Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/350

 312 Readings in Enropea.71 History The same ordinance also provided that in the future women, as well as men, should be invited to entertainments, such as weddings, banquets, and the like, where both sexes should mingle in the same hall, as in Holland and England. It was likewise added that these entertainments should con- clude with concerts and dances, but that only those should be admitted who were dressed in English costumes. His Majesty set the example in all these changes. III. How the Turks were defeated before Vienna (1683) During the latter half of the seventeenth century eastern Europe was much agitated by the renewed activity of the Turks. In 1683 the grand vizier, Kara- Moustafa, determined to march straight upon Vienna, to which he laid siege with an immense army. Although the city had no more than ten thousand regular soldiers in its garrison, the governor, Stahrenberg, refused to surrender. The town was soon in desperate straits, and was upon the point of falling into the enemy's hands, when the king of Poland, John Sobieski, accom- panied by some of the German princes, arrived. In the following letter, dated September 13, Sobieski describes to his wife the memorable defeat of the Turks, which was the beginning of their rapid expulsion from their western conquests. 353. How Praised be our Lord God forever for granting our nation Sobieski such a victory and such glory as was never heard of in all Turk^befwe timeS P aSt ! The whole cam P of the enemv > witn their Vienna artillery and untold treasure, has fallen into our hands. (1683). They are now retreating in great confusion, and the ap- proaches to the town, the camp, and the open fields are covered with their corpses.