As was also the case in other Banat castles they
had trouble in the liberation of Temeschburg from
the Turkish yoke. In 1594 Transylvanian
Prince Sigismund Bathóry tried to move the Serbs
and Walachians living in the Banat to rebellion
against the Ottoman. The rebellion soon
erupted under the leadership of Theodors of
Dazien. As the south Banat was in their
hands, the rebels moved to the Betschkereker
Mountain and they crushed the Turks here
mercilously. The Pascha of Temeschburg
moved towards them in the field, but were always
turned back and they lost 25,000 men from
it. But the rebels lacked uniform
leadership there, got into quarrels and asked
Bethóry for help. This also soon came
under army leader Moses Székelyis, but he
remained incomprehensibly standing at the
border. So the Pascha with 30,000 men could
whip the rebels into fleeing.
At the beginning of 1595 Bathóry decided with
Austrian Emperor Rudolph to make an alliance
against the Turks and sent Georg Borbély with a
considerable army into the Banat. These
conquered some south Banat castles, and as the
Pascha was again moved from Temeschburg, he could
be whipped into fleeing. Following this
siege the Transylvanian army also established
itself in several of the Turkish-owned castles in
the north Banat. Dr. Iliesiu wrote that in
that year the Temeschburg fortress would be
besieged, but the Turks could still successfully
resist.
In 1596 the Ottoman tried to conquer back the
castles they lost the year before. There it
happened according to the Kraushaar that it was
Bathóry himself in the Banat, and he attacked
the Lippas to conquer Temeschburg back. On
the 11th of June 1596 the fortress was
surrounded on all sides. After that the
walls were shot with cannon, Bathóy stormed the
fortress, but was soon beaten back.
Dr. Iliesiu justified this defeat to the
superiority of the Turks, the occupying force of
the fortress number 10,000 Ottoman, while
Bathóry only had over half at his disposal, and
of them 2,082 foot soldiers and 1,146 cavalry
fell. But this data appears to be
questionable because one observed
Kraushaar’s and Griselinis’
descriptions. Before the second storming of
the fortress a powerful Tatar army of about
20,000 men came. Both authors state that
Bathóry’s army whipped the Tatars into
fleeing, and a loss of 10,000 men should have
taught them something. But that could not
happen because Dr. Iliesiu’s statements
would be true. After a 40 day siege
Bathóry was forced to give up the fortress
because of a shortage of food and siege
materials.
In the next year the Transylvanian Prince
Báthory sent his army under the orders of his
chancellor Stefan Josika once again to
Temeschburg to conquer it. The siege lasted
from 17 October to 17 November 1597, but was also
without success this time. Nevertheless,
Josika advanced up to the suburbs of Temeschburg,
but he had to give up the fortress because of the
autumn rains. After this last attempt to
conquer it back the Ottoman still remained the
undisputed rulers of the capital city of the
Banat for another hundred years. This only
served as the base point for the Turks for their
numerous battle campaigns, which they led not
only in north and west Hungary but also in
Transylvania.
In 1683 Sultan Mohammed decided to subjugate all
of Christian Europe, and the first step at
realizing this plan should be the occupation of
Vienna. The Turkish army, which consisted
of 200,000 men, was however totally beaten on the
12th of September 1683 with the
assistance of the Polish King Sobiesky. The
slaughter in Vienna was the beginning of the end
of the Ottoman Empire. On the 2nd
of September 1686 the Christians stormed and
conquered back Ofen (Buda), after which followed
Fünfkirchen (Pécs) and Szegedin. On the
12th of August 1687 the Austrians
besieged the Turks at Mohatsch (Mohács).
One year later, on the 12th of August
1688 the Bavarian elector Max Emanuel began the
siege of Belgrade, which became part of the
empire on the 6th of September.
Prince Eugen of Savoy also took part in the
storming of Belgrade. After only two years,
1690, the Belgrade fortress again fell into the
hands of the Turks. At this opportunity
Ippeker archbishop Arsen Csernovits fled with
30,000 “mostly Serbian families” (Kraushaar) into Austrian owned regions and
settled down in Syrmia, Slavonia, and the Banat.
