Murad III (; ; 4 July 1546 – 16 January 1595) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death in 1595. His rule saw battles with the Habsburgs and exhausting wars with the Safavid Iran. The long-independent Saadi Sultanate was for a time made a vassal of the empire but regained independence in 1582. His reign also saw the empire's expanding influence on the eastern coast of Africa. However, the empire was beset by increasing corruption and inflation from the New World which led to unrest among the Janissary and commoners. Relations with Elizabethan England were cemented during his reign, as both had a common enemy in the Spanish Empire. He was also a great patron of the arts, commissioning the Siyer-i Nebi and other illustrated manuscripts.
Early life
Born in
Manisa on 4 July 1546,
Şehzade Murad was the oldest son of Şehzade
Selim II and his powerful wife
Nurbanu Sultan. He received a good education and learned the Arabic and Persian languages. After his ceremonial circumcision in 1557, Murad's grandfather, the Sultan Suleiman I, appointed him
Sanjak-bey (governor) of Akşehir in 1558. At the age of 18 he was appointed
sancakbeyi of Saruhan. Suleiman died in 1566 when Murad was 20, and his father became the new sultan,
Selim II. Selim II broke with tradition by sending only his oldest son out of the palace to govern a
sanjak, assigning Murad to Manisa.
[
Felek, Özgen. (2010). Re-creating image and identity: Dreams and visions as a means of Murad III's self-fashioning. PhD Thesis. University of Michigan. Ann Arbor: ProQuest/UMI. (Publication No. 3441203).
]
Reign
Selim died in 1574 and was succeeded by Murad, who began his reign by having his five younger brothers strangled.
[Marriott, John Arthur. The Eastern Question (Clarendon Press, 1917), 96.] His authority was undermined by harem influences – more specifically, those of his mother and later of his favorite concubine Safiye Sultan, often to the detriment of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha's influence on the court.
Selim's power had only been maintained by the effective leadership of the powerful
Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, who remained in office until his assassination in October 1579. During Murad's reign, the northern borders with the Habsburg monarchy were defended by the
Bosnians governor Hasan Predojević. The reign of Murad III was marked by exhausting wars on the empire's western and eastern fronts. The Ottomans also suffered defeats in battles such as the Battle of Sisak.
Expedition to Morocco
Abd al-Malik became a trusted member of the Ottoman establishment during his exile. He made the proposition of making Morocco an Ottoman vassal in exchange for the support of Murad III in helping him gain the Saadi throne.
With an army of 10,000 men, most of whom were Turks, Ramazan Pasha and Abd al-Malik left from Algiers to install Abd al-Malik as an Ottoman vassal ruler of Morocco.[ The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 3 - J. D. Fage: Pg 408] Ramazan Pasha conquered Fez which caused the Saadi Sultan to flee to Marrakesh which was also conquered. Abd al-Malik then assumed rule over Morocco as a client of the Ottomans.[هيسبريس تمودا Volume 29, Issue 1 Editions techniques nord-africaines, 1991][Hess, Andrew (1978). The Forgotten Frontier : A History of the Sixteenth-Century Ibero-African Frontier. University of Chicago Press. ]
Abd al-Malik made a deal with the Ottoman troops by paying them a large amount of gold and sending them back to Algiers, suggesting a looser concept of vassalage than Murad III may have thought.[Rivet, Daniel (2012). Histoire du Maroc: de Moulay Idrîs à Mohammed VI. Fayard][ A Struggle for the Sahara:Idrīs ibn ‘Alī’s Embassy toAḥmad al-Manṣūr in the Context ofBorno-Morocco-Ottoman Relations, 1577-1583 Rémi Dewière Université de Paris Panthéon Sorbonne]
War with the Safavids
The Ottomans had been at peace with the neighbouring rivaling Safavid Empire since 1555, per the Treaty of Amasya, that for some time had settled border disputes. But in 1577 Murad declared war, starting the Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590), seeking to take advantage of the chaos in the Safavid court after the death of Shah
Tahmasp I. Murad was influenced by viziers Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha and
Sinan Pasha and disregarded the opposing counsel of Grand Vizier Sokollu. Murad also fought the Safavids which would drag on for 12 years, ending with the Treaty of Constantinople (1590), which resulted in temporary significant territorial gains for the Ottomans.
Ottoman activity in the Horn of Africa
During his reign, an Ottoman Admiral by the name of Mir Ali Beg was successful in establishing Ottoman supremacy in numerous cities in the
Swahili coast between Mogadishu and Kilwa.
