Ahmed I

Ahmad I redirects here. For others named Ahmed I and Ahmad I see Ahmad I (disambiguation).

Template:Infobox Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I Bakhti (Ottoman Turkish: احمد اول Aḥmed-i evvel, Template:Lang-tr) (April 18, 1590  – November 22, 1617) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1603 until his death in 1617.

Biography

Ahmed I's mother was Valide Sultan Handan Sultan, an ethnic Greek who was originally named Helena. He was born at Manisa Palace. He succeeded his father Mehmed III (1595–1603) in 1603 at age 13. He broke with the traditional fratricide and sent his brother Mustafa to live at the old palace at Bayezit along with their grandmother Safiye Sultan. He was known for his skills in fencing, poetry, horseback riding, and fluency in numerous languages.

In the earlier part of his reign Ahmed I showed decision and vigor, which were belied by his subsequent conduct. The wars which attended his accession both in Hungary and in Persia terminated unfavourably for the empire, and its prestige received its first check in the Treaty of Zsitvatorok, signed in 1606, whereby the annual tribute paid by Austria was abolished. Georgia and Azerbaijan were ceded to Persia.

Ahmed was a poet who wrote a number of political and lyrical works under the name Bahti. He was devoutly religious, spending much of his wealth to support the works of scholars and pious men. He also attempted to enforce conformance to Islamic laws and traditions, restoring the old regulations that prohibited alcohol and he attempted to enforce attendance at the Friday Mosque prayers and paying alms to the poor in the proper way. Ahmed I died of typhus in 1617.

Legacy

Bilingual Franco-Turkish translation of the 1604 Franco-Ottoman Capitulations between Sultan Ahmed I and Henry IV of France, published by François Savary de Brèves in 1615.

Today Ahmed I is remembered mainly for the construction of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (also known as the Blue Mosque), one of the masterpieces of Islamic architecture. The area in Istanbul around the Mosque is today called Sultanahmet. He died at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul and is buried in a mausoleum right outside the walls of the famous mosque.

He was married twice, to Valide Sultan Mahfiruze Hatice Sultan, originally named Maria, a Greek, mother of Osman II, and to Valide Sultan Kadinefendi Kösem Sultan or Mahpeyker, originally named Anastasia, a Greek, mother of Murad IV and Ibrahim I. He also had two sons named Bayezid and Suleiman.