For Jesus

‘When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men.’

- epitaph to Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi-Rūmī, Sufi poet and mystic and founder of the Mevlevi Order, famed for the Whirling Dervishes, at his ‘Yeşil Tűrbe’ tomb in Konya in south-central Anatolia, Turkey

Part Iki [Two] – Kâhya

Chapter ۱۱ - Manzara

(11 - View)

(Boztepe Park, Trabzon, eastern Anatolia, Turkey, 2008)

The author of this story was sitting in the shade in the tea-garden of the small Boztepe Park, located on an eponymous hill above the port of Trabzon on the Black Sea in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. As well as enjoying some much-needed liquid refreshment on this hot sunny day, he was also revelling in the magnificent panoramic view of the city and coastline below afforded by his high vantagepoint.

Nearby, on the western slope of Boztepe Hill, was a tower built in 1340 on the orders of the Empress Irene of Trebizond, as the then independent Greek Christian city and small eponymous local Empire was known at that time. However, Pueros’ main focus, as he drank the locally-grown tea, was on the fragmented walls of a large ruined ancient castle, visible below from the park, with the Turkish flag billowing proudly atop a still-extant tall turret.

As Pueros viewed the ruined castle from afar, he could not help but contemplate the history of the fortress. He also eventually considered how the whole setting must have looked 365 years ago, in the summer of 1644, almost two centuries after Trebizond had been forcibly absorbed into the Muslim Ottoman Empire.

In particular, Pueros contemplated a scene within the then intact and functional castle in which a youth and a boy were happily at play, whilst certain contented parents looked on.

Chapter ۱۲ - Mutfak

(12 - Kitchen)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], about 377 years previously, December 1631)

Another white boy, roughly four years younger than the devşirme recruit, Mehmed, had been in the same circumstances almost half a century earlier, now began his own service as a scullion in the vast kitchens of the Ottoman Sultan’s main palace in Constantinople, the ‘Yeni Sarayi’. Freshly indoctrinated into the Islamic faith, the newly renamed 6 year-old Ahmed had, though, not been as fortunate as his Albanian predecessor because he had recently been castrated.

Ahmed had also recently arrived, with other tribute for the Ottoman Sultan, in naval galleons in the Imperial capital, which was still officially called Constantinople despite being known to most Turks as Istanbul. The city would not be formally renamed for another three centuries.

On arrival in Constantinople, Ahmed had been transferred with other eunuch tribute to the ‘Yeni Sarayi’. This ‘New Palace’ had actually already existed for almost two centuries, building having begun shortly after Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror, had finally captured the city for the Muslim Ottoman Turks from the Christian Byzantines in 1453.

Mehmed II also inaugurated the adoption by the Ottoman rulers of the title of ‘Caliph’, which was to be embraced by all his successors too. This revered designation had initially been used by the first principal Islamic religious leaders after the Prophet Muhammad and suggested that the Turkish Sultans had inherited their holy status and so now possessed sacred as well as secular supremacy.

The palace of the Sultan and Caliph in Constantinople at this time, almost two centuries later and whilst already huge, was still being developed. Many of the amenities that would be known to Kardelen in the late 18th and much of the 19th centuries, and described in the earlier story, ‘Ottomans ۱ (1): The Mountain Flower’ by Pueros, had not yet been built.

In the Yeni Sarayi, Ahmed, and the other similar freshly castrated boy arrivals of his skin colour, had initially been allocated accommodation in the barracks afforded to new young recruits to the Ottoman order of white eunuchs. These quarters formed part of the complex around the ‘Bâb-üs Saade’, or ‘Gate of Felicity’.

The ‘Bâb-üs Saade’ was the formal entrance to the most private third court of the Yeni Sarayi. The Sultan’s white eunuchs operated from here, which was why their leader was called the ‘Kapi Agha’, or ‘Commander of the Gate’.

The white eunuchs were responsible for overseeing much of the ancillary work within the Yeni Sarayi, including palace and Imperial administration and more mundane tasks such as the catering. Having only lost their testes and not their penises, they were less trusted with the Sultan’s family and women. Consequently, they were barred from his harem, or ‘Seraglio’, into which their nullified black counterparts were the only male servants allowed to venture.

Ahmed and the other young and freshly castrated eunuchs subsequently spent a few months being inducted into the Turkish language, as spoken in the special dialect of the Ottoman court, as well as the Muslim faith and the general customs and ways of the palace. However, he proved to be a slow learner and was often beaten for his tardiness.

Consequently, as a result of Ahmed’s perceived lack of intelligence and ability, he was, after the conclusion of the induction training, allocated only to the most menial of kitchen duties, just as a young Albanian named Mehmed had been almost half a century previously. However, their attire differed because the newcomer wore the distinctive colourful baggy shirt and trousers, with turban, waistcoat and slippers, of a white eunuch.

Ahmed had been issued with two sets of this uniform, which he would alternate daily. His work was often dirty and so the clothing of the previous day would be cleaned in the large palace laundry whilst he went about the chores of the present day.

The new young scullion was, also unlike his devşirme predecessor in the kitchens, not charged with washing dishes, which he was considered too clumsy even to carry too often. The freshly renamed boy was instead mainly assigned duties that entailed simply cleaning working surfaces, cupboards and floors.

Few in the order of white eunuchs believed that Ahmed would ever do anything else.

Chapter ۱٣ - Dövme

(13 - Beating)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], almost 4 years later, October 1635)

A distinguished guest was, as he often did on his currently rare returns to Constantinople, visiting the vast kitchens in the second of the four courtyards of the Yeni Sarayi. He had a great interest in what went on there. He did so despite presently enjoying a highly successful career in Imperial administration, which more sadly was additionally frequently necessarily ruthless and harsh in an often savage and violent age and had consequently induced in many others a fear of him.

The notable and feared guest’s main current aim was to discover the latest recipes of the top Imperial cooks, especially for sweetmeats, which were of particular interest to him. As he wandered round, speaking to the relevant people at random, he reflected on how little the vast kitchens had changed since he had first become acquainted with them.

The kitchens still appeared as bustling and crowded and apparently anarchic as the guest had originally encountered them years previously, which was actually not surprising. After all, food and drinks were prepared for not only the Sultan and his family and large harem but also the huge array of officials, soldiers and other servants stationed in the palace, not least the two orders of eunuchs.

The kitchens, consequently catering for up to 4,000 people and even more meals per day, had first been built with the rest of the original Yeni Sarayi in the 15th century during the reign of Mehmed II, the Conqueror. Süleyman I, the Magnificent, later enlarged them but these original facilities accidentally burnt down in 1574.

The kitchens were subsequently reconstructed according to the design of the great Ottoman architect, Mi‘mār Sinān, who was also responsible for many famous mosques and other notable official structures. The new facilities now became by far the biggest of their kind in the Empire and possibly the world.

The new kitchens comprised a chain of ten large, domed and connected buildings, each with two tall chimneystacks and a different catering function. They also contained dormitories, baths and even a place of worship for the often close to 1,000 staff.

As the guest wandered round, he also came across another not unusual sight, that of a kitchen menial being beaten by a supervisor. The brown-haired boy, whose attire and appearance suggested that he was a white eunuch of about 10 years of age, had apparently dropped and broken a plate because the evidence was lying shattered on the tiled floor close to him.

The beating being inflicted by the supervisor for the breaking of a single plate did, though, appear excessively savage to the guest, as a barrage of harsh hits from a sturdy leather crop rained down on the defenceless boy’s vulnerable back. The visitor immediately felt great sympathy for the young eunuch, as he had personally experienced similar punishments in the past when a child of about the same age.

Nevertheless, the guest did not intend to interfere in the age-old routine of the kitchens. He fully appreciated that discipline had to be maintained in order that the apparent anarchy of action pervading the place was actually nothing of the kind but was instead a false apparition disguising a highly functional catering machine working very efficiently.

The guest therefore simply walked past the scene in order to seek out the next cook with whom to converse and soon found himself leaving behind the sound of crop landing heavily on the whimpering boy’s back.

Chapter ۱٤ - Tahmin

(14 – Prognosis)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], moments afterwards)

The guest had almost gone out of earshot of the sound of the recurring volley of harsh hits from the crop hitting the young eunuch’s back when his conscience finally spurred him into realising that the punishment taking place really did not seem to fit the apparent crime. He therefore momentarily stopped walking away.

The guest was both renowned and feared for his current senior role in the Ottoman administration. He was merciless and severe towards malefactors who harmed the good governance of the Empire, which mattered enormously to him. However, for the age, his judicial ethics could not be faulted, with the frequently fatal punishments he meted out to such serious miscreants being in line with the normal practices of what was often a barbaric era.

The guest was personally extremely loyal to the Ottoman Empire, very hard-working and totally incorruptible and he expected everyone else connected with the governance of the state to be the same. Woe-betide anyone relevant he encountered who did not measure up to these high standards.

The guest, though, also possessed a strong sense of justice, especially for the downtrodden. Accordingly, he now not only stopped walking away from the scene of the young minion’s beating but also instead turned round and went back.

The guest returned to the scene just in time to observe the supervisor hit the young eunuch’s back harshly again before elevating his crop once more to deliver another stinging blow. The visitor also now saw that several lines of blood were beginning to show through the boy’s waistcoat, which was his second level of clothing above a shirt.

“I think you’ve hit the boy enough,” the guest therefore next quickly suggested to the supervisor in order to attempt to prevent him from delivering the further blow. The visitor succeeded in his intent because the man, after looking up to see who had addressed him, instead of striking slowly lowered his crop harmlessly.

The supervisor recognised the honoured guest immediately because he had not just visited the kitchens frequently over the years. He was also was well known for a certain past and for being highly efficient and fearsome in his current role.

The supervisor additionally appreciated that such a man, in his very senior position and with such an awed reputation, had to be treated with immense respect, despite him not having any official remit in the kitchens. After all, a mere wave of his hand could nevertheless have virtually anyone there executed on the spot.

The supervisor, however, was so determined to carry on with his beating of the young eunuch for breaking a solitary plate that he decided to try to argue the need, albeit highly diplomatically with such an honoured and feared guest. “I’m sorry, Sir,” he therefore replied to the visitor’s suggestion to desist, “but this boy really does deserve a good thrashing, more than he’s so far received.”

“He’s the clumsiest in the kitchens and has been for several years,” the supervisor argued, “and simply won’t learn to concentrate on his tasks in hand to avoid accidents. This thrashing is a thoroughly deserved and needed further attempt to teach him to act otherwise and so I do strongly suggest, Sir, that you allow me to continue!”

By this time, the young eunuch, who had previously simply been meekly and unresistingly cowering in a slightly bent standing posture with his arms folded to receive his beating, raised his tearful brown eyes to see who was attempting to rescue him from yet another thrashing. He observed a very distinguished-looking bearded man, aged about sixty and dressed in a clearly expensive fur-lined embroidered silk kaftan, the colour and style of which, along with his bejewelled turban, suggested that he was an important Pasha.

Of course, the young eunuch’s action also enabled the guest to see the boy’s face for the first time. Despite the clear pain and misery of the juvenile tearstained façade revealed, the visitor was still able to recognise the underlying beauty present.

The keenly observant guest, though, also perceived, mainly from the expression in the young eunuch’s tearful brown eyes, the presence of a profound fatalism, and not just in respect of his current severe beating. To the man, the boy’s demeanour suggested a soul lost in deeply entrenched trauma, who not only might not really care about whatever happened to him but also might actually welcome death to put an end to longstanding suffering.

Such a sad perception naturally increased the guest’s sympathy for the young eunuch, making him even more determined to have the beating ended. The visitor also wondered how the boy had reached such a sorrowful state.

The guest knew from experience that the vast and always in daytime very busy kitchens of the Yeni Sarayi was a place of pressurised hard work over long hours and might also occasionally be a scene of punishment, sometimes unjust and severe. However, overall, life for even the most humble of the menial staff in the palace was generally tolerable and not cruel, especially when compared with the harsh existences experienced by most ordinary people in the era.

The guest also appreciated that young white eunuchs, especially one as pretty as this one, were prized within the Yeni Sarayi. Much time and effort were therefore usually devoted to helping them develop and advance their careers to the highest levels possible in whatever practical sphere was judged best for them.

Consequently, the guest surmised that this particular young white eunuch either had an especially sadistic supervisor, who unusually had been allowed by his own overseers to persist in his unfair cruelty, or was indeed exceptionally inept and so deserving of regular severe punishment. The visitor, though, could not believe, from his own knowledge as to how the vast kitchens were run, that the former possibility could have lasted for long. However, he also did not believe that the latter scenario should have been correct because the boy’s brown eyes additionally somehow revealed to his very clever and perceptive mind that there was currently sadly suppressed but potentially immense ability and intelligence present.

The guest was renowned for being able to judge character correctly and quickly from the skimpiest of evidence, including from just the appearance and demeanour of people, which was one reason why he had risen steeply in the Ottoman bureaucracy. His instinct rarely let him down and he did not think that his feeling over this young eunuch was doing so now.

The guest fully recognised that the Yeni Sarayi’s young white eunuchs had probably gone through traumatising experiences before ending up in the palace. After all, the boys would mainly be Christian captives, plucked from their original homes and families to serve in an alien environment, whilst being deprived of their testes along the way. However, most of them subsequently rapidly overcame their shock to settle satisfactorily into their new lives.

As a result of the astute guest’s speedy mental deliberations about this particular young eunuch, though, the visitor swiftly concluded that the boy might have somehow experienced even worse preliminary trauma than usual. He surmised that this situation had subsequently produced a nervous wreck of a child, who was unable to adapt properly to his new life and whose underlying natural ability and intelligence were suffocated by psychological damage, resulting in superficial ineptitude in everything he did.

The guest also fatefully now decided to test his prognosis in respect of the young eunuch.

Chapter ۱٥ - Kurtarmak

(15 – Rescue)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], moments afterwards)

“Well, if the boy’s the clumsiest in the place and has been for several years,” the guest retorted to the supervisor’s previous statement, “you won’t mind if I take him off your hands. I shall, of course, clear his transfer to my service later with my friend, the Kapi Agha.”

The mention of the esteemed and powerful Kapi Agha, who, given his control of the palace bureaucracy, was currently effectively the third most-powerful person in the Empire, after the Grand Vizier and the Sultan himself, naturally caused the supervisor to offer no opposition to the guest’s announcement. Even if the visitor had not mentioned the Chief White Eunuch, acquiescence would anyway have been readily forthcoming for two reasons.

First, the honoured but also feared guest was of such personal prominent status that only his desire to transfer a young eunuch of only minion standing to his service would have been sufficient to eradicate opposition from anyone. Second, no one in the vast kitchens would be sorry to see such a clumsy boy depart.

In fact, the only sorrow that the supervisor experienced in respect of the unexpected development was that he considered that the young eunuch was so inept that he would quickly be dismissed from the guest’s service. He consequently fully expected that the boy nuisance would soon be returned back to working in the kitchens, or perhaps more accurately clumsily attempting to do so.

The supervisor therefore looked on with scepticism, as the young eunuch, walking slowly and painfully as a result of his recent severe beating, was later led out of the vast kitchens of the Yeni Sarayi by his new master.

Chapter ۱٦ - Psikoz

(16 – Psychosis)

(Private residence, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], a few days later)

“How is the boy?” the guest in the vast palace kitchens of a few days earlier asked of his own senior servant. The man had returned with the young eunuch to his own large and opulent private residence in Constantinople, which nevertheless was overshadowed in size and luxury by the one allocated to him in a certain distant Ottoman province, from which he had temporarily returned for consultation with the Grand Vizier.

“He’s physically much better, Sir,” answered the middle-aged white eunuch. This servant had been loyally in the man’s service for many years.

White eunuchs were not just confined to the service of the Sultans in the Ottoman Empire. Most of the households of important families included such servants, who could generally be sexually trusted with women.

This particular highly competent and intelligent adult white eunuch’s name was now Abdul. However, being of Hungarian Christian origin, he was actually originally christened with one quite different.

“I have personally attended to the wounds from the boy’s beating, Sir,” Abdul went on to advise, “which were quite bad. There were also signs of previous severe punishments in the form of scars on his back and buttocks, which I’m afraid will never completely heal.”

“How about the clear psychological scars?” next enquired the master, whom the boy the two adults were discussing had previously guessed correctly was an important Pasha. “I’m afraid that they too will never completely heal,” Abdul replied bluntly, “as they never will for anyone else who has suffered similarly, such as me.”

Abdul’s candid bluntness was not unusual in a conversation between him and his master. In fact, the Pasha welcomed such frankness, which he considered to be much better than concealment of the truth.

“However,” Abdul continued, “the boy’s psychological wounds appear to have run much deeper than my own and those of others like us. As a result, they are still lividly festering and, in my opinion, endangering his very sanity.”

“Do you know why this?” the Pasha asked. “I believe so, Sir,” Abdul responded.

“I have taken the opportunity of personally tending to the boy’s wounds and inducting him into the ways of your household, Sir,” Abdul went on to explain, “in order also to avail myself of the opportunity to ask him about himself. At first, the poor child was very reluctant to tell me anything but gradually I managed to coax more out of him until I eventually discovered what I consider is the true root cause of his psychosis.”

“And what is that?” enquired the Pasha. “Well,” Abdul answered, “it wasn’t his capture, castration, enslavement or induction into a strange culture. These developments would certainly have severely shocked him but I’m sure that, like most of us, he would have recovered well enough later to live life as best as he could in the changed circumstances, even though he appears to be a particularly sensitive child.”

