BAJAZET (BEYAZID) II. 1447-1512 AD.

Bajazet II who succeeded Mahomet, attested the sincerity of his religion and his faith in the prophet, by a pilgrimage to Mecca; nor would he be dissuaded from this pious mission by the intelligence of his advancement to the throne. He recommended his son Korkud as his substitute, who dutifully resigned the scepter on his father’s return.

The commencement of the reign of Bajazet was disturbed by the pretensions of his brother Djem; and as ambition is seldom without an excuse, he founded his claim to dominion upon his being born the son of an emperor, whereas Bajazet was born before his father Mahomet had ascended the throne. Prince Djem was one of the most accomplished men of his nation. Skilled in literature and eloquence, he was endowed with prudence and magnanimity; but his desire to reign involved him in a series of misfortunes which terminated only with his life. He raised his standard at Bursa, but his army was annihilated by the grand vizier Achmet, and he fled to Egypt, and was received kindly by the Sultan and supplied with money. After a variety of fortune he took refuge in Italy; but the Roman pontiff, the infamous Alexander VII corrupted by the gold of Bajazet, administered poison to his unsuspecting guest.

The army of Bajazet under the vizier Achmet was everywhere successful. He overran Moldavia and subjected it to tribute; and penetrating into Cilicia, overthrew the Caramanian prince and his Mameluke auxiliaries on the plains of Tarsus, and established the dominion of Bajazet over the whole sea-coast as far as the Syrian gates. The valor and talents of Achmet were fatal to his life. He was the idol of the Janissaries whose turbulence and tumults he alone could control. Those very qualities which rendered Achmet worthy of the first honors of the state, served only to excite the suspicion and jealousy of Bajazet, who resolved to destroy him; and he soon secretly accomplished his perfidious design. By this act, Bajazet, instead of adding to his security, cast from under him the firmest pillar of his throne; and he exposed himself to the fierce resentment of an unbridled soldiery, who now felt their influence in the government, and who continued for upwards of four centuries to break the energies and interrupt the happiness and prosperity of the empire.

The increasing power of the Turks was not only beheld with apprehension in Europe, but it excited the jealousy of the Mameluke sovereigns of Egypt, who embraced every opportunity of fomenting and encouraging rebellion in their dependencies in Asia Minor. Bajazet was aware of this hostile feeling; and he was further incensed by the protection which Kaite-bey afforded to his brother Djem. Thus was laid the foundation of a quarrel which occasioned much bloodshed in this and the following reign, and ended in the total overthrow of the Mameluke sovereignty in Egypt.

Bajazet resolved to invade Syria, but he was anticipated by the Mamelukes, who encountered him in the vicinity of Mount Taurus. Bajazet sustained a severe defeat, and was compelled to retire after the loss of two-thirds of his army and all his baggage and cannon. The fleet which accompanied the march of the army was equally unfortunate. It encountered a storm, and was totally wrecked at the mouth of the river Orontes.

The Mamelukes were originally Circassian slaves, and like the Janissaries of the Turks, formed the choicest troops of the Egyptian sovereigns. They were regularly recruited from Circassia; and by degrees they grew so formidable to their masters that they became the dispensers of the scepter of Egypt. The reigning dynasty was set aside, and they raised one of their own nation to the throne. The Mameluke reign in Egypt continued for upwards of a century. The reinforcements of the Mamelukes being almost exhaustless, the talents and enterprise of Bajazet enabled him to form a scheme by which the supply of Circassian slaves would be entirely cut off, and the subjugation of Egypt thereby the more easily accomplished. He made a treaty with the Sultan of Egypt, by which he restored the conquests he had made two years before in Cilicia, and then led his army into Circassia. Seven years were occupied in the reduction of this country. A line of posts was established between Erzurum and Derbend on the Caspian, by which the emigration of the inhabitants was completely prevented.

