Shehzade Mustafa on a Persian carpet instead of an Ottoman throne - to execute, not to pardon
Shehzade Mustafa in Turkish miniature and the film version in the 21st century by the actor Mehmet Gunsur
One of the controversial pages stories The Ottoman Empire – a dynastic game with death during the reign of perhaps the most famous Ottoman (Turkish) sultan, Suleiman (Kanuni) the Magnificent. “Most famous” – in our time – also in connection with a whole series of literary and cinematic incarnations, culminating in the sensational “Magnificent Century”.
And this ambiguous Ottoman history of the 16th century has an additional “white” (or rather, dark) spot, which many historians consider to have divided the “century” of Suleiman’s reign into “before and after” and the cornerstone of dynastic battles. We are talking about the death of his eldest of the sons who lived to the “conscious” age – Mustafa.
Rumor and interpretation
Popular rumor, multiplied by contradictory notes of foreign ambassadors, revealed the currently accepted main version of the development of events. According to this version, Sultan Suleiman, who found himself in captivity of the evil intent of his initially concubine, and then legal wife (haseki) Hurrem Sultan (historical connection to a Slavic woman, a former slave named Alexandra), gave the order to execute his innocent son, who loved his father, respected him and generally wished him many earthly blessings and many, many years of life.
The interpretation says that Suleiman himself, who “would not hurt an ant in vain,” would never have gone to the execution of his son and legitimate heir to the throne, but this red-haired Slavic “witch” who bewitched the padishah did her job by slandering the one who blocked the path to the throne for one of her sons.
There is no such thing as too much Shehzade?
Historiography shows that at the time of the death of Shehzade (an Ottoman tracing of the Persian term corresponding to the European "prince" or our "tsarevich", and a literal translation from Persian is "descendant of the sovereign") Mustafa, he was the only son of Suleiman from the concubine Mahidevran, who by that time had fallen out of favor with the Sultan. The eldest son of the padishah of those living at that time.
And she fell out of favor, again – if we follow the generally accepted Turkish interpretations to date, solely because of the “treachery of Hurrem,” who first “stole” the Sultan from her, and then “gave birth” to Suleiman so many shehzades that Mustafa would have as few chances as possible to ascend the throne and as many competitors as possible.
Portrait of Alexandra/Roksolana/Khurrem by an unknown author of the 16th century
So, at the time of Mustafa's execution, Hurrem had three sons left from Suleiman. And there were four who survived childhood. Where did the fourth, also the eldest of them, go? And also the shehzade, who was sent by the Sultan himself to the most prestigious sanjak (region, province) of the Ottoman Empire - Sarukhan, often called Manisa after its administrative center? The prestige of the sanjak was such that, according to the Ottoman tradition at that time, it was the shehzade appointed to Manisa who eventually became the main contender for the throne. Although in this regard there are certain geographical, historical, military, financial and bureaucratic-corruption nuances. Without them, the history of Turkey would not be the history of Turkey.
The eldest of the sons of Hurrem and Suleiman who lived to the “conscious” age, Mehmed, strangely left this world in 1543, two years after his appointment as sanjak-bey (governor) in that very Manisa (Saruhan) instead of Mustafa.
There are many oddities in this death. And the main one is that he died at the age of 22, having been a physically healthy young man since childhood. If we are to follow the generally accepted theory in Turkish historiography, then the cause of Shehzade Mehmed's death was smallpox. However, in the chronicles of Saruhan for 1542 and 1543 there is no evidence that any of the high-ranking officials of the sanjak were struck by this fatal disease at that time and subsequently died. That is, we are asked to accept on faith the following: the Shehzade, who took the "shining" place of his elder brother, absolutely accidentally caught smallpox, when no one from his entourage, including the main concubine and daughter, caught it, and passed away. And, in principle, one could agree with the version in this form (anything has happened in history), if it were not for the fact that we are talking about the sanjak from which the ruler of the Ottoman Empire had previously expelled Mustafa and if it were not for the very absence of evidence of other deaths of imperial dignitaries from smallpox during the specified period in the palace of Manisa.
What does historiography say about why Suleiman removed Mustafa from the post of sanjak-bey of Manisa (Saruhan)?
