ZAHIT ATÇIL
From the beginning of the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566), expansion into Hungary was a high priority and a point of conflict in Ottoman-Habsburg relations. The capture of Belgrade in 1521 extended the Ottoman frontiers to Hungary, and in the battle of Mohacs in 1526, the Ottoman army had a quick and decisive victory over the Hungarian army. The death of the Hungarian king, Louis II, who had been married to the sister of Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (d. 1558), and his brother, Ferdinand I of Austria (d. 1564), brought the Hungarian monarchy to an end. Initially, the Hungarian diet elected the Voivode of Transylvania, John Zapolyai, to be king, and the Ottoman high council endorsed the decision and recognized Zapolyai as the new king. The Ottoman government preferred to keep Hungary as a vassal state rather than establishing direct rule.
Soon after, however, Hungarian partisans elected Ferdinand as their king, and he quickly marched his forces and occupied the town of Buda, expelling Zapolyai. In response, in 1529, Suleiman annexed the area again and reinstated Zapolyai as the king of Hungary. Two years later Ferdinand seized an opportunity and laid siege to the city. In 1532, the Ottoman sultan, in turn, challenged Ferdinand and Charles V on the battlefield with a massive army. Recognizing the Ottoman’s military superiority, Ferdinand and Charles V avoided direct confrontation with the Ottoman army. Although a truce was agreed between the Ottoman government and Ferdinand in 1533, Hungary swung back and forth between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires until the end of the decade.
FIGURE 6.2
Sultan Suleiman receiving Queen Isabella Jagiellon and the baby Hungarian prince John Zapolyai Sigismund during the conquest of Buda in 1541. The miniature depicts Suleiman reassuring Isabella that her son (nestled in her hands) is appointed voivode of Transylvania for now, and that he could be king of Hungary when he comes of age.
Source: Arifi, Suleymanname. Manuscript housed in Topkapi Palace Museum Library, Hazine 1517, fol. 441a.
Weary of pressure from both Ferdinand and Suleiman, Zapolyai concluded an agreement with Ferdinand in Nagyvarad on February 24, 1538, according to which Ferdinand recognized the sovereignty of Zapolya in Hungary, but after Zapolyai, the whole kingdom would be transferred to Ferdinand or his heirs; and if Zapolyai, unmarried and already fifty years old at the time, fathered a son, Ferdinand would grant him a small principality. This agreement was initiated upon the advice of Zapolyai’s confidante and treasurer, Frater George Martinuzzi (Utiesenovic), the bishop of Nagyvarad. It was also Martinuzzi himself, however, who recommended that Zapolyai marry Isabella, the daughter of Sigismund I, the king of Poland. The wedding was celebrated on March 2, 1539. Isabella was soon declared to be with child. The sudden death of John Zapolyai in 1540 coincided with the birth of his son, John Sigismund, and once again Hungary was open for competition. The royal claim of a child-prince was supported by the powerful Martinuzzi, as well as by Peter Petrovics (later the count of Temesvar). Martunizzi, in particular, expected that the sultan would support the claim of Zapolyai’s son to the throne and appoint him as vicegerent.
At that time, the Ottoman government privileged the nomination of the son as the king of Hungary, but the Hungarian aristocrats had been kept in the dark regarding the Habsburg-Ottoman diplomatic dealings. The Habsburg Ferdinand sent an ambassador, Hieronymus Laski, to Istanbul to inform Sultan Suleiman and his ministers about the agreement of Nagyvarad and to push his claim as the legitimate king of Hungary. A faction of the Hungarian nobility with powerful members, such as Perenyi Peter, who had large territories in the north and the west, also recognized Ferdinand as the king. It was a surprise for the Ottoman court to learn that Zapolyai, to whom the sultan had entrusted the crown of Hungary, had acted treacherously and promised Ferdinand lands “the sultan conquered with his sword.” Ultimately, the Ottoman government decided to intervene and resolved the stalemate through force. The sultan and his army entered Buda on September 1, 1541, and established the governorship of Buda. Although the sultan promised to give Prince John Sigismund the throne of Hungary when he grew up, for now he appointed him to rule in Transylvania under the tutelage of Martunizzi and Petrovics.
