Description of the Town and ancient Fortress of Modania.
It was built by a Greek Princess called Modína. Here I was first enabled to perform my Friday’s prayer, which I did with great devotion, and then went forth to view the town. It is the port of Brússa, and forms a safe harbour, being closed against the wind from seven points and open only to the North. The anchorage is excellent. At the head of the harbour stands the custom-house, the lease of which amounts to a million aspers. The town is built by the sea-shore, on a low rocky ground. Prince Orkhán, with his father Osmán’s permission, conquered this town in the year 721 (1321) and destroyed the walls in several places, that it might no longer afford shelter to the infidels. It is governed by a Voivode, subordinate to Brússa, the chief seat of the Sanjak of Khodávendkiár. The judge is appointed with one hundred and fifty aspers a day. His annual revenue amounts to two thousand piastres. This appointment is sometimes given to the Mollá of Brússa as Páshmáklik (pin-money). The houses are all faced with brick. There are three mosques (jámí) and seven mesjids, three kháns, one bath, two schools for boys, and two hundred small streets; but no room for reading the Korán or tradition, because the greater number of the inhabitants are Greeks. There are fine gardens producing superior figs and grapes. From the excellence of its vinegar, it has acquired the name of Dárkhill (vinegar-house). South-east of the town we passed on horseback continuously through gardens and the cultivated field called Filehdár. The river Nílúfer, not fordable in the beginning of spring, is a clear stream, which issuing from the mountains Rúhbán, Ketelí and Castel, waters the valley of Fillehdár and disembogues into the White Sea. The main road crosses it over a handsome bridge, each arch of which resembles the arch of heaven; its name, as well as that of the river, was received from its builder the Princess Nílúfer, daughter of a Sultán (Orkhán): after continuing our journey among gardens and vineyards for two hours, we reached the town of Brússa, the emporium of silk, the ancient capital of this country (Bithynia).
The town of Brússa having been built towards the North on natural rocks has no ditch, but on the side of the head fountain (Búnár-báshí) and the quarter of the Mills, it has a deep one, which at the time of the Asiatic rebellions of Kará Yazijí, Kallender and Sa’íd Arab was filled up. Some of the stones of the walls are of the size of the cupola of a bath, and some bear Greek inscriptions on them. The town is protected against southerly and easterly winds from its being situated at the foot of Mount Olympus. The houses have a northern aspect and look over the plain of Filehdár. The fortress, the circumference of which is eleven thousand paces, has six thousand battlements, sixty-seven towers, and four gates, viz. the gate of the head fountain, the prison-gate, the hot-baths’-gate to the west, and the gate of the fishmarket. This stronghold was besieged more than once by the Seljúkians, who came with an army of twenty thousand men; the siege lasted between seven and eight months, the besiegers retiring only on the approach of winter. Osmán the founder of the Ottoman dynasty besieged it three times, but was compelled on the last occasion by an attack of the gout to retire to Iconium. He sent his son Orkhán with Sheikh Hájí Begtásh, who renewed the siege, and built two great towers, one at the side of the hot-baths (Kaplijah), and the other on the side of the head fountain (Búnár-báshí), which took seven months to complete. Orkhán posted himself at the hot-bath, his nephew Timúr-beg, at the head-fountain, and Yalabánjik-beg at the mountain’s side. It surrendered in 722 (1322) after a year’s siege, and Osmán died at the moment he received the news. Orkhán his successor entered Brússa with Hájí Begtásh, there fixed his residence, and buried his father’s body in the castle. Osmán conquered seventy towns during the lifetime of his father Ertoghrúl. His first conquest was in Kojá-Ilí by Akcheh Kojá. Near Nicæa at the castle of Wáilakabád, he begat his son Orkhán on Sheikh Edebáli’s daughter, who was related to the prophet, so that the Ottoman Sultáns are Seyyids or Sherífs on the mother’s side. Sheikh Túrsún their first divine was a relation of Sheikh Edebáli, and said the first prayer from the pulpit in Sultán Osmán’s name. Brússa soon became populated by mussulman colonists from all quarters.
Description of the Buildings of Brússa.
The interior of the fortress contains two thousand houses, and many high palaces, but no gardens, there are seven quarters and as many mosques, one bath and twenty shops. The mosque of Sultán Orkhán is one hundred and ten feet square, with a mináreh of one story. Sultán Orkhán lies buried here, and the large drum called Orkhán’s drum is suspended in this mosque; it was used during Sultán Orkhán’s reign. The palace in the castle was the residence of the early Ottoman Emperors to the time of Mohammed II., who removed to Constantinople; Sultán Murád I. having previously resided at Adrianople. Since Brússa has had its own Bóstánjí-bashí (like Constantinople) the streets of the castle are paved with large stones, and in some places stones are found with inscriptions of the time of the Infidels, by which may be ascertained how long the houses have been built; they are all built of stone, faced with brick, and have a kind of sexangular chimneys to let out the smoke, which look very well. In some places also grow cypress-nut trees and vines, and from the elevation of the ground, the air is very wholesome.
The public Officers of Brússa.
