Suleiman The Magnificent 1520 1566 (12 page)

The plain of Mohacs, some six miles in length, is bounded on the east by the Danube. At the northern end is the town, while to the south and west there is a line of low hills, then covered with woods, which furnished an admirable screen for the Turkish advance. Apparently neither side expected a combat till well after noon of the day on which it occurred, and actual fighting did not begin till after three. The story of the details of the battle itself varies widely in the different contemporaneous accounts that have come down to us, but the main outlines seem reasonably clear. The combat opened with a tre-

14 A.. Vambery, Hungary, p. 287; Brodarics, pp. 1188-89. The figure here in Brodarics, alike in the edition of 1574 and that of 1581, is 2000, which is an obvious misprint. Brodarics adds, "the army did not yet exceed this number."

mendous charge of the heavy-armed Hungarian cavalry against the centre of the Turkish line emerging from the woods. It pierced the opposing ranks, and soon after appeared to be so decisively successful that orders were fiven for a general advance of all the Hungarian forces, ut the Turkish centre had been withdrawn on purpose, in order to lure their enemies on to their destruction. By the time they had reached the Janissaries and the Sultan's standard, they were held up. There were furious hand-to-hand combats between the Christian leaders and the members of Suleiman's bodyguard; at one moment Suleiman himself was in grave danger. But the Turkish artillery was far more skilfully handled than that of their opponents; 15 the Hungarians were mowed down in droves; most important of all, the concentration of the Christians in the centre gave their numerous foes a splendid opportunity, of which they were prompt to take advantage, to outflank their enemies, particularly on the westward. Within an hour and a half, the fate of the battle had been decided. The Hungarians fled in wild disorder to the north and east. Such, apparently, are the principal facts. But as we are following the story of the battle from the Turkish standpoint, it will be worth while to supplement these data by a few passages from the history of Kemal Pasha. He gives Ibrahim all the credit for the feint by which the Christians were enticed to disaster: "The young lion," he declares, "no matter how brave, should remember the wisdom and experience of the old wolf. 16 . . . When the Grand Vizir seized his redoubtable sword, ready to enter the lists, he looked like the sun, which sheds its rays on the universe. In combat, he was a youth, ardent as the springtime: in council, he was an old man, as ex-

15 Cuspinianus, fol. B recto, speaks of the lack of expert direction for the Hungarian artillery.

16 Kemal Pasha Zadeh, p. 84.

perienced as Fortune in numerous vicissitudes." 1T When the battle began, he continues, "the air was rent with the wind of the fury of the combatants; the standards shone forth in the distance; the drums sounded like thunder, and swords flashed like the lightning. . . . While the faces of the miserable infidels grew pale and withered before they felt the flame of the blades . . . the cheeks of our heroes, drunk with lust for combat, were tinged with the color of roses. 18 . . . With all these murderous swords stretched out to lay hold on the garment of life, the plain seemed like a fiend with a thousand arms; with all these pointed lances, eager to catch the bird of life in the midst of slaughter, the battlefield resembled a dragon with a thousand heads." 19 And then, when the rout began, he concludes: "At the order of the Sultan the fusiliers of the Janissaries, directing their blows against the cruel panthers who opposed us, caused hundreds, or rather thousands of them, in the space of a moment, to descend into the depths of Hell" 20

The slaughter which followed the battle was indeed fearful. The Turks took no prisoners, and few of the defeated escaped. The Sultan's diary is even more than usually laconic. For August 31 it reads u The Emperor, seated on a golden throne, receives the homage of the vizirs and the beys: massacre of 2000 prisoners: the rain falls in torrents"; and for September 2; "Rest at Mohacs; 20,000 Hungarian infantry and 4000 of their cavalry are buried." 21 On this occasion his figures seem to be corroborated, in round numbers at least, by the Christian accounts of the disaster. Mohacs indeed was the "tombeau de la nation hongroise"; never has a single battle proved so fatal to the life of a people. In addition to the annihilation of

