Szigetvar - translated from "History of the Ottoman Empire" by von Hammer, 1828

History of the Ottoman Empire

Translation of “Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches”

Volume: 1520—1574.

By Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, 1828

From page 436 to 453

Motivated by numerous reasons Suleiman decided that he will personally lead his army into war.  He hoped that the victory, which so often accompanies his flags, will not elude him and that he will plant the flags on the walls of Eger and Szigetvar which had earlier mocked his besieging armies. The fall of Eger and Szigetvar will wash away the stain of failure in the siege of Malta and fate (luck, fortune) will give him more victories like the ones in Hungary  where he started in the south with the conquest of Belgrade  and will now end in taking the northernmost fortresses of Gyor and Komaron.

He was also influenced by the religious devotion of his daughter Mihrimah and the fervor of sheikh Nuruddin Glaubenseifer (name spelling?) who accused him of not having for a long time fulfilled the Muslim duty of going into holy jihad against the infidels.

Finally, Mehmed-pasha’s son, grandson of Jahjali’s grandson, the new governor of Buda, with the name Arslan, the so-called “Lion”, sent another letter by messenger that there was no sight or sound of the emperor’s army and no matter where he goes Suleiman will find a Hungary open to his weapons.  Arslan

Arslan, with a lion’s courage that was inherently natrual to him, along with an increase in daily imbibing of wine and opium, without waiting for Suleiman’s presence or orders,  decided to prepare the way for Suleiman and on his own initiative with 8,000 soldiers and 4 cannons besieged the fort of Palota (Varpolata)

By June 9^th, after 10 days of bombarding the walls, they began to open when when approaching imperial troops forced him to abandon the siege. Commander Thury had called for their assistance. Besli-aga and Deli Lutfi had already observed them in the Balkon forest.  Count Eck of Salm then attacked the forts at Vesprem and Tata taking them in victory. So great was the fury of the German soldiers that they impaled (pierced, made holes in) the Ottoman soldiers who tried to escape (surrender?) to the Hungarian army for protection and their protectors. The Hungarians then began to kill them also.  Vesprem’s pride, the great church of the first Hungarian kind, Saint Stephen, which had until now been spared from Ottoman hands had the high tower burned. 70 people, taken captive at Tata, along with the Janissary-aga Kurt were sent to  Gyor.

Meanwhile, the Ottoman army, in two parts with two objectives left Constantinople. 25,000 horsemen and infantry with 2,000 Janissaries, led by second vezir Pertev-pasha, previously a Janissary aga, moved towards the Transylvanian boarder where they received reinforcements from the governors of Timisoar (Temeswar) and Belgrade.  They objective was to take Gyula.  The Transylvanian prince John Sigismund Zapolya and the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girai  received orders to retake  Szatmar and Tokay because their loss was very painful

1. May

Finally, on May 1, Suleiman himself, with great pomp gloriously entered the war, surpassing the splendor of all previous campaigns. During his long reign of 45 years he had already set out 12 times at the front of his victorious army (against Belgrade, Rhodes, Mohacs, Vienna, Guns, Baghdad, Corfu, Suceava, Buda, Gran, Tabriz and Nakhchivan) and now a 13^th time against Szigetvar.

It was accompanied by the grand vizier Mehmed Sokollu (aka Sokolovic) as serasker (commander in chief) , then the third, fourth and fifth viziers - Ferhat, Ahmet and Mustafa, the unfortunate besiegers of Malta. The second vizier, Pertev-pasha, went to Gyula two month earlier. Two army judges Hamid and Perviz-efendi, the Janissary aga Ali, the chief defterdar (treasurer) Murat-Čelebi, the nishanji (chancellor) Egri Abdi-zade Mehmed-Čelebi was appointed to be the chief nishanji replacing the chief nishanji Jelal-zada, a chronicler of history who in this capacity participated in previous military campaigns  and recorded them as an eye-witness; with difficulty he kept quite about Szigetvar. The care of the capital was entrusted to Iskender-pasha as a kaimakam (colonel) and the second and third defterdars (treasurers). Protection of the port and the arsenal was entrusted to the kapudan (admiral) Piale and the bostanji-pasha Daud. Mufti Ebusuud, kaimakam Iskender-pasha, and the judge of Constantinople Kadi-zade Ahmad-efendi saw the sultan off (escorted him) on his campaign  escorted by the Sultan; the first to Ali-pasha's mosque, and the other two to the city gates of Edirne. In front of the town, they emcamped on Rustem-Celebi’s fields and the poets Abdulbaki, Nevaji, Furi and Kasi Ubeidi-Chelebi gave poems for a blessed campaign of the great padishah of the world.

