Selim I, the ninth sultan of the Ottoman state, passed into history with the epithet Yavuz, "the Grim" or "the Stern." The name had been attached to him in his own lifetime because of his harsh temperament, his courage and his boldness; in Ottoman documents, however, he is usually called simply "Selim Shah." In a reign of a little over eight years he defeated the Safavid army at Chaldiran and the Mamluk army at Marj Dabiq and Ridaniya, and with these victories the centre of gravity of the state shifted from the Balkans to the Middle East. His story, however, begins in Amasya. His father Bayezid II was at that time the sanjak governor of the city, his grandfather Mehmed II the Conqueror reigned in Istanbul, and Selim was one of the dynastic children born in the princely palace in the valley of the Yeşilırmak.
Birth in Amasya
On the place of his birth the sources largely agree, and they point to Amasya. Bayezid's tenure as sanjak governor of Amasya had begun in his childhood, under Mehmed the Conqueror; after the conquest of Istanbul he was appointed to this sanjak in 1454, at the age of seven. Selim was thus born in a building that had served for many years as a "princely palace," in the midst of a long-established tradition.
The building where the princes lived stood inside the inner citadel. It was known as the "Palace of the Beys" in the Seljuk period and the "Palace of the Princes" in the Ottoman period, and among the people as "Saraydüzü" or the "Saraydüzü Barracks." A residence of sultans and commanders since the Danishmendids, it had taken its definitive form during the time of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed as sanjak governor of Amasya, when in 1396 the place known as the Gümüşlüzâde mansion was bought from Gümüşlüzâde Hoca Celâleddin Çelebi and a large palace was built there. Used as a palace for 350 years, the building is also recorded as the birthplace of Ahmed Çelebi, son of Murad II, of Prince Ahmed, son of Bayezid II, and of Selim I (an account that rests on Hüseyin Hüsameddin's Amasya Tarihi). The present condition and exact location of the structure could not be separately verified in this study.
The standing of the city in that period helps explain the setting into which Selim was born. For a place to become a princely sanjak it had to lie in a frontier region, to have served as the capital of one of the old Anatolian principalities, and to count as a centre of history, culture and trade; Amasya had all of these. It had been the seat of the Danishmendids, it remained a strategic centre on the eastern frontier of the Ottomans until the late sixteenth century, and it was known by titles such as Medînetü'l-Hükemâ (City of the Sages), Bağdâdü'r-Rûm (Baghdad of Rum) and Dârü'l-Fütûh (Abode of Conquests). The seat of the province was Amasya from the first half of the fifteenth century until 1520; the era of the princely sanjak governors ("Çelebi Sultan") had begun in 1386, under Murad I, when Prince Bayezid came to Amasya and attached the Amasya Principality to the Ottomans.
There is no complete agreement on the date of his birth. Feridun Emecen writes "according to one account 872 (1467-68), as a stronger possibility 875 (1470)." M. Hanefi Bostan writes that "although different information is given on the date of birth, he is estimated to have been born in 1470." General reference works give the date as 10 October 1470; this is the most widely accepted, but it is not a day fixed by documents.
His mother's name also circulates in two forms. Emecen writes that his mother was Ayşe Hatun, daughter of the Dulkadirid Alâüddevle Bozkurt Bey; he adds that her appearance in some sources under the name "Gülbahar bint Abdüssamed" is a mere conjecture, and that the sixteenth-century historian Cenâbî states explicitly that she was Ayşe Hatun. Bostan, relying on the archive registers of the Topkapı Palace Museum, says it is certain that her name was "Ayşe Gülbahar." There are two views on the name; on her descent from the Dulkadir dynasty, the sources agree. She will be referred to below as "Ayşe (Gülbahar) Hatun." Selim would later go with her to Trabzon.
Childhood and Education
The sources agree that Selim received a good education at an early age; his father had appointed private tutors for him. His childhood was spent in Amasya, an important cultural centre, and besides Abdülhalim (Halîmî) Çelebi, Taşköprîzâde Muslihuddin Mustafa Efendi, the Amasyan Sheikh Hamdullah and Molla Muhittin are named as influences on his schooling. He learned Arabic and Persian; alongside history, literature, natural science and calligraphy he was trained in practical subjects such as horsemanship, archery, swordsmanship and the making of bows and arrows. Yet the Trabzon records show that his tutor was Taşköprîzâde, so it cannot be said that all the names listed belong to the Amasya years. That Halîmî Çelebi was a teacher who remained close to him all his life is clear: Selim had him brought to Trabzon for "scholarly conversation" (musâhabet-i ilmiyye), and in 1515 he was still being called "the sultan's tutor."
The palace in which Selim spent his childhood was a place where artists and scholars were protected. During his governorship Bayezid had begun to learn calligraphy from Sheikh Hamdullah, the Amasyan master of the art, had received a diploma (icazetname) from the young calligrapher, and when he left Amasya in 1481 to take the throne he invited his teacher to Istanbul together with his family. Experienced statesmen such as Çandarlı İbrahim and Yahya Pasha served as his lalas, and it was his custom to go up in summer to Lâdik, which belonged to Amasya.
At about the age of ten, probably, Selim was summoned to Istanbul by his grandfather Mehmed the Conqueror together with his brothers Ahmed, Korkut, Mahmud and Âlemşah and Oğuz Han, son of his uncle Cem. The circumcision took place at Topkapı Palace. According to Kemalpaşazâde, the Conqueror showed great interest in his grandsons and had them circumcised; he also married Bayezid's eldest son Abdullah to the daughter of the earlier-deceased Prince Mustafa, and a month of festivities was held on this occasion (885/1480). Some sources date the circumcision to 1479, when Selim was nine; others say "about ten years old." It is right to accept a range between 1479 and 1480 for the date.
This was in all likelihood the first and last time Selim saw his grandfather, but the event held an important place in his memory. According to one account, years later, when a portrait of the Conqueror was shown to him, Selim said that in his childhood he had grown up on his grandfather's knees, that the shape of his face had never been effaced from his mind, and that the painter had not made the portrait resemble his grandfather exactly. This is a later report.
After the circumcision ceremony Selim returned to his father and stayed in Amasya for some time longer. There is no information on whether Selim was with Bayezid when the latter came to Istanbul in 1481 to take the throne. It may be thought that, because of his father's struggle with Prince Cem, he remained for a while in Amasya and was brought to Istanbul with his mother once the necessary internal security had been secured; there is no definite document. When Bayezid left the sanjak he left his eldest son Ahmed, born here, in his place as governor. Ahmed, like his father, opened his palace to poets and scholars; the Amasyan woman poet Mihrî Hatun presented most of her odes to him. Around 1509 the sources speak of him as "his elder brother Ahmed, who is in Amasya." In this way the city of Selim's birth remained in the hands of the brother who would become his rival.
The Sanjak of Trabzon: Twenty-Four Years
Selim's first known post was the sanjak of Trabzon. The date of his appointment "must be 892 (1487) according to some archival documents"; the absence of any entry concerning Selim in the 1486 detailed cadastral survey (mufassal tahrir) of Trabzon supports this date. In letters to his father Selim says that he had been in Trabzon "twenty-five years" and "nearly thirty years"; Halil Edhem, for his part, gives the appointment as 895 (1489-90). With his mother at his side, he governed this sanjak until 1510, for about twenty-four years. The only prince to rule Trabzon before Selim was Bayezid's eldest son Abdullah; Trabzon first acquired the character of a "princely sanjak" with Abdullah, but it found its real weight in Selim's time. These years gave him excellent experience for the reign that was to be short; he followed closely the developments along the frontier, the Georgian principalities and the activities of Shah Ismail, and wrote reports to the centre.
