Chapter XXV: Introduction (7)

This king has pretensions and claims to the countries taken from him by the Ottoman emperors, on one side from the river Euphrates to Babilonia, on the west to the countries of Benbech[717] and Lesser Armenia, in which are comprised Urfa,[718] Merdin,[719] Bira,[720] Adiligus, Bitis,[721] Van, Vastan, Cassan,[722] Calasci, Haligan, Baiiburdt,[723] and other places. This king has the allegiance and dependence of a Christian named Lentul[724] Deghi, Prince of the Georgians, who is his tributary, and pays every year twenty thousand ducats; he has his state near the Caspian Sea. This prince, in case of war with the Ottomans, could assist with ten thousand Georgian horse, all robust and valiant men.

[Sidenote: Chindi, inhabitants of the mountains of Armenia, and their forces.]

There are also some Turkish chiefs named Chindi inhabiting certain mountains in Lesser Armenia, towards the Mediterranean;[725] and these Chindi, when all united, may amount to seven or eight thousand cavalry, of great excellence, and always eager to fight against the Turk.

[Sidenote: Conclusion.]

This is all, most Serene Prince and most Illustrious Noblemen, that in the space of one and twenty months passed since the day I left the feet of your Highnesses to go to Persia, till my return, I have diligently observed of the affairs of that realm.

FINIS.

FOOTNOTES

[681] Tamasp.

[682] See Zeno, p. 48.

[683] Sheikh Hyder.

[684] Kara Amid Diarbekr. See Zeno, p. 6.

[685] Diarbekr.

[686] Mirza, “prince”.

[687] Shirvan.

[688] In 1549, Knolles says:—“Solyman had now almost three yeares taken his rest, when it fortuned that Ercaces Imirza, King of Sirvan, moved with the often injuries of Tamas, his brother, the great Persian king, fled to Solyman at Constantinople, to crave aid of him against his brother. Solyman, glad of such an occasion to worke upon, entertained him with all courtesie, and promised to take upon him his quarrell and to protect him against his unnaturall brother; and when he had made all things readie for so great an expedition, passed over into Asia; and after long and painfull travell entered at last with a puissant armie into Armenia, and there, in the borders of the Persian kingdome, first besieged the citie of Van, which, after ten daies’ siege, was yeelded unto him upon condition that the Persian souldiors there in garrison might, with life and libertie, depart with their armes as souldiors; which was at the first by Solyman granted, and so the citie surrendered. From thence, Solyman sent his chiefe commanders, with a great part of his armie, to burne and spoile the enemie’s countrey, which they for a time cheerfully performed, and running farre into the countrey strive, as it were, among themselves who should doe most harme; where Imirza, among the rest, for whose sake Solyman had undertaken this warre, was as forward as the best to wast and spoile his brother’s kingdome, sparing nothing that came to hand. The best and richest things he got he presented to Solyman, to draw him on still in that warre. But that served not his turne to recover againe his kingdome of Sirvan; for Tamas, without shewing any power to withstand the Turks, had, after his wonted manner, caused his people to withdraw themselves far into the mountainous countrey, leaving nothing behind them in that wast countrey to relieve them but bare ground; so that the farther the Turks went the more they wanted, without hope of better successe than such as they had before to their losse made proofe of, in their former expeditions into that great kingdome. The conceit whereof so much pierced not the common souldiors only, but even the captaines themselves: that to make an end of that long and unprofitable warre, taken in hand for another man’s good, they consulted among themselves either to kill Imirza, or else to disgrace him with Solyman; which they so cunningly wrought: some suggesting false suspitions of his treacherous dealing in the proceeding of that warre; and others, with like craft, under cover of friendship, giving him warning in secret of the danger he was in: the one filling Solyman’s head with distrust, and the other, Imirza’s with fear. Briefly, to shut the matter up in their owne tearmes, _they persuaded the hare to flie and the hounds to follow_. Imirza, doubting some sudden mischiefe, fled for succour to an old acquaintance of his, one of the princes of Chaldea, who most treacherously sent him in bonds to Tamas, his brother, his most cruell enemie, who, glad to have the author of all his troubles with the Turks delivered into his hands, cast him in prison, and that Solyman nor any other should in his behalfe further prosecute the warre, or by his means hope for victorie, caused him to be in prison murthered. In this expedition against the Persian king Solyman was occupied a yeare and nine months: all which time the Turks endured great troubles and were oftentimes hardly distressed by the Persians; untill, at last, Solyman himselfe, wearie of that tedious warre, wherein he had got neither honour nor profit, thought it best to make an end; and thereupon returned againe to Constantinople in the yeare 1549.”