The first place where they encamped was outside the city near the aquaducts whose construction was Suleiman’s pride and joy and which he now saw for the first time.  This time, unlike previous campaigns, he did not ride his horse but because of the weakness of old age and aching bones he rode mostly in his carriage in which he received his ministers.  The grand vizier always went one stop ahead in order to make repairs to the rode so that the sultan could travel on it. 

1. June

A month after they departed Constantinople they arrived at the scenic fields of Tatarbasari.  A chamberlain brought a letter of glad tidings that to Suleiman’s grandson Prince Murad (Selim’s son), governor of Magnesia, a son was born.  The child was named, as per the wishes of Suleiman, Mehmed (Mohammed) from his great-grandfather. 

He resumed his march across the Balkans.  Strong rains made the  passage through Kapuluderbend difficult. They rested one day at Sofia, two at Nis and three in Belgrade where Suleiman arrived 49 days after his departure from Constantinople.

Along the march, some robbers had the audacity to attack and steal from the camp.  Suleiman gave the most severe orders to find the thieves and bring them to him dead or alive.  The aga of the janissaries and the yasakdjis, a sort of men-at-arms whom he had under his command, redoubled their vigilance. By their care, as well as by that of the Milgar-bey and Oren-bey, a large number of brigands were pulled from their caves and every location was marked by executions.   Oren-beg was rewarded for maintaining the security in the camp was promoted to chaush-pasha (a high rank) and four janissaries who were particularly distinguished in the hunt for the thieves were promoted to sipahi and given a pay increase to 13 akce (silver coins).

When the sultan arrived in Belgrade the waters of the Danube were swollen by the recent rains that it was nearly impossible to build a bridge.  Suleiman ordered the Janissary-aga, the defterder and the armies of Rumelia, Anatolia and Karamania to cross the Danube at Zemun and wait for his arrival on the plains of Srijem.  On the march from Belgrade to Sabac there was chaos because the roads were very damaged (washed out) by the rains and floods and many camels were lost and the Imperial tent did not arrive and so the sultan had to make use of the grand vizier’s tent. Four days were spent on the short march from Belgrade to Sabac where Bajram-bey, the sanjak-bey of Semendra, built a bridge and Suleiman crossed it and in full glory entered Zemun (Semlin) riding his horse in front of the eyes of the army that stood on both sides on parade.  The Rumelian, Anatolian and Karamian beylerbeys, Shem Ahmed, Zal Mahmud and Cherkesh Mahmud received him at the head of their troops and according to customary ceremony a thousand prosperities.

27. June

Suleiman gave the order that Kuran Bajram (the Sacrifice Feast) will be celebrated in Zemun. On the eve of the feast, Sulejman sent his own boat to John Sigismund Zapolya (aka John II of Hungary), who had already been invited for an audience with the sultan by a chaush (usher, guard) before the sultan left Constantinople.  Zapolya arrived by boat with 400 nobles from his court and was brought by a sanjak-bey and chaushi to Suleiman’s tent which was set up on the hill where Hunyadi’s castle once stood. Sigmund stood by the sultan and greeted by a general salute of the Ottoman artillery.  Zapolya’s tent was erected close to those of the pashas.  The next day Kurbam Bajram was celebrated with great pomp and generosity.  The army received large gifts.  The sacrifice made, the beylerbeys received 50,000, sanjak-beys received 30,000, sipahi received 1,000 and the janissaries received 500 silver akce (10 ducats per person).

29. June

The next day John Sigismund Zapolya held a solemn audience with Suleiman. Fifty chaushi walked in front of him and 50 behind him. The Janissary-aga, the chief chamberlain and grand marshal with a staff decorated with a silver chains, three masters of ceremonies and four viziers, rode in front of Zapolya. There were horsemen in Persian costume beside him and four of them, in golden clothes, held the stirrups to his horse. When Zapolya arrived at the sultan’s tent he was signaled to dismount his horse.  100 janissaries walked in front of him carrying his gifts (sacrifices). The gifts included  12 richly guilded (gold plated) cups (maybe bowls) and a ruby worth 50,000 ducats.

