The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Volumes 1 and 2Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
History
The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Volumes 1 and 2
Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de, 1522-1592
Jehangir, the youngest, is dead, and of his death I shall now proceed
to give you an account. The news of Mustapha’s death, when it arrived
at Constantinople, overwhelmed the young prince with terror and dismay.
The poor lad, whose person was disfigured by a hump, had no strength
of mind or body to enable him to resist the shock. The death of his
brother reminded him of the fate in store for himself at no distant
day. His father’s death would seal his doom. The consignment of the
old Sultan to the tomb would mark at once the commencement of his
successor’s reign, and the termination of his own life. Whoever that
successor might be, it was certain he would regard all his brothers
as rivals to his throne, who must be got rid of without delay; and of
these brothers he was one. These sad thoughts took hold of him to
such an extent, that an order for his instant execution could not have
terrified him more. So great was his misery that it brought on an
illness which terminated in his death.
Two sons, as I said, survive; one of whom, Selim, being the elder, is
intended by his father to succeed him on the throne. Bajazet’s claims
are warmly supported by his mother, who is devoted to him. Possibly his
hopeless position may have excited her pity, or she may be influenced
by his dutiful bearing towards herself; but whatever the reason may
be, no one doubts that, if it depended on her, Bajazet would be placed
on the throne to the exclusion of Selim. She must, however, yield to
the father’s will, and he is thoroughly determined that, if the fates
permit, no one but Selim shall succeed him. Bajazet, being aware
how matters stand, is anxiously looking round for an opportunity of
escaping the fate marked out for him, and exchanging a pitiless doom
for a throne. Indeed the support of his mother and Roostem prevents his
altogether despairing of success; and to fall fighting for the chance
of empire seems to him a more honourable lot than to be butchered
like a sheep by his brother’s hangman. Such were Bajazet’s feelings,
and his difference with Selim was becoming more and more marked,
when he discerned in the odium excited by the execution of Mustapha
an opportunity of putting in motion the revolution he had long been
planning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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