On April 27, 1494, the 10th ruler of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent, was born, during whose reign one of the most popular Turkish TV series “The Magnificent Age” is dedicated. His release on the screens caused an ambiguous reaction from the public: ordinary viewers followed the twists and turns of the plot with interest, historians indignantly commented on the large number of deviations from historical truth. What was Sultan Suleiman really like?
The main characters of the series *The Magnificent Century*
The series is designed primarily for a female audience, so the relationship between the Sultan and the numerous inhabitants of the harem became the central storyline in it. A descendant of the 33rd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Murad V, Osman Salahaddin objects to this emphasis: “He ruled for 46 years. Over the years, I have traveled almost 50,000 kilometers on campaigns. Not in a Mercedes, but on horseback. This took a lot of time. Therefore, the Sultan simply physically could not visit his harem so often.
Francis I and Sultan Suleiman
Of course, the film initially did not claim to be a documentary historical film, so the proportion of fiction in it is really large. The consultant of the series, Doctor of Historical Sciences E. Afyonci explains: “We shoveled a lot of sources. They translated records of Venetian, German, French ambassadors who visited the Ottoman Empire at that time. In The Magnificent Century, events and personalities are taken from historical sources. However, due to lack of information, the personal life of the padishah had to be thought out by ourselves.”
Sultan Suleiman receives the ruler of Transylvania, Janos II Zapolya. antique miniature
Sultan Suleiman was not accidentally called the Magnificent - he was the same figure as Peter I in Russia: he initiated many progressive reforms. Even in Europe he was called the Great. The empire during the time of Sultan Suleiman conquered vast territories.
Engraving fragment *Turkish Sultan's Bath*
The series softened the true picture of the mores of that time: society is shown to be more secular and less cruel than it really was. Suleiman was a tyrant, according to G. Weber, neither kinship nor merit saved him from suspicion and cruelty. At the same time, he fought against bribery and severely punished officials for abuse. At the same time, he patronized poets, artists, architects and wrote poetry himself.
Left - A. Hickel. Roksolana and the Sultan, 1780. On the right - Halit Ergench as Sultan Suleiman and Meryem Uzerli as Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska
Of course, screen heroes look much more attractive than their historical prototypes. The surviving portraits of Sultan Suleiman captured a man with delicate features of a European type, who can hardly be called handsome. The same can be said about Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, known in Europe as Roksolana. Women's outfits in the series reflect European fashion rather than Ottoman - there were no such deep necklines during the "Magnificent Age".
Meryem Uzerli as Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska and traditional Ottoman outfit
Intrigues and squabbles between Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska and the third wife of the Sultan Mahidevran, who are given great attention in the film, also took place in real life: if the heir to the throne, the son of Mahidevran Mustafa came to power, he would have killed Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska's children to get rid of competitors. Therefore, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was ahead of her rival and was not slow to give the order to kill Mustafa.
S. Oreshkova, an employee of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, draws attention to the fact that the harem is shown not quite the way it really was: “It is surprising that in the series the concubines and wives of Suleiman roam so freely. There was a garden at the harem, and only eunuchs could be with them! In addition, the series does not show that the harem in those days was not only the place where the sultan's wives with children, servants and concubines lived. Then the harem was partly like an institution of noble maidens - it contained many pupils who were not marked as the wife of the ruler. They studied music, dance, poetry.” Therefore, it is not surprising that some girls dreamed of getting into the harem of the Sultan.
In 1494, the 10th ruler of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent, was born, during whose reign one of the most popular Turkish TV series “The Magnificent Age” is dedicated. His release on the screens caused an ambiguous reaction from the public: ordinary viewers followed the twists and turns of the plot with interest, historians indignantly commented on the large number of deviations from historical truth. What was Sultan Suleiman really like?
The main characters of the series *The Magnificent Century*
The series is designed primarily for a female audience, so the relationship between the Sultan and the numerous inhabitants of the harem became the central storyline in it. A descendant of the 33rd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Murad V, Osman Salahaddin objects to this emphasis: “He ruled for 46 years. Over the years, I have traveled almost 50,000 kilometers on campaigns. Not in a Mercedes, but on horseback. This took a lot of time. Therefore, the Sultan simply physically could not visit his harem so often.
Francis I and Sultan Suleiman
Of course, the film initially did not claim to be a documentary historical film, so the proportion of fiction in it is really large. The consultant of the series, Doctor of Historical Sciences E. Afyonci explains: “We shoveled a lot of sources. They translated records of Venetian, German, French ambassadors who visited the Ottoman Empire at that time. In The Magnificent Century, events and personalities are taken from historical sources. However, due to lack of information, the personal life of the padishah had to be thought out by ourselves.”
Sultan Suleiman receives the ruler of Transylvania, Janos II Zapolya. antique miniature
Sultan Suleiman was not accidentally called the Magnificent - he was the same figure as Peter I in Russia: he initiated many progressive reforms. Even in Europe he was called the Great. The empire during the time of Sultan Suleiman conquered vast territories.
Engraving fragment *Turkish Sultan's Bath*
The series softened the true picture of the mores of that time: society is shown to be more secular and less cruel than it really was. Suleiman was a tyrant, according to G. Weber, neither kinship nor merit saved him from suspicion and cruelty. At the same time, he fought against bribery and severely punished officials for abuse. At the same time, he patronized poets, artists, architects and wrote poetry himself. 
