These and such like reasons pronounced with the authority of a Legat and by a person extreamly eloquent prevailed so far with the Hungarians that they agreed unanimously not to disert their Christian brethren in this fair occasion And for this effect their forces are rendevouzed and Huniades marching with the Vanguard is followed by King Vladislaus with the gross of the army On his march Dracula Vayvod of Valachia came to him who told him he wondered of his confidence that would with so inconsiderable troopes hazard to seek and provoke so mighty an enemy who used to go a hunting accompanied with as great number as those the King then had with him and counselled him to return His advice was rejected and so the Vayvod leaving four thousand horse under the conduct of his own son with the King retired himself Amurath being informed that Hungary armed against him left Asia and came to Europe drew his forces together as speedily as he could met Vladislaus at Varna a town in Bulgary and gave him a total overthrow The loss of this day so dismal to the Christians and so joyful to the Infidels did let us see by the death of Vladislaus of Julian the Legat a world of brave Gentle-men that faith should be punctually kept that God punisheth the perjured though they cover their perfidy with cloaks of specoius colors They say that Amurath seeing his men worsted at the beginning of the battel pulled out of his bosome the Treaty that was concluded between him and the Hungarians and looking towards heaven spake these words with much zeal and passion JESUS CHRIST Behold the agreement which the Christians made with me and swore to me by thy Godhead and by breaking it hath mocked thee and me Now O CHRIST if thou be a God as they say thou art revenge the injury they have done to both thee and me And make it appear to these who yet know not thy Name that thou knows how to punish such as violate the Religion of faithful promises confirmed and sworn by thy Divinity This prayer was seconded by the entire defeat of the Christians The head of the King was carried on a lance through many places of Greece and Asia as an assured testimony of a compleat victory The body of Cardinal Julian the detestable Author of the perfidy was found stark naked pierced and hacked with many wounds The Epitaph of this King both valiant and fortunate so long as he was careful to keep his promises is worthy your knowledge and it is this Romulidae Cannas ego Varnam clade notavi Discite mortales non temerare fidem Me nisi Pontifices jussissent rumpere foedus Non ferret Sciticum Pannonis ora jugum As Varo Cannaes fatal fields did dy With noble Roman blood so Varna I Stain'd with Hungarian gore Learn mortals then To keep your faith and promise made to men The Pope importun'd me the Truce to break Which I with Osmans faithless race did make Hence the brave men of fair Pannonias lands Must now obey the barbarous Turks commands This misfortune fell on Hungary the 11. of November S. Martins day 1444. P. You have often told me that the promises of men ought to be inviolable and I was ever of that same opinion and this sad example confirmeth me fully in it But did this mischance spread it self over the whole army G. It was then the Almighties pleasure only to chastise this unfortunate Kingdom but not wholly to ruine it and so preserved John Huniades Corvin who seeing all things in a desperate condition after the death of the King saved himself by flight The year following the Hungarians who till then had rejected Ladislaus the posthume son of the Emperor Albert of Austria unanimously acknowledged him for King though he was but five years old and because of his tender age they committed the management of affaires to John Hunniades who two years after increased Amuraths trophies with the loss of 22000 Hungarians which he had brought in the field against him Not long after Sultan Amurath died at Adrianople and left his son Mahomet to succeed him who surpassed all his Predecessors in greatness of courage and subtilty of spirit This daring Prince in the third year his reign beseegeth Constantinople and taketh it within the space of fifty days on the 29. of May 1453. As this loss discouraged the Christians so it raised Mahomets thoughts to a hie pitch and furnished him with hopes to add Hungary to his conquests of Greece To effect which he laid Mysia waste and laid siege with two hundred thousand men to Belgrade which in ancient times was called Alba Graeca But the place being notably defended by Hunniades who for that purpose had cast himself into it the proud Turk lost almost his whole army with an hundred great pieces of Canon Hunniades did not long survive this gallant action but died the 8. of September 1456. Mahomet carrying his hie designs to Persia and Italy gave liberty to Hungary to breath a while hoping the ambition of the Nobles and the non-age of the King would raise intestine troubles in time of Peace which would give him some fair opportunity to subdue the Kingdom sparing it for some smal time P. But it was no smal good fortune to King Ladislaus that the Tyrant did not molest him in his younger years after the death of Hunniades But tell me what did he when he came to age G. The History tells us that when Ladislaus was 19. years old he married Magdelene of France the daughter of King Charles the seventh and that he dyed of poison at Prague in the time of the solemnity of his marriage so that he had but little time to make either his vertues or his vices appear yet there passed some considerable contingencies between the death of Hunniades and that of his Master the King Hunniades having left two sons who were perfect imitators of the vertue of their noble father gave some occasion of jealousie to Ladislaus and of an earnest desire to his favorites to be rid of them both These being envyous of Hunniades his glory wrought the matter so with the King that he caused Ladislaus the eldest sons head to be struck off for killing the Count of Cilie in a combat to which the Count had appealed him About the same time they clapped Matthias the second son of Huniades in prison and not being able to suffer the children of that famous worthy who had saved the State they had assuredly made his process if the death of the King and the Almighty Providence which had ordained him to wear the Hungarian Crown had not put a stop to their malice The Kings death which fell out in the year 1457. occasioned a wonderful alteration Matthias Corvin the son of John Hunniades is brought out of prison where he expected a sentence of death and placed in the throne And all these who envyed both his fathers glory and his own could
of service five thousand wagons fourscore pieces of great canon and six hundred lesser ones with all furniture and amunition necessare for such a train of Artillery fell in the hands of the Victor G. The loss of the battel was but a smal matter in comparison of that which followed The Turk killed and took more then two hundred thousand persons And did so far advance in Hungary and fixed himself so firmly in it that till this hour he could never be removed out of it And no doubt he hath now more hopes then ever to abolish our Religion in that unhappy Kingdom so we have reason to write the 29. of August of the year 1526. amongst the most dismal days that ever afflicted Christendom or Christianity This King died without children and his want of issue did much augment the right which the House of Austria pretended to have to the Crown of Hungary Yet that illustrious family did not find the Hungarians much inclined to submit themselves to their domination John Zapoliha Earl of Sebusia and Vayvod of Transilvany who came too late with his forces to defend the Crown thought he was come soon enough to set it on his own head He had of a long time imployed both his means and his pains to gain the affections of the whole Kingdom And by the defeat he had given not long before to George Sekell and the peasants who had made him King he had opened to himself a way to the Royalty Seeing himself now in a condition to have the greatest hopes he prays he exhorts the whole Nobility and every one of them in particular not to loose the right and priviledge they had to elect a King and to make their generous resolutions in order thereto known at the next Dyet He remonstrats to them that Hungary had never been happy in subjecting it self to the dominion of a strange King That Sigismund of Bohemia and Vladislaus of Pole the first by his defeat at Nicopolis the last by his overthrow at Colembat and at Varna had given sufficient evidence how misfortunatly strangers govern that Kingdom He endeavored to make them believe that though a strange Prince might reign gloriously in Hungary yet it would be both more profitable and honorable for them to have a King of their own Nation That the best governed Common-wealths excluded the feminine sexe from the Scepter for fear it should come in the hands of strangers That the Hungarian Nobility was not so degenerated but there was heads amongst them worthy to carry a Crown And though himself was none of the bravest yet he thought not himself incapable to govern a great State and defend it with the point of