Egy, a 15 éves háborúból származó oszmán sírkő Steyersbergben, Alsó-Ausztriában
An Ottoman tombstone from the Fifteen Years's War in Steyersberg, Lower Austria

Summary/Abstract: The castle of Steyersberg is in Lower Austria, not far from Neunkirchen. Opposite to its entrance gate, a walnut tree stands on a hill, with an Ottoman sepuchral monument under it. Popular imagination has created a number of legends about it. One of these associates it with the Turkish troops raiding the country during the second siege of Vienna. The troops, apparently, also laid siege to the fortress, without success. After they had left, one warrior, hiding in the walnut tree across the gate, terrorized the defenders of the castle for days. When he was discovered, he fell victim to the vengeance of the garrison. Historical scholarship has found that Count Christian Siegmund, serving in the army of Eugene of Savoy, had the tombstone carried from Temesvár to Steyersberg. Until now, however, it was not clear when and for whom the stone in question was erected. It has also been suggested that the monument is that of a Hungarian sancakbegi. However, the inscription of the tombstone having been read and interpreted, it would seem that originally it was raised over the body of a butcher called Vehbī bin ‘Alī from İpek (now Peç, west of Priština). The inscription also says that he was 43/44 years old when he died. Although the inscription and the turban on the tombstone slightly differ from those customary in the early seventeenth century, the shape of the traditional Muslim headgear imitates those of the lower classes, indicative of the social position of the deceased. Although the time of death can be dated to 1600/1601, that is, to the days of the Fifteen Years' War, no connection can be established with the military events in those parts in those days.

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