CHAP. VIII.
Georgio Busca an Albane, his ingratitude to Prince Sigismundus; Prince Moyses his Lieutenant, is overthrown by Busca, General for the Emperour Rodulphus; Sigismundus yieldeth his Country to Rodulphus; Busca assisteth Prince Rodol in Wallachia.
This good success gave such great encouragement to the whole Army, that with a Guard of six thousand, three spare Horses, before each a Turks Head upon a Lance, he was conducted to the Generals Pavilion with his Presents. Moyses received both him and them, with as much respect as the occasion deserved, embracing him in his Arms, gave him a fair Horse, richly furnished, a Scimitar and Belt worth Three hundred Ducats; and Meldritch made him Sergeant Major of his Regiment. But now to the Siege, having mounted six and twenty pieces of Ordnance, fifty or sixty Foot above the Plain, made them so plainly tell his meaning, that within fifteen days two Breaches were made, which the Turks as valiantly defended as Men could; that day was made a darksome Night, but by the light that proceeded from the murdering Muskets, and peace-making Canon, whilst their slothful Governour lay in a Castle on the top of a high Mountain, and like a Valiant Prince asketh what's the matter, when horror and death flood amazed each at other, to see who should prevail to make him victorious: {MN} Moyses commanding a general assault upon the sloping front of the high Promontory, where the Barons of Budendorfe and Oberwin, lost near half their Regiments, by Logs, Bags of Powder, and such like, tumbling down the Hill, they were to mount ere they could come to the breach; notwithstanding with an incredible courage, they advanced to the push of the Pike with the Defendants, that with the like courage repulsed, till the Earl Meldritch, Becklefield and Zarvana, with their fresh Regiments seconded them with that fury, that the Turks retired and fled into the Castle, from whence by a Flag of truce they desired composition. The Earl remembring his Fathers Death, battered it with all the Ordnance in the Town, and the next day took it: all he found could bear Arms, he put to the Sword, and set their Heads upon Stakes round about the Walls, in the same manner they had used the Christians, when they took it. Moyses having repaired the Rampires, and thrown down the Work in his Camp, he put in it a strong Garrison, though the pillage he had gotten in the Town was much, having been for a long time an impregnable den of Thieves; yet the loss of the Army so intermingled the sowre with the sweet, as forced Moyses to seek a farther revenge, that he sacked Veratio, Solmos, and Kupronka, and with two thousand Prisoners, most Women and Children, came to Esenberg, not far from the Princes Palace, where he there Encamped.
{MN} Regal assaulted and taken.
Sigismundus coming to view his Army, was presented with the Prisoners, and six and thirty Ensigns; where celebrating thanks to Almighty God in triumph of those Victories, he was made acquainted with the service Smith had done at Olumpagh, Stoll-Weissenburgh and Regal; for which, with great honour, he gave him three Turks Heads in a Shield for his Arms, by Patent, under his Hand and Seal, with an Oath ever to wear them in his Colours, his Picture in Gold, and three hundred Ducats yearly for a Pension.
Sigismundus Bathori, Dei Gratia, Dux Transilvaniæ, Wallachiæ, & Vandalorum; Comes Anchard, Salford, Growenda; Cunctis his literis significamus qui cas lecturi aut audituri sunt, concessam licentiam aut facultatem Johanni Smith, natione Anglo Generoso, 250. militum Capitaneo sub Illustrissani & Gravissani Henrici Volda, Comitis de Meldri, Salmariæ, & Peldoix primario, ex 1000 equitibus & 1500. peditibus bello Ungarico conductione in Provincias supra scriptas sub Authoritate nostra: cui servituti omni laude, perpetuaq; memoria dignum præbuit sese erga nos, ut virum strenuum pugnantem pro aris & focis decet. Quare e favore nostro militario ipsum ordine condonavimus, & in Sigillum illius tria Turcica Capita defignare & deprimere concessimus, que ipso gladio suo ad Urbem Regalem in singulari prælio vicit, mactavit, atq; decollavit in Transilvaniæ Provincia: Sed fortuna cum variabilis ancepsq; sit idem forte fortuito in Wallachiæ Provincia, Anno Domini 1602. die Mensis Novemberis 18. cum multis aliis etiam Nubilibus & aliis quibusdam militibus captus est a Domino Bascha electo ex Cambia regionis Tartariæ, onjus severitate adductus salutum quantem potuit quæsivit, tantumque effecit, Deo omnipotente adjuvante, ut deliberavit se, & ad suos Commilitones revertit; ex quibus ipsum liberavimus, & hæc nobis restimonia habuit ut majori licentia frucretur qua dignus esset, jam tendet in patriam suam dulcissonam: Rogamus ergo omnes nostros charissunos, confinititmos, Duces, Principes, Comites, Barones, Gubernatores Urbium & Navium in cadem Regione & cæterarum Provinciarum in quibus ille refidere conatus fuerit ut idem permittatur Capitaneus libere sine obstaculo omni versari. Hæc facientes pergratum nobis feceritis. Signatum Lesprizia in Misnia die Mensis Decembris 9. Anno Domini 1603.
