To the first banquet “all the world” was invited;60 the seven that followed were given to various branches of the army, there being very splendid feasts to the janissaries, vizirs, beylerbeys and sandjakbeys. To the first feast came Ayas Pasha and the agha of the janissaries, escorted by a troop of slaves. When they reached Bab‐el‐Saadet, that gate of the city leading from the Seraglio grounds to the space before the Agia Sophia, they met the glorious sultan “whose throne is in the heavens.” His escort bore scarlet banners and carried robes of honor with which they garbed those who had come to meet them, and they led also richly caparisoned steeds to present to Ayas Pasha and his two followers, for which, says Solakzadeh, “there was limitless thanks.”
On the ninth day, the eve of that on which the bride would be brought from the palace, Ayas Pasha and the other vizirs, and the defterdar, and the agha of the janissaries sought the bridegroom and led him through the streets of Stamboul in gorgeous procession. From the Bab‐i‐Humayoun (The Sublime Porte) to the Hippodrome the streets “were full of pleasure from end to end,” all hung with silks of Broussa and velvets of Damascus, through which passed the ranks of the janissaries and the vizir who thus honored Ibrahim Pasha.
Ibrahim was a lean, dark man, slight in stature and bearing himself gracefully in his cloth‐of‐gold robes.61 He was escorted by brilliant officers on prancing steeds. There is no finer setting for a procession than the grey streets of Stamboul under the vivid Southern sky. When the procession approached the sultan’s throne, the dignitaries of the state and the nobles of the Empire, approaching on foot over the richly carpeted street, fell on their faces before his Majesty.
“This day they enjoyed riches and booty and sumptuousness without end”. “Especially were the people charmed with the sounds of rejoicing flutes and trumpets, whose music rose from earth to the first heaven”. The wise ulema and sheiks were present on this occasion, the sultan seating on his right the venerated Mufti Ali Djemali and on his left the great hodja (teacher) of the princes, while other learned doctors were arranged confronting the Imperial Majesty. The sultan presided over a learned discussion of the verse from the Koran, “O David, I will make thee Caliph in the world”, a sufficiently courtly text. The meaning was discussed and questions were propounded and answered. After this literary episode, knights‐at‐arms, wrestlers and other athletes displayed their skill. Then a rich feast was served and Mehmet Chelebi had the honor of presenting to the sultan sherbet in a priceless cup cut from a single turquoise, a souvenir of Persian victories, and the pride of the nation. Others drank their sherbet from goblets of china, then a rare and valuable ware. Food was served to the sultan and the ulema on silver trays,62 and each of the guests took away with him a tray of sweetmeats. From evening to morning fireworks and illuminations lit up the city, and were reflected in the Bosphorus and Marmora. On his return to the palace Suleiman was informed of the birth of a son, who afterwards became Selim II.
The wedding was followed by several days of dancing, races, contests of wrestlers and archers, as well as poetic contests in honor of the newly‐wedded couple. Such was a public festival in the city of the sultan in the days of the magnificent Suleiman. It reminds us of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, whose splendor delighted the French and the English in this same quarter century, the most striking difference being the literary side which the Turkish festival possessed and the European lacked.
Solakzadeh tells an interesting anecdote in connection with another great feast, that of the circumcision of Suleiman’s three sons.63 This was also a very splendid function and Suleiman is said to have asked Ibrahim in pride, whose feast had been the finer, Ibrahim’s or that of his sons. Ibrahim replied: “There has never been a feast equal to my wedding.” Suleiman, somewhat disconcerted, enquired how that was, to which Ibrahim gave the following courtly answer: “O my Padisha, my wedding was honored by the presence of Suleiman, Lord of the Age, firm Rampart of Islam, Possessor of Mecca and Medina, Lord of Damascus and Egypt, Caliph of the Lofty Threshold, and Lord of the Residence of the Pleiades: but to your festival, who was there of equally exalted rank who might come?” The padisha, greatly delighted, said, “A thousand bravas to thee, Ibrahim, who hast explained it so satisfactorily.”
Of Ibrahim’s relations to the sultan a good deal has been said. He was brought up in close contact with his master, eating and sleeping with him. They often changed garments and Ibrahim told an Austrian ambassador that the sultan never ordered garments for himself without ordering the same for his favorite. The Venetians spoke of seeing the two friends taking pleasure rides together in a cäique, and visiting what shores they pleased.
Ibrahim was said to exert such an influence on the sultan that the latter could deny him nothing, and from the time that he became grand vizir, he almost took over the sovereignty of the land: as von Hammer says, “from this time he divided the absolute power with Suleiman”. In becoming grand vizir and presiding over the divan, Ibrahim occupied the highest position open to any except a member of the imperial Ottoman family. Here the romantic story of his rise merges into the account of his public career, and this in its turn is a part of Turkish and South European history.
After 1522 Ibrahim Pasha combined in his person the highest administrative, diplomatic and military functions. Although these naturally interact, it is our plan to consider them separately, first taking up Ibrahim’s administrative work.
We have seen that Ahmed Pasha, second vizir, was sent to Egypt when Ibrahim climbed over him to the grand vizerate. Ahmed’s indignation at the treatment accorded him by Suleiman led him into treachery; he attempted to usurp the sovereignty of Egypt. Intrigues failing of success he openly threw off his allegiance to the sultan, and attacked Cairo, capturing the fortress. This threw Alexandria and the coast into his power, and he proclaimed himself sultan.64
This revolt of Ahmed Pasha has all the features of the typical revolt against Turkish authority: the sudden disgrace of an official high in power, his banishment under the name of change of office, a tampering with the loyalty of the troops of the province (in this case the Mamelukes), a conflict with the loyal janissaries, sudden success, betrayal, a rapid fall and a sudden punishment, ending in the triumph of absolutism. The same story with change of names is told a hundred times in Turkish chronicles. The only way in which Suleiman differed from most of the sultans under such circumstances was that he recognized the need of a reorganization of the revolted province and sent the grand vizir to effect it.
Four months after his marriage Ibrahim Pasha was sent to Egypt with a fleet and an army to settle the new governor in Cairo and to reëstablish the former legislation of the country.65 The Turkish historians66 give much space to the splendid state in which Ibrahim left the Porte and the unparalleled honor paid him by the company of Sultan Suleiman as far as the Princes Isles, and also to the difficulties of the voyage, interrupted several times by storms. The last part of the journey was made overland, Ibrahim visiting Aleppo and Damascus, where he put the terror of the sultan into the beylerbeys, who had been forgetting all but their own interests. Throughout the journey, the grand vizir received complaints and rendered justice, earning the blessings of the people whom he visited.67
The arrival of the imperial mission in Cairo was marked by great ceremony, the Mamelukes showing themselves as splendid in all their appointments as were the Ottomans. “All the people of Egypt came to meet Ibrahim Pasha,” declares Solakzadeh, “each one according to his rank being garbed in a robe of honor, and from the forts guns sounded, and fêtes and rejoicings were held.”
