Suleiman I, known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent, was the tenth and longest ruling Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. His influence and legacy in both the East and the West were and remain remarkable. He is known as Suleiman the Lawgiver in the East, for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system. He became the pre-eminent monarch of sixteenth century Europe, presiding over the apex of the Ottoman Empire's military, political, and economic power. Far beyond a symbolic leader, Suleiman himself led Ottoman armies to conquer the Christian strongholds of Belgrade, Rhodes, and most of Hungary. He was stopped only when he reached Vienna, Austria in 1529. Under his rule, the Ottoman fleet dominated the seas from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, and into the Persian Gulf.
Suleiman also had a gift for legislation and political and cultural organization. He personally instituted legislative changes related to society, education, taxation, and criminal law. His canonical law fixed the form of the empire for centuries after his death. He was also a true Renaissance man, distinguishing himself as a poet and a goldsmith. He was a great patron of culture, overseeing the golden age of the Ottoman Empire's artistic, literary, and architectural development. Suleiman was interested in religious tolerance as well, focusing his concern on the plight of persecuted Christian subjects. Education was another important focus for the Sultan. Most schools attached to mosques provided a mostly free education to Muslim boys. He broadened the curriculum to include not only religious studies, but also reading and writing, grammar, metaphysics, philosophy, astronomy, and astrology. Going against Ottoman tradition, Suleiman married a harem girl named Roxelana, who was the daughter of an Orthodox Ukrainian priest. She became his queen and very nearly as famous and powerful as her husband. He wrote a poem for Roxolana, a portion of which read, "My most sincere friend, my confidant, my very existence, my Sultan, my one and only love…" Their son, Selim II, succeeded Suleiman upon his death in 1566. He had ruled for forty-six years.
Image: Suleiman I attributed to school of Titian c.1530. |