The first is the Páshá of the Sanják, Khodavendkiár, appointed with a revenue of 618,079 aspers kháss. There are four hundred and twenty fiefs called ziámet and one thousand and five tímárs. The feudal militia is commanded by an Aláï-beg, Cherí-báshí and Júz-báshí, and assemble at the Páshá’s command in time of war. The Páshá leads five hundred men of his own. The judge (Mollá) is appointed with 500 aspers, and is promoted from hence to the posts of Adrianople and Constantinople, it is a high office, valued annually at forty thousand piastres. Seven Náíbs (deputies) in the town are subordinate to the Mollá. The five other districts are those of Kíná, Fileh, Abolonia, Castel, and Chokúrjeh. The civil officers are, a Chokádár of the janissaries, a chamberlain (Kápújí-báshí); the commanding officer of the janissaries, the colonel of the armourers (Jebejí), the officer of the Sípáhís (Kiayá-yerí); the Muftí, the head of the Sherífs, the inspector of the silk, of the custom-house, the Voivode of the town and the provost, who all have power of life and death.
The lower town was fortified in the time of Mohammed III. the conqueror of Erla against the Anatolian rebels Kará Yazíjí, Kalender-oghlí, Delí Hassán, and Jennet-oghlí, but it is not very strong; it extends from East to West to the foot of Mount Olympus for the length of one farsang and the breadth of half a farsang. The circuit is fifteen hundred paces, the walls are not very high. There is but one ditch near the gate of the Tátárs and no where else, and there is no need of it, because if an enemy were to dig approaches, water would rush up in the trenches. Guns and falconets are mounted on the towers, which are fired on festivals; there is no other garrison than the doorkeepers, but there are six thousand guards in the town. The gates are of iron and above each are towers whence grenades and stones may be thrown on the besiegers. The gate of the Tátárs opens to the East, that of Filehdár to the North; and that of Hassan Páshá towards the Kiblah. There are twenty-thousand large and small houses built in the ancient style; the most conspicuous of all is the ancient residence of the Emperors, in the upper town or fortress, it has three baths and three hundred rooms, but no garden on account of the narrowness of the place. There are in the whole town one hundred and sixty-six quarters of Moslims, seven of Armenians, nine of Greeks, six of Jews, and one of Copts. The quarter of the Meskins (Lepers) is a separate quarter leading to the road of Sultán Murád. The upper part of the town with Mount Olympus rising in the background is beautiful when seen from the plain of Filehdár, an hour’s distance from it, and I can truly say that I have seen nothing like it during my travels. Brússa is a very devout town, abounding with Divines, expounders of the Korán and keepers of tradition, who are found no where else so numerous, excepting at Baghdád. Mount Olympus at the back of the town on the south side is a mine of living water, no less than one thousand and sixty well-known springs flow from it, and supply water in abundance to the palaces and houses. It abounds also in all kinds of flowers, particularly in syringa (Erghiwán), the annual assembly of Emír Sultán held in the season when the syringa is in perfection being much celebrated. The inhabitants being fair, the air good, the water full of holiness, contribute altogether, to render Brússa one of the most delicious spots on earth.
Description of the Imperial and other Mosques.
There are in all one thousand and forty places of worship, three hundred and fifty-seven of which are mosques of Sultáns, Vezírs, and other great men. The first is the great mosque Ulú-jami’í built by Ilderím Báyazíd, on an airy elevated spot of Brússa, it is supported within by large square pillars, the bases of which are gilt and painted to the height of a man, with inscriptions, such as, Yá Hannán, “O all gracious!” Yá Mennán, “O all merciful,” Yá Diyán, “O all faithful!” Yá Hassán, “O all beautiful!” and other names of God. The letters of these inscriptions are three cubits high; nineteen cupolas covered with lead and crowned with golden crescents are supported by these pillars. The twentieth cupola is placed on the centre of the mosque, and is left open so that light and air may enter, but birds and animals are shut out by a grating of brass wire. Directly beneath this cupola is a round basin of water, wherein fish are swimming and whence the Moslim community take the water necessary for their ablutions. The pulpit made of black nut is skilfully carved and chiselled with flowers and arabesques of all kinds. It must be absolutely seen, for it is so wonderful that it cannot easily be described, and has no equal any where except at Sinope on the Black Sea. The mahfil or place where the Muëzzins repeat the proclamation of prayer, is painted with great art. The mosque is lighted by glass windows on the four sides, and the floor covered with carpets which are not found elsewhere because this mosque is so richly endowed. It is nightly lighted by seven hundred lamps, and is crowded with people at all hours, because no less than seventy lectures are read here on scientific subjects to two thousand scholars. The distance from one of the side-gates to the other is three hundred and fifty feet, and from the Kiblah to the mihráb one hundred and eighty feet; it has three gates. On the left side, the gate of the Emperor’s oratory (mahfil), the gate of the Kiblah (opposite to the mihráb), and on the right side, the gate of the Mehkemeh. Outside of the Kiblah-gate is a stone bench; it has no great courtyard like other mosques, but a small one, in the centre of which the Muftí Abdul-azíz Efendí has built a basin with water-pipes.