“So what instead was so shocking that the boy’s currently close to insanity?” the intrigued Pasha now asked. “He personally witnessed something so horrific for such a sensitive child that he has still not recovered from the resultant trauma,” Abdul replied.

“What did he witness that was so horrific?” enquired the Pasha but, before answering, Abdul’s eyes closed momentarily, as if he was himself somehow visualising the appalling scene in his own mind.

Chapter ۱٧ - Çare

(17 – Remedy)

(Pasha’s Residence, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], moments afterwards)

“So, do you have any remedy to suggest in order to cure the poor boy?” the subdued Pasha next asked, having just had his original prognosis regarding the child’s problem both confirmed and explained to his satisfaction. “Yes, Sir,” Abdul answered.

“I suggest, Sir,” Abdul cleverly and perceptively went on to recommend, “that the boy needs a proper purpose in life, one that can make continuing to live seem worthwhile and so preferably something that he can genuinely love. Cleaning kitchen facilities certainly did not meet this requirement.”

In response, the Pasha could not help but smile. He knew his longstandingly loyal and clever senior servant well, and recognised that he already had a specific remedy in mind.

The smiling Pasha therefore subsequently instructed of his invaluable adult white eunuch: “Tell me then, sagacious Abdul, of the remedy that you already undoubtedly have in mind to prescribe!”

Chapter ۱٨ - Tartışmak

(18 – Debate)

(Pasha’s residence, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], another few days later)

The Pasha ordered Abdul to ensure that young 10 year-old Ahmed was fully recovered from his beating and as mentally stable as possible for the important audience that was now imminent. He had also instructed that the boy was to be groomed immaculately and provided with perfectly tailored fine livery in the household’s customary colours and style for the occasion.

Abdul never failed to deliver in such circumstances. Consequently, when he, his master and the younger eunuch finally set off for the audience, Ahmed appeared, externally at least, the epitome of healthy boyhood. He also looked extremely pretty in the colourful uniform of the Pasha’s domestic servants.

The threesome did not have far to travel to the audience, as they just had to venture to the suites in the Pasha’s opulent residence of his much younger wife and her large entourage of maidservants. Apart from her husband, the only males ever allowed into her quarters here or elsewhere were eunuchs, such as Abdul and young Ahmed.

When a boy, the Pasha had never in his wildest dreams ever believed that someday he would be able to marry such a lady as his wife. She was not only much younger and exceptionally beautiful but also the daughter of a rich provincial nobleman from the town of Köprü in central northern Anatolia, near to which her father owned a large country estate.

The very fact that such a marriage was later readily agreed with the woman’s noble family was testament to how high the Pasha had risen in Ottoman society over the years from very humble beginnings. The union had also recently born fruit.

As the threesome had approached the lady’s suites, the loud noise of a baby crying could be heard. To his immense pride and satisfaction, the wife of the almost 60 year-old Pasha had recently given birth to a healthy son, who represented her husband’s first child.

The baby, though, did appear to like exercising his lungs. Despite being completely healthy and constantly receiving the loving attentions of his mother and her maidservants, who included a wet-nurse, the boy cried a lot, leading to much lost sleep within the lady’s quarters.

The baby was again crying when the Pasha arrived in his wife’s quarters, accompanied by Abdul and Ahmed. His spouse was attempting to calm the boy by carefully cradling the child in her arms, whilst slowly pacing up and down the room and singing a gentle lullaby, but to no apparent effect.

The Pasha’ wife, who was in the company of several maidservants, including the wet-nurse, looked up at the male threesome as they entered the room. She glanced at her husband and Abdul and then at Ahmed, whom she had not met before.

“Who’s that, husband?” the Pasha’s wife therefore asked of her spouse, whilst nodding at Ahmed. She had to speak loudly in order to be heard above the baby’s cries.

“You asked for a eunuch to serve you personally, my dear,” the Pasha answered, “and I thought that this boy would do.” However, his wife did not appear to agree because she replied, with clear disappointment in her voice, “But, husband, I don’t want a child. I need an adult!”

“But, given the likely duties, my dear,” the Pasha responded carefully, as he deeply revered his wife, “I thought that a boy might be more suitable. After all, he’s likely to be swifter and more agile on his feet when running errands and delivering messages than an adult.” However, his counter-argument did not seem to win over his spouse, as an unconvinced frown now appeared on her exceptionally beautiful face.

The Pasha’s wife, though, did not like to argue with her spouse in front of the servants. She therefore handed her still crying baby to the wet-nurse and suggested “I think, husband, that we should discuss this matter privately in my library.”

The Pasha agreed to his wife’s suggestion and soon the pair was engaged in private debate in a room next door, which acted as her library. The highly intelligent lady was obviously an avid reader because the walls of the place were covered with full bookshelves.

The resultant debate amidst the bookshelves was not an angry one, for the pair never really argued. Differences of opinion would instead be discussed sensibly with, despite the Pasha’s own formidable erudition and oratory, which were other key factors that had helped his rise within the Ottoman bureaucracy, and current feared reputation, the lady’s viewpoint always somehow prevailing.

The Pasha might have destroyed and even humiliated many important Ottoman officials in debate over the years. However, his excellent oratorical skills were never any proper match for his wife’s even more formidable charms.

Consequently, the Pasha was on the verge of conceding the debate to his spouse, which would entail young Ahmed being assigned duties elsewhere, when the noise from the next room of their son’s crying suddenly stopped. This development caused the wife in particular to worry a little about why the sounds had abruptly ceased.

The obvious answer was that the baby had simply tired of crying, was being fed by his wet-nurse or had finally fallen asleep. However, the Pasha’s wife, always maternally concerned about the welfare of her son, disliked not knowing the precise circumstances, being the type of caring and loving mother who constantly worried that something untoward might happen to her child.

The Pasha’s wife therefore prematurely terminated her conversation with her husband whilst on the brink of victory. She instead explained: “I must go to see why Fazil has stopped crying and so, if you agree, husband, we’ll continue this debate later.” Without waiting for a response, she subsequently quickly abandoned her spouse and her library to return to the room next door.

What the Pasha’ wife next saw in the room next door was undoubtedly to change the future history of the Ottoman Empire.

Chapter ۱٩ - Zafer

(19 – Victory)

(Pasha’s residence, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], moments afterwards)

The Pasha’s wife saw her son, named Fazil, now cradled carefully in the arms of the young eunuch, whom her husband was attempting to persuade her to accept into her service. Her baby was fully awake and alert and staring upwards with apparent interest and liking at the face of the boy holding him.

The wet-nurse, who had previously been holding and trying unsuccessfully to feed the baby, had just returned the requisite breast back beneath her clothing. On seeing the Pasha’s wife return into the room, and believing that she might be in trouble for giving custody of the child to someone else, she said “I’m sorry, Mistress. I didn’t think there’d be any harm in letting the young eunuch have your son for a brief while after he’d asked.”

“Your son wasn’t feeding, Mistress,” the wet-nurse went on to explain, “but was instead continuing to cry. I therefore thought letting someone else, who’d volunteered, have a go at calming him, after the rest of us had failed, might be worthwhile and, as you can see, miraculously it immediately was!”

Young Ahmed was currently carrying the baby slowly up and down the room, just as the child’s mother had previously done. However, instead of singing a lullaby, he was simply gently whispering to her son, who now reacted by giggling. There appeared to be an instant rapport between the pair.

Meanwhile, Abdul, with contented amusement, and the other maidservants, with happy amazement, looked on. The girls had never seen the baby react in such a manner with anyone else.

“There’s no need to apologise,” the Pasha’s astonished wife next replied to her wet-nurse. She subsequently turned towards her equally astounded husband, who had appeared at the door to her library.

“You win your argument, husband,” the Pasha’s wife then announced to her now even more startled spouse, as he had never before experienced such a victory, “and I’ll retain this young eunuch in my service after all!”

Chapter ۲٠ - Reçete

(20 – Prescription)

(Beylerbey’s Castle, Trebizond, north-east Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Trabzon, Turkey], over 8 years later, summer 1644)

The great trading centre of Trebizond [modern Trabzon, north-eastern Anatolia, Turkey], on the south-eastern shore of the Black Sea, was a very ancient city, established by Greeks from Milesia at about the same time that Rome was founded in the 8th century BCE. Xenophon relates his adventures in the area of about 350 years later in his ‘Anabasis’ [IV.8].

The Emperor Hadrian also once fruitfully visited Trebizond, after the city had become part of the Roman Empire. He did so in 129 CE, when in the company of a certain exceptionally attractive Antinous, shortly after having the supposed most beautiful youth in the world’s impeccable naked form replicated again in marble by his own father in Bithynia in western Anatolia. Part 4 of ‘Death on the Nile’ by Pueros refers to this event.

Hadrian was inspired by all things Greek, especially his gorgeous young companion, Antinous, who was later to become the last of the Roman gods if posthumously deified rulers are discounted. Consequently, the Emperor constantly sought to improve his Hellenic provinces in particular and accordingly, whilst in Trebizond, ordered the construction of a large harbour and many magnificent buildings.

Trebizond later became the capital of a small eponymous independent Greek Christian state, founded by Byzantines, led by Alexius Comnenus, grandson of a former Emperor. He and his family had been expelled from Constantinople by the Great Crusade in 1204.

Over the subsequent two and a half centuries, the nineteen Comneni Emperors and three Empresses further aggrandised Trebizond, which became renowned for the splendour of the buildings, with many glistening bronze and golden domes dominating the daytime skyline. The royal family themselves, well known for personal physical attractiveness, lived amidst great luxury and alleged tremendous debauchery in a wondrous palace.

Within this lifestyle, the Comneni were considered to be particular connoisseurs of beauty. Their aesthetics were broad, extending from a love of magnificent buildings, literature, music and clothes to desirable dancing-girls and page-boys.

Trebizond actually eventually proved to be the last surviving vestige of the ancient Roman Empire.

The small state survived Ottoman conquest eight years longer than Constantinople, only falling to Mehmed II, the Conqueror, in 1461. Following this, many Turks arrived to settle alongside the other ethnic groups already resident in the area, namely Greeks, Armenians and a people called the Laz.

Trebizond’s ability to survive Ottoman conquest for so long arose principally from the geographical location. So too did the city’s trading importance.

A barrier of almost inaccessible rugged mountains separated Trebizond’s narrow hinterland from the rest of Anatolia, deterring many prospective attackers. The local watershed created by this difficult terrain was so complete that no rivers passed inland beyond the range of formidable peaks and there were few easily followed routes through them from the coast and vice-versa.

Local geographical security was also helped by the fact that the city of Trebizond was located on a narrow sloping tableland, or ‘trapezus’ in Greek, from which word the place’s name derived. Protective steep rocky valley precipices additionally ran to the sea on the east and west sides of the metropolis.

Massive walls edged these precipices and the northern seafront, whilst, at a southern high point of the tableland on which Trebizond stood, a castle bolstered the defences. Further up, at the peak where a neck of land stretched between the two valleys, there was an additional formidable keep, supported by other satellite towers beyond the bridged ravines.

Meanwhile, Trebizond’s economic significance arose from being located where one of the chief trade routes to Europe from Persia, Central Asia, India and China descended to the Black Sea. The caravans to the Asian interior began their long journeys from the easterly harbour, where at certain times of the year long trains of mules and camels could be seen, as wheeled vehicles could not traverse the surrounding mountains. The route followed by these slow convoys therefore invariably headed first for the inland city of Erzerum, from where wagons could then be used.

Trebizond was also relatively fortunate with the local climate. Conditions were generally temperate, albeit often humid, unlike that of the inland regions, which were exposed to great extremes of summer heat and winter cold.

The Pasha, whom young Ahmed had begun to serve over eight years previously, had recently been promoted to the rank of Beylerbey, which was the highest in the hierarchy of Ottoman provincial rulers. The title literally meant ‘Bey of Beys’, or ‘Commander of Commanders’, and was effectively a Governor-General.

Beylerbeys were only appointed to the most important Ottoman Provinces and the former Pasha had been allocated to that of Trebizond, whose capital was the eponymous coastal port city. The metropolis remained a highly strategically significant, being close to the Empire’s eastern borders, very busy, rich and ethnically diverse port, still dominated on the southern high point of the tableland by the ancient castle.

The new Beylerbey was following some distinguished predecessors into his post. For example, the importance attached to the province meant that even an heir to the Sultanate once occupied the position of local Governor-General.

Sultan Selim I had been Governor-General of Trebizond before he overthrew his father, Bayezid II, in 1512. As a result, his own son and successor, who was to become Süleyman I, the Magnificent, and the longest-reigning Ottoman ruler, was born in the city.

Selim I’s mother was actually a Comneni princess who had converted to Islam. She was renowned and revered for her charitable works in Trebizond and on her death her son erected a magnificent mosque in her honour and regally entombed her in her home city. Both structures are still extant today.

The local Beylerbeys resided in the castle, where the newly appointed Ottoman Governor-General was currently sitting in a sunbathed garden with his wife, whilst both of them enjoyed drinks of delicious cool fruit juice and watched their now 8 year-old son play. As usual, Fazil happily did so in the company of a young servant from whom he could never willingly be separated.

As the now almost 68 year-old Beylerbey contentedly watched the inseparable young pair play their game, he commented to his wife “Abdul’s prescription certainly worked for the boy, my dear!” However, his spouse was rather confused by the remark, which she thought might refer to her son.

“I didn’t know, husband,” the Beylerbey’s wife therefore answered, “that Abdul was the genius who originally recommended that Ahmed should join my service. I always thought that the brilliant idea, which allowed me so much peaceful sleep, was your own.” “Perhaps,” she added, whilst displaying a mischievous smile on her still beautiful face and whilst clearly referring to their mutual lovemaking, “I shouldn’t have subsequently shown you so many later return favours in my boudoir!”

The Beylerbey laughed at his wife’s jest, whilst she went on to comment more seriously but no less happily “Young Ahmed certainly did prove to be an excellent prescription to cure Fazil’s incessant crying as a baby. Amazingly, all the young eunuch ever had to do to encourage our son to stop was to pick him up. Such action never failed.”

“Ahmed’s additionally gone on,” the Beylerbey’s wife added, “to prove an excellent protective companion for Fazil. He not only helps to keep him safe, as well as happy through regular play, but also encourages him to be good at times when he really does need to behave, such as when studying with his tutors. The young eunuch is simply irreplaceable in his life and, as a prescription for our son’s wellbeing and my forced insomnia when he was a baby, he’s been truly invaluable!”

The Beylerbey, of course, already knew all of these facts, as his wife fully appreciated. She nevertheless somehow felt compelled, whilst happily watching Fazil and Ahmed at play, to restate them.

“Well, my dear,” the Beylerbey replied, “I was actually, by referring to ‘prescription’, inferring matters the other way round, namely that Fazil has actually transformed Ahmed’s life for the better.” He then went on to begin his explanation of precisely what he meant by telling his wife about the young eunuch’s mental state when he had first come across him.

“Our clever Abdul suggested, my dear,” the Beylerbey eventually advised his wife in conclusion, “that what Ahmed needed was a proper purpose in life, one that could make continuing to live seem worthwhile and so preferably something that he could genuinely love. Cleaning kitchen facilities certainly did not meet this requirement.”

Realisation now dawned in the bright mind of the Beylerbey’s wife as to what her husband had originally meant by his reference to a ‘prescription’. “Ah,” she therefore interrupted to suggest, “Abdul proposed that Fazil might represent such a proper purpose in life for Ahmed, one that could make continuing to live seem worthwhile by being one that he could genuinely love!”

“Yes, my dear,” the Beylerbey confirmed, “and clever Abdul came up with his ‘prescription’ by coaxing from Ahmed his background story. He discovered that the boy’s early life included intense love and devotion for a baby brother, who sadly died not long after birth.”

“Clever Abdul concluded from this information,” the Beylerbey added, “that Ahmed might not just prove a good attendant to babies and infants. He additionally judged correctly that the boy’s mental state might also substantially benefit from such duties.”

The Beylerbey’s wife next momentarily looked more intensely at Ahmed, who was still playing with her beloved son, Fazil. What she saw was a now very cheerful, confident, gregarious, intelligent, honest, hard-working, efficient and devoted 18 year-old youth. She also again happily considered how the very handsome clean-shaven eunuch was not at all perturbed by the fact that a full decade in age separated him from his younger playmate.

“Well, husband,” the Beylerbey’s wife then commented contentedly, “Abdul’s prescription certainly worked well, and for both of the boys too!”

Chapter ۲۱ - Güdü

(21 – Motive)

(Beylerbey’s Castle, Trebizond, north-east Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Trabzon, Turkey], moments afterwards)

Many Ottoman noblewomen would have questioned the Beylerbey’s motive for going out of his way to help someone like Ahmed. They would snootily have believed that such time and effort should not have been wasted on a mere eunuch slave.

The Beylerbey’s wife, though, was of a different calibre than many other Ottoman noblewomen. She had been brought up mainly on her father’s country estate near Köprü, which means ‘bridge’ and was named after such a structure located there since ancient times. Most of her childhood friends were therefore the daughters and sons of the farm slaves and local peasantry. As a result, she never really felt that such people were inferior to her or less deserving of help when needed. Her lack of social snobbery was also a reason why she raised no objections to being betrothed to someone who was not of aristocratic or even Turkish origin, as a lot of snootier ladies in her situation would have done.

