EVENTS of the Year 1022, H.
The emperor, Sultán Ahmed Khán, goes to Gallipoli.
The emperor having resolved on taking a journey to Gallipoli, left Adrianople for the latter place on the 24th of Sefer. Nesúh Páshá, the grand vezír, provided every thing necessary for him at the different stations through which he was to pass, and prohibited every where the exercise of oppression and tyranny. His majesty passed through the meadows belonging to Mohammed Páshá, which happened to be the first station; and next day, on coming to a place called Degirmenlik, he entered on the chase. Having no meat, he and his suite were obliged to rest satisfied with the flesh of such birds as they took on the field. From Degirmenlik he moved onwards to Ieserarkinah, near which he spent two or three days more in hunting, having had his pavilion erected in a delightful spot in the neighbourhood of that place. After quitting this spot he continued his route till mid-day, when, impelled by the desire of the chase, he again betook himself to hunting through the fields, which he continued till he came to Karah Bekár, were he again joined the royal cavalcade, which had been moving slowly forward, and rested there for the night. On the following day he halted at Altún Tásh, the day after at the station called Ahmed Páshá, and the third day at Kighanlu, near Mulghra, not far from the Kogher mountains, which so large a body of men as that which accompanied the emperor would find very difficult, if not impracticable, to cross. He, therefore, selected a certain number of janissaries and spáhís to accompany him across these mountains to Gallipoli, and sent the rest of his troops, with their ordnance and baggage, to Rodosjuk. They were, however, very much impeded in their march, owing to the fall of a great quantity of snow and rain. The emperor and his party, about three thousand in number, proceeded on their journey towards Urúsha, and on the following day came to Búlair, where they pitched their tents in a sort of plain near the tomb of the heroic Soleimán Páshá, where the emperor again engaged in the amusements of the chase. He visited the above tomb, distributed some alms, and ordered the coffin to be renewed and ornamented. The emperor, on reaching Gallipoli, ordered his tent to be erected in the open fields, whither the grandees of the city, about sixty of the ulemá, besides the officers of justice, came to salute his majesty and to welcome him to their city. About eight o’clock in the evening the emperor, accompanied by the grand vezír, those ághás who had been his companions in the sports of the field, and his domestics, entered the city, and took up his abode in a pavilion which had been previously erected for him near the fortress. Great rejoicings took place, and the firing of guns, both on the land and water, commenced; the priests read the service which is usually read on the emperor’s birth-day, and many alms were dispensed among the poor and indigent. The pleasure-boat which the bostánjí báshí sent from Constantinople, was occasionally used by his majesty in taking a pleasure-sail.
The emperor leaves Gallipoli for the imperial city.
The grand sultán, not wishing to prolong his stay at Gallipoli, ordered the signal drum to beat, and left that city on the fifteenth day after his departure from Adrianople, i.e. on the 19th of Rabia I. When he reached Búlair, on his return, he again visited the tomb of the heroic Soleimán Páshá, which, by this time, had been renewed and decorated after the manner of that in the Ka’ba. The emperor laid a sword across the coffin, which was covered over with cloth; ordered prayers to be offered up; distributed alms among the poor of the place, and afterwards prosecuted his march towards the royal city. He halted for the night at a place called Kowak. On the second following day, after descending from Bilban, he reached Rudosjuk, where the troops he left behind him, when he proposed crossing the Kogher mountains for Gallipoli, were waiting for his return.
Mohammed Gheráí arrives at Rudosjuk.
Mohammed Gheráí, who had made himself obnoxious to his brother, Salámet Gheráí, the reigning khán of the Crimea, (who had joined himself to Sháhín Gheráí, and, along with some Circassian tribes among whom he lived, had committed great depredations among the Crimean Tátárs,) no sooner heard of the death of Salámet Gheráí, and the efforts which Jánbeg Gheráí had employed to prevent either his or his brother’s succeeding to the khánship, than he appeared with four hundred men in Romeili, and advanced with the utmost haste to solicit the support and countenance of the Turkish government in his own behalf. The grand vezír, on hearing of his approach, sent some of his ághás to meet him, and to bring him to Rudosjuk, where he had the felicity of kissing the emperor’s foot. The emperor, after holding a diván, promised that equity should be done; and attached two kapújí báshís to two of Mohammed Gheráí’s officers, who were to bring the two contending princes to an agreement between themselves.
