal what was per-
fectly well known, made a clean breast of it, and
frankly confessed that what they stated as to his
instructions was correct. This misadventure, how-
ever, made him very unpopular at home. From that
time the Turks seem to have become much more
suspicious, thinking it impolitic to enter into negotia-
tions with an ambassador until his spirit is broken
by long confinement. It was on this account that
Veltwick,^ the ambassador of the Emperor Charles,
was detained by them for eighteen months, and my
colleagues for more than three years, and then dis-
missed without having accomplished anything. On
me they have been putting pressure for a long time,
as you know, and as yet I can see no prospect of my
release.

But when Baldi, whom I was speaking of, arrived,
the age of the messenger made them suspect that he
brought fresh instructions, allowing us to accept harder
conditions of peace, and these they were afraid of my
misrepresenting on account of my knowledge of their
domestic troubles. They thought it therefore politic
to treat me with greater rigour, as the best means of
making me produce forthwith the real instructions I
had last received. For the same reason Roostem tried
to intimidate me with threats of war, which he hinted
at by the following pleasantry. What does he do but
send me a very large pumpkin of the kind we call
' Anguries,' and the Germans ' Wasser Blutzer ' (water-
melons). Those grown at Constantinople are of ex-
cellent flavour, and have red seeds inside ; they
are called Rhodian melons because they come from
Rhodes. They are good for allaying thirst when the
weather is very hot. A great round one was sent me

* See page 79.

''^^ TURKISH LETTERS.

by Roostem tlirough my Interpreter, one very hot day,
with the following message : ' He hoped I should like
a fruit which suited the season ; there was no better
antidote for the heat ; but he wished me also to know
that at Buda and Belgrade they had great store of such
truit, and indeed some larger specimens of it,' by which
he meant cannon balls. I sent back word that I was
much obliged for his present and should enjoy it, but
that I was not surprised at what he said about Buda
and Belgrade as there were at Vienna plenty of speci-
mens of the fruit quite as big as the one he sent'me

T. ^ I ^"''^'^' ^^'^"'^ ^ ^^^hed Roostem to
understand that I had noticed the point of his jest

Now It IS time I should relate the story of Bajazet
about which you especially beg for information.^
Doubtless you remember the circumstances under
which Bajazet parted from his father a few years ago
He was pardoned on condition that he should not again
make any movement against his brother or excite fresh
disturbances but should remain at peace and on friendly

Z7rt , ' "' " ^''°'^^'" °"^^^ t« do.^ ' Let him '
said the Sultan, ' remember the pledges he has given
me, nor further disquiet my declining years. Another

may btTathereJ7 '''.f \'' '" ''' '"'"^"" "'^'^^ ^^^^^ Bajazet's ruin
riala^A^is Jnh.'^TlT T' °' °"°"^^" ^"' ^'^^ ^^^ ^een secretary

to be murdered in such a manner as to make it anoear tt?^ ^^''''
responsible for the crime, and thus widen the breach Sf 'T ""^l
his father. It is the evidence of the secre"a v of ht h TT ^'"' ^""^
that Von Hammer prefers to Busbec^ Tma^htf h^^^^^^^
formation than our writer • the Question ;= ^^ ,, ^ ™°''^ '"'

truth , See Von Hamme;, book xxxi- ' ^^" '^ ^^ "'^'>- '« ^P^"^ '^e

See page 189.

BAJAZETS CONSPIRACY. 265

time I will not let him go unpunished.' These warn-
ings influenced Bajazet for a time, but only as long as
his mother survived ; indeed, he placed but little confi-
dence on his brother's afifection or his father's feelings
towards him, and relied entirely on the love his mother
bore him, and being anxious not to alienate her, he
remained quiet during her lifetime. But, when she died
two years afterwards, thinking that his case was des-
perate, and that he was no longer bound by any tie of
filial duty, he began to resume his former designs, and
to prosecute his old quarrel against his brother with
more bitterness than ever. At one time he plotted
secretly against his life, at another used open violence,
and often sent his troops to make forays into his
brother's government, which bordered on his own, and
if he could catch any of his servants he sentenced them
to heavy punishments, intending thereby to insult their
master ; in short, as he could not strike at his brother's
life, he left nothing undone which he thought would
impair his prestige.

At Constantinople he had some devoted partisans,
and through them he tried to tamper with the Sultan's
bodyguard by every means in his power, and on some
occasions he even ventured to cross over to Constan-
tinople himself,! concealing himself there among his
accomplices and the men of his party.

The progress of the conspiracy was no secret to
Solyman, who, besides his other channels of informa-
tion, received accurate intelligence from Selim, who
wrote despatches from time to time, warning his father
to be on his guard against attack. ' The Sultan was
mistaken,' said Selim, ' if he thought that the impi-
ous designs which Bajazet was now rehearsing were
not ultimately aimed at his own person. Bajazet cared
" This was a very serious step. See page 187.

2^^ TURKISH LETTERS.

neither for God nor man, provided he could reach the
throne. His father was as great a barrier as his
brother to the accompHshment of his ambitious hopes.
Attacks on himself were aimed at Solyman's Hfe, a
crime which Bajazet had planned long ago, and had
lately been trying to carry into execution. He begged
the Sultan to take care he did not fall a victim to these
plots, and find himself a prisoner before news of his
danger could be received or help sent to him. As
to the personal wrongs he received from Bajazet, he
could afford to disregard them, but he was troubled at
the greatness of his father's peril.'

By such insinuations fresh fuel was continually
added to Solyman's wrath against Bajazet. Accord-
ingly he wrote letters reminding him of his duty, of the
clemency with which he had treated him, and of his
promises to himself, and bade him remember what
he had said on a former occasion, viz., that he would
not always find pardon, that he ought to turn over a
new leaf, and not persist in provoking his brother and
annoying his father.^ He added that he had but a
short span of life left himself, and when he was dead
Providence would determine what their several lots
should be. In the meantime they should keep quiet,
if they had any regard for the peace of their father
and their country. But such arguments were all
thrown away upon Bajazet, who had made up his mind
to hazard everything rather than take the other alter-
native, and tamely wait till the time came for him to
be butchered like a sheep, which would most assuredly
be his fate, if Selim ascended the throne.

He replied, however, to his father's commands in
becoming terms, but his deeds did not correspond to

' See page i88.

BAJAZET ORDERED TO A MAST A. 267

his words, nor did he swerve in the least from the hne
of conduct he had resolved on.

When Solyman saw this, he felt that other measures
were necessary, and that he must not allow his sons to
remain so near each other. Accordingly he issued
orders that before a certain day each should leave his
government (Bajazet was Governor of Kutaiah, Selim
of Magnesia), and that Bajazet should go to Amasia
and Selim to Koniah. No fault could be found with
Selim, and his favour with his father was unimpaired,
but to prevent Bajazet from being hurried into rebel-
lion, Solyman wished to make it appear that they were
both being treated alike. In giving these orders he
observed that the further apart they were in actual
distance the closer they would be in spirit. Vicinity,
he added, was often prejudicial to union, many faults
being committed on both sides by mischievous officers
and servants, the effect of which was to cause great
irritation on the part of their masters. Let both of
them be obedient to his commands. If either should
hesitate to obey, he would expose himself to a charge
of treason.

Selim made no delay, inasmuch as he knew that
these orders were given chiefly in his interest. Ba-
jazet kept making excuses, and halted after proceeding
a short distance. He complained that he had been
given the government of Amasia, that town of evil
omen, which was still reeking with his brother's blood, ^
and said that he would be contented with any other
government whatever, in place of that, in which the
miserable end of his kinsfolk would ever be forcing
itself on his eyes, and wounding his heart with its sad
recollections. He asked that he might at least be
permitted to pass the winter where he was, or at

' See page 116.

268 TURKISH LETTERS.

any rate in the place which his brother had left. To
these remonstrances Solyman paid no attention ; and
Sehm had already proceeded some days' march with
the troops, which his father had given him as an escort
to protect him against any attack on the part of his
brother, while Bajazet was still delaying and hesitating,
when he suddenly turned and retraced his steps, and
then making a circuit appeared in his brother's rear,
moving on Ghemlik, a Bithynian town, on the Asiatic
coast opposite Constantinople. For this step he had
the sanction of his father, who did not like Bajazet's
procrastination, for both father and son were alarmed
at the thought of what might be the consequence both
to the empire and themselves, if Bajazet should win
over the Imperial guards and march on Ghemlik or
even on Constantinople. As they were both threat-
ened, the safest course seemed to be for Selim to take
up such a position as would enable them to support
each other. Selim had not as yet sufficient strength to
make him certain of defeating his brother, who was
now ready for any desperate step.

When Bajazet saw Selim in his rear, he felt that
the only result of his own delay had been to ensure his
brother's succession to the throne, whenever his father
should be carried off, an event which might be expected
any day, as the Sultan's health, which was generally
bad, was at that time worse than usual. Accordingly
he sent letters to his father, in which he accused his
brother ; he told him that Selim could have given no
stronger proof of his undutiful and disloyal intentions
than his march to Ghemlik ; to which no other object
could be assigned than an attempt on the throne, as it
was a place from which he would have but a short
passage to Constantinople, if he received the neivs
he wished for, informing him of his father's death.

BAJAZETS REMONSTRANCES. 269

But if his father's life should be prolonged, and the
fulfilment of his wishes thus deferred, he would not
hesitate to employ his tools for the attainment of his
object, and would ascend the throne over his father's
murdered body. In spite of all this he could not help
seeing that Selim, villain as he was, was his father's
darling, and was treated as if he were a pattern son ;
while he on the other hand, though he had always
been a good son, and had never dreamt of such
undutiful conduct, nay, more, had always strictly ob-
served every indication of his father's wishes, was
nevertheless scorned and rejected. All that he re-
quested was permission to decline a government, the
traditions of which boded ill to its possessor. Next he
had recourse to entreaties, and again implored his father
to consent to his being appointed to a different govern-
ment, whether it were the one his brother had left, or
any other, provided it had not the dark history of
Amasia. He concluded by saying he would wait for
an answer to his petition at the place where he had
halted, that he might not have further to return should
his wish be granted, but if he should not obtain what
he asked, he would then go wherever his father mio-ht
order.

The complaints Bajazet made about Amasia were
not altogether unreasonable, for the Turks are in the
habit of forecasting important matters from trifling
incidents. But this was not the view that Solyman
took, for he knew what value to attach to his son's
bemoanings, and was convinced that his object was to
obtain a situation more convenient for makino- a
revolution, Amasia being too far from Constantinople.
Thus Bajazet, pleading one excuse after another for
delay, put off the hour for obeying his father's wishes
as long as he could, and went on increasing his forces

2 70 TURKISH LETTERS.

by enlisting recruits, arming them, and raising money
— in short, he made every preparation for defending
himself and attacking his brother. These preparations
were regarded by Solyman as directed against himself,
but, nevertheless, he passed them over for the most
part in silence. The cautious old man did not wish to
render Bajazet desperate and thus drive him into open
rebellion. He was well aware that the eyes of the
world were fixed on the quarrel between his sons, and
he was therefore anxious that these troubles should be
left to the influence of time, and be allowed to die out as
quietly as possible. He therefore replied to Bajazet in
gentle language, saying, ' He could make no change
about the government, his decision on that point was
final. They ought both to obey his commands and
repair to their respective posts. As to the future he
bade them be of good hope, as he would take care
that everything should be so regulated as to prevent
either of them having any ground for just complaints.'
Pertau, the fourth of the Vizierial Pashas, was
selected to convey these commands to Bajazet, and to
keep up an appearance of impartiality, Mehemet, the
third of the Vizierial Pashas, was despatched to Selim
with the same orders. Both were instructed not to
leave the Princes before they reached their respective
governments, as Solyman prudently intended to attach
these important ofificers to his sons in order that they
might be kept in mind of their duties. This Selim
was ready to allow, but Bajazet refused, for, as his
intention was to bring about a general revolution, he
thought there could be no greater obstacle to ' his
designs than to have one of his father's counsellors
ever at his side to criticise his words and actions.
He therefore addressed Pertau courteously, and having
given him such presents as he could, compelled him to

PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. 271

return, in spite of his remonstrances, saying, that he
wished to employ him as his defender and advocate
with his father, as he had no one else to plead for him.
He told him that he would not prove an ungrateful
or a discreditable client. Further, he bade him tell
his father that he would always regard his commands
as law, if Selim would let him, but that he could not
bear any longer the outrages of his brother, and his
attacks upon his life.

The dismissal of Pertau in this manner made
Solyman sure of his son's intentions. Though Bajazet,
to prevent the mission to him appearing to have been
wholly ineffectual, kept pretending that he was on his
way to Amasia, Solyman was not deceived, and con-
tinued to make his preparations for war with un-
dunmished activity. He ordered the Beyler-bey of
Greece, although he was suffering from an attack of
gout, to hurry with his cavalry to Selim's assistance
and on Mehemet Pasha's return from his mission he
despatched him into Asia with the most trusty of the
Imperial guard on the same service. He also made
his own preparations, and wished to make it appear
that he was about to take the field in person, but the
Imperial guard gathered to their standards with hesita
tion and reluctance, loathing a war between brothers
as an accursed thing. ' Against whom were they to
draw their swords .? ' they asked ; 'Was it not against
the heir of the empire himself 1 ' 'Surely,' they argued
_ some alternative might be found instead of pluLn^
into war ; it could not be necessary to compel them to
dip their hands in the blood of their comrades, and to
incur the guilt of slaughtering their fellow-soldiers
As to Bajazet's attempts, they were, in their opinion'
justified by the emergency.'

When these speeches reached Solyman's ears he

272 TURKISH LETTERS.

submitted the following questions to his Mufti, who,
as you doubtless remember, is the chief authority
among the Turks in religious matters, and like the
oak of Dodona^ is consulted in cases of difficulty.
' First, how ought he to treat a man who in his own
lifetime raised men and money, attacked and captured
towns, and troubled the peace of the empire ? Secondly,
what was his opinion of those who joined his standard,
and assisted him in such an enterprise ? Finally, what
he thought of those who refused to take up arms
against him, and justified his acts ? ' The Mufti
replied, ' That such a man and his partisans, in his
judgment, merited the severest punishment ; and that
those who refused to bear arms against him were
wicked men, who failed to support their religion, and
therefore deserved to be branded as infamous.' This
reply was made public, and transmitted through the
chief of the cavasses to Bajazet.

A few days afterwards there returned to Constanti-
nople a cavasse, who had been sent to Selim by
Solyman, and had been captured on the way by
Bajazet. By him he sent word to his father, that he
had violated no obligation demanded by filial duty, he
had never taken up arms against him, and was ready
to obey his commands in everything. The quarrel
was one between his brother and himself, and life and
death depended on the issue of the struggle, as either

' The allusion is to the ancient and famous oracle of Zeus at Dodona
in Epirus, which is mentioned in the Iliad and the Odyssey. The god,
according to one legend, was said to dwell in an ancient oak tree, and to
give oracles by the rustlings of the branches. These ' talking oaks ' are
aliuded to by ^schylus in the Prometheus Vinctiis, and by Sophocles in
the Trachinia. Busbecq's Latin, 'A quo in rebus dubiis responsa
petuntur,' is suggested by Virgil's lines —

' Hinc Italee gentes omnisque Oinotria tellus
In dubiis responsa petunt.'

^neid, vii. 85.

SELIM MARCHES ON KONTAH. 273

he must fall by his brother's sword or his brother by
his. That both should survive was an impossibility.
He had determined to bring matters to a conclusion,
one way or the other, in his father's lifetime ; there-
fore he called on Solyman not to interfere in their con-
test, and to remain neutral. But if, as was rumoured,
he should cross the sea to go to Selim's assistance!
he warned him not to hope that he would find it an
easy task to get him into his power, as he had secured
for himself a refuge in case of defeat. The moment
Solyman set foot on the soil of Asia, he would lay the
country waste with fire and sword as mercilessly as
Tamerlane. Such a message caused Solyman no small
anxiety. At the same time news arrived that the town
of Akschehr, which was governed by Selim's son as
Sanjak-bey, had been taken by Bajazet, and, after a
large sum of money had been exacted, had been
ruthlessly sacked.

But when Selim, who had been afraid of his brother's
lying in wait for him on the road, heard that he was
on his way to Amasia, and had already reached Angora
his suspicions were relieved, and he rapidly marched
on ^ Koniah,! which was held for him by a garrison
which had been thrown into it. For not the least of
the anxieties which racked Solyman's mind was lest
Bajazet should seize Koniah, and so make his' way
into Syria, and thence invade Egypt, a province which
was open to attack and of doubtful loyalty, and which
having not yet forgotten the ancient empire of the
Circassians or Mamelukes, was eager for a revolution.^

' Koniah was the ancient Iconium.

^ The Arabic word Memlook or Mameluke means a slave. The first
cahphs formed their body-guard of slaves, and in the decadence of the
cahphate these slaves, hke the Roman pr^torians, played a principal part
in the numerous revolutions that occurred. It was in Egypt however
that the Mamelukes attained their highest power. They wfre Sovere'S

VOL. I. T

2n TURKISH LETTERS.

Should Bajazet once establish himself there it would
not be an easy task to dislodge him, especially as the
neighbouring Arabs would readily adopt any cause
which held out prospects of booty. From Egypt too.
if he were hard pressed, all the coasts of Christendom
were within easy reach. For this reason Solyman
took the utmost pains to bar the road which might be
expected to be Bajazet's last resource, orders having
already been given to several of the governors in
Asia Minor to hold themselves in readiness to take
the field when Selim should give the signal. At the
time of which I am now speaking, Selim had called
them out and had encamped before the walls of Koniah,
anxiously watching his brother's movements. He de-
termined to wait there for his father's reinforcements,
and not by a premature engagement to expose his life
to the hazard of a battle.

Bajazet, on the other hand, was keenly alive to the
magnitude of the enterprise he had undertaken. He
had hired a body of Kurdish horsemen, who are,

of that country for more than 250 years, from the fall of the dynasty of
Eyoub to the Ottoman conquest, and even after that event were the real
rulers of Egypt till their massacre in the present century by Mehemet Ali.
They were composed of three bodies, the Mamelukes, properly so-called,
who were of pure Circassian blood ; the Djelbans, who were mostly com-
posed of Abyssinian slaves, and the Korsans, an assembly of mercenaries
of all nations. They were governed by twenty-four beys, over whom was
a Sultan. Their dominion extended over Egypt and Syria with the holy
cities of Mecca and Medina and the adjacent parts of Arabia. Selim I.,
Solyman's father, after his victorious campaign against Shah Ismael
attacked the Mamelukes, defeated and killed their Sultan, Kausson
Ghawri, near Aleppo (Aug. 24, 1516), and, marching into Egypt, defeated
Touman Bey, the new Sultan, at Ridania (January 22nd), and added
Syria and Egypt to his empire. When in Egypt, he induced the last of
the Fatimite caliphs, who had been a puppet in the hands of the Mame-
lukes, to transfer that dignity to himself and his successors. It is in
virtue of this transaction that the present Sultan and his predecessors
since the time of Selim have claimed to be the head of the Mahommedan
faith throughout the world. See Von Hammer, book xxiv.

SELIM'S APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER.

275

probably, descendants of the ancient Gordia^ans.i They
have a great reputation for valour, and Bajazet felt
confident that their assistance would ensure the success
of his arms. The day they arrived at his camp they
went through a sham fight on horseback, which was so
hke reality that several of them were slain, and more
were wounded. He pitched his camp in the open
country, near Angora, so as to have at his command
the ample resources of that important town. In the
citadel he placed his concubines with their children
i^rom the wealthier of the merchants he raised a loan
on the terms of repaying them with interest if Provi-
dence should crown his hopes with success. From
the same source he obtained the means of equipping
aiid arming his forces. He had, after the fashion of
lurkish nobles, a numerous retinue of servants • these
were reinforced by the Kurds I mentioned, and by men
whose interests had been advanced by his mother his
sister, or Roostem. To them were added many of the
surviving retainers of Mustapha and Achmet, brave
and experienced soldiers, who burned to risk their
lives in avenging the cruel murders of their masters
Nor was there wanting a motley following of men, who
were discontented with their actual condition, and were
eager for a change. The motive of some was com-
passion for the unfortunate Bajazet, whose only re-
maining hope lay in an appeal to arms. They were
attracted to the young man by his looks, which stronaly
resembled his father's ; while, on the other hand Seilm
Tvas totally unlike the Sultan, and inherited the face
and manner of his unpopular mother. In gait he was

; The Kurds are descended from the Carduchi or Gordia^ans of the
ancients (See Xenophon, ^«.W., iv.) They have gradualfyadvaned
from the. ongmal mountain homes into the plains fn the souJh eas of
Armen,a and the north of Mesopotamia. They are a warhke race Id
much addicted to brigandage. '

T 2

276 TURKISH LETTERS.

pompous, in person he was corpulent, his cheeks were
unnaturally red and bloated ; amongst the soldiers he
was nick-named ' The stalled ox.' He lived a lazy
life, at the same time a sluggard and a sot. In the
smaller courtesies of life he was singularly ungracious ;
he never did a kindness and he never gained a friend.
He did not wish, he said, to win the favour of the
people at the expense of his father's feelings. The
only man that loved him was his father. Everyone
else hated him, and none so much as those whose
prospects depended on the accession of a generous and
warlike Sultan. The soldiers had been wont to call
Bajazet Softi, which means a studious and quiet person,
but when they saw him take up arms and prepare to
fiorht to the uttermost for his own and his children's
preservation, they respected his courage and admired
his conduct. 'Why had the father,' they murmured,
' disowned a son who was the living image of himself ?
Why had he preferred to him that corpulent drone,
who showed not a trace of his father's character ? To
take up arms was no crime, when nothing else would
serve the turn. 'Twas nothing worse than what Selim,
their grandfather, had done.^ That precedent would
cover everything, as he had not only taken up arms
against his brother, but also had been compelled by
the force of circumstances to hasten his father's end.
Dreadful as the crime was to which he had been
driven, still, by it he had won the empire for his son
and grandsons. But if Solyman stood rightfully pos-
sessed of an empire, which had been won by such
means, why should his son be debarred from adopting
the same course ? Why should that be so heavily
punished in his case which Heaven itself had sanctioned
in his grandfather's ? Nay, the conduct of Selim was

' See note, page io8.

BAJAZErS SPEECH TO HIS ARMY. 277

far worse than that of his grandson Bajazet ; the
latter had taken up arms, but not to hurt his father ;
he had no desire for his death ; he would not harm
even his brother, if he would but let him live, and cease
from injuring him. It had ever been held lawful to
repel force by force. What fault could be found with a
man for endeavouring to save himself from ruin when
it stared him in the face ? '

Such were the sentiments that made men daily flock
to the standard of Bajazet. When his forces had well
nigh attained the size of a regular army, Bajazet felt
that he must forthwith attack his brother, and stake
life and empire on the issue of the contest. That he
might be defeated he was well aware, but even in
defeat he felt that honour might be gained. Accord-
ingly, he marched directly against Selim. His object
was to effect a passage into Syria ; if this should prove
successful, the rest, he was confident, would be easy.
Selim, having, with the assistance of his father, com-
pleted his armaments, awaited his brother under the
walls of Koniah. He had large forces, and a numerous
staff of experienced officers, who had been sent by the
Sultan, and his position was strengthened by well-
placed batteries of artillery.

By all this Bajazet was not one whit dismayed ; when
he came in sight of the enemy he addressed a few
words of encouragement to his men, telling them to
fight bravely. ' This,' he declared, ' was the hour they
had longed for, this was the opportunity for them to
prove their valour. Courage on that day should secure
a fortune at his hands. It rested with them to win or
forfeit everything. Everyone who was discontented
with his lot had now an opening for exchanging his
former poverty for wealth and honour. They might
expect from him, if they conquered, dignities, riches,

278 TURKISH LETTERS.

promotion, and all the rewards that valiant men deserve.
However extravagant their hopes, let them win this
one victory, and those hopes should be satisfied. They
had abundant means of gaining it in their gallant hearts
and stout arms. Before them stood only his brother's
following, cowards more debased than their cowardly
leader; it was through the ranks of these poltroons
his men must cleave their way. As for his father's
troops, though in body they stood with his brother, in
heart they were on his side. If Selim were out of the
way, his safety was assured, and their fortunes were
made ; let them go and avenge themselves on the com-
mon enemy. Let them not fear,' he repeated, 'the
multitude of their foe. Victory was won not by numbers
but by valour. Heaven was on the side, not of the
larger, but the braver army. If they bore in mind how
cruel and how eager for their blood was the enemy
they were to encounter, victory would not be hard to
gain. Last of all ' said he, ' I wish you to regard not
my words but my deeds. Take my word for it, the
day is yours, if you fight for my life, as you see me
fighting for your profit.'

Having addressed his troops in such terms, he
boldly ordered them to attack the enemy. He led the
charge in person, and on that day proved himself alike
a gallant soldier and a skilful leader, winning, by the
courage he displayed, as much admiration from foes as
from friends. The battle was fierce and bloody ; for
a long time neither party could gain any decisive
advantage ; at last victory inclined to the side which
was stronger in arms, stronger in right, and stronger
in generalship. Selim's troops also received super-
natural assistance, if one may believe the Turkish
story, for they aver that a great blast came from the
shrine of one of their ancient heroes, which stood hard

BAJAZET'S DEFEAT AT K ONI AH. 279

by/ and carried the dust into the faces of Bajazet's
soldiers, darkening the atmosphere and bHnding their
eyes. After great losses on both sides, Bajazet was
obliged to give the signal for retreat, but he retired
slowly and without disorder, as if he had won a victory
instead of having sustained a defeat. Selim made no
attempt to pursue. He was perfectly satisfied with
the success he had gained in repelling his brother's
troops, and remained in his position as a quiet spectator
of the retreating enemy. '"^

Bajazet had now committed an act of direct dis-
obedience to his father's orders, he had given the rein
to his own inclinations, and he had been unsuccessful.
He abandoned his project of marching into Syria, and
set out for Amasia in good earnest.

About this time Solyman crossed into Asia, having,
it is asserted, received news of the result of the battle
in a marvellously short space of time. The Pashas
held it to be impolitic for the Sultan to cross until
intelligence of Bajazet's defeat should be received, but
at the same time were of opinion, that when news of
it arrived no time ought to be lost, lest Bajazet's mis-
fortunes should provoke his secret partisans to declare
themselves, and thus greater troubles ensue. They
argued that nothing would be more effectual than the
report of his crossing for cowing Bajazet and terrify-
ing his friends. The victory, they urged, should be
improved, and no opportunity be given to the prince
of rallying from the blow he had received, lest he
should follow in the steps of Selim, Solyman's father,

I t ■

■ The most remarkable building in Koniah is the tomb of a saint,
highly renowned throughout Turkey, called Haznet Mevlana, the founder
of the Mevlevi Dervishes. His sepulchre, which is the object of a Mus-
sulman pilgrimage, is surmounted by a dome, standing upon a cylindrical
tower of a bright green colour.'— Leake, Asia Minor, p. 50.
^ May 29, 1559, was the date of the battle.

28o TURKISH LETTERS.

who became more formidable after defeat than ever
he was before, and owed his final victory, in no small
measure, to his previous failure.

The Pashas were perfectly correct in their view of
the situation. For though Bajazet had been defeated,
his conduct in the field marvellously increased his popu-
larity and reputation. People spoke of how he had
ventured with a handful of men to encounter the
superior forces of his brother, supported as they were
by all the resources of the Sultan. The strength of
his brother's position, and his formidable array of
artillery, had failed to daunt him, while in this, his first
field, his conduct would not have shamed a veteran
general. Though fortune had not favoured him, yet
he was the hero of the battle. Selim might go to his
father, and vaunt his triumph, but what then ? True,
he had wou it, but Bajazet had deserved it. To what-
ever cause Selim's victory was due, it was certainly
not to his valour that he was indebted for his success.

Such was the common talk, the effect of which was
to increase Bajazet's popularity, and at the same time
to make his father more anxious than ever. His
hatred was inflamed, and he began to long for his
destruction. His determination remained unaltered.
Selim was the elder, and had ever been a dutiful and
obedient son, and he and no one else should be his
heir ; while Bajazet, who had been a disobedient son
and had endeavoured to supplant him on the throne,
was the object of his aversion. He was well aware
that the peril of the situation was increased by the
reputation Bajazet had gained, and the open support
which he himself had given to Selim. For these
reasons he had crossed the sea : his object was to give
moral support to Selim by his presence in Asia, but he
had no intention of marching up the country. He

SOLYMAN CROSSES TO SCUTARI. 281

could not trust his troops, and if he ventured to lead
them to the scene of action, they might at any moment
declare for Bajazet.

He left Constantinople June 5, 1559, on which
occasion, in spite of my cavasse, I managed to be
among the spectators. But why should I not tell you
of my two skirmishes after the fashion of the Miles
Gloriosus of Plautus ? At any rate, I have nothing
better to do, unless worry counts for work. Under
such circumstances letter-writing is a relief

When it became generally known that the Sultan
was about to cross the sea, and the day was fixed, I
mtimated to the cavasse my wish to see the Sultan's
departure. It was his habit to take charge of the keys
every evening, so. when the time came, I bade him
attend me early in the morning and let me out. To
this he readily agreed. My Janissaries and inter-
preters, by my orders, hired for me a room command-
ing a view of the street by which the Sultan was to
pass. When the day came I was awake before
daybreak, ^ and waited for the cavasse to open the
gates. Time passed and he did not come. So I
availed myself of the services of the Janissaries who
slept at my gate and the interpreters who were waiting
to obtain admittance, and despatched messenger after
messenger to fetch the cavasse. I had, by the way,
to give my orders through the chinks of the crazy old
gates. The cavasse kept putting me off with ex-
cuses, at one time saying he was just coming, and
at another that he had business which hindered him.
Meanwhile it was getting late, and we knew, by the
salutes fired by the Janissaries, that the Sultan had
mounted his steed. Hereupon I lost patience, for I
saw that I was being humbugged. Even the Janissaries
on guard were sorry for my disappointment, and

2 82 TURKISH LETTERS.

thought that I had been treated scurvily ; so they told
me that, if my people would push from the inside while
they pulled from the outside, it would be possible to
burst the locks of the gate, which was old and weak.
I approved of the plan ; my people pushed with a will,
and the gate gave way. Out we rushed, and made
for the house where I had hired a room. The cavasse
had intended to disappoint me, not that he was a bad
sort of fellow, but when he had informed the Pashas
of my wishes they had refused consent, not liking that
a Christian should be among the spectators on such
an occasion. They did not wish me to see their
Sovereign on his march against his son and at the head
of a mere handful of troops, so they recommended
him to put me off by courteous promises till the Sultan
had embarked, and then to invent some excuse, but
the trick recoiled on its author.

When we arrived at the house we found it barred
and bolted, so that we had as much difficulty in getting
in, as we had just had in getting out ! When no one
answered our knocks, the Janissaries came to me again,
and promised, if I would undertake the responsibility,
either to break open the doors or climb in through a
window and let us in. I told them not to break in, but
did not object to their entering by a window. In less
time than I can tell it they were through the window,
and had unbarred the doors. When I went upstairs, I
found the house full of Jews, in fact, a regular syna-
gogue. At first they were dumbfoundered, and could
not make out how I had passed through bolts and bars!
When the matter was explained, a well-dressed elderly
lady, who talked Spanish, came up and took me roundly
to task for breaking into the house. I rejoined that I
was the aggrieved party, and told her that the land-
lady ought to have kept her bargain, and not tried to

THE PROCESSION OF CAVALRY. 283

fool me in this way. Well, she would have none of
my excuses, and I had no time to waste on words.

