There are history books that try to make the most of an era, a period of humanity, not always succeeding in their intent. There are other books that, having as their stated intent to tell a man, manage to do more, beautifully describing an era! To this second category belongs the biography of Suleiman, written by Fairfax.
Suleiman the Magnificent, son of Selim the Cruel, tenth of the Osmanli or Ottoman dynasty, ascended the throne in 1520 as "Sultan of the Ottomans, Representative of Allah on earth, Lord of the Lords of this world, Arbiter and Master of human destinies, King of Believers and Infidels, Sovereign of Sovereigns, Emperor of East and West, Chief of High Dignitaries, Prince of the Most Happy Constellation, Sublime Caesar, Seal of Victory, Refuge of all peoples, Shadow of the Almighty who dispenses peace and tranquility on the globe. "
The Janissaries welcomed him rejoicing, under the orders of the Agha who preceded them.
Accompanied by this powerful body of warriors, Suleiman enters Constantinople, seat of the Eastern Roman Empire and then of the Sultans Osmanli, since the 29 May 1453, Mohammed II the Conqueror seized it.
The city glowed with color. A law had decreed that houses had to be painted according to the religion of those who lived there: yellow and red for the Turks, light gray for the Armenians, dark gray for the Greeks, purple for the Jews, white for public and sacred buildings.
His father Selim had left him the task of using his armies to conquer Christianity. As often happens, the transfer of power from one generation to another is not painless. A revolt broke out in Syria. Ghasali Bey called to Mamluks and Arabs and conquered Damascus and Beirut thinking they could defy the young sultan with impunity.
However, Suleiman was not surprised, he immediately sent his army under the leadership of Ferhad Pasha. He faced and defeated the rebels under the walls of Damascus. Ghasali Bey was killed and the revolt quelled in blood.
Now, having made it clear to everyone who commanded, it was time to declare war on Christianity: Hungary became his goal. The pretext for the attack came when King Louis II of Hungary had his ambassador tortured and killed guilty of having asked for the payment of a tribute for his King. Instead of the requested tribute Louis II received back ears and nose of the his ambassador as a clear message that heralded the imminence of war.
The army was prepared. The Akinji (Turkish light cavalry) pushed forward devastating the Hungarian territories. The infantry followed, the Azabs, the Janissaries and the Delis or in the queue Matte heads, for their fluttering hair under leopard, lion or bear leather caps; and then there were the soldiers of Rumelia and Anatolia, the regular cavalry (the Sipahi).
The Dervishes, half-naked, ran among the troops urging the war, shouting passages taken from the Koran.
Suleiman's army was armed with pistols, daggers, scimitars, axes, bats, bows and arrows, artillery and gunpowder.
For Suleiman, logistics was perhaps the most important part of the army. He knew that the results of a military campaign depended on it.
The Janissaries held a white flag with an inscription taken from the Koran and a flaming sword, the Agha flag with three pony tails and pots, symbol of their right to receive alimony from the Sultan.
The Janissaries were the chosen troops of the Sultan ever since, in the distant 1328, the brother of the Sultan Orkhan had thought of forming a chosen body made up of Christians, to fight the Christians. Captured, received as tribute or bought by boys, they were circumcised and instructed in the practice of war and served their lord. They were called Yeni Tcheri, meaning "New Soldiers", hence the name by which they were known in Europe: Janissaries.
The fortunes of the Ottoman sultans as well as the misfortunes depended on them.
The army showed up under the walls of Belgrade where the Turkish cannons opened breaches. The Gate of Hungary was conquered and its last defenders, surrendered behind the promise of having saved their lives, were instead massacred.
In the course of his long life Suleiman repeatedly found himself facing a tireless enemy: the Knights of St. John, then settled in Rhodes, were a thorn in the side for his Empire.
Their Grand Master was Philip Villiers de l'isle Adam.
It was the 6 June 1522 when Suleiman's army showed up off the island of Rhodes.
A short time before, Suleiman had written a letter to the Grand Master in which, not so vehemently, he invited him to rejoice in his victories against Hungary: "I am pleased with your election and the sovereignty to which you have been raised and I wish you could enjoy it long and happily. And for this I hope that you will be able to surpass in honor and loyalty all those who before you exercised their dominion in Rhodes. example, I intend to maintain relations of good agreement and perfect friendship with you. Rejoice therefore, my friend, and also enjoy my victory and my triumph: since last summer, crossing the Danube, with full banners, I awaited the King of Hungary, convinced that he wanted to give me battle. I snatched from his hands Belgrade, the strongest city of his kingdom, with other heavily armed localities; and after having annihilated large masses of com flying and dragged many people into slavery in my return as conqueror in triumph, I disbanded my army, retreating to my imperial seat in Constantinople. And from this city I salute you. "
The Grand Master took the letter as a warning of the approaching war and began preparations strengthening the island's defenses.
Six hundred knights and eleven thousand infantrymen, archers, citizens and peasants had to face the siege of about one hundred and fifteen thousand Turks! On New Year's Eve Rhodes was of Suleiman.
The knights resisted for months and in the end, for the courage and obstinacy shown, Suleiman granted to the surviving knights the faculty to leave the island with weapons, with their own possessions and with all the citizens who wanted to follow them. Those among the islanders who liked to stay could do so, maintaining their possessions, the quality of a free man and their own religion.
After conquering Rhodes, it was time to reconcile with Hungary. The life of Suleiman was devoted to the conquest of the world, like his predecessors.
On more than one occasion he demonstrated his coolness by personally facing the fury of his own soldiers. His mere presence was enough to restore order as to push them to the ultimate sacrifice.
Yet when his star waned, the 29 August 1566, almost fifty years after his rise to power, the Turkish empire was heading towards dissolution also because of its mistakes.
In Suleiman the Magnificent followed his son Selim, not up to his role. Suleiman left to his successor an empire whose prosperity was unparalleled, but undermined by some errors: his absence at the sessions of the Couch (the equivalent of the Council of Ministers), the assignment of high positions to people who did not have walked the whole hierarchical scale, the generalized corruption and the misplaced trust in his closest relatives, the slave-wife Rosselana and her children.
A beautiful book, to be read and kept in your library to learn more about characters and events of that era.
Alessandro Rugolo