With the nine nobles from his entourage, John Sigismund Zapolya entered the Sultan's  tent, where four viziers stood by the golden throne. The pretender to the Hungarian crown knelt before the sultan three times and Suleiman three times invited him to stand up, offered his hand to be kissed and welcomed him and called him a beloved son. The grand vizier himself led Zapolya to a seat, without a backrest, decorated by pearls and precious stones. Zapolya told the interpreter Ibrahim that he was uncomfortable (unaccustomed) with so much magnificence reminding Suleiman that he was just the son of old servant to the sultan (his father was John Zápolya, known as John I, King of Hungary from 1526 to 1540). Sulejman replied that he would not depart until the son of the former king, Sigismund Zapolya, he crowns king of Hungary. Forty years have passed since the Battle of Mohacs, whose swamp swallowed the legitimate king, a defeat confirmed three years by three years of submission to the Porte by Zapolya, the contender for the Hungarian throne, and confirmed by the kiss in Sulejman's tent. Twenty-five years have passed since Zapolya’s son, as a child, and mother were expelled from Buda. Isabella was given a promise to once again recover the lost crown of his father. Zapolya requested, in writing, to have the promise fulfilled. Sulejman solemly renewed  the 25 year old promise stating that he is always ready to help widows and orphans.

Suleiman graciously dismissed him and the next day send him gifts carried by 22 ushers including a dagger and sword richly adorned with jewels and four splendid horses presented by the chief of the cavalry.  Suleiman also wanted to entertain him with a banquet but the grand vizier, dissuaded him saying:

"If the weak prince, with a poor constitution, perhaps not accustomed to Turkish food, suffered a troubled stomach, the Hungarians might think that we wanted to poison him."

That was just a pretext by which the Grand Vizier Mehmed Sokollu concealed his true motives which was to deprive the prince of the honor to be entertained by the sultan. Why?  The Grand Vizier had invited Zapolya to his tent  but the prince, led astray by the advice of his aide Bekessi, stating that it would not  be dignified to honor a slave in such a way, refused the meeting in the tent and so they met on horseback under the open sky and that offended the grand vizier. The pride of the now powerful and later even more powerful Sokollu was hurt.  Such was the origin of the animosity of Sokollu against the prince and why he deprived him of the honor of being the sultan’s guest. Sokollu did not forgive him the insult now, and later even less.

1. July 

Two days later Sigmund, knelt in front of the Sultan, for a farewell audience and was graciously excused with the words:

"Take care of soldiers, gunpowder, lead, and money;
If you need something, tell me and
I'll send you what you ask for (what you need). "

Suleiman stood up twice and embraced him.  Sigmund’s written request asked only for the territory between the Theiss and the Transylvanian frontier and did not ask for Timisoara and Lipo where mosques had already been built nor the border towns of Debrezin and Szolnok.  The modest request was granted and the sultan also released 300 prisoners and gave them to him. 

On the last day of the audience with Zapolya Suleiman also received the ambassador of the King of France, William of Aube, who came to the Ottoman camp to give the sultan the good-wishes for success from his king for the campaign that was about to begin in Hungary. Suleiman had received such congratulations early from Rincon for Guns, by Leforet for the first Persian campaign, from Codignac for the last Persian campaign. The ambassador of the great Christian king was pleased with the victories of the Amir al-Mu'minin (Commander of the Faithful) and on this occasion congratulated Sigismund Zapolya for having renounced the Catholic faith and embraced (converted to) the Protestant Church (doctrine of Luther).

Suleiman-pasha, the Karamanian beylerbeg was commanded to march from Zemun to Buda.  The sultan wanted to cross the bridge at Petrovaradin and march to Eger but news arrived that Nikola Zrinski, at Siklos, attacked Mohamed the sanjak-bey of Tirhala, a former chief-squire (steward) of Suleiman.  The report said the sanjak-bey and his son were killed and the camp plundered and a considerable amount of spoils including 17,000 ducats was carried off. Suleiman was furious and he changed his plans from an attack on Eger to first punish Nikola Zrinska and conquer Siget. He commanded that the a bridge across the Danube be built at Vukovar.

