ghazi mehmed iv and candia 159
zeal, manliness, and bravery in battle of the sultan’s servants, the citadel has
been conquered.”^73
The citadel of Candia, in the words of Rycaut “the most impregnable For-tress of the World, strengthened with as much Art and Industry, as the human
Wit of this Age was capable to invent,” surrendered to the Ottomans after
twenty-seven years of war, ending a twenty-seven-month and twenty-seven-
day siege on September 27, 1 669.^74 September 27 was an important date in
Ottoman history: in 1 529 the forces of Suleiman I arrived before the walls of
Vienna for the fi rst unsuccessful Ottoman siege of that city. The day marked
by failure had been converted into a day of pride. The Ottomans had fi nally
gained control of the eastern Mediterranean. People had believed the citadel
would never be conquered. Its defenders had devoted much effort to fortify-
ing it and had reinforced it for twenty years, encircling it with water and fi re
by means of mines, bastions, and a moat. But for two years and nearly four
months, summer and winter, night and day, combat and killing over the citadel
never ceased, and in the end, the Ottomans were victorious.^75
The populace of Istanbul greeted news of the conquest with great joy, tearsof relief, and even disbelief, and celebrated the conquest for three days and
nights. The Ottomans fi nally could clear the shipping lanes of hostile navies
and end the blockades of Istanbul. Venetians at Candia would no longer harass
and capture ships of Muslim pilgrims and merchants. Abdi Pasha relates how
the sultan received the news: “My sovereign, good news! The citadel of Candia
has been conquered! The sultan responded, ‘Is it true? Has the grand vizier’s
report arrived?’ ”^76 After the sultan took the report from Abdi Pasha, his weep-
ing hindered its reading. Seeing the sultan burst into tears, all present wept
tears of joy together. A stoic scribe was compelled to read the report to the sob-
bing group. After the miraculous news arrived, the sultan decided not to cross
over to Crete, but to winter in Salonica and return in spring to Edirne, where
Fazıl Ahmed Pasha would return to him the banner of Muhammad.
Although he had a hand in Islamizing the island, Mehmed IV’s contribu-tion to the display of martial manliness came in the hunt. He had not taken a
direct military role in the siege of Candia because Ottoman sultans did not en-
gage in naval battles. After learning of the conquest while out hunting, the sul-
tan decided to winter in Salonica with his favorite concubine.^77 Rycaut claims
that she knew how to hunt as well: “Like Diana, or some Mountain Nymph, she
became a Huntress after her Prince, as he a Ranger after his Game.”^78 The sul-
tan (and perhaps his favorite) engaged in hunting and riding and did not return
to Edirne until the following spring, when he held a grand ceremony before the
Hunting Gate. As Abdi Pasha informs us, during Mehmed IV’s hunting trips
en route in exhilarating valleys full of the cries of nightingales, he killed nearly