Suleiman the Magnificent

Süleyman was probably born on 6 November 1494 in Trabzon on the Black Sea, the son of Prince Selim, the later Sultan Selim I. The exact date of birth cannot be established with certainty. At the age of seven he began studies in science, history, literature, religion and military skills at the Topkapı Palace.

At seventeen he became a governor, first of Kaffa in Crimea, then of Manisa, with a brief spell in Edirne. This followed the Ottoman pattern in which princes governed provinces. After the death of Selim I he ascended the throne on 30 September 1520 as the tenth Ottoman sultan.

Süleyman undertook thirteen major campaigns in total. In 1521 he took Belgrade and in 1522 Rhodes, after which the Knights Hospitaller departed. On 29 August 1526 he defeated the Hungarian army at Mohács; King Louis II died. Hungary was subsequently divided between the Ottomans, the Habsburgs and Transylvania.

In 1529 he besieged Vienna, but the siege was abandoned after just over two weeks; a new attempt in 1532 stalled at Kőszeg (Güns). He also fought the Safavids of Iran (Baghdad was taken in 1534–1535; the Peace of Amasya followed in 1555) and in 1565 sent a fleet and army to Malta, where the siege failed.

Together with the chief jurist Ebussuud Efendi he had the kanun, the secular sultanic law alongside the sharia, systematised. In Istanbul he had the chief architect Sinan build, among other works, the Süleymaniye Mosque (1550–1557). He also wrote poetry under the pen name Muhibbi.

In the sixteenth century Europe was divided by rivalry between the Habsburgs, France and other powers, and the Reformation split the Western Church. The Ottomans took part in this power struggle: against the Habsburgs Süleyman cooperated with Francis I of France, and Habsburg and Ottoman armies and fleets faced each other in Central Europe and the Mediterranean.

In the east the Ottomans clashed with the Shi'i Safavids of Iran, and in the Indian Ocean they competed with Portugal for trade routes. Since the conquest of Egypt and the Hejaz in 1516–1517, Mecca and Medina had been under Ottoman authority, which strengthened the sultan's religious standing.

Ottoman expansion changed the map of Central Europe. After Mohács the medieval Kingdom of Hungary fell apart and a large part of the country came under Ottoman administration for a long period. The rivalry with the Habsburgs lasted for centuries and shaped the defence and finances of both sides.

Within the dynasty, succession played a role: Ottoman law had no fixed rule of succession. In 1553 Süleyman had his eldest surviving son, Mustafa, executed; in 1561 his son Bayezid, who had fled to Persia after a struggle with his brother Selim, was killed together with his sons by Ottoman executioners after the shah consented. Selim II succeeded him in 1566.

Süleyman died in September 1566 during the siege of Szigetvár, shortly before the fortress fell. Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha kept his death secret for some time to secure the succession of Selim II. His body was taken to Istanbul and interred in a mausoleum beside the Süleymaniye Mosque; some organs were buried near Szigetvár.

According to some researchers the epithet 'Kanuni' (the Lawgiver) does not appear in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Ottoman sources; 'the Magnificent' is a European label. Since the 1980s historians have largely rejected the idea that the empire merely declined after 1566, and point out that the success of his reign also owed much to his officials and advisers.