The bridge was already completed.  The kapiji-pasha, quartermaster of the army, Ali-aga lead with zeal and turned a two day march into one and placed the sultan’s tent at the bridge-head.  Suleiman, irritable from old age and illness, ordered the quartermaster’s head cut off because against orders he turned two marches into one. The grand vizier saved his life showing the sultan that the infraction of orders was good because it caused great fear in the enemy and they tremble now that they saw that Suleiman, even if old and ill, can still turn two marches into one as if he was young and healthy.

The Danube flooded again and destroyed the Vukovar bridge. Sulejman then commanded a pontoon bridge to be built over the Drava River in Osijek. The Rumelian and Anatolian units were dragged wood from all sides and in seventeen days the bridge was built. The bridge was 4,800 cubits long and supported by 180 ships. Ali-portuk-bey, a former bey from Rhodes, received the supreme command of the Danube navy brought the Sultan's green yacht with three galleys from Constantinople across the Black Sea and up the Danube to the Drava. Now, Suleiman held the rudder of a golden ship on which Sulejman had previously looked at the shores of the Bosphorus and now was looking at the shores of the Drava and the newly constructed bridge over it with the sound of cannons thundering.

19. July

Suleiman went ashore, to the tent of the Janissary-aga and generously rewarded his zeal and the zeal of the naval commander Ali-Portuk. He ordered the beylerbeys to cross the river without delay. The sultan followed 24 hours later on the first day of the new lunar year; the 1st Moharrem 974

In spite of the strictest orders forbidding plunder and burning of villages some villages were in flames. Suleiman was angry at this and ordered Gulabi-aga, the chief chamberlain, with 100 kapijis go to the burning villages and hang on the spot the brigands and thieves. The grand vizier received the order with the chaushes to be the supreme army judiciary and quickly execute the guilty arsonists and murderers.

A further order arrived that all heavy weapons (siege artillery) be taken by oxen to Siget, especially the great Katzianer cannon from Arad which Husrev and Ferhat-bey captured as a trophy during Katzianer’s defeat. The sultan encamped between Pecs and Siklos at Harsany; a village famous for the wines produced and infamous for the execution of one of the bravest Ottoman generals.

Mehmed-bey, "Lion" (Arslan), the governor of Buda, caused the Sultan's anger with a premature attempt to besiege Palota and the subsequent loss of Vesprem and Tata.  Most importantly he had insulted the grand vizier in some letters which the sultan attributed to him thus creating hostility towards him.

Upon arriving un Siklos, Suleiman ordered the chaush-pasha Burunsif (Burunsiz), or "the one without a nose,", with fifteen guards,  to bring him the head of the Buda governor Arslan-pasha. Arslan-bey's emissary immediately said that he got the news that the pasha had left his army three days ago and that he himself hurried to the sultan’s camp. Suleiman changed the first order now commanding that Arslan be decapitated when he entered the tent of the great vizier. The next morning in Harsany was a day of rest and a divan was held. In the afternoon Arslan-pasha, with fifteen heavily armed horsemen, arrived at the end of the council in the tent of the grand vizier and sat on the prepared place in the sofa for the divan.  His boldness confounded everyone. There was a lot of rumors about what the governor of Buda was doing here and the chaushi wondered whether he was crazy for leaving his army without command.

As the grand vizier exited the tent he asked Arslan,

“What do you want here? To whom did you entrust the care of your army? The padishah appointed you as beylerbey and you surrendered the fortress to the infidels. Woe to you! Your sentence of death has been pronounced, you wretch.”

Turning to the chaushbash he said. “Make this man disappear from the earth.”

Arslan drew two reports from the chest which he wanted to give to the sultan. The grand vizier took them and the chaushbash took Arslan,  In the  the mauve is injecting the sacrifice. Since the executioner was absent, his assistant had to carry out the execution.

3. August

As Arslan exited the tent, Ayas-pasha said to him,

“ The world has no existence; repent and turn to God.”

Arslan instead of listening, he said to the executioner,

 " Dear masters, do it quickly and press firmly with your thumb. "

He was immediately strangled.

The governorship of Buda was given to the nephew of the grand vizier, Mustafa Sokolovic. What Arslan had brought with him immediately became property of the state. During the night they watched over his corpse and in the morning they were taken to the tomb of the Jahjali family, laid to rest beside his father who once cursed him in anger and supposedly foretold his tragic end.