The Beylerbey’s wife therefore did not question her husband’s motive for going out of his way to help someone like Ahmed. She instead knew that, behind his stern authoritative exterior façade and fearsome reputation for prosecuting wrongdoers, was a man who genuinely cared about the welfare of ordinary honest hard-working people, especially the lower classes, from which, after all, he originated. Such an attitude was one reason why he was so ruthless towards those of any rank who endangered the integrity, safety or prosperity of the Empire.

As the Beylerbey’s wife continued contentedly to watch Fazil and Ahmed at play, she also appreciated why rescuing the young eunuch from his misery in the kitchens of the Yeni Sarayi would have been particularly appealing to her husband. This recognition caused her clever mind to reflect quietly again on her spouse’s own personal history.

The Beylerbey’s wife again reflected quietly on how her husband had risen so far in rank from his own very humble beginnings.

Chapter ۲۲ - Kaza

(22 – Accident)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], 57 years previously, summer 1587)

The now 11 year-old Mehmed, originally from Rojnik, near Berat in central Albania, but currently a devşirme recruit into Ottoman service and a scullion in the kitchens of the Yeni Sarayi, was carrying a pile of precious porcelain destined for the sink in which he would wash them. However, as he was turning a corner, disaster occurred because he fatefully collided with another boy of about the same age, who had been running from the opposite direction.

The precious porcelain plates that Mehmed had been carrying were consequently dropped onto the tiled floor, where they all smashed into unrepairable pieces. The other boy, who had also fallen onto the ground as a result of the collision, immediately climbed back onto his feet, essentially unharmed apart from the shock induced by the accident, and apologised.

If this other boy had been another kitchen menial, Mehmed would now have reprimanded him for causing the accident. He would also have expected him to be punished by a supervisor for the loss of the valuable crockery.

Unfortunately, at least in the short term, for Mehmed, though, the other boy was not another kitchen menial. The young scullion could instantly tell this fact from his rich attire.

The other boy was an Ottoman prince.

Chapter ۲٣ - Kamçılama

(23 – Whipping)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], shortly afterwards)

Poor Mehmed reflected on the injustice of his situation, as he was tied humiliatingly naked to the whipping post, located amidst the kitchens to punish serious misdemeanours. He continued to do so, as each harsh strike of his chastisement subsequently struck his bare back and buttocks.

As a consequence of the recent accident, Mehmed was to be soundly whipped for both the loss of the precious porcelain and causing an Ottoman prince to tumble. The punishment was to be inflicted regardless of the correct claims by the other boy involved that the incident had entirely been his fault.

The attitude of Mehmed’s supervisor, though, had been that no Ottoman prince could ever be at fault and that the young scullion should instead have taken greater care when carrying the plates.

Chapter ۲٤ - Ziyaretçi

(24 – Visitor)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], shortly afterwards)

After his whipping, Mehmed was in no fit state to return to his duties. He was therefore instead sent back to his bed in the staff dormitories.

Mehmed remained naked because salve, which had not yet dried, had been applied to the vivid whip-marks despoiling his back and buttocks and breaking parts of his young flesh. The boy, still tearful because of his pain and recent humiliating unjust treatment, was also lying on his front to help further the unguent’s healing ability.

Mehmed was therefore in this rather embarrassing state when he received an unexpected visitor.

Chapter ۲٥ - Konuşma

(25 – Conversation)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], moments afterwards)

Mehmed’s unexpected visitor proved to be the similarly-aged prince who had so recently literally run into him. The young Ottoman was very ashamed of what the consequences of their accidental collision had been for the scullion and had therefore come to apologise once more, on this occasion for the whipping unjustly inflicted.

Despite his status, the young Ottoman prince had been unable to prevent the disciplinary processes of the Yeni Sarayi kitchens from remorselessly becoming active in respect of Mehmed. He was simply too junior to have any sway there.

In fact, the prince’s junior status had actually allowed him to be in the kitchens in the first place. His name, as Mehmed was about to discover when the boy politely formally introduced himself, was Semiz and he possessed the title of ‘Sultanzade’, which meant that he was the son of an Ottoman princess.

Being a mere Sultanzade, Semiz was someone whose descent through a female Ottoman line meant that he could never, because of custom and precedent, aspire to the throne and therefore be a political danger to whoever was the current Sultan and his likely heir. He was therefore allowed a greater degree of freedom within the Yeni Sarayi than most princes of direct male lineage. For example, the majority of the twenty senior sons of the current ruler, Murad III, by his most important concubines, or ‘Kadins’, were largely confined to his harem, the ‘Seraglio’.

Mehmed rather naturally felt acutely embarrassed at having to receive his young apologetic visitor in his current naked condition. However, he also appreciated that moving from his present position or covering up his nudity with some of his bedclothes would be unwise.

Moving would undoubtedly cause Mehmed’s pain, which was thankfully gradually dulling, to be revitalised. Shifting position and applying some cover might also lose some of his precious healing salve to the bedclothes, endangering his recovery.

Mehmed therefore wisely decided to endure the humiliation of receiving his young visitor in his current shameful naked state. Meanwhile, Semiz was actually equally embarrassed and not just by having to address a nude boy.

The vivid whip-marks on Mehmed’s rear also caused Semiz considerable mortification, given that he had been responsible for their presence. Nevertheless, the young Sultanzade attempted to ignore them and his guilt in order to have some form of decent conversation with the boy on the bed.

Semiz was so successful in his aim that the subsequent lengthy conversation led not only to a fateful close lifelong friendship but also to a substantial change in the future of the whole Ottoman Empire.

Chapter ۲٦ - Terfi

(26 – Promotion)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], 5 years later, summer 1592)

Over the next half-decade, Semiz and Mehmed would meet as often as possible to play or, as they grew older, simply to share each other’s company. However, given the scullion’s arduous duties and long hours of work, such time was unfortunately curtailed in the early years.

This situation, though, began to change when the bright Mehmed progressed through pure ability from washing dishes to assisting in the actual preparation of snacks and meals, in which he proved to have a considerable talent. Appreciating this happy development and the concomitant opportunity afforded, Semiz eventually decided to attempt to make use of this burgeoning gift at cookery to boost his friend’s palace career yet further.

The Sultan and Caliph at the time, Murad III, was a lover of luxurious living, as well as of females, having in the largest harem in the world over a thousand beautiful concubines, with whom he had over a hundred children. He especially appreciated watching his young women frolicking naked in large groups whilst bathing.

Whilst watching, Murad III such a spectacle also particularly enjoyed eating sweetmeats as a snack. The preparation of such delicacies had coincidentally become a speciality of Semiz’s friend in the kitchens, Mehmed.

Knowing this, the now 16 year-old Semiz, still allowed greater freedom of movement around the palace compared with most of the actual children of Murad III and consequently actually having easier access to the Sultan, would often take him some of these fine sweetmeats. The prince hoped that, instead of just eagerly consuming the snacks, the Ottoman ruler might sometime ask about the person who prepared them.

Semiz was not to be disappointed. The result was that, in summer 1592, at the unusually young age of sixteen, his friend, Mehmed, was promoted in the palace kitchens at the personal behest of the Sultan himself from menial hand to full cook.

Mehmed was to repay his personal debt for his promotion to his friend, Semiz, two and a half years later, after Murad III died on the 15th of January 1595.

Chapter ۲٧ - Boğulma

(27 – Strangulation)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], 2½ years later, January 1595)

Murad III was succeeded as Sultan and Caliph on the 15th of January by his senior son, Mehmed III. The new Ottoman ruler now went about consolidating his power ruthlessly.

As described in chapter 31 of ‘Ottomans ۱ (1): The Mountain Flower’ by Pueros, Mehmed II, the Conqueror, had in the 15th century introduced a terrible fratricidal law. This legislation allowed new Sultans on their succession to execute their brothers and other close male relatives in order to prevent power struggles.

The Conqueror’s namesake successor, 28 year-old Mehmed III, now on his own succession ordered the execution through strangulation by bow-string of the nineteen young sibling Princes of his predecessor’s Kadins, both full and half brothers, after having them all brought individually to him. The eldest, a particularly handsome youth, poignantly begged for mercy.

“My Lord and brother, now also a father to me,” the youth had pleaded, “please do not let my days be ended like this, at my tender age!” In response, his older sibling, Mehmed III, displayed apparent grief, even tearing at his beard, but nevertheless still sent the prince to his death and adding twenty of his most senior sisters too to the ultimate long funeral cortege that subsequently passed sorrowfully through the streets of Constantinople.

One of the witnesses of this terrible cortege was Semiz, who, being only a junior Sultanzade, had thankfully escaped the chilling cull. Nevertheless, he was still almost fatally affected.

The psychological consequences of the horrible execution of many of Semiz’s cousins, alongside most of whom he had grown up in the Seraglio, with many of them in the process becoming close friends as well as just relatives of the gregarious Sultanzade, now drove him into a severe depression. Whilst in this state, and despite Islamic proscriptions against suicide, the now 18 year-old prince eventually seriously considered taking his own life.

In fact, with this objective in mind and when amidst the depths of night alone in the privacy of his own opulent quarters in the Seraglio, Semiz even went as far as pressing the blade of his well-honed and extremely sharp dagger against his jugular.

Chapter ۲٨ - Davetsiz

(28 – Intruder)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], moments afterwards)

Semiz was about to sever his jugular with his dagger when he was interrupted by an unannounced, unauthorised and consequently unexpected intrusion into his room. He therefore did not carry through with his intention but instead lowered his blade and looked in annoyance in the direction of his door in order to identify the impertinent interloper.

Semiz initially thought, amidst the gloomy lamplight of his room, that the person concerned was one of the Seraglio’s black eunuchs, who were the only types of male servant permitted in this most private part of the Yeni Sarayi. The figure was certainly dressed in the appropriate uniform and had dark skin.

As the figure rapidly approached Semiz, however, the prince suddenly began to realise in amazement that the individual did not possess a black complexion but instead white skin carefully covered in soot.

Chapter ۲٩ - Geri Ödeme

(29 – Repayment)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], moments afterwards)

“It was the only way that I could think of to see you,” the palace cook and namesake of the new Sultan, Mehmed, advised Semiz. He was explaining to his close friend why he had, invoking in the process great danger to his own life, stolen from the Yeni Sarayi’s clothing stores the uniform of a black eunuch and blackened his face and hands with soot from the kitchen ovens.

Mehmed had subsequently chosen the quietest part of the night to steal into the Seraglio in order to try to find Semiz’s quarters. He had very unusually not seen or even heard about his princely friend for several days and so was worried about him because he knew that he was severely depressed as a result of what had happened to his cousins.

Mehmed had even surmised that Semiz’s depression might be so acute that his friend might attempt to take his own life. This was the reason why he had embarked upon his highly dangerous, if not foolhardy, escapade.

Mehmed had, of course, never been in the Seraglio previously. However, he knew the approximate location of Semiz’s quarters from his friend’s past descriptions of the place, which thankfully proved sufficiently accurate for him to find the prince’s rooms.

The timing of Mehmed’s arrival in Semiz’s quarters also proved extremely fortuitous because there is no doubt that, if he had just been a moment later, he would have been confronted by a friend inexorably bleeding to death. Now, though, the intended suicide tool, namely the dagger, was in the hand of someone who intended that the weapon was not to be put to use.

Mehmed, instantly realising Semiz’s intent on arriving in his quarters, had rushed to him and quickly grabbed the dagger from his grasp. This successful disarming was assisted by the shock that his appearance, in terms of both his sudden entrance and his current rather amazing physical looks, had induced in his friend.

Mehmed and Semiz subsequently engaged in another lengthy conversation, on this occasion long into the night and with frequent bouts of sobbing from the prince disrupting the earnest talking. However, the result thankfully eventually proved cathartic for the young Sultanzade.

As a result of the conversation, Semiz subsequently afforded no further thought to suicide. He instead gradually recovered over the next few months from his deep depression.

After the conclusion of the conversation, Mehmed thankfully also successfully managed to smuggle his way out of the Seraglio undetected, having momentously and fatefully for the future of the Ottoman Empire repaid a personal debt to his friend.

Chapter ٣٠ - Nakletmek

(30 – Transfer)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], almost 9 years later, December 1603)

Semiz, recovered from his depression and initially aided by his status as a Sultanzade, now began a career in the Ottoman bureaucracy. However, his subsequent initially gradual but eventually steep rise in rank was mainly the result of pure ability rather than nepotism, although his progress was boosted considerably by two events.

The first important event was the death in December 1603 of Mehmed III, who was succeeded as Sultan by his 13 year-old elder son, Ahmed I. Semiz had known the new boy ruler and his mother, Handan, from spending time together in the Seraglio. He was recognised by the pair as being personally sincerely friendly, as well as very loyal and capable, and so was now favoured by them, gaining instant promotion.

The second important event was the granting of Semiz’s unusual request for the transfer now of the top sweetmeat cook, Mehmed, from the palace kitchens to being his personal assistant.

Chapter ٣۱ - Kardeşçe

(31 – Brotherliness)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], over 40 years later, January 1644)

There was to be no repetition of the culling of princes and princesses when Mehmed III died in December 1603. His 13 year-old elder son, Ahmed I, instead repealed the terrible fratricidal law in favour of simply confining his younger brother, Mustapha, to his palace quarters, which was to become a precedent for the future.

Whether such confinement was a true mercy for either Mustapha or the Ottoman Empire, though, is highly questionable. The quarters in which he was confined were the so-called ‘Kafes’, or ‘Cage’, comprising luxurious apartments in a two-storied building without windows within the Seraglio.

Here, perhaps because of the resultant closeted, lonely and emotionally stifling life and the constant fear that Ahmed I would sometime change his mind and have him strangled with the usual bowstring, Mustapha became, perhaps understandably, rather neurotic. However, his terror of still being killed on his older brother’s orders proved unfounded.

Ahmed I instead died young of typhus in November 1617. Moreover, he had earlier introduced a law that granted the succession as Sultan to the eldest and most capable close male relative instead of just the senior son if the latter was considered unready or unworthy.

Enactment now of this new law enabled 26 year-old Mustapha to emerge from his confinement in the ‘Cage’ to succeed his brother to the throne instead of Ahmed I’s oldest son, 13 year-old Osman. This development was engineered mainly by one of the late Sultan’s senior Kadins, Kösem, who was of Christian Greek origin.

Osman was the child of another senior Kadin, Hadice. Kösem, though, had given Ahmed I a further five sons, namely Murad, Bayezid, Süleyman, Kasim and Ibrahim.

Kösem feared that Hadice would encourage Osman if he became Sultan to reactivate Mehmed II’s terrible fratricidal law and murder Murad, Bayezid, Süleyman, Kasim and Ibrahim. She therefore encouraged instead the elevation of the neurotic and weak Mustapha, whom she knew she could influence.

Because of Mustapha I’s clear mental instability, though, he was soon deposed in February 1618, after a reign of just three months, in favour of his young nephew, Osman II. Hadice had instigated the palace coup with the help of the two corps of eunuchs.

Kösem’s worst fears for her own five sons, however, did not now materialise. The five boys were spared but, like their deposed uncle, were confined in the ‘Cage’.

The new Sultan, though, later made the mistake of attempting to reform the reactionary Janissaries, who therefore launched their own successful coup over four years later in May 1622. This revolt led to not only the restoration of Mustapha I but also in the process, and as previously described in chapter 31 of ‘Ottomans ۱ (1): The Mountain Flower’ by Pueros, the death of the now 17 year-old Osman II.

The killing of Osman II was the only occasion in the long history of the Ottoman Empire that rebellious soldiers defiled the sanctity of the Seraglio. The event was also perhaps the only time when castration has formed at least part of the means of assassinating a leader. The Sultan was allegedly murdered by the new Janissary-supported Grand Vizier, Davut Pasha, who angrily manually compressed the youth’s testes to a pulp, although one version of the story has death additionally assisted by the usual bowstring.

After the assassination of Osman II, Mustapha I’s restoration proved brief. Sixteen months later in September 1623, his mental instability again soon led to his deposition and he was succeeded by his nephew, 11 year-old Murad, eldest son of Kösem.

Kösem effectively acted as regent for her eldest son over the next few years. However, her rule proved ineffective as far as successfully securing much needed reforms and keeping the provinces pacified were concerned and the again disaffected Janissaries once more attempted another coup in 1631. In the process, rebellious soldiers not only killed the Grand Vizier and other high officials but also murdered Murad IV’s best friend, whilst demurring at assassinating the young Sultan himself.

The Janissaries’ hesitation in assassinating Murad IV later proved fatal for many of their leaders because the Sultan, now a formidably physically big and strong and mentally self-willed young man, took power himself and quickly began to turn his fortunes. Most of the prominent rebels, numbering about five hundred, were eventually executed.

Murad IV also subsequently campaigned against internal enemies in the provinces and external ones on the borders of his Empire and he proved very adept and ruthless as a military leader. For example, contemporary chroniclers suggested that 20,000 rebels were killed in Anatolia alone and about 60,000 defending soldiers and civilians were slaughtered during the successful siege of Baghdad in 1638.

In fact, Murad IV eventually became renowned for especial bloodthirsty cruelty, even towards his own servants and subjects. About 25,000 were allegedly executed on the spot for perceived insults, mistakes or misdemeanours.

