The Ottoman Empire: a Historical Encyclopedia [2 Volumes]
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After staying in Cairo for four months Cem set out for Mecca, where he performed the rites of hajj. After he returned to Cairo in 1482 Cem was contacted by the former ruler of Karaman, Kassim Bey, and other disaffected notables and officers, who encouraged him to return to Anatolia and rally his supporters. In the spring of 1482 Cem led his forces to Konya in central Anatolia, but the rebellion of the Turkish aristocracy for which he had hoped did not materialize. His attempt to capture Konya and Ankara also failed when his army deserted him. Bayezid II offered his brother a peace treaty and an annual allowance, but Cem turned down the offer. The collapse of Cem’s last campaign convinced the prince of Karaman to renounce his claims and join the Ottoman ruling elite as a governor. Other Turkish notables followed suit, setting aside their differences with the sultan in Istanbul and joining Ottoman service.
After the collapse of his campaigns in Anatolia, Cem fled to Rhodes, where he sought the protection and support of the Christian knights who ruled the island. To neutralize Cem, Bayezid paid the Knights of Rhodes 45,000 gold pieces and requested that his brother be moved as far away from the Ottoman territory as possible. With support and encouragement from the Knights of Rhodes, Cem traveled to France and thence to Italy, where he met Pope Innocent VIII in 1486. His popularity among the Ottoman ruling elite and the ordinary subjects of the sultan made Cem even more attractive to the Christian powers of Europe and dangerous to Bayezid.
After Rome was attacked and occupied by the French monarch Charles VIII in 1494, Cem was detained and dispatched to France. Before reaching France, however, he died suddenly in Naples on February 25, 1495. Some have suggested that Cem may have been poisoned by order of Pope Alexander VI at the request of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II (Gibb: 81). The body of Cem was embalmed and transported back to Bursa, where it was buried.
See also: Sultans: Bayezid II; Mehmed II; Selim I
Further Reading
Alderson, A. D. The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956.
Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
Gibb, E. J. W. A History of Ottoman Poetry. 5 vols. Vol. II. Edited by Edward G. Browne. London: Luzac and Company, 1965.
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.
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.
Tursun Beg. The History of Mehmed the Conqueror. Translated by Halil Inalcik and Murphey Rhoads. Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1978.
Uğur, Ahmed. The Reign of Sultan Selim I in the Light of the Selim-name Literature. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1985.
Ibrahim (1615–1648)
A sultan of the Ottoman Empire who ruled from 1640 to 1648, Ibrahim was born on November 4, 1615. His father was the Ottoman sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603–1617). His mother was the crafty and shrewd Mahpeykar Kösem Sultan, who was of either Greek or Bosnian origin.
When Ibrahim’s brother, Sultan Murad IV (r. 1623–1640), died on February 9, 1640, Ibrahim succeeded him on the throne. Ibrahim, who had lived his entire life in the royal harem, did not have any training or experience in ruling an empire. While he became increasingly infatuated with the pleasures of the inner palace, his mother, Kösem Sultan; the grand vizier, Kemankeș (Kemankesh) Kara Mustafa Pasha; the chief eunuch; and the commander of the janissary corps vied for power and influence. Kemankeș Kara Mustafa Pasha was an able and skillful politician who had faithfully served Murad IV. In the beginning of Ibrahim’s reign the able grand vizier continued with governmental reforms, emphasizing fiscal responsibility, a sustained campaign against corruption, and a refusal to debase the coinage. He tried to reduce the size of the janissary corps and sipāhis units, as well as introduce a more efficient tax system. He also pursued the policy of maintaining peace with Iran and the Habsburgs, while countering Polish and Russian expansionism on the northern shores of the Black Sea by forging a close alliance with the Crimean Tatars, who expelled the Cossacks from Azov in February 1642. After signing a peace treaty with Poland, he also re-established normal ties with Venice. A shrewd and intelligent tactician, the grand vizier had recognized that peace and cooperation with Poland and Venice would undermine any effort by the pope and the Habsburgs to organize a united Christian front against the Ottoman Empire.