Family Life
The Trabzon years were also the years of Selim's family life. His marriage to Hafsa Hatun probably took place at the end of 1493 or in the first two months of 1494. His son Süleyman, the future Süleyman the Magnificent, was born in Trabzon on 6 November 1494 and remained with his father until the age of fifteen. Selim had other children who died young in Trabzon: Prince Salih (died 1499) and Kamerşah Sultan (died 27 September 1503). Bostan records that he saw with his own eyes the marble sarcophagi of these two children in Trabzon, and that the inscriptions bear the dates 1499 and 1503. A record dated 6 May 1505 shows Bayezid sending Selim 300,000 akçe in cash and valuable fabrics for the circumcision feast of his son; the child's name is not given in the document, but it is thought to be Süleyman.
His mother Ayşe (Gülbahar) Hatun died in Trabzon in 1505-1506 (H. 911). It is recorded that on 19 November 1505 Bayezid sent Selim condolences and various gifts. Selim had begun to build a soup-kitchen complex (imaret) in Trabzon in his mother's name; it is documented that Bayezid sent 40,000 akçe on 29 December 1504 for the expense of the bath belonging to it. He could not finish the complex in his princely years; after he became sultan it was completed in 1514-1515, consisting of a mosque, a madrasa, a guesthouse, a public kitchen and the tomb of his mother. Today it is known in Trabzon as "Gülbahar Hatun."
Lalas, Teachers, Poets
According to the Trabzon records Selim's teacher was Taşköprîzâde Muslihuddin Efendi; his lalas were, in succession, İlyas Bey, Sinan Bey, Nasuh Bey, Mehmed Bey, Çaşnigir Sinan Bey, Mehmed Bey and Hamza Bey. The registers of timar assignments for 1487-1489 and 1497-1500 give an idea of administrative activity in the sanjak; it is also notable that in 1507 Selim sent men to Bursa to find money on loan. Under him Trabzon became a cultural centre; many poets gathered around him, and those who presented odes were rewarded with gifts. Besides Halîmî Çelebi, his patronage of poets such as Hayâlî, Revânî, Şehîdî and Şevkî of Bursa is recorded. The poet Hâşimî, of Akkoyunlu origin, was his companion and the scribe of his poems. Abdulali Bircendî, who came from the Samarkand tradition of mathematics and astronomy, determined the qibla direction of Trabzon and presented his work "Tuhfe-i Selîmiyye" (1505-1506) to Selim. İdrîs-i Bitlisî sent an ode in 1507 to the prince in Trabzon asking to be taken under his protection; his son Ebülfazl grew up under Selim's patronage. It is also recorded that when he ascended the throne he brought musicians with him from Trabzon, such as the kopuz player Zeynî and the singer Ali Sultan. This milieu gives the picture of a prince closely interested in poetry and learning, beside the image of the harsh warrior.
Building Activity
According to the inscription of the citadel wall dated 1491-1492 (H. 897), Selim had the walls of Trabzon Castle repaired and had archery (nişan) stones set up in Kavak Square. In Giresun he built a mosque, now vanished, and assigned endowments to it; this building, which appears in the records as the "Hüdavendigâr Mosque," seems to have been demolished in the 1930s. It is recorded that in the centre of Rize he built the Gülbahar Mosque in his mother's name, in Tirebolu a bath to provide income for his foundation, and in the district of Pazar another "Hüdavendigâr Mosque." He put the castles of the sanjak in working order again, set up small shipyards in Trabzon, Giresun and Tirebolu, and pioneered the opening of the mines around Gümüşhane and Kürtün to exploitation. Even after becoming sultan he did not forget Trabzon: it is documented that after the great fire in the city in 1514 he sent 100,000 akçe to be distributed to those who had been impoverished.
Hoca Sadeddin writes that under his administration the people of Trabzon were "happy and carefree" and that theft ceased. This is a historian's praise, and it could not be verified in figures. From Selim's letters, on the other hand, it is clear that Trabzon grew no grain, that everything was brought in by ship from outside, that some of the ships sank because of bad weather, and that he and his retinue suffered hardship; this hardship is one of the reasons that played a part in his turning toward the region and Kefe.
On the Georgian and Safavid Frontier
The Trabzon years were not passed only in administration and building. The first signs of Selim's raids on Georgia date from 1487-1490; it appears that he corresponded about Georgia with the Akkoyunlu beys Sultan Yakub and Elvend Bey. The archive records point to a campaign known as the "Abkhaz (Abhaz) War"; in records dated 28 March 1500 one sees that the timars of the Trabzon colonel Ferhad Bey and of the Çepni beys, who had distinguished themselves in this war, were increased. Şükrî-i Bitlisî writes that Selim made three great campaigns against Georgia.
The most detailed information concerns the campaign of 1508. According to Kemalpaşazâde, in the spring of 1508 (at the beginning of 914) Selim, with the intention of ghaza, made a great overland raid on Georgia. Entering a region where no bird flew and no caravan passed, narrow, wooded, surrounded by deep streams and steep mountains, he took more than ten thousand captives and returned to Trabzon with abundant booty, informing his father by a letter of victory (fetihname). A record of 7 May 1508 shows that 30,000 akçe were sent to Selim from the centre as "slave price" (gulâm bahâsı). Guided by Atabek Mirza Çabuk, one of the Kipchak Orthodox Turks, Selim marched on Açıkbaş/Imereti (Kutaisi) and brought its ruler Bagrat III into submission. These raids were directed at once to intimidate Shah Ismail's tendency to spread into Georgian lands and to prevent raids on the Black Sea coasts. The relationship formed with Atabek Mirza Çabuk would bear fruit in the logistic support given to the Ottoman army during the Chaldiran campaign. A document dated 31 August 1511 shows that the Georgian bey "Cânik Mirzâ" (who must be Mirza Çabuk) sent gifts to Bayezid II.
Another episode appears in the narrative of Celâlzâde Mustafa: for the campaign Selim sent men to the cities and towns of the Ottoman land and summoned young men to Trabzon; to those who joined he said that when he took charge of the state he would not turn away from the children of the people, and that they should not incline toward the Qizilbash. According to the report, folk bards began to sing the song "Yürü Sultan Selim devran senindir" (March on, Sultan Selim, the age is yours). This is a story transmitted by a historian; its details could not be verified by documents.
More important was the Safavid question. In 1501 Shah Ismail had taken Tabriz, the Akkoyunlu capital, founded the Safavid state, and placed the Sunni population under heavy pressure. As early as 1501 (906), in reports written to his father, Selim had set out that the frontier castles should be repaired and ships sent for the security of the coasts, and had also reported on the situation in Shirvan; Bayezid answered him: "now is not the time for repairing castles." Selim nevertheless took the castles of Bayburt, Kemah, İspir and Kökez and secured the region as far as Erzurum. The Akkoyunlu/Bayındır beys Ferruhşâd Bey and Mansur Bey took refuge with him. The Sunni people fleeing Safavid pressure were settled by Selim between Trabzon and Rize, at Maçka and its surroundings; this settlement formed an important component of the present population structure of the eastern Black Sea, and family names belonging to Akkoyunlu tribes still live in the region.