his sword P. There are few Nations who do not abhor the yoke of a stranger What was the result of the Hungarian consultations G. The great merits and exhortations of Zapoliha prevailed so far with the greatest part of the Nobility that they invested him with the Royal dignity and caused crown him by Paul Deverda Archbishop of Strigonium on Martinmas day 1526. But to help the course of this miserable Countrey to its ruine Stephen Battori and some other Great Ones who looked upon the advancement of Zapoliha with an envyous eye sided with Ferdinand of Austria and supported his interests This Prince fortified with the accession of his new Kingdom of Boheme with the victorious forces of the Emperor Charles the fifth his brother with the marriage of Anne sister of the late King with the pretensions which Ladislaus son of Albert the first left to the Austrian family and the help of some Hungarian Lords thought that the Kingdom could not escape him In effect Ferdinand assisted by his right and his friends declared himself King and takes the field with an army and knowing the readiest way to kill a creature is to strike it at the heart he marcheth straight to Buda the capital City of the Kingdom King John astonished at this blow abandons the Town Ferdinand makes himself Master of it and shortly after beats his Competitors army and chases him entirely out of the Kingdom The course of this good fortune was stopped by the Turk who regains Jaitsa the chief town of Bosnia which Matthias Corvin had taken with extraordinary valor This loss and the safe retreat of Zapoliha made King Ferdinand believe he had not yet done his business but that Soliman and John would cut out more work for him then he had reason to desire P. I would gladly know whether this titular King retired himself what he did to recover his Estates G. This poor Prince beaten by Ferdinands force and the revolt of his subjects betook him to his shifts He went to Pole adressed himself to Jerome Lasco Vaydod of Siradie an illustrious person both by birth and vertue Lasco over-joyed with the presence of such a guest offered him all that was in his power and having maturely considered and reconsidered all means for his reestablishment at length adviseth him to have his recourse to Sultan Soliman And because these who give counsel should ever be ready to put it in execution he undertakes the journey himself and having obtained a recommeÌ„datory letter from Sigismund King of Pole he goes straight to Constantinople This great Man who had been before Embassador at the Port made it soon known how fit a person he was to agent a business of that importance He gained on his side by presents of great value Abraham the first Vizier Lustibey and Lewis Gritti who were in hie favor with the Grand Seigneur These being well instructed by the dexterous prudence of Lasco easily perswaded the Sultan that it would be both honorable and profitable for him to take the exiled King in his protection and restore him to his Kingdom Mean while Ferdinand fearing the practises of Lasco sent John Oberdans a Hungarian Lord Embassador to the Port to desire the friendship of Soliman and to demand a little unseasonably the restitution of all he had taken in Hungary since the death of Lewis the second This highly offended the proud Sultan who answered That the Ottomans were not accustomed to grant their friendship to those who had offended them That Ferdinand was in the wrong to desire it after he had invaded an Estate to which he had no just pretension That he thought him unworthy of that he desired That he would be revenged of the injury he had done him And commanded Oberdans to be instantly gone out of Constantinople and tell his Master that he denounced war against him That he would come into Hungary and bring the keys of these places with him whâ—ch Ferdinand demanded P. The Turk speaks with a wide mouth and if his actions corresponded with his words assuredly he made Ferdinand repent that he had given an interruption to Zapolihas repose G. Soliman did not all he would but desiring to be a man of his word he took the field with a dreadful army and in the Spring
not hinder a man but of an indifferent quality to be preferred to the whole family of Austria in the year 1458. P. These effects of the Divine Providence are admirable But reigned he gloriously G. Hungary hath had but few Kings like to Matthias He was ignorant of nothing that belonged to the knowledge of a great Prince his reign was glorious both in the time of peace and war Many great Hungarian Lords opposed his election and after it they importuned the Emperor Frederick the third to set the Crown which he had a keeping on his own head which some say he did Once certain it is he did not restore it till six years after he got in exchange of it three score thousand dukats at Newstadt a town in Austria A little before its restoration some of the factious offered the Kingdom to Casimir the son of another Casimir King of Polen who sent his son to receive it with a powerful army but Matthias made haste to the frontiers from which he forced the Polonian to return These intestine broils gave both the courage and the opportunity to the Turk to make himself Master of Bosnia Rascia and a part of Servia But King Matthias after his Coronation valiantly regained all was lost and reduced Transilvania and Valachia to their duty This happy progress prompted Matthias to undertake an irreconciliable war with the Grand Seigneur and without all peradventure he had given him work enough if his heroical design had not been obstructed by the Emperor and the Pope And this doth evidently appear by the letters which he wrote on that subject to the Electors of the Empire and to the Cardinal of Arragon To the first he remonstrats that when he was on the river of Savus going to fight with the Infidels he received certain intelligence that in a Dyet at Vienne they had resolved to invade him To the second he wrote that the Pope favored the Venetians who had taken from him the I le of Valga without any occasion given by him and not satisfied with that his Holiness endeavored to take from him the power to confer Ecclesiastical Benefices within his own Kingdom of purpose to disgrace him with his own subjects P. But I think there is little appearance that these two Princes whom it most concerns to chase the Turk out of Europe should endeavor to keep the swords of those in their sheaths who would gladly draw them against that common enemy G. I should also be of your opinion if Peter de Reva had not told us that he copied these things out of the original and adds that which seems more incredible In his fifth Century of his Monarchy of Hungary he tells us that the Emperor seased on all the moneys which the Spiritual and Temporal Lords of Hungary had contributed for the war which Matthias intended against the Turk and that the Pope helped to drain the Kingdom of moneys by ordering Collections to be made for the Knights of the Rhodes Yet all these blocks that were laid in his way did not hinder Matthias by his Generals Paul Canisi and Steven Battori to defeat and chase Ali Beg out of the field with the loss of threescore thousand Turks and thereafter in person to regain Jaitsa and reduce Bosnia to his obedience Yet these traverses at home necessitated him to make a truce with Mahomet And the Tyrant dying in the year 1481. Matthias with all his force resolves to renew the war and for that purpose desired a Safe-conduct from the Emperor for his Embassadors to come and treat of an accommodation but could not obtain it He intreated also the Pope to give him Zemini the son of Mahomet that he might make use of him against his brother Bajazet who a little before had taken upon him the government of the Turkish Empire But this was refused him by his Holiness which spited Matthias the more that it was done not to loose a piece of money which was yearly payed to the Pope by Bajazet for the detention or as it was called the maintenance of his brother Zemini Besides this Pope by his Spiritual Authority obliged Matthias to confirm the Truce with Bajazet which he had made with his father Mahomet Shortly after this brave King looking upon all the indignities he had received from the Emperor as insupportable for any generous soul declared open war against him which proved so fortunate on his side as having brought the greatest part of Austria under his obedience at length he over-masters Vienne and Newstadt the two great bulwarks of that Arch-Dukedom From thence he marched to the Kingdom of Bohemia and made himself Master of Silesia and Moravia But Casimir King of Polen would have a share of the booty and therefore entered Silesia with a mighty army but by the mediation of the Princes of the Empire these two Kings agreed that both Matthias and Vladislaus the son of Casimir should bear the tittle of Kings of Bohemia but Vladislaus should alone enjoy the Electoral dignity and the Kingdom Matthias keeping in his possession the Provinces of Silesia Moravia and Lusatia redeemable after his death for four hundred thousand Crowns While Matthias was busied in these wars the Turk breaks the Truce and seaseth on Killen and Nester-Alba which at that