Ibrahim Pasha spent three months in Egypt, actively engaged in improving the condition of that province, which he found “ailing, but amenable to the skill and zeal of a clever doctor.”68 The first move was to punish those who had assisted Ahmed Pasha in his treachery, several Arab chiefs being publicly hanged, so that the Arab people “began to weep for fear.”69 Ibrahim next relieved many individuals who suffered under injustice, receiving in person crowds of petitioners, and relieving as many as possible. Among these acts of mercy were the release of 300 debtors from prison and the satisfaction of their creditors.70 He improved the appearance of Cairo by restoring several buildings that had fallen into disrepair, particularly mosques and schools, and also built some new ones at his own expense. To erect such buildings has always been considered an act of piety, so that sultans, vizirs, and even the favorites of sultans have acquired merit in this fashion, as the numerous mosques and religious foundations of Turkey testify. Ibrahim was thus following the usual custom. He further drew up some rules for education, and for the care of orphans.71 But the two main accomplishments of Ibrahim’s sojourn in Egypt were the reëstablishment of the law and the placing of the treasury on a better basis. Ahmed Pasha, and probably several of his predecessors, had ignored and weakened the law of the land, which Ibrahim undertook to restore. He enforced the local laws and also some of the general Koranic laws which had been neglected; but he seems to have moderated and lightened them to suit the needs and desires of the people, “for” says Solakzadeh, uttering a sentiment so un‐Turkish that one is inclined to attribute it to the Greek vizir rather than to the Ottoman chronicler, “the best things are the golden mean.” He further states that the ideal striven for was uniform rule for all the inhabitants of Egypt.72
The province was a rich one even before the days of great dams, and one of the most important of the grand vizir’s duties was to see that the taxes were properly gathered and placed in the treasury at Cairo, and that a suitable tribute was sent annually to the Porte. Ibrahim built two great towers to contain the treasure. With Ibrahim Pasha on this expedition was the Imperial defterdar or treasurer, Iskender Chelebi, who calculated that Egypt could pay annually 80,000 ducats to the Porte, after deducting the cost of administration.73 Ibrahim’s final act in Egypt was to appoint Suleiman Pasha, the Beylerbey of Damascus to the office of governor of Egypt. He seems to have chosen this man for his economical disposition, for Solakzadeh says “he watched, and shut his eyes to those who desired to spend money, and then appointed Suleiman Pasha.”
Called back to the Porte by a Hatt‐i‐humayoún, he left Egypt with her revolt quieted, her mutineers punished, her oppressed temporarily relieved, her city improved, her law reëstablished, and her finances arranged quite satisfactorily to the Porte, if not to herself. Ibrahim showed himself clear, forceful, just and merciful, if not a great constructive statesman. He took back to Stamboul a large sum in gold for the Imperial treasury, and was received by Suleiman with great honor.74
The recall of Ibrahim Pasha was induced by an insurrection of the janissaries who were tired of inactivity, and showed their restlessness by pillaging the houses of the absent grand vizir and defterdar, and several rich institutions. Suleiman promptly executed several of the most audacious leaders, then sent for Ibrahim Pasha to come and deal with the situation. Clothing himself in mourning garments, Ibrahim hastened back to the capital. On the way he executed a number of Persian prisoners in Gallipoli, for the Sultan had determined to quiet the janissaries by the only effective means, namely to offer them a chance for fighting and loot by making war against the most convenient enemy, which in this case was Persia.
Of the war we speak elsewhere. Suffice it to say that from this time on, Ibrahim was so occupied in war and diplomacy that his administrative functions must have been delegated largely to lower officials. His power, notwithstanding, was very great, as will be seen from the berat of investiture bestowed on him by the Sultan before the campaign of Vienna, which is substantially as follows:
“I command Ibrahim Pasha to be from today and forever my grand vizir and the serasker (chief of the army) named by my Majesty in all my estates. My vizirs, beylerbeys, judges of the army, legists, judges, seids, sheiks, my dignitaries of the court and pillars of the empire, sandjakbeys, generals of cavalry or infantry, ... all my victorious army, all my slaves, high or low, my functionaries and employees, the people of my kingdom, my provinces, the citizens and the peasants, the rich and the poor, in short all shall recognize the above‐mentioned grand vizir as serasker, and shall esteem and venerate him in this capacity, regarding all that he says or believes as an order proceeding from my mouth which rains pearls. Everyone shall listen to his word with all possible attention, shall receive each of his recommendations with respect, and shall not neglect any of them. The right of nomination and degradation for the posts of beylerbeys and all other dignitaries and functionaries, from highest to lowest, either at my Blessed Porte or in the provinces, is confined to his sane judgment, his penetrating intellect. Thus he must fulfil the duties which the offices of grand vizir and serasker impose on him, assigning to each man his suitable rank. When my sublime person enters on a campaign, or when circumstances demand the sending of an army, the serasker remains sole master and judge of his actions, no one dare refuse him obedience, and the dispositions which he judges best to make relative to the collections in the sandjaks, the fiefs and the employments, to the increase of wages or salaries, to the distribution of presents, except such as are made to the army in general, are in advance sanctioned and approved by my Majesty. If against my sublime order and the fundamental law a member of my army (which Allah forbid!) rebel against the order of my grand vizir and serasker; if one of my slaves oppress the people, let my Sublime Porte be immediately informed, and the guilty, whatever be their number, shall receive the punishment which they shall merit.”75
This amazing gift of power brings out some characteristics of the Ottoman state. There is no state, as such, apart from the army. All the civil offices have military names, and generally include military duties. It has often been said that the Turkish empire is an army encamped in Europe, an epigram that conveys much truth. The church, the state, and the army are one and the sultan is the head of the trinity.76 To Ibrahim were delegated full powers as general and administrator, but he had no sacerdotal power except such as was involved in the general power of appointment and supervision. It follows that he did not appoint the sheik‐ul‐Islam, and had no special dealings with ulema.77 But curiously enough one of the few events of his administration of which we have an account is connected with religious interests. It is the Cabyz affair.
Cabyz was a member of the body of ulema, or interpreters of the sacred law, who became convinced of the superiority of Jesus to Mohammad, hence was a traitor both to Allah and to the sultan. “He fell in to the valley of error and took the route of destruction and danger, deviating from the glorious path of truth.”78 Haled before the judges of the army, Cabyz was summarily condemned to death, with no attempt to convince him of his error. The grand vizir reproved them for this unsuitable treatment of a heretic, saying that the only arms against heresy should be law and doctrine. The affair being therefore laid before the divan, the sultan who was present behind his little window was dissatisfied with the clemency of Ibrahim, perhaps because the latter was Christian born, although now a zealous Moslem.
