The rebellion of Mehneh Beg in Valachia being evident, Fazlí Páshá, Ján Arslán Páshá, and several Begs were sent against him. The two armies met at Gurgivo, and the Ottoman army was defeated. At the same time the prince of Moldavia, Búrúnsiz Kostantin (Constantine without a nose) erected the standard of rebellion at Yassy, began to coin new zolotas (money), and took possession of Moldavia. The Tátár Khán of the Crimea, and the Tátárs of Búják, were ordered against him; whilst young Stefano, son of Lipul, the late prince of Moldavia, a prisoner in the Seven Towers, was nominated prince. On this occasion Kemán-kesh Ahmed Aghá was appointed Iskemla-Aghá (aghá of the chair), and Siláhshúr Ahmed Aghá, the Sanjak-ághá (ághá of the banner.[7]) The army reached Yassy on a severe winter day, when a battle ensued, the result of which was the flight of Búrúnsiz Kostantin, the loss of ten thousand men on the part of the infidels, and the establishment of prince Stefano. The flying Moldavians were pursued by the Tátárs as far as Valachia, and the whole country was ravaged by fire. Fazlí Páshá and Ján Arslán Páshá, who at this time were shut up in the fortress of Gurjivo, were in the greatest distress, and had already resolved to drown themselves, when the infidels being afraid of the Tátárs, left the trenches and fled to Bucharest. The Ottomans pursued them, and took a great number of prisoners and immense booty. The Tátárs, also, continued their pursuit after the infidels as far as the mountains of Prashova (Kronstadt) on Irshova (Orsova), and took prisoners twenty thousand Valachians and sixty-seven thousand Moldavians. Thus, God be praised! in twenty days Valachia and Moldavia were reduced; and I, the humble writer, who was present, received as my share the value of twenty prisoners. Young Stefano presented me with a purse of gold, six saddle-horses, and a robe; and Ghazá-Zádeh, the Aghá of the Sanjak, gave me a purse, one horse, and a fine boy. On the forty-second day we entered Adrianople. God be praised that I was in this brilliant expedition! I then proceeded to join my lord, Melek Ahmed Páshá, whom I found at Háluna. Were I, however, to describe the Bosnian victories, my list would be extended to an inconvenient length. To be brief, my lord, Melek Ahmed Páshá, was removed from the government of Bosnia, and on a Monday, the 12th of Rabiul-evvel 1071 (1660), was promoted to the government of Rúmeïlí. The province of Bosnia was given to Alí Páshá, the conqueror of Arad, who, in the year 1072 (1661) was also appointed commander of the army against Kemeny, in Transylvania. Seventy sanjaks, twenty odas of Janissaries and artillerymen, and four Búlúks, altogether amounting to eighty-seven thousand men, assembled on the plains of Temesvar, and headed, after the death of Alí Páshá, by Seidí Páshá, entered Transylvania by the Demir-kapú, and encamped on the plain of Hájak. On the twentieth day they were joined by Sháh Púlád Aghá, with forty thousand Tátárs, who had been sent to distress Kemeny, and had obtained useful information of the movements of the enemy, and taken several thousands of prisoners. The Vezír of Bude, Ismail Páshá, had the command of the vanguard, and Transylvania was ravaged for eight months, as far as the Teiss, which Husain Páshá, the brother of Síávush Páshá was ordered to pass. He advanced with his chosen troops as far as Kasha and Hasswar, and proposed the son of Zulúmí as king of Transylvania. The people, however, having declared that they would have no other king but Kemeny, with whom they were satisfied, Husain, after encountering a thousand difficulties, repassed the Teiss. Ismail Páshá having been appointed commander against the Szeklers, returned to the imperial camp with seventeen thousand prisoners. He then moved his camp to Odvarhel, where he proclaimed the infidel, Apasty Michel, king, and collected two thousand purses (a million of piastres), being the arrears of tribute which had been due for three years. This year (1071), during our stay near the castle of Sázmajár, at Sibín, we received intelligence of the death of Kopreïlí Mohammed, and of the promotion of his son to the vazírat. A great battle, also, on a severe winters day, was fought at Forgrash: the army returned by the Demir kapú, with forty thousand waggons and a hundred thousand prisoners, and were sent into winter quarters. My lord, Melek Ahmed Páshá, took up his winter quarters at Belgrade, whence, by the express command of the emperor, he repaired to Constantinople, to be present at the marriage of Fátima, the daughter of Sultán Ahmed. My lord had been a vezír of the cupola for three months when he died, and was buried in the burial-ground of Eyúb, at the feet of his late master, Kechí Mohammed Efendí. Thus the unfortunate Evliya was left without a patron; but God is merciful!
