Murad IV

Murad IV (Ottoman Turkish: مراد رابع‎, Murād-ı Rābi) (Istanbul, July 27, 1612 — Istanbul, February 9, 1640), and also called by Christians Amurates IV, was sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for having restored the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods. His parents were Sultan Ahmed I and his consort, Kösem Sultan, and two of his brothers were sultans, the eldest being Osman II, and the youngest Ibrahim I, who succeeded him after his death.

First years

Murad was born on July 27, 1612, the son of Sultan Ahmed I and his favorite consort, Kösem Sultan. Murad at that time had two living brothers (Şehzade Osman and Şehzade Mehmed) and three brothers who died prematurely (Şehzade Orhan, Şehzade Hasan and Şehzade Selim). Murad belonged to the generation of princes who, for the first time in history, did not have to fear the law of fratricide imposed by Mehmed II in 1451.

According to the law, the sultans had to execute all their brothers to maintain order. However, Sultan Ahmed did not do this when he left his brother Şehzade Mustafa alive after his accession to the throne in 1603. It is a fact, however, that Ahmed was unsure of his decision for a long time, so he tried He repeatedly executed Mustafa, but in the end, his conscience and his consort, Kösem, convinced him not to kill Mustafa, which also served to keep Mehmed and Murad safe.

Murad lived his early years in relative calm, since his father was a popular sultan and his mother was loved and respected by the people, Kösem constantly gave charity to the poor and Ahmed, so it is said, used to accompany her. However, all this changed in 1617 when Ahmed died unexpectedly from Typhus and a possible hereditary disease caused by his mother, Handan.

In this context, succession chaos broke out in the empire. The people were fed up with the fratricide, but Ahmed had left no legal decree as to who should succeed him on the throne: his younger brother, Mustafa, or his eldest son, Osman. Finally, with Mustafa's accession to the throne, the inheritance officially changed: the throne no longer passed from father to son, but was assumed from the sultan to his younger brother. Murad and his brothers were able to survive, but lived in solitary confinement in the Topkapi Palace (Kafes), while his mother and his sisters were exiled to the Old Palace. The following years were quite chaotic, Mustafa soon found himself unable to hold the throne and was dethroned due to his mental illness. This is when Osman ascended the throne.

Osman was known for being a very unpopular sultan, the empire was not satisfied with his management and his clear inexperience, rebellions against him were quickly seen. On the other hand, although he tried to maintain a good relationship with Kösem, he soon had his other brother, Mehmed, executed, probably due to his popularity and the influence of his mother. This seems to have been a clear warning from Osman to Kösem, since Murad and his younger brothers could be next. Murad certainly seems to have developed anger problems during his confinement, and it is not ruled out that Osman had his brothers witness Mehmed's execution. Finally the chaos, madness and 'tyranny' of Osman ended in his dethronement and brutal execution at the hands of the Janissaries. Although this brought peace to Murad and his brothers, it also gave them a lifelong lesson that not even a sultan can be safe from his own people. After this, his uncle Mustafa was put back on the throne, but he did not last long.

Reign

He came to power thanks to a Coup d'état in 1623, replacing his insane uncle. Murad was long under the control of his closest relatives (mother and sisters) and during his early years as sultan, his mother, the Valide Kösem Sultan, ruled through the title Naib-i Saltanat. as regent of the empire. But although she maintained the stability that had been lost under the previous sultans, the empire had fallen into anarchy, the Persians invaded almost immediately, several rebellions broke out in northern Anatolia and in 1631, the Janissaries stormed the palace and murdered the Grand Vizier, among other palace personalities. The young Murad feared suffering the same fate as his older brother, Osman II, and decided to reassert his power and impose his authority. He had the newly appointed Grand Vizier (who he disliked) beheaded, ordered 500 military leaders strangled, and executed 20,000 rebels in Anatolia. Following Ottoman fratricidal tradition, Murad ordered the murder of his brothers Bayezid and Süleyman in 1635, a death which was followed by the execution of his other brother, Şehzade Kasım, in 1638. Some accuse Murad's wife, Ayşe Sultan, of having initiated a conspiracy against Murad's brothers so that they would be executed.