“How is this” he demanded, “an irreligious infidel dares to ascribe deficiency to the Blessed Prophet, and he goes without being convinced of his error or punished?” Ibrahim claimed that the judges lacked the knowledge of the sacred law necessary to deal with the case. So the judge of Stamboul and the Mufti were called in and after a long discussion Cabyz’ “tongue was stopped and he lowered his head.” Cabyz was condemned by the sacred law and executed.
This case in which a heretic was first brought before the judges of the army and then before the council of state before he was finally condemned by the religious law, shows the awkward working of a state whose functions were so slightly differentiated. Perhaps the easiest way to think of the grand vizir is as the alter ego of the sultan, as he has been called.79
For details of Ibrahim’s official work we have a bit here and a bit there, but no general account. He seems to have been zealous in the cause of commerce, out of which he made a considerable profit. He established a monopoly of Syrian commerce afterwards taken over by the sultan,80 and caused all the trade of that country to pass through Constantinople.81 He encouraged trade with Venice, freeing that country from payment of duty on merchandize brought from Syria.82 He was always a friend to Venice, helping her trade and keeping the Porte from war with her as long as he lived.83
From the Venetian reports we see how general Ibrahim’s interests were;84 now he is looking after the corn trade, now receiving cargoes of biscuits, now concerning himself in the building of a canal, now opening new trade routes, now watching the coming of new vessels to the Porte. The trade of the Dalmatian coast he encouraged. As beylerbey of Roumelie he would be most interested in the European trade and other relations. The export and import trade of Turkey was scarcely born in his day, although the Muscovy and other trading companies were beginning to ask for concessions in the Ottoman dominions. Ibrahim’s ideas on this subject were not great nor especially in advance of his time.
In his quality as judge, he settled disputes and arranged wills to the apparent satisfaction of the interested parties. Every envoy to the Porte, whether on state, commercial, or personal business, was first presented to the grand vizir, who might take complete charge of his affair, or he might refer him to the sultan. The grand vizir received in great state and the Venetian letters are full of advice as to how to conciliate the great minister. There seems to be little disagreement among his critics as to Ibrahim’s ability. He is pronounced by all to be a wise and able man; but he had at least one severe critic among the Venetians, who felt that his power was too arbitrary. Daniello di Ludovisi in 1534 wrote thus:85
Suleiman gave his administration of the empire into the hands of another. The sultan, with all the pashas and all the court, would conduct no important deliberation without Ibrahim Pasha, while Ibrahim would do everything without Suleiman or any other advisor. So the state lacked good council, and the army good heads. Suleiman’s affection for Ibrahim should not be praised, but blamed.
And again:
Another evil existed in the Turkish army, and was caused, first, by the negligence of the sultan (who, to tell the truth, is not of such ability as the greatness of the empire demands), and secondly, by the actions of Ibrahim Pasha, who by the same means as those used to raise and maintain himself—namely, to degrade, and even to kill, all whose ability aroused his suspicion—deprived the state of men of good council and the army of good captains.
For instance, he decapitated Ferad Pasha, a valiant captain, and was the cause of the rebellion of Ahmed Pasha, who was beheaded at Cairo, and he caused Piri Pasha to leave office, an old man and an old councillor, and some even accused him of causing his death by poison. And it followed, also, that Rustem, a young fellow, master of the stables of the Grand Seigneur, became familiar with the latter, and Ibrahim, warned of this, and being then in Aleppo, sent him to be governor in Asia Minor, a long distance away. Rustem, feeling very badly, asked the Grand Seigneur not to let him go, who replied, “When I see Ibrahim, I will see that he causes you to return near me.” For this reason the army was without council except Ibrahim alone, and men of learning and force, from fear and suspicion, hid their knowledge and ability. So the army was demoralized and enervated. I feel certain that Ibrahim Pasha realized this (for he was a man of good parts, but not of such merit as to find a remedy for such evils), but he loved himself much more than he did his lord, and wished to be alone in the dominion of the world in which he was much respected.
This criticism of Ibrahim Pasha was later repeated in a more general form by one Kogabey, who presented to Sultan Mourad IV a memorial on the decadence of the Ottoman state. The two first reasons that he assigned for the deterioration were the sultan’s ceasing to preside over the divan in person, and the placing of favorites in the office of grand vizir, the latter custom having been started by Suleiman I, who raised his favorite Ibrahim from the palace to the divan. Such vizirs, Kogabey explained, had no insight into the circumstances of the whole nation. They generally were blinded by the splendor of their position and refused to consult intelligent men on affairs of government, and so the order of the state was destroyed through their carelessness.86
The custom of appointing favorites to the most important office in the empire was certainly a bad one, but Ibrahim was a more efficient administrator than could have been expected from his training, and ranks among the great vizirs of the Ottoman Empire.
We must now turn from Turkey’s internal affairs to her foreign relations. Turkish political history during the sixteenth century was so interwoven with that of the European states, the influence of Ottoman interference upon the wars and negotiations of Christian princes was so marked, that a study of Suleiman’s foreign relations becomes almost a study of contemporary Europe.87 The two sultans who succeeded Mohammed the Conqueror had not extended Turkish power in Europe, Bayazid having failed in his attempts at conquest, and Selim having turned his attention from Europe to the East. This caused a period of transition and preparation for the great events of Suleiman’s reign.
When Suleiman came to the throne, he found certain relations established with Ragusa and Venice, the two commercial cities of the Adriatic, whose large carrying trade made an entente cordiale with the Porte very desirable.88 Ragusa was the first foreign state to reach the new sultan with her congratulations on his accession,89 and the sultan renewed with the Ragusan republic the commercial privileges it had enjoyed in Egypt.
After Venice had been defeated by Turkey in the battle of Sapienza in 1499 and had been obliged to sue for peace, she had received the following answer from the then grand vizir: “You can tell the doge that he has done wedding the sea, it is our turn now.”90 This boast became steadily more completely realized as Turkish conquest in the Mediterranean continued, and Venice soon saw that her chance of freedom on the seas lay in keeping on good terms with the Turk, whom she could not conquer. In vain she sought for help against the Moslems; in vain she carried on a single‐handed struggle against their encroachments, earning the title of “Bulwark of Christianity”. Had she not “learned to kiss the hand that she could not cut off,”91 she could not have continued to exist as even the second‐rate power in the Levant to which she had been reduced. Frequent missions were sent from Venice to the Porte, and a Venetian baillie was kept at the Porte. These baillies were very good statesmen, and they not only kept Venice on good terms with Turkey for thirty‐three years, but they made an invaluable contribution to recorded history by sending frequent and detailed reports to the signories.
