Süleyman bin Selim was born on 6 November 1494 in Trabzon; he was the son of Şehzade Selim (later Sultan Selim I) and his concubine, Hafsa Sultan.
Upon the death of Sultan Selim I, Süleyman entered Constantinople and ascended to the throne as the 10th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He immediately began a series of military conquests - in 1521, he conquered Belgrade, something his great-grandfather Mehmed II had failed to do.
In the summer of 1522, the Sultan dispatched an armada of 400 to the island of Rhodes, while personally leading an army of 180000 across Asia Minor to a point opposite the island itself. Following the brutal 5-month Siege of Rhodes, the island capitulated and Süleyman allowed the Catholic Knights Hospitaller to depart.
After Rhodes, Süleyman turned his attention to Central Europe again. On 29 August 1526, he defeated King Louis II of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács and the Ottoman Empire became the preeminent power in Central Europe.
Hungary was now without a ruler, and some Hungarian nobles proposed Ferdinand I, who was reigning in Austria and was related to Louis' by marriage. Other nobles, however, turned to Ioan Zápolya, who was also being supported by Süleyman. The Habsburgs reoccupied Buda and took possession of Hungary but, in 1529, Süleyman reacted - he marched through the valley of the Danube and recovered Buda. In the following autumn, his troops laid siege to Vienna. The Habsburgs managed to defeat Süleyman, sowing the seeds of a bitter rivalry that lasted until the 20th century. In 1532, he tried to conquer Vienna again, but failed.
By the 1540s, a renewal of the conflict in Hungary presented Süleyman with the opportunity to avenge his defeats. In 1541, he repulsed the Habsburg forces when they tried to lay siege to Buda. The Ottomans kept capturing Habsburg fortresses and, in the end, Ferdinand I and Charles V were forced to conclude a humiliating treaty with Süleyman. Ferdinand renounced his claim to Hungary, but of more symbolic importance, the treaty referred to Charles not as Emperor but as King of Spain.
As Süleyman stabilised his European frontiers, he turned his attention to the Shi'a Safavid dynasty of Persia. Two events precipitated a recurrence of tensions: first, the Shah had the Baghdad governor (loyal to Süleyman) killed and replaced with a supporter; second, the governor of Bitlis defected and sworn allegiance to the Safavids. In 1533, Süleyman ordered Pargalı İbrahim Pasha to lead an army into Asia Minor, where he retook Bitlis and occupied Tabriz. In 1534, Süleyman made a push towards Persia, only to find the Shah sacrificing territory instead of facing battle. The Sultan reached Baghdad in 1535.
Attempting to defeat the Shah once and for all, Süleyman embarked upon a second campaign in 1548-1549. The Shah used the same tactics as before, exposing the Ottoman army to the harsh winter of the Caucasus.
In 1553, Süleyman began his final campaign against the Safavids. The Shah's army continued its strategy of avoiding the Ottomans, leading to a stalemate. In 1554, a settlement was signed, securing Baghdad, lower Mesopotamia, the mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris and part of the Persian Gulf.
Ottoman ships had been sailing in the Indian ocean since the year 1518. There, Süleyman led several naval campaigns against the Portuguese to remove them and re-establish trade with India. Aden (in Yemen) was captured by the Ottomans in 1538, to provide a base for raids against the Portuguese possessions in India. They failed against the Portuguese at the Siege of Diu in 1538, but when they returned to Aden, they managed to take control of the whole country of Yemen. However, Aden rose against its occupiers and invited the Portuguese instead. The Portuguese were in control of the city until its seizure by Piri Reis in 1548.
Between 1526 and 1543, Süleyman stationed over 900 Turkish soldiers to fight alongside the Adal Sultanate of Somalia. After the first Ajuran-Portuguese war, the Ottoman Empire absorbed the Sultanate into its domain. This fathered Ottoman rule in Somalia and the Horn of Africa; it also increased its influence in the Indian ocean to compete with the Portuguese Empire.
The discovery of new maritime trade routes by the Western European states allowed them to avoid the Ottoman trade monopoly. The Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 initiated a series of Ottoman-Portuguese wars throughout the 16th centuries.
Having consolidated his conquests on land, Süleyman was greeted with the news that the fortress of Koroni, in modern Peloponnese, had been lost to Charles V. The presence of the Spanish in the Eastern Mediterranean concerned Süleyman, so he appointed an exceptional naval commander in the form of Khair ad Din, known to Europeans as Barbarossa. He rebuilt the Ottoman fleet to such an extent that the Ottoman navy equalled in number those of all other Mediterranean countries put together.
