Suleiman The Magnificent 1520 1566 (32 page)

Suleiman the Magnificent

Engraving by Michael Ostendorfer, dated 1548,

broadsheeted by Hans Guldenmund

(cf. p. 299)

Schepper, the envoy of Ferdinand. He declared that he had always been at heart a Christian; and he offered to betray important fortresses if a Christian league was formed against the Turk. He made no mystery of the line that he intended to take with the Hungarians; he spoke of them with contempt and declared, with some truth, that "they had always been, all of them, on both sides." "He who wishes to rule," he avowed, "must not shudder at the shedding of blood." 5 But he was quite unable to make good his word. He began by summoning all the great nobles and representatives of the cities in Transylvania to assemble and listen to his orders. There was much hesitation about obeying, and Emerich Czybak, one of the greatest of the magnates, refused to appear. Gritti thereupon sent a body of horsemen to seize him, and as he defended himself desperately, he was murdered. At this the whole region rose in fury. Within a few days 40,000 men had assembled, secretly encouraged by Zapolya. Gritti, after barricading himself for a time in a castle, was caught as he was attempting to escape, and immediately beheaded (September,

1534)." Both Ferdinand and Zapolya tried to make capital for

themselves at the Porte out of Gritti's fate. The former pointed out that the voivode was really responsible for the death of the Sultan's representative; the voivode took the ground that Gritti's dealings with the Hapsburgs had been so treacherous as to make his removal a blessing to his master. But Suleiman refused to take any definite line. Under the circumstances it suited him far better to continue to play the double game in Hungary, and he doubtless secretly rejoiced at the repeated failures of Ferdinand and Zapolya to reach any agreement. Meantime in Croatia, in spite of the existing peace, desultory fighting con-

5 Kretschmayr, pp. 66-70; Gevay, vol. II, pt. 2, pp. 104-118.

6 Kretschmayr, pp. 73-82*, Gevay, vol. H, pt, 3, pp. 2-7.

tinned between the Hapsburgs and the Turks. The latter made constant raiding expeditions into Austrian territory, until Ferdinand, in 1537, resolved to put a stop to them by besieging the town of Esseg on the Drave, whence most of them emanated. But the effort was a lamentable failure. The Hapsburg force, of some 8,000 cavalry and 16,000 infantry, was a motley horde of Austrians, Bohemians, Hungarians, and Italians, and Hans Katzianer, their commander-in-chief, was an officer of small merit. The pasha of Semendria, who opposed him, refused to be lured into a combat in the open field, but harried his advance with clouds of light cavalry, who cut off his supplies and finally forced him to retreat. The Turks pursued and cut to pieces most of the Christian infantry, while the greater part of the cavalry escaped. Katzianer fled with them, abandoning his artillery and baggage; on his return to Vienna he was cast into prison for his cowardice. The tale of the remaining months of his life is an interesting comment on the instability of Hungarian affairs. He bribed his jailers in Vienna, and got away to one of his own castles in Croatia, where he promptly opened negotiations with the Turks, until Count Nicholas Zriny, whom he had invited to participate in his treason, stabbed him in the back. His body was flung from a window into the castle moat, and his head was sent off to Vienna. 7

The failure of his attempt to repel the Turks made Ferdinand more willing to come to terms with Zapolya, and the latter also was more than weary of the existing situation. Under the mediation of Charles V they accordingly concluded a treaty of peace on February 28, 1538, at Nagy-Varad or Grosswardein. Both were to have the tide of king. Each was to retain such parts of Hungary as he then possessed. After the death of Zapolya, who was

7 Hammer, V, 277-278; Busbecq, IT, 271.

then unmarried and childless, his portion was to pass to the House of Hapsburg, though provision was made for the endowment of his offspring, should he ever have any. The Emperor and Ferdinand were to help Zapolya reconquer Belgrade from the Turks, and defend him against all Ottoman attacks. 8

The news of this treaty soon reached Constantinople. Its exact provisions were probably not known, for Zapolya had done his utmost to keep them secret; but the fact that his two Christian vassals had dared to conclude an agreement without consulting him was enough to arouse the wrath of the Sultan, who regarded the whole of Hungary as belonging to himself by right of conquest. Yet for the time being he was in no condition to take vengeance. The war in the Mediterranean against the Spaniards and Venetians was occupying most of his attention; he was also intent on punishing his insubordinate vassal the prince of Moldavia. This last proved an easy task. The prince did not venture to await the Turkish onslaught, but hid himself in Transylvania. The Moldavian lands along the Black Sea, between the Pruth and the Dniester, were taken away and directly incorporated as a new sanjak in the Ottoman Empire/