Defamatory contacts
There are several points. If we leave out the notorious: "this Russian witch Hurrem is to blame for everything" (although whether she was really Russian is also a question), then one of them is that the shehzade, without notifying the padishah-father, began to independently receive foreign ambassadors in his palace. Moreover, the documents show that these were not just "courtesy visits" of the envoys of European monarchs to Manisa, but quite business contacts that de facto were established by shehzade Mustafa or at least did not interfere with them. Among other things - Mustafa's contact with the Austrian ambassador. It is difficult to say what kind of ambassador it was, since the Austrian documents state that Ambassador Benedikt Kurepecic had died by that time, and the next on the list - Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq - had not yet been appointed.
The Sultan, behind whose back his eldest son was negotiating with powers that were in a state of permanent war with the Ottoman Empire, felt that this could work against him. It was hard not to feel it. He also felt that this underscored the fact that the padishah had no control over the situation in various corners of his vast empire.
From a cinematographic point of view – “what’s so special about that?” But the laws of the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Empire (and, perhaps, any other) interpreted this if not as direct betrayal, then as an attempt on his life. Only the sultan or the vizier to whom he delegated such powers at a certain moment could conduct foreign policy affairs. This could be done by a regent from among the shehzade in the absence of the sultan “at work”. But Suleiman did not appoint Mustafa as regent in this case, and did not transfer him to Istanbul or the palace in Edirne. And not a single document exists about any delegation of powers by Suleiman to make geopolitical decisions to Mustafa at the time of his stay as the “governor” of Manisa.
In principle, the very mild reaction with the removal and transfer to a more distant sanjak in this case is explained only by the fact that Mustafa is the son of the Sultan. It was officially accepted as a "miscalculation of the young man gaining state experience." Anyone else in his place would have been executed without any "sentiment" and without mentioning "Hurrem's intrigues."
In principle, even from a modern point of view (a time much more liberal than the 16th century), the governor’s reception of ambassadors of a foreign state with the resolution of a range of issues concerning the entire state, and even without the knowledge of the head of state – well, that’s…
Given that there are questions about the identity of the Austrian ambassador with whom Mustafa had dealings and contacts, one could assume that this whole story of “politics behind the padishah’s back” was sucked out of thin air, and the negotiations with foreign diplomats themselves were again someone’s machinations.
But... There is one extremely important nuance. If Mustafa did not conduct any business with Europeans, then how did it happen that a fairly substantial archive with his documents and poems (and he, like his father, tried himself in poetry - under the name Mukhlisi - "sincere") ended up in Vienna, where some of it is still kept to this day?
By the way, it is quite possible that the poetic name that Mustafa chose for himself became an additional reason for historians to describe him as honest, incorruptible, sincere, and not wishing evil on anyone (except for his enemies, but who are the enemies?..), “the most worthy of the shehzades.”
So, the year 41 arrives. 1541. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (aka Kanuni – as he is called in Turkey itself in connection with the creation during his reign of a large set of laws and “ethical norms” of the empire – canons) transfers his eldest son from Manisa to Amasya. Why did Mustafa and those close to him perceive this as a reason for, to put it mildly, “upset”?
As already mentioned, Sarukhan with its capital in Manisa was considered the sanjak of the future sultan. The obvious reason is that it was geographically closer to the capital of the empire, Istanbul, than to Amasya (490 kilometers versus 650 – a considerable difference at that time).
And in the event of the Sultan's death, it would be possible to get from Manisa to Istanbul faster in order to proclaim oneself the new "ruler of the world", even if a rival began to express claims to the throne and began his advance to the capital at the same time. But there are some "buts" here. For example, from the sanjak of Kutahya, where another son of Suleiman, Bayazet (Bayazid), was the bey at a certain period of time, it is closer to Istanbul than from the same Manisa (less than 400 km). Therefore, not only the length of the "geographical" path to the throne played a role in the appointment, but also security and, so to speak, transport accessibility.
In the regions of the Ottoman Empire that were closer to the Mediterranean, roads in decent condition have remained since the Byzantine era. In the sanjaks in the east and southeast, the Ottomans were in much worse shape with their “quality road programs.” Building a safe and smooth road where there were mountain paths at best is problematic even today, let alone in the 16th century.
