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902 [902]

K. Henry. 7. The historye and tyrannye of the Turkes.

cruell for somuch as they had yelded them selues, hee stayed his hande a litle vntill night came. In the meane tyme drunken Mahumete commyng somethyng to him selfe (whom drunkennes had before ouercome) sent hys second letters to reuoke the first. MarginaliaThe mercyfull prouidence of God in sauyng hys people.Where agayne  

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This sentence is Foxe's insertion.

is to be noted the mercifull prouidēce of God towardes his people in their deserued plages, by stayeng the handes and bridlyng the fury many tymes, of their enemies, when otherwise the case semeth to be past all remedy.

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MarginaliaConstãtinople made the Imperial seate of the Turkes.Mahumete thus  

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Except for a few instances, the remainder of the account of Mehmed II is fromCasper Peucer, Chronicon Carionis (Wittenburg,1580), pp. 652-55.

beyng in him selfe not a litle aduaūced & eleuated by the winning of Constantinople, where he had now made the Imperiall seat of the Turkish dominion, þe third yeare next folowing, to aduenture more mastries, MarginaliaThe siege of Belgradum in Hungary.hee set out to the siege of Belgradum a Citie of Hungarye, lyeng nere to the bankes of Danubius, thinkyng to haue þe lyke successe there, as he had in the wynnyng of Constantinople: albeit through the Lordes disposing, it fell out much otherwise. MarginaliaIoan. Huniades.Within the Citie of Belgradum the same tyme of the siege therof, was Ioannes Huniades the valiaunt captaine, of whom in diuers places mention hath bene made before, who with a sufficient strength of pyked souldiours, albeit in number nothyng equall to the Turkes armye, valiantly defēded the Citie with great courage and no lesse successe. In the whiche siege great diligence was bestowed, and many of the Turkes slayne. Among whom also Mahumete him selfe, beyng stroken with a pellet vnder the left arme, was fayne to be caryed out of the fielde for halfe dead, and the rest so put to flight, Marginalia40000. Turkes slayne at the siege of Belgradū.that of the Turkes the same tyme were destroyed to the number, or not much vnder the number of. 40. thousãd, besides the losse of all their ordinaunce, whiche the Turkes in hast of their flight, were forced to leaue behynd them.

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Hieronymus Zieglerus  

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The anecdote of a heroic Bohemian at Mehmed's siege of Belgradeis taken from Hieronymous Ziegler, Illustrium Germaniae virorum (Ingolstadt,1562), fos. 89v-90r. This is the only time Foxe used this work in his history of theTurks.

writing of the siege of this Belgradum, addeth moreouer, MarginaliaEx Hier. Zieglero. in lib. de illustrib. viris Gernia. c. 98.that when Mahumete was at the siege therof, seyng þe towne to be so small & weake of it selfe, that it could not bee wonne with all his great multitude, he staryng and faryng like a mad man, commaūded all his brasē peeces to be layde, to battare down the walles and towers of the towne: So that the Christians within the walles were vehemētly distressed, for the siege continued both night and daye without intermission. MarginaliaThe noble acte of a Bohemian in defense of his coūtreyAmong the rest of the Christians whiche defended the towne, Hieronymus Zieglerus maketh mencion of a certaine Bohemian, muche worthye of hys condigne commendation: Who beyng vpon the walles, and seyng a Turke with a banner or ensigne of the Turkes to be gotten vp, by the sight wherof the whole town was in nere daunger to lie conquered and taken, runneth vnto the Turke, & clasping him about the midle, speaketh to Ioan. Capistranus standyng by low, askyng him whether it were any daunger of damnatiõ to hym, if he of his volūtary minde, did cast him selfe with that dogge (so he termed hym) down hedlõg frõ the walle, to be slaine with him: what should become of his soule, and whether he might be saued or not. To whõ þe other had aunswered that he should be saued without doubt, hee eftsones tombleth hym selfe with the Turke, downe of the walle, where by his death hee saued þe same tyme, the lyfe of all the Citie. Mahumete beyng so wounded and in dispayre of wynnyng the Citie, was caryed (as ye heard) out of the fielde. Who at length commyng agayne to him selfe, partly for feare & partly for shame, was ready to kill him selfe. MarginaliaThe towne of Belgradum valiãtly defended from the Turke.And  
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This sentence is Foxe's insertion.

thus was the towne of Belgradum at that tyme rescued throughe Gods prouidence, by the meanes of Ioannes Huniades and this good Bohemian.