It is probable that this new demonstration of Turkish power made Zapolya wonder whether, after all, the Sultan was not a safer vessel to trust his fortunes to than was Ferdinand. In any case he now made haste to wed Isabella, the daughter of Suleiman's loyal friend, the king of Poland. There is every reason to believe that Zapolya took this step at the advice of a shrewd, ambitious, and determined monk named Martinuzzi, who had been his chief mentor for some time past, and was at that time bitterly

8 Osterreichische Staatsvertrage y Furstentum Siebenburgen, 1526-90 (Vienna, 1911), pp. 65-85.

0 Hammer, V, 288-292; lorga, II, 424-426.

opposed to the House of Austria; he cherished hopes that if Zapoiya should have issue, the treaty of Grosswardein might be broken. 10 He also persuaded his master to send an embassy to the Porte to soften the wrath of the Sultan and regain his favor by a money gift. Ferdinand heard of the mission and resolved if possible to anticipate it. We need not be surprised that the envoy whom he despatched for the purpose was none other than that same Hierony-mus Laski who ten years before had been so successful in Constantinople on behalf of Zapoiya. Laski had quarrelled with his former master, been imprisoned, and then, after regaining his liberty, had changed sides; he now lusted for revenge on his Hungarian patron. The whole proceeding was entirely characteristic of the times. He was instructed to point out how much more advantageous for the Sultan it would be to have Ferdinand rather than Zapoiya on the Hungarian throne; he also revealed to Suleiman the provisions of the treaty of Grosswardein. On this the Sultan turned to his Grand Vizir and burst out, "These two kings are unworthy to wear crowns; they are faithless; neither the fear of God nor of man has been able to prevent them from breaking the treaty which they have sworn to observe." u

Meantime the sudden death of Zapoiya, on July 21, 1540, brought matters to a crisis. On his sickbed, he had received the news of the birth of a son, and he besought his adherents not to give up their country to a foreign ruler, but to elect the child and to appeal to the Sultan for aid. Led by Martinuzzi, they proclaimed the infant king, under the name of Stephen. It was a flat violation of the treaty of Grosswardein, and Ferdinand could not

10 On the remarkable career of Martinuzzi, or Utiesenovic, also known as "Brother George," consult Antolne Bechet, Histoire du mmistere du Cardinal Martmumts (Paris, 1715), and O. M. Utiesenovic, Lebemgeschichte des Cardinals Georg Utiesen&vic, genmnt Martmusius (Vienna, 181).

11 Hammer, V, 321-322.

be expected to submit to it. If he had been ready with a powerful army, he might perhaps have been able to conquer Hungary before it could receive aid, for some of Zapolya's old followers had by this time joined his side; but as usual he was short of funds. Nevertheless, after an embassy to the widowed queen had received unsatisfactory replies, he attempted to use force. With the aid of 50,000 ducats from the Emperor and sundry loans, he collected a small army, which, after capturing several towns, laid siege to Buda. But the affair was halfheartedly undertaken and quickly abandoned. The besiegers retired, leaving behind them a garrison across the river in Pesth. Henceforward the pivot of the situation, as both sides were quick to recognize, was in Constantinople. The ambassadors of the infant king were received there with marked favor. Their gifts were graciously accepted, and they had the influential support of the representative of France. Their request that the Sultan confer Hungary on Stephen was granted on condition of an annual payment of 30,000 ducats; 12 but Suleiman was determined not to be tricked, and as enemies had spread the report that Isabella had not really borne a child, he sent a chaush on a special mission to ascertain the truth. In order to convince him, the queen gave her breast to the baby in his presence; and the chaush, falling on his knees, kissed the infant's feet and swore in his master's name that it should rule Hungary. 13

Ferdinand was naturally worried by the news of the rapprochement between the Sultan and the adherents of his late rival, and sent Laski back to Constantinople in the autumn of 1540, to see if he could not arrange a fresh truce. But the envoy was received with wrath and contempt; in fact the best of his friends among the Ottoman

