168 honored by the glory of islam
became nearly impossible and inconceivable for the army to continue on its
march toward Kamaniça. According to Abdi Pasha, the muddy, swampy con-
ditions continued for weeks, and some of the sultan’s men were lost to light-
ning.^14 Worse, on some evenings the heavy rain hindered the sultan from
making it to the imperial tent, which was carried separately. Worse still, the
silver carriages of the sultan’s favorite concubine and mother of future sul-
tans, Gülnuş Emetullah, got stuck in the thick mire, and the imperial couple
were separated as well (322b–323a). The grand vizier and his men had to
devote their energy to helping the favorite concubine’s carriage get out of the
thick muck. She and the prince were left to wait out the campaign in Hacıoğlu
Pazarı while the sultan and the army continued their journey. This was not
the only bad omen. The campaign was plagued by heavy thunderstorms and
rains during the three months it took to travel from Thrace to Moldavia to
cross the Danube and Dneister, and fi nally to enter Polish territory and alight
before Kamaniça.
Accompanied by Vani Mehmed Efendi, the “sovereign whose badge iscourage” (334a) played a direct role in the battle, making his presence known,
even determining when his forces should fi re their cannons. At the beginning
of August, when he arrived before the citadel of Kamaniça, Mehmed IV sent
a fi rm message to its defenders, saying, “Turn over the citadel without a fi ght,
and I will grant the protection of your lives and property. You are free to go
wherever you wish to go. Otherwise, if with the assistance of God I have to take
the citadel by force, afterwards I will decimate you” (334a–b). The defenders
responded to the sultan by saying, “Other than the builder, no hand had ever
touched the citadel since the day it was built. It is a virgin citadel. Because of
this, we prefer to spill our blood [like a virgin who has never been touched]”
(334b). On the sultan’s command, Ottoman forces bombed the citadel. When
the citadel’s bastion was taken and the fl ag of Islam planted, Janissary suicide
squads became ghazi martyrs while planting mines at the walls of the citadel
(336b). After a huge effort and constant barrage, and great loss of life on both
sides, Ottoman forces took the citadel.
The defeated defenders sent men articulating fi ve conditions for surren-der (337b–338a). First, those men along with their wives and children who
wanted to remain in the citadel and town could remain without being badly
treated; second, those who desired to leave with their families would not be
mistreated; third, a suffi cient number of Catholic, Armenian, and Orthodox
Christian churches could be maintained within the citadel, Christians could
practice the rites of their “false” religion within them, and their priests would
not be ill-treated; fourth, Ottoman soldiers would not be billeted in the homes