J.C.1536, between Francis I. and Charles V. caufed all & 1537. Heg. 943, thefe maritime forces of the Turks to be turned & 944. against the republic of Venice; for the generals of the emperor of the Weft had found means to render the Venetians fufpected at the Porte, notwithftanding the treaties which united these two powers. The Ottoman fleet failed therefore to ravage the isle of Corfu. The fiege of the capital of the island was raised almoft immediately, becaufe Latibeg, the grand vizier, jealous of Barbaroffa, who commanded the fleet, perfuaded his mafter that Corfu was impregnable. The captain bashaw, abandoned the island, to his great regret, as foon as he received orders for it; but he did not leave it without a vast booty, and dragging after him a number of flaves. Having entered the Archipelago, he took fome islands Conquest as Sciro, belonging to the republic, fuch of feveral Patmos, Stampalia, Paros, and fome others. the Archi Charles V. offered the Venetians fuccours, pelago from the which proved fatal to them; his admiral, Andrew tians. Doria, who commanded the combined fleet of Peace with the republic of Venice, the emperor of the West, public. and the pope, betrayed, on this occafion, the iflands in Vene that re interefts of the allies whom his mafter wifhed to weaken. Doria always avoided carrying fuccours to the islands attacked by the Turks, and conducted all his forces towards the places where thefe republicans had nothing to fear. He loft defignedly two occafions of vanquishing Barba roffa, & 1537 & 944. roffa. In fine, all the exploits of a fleet of two J.C. 1536, hundred fail extended to the taking of Caftel- Heg. 943, novo, which Capello, the Venetian admiral, took against Doria's confent; but it was impoffible to prevail on the admiral of these pretended allies to profit by this advantage. According to the emperor's orders, he haftened his retreat, and Barbaroffa foon retook Caftelnovo. At length the Venetians, weakened by their loffes and exafperated at the treachery, of Charles V. afked peace of the Porte. Solyman would not liften to any proposals, unless the fenate confented to relinquish their claim to the islands which they had loft in the Archipelago. emperor Conques Portuguese in Arabia felix. This was not the only fuccefs which the fultan owed to his generals: he had at the fame time from the fent part of the army intended against the of the Weft to the coast of Arabia, under the command of an eunuch, called Solyman: this is. the first, and almoft the only time, that we fee an eunuch fill another place than thofe in the feraglio. It was intended to interrupt the fpice trade, which the Portuguese, masters of the Indies and of one part of Arabia, wanted to monopolize. The Turkish emperor hated the Portuguese, who had taught the Perfians the ufe of fire arms and the art of founding cannon. The prince of Portugal too, not long fince, had joined Charles V. in the expedition against Tunis. The eunuch Solyman cleared the fea in the course of 7 a year; J.C.1536, a year; he took the kingdom of Aden, which he & 1537. & 944. J.C. 1538, & 1539. & 946. tinople is by two Lcourges at once, the ire. a falfe pretence of alliance; he made himself The news of thefe conquefts alleviated a little danger, they Some carcries of the wretched wretched claimed their affiftance; and others, J.C. 1538, & 1539. & 946. to avoid the flames, precipitated themselves Heg. 945, into an infected air, where they met their end. The diforder increafed by the fatigue, and spread by the perfpiration. Moft of the private houses at Conftantinople are only of painted wood. More than one third of the city was confumed. Thousands who escaped the flames fell facrifices to the plague; in a few days, Conftantinople became as defert and defolated as if this great city had been taken by affault. Solyman, who for several days had watched to oppose the progress of the fire, and who, notwithstanding the danger he ran, had never quitted his capital, faw, with the greatest affliction, near one third of the inhabitants of Conftantinople destroyed by the distemper or the flames. He ordered heaps of aromatic herbs to be burnt in the ftreets, and perfumes to be diftributed at a very low price. Several years did not repair this lofs; the houses only were foon rebuilt, as the emperor leffened the impofts on them and on the cuf toms, the only ones to which the Turks are habitually accustomed. The misfortunes which Solyman had witnessed, and the pains that he had taken to preserve himself, made him forget for fome time the defire of conqueft, fo natural to him. His avidity however foon recalled him into Hungary. J.C.1540. Heg. 947. King John was lately dead. He left one fon a year old under the guardianship of Isabella his wife, fister of the king of Poland. This princefs had for adviser a monk, called George, become bishop of Waradin, an old fervant of the house. of Zapoli. The treaty made between the two kings of Hungary, which gave only Tranfylvania to the pofterity of John; the infancy of the only fon left by that prince; and the power of the house of Austria; seemed to promise Ferdinand of Auftria the peaceable enjoyment of a kingdom, which, he thought, belonged to him. He fent to Isabella to fummon her to execute the treaty, and, in confequence, to carry her fon to Tranfylvania; he fent likewife to Conftantinople this fame James Lafchi, who had formerly procured for king John the protection of the Porte, and who had fince quitted the service of that prince for the house of Auftria. Solyman, without regarding the character with which Lafchi was invested, had him arrested as a traitor. This man, terrified, gave all the information that was demanded of him, thinking much less of serving Ferdinand, than of recovering his liberty. When they had drawn from him the real ftate of Hungary, and what were the refources of Ferdinand, the grand vizier ordered him, to go and tell his pretended mafter, that St. Stephen's crown belonged to the pofterity of John Zapoli, under the high fovereignty and protection of the Ottoman empire ; |