12 Hammer, V, 324. ia Hammer, V, 323-324.

officials told him frankly that he would have done far better to stay away. At an audience granted him on November 7, the Sultan burst into such a furious rage that the frightened vizirs, standing with bowed heads before the imperial throne, motioned Laski to retire at once. On the following day, according to the established Turkish custom with ambassadors of hostile powers, he was arrested and placed in confinement; it would appear, however, that the nature of his detention was not so severe as to prevent him from making fresh efforts to get the truce that he had been sent to obtain, and to secure his own release. 14 He was taken along in the train of the Turkish expedition into Hungary in the following year, and was finally set free in pity, when his captors recognized that the state of his health was so precarious that his death could not long be postponed. In the meantime, the Sultan decided that war on Ferdinand should be begun as soon as possible. The winter was spent in preparations, and on June 23, 1541, Suleiman left Constantinople to begin a new series of Hungarian campaigns. 15

The Turkish march on Buda, which was the Sultan's objective, was far easier than it had ever been before, and Suleiman reached the old Hungarian capital in less than two months. Ferdinand was the nearer the scene of action, and ought to have been ready to receive him. But Ferdinand found it very difficult to collect the necessary forces. His brother was intent, for the moment, on the capture of Algiers, and could send him no help. In the Empire and in Bohemia, men's minds were chiefly concentrated on the religious question; Lutheranisin was in the ascendant, and there was general reluctance to contribute to the cause of the Hapsburg. With all his eiforts Ferdinand was able to muster only a bare 20,000 troops. Their aged

a *Gevay, vol. HI, pt. 3, pp. 1-65. 13 Hammer, V, 318.

commander, William of Rogendorf, had Pestfi in his hands, and should have attacked Buda vigorously before the Turks could arrive; but instead he tried to terrify it into submission by a feeble bombardment. Its garrison was but 2,400 strong, and many of the inhabitants, among whom was Queen Isabella, were inclined to treat with the besiegers; but Martinuzzi donned a cuirass over his priestly robes, and directed the defence with splendid energy and skill. 16 He foiled the plots of the friends of the queen at the same time that he repulsed all attacks from without. There was much secret negotiation between the assailants and the besieged, but it ultimately came to naught, and in the meantime the first detachments of the Turkish army had arrived. Rogendorf dared not risk a battle, nor would he consent to retreat; instead he remained inactive for an entire fortnight, waiting for reinforcements which never came. But when the Sultan reached the scene with the mass of the Turkish army, it was impossible to hesitate any longer, and he started to transport his forces to the other side of the river. The Turks, learning of his intentions, waited till his cavalry and artillery had got across; then, falling on the infantry, they nearly exterminated it. The Ottomans in their turn then crossed over to Pesth, and dealt with such portions of the Christian cavalry and artillery as had remained there; old Rogendorf himself died of his wounds. Seldom has a campaign been worse mismanaged, and seldom has a foe been more alert to profit by it. 17

On August 26 Suleiman entered Pesth and ordered that several hundred captives be executed. On the following day he crossed the river, and on the twenty-eighth he received Martinuzzi and other Hungarian delegates. After thanking them for their brave defence and after sending

16 Bechet, pp. 140-158; Utiesenovic, pp. 53-54. 17 Utiesenovic, pp. 54-55-

presents to the queen and to the infant king, he demanded that, as the law of Mohammed forbade his visiting them, the child should be brought for him to see, and also that the city councillors should present themselves to deliberate with him on further measures. These words produced profound consternation; people realized that the Sultan was resolved to install a Turkish government at Buda; but as resistance was out of the question, his orders were obeyed. When the baby, accompanied by three nurses and the chief magnates, was brought into Suleiman's tent, he gazed at it, then told his son Bayezid to pick it up in his arms and kiss it. The child was sent back to his mother in the evening; but under cover of the festivities the Turkish troops, entering Buda in the guise of sight-seers, treacherously seized the city. After some days of pretended deliberation, Suleiman finally announced that, as Buda was too important to be intrusted to a woman, he should take care of it himself until the young long came of age. (Incidentally, the latter soon changed his given name of Stephen to that of John Sigismund, in honor of his father and of his maternal grandfather.) He and his mother were presently sent off to Transylvania, and before their departure were presented with a document, written in letters of blue and gold, in which Suleiman swore by the Prophet, by his ancestors, and by his own sword that he would only continue to hold Buda during the minority of the baby prince. 18 Whether he intended to abide by his promise at the time that he made it may well be doubted, though the situation was to change so rapidly in the next ten or fifteen years that he certainly had some excuse for failing to observe it when the moment came. In any case there can be no question that for the time being he was determined to make the Ottoman occupation of Buda and the adjacent lands a reality. All the territory between the