With the fall of Baghdad and the earlier conquest of Egypt, the Ottoman Empire established itself as the dominant power in the Arab world, a position it continued to occupy until the end of World War I in 1918. It was becoming clear to both sides, however, that while the Safavids could not defeat the superior Ottoman army in a face-to-face confrontation, the Ottomans also had failed to destroy the Safavid monarchy. For the Ottomans, the invasion of Iran was difficult and costly, forcing them to travel long distances while maintaining extensive supply lines, which were under constant attack from the Safavid irregular forces. For the Safavids, the Ottoman invasions and occupations undermined the prestige and power of the shah among his subjects and resulted in a significant reduction of revenue sent to the central government.
Despite the difficulties of waging war against Iran, Süleyman decided to invade Safavid territory again in 1547/1548 after Elqas Mirza, a brother of Shah Tahmasp, fled to Ottoman territory and sought protection and support from the sultan. Convinced that the internal struggle over the Iranian throne could be used to expand Ottoman power and territory, Süleyman dispatched an army with Elqas Mirza, which took Tabriz but once again failed to establish permanent Ottoman rule. The campaign disintegrated after Elqas Mirza quarreled with his newly found ally, forcing the Ottomans to withdraw their support from the Iranian pretender. After three long, costly, and exhausting campaigns, the Ottomans and Safavids came together to sign the Treaty of Amasya on May 29, 1555. Although the Safavids regained some of the territory they had lost to Süleyman, the Ottomans retained their control over Iraq. For the remaining years of Süleyman’s reign, both the Ottoman Empire and Iran avoided costly military campaigns.
SULTANS AND POETRY
Poetry held a prominent place played in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans viewed poetry as one of the highest forms of artistic expression. A flair for composing eloquent and lyrical poetry and taking the time to memorize the verses of the great Turkish and Persian poets of the past were the marks of a well-educated, cultivated, cultured, and urbane gentleman.
Several Ottoman sultans were gifted poets. Selim I (r. 1512–1520), who conquered the Arab world, including Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, wrote poetry in Persian, while his greatest adversary, Shah Ismail (r. 1501–1524), the founder of the Safavid Empire in Iran, composed poetry in Turkish and used the pen name Khatai. Selim’s son and successor, Süleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566), who extended the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire to Hungary, was an accomplished poet and used Muhibbi (Lover) as his pen name. Süleyman composed nearly 3,000 poems. Many of his poems were written for Hürrem Sultan, also known as Roxelana, the sultan’s favorite consort and later his “chief wife” (Haseki Sultan).
During the reign of Süleyman I, the Ottoman Empire reached the height of its political and military power. From Budapest to Baghdad and from the Crimea to Hijaz, the authority and power of the Ottoman sultan reigned supreme. The might of the empire under Süleyman was manifested not only in its armies but also in Ottoman arts, architecture, prose, and poetry, which achieved a golden age under the patronage of the sultan. An accomplished artist and poet, Süleyman financed numerous mosques, schools, aqueducts, and architectural complexes. Many of these masterpieces were designed and built by the imperial architect Sinan (1489–1588). Among Sinan’s best known works are the Süleymaniyye mosque complex in Istanbul and his mosque in Edirne, which remain masterpieces of Ottoman architecture. Ottoman poetry flourished under the patronage of the sultan. The two greatest poets of the era were Fuzuli and Bāki (Mahmud Abdülbāki), who composed brilliant poetry (kasidas) in praise of the sultan. The sultan not only showered them with royal praise and generous gifts, but also bestowed upon Bāki the title Sultan ul-Shuara (King of Poets). As previously mentioned, Süleyman himself was an accomplished poet. Five of the sultan’s sons—Mehmet, Mustafa, Bayezid, Jihangir, and Selim—also were accomplished poets.
