The Later Ottoman Succession System
-Jason

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By 1595 CE, the Ottoman Empire had existed for 296 years and no clear system of succession for the crown had been created. At times, the empire had avoided civil war through the deaths of several of the heirs. At other times, a chaotic situation happened when one son came to the throne only to be challenged by his brothers, cousins, nephews, and uncles. These times of internecine conflict allowed for external enemies to capitalize on the disorder and conquer parts of the Ottoman Empire.

This situation became intolerable when Sultan Mehmed III died in December of 1603. Mehmed was only 37 years old and the wars he had inherited from his father were not yet over at the time of his death. The heir apparent was Mehmed’s oldest son, Ahmed I, who was only 13 when his father died. He had a brother, Mustafa I, who was only a few months younger than himself. The viziers stepped away from the policy of royal fratricide, the official murder of rival siblings, due to Ahmed’s young age and the fact that he had not yet produced any sons. Mustafa was sent to the Old Palace in Istanbul to act as the heir until Ahmed could marry and begin producing male children: the line of Osman needed to be maintained.

Ahmed’s reign was dominated by warfare against the Safavid Persian Empire to the east of his territory. The Safavids were perpetual enemies of the Ottomans and had conducted bitter military campaigns against one another. Ahmed’s age and inexperience prompted the Safavid ruler, Shah Abbas I, to decide it was a perfect opportunity for him to recapture all of the Persian lands lost to the Turks since the 1570s forwards. Shah Abbas conducted brilliant wars that resulted in the Treaty of Nasuh Pasha in 1612 whose terms heavily favored the Persians and saw all their previously lost territory returned to them.

The situation in Eastern Europe, centering in the Balkans, was equally as dire. The Austrian Hapsburgs launched multiple raids into Ottoman-controlled Hungary and Moldavia throughout 1603-1605. The disastrous Ottoman-Safavids Wars forced Ahmed to shift forces that garrisoned Europe to the Middle East thus leaving the western part of his realm less protected. To secure peace with the Hapsburgs, Ahmed signed the Treaty of Zsitvatorok in 1606. This was not only a blow to Ottoman power but also hurt financially, as the Hapsburgs were no longer required to send the annual 30,000 gold ducat tribute to the sultan. In addition, the Austrian Emperor was officially recognized as being an equal to the Ottoman Sultan.

Ahmed’s reign was further destabilized by massive revolts throughout eastern Anatolia and Mesopotamia. The heavy taxation required for the Safavid Wars and the corruption of the Janissaries in the region led many thousands of peasants, and even irregular soldiers, to revolt against Ahmed. To quell these rebels and bring them back under control, Ahmed used a combination of bribery and force against their leaders. He promised pensions and positions to those who reaffirmed their pledge of obedience to the Sultan. The remaining rebels were put down by an army of 30,000 Janissaries between 1607-1610. To appease the peasants in the hopes of preventing future revolts, Ahmed issued guarantees regarding their rights. He also repopulated abandoned villages with people from other regions of the empire.

Ahmed died in 1607 at the age of 27. Ahmed left three sons: Osman II (r. 1618–22), Murad IV (r. 1623–40), and Ibrahim (r. 1640–48). The early death of yet another sultan threw the Imperial Court into turmoil over succession. None of Ahmed’s sons were old enough to rule on their own, yet there was a desire to avoid a civil war which would weaken of the empire. Mustafa I was still alive and could become the next Sultan, but many within the Court viewed his succession with much unease because Mustafa was mentally ill. In hopes of settling the issue, two of the High Viziers in the Palace, Esad Efedni and Sofu Mehmed Pasha, created a system of formalized succession: “The Rule by Eldest.” “The Rule by Eldest” stated that the children of the oldest line of the Osmanli Dynasty needed to die out before the children of another generation could ascend the throne. Thus, Mustafa I would become Sultan, and then the title would pass to his nephews Osman II, Murad IV, and Ibrahim. This policy needed to be enacted because of the powerful factions both inside and outside the Imperial Court had been plotting to put their own favorite candidates on the throne. Cliques of viziers schemed together while the Janissaries also pushed for a new sultan who would protect their privileged societal positions and wealth. Esad Efedni and Sofu Mehmed asked Mustafa’s mother, Sultan, to act as her son’s regent.

