Page images
PDF
EPUB

פג

SOLYMAN INVADES AUSTRIA.

105

France, and told him the words of the emperor; and the king was very glad.

747. And Solyman departed to go and war against Vienna with a numerous people and a strong hand, in that year; and their number was two hundred and fifty thousand horsemen and footmen, and eight hundred waggons* and cannons were with them; and as for the camels, they were numberless; and his camp was very great. And Ferdinand, the brother of the emperor, heard it, and feared greatly; and he set in the midst of Vienna about twenty thousand men, and one hundred pieces of brass cannon faced the tumult, and three hundred small field-pieces, and plenty of gunpowder. And he burned the suburbs round about, and every goodly house he cast to the ground.

748. And Solyman hastened to go, before Ferdinand could gather many troops; and before him ran about thirty thousand men, whose hearts urged them to go with themt. Hire of silver they did not take; and they went as far as the river Inn‡, at Lientz, and they burned the houses, and cast down the cliffs; and all that were found, they slew with the edge of the sword, and they took

* Ammunition waggons. + i. e. With the troops of Solyman.

.אינו +

אלינזו $

|| 11777. The steps of a ladder mean here steep places, which impeded the march of the Turkish army.

106

SOLYMAN TAKES ALTENBURG.

פג

the captives and the spoil. Then they returned unto the camp. And the men of Vienna went out against them, but fell slain before the Turks, by reason of the many guns, and could not withstand; and the chief captain of their host died, and the rest returned into the city with shame, and many were taken alive at that time. And the Turks clothed them in purple, and sent them into the city to speak to the hearts of the citizens, saying, "Let not Ferdinand entice you, for he will not retain strength before this great host and now incline your ear, and bow your shoulder to bear the yoke of Solyman, and ye shall eat the fat of your land; but ye refuse and rebel, the sword shall devour, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." And the

if

men of Vienna would not hearken, and returned them no answer; and they stood upon their guard as yesterday and the day before*. [75]

749. And Solyman besieged Altenburg with his vanguard, and took it; and three hundred Bohemians were therein, and they went also captive before the oppressor at that time. Some of them also he sent to the city of Vienna to speak to the hearts of the citizens; but they would not hearken. And he came also, and the rest of the hosts; and he set not his heart against the rest of the cities which

*Gen. xxi. 5.

אלטהבורגה +

בבואי +

פד

POSEN-SIEGE OF VIENNA.

107

were behind him, for he was in haste to march until he reached the city of Vienna.

750. And the city of Presburg* also remained behind him, and in the midst thereof were about three thousand Bohemians; and it was as thorns in the sides of his ships at that time. And it came to pass, when the ships came filled with brazen cannons, they cast some of them into the depth of the river, and some of them they took; and it was to the Turks as a stumbling-block.

751. And it came to pass, when Solyman came into the camp, that the earth shook at the noise of the sound of the cannons and guns, and they encamped in the suburbs of the city round about. And Vienna was besieged on the twenty-sixth day of the month of September; and the uncircumcised upon the wall round about could retain no strength, because of the wrath of the oppressor.

752. And the Turks divided themselves round about it into five heads, and their tents were four thousand; and there was no peace for the goersout or the comers-in for three days' journey at that time; for the Turks hunted their steps that they could not go.

753. And they brought up against Vienna round about, the rams of brass, and battered its walls,

*AND. Lat. Posonium; Hung. Posony; Slaw. Presburek.

108

REPULSE OF THE TURKS.

פד

and gave them no rest. And they fought against it day by day, and drew nigh to the walls. And they shot stones among them, and many fell slain to the ground, and the rest drew back with shame; and there died of the Germans in those days much people.

754. And it came to pass, on the fourteenth day of the month of October, that Solyman commanded, and they warred against it round about. And they drew nigh to the falling walls, and shouted with a loud voice and discharged guns against it; and their voice was heard from afar. And it came to pass, when the voice of the cannons and guns waxed louder and louder, that the earth shook and the fulness thereof; and their smoke ascended up to heaven*. The men of the city filled also their hands and discharged guns upon them, and they cast some of them slain to the ground; and the whole camp trembled and turned the neck, and the rest turned back with shame. And Solyman was very wroth, and commanded, saying, "Every one that returneth into the camp shall fall by the sword; and now go into the city, and return unto your burdens." And they hearkened not unto him, for distress of spirit, but said, "Let us die this time by the sword of the Turks; for by the guns of

* Joshua viii. 20.

פר

RETREAT OF SOLYMAN.

109

those uncircumcised we will not fall." Then the Turks knew, that not like unto the wars of Persia, and Syria, and Egypt, are the wars of Germany. And they had not seen the like except that day, and they went away with shame, and returned unto the camp; and much people was missed on that day.

755. In that night the sleep of Solyman left him, and he took council with his wise men, and his nobles, and they brake down the fortifications which they had builded, and killed the wounded and sick, whose hope was lost, and left the lame horses and departed from the city; and they divided the people into three heads, and went their way. The first band went by the way of Istrigonia, and the second by the way of Bosnia*, and the third by the way of Garnagno†, and returned into their country. And Solyman made a covenant with the woywode, John, the prince of Transsylvania; and they brought him back into his office, and the country was quiet.

756. In those days, Ferdinand gathered together about one hundred thousand men, Germans and Bohemians and Moravians, to war against the Turks; and when he heard that Solyman went his way, grieved Ferdinand, and he sent them from him, and

[blocks in formation]

it

« PreviousContinue »