Level 5 Reading 11A

Reading 11A

THE WORLD OF SULEYMAN THE MAGNIFICENT Writer Merle Severy examines the legacy of one of the giant historical figures of the 16th century— a ruler who stood at the crossroads of East and West. Near the Hungarian town of Szigetvar, a road sign caught my eye:"Szuliman." It was a dying village, the young having moved away, the old hanging on. "It was named for a sultan who came long ago," a man in his garden told me. I asked what he did there. "I heard that he died here," a woman said. "The old folks would know, but they are all dead now." My curiosity led me to a churchyard in the nearby countryside. On the church facade I saw an Ottoman Turkish inscription. A crescent stood by the wall, bathed in the light of the setting sun. It was at this site, I read, that was buried the heart of Sultan Suleyman. The 16th century was an age notable for the overlapping reigns of giant historical figures: Spanish Emperor Charles V, protector of the Christian Church; his rival Francis I, King of France; Henry VIII of England; Ivan the Tenrible, all-powerful ruler of Russia.

EMPIRE OF THE OTTOMANS The Ottoman Empire lasted from the end of the 13th century to the beginning of the 20th— a period of more than 600 years. Occupying a strategic position at the junction of three continents, the empire rose to become a major world power under Suleyman the Magnificent (1494-1566). From his capital Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), Suleyman expanded his territory from central Europe to the southern coast of what is now lraq. He created a powerful navy that secured coastlines along the Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean and brought most of the North African coast under Ottoman control. Yet, even among this hierarchy of great leaders, one ruler arguably stood taller than the rest: Suleyman, Commander of the Faithful, Shadow of God on Earth, Protector of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, Lord of the Lords of the World, East and West. Revered by his people as "Kanuni," the Lawgiver, and feared and admired by the West as "the Magnificent," Suleyman brought the Ottoman Empire to the peak of its power. Suleyman was born at a time of world war, of East against West, with two superpowers locked in mortal conflict on the lands and seas of three continents. Time and again, Christian and Muslim forces clashed in the seas around the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean, and on land in Europe from Turkey to Austria. Away from what the Ottomans called the Realm of War, the frontier against their unholy enemies, was the Realm of Peace, where races and religions coexisted with the sultan acting as a great mediator of peoples. At its heart was Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), a cosmopolitan crossroads of continents that grew so large that no other European capital overtook it until the start of the 19th century. It was Suleyman's great-grandfather, Mehmed the Conqueror, who turned Constantinople into the greatest of all European cities. Mehmed was a descendant of nomadic tribesmen from central Asia who became followers of Osman, the first Ottoman sultan, in the 13th century. From these humble origins, Mehmed rose in power, carrying the banner of Islam in a series of conquests through Serbia, Greece, and Eastern Europe; only his death in 1481 prevented him from pressing the conquest of Italy and taking Rhodes, the last Christian stronghold in the east. Mehmed's dream of building a world empire that brought together East and West would eventually be taken up by his great-grandson, Suleyman. As a young man, the future sultan was educated near the Aegean Sea where he had been assigned as governor. Well-read in history, the Koran, politics, science, astrology, and poetry, and skilled in horsemanship and archery, Suleyman had been carefully prepared for his role as a future world leader. On hearing of his father Selim's death in 1520, Suleyman rode for three days until he arrived in Constantinople. As he approached, Suleyman looked at the city that would become his capital: the fortress with its great cannons, the dome of the magnificent Hagia Sophia, the wooden houses sheltering immigrant families. In this crowded city, Spanish Moors and Jews expelled by Ferdinand and Isabella joined with Turks, Greeks, and Armenians in the shops that filled the city's covered bazaar. On September 30, eight days after Selim's death, Suleyman took up the sword of Osman in an elaborate ceremony and was declared sultan. From that time on, he held absolute power over his people, with the right of instant death over any subject. But as he first rode from his palace, his people gathered to raise their voice in a ritual warning to a new monarch: "Be not proud, my sultan. God is greater than you!" Suleyman's first official acts were to order a tomb, mosque, and school built in honor of his father; to free 1,500 Egyptian and Iranian captives; and to pay back merchants for goods that Selim had taken from them. These won him popular approval for piety, magnanimity, and justice. "It seemed to all men," one observer commented, "that a gentle lamb had succeeded a fierce lion." But the lamb proved to be a lion in disguise. A revolt in Syria was put down savagely. Then Suleyman set out to achieve what Mehmed the Conqueror had failed to do. In his first European campaign, the city of Belgrade— the key to Christian defenses in the Balkans—fell after weeks of massed attacks. The next summer, in 1522, he besieged Rhodes, which stood between his capital and the ports of Egypt and Arabia, including the Islamic holy city of Mecca. The siege began on July 29 and lasted 145 bloody days, until the knights' desperate defense ended. Having brought into submission the strongest fortified city in Christendom, Suleyman offered generous terms: Knights could leave freely within 12 days, and citizens could depart at any time within three years. Again he won admiration for his magnanimity. Little did he realize the price he would pay later for letting the knights go. As success followed success in his campaigns, contemporaries wrote with awe of the glories of the sultan's empire. "I know of no state which is happier than this one," reported the Venetian ambassador in 1525. "It is furnished with all God's gifts. It controls war and peace with all;

