MEHMET III

Mehmed III was the son of Murad III, born in 1566 from Sâfiye Sultân. Upon the death of his father, he came from Manisa in 1595 as the last prince to sit on the throne of the Ottoman Sultan from the sanjak principality and died in Istanbul. As in the reign of every sultan, the revolts of the janissaries and the quarrels over the demand for tips, which have become the custom in recent times, also occurred in this one. With the efforts of Ferhad Pasha, the tyrants were suppressed. However, the Austrian campaign dragged on. Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha marched on Wallachia; He took Bucharest; but he tasted a terrible defeat at Yergöğu.

The Sultan’s teacher, Hoca Sa’deddin Efendi, agreed with Sinan Pasha’s idea and wished the Sultan to participate in the expedition himself. In the meantime, Damad İbrahim Pasha became the vizier instead of the deceased Sinan Pasha. Finally, with the encouragement of the Janissaries, on 21 June 1596, the Sultan set out to go on an expedition. Eğri Castle was besieged and conquered, and for this reason, Mehmed III was known as the Conqueror of Eğri. Later, a great victory, albeit difficult, was won in Haçova, which the Hungarians called Kereşteş. Khoja Sa’addin had a great role in this. Returning from the war, the Sultan brought Cığala-zâde to the grand vizier with the influence of Hoca Sa’deddin and the people around him. However, it did more harm than good, both by dismissing the Crimean Khan Gâzî Giray and stirring up strife in the Crimea, and by causing conflicts and rebellions to arise within the country by polling the soldiers the day after the battle. Indeed, as a result of these actions of Cağaloğlu Sinan Pasha, bandit rebellions called Celâlî in Anatolia began to wreak havoc on the country.

In1599, Damad İbrahim Pasha was again appointed Grand Vizier. While the Nemçe War was going on, Tiryaki Hasan Pasha and Kuyucu Murad Pasha were achieving important victories in Europe. It was also during this time that Uyvar was visited.

In the midst of all these difficulties, the Shah of Iran broke the treaty and declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Jalâlî revolts were sweeping Anatolia. While the Ottoman Empire was in these turmoil and revolutions, Mehmed III died in 1603. The murder of his son Mahmûd, the Jalâlî revolts and the failure of the army to achieve successful results against the Safavids who provoked them were the most important events that led to the death of Mehmed III.

Mehmed III was the last Osmanoğlu to ascend the sanjak and from there to the sultanate. He was weak-willed and naïve by nature. He was under the great influence of his mother, Sâfiye Sultân. Like his father, Mehmed III was one of the sultans who abused the issue of fratricide the most. He had 19 of his brothers executed on the basis of the weak fatwas he received. In the meantime, he had his son, Prince Mahmûd, executed, with whom he was suspected of allying and correlating with others; And then he put an end to the lives of the people who were in the news.

During the reign of Murad III, as in his father’s time, there are constant signs of stagnation and even regression. Instead of regular laws, the states of opposition to the Shari’ah seen in the central organization of the state and especially in the Sultans and viziers, who formed the basis of the ulu’l-emir, were warned and guided by the politicians and scholars. The cruelties and injustices that occurred in the provincial organization were either reported to the center by the local scholars or upon the complaints and complaints of the people, the central organization sent orders to the provincial officials to seek justice. This is the reason for the emergence of the Jalâlî revolts.

Adâletnâme is the legal arrangements that the officials representing the authority of the state regulate in a way that reminds them of the right and the law in the event that they abuse this authority against the re’âya and act contrary to the law, rights and justice. In the Ottoman Empire, it manifested itself in the style of the sultan’s rule.

In the Ottoman Empire, the divan-ı Hümâyûn took the place of the mezâlim divan, and the kanunnames and tezkires were replaced by adâletnâme. In other words, as the complaints of the oppressed were personally listened to in the Divan-ı Hümâyûn, the Sultan, who listened to the Divan meetings in a place called Kasr-ı Adâlet or Adâlet Mansion, also sent adâletnâmes to the local administrators to prevent complaints.

Mehmed III was a gentle-souled and weak-willed sultan who wrote poems under the pen name Adlî; however, he was one of the most pious among the Ottoman sultans. Among the grand viziers of his time, Koca Sinan Pasha, Ferhad Pasha, Hadım Hüseyin Pasha, Cığala-zâde (Cağaloğlu) Sinan Pasha and Ibrahim Pasha, whom no one liked; Among the scholars, we should mention Hasan Can’s son Hoca Sa’deddin, Sheikh al-Islam Bostan-zâde Mehmed Efendi, Hoca-zâde Mehmed Efendi and Sheikh Muhyiddin Efendi and Sheikh Şemseddin Sivâsî from the sheikhs.

HIS FRIENDS: 1- Khândân Vâlide Sultân; Mother of Ahmed I. 2- Vâlide Sultân; He was of Abaza descent and the heir apparent of Mustafa I. 3- Haseki; Prince Mahmoud is his mother. 4- Haseki; Şehzâde Selim is his mother. CHILDREN: (It is said that he had five or six other children whose names are unknown). 1-Şehzâde Sultân Selim Khân. 2-Şehzâde Sultân Jahangir Khan. 3-Prince Mahmûd Khân. 4-Prince Ahmad. 5-Prince Mustafa. 6- Khadija Sultân. 7- Aisha Sultân .

(Osmanlı Araştırmaları Vakfı)