Selim III

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Selim III, detail of a portrait by H. Berteaux, early 19th century; in the Topkap Palace … (credit: Sonia Halliday)

(born Dec. 24, 1761, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire — died July 29, 1808, Constantinople) Ottoman sultan (r. 1789 – 1807). He inherited the throne during a losing war with Austria and Russia (1787 – 92), with whom he later signed treaties. Napoleon I's invasion of Egypt in 1798 drove him into an alliance with Britain and Russia, but, impressed with Napoleon's successes, he switched sides in 1806. At home he attempted tax and land reform and established a European-style military corps, but, unable to enforce his reforms in the face of mutinies among the Janissaries and other units, he rescinded them. He was promptly overthrown and was strangled on the orders of his successor, Mustafa IV.

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Selim III (1761-1808), the twenty-eighth Ottoman sultan, was a late-18th-century reformer who sought to end the stagnation and decay weakening the empire.

Born on Dec. 24, 1761, Selim was the son of Mustafa III and successor to his uncle Abdul Hamid I, who died April 7, 1789. As a youth, the new sultan had benefited from a moderately free existence in contrast to the century-old custom of caging Osmanli princes. He was better educated then most of his recent predecessors.

Selim initially devoted himself to prosecuting the 2-year-old Austro-Russian War, an outgrowth of the first detailed plan to divide the Ottoman Empire, drawn up by Austria and Russia in 1782. The Peace of Sistova, in August 1791, involved no territorial changes with Austria, but the Peace of Jassy (laşi), in January 1792, advanced the Russian border to the Dniester.

Internal Reforms

Profiting from unrest in Europe which preoccupied his enemies, Selim introduced domestic reforms to strengthen his government. He solicited suggestions throughout the governing institutions. As a basis for change, he created a new treasury, filled, in large part, from confiscatory punishment leveled at fief holders who had ceased to respect their military obligations.

Among the changes was an attempt to curtail the grand vizier's power by enlargement of the Divan and insistence that important issues be brought before it. Schools were opened, attention was given to printing and to the circulation of Western translations, and young Turks were sent to Europe for further study. The most significant reforms, however, involved the military. The navy was strengthened, and a navigation school was opened. The army commissariat was changed, officer training was improved, the Bosporus forts were strengthened, the artillery was revitalized, and the new engineering school was reorganized. Foreign advisers, largely French, assisted.

The major innovation was the founding of a new body of regular troops known as nizam-i-jedid (new regulation), a term also applied to the reforms as a whole. The first of these new units, uniformed, well disciplined and drilled, was formed in 1792 by a former Turkish lieutenant in the Russian army. Other units followed, involving, in some instances, extensive barracks building with related town facilities, such as the mosques and baths of Scutari. Such buildings constitute Selim's major architectural legacy.

Foreign Relations

On the international scene all remained peaceful until 1798, although foreign affairs received considerable attention. New resident embassies were established in Britain, France, Prussia, and Austria. Selim, a cultured poet and musician, carried on an extended correspondence with Louis XVI. Although distressed by the establishment of the republic in France, the Porte (Ottoman government) was soothed by French representatives in Istanbul who maintained the goodwill of various influential personages, including the later Swedish minister, Mouradgea d'Ohsson, whose Tableau de l'Empire Othoman (1820) provides a good overview of this period.

On July 1, 1798, however, French forces landed in Egypt, and Selim declared war on France on September 4. In alliance with Russia and Britain, the Turks were in periodic conflict with the French on both land and sea until March 1801. Peace came in June 1802.

The following year brought trouble in the Balkans. For decades a sultan's word had had no power in outlying provinces, prompting Selim's reforms of the military in order to reimpose central control. This desire was not fulfilled. One rebellious leader was Austrian-backed Osman Pasvanoglu, whose invasion of Wallachia in 1801 inspired Russian intervention, resulting in greater autonomy for the Dunubian provinces.