Left - A. Hickel. Roksolana and the Sultan, 1780. On the right - Halit Ergench as Sultan Suleiman and Meryem Uzerli as Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska
Of course, screen heroes look much more attractive than their historical prototypes. The surviving portraits of Sultan Suleiman captured a man with delicate features of a European type, who can hardly be called handsome. The same can be said about Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, known in Europe as Roksolana. Women's outfits in the series reflect European fashion rather than Ottoman - there were no such deep necklines during the "Magnificent Age".
Meryem Uzerli as Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska and traditional Ottoman outfit
Intrigues and squabbles between Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska and the third wife of the Sultan Mahidevran, who are given great attention in the film, also took place in real life: if the heir to the throne, the son of Mahidevran Mustafa came to power, he would have killed Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska's children to get rid of competitors. Therefore, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was ahead of her rival and was not slow to give the order to kill Mustafa.
S. Oreshkova, an employee of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, draws attention to the fact that the harem is shown not quite the way it really was: “It is surprising that in the series the concubines and wives of Suleiman roam so freely. There was a garden at the harem, and only eunuchs could be with them! In addition, the series does not show that the harem in those days was not only the place where the sultan's wives with children, servants and concubines lived. Then the harem was partly like an institution of noble maidens - it contained many pupils who were not marked as the wife of the ruler. They studied music, dance, poetry.” Therefore, it is not surprising that some girls dreamed of getting into the harem of the Sultan.
Portrait of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
In 1494, in the city of Trabzon, a boy was born into the family of the great Ottoman dynasty. At birth, he was given the name Suleiman. His father was Shehzade Selim and his mother was Aishe Hafsa.
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was the tenth sultan of the great Ottoman Empire. The history of his reign began in the autumn, on September 22, 1520. And it lasted until September 6, 1566.
The first thing that Sultan Suleiman I did, having ascended the throne, he released all the Egyptian captives from noble families, whom the previous sultan kept in chains. This fact unspeakably rejoiced in Europe. But they missed the fact that Suleiman, although he was not as cruel and bloodthirsty as he was, was still a conqueror. In 1521, Sultan Suleiman led his first military campaign against Belgrade. Since then, he has constantly fought and captured cities and fortresses, subjugating entire states.
Sultan Suleiman went on his last military campaign on May 1, 1566. On the 7th of August, the Sultan's army proceeded to capture Szigetvarai. But in September of the same year, during the siege of the fortress, Sultan Suleiman died in his tent from dysentery. Suleiman was then 71 years old.
The Sultan's body was taken to the capital Istanbul and buried in the Suleymaniye Mosque, next to the mausoleum of Hürrem Sultan's beloved wife.
The character of Sultan Suleiman
Sultan Suleiman I was a creative person. He loved peace and tranquility. He was also famous as a skilled jeweler, wrote beautiful poems, loved philosophy. Suleiman also possessed Kuznetsk skills and even personally participated in the ebb of guns.
Sultan Suleiman for jewelry work in the TV series Magnificent Century During the reign of Suleiman, grandiose buildings were created. Palaces, bridges, mosques, especially the world-famous Suleymaniye Mosque, which is the second largest mosque in Istanbul - they all show us the unique style of the Ottoman Empire.
Sultan Suleiman uncompromisingly fought against bribery. He severely punished all officials who abused their position. The people loved the Sultan for his good deeds. He built schools so that children could be educated. Suleiman released all the artisans who were forcibly taken out of their cities. But Georg Weber wrote that "he was a ruthless tyrant: neither merit nor kinship saved him from suspicion and cruelty."
But he was not a tyrant. On the contrary, Sultan Suleiman was a just ruler and never ignored his people and helped all those in need.
Suleiman had a habit of dressing up as a poor man or a rich foreigner so that no one would recognize him. In this form, he entered the market. So he learned the news in the city and what his people thought of him and his reign.
Sultan Suleiman was an excellent strategist. He conquered many states and subjugated the inhabitants of many cities, for which he received the nickname "Lord of the World."
Family of Sultan Suleiman
Suleiman respected family traditions and never went against the family. He especially revered his mother Hafsa Valide Sultan. With her, he developed a warm and trusting relationship. They always corresponded when Suleiman went on military campaigns. And in the first years of his reign, Suleiman enjoyed her great support in political affairs. Until Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska appeared in his life, who, after training, took over the support of Suleiman.
Sultan Suleiman and his mother Valide Sultan in the TV series Magnificent Century Apparently Valide was against her son's marriage to Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska. Because Suleiman married his beloved only after the death of his mother. Although before that there were no legal prohibitions for their marriage.
Communication with the sisters of the Sultan was also warm and friendly. He always helped them and even listened to their advice. The sisters saw him as an ideal. But later, relations with some began to deteriorate. Beihan Sultan was never able to forgive her brother Sultan for the execution of her husband Ferhat Pasha. She even openly wished him dead.
Sisters of Suleiman in the TV series Magnificent Century The ruler treated his first wife, Mahidevran, with respect. He loved his son Mustafa very much, whom she bore him. And he was pleased with the way she brought him up. But after Mahidevran beat Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, he alienated his wife from himself.
Mahidevran Sultan and Shehzade Mustafa Suleiman treated all his sons equally. He loved each of them and singled out no one. He did not like quarrels among his heirs, and therefore he always strived to improve relations with every shehzade.
The sons of Sultan Suleiman in the TV series Magnificent Age Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was the closest and dearest person to the Sultan. He fell in love with her cheerful disposition and cheerful character. It was for this that he gave her the name Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, which meant "bringing fun and joy." And he was deeply saddened by her loss.
