Mehmed III (Ottoman Turkish:محمد ثالث,Meḥmed-isālis;Turkish:III. Mehmed; 26 May 1566 – 22 December 1603) was thesultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death in 1603. Mehmed was known for ordering the execution of his brothers and leading the army in theLong Turkish War, during which the Ottoman army was victorious at the decisiveBattle of Keresztes. This victory was however undermined by some military losses such as inGyőr andNikopol. He also ordered the successful quelling of theJelali rebellions. The sultan also communicated with the court ofElizabeth I on the grounds of stronger commercial relations and in the hopes of England to ally with the Ottomans against theSpanish.
Mehmed was born at the Manisa Palace on 26 May 1566, during the reign of his great-grandfather,Suleiman the Magnificent. He was the son ofMurad III, himself the son ofSelim II, who was the son of Sultan Suleiman andHurrem Sultan. His mother wasSafiye Sultan, anAlbanian from theDukagjin Highlands.[1] His great-grandfather Suleiman I died the year he was born, and his grandfather became the new sultan, Selim II. His grandfather Selim II died when Mehmed was eight, and Mehmed's father, Murad III, became sultan in 1574. Murad died in 1595, when Mehmed was 28 years old.
Mehmed spent most of his time in Manisa with his parents and his teacher, Ibrahim Efendi. His circumcision took place on 29 May 1582 when he was 16 years old.[2]
Upon ascending to the throne, Mehmed III ordered that all of his nineteen brothers beexecuted.[3][4] They were strangled by his royal executioners, many of whom were deaf, mute or 'half-witted' to ensure absolute loyalty.[5] Fratricidal successions were not unprecedented, as sultans would often have dozens of children with their concubines.
Mehmed III was an idle ruler, leaving government to his motherSafiye Sultan, thevalide sultan.[6][unreliable source] His first major problem was the rivalry between two of his viziers,Serdar Ferhad Pasha andKoca Sinan Pasha, and their supporters. His mother and her son-in-lawDamat Ibrahim Pasha supported Koca Sinan Pasha and prevented Mehmed III from taking control of the issue himself. The issue grew to cause major disturbances byjanissaries. On 7 July 1595, Mehmed III finally sacked Serdar Ferhad Pasha from the position of Grand Vizier due to his failure inWallachia and replaced him with Sinan.[7]
The major event of his reign was theAustro-Ottoman War inHungary (1593–1606). Ottoman defeats in the war caused Mehmed III to take personal command of the army, the first sultan to do so since Suleiman I in 1566. Accompanied by the Sultan, the Ottomans conqueredEger in 1596. Upon hearing of the Habsburg army's approach, Mehmed wanted to dismiss the army and return to Istanbul.[8] However, the Ottomans eventually decided to face the enemy and defeated theHabsburg andTransylvanian forces at theBattle of Keresztes[9] (known inOttoman Turkish as the Battle of Haçova), during which the Sultan had to be dissuaded from fleeing the field halfway through the battle. Upon returning to Istanbul in victory, Mehmed told his viziers that he would campaign again.[10] The next year the Venetian Bailo in Istanbul noted, "the doctors declared that the Sultan cannot leave for a war on account of his bad health, produced by excesses of eating and drinking".[11][unreliable source?]