17 Kemal Pasha Zadeh, p. 82. 20 Kemal Pasha Zadeh, p. 97.

18 Kernal Pasha Zadeh, p. 88. 21 Quoted in Hammer, V, 439.

19 Kemal Pasha Zadeh, p. 90.

Its army, almost all of its leaders had perished. King Louis, after fighting bravely, turned to flee when all was lost, but his horse, in trying to climb the steep bank of a small stream, fell backwards into the waters below and buried his rider under him. Torndri and his second in command were also killed, together with two archbishops, five bishops, many magnates, and the greater part of the Hungarian aristocracy; the flower of the nation, both lay and clerical, had been sacrificed on the fatal day. Suleiman's announcement of his victory to his governors is couched in more expansive language than is his diary, but the impression conveyed in the following sentences from it is substantially correct, as seen from the standpoint of the Turks. "Thanks be to the Most High! The banners of Islam have been victorious, and the enemies of the doctrine of the Lord of Mankind have been driven from their country and overwhelmed. Thus God's grace has granted my glorious armies a triumph, such as was never equalled by any illustrious Sultan, all-powerful Khan, or even by the companions of the Prophet. What was left of the nation of impious men has been extirpated! Praise be to God, the Master of Worlds!" 22

After Mohacs organized resistance practically ceased. On the day following the battle John Zapolya with his army reached the left bank of the Danube; but he made haste to withdraw as soon as he learned of the catastrophe. On September third the Ottoman army resumed its advance; on the tenth it entered Buda. Apparently the keys of the town had been sent out in advance to Suleiman in token of submission by those who had been unable to flee (Kemal Pasha assures us that only "humble folk" had remained within the walls), 23 and the Sultan, in return

22 Kemal Pasha Zadeh, p. 152. The last two sentences are from the Koran, sura vi, verse 45.

23 Kemal Pasha Zadeh, p. 108.

promised them that they should be spared the horrors of a sack. But his troops got out of hand, and he was unable to keep his word. As his diary tersely puts it (September 14), "A fire breaks out in Buda, despite the efforts of the Sultan: the Grand Vizir seeks in vain to extinguish it": 2 * as a matter of fact the entire city was burnt to the ground with the exception of the royal castle, where Suleiman himself had taken up his residence. There the Sultan found many treasures which he carried back with him to Constantinople: especially the great library of Matthias Cor-vinus, one of the most celebrated in Europe, and three bronze statues from Italy, representing Hercules, Diana, and Apollo. But the trophy which appealed most strongly to the Ottoman imagination was two huge cannon which Mohammed II had been obliged to abandon on the occasion of his unsuccessful siege of Belgrade in 1456. They had apparently been exhibited at Buda for years past as a proof of Hungarian valor, and the Turks were overjoyed to be able to take them back to the Porte. 25 We also read of the Sultan's delight in the pleasures of hunting and falconry in the royal preserves, and of music and feasting in the royal palace. 26 Meantime the akinji had spread out in every direction, plundering, burning, and murdering even beyond the Hungarian border into Austria; the Sultan's diary expressly states that he had forbidden them to do so, 27 but he apparently made no effort to give effect to his commands. In the midst of the celebrations of his victory he was seriously considering the question of the disposition he should make of the prize that he. had won.

There can be little doubt that it was generally expected that he would occupy and garrison all the territory he had gained, and add it to his empire, like Belgrade and Rhodes;

24 Quoted in Hammer, V, 440.

25 Kemal Pasha Zadeh, pp. 109-113.

2e Hammer, V, 440; Kemal Pasha Zadeh, pp. 115-116.

27 Quoted in Hammer, V, 440.

and it is significant that Kemal Pasha takes so much trouble and space to explain why he decided not to do so. But there were plenty of good reasons why he should rest content, for the time being at least, with the great victory he had won and the terrible destruction he had wrought. His army had suffered cruelly from the wet weather; it was, as we have already pointed out, essentially a summer force, and winter was approaching fast. Buda was much farther from Constantinople than Belgrade, and just so much nearer the lands of his foes. It would need a stronger garrison to hold it than he could well afford. John Zapolya was at large, with a considerable force; in fact, he occupied Buda shortly after Suleiman left it. The Sultan's presence was urgently demanded at Constantinople, and there were rumblings of rebellion in Asia Minor. On the whole it seemed wiser to be satisfied with what had already been achieved. To quote Kemal again, "The time when this province should be annexed to the possessions of Islam had not yet arrived, nor the day come when the heroes of the Holy War should honor the rebel plains with their presence. The matter was therefore postponed to a more suitable occasion, and heed was given to the sage advice; 'When thou wouldst enter, think first how thou wilt get out again/ " 28