Before 41st and after 41st
1541. Mustafa, clearly offended, leaves for Amasya with his retinue. According to other sources, he did not carry out the padishah's order immediately - not in 1541, but later. "He collected his personal belongings and ensured the safety of the harem." And most Turkish historians write that "the people of Saruhan were extremely upset by the fact of expulsion, since "you cannot find a more just and generous shehzade than Mustafa." And here the question arises about the generosity of the crown prince.
Manisa was a coveted place for any Ottoman shehzade also due to the fact that more funds were allocated from the Sultan's treasury for the maintenance of the sanjak than for the maintenance of others. For example, when initially sent to Manisa, Mustafa received 400 thousand akçe "lifting money" from the Sultan. Akçe is a silver coin that in the first half of the 1,15th century had a fixed weight of XNUMX g. Considering the number of coins and today's "rate" of silver on the world market, one can estimate how much this is today in Russian rubles.
So, 400 thousand coins with the specified weight have a total mass of 460 kg. At the moment, the cost of an ounce of silver is about 31 US dollars. That is, the entire amount is about 458 thousand US dollars or about 47 million rubles at the current exchange rate. The amount is quite impressive, but by modern standards of the bureaucracy - by no means astronomical. Individual football players in the same Turkey today earn several times more per year.
Silver coin akche
It is difficult to say whether Mustafa used this factor of budget funds to gain special favor among the Janissaries and the ulema (theologians) or whether the financial resources appeared there not without the support of the loyal shehzade by European ambassadors and "business elites". But the fact is the fact - as a sanjak-bey, Mustafa allowed himself to violate another cast-iron rule of the dynasty. It consisted in the fact that the soldiers' salaries, including "bonuses and allowances" for successful military campaigns, were paid by the padishah or the treasurer in the presence of the padishah. It is inappropriate to assume that the shehzade did not know about this.
It turns out that either Mustafa, while still in Manisa, handed out his personal money to the Janissaries so that "Istanbul would not guess", or he openly used the "state" funds allocated for the maintenance of the region entrusted to him in his own political interests. But in the second case, you can't really live in luxury, especially when your own court is more than 400 people and all the funds were distributed by treasurers back in Istanbul. If it was the first option, then another question: where did the 25-year-old "governor" get so much personal money to make payments, as they would say now, to public sector employees (soldiers, officials and others) in such a volume that they doted on him, at the same time not plunging the province into economic decline and not offending himself and his entourage in terms of luxury?
Accordingly, either some part of the income from the sanjak simply did not reach the Sultan's treasury in Istanbul, or the shehzade still had additional (very dubious from the point of view of the unity of the dynasty) sources of financing. For example, money from Genoese merchants who begged the shehzade for trade preferences from the Ottoman Empire.
And it is quite obvious that it was Mustafa's financial generosity that became the primary reason why the Janissary corps began to openly show loyalty to him "while the Sultan was alive". To assume that the authority of Suleiman's eldest son grew among the Janissaries only because he was the eldest son or that "we must fight against the sorceress Hurrem so that she does not put her unworthy offspring on the throne" is ridiculous. Especially considering the fact that Mustafa was initially the direct heir to the throne - the Crown Prince of the Ottoman state, which was not disputed by anyone. Therefore, why would the soldiers suddenly need to elevate this shehzade, if he was a priori "elevated" by right of succession of power? But taking into account the generous payments, which could well have been the shehzade's own plan for the loyalty of the army - it is very likely.
You may not become a Sultan
Despite the fact that Sarukhan was considered the "nest" of future sultans, it is definitely impossible to say that the position of the Sanjak-bey of Amasya was completely worthless. Considering, to put it mildly, the difficult relations between the Ottomans and the Persians, the province in the east of the country acted as an outpost of the empire and its governance was a matter of significant state importance. That is, despite the dubiousness of Mustafa's activities in Manisa (from the point of view of the Ottoman traditions and laws that existed at that time), it is hardly possible to say that his sending by Suleiman to Amasya was simply an exile and nothing more. Of course, Mustafa's experience as a warrior was taken into account by the ruler of the Ottomans and was not completely written off from the shehzade's accounts.