Russia also sent an embassy to the Porte, after the conquests of Belgrad and Rhodes had demonstrated the power of Turkey; and the Tsar, recognizing the value of an alliance with the Porte, made two attempts to form one, but without success. Suleiman saw no advantage in such an alliance, but he never assumed an unfriendly attitude towards Russia, at that time still an unimportant power. In a letter written later in his reign he recalls the amicable relations that had existed between the Porte and Russia, and recommends his Ottoman merchants to buy furs and merchandise in Moscow.92
As Suleiman’s conquests naturally threw him into antagonism with the House of Hapsburg, it is desirable to review briefly the political conditions in the Holy Roman Empire at this time.
The accession of Charles of Spain to the Imperial throne took place in October of the same year as Suleiman’s accession, 1520. Handicapped in every possible way by the German princes, for whose safety and prosperity the emperor assumed the entire responsibility without receiving in return any equivalent whatever,93 Charles V presented a great contrast to Suleiman, whose slightest word was law throughout his extensive dominions. With the empire, Charles acquired the enmity of Francis I of France, his unsuccessful rival, and hereafter his constant foe. Another rival not outwardly so dangerous, but destined to be a great source of anxiety and weakness to the empire was Ferdinand, the emperor’s brother. Concerning him, Charles’ counsellor, de Chièvres, is reported to have said to Charles,94 “Do not fear the king of France nor any other prince except your brother”. Ferdinand’s ambition had been early recognized. His grandfather, Ferdinand of Aragon, had attempted to construct an Italian kingdom for him, but failed. Charles, after his election to the Empire, tried to satisfy Ferdinand’s craving for power by conferring on him the old Austrian provinces, and further by marrying him to Anna, heiress of the kingdom of Hungary and Bohemia, whose child‐king, Lewis, was weak physically and not destined for a long reign. This opened to Ferdinand a large sphere of activity in the southeast, and brought him into direct contact with the steadily encroaching Suleiman; a sphere that effectually absorbed his energies and made him but a source of weakness to the Empire.
Thus Charles V, in name the imperial ruler of Central Europe, was confronted with four rivals who desired to divide with him the supremacy; Francis I, a relentless foe; his brother Ferdinand, an ambitious claimant: the conquering Suleiman; and the Protestant Revolt. The weakness and disunion of Christendom was the strength of Suleiman, and he was far too shrewd not to trade on it.
It had in fact been long since Europe had been sufficiently united to oppose with any vigor the oncoming Turks. The Popes of Rome had been the most persistent foes of Turkish advance in Europe; notably Calixtus III, who in 1453 tried in vain to save Europe from Mohammed’s conquering armies; Pius II, who having for his master—thought the freeing of Europe from Islam, preached a general crusade, and even attempted to convert Mohammed by letter; Paul II, who gave lavish aid to Scanderbeg and the armies in Hungary and Albania in their struggle against Turkish invasion; Alexander VI, who held Prince Jem, the mutinous brother of Sultan Bayazid, as hostage for the friendliness of the sultan whom he attacked after Jem’s death; and Julius II, who planned a crusade early in the sixteenth century, but failed to execute it.95 All this time Turkish conquest continued practically unhindered. By the close of the fifteenth century the Turks were accepted as a permanent political factor in Europe. Nevertheless, when Charles became a candidate for election to the headship of the Holy Roman Empire, he emphasized his fitness for the high office by alleging that his vast possessions, united to the Imperial dignity, would enable him to oppose the Turks successfully.96 But the sudden rise of revolt within the Church tended to force the dread of Islam into the background, even in the face of the loss of Belgrad and Rhodes. At least such was the case with Charles V and the German princes; it was of necessity otherwise with little King Lewis, who saw with terror the preparations of the Turkish conquerors for war to the death with Hungary.
As Suleiman’s conquests naturally threw him into antagonism with Austria, equally naturally he had common interests with Francis I. Friendly relations between the Porte and France were not unprecedented, although strongly disapproved by the more religious among the French. Commercial agreements had existed for some time between the two states.97 The accession of Francis I, January 1, 1515, marked an epoch in the Eastern Question. Francis’ Oriental policy began on the conventional lines; he made an agreement with Leo X to drive the Turks from Europe but refused to subsidize Hungary in the interests of this purpose. The pope called for a truce in Europe and a crusade against the common enemy, but the death of Maximilian and the outbreak of the Protestant Revolt put a complete stop to this plan. The only result was the extension of the circle of European politics to include Eastern affairs and the Ottoman Empire, and to bring the Eastern Question home to all the European powers. Those who had been furthest away were now drawn in; France, Spain, and even England began to step within the circle of Eastern influence.
The battle of Pavia marked a crisis in European affairs. The captivity of the French king, his falling into the hands of his bitterest foe, Charles of Hapsburg, destroyed any scruples that the French court had felt against seeking Turkish aid. The first French mission to Suleiman I did not reach the Porte, the ambassador being assassinated en route.98 This first attempt was quickly followed by another. The Croat Frangipani brought two letters to the Sultan, one written by Francis from his Madrid prison, the other from his distracted mother, the queen‐regent. Francis also sent a letter to Ibrahim Pasha, who later gave an account of this embassy to Cornelius Scepper and Hieronymus von Zara, envoys of Ferdinand.99
“Post hec tempora, inquit Ibrahim, accedit quod rex Francie captus fuit. Tunc mater ipsius regis ad ipsum Caesarem Thurcarum scripsit hoc modo. ‘Filius meus Rex Francie captus est à Carolo, Rege Hispanie. Speravi quod ipse liberaliter ipsum demitteret. Id quo non fecit, sed iniuste cum eo agit. Confugimus ad te magnum Caesarem ut tu liberalitatem tuam ostendas et filium meum redimas’.”100
Frangipani demanded that Suleiman should undertake an expedition by land and sea to deliver the king of France, who otherwise would make terms which would leave Charles master of the world. This exactly fitted into the plans of Suleiman, whose European expeditions were naturally directed against the possessions of the house of Hapsburg; so he graciously acceded to all the demands of the French mission. Ibrahim later stated101 that this embassy decided the Sultan to prepare his army immediately for an expedition into Hungary. The knowledge of this successful embassy was one of the reasons that led Charles to sign the Treaty of Madrid in January, 1526. By the time of this treaty Francis promised to send five thousand cavalry and fifteen thousand infantry against his recent allies, the Turks,—but of course he had no intention of keeping his word.
