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LXV.

He Defeat and

Bajazet.

In the right wing of Bajazet, the cuirassiers of Europe CHAP. charged, with faithful hearts and irresistible arms; but these men of iron were soon broken by an artful flight and headlong pursuit; and the Janizaries, alone, without cavalry or missile weapons, were encompassed by the circle of the Mogul hunters. Their valour was at length oppressed by heat, thirst, and the weight of numbers; and the unfortunate sultan, afflicted with the gout in his hands and feet, was transported from the field on the fleetest of his horses. was pursued and taken by the titular khan of Zagatai; and captivity of after his capture, and the defeat of the Ottoman powers, the kingdom of Anatolia submitted to the emperor, who planted his standard at Kiotahia, and dispersed on all sides the ministers of rapine and destruction. Mirza Mehemmed Sultan, the eldest and best beloved of his grandsons, was dispatched to Boursa with thirty thousand horse: and such was his youthful ardour, that he arrived with only four thousand at the gates of the capital, after performing in five days a march of two hundred and thirty miles. Yet fear is still more rapid in its course: and Soliman, the son of Bajazet, had already passed over to Europe with the royal treasure. The spoil, however, of the palace and city was immense: the inhabitants had escaped; but the buildings, for the most part of wood, were reduced to ashes. From Boursa, the grandson of Timour advanced to Nice, even yet a fair and flourishing city; and the Mogul squadrons were only stopped by the waves of the Propontis. The same success attended the other mirzas and emirs in their excursions: and Smyrna, defended by the zeal and courage of the Rhodian knights, alone deserved the presence of the emperor himself. After an obstinate defence, the place was taken by storm; all that breathed was put to the sword; and the heads of the Christian heroes were launched from the engines, on board of two carracks, or great ships of Europe, that rode at anchor in the harbour. The Moslems of Asia rejoiced in their deliverance from a dangerous and domestic foe, and a parallel was drawn between the two rivals, by observing that Timour, in fourteen days, had reduced a fortress which had sustained seven years the siege, or at least the blockade, of Bajazet.45

45 For the war of Anatolia or Roum, I add some hints in the Institutions,

CHAP.
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The story of his

The iron cage in which Bajazet was imprisoned by Tamerlane, so long and so often repeated as a moral lesson, is now rejected as a fable by the modern writers, who smile at the vulgar credulity.46 They appeal with confidence to the iron cage Persian history of Sherefeddin Ali, which has been given to our curiosity in a French version, and from which I shall collect and abridge a more specious narrative of this memodisproved rable transaction. No sooner was Timour informed that the captive Ottoman was at the door of his tent, than he gra historian of ciously stept forwards to receive him, seated him by his side, Timour; and mingled with just reproaches a soothing pity for his rank

by the Persian

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and misfortune. "Alas!" said the emperor, "the decree of "fate is now accomplished by your own fault: it is the web "which you have woven, the thorns of the tree which your"self have planted. I wished to spare, and even to assist, "the champion of the Moslems: you braved our threats; "you despised our friendship; you forced us to enter your kingdom with our invincible armies. Behold the event. “Had you vanquished, I am not ignorant of the fate which you reserved for myself and my troops. But I disdain to "retaliate your life and honour are secure; and I shall express my gratitude to God by my clemency to man.” The royal captive shewed some signs of repentance, accepted the humiliation of a robe of honour, and embraced with tears his son Mousa, who, at his request, was sought and found among the captives of the field. The Ottoman princes were lodged in a splendid pavilion; and the respect of the guards could be surpassed only by their vigilance. On the arrival of the haram from Boursa, Timour restored the queen Despina and her daughter to their father and husband; but he piously required, that the Servian princess, who had hitherto been indulged in the profession of Christianity, should embrace without delay the religion of the prophet. In the feast of victory, to which Bajazet was invited, the Mogul emperor placed a crown on his head and a sceptre

to the copious narratives of Sherefeddin (1. v. c. 44...65.) and Arabshah (tom. ii. c. 20.. 35). On this part only of Timour's history, it is lawful to quote the Turks (Cantemir, p. 53...55. Annal. Leunclav. p. 320...322.) and the Greeks (Phranza, I. i. c. 29. Ducas, c 15...17. Chalcondyles, 1. iii).