Ottoman suzerainty was recognised in Mogadishu in 1585 and Ottoman supremacy was also established in other cities such as
Barawa,
Mombasa, Kilifi, Pate, Lamu, and Faza.
Financial affairs
Murad's reign was a time of financial stress for the Ottoman state. To keep up with changing military techniques, the Ottomans trained infantrymen in the use of firearms, paying them directly from the treasury. By 1580 an influx of silver from the
New World had caused high inflation and social unrest, especially among Janissaries and government officials who were paid in debased currency. Deprivation from the resulting rebellions, coupled with the pressure of over-population, was especially felt in Anatolia.
Competition for positions within the government grew fierce, leading to bribery and corruption. Ottoman and Habsburg sources accuse Murad himself of accepting enormous bribes, including 20,000 ducats from a statesman in exchange for the governorship of Tripoli and Tunisia, thus outbidding a rival who had tried bribing the Grand Vizier.
During his period, excessive inflation was experienced, the value of silver money was constantly played, food prices increased. 400 dirhams should be cut from 600 dirhams of silver, while 800 was cut, which meant 100 percent inflation. For the same reason, the purchasing power of wage earners was halved, and the consequence was an uprising.
English pact
Numerous envoys and letters were exchanged between Elizabeth I and Sultan Murad III.
In one correspondence, Murad entertained the notion that Islam and
Protestantism had "much more in common than either did with Roman Catholicism, as both rejected the worship of idols", and argued for an alliance between England and the Ottoman Empire.
To the dismay of Catholic Europe, England exported tin and lead (for cannon-casting) and ammunition to the Ottoman Empire, and Elizabeth seriously discussed joint military operations with Murad III during the outbreak of war with Spain in 1585, as Francis Walsingham was lobbying for a direct Ottoman military involvement against the common Spanish enemy.
This diplomacy would be continued under Murad's successor
Mehmed III, by both the sultan and Safiye Sultan alike.
Personal life
Palace life
Following the example of his father Selim II, Murad was the second Ottoman sultan who never went on campaign during his reign, instead spending it entirely in Constantinople. During the final years of his reign, he did not even leave Topkapı Palace. For two consecutive years, he did not attend the Friday procession to the imperial mosque—an unprecedented breaking of custom. The Ottoman historian
Mustafa Selaniki wrote that whenever Murad planned to go out to Friday prayer, he changed his mind after hearing of alleged plots by the
Janissaries to dethrone him once he left the palace.
[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. 118.] Murad withdrew from his subjects and spent the majority of his reign keeping to the company of few people and abiding by a daily routine structured by the five daily Islamic prayers. Murad's personal physician Domenico Hierosolimitano described a typical day in the life of the sultan:
Özgen Felek argues that Murad's sedentary lifestyle and lack of participation in military campaigns earned him the disapproval of Mustafa Âlî and Mustafa Selaniki, the major Ottoman historians who lived during his reign. Their negative portrayals of Murad influenced later historians.
Children
Before becoming sultan, Murad had been loyal to Safiye Sultan, his Albanian concubine. His monogamy was disapproved of by Nurbanu Sultan, who worried that Murad needed more sons to succeed him in case Mehmed died young. She also worried about Safiye's influence over her son and the Ottoman dynasty. Five or six years after his accession to the throne, Murad was given a pair of concubines by his sister Ismihan. Upon attempting sexual intercourse with them, he proved impotent. "The arrow of, despite keeping with his created nature, for many times and for many days has been unable to reach at the target of union and pleasure," wrote Mustafa Ali. Nurbanu accused Safiye and her retainers of causing Murad's impotence with witchcraft. Several of Safiye's servants were tortured by eunuchs in order to discover a culprit. Court physicians, working under Nurbanu's orders, eventually prepared a successful cure, but a side effect was a drastic increase in sexual appetite; by the time Murad died, he was said to have fathered over a hundred children.
Nineteen of these were executed by Mehmed III when he became sultan.
Women at court
Influential ladies of his court included his mother Nurbanu Sultan, his sister
Ismihan Sultan, wife of grand vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, and musahibes (favourites) mistress of the housekeeper
Canfeda Hatun, mistress of financial affairs
Raziye Hatun, and the poet
Hubbi Hatun, Finally, after the death of his mother and older sister, Safiye Sultan was the only influential woman in the court.
Eunuchs at court
Before Murad, the palace
had been mostly white, especially
Circassians or
Syrians.
This began to change in 1582 when Murad gave an important position to a black eunuch.