He tried to put an end to what remained of corruption, which had increased during the governments of the previous sultans, and which had not been fully proven while his mother dictated the destinies of the Empire as official regent. This was achieved in many different ways, for example by limiting wasteful spending. He ironically also banned alcohol, tobacco and coffee in Istanbul and the entire Empire. He ordered immediate execution for anyone who violated this prohibition. He patrolled and walked the streets of Istanbul at night as well as the city's taverns dressed in common clothes, personally ensuring that his order was carried out. If when he patrolled the streets he saw a soldier smoking or chewing tobacco or drinking alcohol, he killed the soldier on the spot with his sword. His severity was the reason for her "cruel" nickname. Paradoxes of life, although he prohibited tobacco, coffee and alcohol, he did not deprive himself of any of them and was possibly an alcoholic for the majority of his life.

Murad was a tall, corpulent man, a great practitioner of the sport of fighting and a fearsome warrior. His strength was almost superhuman. He was especially known for his opponents whom he held and twisted above their heads using only one hand. He also used a huge club (it weighed 50 kilograms) and a great sword, a greatsword, in his battles (these weapons can still be admired in the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul).

Sticking to the military, the most notable of Murad's reign was a war against Persia in which Ottoman forces conquered Azerbaijan, occupied Tabriz and Hamadan, and, in one of the last great military feats of the Ottoman Empire, took Baghdad in 1638. Murad himself ordered the invasion of Mesopotamia and proved to be an exceptional campaign commander. He was the last Ottoman Sultan to command an army on the battlefield. During his campaign trip in Iran, he annihilated all the rebels in Anatolia and restored state order again. For this reason, a large number of places adopted his name to show the deep gratitude of their inhabitants. Before his death he signed a peace treaty (1639) with the Persian Safavid dynasty. After his return to Istanbul he ordered respected leaders of the Empire to prepare a new economic and political project to return the Empire to its former glorious days, which he could not complete due to his untimely death.

Foreign policy

As the center of his foreign policy, he decided to continue the war against Iran, whose shah, Abbas I, had attacked Iraq and conquered Baghdad in 1624, taking advantage of the chaos that the Ottoman Empire was experiencing during the sultan's minority. Starting in 1633 he began to recover the lost territories. After controlling the rebel centers that had emerged in Transylvania, he attacked Iraq at the end of 1638. The most notable event in this confrontation with Iran was the reconquest of Baghdad, which ended with the death of most of the city's inhabitants and defenders.. When he was preparing to conquer Azerbaijan, Shah Safi I requested peace, and both parties reached an agreement on May 17, 1639. In it, the Ottoman sultan was assured of total control of Iraq and the provinces of his empire, while that Armenia and Azerbaijan remained in Iranian hands, thereby restoring the prestige of the Ottoman Empire.

Despite his strict public policy, his personal actions did not follow the precepts of the Shariah (Islamic law), which earned him the enmity of the shaykh al-Islam (top Muslim leader of the empire), whom he ended up executing. He died a victim of his addiction to alcohol, on February 9, 1640. In his sultanate, the Ottoman Empire once again found itself in a favorable political situation: internal peace reigned again and the prestige and solidity lost during the years had been momentarily restored. early years of the XVII century.

Architecture

Sultan Murad IV placed emphasis on architecture and in his period many monuments were erected. Some of them are the Meydanı Mosque, Tombs, Fountains, Schools (madrasas) and the Konya Serefeddin Mosque. The Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan had exchanged ambassadors with the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV, it was through these exchanges that he received Isa Muhammad Effendi and Ismail Effendi, two Turkish architects and students of the famous Koca Mimar Sinan Agha. Both were later part of the Mughal team that would design and build the famous Taj Mahal.

Relations with the Mughal Empire

In the year 1626, the Mughal emperor Jahangir began to contemplate an alliance between the Ottomans, Mughals and Uzbeks against the Safavid Persians, who had defeated the Mughals in Kandahar. Even the Mughal emperor wrote a letter to Murad IV with this plan, but Jahangir's ambition did not materialize due to his death in 1627. However, Jahangir's successor, Shah Jahan maintained the goal of the Mughal alliance with the Ottoman Empire.

While camped in Baghdad, it was learned that Murad IV met the ambassadors of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan: Mir Zarif and Mir Baraka, who presented 1000 pieces of finely embroidered cloth and even armor. Murad IV gave them the best weapons, saddles, kaftans and ordered his forces to accompany the Mughal envoys to the port of Basra, where they left for Thatta and finally Surat.

