Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. IEvliya Çelebi
History
Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. I
Evliya Çelebi
Caucasus, South -- Description and travel; Istanbul (Turkey) -- Description and travel; Turkey -- History
were circulated respecting the cause of his death. Some say that he
died sighing, and crying out, “O King Jem!” Others, that having been
poisoned by his son, he exclaimed, “May thy life be short, but thy
victories many!” His corpse was buried within the precincts of his
mosque. He reigned thirty-three years, and was succeeded by his son
Selím I., who began his victorious course by a signal defeat of Sháh
Ismá’íl, King of Írán, on the plains of Cheldir, beneath the castle
of Ak hichkah, where 200,000 Kizil-báshes (Persians) were put to the
sword. The Sháh himself escaped with difficulty, accompanied by only
seven horsemen, and his Queen Tájlí Khánum was taken prisoner, together
with three hundred female captives, who were entrusted to the care of
the Defterdár Tájir-zádeh Ja’fer Chelebí, and conducted by him to the
threshold of Felicity (the Sublime Porte). In this victorious campaign
the following castles were conquered:—Kars, Ak-hichkah, Erdehán,
Hasan, Erz Rúm, Baïbúd, Iánijah, Kumákh, Karah-Hamíd, Diyár-Bekr, and
forty other castles with their dependencies. Sultán ’Aláu-d-daulah,
of the Zúl-kadriyyeh family, Lord of Mer’ash, was also defeated and
killed, and his head, together with those of seventy other great
chiefs (Bóï Beg), was sent to Ghaurí, Sultán of Egypt, against whom
a campaign was immediately commenced: in the course of which Súltán
Selím conquered Halebu-sh-shuhbá (the bright), with its twenty, Shám
(Damascus), with its forty-two castles; Tarábulu-Shám (Tripoli), with
its seventy castles, occupied by the Durúzí (Druzes); Beïtu-l-mokaddas
(Jerusalem), Ghazah, and Ramlah, with seventeen castles. In that
paradisiacal country, Shám (Syria), he took up his winter-quarters;
and in the ensuing year he fought, on the plain of Kákún, the great
battle in which Sultán Ghaúrí was routed and slain. The wreck of the
army of the Cherákis (Circassians) fled to Misr (Caïro), with Selím
Khán at their heels; and after one continued battle for a whole month,
the province of Misr (Egypt), with its three hundred cities and seven
thousand villages, was given up to the conqueror in the year 922
(A.D. 1516). Híreh Beg was appointed Governor of Misr (Caïro); and
Kemàl Páshà-zádeh Ahmed Efendí, Military Judge. Possession was taken
of Mekkah and Medínah, and Selím assumed the title of Servant of the
two noble Mosques, and exalted his victories to the skies. On his
returning to Islámból, he laid the foundation of the mosque which
bears his name, but did not live to finish it. He was buried in the
kubbeh, opposite the Mihráb. He was born in Tarabefzún (for Tarábuzún,
_i.e._ Trebizonde), of which he was Governor while a Prince. He reigned
nine years, during which the Khotbah was said in his name in one
thousand and one mosques. He was succeeded by his son, the determined
supporter of the faith, and the breaker of the heads of the people
who contemplated rebellion, the tenth of the Sultáns of the house of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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