October 14 to November 20, 1529.
At daybreak of the 14th October the flower of the Turkish army was arrayed in three powerful bodies for the assault, and towards nine o’clock they advanced, led on by officers of the highest rank. On this occasion, however, the desperate courage and cheerful contempt of death which had usually been conspicuous among the Turkish soldiery were no longer distinguishable. It was to no purpose that their officers, the Vizier in person at their head, urged them forward with stick and whip and sabre-edge, they refused obedience, saying they preferred to die by the hands of their own officers rather than to face the long muskets of the Spaniards and the German spits, as they called the long swords of the lanzknechts. Towards noon two mines were sprung to the right and left of the Kärnthner gate, but a third, which had been carried under the Burg, was fortunately detected, and its entire charge of twenty barrels of powder fell into the hands of the counterminers. A breach, nevertheless, twenty-four fathoms wide, was the result of the mines which succeeded, and through this, supported by the fire of all their batteries, repeated attempts were made to storm, but in every instance repulsed as before. These attacks were the last expiring efforts of exhausted men. Two incidents connected with them have been considered worthy of record. The first is the adventure of two officers, a Portuguese and a German, who had quarrelled over night, and were proceeding to settle their difference with the sword in the morning, having selected the breach or its immediate neighbourhood for their place of meeting. Being interrupted by the Turkish assault, they naturally enough, instead of proceeding with their own foolish and useless purpose, agreed to turn their arms against the Turks. The point of the story seems to be, that after one had lost his left arm and the other the use of his right, theystood by one another, making a perfect soldier between them, till both were killed. The other incident is one of more historical importance. It is that of the severe and ultimately fatal wound of the brave Count Salm, who, after escaping all the previous dangers of the siege, was hit on the hip towards 2P. M.by the splintered fragments of a stone, and carried from the breach, which till then he had never quitted. He survived till the spring of the following year, when he died of the effects of this injury at his residence of Salm Hoff, near Marchegg in Lower Austria. King Ferdinand caused a sumptuous monument to be erected to this deserving soldier in the church, then existing, of St. Dorothea, in which was the family vault of the Salms. This church was pulled down in 1783, when the Salm family took possession of the monument, and removed it to their residence at Raitz in Moravia.
On the failure of these last attacks, Soliman abandoned all hope of gaining possession of the city, and the troops received accordingly a general order of retreat. Its execution was attended by an act of atrocity which throws a shadow over the character of the sovereign by whose servants it was perpetrated,—a shadow not the less deep because contrasted with many recorded indications of a noble and generous nature. It may, indeed, possibly be considered as another specimen of unavoidable condescension to the passions of an ill-disciplined soldiery, such as the massacre of the garrison of Pesth, and rather as an exhibition of the weakness than the misuse of despotic rule. The Janissaries broke up from their encampment an hour before midnight, and set on fire their huts, forage, and every combustible article which they could not or would not carry with them. Under this latter head they included the greater portion of the vast swarm of prisoners of all ages and both sexes collected in their quarters. Of these the younger portion alone, boys and girls, were dragged along with their retiring columns, tied together by ropes, and destined to slavery. The old of both sexes and the children were for the most part flung alive into the flames of the burning camp, and the remainder cut to pieces or impaled. The glare of the conflagration and the shrieks of the sufferers disturbed through the night the rest so dearly earned by the brave defenders of the city, and though their approachingdeliverance might be read in the one, it was probably easy to conjecture from the other the horrors by which that deliverance was accompanied. When this act of cowardly vengeance was accomplished, a parting salvo from all their fire-arms was discharged at the walls; and after all remaining buildings in the suburbs and adjacent villages had been set on fire, the army commenced its retreat.