According to the unanimous suffrage of naturalists and travelers, it is in the adjacent climates of Georgia, Circassia, and Mingrelia, that nature has placed, at least to our eyes, the model of beauty, in the shape of the limbs, the color of the skin, the symmetry of the features, and the expression of the countenance. According to the destination of the two sexes, the men, it has been remarked, seem formed for action, the women for love; and the perpetual supply of females from the mountains of the Caucasus, has purified the blood and improved the southern nations of Asia. These countries have long maintained an exportation of slaves, and they furnish a regular supply for the markets of Constantinople.

Bajazet adopted no ulterior measures with respect to Egypt. His attention was called to the Venetians, with whom grounds of quarrel regarding their commercial rights were constantly occurring. Their fleets met at Sapienza in the Archipelago, when the Venetians were defeated with great loss, and the victors became masters of Lepanto and Modox. The Turks at the same time invaded Italy, and ravaged Friuli; but they received a severe check from Gonsalvo, the famous Cid, who drove their fleet into the Hellespont and destroyed a number of their ships.

Bajazet, though naturally averse to war was at the same time a successful soldier; and he seems only to have taken up arms when demanded by the exigencies of the state. He zealously promoted literature and the arts; and now being at peace with all his neighbors, he devoted himself to the study of the religious and philosophical literature of Islamism. His peaceful studies were interrupted by the rebellion of Schetian Kuli, the founder of a sect of Mahometan heretics. This impostor took the common method of acquiring a character for sanctity by the austerities of his life, and by his retirement from the world in a secret cave. No religion, either divine or human, has ever yet been so deeply rooted in the human mind as to prevent its adherents from being misled by artful impostors. This Schetian Kuli had collected such a number of followers, that not contented with attempting the conversion of his countrymen, he took up arms to revolutionize the state; but being defeated in several engagements by the troops of Bajazet, he fled to Persia, and converted to his opinions the sovereign of that country and most of his subjects.

The ties of parental affection appear to have become languid or altogether dead in the Turkish princes. Bajazet was indulging his love of retirement and contemplating measures to raise his son Achmet to the throne, when his youngest son Selim, supported by the Janissaries, snatched the scepter from his grasp, and followed up his rebellion by the murder of his father, AD 1511, and the thirtieth of his reign.

SELIM- 1512-1520 AD.

The character and disposition of Selim, as exhibited in his unnatural rebellion, and the murder of his father, require little illustration. But as if not content with the enormities he had already committed, he began by providing for the stability of his throne, by devoting to death all his brothers and nephews.

The Sunnites, who were believed by the Turks to be the only orthodox believers, and whose mosques had been destroyed by Ismail, the Shah of Persia, who had adopted the heresies of Schetian, established a religious animosity mingled with personal jealousy and national aggrandizement, between two of the most powerful sovereigns of Islamism, which continued to be prosecuted for two centuries with all the bitterness which sectarian rancor could inspire. The fiery Janissaries were fit and willing instruments in the hands of Selim for the gratification of his relentless and cruel disposition.

Selim prepared to encounter his antagonist, and assembled a great army on the plains of Erzurum. His troops were subjected to great suffering in crossing the mountainous deserts of Ararat, and he had well nigh fallen a victim to their resentment. The appearance of the enemy has often revived the drooping courage of soldiers, and renewed their attachment to their commander. The appearance of the Persian host saved perhaps the life of Selim; but it was not a spirit of heroism that restrained the murmurs and roused the courage of the Janissaries. The Persian forces appeared glittering with gold and precious stones, and attended by numerous beasts of burden, and cupidity and the love of plunder produced that effect on the troops of Selim, which true bravery and the honor of the soldier could not accomplish. Thus the splendid trappings of the Persian army not only brought about its destruction by the useless impediments which they must necessarily have imposed upon its evolutions, but by the effects which the exhibition of all this riches produced.

The armies met on the plains of Calderon, AD 1514. The Turks obtained the victory, but so dearly was it bought, that they called it “the day of judgment”. An...