In 1507, when Shah Ismail set out against the Dulkadirids, he had had his heavy guns buried at Erzincan; Selim, learning of this, seized the guns. When the Shah sent one of his men to the borders of Trabzon, Selim gathered the soldiers of the sanjak and marched to Erzincan, entered the city, eliminated the guards and withdrew; he also met and scattered near Erzincan a new force of 10,000 sent by the Shah. Ibrahim Mirza, the Shah's brother, was sent against Trabzon with 3,000 men; Selim defeated him and took him prisoner. Some sources list the same events as 1505 (the defence of Trabzon with a force of 450), 1507 and 1510; this last Safavid campaign is dated by some authors to 1508 and by others to 1510. For this reason the events have been set out without giving an exact year.
After these defeats Shah Ismail wrote a letter of complaint to Bayezid II; an order went out from the Imperial Council that Bayburt, İspir, Kemah and Erzincan should be returned to the Safavids. Selim withdrew from these lands; the sources record it with the words "inclining not to molest that side, he withdrew his hand from the Persian districts" (ol cânibe ta'arruza mâyil olmayub eknâf-ı Acemden el çekdi). In a letter to his father he argues that taking these castles and returning them to the Sufi (the Shah) came not from his own ambition for power but from the wish to protect the Islamic frontier, and says: "if this service were regarded with justice and fairness ... we abandoned that zeal" (bu hidmete adl ve insâf üzre nazar olunsa ... ol gayretî biz terk etdûk). Selim was a sanjak governor who acted on his own despite his father's warnings, and the tension between him and his father grew from here. Bayezid for his part had not failed to warn him not to multiply his enemies in the face of the Shah's movements along the frontier.
The Question of the Throne and a Sanjak for Süleyman
By 1509 Bayezid was old and ill. The state had passed into the hands of the viziers; most of the viziers wanted Prince Ahmed, the sanjak governor of Amasya, to take the throne. Selim saw a strong Safavid threat, while Ahmed did not seem aware of it. His successes in Trabzon had been heard of everywhere, and a propaganda had begun to the effect that the banner of ghaza would be unfurled again in his person and that the Safavid threat could be removed only by him; his name stood out especially among the Janissaries, who were in effect the arbiters of the state. Selim did not want to pursue the contest for power from Trabzon. He asked, on various pretexts, for his sanjak to be changed, but his proposals were not accepted because of Ahmed's pressure. This time he asked for a sanjak for his son Süleyman.
Istanbul offered him Sultanönü or a new sanjak to be formed from the Giresun-Kürtün-Şiran district. Selim wrote his father a harsh letter, pointing out that the first was too distant and the second mountainous and without revenue, and asked for Şebinkarahisar or Kefe for Süleyman. First Şebinkarahisar, then Bolu was granted; but Prince Ahmed in Amasya, in his position as "regarded as the heir to the throne," objected to these offers. In one letter Selim writes that if his father's consent lay in that direction he would renounce "not the headship of a ruined corner but the sultanate of the whole world." This letter showed that he was now openly one of the parties to the struggle for the throne; his dispute with his brother had reached its extreme, and according to report they had even made war preparations against each other.
The bargaining was finally concluded. Süleyman was appointed to the sanjak of Kefe in place of his deceased uncle Prince Mehmed, and Ahmed's son Murad to the sanjak of Bolu. On the date two sources differ somewhat: the appointment was made on 5 August 1509 (18 Rebîülâhir 915), or on 18 Rebîülevvel 915, that is, 6 July 1509. After the appointments the Istanbul earthquake of August-September 1509 caused great damage and Bayezid was obliged to go to Edirne. Rumours spread that Bayezid's illness was worsening; Prince Ahmed had come to Ankara, and Korkut went to Manisa. In a letter to his father in 1510 Selim said that Trabzon yielded no crops at all, that everything was supplied from outside, that he was in constant struggle on the frontier while the other princes lived in abundance, and he asked for a sanjak in Rumelia; his request was not granted.
The Move to Kefe
On 30 September 1510 Selim left Trabzon with fifty-six small ships for Kefe and reached it on 10 October. The official reason was to see his son; he had not obtained his father's permission. At Kefe he established ties with the Crimean Khan and the beys in Rumelia and found considerable support. His father ordered him to return to Trabzon; Selim did not return. He asked permission to go from Kefe to Istanbul; in a letter to the grand vizier he stated that his father was thinking of placing Ahmed on the throne and eliminating his other sons, that if such an intention existed he would come at once and surrender, and he also accused the statesmen harshly. In the council most of the viziers were indeed speaking against him and urging the sultan in Ahmed's favour.
On 29 November 1510 Bayezid sent the scholar Sarıgörez Nûreddin Efendi to Kefe. In their meeting Selim declared that he would not return to Trabzon whatever the cost. According to Sarıgörez's report Selim was not a "rebel"; if he were given a good sanjak equal to Ahmed's revenues he would go to Anatolia, otherwise he was thinking of conquering the Russian fortresses together with the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray and remaining there. The sanjak of Menteşe was offered to Selim; he said it was worse than Trabzon and asked for Silistra. Since it was contrary to law to give princes sanjaks in Rumelia, this request was not accepted. Selim declared that he wished to kiss his father's hand and had very important things to tell, but he refused to return.
In the spring of 1511 Selim crossed from Kefe to Rumelia with eight beys and ships (one record says he reached Özi on 28 April 1511, another report that he set out on 10 May). With him was a force of 2,000 in all, made up of 600 volunteers from Trabzon, about 1,000 of the Çepni Turkmen of Dobruja and about 300 sent by the Crimean Khan. On reaching Akkirman he was not admitted to the city and turned toward Kili; not being admitted there either, he set out for Edirne with the 3,000 men with him. From Akkirman onward twenty-eight more beys joined him. Selim, encamped at Çukurçayır on the Tunca near Edirne, had about ten thousand men with him.
At this time there was a crisis in Edirne. Hasan Pasha, the Beylerbey of Rumelia, went out to meet Selim and suddenly returned to Edirne; Bayezid marched against Selim the next morning with about 15,000 soldiers, but Selim did not move and corresponded through messengers in order to meet his father. The beys of Rumelia intervened. In the end Selim met Mevlânâ Sarıgörez and said: "Had I been able to meet the sultan, my purpose was to kiss his hand. But obstacles came between and it was not granted. What can be done; the command is theirs." He again said that he wanted a sanjak in Rumelia. Selim was given the sanjak of Semendire, to which Vidin and Alacahisar were added; permission was issued for raids against the Hungarians. Bayezid also sent a covenant (ahitname) that he would not place any of the princes on the throne so long as he lived. It is recorded that on 17 June 1511 1,500,000 akçe in cash, together with fabrics, horses, camels and weapons, were sent to Selim.
War Against His Father at Çorlu
The peace was short-lived. In Anatolia the rebellion of Şahkulu had spread. The Beylerbey of Anatolia, Karagöz Pasha, was killed on 22 April 1511 and the Grand Vizier Hadım Ali Pasha on 2 July 1511, both while trying to suppress the revolt. The rebellion had also engulfed Amasya, and Prince Ahmed intervened with his forces but was defeated and withdrew. Ahmed at this moment, instead of putting down the revolt, was set on coming to Istanbul and taking the throne; on an invitation received from statesmen he left his eldest son Murad in charge of the sanjak of Amasya and set out. It was also being said that Bayezid intended to bring Ahmed and abdicate. On this news Selim considered the covenant given to him no longer binding. He had left Edirne to go to Semendire; on reaching Eski Zağra he learned that his brother had been called to the seat of the sultanate, turned back at once, entered Edirne, left control of the city to his men and marched after his father to Çorlu.
