Travels to Tana and Persia

by Giosofat Barbaro; Ambrogio Contarini

Chap. X.

The Ottoman makes preparations against Assambei and Caloianni, who send ambassadors to the Venetians, requesting their alliance, and asking for artillery; in the meantime, the Ottoman sends a Bassà, with his troops, to invade Persia. Assambei having marched against him, defeats him in a battle. The Grand Turk, collecting another army, sends against him and defeats him. He then retreats to Tauris. Afterwards, marching against the Soldan who had taken from him the city of Orfà, he defeats him near that place.

The Ottoman, in the year 1472, having heard fully of the compact and treaty that Assambei had made with the King of Trebizond, and being very angry and indignant with it, determined to prove the power and valour of these two monarchs, and therefore made great levies of men to go against Persia. Assambei receiving intelligence of it, not less full of anger and indignation than his enemy, ordered all his lords to assemble their troops with the greatest possible speed, since the King of Trebizond had informed him of the great preparations of the Turk against them both. It seems that Caloianni had relatives at Venice, or else a close friendship with some noblemen. Therefore Assambei, in accordance with his father-in-law, determined to do his utmost, and therefore sent two ambassadors to Venice, requesting their alliance to be able to subdue their Ottoman foe, giving him the chastisement his audacity deserved. And, as I hear, the ambassadors asked for artillery and gunners, and the Most Illustrious Government, for the defence of the King of Trebizond, gave as much as was demanded by the ambassadors, who were greatly honoured. A ship being equipped with the pieces of artillery on board, the ambassadors embarked to go to Giazza, as was their master’s command. While the ambassadors were treating in Venice, Sultan Assambei assembled his army with great celerity, about thirty thousand fighting men, and marched, full of rage and fury, against the Ottoman foe, who had already sent a large force to ravage the Persian territory in the vicinity of Arsingan. Assambei, on arriving in the beautiful plain of Arsingan, remained there some days to refresh his troops, who, having been levied near Tauris, had had a long march. The Ottoman army, from fear of such a force of Persians, retreated towards Tocat; and Assambei, having rested his troops, who, in the meantime, had been largely reinforced from Persia, determined to attack the Turks. There being a distance of two days’ journey on a good road between the two armies, he advanced to within a mile of the Turkish camp, and having pitched their tents in the morning Assambei sent notice to the Bassà in command of the Ottoman army that on the following day early he would join battle with them. Matters being in this case, at the hour fixed both armies were set in array, the first, second, and third columns being all in order by the break of day. Sultan Assambei was the first to attack, and the combat lasted till the hour of nine; at this point, a Bassà, with a large force of Turks, charged fiercely into the mêlée, and put the Persians to rout. Assambei, perceiving the disaster, and having a reserve of eight thousand picked men at hand to carry succour wherever it was needed, boldly charged the centre of the hostile army, encouraging his own soldiers and carrying death everywhere before him, so that the Turks were signally defeated in that engagement. Assambei having conquered the enemy in this battle, immediately occupied in triumph Tocat, Malacia, and Sivas,[619] three large cities. The Ottoman was greatly displeased and troubled on hearing the news of the rout and destruction of the greater part of his army, but more especially by that of the loss of the three cities; but, by collecting troops throughout his dominions, he assembled an immense army and directed it against Assambei, who had established himself in safety in Malacia. The latter having also suffered severe loss in the battle, sent some of the chiefs back to Persia to levy all the troops they could to reinforce his army. Besides, he awaited with impatience the cannon and bombardiers sent by our Most Illustrious Government, but neither succour came with the speed the occasion required, while the Turkish forces arrived on the frontiers well provided with artillery. Assambei was disquieted about this; but being in necessity and in hourly expectation of the Persian reinforcements and the artillery, like a noble monarch he determined to face the enemy with the troops he had with him, about twenty-four or twenty-five thousand in number, while they had thirty-six thousand men. The enemy was stationed on one side of Malacia, while Assambei was on the other, as he had retreated half a day’s journey between Malacia and Tocat, a place well suited for the operations of the armies. The Turks following him up, attacked him there with great bravery, each side proving their valour. After a great slaughter on either side Assambei was defeated and forced to retreat into his own country of Persia, abandoning the three cities. He arrived at Tauris, where he caused games and rejoicings to be held, not caring much for his reverse, as he had lost none of his dominions. After a certain time war broke out with the Soldan of Cairo, and he marched with a considerable force into the country of Diarbec. The Soldan of Cairo, with the Mamelukes and a large army of his subjects, crossed the Euphrates and took Orfà, which he pillaged at his leisure, Assambei not having yet come up. Assambei, who was already at Amit,[620] mustering his forces to attack the Mamelukes, hearing of the fall of Orfà,[621] quickly marched to the plain of Orfà, where he attacked the camp of the Mamelukes with such fury, that they were nearly all cut to pieces, the rest being forced to fly with the loss of all their baggage, which afforded great spoil to Assambei and his chiefs. He then advanced to Bir, and took it, together with Besin,[622] Calat, and Efron, ravaging the whole country about there. After remaining six months at Bir, he returned in great triumph to Persia, holding feasts at Tauris in his palace of Astibisti.

Chap. XI.

Assambei dying, is succeeded on the throne by his son Jacob, who takes for wife a licentious woman, an adulteress; she gives him poison, of which he dies as well as herself, and a little son. Whence the great lords of Persia make war among themselves for a long time, to prove who is to succeed to the throne, first one and then another.

