B A J 



accefs to the focus of a volcano, wliich has been within 

 the two laft centuries moil outrageous in its operations ; for 

 to them muft be attributed the overturninc; of the adjacent 

 country, and the total alteration of its furface by the birth 

 of Monte Nuovo, which now blocks up the valley of Aver- 

 no. Swiiib. Trav. vol. iii. p. 48. 



BAJAZET I., in Biography, fultan of the Turks, was 

 the fon and fucceffor of Amurath I., and denominated " II- 

 derlm," or lightning, on account of the fiery energy of his 

 foul, and the" rapidity of his dellruftive march. He fuc- 

 ceeded Amurath in the year 1389, being then about 44 

 years of age ; and having fecured his authority at home by 

 the execution of his younger brother, who attempted to ex- 

 cite a revolt againll him, he profecuted the ambitious de- 

 fiorns of liis father. During the fourteen years of his reign, 

 he ii.cefTantly moved, at the head of his armies, from Bour- 

 fa to Adrianoplc, from the Danube to the Euphrates ; and 

 though he ftrenuoufly laboured for the propagation of the 

 law, "^he invaded, with impartial ambition, the Chriftian and 

 Mahometan princes of Europe and Afia. Having reduced 

 to his obedience the northern regions of Anatolia, made 

 himfclf rnafter of Caramania, and impofed a regular form 

 of fervitude on the Servians and Bulgarians, he paffed the 

 Danube to feek new enemies and new f«jbjefts in the heart 

 of Moldavia. Whatever yet adhered to the Greek empire 

 in Thrace, Macedonia, and Theffaly, acknowledged a 

 Turkilh rnafter, and he was led through the gates of Ther- 

 mopylae into Greece by an obfequious bifliop. Tiie Turk- 

 ilh communication between Europe arid Afia had been dan- 

 Sferous and doubtful, till he ftationed at Gallipoli a fleet of 

 gallies to command the Hellefpont, and intercept the Latin 

 fuccours of Conftantinople. While the monarch indulged 

 his paffions in a boundlefs range of injuftice and cruelty, he 

 impofed on his foldiers the moll rigid laws of modefty 

 and abllinence ; and the harveft was peaceably reaped and 

 fold within the precincis of his camp. Having obtained 

 the title of fultan from the caliphs who ferved in Egypt 

 under the yoke of the Manialukes, he was ambitious of de- 

 ferving this title ; and accordingly he turned his arms againll 

 the kingdom of Hungary, the principal theatre of the 

 Turkifh victories and defeats. At Nicopolis, near the Da- 

 nube, he defeated, in 1396, a confederate army of an hun- 

 dred thoufand Chrillians, headed by Sigifmund, the Hun- 

 garian king ; moll of whom were (lain or driven into the 

 Danube : and Sigifmund, efcaping to Conftantinople by the 

 river and Black fea, returned after a long circuit to his ex- 

 haufted kingdom. Among the captives was a body of 

 French crufaders, and in this number were John count of 

 Nevers, the fon of the duke of Burg\nidy, and fome of the 

 nobleft lords in France. In the pride of vidlory, Bajazet 

 threatened that he would befiege Buda, that he would fub- 

 due the adjacent countries of Germany and Italy, and that 

 he would feed his horfe with a bulhel of oats on the altar 

 of St. Peter at Rome. Whilll the military talents of Ba- 

 jazet, manifefted on this occafion by the fpeed and fecrecy 

 of his march, and alfo by the order and evolutions of the 

 battle, have been acknowledged even by his enemies, he 

 has juftly been accufed of cruelty in the ufe of viftoiy. 

 The French captives, who furvived the flaughter of the 

 day (the count of Nevers and twenty-four lords excepted, 

 ■who were afterwards ranfomed for two hundred thoufand 

 ducats) were led before his throne; and as they refufed to 

 abjure their faith, they were fucceffively beheaded in his 

 prefence. So abfolutc was his authority, that his word, pro- 

 nounced either by way of mercy or deftruction, was irre- 

 vocable. In the treaty, after the battle of Nicopolis, it 

 was ftipulated, that the French captii.'es (hould fwear never 

 to beiir arms againft the pevfon of their conqueror ; but 



B A J 



this ungenerous reftraint was aboliflied by Bajazet himfelf. 

