Roumania Past and Present - James Samuelson (13 ebook reader .TXT) 📗

the circumstance that, having been attacked and defeated by the Poles, he was compelled to seek refuge at Michael's court. After the alliance between the three princes was completed the first blow was struck for independence, and on November 12 or 13, 1594, all Turks who were found in Bucarest or Jassy were slaughtered without mercy. Michael is said to have invited a large number of true believers, who were pressing for the settlement of unlawful claims, to meet him in a khan in Bucarest, and when they were assembled he had them all put to the sword, and this was the signal for a massacre throughout the Principalities. A few Turks escaped through the humanity or friendship of private individuals, and one instance of this is specially recorded. The Cadi of Giurgevo, who happened to be at Bucarest, was walking out on the morning of November 13, when he was stopped by a Wallachian friend who said, 'Ali-Gian-Hogea, how many years have I eaten of thy bread and salt?' 'About twenty years,' answered the Turk. 'Well, then,' said his friend, 'out of gratitude I will give thee a word of counsel.' 'Speak,' said Ali. 'Do not stay in this city until three or four o'clock; neither remain in Giurgevo, but hasten thee as speedily as possible to Rustchuk' (on the opposite bank of the Danube). 'But wherefore?' enquired the Turk. The Wallachian walked away, but, turning round and seeing his friend still undecided, he called out: 'Forget not what I have told thee!' Wandering on in the city, the Turk could not help noticing greater activity than usual in the streets; suspecting mischief, but without saying a word to any person, he ordered his horses to be harnessed and fled to Giurgevo. The interior of Wallachia having been thus cleared of the Turks, Michael proceeded to attack their positions on the Danube. First he stormed Giurgevo and compelled the Turks to leave it, some crossing over the Danube, and others taking refuge in the fortress which was situated on an island in the river; but this latter he was unable to capture, as troops, ammunition, and provisions were sent into it from the Bulgarian side. Content, therefore, with his victory, he retired to Bucarest.

[Footnote 138: Teutschländer, from whose excellent little treatise,
Michael der Tapfere (Wien, C. Gräser, 1879), these details are taken, mentions many customs as existing in the time of Michael which were in all probability only introduced at a later period. The tobacco-tax is clearly one of them.]

[Footnote 139: The reader will find full accounts of the officials and their various duties, as well as a description of the investiture of the princes, in Raicevich, p. 62. In Wilkinson, p. 55, he will find that in his day there had been a great multiplication of the offices; there were second and third Logothets, second and third Vestiars, &c.]

[Footnote 140: Reissenberger, p. 39, in part quoting Engel.]

[Footnote 141: Some modern Roumanian historians affirm that Mircea already had a regular army, but Roesler and others treat the assertion with ridicule. As to Michael, the reader will judge for himself whether or not it would have been possible to accomplish what he did without a disciplined force.]

[Footnote 142: Siebenbürgen was so called from seven forts erected there.]


II.

Shortly afterwards a conspiracy against Michael was set on foot by adherents of the Turks, and under the pretence of desiring simply to march through the country, a Turkish Emir, with two thousand men, entered Bucarest. Michael, who know of the conspiracy, made a pretence of acquiescence in this movement, but shortly afterwards withdrew quietly to the camp of the allies, and returning with a sufficient force surrounded the house of the chief conspirator, in which the Emir and his escort were quartered, and put them to the sword. The fury of his troops was unbridled, and no quarter was given, the last of the enemy being put to death. But Michael did not stop here. In order to protect Wallachia from Turkish inroads, he determined to clear both banks of the Danube of their garrisons. With this view he sent the noted and successful Transylvanian general, Albert Kiraly, with a sufficient force, who took, plundered, and burned the Turkish town at the mouth of the Jalomitza, where it falls into the Danube. The fortress, however, he was obliged to leave in the hands of the Turks. Michael, following with the remainder of the army, crossed the river itself and besieged Oroschik (now Hirschova). This place was strongly reinforced by the Turks, but after an obstinate battle, which was fought partly on the frozen waters of the Danube, the allies were victorious, and retired across the river with an immense booty.

Shortly afterwards he moved up the river to Silistria, where he a second time encountered the Turks, gained a victory, and reduced the place to ashes. These victories of Michael struck terror into the rulers at Constantinople, and an Ottoman army, under Achmed Pasha, was sent to Rustchuk, whilst the Khan of the Crimea, an ally of the Turks, was ordered to enter Wallachia from the east, the Porte hoping by these vigorous measures to reduce its rebellious vassal to submission. The Turks did not, however, know of what material Michael was made. Dividing his army into two parts, he succeeded, by the rapidity of his movements, not only in keeping the allies asunder, but in completely routing both. The Tartars were twice defeated, and their fugitives spread terror amongst the Ottoman forces. Michael next gave the Turks battle at Rustchuk with his whole force, defeated and dispersed them, and slew their general. After these exploits he returned in triumph and with great booty to Bucarest.