time were accounted strong holds on the river Danube At length this valiant King having reigned five years at Vienne and while there was a Treaty on foot for the restoration of it to the Emperor he dieth on the tuesday before Easter in the moneth of March 1490. His corps was carried to Alba Royal and interred with his Predecessors the Kings of Hungary P. It was fitting this martial Prince should die on Mars his day and in the moneth which hath its name from Mars But it is pitty his valor was not still employed against the common enemy and I am sory that these who should have exhorted him to it should have diverted him from so glorious an undertaking But I pray who succeeded him G. Matthias Corvin having no lawful issue wished that his natural son John Hunniades might have been elected to be his successor But after his death the spirit of division possessed the Hungarians Four Princes pretended to this divided Kingdom and the Nobility being divided in four Cabales favored him with their votes whom they conceived most worthy of so great an honor John the son of the late King had the suffrages of these who reverenced the vertues of his Grand father and father which eminently appeared in him and of such also who would more gladly obey a born Hungarian then a stranger The second party stood for Albert Jagellon the second son of Casimir King of Polen whom his father furnished with forces to fight against Vladislaus his elder brother who made the third party Casimir thinking his son Vladislaus might well enough be satisfied with the Crown of Bohemia The fourth Cabale inclined to elect Maximilian son of the Emperor
you before I did ever believe and I hold it still for a certain truth that most part of men have more reason to be thankful to God for the good they receive from him then to petition him for a deliverance from the evils which afflict them And yet we hear more complaints then praises because we are more sensible of pain then pleasure A Prince is not so much contented to have been victorious all his life as he is afflicted to see Fortune turn her back upon him in one single rencounter A great Man who almost found nothing impossible to him till he was fifty years old and who had seen his most redouted enemies brought under his power said That Fortune was a woman and loved young men better then old And retired himself to a solitary life because he saw his ambition limited by one of the greatest Empires that ever was There are some who take a permission rashly to hazard on any enterprise that pleaseth their capricious humor and do excessively complain when these things which themselves began without judgement contributeth to their misfortune Certain it is that the Divine Providence which the vulgar nick-name Fortune often abateth the pride of the most successful to make them acknowledge that what they have obtained proceded from his Bounty and not from their prudence We see many States-men who see or think they see all things and yet are blind as moles to these calamities which threaten both their Countrey and their persons This I could confirm with infinit exemples but I pass them over in silence that I may hear your Demands and answer them as exactly as possibly I can P. Let us speak then of the present wars of Hungary And because a Discourse you had with me three years ago led us to the sight of a dangerous cloud which rose above Transilvany and that out of it since hath issued a tempest which hath dejected George Ragotchy and Janos Remin to mount Abaffion the throne entertain me with the cause and effects of that alteration that I may know whence it cometh that the Grand Seigneur who hath been but a pure spectator of the Tragedy which Europe hath acted full thirty years should now insolently invade our Neighbors and thereby give us opportunity to take armes and with joynt forces and affections make him repent his enterprise I am confident that this rupture hath so many circumstances preceeding accompanying and following it that I may with advantage spend some days to weigh and ponder them and that these who shal consider them after me may thereby reap both pleasure and profit G. I have always looked upon your will as a law which should over-rule me yet I am to obey you in this with some reluctancy because I fear I must speak more then perhaps willingly I would And because you must know from whence the remedies must be taken which are intended for application I shal endeavor to satisfie you And that you may have reason to acquiesce to what I say I will lead you to the source and fountain from whence sprung our miseries and will briefly represent to you what the Turk hath done in Hungary since Bajazeth came there to support the rebellion and foment the discord I know that these who know no better say when the Turk intendeth a war he hath little regard to justice that the smal difficulty he proponeth to himself to meet with in the prosecution of his enterprises is the principal cause of his undertakings For my part I profess that little faith should be given to an infidel and that the end of the Turks designs is seldom other then his advantage yet it is not impossible for all that but that he may many times find a specious pretext wherewith to cover the ugly face of these disorders which his ambition procureth in the world And therefore I will show you what reason the Otthomans conceive they have to keep the soveraignity of Transilvany whereby you will also learn the causes why we are now calling our forces together and begging assistance of Strangers to defend it against them And then I shal come to these resolutions that are now concluded at Ratisbone by which these will be satisfied who desire to know the manner our Princes use to contribute for the preservarion of Germany and for the maintenance of the war we are engaged in for our defence against so mighty an enemy P. I should not receive that contentment which I promise to my self by your discourse if you should only relate simply to me what is a doing on our frontiers how numerous our forces are and of what worth and merite the Commanders of them be for these who look upon any novelty desire to know the cause of all And this war of ours having had its rise from the disrespect was given to the Sultan of Turky by Ragotchy and the protection which the Emperor vouchsaved to give to Remin Janos I cannot choose but hear with much satisfaction the reasons why the Grand Seigneur offers to chastise these Princes of Transilvany who offer to raise a war without his consent and the causes which oblidgeth the Emperor to defend them against him Speak then to that as clearly and succinctly as possibly you can G. You demand two things of me which seem to be incompatible yet I shal not despair to reconcile them provided you be attentive In the year 1350. or as others write 1383. Lewis the first of that name reigned peaceably over the people of Transilvania Moldavia Valachia Mysia Dalmatia Sclavonia which were appartenances of his Kingdom of Hungary But his repose was interrupted by a mischief which he could not prevent because he could not foresee it Joanne Queen of Naples a Princess extreamly dissolute having preferred in her affection some young Neapolitanes to her husband King Andrew put him to a cruel death The news whereof with the letters of those who abhorred the parricide did quickly stir up a desire of a just revenge in the soul of King Lewis This generous Prince finding himself oblidged in honor and justice to take armes to avenge the death of his brother raised a puissant army and marched straight to Naples His expedition was fortunate for having chased away the Queen and routed her party he very soon reduced the Rebells to obedience and then punished the principal Counsellors of that detestable Regicide This being done supposing Hungary stood in need of his presence he bethought him of his return to his ancient Kingdom but not till he had provided for the preservation of his new acquired one He had brought with him many brave and noble persons both for birth and merite amongst the rest Steven Vayvod of Transilvany who though young had a very hie place in the Kings favor Him he appointed his Lieutenant and with him left sufficient forces to keep the new conquered Neapolitans within the limits of their duty The departure of Lewis encouraged Joanne
