Suleiman The Magnificent 1520 1566 (23 page)

27 Busbecq, I, 1 16-1 17. 2S Hammer, VI, 55-56.

29 Lavisse and Rambaud, IV, 763.

30 Cf. Nicolas von Moffan's Eine Grausame That (Augsburg, 1555). There is also a curious little pamphlet, twenty-eight pages long, entitled The History of the Life and Death of Sultan Solyman the Magnificent, Emperor of the Turks, and of His Son Mustapha, and "inscribed to the spectators of Mustapha, a Tragedy, acted at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane," which was published in London in 1739, and sold for sixpence a copy. It is of slight historical value, but was intended to give the spectators of David Mallet's Mustapha the background of the events that formed the subject of the play. Officially anonymous, there seems little doubt that it was written by the dramatist himself. John Genest (Some Account of the English Stage, III, 574) declares that the play '*was never acted," but this is obviously a mistake. The Gentleman 1 s Magazine, February, 1739, devotes more than a page to the play, including a verse (p. 96) "To Mr. Mallet, Occasioned by being at the representation of Mustapha" The author of the life of Mallet in the Dictionary of National "Biography specifically states that £ *it achieved a great success, and ran for fourteen nights," and Allardyce Nicoll (Early Eighteenth-Century Drama, p. 58) supports him.

The Sultan deemed it expedient to pacify the Janissaries with a gift of 500,000 to 600,000 ducats. The silent, sly, and sombre Rustem was also permitted for the time being to retire. 31 His place was taken, for the next two years, by Achmet Pasha, the second vizir, who seems to have been a faithful and hard-working official. But in September, 1555, Achmet was accused of plots and intrigues, and beheaded, on the day of the Divan, in the Sultan's hall of audience. 32 There Is no reason to think that he was guilty; Suleiman was doubtless deceived by the palace clique; the real fact was of course that Roxelana had insisted that Rustem should be brought back to power, 33 and this time he remained Grand Vizir till his death from the pestilence in 1561. His second term of office was to witness a family tragedy no less appalling than had the first.

The death of Mustapha left the two sons of Roxelana— Sellm and his younger brother Bayezid—as the only rivals for the succession, and they hated each other cordially. Bayezld was obviously by far the better man, and the idol of the Janissaries. Selim was drunken, debauched, and incompetent; but, unfortunately for the peace of the Empire, he was his mother's favorite, and to the day of her death In April, 1558,** she did her utmost to persuade his father to make him his heir. The Sultan, alternately swayed by his devotion to Roxelana and by his knowledge of the relative merits of his two sons, did his best to postpone the Inevitable catastrophe by giving them commands in different portions of the empire. 35 The spectacle of this family quarrel hurt him deeply; he had by this time lost his Roxelana, and sought to gain God's help and consolation in his great sorrow, by fasting, by sumptuary edicts, and by

81 Iorga, III t i2 5 .

32 Hammer, VI, 85-88.

^lorga, IE, 126.

84 Hammer, VI, 99; Charriere, II, 464-465; note.

85 Iorga, HI* 128-129.

public prayers. But it was all In vain. The two brothers continued to slander and Insult each other. Both of them moreover had gathered about them considerable military forces, most of which were not regularly enrolled In the Turkish army; and In the summer of 1559 civil war broke out between them on the plains of Asia Minor. Bayezid was decisively defeated In the ensuing battles, and after Suleiman had crossed over from Constantinople to see to the restoration of order, he took refuge In November at the court of the Shah Tahmasp. 36 Before his flight, he had written to his father to assure him of his loyalty and innocence, but his letter was intercepted by an agent of Selim's, and never reached the Sultan. The latter was thus obliged by the force of events to take sides with Selim; his affection for the memory of Roxelana won the day over the interests of the state. Thereafter ensued a prolonged correspondence between Suleiman and Selim on the one side, and Shah Tahmasp on the other, over the fate of the fugitive prince. Embassies bearing costly gifts went to and fro. At first the Shah had hopes that he might make use of Bayezid to persuade the Sultan to give back to him the Mesopotamian lands which the Turks had taken from him in the campaign of 1534-35, but he was doomed to disappointment. The military superiority of Suleiman's armies was an argument that he dared not ignore, and finally, In return for a bribe of 400,000 pieces of gold, he handed Bayezid over to the Sultan's chief executioner, who had been despatched to Tabriz for the purpose, and there performed his terrible office on September 25, 1561. Bayezld's five sons were also disposed of at the same time, and the way to the throne was cleared for the vicious Selkn. ST Roxelana had really been responsible for the execution of the only two of Suleiman's children who were worthy to succeed him.