I was accommodated with a window at the back of
the house, commanding a view of the street by which
the Sultan was to pass. From this I had the pleasure
of seeing- the magnificent column which was marching
out. The Ghourebas and Ouloufedgis rode in double,
and the Silihdars and Spahis in single file. The cavalry
of the Imperial guard consists of these four regiments,
each of which forms a distinct body, and has sepa-
rate quarters.' They are believed to amount to about
6,000 men, more or less. Besides these, I saw a large
force, consisting of the household slaves belonging to
the Sultan himself, the Pashas, and the other court dig-
nitaries. The spectacle presented by a Turkish horse-
man is indeed magnificent.^ His high-bred steed
generally comes from Cappadocia or Syria, and its
trappings and saddle sparkle with gold and jewels in
silver settings. The rider himself is resplendent in
a dress of cloth of gold or silver, or else of silk or
velvet. The very lowest of them is clothed in scarlet,

^ See note 2, page 153.

= Compare the account of the Turkish horses and equipments seen
by Evelyn in 1684 : —

' It was judged by the -spectators, among whom was the King, Prince
9f Denmark, Duke of York, and several of the Court, that there were
never seene any horses in these parts to be compar'd with them. Add to
all this, the furniture, consisting of embroidery on the saddle, houseings
quiver, bow, arrows, scymetar, sword, mace or battle-axe a la Turcisg
the Bashaw's velvet mantle furred with the most perfect ermine I ever
beheld ; all which, yron-worke in common furniuire, being here of silver
curiously wrought and double-gilt, to an incredible value. Such and so
extraordinary was the embrodery, that I never saw anything approching
It. The reins and headstall were of crimson silk, cover'd with chaines o^f
silver gilt. There was also a Turkish royal standard of an horse's taile
together with all sorts of other caparisons belonging to a general's horse'
by which one may estimate how gallantly and magnificently those infidell
appeare in the field, for nothing could be seene more glorious.'— Evelyn
Diary, p. 461. '

284 TURKISH LETTERS.

violet, or blue robes of the finest cloth. Right and
left hang two handsome cases, one of which holds his
bow, and the other is full of painted arrows. Both
of these cases are curiously wrought, and come from
Babylon, as does also the targe, which is fitted to the
left arm, and is proof only against arrows or the blows
of a mace or sword. In the right hand, unless he
prefers to keep it disengaged, is a light spear, which
is generally painted green. Round his waist is girt a
jewelled scimitar, while a mace of steel hangs from his
saddle-bow. ' What are so many weapons for 1 ' you
will ask. I reply for your information, that he is
trained by long practice to use them all. You will
ask again, ' How can a man use both bow and
spear .-* will he seize the bow after he has cast or
broken his spear ? ' Not so ; he keeps the spear in
his grasp as long as he can, but when circumstances
require that it should be exchanged for the bow, he
thrusts the spear, which is light and handy, between
the saddle and his thigh, so that the point sticks out
behind, and by the pressure of his knee keeps it in this
position for any length of time he chooses. But when
he has need of the spear, he puts the bow into its
case, or slings it on his left arm across his shield. It
is not, however, my object to explain at length their
skill in arms, which is the result of long service and
constant drilling. The covering they wear on the
head is made of the whitest and lightest cotton-cloth,
in the middle of which rises a fluted peak of fine purple
silk. It is a favourite fashion to ornament this head-
dress with black plumes.

When the cavalry had ridden past, they were fol-
lowed by a long procession of Janissaries,^ but few of
whom carried any arms except their regular weapon,
' See note, page 87.

THE JANISSARIES. 285

the musket. They were dressed in uniforms of almost
the same shape and colour, so that you might recognise
them to be the slaves, and as it were the household, of the
same master. Among them no extraordinary or starding
dress was to be seen, and nothing slashed or pierced)
They say their clothes wear out quite fast enough
without their tearing them themselves. There is only
one thing in which they are extravagant, viz., plumes,
head-dresses, &c., and the veterans who formed the
rear guard were specially distinguished by ornaments
of this kind. The plumes which they insert in their
frontlets might well be mistaken for a walking forest.
Then followed on horseback their captains and colonels,
distinguished by the badges of their rank. Last of alk
rode their Aga by himself Then succeeded the chief
dignitaries of the Court, and among them the Pashas,
and then the royal body-guard, consisting of infantry'
who wore a special uniform and carried bows ready
strung, all of them being archers. Next came the
Sultan's grooms leading a number of fine horses with
handsome trappings for their master's use. He was
mounted himself on a noble steed ; his look was stern,
and there was a frown on his brow ; it was easy to see
that his anger had been aroused. Behind him came
three pages, one of whom carried a flask of water,
another a cloak, and the third a box. These were
followed by some eunuchs of the bed- chamber, and the
procession was closed by a squadron of horse about
two hundred strong.

Having had a capital view of the whole spectacle,
which I thoroughly enjoyed, my only anxiety was to
appease my hostess. For I heard that the lady,
who had addressed me in Spanish at my entrance, was

' In Busbecq's time it was the fashion in Europe to wear clothes with
slashes or eyelet-holes. Compare page 155.

286 TURKISH LETTERS.

on very intimate terms with Roostem's wife, and I
was afraid that she might tell tales about me in his
family, and create an impression that I had not be-
haved as I ought. I invited my hostess to an inter-
view, and reminded her of her breach of contract in
bolting the door in my face, when she had for a
fixed sum agreed to leave it open ; but told her that,
however little she might have deserved it, I intended
to keep my part of the engagement, though she had
neglected hers, and not only to pay her in full, but
to give her a little extra douceur as well. I had
promised seven pieces of gold, and she should receive
ten, to prevent her regretting my having forced my
way into her house. When she saw her hand filled
with more gold than she had hoped for, she suddenly
altered her tone, and overwhelmed me with thanks
and civilities, while the rest of her Hebrew friends
followed suit. The lady also, whom I mentioned as
being intimate with Roostem's family, echoing the
praises of my hostess, thanked me profusely in her
name. Some Cretan wine and sweetmeats were then
produced for my refreshment. These I declined, and
hurried home as fast I could, followed by the good
wishes of the party, planning as I went a fresh battle
with my cavasse, to whom I should have to answer for
having broken open the doors in his absence.

I found him sitting disconsolately in the vestibule,
and he at once assailed me with a long complaint, say-
ing, I ought not to have gone out without his consent
or have broken the doors. He declared that it was a
breach of the law of nations, &c. I answered shortly
that had he chosen to come in time, as he had pro-
mised, there would have been no need for me to burst
the doors ; and I made him understand that it was all
his fault for not keeping his word, and for trifling with;

BUSBECQ A AD HJS CAVASSE. 287

me. I concluded by asking whether they considered
me an ambassador or a prisoner ? ' An ambassador,'
he answered. ' If a prisoner,' I rejoined, ' it is use-
less employing me to make peace, as a prisoner is not
a free agent ; but if you consider me an ambassador,
why am I not at liberty ? Why am I prevented
leaving my house when I please ? It is usual,' I re-
peated, 'for prisoners to be kept shut up, but not
for ambassadors. Indeed the freedom of ambassa-
dors is a right recognised by the law of nations.' I
told him also to remember that he had been attached to
me, not as a jailor or policeman, but, as he was always
saying himself, to assist me by his services, and to take
care that no injury was done to myself or my servants.
He then turned to the Janissaries, and began quar-
relling with them for giving me advice, and helping
my men to open the doors. They said that I had no't
needed their advice, I had ordered them to open the
doors and they had obeyed. They told him, with
perfect truth, that in doing this but little exertion had
been required, as the bars had given way under very
slight pressure, and that nothing had been broken or
injured. Thus the cavasse's remonstrances were stopped
whether he would or no, and nothing more was heard
of the matter.

A few days later I was summoned across the sea
myself They considered it politic that I should pass
some time in their camp, and be treated courteously
as the ambassador of a friendly prince. Accordingly,
a very comfortable lodging was assigned me in a
village adjoining the camp. The Turks were encamped
in the neighbouring fields. As I stayed there three
months, I had opportunities of visiting their camp, and
making myself acquainted with their discipline You
will hardly be satisfied if I do not give you a fe^v

TURKISH LETTERS.

particulars on the subject. Having put on the dress
usually worn by Christians in those parts, I used to
sally out incognito with one or two companions. The
first thing that struck me was, that each corps had its
proper quarters, from which the soldiers composing it
were not allowed to move. Everywhere order pre-
vailed, there was perfect silence, no disturbances, no
quarrels, no bullying ; a state of things which must
seem well nigh incredible to those, whose experience is
limited to Christian camps. You could not hear so
much as a coarse word, or a syllable of drunken abuse.
Besides, there was the greatest cleanliness, no dung-
hills, no heaps of refuse, nothing to offend the eyes or
nose. Everything of the kind is either buried or
removed out of sight. Holes are dug in the ground,
as occasion requires, for the use of the men, which are
again filled in with earth. Thus the whole camp is
free from dirt. Again, no drinking parties or banquets,
and no sort of gambling, which is the great fault of
our soldiers, are to be seen. The Turks are un-
acquainted with the art of losing their money at cards
and dice.

A little while ago I came across some soldiers
from the borders of Hungary, amongst whom was a
rough fellow, who, with a woe-begone face, sang or
rather howled, to the accompaniment of a melancholy
lyre, a lugubrious ditty, purporting to be the last words
of a comrade dying of his wounds in a grassy meadow
by the bank of the Danube. He called upon the
Danube, as he flowed to the country of his kinsfolk,
to remember to tell his friends and clansmen that he,
while fighting for the extension of his religion and the
honour of his tribe, had met with a death neither
inglorious nor unavenged. Groaning over this his
companions kept repeating, ' O man, thrice happy and

BUSBECQ IN THE TURKISH CAMP. 28

2i<g

thnce blessed, how gladly would we exchange our lot
for thine!' The Turks firmly believe that no souls
ascend to heaven so quickly as those of brave heroes
who have fallen in war, and tliat for their safety the
Houris daily make prayers and vows to God.

I had a fancy also to be conducted throuah the
shambles where the sheep were slaughtered, Ihat I
might see what meat there was for sale. I saw but
four or five sheep at most, which had been flayed
and hung up, although it was the slaughter-house of
the Janissaries, of whom I think there were no fewer
than four thousand in the camp. I expressed my
astonishment that so little meat was sufficient for such
a number of men, and was told in reply that few used it
for a great part of them had their victuals broucxht over
from Constantinople. When I asked what they were
they pointed out to me a Janissary, who was eno-a<.ed
in eating his dinner ; he was devouring, off a wooden
or earthen trencher, a mess of turnips, onions, garlic
parsnips, and cucumbers, seasoned with salt'' and
vinegar, though, for the matter of that, I fancy that
hunger was the chief sauce that seasoned his dish for
to all appearance, he enjoyed his vegetables as much
as If he had been dining off pheasants and partrido-es
Water, that common beverage of men and animals is
their only drink. This abstemious diet is good both
tor their health and their pockets.

I was at the camp just before their fast or Lent^
as w-e should call it, and thus was still more s'truck with
the behaviour of the men. In Christian lands at this
season, not only camps, but even orderly cities rincr
with games and dances, songs and shouts ; every-
where are heard the sounds of revelling, drunkenness
and dehnum. In short, the world runs mad It k

' See note, page 229,
VOL. I. U

290 TUBKISH LETTERS.

not improbable that there is some foundation for the
story, that a Turk, who happened to come to us on
a diplomatic mission at one of these seasons, related
on his return home, that the Christians, on certain
days, go raving mad, and are restored to their senses
and their health by a kind of ashes, which are sprinkled
on them in their temples. He told his friends that it
was quite remarkable to see the beneficial effects of
this remedy ; the change was so great that one would
hardly imagine them to be the same people. He
referred of course to Ash Wednesday and Shrove
Tuesday. His hearers were the more astonished,
because the Turks are acquainted with several drugs
which have the power of rendering people insane,
while they know of few capable of speedily restoring
the reason.

During the days which immediately precede the
season of abstinence, they do not alter their former
mode of life, or allow themselves any extra indulgence
in the way of food and drink. Nay rather, on the
contrary, by diminishing their usual allowance they pre-
pare themselves for the fast, for fear they should not be
able to bear the sudden change. Their fast recurs every
twelve months ; and, as twelve lunar months do not
make up a year, it annually comes some fifteen days
earlier. Hence it follows that, if the fast is at the
beginning of Spring, six years later it will be kept at the
commencement of Summer. The Turks limit their
fast to the period of one lunar month, and the most
severe fasts are those which fall in summer, on account
of the lencrth of the days. Inasmuch as they keep it
so strictly as to touch nothing, not even water— nay,
they hold it unlawful even to wash out the mouth

till the stars appear at even, it follows of course

that a fast which occurs when the days are longest,

THE FAST OF RAMAZAN.

291

hottest, and most dusty, is extremely trying, especially
to those who are obliged to earn their livelihood
by manual labour. However, they are allowed to eat
what they please before sunrise, or to speak accu-
rately, before the stars are dimmed by the liaht of
that lummary, the idea being that the Sun ou'ht to
see no one eating during the whole of the fast" On
this account the fast, when it falls in winter, is not so
hard to bear.

On a cloudy day of course some mistake might
be made about sunset. To meet this difficulty the
priests, who act as sacristans, put lighted paper lan-
terns on the pinnacles of the minarets. (It is from
these minarets that they utter the loud cry which
summons the people to praj-er, and they therefore
answer to our belfries.^) These lights are intended
to remove all doubt as to the time being come when
food may be taken. Then at last, after first enterino-
a mosque and reciting their customary prayers, the?
return to supper. On summer days I remember seeing
them making in crowds from the mosque to a tavern
opposite our abode, where snow was kept for sale
of which, by the way, there is an unfailing supply
from Mount Olympus, in Asia), and asking^or iced
water, which they drank, sitting cross-legged, for the
Turks have a scruple about eating or drh^dng stand-
ing, If they can help it. But as the evening was too

LT r r '^ ^'^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^'^^^ ^hey --- squat

nderstood T vT '°"" °' "^ acquaintance, 'who
understood Turkish customs, to enlighten me and

found that each took a great draughf of cold water

stick in their throats, parched as they were by heat
and fasting, and also that their appedte was stimt

' See page loi.
u 2

292 TURKISH LETTERS.

lated by the cold drink. No special kinds ol food
are appointed to be eaten during the fast; nor does
their religion prescribe abstinence during that season
from anything which they are allowed to eat at other
times. Should they happen to have any illness which
prevents their observing the fast, they may disre-
gard it, on condition, however, of making up, when
they get well, the number of fasting days which their
health has compelled them to miss. Likewise, when
they are in an enemy's country and an engagement is
apprehended, they are ordered to postpone their fast
to some other time, lest they should be hurgry and
faint on the day of battle. If they hesitate to
do so, the Sultan himself takes food publicly at mid-
day before the eyes of the army, that all may be
encouraged by his example to do the same. But as at
other times of the year they are forbidden, by their
religion, to drink wine, and cannot taste it without
committing a sin, so they are most scrupulous in
observing this rule all the days of the fast, and even the
most careless and profligate people not only abstain
from wine, but shun the very smell of it.

I remember that, after I had made many enquiries
as to the reason why Mahomet had so strictly forbidden
his followers to drink wine, I was one day told this
story. Mahomet happened to be travelling to a friend,
and halted on his way at midday at a man's house,
where a wedding feast was being celebrated. At his
host's invitation he sat down with them, and greatly
admired the exceeding gaiety of -the banqueters and
their earnest demonstrations of affection — such as shak-
ing of hands, embraces, and kisses. He asked his host
the reason, and was informed that such feelings were
the consequence of wine. Accordingly on his de-
parture he blessed that beverage as being the cause of

JFJIV MAHOMET PROHIBITED WTNE. 293

such affection among mankind. But on his return
the day after, when he entered the same house, a far
different sight was presented to his eyes ; on all sides
were the traces of a cruel fight, the ground was stained
with gore and strewn with human limbs ; here lay an
arm and there a foot ; and other fragments were scat-
tered all about. On his asking what had been the
cause of so much mischief, he heard that the ban-
queters he had seen the day before had got maddened
with wine and quarrelled, and that a fearful butchery
had been the consequence. On this account, Ma-
homet changed his opinion and cursed the use of wine,
making a decree for all time that his followers should
not touch it.

So, drinking being prohibited, peace and silence
reign in a Turkish camp, and this is more especially
the case during their Lent. Such 'is the result pro-
duced by military discipline, and the stern laws be-
queathed them by their ancestors. The Turks allow
no crime and no disgraceful act to go unpunished.
The penalties are degradation from office, loss of rank,
confiscation of property, the bastinado, and death. The
most usual is the bastinado, from which not even the
Janissaries themselves are exempt, though they are not
subject to capital punishment. Their lighter faults are
punished with the stick, their graver with dismissal from
the service or removal to a different corps, a penalty
they consider worse than death, by which indeed such
a sentence is almost always followed. For when the
Janissaries are stripped of their uniform, they are ban-
ished to distant garrisons on the furthest frontiers,
where their life is one of ignominy and disgrace ; or
if the crime is so atrocious as to render it necessary
to make an example of the culprit, an excuse is found
for putting him to death in the place to Avhich he has

294 TURKISH LETTERS.

been banished. But the punishment of death is in-
flicted on him not as a Janissary, but as a common
soldier.

The endurance of the Turks in undergoing punish-
ment is truly marvellous. They often receive more than
a hundred blows on their soles, ankles, and buttocks, so
that sometimes several sticks of dogwood are broken
on them, and the executioner has to say repeatedly,
' Give me the other stick.' ^ Although remedies are at
hand, yet it sometimes happens that many pounds of
gangrened flesh have to be cut oft" from the places
which have been beaten. They are obliged notwith-
standing to go to the ofiicer by whose orders they
have been punished, and to kiss his hand and thank him,
and also to pay the executioner a fixed fee for every
stroke. As to the stick with which they are beaten,
they consider it a sacred thing, and are quite convinced
that the first bastinado stick fell down from the
same place from which the Romans believed their
sacred shields descended, I mean from heaven. That
they may have some consolation for such pain, they
also believe that the parts, which have been touched
by the stick, will after this life be safe from the fires of
purgatory.

In saying that the camp was free from quarrels
and tumults, it is necessary to make one exception, for
some trouble was caused by my people. A few of
them had gone out of the camp to stroll along the
shore without Janissaries, having only taken with them
some Italian renegadoes. Among the various advan-
tages which such renegadoes enjoy, the greatest per-
haps is the power of ransoming prisoners. They go
to the people who have possession of the captives,

^ 'Cedo alteram,' the original Latin, is a quotation from Tacitus.
{Annals, i. 23).

BUSBECQS SERVANTS IN TROUBLE. 295

and pretend that they are their relations or connections,
or at any rate their fellow-countrymen. After speaking
of the great pain it gives them to see their friends in
such a position, they ask the masters to take their value
and emancipate them, or else to make them over to
themselves. To such a request the masters make no
difficulty in agreeing ; whereas, if a Christian were to
ask the same favour, they would either refuse it or
demand a much higher price. To return to my sub-
ject, when my men had gone out they came upon
some Janissaries, who, by way of performing their ablu-
tions, had taken a swim in the sea. They had left
their turbans behind, and their only head-dress was a
piece of linen roughly folded. The Janissaries seeing
my men were Christians began to abuse them. For
the Turks not only consider it lawful to call Christians
by insulting names and otherwise abuse them, but even
think it meritorious, on the ground that they may
possibly be shamed into changing their religion for
the faith of the Turks, when they see what insults
they are exposed to on its account. My men, when
thus assailed, abused them in return, and at last from
words they came to blows, the Italians I mentioned
taking the side of my men. The end of it was,
that the head-wrapper of one of the Janissaries was
lost in the scuffle, how or where I cannot say. The
Janissaries, having traced my people to my quarters,
went to their commanding officer and charged them
with having caused this loss. The officer ordered
them to summon my interpreter, v/ho had been present
at the skirmish. They seized him, as he was sitting
at the door, while I was looking down from the ve-
randah above. I felt that this was a very gross insult ;
here was one of my people being carried off without
my permission, and not only so, but carried off, as I

295 TURKISH LETTERS.

knew right well, having heard of the affair from my
servants, to receive a flogging. This was certain to
be his fate, for he was a Turkish subject. I went down
and laying my hand on him told them to let him go,
which they did ; but they went off to their commander
more savage than ever. He directed them to take
some more men, and bring before him the renegade
Italians I mentioned, charging them at the same time
to be careful not to use violence to me or the house
where I was staying. Accordingly they came again
making a great uproar, and standing on the road de-
manded the surrender of the men with loud cries and
threats. But the Italians foreseeing what would happen,
had already crossed the Bosphorus to Constantinople.
This went on for a long time with much bad language
on both sides, till at last the cavasse I was then em-
ploying, an old man on the brink of the grave, becom-
ing nervous at the uproar, thrust into their hands,
without my knowledge, some pieces of gold as the
price of the lost head-wrapper, and thus our peace was
made.

One reason for telling you this adventure is, that it
gave me an opportunity of learning from Roostem
himself the light in which the Janissaries are regarded
by the Sultan. For when he heard of this disturb-
ance he sent a man warning me, to use his own words,
' to remove every cause of offence which might occasion
a quarrel with those atrocious scoundrels. Was I not
aware, that it was war time, when they were masters,
so that not even Solyman himself had control over
them, and was actually himself afraid of receivino- vio-
lence at their hands .'' ' These were no random words
of Roostem's ; he knew what he was talking about
for his master's anxieties were no secret to him. What
the Sultan dreaded most in the world was secret disaf-

ALBERT DE WYSS. 297

fection among- the Janissaries ; disafifection which would
lie hidden for a time, and then break out at a critical
moment when he had no power to counteract it. His
alarm is certainly not without foundation ; for while
there are great advantages to a Sovereign in the posses-
sion of a standing army, there are on the other hand,
if proper precautions be not taken, considerable dis-
advantages. The greatest of all is, that the soldiers
have it in their power to depose their Sovereign and
place another on the throne ; and the fear of a revolu-
tion of this kind must be ever present to the minds of
the masters. Striking instances might be quoted of
Sovereigns who were dethroned by their own troops ;
but it is by no means impossible to guard against such
occurrences.

During my stay at the camp, Albert de Wyss,^ a
gentleman and a good scholar, arrived. If I am not
mistaken, he is a native of Amersfort. He brought as
presents from the Emperor to the Sultan some gilded
cups and a clock of gkilful workmanship, which was
mounted like a tower on the back of an elephant, and
also some money for distribution among the Pashas.
Solyman desired me to present these gifts to him in
the camp, in the sight of the army, as a fresh proof to
his subjects that he and the Emperor were firm friends.
He was anxious that such an idea should prevail, and
also that an impression should be produced, that no
warlike movement on the part of the Christians was
likely to take place.

I now return to the point from which I began this
digression, namely to Bajazet, who had retreated from
the battle field of Koniah to Amasia, his own eovern-
ment, apparently with the resolution of remaining quiet
there, if his father should allow him to do so. He had

' See Sketch of Hungarian History.

298 TURKISH LETTERS.

obeyed the dictates of his passion and his youthful
ambition ; now he seemed to intend for the future to
play the part of a dutiful son. He continually endea-
voured to ascertain his father's disposition by letters
and agents. Solyman did not show himself averse to
a reconciliation. At firsf he made no difficulty in
giving the messengers audience, read the letters and
did not answer them harshly, so that a report was
prevalent throughout the camp that the father would
be reconciled to the son, and pardon his youthful
indiscretion, on his promising to be loyal for the future.
But in reality the crafty old man was playing a very
deep game suggested to him by the Pashas, he was
deluding Bajazet with hopes of forgiveness until the
toils should be prepared, and he should be ready to
seize his prisoner alive. For it was apprehended that,
if he was driven to despair, he would make his escape
to the territory of the King of Persia, which was his
only refuge, before the governors of the intervening
country had time to guard and watch the roads. Soly-
man kept sending messenger after messenger to them,
urging them not to leave any loophole however small
for Bajazet to escape to Persia. Meanwhile anyone
suspected of a leaning towards Bajazet who fell into
the Sultan's hands was secretly executed, after being
questioned by torture. Among them were some whom
Bajazet had sent to clear his character.

The kingdom of Persia, though Solyman has torn
away from it much territory by war, namely Babylonia
itself, Mesopotamia, and part of Media, includes at the
present time all the tribes that dwell between the
Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, with some portion
of Greater Armenia. The Sovereign of this country
is Shah Tahmasp, who, besides the territory I men-
tioned, reigns over regions still more remote, as far as

PERSIA AND HER SOVEREIGNS. 299

the dominions of the Prince who is called by the Turks
Humayoum Padischah.^ The father of the present
Shah was defeated many years ago by Selim in a great
batde on the plains of Tschaldiran,^and from that time

^ The Persian dominions were bounded on the east by the country
now known as Afghanistan, which then formed part of the empire of the
Mogul Emperors, or Padischahs, of Delhi, the second of whom was Hu-
mayoum, the father of the famous Akbar. During his life of forty-nine
years Humayoum experienced extraordinary changes of fortune, losing
his throne, and being obliged, after imdergoing the greatest hardships
and dangers in his flight through the desert, to take refuge with Shah
Tahmasp. Eventually he regained his dominions, and at his death in
1556 was the ruler of Cabul and Candahar, and also of the Punjaub,
together with Delhi and Agra and the adjoining parts of India.

^ Shah Ismael was the founder of the dynasty of the Sofis or Saffis,
so called from Sheik Suffee-u-deen of Ardebil, a devotee renowned for
his sanctity, from whom Shah Ismael was the sixth in descent. His
father, Hyder, on the death of his uncle and father-in-law Uzun Hussun,
the prince of the dynasty of the White Sheep, invaded Shirwan at the
head of a body of partisans. He made his troops wear red turbans,
whence, according to one account, comes the name of Kizilbash (Red
Heads), by which the Persians were known among the Turks. Hyder
was killed in battle, and his sons were thrown into prison, but they after-
wards escaped. The eldest was killed in battle, the second died in
Ghilan, Ismael, the youngest, in 1499, at the age of fourteen, took the
field against the Turkomans, who were then in possession of the greater
part of Persia, and in the course of four campaigns succeeded in estab-
lishing his authority throughout the country. His family claimed descent
from the seventh Imaum, and their great ancestor, Ali, was the special
object of their reverence. The very name of Schiah, which means a
sectary, and which Ismael's enemies had given him as a reproach, became
a title in which he gloried. When Sultan Selim I. massacred his co-
religionists (see note page 161), the natural consequence was a war
between Turkey and Persia. The Turkish army advanced through Kur-
distan and Azerbijan on Tabriz, which was then the Persian capital.
They were much embarrassed by want of provisions, as the Persians
retired, laying waste the country in their retreat. A threatened mutiny
among the Janissaries was quelled only by Selim's presence of mind and
resolution. Ismael at last abandoned his Fabian tactics, and took up a
position in the valley of Tschaldiran, some 30 miles south-east of
Bayezid. A bloody and fiercely contested battle (August 23, 15 14) ended
m the complete victory of Selim, which he owed mainly to his artillery
and the firearms of the Janissaries. This success was followed by the
occupation of Tabriz,, but Selim was obliged by the discontent of his
troops to return homewards. The acquisition of Diarbekir and Kur-

300 TURKISH LETTERS.

the fortunes of Persia have been dedining, under the
powerful attacks of the Emperor Solyman, for Tahmasp
has defended himself with but little vigour and in no way
displayed the spirit of his father. At the present time
he is said to be leading the life of a mere voluptuary ;
he never leaves his harem, where he divides his time
between dallying with his favourites and forecasting
the future by means pf lots. Meanwhile he neglects
to enforce the laws or to administer justice, and con-
sequently, brigandage and outrages of every kind
prevail throughout the different tribes that are subject
to his sway, and so the poor and helpless throughout
Persia are suffering every kind of oppression at the
hands of the strong, and it is useless for innocence to
resort to the King for protection. This culpable neg-
lect of his duty as a ruler has so little impaired
either his influence or the superstitious veneration with
which his person is regarded, that they think that a
blessing falls on those who have kissed the doorposts
of his palace, and they keep the water in which he has
washed his hands as a sovereign cure for divers
diseases. Of his numerous offspring one son is called
Ismael after his grandfather, and on him has also
descended his grandfather's spirit. He is extremely
handsome, and is a deadly enemy of the house of
Othman. They say that when he first entered the
world his baby hand was found to be full of blood, and
this was commonly regarded by his countrymen as a
sign that he would be a man of war. Nor did he belie
the prediction, for hardly had he grown up to manhood
when he inflicted a bloody defeat on his Turkish

distan was, however, the result of this campaign. Apart from his defeat
by Selim, Ismael reigned with unbroken success till his death in 1523. He
was succeeded by his son Shah Tahmasp.— See Malcolm, History of
Persia, i. ch. 12.

so LYMAN'S MOTIVES 301

enemies. One of the articles of the treaty between
his father and Solyman was that he should not be
allowed to attack the Turks, and in accordance with
this stipulation he was sent to a distance from the
frontier and there confined in prison. He is, however,
the person marked out by the aspirations of the nation
as successor to the throne on his father's decease.

Accordingly Solyman was afraid that the Shah, who,
by the way, is better known to us as the Sophi, would
have a keener recollection of their ancient quarrels than of
the peace which he had been recently compelled to
make, and that consequently, if his son should escape
mto Persia, he would not allow him to be taken away
without a great deal of trouble, and that possibly a long
and harassing war would be the result. He therefore
took the utmost pains to apprehend Bajazet, before he
should escape thither He remembered that the sup-
port,^ which, a few years before, he himself had given
to Elkass, the brother of Tahmasp, who had taken
refuge with him,i had been the cause of many years of
annoyance and anxiety to Tahmasp, and his conscience
told him that this would be an opportunity for the
latter to retaliate, and perhaps to make an attempt to
recover the territory which he had lost in war.

Although the designs of Solyman were kept very
secret, they were not unobserved by Bajazet's friends,
who repeatedly warned him not to trust his father,'
to be on his guard against plots, and to take betimes
the best measures in his power for his safety. A little
matter is often the immediate cause of a very serious
step, and so it was in this case. What drove him to
take his friends' advice was, as I have heard, the cir-
cumstance that one of his spies, who was arrested in
the camp, was by Solyman's orders publicly executed

' See Sketch of Htingarian History.

302 TURKISH LETTERS.

by impalement, on the pretext that he had been en-
listed by Bajazet after he had been strictly forbidden
to enroll any more soldiers. When informed of his
follower's execution, Bajazet immediatel)^ felt that his
only chance was to fly for his life. Solyman, on the
other hand, thinking he had now made certain of his
not escaping, or perhaps to deceive him the more,
ordered his army to return to Constantinople the day
after the festival of Bairam.

At Amasia, on the very day of the feast, as soon
as the usual ceremonies were finished, Bajazet ordered
his baggage to be packed up and began his ill-starred
journey to Persia ; he knew right well that he was
going to the ancient enemy of the house of Othman, but
he was fully resolved to throw himself on any one's
mercy rather than fall into his father's hands. Every
man marched out who was capable of bearing arms ;
none but women and children unequal to the fatigues
of a long journey were left behind. Among the latter
was a newly born son of Bajazet, with his mother ; his
father preferred to leave the innocent babe to his grand-
father's mercy, rather than take him as a companion of
his anxious and miserable flight. This child Solyman
ordered to be taken care of at Broussa, feeling as yet
uncertain what his father's fate might be.