The result was that Hungary was divided into three parts: Ferdinand occupied one part, John Sigismund and his tutors in Transylvania ruled one part, and the Ottomans established direct administration in the middle territory with Buda as its center. This de facto tripartite division of Hungary was not supported by a written agreement, so the stalemate and uncertainty continued. The lands in the north and west of Hungary, occupied by Ferdinand, continued to be a matter of dispute between Ottoman and Habsburg rulers for years to come. Ferdinand, with the support of the Hungarian nobility, launched several sieges to take Buda, but these attempts were unsuccessful due to a strong defense by the governor of Buda. The peace agreement signed in June 1547 finally brought a solution to the Hungarian problem in Ottoman-Habsburg relations that lasted for the next half century.
The document translated here is the sultan’s letter to the Doge of Venice, Pietro Lando, announcing the Ottoman conquest of Buda and bringing Hungary under direct Ottoman administration. It discusses why the Ottoman sultan and viziers decided to have another expedition to Hungary and connect its government directly to the capital. Its rhetoric represents a balanced Ottoman ideology compared to the propaganda of Suleiman’s early reign. Rather than extolling the qualities and power of the sultan with pompous adjectives and praises, it depicts a more realistic picture of the course of events and presents a more moderate announcement of the Ottoman conquest.1
This document possesses the general characteristics of other Ottoman fathnamas (victory letters). Ottoman fathnamas produced by outstanding masters of the arts of composition first appeared in the fifteenth century and continued onward. The fathnama penned by Molla Gürani for the conquest of Istanbul and sent to Mamluk Sultan Inal was the earliest example of a fathnama that is available today.2 Kıvami wrote another fathnama in verse describing the achievements of Mehmed II in 1490.3 Many important scholars, historians, and men of chancery were involved in composing announcements of conquests as a way to spread the Ottoman sultan’s projection of power.4 Although we do not know who the author of this letter is, it most likely was composed by Chancellor Celalzade Mustafa.5
TRANSLATION
Sultan Suleiman’s Letter to the Doge of Venice, Pietro Lando
When the imperial letter addressed to the Venetian Doge [Pietro Lando], the leader of Christian rulers and the model of Christian nations, the one who arranges the affairs among the Christian people—may God steer him to Islam—, arrives, it should be known that previously the blessings of the conceder of goals descended on [me], with the abundance of my kindness, I had granted the throne of Buda the capital of the country of Hungary that I conquered with the victory bestowing sword, which was at that time far from the Islamic lands and its control was difficult, to King Janos [John Zapolyai] (as he agreed to pay tribute) and then, after his death [July 22, 1540], to his son King Estefan [John Sigismund Zapolyai]. King Ferdinandush [Ferdinand I of Austria] the infidel, who is the king of Austria, a country next to Hungary, who is cursed with unbelief, is full of grudge and sedition by persistently having animosity to the Muslims. As he fell into the dreams of being king to Hungary, with the help of his infidel brother King of Spain Karlo [Charles V] and also with the aids of some other infidels, gathered infidel soldiers from their perverted countries, lined up limitless cannons and arms on the Danube River, invaded Hungary and made the city of Buda his castle, as one of Hungarian noblemen Pereny Petri [Perenyi Peter] also became subservient to him. As for me, I trusted in the blessing of God, the most glorified the loftiest, and resorted to the guidance-marked miracles of the prophet, the master of the worlds and chief of all creatures.
In order to defeat the enemy, I sent courageous and brave vizier Mehmed Pasha—may God keep his loftiness—toward Buda with some gunmen from the Rumeli forces and the Kapıkulu forces accustomed to fight on land and sea. Because solid and durable bridges were necessary for the forces’ crossing over the Danube River, one of the most important rivers, and ships were necessary for the provision of foodstuffs to the conquering forces, I sent also Husrev Pasha—may God keep his loftiness. In order to lighten up the torch of religion and affront and insult the perverted unbelievers by unfurling the flag of victory and the banner of conquest, in accordance with the happiness-marked verses written in the Qurʾan, the holy honorable book, I followed the examples and traditions of the master of the world, the prophet—may peace be upon him—I headed to fight with my share of victory and piece of God’s help, accompanied by vizier Rüstem Pasha (the leopard of battle castles, the hero of sharks, the sea of courage, and the champion of awe-inspiring fields)—may God elevate him to what He desires—and the governor of Anadolu Suleyman Pasha—may God keep his fortune—and all the helped and country and region conqueror Anadolu governors, all Pleiades-like gallant soldiers of the east and west and the people of my household and devastating gunmen and all my janissary servants.