The following castles were also conquered: Uivár, Litra, Novígrád, Lowa, Sikíán, Kermán, Deregil, Holáúk, and Boyák, and many thousands of prisoners were taken. But forty-seven days earlier the famous victory of Gran was won, which might be compared to the victories of Erla and Moháj. It was followed by the fall of the castles of Kiskúivár, Kemenvár, Egervád, Egerzek, Balashka, Washún, and forty others, which were all burnt. All these belonged to Zerín Oghlí (Zriny). Before Kiskúivár was conquered, it was necessary to deliver from the hands of the infidels the castles of Essek, Lippova, Siklos, Beks, Kapushvár, Kopen, Nadas, Berebisinj, Siget, and Kaniza, which were all besieged by the German Electors. When, however, they heard of the arrival of the grand vezír, they raised the siege of Kanisa, and fled to the new castle (Kiskúivár), which was also subsequently conquered. Croatia was ravaged, thirty-six castles were burnt, and the inhabitants carried away captives.
Elated with such success, the Moslem army advanced to the river Raab, where, after the conquest of Kiskúivár, it was defeated by the mismanagement of the grand vezír, Ismail Páshá, and Gurjí Mohammed Páshá. Many thousands of Moslems were drowned in the Raab; the Sipahís were deceived by a retrograde motion of the Janissaries, and these, seeing the retreat of the Sipahís, also took to flight, in consequence of which the bridge broke down, and an immense number of men were drowned. The vezír defended himself bravely for twenty-four hours longer, but at last retreated to Stuhlweissenburg, whence he sent proposals of peace. He then took up his winter quarters at Belgrade, and an envoy having been sent from the German emperor, Kara Mohammed Páshá was dispatched as ambassador to Vienna, and the humble author received orders to accompany him in the embassy. The peace being concluded at Vienna, I travelled, with the emperor’s patent, through Germany to Dunkirk, thence to Denmark, Holland (where I saw Amsterdam), Sweden, and Cracovie, in Poland, making, in three years and a half, the tour of the countries of the seven infidel kings (the seven Electors). In the year 1668, on the night of the Prophets ascension, I found myself on the Ottoman frontier, at the castle of Toghan-kechid, on the Dneister. Conducted by my guides, who were Kozaks, I saw lights in the minaret, and, for the first time, after so long an absence, I heard the sound of the Mohammedan call to prayer. As the gates of the castle are closed after sunset, I spent the night in one of the Búza houses outside, and in the morning crossed the river to Sháhín Germán, whence in three days I reached the Crimea, and continued my journey through Dághistán to Russia. Here, God be praised, I completed my travels through the seven climates. I then travelled seventy days with the Russian envoy, and joining Ak Mohammed Páshá and his deputy, I returned to the Crimea. Here I received presents from the Tátár Khán, Chobán Gheráï Oghlí, and travelling with Ak Mohammed Páshá, who had been deprived of his governorship, I reached Constantinople in eighty days. Thence I proceeded to Adrianople, and afterwards to Candia, which surrendered to Kopreïlí Zádeh Fázil Ahmed Páshá in 1080 (1669), after a struggle of three years. This was followed by the conquest of Maina, and the building of the castle of Zarenta in 1081 (1670). In the same year Kamienik, in Poland, one of the strongest fortresses of the infidels, was reduced, and mosques were erected in it. For this, and several other places, the King of Poland paid tribute to the Porte. The victorious sultan then proceeded to his second capital, Adrianople, and fixed his winter quarters at Hájí Oghlí Pasání, whilst the grand vezír remained at Bábátághí. The sultan subsequently removed to Yassi, and the vezír remained where he was.
