Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor. Robert Walsh
1448. In his reign the art of printing was first discovered in Europe. Henry VI. was his contemporary of England.
Constantinus XIII., by some XI., (Palæologus,) was crowned in 1448, and killed in 1453. Mohammed took the city of Constantinople, and put an end to the Greek empire. Constantine had two brothers−Demetrius, who basely submitted to slavery, and permitted his daughter to be received into the conqueror’s harem; and Thonas, who made vigorous efforts to rescue Greece from the Ottoman power. He finally retired to Italy. His children proceeded to England, where he died: and the ashes of the last of the family of the Greek dynasty repose among the free in Britain, where their monument is still to be seen in Llanulph Church in Cornwall. It is remarkable, that the first Christian emperor of the East was born, and the descendants of the last, repose in England.
TURKISH DYNASTY
Mahomet II., (Fatih,) He was proclaimed sultan in 1451, and took possession of Constantinople on the memorable 29th of May, 1453. He died of a colic in 1481. The title of Fatih, or “the Conqueror” was given to him on the occasion, as opening a way into the Christian capital. He prepared an epitaph to be placed on his tomb, containing the names of all the kings, countries, and cities he had conquered. His contemporary in England was Edward IV.
Bajazet II. He was proclaimed in 1481, and ceased to reign in 1512. His son Selim had appointed for him a place of retreat such as he wished, but in the meantime had corrupted his physician, who poisoned him at Tzurallo. His contemporaries in England were Edward V., Richard III., Henry VII., and Henry VIII.
Selim I. (Yavuz) began his reign in 1512, and died of a fever in 1520. His contemporary in England was Henry VIII.
Soliman I. (by some II.) (Kanuni) began his reign in 1520; and terminated it in 1566. He is generally called in Europe the “Magnificent,” but by Turks, Kanuni, or the “Institutor,” as he drew up a list of institutes by which the kingdom was afterwards to be governed, instead of those traditions which had before been their unwritten law. His contemporaries in England were, Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth.
Selim II. succeeded his father Soliman in 1566; he died in 1574. Contrary to the usual temperament of a Turkish sovereign, he was fond of peace, and sighed for repose, particularly after the loss of the terrible battle of Lepanto, in which Cervantes lost an arm. His contemporary in England was Elizabeth.
Amurath III. succeeded his father Selim in 1574; and died in 1595; a victim to melancholy and a morbid imagination. The discharge of a cannon broke the windows of his kiosk, as he reclined on his divan. Supposing that this portended his death, he died in a fever under that impression. His contemporary in England was Elizabeth, who wrote him a Latin letter.
Mohammed III. succeeded to the throne on the death of his father Mohammed in 1595; he died in 1603. He drowned all the odalisks, or female slaves, of the seraglio, suspected of pregnancy, and put to death nineteen of his brothers on the first day of his elevation. He, from policy, was advised by his mother to affect a dissipated life, and contracted a habit which he could not afterwards get rid of. He died prematurely of excess. His only contemporary in England was Elizabeth.
Achmet I. came to the throne in 1603; and died in 1607. He escaped the fate usually attendant on a younger brother in Turkey, by the premature death of his elder. His life was attempted by a Dervish, who hurled a large stone on him from the roof of a house, which bruised his shoulder. He supposed that dogs communicated the plague, and he ordered them all to be killed; but the mufti saved them, by affirming that every dog had a soul. His contemporary in England was James I.
Osman, or Othman II. succeeded his father Achmet in 1617; he was strangled by the janissaries in 1621, at the early age of nineteen years. A meteoric phenomenon, which assumed the appearance of a huge cymeter, was seen in the sky in his reign for a month, which the Turks were persuaded portended to them the conquest of the world. Charles I. was his contemporary in England.
Mustapha I. was dragged from prison, and set on the throne by the janissaries in 1621, on the death of his nephew Osman. In 1623 he was compelled to resign by the turbulent janissaries, and re-entered the prison from which they had taken him. James I. reigned in England.