Serbian conditions also deteriorated. They took a fateful turn with the return, in 1799, of the hated Janissaries, ousted 8 years before. These forces murdered Selim's enlightened governor, ending the best rule this province had had in the last 100 years. Their defiant, outrageous actions prompted the anti-Janissary revolt of 1804. Neither arms nor diplomacy could restore Ottoman authority.

French influence with the Porte did not revive until 1806, but it then led the Sultan into defying both St. Petersburg and London, and Turkey joined Napoleon's Continental System. War was declared on Russia on December 27 and on Britain in March 1807. Meanwhile, reform efforts had continued, but in March 1805 a general levy for new troops had led the Janissaries to revolt. These events culminated in the murder of reform leaders and, on May 29, 1807, the deposition of Selim. He was charged with childlessness and the use of military innovations to incite revolt.

Incarcerated in the saray, or palace, by his cousin, the new sultan Mustafa IV, Selim occupied himself instructing Mustafa's brother Mahmud in the art of government. On July 28, 1808, he was executed, as supporters, demanding his reinstatement, broke down the palace gates. Mustafa gained nothing, however; he was replaced by Mahmud II.

Further Reading

For general biographical information on Selim III see A. D. Alderson, Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty (1956). V. J. Puryear, Napoleon and the Dardanelles (1951), considers diplomacy.

1761 - 1808

Twenty-eighth Ottoman sultan, 1789 - 1807.

The son of Mustafa III, Selim was allowed by his uncle Abdülhamit I an unusually free and liberal up-bringing, on the assumption that he would succeed to the throne. Wars against Russia during the reigns of his father and uncle convinced Selim of the need to modernize the Ottoman army, and while still a prince he sought advice and assistance from King Louis XVI of France for this purpose.

When Selim succeeded his uncle in April 1789, the Ottoman Empire was again at war with Russia and Austria. Selim's first act, in May, was to convene a special assembly of leading statesmen to discuss the empire's military and financial problems,
and to request detailed reports on how to proceed with reforms. The resulting New Order program accelerated and formalized the piecemeal military and educational Europeanization started earlier. A new army corps was formed, with a separate financial bureau to administer earmarked revenues to support the effort. Schools to train officers for the army and navy in the European manner were given new impetus. Another extension of a process begun earlier was in diplomatic relations with European powers. Ambassadors had been sent to leading capitals to gather information on European politics and international relations, and to study recent military and technological advances; in 1792 the Ottoman government established permanent embassies in London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and St. Petersburg so that the empire could be better informed about European relations and present its concerns directly.

With Europe increasingly preoccupied with French Revolutionary wars, Selim turned his attention to internal political problems, using his new troops to suppress provincial notables who controlled large areas of the empire's territories. They had some initial success, but from 1797 the empire was embroiled in the European war when France took an active interest in the eastern Mediterranean, culminating in Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798. The Ottoman Empire was thus forced to accept support from Britain and Russia against its traditional ally France. After Britain's navy and Selim's army turned Napoleon back from Palestine, France left Egypt in 1801, and Britain followed soon thereafter. Nevertheless, full Ottoman control could not be restored; the vice commander of the New Order army in Egypt, Muhammad Ali, eventually gained power.

In Arabia, Wahhabi doctrine had taken hold, and its Saʿudi champion rejected Selim's position as caliph of the Sunni Muslim community. In the Balkans, Russia's influence was growing, both in the Danubian principalities and in Serbia, where a revolt began in 1804. Since France's threat to the Ottoman territories had been lifted, Britain had assumed an active role in the eastern Mediterranean. After Napoleon's victories in central Europe, Selim, wishing to balance the influences of Britain and Russia, attempted to revive the alliance with France, but Russia's advance into Moldavia and Wallachia in October 1806 and Britain's naval activity near Istanbul in January 1807 prevented it.

Beset by foreign engagements not of his choosing; unable to establish authority in the provinces, where political, religious, and ethnic uprisings challenged his rule; and alienating large segments of Istanbul's population by what seemed to be an overhasty attempt to Europeanize while European powers dominated the empire's policies, Selim was deposed in May 1807 after a popular insurrection supported by palace attendants and out-of-favor officials. A year later, when provincial forces loyal to Selim marched on the capital, he was killed to prevent a countercoup.