Without, however, resting long under his laurels, he once more divided his army into several detachments, which, under different generals, marched once more to the Danube, the result being that the allied princes of Wallachia and Moldavia were soon able to report to Prince Sigismund that both banks of the Danube eastward to the Black Sea had been swept clear of the Ottoman forces.


III.

But Michael's troubles were far from terminated by these victories. Before securing the co-operation of the Prince of Siebenbürgen, he had, with a duplicity which characterised his whole career, agreed to acknowledge Sigismund as his suzerain, his object being to free himself from Turkish rule and then assume independent power. But the Transylvanians were not to be so easily disposed of, and after the victories over the Turks they in their turn demanded homage from the two Voivodes, and backed their claim by an irresistible force. The Voivode of Moldavia was seized and imprisoned, and Michael, deeming prudence the better part of valour, submitted to the terms which were dictated to him. These were in appearance worse even than the Turkish 'capitulations,' but, as they were never kept, it is unnecessary to mention them. Sigismund assumed the title 'By the grace of God, Prince of Siebenbürgen, of Moldavia and Wallachia, and of the Holy Roman Empire, &c.' (he in his turn being the vassal of the German Emperor), whilst Michael was denied the claim to divine right, was restricted in his princely powers, and was addressed as 'Dominus Michael Voivoda regni nostri Transalpinensis.' He was not permitted to employ the national seal, but was allowed the use of red wax.

Perhaps it was well for Michael that he submitted to these humiliating conditions at the hands of his ally, or his reign might have been even shorter than it was, for the Turk was again at his gates with an overwhelming army. The Sultan Murad III. was dead, January 1595, and was succeeded by Mahommed III.; nineteen brothers, we are told, having been slaughtered to obviate dissensions, a custom which is still followed, as the reader is doubtless aware, in certain oriental realms. Shortly after his accession, the Porte again proceeded to assume the sovereignty of the Principalities, and an army variously estimated from 100,000 to 180,000 men, under Sinan Pasha, was concentrated at Rustchuk to take possession of the provinces. Michael was at the time able to collect only 8,000 men, for the Transylvanian troops had been withdrawn, but his encounter with the overwhelming Turkish force arrayed against him on this occasion undoubtedly presents the most brilliant phase of his remarkable career. Marching rapidly to Giurgevo with his handful of men, he managed to detain the Turkish army for weeks on the south side of the Danube, destroying their bridges and preventing them from crossing the river. Turned at length by a Turkish detachment, which had succeeded in crossing at a point above Giurgevo, he was compelled to withdraw to a village about halfway towards Bucarest. His little army had been strengthened by an accession of Transylvanian and Moldavian troops, the former under brave Albert Kiraly, but even then it barely numbered 16,000, whilst the army of Sinan Pasha must have been at least six times as strong. Kalugereni, the village at which this stand was made, is still to be found on the maps, on the line of railway from Giurgevo to Bucarest; and it only differed from Thermopylæ in the fact that the enemy was not alone checked in his career, but for the time the little army of Roumanians and their allies were completely victorious.

Nothing could have exceeded the astonishment of Sinan Pasha when he found Michael ready to give him battle with his handful of patriots; but as he proceeded to make his dispositions for the onslaught, he found that his adversary possessed in his favourable position much to compensate him for his inferior numbers. The nature of the ground was such that Sinan could not employ the whole, nor even the major part, of his forces, and Michael and his allies were protected by a morass and river, which rendered it necessary for the Turks to concentrate their whole attack upon a single road and bridge crossing the latter. At this bridge the battle was practically fought. Michael and his forces for a long time sustained the attack of the Ottomans, who had posted their guns so as to commit havoc in the ranks of the allies, until these, fighting hand to hand, were obliged to retreat. The Turks followed and had made sure of their victory, when Albert Kiraly succeeded in bringing two guns into a favourable position, and by a flank fire threw the enemy into confusion. Of this circumstance Michael availed himself once more to renew the attack, this time with the most happy results. The enemy retreated in disorder over the bridge, and by the furious onslaught of the allies his hosts were driven helter-skelter into the morass. On the one hand Michael is said to have performed prodigies of valour, whilst on the other Sinan Pasha, who fought with equal bravery, was unhorsed and thrown into the bog, from which he only escaped with his life through the fidelity of one of his followers, who was afterwards known as the 'Marsher.' Michael recovered his own guns, which had been captured early in the fight, as well as many of the enemy's, along with a great booty comprising many Turkish standards, and including the sacred standard of Mohammed, which was believed to be invincible. Thus ended a struggle of which to this day Roumanians are proud, and which they associate with the memory of their greatest hero. This battle was fought and won at some indefinite date between August 13 and 26, 1595. The rest of the campaign may be dismissed in a few sentences.

That Michael with his small force could draw no advantage from his victory may be readily imagined; and, a council of war being held during the night, a retreat was decided upon. Passing rapidly through Bucarest, which was sacked by the