She wore large diamond bracelets, and had five rings on her fingers, all single diamonds, except Mr. Pitt's the largest I ever saw in my life. It is for jewelers to compute the value of these things; but, according to the common estimation of jewels in our part of the world, her whole dress must be worth above a hundred thousand pounds sterling.
This I am very sure of, that no European queen has half the quantity; and the Empress' jewels, though very fine, would look very mean near hers. But the magnificence of her table answered very well to that of her dress. The knives were of gold, the hafts set with diamonds but the piece of luxury that gripped my eyes was the tablecloth and napkins, which were all tiffany, embroidered with silks and gold, in the finest manner, in natural flowers.
It was with the utmost regret that I made use of these costly napkins, as finely wrought as the finest handkerchiefs that ever came out of this country. You may be sure that they were entirely spoiled before dinner was over. The sherbet which is the liquor they drink at meals was served in china bowls; but the covers and salvers were massy gold. After dinner, water was brought in a gold basin, and towels of the same kind as the napkins, which I very unwillingly wiped my hands upon; and coffee was served in china, with gold sou-coupes.
I did not omit this opportunity of learning all that I possibly could of the seraglio, which is so entirely unknown among us. She never mentioned her husband without tears in her eyes, yet she seemed very fond of the discourse. Yet I cannot forget that I was beloved by the greatest and most lovely of mankind. I was chosen from all the rest, to make all his campaigns with him; I would not survive him, if I was not passionately fond of my daughter. Yet all my tenderness for her was hardly enough to make me preserve my life.
When I lost him, I passed a whole twelvemonth without seeing the light. Time has softened my despair; yet I now pass some days every week in tears, devoted to the memory of my husband. It was easy to see she was in a deep melancholy, though her good humor made her willing to divert me. She asked me to walk in her garden, and one of her slaves immediately brought her a pellice of rich brocade lined with sables.
I waited on her into the garden, which had nothing in it remarkable but the fountains; and from thence she showed me all her apartments. In her bed chamber her toilet was displayed, consisting of two looking-glasses, the frames covered with pearls, and her night talpoc1te set with bodkins of jewels, and near it three vests of fine sables, every one of which is, at least, worth a thousand dollars two hundred pounds English money.
I don't doubt these rich habits were purposely placed in sight, but they seemed negligently thrown on the sofa.
When I took my leave of her, I was complimented with perfumes, as at the grand vizier's, and presented with a very fine embroidered handkerchief. Her slaves were to the number of thirty, besides ten little ones, the eldest not above seven years old. These were the most beautiful girls I ever saw, all richly dressed; and I observed that the Sultana took a great deal of pleasure in these lovely children, which is a vast expense; for there is not a handsome girl of that age to be bought under a hundred pounds sterling.
They wore little garlands of flowers, and their own hair, braided, which was all their headdress; but their habits all of gold stuffs. These served her coffee, kneeling; brought water when she washed, etc. It is a great part of the business of the older slaves to take care of these girls, to teach them to embroider and serve them as carefully as if they were children of the family.
Artists renowned by name include calligrapher Ahmad Karahisari as well as painters Shahquli and Kara Memi.
The tile revetment of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, as well as several additions to sites in Mecca and Medina, the two Holy Cities of Islam, date from this period. Exhibition catalogue.. Washington, D. London: Reaktion, During battles was Suleiman wore in a white turban and jeweled robe, riding a black horse decked out in gold. In one battle, according to Ottoman historians, Suleiman was struck by arrows and wounded by the swords of three knights, who were eventually cut to pieces by the sultan.
Suleiman doubled the size of the Ottoman Empire. He extended its territory into Mecca and Medina and Yemen, and took Persian territory. The Hapsburgs marched into Hungary and took Buda, placing Ferdinand on the throne and sparking a decades-long feud with Suleiman and the Ottoman Empire.
In , Suleiman marched on Hungary once more, taking Buda from the Hapsburgs and then continuing to besiege the Hapsburg capital at Vienna. Suleiman's army of perhaps , reached Vienna in late September, without most of their heavy artillery and siege machines.
On October 11 and 12 of that year, they attempted another siege against 16, Viennese defenders, but Vienna managed to hold them off once more and the Turkish forces withdrew. The Ottoman sultan did not give up on the idea of taking Vienna, but his second attempt in was similarly hampered by rain and mud and the army never even reached the Hapsburg capital. In , the two empires went to war again when the Hapsburgs laid siege to Buda, trying to remove Suleiman's ally from the Hungarian throne.
The Hungarians and Ottomans defeated the Austrians, and captured additional Hapsburg holdings in and again in Ferdinand was forced to renounce his claim to be king of Hungary and had to pay tribute to Suleiman, but even as all of these events happened to the north and west of Turkey, Suleiman also had to keep an eye on his eastern border with Persia.