In 1535, Charles V led a Holy League of 27000 soldiers to victory against the Ottomans at Tunis, which led Süleyman to accept proposals from Francis I of France to form an alliance against Charles. In 1538 vengeance came when the Spanish fleet was defeated by Barbarossa, securing the eastern Mediterranean for the Turks for 33 years.
While Süleyman was known as the Magnificent in the West, he was always known as Kanuni Süleyman (the Lawgiver) to his own subjects. The historian Lord Kinross notes, Not only he was a great military campaigner, a man of the sword, as his father and great-grandfather had been before him. He differed from them in the extent to which he was also a man of the pen. He was a great legislator, standing out in the eyes of his people as a high-minded sovereign and a magnanimous exponent of justice. The overriding law of the Empire was the Shari'ah (the Sacred Law), which was outside the Sultan's power to change. Yet, an area of distinct law known as Kaununs was dependent on the Sultan's will alone. Süleyman sought to reform the legislation to adapt to a rapidly changing empire, and his legal code was to last for more than 300 years.
Süleyman gave particular attention to the plight of the rayas, Christian subjects who worked the land of the Sipahis. His Code of the Rayas reformed the law governing levies and taxes to be paid by the rayas, raising their status above serfdom to the extent that Christian serfs would migrate to Turkish territories to benefit from the reforms. Süleyman also played a role in protecting the Jewish subjects for centuries to come. In late 1553 or 1554, the Sultan issued a decree formally denouncing blood libels against the Jews.
Education was another important area for the Sultan. Schools attached to mosques provided a largely free education to Muslim boys in advance of the Christian countries of the time. In his capital, Süleyman increased the number of mektebs (primary schools) to 14. Young men wishing to further their education could proceed to one of the 8 medreses (colleges).
Under Süleyman, the Ottoman Empire entered the golden age of its cultural development. Hundreds of imperial artistic societies were administered at the Topkapı Palace. This attracted the Empire's most talented artisans to the Sultan's court, both from the Islamic world and from the recently conquered European territories. Süleyman himself was an accomplished poet, writing in Persian and Turkish under the name Muhibbi. Some of Süleyman's verses became Turkish proverbs, such as everyone aims at the same meaning, but many are the versions of the story.
Süleyman had two known consorts: Mahidevran Sultan and Hürrem Sultan. With them, he had several children, including Mahmud, Mustafa, Murad, Mehmet, Abdullah, Selim (future Selim II), Bayezid, Cihangir, Mihrimah, Raziye and Fatma.
Süleyman was so infatuated with Hürrem that he broke with two centuries of Ottoman tradition by marrying her. He also allowed her to remain with him at court for the rest of her life.
Four of Süleyman's sons were still alive in the 1550s: Mustafa, Selim, Bayezid and Cihangir. Of these, the eldest was not Hürrem's son, but Mahidevran's, and therefore he preceeded Hürrem's children in the order of succession. Hürrem was aware that should Mustafa become Sultan, her own children would be strangled. While she did not have an official public role, she wielded a powerful influence, so she is usually held responsible for the intrigues in nominating a successor. To avoid the execution of her sons, Hürrem used her influence to eliminate Mustafa and his supporters. Cihangir died a few months after Mustafa's execution and Bayezid was executed in 1561 by the Safavid Shah, leaving the path clear for Selim's succession.
On 6 September 1566, Süleyman the Magnificent died before an Ottoman victory at the Battle of Szigetvár, in Hungary, aged 72. The body of the Sultan was taken back to Istanbul to be buried and a mausoleum was constructed above the burial site; it came to be regarded as a holy place and a site of pilgrimage.
Between 1526 and 1543, Süleyman stationed over 900 Turkish soldiers to fight alongside the Adal Sultanate of Somalia. After the first Ajuran-Portuguese war, the Ottoman Empire absorbed the Sultanate into its domain. This fathered Ottoman rule in Somalia and the Horn of Africa; it also increased its influence in the Indian ocean to compete with the Portuguese Empire.
The discovery of new maritime trade routes by the Western European states allowed them to avoid the Ottoman trade monopoly. The Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 initiated a series of Ottoman-Portuguese wars throughout the 16th centuries.
