Travels to Tana and Persia : $b A narrative of Italian travels in Persia, in the 15th and 16th centuriesBarbaro, Giosofat
History
Travels to Tana and Persia : $b A narrative of Italian travels in Persia, in the 15th and 16th centuries
Barbaro, Giosofat
Iran -- Description and travel; Voyages and travels
It was first resolved to make five principal commanders, one of whom
was the Turkish monarch at the head of his court, and other troops to
the number of thirty thousand infantry and cavalry. The second was his
eldest son, Baiesit, who had a following of another thirty thousand,
with his position on the right of his father. The third was his second
son, Mustafà, who also had thirty thousand men, among whom were twelve
thousand Wallachians from the Basha of Wallachia, under a chief named
Bataraba, and this column had its position on the left of the Turk. The
fourth was the Beglerbeg of Roumania, named Asmurat,[370] of the family
of the Palæologi; and, as he was young, Maumet Bassà was given him as
an adviser, as he was the first, and considered the most prudent man
of the whole empire of the Turk; he was a counsellor of the sovereign,
as he had also been of Amurat, the father of the present monarch. This
column was sixty thousand strong, comprising many Christians, Greeks,
Albanians, and Sorians in their number; and this column had its post in
front of the Turk. The fifth commander was the Beglerbeg of Natolia,
named Daut Bassà, a man of authority and mature discretion. The column
was forty thousand strong, including Mussulman infantry and cavalry, and
their post was behind the Grand Turk; so that the Sultan, with his court,
remained in the midst surrounded by the four abovementioned columns. And
the commands were that they should pitch their tents, which are very
numerous, according to their rank, but without disturbing the order of
the march, or leaving their own divisions, arranging close together like
a fortified place; but, that they should always leave roads for passage
in the camp, and in the middle of each column a large space for a square,
since in each column was a market for cooked foods, forage, and other
comforts. There were besides in each column seneschals and marshals
with full powers for keeping order and providing against disturbances.
Each of these four commanders was obliged to send out sentinels and to
keep guard in his division. Besides the five columns we have mentioned,
there was also another of the Aganzi,[371] who are not paid, except by
the booty they may gain in guerilla warfare. These men do not encamp
with the rest of the army, but go traversing, pillaging, and wasting the
country of the enemy on every side, and yet keep up a great and excellent
discipline among themselves, both in the division of the plunder and in
the execution of all their enterprises. In this division were thirty
thousand men, remarkably well mounted, and as a commander they had given
them a valiant chief named Maumut Aga.
CHAP. V.
The supplies of provisions made by the chief, Arphaemiler, that
the army might be in plenty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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