Istanbul. The Grand Vizier suffers the defeat of Vienna and the fall of several Ottoman strongholds, including Buda. The sultan demands that he return the Seal, the Sacred Standard of the Prophet, and the Key to the Kaaba in Mecca. He also tells him he will be executed. He will be strangled with a soft silk cord. Then he will be decapitated with his saber and the skin of his skull, removed, stuffed with dry straw, making a macabre trophy. What remains of his body will be burned. The stuffed face will be taken to Edirne. Thus ends the career of Kara Mustafa of Merzifon.
