Stories About Spies: Through the Turkish Camp

At the time of the siege of Vienna, Yurii Kulchytskyi was staying in the apartment of Captain Frank, an officer from the Vienna military garrison. Once he learned that Count Staremberg was looking for a daredevil, preferably with a good command of the Turkish language, who could get through the enemy camp and perform an important intelligence mission. Yuri immediately remembered how the Cossacks and he used to sortie out into Turkish and Tatar camps. The memory made his blood throb harder and the body strained.

“Take me to the Count,” he said to the Captain.

Staremberg listened attentively to Kulchytskyi and immediately gained confidence in him. Getting ready did not take long. Yurii asked to find the clothes of a Turkish merchant, under the guise of whom he intended, without hiding, to go through the enemy camp. He also offered to take with him a comrade – Yurii Mykhailovych, either a Serb or a Ukrainian by birth, who had previously been in the service of the Tsisar’s Ambassador in Istanbul. He was also fluent in Turkish and knew Turkish customs. On the way, he was supposed to play the role of Yurii’s servant.

“And this letter must be sewn into clothes,” Staremberg handed Kulchytskyi a small piece of paper. – Deliver it to the main headquarters of our allied forces.

“The most worthy, powerful, invincible Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Czechia... We run the risk, but we hope that this time we will have a better luck than with the previous letters that the enemy intercepted and one of them again “flew” to the city like an arrow. No words can describe with what zeal ours defended suburbs and buildings, to which already on the first day of the siege the enemy approached at 60 steps,” read the letter. “Our people fought very bravely. But now the enemy with his mines is already standing in front of the walls, and we no longer have the grenades or the appropriate weapons and trained soldiers whom we now need so many to oppose him. The number of defenders is getting smaller with each day coming. In the lists that we received yesterday, we find 1902 killed and wounded, four Colonels and numerous Captains were killed, dysentery is widely spread among soldiers and citizens. Where the Prince of Lorraine is now, we do not know, because we have not received any answer to the numerous letters that we wrote to him – the connection is interrupted.”

Around midnight, Kulchytskyi and Mykhailovych set off. It was raining heavily outside, the path was lit only by rare flashes of lightning. In general, it was so dark, that they even lost their landmarks and were already moving at random among Turkish tents. In the morning, when the sun rose, they began to meet sleepy janissaries. Approaching them, Yurii began to sing cheerful Turkish songs and cursed his “servant” up hill and down dale for some kind of guilt.

– Because of your sluggishness, – he swore, – all the goods are gone, you, bad shaitan.

Near one tent they were called by an officer-aga and were questioned about the reason for the “merchant”’s irritation. Kulchytskyi explained that they arrived here with the camp as merchants, supplying provisions for the army of the Great Vizier. But due to the oversight of the servant, the goods got soaked and now they will not receive a broken penny for them. The Aga ordered to give them coffee and let them dry themselves. At parting, he told them to be careful, because they could fall into the hands of Christians. At the same time, he told in detail how best to go, where Turkish troops stood, and where they could stumble upon the enemy. That was exactly what the spies needed to know. In bright light, they once again looked around the Turkish camp and went in search of their troops.

However, the greatest danger lay in wait for Yu. Kulchytskyi and his companion where they expected it least of all: in one of the Danube villages they were mistaken for real Turks and almost killed. Having crossed the Danube, soon they were already at the reception at Prince Karl of Lorraine’s, who immediately wrote back to the defenders of Vienna that he was preparing for the battle with the Turks and would soon come with a 70,000-strong army for their rescue.

The couriers were well fed. Kulchitskyi’s courage caused considerable admiration in the Emperor’s camp, and the Prince praised highly both daredevils. But they still had a most difficult task – to deliver the answer to Vienna. They knew that the suffering Vienna was impatiently looking forward to hearing the news from them. Kulchytskyi realized that the rescuing of the surrounded defenders depended on that, so he decided to return as soon as possible.

They were transported across the Danube, and then – they walked along the river. The closer they were getting to Vienna, the more dangerous it was becoming. Turkish intelligence was waiting around. Nevertheless, they managed to safely get through the Busurman camp in the same way. Kulchytskyi told about the Allied forces’ readiness for the offensive, about plans for the upcoming battle and about the conditional light signals from St. Stephen’s Tower with which the townspeople had to keep in touch with the Allied camp.

