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A Greek Manuscript describing the Siege of Vienna by the Turks in 1683
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2013
Extract
I think that those who take an interest in the history of the modern Greek language may possibly welcome a short note on a manuscript in the British Museum, which appears to me to be worth some attention, chiefly perhaps from the point of view of the part played by Greek culture in Roumania in the seventeenth century.
The manuscript in question is Add. MS. 38890 in the Department of Manuscripts, British Museum. It was acquired at Hodgson's sale, June 25, 1914, Lot 413, and is from the collection of the Hon. Frederic North, but was later in the possession of Richard Taylor. It is well written and presents but few difficulties of decipherment, and the number of errors is comparatively small. At the end the date of completion is given, viz. December 1686, and the place of writing—Bucharest.
I think the general character of the MS. will be best explained by the reproduction of the short preface prefixed to it. I give it here, together with a translation. The pages and lines are those of the MS., and spelling, punctuation and abbreviations are reproduced as they stand, though I have not adhered to the very fluctuating use of the acute and grave accents.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright
- Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1922
References
1 I have to express my thanks to Mr. J. P. Gilson and Mr. H. I. Bell of the Department of Manuscripts, British Museum, for drawing my attention to this manuscript.
2 Cf. the description of Servan Cantacuzenos in MS. No. 886 in the Hofbibliothek at Vienna (quoted by Hammer, , Gesch. d. osm. Reiches, vi. (1830), p. 403Google Scholar, n.): ‘In Valachia il principe moderno Serbano e uomo di gran spirito, potente e ricco per se stesso, amato dai Bojari e Grandi, ha gran parentela, due fratelli … ha molti nepoti esperti, fra l'altri il Conte Brancovano che fu spesso Generale di queste provincie, persona di gran talenti.’
3 Sathas, , Νεοελληνικὴ Φιλολογίο, 1868, p. 383 f.Google Scholar; Xénopol, , Hist. des Roumains, ii. 162, 173Google Scholar; Gröber, , Grundriss der rom. Philologie, ii. 3, pp. 278, 283, 313, 393.Google Scholar
4 I may mention that Prof. R. M. Dawkins, who has been kind enough to go through my copy of the MS. with me, noted certain forms and turns of expression as Cretan before he knew that the translator came from that island.
5 See a letter of Georg Chr. von Kunitz dated July 22, 1683: ‘Der Fürst aus Walachei (Fürst Cantacuzene) ist mit seiner Mannschaft beschäftigt, Hals über Kopf Bauholz zuzuführen, welches er alles in dem Wäldlein bei Schönbrunn schlagen und nach Wien ins Lager führen lässt; dieses, glaube ich, will man zu den Minen gebrauchen.’ (Quoted by Camesina, , Wiens Bedrängniss in Jahre 1683, p. 25Google Scholar, n. 6). Kunitz, who was Imperial Agent at Constantinople, was at the time a prisoner in the Turkish camp. See also Hammer, , Gesch. d. osm. Reiches, vi. (1830), p. 403Google Scholar, n.
6 Xénopol, p. 73: ‘Si les princes roumains, qui sympathisaient avec les chrétiens, ne leur fussent venus en aide en diverses occasions, au péril de leurs têtes, il est très probable que la ville n'aurait pu attendre le secours que lui amenait le roi de Pologne.’
7 Klopp, , Das Jahr 1683, p. 237 ff.Google Scholar; Camesina, op. cit., p. 134 f.
8 Xénopol, ii. 173 ff.
9 More will be found on the subject of Greek culture in Roumania in Xénopol, Istoria Rumînilor din Dacia Traiană, Vol. IV. p. 640 ff.Google Scholar
10 Sathas, p. 384: 
Cacavelas also translated the Greek Liturgy into Roumanian (Gröber, op. cit.).
11 For what follows I am indebted to Xénopol, ii. p. 73 ff.
12 See also A. J. Evans in Encyclopœdia Britannica 9, Art. ‘Roumania.’ Demetrios in exile wrote a Descriptio Moldaviae in Latin.
13 The book does not appear in the British Museum Catalogue.
14 Kábdebo, (Heinrich), Bibliographie zur Geschichte der beiden Türkenbelagerungen Wiens. Vienna, 1876.Google Scholar It would seem, however, that the following work mentioned by Kábdebo in his Supplement (p. 130, No. 339) is a second edition of the book.
‘Ragguaglio della guerra tra l'armi Cesaree et Ottomane da principio della ribellione degli Hungari sino l'anno corrente 1684, e principalmente dell' assedio di Vienna e sua liberatione con la vittoria di Barcan, aggiuntovi in quest' ultima impressione la presa di Strigonia, molt' altre curiosita. In Venetia, 1684. 4°.’
15 Camesina, (Albert), Wiens Bedrängniss im Jahre 1683 (in Berichte und Mitteilungen des Altertumsvereines zu Wein, Vol. VIII., 1865).Google Scholar
16 Klopp, (Onno), Das Jahr 1683. Graz, 1882.Google Scholar
17 I may add that Cacavelas must have been still living in 1714, for he was the author of a historical work on the wars between the Hungarians and the Turks, dedicated to Stephanos Cantacuzenos, who was Voivode of Wallachia, 1714–1716. Legrand, É. in his Épistolaire grecque (Bibliothèque grecque vulgaire, iv., p. xiiiGoogle Scholar, (c)), mentions the following as included in the Catalogue of the MSS. in the Bibliothèque du Métoque du Saint-Sépulchre at Constantinople:
1660 
M. Legrand was unable to obtain access to this and other MSS.