1.
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
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The sultans of the Ottoman Empire, made up solely of the members of the Ottoman dynasty, ruled over the transcontinental empire from its inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its height, the Ottoman Empire spanned from Hungary in the north to Yemen in the south, the Ottoman Empires early years have been the subject of varying narratives due to the difficulty of discerning fact from legend. The empire came into existence at the end of the thirteenth century, according to later, often unreliable Ottoman tradition, Osman was a descendant of the Kayı tribe of the Oghuz Turks. The eponymous Ottoman dynasty he founded endured for six centuries through the reigns of 36 sultans, the Ottoman Empire disappeared as a result of the defeat of the Central Powers with whom it had allied itself during World War I. The Ottoman Empire was an absolute monarchy during much of its existence and he was theoretically responsible only to God and Gods law, of which he was the chief executor. His heavenly mandate was reflected in Islamic titles such as shadow of God on Earth, all offices were filled by his authority, and every law was issued by him in the form of a decree called firman. He was the military commander and had the official title to all land. Osman son of Ertuğrul was the first ruler of the Ottoman state, newly enthroned Ottoman rulers were girded with the Sword of Osman, an important ceremony that served as the equivalent of European monarchs coronation. A non-girded sultan was not eligible to have his children included in the line of succession, although absolute in theory and in principle, the sultans powers were limited in practice. Political decisions had to take account the opinions and attitudes of important members of the dynasty. Constitutionalism was only established during the reign Abdul Hamid II, who became the empires last absolute ruler. Although Abdul Hamid II abolished the parliament and the constitution to return to rule in 1878. Since 2009, the head of the House of Osman and pretender to the defunct Ottoman throne has been Bayezid Osman, the table below lists Ottoman sultans, as well as the last Ottoman caliph, in chronological order. The tughras were the seals or signatures used by Ottoman sultans. They were displayed on all official documents as well as on coins, the Notes column contains information on each sultans parentage and fate. For earlier rulers, there is usually a gap between the moment a sultans reign ended and the moment his successor was enthroned. Because of the infighting and numerous fratricides that occurred, a death date therefore did not always coincide with the accession date of his successor. In 1617, the law of succession changed from survival of the fittest to a system based on agnatic seniority and this in turn explains why from the 17th century onwards a deceased sultan was rarely succeeded by his own son, but usually by an uncle or brother
2.
Caesar (title)
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Caesar is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator, the change from being a familial name to a title adopted by the Roman Emperors can be dated to about AD 68/69, the so-called Year of the Four Emperors. For political and personal reasons Octavian chose to emphasize his relationship with Caesar by styling himself simply Imperator Caesar, without any of the other elements of his full name. His successor as emperor, his stepson Tiberius, also bore the name as a matter of course, born Tiberius Claudius Nero, he was adopted by Caesar Augustus on June 26,4 AD, as Tiberius Julius Caesar. The precedent was set, the Emperor designated his successor by adopting him, Claudius in turn adopted his stepson and grand-nephew Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, giving him the name Caesar in the traditional way, his stepson would rule as the Emperor Nero. Galba helped solidify Caesar as the title of the heir by giving it to his own adopted heir. Galbas reign did not last long and he was deposed by Marcus Otho. Otho did not at first use the title Caesar and occasionally used the title Nero as emperor, Otho was then defeated by Aulus Vitellius who acceded with the name Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Imperator Augustus. Vitellius did not adopt the cognomen Caesar as part of his name, vespasians son, Titus Flavius Vespasianus became Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus. By this point the status of Caesar had been regularised into that of a given to the Emperor-designate. After some variation among the earliest emperors, the style of the Emperor-designate on coins was usually Nobilissimus Caesar Most Noble Caesar, on March 1,293, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus established the Tetrarchy, a system of rule by two senior Emperors and two junior sub-Emperors. The two coequal senior emperors were styled identically to previous Emperors, as Imperator Caesar NN, pius Felix Invictus Augustus, and were called the Augusti, while the two junior sub-Emperors were styled identically to previous Emperors-designate, as Nobilissimus Caesar. Likewise, the junior sub-Emperors retained the title Caesar upon accession to the senior position, an exceptional case was the