Heg. 927. The bashaw of Syria threw off the mask, caufed J.C. 1521, himself to be called foudan, and affumed all the attributes of fovereign. Solyman loft not a moment to crush this rebel; he fent towards Syria, under the orders of Ferhad bashaw, all the forces that Selim, his father, had intended against Perfia. On the news of these motions, Gazelbek gathered together all the troops his faction could furnish him with. Twenty thoufand men only confented to march against this formidable army, which the ufurper was not afraid to go and attack with the tenth part of the forces opposed to him. Well convinced that audacity alone could fupply the deficiency of number, he would not attend in fortified towns the destiny with which he was menaced. He marched out of Damafcus to take poffeffion of an advantageous camp, where he was foon joined by the enemy. The combat was nothing but a flaughter, hardly one of Gazelbek's foldiers efcaped the enemy's fword, and he himself paid with his life, for the honor of having reigned two months in Damafcus. So much blood shed in one fingle day, retained, not only Syria, but all Afiatic Turkey under the obedience of Solyman. ches into his vizier The fpirit of conqueft was hereditary in the He marOttoman house. Neither the emperors nor the Hungary; troops could remain in peace. Solyman refolved takes Belto turn his arms against Europe, and to extend his grade. Heg. 927. J.C. 1521. his dominions to the weftward of Conftantinople. For fear left any new disorder should interrupt He obliges the courfe of his expeditions, he placed fixty thoufand men under the command of Ferhad nations, to bafhaw, beglerbeg of Afia, to enable him to keep licks found all the country in obedience to his authority. the Greeks, against their incli buy the re. in that town. He fent a fleet of observation into the Archipelago, and fitted out another of fifty fhips of war, which was to escort, to the Black fea, four hundred veffels of burden, defigned to provision the army which menaced Hungary. Never had there been a more favorable moment for the Turks to attack the Christian dominions. Spain, France, Germany, and Italy, were agitated by difcord. Pope Leo X. was occupied with the rifing opinions of Luther, and the wars in Italy between Charles V. and Francis I. for the duchy of Milan He was unable to prevail on the princes of Christendom to fuccour the king of Hungary, as yet a minor, whofe greedy ministers were impoverishing his heritage, and had carried their imprudence fo far, as to infult this Ottoman power, fo redoubtable for their master. Solyman having, according to custom, fent ambaffadors to the young king Lewis II. his neighbour, immediately after the death of Selim, and at the time of his acceffion to the throne, the Hungarian monarch, or rather his ministers, paid fo little attention to the law of nations, as to fuffer these minifters of peace to be infulted by the Heg. 927. the people. This was more than fufficient to J.C. 1521. authorise all the acts of hoftility which Solyman meditated. He fent inftantly a body of troops to block up Belgrade, before they had time to fend provifions and reinforcements thither. He marched himself at the head of a powerful army, and encamped in the plains of Semin, after which he detached his grand vizier Muftapha Kirlou with a numerous corps, to reinforce the troops. that were laying fiege to Belgrade. This Hungarian key, which had always refifted the predeceffors of Solyman, was taken, in less than month, through the scarcity of provifions and the weakness of the garrifon. They found in Belgrade relicks that had been for a long time much venerated in Hungary. The emperor had them collected with great care, and carried to Conftantinople, where, after having caufed them to be fhewn for money to the devout Chriftians, he fold them to the Greek patriarch for twelve thou fand ducats, who was obliged to raise this fum from those who were of his communion; for this act of religion was not quite voluntary. Heg. 928. con the ifle of Whilft the grand vizier was occupied before J.c. 1522. Belgrade, the emperor took, in perfon, feveral solyman little places. He meditated, for the following year, meditares a more important conqueft, in which Mahomet queft of II. had not been able to fucceed. The grand Rhodesnamafter of Rhodes, Carette, was lately dead: the ces the grand prior of France, Philip Villiers L'ifle letter. PP Adam, knights by J.C. 1522. Adam, had been elected in his place, though Heg. 928, &929. feveral competitors had made intrigues in the election. Bofio, a lay brother of the Order, who has written its annals, affures us, that the grand prior of Caftile, Damaral, a Portuguese by birth, one of the candidates for the dignity of grand mafter, in his rage at having been 'unfuccefsful, refolved to deliver up the ifle of Rhodes, and wrote to Solyman to make him the propofal of it. Be that as it may, the emperor of the Turks, who knew how to pay fpies, was informed that the moment was favorable. All the powers of Europe were at that time at war, which put it out of their power to fuccour Rhodes, and employed a great number of knights and regular troops, who could not be expected to come to the affiftance of the ifland: and as all the misfortunes feemed to happen at the fame time, Rhodes, after two years fcarcity, was badly provifioned, and the place was difmantled in several parts, because the grand mafter Carette had taken down fome bastions, to rebuild them on more folid foundations. Nevertheless Solyman durft not break, without a pretext, the treaty concluded with the Order, under Bajazet II. The grand mafter, Villiers L'ifle Adam, having fet fail from Marseilles in a carack, followed by four feluccas, carrying provisions and ammunition, landed fortunately at Rhodes, across a thousand dangers from fires, tempefts, and particularly from a famous 1 famous Turkish, corfair, called Curtogli; he had J.C.1522 Heg. 928, been fent fecretly by Solyman, to lie in wait for & 929. L'ifle Adam in his paffage; and his little squadron, all compofed of corfairs like himself, was very fuperior in force to the efcort of the grand mafter. The latter however found means to avoid him, and was received with transports of joy in the island which he was come to govern. He found only fix hundred knights there, and less than fix thousand regular troops. Villiers L'ifle Adam was hardly arrived at Rhodes when he received a letter from the emperor of the Turks, of which the following is a faithful translation. "Solyman fultan, by the grace of God, king of "kings, fovereign of fovereigns, great emperor "of Byzantium and Trebizond; most powerful "king of Perfia, of Arabia, and of Egypt; "fovereign paramount of Europe and Afia; "prince of Mecca and Aleppo; poffeffor of Je"rufalem; and lord of all the ocean; to Philip "Villiers L'ifle Adam, grand mafter of Rhodes, greeting." I congratulate thee on thy new "dignity, and on thy arrival in thy territories; "mayeft thou reign happily, and with still more "glory than thy predeceffors. It will be thy "own fault if thou do not live on good terms "with us. Enjoy then our friendship, and, as our friend, don't be the laft to congratulate us "on the conquefts which we have just made in "Hungary, where we have rendered ourselves Pp 2 << masters |