In reward for his services at the war,Cigalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha was made Grand Vizier in 1596. However, with pressure from the court and his mother, Mehmed reinstated Damat Ibrahim Pasha to this position shortly afterward.[7]
Another major event of his reign was theJelali revolts in Anatolia.Karayazıcı Abdülhalim, a former Ottoman official, captured the city ofUrfa and declared himself a sultan in 1600. The rumors of his claim to the throne spread to Constantinople and Mehmed ordered the rebels to be treated harshly to dispel the rumors, among these, was the execution ofHüseyin Pasha, whom Karayazıcı Abdülhalim styled as Grand Vizier. In 1601, Abdülhalim fled to the vicinity ofSamsun after being defeated by the forces underSokulluzade Hasan Pasha, the governor ofBaghdad. However, his brother,Deli Hasan, killed Sokulluzade Hasan Pasha and defeated troops under the command ofHadım Hüsrev Pasha. He then marched on toKütahya, captured and burned the city.[7][12]
In 1599, the fourth year of Mehmed III's reign,Queen Elizabeth I sent a convoy of gifts to the Ottoman court. These gifts were originally intended for the sultan's predecessor,Murad III, who had died before they had arrived. Included in these gifts was a large jewel-studded clockwork organ that was assembled on the slope of theRoyal Private Garden by a team of engineers includingThomas Dallam. The organ took many weeks to complete and featured dancing sculptures such as a flock of blackbirds that sung and shook their wings at the end of the music.[13][14] Also among the English gifts was a ceremonial coach, accompanied by a letter from the Queen to Mehmed's mother,Safiye Sultan. These gifts were intended to cement relations between the two countries, building on the trade agreement signed in 1581 that gave English merchants priority in the Ottoman region.[15] Under the looming threat of Spanish military presence, England was eager to secure an alliance with the Ottomans, the two nations together having the capability to divide the power.Elizabeth's gifts arrived in a large 27-gun merchantman ship that Mehmed personally inspected, a clear display of English maritime strength that would prompt him to build up his fleet over the following years of his reign. The Anglo-Ottoman alliance would never be consummated, however, as relations between the nations grew stagnant due to anti-European sentiments reaped from the worsening Austro-Ottoman War and the deaths of Safiye Sultan's interpreter and the pro-English chief Hasan Pasha.[15][16]
Mehmed died on 22 December 1603 at the age of 37. According to one source, the cause of his death was the distress caused by the death of his son,Şehzade Mahmud.[17] According to another source, he died either of a plague or a stroke.[18] He was buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque. He was succeeded by his 13 year old sonAhmed I as the new sultan.
Mehmed III had three known consorts, none of whom, according to the harem records, held the title ofHaseki Sultan:[19]
Handan Hatun (died 9 November 1605, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople; buried in Mehmed III Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque[20]). She was mother andValide Sultan of Ahmed I.
Halime Hatun (dead after 1623, Old Palace, Constantinople; buried in Mustafa I Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque, Constantinople). She was mother and Valide Sultan of Mustafa I.
Fülane Hatun (dead in 1598, Topkapi Palace, Constantinople). She died in 1598 with her infant son during the outbreak of plague or smallpox.[21][22]
Şehzade Selim (1585, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 20 April 1597, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople; buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque) - with Handan. He died of scarlet fever.
Şehzade Mahmud (1587, Manisa Palace, Manisa – executed by Mehmed III, 7 June 1603, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople; buried in Şehzade Mahmud Mausoleum, Şehzade Mosque) - with Halime.
Ahmed I (18 April 1590, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 22 November 1617, Topkapı Palace, Constantinople; buried in Ahmed I Mausoleum, Sultan Ahmed Mosque) - with Handan. 14th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
Mustafa I (c. 1600/1602,[25][26][27] Topkapi Palace, Constantinople – 20 January 1639, Eski Palace, Constantinople, buried in Mustafa I Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque) - with Halime. 15th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
Fatma Sultan (1584?, Manisa - ?) - with Handan. She married firstly in 1600 with Mahmud Pasha,sanjakbey of Cairo, secondly in 1604 to DamatTiryaki Hasan Pasha (d. 1611) and had a son and two daughters, finally in 1616 toGüzelce Ali Pasha, Grand Vizier, until his death in 1621.
Beyhan Sultan (born before 1590, Manisa). She married in 1612 toDamat Halil Pasha. They had two sons, Sultanzade Mahmud Bey and Sultanzade Ebubekir Bey.