Since the capture of Belgrad by the Turks in 1521, hostilities on the Hungarian frontier had never ceased, and the Turkish danger had been constantly before the Reichstag and in the mind of the Pope. In April, 1526, Suleiman started with a large army for his first regular Hungarian campaign. The Hungarian nobles, continually at feud with one another, were utterly unprepared to resist him, and the treasury was exhausted. The first city to be taken was Peterwardein, which was stormed by Ibrahim Pasha. Then fell Illok and Esek. But the decisive victory of the campaign was the battle of Mohacz, August 29, 1526. In this brief but bloody conflict little King Lewis fell, and the country was laid open to the sultan. The keys of Buda, the capital of Hungary, were handed over to him and he entered the city on September 1st. In spite of the express prohibition of the sultan, his soldiers accustomed to regard war as an opportunity for rapine, burned two quarters of the city, including the great church, while the akinji (scouts) burned neighboring villages and slaughtered the peasants. Other victories followed until at last the sultan, promising the Hungarians that John Zapolya should be their king, withdrew his army to Constantinople, carrying with him an immense amount of booty.
The death at Mohacz of King Lewis without direct heirs left the thrones of Hungary and Bohemia vacant. The Archduke Ferdinand, as the husband of Lewis’ sister, and recognized as Lewis’ successor by official acts of his brother, the Emperor Charles, passed at the Diets of Worms and Brussels on April 28, 1521, and March 18, 1522, was the legal heir to the throne. But the sovereignty was claimed also by John Zapolya, voivode of Transylvania, a vigorous fighter and an unscrupulous politician. Both of these claimants had themselves been recognized in Hungary and crowned with the Iron Crown,102 and both of them turned for substantial aid in support of their claims to Suleiman, regardless of possible loss of independence. Suleiman, as conqueror of the strongholds of Hungary, and as a court of appeal for the rivals, considered himself to have in his hand the disposition of the crown. He did not want it himself. He had expressly declared that he invaded Hungary to avenge insults, not to take the kingdom from Lewis; but the death of the latter forced him to choose between the two rival claimants. His word had been pledged for the support of Zapolya, and his dislike of the Hapsburgs and his friendship for the French king inclined him to keep it.
Ferdinand and Zapolya both hastened to send embassies to the Turks, Ferdinand taking the first step. He sent envoys to Upper Bosnia and to Belgrad to ask the governors to refuse aid to Zapolya, offering three to six thousand ducats for their alliance.103 One of the governors died before the embassy reached him, and from neither of them were there any results from this mission.104 At the same time Ferdinand attacked Zapolya, driving him from Ofen and back towards Transylvania. Zapolya in distress despatched his first mission to the Porte. His envoy, Hieronymus Laszky, was empowered to effect a defensive and offensive alliance with the sultan. The mission was successful, Suleiman accepting Zapolya’s offer of devotion, and promising him the crown of Hungary and the protection of the Porte against his enemies.
Although the mission from Zapolya was kept as secret as possible, it soon became known to Ferdinand, who dispatched the embassy he had long planned, in the hope of counteracting Zapolya’s move. One embassy failed to reach Constantinople,105 and the first ambassadors from the archduke of Austria to reach the Porte were John Hobordonacz and Sigmund Weixelberger, in May, 1528. They demanded the Kingship of Hungary for their master Ferdinand, and the restoration to Hungary of all the places taken by Suleiman. The sultan refused both of these demands and in his turn offered to make peace on the payment of tribute. The embassy accomplished nothing, its sequel being the campaign in Hungary in 1529. Three days before the final answer to Ferdinand, Suleiman had in full divan delivered to Ibrahim a commission making him serasker or general‐in‐chief of the expedition against the Hapsburgs. The Peace of Cambrai in 1529 left the Austrians free to fight the Turks.
In the meanwhile French diplomacy continued actively. Francis I was disturbed by the result of the invasion of Hungary which he had himself urged, for the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia seemed now to be falling into the hands of his enemies of Austria. More than ever he had need of the Ottoman alliance, and he determined on an alliance with Zapolya. He sent Rincon to the latter to form an offensive and defensive alliance, claiming as his reward the reversion of the kingdom of Hungary for his second son, Henry, should Zapolya die without heirs.106 On the 20th of September, 1528, Sultan Suleiman renewed a former act called by old French historians “la trêve marchande,”107 giving commercial privileges to the Catalonian and French merchants in the Mediterranean, and placing all French factories, consuls, and pilgrims, under the protection of the Sublime Porte. The French were thus able to reappear with confidence in the Levant, and were welcomed by the Christians in the East. The pilgrimages to Jerusalem recommenced. Even Francis expressed a desire to go to the Holy Land and to visit en route “his dear patron and friend, Suleiman.”108 A question concerning the Holy Places in Palestine was also brought up by Francis at this time, which is of very great significance, as it marks the beginning of the train of developments that resulted in the conception of the protection of Turkey’s Christian subjects by the European Powers. Francis and Venice united in asking that a certain church in Jerusalem, long before converted into a mosque, be restored to the Christians.109 Ibrahim replied that had the King of France demanded a province, the Turks would not have refused him, but in a matter of religion they could not gratify his desire. Nevertheless the Sultan made the following general promise which was later used as a basis for further demand by the Catholics. He wrote to Francis:110 “The Christians shall live peaceably under the wing of our protection; they shall be allowed to repair their doors and windows; they shall preserve in all safety their oratories and establishments which they actually occupy, without any one being allowed to oppose or torment them.”111
On the 10th day of May, 1529, Suleiman set out to settle matters by force with Charles V. Before the end of August the Turks were again encamped with a vast army on the fatal plain of Mohacz. Here John Zapolya met his overlord and did him homage. Three days later the Turks advanced to Buda, and took it from Ferdinand, crowning Zapolya a second time within the walls of the capital. By September 27, Suleiman was encamped before Vienna.
On the 19th day of October, 1529, Ferdinand, in great distress, wrote to his brother the Emperor; after referring to the horrors that followed the siege of Vienna, he says: “I do not know what he (Suleiman) intends to do, whether to betake himself to his own country or to stay in Hungary and fortify it and the fortresses, with the intention of returning next spring to invade Christendom, which I firmly believe he will do. I therefore beg you Sire, to consider my great need and poverty, and that it may please you not to abandon me but to assist me with money.”112
The invasion of Austria had convinced Charles that he must support Ferdinand against Turkey, and the royal brothers agreed on their Oriental policy, namely, peace at almost any price. To this end another embassy was fitted out and despatched to treat with Suleiman. On the 17th day of October, 1530, Nicholas Juritschitz and Joseph von Lamberg arrived in Constantinople. Their instructions were practically the same as those given Juritschitz the previous year.113 The mission was hopeless from the start, for the ambassadors could accept peace only on the condition of the evacuation of Hungary by the Turks, and to this the Sultan would not listen.
