Murad IV

Ottoman sultan (r. 1623-1640)

• Born: July 27, 1612
• Birthplace: Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey)
• Died: February 9, 1640
• Place of death: Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now in Istanbul, Turkey)

Murad IV, who became Ottoman sultan when he was eleven years old but did not rule independently until ten years later, brought order to his troubled empire, improving its financial footing but repressing the populace and the empire’s military.

Early Life

Murad (muh-RAHD) IV was the son of Ahmed I, seventeenth sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Kösem Sultan , who was of either Greek or Bosnian lineage. Murad IV became sultan at age eleven, succeeding his uncle, Mustafa I , who had been deposed in 1623 because he was mentally unfit to rule the empire.

Murad ruled his first nine years as sultan through the regency of his mother, who was manipulated by the semiofficial cavalry and the officers of the Janissary corps, the once-elite palace guard that had become increasingly corrupt in the preceding half century, particularly after its celibacy rule was rescinded. After the rule changed, the sons of Janissaries, frequently ill-equipped to serve, followed in their fathers’ footsteps by becoming corps members as well.

The groups that influenced Kösem forced the execution of officials they disapproved of. Kösem selected Murad’s official advisers (grand viziers) carefully and monitored their activities closely, but her actions were limited by the Janissaries. Wishing to avoid interference from the harem, which had weakened the reign of Murad III (r. 1574-1595), who was raised and educated in the harem, she encouraged her son to engage in homosexuality.

The Ottoman Empire was in disarray during the early years of Murad’s rule. In 1623-1624, the Ottomans lost Baghdad to Persia, and the city was occupied by Persian shah ՙAbbās the Great (r. 1587-1629). Revolts against the Ottomans erupted in Lebanon, Anatolia, Yemen, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the Crimea. Provincial governors ignored mandates from Constantinople and tyrannized the people they ruled. They pocketed substantial revenues they were supposed to send to Constantinople.

In 1625, Cossacks attacked the Black Sea coast, then took the Bosporus. The Janissaries revolted frequently, demanding the money the government owed them, but it lacked the resources to pay. The palace eunuchs in charge of Murad’s education engaged in blatant nepotism and bribery. The Ottoman treasury was severely strained during the nine years before Murad grasped power and assumed active command of his empire.

Finally, in 1632, when a major revolt erupted in Constantinople, Murad seized the reins of power that were rightfully his. He escaped his mother’s domination and emerged as the leader that the Ottomans sorely needed at this time in their history.

Life’s Work

When Murad IV took over independently as sultan, Germany was warring with its neighbors, Spain had begun to deteriorate following the death of King Philip II, England suffered lurking internal problems regarding its constitution, and revolts were racking much of Russia. Given the decadent state of the Ottoman Empire when Murad at last took charge, he needed to spring into immediate action to demonstrate to his subjects that he was unquestionably capable of assuming command.

He used the harshest means of suppression to establish his dominance quickly. He ordered the immediate execution of many of the empire’s most important military leaders and replaced them during the next two years with leaders of his own choosing.

Murad left no question as to who was running the empire. He took personal charge of military expeditions into the most rebellious provinces, such as Anatolia and the Balkans, where he confronted and annihilated provincial leaders who had previously neglected their sworn duty to the sultan. In 1635, he evicted the Persians from the Ottoman provinces of Armenia and Azerbaijan. He distributed land but gave it only to those whom he considered his faithful followers, and then only on the condition that they commit themselves to serving the state through military service.

Looking upon coffeehouses and wineshops as places where people gathered and plotted against the government, he ordered their closure and also imposed curfews that forbade people from venturing out of their houses at night. Despite his early exposure to homosexuality and its prevalence throughout his empire, he officially banned it after he came to power. He prohibited the use of alcohol and tobacco even though he was a user (and abuser) of both, and he banned coffee as well.

