Cultural achievements

Tughra of Suleiman the Magnificent.

Under Suleiman's patronage, the Ottoman empire entered the golden age of its cultural development. Hundreds of imperial artistic societies (called the Ehl-i Hiref, "Community of the Talented") were administered at the Imperial seat, the Topkapı Palace. After an apprenticeship, artists and craftsmen could advance in rank within their field and were paid commensurate wages in quarterly annual installments. Payroll registers that survive testify to the breadth of Suleiman's patronage of the arts, the earliest of documents dating from 1526 list 40 societies with over 600 members. The Ehl-i Hiref attracted the empire's most talented artisans to the Sultan's court, both from the Islamic world and recently conquered territories in Europe, resulting in a blend of Islamic, Turkish and European cultures.^[49]Artisans in service of the court included painters, book binders, furriers, jewellers and goldsmiths. Whereas previous rulers had been influenced by Persian culture (Suleiman's father, Selim I, wrote poetry in Persian), Suleiman's patronage of the arts had seen the Ottoman Empire assert its own artistic legacy.^[50]

Suleiman himself was an accomplished poet, writing in Persian and Turkish under the nom de plume Muhibbi (Lover). Some of Suleiman's verses have become Turkish proverbs, such as the well-known Everyone aims at the same meaning, but many are the versions of the story. When his young son Mehmed died in 1543, he composed a moving chronogram to commemorate the year:Peerless among princes, my Sultan Mehmed.^[51][52] In addition to Suleiman's own work, many great talents enlivened the literary world during Suleiman's rule, including Fuzuli andBaki. The literary historian E. J. W. Gibb observed that "at no time, even in Turkey, was greater encouragement given to poetry than during the reign of this Sultan".^[51] Suleiman's most famous verse is:

Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, built byMimar Sinan, Suleiman's chief architect.

The people think of wealth and power as the greatest fate,

But in this world a spell of health is the best state.
What men call sovereignty is a worldly strife and constant war;

Worship of God is the highest throne, the happiest of all estates.

Suleiman also became renowned for sponsoring a series of monumental architectural developments within his empire. The Sultan sought to turn Constantinople into the center of Islamic civilization by a series of projects, including bridges, mosques, palaces and various charitable and social establishments. The greatest of these were built by the Sultan's chief architect, Mimar Sinan, under whom Ottoman architecture reached its zenith. Sinan became responsible for over three hundred monuments throughout the empire, including his two masterpieces, the Süleymaniye and Selimiye mosques—the latter built in Adrianople (now Edirne) in the reign of Suleiman's son Selim II. Suleiman also restored the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Jerusalem city walls (which are the current walls of the Old City of Jerusalem), renovated the Kaaba in Mecca, and constructed a complex in Damascus.

Personal life

Wives

· Fülane Hatun: Suleiman's first wife, and his real name is unknown. Mahmud's mother who was born in 1512. Records at that time but not a real name Fulani name comes as a tribute for ladies. Suleiman "Fulani" is defined as three mistress. One of them is his son Sultan Mahmud's mother, Fatima gave birth in 1514 and the other "Fulani" There is nicknamed haseki a favorite. Other "Fulani babe," he was born the same year as defined Sultan'la Mihrimah 1522 lady's mother's name is not listed today, and some sources record that the scene of the effective period of the past, but as the son of the Sultan for the Hürrem twin Hürrem Sultan Mihrimah's Prince Abdullah confirmed that another woman to have given his mother, his mother's lady.

· Gülfem Babe: Suleiman, the opinions of Hürrem in the direction of the Sultan is the next or previous haseki, the concubine wife of origin. Gülfem Hatun who died in 1561 or 1562, a baby who was born in 1521 and that same year his son Murad, who died October 12th 1521 is believed that she was the mother.

· Mahidevran Sultan (in some sources as the name goes Gulbahar): born around the year 1500 and the current origin Mahidevran Sultan Mustafa brought to the world in 1515. Mustafa Suleiman followed by the October 6 1553. in Bursa also began to live. She died on February 3rd 1581, in Bursa.

· Hürrem Sultan: Starboard lordship or estimated 1520's accession to the throne after the entry into harem concubine origin Hürrem, 1521, Mehmed, 1522 Mihrimah'ı, 1524 Selim, Bayezid 1525, 1531 in the Cihangir district, brought to the world. She died on April 15 in 1558.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 1042