Toward the end of his reign in 1552, Süleyman was called upon to select his successor. Mehmet and Jihangir had died from natural causes. Among his three remaining sons, Mustafa was viewed as the brightest, as well as the most valiant. Mustafa was also popular among the janissary corps and their commanders. However, the youngest son, Selim, was the favorite of his father because he was the offspring of Süleyman’s love affair with Hürrem Sultan (Roxelana), who enjoyed great influence over her royal husband. Despite serious reservations, the sultan chose Selim over Mustafa, who was strangled as his father watched from behind a curtain in the royal harem. Prince Bayezid, who opposed the idea of his youngest brother seizing the throne, rebelled. This rebellion was suppressed quickly after Bayezid was defeated outside Konya in central Anatolia. Bayezid fled Ottoman territory and sought refuge at the court of the Safavid shah Tahmasp I in Iran. Trying to avoid another war with the Ottoman Empire, the Safavids handed Bayezid over to the Ottoman authorities, who executed the ill-fated prince in 1661. With the execution of Bayezid, the throne was secured for Selim. Ironically, the decline of the Ottoman state began during the reign of Selim II, who ascended the Ottoman throne after the death of his father in 1566. Süleyman died in his tent outside the Hungarian town of Szigeth as he was about to lead his armies in yet another siege.
See also: Historians: Bāki (Bāqi); Fuzuli; Sultans: Selim I; Selim II
Further Reading
Clot, André. Süleiman the Magnificent. London: Saqi Books, 2005.
Imber, Colin. The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650: The Structure of Power. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.
Inalcik, Halil. The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300–1600. Translated by Norman Itzkowitz and Colin Imber. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1973.
Kunt, Metin, and Christine Woodhead, eds. Süleyman the Magnificent and His Age. London: Longman House, 1995.
Lybyer, Howe Albert. The Government of the Ottoman Empire in the Time of Suleiman the Magnificent. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1913.
Shaw, Stanford J. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. 2 vols. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Somel, Selçuk Akșin. Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003.
Sugar, Peter. Southeastern Europe under Ottoman Rule, 1354–1805. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1977.
Sykes, Sir Percy. History of Persia. 2 vols. London: Macmillan, 1951.
Süleyman II (1642–1691)
An Ottoman sultan who ruled from 1687 to 1691. Süleyman II was born on April 15, 1642, in Istanbul. His father was Sultan Ibrahim, who ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1640 to 1648. His mother was Saliha Dilaşub. Süleyman II ascended the Ottoman throne in 1687 after his half brother Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687) was deposed. The new sultan inherited an empire in chaos and decline, trying desperately to recover from a series of devastating defeats it had suffered at the hands of the Christian powers of Europe, which had formed an anti-Ottoman Holy League in 1684.
On September 12, 1683, the Ottoman forces that had laid siege to Vienna, the capital of the Habsburg Empire, suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of a coalition of Christian forces, which included the Habsburgs, Venice, the papacy, Poland, and Russia. Some 10,000 Ottoman soldiers and officers were killed. The Ottoman army disintegrated and lost any semblance of discipline, leaving behind its heavy cannons and badly needed supplies (Shaw: 1:214–215). The Ottomans tried to rally their armies in Belgrade, but they failed miserably. A new Holy League was formed in 1684, which again included the Habsburgs, Venice, Poland, the papacy, and Russia. The Habsburgs pushed into Hungary and captured Buda in September 1686. With the disintegration of the Ottoman defenses in Hungary, the troops, who were suffering from low morale and lack of pay, revolted. The revolt spread as angry sipāhis who had lost their fiefs crossed the Danube, searching for new sources of income and seeking government officials responsible for the Ottoman defeat.
Despite the alarming situation, which threatened the very survival of the state, the reigning sultan, Mehmed IV, went on with
his daily hobbies of hunting and enjoying the pleasures of the royal harem. On November 8, 1687, in a gathering attended by prominent notables and the ulema of the capital, the şeyhülislâm issued a fetva deposing Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687) and replacing him with his half brother, Süleyman II (Shaw: 1:219). After 40 years of living in the isolation of the royal harem, the new sultan was unprepared to confront the enormous challenges the Ottoman Empire was confronting at the time. Despite his lack of proper training and experience, Süleyman II tried to address some of the immediate issues his government was facing. He “managed to bring order into the military, administration, and the state financing during his short reign,” and in 1690, Ottoman forces “recapture[d] Belgrade” (Ágoston: 547). The grand vizier, Nişanci (Nishanji) Ismail Pasha, suppressed the disturbances in Istanbul. He also used an iron fist to pacify the rebellions in Anatolia and the Balkans.