Ferdinand however, who had just failed in a military attack on Zapolya and had accepted a truce, saw no hope but in another embassy to the Porte. Therefore he sent Graf Leonhard von Nogarola and Joseph von Lamberg, who were to attempt to buy peace by the payment of annual pensions to Suleiman and Ibrahim. The sultan, who had already left Constantinople at the head of a great army for his fifth Hungarian campaign, was intercepted at his camp near Belgrad by the Austrian envoys. The only result of this embassy was a letter to Ferdinand from Suleiman saying that the latter was starting for Ofen, where he would treat with Ferdinand in person, a threat which he followed up immediately.
By April, 1531, Suleiman was ready to avenge his failure before Vienna. At Belgrad he was met by the French ambassador Rincon. France was now anxious to prevent the Sultan’s expedition against Austria, not in the interests of the Hapsburgs but against them, for he was afraid that the Turkish danger would unite Catholic and Protestant Germany against the common foe of Christianity. Suleiman received Rincon hospitably but assured him he had come too late, for while on account of his friendship with the King of France he would like to oblige the latter, he could not give up the expedition without giving the world occasion to think that he was afraid of the “King of Spain”, as he always called Charles V.114
The Ottoman army entered Hungary. Fourteen fortresses sent the Sultan their keys as he approached.115 But the forces did not advance to Vienna as their enemies expected, but turned into Styria and besieged the little town of Güns. For three weeks seven hundred brave defenders held the little fort against the might of Turkish arms, and finally made a highly honorable capitulation. After a general devastation of the country and much looting, the great army of Suleiman returned to Constantinople. Suleiman was incited to this course by the active preparations which were being made by Charles and Ferdinand to receive him at Vienna, and by the naval successes in the Mediterranean of Andrea Doria, admiral of the Italian fleet. Thus what promised to be a great duel between the two “Masters of the World” was allowed by both of them to degenerate into a plundering expedition.
Affairs in Persia were in great need of Suleiman’s presence, and the capture of Koron and Patras by Doria made the Sultan more ready to listen to overtures of peace. Charles and Ferdinand took advantage of this fact to send Hieronymus von Zara and Cornelius Duplicius Schepper to the Porte in 1533. The ambassadors, after weeks of patience and adroitness succeeded in winning from the Sultan a treaty of peace, to last as long as Ferdinand should remain peaceful. Ferdinand was to retain the forts he had taken in Hungary and Zapolya to keep the others; the Emperor Charles might make peace by sending his own embassy to the Porte. As soon as Ferdinand received the news of this humiliating success, he sent word all over the kingdom, to Carniola, Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia that any violation of the truce would be severely punished; “denn daran ... mug der Turghisch Kaeser erkhennen dass wir den Frieden angenommen derselben zu halten gaentzlich entschlossen und so dawider gehandelt wurf, dass mit ernst zu shafen willen haben.”116 Such were the humiliating terms of the first peace concluded by the House of Austria with the Porte (1533).
Shortly after the embassy of von Zara and Schepper, Suleiman left Europe to wage war against the Persians. As usual when planning a campaign in one direction, he made careful arrangements to keep matters quiet on other frontiers. He treated in secret with Francis I, agreeing to despatch Barbarosa with a fleet to ravage the coasts of the Empire; this was a great success for French diplomacy, for the advantage was all in favor of France. Then, fearing lest the rivals for the Hungarian throne should come to an agreement in his absence, and thus menace his suzerainty, Suleiman delegated Luigi Gritti to determine the frontiers between the possessions of the two kings. This was a clever move, for it prolonged the intrigues between the royal competitors until the return of the sultan. The successes of Barbarosa, the victories and defeats of Charles V on the Mediterranean, and the continuation of French diplomacy are outside the limits of our subject, which ends with the death of Ibrahim Pasha in 1535. Gévay preserves several letters written by Ferdinand to Ibrahim in 1535–6, in the interest of peace in Hungary, the last being dated March 14, 1536, a year after Ibrahim’s death. The last international act in which Ibrahim Pasha had a part was the celebrated treaty of commerce made with France in February, 1535.
Francis I had received a Turkish mission, not from the haughty Sultan, but from his admiral Barbarosa,117 and in return the king sent a clever diplomat named La Forest, to thank Barbarosa for his kind offers of aid, and then to seek the sultan in Persia and conclude a definite treaty with him.118 Suleiman received La Forest in his military camp, keeping him till his own return to Turkey in 1535.
The treaty is dated February, 1535; it formed the basis of the economic, religious, and political protectorate of France in the Levant. The French might carry on commerce in the Levant by paying the same dues as did the subjects of the Sultan, and the Turks could do the same in France. The French were to be judged by their consul at Alexandria or by their ambassador at Constantinople. This treaty ended the commercial predominance of Venice in the Mediterranean. After this, all Christians except the Venetians were forced to put themselves under the protection of the French flag, which alone guaranteed inviolability.119 This commercial freedom and political influence gained by France involved a sort of economic protection and was supplemented by a religious protectorate over the Catholics in the Levant and the Holy Places.
After this sketch of the beginnings of diplomatic relations between the Porte and the two rival powers of Europe, the House of Hapsburg and the House of Valois, we are ready to consider the significance of these relations and to take up some of the details that will serve to bring out the share of Ibrahim Pasha in Turkish diplomacy, and his characteristics as a diplomat.
Diplomatic relations between the Porte and Europe, relations other than those of conqueror and conquered, relations reciprocal and more or less friendly, began in the reign of Suleiman I, and the first French embassy to the Porte in 1526 already described was the beginning of a complete change in the European attitude towards Turkey. Before this time, the religious differences between Moslem and Christian had effectually absorbed attention, but now political interests began to push aside religious concern. The masses of the people in Europe still feared a Moslem invasion of the North, but this was no longer a real danger. A general rising of Christians, such as a crusade, was no longer necessary to hold back the Turk; the regular means and the ordinary efforts of a few states combined sufficed, as was proved by the successful resistance of Güns and Vienna. It was decreed that the Turk was not to pass Vienna. Francis might therefore seek the friendship of the Ottoman without betraying the cause of Christianity. There were, it is true, plenty of Christians who cried out against the impious alliance of the Crescent and the Lily,120 but the outcry was largely political and as we have seen soon even the Austrians were seeking terms of peace with the Turks.
When Suleiman came to the throne, he attended closely to the business of government, but by 1526 he was leaving practically the whole responsibility on the shoulders of his grand vizir Ibrahim. Ambassadors to the Porte had their first audience always with Ibrahim, after which they sometimes had audiences with the other vizirs. Generally a very formal ceremony of hand‐kissing was permitted by the Sultan, after which Ibrahim concluded the business. At some audiences with the grand vizir, Suleiman would be present, concealed behind a little window,121 but oftener he was not present at all.