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This siege of Belgradum began in the yeare of the Lord. 1456. and endured. 46. dayes. Marginalia200 thousãd Turkes at the siege of Belgradum.At the whiche siege were numbered of the Turkes. 200. thousand. Of whom more then. 40. thousand (as is aforesayd) were slayne: where the victory fell to the Christians throughe the prosperous successe geuen of God to Ioannes Hu-niades, and Capistranus. MarginaliaThe deceasse of Ioannes Huniades.Whiche Huniades not long after the sayd victorie, through the importune labour and trauaile in defendyng the sayd towne, was taken with a sore sickenes, and thereof departed: to whose valiaunt prowes and singular courage, stories doo geue great laude and commendation.

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MarginaliaThe Turkes warre agaynst Vsumcassanes.Mahumetes the Turke after this done in Europe, returned into Asia to warre with Vsumcassanes a Persiã, one of the Turkes stocke, with whõ he had iij. battailes. The first was about the riuer Euphrates, where the Turke lost 10. thousand men, and was put to the worse. In the second field likewise he was discõfited. The third battaile was at Arsenga, where through the terrible noyse of the brasen peeces, the Persian horses disturbed the campe, & so was Vsumcassanes ouercome.

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MarginaliaThe Turke returneth agaynst the Christians.From thence the Turke reduced agayne his power agaynst the Christians, MarginaliaSynope, Paphlagonia, Trapezuntus gotten of the Turkes.and first subdued vnto hym Synope and all Paphlagonia: Also the kyngdome of Trapezunce, whiche he besiegyng both by land & water, wãne from the Christians, MarginaliaDauid Emper. of Trapezuntus with hys ii. sonnes and vncle cruelly killed of the Turke.and sent Dauid the kyng of þe same with his ij. sonnes and Calus his vncle, vnto Constantinople, where they were miserably and cruelly put to death, & all the stocke of the Cõneni, whiche were of the kings stocke, by þe Turke were destroyed. Which was about the yeare of our Lord. 1459. at which tyme thys mischieuous Mahumete was first saluted Emperour.

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MarginaliaCorinthus, Mitylene, Lesbos, Lemnus, subdued of the Turke.Not long after, he got from the Grecians Corinthus and Mitylene, not without great slaughter of Christen men: in somuch that the whole Citie of Mitylene was vtterly to the ground almost destroyed. The Iles also of Lemnus and Lesbos he wan from the Venetians: In the whiche Iland of Lesbos is the Citie of Mitylene aforesayd.

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Not farre frõ this Ile of Lesbos & Mitylene, there is a coūtrey in Asia toward þe sea side bordering next to Europe, called Mysia, or of some called Mœsia, wherin stood the Citie of Troye. MarginaliaThe falsehood of the wretched Turke agaynste the prince of Mysia.This countrey Mahumete couetyng to wynne rather by policie and falsehode, then by doubtfull daunger of warre, secretly sent for the prince therof to come to speake with him for certain causes (as he pretended) whiche should concerne the profite and commoditie of them both. Whiche when the kyng of Mysia, either for shame would not, or for feare durst not deny, he came to him as to conferre vppon necessary affaires in common to them apperteynyng. MarginaliaThe cruelty of the Turke against the king of Mysia.Mahumete when hee had brought that to passe which he would, he caused the kyng to be apprehended, & cruelly to be slayne, or rather torne in peeces: & so inuadyng the land of Mysia, exercised the like tyranny vpon all his kynred and affinitie.

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Thus Mysia by fraude beyng taken and lost, Mahumete flyeth agayne toward Europe, where he assayled the Iland Euboia, otherwayes called Nigroponte, makyng a bridge of a meruelous frame ouer the sea Eurypus, to conuey ouer his armye out of Grecia, MarginaliaThe siege of Chalcis in Euboia.and there layde his siege to þe Citie Chalcis, which at length in. 30. dayes he ouercame, not wtout a great slaughter of his armye: who in the siege therof is sayd to haue lost. 40. thousand of his Turkes. MarginaliaThe cruell Tyranny of the Turke agaynst the Citie of Chalcis.But the slaughter of the Christians was greater: for when the Citie was wonne, the tyraunt commaunded most cruelly, none to bee spared within the whole Citie, but to be put to the sword, who soeuer was aboue the age of. xx. yeares. This crueltie was shewed of the barbarous tyraunt for anger and fury, because such a number of his Turkes were slayne at the siege therof, beyng rekened (as is sayd) to 40. thousand. In the fierce  

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The following anecdote is from Giovann Battisto Ramusio as excerpted in Laonicus Chalkokondylas, De origine rebus gestis Turcorum (Basel, 1556), p. 193.

siege of this Citie, it is memorable that is in stories recorded,MarginaliaEx Ioã. Ramo. de rebus. Turcicis. how that the wemen of that Citie seyng the men to begyn to faynte, and the Citie to lye in present daunger, tooke the matter them selues in hand, MarginaliaThe noble stratagems of women in defending their citie.and playng the men, wēt to the walles, and there defended the Citie with no lesse trouble to the enemye, then the men had before done, and so for a space conti-

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nued
HH.iij.