Another Court Official, the Chief Black Eunuch Mustafa Agha, who oversaw the administration and protection the Harem, knew Mustafa’s impairments and so argued against this but was overruled.

While this system potentially eliminated the threat of civil war, it inadvertently led to rapid decline in the effectiveness of the Osmanli heirs. The younger brothers and sons of reigning Sultan were isolated from the outside world by being placed in the Kafe, or Cage, of the Royal Harem. Once they hit puberty, the male heir’s official education ended and they were not given provinces to govern before taking the throne, as their forebearers had done. The harem consorts they enjoyed within in the “Cage” were all barren, preventing them from producing their own heirs while waiting for the throne. The new sultans were completely unprepared for the responsibilities of administering and protecting their vast empire.

Sultan Mustafa I showed how unprepared this new line of rulers would be and how this created an even more chaotic situation. His mental instability was quickly apparent even with his mother as regent; his first reign was short: he inherited the throne on 22 November 1617, then lost it on 26 February 1618 in a coup orchestrated by Mustafa Agha. He was not executed, but was returned to the Harem while his young nephew Osman II was placed on the throne.

Osman II started his reign with a peace treaty with the Safavids. He then made a grave mistake by starting a war against Poland-Lithuania in 1621. Osman II disregarded the advice given to him by the commander of the Janissaries, and he marched into Polish territory without them, his best soldiers, because they refused to leave Istanbul. Osman lost a major engagement against the Poles and returned to his capital enraged. He accused the Janissaries of cowardice and disloyalty and sought to raise a new army from Turkish warriors in eastern Anatolia who would be loyal only to him and who he could use to destroy the Janissaries. Upon hearing these allegations and threats, the Janissaries marched into the Imperial Palace, arrested, and then murdered Osman, and placed Mustafa back on the throne.

These events demonstrated the level at which the imperial succession could be manipulated. Mustafa’s second reign lasted from May 1622 to September 1623 and was even more unstable than the first. Rumors persisted regarding Mustafa walking the halls of the Palace calling for his nephew Osman to reclaim the throne so he could be left alone. Mustafa was again overthrown when an Ottoman administrator, Abaza Mehmed Pasha, marched on Istanbul to avenge the murder of Osman II. Mustafa was placed back into palace exile and was later executed by his nephew Murad IV to ensure the future plots revolving around controlling his uncle could no longer be launched.

Murad IV ruled from 1623-1640. His reign was seen as a stabilizing influence. He did his best to make peace with his neighbors and rebuild the Ottoman economy. Murad also attempted to curb the corruption he witnessed under the reigns of his uncle and eldest brother, but was unsuccessful. He died when he was only 37 and though he had sons of his own, his younger brother Ibrahim I, also known as Ibrahim the Mad, was next to inherit the Ottoman crown. The same arguments were presented to disqualify Ibrahim, but his mother and several corrupt viziers pushed for a coregency. Ibrahim’s eight years of rule that were marked by humiliating military defeats and rebellions throughout Anatolia. Eventually, his insanity culminated in a coup that saw him overthrown and murdered.

The death of Ahmed’s final son allowed Murad IV’s heir Mehmet to gain the throne in 1648. Mehmet IV had the second longest reign of any Ottoman ruler of 39 years. Unfortunately, his own son, Mustafa II, would not be able to take the throne until after the reigns, and subsequent deaths, of his cousins Sulieman II and Ahmed II. By then, the Ottoman Empire had suffered a number of major military defeats and loss of territory to Austria, Poland, Russia, and Venice.