Engraving of the Ottoman sultan Ibrahim, who ruled from 1640 to 1648. (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
Despite his best efforts, Kemankeș Kara Mustafa Pasha could not silence and neutralize Ibrahim’s mother, Kösem Sultan, who used the grand vizier’s financial reforms to instigate a rebellion against him. When attempts to dislodge the grand vizier by organizing provincial revolts failed, Kösem Sultan and other elements within the government used their close alliance with the sultan’s tutor to secure the dismissal and execution of Kemankeș Kara Mustafa Pasha in January 1644.
In 1645 Kösem Sultan and her supporters convinced the sultan to attack the Venetian-controlled island of Crete. The war for control of Crete dragged on for years, and the promised booty never materialized. In response to the Ottoman invasion of Crete, Venice attacked Bosnia in 1647 and blockaded the Dardanelles in 1648, causing panic in the capital. The personal excesses of the sultan and his craze for women, silk, and fur, which was imported for him from Russia, reached such a height that the people began to call their monarch Deli Ibrahim (Ibrahim the Mad) (Shaw: 1:202).
The sultan’s increasing demand for booty and gifts gave rise to massive corruption and undermined the very fabric of the body politic, as each official imitated his royal master by demanding bribes from his subordinates. By August 1648 the situation had become intolerable. The ulema, the janissaries, and the sipāhis united and stormed the palace. Ibrahim’s mother, Kösem Sultan, who could no longer control her erratic son, threw her support behind the opposition. Ibrahim was deposed and replaced by his seven-year-old son, who ascended the throne as Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687). On August 18, 10 days after he had been deposed, Ibrahim was executed in accordance with a religious decree issued by the şeyhülislam (Shaw: 1:203). The reign of Ibrahim was viewed as one of the low points in all of Ottoman history. No other sultan would ever again take the name Ibrahim for himself or his children.
THE EXORCIST HOCA (HODJA)
During his reign, the Ottoman sultan, Ibrahim (r. 1640–1648) became enchanted by an exorcist popularly known as Cinci Hoca (Jinji Hodja), or the Exorcist Hodja. Little is known about him, though he probably hailed from a small town in northern Anatolia. While attending religious school in Istanbul, he began performing magical acts and exorcisms, and his fame as a magician soon reached the imperial harem. The powerful mother of Prince Ibrahim, Kösem Sultan, who was concerned about her son’s erratic behavior, recruited Cinci Hoca as the prince’s healer.
After Ibrahim ascended the throne in 1640, he demanded that Cinci Hoca, who had not completed his religious education, be admitted to the ranks of the ulema. In 1643 he became the judge (ka-di) of Galata, and in 1644 he was appointed the ka-diasker of Anatolia. Because of his greed and corruption, Cinci Hoca was removed from his post in 1646. The sultan, however, demanded and obtained his reinstatement. Because Cinci Hoca continued to demand bribes in return for currying favor with the rich and powerful, he was again dismissed, and exiled in 1647. In 1648 Cinci Hoca received a royal pardon. However, Sultan Ibrahim, who by then was known to his subjects as Deli Ibrahim (Mad Ibrahim), was deposed before the magician returned to Istanbul. Upon the accession of the new sultan, Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687), the palac
e demanded that Cinci Hoca pay the so-called accession disbursement to the janissary corps stationed in Istanbul. When the magician refused, much of his wealth was confiscated by the government. He was subsequently exiled to Egypt. On the way to Egypt, Cinci Hoca fell ill. The palace allowed him to settle temporarily in Bursa. However, after some of his followers joined a revolt in Istanbul, Cinci Hoca was executed in 1648.
See also: Sultans: Kösem Sultan; Mehmed IV; Murad IV
Further Reading
Alderson, A. D. The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956.