Successfully, with warriors, I passed through stations and miles, crossed over the bridge built over Sava River located near Belgrade, the well-protected city, and when the dark city of Serem [Sirmium] was about to become auspicious with my flags of conquest, the favorable time for encampment was called, and the uninhabited steppe became a garden in heaven with the imperial army.
At this time, the aforementioned vizier Mehmed Pasha arrived at Buda with an enemy beating and castle conquering group, and then the governor of Rumeli Ahmed Pasha, the lion of battles—may God increase his highness—too arrived there with Rumeli forces. When the infidels—may God abandon them until the Day of Judgment—set up cannons on all sides of the castle, destroyed the towers and ruined by opening breaches everywhere and when the inhabitants became helpless and weak, the auspicious conquest-illuminating forces arrived, and the infidels left the castle and, in order to encounter the helped forces, they built up fortifications (istabûr) on a steep hill around Buda and burned the ground along the shores of the Danube. [They then] dug deep trenches and built walls for battle on various locations and towers on some islands on the Danube and set up becaluskas [a kind of cannon used in castle sieges]. The felicitous forces of brave soldiers gave no respite and attacked on the unblessed hell-inflicted ones.
The faithless infidels, one by one, jumped out of the trenches and began to escape and turned away on the plain in front of their fortifications. The cannons emit lots of smoke like a revolving dome. As the gazis, breaking their entrapments with the strokes of swords continued to fight over forty days day and night, I marched day and night successfully and passed onto the territories of Hungary by crossing over the bridge built with my order on Drava River near the castle of Oszek [today’s Osijek, Croatia] and approached Buda about three-four miles. With the screams of the conquering forces, the ground became mud because of the strokes of shoes of animals, and the air became full of silver-color dust from the gazis’ horses.
The splendor of the kingdom-destroying forces stood victorious where the unblessed lost and had no strength to stand against my chosen army. After sunset on 29 Rabiʿ al-akhir 948 [August 21, 1541], as the unblessed intended to escape, their ships passed to the city of Pest near Buda; being aware of this, the victorious army attacked the gates of the fortifications at night. When the infidels intended to attack by setting up becaluskas, cannons and artilleries in the inside, the gazis raided their fortifications, run into inside, all Muslims, infidels, believers and unbelievers were mixed up in the darkness of night, the group of believers were distinguished from the people of hell by the lightning of cannons, the companions of religion were known from the hordes of hellfire by the flames of swords.
The battle and fighting continued until the sunrise, and just as the surface of the world became illuminated with the light of the sun, the limitless blessing of God, the all-provider, appeared; the felicitous army became fortunate; the muscles of my state became powerful in the perfection of force; the victorious army became triumphant over the enemy; the infidels became defeated with a decisive rout; the gazis made the rebellious people a prey to the sword and filled the plain of the Danube with the fearful infidels. In an attempt to help their friends, the unbelievers fell off into the Danube River and drowned in the water like the people of the Pharaoh. My ships joined the attack on the river and broke the way of those who intended to cross over to the other side with the victorious swords; a number of men from courageous infidel-defeating forces chased after those who escaped and made the infidels pray to the sword. Several thousands of the armored unblessed men were taken captives.
With the blessing of God and the miracle of the prophet, the pride of the two worlds, the complete victory came upon the people of Islam as [conversely] indignity and vileness came upon the enemy of religion (that is, Islam); the misfortune and malediction were inflicted on the infidels’ sense of grandeur. Thank God for this.
On the day I descended to Buda with grandeur, waiting for the announcement of the conquest by the flags of victory, my aforementioned governor of Rumeli and other governors and my servants deemed themselves fortunate by kissing my imperial stirrup. With the banners and standards of regiments that the kings of infidel lands or more correctly of all Europe prepared against the people of belief and inverted and broken drums seemingly and their bands, they were raided and tied in chains in groups and tramped down under the horses of victorious forces.