The emperor’s nativity was again celebrated at Rudosjuk. At night candles were lighted up, and muskets were fired. The front of the imperial pavilion was brilliantly illuminated with a vast number of lamps. On the following day he set out for Kopurjí Cháier, passed through the village of Amúrcha, and on the third day arrived in the plains of Silivria. Here he was met by the kapúdán, Mohammed Páshá, the bostánjí báshí, Hasan Aghá, with his whole body of bostánjís. Many of the ulemá and servants of the government came to this place also, to welcome him back. In the evening, as the emperor was going towards the gardens of Silivria, he was met by his reverence the mufti Mohammed Effendí, and other learned men. When the mufti saw him approaching, he advanced, kissed the hem of his garment, and pronounced a blessing on his head. The sultán, on the other hand, no sooner saw the venerable prelate drawing near to him, than he checked the steed on which he was mounted, in order to allow him time to perform the above ceremony, and then invited the mufti and his learned associates to mount and accompany him in his jaunt, when they all entered into a variety of conversation. Other ulemá, and heads of seminaries of learning, came also on this occasion and paid him their respects. The emperor, after meeting with so many tokens of esteem from his learned subjects, ordered preparations to be made for going to the gardens of Dávud Páshá. The night on which he arrived at these gardens the whole space occupied by his soldiery of various kinds was brilliantly illuminated, and the small and great guns fired a salute. On the 24th of Rabia I. he entered the capital, whilst his troops and retinue formed a beautiful and orderly procession. In a very few days afterwards, however, i.e. on the 1st of Rabia II., he passed over to his palace at Scutari, where he followed the amusements of the chase. Sometimes he went to Stavros, sometimes to the port of the metropolis, and sometimes to the gardens of Dávud Páshá, in pursuit of the same sport and amusement.
On the 5th of Rajab of this year he went to the gardens of Chatálijeh, and returned to Constantinople on the 12th of the same. On the following day, after having spent the night comfortably, he went to the Halkalú gardens, where he gave audience to the grand vezír. From these gardens he retired to those of Dávud Páshá, and thence returned to the imperial palace.
About this time seven of the chaste and unsullied daughters of the emperor’s uncles, brought up in the old palace, were given in marriage to rich and powerful ághás, who were favourites of his majesty. On the 23d of Rajab the emperor removed to the gardens of Beshektásh, where he either spent his time in the library, or in the orchards of that place, and returned to his own palace in the month of Shabán, where, night after night, he attended to the duties of religion, and to the distribution of alms. He ordered Súfí Mustafa Effendí, his own Imán, to draw out a statement from authentic documents of all his royal children; and a list of twenty-six names, male and female, was returned to him. To each of these he sent by this prelate, and others who were joined with him in the commission, immense presents; and as many of them as had arrived at the age of puberty, received a suitable provision.
During the month of Ramazán he was most assiduous in offering up his devotions; and on the Leilet ul kadr,[23] he made such a distribution of money and of other benefits as had never been exemplified in any of his predecessors. After the termination of the fast, the usual salutations were attended to, and he again began to enjoy the pleasures which his palace afforded.
It having been alleged that the use of wine had been the cause of the disturbances and tumults which had taken place in the city from time to time, the pious and religious emperor, in order to put a stop to this forbidden and pernicious practice throughout the empire, ordered the laws to be enforced. The taverns were a perfect nuisance; and therefore the keepers of them had their licenses taken from them: the sellers of wine were obliged to flee, and their houses or shops were thrown down, without paying any regard whatever to the vast advantage which accrued to the government from this traffic; because of the great evil which it had done to the morals of the inhabitants. It was not long, however, before the use of wine again became as general as ever.
A messenger from Holland arrives in Constantinople.
Messengers, with valuable gifts and rich presents for the Ottoman emperor, from the válí of Holland, a country bordering on the ocean on the north of France, with some large merchant-vessels carrying a variety of merchandize from the same country, arrived this year at the port of Constantinople. When the owners or skippers of these vessels asked leave to depart, they were allowed to do so, and so also were the messengers or ambassadors who had been honoured with lodgings in the imperial gardens of Scutari.
Kitanjí Omar Páshá was commissioned by the Ottoman government to proceed to Walachia and Moldavia, with the view of fixing and settling the authority of the Voivodas who had been appointed by government in these provinces, for since the days of the apostate Michael these countries had been in a most unsettled state. The chief of Transylvania, during the troubles which reigned in these two provinces, found means to attach some few fortresses to the jurisdiction of Temisvar; but when he learned that Sultán Ahmed Khán was in Adrianople, he became terrified, and instantly relinquished Lipova and Yanova, which of course were taken possession of by some of the border chieftains.
Afterwards, when a Polish army entered the territories of Moldavia, the governor of Silistria, Delí Hasan Páshá, marched against it and routed it.
A mosque is built in the garden of Stavros.