Hürrem's death in the TV series Magnificent Century Children of Sultan Suleiman
Suleiman, as expected, had his own harem. He first became a father at the age of 18. His first son was Mahmud, who was born in 1512 from the first favorite Fulane. But, alas, during the smallpox epidemic in 1521, on November 29, the boy died at the age of 9 years. And his mother did not play any serious role in the life of the Sultan, and in 1550 she died.
The second son of Murad in 1513 was presented to Suleiman by his second favorite, Gulfem. But this boy was also destined to die of smallpox at the age of 8. Like his older brother, he died of a smallpox epidemic in 1521. Gulfem ceased to be the Sultan's concubine and no longer gave birth to his children. But she remained for a long time a true friend to Sultan Suleiman. However, in 1562, on the orders of Suleiman, Gulfem was strangled.
Mahidevran Sultan and little Mustafa Mahidevran Sultan was the third favorite of the Sultan, who, most likely, bore him several children. She gave birth to the well-known shehzade Mustafa in 1515. Mustafa was very popular among the people of Turkey. Mustafa was accused of rebellion against his father, Sultan Suleiman, and on his orders he was executed in 1553. He was 38 years old. His mother was exiled to Bursa, where she lived for a long time in terrible anguish and terrible poverty. However, Sultan Selim, after the death of her father, returned her status as a sultana, paid her debts, bought a house and assigned a pension. Mahidevran outlived Suleiman's entire family and died in 1581 at about 80 years of age. She was buried in Bursa, next to her son in the mausoleum of Shehzade Mustafa.
Becoming the fourth and only favorite of the Sultan, in 1534 she managed to marry Suleiman officially. It is likely that she became the mother of not five, but six children.
Their firstborn in 1521 was the son of Mehmed. Then in 1522 their daughter Mehrimah was born. After that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska in 1523. gave birth to a son, Abdullah. But Mahidevran is also attributed to Shehzade Abdullah, so this fact remains inaccurate. The next son, shehzade Selima, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska gave birth in 1524. In 1525, she again gave the Sultan a son, who was named Bayezid. But in the same year, shehzade Abdullah dies. In 1531 Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska gave birth to her last son, Cihangir.
Hürrem's protege for the post of Grand Vizier was Rustem Pasha, for whom the only daughter of the Sultan Mehrimah was given. In Europe, the news that the Sultan's daughter married a former groom was ridiculed. After all, they are accustomed to equilateral marriages. However, for Sultan Suleiman, first of all, human qualities, intelligence and insight were important.
Mehrimah Sultan and Rustem Pasha It is possible that Sultan Suleiman had another daughter who was able to survive in infancy and survive all diseases. Razi Sultan. Who her mother is and whether she really was the blood daughter of the Sultan is not known. This is indirectly indicated by the inscriptions on the burial in the turba of Yahya Efendi “Carefree Razie Sultan, the blood daughter of Kanuni Sultan Suleiman and the spiritual daughter of Yahya Efendi.”
By the end of the reign of Sultan Suleiman I, it became obvious that the struggle for the throne among his remaining sons was inevitable. Şehzade Mustafa was executed as a rebel (it is not known whether he was actually a rebel or he was slandered), Mustafa's seven-year-old son Mehmed was also strangled. Hurrem and Suleiman's son Mehmed died in 1543. And Jihangir was very weak physically and died shortly after the execution of shehzade Mustafa. It is said that he died of longing for his murdered older brother.
Shehzade Selim and Shehzade Bayezid Suleiman had only two sons left, who began to fight for the right to inherit the throne. After the death of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan, shehzade Bayezid rebelled against his older brother Selim and was defeated. The rebellious shehzade was executed by the verdict of his father, the Sultan, in 1561. His five sons were killed along with him. .
Suleiman I the Magnificent (Conqueror, Kanuni)
Suleiman became one of the most celebrated Ottoman sultans (r. 1520–1566). Encyclopedias about this eastern ruler say the following:
“Suleiman I the Magnificent (Kanuni; tour. Birinci S?leyman, Kanuni Sultan S?leyman; November 6, 1494 - September 5/6, 1566) - the tenth sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who ruled from September 22, 1520, caliph from 1538. Suleiman is considered the greatest sultan from the Ottoman dynasty; under him, the Ottoman Porte reached its apogee. In Europe, Suleiman is most often called Suleiman the Magnificent, while in the Muslim world, Suleiman Kanuni (“Just”).”
About the appearance, education and character of the Sultan
The Venetian envoy Bartolomeo Contarini, a few weeks after Suleiman ascended the throne, wrote about him: “He is twenty-five years old, he is tall, strong, with a pleasant expression on his face. His neck is slightly longer than usual, his face is thin, his nose is aquiline. He has a mustache and a small beard; nevertheless, the facial expression is pleasing, although the skin tends to be excessively pale. They say about him that he is a wise ruler who loves to learn, and all people hope for his good rule.
Suleiman I the Magnificent. Venetian engraving
This charming young man, as passionately as he loved to study, loved to fight. About his education, the English author Kinross writes: “Educated at the palace school in Istanbul, he spent most of his youth in books and activities that contributed to the development of his spiritual world, and began to be perceived by the inhabitants of Istanbul and Edirne (Adrianople) with respect and love.
Suleiman also received a good training in administrative matters as a junior governor of three different provinces.
He thus had to grow into a statesman who combined experience and knowledge, a man of action. At the same time, he remains a cultured and tactful person, worthy of the Renaissance, in which he was born.