the Prince of Tarente her new husband to make an attempt to remount the throne But the prudence valor and fidelity of the Transilvanian rendered their endeavors ineffectual till Pope Clement the sixth put an end to the war The signal services which the Vayvod had done to the King his Master both in Naples and to his friend and Ally Francis Carcarius Prince of Padoua made him dream of vaste recompenses wherewith his hopes fed him But he did but flatter himself for Lewis not only frustrated him of his great expectations but recalled him also from the Government of Naples jealous of the worth and vertue of so eminent a person P. Other great Potentats have done the like before and after King Lewis Narses and Gonzale have furnished matter enough to the Writers of their times to lay foul imputations on the Emperor Justinian and Ferdinand King of Arragon But how did Steven carry himself in this his disgrace G. This Transilvanian as accomplished a Courtier as he was a Captain dissembled his ressentiment till some favorable opportunity should be offered whereby he might with advantage revenge himself This proffered it self by the death of the King who left no other successor but a daughter named Mary affianced to Sigismond of Luxemburg King of Bohemia The non-age of this Princess the unconstant humor of the Hungarians and the practises of our Vayvod procured such a contempt of Mary that many said publickly They would not be governed by a Girle This Cabal knowing the dexterous adress of the Bishop of Zagabria who was an Italien both by extraction and inclination sent him to Charles the second King of Naples the son of Andrew and Cousin-germane of Mary The Bishop did exactly that for which he was sent He offers the Kingdom of Hungary to the King of Naples and prays him to come take possession of the Estates which as he said of right belonged to him Charles gave a favorable audience to the Bishop and finding his mind perplexed with passions of diverse natures required a time to resolve of a business of so great importance He broke the matter to his Queen who forgot not to disswade him both with reasons and tears from an entreprise dangerous for the wavering unconstancy of the people and shameful for the great injustice he should commit in robbing his near Kinswoman of her inheritance without any color of reason But at length both Equity Justice and Reason must yeeld to Ambition Charles equippeth a great Navy and accompanied with an army suitable to such a King he landeth in Dalmatia and in few days came to Zagabria where he was met with many of these Nobles who favored his entreprise From thence he marched to Buda and though he met with some resistence by the resolution of Nicolas Gara and some other faithful subjects of the Queen yet he was established in the Kingdom by the favor and assistance of the Transilvanian Vayvod Sigismund King of Bohemia and husband of Queen Mary seeing the loss of Hungary inevitable retired himself to his own Kingdom And then Charles thought he had struck a nail in the wheel of Fortune His joy notwithstanding was but short and his usurpation no longer lived then other violent actions are Sigismund is recalled by the enemies of the Usurper and having routed Charles killed or chased all that offered to resist him reestablisheth himself in the Dominions of Mary his Queen P. These were marvellous alterations and no question such as were of hard digestion to the Transilvanian G. The loss and defeat of the King of Naples made the Vayvod dispair and forget all that is dear and precious to men Religion and Countrey He trode upon all considerations divine and humane and hath his recourse to Bajazet King of Turks to whom he promiseth his daughter on condition that he should assist him to chase Sigismond and Mary out of their Kingdom of Hungary This was the beginning and original of the miseries of this till then flowrishing Kingdom and of the hopes the Infidels conceived to make it a part of their Empire Bajazet layeth hold on Occasion marcheth with a mighty army towards Hungary meeteth with King Sigismund near Nicopolis between whom was fought a fierce battel where twenty thousand Christians and three score thousand Turks were laid in the dust upon the 18. of September 1396. P. I believe it was there where John Duke of Burgundy was taken prisoner with the loss of a thousand Gentle-men whom he had carried with him to that war But if I be not deceived the Turk made no great progress in Hungary during the reign of Sigismund G. These Burgundians kept company with the Hungarians who died at that time But in Sigismund and his Successor Albert of Austrias reigns the Turk gained but little ground in Hungary He resolved to go softly and to be first Master of Constantinople before he would fix his thoughts else where But for all that he learned the way to give us visits Mahomet the first beat the Hungarians at Tautemberg in the year 1400. And the Infidels advanced by little and little immediatly after the death of Albert of Austria This Prince at his death left his Queen with child which occasioned great divisions amongst the Nobility Some thought it fit to wait till the Queen were brought to bed before any thing should be done in order to the election of a new King Others made difficulty to obey a child though she should be delivered of a son and therefore resolved to choose a King capable to govern them Hungary being thus divided a faction of the Great Ones sent an offer of the Kingdom to Vladislaus the son of Casimir King of Polen Another party preferred Ladislaus the son of Albert though he was yet in his cradle and in it they set the Crown upon his head P. Truth it self doth teach us what danger Estates are in when they are divided amongst themselves And assuredly Hungary hath suffered irreparable losses by its divisions G. This division of affections and forces moved Amurath the second to take the field and taking his advantage of the discords of Hungary pierced to the heart of the Countrey and besiedged Alba Royal. Yet he got not all done he desired but on the contrair he lost almost all his army and was forced to raise the siedge This affront did irritate the Tyrant who to have his revenge entered Hungary with new forces where he was defeated by John Huniades Corvin This action as it gained much reputation to Corvin so it enflamed Amurath with spite and rage and therefore opposeth to Huniades who was constantly General of King Vladislaus his armies two of his bravest Captains these were Isaac and Mezets who entered Hungary and Transilvany both at once and filled all places where they came with terror fire and confusion Huniades runneth to the rescue renconntreth them loaden with spoil chargeth them gallantly but unfortunatly for he was beaten back and put to flight
Frederick but he was excluded because Vladislaus his party prevailed During this interraign the Emperor recovered all that Matthias had taken from him in Austria and at length Vladislaus maugre all the Competitors mounts the throne The beginning of his reign was troublesom for his brother Albert assisted with his Uncles the brothers of Casimir King of Polen beseegeth Cassovia the capital City of the higher Hungary and so gave him work on that side Blaise Magger a dependent of John Corvin being offended that his Master was rejected refused to deliver the Crown which was in his keeping to the new King upon which he was beseeged at Vissegrad which he held bravely out and would neither deliver Town nor Crown till he had command so to do from his Master Maximilian having recovered his losses in Austria advanced towards Hungary and being assisted by these who had favored his election in the interreign made a successful progress Vladislaus fainting under the burden of so many troubles came to an agreement with Maximilian the tenor whereof was so hateful to the Hungarians that the Palatine Emeric Prini caused proclaim through all the streets of Presburg that he neither did nor ever would consent to it But this generosity of his lasted not long for being gained by presents he signed the articles of Peace by which the Crown and Kingdom of Hungary is entailed to the House of Austria if Vladislaus died without issue You may see here a disease cured by the application of a remedy odious to the whole Nation This tempest not yet well allaid ushered in another conjured up by Albert another Polonian pretender whose heart could not brook it to see his brother King of Hungary he takes armes and beseegeth Cassovia the second time But while he endeavors to take it he is taken himself and forced to give surety to suffer Vladislaus to live in quyet Shortly after Vladislaus married and within three or four years had a son and a daughter Anne and Lewis both of them famous in the Hungarian History Anne was married to Ferdinand of Austria Grand-child to the Emperor Maximilian who by her had a numerous issue whose posterity reigns yet in Germany and Hungary The accidents of the birth life and death of Lewis were extraordinare He was born without a skin which made his subjects fear he should be spoiled of his Kingdom He wore a beard when he was but fifteen years old and was gray haird of eighteen which made most men conclud his life to be short He died in a marish at Mohats when he was but twenty years of age at which time the greatest part of his Kingdom fell in the hands of the Mahometans Which makes us see that these preter-natural accidents proved truly ominous as we shal find hereafter Vladislaus making no more account of what had passed between him Maximilian of Austria caused crown his son Lewis at Alba Royal by the hands of Thomas Cardinal of Strigonium in the year 1508. And the year after he got him to be crowned King of Bohemia at Prague when he was but three years old The Emperor Maximilian was hugely dissatisfied with these things but Vladislaus entertaining peace with the Turk on the one side and supported by Polen on the other he was forced to dissemble his ressentment P. Ordinarly a great calm is followed by a great tempest and if it fell not out so with