* 6 Iorga, HI, 129-130; Busbecq, I, 271-313. ^lorga, III, pp. 130-132.

Rustem died a few weeks after the execution of Bayezid, and was succeeded by the second vizir, Ali-Pasha, a Dalmatian by origin, genial, popular, courteous, generous, and excessively corpulent," 8 One somehow feels that his appointment was an evidence that the old Sultan was weary of internal quarrels, and w r anted to have someone for his chief minister with whom everybody could agree. AH Pasha kept his position for the rest of his life, which ended in 1565, and was succeeded by the Bosnian Mohammed Sokoili ("Falcon's Nest"), a really great statesman, who held office for thirteen years after his master's death. Thus of the nine Grand Vizirs who were appointed by the "Magnificent" Sultan, two were executed, three were deposed, and four died in office. Ibrahim, Rustem, and Mohammed Sokoili were the only ones that deserve to be called great, but they held office, in all, for no less than forty-two years.

A few descriptions of Suleiman by Christian observers —all but one of them Venetians—between 1526 and 1562, may serve to give the reader some idea of the impression he made on those who visited the Porte at different periods of his reign.

The first is by Pietro Bragadino, Venetian bailo at Constantinople from 1524 to 1526. It is dated June 9, 1526, a little more than six weeks after the Sultan had departed on the campaign which gave him the victory of Mohacs, and it is much like that of Contarini in 15 20.

"He is thirty-two years old," says Bragadino, "deadly pale, slender, with an aquiline nose and a long neck; of no great apparent strength, but his hand is very strong, as I observed when I kissed it, and he is said to be able to bend a stiff er bow than anyone else. He is by nature melancholy,

38 Busbecq, I, 334; Hammer, VI, pp. 146-147.

much addicted to women, liberal, proud, hasty and yet sometimes very gentle." w

Eight years"later, in June, 1534, Danielle de' Ludovisi agam describes the Sultan as "tall, thin, with an aquiline nose and of an earthy complexion," but adds that he is

healthy, of a choleric and melancholy temperament, given rather to ease than business, orthodox in his faith and of decent lite; his intellect, however, it is commonly said, is not very alert, nor has he the force and prudence which ought to belong to so great a prince, seeing that he has given the ffovern-ment of his empire into the hands of another, his Grand Vizir Ibrahim, without whom neither he nor any of his court undertake any important deliberation, while Ibrahim does everything without consulting the Grand Signior or any other person. J

Nineteen years afterwards the picture changes again. Bernardo Navagero, writing in February, 1553, describes Suleiman as

above middle height, thin, of a brown complexion, with a majesty and sweetness of expression in his countenance very pleasing to behold. He eats sparingly, very seldom of flesh and no flesh but that of kid with a red skin. He now drinks no wine, as they say he used to do in Ibrahim's time, only fab-water, on account of his infirmities, which are said to be the gout and a tendency to dropsy. At Constantinople he is almost every day in his briganrine, passing over to visit his gardens or to hunt in Anatolia. Adrianople is with him a favorite residence, especially in winter, because he has there a seraglio which opens upon a chase, and he goes hunting almost every day. He has the reputation of being very just, and when he has been accurately informed of the facts of a case he never wrongs any man. Of his faith and its laws he is more observant than any of his house has ever been, and he professes never to break

38 Albert, 3 rd ser., HI, 101. 40 Albert, jrd ser., I, 28,

his word, than which there can be no higher praise. After so many years of experience he understands affairs well, and for the most part conducts them admirably. 41

The observant and sympathetic Busbecq, in a letter dated

at Constantinople on September i, 1555, gives us further information about Suleiman.