The reign in Amasya is a 12-year term. Not a little. And when you have those around you who dream of being the "right hand" of the future padishah, then "not a little" turns into "infinitely long". In discussions with his entourage, the shehzade often discusses this situation in flowery phrases, and Mustafa's entourage constantly reminds that he is the next Ottoman sultan, the "ruler of the world". And the shehzade does not pull his interlocutors up at all, does not comment on these words, even with a feigned look of disagreement. He fundamentally agrees with the arguments and conclusions. And it was not at all difficult for the padishah to find out about such conversations, and without "messengers" from Hurrem Sultan. For obvious reasons, the head of state had his own people in the Manisa palace and directly. And the shehzade could not help but know this, but he still did not stop conversations on this slippery topic.
At the beginning of this "amasya" term of Mustafa, Shehzade Mehmed dies, and his elder brother would certainly like to return to his former place, but Suleiman has a different opinion. Since no more than two years have passed since the scandal with the European ambassadors and the "material incentives" of the Janissary corps, the padishah still has doubts. And nothing cancels the fact that the sultan actually had reason to suspect Mustafa's inner circle of Mehmed's death. As they say, who can dismiss this, but not a member of the dynasty, who is well aware of the endless intrigues between the heirs and their entourage.
The eldest son of Hurrem Sultan Selim is appointed to replace Sanjak-bey Sarukhan, which brings those who support Mustafa into new anger. Against whom is this anger directed? Against Selim - directly, against the Sultan indirectly. But this is the case when indirect can mean much more than direct. At the same time, papers begin to appear based on rumors that Selim, it turns out, is a wine lover, allegedly a carouser and, in general, a so-so Sanjak-bey. Hence the spreading "information" about drunkenness, which was most actively picked up in the bazaars and, in the absence of social networks, was spread by word of mouth throughout the empire, primarily by Mustafa's supporters who remained in Manisa. But all these "measures" against his brother did not have the desired effect of the opponents.
And in the camp of Shehzade Mustafa in Amasya, and he is already almost thirty, a situation is created in which it is discussed that his ascension to the throne is no longer obvious. And it becomes even less obvious in connection with the fact that in 1544 Rustem Pasha becomes the grand vizier (analogous to the prime minister). Absolutely all sources of that time testify to the fact that he is a member of the Sultan's inner circle, which is quite understandable, otherwise Rustem Pasha would not have become Suleiman's son-in-law, having married his daughter Mihrimah. The enemy Rustem is called "the faithful dog of Mustafa's enemy - Hurrem" and they constantly gossip that he is the son of a swineherd, who became the son-in-law of the Sultan with the help of a louse. How is it a louse? The fact is that before the wedding with Mihrimah Sultan, Hurrem's opponents spread a rumor that Rustem was sick with leprosy. There was only one goal - to convince Suleiman that the marriage was impossible. But during the examination by the court leper, he found a louse in Rustem's hair. And these insects do not live on the body of a person with leprosy. The wedding and the appointment to the post of grand vizier took place.
Remembering the law of Fatih, when the son of the Sultan who ascended to the throne must kill all his brothers along with their heirs (“so that the state could continue to be governed by one person without upheavals.” How could there be no upheavals…), Shehzade Mustafa understood perfectly well that his father a) at the very least did not fully trust him, b) was in no hurry to forgive all the “mistakes” he had made, and c) who even knew whether he was ready to return his eldest son to the ranks of obvious and undisputed heirs to the throne.