Finally, Suleiman was a man of sincere religious convictions, which developed in him a spirit of kindness and tolerance, without any trace of paternal fanaticism. Most of all, he was highly inspired by the idea of his own duty as the "Leader of the Faithful". Following the traditions of the ghazis of his ancestors, he was a holy warrior, obliged from the very beginning of his reign to prove his military might compared to that of the Christians. He sought to achieve in the West with the help of imperial conquests what his father, Selim, managed to achieve in the East.
The book "General History" by the famous German historian and philologist of the 19th century Georg Weber says about Sultan Suleiman: "... he won the favor of the people with good deeds, let go of forcibly exported artisans, built schools, but there was a ruthless tyrant: neither kinship nor merit saved him from suspicion and cruelty.
Some military campaigns of Sultan Suleiman the Conqueror
In the book of the historian Y. Petrosyan "Ottoman Empire" it is said that from the first days of being in power, Suleiman went on a military campaign, conquering cities and countries.
“In 1521, the Turks besieged Belgrade, which was then part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its garrison defended fiercely, repelling about 20 attacks by Turkish troops. Suleiman's cannons, mounted on an island in the waters of the Danube, continuously smashed the fortress walls. The forces of the besieged were drying up. When the defenders had only 400 fighters left in the ranks, the garrison was forced to surrender. Most of the prisoners were killed by the Turks.
After the capture of Belgrade, Suleiman suspended military operations in Hungary for some time, sending a naval expedition - 300 ships with ten thousand troops - to the island of Rhodes. The warships of the Rhodes knights often attacked Turkish ships on the routes connecting Istanbul with the possessions of the Ottomans in Arabia. The Turks landed on Rhodes at the end of July 1522. The siege of the fortress of Rhodes turned out to be protracted, several attacks were repulsed with huge losses for the Turks. Only after strengthening the besieging army with a huge ground army, in which there were up to 100 thousand soldiers, Suleiman was able to achieve victory. At the end of December 1522, the fortress capitulated, but the success cost the Turks 50,000 dead. The Janissaries ravaged the city to the ground, while the Sultan, meanwhile, continued to execute the terrible decree of Mehmed II on fratricide. Upon learning that the nephew of Bayezid II (the son of his brother Cem) was hiding in the city of Rhodes, Suleiman ordered that this Ottoman prince be found and executed along with his young son.
Battle of Mohacs in 1526. Artist Bertalan Shekeli
In April 1526, a huge Turkish army (100 thousand soldiers and 300 cannons) moved to Hungary, engulfed in feudal turmoil and peasant unrest. Along the Danube sailed, accompanying the land army, several hundred small rowboats with Janissaries on board. The Hungarian feudal lords were so afraid of their peasants that they did not dare to arm them in the face of the Turkish danger. In July 1526, the Turks besieged the fortress of Petervaradin. They managed to bring a tunnel under the walls and mine them. Through the gap formed during the explosion, the Turks rushed into the fortress. Petervaradin fell, 500 surviving defenders were beheaded, and 300 people were taken into slavery.
The main battle for the lands of Hungary took place on August 29, 1526 near the city of Mohacs, located in a flat area on the right bank of the Danube. The Hungarian army was much inferior to the Turkish in numbers and weapons. King Lajos II had 25 thousand soldiers and only 80 cannons.<…>Suleiman allowed the Hungarian cavalry to break through the first line of the Turkish troops, and when the king's cavalry regiments entered the battle with the Janissary units, the Turkish artillery suddenly began to shoot them almost point-blank. Almost the entire Hungarian army was destroyed. The king himself died. Mohacs was looted and burned.
The victory at Mohacs opened the way for the Turks to the Hungarian capital. Two weeks after this battle, Sultan Suleiman entered Buda. The city surrendered without a fight, the Sultan made Janos Zapolya king, who recognized himself as his vassal. Then the Turkish army moved back, taking tens of thousands of prisoners with them. The convoy contained valuables from the palace of the Hungarian king, including the richest library. The path of the Sultan's troops to Buda and back was marked by hundreds of devastated cities and villages. Hungary was literally devastated. The human losses were enormous - the country lost about 200 thousand people, that is, almost a tenth of its population.
When the army of Suleiman I left the Hungarian lands, a struggle for the royal throne began between Janos Zápolya and a group of pro-Austrian Hungarian feudal lords. Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria captured Buda. Zapolya asked the Sultan for help. This caused a new campaign of Suleiman in Hungary.
This, however, did not happen immediately, because for some time the sultan was busy suppressing peasant riots in a number of regions of Asia Minor, caused by an increase in taxes and the arbitrariness of tax farmers who collected them.<…>
After the completion of punitive operations in Asia Minor, Suleiman I began to prepare for a campaign in Hungary, intending to restore the power of Janos Zápolya and strike at Austria. In September 1529, the Turkish army, supported by the Zapolya detachments, took Buda and restored the Sultan's henchman to the Hungarian throne. Then the Sultan's troops moved to Vienna. From late September to mid-October 1529, the Turks stormed the walls of Vienna, but faced the courage and organization of its defenders.
Suleiman the Magnificent. Artist Melchior Loris
So - in wars and robberies - the first decade of the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent passed. And it was in these same eventful years that the Sultan's harem had its own great battle - a fierce battle for the heart, arms and soul of Sultan Suleiman. And this campaign was headed by the beautiful Polonian Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, who by the beginning of the 1530s became the mother of several heirs - shah-zade.
After the European conquests, Sultan Suleiman intends to capture Iran and Baghdad, his army is victorious in battles, both on land and at sea. Soon the Mediterranean Sea becomes under the control of Turkey.