The news brought by Kulchytskyi encouraged the defenders and added to their strength. Staremberg joyfully published a letter with the message of the Prince of Lorraine, which was delivered to the city. The next day it was distributed among the defenders. It expressed regret for the loss of brave officers and soldiers and reported that the support from Bavaria, Saxony and Rzeczpospolita was already on its way.

Kulchytskyi’s happy return was immediately heralded by strong smoke and shots. There was an uplifting atmosphere in the city. For several more days, the defenders successfully had been rebuffing the Turks’ attacks, preparing for a decisive battle. There was no more panic, despair, thoughts of surrender or hidden retreat. Everybody was as concentrated and cohesive as possible. When on the morning of September 12, the Turks launched a general offensive, suddenly a united European army hit them in the rear. The agreed action plan brought a brilliant victory.

The Turks were defeated, more than 30 thousand were killed, and they left the whole convoy: 20 thousand tents, 20 thousand bulls, buffaloes, camels and mules, 10 thousand sheep, 100 thousand bags of grain. After the unsuccessful siege of Vienna and the shameful retreat, Great Vizier Kara-Mustafa was executed by the Sultan’s order. That was the end of the Turks’s dream to conquer Europe.

When Count Staremberg asked Kulchytskyi how he could thank him for his heroic deed, instead of the expected privileges and requests for the gift of silver, the Count suddenly heard the following:

– Give me the bags of gray-green grains captured from the Turks.

There were no limits to the Count’s surprise. After all, no one knew anything about what those strange grains were for. Everyone thought it was camel food. Only Kulchytskyi, who in Turkish captivity got used to coffee and learned how it is prepared, realized that he could make a good business on those grains. Not just a wise, but a really brilliant idea came to his mind – not only to open the first coffee shop in Vienna, but to make the coffee drink widely used and available. Indeed, until then, coffee had been used only as medicine and was very expensive.

Kulchytskyi was allocated several dozen horse carts so that he could bring 300 bags of grains to the stone house given to him. The surprise of the townspeople had no limits when in the next year, 1684, he opened an unusual place – the coffee shop “Under the Blue Bottle” and began to treat its visitors with a drink made from the captured grains.

Drinking coffee did not immediately catch on in Vienna. The unusual bitter taste attracted few people. For the most part, people came to the coffee shop with the intention of meeting the person who saved them from enslavement. They bought coffee only out of respect for the owner. Having realized this, Kulchytskyi quickly wrote and published a book entitled “The Story of an Eyewitness Who, in Turkish Clothes, Went Through an Enemy Camp and Came Back, to Be the First to Bring the News.”

The book quickly became a bestseller. After it, the number of visitors increased significantly. Then the inventive Ukrainian, in order to consolidate and maintain his image, began to meet guests in colorful Turkish clothes. Eventually fate smiled at the persistence of the enterprising man. Once he tried and added sugar and milk to coffee, which made its taste much more attractive and extremely popular. “Well”, Kulchytskyi decided, “if Turkish coffee does not suit, I will offer coffee Viennese-style.” After that his coffee shop became a favorite place for the Viennese and visiting guests.

Soon, with his assistance, similar places began to operate in many parts of the city, and Yu. Kulchytskyi headed a separate guilt of coffee sellers. His portrait for a long time hung in the place of honour in the room where they periodically gathered to resolve their professional problems. In addition, a special standard of Viennese coffee houses depicted the scene of Tsisar Leopold I granting the organizer of the “coffee movement” the privilege to open a coffee shop. And by decree of the Emperor, he was released from paying taxes.

Made according to a new recipe, the drink began to gain enormous popularity. It became fashionable to enjoy a cup of coffee immediately after waking up. It was very invigorating, and Viennese doctors claimed that it was good for health. Officers in the afternoon usually drank coffee and smoked a pipe. The excitement around coffee was so great that fakes from fried wheat, peas and even acorns began to appear. But real coffee was served only at Kulchytskyi’s, who was in no hurry to reveal his secrets. He taught all the willing for money, and since there were many of them, he even organized special courses. Their graduates were hired by noble families only for one thing – to make coffee.

Soon Kulchytskyi became a real national hero, who not only helped to rescue Vienna, but also gave its inhabitants a new original drink. To the last days of his life, he held the post of courier of the imperial court, fulfilling certain assignments, but no longer traveled to the Ottoman Empire. He was buried as a hero, with all the honors at St. Stephen’s Cathedral. He died of tuberculosis in 1694.