Selim II. He may not have had the leadership qualities of his father, but he sure did have his fashion sense.
I’m going to take the unconventional approach and say Selim II.
Before I begin, remember that the question asks which Sultan I like the most, not which one I think is the best. Selim II is simply one of the Ottoman sultans I find most interesting (I won’t say the most interesting; that would be like choosing a favorite type of Ottoman headdress). I won’t be talking about him as a sultan as much as about the stories, legends, and rumors surrounding him.
Without further to do, I introduce to you the very fascinating but not always competent Selim the Sot.
Selim was born on May 28, 1524, in Istanbul to Suleiman I and his concubine and later wife, Hurrem Sultan, also known as Roxelana. Hurrem, who had entered the harem around the time Suleiman became Sultan in 1520, had been in an intense rivalry with Mahidevran, Suleiman’s main concubine. A concubine’s importance within the harem was often determined by whether or not she bore the Sultan’s children. When this rivalry first started, Mahidevran had more rank partially because she was the mother of Suleiman’s son Mustafa. But now with the birth of Selim, Hurrem was the mother of two princes, signaling that she was rising above her arch-nemesis.
That’s just how awesome Selim was. He influenced harem politics simply by being born. Not many people can say that. That’s mostly because not many people are born 16th century Ottoman princes, but still.
Even though his birth was a gift to his mother, most wouldn’t have considered him a likely candidate for the throne. After all, he was rumored to have a drinking problem, so much so that many called him ‘Selim the Sot’ behind his back (Sot=drunkard). His father, his mother, and many of the powerful people in court were well aware of this weakness. So then, how did Selim come to power?
Most princes, ever since the reign of Mehmed II, had to fight with their brothers in some way before becoming Sultan. Or they killed them after. Either way, the Sultan’s brothers often didn’t come out alive.
Selim, however, seemed to have managed to come to power through this ingenious two-step plan:
- Stay alive. History has shown that you must do this in order to one day gain power, and Selim was better at it than his brothers.
- Not angering his father too much. This essentially ties into Step 1.
He became Sultan because none of his brothers managed to accomplish either of these steps. Mustafa, the most capable and qualified sehzade, and who before his death most considered the likeliest candidate for Sultan, had been executed on their father’s orders in 1553 due to Suleiman’s insecurity and paranoia. His oldest full brother, Mehmed, who some historians believe might have been Suleiman’s favorite son, had died of smallpox in 1543. Bayezid, who might’ve made a decent ruler, was executed in 1561 for merely hesitating to follow his father’s orders. Cihangir, by far the smartest sehzade, died in 1553, reportedly out of grief for his brother Mustafa, who he looked up to (he already had health issues since birth). So that left Selim.
Now, there are two ways you can look at this. You could say that Selim was a political mastermind who managed to stay alive despite all the court intrigue and become Sultan without much fighting (besides a few skirmishes against Bayezid, who he didn’t seem to like anyway).
Or you could say that Selim was just lucky not to get sick and survived because he wasn’t a threat to anyone. However, I’ll be positive and say it’s the former.
Either way, you have a man who became the ruler of one of the most powerful empires in the world at the time, who inherited control over Constantinople, Belgrade, Egypt, Palestine, the Levant, the Balkans, Tripoli, and Algiers, despite intense competition. And, compared to many of those who preceded him, he barely even had to fight for it. Selim is proof that you don’t have to work hard to get what you want. All you have to do is be born in the middle of intense harem intrigue, make everyone around you think you’re incompetent, and avoid the wrath of a man who sees his children as political adversaries. It’s that simple.
Now that Selim the Drunkard was Selim II, do you think that he consolidated his rule like his father and other sultans before he had? Sure he did, but he wasn’t one to let running the state get in the way of having a good time. He left most state affairs to his Grand Vizier and son-in-law (look it up….) Sokullu Mehmed Pasha and spent much of his time having fun.
I think there’s a lesson to be learned here. If you’re going to hand all your work over to someone else, you might as well enjoy yourself.
Selim II did do something during his reign, however, that truly makes him one of the most interesting monarchs of the 16th century. In 1570, against the advice of his Grand Vizier, Selim sent a force to invade Venetian Cyprus. But what’s really interesting is why. According to legend, Selim violated a treaty with Venice, sent thousands of Ottoman troops to their deaths in a struggle, and caused a conflict that led to one of the largest naval battles in history because he wanted the island’s grapes. Yes, Selim annexed Cyprus because he wanted more wine. That right there is a man who knows what’s going on.
In reality, the Ottoman Empire invaded Cyprus because local Venetian authorities were granting haven to Christian corsairs who disrupted Ottoman shipping in the Eastern Mediterranean and because the island lay in a strategic position between Egypt, Palestine, and Anatolia. There were also several figures behind the throne-like Joseph Nasi who pushed for a war with Venice, so you can’t say that it was solely the sultan’s decision anyway.
But that explanation takes away from how awesome Selim was, and how little he cared about trivial things like leading troops into battle and using careful discretion as to the leader of one of the greatest powers in the Mediterranean. He was above all that.
Despite his reputation, Selim II was a fairly nice guy. His late mother’s old rival Mahidevran was so broke that she couldn’t pay rent or provide a proper tomb for her late son. Selim had always liked Mustafa; although their mothers had quarreled, Selim never personally held anything against his older half-brother or his mother. So when he became Sultan, Selim not only restored Mahidevran’s status and increased her income, but he also built a tomb for Mustafa, one that was befitting for a sehzade.
While many historians often call Selim II incompetent and weak, most also agree that he was generous and kind. His people generally liked him, even if they knew he wasn’t as good a ruler as his father.
And finally, Selim II has the feat of single-handedly causing the decline of the Ottoman Empire. According to the infamous Ottoman Decline Thesis, the first 10 sultans were competent, able rulers who helped the empire rise, but during the reign of Selim the Sot, it began to decline. Now, you may be thinking, “But John, how is that a good thing?”
Well, it’s all in how you think about it. Technically, this theory, while being overly critical of Selim, implies that he was so important that he could cause the downfall of one of the strongest empires in the world. That right there is power, folks. Besides, if things started to go downhill starting with Selim II, doesn’t that technically mean his reign saw the empire’s peak? That might be pushing it, but I’ll take it.
While the theory is currently regarded by professional historians as overly simplistic and a relic of Orientalism and Great Man Theory, it’s still popular in popular history. That technically means that many still think that Selim II managed to initiate the decline of one of the most powerful empires in human history. Most rulers throughout history could never even dream of this.
Credit where credit is due, guys