conferment of the dignity and its insignia to the Bulgarian khan Tervel by Justinian II who had helped him regain his throne in 705. The title was awarded to the brother of Empress Maria of Alania, according to the Klētorologion of 899, the Byzantine Caesars insignia were a crown without a cross, and the ceremony of a Caesars creation, is included in De Ceremoniis I.43. The title remained the highest in the hierarchy until the introduction of the sebastokratōr by Alexios I Komnenos. The title remained in existence through the last centuries of the Empire, in the late Byzantine hierarchy, as recorded in the mid-14th century Book of Offices of pseudo-Kodinos, the rank continued to come after the sebastokratōr. Pseudo-Kodinos writes that the forms of another form of hat, the domed skaranikon, and of the mantle. In the Middle East, the Persians and the Arabs continued to refer to the Roman and Byzantine emperors as Caesar
3.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques
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The title refers to the ruler taking the responsibility of guarding and maintaining the two holiest mosques in Islam, Al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina. It is believed that the first person to use the title was Saladin, after defeating the Mamluks and gaining control of the two Muslim holy cities, Mecca and Medina in 1517, the Ottoman Sultan Selim I adopted the title. Rather than style himself the Ḥākimül-Ḥaremeyn, he accepted the more pious title Ḫādimül-Ḥaremeyn and this title was used by all subsequent Ottoman Caliph Sultans until Mehmed VI, the last. The first King of Saudi Arabia to assume the title was Fahd bin Abdul Aziz in 1986 and he replaced the term His Majesty with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The reigning king, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, took the title after the death of King Abdullah, his half brother
4.
Ottoman Caliphate
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The Ottoman Caliphate, under the Ottoman dynasty of the Ottoman Empire, was the last Sunni Islamic caliphate of the late medieval and the early modern era. During the period of Ottoman growth, Ottoman rulers claimed caliphal authority since Murad Is conquest of Edirne in 1362, strengthened by the Peace of Westphalia and the Industrial Revolution, European powers regrouped and challenged Ottoman dominance. The Ottoman state defaulted on its loans in 1875-6, part of a financial crisis affecting much of the globe. Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, who ruled 1876–1909, felt that the Empires desperate situation could only be remedied through strong and determined leadership. Taking a hard-line against Western involvement in Ottoman affairs, he emphasized the Empires Islamic character, reasserted his status as the Caliph, refused to join the insurrectionists and had placed themselves under the control of our army, thereby recognizing American sovereignty. The Ottoman Sultan used his position as caliph to order the Sulu Sultan not to resist, collaboration between the American military and Sulu sultanate was due to the Sulu Sultan being persuaded by the Ottoman Sultan. As the Moros have never asked more than that, it is not surprising, if the reader will pause to consider what this means in men and also the millions in money, he will appreciate this wonderful piece of diplomacy, in averting a holy war. The Moro Rebellion then broke out in 1904 with war raging between the Americans and Moro Muslims and atrocities committed against Moro Muslim women and children such as the Moro Crater Massacre, the coup by the three Pashas in 1909 marked the end of his reign. Western-inclined Turkish military officers opposed to Abdul-Hamids rule had steadily organized in the form of secret societies within and outside Turkey. By 1906, the movement enjoyed the support of a significant portion of the army, the Young Turks sought to remodel administration of the Empire along Western lines. Their ideology was nationalist in character, and was a precursor of the movement that would seize control of Turkey following World War I, CUP leaders presented their ideas to the public as a revival of true Islamic principles. Under the leadership of Enver Pasha, a Turkish military officer, a counter-coup launched by soldiers loyal to the Sultan threatened the new government but ultimately failed. Many aspects of this revolt, which started within certain sections of the army in Constantinople, are still yet to be analyzed. Its generally admitted perception of a movement has sometimes been challenged. Abdul-Hamid was deposed on 13 April 1909 and he was replaced by his brother Rashid Effendi, who was proclaimed Sultan Mehmed V on 27 April. In 1911 Italy warred with the Ottomans over Libya, and Turkeys failure to defend these regions demonstrated the weakness of the Ottoman military. In 1912 Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece formed the Balkan League, the ensuing Balkan Wars eliminated what little presence the Ottomans had left in Europe, and only infighting between the Balkan League allies prevented them from advancing into Anatolia. Internally, the Ottomans continued to be troubled by political instability, nationalist uprisings that had plagued the Empire sporadically for the past fifty years intensified
5.
