Bajazet II

“ For, without doubt, he will one day be the Ruin of us all. These wild Discourses coming to Sagthamas’s Ears, put him upon a Project more necessary than plausible; for Bajazet had not many Forces, but very warlike ones; and there were many valiant Men among them that were ready to attempt any Invasion, and therefore he had reason to fear. He was conscious, also, that he had added new Kingdoms to his own, as being conquer’d on pretence of Religion ”

“ Bajazet was the victorious hero of Nicapol. Where two sword-blades touch there is sure to be fighting, and how could two conquerors of the world find room close to one another? Bajazet conquered three provinces which were in vassalage to Timur, and drove away the Khans of Taherten, Szarnchan and Aidin. The last he took captive, together with his wife. Timur, with whom the Khan of Aidin was a favourite, sent envoys to the Sultan, asking him to restore their provinces to his protégés, and to set the Khan of Aidin and his wife at liberty. ”

“ What fault could be found with a man for endeavouring to save himself from ruin when it stared him in the face?’
Such were the sentiments that made men daily flock to the standard of Bajazet. When his forces had well nigh attained the size of a regular army, Bajazet felt that he must forthwith attack his brother, and stake life and empire on the issue of the contest. That he might be defeated he was well aware, but even in defeat he felt that honour might be gained. Accordingly, he marched directly against Selim. His object was to effect a passage into Syria ”

“ The victorious son of Amurath, Bajazet, who first of the house of Othman assumed the title of Sultan, has been presented to our travellers. With those who took their walks on the Atrium down by the Sea of Marmora, we watched the events that marked the reign of Bajazet and felt the increasing pressure to which the failing Greek Empire was submitted. If we wish to gain some idea of the terror that was felt, let us imagine London slowly isolated by an irresistible host of the Chinese and trying hard to secure the spiritual sanction and material protection of her old enemy, the Pope of Rome. ”

“ I was born to fight them, and to conquer the world.” Everywhere and at all times human pride, with its blind arrogance, is the same. Bajazet saw no glimpse of that future when his empire would be decaying, and held together only by the interested protection of Christian powers. After paying dearly for their errors and their disasters, Count John of Nevers and his comrades in captivity re-entered France in February, 1398, and their expedition to Hungary was but one of the last vain ventures of chivalry in the great struggle that commenced in the seventh century between Islamry and Christendom. ”

“ He did not despair of counting among his allies the very enemy he was at war with when Charles VIII first put forward his pretensions, we mean Bajazet II. So he despatched to Bajazet one of his confidential ministers, Camillo Pandone, to give the Turkish emperor to understand that the expedition to Italy was to the King of France nothing but a blind for approaching the scene of Mahomedan conquests, and that if Charles VIII were once at the Adriatic it would only take him a day or two to get across and attack Macedonia; from there he could easily go by land to Constantinople. ”

“ In those days, too, the Turkish armies were more mobile and better found than even that which Charles VII of France raised in 1445, the first standing army of the West; supplies were well organized and transport effected by beasts of burden, not by carts which depend upon good roads. So Bajazet inherited a great Empire, won by the sword of a people in arms and governed by warriors devoted to his House, and over whom the Sultan had complete control ”

“ One would have thought the two conquerors could not possibly have come into collision—Timour, the Lord of Persia, Khorasan, Sogdiana, and Hindostan, and Bajazet, the Sultan of Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece. They were both Mahomedans; they might have turned their backs on each other, if they were jealous of each other, and might have divided the world between them. Bajazet might have gone forward towards Germany and Italy, and Timour might have stretched his conquests into China.
But ambition is a spirit of envy as well as of covetousness; neither of them could brook a rival greatness. ”

“ Accordingly it was suggested to Bajazet that he should separate his troops, and all the arguments in 311favour of such a course were pressed upon him. He felt that the appeal was unanswerable, though some gallant men in his service had the sagacity to see that the proposed arrangement wore a most suspicious appearance. But how could he refuse in his helpless position, when he had no other hope left, when his life was at the mercy of the Shah,—indeed he might deem himself lucky to be alive at all,—and when to doubt his host’s honour might be taken as a sign of the most treacherous intentions? ”

“ The attacks on the Venetians have already been mentioned, as well as the capture of Otranto. Bajazet II. was more inclined to study than to war: his brother Djem, who tried to supplant him, passed as a prisoner into the hands of Pope Alexander VI. An annual tribute was paid by the Sultan for keeping him from coming back to Turkey; and when, at last, he was released, rumor declared that he had been poisoned. Selim I. (1512-1520) entered anew on the path of conquest. He defeated the Persians, and made the Tigris his eastern boundary. He annexed to his empire Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt. ”

“ Upon the Receipt of this good News, Bajazet resolves to trust his Father, yet not without some Relicks of Fear; he reflected ever and anon on his Brother Mustapha, whose Example warned him of the Danger he underwent. However, conquering his Fear, come he did to the place of Conference appointed by his Father; it was called Carestrane, some few Miles distant from Constantinople. ”

“ The Sultan was right in his belief that the world's history does not depend on the tears of women. It was decided a million years ago that this rotten country was to fall to pieces, but no one man was empowered to hasten the destruction before the allotted day and year. Just when the siege was completed the frightful news reached Bajazet that the avenging Timur had accepted his challenge. Impregnable Szivasz had fallen, and his greatest hero, his son, had been killed by the enemy! Bajazet at once suspended the bombardment of Byzantium. ”

“ Both Bajazet and Timur Lenk did what no conqueror of the world ever did before or after them. They each carried their favourite wives with them to view the decisive battle of the world! It was as though they were to witness a dramatic spectacle, in which one million armed men took part, and by which the government of a portion of the world would be decided either to the right or to the left. ”