it is rich in gold, in people, in ships, and in obedience; no state can be compared with it. May God long preserve the most just of all emperors." The Venetian ambassador's glowing and no doubt biased description is perhaps understandable considering the spectacular show that was put on to welcome visitors to the Ottoman capital. A foreign ambassador's reception was carefully designed to show Ottoman grandeur and power at its most impressive. On approaching the sultan's Topkapi Palace, the envoy first saw the heads of executed traitors hanging from the Imperial Gate. Passing the executioner's chambers, the envoy entered a shining portico. There he was met on the sultan's behalf by the monarch's vizier, or grand advisor, who, on special occasions, led the envoy past 2,000 bowing officials and heaps of silver coins. The visitor was then offered a "hundred dishes or thereabout, most boiled and roasted." Then on to the sacred inner precincts. The ambassador was robed in gold cloth while his royal presents were inspected, since the sultan was "not to be approached without gifts." At the door of the throne room, two officials held the visitor firmly by the arms. The visitor was led across the room, then forced to subordinate himself by kneeling down and kissing the sultan's foot. He was then raised to deliver his message. The sultan, heavy with silk, gold and silver threads, sat on a jewel-studded throne. Suleyman might make a comment or indicate with a nod that the audience was over. The ambassador was then led backwards out of the room, never turning his back on the sultan. The sultan's response might come much later, usually via his advisor. The envoys who met Suleyman in this way would scan his features for signs of his health and character. From their descriptions, we know something of how the great sultan looked and acted, but we know very little of his thoughts, of what really was in the mind of the Lord of Lords. What sort of man was Suleyman? Of his private life—his attitudes and his thoughts—we can infer very little. His campaign diaries are written in the third person, without emotion. For example, from his third campaign: "The Emperor, seated on a golden throne, receives [his] viziers ...; massacre of 2,000 prisoners; the rain falls in torrents." Glimpses of humanity are rare, but revealing. After the siege of Rhodes, Suleyman consoles the knights' leader for his loss, praises his brave defense, then confides to a follower. "It's not without regret that I force this brave man from his home in his old age." We know that Suleyman showed wisdom as a lawgiver, creating a new code of laws and giving legal protection to minorities. He was also pious, consulting theologians on crucial decisions; just, allowing no corruption or injustice to go unpunished; and, usually, fair. Ironically, it was an act of generosity that led, years later, to his greatest defeat. As a young man, Jean Parisot de la Valette fought against Suleyman in the siege of Rhodes, but was later released. Just over four decades later, la Valette led the defense of the great Christian stronghold of Malta. The surprise defeat at the hands of the Christian knights marked the beginning of the end of Ottoman domination in the Mediterranean. As the siege of Malta ended, Suleyman was entering his 73rd year, making him the longest-reigning of all Ottoman monarchs. During his reign, he had extended his Islamic empire through southeastern Europe, across much of the Middle East, and in North Africa as far west as Algeria. His code of laws, known as the kanun-i Osmani ("Ottoman Laws"), was to last more than 300 years, and he presided over some of the greatest architectural achievements in the Islamic world. Despite these achievements, Suleyman's mood became increasingly dark. To wipe out the disappointment of Malta, he set out on May 1, 1566, to capture Vienna. The sultan could no longer sit on a horse, so he rode in a carriage, making the journey painfully slow. Suddenly, word came that a Hungarian count had executed one of Suleyman's governors and was now hiding in Szigetvar. In a fury, Suleyman diverted his entire army to avenge the injustice. Even with only 2,500 defenders, Szigetvar held off the Ottomans for a month, until the fortress was finally shattered by explosives. Holding up his jeweled sword in surrender, the count came out with his survivors— but there was no sultan to greet him. Suleyman had died in the night in his tent. Following Suleyman's death, the Ottoman Empire was squeezed by Russian expansion in the east and European domination of southern Asia. Ottoman possessions in the Mediterranean lost their strategic role. Western technology overtook Ottoman military might, and—with no new lands, taxes, or manpower—imperial decline set in. During the 19th century, the empire became known as the "Sick Man of Europe." Nevertheless, when more than a dozen nations emerged from its umbrella in the early 20th century, their languages, religions, and cultures had been largely preserved— a legacy, in part, of Suleyman's tolerance of minorities. Three weeks after the emperor's death, the sultan's successor was announced, and Selim, the son of Suleyman and his queen Roxelana, became the new Sultan Selim II. It is believed that Suleyman's heart was buried where he died, and the rest of his remains began the long journey home. When the sultan's body reached the capital, the army fell silent, as did the people who followed behind. Their leader all their lives, he raised their sacred empire to its golden age. Their descendants would look back on it with pride and nostalgia— but they would never see his like again. THE SEARCH FOR THE LOST TOMB OF SULEYMAN After the siege of Szigetvar, Suleyman's body was taken to Constantinople for burial. It was said that his heart remained behind in Hungary, buried in a golden casket beneath the tent where he died, but it has never been found. Professor Norbert Pap from the University of Pecs in Hungary believes he may be getting close. In a settlement near Szigetvar,archeologists have unearthed Ottoman brick and tile, plus 16th-century luxury goods from the East. Pap believes the lost tomb of Suleyman the Magnificent may not be far away. Yet other scholars believe the entire story was merely a colorful myth made up years later. "All they had to do was bury the body—intact—and exhume it later," says renowned Ottoman scholar Nicholas Vatin. This had been done before, with the body of Selim I in 1520, notes Vatin. Keeping the death of a sultan secret until the successor could be informed was not unusual for the Ottomans in the 16th century. Vatin has concluded that the story was just local folklore. "The romantic story of Suileyman's heart being buried in Hungary, I'm sorry to say, is just a myth."

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