For example, Murad IV supposedly had a court musician beheaded for playing a tune from Persia, an old enemy of the Ottomans, and a messenger impaled for informing him mistakenly that he had a new son whereas the baby was a daughter. Meanwhile, subjects would meet instant death for being discovered breaking even the most minor laws, such as the Sultan’s banning of the drinking of alcohol and coffee and of smoking tobacco, which he had proscribed mainly to shut the establishments where they were publicly consumed. He believed that such places might be hotspots for discussion and dissent about his rule.

Murad IV’s bloodthirstiness eventually allegedly developed into one needing no excuse for killing someone. For example, he would supposedly occasionally practise shooting his arquebus, which was an early muzzle-loaded firearm, from his palace walls at anyone passing by. He would also venture into the streets at night, with sword unsheathed, ready to kill anyone he encountered. He was said to have a special penchant for beheading men with broad necks.

Murad IV additionally allegedly developed in particular into a murderous misogynist. Whilst out riding and armed with his bow, he would supposedly aim and shoot arrows at any women he saw.

Consequently, Murad IV’s mother allegedly attempted to draw her eldest son’s potentially violent and lethal attentions away from the extremely vulnerable women of the Sultan’s harem by tempting his sexual passions with handsome boys. Kösem, though, was not entirely successful.

Nor could Kösem prevent her eldest son, seemingly increasingly bloodthirsty and paranoid, with these conditions exacerbated by alcoholism, an ironic complaint given his public proscription of the cause, from having three of his four brothers killed. Bayezid was executed in 1635 and Süleyman and Kasim three years later.

Kösem’s only success was in persuading Murad IV to spare Ibrahim. She did so by suggesting with justification that her youngest son was no rival for the throne because he was exhibiting similar madness to his uncle, Mustapha.

Kösem’s successful argument actually subsequently ensured that Ibrahim survived until Murad IV was on his deathbed. The Sultan’s demise was imminent at the relatively young age of 27 because of cirrhosis of the liver.

Murad IV might have banned public consumption of alcohol, coffee and tobacco by his subjects. However, as his current terminal illness proved, the Sultan hypocritically personally enjoyed such supposed pleasures to excess in private.

Some of the stories above about Murad IV’s sadistic infamies might be apocryphal. Nevertheless, when he died, an awful lot of blood shed during his reign was definitely one of his legacies. The amount spilt was possibly the greatest resulting from the actions of just one Ottoman Sultan.

Even on his deathbed, Murad IV demonstrated a taste for spilling a little more blood. The dying Sultan ordered his sole surviving brother and presumptive heir, Ibrahim, to be strangled.

The knowingly dying Murad IV apparently considered the demise of the direct male line of his dynasty from the revered founder, Osman I, to be preferable to allowing his mentally unstable brother to succeed to the throne. However, his mother, Kösem, thwarted the Sultan’s command.

Kösem’s motive in thwarting Murad IV’s command was not just linked to a maternal desire to save her sole remaining son and see him become Sultan. She also aspired to use Ibrahim to regain authority over government by effectively ruling on his behalf because she knew that his mental instability helped to make him much more interested in pleasure than power. However, her ability to influence and control him in his new role sadly proved limited.

Reared in close confinement and constant fear in the Seraglio, whilst an uncle, Mustapha I, half-brother, Osman II, and full sibling, Murad IV, reigned, Ibrahim eventually emerged from the ‘Cage’ to assume the throne in February 1640. He subsequently proved himself to be one of the worst Sultans in Ottoman history, which was exemplified by the fact that no later rulers bore his disgraced name.

Now, almost four years after his accession, Ibrahim had just had his highly capable Grand Vizier, Kara Mustapha, killed for attempting to curb his excesses. The latter ranged wildly, including giving priority attention to frivolous matters, a debauched obsession with furs and obese women and having almost three hundred harem concubines drowned in the Bosphorus, tied up in weighted sacks, because of false allegations of infidelity.

After the unfortunate demise of Kara Mustapha, the rather bad and mad Sultan Ibrahim now invited a certain senior court official to assume the dangerous mantle of Grand Vizier.

Chapter ٣۲ - Yükselmek

(32 – Rise)

(Beylerbey’s Castle, Trebizond, north-east Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Trabzon, Turkey], 2 months later, March 1644)

Semiz’s gradual but eventually steep rise in rank within the Ottoman bureaucracy over the years occurred despite the often bloody upheavals within the Empire and actual Sultanate. His ability not only to survive but also to prosper was due to various reasons, not least recognition of his worth by the various rulers and his excellent diplomatic skills. His progress was additionally substantially helped by the sound advice that he regularly accepted from his friend Mehmed, plus a large amount of luck.

As Semiz had risen in rank over the years, so had Mehmed’s own formal status as his principal assistant. When his best friend eventually become a junior government minister, or ‘Kethüdar’, he in turn acquired the title of ‘Kalfa’, denoting a senior government clerk.

When Semiz eventually become a Vizier, namely one of the Sultan’s principal ministers, Mehmed then acquired the title of ‘Kâhya’. This designation denoted a senior government advisor.

With Semiz’s encouragement and patronage, Mehmed was next able to use his attainment of such a high position to launch his own independent career within the Ottoman bureaucracy. In the process, he eventually became the Pasha of a province.

Meanwhile, in January 1644, the soon-to-be 68 year-old Semiz finally attained at Sultan Ibrahim’s invitation the pinnacle of any Ottoman bureaucrats’ career, namely the position of Chief Minister, titled ‘Grand Vizier’. This post was nominally the second most powerful in the Empire after the ruler himself.

Semiz fully appreciated that accepting the position of Grand Vizier would be dangerous, especially to such a madman as Ibrahim. Turnover in the post was often high, with the reward for any policy failures or otherwise earning the ire of the Sultan often being death, and he was well aware of the old joke that the Ottoman chief minister always carried his last will and testament around with him.

Nevertheless, despite such recognition of the dangers, which had clearly been reinforced by the unfortunate example of his predecessor, Kara Mustapha, Semiz chose to accept the position of Grand Vizier when the post was offered to him, mainly at the behest of the Sultan’s mother, or ‘Valide Sultan’, Kösem. She fully appreciated the need to have someone of his proven ability in the role, for the sake of not only the Empire but also her son and herself.

In line with common practice, Semiz as the new Grand Vizier had quickly reviewed the list of senior Imperial appointees and, with the Sultan’s permission, made alterations. Officially, these changes were to seek improvements in the bureaucracy and military. However, in reality some were to replace, with his own supporters, political enemies or rivals, which sadly all very senior officials acquired on their rise to the top.

Semiz had, as part of this process, replaced the Beylerbey of the strategically important border Province of Trebizond by promoting to the post his lifelong friend, Mehmed, who first arrived in the eponymous city two months later.

Chapter ٣٣ - Yansıma

(33 – Reflection)

(Beylerbey’s Castle, Trebizond, north-east Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Trabzon, Turkey], about 4 months later, summer 1644)

The Beylerbey’s wife continued contentedly to watch Fazil and Ahmed at play, whilst she came to the end of her quiet reflection of how her husband had risen so far in rank from his own very humble beginnings. Given his own background in the kitchens of the Yeni Sarayi, she also appreciated why rescuing young Ahmed from his misery there must have been particularly appealing to her spouse.

The Beylerbey’s wife next reflected on how far in life her son, Fazil, might go and whether Ahmed would remain close at his side, as the boy became a man and embarked upon his own career.

Chapter ٣٤ - Őfke

(34 – Rage)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], about a year later, summer 1645)

Sultan Ibrahim was in a dangerous rage. His fury had arisen as a consequence of hearing news about the fate of his Chief Black Eunuch, or ‘Kizlar Agha’.

Most Chief Black Eunuchs were very wealthy men as a result of their exalted positions. This incumbent of the post had been no exception and one of his expensive possessions had been a splendid galleon.

The Chief Black Eunuch had been using this galleon, with other ships in convoy and at the Sultan’s behest, to transport valuable cargoes to Egypt and pilgrims to Mecca. However, piratical Christian Corsairs based at Malta attacked the vessels.

The Islamic Barbary Corsairs, who were tolerated by the Ottomans as long as they concentrated on foreign victims and quietly paid their furtive dues to the provincial governors, were not the only pirates operating in the Mediterranean, as the early career of Jan Janszoon had demonstrated. Some of the other buccaneers, operating from Christian bases outside the Empire, also had no compunction against attacking Turkish property.

The Chief Black Eunuch’s galleon was eventually captured by the Corsairs after a fierce fight, during which the Kizlar Agha was killed. Amongst the resultant copious booty was a finely dressed and bejewelled concubine of Ibrahim’s harem and her baby son, whose status is now unknown but who might have been one of the Sultan’s minor children, not being born to one of the favoured Kadins.

Ibrahim’s rage initially caused him to order his Grand Vizier to have all Christians within his Empire massacred in revenge. Fortunately, given that there were millions of such subjects, Semiz was able to persuade the Sultan to rescind this command and so avoid a holocaust.

Semiz, however, could not prevent diplomatic disputes resulting from the temporary house-imprisonment of all ambassadors and the closing of operations of merchants from Christian nations. The Grand Vizier did, though, manage to prevent the raging Sultan from declaring potentially catastrophic war with France, whose countrymen mainly formed the Knights of the Order of Malta, who sheltered the pirates.

Semiz instead astutely sidetracked the Sultan’s attention towards Crete, which had allowed the Corsairs’ ships to harbour there. The island was currently under the suzerainty of the Republic of Venice.

Semiz had cleverly decided to attempt to turn the Sultan’s rage towards something that might actually benefit the Ottoman Empire. The Grand Vizier determined that, if there was to be a war to assuage Ibrahim’s fury, targeting Crete would be the most sensible for the Empire because of the island’s vital strategic location in the eastern Mediterranean.

Semiz judged that occupation of Crete would make the Ottoman Empire much more secure and that perhaps the time was now ripe to achieve the aim because Venice appeared weak and in poor condition to defend the island. The great mercantile republic’s prosperity had been adversely affected by the success of the Turks in the eastern Mediterranean, and the consequent reduction of their own previous lucrative trading activities in the region, and losing out to western European nations in colonising the New World. The city had also recently in 1630 lost a third of the population in another devastating outbreak of plague.

Semiz’s, though, sadly made two key miscalculations when assessing the ease with which Crete might be absorbed into the Ottoman Empire. First, he underestimated the capability of the island’s capital, Candia [modern Iraklion], whose massive walls had been built in line with the latest defence technology, to withstand a siege. Second, he misjudged the amount of help the Venetians would receive from the Knights of Malta and other Christian allies.

With this crucial help from the Knights of Malta and other Christian allies to the Venetians and the native Greek defenders behind their formidable walls, the Turkish assault against Candia was now to extend over twenty years. Such a period was, of course, twice as long as that of the siege of ancient Troy.

Nevertheless, Semiz had been correct about the ultimate strategic usefulness for the Ottoman Empire of the capture of Crete. Yet more importantly in the short term, by launching the campaign against the island, he had succeeded in diverting Sultan Ibrahim away from pursuing in rage potentially far more disastrous policies for his Empire and subjects.

Semiz, though, would surely never have guessed who of his acquaintance would eventually be responsible for ultimately completing the subsequently longstanding Ottoman conquest of Crete.

Chapter ٣٥ - ÖIüm

(35 – Death)

(Beylerbey’s Castle, Trebizond, north-east Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Trabzon, Turkey], about 6 months later, January 1646)

In January 1646, young Fazil was again being unobtrusively watched at play with Ahmed by his parents. However, the scene was not now the hot sunlit garden of the Beylerbey’s castle in summer but instead, on this cold and dark winter evening, an internal hall, warmed by a large log fire.

Beylerbey Mehmed’s quiet enjoyment of the scene was, however, interrupted by receiving very sad news, conveyed by an official courier from Constantinople. His best friend of almost sixty years, Grand Vizier Semiz, had died in the capital during the previous month.

Overwork and worry, mainly resulting from having to deal with such an unpredictable Sultan as Ibrahim, had taken their toll on Semiz’s ageing body. The Grand Vizier had consequently rapidly succumbed to a winter chill that had speedily turned to pneumonia.

In one historian’s otherwise generally excellent book on the Ottomans, Semiz as Grand Vizier to Ibrahim is incorrectly described as ‘a flatterer so obsequious as to prompt his master’s question: “How is it that you always so approve my actions, good or evil?’ To which the Sultan supposedly ‘received and accepted the reassuring reply: “Thou art Caliph. Thou art God’s shadow upon Earth. Every idea which your spirit entertains is a revelation from heaven. Your orders, even when they appear unreasonable, have an innate reasonableness which your slave always reveres though he might not understand it.”’

The historian, however, appears unfortunately to have mixed up the contemporary Grand Viziers, which is perhaps unsurprising. In the twelve years between 1644 and 1656, there were eighteen of them. Four were executed, eleven were dismissed, two resigned and one, Semiz, died naturally.

Semiz died of natural causes in December 1645 without actually ever being overly obsequious to Ibrahim, although he did have to apply great diplomacy to his conversations with the Sultan in order to survive and achieve his aims, which were always connected to the welfare of the Empire. He was, though, also helped by the fact that decision-making was often left with the ruler’s more sensible mother, Kösem, whilst her son concentrated on his perversions.

The historian’s inaccurate accusations about Semiz being an extreme flatterer must instead find a proper home by being applied to one of his two immediate short-lived successors as Grand Vizier. These were Nevesinli Salih and, the most probable candidate, Hezarpare Ahmed.

Despite Semiz’s short tenure as Grand Vizier, he had achieved some measures of importance for the Ottoman Empire. As already mentioned, there were for example the prevention of a holocaust of Christian subjects and the avoidance of a potentially disastrous war with France, which was then approaching the zenith of monarchical power.

Perhaps even more importantly for the Ottoman Empire, though, Semiz had also helped his now similarly ageing best friend, Mehmed, to rise with him towards the apex of the Imperial bureaucracy.

Chapter ٣٦ - Mozole

(36 – Mausoleum)

(Yeşil Tűrbe, Konya, Karaman Province, south-central Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], over 2½ years later, late August 1648)

The new 72 year-old Beylerbey of the Ottoman Empire’s Karaman Province in south-central Anatolia was paying a respectful visit to the Yeşil Tűrbe mausoleum in his capital of Konya. This city had once been the ancient Phrygian metropolis of Iconium, visited according to the Bible’s New Testament by St. Paul during three of his missions. However, the freshly appointed Governor-General’s current interest was not Christianity.

The site of the Yeşil Tűrbe had once been the rose garden of a 13th century Sultan of the Seljuk dynasty, predecessors of the Ottomans. This ruler had allowed the great Sufi, which is a variant of Islam, poet and mystic, Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi-Rūmī, founder of the Muslim Mevlevi Order famed for the Whirling Dervishes, to bury his father there.

When Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi-Rūmī, more commonly known simply as Mawlānā or Rūmī, himself later died, he was buried next to his father. However, his successor as leader of the Mevlevi Order subsequently converted the place into a formal mausoleum.

Supported by four pillars was the cylindrical drum sustaining the original mausoleum’s conical turquoise dome, the colour of which accounts for the Turkish name of ‘Yeşil Tűrbe’ or ‘Green Tomb’. Additions to this first building over later centuries, including by the Ottoman Sultans Selim I and his son, Süleyman I, the Magnificent, created a large religious lodge, or ‘tekke’, for the Mevlevi Order. The extant complex is a museum in modern times, visited by the author of this story.

The currently reverently visiting Beylerbey would normally have been of too high a rank to rule a province like Karaman, which usually would have been allocated a Pasha. However, the Governor-General had acquired a just reputation for being able to sort out regions that were proving troublesome, generally for wide-scale corruption or actual or potential unrest or revolt.

In this era, some provincial Pashas had become so entrenched and powerful in their positions, helped by spreading their own corruption to the usually artificially bloated local civil and military institutions supporting them, that they became very difficult to replace. Some of them even resorted successfully to battle in attempts to prevent successors nominated by the central government replacing them.

The Beylerbey, however, proved to be an excellent general as well as administrator. Consequently, he had often been the nemesis of corrupt and rebellious Governors by being used by the central government in Constantinople as a provincial trouble-shooter, sorting out, through battle if necessary, problem regions.

The Beylerbey had also treated any miscreant Governors and their supporters with no mercy, hence his feared reputation. However, through subsequently eliminating graft and improving local administration, his actions additionally invariably improved the lives of ordinary honest people, often not least by simply eradicating the extra local tax burdens imposed by the previous regime in order to line their own pockets.

The Beylerbey had recently transferred to Konya after a successful year of trouble-shooting in Eğri, which today is Eger in northern Hungary but was then the capital of an eponymous Ottoman Province. This fact is exemplified by the presence still in the modern city of the northernmost Turkish minaret.

The Beylerbey had first entered the Yeşil Tűrbe in Konya with his small official entourage through the ‘Main Gate’, or ‘Devisan Kapısı’, to a marble-paved courtyard with a pleasant fountain in the middle. A kitchen and a Pasha’s tomb were located on the right, whilst on the left were seventeen accommodation cells, covered with small domes.

The inner part of the mausoleum and a small associated mosque, or ‘Masjid’, were subsequently entered through the ‘Tomb Gate’, or ‘Türbe Kapisi’, whose two doors were adorned with Seljuk motifs and a Persian text. This entrance led immediately to a small room, decorated with ornate Ottoman calligraphy and where the Beylerbey encountered the Holy Koran being continuously recited in chant.