With the first light of morning came assurance of the city’s safety, which was hailed by a general discharge of artillery from the walls, and by warlike music in the public squares, and from St. Stephen’s tower. The bells, too, were released from the silence to which they had been condemned since the 29th of September, and a solemnTe Deumand high mass were celebrated in St. Stephen’s in honour of the Holy Trinity. The Sultan questioned his prisoner the Cornet Zedlitz as to the cause of the sounds which reached his ear. The cornet avowed at once his belief that the clamour was that of joy and triumph over the deliverance of the city. The Sultan evinced his satisfaction at the frankness of his favourite’s reply by dismissing him in safety to the city, bearing on his person the marks of Oriental favour in the shape of silken and gold-embroidered apparel, and accompanied by two of his fellow-prisoners, who thus shared the advantage of the good-will which the soldier had earned by his manly bearing. Soon after this creditable act, the Sultan commenced his march in the direction of Brück on the Leitha. Early the following day the flotilla began to drop down the river, not, however, unmolested by the artillery from the city, which sunk several of the vessels. The Grand Vizier remained for some time with some 60,000 cavalry in the neighbourhood of the Wienerberg, partly to cover the retreat, partly to rally the light troops dispersed on plundering expeditions. It is stated by some writers, further to account for this delay, that he waited for the issue of the machinations of certain of his agents in the city, who had undertaken to set it on fire, and that he hoped even at this late hour by such means to effect his entrance. This supposition is not very consistent with the haughty and elevated character of the man. It is however certain that three suspected individuals were arrested, who gave themselves out for escaped prisoners. They had been at firstadmitted as such without suspicion; but when it was observed that their purses were well filled with Turkish money, this was thought a sufficient reason for putting them to the torture, by which a confession was extorted that they had been hired for the purpose above described. They were quartered, and their limbs affixedin terroremon the walls. At the distance of a mile the Sultan again halted, and held a divan to receive the felicitations of his great officers on thefortunate terminationof the campaign. After these functionaries had kissed his hand, he distributed among them rich rewards. The Vizier received a jewelled sabre, four costly pelisses, and five purses.[8]The Pachas received each two pelisses and a sum of money. The money distributed as reward to the storming-parties had amounted to 240,000 ducats, so that the closing act of the siege cost the Sultan at least 250,000 ducats. The most curious feature of the transaction is the tone of the bulletins in which the retreat was described. The great Orientalist and historian Von Hammer has given us translations of several. The concluding passage of one of them is to this effect:—“An unbeliever came out from the fortress and brought intelligence of the submission of the princes and of the people, on whose behalf he prayed for grace and pardon. The Padischah received his prayer with favour, and granted them pardon. Inasmuch as the German lands were unconnected with the Ottoman realm, that hence it was hard to occupy the frontier places and conduct their affairs, the faithful would not trouble themselves to clear out the fortress, or purify, improve, and put it into repair; but a reward of 1000 aspers was dealt out to each of the Janissaries; and security being established, the horses’ heads were turned towards the throne of Solomon.”
Before the Vizier joined the column of retreat, a messenger was despatched to him with proposals for an exchange of prisoners. The Vizier presented the messenger with a rich caftan of blue silk, and returned the following answer written in bad Italian:—“Ibrahim Pacha, by the grace of God, first Vizier, Secretary and chief Councillor of the most glorious, great, and invincible Emperor, Sultan Soliman; head and minister of his whole dominions, of his slaves and sandschaks, Generalissimo of his armies. Well-born, magnanimous officers and commanders, receiving your writing, sent by your messenger, we have digested its contents. Know that we are not come to take your city into our possession, but only to seek out your Archduke Ferdinand, whom however we have not found, and hence have waited here so many days, he not appearing. Yesterday moreover we set free three of our prisoners, for which reason you should be fain to do likewise by those in your possession, as we have desired your messenger to explain to you by word of mouth. You may therefore send hither one of your people to seek out your countrymen, and without fear or anxiety for our good faith, for what happened to those of Pesth was not our fault but their own. Given before Vienna in the middle of October.” The above was written on smooth Italian paper, the signature alone and the signet impression in Turkish characters. The authorities in Vienna presented the bearer of this missive with an upper garment of red damask, and sent him back with the verbal answer that they were the more anxious to deal strictly according to the usages of war, because they looked forward to much future matter for intercourse. If rightly reported, it must be confessed that both reply and rejoinder in this negotiation appear to have somewhat lost sight of the point at issue. The contemporary writer, Labach, asserts that Soliman,after his withdrawal, sent a message to the city containing an offer to withdraw on payment to him of 200,000 florins, to which the authorities made answer that the keys of their treasury were missing.
On the 17th of October the Vizier really commenced his retreat under a heavy snow-storm which lasted from early morning till late into the night. The day’s march extended as far as Brück on the Leitha, and was one of great difficulty and attended with much loss of baggage. The garrison exerted itself to take advantage of these circumstances. A sally took place on the same day, under command of John Katzianer, Paul Bakics, and Sigismund von Weichselburg, with eight squadrons of cavalry and four companies of foot, in which many prisoners were made, many Christians rescued, and a rich booty captured in tents and camp furniture, together with some camels. On the 19th another sally was attended with still happier results. Near the village of Laa on the Wienerberg upwards of 200 Turks wereslain, a Pacha captured, and many children rescued from captivity. The Turkish rear-guard was thus annoyed, till, on the 20th of October, it crossed the Hungarian frontier. The invaders, however, left fearful traces of their incursion over a vast extent of country, and on their line of retreat wreaked to the last their vengeance for the failure of their main purpose on every object animate and inanimate within their reach. To their usual practices of massacre, plunder, and incendiarism, they superadded the destruction of fruit-trees, vineyards, and gardens; and the wretched inhabitants who had saved their lives by flight or concealment, returned to scenes of desolation which required years to repair.