He met his father near Çorlu at a place called "Uğraş" or "Karıştıran" (one name for it is also Uğraşdere). Selim had no intention of coming to blows with his father; he wanted "to show that he too had a place in the struggle for the throne." His messenger Şarabdar Mustafa Çelebi met Bayezid on 1 August 1511. Ahmed's partisans told the sultan to attack Selim before he had gathered all his forces. Bayezid attacked with his regular army of about 40,000. Selim had instructed his soldiers not to raise a sword against them; at the end of a violent battle fought with cannon his forces broke up. Selim was encircled; he was able to escape thanks to his horse "Karabulut" and was saved by the resistance of his close companion Ferhad Pasha. According to Menavino, who was with Bayezid, Selim lost 8,000 men and Bayezid about 700.
On the date of the battle the sources differ by a day or two: Bostan states that "the battle took place on 1 August or a few days earlier"; Uzunçarşılı and Emecen give 3 August 1511 (8 Cemâziyelevvel 917). Selim came from Vize to Aydos and from there to Ahyolu, with 3,000 men remaining to him. Boarding ships, he returned to Kefe. This is the battle that historians describe as his "only defeat." A petition later written to the sultan by the Akkoyunlu Şeyhoğlu Ali, who fought at his side, shows the price of the battle: "two of my brothers fell and three of my uncles fell and I was wounded in two places" (iki karındaşım düşüb ve üç ammim düşüb ben iki yerden mecrûh olub). When Selim ascended the throne he restored and increased the fiefs of those who had stood with him in this battle.
The Road to the Throne
The defeat was not Selim's end, because the balance in Istanbul was changing fast. Prince Ahmed came to Üsküdar on 21 September 1511; the Janissaries declared that they did not want him, plundered the houses of the viziers who favoured Ahmed (some 5,000 Janissaries) and demanded that Bayezid remove certain statesmen. Their grounds were that Ahmed had not dared to help Ali Pasha during the Şahkulu rebellion. According to the report the Janissaries were saying: "Worthy of the throne of the sultanate is the renowned Sultan Selim; we accept none other than him" (Serîr-i saltanata sezâvâr Sultan Selim-i nâmdârdır, biz andan gayrisini kabûl itmezüz). Letters of support were sent to Selim at Kefe; news reached him that Hersekzâde Ahmed Pasha favoured him and that among the viziers Mustafa Pasha and Sinan Pasha supported him. Ahmed withdrew from Üsküdar to Gebze and from there to Konya. He asked his father to give him the sanjak of Karaman, which had been given to Prince Mehmed, son of his deceased brother Şehinşah, and announced that otherwise he would attack; Bayezid strongly opposed this and ordered him to return to his own sanjak, Amasya. Ahmed did not obey, occupied Konya, cut off the head of Prince Mehmed and sent it to Bayezid II, and began to behave like an independent ruler. When Nur Ali Halife, whom Shah Ismail had sent to recruit men, came to the Şebinkarahisar and Niksar side and attacked Amasya with the men he gathered, Ahmed fell completely from the sultan's favour. From Amasya's side the affair developed as follows: the Safavid caliphs had taken control of Tokat and besieged Sivas, Murad joined Nur Ali with ten thousand men, and this crisis ended when Yahşi Beyzâde Ahmed Pasha drove the rebels out of Amasya.
In March 1512 (Muharram 918) Bayezid informed Selim by an order that he had appointed him commander-in-chief (serdar) at the head of the army; Bostan gives the date of the order as 27 March 1512 (9 Muharram 918). Setting out from Kefe, Selim came by way of Akkirman and Kili to Prevadi in the sanjak of Silistra, and from there headed for Istanbul. At Küçükçekmece he was received with ceremony by a crowd of statesmen, soldiers and townspeople. Korkut had come to Istanbul and taken refuge with the Janissaries; the Janissaries gave him no hope but kept him under protection. Selim met his brother before entering Istanbul, alighted at the tent in Yenibahçe and the next day appeared before his father at Topkapı Palace. Bayezid complained to him of the Safavid threat and asked him to be commander with as many soldiers as he wished. Selim refused, saying that the army would be successful only if it went on campaign with the sultan, and that otherwise he would be no different from a vizier. His father maintained that he had appointed him commander in order to save the country from disorder; Selim was sure that this opened the way to sovereignty for him. In Emecen's words Bayezid "was compelled, under heavy pressure, to renounce his throne in favour of his son; in a sense he was deposed." On 7 Safer 918 (24 April 1512) Selim ascended the throne as the ninth Ottoman sultan.
Bayezid wished to retire to the palace at Didymoteicho, which he had had repaired; Selim accepted this request and placed at his service the Beylerbey of Rumelia Yunus Pasha and the former treasurer Kasım Pasha. Bayezid left Istanbul on 5 May 1512 and on the way died on 10 June 1512 (25 Rebîülevvel 918) in the village of Abalar near Havsa; his body was brought to Istanbul and buried beside the mosque he had built. Rumours that he had his father poisoned appear especially in Western sources; it is noted that this cannot be confirmed by other sources, but that it is certain the death strengthened Selim's position in his struggle with his brothers.
The Reckoning with His Brothers
When Selim became sultan the work was not finished. Korkut was in Manisa; Ahmed was acting as a ruler in Konya, gathering troops and making serious preparations against Selim, and had sent his son Alâeddin to Bursa. The people of Bursa asked the new sultan for help on 19 June 1512. Selim had his son Süleyman brought from Kefe and gave him the guard of Istanbul, sent a part of the Janissaries to Bursa, and crossed into Anatolia on 18 July. Ahmed, at Afyon, withdrew first to Ankara, could not stay there, and went to Amasya and then to Dârende. Selim came to Bursa on 23 November to winter. Here he had the Grand Vizier Koca Mustafa Pasha executed on the ground that he had corresponded with Ahmed; he did away "on the ground of the survival of the sultanate" with Mûsâ, Orhan and Emîr, the sons of Prince Mahmud who were in Bursa, with Osman, son of Âlemşah, and with Mehmed, son of Şehinşah, and then had Korkut seized in Manisa and put to death. Facing him now were only his brother Ahmed and Ahmed's sons.
Ahmed had meanwhile taken Amasya again under his control. Deceived by letters reaching him, he set out and marched on Bursa. In the battle fought on the plain of Yenişehir Selim routed his brother; Ahmed was caught and killed as he tried to flee the field. On the date the sources differ: Emecen gives 8 Safer 919 (15 April 1513); some sources give 24 April 1513, and an article on Amasya writes 1514. The first date is adopted here. With this victory Selim secured his throne completely; his next objective was Shah Ismail, who was regarded as a serious religious and political threat to the state.
It is claimed by some sources that Osman, one of Ahmed's sons, was killed in Amasya on 14 April 1513 and buried in the Sultan Bayezid Mosque; this information could not be confirmed by another source. Murad, for his part, left Amasya and went to Shah Ismail, and died after serving as an administrator in Iran for three or four years (according to Hoca Sadeddin). Amasya had once more been a stage for the quarrels among brothers of the dynasty. This policy of fratricide had been nourished by the civil wars opened by the contests between Bayezid and Prince Cem and between Selim and Ahmed. When Selim became sultan he appointed Mustafa Pasha as beylerbey to the governorship of Amasya, and calm was secured in the sanjak.