The Beylerbey finally entered the inner sanctum of the mausoleum through a silver door. Inside, on the left, he subsequently saw the six coffins in rows of three of Rūmī’s closest original disciples. Opposite to them on a raised platform, covered by two domes, stood cenotaphs of some of the Sufi mystic’s descendants and later senior members of his order.

The wooden sarcophagus of Rūmī himself, a masterpiece of Seljuk woodcarving added to later with silver latticework, was located directly under the turquoise dome and was covered with rich brocade embroidered in gold with verses from the Holy Koran. The current version of this adornment in the museum of today was gifted, about 250 years after the Beylerbey’s visit, by Sultan Abdulhamid II, grandson of the great Mahmud II.

Next to Rūmī’s sarcophagus were several others. These included those of his father and son.

Beylerbey Mehmed paid due reverence at all of these holy monuments, whilst noting the epitaph to Rūmī, with which he profoundly agreed and which stated: ‘When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men.’

Chapter ٣٧ - Dans

(37 – Dancing)

(Yeşil Tűrbe, Konya, Karaman Province, south-central Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], shortly afterwards)

Shortly afterwards, Beylerbey Mehmed and his small official entourage found themselves in the nearby ‘Ritual Hall’, or ‘Semahane’, of the Yeşil Tűrbe. The place had been built in the reign of Süleyman I, the Magnificent, at the same time as the adjoining small mosque.

In the hall, Mehmed and his small official entourage were entertained with a performance in their honour of a ritual dance, the ‘Sema’, by the so-called ‘Whirling’ Dervishes of the Mevlevi Order. Musical accompaniment was provided by various instruments, including types of Ottoman drum, cymbal, tambourine, guitar, violin and flute.

Amongst those watching on intrigued in Mehmed’s small official entourage were his now 12 year-old son, Fazil, and the boy’s ever-attendant white eunuch, Ahmed.

Chapter ٣٨ - Haber

(38 – News)

(Yeşil Tűrbe, Konya, Karaman Province, south-central Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], shortly afterwards)

Mehmed was just leaving the Semahane after the completion of the performance of the ritual dance when one of his own senior provincial civil servants rushed up to him. The man had not been part of the small entourage for the visit to the Yeşil Tűrbe but had originally remained behind in the Beylerbey’s official residence.

The civil servant was clearly flustered. Nevertheless, he still maintained sufficient discretion about the significance of the information that he had brought to whisper the news quietly into Mehmed’s ear.

On hearing the news, Mehmed’s face, displaying his usual impenetrably calm façade, did not change. Consequently, the only instant inkling about potential trouble afoot that anyone in his current company could accrue was from an apology that he now conveyed to the present local head of the Mevlevi Order.

Mehmed apologised for being unable to accept any more hospitality at the Yeşil Tűrbe on that day because he had to return immediately to his residence to deal with some unexpected urgent issues. The Beylerbey provided no further clarification as to what these matters might entail until he left the religious complex in a small convoy of coaches, which were providing the transport for his entourage.

Mehmed then told Fazil and Ahmed, who were sharing his coach, about the momentous news that he had just received. His son and the eunuch subsequently displayed much more shock than the ever-calm Beylerbey himself had done earlier on learning about certain recent dramatic events in Constantinople.

In Constantinople, the second act of regicide in Ottoman history, after that involving Osman II, had just occurred, for, after yet another palace coup launched by Janissaries, Sultan Ibrahim had been strangled.

Chapter ٣٩ - Kurye

(39 – Courier)

(Beylerbey’s Official Residence, Konya, Karaman Province, south-central Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], shortly afterwards)

Mehmed carefully quizzed the official courier sent from the Ottoman Court in Constantinople to provide him with formal notification of the deposition and death of Sultan Ibrahim. The Beylerbey did not want to rely just on the written despatch, which, as was usual for such documents, actually conveyed little genuine news amidst the copious pedantic words of the Ottoman bureaucracy.

Mehmed appreciated that the courier would know far more about what had happened than was conveyed in the official despatch. The Beylerbey also helped his information gathering by being especially friendly rather than officious with the messenger.

Mehmed’s friendliness extended to providing the courier with a seat and some liquid refreshment in order to relax him and encourage him to be fully forthcoming with more detail. The Beylerbey’s tactic was to prove to be very fruitful.

In fact, the courier subsequently proved to be so informative that Mehmed eventually rewarded him with a small bag of gold.

Chapter ٤٠ - Darbe

(40 – Coup)

(Beylerbey’s Official Residence, Konya, Karaman Province, south-central Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], shortly afterwards)

The courier told Mehmed that the Janissaries had again become unhappy with a Sultan. On this occasion, the Corps’ main gripe with the late ruler apparently concerned his continued dissolute lifestyle whilst a now prolonged and costly, in terms of both finance and casualties, war with Venice and Malta over Crete raged with no end in sight.

Seemingly, the situation had lately also been exacerbated by, at the behest of Ibrahim’s jealous, scheming and power-hungry Kadins, the Sultan’s own recent witless and disastrous full assumption of policy, after marginalising his more sensible mother, Kösem. She, though, had herself aided the process through alienating her sole surviving son by belatedly making a serious but flawed effort to mend his increasingly bad and mad ways. Consequently, she not only lost her influence over power but also was threatened with exile.

On this latest occasion of simmering revolt, the Janissaries had powerful allies. Equally antagonised by the Sultan and his increasingly bad and mad ways were not only many members of the senior government bureaucracy but also most of the religious establishment, or ‘Ulema’, including the head, the Grand Mufti.

The potential rebels also had the useful benefit to their cause of the fact that Ibrahim was no longer the sole direct male descendant of the revered Osman I, founder of the Ottoman dynasty. The Sultan now had sons of his own who could legitimately succeed him, the oldest having been born to his senior Kadin, Turhan.

The conspirators launched their coup by first successfully coercing Ibrahim into dismissing his latest Grand Vizier, the obsequious and very unpopular Hezarpare Ahmed, and having him replaced with their own appointee, the religiously devout Sofu Mehmed. However, the Sultan subsequently proved obdurate towards the rebels’ other demands, not from admirable bravery but from stubbornness, which was actually stupid given his weak position and the formidable forces arrayed against him.

The Janissaries stepped up the pressure by angrily taking military action. They surrounded the Imperial palace and reasserted their demands, including now the death and not just the dismissal of the previous Grand Vizier, Hezarpare Ahmed.

In the event, Ibrahim was powerless to prevent the demise on the next day of Hezarpare, which was actually a nickname posthumously afforded to Grand Vizier Ahmed by later chroniclers. The word meant a ‘thousand pieces’, which referred to the number of bits into which he was supposedly chopped up by the swords and knives of a rebel gang that found him trying to hide.

Despite these setbacks, Ibrahim still proved stupidly stubbornly resistant to the rebels’ other demands. Consequently, the main conspirators sought a secret audience with the Sultan’s now elderly mother, Kösem, whose blessing and help for what they next wanted to do they considered politic to obtain.

Kösem secretly met the delegation whilst modestly attired in a black veil and turban and attended by two nullified eunuchs of the same hue. After some early reluctance, she was eventually persuaded, for the wellbeing of the dynasty and Empire, to the deposition from the throne of her last son alive, Ibrahim. He was to be succeeded by her senior grandson, 7 year-old Mehmed, whose mother was the senior Kadin, Turhan.

Besides removing the threat of imminent exile hanging over Kösem, another reason for the success in persuading her of the need for the deposition of her sole surviving son, Ibrahim, was a promise to restore her to power as regent for young Mehmed. Such a position should more customarily have been granted to the boy’s mother, Turhan, who would become the new Valide Sultan on his accession to the throne.

The main conspirators, though, considered Turhan to be too young and inexperienced to assume the regency. They anyway believed that they needed the collaboration of Kösem, who was currently more popular and so influential, for their coup to succeed and, in order to secure such co-operation, they needed to offer her a return to power. Unfortunately, their decision only sowed the seed for yet more disharmony and intrigue within the Ottoman Court, especially between the two women and their supporting factions.

After coming to an agreement with the conspirators, Kösem fetched young Mehmed from the Seraglio and in the company of the Aghas of the two orders of eunuchs, sat him on the throne, located for the purpose before the Gate of Felicity. She then crowned the boy with the Sultan’s bejewelled turban and watched him receive in homage the most senior Imperial dignitaries, who, however, were only allowed to approach in small numbers in order not to frighten the child.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim was sent back to incarceration in the dreaded ‘Kafes’, or ‘Cage’, where he was strangled a few days later on the authority of a fatwā issued by the Grand Mufti, as few wanted to risk the chance of him somehow afterwards restoring himself to the Ottoman throne.

Chapter ٤۱ - Gelenek

(41 – Tradition)

(Beylerbey’s Official Residence, Konya, Karaman Province, south-central Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], shortly afterwards)

Beylerbey Mehmed had actually not been shocked to hear about the death of Sultan Ibrahim. Despite being a provincial governor posted faraway from the Ottoman Court in Constantinople, he had always endeavoured to keep abreast of the political goings-on there. After all, the consequences of such happenings could affect the whole Empire, including his own province and personal position.

Mehmed had, of course, once managed to keep in touch with events in the capital through regular contact with his longstanding best friend, Semiz. However, since this Grand Vizier’s death the Beylerbey had not been kept ignorant.

The highly respected Mehmed had other friends in high places within the Ottoman Court, including another future Grand Vizier, Kara Dev Murad. They also kept in regular contact with the Beylerbey.

Mehmed had allowed his young son, Fazil, and the boy’s ever-attendant white eunuch, the now 22 year-old Ahmed, to listen to the courier’s report. The Beylerbey did so because he firmly believed that hearing news about and subsequently discussing political and military events might be useful as part of the child’s education.

Mehmed hoped that Fazil would someday follow him into the upper echelons of the Imperial administration and not just for the power and status that such posts brought. The Beylerbey genuinely believed that, by being himself a highly capable and incorruptible senior official, he was performing an invaluable service for the welfare of both the Empire and the people.

Mehmed hoped that Fazil would follow him in serving the Empire and the people well in similar ways. He also liked to dream that he could perhaps establish through his clearly clever and similarly conscientious son such selfless service for the greater good as a family tradition.

On Fazil’s part, he thoroughly enjoyed both hearing about and discussing with his father momentous events. Being just a 12 year-old boy, his main input into the resultant debates was rather naturally to ask questions and learn but, whenever he did make more positive contributions with viewpoints, he rarely betrayed immaturity, which tended to verify to anyone listening his inherent intelligence.

Unknown to Mehmed, Fazil also dreamt too that someday he could follow his father, whom he hero-worshipped, as a worthy Imperial administrator and perhaps establish such an accomplishment as a family tradition.

Chapter ٤۲ - Dağ

(42 – Mountain)

(Mount Uludağ, overlooking Bursa, Anadolu Province, western Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], about 2 years later, Summer 1650)

The main effect that the coup in Constantinople had on Mehmed was a further promotion, in terms not of title, because he remained ranked as a Beylerbey, but of the status of the province he was required to govern. Anadolu represented the ancient heartland of the Empire, with Bursa being for nearly a century the first Ottoman capital, chosen as such by the revered founder of the dynasty, Osman I. The city therefore accommodated the mausoleums of the early Sultans.

Mehmed’s transfer to Bursa had come about because the new central government more than ever needed competent officials to keep the provinces well governed and peaceful, given continued political instability in Constantinople and the prolonged war over Crete. Taking into consideration Anadolu’s importance and significance, the latest Grand Vizier, Kara Dev Murad, had appointed there someone whom he knew through their long personal friendship to be very loyal and competent.

This friendship between Mehmed and the latest Grand Vizier had been assisted by a shared past. Both men were originally of humble Albanian origin.

On this sunny and very hot day, the now 14 year-old Fazil had embarked on an expedition with the ever-attendant Ahmed to climb at least part of Mount Uludağ, upon whose lower north-western slopes the provincial capital of Anadolu, Bursa, rested. The aim of the boy, dressed like his companion in colourful and comfortable baggy shirt and trousers, simple in design but richly made from the silk produced locally, was to gain a spectacular view of the city and surrounds.

Ahmed’s status as a white eunuch was evident to everyone because of his lack of moustache or beard. Contemporary adult males within the Ottoman Empire, whose testicles were intact, would have been deeply ashamed to be seen without copious facial hair adorning their faces.

Ahmed, though, was not ashamed of his lack of moustache or beard and the status that the facial phenomenon clearly revealed to everyone. The 24 year-old eunuch had long ago shed all feelings of disgrace at being abducted from a faraway land and subsequently castrated and enslaved. He even no longer felt any hatred towards those responsible, including the Ottomans whom he now served.

The reason for this lack of shame and bitterness was now at Ahmed’s side, as he and Fazil, whom he considered to be exceptionally beautiful in both looks and character, happily climbed the slopes of Mount Uludağ.

Chapter ٤٣ - Yemin

(43 – Oath)

(Mount Uludağ, overlooking Bursa, Anadolu Province, western Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], shortly afterwards)

Fazil and Ahmed chose not to attempt to climb to the distant summit of Mount Uludağ, which once was known as Olympus, but should not be confused with the similarly-named but more famous peak in Greece, and the site of many now ruined Byzantine monasteries and hermitages. They just advanced sufficiently far up the lower slopes to gain a panoramic view of their surrounds and were eventually rewarded by the breathtaking sight of Bursa below them, the green fertile plains and thick forests beyond and the blue Sea of Marmara in the distance.

The city below had been nicknamed ‘Yeşil’, or ‘Green’, Bursa for generations and rightly too. The metropolis was famed for the abundance of gardens and parks, the turquoise dome of the main mosque, built for Sultan Mehmed I in the early 15th century, and the verdant nature of the surrounding countryside.

Fazil and Ahmed next spent time picking out to each other the various main structures of Bursa, including the other mosques, such as that built for Sultan Bayezid I in the late 14th century. They also identified the city’s famous thermal baths, fed by four hot springs and where the pair had luxuriated in the warm water on the previous day.

Fazil and Ahmed eventually lay on a grassy slope in the shade of a beech tree to take in a more relaxed view of the scenery, during which they subsequently lapsed into a rare silence between them. The pair was never usually lost for words when together but the moment appeared appropriate and perfect for quiet personal reflection.

After contemplating the scenery and his own thoughts for a while, Ahmed later made use of the opportunity to glance furtively at Fazil. He had platonically loved the boy intensely for fourteen years, ever since they had been introduced when the child had been a baby.

To Ahmed, at that for him forever special moment, the sight of Fazil’s lovely profile, currently in the bloom of healthy boyhood, appeared to surpass in magnificence everything else in the wonderful peaceful surrounds. The eunuch’s opinion, of course, did not derive from a sexually lustful perspective but, given his genuine appreciation of the inherent beauty of the human form when most ripe, from a purely aesthetic point of view.

Ahmed knew from the expression on Fazil’s gorgeous but currently serious face that the boy, as he viewed the splendid local scenery and as he seemed increasingly to do of late as he matured, was contemplating issues of importance to himself. The eunuch briefly considered what these matters might be and concluded correctly that his young companion was again thinking about what he wanted to achieve in future when he became an adult.

Ahmed already knew from conversations with Fazil that the maturing boy sincerely wanted to follow his father into Imperial administration and selfless service for the benefit of the Empire and the people, for similar purely altruistic reasons. The eunuch now quietly swore an oath to himself that he would do everything that he could to assist him to achieve his goal.

As Ahmed continued to view Fazil’s impeccable profile, he suddenly also began to yearn for this serene moment and sight to last for eternity. The eunuch somehow felt himself at that instant, on the mountainside in the boy’s quiet contemplative company, to be in paradise, which was a sense that he wanted to perpetuate endlessly.

Ahmed’s yearning was, of course, alas not granted but he was compensated for this disappointment by the beautiful face of Fazil turning to him and smiling before challenging him to a race to be the first back to Bursa. However, before the eunuch could respond, the boy had already leapt to his feet and begun to run back down Mount Uludağ.

Ahmed subsequently chased fruitlessly after Fazil and lost the race. However, he did win something far more precious to him from the day.

Ahmed would retain in his memory, literally until the day he died and proving life-saving on the way, the wondrous vision of Fazil’s beautiful 14 year-old profile, lying amidst the lovely surrounds of Mount Uludağ like a real god on Olympus.

Chapter ٤٤ - Ip

(44 – Cord)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], over 1 year later, 3rd September 1651)

The political intrigues within the Ottoman Court between Mehmed IV’s elderly grandmother, Kösem, and resentful mother, Turhan, had not only continued relentlessly since the boy Sultan’s accession but also become increasingly more serious. This sad situation was actually rather ironic.

Kösem had ironically been responsible in the first place for her current rival’s rise in status within the Seraglio. Turhan was of Russian origin, having been captured by Tartars when a child and sold into Ottoman slavery. As a mere 12 year-old girl, she was subsequently gifted into the then Valide Sultan’s service and was later passed on by her to her son, Ibrahim, as a concubine.

Ibrahim favoured Turhan and she quickly became his senior Kadin. Her position had been reinforced by giving the Sultan his first son and therefore likely successor, Mehmed.

