Suleyman II

Suleyman II, French engraving from 1690

Suleyman II (born April 15, 1642 in Constantinople , † June 23, 1691 in Edirne ) was the 20th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and 99th Caliph of the Muslims from 1687 to 1691 .

Life

Suleyman was a son of the Sultan İbrahim and succeeded his older brother Mehmed IV after his deposition to the throne. After spending forty-six years of his life in the " Kafes ", a kind of luxury prison within the Topkapi Palace , he was ill-prepared for the accession to the throne.

When he was approached to inform him of his accession to the throne, his first reaction was a fear that the delegation had come to kill him on his brother's behalf. The circumstances after he came to power were not likely to reassure him. One of the most violent uprisings of the Janissaries ended with the murder of the Grand Vizier and the mutilation of his family, accompanied by general massacres and looting throughout Constantinople .

The war against the Holy League that began with the Ottoman attack on Vienna in 1683 turned into a chain of disasters for the Ottoman Empire. During this time, Süleyman appointed a third important member of the Köprülü family as grand vizier and gave him a free hand. Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pascha restored order in the state. In the following reforms, the situation of the Christian subjects of the Porte was significantly improved.

With the improved administration, the tide seemed to be turning again in the war in favor of the Ottomans, but in fact only the Holy Roman Empire was militarily tied to something else due to the Palatinate War of Succession (1688-1697) . The reconquest of Belgrade at the end of 1690 was the last important event of Süleyman's reign, which ended with his death in 1691.

literature

• Nicolae Iorga : History of the Ottoman Empire. Depicted according to the sources. 5 volumes, Verlag Perthes, Gotha 1908–1913, reprinted Frankfurt / Main 1990.
• Ferenc Majoros, Bernd Rill: The Ottoman Empire 1300-1922. The story of a great power . Marix, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-937715-25-8 .
• Josef Matuz: The Ottoman Empire. Baseline of its history . 4th edition. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2006, ISBN 3-534-20020-9 .
• Gabriel Effendi Noradounghian : Recueil d'actes internationaux de l'Empire Ottoman 1300–1789. Tome I. Paris, Neufchâtel 1897. Reprint: Kraus, Nendeln 1978, ISBN 3-262-00527-4 .
• K. Schwarz: Suleyman II. (III.) . In: Biographical Lexicon on the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 4. Munich 1981, p. 231 f.

Web links

Commons : Süleyman II.  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• http://www.tuerkenbeute.de/kun/kun_bio/Suleyman2_de.php Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe: Süleyman II.

predecessor	Office	successor
Mehmed IV.	Sultan and Caliph of the Ottoman Empire 1687–1691	Ahmed II