“ The Persians told ’em, ’twas contrary to the League to come armed into their Dominions; there was Peace betwixt Sagthamas and Solyman, which they ought not to violate: As for Bajazet, their Prince would do what was fitting; in the mean time they should retreat to their own Country. With this Reprimand they direct their March backward. In the mean time Messengers are immediately sent from Persia to Bajazet, to bid him return, and to know the cause of his coming, and also to spy out what Forces he had brought with him. ”

“ In this moment of comparative relief she saw the stranger. He was riding along the bank towards them—as fast as the insecure footing would allow, dashing the clods this way and that—and he was leading Bajazet. He was richly dressed, with a gorgeous pagri striped with gold, but his complexion was not dark—rather the brick-red of a European burnt by tropical suns. He shouted angrily as he came near, and the mob gave one glance of terror and dissolved helter-skelter. ”

“ This Solyman did by the Advice of his Bashaws; for the cunning old Man would not declare himself, till he had brought Bajazet into the Noose of his own Power. He was terribly afraid, lest out of Desperation he should march furiously into Persia (his only place of Refuge,) with such furious Expedition, that all his Sanziacks should not be able to get before him. To prevent which Mistakes, he sent many Letters to all the Governors upon the Borders, to watch Bajazet, and not to suffer him to escape, if he should attempt it. ”

“ He who has the destinies of men in His hand, had differently mapped the career of Bajazet, the Ylderum. The lame Temur with his immense army moved westward, and Bajazet eastward to meet the Tatar warrior. The latter fully confident of a victory courted an encounter with the former. Their armies met one another on the plains of Angora. Fierce must have been the conflict. There is always some reason, or excuse for a defeat. ”

“ A more serious purpose directed the next movement of Timour's arms, which were turned against the rival Turk of Asia Minor, or Roum—the Ottoman, Bajazet, or Bayezid, who boasted of the conquest of the Roman Empire of the East. In 1402, Bajazet was summoned from the siege of Constantinople to defend his realm. On the 20th of July in that year, on the plain of Angora, he met the enormous hosts of Timourlenk and was overwhelmed by them—his kingdom lost, himself a captive. The merciless Tartar hordes swept hapless Anatolia with a besom of destruction and death. ”

“ Why (said they, reasoning among themselves) should his Father abdicate a Son that is his express Image? Why should he prefer his slothful, pot-bellied Brother, that has nothing of his Father’s Disposition in him? As for Bajazet’s taking Arms, Necessity forces him to it, and therefore, he is not to be blamed; for did not Selimus, his Grandfather, do the same? ”

“ Bajazet was quite certain that he would take Byzantium. It was a dream from which he could not free himself until it was fulfilled. Every one was against the war. The soothsayers prophesied evil to come. His leaders warned him not to commence the bombardment until he had finished with Tamerlan. But he would not be dissuaded. The [Pg 81] soothsayer who advised him to start against Timur before proceeding to Byzantium was dismissed from his presence.
When Timur approached towards Szivasz the Sultan's advisers again implored him. ”

“ This unnecessary Discussion (said they) may be compass’d without Blood; neither are we to be forc’d to sheath our Swords in one another’s Bowels: As for Bajazet, he is forced to do what he doth, in a way of Self-preservation.
When these Rumours came to Solyman’s Ears, he sent for the Mufti (the High-Priest of the Turks, from whom, as from an Oracle, they expect Answers to their Doubts) and puts a Case to him in these Terms.
“How ought that Man to be dealt with, who durst disturb the Peace of the Empire, by taking Towns, and raising Men and Money, while he was alive? ”

“ His departure came upon Solyman as a very heavy blow, for he surmised correctly that Bajazet was making for Persia; he could scarcely be kept from306 marching, with the whole Imperial guard, both foot and horse, and making a demonstration against the King of Persia. But his rash impetuosity was moderated by his counsellors, who pointed out what danger might arise from the disaffection of the soldiery. There was also the risk of Bajazet’s marching round by the North of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azoff, and suddenly making a desperate attack on Constantinople ”

“ Timour called Bajazet a pismire, whom he would crush with his elephants; and Bajazet retaliated with a worse insult on Timour, by promising that he would capture his retinue of wives. The foes met at Angora in Asia Minor; Bajazet was defeated and captured in the battle, and Timour secured him in an iron-barred apartment or cage, which, according to Tartar custom, was on wheels, and he carried him about, as some wild beast, on his march through Asia. Can imagination invent a more intolerable punishment upon pride? ”

“ To whom ought a man to extend mercy, if not to his children? Henceforth Bajazet would be a dutiful son, and, freed by this great act of grace from his present fears, overflow with love and obedience towards his father; there was no surer bond for noble souls than kind and generous treatment; the recollection of the pardon he had received would prevent Bajazet from repeating his offence. She pledged her word for him, and undertook that he should henceforth be a good and dutiful son.’
By these words, accompanied as they were with tears and caresses, Solyman was softened ”

“ Such were the fruits of the presumption and want of discipline of the French warriors. History has lamented their reverses more than it has blamed their conduct; it has satisfied itself with saying, that in order to conquer the Turks, the Hungarians should have shown the valour of the French, or the French should have imitated the prudence of the Hungarians.
Bajazet, who was wounded in the battle, proved barbarous after victory. Some historians have said that the sultan had to avenge the death of many Mussulman captives, who had been massacred by the Christian army. ”

“ One thousand women riders went before, and one thousand after her, to keep from her gaze the face of every man. These were masculine women, accustomed to sword-handling, and to cutting off heads, women for whom men can feel but horror, and of whom it is difficult to form an idea. Bajazet headed this woman's camp with 10,000 veteran Janesars and old soldiers scarred with wounds. ”