No mosque having hitherto been built in the garden of Stavros, orders were issued this year to erect one, besides some other necessary erections. The household troops and the attendants of the grand vezír finished the whole in the space of forty days. The emperor sometimes resided in this garden, and not unfrequently amused himself by sailing in his pleasure-boat in the straits of Constantinople.
Sultán Ahmed Khán resolves on a second journey to Adrianople.
Sultán Ahmed Khán, of restless disposition, like his great ancestor, Sultán Selím Khán, resolved on again visiting the city of Adrianople. Accordingly the grand vezír, Nesúh Páshá, the nobles, the emperor’s favourites, and ághás of the stirrup, were ordered, on the 9th of Shevál, to repair a second time to Adrianople. In conformity to custom, the vezírs and ulemá accompanied his majesty as far as Dávud Páshá, where they all took leave of him and returned to the city. At Burghas the emperor took up his lodgings in the mansion of Mohammed Páshá, the martyr, and attended the chase. On his first going forth to this sport, and whilst endeavouring to raise the wild beasts, a huge boar, resembling the devil, presented himself, and in his fury and rage terrified every one away: the emperor alone had courage to seize a spear, and, like a flash of burning light, attacked the ferocious animal. The grand vezír hurried forward to aid his master, and on finding, brave and powerful as the sultán really was, and though he had succeeded in stupifying the wild beast, that he had not yet killed it, immediately thrust his spear into the body of the wild boar, when the dogs instantly fell upon it. It amused the emperor exceedingly to see the manner in which the dogs applied their teeth to the carcass of the wild beast. In three days after this event the emperor reached Adrianople, where he spent the winter, alternately following the chase and attending to religious solemnities.
Nesúh Páshá’s enmity to the lord high treasurer, Etmekjí Zádeh. Ahmed Páshá.
Nesúh Páshá, the grand vezír, having a second time accompanied Sultán Ahmed Khán to Adrianople, acquired, by his apparent diligence in serving his royal master, a peculiar intimacy with him; but Etmekjí Zádeh, from his office in the vezírship and in the treasury, stood in the way of his arriving at the possession of absolute sway. Nesúh Páshá thirsted for this; and being, moreover, a man without the least virtue, he could not endure to see the prosperity of Etmekjí Zádeh, and therefore not only hated and envied him, but also sought opportunity to ruin him. Thinking he had something to accuse him of, and by which at least he hoped to lessen him in the esteem of his master, he represented to his majesty the pusillanimity which he discovered during the late war with Persia. This he did whilst travelling to Adrianople, and recurred to this part of Etmekjí’s history so frequently, that his majesty determined on depriving him of his office as lord high treasurer, and also of the government of Caramania, to which he had been appointed. Nesúh had the envious satisfaction of seeing the object of his hatred humbled; but by the intervention of Etmekjí’s friends in about a week afterwards he was raised to the government of Aleppo, and Lunka Zádeh was made lord high treasurer in his room: Abdulbákí Páshá was made second treasurer, and Kalander was made third.
Begzádeh, a celebrated spáhí, assassinated.
Etmekjí Zádeh having been, as before observed, appointed to the government of Aleppo, the grand vezír sent him off to take charge of it. About this time Begzádeh, one of the most celebrated spáhí chiefs, a native of Khorassan, and a man of intrepid bravery and fortitude, incurred the displeasure of the grand vezír. This spáhí, when he first entered the service, had only a salary of twelve akchas; but by his bravery, and other splendid talents which he possessed, he came at last to have the command of twelve thousand spáhís, who were entirely obedient to his will. This Begzádeh came to Constantinople when Nesúh Páshá was there, but feared to have any interview with him. At length, however, Soklún Mesli Aghá, the ághá of the janissaries, undertook to introduce him to the grand vezír, promising by an oath no injury would happen to him. The other consented, and the vezír, after he was introduced to him, took special care to show him every mark of esteem and respect due to his character and station, promising, at the same time, to attend to all his requests. This state of affairs continued for about four months, during the whole of which time Begzádeh had constant access to the grand vezír, and shared in his apparent kindness. The deceitful vezír, however, had formed the plan of murdering him. He several times proposed to the ághá above-mentioned to perpetrate this deed, but Mesli pleaded his promise and oath, and would not consent to be guilty of so base a crime. The grand vezír was determined, and under the pretext of settling some business which related to the Turcomans, sent off Begzádeh to Aleppo. Immediately after his departure for that city the grand vezír sent an order to Etmekjí Zádeh, the válí of Aleppo, to take away the life of Begzádeh. The order was thus: “Your head or his.” This was sent off by the notorious executioner, Káísh Mohammed. The válí no sooner received this peremptory mandate than he, though reluctantly, entered into the views of the grand vezír, because, in fact, he felt afraid of him. On the last day of one of the festivals, as Begzádeh was reclining on a pillow and trimming his beard, Káísh Mohammed rose up and left the company, but soon returning again with a hatchet he had in readiness, with one blow cut off one of his ears, when instantly Begzádeh, though a powerful man, fell down on one side and gave up the ghost. The grand vezír rewarded Káísh Mohammed for this deed of blood with an ágháship, and sent the hateful wretch into Romeili. He was a most merciless, blood-thirsty villain, and the instrument by which very many lost their lives. He at last, however, perished by the hands of the kizilbáshes.