I should have returned to Constantinople on the
day before the Bairam,^ had I not been detained by
my wish to see that day's ceremonies. The Turks
were about to celebrate the rites of the festival on an
open and level plain before the tents of Solyman ; and
I could hardly hope that such an occasion of seeing
them would ever present itself again. I gave my
servants orders to promise a soldier some money and
so get me a place in his tent, on a mound which com-

' See note, page 229.

THE FEAST OF BAIRAM. 303

manded a good view of Solyman's pavilions. Thither
I repaired at sunrise. I saw assembled on the plain
a mighty multitude of turbaned heads, attentively
following, in the most profound silence, the words of
the priest who was leading their devotions. They
kept their ranks, each in his proper position ; the lines
of troops looked like so many hedges or walls parting
out the wide plain, on which they were drawn up.
According to its rank in the service each corps was
posted nearer to, or farther from, the place where the
Sultan stood. The troops were dressed in brilliant
uniforms, their head-dresses rivalling snow in white-
ness. The scene which met my eyes was charming,
the different colours having a most pleasing effect.
The men were so motionless that they seertied rooted
to the ground on which they stood. There was no
coughing, no clearing the throat, and no voice to be
heard, and no one looked behind him or moved his
head. When the priest pronounced the name of Ma-
homet all alike bowed their heads to their knees at
the same moment, and when he uttered the name of
God they fell on their faces in worship and kissed the
ground. The Turks join in their devotions with great
ceremony and attention, for if they even raise a finger
to scratch their head, their prayer, they think, will not
be accepted. ' For,' say they, 'if you had to converse
with Pashas would you not do so with your body in a
respectful attitude ? how much more are we bounden
to observe the same reverence towards God, who is so
far above the highest earthly eminence } ' Such is their
logic. When prayers were finished, the serried ranks
broke up, and the whole plain was gradually covered
with their surging masses. Presently the Sultan's ser-
vants appeared bringing their master's dinner, when,
lo and behold ! the Janissaries laid their hands on the

304 TURKISH LETTERS.

dishes, seized their contents and devoured them, amid
much merriment. This licence is allowed by ancient
custom as part of that day's festivity, and the Sultan's
wants are otherwise provided for. I returned to Con-
stantinople full of the brilliant spectacle, which I had
thoroughly enjoyed.

I have a little more news to give you about Bajazet
and then I will release you, as you are probably as
tired of reading as I am of writing. Bajazet, as you
have heard, having started from Amasia with his
escort in light marching order, travelled with such
speed that his arrival almost everywhere anticipated
the tidings of his approach, and many who had been
ordered to look out for his passage were taken by sur-
prise, before their preparations were completed. He
gave the Pasha of Siwas the slip by the following
stratagem. There were two roads, of which the Pasha
had occupied the one which was of importance to
Bajazet ; the latter, however, sent some pretended
deserters to tell the Pasha that he had already passed
by the other road. As the Pasha thought this not
improbable, he left his position on the road he had
occupied, and hastily led his forces across to the
other road, by which he believed Bajazet to be
going, and so left him a free passage.

He likewise imposed on the Pasha of Erzeroum by
a somewhat similar stratagem. When he was not far
off and knew there was much danger awaitino- him in
his passage through that Pashalik, he had recourse to
the following device ; he sent messengers to salute
him, and told theui to relate his misfortunes in the most
pathetic manner, in hopes of exciting his sympathv.
They were to conclude their appeal by asking per-
mission to get shoes for the horses, telling the Pasha,
the Prince's troops were quite worn out by the hard-

INCIDENTS OF BAJAZETS FLIGHT.

305

ships of the march, and that he intended remainincr
a day or two where there was plenty of fodder iS
order to rest his horses, and to put new shoes 'on
them The Pasha courteously replied that he did not
lorbid hmi to take what he wanted ; whether he was
mfluenced by pity for Bajazet's misfortunes, or' by
mclmation to his party, as some people thoucrht I
cannot say ; perhaps, after all, his design was to dirow
Bajazet off his guard and so take him prisoner or
time may have been needed to concentrate his troops
who had been surprised by Bajazet's rapid march He
also sent him some small presents as a compliment
and congratulated him on his safe arrival ; but Bajazet
instead of making any halt, pressed on, allowin<v his
troops no rest by day and only a short one by night

When the Pasha of Erzeroum became aware that
Bajazetwas hurrying on, he quickened his movements
and joined the other Pashas who were followin<. in
pursuit, for, as soon as it was known that Bajazet liad
lelt Amasia, Solyman sent several Sanjak-beys and
Pashas after him, threatening them with the loss of
their heads if they did not bring him back, alive or
dead. But this was all in vain on account of Bajazet's
hasty departure, and also because the fugitive's speed
was greater than that of his pursuers. But after all
Bajazet's flight cost none more dear than the above'
mentioned Pasha of Erzeroum, who was removed from
his Pashal.k by Solyman, and put to death by Selim
with his two young sons, after they had first been
horribly ill-treated. Meanwhile, both Selim and Me-
hemet Pasha and the Beyler-bey of Greece, although a
long way behind, continued their pursuit of Bajazet

His departure came upon Solyman as a very heavy
blow, for he surmised correcdy that Bajazet was
making for Persia ; he could scarcely be kept from
VOL. I. X "^

3o6 TURKISH LETTERS.

marching, with the whole Imperial guard, both foot
and horse, and making a demonstration against the
King of Persia. But his rash impetuosity was moder-
ated by his counsellors, who pointed out what danger
might arise from the disaffection of the soldiery. There
was also the risk of Bajazet's marching round by the
North of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azoff, and sud-
denly making a desperate attack on Constantinople ;
it would then be in his power to create an army by
offering their freedom to the slaves and the recruits
whom they call Agiamoglans,^ and to penetrate into
the deserted capital. By such warnings they induced
Solyman to abandon his design. Moreover, Bajazet
left notices on the doorposts of the mosques, wherever
he passed, promising to give double pay to any soldiers
who went over to his side. These proclamations
made the officers anxious, as they felt they could not
trust their men, and this feeling was increased by the
fact that remarks were constantly heard in the ranks,
which showed a strong tendency in Bajazet's favour.

At last Bajazet reached the riv^r Araxes, which
divides the Turkish territory from Persia. Even after

' 'The youths among the Christian tribmte children most conspicuous
for birth, talent, and beauty were admitted into the inferior class of
a^iamoglaHS or the more liberal rank of iclioglans, of whom the former
were attached to the palace and the latter to the person of the prince.' —
Gibbon, ch. Ixv. Busbecq, in his Art of War against the Turks, gives an
account of the method by which the Turkish army was recruited from the
children of Christians. Every year the Sultan sent to his different
provinces, and took one out of every three or four of the boys. When
they arrived at Constantinople, the handsomest and cleverest were placed
in the households of the Sultan and Pashas. Of the rest some were hired
out to farmers, &c., and the remainder employed in pubUc works. The
former were fed and clothed by their masters, till they grew up, when
they were drafted into the ranks of the Janissaries, as vacancies occurred.
Those who were placed in the Sultan's household often rose to the highest
offices of the state. The last of these levies of Christian children was
made in 1638.— Von Hammer, book xlviii. tome i.x. p. 325.

BAJAZET ENTERS PERSIA. 307

he had passed it he did not feel secure, and, to prevent
the Sanjak-beys, who were in pursuit, from crossing, he
placed on the bank of the river, as guards, some of' his
men who had volunteered for that duty. They were,
however, easily routed by the Sanjak-beys, who
penetrated a considerable distance beyond the Persian
frontiers, till they met Persian officers with a large
body of cavalry, who demanded what they meant and
what they wanted in foreign territory. The Turks
replied that they were trying to recover the runaway
son of their Sovereign. The Persians retorted that
the Turks were violating the treaty by crossing the
frontier with arms in their hands. There was peace
and friendship, they said, between Shah Tahmasp and
their master, and this state of things ought to be re-
spected. The Shah's decision about Baja^'zet would be
one worthy of himself and he would loyally fulfil his
obligations. Meanwhile they would do well if they
departed from a country in which they had no right to
be. By these arguments the Turks were inducted to
return.

Soon afterwards there came to Bajazet envoys sent
by the Persian King to salute him and enquire the
reason of his coming, and also to ascertain what forces
he brought with him.^ Bajazet told them that he
had been driven from his country by his brother's
wrongful acts and his father's partiality, and had fled
to the protection of the King of Persia, as the only
sanctuary he had left, and expressed his hope that the
Shah, remembering the uncertainties of human fortune,
would not refuse the prayers of a suppliant who had
no one else to help him. In reply to this appeal he

' In the account of the Shah's dealings with Bajazet, we have fol-
lowed the readings given in all the editions prior to the Elzevir. See
Appendix, List of Editions.

X 2

3o8 TURKISH LETTERS.

received a message from the Shah, saying that he had
acted but inconsiderately in coming to him, as he knew
that there was peace and friendship between himself
and his father, and also that they had agreed to hold
each other's friends and foes as their own, which terms
he felt bound to observe. However, as circumstances
had taken this course, he bade him come in God's
name, give him his hand and become his guest ; he
promised that he would leave nothing undone to restore
him to favour with his father.

Accordingly Bajazet paid a visit to the Shah, — a
visit which was destined to be his ruin. At first every-
thing presented an aspect of welcome, the Shah's
countenance wore a cheerful and friendly expression,
gifts were exchanged as between host and guest, and
they had frequent interviews and feasted at the same
table, but these courtesies only served as screens for
their secret intentions. A marriage alliance was also
spoken of, one of the daughters of the Persian King
being betrothed to Orchan, Bajazet's son, and Bajazet's
hopes were confirmed that the Shah would not rest
till Solyman had given him the Pashalik of Mesopo-
tamia, Babylonia, or Erzeroum. The Shah represented
the advantages of these governments in glowing terms,
telling him that he could live there without any fear,
since he would be at a distance from his brother and
father, while, if he was threatened with any danger, his
retreat was secured, as he could depend on the protec-
tion of his son's father-in-law, who would defend him
and keep him safe from every possible peril.

The object of such language on the part of the
Shah was, in all probability, to prevent Bajazet's per-
ceiving the danger he was incurring. Indeed he be-
lieved himself so sure of Tahmasp's goodwill, that,
when the latter was sending an ambassador to Soly-

BAJAZETS RECEPTION BY THE SHAH.

309

man at Constantinople for the purpose, as was gene-
rally believed, of effecting a reconciliation between him
and his son, he desired the envoy to tell Solyman, that
though he had lost one father in Turkey he had found
another in Persia. Whether, however, the Persian
King was sincere in his efforts to restore Bajazet to his
father's favour by means of the numerous ambassadors
he sent, may be reasonably doubted. For my own
part, I consider it more probable that in all this the
Shah's concern for Bajazet's welfare was pretended
rather than genuine, and that his real object was to
sound Solyman's intentions ; for in the meantime there
was no pause in making all the preparations for his de-
struction. When they were sufficiently advanced, it
was artfully suggested that his present quarters were
too small for such a number of men, that provisions
were getting scarce, and that it was advisable to dis-
tribute them among the neighbouring villages ; this
arrangement, it was urged, would be a more convenient
one in many ways, and especially with regard to the
supply of provisions. Shah Tahmasp, who had not his
father's courage, was indeed dreadfully alarmed, fancy-
ing that he was cherishing a serpent in his bosom.
This is my own opinion, though there are people who
maintain that it was not the Shah's original intention
to destroy Bajazet, but that he was forced to do so
by the monstrous wickedness of some of the latter's
friends, who, forgetful of the benefits they had received
and the ties of hospitality, urged Bajazet to rob him of
his kmgdom ; that unmistakable proofs of such inten-
tions were detected, nay, that an atrocious speech
made by one of Bajazet's chief officers was brought to
the King's ears; namely, 'What are we about, and
why do we hesitate to kill this heretic and seize his
throne ? Can any one doubt that through his treacherous

310 TURKISH LETTERS.

plots we are in imminent danger of destruction ? ' This
it was, they say, that induced Shah Tahmasp to stoop
to an expedient dictated by necessity rather than by
honour.

Though the forces Bajazet had were not large, yet
they were warlike, and among them were many brave
men who were ready for any adventure; the Persian
King was afraid of them, and not without reason either.
He knew that his dynasty was one of recent origin,
and that it had obtained the throne under the pretence
of religion.^ Who could guarantee that among the
numerous nations which owed him allegiance there
would not be many persons who were dissatisfied, and
consequently ripe for revolution .'' For them nothing
more opportune could occur than Bajazet s arrival, as
he was a bold and vigorous man in the flower of youth,
and had the most important qualification for a leader ;
namely, that his position was desperate. Hitherto,
the Shah reflected, he seemed to be more in Bajazet's
power than Bajazet in his. A change must be made,
and he must no longer treat him as a guest, but chain
him like a wild beast. Nor would this be difficult to
accomplish, if his troops were first dispersed, and he
were then surprised and seized himself, when none of
his men could help him. It was obvious that he could
not be captured in open fight without much bloodshed.
The Persian troops were enervated by a long peace, and
were not concentrated ; Bajazet's, on the other hand,
were on the spot, ready for action, and well drilled.

Accordingly it was suggested to Bajazet that he
should separate his troops, and all the arguments in

' 'The Persians dwell with rapture on the character of Ismael, deem-
ing him not only the founder of a great dynasty, but the person to whom
the faith they glory in owes its establishment as a national religion.' — Mal-
colm, History ofPersia,\. p. 328. On his accession Ismael declared Schiism
to be the national religion. See also note 2, p. 299 and note p. 161 .

BAJAZET THROWN INTO PRISON 311

favour of such a course were pressed upon him. He
felt that the appeal was unanswerable, though some
gallant men in his service had the sagacity to see that
the proposed arrangement wore a most suspicious ap-
pearance But how could he refuse in his helpless
position, when he had no other hope left, when his life
was at the mercy of the Shah, — indeed he might
deem himself lucky to be alive at all, — and when to
doubt his host's honour miq-ht be taken as a sign of
the most treacherous intentions ? So the poor fellows,
who were never to meet again, were conducted to dif-
ferent villages and quartered where the Persians thought
fit. After waiting a few days for a favourable oppor-
tunity, these scattered detachments were each sur-
rounded by greatly superior forces, and butchered.
Their horses, arms, clothes, and all their other effects
became the booty of their murderers. At the same
time Bajazet was seized while at the Shah's table, and
was thrown into chains. Some people think this viola-
tion of the laws of hospitality gready aggravated the
baseness of the act. His children likewise were placed
in confinement.

You wished to have the latest news of Bajazet, so
here it is for you. As to what is in store for him in
the future, I think no one would find it easy to predict.
Opinions vary ; some people think he will be made a
Sanjak-bey, and as such will be given Babylonia or
some similar province, on the most distant frontiers of
the dominions of the two monarchs. Others place no
hope either in Tahmasp or Solyman, considering it all
over with Bajazet, who, they think, will either be
sent back here for execution, or perish miserably in
prison. They argue that the Persian King, when he
used force against Bajazet, did not do so without much
consideration, fearing no doubt that if that active and

312 TURKISH LETTERS.

high-spirited young man, who was a far better
soldier than his brother, should succeed his father on
the throne, much mischief would be thereby caiused to
his kingdom and himself. It would be much more to
his advantage, if Selim, who is naturally inclined to
gluttony and sloth, should become Sultan, since in that
case there is good hope of peace and quiet for many
a year. They are of opinion that for these reasons
the Shah will never let Bajazet escape alive out of his
hands, but will prefer to kill him in his prison ; giving
out a story, which no one could consider improbable,
that the young man's spirit had given way under con-
finement, and that he had died from mental depression.
However that may be, it is in my judgment impossible
for him to hope that one, whom he has so deeply in-
jured, will ever be his friend.

You see different people have different opinions ; I
consider myself, that, whatever the end of the business
may be, it will be a complicated one, as indeed I wish
it may, for the success of our negotiations is closely
connected with the fortunes of Bajazet. They will not
be inclined to turn their arms against us till they see
their way out of this difficulty. Even now they are
trying to force on me for transmission to the Em-
peror despatches, and I know not what proposals for
peace, which, they want me to believe, are very nearly
in accordance with his wishes, but they do not give me
any copy of them according to the usual practice, and
this omission makes me suspect that they are not
sincere. On this account I make a rule of reso-
lutely refusing to forward despatches to the Emperor,
without the purport of them being previously commu-
nicated to me. But, if after presenting me with a copy
they should still deceive me, then I should be in pos-
session of a document, which would at once free me

BUSBECQS PRESENT POSITION.

^i^Z

from all responsibility, and convict them of dishonesty.
In this course I am determined to persevere, and so to
relieve my master from the difficulty of replying to
their quibbling despatches, for he will accept no terms
of peace that are not honourable. But you will say
that by refusing proposals of peace, whatever their
nature may be, a step towards war seems to be taken.
Well, for my part, I consider it better policy to wait
and see what will happen, withoutcommitting ourselves
to any engagements. Meanwhile I will take the blame
of not forwarding the despatches upon myself, and if the
Turkish negotiators are disappointed in their hopes
with regard to Bajazet's speedy death, I do not think
I shall find much trouble in clearing myself of it. In
the other alternative, I shall have somewhat greater
difficulties to overcome, but I consider that I shall
have very good explanations to offer, and shall be able
to assign adequate reasons for all I have done. The
Turks are not in the habit of showing resentment
towards those who they see are taking pains to ma-
nage their master's affairs to the best of their ability.
Besides, the Sultan is getting old, which is another
pomt in my favour, as in the opinion of the Pashas
he requires rest, and ought not to be exposed unneces-
sarily to the hardships of war. As regards myself,
the policy I have sketched out must of course involve
me m further trouble and vexation ; but I feel that I
am right, and if matters turn out as I hope, I shall
have no reason to regret the sacrifice I am making.

Now you have got a book, not a letter. If I am to
blame for this, you are equally so ; you imposed the
task ; the labour bestowed on this despatch was taken
at your desire. Complaisance is the only thing I can
be blamed for, and yet this between friends is often
considered a ground for commendation. I have some

314 TURKISH LETTERS.

hopes however that you will find pleasure in reading
what I found pleasure in writing. After I had once
commenced my letter I was tempted to spin it out.
For whilst writing to you I found that I felt free once
more, and fancied myself to be enjoying your society
in a far-distant land ; you must therefore consider any
trifling passages in my letter as the casual chit chat of
a crony by your side. A letter has always been
thought entitled to the same allowances as conversation.
Neither ought to be closely criticised. Amongst
friends you may say what first comes uppermost, and
tlie same rule holds good when one is writing to
intimate friends ; to weigh one's expressions would be
to abandon one's privileges. Just as public buildings
require the perfection of workmanship, while nothing
of the sort is expected in domestic offices, so this
letter of mine does not pretend to be a work of general
public interest, but simply some unpretentious jottings
for the benefit of yourself and the friends to whom
you may care to show it. If it only pleases you, I for
my part am content. My Latin, some one might say,
would bear improvement, and also my style. Well,
I never said they would not. But what more can
you expect of a man than his best ? It is my ability,
not my will, that is in fault. Besides it is absurd to
expect scholarship from this land of barbarism. In
fine, you must agree, if you do not despise my present
letter, to receive an account of my remaining adven-
tures till I return to Vienna, if, indeed, I ever do return;
but whether I shall or not, I will now end and trouble
you no further. Farewell.

Constantinople, June i, 1560.

LETTER IV.

Introduction— Great disaster of the Christians at Djerb(?— Their fleet
surprised by Piale Pasha— Fhght of the Duke of Medina to Sicily-
Arrival of the news at Constantinople— Exultation of the Turks —
Unsuccessful attempt of Don Alvaro de Sandd to cut his way out,
followed by the surrender of the garrison— Their hardships during the
siege — Triumphal return of the victorious ileet to Constantinople—
Solyman's demeanour— Treatment of the prisoners — Busbecq rescues
the royal standard of Naples— Fate of the Duke of Medina's son—
De Sandd brought before the Divan and then imprisoned in the Castle
of the Black Sea — Busbecq's efforts to relieve the prisoners— Com-
plaints of the ingratitude of some of them— Charity of Italian mer-
chants—One notable exception — Rehgious scruples of the Sultan
— He prohibits the importation of wine to Constantinople— Exemption
of Busbecq and his household— Story of some Greeks— Busbecq's
request to leave his house on account of the plague refused by
Roostem, but granted by Ali, his successor— Death of Roostem—
Busbecq's physician dies of the plague— Description of the Princes'
Islands— Fishing there— Pinnas— Franciscan Friar— Death rate from
the plague at Constantinople— Turkish notions of Destiny -The Metro-
politan Metrophanes— Return to Constantinople— Characters of Ali
Pasha and Roostem contrasted— Anecdote of Roostem— The Emperor
presents Busbecq with the money intended for Roostem— Busbecq's
interview with Ali— Accident of the latter— Incursion of John Basili-
cus into Moldavia— Conversation with Ali on the subject— Imprisoned
pilgrims released by the intervention of Lavigne, the French ambas-
sador—His character— Story of him and Roostem— Account of the
Goths and Tartars of the Crimea— Gothic vocabulary— Turkish pil-
grim's account of China and of his journey thither— Extraordinary
feats of Dervishes— Strictness of Busbecq'* imprisonment relaxed—
His troubles in consequence of the quarrels between his servants
and the Turks — Story given as an example — Annoyance of the
Porte at the Treaty of Cateau Cambre'sis— Ibrahim, the first drago-
man of the Porte, degraded from office through Lavigne^s, and restored
to it through Busbecq's, influence— Failure of Salviati's attempt to
procure the release of the Spanish prisoners— By Ibrahim's advice
Busbecq intervenes and obtains their release— The Mufti's opinion
—Continuation of the story of Bajazet— Persian ambassadors— Open

3i6 TURKISH LETTERS.

house kept by Pashas before Ramazan — Story of a Khodja at a
Pasha's table — Solyman's negotiations for Bajazet's surrender —
Strong feeling of the army in his favour — Hassan Aga and the Pasha
of Marasch sent to the Shah, who gives leave for Bajazet's execution
— He and his sons are executed in prison — Touching account of the
death of the youngest at Broussa — Argument between Busbecq and
his cavasse about predestination — Peace negotiations unfavourably
affected by Bajazet's death — Further difficulties apprehended on
account of the defection of some Hungarian nobles from John Sigis-
mund to Ferdinand — Terms of peace previously settled adhered to
notwithstanding the remonstrances of John Sigismund's ambassadors
— The dragoman Ibrahim selected to return with Busbecq — All's pre-
sents to Busbecq — Busbecq's farewell audience of Solyman — He
starts on his return — At Sophia Leyva and Requesens part company
and go to Ragusa— Pleasant journey home of Busbecq and de Sandd
— Quarrel at Tolna between the Janissary stationed there and one of
Busbecq's servants— Arrival at Buda after meeting Turkish fanatics
— Arrival at Gran, Komorn, Vienna — Busbecq learns that the Em-
peror is at the Diet at Frankfort — He proceeds thither with Ibrahim
and is graciously received — Coronation of Maximilian— Peace rati-
fied — Busbecq longs for home — His bad opinion of courts — His
preference for a quiet country life — Panegyric of Ferdinand — His
Fabian tactics against the Turks justified — His private life — Animals
and curiosities brought back by Busbecq — Balsam— Lemnian earth
— Coins — MSS. — Dioscorides — Conclusion.

I MUST first acknowledge the kind and cordial manner
in which you congratulate me on my return. Next,
as regards your request for a narrative of my experi-
ences during the latter part of my embassy, and for
any pleasant stories I may have heard, I beg to
assure your Excellency that I am fully sensible of the
obligation I have undertaken. I have not forgotten it,
and have no intention of defrauding so oblieino- a
creditor as yourself. So here at your service are the
events that followed my last letter, whether trifling, amus-
ing, or serious. I intend, as in my other letters, to jot
things down as they occur to me, though in this case
I shall have to begin with a most disheartening tale.

I had scarcely recovered from the bad news of
Bajazet's misfortunes and imprisonment, when we were
overwhelmed by a piece of intelligence, which was

DJERB^ TAKEN BY THE SPANIARDS

317

equally unfavourable. Tidings were then expected at
Constantinople of the result of the expedition of the
Turkish fleet, which had been summoned to Meninx
by the reports of the Spanish successes on that island,
which is now called Djerb(^.^ Solyman was deeply

' For a fuller account of the siege and capture of Gerba or Ujerbd or
Gelves the reader is referred to Prescott's Philip II., vol. ii. book iv.
chap. I, and Von Hammer, book xxxiii. The Spanish historians cited by
Prescott are so conflicting that he defies the reader to reconcile them,
but Busbecq's narrative, as far as it goes, may be considered of the
highest authority, as no doubt it was founded on what he heard from his
friend Don Alvaro de Sandd, who commanded the garrison. In the
spring of f559 the Duke of Medina Cell, the Viceroy of Sicily, was
ordered to fit out an expedition against Tripoli and its corsairs, to which
Tuscany, Rome, Naples, Sicily, Genoa, and Malta furnished contingents.
John Andrew Doria, nephew of the great Andrew Doria, commanded
the Genoese forces. The fleet consisted of more than 100 sail, including
54 galleys, and had 14,000 troops on board. The armament assembled
at Syracuse, from which they sailed in November. They met with such
bad weather, however, that they were forced to put into Malta, where
they stayed more than two months refitting. So much time had now
been lost, that they gave up the attempt on Tripoli as hopeless, and
attacked Djerbe instead. They took it without much difficulty on
March 14, and spent two months there fortifying it, and placed in it a
garrison of 5,000 men, commanded by Don Alvaro de Sand^. As the
troops were preparing to re-embark, news was brought of the approach
of the Turkish fleet. A council of war was held, in which opinions were
divided ; but the arrival of the Turkish fleet under the command of
Piale, which included 86 galleys, each with 100 Janissaries on board,
saved them the trouble of deciding (May 14). The Christians were
seized with panic. Many of their ships were sunk, and many more sur-
rendered. A few took refuge under the guns of the fortress. The Duke
of Medina Cell and Doria were among those who escaped, and they took
advantage of the darkness of the following night to fly to Sicily in a
frigate. Next morning Pial(5 commenced the siege. After a breach had
been made, he assaulted the fortress, but was repulsed with great loss
and several other attacks of the Turks met with the same fate. The
siege lasted nearly three months, although at the end of six weeks pro-
visions and water had begun to fail. On July 31, 1560, two hours before
dawn, Don Alvaro, accompanied by hardly 1,000 men, sallied out and
tried to cut his way through, with the intention of seizing a vessel and
escaping, but the attempt proved unsuccessful, and the same day the rest
of the garrison surrendered. On September 27 the victorious fleet re-
turned to Constantinople, as described in the text. Don Alvaro lived to
take ample vengeance for all he had suffered. When the Spaniards

3i8 TURKISH LETTERS.

hurt at hearing that this island had been taken by the
Christians, new outworks added to the citadel, and a
garrison thrown into the place ; as master of a great
empire in the full tide of prosperity, he felt that he
must avenge the insult. For this reason he deter-
mined to assist a nation which was attached to him
by the ties of a common faith, and despatched an
army and fleet to their assistance under the command
of the Admiral Piale Pasha, who had manned his ships
with a numerous body of picked soldiers. The men,
however, were anxious, dreading the length of the
voyage, and being cowed by the prestige which the
enemy had acquired. The great successes gained by
the Spanish arms both in ancient and modern times,
had made a deep impression on the minds of the
Turks. They remembered the Emperor Charles, and
heard every day of his son King Philip, who had in-
herited both the valour and the realms of his father.
Hence great anxiety prevailed, and many, under the
idea they were bound on a desperate service, made
their wills before leaving Constantinople, like men con-
vinced they were fated to return no more. Thus the
whole city was distracted by various apprehensions,
and everyone, whether he embarked or not, suffered
keenly from the strain caused by the uncertainty of the
result of the war.

But the winds were favourable to the Turkish
fleet ; our men were taken by surprise, and such a
panic ensued, that they had neither the courage to
fight nor the sense to fly ; some galleys that were
ready for action sought safety in flight ; the remainder

raised the siege of iVlalta in 1565 Don Alvaro, as second in command,
again encountered his old opponent Piald. The gallant Spaniard was in
the thick of the fighting, had a horse killed under him, and was one of
those who contributed most to the defeat of the Turks.

GREAT TURKISH VICTORY. 319

ran aground, and were either miserably wrecked on
the shoals, or surrounded and taken by the enemy.
The Duke of Medina, the commander of the ex-
pedition, retreated into the citadel with John Andrew
Doria, the admiral. Favoured by the darkness, they
embarked early in the night in a small boat, and boldly
steering through the enemy's blockading squadron,
reached Sicily in safety.

Piale^ sent a galley here with news of this victory,
and, to proclaim more openly the tidings she brought,
she trailed in the water from her stern a large flag, on
which, according to the account the Turks^gaver'was
embroidered a representation of our Saviour Christ on
the Cross. When she entered the harbour, the report
of the Christian defeat ran through the whole city,
and the Turks began congratulating each other on
their great success. They gathered in crowds at my
door, and asked my men in mockery, had they any
brother, kinsman, or relation in the Spanish fleet 1 'If
so,'^ said they, 'you will soon have the pleasure of
seeing them.' They were loud moreover in extolling
the valour of their people, and expressing their scorn
at the cowardice of the Christians. 'What power'
they asked, ' had we left that could resist them, now
that the Spaniard was vanquished ) '

My men were obliged to listen to these speeches to
their great sorrow, but they had to bear them, as God
had so ordered it, and it could not be changed. One
thought alone sustained us, the hope that the defence
of the citadel, which the Spaniards still held with a
strong garrison, could be made good, till winter or
some accident should compel the enemy to raise the
siege. We had not much hope, however, as we knew
that success was far more likely to attend the victors
than the vanquished, and so indeed it proved, for the

320 TURKISH LETTERS.

besieged being hard pressed and in great want of
everything, especially water, at last surrendered the
citadel and themselves.

Don Alvaro de Sand6, who commanded the troops,
a man of great courage and reputation, when he saw
they could hold out no longer, attempted to sally out
of the citadel with a few attendants, and seize a small
ship, and so cross to Sicily ; hoping thus to save the
high character he had earned as a soldier from the
disgrace which accompanies a surrender, however un-
avoidable ; for he v/as determined that, whoever might
have to bear the responsibility, it should not rest on
his shoulders.

llic result of his attempt was that the citadel fell
into the hands of the enemy, for the soldiers opened
the gates, which they could no longer defend, in the
hope of appeasing the enemy by a voluntary sur-
render. Don Juan de Castella refused to leave the
outwork entrusted to his charge, but fought against
the enemy with his brother at his side, till he was
wounded at last, and taken prisoner.

The citadel had been defended by the Spaniards
with great resolution for more than three months,
though almost every necessary, and — worst of all — even
the hope of relief, had failed them. In that burning
climate nothing was more trying to the troops than
the want of water. There was only one reservoir,
and though it was large and well supplied with water,
it was not sufficient for such a number. Accord-
ingly a fixed allowance was distributed to each man,
just sufficient to sustain life. Many eked out their
ration by adding sea-water, which had been purified
of most of its salt by distillation. This expedient had
been imparted to them, when they had sore need of it,
by a skilful alchemist ; however, it was not everyone

EMRY OF THE VICTORIOUS FLEET.