Vladislaus he hath been fortunate beyond his merite G. Towards the end of his life and after the death of Bajazeth a civil war began in Hungary which was like to ruine it entirely upon this occasion The King had a great desire to invade Selim Emperor of Turky who was kept busie at home disputing the Crown with his brother Achmet which design he communicates to Pope Julius the first The Pope approves of it and promiseth his assistance but prevēted by death left the management of it to his Successors Mean while Vladislaus bethinks himself better and renews with Selim the Peace he had made with his father Bajazet This Peace exceedingly displeased those who loved war and a little after Cardinal Thomas Legat for the Holy See came to Hungary with a Croisade to joyn the Nobility and Commons in a vigorus pursuit of a war against the Infidels The common people who had been ever till then used with much rigor thinking the time to recover their liberty was now come turned their armes against the Nobles Their numbers made them insolent and they elect one George Sekell first for their General and then for their King He and his rable having cōmitted a world of mischiefs laid siege to Themisware where his army is defeated and himself and brother Lucatius taken prisoners by John Zapoliha Vayvod of Transilvany This action put Zapoliha in so high credit with the better sort that Vladislaus was contemned and nothing more spoken of then degrading the King and mounting the Vayvod in the throne But Vladislaus prevented the disgrace by his death which fell out in the year 1516. P. By what you tell me I am perswaded the Hungarians are hugely loyal and affectionate unto their King when they are gallant and that they are easily moved to change him for another when he is not so G. A warlike people desires ever to see their King a horse-back when the preservation of his Estate requires him so to be And though experience ofteu teach us that the preservations of the persons of Kings preserves Kingdoms yet a people is ever desirous to see their King on the head of their army But for all that the Hungarians have reason to be of another opinion and their History will let them see what a misfortune it is to loose a King with loosing a battel Lewis in his tender years succeeding his father Vladislaus was vilipended by Sultan Soliman who knowing his weakness and the divisions that then were amongst Christian Princes thought this time convenient to bring Hungary under his subjection To this effect he makes peace with the Persian and rusheth upon Lewis with all his forces This young King knowing how unable he was alone to grapple with so mighty an enemy prayed other Christian Potentats to send him succours and not to permit the Bulwark of Christendom to fall into the hands of the common enemy of believers His prayers prevailed not for Christendom then was tearing it self in pieces so Lewis was forced to take the field yea even before these troopes were brought together of which his army was to be composed The Turk had already passed the Save and the Drave and meeting with the Hungarians both few in number and evil provided of a General did without any difficulty obtain the victory and that so compleatly that the King and the most part of these that followed him were lost one way or other either in battel or the flight P. I have heard say that two and twenty thousand Christians died at this fatal field and that besides horses
advanced to Hungary King John went to wait on him at Bellgrade accompanied with Lasco and as splendide a company of the Nobility as was possible for him to bring together And in that great Assembly he did homage to the Infidel and acknowledged him for his Lord. The Sultan a little moving himself in his seat gave him his hand and assured him that nothing could be so pleasing to him then to support and restore the afflicted and oppressed He bid him be of good courage and told him He would restore to him all he should recover from his enemy Ferdinand These promises were confirmed by a most solemn and pompous oath after the fashion of these unbelievers who in all their actions will appear beyond that which they are All things being set in order Soliman marched to Buda which he might easily take in regard it was abandoned by the German guarison And then he forced Thomas Nadasdy to give over the Castle whereof he was Governor This victory gave opportunity to the Turk to reestablish John in the Royal dignity which accordingly he did Then treading over the bellies of all that durst offer to resist him he laid siege to Vienne He battered it with all imaginable fury and artifice but if it was well attaqued it was as well defended by Philip the Victorious Prince Palatine of the Rhine and Nicolas Count of Solms who forced him to retire with shame and to confess that who would take Vienne must have good mittains P. That place hath been for more then an age the mark at which the ambition of the Ottomans hath aimed They fancy to themselves if they had once possession of the seat and ordinary residence of the Emperor of the West they would quickly pluck from us the head of the Roman Eagle which is yet amongst us But in regard the Turk did rather fly then retire and that he was rather covered with Cypress then with Lawrels let us follow him and see what he did afterward G. I shal pass over all he did which makes not to our purpose neither shal I speak of his inhumane cruelties or the horrible marks he left of his indignation Let it suffise that I tell you that being arrived at Buda he caused bring before him all the Royall Ornaments and in presence of many great persons as well Christians as Mahometans he said thus to King John Brother and Friend Since next to God thou had thy recourse to me in thy calamity I was pleased to be favourable to thee and I have handled the matter so that thou art Master of thy Kingdom Now I deliver in thy hands the City and Castle of Buda with all Hungary whereof I declare thee King And turning to the Hungarian Lords he proceeded thus I command you to be faithful and obedient to your King here present If you do so I shal be your friend If you do otherwise I will destroy you with my seimeter And thou O King my friend Rememher of the great benefit thou hath received of God and of me Thou hath the Crown which thou and thy Successors shal enjoy peaceably if all of you continue in my friendship and the duty you owe me When he had spoke so he left Lewis Gritti son to Andrew since Duke of Venice by a Graecian concubine in Hungary with some Cavallery and so returned to Constantinople P. I wonder that Soliman having suffered so great losses in Austria did not recompense them by the detention of Hungary for I have heard that the Turk is not a slave to his promise G. Soliman did as these who break young horses he used this gentleness to tame the Hungarians and he gave that to John which he was afraid he could not well keep to himself But then King John fearing with much reason that the Grand Seigneur would weary of his succours and perceiving his affaires to be in a bad condition he sent to Vienne that same Lasco whom he had imployed at the Port. This active man procured a years truce in which time the edge of their animosity being somewhat blunted they came to an agreement By which John was to enjoy the Kingdom to his death after which Ferdinand or one of his sons should succeed him But because it was not impossible but John might have children it was provided that if he had a son that son should enjoy all these Lands and Castles which belonged to John before he was King of Hungary And besides all that he should be Prince of Transilvany This treatie was ill observed Ferdinand caused invade Transilvany by Baltasar Bamfy Sclavony by John Coatenerus the Province of Sebuse by Leonard Baron of Velts But all these attempts were rendered vain by the prudence of King John and the valor of George Martenusias a Monk and the Kings great favorite commonly called Frier George And so they came to another accommodation The calm which John enjoyed after he conjured away the tempest gave him leasure to think of his marriage And for that effect sends to Sigismund King of Pole and demanded his daughter Isabel or Elisabeth for his wife And having obtained her the nuptials coronation of the Queen were magnificently solemnized P. I believe King Ferdinand was not well pleased with a marriage from which might proceed an addition to his troubles and an opposition to his pretentions neither do I think Soliman could approve of the transaction which John made with Ferdinand without his knowledge or at least without his consent in regard a vassal can innovate nothing of that he holds in fee without the approbation of his Soveraign G. In this exigent John was like to him that holds the wolf by the ears He saw well enough that he had reason to fear as much mischief from Soliman as from his Competitor yet he conceived stronger hopes of a Christian Prince then of an Infidel notwithstanding whereof we shal presently see that his successors submitted to the Turk to preserve a part of their dignity Not long after King Johns marriage Stephen Meylats and some others take arms against him in favor of Ferdinand John desirous to quench the fire before it grew inextinguishable leaves his Queen at Buda and marcheth to Transilvany where he easily received these in his favor who acknowledged their fault which act of grace moved many to return to their duty But Meylats shuts himself up in the strong Castle of of Fogaras to wait for the succours which Ferdinand was to send him under the conduct of Nadasdy The King beseegeth the Castle and after a long siege takes it Mean time comes a Courrier who brings him the glad tydings of the birth of a son whom God had given him Such News useth to be very acceptable to these who have no children especially to such who are stricken in years You may easily imagine that John received them with an excess of joy which he witnessed by drinking after the Hungarian manner more then enough This augmented his