Börekçi, Günhan. “Ibrahim I.” In Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Gábor Ágoston and Bruce Masters, 462–464. 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.
Kösem Sultan (ca. 1589–1651)
The wife of the Ottoman sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603–1617), the mother of the Ottoman sultans Murad IV (r. 1623–1640) and Ibrahim (r. 1640–1648), and the grandmother of Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687), Kösem Sultan was one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history. Born circa 1589 into either a Greek or a Bosnian family, she was brought to the imperial palace as a child. After she converted to Islam her name was changed to Mahpeykar, literally meaning “Moon-Shaped,” and later to Kösem by Sultan Ahmed I. She bore the Ottoman sultan several children, including two future sultans, Murad IV and Ibrahim. Being the mother of two male offspring of the royal family allowed her to acquire enormous power and emerge as the first wife of Ahmed I, or bāș kādin (head woman).
After the death of Ahmed I in November 1617 Kösem Sultan engineered the accession of the mentally unbalanced Mustafa I, a brother of Ahmed I, thus denying Osman, the oldest son of Ahmed I, the opportunity to ascend the Ottoman throne. Mustafa I, however, was deposed three months later, in February 1618. The court dignitaries and janissary commanders installed Osman (Osman II) as the new sultan. During the reign of Osman II, which extended from 1618 to 1623, Kösem Sultan remained under close watch. In 1623, when Osman II was overthrown and executed, Kösem Sultan’s son Murad IV ascended the throne. Because the new sultan was a child, his mother assumed the role of the vālide sultan, emerging as the true ruler of the Ottoman Empire. She managed the affairs of the state in collaboration with janissary commanders and court officials for nearly 10 years. Foreign enemies, as well as powerful local notables, saw the rise of Kösem Sultan as a golden opportunity to challenge the power and authority of the Ottoman state. In 1624 the Safavid forces, led by the Iranian monarch Shah Abbas I, seized Baghdad.
In 1625 the Crimean Tatars rose in rebellion against the sultan, and the Don Cossacks raided the Bosphorus. Sensing the growing weakness of the Ottoman state, the powerful governor of Erzurum in eastern Anatolia, Abaza Mehmed Pasha, staged a revolt against the central government. In 1632, when Murad IV became old enough to assume the reins of power, Kösem Sultan was banned from all political activities and harem intrigues. When Murad IV died in 1640, Kösem Sultan returned to regain much of her lost power and prestige during the reign of her other son, Ibrahim. Ibrahim, who had lived his entire life in the royal harem and had no training or experience in ruling an empire, became increasingly infatuated with the pleasures of the inner palace, as his mother; his tutor; the grand vizier; the chief eunuch; the janissary commanders; and a charlatan and self-proclaimed “exorcist,” Cinci Hocā (Jinji Hojā), vied for power and influence. As long as the grand vizier, Kemankeș (Kemankesh) Kara Mustafa Pasha (1638–1644), was in charge, the Ottoman state managed to run its affairs smoothly. Ottoman forces recaptured the fortress of Azov from the Cossacks in 1642, rebellions in Erzurum and other parts of Anatolia were suppressed, and the relationship with Iran improved.
The successes of Kemankeș Kara Mustafa Pasha, however, only aroused the jealousy of the various factions within the court and the royal harem. The shrewd Kösem Sultan, as well as the cunning Cinci Hocā, who viewed the powerful grand vizier as a threat to their own power and influence, engineered his murder in 1644. The neurotic and irrational behavior of the sultan, which earned him the title Deli Ibrahim (Ibrahim the Mad), caused massive dissatisfaction both inside the palace and among the public. Worse, war ensued as the result of a campaign to seize the island of Crete, which was ruled at the time by Venice. Venetian forces invaded Bosnia and blockaded the Dardanelles, causing panic among Istanbul’s population. Kösem Sultan, who could not contain and control the erratic behavior of her son, withdrew her support for Ibrahim and sided with the opposition, which by then included the grand vizier, the janissaries, and the ulema. Ibrahim was deposed and was replaced by his six-year-old son Mehmed, who ascended the Ottoman throne as Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687). However, Ibrahim refused to accept his dethronement. Thus, 10 days after she had forced the abdication of her son, Kösem Sultan ordered Ibrahim’s execution (Shaw: 1:203).