Padishah
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Its Arabized pronunciation as Badishah was used by Mughal emperors. The rulers on the following thrones – the first two effectively commanding major West Asian empires – were styled Padishah, The Shāhanshāh of Iran, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who used the Arabic version of the title, Badshah. Miangul Golshahzada Abdul Wadud of the tiny Pakistani North West Frontier state of Swat called himself badshah from November 1918 to March 1926, ahmed Shah Durrani founded the Durrani Empire in 1747 with the title Pādshah-i Afghanistan in Persian and Badcha Da Afghanistan in the Pashto language. The Sadozai were overthrown in 1823 but there was a restoration by Shah Shujah in 1839 with the help of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Empire. The last Basha bey of Tunisia, Muhammad VIII al-Amin, adopted the sovereign style padshah 20 March 1956 –25 July 1957, the paramount prestige of this title, in Islam and even beyond, is clearly apparent from the Ottoman Empires dealings with the European powers. The compound Pādshah-i-Ghazi is only recorded for two individual rulers, H. H, there is a large family of Turkish origin using the surname Badi in modern-day Libya. In 2008, a cricket team, the Lahore Badshahs, was founded. In India, Padishah is often a Muslim surname, from the trend of adopting titles as names by both royalty and commoners. In Frank Herberts 1965 novel Dune, the head of human space is styled Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe. In the Pathfinder role-playing game, the ruler of the Empire of Kelesh is styled Padishah Emperor, baig Emir Rana Shah Sultan RoyalArk — Select present country, then choose dynasty from its menu WorldStatesmen idem, more cases but less thorough Bartbleby. com Dictionary & Etymology
6.
Ahmed II
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Ahmed II was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1691 to 1695. Ahmed II was born at Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, the son of Sultan Ibrahim by Hatice Muazzez Valide Sultan, Ahmed II was born on 25 February 1643, the son of Sultan Ibrahim and Hatice Muazzez Sultan. During reigns of his brothers, Ahmed was imprisoned in Kafes. During his short reign, Sultan Ahmed II devoted most of his attention to the wars against the Habsburgs and related foreign policy, governmental, of these, the most important were the tax reforms and the introduction of the lifelong tax farm system. Among the most important features of Ahmed’s reign was his reliance on Köprülüzade Fazıl Mustafa Pasha, following his accession to the throne, Sultan Ahmed II confirmed Köprülüzade Fazıl Mustafa Pasha in his office as grand vizier. Like his father Köprülü Mehmed Pasha before him, he ordered the removal and execution of dozens of state officials of the previous regime. He overhauled the tax system by adjusting it to the capabilities of the affected by the latest wars. He also reformed troop mobilization and increased the pool of available for the army by drafting tribesmen in the Balkans. In the confrontation, recognized by contemporaries as “the bloodiest battle of the century, ” the Ottomans suffered heavy losses,20,000 men, including the grand vizier. With him, the sultan lost his most capable military commander and the last member of the Köprülü family, under Fazıl Mustafa Pasha’s successors, the Ottomans suffered further defeats. In June 1692 the Habsburgs conquered Várad, the seat of an Ottoman governor since 1660, in 1694 they attempted to recapture Várad, but to no avail. On January 12,1695, they surrendered the fortress of Gyula, with the fall of Gyula, the only territory still in Ottoman hands in Hungary was to the east of the River Tisza and to the south of the river Maros, with its center at Temesvár. Three weeks later, on February 6,1695, Ahmed II died in Edirne Palace, sons Şehzade Ibrahim, with Rabia Sultan, twin with Selim, became Crown Prince on 22 August 1703, Şehzade Selim, with Rabia Sultan, twin with Ibrahim. Daughters Asiye Sultan, with Rabia, Hatice Sultan, osmans Dream, The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923. Michael Hochendlinger, Austria’s Wars of Emergence, War, State and Society in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1683–1797, media related to Ahmed II at Wikimedia Commons Works written by or about Ahmed II at Wikisource
7.
