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.