Ahmed I (18 April 1590–22 November 1617; Turkish: I. Ahmed) ruled the Ottoman Empire as its ruler from 1603 to 1617. The Ottoman custom of royal fratricide was broken for the first time during Ahmed's reign; going forward, Ottoman kings would no longer routinely put their brothers to death upon taking the throne. One of the most well-known mosques in Turkey, the Blue Mosque, was built by him.
Early life
Ahmed's father, Şehzade Mehmed, was still a prince and the administrator of the Sanjak of Saruhan when he was born, most likely on April 18, 1590, at the Manisa Palace. Handan Sultan was his mother. His father arrived in Constantinople and became Sultan Mehmed III upon the death of his grandfather Murad III in 1595. Mehmed gave the order to put his nineteen half-brothers to death. On June 7, 1603, Ahmed's father, Mehmed, also put his older brother Şehzade Mahmud to death, just before Mehmed died on December 22, 1603. Mahmud and his mother, Halime Sultan, who passed away after 1623, were interred in a different tomb constructed by Ahmed at Constantinople's Şehzade Mosque.
Reign
At the age of thirteen, Ahmed took the kingdom following the death of his father in 1603, but his influential grandmother Safiye Sultan was still living. His mother Handan Sultan and his grandmother Safiye Sultan, who had absolute power inside the walls (behind the throne) during the previous reign, engaged in a power struggle in the harem after he ascended to the throne. Ultimately, with Ahmed's help, the battle was won by his mother. Ahmed did not order the execution of his three-year-old half-brother Mustafa, the second son of Halime Sultan, in violation of the customary fratricide that followed earlier enthronements. Rather, Mustafa, his mother, and their grandmother, Safiye Sultan, were transported to reside in the old palace at Bayezit. This was probably because Mustafa was the only other contender for the Ottoman throne at the time, and Ahmed had not yet proven that he could procreate. He was spared because his brother's execution would have jeopardized the dynasty.
His mother made an effort to meddle in his affairs and sway his choices; in particular, she sought to restrict his communication and mobility. Ahmed I shown strength and resolve in the early years of his rule, but his latter actions betrayed these qualities. His succession was accompanied by conflicts in Persia and Hungary, which ended poorly for the empire. The Treaty of Zsitvatorok, which was signed in 1606 and eliminated Austria's yearly tribute payment, further damaged its reputation. Georgia, Azerbaijan, and other large Caucasian territories that had been briefly conquered during the Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–90) were returned to Persia by the Treaty of Nasuh Pasha in 1612 after the Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–1612) was decisively defeated by the nearby rival Safavid Empire, led by Shah Abbas the Great. The lines established by the Peace of Amasya in 1555 were used to draw the new borders.
Relations with Morocco
Mulay Zidan, whose father and predecessor Ahmad al-Mansur paid a tribute of vassalage as an Ottoman vassal until his death, ruled Morocco during his reign. This vassalage tribute had been halted by the Saadi civil conflicts, but Mulay Zidan offered to submit to it in order to defend himself against Algiers, so he started paying the tribute to the Ottomans again.
Ottoman-Safavid War: 1604–06
The Ottoman-Safavid War had started just before Ahmed's father, Mehmed III, passed away. Ahmed I named Cigalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha the commander of the eastern army after taking the throne. It was too late for the army to march from Constantinople on June 15, 1604, and by the time it reached the eastern front on November 8, 1604, the Safavid army had taken Yerevan, entered the Kars Eyalet, and could only be stopped at Akhaltsikhe. Sinan Pasha chose to spend the winter in Van despite the favorable circumstances, but he later marched to Erzurum to thwart an impending Safavid onslaught. The Ottomans effectively wasted the year as a result of the army's discontent.
Sinan Pasha marched to capture Tabriz in 1605, but the Beylerbey of Erzurum, Köse Sefer Pasha, undermined the army by going apart from Sinan Pasha and being captured by the Safavids. After being defeated at Urmia, the Ottoman army was forced to retreat first to Van and then to Diyarbekir. Here, Sinan Pasha incited a rebellion by killing Canbulatoğlu Hüseyin Pasha, the Beylerbey of Aleppo, who had come to offer assistance, on the grounds that he had arrived too late. Ganja, Shirvan, and Shamakhi in Azerbaijan were taken by the Safavid army after he quickly passed away.
