Mehmed III

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Mehmed III
Safiye Sultan
ReligionSunni Islam
TughraMehmed III's signature

Mehmed III (

sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death in 1603. Mehmed was known for ordering the execution of his brothers and leading the army in the Long Turkish War, during which the Ottoman army was victorious at the decisive Battle of Keresztes. This victory was however undermined by some military losses such as in Gyor and Nikopol. He also ordered the successful quelling of the Jelali rebellions. The sultan also communicated with the court of Elizabeth I on the grounds of stronger commercial relations and in the hopes of England to ally with the Ottomans against the Spanish
.

Early life

Mehmed was born at the Manisa Palace on 26 May 1566, during the reign of his great-grandfather,

Albanian from the Dukagjin Highlands.[1]
His great-grandfather Suleiman I died the year he was born, and his grandfather became the new sultan, Selim II. His grandfather Selim II died when Mehmed was eight, and Mehmed's father, Murad III, became sultan in 1574. Murad died in 1595, when Mehmed was 28 years old.

Mehmed spent most of his time in Manisa with his parents and his teacher, Ibrahim Efendi. His circumcision took place on 29 May 1582 when he was 16 years old.[2]

Reign

Fratricide

Upon ascending to the throne, Mehmed III ordered that all of his nineteen brothers be executed.[3][4] They were strangled by his royal executioners, many of whom were deaf, mute or 'half-witted' to ensure absolute loyalty.[5] Fratricidal successions were not unprecedented, as sultans would often have dozens of children with their concubines.

Power struggle in Constantinople

Mehmed III was an idle ruler, leaving government to his mother

janissaries. On 7 July 1595, Mehmed III finally sacked Serdar Ferhad Pasha from the position of Grand Vizier due to his failure in Wallachia and replaced him with Sinan.[7]

Austro-Hungarian War

Mehmed III accepting the surrender of Eger, 1596

The major event of his reign was the

Battle of Keresztes[9] (known in Ottoman Turkish as the Battle of Haçova), during which the Sultan had to be dissuaded from fleeing the field halfway through the battle. Upon returning to Istanbul in victory, Mehmed told his viziers that he would campaign again.[10] The next year the Venetian Bailo in Istanbul noted, "the doctors declared that the Sultan cannot leave for a war on account of his bad health, produced by excesses of eating and drinking".[11][unreliable source?
]

In reward for his services at the war,

Cigalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha was made Grand Vizier in 1596. However, with pressure from the court and his mother, Mehmed reinstated Damat Ibrahim Pasha to this position shortly afterward.[7]

However, the victory at the Battle of Keresztes was soon set back by some important losses, including the loss of

Hafız Ahmet Pasha by the Wallachian forces under Michael the Brave in Nikopol in 1599. In 1600, Ottoman forces under Tiryaki Hasan Pasha captured Nagykanizsa after a 40-day siege and later successfully held it against a much greater attacking force in the Siege of Nagykanizsa.[12]

Jelali revolts

Another major event of his reign was the

Jelali revolts in Anatolia. Karayazıcı Abdülhalim, a former Ottoman official, captured the city of Urfa and declared himself a sultan in 1600. The rumors of his claim to the throne spread to Constantinople and Mehmed ordered the rebels to be treated harshly to dispel the rumors, among these, was the execution of Hüseyin Pasha, whom Karayazıcı Abdülhalim styled as Grand Vizier. In 1601, Abdülhalim fled to the vicinity of Samsun after being defeated by the forces under Sokulluzade Hasan Pasha, the governor of Baghdad. However, his brother, Deli Hasan, killed Sokulluzade Hasan Pasha and defeated troops under the command of Hadım Hüsrev Pasha. He then marched on to Kütahya, captured and burned the city.[7][12]

Relationship with England

In 1599, the fourth year of Mehmed III's reign,

Elizabeth's gifts arrived in a large 27-gun merchantman ship that Mehmed personally inspected, a clear display of English maritime strength that would prompt him to build up his fleet over the following years of his reign. The Anglo-Ottoman alliance would never be consummated, however, as relations between the nations grew stagnant due to anti-European sentiments reaped from the worsening Austro-Ottoman War and the deaths of Safiye Sultan's interpreter and the pro-English chief Hasan Pasha.[15][16]

Death

Mehmed died on 22 December 1603 at the age of 37. According to one source, the cause of his death was the distress caused by the death of his son, Şehzade Mahmud.[17] According to another source, he died either of plague or of stroke.[18] He was buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque. He was succeeded by his son Ahmed I as the new sultan.

Mehmed III by Arolsen Klebeband

Family

Consorts

Mehmed III had three known consorts, none of whom, according to the harem records, held the title of

Haseki Sultan:[19]

  • Handan Sultan (died 9 November 1605, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Mehmed III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque[20]), mother of sultan Ahmed I;
  • Halime Sultan (buried in Mustafa I Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque, Istanbul), mother of sultan Mustafa I;
  • An unnamed concubine died in 1598 with her infant son during the outbreak of plague;[21][22]

Sons

Mehmed III had at least eight sons:[23][24]