Assambei had four children, one a son, Sultan Jacob, who succeeded his father; and three daughters, of whom two are still alive at Aleppo. I myself have often conversed with them in Trebizond Greek, which they had learnt from Queen Despinacaton, their mother. Assambei being at Tauris, and having already lived to a great age, died in the year 1478, and, as I mentioned above, was succeeded by his son, who was a great lord, and ruled Persia for some time. He took as wife a high-born lady, daughter of a Persian noble, but a most licentious woman: having fallen in love with a great lord of the court, this wicked woman sought means to kill Jacob Sultan her husband, designing to marry her paramour, and make him king, as, being closely related to Jacob, he would become so by right in default of children. Having arranged matters with him, she prepared an insidious poison for her husband, who having gone into a perfumed bath, as was his custom, with his young son, aged eight or nine years, remained there from the twenty-second hour till sunset. On coming out, he went into the harem, which was close to the bath, where he was met by his wicked wife with a cup and a gold vase containing the poison, which she had got ready while he was in the bath, knowing that it was his custom to have something to drink on coming out of the bath. She caressed him more than usual, to effect her wicked purpose; but not having sufficient command over her countenance, became very pale, which excited the suspicion of Jacob, who had already begun to distrust her from some of her proceedings. He then commanded her to taste it first, which, although she knew it was certain death, she could not escape, and drank some; she then handed the gold cup to her husband Jacob, who, with his son, drank the rest. The poison was so powerful that by midnight they were all dead. The next morning the news was circulated of the sudden death of Jacob Sultan, his son and wife. The great lords hearing of their king’s decease, had quarrels among themselves, so that for five or six years all Persia was in a state of civil war, first one and then another of the nobles becoming sultan. At last, a youth named Alumut,[623] aged fourteen years, was raised to the throne, which he held till the succession of Sheikh Ismael Sultan.

Chap. XII.

Secaidar, chief of the Suffaveans, engages in battle with the general of the forces of Alumut, is defeated, taken prisoner, and his head being cut off, is taken to the king at Tauris, who causes it to be thrown to the dogs.

During the reign of Alumut, in a city four days’ east from Tauris, lived a lord about the rank of a count, named Secaidar,[624] of a religion or sect named Sophi, reverenced by his co-religionists as a saint, and obeyed as a chief. There are numbers of them in different parts of Persia, as in Natolia and Caramania, all of whom bore great respect to this Secaidar, who was a native of this city of Ardouil,[625] where he had converted many to the Suffavean doctrine. Indeed, he was like the abbot of a nation of monks; he had six children, three boys and three girls, by a daughter of Assambei;[626] he also bore an intense hatred to the Christians. He frequently made incursions with his followers into Circassia, ravaging the country, and so brought away many slaves and much booty with him on his return, with great rejoicings, to Ardouil. Alumut Sultan having succeeded to the throne, Secaidar, wishing to return to his wonted expeditions into Circassia against the Christians, assembled his troops, and set out towards Sumacchia,[627] which he reached in eight days; from thence he took the road to Derbant,[628] where is the pass by which one enters Circassia, and was five days en route. Sultan Alumut and his lords hearing that Secaidar, with an army of four or five thousand Suffaveans, was marching into Circassia, joined by numbers of volunteers in hopes of plunder, quickly sent messengers to the king of the country, who was himself afraid of the number of troops Secaidar had with him, to tell him to use every means in his power to stop him. Secaidar and his Suffaveans had the previous year, with half the number of men, done great damage near that fortress, and so they feared he might do the same; therefore they wished to bar his passage, lest he should go on increasing his power, as he did every day on his march into Circassia, by being joined by such multitudes of volunteers for the sake of booty, by which means he would soon have become a great lord. Secaidar therefore, on his arrival at Derbant, found the pass closed by the order of Alumut Sultan. Derbant is a large city, and, according to their chronicles and traditions, was built by Alexander the Great; it is one mile wide and three in length, having on one side the Caspian Sea, and on the other a high mountain; no one can pass except through the gates of the city, as on the east is the sea, and on the west a mountain, so steep that not even a cat could climb it. Derbant, the name of this city, in Persian signifies “closed gate”;[629] and any one wishing to go into Circassia, must pass through the city which borders on that country, and the greater part of whose inhabitants speak Circassian, or rather Turkish. Secaidar finding his passage barred as I have said, was very indignant, and began to attack the fortress and pass; there being few soldiers in the place, and insufficient numbers to resist the Suffaveans, news of their necessity was sent in great haste to the king of the country, who reported it to Alumut in Tauris. The latter ordered his lords to levy troops, and when they had assembled about ten thousand men, set out against Secaidar, who was besieging the fortress of Derbant, where they arrived in a few days. Secaidar perceiving the troops of Alumut, retired to a hill on one side, where he exhorted his soldiers to fight bravely, saying that he felt confident of victory, and promising them great things. This was in the evening, and every one swore to fight valiantly. The following morning, the Suffaveans were all admirably posted for the battle, while opposite them the general of Alumut had marshalled his troops. Secaidar seeing that an engagement was inevitable, was the first to attack the enemy, his Suffaveans fighting like lions, and cutting to pieces a third of Alumut’s troops; but he was at length defeated, and his men massacred. He himself was taken prisoner; and his head being cut off, was presented to Alumut Sultan, who commanded it to be carried on a lance all through Tauris, with martial instruments sounding in honour of the victory, and afterwards taken to a maidan, where executions took place, and there thrown to be eaten by dogs. For this reason, the Suffaveans hate dogs, and kill all they come across.