46 The scepticism of Voltaire (Essai sur l'Histoire Generale, c. 88.) is ready on this, as on every occasion, to reject a popular tale, and to diminish the mag. nitude of vice and virtue; and on most occasions his incredulity is reasonable.

LXV.

in his hand, with a solemn assurance of restoring him with CHAP. an increase of glory to the throne of his ancestors. But the effect of this promise was disappointed by the sultan's untimely death: amidst the care of the most skilful physicians, he expired of an apoplexy at Akshehr, the Antioch of Pisidia, about nine months after his defeat. The victor dropped a tear over his grave; his body, with royal pomp, was conveyed to the mausoleum which he had erected at Boursa; and his son Mousa, after receiving a rich present of gold and jewels, of horses and arms, was invested by a patent in red ink with the kingdom of Anatolia.

Such is the portrait of a generous conqueror, which has been extracted from his own memorials, and dedicated to his son and grandson, nineteen years after his decease; 47 and, at a time when the truth was remembered by thousands, a manifest falsehood would have implied a satire on his real conduct. Weighty indeed is this evidence, adopted by all the Persian histories; 48 yet flattery, more especially in the East, is base and audacious; and the harsh and ignominious treatment of Bajazet is attested by a chain of witnesses, some of whom shall be produced in the order of their time and country. 1. The reader has not forgot the garrison of attested, French, whom the marshal Boucicault left behind him for French; the defence of Constantinople. They were on the spot to receive the earliest and most faithful intelligence of the over. throw of their great adversary; and it is more than probable, that some of them accompanied the Greek embassy to the camp of Tamerlane. From their account, the hardships of the prison and death of Bajazet are affirmed by the mar shal's servant and historian, within the distance of seven years.4o 2. The name of Poggius the Italian 50 is deservedly

47 See the history of Sherefeddin, (1. v. c. 49. 52, 53. 59, 60). This work was finished at Shiraz, in the year 1424, and dedicated to sultan Ibrahim, the son of Sharokh, the son of Timour, who reigned in Farsistan in his father's lifetime.

48 After the perusal of Khondemir, Ebn Schounah, &c. the learned d'Herbelot (Bibliot. Orientale, p. 882.) may affirm, that this fable is not mentioned in the most authentic histories: but his denial of the visible testimony of Arabshah, leaves soine room to suspect his accuracy.

49 Et fut lui-même (Bajazet) pris, et mené en prison, en laquelle mourut de dure mort! Memoires de Boucicault, P. i. c. 37. These memoirs were composed while the marshal was still governor of Genoa, from whence he was expelled in the year 1409, by a popular insurrection (Muratori, Annali d'Italia, tom. xii. p. 473, 474).

50 The reader will find a satisfactory account of the life and writings of

1. by the

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2. by the Italians;

Arabs;

CHAP. famous among the revivers of learning in the fifteenth century. His elegant dialogue on the vicissitudes of fortune 1 was composed in his fiftieth year, twenty-eight years after the Turkish victory of Tamerlane; 52 whom he celebrates as not inferior to the illustrious Barbarians of antiquity. Of his exploits and discipline Poggius was informed by several occular witnesses; nor does he forget an example so apposite to his theme as the Ottoman monarch, whom the Scythian confined like a wild beast in an iron cage, and exhibited a spectacle to Asia. I might add the authority of two Italian chronicles, perhaps of an earlier date, which would prove at least that the same story, whether false or true, was imported into Europe with the first tidings of the revo3. by the lution.53 3. At the time when Poggius flourished at Rome, Ahmed Ebn Arabshah composed at Damascus the florid and malevolent history of Timour, for which he had collected materials in his journies over Turkey and Tartary.54 Without any possible correspondence between the Latin and the Arabian writer, they agree in the fact of the iron cage; and their agreement is a striking proof of their common veracity. Ahmed Arabshah likewise relates another outrage, which Bajazet endured, of a more domestic and tender nature. His indiscreet mention of women and divorces was deeply resented by the jealous Tartar: in the feast of victory, the wine was served by female cupbearers, and the sultan beheld his own concubines and wives confounded among the slaves, and exposed without a veil to the eyes of intemperance. To escape a similar indignity, it is said, that