Also known as Mahpeyker Sultan, Kösem Sultan, one of the wives of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603–1617) was one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history. She was the mother of the Ottoman sultans Murad IV (r. 1623–1640) and Ibrahim (r. 1640–1648), as well as the grandmother of the Ottoman monarch Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687). (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
But if Kösem Sultan had hoped that by murdering her own son she would retain her role as the woman behind the throne, she was badly mistaken. The six-year-old sultan was merely a pawn in the hands of his mother, Hatice (Hatije) Turhan Sultan; the grand vizier; and the chief eunuch. The new vālide sultan, Hatice Turhan Sultan, challenged Kösem Sultan as the most powerful woman in the royal harem and organized her own faction. While Kösem Sultan continued to enjoy the support of janissary commanders, Hatice Turhan Sultan mobilized her own supporters, including the palace guards, who assassinated Kösem Sultan before she could remove and murder Mehmed IV and his mother.
See also: Sultans: Ahmed I; Ibrahim; Mehmed IV; Murad IV
Further Reading
Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
Freely, John. Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans in Istanbul. London: Penguin Books, 1999.
Goodwin, Godfrey. The Private World of Ottoman Women. London: Saqi Books, 2006.
Imber, Colin. The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650: The Structure of Power. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.
Kurat, A. N. “The Reign of Mehmed IV, 1648–87.” In A History of the Ottoman Empire to 1730, edited by M. A. Cook, 155–177. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Peirce, Leslie P. The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
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.
Mahmud I (1696–1754)
The Ottoman sultan who ruled from 1730 to 1754 was born in 1696. His father was Mustafa II, who ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1695 to 1703. Mahmud ascended the Ottoman throne after his uncle, Ahmed III (r. 1703–1730), was deposed as a result of the Patrona Halil Revolt.
In September 1730, as the Ottoman armies were preparing for a campaign against Iran, Patrona Halil, an officer of Albanian origin, staged a revolt. The revolt quickly spread. The ulema and janissary units joined the rebels, who denounced the reigning sultan, Ahmed III, and his grand
vizier, Ibrahim Pasha, for mismanaging the war with Iran. Recognizing the seriousness of the revolt, the sultan ordered the execution of his grand vizier on October 1. This concession, however, only boosted the confidence of the rebels, who demanded the abdication of the sultan himself. Ahmed III agreed to abdicate in favor of the oldest living prince of the Ottoman dynasty, who ascended the throne as Mahmud I.
The weakness of the new sultan allowed Patrona Halil and his supporters to impose a reign of terror in Istanbul. The crisis spread to towns across the empire. By mid-November Mahmud had no choice but to put an end to the revolt. Patrona Halil and his lieutenants were invited to the palace, where they were killed by agents of the sultan.
Mahmud I was determined to continue with reforms that had started during the reign of his uncle, Ahmed III. He was particularly determined to reorganize the Ottoman army by recruiting European advisers and trainers. In his search for a capable European adviser, the Ottoman sultan recruited the French officer Claude Alexandre Comte de Bonneval (d. 1747), who had served Louis XIV and later Eugene of Savoy (Jelavich: 116). Because he could not serve the sultan and at the same time retain his Christian faith, Bonneval converted to Islam and assumed the name Ahmed Pasha. Because of the formidable opposition from the janissary corps, Bonneval’s reforms were primarily confined to the reorganization of the artillery corps and did not extend to janissary units (Jelavich: 116). Other French officers, as well as Scottish and Irish mercenaries, joined Bonneval in training Ottoman army units. Reforms in the military organization of the empire forced the government to introduce modern educational institutions, including a military engineering school where modern sciences were taught.