The result of such a successful policy of conquest was that the lands of the empire turned out to be the largest in the world in terms of area occupied by one power. 110 million people - the population of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI century. The Ottoman Empire stretched over eight million square kilometers and had three administrative divisions: European, Asian, African.
Legislator and educator
Sultan Suleiman, just like his father, was fond of poetry, and until the end of his days he wrote talented poetic works full of oriental flavor and philosophizing. He also paid great attention to the development of culture and art in the empire, inviting craftsmen from different countries. He paid special attention to architecture. Under him, many beautiful buildings and places of worship were built, which have survived to this day. Among historians, the opinion prevails that important government posts in the Ottoman Empire in the year of the reign of Sultan Suleiman were received not so much thanks to titles, but thanks to merit and intelligence. As the researchers note, Suleiman attracted the best minds of that time, the most gifted people, to his country. For him, there were no titles when it came to the good for his state. He rewarded those who were worthy of it, they paid him boundless devotion.
European leaders were amazed by the flourishing Ottoman Empire and wanted to know what was the reason for the unexpected success of the "wild nation". We know about the meeting of the Venetian Senate, at which, after the ambassador's report on what was happening in the empire, the following question was asked:
"Do you think that a simple shepherd can become a grand vizier?"
The answer was:
“Yes, in the empire everyone is proud that he is a slave of the Sultan. A high state person may be of low birth. The strength of Islam is growing at the expense of second-class people born in other countries and baptized as Christians.
Indeed, Suleiman's eight grand viziers were Christians and were brought to Turkey as slaves. The pirate king of the Mediterranean, Barbary, a pirate known to Europeans as Barbarossa, became Suleiman's admiral, who led the fleet in battles against Italy, Spain and North Africa.
And only those who represented the sacred law, judges and teachers were the sons of Turkey, brought up on the deep traditions of the Koran.
Daily routine of Sultan Suleiman
Lord Kinross' book, The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, describes Suleiman's daily life in the palace, where everything, from morning outings to evening receptions, followed a certain strict ritual.
Sultan Suleiman was played by Halit Ergench in the series "The Magnificent Century"
Morning. When the sultan got up from the couch in the morning, people from among the closest courtiers had to dress him. At the same time, in the pockets of outerwear, worn by the ruler only once, they put: twenty gold ducats in one pocket and a thousand silver coins in the other. Undistributed coins, like clothes at the end of the day, became “tips” for bedding.
Food for his three meals throughout the day was brought by a long procession of pages. The Sultan ate in complete solitude, although a doctor was present with him as a precaution against possible poisoning.
The sultan slept on three raspberry-colored velvet mattresses - one of down and two of cotton - covered with sheets of expensive thin fabric, and in winter wrapped in the softest sable or black fox fur. At the same time, the head of the ruler rested on two green pillows with a twisted ornament. A gilded canopy rose above his couch, and around him were four tall wax candles on silver candlesticks, at which, throughout the night, there were four armed guards who extinguished the candles from the side in which the Sultan could turn, and guarded him until he woke up.
Every night, as a security measure, the Sultan, at his discretion, slept in a different room.
Day. Most of his day was occupied with official audiences and consultations with officials. But when there were no meetings of the Divan, he could devote his time to leisure: reading books about the exploits of the great conquerors; studying religious and philosophical treatises; listening to music; laughing at the antics of dwarfs; watching the writhing bodies of wrestlers, or perhaps having fun with their concubines.
Evening. In the afternoon, after a siesta on two mattresses - one brocade, embroidered with silver, and the other - embroidered with gold, the Sultan might wish to cross the strait to the Asian shore of the Bosphorus to rest in the beautiful gardens here. Or the palace itself might offer him rest and recuperation in an inner garden planted with palms, cypresses, and laurels, adorned with a glass-topped pavilion over which cascades of sparkling water flowed.
Sultan Suleiman's entertainment in public justified his fame as a fan of splendor. When, in an effort to divert attention from his first defeat at Vienna, he celebrated the feast of the circumcision of his five sons in the summer of 1530, the festivities lasted three weeks.
The hippodrome was turned into a city of brightly draped tents with a majestic pavilion in the center, in which the Sultan sat before his people on a throne with lapis lazuli columns. Above it shone a stole of gold, inlaid with precious stones, and under it, covering the whole earth around, lay expensive soft carpets. Around were tents of various colors.
Between official ceremonies with their magnificent processions and luxurious banquets, the Hippodrome offered many entertainments for the people. There were games, tournaments, exhibition wrestling and a demonstration of the art of riding; dances, concerts, shadow theatre, performances of battle scenes and great sieges; performances with clowns, magicians, an abundance of acrobats, with cascades of fireworks in the night sky - and all this on a scale never seen before.
Suleiman on the hunt. Ottoman miniature
About the genocide of the Algerians and the letter of Suleiman I to the French king
Among other names in the name of Sultan Suleiman there were colorful prefixes that spoke of his deeds and passions and the attitude of the people towards him. He was called Sultan Suleiman Khan Khazretleri, Caliph of Muslims and Lord of the planet. He was addressed: Magnificent; Kanuni (Legislator; Just) and so on. The inscription on the Suleymaniye Mosque, built in honor of Suleiman, reads: “Distributor of the laws of the Sultan. The most important merit of Suleiman, as a Legislator, was the establishment of Islamic culture in the world.