Ahmed III
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Ahmed III was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of Sultan Mehmed IV. His mother was Emetullah Rabia Gülnûş Sultan, originally named Evmania Voria and he was born at Hajioglupazari, in Dobruja. He succeeded to the throne in 1703 on the abdication of his brother Mustafa II, nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha and the Sultans daughter, Hatice Sultan directed the government from 1718 to 1730, a period referred to as the Tulip Era. Ahmed III cultivated good relations with France, doubtless in view of Russias menacing attitude and he afforded refuge in Ottoman territory to Charles XII of Sweden after the Swedish defeat at the hands of Peter I of Russia in the Battle of Poltava of 1709. In 1710 Charles XII convinced Sultan Ahmed III to declare war against Russia, the subsequent Ottoman victories against Russia enabled the Ottoman Empire to advance to Moscow, had the Sultan wished. However, this was halted as a report reached Istanbul that the Safavids were invading the Ottoman Empire, causing a period of panic, Ahmed voluntarily led his nephew Mahmud I to the seat of sovereignty and paid allegiance to him as Sultan of the Empire. He then retired to the Kafes previously occupied by Mahmud and died at Topkapı Palace after six years of confinement, the reign of Ahmed III lasted for twenty-seven years and was not unsuccessful. The Phanariotes constituted a kind of Dhimmi nobility, which supplied the Porte with functionaries in many important departments of the state. In the year 1712, the Mughal Emperor Jahandar Shah, a grandson of Aurangzeb sent gifts to the Ottoman Sultan Ahmad III, Şehzade Isa, son of Hurram Kadin Effendi. Şehzade Selim, son of Hurram Kadin Effendi, Şehzade Abdul Majid, twin with Abdul Malik. Şehzade Abdul Malik, twin with Abdul Majid, Şehzade Sultan Sulaiman Khan, son of Aminā Mihrişah Effendi. Şehzade Mehmed, son of Hurram Kadin Effendi, Şehzade Selim, twin with Saliha Sultan, son of Hatim Khanum Effendi. Şehzade Sultan Mehmed Khan, Crown Prince since 13 December 1754, Mustafa III, son of Aminā Mihrişah Effendi. Şehzade Sultan Bayazid Khan, Crown Prince since 30 January 1757, Şehzade Abdullah, son of Hurram Kadin Effendi. Şehzade Orkhan, son of Hurram Kadin Effendi, Şehzade Sultan Numan Khan, Second Crown Prince since 30 January 1757. Abdul Hamid I, son of Rabia Sharmi Effendi, fatma Sultan, daughter of Emetullah Banu Bas Kadin Effendi. Married, firstly 13 May 1709, H. H. Damad Fazil Ali Pasha, secondly 18 February 1717, H. H. Damad Ibrahim Pasha, Grand Vizier. Khadija Sultan, daughter of Rukiya Kadin Effendi, Zainab Sultan, twin with Ümmügülsüm Sultan, daughter of Aminā Mihrişah Effendi
8.
