Posted on 10/06/2022 7:09:28 PM PDT by CheshireTheCat
On this date in 1553, the capable heir apparent to Ottoman Emperor Suleiman the Magnificent was strangled at dad’s order — casualty of the the realm’s lethal harem politics.
Suleiman’s first-born son by his first concubine, Mustafa seemed well-positioned to emerge in the Ottomans’ fratricidal succession.
The racket: when the current sultan dies, all his sons by his various concubines make a rush from their provincial outposts for the capital and fight it out, the winner killing off his half-brothers to consolidate his rule.
This disorderly ascension made, while dad still lived, for fraught internal politicking among the sons for the inside track: the most prestigious positions, and the assignments closest to Istanbul. The various mothers of the contenders jockeyed just as aggressively on behalf of their various entrants in the imperial sweepstakes.
Mustafa was the capable eldest son in a kingdom at its very acme,* but to his misfortune, and the empire’s too, he found himself pitted against one of the ablest women ever to call the Ottoman harem home: Hürrem Sultan, also known as Roxelana (or Roxolana).
A Ukrainian woman kidnapped to the harem by Tartar slavers, Roxelana enchanted Suleiman and soon became his favorite. Therefore, Roxelana also became the rival, with her son and her own potential heir, to Mustafa and his mother...
(Excerpt) Read more at executedtoday.com ...
Ukrainian, figure!
Two good books on the siege of malta by Suleiman the Magnificent.
The Religion (fiction) by Tim Willocks
“May 1565. Suleiman the Magnificent, emperor of the Ottomans, has declared a jihad against the Knights of Saint John the Baptist. The largest armada of all time approaches the knights’ Christian stronghold on the island of Malta. The Turks know the knights as the “Hounds of Hell.” The knights call themselves “The Religion.”
In Messina, Sicily, a French countess, Carla La Penautier, seeks passage to Malta in a quest to find the son taken from her at his birth twelve years ago. The only man with the expertise and daring to help her is a Rabelaisian soldier of fortune, arms dealer, former janissary, and strapping Saxon adventurer by the name of Mattias Tannhauser. He agrees to accompany the lady to Malta, where, amid the most spectacular siege in military history, they must try to find the boy—whose name they do not know and whose face they have never seen—and pluck him from the jaws of Holy War.”
Excellent battle scenes.
Angels in Iron
“The Hospitallers are again besieged by the teeming armies of the relentless Turk. Their tiny island-fortress of Malta is all that stands between the armies of Suleiman and the very heart of Christendom. But this time the scenario is different — La Valette wears the Grand Master’s cape. Behind him stand the knights of his faithful order: men of incredible valor ready to “strike a blow for Christ” and sacrifice their lives to halt the invading Turks at the gates of Europe. What follows is an desperate struggle between East and West, Cross and Koran, faith and despair.
Angels in Iron is based on the actual events surrounding the Siege of Malta in 1565.”
This was exactly 100 years after they captured Constantinople.
This was exactly 100 years after they captured Constantinople.
It was depicted in the recent film 3000 Years of Longing. A pretty good film with sumptuous depictions of the Ottoman court.
This fratricidal war of succession was common to all Muslim states, from the mughal to the ottomans.
On the other hand, they generally had stable dynasties compared to Christian empire or Hindu or Chinese ones
Thank you. Bought em!!
There was a very famous TV series/soap opera in Turkey in 2011 called "Magnificent Century," starting a half-German/half Turkish actress named Meryem Sarah Uzerli, playing Hürrem Sultan, this woman from his harem, an Orthodox Christian from "Ruthenia"
I hope you enjoy them, as I did.
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