The disturbances in Istanbul emboldened the Habsburgs, who used their newly conquered territory in Hungary to invade Belgrade and capture the city on September 8, 1688. The fall of Belgrade and the collapse of Ottoman defenses in Croatia ignited a series of anti-Ottoman revolts in Serbia, Bulgaria, and Wallachia, where the prince threw his lot in with the Habsburgs. Süleyman II panicked and sued for peace, which the Habsburgs were prepared to sign. Although the Habsburg emperor was willing to consider peace negotiations, the Russians, the Poles, and the Venetians insisted on the continuation of the campaign against the demoralized Ottoman armies (Shaw: 1:220).
The Habsburgs resumed their offensive, occupying Bosnia, Nish, Vidin, and Skopje in the summer and fall of 1689. Another Habsburg army attacked Transylvania and Wallachia, where the Ottoman defenses were collapsing rapidly (Shaw: 1:220). At this critical juncture, Süleyman II appointed another member of the distinguished Köprülü family, Fazil Mustafa Pasha, as the grand vizier. The new grand vizier embarked on a major campaign to reverse the losses that the empire had suffered (Shaw: 1:220).
On September 9, 1690, an Ottoman army under the command of Fazil Mustafa Pasha captured Nish, followed by Belgrade, which fell on October 8. Süleyman II died on June 23, 1691. He was succeeded by Ahmed II (r. 1691–1695). Fazil Mustafa Pasha continued with his campaign against the Habsburgs. The Ottomans, however, suffered a humiliating defeat at Slankamen on August 19, 1691. Fazil Mustafa Pasha was shot and killed on the battlefield.
See also: Sultans: Ahmed II; Mehmed IV
Further Reading
Ágoston, Gábor. “Süleyman II.” In Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Gábor Ágoston and Bruce Masters, 547–548. New York: Facts On File, 2009.
Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
Kurat, A. N. “The Reign of Mehmed IV, 1648–87.” In A History of the Ottoman Empire to 1730, edited by M. A. Cook, 157–177. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Shaw, Stanford J. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. 2 vols. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Somel, Selçuk Akșin. Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003.
PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
1. A DESCRIPTION OF TOPKAPI PALACE
Beginning with the second reign of Mehmed II (r. 1444–1446, 1451–1481) and ending with the reign of Abdülmecid/Abdülmejid (r. 1839–1861), the Topkapi (Canon Gate) Palace in Istanbul served as the residence of the Ottoman sultans and the brain center of the empire’s administration. The construction of Topkapi, which was built on Seraglio Point between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara, began in 1465 and ended 13 years later, in 1478.
The Topkapi Palace was built on a hill looking down at the Bosphorus. A high wall with several towers and seven gates surrounded the palace. At the height of Ottoman power, the palace housed 4,000 residents. The Imperial Council assembled in the outer section of the palace, while the inner or the private section of Topkapi housed the royal harem, where the sultan and his family resided. The excerpt below, taken from Ottaviano Bon’s The Sultan’s Seraglio: An Intimate Portrait of Life at the Ottoman Court, provides a detailed description of the Ottoman imperial palace in the early 17th century. Ottaviano Bon was the ambassador of Venice to the Ottoman court from 1604 to 1607, which corresponded with the reign of the Ottoman sultan, Ahmed I (r. 1603–1617).
The Seraglio, wherein the Grand Seignor [the sultan] resideth with his Court, is wonderfully well situated, being directly in that place where Byzantium stood; upon a point of the Continent, which looketh towards the mouth of the Black Sea, and is in form triangular, two sides whereof are compassed with the Thracian Bosphorus, and the third joineth to the rest of the city of Constantinople. It is enclosed with a very high and strong wall, upon which there are diverse watch-towers, and is, by computation, about three Italian miles in compass.