Mohamed-bey, nicknamed Lion (Arslan) for his success in battle was the grandson of Bali-bey and son of Jahja-pasha, governor of Bosnia and one of the bravest generals of Mohammed II. His grandfather Hamza Bali-bey distinguished himself at the age of 14 in a heroic struggle and at the siege of Vienna he was stationed on the Vienna hill, Wiënerberg. 

Jahja-pasha had four sons, each of whom was a famous military captain. Bali-bey’s son had three sons and one grandson; Each of them a governor in Hungary, namely Ahmet in Szekesfehervar, Derviš in Segedin and then in Pecs, Mehmed and his son Arslan were governors of Buda. This tells us about the history of the descendants of Jahjaoghli.  Jahja-pasha was a son-in-law of Beyazid and as a governor of Bosnia, there was fear and trembling in Hungary. His son Bali-bey at Buda and Osijek defeated the Hungarians. Of his three grandchildren, who were governors in Hungary, Mehmed celebrated with the construction of a bathing place in Budirna, and his great-grandson a praiseworthy death, as "lion" and as a poet.

4. August

On the day of the execution of Arslan-pasha, the Sultan made a ceremonious entry into Pecs, preceded by the sons  of the grand vizier, Kurt-bey and Hasan-bey.  The Ulufeji general Ferhat-aga, and the chief of the muteferikas with five readers (students) of the Koran  marched under the flag, The students, with beautiful voices read suras of victory and conquest. The sultan, from his carriage, saluted and welcomed the army. On his left he was escorted by the viziers Ferhat-pasha and Ahmet-pasha, and on the right Ahmet-pasha's brother, the fifth vizier Mustafa-pasha, and from Egypt, the renowned Kilun or Sufi Ali-pasha, the sixth vizier. Three days before that, the Rumelian beylerbey camped on the hill Similehov, north of Siget, with ninety thousand people and  300 cannons.

5. August

Sulejman Sulejman arrived on horseback  on August 5th and in front of Siget he ordered the siege to start..

Fort Siget or Sigetvar, a town-island, two miles away from Pecs and surrounded by the Almas River, consists of three parts: a fort, an old and new town that are connected by bridges. The fort (the inner part of the fort) had five defensive ramparts (bastions), surrounded by three layers of defense made of water filled trenches amd walls made of earth and wood.  Only the round tower, where the gunpowder, the bell and the alarm devices were was made of brick. In the center of the fortress, Zrinski, master of Siget, set up a big cross.  At that time Zrinski ordered the execution of a soldier who raised his sword against his superiors, which was punishable by death under strict military discipline.  Zrinski also carried out a pointless cruelty by decapitating an Ottoman aga he had taken captive.

To respond to the great ceremony of Sulejman’s arrival and to show the padisha that he receives him with dignity his soldiers covered the tower with red fabric and tin plates that spakled like silver.  When the sultan had settled on Semilihov Hill Zrinski saluted him with a discharge from a large cannon. 

The attack on the fort  began immediately on three sides.  The Ottoman right wing was commanded by the third vizier, Ferhat-pasha, and Anatolian beylerbey Shems Ahmet; The left wing commanded by vizier, Mustafa-pasha, and the Rumelian beylerbey Zal-Mahmud.  The Janissary-aga and Ali-Portuk, bey ofjKodza-Ili occupied the center and under their command the beys from the frontiers, such as Nasuh-bey of Pozega was tasked with  bringing down the walls of old town with five large cannons including the great gun of Katzianer which was, under Suleiman’s direct command taken from the Janissaries.

Convinced of the impossibility of defending new town Zrinski issued an order to burn it and it caught fire quickly. The Ottomans took the burned new town and brought in their cannons. Through the swamp they made paths (embankments)  using sand-bags.  The swamp separated the old town from the castle (fortress, citadel) and therefore the besiegers created raised paths toward the castle.

19. August

 On the 14^th day after Suleiman's arrival the besiegers became the masters of the towns and external fortifications while the castle still resisted. Suleiman tried in vain to tempt Zrinski to break his enduring heroism by promising to give him hereditary exclusive possession all of Croatia. 

