Süleyman I

Süleyman I, called The Magnificent (1494-1566), sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1520-1566), during whose reign the empire reached its zenith of power and splendor.

Süleyman was born on November 6, 1494, in Trabzon (Trebizond), the son of Selim I. In 1521, at the beginning of his reign, Süleyman captured the Hungarian city of Belgrade (now in Serbia). The following year he repelled the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, a military and religious order, from the island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea. In 1526 he again invaded Hungary, killing Louis II, king of Hungary, and incapacitating the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohács. He returned to Hungary in 1529 as the supporter of John I Zápolya, who had been elected king by the Hungarian nobility, but whose claim was contested by Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (later Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I). Ferdinand was driven back into Vienna, which Süleyman then attempted to besiege. He was unsuccessful, thus limiting the extent of his invasion into central Europe.

Süleyman next directed his arms against Iran. In 1534 he conquered the cities of Tabrīz and Baghdād. In 1535 he concluded an alliance with Francis I, king of France, against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The treaty opened the commerce of the Levant to the French flag alone, and as a result of the agreement, diplomatic relations between France and the Ottoman Empire lasted for centuries.

In 1541 Süleyman again invaded Hungary, capturing Buda and incorporating all of central Hungary in his empire. Two years later the combined French and Ottoman fleets ravaged the Italian coasts and pillaged Nice. The Ottomans were now supreme in the Mediterranean; in 1551 Tripoli fell into their hands. A second and third war with Iran, now in a state of semisubjugation, an unsuccessful siege of Malta in 1565, and still another expedition to Hungary in 1566 were the principal events of the later years of Süleyman's reign. He died besieging Szigetvár in Hungary on September 7, 1566.

Süleyman is considered the greatest of Ottoman sultans. He excelled as an administrator, earning the title Kanuni (“lawgiver”), and was an influential patron of the arts and sciences. At his death the Ottoman Empire controlled much of the Balkans, northern Africa, and the Middle East, and was the ruling power on the Mediterranean Sea.