The Safavid Question and the Road to Chaldiran
The Safavid propaganda in Anatolia and the revolts raised by their supporters were the most important matter facing Selim. He first gave orders for the punishment of Safavid sympathizers, then decided to march directly on Shah Ismail. The claims that Selim had 40,000 people massacred in Anatolia as Safavid partisans are not correct; recent studies show that those prosecuted were mainly persons who carried out Safavid propaganda (the caliphs) and the members of lodges who supported them, and that some were exiled to the Morea and to the Rumelian side in place of execution. The cadastral records show that many people inclined toward the Safavids had emptied their villages and joined Shah Ismail, and that official orders were later issued for their resettlement with tax exemption if they returned. Figures of up to 50,000 circulate in other sources; these numbers are disputed and cannot be regarded as firm knowledge.
In the council some of the viziers found the campaign premature because the disorders in Anatolia continued; the reluctance of the timar-holding cavalry in Rumelia and Anatolia was also reported. But fatwas were obtained to the effect that fighting the Safavids was an absolute religious duty (the fatwa of İbn Kemal is mentioned among them). Selim began a commercial embargo against the Safavids; he forbade the entry of Iranian silk into the West, the frontiers were closed, and those who disobeyed the ban were punished and their goods confiscated. He summoned his son Süleyman from Manisa and left him as deputy. On 23 Muharram 920 (20 March 1514) he set out from Edirne. In a letter written to Shah Ismail from İzmit he regarded the Shah as having left the faith and called him for the last time to accept the "exalted Sunna" and to repent. Advancing by way of Konya, Kayseri and Sivas, he had the army counted at Sivas on 2 July; the provisioning was becoming an increasingly serious problem. On 13 July he reached the Safavid frontier. The Shah's reply arrived on 18 July; in a mild tone the Shah said that he found the threatening and insulting letter addressed to him unbecoming, but that he was ready for war. According to some sources the Shah sent with the letter a veil, women's clothing and an inkwell full of opium; this is a report.
The real difficulty began after the Safavid frontier was crossed. The Safavids had devastated the route, there was no food, though they had marched a long time no trace of the Safavid army was seen, and the army, especially the Janissaries, had begun to grumble. Selim resisted the advice to turn back in the councils; by having Hemdem Pasha, the Beylerbey of Karaman, whom he had known since childhood, executed (24 July), he warned off the opposition. On 14 August the Janissaries, at the urging of some beys, mutinied; they said that the enemy was not to be seen and that they could not understand why they were still marching in this ruined land. Selim, with effective words, calmed them with difficulty. The news brought by a spy that the Shah was advancing toward Khoy was effective in this.
Chaldiran
On Wednesday, 2 Receb 920 (23 August 1514), the two armies met on the plain of Chaldiran. Selim took his place in the centre, closely guarded by wagons of cannon and by Janissaries and azebs, together with the Grand Vizier Hersekzâde Ahmed Pasha. While the cavalry on the Ottoman right and left wings showed signs of disorder at the flanks, the cannon and Janissary musketeers, brought into play by Selim himself, scattered Shah Ismail's mounted cavalry, which fought with classic Turkmen tactics; the Shah had to withdraw. The Shah's refusal to accept the importance of firearms and artillery decided the result; the Shah was wounded and was very nearly captured. In the Ottoman archive there is a record that Taclu Hanım, one of Shah Ismail's wives, was taken captive after Chaldiran.
Selim entered Tabriz on 16 Receb / 6 September 1514; some sources give 5 or 7 September. He had the Friday sermon read in his name, had some building work done, and sent to Istanbul scholars and artists whose number reached 1,000. He stayed nine days in Tabriz. He did not want to spend the winter there on account of the scarcity of food; the reluctance of the army was also decisive. On the return the news came that the castles of Bayburt and Kiği had been taken over. On the way, when some soldiers plundered the surroundings, he dismissed the Grand Vizier Hersekzâde Ahmed Pasha and the Vizier Dukakinzâde Ahmed Pasha, but soon restored Dukakinzâde to his office. The army returned to Amasya. When Selim came to Amasya on the return from the campaign he received here an embassy sent by Shah Ismail.
Winter in Amasya and the Janissary Uprising
This is Selim's documented tie with Amasya as sultan. While Selim passed the winter in Amasya he was planning to set out again against the Safavids the following year. But a crisis that entered Ottoman history also took place in this winter, in Amasya. The Janissaries were pressing to return to Istanbul; they plundered the houses of Pîrî Mehmed Pasha, who on 22 February 1515 had been raised, contrary to custom, to the third vizierate, and of the sultan's tutor Halîmî Çelebi, and spoke insolently in the council. Furiously angry, Selim wounded with a dagger the Grand Vizier Dukakinzâde Ahmed Pasha, whom he held responsible, and then handed him over to the executioners. The echoes of this event would continue for a long time. Selim tried hard to find the real instigators of this event in Amasya and did not let go of the matter after returning to Istanbul; he probably saw the affair as a question of power and authority. Reports that the Dulkadirid Alâüddevle Bey was communicating with the grand vizier had also disturbed him.
In Istanbul, according to Haydar Çelebi's Rûznâme, the sultan kept the pashas and the Janissary leaders under pressure in the councils, and even said that he would abandon the sultanate if the instigators were not handed over to him. In the end, on 18 August 1515 (8 Receb), he had İskender Pasha, the Chief Judge (kazasker) Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi and the Chief of the Sekbans Balyemez Osman Agha executed, while he had Pîrî Mehmed Pasha set free. After these events measures were taken to bring the Janissary Corps under control again, to the effect that the Janissary agha would be appointed by the palace and the officers of the corps by the office of the sultanate. İskender Pasha was the husband of Selim's daughter Hatice (Hanım) Sultan; Selim had handed even his own son-in-law over to the executioner.
Amasya at that time was more than a winter quarter. When Selim became sultan he had appointed Mustafa Pasha as beylerbey to the governorship of Amasya and calm had been secured in the sanjak. The tradition of appointing princes was revived only with the appointment here in 1538 of Mustafa, son of Süleyman the Magnificent; before that date, in Selim's time, the administration of the city was in the hands of administrators appointed from the centre. The governor of Amasya of the time, Mehmed Pasha, had also joined Selim's Egyptian campaign of 1516; taking this as an opportunity, an uprising broke out under the leadership of the Alevi groups' Varyalı Zünun (Baba Zünun) and Baba Celal, the rebels entered Amasya and plundered the city, and the revolt was put down with difficulty. The pasha's sanjak of the province also became Sivas after 1520 and Amasya was attached to Sivas.
Dulkadir, Diyarbekir and Eastern Anatolia
Having passed the winter in Amasya, Selim on 5 Rebîülevvel 921 (19 April 1515) marched on Kemah, held by the Safavids, took it on 19 May, and moved to Sivas. His second objective was the Dulkadirid Alâüddevle Bey, whom he believed to be cooperating with Shah Ismail and with whom the Mamluks also had a contest. He sent against Alâüddevle, who was his grandfather on his mother's side, the Beylerbey of Rumelia Hadım Sinan Pasha. Alâüddevle was routed before Sinan Pasha's forces and died in the battle (29 Rebîülâhir / 12 June 1515). The battle is also known as "Turnadağ" and ended in the disappearance of the Dulkadir principality; it was at the same time a family matter. The sultan gave the Dulkadirid principality to Şehsuvaroğlu Ali Bey and returned to Istanbul on 11 July.