321

that had the necessary apparatus, so that many were
to be seen stretched on the ground at the point of
death with their mouths gaping, and continually re-
peatmg the one word 'water.' If anyone had com-
passion on them and poured a httle water into their
mouths, they would get up and raise themselves to a
sitting posture, till, when the good effect of the draught
was exhausted, they would fall back on the same spot
and at last expire of thirst. Accordingly, besides those
who were slain, and those who died from sickness and
the want of medical attendance on that desolate spot
numbers perished in the manner I have described from
want of water.

In the month of September the victorious fleet re-
turned to Constantinople, bringing with it the prisoners
the spoils, and the galleys they had taken from our
people, a sight as joyful for the eyes of the Turks as
It was grievous and lamentable for us.

That night the fleet anchored off" some rocks near
Constantinople, as they did not wish to enter the har-
bour till morning, when the spectacle would be more
striking, and there would be a greater crowd of spec
tators. Solyman had gone down to the colonnade
close to the mouth of the harbour, which forms part of
his gardens, that he might have a nearer view of his
fleet as it entered, and also of the Christian officers
who were exhibited on the deck. On the poop of the
admiral s galley were Don Alvaro de Sandd and the
commanders of the Sicilian and Neapolitan galleys
Don Berenguer de Requesens and Don Sancho de
Leyva. The captured galleys had been stripped of
their oars and upper works and reduced to mere hulks
in which condition they were towed along ; and thus
made to appear small, ugly, and contemptible com-
pared with those of the Turks.

VOL. I. y

322 TURKISH LETTERS.

Those who saw Solyman's face in this hour of
triumph failed to detect in it the shghtest trace of
undue elation. I can myself positively declare, that
when I saw him two days later on his way to the
mosque, the expression of his countenance was un-
changed : his stern features had lost nothing^ of their
habitual gloom ; one would have thought that the vic-
tory concerned him not, and that this startling success
of his arms had caused him no surprise. So self-con-
tained was the heart of that grand old man, so schooled
to meet each change of Fortune however great, that
all the applause and triumph of that day wrung from
him no sign of satisfaction.

A few days afterwards the prisoners were con-
ducted to the Palace. The poor fellows were half
dead from the privations they had undergone. The
greater part could scarcely stand on their feet ; many
fell down from weakness and fainted ; some were
actually dying. They were insulted and hustled on
the way, and compelled to wear their armour with the
front turned to the back like so many scarecrows.

Around them were heard the voices of the Turks,
who taunted them, and promised themselves the do-
minion of the world. For now that the Spaniard had
been conquered, they said, what enemy was left that
could be feared ?

There was in that expedition a Turkish officer of
the highest rank, with whom I was acquainted. The
first or royal standard of the Neapolitan galleys, bear-
ing the arms of all the provinces of the Kings of Spain
quartered with the Imperial Eagle, had fallen into his
hands. When I heard that he meant to present it to
Solyman, I determined to make an effort to antici-
pate him and get possession of it. The matter was
easily arranged by my sending him a present of two

RESCUE OF THE STANDARD. 323

silk dresses. Thus I prevented the glorious coat-of-
arms of Charles V. from remaining with the enemy as
a perpetual memorial of that defeat.

Besides the officers I have mentioned, there were
among the prisoners two gentlemen of high birth,
namely, Don Juan de Cardona, the son-in-law of Don
Berenguer, and Don Gaston, the son of the Duke of
Medina ; the latter, though hardly yet arrived at man-
hood, had held a high post in his father's army. Don
Juan had cleverly managed, by promising a large sum,
to get himself left at Chios, which is still occupied by
its ancient Genoese inhabitants.^ Piale had concealed

' Chios was first brought under the immediate dominion of the Sultan
by Pial($. Pasha in 1566, though it had previously acknowledged his
suzerainty and paid tribute. It had been conquered by the Genoese
admiral, Simon Vignoso, in 1346. The form of government was so
peculiar as to deserve some notice. It is the first example of the territorial
administration of a mercantile company of shareholders exercising in a
distant country all the duties of a sovereign. Of this form of govern-
ment the East India Company is the best known specimen. The Genoese
treasury in 1346 was so exhausted that the funds for fitting out the twenty-
nine galleys of Vignoso's fleet were raised by private citizens, who sub-
scribed the money in shares. The Republic promised to secure them
against all loss, and pledged a portion of its annual revenue to pay the
interest. After the conquest of Chios, Vignoso, in virtue of the full
powers with which he was invested, established a committee of the sub-
scribers, who administered the Government of Chios, and collected the
revenues under the sovereignty of the Republic of Genoa. The con-
tributors had formed themselves into a joint-stock company, according
to the established usage at Genoa ; and this society or maona assumed
the name of the Maona of Scio. The Republic being unable to repay
the advances, a convention was concluded between the State and the
Maona, by which the shareholders were recognised as the lawful pro-
prietors and administrators of Chios, subject to the terms on which the
Greek population had capitulated, f>)r a term of twenty years, during
which the Republic reserved the right of resuming possession of the
island on repayment of the sum advanced. This, however, the Republic
was never able to do, so the arrangement became permanent. The
greater part of the shares passed into the hands of the family, or, more
correctly speaking, the firm of the Justiniani, and the Joint-Stock Com-
pany of Scio was generally called the Maona of the Justiniani. For
furth er details as to the Government of Scio while held by this company,
. Y 2

3 24 TURKISH LETTERS.

Gaston in hopes of getting a great price for his ransom.
But this trick proved well nigh fatal to its contriver.
For Solyman, having by some means or other got wind
of it, was extremely displeased, and at Roostem's in-
stigation made diligent search for Gaston's hiding-place,
intending to produce him in evidence of Piale's guilt,
and thereby justify the execution of the latter.^ But
the plan failed through Gaston's death. Some believe
he died of the plague, but it is more probable that
Pial6 had him murdered, for fear of anything transpir-
ing against himself At any rate, he could not be
traced, though the agents of his father, the Duke of
Medina, spared no pains to find him. One may well
suspect that Pial6 had no scruple in securing his own
safety by the murder of Gaston. Notwithstanding, he
lived a long time in great fear, and avoiding Constan-
tinople, on various pretexts kept coasting about the
islands of the y^gean with a few galleys. He was
afraid to come into the presence of his offended master,
feeling sure that he would be forthwith manacled, tried,
and condemned. At last Solyman was softened by
the entreaties of the chief of the eunuchs of his bed-
chamber, and of his son Selim, and gave him his royal
pardon, the very words of which I am glad to be able
to repeat. ' As far as I am concerned let him enjoy
pardon and impunity for his terrible crime ; but after

see Finlay, History of Greece, vol. v. ch. ii., from which this note is taken.
It must, however, be added that the Government of the company, not-
withstanding its defects, was for a long period the least oppressive in the
Levant.

1 Petremol, the French charg^ d'affaires, mentions some Spanish
slaves being brought to Constantinople from Chios. The Sultan, it was
said, did not intend to keep them in servitude, but wished to see whether
Roostem's contention was true, namely, that Pial^ had stolen all the
prisoners of high rank, and had presented to the Sultan, under the names
of the different officers, common soldiers who could pay no ransom.
Charrifere, Ni^gotiations de la France dans le Levant, ii. 671.

DE SAND& BEFORE THE DIVAN. 325

this life may God, that most just avenger of evil deeds,
inflict on him the punishment he deserves.' So rooted
is his conviction, that no evil deed ought to go
unpunished.

Fortune was more favourable to Don Juan de
Cardona. Luckily for him his amiable sister is the
wife of a distinguished Austrian Baron, Adam von
Dietrichstein,^ who, after a great deal of trouble, got
him sent back to Spain, on my becoming surety for
his ransom.

When de Sand6 was brought into the Divan, or
Assembly of the Pashas, and Roostem asked him,
' What had put it into his master's head to attack the
territories of others when he could not defend his
own ? ' he replied, ' This was no matter for him to
decide ; his duty was to be faithful in executing his
master's orders to the utmost of his ability. He had
done his best and had been unfortunate.' Then kneel-
ing down he entreated the Pashas to intercede with
Solyman for his life, saying, that he had a wife and
a young family at home, and he entreated them to
spare his life for their sake. Roostem replied, ' His
Emperor was of a clement disposition, and he had
good hopes of obtaining mercy for him.'

^ Adam von Dietrichstein was born in 1527. He accompanied Maxi- <
milian on his journey to Spain, when he went to marry his cousin, the
Infanta Maria. In 1561 he was sent by Maximilian to the Pope as ambas-
sador. Maximilian appointed him his High Chamberlain in 1563, and
sent him to conduct his sons to Spain as head of their household. Bus-
becq therefore served under him on this mission (see page 61 ). About
the same time Ferdinand appointed him his ambassador to Spain, and
after Ferdinand's death he remained there as Maximilian's representative.
In this post he had the delicate task of kf-eping the bigoted Philip and
the tolerant Maximilian on friendly terms. In 1 573 he escorted the Arch-
dukes home, and was appointed Privy Councillor and Governor of Ro-
dolph's household. He died in 1 590, and was buried at Prague, at the feet
of his master Maximilian. He married in 1555 Margaret, daughter of
Don Antonio de Cardona.

326 TURKISH LETTERS.

So de Sande was ordered to be taken to the for-
tress they call Caradenis, which means ' of the Black
Sea,' but he had not gone far when he was recalled.
The only reason for his being sent for again was, that
the chief of the bedchamber eunuchs, whom I men-
tioned before, and who has great influence with the
Sultan, had not yet seen him, and wished to do so. It
was noticed that as he came back his nerves, usually
so strong, appeared to be shaken, and he seemed to be
afraid that the Pashas had altered their decision, and
were bringing him back for execution.

The other prisoners of importance were confined
in the Tower of Pera, or Galata, as it is sometimes
called. Among them were Don Sancho de Leyva, with
his two bastard sons, and also Don Berenguer.

After I had been informed of their condition and
the great privations they were undergoing, I felt it my
duty to come to their relief I therefore sent visitors
to express my sympathy, and assure them of my readi-
ness to give them such assistance as lay in my power.
From that time my house was the general rendezvous
of all the prisoners, nor was I ever backward in giving
them help as far as my means allowed.

The Turks consider they have made ample pro-
vision for their prisoners, if they have bread and water
•enough. As to what the age of each prisoner, his
habits and state of healt'-', or the season of the year
may demand, they take no account, and treat all in the
same way, whether they are sick or well or just re-
covering from illness, strong or delicate, old or youno-.
I had, therefore, a wide field for the exercise of my
charity, inasmuch as each case required special treat-
ment. A great multitude of the sick were lying in a
mosque in Pera, the town situated opposite Byzantium,
immediately across the bay. About them the Turks did

FEEDING 2'HE FJilSONERS. 327

not think it worth while to take any more trouble, indeed
they considered them as good as dead. Many of them
died from want of proper nourishment, either during
the illness itself or during convalescence ; for they had
no bowl of soup or dainty dish to tempt their feeble
appetite, and thus enable them gradually to regain their
strength. Being informed of this, I commissioned a
citizen of Pera, who was a friend of mine, to buy
some sheep every day, boil them at home, and divide
them among the prisoners, giving meat to some and
broth to others, as each man's case happened to require,
and this was of service to not a few. This I did for
the sick ; those who were well required help of another
kind.

My house from early morning till evening was
filled with a crowd of those who sought assistance for
their different troubles. Some, who had been accus-
tomed to sumptuous tables, could not digest their daily
ration of dry black bread, and required the means of
procuring some relish to eat with it. There were
others whose stomachs could not endure perpetual
water-drinking, and wanted a little wine to mix with it.
Some needed blankets, as they had nothing but the
bare ground to sleep on, and therefore suffered from
cold at night ; one was in want of a cloak, another of
shoes. The most numerous requests were for the
means wherewith to fee their jailers, and thus render
them more merciful.

To cure all these troubles money was the only
remedy, so that a day never passed without several
pieces of gold being thus expended.

But this evil was endurable and not fatal ; another
and a more ruinous one was impending from the
persons who demanded that larger sums should be
lent them, or wanted me to be surety for the amount

32 8 TURKISH LETTERS.

of their ransom. None of them lacked some plausible
pretext for puffing himself off, and maintaining that his
own case had the best claim on my bounty. One put
forward his high rank and his powerful relations or
connections, another his long service and his captain's
commission, a third his great wealth at home and his
ability to pay the debt without delay. Some too
boasted of their own valour, and their glorious exploits
in war. All, in a word, thought they had a fair claim
for assistance on some ground or other. If a question
was asked as to their credit and whether they would
remember to pay, they told me to make myself per-
fectly easy ; for what, said they, could be more unjust
than to involve the man who had done them this great
service in pecuniary difficulties and losses, when they
owed to him their freedom and their lives, and had
been rescued by him as it were from the very jaws of
death ?

And indeed it was most grievous for me to hear,
' Unless I have this moment in ready money two
hundred pieces of gold, it is all over with me ; I shall
be taken over into Asia, or sent I know not whither
as a galley-slave, 1 without any hope of ever recovering
my freedom or seeing my home again. There is a
merchant, who will not refuse to supply goods sufficient
to raise the sum, if you will only go security.' Such
statements were the only warranty they generally gave
me ; but I could not help being influenced by them
when I reflected that what they said was true. Unless
they were assisted, a large part of them must inevitably
perish by various calamities, and there was no one on

' In Wervicq Church, about a mile from Busbecq's home, stands a
hfe-size figure of a galley-slave, with this inscription: 'Vrais Chretiens
soyez touches de coeur k faire charity aux esclaves Chretiens.' "xhe utter'
hopeless misery there depicted illustrates the force of this appeal '

RANSOMING PRISONERS. 329

the spot, who had greater means of helping them than
myself, or on whom they had a stronger claim.

But you will say against me, I know, ' No one is to
be trusted ; ' but who in the world could suppose that
anyone would be such a monster of ingratitude as not
to repay the money, which had been advanced to save
his life ? Suppose one or two lacked, not the will, but
the means. Well, I must risk it, and after all what
is spent in doing a good turn to a good man is never
really lost. The majority at any rate will act honestly.

I was induced by such considerations to pledge my
credit for many thousand crowns, and to plunge myself
into such a deep abyss, that I do not know how I am
to get out of it ; indeed I am afraid that in getting
them out of prison I have got myself into it. I have
been explicit on this subject, as I wish to clear myself
of blame for want of judgment in being too ready to
lend. I must admit that the neglect to repay in cer-
tain cases has made me suspect that I shall not get
out of the business without heavy loss. Nay, I have
been already obliged to pay the money for which I
went security for some of them, and I remember that
remarks of certain among them came to my ears, who,
though they had been saved by my good offices, yet
made a joke of my extreme readiness in complying
with their requests, and dubbed me for my pains a
scatter-brained fool. From this I can gather how some
of them will treat their obligations. But all this is in
God's hands. However it may turn out, I do not see
why I should regret having done a kindness to many.

Ipsa sibi virtus semper pulcherrima merces.

I look for no extraordinary recompense for myself,
and wish no honours, no statue voted me. All I ask
is, that they should carry their gratitude so far as to

330 TURKISH LETTERS.

repay honestly what I have spent to save their hves.
I do not despair of this from so gallant a nation as the
Spaniards.

I am glad to say that I not only did my part in
contributing, but also by my example was the means
of inducing many others to come forward and give
valuable assistance. There are among the citizens and
residents of Pera many Italian merchants, and these
displayed extraordinary zeal in assisting the prisoners.
There was, however, one exception, and I shall never
forget his reasoning on the matter, it was so absurd.
He was an Italian Greek, i.e., both in birth and man-
ners half Greek and half Italian. When all his coun-
trymen were doing their utmost to forward the good
work, he never could be induced to spend a farthing
on any of the prisoners. When he was accused on
that score, he defended himself thus, in broken and
barbarous Italian, for Greek was more familiar to him.
' I do not know what sort of people these are, but I
can easily guess they have not been brought into this
misery except by the just judgment of God. I will
not run counter to the Divine Will ; as far as I am
concerned, let them stay in the place where God has
chosen them to be. I shall not be surprised if you,
who so daringly come between them and the decrees
of Providence, have reason to repent of it hereafter.
No one shall persuade me to lay out on them as much
as a single penny.' Such was his view of the matter.
So much for this foolish prognosticator.

This naval defeat of the Christians, coupled with
Bajazet's disaster, caused me great anxiety ; I was
afraid that I should find the Turks elated by success,
and consequently more exacting in my negotiations for
peace. Besides the public misfortunes, I also sus-
tained a personal loss; the plague invaded my house.

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE SUITAN. 33 e

carrying off one of my most faithful servants, and
causing a panic among the other members of my
household.

Of this I will speak a little later, when I have
mentioned another trouble that befell us, which, though
less than the former, caused me considerable anxiety.
The Sultan is becoming every day more scrupulous in
religious matters, or in other words, more superstitious.
He used to enjoy hearing a choir of boys, who sang to
the accompaniment of stringed instruments. But all
this has been done away with by the interposition of
some old hag, renowned for her profession of sanctity,
who threatened him with heavy punishments hereafter
if he did not give up this amusement. Alarmed by
her denunciations, he broke up all his musical instru-
ments and threw them into the fire, though they
were of excellent workmanship, and adorned with gold
and jewels.

Some one found such fault with him for eating off
silver plate, that he has used nothing but earthenware
ever since.

Then some one appeared who blamed the Sultan for
allowing wine to be used so freely in the city, and so
made him feel conscientious scruples at neglecting Ma-
homet's directions on this head. Therefore procla-
mation was made that thenceforth no wine should be
imported into Constantinople, not even for the Chris-
tians or the Jews. This proclamation concerned me
and mine not a little, as we were by no means accus-
tomed to drinking water. For where could we get
wine, if it was not allowed to enter the walls of the
city ? Long home-sickness and the continued uncer-
tainty about the result of our negotiations had already
told upon our strength, and this compulsory change in
our diet was, in consequence, likely to be very pre-

33^ TURKISH LETTERS.

judicial to our health. I commissioned my interpreters
to make strong representations to the Pashas in the
Divan, and to maintain our ancient privileges. There
opinions were divided. Some thought we ought to be
content with drinking water, for what would the neigh-
bourhood say, demurred they, if they saw we had wine
brought into our house ? Why, that while they were
strictly forbidden its use, Christians in the midst of
Constantinople were swilling away to their hearts'
content, and polluting the city far and wide with the
fumes of their liquor. Nay, even Mussulmans who
came to me went away reeking with wine. These
considerations proved well nigh fatal to our suit. How-
ever, the opinion of the Pashas who took special charge
of our interests, finally prevailed. They declared that
we were not able to stand such a change of diet, and
warned the Divan that sickness and death would in
many cases be the consequence. The end of it was,
that we were allowed the choice of one night, on which
we might have as much wine as we wished conveyed
to the sea-gate, this being the most convenient point
for us. There we had carts and horses to meet it, and
bring it into the house with as little noise as possible,
and so we retained our rights.

Some members of the Greek nation did not fail to
put the Sultan to the test in the following fashion.
Having ascertained that he was about to pass through
a district which was planted with numerous vineyards,
they assembled in great numbers, and began tearino-
up the vines by the roots. Some of them commenced to
block the road with the vine stocks, and others to load
carts with them. When the Sultan came to the place,
he stopped, wondering what the matter could be, and
calling to him the nearest of the men, inquired what
they were about. They answered, that as by his pro-

THE PLAGUE IN BUSBECQS HOUSE. Z2>Z

clamation they were forbidden to drink wine, they
were rooting up the vines for firewood, as they would
be useless for the future. Then Solyman replied, ' You
are wrong, and have not understood my intentions, as
you ought to have done. If I enjoined abstinence
from wine, I did not therefore prevent anyone's eatino-
grapes. Grapes are to be reckoned among the most
excellent of the fruits which God has granted to man.
There is nothing to hinder you from enjoying their
juice while fresh, so long as you do not put it up in
casks, and turn it to a wrong use by )our pernicious
art. Do you think pear-trees and apple-trees ought
to be rooted up because they do not produce wine ?
Leave off, you fools, and spare the vines, which will
bear you excellent fruit' Thus the Greeks took
nothing by their scheme.

I now return to the plague, which, as I told you,
had attacked our house. When it broke out, I sent to
Roostem to ask for permission to remove to some
place that was free from infection. I did so with hesi-
tation, as I was acquainted with his character ; still I
could not incur the imputation of neglecting my own
health and that of my servants. Roostem answered, he
would lay my request before the Sultan, and the next
day sent me back word that his master had made this
reply : ' What did I mean, or where did I think of fly-
ing ? did I not know that pestilence is God's arrow
which never misses its mark ? where in the world
could I hide myself, so as to be shielded from the
stroke of His weapons ? If He ordained that the pes-
tilence should strike me, neither flight nor concealment
would be of any avail. To try to escape from the in-
evitable was a vain attempt. His own palace was not
at that very moment free from the plague, but never-
theless he stayed there, and it was likewise my duty to

334 TUFKISH LETTERS.

remain where I was.' Thus I was obliged to await my
doom in that plague-stricken house.

But not long afterwards it came to pass that Roos-
tem was carried off by an attack of dropsy.^ He was
succeeded by Ali, who was then the second of the
Vizieral Pashas, the most courteous and sagacious
statesman I ever met among the Turks.'^ When I sent
him a valuable silken robe with my congratulations on
his promotion, I received a gracious reply, for he asked
me to treat him as a friend on every occasion, and not
to hesitate to apply to him if necessary, and indeed he
was as good as his word.

The first occasion on which I experienced his kind-
ness was, when the plague broke out afresh in my
house, and, besides attacking other members of my
household, carried off the excellent gentleman, who,
under God, had been our chief support in time of sick-
ness. I sent to Ali Pasha to ask the same permission
I had formerly asked of Roostem. He replied that
he could give me leave to go where I pleased, but it
would be more prudent to ask that of the Sultan as
well, for fear that if he should happen to fall in with
my men going about at large, he should be angry at
my being outside my lodgings without his know-
ledge. Everything, he said, depended on the Avay in
which a matter was brought to the Sultan's notice,
and that he would lay the subject before him in such
a manner as to leave no doubt of his assent. Soon
afterwards he informed me that I had permission to go
wherever I thought proper.

The island they call Prinkipo ^ appeared to be the
most convenient place for my retirement. It is four

1 July 8, 1561. - Seepage 157.

=" One of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmora, where the British
Fleet was stationed during the spring of 1878.

Ji TNESS AND DEATH OF QUACQUELBEN. 335

hours' sail from the city, and is the most agreeable of
the numerous little islands which are in the neighbour-
hood of Constantinople, for the others have only one
village or none at all, but this has two.

As to what I said, that the person on whose skill
we had chiefly relied had been taken away from us by
death, this was none other than my most excellent and
faithful companion during my long sojourn abroad, our
doctor, William Ouacquelben.

I had ransomed a man, who (though I did not know
it at the time), proved to be stricken with the plague.
While William was endeavouring to treat him for the
disease, being not sufficiently careful of himself, he got
infected with the plague poison. On this point he
did not agree with the rest of his profession, but de-
clared that, when the plague was rife there was more
panic than real danger ; his opinion being that, at such
times there is about the average amount of different
kinds of illness, and that people are then so nervous,
that they think most of them are the plague, and that
consequently every sort of ulcer or pimple is then
regarded as a plague boil, and treated accordingly.
And so, although he was already sickening of the
plague, he never suspected what was the matter with
him, until the sickness, which had been increased by
his concealing it, broke out with violent paroxysms.
He all but died in the hands of those who ran to
support him, and not even then could he be induced
to believe it was an attack of the plague. W^hen I
sent, the day before he died, to make inquiries, he
replied he was better, and asked me to come to him,
if I could spare the time. I sat with him a long time,
and he told me how very ill he had been. All his
senses, he said, and especially his sight, had been so
impaired that he could recognise no one. He was

ZZ(> TURKISH LETTERS

now better in this respect and had the command of
all of them ; the phlegm only continued, which in-
terfered with his breathing, and if this were relieved
he would be well at once. As I was leaving him,
I said, I heard he had some sort of abscess on his
breast. He admitted that such was the case, and
throwing back the bed-clothes showed it me, saying,
there was nothing bad about it, he had got it from the
knots of a new doublet he had put on, which was
too tight.

In the evening, according to the rules of my house,
two of my servants went to attend him for the night,
and were preparing to change his shirt. When he
was stripped, he noticed on his body a purple spot which
they said was a flea-bite, and then he saw more and
bigger ones. 'These are no flea-bites,' said he, 'but
messengers to tell me my death is near. Let us there-
fore profit by this warning.' From that moment he
devoted the whole of the night to prayer, pious medi -
tation, and listening to the Scriptures being read,
until as morning broke, he departed this life with full
assurance of God's mercy.^

Thus I lost a very dear friend and excellent fellow-
worker, while the loss to the literary world was not less
than mine. He had seen, learnt, and taken note of
many things, and intended sooner or later to publish
the results of his observations, but death cut short the
work he had so admirably planned. So highly did I
appreciate his loyalty and his tact, that, if the state of
my negotiations had permitted, and I had been granted
permission to return, I should not have hesitated to
leave him as my deputy at Constantinople. From that
time it appeared as if my labours were doubled, and

1 We have here a good description of a serious attack of the plague.
Compare pages 163-4.

THE PRINCES' ISLANDS. 337

now that I have returned home, I seem to have left a
portion of myself behind in my dear friend's grave at
Constantinople. May peace be with his blessed spirit !
His virtues are recorded on the monument, which I
erected to his memory.

But to return to my islands, ' on which I lived very
pleasandy for three months. I enjoyed the greatest
privacy, there was neither crowd nor noise. There
were a i(t\Y Greeks on the island in whose houses we
lodged, but there was no Turk to act the jailer and
dog my footsteps when I wanted to amuse myself;
for the Turkish servants, to whom I had grown accus-
tomed, did not interfere with me, and I was allowed
to wander freely where I would, and to coast about the
numerous islands as I pleased.

Every place there is full of plants of different sorts,
cottonweed, narrow-leaved myrtle, knapweed, and
many others. The sea abounds with fish of every
kind, which I caught sometimes with a hook and some-
times with a net. Boats were to be had with Greek
fishermen, whom we employed to help us.

I used to cross to any spot that presented an
agreeable view, or held out good hopes of sport.
Sometimes, where the water was clear and shallow, I
took a fancy to carry on open warfare by spearing with
a trident a crab or a lobster as he scuttled along, and
so pulling him into the boat. But the mode of fi'^hing,
which was at once the most pleasant and the most
profitable, was that with a seine or drag-net.

I had a place, which the fishermen thought likely,
surrounded with a drag-net, and, by making use not only
of the net itself but also of the long ropes with which

> Busbecq went there in the beginning of August 1561 He was

accompanied by a cavasse, and twenty Janissaries as a guard Charrifere

Negotiations de la France dans le Levant, ii. 668-9. '

VOL. I. Z

338 TURKISH LETTERS.

its two ends were dragged ashore, we managed to en-
close a very considerable space. Round these ropes
the sailors twined a quantity of green boughs to scare the
fish and prevent their escaping into deep water. So,
when the ends of the net on eilher side were drawn to
land, the fish were driven into a narrow space ; they
then began to get frightened and did their best to
escape, each following its natur^d instinct. Some tried
to avoid the danger by a bold leap over the net.
Others, on the contrary, by burrowing in the sand en-
deavoured to save themselves from being entangled.
Some tried to gnaw through the meshes, though they
were made of very coarse twine ; these were mostly
of the shark tribe, which are armed with powerful
teeth. These creatures have such instinct that when
they have bitten away twine enough to open a pas-
sage for one, the whole shoal follows where the first
has got out, and leaves not one for the fisherman. As
I was afraid of this trick, of which I had been warned
beforehand, I stood in the bows holding a pole with
which I kept striking their noses as they gnawed at
the net, much to the amusement of my attendants. My
efforts were rewarded with only partial success ; a few
were caught, but a great many got away. So you see
that even a fish, when hard put to it, can turn cunning.
However, we took plenty of other fish to console us
for the loss of some of the sharks — such as sea bream,
sea scorpions, weavers, char, rock-fish, and ruffs. Their
variety made them a pretty sight, and I greatly enjoyed
making out their names and habits. So at night I
returned to my camp with my bark wreathed with
laurels, and laden with booty and prisoners. The next
day I shared my spoils with Ali Pasha and his major-
domo, who returned me their grateful thanks, and said
the present was very acceptable.

PINNAS AND PINNA-GUARDS. 339

I sometimes took a fancy to capture pinnas, for
which I used a pole and iron contrivance made for the
purpose, with which I pulled them up from the bottom.
They are very plentiful in that sea, so much so that
they seem to have been artificially laid down. I found
in them the pinna-guards, celebrated by Cicero, Pliny,
and Athenseus, which were usually in pairs, a male and
a female, but sometimes in larger numbers. I am
afraid, however, that the other statements made about
them by the above authors are not altogether to be
trusted. That they are interesting, I admit ; the ques-
tion is, are they based on fact. They relate that the
pinna with its shells wide open lies in wait for tiny
fishes, but that, as it is a blind and senseless lump of
flesh, it would not know when they are inside its for-
talice, if it were not warned by a bite from the pinna-
guard ; then it closes its shells, and shares with the
pinna-guard the fishes that are shut in. For the shape
of the pinna, you may consult Belon.^ It fixes the
sharper of its two ends into the bottom of the sea, and
fastens itself by a tuft of hair or thread, so firmly, that
one might think it was planted there. By these threads
it sucks up its nutriment, which is clearly proved from
the fact that, if torn up from its place, it dies from
want of nourishment, like vegetables and plants when
severed from their roots. But it is probable the pinna-
guard chooses this home in order to have a strong
defence against the violence of ravenous fishes and a
quiet haven when the sea is boisterous, from which it

' These references are to Cicero, De NaturA Deorum, ii. cap. 48, and
DeFinibus, iii. cap. 19 ; Pliny, Natural History, ix. cap. 66, and Atheliceus,
iii. p. 93. For descriptions and figures of the pinna and pinnophylax or
pea-crab, see Wood's Natural History, pages 422 and 588. They are
frequently found in the shells of bivalves. The real reason for this habit
is not certainly known. For an account of Belon, see note, page 140.

z 2

340 TURKISH LETTERS.

can sally out when it likes, and retreat again in safety.
I should not, however, wish in saying this to be sus-
pected of intending to detract at all from the authority
of such great men ; my object is simply to draw the
attention of others to the subject in the hope of its
being investigated more thoroughly.^ We used to have
no difficulty in filling our boat with pinnas ; they are
not good eating, and you would soon get tired of them,
being coarse and tasting like mussels. But the fisher-
man told us to pick out the pinna-guards, of which a
dish was made, that was alike agreeable to the palate
and wholesome for the stomach.

Among the rest there is a small island, which is
uninhabited. Close to it I recollect capturing mon-
strous and extraordinary creatures, such as starfishes,
razorshells, clusters of cuttlefish eggs, sea-horses, enor-
mous snails, and some yellow balls like oranges, but
no fishes, except one skate or sting-ray, which is capa-
ble of inflicting a serious wound with its sting. It
tried to strike us, and in so doing impaled itself and
was caught.

When the weather kept us from the sea, I amused
myself on shore in looking for rare and new plants.
Sometimes by way of exercise, I walked round the
island, dragging with me a Franciscan friar, a capital
young fellow, but, though young, very fat and unac-
customed to exertion. He had gone with me as a
companion from the monastery at Pera. One day, as
I was walking fast to warm myself, he followed me
with difficulty, pufiing and blowing, ' What need is
there,' he would cry, ' for such a hurry ? We are not
running for our lives or chasing anybody ! Are we
postmen charged with letters of importance ? ' This
went on till the sweat broke out in his back through

' This passage illustrates the statement in the Life, pages So, 51.