 " I defpifc," faid he to the heir of Burgundy, " thy oaths 

 and thy arms. Thou art young, and niayeft be ambitious 

 of eflacing the difgrace or misfortune of thy firft chivalry. 

 Affemble thy powers, proclaim thy delign, and be alFured 

 that Bajazet will rejoice to meet thee a fecond time in the 

 field of battk." The progrefs of Bajazet, notwithftanding 

 his threats, was checked by a long and painful fit of the 

 gout. Before he direfted his arms againft the feeble re- 

 mains of the Eaftern empire, he rendered the emperor, Ma- 

 nuel Paliologus, tributary, and impofed upon him the hu- 

 miliating condition of having a Turkilh cadi and a mofch in 

 his capital. He next threatened and aftually invefted Con- 

 ftantinople ; but he was called away by the menaces of a 

 more formidable tyrant than himfelf. This was the great 

 Timour, or Tamerlane, who, in the year 1400, began his 

 march from Georgia towards Afia Minor. In his firft ex- 

 pedition, Timour was fatisfied with the fiege and deftruftion 

 of Siwas, or Sebafti, a ftrong city on the borders ot Ana- 

 tolia ; and with caufing 4000 Armenians, who formed the 

 garrifon, to be buried alive for the brave and faithful dif- 

 charge of their duty. He then turned afide to the invafion 

 of Syria and Egypt, facked and dcftroyed Aleppo and 

 Damafcus, and took pofTefTion of Damafcus. To Bajazet 

 he offered peace on moderate terms ; but the fultan, confid- 

 ing in his ilrength, employed the interval in colletling all 

 the forces of his empire, and thefe two potentates met on 

 the plains that furrouuded the city of Angora, in July, 

 A. D. 1402, to a memorable conflicl, which has immortal- 

 ized the glory of Timour, and the (hame of Bajazet. Such 

 was the event of this fevere conteft, in which two very nu- 

 merous and powerful hofts were engaged, that the Turks 

 were entirely broken with dreadful flaughter ; and Bajazet, 

 afflicted with the gout in his hands and feet, was tranfported 

 from the field on the fleeteft of his horfes. He was pur- 

 fued and taken, and at fun-fet brought to the tent of Ti- 

 mour. Bajazet, by the mild expoftulation of the conqueror, 

 who, with a foothing pity for his rank and misfortune, 

 mingled juft reproaches for his pride and obftiiiacy, was 

 foftened into humiliation. " Had you vanquiflied," faid 

 Timour, " I am not ignorant of the fate which you referved 

 for myfelf and my troops ; but I difdain to retaliate ; your 

 life and honour are fccure, and I fliall exprefs my gratitude 

 to God by my clemency to man." The "iron cage," in 

 which Bajazet is faid to have been imprifoned by Tamerlane, 

 fo long and fo often repeated as a moral leflbn, is now re- 

 jefted as a fable by the modern writers, who fmile at the 

 vulvar credulity. It has been fuggtfted, indeed, that Ti- 

 mour might d.fplay an oftentatious magnificence and libei'a- 

 lity, towards Bajazet ; while, with a view to fecurity, he 

 kept his important prize in a " moveable apartment guarded 

 with bars," and indulged his own pride in carr)-ing him 

 about in triumph. " In the ftaft of viftoiy," fays Gibbon, 

 " to which Bajazet was invited, the Mogul emperor placed 

 a crown on his head, and a fceptre in his hand, with a fo- 

 lemn an"urance of rcftoring him with an increale of glory 

 to the throne of his anceftors. But the effeft of this pro- 

 mife was difappointed by the fultan's untimely death ; amidft 

 the care of the moll fliilful phyficians, he expired of an apo- 

 plexy at Akfhehr, the Antioch of Pifidia, about nine 

 months after his defeat," A. D. 1403, in the fifteenth year 

 his reign, and fifty-eighth of his life. " The vitlor dropped 

 a tear over his grave ; his body, with royal pomp, was con- 

 veyed to the maufoleum which he had ereded at Bourfa ; 

 and his fon Moufa, after receiving a rich prefent of gold 

 and jewels, of horfes and arms, was invefted by a patent in 

 red ink with the kingdom of Anatolia." 



The character of Bajazet was that of a defpot with vio- 

 lent 