In his early diplomatic work, Ibrahim, feeling himself unprepared, turned to Luigi Gritti, natural son by a Greek mother of Andreas Gritti, who had been ambassador and at one time doge of Venice. Ibrahim was very well served by Luigi Gritti, who was intelligent as well as experienced, especially in Christian dealings, clever, able, and tactful.122 Zapolya’s ambassador Laszky, knowing this, persuaded Gritti to take up his affairs, hoping through him to win Ibrahim, and through Ibrahim, Suleiman. The event justified him.123 Ibrahim frankly acknowledged Gritti’s influence, saying to Laszky: “Without the Doge Gritti and his son we should have destroyed the power of Ferdinand and of thy master (Zapolya), for the conflict of two enemies who ruin each other is always favorable to the third who survives.”
We may get an idea of the manner of conducting embassies at the Porte, as well as the functions and characteristics of Ibrahim as diplomat as such by following the report of Hobordanacz to Ferdinand. Hobordanacz sent an official and detailed report of the embassy to his master, written in Latin, which is preserved in Gévay’s Urkunden und Actenstuecke.124
The two ambassadors Hobordanacz and Weixelberger were received with splendor on their entrance into Constantinople by a guard of four hundred knights, and were immediately conducted to the grand vizir. This ceremonious reception greatly encouraged the hopes of Hobordanacz.125 After greetings to Ibrahim, “Supremum Nomine”, the Hungarians offered him presents and then retired to quarters assigned them. On the third day forty horsemen escorted the royal nuncios to the Imperial palace. Hobordanacz was greatly impressed with the splendid array of janissaries and guards in gorgeous costumes. They were received by the three vizirs, Ibrahim, Cassim, and Ayas Pasha, while from his little window his Majesty watched the audience, himself unseen.
Amidst profound silence, Ibrahim Pasha addressed the first nuncio, asking him politely whether they were treated well in their quarters, to which Hobordanacz answered that they had everything in abundance, as was fitting in the palace of so great an emperor. Ibrahim then began to interrogate them concerning the journey and their king, explaining that he was not asking about the king of Hungary, for Lewis of Hungary had been killed in battle, but was inquiring about the king of Bohemia and Germany. The Hungarian nuncios took the opportunity to boast of the greatness of Ferdinand, provoking a smile from Ibrahim. Hobordanacz said they had come to admire and to congratulate the emperor of the Turks that God had made him a nearer neighbor to Ferdinand than previously. He said that the Emperor Maximilian had given Hungary to Ferdinand, whereupon Ibrahim broke in: “By what right, when Sultan Suleiman has subjugated Hungary?” He asked them if they did not know that the Sultan had been to Buda. The Hungarians responded rudely that there were signs enough by which they could know of Suleiman’s visit, as the country lay waste. Ibrahim went on: “The fortress of Buda, how does it stand?” “Whole and undamaged,” they replied. When he asked why, they suggested that it was because it was the king’s castle. Ibrahim denied this and said it was because the sultan had saved the citadel for himself, and intended to keep it with divine aid. Ibrahim here explained that Suleiman and he had not wished so much harm done in Hungary, and had ordered the soldiers not to burn Buda and Pesth, but could not hold them back from devastating. This was naturally a sore subject with the Hungarians who after expressions of admiration for the great obedience they saw in Turkey, even when the sultan was not present, asked pertinently why then he could not have saved Buda and Pesth. This seems to have been too much for Ibrahim who remarked “Let us omit these things.” Turning therefore to a more congenial subject, he uttered a Turkish dictum, “Wherever the hoof of the sultan’s horse has trod, there the land belongs to him.” Hobordanacz replied somewhat sarcastically that they knew such was the sultan’s idea, but that even Alexander the Great had not been able to carry out all his ideas. Cutting through all these generalities, Ibrahim said sharply, “Then you say that Buda does not belong to Suleiman!” Hobordanacz replied stoutly, “I can say no more than that my king holds Buda.” Said Ibrahim, “Why has he then sent you to ask for peace and friendship if he holds Buda, which the sultan has conquered?” The nuncio told a long story of Zapolyta’s usurpation of the throne, and of Ferdinand’s merits to which Ibrahim sarcastically remarked, “You have talked of the many virtues of your lord! Very noble if they be true!” He then asked Hobordanacz if he were a relative of Ferdinand’s and how long he had served the Archduke. The nuncio replied that he had served him since the latter became king of Hungary. “Then,” said the pasha triumphantly, “if you have served him so short a time, how do you know he is so wise and virtuous and powerful?” A curious contest of wits followed with no practical object.
Ibrahim: “Tell us what wisdom you see in Ferdinand and how you know that he is wise.”
Hobor.: “Because when he has won great victories, he ascribes the glory to God.”
I.: “What does wisdom seem to you to be like?”
H.: “In our books and in yours, the beginning of wisdom is said to be the fear of God.”
I.: “True, but what other wisdom do you find in Ferdinand?”
H.: “He works deliberately and with foresight and taking of counsel; also he undertakes no affairs that he cannot finish.”
I.: “If he does this, he is praiseworthy. Now what boldness and courage do you find in him?”
Ibrahim’s next question as to the victories of Ferdinand received a long and clever answer. Ibrahim further inquired as to Ferdinand’s wealth. Hobordanacz claimed endless treasure for his master. Ibrahim then asked, “What have you to say about the power of your master?” Hobordanacz claimed many powerful friends and neighbors, the greatest being his brother Charles. Ibrahim inflicted one of his battle‐axe strokes; “We know that these so‐called friends and neighbors are his enemies.” The Hungarian replied sententiously, “Unhappy is the king without rivals, whom all favor.” Ibrahim at length stopped the discussion of Ferdinand’s merits by saying, “If this be so, it is well.” Then he asked whether they came in peace or in war, to which Hobordanacz replied that Ferdinand wished friendship from all his neighbors and enmity from none.
After this sprightly introduction, Ibrahim led the nuncios in a brilliant procession to the presence of the sultan. Here the janissaries received gifts for the sultan from the servants of the ambassadors, and showed them to all in turn; in the next room seven eunuchs took the gifts and spread them out on tables. The three pashas first went to salute Suleiman, leaving the nuncios before the door. Ibrahim Pasha and Cassim Pasha then, holding them by their two arms, led each of the nuncios in turn to salute the sultan, who sat with his hands on his knees and looked them over. When they had saluted him, they returned to their place by the door where stood the interpreter. Hobordanacz was greatly annoyed because the interpreter, familiar with the flowery and courtly Oriental speech, embellished the somewhat curt address of the Hungarian, but Ibrahim told the interpreter to repeat exactly what the envoy said. After this he asked Hobordanacz to state his business. After this statement of Ferdinand’s wishes, Suleiman called Ibrahim to him and whispered in his ear. Ibrahim then resumed negotiations while Suleiman looked on.