Therefore, further stay on the borders with Persia (the Safavid state) in itself begins to create an extremely tense situation for the shehzade. At the same time, it is certainly impossible to believe that Haseki Hurrem Sultan did not use her influence on Suleiman Kanuni in order for Mustafa to know his place - away from the throne. After all, the same law of Fatih was hanging over her consciousness, together with the understanding of the situation that if Mustafa ascended to the throne, then the end would come not only for her children, but for herself. But also, based on historical retrospective, to say that Hurrem is to blame for everything, and Mustafa was so pure, blameless, crystal clear honest and open that he could not resist "treachery" - is extremely naive. How naive to say that he "loved his brothers with all his heart, and his brothers loved him." Well, in the Ottoman tradition there was no such lifetime brotherly love that we can imagine today. From their earliest days, the Sultan's children were taught the principle of succession to the throne. And they lived with this burden. And there is no need to talk about love from the one who would eventually have to kill everyone (and this could have been any of the shehzades). This is by the way, that in the generally accepted historiography it will be written that the fourth son of Suleiman and Hurrem shehzade Cihangir died a month and a half after the execution of Mustafa only because "he suffered from the death of his brother, to whom he was so attached."
Trigger in the beard
One of the triggers, as psychologists say today, for Sultan Suleiman to decide to execute Mustafa could have been his violation of the canonical law on the appearance of a shehzade. Mustafa allowed himself (oh, the horror of the Ottoman Empire!..) a full beard. And this, so to speak, attribute could only be afforded by the person on the throne from the ruling dynasty. A shehzade could have facial hair, but his beard had to be cut short.
He also grew a beard of considerable length against the backdrop of news reaching the Amasya sanjak that the sultan was “no longer the same” and against the backdrop of talk about “the only shehzade worthy of the throne.” In today’s understanding, this is equivalent to the regional governor taking down the president’s portrait at his workplace and hanging his own “ceremonial” image there. Or even putting a sign on the door to his office that read “Future President.” They won’t execute him, of course, but they will at least shrug their shoulders while simultaneously rocking their chair…
Moreover, the sources, many of which were never able to prove their direct contacts with either Mustafa or Suleiman, say that the son constantly prayed for his father's health. In Mustafa's letters to Suleiman, this "prayer for health" is traditional in any case, but this is not an indicator that Mustafa was fundamentally against taking power in the empire into his own hands during Suleiman's life. Not an indicator, at least because lengthy odes and praises to the padishah are a traditional manner of medieval Turkish letters or petitions, where words from the series "Oh, great, almighty ruler of the world, sun and moon, ruler of the oceans and contingents... etc." could take up to 80 percent of the entire text. Sultans were not spoken to differently in letters.
So, the thick beard on the face of Shehzade Mustafa appears against the backdrop of rumors that he came into contact with the Safavid ruler Shah Tahmasp I - his so-called "neighbor", from whom he was assigned to protect the border of the empire. He came to take the throne into his own hands. At the same time, there are problems with documentary evidence of the rumors. And significant ones. This gives some historians a reason to say that Mustafa's letter to the Persian ruler was a "fake", composed by supporters of Hurrem, including the aforementioned Rustem Pasha and Mihrimah, who forged his seal. Only forging the seal of a shehzade in the 99th century is a whole story with an unpredictable ending. And given that the seal was XNUMX% of the time directly with the shehzade, getting it for an imprint was extremely difficult, even if you were, for example, his sister.
Therefore, it is also impossible to completely exclude real communication between Shehzade Mustafa and the Persians, especially if we take into account that he did not disdain communication through ambassadors, for example, with European “leaders”, and did not completely abandon his contacts with them in Amasya, which again can be evidenced, for example, by his poems (and not only poems) of the late period, which ended up in European collections.
On the other hand, if Mustafa had no contacts with Tahmasp, then by definition (given the whole army of “eyes and ears” in Istanbul) he could not help but hear rumors that a provocation was being carried out against him. And if the shehzade did not intend to ascend to the throne with the “living sultan”, then why in that case did he, in correspondence with the beys of the eastern provinces, discuss the topic of how his grandfather, Selim I, who was born, by the way, in Amasya, ascended to the throne, eventually eliminating his father Bayezid II.
All these bits of information in the padishah's head could well form a single picture, which said that just a little time and his son could arrange for him the same fate that his father arranged for his grandfather. That is, removal from power followed by a quick death "under unclear circumstances."