Hatice Sultan (1590, Manisa - 1613, Constantinople) - with Halime. She married firstly in 1604 to Mirahur Mustafa Pasha, married secondly on 10 February 1612 to Cağaloğlu Mahmud Pasha (d.1643), son ofCigalazade Sinan Pasha and Saliha Hanimsultan (daughter ofAyşe Hümaşah Sultan, granddaughter of SultanSuleyman I). She died soon after her second marriage and was buried in her owntürbe in theŞehzade Mosque.
Şah Sultan (1592?, Manisa - after 1623, Constantinople) - with Halime. She married in 1604 (consummated in March 1606) to DamatKara Davud Pasha,Grand Vizier. She had a son, Sultanzade Süleyman Bey, and a daughter. During Mustafa I's second reign, she was suspected, together with her husband, of wanting to install her son on the throne.
Hümaşah Sultan (? - ?). She married in October 1613 Cağaloğlu Mahmud Pasha, after her half-sister Hatice's death.
Esra Sultan (? - ?). She married Ali Pasha (d.1617).
Ümmügülsüm Sultan (? - after 1622). She was among the unmarried princesses in 1622.[33]
Halime Sultan (? - after 1622). She was among the unmarried princesses in 1622.[33]
Akile Sultan (? - after 1622). She was among the unmarried princesses in 1622.[33]
^Peirce, Leslie P. (1993).The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. p. 94.ISBN0-19-507673-7.Murad's favorite was Safiye, a concubine said to be of Albanian origin from the village of Rezi in the Ducagini mountains.
^Kinross, John Patrick.Ottoman Centuries, p.288. William Morrow & Co., 1977.ISBN0-688-03093-9
^abc"Mehmed III".İslam Ansiklopedisi. Vol. 28. Türk Diyanet Vakfı. 2003. pp. 407–413.
^Karateke, Hakan T. "On the Tranquility and Repose of the Sultan." The Ottoman World. Ed. Christine Woodhead. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2011. p. 120.
^Finkel, Caroline.Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, p.175. Basic Books, 2005.ISBN0-465-02396-7
^A Queen Mother at Work: On Handan Sultan and Her Regency During the Early Reign of Ahmed I". Faal Bir Valide Sultan: Handan Sultan ve I. Ahmed’in Hükümdarlığının Başlarındaki Naibeliği Üzerine. Günhan Börekçi. 2020. 1 Mayıs 2021 tarihinde kaynağından arşivlendi. Erişim tarihi: 1 Mayıs 2021
^Disease and Empire: A History of Plague Epidemics in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire (1453--1600). 2008. p. 145.ISBN978-0-549-74445-0.
^Ipşırlı, Mehmet (June 1976).Mustafa Selaniki's history of the Ottomans. p. 172.
^Tezcan, Baki.Searchimg For Osman: A Reassessment Of The Deposition Of Ottoman Sultan Osman II (1618-1622). pp. 330 and n. 29.
^Börekçi, Günhan.İnkırâzın Eşiğinde Bir Hanedan: III. Mehmed, I. Ahmed, I. Mustafa ve 17. Yüzyıl Osmanlı Siyasî Krizi - A Dynasty at the Threshold of Extinction: Mehmed III, Ahmed I, Mustafa I and the 17th-Century Ottoman Political Crisis. p. 78.
^Sarınay, Y.; Yıldırım, O.; Turkey. Divan-i Hümayun; Turkey. Osmanlı Arşivi Daire Başkanlığı (2000).82 numaralı Mühimme Defteri, 1026-1027/1617-1618: özet, transkripsiyon, indeks ve tıpkıbasım. Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn sicilleri dizisi. T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü. p. 77.ISBN978-975-19-2649-4.
^abcBaki Tezcan, Searching for Osman: A Reassessment of the Deposition of the Ottoman Sultan Osman II (1618-1622), PhD thesis, Princeton University, 2001,ISBN978-0-493-33076-1: "A privy purse register from 1622 gives the names of five unmarried princesses, who some may be daughters of Mehmed III: Umm-i Külsum, Hanzade, Halime, Fatma, and Akile.”
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