The Safavid Persian Empire that ruled much of southwestern Asia was one of the Ottomans' great rivals and a fellow " gunpowder empire. Suleiman, busy in Hungary and Austria, sent his grand vizier with a second army to retake Bitlis in , which also seized Tabriz, in present-day northeastern Iran , from the Persians. Suleiman himself returned from his second invasion of Austria and marched into Persia in , but the Shah refused to meet the Ottomans in open battle, withdrawing into the Persian desert and using guerrilla hits against the Turks instead.
Suleiman retook Baghdad and was reconfirmed as the true caliph of the Islamic world. From to , Suleiman decided to overthrow his Persian gadfly for good and launched a second invasion of the Safavid Empire.
Once more, Tahmasp refused to participate in a pitched battle, this time leading the Ottoman army up into the snowy, rugged terrain of the Caucasus Mountains. The Ottoman sultan gained territory in Georgia and the Kurdish borderlands between Turkey and Persia but was unable to come to grips with the Shah.
The third and final confrontation between Suleiman and Tahmasp took place from to As always, the Shah avoided open battle, but Suleiman marched into the Persian heartland and laid it to waste. Shah Tahmasp finally agreed to sign a treaty with the Ottoman sultan, in which he got control of Tabriz in exchange for promising to cease border raids on Turkey and to permanently relinquish his claims to Baghdad and the rest of Mesopotamia.
Descendants of Central Asian nomads , the Ottoman Turks were not historically a naval power. Nonetheless, Suleiman's father established an Ottoman seafaring legacy in the Mediterranean Sea , the Red Sea, and even the Indian Ocean beginning in During Suleiman's reign, Ottoman ships traveled to Mughal India's trading ports, and the sultan exchanged letters with the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great.
The sultan's Mediterranean fleet patrolled the sea under the command of the famous Admiral Heyreddin Pasha, known in the west as Barbarossa. Suleiman's navy also managed to drive troublesome newcomers to the Indian Ocean system , the Portuguese, out of a key base at Aden on the coast of Yemen in However, the Turks were unable to dislodge the Portuguese from their toeholds along the west coasts of India and Pakistan.
He decreed that all Ottoman soldiers would pay for any food or other property they took as provisions while on a campaign, even while in enemy territory. Suleiman also reformed the tax system, dropping extra taxes imposed by his father and establishing a transparent tax rate system that varied according to people's income.
Hiring and firing within the bureaucracy would be based on merit, rather than on the whims of higher officials or family connections. All Ottoman citizens, even the highest, were subject to the law.
The empire began a controlled decentralization in response to the need for tax in kind, changes in the nature of warfare, the Little Ice Age , and other transformations in Europe. It was this adaptability—rather than clinging to raw power—that allowed the Ottoman Empire to weather these crises.
Where so many other empires and kingdoms collapsed, the Ottomans survived into twentieth century. The Sultan often reflected in his poetry on the transitory nature of rule, life, and power. His poetry characterizes the world as a trap, filled largely with misery. Given the events of his long reign, he likely felt keenly the repercussions of rule. Despite the pains power caused him, he knew that nothing, including his own reign, lasts forever.
Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Stanton Foundation. Skip to main content. The Ohio State University.
Department of History. Home Topics Africa. The only son of Selim I, Suleiman attended the palace school and served his apprenticeship as a governor, first at Bolu, where he was assigned when about 15, later at Kaffa, the homeland of his mother, daughter of a Crimean Tatar khan. He also supervised the state when his father was campaigning. In education and experience Suleiman surpassed every European ruler of his day.
Suleiman continued Selim's expansionist activites, personally participating in 13 campaigns. This military activity was in part due to the nature of the state, since, without raiding, as the Sultan is said to have realized, the Janissaries lacked income and apolitical outlets for their energies. This was certainly a crucial cause of later Ottoman decline. The first of Suleiman's military moves was against Belgrade, captured on Aug.
Thus the way into the heartland of central Europe was opened. Rhodes, only 6 miles off the Turkish coast, was the Sultan's second military objective. The resident Knights of St. John had long protected Christian pirates harassing the sealanes to Egypt.
The island capitulated in December after a bloody 6-month siege. Inhabitants not choosing to leave were given their full civil rights and a 5-year remission of taxes, an indication of Suleiman's just—and shrewd— nature.
Suleiman enjoyed the succeeding 3 years at leisure in or near the capital. However, the groundwork was laid at this time for two situations—harem influence and the elevation of favorites—which were to become disastrous for the empire in later centuries. A slave girl, Roxelana "the Russian" , so attracted the sultan that he made her his legal wife.
Favoritism also appeared, undermining the morale of a government service in which promotions had resulted from meritorious service. The Sultan's favorite, Ibrahim, was a Greek, sold into slavery by pirates.
His mistress educated him, and he became attached to Suleiman while the latter was still a prince. On June 27, , Ibrahim was made grand vizier.
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