THE METROPOLITAN METROPHANES. 341

his clothes in a great round patch. When we returned
to our lodging, he made the house echo with his groans
and lamentations, and threw himself on his bed, crying
out he was done for. 'What harm,' he exclaimed,
' have I ever done you that you should try to kill me
before my time ? ' And it was only by dint of much
pressing that we could induce him to come to supper.

Occasionally friends from Constantinople and Pera
and some Germans of Ali's household paid us a visit.
When I asked them ' Whether the plague was abat-
ing?' one of them replied, 'Yes, in a marked degree.'
' What is the daily death rate then ? ' quoth I, ' About
five hundred,' said he. ' Good God,' I exclaimed, ' do
you call this the plague abating 1 How many used to
die when it was at its height .? ' ' About a thousand
or twelve hundred,' he answered.

The Turks imagine that the time and manner of
each man's death is inscribed by God on his forehead,
and that therefore they have no power of avoidino- the
fatal hour, and that till that time there is no need for
fear. This belief renders them indifferent to the
dangers of the plague, but does not secure them against
its attacks. And so they handle the clothes and
sheets in which plague-stricken people have expired,
while they are still reeking with their death-sweat, and
even rub their faces with them. ' If God,' say they, ' has
decreed that I shall die thus, it must happen ; if not,
it cannot injure me.' This of course is just the way
to spread contagion, and sometimes whole households
perish to a man.

While I lived in the islands I made friends with
the Metropolitan! Metrophanes, who was abbot of a

' In ancient times, and now in the English Church, the title of Metro
pohtan (Archbishop) was confined to the chief bishop of a province • but
in the Greek Church at the present day the title is given to many ordinary
bishops.

342 TURKISH LETTERS. .

monastery in Chalcis, one of the islands, a polite and
well-educated man, who was very anxious for a union
of the Latin and Greek Churches. In this he differed
from the views entertained by Greeks generally, for
they will hold no communion with members of the
Latin Church, which they consider an impure and pro-
fane sect. This shows how strong is each man's con-
viction of the truth of his own faith.

When I had spent about two months in the island,
some of the Pashas became suspicious of my long stay,
sought an interview with Ali, and told him that they con-
sidered it would be more convenient if I were recalled
to the city. For what if I should escape ? I had ships
at my command, and everything that was needful to
facilitate my flight, should I be so inclined. Ali told
them to set their minds at ease, saying, he had the
most perfect confidence in me. He sent me, notwith-
standing, a cavasse to tell me of this. The man, after
examining everything, without appearing to do so, and
finding nothing to indicate an intention of running away,
returned with a message from me to Ali Pasha not to
be afraid ; I would do nothing which would give him
cause to repent of his confidence in me. I took care,
by the way, to give the cavasse a douceur. So my
holiday was prolonged into the third month, and I
returned to the city, at my own time, without being
recalled.

From that time forward Ali Pasha and I became
firm friends, and were for ever interchanging views
with the object of re-establishing peace. He is a Dalma-
tian by birth, and the only polished gentleman I came
across among the Turkish savages. He is of a quiet
and gentle disposition, courteous, and extremely intel-
ligent, possesses great capacity for business, and has
had much experience both as general in the field and

STORY OF ROOSTEM AND BUSBECQ. 343

statesman in the cabinet. For he is now advanced in
life, and the posts he has held have always been im-
portant ones. He is above the average height, and,
while his habitual expression is grave and serious, it
has about it an ineffable charm. To his master he is
deeply attached, and he shows it by his anxiety to
arrange a peace, for he feels that the Sultan's health
and years require rest. The end which Roostem had
sought to bring about by rudeness and intimidation he
endeavoured to compass by courtesy and moderation ;
— in short, Ali treated me like a friend.

Roostem was always sour, always overbearing, and
meant his word to be law. It was not that he was
ignorant of how matters stood. He knew right well
what the condition of the times and the Sultan's
advancing years required, but he was afraid that, if any
word or act of his should betoken a milder mood, he
would be suspected of hankering after a bribe, for his
master had no confidence in his integrity in this re-
spect. For this reason he did not desist from his
usual rudeness, although he was desirous of patching
up a peace. Accordingly, when anything was said
that did not please him, he refused to listen to me, and
showed me the door, so that every conference I had
with him ended in his losing his temper ; though I
cannot be sure that his anger was not sometimes
assumed.

On one occasion, I remember, when I had been
treating with him on matters concerning the peace, and
he had rejected my propositions as inadmissible, and had
told me to be off, if I had no other proposals to make,
I immediately rose and went home, having first said
that it was not in my power to go beyond my instruc-
tions. As he thought I had done this with unusual
warmth, he called back my interpreter and asked him

344 TURKISH LETTERS.

if I was displeased. When the interpreter repHed in
the negative, ' I want your opinion,' said Roostem ; 'if
I were to obtain from my master the terms he has
mentioned to me, do you think he would be as good
as his word and pay me down the present he has pro-
mised me ? ' When the interpreter said he felt no doubt
that I would most faithfully perform whatever I had
promised, Roostem replied, ' Go home and ask him.'
I had by me in ready money 5,000 ducats, which are
equivalent to 6,000 crowns. With these I loaded my
interpreter, and ordered him to tell Roostem to keep
them as a proof of my good faith and as a first instal-
ment, saying, that the rest would follow when the
business was concluded (for I had promised him a
still larger sum), I was not in the habit of breaking
my word. Roostem was delighted to see the money,
fingered it, and then gave it back to the interpreter!
saying, ' I do not doubt his good faith ; but as to the
peace there are difficulties of no ordinary kind in the
way ; I cannot give him any positive assurance about
It, indeed I do not yet know my master's intentions.
Go, take the money back to the Ambassador that he
may keep it for me, till it is certain what turn the busi-
ness will take. In the mean time he must be my banker.'
_ So I saved my money after all, Roostem himself
being carried off by death some months afterwards.

I must now tell you of the goodness of our most
gracious Emperor. When there seemed no object in
keeping this sum any longer, after giving due notice
to the Emperor, I applied it to meet a year's expendi-
ture (for our annual outlay amounted to 6,000 crowns).
I afterwards repented of this, when I began to reflect on
the number of years and the great labours and dangers
this embassy had cost me already; I thought I had
not done myself justice, inasmuch as though I knew

ALT AND ROOSTEM CONTRASTED. ^ 345

the money was but my due, and I had a most excellent
and generous master, a most just judge of everyone's
deserts, I had forgotten to avail myself of the oppor-
tunity, and had made no effort to secure for myself the
money which had been saved, beyond all hope, like a
lamb snatched from the very jaws of the wolf There
are many at court who have obtained far greater re-
wards for far smaller services. I determined to call
the Emperor's attention to the case, admit my error,
and ask him to restore the entire sum, and to set right
with his usual princely generosity the mistake I had
committed through my carelessness. I had no difficulty
in making out my case before so considerate a judge ; he
ordered the six thousand pieces of gold to be repaid
me out of his treasury. If I shall ever allow my
master's great generosity to fade from my memory, I
shall account myself unworthy to live.

But to return to my subject ; there was a striking
contrast between the characters of the Pashas Ali and
Roostem. The career of the former had been such as
to place his integrity in money matters above all sus-
picion. Consequently he was under no apprehension
that courtesy or kindness on his part would injure
him with his master. But Roostem, on the contrary,
was always grasping, always mean, and one who made
self-interest and money his first consideration. ^ Roos-
tem used to have very short interviews with me, but
Ali would purposely keep me for several hours, and
make my visit pleasant by his great civility. Mean-
while the Turks, who had come either to call or on
business, kept murmuring because they were detained
so long waiting for their audience, while the Pasha was
closeted with me. I confess I got very hungry at
these interviews, for he used to summon me to him in

' See pp. 113, 114.

346 TURKISH LETTERS.

the afternoon, and I did not care to eat before I went,
as I wished to have my brain as clear as possible for
my conference with this able statesman. In these con-
versations he strenuously urged, that we should each
advise our own master to take the course we considered
most for his interests. ' He was well aware,' he said,
' that his master required nothing more urgently than
repose, as his course was nearly run, and he had had
his fill of military glory ; on the other hand, he felt that
there was no need to prove to me that peace and quiet
would be likewise to my master's interests. If he
desired to consult the safety and tranquillity of his
subjects, he ought not to rouse the sleeping lion, and
provoke him once more to enter the lists. Just as
mirrors, which are naturally empty, take the reflec-
tions of whatever objects may be placed before them,
even so the minds of Sovereigns,' he argued, ' are
blanks, which receive what may be called impres-
sions of what is presented to them, and therefore we
ought to put before our masters' minds what would be
most conducive to their advantage. Also we ought,'
said he, ' to imitate good cooks, who do not season
their dishes to suit the palate of this person or that, but
consult the general taste ; in like manner we, in settling
the terms of peace, ought to regulate them so as to
attain results which would be agreeable and honourable
to both parties alike.'

He used very sensibly to repeat these and many
similar arguments, and whenever an opportunity pre-
sented itself, displayed his good will towards me, and
if in turn I showed him any sign of attention, he
received it with marked gratitude.

About this time he met with an accident. He was
returning home from the Divan, and had arrived at
the turn of the road, where it was his habit to bid his

JOHN BASILIC US. 347

colleagues farewell. There he chanced to wheel his
horse round too sharpl)^, and, while engaged in giving
them a parting salute, bowed low with his whole weight
on his steed's neck. The horse, which had not yet
got its foothold, being unequal to the weight, fell with
its rider to the ground.

When I heard of this, I ordered my servants to
visit him and inquire if he had received any harm from
the accident. He was gratified by the attention, and
after thanking me replied, ' he was nowhere injured,
and it was not strange if an old worn-out soldier was
liable to fall.' Then turning to the bystanders, he said,
' I cannot tell you how much kindness that Christian
always shows me.'

Sometimes he used to tell me that riches, honour,
and dignities had fallen in abundance to his lot, and
that now his only object in life was to show kindness to
every one, and thus to hand down to posterity a grateful
recollection of his name.

When we had been already engaged for some time
in peace negotiations, and I was in great hopes of ob-
taining the result I desired, an accident occurred, which
might have upset and ruined everything.

A Greek by birth, whom they honoured with the
tide of Despot,^ invaded Moldavia, under the protec-

' After the Spaniards, in 1533, abandoned the fortress of Coron in the
Morea, some Greeks, who had taken their part, fled with them to
Charles V. Among them was one James Heraclides, whose ancestors
had been Despots, or Lords, of Samos and Paros. In his suite was a lad
named John Basilicus, the son of a ship-captain in Crete. He took a
fancy to the young man, and had him educated, and for some yea.s he
worked as a copyist in the Vatican library. On the death of his patron,
John persuaded his household to acknowledge him as the nephew of their
deceased master by allowing them to take possession of the property
left by him, only keeping for himself all the diplomas, title-deeds and
other documents he could find. Many years afterwards he repaired
to Charles V. in his retirement at Yuste, and obtained from him an
acknowledgment that he was nephew and heir of Heraclides, and as

3t8 TURKISH LETTERS.

fion of the Emperor's troops who were guarding the
Hungarian frontier, and occupied it, after driving out the

such was recognised by him as Despot of Samos and Paros. Charles V.
also acknowledged the good service he had done while in the Albanian
light cavalry attached to the Spanish army, and according to some ac-
counts gave him the right of conferring the degree of Doctor and
creating Notaries and Poet-Laureates. Armed with these credentials he
repaired to Wittenberg, where he became acquainted with Melancthon,
published an historical work in Latin, and with the Emperor's con-
sent exercised his powers by creating some Poet-Lauieates. At Lubeck
he assumed the character of a prince banished by the Turks, and thence
repaired to the courts of Denmark and Sweden, and next went by
Dantzic to Albert of Brandenberg, the tirst Duke of Prussia. He then
visited Nicholas Radzivill at Wilna, who introduced him to Sigismund,
King of Poland. To gain Radzivill's favour he professed himself a Protes-
tant. In Poland he heard of the disturbed state of Moldavia, and found
that the wife of the Hospodar Alexander was a kinswoman of his pretended
uncle. Armed with letters of recommendation from Radzivill and the King,
he entered Moldavia, assumed the name of James Heraclides, and on the
strength of a forged pedigree, passed himself off as a descendant of the
ancient Moldavian dynasty of that name. He applied himself to learn
the language and to gain the affections of the nobles. Thereon Alexander,
who at first had received him well, tried to poison him, but he escaped
to Upper Hungary ; here he obtained the assistance of Albert Laszky and
would have invaded Moldavia through Ruthenia, if the Palatine had not
stopped him by the King of Poland's orders. He then retired to Kaschau,
where he gained the confidence of Busbecq's old colleague Zay, then
Governor of Upper Hungary. Having come to an understanding between
themselves, they wrote to Ferdinand, who entered into a secret agree-
ment to assist Basilicus with money, and allow him to levy troops in his
dominions. To lull the suspicions of Alexander, a report of Basilicus's
death was circulated, and his funeral was actually performed by Laszky
at Kesmark, the capital of the County of Zips. His second invasion
proved more successful. In November, 1561, he f^efeated Alexander
near Suczawa, who fled to Jassy, and thence to Constantinople. There
he endeavoured to prejudice the Sultan against him, and spread reports
that he was about to invade Thrace with his German mercenaries.
Though Solyman was much annoyed at these events, and had commenced
to assemble an army to attack the Despot, yet he deemed it wiser to
dissemble his vexation, and, yielding to the representations of the Despot's
envoys, which were supported by a judicious administration of bribes,
he conferred on him the vacant dignity. The Despot, however, soon
made himself unpopular by raising the taxes, which he was obhged to do
in order to provide the increased tribute he had agreed to pay, Alexander
having carried off ail the money in the treasury. Moreover, to save
expense he dismissed his German and Italian troops, retaining only

CONQUEST OF MOLDAVIA. 349

Voivode, who was then in possession of that country.
The Turks were greatly disturbed by this event, which
was serious enough in itself, and might, they feared,
be only the first step to further enterprises, but they
deemed it wise to conceal their anxiety, and not to
make bad worse by unseemly alarm. But Ali thought
he ought not to let it pass without communicating
with me, and ascertaining my views. I received in-
formation from one of his domestics that in the course
of a few hours I should be summoned to him about
this affair. I must confess I was seriously alarmed by
this message. Our negotiations were well nigh com-
pleted, in fact we were like players who are about to
conclude their piece, of which only the last act remains.
I was in great fear that this new event would disturb
everything, and carry us away again from the harbour
which was just in sight. I was summoned to Ali Pasha,
as I had been warned. He received me with his usual
politeness, and conversed with me on various topics,

Hungarians. The priests and common people were alienated by his re^
ligious innovations, especially as they could not refute his arguments
'having learnt to worship God with more zeal than knowledge.' He de-
clared his intention of abolishing vain ceremonies and false doctrines and
introduced Calvinist preachers from Poland, who ridiculed the rnass-
books, expressed their abhorrence of all ceremonies, destroyed images,
and, in the words of the episcopal historian, had the arrogance to affirm
that their doctrines agreed with the testimony of the Scriptures. He
began to plunder the churches of their treasures, plate, &c., which made
the priests fear their turn would come next. His crowning act of sacri-
lege was to melt down certain silver crosses, venerable both from their
age and the relics they contained, and to coin them into pieces bearing
his image and superscription. The nobles were further estranged by his
projected marriage with the beautiful Christina, daughter of Martin
Zborowski, Castellan of Cracow, a man of great influence in Poland, and
the leader of the Protestant party. Accordingly, they conspired against
him, treacherously surprised and killed most of his foreign guards his
other partisans, and his infant child, and besieged him in Suczawa. After
three months his Hungarian troops mutinied and surrendered the fortress
and he was cruelly murdered by Tomza, the leader of the conspirators.

35° TURKISH LETTERS.

especially those relating to the conclusion of peace,
without showing either in his words or expression any
change from his usual demeanour, till I was just pre-
paring to go, and had risen to bid him farewell. Then,
as if he had just recollected the subject of Moldavia,
he told me to sit down again and said, just as one does
when some trifle has come into one's head, ' Indeed I
had almost forgotten one thing I wanted to tell you.
Have you heard that your Germans have come into
Moldavia ? ' ' Into Moldavia ! ' said I ; 'no, indeed I
have not, and what is more, it seems to me most impro-
bable. For what could Germans have to do with so
distant a country as Moldavia .? ' ' Yet it is true,' said
he, 'and you will find it to be so.' He then began to
repeat at greater length what he had told me, and to
assure me that the news which had arrived was certain.
' To conclude,' said he, ' to prevent your having any
doubt about it, we will catch a German and send him
to you that you may find out the truth from him.' I
then took the line of saying, that in any case I felt
quite certain that nothing had been done by the Em-
peror's orders or authority. The Germans were a free
nation, and in the habit of taking foreign service.
Perhaps some of those who had served under the Em-
peror's generals had after their discharge enlisted as
mercenaries under some one who required such troops,
and in my judgment he would not be far wrong in
attributing the cause of this disturbance to the neio-h-
bouring Hungarian magnates, who, wearied of the
wrongs which were heaped on them every day by the
Turks, had planned to pay them back in their own
coin, and if I might express what I felt, ' I do not see,'
said I, 'on what ground they can be blamed, if, when
harassed so often and goaded on by their wrongs, they
remembered they were men and ventured to retaliate.

AN INTERVIEW WITH All. 351

Is there anything that your soldiers have not for many
years past thought they might not perpetrate in Hun-
gary ? What species of outrage or what acts of hos-
tihty are there that they have abstained from inflicting
on the Emperor's subjects ? Here indeed hopes of
peace are put forward, but there war in all its worst
forms is to be found. I have now been detained here
as a prisoner for many years, and no one at home
knows for certain whether I am alive or dead. The
men who have borne your insults so long deserve, in
my opinion, praise, not blame, if they avail themselves
of any opportunity of revenge that presents itself.'

' Be it so,' said Ali ; ' let them do their worst, pro-
vided they keep within the borders of Hungary itself
or the adjoining districts ; but that they should invade
Moldavia, which is only a few days' journey from
Adrianople, that indeed is more than we can put up
with.'

I replied, ' Men accustomed to war, and more ex-
perienced in wielding arms than in law, should not be
expected to make nice or fine-drawn distinctions.
They seized the first opportunity that offered, and
thought it was not for them to consider where or how
far they had leave to go.' Thus I left him without his
being at all angry, as far as I could judge ; and in fact
he did not show himself on the following days a bit more
hard to deal with in the peace negotiations.

While we were in the midst of this business, I
received a great kindness, for so I interpret it, from the
Ambassador of the most Christian King (the King of
France). There were in the Sultan's prisons at Con-
stantinople thirteen men, most of them young, including
some of noble birth, partly Germans and partly Nether-
landers, who had been reduced to that state by a
curious accident. They had embarked at Venice

352 TURKISH LETTERS.

in the ship, by which pilgrims to the holy city of
Jerusalem are conveyed every year to Syria with
passports from the Republic of Venice. Some were
making the pilgrimage from religious motives, and
others were travelling for pleasure ; the journey, how-
ever, was destined to be disastrous to all. They
landed at a most unfortunate time, as the knights of
Malta had just made a descent upon that part of the
coast of Palestine, and had carried off many prisoners.
The Syrians, whose parents, children, and relations
had been kidnapped, finding that they had no other
means of revenging themselves and recovering their
friends, laid hands on the travellers who were under
the protection of Venetian passports, and accused them
of belonging to the pirates, saying, ' You must either
get our kinsfolk restored to us, or like them be reduced
to the condition of slaves.' They showed their passports
from the Venetian government, they appealed to the
treaties and engagements of the Porte. It was all of
no use ; might proved stronger than right, and they
were carried off to Constantinople in chains. Their
youth also was much against them, as it prevented
even the Pashas thinking it likely that they were bona
fide pilgrims, because, as a general rule, it is only the
older Turks who make religious pilgrimages.

When I obtained information of these events, I left
no stone unturned to deliver them from their miserable
condition ; but my endeavours were wholly unsuccess-
ful. The Venetian Baily ^ was appealed to, because
they were under the protection of his Republic when
they had fallen into misfortune. He frankly admitted
their claim to his assistance, but pointed out the
difficulty of his doing them any service when he had
to deal with such insolent barbarians as the Turks.

' See note, page 226.

THE RELEASE OF THE PILGRIMS. 353

Meanwhile I did what I could to lighten their misfor-
tunes. However, to my great surprise and joy they
one day came to me in a body and told me they were
sent home, thanks to the Ambassador of the most
Christian King; through his good offices they had
obtained their freedom. I was indeed delighted at
this unhoped-for event, and had my warmest thanks
conveyed to the Ambassador. The said Ambassador,
Lavigne, being about to leave, had managed, when he
was having a farewell audience of Solyman and was
kissing his hand according to the established etiquette,
to thrust into it a paper, in which he asked that those
men, whose calamity had been caused by their under-
taking a pilgrimage, should be granted their liberty as
a favour to his King. Solyman complied with his
request and ordered them to be instandy released.^ I
provided them with means for their journey, and havino-
put them on board ship, sent them to Venice, and
thence to their own country.

This Lavigne had at first made himself troublesome
to me in many ways, and, whenever he could, tried to
impede my negotiations, and did his best, without any
fault of mine, to prejudice the Pashas against me. He
used to say I was a subject of the King of Spain, as I
was born in the Netherlands, and was as much that

1 The farewell audience took place on the Tuesday before September,
10, 1559. Apparently, however, it was on June 6 that Lavigne pro-
cured the release of the prisoners. The Baily, Marini di Cavallo, was
much annoyed at the favour, which had been refused to his entreaties and
bribes, being granted to Lavigne. ' Et il ne s'est peu tenir, tout saige et
cavallo qu'il est, de se faire cognoistre fol et asino : car usant de paroles
magnifiques et de ceste bonne crdance de Realto contre moy, au lieu de
me louer et vous faire remercier par sa seigneurie d'une si bonne ctuvre
qu'il n'eust jamais sceu mectre a fin, soubz main il a taschd de faire dresser
les commandements desdits pellerins en son nom, et de corrompre I'ani-
bassadeur du roy des Remains (Busbecq) aftin qu'il escripvit a I'empe-
reur que c'estoit k la requeste de ladicte seigneurie qu'ils avoient estd
deliverez.'— Charri^re, Negocialions Sec, ii. 584.

VOL. I. A A

354 TURKISH LETTERS.

King's servant as the Emperor's. He told them King
PhiHp was informed through me of everything that
went on at Constantinople ; that I had suborned men
for that purpose, who disclosed to me all the greatest
secrets, among whom Ibrahim, the first dragoman of the
Sultan, about whom 1 shall speak later on, played the
principal part. All this had happened before peace had
been made between the Kings of Spain and France; and
when peace was concluded he seems to have sought
an opportunity to make amends for what he had done.
Lavigne was a man of a rude and brutal frankness ;
he always said what was uppermost in his mind, quite
regardless of the feelings of his hearer. The conse-
quence was that Roostem himself shrank from meeting
him, although other people were afraid of conversing
with Roostem on account of the rudeness of his lan-
guage. Lavigne would send his dragomans to demand
an audience for himself ; Roostem would make excuses,
and tell him to communicate what he wanted through
them, and spare himself the trouble, assuring him that it
could be done just as well without his coming. But
this used to be all in vain, for he would presently come
and say such things as seldom failed to give offence
to Roostem. To take an instance, he one day com-
plained that they did not have as much regard for
his master as they ought to have. ' For what is your
opinion } ' said he ; ' perhaps you think Buda, Gran,
Stuhlweissenburg, and the other towns of Hungary
were taken by your valour, but you are quite mistaken.
It is through us you hold them. For had it not been
for the quarrels and perpetual wars, which have existed
between our Kings and those of Spain, you would have
been so far from being able to get possession of those
towns, that scarcely at Constantinople itself would you
have been safe from Charles V.' Roostem bore this

THE GOTHS OF THE CRIMEA. 355

no longer, but burst into a violent passion, and ex-
claimed, ' Why do you talk to me of your Kings and
those of Spain ? Such is the power of my master that,
if all your Christian princes were to unite their forces
and make war on him at once, he would not care a
straw for it, and would win an easy victory over them
all' With these words he retreated to his chamber in
a rage, after ordering the Ambassador to leave.

I cannot here omit what I learnt about a tribe ^
which still dwells in the Crimea, which I had often
heard showed traces of a German origin in their
language, customs, and lastly in their face and habit of
body. Hence I had long been eager to see one of
that tribe, and, if possible, to procure from them some-
thing written in that language ; but in this I was
unsuccessful. However, at last an accident in some
measure satisfied my wishes, as two men had been sent
to Constantinople from those parts, to lay before the
Sultan some complaints or other in the name of that
tribe. My dragomans fell in with them, and recollect-

1 It is curious to find that some Gotlis still existed in the Crimea so
late as Busbecq's days. They occupied the south coast from Balaklava
to Sudak, and the mountains north of the latter, and the Genoese officer
who governed this coast in the fifteenth century, bore the title of Capi-
tanus Gotiffi. They are mentioned by the monk Rubruquis, who was
sent in 1253 by Saint Louis to the Great Khan, and also by Marco Polo
(book iv. c. 24, Yule's edition, ii. p. 421 and note). The traveller Pallas at
the end of the last century, could find no traces of them or of their kn
guage, so that he thinks {Travels, vol. ii. p. 358), that Busbecq's belief in
their existence must have arisen from some German, Swedish, or other cap
lives being found in the Crimea. Busbecq, however, is not the only writer
who notices these Goths, and it is not difficult to understand that the
tribe may have disappeared before the time of Pallas in the numerous
wars which devastated the Crimea. The ruins of Mancup still remain
four leagues south of Simferopol, and nearly due east of Sebastopol It
IS an almost inaccessible fortress, on a high isolated rock. Pallas describes
the ruins of it in the second volume of his Travels. One of Gibbon's
numerous references to Busbecq is found in a note to Chapter xl where
he alludes to ' these unambitious Goths.' '

A A 2

35^ TURKISH LETTERS,

ing my orders on the subject, they brought them to me
to dinner.

One of them was about the middle height, and had
an air of superior breeding — you might have taken
him for a Fleming or Batavian ; the other was shorter,
more strongly built, and of a dark complexion, being
by birth and language a Greek, but by having traded
there for some time he had acquired a fair acquaint-
ance with their tongue ; while the other man had
lived and associated so much with the Greeks that
he had picked up their language and forgotten his
own. When questioned about the nature and customs
of these people he answered my inquiries in a straight-
forward manner. He said the tribe was warlike, and
even now inhabited numerous villages, from which the
chief of the Tartars raised, when expedient, 800 in-
fantry, armed with fire-arms, the mainstay of his army.
Their chief towns are called Mancup and Scivarin.

He told me also much about the Tartars and
their barbarism, among whom, however, he said a
good many men of remarkable ability might be found.
For when asked about matters of importance they
answered shortly and to the purpose. On this account
the Turks, not without reason, say that all other
nations have their wisdom Avritten in books, but the
Tartars have devoured their books, and so have it
stored up in their breasts, and consequently are able to
bring it out when needful, and talk like men inspired.
They are very dirty in their habits ; if any broth is
served at table they require no spoons, but use instead
the palm of the hand. They devour the flesh of
slaughtered horses without cooking it in any way ; all
they do is to spread the pieces under their horses'
saddles, this warms them .slightly, and they then
proceed to eat the meat, as if it had been dressed after

A GOTHIC VOCABULARY

357

the most dainty fashion. The chief of the nation eats
off a silver table. The first and also the last dish
served is a horse's head, as among us butter is honoured
with the first and last place.

Now I will write down a few of the many German
words, which he repeated, for the form of quite as
many was totally different from ours, whether because
this is due to the genius of that language, or because
his memory failed him, and he substituted foreign for
the native words. To all words he prefixed the article
' tko ' or ' ^ke.' The words which were the same as
ours, or only a little difterent, were these : ^

Gothic.

Broe

Plut

Stul

Hus

Wingart

Reghen

Bruder

Schwester

Alt

Wintch

Silvir

Goltz

Kor

Salt

Fisct

Hoef

Thurn

Stern

Sune

Mine

Tag

Oeghene

Bars

Handa

English.

Bread

Blood

Stool

House

Vine

Rain

Brother

Sister

Old

Wind

Silver

Gold

Corn

Salt

Fish

Head

Door

Star

Sun

Moon

Day

Eyes

Beard

Hand

Flemish.

Brood

Bloed

Stoel

Huys

Wijngaert

Regen

Broader

Zuster

Oud

Wind

Zilver

Goud

Koran

Zout

Visch

Hoofd

Deure

Star

Zon

Maen

Dag

Oogen

Baert

Hand

I Tha Flemish is not given by Busbecq, but has been taken by the
translators from an article on Busbecq in Les Voyageurs Beiges, ii. p. 30,
by the Baron de Saint-Gdnois.

358

TURKISH LETTERS.

Gothic.

Boga

Miera

Rinck or Ringo

Briinna

Waghen

Apel

Schieten

Sclilipen

Kommen

Singhen

Lachen

Criten

Geen

Breen

Schwalch

English.

Bow
Ant
Ring
Spring
Waggon
Apple
To shoot
To sleep
To come
To sing
To laugh
To cry
Togo
To roast
Death

Flemish.

Bogen

Mier

Ring

Bron

Wagen

Appel

Schieten

Slapen

Komen

Zingen

Lachen

Kryten

Gaen

Braen

Knauen Tag meant good day. Knauen signified
good, and he used many other words which did not
agree with our tongue, for example :

lel, life or health
leltsch, alive or well
lel uburt, be it well
Marzus, marriage
Schuos, a bride
Baar, a boy
Ael, a stone
Menus, flesh
Rintsch, a mountain
Fers, a man
Statz, the earth
Ada, an ^gg
Ano, a hen
Telich, foolish

Stap, a goat

Gadeltha, beautiful

Atochta, bad

Wichtgata, white

Mycha, a sword

Lista, too little

Schedit, light

Borrotsch, a wish

Cadariou, a soldier

Kilemschkop, drink up your cup

Tzo warthata, thou didst

les varthata, he did

Ich malthata, I say

Being told to count he did so thus : Ita, hia, tria,
fyder, fyuf, seis, sevene, precisely as we Flemings do.
For you men of Brabant, who pretend you talk German,
are, on this point, in the habit of lauding yourselves to
the skies, and ridiculing us on account of what you are
pleased to call our abominable pronunciation of that
word, which you Y>^onouncQ seven. He went on thus;
atke, nyne, tkiine, tkiinita, thtmehia, thunetria. Twenty
he called stega, thirty treithyen, iorty ficrderthien, a

A PILGRIMAGE TO CHINA. 359

hundred sada, a thousand hazev. He also repeated
a song in that language, which began as follows,

Wara, wara ingdolou ;
Scu te gira Galizu
Haemisclep dorbiza ea.

Whether they are Goths or Saxons I cannot decide.
If Saxons, I think they were transported thither in the
time of Charlemagne, who dispersed that nation through
various regions of the world, as the cities in Transyl-
vania,^ which are to this day inhabited by Saxons,
bear witness. And perhaps it was decided that the
bravest of them should be removed yet further, as
far as the Tauric Chersonese, where, though in the
midst of enemies, they still retain the Christian re-
ligion. But if they are Goths, I am of opinion that
even in ancient times they occupied those tracts, which
adjoin the Getse. And perhaps one would not be
wrong in thinking that the greatest part of the country
which lies between the island of Gothland and what is
now called Perekop was at one time inhabited by
Goths.