War with the Habsburgs: 1604–06
By the time Ahmed came to power, the Ottomans and the Habsburg monarchy had been engaged in the Long Turkish War for more than ten years. Sokolluzade Lala Mehmed Pasha was named Grand Vizier and commander of the western army after Grand Vizier Malkoç Ali Pasha, who had marched to the western front from Constantinople on June 3, 1604, arrived in Belgrade, and died there. The western force, led by Mehmed Pasha, retook Pest and Vě, but was unable to take Esztergom because the siege was withdrawn because to bad weather and military resistance. Stephen Bocskay, the Prince of Transylvania, who had previously backed the Habsburgs and fought for the region's independence, dispatched a message to the Porte pleading for assistance. His troops joined the Ottoman army in Belgrade after they were promised assistance. With this assistance, the Ottoman army besieged and eventually took Esztergom on November 4, 1605. Sarhoş İbrahim Pasha, the Beylerbey of Nagykanizsa (Kanije), attacked the Austrian territory of Istria, while Bocskai, with Ottoman assistance, captured Nové Zęky (Uyvar) and soldiers led by Tiryaki Hasan Pasha captured Veszprém and Palota. However, Mehmed Pasha was summoned to Constantinople due to a defeat on the eastern front and more dangerous Jelali uprisings in Anatolia. As he was getting ready to head east, Mehmed Pasha unexpectedly passed away there. After that, Kuyucu Murad Pasha negotiated the Peace of Zsitvatorok, which eliminated Austria's 30,000-ducat tribute and treated the Habsburg emperor as the Ottoman sultan's equal. The Ottomans' acceptance of the agreements was largely influenced by the Jelali uprisings. This marked the end of Ottoman expansion in Europe.
Jelali revolts
Ahmed I's tenure was the height of the Jelali uprisings due to resentment at the conflict with the Habsburgs, high taxes, and the Ottoman military's ineffectiveness. Soon after Ahmed I was crowned, Tavil Ahmed organized an uprising and overthrew Nasuh Pasha and Kecdehan Ali Pasha, the Beylerbey of Anatolia. Tavil Ahmed was given the title of Beylerbey of Shahrizor in 1605 in an attempt to put an end to his uprising, but he quickly captured Harput. Mehmed, his son, used a fictitious firman to gain the governorship of Baghdad and overcame Nasuh Pasha's army.
In the meantime, Canbulatoğlu Ali Pasha defeated Seyfoğlu Yusuf, the Amir of Tripoli, by uniting his forces with Druze Sheikh Ma'noğlu Fahreddin. He then established an army and issued coinage to seize control of the Adana region. His troops defeated the army of Hüseyin Pasha, the recently appointed Beylerbey of Aleppo. Because of his weakness against the Jelalis, Grand Vizier Boşnak Dervish Mehmed Pasha was put to death. He was succeeded by Kuyucu Murad Pasha, who led his army into Syria and, on October 24, 1607, decisively defeated the 30,000-strong rebel army, albeit with much difficulty. In the meantime, he named Kalenderoğlu, a rebel active in Manisa and Bursa, as the sanjakbey of Ankara while feigning forgiveness for the rebels throughout Anatolia. In 1607, Baghdad was also recaptured. After fleeing to Constantinople and pleading with Ahmed I for forgiveness, Canbulatoğlu Ali Pasha was appointed to Timișoara and then Belgrade before being put to death for his misbehavior there. In the meantime, Kalenderoğlu rebelled once more after the Ankara residents forbade him from entering the city, but Murad Pasha's forces put an end to it. Ultimately, Kalenderoğlu fled to Persia. After that, Murad Pasha put down a few minor uprisings in Central Anatolia and invited other Jelali chiefs to enlist in the army.