Amurath IV. began his reign in 1624; and ended it in 1640; having hastened his death by an intemperate use of wine and ardent spirits, so as to break down a strong constitution at the age of thirty-one. He had conceived the extraordinary projects of extinguishing the Ottoman race, by putting his brother Ibrahim to death; but his own death anticipated his intention. He annexed Bagdad to the empire. In his reign, Cyril Lascaris, the Greek patriarch, published, at the patriarchal press, a confession of eighteen articles, declaring the faith of the Greeks on these points, similar to that of the reformed church in Europe. The contemporary reign in England was that of Charles I.
Ibrahim, succeeded his brother in 1640, and was strangled by the janissaries in 1668. He was a miserable-looking man, had a pale visage, scanty beard, seamed with the small-pox, mean appearance, spare person, hypochondriac, and subject to the falling sickness. His contemporary in England was Charles I.
Mohammed IV. the son of Ibrahim, ascended the throne in 1648, at the age of seven years. He was deposed in 1687, and shut up in the seraglio, where he lingered in solitude four years. In the year 1666, in this reign, Sabathi Levi, or Sevi, appeared in Palestine as the expected Messiah, and was invited to Constantinople by the sultan, who promised to restore Jerusalem. Multitudes of people, both Turks and Jews, believed on him. Among other miracles, he professed to be invulnerable; but when he was set up as a mark to be shot at, his courage failed, and he confessed the imposture. Contemporary governments in England, “the Commonwealth,” Charles II.
Soliman II. (III.) brother to the former, succeeded in 1687; and died in 1691, of a dropsy. He was austere and indisposed to accept the throne. He passed his whole time in studying the koran. In his reign Lewin Warner, the Dutch ambassador at the Port, caused the Bible to be translated at Constantinople into the Turkish language. The MS. remained from that time shut up in the University of Leyden, till it was discovered, and lately published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Some copies were circulated among the Turks of Constantinople in the year 1824, which caused a firman to be issued for their suppression. English sovereigns, Charles II., James II.
Achmet II. the younger brother of Mohammed, succeeded to the throne in 1691; he died in 1695. His mind was mean and powerless, and his person bloated: he had large staring eyes, and a very long nose. Contemporaries in England, William and Mary.
Mustapha II. brother to Achmet, succeeded him in 1695; he abdicated the throne in 1703. His contemporaries in England were William III. and Anne.
Achmet III. the brother of Mustapha, succeeded in 1703; after a reign of twenty-seven years of prosperity, he too was compelled by the turbulent janissaries, to abdicate the throne in 1730; the third whom the caprice of the people had dethroned in fifty years. His contemporaries in England were Anne, George I., and George II.
Mahmoud I., or Mohammed V., the nephew of Achmet, succeeded in 1730; he died in 1754, after a mild reign of twenty-four years. He was condescending and humble, and much regretted. It is a precept of Islamism, that every man should be prepared for his destiny, and able to support it by some useful employment. Many sultans were mechanics, and so was Mahmoud; he was a cunning worker in ivory, which he wrought with a dexterity far exceeding that of a Turk. His contemporary in England was George II.
Othman III. the brother of Mahmoud, succeeded him in 1754; he died in 1757. His reign was distinguished by the persevering and sanguinary efforts of the Russians to effect their great object of advancing to Constantinople, by urging the Greeks to insurrection. His contemporary in England was George II.
Mustapha III. (Gazi,) nephew of Othman, and son of Achmet III., began his reign in 1757; and died in 1776. His uncle had administered poison to himself and two brothers; they perished, but he survived, and ever after retained the traces of it. The approximation of Turks to European habits and improvements, began with him. He ordered Boerhaave and Machiavel to be translated into Turkish, and commanded his son to be inoculated; and he founded a library and an academy. He made vigorous efforts against the Russians, and was thus called Gazi, “The Victorious.” George III. reigned in England.
Abdul Hamed, the last of the sons of Achmet III.