Page 19 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

formative years of the Ottoman state Osman's descendants
took Bursa (Brusa), which became the first capital; then they
moved into tznik (Nicaea), and izmit (Nicomedia), crossed
the Dardanelles into Thrace, and entered Edirne (Adrianople),
which was chosen as the second capital. The Ottomans soon
extended their rule into central, northeastern, and southwest-
ern Anatolia as well as into Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, and
Romania.
The emirate of Osman became a world-renowned empire
during the reign of Mehmed II (1451-1480). In 1453
Mehmed, known as the Conqueror, captured Constantinople,
the capital of the Byzantine Empire, moved his court there,
and founded the Topkapi Palace, which became the adminis-
trative seat of the state. He then undertook systematic cam-
paigns to expand his realm and to form a protective ring
around his new capital, now called Istanbul. In the west his
armies swept through Greece, Albania, and Yugoslavia, infil-
trating the Balkans as far as Belgrade. His navy overpowered
the Venetians, captured several islands in the Aegean, and
landed at Otranto, the tip of the Italian peninsula. In Anatolia
he put an end to the Greek rule in Trabzon (Trebizond),
wiped out the remaining Turkish emirates in the south, and
inflicted serious defeats upon the Mamluks, who were ruling
in Syria and Egypt. The Crimea was annexed together with
regions bordering the Sea of Azov. The Ottomans were now
the rulers of Anatolia and the eastern Balkans, controlling Fig. 1. Portrait of Sultan Süleyman attributed to Titian, c. 1530 (Vienna,
these lands from their court in Istanbul. Kunsthistorisches Museum, 2429)
After a brief period of consolidation under Bayezid II
(1480-1512), the expansion of the Ottoman frontiers contin-
ued with the ensuing sultans. Selim I (1512-1520) cam- claimed Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Libya, Tunisia, Al-
paigned in the south and southeast; he captured Azerbaijan geria, and part of Morocco. The Black Sea, Arabian Gulf, Red
and the Safavid capital of Tabriz; then he defeated the Mam- Sea, and a major portion of the Mediterranean were con-
luks at Maj Dabiq and Cairo, incorporating into his empire trolled by the Ottoman navy.
Syria, Palestine, and Egypt as well as the Hijaz. The Ottoman In Turkish history Süleyman is known as Kanuni, the
sultan was now the protector of Islam and the guardian of Lawgiver, in reference to his legislative acts, which helped to
Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, the three holy cities of the Is- form the basis of many national constitutions; in Europe his
lamic world; he also ruled over the renowned cultural centers honorific is the Great or the Magnificent due to his outstand-
of Damascus and Cairo. The Ottomans were firmly en- ing political and cultural achievements. He was a brilliant
trenched in the strategic lands linking three continents (Asia, military strategist and statesman, and an acclaimed legislator
Africa, and Europe) and dominated the surrounding seas. who determined the administrative, fiscal, military, and social
This powerful and vast empire was inherited by Süleyman I laws that regulated his state and its subjects. Although the
(1520-1566), the tenth ruler of the house of Osman. He was $eriat (Islamic jurisprudence based on the Koran) was the law
the Ottoman sultan with the longest rule—forty-six years— of the empire, the Ottoman sultans reserved the right to issue
and the one who more than doubled the extent of his realm. 1 decrees on matters not covered in Islamic traditions. These
At the time of his death the Ottoman Empire included in the decrees, called fermans, became the kanuns (sultanic laws) of
west Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania, Hun- the empire. Süleyman issued hundreds of decrees that cov-
gary, and parts of Czechoslovakia, stretching up to Vienna, ered every subject from landrights, taxation, concessions
the capital of the Habsburg Empire; in the north it incorpo- given to foreign merchants, war declarations, peace treaties,
rated the Crimea and the provinces between the Don and the and investiture of titles to endowments of social and chari-
Dnieper rivers; in the east and southeast its boundaries table institutions. 2
touched the Caspian Sea, ruling over parts of Georgia, Azer- Süleyman had been superbly trained for the sultanate, hav-
baijan, western Iran, the central Islamic lands, and the re- ing been in charge of the sancaks (provincial districts) of Bolu,
gions along the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea; in the south it Kefe (Kaffa), and Manisa since he was fifteen, following the

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