Selim I

Selim I, Ottoman Sultan of Turkey (c.1470-1520), nicknamed Yavuz, meaning ‘the Grim’. One of the most able military leaders of all the Ottoman sultans, in his brief reign Selim hugely expanded the borders of the Ottoman empire. The son of Bayazid II, Selim soon rebelled against his father. Although Selim was defeated and forced to flee, his father soon abdicated in favour of his more martial son. One of Selim's first acts as Sultan was to invade Persia with 60, 000 men, both to deal with the biggest threat to the Ottoman empire and to stamp out the ‘heresy’ of the Shiʿite Persians. In the summer of 1515, he defeated a 50, 000 strong Persian army at the battle of Chaldrian and was able to seize the capital of Shah Ismail at Tabriz in September. He could not hold it however, as his janissaries mutinied and he was forced to withdraw. However, he had gained useful footholds on both the upper and middle Euphrates.

The following year, while preparing to attack Persia once again, Selim learnt of the threat of an imminent attack by the Mameluke Sultan Kansu al-Gauri, so he invaded Syria instead. Making a forced march around the Taurus mountains, he surprised the Mamelukes at the Merj-Dabik in August 1516. He decisively defeated them and followed up his victory by beating the army of the new Mameluke sultan, Touman Bey, at Yaunis Khan near Gaza. His forces then crossed the Gaza desert and advanced on Cairo. The first major clash inside Egypt took place at Ridanieh on 22 January 1517. Touman Bey was once again defeated and Selim occupied Cairo, but Touman Bey launched a desperate attempt to recapture his capital, resulting in several days of bloody street fighting. It was to no avail and Selim subsequently proclaimed himself sultan and caliph. He then launched a campaign to occupy Mecca and the western Arabian coast, leaving a Turkish governor general behind in Cairo.

In his last years, Selim crushed minor religious risings in Anatolia and Syria. In 1519, Selim accepted the homage of Khair ed-Din, bey of Algiers, in return for Selim's support against Spain. Khair ed-Din provided a fleet in return. Therefore, by the time of his death near Corlu on 22 September 1520 while preparing an expedition against Rhodes, Selim had not only doubled the size of the Ottoman empire, but also had provided with it a fleet which would dominate much of the Mediterranean.

— Chris Mann

Selim I (ca. 1470-1520), the ninth Ottoman sultan, was the instigator of large-scale conquest and administrative consolidation in Asia that left the Ottomans dominant in the Middle East.

The son of Bayezid II (Bajazet), Selim gained administrative experience as governor of Trebizond and Semendra. In contention for the succession with his older brothers, Selim won with the support of the Janissaries, who forced Bayezid to abdicate on April 25, 1512.

For a year the new sultan was preoccupied with eliminating his brothers and nephews. Then he turned to consolidating Ottoman power in Anatolia, which was threatened by religious attractions from Persia. In the fall of 1513 lists were prepared of Shiite heretics. Some 40,000 died, and others were imprisoned or deported in the persecution that followed.

Selim's declaration of war on Iran the following spring initiated a famous correspondence between himself and Shah Ismael. The Sultan, later remembered as a poet, wrote in an elegant style - the message, however, proving provocative and insulting. On Aug. 23, 1514, Turkish artillery routed the Persians at Chaldiran.

To quiet Janissary opposition to the war, Selim executed several leaders, a procedure for which his reign is noted. He later appointed men from his own household as generals in order to increase control over the Janissary group. Selim is called "Yavuz" ("the Grim"), connoting both respect and fear. Essentially a stern ruler, he nevertheless survives in Ottoman history as a hero.

Selim campaigned in eastern Anatolia again in 1515 and resumed the attack on Persia the following year. In August, however, the Turks encountered the Mamluk ruler of Egypt, a supporter of Ismael, and defeated him in a brief battle north of Aleppo. Egyptian forces were unpaid, undisciplined, and dissentious, the state weakened by the recent loss of Eastern trade to the Portuguese.

