The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Vol. 2 (of 2)Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
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The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de, 1522-1592
On June 29 he received John Sigismund at Semlin, and intended to
march on Erlau, but, hearing that Count Nicholas Zriny, the commander
at Szigeth, had surprised and killed the Sanjak-bey of Tirhala,
he resolved to make Szigeth the first object of attack. The siege
commenced on August 5. Two furious assaults on the 26th and 29th were
repulsed with great slaughter. On September 8, Zriny, finding he could
hold out no longer, set the fortress on fire, sallied forth, sword in
hand, at the head of the garrison, and met a soldier’s death. The Turks
poured into the citadel, intent on murder and plunder; but the fire
reached the powder-magazine, which blew up, burying in the ruins more
than three thousand men. Solyman did not live to witness his triumph.
His health had long been failing, and he died on the night of the 5th
or 6th of September. His death was concealed by the Grand Vizier for
three weeks, to give his successor, Selim, time to reach Constantinople
from Kutaiah.
The death of Solyman seems to form a fitting termination to this
sketch. With the exception of his successor, Selim, he is the last
survivor of the personages who figure prominently in Busbecq’s pages.
The Emperor Ferdinand, the Grand Viziers Achmet, Roostem, and Ali, and
the unfortunate Bajazet, have passed away. The greater part of Hungary
and Transylvania continued subject to the successors of Solyman, either
immediately or as a vassal State, till near the close of the following
century. In 1683 Vienna was once more besieged by the Turks, under the
Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha, but was relieved by John Sobieski. The
reaction from this supreme effort was fatal to the Turkish dominion in
Hungary. In 1686 Buda was recaptured by Charles of Lorraine, and by
the Peace of Carlowitz, concluded in 1698, the whole of Hungary and
Transylvania was ceded to the Emperor Leopold.
II.
_ITINERARIES._
IN describing his first Turkish letter as an ‘iter,’ or itinerary,
Busbecq places it under a class of composition of which there are
several examples still extant. In Busbecq’s days it was a common
practice for scholars to write an account in Latin verse of any journey
they might happen to make. These itineraries are generally extremely
amusing, the writers being men of keen observation, with a great sense
of humour, and condescending to notice those trifles which are passed
over by the historian.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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