Cheshmí Mohammed Efendí, 1032; Sáleh Efendí; Hedáyet-allah Efendí, 1033; Oshákí Zádeh Efendí, 1035; Abú Isa’d Efendí, 1035; Otlokjí Hasan Efendí, 1035; Abú Sa’úd Zádeh Efendí, 1036; Abu Sa’íd Efendí; Núh Efendí, 1039; Rajab Efendí, 1040; Músá Efendí, 1041; Jeví-zádeh Efendí 1042; Makhdúm Husain Efendí 1043; Azíz Efendí Kara Chelebí Zádeh 1043.
Aghás of the Janissaries during the Reign of Sultán Murád.
Cheshlejí Alí Aghá; Kara Mustafá Aghá; Bairám Aghá; Khosrau Aghá; Mohammed Kehiyá Aghá; Alí Aghá; Khalíl Aghá; Soleïmán Aghá; Hasan Aghá; Hasan Khalífeh Aghá; Mustafá Aghá; Kosseh Mohammed Aghá; Mohammed Aghá.
Sultán Murád’s Expedition against Malta.
When Sultán Murád had returned from Baghdád crowned with victory, he was obliged to undertake an expedition in person against Malta, an island in the Mediterranean. The causes which led him to this determination are as follows. Complaints were made by the Musulmáns in every direction of the depredations committed by the Maltese Christians in every port of the Mediterranean, particularly on the African coast. Trade of every sort was at a stand, and the pilgrims to the holy cities were molested in their passage. But above all, the Mainotes had become very troublesome in the Archipelago. These had been subdued in the time of Sultán Mohammed II., and at the time of this rebellion they amounted to fifty thousand men. They had about one hundred vessels with which they plundered the islands, intercepted the ships of merchants and pilgrims, and every year took thousands of prisoners. Since the time that the Kapúdán Púlád-zádeh had scoured the coast of Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia no imperial fleet had made its appearance in those quarters, the infidels raised their heads, their audacity knew no bounds, and they plundered on the shores of the Ottoman empire.
These complaints were at length laid before the Sultán in a report by Kara Mustafá Páshá. A council was immediately held consisting of the grand vezír Kara Mustafá Páshá, the Kapudán Síávush Páshá, the Kehiyá of the arsenal Píáleh, and seventy begs of the sea (captains of war-ships), and the most experienced officers of the arsenal; the result of which was that the building of a báshtirdeh (admirals ship) and of twenty galleys, each eighty cubits long, was immediately commenced by the express order of the emperor. Two thousand purses (one million of piastres) were allotted to the Kapúdán Páshá, to the Kehiyá, and to the inspector of the arsenal. Five docks near the arsenal were pulled down, and three new ones were built in their stead each as large as a caravanserai; and in them a báshtirdeh for the emperor, and two green máonas were constructed in the space of three months. The máonas had seventy benches and one hundred and forty oars, each of which was moved by eight men. At the stern and bow of each there was a large gun, weighing from forty to fifty okkas, besides hundreds of guns on each side. They were indeed such vessels that even Noah might have considered himself secure in them. In short, on the return of spring, two hundred ships of war, consisting of báshtirdehs, galleys, and others were ready for sea, with arms, men, and provisions three times the quantity required. The galleys of all the islands of the Archipelago of Egypt and of the Morea, amounted to five hundred, which were followed by the same number of transport ships. They had besides some huge vessels called Káruváns because they made a voyage to Egypt only once a-year, requiring six months to load and six months to discharge. Each of these carried fifteen hundred serving men and two thousand troops. Besides these, there were five hundred smaller vessels of every description; viz. Barja (barges), Kalíún (galleys), Perk, Porton, Shika, and Kara-mursál which were hired by government. In short the whole fleet amounted to eleven thousand seven hundred vessels, which being prepared for sailing, were moored in the harbour of Constantinople.
Account of the Death of Sultán Murád.
The Togh (tails) and Seráperdeh (tents) were already raised at Dávud Páshá preparatory to a new expedition, when the emperor enfeebled by sickness found it impracticable to set out. According to the Arabic text: “Every one must perish,” and the Persian verse: “If any person could remain for ever upon the earth, Mohammed would have remained; if beauty could secure immortality, Yúsuf (Joseph) would not have died,” no one is exempt from destiny. And Sultán Murád being obedient to the call, “Return to thy lord,” bade farewell to this perishable world and entered on his journey to the everlasting kingdom. The whole of the Mohammedan nation were thrown into the deepest affliction, and lamented his loss. Horses hung with black were let loose in the At-Maidán, where his Majesty was buried close to Sultán Ahmed.
The new emperor, Sultán Ibráhím, gave the seals to Kara Mustafá Páshá. Kara Hasan Páshá was made Defterdár; Abd-ur-rahím Efendí, Shaikh-ul-Islám; and in order that the fleet prepared by Sultán Murád against Malta should not lie useless, it was sent to the Mediterranean, where a máona was lost, nothing of consequence effected, and the whole fleet with its troops returned to Islámbol after the autumnal equinox. One of the máonas was moored off the arsenal and painted black to represent the mourning for the death of Sultán Murád, an event which gave the Maltese infidels an opportunity of recommencing their hostilities. “Man proposes, but God disposes.” I have since heard from the pearl-shedding lips of my worthy lord, Kara Mustafá, that had God spared Murád but six months longer, the whole of the infidels would have been reduced to the capitation tax. The Ragusians came forward as mediators for the infidels of Malta and Spain, stipulating on the part of the former to give up the island of Malta, and on the part of the latter, the Red-apple (Rome). But fate had otherwise decreed.
Ibráhím, the youngest of Sultán Ahmed’s seven sons, ascended the throne in the year 1049 (1639). He was then twenty-five years old; but not very intelligent.