Many people had left their communities as a result of the Jelali revolts' widespread violence, and many villages had been devastated. These deserted villages had been claimed by some military leaders as their own. As a result, the Porte lost its tax revenue, and on September 30, 1609, Ahmed I sent a letter protecting the villagers' rights. The resettlement of abandoned settlements was his next task.
Ottoman-Safavid War: Peace and continuation
Nasuh Pasha, the new Grand Vizier, had no desire to engage in combat with the Safavids. In a letter, the Safavid Shah expressed his willingness to conclude a peace treaty in exchange for sending 200 cargoes of silk to Constantinople annually. The Treaty of Nasuh Pasha, which was concluded on November 20, 1612, restored the boundaries from 1555 and gave Persia back all the territory the Ottoman Empire had acquired during the conflict of 1578–1590.
But when the Shah failed to provide the 200 tons of silk, the truce came to an end in 1615. Grand Vizier Öküz Mehmed Pasha was given the task of planning an assault on Persia on May 22, 1615. Mehmed Pasha postponed the assault until the next year, when the Safavids prepared to attack Ganja. Mehmed Pasha marched to Yerevan in April 1616 with a sizable army, but he was unable to capture the city and retreated to Erzurum. Damat Halil Pasha took his place after he was dismissed from his position. Canibek Giray, the Khan of Crimea, assaulted the regions of Ganja, Nakhichevan, and Julfa while Halil Pasha spent the winter in Diyarbekir.
Capitulations and trade treaties
Ahmed I extended commercial agreements with Venice, France, and England. The first commercial agreement with the Dutch Republic was struck in July of 1612. By allowing traders from Spain, Ragusa, Genoa, Ancona, and Florence to conduct business under the French flag, he broadened the concessions granted to France.
Architect and service to Islam
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque was built by Sultan Ahmed on the opposite side of the Hagia Sophia. The sultan was there when the ground was broken with a golden pickaxe to start building the mosque complex. When the sultan realized that the Blue Mosque had as many minarets as the magnificent mosque in Mecca, an incident almost broke out. Ahmed was enraged by this error and felt guilty until Shaykh al-Islām suggested that he build a new minaret at the magnificent mosque in Mecca, which resolved the issue.
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque
Ahmed enthusiastically participated in the eleventh extensive renovations of the Kaaba, which had recently sustained flooding damage. He successfully restored the golden rain gutter that prevented rain from building up on the Ka'ba's roof by sending artisans from Constantinople. Once more, an iron web was inserted into Mecca's Zamzam Well during Sultan Ahmed's reign. This web was positioned approximately three feet below the water's surface in reaction to insane people who leaped into the well, believing they would die heroically.
The ancient, dilapidated pulpit in the mosque of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in Medina was replaced by a new white marble pulpit that was transported from Constantinople. Sultan Ahmed is also known to have built two other mosques in Uskudar on Istanbul's Asian side, although neither of them has survived.
One of the most important instances of love for Muhammad in Ottoman history was demonstrated by the sultan, who wore a crest carved with Muhammad's footprint on Fridays and holidays. A poem he wrote was inscribed inside the crest:
"Ahmed, go on, rub your face on the feet of that rose. If only I could always carry the footprint of the Prophet Muhammad, which has a beautiful complexion, on my head like a crown, over my head like my turban forever."
Character
Under the pen name Bahti, Ahmed was a poet who produced a variety of lyrical and political works. Ahmed supported calligraphers, academics, and devout individuals. As a result, he hired calligraphers to create a book titled The Quintessence of Histories. Additionally, he made an effort to enforce adherence to Islamic customs and norms, reinstating the previous rules that forbade alcohol consumption. He also made an effort to ensure attendance at Friday prayers and the correct distribution of alms to the underprivileged.
Death
Ahmed I died of fever and stomach hemorrhage on 22 November 1617 in the Topkapı Palace, Constantinople. He was laid to rest in Sultan Ahmed Mosque's Ahmed I Mausoleum. Şehzade Mustafa, his younger half-brother, succeeded him as Sultan Mustafa I. Three of Ahmed's sons went on to become kings: Osman II (1618–22), Murad IV (1623–40), and Ibrahim (1640–48).