Having collected these grains into a clear and understandable mosaic, Suleiman calls his son to him during the extremely difficult Persian campaign. Moreover, the campaign, which he, despite his illness, had to lead already during the development of events, since unrest began in the camp of the Ottoman army. The reason, which historians most often point to, is that the Janissaries were angry with the Grand Vizier Rustem Pasha, who "ineptly led the military campaign and, in addition, cut the soldiers' salaries due to failures at the front." At the same time, the question of who could be behind this unrest of the Janissaries is practically not considered: no one, and the Janissaries began to "rumble" themselves or they were controlled by Mustafa through a group of people loyal to him - the questions remain open and the answer to them, perhaps, will never be received. But the fact remains that in order to prevent the army from falling apart, Suleiman went to lead it for the rest of the campaign, and also to show that he, figuratively speaking, continues to “hold tightly in the saddle and is not going to give up the throne.”
According to some Turkish historians and, again, Western ambassadors, the Sultan went on a campaign not at all to fight Tahmasp, but exclusively to execute Mustafa. Moreover, the reflection is usually expressed that Mustafa “of course knew about the conspiracy against him, but was so devoted to his father and loved him so infinitely (the one who swore to himself never to kill his “friend and brother” Ibrahim of Parga, and then found a way to execute him, washing his hands of it…), that “he decided to go with an open heart and clarify the situation.” He went, as historians write, in white clothes (a symbol of purity and openness) with a “small detachment” of several thousand warriors. The detachment was “universal” - it could act against Tahmasp, if the father was “merciful”, or against Suleiman, if it took advantage of those same unrest in the camp and the “boundless love of the Janissaries for the only worthy heir to the throne”.
Execution of the shehzade
Turkish scholars emphasize that Mustafa "prepared" and wrote a letter outlining his "innocence." He put the letter under his caftan and went to the sultan's tent. The tradition is that executions are not carried out in the sultan's tent. According to another version, "blood is not shed in the sultan's tent." But Mustafa apparently forgot that he was in the Ottoman Empire, where any tradition (and he himself did this many times) can be twisted so that everything ends up being completely different. After all, executions can be carried out without bloodshed, which is what happened in the end.
Moreover, the Sultan's tent was formed of such gigantic dimensions that it occupied several hundred square meters - with a long corridor. In fact, there were several tents, including the so-called pre-tent, behind which was the "marching throne room". The tents were separated either by thick fabric or translucent curtains.
The story goes on to say that the “seven silent executioners” (in some Persian documents, the eunuchs, deprived of their tongues, turned into executioners) pounced on the shehzade when he was in the anteroom and rushed towards the Sultan’s throne. Suleiman himself stood behind a linen curtain and, beside himself with rage, shouted at the executioners for not being able to do their job. In the end, shehzade Mustafa was finally killed with a noose – a method similar to the one that “the Magnificent” had used on his grand vizier Ibrahim Pasha 17 years earlier. And supposedly Suleiman found and read the letter about his son’s innocence and slander, grabbing the lifeless body of his son and trying in vain to bring him back to life. They say that he allegedly cried and was inconsolable for a long time. Of course - "an unjust execution due to the fault of Hurrem and her faithful slave Rustem" - as ambassadors of European powers and some Turkish researchers write in historiographic essays, it is unclear to whom they are referring. There were definitely no ambassadors in the tent in Eregli. And did Suleiman himself observe the execution, if the miniatures usually depicted a report to him from the viziers about the death of the shehzade?
The Sultan is informed in the tent that the execution is complete.
All this is precisely “allegedly”. The letter of Shehzade Mustafa does not exist in the archival documents, which, of course, is explained by the fact that “this document was destroyed, since Hurrem Sultan intervened again, trying to get her husband out of the pangs of remorse”. Only if Suleiman repented and suffered so much from the fact that he unjustly executed his son and if he really found the letter on the body of the Shehzade, then how can the following facts be explained:
first: after the execution of Mustafa, an order was given to execute his seven-year-old son Mehmed (even if the order was given at that very moment, the Sultan did not take any measures to cancel it);
second: After the execution, Mustafa's body was demonstratively carried out of the tent for all to see on a Persian carpet. Moreover, the Persian carpet in this case was not an attribute of the last honors, but a direct indication that the Sultan continued to consider his son a traitor and a conductor of the interests of the Persian Shah.
third: On the day of Mustafa's execution, October 6, 1553, in the camp in the Ereğli Valley, the Sultan did not execute the Grand Vizier Rustem Pasha. But if Mustafa had explained everything to his father in a "posthumous" letter, would the padishah, who had just executed his own son, have stopped before executing some Rustem, the son of a shepherd, even if at that time he was the padishah's son-in-law? Considering the morals of the sultans of that period, such a probability tends to zero.
fourth: Would the padishah have sent the body of the murdered shehzade to a distant cemetery in Bursa, because what could have been simpler in those days was to declare the son slandered, name the culprits, cut off everyone’s heads and remain in the role of the ruler of the world, misled by the machinations of the “enemies of dynastic traditions.”
