succeeding aggression, sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other,
the sultan at last, in a moment of exasperation, resolved to break the
truce.

A large army of Turks invaded Croatia, took several fortresses, and
marching up the valley of the Save, were opening before them a route
into the heart of the Austrian States. The emperor hastily gathered an
army to oppose them. They met before Siseck, at the confluence of the
Kulpa and the Save. The Turks were totally defeated, with the loss of
twelve thousand men. Exasperated by the defeat, the sultan roused his
energies anew, and war again raged in all its horrors. The advantage was
with the Turks, and they gradually forced their way up the valley of the
Danube, taking fortress after fortress, till they were in possession of
the important town of Raab, within a hundred miles of Vienna.

Sigismond, the waivode or governor of Transylvania, an energetic,
high-spirited man, had, by his arms, brought the provinces of Wallachia
and Moldavia under subjection to him. Having attained such power, he was
galled at the idea of holding his government under the protection of the
Turks. He accordingly abandoned the sultan, and entered into a coalition
with the emperor. The united armies fell furiously upon the Turks, and
drove them back to Constantinople.

The sultan, himself a man of exceedingly ferocious character, was
thoroughly aroused by this disgrace. He raised an immense army, placed
himself at its head, and in 1596 again invaded Hungary. He drove the
Austrians everywhere before him, and but for the lateness of the season
would have bombarded Vienna. Sigismond, in the hour of victory, sold
Transylvania to Rhodolph for the governorship of some provinces in
Silesia, and a large annual pension. There was some fighting before the
question was fully settled in favor of the emperor, and then he placed
the purchased and the conquered province under the government of the
imperial general Basta.

The rule of Basta was so despotic that the Transylvanians rose in
revolt, and under an intrepid chief, Moses Tzekeli, appealed to the
Turks for aid. The Turks were rejoiced again to find the Christians
divided, and hastened to avail themselves of the cooeperation of the
disaffected. The Austrians were driven from Transylvania, and the Turks
aided in crowning Tzekeli Prince of Transylvania, under the protection
of the Porte. The Austrians, however, soon returned in greater force,
killed T