On the Diyarbekir side the struggle with the Safavids continued. Selim sent the historian İdrîs-i Bitlisî to the region to organize the Sunni-Shafi'i tribes and drew the Kurdish beys to his side. Bıyıklı Mehmed Bey took Âmid (the Diyarbakır citadel) on 19 September 1515 (10 Şâban 921). Selim at this time followed the news from the east, first in Istanbul, then in Edirne, both preparing a new campaign and enlarging the shipyard and reorganizing the fleet. According to Haydar Çelebi's Rûznâme he stayed in Istanbul from 11 July to 10 September 1515 and in Edirne from 17 September 1515 to 10 April 1516. After coming to Istanbul he visited the Tomb of Eyüp Sultan, the tomb of the Conqueror and the tomb of his father. In Edirne he gave particular importance to the peace negotiations with the Hungarian envoy.
Marj Dabiq
At the council held on 14 Safer 922 (19 March 1516) the Eastern campaign was officially announced. Contrary to settled opinion, the real objective of this campaign was not at first the Mamluk Sultanate; developments in Diyarbekir and Shah Ismail's descent to the frontiers were directing the campaign against the Safavids. The situation was changed by the Mamluk Sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri gathering his army and moving toward Syria, and by his refusal to allow Ottoman units to pass through his frontiers. Selim struck the Grand Vizier Hersekzâde Ahmed Pasha with his fist in the council and removed him from office (18 April), appointing Hadım Sinan Pasha in his place. He sent envoys to the Mamluk sultan and informed him that his only aim was to punish those who had left the faith. On 5 June 1516 he set out from Istanbul. The severed head of the Safavid emir Kara Han, defeated and killed at Koçhisar near Mardin, reached the camp at Akşehir on 26 June. When news came that the Mamluk sultan had come to Aleppo and would not let Ottoman soldiers pass through his land, Selim took this as hostility, obtained a fatwa, and on 30 July officially declared that the target was the Mamluk sultan and Aleppo.
In the battle fought on 24 August 1516 on the plain of Marj Dabiq near Aleppo, with firearms playing their part, the Mamluk army was broken. During the battle Selim personally encouraged the soldiers; according to Haydar Çelebi he told them that if martyrdom fell to their lot happiness in the hereafter would be theirs, and if they were victorious the state in this world. Qansuh al-Ghawri died; Ibn Iyas relates that in his last moments a paralysis-like condition seized one side of his body, and that he mounted his horse, went two paces and fell from the saddle (the account of a contemporary Mamluk historian). Selim had his rival's body found and buried at Aleppo, and had prayers read for his soul; but most of the prisoners he had beheaded in his own presence to intimidate others.
The Abbasid Caliph al-Mutawakkil and the judges of the three schools of law had fallen into Ottoman hands. Selim showed the caliph great respect and met him at Aleppo on the Gökmeydan. He stayed seventeen days in Aleppo and reached Damascus on 27 September, but did not enter the city and pitched his tent at Mastaba; twelve days later he entered the city with great ceremony. Here he learned that the Mamluks had chosen Tomanbay as sultan. He was at first undecided about marching on Egypt, and many of the viziers were strongly against the idea. İdrîs-i Bitlisî, Hayır Bey, the former Mamluk governor of Aleppo, and Şehsuvaroğlu Ali Bey encouraged the campaign. Selim wrote Tomanbay a letter of counsel, offering even to leave him the administration of Egypt if he submitted.
The Road to Egypt and Ridaniya
Selim left Damascus on 15 December 1516. On 26 December, at the Celcûliye stage, news came that Sinan Pasha had scattered the forces of Canbirdi Gazâlî at Khan Yunis. He wished to visit nearby Jerusalem; although some pashas objected on the ground that it would be dangerous, at the urging of İdrîs-i Bitlisî he went with an armed unit of 1,500 men. On 30 December he entered the city, performed the evening prayer in the Aqsa Mosque and the night prayer at the Dome of the Rock, went round everywhere, and returned to camp at night. He was received by the notables of all three religions. On 2 January 1517 he entered Gaza, spent the Feast of the Sacrifice there and went to Hebron. Before crossing the desert he had the Vizier Hüseyin (Hüsam) Pasha, who had headed the opposition, executed, his tent being brought down upon his head.
On 9 January he left Gaza and on 11 January reached El-Arish. Here there was hardship from lack of water, which ended at Salihiya on 16 January. Selim's spreading of false news to cause confusion among the emirs in Cairo, and his having letters written in the emirs' names, is described as "a kind of psychological warfare." Learning that Tomanbay had had a trench dug from Mount Muqattam to the Nile and had placed cannon in it, Selim planned not to attack directly but to go around by the side of Muqattam; with the opinions obtained from Hayır Bey and Şehsuvaroğlu this plan was carried out skilfully. In the hard-fought battle at Ridaniya on 22 January 1517 the Mamluk units were broken; the sultan himself also passed through danger. According to one account Tomanbay reached Sinan Pasha's tent and killed him, taking him for Selim. Selim grieved greatly at Sinan Pasha's death, put on mourning dress the next day and attended the funeral, and ordered that the prisoners taken in anger be beheaded at once.
Cairo and Tomanbay
On 24 January, as the Ottoman units entered Cairo, Selim stayed outside in his camp for reasons of security; on 26 January he had his tent moved to the Wasatiyya at Bulaq. In Cairo the Ottoman units met great resistance. On the night of 27-28 January Tomanbay entered the city and put the Ottoman units in difficulty; the people of Cairo joined him and a great fight broke out. Selim first assigned Yunus Pasha, but on the first day control of the city could not be secured; on the second day of the resistance he entered the city to direct the operation himself, came up to the front of the citadel, continued on the third day and broke the resistance, but Tomanbay could not be captured. On 15 February 1517 he entered Cairo with splendid ceremony and sat on the throne of Egypt at the Qasr Yusuf, and had the sermon read in his name (some sources give 3 February for the entry into the city).
He sent envoys to Tomanbay and said he would leave him the administration of Egypt if he declared allegiance; Tomanbay did not believe it and killed the Ottoman envoys. On 15 March Selim marched in person against Tomanbay, crossed the Nile and pursued him until noon the next day. Tomanbay was captured (the sources give 30 March or 26 March). Selim had him brought to his tent and received him kindly; the authenticity of the dialogues in some sources is doubtful. After some time, reasoning that Tomanbay's remaining alive would shake his absolute mastery in Cairo, he had him executed in front of the people at Bab Zuwayla on 13 April 1517, at the urging of Hayır Bey. The governorship of Egypt he gave first to Yunus Pasha and, on 29 August, to Hayır Bey.
Five Months in Egypt
Selim stayed in Cairo until 10 September. He toured the pyramids at Giza and asked who had had them built. He stayed mostly on the island of Rawda in the middle of the Nile, had a pavilion built and is said to have written the Arabic verses on its windows himself. It is related that an attempt was made on his life here, and that one day, stepping out of a boat, he fell into the Nile and was rescued with difficulty. To see the fleet, which had arrived late and reached Alexandria with difficulty, he went to Alexandria on 28 May, saw Rosetta too and returned to Rawda on 12 June. In Egypt he had Ibn Taghribirdi's history al-Nujum al-zahira translated into Turkish by Kemalpaşazâde.
