Mehmed IV

For other people with the same name, see Mohammed IV (disambiguation).
Mehmed IV
محمد رابع
Caliph of Islam
Amir al-Mu'minin
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques
19th Ottoman Sultan (Emperor)
Reign August 8, 1648 – November 8, 1687
Predecessor Ibrahim
Successor Suleiman II
Regents
Born 2 January 1642
Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Died 6 January 1693 (aged 51)
Edirne, Ottoman Empire
Consort Gülnûş Sultan (Legal wife)
Dynasty House of Osman
Father Ibrahim
Mother Turhan Hatice Sultan
Religion Sunni Islam
Tughra

Mehmed IV (Ottoman Turkish: محمد رابع Meḥmed-i rābiʿ; Modern Turkish: IV. Mehmet; also known as Avcı Mehmed, Mehmed the Hunter; January 2, 1642 – January 6, 1693) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the age of seven after his father was overthrown in a coup. Mehmed went on to become the second longest reigning sultan in Ottoman history.[1] While the first and last years of his reign were characterized by military defeat and political instability, during his middle years he oversaw the revival of the empire's fortunes associated with the Köprülü era. Mehmed IV was known by contemporaries as a particularly pious ruler, and was referred to as gazi, or "holy warrior" for his role in the many conquests carried out during his long reign.[2] Under his reign the empire reached the height of its territorial expansion in Europe. From a young age he developed a keen interest in hunting, for which he is known in Turkish as avcı ("the Hunter").[1] In 1687 Mehmed was overthrown by soldiers disenchanted by the course of the ongoing War of the Holy League. He subsequently retired to Edirne, where he resided until his natural death in 1693.[1]

Biography

Early life

Mehmed IV presided over the Köprülü Era, an exceptionally stable period of Ottoman history.

Born at Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, in 1642, he was the son of Sultan Ibrahim (r. 1640–48) by Valide Sultan Turhan Hatice, a Ruthenian (Ukrainian) concubine,[3] and the grandson of Kösem Sultan of Greek origin.[4] Soon after his birth, his father and mother quarreled, and Ibrahim was so enraged that he tore Mehmed from his mother's arms and flung the infant into a cistern. Fortunately, Mehmed was rescued by the harem servants. However, this left Mehmed with a lifelong scar on his head.[5]

Reign

Mehmed ascended to the throne in 1648 at the age of seven. His ascension took place during a very volatile time for the Ottoman Dynasty; the empire faced palace intrigues as well as uprisings in Anatolia, the defeat of the Ottoman navy by the Venetians outside the Dardanelles, and food shortages leading to riots in Constantinople. It was under these circumstances that Mehmed's mother granted Köprülü Mehmed Pasha full executive powers as Grand Vizier. Köprülü took office on September 14, 1656.[6]

Accomplishments

Mehmed IV as a teenager, on procession from Istanbul to Edirne in 1657.
The Ottoman Empire under Mehmed IV.
Siege of Candia by the Ottoman army

Sultan Mehmed IV is known as Avcı, "the Hunter", as this outdoor exercise took up much of his time.

His reign is notable for a revival of Ottoman fortunes led by the Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed and his son Fazıl Ahmed. They regained the Aegean islands from Venice, and Crete, during the Cretan War (1645–1669). They also fought successful campaigns against Transylvania (1660) and Poland (1670–1674). When Mehmed IV accepted the vassalage of Petro Doroshenko, Ottoman rule extended into Podolia and Right-bank Ukraine. His next vizier, Köprülü Mehmed's adopted son Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa, led campaigns against Russia, conquering Chyhyryn in 1678. He next supported the 1683 Hungarian uprising of Imre Thököly against Austrian rule, marching a vast army through Hungary and besieged Vienna. At the Battle of Vienna on the Kahlenberg Heights, the Ottomans suffered a catastrophic rout by Polish-Lithuanian forces famously led by King John III Sobieski (1674–96), and his allies, notably the Imperial army.

Great Turkish War

Main article: Great Turkish War
The siege of united Christian forces in Buda, 1686

But on September 12, 1683, the Austrians and their Polish allies under King Jan Sobieski took advantage of dissent within the Turkish military command and poor disposition of his troops, winning the Battle of Vienna with a devastating flank attack led by Sobieski's Polish cavalry. The Turks retreated into Hungary, however this was only the beginning of the Great Turkish War as the armies of the Holy League began their long, but successful campaign to push back the Ottomans to the Balkans.

Later life and death

After the second Battle of Mohács (1687), the Ottoman Empire fell into deep crisis. There was a mutiny among the Ottoman troops. The commander and Grand Vizier Sarı Süleyman Pasha became frightened that he would be killed by his own troops and fled from his command, first to Belgrade and then to Istanbul. When the news of the defeat and the mutiny arrived in Istanbul in early September, Abaza Siyavuş Pasha was appointed as the commander and soon as the Grand Vizier. However, before he could take over his command, the whole Ottoman Army had disintegrated and the Ottoman household troops (Janissaries and Sipahis) started to return to their base in Istanbul under their own lower-rank officers. Sarı Suleyman Pasa was executed. Sultan Mehmed IV appointed the commander of Istanbul Straits Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pasha as the Grand Vizier's regent in Istanbul. He made consultations with the leaders of the army that existed and the other leading Ottoman statesmen. After these, on 8 November 1687 it was decided to depose Sultan Mehmed IV and to enthrone his brother Suleiman II as the new Sultan. Mehmed was deposed by the combined forces of Yeğen Osman and the janissaries. Mehmed was then imprisoned in Topkapı Palace. However, he was permitted to leave the Palace from time to time, as he died in Edirne Palace in 1693. He was buried in Turhan Hadice Sultan's tomb, near his mother's mosque in Constantinople. Just before he died in 1691, a plot was discovered in which the senior clerics of the empire planned to reinstate Mehmed on the throne in response to the ill health of his successor, Suleiman II.

His favourite harem girl was Emetullah Rabia Gülnûş Sultan, who was a slave girl and later his wife, was taken prisoner at Rethymnon (Turkish Resmo) in the island of Crete. Their two sons, Mustafa II and Ahmed III, became Ottoman Sultans during (1695–1703) and (1703–1730) respectively.

Marriages and Issue[7]

Consorts

Sons

Daughters

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Börekçi, Günhan (2009). "Mehmed IV". In Ágoston, Gábor; Bruce Masters. Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. p. 370-1.
  2. ↑ Baer, Marc David (2008). Honored by the Glory of Islam: Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman Europe. Oxford University Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-19-979783-7.
  3. ↑ Natalia Yakovenko."Essays on History on Ukraine. From the Earliest Times until the End of the 18th Century". 1997.
  4. ↑ Finkel, Caroline (2005). Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923. New York: Basic Books. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-465-02396-7.
  5. ↑ John Freely - Inside the Seraglio published 1999, Chapter 9: Three Mad Sultans
  6. ↑ Streusand, Donald E., Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2011), p. 57.
  7. ↑ The Imperial House of Osman: Genealogy [retrieved 7 March 2016].

Media related to Mehmed IV at Wikimedia Commons

Mehmed IV
Born: January 2, 1642 Died: January 6, 1693[aged 51]
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Ibrahim		 Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
August 8, 1648 – November 8, 1687
with Kösem Sultan (1648–1651)
Turhan Hatice Sultan (1651–1683) 		Succeeded by
Suleiman II
Sunni Islam titles
Preceded by
Ibrahim		 Caliph of Islam
Ottoman Dynasty
August 8, 1648 – November 8, 1687 		Succeeded by
Suleiman II
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