According to Karl Kraushaar Sultan Mustafa II
invaded Hungary on the 20th of June
1695 with an army of 50,000 men. This
undertaking should have been thwarted by the just
as powerful army under the leadership of elector
Friedrich August of Saxony. In August this
approached Peterwardein with the task of the
Viennese war council to conquer
Temeschburg. But soon the elector was held
up at Lippa with mud at Beodra and
Groß-Kikinda hindering their advance to
Temschburg. After that he crossed throught
the swamp at Aranka, and he began to besiege
Temeschburg on the 1st of August
1696. But here he heard that the sultan
came to help the besieged. He moved toward
the approaching Ottoman and met them at Tschene
(Cenei). A three day battle ended
undecided, the Christian losses amounted to 1,146
men, the Turks had double as many dead to lament
over. In these battles the Temeschburg
Pascha also perished. Both sides were so
weakened that they avoided further battles.
For this setback the elector Friedrich August of
Saxony was made responsible, and the court war
council decided that a general was to be placed
at his side as advisor. This was no big
deal to the already famous Prince Eugen of
Savoy. Shortly after that the elector
to the king of Poland was chosen, and the 35 year
old Prince Eugen was made commander-in-chief to
the emperor. His first shining victory over
the Turks was won at the battle of Zenta on the
11th of September 1697. Here the
baptismal fire of the high and German master
infantry regiments also took place at the same
time. After this battle, which lasted from
two hours before sunset until 10 PM, left 20,000
Turks dead in the battlefield and 10,000 drowned
in the Thieß but could not intervene. From
fear he fled to Temeschburg and left behind a
splendid booty for the emperor. The sultan
recognized the weaknesses of his army but also
Prince Eugen wanted his army to winter over in
peace. So after long negotiations the peace
treaty of Karlovitz (today: Karlovac) came on the
26th of January 1699.
During the following period of peace the Turks
strengthened the fortress walls. According
to Turkish and Hungarians documents the
Temeschburg Pascha asked for help from the sultan
on the 14th of November 1705.
The sultan immediately sent 50 construction
workers from Belgrade to Temeschburg, and the
Walachian Wojewode Constantin Brâncoveanus sent
the important wooden material for 50 wagons,
which was pulled by four oxen. One year
later, in 1706, the Turks built a barracks with
41 rooms according to Dr. Iliesiu, which cost
2,537 Piasters. But that was the last war
preparations by the Turks in Temeschburg.
Temeschberg under
the Imperial Septer
The Karls (Charles)
Fortress
Soon
after the liberation of Temeschberg from the
Turks (1716) they began to strengthen the
existing fortress enclosure. The work was
carried out under the supervision of Count Mercy.
At the same time the erection of the Temeschberg fortress began they adapted to the
latest modern war technology. It received
the name of the Austrian emperor at the time,
Karl IV, and was known as
“Karlsfestung” because of it.
The foundation stone
of this new fortress was laid by the Jesuit
superior P. Michael Gasteyer at the large
celebration on the 25th of April, 1723
in the north Bastei (rampart). The stone
contained the following text in Latin: Imperante
Carolo VI. Duce Eugenio Sabaudiae Principe per
cladem Petro-Varadini MDCCXVI a Turcis recuperata Provincia, sub praesidio claudii Comitis a Mercy
anno a partu Virginis MDCCXXIII die XXV mensis
Aprilis Temesvarini moenia
fondabantur”. This text probably
already prepared Dr. Iliesiu for translation
difficulties, as he also did not translate other
texts in Romanian. For the same reason only
an incomplete translation was also found here:
“During the rule of Karl VI under field
marshal Prince Eugen of Savoy the province was
conquered back from the hands of the Turks as a
result of the defeat at Peterwardein in 1716
under the protection (…translation gap
– A.Z.) was by Mercy in 1723 since the
confinement of the Holy Virgin, (=after the birth
of Christ – Amn. D. Verf.), on the 25th
day of the month of April the city walls of
Temeswar were erected. The Bastei (rampart)
in whose walls the foundation stone was laid
received the names of the founders of the Jesuit
order of the Holy Ignatius. The
construction work according to Dr. Iliesiu cost
20 million Guilders, lasting until 1765.
