The Sieges of Vienna by the TurksSchimmer, Karl August
History
The Sieges of Vienna by the Turks
Schimmer, Karl August
Turkey -- History -- 1453-1683; Vienna (Austria) -- History
At sunrise of the 13th the Viennese rushed forth in crowds to taste the
first sweets of their liberation from a two months’ imprisonment. The
only gate yet open, the Stuben, was soon clogged with the multitude,
and the greater number clambered over the rubbish of the breaches,
eager to gratify in the Turkish camp their curiosity, or their
rapacity, or both. With respect to the more transportable articles of
value, the Pole had been before them; but in the article of provisions
there was yet much for hungry men to glean. Prices rapidly fell, and
superfluity succeeded to starvation.
Among those who sought the camp with other purposes than plunder
or curiosity, was the good Bishop Kollonitsch. His inexhaustible
benevolence found employment there in collecting and saving some 500
infants, whose mothers, many of them, as is supposed, Turkish women,
had perished by the swords of their ruthless masters. The King mentions
one instance of a beautiful child whom he saw lying with its skull
cloven; but in general even Turkish inhumanity had shrunk from the
task of child-murder. These, with many half-murdered mothers and some
Christian adult survivors of the massacre, the Bishop transported to
the city in carriages, at his own cost, and took measures for the
future support and education of the infants thus rescued. Popes may
spare themselves the trouble of the forms, the ceremonies, and the
intrigues necessary for adding such names as that of Kollonitsch to the
list of saints in the Romish calendar: the recital of these actions
puts the Devil’s advocate out of court, and the simple record, though
traced by a Protestant pen, is their best canonization. Another worthy
member of the church, the Father Aviano, had recently performed a
service for which the Duke of Lorraine and the army had doubtless
reason to thank him. As confessor to the Emperor he had used his
influence to prevent the latter from embarrassing the army with his
presence at Crems, and distracting men and officers from their duty by
the etiquettes and ceremonies which that presence would have inflicted,
and the intrigues which it would have fostered. On the news, however,
of the victory, the Emperor had dropped down the river as far as
Durrenstein, and thither the Duke of Lorraine despatched the Count
Auersperg with the details of the late occurrences. At ten A. M. of
the 13th, the Commandant Stahremberg issued forth from the walls he
had so stoutly defended to visit the camp and exchange congratulations
with the leaders of the liberating army. On this morning, too, the Duke
of Lorraine and the Elector of Saxony met with the King of Poland for
the first time since the mass of the Kahlenberg. The meeting between
all these worthies had every appearance, in the first instance, of
cordiality. They perambulated the camp and the approaches together amid
the acclamations of the troops; but when they entered the town, the
King had the shrewdness soon to perceive that, though the gratitude of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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