sickness which at Sassebs sent him to his grave a few days after his sons birth and in the fifty and third year of his own age His death was kept quyet as much as possibly might be done but at length it was published with the tenor of his testament by which he declared his son the universel heir of all his goods and George Martenusias or Frier George Tutor of the pupil Prince Some days before he died he exhorted the Nobility to have a regard to the honor of the Hungarian Nation and to prefer his son to any stranger whatsoever if they should fall upon the election of a new King assuring them that the grand Seignior would protect him if they had their recourse to him The desire of a dying King and the jealousie the Hungarians had of a strangers domination moved many of the great ones to set the Crown upon the head of the Infant the very day of his Baptism and to send to the Port to beg Solimans protection P. Hungary is most misfortunate yet little or no mischief hath come upon it which it hath not deserved What an eternal shame was it for a Christian King on his death bed to exhort his Subjects to have recourse to a Turk to free his posterity from that obligation himself had put upon it by a solemn Treaty What inexcusable folly was it in them to crown a Child and thereby render him the object of the indignation of a powerful neighbor Prince What insupportable impiety was it to run to an Infidel for shelter before they knew if he whom they feared would exceed the bounds of Reason Certainly the Hungarians had lived more happily and quietly if they had religiously observed the Treaties and Promises of their Kings and the faithless Turk would have found stronger bars to his Ambition if the House of Austria had not been so much traversed and crossed in its just pretensions G. When the ruine of great Estates approacheth all things contributes to their destruction Kingdoms that have changed Masters have been the principal framers of their own misfortune The condition of Hungary was so depraved that almost every one gloried to be inconstant and perfidious But let us follow the threed of our story that we may come near our own times King Ferdinand having heard of his Competitors death sent Nicolas Count of Salms to the Queen Douager to dispose her to the observation of the Treaty which had been made between him and her husband and willingly to grant that to reason which she would be constrained to yeeld to force That she and her son would find it a greater advantage to them to acquiesce to what the late King had concluded with mature deliberation then to draw upon Hungary the mischiefs and evils of an obstinatly sought for war That himself was ready to perform all he had promised and to use her with favor more then ordinary The Queens answer to the Earl was that her sexe her age and her grief rendred her incapable to fall upon any resolution in a business of so great importance till she had the advice of the King her Father and therefore intreated Ferdinand to allow her some few months for that effect That the Emperor Charles his Brother and Himself would reap but little honor to make war on a woman drowned in tears and a Child swadled in his Craddle This answer did not at all please Ferdinand who immediatly sent Leonard Baron of Velts with an army to bring her to reason The Queen in this extremity sends Embassadors to the Port who were well received by Soliman and graciously dispatched They returned with an embroidered scarlet robe a Mace of Iron the Pommel of which was of Gold a Shable the sheath whereof was set with precious stones as tokens of his Amity and Protection And at the same time ordered all the Governors of the neighbor places to draw to the field without delay to succour the Queen While these things are a doing Lasco who had changed his Master and taken himself to Ferdinands service and was then his Embassador at Constantinople demanded of the Sultan the Kingdom of Hungary upon the same conditions which were granted before to John Zapoliha which proposition did displease the Turk so much that he clapped the Embassador in prison and said he deserved to die for offering to mock him Soliman having absolutely refused Ferdinands demands and sending strong supplys to Queen Isabel Hungary became the Theatre of most horrible confusions and was dyed with the promiscuous blood of Germans Turks and Hungarians Rogendorff a new General of Ferdinands beseegeth Buda This siege put Soliman on his way to raise it But he might have saved himself the labor for his forces had done the work before his arrival Rogendorff having lost twenty thousand men saved himself by flight The Turk notwithstanding keeps on his Journey and being come near the City sends Presents to the young King But afterward desiring to have satisfaction for the great charge and trouble he and his forces had been at he desired the Queen to send her son to him assuring her he demanded it for no other reason then to oblige his children to love the young King more tenderly At the same time his messengers had order to tell her the cause why the Grand Seigneur did not give her self a visit was that he would not do any thing that might bring a blemish upon her reputation The Queen returned her humble thanks to the Sultan for his civility but wavered in her resolution whether she would send her son to him or not George Martinusias told her that she neither might or could refuse it Overcome by invincible necessity she puts him in a craddle worthy such a child and having commanded his Nurse and some other Matrones and a great many Lords to accompany him she sends him to the Turkish camp Soliman to do him honor caused meet him with a gallant troop of horse he looked upon him embraced him courted and dandled him and caused his children do so also And in the mean time caused seize one of the ports of the Town by which his troops entered and secured all the streets of the city Then were the Citizens commanded to deliver up all their arms if they desired to save their lives which was instantly done without any noise This being past Soliman sent back the young King to his mother but keeped the Lords who had convoyed him The Queen seeing her Town and Officers of State in the Turks power laments weeps and prays but her lamentations tears and prayers availed not nor did hinder the Infidel to put it to the debate in his Divan whether he should keep the Kingdom of Hungary for himself or restore it to the young King P. The great Turk is so absolute and formidable to his subjects that I presume in his Councels all speak according to his humor and inclination G. It was not so here for all the opinions which
were several were well debated and considered neither did Soliman fall upon the election of the most unreasonable result Mahomet and Ustrofi were of opinion that the Sultan should carry the King to Constantinople and with him the principal Hungarians That he should place a Governor in Buda who using the people which loved liberty with moderation and sweetness might bring them piece and piece and by degrees to receive the Ottoman yoak and in the mean time permit them to enjoy their goods Rustan Solimans son in law gave a more honorable advice perswading him to keep his promise wherein he was so deeply engaged that the violation of it could not but bring with it the irrecoverable loss of his honor and reputation But Iahaoglis Basha of Belgrade void both of honesty and humanity advised his Master to rid himself once for all of the necessity to come so often and so far to relieve a woman and a child He represented to him the impossibility the mother and her son would meet with to resist the Germans without the forces of his Highness and consequently his troubles should be endless He desired him to remember that within these twenty years he had marched into Hungary five several times to his infinite charges and hazard of his person The first time to reduce Belgrade to his obedience which before was a den of thieves The second to revenge an affront done to his Embassadors to which he sacrificed King Lewis and that then he had given with a prodigious prodigality the Kingdom to a person who was considerable for nothing but for the mischief he had done to the Ottoman armies The third to succour the said King against Ferdinand of Austria and at the said time he had shaken and wasted Germany by the siege of Vienne