On 6 July 1517 he received Abu Numayy, son of the Sharif of Mecca, and formally assumed the protection of the Two Holy Cities. Mecca would continue the status of the Mamluk period. According to one account, on the same date the sacred relics attributed to the Prophet (the mantle, a tooth, a banner, a sword and so on) were sent from the Hijaz to Selim. It is also recorded that the Abbasid Caliph al-Mutawakkil, Muhammad son of Qansuh al-Ghawri, the scholars, the artisans, certain merchants, the sacred relics and the captured materiel were sent to Istanbul by the fleet. On the way back from Egypt he had the Grand Vizier Yunus Pasha executed as the result of an argument about the administration of Egypt. On 7 October he came to Damascus and summoned Pîrî Mehmed Pasha from Istanbul and made him grand vizier.
Damascus and Ibn Arabi
In Damascus he had the grave of Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi found and built a tomb over it, with a mosque and a dervish lodge beside it. Selim was interested in Sufism, adopted the views of Ibn Arabi and held Rumi in great respect. He gave the governorship of Damascus to Canbirdi Gazâlî. On 22 February 1518 he came to Aleppo; according to some accounts he made preparations to settle the question of Shah Ismail and stayed two months, but under pressure from the Janissaries decided to return to Istanbul. According to Haydar Çelebi he wished to march on the Shah, then gave it up and set out on 6 May. At Aleppo he proclaimed a ban on silk and had the Iranian merchants there expelled to Istanbul. On 25 July 1518 he entered Topkapı Palace in Istanbul at the time of the night prayer, without ceremony. This campaign, lasting some two years and a month, had worn him out.
The Caliphate Question
When Selim is mentioned, the phrase "the sultan who brought the caliphate to the Ottomans" often comes to mind. The state of the matter in the sources is more complicated. In Cairo there was an Abbasid caliph under the protection of the Mamluk sultans. Selim took him under protection and sent him to Istanbul. But Emecen writes that the information that Selim himself took over the caliphate and bequeathed this office to his descendants is of doubtful accuracy, and that "the report that while in Istanbul he took over the caliphate from the caliph in a ceremony held at Hagia Sophia has no historical value." According to Faruk Sümer's article on the subject, the story of the transfer does not appear in works of Selim's period but emerges in a foreign work at the end of the eighteenth century; the transfer is a later invention.
In official documents Selim is referred to by the title hâdimü'l-Haremeyn, that is, servant of Mecca and Medina. Selim chose this humbler title in place of "hâkimü'l-Haremeyn" (ruler of the Two Holy Cities), used by the Mamluks. In some sources of the period the phrase "sultan of the throne of the caliphate" occurs; it is clear that Selim was regarded as a unifying leader in the Islamic world. His ending of the Mamluk Sultanate formed, in Emecen's words, "the first step of the project of gathering the Islamic world under a single banner." The story of the formal transfer of the caliphate is not given here as a fact.
The Fleet and Preparations in the West
After returning to Istanbul Selim went within nine days to Edirne. This is thought to have arisen from political developments concerning the Crusader alliance in the West, which prevented him from a new Eastern campaign. The Pope at the Lateran Council (16 March 1517) had declared war on the Turks; the Hungarians were to be the vanguard of such a movement. The death of Emperor Maximilian on 11 January 1519 and the imperial contest that began changed conditions in Europe, and the crusade did not take place. Selim received envoys at Edirne, organized hunting parties and had the Mamuk Palace and Garden put in order. He met Süleyman and sent him to Manisa. He went up to the highlands of Tekirdağ and went to Malkara, İpsala, Didymoteicho and Yenice-Karacasu.
The fleet was a priority for him. In August 1518 he ordered the building of a new shipyard on the Golden Horn on a site left from the Byzantine period which had by then become a cemetery; the bays of the shipyard were raised to 160. Selim aimed at making some 300 building slips, but his life did not suffice. Arab oarsmen were brought, Selman Reis, commander of the Mamluk Red Sea fleet, was summoned to Istanbul, and a fleet of 250 ships was prepared in the shipyards of Istanbul and Gallipoli; these figures rest on a single source and are not otherwise verified. Selim returned to Istanbul in April 1519 and tried to complete the preparations of the fleet; it is thought that the target may have been Rhodes or Iran. Haydar Çelebi states plainly that ships were procured, cannon cast and oarsmen gathered. In the consultative council that met, the scholars did not find a Rhodes campaign appropriate; because of the disorders in Anatolia (the revolt of Şah Velî, son of Şah Celâl, in the spring of 1519, and the activities of his nephew Prince Murad) a fatwa was issued that marching against Shah Ismail was the priority. Selim was angered by this and gave up the campaign. He fell ill before the objective was fixed; there is no definite document.
His Death at Çorlu
According to Haydar Çelebi, Selim left Istanbul to go to Edirne on 2 Şaban 926 (18 July 1520). Although his departure for Edirne appears in the sources as the herald of a campaign against the West, it is "highly probable" that it was because of his poor health and the plague epidemic that had broken out in Istanbul. A large tumour had appeared on his back, probably a plague bubo. According to what Hoca Sadeddin relates from Hasan Can, Selim said that something was piercing his back, would not consent to treatment of the boil with a suitable ointment, and when it was squeezed in the bath the agony increased; he said to Hasan Can: "We did not listen to you, but we have destroyed ourselves." This is a report transmitted by historians as an anecdote.
He could go no farther than Çorlu. Despite the intervention of the physicians his illness grew worse; for about two months he underwent a hopeless treatment (some sources say forty days; the chief physician was Ahmed Çelebi). To make known his testament he summoned the Grand Vizier Pîrî Mehmed Pasha, the Vizier Çoban Mustafa Pasha and the Beylerbey of Rumelia Ahmed Pasha, and sent word to his son Süleyman in Manisa. In the night of 8-9 Shawwal 926 (21-22 September 1520), toward morning, with his close companion Hasan Can beside him, he died. According to what Hasan Can's son related to the Şeyhülislam Hoca Sâdeddin Efendi, in his last state he repeated the Sura Yasin recited to him, and when they reached the verse "Peace" (selâm) he gave up his soul.
His death was kept secret until his son Süleyman's arrival in Istanbul from Manisa. His body, brought to Istanbul on 1 October, was met at the entrance to the city by his son and the statesmen and taken down to the Fatih Mosque. After the prayer performed there he was buried at the place called the Mirza Palace (Sultanselim), where his present tomb stands. A temporary tent was first set up over it; afterwards his son Süleyman had a tomb and a mosque built there. This is the Yavuz Selim (Sultan Selim) Mosque and Tomb in Fatih, Istanbul, today. Its architect is said to have been Alaüddin (Acem Alisi).
His Character, His Reading and His Poems
In Ottoman sources Selim is described as of middle height, with knitted brows and a hard gaze, beardless but with a thick, long moustache, round-faced and hook-nosed. It is said that he handled every kind of weapon well, was a good hunter, disliked pomp and dressed plainly, wearing in place of the "mücevveze" the turban called "selîmî" after him. He followed affairs of state closely and wanted what he planned done at once; he had an extremely disciplined, determined, harsh temperament that did not shrink from bloodshed, but it is also reported that he kept his word, was gentle by nature and elegant of speech. Celâlzâde Mustafa Çelebi, who was in his service, writes that on his deathbed Selim said that he had treated Pîrî Mehmed Pasha very cruelly, but that it was for the good of the state and the people. Western sources emphasize more his ruthlessness; some embassy reports put forward his justice.