The Levantine cities surrendered peacefully, and Ottoman administrators took over but with remarkably few changes. When the new Egyptian sultan executed Selim's ambassadors, who were bearing offers of peace in exchange for acceptance of Turkish sovereignty, the Ottomans moved on Cairo, which fell in January 1517. En route to Egypt, Selim made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

During his months in Cairo, Selim accepted the voluntary submission of the sharif of Mecca, thus bringing the holy places under Ottoman control. Tradition has it that one consequence of this campaign was the official surrendering to the Ottomans of the paraphernalia of the Caliph (the Prophet's standard, mantle, and sword) by the last "Abbasid" caliph, al-Mutawwakil, captured from the Egyptians at Aleppo. This alleged transference of authority was the later legal justification for Osmanli use of the title, although Selim had earlier referred to himself as caliph.

Selim returned to Istanbul in July 1518. As skilled at administration as in military affairs, he subsequently devoted himself to government. On Sept. 20, 1520, he suddenly died, apparently of cancer.

Further Reading

General works on Selim's period include G. W. F. Stripling, The Ottoman Turks and the Arabs, 1511-1574 (1942), and A. D. Alderson, Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty (1956).

Selim I
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Period	Growth of the Ottoman Empire
Coronation	1512
Full Name	Selim I
Predecessor	Bayezid II
Successor	Suleiman I
Royal House	House of Osman
Dynasty	Ottoman Dynasty
Father	Bayezid II
Religious beliefs	Sunni Islam

Selim I (Ottoman Turkish: سليم اوّل, Modern Turkish: I.Selim), also known as "the Excellent," "the Brave" or the best translation "the Stern", Yavuz in Turkish, the long name is Yavuz Sultan Selim; October 10, 1465/1466/1470  – September 22, 1520) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520.^[1] He was also the first Ottoman Sultan to assume the title of Caliph of Islam.

Selim carried the empire to the leadership of the Sunni branch of Islam by his conquest of the Middle East. He represents a sudden change in the expansion policy of the empire, which was working mostly against the West and the Beyliks before his reign.^[2] On the eve of his death in 1520, the Ottoman empire spanned almost 1 billion acres (trebling during Selim's reign).

Contents 1 Life 1.1 Conquest of the Middle East 1.2 Death 2 Titles 3 Personality 4 References 5 External links

Life

Born in Amasya, Selim dethroned his father Bayezid II (1481–1512) in 1512. Bayezid's death followed immediately thereafter.^[3] Like his grandfather Mehmed II (1451–81), Selim put his brothers and nephews to death upon his accession in order to eliminate potential pretenders to the throne. This fratricidal policy was motivated by bouts of civil strife that had been sparked by the antagonism between Selim's father Beyazid and his uncle Cem, and between Selim himself and his brother Ahmed.

He married Valide Sultan (1520) Hafsa Hatun Sultan, (Turkish: Ayşe Hafsa Sultan ), who died in 1534, mother of Suleiman I. Selim's mother was Ayşe Hatun, from Dulkadir. Selim was described as being tall, having very broad shoulders and a long mustache. He was skilled in politics and was said to be fond of fighting.^[4]

Conquest of the Middle East

For Selim, one of the first challenges as the Sultan was the conflict between his empire and the powerful Safavid Empire of Persia. Shah Ismail was a Persian patron of Shia Islam in the region, a situation which was a threat against the Sunni rulers of the Ottoman Empire. Selim had to eliminate the risk of a westward attack from Iran to Anatolia while he was attacking the Mamluks of Egypt. Therefore, Selim assembled his army and marched to Iran in 1514 and delivered a devastating blow to Safavids and Shah Ismail at the Battle of Chaldiran, a battle of historical significance. The Ottoman army thereafter paraded in the capital of the Safavid Empire, Tabriz.^[5]

Then, Selim attacked and destroyed the Mamluk Sultanate first at the Battle of Marj Dabiq and then at the Battle of Ridanieh, which led to the annexation of Syria, Palestine and Egypt. He also extended Ottoman power to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Rather than style himself the Hakim ul Haremeyn, or The Ruler of The Two Holy Shrines, he accepted the more pious title Khadim ul Haremeyn, or The Servant of The Two Holy Shrines.^[6][3]

After the conquest of Egypt and the Holy Cities in 1517, Selim induced the vanquished Al-Mutawakkil III (1509–17), the last ruler of the Mamluk Sultanate, to formally surrender the title of Caliph and its emblems, the sword and the mantle of Muhammad.^[2] These are kept in the Topkapi Palace Museum at Istanbul, Turkey.