Having consolidated his conquests on land, Süleyman was greeted with the news that the fortress of Koroni, in modern Peloponnese, had been lost to Charles V. The presence of the Spanish in the Eastern Mediterranean concerned Süleyman, so he appointed an exceptional naval commander in the form of Khair ad Din, known to Europeans as Barbarossa. He rebuilt the Ottoman fleet to such an extent that the Ottoman navy equalled in number those of all other Mediterranean countries put together.
In 1535, Charles V led a Holy League of 27000 soldiers to victory against the Ottomans at Tunis, which led Süleyman to accept proposals from Francis I of France to form an alliance against Charles. In 1538 vengeance came when the Spanish fleet was defeated by Barbarossa, securing the eastern Mediterranean for the Turks for 33 years.
While Süleyman was known as the Magnificent in the West, he was always known as Kanuni Süleyman (the Lawgiver) to his own subjects. The historian Lord Kinross notes, Not only he was a great military campaigner, a man of the sword, as his father and great-grandfather had been before him. He differed from them in the extent to which he was also a man of the pen. He was a great legislator, standing out in the eyes of his people as a high-minded sovereign and a magnanimous exponent of justice. The overriding law of the Empire was the Shari'ah (the Sacred Law), which was outside the Sultan's power to change. Yet, an area of distinct law known as Kaununs was dependent on the Sultan's will alone. Süleyman sought to reform the legislation to adapt to a rapidly changing empire, and his legal code was to last for more than 300 years.
Süleyman gave particular attention to the plight of the rayas, Christian subjects who worked the land of the Sipahis. His Code of the Rayas reformed the law governing levies and taxes to be paid by the rayas, raising their status above serfdom to the extent that Christian serfs would migrate to Turkish territories to benefit from the reforms. Süleyman also played a role in protecting the Jewish subjects for centuries to come. In late 1553 or 1554, the Sultan issued a decree formally denouncing blood libels against the Jews.
Education was another important area for the Sultan. Schools attached to mosques provided a largely free education to Muslim boys in advance of the Christian countries of the time. In his capital, Süleyman increased the number of mektebs (primary schools) to 14. Young men wishing to further their education could proceed to one of the 8 medreses (colleges).
Under Süleyman, the Ottoman Empire entered the golden age of its cultural development. Hundreds of imperial artistic societies were administered at the Topkapı Palace. This attracted the Empire's most talented artisans to the Sultan's court, both from the Islamic world and from the recently conquered European territories. Süleyman himself was an accomplished poet, writing in Persian and Turkish under the name Muhibbi. Some of Süleyman's verses became Turkish proverbs, such as everyone aims at the same meaning, but many are the versions of the story.
Süleyman had two known consorts: Mahidevran Sultan and Hürrem Sultan. With them, he had several children, including Mahmud, Mustafa, Murad, Mehmet, Abdullah, Selim (future Selim II), Bayezid, Cihangir, Mihrimah, Raziye and Fatma.
Süleyman was so infatuated with Hürrem that he broke with two centuries of Ottoman tradition by marrying her. He also allowed her to remain with him at court for the rest of her life.
Four of Süleyman's sons were still alive in the 1550s: Mustafa, Selim, Bayezid and Cihangir. Of these, the eldest was not Hürrem's son, but Mahidevran's, and therefore he preceeded Hürrem's children in the order of succession. Hürrem was aware that should Mustafa become Sultan, her own children would be strangled. While she did not have an official public role, she wielded a powerful influence, so she is usually held responsible for the intrigues in nominating a successor. To avoid the execution of her sons, Hürrem used her influence to eliminate Mustafa and his supporters. Cihangir died a few months after Mustafa's execution and Bayezid was executed in 1561 by the Safavid Shah, leaving the path clear for Selim's succession.
On 6 September 1566, Süleyman the Magnificent died before an Ottoman victory at the Battle of Szigetvár, in Hungary, aged 72. The body of the Sultan was taken back to Istanbul to be buried and a mausoleum was constructed above the burial site; it came to be regarded as a holy place and a site of pilgrimage.
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Süleyman I as a young man
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So many wars and conquests and soldiers! Suleyman I really was and impecable emperor, for better and worse. But it's also very interesting to know he was a man of culture as well, and not just a tyran. Amazing job with the drawing, the dress is beautiful, and the beard and mustache are sublime! :)
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