The Annals of the Turkish Empire: 1591 - 1659. Mustafa Naima
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we promise you shall sustain no injury from us, but shall be allowed to live in tranquillity and in the possession of all your property. If, on the other hand, you will not be converted, but continue obstinate at all hazard, then we command you to abandon your present position, and to set out for some other country. In the event of your not embracing either of the alternatives now proposed, and prepare to offer resistance; if you fire one cannon, musket, or mortar at us and our army, then, by God and by God’s prophet, we shall commence a general slaughter, and not one of you shall escape. Let this be known to you.” The person who carried the above to Agria was seized as a spy and put into prison.
In the meantime, however, the Moslem troops entered into the trenches they had before this prepared, and during the night planted their ordnance in the most proper position for annoying the walls and the sides of the citadel. When all was in a state of preparation the Moslems cried Allah! Allah! and commenced the work of destruction. Day and night the firing of cannon and musketry and the bursting of mortars ceased not. The sound and roar of these instruments of death from both sides shook the earth, whilst the volume of smoke formed a black cloud above and around them. The brave, the heroic, the orthodox Moslems relaxed not in their mighty efforts, nor once turned away their faces from danger.
After a whole week’s constant fighting, as above described, the Moslems succeeded in taking the outer line of the enemy’s fortifications, and drove the enemy within the inner one. The Moslems slackened not in pressing them hard; and by the constant springing of mines they at last effected a breach; but in consequence of a constant fall of rain for some days they found it impossible, though they made several heroic attempts, to scale the walls. The artillery, however, continued to play with effect.
On the 18th of the month Sefer the command of the Janissaries was conferred on Mustafa Aghá. Next day, which was the Sabbath, and the 19th of the month, the rain fell in torrents, and the difficulty of succeeding in reducing the place appeared to be greater than ever; yet by constantly and unweariedly, and under every difficulty, persevering in their efforts, they brought the besieged, about noon of that day, to capitulate for their lives.
Next morning two begs and eight sons of begs came forth to the trenches to the vezírs, whilst Begtásh Beg, beg of Sonluk, was sent into the city as a hostage till the articles of the capitulation were fully settled and signed. This negotiation being over the commissioners were conducted into the imperial presence, when they informed his majesty that one or two of them wished to embrace Islamism. Immediately they were clothed in white robes, and the drums throughout the camp began to beat in token of victory, and great rejoicings took place. The beglerbeg of Romeili, the ághá of the Janissaries, the commander of the artillery, and the head of the arsenal, entered the city and took possession of it in the name of the Emperor of the Ottomans.
On the 20th of the last-mentioned month, the commander of the Spáhís was ordered to conduct the weak and half-famished garrison of Agria, in conformity to the articles of capitulation, which guaranteed to them their lives, to the end of the first stage; but unfortunately for them, though the emperor had promised them every security, and even granted them passports, the men of the borders and the Tátár military, roused with indignation and thirst for revenge, when they remembered the fate of the inhabitants of Khutván, seized on what weapons lay nearest to them, and massacred them all before they got out from among the tents. Not one of them escaped, and their number amounted to about 5,000. The two princes who had the command in Agria were sent to Belgrade.
The victorious Moslems commenced repairing the breaches which their own artillery had effected in the walls of Agria, and on the same day, i.e. on the 20th, the beglerbeg of Caramania, Khezr Páshá, and the begs of Sonluk and Segdin, were ordered to repair to Khutván and commence rebuilding it. Dilsiz Aghá was sent off to Constantinople with tidings of the fall of Agria. On the 23rd provisions were distributed among the various troops. The guns in the trenches were all conveyed into the fortress. On the 25th, being the day of assembly (Friday), the emperor and his suite converted the large churches of Agria into mosques, in which public devotion was performed.
The Moslems are threatened by another immense host of Infidels.
Some captives, who had been seized by Moslem spies, informed the Osmánlí camp that Maximillian, with an army of 100,000 foot and horse, composed of Bohemians, Poles, Italians, Spaniards, and others, was encamped in the valley of Mehaj not far from Tokái, and only three stages distant from Agria, where he had erected fortifications. This information had only the effect of awakening more strongly the enthusiasm of the Muselmans, who all with one voice declared they would either bring renown on the Muselman name, or perish for their religion. The news, however, turned out to be true.
In the Fateh námeh it is said, that when it was known that the Ottomans were collecting troops on the frontiers, and marching towards Agria, an army of 300,000 men levied by the kings of Vienna and Spain, by the Pope, and the ruler of Transylvania, in short by the seven European monarchs, assembled also in the vicinity of Agria. This mighty host was furnished with one hundred pieces of ordnance, and with every kind of military apparatus. Its object was, so soon as the Moslem army was fairly engaged in carrying on the siege of Agria, suddenly to surround their camp, and cut them to pieces. The fate of Agria, however, reached them before they found an opportunity of accomplishing their object, and caused them to alter their manœuvres. They retreated two stages, but it was only with the view of deceiving. Their real purpose was, when they found the Moslem army had retired from Agria, to return with all their force and retake it: but the Moslems, who were informed of their movements, as well as of their purposes, resolved on anticipating them on their own ground.
Maximillian being lame and afflicted with blindness, the crown was conferred on his brother, Duke Matthias, and with it the whole command of the army. It is related in some history, that after the Duke and the ruler of Hungary had united in their hostility against the Osmánlís, they debated over their cups about the propriety of attacking the Moslem camp. Other histories say, however, that it was the Austrian minister to whom the joint command was given.
Ja’fer Páshá sent with a body of Troops to surprise the Enemy.
After it had been fully ascertained what the enemy meditated to do, Ja’fer Páshá, one of the most illustrious vezírs, and an eunuch, was dispatched with a chosen body of various troops to surprise the enemy in their strong-hold. Ja’fer Páshá, on leaving the camp, began to reflect what the issue of the expedition on which he was sent might be, and therefore sent out spies, who brought him intelligence with regard to the numerical force of the enemy, which was immense. Ja’fer Páshá, on receiving the above intelligence, sent word to his Majesty that his offering to contend with such a vast multitude with so small a force as he possessed, could only terminate in disgrace and ruin. For his own part, he said, the thought of his own life gave him no concern, and that at all times he was ready to sacrifice it, when necessary, for the honour and glory of the Mohammedan Faith: to proceed to the assault, therefore, under such circumstances, could not fail, as he had before observed, to throw disparagement on the Supreme authority: the great men in the camp however said, that this story was a mere pretence; and, in order to remove it, proposed sending the governor of Romeili with his Romeilian troops to his assistance. This proposal was accompanied by bitter reproach, and of course was very discouraging; yet Ja’fer Páshá, notwithstanding all this untoward aspect of things, attempted to face the enemy with the forces he had. After having girded on his arms he divided his artillery into two divisions, and having rescued his men out of the mud into which they had sunk, conducted the whole to a secure spot, but from which the enemy could not yet be observed. It was not long however before they began, like black mountains, to make their appearance, and seemed as if they covered the whole surface of the plains of Mehaj. Ja’fer Páshá, with a select body of borderers, ascended an eminence in order to get a view of the enemy’s camp, which had the appearance of an extended sea, whose raging