Ibrahim and Turhan, however, quarrelled not long after Mehmed’s birth. In anger, the mad Sultan tore the baby from his mother’s arms and threw him into a Seraglio cistern, from where he was fortunately rescued by servants. The boy, though, was to bear for the rest of his life a visible scar resulting from a facial cut incurred during the incident.

Despite such dangers resulting from living with a madman like Ibrahim, Turhan and Mehmed did subsequently manage to outlive the Sultan with their statuses intact. However, a threat to them now, in September 1651, appeared to be coming from the late ruler’s elderly mother, Kösem.

Turhan had heard a rumour that Ibrahim’s mother might be seeking to depose young Mehmed IV and replace him on the throne with another grandson. This boy was the offspring of a less ambitious and therefore for Kösem politically safer Kadin of the late Sultan.

Consequently, Turhan decided to act first in order to safeguard her own son and to remedy the grievance that she still bore over not being granted power of regency for Mehmed IV as Valide Sultan. She sent four assassins to strangle Kösem in her own quarters within the Seraglio.

The assassination was reputedly a messy affair, with the four killers proving rather incompetent. Their ineptitude arose because their greed to acquire the precious jewellery and silk and fur garments worn by the elderly Kösem caused them to be rather careless in strangling her.

The assassins’ first problem, though, was actually finding Kösem. Forewarned of their approach, she hid successfully for a while under a pile of quilts in her own quarters.

On eventually locating their elderly victim, the assassins were subsequently so intent on acquiring the jewellery, silks and furs she was wearing that, before despatching her, they had virtually stripped her naked. The killers next realised that they had not brought any cord to strangle Kösem with and so had to collect for the purpose one that was tying a curtain.

The assassins then required two attempts to kill Kösem, whilst she bit them back with her toothless gums. After eventually leaving her for dead, they had to return to finish their work when she amazingly awakened from unconsciousness.

The assassins only finally achieved their aim by turning the curtain cord into a tourniquet by adding the handle of a hatchet.

Chapter ٤٥ - Emeklilik

(45 – Retirement)

(Köprü, central northern Anatolia, Ottoman Empire [modern Vezirköprü, Turkey], almost 1 year later, Late Summer 1652)

The murder of Kösem and the assumption of regency power by Turhan brought some stability to the Ottoman Court but not much. Political intrigues continued, as did the high turnover of Grand Viziers.

In June 1652, Beylerbey Mehmed was even summoned back to Constantinople and, as now one of the Ottoman Empire’s most senior loyal and highly competent officials, renowned for successful trouble-shooting, was offered the post of Grand Vizier by Turhan. However, he did not immediately accept but instead politely and bravely, given that his request risked incurring the Valide Sultan’s anger, asked for a week to assess his prospects of success in the job.

Mehmed’s request was, though, granted and his eventual assessment was that, in the prevailing political climate both within the Porte and the wider Empire, he had no chance of success unless given unprecedented powers without inference from anyone, which Turhan was unwilling to delegate. He therefore, again politely and bravely, declined the office of Grand Vizier.

Turhan was very displeased about Mehmed’s stance. However, she took no reprisal against him other than declining him another provincial governorship and instead sending him at the age of 76 into retirement.

Mehmed and his wife, family and personal servants, including 16 year-old Fazil and 26 year-old Ahmed, therefore soon found themselves in Köprü in central northern Anatolia. His father-in-law had long ago died and had bequeathed the Beylerbey his estates in the vicinity of the town.

The now elderly but still physically and mentally robust Beylerbey Mehmed believed that, given his advanced age and disfavour at the Ottoman Court, his career in the Imperial bureaucracy must be at an end. He had almost reached the pinnacle of the Grand Viziership but he did not regret refusing the position, which he considered impossible to fulfil properly, given the Empire’s problems, without the powers that he had requested. In taking this stance, he was simply following personal precedent because he had never accepted any post without being given sufficient delegated authority to be successful.

Beylerbey Mehmed therefore now decided to enjoy as best as he could his remaining years in quiet retirement on the pleasant estates that he had inherited from his late father-in-law. As he did so, he believed that, despite never becoming Grand Vizier, he could nevertheless reflect on a worthy career of selfless service for the Ottoman Empire.

Such selfless service, though, was actually far from ended.

Chapter ٤٦ - Dönüş

(46 – Return)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], over 4 years later, 15th September 1656)

Four years had passed since Beylerbey Mehmed had retired peacefully with his family to his estates near Köprü. However, the Empire’s fortunes had gone from bad to worse during this period.

Earlier in the century, the Ottoman navy had gradually lost control of the Mediterranean. Turkish activities at sea became severely hampered by the Venetians and Christian privateers.

This situation enabled the Venetian and allied fleets, in order to try to relieve Ottoman pressure on still besieged Candia and hold on most of the rest of Crete, to capture, rather too easily, the islands of Lemnos and Tenedos, which commanded the entrance to the Dardanelles. From these bases, they successfully blockaded the straits and so shipping could not pass through to Constantinople, and the crucial sea-link to the grain and other bounty of Egypt was therefore broken.

Supplies of grain and other staple commodities in Constantinople became low, with food prices rising. Discontent in the capital therefore grew and the selfish Janissaries, rather naturally for them in such circumstances, again became especially restless, this time in particular over the debasement of the coinage resulting from the Empire’s various woes, which meant that the value of their pay had deteriorated. Valide Sultan Turhan had in March 1656 ultimately sacrificed thirty senior officials, whom the Corps blamed for the situation, in order to placate them. The men were publicly hanged in front of the Blue Mosque.

Later, in May 1656, an Ottoman fleet attempting to lift the blockade of the Dardanelles was destroyed by the Venetians and their Maltese allies. This enabled the victors to intensify the isolation of Constantinople.

Supplies of grain and other staple commodities in Constantinople now became dangerously low, with food prices soaring. Discontent became even more serious, alarm grew about a possible naval attack on the city and plots were hatched to depose the Sultan and his regent.

Having already gone through several Grand Viziers, Turhan, in her desperation, now recalled 80 year-old Beylerbey Mehmed from his retirement. The Valide Sultan was finally minded to delegate to the aged but still physically and mentally robust man the unprecedented powers he had sought over four years previously.

Turhan even swore a holy oath on behalf of herself and her son, the young Sultan, to uphold her agreement with Mehmed without interference. Her new Grand Vizier also later additionally consolidated his hold on supreme power by having the Grand Mufti issue a fatwā giving advance blind religious approval for all of his future actions.

Beylerbey Mehmed, from humble Albanian background, had seventy years previously been one of the last devşirme recruits to Ottoman service because this centuries-old boy tax had finally been abolished in 1638 during the reign of Murad IV. The need for the tribute had disappeared because of the volume of sons of Imperial slaves seeking jobs.

Mehmed’s first duties for the Ottomans then had been as a kitchen scullion. Now, though, on the 15th of September 1656, he was appointed Grand Vizier in a personal audience with his 15 year-old namesake Sultan.

The unprecedented powers delegated to the new Grand Vizier made him in practice far stronger than his young namesake, Sultan Mehmed IV, and his regent, Turhan, and therefore any other person who had ever held his position. The kitchen scullion of humble Albanian extraction of seventy years previously had certainly come a long way.

Grand Vizier Mehmed was now the most powerful person in the Ottoman Empire.

Chapter ٤٧ - Iyileşme

(47 – Recovery)

(Imperial Palace, Edirne, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], over 5 years later, 24th October 1661)

Grand Vizier Mehmed now possessed the suffix to his name of Köprülü. This epithet, meaning ‘from Köprü’, where his estates were located, was of a sort common in Ottoman society, where first names were relatively few in variety and formal surnames were rare, in order to distinguish people and families.

Such epithets, of course, came to act as surnames. Similar developments in nomenclature occurred in contemporary Christian Europe.

One of Mehmed’s first actions as Grand Vizier was to send his young namesake Sultan westwards, further into the European mainland to live in the Imperial palace at Edirne in Thrace. This city had been the Ottoman capital immediately before the capture of Constantinople.

Mehmed believed that his young namesake would be safer there, away from the dangers resulting from possible attack on Constantinople, revolting Janissaries and, more importantly, court intrigue. He did not want the boy to become the tool of conspirators against the new Grand Vizier. As later events unfolded, Sultans would not return to live in the Imperial capital for half a century.

Mehmed Köprülü also cleverly occupied the still potentially troublesome Turhan’s attentions not with politics but with construction. The Valide Sultan was now to spend much of her time supervising the building of a new mosque in Constantinople, which was named after her position in the Imperial family and of which she was extremely proud. She would be entombed inside after her death in 1683, as would later be her son and other descendants.

Mehmed Köprülü next decided that, in order to secure the recovery of the Empire from the current enfeebled and endangered condition, he needed to display the same resolute strength and ruthlessness that he had exhibited when a highly successful trouble-shooting provincial governor. He additionally determined that there was a necessity to do so against not only the external enemies of the Empire but also internal weaknesses. A part of his policy in the latter cause was to make examples of those high officials whom he considered had failed in their duties.

Mehmed Köprülü’s first implementation of this ruthless policy was to have the Pasha, responsible for rather feebly surrendering the island of Tenedos to the Venetians, executed. He also quickly tackled the potential difficulties presented by the Janissaries by efficiently purging potential troublemakers and handsomely rewarding loyalty. He was so successful that he was later able to use the Corps to crush revolt elsewhere.

Mehmed Köprülü subsequently personally supervised the reinvigoration of the Ottoman fleet and led a naval expedition that recaptured the islands of Limnos and Tenedos and broke the blockade of the Dardanelles. He then built two strong fortresses, which still exist today, to guard the vital entrance to the straits in order to prevent a recurrence of enemy occupation.

Mehmed Köprülü reasserted Ottoman influence over many of the Aegean islands and ports and reopened communications with Crete, where the prolonged siege of Candia still dragged on. He also suppressed several provincial revolts in Anatolia, reinforced border defences, especially against the Cossacks north of the Black Sea, and after fierce conflict replaced the untrustworthy vassal Prince of Transylvania.

Mehmed Köprülü despatched the first-ever Ottoman ambassador to the Austrian Court in Vienna. The emissary marched into the city in a manner deliberately designed to intimidate the local citizenry, with a large heavily-armed military escort proudly holding many Imperial standards and playing kettledrums.

Mehmed Köprülü believed that active and successful diplomacy with major nearby states, even those of infidel beliefs, was essential for the wellbeing of the Empire. However, he also felt that, as part of the process, the fact of Ottoman military strength needed to be reinforced in the minds of such neighbours.

Mehmed Köprülü again took vigorous ruthless action against misgovernment and corruption but on this occasion on an Imperial rather than just provincial scale. Many thousands of people found to have misused their offices or been involved in serious graft met their ends at the hands of the Grand Vizier’s executioners.

Meanwhile, Mehmed Köprülü tightly controlled Imperial finances, which had previously been seriously overspent, and brought some order to tax collection and the previously erratic payment of state salaries. He was so successful that, by his death, the budget was balanced and officials and soldiery were receiving their wages on time and in full.

Mehmed Köprülü’s startling period of office as Grand Vizier even caused a conversion to Islam and entry into Ottoman service of many ambitious Christian Balkan mountain tribesmen, especially from his native Albania and Bulgaria. They were stimulated into doing so by hoping to follow his example of rising far in Imperial office from humble beginnings, and the fresh blood and talent they brought was to prove a major boost to the Empire’s institutions.

In late October 1661, the now 85 year-old Grand Vizier arrived at the Sultan’s palace in Edirne. He demonstrated his apparent continued physical robustness by doing so on horseback with a cavalry escort.

The purpose of the Grand Vizier’s journey was to visit his namesake and now 20 year-old Sultan in the palace at Edirne in order to brief him on the latest political and military developments. However, in the event, he was to do something else.

Grand Vizier Mehmed Köprülü was to die.

Chapter ٤٨ - Çökmek

(48 – Collapse)

(Imperial Palace, Edirne, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], shortly afterwards, 24th October 1661)

Shortly after his arrival at the Imperial palace in Edirne, and before having his audience with the Sultan, 85 year-old Mehmed Köprülü collapsed. His exceptionally busy half-decade in office, during which he had not only given his close attention to all aspects of governance but also been personally involved in arduous campaigns all over the Empire, had finally caught up with his ageing body.

After being informed of his Grand Vizier’s collapse, the concerned Mehmed IV immediately despatched his best court physicians to attend to him. However, they soon reported back to the worried Sultan that there was little that they could do.

Mehmed IV’s concerns did not relate to the personal fate of his Grand Vizier, whom he had never considered a friend. The old man had been too dedicated to his recent hard and often necessarily harsh work to display any geniality to anyone, even his Sultan, outside of his own family. His common façade was instead one of stern dutifulness.

Mehmed IV’s concerns instead related to the fact that the aged Grand Vizier had clearly saved from great peril not only the Empire but also his own Sultanate. The nominal 20 year-old Ottoman ruler had not even needed to be involved in the often hard, unpleasant and dangerous work, being able to concentrate instead on his pleasures, especially his women and his hunting, whilst the old man secured his realm and position.

Mehmed IV’s concerns instead centred on needing to ensure the Grand Vizier’s good work continued after his apparent imminent death but again in someone else’s hands. The Sultan had no desire at all to forego his pleasures in favour of attending to matters of state.

Fortunately for Mehmed IV’s aims, the Sultan correctly believed that there was a man readily at hand, who could capably take on the burdensome duty of successfully running the Ottoman Empire on his behalf. Moreover, the identity of this candidate for the post had already long in advance been provisionally agreed and not just with the current Grand Vizier.

The Sultan’s mother, Turhan, who remained happily preoccupied with building her mosque in Constantinople, had also approved the candidate. She too had been very pleased with the work of the current Grand Vizier in recovering the Empire and her son’s throne from peril and recognised the likely capability of his chosen successor to carry on with equal success.

As later events proved, this momentous choice of successor to the Grand Viziership was to prove inspired.

Chapter ٤٩ - Nasihat

(49 – Advice)

(Imperial Palace, Edirne, Ottoman Empire [modern Turkey], 1 week later, 31st October 1661)

Unusually for a Sultan, especially one like the present incumbent on the Ottoman throne, who was mainly interested only in his own pleasures, Mehmed IV defied court decorum and custom by visiting his dying Grand Vizier in his quarters in the Imperial palace at Edirne. Members of his dynasty would usually not lower themselves to perform such acts, even for a clearly highly loyal and successful Chief Minister.

The Sultan’s motives for now defying previous practice, though, centred on his wish to reconfirm the succession to the Grand Viziership personally with the dying Mehmed Köprülü. He appreciated that the decision was crucial in order to achieve his aims of safeguarding the Empire and his own throne whilst actually having nothing to do with the associated duties.

Mehmed IV therefore did not want to communicate via court intermediaries, whose personal agendas might be different to his, being more concerned with their own ambitions for power. Consequently, a Sultan unprecedentedly visited a Grand Vizier on his deathbed.

The issue of the succession to the Grand Viziership was soon subsequently reconfirmed between the Mehmed Köprülü and the Sultan. There was also time during the unprecedented visit for the dying Chief Minister to proffer some sage advice to the current incumbent of the Ottoman throne.

The dying Grand Vizier proffered his advice in the hope that Mehmed IV might someday set aside his pleasures and instead concentrate on becoming a worthy Sultan, who did not have to rely on others to rule on his behalf. The wise deathbed counsel was fourfold.

Mehmed Köprülü first recommended that the Sultan never heeded the advice of a woman. The Grand Vizier was not a misogynist but he recognised the potentially destructive threats to the safety of the Ottoman ruler and his Empire resulting from the intrigues of the females, especially the Kadins, in the Imperial household. Instances had been only too evident during his own long lifetime.

Mehmed Köprülü’s next two pieces of sage advice were that the Sultan should never let a subject become too wealthy and should always keep the treasury full. His last recommendation was that the ruler should be constantly on horseback whilst keeping the armies busy.

Having uttered this final wisdom and shortly after his Sultan left his quarters, Mehmed Köprülü closed his eyes forever. The aged Grand Vizier had proved dutiful to the very end.

Mehmed Köprülü had had the good grace not to die in his Sultan’s presence.

Chapter ٥٠ - Ardil

(50 - Successor)

(Imperial Palace, Edirne, Ottoman Empire, shortly afterwards, 31st October 1661)

Mehmed IV was certainly later regularly on horseback but not to keep the armies constantly busy. The Sultan instead continued to love his hunting, whilst rarely possessing much interest in military matters or affairs of state.

Mehmed IV now quickly proceeded with speed to appoint the next Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, with the same unprecedented supreme powers as his predecessor. The Sultan was keen to have his pleasures interrupted as little as possible as a result of the demise of his last Chief Minister.

Consequently, the ceremonial handing-on of office, to someone who was unusually young for the position of Grand Vizier, occurred in an audience with the Sultan in the palace at Edirne on the 31st of October 1661. The dead body of Mehmed Köprülü was not yet even cold.

Becoming Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire with supreme powers on the same day that his father had sadly passed away and with his devoted and ever-attendant eunuch servant, Ahmed, at his side, was 26 year-old Fazil Köprülü.

Chapter ٥۱ - Kış

(51 – Winter)

(Kalemegdan Fortress, Belgrade, Serbia, Ottoman Empire, about 2½ years later, spring 1664)

By the time of Grand Vizier Mehmed Köprülü’s death, his wife had borne him several more children. However, none had quite proved as dedicated and talented as Fazil, especially in following in his father’s professional footsteps.