Poggius, in the Poggiana, an entertaining work of M. Lenfant, and in the Bibliotheca Latina mediæ et infimæ tatis of Fabricius (tom. v. p. 305....308). Poggius was born in the year 1380, and died in 1459.

51 The dialogue de Varietate Fortunæ (of which a complete and elegant edition has been published at Paris in 1723, in 4to), was composed a short time before the death of pope Martin V. (p. 5), and consequently about the end of the year 1430.

52 See a splendid and eloquent encomium of Tamerlane, p. 36...39. ipse enim novi (says Poggius) qui fuere in ejus castris... Regem vivum cepit, caveâque in modum feræ inclusum per oninem Asiam circumtulit egregium admirandumque spectaculum fortunæ.

53 The Chronicon Tarvisianum (in Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. xix. p. 800), and the Annales Estenses (tom. xviii. p. 974). The two authors, Andrea de Redusiis de Quero, and James de Delayto, were both contemporaries, and both chancellors, the one of Trevigi, the other of Ferrara. The evidence of the former is the most positive.

54 See Arabshah, tom. ii. c. 28. 34. He travelled in regiones Pumas, A. H. 839 (A. D. 1435, July 27), tom. ii. c. 2. p. 13.

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Greeks;

Turks.

his successors, except in a single instance, have abstained CHAP. from legitimate nuptials; and the Ottoman practice and be- LXV. lief, at least in the sixteenth century, is attested by the observing Busbequius,55 ambassador from the court of Vienna to the great Soliman. 4. Such is the separation of language, 4. by the that the testimony of a Greek is not less independent than that of a Latin or an Arab. I suppress the names of Chalcondyles and Ducas, who flourished in a later period, and who speak in a less positive tone; but more attention is due to George Phranza,56 protovestiare of the last emperors, and who was born a year before the battle of Angora. Twentytwo years after that event, he was sent ambassador to Amurath the second; and the historian might converse with some veteran Janizaries, who had been made prisoners with the sultan, and had themselves seen him in his iron cage. 5. 5. by the The last evidence, in every sense, is that of the Turkish annals, which have been consulted or transcribed by Leunclavius, Pocock, and Cantemir.57 They unanimously deplore the captivity of the iron cage; and some credit may be allowed to national historians, who cannot stigmatize the Tartar without uncovering the shame of their king and country. From these opposite premises, a fair and moderate con- Probable clusion may be deduced. I am satisfied that Sherefeddin conclusion. Ali has faithfully described the first ostentatious interview, in which the conqueror, whose spirits were harmonised by success, affected the character of generosity. But his mind was insensibly alienated by the unseasonable arrogance of Bajazet; the complaints of his enemies, the Anatolian princes, were just and vehement; and Timour betrayed a design of leading his royal captive in triumph to Samarcand. An attempt to facilitate his escape, by digging a mine under the tent, provoked the Mogul emperor to impose a harsher restraint; and in his perpetual marches, an iron cage on a waggon might be invented, not as a wanton insult, but as

55 Busbequius in Legatione Turcicâ, epist. i. p. 52. Yet his respectable authority is somewhat shaken by the subsequent marriages of Amurath II. with a Servian, and of Mahomet II. with an Asiatic, princess (Cantemir, p. 83. 93).

56 See the testimony of George Phranza (1.i. c. 29), and his life in Hanckius de Script. Byzant. P. i. c. 40). Chalcondyles and Ducas speak in general terms of Bajazet's chains.

57 Annales Leunciav. p. 321. Pocock, Prolegomen. ad Abulpharag. Dynast. Cantemir, p. 55.

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