Murad’s executioner was never far from him, carrying instruments of torture and death. The penalty for disobeying Murad’s mandates was instant execution without a trial. Even suspected disobedience could result in death. Under Murad’s regime, “innocent unless proven guilty” was unheard of.

As his rule grew increasingly oppressive, Murad sought to establish his supremacy by executing increasingly large numbers of dissidents, including his own brothers. Writing of Murad IV, a seventeenth century Venetian ambassador to the Ottoman Empire is quoted by historian Andrew Wheatcroft as observing that Murad

turned all his thoughts to revenge, so completely that, overcome by his seductions, stirred by indignation, and moved by anger, he proved unrivaled in savagery and cruelty. On those days he did not take a human life, he did not feel that he was happy and gave no sign of gladness.

He succeeded in restoring order, but at an enormous cost to his subjects. It is estimated that during the last eight years of his reign, Murad was directly responsible for having more than ten thousand of his own people executed. Sometimes he killed them himself.

The bloodshed for which Murad was responsible outside his immediate domain was still more excessive. Among Murad’s major positive accomplishments was his retaking of Baghdad. He marched from Constantinople toward Baghdad for 110 days with an enormous army, picking up additional recruits along the way. Murad’s ancestor, Süleyman the Great, had conquered Baghdad and claimed it for his empire in April of 1535, but after that empire deteriorated under the rule of several successive ineffective sultans, Baghdad was retaken by the Persians, led by Shah ՙAbbās.

Like Süleyman before him, Murad led the Persian expedition personally. The Persian military staunchly resisted his initial assault upon Baghdad in November, 1638. Murad set an example for his soldiers by working with them in the trenches and by sleeping in the field beside them. He engaged in single-handed combat with the enemy and, because he was large, fearless, and extremely strong, he defeated anyone with whom he entered into such combat.

Finally, on Christmas Day, 1638, Baghdad fell to the Ottomans. Murad ordered the execution of nearly all the Persians within the garrison defending the city. In a single day, it is said that thirty thousand such combatants were slaughtered at his command. A mere three hundred of the soldiers in the garrison survived Murad’s brutal onslaught.

This, however, was not Murad’s final atrocity in Baghdad. When a powder magazine exploded accidentally and killed a number of Murad’s forces, he retaliated, reportedly, by ordering the executions of thirty thousand more Persians, most of them innocent women and children. It appears that in his effort to establish his supremacy in the eyes of his subjects, Murad practiced a brutality that knew no bounds.

Significance

Murad’s rule offers a striking example of how an intelligent, gifted, and dedicated ruler who sets himself up as the all-knowing savior of his people can ultimately destroy the society he is fighting to protect. In many ways, it is fortunate that Murad died when he was twenty-seven, because, although he had managed to rescue the Ottoman Empire from the difficulties facing it when he assumed office, his regime had become so unreasoning and brutal that his terrified and subdued subjects rejoiced at his death, which was brought about, ironically, by cirrhosis of the liver, caused by his excessive drinking.

On his deathbed, Murad ordered the execution of his brother, İbrahim, presumably to assure himself full credit for saving the Ottoman Empire. At this point, Kösem, mother of both Murad and İbrahim, countermanded his order because she realized that if İbrahim did not become sultan, she would lose a great deal of her influence. As she approached the dying Murad, she assured him that İbrahim was dead, even though he was not. Murad smiled grimly and took his last breath, and İbrahim would rule from the moment of Murad’s death to 1648.

Bibliography

Barber, Noel. The Sultans. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973. Probably the best examination of how sultans of the Ottoman Empire lived and ruled.

Mansel, Philip. Constantinople: City of the World’s Desire, 1453-1924. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996. Mansel explores many aspects of Murad’s sultancy and provides useful insights.

Somel, Selcuk Aksin. Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2003. An indispensable resource for those interested in the Ottoman Empire.

Wheatcroft, Andrew. Infidels: A History of the Conflict Between Christendom and Islam. New York: Random House, 2004. Valuable for its brief citation regarding the Venetian ambassador’s opinion of Murad IV.