Other events and circumstances of this year.
On the 10th day of Moharrem, Chokadár Khás, Mohammed Aghá, was appointed to the command of the janissaries, and in four or five months afterwards was raised to the government of Romeili. One of the seven daughters of the late Sultán Murád Khán was given away in marriage, and the rest of them were similarly disposed of. On the 1st of Shevál, the royal prince, Sultán Hasan, was born, and Omar Aghá was sent to Adrianople, where the emperor then was, to inform him of the birth of this prince. In the month of Shevál, at the time the emperor was preparing to go to Adrianople, and when he entered into the garden of Floreiya, he conferred on Khalíl Páshá the second kapúdánship. The guardianship of the foot of the throne was given to Gúrjí Mohammed Páshá, who had been deputy of Constantinople. A royal edict to build ten more galleys at the royal expense, was issued this year. An order was also issued, during the time the emperor was at Adrianople, to build a palace in the royal garden, near the port of Constantinople. On the 25th of Shevál, the day on which his majesty reached Adrianople, the Bostánjí báshí, Hasan Aghá, who had remained in Constantinople, received the sanják of Sefd (in Syria). The country adjacent, which belonged to Maán Oghlí, who by this time had fled to Europe, was annexed to Sefd. Kashiki Hasan Aghá was made Bostánjí báshí. The lately-created válí of Sefd went to Adrianople to do homage to the emperor for the dignity and honour conferred on him, and afterwards set out for his new government.
The emperor, finding himself in a great measure at ease and free from care, determined on taking some recreation in a pleasure-boat or yacht, and therefore ordered one to be constructed. The whole of the river Tonja, as far as his place of hunting, was cleared of wood, stones, and every thing that might obstruct the passage of his yacht, by janissaries, spáhís, and other soldiers, which they accomplished in a short time. He ordered the boat to be brought from Constantinople to Rudosjuk, which was transported from that place to the river Tonja on sledges. After the new yacht was painted and ornamented, he employed it for the purpose for which it had been made. He ordered another, of a peculiar construction, to be conveyed from Gallipoli to Adrianople.
The treaty of peace with Persia adverted to.
This year a copy of the articles of agreement entered into with the sháh of Persia was written out by the reverend mufti, Mohammed Effendí, and sent to the court of Persia. In conformity to ancient treaties it was agreed: 1st, That the Persians should make use of no expressions of contempt, of execration, of reproach, or of abuse against the chosen friends and contending heroes of the faith, the prelates and priests of Islamism, and the orthodox followers of the same. 2d, None worthy of the name of Iránís, of whatever class (according to the agreement which sháh Tehemasp had promised to abide by), were to be obliged to hear wicked or profane reading, or explanations (of the law); and all of this name who wished to enter the Osmánlí dominions, were not to be prohibited. 3d, Such Musselmans as were in service or in garrisons at the making of this treaty, were not to be vexed or oppressed. 4th, The frontier lines were to remain as they were in the reign of Sultán Selím Khán. 5th, The estates which belonged to Sanjár Oghlí, of happy memory, were to be added to the territories of Baghdád, without any resistance being offered. 6th, When the chief cities in the district of Sheherirúz were set free from the power of Helú Khán, they were never again to receive any aid or assistance from the Persians. 7th, All pilgrims, travelling from the east by the way of Aleppo and Shám, were not to be allowed to travel by the road of Baghdád and Bassora, without a sufficient guard. 8th, To Shamkhál Khán and other rulers in Dághistán, who from ancient times had been on a friendly footing with Turkey, or to any part of their dominions, no injury was to be done; they were also, by the same treaty, to sustain no loss whatever. 9th, When once the Turkish fortresses or redoubts, which had been erected for the purpose of preventing unfortunate Russians[24] from passing and repassing, were relinquished, the sháh was, under no pretext whatever, to place garrisons in them. 10th, The frontiers were to be protected.
In conformity to the spirit of this treaty, the frontier páshás, viz. the válí of Baghdád, Mohammed Páshá, and the beglerbeg of Wán, Mohammed Páshá, received an imperial commission to proceed and settle, along with the Persian commissioners, the line of frontier between the dominions of the Ottoman emperor and those of the sháh of Persia.