More recently, his name was remembered from high political tribunes. During a visit in December 2011 by then French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Turkey, Prime Minister Erdogan read out a message from Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, once addressed to the King of France. The paper was taken out of the archives in connection with talks about the adoption of a law on the Armenian genocide in the French Parliament.
Erdogan then began his speech like this:
- In 1945, the population of Algeria was subjected to violence by the French army. According to some reports, 15% of the population of Algeria was destroyed. This tragedy is rightfully considered the genocide of Algerians by the French. Algerians were ruthlessly burned in furnaces. If the President of France, respected Sarkozy, does not know this, let him ask his father Paul Sarkozy. Nicolas Sarkozy's father, Paul Sarkozy, served in the French Legion in Algeria in the 1940s... I want to show you a historical fact here. The event took place in 1526 after the occupation of France, when the Ottoman Caliph Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent wrote a letter to the captive French King Francis I.
After that, Prime Minister Erdogan read the Sultan's message to the French king:
“I, the great sultan, the khakan of all khakans, crowning kings, am the earthly shadow of Allah, my spear burns with fire, my sword brings victory, padishah and sultan of vast territories that our grandfathers conquered in the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, Anatolia, Karaman, Sivas, Zul-Qaderia, Diyarbakir, Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, Ajem, Shame (Damascus), Aleppo, Egypt, Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Arabia and Yemen - Sultan Suleiman Khan.
And you, King of France, Francis, sending a letter to my gates, which are the haven of kings, you notified us of your captivity and imprisonment, since your country was subject to occupation. To save yourself from this situation, you cry out to me for help. May your souls be calm, do not despair. There will be only what Allah has ordained. You will find out from your ambassador what you need to do.
Son of Selim Suleiman. 1526. Istanbul.
Personal life: wives, concubines, children
The first concubine who gave birth to Suleiman's son - Fulane. She gave birth to a son, Mahmud, who died during a smallpox epidemic on November 29, 1521. In the life of the Sultan, she played practically no role, and in 1550 she died.
The second concubine was named Gulfem Khatun. In 1521, she gave birth to the Sultan's son Murad, who died of smallpox in the same year. Gulfem was excommunicated from the Sultan and did not give birth to more children, but for a long time she remained a true friend to the Sultan. Gulfem was strangled by order of Suleiman in 1562.
Mahidevran Sultan with his son Mustafa. In the TV series "The Magnificent Century" they were played by Nur Aysan and Mehmet Gunsur
The third concubine of the Sultan was the Circassian Mahidevran Sultan, known as Gulbahar (Spring Rose). Mahidevran Sultan and Sultan Suleiman had a son: Shehzade Mustafa Mukhlisi (1515–1553), the legal heir of Sultan Suleiman, who was executed in 1553. It is known that the foster brother of Sultan Yahya Efendi, after the events associated with Mustafa, sent a letter to Suleiman Kanuni, in which he openly declared his injustice towards Mustafa, and never again met with the Sultan, with whom they were once very close. Mahidevran Sultan died in 1581 and was buried next to her son in the mausoleum of Shehzade Mustafa in Bursa.
The fourth concubine and the first legal wife of Suleiman the Magnificent was Anastasia (or Alexandra) Lisovskaya, who was called Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan, and in Europe they knew as Roksolana. According to the tradition laid down by the orientalist Hammer-Purgstahl, it is believed that Nastya (Alexandra) Lisovskaya was a Polish woman from the town of Rohatyn (now Western Ukraine). Writer Osip Nazaruk, author of the historical novel “Roksolana. The wife of the caliph and padishah (Suleiman the Great), conqueror and legislator", noted that "the Polish ambassador Tvardovsky, who was in Tsargorod in 1621, heard from the Turks that Roksolana was from Rohatyn, other data indicate that she was from Strijshchyna" . The famous poet Mikhail Goslavsky writes that "from the town of Chemerivtsy in Podolia."
There is an opinion that Roksolana was involved in the death of the Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha Pargala (1493 or 1494-1536), the husband of the Sultan's sister, Hatice Sultan, who was executed on charges of having too close contacts with France. Roksolana's henchman was the vizier Rus-tem-pasha Mekri (1544-1553 and 1555-1561), to whom she married her 17-year-old daughter Mihrimah. Rus-tem-pasha helped Roksolana prove the guilt of Mustafa, the son of Suleiman from the Circassian Mahidevran, in a conspiracy against his father in alliance with the Serbs (historians still argue whether Mustafa's guilt was real or imaginary). Suleiman ordered Mustafa to be strangled with a silk cord in front of his eyes, and also to execute his sons, that is, his grandchildren (1553).
Selim, the son of Roksolana, became the heir to the throne; however, after her death (1558), another son of Suleiman from Roksolana, Bayezid (1559), rebelled. He was defeated by his father's troops in the battle of Konya in May 1559 and tried to hide in Safavid Iran, but Shah Tahmasp I gave him to his father for 400 thousand gold pieces, and Bayezid was executed (1561). Five sons of Bayezid were also killed (the youngest of them was three years old).
There are versions that Suleiman had another daughter who survived infancy - Razie Sultan. Whether she was the blood daughter of Sultan Suleiman and who her mother is is not known for certain, although some believe that Mahidevran Sultan was her mother. An indirect confirmation of this version is the fact that there is a burial in the turba of Yahya Efendi with the inscription "Carefree Razie Sultan, the blood daughter of Kanuni Sultan Suleiman and the spiritual daughter of Yahya Efendi."