Hence came the various clans named Visigoths and
Ostrogoths ; hence they started on their career of vic-
tory, all over the world ; this was the vast hive of that
barbarian swarm. Now you have heard what I learnt
about the Tauric Chersonese from these men of Perekop.
Now listen to what I heard from a Turkish pilgrim
about the city and country of Cathay (China). He
belonged to the sect who hold it a religious duty to
wander through distant regions, and to worship God on

1 This is a mistake on Busbecq's part. The first German immigrants
came to Transylvania at the invitation of Geisa 11., king of Hungary, m
the times of Conrad III. and Frederick Barbarossa, i.e., about the middle
of the twelfth century. Most of them came from the Lower Rhine. They
still form distinct communities, marrying only among themselves, and are
known as Saxons.

36o TURKISH LETTERS.

the highest mountains and in wild and desert places.
He had traversed almost the whole of the East, where
he had made acquaintance with the Portuguese ; and
then, excited by the desire of visiting the city and
kmgdom of Cathay, he had joined some merchants
who were setting out thither, for they are accus-
tomed to assemble in large numbers, and so journey
in a body to the frontiers of that realm. Few reach
their destination safely, as the risk is great. There
are many intervening tribes who are treacherous to
travellers, and whose attacks are to be feared every
moment.

When they had travelled some distance from the
Persian frontier, they came to the cities of Samarcand,
Bokhara, and Tashkend, and to other places inhabited
by Tamerlane's successors. To these there succeeded
vast deserts or tracts of country, sometimes inhabited by
savage and inhospitable clans, and sometimes by tribes
of a more civilised description ; but everywhere the
country is so poor that there is great difficulty in get-
ting provisions. On this account every man had pro-
vided himself with food and the other necessaries of
life, and great numbers of camels were loaded with
these supplies. A large party of this kind is called
a caravan.

After many months of toil they arrived at the
passes, which may be termed the keys of the kingdom
of Cathay (for a great part of the dominions of the
King of Cathay is inland, and surrounded by wild
mountains and precipitous rocks, nor can it be entered
except by certain passes which are held by the Kino-'s
forces). At this point the merchants were asked, what
they brought, where they came from, and how many
of them there were.? This information the King's
garrison troops transmit by smoke in the day time, and

CHINESE TELEGRAPHS, 361

by fire at night, to the next beacon, and that in turn
to the next, and so on, till news of the merchants'
arrival is forwarded to the King of Cathay, which
otherwise could not be done for the space of several
days. In the same manner and with equal speed he
sends back word what his pleasure is, saying whether
he chooses them all to be admitted, or part of them to
be excluded, or their entrance delayed. If admitted,
they are conducted by appointed guides by halting-
places established at proper stages, where the neces-
saries of food and clothing are supplied at a fair price,
till they reach Cathay itself. Here they first declare
what each of them has brought, and then, as a mark of
respect, present the King with whatever gift they think
proper. In addition to receiving the gift, he has also
the right of purchasing at a fair valuation whatever
articles he pleases.

The rest they sell or barter as they choose, a day
for their return being fixed, up to which they have the
power of carrying on business, for the Cathayans do
not approve of foreigners sojourning too long, for fear
their national customs should be corrupted by foreign
manners. They are then courteously sent back by the
same stages by which they came.

The same pilgrim described that nation as very
ingenious, and said they were civilised and well
governed. They have a religion of their own, distinct
from Christianity, Judaism, or Mahomedanism, but
more like Judaism without its ceremonies. For many
centuries back the art of printing has been in use
among them, as is sufficiently proved by the books
printed in that country. For this purpose they use
paper made of silkworms' cocoons, so thin, that it will
only bear the impression of the type on one side ; the
other is left blank.

362 TURKISH LETTERS

There are numerous shops in that city which sell
the scent they call musk. It is the secretion of a beast
the size of a kid.

No article of merchandise is more prized among
them than a lion ; this beast being uncommon in those
countries is exceedingly admired, and nothing fetches
a higher price.

These statements about the kingdom of Cathay I
learned from the mouth of this wanderer, for which
their author must be responsible. For indeed it is
quite possible, that, when I was asking him about
Cathay, he might have been answering me about some
other neighbouring country, and according to the pro-
verb, when I was asking for a sickle, have answered
me about a spade.

When I heard this story from him, I thought it well
to ask, whether he had brought from any place he had
visited any rare root, or fruit, or stone. ' Nothing at all,'
said he, ' except that I carry about this root for my own
use, and if I chew and swallow the least particle of it,
when I am suffering from languor or cold, I am sti-
mulated and get warm.' As he spoke he gave it me to
taste, warning me at the same time that it must be
used very sparingly. My physician, William Quac-
quelben, who was at that time still alive, tasted itT and
from the heat with which it inflamed his mouth, pro-
nounced it to be true Napellus or Aconite.^

This, I think, is the proper place to tell you of the
miracle wrought by another Turkish pilgrim and monk.
He went about in a shirt and white mantle reaching
down to the feet, and let his hair grow long, so that he
resembled the apostles as they are usually depicted by
our painters. Under an engaging appearance was con-
cealed the mind of an impostor ; but the Turks vene-

' See note i, page 415.

FEATS OF DERVISHES. 363

rated him as a man famous for his miracles. They
urged my dragomans to bring him to me that I
might see him. He dined with me, behaving soberly
and modestly, and then went down into the court-
yard of the house, and returned soon afterwards carry-
inof a stone of enormous weight, with which he struck
himself on his bare breast several blows that had well
nigh felled an ox. Then he laid his hand on an iron
which had been made white hot in a fire lighted for
the purpose. He put this into his mouth, and turned
it about in every direction so that his saliva hissed.
The iron he took into his mouth was oblong, but
thicker at either end and rectangular, and so heated by
the fire that it was just like a glowing coal. When he
had done this, he put the iron back in the fire and
departed, after bidding me farewell, and receiving a
present.

My servants, who were standing around, were as-
tonished, except one who thought himself cleverer than
the rest. ' And why,' said he, ' you stupid fellows, do
you wonder at this ? Do you believe these things are
done in reality ; they are mere feats of legerdemain
and optical delusions ? ' Without more ado he seized
the iron by the part that stood a good way out of the
fire, to prove it could be handled without injury. But
no sooner had he closed his hand, than he drew it
back, with the palm and fingers so burnt that it was
several days before he was well ; an accident which
was followed by great laughter from his fellow-servants,
who asked him, ' Whether he now believed it was hot,
or was still incredulous ? ' and invited him to touch
it again.

The same Turk told me at dinner, that his abbot, a
man renowned for the sanctity of his life and for his
miracles, was accustomed to spread his cloak on the

3^4 TURKISH LETTERS.

lake which adjoined his monastery, sit down on it, and
so take a pleasant sail wherever he liked.^ He also
was in the habit of being tied to a sheep, which had
been flayed and dressed, with his arms fastened to its
fore, and his legs to its hind quarters, and being thrown
in this condition into a heated oven, where he stayed
till he gave orders for himself and the sheep to be
taken out, when it was well roasted and fit to eat, and
he none the worse.^

I don't believe it, you will say ; for the matter of
that, neither do I ! I only tell you what I heard ; but
as to the white hot iron, I saw it with my own eyes.
Yet this feat is not so astonishing after all, as no doubt
while he pretended to be looking for a stone in the
court yard, he fortified his mouth against the fierceness

' A similar legend is told of St. Raymond, a Spanish saint, who lived
in the thirteenth century. He was confessor to Don James, King of
Aragon. In the words of Mrs. Jameson {Legends of the Monastic Orders,
p. 421), ' the latter ' (the King) ' had but one fault ; he was attached to a
certain beauty of his court from whom Raymond in vain endeavoured to
detach him. When the King summoned his confessor to attend him to
Majorca, the saint refused unless the lady were left ; the King affected to
yield, but soon after their arrival in Majorca, Raymond discovered that the
lady was also there in the disguise of a page ; he remonstrated ; the King
grew angry ; Raymond intimated his resolution to withdraw to Spain ;
the King forbad any vessel to leave the port, and made it death to any
person to convey him from the island. The result is thus gravely related :
St. Raymond, full of confidence in God, said to his companion, " An
earthly King has deprived us of the means of escape, but a heavenly
King will supply them ! " Then walking up to a rock which projected
into the sea, he spread his cloak on the waters, and setting his staff up-
right and tying one corner to it for a sail, he made the sign of the cross,
and boldly embarked in this new kind of vessel. He was wafted over the
surface of the ocean with such rapidity that in six hours he reached Bar-
celona. This stupendous miracle might perhaps have been doubted, if five
hundred credible witnesses had not seen the saint land on the quay at Bar-
celona, take up his cloak, which was not even wetted by the waves, throw it
round him, and retire modestly to his cell ; more like an humble penitent
than one in whose favour Heaven had so wonderfully wrought.'

* This feat is by no means impossible. See Hone's Everyday Book
ii. p. 771-9- '

More liberty granted to busbecq. 365

of the fire by some medicament, such as you know
have been discovered.^ For I remember seeing a
mountebank in the Piazza at Venice handle molten
lead, and as it were wash his hands in it without
injury.

I mentioned already that a few days before Roos-
tem's death the severity of my prison rules was relaxed.
This was exceedingly agreeable to me, on account of
the liberty of access to me which was thus granted to
men of foreign and distant nations, from whom I
received much information that amused me ; but this
pleasure was counterbalanced by an equal inconve-
nience, because my servants abused the privilege given
them of p-oing- abroad, and often wandered about the
city unescorted by Janissaries. The consequences
were quarrels and disturbances with the Turks, which
gave me a great deal of trouble ; and, out of the many
that happened, I will relate one as a specimen, from
which you can imagine the others, that you may know
everything about us.

Two of my servants crossed over to Pera without
Janissaries, either because they were all out, or because
they did not think they required their escort. One of
them was my apothecary and the other my butler.
Having finished their business in Pera, they hired a
boat to return to Constantinople ; but scarcely had
they taken their seats in it, when there came a boy
from the judge, or cadi, of that place, who ordered

1 A receipt by which this feat may be accomphshed is given in the
Booke of Secrets of Albertus Magnus, imprinted at London by H. Jackson.
' Take the juice of Bismalua, and the white of an egge, and the seed of
an herb called Psillium, also Pulicarius herba, and break it into powder,
and make a confection, and myxe the juice of Radysh with the white of
an egge. Anoynt thy body or hand with this confection, and let it be
dryed, and after anoynte it againe ; after that thou mayest suffer boldely
the fire without hurt.' (See Hone's Everyday Book, ii. p. 774.) Similar
feats were performed before Evelyn. {Diary, p. 370.)

366 TURKISH LETTERS.

them to get out, and give up the boat to his master.
My servants refused, and pointed out there were boats
enough about for the cadi to cross in, and told him
this one had already been engaged by them. How-
ever, he persevered, and tried to get them out by force.
My men resisted, and that right stoutly, so that they
soon came to blows. As all this was going on before
the eyes of the judge, who was approaching, he could
not restrain himself from running down to help the
boy, who was a great favourite with him for reasons
that need not be explained. But while he was care-
lessly rushing down the steps leading to the sea, which
were slippery with ice (for it was winter), he missed
his footing and would have tumbled into the sea — his
feet were already wet with the water — had not his com-
panions assisted him. The Turks gathered from all
Pera, and an outcry was raised that Christians had
laid violent hands on the judge, and all but drowned
him in the sea. They seized my servants, and with
great tumult dragged them before the voivode, or
judge who tries capital charges. The sticks were got
ready and their feet were inserted in the posts, for the
purpose of administering the bastinado. One of my men,
who was an Italian, being in a furious passion, never
stopped shouting the whole time ' Voui^, chiopecklar,
voter. Strike us, you dogs, strike us ! 'Tis w^ who have
been wronged, and we have deserved no punishment.
We are servants of the Emperor's Ambassador. You
will be punished by your Sultan when he knows of
this.' All this, in spite of his speaking in broken
Turkish, his hearers could quite understand. One of
the Turks among the rioters was amazed at his bold-
ness and exclaimed, ' Do you think this one-eyed fellow
a human being ? ' (for he had lost one eye), ' believe me,
he is no such thing, but belongs to the race of one-

A BRAWL AT PER A. 367

eyed Genies.' The voivode however, who was himself
struck by such courage, that he might not do more
or less than was right, decided on sending them to
Roostem unhurt. They went to him, accompanied by
a great crowd of false witnesses, who had been procured
to crush by their evidence those innocent men. The
Turks think it an act of great piety to bear witness
against a Christian ; they do not wait to be asked but
come unbidden, and obtrude themselves of their own
accord, as happened on this occasion. Therefore they
all exclaimed with one voice, ' These robbers have
dared to commit a most atrocious crime, and have
knocked the judge down with their fists, and if they had
not been stopped, they would have thrown him into
the sea.' My men denied these charges, and said
they were accused unjustly, and then' declared they
were my servants. Roostem soon perceived that it
was a case of false accusation ; but to divert the anger
of the excited multitude, he assumed a stern expres-
sion, and saying that he would punish them himself,
ordered them to be taken to prison. The prison
served as a fortress to my servants against the violence
of the raging mob. Roostem then heard the evidence
of those whom he considered worthy of credit, and
found my servants were innocent, and that it was the
judge that was to blame,

Through my dragomans I demanded the surrender
of my servants. Roostem thought the matter import-
ant enough to be laid before the Council, saying he
was afraid, that, if the Sultan should hear of it, he would
suspect it was through the influence of money that
the wrong the judge had sustained had been passed
over. Already there existed some intimacy between
me and Ali Pasha ; and I expostulated with him in
strong terms, through the same dragomans, and de-

3^8 TURKISH LETTERS.

manded that an end should be put to the persecution
of my servants. Ali undertook the case and told me
to set my mind at ease, as this trouble would soon be
at an end. Roostem, however, was still shilly-shally-
ing ; he was always afraid to do me a kindness for
fear of being suspected of receiving a bribe ; on that
account he would have preferred having the business
settled on such terms, that the judge should be left no
cause for complaint. He sent me word that it seemed
to him to be the wisest plan to appease the judge by
giving him some pieces of gold as a sop, and that five
and twenty ducats would be enough for the purpose.
I replied that I was obliged to him for his advice. If
he told me, as a personal favour to himself, to throw fifty
ducats into the sea, I would do so at once ; but here it
was not a question of money but of precedent, that was
at stake. For if it were laid down as a rule, that who-
ever had injured my men, should, instead of being
punished, be actually j^aid for doing so, I should soon
come to the end of my purse. Whenever anyone's
dress began to get worn or torn, he would resolve to
do my servants some harm, inasmuch as he would feel
sure of getting paid for his trouble, and thus obtaining
a new dress at my expense. Nothing could be more
disgraceful than this or more injurious to my interests.
Accordingly my servants were sent back, thanks, in a
great measure, to the advocacy of Ali Pasha. But
when the Venetian Baily ^ heard of it he sent for one
of my dragomans, and begged him to tell him how
much I had paid to settle the affair. ' Not a penny,'
he replied. Then the Baily said, ' If we had been con-
cerned, I warrant you we should hardly have got out
of it for 200 ducats.' The man whom it cost most
dear was this model of a judge, who was removed from

^ 5ee note, page 226,

SPAIN AND FRANCE MAKE PEACE. 369

office, because, according to their notion, a man is
disgraced who has received a thrashing from a Christ-
ian, and this, by his own admission, had been the case
with him.

You ask for news about the Spanish generals, tell-
ing me that there is a report in your neighbourhood that
they owe their liberty to me. They were the follow-
ing, viz., de Sande, the commander of the land forces,
and Leyva and Requesens, the admirals of the Neapo-
litan and Sicilian fleets. I will give you a short account
of how I managed it.

The Turks were much annoyed at the conclusion
of peace between the Kings of Spain and France, which
was by no means favourable to their interests ; ^ es-
pecially as they found the treaty was not such as they
had believed it to be at first, for they had been con-
vinced that they would have been high in the list of
those entitled to enjoy the benefits of the same peace.
Accordingly, when they found themselves passed over,
thinking that a bad return had been made them,
though they dissembled their vexation, they sought an
opportunity to give some hint that their feelings were
no longer so friendly as they had been. Solyman had
written to the King of France to say he approved of
the peace, but at the same time desired the King to
remember that old friends do not easily become foes,
or old foes friends.

The offence the Turks felt on these grounds was
not a little favourable to my negotiations, and I was
aided in addition by AH Pasha's kindly feeling towards
me, and Ibrahim's great desire of proving his gratitude.
You remember I mentioned previously that when
Lavigne was calumniating me, he at the same time

' Treaty of Cateau Cambresis, concluded between France and Spain
April 3, 1559. '

VOL. I. R B

310 TURKISH LETTERS.

used to accuse Ibrahim, implying that he betrayed to
me all the designs of the Turks.

This Ibrahim, the Sultan's first dragoman (the
Turkish word for interpreter), was a Pole by birth ; he
was hated by Lavigne, because he thought that Ibrahim,
in a deadly quarrel between himself and de Codignac,
his predecessor in the embassy, had taken de Codignac's
part too strongly. I need not trouble you with the
whole story, as it has not much to do with our subject.
Lavigne, recollecting this, was always Ibrahim's bitter
enemy ; and whenever he had an opportunity of ad-
dressing the Pashas, every other word he spoke was
abuse of Ibrahim. At last he got him degraded from
office and reduced to a private position.

This concerned me but little, as there had never
been any friendship between Ibrahim and myself, but
on the contrary a somewhat hostile feeling, as I had
often found him on the side against us. I was sorry
however that the story should get abroad that it was
for my sake he had been removed from office. While
Ibrahim was living in this condition, deeply humiliated
by the loss of his post, as indeed is usually the case
with men who have ceased to be what they were, I
tried to lighten his misfortunes by any attentions in
my power, and on several occasions, when there was
a press of business in the course of the peace negotia-
tions, I employed him as an extra dragoman, and
made him a medium of communication with the Pashas.
This was readily allowed by Ali from his good feel-
ing towards me, and because he was well aware that
Ibrahim had been wrongfully degraded. At last I
effected his restoration to his former position and
dignity. From these circumstances he became much
attached to me, so that his great desire was to find
some means of proving his gratitude for my ser-

FAILURE OF SALVIATFS MISSION. 371

vices. Most loyally did he plead my cause in every
question ; and did his best to obtain for me the favour
of all whom he could influence. This was an easier
task for him from their disgust at the recent peace, on
account of which, as I said, the Turks were secretly
angry with the French, so that, when a gentleman
named Salviati came to Constantinople to obtain de
Sande's freedom in the name of the King of France, his
errand was a complete failure. De Sand6 had for
some time been eagerly looking forward to this embassy,
hoping thereby to procure his liberty, and, feeling cer-
tain that this was the only chance of recovering his
freedom, had gone to great expense in providing presents
to do honour to the Pashas and the Sultan himself,
according to the usual custom. And now, to make a
long story short, all was over, Salviati had taken his
departure, and his embassy had proved a failure.

The servants whom de Sandd had employed as his
agents, terrified by this, came to me, and confessed
they did not venture to inform him of such a disap-
pointment ; he had entirely depended on his hopes
from this mission, and now they were afraid he would
become desperate, and not only lose his health, but also
his life ; they therefore asked me to give them my assist-
ance and to write to him myself

I was inclined to refuse, as I had neither arguments
nor language to console a man who had received such a
cruel blow. De Sande was a man of great spirit and
exceedingly sanguine temperament, and did not know
what fear was. But when men, whose temper inclines
them to hope that everything they wish will come
about, find everything taking an adverse turn and
going against their wishes, there is generally a great
reaction, and their spirits become so depressed that it
is no easy matter to raise them to a proper level.

B 3 2

372 TURKISH LETTERS.

While our business was at a standstill from this
difficulty, the dragoman Ibrahim most fortunately called
on me, and when in the course of conversation mention
was made of the Spanish prisoners, he told me in so
many words, that, if I were to request their release, it
would not be refused. He knew what he was saying
and had it on good authority.

He had indeed been previously in the habit of
throwing out rather obscure hints, calculated to make
me hope they might be liberated if I were to intercede ;
but I did not take much heed of what he said, for how
could I venture to make such an attempt when I was
not yet sure of jDeace ? I was also restrained by the fear
that I should do no good myself, if I interfered at an
unfavourable moment, and might j^erhaps also hinder
Salviati's negotiations. But when, after his departure,
I heard Ibrahim, who was closely attached tome, make
such a declaration, there seemed to be something in it,
and I began to pay more attention to his words,
cautioning him, however, at the same time not to place
me in a false position, and expose his friend to ridicule.
This would certainly be my fate if I were to under-
take unsuccessfully a task which was generally supposed
to be hopeless, and in which there had already been an
adverse decision. He persevered notwithstanding, and
told me that I might rely on what he said ; and that
he would absolutely guarantee my success.

Relying on his assurances I wrote to de Sande,
and informed him of the result of Salviati's negotiations,
but told him not to despair, for, unless all Turks were
liars, there was hope in store for him, and then I re-
lated what I had heard from Ibrahim. Having taken
this step, I next consulted certain friends of mine who
had great experience in Turkish affairs. They replied
that they wished me success in my undertaking, but

RELEASE OF SPANISH GENERALS. 373

they did not see how I could obtain what had just been
denied to the Ambassador of a King who was an old
friend, especially while the result of our negotiations
for peace was still doubtful ; and they pointed out that
all precedents showed how difficult it was to prevail on
the Turks to liberate important prisoners. However,
I wrote to the Emperor, and acquainted him with the
hopes that had been held out to me, at the same time
earnestly entreating him to ask Solyman to release
the prisoners.

To make a long story short, after large presents
had been promised the Pashas, if they should show
themselves gracious and favourable to their liberation,
on the eve of St. Laurence's day (August 9), they were
all taken out of prison and conducted to my lodging.

De Sand6 and Leyva hated each other worse than
if they had been brothers ! for which reason it was
necessary to have a table laid separately for the latter,
with whom Requesens dined. De Sand6 sat at the
same table with myself At dinner there came in a
steward from the charge d'affaires of the King of France,
bringing me some notes which had come into his hands.
De Sande asked him if he knew him. ' I think,' said
he, ' you are Don Alvaro.' ' I am indeed,' said he,
' and you will convey my best compliments to your
master, and tell him how you saw me here a free man,
thanks to the Ambassador before you.' ' I see it indeed,'
he replied, ' but yet I can hardly believe my own eyes.'
This was done by de Sande because the charge
d'affaires, though in other respects an excellent fellow,
was one of the persons who could not be convinced
that Solyman would liberate the prisoners as a favour
to the Emperor Ferdinand.^

' ' Alvaro de Sande fit tres bien ^la bataille de Gerbes, W ou combat-
tant vaillamment il fut pris et men^ k Constantinople en signe de tri-

374 TURKISH LETTERS,

But before they were released from prison, the
Mufti, the head of the Turkish rehgion, was consulted
on the question, if it were lawful to exchange a few
Christians for a larger number of captive Turks ? for I
had promised that not fewer than forty Turkish pri-
soners, who, however, might be common people of no
rank, should be given in exchange. The Mufti replied
that there were two authorities on the point, and that
they held different opinions, one approving of the ex-
change and the other not. The Pashas, however,
adopted the more liberal opinion.^

umphe et present^ au grand Solyman, qui le fit garder fort curieusement
et estroictment, en faisant serment sur son grand dieu Mahom (!) qu'il
ne luy feroit jamais plus la guerre, et qu'il vieilliroit et mourroit en prison
sans le vouloir jamais mettre h rangon ; car il stjavoit bien que le roy
d'Espagne son maistre le rechapteroit de beaucoup. Enfin, voyant que
pour or ny argent il ne le pouvoit faire rangonner ny avoir, il envoya
prier avec grande suplication le roy Charles, son beau et bon frere, par le
moyen de ceste bonne Reyne d'Espaigne sa soeur, d'envoyer une ambas-
sade vers le Grand Seigneur pour le luy demander et le luy donner; dont
le Roy (comme je le vis moy estant lors k la Cour) despescha aussitost
M. le chevalier de Salvyaty, qui a est^ depuis premier escuyer de la
reyne de Navarre, homme fort digne pour ceste charge, et fort habile,
qu en fit I'ambassade, avec danger de sa vie, pourtant qu'il courut par
les chemins, me diet il k son retour. Le Grand Seigneur du commance-
ment en fit un peu de refus a ce qu'il me diet ; mais vaincu par prieres du
Roy, il ne Ten voulut refuser, et le luy accorda pour la premiere demande
qu'il luy avoit faicte, parce que c'estoit son avenement k la couronne : outre
plus, luy envoya les plus belles ofTres du monde. Par ainsy ledict cheva-
lier s'en retourna libre avec son prisonnier, qui ne pensoit rien moins k
cela devoir k nostre Roy sa vie et sa \\\i^xv€:—Brantdme, i. 218.

^ It is needless to point out the absurdities and gross inaccuracies of
this account, which is given by Salviati's friend. It is contradicted by
the despatches of the French representative at Constantinople, which
show that Salviati's mission was a complete failure : ' Solyman ne se souve-
nant plus de ses parolles et de ce qu'il avoit escrit au roy dernierement
par M. le chevalier Salviati, que sa foy ne permettoit point de ddlivrer
les chrestiens pris en bataille, accorda la delivrance desdits trois cheva-
liers espagnols, k la premiere requeste et instance que Ferdinand luy en
a faicte soubz ombre de cent cinquante esclaves turcqs qu'ilz ont promis
dellivrer.'— Charriere, Negotiations de la France dans le Levant, ii. 704.

1 ' Quant k I'aultre point des chevalliers espagnols ddlivrez, Ali me dit
que certainement leur foy ne permettoit point d^livrer les chrestiens pris

A FORMIDABLE ANT. 375

I have still to tell you of Bajazet's final catastrophe,
for I know you are expecting to hear the rest of his
story. You will remember that he was thrown into
prison by Shah Tahmasp. From that time many
messengers went backwards and forwards from the
King of Persia to the Sultan, some of whom held the
title of Ambassador, bringing presents of the usual
kind, such as tents of exquisite workmanship, Assyrian
and Persian carpets, and a Koran, the book which
contains their holy mysteries ; ^ amongst other gifts,
rare animals were sometimes sent, for example there
was an Indian ant,^ as large as a fair-sized dog, and
extremely fierce and snappish, which, I remember, they
were said to have brought.

The ostensible reason for their arrival was to recon-
cile Bajazet and his father; great honours were paid
them, and they were entertained magnificently by the
Pashas. Ali made me a partaker in one of these ban-
quets by sending me eight large porcelain dishes of
sweetmeats. The Romans used to send something
from their table to their friends, a custom which the
Spaniards retain to this day; The Turks, on the other
hand, carry off dainties from the banquet for them-
selves, but generally only intimate friends do so, who
have wives and children at home. They usually

en bataille, mais que le Grand Seigneur ayant remis ce pesch^ sur ses
bassats, ils avoient trouvd par leur loy que pour eschange d'esclaves en
tel nombre que las Espagnols promettent, et faire un bien public comme
la paix, leur foy, comme par une indulgence sp^cialle, permettoit ladite
ddlivrance.' — Charrilre, ii. 706.

1 See page 156.

2 These ants are mentioned first by Herodotus, iii. c. 102, where he
gives an account of the stratagem by which the Indians steal the gold
thrown up by them as they burrow. The most plausible conjecture is
that which identifies this animal with the Pangolin or Ant-eater. See
Blakesley's and Rawlinson's notes on the passage, in the latter of which
the statement in the text is referred to,

376 TURKISH LETTERS.

carried home from my table handkerchiefs full of frag-
ments of eatables, and were not afraid of soiling their
silk robes with drops of gravy, although they consider
cleanliness of the highest importance. When I men-
tion this, it recalls to my memory an amusing incident,
which I shall not be sorry to tell you. You will have
a hearty laugh over it, I am sure, as I had myself; and
is not laughter worth cultivating.? Is it not man's
peculiar attribute, and the best recipe in the world for
tempering human misfortunes .? Besides, we are no
Catos.

The Pashas observe the custom of giving dinner
for a few days before their fast, which answers to our
Lent, to all who choose to come, and no one is excluded.
However, the people who come are generally neigh-
bours, friends, or recognised dependants. A leather
tablecloth, which is loaded with a crowd of dishes, is
laid on the ground over an oblong mat. Such a table
will hold a large company. The Pasha himself sits in
the chief place, and about him those of higher rank,
and then in a long row the guests who belong to
inferior families, till no more room remains for anyone,
and many are left standing, for the table cannot hold
all at once. However, as they eat with great modera-
tion and do not talk, it is not long before the first party
have appeased their hunger, they then conclude their
meal with a draught of water sweetened with honey
or sugar, and, after bidding the master of the feast
farewell, make room for others who have not yet sat
down ; these again are succeeded by another set, till in
a short space many are satisfied off the same table, the
attendants in the meantime washing the plates and
dishes, and supplying fresh ones as fast as they are
emptied.

A Pasha who was giving one of these entertain-

A DISAPPOINTED GUEST. 377

ments at his house had invited a Sanjak-bey, who
happened to have come there, to sit by him. The
second place from him was occupied by an old man of
the class the Turks call Khodjas, which means Scholars.
As he saw before him a great mass of various eatables,
and wished, having had his fill, to take something away
for his wife, he began looking for his handkerchief to
put it in ; but found he had left it at home. He was,
however, equal to the emergency, and like a good
general was able to extemporise a plan on the field of
battle. He seized the bag of a turban which was
hanging down behind him ' (which, however, was not
his own as he thought, but the Sanjak-bey's). This
he crammed as full as he could, finishine with a o-ood
slice of bread by way of a stopper to prevent anything
slipping out. When he was bidding his host farewell,
in accordance with the Turkish fashion, he had to
salute his superiors by placing his hands on his breast
or thighs. Having paid his respects he gathered up
the bag again, but this time took his own, and when he
left the dining-room, he felt it carefully all over and, to
his utter amazement, found it empty. But what was he
to do ? He went home in disgust.

Not long afterwards the Sanjak-bey also rose, and
after saluting the Pasha was going away, in happy
ignorance of the load that was hanging behind him.
But soon the bag began to deliver itself of its contents ;
every step the Sanjak-bey took, something fell out,
and his progress was marked by a long " line of frao--
ments. Every one began to laugh ; he then looked
back, and his face grew crimson, when he saw his bag
disgorging pieces of food.

Then the Pasha, who had guessed the truth, called

' This headdress must have resembled that of the Janissaries Busbecq
saw at Buda. See p. 87 and note.

378 TURKISH LETTERS.

him back, told him to sit down, and ordered the Khodja
to be summoned ; and turning to him said, ' As you
are a neighbour and old friend of mine, and have a
wife and children at home, I wonder why you did not
carry away something for them from my table, where
there was enough and to spare.' The Khodja replied,
* This happened, sir, from no fault of mine, but from
the anger of my guardian angel. For, as I had care-
lessly left my handkerchief at home, I stuffed the
remains of my dinner into the bag of my turban, but lo
and behold, when I left the dining room, it proved to
be empty, but how this came to pass is more than I
can tell.' So the Sanjak-bey's character as a gentleman
was re-established, and the disappointment of the old
Khodja, and the oddness of the accident, furnished the
bystanders with food for another merry laugh.

But I will return to my subject. Bajazet's hopes
were at a low ebb, for his merciless father was de-
manding that he should be given up alive for execu-
tion ; to this the King of Persia refused to agree and
pretended to act as his protector, while all the time he
intended to betray him.

