Evliya Celebi's Journey from Bursa to the Dardanelles and Edirne: from the fifth book of the seyahatname

摘要

In autumn 1659 the Ottoman courtier and adventurer Evliya Celebi travelled in the entourage of Mehmed Ⅳ as he progressed between the two early Ottoman capitals of Bursa and Edirne. The purpose of the expedition was to inspect the Dardanelles fortresses then under construction, and a roll-call of statesmen and military men, from Grand Vezir Koepruelue Mehmed Pasa downwards, accompanied the young sultan. The context for the journey was anxiety about the defence of Istanbul, which the recent naval war with Venice had demonstrated to be vulnerable. The castles built by Mehmed Ⅱ in the mid-fifteenth century had failed to deter modern sailing ships from entering the Straits, and the security of the seat of the dynasty was seen in large measure to be dependent on the might of the new fortresses. Evliya Celebi tells us that the army had set out from Istanbul heading to southeast Anatolia to quell anti-government rebellion. He relates his disgust at the gory execution of hundreds of (suspected) rebels at the Sultan's order and in his presence, both before the troops moved off from their mustering-ground at Ueskuedar and also along the road. At Izmit, however, the focus of the mission changed, and instead of Mehmed commanding the campaigning forces it was decided that a pasa should do so in his place. Instead, the Sultan travelled via Iznik and Yenisehir to Bursa. As was his wont, Evliya took himself off to explore some places that lay off the main route, rendezvousing with his fellows in the latter city. After more than 70 days there, the commander of the island of Bozcaada/Tenedos brought news that the Dardanelles was under immediate threat of infidel attack. On the following day the Sultan and his entourage set off west, with the fleet, hitherto anchored at Mudanya, shadowing him at sea. The section of Evliya s text presented here by Hakan Karateke takes up the story at this point, the circumstances of the Sultan's journey having been laid out in detail in an introductory chapter. En route to Edirne Evliya again went sightseeing, permission to do so being granted by the steward of the Grand Vezir, his paymaster at the time.