Though a Europeanizing reformer, Selim was educated in the classical Islamic-Ottoman culture. He was a distinguished poet and a talented composer. He tried to regenerate the power of his empire through a European-style army, but in his political behavior he was a typical sultan. He helped develop policy and direction, but left government in the hands of viziers. To keep factionalism in check, he changed viziers and other statesmen frequently. His greatest misfortune was that his empire no longer could set its own course and go at its own pace. In the last decade of his rule, Selim found himself responding to foreign threats from rapidly shifting directions, desperately trying to keep in check external and internal forces that proved to be beyond his control.

Bibliography

Alderson, A. D. The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty. Oxford: Clarendon, 1956; reprint, Westport, CT: Green-wood Press, 1982.

Shaw, Stanford J. Between Old and New: The Ottoman Empire under Sultan Selim III, 1789 - 1807. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971.

— I. METIN KUNT

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007)

Selim III
Ottoman Sultan
Caliph
Reign	1789–1807
Period	Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire
Full Name	Selim III
Predecessor	Abdülhamid I
Successor	Mustafa IV
Royal House	House of Osman
Dynasty	Ottoman Dynasty
Religious beliefs	Sunni Islam

Selim III (Ottoman Turkish: سليم ثالث Selīm-i sālis) (December 24, 1761 – July 28/29, 1808) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. He was a son of Mustafa III (1757–74) and succeeded his uncle Abdülhamid I (1774–89). He was born in Istanbul. His mother was Valide Sultan Mihr-i shah. His attempts to reform the Ottoman Empire ended with his assasination.

Contents 1 Reforms 2 Janissary revolt 3 Downfall and assassination 4 Interest in poetry and arts 5 Notes 6 See also 7 External links

Reforms

Selim III receiving dignitaries at an audience at the Gate of Felicity, Topkapı Palace.

The talents and energy with which Selim III was endowed had endeared him to the people, and great hopes were founded on his accession. He had associated much with foreigners, and was thoroughly persuaded of the necessity of reforming his state. But Austria and Russia gave him no time for anything but defense, and it was not until the peace of Iaşi (1792) that a breathing space was allowed him in Europe, while Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and Syria soon called for Turkey's strongest efforts and for the time shattered the old-standing Franco-Ottoman alliance.

Selim III profited by the respite to abolish the military tenure of fiefs; he introduced salutary reforms into the administration, especially in the fiscal department, sought by well-considered plans to extend the spread of education, and engaged foreign officers as instructors, by whom a small corps of new troops called nizam-i-jedid were collected and drilled. So well were these troops organized that they were able to hold their own against rebellious Janissaries in the European provinces, where disaffected governors made no scruple of attempting to make use of them against the reforming sultan.

Emboldened by this success, Selim III issued an order that in future picked men should be taken annually from the Janissaries to serve in their ranks.

Janissary revolt

The Janissaries and others who opposed reforms rebelled at Adrianople, and due to their number, exceeding 10,000, and the violence of their opposition, it was decided that the reforms must be given up for now. Serbia, Egypt and the principalities were successively the scene of hostilities in which Turkey gained no successes, and in 1807 a British fleet appeared at Istanbul, strangely, to insist on Turkey's yielding to Russia's demands and that the Ottomans dismiss the ambassador of Napoleon, Horace Sebastiani (see Dardanelles Operation).

Downfall and assassination

Selim III was, however, thoroughly under the influence of Sebastiani, and the fleet was compelled to retire without effecting its purpose. But the anarchy, manifest or latent, existing throughout the provinces proved too great for Selim III to cope with. The Janissaries rose once more in revolt, induced the Sheikh-ul-Islam to grant a fetva against the reforms, dethroned and imprisoned Selim III, and placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne, as Mustafa IV (1807–08).