His severity toward his viziers had settled in popular memory as a curse: "May God make you Selim's vizier." When and how the saying became common is not certain. The executions of viziers are recorded: Koca Mustafa Pasha (Bursa, 1512), Hemdem Pasha (24 July 1514), Dukakinzâde Ahmed Pasha (1515), İskender Pasha (1515), Hüseyin Pasha (Gaza, 1517), Yunus Pasha (on the return from Egypt, 1517). It is also related that he struck Hersekzâde Ahmed Pasha with his fist in the council and dismissed him. Throughout his reign the grand viziers changed one after another.
On the other hand, Selim was a ruler who read and was curious about history. It was his principle to converse with scholars and to take their opinion on political matters; he often read Vassaf's history, knew Persian very well and was familiar with Arabic and the Tatar dialect. Zenbilli Ali Efendi, Kemalpaşazâde, İdrîs-i Bitlisî and his tutor Halîmî Çelebi were the scholars his circle of conversation esteemed; he valued poets such as Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi, Âhî Benli Hasan and Revânî. He wrote poems in Persian, Turkish, Chagatai and Arabic under the pen name "Selîmî." His Persian divan was printed in Istanbul in 1306 (1888-89) and republished in Berlin in 1904 by Paul Horn; a part of his Turkish poems is recorded in the Topkapı Palace Museum Archive (TSMA, E. 736). Bostan places a couplet as an epigraph to his article and attributes it to Selîmî: "Milletümde ihtilâf ü tefrîka endişesi / Gûşe-i kabrümde hattâ bî-karâr eyler beni / İttihad oldı hücûm-ı hasmı def'a çâremüz / İttihad itmezse millet dağ-dâr eyler beni." (The fear of discord and division among my people / unsettles me even in the corner of my grave. / Unity became our remedy for repelling the enemy's assault; / if the people do not unite, it will leave me scarred.) The couplets' attribution to Selim is given in the article in this way; independent verification could not be made.
The only son who survived at the time of his death was Süleyman. Âlî Mustafa Efendi relates that during his princely years he had hidden a son born of a concubine, who was Üveys Pasha; this is a report. The only wife whose name is known is Hafsa Sultan; among his daughters are mentioned Beyhan Sultan (wife of Ferhad Pasha), Fatma Sultan, Hafsa Sultan, Hatice Sultan (wife of İskender Pasha), Şah Sultan (wife of Lutfi Pasha) and Hanım Hatun. Besides the building activity in Trabzon, Edirne, Damascus and Cairo, he had the foundation of the mosque bearing his own name laid in Istanbul but could not complete it; he enlarged the shipyard; and he had a pavilion built on the shore between Sirkeci and Sarayburnu (the Yalı Köşkü or Marble Pavilion). It is recorded that in 1514 he also had a leprosarium built in Istanbul. According to a widespread legend, Selim filled the treasury with gold, had it sealed, and said that none of his grandsons would be able to fill it; this is a legend.
Legacy and the Memory of Amasya
Selim's reign of a little more than eight years is a turning point in Ottoman history: his effort to settle the Eastern question definitively, his prevention of the Safavid threat, his bringing to the fore a strict Sunni outlook that would later set the limits of Ottoman religious thought, and his ending of the Mamluk Sultanate. The empire's territory rose from about 2.4 million square kilometres to 6.5 million; some sources give the growth as seventy per cent. These figures are rough calculations. The weight of the centre had shifted from the Balkans to the Middle East.
As for Amasya, Selim's tie with this city can be seen on three levels. The first is that it is the city where he was born. The second is that the first years of his childhood, his teachers and his first schooling began here; behind Amasya's being called the "City of Princes" lies a chain of the dynasty extending from Bayezid to Selim. The third is that during his reign he spent the winter after Chaldiran (1514-1515) in Amasya; the Janissary uprising and the wounding and execution of Dukakinzâde took place in this winter. After Selim the appointment of a prince to Amasya was made with Süleyman the Magnificent's son Mustafa in 1538; in between, sanjak governors such as Veli Pasha in 1534 served. The story of Selim's grandson Mustafa in Amasya is the subject of a separate article.
There is no definite document on the present site of the palace in which Selim was born in Amasya, or on whether the pious foundations in the city belonged to him. Buildings of the princely period such as the Selim Agha Mosque (1484), the Sultan Bayezid Mosque (1486) and the Mehmed Pasha Mosque (1486) are not attributed to Selim; for this reason no building in Amasya has been credited to him.
Chronology
1454: Bayezid is appointed sanjak governor of Amasya at the age of seven.
1470 (most widely accepted, 10 October): Selim is born in Amasya; there is also the account of 872 (1467-68).
About 1479-1480: Circumcision in Istanbul at the Conqueror's summons.
1481: Death of the Conqueror; Bayezid's accession.
1487: Appointment to the sanjak of Trabzon (according to archival documents).
6 November 1494: Birth of Süleyman in Trabzon.
1505-1506: His mother Ayşe (Gülbahar) Hatun dies in Trabzon.
1508 (April-May): Raid on Georgia.
6 July / 5 August 1509: Süleyman is appointed to the sanjak of Kefe (two dates appear in the sources).
30 September - 10 October 1510: Selim leaves Trabzon and goes to Kefe.
June 1511: Meeting with Bayezid at Çukurçayır; the sanjak of Semendire.
3 August 1511: Battle of Karıştıran (Çorlu/Uğraş); Selim is defeated and returns to Kefe (Bostan: 1 August or a few days earlier).
24 April 1512: Selim ascends the throne.
10 June 1512: Bayezid dies on the road to Didymoteicho.
15 April 1513: Battle of Yenişehir; Ahmed is defeated and killed.
20 March 1514: Departure from Edirne for the Iranian campaign.
23 August 1514: Battle of Chaldiran.
6 September 1514: Entry into Tabriz.
22 February 1515: Janissary uprising in Amasya.
12 June 1515: Dulkadir battle in which Alâüddevle is defeated and killed.
19 September 1515: Âmid (Diyarbakır) is taken.
5 June 1516: Departure from Istanbul for the Eastern campaign.
24 August 1516: Battle of Marj Dabiq.
30 December 1516: Visit to Jerusalem.
22 January 1517: Battle of Ridaniya.
13 April 1517: Tomanbay is executed in Cairo.
6 July 1517: Reception of Abu Numayy, son of the Sharif of Mecca; protection of the Two Holy Cities.
25 July 1518: Return to Istanbul.
18 July 1520: Departure from Istanbul to go to Edirne.
21-22 September 1520: Death at Çorlu.
1 October 1520: The body is brought to Istanbul and buried.
Sources
Academic studies
- Feridun Emecen, "Selim I", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 36, Istanbul 2009 (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/selim-i) islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
- M. Hanefi Bostan, "Yavuz Sultan Selim'in Şehzâdelik Dönemi (1487-1512)", Türk Kültürü İncelemeleri Dergisi, no. 40, Istanbul 2019, pp. 1-86 (DergiPark)
- Selim Özcan, "Şehzadeler Döneminde Amasya Şehri", Amasya Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, no. 5 (DergiPark)
Other sources
- "Selim I", Wikipedia (English), supporting source
- "I. Selim", Vikipedi (Turkish), supporting source
- "Battle of Yenişehir (1513)", Wikipedia (English), supporting source
Online sources
