Events of the Year 1011, H.
Hasan Páshá recovers Alba Julia.
Towards the end of the preceding year the páshá made every preparation for commencing a new campaign in the beginning of this year. A new bridge was erected on the Save: he was joined by the ághá of the janissaries from Constantinople about the commencement of Moharrem, and troops from all quarters poured into his camp. The troops that accompanied the ághá from the metropolis received double wages: provisions were distributed, and vessels laden with the same article were sent off for Buda. The royal camp, in the greatest haste, removed from Belgrade and arrived at Serim on the 15th of the month. Badalooshka cannon were transported from Buda to the camp, and on the 22nd Alba Julia was put under siege. Lála Mohammed Páshá, from Buda, encamped on the south side, in front of the city; the grand vezír (i.e. the commander-in-chief, Yemishjí Hasan Páshá) took up his position on one side, and the ághá of the janissaries, with nine pieces of ordnance, presented himself before the gate. Mohammed Páshá, with the army of Romeili and five pieces of ordnance, and Dervísh Páshá, the beglerbeg of Bosnia, with the army of Buda, entered into entrenchments, and immediately erected mounds. Three thousand chosen men and four thousand pioneers were under the immediate eye of the grand vezír. After a few days of constant battering, the besieging army sprung four mines, which had some considerable effect, and soon afterwards they took possession of the large tower, but were obliged to relinquish it. The enemy, besides, had formed a kind of wall or mound within their ramparts, which served to protect them against the besieging army’s artillery. No great progress had hitherto been made.
On the 17th of the month Sefer, about the hour of dinner, and the hot part of the day, a servant of Mohammed Páshá started suddenly upon his feet, seized a standard, ran in the greatest haste to the tower, and fixed it on its top. The janissaries and others no sooner saw this, than they immediately went and took possession of it, causing the few men who watched it to fly. The enemy, however, continued to trust to their strong bulwarks, and thought themselves safe. They were miserably mistaken. The Moslem and orthodox warriors opened upon them a brisk fire of musketry, which drove them from their position. Mohammed Páshá succeeded in getting into the city and took it. When the serdár heard that his troops had taken the tower before-mentioned, he ordered his tent to be immediately erected near it.
The enemy perceiving the progress of the besiegers, and that they were assaulting them, in fact, from every quarter, fled into the inner fortress. This last refuge of theirs was attacked in its turn. By means of mounds which they soon raised for their own protection, they were enabled to effect some mines, which they had no sooner ignited than one of the towers was blown into the air and a sufficient breach made. The courage of the poor devils when they saw this gave way, and they offered to yield up the place. A certain number of their chief officers came out and received, as on former occasions, garments and were sent off with the rest of the military of Alba Julia to their own countries. The victorious Moslems, after taking possession of this important place, placed a sufficient garrison in it, and the rest of their troops returned to Buda about the end of the month last mentioned.