Before, the eunuchs' roles in the palace were racially determined: black eunuchs guarded the harem and the princesses, and white eunuchs guarded the Sultan and male pages in another part of the palace.
The chief black eunuch was known as the
Kizlar Agha, and the chief white eunuch was known as the
Kapi Agha.
Murad and the arts
Murad took great interest in the arts, particularly miniatures and books. He actively supported the court of Society of Miniaturists, commissioning several volumes including the
Siyer-i Nebi, the most heavily illustrated biographical work on the life of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad, the
Book of Skills, the
Book of Festivities and the
Book of Victories.
[Pamuk, Orhan. My Name is Red, Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. ] He had two large
alabaster urns transported from
Pergamon and placed on two sides of the nave in the
Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and a large wax candle dressed in tin which was donated by him to the
Rila monastery in
Bulgaria is on display in the monastery museum.
Murad also furnished the content of Kitabü’l-Menamat ( The Book of Dreams), addressed to Murad's spiritual advisor, Şüca Dede. A collection of first person accounts, it tells of Murad's spiritual experiences as a Sufi disciple. Compiled from thousands of letters Murad wrote describing his dream visions, it presents a hagiographic self-portrait. Murad dreams of various activities, including being stripped naked by his father and having to sit on his lap,
In another letter addressed to Şüca Dede, Murad wrote "I wish that God, may He be glorified and exalted, had not created this poor servant as the descendant of the Ottomans so that I would not hear this and that, and would not worry. I wish I were of unknown pedigree. Then, I would have one single task, and could ignore the whole world."
The Diplomatics of these dream letters have been recently published by Ozgen Felek in Turkish.
Death
Murad died from what is assumed to be natural causes in the Topkapı Palace on 16 January 1595 and was buried in a tomb next to the
Hagia Sophia. In the mausoleum are 54 sarcophagus of the sultan, his wives and children that are also buried there. He is also responsible for changing the burial customs of the sultans' mothers. Murad had his mother Nurbanu buried next to her husband Selim II, making her the first consort to share a sultan's tomb.
Family
Consorts
Murad is believed to have had Safiye Sultan as his only concubine for circa fifteen years. However, Safiye was opposed by Murad's mother,
Nurbanu Sultan, and by his sister,
Ismihan Sultan, and around 1580, she was exiled to the Old Palace on charges of having rendered the sultan impotent with a spell, after he had not succeeded or had not wanted to have sex with two concubines received by his sister. Furthermore, Nurbanu was concerned about the future of the dynasty, as she believed that Safiye's son alone, Mehmed, (two of three sons that Safiye gave to Murad were dead before 1580) were not enough to ensure the succession. After Safiye's exile, revoked only after Nurbanu's death on December 1583, Murad, to deny the rumor about his impotency, took a huge number of concubines and he had more than fifty known children, although according to sources the total number could exceed hundred.
At time of his death in 1595, Murad had at least thirty-five concubines, amongs others:
-
Safiye Sultan, an ethnic Albanians. Haseki sultan of Murad and Valide sultan of Mehmed III;
[Mustafa Çağatay Uluçay, Padışahların kadınları ve kızları, Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, 1980, pp. 42-6]
-
Şemsiruhsar Hatun, mother of Rukiye Sultan. She commissioned Koranic readings of prayers in the Prophet's mosque in Medina. She died before 1623.
-
Mihriban Hatun;
-
Şahıhuban Hatun; she commissioned a school in Fatih, where she is buried
-
Nazperver Hatun; she commissioned a mosque in Eyüp
-
Zerefşan Hatun
-
Fakriye Hatun
[Alderson, A.D.; The structure of the Ottoman Dynasty]
-
A concubine who died in August 1591, along with their stillborn son and were interred together.
-
Fiveteen pregnant concubines were placed in sacks and tossed into the Sea of Marmara, where they drowned, in 1595, by order of Mehmed III.
-
A concubine seduced and made pregnant by Mehmed III when he was a prince. The act was a violation of the rules of the harem, so Mehmed’s grandmother, Nurbanu Sultan, ordered the girl to be drowned in order to protect her grandson.
After the death of Murad III many of his concubines who became childless when at his accession Mehmed had his half-brothers killed, and others who never had children by Murad, were remarried off to palace officials, such as door keepers, cavalry forces ( bölük halkı), and sergeants ( çavus).
Sons
Murad III had at least 27 known sons.
On Murad's death in 1595 Mehmed III, his eldest son and new sultan, son of Safiye Sultan, executed the 19 half-brothers still alive and drowned seven pregnant concubines, fulfilling the Law of Fraticide.