Solyman at one time tried persuasion on the Shah,
reminding him of the treaty, by which he had agreed
they should both have the same friends and enemies,
and at another, endeavoured to frighten him with
menacing language and threatened him with war, if
Bajazet were not surrendered. He had placed strong
garrisons in all his towns on the Persian frontier, and
filled Mesopotamia and the bank of the Euphrates
with soldiers, who were taken for the most part from
the Imperial guard, and the troops he had employed
against Bajazet. These forces were commanded by
Mehemet Pasha, the third of the Vizierial Pashas, and
the Beyler bey of Greece, for Selim had soon returned

A DIPLOMATIC ANSWER. 379

home. He also sent frequent messages to the tribes
they call Georgians, who dwell between the Caspian
and the Black Sea, and border on Media, urging them
to take up arms against the King of Persia. They
sagaciously replied that 'they had not sufficient confi-
dence in their own strength to venture to attack Shah
Tahmasp by themselves ; let Solyman only come with his
army and they would know, when they saw him on the
spot, what they ought to do. In that case they would
be wanting neither in counsel nor in courage.'

In another direction are still to be found five
Turkoman chiefs descended from Tamerlane ; and
these also were invited to join their arms against the
common foe.

Solyman wished it to be believed that he himself
was going to Aleppo, a city of Syria on the banks of
the Euphrates, 1 and that he intended from that base to
make war on the King of Persia. Nor was the latter
free from apprehension, as he had too often experienced
the might of Solyman's arm. But the angry Sultan
was completely checked by the opposition of the
soldiers and the reluctance they felt to engaging in
such a war. They shrank from an unnatural contest,
and began to desert. A great number of them,
especially of the cavalry, returned to Constantinople,
without orders from their commanders, and when
bidden to return to the camp without delay, though they
obeyed, they did so in such a way as to leave it evi-
dent how little they could be relied on, if any accident
or change should occur.

For this reason, when it became sufficiently clear
to Solyman that the King of Persia would not sur-
render Bajazet, pleading that he was afraid of delivering
him up alive, lest by any chance he should escape, and

1 Aleppo is really a considerable distance from the Euphrates.

38o TURKISH LETTERS.

live to take vengeance for the wrongs he had received,
he decided, as the next best course, to get him executed
in Persia. He had great hopes of prevaiHng thus far
on the Shah ; for in the last letter he had received
from that monarch, the latter had expressed his surprise
at his careless method of managing such an important
affair ; observing that he had several times sent ambas-
sadors to him, but he, on the contrary, had sent him
nothing but letters and messengers, conduct, which
made him doubt if he were really in earnest. ' Let
him,' said the Shah, 'send noblemen of high authority
and name, with whom the negotiations might be carried
on and concluded in a way that befitted their import-
ance. The Sultan was much in his debt; Bajazet's
coming had been a great injury to him, and he had
incurred great expense before he had got him into his
power. It was just that these circumstances should be
taken into account.'

Solyman saw that money was his object, and so,
rather than involve himself in an unnecessary war, for
which he was unfitted by his years, he determined to
follow the Pashas' advice, and to fight the King of
Persia with money, instead of arms.

Hassan Aga, one of the chiefs of the eunuchs of
the bed-chamber, was first selected as ambassador to
Persia, and the Pasha of Marasch, a man of venerable
years, was ordered to accompany him. About the
middle of winter they started with the fullest powers ;
they travelled, in spite of the difficulties of the road,'
with the utmost speed, and at last, after losing many
of their suite, arrived at Casbin, where the King of
Persia was.

They first asked leave to see Bajazet, and found
him so disfigured by the dirt and filth of his prison,
and with his hair and beard so long that they could

EXECUTION OE EAJAZET. 381

not recognise him. They were obhged to have him
shaved, and it was only then that Hassan was able to
identify the features of the prince. He had been
brought up with him from his earliest years, and it was
especially for that reason that Solyman had committed
this office to him.

It was agreed that the King of Persia should be
indemnified for the loss he said he had sustained, and
should receive in addition a present commensurate
with the importance of the business, and that then
Solyman should be allowed to put Bajazet to death.

Hassan hurried back and told his master of the
arrangement he had concluded. The present was pre-
pared, along with the sums demanded as expenses, and
was conveyed, under the protection of a Turkish guard,
to the frontiers of the Persian dominions. Hassan,
too, came again as the unfortunate Bajazet's appointed
executioner, for Solyman had specially ordered that he
should put him to death with his own hands. Accord-
ingly the bow-string was put round Bajazet's neck, and
he was strangled to death. He is said to have asked
one boon before his death, namely, to be allowed to
see his children and share his kisses among them as a
last token of affection ; but this he asked in vain, being
told ' There was other business which required his im-
mediate attention.' ^

Such was the end of Bajazet's ill-starred designs,
whose ruin was precipitated by the very efforts he
made to avoid it. His four sons shared their father's
fate.

I mentioned that one, who had been lately born,
had been left at Amasia when his father fled, and that
he had been removed by his grandfather to Broussa,
where he was being brought up ; but, when the Sultan

' The date of Bajazet's death was September 25, 1561.

2^2 Turkish letter^.

knew it was all over with Bajazet, he sent a eunuch,
whom he trusted, to Broussa to kill him. As the
eunuch's own disposition was too tender, he took with
him one of the doorkeepers, a hard-hearted ruffian who
was capable of any atrocity, to be the child's murderer.
When the doorkeeper entered the room, and was fitting
the cord to the child's neck, it smiled at him, and, rais-
ing itself as much as it could, threw up its little arms
to give him a hug and a kiss. This so moved the
cruel fellow that he could not bear it, and fell down in
a swoon. The eunuch, who was waiting outside,
wondered that he was so long, and at last going in
himself, found the doorkeeper lying senseless on the
ground. He could not afford to let his mission be a
failure, and so with his own hands he stopped for ever
the feeble breath of that innocent child.

From this it was clear enough that the grandson
had been spared till then, not from the mercy of his
grandfather, but from the Turkish superstition of refer-
ring all successful enterprises, whatever may have been
the motive from which they were undertaken, to the
instigation of God. On this account, as long as the
issue of Bajazet's attempts remained doubtful, Soly-
man determined to do no violence to the child, for fear
that if afterwards Bajazet's fortunes should take a turn
for the better, he should be found to have been striv-
ing against the will of God. But now that he had
perished, and thus had, as it were, been condemned by
the sentence of God, he thought there was no reason
for sparing Bajazet's son any longer, that according
to the proverb, not an egg of that mischievous crow
might be left.

I once had a long argument with my cavasse on
this subject, when I was in the islands I told you about.
As I was returning from one of my more distant excur-

PREDESTINA TlON. 3^3

sions, it happened that I could not double a projecting
point, the wind being contrary. After striving for
some time in vain, we were obliged to disembark and
dine there, for in case of such an accident I used
always to take about with us in the boat some cooked
provisions. Several Turks, who had been forced to
land there from the same cause, followed my example.
My table was laid in a green meadow. The cavasse
and dragomans sat down along with me. Bajazet
happening to be mentioned, the cavasse began to in-
veigh against him without mercy for taking up arms
against his brother. I on the other hand said, I
thought he was to be pitied, because he had no choice
except to take up arms or submit to certain death.
But when the cavasse went on abusing him in as strong
terms as before, I said, ' You are making out Bajazet
guilty of a monstrous atrocity, but you do not charge
Selim, the father of the present Sultan, with any crime,
though he took up arms not merely to resist his father's
will, but against his very person.' ^ ' And with good
reason,' replied the cavasse, ' for the issue of his enter-
prise showed clearly enough that he did what he did
by prompting from above, and that it had been pre-
destinated by Heaven.' I answered, ' On this principle
you will interpret whatever has been undertaken, al-
though from the most wicked motives, if it proves
successful, to be done rightly, and will ascribe it to
God's will ; and will thus make out God to be the
author of evil, nor will you reckon anything to have
been done well or the contrary, except by the result.'

We continued our argument for some time, each of
us defending his position with great spirit and in a high
tone of voice. Many texts of Scripture were cited on
either side, ' Can the vessel say to the potter, why hast

' See note, page io8.

3^4 TURKISH LETTERS.

thou formed me thus ? ' 'I will harden Pharaoh's heart,'
' Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,' and others,
as they came into our heads.

The Turks, who were a little way off, wondered
what we were arguing about ; so, after we had risen and
the table had been removed, the cavasse went straight
to his countrymen. They all came round him, and he
appeared to be haranguing them, while they listened
with the utmost attention. Then, as it was just noon,
they kept silence and worshipped God after their man-
ner with foreheads bowed to the ground. The time
seemed long to me till the cavasse came back, as I
was anxious to know what had been the subject of his
earnest conversation with his countrymen. I felt a
litde afraid that he had repeated something I had said,
and given it an unfavourable turn, although I had had
sufficient proofs of his honesty.

At last, when the wind had gone down, and it was
time to embark, we went on board again, and set out
once more. Then the first thing I did was to ask the
cavasse what he had been talking about so earnesdy
with his countrymen. He replied with a smile, ' I will
honestly confess to you what it was. They wanted to
know from me what the subject was, on which we
had been arguing so hotly. I said, " Predestination,"
and repeated to them the texts, both those which you
had cited on your side and those which you had recog-
nised when quoted by me. Hence I argued that it
was certain you had read our books, and were well
acquainted with Holy Scripture, and that you wanted
nothing to secure eternal happiness, except being
initiated into our religion. Accordingly we exhorted
each other to pray that God would bring you to the
true faith ; and these were the prayers you saw us
making.'

A MESSAGE FROM ALL 385

When the news of Bajazet's death was brought to
Constantinople, I was seized with great alarm for the
issue of our negotiations. We were indeed in a good
position and there seemed to be a prospect of the end
we desired; but our anxiety was renewed by Bajazet's
misfortune, for fear the Turks should become more
haughty, undo what had been done, and call on us to
accept less favourable terms. We had successfully got
past numerous rocks, among them the defeat at Djerbe,
Bajazet's imprisonment, and the unlucky accident of
the expulsion of the Voivode from Moldavia, yet two
formidable ones remained, namely, Bajazet's death, of
which I have spoken, and another besides, of which
I shall speak presently.

Ali had been the first to communicate the news to
me, by a domestic slave, in these words, ' Know for
certain that Bajazet is dead. You cannot now go on
trifling with us any longer in reliance on his making a
diversion in your favour. Remember that an old
friendship can be restored between two princes who
share the same faith more easily than a new one can
be cemented between two Sovereigns of different re-
ligions. Take my word for it, it is not safe for you to
go on shuffling any longer and raising unreal diffi-
culties.'

Such a message made a deep impression on my
mind. But, as the news came from a suspicious quarter,
I sent round to my friends to enquire if any certain
intelligence of Bajazet's death had arrived, and all to a
man replied, that there remained no doubt about it. I
then understood I must shorten sail. There was no
possibility of aspiring to better terms ; I ought to be
contented if I could maintain the position I had gained,
and if no change for the worse should be made in the
conditions. They had now been before the Sultan for
VOL. I. c c

386 TURKISH LETTERS.

some time, and he had not been averse to them, subject
to a few additions or omissions, among which however
there were some things I was sorry to lose. Certain
points were expressed too obscurely, so as to leave room
for controversy hereafter, if any one were to place an
unfair construction on them. I used my utmost efforts
to get these either removed or altered to our advantage.
The conditions had been once or twice sent to my Em-
peror for his perusal, and he had graciously approved
of them ; but I felt dissatisfied myself, and was always
wishing to obtain some further concession, when, in the
midst of my negotiations, the news I mentioned came
upon me like a thunderbolt.

But previously also a serious difficulty had arisen
in consequence of the revolt of certain Hungarian
nobles from the Voivode of Transylvania to the Em-
peror, or, to speak correctly, in consequence of their
return from error to the path of duty. They brought
over with them the forts and castles which they held.^

This startling event was calculated to upset all the
steps towards peace that had been taken. For the
Turks were thus supplied with a plausible argument :
' No change ought to have been made while negotia-
tions about the terms of peace were going on. If you
are really anxious for peace you ought to restore the
advantage which you have unfairly gained. The
deserters are at liberty to do as they please, but let the
places they hold remain in the hands of the Voivode,
our dependant and vassal.'

However, not only was no such claim asserted by
Ali, but when I expressly put down in the articles of
peace that these matters should remain as they were,
he willingly approved of their ratification.

But the ambassadors, who had then recently arrived

' See Sketch of Hungariati History.

CONCLUSION OF PEACE. 387

from the Voivode, did their utmost to chafe that sore,
and filled the court with their outcries, exclaiming that
their unfortunate young- master was being betrayed,
the rights of friendship profaned, and enemies preferred
to old friends. These remonstrances had indeed some
effect upon the other Pashas, but not on Ali. So at
last it was agreed to adhere to the terms of peace, as
they had been already settled.

Although there could be no doubt about the wishes
of my master, yet, as I remembered that among the
attendants of princes there never is any lack of people
ready to blacken the good deeds of others, however
worthy they may be, especially if they are foreigners, I
decided that everything, as far as it could be managed,
should be left as open as possible for his decision.
Therefore I negotiated with Ali in such a way as to
point out that, although the proposed conditions did not
altogether answer my Sovereign's expectations, yet I
was confident he would agree to them, provided that
some one was sent with me who could explain the
points that were obscure, or which might in any way
be made a subject of dispute, saying that Ibrahim seemed
the best person for the service, as he could report to
them the Emperor's desire for peace. He readily
agreed to this proposal, so the last touch was thus put
to these protracted peace negotiations.

It is the custom for the Pashas to invite to their
table in the Divan an ambassador who is in favour
when he leaves. But as I wished to make it appear
that everything remained undecided and uncertain till
a reply was brought back from my master, this honour
was not paid me, the want of which however did not
trouble my peace of mind.^

I was anxious to take with me some well-bred

' Compare page 159.
c c 2

388 TURKISH LETTERS.

horses, and therefore had charged my servants to go
about the market frequently on the chance of being
able to find any to suit. When Ali heard of this, he
had a capital thorough-bred of his own brought out as
if for sale. My men hurried up to bid for him, 120
ducats was named as the price, and they offered eighty,
without knowing who was the owner. The people who
had charge of the horse refused to let him go for such
a low price. But a day or two afterwards, the same
horse, with two others every bit as good, was sent as
a present by Ali Pasha, one of them being a beautifully
shaped palfrey. When I thanked him for his present,
he asked me if I did not think the horse, which my men
had wanted to buy in the market for eighty ducats, was
not worth more. I replied, ' Much more, but they had
a commission from me not to go beyond that price, that
I might not incur too great a loss, if they should, with-
out knowing it, purchase some likely looking animal,
which should afterwards prove unsound. Such things
do sometimes happen in the horse-market' He then
told me how Turkish horses are fed at the beginning
of a journey, namely, with a very small allowance of
food, and advised me to travel by very short stages,
till the horses had got accustomed to the work, and to
divide the journey to Adrianople into nine or ten days,
which usually took only five. He presented me also
with an exceedingly elegant robe interwoven with
gold thread, and a casket full of the finest theriac of
Alexandria,^ and lastly added a glass bottle of balsam,
which he highly commended, saying, ' The other
presents he had given me he did not think much of,

' Theriac, the original form of the word treacle, is derived from drjpiov,
i.e. a venomous serpent (see Acts xxviii. 4). It originally meant a confec-
tion of vipers' flesh, which was popularly believed to be the most potent
antidote to vipers' poison. Hence the word came to mean any antidote
against poison.

BALSAM. 389

as money could buy them, but this was a rare gift'
and his master could give no greater present to a
friendly or allied prince. He had been governor of
Egypt for some years, and thus had an opportunity of
procuring it.' The plant produces two sorts of juice ;
there is the cheap black extract made from the oil of
the boiled leaves, while the other kind flows from an
incision in the bark. This last, which is yellow and is
the true balsam, was the one he gave me.^

He wished some things sent him in return, namely,
a coat of mail large enough to fit him, as he is very
tall and stout, and a powerful horse, to which he could
trust himself without being afraid of a fall, for being a
heavy man he has great difficulty in finding a horse
equal to his weight, and lastly a piece of curled maple
or some other wood similarly marked, with which our
countrymen veneer tables.

No presents were given me by Solyman, except the
ordinary ones of the kind usually given to every am-

' The value of this balsam is illustrated by the amusing account of the
adventures in Ireland of Jean de Montluc, Bishop of Valence, given by
Sir James Melville in his Memoirs (page 10, Bannatyne Club edition).
Like his friend Busbecq (see vol. ii. p. 34, Letter to Maximilian, XI.) he had
been ambassador at the Turkish Court, and was afterwards sent in the
same capacity to Scotland. On his return he paid a visit to Ireland to
intrigue with the chieftains who were hostile to England. Melville, then
a boy of fourteen, was sent back with him by Mary of Guise, the Queen
Regent, to be a page to her daughter Queen Mary. They landed on Shrove
Tuesday, 1550, in Lough Foyle, and were taken to Odocarte's house. A
woman, who had been brought to entertain the bishop, and was kept
quietly in his chamber, ' found a little glass within a case standing in a
window, for the coffers were all wet by the sea waves that fell in the ship
during the storm. But she believed it had been ordained to eat, because
it had an odoriphant smell ; therefore she licked it clean out : which
put the bishop in such a rage that he cried out for impatience. . . . But
the Irishmen and his own servants laughed at the matter, for it was a
phial of the only most precious balm that grew in Egypt, which Solyman
the great Turk had given in a present to the said bishop, after he had
been two years ambassador for the King of France in Turkey, and was
esteemed worth two thousand crowns.'

39° TURKISH LETTERS.

bassador on taking- leave, such as I had generally-
received in former years.

At my fare-well audience he curtly inveighed against
the insolence of the Heydons and the soldiers of the
garrison of Szigeth. ' What use,' said he, ' has it been
for us to make peace here, if the garrison of Szigeth
will break it and continue the war ? ' I replied, ' I would
lay the matter before the Emperor, and I hoped he
would do what was needful.'

Thus auspiciously, towards the end of the month of
August, I commenced my wished-for journey, bringing
with me as the fruit of eight years' exertions a truce for
eight years, which however it will be easy to get ex-
tended for as long as we wish, unless some remarkable
change should occur.

When we arrived at Sophia, from which there is a
road not only to Belgrade but to Ragusa, whence it is
only a few days' passage to Venice, Leyva and Reque-
sens asked my leave to go by Ragusa, which was their
shortest way to Italy, for the purpose of discharging at
the earliest possible date their obligations to the Pashas,
and paying off the debts they had incurred at Con-
stantinople for various purposes. They said they
would give me letters to the Emperor to thank him for
the recovery of their freedom, which they would have
preferred to do in person, if they had not been hindered
by the considerations I have mentioned. I complied
with their wishes without hesitation, and the death of
Requesens, which happened soon after, gave me less
cause to regret having done so, for before he reached
Ragusa he died, being a very old man. I am glad I
granted him the favour, as a refusal might have been
thought to have been partly the cause of his illness.

De Sand6 and I accomplished the rest of the jour-
ney very merrily, without meeting with any serious

A MERRY JOURNEY HOME. 391

inconvenience. De Sande was a pleasant fellow, and
always making jokes, being quite capable, when it was
necessary, of concealing his anxiety and assuming a
cheerfulness he did not feel. The daily occurrences
of our journey furnished us with many a merry jest.
Sometimes we had a fancy to leave our carriages, and
try which of- us could walk the longest. In this, as I
was thin and had no load of corpulence to carry, I easily
beat my friend, who was stout and too fat for walking,
not to mention that the effects of his confinement still
made him incapable of much exertion. Whenever our
road lay through a village, it was amusing to see Ibra-
him, who followed us very gravely on horseback with
his Turks, riding up and entreating us by all we held
most dear to get into our carriages again, and not to
disgrace ourselves utterly by allowing the villagers to
see us travelling on foot, for among the Turks this is
considered a great dishonour. With these words he
sometimes prevailed on us to re-enter our carriages,
and sometimes we laughed at him and disobeyed.

Now listen to one of de Sandy's many witty say-
ings. When we left Constantinople, not only was the
heat still overpowering, but I was in a languid state from
the late hot weather, so that I had hardly any appetite
for food, or at any rate, was satisfied with very little.
But de Sand6, being a strong man and accustomed to
a great deal of food, of which he always partook with
me, used to devour rather than eat his meals, exhorting
me from time to time to follow his example, and eat
like a man. In this however he was unsuccessful, until,
about the beginning of October, we were approach-
ing the borders of Austria. There, pardy from the
nature of the country, and partly from the time of year,
I was refreshed by the cooler climate, and began to be
better in health and also to eat more freely than before.

392 TURKISH LETTERS.

When this was observed by de Sande, he exclaimed,
' He was amply rewarded for his trouble, the pains and
training he had spent on me had not been thrown
away, inasmuch as, thanks to his teaching and instruc-
tion, I had learnt at last how to eat, though I had lived
so many years without acquiring any knowledge of, or
practice in, this most needful art. Let me consider
him as much in my debt as I pleased for delivering
him from a Turkish prison ; I was no less indebted to
him, as it was from him I had learnt how to eat ! '

Amusing ourselves in this manner we arrived at
Tolna, where we came in for a certain amount of annoy-
ance. De Sande used to stay under the same roof
with me, where my quarters consisted of several rooms ;
but where there was only one he used to lodge at an
adjoining house, that he might not inconvenience me.
Accordingly at Tolna he ordered the Janissary, whom
I took with me from Constantinople to Buda as my
attendant, to look out for quarters for him. One of my
servants and a Spanish doctor of medicine, who had
been ransomed at de Sande's expense at Constan-
tinople, accompanied the Janissary. They happened
to go into a house near us, which belonged to a Janis-
sary who had been entrusted with the charge of the
town. For it is the custom of the Turks, in order to
protect the Christians from the outrages of travellers,
to appoint in each of the wealthier villages or small
towns one or two Janissaries,^ who take advantage of
the position in which they are thus placed, and turn it
to their own profit in many ways. This Janissary had
committed some fault for which he had deserved to
lose his office ; and the fear of such a punishment hang-
ing over his head had made him crusty, and completely
soured his temper. Our people inspected his house

' See p. 86.

THE QUARREL AT TOLNA. 393

without opposition, went all over it, and began to re-
treat, as they did not like it. My Janissary was going-
first, the servant was following, and the doctor was last.
Meanwhile, the Janissary who lived there, and who
was then in his garden, was told that Christians were
looking for a lodging in his house. Mad with rage he
hurried up with a stick that might have served Her-
cules for a club, and without a word brought it down
with all his might on the doctor's shoulders, who flew
out of the house for fear of a repetition of the blow.
My servant looked back, and saw behind him the
Janissary on the point of giving him a similar greeting,
his stick being already raised for the blow ; but this
servant of mine, who was carrying a small hatchet in
his hand, as people generally do in that country, seized
the blade of it with one hand, and the end of the handle
with the other, and holding it cross-wise over his head
parried several blows without injury. As the other,
however, did not stop striking, the handle of the hatchet
began to give way, so my servant was obliged to alter
his tactics, and closing with the Janissary aimed a blow
at his head, but the latter did not like this change in the
mode of fighting, and forthwith took to his heels. As
my servant could not reach him, he flung the hatchet at
his back as he ran away. The Janissary was wounded
by the blow and fell ; and so our people escaped.

In the meantime the doctor was rousing the neigh-
bourhood with his cries, exclaiming that it was all over
with him, he was as good as dead, and all his bones
were broken.

De Sande, when he heard the story, was both vexed
and amused. He was unaffected by the doctor's ex-
clamations, thinking he was more frightened than hurt.
But he was tormented by a terrible anxiety, fearing
that he would be recalled to Constantinople, and could

394 TURKISH LETTERS.

not be persuaded that there was not some treachery at
the bottom of the affair. The Pashas, he thought, had
sought an opportunity of pretending to do me a favour,
and would soon show their real intentions, and find an
excuse for dragging him back to Constantinople, where
he must lie rotting in a filthy jail to the end of his days.
He was therefore much vexed at the behaviour of my
servant, who, instead of expressing any sorrow at the
severe wound he had inflicted on the Janissary, swore
that he was exceedingly sorry to hear he was still alive.
Accordingly, he addressed him as follows, ' My good
Henry (for that was his name), I beg you to control
your anger. This is no place for displaying your
courage or avenging your wrongs ; in our present
situation it is no mark of cowardice to pocket an
affront. Whether we will or no, we are in their power.
Pray, remember how much mischief this ill-timed
passion of yours may bring on us ; we may in con-
sequence be all brought back to Constantinople, and
everything that has been done may be undone, or at
any rate, unsettled, the result of which will be fresh
worries and endless trouble. I beg you another time,
if you have no regard for your own safety, for my sake
at any rate, to control yourself more.'

But his remonstrances fell on deaf ears. Henrv
was a man of obstinate disposition, and when angered,
most unreasonable. ' What would it have mattered to
me,' he answered, 'even if I had killed him ? Had he
not resolved to murder me ? if but one of all the
blows he aimed at my head had reached me, he had
butchered me like a sheep. The idea of my being
guilty for slaying a man, who was endeavouring to kill
me ! I am desperately sorry for one thing, and that
is, that I do not fee'l quite sure that he will not recover
from my blow.' Then he swore he would spare no

IBRAHIM AND THE JANISSARY. 395

Turk, who wanted to wound him, but would, at all
hazards, do his best to kill him. De Sande did not
approve of these sentiments.

The Janissary, having received the wound I men-
tioned, made it out to be worse than it was. Two Jews,
who were acquainted with the Spanish tongue, came
to me, saying that the Janissary was in great danger ;
I must give him some compensation, or else I should
hear more of it ; much trouble was in store for me on
this account. I replied as I thought politic.

But as I knew the Turkish habit of brinfring false
accusations, I considered it better to be beforehand
with them. I immediately asked Ibrahim, through a
servant, to lend me one of his suite, to escort one of
my men to Constantinople, saying that the case was
urgent. Ibrahim wondered what the reason could be,
and came to me at once. I said that I must ask Ali
Pasha to have more trustworthy precautions taken for
my safety on the journey, otherwise I could not feel
confident of reaching the borders of my country un-
injured, as two of my suite had been within an inch of
being murdered. I then told him what had happened.
Ibrahim understood how closely the affair concerned
himself, and asked me to have the patience to wait a
few moments, and immediately went across the road to
the Janissary, whom he found in bed. He rated him
soundly for behaving in such a way to my people ;
saying ' we were returning, after peace had been con-
cluded, in high favour with Solyman and all the
Pashas. None of my requests had been denied me,
and many concessions had been made unasked ; he
himself had been attached to me as my companion on
the journey to take care that proper respect was paid
to me everywhere. The Janissary had been the first
person found to do us any injury, and that I wished

396 TURKISH LETTERS.

to send to Constantinople to complain about it. If
this were done, the Janissary well knew what the
consequences would be.'

By this speech not only was the Janissary's comb
cut, but it was now his turn to be frightened.

On the following day we pursued our journey
towards Buda, the doctor being as nimble as before in
spite of his terrible bruises. When we were just in
sight of Buda, by order of the Pasha some of his house-
hold came to meet us, along with several cavasses ;
a crowd of young men on horseback formed the
most remarkable part of our escort on account of the
strangeness of their attire, which was as follows. They
had cut a long line in the skin of their bare heads,
which were for the most part shaved, and inserted in
the wound an assortment of feathers ; though dripping
with blood they concealed the pain and assumed a gay
and cheerful bearing, as if they felt it not. Close before
me were some of them on foot, one of whom walked
with his bare arms a-kimbo, both of which he had
pierced above the elbow with a Prague knife. Another,
who went naked to the waist, had stuck a bludgeon in
two slits he had made in his skin above and below his
loins, whence it hung as if from a girdle. A third had
fixed a horse's hoof with several nails on the top of his
head. But that was old, as the nails had so grown into
the flesh, that they were quite immovable.

With this escort we entered Buda, and were con-
ducted to the Pasha, who conversed with me for some
time about the observance of the truce, with de Sande
standing by. The company of young men, who
showed such strange proofs of their indifference to
pain, took up a position inside the threshold of the
court-yard, and when I happened to look in that direc-
tion, the Pasha asked me what I thought of them.

DE SANDE'S GRATITUDE. 397

' Capital fellows,' I replied, ' save that they treat their
skin in a way that I should not like to treat my clothes ! '
The Pasha laughed and dismissed us.

On the next day we came to Gran, and proceeded
from there to Komorn, which is the first fortress of liis
Imperial Majesty, and stands on the river Waag. On
either bank of the river the garrison of the place with
the naval auxiliaries, who are there called Nassadistas,
was awaiting us. Before I crossed, de Sande embraced
me and thanked me once more for the recovery of his
freedom, disclosing at the same time the anxiety he
had so long kept a secret. He told me frankly, that
up to this time he had been under the belief that the
Turks could not be acting in good faith in the business,
and therefore had been in perpetual fear that he would
have to go back to Constantinople, and end his days
in a dungeon. Now at last he felt that he was not to be
cheated of tht; liberty he owed me, for which he would
be under the deepest obligations to me to his last breath.^

A few days afterwards we reached Vienna. At
that time the Emperor Ferdinand was at the Diet of
the Empire with his son Maximilian, whose election as
King of the Romans was then proceeding. I informed
the Emperor of my return and of Ibrahim's arrival,
asking his pleasure concerning him, for he was anxious
to be conducted to Frankfort.

The Emperor at first replied, that he thought it more
advisable that the Turks should await his return at
Vienna, deeming it impolitic that men of so hostile a
nation should be conducted all the way from Vienna to
Frankfort through the heart of the Empire.

But it was tedious to wait, and might have given

^ Here we part from the gallant Spaniard. For his future career see
note p. 317. He was finally Governor of Oran, ' oil il a finy ses jours fort
vieux et casse.' — Brantome, i. 219.

398 TURKISH LETTERS.

the Turks many grounds for suspicion, and there was
no cause for alarm, if Ibrahim with his suite should
travel through the most flourishing part of the Empire ;
on the contrary, it was desirable that he should thereby
form a just estimate of its strength and greatness, and,
most of all, that he should see at Frankfort how unani-
mous the chief princes of the Empire were in electing
Maximilian as his father's successor.

When I had laid these arguments before the Em-
peror, he gave his consent to Ibrahim and his atten-
dants being conducted to Frankfort. So we set out on
our journey thither by Prague, Bamberg, and Wurzburg.
Ibrahim was unwilling to pass through Bohemia
without paying his court to the Archduke Ferdinand ;
but the Archduke did not think fit to grive him an
audience, except incognito.

When I was only a few days' journey from Frank-
fort, I decided to precede the Turks by one or two days,
that I might, before they arrived, inform the Emperor
about certain matters connected with my embassy. I
therefore took post, and arrived at Frankfort the eve of
the day, on which seven years before I had commenced
my second journey from Vienna to Constantinople. I
was received by my most gracious Emperor with a
warmth and indulgence which was due not to my own
poor merits, but to the natural kindness of his character.
You may imagine how much I enjoyed, after so many
years, seeing my Master not only alive and well, but
also in the utmost prosperity. He treated me in a
manner betokening his high satisfaction at the way in
which I had discharged the duties of the embassy,
thanked me for my long services, expressed his com-
plete approval of the result of my negotiations, loaded
me with tokens of his esteem, and, in short, bestowed
on me every possible mark of favour.

MAXIMILIAN'S CORONATION. 399

On the day before the coronation (November 29,
N.S.), Ibrahim arrived at Frankfort very late in the
evening, after the gates of the town had been shut,
which according to ancient custom are not allowed to be
opened the whole of the following day. But his Im-
perial Majesty gave express orders that the gates should
be opened for the Turks the next day. A place was
assigned them from which they could see the Emperor
elect passing, with the whole of the show and procession.
It appeared to them a grand and magnificent spectacle,
as indeed it was. There were pointed out, among
the others who accompanied the Emperor to do hini
honour, three Dukes, those of Saxony, Bavaria, and
Juliers,' each of whom could, from his own resources,
put a regular army in the field ; and many other things
were explained to them about the strength, dignity,
and grandeur of the Empire.