It hath many gates, some of which open towards the sea-side, and the rest into the city, but the chief gate (which indeed is a very stately one) is one of those towards the city; and by it they go in and out daily; the others being kept shut, till such times as the King, or some of the principal officers of the Seraglio cause any of them to be opened, [either for their pleasure to sit by the sea-side (where they have a fair prospect, and may behold the ships sailing to and fro) or for any other occasion. Likewise, if any of the other land-gates be opened, it is either when the King sendeth privately, to put some great man to death, or for the execution of some such secret action;] but they are all lock’d fast in the night again.
The aforesaid chief and common gate is in the day time guarded by a {large and magnificent} company of Capoochees [porters], which change their watch by turns, and in the night likewise by others of the same rank; all which Capoochees are under the command of a Capoochee Bashaw [Kapuchi Pasha], which Capoochee Bashaws (being six in number) are bound every week one of them, to lie within the Seraglio, for the security and safeguard of the same. And without the gate, about ten or twelve paces off, there stands a little house made of boards upon wheels, in which every night a company of Janizaries [Janissaries] do watch, who, upon any occasion, are ready to awake those within, and to give them notice of whatsoever sudden accident may happen without.
In the night also it is well-guarded by the {land and} sea-side; for, in the watch-towers which are upon the wall, there {sleep} diverse Agiamoglan’s, which are to watch and see that none come near; and, lest any shipping should dare to attempt some mischief, they have ordinance ready charged, and the gunners lying close by them.
In this Seraglio there are many stately rooms, suited to the seasons of the year; the greatest part whereof are built upon plain ground; some upon the hills which are there, and some also upon the sea-side, which are called Kiosks, that is, rooms of fair prospect, or (as we term them) banqueting houses, into which the king sometimes goes alone, but most commonly with his concubines, for his recreation.
Amongst the aforesaid rooms, is the chamber into which the Grand Seignor repaireth, when he is to give audience to Ambassadors, or to the Bashaws, on the days of publick Divan, and to those who being to depart upon any weighty service, or employment, are to take their leaves of him; as also to such who, after the limited time of their government abroad is expired, do return to Constantinople, to give account to his Majesty of their carriage in their several places. This room standeth in a little court curiously adorned with many very delicate fountains, and hath within it a Sofa spread with very sumptuous carpets of gold, and of crimson velvet embroidered with costly pearls, upon which the Grand Seignor sitteth, and about the chamber, [instead of hangings,] the walls are covered with very fine white stones, which, having diverse sorts of leaves and flowers artificially wrought and bak’d upon them, do make a glorious show. There is also a little room adjoining unto it, the whole inside whereof is covered with silver plate hatch’d with gold, and the floor is spread with very rich Persian carpets of silk and gold.
There are, belonging to the said rooms and lodgings of the King, very fair gardens
, of all sorts of flowers and fruits that are to be found in those parts, with many very pleasant walks, inclosed with high Cypress trees on each side, and marble fountains in such abundance, that almost every walk hath two or three of them; such great delight doth the Grand Seignor and all the Turks in general take in them. [Nor indeed doth a Turk, at any time, show himself to be so truly pleased and satisfied in his senses, as he doth in the summer time, when he is in a pleasant garden: for he is no sooner come into it (if it be his own, or where he thinks he may be bold, but he puts off his uppermost coat, and lays it aside, and upon that his Turbant, then turns up his sleeves, and unbuttoneth himself, turning his breast to the wind, if there be any; if not, he fans himself, or his servant doth it for him. Again, sometimes standing upon a high bank, to take the gresh air, holding his arms abroad (as a Cormorant sitting upon a rock doth his wings in sun-shine after a storm) courting the weather, and sweet air, calling it his soul, his life, and his delight; ever and anon showing some notable signs of contentment; nor shall the garden (during his pleasant distraction) be termed other than Paradise, with whose flowers he stuffs his bosom, and decketh his Turbant, shaking his head at their sweet favours, and sometimes singing a song to some pretty flower, by whose name peradventure his mistress is called; and uttering words of as great joy, as if at that instant she herself were there present. And one bit of meat in the garden shall do him more good (in his opinion) than the best fare that may be elsewhere.]
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