All the fortresses and castles conquered were adorned with mosques, wherein divine worship was performed according to the true faith, and in the name of Sultan Mohammed IV., whose reign may God perpetuate.
Here I conclude my historical account of the sultáns, and their vezírs and muftís, from Mohammed II. to Murád IV., who are all buried at Constantinople.
Having digressed a little, by giving an account of the statistics and principal historical events, I shall now resume my description of the imperial mosques of Constantinople.
Description of the Mosque of the Válideh.
This building was undertaken, at an immense expense, by the Sultáneh Válideh, the mother of Mohammed II.; but at her death it remained unfinished, and fell into decay. It was then called zulmíeh (the dark); but, when the Válideh was travelling in the country, after the burning of Constantinople, the foundations were cleared of the rubbish, and the sultán, devoting five thousand purses from his own treasury, ordered the building to be completed. It was then called a’dlíeh (the just). It is now the tenth of the imperial mosques of Constantinople, and is situated between the Shahíd Kapú-sí (gate of martyrs) and the Bálik Bázár (fish market), in the quarter of the Jews, whose houses, by the divine permission, being burnt down, themselves were banished from the spot, and the ground occupied by their houses was added to the court and market of the mosque, which was completed in ten years, and was properly called a’dlíeh instead of zulmíeh. The north of the building looks towards the walls of the city, and on the south is the great court (haram). The cupola, from its base to the top, measures no less than seventy yards. The whole is built upon an elevated pavement, which is ascended on four sides by flights of steps. The mosque is built in the same style as the mosque of the Princes, and that of Sultán Ahmed I. in the At-maidán; four small semi-cupolas support the centre one, which is besides supported by four large columns. The mahfil of the moazzíns is elevated by small columns; and the mahfil of the emperor is on the left hand, made of the most exquisite marble-work. One of its columns occasioned the death of Yúsuf Páshá, the conqueror of Egypt. Some informers accused him of having in his possession a pillar of pure gold, which, however, upon examination was found to be only of yellow stone; but this discovery was made when it was too late; and this valuable column, which shines brighter than gold, was put under the emperors mahfil. The building is well lighted by a great number of windows, and at night by lamps. The mehráb (recess) and mimber (pulpit) are of fine variegated stone. The gates are five in number; two side gates, one for the imám, one for the khatíb, and the fifth facing the mehráb. The rich trappings and ornaments suspended in the mosque are unequalled, not only in any mosque in Constantinople, but throughout the dominions of the Islám. The doors and window-shutters are all inlaid with mother-o’-pearl; and the Persian and Egyptian carpets, with which the floor is covered, give the mosque the appearance of a Chinese picture gallery. No where else is there to be seen so great a number of beautiful inscriptions. Over every window are verses from the sacred word, inscribed by Teknéjí-Zádeh Mustafá Chelebí, in the Karahisárí hand. The sheikhs of this place were the celebrated preachers Vaní, and Isperí Efendí. In the time of Sultán Mohammed IV. it was the resort of the most renowned doctors, professors, and readers of the Korán. The great gate is ornamented with a beautiful chronograph in golden letters, expressing the date 1074. The large court-yard, which lies before the principal gate, is paved with marble and surrounded by stone benches. The cupolas are covered with lead, and the windows are of glass. In the centre of the yard are a fountain and basin. The harem or court-yard has two side gates and one grand gate, which opens into a second or outer court, planted with different sorts of trees. On the kibla side is a mausoleum intended for the Sultáneh Válideh, to whom may God grant long life! In the garden before the harem Sultán Mohammed built, on the bulwark called Komliklí Kalla’, a koshk resembling those in Paradise. On the south and west sides of the great court are built about a thousand shops of stone (the Egyptian market). This grand court has four gates, and two lofty minárehs, the tops of which being covered with bronze, dazzle the eyes of the beholders by their brightness. They are both of three stories.
Description of the Mosque of Abul-vafá.
The eleventh imperial mosque is that of the sheikh Abul-vafá, built by Sultán Mohammed, on a small scale, but eminent on account of its age and sanctity. It has one mináreh, a court, a school, and a bath.