Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. Vol. 1. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 24)

George Cushing: Eger - British connections

eyewitness account contains a mystery: who was the 'English Trumpeter' who betrayed the weakness of the Castle? Hungarian sources concentrate on the indolence of the commander, Nyáry Pál, who allegedly preferred to sleep at night instead of repairing the damage caused by the heavy Turkish guns. Eger remained in Turkish hands until 1687 and by all accounts was regarded as a civilised and peaceful place to live. It is worth noting that after its recapture a large number of the Turks who settled there continued to live in the town and gradually became assimilated. Meanwhile the name of Eger turns up in a totally different English narrative, the Relation of Sydnam Poyntz 1624-1636. Poyntz was one of the many soldiers who left Britain to seek their fortune overseas during this period. Some went merely to witness the wars against the Turks (e.g. Sir Philip Sidney, the poet and Sir Richard Grenville, better known as a mariner, who was at the siege of Szigetvár in 1566, or Captain John Smith, who fought in Transylvania before his exploits in Virginia). Sydnam Poyntz came from a good but impoverished family and left England to escape the boredom of an apprenticeship. He joined the forces of Count Mansfeld in the Thirty Years' War and was in Hungary in 1626. His Relation is his account of his adventures and should be read with a degree of scepticism; like a number of similar memoirs, it is probably exaggerated - it was fashionable to tell of being captured by Turks or, if at sea, of battles with Turkish pirates. Poyntz's story is told in elegant English, but his spelling of foreign names and his geographical knowledge are wildly inaccurate, moreover he sometimes contradicts himself. But he does appear to have visited Eger - and he uses the Hungarian form rather than the more usual German Erlau, which suggests that for once he is accurate. He describes how he was captured by Turkish troops after Mansfeld's death in 1626 (at Rakovica, near Sarajevo) and taken to Belgrade, where 'they stripped us of all we had, clothes and all, and shaved our heads and put us into a slavish habit.'

2 He was sold as a slave in the market at Buda. 'My master's name was Bully Basha, a Lieutenant of a Turkish troop of horse and also a great Merchant. Being thus a Captive and a Slave, the first thing I was put to was to fetch and carry wood, then to keep the Kine, after that to manure the Vineyards; in processe of time having got a smack of the language I was put to sell water up and down the Towne every day and night 51