Having been educated well through excellent tutors in a wide variety of subjects, both academic and practical, such as the personal use of arms, Fazil had displayed such interest and promise that Mehmed Köprülü had initially appointed him as one of his assistants. The son had then proved so conscientious and gifted in the role that the father soon promoted him to be his key lieutenant in both civil and military matters, in both of which he excelled as deputy to the Grand Vizier.

Fazil’s excellence in such affairs was aided by being close witness to Mehmed Köprülü’s example. However, he was not a clone of his father. He was instead someone of independent mind and attitudes, which would now be exhibited during his own spell as Grand Vizier.

Mehmed Köprülü had promoted his son to the key position of deputy not because of nepotism, because he despised such favouritism, especially in government. The Grand Vizier had instead done so purely through recognition of Fazil’s tremendous abilities, with the fact that he could rely on his complete loyalty because of their family tie being merely a bonus.

Fazil’s subsequent major role in his father’s remarkable success over his five years as Grand Vizier did not go unnoticed by Mehmed IV or the Valide Sultan, despite their main current preoccupations with respectively women and hunting and building. He therefore appeared to them to be his father’s natural successor as their Chief Minister, having either not considered or discounted the idea that in promoting him they might in the process be putting a potential rival dynasty in power.

Given Mehmed Köprülü’s advancing years and the clear fact that he could not go on for ever as Grand Vizier, and their desire to have an equally capable successor ready to take over when the need arose, Fazil’s candidature was actually originally mooted by the Sultan and his mother, Turhan. The idea did not emanate from the aged Chief Minister, who continued to despise nepotism.

Mehmed Köprülü, however, could not deny his son’s suitability for the position of Grand Vizier, given his highly worthy attributes and the fact that he had been playing a key supporting role in his own stewardship of the post. Fazil now knew what the job entailed and needed and had indeed already skilfully performed many of the necessary duties on his father’s behalf. He also obviously possessed his own clear vision of how to secure further successful recovery of the Empire.

Mehmed Köprülü additionally appreciated that his son would have invaluable assistance in succeeding as Grand Vizier. What the Sultan and his mother, Turhan, never fully appreciated, unlike Fazil’s father, was that the new 26 year-old Chief Minister’s immense talents would be helpfully complemented by those of his eunuch servant, Ahmed.

Ahmed provided important assistance in respect of Fazil’s day-to-day menial needs so that his master could concentrate on his duties without undue diversion. More importantly, though, was the fact that the eunuch was essentially a sagacious friend, a decade older, who was always in attendance to provide a very wise and therefore highly helpful private sounding-board against which ideas and plans could be tested.

Because of such practical usefulness, Ahmed proved as precious to Fazil as the son was to his father. Mehmed Köprülü was not to be disappointed in his view that the pair would go on to serve the Empire well after his own death.

In fact, the pair immediately began to prove Mehmed Köprülü right with a smooth transition of power from father to son. This trouble-free hand-over was aided by the dread of potential enemies that the late Grand Vizier’s formidable talents, including his fearsome reputation for crushing revolt, had been inherited by Fazil.

Nevertheless, Fazil Köprülü concentrated over the next 1½ years on consolidating his position and addressing internal problems before bringing his main attention to further safeguarding and possibly extending the Empire’s boundaries. The prolonged siege of Candia in Crete still dragged on but he now decided that military priority had to be afforded to the frontiers on the European mainland.

Fazil Köprülü assessed correctly that the biggest imminent danger to the Empire was the expanding and aggressively ambitious Habsburg Archduchy of Austria. The new Grand Vizier also judged that attack would in present circumstances be the best form of defence.

Consequently, Fazil Köprülü began in 1663 a major military offensive against the Austrians along the Danube. Excellent preliminary diplomacy ensured that for the campaign his troops were significantly supported by Christian vassals from the Balkan region.

Fazil Köprülü’s army soon overran Transylvania and Hungary, where he commanded that the local Christian population were to be well treated. He was so successful in implementing this order that even the majority Muslim units in his forces were welcomed by them not as conquerors but as liberators from Austrian repression.

Fazil Köprülü went on to win a great battle against the Austrians at the previously impregnable key fortress of Neuhäusel [modern Nové Zámky in southern-western Slovakia]. The Ottomans under their Grand Vizier proved such formidable opponents that the local Slovaks still have a saying deriving from this victory, namely ‘As strong as a Turk in front of Nové Zámky’.

Fazil Köprülü next wintered with his army at Belgrade in Serbia, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire. The Grand Vizier accepted accommodation in the ancient Kalemegdan Fortress dominating the city and spectacularly overlooking on a high ridge the confluence of the rivers Danube and Sava, where legend suggests that the body of Attila the Hun was buried.

Despite long pre-dating Ottoman occupation, having origins even before the Roman conquest of the locality, the citadel derived from two Turkish words. These were ‘kale’, meaning fortress, and ‘megdan’, meaning battleground, and gave a clue to the recent history of the place.

Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror, had besieged the citadel in 1456, three years after capturing Constantinople. However, such was the brave and skilful defiance of the Serb defenders that his mighty 100,000-strong Ottoman army failed to take the fortress, with even the Sultan himself being wounded in the attempt.

Later further costly failed attempts to take the citadel by the Ottomans occurred until the fortress finally fell in 1521 in the first year of Süleyman the Magnificent’s reign and to his 250,000-strong army. The subsequent name afforded to the place by the Turks reflected their respect for the historical difficulty of their achievement.

Fazil Köprülü spent the winter of 1663-4 in the comfort and safety of Kalemegdan Fortress mainly planning the resumption in spring of his campaign against the Austrians. The Grand Vizier often did so just in private conversation with Ahmed.

Fazil Köprülü finally left the comfort and safety of Kalemegdan Fortress and Belgrade, which was then the second most populous city in the Ottoman Empire after Constantinople, in spring 1664 in order to resume his army’s offensive against the Austrians. The Grand Vizier, flying the sacred banner of the Prophet as his main standard and with Ahmed as usual riding discretely at his side, did so with confidence.

Fazil Köprülü, though, was now to encounter some serious misfortune.

Chapter ٥۲ - Bozgun

(52 – Defeat)

(River Raab, near Körmend, western Hungary, July 1664)

Fazil Köprülü and his army proceeded efficiently to capture more of the fortresses barring their way to Vienna. These successes caused the retreating Austrians, who had previously refused to seek peace, finally to ask at Vasvár in western Hungary for a settlement, which was duly negotiated and agreed in principle.

Fazil Köprülü, however, whilst awaiting ratification of the peace treaty from Vienna, decided to consolidate his army’s current position. The Grand Vizier intended to do by crossing the River Raab in the vicinity of the Convent of St. Gothard, and near to Körmend in western Hungary which was dominated by yet another key fortress.

Unfortunately, after the Ottoman army began to ford the Raab in the late afternoon, a major thunderstorm suddenly and unexpectedly occurred, which persisted into much of the evening and night. This unanticipated severe weather caused the river to surge and rage and created significant local flooding.

Another consequence was that Fazil Köprülü’s army was split into two temporarily separated parts on different sides of the Raab, which the Grand Vizier had not himself yet forded. He had on this occasion decided to remain with the rearguard in order to supervise the crossing of the river.

This unfortunate development enabled the Austrians to attack on the next day that half of Fazil Köprülü’s army that had crossed the Raab and was now been trapped on the riverbank. The assault was supported by a contingent of allied auxiliary soldiers from France, which was at that time foremost in the development of military tactics and weaponry.

Even given the desperate situation of the Ottoman forces trapped on the bank of the Raab, the outcome of the consequent battle might have been different if their highly capable commander, Fazil Köprülü, had accompanied the vanguard rather than remained at the rear. However, the decision to deploy himself in this manner in order to supervise the river-crossing would have been a sensible one in normal circumstances. Such events were always times of military vulnerability and an outmanoeuvring attack from behind was often as strong a likelihood as from anywhere else.

The result of the intervention of unexpected severe weather, though, was that Fazil Köprülü could only now watch helplessly, as the detached part of his army, trapped on the far bank of the Raab and without their gifted and inspiring commander, was slowly driven back into the river and destroyed. Tears came to the Grand Vizier’s eyes as he viewed the dreadful debacle.

Fazil Köprülü’s tears, though, were not just caused by the sight of his men fighting bravely but ultimately forlornly on the far bank of the Raab. They also arose through utter personal shame.

Fazil Köprülü was fully aware that he was now the first Ottoman general ever to suffer a major defeat in pitched battle against the infidel Christians.

Chapter ٥٣ - Umutsuzluk

(53 – Despair)

(Vasvár, western Hungary, next day)

Having done his best to organise the rescue of any survivors of the rout on the far bank of the Raab, who had managed to swim the currently raging river, Fazil Köprülü led the retreat of his remaining army back to the environs of Vasvár. Here the Grand Vizier ordered his forces to encamp and rest, whilst he pondered what to do next.

What Fazil Köprülü actually did do next was quickly to become deeply depressed because of his despair over his recent unprecedented defeat. The Grand Vizier even seriously considered suicide to atone for the shame that he believed that he had caused the Ottoman Sultan and army, as well as himself and his family.

Whilst in this dangerous melancholic mood, Fazil Köprülü managed to escape the usual close attentions of Ahmed and found himself a lonely hillside tree under which to sit out of the still prevailing heavy rain and contemplate. As he sheltered and thought there on this miserably gloomy wet day, he eventually withdrew his dagger from his bejewelled scabbard and carefully inspected the sharp glistening blade.

Whilst the seriously depressed Fazil Köprülü inspected his dagger, he wondered whether he would be acting more honourably in using the blade on himself now or in simply returning as a defeated commander to his Sultan in Edirne to offer himself for execution.

Chapter ٥٤ - Tepe

(54 – Hill)

(Vasvár, western Hungary, shortly afterwards)

Ahmed had naturally been highly concerned about Fazil’s apparent disappearance, especially since he could tell that the Grand Vizier was feeling extremely depressed after the recent catastrophe at the River Raab. He therefore set out to attempt to find him, being very worried that in his deep distress he might try to do himself some harm.

Despite, of course, Fazil being well known amongst his men, not least for usually being bravely prominent amongst them in battle, Ahmed’s task proved very difficult. There were two main reasons for this problem, neither of which was related to his own status as the only eunuch in the Ottoman encampment.

Ahmed might have been a eunuch, his status clearly revealed by possessing the only unshaven face amongst the men in the Ottoman encampment. However, his position as invaluable personal servant and clearly very close confidant of Fazil Köprülü, being always at the Grand Vizier’s side, even in the murderous heat of battle, where he displayed his own excellent combat skills, was highly respected.

Ahmed’s own fighting competence had actually been acquired contemporaneously with that of Fazil. When the boy was being educated in earlier life, the eunuch had asked that he be taught alongside him the art of personal combat by the relevant tutors. His request was granted by the child’s parents without him needing to explain his motive, as they had perceptively already recognised that he desired the skills in order to enhance his ability to his protect his young charge in future.

Whilst Ahmed was making his polite and necessarily discreet, not wanting to create unnecessary alarm, enquiries about Fazil’s whereabouts around the Ottoman encampment near Vasvár, the regard of the soldiers towards him was obvious. He was treated with due respect by everyone he approached despite being a eunuch.

Such respect would not usually be extended to a man with a hairless face in such surrounds. Such a façade would instead normally be a cause of much contemptuous comment from many of the generally competent and brave but also uncouth soldiery.

Ahmed’s respectful reception by the soldiers, however, yielded no information about the whereabouts of Fazil and there were two main reasons for this disappointment. First, despite the loss of a substantial part of the army at the River Raab, the encampment near Vasvár was still vast and sprawling. Second, when the missing Grand Vizier had earlier walked through the maze of tents, he had made use of the prevailing heavy rain to disguise his appearance successfully by wearing an all-enveloping hooded cloak.

As a result of these factors, and despite making copious enquiries, the increasingly worried Ahmed could not find Fazil anywhere and began to conclude that he could not have remained in the encampment. He therefore scanned the surrounding countryside and amidst the rainy gloom spotted a nearby hill. He then somehow instantly remembered a walk up Mount Uludağ in distant Anatolia of fourteen summers previously.

Ahmed also somehow instantly instinctively knew where Fazil would now be.

Chapter ٥٥ - Karşılıklı Meydan Okuma

(55 – Confrontation)

(Vasvár, western Hungary, shortly afterwards)

Fazil was still melancholically studying his dagger and contemplating his fate in the shelter from the heavy rain of the hillside tree when he heard the sound of nearby footsteps. He too somehow instantly instinctively knew something, in his case the identity of the person intruding unwanted into his despondency.

“Go away, Ahmed!” Fazil therefore shouted without lifting his gaze from his dagger. However, the answer was a simple but firm “No!”

Throughout the previous close and intimate relationship between Ahmed and Fazil, the former had never spoken discourteously to the latter in any way until now. The eunuch had always been friendly, polite and respectful, and whenever a public occasion required had addressed his younger master as ‘Sir’ or whatever later title was appropriate.

Anyone else, except, of course, from members of the Imperial family, who only received advice and not instructions from their Grand Viziers, impertinently dismissing an order from an Ottoman Chief Minister might have been faced immediately with an executioner’s bowstring or sword. Instead, Fazil merely finally raised his eyes to look at Ahmed, whose clothing was soaked, as he had been walking around in the heavy rain for a long time, and repeated his command “Go away!”

Fazil subsequently quickly added more politely, in order to encourage Ahmed to obey, “I need time to think alone. So please leave.”

Ahmed, however, again did not comply with Fazil’s command. He instead asked “Why do you need a dagger in your hand whilst you think?”

Ahmed added firmly “Until you give me a satisfactory answer to that question, I shall remain here.” This reply caused Fazil to feel unprecedented anger towards the eunuch swell within him.

Consequently, Fazil stood up, with his dagger now more menacingly poised in an attack mode in his hand. However, his threatening stance did not prevent Ahmed from continuing his approach towards him.

As Ahmed came close, he noticed dampness in Fazil’s confronted eyes, which had nothing to do with the rain. He also perceived dangerous distressed fury.

Ahmed then did something that he had never previously done to Fazil. Their relationship had always essentially been one of close intimate friendship.

Nevertheless, Ahmed now hit Fazil.

Chapter ٥٦ - Hakikat

(56 – Truth)

(Vasvár, western Hungary, shortly afterwards)

Fazil’s initial instinct in reaction to being hit hard across his now bearded face was to stab Ahmed fatally with his dagger. However, something within his distressed soul literally stayed his hand.

Fazil instead stood motionless and listened, still nevertheless with his dagger poised to kill, to what Ahmed said next. “You are Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire with supreme powers and so should act like one,” the eunuch suggested firmly, “and not sit here feeling sorry for yourself. There is an army below awaiting your command as to what to do now.”

“But I’ve led the army to defeat,” Fazil retorted, with tears beginning to flow again from his eyes, “and have in the process disgraced myself. I am no longer worthy to command them!”

“Nonsense!” Ahmed responded. “The truth is that you’ve lost a battle,” the eunuch added, “but not the war. The army has just suffered a setback through no fault of your own. Your soldiers recognise that and consequently you’ve forfeited none of their immense respect for you. They also expect you now to lead them in converting defeat into victory.”

“But how do I do that?” Fazil asked in desperation. “I don’t know,” Ahmed replied, “but instead simply do know that your exceptional talents will enable you to do so once you stop moping under this tree on this hillside.”

“You are, after all,” Ahmed continued, with obvious pride and conviction in his voice, “the great Fazil Köprülü, son of Mehmed and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire!”

Chapter ٥٧ - Zafer

(57 – Victory)

(Vasvár, western Hungary, a few weeks later, 10th of August 1664)

Ahmed’s smacking of Fazil’s face and his subsequent blunt words uttered on the anonymous hillside in western Hungary were designed to shock the Grand Vizier out of his obvious deep depression. They were also to prove to be the greatest service that the eunuch was to afford his master because his tactics worked, echoing the similar success that Mehmed Köprülü had achieved with his friend, Semiz, almost seventy years previously.

A few weeks after drying his eyes and returning down the rainy hillside with the forgiven Ahmed, Grand Vizier Fazil Köprülü received an Austrian peace delegation at Vasvár. He had earlier sent for fresh reinforcements for his army to replace his losses at the River Raab and declared his intent to continue the march to Vienna on their arrival unless the peace accord, agreed before the lost battle, was ratified.

Fazil Köprülü deliberately did not keep his actions or intentions a secret, knowing that Austrian spies within his army’s encampment would therefore soon report them back to their masters in Vienna. The result was just what the clever Grand Vizier had envisaged.

Despite their victory at the River Raab, the Austrians and their allies had still suffered heavy casualties at the hands of the fierce and brave Turks. In their eyes, the unfortunate but still formidable Fazil Köprülü and his soon-to-be-reinforced remaining army also continued to pose a considerable threat to Vienna, which the Grand Vizier had recently used all of his best skills at subterfuge to emphasise.

As a result, the Austrians sent a peace delegation to Vasvár on the 10th of August 1664. They were charged with ratifying the previously provisionally agreed peace accord, favourable to the Ottomans.

The Treaty of Vasvár enabled the Ottomans to retain many of their recent conquests and forced the Austrians to recognise formally the positions of several of the Sultan’s vassal princes. Of especial importance here was the resultant confirmation of Turkish suzerainty over the strategically key buffer state of Transylvania.