As I entered into my imperial tent, rejected bodies of the captives from the people of hell were cleaned from the surface of the world by the swords of the valorous conquerors. My main objective was to turn the throne of Buda into a dar al-Islam [land of Islam] and control the country of Hungary with my victorious sword. With the blessing of God, as the unruly enemy has been repelled, the son of King Janos of Buda [John Sigismund Zapolyai] was appointed as the Voivode of Erdel [that is, Transylvania], which was his father’s homeland, and he was sent there on the condition that he would pay a sum amount as tribute to the imperial treasury. I granted governorships to a few loyal nobles of Hungary.
I annexed the city of Buda and its vicinity and turned most of its churches into mosques for the people of belief. Together with all gazis, we prayed the Friday prayer in which the sermon was preached on my felicitous name. I adorned the lands that had been filled with the dongs of bell with the prophet’s caller to prayer and the beautiful melodies of Muhammad—may peace be upon him. I secured all the castles and territories in Hungary with their dependent vicinities and their subjects to my well-protected domain, and appointed judges, wardens, guards. For defense, I selected some auspicious forces from the conquering army and appointed my vizier Suleiman Pasha, the carrier of Asaph’s [the vizier of prophet Solomon] conscience—may God keep his highness. Meanwhile, the sinister king [that is, Ferdinand of Austria] and the Polish king sent several ambassadors to my lofty threshold and pleaded and apologized to my throne where the world takes refuge. They acquiesced to pay tribute.
With the lofty blessings of God, the beautiful conquests that were granted to my state this time has never been granted to anybody. All my blessed wishes became apparent with precision accordingly. I left Buda with health and booty with my land-conquering army and headed toward my felicitous capital. If God wishes, may those lands be deemed to be auspicious by the shadows of my flags of conquest. Be that as it may, in order to announce these conquests, I sent one of the imperial servants, Murad, the model of his peers and associates—may God increase his capacity. Once he arrives and announce [the victory] hopefully you arrange celebrations and festivities.
Know that you trust my imperial seal. It is scribed in early Jumada al-akhir 948 [September 22–October 1, 1541] in Oszek [now Osijek, Croatia].
NOTES
1. M. Tayyib Gokbilgin, “Venedik Devlet Arsivindeki Turkce Belgeler Kolleksiyonu ve Bizimle Ilgili Diger Belgeler,” Belgeler 5–6, no. 9–12 (1968–71): 1–151. The missive is housed in Archivio di Stato di Venezia [Venetian State Archives] among the collections of Documenti Turchi [Turkish Documents] (Busta 4, no. 463). Its Italian translation is also kept in the same collection (Busta 4, no. 464). M. Tayyib Gokbilgin published the document in the original Arabic.
2. Ahmet Ates, “Istanbul’un fethinde dair Fatih Sultan Mehmed tarafından gonderilen mektublar ve bunlara gelen cevablar,” Tarih Dergisi 4, no. 7 (1953): 11–50.
3. First, Franz Babinger published this fathnama (see Kıvami, Fetihname-i Sultan Mehmed, Istanbul: Maarif Basımevi, 1955) and later Ceyhun Vedat Uygur prepared this for publication again (see Kıvami, Fetihname, Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2007).
4. In addition to Molla Gurani and Kıvami, Idris-i Bidlisi composed a fathnama after Selim I’s annexation of Egypt, and Matrakcı Nasuh wrote a fathnama for the conquest of Moldavia (Bogdan). See Hasan Aksoy, “Fetihname,” Diyanet Islam Ansiklopedisi 12 (1988–2013): 470–72.
5. See Celalzade’s role in the Ottoman chancery in Kaya Sahin, Empire and Power in the Reign of Suleyman: Narrating the Sixteenth-Century Ottoman World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).
FURTHER READING
Berenger, Jean. A History of the Habsburg Empire. Trans. C. A. Simpson. London: Longman, 1997.
David, Geza, and Pal Fodor, eds. Hungarian-Ottoman Military and Diplomatic Relations in the Age of Suleyman the Magnificent. Budapest: Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1994.
Finlay, Robert. “Prophecy and Politics in Istanbul: Charles V, Sultan Suleyman and the Habsburg Embassy of 1533–1534.” Journal of Early Modern History 2, no. 1 (1998): 1–31.
Tardy, Lajos. Beyond the Ottoman Empire: 14th–16th Century Hungarian Diplomacy in the East. Szeged, Hungary: Universitas Szegediensis de Attila Jozsef Nominata, 1978.