On September 13, accordingly, the Sultan ordered the construction of a bridge of boats across the Danube from Buda to Pesth, and seven days later the vanguard of the Turkish army passed across it. On the night of the twenty-third the bridge apparently broke into three parts, two of which were swept away, so that the last detachments had to be ferried over in boats. 29 The next day Pesth was burnt, and on the morrow the Ottoman army started homeward, keeping for a time on the left bank of the river, in order

28 Kemal Pasha Zadeh, p. 131.

29 Hammer, V, 440.

to lay waste fresh territory. There was apparently great shortage of provisions, and sometimes the inhabitants would gather to defend their homes. On these occasions they were invariably slaughtered in the end, though once it would appear that their resistance was sufficient to cause the Turks to lose almost as many men as they had at Mohacs. Opposite Peterwardein the Sultan recrossed the river and struck his old line of march back to Constantinople, which he entered in triumph on November 13. He had been absent less than seven months. "After the pearl of the sea of glory had been replaced in the treasure-box of happiness, and the shining star of the skies of power had returned to the constellation of nobility, the Sultan of the world found repose in delicious sojourning in his palace. May the friends of his authority be always happy, and the foes of his empire defeated! May his banners float victorious until the day of the Resurrection, and his armies continue to triumph until the sounding of the last trump! May God always protect the edifice of his greatness!" 30

30 Kemal Pasha Zadeh, p. 143.

The Siege of Vienna and Its Aftermath

I he first six years of the rule of Suleiman had seen him win an uninterrupted series of notable victories. Indeed his triumphant return after Mohacs marks in some respects the climax of his whole reign. So far it had proved impossible to defeat him. During the next six years he was to extend his offensive still farther into Christian territory, but he was also to experience his first serious reverses.

In the year following his return from Mohacs, his chief immediate care was the suppression of two insurrections in Asia Minor. The first, in Cilicia, was put down by the local authorities. 1 The second, in Karamania and the districts to the east of it, was more serious; and Ibrahim had to be despatched with a force of Janissaries to insure the final defeat of the rebels in June, ijiy. 2 Meantime the Sultan had remained at Constantinople; partly, perhaps, because he did not wish to lower his own prestige in the eyes of his subjects by seeming to be obliged to deal personally with revolts; but more probably because he was principally interested in the course of events in Hungary. He could not fail to recognize that the mass of his subjects were disappointed that he had not annexed his recent conquests there to his own dominions. The fact that his border governors had f olio wed up his victory by capturing Yaicze and Banialuka—two advanced outposts which the Hungarians had held inside the Bosnian frontier since the time

1 Hammer, V, 92-93. 2 Hammer, V, 93-97.

of Matthias Corvinus—-seemed to beckon him on to fresh activity on the Danube. 3 And, finally, a golden opportunity was offered him by the state of affairs in Hungary itself.

When Louis of Bohemia and Hungary fell, childless, on the plain of Mohacs, his two kingdoms were left without a sovereign. The question of the succession to the vacant thrones affected all Europe. The obvious candidate for both places was Ferdinand of Hapsburg, Archduke of Austria, brother and imperial vicar of the Emperor Charles V, whose ancestral domains bordered Hungary on the west. Moreover Ferdinand, as we have already seen, was doubly brother-in-law to Louis, and there were former treaties between the two houses which gave him strong claims to the succession. In September, 1526, he hurried to Linz to direct his candidacy for the two monarchies which had so suddenly been laid vacant. 4

In Bohemia his success was surprisingly prompt. His reputation as a ruler was not good; his sister was unpopular; there were a number of other candidates in the field, and the Bohemian nobles totally refused to recognize that any one had any rights whatsoever to the crown, which they declared to be elective under any terms they should decide to impose. But the Austrian agents met all these difficulties with ready skill. They ceased to claim, and hastened to promise. Bribery was also employed with gratifying results, and the archduke was finally proclaimed king on October 24.? But Hungary proved a far more difficult problem. Here Ferdinand had a competitor who