Ahmed I

Ahmed I, the fourteenth Ottoman sultan, was born at Manisa in 998/1590 and succeeded his father in 1012/1603. He is known for the Sultan Ahmed mosque in Istanbul, and he died in 1026/1617.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.) describes Ahmed I as the fourteenth Ottoman sultan, the eldest son of Mehmed III, born at Manisa on 22 Jumada I 998/18 April 1590. He succeeded his father on 18 Rajab 1012/22 January 1603, and, contrary to custom, did not put his brother Mustafa to death, although Mustafa later succeeded him. One of his first acts was to confine his grandmother Safiye Sultan in the old palace. ¹

In the wars, Ahmed sent Cighalezade Sinan Pasha against Shah 'Abbas, who had taken Erivan and Kars; Sinan was defeated at Salmas on 9 September 1605 and died soon after. Lala Mehmed Pasha took Vac in Hungary and, with Stephen Bocskay of Transylvania, stormed Esztergom on 4 November 1605. The treaty of Zsitvatorok, signed on 11 November 1606 with the Austrians, left the Ottomans in possession of their conquests, against an indemnity of 200,000 kara guruş and a promise to give the Austrian ruler the title of emperor. Kuyucu Murad Pasha put down the revolts of the governors and levies of 1607 and 1608. Capitulations were granted to France, and similar ones to the Netherlands in 1612. Ahmed promulgated a kanunname on the administrative and commercial regulations of the empire. ¹

He built the magnificent mosque at the Atmeydani in Istanbul, which bears his name, between 1609 and 1616, and furnished the Ka'ba with gifts. He died on 23 Dhu'l-Qa'da 1026/22 November 1617 after a two-month illness. The article describes him as of a violent and changeable temper, easily swayed, not always able to appreciate the services of his most able ministers, pious, fond of hunting and dress, and interested in poetry. ¹