Known sons of Murad III are:
-
Sultan Mehmed III (26 May 1566, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 22 December 1603, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Mehmed III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque, Constantinople), with Safiye Sultan, became the next sultan;
-
Şehzade Selim (1567, Manisa Palace, Manisa - 25 May 1577, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople), with Safiye Sultan.
-
Şehzade Mahmud (1568, Manisa Palace, Manisa – before 1580, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Selim II Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque), with Safiye Sultan.
-
Şehzade Fülan (June 1582, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - June 1582, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople. buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque). Stillbirth.
-
Şehzade Cihangir (February 1585, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - August 1585, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque); twin of Şehzade Süleyman.
-
Şehzade Süleyman (February 1585, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - 1585, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque); twin of Şehzade Cihangir.
-
Şehzade Abdüllah (1585, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Mustafa (1585, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Abdürrahman (1585, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Bayezid (1586, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Hasan (1586, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - died 1591, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Cihangir (1587, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Yakub (1587, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Ahmed (?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - before 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Fülan (August 1591, stillbirth);
-
Şehzade Alaeddin (?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Davud (?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Alemşah (?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Ali (?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Hüseyin (?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Ishak (?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Murad (?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Osman (?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - died 1587, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Yusuf (?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Korkud (?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Ömer (?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
-
Şehzade Selim (?, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople - murdered 28 January 1595, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque);
In addition to these, a European braggart, Alexander of Montenegro, claimed to be the lost son of Murad III and Safiye Sultan, presenting himself with the name of Şehzade Yahya and claiming the throne for it. His claims were never proven and appear dubious to say the least.
Daughters
Murad had more than thirty daughters still alive at his death in 1595, of whom nineteen died of plague (or smallpox) in 1598.
It is not known if and how many daughters may have died before him.
Known daughters of Murad III are:
-
Hümaşah Sultan (Manisa, 1564 - Costantinople, 1625 ); buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque) - with Safiye Sultan. Also called Hüma Sultan.
-
Ayşe Sultan (Manisa, - Costantinople, 15 May 1605, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque) - with Safiye Sultan. Married firstly on 20 May 1586, to Ibrahim Pasha,
-
Fatma Sultan (Manisa, 1573 - Costantinople, 1620, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque) - with Safiye Sultan. Married first on 6 December 1593, to Halil Pasha,
-
Mihrimah Sultan (Costantinople, 1578/1579 - after 1625 ; buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque
-
Fahriye Sultan (died in 1656, buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque
-
Rukiye Sultan (buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque) - with Şemsiruhsar Hatun.
-
Mihriban Sultan (buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque)
-
Hatice Sultan (1583 - 1648, buried in Şehzade Mosque
[Bayrak, 1998, p. 43.] She participated in the reparation of the minarets of Bayezid Veli Mosque inside Kerch Fortress in 1599.[Öztuna, 1977. Başlangıcından zamanımıza kadar Büyük Türkiye tarihi, p. 125.] After widowed, in 1613 she married Gürşci Mehmed Pasha of Kefe, governor of Bosnia.
-
Fethiye Sultan (buried in Murad III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque).
-
Beyhan Sultan (died 1648
[
]
-
Sehime Sultan,
[
]
-
A daughter married to Davud Pasha;
-
A daughter married in 1613 to Kücük Mirahur Mehmed Agha;
-
A daughter married in 1613 to Mirahur-i Evvel Muslu Agha;
-
A daughter married in 1613 to Bostancıbaşı Hasan Agha;
-
A daughter married in 1613 to Cığalazade Mehmed Bey (son of Cığalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha and Safiye Hanimsultan);
-
Nineteen daughters, died of plague in 1598;
-
A daughter who died young on 29 July 1585.
In fiction
-
Murad is portrayed by the Romanian actor Colea Rautu in the historic epic film Michael the Brave.
-
Orhan Pamuk's historical novel Benim Adım Kırmızı ( My Name is Red, 1998) takes place at the court of Murad III, during nine snowy winter days of 1591, which the writer uses in order to convey the tension between East and West. Murad is not specifically named in the book, and is referred to only as "Our Sultan".
-
The Harem Midwife by Roberta Rich - a historical fiction set in Constantinople (1578) which follows Hannah, a midwife, who tends to many of the women in Sultan Murad III's harem.
-
In the 2011 TV series Muhteşem Yüzyıl, Murad III is portrayed by Turkish actor Serhan Onat.
External links
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