The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Vol. 1 (of 2)Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
History
The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de, 1522-1592
The Pasha was not in the city, having encamped opposite Buda, in the
plains near Pesth, called Rakos,[148] where, after the custom of the
Hungarians, he was holding a muster of Turkish feudal militia. Several
of the neighbouring Sanjak-beys were with him, but more were expected;
and so when I asked for an audience, he put me off for three days,
in order that he might have a greater assemblage of Sanjak-beys and
soldiers. On receiving a summons, I crossed the Danube and came to his
camp. He made many complaints of the outrages committed by certain
Hungarians. There is one point in which the Turks and Hungarians have
precisely the same way of proceeding, the latter being quite as bad
as the former. When they have committed some outrage, they complain
of their unfortunate victim as if he were the one in fault. The Pasha
also added threats of reprisals, thinking, probably, that I should be
intimidated by the presence of his army. I replied briefly that his
charge against the Hungarians might with much better reason be brought
against the Turks. I told him that, even on my way there, I had come
across soldiers of his who were engaged in plundering and harrying the
property of some unhappy Christian peasants who were _subjects of his
Royal Majesty_ (King Ferdinand), which was perfectly true. The Pasha
replied that he had handed over to the soldiers certain rebellious
Christians, who were _the Sultan’s subjects_, to be chastised and
pillaged. After rejoinders of this kind, he dismissed me, more dead
than alive, for this was the day on which my fever recurred.
On the next day we set out for Gran, under the escort of some Turkish
horsemen. My intention was to cross the Danube, and spend the night in
a village which lies on the opposite bank over against Gran, so that
the next day I might reach Komorn at an earlier hour, and in this way
lessen the effects of the fever, which I expected to recur on that day.
Accordingly I requested our conductor to send some one forward to bring
the ferry-bridge across to our bank, with a view to accelerating our
passage. Although there were several reasons which rendered this plan
scarcely feasible, still, partly from a wish to please me, and partly
because he was anxious to announce my coming to the Sanjak-bey, he
despatched a couple of men.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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