A few days afterwards Ibrahim had an audience of
the Emperor, related the reasons of his coming, and
presented to him such gifts as are considered the most
honourable among the Turks. After the peace had
been ratified, the Emperor honoured him with mao-ni-
ficent presents, and sent him back to Solyman.

I am still detained here by my private affairs,
though longing to fly from the court and return home.
For, indeed, the life of a court is by no means to my
liking. Full well do I know its cares. Beneath its
gaudy show lurk endless miseries. In it deceit abounds,

' The then Duke, or rather Elector, of Saxony, was Augustus the Pious
who succeeded his brother, the famous Maurice, in 1553, and died in
1586. The Duke of Bavaria was Albert III., surnamed the Magnani-
mous, who reigned from 1550 to 1579. His wife was a daughter of Fer-
dinand. William the Rich was then Duke of Juliers, Cleves and Berg
&c. He reigned from 1539 to 1592, and he also had married a dauo-hter
of Ferdinand. He was younger brother of Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII.'s
fourth wife.

400 TURKISH LETTERS.

and sincerity is rare. There is no court which is not
haunted by envy, in which it is not vain to seek for
friendship that can be trusted, and in which there is not
cause to fear a change of favour and a sudden fall. For
even monarchs themselves are human. I have seen a
man, who had entered the palace escorted by a hundred
friends, return home with hardly a single companion, on
account of the Sovereign's displeasure. A court does not
recognise real merit till too late, but is guided by mere
shadows, such as rumour, outward appearances, intrigues
and popular mistakes, so that I should not hesitate to
call those fortunate, who have been granted a speedy
and happy release from its annoyances. To be able
to live for oneself and literature, and to grow old in
some quiet country nook, with a few honest friends, is
indeed an enviable lot. If there is any true life to be
found in this earthly pilgrimage, surely it must be this.
Far too often in a court is a buffoon of rank valued
more highly than a man of merit ; indeed a picture of
an ass among monkeys gives an excellent notion of the
position of an honest man among courtiers.

It is of ordinary courts that I speak. For I freely
admit that many courts, and especially this one, derive
lustre from the presence of men of distinction in every
walk of life, who shed around them a glorious light.
Be this as it may, I prefer a peaceful retired life, with
plenty of time for reading, to the throng and tumult of
a court. But, though I long to depart, I am afraid my
most gracious Sovereign may detain me, or at any rate
summon me back, when I have reached my retirement
at home. He has consented to my departure, it is true,
but only on condition of my returning if recalled. But
if this occurs (for who could refuse the courteous
request of a Sovereign who is able to command, and
to whom one owes so much ?) then one consolation

PANEG YRIC OF FERDINAND. 401

will be left me, namely, that it will be granted me to gaze
upon the most Sacred Person of my Emperor, or, to
express it better, upon the living image of real virtue.
. For I assure you my master is the noblest prince
on whom the sun ever shone. His character and his
virtues give him a claim to empire such as few have
ever possessed. Supreme power must everywhere
command respect, even when held by unworthy hands,
but to deserve supreme power and to be fit to wield
It, IS, in my judgment, a far more glorious thing.

I speak not therefore of his birth, nor of his illus-
trious ancestors ; his greatness requires no extraneous
support, but can stand on its own merits; it is his
personal virtues and his personal fitness for his high
station that strike me most forcibly.

There have been many bad Emperors, who did
not deserve to be elevated to such a pinnacle of power ;
but, of all the Emperors that ever lived, not one has
merited that dignity more than my master.

Again, how many originally upright and faultless
characters when raised to power, have been quickly
corrupted by their freedom from restraint and by the
temptations of a court, and have plunged headlong
mto every form of vice. They forgot they were mortal,
and conceiving arrogant thoughts beyond the limits of
human ambition, they claimed to be elevated to heaven,
and ranked among the gods, while all the time they
were unworthy to be reckoned among men.

But {^^N men's necks can bear the load of an exalted
lot ; many sink beneath it, and when placed in a high
position forget themselves. It is a hard trial to have
unlimited power, and yet to curb one's desires.

There is none whose eyes have been less dazzled
than my master's by the splendour of high position,
and no one has kept a firmer hold on virtue, or guarded

VOL. I. D D

402 TURKISH LETTERS.

more diligently'against his naturally upright disposition
being corrupted by the temptations to which royalty is
exposed. He has always felt, that those who shine
before men in the glory of exalted rank ought to in-
fluence their minds to good by the purity of their lives.

He is most zealous for religion, and piously serves
and worships God, always living as if he were in His
immediate presence, measuring all his actions by His
law, and thereby governing his whole life. Whether
in prosperity or adversity, he recognises the Hand
which gives and takes away. In short, while still on
earth he leads a life such as saints in heaven may lead.

He feels intensely the seriousness of his position.
All his words and actions have the common weal for
their object, and he ever makes his personal interests
subordinate to his subjects' welfare. So much is this
the case that some people accuse him of sacrificing the
legitimate claims of his household and his children to
the welfare of the state.

To those about him he shows every possible kind-
ness, and treats us all as if he were responsible for our
welfare, and, in fact, were the father of every member
of his vast household. Who is there who has implored
his protection in vain, when he needed assistance, or
has not had proof of his generosity ? He thinks
every day lost in which he has not benefited some
one ; and, while he welcomes every one with the
greatest affection, towards the members of his house-
hold he is especially gracious. Among them there is
no one who can complain of being neglected or passed
over ; he knows by heart the life, habits, merits, and
even the name, of everyone, however low his rank may
be. Mighty prince as he is, when he sees them leading
careless and unbecoming lives, he does not hesitate, at
a fitting opportunity, to remind them of their duty and

THE GOOD EMPEROR. 403

rebuke them ; and, if they reform, to praise and reward
them. Therefore, when they leave his presence, they
declare that they find the Emperor not a master, but a
father.

It is also his constant practice, when he has pun-
ished their errors by his displeasure for some days,
after he has pardoned them, to restore them to exactly
their former position, blotting out from his memory all
recollection of their fault.

He lays down the law most uprightly, and as stricdy
for himself as for others. For he does not think he
has the right of disregarding himself the rules he pre-
scribes for others, or of allowing himself a license which
he punishes in them.

He keeps his passions under control, and confines
them within the limits of reason. Hatred, anger, and
harsh language are strangers to him. No man alive
has heard him disparage another ; not even those whom
he knows to be unjust to himself He has never said
a harsh word of any one, nor does he ever speak ill of
people behind their backs.

Beneath his protection goodness is secure ; malice,
violence, deceit, dishonesty, all vices in a word, fly from
his presence, and crimes and outrages receive the pun-
ishment they deserve.

The Romans had their censors appointed to regu-
late morals, and to keep the nation firm in the path
of duty and the customs of their sires, but among us no
censor is required, as the life of our Sovereign supplies
his place. His bright example shows us what to follow
and what to avoid.

He is extremely kind towards men of worth and
learning, who are trained in the pursuits which do the
State good service. In dealing with men of this de-
scription he lays aside his royalty and treats them, not

D D 2

404 TURKISH LETTERS.

as a master, but as an intimate friend on a footing of
perfect equality, as one who would be their companion
and rival in striving after what is right, making no
distinction between those who owe their high position
to the credit they derive from the glory of their ances-
tors, and those who have been elevated by their own
merits and have proved their worth. With them he
enjoys passing the time he has to spare from business,
which, however, is but little. These are the men he
values, holding, as he does, that it is of great public im-
portance that merit should occupy the position which is
its due.

He is naturally eager for information, and desirous
of knowing everything worthy of a human being's at-
tention, and therefore always has some subject about
which he wishes to hear the opinion of men of learning,
from time to time interposing some shrewd and pointed
observation of his own, to the great admiration of his
hearers. Thus he has acquired no mean store of use-
ful information, so that it is impossible to ask him a
question on any subject with which he is wholly un-
acquainted.

He knows several languages. Spanish, as his
mother tongue, takes the first place, then come French,
German, Latin, and Italian. Although he can express
anything he means in Latin, yet he has not learnt it so
accurately as not to infringe, at times, the rules of gram-
mar, a fault to be blamed in a man of letters, but not,
in my humble judgment, to be hardly criticised in an
Emperor.^

1 Ferdinand might have defended himself by the example of his pre-
decessor Sigismund. See the story in Carlyle's Frederick the Great,
i. 187, of his speech at the Council of Constance. "'Right Reverend
Fathers, date operam ut ilia nefanda schisma eradicetur,' exclaimed Sigis-
mund, intent on having the Bohemian schism well dealt with,— which he
reckons to be of the feminine gender. To which a Cardinal mildlv re-

A TERRIBLE ADVERSARY. 405

No one will deny that what I have said so far is
true, but perchance some will regret that he has not
paid more attention to warlike enterprises, and won his
laurels on the battle-field. The Turks, such an one
will say, have now for many years past been playing
the tyrant in Hungary, and wasting the land far and
wide, while we do not give any assistance worthy of
our name. Long ago ought we to have marched
against them, and allowed fortune by one pitched
battle to decide which was to be master. Such persons,
I grant, speak boldly, but I question if they speak pru-
dently. Let us go a little deeper into the matter. My
opinion is that we should judge of the talents of gene-
rals or commanders rather from their plans than from
results. Moreover, in their plans they ought to take
into account the times, their own resources, and the
nature and power of the enemy. If an enemy of
an ordinary kind, with no great prestige, should
attack our territories, I frankly confess it would be
cowardly not to march against him, and check him
by a pitched battle, always supposing that we could
bring into the field a force equal to his. But if the
enemy in question should be a scourge sent by the
wrath of God (as was Attila of yore, Tamerlane in
the memory of our grandfathers, and the Ottoman
Sultans in our own times), against whom nothing can
stand, and who levels to the ground every obstacle in
his way ; to oppose oneself to such a foe with but
scanty and irregular troops would, I fear, be an act
so rash as to deserve the name of madness.

Against us stands Solyman, that foe whom his own
and his ancestors' exploits have made so terrible ; he

marking, ' Domine, srhisma est generis neutrius (Schisma is neuter, your
Majesty),' Sigismund loftily replies, ' Ego sum Rex Romanus et super
grammaticam (I am King of the Romans, and above Grammar) ! ' "

4o6 TURKISH LETTERS.

tramples the soil of Hungary with 200,000 horse, he is
at the very gates of Austria, threatens the rest of Ger-
many, and brings in his train all the nations that extend
from our borders to those of Persia. The army he
leads is equipped with the wealth of many kingdoms.
Of the three regions, into which the world is divided,
there is not one that does not contribute its share to-
wards our destruction. Like a thunderbolt he strikes,
shivers, and destroys everything in his way. The
troops he leads are trained veterans, accustomed to
his command ; he fills the world with the terror of
his name. Like a raging lion he is always roaring
around our borders, trying to break in, now in this
place, now in that. On account of much less danger
many nations, attacked by superior forces, have left
their native lands and sought new habitations. When
the peril is small, composure deserves but little praise,
but not to be terrified at the onset of such an enemy,
while the world re-echoes with the crash of kingdoms
falling in ruins all around, seems to me to betoken a
courage worthy of Hercules himself.^ Nevertheless, the
heroic Ferdinand with undaunted courage keeps his
stand on the same spot, does not desert his post, and
stirs not an inch from the position he has taken up.
He would desire to have such strength that he could,
without being charged with madness and only at his
own personal risk, stake everything on the chance of a
battle ; but his generous impulses are moderated by
prudence. He sees what ruin to his own most faithful
subjects and, indeed, to the whole of Christendom
would attend any failure in so important an enterprise,
and thinks it wrong to gratify his private inclination at
the price of a disaster ruinous to the state. He reflects
w^hat an unequal contest it would be, if 25,000 or 30,000

1 An allusion to Horace, Odes, iii. 3, i-io.

CESAR'S OPINION. 407

infantry with the addition of a small body of cavalry
should be pitted against 200,000 cavalry supported by
veteran infantry. The result to be expected from such
a contest is shown him only too plainly by the examples
of former times, the routs of Nicopolis and Varna, and
the plains of Mohacz, still white with the bones of
slaughtered Christians.^

A general must be a novice indeed, who rushes into
battle without reckoning up his own strength or that of
the enemy. And then what follows when too late ?
Why, simply that excuse, unpardonable in a general,
which is ushered in by the words, ' But I never
thought '"^ . . . .

It makes an enormous difference what enemy we
have to encounter ; I should not ask you to accept this
assertion if it were not supported by the evidence of
the greatest generals. Caesar, indeed, the greatest
master of the art of war that ever existed, has abund-
antly demonstrated how much depends on this, and
has ascribed to the good fortune of Lucullus and
Pompey that they met with such cowardly enemies, and
on this account won their laurels at a cheap and easy
rate. On the only occasion that he met with such a foe
in Pharnaces, speaking as if in jest of an exploit, which
had cost him no pains, and therefore deserved no praise,

^ In the battle of Nicopolis, A.D. 1396, Bajazet defeated Sigismund,
King of Hungary (afterwards Emperor), and a confederate army of 100,000
Christians, who had proudly boasted that if the sky should fall, they would
uphold it on their lances. Among them was John, Count of Nevers,
son of PhiHppe-le-Hardi, Duke of Burgundy, afterwards the Duke
known as Jean Sans-Peur, who led a contingent of French knights. In
the battle of Varna, a.d. 1444, Ladislaus, King of Hungary and Poland,
was defeated, and killed by Sultan Amurath II. For Mohacz, see Sketch
of Hungarian History.

" Compare Camoens: ' Eu nunca louverei o general que diz " Eu nao
cuidei." — I will never praise the general who excuses himself by saying,
'' I thought not." '

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he showed the easiness of his victory by his despatch,
' Veni, vidi, vici.' He would not say the same thing
if he were now-a-days to wage war with those nations ;
in his time they were enervated and made effeminate
by luxury, but now they lead a frugal and hardy
life, are enured to hunger, heat, and cold, and are
trained by continual toil and a rigorous system of
discipline to endure every hardship and to welcome
every danger.

It is not without reason that Livy argues, that Alex-
ander of Macedon would have made war with far
different results, if he had had the Romans for enemies,
instead of the Persians or the unwarlike Indians. It
is one thing to make war with warlike nations, and
another to fight with peoples ruined by luxury or
unaccustomed to arms. Among the Persians mere
numbers were much thought of, but in dealing with
those same Persians it proved to be more trouble to
slaughter than to conquer them. I consider Hannibal's
three victories, at the Trebia, Lake Thrasimene, and
Carmae, are to he placed far above all the exploits of
Alexander. Why so .? the former won his successes
over famous warriors, the latter had the effeminate
nations of Asia to contend with.

Fabius Maximus had no less courage than T. Sem-
pronms, C. Flaminius, or Varro, but more sagacity.
That prudent general knew that he must not rashly
hazard everything against an enemy brought up in
the camp, whose whole life had been passed in arms,
who had been trained in the school of great com-
manders, who was distinguished by so many trophies,
and attended by some extraordinary destiny or good
fortune ; delay and opportunity were absolutely neces-
sary to make his defeat a possibility. When he had
to contend with such an enemy, the only hope he had

FABIAN TACTICS. 409

left was to avoid a battle, until there was a chance
of fighting with success. Meanwhile he had to stand
up against the foe, keep him in check, and harass
him. In this Fabius was so successful, that perhaps
he is entitled to quite as much credit for defeating
Hannibal as Scipio himself, although the latter won
the final victory. For who can tell whether Scipio
would have had an opportunity of conquering at Zama,
if Fabius had not checked Hannibal's victorious career ?
Nor should a victory won by strategy be thought less
of than one gained by force. The former has nothing
in common with animals, the latter has.

The Emperor Ferdinand's plan was the same as
that of Fabius Maximus, and accordingly, after weigh-
ing his own strength and that of Solyman, he came to
the conclusion that it would be the height of bad een-
eralship to tempt fortune, and encounter in a pitched
battle the attack of so mighty an enemy. There was
another course open to him, namely, to endeavour to
check his inroad by the same means as we should use
to stay the overflow of a swollen stream, and accordingly
he directed all his energies to the construction of walls,
ditches, and other fortifications.

It is forty years, more or less, since Solyman at the
beginning of his reign, after taking Belgrade, crushing
Hungary, and slaying King Louis, made sure of ob-
taining not only that province but also those beyond ;
in this hope he besieged Vienna, and renewing the
war reduced Giins, and threatened Vienna again, but
that time from a distance. Yet what has he accom-
plished with his mighty array of arms, his boundless
resources and innumerable soldiery ? Why, he has not
made one single step in Hungary in advance of his
original conquest. He, who used to make an end of
powerful kingdoms in a single campaign, has won, as

4IO TURKISH LETTERS.

the reward of his invasions, ill-fortified castles or incon-
siderable villages, and has paid a heavy price for what-
ever fragments he has gradually torn off from the vast
bulk of Hungary. Vienna he has certainly seen once,
but as it was for the first, so it was for the last time.^

Three things Solyman is said to have set his heart
on, namely, to see the building of his mosque finished
(which is indeed a costly and beautiful work),^ by restor-
ing the ancient aqueducts to give Constantinople an
abundant supply of water, and to take Vienna. In
two of these things his wishes have been accomplished,
in the third he has been stopped, and I hope will be
stopped. Vienna he is wont to call by no other name
than his disgrace and shame.

But I return to the point from which I made this
digression, namely, that I do not hesitate to claim for
Ferdinand a foremost place among generals, inasmuch
as, with resources wholly inadequate to the occasion, he
has never quailed, but for many a long year has, with
marvellous fortitude, sustained the attacks of a foe of no
ordinary kind. He has preserved a large portion of
Hungary for better days ; a greater feat in my eyes
than many a triumph won under favourable circum-
stances over conquered kings and vanquished nations.
The greater his need at the critical hour, the brighter
his courage shone. Of course I cannot expect those
to appreciate his conduct who think that everythino-
ought to be risked in a single action, without the
slightest regard to the time, the circumstances, or the

' See Sketch of Hungarian History.

2 The Suleimanyeh, or mosque of Solyman, is the most glorious master-
piece of Ottoman architecture. It is built after the pattern of St. Sophia,
and was intended to surpass it. As regards the regularity of the plan,
the perfection of the individual parts, and the harmony of the whole, that
intention appears to have been fully attained. It was begun in 1550 and
finished in 1555.

A STOUT DEFENCE. 411

strength of the foe. But to anyone else it must seem
well nigh miraculous, that a realm so open and exposed
as that of Hungary, and one so torn by civil war, should
be capable of being defended so long, and should not
have altogether passed under the yoke of its powerful
assailant. That so much has been done is wholly
owing to God's special mercy, and under Him to the
ceaseless toil and anxious care of this most prudent
monarch.

In this task what difficulties had he not to en-
counter, each more grievous than the preceding !
The enemy was in sight, his friends were far off; the
succours his brother Charles sent came from a distance
and arrived too late ; Germany, although nearest to
the conflagration, was weary of supplying aid ; the
hereditary states were exhausted by their contributions ;
the ears of many Christian princes were deaf to his
voice when he demanded assistance ; though the mat-
ter was one of vital importance to them, it was about the
last they were likely to attend to. And so at one time, by
his own valour, with the forces he could gather from
Hungary, Austria, and Bohemia, at another, by the
resources of the Empire, at another, by hiring Spanish
or Italian troops, he held his ground, though at vast
cost. By a line of garrisons he has protected the frontiers
of Hungary, which extend for fifteen days' journey, for
he is obliged always to keep some troops embodied,
even during a time of truce. For at times there are
truces ; and he condescends, when there is fear of the
Sultan's attack, and he has no other means of stopping
him, to send ambassadors and presents to appease his
wrath, as the best chance of saving the necks of the
unfortunate Hungarians from the coming storm.

It is ridiculous to suppose that a man thus engaged
can enjoy a good night's rest. For the benefit of the

412 Turkish letters.

state he must forego sleep. Affairs so weighty demand
continual watchfulness, and great anxiety. You may
think It is a panegyric I am composing, but I am writ-
mg my letter with strict historical accuracy.

To manage these affairs he has ministers, few
indeed, but good. The leading men among them,
whom perhaps you have heard of, are John von
Trautson and Rodolph von Harrach,^ both of whom
are persons of singular loyalty and prudence.

I will conclude with a few details of his private life.
He rises at five, even in the severest winter months,
and after prayers and hearing mass retires to the
council chamber, where he devotes himself to public
business until it is time for dinner. He is occupied
the same way in the afternoon till supper. When I
say supper, I mean, not his own, but that of his
councillors, for he never touches supper himself, and
does not take food more than once a day and then
sparingly ; nor does he indulge more freely in drink-
ing, being content to finish his dinner with two
draughts of wine. Since he lost his wife, no other
woman has been allowed to take her place. He does
not care for jests and the amusements by which many
are attracted. Fools, jugglers, buffoons, parasites, the
darhngs, but also the curses, of ordinary courts, are
banished from his palace. He avoids leisure, and is
never idle. If, which is an unusual event, he has any
time to spare from business, he devotes it, as I pre-
viously mentioned, to conversations with men of worth
and learning, which he greatly enjoys. In particular,

1 Johann Trautson von Matray, Freiherr von Sprechenstein, &c., de-
scended from an ancient Tyrolese family, was Governor of the Tyrol
and Privy Councillor and Lord High Chamberlain to Ferdinand, who
created him a Baron. Leonard von Harrach, a member of an ancient
Bohemian family, Privy Councillor and Court Chancellor of Ferdinand is
probably the person meant. '

FERDINAND'S PRIVATE LIFE. 413

they stand by him at dinner, and talk with him on
various topics.

You may be sure that not many of his subjects
would wish to change their mode of life for his, which
is so frugal and severe. For how rarely can you find
a man who does not devote some fraction of his life
to pleasure ? Who would cheerfully endure the loss
of all his amusements ? Who would not be disgusted
at spending his last years in the midst of unceasing
business and anxieties — a condition which more resem-
bles slavery than sovereignty ? But the Emperor is of
a different opinion, and when talking with his friends
is wont to say, that ' it is not for his own sake that he has
been appointed by God to so important an office ; the
helm of empire has not been entrusted to him that he
may wallow in pleasures and amusements ; the terms on
which private fortunes are inherited are far different
from those which regulate the succession to kingdoms
and empires. No one is forbidden to use and enjoy
the advantages of his patrimony, but all these numerous
nations have been committed by God to his charge,
that he may take care of them and bear the toil, while
they enjoy the fruits of his labours ; that he may en-
dure the burden and heat of the day, while rest and
peace are secured for them.'

Hunting is the only amusement of which he ever par-
takes, and that not so much for the sake of pleasure as of
health. For, when he feels his mind and body require
bracing after a long spell of sedentary work, he chooses
a day to refresh himself by out-of-door exercise and
plenty of fresh air. On such occasions, very early in
the morning, in summer at daybreak, in winter some
hours before sunrise, he goes out to hunt, whatever the
weather may be. Sometimes, however, only the after-
noon is devoted to this occupation. I remember once

414 TURKISH LETTERS.

hearing him say, when I was standing by him at dinner,
' I have done all my work, I have finished all my busi-
ness, I have come to the bottom of my despatch-box,
there is nothing left in the chancery to keep me ; the
rest of the day I will spend in bodily exercise.' And
so he returns home, when the night is already advanced,
delighted at having killed a boar, or a stag, or, some-
times, even a bear, and without taking any food or
drink, composes himself to sleep, all wearied by his
various exertions.

It is absurd, therefore, for anyone to look back with
regret on Trajan, Verus, and Theodosius, and to wish
that such wonderful Emperors were living in our times.
I seriously and solemnly declare, that I believe there is
more real merit in my master than in the three of them
put together.

But my admiration for so great a man is carrying
me away too far. It is not my design to speak of his
merits as they deserve ; that would require a volume,
not a letter, and would call for talents and faculties that
are far beyond me, but, as I have narrated my other ad-
ventures to you, I wished that you should not remain~
in ignorance of the character of the Emperor I serve.
I shall conclude with that which is the universal prayer
with regard to the saint and champion of our age—
' Serus in coelum redeat.'

As to your inquiries about Greek books and your
writing that you hear I have brought back many
curiosities and some rare animals, there is nothing
among them that is much worth mentioning. I have
brought back a very tame ichneumon, an animal cele-
brated for its hatred to the crocodile and asp, and
the internecine war it wages with them. I had also
a remarkably handsome weasel, of the kind called
sables, but I lost him on the journey. I also brought

ANIMALS AND CURIOSITIES. 415

with me several beautiful thoroughbred horses, which
no one before me has done, and six she-camels. I
brought back some drawings of plants and shrubs,
which I am keeping for Mattioli,^ but as to plants
and shrubs themselves I have few or none. For
I sent him many years ago the sweet flag (Acorus
calamus^) and many other specimens. Carpets too,
and linen embroidered in Babylonian fashion, swords,
bows, and horse-trappings, and many nicknacks ele-
gantly made of leather, which is generally horse leather,
and other trifling specimens of Turkish workman-
ship I have, or rather, to speak more correctly, I

> Mattioli or Matthioli, an Italian physician, was one of the founders
of modern botany. He was born at Siena in 1500, and died at Trent in
1577. He was educated at Venice and Padua, and afterwards lived at
Siena and Rome, but was compelled by the sack of the latter city to
retire to Trent, from which he removed to Goritz. In 1562 he was sum-
moned by Ferdinand to his Court, where for ten years he was first phy-
sician to Maximilian. His most celebrated work is his Dioscoridcs and
his Commentary on that author. In this he made especial use of two
MSS. discovered at Constantinople by his intimate friend Busbecq, one
of which is presently mentioned in the text.

Mattioli in his Commentaries, continually refers to the specimens and
information he had received from Quacquelben, Busbecq's physician. He
gives a figure and description of the Acorus, the plant mentioned in the
text, which Busbecq had had collected for him from the Lakeof Nico-
media, and also mentions the Napellus under the head of Aconite. Ap-
parently there were two species known by that name, one of which was
extremely poisonous. Mattioli gives instances of experiments tried with
it upon condemned criminals, some of which proved fatal. Mattioli also
describes and gives figures of the horse-chestnut and lilac, taken from
branches and seed sent him by Busbecq.

Quacquelben took advantage of the return of Busbecq's colleagues in
August 1557, to send Mattioli a box of specimens accompanied by a long
letter, which, with Mattioli's reply, is printed among the letters of the latter.

' The sweet or aromatic flag was used as a medicine in cases of bites
from mad dogs, &c. See Salmon's Herbal. It was also used for scent-
ing rooms, and for ornamental purposes. See Evelyn's description of
Lady Clarendon's seat at Swallowfield : ' The waters are flagg'd about
with Calamus aromaticus, with which my lady has hung a closet that re-
tains the smell very perfectly.' Diary, p. 490. See also Syme's English
Botany, vol. ix. p. 1 1 .

4i6 TURKISH LETTERS.

ought to say, I had. For, as in this great assemblage
of Sovereigns, both male and female, here at Frankfort,
I give, of my own accord, many presents to many
people as compliments, and am ashamed to refuse
many others who ask me, what I have left for myself
is but little. But, while I think my other gifts have
been well bestowed, there is one of which I regret
having been so lavish, namely, the balsam,^ because
physicians have thrown doubts on its genuineness,
declaring that it has not got all the properties which ac-
cording to Pliny mark the true balsam, whether because
the strength of the very old plants, from which it flows,
has been in some degree impaired by age, or for some
other reason. This much, at any rate, I know for cer-
tain, that it flowed from the shrubs which are cultivated
in the gardens of Matarieh, near Cairo.^

Before I left Constantinople I sent a Spanish
physician, named Albacar, to Lemnos, that he might be
there on August 6, at the digging out of that famous
earth,^ and so might write us a full and certain account
of its position and source, and the mode of extracting
it and preparing it for use ; which I do not doubt he
would have done, had he not been prevented by cir-
cumstances over which he had no control. For a long
time I wanted to cross over there, that I might be an
eye-witness myself As the Turks did not allow me
to do so, I took pains to make myself, at least, an ear-
witness, if I may say so.

I am also bringing back a great medley of ancient
coins, of which I shall present the most remarkable to
my master.

I have besides, whole waggonfuls, whole shiploads,

^ See page 389.

2 Matarieh, a village near Cairo, occupies the site of the ancient On
or Heliopolis, where Cleopatra's Needles originally stood.
^ See page 256 and note.

MANUSCRIPT OF DIOSCORIDES 417

of Greek manuscripts. There are, I believe, not much
fewer than 240 books, which I sent by sea to Venice,
to be conveyed from there to Vienna, for their destina-
tion is the Imperial Library. There are some which
are not to be despised and many common ones. I
ransacked every corner to collect, in a sort of final
gleaning, all that remained of such wares. The only one
I left at Constantinople was a copy of Dioscorides,^ evi-
dently a very ancient manuscript, Avritten throughout
in uncial characters and containing drawings of the
plants, in which, if I am not mistaken, there are also
some fragments of Cratevas and a treatise on birds.
It belongs to a Jew, the son of Hamon, who was
Solyman's physician, and I wanted to buy it, but was
deterred by the price. For he demanded 100 ducats,
a sum suiting the Imperial purse, but not mine. I

' This MS. was purchased by the Emperor, and is still preserved at
Vienna. It is one of the most ancient and remarkable MSS. in exist-
ence. It was written at Constantinople, towards the end of the fifth cen-
tury, for Juliana Anicia, daughter of the Emperor Olybrius, who died A.D.
472. On the second and third pages are two miniatures, each represent-
ing seven famous botanists and physicians assembled in consultation.
Among those represented in the second are Dioscorides himself and
Cratevas. On the fifth page is a picture of Dioscorides engaged
in the composition of his work. Visconti considers that the resem-
blance of the two portraits of Dioscorides proves that they were taken
from a real original, and are not imaginary. On the sixth page is a
picture of Juliana Anicia seated on a throne between two allegorical
figures of Wisdom and Magnanimity. A winged Cupid, above whom is
written ' The Love of the Creator of Wisdom,' is presenting her with an
open book, while a kneeling figure entitled Gratitude is kissing the feet
of the princess. Engravings of these pictures, which, apart from their
antiquity, are remarkable as works of art, are given by Visconti, Icono-
graphie Grecque, vol. i. ch. 7, and by Montfaucon, Palceographia Graca,
bk. iii. ch. 2. Throughout the MS. the description of each plant is illus-
trated by a figure.

Dioscorides was a famous botanist and physician, who wrote a cele-
brated treatise on Materia Medica. Cratevas was a Greek herbalist, who
is supposed to have lived about the beginning of the first century B.C.
The great work of Busbecq's friend, Mattioli (see note i page 415), Avas
his edition of Dioscorides.

VOL. I. E E

4i8 TURKISH LETTERS.

shall not leave off pressing the Emperor till I induce
him to ransom so famous an author from such foul
slavery. The manuscript is in very bad condition
from the injuries of age, being so worm-eaten on the
outside that hardly anyone, if he found it on the road,
would take the trouble of picking it up.

But my letter is too long already ; expect to see^
me in person very shortly ; if anything remains to be
told, it shall be kept for our meeting. But mind you
invite men of worth and learning to meet me, so that
pleasant company and profitable conversation may
serve to rub off the remains of the rust I have con-
tracted during my long sojourn among the Turks.
Farewell.

Frankfort, December i6, 1562.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

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