Page 55 - All About History - Issue 56-17

Suleiman the Magnificent

t the beginning of the 16th century, Suleiman’s father, Selim I (also known as Selim
A contemporary painting of
the balance of power in Europe was the Grim), reigned for only eight years, but he Suleiman the Magnificent
held by three dynamic young rulers: left his son in an unrivalled strategic position
Henry VIII of England, Francis I of with a greatly expanded empire after conquering
A France and Charles V of the Holy the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate and the Persian
Roman Empire. News of the accession of the Safavid dynasty. This meant as well as governing
26-year-old Suleiman I to the throne of the distant modern-day Greece, Turkey and the coast of the
Ottoman Empire in 1520 barely raised an eyebrow. Black Sea, Suleiman inherited Egypt, Libya, Syria,
But in just over a year, the sultan’s name would be Palestine, the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia and the
known throughout the Western world and in his Algerian coast. Though Selim had been hostile
lifetime Europeans would address him by an even towards Europe, it was generally assumed that his
grander title: Suleiman the Magnificent. son would continue expanding further east. But
Our earliest report about Suleiman describes the young, ambitious sultan had other ideas.
him as tall with a round face, wiry aquiline nose, Suleiman and Charles V harboured similar
a neck that was a little too long, and with piercing ambitions, both significantly greater than their
hazel eyes and broad forehead. He received a royal other European counterparts, which would keep
education from the age of seven, when he was the pair on a collision course for most of their
sent to Topkapı Palace in the Ottoman capital, reigns. While Henry VIII dreamed of reclaiming
Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). France and Francis fantasised about retaking the
Among the elegant halls lined with blue, white Duchy of Milan, Charles was fervently dedicated
and turquoise mosaic tiles and surrounded by to uniting and expanding Christendom under
fine carpets and textiles, famous scholars tutored his own global monarchy. This would include
young Suleiman in history, science, literature, recapturing Jerusalem and even Suleiman’s
theology and military tactics. He was a gifted poet beloved capital, Constantinople. The sultan, on the
and a linguist, fluent in five languages — Turkish, other hand, was significantly influenced by stories
Arabic, Chagatai (a Central Asian Turkic dialect), of Alexander the Great and saw himself as taking
Persian and Serbian. In fact, part of the reason the up the mighty ruler’s mantle. of western, central and southern Europe, along
Europeans were so unconcerned with Suleiman’s Suleiman may have also envied Charles who, with the Spanish colonies in the Americas and
coronation was that he was known to be scholarly, through numerous inheritances, ruled an even Asia. Long before Victorian Britain appropriated
not a warmonger like his father. greater territory than him. This included swathes it, Charles’ realm was described by Spanish priest
Fray Francisco de Ugalde as “the empire on which
“ The sultan, on the other hand, the sun never sets”.
Charles, who was also connected to Henry and
was significantly influenced by Francis by marriage (at least until the English
king divorced Catherine of Aragon), was a major
stories of Alexander the Great” political player, while Suleiman was an outsider.
And yet, as history would show, his influence over
the course of the 16th century was immense and,
as one biographer wrote, even Charles, the most
The Janissaries were the elite
infantry of Suleiman’s army and powerful man in Europe, spent most of his life
feared throughout Europe dancing to the tune called by the sultan.
In July 1521, the newly crowned Suleiman made
his intensions very clear: he marched west. At
the head of an army of 6,000 horsemen of the
imperial guard, the elite infantry units of the
Janissaries, foot soldiers and 200 strapping young
men from prominent families, the sultan laid siege
to Belgrade, a fortified city on the Danube River,
then part of the Kingdom of Hungary. With a
flotilla of ships also blockading the city to prevent
reinforcement, it soon fell. However, unlike
Charles’ wild and destructive troops sacking Rome
in 1527, Suleiman’s army provided monetary
compensation for property damaged during the
invasion and any man caught marauding was
immediately executed.
Suleiman had gained a foothold in Europe’s
heartlands, but rather than advance further, he
turned his attention to the island of Rhodes. This
was a Mediterranean stronghold for the Order
of the Knights of Saint John, also known as the
Knights Hospitaller, who were a hold-over from
the Crusades. The knights were already a blight
on the Ottoman Empire’s ships, stealing cargoes of
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