His years [so he writes] are just beginning to tell on him, but his majestic bearing and indeed his whole demeanor are such as beseem the lord of so vast an empire. He has always had the character of being a careful and temperate man; even in his early days, when, according to the Turkish rule, sin would have been venial, his life was blameless; for not even in youth did he either indulge in wine or commit those unnatural crimes which are common among the Turks; nor could those who were disposed to put the most unfavorable construction on his acts bring anything worse against him than his excessive devotion to his wife, and the precipitate way in which, by her influence, he was induced to put Mustapha to death; for it is commonly believed that it was by her philtres and witchcraft that he was led to commit this act. As regards herself, it is a well known fact that from the time he made her his lawful wife he has been perfectly faithful to her, although there was nothing in the laws to prevent his having mistresses as well. As an upholder of his religion and its rites he is most strict, being quite as anxious to extend his faith as to extend his empire. Considering his years (for he is now getting on for sixty) he enjoys good health, though it may be that his bad complexion arises from some lurking malady. There is a notion current that he has an incurable ulcer or cancer on his thigh. When he is anxious to impress an ambassador, who is leaving, with a favorable idea of the state of his health, he conceals the bad complexion of his face under a coat of rouge, his notion being that foreign powers will fear him more if they think that he is strong and well. I detected unmistakable signs of this practice of his; for I observed his face when he gave me a

41 Alberi, 3rd ser^ I, 72-73.

farewell audience, and found it was much altered from what it was when he received me on my arrival. 42

The last picture of the series is really pathetic. It comes from the pen of Marcantonio Donini, who was secretary to the Venetian bailo from 1559 to 1562.

His Majesty [so he tells us] during many months of the year was very feeble of body, so that he lacked little of dying, being dropsical, with swollen legs, appetite gone, and face swelled and of a very bad color. In the month of March last, he had four or five fainting fits, and he has had one since, in which his attendants doubted whether he were alive or dead, and hardly expected that he would recover from them. According to the common opinion his death must occur soon, in spite of the strong remedies resorted to by his physician, unless indeed the gladness which he feels at the death of his sons and grandsons produce a miraculous effect on his health. On hearing of their death, it is said, he looked up to heaven with joined hands and spoke after this fashion, "God be praised that I have lived to see the Moslems freed from the miseries which would have come upon them if my sons had fought for the throne; I may now pass the rest of my days in tranquillity, instead of living and dying in despair." But there are people who say that either the anger of God will not let the deaths of the innocent grandchildren go unpunished, or that Prince Selim, now that his brother is not there to contest the throne, will soon find means of bringing his father's life to an end. May God bring about that which may be of most advantage to all Christendom. 43

The course of the Sultan's day, when he was in Constantinople, naturally varied in accordance with the amount of work that he had on hand; but he was always surrounded with a multitude of servants, guards, and attendants, and

^Busbecq, I, 159-160.

43 Alberi, 3rd sen, III, 178-179.

his slightest actions were regulated with a precision which reminds one of the fifty pages of VEtat de la France which prescribe "L'ordre du lever et du coucher" of Louis XIV at Versailles. His clothes, which he seldom wore more than once, and his arms were brought him in the morning by favorite members of his kullar. His meals were served him in similar fashion on gorgeous plates, his sweetened or perfumed water (for he drank wine seldom, and never In the latter part of his life) in jewelled cups. A doctor was often present to guard against the possibility of poison. 44 If he had no state business to transact, Suleiman would read, after eating, in the "Book of Alexander," or in religious and philosophical treatises, or else amuse himself by watching the antics of dwarfs and the contests of wrestlers or listening to the quips of his jesters. Custom prescribed a nap in the afternoon- When he rose from it the Sultan would usually send for one of his four sumptuously decorated barques, and be ferried across, with one of his chief ministers or favorites, to the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, to spend an hour in the gardens there. During the day he reclined on two mattresses, one decked with silver brocade and the other with gold; at night he slept on three, which were covered with red velvet. As a precaution against foul play, he changed his bedroom daily; and his chamberlains were kept constantly busy in preparing the one in which he elected to pass the ensuing night. Tail silver candlesticks were placed on both sides of his couch, with their lights so shaded as not to interfere with his sleep. Five armed guards kept watch until the following morning. 45

On the days when the Divan was being held, the Sultan's time was much more fully occupied. Though he was rarely In attendance himself, he was always in close touch, and the