[689] Mahomet Khodabundah Mirza, Prince Mahomet, the slave of God.

[690] Afterwards Shah Abbas, the Great.

[691] The Pasha of Erzeroum.

[692] When he came to the throne he gave way altogether to debauchery.

[693] Hyder Mirza.

[694] Judges.

[695] Sherf Beg.

[696] Khunneydec Kurds in the Bohtan mountains, near Mosul, tribesmen of Sherf Beg.

[697] Bitlis.

[698] Ikhlat, Arjeesh, Van, Ardel, Jiraz, Pergri, all on the Van Lake. Ikhlat was the summer seat of the Akkoniloos, and its burial ground is full of the tombs of their chiefs.

[699] Hyder Mirza.

[700] Hyder Mirza.

[701] Called then the Shat-ul-Arab.

[702] Basrat or Bassora.

[703] Baku.

[704] Shirvan.

[705] Yezd.

[706] Herat.

[707] Ghilan.

[708] Nakshivan.

[709] Schamachi.

[710] Kasween.

[711] See Angiolello.

[712] Moldavia.

[713] Alcocke, or Anthony Jenkinson, who came with a letter from Queen Elizabeth to Shah Tamasp in 1561.

[714] Shirvan.

[715] Khorassan.

[716] Bayezid, the son of Suleyman, after his rebellion in 1556, fled for safety to the Court of Tahmas, who received him with favour at first; but, his mind becoming embittered against him, caused his followers to be dispersed and slain, and Bayezid himself to be cast into prison. Suleyman used all the means in his power to have Bayezid delivered into his hands, but Tamas would not consent; but afterwards, in consideration of a large sum of money, agreed to allow him to be made away with. Bayezid, accordingly, was strangled, with his four sons. (From Augerius Busbequius Legationis Turcicæ, epist. 4.)

[717] Diarbekr.

[718] Orfa.

[719] Mardin.

[720] Bir.

[721] Aradh el Jivaz and Bitlis.

[722] Kashan.

[723] Baiboort.

[724] Lentul Ogli, or Levent Ogli.

[725] These I suppose to be the Kizzilbashes of the Deyrsun and Kara Dagh, near Marash. They are still inveterate enemies of the Turks, though inhabiting their territory. Their religious tenets assimilate more with the Persians.

ERRATA AND NOTES.

Page 5, Note, _for_ “taneel”, _read_ “tawil”, long. Uzun means long in Turkish, and Zeno is right in giving it the secondary sense of great; the Turks claim Artaxerxes Longimanus to have been of Turkish race, because with them long arms are esteemed a sign of power and greatness.

Page 8, _for_ “Ikindjis”, _read_ “Akinjys”.

Page 24, “ne dentider”, probably “neh deria-dir”, what a sea it is, Turkish, not Persian.

Page 70, “Occota Can”, probably “Oktai Khan”.

Page 79, Note, _for_ “Quzbvassi”, _read_ “Kas-ovahsy”.

Page 81, “Arphaemiler”, Arpa-eminy, master of the barley.

Page 136, “bosdocan”, buzdugan, a mace, a word nearly obsolete in Constantinople; it is preserved in Wallachia.

Page 143. These columns are still standing, and have some inscriptions, apparently Phœnician, upon them.

Page 207. Sheibani Khan; for an account of his life and death, see M. Vambery’s _History of Bokhara_.

INDEX.