During this time Temeschberg transformed itself
from a middle age fortress into one of the most
modern resistance buildings erected in the
Vauban’s system in the 18th
century. In the region of present day
Romania, after Mahai Opris, it is the most
perfect resistance building of its kind.
One can recognize
that this great plan was carried out in several
stages when one compares the fortress plan from
1727 (see insert) with the one from 1736.
The first one still shows the fortress plan from
Turkish times whereas the second one is a much
greater fortress which from a ship looks like an
irregular, nine corner bastioniertes?
(rampart) structure. It is also worth
noting that during the time of construction
different gates were established. One
recognizes on the first plan in the east the
Lugoscher Gate (L) (later called the
Siebenbürger (Transylvanian)Gate or Factory
Gate, in the northeast is the Arad Gate (A), in
the northwest is the Prince Eugen Gate (E) (the
former Fosforzi Gate), and in the south is the
Belgrade Gate (B) (which was later called the
Peterwardein Gate or Josef City Gate.
On the plan of 1736
the Arad Gate no longer exists, and the place
where the Prince Eugen Gate is identified finds
itself with the Großpalanka deep in the interior
of the fortress. The Prince Eugen Gate here
was replaced with the Vienna or Mehala
Gate. At the same time the Belgrade Gate is
still identified on the east side of the castle
which was later moved to the west side and then
bore the names Peterwardein or Josef City
Gate. According to Dr. Ilieiu the gates
were very narrow so that only one wagon could
drive through. For this reason a second
passageway had to be knocked through the walls by
all gates so it was possible to have traffic in
both directions. One reached the gates over
drawbridges which were hoisted up in the evening
with heavy chains. According to Schiff a military
cemetery was erected in 1849 in the enclosure of
the tombstones which were used to honor the
fallen imperial troops.
The fortress walls
were built in the form of triple ramparts.
Between these there were moats which could be
filled if required from the Bega. The inner
rampart was 10 to 12 meters high, the others were
always lower on the outside. Along the wall
nine “Basteien” (ramparts?) were
erected which gave the fortress a star-shaped
appearance. Between the Peterwardein and
the Vienna Gate one found the Florimund rampart
(from Opris) or Mercy rampart (from Schiff) (21),
the Prince Eugen rampart (20), and the Elisabeth
rampart (19). On its completion in 1739 a
board was affixed at the Prince Eugen rampart
which had the following text in Latin: “The
great warrior leader, his highness Prince Eugen
of Savoy, was promised a pledge (=foundation
stone – Anm. D. Verf.) dedicated in
deference, and a corner defense stone (=Bastei
– Anm. D. Verf.) was dedicated in honor of
this hero who has returned the destroyed province
to the undefeated emperor in which he freed them
after the overthrow of the barbarians in a
battle.” After the Vienna Gate
followed the Karls (Charles) rampart (18), which
contained the already mentioned foundation
stone. On the walls after the construction
work was finished a tablet was affixed with the
following Latin text: “The sublime Emperor
VI has the afterworld, as the Banat was freed
from the yoke of the Turks after 164 years and
the Christian beliefs and the ruling Austria took
back this defense work in a glorious way that he
left erected, left behind; it sits as evidence of
steadfastness and bravery.” After that
followed up to the Siebenbürger (Transylvanian)
Gate the Arad rampart (according to Opris) or the
French rampart (according to Schiff) (17), the
Theresien rampart (16), the Josef rampart (15),
and finally the powder tower (according to Opris)
or the Hamilton tower (according to Schiff) (23)
and the castle rampart (22). Today
only three parts of the Temeschberg fortress
remain standing. Only the food storehouse
remains completely standing, which today houses
the ethnographic department of the Banat
Museum. The other two are fragments of the
Prince Eugen and the Theresien ramparts (at the
Timisoara 700 market, rather close to the post
palace? But both were repaired in the
‘60’s, and a restaurant was set up in a
part of it.
Copyright © Anton Zollner.
Permission granted to translate and reproduce this
page for nonprofit genealogical use.