The Austrians also agreed to pay substantial tribute and undertook not to seek any further eastward territorial expansion.

Chapter ٥٨ - Coşkunca Alkış

(58 – Ovation)

(Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], 2 months later, October 1664)

Fazil Köprülü had consequently, through skilful diplomacy and subterfuge, converted unfortunate defeat in battle to precious victory in a highly advantageous peace. In the process, he had increased the size and security of his Sultan’s Empire and boosted the Imperial Ottoman coffers with copious tribute.

Fazil Köprülü therefore unsurprisingly, despite losing a battle, subsequently returned with his army to Constantinople in autumn 1664 not in disgrace but in triumph to a popular ovation, with the ever attendant and quietly very influential Ahmed still discretely at his side.

Chapter ٥٩ - Ahenk

(59 – Harmony)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], almost a year later, late summer 1665)

Fazil Köprülü was outwardly quiet, contemplative, modest and polite, as well as completely incorruptible. Forgetting what had happened on a certain anonymous hill in western Hungary, which only he and Ahmed knew about, he also constantly exhibited immense dignity, devotion to duty and lucidity, being always incisively able to reach the heart of problems quickly.

After successfully cowing the Austrians in the previous year, Fazil Köprülü had for a while spent most of his time attempting to harmonise the Empire’s internal affairs. In line with his considerably less stern nature, in doing so he reined back much of the ruthless ferocity of his father’s rule.

Fazil Köprülü instead provided relatively mild but sage and highly effective leadership. This steady and wise governance enabled him to pursue to fruition many of his father’s various much-needed but uncompleted reforms.

In the process, Fazil Köprülü proved to be a devout Muslim but not a fanatic. He was instead religiously liberal, tolerating unorthodox Islamic sects as well protecting Christians and Jews, whom he allowed freedom of worship and the right to build their own new churches and synagogues.

Fazil Köprülü also found time to patronise the arts seriously. In return, some writers immortalised him and his achievements in their works.

Eventually, having for now stabilised the north-western borders with the cowed Austrians and achieved a considerable degree of harmony in internal affairs, Fazil Köprülü decided that he needed finally to complete the conquest of the island of Crete. This victory could not, of course, be achieved until the prolonged siege of Candia [modern Iraklion] came to a successful conclusion and he proposed to command the ultimate stages of the campaign himself.

Fazil Köprülü knew, though, that, prior to leading fresh army reinforcements to Crete, he needed to safeguard his own sound government. The Grand Vizier remained extremely popular but Sultan Mehmed IV, still based in Edirne, was finally now showing some interest in interfering in matters of state, which was unfortunate because he also sadly exhibited great ineptitude in such affairs.

Fazil Köprülü did not want his achievements and those of his late father destroyed by a Sultan dabbling ineptly in government affairs. However, neither he nor Ahmed was initially able to think of a way of to prevent such a calamity.

The solution only came into Ahmed’s bright brain when, on a hot and sunny day in the late summer of 1665, he was discreetly attending to Fazil whilst the Grand Vizier chaired a meeting of the Ottoman cabinet, the ‘Divan Odasi’, or ‘Council of State’. Some very minor bureaucratic issue was being discussed and so the eunuch’s mind drifted to other matters.

Ahmed’s thoughts eventually drifted to the Sultan’s private quarters, which were adjacent to the suite where the current cabinet meeting was taking place. The Seraglio was now barely inhabited because Mehmed IV spent most of his time in Edirne.

Ahmed’s mind drifted in particular to thinking about the many intrigues and power struggles that had occurred in the adjacent Seraglio over the years amongst the Kadins and other concubines of the various Sultans. Such contemplation then led him to an idea that might resolve the problem of Mehmed IV’s sudden unwelcome, and potentially disastrous for Imperial harmony, interest in matters of state.

As a result of Ahmed’s idea, Constantinople’s most important slave-trader was later summoned to a private audience with Grand Vizier Fazil Köprülü.

Chapter ٦٠- Kapatma

(60 – Concubine)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [modern Istanbul, Turkey], a few months later, winter 1665)

In the winter of 1665, Fazil Köprülü and Ahmed awaited anxiously in Constantinople for news of whether their plot had worked. They had cleverly recruited to their cause an exceptionally beautiful and intelligent slave-girl, ironically of Cretan origin, whom they planted in the harem of Mehmed IV in the Imperial palace in Edirne.

Most slave-girls with ambition considered becoming one of the Sultan’s concubines to be the best career move that they could make because, if they were successful in the role, they could become immensely rich and powerful. The least they could expect would be the customary award of freedom and a nice gratuity after a few years’ loyal service.

Fazil Köprülü and Ahmed had always ensured that they knew Mehmed IV’s tastes well in order to invoke such knowledge usefully in circumstances such as the one that now confronted them. They were confident that, given the slave-girl’s exceptional attributes, she would quickly become one of the Sultan’s favourite and therefore most influential concubines.

In return for Fazil Köprülü’s introduction of the ambitious slave-girl to the harem and her anticipated subsequent rise in status as a concubine, she had agreed to attempt to use her consequent influence over Mehmed IV to divert his attention away from serious issues of government. She also undertook to espouse the Grand Vizier’s cause if matters of state were ever discussed.

In the winter of 1665, Fazil Köprülü and Ahmed finally happily received news from the slave-girl, via a trusted intermediary, confirming her new standing as one of Mehmed IV’s favourite concubines. She expressed her confidence in also now being able to fulfil her part of their bargain.

In the event, the slave-girl proved correct. Over the next few months, Ahmed’s clever scheme continued to work perfectly, not least because he and Fazil had, with a certain slave-trader’s help, chosen their female ally well.

The slave-girl quickly became through her charms Mehmed IV’s most favourite concubine. From this position of influence, she loyally kept her side of the bargain with Fazil Köprülü by providing the Sultan with almost constant diversion and always being steadfastly supportive of his Grand Vizier.

Consequently, Fazil Köprülü felt able to travel with the army reinforcements to Crete once the sea-lanes re-opened in the spring of 1666.

Chapter ٦۱ - Teslim

(61 – Surrender)

(Candia [modern Iraklion], Crete, 3½ years later, 6th of September 1669)

Sir Paul Rycaut was the leading authority of his day in the Christian world on the Ottoman Empire. He had travelled to Constantinople in 1660 as Private Secretary to the British Ambassador.

Rycaut’s first major work, ‘The Present State of the Ottoman Empire’ of 1666, was an analysis of Turkish government and society and the book was a best-seller in several languages. He was later, from 1667 until 1678, British Consul at Smyrna [modern Izmir], Anatolia, which was then the most important centre of his country’s trade in the eastern Mediterranean.

Rycaut described contemporary Candia [modern Iraklion] on Crete as “the most impregnable fortress in the world, strengthened with as much art and industry as the human wit of this age was capable to invent”. Given this expert opinion, there is no surprise that even as capable a leader as Fazil Köprülü took over three years to subdue the city, whilst a certain loyal concubine kept Mehmed IV preoccupied back in Edirne.

In their desperation at the increasing effectiveness of Fazil Köprülü’s siege, though, the Venetians did during this period offer a huge indemnity to tempt him and his army to withdraw. However, the Grand Vizier declared: “We are not money-dealers. We make war to win Crete!”

Fazil finally defeated Candia’s brave and beleaguered defenders, reinforced to fight the Islamic enemy by Christian volunteers from all over the world, by using his engineers more effectively than they had been by earlier commanders. He supervised the necessarily careful building of parallel trenches that brought his forces ever closer to the city’s immensely strong walls.

From these trenches, the Ottomans could launch more effective and numerous attacks, including attempting to breach Candia’s walls with mines, well over a thousand of which were ultimately used. Slowly but surely, at the cost in the last three years of the lives of 30,000 Turks and 12,000 Venetians and their allies, these improved tactics proved fatal for the city, which eventually surrendered on the 6th of September 1669.

As Fazil Köprülü was commonly inclined to be, unlike his father, he proved magnanimous and merciful in victory, granting the surviving garrison honourable terms of surrender.

Chapter ٦۲ - Başucu

(62 – Zenith)

(Żurawno, Ukraine, 7 years later, 17th of October 1676)

Fazil Köprülü next returned his attentions back to the Ottoman Empire’s northern European borders, especially the Ukraine. Poland and Russia had been disputing control of this vast land but they had recently reached agreement to divide the region between themselves, despite the efforts of native Cossacks to remain independent.

The Cossacks in the Polish part of Ukraine had then rebelled. They had also appealed for Ottoman help, promising the Sultan suzerainty in return.

In response, Fazil Köprülü in 1672 led an Ottoman army, unusually with Sultan Mehmed, flattered by the Cossack offer, accompanying them, through Moldavia and across the River Dniester, at which he had summoned Tartar allies to join him. The Grand Vizier’s forces subsequently quickly captured two important Polish fortresses, as well as threatened more devastating conquests.

Consequently, the Poles soon sued for peace. In the resultant Treaty of Buczacs, they were humiliatingly compelled to cede the large Ukrainian province of Podolia to the Ottomans and pay tribute to them, as well as restore Cossack independence.

The Poles, though, later repudiated the treaty and so war against the Ottomans, Tartars and Cossacks resumed, with fortunes varying until Fazil Köprülü finally secured a great victory at Żurawno in the Ukraine, where another peace treaty was signed on the 17th of October 1676. On this occasion, the agreement, which gave the Turks and their allies more than that offered at Buczacs, was subsequently honoured.

The Treaty of Żurawno ensured that Fazil Köprülü, through his latest military success and following those against the Austrians and Venetians, had brought the Ottoman Empire to zenith.

Chapter ٦٣ - Tromboz

(63 – Thrombosis)

(Ukraine, 2 days later, 19th of October 1676)

For his successes over Christian enemies, Fazil had affectionately already been awarded by the Muslim people of the Ottoman Empire an unofficial metaphorical title. He was known to them as the ‘Breaker of the bells of the straying and blasphemous nations’.

Unfortunately, Fazil Köprülü was, though, now not able to savour the success of bringing the Ottoman Empire to zenith for long because of the steady deterioration in his health over recent years. An excessive workload, including extensive arduous military campaigning, had taken a heavy toll, despite the best efforts of Ahmed to encourage him to take more rest by delegating more tasks and better care of his body through an improved diet.

Fazil Köprülü was simply too conscientious and in too much of a hurry to tackle what he considered to be his destiny in life, namely to complete his father’s work in restoring the Empire’s fortunes at home and abroad, to take Ahmed’s advice. His mind was always full of ambitious good intentions and he wanted to fulfil them before he died in an era when, despite his predecessor’s contrary example, lifespans were often short. He consequently overworked, including often pacing about for hours whilst deep in thought in the middle of the night, and took little heed of his diet and health.

Ahmed still attempted to do his best to improve Fazil’s lifestyle. However, the only productive way that he found to force him to eat well and have some decent sleep was to nag him, although this did not always work.

Ahmed appreciated that, even for him, there was a limit as to how much nagging that he could do before becoming counter-productive and making matters worse when dealing with a conscientious workaholic such as Fazil. If the Grand Vizier became annoyed rather than compliant, he was likely to shun food and sleep altogether.

Fazil Köprülü’s neglect of his lifestyle eventually caused him to develop dropsy, which some enemies slanderously suggested was due to too much consumption of wine and spirits. In fact, being a devout Muslim, the Grand Vizier never drank alcohol.

Nevertheless, being teetotal did not alleviate Fazil Köprülü’s dropsical condition, which caused him to fall from his horse a couple of days after beginning the long return journey from the Ukraine back to Constantinople. The 41 year-old Grand Vizier, though, was dead before he hit the ground.

The fall from his horse had not killed Fazil Köprülü. The greatest Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire had instead died from the immediately preceding massive and fatal coronary thrombosis.

As Ahmed subsequently cradled the lifeless head of Fazil in his arms, he wept uncontrollably but unashamedly, whilst the sacred banner of the Prophet in the nearby mounted standard-bearer’s possession fluttered above them.

Chapter ٦٤ - Paşa

(64 – Pasha)

(Yeni Sarayi [New Palace, later renamed Topkapi Palace], Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, a few months later, early 1677)

Such was the esteem earned by Mehmed and Fazil Köprülü in the minds of the Ottoman Sultans and people that five more members of their family were later to follow them over the next half century as Grand Viziers, serving six different rulers. However, their successors in this unique dynastic achievement were not to prove as successful.

The statesmanship of the early Köprülüs, though, ensured a fundamental change in Ottoman government. The previous despotism of the Sultans was essentially altered to an enlightened ministerial executive.

Meanwhile, the town of Köprü, after which the family had been called because their estates were there, was later renamed Vezirköprü in their honour. The place is still known by this title today.

Fazil’s immediate successor as Grand Vizier was Kara Mustafa Pasha, who had been adopted by the Köprülüs and was his brother-in-law. He was therefore the only one of the family’s Grand Viziers not to have their blood in his veins.

One of Kara Mustafa Pasha’s first actions was to reward the grieving 51 year-old Ahmed for his loyal and highly competent years of service for his predecessor. In early 1677, the new Grand Vizier appointed him, despite his eunuch status, to the exalted rank of Pasha.

Because of his clear loyalty to the Köprülüs, Ahmed was also awarded a very important province to administer on behalf of his Sultan and new Grand Vizier.

Chapter ٦٥ - Teşekkürler

(65 – Thanks)

(Cairo, Egypt, another few months later, spring, 1677)

Pasha Ahmed sailed to his new province of Egypt when the sea-lanes opened in spring 1677. The new governor of this key Ottoman province subsequently arrived in the capital, Cairo, in style and was received courteously amidst great pomp.

As Pasha Ahmed later viewed the ancient pyramids in the distance from his palace, he reflected on his journey. However, he did not contemplate the recent one that had brought him to Cairo from Constantinople.

Pasha Ahmed instead reflected on his remarkable journey in life, which had now brought him to rule Egypt, just as the great Pharaohs who had built the pyramids had once done. He gave thanks in particular for his achievement to certain people whom he had encountered on the way, not least his beloved Fazil.

There was also, of course, the then Pasha Mehmed, who had rescued him from his hellish existence in the kitchens of the Yeni Sarayi. There was additionally the eunuch servant, Abdul, who had recommended that he served his master’s baby son.

Abdul had made his suggestion in order to attempt to cure young Ahmed of a psychosis, caused by witnessing something horrific.

Chapter ٦٦ - Dehşet

(66 – Horror)

(Pasha Mehmed’s residence, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, 41½ years previously, October 1635)

“What did he witness that was so horrific?” enquired Pasha Mehmed but before answering Abdul’s eyes closed momentarily, as if he was himself somehow visualising the appalling scene in his own mind.

“Not long after losing his mother in childbirth and his new baby brother to sickness a few weeks later,” Abdul, though, eventually managed to advise after reopening his eyes, “the boy witnessed his beloved father being gutted and beheaded by Barbary Corsairs!”

Chapter ٦٧ - Hediye

(67 – Gift)

(Cairo, Egypt, 41½ years later, spring, 1677)

Tom Davis had lost his testes before being gifted, as part of the 1631 annual tribute from Algiers and along with some other young and freshly castrated eunuchs of English extraction from Baltimore, Ireland, to the then Ottoman Sultan Murad IV. The strongly heterosexual local North African Pasha, Hassan Khodja, had no carnal interest in boys. His desire to acquire fresh sex-slaves had therefore been limited to securing some additional beautiful women for his harem, whilst he needed no further recruits for the small army of male geldings serving him and his females.

Consequently, Hassan Khodja had only, through his representative, secured some of the young boys from Baltimore, as part of his latest ‘commission’ in kind from Jan Janszoon, in order that they might form part of the annual tribute from his city to his Sultan. The Pasha was fully aware that the Ottoman Court always welcomed fresh recruits for their two orders of white and black eunuchs, preferably from an early age so that they were more psychologically malleable for the required indoctrination and training in order to be of proper future service.

The new Pasha of Egypt now reflected on how the then 6 year-old Tom Davis had subsequently voyaged, with other young and freshly castrated English eunuchs from Baltimore, Ireland, as tribute to the Ottoman Sultan, in naval galleons from Algiers to Constantinople, where he was to be renamed Ahmed.

Chapter ٦٨ - Yolculuk

(68 – Journey)

(Boztepe Park, Trabzon, eastern Anatolia, Turkey, recently, 331 years later)

As the author of this story finished his tea in Boztepe Park overlooking Trabzon, he too was in reflective mood. He had already contemplated the scene within the then intact and functional but now ruined castle below in which a youth and a boy had been happily at play about 377 years previously, whilst certain contented parents looked on.

Pueros had subsequently considered how meritoriously far young Fazil had succeeded in his adult career, significantly improving the Ottoman Empire and therefore undoubtedly history in the process. However, before leaving his seat in the tea-garden to return to Trabzon, the author of this story finally thought about Ahmed’s achievements.

Ahmed had certainly considerably helped Fazil Köprülü to become the greatest Ottoman Grand Vizier, with perhaps only Süleyman the Magnificent’s Chief Minister, Sokollu, able to challenge him for the title. The eunuch had himself had also gone on to be an excellent governor of Egypt.

Pasha Ahmed of Egypt had certainly journeyed far in life after originally being Tom Davis, the boy from Baltimore.

THE END

of

‘THE BOY FROM BALTIMORE’

by Pueros