Death

But his illness and early death never allowed him to put his ideas into practice. He died in 1640 at the age of 27, from cirrhosis of the liver. On his deathbed he requested the execution of his brother, Ibrahim I, which would have meant the end of the Ottoman line of succession and dynasty, but the order was not put into practice thanks to the intervention of the Valide Kösem. Sultan. It would not be until 1808 when the Ottoman Empire would see another Sultan (Mahmut II) of the same caliber.

Murad IV is known as the last great sultan and conqueror of the Ottoman Empire.

Consorts

Very little is known about Murad IV's concubines, mainly because he had no sons who survived his death to reach the throne. Several consorts are known, but their existence is even doubted since many archives were destroyed upon Murad's death, the truth is that there are only two known consorts:

• Ayşe Haseki Sultan (c.1614 — c.1680) was his first and principal consort, coming from the Ionian Islands, Cephalonia (the latter being the Venetian, now Greek); he came to the harem about 1626 and was the mother of most of his sons.Aparte held the title of Haseki Sultan came to marry legally;
• Şemsişah Kadin Hatun (c.1619 — 1640 or 1698), born as a lady Sarah IvanovićIt was from Bosnia and Herzegovina. His father was a merchant named Amer Ivanović. According to L. Pierce, she was her concubine who had a salary of 1,000 sprinkles.She was the mother of two sons and two daughters.

Offspring

Children

• Şehzade Ahmed (21 December 1627 — 1643); son with Ayşe
• Şehzade Numan (1628 – 1630); son with Ayşe
• Şehzade Orhan (1628 – 1630); son with Ayşe
• Şehzade Hasan (2 February 1632 – 1634); son with Ayşe
• Şehzade Süleyman February 2, 1632 — 1634; son with Ayşe
• Şehzade Mehmed (1634 – 1636); son with Ayşe
• Şehzade Osman (9 February 1634-1636); son with Ayşe
• Şehzade Alaeddin (1635 – 1637); son with Ayşe
• Şehzade Selim (1637-1640); son with Ayşe
• Şehzade Abdülhamid (1637-1640); son with Ayşe
• Şehzade Mahmud (1640-1641); Son with Şemsişah
• Şehzade Bayezid (1640 — 1641); Son with Şemsişah

Daughters

He had at least 12 daughters, but only ten of his daughters survived to adulthood:

• Fahriye Sultan (1627 — 1677), a daughter with Ayşe married Tüccarzade Mustafa Paşa in 1640, was unknown if they had descended;
• Gevherhan Sultan (February 1630 – 1670), daughter with Ayşe married Mehmed Paşa, governor of Egypt in 1645. It is unknown if they were descended;
• Hanzade Sultan (1630—after 1680), daughter with Ayşe married in 1641 with Nakkaş Mustafa Paşa. They had descendants;
• Esmehan Sultan (1632 — 1692) Daughter with Ayse, married at least three times;
• Ismihan Kaya Sultan (1633—February 28, 1659), daughter with Ayşe. He was married on 19 August 1644 with Melek Ahmed Paşa. They had descendants;
• Hafsa Sultan (1634-1678), daughter with Ayse. In 1646 he married Ammarzade Mehmed Paşa. They had descendants;
• Safiye Sultan (1635 — after 1683) Daughter with Ayse, married in 1659 with Sarı Abaza Hüseyin Paşa (familiarly connected with the Great Visir, Siyavuş Paşa). They had descendants;
• Rabia Sultan (1636 — 1692) daughter with Ayşe had at least two husbands, is unknown if they had descendants;
• Fatma Sultan (1636 — 1716) Daughter with Ayse, married in January 1663 in the first nupcias, with Şeytan Melek İbrahim Paşa, governor of Bosnia. For the second time, he married Gürcü Mehmed Paşa in 1691, and for the third time with Bıyıklı Mehmed Paşa in 1693. He had descended from his first marriage. Fatma was buried in the Şehzade Mosque.

• Ayşe Bedia Sultan (1637-1687), daughter with Ayse. He married Malatuk Süleyman Paşa in 1655, possibly having descended;
• Esma Sultan (1638 — 1640), Daughter with Şemsişah died in childhood;
• Rukiye Sultan (1638 — 1640) Daughter with Şemsişah, died in childhood

In popular culture

In the television series Muhteşem Yüzyıl Kösem, Murad IV is played by Cağan Efe Ak as a boy and by Metin Akdülger as Sultan.