The loss of the invaders during the siege has been very variously stated, at numbers indeed varying from 80,000 to 30,000. The Hungarian historian, Utvanffy, reduces this to 20,000, and Ortelius to 14,000. The truth probably approaches the lower calculation, as, in the absence of all general encounter in the field, the loss in action fell heavily only on the storming-parties. The return of 1500 killed on the side of the city, though adopted in all the narratives, is manifestly below the truth, for we have seen that as early as the 11th October 636 of the armed citizens were missing. On the 25th October, the tenth day from the raising of the siege, Soliman entered Pesth, where he was received with all honours by Zapolya. On the 28th, in full divan, Zapolya renewed his homage, and was presented with ten caftans and three horses, with bits and chains of gold. His minister, Ludovico Gritti, received 20,000 ducats. On the 30th, Soliman recommenced his march, and pursued it through Peterwaradin to Belgrade, which he reached only on the 20th November, having been much delayed by inundations. Much baggage remained behind in the swamps, and many men and horses perished of starvation. These incidents did not prevent Soliman from writing in a victorious strain to the Venetian Doge, Andreas Gritti. This letter, dated from Belgrade, was written in Italian, and began with a pompous list of titles of sovereignty, comprising Asia and Europe generally; and descending to particulars, Persia, Arabia, Syria, Mecca and Jerusalem, the whole territory of Egypt, and the shores of the Mediterranean. The letter further related how the Sultan had“taken from Ferdinand the kingdom of Hungary and invested with the same the Wayvode of Transylvania; how with his Vizier Ibrahim, his Agas and Pachas, he had marched over Syria to Pesth, and there placed the crown of Hungary on the head of the Wayvode, and had looked for King Ferdinand in Vienna: but inasmuch as the latter had fled towards Prague, and it was impossible even to ascertain whether he were alive or dead, had again, at the end of twenty days, turned round towards Pesth and there received the homage of his vassal.” The whole is a curious specimen of the perfection which this mode of describing occurrences had attained three centuries before our time. The tone is the same of most of the Turkish narratives of the day, all of which extol to the skies the magnanimity and moderation of the Sultan. One only, that of Ferdi, describes with some fidelity the devastation effected by the army. The national animosities of this writer are so violent that he calls Ferdinand by no other name than the “accursed.” The conclusion of his narrative runs as follows:—“As it came to the ear of His Majesty that a portion of the Christian army had shut itself up in the city, and from this it was to be conjectured that the accursed Ferdinand was among them; the victorious army besieged the said fortress for fifteen days, and overthrew the walls in five places by mines, so that the unbelievers prayed for mercy from the faithful. As some of the garrison were taken prisoners, and from these it was ascertained that the accursed was not in the fortress, the Imperial mercy forgave their offence, and listened to their entreaties; but His Majesty, who governs the world, to gain the merits of this holy war, and to ruin the aforesaid accursed, had sent out the Akindschis, the runners and burners, in all directions into Germany, so that the whole country was trodden down by the hoofs of the horses, and even the lands north of the Danube wasted with fire by the crews of the vessels. Cities and hamlets, market-towns and villages, blazed up in the fire of vengeance and destruction. The beautiful land, the treasury of spring and abode of joy, was trodden down by the horsemen and filled with smoke. Houses and palaces were left in ashes. The victorious army dragged away captive the inhabitants, great and small, high and low, men and women, strong and weak. In the bazaars were sold many fair ones with jasmine foreheads, eyebrows arched and thick, and countenances like Peris; and the booty was incalculable. Property, moveable and immoveable, men and cattle, the speaking and the dumb, the rational and the senseless, were destroyed and slaughtered at the edge of the sabre. Thus on the page of time was written the fulfilment of the prophecy of the Koran, ‘Thus deal we with the wicked.’”
On the 28th November, the Sultan reached Constantinople, and made his triumphal entry with the portion of his army which had least suffered by the march. The greater part of the exhausted troops remained at Belgrade, Nissa, and Adrianople to recruit their strength and numbers; for the Sultan was passionately intent upon retrieving his failure, and prosecuting with new resources his plans for the establishment of an Empire of the West. Years, however, were required to place his forces on a footing for another expedition, the results of which will be hereafter disclosed.