ghaza in central and eastern europe 169and rooms of Polish noblemen, princes, and priests who remained; and fi nally,
concerning those soldiers who leave, taking only their own weapons, they and
their families and goods would not be harmed. If these conditions were met,
they promised the gates to the city and citadel would be turned over. The sultan
granted these conditions and the Ottomans took over the citadel and city. While
the defeated soldiers were divvying up the ammunition in the arsenal, however,
there was a great explosion and several hundred lost their lives (338b). A tower
and the palace were destroyed, seen as punishment for their not keeping their
word. This caused the Ottomans to distrust the defenders’ intentions and sus-
pect a ruse. They quickly consolidated control over the citadel.
In his fi rst Polish campaign, in which the sovereign participated in person,
Mehmed IV proved himself a ghazi. Abdi Pasha is proud to refer to him as
the one who “illuminates the world with the light of jihad” (342b). He is “the
brave conqueror of the age,” signifi ed by a phrase in Arabic (Ebu al-fath), and
“the sovereign conqueror” in Persian (Kishvar-kusha), as well as master of the
auspicious conjunction whose imperial ghazas and conquests are marked by
victory (339b). Mehmed IV rode around the entire citadel, both to see it and to
be seen.
The sultan could be satisfi ed, returning to Edirne in triumph for conquest
and the capitulations that came with it enhanced his image as a fi ghter for the
faith. Amassing a larger number of “manly and brave” troops than had Murad IV
during the Baghdad and Armenian campaigns, he soundly defeated the “ac-
cursed ones destined for Hell.” The campaign ended in triumph, promise to
God fulfi lled. Thus having satisfi ed his religious zeal, Mehmed IV had time to
hunt at least eight times on his return, going on the chase with his grand vizier
or engaging in massive hunting drives with local commoners conscripted for
the occasion.^15 Three days and nights of celebrations were ordered throughout
the empire. In addition to Kamaniça, the Polish king ceded to the empire sev-
eral dozen fortresses and defense works in Podolia. Christian holy space was
Islamized. Whole garrisons had been put to the sword, townsmen and women
had been retained as domestic slaves, Armenian and Jewish merchants had
been deported to large cities and ports elsewhere in the empire.^16 The sultan re-
turned to Edirne that fall after a victorious campaign, “arriving at the seat of the
throne of the abode of divine assisted victory with an overwhelming concourse
of attendants, and world-conquering imperial majesty.”^17 When commonerswho lined the city streets and servants of the sultan who waited along the route
to the palace gate to kiss the ground before him beheld their ruler, they under-
stand that he was indeed the “powerful sultan of Islam who causes fear and
dread, the deliverer of conquest and ghaza, Sultan Mehmed Khan.”^18