Amasia, 37

Amida (Diarbekir), 6

Ardebil, 42

Astrabad, 113

Astrakhan, 114

Barbaro, 15, 21, 33, 93

Bitlis, 8, 157

Calo Johannes, 9, 178

Casimir, King of Poland, 33

Chalderan, battle of, 59-61, 120

Contarini Ambrosio, 33

Derbend, 44, 113, 185, 186

Despina, wife of Uzun Hassan, 9, 13, 14, 18, 41, 42, 71, 146, 178, 179

Erzingan, 7

Gaza, battle of, 128-130

Genealogy of Kara Yusuf, 1

— — Shah Ismail, 5

— — Shah Abbas, 48

Hassan Beg or Uzun Hassan, 1, 73, 183

Hyder Sheikh, 42, 43, 73, 100, 101, 184

Ismail, Shah, 46, 48, 103, 122, 137, 152, 187, 190, 191, 211

Jezirah, 150

Kafur el Ghouri, 126

Kharput, 148

Khoi, 165

Kurds, 157

Malatia, battle of, 25-29, 86-88, 181, 182

Mamelukes, 129, 133

Mardin, 148

Matthias Corvinus, 34

Mazenderan, 49

Morenigo, Pietro, 21

Murad Khan, 53, 55, 105, 192

Orfa, 98, 143, 144

Pancratio, 97

Persian army, 16, 17, 65

— games, 111

Selim Sultan, 58

Sert, 156

Shebban Kara Hissar, 23

Sheibani Khan, 55, 110, 115, 117, 158, 207

Sinan Pasha, 128, 132

Suleyman Sultan, 213

Tabriz, 166, 178-224

Tahmasp Shah, 211

Tiflis, 97

Tomant Bey, 127, 131

Turkish army, 22, 62, 79, 83

Van, 159, 187

Vastan, 161

Violante, wife of C. Zeno, 9

Yakub, son of Hassan Beg, his death, 99, 183

List of amendments made to the text

In “Travels to Tana and Persia”:

Page 13, “ꝑerchaunce” changed to “perchaunce” (perchaunce to trym̄e)
Page 24, “sigfieth” changed to “signifieth” (signifieth a bulter)
Page 39, “thtt” changed to “that” (that is to wete, viij in every galey)
Page 39, “Wherepon” changed to “Whereupon” (Whereupon I went streight to)
Page 41, “comannded” changed to “commanded” (commanded Mʳ. Vettor)
Page 41, “morʳneng” changed to “moʳneng” (early in the moʳneng)
Page 45, “ꝑecaue” changed to “ꝑceaue” (being as ferre as I coulde ꝑceaue)
Page 66, “goskawkes” changed to “goshawkes” (houndes, a thousande,
goshawkes, Lᵗⁱᵉ)
Page 74, “xxˡⁱᵉ” changed to “xxᵗⁱᵉ” (very great, of xxᵗⁱᵉ myles compasse)
Page 117, “acording” changed to “according” (acted according to their
usual custom)
Page 154, “despared” changed to “despaired” (had despaired of seeing me)
Page 155, “mumbers” changed to “numbers” (in considerable numbers)
Page 155, “numerons” changed to “numerous” (supposed to be very numerous)
Page 168, “porvided” changed to “provided” (escorts were provided for me)
Index, the “K” section was partly duplicated, this has been fixed

In “A Narrative of Italian Travels in Persia”:

Page xi, “rebelion” changed to “rebellion” (after his rebellion in 1556)
Page 101, “son” changed to “sons” (to seize his wife and three sons)
Page 191, “Christains” changed to “Christians” (villages inhabited by
orthodox Christians)
Page 199, “vasaal” changed to “vassal” (Muratcan, offering to become
his vassal)
Page 199, “Spain” changed to “Spaan”, twice (he proceeded to Spaan /
Ismael in Spaan)
Page 203, “fortrèss” changed to “fortress” (a fortress named Canar)
Footnote 405, missing word “of” added (the present capital of Russian
Trans-Caucasia)
Footnote 486, “Knaneh” changed to “Khaneh” (At Gumish Khaneh)
Footnote 668, “Maganderan” changed to “Mazanderan” (often included in
Mazanderan)
Index, “Sbah” changed to “Shah” (entry for Genealogy of Shah Ismail)