  • Şehzade Selim (1585, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 1597 or 1598, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque) - with Handan. He died of disease.
  • Şehzade Süleyman (c. 1586, Manisa Palace, Manisa, - 1597 or 1598, Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque) - with Handan. He died of disease.
  • Şehzade Mahmud (1587, Manisa Palace, Manisa – executed by Mehmed III, 7 June 1603, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Şehzade Mahmud Mausoleum, Şehzade Mosque) - with Halime.
  • Ahmed I (18 April 1590, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 22 November 1617, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Ahmed I Mausoleum, Sultan Ahmed Mosque) - with Handan. 14th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
  • Şehzade Osman (c. 1597, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – c. 1601, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque) - with Handan.
  • Şehzade Fülan (c. 1597/1598, Topkapi Palace, Istanbul - 1598, Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque) - with Fülane.
  • Şehzade Cihangir (1599, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul – 1602, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque);
  • Mustafa I (c. 1600/1601,[25][26] Topkapi Palace, Constantinople – 20 January 1639, Eski Palace, Istanbul, buried in Mustafa I Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque) - with Halime. 15th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

Daughters

Mehmed III had at least two daughters:

  • Şah Sultan,[27] married firstly in 1604 (consummated in December 1605)[28] to Mirahur Mustafa Pasha,[27] married secondly in 1612 to Mahmud Pasha;[28]
  • A daughter - with Halime, married in 1604 (consummated in March 1606) to Kara Davud Pasha, Grand vizier;[28]

References

  1. ISBN 0-19-507673-7
    . Murad's favorite was Safiye, a concubine said to be of Albanian origin from the village of Rezi in the Ducagini mountains.
  2. ^ "MEHMED III محمد (ö. 1012/1603) Osmanlı padişahı (1595-1603)". İslam Ansiklopedisi. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  3. ISBN 0-521-63328-1
    .
  4. ^ McCullagh, Francis (1910). The Fall of Abd-ul-Hamid. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. p. 72.
  5. ^ "DEAF PEOPLE, SIGN LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION, IN OTTOMAN & MODERN TURKEY: Observations and Excerpts from 1300 to 2009. From sources in English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin and Turkish, with introduction and some annotation | Independent Living Institute". www.independentliving.org. Retrieved 2020-01-29.
  6. ISBN 0-688-03093-9
  7. ^ a b c "Mehmed III". İslam Ansiklopedisi. Vol. 28. Türk Diyanet Vakfı. 2003. pp. 407–413.
  8. ^ Karateke, Hakan T. "On the Tranquility and Repose of the Sultan." The Ottoman World. Ed. Christine Woodhead. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2011. p. 120.
  9. ISBN 0-465-02396-7
  10. ^ Karateke, p. 122.
  11. ^ Goodwin, Jason. Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire, p.166. New York: Henry Holt & Company.
  12. ^ a b "Mehmed III". Büyük Larousse. Vol. 15. Milliyet Newspaper Press. pp. 7927–8.
  13. ^ Malcolm, Noel (2004-05-02). "How fear turned to fascination". London: telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  14. ^ Jean Giullou: Die Orgel. Erinnerung und Vision.Christoph Glatter-Götz 1984 p. 35 with image
  15. ^ a b "An eye for detail". BBC News. December 21, 2007.
  16. ^ Christine Woodhead (28 April 2011). "ENGLAND, THE OTTOMANS AND THE BARBARY COAST" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  17. ^ Güzel, Hasan Celâl; Oğuz, Cem; Karatay, Osman (2002). The Turks: Ottomans (2 v. ).
  18. ^ Börekçi, Günhan (2010). Factions And Favorites At The Courts Of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) And His Immediate Predexessors. pp. 89, n. 25.
  19. ^ Peirce (1993) p.104 and n.53 p.311
  20. ^ A Queen Mother at Work: On Handan Sultan and Her Regency During the Early Reign of Ahmed I". Faal Bir Valide Sultan: Handan Sultan ve I. Ahmed’in Hükümdarlığının Başlarındaki Naibeliği Üzerine. Günhan Börekçi. 2020. 1 Mayıs 2021 tarihinde kaynağından arşivlendi. Erişim tarihi: 1 Mayıs 2021
  21. ISBN 978-0-549-74445-0
    .
  22. ^ Ipşırlı, Mehmet (June 1976). Mustafa Selaniki's history of the Ottomans. p. 172.
  23. ^ Tezcan, Baki. Searchimg For Osman: A Reassessment Of The Deposition Of Ottoman Sultan Osman II (1618-1622). pp. 330 and n. 29.
  24. ^ Börekçi, Günhan. İnkırâzın Eşiğinde Bir Hanedan: III. Mehmed, I. Ahmed, I. Mustafa ve 17. Yüzyıl Osmanlı Siyasî Krizi - A Dynasty at the Threshold of Extinction: Mehmed III, Ahmed I, Mustafa I and the 17th-Century Ottoman Political Crisis. p. 78.
  25. ^ Baki Tezcan - The Debut of Kosem Sultan’s Political Career (2008)
  26. ^ Günhan Börekçi - Factions and Favorites at the Courts of Sultan Ahmed I and His Immediate Predecessors (2010), p.64
  27. ^
    ISBN 978-975-19-2649-4
    .
  28. ^ a b c Tezcan, Baki (2001). Searching for Osman : a reassessment of the deposition of the Ottoman sultan Osman II (1618-1622) unpublished PhD. thesis (Thesis). Princeton University. p. 331 n. 37.

External links

Mehmed III
House of Osman
Born: May 26, 1566 Died: December 22, 1603[aged 37]
Regnal titles
Preceded by Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
January 15, 1595 – December 22, 1603 		Succeeded by
Sunni Islam titles
Preceded by Caliph of the Ottoman Caliphate
January 15, 1595 – December 22, 1603 		Succeeded by
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