Earlier the Turks captured the standard-bearer and trumpeter of Zrinski’s oldest son who was in Maximilian’s auxillary army.  The Sultan told Zrinski that he had captured Zrinski’s son and will execute the prisoners in front of the walls of the citadel.  To prove his claim they showed the captured standard in front of the ramparts while the trumpeter was forced to play some well-known battle songs. At the same time they shot letters written in German, Croatain and Hungarian, attached to arrows, into the castle making statements and promises trying to shake the loyalty of the army and to created division amoung the soldiers.  

The authors of the letters were the interpreter Ibrahim-bey, Lala Mustafa-pasha's chief of staff and the prtdonsl secretary Ferudin-bey who right at the beginning of the siege saved the grand vizier in a dangerous situation when a bomb (cannonball?) almost killed him and killed many others.  For his heroism Feridun was rewarded with the lucrative position of muteferrika (or nisandji).

 26. August

In the first attack on the castle two Ottoman flags were taken and the former governor of Egypt, Sufi Ali-pasha came from Cairo to find death in front of the walls of Siget. (Who had come from Cairo to attend this campaign. ).

29.  August

The second attack three days later, on the anniversary of the Battle of Mohacs and the conquest of Buda and Belgrade, was even more ferocious.

2. September

After four days the janissaries stopped attacking and awaited the completion of a mine under the main bastion.

5. September

In the morning of September 5^th the mines were lit and exploded with a brilliant burst of light, which then grew into a fierce fire, like a funeral pyre for Suleiman, who died on the night of the 5^th to 6^th September of either old age (decriptitude) or dysentery or an attack of apoplexy (stroke). His death was kept a secret and the Grand Vizier had the sultan’s physician killed to keep the secret safe.  Suleiman did not have the opportunity to see the fall of Szigetvar or hear of the surrender of Gyula before his death.   Gyula was besieged by Pertev-pasha and 25,000 men on the 4^th of July Keretsenyi gave it up on the 1^st of September.

Impatient and irritable because of the long siege of Siget, Sulejman himself wrote, a short time before death, to the grand vizier:

"Has that smoke not yet ceased, does the trumpet of victory not yet play?”

or

"This chimney has not ceased to burn, and the great drum of conquest is not yet heard. "

Sulejman's death was kept secret not only from the military but also from the viziers, and orders written in the Sultan’s handwriting were given daily to the viziers that were not initiated intot he secret.  The author of the orders was Jafer-aga, the the chief squire (bearer of arms) who along with the personal secretary Feridum-bey were the only ones trusted and sworn to state secrecy under penalty of death by the grand vizier. They both justified the trust placed in them and later, during the reign of Selim II or, better to say, during the reign of the grand vizier Sokollu, the first became his son-in-law and Janissary-aga while the second became the reis-effendi (master secretary)

8. September

On September 8, as the outer defensive works disintegrated into dust and ash and among the internal fortifications only the tower, where the gunpowder magazine was located, was still untouched and intact.  Realizing that the time had come to either surrender or perish, with steadfast dignity and tranquility of mind Zrinjski chose a heroic death and with cold courage prepared during his last hour. From his chamberlain, Ferenc Crnko, he asked for a short silk cloak, a gold chain around the neck, and on his head a black hat with gold-trim and a diamond of great value glittering beneath a heron’s feather.  He then he put a hundred ducats into his coat, and among them there were none with Turkish markings, only Hungarian coins. Saying,

“Whoever takes this coat will not be able to say he found nothing of value on him.”

He then took the keys to the castle and put them with the ducats and said:

“For as long as I can move my arm, no one will take this gold or these keys from me.  After my death, let him who wants them have them.  In the Turkish camp no one will point their finger at me.”

Of the four gold-plated sabres, which he received for brilliant victories during his military career, he chose the oldest, and said:

"With this I gained my first honors and glory and with it I shall appear before the throne of the Lord and bear what God’s judgment brings upon me.”

The standard-bearer carried the flag before him, and a page that carried his shield behind him. He stepped into the courtyard without armor and without a helmet into a gathering of six hundred people who, with him, swore to fight to the death.   He fired up their spirits with one more short speech that ended with a threefold cry: "Jesus!" Already on all sides the inner castle burned and it was time to make an exit, which could not be postponed for even a moment. By the gate was a large mortar full of cut iron pieces. And grapeshot

Zrinski ordered the cannon to be fired and six hundred assailants who began a charge fell on the bridge. Through the smoke of the fired cannon, Zrinjski burst like lightning from a dark cloud. With Lovro Juranic, his faithful steward, in front of him waving the emperor's flag, he charged into the densest enemy lines. Two bullets hit him and fell after an arrow hit him in the head. Three times was heard a joyous cry of "Allah!" Janissaries carried him on their shoulders to the aga and still alive placed on the on the carriage of Katzianer's cannon and with his face down his head was cut off.