The Mausoleum of Mustafa in Bursa, ordered to be built by his mother Mahidevran, completed by his brother Selim
But no. Nothing of the sort happens. And in addition, demonstrating that "the throne is steadfast and the hand of the padishah is strong", under Suleiman the so-called false Mustafas (a sort of Ottoman analogue of false Dmitrys), who claimed to be "the miraculously saved shehzade", are "cleansed". The uprisings, which some of the Janissaries tried to join, are harshly suppressed, and the empire continues on its path, on which the concepts of "son, father, friend, brother" are relevant exactly until the moment comes for a fight for a place under the Bosphorus sun and for access to the main hall of the Cannon Gate palace - Topkapi.
P.S. This "story of one execution" probably cannot be avoided without excerpts from a poem that one of the most famous Ottoman poets of the 16th century dedicated to the deceased shehzade. The author of the poem is considered to be the poet and military figure of the era of Suleiman the Magnificent, Taşlıcalı Yahya Bey. Historians describe him as a person from Mustafa's inner circle and it is he who is considered to be the person who, in conversations with Mustafa, transparently hinted that Suleiman had sat on the throne too long.
"Save me! Save me! One of the walls of the world has collapsed!
Our khan (pay attention to the term – author’s note) Mustafa was killed by executioners.
They put out the sun from his face,
They lured the Ottoman family into sin by deception...
.
Mustafa put on snow-white clothes.
And his face lit up with joy at seeing his father.
..................................................................................
Padishah Suleiman Qanuni was burning with anger
………………………………………………………………………
But Mustafa did not return from his father’s tent.
Zal (Zal Mahmud is considered to be the one who directly strangled Mustafa – author’s note)
Thrown him down to the ground.
His body was destroyed by Rustem's cruelty.
...................................................................................
Even the stars in the sky mourn him
Our khan (pay attention to the term – author’s note) Mustafa was killed by executioners.
They put out the sun from his face,
They lured the Ottoman family into sin by deception...
.
Mustafa put on snow-white clothes.
And his face lit up with joy at seeing his father.
..................................................................................
Padishah Suleiman Qanuni was burning with anger
………………………………………………………………………
But Mustafa did not return from his father’s tent.
Zal (Zal Mahmud is considered to be the one who directly strangled Mustafa – author’s note)
Thrown him down to the ground.
His body was destroyed by Rustem's cruelty.
...................................................................................
Even the stars in the sky mourn him
(and at the end, the most controversial moment (here it is given in Turkish – author’s note):
İlâhî cennet-i Firdevs ana durag olsun
Nizâm-ı âlem olan pâdişâh sag olsun.
Nizâm-ı âlem olan pâdişâh sag olsun.
One version claims that he uses the word "pâdişâh" to refer to the Almighty, "to whom the soul of the martyr has rushed for a reward." Another version claims that "pâdişâh" is, in fact, Sultan Suleiman, whom he suddenly calls "fair" after far from flattering words. It is believed that Suleiman, who was familiar with the work of Yahya Bey, did not deal with him precisely because he accepted the "wordplay" at the end of this poetic epitaph as his justification. Other sources claim that Suleiman read the poems, but Taşlıcalı did not execute Yahya Bey because "in general he favored poets, because he himself was a poet."
Tashlydzhali, by the way, lived a long life - more than 80 years, and this suggests that the death of the shehzade so close to him ultimately had no effect on his physical or mental health. In turn, this raises additional doubts about whether it affected the aforementioned shehzade Cihangir, who had enough reasons for death at a relatively early age even without Mustafa's execution.
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