Edirne Palace
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Edirne Palace, or formerly New Imperial Palace was a palace of the Ottoman sultans in Edirne, mostly during the era when the city was the capital of the empire. Few of the buildings have survived until now, however works are underway for its reconstruction. The palace was built in a ground and woods covering 30–35 ha land north of the city on the west bank of Tunca river. Construction of the began in 1450 during the reign of Murad II. After some time of interruption, it was completed by Mehmed the Conqueror in 1475. In the following years, the palace was continuously maintained and extended with new buildings around it during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, Ahmed I, Mehmed IV, Ahmed II and Ahmed III. The palace remained unused from 1718, when Ahmed III relocated his seat to Istanbul, until 1768, during the period of a half-century vacancy, the palace fell into a state of dilapidation. The destruction continued by the 1752 earthquake and the 1776 fire, in 1825, some parts of the palace were repaired by Mahmud II. The palace was damaged heavily when the Russian forces occupying Edirne in 1829 when they used it as a military camp, between 1868 and 1873, many buildings of the palace complex underwent restoration by the city governors of the time. The structural elements of the palace were then plundered to be used elsewhere. Archaeologist Mustafa Özer of Bahçeşehir University, who leads the excavation works at site, Özer stresses the importance of the palace photos for the rebuilding and restoration works, and believes that more photos exist. The palace complex consisted of 72 different buildings with 117 rooms,14 mansions,18 bathhouses,8 masjids or mosques,17 gates and 13 cellars. At the time of its glory, around 34,000 people living in the area were served by about 6,000 servants. The main building of the palace was called Cihannüma Kasrı, aka Taht-ı Hümayun, consisting of sultans room, flag room, library, masjid, to the south of the pavilion, three adjacent pavilions were added for Mehmed IV, Mustafa II and Ahmed III. As a continuation to those buildings, there were rooms for the valide sultan, the four sultan wives, the şehzade, the cariye, the officers and guards, an infirmary. West to the pavllion in front of the hall, a gate called Babüs Saade for Felicity Gate. Structuring of the area around the palace took place with cobbling of the Tunca riverbed, Edirne Palace entered, so to speak, a second structuring era with Suleiman the Magnificent and his master architect Mimar Sinan. During this time, the palace was redesigned, its topography was reorganized
9.
Edirne
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Edirne served as the third capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1363 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empires fourth and final capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of Edirne Province in Turkish Thrace, the citys estimated population in 2014 was 165,979. The city was founded as Hadrianopolis, named for the Roman Emperor Hadrian and this name is still used in the Modern Greek. The name Adrianople was used in English, until the Turkish adoption of Latin alphabet in 1928 made Edirne the internationally recognized name. The Turkish, Edirne, Bulgarian, Одрин, Albanian, Edrêne, Slovene, Одрин and Serbian, Једрене / Jedrene are adapted forms of the name Hadrianopolis or of its Turkish version, see also its other names. The area around Edirne has been the site of no fewer than 16 major battles or sieges, military historian John Keegan identifies it as the most contested spot on the globe and attributes this to its geographical location. According to Greek mythology, Orestes, son of king Agamemnon, built this city as Orestias, at the confluence of the Tonsus and the Ardiscus with the Hebrus. The city was founded eponymously by the Roman Emperor Hadrian on the site of a previous Thracian settlement known as Uskadama, Uskudama, Uskodama or Uscudama and it was the capital of the Bessi, or of the Odrysians. Hadrian developed it, adorned it with monuments, changed its name to Hadrianopolis after himself, licinius was defeated there by Constantine I in 323, and Emperor Valens was killed by the Goths in 378 during the Battle of Adrianople. In 813, the city was seized by Khan Krum of Bulgaria who moved its inhabitants to the Bulgarian lands towards the north of the Danube. During the existence of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, the Crusaders were decisively defeated by the Bulgarian Emperor Kaloyan in the Battle of Adrianople. Later Theodore Komnenos, Despot of Epirus, took possession of it in 1227, in 1369, the city was conquered by the Ottoman sultan Murad I. The city remained the Ottoman capital for 90 years until 1453, Edirne is famed for its many mosques, domes, minarets, and palaces from the Ottoman period. Under Ottoman rule, Edirne was the city of the administrative unit, the eponymous Eyalet of Edirne, and after land reforms in 1867. Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, was born in Edirne, Sultan Mehmed IV left the palace in Constantinople and died in Edirne in 1693. During his exile in the Ottoman Empire, the Swedish king Charles XII stayed in the city during most of 1713, baháulláh, the founder of the Baháí Faith, lived in Edirne from 1863 to 1868. He was exiled there by the Ottoman Empire before being banished further to the Ottoman penal colony in Akka and he referred to Edirne in his writings as the Land of Mystery. Edirne was briefly occupied by imperial Russian troops in 1829 during the Greek War of Independence, the city suffered a fire in 1905
10.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
Media related to Mustafa II at Wikimedia Commons