Death on the battlefield
On May 1, 1566, Suleiman I set out on his last - thirteenth military campaign. On August 7, the Sultan's army began the siege of Szigetvar in Eastern Hungary. Suleiman I the Magnificent died on the night of September 5 in his tent during the siege of the fortress.
Roksolana and Sultan. Artist Carl Anton Hackel
He was buried in the mausoleum at the cemetery of the Suleymaniye mosque next to the mausoleum of his beloved wife Hurrem (Roksolana).
Love correspondence between the Sultan and Hürrem
The real love between Sultan Suleiman and his Haseki(beloved) Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska is confirmed by love letters sent by them to each other and preserved to this day. Suleiman was sincere when he wrote to his beloved: "Having chosen you as my shrine, I laid down power at your feet." He will dedicate many passionate lines to his beloved.
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his girlfriend Hurrem expressed their feelings not only in each other's arms, but in letters and lines of poetry. To the delight of his beloved, Suleiman read poetry, while she, being apart, wrote calligraphically on paper: “My state, my Sultan. Many months have passed without any news from my Sultan. Not seeing my beloved face, I cry all night long until morning and from morning to night, I have lost hope for life, the world has narrowed in my eyes, and I don’t know what to do. I cry, and my eyes are always turned to the door, waiting. In another letter, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska writes: “Bending down to the ground, I want to kiss your feet, my State, my sun, my Sultan, the guarantee of my happiness! My condition is worse than Majnun's (I'm going crazy with love)."
On another occasion, she confesses:
There is no cure for my pierced heart.
My soul groans plaintively, like a flute in the mouth of a dervish.
And without your darling's face, I'm like Venus without the Sun
Or a little nightingale without a night rose.
While reading your letter, tears flowed from joy.
Maybe from the pain of separation, or maybe from gratitude.
After all, you filled a pure memory
jewels of attention
The treasury of my heart was filled
scents of passion.
One of the many farewell dedications of Suleiman to his wife after her death can be considered one of the most touching messages:
“The heavens are covered with black clouds, for there is no rest for me, no air, no thought and no hope.
My love, the trembling feeling of this, strong, so compresses my heart, destroys my flesh.
To live, what to believe, my love... how to meet a new day.
I am killed, my mind is killed, my heart has ceased to believe, there is no more your warmth in it, there is no more your hands, your light on my body.
I am defeated, I am erased from this world, erased by spiritual sadness for you, my love.
Strength, there is no more that strength that you betrayed me, there is only faith, the faith of your feelings, not in the flesh, but in my heart, I cry, cry for you my love, there is no ocean greater than the ocean of my tears for you, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska ... "
Moroccan king Mohammed VI married for love Lalla Salma, a girl from a simple family
He repeated the example of Sultan Suleiman and preferred love ...
Do you think that such romantic love stories do not exist? And here it is not. As in previous centuries, in recent times there have been cases of violation of centuries-old traditions.
On July 23, 1999, King Mohammed VI of Morocco ascended the throne after the death of his father Hassan II and immediately dissolved his harem of 132 concubines and two wives, allocating a decent amount to each of them for maintenance. After that, His Majesty Mohammed VI married a girl from a simple Moroccan family.
The Moroccan king Mohammed VI calls himself the "king of the poor", but he is one of the richest people in the world. But at the same time, he remains loved by the people.
So, as you can see, romantic love sometimes wins!
From the book of 100 great commanders author Lanning Michael Lee13. WILHELM THE CONQUERER English King (c. 1027–1087) William the Conqueror led in 1066 the last successful invasion of England, and the only one since the Roman conquest a thousand years earlier. His victory at Hastings, won by virtue of
author Mussky Igor AnatolievichWILHELM I THE CONQUEROR (1028–1087) English king (since 1066) from the Norman dynasty. From 1035 Duke of Normandy. In 1066 he landed in England and, having defeated the army of the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II at Hastings, became the English king. Established direct vassalage
From the book of 100 great dictators author Mussky Igor AnatolievichMEHMED II FATIH THE CONQUEROR (1432–1481) The Turkish sultan (1444 and from 1451) pursued a policy of conquest in Asia Minor and the Balkans. In 1453, he captured Constantinople and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire, thus putting an end to the existence of Byzantium. The last
From the book of Suleiman and Roksolana-Hyurrem [Mini-encyclopedia of the most interesting facts about the Magnificent Age in the Ottoman Empire] author author unknown"The Magnificent Century" - a series about the eternal love of Sultan Suleiman and the Slavic concubine Roksolana
From the book Who's Who in World History author Sitnikov Vitaly PavlovichWho is William the Conqueror? Duke William of Normandy was born in 1026. His duchy was considered the richest in France, and William himself was known as a good ruler. He completely controlled the feudal lords, dividing their lands. On his account and the unification of legal norms on
author Shishov Alexey Vasilievich From the book of 100 great commanders of Western Europe author Shishov Alexey Vasilievich From the book All Monarchs of the World. Western Europe author Ryzhov Konstantin VladislavovichWilliam I the Conqueror King of England who reigned from 1066-1087. Ancestor of the Norman dynasty Zh.: from 1056 Matilda, daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders (d. 1083). Rod. 1027 d. 10 Sept. 1087 William's father, Duke Robert of Normandy, was nicknamed Robert for his indomitable passions.