The pasha of Rustchuk, Mustafa Bayrakdar, a strong partisan of the reforms, collected an army of 40,000 men and marched on Istanbul with the purpose of reinstating Selim III, but he came too late. The ill-fated reforming Sultan had been stabbed in the seraglio by the Chief Black Eunuch and his men,^[1] and Bairakdar's only resource was to wreak his vengeance on Mustafa IV and to place on the throne Mahmud II (1808–39), the sole surviving member of the house of Osman.

Another version of his murder states that after his deposition, Selim was staying at the Harem. The night of Thursday, July 28, 1808, he was with his favourite lady, Refet Kadın, and a slave girl or perhaps another favourite Pakize Kadın in attendance. Alemdar Pasha, a loyalist of Selim, was approaching the city with his army to reinstate Selim. Therefore Mustafa IV gave orders to murder him and his brother Prince Mahmud. The assassins were apparently a group of men, including the Master of the Wardrobe called Fettah the Georgian, the Treasury steward Ebe Selim, and black eunuch named Nezir Ağa. Selim apparently knew his end was coming when he saw their swords drawn. Pakize Kadın threw herself between them and her lord, she was cut in her hand. Refet Kadın started screaming in terror, another slave girl who rushed in fainted when she saw what was about to happen. A struggle ensued and the former sultan was cut down and murdered, his last words apparently being "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great"). Refet Kadın threw herself on the body but was dragged away. The body was quickly wrapped in a quilt. The assassins moved on to find Prince Mahmud and attempt to murder him too, he was more fortunate though and had the assassins executed later. Selim III would be the only Ottoman sultan to be killed by the sword.^[2] He died in Istanbul.

Interest in poetry and arts

Selim III's tughra, or official seal

A great lover of music, Sultan Selim III was a composer and performer of significant talent. He created fourteen makams, melodic types, three of which are in current use today. Sixty-four compositions belonging to Selim III are known, some of which are part of the regular repertory of Turkish classical music performers. Aside from composing music, Selim III also performed on the ney and tanbur.

Selim III's interest in music started in his days as a prince (shahzade) when he studied under Kırımlı Ahmet Kamil Efendi and Tanburi İzak Efendi. He was especially respectful of Tanburi İzak Efendi, and it is recounted that the Sultan stood up when Tanburi İzak Efendi entered the court.

As a patron of the arts, Selim III encouraged musicians of his day including Dede Efendi and Baba Hamparsum. The Hamparsum notation system that he commissioned became the dominant notation for Turkish and Armenian music. His name is associated with a school in Turkish classical music due to the revival and re-birth of music at his court. Selim III was also interested in western music and in 1797 invited an opera troupe for the first opera performance in the Ottoman Empire.

Writing under the nom de plume İlhami, Selim III collected his poetry in a divan. Among regular attendees of his court were Şeyh Galip, one of the greatest Ottoman poets.

Selim III was a member of the Mevlevi order of dervishes, and was entered into the order at the Galata Mevlevihanesi under the name 'Selim Dede'. Selim III's most well-known composition is an ayin, a long and complicated liturgical form performed during the religious ceremonies of the Mevlevis in the suzidilara makam, which was his invention.

He extended his patronage to Antoine Ignace Melling, whom he appointed as the court architect in 1795. Melling constructed a number of palaces and other buildings for the Sultan and created engravings of contemporary Istanbul.

Notes

1. ^ Goodwin, Jason: "Lords of the Horizons", Chapter 24: The Auspicious Event, 1998
2. ^ Davis, Claire (1970). The Palace of Topkapi in Istanbul. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 213–217. ASIN B000NP64Z2. 

See also

• Ottoman military reform efforts
• Nizam-i Jedid

External links

• Media related to Selim III at Wikimedia Commons

Selim III House of Osman Born: December 24, 1761 Died: July 28, 1808
Regnal titles
Preceded by Abdul Hamid I	Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Apr 7, 1789 - May 29, 1807	Succeeded by Mustafa IV
Sunni Islam titles
Preceded by Abdul Hamid I	Caliph of Islam Apr 7, 1789 - May 29, 1807	Succeeded by Mustafa IV

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

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