MarginaliaVide supr. pag. [illegible text] ans. What great thing els was done in that viage, it doth not greatly appeare in stories. Albeit Fridericus the 2. Emperour was not vnfruitfully there occupied, and muche more might haue done, had it not bene for the violence and persecution of the Bishop of Rome agaynst him Note that Foxe here, as elsewhere, blames the failure of the Crusades on the Papacy. forced to take truce with the Sultā for ten yeres, and so returned. After which things done, not many yeares after, at length the last City of all belongyng to the Christiās, which was Ptolomais or Akers, was al- so taken from thē by the Sultane, so that now the christians had not one foote left in all Asia. | |
Marginalia Tartarians. Porta Caspiæ An. 1203. Thus the christians beyng driuē out of Asia by þe Sultans & turkes yet the sayd Turkes & Sultanes did not long en- ioy their victory: For eftsoones þe lord stir- red vp agaynst them the Tartarians I.e., the Mongols. This passage describes the Mongol invasions of the Near East in 1258-1260. breaking into Asia by þe portes of Caspius subdued diuers partes of Asia, namely, a- bout Comana, Colchis, Iberia, Albania, &c. These Tartariās as they had got ma- ny captiues in their wars: so for gain vsed to shippe them ouer customably to Alexan- dria in Egipt to be sold: which seruauntes & captiues Melechsala the great Sultane was glad to buy, to serue him in his wars. Which captiues and seruaunts after they MarginaliaSaladinus stocke in Ægypt ceaseth. had continued a certaine space in Egypt, and through their valiaunt seruice grew in fauour & estimation with the said Melech- sala, and began more to increase in number and strength: at length they slue hym, and toke to themselues the name and kingdome of the Sultan. This is a garbled account of the overthrow of the Ayyubid dynasty in 1250 and the establishment of the Mamluk caliphs in Egypt. of Saracon and Saladinus afore mentio- ned, which continued in Egipt, about the space as is sayd of | 100. yeares. |
MarginaliaMamaluchi in Egypt. An. 1240. After the death of Melechsala, the army of these foresayd rascals and captiues set vp to themselues a king of theyr owne cōpany, whom they called Turquemenius. Who to fill vp the number of their compa- ny that it should not diminish, diuised this order, to get or to buy Christen mens chil- dren, taken yong from their parents, and þe mothers lap: whom they vsed so to bryng vp to make them to reny Christ, and to bee circumcised, and instructed in Mahumetes law, and afterward to be trayned in the feates of warre, and these were called Mamalu- chi. Among whome this was their order, that none might be aduaunced to be kyng, but out of their owne number, or els chosen by them: neither that any should bee made knightes or horsemen, but only the children of christians which should deny Christ be- fore, called Mamaluchi. Also it was among them prouided, that to this dignity neyther Saracens nor Iewes, should be admitted. Item, that the succession therof should not descend to the children and ofspring of these Mamaluchi. Also, that the succession of the crowne should not descend to the children of the foresayd Sultanes, but should goe by voyce and election. The Tartarians with Turquemenius their kyng, about thys tyme obtayned Turquia, that is, Asia mi- nor, from the Turkes, and within ij. yeres after, preuailyng agaynst the Turkes, ex- pelled them from their kyngdome, and so continued these Mamaluchi reigning ouer Egypt and a great parte of Asia, till þe tyme of Tomumbeius their last kyng, whiche was destroyed and hanged at the gates of Memphis, by Zelymus the Turke, father to this Solymannus, as in his story is de- clared See 1570, p. 885, 1576, p. 722 and 1583, p. 747. nued the space of | 260. yeares.MarginaliaVide supra pag. 722. |
An. 1245. These Tartarians ranging tho- rough the countreis of the Georgians, and |
¶ And thus haue ye the whole discourse of the Turkish storye, with their names, countreys townes, dominions also with their tymes, continuance, interruptions and alterations, in order described and in yeares distincted: Whiche otherwise in most authors and writers be so confused, that it is hard to knowe distinctlye, what difference is betwene the Saracens, Turkes Tartarians, þe Sultans or Soldans, Mamaluches, or Ianizarites: what is their Calipha, their Seriphes, their Sultan, or Bassa, in what tymes they began, and howe long, & in what order of yeares they reigned. All which in this present table manifestly to thyne eye may appeare.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaWhy the pope can not preuaile agaynst the Turkes. ¶ Wherin this thou hast moreouer (gentle reader) to consider, which is worthy the notyng, how þe byshop of Rome all this season, from the first begynnyng of the Turkes reigne, hath not ceased from tyme to tyme continually, callyng vpō Christen princes and subiectes, to take the crosse and to warre agaynst the Turkes: whereupon so many great viages haue bene made to the holy land, and so many battailes fought agaynst the Turke and Soldan for wynnyng the holy crosse: and yet noluckye successe hath folowed thereof hetherto, nor euer came it prosperously forward, what soeuer, throughe the excityng of that Byshop, hath bene attempted agaynst that great enemye of the Lord: In so much that the Christians haue lost not onely al that they had in Asia, but also vnneth are able to defende that litle they haue in Europe, agaynst his violence. What the cause is of this hard lucke of the Byshops doynges, it is hard for man to define. Let men muse as their mynde leadeth, and as the Gospell sayth, he that hath eyes to see let him see. This is certain, that as there hath lacked no care nor diligence in the Bishop of Rome, to styrre men vp to that busines: so on the princes behalfe there hath lacked no courage no strength of men, no contribution of expenses, no supportation of charges, no furniture or abilement of warre: onely the blessyng of God semeth to haue lacked. The reason and cause wherof I would were so easy to be reformed, as it may be quickly construed. For what man beholdyng the lyfe of vs Christians, will greatly meruell, why the Lord goeth not with our armye to fight agaynst the Turkes? And if my verdite might here haue place, for me to adde my censure, there appeareth to me an other cause in this matter yet greater then this aforesayd: whiche to make playne and euident in ful discourse of wordes, laysure nowe doth not permit. Briefly to touch what I conceaue, my opinion is this: that if the syncere doctrine of Christen fayth deliuered and left vnto vs in the word of God, had not ben so corrupted in the Churche of Rome,MarginaliaGod offended wyth idolatry and wrong fayth of the Christians. or if the Byshop of Rome would yet reclame his impure idolatrie, and prophanatious and admitte Christe the lambe of God to stand alone, without our vnpure additions, to be our onely iustification, accordyng to the free promise of Gods grace: I nothing doubt but the power of this fayth groundyng onely vppon Christ the sonne of God, had both framed our lyues into a better disposition: and also soone would, or yet will bryng downe the pride of that proude Holofernes
Holofernes is the Assyrian general slain by the Jewish heroine Judith in the Apocryphal Old Testament book of Judith.