Taking up his grievance against Ferdinand once again, Ibrahim inquired how the latter, in addressing the Sultan, dared declare himself so powerful when other princes were content to commend themselves to Suleiman’s protection and to offer him their services. To Hobordanacz’ question who these princes were, Ibrahim named the rulers of France, Poland, and Transylvania, the Pope and the Doge of Venice, and added that these princes (except the voivode of Transylvania) were the greatest in Europe. The Austrian nuncios seemed to be impressed and indeed the statement was a sufficiently startling one and was moreover borne out by the facts. After that Hobordanacz spoke with greater meekness, expressing his master’s desire for the friendship of the sultan, if the latter were willing to grant it. “If he is not willing,” said Ibrahim sharply, “what then?” Hobordanacz, recovering his boldness, said haughtily, “Our master forces no man’s friendship.” Ibrahim then dismissed them with the parting fling that the sultan was occupied with much more important business. They never saw the sultan again. Ibrahim informed them that his master was concerned with personal affairs, and that he himself would conduct the whole business. This illustrates the respective shares of Suleiman and Ibrahim in the business of the state. Doubtless the sultan had a definite policy of friendship to Zapolya and antagonism to Ferdinand, but it appears certain that he allowed Ibrahim Pasha to control entirely the details of diplomacy.
In later audiences with the grand vizir, Hobordanacz expressed the hope that Ferdinand and Charles V and Sultan Suleiman might become good friends and neighbors. Ibrahim inquired scornfully how such a friendship could come about! Hobordanacz declared that it was his mission to offer friendship, and it seemed to him that Ibrahim’s influence should be able to bring about advantages for both sides. Ibrahim again urged him to indicate the method of procedure, saying, “Your king has seized upon our kingdom, and yet he asks for friendship; how can that be?” The nuncio said he knew all things at the Porte were done by Ibrahim’s will and authority; he believed that he could serve their cause. Ibrahim then proposed peace on condition that Ferdinand should abandon Hungary. Hobordanacz on the other hand asked for a definite truce for a term of years and requested the restitution to Ferdinand of those portions of Hungary taken by Suleiman, giving a list of twenty‐seven fortresses. This aroused Ibrahim’s bitter wrath. “It is strange” said he “that your master does not ask for Constantinople.” He tried to make the ambassadors acknowledge that Ferdinand would attempt to take these forts by force if they were not conceded to him. “With what hope does he ask for these forts,” he further inquired, “when he knows that the sultan took them with great labor and much bloodshed?”
The question of compensation for these forts being opened, Ibrahim exclaimed indignantly that the sultan was not so poor that he would sell what his arms had won. Dramatically opening a window he said “Do you see those Seven Towers! they are filled with gold and treasure.”126 He then turned to the question of skill in war, and after praising the prowess of the Germans, he said, “You know the arms of the Turks, how sharp they are, and how far they have penetrated, for you have fled before them many times.” Hobordanacz gave a qualified assent, but praised his master’s warlike skill. Ibrahim finally broke in, “Then your master wishes to keep those forts?” Hobordanacz suggested a middle course, but the grand vizir said decisively: “There is no other way but for your king to abandon Buda and Hungary and then we will treat with him about Germany.” Upon Hobordanacz’ refusal to consider such terms Ibrahim stated, “I conquered Lewis and Hungary, and now I will build the bridges of the Sultan, and prepare a way for his Majesty into Germany.” He closed the interview by accusing Ferdinand and Charles of not keeping faith and said he would give the nuncios a final reply in three or four days.
The third audience was held in the palace, with Ibrahim presiding, and Suleiman at his window, and was conducted on similar lines to the other audiences. Ibrahim informed the Hungarians that their master had just been defeated by Zapolya with an army of thirty‐six thousand men, which statement Hobordanacz took the liberty of doubting, saying that if Zapolya added all the cocks and hens in Transylvania to his army, he could not make up the number to thirty‐six thousand. The nuncios and the grand vizir could not agree on terms of alliance; to the Austrian demands, Ibrahim impatiently exclaimed: “The Emperor Charles and your master, what do they want more? to rule the whole earth? Do they count themselves no less than the gods?” Naturally nothing was accomplished by such recrimination, and finally Suleiman ended the audience, dismissing the ambassadors with the threat: “Your master has not yet felt our friendship and neighborliness, but he shall soon feel it. You can tell your master frankly that I myself with all my forces will come to him to give Hungary in our person the fortresses he demands. Inform him that he must be ready to treat me well.”
So ended the mission of Ferdinand for peace. There had been no possibility of success from the beginning. Suleiman and Ibrahim were not to be won to friendship for Ferdinand, and had they been, the rude, independent Hobordanacz was not the man to gain Oriental favor. One feels that Ibrahim enjoyed the opportunity to sharpen his claws on an enemy, and to show Europeans his own power and that of his master. The envoys must have been very uncomfortable, and their discomforts were not yet at an end, for a Venetian enemy of Ferdinand’s told Ibrahim that they were not ambassadors but spies, and urged their detention at the Porte. For five months they were kept in close confinement, after which a long journey lay between them and the anxious Archduke who had hoped so much from the embassy.
This treatment of royal ambassadors as though they were spies was not uncommon at the Porte. The King of Poland had been forced to complain of the rough handling of his envoys by Sultan Bayazid (Suleiman’s grandfather), saying they were not only detained for months before they were given audience, but were thrown into prison, and instead of being lodged like the envoys of a king, who would naturally feel that it accorded with his honor to send only the sons of the noblest families to represent him, were treated as criminals, and that promises made to such envoys were often broken.127 Busbequius, himself an ambassador, who was detained for months and sharply watched, recounted another instance, that of Malvezzi, whom the Sultan held responsible for the broken faith of his master Ferdinand, and threw into prison when Ferdinand took Transylvania in 1551.128 It was a Turkish maxim that ambassadors were responsible for the word given by their masters, and that in their capacity as hostages they must expiate its violation; moreover power was often conceived to reside in an ambassador, who therefore was kept in durance in the hope that he could be brought to terms. Such treatment, however naïve and unjust, is nevertheless an improvement on the reception by Hungary of the ambassador sent to announce the accession of Suleiman, whose nose and ears were slit. Further illustrations of the way ambassadors were liable to be treated in Europe were the assassination of Rincon, envoy of France, connived at by Charles V, and the murder of Martinez, a Spanish ambassador to the Porte, instigated by Ferdinand.