On Katzianer's cannon! Katzianer, traitor to the emperor, was given hospitality in Zrinski’s castle and then killed there. In this way, the Hungarian Leonid paid the debt for the murder of his guest on his cannon (atoned for violating the rules of hospitality), and paid for the unjust and cruel execution of his prisoner the Janissary–aga with his own head.

In the citadel (fortress), all the while, raged cruelty and fire.  To walk the living had to step over piles of corpses. Women and children were dragged away and often killed by janissaries who were fighting over them.  Zrinski’s chamberlain, treasurer, and cupbearer (peharnik) were captured and immediately, as an insult, their beards were cut off and burned. The Grand Vizier had them interrogated, through Ibrahim the interpreter, about Nikola Zrinski’s treasure.

The cupbearer, a young man full of noble Hungarian pride, replied:

"One hundred thousand of Hungarian ducats, one hundred talars, a thousand large and small cups and expensive dishes Zrinski destroyedi, he destroyed it all; stuff of barely five hundred ducats remained in a single box, but he also had a lot of gunpowder which should soon, as we speak, explode, so that the fire, without which you would never have conquered the fortress, will be the ruin of your army."

The cupbearer's statement was confirmed by the other two prisoners. The grand vizier was alarmed, and he ordered his guards to mount their horses and do whatever is necessary to avert the disaster. Just as the guards got near the castle and were warning the leaders and telling them to retreat, the tower exploded (flew) with a great noise as if the sky would collapsing and with the tower died (were buried) over 3,000 soldiers.

That same day the Grand Vizier Sokollu, by the chief chamberlain Gulai-aga, sent the head of Zrinski with his velvet hat and gold chain cap to his nephew, the governor of Buda with orders to forward it to the Imperial Camp.  The head was immediately sent to Count Eck of Salm.  Later Baltazar Bacsanyi took the head to Čakovec where it was buried in the monastery of St. Jelena with her first wife, born Frankopan.

On the day after Szigetvar’s conquest, a great divan was held where the three most eminent scribes of the empire - the former nishanji (chancelor) and the current muteferrika Jelal-zade, the reis-efendi Mehmed-Celebi and personal secretary Feridun-bey  wrote and sent victory letters, in the name of Suleiman as if he were still alive, to all the governors in the empire, the khan of Crimea, the sheriff of Mecca, the shah of Persia and other allied leaders of the Porte. At the same time, prizes and wage increases (bonuses) were distributed. Chief squire Jafer, who was able to imitate Suleiman’s handwriting, forged orders in Suleiman’s name commanding that one part of the army was to leave and conquer Babocsa and the other was designated for the reconstruction of the Szigetvar fortress fortifications.

News was spread that due to an attack of gout and swollen legs the Sultan was unable to appear in public but, after the completion of the construction of the Siget mosque, he will perform Friday prayers and give thanks for such a glorious victory. Several positions (duties) which became vacant due to the deaths of their holders were filled and Jelal-zade, the chronicler, was again given the honorable position of the nishanji.

The construction of the fortress continued diligently. Due to the great wisdom and caution of the grand vizier Mehmed Sokollu the state secret of Suleiman's death was completely preserved for three weeks from the army at Szigetvar until the arrival of his son and heir to the throne from Kutahiye in Constantinople. This was a measure that had been well-executed for the deaths of Mehmed I and II as well as Selim I, but not for so long and under such difficult circumstances.

Mehmed Sokolovic, Siget's conqueror, in Suleiman's name and in the spirit of his rule, gathered the strength of the army and power of the empire so firmly in his strong hands that it stayed there not only for those three weeks after Suleiman's death, but for the  thirteen years that followed all the way to his own death. Sokullu faithfully preserved Suleiman's principles and institutions, maintaining the power and prosperity of the empire at the highest peak the greatest  Ottoman ruler lifted it to.