From the book Encyclopedic Dictionary (B) author Brockhaus F. A. From the book of 200 famous poisonings the author Antsyshkin IgorTHE MAGNIFICENT JOHN The Byzantine Emperor John II Komnenos was nicknamed Coloioann for his spiritual beauty. Such people rarely made it to the imperial throne and usually ended badly. As soon as he established himself on the throne in 1118, a conspiracy was drawn up against him,
From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (SU) of the author TSB450 years ago, on September 6, 1566, during a military campaign, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman the Magnificent, died. A few years ago, the Turkish series "The Magnificent Century", dedicated to the era of this Sultan, enjoyed considerable popularity in Russia. The main character of the series is the Russian slave Alexandra, she is also the famous Roksolana, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan, the wife of Suleiman.
Left: Carl Anton Hickel. "Roksolana and the Sultan". 1790
Right: Sultan Suleiman in the film "The Magnificent Age"
She arrived in the capital of the Ottoman Empire as a prisoner (from the territory of modern Ukraine), but managed to achieve the position of the legal wife of the ruler of the strongest state in the world at that time. The film is based on real events, Roksolana is a real historical person, like other heroes of the film, although, as its authors have repeatedly warned, the film is "a fiction inspired by history."
The entire film was apparently conceived as a kind of big commercial for the new Ottoman Empire that Mr. Erdogan is now building. Although later, as it often happens (it happened, for example, with Sergei Eisenstein's film "Ivan the Terrible"), the work went beyond these initial limits and even caused complaints from customers, that is, the Turkish government, for "distortions of history". Indeed, the film turned out frankly revealing, although, perhaps, against the will of its creators.The general impression is something like this: constantly sprinkling their speech with pious remembrances of the Almighty, raising their eyes to grief and praying, his heroes get up absolutely any evil deeds and crimes.Send each other poisonous snakes in a chest or poisoned caftans, pour poison into food, throw plague-infected scarves and make other equally "nice" gifts... The Sultan himself, this example of nobility and conscience (as emphasized many times in the film), contrary to his earlier oaths, executes his closest relatives and friends, including two of his own sons and young grandchildren (the youngest of whom was only 3 years old). one of the Sultan's sons ascends the throne, he, according to tradition, immediately gives the order to execute all his own brothers. And this is by no means arbitrariness, on the contrary, it is accepted and expected - there is also a corresponding Islamic fatwa, which allows this fratricide from the point of view of Sharia and law. (True, Suleiman himself, upon accession to the throne, escaped this "beneficial fratricide", but there was no merit in this - all his brothers simply died earlier on their own, from diseases).
In one of the episodes, the mother of Sultan Suleiman expresses confidence that the son she has raised "will never become a tyrant." At first, it is not very clear what she actually means, because the power of the Sultan is absolute and completely unlimited, and no one even tries to argue with this. But it turns out that she meant something else: that he would not shed the blood of members of his dynasty, that is, his own family. Such is the measure and the boundary between "tyranny" and "non-tyranny". However, this boundary is violated extremely easily, as noted above.
What can be said about the attitude of the rulers of the empire towards ordinary people? It is all expressed in the phrase of the main character: "They killed my horse! And the maid ...". A maid costs and is valued much less than a horse. This, one might say, is a paraphrase of the famous dialogue from Mark Twain's novel about Huckleberry Finn (about slave-owning America):
"A cylinder head exploded on the ship.
- Lord have mercy! Has anyone been hurt?
- No, ma'am. Killed Negro.
- Well, you're lucky; and sometimes it hurts someone..."
All the thinking and behavior of the characters in the film have an equally pronounced class character. For example, in one of the episodes, the Sultan gives the order after the trial to hang one of his influential and noble associates, Iskander Celebi. And she is terribly worried about his execution. Although, according to the film, this figure committed all the most serious state crimes imaginable - for example, he was preparing the defeat of his own Ottoman army. And in another case, a simple warrior-courier brings unpleasant news to the Sultan - he does not believe the news and, without blinking an eye, immediately, without any trial or clarification, orders to cut off the head of the messenger. And he does not feel any feelings and remorse, when it later turns out that the messenger told the pure truth. Still would! After all, this is the most ordinary warrior, and not some rich man and aristocrat from a noble family. His head is worthless...
However, if you do not pay attention (or, rather, keep in mind) that the entire series is thoroughly saturated with monarchist and clerical ideology, then you can find a lot of interesting things in it. For example, the repeatedly repeated phrase is good: "Remember that any privilege granted by the Ottoman Empire brings you closer to death!" This is usually said by a superior when officials are promoted and reappointed.
The executioners execute the eldest son of Sultan Suleiman, Shahzade Mustafa (frame from the film)
Sultan Suleiman with the body of his son executed on his orders (frame from the film)
It must be admitted that both the Sultan, this son and grandson killer, and the main character in the film are not at all devoid of a certain charm. It's just that they, like flies in a web, are woven into a certain historical fabric, within which they are forced to act. It's hard to blame them. But what about those who want to resurrect this historical fabric of 450 years ago and are resurrecting it in our reality, in the 21st century? After all, it was in 2011, when the series had just started, one could think that it was of purely historical interest. That all these marvelous realities: slave markets, the capture and sale of non-Christian slaves into slavery, the cruel executions of heretics and non-believers... have irretrievably sunk into the past. And in June 2014, when the last episode of the series was shown, there were only a couple of weeks left before the resurrection of all this within the framework of the newly created Caliphate (by the way, Sultan Suleiman also at one time assumed the title of Caliph, i.e. the ruler of all the faithful).
So, peering into the historical abyss of the past, of course, can be entertaining, but you shouldn’t especially admire it, otherwise the abyss can be reflected in us, you can easily, without even noticing it, fall through the screen and wake up already on the other side of it ...