Death

After his return from his Egyptian campaign, Selim began to prepare for an expedition which is believed to be against Rhodes. This campaign was cut short when he was overwhelmed by sickness and subsequently died in the ninth year of his reign. He was about fifty-five years of age. It is said that Selim succumbed to sirpence, a skin infection which he developed during his long campaigns on horseback. (Sirpence was an anthrax infection sometimes seen among leatherworkers and others who worked with livestock). Some historians claim that he was poisoned by the doctor tending to his infection^[1] and some historians claim that the disease he suffered from was skin cancer. He died at Corlu, Tekirdağ.

Titles

After claiming the Caliphate, Selim assumed the title Malik ul-Barreyn, wa Khakan ul-Bahrayn, wa Kasir ul-Jayshayn, wa Khadim ul-Haramayn - that is, King of the Two Lands (continents Europe and Asia), Khagan of the Two Seas (Mediterranian and Indian Seas), Conqueror of the Two Armies (European and Safavid armies), and Servant of the Two Holy Shrines (Mecca and Medina). This title alludes to his dominions in Africa and Asia (namely, Egypt, Anatolia, and much of the Fertile Crescent), his control over the Mediterranean and Black seas, his defeat of both the Mamluk and Safavid armies, and his guardianship of the shrines of Mecca and Medina.

Personality

By most accounts, Selim had a fiery temper and full-blooded personality like a hero . He seems to have had high expectations of his subordinates, and executed many of his own viziers (one vizier playfully asked for advance notice of his own execution, so that he could put his affairs in order, to which Selim replied that he had indeed been thinking for a while of having him executed but hadn't found a suitable replacement, but that as soon as he did, he would be happy to oblige).

Accordingly, his court was dynamic, with the rewards as great as the risks. He was possibly very energetic and effective, though sometimes cruel, ruler. His reign was short, but may have prepared the Ottoman empire for its zenith under the achievements of his son.^[7] A popular legend has it that Selim had filled the royal treasury to the brink and locked it with his own seal. He decreed that "he who will fill the treasury more than this, may use his seal to lock it." The treasury remained locked with Selim's seal until the collapse of the Empire 400 years later.

Selim was also a distinguished poet who wrote both Turkish and Persian verse under the nickname mahlas Selimi; collections of his Persian poetry are extant today.^[7] In one of his poems, he wrote;

A carpet is large enough to accommodate two sufis, but the world is not large enough for two Kings.

– Yavuz Sultan Selim

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Yavuz Sultan Selim Biography Retrieved on 2007-09-16
2. ^ ^{a b} The Rise of the Turks and the Ottoman Empire Retrieved on 2007-09-16
3. ^ ^{a b} The Classical Age, 1453-1600 Retrieved on 2007-09-16
4. ^ Sultan Selim the Excellent
5. ^ Morgan, David. Shah Isma'il and the Establishment of Shi'ism
6. ^ Yavuz Sultan Selim Government Retrieved on 2007-09-16
7. ^ ^{a b} Necdet Sakaoğlu, Bu Mülkün Sultanları, pg.127

External links

Selim I House of Osman Born: October 10, 1465 Died: September 22, 1520
Regnal titles
Preceded by Bayezid II	Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Apr 25, 1512 – Sep 22, 1520	Succeeded by Suleiman I
Titles in pretence
Preceded by Bayezid II	— TITULAR — Caliph of Islam Apr 25, 1512 – 1517	he became Caliph on 1517
Sunni Islam titles
Preceded by Al-Mutawakkil III	Caliph of Islam 1517 – Sep 22, 1520	Succeeded by Suleiman I

v • d • e Sultans of the Ottoman Empire by era Rise (1299–1453) Osman I · Orhan · Murad I · Bayezid I · Mehmed I · Murad II · Mehmed II Growth (1453–1683) Bayezid II · Selim I · Suleiman I · Selim II · Murad III · Mehmed III · Ahmed I · Mustafa I · Osman II · Murad IV · Ibrahim · Mehmed IV Stagnation (1683–1827) Suleiman II · Ahmed II · Mustafa II · Ahmed III · Mahmud I · Osman III · Mustafa III · Abdülhamid I · Selim III · Mustafa IV · Mahmud II Decline (1828–1908) Abdülmecid I · Abdülaziz · Murad V · Abdülhamid II Dissolution (1908–1923) Mehmed V · Mehmed VI  · Abdulmecid II

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Selim I

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)