and by his roads and cavalcades which brought threescore thousand Christians to chains and fetters The fourth in regard his Highness retreat had encouraged the same Ferdinand to attack King John with hopes to wrest his Kingdom from him he was forced to return and relieve him And the fifth time for these affairs concerning which the present question was This Basha who had been present at all these expeditions did exaggerate the evils that his master had endured the great and vast waste of treasure the great and many persons he had lost and the obligation he had laid upon himself to neglect all his other affairs for this alone And concluded that war being only made to procure the means to live in peace the Sultan should reduce into a Province a Kingdom which he had so often taken and defended He should send the Queen to her father Sigismond King of Pole He should carry the child to Constantinople to be bred in the Mahometan Law He should put the whole Nobility to the sword and raze all their forts and strong holds transport a number of families to Asia and keep the rest in subjection with sufficient guarrisons P. This last spoke like a true Turk for they are all cruel and merciless and sworn enemies to Christians G. Jahaoglis advised nothing but what Soliman might have done and what many of his predecessors would have done in the like occasion But he resolved for all that to use greater moderation He left a strong guarrison in Buda intreating the Queen to be satisfied with what he did and to retire her self with her son to Lippa and reign over Transilvany in the neighborhood of her father the King of Poles Dominions And gave her assurance of the affection he would ever keep for her son He ordered some troops of his own guards to convoy her and caused furnish her with waggons chariots and beasts for carriage to transport all the moveables she had The Queen perceiving the necessity of her departure endeavored to seem willing to go from a place where it was not in her power to stay longer Some noblemen of the Countrey followed her joyfully as if they had been delivered out of prison The Transilvanians swore fealty to their young Prince with the Turks consent And remembring that his father John had governed them mildly and with much moderation the space of thirty years they promised to the son a perfect obedience without constraint The affairs of Hungary being in this condition King Ferdinand would gladly have appeased the Turk whom he much apprehended and for that purpose he directed Presents to him worthy of him who sent them and of him who was to receive them There was besides other things a great cup of pure gold enriched with precious stones and an horologe of silver of an admirable workmanship It was a globe which before had honored the Cabinet of Maximilian Ferdinands grand-father It shew besides the hours the course of the Planetes with the distance of the Sun and Moon imitating the fabrick of the world as far as art could reach And the motion of all did not terminate till a whole year went about P. Did these Presents produce any good effects or did they acquire to Ferdinand the tranquillity he hoped for G. Soliman was extreamly well pleased with the globe and looked upon it with much delight as one who had some skill in Astronomy but it did not oblige him to repay any civility Ferdinands Embassadors demanded the Kingdom of Hungary upon these conditions which were granted formerly to John Zapoliha Which being very honorable for Soliman and advantageous to his Estates there were strong appearances he should have granted them But the contrare appeared by the answer delivered to them out of Rustan Basha's own mouth which was this That his Highness would grant peace to their Master upon these termes that he should deliver up all these places which appertained to Lewis the second That henceforward he should not come near the Frontiers of Hungary That the House of Austria should be obliged to pay Soliman such a tribute as he should be pleased to impose to preserve the honor of the Ottoman Majesty which notwithstanding should be but a small one in comparison of the great pains and travel the Grand Seigneur had taken and the immense charges he had been at in the war And if these conditions seemed heavy to Ferdinand then Soliman would make use of his power to force him to that accommodation After this final answer the Turk returned to Constantinople having first wasted and spoiled some Provinces This proud and imperious procedure of Soliman was looked upon at Vienne as a Declaration of the war And therefore Ferdinand appoints three Generals to oppose so formidable an enemy and made application to George Martinusias who refused not to serve him This Monk whom King John had chosen to be Tutor to his son prime Minister of Estate and Director of all his revenues intending to tyrannize over his Master and the Queen his Mother had constantly more strings to his bow then one And whatever he promised either to the Queen to the Turk or the King of the Romans it was only
these parts during the reign of Ferdinand This Arch Duke was the most zealous Catholick in the World and one who could least suffer the diversity of Religions which his predecessors had permitted in their Territories His zeal and good fortune moved his Cousine Matthias to prefer him to all the other Princes of his family And intending the succession of the Empire for him he caused him to be acknowledged King of Hungary and Bohemia before he died Ferdinand begins his reign with the oppression of the Protestants he caused shut up some of their Churches and demolished others in Bohemia He recalled the Jesuits to Hungary and rejected all these articles which favored any other Religion then the Roman Catholick in all the Treaties that had been made by the former Emperors with the Hungarians and Bohemians This action which bred much evil blood in a Body formidable at that time gave occasion to the Bohemians to reject Ferdinand and to elect Frederick Prince Palatine of the Rhine to be their King And Ferdinand was forced to see in a short time the Bohemians and Hungarians before the wals of his capital City of Vienne At the same time Gabor cloaths himself as all rebels do with the pretext of Religion and for the maintenance thereof enters in a League with the Bohemians and sets an Army a foot of eighteen thousand men and eighteen pieces of canon and with it enters Hungary where finding mens spirits prepared for rebellion his progress proved successful which furnished him with the confidence to proclaim himself King At this time Ferdinand was at Franckfurt where he was elected Emperor This high dignity administred to him both authority and forces neither did he think of any thing else then shortly to recover the Kingdoms which he had well near lost and to humble those who durst so insolently attack him He spoke loud of the wrong dishonor and injustice was done him he remonstrated to the Electors of the Empire to the Kings of Great Britain and France the just right he had on his side to look for his own He drew to his party all the Roman Catholicks of Germany and the Elector of Saxe also who was one of the great Pillars of the Protestants and endeavored withal to keep the swords of strangers within their sheaths Not long after the Elector Palatine whose forces were very considerable was put to flight Gabor made more resistance and had put the Emperors affairs in a bad enough condition if his associats had done their duty better at Prague Count Dampiere General of the Imperialists lost his life viewing the Castle of Presburg in which Gabor had put a garrison And Charles of Longueval Count of Buckoy having reduced Moravia to the Emperors obedience and made a great progress in Hungary died there after he had received sixteen wounds The death of this great person gave means to Gabor to recover many places to dissipate those who opposed his designs and to over-run all the Countrey But at length seeing his Confederates beaten and his own forces scattered he desired peace and obtained it in the year 1622 upon these conditions That he should retain all Transilvany Tokai Cassovia and seven other Lordships of Hungary That he should deliver up the Hungarian Crown and all the other Towns that he keeped in that Kingdom That he should absolutly quite the name of King and content himself with the tittle of Prince of the Empire with the Dutchies of Opeln and Ratibore and that he should re-possess the Jesuites of these places they enjoyed before the war This peace lasted not long Gabor gives Vaczia to the Turk who sends him fourscore thousand men which the Count of Torne had obtained for him With these he once more invades Hungary alledging the conditions of the Treaty of Odinburg were not keeped to him That his Religion was oppressed and that the money they owed him was not payed him The Emperor desirous to be at an end of this business caused remonstrate to the Grand Seigneur that Gabor did but abuse his authority and his forces and that he was invaded by him without any reason To his words Ferdinand added the powerful arguments of arms and by them constraineth his enemy to an accommodation less advantageous then the first By this