Cum Privilegio propriæ, Majestatis. Sigismundus Bathori.
Universis, & singulis, cujuscunq; loci, status, gradut, ordinis, ac conditighis ad quos hos præsens scriptum pervenerit, Gulielmus Segar, Eques auratus alias dictus Garterus Principalis Rex Armorum Anglicorum, Salutum. Sciatis, quod Ego prædictus Garterus, notum, testatumque facio, quod Patentitem suprascriptum, cum manu propria prædicti Ducis Transilvaniæ Subsignatum, & Sigillo suo affixum, Vidi: & Copiam veram ejusdem (in perpetuam rei memoriam) transcripsi, & recordavi in Archivis, & Registris Officii Armorum. Datum Londini 19. die Augusti, Anno Domini 1625. Annoque Regni Domini nostri CAROLI Dei gratia Magnæ Britanniæ, Franciæ, & Hibernix Regis, Fidei Defendoris, &c. Prime.
Gulielmus Segar, Garterus.
{MN} Sigismundus Bathori, by the Grace of God, Duke of Transilvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia, Earl of Anchard, Salford and Growenda; to whom this Writing may come or appear. Know that We have given Leave and Licence to John Smith an English Gentleman, Captain of 250 Soldiers, under the most Generous and Honourable Henry Volda, Earl of Meldritch, Salmaria, and Peldoia, Colonel of a thousand Horse, and fifteen hundred Foot, in the Wars of Hungary, and in the Provinces aforesaid under our Authority; whose Service doth deserve all praise, and perpetual Memory towards us, as a Man that did for God and his Country overcome his Enemies; Wherefore out of our Love and Favour, according to the Law of Arms, We have ordained, and given him in his Shield of Arms, the Figure and Description of three Turks Heads, which with his Sword before the Town of Regal, in single Combat he did overcome, kill, and cut off, in the Province of Transilvania. But Fortune, as she is very variable, so it chanced and happened to him in the Province of Wallatchia, in the year of Our Lord 1602. the 18th day of November, with many others, as well Noble Men as also divers other Soldiers, were taken Prisoners by the Lord Bashaw of Cambia, a Country of Tartaria; whose cruelty brought him such good Fortune, by the Help and Power of Almighty God, that he delivered himself, and returned again to his Company and fellow Soldiers, of whom We do discharge him, and this he hath in Witness thereof, being much more worthy of a better Reward; and now intends to return to his own sweet Country. We desire therefore all Our loving and kind Kinsmen, Dukes, Princes, Earls, Barons, Governours of Towns, Cities or Ships, in this Kingdom, or any other Provinces he shall come in, that you freely let pass this the aforesaid Captain, without any hindrance or molestation, and this doing, with all kindness, we are always ready to do the like for you. Sealed at Lipswick in Misenland, the ninth of December, in the year of our Lord, 1603.
{MN} The same in English.
With the proper privilege of his Majesty. SIGISMUNDUS BATHORI
To all and singular, in what Place, State, Degree, Order, or Condition whatsoever, to whom this present Writing shall come: I William Segar, Knight, otherwise Garter, and principal King of Arms of England, wish health. Know, that I the aforesaid Garter, do witness and approve, that this aforesaid Patent, I have seen, Signed, and Sealed, under the proper Hand and Seal Manuel of the said Duke of Transilvania, and a true Copy of the same, as a thing for perpetual memory, I have Subscribed and Recorded in the Register, and Office of the Heralds of Arms. Dated at London, the nineteenth day of August, in the year of Our Lord, 1625, and in the first year of our Sovereign Lord Charles, by the Grace of God, King of great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c.
WILLIAM SEGAR.