Treaty in the year 1624 Gabor lost the tittle of Prince of the Empire and some of these Territories in Hungary which had been granted him by the former Treaty Shortly after this restless spirit joyned his forces with these of Charles Ernest Earl of Mansfield But forty thousand Tartars who were coming to him being defeated by the Polonians he left him to go and take care of his own Estates And having only for the space of four years enjoyed the company of Catharine Daughter of John Sigismund Elector of Brandeburg he died in the year 1628. having suffered incredible torment in his feet and at his death he made it known that he honored the Emperor and the Turk equally for he left to every one of them a horse whose Caparison was garnished with rich stones and forty thousand ducats in speces He left to the Princess his wife one hundred thousand pieces of Gold every piece of the value of ten shillings sterlin one hundred thousand dollars in silver and one hundred thousand Florins and three Lordships which she was to enjoy during her life P. This Princess having above four score thousand pound sterlin in coyned money and Jewels sutable to a personage of her quality had enough to help a younger brother of a noble family and it is probable it was for that that Francis Charles Duke of Saxon Lauemburg married her some years after the death of her first husband But I would gladly know who succeeded to Bethlem Gabor and what fell out in that Countrey after his death G. When the heir of a Principality is not certainly known the death of the last Prince is ever followed with trouble Princess Catharine the widow of Gabor not having learned the Art to reign nominated Stephen Czac to be her husbands successor and intreated the Turk to confirm him But this Election displeased all the Transilvanians who divided in two factions the one favoring Stephen Bethlem the brother of their late Prince and the other inclining to George Ragoski The first was so misfortunate that his own children rose up against him the second having overcome all opposition made an agreement with the Emperor and gained the favor of the Turk and so enjoyed Transilvany peaceably yet his good fortune was not constant Stephen Bethlem who had yeelded all his pretentions to him chanced to kill one of his kinsmen and fearing the punishment he deserved endeavored to shun it by a greater crime He demanded assistance from the Port from whence he received an army of Turks and Tartars with which he beseeged Giula Ragoski detesting the infidelity of the faithless Turk submits himself to the House of Austria who assisted him with three Regiments of
the Swedes and that they do bad offices to the Emperor when they say that he hath some business to do with them they endeavor to perswade the world that the Swedes have an eye upon Silesia and that his Majesty hath concluded this Peace purposely to oppose more vigorously their unjustice My purpose is to stop the torrent of this malice and to show the reasons which probably moved his Imperial Majesty to this accommodation I know not if I shal do all I intend At least I am very assured that his Majesty hath infinite more religious thoughts then these suborners who dare blame his pure and pious intentions And I am verily perswaded he minds nothing but the good of his Estates I know if these seditious persons durst ask him why he entred in a Treaty with the Port at a time when all Europe believed he might have remounted the Throne of Hungary and been crowned with Lawrels he would give them reasons for it to which no reply could be made But Soveraigns have not yet been obliged to submit themselves to the judgement of the populace or commons or give them an account why they have made Peace or why they have declared war And yet if they will hearken to me I am hopeful to satisfie their curiosity The wise Pilot who knows and sees the marks and fore-runners of a storm causeth pull down his sails before they be torn by the tempest or that his ship be in danger to be lost The Emperor did the like in this rencounter He saw that his own forces those of the Empire and those of the Confederates were in a continual difference one with another he was justly afraid that this discord might give the Turks forces which were more unanimous an advantage to give such a blow as might not only make the rest of Hungary submit to the Ottoman yoke but also brangle Germany so that he should find it in an extream disorder He was likewise weary of begging assistance from his equals and inferiors and was forced with grief to hear continual complaints of those who were obliged to send recruts and entertainment to the troops they had levied He knew that many of our Patriots looked with no good eye upon the Auxiliarites and that every mean fellow endeavored to refuse them both victuals and lodging for their money He knew he ought not quarter all the Armies in his own Territories and that he was not obliged by the ruine of his own Estates to preserve these which belonged to other members of the Empire He saw well enough the dangerous misunderstanding that was creepd in amongst the German Princes upon the account of the City of Erfurt and had reason to believe if the matter came to blows they would recall the forces they had in Hungary leave him alone against the whole power of the Turk Italy in this rencounter did move but little for his Imperial Majesty and he whose lawful and holy designs carried him to be most favorable to him could not do much in regard his frequent sickness and indisposition The great affairs he had to do and the conjunctures of time had ever been contrare to him as all the world knows A twenty years war had so drained the Venetians that they were not capable to do great matters and though they should attempt something yet their naval forces would not make the Grand Seigneur recall those Armies of his who lay heavy upon the Emperor The King of Spain hath not yet had time to breath and though his Interests are mixed with those of the Emperor yet being busied to quench the fire that burns his own house he is not in a capacity to assist Leopold with either great sums of money or numbers of men All he can do is to counsell him to take up his measures right and rather buy Peace then want it and thereby put himself in a condition to enter to the inheritance of his Ancestors if he be called to it by the Laws of that Kingdom The King of Great Brittain hath made an alliance with the enemies of the Illustrious House of Austria which probably will hinder him to joyn his forces with ours against a Potentate whom he never feared or ever will be afraid of The Hollanders having been once members of the Empire were obliged to the Emperor Ferdinand the third for acknowledging them to be Soveraign and free Estates at least indirectly after the Peace of Munster have some reason to embrace the interests of his son but they will not do it for all that because they can gain nothing but honor by it that is a morsel which doth not rellish their Palats as also because they may stand in need of all their forces themselves if the English chance to give them any work to do The Hungarians are fickle and volage on whose resolutions no certain foundation can be laid And because they find the inconveniences and discommodities of the war their Countrey being the Stage of it the Emperor did believe and had reason to do so that there was no better mean to keep them within the bounds of their duty then to procure Peace and Quiet to them and to get them to lay down arms under another pretext The Polonians and Muscovites whose interest it ever was to weaken this formidable enemy of the Turk were by the ears destroying one another at the time when they should have taken that advantage against him which we furnished by giving him work elsewhere And the affairs of these two Nations are in such confusion that we have but smal hopes to put them in order and reconcile them The Cossacks are in the same Category and that warlike Nation which in former times made incursions to the Euxin sea sides now with the Polonians or else we ungloriously quiet Spectators of their differences without daring to hazard the enterprise of any important action These are as I conceive the reasons which moved the Emperor to embrace Peace and it may be the Pope fearing he might be obliged to contribute to the maintenance of the war hath advised him to do so for his own particular interest These reasons should if I do not flatter my self sufficiently disabuse those who have entertained themselves with a contrare opinion But because some ill natured Patriots whom I would gladly convince bring reasons on the other part which seem plausible I will be at the pains to examine them cast them one after another They say the fear the Emperor had that the Swedes would invade his Dominions while he was busied in the war of Hungary gave a stop to the pursute of his victories there I am not at all of that opinion But if it were so what can any truly honest man speak against it And certainly no Polititian will blame his Majesty for having such thoughts And if such considerations of importance moved him to accept of an advantageous agreement there is a great deal of more